MMMMM Muffins!

BLUEBERRY MUFFINS!!!! (classic yumminess)

1 1/2 c. white flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

1/3 cup sugar

4 TBS melted butter

3/4 c. milk

1 egg

3 TBS lemon juice

1 c. blueberries

-Preheat to 350. Lightly grease muffin pan.

-Mix dry ingredients in one bowl: flour, soda, powder, salt.

-Met wet ingredients in one bowl: sugar, butter, milk, egg, juice

-Make a well in center of dry ingredients and pour in wet. Stir gently until blended, gradually adding berries. Fill muffin tin.

-Bake 15-20 minutes. ENJOY!

This boy is stupid

Dear Jason,

You have bad taste in woman. Jillian was the only cool one. Dallas Cheerleader does not seem like the brightest or most original crayon in the box. You're a wierdo for going on TV to find a 20-something to marry when you're in your mid-30s with a kid.

-Eileen

Jillian,

You are cool. I'm glad Jason sent you home. Now your life won't be all screwed up. You know a relationship with him will not last. Plus, let's face it, he's lame. He has no personality and he's not that cute. He literally talks about nothing. You're pretty and I would totally hang out with you.

-Eileen

On a happier note, I made minestrone soup while watching! Yay for soup lunches all week!

Delightful somethings...

This is just like me. I said I would quickly post about filo. I never posted about filo. The left-over unused filo still sits in my fridge. While I have abandoned the blog world, I have had a delightful real life full of good food, ridiculous students, a glorious husband, and great news.

COOKING ADVENTURES SINCE MY LAST POST:
- Curried Squash Soup with Mushrooms (Moosewood)- Honestly, I'm not too crazy about this. I love Mollie K, but this taste combination just isn't for me.
- Roasted vegetables - My new favorite thing! Take some fresh brussel sprouts, chunks of potato, and chopped carrots. Toss them with a little olive oil and roast at 450 degrees for about 35 minutes. It takes no effort at all and the result is perfect. Roasting really brings out the flavor, the texture is great, and it makes wonderful packed lunch left-overs.
- Pesto with organic fusilli pasta- Again, easy. (You're probably noticing a theme here.) Jarred pesto isn't any more expensive than fresh basil, and it's ultra convenient.
- Oatmeal peanut butter cookies- classic.

NEWEST ADDITION TO MY COOKBOOK COLLECTION
The weather in Houston is crazy. Today was 70 degrees and sunny. It feels like summer all the time. I was out for a walk and decided to stop in at Half Priced Books. Of course, I immediately went to the cookbook section and scouted out the vegetarian label. At first glance, I saw the word "Moosewood" and grabbed it! Unfortunately, it was a Moosewood book about having your own kitchen garden. That would be nice, but I know I won't follow through with it any time this year. I looked through a few lack luster books before I found my hidden gem, The Vegetarian Mother's Cookbook: Whole foods to nourish pregnant and breastfeeding women- and their families. Now THIS is exciting! I am not pregnant, or a mother, but I still love reading about nutrition needs and this book is a well organized dietetic guide. It gives all kinds of information and recipes for various phases of pregnancy and motherhood. Obviously, the recipes are still healthy for people who are not pregnant. I'll let you know when I try a few out. I'm excited to try Better Than Ginger Ale, Applesauce Cake, Garbanzo Crunchies, and Shepherd's Pie.

Maybe I will actually write about a recipe sometime this week. We shall see!

Side note: My husband got accepted into a grad program! Woohoo! We're very excited... VERY excited. It's a huge relief. Looks like we'll be moving back to the midwest in the fall. :)

Bet You Can't Eat Just One

(AFTERWORD: After writing all of this, I realize that I just filled my best friend's blogging request! Consider this a part of Spreading the Love February. Check out Our Little Apartment for the details about this challenge to support local businesses and handmade goods. Mmmm. Local is delicious.)

OK. Guilt trip.

This is like the times when I said I would give up sweets for Lent... and then ate a brown on Ash Wednesday. For those of you who may be less familiar with Lent, that means I couldn't even make it one day without my sugar rush. I am ridiculous. Now that four people have shown virtual interest in my claim to be blogging again, I need to actually continue! (Elizabeth, I feel loved. Many thanks.) Later this week I'm going to post about my adventures with filo dough. For now, let's celebrate tired Tuesdays where too many calories are consumed and you are left happily satiated.

Today, we went to Star Pizza. If you live in Houston, you must check this place out.

It felt totally acceptable to go for a date on a Tuesday after a hard day's work, especially because we seem to be managing to save money lately! I worry about money just because it seems like such a big thing to worry about. The world is ending! I'm a yuppie living downtown in the fourth largest city in the world. I must be poor! Right? Right? ... I just always thought I'd be relatively low income. Then, I got married right out of college and thought that sealed the financial deal. Luckily, I'm just paranoid and our world is not going to end. No more worrying. Eat pizza!

This pizza is wonderful. We get the deep dish veggie pizza on whole wheat crust every time... and it's amazing, every time. I am very proud of my homemade pizza and I think it is wonderfully delicious. However, there is something magical about Star Pizza. Everything is fresh in both my homemade version and the restaurant pizza, but Star has some special pizazz that makes me smile. In addition, I get to sit peacefully in an adorable independent local restaurant and talk with my husband while waiting to be served. Some days, a girl just doesn't want to cook

So today, I celebrate the luxury of a healthy, luxurious, local pizza date.

Next post, filo. Filo and I have a love/hate relationship. You'll see.

Blog Revival

For some reason, I've decided to do this again. I cannot predict how long this fascination will last, but I hope you and I enjoy it for a bit. This revival is mostly caused by the fact that I recently bought a new Mollie Katzen cookbook. She is my vegetarian cooking idol.
This weekend, I spent a ridiculous amount of time tabbing off recipes in my new cookbook, The Enchanted Broccoli Forest, and back issues of Vegetarian Times. And then... this is good... I made the recipes into a LIST. I'm the kind of dork who loves flipping through cookbooks and loves making lists. It's a match made in heaven. Anyway, broccoli strudel and vegetable upside-down cake are among the dishes on this week's menu.

Vegetable upside-down cake is amazing. First, it's a casserole, which I always love. I can't understand why the culinary world often acts like they are unexciting or outdated. They are perfect. With all the ingredients in one place, the spices can accent all the food together and you feel like you're really getting a full meal. This vegetable upside-down cake is one of the best I've tried so far. It's a bunch of fresh-tasting vegetables with a crust of herb biscuit. You're supposed to be able to turn it over but that was just not going to happen. It was still just as good. The prep took a while but I'd highly recommend it.

Notes: Spreading the dough part on top is like impossible to do neatly. No worries. Just go with it. Also, the recipe calls for cayenne to taste but I wasn't a fan of that so I left it out.

VEGETABLE UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE
from Mollie Katzen's Enchanted Broccoli Forest

For the Vegetables:

1. 1 onion, chopped
2. 1 head broccoli, chopped
3. 1 large carrot, chopped
4. 1 head cauliflower, chopped
5. 1 red bell pepper, chopped
6. 1 cup corn
7. 5 cloves garlic, minced
8. 5 scallions, minced
9. a bit of salt and pepper

• Oven preheated to 350. Greese a 9 x 13" baking dish and set aside. Sautee the onion for about 8 minutes.


• Boil some water. Drop in the broccoli, carrot, and cauliflower for 30 seconds. Then drain it in a colander, and immediately move into ice water. Then drain again.


• Add sauteed onion and blanched veggies and the uncooked vegetables all together in a bowl.


• Dump the vegetables into the dish and then cover with 1 cup of grated cheddar.

For the cake:

• 1 cup white flour


• 1/2 cup whole wheat flower


• 1 tsp. baking powder


• 1/2 tsp baking soda


• 1/2 tsp salt


• 1 Tbs. sugar


• 1/2 tsp each: oregano and thyme


• 2 Tbs. dill


• 1 egg


• 1 cup plain yogurt


• 2 Tbs. melted butter
  
  1.) Combine flour, powder, soda, and salt in a bowl with the sugar and herbs.
  2.) Make a well in the center and beat together eggs, yogurt, and butter.
  3.) Mix it all together and do your best to spread it over the vegetables.
  BAKE THE WHOLE THING FOR 40 MINUTES! ENJOY!

Sunday breakfast that will last all week

Ahhhh weekends. Today I made a huge batch of homemade granola that will last my little family of two at least 2 weeks. We usually have granola with plain yogurt with whatever fresh fruit we have, along with our morning coffee. Quite a lovely and convenient daily breakfast. (You can see a bit of my tiny kitchen from the granola picture. Just goes to show that you don't need a spacious updated kitchen to make scrumptious food!)

I also had some lentils in the pantry that I needed to find a use for. This lentil soup from Moosewood Cookbook did the trick. It's a fat free soup full of protein and doesn't require a ton of chopping and dicing.

Let me know what you think of the recipes. Also, lentils always confound me. If you have full-proof lentil recipes, please share!

Mom’s (as in Sam’s Mom) Hippie Granola
*All amounts are approximate. Use whatever you have.
1 canister of 42 oz. oats
1 bag of sweetened coconut
1 cup unshelled sesame seeds
1/3- 2/3 cup dry milk
½ cup ground flax seed oil (we leave this out just because we don’t have it around)
½ cup canola oil
1 ½ cup honey
1-2 tbsp molasses
2 tbsp cinnamon
1 tbsp allspice
2 tbsp nutmeg
2 cups of peanuts

Preheat oven to 325. Mix ingredients in two large baking dishes. Cook 10 minutes.
Add peanuts. Cook 5-10 minutes longer.
Remove from oven. Press granola flat down in dish.
Allow to cool before breaking apart into chunks.
Enjoy! One batch will provide a quick and delicious breakfast for weeks!


LENTIL SOUP
3 cups dry lentils
7 cups water
2 tsp salt
6-8 cloves of garlic, crushed
2 cups chopped onion
2 stalks of celery, chopped
2 medium carrots, diced
1 tsp basil
1/2 tsp thyme
1/2 tsp oregano
black pepper to taste
2 medium-sized ripe tomatoes, chopped

Place the lentils and water in a soup pot. Bring to a boil, lower heat to a simmer, and let cook 20- 30 minutes. Add the onion, celery, carrots, garlic, and spices. Simmer another 20 minutes.

Heat a medium pan full of water to boiling. Drop in tomatoes for 10 seconds. Take out, peel, chop up, add to soup. Cook the soup at least 5 more minutes.

So maybe I'm going a little overboard today

A day off work means a day full of food. I can dice, cook, bake, and taste for as long as I gosh darn please! It's mid afternoon and I've already made 2 loaves of the best banana bread I've ever tasted for breakfast, homemade all organic minestrone soup with mozzarella grilled cheese for lunch, and organic cranberry sauce to snack on throughout the week! Best part: I have food for days now. There's a quart of soup left over, the second loaf of banana bread is being saved in the freezer for another week, and the cranberry sauce is jarred and in the fridge for whenever we feel like nibbling on it. Have I mentioned that I really life autumn? It's true. Autumn and cookbooks. Glorious. Here are the recipes! The bread is glorious, the cranberry sauce is yummy and easy, and the soup was delicious- it was the first homemade soup I've ever made and I didn't think it was intimidating at all. Just takes about an hour of loving attention.

BANANA BREAD
The spices and the orange zest do wonders. Plus, no gooey middles!
1 cup (2 sticks) butter softened but not melted
1 1/3 cups packed brown sugar
3 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla plus 1/4
tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. grated orange rind
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. nutmeg
2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe banana pureed with 2/3 cups black coffee banana pureed with (honest, it's tasty!)

Instructions:Beat in large bowl, beginning with sugar or honey and butter, add eggs one at a time. Add remaining ingredients and beat until light in color. Add flour mixture and banana mixture alternately to the butter mixture, beginning and ending with flour.After each addition mix gently to combine, but do not over mix. Generously butter 2 loaf pans. Divide batter and bake at 350 F. for 40-50minutes or until done. Cool 10 minutes in the pan then remove to wire rack to finish cooling.

MINESTRONE SOUP
Keeps you warm and well-fed.
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
5 cloves crushed garlic
1 cup celery -- minced
1 cup carrot -- cubed
1 cup eggplant -- cubed (Or zucchini)
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup fresh parsley -- chopped
1 can canneli beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup dry pasta
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
1 teaspoon basil
2 cups tomato puree
3 1/2 cups water or stock

In a soup kettle, saute garlic and onions in olive oil until they are soft and translucent.Add 1 tsp. salt, carrot, celery and eggplant.(If you use zucchini, add it with the green pepper.) Mix well.
Add oregano, black pepper and basil.Cover and cook over low heat 5-8 minutes.
Add green pepper, stock, puree, and beans.Cover and simmer 15 minutes.
Add tomatoes and remaining salt.Keep at lowest heat until 10 minutes before you plan to serve.
Then, heat the soup to a boil, add pasta, and boil gently until pasta is tender.
Serve immediately, topped with parsley and parmesan.

WHOLE CRANBERRY SAUCE
Incredibly simple sweet treat.
1 cup water
1 cup sugar
12 oz bag of fresh cranberries

Bring water and sugar to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add cranberries and return to a boil. Reduce heat and boil gently for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. You're done!