Alas, Real Food. . .

From holidays to finals to holidays, my diet has been less than ideal the past month or so. However I think last nights dinner was a step in the right direction. I made Vegetarian Time's Chickpea Tangine featured in their Healing Foods Cookbook special issue.

I loved this dish! I served it on top of some Near East Long Grain and Wild Rice which made the dish in my opinion. 


Cumin was in short supply in our pantry, so I fell a little bit short of a teaspoon - which ended up being alright. The dish had a great balance of sweet and spicy, and the parsley and Greek yogurt garnishes added a cool and refreshing touch. 


I loved the currants in this dish and so the only future change I may make to the dish is adding more currants (probably closer to 1/3 cup instead of 1/4). 

P.S. Finally catching up on Top Chef All Stars and Carla just won a trip to Italy! Hooray!

A Very Merry Christmas

'Twas a very merry Christmas this year. . .

. . .there was some of this. . .

. . .but mostly just a lot of that.

What was the best part of your holiday?

Food Philosophy 2011?

Once again, sorry for the blogging hiatus. Tonight is my last final and then I am all yours. But if you can't read something I write how about the next best thing, Mark Bittman.

Here is a great article he wrote in the new issue of Bon Appetit (should be noted - Barbara Fairchild's last issue). In 2011 I am hoping to strive for a similar approach to food that Mark outlines in his article.

Image Courtesy of Bon Appetit

Any food or healthy living goals for 2011?

Holiday Hustle and New Food Obsessions

It was another fun-filled sister weekend. Molly came for a visit and we enjoyed good food, coffee and grocery store adventures. She also drove me to Dexter to run in the Holiday Hustle sponsored by Running Fit. I just completed the Running 101 class at Running Fit, it was a great motivator and I really enjoyed having a small group to run with.

It was so nice and sisterly of Molly to stand out in the freezing cold weather with me pre-race and while I was running - at which point she got a free coffee thermos, hot chocolate and pictures of ice sculptures. I think we are even now.

This was my third 5K this year. I finished in 34:07, about two minutes faster than my last, and about four minutes faster than my first race. I was hoping to do a little bit better; but considering I had the flu last week and have had a sore throat ever since getting over the flu - I am pretty proud of myself! I think I am ready to tackle some longer distances. . .

Following the race we headed straight for the Whole Foods hot bar - my newest obsession! I can always count on there being some fabulous BBQ pulled pork (something even this mostly-veg-girl can't resist) and at least one sweet potato dish. We shopped around Whole Foods, ooo-ing and ahh-ing, and then headed to the slightly more affordable Trader Joe's for dessert.

TJ's lead me to my second newest food obsession - Joe Joe's, TJ's version of Oreos with all natural ingredients and vanilla beans in the filling! Yum!

Hope you had a great weekend! Any new foods in your life?

Thanksgiving Leftovers at The Table

Check out this post I wrote for the Michigan Daily on ideas for your Thanksgiving leftovers!

P.S. Am on the only one who thought Google's TGiving image was adorable? Apparently the dishes featured in the photo are from Ina Garten's recipes.

Image Courtesy Of: http://erictric.com/2010/11/25/google-celebrates-thanksgiving-with-doodle-offers-recipes-by-ina-garten/

Mini T-Giving

It's not quite Thanksgiving but I am already enjoying LEFTOVERS of cornbread stuffing and turkey. Last night, my roommates and a few friends celebrated Thanksgiving. It.was.delicious. Turkey, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, mac n' cheese, pesto pasta, mashed potatoes, gravy, salad, etc.

I was in charge of turkey and stuffing. I was really nervous about the turkey, I never made one alone and have an irrational fear of large amounts of raw meat. However, the turkey turned out great! Mrs. Morel gave me an excellent Crock-Pot turkey recipe that I will definitely be using again: Turkey Breast (or partial turkey in my case) + one can of cranberry sauce + one package of Lipton dry onion soup mix.

I put the turkey in at 10:30 AM on "High," I turned it down to "Low" around 7:30 PM and I was enjoyed around 9:00 PM.

For the stuffing, I loosely followed this recipe from the NY Times. Additions to the recipe included a small box of chopped white mushrooms, sauteed with the onions, and about a cup of dried cranberries re-hydrated in hot water and then added to the mixture before it went into the oven. I also substituted chicken stock for milk. I was pleased with the end result (in fact I will be making again on Thursday) although it was much more crumbly than I expected.

What are your favorite Thanksgiving dishes?

The Table

Dupont Circle Farmer's Market, Washington DC 2007

I know this is kind of like double dipping, but I just wanted to share a link with you to a blog post I wrote for The Michigan Daily: Seed to Stall

I had a lot of fun researching (doing an interview at the Farmer's Market) and writing the article. I also really appreciate the opportunity to write for The Michigan Daily.

Enjoy!

Beyond Scrambled

This morning I decided to tackle my fear of eggs not scrambled. I have pondering this challenge for far too long, and I don't even like scrambled eggs that much.

After weeks of secret research and asking friends if an egg not scrambled was actually good, I chose this recipe from Alton Brown. In the process I also learned that "over easy," "sunny side up," and "fried eggs" were not the same thing.

So I intended to make an egg "over easy," but as the egg yolk spread across the pan I knew this may turn out to be a hybrid egg.

Alton said, "If the yolks do break, act like you meant them to, fry for another minute and serve. They'll still taste great." And they sure did, especially atop one of my free Parmesan Pepper birthday bagels from Zingerman's!

Is there any food you are afraid to make?

Rosemary Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

Happy (almost) Halloween!

This morning I was up early to head to the A2 Farmers Market to volunteer for a project for an Environment class I am in. Our project objective was to get involved in the community on an issue pertaining to the environment. I always enjoy being a patron of the Farmers Market but it was fun to play a role in the Market's production today. We helped out with the Halloween activities at the Market including carving pumpkins, and face painting. Amidst all of that we met a lot of really great people including a 14-year-old boy who gladly answered my pesky questions about his families chickens:

Me: "So, how many chickens do you guys have?"

Boy: "Uh, dead or alive?"

Me: "Hmm. . .Both?"

Boy: "Around 2,000." (He then went on to tell about how they are free-range and hormone free! Woo Hoo!)

One of the conversation over the carving of pumpkins was the deliciousness of pumpkin seeds. I've actually never had pumpkin seeds (at least that I can remember) so I decided to give it a try and we all began separating them out here and there so everyone could take some home.

I loosely used this recipe from SimpleRecipes.com - quick and easy!

First, bring the seeds to a boil in a pot of water w/ a little salt and then simmer for about 10 minutes.

Next, place them on an oiled cookie sheet. At this point I added salt, pepper and rosemary - but you can season them however you like. The seeds then go in the oven at 400 degrees for 10-20 minutes.

Voila!

Enjoy your Halloweekend!

Houston

It's been almost two weeks since I flew down to Houston to visit my sister Meredith, brother-in-law David, adorable nephew Xavy, and BFF Caroline. I had a wonderful visit and it was nice to take a quick break from school before things got too crazy (and believe me, they did).

Friday night Caroline picked me up from the Airport. It was about 11:00 PM Mitten time, but somehow I caught a second wind and Caroline and I stayed up chatting per usual over Chocolate Espresso Cupcakes.

Saturday morning we visited the Farmers Market near Caroline's apartment and then went in search of Kolaches. Kolaches are a delicious European pastry popular in many cities across the U.S. including Houston where their annual Kolache Fests occur in March and May.

Next up was Central Market (H-E-B's version of Whole Foods?).

Our purpose in being there was obviously for their annual Hail to the Cheese event. We tried several great cheeses but our favorite was the Vermont Cheddar atop a rice cracker with Pumpkin Butter. OH-MY-CHEESE! What an amazing combination - which I now have all the ingredients to replicate. . .

Following the cheese, coffee, salsa, and fruit samples we shopped around for a bit and then headed out to my sister Meredith's house - where lots of fun, munching, baby kisses and snuggles, and shenanigans took place including. . .

My first cup o' pure espresso.

A quick day trip to Katy, TX for the 1/3 Terra Cotta Warriors exhibit.

Turtle Soup. Not really, just a plethora of turtles in Katy, TX.

Mediterranean Dinner Night with help from Phoenicia.

And more snuggling!

Acorn Squash & Apple Soup

Last week while reading all of my usual blogs in my Google Reader, I stumbled upon this recipe on the blog "Peas and Thank You." Knowing that I am in the Mitten, and it is prime time for apples and squash I made tentative plans to make some sort of apple-squash soup this week. Upon further review of my farmers market purchases I decided to make this soup, found on the blog "Happy Herbivore."

I made a few modifications to the original recipe, the first being that I roasted my squash in the oven on 400 degrees for about 40 minutes instead of putting the squash in the microwave.

My next modification (which may have been where I went wrong) was trying to make a one-and-a-half version of the recipe. I had more squash than the recipe called for but I knew I would use the squash otherwise.

The Verdict: I found the soup slightly sweet, yet lacking in a robust flavor. The original recipe did note that the soup is even better the next day which I would have to agree with. :D

This is not my last attempt with squash soup; I have had some pretty outstanding squash soup so I know it can be done. Next time I think I will try to make a recipe similar to the recipe on "Peas and Thank You" to pack a little protein in.

What are you making this week?

A few of my favorite fall things. . .

It is a lovely October morning here in the mitten. After a quick, early trip to the Farmer's Market this morning I was reminded of a few of my favorite fall things:

-Pumpkin ANYTHING (Specifically, a Zingerman's Pumpkin Muffin)

-Apples

-Apple Cider

-Squash

-Coffee (on a Fall Morning)

-FALL COLORS

What are your favorite fall things?

P.S. Sorry for the blogging hiatus. You haven't missed much. I burned my hand making a frozen pizza. . .see, I told you so.

P.P.S. GO BLUE!

Sister, Sister

A few photos from Molly's visit this weekend. . .

(School) Fun in the Sun

It is such a gorgeous day today! Its breezy, warm, and fabulous.

After classes this morning I went back to my apartment to send a few e-mails and decided that it was far to nice to be inside. I packed up my backpack, hopped on my bike and headed down to the Food Co-op for some Pad Thai that was on today's hot bar menu. The Pad Thai was great and it had probably the best tofu that I have had to date in it (that is not saying much, I have only had it a handful of times). Then I jumped back on my bike and headed back to campus to sit outside for a while, which is where this post is coming to you from.

I have to head to class but I'll be back again soon with more munchings.