I heart tempeh. We’ve made it a few times before, but never without cooking it in broth, so I was curious to see how this recipe would turn out. I have to admit, because of all the weird food/pregnancy issues, we tweaked the heck out of the recipe – more tempeh (mama needs protein), field greens for spinach, white onions for red, and garlic cooked the way it should be (instead of lame directions like the recipe gives, resulting in brown, bitter garlic). I think we’d make the same changes if we made this again.

My dear husband knocked this one out while I chopped apples. We each finished our projects at the same time, so while the apples baked, we enjoyed our salad. I think the baby did too. He went nuts as I was eating. He’s either a huge fan of the almost crouton like texture the tempeh took on or he was angry that I was eating onions. I’m hoping for the tempeh fan – I could turn this kid into a veggie yet.

Click here for the recipe

One of my co-workers brought in a huge bounty of apples. He peeked into my office and politely said, “You bake… I brought apples… You could bake something if you want.” Sweet! Free apples! I didn’t want to Bogart the entire stack from the office kitchen, so I waited until the end of the day to raid the bowl. The recipe calls for 2 quarts. How the heck should I know how many small tree apples equals two quarts? No conversion on the internet, so I just filled a sack and hoped for the best.

I’m realizing that I don’t have a lot of kitchen tools and gadgets, but I use the heck out of those I own. I had such a feeling of pride and accomplishment after using my Pampered Chef Apple Peeler-Corer-Slicer (donated to me randomly by my mom – thanks, mom, I really use it!) to burn through the giant sack. I got a little carried away and did closer to 3 quarts, but I thought it would work out.

Hmm. Not so much. The 9X13 pan was overflowing with crisp. I didn’t think it would cook well and not surprisingly, it didn’t. The apples were soft, but dry and it lacked the ooey gooey goodness of most crisps. So, rather than completely throw in the towel, I did what any sane baker would do (sane, desperate, inexperienced – aren’t they interchangeable?) – just add more butter!! I cut about a half cup into little pats and spread it all over the top crust and stirred the crusty, now buttery layer into the apples a bit more. I think I baked it an additional 10 minutes, just for good measure. It worked! The crisp was moist (still not ooey gooey, but at least “wet”) and rich.

I brought the treat into work to a warm reception. And the kind soul that gave me his [Benson] apples said, “Crisp is delicious. You have truly mastered the baking of the Benson Apple.” I’ll take that compliment any day!

Click here for the recipe

Honestly, we haven’t had that many repeats of meals this year. I’ve really made an effort to find new, different things. Yet as we focus more and more on the impending birth of our child, our interest in “How many unique dishes can we crank out this week?” shifts to “You want a bowl of cereal while we try to plot out the next 18 years of our life?” Little distracted lately…

One of my odd cravings, despite the 95 degree heat for the majority of the summer, has been soup. I don’t really care what kind, although I gravitate towards classic creamy soups – broccoli, asparagus, cheesy goodness… Probably not very healthy, but very yummy all the same. In a recent conversation, I justified my cravings by saying that it’s NOT weird to eat soup in the summer. There are no less than 5 soup places by my office. If they’re going to sell it, I’m going to buy it! Heck yeah!

Or when it comes to dinner… make it. So, I pulled out our CCS recipe from several months ago. I know I didn’t make this one. I was in a first trimester induced ball, passed out on the couch. I was excited to try it this time. I got out the Williams Sonoma chopper and buzzed through all of the veggies in no time. I can’t even begin to explain what I geek I am feeling a sense of pride and excitement that all of the veggies were perfectly uniform. Heck, isn’t that the key to cooking things uniformly? So, the stock pot was full of veggie goodness and then I stared at it with my husband. 3/4 cup of water for a HUGE stock pot of veggies? Boil for 10 minutes? Are they on crack?! Obviously I used too many veggies, so we added more water. And then took out some. And then added some. I was laughing so hard when I realized that my husband had NO recollection of making this recipe before. It was as if a space alien made it for us the first time. And, if you refer back to the original post, you’ll see that my mother seems to have the same problem with her original cheesy cauliflower soup – no recollection of it ever existing. What’s with my family and the soup? Is it a conspiracy to keep me from eating 1500 calories in cheese disguised by a handful of cauliflower, potatoes and carrots?

Despite the “new to us” recipe, it turned out great. I could have devoured the entire pan. We’ll make it again, but hopefully we’ll remember it next time.

Click here for the recipe

It wasn’t since the great kimchee debacle of the winter that I remember being so frustrated with Whole Foods. No one in that place knew what a Fava Bean was. Okay, neither did I, other than a vague recollection of a line of dialog from Silence of the Lambs, but come on – not a single person?! Grrr. I grabbed a can of assorted beans instead (kidney, chickpea and white, I think).

My husband made the recipe and seemed pretty disgusted through the whole thing. He’s got a good instinct for following directions and when the directions are poor, he doesn’t hesitate to point it out. I love that. The funny part is that his meals almost always turn out, despite any difficulties. I’m just so grateful that he cooks with/for me! It’s so much fun.

And honestly, these weren’t terrible. It’s just that I think we’ve finally been through enough recipes that we are actually able to spot problems in instructions or techniques. Now, let’s hope in another few months, we’ll know what to do to correct them.

Click here for the recipe

What is it with me and Elvis cakes? There must be something seriously wrong with my pregnant brain that I’ve made two in just a few short weeks. Perhaps Elvis knew a little something about flavor combinations that appeal to pregnant people? Who am I kidding? The dude just liked tasty, fattening combos. And this cake certainly fits that bill!

Rather than greet my sister at the airport with flowers, we opted to decorate a cake for her and have it waiting at home. I think she was a little disappointed that we didn’t have arms full of gifts, but upon seeing the cake, she was certainly happy!

We had a lovely dinner of quesadillas, featuring another bowl of my niece’s trademark guac, and corn on the cob. We were all a little full, but managed to find room in our bellies for the cake. And what a cake it was! Such a team effort – with my husband making the decadent peanut butter frosting, my niece making the cake (her first ever!) and me decorating. I used a cool new decorating tool called CakeVase and a cheap (sorry I didn’t spend more) bouquet of flowers from Trader Joe’s. The awesome bouquet covered the lopsided, poor frosting job (I’m still learning how to apply frosting), so I was quite impressed.

We spent Saturday grazing on the cake and it was almost completely demolished by Saturday night. The flavor combination was perfect! And the layer of frosting in the middle was just the right touch. So much for the neighbors getting a piece. I swear, I’ll come through one of these days!

Click here for the cake recipe

Here’s the cake before CakeVase:

And after – soooo much better:

For a week and a half, I kept telling my niece, “We have to make cookies,” yet we always found an excuse not to. When the perfect night finally arrived, she revealed a little secret. “I’ve never made cookies.” I looked at her in disbelief. Surely she was confused. Never? Not with grandma? Not with mom? Never?! Her simple, well thought out reply was, “By the time I was born, cookies came in tubes.” The horror. She tried to call my mom to confirm that she had in fact, never made a solitary batch with her. And despite initial protest, my mom relented – it was true.

So, like a good Aunt, I stood over her, teaching her how to follow the easiest recipe I had on hand (classic Nestle, of course). I didn’t lift a finger, making sure she experienced each step for herself. I cautioned her, however, that if she didn’t like the end product to not judge it on her work because I gave her whole wheat flour and organic semi-sweet chocolate chips. I can appreciate a 16 year old not digging the whole “natural taste” of cookies like that. It was so much fun watching over her. I understood how both my grandma and my mother felt doing the same thing with me. A sense of pride, a sense of teaching, a sense of… damn, those cookies smell good. I gave her the “new-grandma” (my gram’s advice) as she baked – only lick a little of the raw batter and no matter how tempting, wait until the cookies cool before you start pigging out. One hot cookie is okay, but more than that and you’ll completely spoil your appetite. She dutifully obeyed. A few comments will stand out forever – as she used my rounded tablespoon to drop the dough onto the largest cookie sheet I own, I noticed that the dough was way too close and politely pointed out that she should space them a bit more. She looked at the cookie sheet, looked at the mixing bowl and then at me and said, “But they’re not going to fit.” Shock. The poor kid had no idea that you make cookies in batches. Thanks to the likes of Pillsbury, her entire perspective is based on pre-mixed, refrigerated dough from a tube or a package that conveniently fits on one sheet. Huge, pregnant belly laugh on that one. And then, pointing out that she didn’t have to use the rounded tablespoon at home, that grandma, for example had a cookie dropper but spoons work just fine – she raised the question, “You mean to tell me that grandma has a special tool for these things and has never made cookies with me?!” Again, huge laugh from my part. But, the best, most sincere moment of discovery came just minutes before the first batch was done. I reached into my oven drawer and pulled out my cooling racks. She looked at me and thought they were the coolest thing ever. I reassured her that they weren’t necessary at home, but they sure made the job easier.

And the result? Awesome cookies. Seriously, they were delicious. I couldn’t have made them better myself. While I’m still shocked that in 16 years neither my mother nor hers managed to make cookies with her, I’m secretly glad that I got to teach her. It’s a gift, I’m telling you.

Such a lazy Sunday. Eggs, snacks, TV, pajamas. What an indulgent day. Around 3:00, I finally decided we needed to do something! So, while I started cleaning, I assigned my niece the task of picking out two recipes for dinner this week. I armed her with several VT and Cooking Light magazines (with the caution that they couldn’t have meat unless it was on the grill) and told her I had plenty more to choose from if nothing sounded good. I really give her credit. She could have just blown off the assignment, choosing anything at random, but instead, she thoughtfully looked through the magazines. She was proud that one of the dishes she selected was marked already (Cooking Light – Pasta Primavera) and then showed me this one. I couldn’t believe it. It sounded delicious and somehow I had managed to miss it as a selection myself when I first reviewed the magazine. Amazing.

So, the next night, the cooking lesson started. I assigned her the arduous task of chopping mushrooms. While the recipe calls for quartered mushrooms, we were using mushrooms as big as my head, so more work was involved. After several minutes, I noticed that she hadn’t made much progress, but that her neat, perfect pile of mushrooms were simply lovely. I explained that she didn’t have to cut them quite that small or artfully, that they should be pieces she’d be comfortable eating as a bite. She looked down at the mushrooms and back at me and said innocently, “I’m not sure I’m comfortable eating a bigger bite than this.” Note to me, not sure the kid actually likes mushrooms! Perhaps I should have explained that a pound of mushrooms in a recipe would be a very distinct taste. Oops. So, after laughing for a bit, and letting her chop the rest into the tinest pieces, she ventured into the spinach. Again, very artful, purposeful cutting. I was impressed and I think she was too until I showed her how both the spinach and mushrooms would cook down in the kettle. All that work, disappeared in an instant. I was still proud.

The dish was simply delicious. It was light, but flavorful. The lovely whole wheat pasta added a great, nutty profile to the dish. And in all honesty, I’ve never toasted pasta before, so I wasn’t sure what to expect. It was an “adventure” as I like to tell her. I’d totally make this again, but would she? Um, not likely. While she finished her serving, I would hear her telling her mom days later, “Yeah, I had chickpeas.” “Did you like them?” asked her mom with a great deal of skepticism. “Uh, that would be a no.” Second note to me, when a 16 year old picks out a recipe that even I missed from a well worn, well read magazine, I might want to review the ingredients and quantities with her before we agree to make the recipe. She’s a trooper anyway. What a great kid.
Click here for the recipe

I created a monster. A vegetable chopping, Williams Sonoma loving, teenage monster. While she didn’t let on until after the meal that she’s not a big fan of Chili, she willingly helped me with the recipe knowing that I’d make her try the finished product. She cut every single veggie for the meal with grace and ease. I have a feeling she’ll have a chopper in her house before she knows it.

As for the Chili, frankly the recipe sucks. While shopping, I made a comment that it was odd to have a recipe that didn’t call for beans. Rule number one – read not only the ingredient list, but the instructions before you start. They call for “beans” in the instructions, but there’s no mention of them in the ingredients (unless I’m totally blind, which is possible). We just tossed in two cans of what we had in the pantry – black and garbanzo. I used the canned plum tomatoes they suggested, but they were huge. They should have been diced. I wouldn’t use them again. And as for spices? Blah, blah, blah. The chili was totally lacking. Just bland beyond words. The cornbread dumplings were okay, but also not great. When my niece admitted that she didn’t like chili, she also commented that this didn’t seem like chili, more like soup. I explained that it does have a different texture without meat in it, but chili also gets thicker as you let it sit. Regardless, she ate it, and I’m totally happy for that.

It made good lunch leftovers (with the addition of flaming hot Cheeto’s – come on people, I’m pregnant!), but I’m in no rush to try this one again.
Click here for the recipe

If I haven’t said it enough in the last few months of posting, I love, love, love my husband. Seriously, he’s the best in the world.

I spent the day running errands with my niece. I waited too long to eat something of substance and I just overdid it shopping. I prepared a grocery list and he gladly agreed to take her out to pick up the ingredients for dinner as well as food for her to munch on during her stay. I don’t even think the door shut and I was completely passed out on the couch. I awoke an hour and a half later with a gentle stroke on my face. He was leaning over the couch, just checking on his “babies” (me and the boy). I could barely sit up and without any prompting, he asked if the recipe I had written the grocery list on was the meal for the evening. When I said yes, he was off in a flash to start preparing. Knowing that I was exhausted, sick and starving, he worked quickly and efficiently. Before I knew it, there was a bowl full of the most delicious risotto I think I’ve ever had. It wasn’t because I was sick and tired – I was clear enough to know good food! It was a beautiful dish with a lovely presentation. This could easily be served at a restaurant. We served it with a bowl of cantaloupe, which was, a little bit random, but tasty all the same. And my favorite part? My niece ate it and alleged that it was really good! She finished her whole bowl, which was either very polite or a great sign of success.

Not only is my husband the sweetest, best guy I’ve ever met, he’s an awesome chef.

Click here for the recipe

Our office closed an hour early in honor of the lovely summer. What a great day for it! For once, my dear husband wasn’t feeling great, so I left him home to sleep while I grabbed my niece and headed out for errands. It’s such a joy to have her visit us in the summer. She’s so funny and nice, and generally just a great person to be around. Even though we were doing mundane shopping, she managed to make me laugh several times and keep the afternoon entertaining.

I decided, despite her anticipation of lots of dinners out (as in previous summers), we’d make dinner. I didn’t have a recipe in mind, so I risked it and went to Trader Joe’s. I wondered through the store for less than 45 minutes and before I knew it, had a cart full of logical food. I thought the sweet husband would be up for grilling, so I picked out some Chicken Sausage. What a funny moment to have a vegetarian and a teenager who doesn’t really cook staring at a row of meat. I had no idea what to pick, so of course, I went by cool packaging (hence the sausage). I let my niece narrow down the flavor of the sausage, which wasn’t all that hard, considering options like “Mango.” Eew. That can’t be good, even to a carnivore, right? In addition to the sausage, our cart was filled with corn on the cob, asparagus, portabello mushrooms, salad, gnocchi and fruit. On the way out, we discovered a cute little “kit” for making fresh guacamole. The kit was just perfect for my niece – two small avocados, an onion, a jalepeno, two roma tomatoes and a clove of garlic. When we returned home, I put her to work. The poor kid was probably expecting a relaxing visit, but I’m determined to send her home with a few cooking skills. I pulled out the trusty vegetable chopper and showed her how to quickly dice all of the guac ingredients. I only got nervous when I saw her trying to peel an onion with a knife. In a moment, my life flashed before me at the prospect of her slicing her tendon apart. My husband and I both saw it at the same time and yelled to stop, prompting a lesson on proper vegetable slicing. I can’t believe she learned that at work! Frightening. Anyway, with all tendons in place, she kept going and did just a fantastic job on the guac. My favorite part was watching her sample her work – chip, after chip, after chip. She was so proud, which of course made me totally proud! I promised to take her shopping again to buy the ingredients outside the kit so she’d know how to recreate it at home. Success! She also made some delicious corn on the cob (which she said was better than grandma’s!) and heated up my gnocchi. We made salads together and despite a little hesitation, she agreed to eat gorgonzola on hers. I love this kid.

While we didn’t photograph the rest of the meal, here’s a picture of her guac:

My sister drove my niece to stay with us for her traditional summer visit. I knew I wouldn’t have time to cook a proper meal, so I opted for a proper dessert instead. I had this recipe bookmarked for quite awhile and it just felt like a great time to try it. I followed the directions precisely, omitting only the lemon oil in the frosting and using whole wheat flour for the base. They smelled delicious and looked so pretty. Although they weren’t as “lemon-rific” as I would have hoped, they were quite tasty. I’d definitely try them again. And, I managed to impress my sister by actually making cupcakes that didn’t come from a box. They really weren’t that hard!

Click here for the recipe

I’m losing track of the number of lasagna recipes I’ve made. I still haven’t found one that I’m totally in love with, but I’m not giving up. This dish was the veggie contribution for Mom’s birthday meal. The entire dinner was fabulous – some sort of meat thing (they said it would make me eat meat again, I just laughed at them), corn on the cob, smashed potatoes (with the leftover heavy whipping cream from the Elvis cake), salad, and the lasagna. I could barely walk by the end of the night. We ate the meal on my parents crazy screened in canopy. I made fun of them when they drilled it into their deck, but I have to admit, it’s just awesome. It was a great night – lots of laughs, good food, good family and a happy birthday for mom. What a great way to start another fabulous year.

Recipe coming soon…

We visited my family this weekend to celebrate my mom’s birthday. I should have known my sister would be thoughtful enough to remember the traditional purple frosted angel food cake to celebrate Mom’s special day, but I never even thought about it. (Pregnancy brain much?) Instead, I found a fun, fatty recipe for “Elvis Presley’s Favorite Pound Cake.” Mom loves Elvis, I love butter – it sounded like a match made in heaven!

I really wanted the recipe to turn out, so I carefully followed the instructions. I was careful to sift the flour three times and leave the eggs out for 30 minutes. Despite my best efforts, I broke my cardinal rule – I didn’t read the recipe instructions all the way through before starting. I discovered, just as I was about to add the eggs to the sugar and butter mix that the oven was supposed to be cold. Oops. At 400 degrees with a huge slab of meat about to be cooked for two plus hours, I thought disaster was imminent. Luckily, mom was brave enough to ask a neighbor if we could use her oven. I was kind of embarrassed to ask, but mom insisted that this is the kind of things neighbors do. I think I’m a bad neighbor, because I’ve never been that nice! The neighbor was so excited to accommodate and even had a birthday present waiting for mom when we stopped back to pick up the finished cake.

I was immediately impressed by the appearance of the bottom – I had a feeling I did it right, but still I worried if it was cooked all the way through. I let it cool and only had to gently tap it for the cake to fall out (gracefully) from the pan. I decided to top the servings with vanilla yogurt and fresh berries, given the fact that one slice of this could probably cause a heart attack.

As we all sat around the table, after singing happy birthday with the purple cake, we sampled the Elvis cake. Oh. My. Gawd. There was silence around the table and then… “This is amazing.” “Wonderful.” “Delicious!” “What’s in it?!” I even managed to impress myself. I’m so glad I made it!

Needless to say, the poor neighbor with the generous spirit didn’t get any cake. We ate it all – finishing the leftovers for breakfast. Mom hates that I don’t like to repeat recipes, but this one is definitely popping up again. The King Lives!

Click here for the recipe

My VT subscription just ran out. I don’t know how I let it happen. I researched renewals from a few sources and found a great deal for a three year subscription. The only tricky part is that it’s from one of those fly by night magazine deal places online. It will be interesting to see if I actually receive an issue or if they just take my money and run. Or, perhaps I misread the offer and it takes 3 years to arrive. Regardless, it was a great deal if I do actually get a renewal.

In the mean time, I subscribed to the weekly recipe from VT online. They have a nice online collection of recipes, so I won’t have a hard time finding ideas until my magazines start again. And I have plenty of cookbooks to check out for reference. I’ll be fine.

This selection was from the weekly recipe collection. I’ll admit, I was feeling totally icky when I made it. I just couldn’t put my husband through making yet another meal alone, so I forced myself to do it. The poor guy had to step in anyway – I was moving at a snail’s pace (I’m talking 90 minutes prep time on this simple salad dish!) and managed to cut my knuckles on the grater. What a bonehead move. And you really don’t know how much you use your knuckles cooking until they’re gaping open. Gross! And OUCH! So, by the time I was done and my poor husband had nearly collapsed from hunger (dinner at 9:45 anyone?), I didn’t even want to eat it. I forced myself though and I was pleasantly surprised. I substituted red Thai paste for green and it gave it an awesome kick. My husband mentioned that his mouth was on fire as he was going back for seconds, but starvation was driving him back for more. The bed of lettuce was a nice, cooling compliment to the spicy dressing. And for once, I didn’t make an insane quantity of rice noodles. It was just perfect.

The next day, the leftovers even solicited a few comments from our co-workers – “Is that take out?” “Did you make that?!” What a compliment!

Click here for the recipe

I am so guilty of eating and eating and napping and napping. That’s all I do anymore. I’m always run down and feeling crummy. A few weeks ago, I had started a swimming class. I walked everyday and swam twice a week for two, short weeks. I felt fantastic and then life got in the way and I went back to sleeping on the couch. I have to break the cycle.

So, I decided that even though I felt terrible, I would go on a walk while my husband fired up the grill. Realistically, I know I can’t walk as fast as I used to, so I left him the recipe to prepare in case I took too long. When I returned, he had everything put together – relish in the fridge, bean burgers mixed waiting for the grill. I sat down, made a phone call, and before I knew it, there was a delicious plate of food in front of me. He even snuck in the corn on the cob I had picked up on my walk and grilled it to a lovely perfection. I was so happy to be stuffing my face after a nice (hot, sweaty, exhausting, I so can’t do this) walk. Before I knew it, I had been sitting there, eating, picking, munching for an hour and a half. I managed to consume TWO giant burgers, an ear of corn and potato wedges. Does this mean I should have gone on another walk? Yikes.

The burgers were amazing. They were so moist and flavorful. The relish was a nice touch, but I have to admit, I have no idea what was supposed to be “spicy” about it. It was tasty though. I can’t wait to have these again.

Click here for the recipe