Vanilla Icing

Egg'n'Cheese

On Day 8 of my Vegetarian Challenge, I wasn't feeling very inspired...

but this egg and cheese sandwich was amazing on the rice and onion bread...

Egg'n'cheese sandwich, applesauce, cucumbes & greens with seeds & dried fruits

...even if it was a little large for the bread.  I've decided I won't ever buy four large cucumbers at once.  I'm a little tired of eating them.

Baked potato with toasted tofu, peas, corn, broccoli, onions, peppers & cheddar. Garlic & romano drop biscuit

The baked potatoes I served for dinner were my way of clearing out all of the accumulated odds and ends of produce left in the refrigerator: half of a stalk of broccoli, an ear of corn, third of a pepper, half of a can of peas and a quarter of a large onion.  I'm the only one who piled everything on my potato but even my least adventurous eater put a few peas on hers!

Glossy Top Cupcakes

Cupcakes should always have their topping spread to the edges.  See?

Even the squiggles.

Finding a way to use up the buttercream in the refrigerator left over from a few days ago results in leftover ganache in aforementioned place.

At Sixes & Sevens

                          Grilled quesadilla and tortilla chips and guacamole

The lone avocado resting on the shelf in my refrigerator was demanding attention on Saturday.  I purchased it with the memory of the guacamole I tried in Asheville a couple of weeks ago.  In the past, I have avoided guacamole because I spent many, many years disliking it every time I attempted a taste.  But for some reason, in a small Pan-Latin restaurant in Asheville I scooped up some and gave guacamole the 119th chance.  It was good.  Damn good.  I ate all of it.  No one elese got any.

I peeled and pitted the avocado and chucked it in the food processor with some onions, garlic, salt and a bit of flat leaf parsley.  (A dog that shall not be named crushed my cilantro.)  A quick splash of lime juice to brighten everything up and it was as simple as that.  Guacamole!  It was pretty darn good too.  Since I knew it was best not to repeat the 'eat all the guacamole' binge again, I tossed the leftover bulgar wheat from the night before with some black beans, corn cut off the cob and some salsa.  I sprinkled a bit of cheddar on a tortilla, spooned the mixture on top, sprinkled a bit more cheddar and topped it with another tortilla and slid it on the grill until it was nice and toasty.  Who needs meat?!  

                        Toasted homemade bread with butter and a banana

Dinner found me on my own; my children were staying at a friend's house and Rick had gone to the Steeler game.  I was attending a Mad Men Party that night at my friend's house where there was sure to be plenty of cocktails and snacks and I thought it best to keep dinner light.  It was also a little boring but to be honest, I was happy to have comforting buttered toast.  Afterwards, I set about getting ready for the party and..... I wore my hair in a beehive!  

Grill Everything!

Well, maybe not lunch.  Lunch was for finishing up the leftover Vegetarian Chili.  I baked fresh pita bread using a white whole wheat flour and stuffed one of them with the leftover chili.

Homemade pita stuffed with vegetarian chili, steamed broccoli & green smoothie with                                                                                   strawberries and bananas.

Bulgar wheat with grilled tomatoes, peppers & onions. Grilled zucchini, squash and corn and                                                     sweet grilled pineapple and cherries.

I should have said grill everything for dinner.  Fruits & veggies: onions, carrots, garlic, tomatoes, broccoli, greens, strawberries, banana, peppers, zucchini, squash, corn, pineapple, cherries, and an orange that was a snack and not pictured.  Fifteen!  

I noticed a new thing that could have been a coincidence.  After I baked cookies to bring to a friend's party and was plating them up I decided to have one.  It was a rich, melt in your mouth peanut butter cookie studded with chopped up Reese's Mini Peanut Butter Cups.  It was also really sweet.  I mean really, really sweet.  I was a little concerned I made an error in measurement and passed out samples.  Everyone else seemed to think they were fine.  I wonder if it has anything to do with all of this 'clean food' I've been eating the past five days?  Or is it merely a coincidence?

Closeups on Day Four

Applebee's Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad with romaine, celery, pecans, cranberries, mandarin                           oranges and blue cheese.  MINUS the chicken & dressing.

Applebee's Tomato Basil Soup with croutons, parmesan & far too much sodium

Stoneyfield Farm Whole Milk French Vanilla Yogurt with homemade Crunchy Granola.

                        Sliced plums with orange marmalade dipping sauce

Thoughts on vegetarian eating and dining out....

Peas & Parmesan

Peas & Parmesan Rice and sliced cucumbers and chipotle hummus  Not pictured-the green                                   smoothie with mixed greens, strawberries and blueberries.

Yesterday, I had a friend over for lunch (who won't eat cucumber skins! what?!) and I was determined to stick to eating vegetarian but yet provide a filling meal for my friend who has to sit at a desk in a office job surrounded by many, non-healthy tempting treats that she prefers to resist.  I decided to make Peas & Parmesan which is a mock 'risotto' dappled with peas and melt in your mouth parmesan.

This dish is amazing versatile in a few ways.  It's light and tastes amazing fresh in spring when tender young peas are available but holds its own even when you must resort to frozen or canned (in this case) peas.  The creamy warmth works wonders on the soul on an overcast or cold day.  It's also perfect as a side dish or a main dish.  It's ready in less than thirty minutes and prepared by only a few simple ingredients.    It has, in fact, only six ingredients, unless you want to count salt.  Then, it's seven. Of course, it could also be the perfect rice dish to experiment with add ins in different combinations; roasted carrots, asparagus so fresh it's practically still growing, cripsy pancetta....you get the idea.

Day Two Hunger Bursts

I've made it to Day 2 of my personal Vegetarian Challenge.  Impressed?  Yeah, I know.  It's only the second day but I've eaten 8 different fruits and vegetables today and that's pretty darn good!  I began the day with a bowl of steel cut oats with half a sliced banana and a cup of coffee.  Not very exciting, but delicious and filling when the day is starting at 6 am!

Stoneyfield Organic French Vanilla Yogurt with blueberries. Carrots & cucumbers with chipotle hummus.  Green smoothie with frozen strawberries & unsweetened almond milk.

Lunch left me feeling full but without a weighed down feeling which was very nice.  Until I got struck with the most sudden burst of hunger.  One moment I was fine and then the next I was ravenous.  It didn't let up until I had a snack of a banana smeared with a a tablespoon of crunchy peanut butter. Yum!

Local, sweet corn on the cob sans butter. Vegan 'Cheese' & Broccoli Whole Wheat Pasta Bake. Homemade Vegan Black Bean burger with fresh baby greens on a mini whole wheat bagel.

Vegetarian Challenge

Last year, I was terribly disappointed in my choice of farms for my CSA; a great deal of the produce arrived bruised and damaged beyond use.  Oftentimes, half of the contents of the box had to immediately be removed and discarded to avoid ruining the rest of the produce.  Please don't think I mean a few cosmetic blemishes or an occasional bruise--what I mean is it looked like someone slammed the produce into the crate as hard as they could or ran the vegetable up and down a fence rail before putting it in the crate to sit in a dark, dank place over night.  Harsh words, but true nonetheless.   I was so disappointed that I didn't join a CSA this summer.

Lunch: Baked potato with caramelized onions, sauteed crimini mushrooms & steamed broccoli

As a result, the vegetable consumption in our household this summer has been shameful.

Honeybell Flower Cookies

Oranges & Chocolate.  Chocolate & Oranges.  

This flavor combination has been on my mind ever since my friend's seven year old son asked me if liked Chocolate Orange Juice.  At first it sounded unappealing, but then we got into a discussion about the best way to prepare this concoction to optimize flavor and lessen gross out factor.   Orange juice with a swirl of chocolate syrup seemed the best way to go.  I can think of a couple of adult drinks in this flavor combination as well.  Orange creamsicle martini with a chocolate rimmed glass?  Mmmm.

I digress.  If you remembered the cookie picture at the top of the post you'll realize that I have but if you are dreaming up the recipe for those Orange Creamsicle Martinis please send me the recipe! Ahem!  Anyways.  This Honeybell Orange Marmalade by Davidson of Dundee was brought to me from my friend in Florida who also gave me the datil pepper sauce I used in the Crunchy Tacos.  It's sunshine in a jar.   Amazing.

I made a sugar cookie dough that is a little different than my go-to top-secret sugar cookie recipe. This one has a bit of yogurt in it that gives the dough the tiniest tang which compliments the sweetness of the filling nicely.  I like Stoneyfield Whole Milk French Vanilla Yogurt.  It's flavorful and not as sour or artificial tasting as the low-fat or horror of horrors!--fat free-- yogurts are.   This is the only yogurt I purchase--both for eating with Crunchy Granola OR for baking.   It has a few extra calories and costs a few pennies more but it's worth it.   Try it.  

Be prepared for a lot of cookies.  I got 42 filled cookies (2 inch diameter) but I think with less sampling of the dough by me and the children there would have been nearly 4 dozen.

The centers are made of melted Ghiradelli 60% Cacao Dark Chocolate.  I prefer Ghiradelli chocolate in a lot of my baking, especially for topping or drizzling because it has such a divinely smooth texture and is easy to work with.  But, I think another chocolate would do nicely as well.  It's more important to use a chocolate that you love.

I realize a professional food stylist would have neatly sliced this cookie open before taking a picture. I took a huge bite.  What of it?  I couldn't resist.

 

Honeybell Flower Cookies

                     by Michelle

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg, separated--reserve egg white for later

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 cup vanilla yogurt

1/2 tsp salt

1 3/4 cups of flour

Honeybell Orange Marmalade (or preferred brand)

Ghiradelli Dark Chocolate, 2-3 ounces (or preferred brand)

Additional sugar for decorating, if desired

 

1.   Cream the butter, sugar, salt, egg yolk and vanilla together.  Beat in the yogurt thoroughly.  Stir in the flour.  The dough will be quite soft; wrap in plastic and refrigerate 3-4 hours or until firm.  You can also chill the dough overnight.

2. When the dough is firm, preheat the oven to 350.  Working with half of the dough at a time, roll it out to about 1/8 of an inch.  Cut desired shape but make sure to cut an equal number of cookies.

3.  Place 1/2 to 1 tsp of orange marmalade in the center of half of the cookies.  Whisk together the egg white and 1 tablespoon of water.  Brush the mixture on the cookies without the marmalade and then carefully cover each cookie with marmalade with one of the cookies you brushed with egg white.  Be sure to put the egg white facing down--it's the 'glue' that helps hold the cookies together.  Press the edges together very lightly.   If desired, sprinkle sugar over the cookies.

4.  Place cookies on parchment lined (or lightly greased) cookie sheet about 1 inch apart.  Take a toothpick or the tip of a knife and poke a small hole in the center of each cookie.  Bake for 16-18 minutes OR until the edges are lightly browned.  Cool on a wire rack.

5.  In a double boiler, melt the chocolate.  Using the tip of the spoon, drop chocolate into the center of the cookies.  Alternatively, drizzle the chocolate over the cookies.   When the chocolate has cooled and set, store in a cookie jar.

Make Fruit Crisp

Apples, Berries, Peaches...it doesn't matter.  It's all good.  Make fruit crisp.

Hmm....On second thought, maybe stay away from the citrus fruits.  It just doesn't seem like a great combination.

I think fruit crisp is a healthy(ish, kinda, sorta) alternative to a dessert such as cake or ice cream. Speaking of ice cream, at my house, we often top off a hot serving of fruit crisp with a scoop of cold, creamy vanilla ice cream.  I did say healthyISH, remember?

I like to use different spices in my fruit crisp depending on what type of fruit I am using.  If I use peaches as my main fruit, I'll use a few grates of fresh nutmeg.  Apples get a combination of cinnamon and cloves, blueberries go well with cinnamon and strawberries--well that's top secret!

This recipe is versatile because you can mix up the spices but you can also change up the nuts or omit them altogether.  You'll also notice that the sugar can be altered to a little more or a little less.   Taste your fruit before making the crisp.  If it's at the peak of ripeness you'll want to use a little less sugar but use a little more if it's not at the optimum ripeness level.

 

Fruit Crips

      by Michelle

 

6 cups of fruit, sliced or whole if small berries

1/2 cup flour

1 cup of oats

handful of chopped nuts (almonds are nice with peaches & blackberries)

4-6 tablespoons brown sugar

1/4 tsp of a spice of your choice (cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg, ginger, allspice)

1/2 cup of cold butter

 

1.  Preheat the oven to 375.  Butter a large, 2 quart baking dish. 

2. Mix the flour, oats, nuts, sugar and spice together.  Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles large bits and crumbs.  Set aside.

3.  Place half the fruit in the dish.  Sprinkle 1/3 to 1/2 of the crisp mixture over the fruit.  Put remaining fruit on top and then cover it with the remaining crisp mixture.  

4.  Bake for 45-60 minutes or until crisp is golden brown.  Serve warm.