Meatless Monday #7: Thai takeout

There are some weeks when the days I have time to cook just don't happen to be Mondays. And although I'd like to think I'm at least a decent cook, it's going to be a while before I attempt anything like Pad See Ew with tofu on my own. It does somewhat assuage my guilt at splurging on takeout to realize that what the restaurant considers to be one portion is enough for two meals for me--which means this dinner really only cost me about $3.75.

My other meals on Meatless Monday: Grape Nuts with strawberry yogurt for breakfast, and a salad with pistahios, blue cheese and pears for lunch.

You may have noticed that I skipped a Monday. Last week on Monday, I spent the day doing a 9-mile+ hike in Shenandoah National Park with my husband, and by dinnertime I was so exhausted I just wasn't thinking about what day it was or remembering to avoid meat. I think I might have "inadvertently" eaten vegetarian one day later in the week, though, so I guess it evened out.

Meatless Monday #6: Hard-boiled Egg Masala

Taz came home last night for his "summer vacation" and I wanted to welcome him back with a home-cooked meal. Even though I'm married to an Indian guy, I still haven't managed to learn to cook very many Indian dishes. Lately, I've been trying to change that, and Madhur Jaffrey's Quick and Easy Indian Cooking has been an absolute godsend. This Hard-boiled Egg Masala (which we just call "unda curry" around the house) is one of the first dishes I learned to make, and it seems to improve a bit every time. I can't share the recipe on my blog--you'll have to get the book for that--but here are some modifications I've found helpful:

• Don't drain the tomatoes. In fact, rinse out the can with water, and add that too. Things can get too dried out after the recommended amount of simmering, so be prepared to add even more water after that stage.


• It's ok to supplement the canned tomatoes with fresh, if you have some you need to get rid of, or if you don't have a big enough can.


• Use more cilantro than you think you'll need, and set some aside for garnish.


• You'll probably need more liquid in the spice paste than called for, too.


• Save prep time by boiling (and even peeling) the eggs ahead of time.


• Put out a dish of plain yogurt on the table for those with a lower spice tolerance to quench the flames.

Most Indian food, I've found, ages just fine, and a stay in the refrigerator overnight or even for a couple days will not hurt the flavor of this dish at all. I often cook this on a weekend, leaving only the rice cooking for the night I plan to serve it. I doubled the recipe this time, and that was enough for a dinner for two, plus two lunches for me.

My other Meatless Monday fare was much less impressive this week: raisin bran with soy milk for breakfast, overpriced organic grapes for a snack, and really awful leathery veggie gyoza-style dumplings from the gourmet-ish market around the corner from work. We also had red wine with dinner, but managed to open not one but two corked bottles before we found one that was good. Looks like it might be time to replenish the wine supply...

Random Wednesday

In the spongy blob that has been my brain lately, here's what is squishing around today:

1. Unpaid furlough days are great, except for that whole "unpaid" thing. Good thing I'm enjoying them, because I have to take five this month (every Friday).


2. I am unreasonably proud of myself for getting up an hour early this morning to go for a walk/run on the trail by my house. The weather has been too hot and humid to bike to work lately (no shower at the office), but I had not replaced that activity with anything else (until today), which was NOT benefiting my waistline. Here's hoping I can keep it a daily habit!


3. Speaking of health, it's interesting that my food-related posts have been getting more comments lately than my knitting-related ones (except when they've been getting no comments at all). I hope people don't think this has stopped being a knitting blog!


4. It is totally unfair that I should have so many mosquito bites when I haven't even had the joy of camping this summer.


5. I have no idea what to get my dad for his birthday, which is tomorrow. I mean, I know I should get him a book or a CD, but he already has sooo many of both, how do I choose? He is not the sort of person you give a gift certificate to, either.


6. Now that, post-layoffs, I am basically supposed to be doing the work of two people at the office, my will to actually do said work has almost totally evaporated. I care deeply about the issues I work on, but I would still rather be knitting, reading, soaking in a nice cool pool, or some combination thereof. Not that I'm complaining about still being employed. I'm just sayin'.


7. Another factor that might be contributing to #6 is the fact that Taz is coming home for his summer vacation for 2 weeks, and he gets here on Monday. The closer we get to Monday, the more that becomes the ONLY thing I can think about.

Meatless Monday #5: Salad with Candied Pecans and Blueberries

This is one of my favorite I-made-it-up-one-evening-with-what-was-in-the-fridge salads, and it's not as time-consuming as you might think. The dressing is homemade too, and that's waaay less time consuming than you might think.

Salad

- lettuce or mixed greens, washed and dried

- a handful of blueberries

- a handful of pecans

- white granulated sugar

- a couple tablespoons of crumbled gorgonzola cheese

Throw the pecans in a cold frying pan and cover them with a generous sprinkling of sugar. Turn on the heat to a low to medium level, and stir as the sugar melts and begins to caramelize. If you have a silicone spatula, that's the ideal implement because it's both non-stick and heatproof. Make sure neither the pecans nor the sugar burn, and once the sugar is melted and has started to brown, turn off the heat. Spread the pecans out to cool on some wax paper. While they're cooling, put the lettuce/greens, blueberries, and gorgonzola in a salad bowl. Then make the dressing.

Dressing

- one clove of garlic

- 6 or so black peppercorns

- a pinch or two of salt

- 1 teaspoon dried basil

- balsamic vinegar

- wine vinegar

- extra virgin olive oil

With a mortar and pestle, crush the garlic, peppercorns, basil and salt together. Then add about a quarter cup of balsamic vinegar. Pour the mixture into a jar or other container with some extra room (and a lid). Add a dash of wine vinegar (mainly to dilute the intensity of the balsamic), and top it off with a quarter cup of olive oil. Put on the lid and shake vigorously. Pour a few tablespoons of the dressing over the salad, add the now-cool pecans, toss, and serve. A nice big bowl of this is more than enough for dinner for me, no "main dish" required!

Meatless Monday #4: Zucchini Tofu Stir-fry

I've mentioned this in past posts, but here you finally have a photo. It seems almost silly to write down the recipe, since this is one of those things I tend to make with whatever is on hand, but it came out especially yummy this time, so here you have it:

Ingredients:
- one medium zucchini, sliced
- half a pint of mushrooms, white or baby Bella, sliced
- half a container of firm tofu, cubed
- three tablespoons of cabbage, shredded or thinly sliced
- one large clove of garlic, minced or pressed
- 3/4 teaspoon of fresh ginger, minced
- a dash of sherry
- a few drops of rice vinegar
- soy sauce
- black pepper to taste
- olive oil

Heat up the olive oil in a wok or frying pan, toss in the mushrooms and zucchini. While they begin to brown, put the tofu cubes in a bowl with some soy sauce. Once the mushrooms and zucchini have begun to soften, toss in the cabbage, then use a garlic press to add the garlic (or mince it very finely if you don't have a press) and add the ginger too. Let cook for a minute or two, then add the rest of the ingredients and cook for a minute or two more. Stir gently to make sure all the flavors are well blended and all the veggies are cooked. Serve with rice.

Or you could be like me and skip the rice. I like the texture it adds, and the way it soaks up the extra sauce, but I just don't need the extra carbs (and I had forgotten to put any rice on before starting the stir-fry). This makes enough for two portions, so for me that means a dinner and a lunch. Yummmmm!

Oh yeah, and a very belated Meatless Monday update (#3)

Last Monday, this is what I ate for dinner--my fave potato salad, but with beets from my mom's garden mixed in. I had to make a ton, because both the beets and the potatoes were about to go bad. I ate this for lunch and dinner at least two days in a row (and no, I'm not planning to eat potato salad again this coming week). I think I had cereal for breakfast (again), and lunch was leftover stir-fry of beet greens, chard, and mushrooms. So, not the most exciting Meatless Monday, but since I was home sick Tuesday and Wednesday, I had more time to cook. That meant that later in the week I feasted on other meatless fare, including more of my mom's basil walnut pesto, another variation on the zucchini pancakes (what can I say? they're yummy!), macaroni and cheese with fresh tomato, a tofu smoothie, a pecan-gorgonzola-blueberries-baby greens salad with homemade balsamic vinagrette, and biscuits. Don't worry, not all at the same meal.

I was out of town this weekend, so I didn't get to the farmers' market, but I still have a zucchini left from last week, and I think I might try experimenting with legumes (probably masoor dal?) and maybe quinoa this week. Wish me luck!

Meatless Monday #2

Sorry, no pretty pics for this post. But I am happy to report that my fridge is bursting at the seams with fresh local veggies, thanks to my mom's garden and a trip to the farmers' market with my parents, who came for a wonderful surprise visit with their dog Ozzie on Sunday.

Meatless Monday's menu
Breakfast was honey-nut cheerios, currants, soy milk and a Danactive. Lunch was mom's potato salad and a peach. Afternoon snack was applesauce. And dinner was linguine with sauteed baby bellas, mom's basil-walnut pesto, and extra parmesan. Doesn't sound all that exciting the way I described it, and without photos you can't see how yummy it all was, but I assure you, it was delicious. Nothing like Mom's cooking!

Planning for the week
Now comes the rest of the week. Although I haven't vowed to be meatless the rest of the week, I have an amazing amount of fresh veggies I will need to use up. Suggestions are welcome! Here is my inventory:

• 3 large-ish beets, with greens attached


• 4 or 5 scallions


• about 1 lb of new potatoes


• 8 or 10 huge leaves of chard (I swear, they're 2 feet long!)


• 1 small sweet onion


• 1 medium red onion


• a decent-sized bunch of basil


• 1 1/2 pints of baby bella mushrooms


• 2 tomatoes


• 3 or 4 pale green zucchinis (one very large, the rest fairly small)

Additionally, I have a package of tofu, some frozen trout, a dozen fresh eggs, and 2 hard-boiled eggs. I am thinking stir-fry for sure one night using some zucchini and mushrooms with the tofu, and probably fish another night, but beyond that, I don't know. More zucchini pancakes? Cold potato soup? Quiche?

Meatless Monday: first report

This isn't actually the first time I've done a meatless Monday, but I think if I report back about it every week, it will encourage me to be better with it. So how did I do today?

Let's work backwards. Just before I left work, I was taken with a craving for Chinese-style scallion pancakes. But I knew I didn't have any scallions in the house, so I started to reconsider. Then I saw the comment from yesterday's food post which had a link to this zucchini pancake recipe. Not exactly Chinese-style, but I thought I might be able to adapt it.

When I got home, I immediately set about grating the zucchini, summer squash, and onion. I ended up making the pancakes almost exactly as the recipe said, except that I used cheddar instead of Parmesan, and I was very generous with the basil. Instead of topping the fritters with diced tomatoes, however, I decided to give it an Asian twist by using one of my favorite made-up sauces, which is almost equal parts sriracha, rice vinegar, and light soy sauce, with a sprinkle of sugar and a bit of water. I had to go light on the sauce, though, because it almost overpowered the flavors of the veggies in the fritters. I had enough fritters leftover for breakfast or lunch tomorrow, too!

For breakfast today I had Kashi puffed grain cereal with dried currants and soy milk. Pretty boring, but definitely meatless. My midmorning snack was an oatmeal cookie. Lunch was a homemade potato salad, which is really the only kind I will eat. Not to be a snob about one of the Great American Summer Side Dishes, but I find typical supermarket potato salad to be too dry, too starchy, and waaaay too sweet. Here's how my mom taught me to make potato salad (with some adaptations from me):

1. Boil up some new potatoes* (cut into at least halves, or smaller if they're on the big side), but don't overdo it with the boiling. Cook them just until you can easily skewer them with a fork or paring knife.

2. Immediately after draining them, put the potatoes in a bowl and get them soaking in several tablespoons of cider vinegar.

3. While the taters are soaking up the yummy vinegar, chop up some fresh dill, a bit of onion, and some celery. If you have some parsley lying around, chop that up too.

4. If the potatoes seem to have way too much vinegar still pooled around them, you can drain some off, but otherwise, just dump your chopped herbs and veggies in with the taters.

5. Add a few tablespoons of mayo, and stir.

6. Salt and pepper to taste, and voila!

I wish I had taken a picture of the potato salad too, but I had already eaten it all by the time I thought of it. So, all that yummy food, and I still have two tomatoes and several potatoes left over from my Sunday at the farmers' market.

*My mom says russets are better because they absorb more flavor, but I really enjoy the smooth texture of new potatoes, and I like the color added by leaving the skin on, which you can't really do with russets.

Finally, some knitting

This is the reason I haven't posted anything about knitting (or anything else, for that matter) in the past couple weeks. I had been feverishly knitting on this Big Bad Baby Blanket (in Berroco Comfort) for Mazhalai. I don't know why I thought I could finish it in a week and a half, with after work commitments most nights, and cooking to do for the Saturday evening baby shower as well.

But right up until Saturday morning, I was convinced I'd find a way to do it. I was even knitting the borders and the knit stitch sections in continental style to make it go faster (I would have done it all in continental, but I realized early on in the project that my gauge is really really inconsistent when I purl in continental). Anyway, at some point as I was knitting furiously while getting my 9am pedicure, I saw the light. After my pedicure I went to the mall and bought some onesies and other baby clothes, and when I came home all I did was cook the unda curry I had committed to bring (recipe from this Madhur Jaffrey book).

But at the shower, I showed Mazhalai my progress, so the cat is out of the bag now, and all I have to do is actually finish the blanket sometime before, or at least very soon after, the baby comes. And best of all, I cam finally stop hiding from my own blog.

In preparation for Meatless Monday

Ok, so Sangeeta and I have a deal with each other to try and be healthful while also reducing our negative impact on the environment by reducing the amount of meat in our diets and dedicating at least one day a week to not eating any meat.

Lucky for me, the West End Farmers' Market is on Sundays. My haul this week, from top to bottom: summer squash, zuchinni, heirloom tomatoes, basil, and new potatoes. I have to use all this in 2 days, since I leave for Spain on Wednesday, so I won't have much space for meat in my
diet even if I wanted to!

This is how Sundays should be

I biked to the West End farmer's market this morning, and this is my haul. Clockwise from top left: snap peas, strawberries, asparagus, beets, new potatoes, zuchinni & summer squash, and Swiss chard. Apparently, Ben likes strawberries--he was licking one just before I took the photo.

Even though it's not the biggest farmer's market around, this one is by far the closest to me, and it's got a more relaxed atmosphere than some others. It certainly had everything I needed! Now I have no excuse not to cook at home and eat right this week.