Lots of Lentils, Chickpea Cutlets and A Pizza

I've really been doing some cooking the past several days. I enjoy cooking so much more when it isn't hot outside. I'd say we're full-on into fall at this point. Last Thursday, some friends invited us over for a big pot-luck party. I decided to take two dishes because I didn't know what vegan options would be available there. I decided on Carrie's sweet and savory lentils and some simple, mashed sweet-potatoes. The lentils were a HUGE hit. Talk about a good pot-luck dish! Easy to make and just perfect for this time of year.



Friday I decided to make some chickpea cutlets. They're a favorite around here for sure, and it had been quite a while since I'd made them. I wanted something a little different this time, so I made the Sweet Vidalia Onion Sauce, which is also in V-con. I also cooked some brown rice, and since I had a bunch of parsley from the CSA, I chopped it and added it to the cooked rice with some Earth Balance and salt. I steamed a bunch of kale and onions, which I seasoned with a dressing of red wine vinegar, sugar and a few drops of liquid smoke. The sweet onion sauce is soooo good. We used it for the cutlets and also to drizzle over the rice. What a fantastic dinner!



On Saturday, I made pizza because the kids just can't get enough of "Mama's homemade pizza". They're so sweet! Anyway, I made the kids their ususal cheese pizza. For Sleek and myself, I lightly sauteed a few cloves of minced garlic in some olive oil and brushed that over the dough. Then I added some Oliverio's Sweet Italian Peppers. (I can't believe they don't have a website!) They're kind of a local specialty item that Sleek grew up eating often and loving dearly. It was fantastic. There are really so many different things you can do with pizza to change it up and make it interesting.



I've been wanting to make some naan since I seem to make Indian food quite often. A while back, Carrie had posted aboutmaking naan. I swore I'd give it a try. Then I came across what I think is the same recipe via the forums over at The PPK. I decided to give it a try. I needed to find a good substitute for the yogurt, and we can't get plain soy yogurt around here. I decided to go with Better Than Sour Cream. I brushed it with Earth Balance after baking. It was phenomenal! I used my pizza stone as recommended, but I guess my "high" broiler setting is hotter than most because my stone ended up cracking and breaking. I'll have to be getting a new one ASAP! I set the broiler to low for the next batch (I was still able to use the stone to finish) and the naan came out much better. So, I look forward to making it often. It went perfectly with the Tamarind Lentils from V-con. They are so good and extemely easy to make. For a quick and easy dinner, it sure was delicious.

Lots of Fresh Veggies, A Green Pizza, and A Bit of Advice

I've been cooking a lot, but not posting everything. I've found that with our fresh CSA veggies, I kind of like keeping it simple to enjoy the fresh flavors. I usually steam or saute the veggies and season with garlic, salt and pepper. It's perfect. It's easy too. I'll give just a few highlights from the last week...

A while back, I made the black beans with chipotle sauce from V-con. We loved them, and I swore they'd become a regular on the menu. I finally just got around to making them again. They are so tasty and super-easy. I made Mexican millet (also from V-con) to go with them. I also steamed some kale, then tossed it with caramelized onion.



I also made a bean stir-fry one night using a couple of different varieties of beans. Yellow wax-beans and purple beans (unfortunately, they turn green when cooked). I made a light sauce for them using shoyu, brown sugar, a bit of Thai chili paste and a splash of water. I also steamed some chard and made a dressing of red wine vinegar, sugar and a couple of drops of liquid smoke. I thinly sliced some potatoes, blanched them, then fried them up with a chopped green pepper. OMG. They were so good! Let's see...I also made some baked chili-lime tofu that evening.



Tonight I made possibly the best pizza I've ever made before. It was a green pizza. I made the usual dough, of course, from VWaV. I topped it with pesto which I made from a bunch of fresh basil, some toasted pine-nuts, salt, a couple cloves of garlic, and a decent amount of olive oil. On top of the pesto, I added some zucchini slices which I had lightly pan-fried to soften them up. Also some onions which I also sauteed before using. Holy smokes. It was just off the hook. I'll probably make it every single week that we get CSA basil. It's seriously that good. Oh, and I'm totally convinced that pesto absolutely does not need parmesan cheese to be tasty.



Okay, now for that bit of advice I promised in the title...Never, ever, ever clean out the end of your immersion blender with your finger while the damn thing is plugged in. I did it while making the pesto, and somehow turned it on with my other hand. Of course, it sliced into my finger and then my finger was stuck between the blade and the inside of the mixer part for about 10 seconds before I managed to wiggle it out. It cut the f*#k out of my finger. Not very deep, but one of those "skin-flap" cuts. I've got a gash that's about an inch long, and I think it would lift up at least a half an inch of skin. I immediately ran it under water and applied forceful pressure until Sleek could get home with some bandaids. It's freaking sore. Really freaking sore. So, I'll never clean out my hand blender with my finger again. Maybe not even if it's unplugged.

Oh, and I made another batch of granola. This time I used hazelnuts and dried blueberries. It's the best yet!

Soup and Pizza (Again!)

Well, the kids asked for pizza again today. Since I had nearly everything I needed to make it, I indulged them. For the "grown-up" pizza, I used some fresh spinach, roasted red peppers and banana peppers. Since I left the cheese off my half, I made sure to put lots of sauce on it. YUM. Today we took the kids to see Horton Hears a Who, and that was lots of fun. We all enjoyed it.

Yesterday, I made a really nice soup. It was a leek, pea and broccoli soup from the Vegetarian cookbook. It also had some potatoes in it, which gave it a nice and creamy texture. It had no oil or dairy in it, so it was fat-free and loaded with veggies. It was seasoned with a bay leaf, fresh parsley, salt and pepper. The whole thing was pureed at the end. It was a lovely green color. So good!


Friday evening I attempted to make falafel. The recipe was also from Vegetarian. It was a recipe for bite-sized, deep-fried falafel nuggets. I wanted to make pan-fried patties. I don't know what went wrong, but I noticed the falafel mixture seemed awfully wet. I wasn't too sure what would happen. I formed it into patties and put it in the pan. It sort of fell apart. I managed to salvage two of the patties, and they crisped up nicely on the outside, but were complete mush inside. They tasted really, really good though. The rest of the patties sort of fell apart and weren't really edible. I definitely plan to try it again. Maybe I didn't drain my chickpeas enough? Maybe the recipe was strictly for deep-fried falafel nuggets? I don't know, but if anyone has any advice, I'd welcome it. (Oh, and once again, I forgot to take pics of this and the soup!)


Has anyone else noticed their grocery bill skyrocketing? Holy crap! I used to spend between $75 and $100/week. I can't get below $150 now! I feel like I'm not even buying as much as I used to. It's really frightening to me. If something doesn't change, this blog will become very boring. I'll have to change the name to: Chez Mama: How to Get Creative With Beans and Rice. I have a feeling the worst is yet to come. I don't know how people are going to manage. I'm glad we'll have the CSA this spring/summer. That will help for sure.

Lots of Cooking, Not Much Blogging

I haven't been using the computer much in the last several days. I managed to finish the Stephen King book late last week. Annelies has been home from school and sick since last Wednesday. I haven't really been feeling 100% myself. I have, however, done lots of cooking.

Let's see...I think last Wednesday evening I made some baked ziti. I actually used penne pasta because I couldn't find whole-wheat ziti. This time I also made my own sauce using crushed tomatos, Italian seasonings, salt and pepper. I mixed it up with a small container of ricotta, and topped it with some shredded mozzerella. That's always an easy dinner that the kids will actually eat. Of course, they wouldn't touch the sauteed spinach, garlic and onions that I made to go with it.



Thursday evening, I was really feeling like some good comfort food. I decided on homemade macaroni and cheese and some baked beans. I used this recipe from Ina Garten for the mac n' cheese. It's definitely an "Ina recipe". Not lacking in fat or deliciousness! It's pretty easy to make, and easily the best macaroni and cheese I've ever had. For my baked beans, I make them the way my Mom taught me. I use two large cans of Bush's Vegetarian baked beans. To those I add a jar of salsa, a can of rinsed kidney beans, ketchup, mustard and molasses. I bake them at 375 for two hours, covered. Then I remove the foil and bake them uncovered for another hour or so. They're very good, and super-easy.




On Saturday, I made a very labor-intensive meal of Curried Tofu in Coconut Sauce. (Thankfully, Sleek was in the kitchen helping me on that one!) I found the recipe in my mom's America's Test Kitchen cookbook. It was good, but like many of ATK's ethinc recipes, it slightly lacked flavor. It would've been much better with a little dab of Thai curry paste mixed in. I'll definitely do that next time. To go with it, I made the Cornmeal-Masala Roasted Brussel Sprouts from V-con. They were really different, and really good. I'll definitely make them again.



Last night, I made my best pizza yet. I can believe how it gets so much easier to stretch the dough each time I make it. I was getting everything ready, and realized I didn't have any sauce left. All I had was a large can of tomato puree, which I accidentally picked up instead of crushed tomatoes. I opened it and tasted it. It was horrible and flavor-less. I spiced it up with some garlic, Italian seasonings, salt and pepper. It actually may have been the best pizza sauce I've made. I'll definitely plan on using the tomato puree for pizza sauce in the future. I made the kids a cheese pizza, and for Sleek and myself, I topped it with fresh spinach and banana peppers. I left half of it cheese-less since I'm seriously trying to fit back into my jeans. :)


Sleek and I watched a fantastic movie on Saturday night. It's called Once. The soundtrack is unbelievable, and one of the songs won an Oscar for "Best song in a film". I highly recommend the movie. I've been listening to as much of the soundtrack as possible online, but Sleek purchased it from iTunes yesterday, so I've got the whole thing on my iPod now. Can't wait to give it a good listen today!

Pizza! Pizza!

A few months ago, our favorite brick-oven pizza shop/bakery closed it's doors. Sad, sad, sad. Since we all love pizza here (especially the kids), I decided it was time to try making it on my own. I found a dough recipe in VWaV (I swear I'm getting some new cookbooks soon!), and it looked really easy. So, I started yesterday afternoon since it had to rise for an hour and then rest for an hour. It was so easy! I was thinking, "Wow. If this turns out to actually taste good, we're going to be having pizza more often!"

I have to say, the hardest part was stretching the dough into a (sort-of) circle. The first one, which was for the kids, I shaped pretty well. They just like cheese on their pizza, so I made them their own. The next one, which is the one in the picture, didn't look quite as good.

I couldn't find a jarred sauce and Kroger that looked acceptable, so I was like, "Screw it, I'll make my own damn sauce!" I got a can of tomato sauce and tomato paste. I poured the sauce in a pot and added a couple scoops of paste, garlic powder, Italian seasoning, garlic powder, salt, etc. It turned out really nice, and I even had enough to freeze for my next pizzas. Sleek likes onions on his pizza, so I sauteed a red onion for his half. For my half, I had onion, cremini mushrooms and sun-dried tomatoes. I also went light on the cheese on my half. It was so good. I couldn't believe I'd made a pizza completely from scratch and it actually turned out great! Plus, I got to use my pizza stone, which I hadn't used for years. YEARS!

I didn't post last night, because I was busy watching the WVU game. Louisville gave us a game, that's for sure. We went from having a sizable lead to being tied near the end of the fourth quarter. The Mountaineers scored a touchdown with about two minutes left, and won the game 38-31.

The kiddos are going to the Grandparents' for the three day weekend. You all know what that means for Sleek and me? People! Get you minds out of the gutter! We've got a weekend full of decluttering/cleaning/home maintenence, of course!