Try Some Cabbage?
Posted: February 23, 2011 Filed under: dinner | Tags: barn, cabbage, egg, homemade bread, mushrooms, stewed tomatoes, wedding 2 Comments »So I have never really been into cabbage. Well actually I don’t really eat it very much. It is just not a vegetable that jumps out at me in the produce aisle saying “eat me!” This past weekend I picked one up to try some bear braised cabbage I saw on KERF. I didn’t feel like looking up the recipe so I just winged it with some Sam Adams.
Cabbage may not photograph well, but it surely tasted good! It was slightly spicy raw and picks up flavor well.
In the braising pot:
- 1 small head of cabbage
- bbq sauce
- garlic powder
- splash of Sam Adams
- S&P
Along with my cabbage I had some sautéed mushrooms, a fried egg, stewed tomatoes and a slice of homemade whole wheat bread, which I found is 100x better with honey than molasses.
Random assortments for dinner seems to be the norm these days!
Nick and I are going to visit some wedding venues this weekend in PA. They seem to have more barns available than Maryland does. If you know of a nice rustic barn for rent in MD, please let me know!
I’m Engaged!
Posted: February 21, 2011 Filed under: Engagement | Tags: engagement, wedding 8 Comments »
After many years of dating Nick and I are finally getting MARRIED! We have talked about it for awhile, but I tried not to push him. Every time we saw family the question was, “So when are you guys getting married?” Well, now they can stop asking! We went hiking yesterday and stopped by the wooden bench above and Nick asked me to marry him.
I am excited to blog about this adventure. So far we know we want a SMALL as possible wedding in some sort of barn rustic location. Food is really important to me (obviously) and we want to keep the wedding as “green” as possible. More details to follow but for now we are going to enjoy each other until Nick has to get on the bus to NY.
N+H circa 2004.
Cooking Class
Posted: February 18, 2011 Filed under: baltimore | Tags: baltimore international college, cooking class, vegetarian 1 Comment »Happy Friday Everyone!
Friday Dance!
Yesterday was Nick’s Birthday, but because he is in NY we did not get to celebrate 
Instead I attended a vegetarian cooking class with his mom, which I got her for Christmas.
The Baltimore International College is a local cooking school that just started offering Food Enthusiast classes for the public.
We basically sat down, ran through each of the recipes, and got cooking!
We were in charge of the risotto with tapenade.
I finally learned how to make risotto! It takes a long time, but it is simple if you have patience, which I am working on…
My face was on fire with the broiler being right at head level, but I guess it is always hot in the kitchen.
Serving it up! See the red stuff??? That is rhubarb, we made a strawberry rhubarb crumble! One of my favorites!
Yummy, but I am so sensitive to sugar now. It is amazing because this had ~1 cup total sugar in it. For some reason I can still eat chocolate no problem.
While the crisp was in the oven we decided to try out had at making veggie sushi.
I put waaaay too much rice in my roll, but it was a lot easier than it looks ONCE you have the rice. The rice is key!
Two other highlights was the ragout for the gnocchi
and the canopy of grilled veggies and goat cheese
The group also made portabella mushroom burgers (I make a better one), goat cheese and onion torte 
Everything laid out.
I had a really good time, and it was really nice to talk to other people that have the same food views as you. We learned new knife skills and met some interesting people. My only complaint would be that it was a little unorganized and that there were just too many dishes being made at the same time. I also asked the chefs about working with seasonal ingredients and local farmers and they said they were working on that (I will take their word for it). – They are learning to be professionals and they will only go organic/local/sustainable if the market demands it, and it is.
I would sign up for another class in a few months once they work out the kinks.
Great Thursday night!
I Need To Have A Special Page For Lentil Recipes
Posted: February 15, 2011 Filed under: dinner, food, recipe | Tags: dinner, homemade bread, lentils, recipe 2 Comments »This afternoon I had to get 4 new tires…I knew I was due for new ones pretty soon, but after my Valentine’s blow out and actually seeing the tread indicators up close, it was time. I am spoiled and thank you mommy for my early birthday present of 4 new tires 
At least I knew I wouldn’t be spending any additional money on dinner. I don’t understand how people buy meals all the time throughout the week. Get organized and get meal planning people! $5 on lunch and $10 on dinner is more than I spend all week for 3 meals a day.
Tonight I started with lentils (love their little pellets of protein) and got to this!
Lentil Veggie Deliciousness! – 2 large dinner or 1 dinner two lunch
- 1/2 cup uncooked lentils
- 1 can no salt added fire roasted tomatoes
- 1/2 onion deiced
- 1 broccoli stalk – trees and steam! Slice the stem thing in this and you won’t waste what you paid for and you will get the nutrients!
- 1 clove garlic
- S&P to taste
- 3 sprigs fresh oregano – or a couple shakes dried
- 1 small bunch fresh parsley – or 1 TBSP dried
- 8 count basil leaves
- sprinkle of feta
- carbs of choice – I chose my latest brown bread and I think I will use WW pasta for the other two portions and make it a pasta sauce
- Cook 1/2 cup lentils in 1 cup water with dash of salt
- Sautee onion in EVOO until clear
- Add chopped and sliced broccoli until it turns slightly darker green
- add crushed garlic and can of tomatoes
- Add S&P and oregano
- Simmer for about 10min or until broccoli has reached desired tenderness
- Add lentils and remaining herbs
- Serve a main or as sauce on pasta and sprinkle on feta
Chow down and enjoy! I know this looks like a huge pile but there are lots of veggies thrown in there. I eat for volume and many bites so this is perfect!
“L” Is For The Way You Look At Me
Posted: February 14, 2011 Filed under: food, restaurant review | Tags: B-bistro, dorade, escargot, Kinects, lilies, valentines day Leave a comment »
HAPPY VALENTINE’S DAY!!!!!
I hope you are enjoying your day. It is super warm and windy here, and I kind of feel like Mary Poppins will fly in with her umbrella.
Nick and I celebrated V-Day this past weekend because he is in NY today.
Nick spent way too much money, but everything was perfect and reminded me why I love him. He might be clueless about a lot of things, but he also knows me really well 
He got me my favorite Lilies that smell amazing!
The stinky ones are just starting to come out!
He also got me the Dance Central game for the Kinect!
What is next to the game????
Homemade pb cups with 3 different choices – pb, coconut almond butter, pb and jam. I made them for Nick to go with his Limited addition Dogfish brews.
Inside the pb and jam cup. You can see that the ratio is off for chocolate to filling. The pb gets a little over powered by the chocolate making them super rich but still delicious!
After some afternoon chocolate and beer we headed out to dinner at our favorite place – B Bistro!
Nick always wants to try the snails when we are there, but I usually want to pass. Well, tonight was the night for snails! Oh I mean escargot…
Served on bib lettuce with wild mushrooms and a garlic brown butter sauce. All I have to say is you can make anything delicious with brown butter sauce. I really liked how they got the mushrooms and snails crispy in the butter. Nick really liked them too!
For our main dishes Nick went with his old stand by
Crispy duck. We don’t know how they get the duck so fall of the bone delicious but they cook the beans like baked beans but with duck fat instead of pork. It is really rich, but those beans are seriously delicious.
I went with something new on their menu.
Dorade (Rugge, please don’t tell me this is super over fished – I can’t find anything on the web saying their stocks are in trouble). It is about the size of a black sea bass and is also known as a sea bream. It was good, but kind of large and could have used some sort of lemon sauce on top for a little flavor pop other than the garlic pesto line. It also came with swiss chard cooked with pine nuts and golden raisins (yum!)
We can’t go out to dinner for Valentine’s Day without a little chocolate!
This is a chocolate molten cake with salted caramel and homemade ginger ice cream. I am usually all about the chocolate, but this ice cream was so delicious! I am going to have to try some of their other flavors now!
After dinner Nick and I went out for an after dinner drink and got treated to Godiva martinis by the bar. They were not overly sweet and tasted like Bailey’s, but don’t tell the Godiva rep that! Unfortunately we came out to the car to a seriously deflated tire that I did not realize until we were on the road. We were less than a mile from home so I just took it slow and made it to our driveway safely. Thank goodness AAA came first thing in the AM and that my spare is a full tire!
I was freaking out when the tire issue happened, but at least Nick was there and I wasn’t driving to work through the ghetto. Always have to put things in perspective.
I am going to get my orthotics today and I hope they help with my foot and knee! Bummed I won’t be spending the evening with N, but at least we had a memorable weekend and I can spend my V-day with my other love.
Miss. Sissypants.
LOVE.
Ginger + Soy
Posted: February 12, 2011 Filed under: food, recipe | Tags: dinner, ginger, millet, quinoa, recipe, soy sauce Leave a comment »Do have a ginger root and some soy sauce in your fridge right now??? Yes? Make this!
If you don’t have them, go get them.
You will be pleasantly surprised.
Ginger Soy Stir Fry – Makes 4 lunch or 2 dinner servings
- One big chunk of ginger
- 2 tbsp soy sauce
- squirt of hot chili sauce
- 1 small yellow onion
- 1 clove garlic
- 1tbs olive oil
- 1 head of cauliflower
- 1/2 box of mushrooms
- 2 cups fresh spinach
- 1/4 red quinoa
- 1/4 cup millet
- 3/4 cup water
- dash salt
- sprinkle of sesame seeds (optional)
- Slice and roast cauliflower for 20min while preparing the rest of the stir fry
- Cook millet and quinoa in water with a dash of salt
- Cook onion in olive oil until soft
- Add garlic and mushrooms
- once the mushrooms have cooked down add the spinach, ginger, chili sauce and soy sauce and mix
- throw in cauliflower and mixed together to coat all veggies – if you need to add a little more ginger or soy sauce feel free, just remember not to add any extra salt
- plate cooked millet/quinoa and top with stir fry mixture
- sprinkle with sesame seeds for a pretty touch
Chow down and enjoy! This was even better the day after once the sauce had soaked into all of the vegetables. I need to cook with ginger more often!
Happy Valentine’s Day Weekend!
Confessions
Posted: February 10, 2011 Filed under: Uncategorized 1 Comment »It was a particularly feisty day in the office and to get out some of my pent up annoyance I wrote down a bunch of things I basically want to scream.
- I used to eat meat at least 2 times a day – sandwich at lunch and a main part of my dinner
- I used to think vegetarians were weird
- I still think vegans are weird because I could never give up REAL cheese
- I think faux meat “patties, tenders, nuggets and strips” are an easy way out and gross
- I judge the top food bloggers on the sustainability/seasonality/localness of the food they make more than their recipe because they have such a large audience and could make such a change (and some of them really impress me!)
- I really want to change the way American’s think about food but I don’t know where to start in Baltimore
- I think everyone that cares about their own health and the health of their loved ones should see Food Inc
- I don’t expect everyone to change, just listen
- I really miss running – yes, I think about other things than the food system!
- I hope I can make my dreams come true
Something to make you think: Check out the difference sizes of these bananas. Don’t pay attention to color, just size. the lower one is a fair trade the top one is a regular Chiquita. What are they feeding the banana trees in Ecuador???? Sissy was curious.
Thanks for the banana Deb!
What Have You Been Up To?
Posted: February 7, 2011 Filed under: Everyday | Tags: almond butter, brussels sprouts, french toast, homemade bread, hummus, mushrooms melt 2 Comments »My weekend through food and flowers…no humans were involved.
Mushroom Melts revamped with caramelized onions and roasted brussels
Loaf #3 a little brown, but I used real yeast this time and had a pretty good rise!
Best Breakfast in a really long time…
MY bread made as french toast with farm egg, cinnamon, almond extract and milk.
Topped with grilled banana, almond butter, raspberry jam, buckwheat and chia seeds.
Tulips from Momma Beans! They remind of the ones in our front house when I was a kid.
Almond butters. I’ll take a large regular and a small COCONUT almond butter! Yep! Slap that stuff on dark chocolate and call me an Almond Joy!
Roasted red pepper hummus made from bulk-bin dry chickpeas
I was able to run for 10min today without feeling like someone was stabbing me in the knee…it was a good day!
Do You Eat Animals?
Posted: February 2, 2011 Filed under: family, health | Tags: Eating Animals, Foer, Oprah, vegan 2 Comments »In the wake of all this vegan hubub surrounding Oprah yesterday, it seems only fitting that I give my final thoughts on Eat Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer.
Like I said before I thought this book would only be about how bad you are if you eat animals, but it actually goes much deeper than that. These are my bullet thoughts.
- I think the idea that I struggle with the most is that my recent choice to only eat non-industrial meat is not “good enough” for Foer. He points out that these animals still go through things like branding and castration. How can he claim Pollan is wrong? I love him. Pollan was actually able to defend his choice on eating meat on Oprah and I agree that if we do not support “good” farmers only the factory farms will survive.
- I thought that he got a little too descriptive about the actually killing of animals but he does allow the reader to come to their own conclusions for the most part.
- I was alarmed at the environmental impacts and the rate at which factory farms have taken over the US landscape. This is why my grandparents cannot understand why I choose to eat organic. They grew up with a food system that was not an assembly line.
- I did not know that fish are treated just as poorly as chickens and pigs.
- It saddens me that Americans would rather eat crap meat because they feel it is their right and meat must be with every meal than save themselves and our planet. Thank you advertising! Eating meat has become the social norm in this country and it is spreading to the rest of the world.
- It was interesting to hear him compare eating his dog to eating a cow right off the bat. Why are they different? Because we give them human characteristics? The verdict is still out on that one.
- I think it is important to understand that we cannot make the world give up food so we need to educate and support small “happy” meat farmers who respect their herds and do not skin them alive (yes this is talked about in the book).
- The famous quote in the book is, “If nothing matters, there’s nothing to save” – His grandmother was speaking of keeping Kosher or starving, but to me this address how I feel about factory meat. Eating factory meat hurts my soul NOW, but if I don’t CARE about meat by not eating it and forgetting meat all together, why would I care about changing the ways animals are produced, raised, treated or slaughtered?
One thing that bothered me about Oprah, that some might turn to after reading this book is faux meat products. I don’t eat much of this or tofu because of the soy levels, but it seriously bothered me that she showed these products as being the only things to eat instead of going to beans, legumes and whole grains. These fake meats are full of nasty preservatives and Pollan mentions this in his Food Rules. Why would you want a chicken flavored soy burger, smashed into a patty shape and chard with fake grill marks anyway?
Check out Heather’s blog for more insight on the Oprah issues!
What is your opinion on veganism? I love cheese too much.
