My Most Favorite Salad Dressing

Smoosh the avocado into balsamic vinegar to taste, add salt.

Note:  There is only a before picture because it doesn't look as appetizing as it tastes.  I mean, it's basically a brown gross mess.  But SO DELICIOUS.

They make white balsamic, perhaps that would be a better choice.

Lovely Fresh Avocado!

And then you add vinegar...

And it ends up looking like rancid guacamole.  But tastes fantastic!

I Don't Like Kale Chips

Last weekend I realized that there are just some things that I don't get.  Not things that I don't like, per se, but things I don't understand.  This is distinct from things I don't think people should like - dumb things, or annoying things, or harmful things.  Or things that I find gross.  Or things that... anyway, the difference is that I kind of wish I could understand.  There is a special understanding that other people have with this thing, and I am a bit in awe of it, because it is incomprehensible.  I just don't get it.

Anyway, last weekend, it was Belle and Sebastian.  (Ok, that joke will land with like, 0.05% of the people who might stumble upon my blog, so if you were one of them, please enjoy it thoroughly.)

This weekend, it is Kale Chips.  No one will shut up about kale chips.  Everyone loves them.

But I don't get it.  It is just kale?  Dehydrated kale?  That's kind of crispy?

So I actually made some kale chips last night - a final shot to see what the fuss is about.  I was underwhelmed.  I ate them all, because I was taught not to waste your leafy greens, but I didn't really enjoy them.  I didn't think "wow, this is so cool."

It is just kale.  Dehydrated kale.  And I don't get it.

So next time I will do what I always do with kale... put it in anything.  That is the true beauty of kale - you can literally squeeze it in to every dish you're thinking of making, and it would improve the nutrition.  Maybe even the taste.

When looking at my brainstorm of upcoming dishes I'd like to make, the single thing on the list that I would not add kale to is Creme Brulee... which I probably won't even make.  (Mostly because I don't have a torch.  Or ramekins.  Actually, I might have 2 ramekins?  Maybe I should go for it.)  This means that I WOULD put it in:
Tacos
Corn Chowder
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Vegetable Broth
Salad

Those are the only things I'm thinking of making right now, otherwise the list would be longer.

(And for the record, Creme Brulee is ALWAYS on my "things I might feel like cooking this week" list, because it is pretty much the most delicious dessert I've ever had.)

Borscht for Lazy People

It's actually not that I've been lazy lately.  It's that I've been uninspired, even by my own genius.

But I made borscht, which is boring, and not blog-worthy.  I make borscht whenever I have beets - my favorite vegetable - and am too lazy to make risotto.  Except today I noticed something very not boring - even something very interesting - in my bowl.  Color!  I know - borscht is always 'colorful'.  It is magenta. (And it turns other things magenta!)  But this was color other than the typical deep magenta of beet soup.

There were little orange splashes of color swirling around amongst the other vegetable shreds.  How lively!  But, how did that happen?

I neglected to mention there are also beans.

So I thought about what it could be.  Two of the beets were white like radishes, could those have absorbed the persistent dye less vigorously?  Seems unlikely.  But one was golden - could that golden beet have resisted permeation by it's persistent relatives?  Also unlikely.

So I spent my lunch admiring the bright orange spots and trying to remember what I shredded in the food processor last night.  After chopping one onion I was ready for bed, so I pulled down the processor and sorted through the fridge, throwing more and more vegetables through the shredder.  First it was the beets - some golden, some white, peeled in advance.  And then I pulled out the green cabbage - cabbage is delicious, but also pretty passive.  It does not provide color.  Ever.  Although it is delicious in macaroni and cheese.  And I was going to add some greens but never got around to it (fine!  I admit it!  I'm lazy!) but I did go looking for zucchinis to make zucchini bread.  I didn't have any true zucchinis left though - just a big yellow summer squash, and two patty pans.  Those made it into the shredder too.  But yellow squash, green squash, any squash just turns magenta in borscht, right?

Except that those paddy pans.... those patty pans have that nice, waxy exterior.  Waxy... like... a coating.  A coating that wouldn't let in much external moisture.  Like beet dye in beet broth!  So that must be what is coloring my borscht - the nice waxy exterior of the paddy pan squash.  Frankly, I'm not a big fan of the paddy pan.  They're too cute.  I don't like cute food.  I like deeply flavored serious food.

But here, they're kind of nice.  There's something odd about borscht - how it is so colorful but monotonously so.  So bright!  But without variation.  So.  Boring.


** I updated to include a photo, because this is the 21st century and just describing color is not enough.  Also I figured I should include an actual recipe, since that's kind of the point of the blog.

Borscht for when you're feeling lazy.
In your largest soup pot...
heat 1 T olive oil over medium heat
Add:
1 medium onion, diced, cook until kind of mushy and translucent and starting to brown
Add:
8 shredded beets
1 huge shredded summer squasy
3 shredded patty pan squashes
1 medium head shredded cabbage
Add water to cover.  Bring to boil, simmer until delicious.
Add 6 cups cooked beans (or fewer, I really like beans)
Add one stalk of dill, a lot of salt, and cider vinegar to taste.

Makes enough to drown a baby... or at least dye the baby bright magenta temporarily.

Beet Risotto

This is probably not the first time I've blogged about beet risotto.  I love beet risotto!  I make it as often as I have fresh beets (it is rare I make anything else with beets).  I used to have a recipe - and recently someone sent me a new recipe - but why bother?  (I could insert a paragraph or two about how I am done following recipes - except as a reference tool - but I just had some memory flashes of precise recipe following: enchilada sauce and baked oatmeal - so I'll wait.)

In any case, I make beet risotto differently every time.  And this time was especially delightful.

Boil 2 cups of water.  Pour over 1 cup brown rice.  Leave to sit while you go for a run.  (Or at least an hour.)

Stem and peel five small beets, reserving stalks and leaves.  Cut the larger ones into quarters, and steam until soft (pierced easily with fork.)  You could also roast them, but I'm trying to minimize the amount of time my oven is on over the summer, as it works double as a heater.

Heat 1 T olive oil, add half a head of chopped garlic.  When it is about to turn brown, throw in the drained brown rice.  Saute for a minute, then add 1/2 a cup of... white wine is what you should use but I didn't have any so used white wine vinegar.  I was very nervous about this decision, but it turned out alright.  I mean, it turned out fantastic.  I normally add acid towards the end, not the beginning (I understand acids stop some vegetables from continuing to cook - I've particularly observed it with onions - but I decided it was worth the risk.  Anyway, I recommend using wine instead of wine vinegar... but this is delicious so who knows?)

As soon as you drain the brown rice, you should throw some vegetable broth in that pan, heat it, and keep it hot.  I think I probably used about 2 and a half cups.  Maybe less.

Once the vinegar has absorbed into the rice, add about a half cup of vegetable broth, stir, and let the rice absorb it while you trim the beet stems.  I used about 5 medium chard leaves as well, so took the stems from the chard and the beets and cut them into bite-size pieces, and added them with probably the third 1/2 cup of broth.

Mince basil and oregano - about 3 T total - and add that to the cooking rice.

Rinse and drain the chard leaves, beet leaves, and a cup or so of spinach.  Take about a third at a time, roll them up, and slice down the roll, to get nice long 1/2 inch strips.  When the rice is tender enough, add the steamed beets and greens to the mixture and stir.  Add a bit more veg broth, and then cover and simmer.  When you remove the cover your greens will magically not overwhelm your pan!

The most delicious part happens now:  add 1/2 cup of the most delicious aged cheddar cheese you can find. I had some hiding in the freezer that I defrosted, and it crumbled as I sliced it, no shredding necessary.

Season generously with black pepper.  I recommend waiting for it to cool before devouring, but I think I burnt my tongue.  Also, after packaging up today's lunch, I got out the rubber spatula and licked the wok clean.  It was that good.

My risotto was actually a little soupy, because I probably added too much veg broth at the end.  But, as noted everywhere, I love soup.

Oh, and a final note:  The liquid in the bottom of the beet steaming pot, mixed with the leftover vegetable broth, made for a tasty warm beverage to tide me over until the risotto was complete.

What's Ahead:

• I pulled the enchilada sauce out of the freezer this morning - all that is leftover from last week's farm share is oregano, cilantro and green onions.  And I'm getting avocados tomorrow!
• This week is the first week of my biweekly Fruit Share.  (This is where I'm getting the avocadoes.)
• I have no idea what I'll eat for dinner, as I have no vegetables left, except maybe a little bit of salad.  This is incredibly exciting.

Tofu and Greens

As promised.  I feel really good about this week's farm share!  I'll get through most of the lettuce and arugula today, and all I have left are the beets & greens, some herbs, chard, and a bit of spinach.  Which means I'll make beet risotto tonight, and have just a few herbs leftover.  I am going to be ready for my new box on Saturday morning!  I feel especially good because I didn't pick this box up until Monday evening, so I'm really a few days ahead.

It later occurred to me that this should probably be served on a grain (like brown rice, or maybe quinoa) but it was way too late for that.  I'm serving with lettuce and arugula... since that's what I've got

For the Wok:
1 T olive oil
1 package firm tofu, frozen, thawed, drained, and cut into cubes
2 T tamari (for the tofu, you'll need more for the sauce)
4 cloves garlic
1 t red pepper flakes
1 huge bunch (2 lbs) Tatsoi (or Bok Choy, they're apparently very similar)  - separate the white stems from the greens, and chop the stems into bite size pieces.  You should also chop the greens, but keep them separate (they cook at different speeds)
3/4 lb spinach

For the Sauce:
1 T sesame oil
2 T peanut butter
1 T brown rice vinegar

Sauce - which is doubling as salad dressing today.

To throw on top:
1/2 c chopped cilantro
1/2 c chopped green onions

Heat the oil, toss the tofu in the soy sauce (frozen-thawed tofu soaks it up in seconds).  Let it sit and brown, toss it, let it sit in brown.  (I chopped the white parts of the tatsoi while it browned.)  Add the garlic and the pepper flakes, stir a minute, add the white parts of the tatsoi.
Clean and chop the green parts of the tatsoi, add them.  Do the same with the spinach.  (Spinach wilts faster than other greens so I added it last.)
Turn off the heat when you add the last of the spinach, stir, and cover.
Whisk together the sauce ingredients, and poor over and stir into the greens and tofu.
Add cilantro and onions.
Be amazed at how little food you got out of so much vegetable!

Pasta with Lentils and Herbs

I have a whole bag of arugula, which normally I might use as a salad green, but, well, I have plenty of salad greens.  Arugula has in the last year or two become one of my favorite pizza toppings - fresh arugula on top of a thin crust cheese pizza is incredibly delicious.  I was thinking of this as I biked home after my run and decided to use it as more of an herb rather than a salad green.  So I got home, started the pasta water and the lentils to cook separately, and then heated some olive oil and washed and chopped the herbs together.  The result was completely satisfying.

I do think a sundried tomato or something from the olive bar would compliment nicely here.  Or perhaps I could've used more arugula.  I just didn't want to overwhelm the flavor too much.   But now I have leftover arugula to use, with an already overwhelming mess of salad greens!

Ingredients:

4 T olive oil
6 cloves garlic
1/2 t pepper flakes
6 T fresh basil
4 T fresh oregano
2 c fresh arugula

1/2 c red lentils

4 oz whole wheat spaghetti

Directions:
Cook red lentils in 1 c of water until they're done, cook pasta according to package instructions.  Meanwhile, chop garlic, heat olive oil, wash and chop herbs.  When oil is hot, add garlic, then add herbs and pepper flakes.  Cook until it smells incredibly fragrant and the leaves are a little wilted, mix everything together, and season with salt and pepper to taste.

Makes enough for dinner and the next day's lunch.

Tonight I will finally make the tofu and greens I've been imagining for the last few days (spinach, tatsoi, chard - you name it, I've got it... although I'll save some for the beet risotto that will come later this week.)  It was my intention to cook delicious greens last night, but after my run I was craving carbs.

Life Makes Sense Again! Subtitle: Spring Means Salads.

As I unpacked my first farmshare box of the season last night... well, let's just say I'm glad no one was there to see how excited I got about various vegetables.  And... I suddenly felt like life made sense again.  This box contains normalcy, and happiness, and hours of delightful cooking and thinking about cooking and eating.  It is a very exciting time for me.

Most people I know who have tried a CSA but haven't kept it up give the same reason: they like having fresh local produce, but they want a choice in what the produce is.  I respect this opinion, but I do not understand it.  All winter long, I've been going to the grocery store and just staring at the produce aisle blankly.  What do I want?  I have no idea!  I want variety!  I want to have interesting things thrust at me so that I am forced to creatively use them!  Also, the produce aisle just does not interest me anymore.  (This reflection actually makes me a bit sad, because just a couple of years ago I would've named the produce aisle of any grocery store a comforting sight - "What peaches and what penumbras!" - although I suppose now I get that feeling from looking at growing vegetables?)

In any case, as it is spring, and I received three heads of lettuce, a bag of arugula, and a lb of fresh spinach... the natural first step was to make salad.

Before I ate lunch, this container held less than half of the 3 heads of lettuce I acquired.  Salads with every meal!!

here's what's in it:
3 heads lettuce, double washed and torn
1 bunch radishes, sliced
1/2 c almonds, sliced
one head broccoli (I still can't spell this word!), broken up
5 carrots, sliced
1 bunch green onions, chopped

I would've added beans for protein, but I got home so late from picking it up (and holding a tiny baby!) that I didn't bother - I usually cook beans in my slow cooker, and the freezer was empty of cooked ones.  That's when the almonds came in.  The spiciness of the radishes as well as my general propensity to have green onions with Asian food - especially peanut noodles - as well as my desire to add a bit more protein to this mess, inspired the following dressing (amounts are approximate) which I'm head-over-heels in love with:

1/2 c natural peanut butter
1/4 c organic brown rice vinegar
2 T sesame oil
1 t cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1/4 t salt

Berbere Lentil Quinoa Soup

I do not know how to pronounce Berbere - I always say it exactly like I say "Burberry", and I then I imagine people think I'm talking about fashion instead of spices.  But that's ridiculous - spices are way more interesting than fashion.  Anyway, Berbere is an Ethiopian spice mixture heavily reliant on chiles, and it is what makes my favorite Ethiopian dish - Massir Wat - so delicious.  I tend to buy specialty spices either from Penzey's or the Savory Spice Shop, and one of those places makes a Berbere mix that is... well, not that great.  If I want Massir Wat, my own concoctions with this spice mixture are unsatisfying and I end up ordering take-out instead.  Not just because I refuse to make Injera, but because this spice mixture lacks complexity.  That being said, it is delicious... if you don't know what Berbere is supposed to taste like.

Yesterday I sort of knew what I was planning to do - some vegetables, some canned tomatoes, red lentils and quinoa, and spices.  I thought I'd choose a bunch of cumin and chile peppers with a little oregano, which always comes out delicious, but while rummaging for these spices, I found the Berbere jar, and thought - hey, why not?  It's not like I'm going to use it to make Massir Wat.  

So this recipe emerged.  I must say the cilantro compliments the spice nicely, and adjusts the flavor so that it is not trying to be Ethiopian food, it is just something delicious.  As for the texture - I love a thick, chunky soup.  Although sometimes a thin broth is appealing, there is something satisfying about a thick coated spoonful.  Red lentils are a great addition to soups because of their thickening effect.  I've tried Chili recipes that call for TVP, but TVP is unsatisfying in both texture and flavor.  The Quinoa/Lentil combination here is perfect.

Now, for a final word on Berbere:  You probably could get by with some garam masala or curry powder and chile powder...  Or you could google a recipe for Berbere and make it from scratch.  It will probably be more satisfying than this mixture I have.  The key, though, is to add a lot of spice.  It is much more difficult to overspice than underspice this food.

olive oil

1/2 red onion

green bell pepper

1/2 head garlic

1/4-1/3 c Berbere spice mixture, or similar

1 can diced tomatoes

1 can tomato sauce

4 c water (or more)

1 c quinoa, rinsed

1 c red lentils, rinsed

2 zucchini

salt to taste

1 bunch cilantro, chopped fine

Heat olive oil, cook onions, peppers and garlic until soft and browning.  Add spice, cook a bit, then add tomatoes and sauce and water.  Stir, bring to a boil, then add lentils and quinoa, cook about ten minutes, then add chopped zucchini.  Cook five more minutes, or until soup is thick, lentils have largely disappeared into mush, and quinoa is soft.  Turn off heat, stir in cilantro, and salt to taste.

Vegetarian Meatballs

This recipe actually defies most of my general eating habits - on my own, I don't eat that many eggs.  Or any cottage cheese.  And although I do love a nice sharp cheddar, it is what the Cookie Monster would call 'A Sometimes Food'.  (You should actually google "Cookies are a Sometimes Food" right now, it is hilarious.)

However, my nursing sister loves these things, because they are delicious, and she probably needs to consume 3000 calories a day, so I made a double batch for her.  (You can see the picture of me making them on her blog.)  Actually, she did most of the work, throwing bread and nuts and cheese in the food processor.  I just had to crack the eggs and get my hands dirty.  Most of them went into the freezer, but we had some for dinner with barbecue sauce, so I can attest to their deliciousness.

For a single batch:

4 eggs
1 c shredded cheddar
1/2 c cottage cheese
1/2 c finely chopped onion (food processor)
1 c finely chopped pecans
1 t dried basil (we omitted, I think I added parsley instead, as I couldn't find basil, because I didn't know where the garden was)
1 1/2 t salt
1/4 t sage
2 c bread crumbs

Mix, shape into balls (about a dozen), bake at 350 for about a half hour.  I would grease the pan with some olive oil or bake on parchment paper because they stuck to the pan.  The original recipe calls for a sauce to be made that is poured over the meatballs and a longer baking time.  We have never used the sauce, so I reduced the baking time so they don't get too crispy.  But they are good crispy.

Lentils and Quinoa and vegetables

Yesterday my cousins presented me a fairly easy challenge - gluten-free vegan dish that serves 8 people.  This is what came out.  It was delicious and well-received, but still, I have enough leftovers for the rest of the week.  Which is fine by me (and possibly also my co-workers).

Susan had asked me if I wanted to make dinner togethe

I do think that over the last year or two, my palate has been refined for a mostly-fresh-vegetable fairly vegan diet.  I enjoy the vegetables that flavor this dish, not the seasoning thaf flavors in this dish.  I can taste the cauliflower and lentils and cabbage and parsley.  There is no overwhelming cumin or vinegar or sesame flavor, just quiet, subtle hints that build upon the flavor of the whole ingredients.

Anyway.  Here's how it went:

-at about 11 am I called Peter in response to his text message about dinner, stating that Quinoa as a gluten-free main dish was probably adequate, and that I would put some beans in the slow-cooker so that we could add them for additional/complete proteins.  Then, at 2 pm, I realized I had never put beans in the slow-cooker and was out of time to cook them properly.  So I went to look for some nice French green lentils I thought I had - which are perfect for pilafs like this because they are very firm, and don't mush up into dal quickly (like a red lentil) or eventually (like a brown lentil.)  I proceeded to only find brown and red lentils, and settled on brown.  I put them in the slow cooker, turned it on, and forgot about it until the smell reached me on the couch about an hour later.  This actually proved my theory: the moment something smells done, it is done.  I immediately worried I'd over cook the lentils, removed them the heat, rinsed them in cold water to stop the cooking, and then stored them in the freezer for good measure.  They were cooked perfectly.

The rest of the meal was cooked at my cousins' house.  We chopped up a whole cabbage (Mariann used the Vitamix for this), a whole head of cauliflower, two leeks, and rainbow chard.  I meant to use garlic but forgot.  In the end, there were so many vegetables that I couldn't saute them as planned, I simply put them in the huge cast iron frying pan and added some water and steamed them - they all cooked perfectly.  I also cooked an entire bag of quinoa, and stemmed a bunch of parsley.  Then it was time to mix.  And Season.  This was the challenging part.  It ended up being about a teaspoon of cumin, a few tablespoons of Ume Plum Vinegar (which isn't very acidic and is very salty), a few tablespoons of sesame oil, and a little salt.  I was adding the salt probably too slowly for that side of the family.

There will be pictures after I run off to swim - I left my phone in the car.

The leftovers are prettier because the red chard bled into the rest of the dish, providing a little more color.

Red Chile Sauce

Hello, mom.  Please replace the freezer's enchilada supply while in California.

SAUCE:

olive oil

2 large onions

a head of garlic

1 can chipotle chile in adobo sauce - i would just use the hand mixer to blend it all up, but they don't have one, so maybe use the food processor.

a few teaspoons shiitake mushroom powder (it's in the cabinet but might not be labled)

1/4 c chili powder

2 T cumin

1 T + 1 t coriander

2 t oregano

4 c tomato sauce (or diced tomatoes)

3 c water

1/4 c lime juice

Cook the onions, add the garlic, until everything is very soft.  Add the spices and the can of chipotles, stir for about two minutes, then add tomato sauce and water and cook to let the flavors develop.  Remove from heat and stir in lime juice, to taste.  It might need a little soy sauce.

TO MAKE ENCHILADAS:

Each corn tortilla should be dipped in sauce (both sides covered).  I did lasagna style - a tortilla layer then a filling layer then a tortilla layer, and if there were more fillings, then more layers.  

Sometimes I pre-cooked the vegetables, sometimes I didn't, sometimes I added a bit of seasoning, but usually not much - just a bit of cumin or oregano.

I meant to sprinkle some shredded cheddar on the tops, but I think I mostly forgot.

Baby Prep

Over the Presidents' Day long weekend, I took some extra days and traveled to California to fill my sister's freezer with goodies before the baby arrived.  (In between me departing her house and writing this post, Brock arrived, which means they can attest to the deliciousness of this food, because they're finally allowed to start eating it.)

I'm not going to log everything made, but it is past time I provide some pictures of food.

First up was the enchilada sauce - this picture tries to convey the general height of the spices added to the sauce.

That's a lot of spice.

The various enchilada/lasagna fillings were prepared before assembly - carrots, onions, tofu/cottage cheese 'ricotta', spinach, kale, leeks, beans, zucchini -- there were a lot of options, and almost all of them made it into one dish or another.    I don't even know how many pans of enchiladas were made, I just know that the freezer was full, and a couple of leftover ingredients made a delicious soup.

Millet 'polenta', with sun-dried tomato pesto 'frosting'.  I cut them into bars and froze them on this pan before moving them to smaller bags (so there was more space for other deliciousness in the freezer.)

Vegetarian Meatballs - sorry the pic is crooked.  I guess they look delicious either way.  I had never before encountered such a delicious recipe for vegetarian meatballs.  I didn't know such a thing existed.  They're fantastic.

Raw Vegan Snickers Bars - this is actually the pan that I made in Chicago the weekend before I traveled, but I also made some for her.  

Tortilla Soup

The pattern is this:  I cook a huge pot of something at home - way more food than I intended or could possibly consume - and then I bring it to work and try and force it upon others.  But this time, I am keeping all of the delicious soup to myself.  If I could only eat one soup for the rest of my life, it would be this.  Which is saying a lot - this is a blog of my favorite food:  soup.

For the Soup:
4 small onions, chopped fine
4 cloves garlic
a couple of dried chili peppers, ground to powder
2 dried shiitake mushrooms, ground to powder
3 serrano peppers, seeded and diced
1 small eggplant, peeled and chopped
2 large zucchini, peeled and chopped
2 T cumin (or to taste)
4 cups cherry tomatoes, halved, sprayed with olive oil, and roasted in a 350 oven for about an hour (until completely wilted and some browning has occured)
1 can diced tomatoes
1 bunch cilantro
1/2 c dried black beans, cooked
soy sauce, to taste


Cook the onions in olive oil over low heat while you chop the vegetables, they should be well-cooked (getting on to carmelized) but not too brown.  add garlic, eggplant, peppers, zucchini.  Add spices - the cumin and chili peppers and mushroom powder.  Oregano might also be good.  Add water and tomatoes, bring to boil, simmer until vegetables are falling apart.  Add beans, add cilantro, add soy sauce (but not too much, especially if you're adding a salty garnish.)

I thought it would need lime juice (but forgot to buy limes), but even without the yogurt (which is a sub for sour cream) it was perfect.

Pictures forthcoming.

TOPPINGS:
tostadas, broken
Cilantro Cream:  Combine 1 cup yogurt with one bunch cilantro and 5 green onions and several cloves garlic in food processor, blend until smooth

Peanut Slaw

I started dreaming about this at work today, because there was a mostly-gone jar of peanut butter on my desk, but I'd neglected to bring anything to slather it on.  I had some pretzels, but I wanted something fresh - an apple, some celery, a banana.  I started dreaming of the bananas I had at home, and then started thinking about other foods I had at home, including a whole large head of green cabbage.

This recipe isn't pretty - if I was serving to anyone, I would have to add something additional - perhaps a carrot, or some red cabbage, maybe some of those pretty pink radishes I had in my farm share recently.  But I don't really care what it looks like, because it tastes perfect - exactly how I thought it would.

1 large head cabbage, shredded
3 T natural peanut butter
2 T rice vinegar
1 T soy sauce
1 T sesame oil
4 T sesame seeds
cayenne to taste

Whisk together the peanut butter, vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil.  When smooth, spoon over about a third of the cabbage and toss until well blended.  Add the next third and toss, and finally the last third with the sesame seeds.  Season with cayenne until the spiciness suits you.

I would post a picture, but I'm too busy eating.

Oatmeal Cookies

I've been using this oatmeal cookie recipe from 101cookbooks, and will continue to use it.  The cookies are delicious and light.  It was painless to make them gluten-free for a friend - you didn't even notice the difference, but beyond that, they were supreme.  I made one batch exactly as is, and then I immediately made a second batch with chocolate chips instead of fennel and poppyseed.  Then I spent the next week fantasizing about them, and so made another batch over the weekend.  This time I reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup, and I think I forgot baking soda.  They were still amazing. I've already committed to bringing them to a Superbowl party next weekend.  (I don't know who is playing, because football season has been over since late Saturday, January 12th!  But I hear women like the commercials, so maybe I'll try that.)

When it comes to cooking, I never really follow a recipe - it goes like this:  Substitute here and there, adjust cooking time, adjust cooking style... remove ingredient I don't have, add four other ingredients.

Baking is supposed to be different.  But these cookies are delicate, melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness, almost like a soft, delicate meringue.

Vegetable Stew.

I don't like this picture because the broth looks super oily and it's really not.  I think the shine is in part from using a cornstarch-like thickening agent.

A few weeks ago I tricked myself into thinking I needed a dutch oven, and I am very glad I did.  (I made delicious vegetarian chili, a recipe I will someday share.)  This stew dish, which was inspired by something my parents used to feed me, would not have been as delicious if it wasn't made in my cast iron dutch oven.  I mean, it would probably still be delicious.

Beef Stew recipes all call for red wine, but I only drink red wine on family occasions when everyone else is drinking it, so I had none, as well as no inclination to get some.  Instead, I used balsamic vinegar and vegetable broth, and I can't imagine this being more delicious.

Like I said, my parents used to make beef stew, using a pressure cooker (a piece of equipment I have, so far, lived without.)  They would brown beef, add stewing vegetables (usually carrots potatoes and ALWAYS rutabaga - it is not the same without rutabaga) and then pressure cook until done.  I like to imagine that at the end of the meal I had eaten everything but the beef, but that probably isn't true.  (Although I swear on Thanksgiving all that would be left on my plate was turkey.)  When I bought a 3 lb sack of 'stew vegetables' from the local organic produce delivery service, I remembered back to those days of moist and incredibly flavorful vegetables, and this dish does not disappoint.

As far as I can remember, we didn't really have gravy with this meal - the vegetables were not dry, but I remember seasoning with Lawry's seasoned salt.  Today I used copious amounts of Penzey's special seasoned sea salt.  In any case, my version has a lot of juice, and is thickened to form a bit of gravy that can be sopped up with some bread.

In future renderings, I would cook the seitan first in the dutch oven, then remove it and use less oil to brown the onions.

9 oz onion
5 oz parsnip
1 1/4 lb carrots
1/2 lb rutabaga
3/r lb radishes (some red, some white)
2 T balsamic vinegar
2 t fresh thyme
1 t hot pepper flakes
1 T Annie's worcestershire sauce (its my favorite veg brand)
2 c vegetable broth
1 c chopped tomatoes
6 oz seitan
2 T olive oil

cornstarch, flour, arrowroot, or other thickener, as needed for your desired broth consistency.

I heated 1 T of olive oil and softened the onions, than added the very roughly chopped vegetables in the above order, as I roughly chopped them.  While this cooked, I dug through my freezer to procure vegetable broth and tomatoes.  I deglazed the pan a bit with the vinegar and worcestershire, and then added the broth and tomatoes.  As soon as the ice crystals were melted, I stirred, covered, and baked in a 400 degree oven for about a half hour, until the very large-cut carrots and rutabagas were soft but not falling apart.

While baking, I sliced the seitan bite-sized and fried in olive oil, sprinkled with a bit of seasoned salt (this seitan had no salt added), and set it aside.

I ended up taking a cup of delicious tangy broth from the stew, and heating it in a saucepan.  I mixed 2 T of Wondra (superfine white flour) with 1/4 c cold water, and then stirred it into the boiling broth, cooking and stirring for about a minute, than pouring back into the dutch oven, with the cooked seitan.

Yum.

Lentils and Rice with caraway and cumin

As usual, I forgot to take a picture until the bowl was almost empty.

I ordered a bunch of vegetables from my local organic foods sourced-from-farms delivery service, and they are set to arrive tomorrow, so last night I opened the fridge and kind of freaked out about how many vegetables I had to eat in 48 hours.  So far, I am totally on track to finish them, because this dish is so damn delicious.

This recipe is a complete accident.  I thought I would flavor red lentils and brown rice with cumin and lemon.  But upon reaching into the cabinet, I pulled out and poured about a tablespoon of caraway seed into the dish before I realized I'd grabbed the wrong jar.  This caused me to immediately forgot about lemon, not to remember until after I'd eaten my first serving, at which point I had already concluded that this was the most perfect dish in the entire world.  I continued to look for cumin seed, eventually settling on ground cumin.  But I did add some black onion seed, which is sometimes called 'black caraway seed'.  I figured the combination would be great.  I was right.

1 c brown rice
1 T olive oil
1/2 large yellow onion
10 cloves garlic
1 T caraway seed
1 T black onion seed
1 t cumin
1 t hot pepper flakes
4 stalks celery, chopped small
3 large carrots, chopped small
1 green pepper, chopped small
1/2 c red lentils
1 t vegetable bouillon

Cook brown rice in 3 cups water until near tender, drain.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil, and cook yellow onion, adding garlic when it is almost translucent and cooking another few minutes.  Add spices.  Stir in the rest of the vegetables and cook until starting to brown.  Add the lentils, bouillon, and 2 cups water.  Cook until vegetables until tender, add rice and simmer until flavors are combined.