Three Vegetarian Recipes

Although obviously not vegetarian, we do eat that way three or four times a week, most weeks. Last week we had three winners, at least one of which I had never made before (another one we couldn't remember for sure). So as part of today's triple-post, I give you:

• Portobello Mushroom Fajitas -- The only conceivable problem with these is the serving size. If you actually want this to feed more than two people who aren't very hungry, make some sidese! They were fantastic.
• Fried Rice with Broccoli and Eggs -- Doesn't get much more economical than this, and quite tasty as well. Could make a good lunch if you have a cooler.
• Stir-Fried Tofu with Mushrooms, Sugar Snap Peas, and Green Onions -- This is a recipe I probably make every couple of months (which for me is frequent!). There's not much too it, and it's so very good.

 Half a week's worth of wonderful vegetables right there!

Shopping, and Lemon Cheesecake Squares

The day after the party we decided to keep things low-key. While D and the kids went to church, mom and I went out to a garden center in Auburn (Teddy Bear Farms, they don't appear to have a web site), and spent most of an hour there, leisurely looking over their quite extensive selection. She made a couple of small purchases to take back to PA, and then we headed over to TJ Maxx, a store I regularly forget exists, even though several members of my cooking club work there. The problem is that I am not much of a shopper; I generally figure out that I need something, spend several months thinking about, and then go buy it online somewhere. Shopping as a sort of opportunistic, prospecting activity, where you go out without knowing what you'll find, is not something to which I am prepared to devote my scarce free time, and of course the whole point of TJ Maxx is not knowing what they'll have. I don't mind going with other people, though, and as it happened I did come across a few things I could justify buying. (They did have one lonely Le Crueset pot, but the enamel was chipped, so I passed it up.)

After lunch we went outside with the kids. L rode her bike a little bit more, and we blew bubbles, and did her favorite outdoor game: run across the yard towards me, so that I can scoop her up and twirl around until we're both dizzy. Have to enjoy these things while she's small enough for them! While JJ took his nap we played with her new LEGO set (after years of DUPLO those bricks seem tiny). And, because I can't let a day off go by without baking something apparently, and because my mom loves lemon and I hadn't made anything specially for her on this visit, I made Lemon Cheesecake Squares.

They are really easy, really lemony, and really good. I will be making them for my next party, assuming I ever get to have one (I was so looking forward to having a housewarming party... stupid sellers).

Happy Father's Day

Sorry for the loss of momentum here again--I've actually been working on writing, of all things, and might blog about that later. It seems that I can only keep two creative endeavors going at the same time without losing all headway elsewhere. Perhaps I need to schedule myself more.

But anyway, back to the food. Father's Day is one of those occasions when we lean on sexual stereotyping. The menu has to include meat, cooked in as primitive a fashion as possible. Since I didn't have a lot of time to think about it, this ended up being our menu:

• Ginger-Soy Grilled Steak. On the rare occasions I make steak, I love this recipe. It is ludicrously simple and very good.
• Ina Garten's French Potato Salad. My store had fingerlings, so I used those instead of the "new" potatoes, which are never new and that day looked particularly pathetic. I have abandoned her perverse-seeming instruction to cut up the potatoes after cooking them; it always seems to shred the skins, never mind what it does to my fingers!
• A green salad with dried cranberries and goat cheese
• Chocolate cake I've blogged before, with a simple and very sweet frosting from Martha.

It was a quiet day. Dave and his dad went off to the Higgins Armory for the afternoon, his mom played with the kids, and I watched some Torchwood.

Easter Saturday Menu

It was a celebration that almost didn't happen. Thursday night while D was at church, I called L to the table for her bedtime snack. "My tummy hurts," she informed me. "I need medicine." I was skeptical, gave her some gas drops, and ten minutes later, she barfed. It was a long night. By the end of the day Friday, however, she was doing better, so we decided to go ahead and have our Easter gathering--nothing big, just D's parents.

Since I didn't know until the day before that we were actually going to be having company, I cast about for inspiration and fortunately found some sitting on my desk, in the form of the not-yet-read issue of Bon Appetit. I've spent a lot of time lately trash-talking them, so I should put in a good word here; their recent issues seem to have resolved the layout and photography problems that just about had me ready to cancel my subscription, so I have hope that the overly-precious tone will follow. At the very least, they saved my behind for this holiday, since I was able to lift almost the entire menu.

Since we were planning to eat around 3 p.m., I made the menu's two appetizers as a sort of light lunch:

Mini Crab-Cakes -- Yummy, but I halved the recipe and didn't have quite as much crab as I really should have in the mix. I would make these again, with more attention to the proportions.
Asparagus and Mushroom Tarts -- Fabulous. Will definitely repeat these next time I have a good excuse, and guests who like mushrooms.

Instead of the lamb they suggested--I've never made it, and as it turned out my mother-in-law isn't really fond of it--I made a ham, but did serve the two sides they provided:

Garland of Spring Vegetables--Considering how simple this was, it was really, really good.
Saffon-Scented Couscous with Pine Nuts--Another easy standout.

For dessert, I once again went my own way. I had been thinking about this raspberry tiramisu-sort of thing, as a break after relatively heavy meal, but I had also been hankering after cheesecake lately, and I wanted to make something that would really stand out. So Double-Decker Raspberry and White Chocolate Cheesecake it was.

It was a wonderful meal, I think--one of the best I've done in a long time. We colored Easter eggs, the kids ran around a lot and got baskets of toys from their grandparents, and I managed not to stress myself out over anything at all for a change.



Sunday morning, L got out of bed and threw up again. But at least we had Saturday.

Three-Cheese Drop Biscuits

I made these to go along with the soup, and alone of the week's experiments, I will probably make these again. They are quick and easy enough to put together on a weeknight, and pretty darn tasty to boot. I would advise watching the amount of liquid carefully -- my biscuits spread out a great deal -- but even if they come out a bit flat they're perfectly yummy.

Three-Cheese Drop Biscuits

Moroccan-Style Vegetable Stew with Harissa Yogurt Sauce

Sometimes I don't even make it all the way through the first read of a recipe before I'm starting to make changes. "Blanching the root vegetables shortens the stew's cooking time." Um... right. Because the blanching doesn't take any time, and another pot? And I'm not making a special trip to some other store in hopes they have harissa when the recipe only wants a teaspoon.

See the recipe here

Those quibbles aside, we stay vegetarian on Fridays in Lent (mind you, we generally have at least a couple of meatless meals per week for no particular reason), and this recipe came in a recent magazine, and seemed ideal for a day I'd be working at home and had some time to fuss around.

This, in fact, turned out to be the case. A bit of chopping, a bit of simmering, and there was an appallingly healthy dinner. It was perfectly okay, but I'm not sure it's worthy of becoming a regular dish. I'll have to give it a bit of thought.

The most astonishing thing about the meal was that L did not have hysterics when faced with her bowl of "carrot stew." Instead she delicately removed and dissected a chickpea, ate it, then pushed her bowl away (she ended up eating raw baby carrots for dinner; at least she's getting a vegetable...). JJ, on the other hand, spent most of the time trying to unplug the telephone until finally I put him in the playpen, which he hates. He has a cold and is generally being a grumpy little guy in the evenings this week.

Trying to get back into the blogging thing....

Chicken in Red Wine Sauce with Root Vegetables and Wilted Greens (whew)

I mean, I get that it's not quite the same thing as coq au vin, but couldn't they come up with a shorter name? I forgot to take a picture, but there's one on epicurious, so you needn't feel bereft if you really need to know what this dish looks like. The important thing is that it tasted great for very, very little effort. Given that we were getting another storm on Wednesday, I was working at home. Threw the marinade together in the morning, started cooking around five, and had dinner ready a little after six. Other than L's meltdown at the sight of her plate, the meal was entirely successful.

Needless to say, I didn't make this exactly as written (do I ever?), but I don't think my changes were significant enough to write up. I served it with some corn bread (the recipe on the back of the canister), for which I have had a serious hankering lately. I suspect that what I really want is to make chili, but I didn't have the things on hand for that. Will probably make some this weekend.

I have started leaving the subjects off my sentences. Time to get off the blog and on to something else....

Chocolate-Peanut Butter Cookies

The first time I made these, a perpetually-dieting friend ate three and told me I was never allowed to make them again. I don't actually make them very often, in part because it is horribly easy to eat too many of them, and in part because I am iffy about peanut butter cookies generally, finding them somewhat dry. These definitely benefit from a cup of tea or glass of milk. Also, the recipe makes a ton of cookies, and one can get tired of them after a while, so make sure you have a good home in mind for them.

I got this recipe from Bon Appetit--the RSVP column, which attributes them to The Inn at Cedar Falls in Logan, OH--but the epicurious site doesn't appear to have it, so here it is:

2 1/2 c AP flour
3 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 c unsalted butter, room temp
1 1/4 c creamy peanut butter
1 c sugar
1 c brown sugar, packed
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 375F.
2. Whisk flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt together in a medium bowl to blend.
3. Beat butter, peanut butter, and both sugars in large bowl until well blended.
4. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
   
5. Add dry ingredients, and mix until just combined.
6. Stir in chocolate chips.
7. Form dough into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheets, spacing them 2 inches apart. Flatten with the back of a fork, making criss-cross pattern. (Note: This step is important if you don't want weird-looking little lumps instead of nice, shapely cookies.)
8. Bake until dry on top and golden brown on bottom, about 10 minutes. Transfer to racks and cool.