A Couple of Meals from this week

One night we had Black Bean Cakes with Chipotle Cream with Green Rice as a side. I make the rice and then add Smart Balance, salt, juice of half a lime, and lots of chopped cilantro and green onions. The bean cakes are yummy, and I always make double and freeze half.


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One night we had CatDogs with Chips and Spicy Asian Slaw. I didn't have any poboy buns for Catfish, but I had leftover hot dog buns - so it's a Cat Dog! The Spicy Asian Slaw is one of my favorites. I play with the dressing all the time. This time I added red pepper flakes and Chili Garlic Sauce.


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Monday

Our non-stick Calphalon cookware that we got when we got married has finally gone kaput. The coating is coming off - especially on the 12" skillet, which is my favorite piece. It needed to go.


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I did lots of research, and decided that we needed to invest in a high-quality piece that would be a workhorse for me. I chose to do stainless this time, and I think I'll also add a cheap cast-iron skillet and lid for some different options. This is the piece I invested in today. When I told the lady at Williams-Sonoma which one I wanted, she said..."Isn't she a beauty?" She is - and she'd better be ready to earn her keep.

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The first meal that I made in the new pan was Stuffed Eggplant. After buying some past-its-prime eggplant at Kroger last week, I got these beauties today at Wal-Mart.

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It required lots of chopping for all the veggies in the stuffing. I used these veggies (garlic, yellow onion, celery, scallions, zucchini, parsley, creminis) plus most of the eggplant that had been scooped out.


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Since this wasn't a professionally produced recipe, I realized at the end that it needs tomato paste...which wasn't in the ingredients list. I dug this out of the back of the pantry, and it wasn't expired - score!

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Somehow I deleted the beautiful picture of the veggies cooking in the new pot. :( But, anyway, I stuffed the eggplant skins and baked. I added some Parm-Regg during the last five minutes instead of the breadcrumbs it calls for.

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I served with hot bread and Quinoa Pilaf from the Central Market bulk bins. This was our first time to try Quinoa, and I thought it was yummy and had a great flavor and unique texture.

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Last Week

Last week was crazy busy, and then only meal I got pictures of was our Lentil Sloppy Joes. I used the CL BBQ Baked Lentils recipe and served with slaw on a bun. I also made CL Cheese Fries, and those were outstanding! I give the Sloppy Joe a 7 and the Fries a 10!


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Henry B'Ster is a big fan of the Lentils!

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Lunch Assembly Line

Nothing too exciting here...the first couple of days of this week are going to be busy with two dentist appointments, preschool open house at night, preparing for a friend's baby shower, etc. We decided to grill some chicken and portabellas for supper tonight. Then I cleaned out the fridge to see what I could find to make wraps and a Leo Lunch. I found...

Shredded cabbage, hummus, feta, pesto...

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Tomatoes, cucumbers, onions, and seasonings...

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Todd's are chicken and hummus (picture mine the same except pesto and portabella.)

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And a Leo lunch...

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Pizza Night!

Tonight was pizza night. I decided to add Rosemary to the crust - it was yummy.


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For the sauce, I used Pesto and the "secret kick"...a little Chili Garlic Sauce. Don't tell anyone.

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Tonight I decided to do a variation of this recipe for a Spinach, Feta, and Artichoke Pizza. I changed parmesan for Fontina and used green olives. So, it was topped with a mixture of spinach, artichokes, green olives, red onions, garlic, fontina, feta, and tomatoes.

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It was yummy, yummy, yummy - the toppings were very filling. I don't think anyone missed the meat. I still don't think the crust was as good as the first time I ever made a homemade crust - is that just a romantic memory? I don't know. :)

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Favorite Falafel

Last night was falafel night - one of our favorites. Southwestern Falafel with Avocado Spread was in last month's anniversary edition of Cooking Light as their best vegetarian recipe ever, so I felt very superior since it is already one of our staples.

For the last month, I have been trying to make one bean favorite during the week. Each time, I made a double batch and froze half. After a month of this, I have enough to now use them one night each week for a month - almost like a night off. So, for this falafel, I just pulled the frozen patties out of the freezer and threw together the avocado spread - very nice.

Avocado spread (avocado, sour cream, red onion, lime juice, salt, etc.) with plastic wrap on the surface so it won't brown:

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The falafel:

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The finished product - Yummy!:

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Fancy Mushrooms

For some reason, fancy mushrooms are really cheap at the big Asian Market by our house as compared to the normal grocery stores. I made an old favorite - Wild Mushroom Pasta (no cream soup ;)) last night. I used high fiber rotini instead of the Farfalle that it calls for, and I doubled the amount of mushrooms and onions. The mushrooms were Shitake, Oyster, and two that I can't remember now.


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I made Todd's leftover lunch in this new container I found at Albertson's. Showed it to him twice, and he saw me packing his lunch in it. But, apparently Leo's looked better. I wish I had a picture, but I guess Todd decided he would rather have dogbone sandwiches, wagon wheel pasta, and animal crackers for lunch. lol. So I guess Mommy will get to enjoy this feast today.


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