fall back

Okay, before I say anything about food or cooking, I'd just like to express my extreme JOY and ELATION that we have a new President(-elect)!!! I actually feel hope; the dark ages are drawing to a close after eight long years of fear, hate and general idiocy. Hallelujah! We Baraked the vote! Woot!

Alright. I've been posting so infrequently over the past few months that I never even think to photograph my plates until they're at least half-devoured. I'm going to try to start remembering, though because I just love all the colors in autumn cooking. There was a time when I compulsively photographed everything I ate. My hard drive is full of memories of meals enjoyed. So, yeah, my fall resolution is to remember to do that, and hopefully that'll make me blog more.

Anyhow, I cooked a lot this weekend. I was inspired by my new issue of Vegetarian Times magazine, and by my very own copy of Mark Bittman's How To Cook Everything Vegetarian that Barbara got me since I kept repeatedly checking it out of the library, and not giving anyone else a turn.

On Saturday morning, we got our sustenance for our trip to the Handmade Arcade from some lovely pumpkin pancakes from the VT recipe for Pumpkin Pancakes with Honey Raspberry Syrup in the article "Kitchen Prescriptions"--recipes for fighting off colds and flu (B has a bad cold, and I'm trying to fend it off), though we just used maple syrup since I didn't have any raspberries on hand. They were soft and tender and delicious, and totally hit the spot. I had a yummy veggie dog from Franctuary at the arcade, then headed home to enjoy our fantastic new art purchases, and make dinner. I tried another recipe from the same VT article for Soupe au Pistou. It's a hearty veggie bean soup. The pistou (kind of a French pesto) comes into the picture when you serve it. You put a couple tablespoons of the pistou in the bottom of the bowl, and then ladle the hot soup over it, so the heat releases the flavors without cooking it. It was heavenly, and just extremely lovely to boot. I paired that with some warm Yogurt Herb Bread (a quick bread recipe from Mollie Katzen's The Enchanted Broccoi Forest). E-dawg joined us for our fragrant dinner, and showed off her own arcade purchases. We made hot cocoa with fluff for dessert, and all was right with the world.

And then late last night while cleaning out my book bag (no, it is NOT a purse), I came across a recipe I'd printed from somewhere (maybe Chow.com?) for Butterscotch Brownies (they were really blondies, not brownies, but anyway). They were super-simple, and really nice.

Sunday morning's breakfast was a grilled cheese sandwich with the Yogurt Herb bread with some cheddar and roquefort, and a couple small squares of the butterscotch bars and coffee.

For lunch, I turned to Mark Bittman's gigantic tome, and made his recipes for Braised Turnips, Spicy Autumn Burgers and Fast, Down-Home Barbeque Sauce. I put the burgers on a toasted bun, and topped them with some carmelized onions, cheddar and the bbq sauce. The turnips and a cup of yesterday's soup rounded out the plate, and were washed down with some apple cider. A cup of hot tea with a butterscotch bar made dessert.

Even though it's cold outside, I feel all toasty warm and sated, and ready to sit down with a crossword and some Iron and Wine playing softly in the background. This has been my kinda weekend.

hamsters know what's up

E-dawg and I checked out a new (to us) restaurant last night--Rivas Restaurant in Carnegie. It's the first time I'd had Nicaraguan food, and I really liked it! It's similar to Mexican food in the spicing and ingredients, and WAY better than the stuff that Kramer and I got on Sunday. I wasn't too crazy about the chips (too thick and hard) or the plantain tostones (greasy, not much flavor), but the main dish I got, Gallo Pinto con Queso Frito, was really yum. It was sorta like a fried rice kinda thing (and you know how much I like a fried rice kinda thing) with rice, beans, pico de gallo, onions, green and red peppers, and these little planks of fried cheese (I thought they were tofu at first). They're BYOB (but, we didn't B), but they have a bunch of non-alcholic different drinks that they make there. I got the strawberry lemonade, and E-dawg tried the peach lemonade (both super-good!). I proclaimed mine so delicious that I was fantasizing about installing one of those drinking tubes that hamsters use beside my couch, kept full of their strawberry lemonade. Like, this:


It's the night of the queer book club tonight--i.e. one of my favorite nights of the month! We read Strange Piece of Paradise by Terri Jentz. It was interesting, but could've done without about 350 pages (out of 542 pages in total). By the end I thought I was going to freak out due to the same stories being repeated. repeatedly. and then repeated again. It was a test of endurance.

Anyhow, you may remember that book club is also a foodstravaganza. I think I'm going to make Squash Spice Cake (recipe from the current Vegetarian Times). I baked the squash this morning, so I should be good to go. I don't have spelt flour, so I think I'm going to try a 1:1 mix of whole wheat flour and unbleached all-purpose (I love whole wheat flour!).

SQUASH SPICE BREAD
Serves 8

Butternut squash purée adds flavor while replacing some of the eggs and fat in this quick bread recipe. Spelt flour imparts a fine-grained texture, but all purpose flour will work just as well.

1 medium butternut squash, halved
and seeded (1 1/2 lb.)
1 Tbs. maple syrup
1 1/2 cups spelt flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs. chopped walnuts, divided
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ground allspice
1/4 tsp. salt
2 eggs
1/4 cup canola oil
1/3 cup plain (unsweetened) soymilk
1 Tbs. vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat baking sheet with cooking spray. Place squash halves cut-side down on baking sheet. Bake 40 to 45 minutes, or until soft. Cool. Scoop fl esh from skin, mash with maple syrup, and set aside.
2. Coat 8- x 41/2-inch loaf pan with cooking spray. Combine spelt flour, sugar, walnuts, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, allspice, and salt in large bowl. Lightly beat eggs in separate bowl. Whisk in oil, soymilk, and vanilla until smooth. Fold squash into liquid ingredients with spatula. Stir squash liquid mixture into flour mixture.
3. Pour batter into prepared pan, and sprinkle with remaining 2 Tbs. walnuts. Bake 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 20 minutes on wire rack, then unmold and cool completely.

PER SERVING: 311 CAL; 7G PROT; 15G TOTAL FAT (1.5G SAT. FAT); 40G CARB; 53MG CHOL; 323MG SOD; 5G FIBER; 17G SUGARS

I'll try to remember to take pictures to post tomorrow. I think my squash is big enough to make two loaves, but I didn't weigh it. So, I'm going to weigh myself, then step back on the scale with the squash to see if it's a three-pounder. It's huge; I had to use two baking dishes (one half in each), so I think it will be, but I'm horrible at guessing stuff like that. Will report back.

p.s. HealthQuest 2007 update & more growing (and shrinking!)

I got an email from my friend K. this morning, and she mentioned that she liked the "new horizons and old habits" blog from a couple weeks ago, and she took a step in shedding her shame and sent me her stats of starting weight/lowest weight/current weight/goal weight! Well, actually, I don't know what her shame-level is with that, but for me it was a HUGE step to put that info out there. And, it was just one more step in making my way towards a more genuine, honest and shame-free life. It brought a tear to my eye, as so many things do lately.

And, it reminded me that I have a good-news update! The scale finally moved again, and not up this time! I (re)lost three pounds! Yay! So:

My starting weight was 245.
My lowest weight was 205.
This morning I weighed 210.
My goal is 140.

And, with my confession this morning (see earlier blog from today), I literally feel lighter. Amazing.

And, speaking of tears brought to eyes, I just reconnected with a friend that I've been estranged from for a while. About a year and a half ago we had a little spat. I got my feelings hurt and took things pretty hard, and then made the incident into way more than it needed to be and held a grudge. But, then recently another in-common friend was telling me about that friend's wedding, and I started thinking about how silly the whole thing was and about how I'd made a pledge to myself after my dad's death to not to let that kind of shit rule my life anymore and about how I don't want to be a grudge-holder anymore, and then I came across her name on a website, and knew that it was a sign from the baby jesus that it was time for me to reach out and apologize and hope that she was happy to hear from me. So, I did. And, I got the warmest, sweetest email(s) back from her. And, we have a plan (actually, two plans) to meet up soon and reconnect and catch up on our lives. She sent me pictures from her wedding, and it was so genuinely sweet and I was so genuinely moved by her immediate acceptance of my apology and willingness to let bygones be bygones that I bawled like a baby. In a good way.

Wow. This has been a big week for me.

Phew. Okay. I'm tearing up again. So, how about a recipe?

I made this zucchini salad at the beach, and the gals went wild for it. So, here's the original recipe and my notes below for the changes I made:

Greek Zucchini Sald with Crumbled Feta
serves 6

Fresh mint, feta cheese and zucchini are a favorite summer salad combination in small tavernas throughout the Greek Isles. for a more colorful salad, use one zucchini and one yellow squash.

3 T. lemon juice
2. t. grated lemon zest
1 clove garlic, minced (about 1 t.)
1/2 c. olive oil
2 medium zucchini, peeled into thin ribbons (about 4 c.)
1 medium sweet onion, such as Vidalia or Walla Walla, thinly sliced (about 1 c.)
1/2 c. crumbled feta cheese
2 green onions, chopped (about 1/4 c.)
1 T. fresh mint
1 T. fresh parsley

Whisk together lemon juice, lemon zest and garlic in large serving bowl. Gradually whisk in oil. Season with salt and pepper. Add zucchini and onion, and toss to coat. Cover and marinate overnight, or up to 2 days. Sprinkle with feta, green onions, mint and parsley just before serving.

PER SERVING: 149 CAL; 3G PROT; 12G TOTAL FAT (3G SAT. FAT); 9G CARB; 11MG CHOL; 252MG SOD; 2G FIBER; 5G SUGARS.

Okay, so I changed this slightly based on what we had handy. I also only marinated it for about 4-5 hours, and I'm sure it'd be better with a longer time in the juice.
-I used both zucchini and yellow squash. I made the ribbons, but cut them at about 2-3" so it was easier to eat (although the picture with the really long ribbons looks really pretty).
-I used red onion because they're pretty.
-I used basil in place of the mint. I think it'd be good with all three--basil, parsley and mint.
-I didn't use green onions, but I totally would, and would cut on a very diagonal bias for ultimate prettiness.
-I used the dressing that I'd made up for the wheatberry salad--which is very similar (just adds orange and uses shallots instead of garlic), and I think is the best, most simple dressing ever. Also, I only used about a 1/4 c (plus about an extra tablespoon of lemon juice), because that was plenty to coat all the zucchini and onion without bogging in down in oil. So, the fat content is about half what is listed above.:

citrus dressing:
grated zest and juice of 1 orange
1 T. freshly squeezed lemon juice [I used the juice of 1 lemon]
1 T. minced shallot
1/2 c. extra-virgin olive oil
fine-grain sea salt and freshly ground black pepper