Sunday, May 18, 2008

Haiku Corner with Zeke


Zeke was looking so pensive lying there on my scorched, straw-like lawn that I felt sure he must be contemplating very lofty concepts indeed. When pressed, he finally confessed he was working out a haiku. I think it is obvious to anyone who knows him that haiku would be his style of choice. So without further ado I present Zeke's poetry debut.





the lawn
by Zeke

crispy and crunchy
like chow mein noodles
grass beneath my paws

(It should come as no surprise to those who know him that food should be featured in his poem. Especially after the trash can incidents. Ahem.)

Saturday, May 17, 2008

Word Up

I would like to introduce to all of you who don't already know him, Captain Huggyface from the PBS show Word Girl. This makes me giggle uncontrollably and I will be delighted if makes you smile at the very least.


Wednesday, May 14, 2008

I HEART PIZZA

I love pizza. No, I mean I LOOOOOVVVE pizza. It is a rare week that doesn't involve me make one. I am also trying to incorporate healthier food choices into our daily lives. My typical crust is diametrically opposed to this goal and so I have been searching high and low for a wheat pizza crust that doesn't destroy the pizza experience. This is the best one I have found thus far http://www.easypizzacrusts.com/wwpc.html . I added 1 1/2 tsp of sugar for the yeast to eat and replaced 1/4 of the flour with flax seed meal to make me feel cool. Also, mine was done in 17 minutes rather than the 20-25 minutes recommended. What I liked about this crust is that the rise time is short, the dough was easy to handle, the texture was not too heavy, and the bottom was crispy (I bake mine on the bottom rack). It was a touch bland so I think next time I will use a bit of honey rather than sugar and maybe some herbs right in the dough. As always, if you have a great recipe I'd love to see it!

Homework


How is this for a mother's day present? N. is "teaching" A. in this picture. Nevermind the fact that A. actually has the best handwriting of all the girls. I was folding laundry in the next room and could hear them hard at work in there. I really wanted to get a candid shot of this so I grabbed the camera and went into stealth mode, 'cause I'm ninja like that, and snapped a picture while leaping around a corner. That picture is a blurry, unusable mess, which should come as a surprise to no one. So I was left with posing and took what I could get. It truly is a joy to see them so happy to learn that they even do it when I don't make them. And that's all I have to say about that.

Quick & Easy Quesadilla & Pico de Gallo

I am a great lover of quick and easy meals, especially when they are healthy to boot. This meal fits the bill, and I highly recommend it. For this pico, I simply diced some roma tomatoes, onions, and garlic, squeezed fresh lime juice over it, stirred in fresh chopped cilantro, and called it a day. I only lament the fact that I didn't have any jalapeno to toss in. Even so, it was delicious. The next step was to make refried beans. My method for this is crazy easy. Heat 1 T or so of oil in a large skillet over medium to medium high heat. Drain and rinse a can of pinto beans and add to hot skillet. Cook for a few minutes until fragrant and beans are warm, then start mashing. Once sufficiently mashed, add cumin, salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste. Stir in broth until the beans are the desired consistency, and remove from heat. This generally takes all of 10 minutes tops. I then busted out my favorite tortillas on the planet, the whole wheat Tam-x-icos! tortillas, lovingly applied the frijoles refritos, sprinkled on little sharp cheddar cheese, and gave it a couple minutes on each side in a hot pan. Making 4 of these and the pico took me 20 minutes start to finish, and that includes shredding my own cheese. Of course the possibilities are endless when it comes to fillings. One of my favorites is apple, grated carrot, and cheddar, which would be muy delicioso with a fruit salsa (I will have to dig up my recipe for that soon mmmmm). If you have any good salsa recipes or quesadilla filling suggestions please share!

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Currylicious


I get a hankering for curry on a fairly regular basis. It all started back in college when I waited tables at an Indian restaurant. Prior to that, Taco Bell was the spiciest food I had ever eaten and Indian cuisine was in the realm of the mystical. Naturally, since it was my first year of college, I was feeling quite cosmopolitan and ventured into a restaurant by the name of A Passage to India emanating exotic aromas . I've always been an EM Forster fan so I figured it was worth a try. It so happened they were hiring and, as I was interested in possessing some extra cash, an agreement was reached. The owner, who also did all the cooking, would make food for us after every shift. I started out with mango lassis and chai with chipatis. Then I got brave and ventured onto chicken biryani (mild of course) and pakora with tamarind chutney. It was all over at that point. By the end of my first semester, I was eating dishes that were "Indian hot". It made my nose run and my eyes water and I loved it. And the people said "Amen." In fact, I will go on record as saying that there is no food better than Indian food.

So far, E. is the only one of my offspring who likes it, and that's why she's my favorite. Anyway, this is what I made for dinner last night to get my curry fix. It is on the hotter side of medium spiciness, so adjust the amount of curry powder according to your preference and the strength/freshness of your curry powder. Oh, and feel free to substitute away. You could replace the potatoes with chickpeas or the spinach with green beans, and if I'm feeling saucy, I'll through in some cumin seeds with the garlic. A side of raita (plain yogurt with cucumber basically) to cool it off would be yummy. Want me to quit yakking and give you the recipe? You got it! If you have any great curry recipes I'd love to know!
Yummilicious Curry
Cooking oil
1 cup diced onion
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
3 cups diced potatoes
4 cups chopped tomatoes
2 cups of cauliflower
2 cups of baby spinach
1 tsp sea salt
2 tsp curry powder
2 tsp garam masala
1 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp ginger

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Cook onions until they become translucent and are beginning to turn golden. Add potatoes and garlic, and cook until the potatoes are beginning to brown. Add spices, and stir to coat. Cook 1 minute, then add tomatoes and simmer 8 minutes. Stir in cauliflower and spinach; cover and simmer about 10 minutes or until spinach is wilted and potatoes are tender.