What's For Dinner - Part 2

[OkToBeTakei]

Favorite current variation on grilled cheese: sliced apple, manchego, onion jam, bitter greens, mustard. Brown in toaster oven. My small child self would have been disgusted, as she scorned anything other than American cheese (from a block of slices as long as my forearm) on kleenex bread. Sometimes it is good to be a grown-up. :lol:

Tonight, I'll be enjoying a fried egg sandwich with mustard greens, pickled onion, and chopped almonds on wheat levain.

Manchego though. Just eat IT!

I love your style Rachel and if blogs were money you should have one. That boat sailed I think. I just ape your ideas. With dead animal. My most favourite foodie veggie friend calls me the 'ANIMAL KILLER' Ha, food is food. Like religion it needs tolerance.

[RachelB]

Manchego though. Just eat IT!

I love your style Rachel and if blogs were money you should have one. That boat sailed I think. I just ape your ideas. With dead animal. My most favourite foodie veggie friend calls me the 'ANIMAL KILLER' Ha, food is food. Like religion it needs tolerance.

Yeah, manchego is yummy all by its lonesome. Yummier still with friends.

When I visit, my niblings forget that I'm vegetarian and try to share their favorite part of the sammiches with me. (This would be the bacon part.) We have had many conversations about, "You know how W doesn't like pudding and J doesn't like ketchup?* I don't like bacon, though it's very sweet of you to offer it to me, because I know how much you love it. That just means there's more for you!"

W responded last time, "Aunt R, you are really weird." :lol:

*This does not work with the youngest, because Z eats everything, including babaghanoush and hot sauce.

[gypsygirl22]

I put a beef stew in the crockpot this morning, should be about ready now. The only decision left is noodles or rice?

[DrPusey]

I put a beef stew in the crockpot this morning, should be about ready now. The only decision left is noodles or rice?

I vote noodles.

Tonight's supper for me was spinach and cheese ravioli from a local pasta maker, drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with freshly grated parmesan.

[RachelB]

It is quite warm today, so I'm going to make a big dinner salad: dandelion greens with preserved lemon, onion, olives, chopped nuts, chickpeas, sliced red bell pepper, and feta-lemon-herb dressing. Crusty bread.

A dandelion story: When I was 14 my mom's mom died, and my mom spent a week and a half out of state cleaning out and repainting Gran's apartment. While she was gone, we ran largely out of food. My brother and I were too young to drive, and my father, who was protesting being the sole parent, didn't want to go to the grocery store. So I went outside and picked a mess of dandelion leaves, then picked and sliced some apples and sauteed them together. Sweet + tangy + bitter = awesome.

[Arete]

Guacamole and some yogurt. Weather went to pot here again. I decided I needed to make the 3 bean chili from Smitten Kitchen. So, that is currently doing its thing on the stove, and won't be ready till at least 10 PM. It smells comforting at least, and I am hoping it will make a good lunch and dinner tomorrow.

It feels like I am never getting out of this winter coat.

[RachelB]

Tonight I will make the dandelion salad I had planned for last night. Last night, The Partner requested chickpea salad sandwiches instead (with red bell pepper, mustard, and radish greens). I had mine on rye.

[Arete]

So, the 3 Bean Chili from Smitten Kitchen I started last night? Six hours later, still not done. In the morning, another hour before work, not done. This afternoon, 2 more hours and finally done. I should have known someone was smoking the cheap stuff when there is a claim you can use dried beans WITHOUT soaking and be done in 3 hours. You can't.

The good news in it turned out to be one of the best chilies I have ever made. I took the suggestion in the recipe and soaked dried chilis in boiling water then pulverized them. Usually I toast and grind them. No more. I also used 1teaspoon of salt with 1teaspoon of soy sauce, and added 1teaspoon unsweetened cocoa. Used chick peas, black beans, and tiny white beans.

I will definitely make this again, but will soak all beans overnight.

[Coconut Flan]

Chick peas take a long time if they aren't soaked but for me usually four hours or so.

[Arete]

Chick peas take a long time if they aren't soaked but for me usually four hours or so.

CF, these were Satan's chickpeas. ;)

[RachelB]

^ Kind of like gravel, no? I've had some that cooked quickly and some that took for[infix]ever.

Tonight's dinner:

Pea and mint-filled ravioli atop a small mound of arugula. A salad plate of radishes, bell peppers, olives, baked tofu, and cornichons.

Dark chocolate and blueberries for dessert.

[DrPusey]

Satan's Chickpeas! :wink-kitty:

Tonight I had leftover sesame peanut noodles and a banana. Living on the edge!

[RachelB]

Last night The Partner and I took Awesome Vegan Friend out for Awesome Vegan Dinner to celebrate Awesome Life Changes. I had

a salad of escarole and wilted spinach with smoked tofu, apples, caraway, and a porter-based dressing (I envy their smoker!)

a rye berry risotto with fava beans (some steamed, some made into crispy "nuts"), leeks, and artichoke bits

a chocolate pot de creme with mint-chip ice cream

We had no overlap in menu choices, so we got to try more stuff.

And tonight we're meeting a friend for dinner who's going through Less Awesome But Still Necessary Life Changes. We will be exploring the local food truck scene, because none of us has done that enough.

[DrPusey]

We're grilling tonight. It will be burgers (from my Dad's beef, natch) for MrDrPusey. For me, grilled portabellas in a balsamic marinade with grated provolone melted on top.

[RachelB]

So the food truck event included felafel salad, sweet potato fries, and frozen custard. I approve.

Tonight I am eating dandelion greens with red bell pepper, white beans, almonds, and lemon-feta dressing.

[Arete]

Palm Sunday with the family. The traditional fried bacala (cod preserved with salt) with raw garlic dip was on offer. Rounding it out were a braise of artichokes, peas, potatoes, and carrots in lemon topped with fresh dill and mint. Romaine salad. Semolina halva and strawberries.

We also got to test drive my aunt's limoncello. She made it with EverClear instead of vodka this year. The EverClear wins. :mrgreen:

[RachelB]

^Any difference in taste, or just in alcohol content?

We just got back from a knife skills class, so I chiffonaded a little arugula and julienned some red bell pepper and fancified our chard and onion ravioli. I am still very slow at prep work, but I will get better now that I have some idea of how to hold a knife properly.

[RachelB]

We'll have cardoon soup and cheese sandwiches with bitter greens for dinner.

[Arete]

^Any difference in taste, or just in alcohol content?

We just got back from a knife skills class, so I chiffonaded a little arugula and julienned some red bell pepper and fancified our chard and onion ravioli. I am still very slow at prep work, but I will get better now that I have some idea of how to hold a knife properly.

Yes, we all thought the taste of the lemons was more pronounced with the EverClear batch. Cleaner, for lack of a better word? Granted the last vodka batch got used up in 2013, so it was not a side by side comparison, but the results indicate all future batches will be made with EC. The lemons are always organic lemons from California, so nothing changed there.

[RachelB]

A salad of frisee with cherries cooked in balsamic vinegar, tossed with crushed hazelnuts. Bread and cheese.

[DrPusey]

I made a new potato salad recipe - Yukon Gold potatoes, green beans, red pepper strips, and red onions tossed in a balsamic/dijon vinaigrette type of recipe.

[RachelB]

^ That sounds yummy.

Tonight, we'll have assemble-them-yourself spring rolls: baked tofu, shredded carrot and radish, cilantro-lettuce pesto, chile-tamarind-garlic-peanut paste.

[DrPusey]

Oh, vegan spring rolls sound quite yummy!

Tonight I had Trader Joe's arugula ravioli, tossed with a little olive oil and grated parmesan, and a quite decent pear for dessert.

[cindyluvs24]

Tonight was takeout b/c there was an orthodontist appt and hubby's physical therapy. Tomorrow we're off so its down to Delicious Orchards for some awesome foodstuffs (a really great speciality food store in central NJ).

[RachelB]

I'm using some of the leftover chopped vegetables from our spring rolls the other night to make bhel puri. (Think puffed rice with diced vegetables, a couple of chutneys, broken-up poppadums, and toasted nuts and you'd be close. Usually there's some deep-fried crunchy bits (made using a paste of spiced lentil flour, I think?), but I prefer it without the deep-fried bits.) I'll chop some tomato and make more cilantro-mint sauce to add (and maybe temper some dal to add at the last).