You Are What You Eat: February 25 through March 9
Streak of not eating in a restaurant - 728 days and counting (+13)
New Recipes for the Year: 36 (+7)
If you count from the last time I sat down to eat in an actual restaurant, it's been two years as of March 7. However, the count on this page goes from March 12, 2020 because I had lunch in the diner at work that day. It's a lot longer than any other stretch of my life either way. We are getting occasional takeout though; after our hiking day last weekend M expressed a desire for pizza so we got Angelo's delivered. We made a point of getting a pizza large enough to have both dinner and breakfast.
Anyway, we made 7 new recipes this time around, and it really was "we". M decided she wanted to start cooking dinner once a week. We'll start with her recipe and then move to the six I made.
- M made the modestly named Best Chickpea Burgers from a cooking blog called A Couple Cooks. The burgers themselves were very good and I'd eat them again. My complaint is that they talked about "shiitake bacon." No. Don't pretend vegetables can replace meat on a 1:1 basis. Vegetables and vegetarian food in general does better when it plays to its strengths instead of competing with meat. If they'd said "sauteed mushrooms" (cause, let's face it, that's what they were) it would be more accurate. I still enjoyed them, mind you, but they aren't necessary to sell the chickpea burgers.
- The March 2022 Eating Well has a section of "Chicken Noodle Soup from around the world." That's something I can get into. We started with the Moroccan inspired Chicken Chorba, which has chickpeas, potatoes, and pasta in with the chicken soup. I also added harissa, which was not in the recipe but was recommended in the chef's comment. For all that, it was a bit underwhelming. I'd much rather make the Sopa de Fideos again or the Coconut Chicken Noodle Soup.
- Continuing in the March 2022 Eating Well, I have bad news and good news. The bad news is that the Smoky Collards & Shrimp with Cheesy Grits had an awful lot in common with the Cajun Shrimp with Garlicky Spinach & Grits I made last year. The good news is that it was a lot better. The smoked paprika in the collards had a much more distinctive flavor than the garlicky spinach. The grits ended up being a grits/polenta combo due to chef error, but it was still very good.
- I made the Roasted Tofu & Broccoli with Peanut-Curry Sauce (again from the March 2022 Eating Well) with green curry paste instead of red. I was underwhelmed by the overall taste, but M really, really liked the peanut-curry sauce, so I may try it again sometime.
- I bought some gochujang in order to make the fourth and final recipe from the March 2022 Eating Well for this segment: Gochujang-Glazed Salmon with Garlic Spinach. Gochujang is basically chile paste, and I recognized it immediately from the Korean Plum wings at Buckeye Beer Engine. It made an excellent glaze on the salmon. We'll do this one again.
- M really likes leeks, so I decided to try the Leek Fritters from the first Smitten Kitchen cookbook. I'm not big on latkes, which is a potato fritter, but for whatever reason the leek version felt lighter and more delicious. I will note that if you want more than a few fritters you need to buy a lot more than three leeks, but that's the only complaint. Otherwise, they were a tasty "sauce on fried food" delivery mechanism.
- Appropriately, I've saved dessert for last. While I've cooked my way through most of the Moosewood Favorites cookbook, I've made relatively few desserts from it. The only one I've really tapped is the Moosewood Favorites Vanilla Cheesecake I made for M for Mother's Day. It was by far the best cheesecake recipe I've tried to date. I thought to flip through the dessert section this time and opted for the Moosewood Fudge Brownies. The recipe has two cups of butter, two cups of brown sugar, one cup of chocolate, one cup of flour and a little vanilla extract. That extremely favorable ratio resulted in brownies which are a little lighter and fluffier than my mother's brownies. They lasted all of three days and will certainly be made again, preferably when we have other people around to help eat them!
New Recipes for the Year: 36 (+7)
If you count from the last time I sat down to eat in an actual restaurant, it's been two years as of March 7. However, the count on this page goes from March 12, 2020 because I had lunch in the diner at work that day. It's a lot longer than any other stretch of my life either way. We are getting occasional takeout though; after our hiking day last weekend M expressed a desire for pizza so we got Angelo's delivered. We made a point of getting a pizza large enough to have both dinner and breakfast.
Anyway, we made 7 new recipes this time around, and it really was "we". M decided she wanted to start cooking dinner once a week. We'll start with her recipe and then move to the six I made.
- M made the modestly named Best Chickpea Burgers from a cooking blog called A Couple Cooks. The burgers themselves were very good and I'd eat them again. My complaint is that they talked about "shiitake bacon." No. Don't pretend vegetables can replace meat on a 1:1 basis. Vegetables and vegetarian food in general does better when it plays to its strengths instead of competing with meat. If they'd said "sauteed mushrooms" (cause, let's face it, that's what they were) it would be more accurate. I still enjoyed them, mind you, but they aren't necessary to sell the chickpea burgers.
- The March 2022 Eating Well has a section of "Chicken Noodle Soup from around the world." That's something I can get into. We started with the Moroccan inspired Chicken Chorba, which has chickpeas, potatoes, and pasta in with the chicken soup. I also added harissa, which was not in the recipe but was recommended in the chef's comment. For all that, it was a bit underwhelming. I'd much rather make the Sopa de Fideos again or the Coconut Chicken Noodle Soup.
- Continuing in the March 2022 Eating Well, I have bad news and good news. The bad news is that the Smoky Collards & Shrimp with Cheesy Grits had an awful lot in common with the Cajun Shrimp with Garlicky Spinach & Grits I made last year. The good news is that it was a lot better. The smoked paprika in the collards had a much more distinctive flavor than the garlicky spinach. The grits ended up being a grits/polenta combo due to chef error, but it was still very good.
- I made the Roasted Tofu & Broccoli with Peanut-Curry Sauce (again from the March 2022 Eating Well) with green curry paste instead of red. I was underwhelmed by the overall taste, but M really, really liked the peanut-curry sauce, so I may try it again sometime.
- I bought some gochujang in order to make the fourth and final recipe from the March 2022 Eating Well for this segment: Gochujang-Glazed Salmon with Garlic Spinach. Gochujang is basically chile paste, and I recognized it immediately from the Korean Plum wings at Buckeye Beer Engine. It made an excellent glaze on the salmon. We'll do this one again.
- M really likes leeks, so I decided to try the Leek Fritters from the first Smitten Kitchen cookbook. I'm not big on latkes, which is a potato fritter, but for whatever reason the leek version felt lighter and more delicious. I will note that if you want more than a few fritters you need to buy a lot more than three leeks, but that's the only complaint. Otherwise, they were a tasty "sauce on fried food" delivery mechanism.
- Appropriately, I've saved dessert for last. While I've cooked my way through most of the Moosewood Favorites cookbook, I've made relatively few desserts from it. The only one I've really tapped is the Moosewood Favorites Vanilla Cheesecake I made for M for Mother's Day. It was by far the best cheesecake recipe I've tried to date. I thought to flip through the dessert section this time and opted for the Moosewood Fudge Brownies. The recipe has two cups of butter, two cups of brown sugar, one cup of chocolate, one cup of flour and a little vanilla extract. That extremely favorable ratio resulted in brownies which are a little lighter and fluffier than my mother's brownies. They lasted all of three days and will certainly be made again, preferably when we have other people around to help eat them!