I’ve always enjoyed watching chefs play with candy. Let me just say, grown-up never grow out of candy! I decided to dabble with sugar and I must say, this recipe turned out to be a standing applause! Very simple to make, just requires a little babysitting

Coco-My-Currant Almond Brittle

3 Cups Sugar
1/2 Cup Water
1/2 Cup Chopped Almonds (I used raw, untoasted, unsalted almonds. A fan of the texture and mild flavor. Also justifying this sweet treat as semi-raw because of it. jk! But ya know I would if I could!)
1/2 Cup Chopped Dark Chocolate
1/4 Cup Dried Currants (feel free to sub in dried cranberries, blueberries, apricots, or a medley!)
2 Tbs Dried Shredded Unsweetened Coconut (Reserve 1 Tbs. to sprinkle on top)
Vegetable oil to grease baking sheet

1. Bring the sugar + water to a boil on med-high heat, stirring only in the begining until the sugar is dissolved. Got it?? Okay– now STOP! Don’t touch it again. Let it boil and do its thing. {It should take about 10-15 minutes for it to turn a light amber brown, which we are looking for}

2. While you are not stirring the mixture waiting for the sugar to turn light amber, get your baking sheet greased and ready. Mix and evenly distribute the 1Tbs coconut, 1/4 cup currants, and 1/2 cup almonds on the baking sheet.

3. Once your sugar has started to caramelize, remove from heat and CAREFULLY pour the mixture evenly onto the baking sheet. Sprinkle the remaining coconut on top and then walk away.

4. Let this sit and harden for about 2 hours. But if you’re like me and can’t wait, you can also wait 15 minutes for it to cool (molten hot sugar is NOT something you want to go around moving), transfer it to your freezer for about 5-10 minutes and you should be good to go!

Savory Goat Cheese & Sun-dried Tomato Biscotti

Recipe:

2 Cups Flour (I used Whole Wheat to up the nutrition a little)
1 Tbs. Rosemary
1 Tbs. + 1/2 tsp. Thyme
1/4 tsp. Fresh Cracked Black Pepper
1 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 Stick Room Temp. Unsalted Butter
2 oz. Room Temp Goat Cheese
2 Tbs. Sugar
2 Eggs
2 Tbs. Sun-dried Tomato in Olive Oil (chop into smaller pieces if julienned)

Pre-heat oven to 350*

Instructions:

1. In a large bowl or mixer, beat together the butter and goat cheese until smooth and creamy

2. In a separate ramekin, beat sugar and eggs

3. Combine the beaten egg and sugar mixture with the goat cheese and butter; mix until incorporated

4. Combine all the remaining ingredients in a separate bowl to ensure even distribution

5. Slowly add in the mixture of dry ingredients and sun-dried tomato into the wet mixture. Mix until incorporated.

6. Line your baking sheet with parchment paper for easy removal; Next, form your dough into a loaf  about 13″ long, 3 1/2″ wide and 1″ thick.

7. Bake loaf at 350* for 30 minutes or until edges are a light golden brown.

8. Let it rest for 3o minutes; next you’ll want to cut your biscotti with a serrated knife on an angle. Place the biscotti along the baking sheet and bake at 350* for another 12-15 minutes.

9. Enjoy!

I have been reading the book Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer and it has been making me feel kinda bad for no longer being involved in animal activism.  I don’t eat meat- but I used to be more involved.  I have also been feeling sad lately because it has been almost 2 years since I was last able to play World of Warcraft. Tonight, I happened upon a video that made me feel better in both respects.

When I played WoW, I blindly fought hundreds of [almost] helpless creatures just to get ahead. This video reminded me that by not playing WoW, I have been avoiding the greedy slaughter of countless murlocs…

“And then, they killed Harold and took his lewts”

With the thanksgiving holiday this week, i didn’t get to read the New York Times Dining and Wine section until this morning. The top story was Mark Bittman’s column The Minimalist this week’s column was particularly interesting. Personally, I don’t really mind the column too much, but the video that is featured with the column drives me nuts. It’s this terrible “food is zen” type opening that you’d see in some terrible kung fu movie where the star goes to his teacher to learn something. Bittman is sitting there looking at the food while very calming Asian inspired music plays in the background. Now don’t get me wrong, I think that food doesn’t have to be complex to be good, and a minimalist attitude is a good one to take, especially when one is trying to cook a good meal for himself. I could go on about how I dislike this video opening for hours, but I’m guessing that nobody really wants to read my rants about New York Times online edition videos, so This week, The Minimalist focuses on cooking pasta the way one cooks risotto. Instead of using a large pot of boiling water, leaving the pasta to cook in the hot water, Bittman suggests that one should sauté shallots and garlic, deglaze the pot with white wine and add dry pasta. As the wine evaporates, and the pasta is cooking, one should add stock a half cup at a time until the pasta is cooked.
Personally, I love risotto, but rarely think to buy arborio rice when I go to the grocery store. I decided that tonight, my dinner would be risotto style pasta. Bittman uses fusilli pasta with chicken stock and pieces of chicken breast as a protein. My version is vegetarian, with mushrooms and spinach.
I started out by sautéing some shallots, and then adding in some Crimini mushrooms and letting them brown. i used a touch of balsamic vinegar to deglaze the pot before i added my stock (i used vegetable stock) and pasta.
I added the pasta first, using about a half pound. It didn’t look like all that much in the pot, so i just added enough stock to almost cover the pasta. i turned the gas up to full strength and waited for the stock to come to a boil. When it started to boil i stirred it just a little bit and let it simmer, stirring every few minutes. I added some more stock, again adding enough to just barely cover the pasta and let it simmer some more. When the stock had almost evaporated I added spinach to the stock and let it wilt while the stock was evaporating.
When stirring I noticed that the mixture had thickened up quite a bit. I was pleasantly surprised to find that i had a hot, hearty and vegan dish in front of me. I have to say, it was damn good too. My finished product wasn’t vegan however, I topped my bowl with some Parmesan cheese, which really completed the dish.
I have to say that this way to cook pasta, while more involved and time-consuming really creates a better dish and allows one to make a more complex dish while minimizing the number of pots and pans to wash. I think I may have found my new winter standby dish.

After weeks of wondering what to say for my debut blog post, I’ve decided to just start things off by describing what I plan to talk about.   I plan on discussing and sharing interesting news about video games and gaming, books, gaming in libraries and learning environments, new technologies in libraries, vegetarian stuff, and random fun stuff.  That’s about it.

I’ve been making soups consistently every week since the cold weather started. It’s an economical, quick way to prepare dinner when you’ve got a late night group meeting or yet another study session (something I won’t have to worry about for awhile! Haha! Yesss!).

SOUP #2: KALE & MUSHROOM SOUP

Buy kale organic whenever possible!

Ingredients
½ cup bulgur, raw
3 cups water
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp dry sherry cooking wine
1 ½ tbsp butter / earth balance
3 garlic cloves, minced
½ onion, chopped
½ lb mushrooms or 8 ounces
½ bunch kale
pepper and salt to taste

Directions

1. Cook bulgur in 1 ½ cups of water until tender.
2. Add remaining water, soy sauce, and sherry.
3. Saute onions in garlic and butter / earth balance. When they are softened, add mushrooms and ½ tsp salt.
4. When all is tender, add to bulgur, being sure to include the liquid the vegetables expressed while cooking.
5. Give it a generous grinding of black pepper and simmer 20 minutes (time may vary), covered, over the lowest possible heat.
6. Add salt to taste.
7. Best enjoyed with sourdough baguette or German bread.

SOUP #3: SPICY EGGPLANT & PEANUT

Ingredients
1 lb. Eggplant, peeled, chopped in 1/2 inch cubes
1 tsp salt
4 oz. Shallots, peeled and sliced very thin (can be omitted if there is none on hand)
1/4 cup oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
1 hot chili, seeded and minced
3 tbsp ginger, peeled and minced
1 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp ground coriander
1/4 tsp ground tumeric
1/3 cup tomato paste
1 cup diced tomatoes w/ juice
4 cups water
3/4 cup peanut butter
6 oz green beans, trimmed and cut into 2 inch pieces
2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Directions

1. In a large bowl or colander toss eggplant cubes with salt. Allow to sit of 30 minutes to soften. Set aside.
2. In a large stock pot heat 2 tbsp oil over medium high heat. Add shallots and fry, occasionally stirring, for about 20 minutes until very soft, browned and slightly caramelized. Scoop shallots out of pot and set aside.
3. Add 1 tbsp of oil to pot and add eggplant, stirring to coat with oil. Stir and cook eggplant for 12-15 minutes until slightly tender. Remove eggplant from heat and set aside.
4. Add remaining 1 tbsp of oil to the pot again, then add ginger and chile and fry for 30 seconds. Add ground cumin, coriander, tumeric and fry for another 30 second then add onion. Stir and fry till onion is just slightly soft and translucent, about 5-6 minutes. Add tomato paste, stir and fry mixture for 1 minute.
5. Pour diced tomatoes, water, eggplant, string beans and shallots into pot with frying onion/spice mixture. Stir to combined and raise heat to medium high. Bring to a boil for 5 minutes, then reduce heat.
6. In a separate bowl stir peanut butter to combine any separated oils. Pour a ladleful of hot soup onto peanut butter and stir til creamy and completely integrated. Scrape peanut butter mixture into rest of simmering soup, stirring to combine.
7. Simmer soup on medium-low heat, covered, for 35-45 minutes or until eggplant is very tender. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Salt to taste after soup has cooled for at least half an hour.
8. Best enjoyed with a slice or two of toasted wheat bread.

SOUP#4: SPICY SWEET POTATO

Ingredients
2 large sweet potatoes / yams, chopped in cubes
2 cups yellow lentils
3/4 cup coconut milk
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp minced ginger
1 tsp chili pepper flakes
2 cups water
1 vegetable boullion cube
1 tbsp salt, more to taste

Directions

1. Chop the sweet potatoes into small cubes and transfer to a pot of water for boiling. Boil for 15 minutes or until tender. Drain in a colander.
2. Meanwhile, boil and fully cook the yellow lentils in a small saucepan. Puree the lentils with water to obtain a smooth consistency. Set aside.
3. Using the pot that was used to boil the sweet potatoes previously, add the oil and ginger. Once the fragrance of the ginger fills the air, add the chili pepper flakes and cook for a few more minutes.
4. Add 3/4 of the sweet potatoes and stir with the ginger & chili pepper mixture. Add the coconut milk and a cup of water with the vegetable boullion cube. Stir well to integrate all ingredients. Puree in a blender and return the mixture to the pot.
5. Add the remaining chopped sweet potatoes to the mixture. Add the lentil puree you set aside. Mix well.
6. Add salt to taste, let sit, and taste again before adding more salt.
7. Best enjoyed with woven wheat crackers.

———————–

All of the soups above are vegan and are either my original creation or adaptations of soups I’ve found. I tend to find that I add more heat and that helps build warmth in my body for those cold wintry nights. They are all pretty hearty as well, and make up enough single servings for dinner over the course of a week.

The following ingredients are those you should purchase organic whenever possible: kale, leafy greens, carrots, and potatoes. (http://www.thedailygreen.com/healthy-eating/eat-safe/Dirty-Dozen-Foods)

Happy soup-making folks! )

This is a great soup for the colder weather. It has a ton of vitamins and full of flavor.

• 2 tbsp of olive oil
• 1 medium-sized white onion, minced
• 4 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 tsp of cumin
• 1 large sweet potato, washed and cut into small wedges
• 2 carrots, peeled, rinsed and cut into circles
• 2 small white or Yukon potatoes, washed and cut into small wedges
• 4 cups of water
• 2 vegetable bullion cubes
• 1 large can of black beans, drained and rinsed
• salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1-2 tbsp butter

Heat a large soup pot. Add the olive oil, garlic and white onion. Stir until translucent (do not brown). Stir in cumin and add salt and black pepper, mixing into the oil. Add sweet potatoes, potatoes and carrots. Stir in water and add vegetable bullion cubes. Bring to a boil and then simmer until the potatoes are tender. Turn off heat, and using an immersion blender, blend until smooth. Once done, turn heat back on and stir in black beans and butter (you can choose not to use butter but it adds a fullness to the soup). Add salt and black pepper to taste and serve.

Servings: 3-5

A twist on a traditional potato au gratin.  It’s a bit healthier too.  Just add squash and goat cheese!   This was a hit for goat cheese lovers at the Thanksgiving potluck I attended recently.  I usually add any squash like vegetables I have around, some zucchini and cherry tomatoes for color!

Potato Squash Gratin

Ingredients:

• 2-4 medium squash
• 4 medium red potatoes
• 2 zucchini (optional)
• 10 cherry tomatoes (optional)
• 3 Tbsp evoo
• 4-8 ounces of goat cheese (to your taste)
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/3 – 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (to your taste)
• Fresh basil chopped (optional)
• Salt
• Pepper

Special Equipment: Mandoline.  I LOVE my mandoline, it was a gift from The Pampered Chef.  You can use a sharp knife if a mandoline is not available.

How To:

Mise en place: Slice the squash, potatoes, and zucchini (optional) into very thin slices using the mandoline, 1/8 inch or less.  Grease a 13×9 casserole dish with evoo or butter.

Preheat the oven to 400.  Toss the sliced vegetables in olive oil in a bowl.  Place 1/3 of the vegetables on the bottom of the greased casserole dish.  (Get creative with the placing)  Season with salt and pepper.  Sprinkle on a handful of goat cheese.  Lather, rinse, repeat.  Finish with a top layer of vegetables, season with salt and pepper.

Pour milk over the dish.  Top with parmesan cheese.  Cover with foil and for 30 minutes.  Remove cover and bake for an additional 15 minutes until the top is browned.  Scatter the basil on top if desired.

Serving Tips:

Use a round cookie cutter to cut perfect circles for serving.

You know how people often say something to the effect of, “I wish junk food tasted like healthy food and healthy food tasted like junk food so I’d eat the healthy food!”?

Maybe it’s just a matter of retraining your palate. I have been eating spinach like I used to eat chocolate. I can’t get enough of it lately. I have no idea why! There is iron and calcium in both, and even more in spinach. But the reverse is true, too. I’ve been eating chocolate like I used to eat spinach–I ate three squares of dark chocolate yesterday and haven’t touched that candy bar since. I thought about snacking on a square while cooking dinner, but decided I wasn’t really in the mood. A first! Spinach over chocolate?? If I can handle pizza, cake, and cookies the next time I try, I may have to take the “future” out of the title of my blog. I can’t remember the last time I even had a craving for junk food. I am sure I am not done with battling the junk food monster; I think I have just learned what I can and can’t handle and have structured my eating and kitchen around that. But I don’t even want unhealthy food! This has always been my goal, but this is much sooner than I expected. I bet I eat some more  of that chocolate bar later, but for now, all I can think of is that cheesy spinach and rice casserole I have cooking in the oven!

I modified a Moosewood recipe to make my casserole. They had a few ingredients I don’t particularly like, and it just would have added cost. I also healthified it a bit. So here is how I made mine:

• 2 bags baby spinach (mine were 10 oz each)
• 4 cups of cooked brown rice (2 cups rice cooked in three cups of water instead of 4 because the rice will absorb some of the moisture during the baking process)
• 1 small-medium onion
• 2 cloves garlic
• 2 Tbsp. olive oil
• 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
• 1 cup milk
• 4 eggs
• 1.5 cups of shredded cheddar cheese +.5 cups for sprinkling on top

1. Cook the rice and preheat the oven to 350.
2. Saute onion and garlic with the salt
3. Add the spinach. I had to add it one bag at a time and let it cook down, even in my rather large frying pan.
4. While it is cooking, beat the eggs and milk. I used a 2-cup measuring cup and it worked great.
5. Turn off the heat, and add the eggs, milk, and 1.5 cups of cheese. Place in a casserole dish.
6. Sprinkle paprika on top, add the .5 cup of cheese, cover, and cook for 30 minutes.

I served it with black eyed peas, and a banana for dessert.

Cost: $6.00; would have fed four people

Taste: Yummy! It tasted like onions and cheese and rice; the spinach wasn’t very strong at all.

Time: About 15-20 minutes to prepare, about 30 to cook for a total of about an hour. This is pretty easy, but it’s not a go-to meal.

Heading to a Thanksgiving potluck?  Me to!  I was assigned a salad and potato dish of sorts.  I didn’t want to opt for the traditional green salad so I decided to make this beet salad with blue cheese, it’s got spunk!  Once again I turned to thekitchn.com for some inspiration.  This recipe uses the beet and the beet greens, we don’t waste a thing!  One thing I would do differently is boil the beets vs. roast them (the skin comes off easier).  I can’t wait to make this dish again, it’s got flavor!

Ingredients (serves 4-8):

Beets and Scallions

• 8 small beets, greens attached
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• evoo
• 2-4 scallions, chopped
• 4 -6 oz blue cheese
• salt
• pepper

Dressing Ingredients

• 1/4 cup cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup fresh squeezed OJ (with pulp, my fave!)
• 2 tablespoons sugar

How To:

Mise en place: Remove the beet greens from the bulb.  Wash beet greens to remove all the sand and dirt.  Slice into small ribbons. It may look like a lot but it will shrink in size once cooked.  Mince the garlic.  Chop the scallions.  Scrub the beets.

Preheat the oven to 350.  Line a baking dish with foil, put in the beets, an drizzle with the olive oil.  Get them greased up! It makes it easier for the skin to come off.  Roast for about 60 minutes.  When pierced with a fork they should be slightly tender.  Another option is to boil the beets for 40-60 minutes.  Rub off the skins with paper towel.  Grate the beets and set aside.

Dressing: Combine dressing ingredients in a saucepan and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until sauce reduces by half.  Let cool.

Heat olive oil in a pan.  Saute garlic until golden.  Add in beet greens and saute until soft.  They will shrink in size.  Let cool.

Toss the grated beets, beet greens, scallions, blue cheese, and dressing.  Season with salt and pepper.  Voila!

Serving Tips:

Sprinkle a bit of the blue cheese on top for a nice red, white, and green color (so holiday).  Another idea is to use gold and red beets for some extra color.

Grated Beets and Blue Cheese

I had my wisdom teeth removed a couple of days ago, and I am fucking sick of soft fucking food. I could not eat another fucking pudding cup or spoonful of fucking applesauce or bowl of mashed fucking potatoes if you put a fucking gun to my head. I’m an adult, goddammit, not an infant. I want real food. In fact, I want to overcompensate for the fact that I’ve been eating mush for the last three and a half days and eat something that makes me feel money*.

You’ll need:
Brie, sliced thin.
One loaf of french bread. Doesn’t matter how fresh, as long as it’s not fuzzy.
At least one pear, sliced thin. Variety’s up to you
Walnuts, chopped

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 300. If you like, toast the walnuts over low heat in a pan until they’re fragrant. This isn’t necessary, and, if you’re ravenous like me, you can feel free to skip this step.

Line a baking sheet with foil or parchment paper or something else that won’t catch on fire or make you sick.

Cut a couple hunks off the loaf of bread and slice each bit in half. Lay the bottom of each slice on the baking sheet. Line with slices of brie. Top with sliced pears, then more brie. Sprinkle with walnuts. Top the whole thing with the other half of the bread.

Stick it all in the oven for about ten minutes, or until the cheese is melty and the bread is brown.

Enjoy hot from the oven like the fabulous bitch you are. Money.

Also, let it be known that if I suffer any trauma to my surgery wounds from this, it was totally worth it.

*(Ignores the fact that she already had the walnuts and the pears and that the brie and bread were on sale.)

One note: I only use precise measurements when I bake, because baking is very much a science.  (Chemistry, to be precise.)  Cooking, however, is an art, so I rarely refer to cups or teaspoons or anything else so specific.  Your finished dish probably will taste different than mine did, because you’ll adjust the ingredients based on your tastes, and good for you.

.::.

You’ll need:
-1 pkg gnocchi (a round, globular pasta usually made from potato flour)
-1 pkg spinach (frozen or fresh), or enough to line the bottom of the casserole dish you’ll be using
-1 pkg mushrooms (button, portobella, whatever you can afford)
-Olive oil
-The freshest mozzarella you can afford
-Marinara sauce

Get a big-ass pot, fill about 2/3 of the way from the top with water, sprinkle in some salt, and put it on high heat so it can get hot enough to be at a full boil by the time you’re ready for it.

Wash all the stuff that needs to be washed.  This would be the spinach (if it’s fresh) and the mushrooms.  Don’t wash the gnocchi, even if it’s made out of potatoes, you knob.

Preheat your oven to 375 F.  Start the water boiling for the spinach and put it in the pot as soon as the water’s at full boil.  Return the water to boil, turn the heat down to simmer, cover the pot and let the spinach cook for about 5 minutes (fresh) or 9 minutes (frozen).

As the spinach is cooking, heat some olive oil in a frying pan on low, about 2 or 3.  Slice your mushrooms and toss them in the pan.  Stir fry them for a few minutes, probably until your spinach is done, depending on how quick you are at prepping everything.

Remove both the spinach and the mushrooms from heat.  Drain the spinach and, using tongs (for crissakes, don’t reach into the pot to grab the just-boiled spinach with your bare hands, and if you do, leave me out of it when you go to the emergency room), put the spinach into your casserole dish and use it to line the bottom of the pan.  Follow with the mushrooms, creating a lovely, fungussy blanket for the spinach, which is probably getting chilled after its swim on the stove.

The big-ass pot of water should be boiling now.  Open your package of gnocchi and divide it into fourths.  Drop one fourth into the big-ass pot of water and start counting seconds as soon as they’re submerged.  Seriously, just count.  Setting a timer would take too long, and you do not want to overcook gnocchi.  Count to 60, and then start scooping out the gnocchi that have floated to the top with a slotted spoon so the water can drain right back into the pot.  Keep counting as you do this.  The goal is to have all the gnocchi out of the pot by the time you get to 120 seconds.  As you scoop out the gnocchi, put it into your lined dish, on top of the mushrooms and spinach.

Repeat this with the other 3/4 of the gnocchi.  You want to cook it a little at a time; too much gnocchi in the pot will inevitably lead to some of them being overcooked.  Since it takes less than two minutes per fourth, it won’t take you long even though you’re cooking it in small batches, so stop your whining, you lazy ass.

When the gnocchi’s all done and spread out over the pan, break out the mozzarella.  I really mean it when I say buy the best quality you can afford.  Fresh mozzarella is kind of gross looking, as it’s usually sort of suspended in its own liquid.  But it tastes amazing, and is so soft it will break apart as you cut it if you’re not using a really sharp knife (and don’t even think about trying to grate it).  The next freshest is kind of like string cheese.  It’s soft, but not liquidy and is also damn hard to grate.  It tastes wonderful, too, and costs about half as much as the fresh stuff.  The next freshest is the standard block-o’-cheese that is easier to grate than it is to cut, is about half as expensive as the middle-tier mozzarella, and will usually last a few months in your fridge before it becomes a science experiment (not the case with the other two, which expire pretty quickly).  It also tastes just fine, and to assuage any fears that I’m some unrealistic food snob who expects all of you to go out and buy a $9.00 ball of fresh mozzarella, I usually buy the block-o’-cheese myself and shred it over the recipe, which allows it to melt very nicely.

Today, though, I went with the middle-tier mozz, which means I spent a lot of time cutting it into cubes before sprinkling said cubes over the gnocchi-mushroom-spinach layers.

Finally, bust out yo’ marinara.  If it’s jarred or canned, you don’t need to heat it up first–it’ll get plenty hot in the oven–just pour it over the mozzarella-gnocchi-mushrooms-spinach layers.

Stick your now 18-pound slab of goodness in the oven (use both hands, or it’s likely your wrist will snap in half) and let it bake for twenty or thirty minutes, or until you’re relatively certain the cheese is nice and melty.

Take it out of the oven when it’s done and let it cool.  Trust me on that one.  You’ll probably want to dive into it right away, but hot marinara is like napalm on the roof of your mouth, and you do not want to have to pantomime that mess to an ER doc.  (And if you do, leave me out of that, too.)

That’s basically it.  It’s not the cheapest meal in the world to make (gnocchi can be pretty expensive unless you decide to get all Martha Stewart and make your own, in which case it’s dirt-cheap), but it’s hella filling and, like most vaguely Italian recipes, it’s better reheated, so you can definitely save the leftovers for a couple of days.  Also, again proving that I’m not an unrealistic food snob, if you can’t find or afford gnocchi, just cook any old pasta–macaroni, penne, even spaghetti–and replace the gnocchi with that.  It’s all good.

Also, I usually add garlic to dishes like this, but I forgot this time.  But, yeah, a clove of garlic would be gooooood.

If you’ll excuse me, I’m now going to go gorge myself on PMS comfort food.  (What?!  You think I cook like this for no reason?!)  Mangia!

What a great presentation these mushrooms make . i like to serve them as an appetizer with the sauce on the side . The mushrooms ( of your choice , I like baby bellas ) are grilled and just as they are done , brushed with some of the sauce and served . Careful not to brush on the sauce too early as the peppercorns burn very easily.

Adapted from Sanjeev Kapoor

serves 8

1/4 cup black peppercorns , try to use Tillicherry they are most flavorful

3/4 cup vegetable oil

3 medium onions , sliced

30 cloves garlic , sliced

4 one inch pieces ginger , sliced

3/4 cup vegetarian oyster sauce

1 1/2 cups tomato ketchup

1/2 cup plus 2 tbs Rice wine vinegar

5 tsp sugar

3 tbs dark soy sauce

3 1/2 tsp salt

16 medium button mushrooms

1 tbs freshly squeezed lemon juice

Crush the black peppercorns in a spice grinder . Heat oil in a pan , add onions and saute for a minute . Add ginger and garlic and saute for 2 minutes. Add crushed peppercorns and continue to saute for 2 minutes . Add vegetarian oyster sauce and ketchup and mix. Add vinegar , sugar , dark soy sauce and salt and stir. Stir over low flame till sauce is thick enough to lightly coat mushrooms .  Blend in blender till smooth . Set aside.

String the mushrooms on to toothpicks and place them on a preheated grill pan . Sprinkle on lemon juice then salt and continue grilling . Sprinkle some water on the mushrooms and grill until almost done . Lightly brush on some sauce onto the mushrooms , cook for a minute more . Serve hot with the extra sauce on the side .

I made more Cinnamon Raisin Bread today, and also started some Alfalfa Sprouts.

I went post-trip shopping today.  I thought that just once I would tell you what I bought, with a fridge mostly empty of perishables.  I didn’t buy some vegetables that I plan to pick up at the farmer’s market tomorrow. * = organic

Mixed Nuts

Produce:

• 1/2 lb. of green beans
• 8 oz. mushrooms *
• 1/2 lb. broccoli *
• 1/2 lb. mixed nuts in shells
• 2 lb. onions
• 2 lb. bananas *
• 1 avocado *
• piece of ginger
• 12 mini apples
• box of clementine oranges
• almost 3 lb. tamari almonds *

Grocery:

• 2 packages of tofu *
• 1 Gimme Lean “Sausage” *
• 1 box corn squares cereal
• 1 box Kix cereal
• 1 box toasted oats cereal
• 1 box Dr. Oetker Blondies mix *
• 1 box Dr. Oetker Lava Cake mix *
• 1 lb. Bionatura whole wheat fettucine *
• big bag of chocolate chips, vegan

Beverages:

• 2 cartons of unsweetened grapefruit juice
• 2 cartons of calcium-enriched orange juice
• 1 carton of soymilk *
• 6-pack of Michelob Porter
• 12-pack of Newcastle (not vegan)
• 2 bottles of no-salt veggie juice
• 6-pack of low-salt veggie juice

Hot Sauces, Mexican Rice & Beans, Salsa, Green Beans, Sauted Mushrooms & Peppers

Dinner tonight needed to come together very quickly.  We had burritos: Eden canned Mexican Rice & Beans and jarred salsa in soft tortillas.  I added to mine some quickly-sauted sliced mushrooms and frozen sliced banana peppers (salt & peppered) and Chipotle Tabasco.  We also had microwaved green beans.