Green Party

Today was my son's birthday party. We decided to be low key and have it at the house. Last year, he had a great party at a bowling alley, but that a lot. This year, it was at our home and he had a few kids over. A few weeks ago, I bought the disposable plates, silverware & cups for the party. Instead of buying plastic, I bought these, from Alice.com. The items are sustainable because they are made from corn starch or from cane sugar fiber! They are also compostable. Sadly, I don't have a composter yet - which I need. How cool would it have been to have thrown all the stuff into the compost?!

Anyway... for my sons cake - I made everything from scratch. I would I could share the recipes, but they were from Cooks Illustrated. They are a subscription service, which I totally recommend. I made a checkerboard cake which used the recipes of a fluffy yellow cake and a chocolate cake. The butter cream was my standard butter cream recipe that I mentioned a little while ago.

I must confess that I did use pre made fondant from Wilton. If I had had time, I would try making my own... I just didn't have the time. The decorations weren't really meant to be eaten -- the cake & the butter cream were the star of the show.

I as thrilled to use sustainable goods at the party & to make ALMOST all the cake from scratch!

How to exercise and cook all at once!

I had the brilliant idea to make homemade pasta on Wednesday night. It's really not complicated at all. In the past when I made it I had a pasta maker - and now I understand why. Pasta is really fairly simple - flour, salt, eggs & olive oil. That's about it. It only took about 5 minutes using my Kitchen Aid - and another 5 to knead. For the filling, I decided on a cheese filling so my vegetarian would eat it - ricotta, italian spices, egg, wilted spinach and some parm all mixed up together. Again... nothing complicated.

Then the hard part start. Rolling it out. Wow. That stuff is tough. I would definitely recommend a pasta dough roller if you are planning on making thin pasta. It took me a good 10 minutes to get it thin enough to be decent. The good news is that eventually it worked, the bad news, I was beat.

However, the best thing was that my children LOVED it! Oh my gosh, I was thrilled!!! Handmade, homemade pasta that everyone ate! I didn't cover it in sauce --- just a little fresh olive oil and parm. Yum-O!

Occasionally Dining Out...

I realize the title of this blog is "No More Dining Out"... but yes, I admit that we do occasionally go out. But it's changed from what it used to be. 6 months ago, when I was tired, I simply grabbed the kids and went to the local mexican joint. We rarely did fast food - it helps to have a vegetarian - fast food joints aren't really veg friendly at all - but we would go to local places and chains, more often than not.

But, since I started this, it's changed - a lot. We are lucky if we go out once a week. Now, if I am tired and don't want to cook, I simply look in the fridge and see what can go in a skillet and sauteed or even make an omlet (which ends up being more of a scramble than an omelet, but that's another story).

However, on Saturday night my son had a friend over and I know kids like pizza. Sometimes it is just easier to order pizza. Let me tell you a story of the last time I got take out pizza....

After working and feeling kind of lethargic all day, we decided to go to a cheap chain pizza place. In retrospect, this was a very bad choice. It was heavy & greasy and (gosh, it turns my stomach now to even think about it) to be honest, it was kind of gross. I sat down to watch a movie with the family (Ponyo... which I never even saw the end of!).  To make a long story short, the pizza didn't sit well in my stomach (I don't know if it was coincidental or if it was the 'plague' that went around my place of employment). I am basically DONE with chain pizzas now.

So, back to my story about dining out...

I wanted to get pizza for the boys, but I didn't not want 'cheap chain' pizza. I decided on a place just a few blocks from Bloom, where I work, that coincidentally has the same thoughts towards local/organic that Bloom does - Roman Candle Pizza. Here's what I found on their  menu:

'At the Roman Candle you will find fresh, locally sourced and, when available, organic
ingredients. We are a neighborhood pizzeria driven by sustainable community involvement.'

Sounded great!!!

I have picky kids (but you knew that already) so I ordered 3 small pizzas. A cheese, a pepperoni (which I MEANT to get sausage) and the Animal Lovers (veggie). When I went to pick it up, I took my daughter, ran into a friends husband and chatted with him, dropped the pizzas in the car and then walked over to Bloom Bake Shop for some desserts for the kiddos.

It felt good. It felt like a community. So even though I wasn't cooking at home, I was contributing money to local restaurants, enjoying a great evening with my daughter and seeing people in my area. Oh yeah, and not eating overly greasy pizza that made me sick last time and really, it not good at all for you.

Nasi Goreng

I Googled Nasi Goreng, just to see what I would find. I know it as a Dutch/Indonesian dish. My mother in law brings me spice mixes from Dutch Stores. I can't read the ingredients or the instructions, but I do know it's darn good. This was the what I found on Indochef.com .

"Nasi Goreng, Indonesian fried rice. This dish can be enjoyed by itself or as the basis of a larger meal, for example with a rijsttafel. It is very easy to make and won't take more than 20 minutes to prepare."

 Read more: http://www.indochef.com/indo_23.shtml#ixzz0lOKDL3gQ - the recipe is also found on this page.

My basic recipe involves Conimex spices, Ketjap Manis & Sambal Oeleck. 

For Nasi, I start with some leeks and onions and saute - I do this while  my rice cookes Then I cook the meat - I believe it's traditionally pork but this night I did chicken. Finally, I scramble an egg or 2. Once it's all done, I put it all together! Yes, it's similiar to chinese Fried Rice - but it's got more pizazz. More spice.  The ketjap islike a soy sauce, but it's thicker and not nearly as salty. It's hard to describe. It's very good, actually. Finally, I mixed in the sambal. Usually it's Oeleck, but this time, direct from the Netherlands, we got Sambal Brandal. A little spicier! Just the way I like it.

 

 

Yummy Yellow Rice Salad with a Kick

I love salads composed of rice, beans and/or pasta. My brain thinks I'm eating a healthy salad and my stomach is happy because it's actually FULL (unlike those salads with pitiful greens). For today's overcast / cloudy lunch, Rob and I whipped up a very bright and sunny Yellow Rice Salad with Roasted Peppers and Spicy Black Beans from Bon Appetit. It's good. REALLY GOOD.



I didn't realize it until I started collaborating on this blog, but I clearly have some cooking themes. Cilantro shows up A LOT. Lime Juice -- ditto. Cumin is also one of my favorite flavorings and I'm rather surprised that I haven't grown tired of it. This recipe is no exception. I had to add more roasted red peppers (shucks) to make up for the lack of green bell pepper, but it wasn't missed.

Eggplant, the other white-fleshy meat

Rob finally admitted to me the other night that he really doesn't like eggplant. I was holding two beautiful shiny purple globes in my hand, ready to be sliced, when he announced it. "In fact," he said, "I kind of hate it. Sorry." It was heartbreaking to hear from the person that I cook for the most.

Eggplant is one of those vegetables that people tend to love or hate -- that firm consistency and it's an unusual looking veg, that's for sure. But I think that's why I adore it -- it's like the underdog of vegs. I feel like I cook with it just to introduce it's 'other yummy side' to people who are initially turned off by it.

The good news is that I think I've figured out how to include it in meals so that Rob (and others, and you know who you are) might eat them. I hide them with other deliciousness. Pasta Salad with Eggplant, Tomatoes, and Basil from Cooks Illustrated Guide to Grilling and BBQ is one way to do this. The eggplant was grilled, fresh tomatoes and basil added to a large warm pot of pasta and sauce. Rob loved it (really). He even scarfed down the leftovers for lunch the next day. My heart has healed. I realize that Cooks online recipes are subscription-only, so I also found a free pirated version (tsk tsk).

Corn Never Had It So Good

It's not corn season yet, so the frozen bagged version usually needs a little help (i.e., love) to coax out it's best qualities. Pair it with a spicy, salty salad and voila, corn-yum. Granted, once you add avocado, lime juice, cherry tomatoes, and cilantro you barely notice those cute yellow kernals, but it's all good.

I've tasted *other* black bean and corn salads... as there are many varieties. But this one has avocado. Who doesn't love avocado? Plus, this one also has a lime dressing.... mmmmm limey.... So this one is my favorite and I've made it enough times to know that it's also the favorite of many.
Black Bean and Corn Salad II from AllRecipes.com

So this past Saturday our neighbors (very kitchen-experienced) invited us and another set of neighbors (also very kitchen-saavy) over for dinner. After a delicious appetizer of spinach/artichoke dip and crusty french bread, we had a feast that included a beefy rib roast and cheesy scalloped potatoes. They were so so so tasty (naturally).

After much wine and bizarre discussions, we were pretty happy.

And then we had fresh berry handpies. Yes, perfect little pies that fit in your hand. Is there anything better than that?

Total Success

Today was meat free Monday, so I wanted to make something unique and tasty - but vegetarian. After a trip to Trader Joe's I decided on veggie tacos. Here's what made up our veggie taco bar:

Flour Tortillas
"Mexican" shredded cheese
Cilantro Lime Basmati Brown Rice (say that 3 times in a row!)
Light Sour Cream
Lettuce
"Fried" onions and red peppers (basically sauteed in olive oil fast and hot)
Corn & Black Bean Salsa.

Everyone loved it. I was so happy! No one complained, everyone got what they wanted. It's was bliss. (sorry I have no pictures, the food flew by!)

Let me tell you about 2 main ingredients listed above -- the Cilantro Lime Basmati Brown Rice and the Corn & Black Bean Salsa.

The rice come from the Jamie Oliver Food Revolution Cook Book. He has a recipe for "perfect" rice. I will admit right now, I didn't follow it. His recipe involves washing the rice, put it in boiling water, draining it and putting more water in. I have had difficulty with rice. I needed measurements. You won't hear me say that often. I stuck with the instructions on the bag - 2 cups water, 1 cup washed rice - and ran with it. It was perfect enough for me - given my past rice incidents. After cooking the rice I added zest from one lime, a bunch of chopped cilantro, lime juice from the zested lime and a little olive oil. Great. Everyone, and I do mean EVERYONE loved it. Phew....

One more thing about rice. I always used brown. I see no reason for white - honestly. Brown rice still has the bran and SOME nutrients. White rice is just filler. I will always use brown when possible.

Corn & Black Bean Salsa. I love Salsa. I love love love salsa. In fact, I love it so much, much of my garden this summer is dedicated to growing the ingredients for salsa. I like it on chips. I like it on tacos. I love it on eggs. It's like the perfect condiment. I love traditional tomato salsa, I love tomatillo salsa. I love Corn & Black Bean Salsa. How much does it normally cost? Buy a jar for $4 usually. Did you know you can make like 5 jars worth for $4??? Yes! you can! Here's what I did.

Take these ingrediants and throw them in a large-ish bowl

1 Bag Frozen Sweet Corn (or I like the roasted smoky flavor frozen corn from Trader Joe's)
1 Can of Black beans, drained & rinsed well
1 Can of Diced Tomatoes (I like the ones that have chiles or spice added already)
lots of chopped cilantro
Salt
Pepper
Juice from one lime
Heat as desired (ie jalepenos, habeneros etc. I went mild since I thought the kids might eat it)

Let the flavors blend for a while. Since the corn is frozen, I leave it out for a few hours to defrost, then put it in the fridge for storing. Great cheap tasty snack. Take it to parties or eat at home! Of course, my mind was reeling with the thoughts of using all fresh stuff this summer.

Back to the Pioneer Woman's Recipes!

I saw this recipe a few weeks ago and had it on my "to do " list. It's fairly easy, doesn't take too long and is darn tasty. My choice for a Sunday dinner after working for 5 hours (yeah, I know, not long) was Chicken Parm.

I made a few changes to her recipe - but the heart of it was the same. Namely, I didn't use 1/2 cup olive oil! That's WAY too much. I only used the olive oil when cooking the chicken - instead of butter. I don't need no stinkin' butter (really, I love butter, but I definitely don't need to cook with that AND olive oil). Also, I used one BIG can of plum tomatoes. I got these at Trader Joes - they also had basil in them. They were whole tomatoes, yes, but I took out my immersion blender and pureed those puppies before putting them in the pan. What else... no parsley. Not a big fan. I used some Penzey's Tuscan Sunset in the sauce instead. It was AOK. Finally, last but not least, I didn't serve it with pasta. Don't hate me, I just didn't need to be weighed down with pasta. I just served it with some roasted broccoli (which, by the way, is great! Try roasting your fresh broccoli - a little olive oil, a little salt. Yum.).

I almost forgot my favorite part. Deglazing. I am in love with the smell from wine when deglazing. If I could deglaze every meal I would. Don't know what deglazing is ? It's takinga  liquid -- in this case wine -- and disolving all the lovely carmelized bits off the bottom of the pan to make a sauce. Try it. You'll love it.

Not serving with pasta did leave me with a lot of extra sauce, so I packed it up and put it in the freezer. I couldn't let all that beautiful sauce go to waste.

So, this was a winner. Definitely a future dinner. Both David and I had none left and we could have eaten more. the picture looks like the chicken is huge -- but no -- I serve my meals on small plates. I learned that your brain thinks you eat more when you have a full plate. It didn't work this time.

Pass it On

Tonight I made what I call a "Food Revolution" dinner. We got Jamie Olivers latest cookbook from the library and decided to make a meal from it. The reason this entry is called "pass it on" is that in the introduction of the book he talks about the various statistics - health related/food related - that he talks about on the show. About how people eat in, but they buy take out to eat in  and that he wants people to learn how to cook and then -- pass it on -- share the love and ability to cook with others. So that's what I am doing. I am passing it on.

I will admit that I have been an avid follower of the show ever since I saw his TED Talk. I do think he's on to something. His "Food Revolution" even came at a perfect time for me -- when I was also in the middle of this personally. So....anyway, I sat down with the cook book and my husband and my daughter  (I don't know where the boy was) and decided on what we would have. Better yet, my daughter would help me cook it!

We decided on 3 things

Mediterranean Chopped Salad (Page 123)
Broccoli with Asian Dressing (Page 220)
Crunchy Garlic Chicken (Page 241)

I will go over the recipes in order that I made them so that the pictures are in order! I -- of course -- always cook the things that take the longest 1st so that ideally, the whole meal is ready at the same time.


Crunch Garlic Chicken 

1 clove of garlic
1 lemon
6 crackers (probably more -- I used saltines because he referenced a british brand that I was unfamiliar with)
2 tbsp butter
4 sprigs of parsley
sea salt & black pepper
2 tablespoons heaped all purpose flour
1 large egg
2 skinless chicken breasts
olive oil

To Prepare the chicken - peel the garlic and zest the lemon. Put the crackers into a food processor with the butter, garlic, parsley, lemon zest and a pinch of salt & pepper. Mix until it is very fine and poor onto a plate. Sprinkle the flour on a 2nd plate. Crack the egg into a bowl and beat with a fork. Lightly score the undersides of the chicken. Put a piece of plastic wrap over each and "bash" a few times with the bottom of a pan (or something hard!) until they flatten out. Dip the chicken into the flour until coated, then dip into the egg and finally into the crumbs. Make sure the entire chicken breast is coated.

Bake or pan fry. For baking - heat the oven to 475' and bake for about 15 mins.










 Broccoli with Asian Dressing

Steam about 1 1/4 lbs of broccoli. While it is cooking prepare the dressing. Grate a thumb size piece of ginger and finely chop a clove of garlic and place in a bowl. Add one fresh red chile. Stir in 1 tbsp sesame oil, 3 tbsp olive oil, 1 tbsp soy sauce, juice from one lime and drizzle in a teaspoon of balsamic. Whisk together. Serve over broccoli just before serving.








Chopped Mediterranean Salad

Handful of black olives
1/2 red onion
1 red chile
3 firm ripe tomatoes
1 romaine lettuce
fresh basil
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
sea salt & fresh black pepper

Get a large chopping board and a large sharp knife. Take out the olive pits if they were not already pitted by pressing down on the olives with the knife.

Start chopping the harder crunchier veggies first -- peel and slice your onion, chop the chile. Chope the olives and tomatoes and bring it all to the center of the cutting bard. Continue chopping and mixing together. Add the lettuce and basic and chop well. Once everything is well chopped you'll have a big mound of salad on the board. Make a well in the middle and add 6 tbsp olive oil (I only added 4, 6 seemed like a lot!), 2tbsp balsamic and a good pinch of salt and pepper. Mix it all up and serve straight from the board or put in a bowl.



As you can see, I had my daughter helping me. She did a great job. She zested lemons and "bashed" the chicken. It was great fun. Best of all, she ate like ALL her broccoli  - and I think it's because she had a hand in making it. Sadly, the meal did not go over well with the boy. I tried to choose veggies that he'd like, instead he wouldn't try it. Oh well... next time I will cook with him and see how it goes.

So... how was everything? My favorite was the salad. I could have eaten it all. Loved it. I see more chopped salads in our future. The broccoli was pretty darn good too. My least favorite was the chicken. I wasn't overly impressed with it. It was ok, but nothing spectacular by any means. So now, go cook one of these things yourself!

Meat Free Mondays

A friend of mine posted a link on Facebook to this movement and I thought it was a great idea. I honestly have no intention of becoming a vegetarian, but I am well aware that eating less meat is a good thing both for our bodies and for the world around us. Even just last week I had a few "meatless" days - not on purpose - it just happened.

So, I hadn't really planned any meals, but I needed to figure something out! For lunch, I had egg salad. I had to think about eating eggs -- was it really like eating meat? I decided no. That it wasn't. I know others may disagree - that they aren't vegetarian etc... but I looked at it this way. Eggs are a product of a hen. The hen is going to lay an egg regardless - they aren't fertilized eggs - so they aren't animals. She just churns out those eggs every 24 - 36 hours (I had to look up chicken eggs one day because I wanted to know the hows & whys. I do stuff like this I am odd.) So, I ate my egg salad. Very simple. Eggs, mayo (real mayo, none of this Miracle Whip stuff), a little fresh ground pepper, a little kosher salt. Voila! Served open face on wheat toast. I had some strawberries on the side too. What a yummy lunch.

Dinner, I turned to my old favorite. Risotto. But, since I was making this THE meal, it needed a little extra. I decided on roasted veggies. I didn't want steamed - I wanted roasted. I think roasting veggies brings out the sweetness. It allows the natural sugars to carmelize and get all delicious. I threw in some carrots, broccoli, zucchini and red peppers and let them cook up. I did start the carrots about 30 mins earlier since I knew they would take longer. Meanwhile, I made my traditional garlic parm risotto - I could seriously eat this stuff every day! After the risotto was done, I served it with the roasted veggies over it. I decided to cook the vegetables separately because I didn't want soft over cooked vegetables. The result was fantastic!

I had a great meat free Monday!

Easter Brunch

My mother in law left today after being here for more than 2 weeks. More than half of that was spent house/cat sitting our sick little kitty cat.

When she made her plane reservation, she didn't realize that the day she chose to leave was Easter. Her plane left at 2, so since I couldn't make an Easter dinner, I decided to make an Easter Brunch. Granted, we BARELY celebrate Easter - it's definitely more for the kids & they like the candy.  But it was a good excuse to make a good brunch. I had a few things on my menu - nothing complicated. There was only 5 of us.

Breakfast Casserole
Fruit Salad
Pancakes for the kids.

First, the casserole.  I wanted bacon. We bought bacon the other night (we got yummy apple wood smoked bacon from the butchers counter at the grocery store!), so I decided that it would be the "main" ingredient in my breakfast casserole. I took to the internets and found one on Recipe Zaar. I don't know why, but I like that site for recipes. I decided on their "Breakfast Egg Casserole". Helpfully, I already had fresh spinach as well as eggs. I just needed some cheese and bread. I got work on cooking the bacon and wilting the spinach and then dicing up the bread for the casserole. Everything came together very quick and easily. Oh yeah, I added garlic. I add garlic to anything I can. I thought this might need a little extra something. It came out pretty well. David and I talked about the fact that we both felt it was missing something. We weren't sure what. I think perhaps some red pepper or Tabasco would help liven it up - or even a spicier sausage instead of bacon. It just needed a little "oomph".

After making the casserole and getting it into the oven, I started on the fruit. Very simple - nothing fancy. Cut up fresh strawberries & kiwi, added some organic blueberries and last but not least, some red grapes. Mixed it, ta da! Fruit salad. I don't like anything extra on my fruit. Just the way it is, thank you very much!

Finally, I needed something for the children. Pancakes. Now, I have definitely made pancakes using bisquick, but I wanted to use something else. Something more from scratch. I recalled Alton Brown making a "mix" for pancakes. A dry mix that could be ready to go at any time once you add the wet ingredients. I went for it. Super easy stuff. If you know me, you know I love Alton. I love knowing WHY things do things in cooking. I could go on... I won't.

Anyway, pancakes. So, I made the pancakes.

Wow. They were great! Never ever ever again will I use a mix. There's no reason. These were 100x better. Even better - the mix made about 20 so I made them all and froze them! Now, the kids have yummy, made from scratch pancakes for breakfast before school. I think I will do this more often. Oh yes, and as a bonus, I made them in the shape of Mickey Mouse! I bought a Mickey pancake former when we were at Disney. What a treat on Easter. (one more note about pancakes, I am kind of a syrup snob now... no more fakey syrup. Maple all the way. REAL maple!)

Often, I hear how people say they don't cook because it's too hard. It's SO not! This morning, I got a nice Mocha Latte, watched the Princess and the Frog movie and made an entire Easter Brunch - all before noon. I wasn't rushed, it was easy and best of all it was all from SCRATCH!

Pam & Heather's Baking Bonanza

What do you get when you have two friends who love to cook and have a bit of I'm-glad-winter-is-over enthusiasm? You get a Bake Fest, apparently. It was kind of a last minute deal. I had been thinking about the idea of baking and then Pam conveniently asks me if I'm interested in cooking over the weekend. We didn't really have a plan. My kitchen contained an abundant number of bananas to use up and I also needed to make something chocolatey. She showed up mid-morning and I already had an enormous stack of potential recipes. We settled on merely 2 recipes... at first.

What a great day. We blazed through 6 recipes in 5 hours - a real accomplishment for us since we tend to not be that motivated when we cook together. We learned that we should really start cooking before lunch, otherwise we apt to lounge around and knit rather than do anything else (not a bad idea, however). The best part is that I was able to kill (oops, recycle) 6 sheets of paper from my massive recipe file -- I have saved hundreds of recipes from magazines for many, many years.

The Dark Chocolate and Cherry Brownies from Cooking Light (above photo) seemed like an obvious first choice. If you're gonna do chocolate, go all the way -- these brownies are RICH. It helped that Pam brought some black onyx dutch cocoa powder from Savory (If you haven't been to Savory (both in Denver and Boulder), go. now. really. go.). I didn't have enough cherry preserves, so we substituted with raspberry jam (always on hand) and a few dried cherries. We weren't exactly fighting over the leftover batter (not our style), but it was as competitive as she and I can get over food.

Next came the obligatory banana recipe: Banana-Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies, also from Cooking Light. Oatmeal is good for you. Bananas are good for you. So I pronounce these cookies "healthy". We (well, one of us) even forgot to include the vanilla and they were still scrumptious. Rum was going to be the substitute for vanilla, so we'll have to try making these again.

We were curious about these spicy, Moravian Wafer cookies. They're kind of a hassle to work with (not a huge fan of rolling out dough - I'm lazy that way). Molasses and spices pack a wallop of taste, so it's a good thing these gingerbread-like cookies are small. This is as Easter as it gets around here: note the little bunnies and chicks. It would have been easier to make rounds instead of shapes with pokey, pointy parts, but our cookies look better.

Once we blew through those recipes, we realized, to our horror, that we were dangerously low on muffins.

To prevent a potential catastrophe, we made Easy Morning Glory Muffins, a recipe from AllRecipes (a regular person). It looked tasty with the shredded carrot, coconut, and dried fruit. We substituted banana for the apple (good choice), and replaced some of the oil with applesauce (also a good choice). We also switched the walnuts for pecans (my favorite). This is a recipe with a lot of potential -- I can see making these and freezing for breakfasts, etc.

Lunchtime!

Avocados, smoked swiss cheese, mushrooms, cilantro, tomato, ciabatta bread and some dijon mustard... then we were ready for more baking.


We figured that we definitely needed more cookies. I mean, who stops at only two kinds? Plus, one of us accidentally doubled the baking powder, so we *had* to make a double batch. Orange Shortbread Cookies with Chocolate Chips from Bon Appetit had been on my recipe radar since 2003. The cookies originated at a 'funky little eatery' called Bump & Grind, located in Denver. 'Funky' eh? I've been there. In fact, both Pam and I have been there together for brunch. It's certainly more than 'funky' when the cross-dressing waiter/tress decides to give a lap dance to a teenager for his birthday. And before noon, no less. The food was good, yes -- but I honestly don't remember the food. The place unfortunately closed this past month.

Finishing off our baking marathon, it seems most appropriate to make Maple-Almond Granola, since it's fast and one of the only baking items left to do (other than pie or cake or the like). We've made granola before, so we know what we like. We like oatmeal. And maple syrup. And good berries (not raisins). This granola is loose and not pressed into bars. We improvised, as usual, although Pam tried to follow the recipe (or so she says).

Back to cooking

Ah... it's so nice to cook at home again. I missed it so much. When I went to the store on Tuesday, I knew I would be buying a lot. I tried to do my best to make a list from recipes that I wanted to make. My mother in law was shocked that I wasn't using coupons. Well... most of my list was FRESH! There's no coupons for fresh veggies. This made me happy.

I don't remember where I read it, but I read SOMEWHERE that bargain shoppers are like bottom feeders. They are buying the crap. The junk. The cheap stuff. You get a coupon for Hamburger Helper, and you can get like 10 of them for $5. Or you have coupons for chips or hot dogs. Get the point. It felt good to not be a bottom feeder anymore.

Anyway, back to the point. Because I knew I would be working a lot starting Wednesday night, I wanted something easy, but good. I wanted a crock pot recipe. But after the vacation, I knew I wanted vegetarian. I also knew the kids wouldn't eat it. I Googled  "vegetarian crock pot recipes". I got lots of lentils. Lots beans. I didn't want these. One caught my eye. Slow Cooker Mediterranean Stew. Yum. It even reminded me of the ratatouille. A little. I didn't include the squash - mainly because it's not squash season so I didn't see a lot out. But I didn't need it. My crock pot was FULL!

I served it over brown rice with a side salad. Holy yum. Loved it. It is going to be my lunch tomorrow. I had a totally vegetarian day and loved it.

What did the kids eat, you ask? Well... brown rice. They like rice. Yay! I also cooked a little broccoli, cut up a few strawberries for the girl, a veggie burger for the boy.  It was all good.