Return of the Oats

I am singing that title in my head, like, "Return of the Mack," just so you know.

GOODBYE, PESACH!  HELLO, OATS!

Oat bran, to be exact.  I got so excited that I actually forgot that I have fresh fruit in the house and ended up putting some dried cherries on top, and a spoon of almond butter.  Until I remembered my favorite topping.

BITTMAN GRANOLA!  Yumyum.  Then halfway through I remembered the blackberries that I bought myself as a treat for keeping Passover, and I sprinkled some of those on too.  Then I went for a double whammy and added some chocolate PB from Peanut Butter & Co.  Has that been photographed yet?  I feel like maybe not.  I have a few food adventures to post, actually.  Coming up soon, for sure.  Anyway, my return to carbs was nothing short of heaven.

I'm not going to back to posting all my meals, but I thought this lunch was funny.  My first post-Passover lunch, packed to go back to the office:

Why is this funny?  Because it's entirely kosher for Passover.  Ummmm, what?  How?  WHY?  I asked myself all of these questions, and then answered them by bringing along a baggie of cereal for the yogurt, just out of principle. And a cookie that Allison baked over the weekend.  Despite being entertainingly kosher, this salad was actually great.  Spinach, roasted beets, carrots, and onions, walnuts, and a splash of balsamic.  Could have used some mustard mixed in too.

Moving backward in time now, in the final days of Passover, I reached a point of desperation/boredom.  So I got creative.  I know it's over and I said I wouldn't "dwell," but I was actually pleased with the outcome of creativity meeting hunger meeting Passover:

Ants on a log, of course!  And something I was reluctant to try...

Sweet potato with cottage cheese.  Ultimately, my suspicions were correct... that I'm not crazy about the idea of warm yogurt/cottage cheese/milk.  Flavor-wise it totally worked, like sour cream on a baked potato, I guess (I added raisins too, so that it would feel more like a dessert... or a kugel?), but unless it's being baked, I want my dairy cold.  I may take this back when someone reminds of something I really love, like a cappuccino or something.  But I will maintain that it's different.

One of my mom's go-to Passover meals is spaghetti squash with meatballs, so I opted for an easier version of that, since I'm just serving one and I got lazy on the protein front.

I found a baby spaghetti squash at in the Fairway organics section, literally the size of a mini Nerf football.  It was adorable.  So I nuked it for 4 minutes, scooped out the insides, mixed it with some frozen/thawed tomato sauce, and then melted some reduced fat mozzarella cheese on top in the microwave.  Sort of reminded me of something I would have made in college (mostly because the microwave was my main source of heat), but it was delicious, and that's all that matters.  How come gooey melty cheese is so ugly?

The foodie events, as promised, coming up next.

Mish Mosh Squash.

In case you haven't noticed yet, Katie is my other half when it comes to eating.  We love to cook together, and we have such similar tastes that we can always agree on something to make.  Plus we never get sick of each other!  Ever.  And now that she has a limited capacity kitchen, she comes over all the time to cook with me!  It's great.

Last week we did a Mexican burrito dinner similar to what I made in my last post, and we also roasted an acorn squash.  Which we ate all of.  Eek.  Fiberfest.

I think I still prefer delicata, but this was very tasty and nicely browned.  Just salt and pepper for seasoning.

Dessert was the real highlight for me.  Banana soft serve!  This post DID change my life.  I now keep a container of frozen bananas in the freezer for when I want to make this.  Which is often.

Served with my favorite topping: almond butter and dark chocolate chips melted in the microwave together.  A-MAZ-ING.  Mine is the one on the right with 5 times as much topping as Katie's.  So, yeah, when I said we have very similar tastes, I also should have mentioned that she generally finishes off the veggies and I generally finish off the dessert.  Not that I don't love my veggies (goodness, have you been reading this blog at ALL?), but Katie puts even me to shame.  Bless her little tummy, she does.

Ehhhh, so I think I'm just going to make the rest of this post a mish-mosh of good things I've made in the last week.  Mostly because I'm trying to catch up to myself so I can post about my BIRTHDAY!

Nava Atlas wins me over once again with her Tofu Teriyaki Triangles.  I really love making my own sauces these days, and this teriyaki sauce is such a winner.  I think that what makes her cookbook so accessible is that it's intended to be kid-friendly.  Yeah, yeah, hold your horses: I happen to have a very sophisticated palate, if I do say so myself, but I can't honestly say that I love whipping up culinary masterpieces on whatever Wednesday night it happens to be.  Nava's ingredients are usually things I have stocked already, or she makes suggestions as to what can be omitted/substituted.  Have I not plugged enough?  Go buy it.

Teriyaki Tofu Triangles

adapted from Nava Atlas's The Vegetarian Family Cookbook

For 1 block of tofu:

2 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce

1 tbsp light olive oil

1 tsp dark sesame oil

2 tsp rice vinegar

1 tbsp honey or maple syrup

1/2 tsp fresh ginger, minced/grated or a good pinch of ground ginger

2 tsp hoisin sauce, optional

2 tsp grainy spicy mustard (my own addition as an experiment)

1 or scallions, thinly sliced, optional (or parsley)

Combine all ingredients for the marinade in a small bowl and stir together.

Cut the tofu into 1/2 inch thick slices.  Blot well between clean tea towels (huh?) or several layers of paper towels, then cut each slice through the thickness again to make 1/4 inch thick slices.  Blot briefly again.  (That's how you get it to CRISP!)

Cut each slice into 2 squares, then cut each square on the diagonal  into 2 triangles.  Place in a shallow pan and drizzle with the marinade.  Gently turn the tofu pieces over so that both sides are coated with marinade.
Let stand for 10 minutes or so.

Heat a wide nonstick skillet.  Transfer the tofu and marinade into the skillet.  Cook over medium high heat, stirring gently and frequently, until the tofu is nicely browned on most sides.  Scatter scallions over the tofu if desired, and serve at once.

I wilted some red chard in a separate pot.  Once the tofu was nice and crisp I put it aside on a plate and cooked the chard in the same pan with a drop more oil and some garlic.  And salt!  I don't know what my deal is these days, but I looove salt on everything.

The coloring isn't great here (WHAT do food bloggers do after dark?!), but it's one of my favorite things about red chard.  Beautiful!

Next up: 25th!!

Don't Get Saucy with Me

I am truly smitten with Smitten Kitchen.  Deb is my writing hero, a talented chef, and totally reminds me of my family in that she's witty and culturally Jewish and such a New Yorker.  In a good way.  AND she posts pictures of her utterly edible baby.  Too much.

Anyway, Deb tends to bake a lot, which makes for great food porn, but also would make me fat if I followed suit.  I love baking, but I avoid it because then I'd have to eat it.  Don't get me wrong, I'm a splurger.  I splurge all the time.  Probably to the point where it's not really a splurge anymore, and more like an indulgent lifestyle.  But whatever.  I am 80% very healthy eater and 20% sweet toothed fanatic.  I like dessert and that's fine.  There's just a difference between happily accepting a homemade cookie from a friend and happily accepting the entire pan of brownies that just came out of the oven.  Hence, I don't bake much.

So, of course, when Deb posted this recipe for tomato sauce, I was kvelling.  Easy, savory, and Deb-approved?  Count me in.  She says it all so well, so I won't repeat, but in case you didn't follow the link, the only ingredients are canned tomatoes (perfect for the winter time "no-tomatoes-anywhere" blues), onion, butter, salt (optional).  And pasta of course.  I ended up at Trader Joe's the day I bought ingredients for this dish, which meant little variety in the canned tomato arena.  Trader Joe's is wonderful, but comprehensive it is not.  I ended up with pre-salted canned tomatoes with basil.  It didn't taste way too salty or anything, and I just didn't add any extra to the sauce, but I would have liked a more pure tomato base for such a purist sauce.

I served this with steamed broccoli and some happy delicata squash, which happens to be my new favorite variety.

I have also been on a Mexican kick as of late.  I can't stop thinking about my veggie burrito from SF, and I was determined to replicate it on a much less football sized scale.  And so we have...

Mexican spiced pot of veggies!  Here is my sorta-recipe:

One Pot Veggie Burritos

1 tbsp olive or canola oil

2 small carrots, sliced into rounds (I used yellow and purple carrots from the Farmer's market)

1 cup (or more) sliced crimini mushrooms (about 10 mushrooms)

1 small yellow onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

3-4 cups spinach

1 can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 1/2 tsp Mexican seasoning (I have a pre-fab sample from a Mexican restaurant, but if you need to mix your own, use some combo of cumin, paprika, and chili powder)

Tortillas of choice

yogurt and salsa for topping

Heat the oil in a medium sized saucepan.  Add onions and garlic and sautee for 2-3 minutes.  Add carrots and sautee for another 4-5 minutes.  Add mushrooms and sautee for about another 3 minutes, or until everything seems almost done but not quite.  At this point add the spinach, a splash of water to help steam the spinach a little, stir everything together, cover the pot and allow to simmer for about 3 minutes.  Stir everything again to help the spinach wilt evenly.  Add the beans and seasoning.  You don't need to cook them long -- just enough to heat through, about another 4 minutes, covered.  Voila!  I topped mine with plain yogurt and salsa verde, but obviously anything goes.  I bought some cheddar cheese and avocado  for the leftovers, which definitely stepped it up a notch, although was significantly more calorie dense.

I have some news to get to in a bit, but that will be a separate post.  Today is kind of a special day... it's my 25th birthday!  Yikes!  Entering the quarter century club... my, oh my.  It's a beautiful day here in NY (totally lying, it's nasty out), and I have big plans for the evening.  Will obviously update later.  Adios!

Snow Day = QT in the Kitchen

A couple of weeks ago, a snow day descended upon Manhattan.  I say "snow day" as opposed to "snow storm" because quite frankly it was a lame storm.  It snowed, but it wasn't nearly as much as was predicted, and the city's response was totally exaggerated.  Stores were closed, schools were closed, and plenty of offices asked their employees to work from home for the day.  This didn't really affect me much, since I work from home most days anyway (and to be honest I felt kind of gypped), but it did mean that I had a work from home buddy to play with!  Katie came over mid-morning and literally stayed through the entire day.  So, what else would we do but cook?!

For lunch we made a "throw it all in a pan" pasta dish.

This is not recipe worthy, because I didn't measure a thing, but I actually really recommend it as a quick weeknight dinner or a way to use up veggies in your fridge.  We cooked up some whole wheat pasta and then in a separate pan sauteed red pepper, spinach, crimini mushrooms, and garlic.  There may have been onions, but I don't remember.  I added a dash of sherry vinegar at the end and topped with feta cheese, although I can't say it would be my first cheese choice.  Just what I had.

Katie looooves it!

The "blizzard":

Maybe I'm jaded after 4 years in Ithaca, but really?  I scoff at you, blizzard.

Katie and I spent the afternoon working/napping (me/her), and then reconvened to cook dinner!  Well, first we went to Gourmet Garage to pick up some ingredients and for me to get some fresh air.  Gotta love how I can make it until 7pm without leaving the house.  And by love it I mean hate it.  I had been harboring a hankering (Harboring a hankering?  Does that even make sense?) for this butternut squash soup from The Barefoot Contessa for weeks (maybe months?), so I convinced K to make it with me.

In true Katie/Freya fashion, we made a boatload of veggies to eat with our soup (roasted brussels sprouts and golden and red beets, canola oil, salt and pepper, pretty standard).  We also bought a quarter loaf of Brooklyn Brewery stout bread.  I have no idea what that means (it was a rye, I think?), but it was SO GOOD.  Gourmet Garage is an awesome grocery store, but not very well-stocked with the basics.  Just awesome little strange things.  Not to mention it's HELLA expensive.  But it's a block away, and I love it.

I am providing the full recipe for the soup, but note that we halved it (well, half + a little).  I say buy a squash and then proportion the other ingredients according to the weight of the squash.  It was so satisfying and healthy and truly easy to make, if a bit time consuming, even considering the food processor involvement.  We each had a big bowl, and then I think I had 2 more servings leftover.  Also, you're supposed to peel the apples, but we forgot (oops) and didn't notice a thing.  Yay extra fiber! (?)

Butternut Squash and Apple Soup
Adapted from Barefoot Conetessa Parties!  (haha love the title of this cookbook...)
Makes 3 1/2 quarts

2 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp good olive oil
4 cups chopped yellow onions (3 large)
2 tbsp mild curry powder
1 tsp Garam Masala -- we added it because Allison makes a great butternut squash soup with the spice, and we said, why not?
5 pounds butternut squash (2 large)
1 1/2 pounds sweet apples, such as McIntosh (4 apples) -- I used Gala
2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
2 cups good apple juice or cider

Warm the butter and olive oil in a large stockpot over low heat.  Add the onions and curry powder and cook, uncovered, for 15 to 20 minutes, until the onions are tender.  Stir occasionally, scraping the bottom of the pot.
Peel the squash, cut in half, and remove the seeds.  Cut the squash into chunks.  Peel, quarter, and core the apples (or not).  Cut into chunks.
Add the squash, apples salt, pepper, and 2 cups of water to the pot.  Bring to a boil, then cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook for 30 to 40 minutes, until the squash and apples are very soft.  Process the soup through a food mill fitted with a large blade, or puree it coarsely in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade.
Pour the soup back into the pot.  Add the apple juice and enough water to make the soup the consistency you like (we added no water); it should be slightly sweet and quite thick.  Check the salt and pepper and serve hot.

The Twilight Zone

Yesterday it was 53 and sunny in New York City and it was snowing in Dallas.  I may have 24 years of snow experience under my belt, but I was as giddy as a little kid (or a teenager, in Joanna's case) seeing snow for the first time.  Just a hoot and a holler, this state of Texas is!

Today it's sunny and in the 40s, which is a little more normal, although still colder than NYC?  Craziness.

As promised, here is my lightning round of cooking adventures, in award show format, in honor of the awesome Beyonce and Taylor Swift, who are leading the Grammy nominations.

Best New Snack: "Baked" Apples and AB

A while ago, my mom told me how she had made her own applesauce by peeling, coring, and slicing apples and then microwaving them for 2 minutes.  I was really into it for a while, until I decided I didn't like washing the vegetable peeler.  So I figured I'd give it a shot without the peeling, and... AWESOME!  I just did a minute since I wanted the apple chunks to keep their form, and then I dug in with some TJ's almond butter on a spoon.  Perfect for the fall/winter apple season!  And even though my roommates say that our apartment is sweltering, I still (always) need to be warmed up.

Best New Oatmeal Variation: Pumpkin Oats

Hey, hey, pumpkin!  Pumpkin has been making appearances in breakfasts all over the blogosphere (here, here, and here, for example), so I thought I'd give it a shot.  I just had to wait for a week when I was working from home so that I had any chance of finishing a can of pumpkin.  And so, I began experimenting with pumpkin oats!

Rule #1: Canned pumpkin on its own is way too vegetably to just stir in.  I find that I need to sweeten a little. So this has raisins, cinnamon, pumpkin seeds, walnuts, and brown sugar in addition to the pumpkin.  Kath uses 1/3 cup of pumpkin in her mix, but I use a lot less.  It gets kinda gloppy otherwise.  But it smells outrageous!

Biggest Small Accomplishment: The Fried Egg Sandwich

Yes, I've been cooking eggs since I was 10, but for whatever reason, only my dad was allowed to make me fried egg sandwiches.  It's his thing.  He does eggs well.  And it's a good way to trick him into making me lunch, since he enjoys it so much.  So this kind of became my comfort food as a kid.  I'm kind of bad at cracking eggs, so imagine my surprise when this beauty began bubbling away on the pan.

But don't tell my dad I know how.  It's better when he makes it.  :)

Best Dinner Made From a Recipe: It's a tie!  Stuffed Acorn Squash and Cranberry Polenta Squares
Oh, Mark Bittman, you never fail me!  Check out this list if you haven't yet.  Both of these dishes came from the list, tweaked slightly.

27. Cranberry Polenta Cakes: Make polenta with half milk, half water; stir in chopped fresh or dried cranberries. When thick, pour onto a sheet tray and let cool. Cut into squares and sauté or broil until slightly crisp. Drizzle with honey. -- I don't keep regular milk in the house, and soy sounded like a less than appealing substitution, so I just used all water for the polenta and threw in a tbsp of butter instead.

And below, browned in a nonstick pan.  I tried this a few ways... cooked in olive oil, in Pam, and just straight on the pan.  The last one worked the best.  Also I'm just reading now that I was supposed to chop the cranberries.  I did not.  Might have helped keep things more topographically even.

49. Halve and seed acorn, butternut or delicata squash and roast until squash begins to soften. Meanwhile, cook bulgur, drain and toss with coarsely chopped pine nuts and currants. Add a bit of the stuffing to each squash half and sprinkle with cinnamon. Bake until squash is tender. -- I used an acorn squash, and brown rice instead of bulgur.  Perfectly fine substitution.  I didn't have currants so I used dried cranberries, which I think worked well too.  A single half was SUPER filling.

Ok, post is getting long, so I'll have to finish my dorky awards ceremony a little later.

Stay tuned... Allison will be presenting the award for best green!

Everybody Loves a Squash!

I spent the past 2 work weeks in Dallas, which meant little to no cooking, despite a $60 shopping trip at Trader Joe's?  (I bought a lot of nuts... and nut butters... and frozen shrimp!  OK, done justifying.)  But I did have a very foodie night last Sunday.  Katie, Joanna, Amanda, and I went to the 92nd Street Y to see the one and only Max Brenner speak about his and, coincidentally, my favorite topic: CHOCOLATE.  There were obviously samples, including a cocoa dusted, chocolate- and hazelnut-covered pecan and a perfect cup of hot chocolate (read: liquid chocolate).  It was actually really inspiring to hear the path he took to get where he is today, and it sort of jump-started that creative inner spark that I sometimes forget I have.  And it totally made me want to be a part of the food industry.  Still refining that plan...  "Max" (his real name is Oded, and he is Israeli and awesome) wrote a very cool, abstract cookbook, but in the interest of not spending money and not getting fat, I didn't buy it.  But it seemed like a solid piece of art.

Lest you think my friends and I were slacking off, we had a potluck dinner before the lecture.  I made a butternut squash/quinoa fiber mess, based on this recipe from one of my favorite cooking blogs.  I followed her recipe, but served it over quinoa and added some fresh baby spinach to the mix, mostly for visual pleasure.  It was a little orangey-beige for me otherwise.  And maybe a little heavy on the tahini dressing.  I think I didn't use as much squash as I could have.  Overall I really liked this, especially the quick dressing, and I would try it again, but probably without the quinoa.  Just not necessary.

Then I got a little silly.  What can I say?  I love organic fruits, like this one that I live with.

Hmm, I look a little like a monkey.

I would also like to thank two dedicated readers for giving me photos and recipes of their food creations!  I'm sorry I'm so delayed in putting them up here, but Ilene sent me the following recipe for a butternut squash lasagna (at least I think that's the one she ended up making!) and Kristen made all kinds of pumpkin fun.  That one is TOTALLY something I am making as soon as I have more than 2 ramekins in my kitchen.

First, the fruits of Ilene's labor:

And now Kristen's other pumpkin creation, a custard!  Kristen, where is the recipe from?  I think blog rules are that I can't post it unless I cite the source.  And, I mean, I'm sure my blog is being policed carefully due to the high traffic rates.  (HA.)  I can post a picture, though.

YUM!  And it's dairy free!

Time to get back to work, which is wonderfully relaxing this week, due to the fact that apparently the corporate culture of our client is to, um, take off the entire week before Thanksgiving, regardless of whether or not you have an incredibly huge deadline coming up in 2 weeks.  Hey, I'm not complaining.  Going to take advantage of it and work on my year-end review.  Happy Thanksgiving week!