Back again

It feel good to be back here blogging again. I know I haven't written in a little while, but I have been cooking some delicious things...

... like crunchy, homemade granola...

... and tasty vegetable tarts.

As you can see, I've even been taking the occasional picture.

So now that I'm here again, I hope you enjoy this peek at what I've been making. I promise you, it's been delicious.

What to bring to a picnic

Even though it's the end of August and school is staring again, it's definitely still picnic season. As a vegetarian, I don't usually feel that excited about picnics or barbecues or cook-outs (and while we're on the subject, no, these terms are not interchangeable - but that's another topic for another day). Anyways, any time there's a bunch of people are eating together outside during the summer, meat is almost always going to be the integral part of the meal. And so I usually end up eating bland old pasta salad and carrot sticks. You would think that this would inspire me to bring some more substantial meat-free dish to these events, but no... I just can't pass up the opportunity to make a dessert whenever I'm supposed to bring a dish. Anyways, let's be honest... if I end up having to eat dessert for dinner, it's not exactly going to break my heart.



I decided to bring these raspberry pie cuts to the most recent picnic I attended. They're a big favorite in my family, and my mom always makes them when we get together with her side of the family. So even though I've eaten them countless times, this was actually the first time I made them myself. I'm proud to say that they turned out just as good as my moms!

Healthy food that still tastes delicious

I really (really, really, really) hate shopping for new jeans. Sadly, there’s just no more getting around the fact that all the pairs of jeans I have are getting stretched-out, faded, and sad. So, today I braved the mall in search of a decent pair. And seriously, when did trying on jeans become such an aerobic activity? Whoever decided that skinny jeans were a good idea... well, I hate you. Until today, I thought I was in pretty decent shape. But the fact that the actual process of getting jeans on and off my body caused me to break into a sweat changed my mind. Anyways, the whole experience definitely inspired me to eat healthier foods - something that will probably last until the next time I come across a brownie recipe (which will probably happen tomorrow). Anyways, the problem is that I just don’t crave sticks of celery dipped in hummus the way I crave bowls full of oozing home-made mac & cheese (um yeah, I totally ate that for dinner the other night... oops!) Once again though, Mexican food to the rescue! You can totally make it healthy, and it's still delicious. This recipe was sort of inspired by something I saw here.

Oh, and I did find a pair of jeans in the end, so I guess the day had a happy ending!

Homemade Enchilada Sauce

I'm pretty picky about how I make enchiladas. There are a few restaurants (which I frequent) that make them excellently, but if I try them at a new place I'm often disappointed. Now, the way I prefer them is probably not all that authentic, and it may not be close to anyone else's ideal. But the good thing about cooking for yourself is that you can make things exactly how you prefer them. So tonight, that's what I did!

So, let me explain how I think enchiladas should be made. The filling is not something I'm too picky about. In fact, I think one of the great things about enchiladas is that you can fill them with just about anything. But I am very picky about the sauce. I've tried quite a few enchilada sauces - there are things I like, and things I'm not so fond of. When I first started making enchiladas, I used canned sauces. Easy, yes. But to me, they all taste like tin, and they're too watery. I feel the same way about a lot of the recipes I've tried: too thin, and not much going on as far as flavor goes. I mean, I don't want to bathe my enchiladas in chili powder-flavored water. I want plenty of flavorful sauce that compliments the flavors of whatever filling I'm using. So today, I decided not to even bother looking for a recipe, and I winged it. And you know what? It turned out pretty good - so good, in fact, that I may or may not have burned my finger tasting it while it was still cooking... I never said I was patient.

Anyways, I decided to only include the recipe for the sauce. For the filling, I just used refried beans and cheese - no recipe required really. But you can fill them with whatever you want. I've used black beans and corn, roast vegetables, cheese, and even sweet potato in the past. Be as creative or boring as you like!

A salad of pretty much all the things I love to eat

One of the many (many, many, many...) things that I love about summer is that I can eat a just salad for dinner. Not that I couldn’t do this any time of the year, of course... but when you live in a state where it’s winter practically half the year, you tend to something heavier and warmer. But not in August. Not that I can eat a bowl full of lettuce and feel satisfied - far from it. In fact, I’d say that the lettuce ratio in most of my salads is well below half.



Anyways, today was one of those miraculous days when by fridge was full of all my favorite ingredients. Okay, fine... maybe it wasn’t magic. Maybe it’s just that I bought groceries yesterday and haven’t had time to eat all of the things I bought, but that’s not the point. The point is, instead of digging around my fridge for something (anything!) that sounded appetizing, I found myself yanking out an unreasonable number of ingredients: red pepper, goat cheese, limes, black beans, corn, and cherry tomatoes. Seriously.... yum.




It all sounded delicious, and I was determined to use all of it in my dinner, and since I really didn’t want to eat anything hot, salad seemed like an obvious choice. Anyways, I hope you decide to give this a try!I promise, it’s as delicious as it looks - more so, actually. And I think it all would have come together quite quickly if I hadn’t been so scatter-brained about throwing it together... I was too busy “sampling” all my delicious ingredients along the way... oops!

Fajitas and Sweet Potato Fries

I think everyone has a few things they could just about cook in their sleep, for days when you get home late and are starving and still have a million things to do. For me, one of those things is Mexican food - fajitas, burritos, nachos, or whatever. It's filling, versatile, I usually have the ingredients on hand, and quick, especially since I'm a vegetarian (come on, how hard is it to open a can of beans?) Oh, and did I mention it's delicious? But you already knew that!

Okay, so I probably don't make the most authentic Mexican food in the world. In fact, the phrase "Mexican inspired" might be more appropriate. That's okay though, because whatever the appropriate term, meals like this one get me through dinner at least twice a week. In fact, they even earn me compliments when I serve them to others - especially when I make fajitas (it's probably the heavy splash of wine I throw in at the end...) Anyways, I had a difficult time writing an actual recipe for fajitas. And it's more of a guide than an actual recipe. Feel free to to just use whatever vegetables you have on hand, it's a great way to use up left-over odds and ends... or a never-ending supply of zucchini!

Homemade Pasta

Pasta is, in my opinion, the perfect comfort food. Tasty, warm, familiar carbs - what's not to love, right? I'm fairly certain I could eat pasta for the rest of my life and die happy - although I could say the same thing about Mexican food... thank goodness I don't have to choose between the two!

Now, the only way to make a good thing better is to make it yourself. Enter homemade pasta!!! Yes, I know this sounds fancy, but it's really a lot easier than it sounds (unless you want to make ravioli - then it's pretty much as hard as it sounds, but that's another story!) Basically, I throw a few simple ingredients into my food processor to make the dough, then I roll it out. I'm not too fussy about how it looks so I use my pizza slicer to quickly slice it into strips and voila! Home made pasta, ready to be boiled.  

 See? This is what I end up with! It looks sort of like... well, I ate this for dinner so on second thought, let's not go there. Anyhow, I had a it with more zucchini and a white wine lemon cream sauce... yum. But I'm pretty sure I could have eaten a big bowl of these noodles covered in butter and it still would have been divine!