Food Finds

For the last month I've been following a super strict vegan diet. It's been a mixture of rewarding and challenging as I have tried to change some bad habits, strengthen some good ones, and gently adjust what I prepare for my family. In a quest to find crunchy satisfaction, I've tried a few new things. Did you know you can roast kale? It is delicious! Kale is one of the (many) veggies I have always completely ignored at the grocery. I'm not typically very adventurous with veggies, which is one of the things I'm trying to change.

Anyway, to roast kale you just tear it into little pieces, toss it with olive oil and a little apple cider vinegar, and sprinkle it with salt.

Then you spread it on a baking sheet and put it in the oven at 400 until it sizzles! It gets completely crunchy, like a potato chip, but it has a very strong flavor. It's really good!

Another favorite way to satisfy the crunch craving lately is with apples. Honeycrisps are my absolute favorites, but the season for finding them here in Texas is really short. They also always cost more than any other fruit in the store. Super Target has had them for the last few weeks, but when I went to replenish my stash yesterday, the produce manager told me they were gone for good. I made a dedicated trip to our gourmet market in hopes of finding a few there, which was my first clue that my fruit fetish was getting a little out of hand.

Sure, the gourmet market had some. To the tune of $4 per pound! For apples!!! Undeterred by the ridiculous price, I grabbed three big ones, rationalizing that I had, after all, driven across town for the sole purpose of finding those exact apples. Good grief, would you look at this?

Who pays almost nine bucks for three apples??? A spoiled vegan with a crunch craving, that's who! I'm a little ashamed of myself, but I'm going to enjoy the heck out of these apples. I'm also going to hide them in the back of the fridge, behind the frugal fijis and the reasonably priced red delicious in hopes that none of my family members find them. I know. It's a little pathetic.

Here's my other favorite find at the gourmet market. Ever bought pee wee potatoes?? They totally corner the market on cute.

My pee wee loves them. They are super delicious roasted.

I up the fun factor by adding in my other favorite...organic PURPLE potatoes! What kid can resist purple food??

Every pretty princess knows that purple potatoes are pleasing to the palette. :-) They are also a total bargain, which greatly helps my apple cause.

And speaking of bargains, the sub sandwich shop on the corner celebrated their one year anniversary today, and they were giving away $1 subs for lunch. Since we have not been eating out at all lately, I took the boys up there as a treat to let them get sandwiches. It's hard to beat a $1 lunch, and they would prefer Italian meats and bread over roasted kale. :-)

Okay, one last thing, and then I'm off to homeschool ice skating day. Today was picture day at MDO. This would not have been my first choice for picture apparel, but nothing, and I do mean NOTHING, was going to come between my three year old and her favorite polka-dotted dress on picture day. Not even 61 degrees. She begs to wear this dress every single day. In the end, I think the picture will mean more to me remembering how much she loved this outfit. And how badly she wanted to wear tie tennis shoes instead of church shoes, which I totally let her do. Ha! It's amazing how much easier it is to give in to a fourth child. I wish I would have given in more with the others. I think I missed way too many polka dotted dress moments the first time around. I only hope the photographer has better luck with her today than I had this morning. She wasn't too interested in posing for me. I'm certain she was just trying to save all the good shots for the professional. :-)

I'm Just A Fool In Love

An amazing thing happened to me on April Fool's Day. I got new pots and pans. I'm not even fooling...this was a BIG deal to me! Our old set of non-stick pans, which had served us well for many years, started to chip and flake. I got online and read about the health concerns connected with that and knew we needed to get rid of them immediately. Thus began the epic undertaking that we shall call The Great Cookware Research Project of 2011.

Stainless? Non-stick? Tri-ply? Glass lids? Copper Core?

I began to carry the burden of deciding exactly how many quarts the *perfect* stock pot should be. (I'll spare you the mystery. The answer is eight, if you have a big family. That's just to you from me, because I'd hate for you to lose as many hours of sleep over it as I did.) Buzzard was a champ, no two ways about it. The man who needs only one macaroni and cheese pan to eek out survival spent untold hours debating brands, features, cost, and set configurations; all while somehow managing to convince me that he was having fun. Undoubtedly, the multitude of food network shows I have subjected him to have paid off in spades. He has kitchen opinions, and that is very sexy. He even got this whole ball rolling by getting advice from a former coworker named Larry who is a total foodie and who used to work part time at William Sonoma.

Larry is my new hero. He gives fan-tab-u-lous advice.

Thanks to Larry, and after a dozen rounds of comparison shopping, we welcomed the ultimate in kitchen luxury home to its new forever family. :-) We ended up with All Clad d5; a fact which still gives me a tingle.

In the end, we figured there were two important facts that were never going to change. We have a big family, and I love to cook. Plus, they are big and shiny and that got my attention!!!

Now you clearly understand my absence from this space. I've been busy standing at my cooktop, looking like the spitting image of an episode of Iron Chef. I tuck little children into bed at night, then I stand at my sink in my pearls with my bottle of BarKeeper's Friend, lovingly shining my saute pan. It's all very amazing.

Of course, a certain someone would tell you that the very best thing about my very exciting purchase is that it came in a HUGE and very sturdy BOX! One that has been sitting in the middle of my den all week being used as a fort. So cool. Just one more reason my new pans totally rock. I'm one blessed girl!

Supper Club Italiano

Tonight it was our turn to host supper club. The theme was Italian.

It took me a few tries, but I finally managed to find some flowers that didn't look like droopy Valentine left overs. These mini daffs made me very happy for spring.

They were the inspiration for my table setting.

Our appetizers were cheese puffs with garlic butter and prosciutto wrapped melon slices with honey lime dipping sauce.

Buzzard and I made a roasted chicken and crimini pasta with baked eggplant. I was wild about the eggplant dish, which is too bad, because Buzzard didn't like it, so I probably won't have many excuses to make it again. It was mag-ni-fi-CENT! It was fried and smothered in cheese, so of course it was. :-)

Paul celebrated his birthday tonight, and his wife found a sparkler candle that was a riot. It was like the 4th of July. The actual candle was in the shape of a star, and she found it at Party City. I will have to remember this because it was lots of fun!

We have the best time visiting at supper club. It's a fun group of sweet people, and tonight was a great night!

I'm going to share the eggplant recipe, in case anyone has a husband who isn't a veggie-phobe. I could eat it as a main dish on a very regular basis!

BAKED EGGPLANT

Slice one yellow onion and caramelize over medium heat using butter and olive oil.

Meanwhile, slice eggplant into 1/2 inch slices. I learned that if you lightly salt each slice and let them sit in a colander for an hour or two, it draws out the bitterness from the eggplant. Rinse off slices and pat dry with paper towels before proceeding with the recipe.

Lightly beat 2-3 eggs in a shallow dish.

Pour 1-2 cups Italian breadcrumbs (or panko) in another dish.

Dip each eggplant slice into egg first, then into crumbs. Add to hot oil and fry on both sides.

Drain on paper towel.

Arrange slices in the bottom of a lightly sprayed baking dish. Top each slice with a portion of caramelized onions.

Thinly slice roma tomatoes, and arrange tomatoes on top of onions.

Sprinkle 1 cup shredded Parmesan and 1 cup feta on top of tomatoes.

Lay about 4-5 slices of Muenster cheese over entire dish.

Bake at 350 for about 30 minutes, until cheese is lightly golden and bubbly.

Serve immediately. It's a dandy!!

Food Follies

One of the fun things about being snowed in is that the whole experience feels like one big opportunity to eat baked goods. It's as if we need to run the oven and pack carbs to stay warm. The last few days there has been a rather excessive parade from my kitchen; cinnamon rolls, muffins, brownies, peanut butter cookies, and homemade bread.

It's as if every hour on the hour there is a small crowd milling around in the kitchen in search of snack foods. Goodness knows the melting of the snow will bring with it a strong need to lace up some walking shoes!

But it's fun to have kids in the kitchen to help prepare food when it feels like entertainment instead of a necessary chore. And when the kids are picking what to prepare, we're in no danger of overdosing on health foods.

I mentioned how excited I was to rediscover my bread machine. I found a yummy recipe for a buttermilk farm bread that we are addicted to. One batch I made started smelling a little odd...very hot. Then Max noticed wisps of smoke curling up from the vent in the top of the machine. Then the smell progressed from very odd to very bad. When I peeked in the window, I noticed the dough had risen all the way to the very top of the machine and was trying to push the lid open.

I've made this recipe several times and never had that happen before. It was like an ever expanding dough ball that threatened to engulf my entire bread machine and start conquering the whole kitchen.

That loaf turned out to have a huge muffin top! I double checked my recipe and knew I used all the right ingredients.

But when I washed my measuring cups, I noticed I had used my 1/3 cup instead of my 1/4 cup. Guess those measurements are meant to be followed rather precisely. :-) It might be time to invest in some bread making reading glasses.

Or maybe it's just time for the snow to melt and for us to drop our loaf-a-day habit!

But let's not rush too hastily into anything here. Tomorrow is the big game day, after all, and for those of us with no working knowledge of football (nor a remote interest in attaining one), it is also fondly referred to as Appetizer Day. I'll let the boys watch the tackles, flags, and first downs, while I settle for watching my dippies cozy on up to my chippies.

I'm making...

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Corn and Jalapeno Dip

Seven Layer Dip

Little Smokies

Sausage Rolls

and a great big Caesar Salad, to help assuage the guilt.

How 'bout you? What's the game day spread at your place???

Have You Tried It??

It will change your life.

Or.....

At a minimum, it will improve your relationship with bagels for the holiday season.