Browsing the archives
for October, 2009.
October 23rd, 2009
The other night we were lucky enough to have our good friend Felicity invite us over to dinner to show off her mad cooking skills. The theme of the meal was Indian—a cuisine that we love and is somewhat hard to find in Portland. Best of all, whenever we cook with Felicity she teaches us a lot of her cooking knowhow, and we come away able to better prepare our own meals. So we jumped at this opportunity to pick up some pointers.
One thing we learned is to use lots of garlic (don’t have to tell me twice :)). Felicity also taught us about a few Indian spices that we don’t ever really use: coriander and turmeric. Besides these new additions to our spice rack, Felicity also showed us why she uses grape seed oil for Indian frying: … Read more…
Tags: comfort food, coriander, curry, garlic, gluten free, Indian, peas, spices, spicy, sweet potatoes, turmeric, vegetarian
Posted in Group meals
October 18th, 2009
The other day at Fred Meyer we saw acorn squash on sale for 50 cents. Although neither of us had ever tried acorn squash, I had just read an article in Edible Portland about various types of squash, and we have also been wanting to cook more seasonally: which means lots of root vegetables for fall / winter.
After browsing a few acorn squash recipes online, we decided on Moroccan-style stuffed acorn squash. In this simple recipe, the acorn squash is stuffed with a mix of couscous for sustenance, garbanzo beans for protein, carrots and celery for crunch, and finally raisins for a little bit of sweetness. This sweet and salty stuffing combines wonderfully with the flavorful creaminess of the acorn squash.
Since the ribbing on acorn squash makes it difficult to cut, pretty much everywhere recommends cutting the squash into halves and roasting. … Read more…
Tags: acorn squash, baked, carrots, celery, couscous, fall, Fred Meyer, garbanzo beans, raisins, root vegetables, squash, vegan, vegetable broth, vegetarian
Posted in Fall favorites
October 12th, 2009
Well I hate to say it but fall is officially here, and we better make the most of it by taking advantage of the season’s delicious root vegetables. Although this one came from a box, so does that really count as seasonal? At least it tastes like fall…
We picked up a box of pumpkin spice pancake mix from Trader Joe’s a little while ago, and have been waiting for an excuse to cook them. So while I was waiting for Kate to wake up the other day, I whipped up a batch of these pumpkin pancakes for us.
First off I was a bit dismayed that I actually had to venture out of my apartment and get milk to make them. I’ve been spoiled by Snoqualmie Falls Lodge pancake mix, which is very yummy and only needs water.
But these pancakes turned out to … Read more…
Tags: breakfast, butter, eggs, fall, milk, pumpkin, sweet, syrup, Trader Joes
Posted in Fall favorites
October 7th, 2009
Quinoa is an amazing grain-like protein source that we have been using in our cooking very regularly. The best part about quinoa is that it’s a complete protein, meaning that it has all the essential amino acids, or in layman’s terms it fills you up super nice. Since quinoa is such a good protein source and much lighter than soy products, we have been using it extensively to “beef up” our veggie dishes (forgive the pun…). So believe the hype: quinoa dishes are great for staying healthy and with all that protein quinoa helps reduce your portions, which is a problem all passionate foodies face…
A super awesome quinoa bowl (recipe)
Serves 4
- 1 cup quinoa
- 1 large green pepper, chopped
- 1 small to medium red/yellow pepper, chopped (optional)
- Half a carton of cherry tomatoes, halved (about a cup)
- One medium sized sweet onion, diced (preferably Walla walla, yum 🙂 )
- 1 can of black beans,
… Read more…
Tags: avocado, black beans, bowls, cherry tomatoes, green peppers, healthy, lime juice, protein, quinoa, sweet onions, vegan, vegetarian, yellow peppers
Posted in Recipes
October 7th, 2009
When at a friend’s the other night we were pleasantly surprised by this prosecco. For those who don’t know, prosecco is a generally sweet and slightly sparkling white wine which originated in Italy. This particular bottle was only slightly sweet with a subtle dry after-taste, without the syrupy sensation some sparkling whites (and especially prosecco) can have. It was also exciting to learn it came from Trader Joes for a low price. A good find!
Tags: prosecco, sparkling, Trader Joes, white wine
Posted in Wine