Mushroom Extravaganza!

We've finally received a fridge, but we're still eating fungus. Lots of fungus, actually. Mushrooms around here are really inexpensive and, because they're a great source of protein, they have recently been replacing meat in many of our dishes. For instance, I've been on a Mediterranean food binge lately and found a great recipe for lemon-chicken couscous on the back of the couscous package (how clever of them!), but I left out the chicken in favor of some hearty little mushrooms. These generic, white fungi made the perfect palette for the delicately spiced couscous and had a pleasing texture without any of the nasty raw chicken preparation steps.
I bought a 1lb. package of mushrooms, but the recipe only called for 1 1/2 cups of protein, so I took the remaining mushrooms and sauteed them in olive oil with a pinch of salt and a bunch of cheap red wine. The $5 wine imparted a lot of flavor (especially when we drank it!) for only a little money while choosing olive oil over butter for sauteing kept the mushrooms a little lighter and, incidentally, vegan. In fact, the whole meal was totally vegan: lemon-dill couscous, merlot mushrooms, store-bought pita slices, and homemade hummus. The only unfortunate thing about this meal is home monochromatic is was: everything was in shades of brown! If (well.. when) I recreate this meal, I'll add some color to the hummus -- maybe some red pepper flakes and lime zest for a little visual appeal. I'll also probably skip the extra, sauted mushrooms in favor of a small salad or some other greens (maybe asparagus or sweet peas). See the bottom of the post for recipes.

Another recipe that called heavily on mushrooms came in the form of a scrumptious, meatless stroganoff. Served over brown rice (from our new rice cooker!), I combined the leftover dill from the couscous (and another recipe) with some other ingredients to make a smushy, delicious meal. Mine turned out a little dry, mostly because I thought the mixture looked too thin in the pan, so I cooked off more liquid. Bad idea. The mushroom mix definitely continues to thicken after you take it off the heat. It was still great tasting, but I ended up adding a little more sour cream to my served meal to make the texture a little more pleasing. Not a failing, but something to look out for. Despite the small amount of dryness, TheBoy really dug this stroganoff and it went along perfectly with the remainder of the white wine and some steamed, sweetened carrots. The carrots were a sort of last minute motivation: I realized that the meal had no veggie complement, so I used the rice cooker's steaming basket to quickly steam some peeled, sliced carrots. Making the rice cooker multitask served two great purposes -- it helped me to save time and effort (no extra pot to wash, no stove-steaming operation to keep an eye on, etc) and helped to conserve energy by using the energy from the already cooking rice. Yay for no waste!

Lemon-Dill Couscous:
Prepare couscous according to package directions.
With only 3 minutes remaining to cook, add ~2 tablespoons lemon juice and ~1 tablespoon chopped fresh dill

Hummus (adjust ingredients to your palate):
1 can chickpeas with some of the juice
~1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons tahini
1-2 crushed cloves of garlic
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
Stick it all in the blender/food processor and spin 'til it's smushy and delicious

Mushroom-Dill Stroganoff:
1 lb. mushrooms
enough oil to saute mushrooms
1/3 cup white wine (we used a very sweet moscato because actually enjoy sweet white wine, not the dry stuff that would've been leftover had I followed the directions exactly)
1/2 teaspoon dill, chopped (I definitely used a little more than that! Make sure it's well chopped)
1 cup sour cream
some carb to serve it over (egg noodles are classic, but brown rice, orzo, penne, etc all work as well. Just be sure to choose a short carb, as opposed to spaghetti or linguine, so that the mushroom mixture stays with the pasta)
salt and pepper to taste (duh!)

Saute the mushrooms, stirring constantly for about 5 minutes.
Add the wine and dill, stirring until the liquid cooks down to about 1 tablespoon (it happens fast! look out).
Turn heat to low and add sour cream. DO NOT LET IT BOIL, just stir gently until heated through being careful not to overcook. The mixture will thicken after you serve it.

First Food in the NewHome

Well, that was a brief hiatus.

Now that I've unpacked as best I can without much furniture (and no fridge, geez!), I can get back to what I do best: making goofy little meals and then telling the internet how yummy they were. If only I could get paid to do it!

In any case, since arriving in year-long-growing-season-land, I've been inundated with tons of perfectly ripe, local fruit at pretty reasonable prices. Without a refrigerator (it's on backorder), though, these goodies need devoured quickly. Thus, we have fruit snacks and fluffy,

 blueberry pancakes.

TheBoy works really hard for really long hours, but he doesn't really need to bring a lunch because they typically have catered food all over the studio. Unfortunately, most of that food is take-out style and devoid of veggies

 or fruits. So, yesterday, I sent him in with one third of  a nectarine, a handful of blueberries and half a banana packed in one of my brand-new Lock-n-Lock containers and a cute little bamboo pick (came in a pack of 200 for $2.99 at World Market in the Hollywood Farmers' Market). He doesn't always have time in the morning for a real breakfast with me (especially since they provide him a free one of instant oatmeal/granola bars/bagels/donuts), but I'm happy to be able to give him some positive nutrition for his hectic days.

Because I'm still searching for a job and reliable transportation, I spend a lot of time in our apartment by myself -- deep cleaning everything, relining all the cabinets with cute new paper, unpacking, and assembling furniture. During this time yesterday, I had a craving for sweets, but I didn't feel like walking 

twenty minutes to the store just to pick up some starbursts. But, having tons of fruit,

 I filled a coffee mug with some delightful, sweet blueberries and bursting-with-flavor bing cherries. Oh! So good, but so healthy too. Later, I had that same craving, but instead of giving in (no!), I made a happy little orange sun to entertain me and my tummy. 

This morning, I used some of our enormous quantity of very ripe blueberries to make some really fluffy, scrumptious blueberry pancakes. I couldn't wait to eat them, so the picture pallet is a little messy, but I think you get the idea. Even though these pancakes look super fluffy and fancy, they're really just the generic Kroger mix from the box. By stirring the water and mix together only just enough to get it evenly moist (very little stirring!) and then letting it sit a few minutes, I gave the batter time to rise. Giving it a quick stir after throwing in the blueberries just made it a tiny bit fluffier before I used a big spoon to drop about 1/4cup worth of batter into my non-stick sprayed skillet. I only turned them each once, because if you turn them more than that, they tend to get tough. I also did not squish the pancakes with the spatula to make them cook faster. It's worth the wait to let them cook slowly. 

Unfortunate (for you) Hiatus

So, I guess I forgot to mention, but.. yesterday, I moved to California. 

For now (at least until our NewHome has internet), I'm putting the bento blog on hiatus. (I'm leaching 'netz from my future in-laws right now).

Expect to see tons of delicious Mexican and vegetarian food in the near future, but, in the meantime, check out this killer picture from Ocean City, NJ -- Sesame Street cupcakes! This won't be a long break, promise!

<3

Another Zucchini Post

I forgot one little thing from the previous zucchini post: 

the dog loved it! He devoured the frosting. His subsequent sugar high was.. adorable?

So Much Zucchini from the Cheap Produce Place!

So, on my way back from the dentist (my mostly sugar free bentos have been paying off!), I stopped at the produce market. Usually, I try to hit the farmers' market, but I haven't had much luck finding one lately, so I took the lesser of two evils (the other evil being the supermarket).  Well, that was a great freakin' choice! I got a bag of four zucchini for .99, a pound of green beans and carrots, each for just .99. Not to mention the blueberries, green pepper, and organic black plums (YES!). 

Last night, one of those zucchini, the pepper, some green beans, and some carrots found their way into a delicious stir fry. I bought some tofu, but ended up 

using chicken because I wanted my family to actually eat it. Overall, I made a tasty meal with pretty minimal prep: mostly just lots of cutting (made quick by using a giant knife for the veggies and kitchen shears for the chicken). 

I called up my obligatory Asian college roommate (she was at an anime convention,

 no lie!) to make sure that I had all the right sauce ingredients; of course I didn't. So, one quick trip to the store later, I had the essentials: soy sauce, ginger root, and garlic. I used about two whole (enormous) cloves (not heads!) of finely minced garlic, along with about a teaspoonful of minced ginger. I put the ginger and garlic into a cereal bowl and covered them in about half a cup of soy sauce plus a good splash of white vinegar and a little shake of white sugar (great amounts, right?) and stirred 'em up before pouring half the concoction over the chicken in one bowl and the other half over the veggies in another. 

I let the mixtures marinade for about two hours while I got jiggy (yes!) with the next project: cake!

 Well, after the two hours, I stuck the chicken in a giant frying pan and, once it was more or less cooked, I poured in the veggies, plunked the lid on, and let them go for a bit while I played with the other project.

The other project: another two zucchini had an encounter with the grater and became a zucchini cake! A lot like carrot cake, but more green. 

I found the recipe here, but made a few variations. Well, really only two 

variations: instead of using a $300 stand mixer for four minutes of mixing, I used a $20 hand mixer (rhymes!) for about two minutes -- same fluffy, eggy result. I also didn't have a tube pan (wtf is that?! sounds like a ...sex 

toy!), so I used a bundt pan. So far, 

I think it's turned out well -- homemade cream cheese frosting and all. I used whipped Philadelphia cream cheese instead of regular... I don't know if it changed anything at all, but the frosting is sooo good! The lemon extract makes it taste lighter than most cream cheese frostings, but doesn't take away from the rich texture. Ultimately, the cake turned out a winner. Everyone in the family's been devouring it (even the diabetics... yikes!) and I've had entirely too much of it. 

One of the best things about this recipe is that, despite the layered flavors and divine taste,

 the ingredients are simple and even pretty healthy... I guess. 

The zucchini and walnuts help to balance out the sugar. Another great thing about this recipe is how easily it changes from a cake to a bread. Just omit one egg, up to one cup of the sugar, skip the frosting and, voila, bread!

Chicken Nuggets and Home-Cooked Baltimore

Last week was super busy. Not only did I take a trip to the Goshen Fair with a friend (and had a lovely strawberry mojito after leaving), but I also got a chance to hold a precious little chicken nugget in my hand. Of course, we did the other usual things at the fair: rode the ferris wheel, watched my brother make a fool and a pig of himself at the pie-eating contest, ate delicious funnel cake to support the Goshen fire company.. overall, a great trip and a perfect treat to reward me for skipping out on vacation this year (I'm moving to L.A., but I haven't been to the beach yet this summer). 

Though I can legitimately complain about my complete lack of tan, I certainly can't whine about last weekend's awesome mini-trip to Baltimore to visit some great friends (TheBoy's best man and his wonderful wife, along with his brother and our mutual buddy). Because "TheWife" is a vegetarian and I am aspiring to renew my veggie-vows, I had a great 

vegetarian weekend: frozen veggie burger lunch (great with salsa on whole wheat bun), gazpacho of delicious Doom (homemade by TheWife as a chilled, perfectly suited-to-Baltimore's-glut-of-humidity soup), cardamom ice cream (are you kidding!? it was so amazing! like cold, creamy chai with a cone and fat and dribbles down my hot little hand). She made the gazpacho without tons of spices to account for varying spice-love, which made the final result that much more exhilarating when we added some fresh cayenne directly from their garden. Oh. Yes. 

We had more food, of course, but I thought I'd split the posts into Home-Cooked and Eaten-Out food (though the cardamom ice cream was purchased at the ice cream shop). 

Easily the best dish of the weekend was the delightful homemade paella. This was my first journey into yellowy-looking rice + veggies, but I will never regret it. She again left out most of the spiciest bits in favor of letting us spice our own dishes with fresh cayenne -- do I have to point out that I love the interactive idea of cutting my own pepper from a good friend's garden? I love the wholesome idea of knowing exactly who raised it and how they did it, 

and there is absolutely nothing tastier than fresh produce -- especially when the produce comes from only 10 yards away. Of course, we accompanied our classy meal with some red wine -- Gnarly Head (I brought down some Funky Llama Shiraz as a housewarming gift, but that was set aside to age more... even on the wine rack that MyBoy and I gave them a

s a wedding present. I felt so appreciated!) 

Now, that fuzzy looking green stuff on the plate is a licorice-smelling garnish of fennel (the bulb went into the paella) and that cute placemat came the same day from The Village thrift store (go if you can -- 40cents for placemats? uh, yeah!)

So, the food... wow! I've never eaten such a yellow food that I love so much. For such a quickly prepared and fairly simple and inexpensive dish, paella is beyond delicious and so filling. Arborio rice + turmeric + canned diced 

tomatoes + fennel + artichokes (not a lot, though) + magic (um, the stove) = the amazing, creamy-starchy, healthy dish that you see in the picture. Recipe to follow, when I finally get it. 

Dear Ben Franklin,

You were a very wise, though fabulously contradictory, man. Your benevolence in politics (and slave relations.. eee) is renowned, your philosophy is widely read, and your wisdom still rocks the constitution. You made so many accurate statements, but among the greatest of these was when you said that "there cannot be good living where there is not good drinking." Thanks, man, you hit the nail right on the head!

Historical address aside, I love booze. Not in a negative, alcoholic way, but in a fun, OMG-COLLEGE way, though those views are likely not that far apart. See, I turned 21 in Ireland while studying abroad. Awesome, right? Well, not really. The Euro is way stronger than the dollar, so buying the booze was a wallet nightmare. No one carded me because, though I don't really look 21, I definitely look over 18. Also, I had not really drunk before going on that trip (at all, really!), so I had no concept of my tolerances, including, for example.. wine (incidentally, I don't recommend testing your limits by drinking an entire bottle of red while on a beach more than a mile's uphill walk from your flat... oh!)

Now that I've been back in the States for about a month now, I've made a few forays into the bars. First, I went to ArtsFest up in State College. Dive bars, I found, are fun, but in a limited way. Nice bars, on the other hand, are outside my experience. Though I developed a fondness for Guin

ness while in Ireland, it's just not so good outside its homeland. So, I turned to Belgium! Delirium Tremens, a lovely though pricey beer, is a Belgian ale with pink elephants on the bottle. This beer is so classy that it comes with a glass.. this is no swigging brew! 

Of course, the best alcohol is that that comes free. Hence, my amazingly tasty, unexpectedly gigantic frozen mango margarita was soo good! See, I went out to dinner with my grampa and, it being only shortly after my 21st, he treated me to not only a delicious ahi tuna and berry salad meal, but also a fabulous, fruity drink. Now, I was not expecting 20 ounces... more like, you know, a reasonable amount like 8 or so. It took me the full two hour meal to get through this drink and, by the end, I was basically slurping it up so we could get out of the restaurant. Whoo! I'm not really sure how I feel about giant drinks.. or menus that don't list the drink size. How do others fall on this issue? 

My most recent alcohol experience was in lovely West Chester, bouncing around from the Pita Pit (if you aren't eating there now, GO) to Iron Hill Brewery (raspberry wheat microbrew and taste of a really sour apple martini) to Kildare's (Jameson and ginger ale, fuzzy navel .. 

yum!) One of my favorite things about alcohol is that there are so many flavors. Even the raspberry flavors are distinct from each other: my lightly raspberry wheat beer was worlds away from the raspberry framboise that I sipped at Kildare's. Both are valid, nuanced tastes, but completely different. Similarly, the nominally fruit flavored apple martini was artificially sour while my fuzzy navel was satisfyingly sweet and elaborately alcoholic. As much as I love fruity drinks, though, there is nothing quite so perfect as a well-crafted beer. Not overly hoppy or filling, but just the right balance of flavor and foam. Humble though it may be, Yuengling is easily one of my favorite beers for at-home consumption, though I haven't decided what my favorite on-tap brew is. 

Any suggestions? Post favorites in the comments section.