5 posts from July 2006

... on woody frozen Halibut steaks...

What Was I thinking?
I was thinking it was late, I hadn't eaten all day, and squant mentioned we had a couple of cans of black beans.  Need food that basically makes itself.

Recipe
Cook in rice cooker:

• 1 1/2 c toasted quinoa
• 3 c water
• 2 tbsp corn oil

Mix together in 9 x 12 baking dish

• 1 triangle wedge of pepper jack cheese, grated
  
• 2 cans black beans, drained
• 1 medium sized tub salsa fresca
  
• Cooked quinoa from above

Serve in a bowl with corn (or in my case soy flax seed cause I like em') chips as silverware.  Put 1/2 avacado on each and a few dollops of good, hot salsa.

The Verdict
squant    "I was really worried when it came out of the oven that the beans and cheese and salsa would be overwhelmed by the quinoa but this is freaking delicious."

And it was.  Freaking delicious.  Also, cheap mccheaperson.

What Was I thinking?
Because of the counter project, a quart container full of beige powder labeled "Falafel" sits on the counter.  Well, if it's on the counter, we have to eat it then, don't we?  Besides, falafel is one of squant's favorite foods.

So I text him from work to ask him to mix it with some water so it has a chance to stand, and also to mix some mint in with some yogurt, because that seems kind of appropriate.  Because you know, I've never made falafel before.

Sometimes I forget that Squant has a whole year of gribblet's cooking under his belt, and he's a pretty sharp monkey.  So when half an hour later he comes back and says "It's very gloopy.  It's more like hummous than falafel mix.  I don't think this is right", I don't think "Something is wrong here", I thought  "My sweetheart still gets flustered by the kitchen, that's so cute."

"Add falafel powder" I text back, and go back to my trying to wrap up a hundred different things at work.

I get home, and find a bowl of beige gloop about the consistency of a good milkshake on the counter.  squant glowers at it while I mix the rest of the powder in.  "This is not right."  He keeps saying.  I am beginning to have misgivings also, but if there's one thing I know about cooking, if you're making something for the very first time and it seems to be going off the rails, trying to correct after things have gone wrong will just depress you.  Best to just carry on more or less towards where you think that barn is.

Recipe

Mix together:

• 1 quart beige "falafel" powder
  
• About yay much water

Also mix together:

• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1 tbsp dried mint

• 8 tiny little pita breads
• 1 avacado
• 1 romaine heart, lengthwise
  

Take the beige goop and make it into eight patties.  Ignore squant's suspicuous muttering.  Decide to occupy him by asking him to fill the 8 tiny little cut pita breads with a tablespoon of humous, an eighth of an avacado, and some onion.

Put about 1/4 inch of olive oil in the bottom of a pan.  Heat on medium heat until sizzling, then gently place the patties in the oil.  Around this time squant will declare that he's not putting onions in the 8 tiny little pitas.  Your feeling is, at this point it hardly matters.  Decide that he'll be better occupied with something a little more challenging.  Take the one Romaine heart out of the fridge, slice it lengthwise, place each half on a plate.  Instruct him to "dress" the romaine heart.

Carefully turn the (ok, yes, it's probably hummous.  But not good hummous.  Some kind of budget hippie hummous or something.  How it got into your cupboard labeled "falafel" is a total mystery) hummmous balls.  Carefully, because the little fuckers want to fall apart.

Note that squant seems to be making pretty good headway against the romaine halves.  He's squeezed half a lemon over each, and sprinkled some sea salt.  A dollop of good olive oil and a few drops of balsamic vinegar, and they are looking kind of fancy and stuff.  Be impressed with his manly ropmaine heart mastery  as you prepare to slip the fried hummous balls into the tiny little pita halves.

Serve with a small puddle of humous, drizzled with a little bit of the good olive oil and some Tapatio.  Store the rest of the beige goop in the fridge for the next time.  While eating, point out those attributes that make the balls look more like falafel than hummous. 

The Verdict
As we are finishing up the meal...

Squant    "That container in the fridge..."
Me    "You're not wasting any time, are you?"
Squant     "Sorry."

Squant    "My belly is making sounds."
Me    "Gurgling, like?"
Squant    "More like clanging and whirring and a warning sort of beeping."
Me    "So you're saying...  you didn't really like the fried hummous balls."
Squant    "Sorry.  I don't mean to harp."

Otherwise known as oatmeal raisin flaxseed macadamia nut coconut cookies.

What Was I thinking?
I was thinking the counter project had just started, we had a four day weekend ahead of us, and there were a number of recipes on the interweb which alluded to the possibility of some delicious cookies.

Recipe
In one bowl mix:

• 1 c flour
• 1 c flax meal
• 1 c shredded coconut
• 1 c macadamia nuts
• 2 c oatmeal (1/2 steel cut irish style, 1/2 toasted regular flattish oats)
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
  

In another bowl cream together

• 1 c brown suga'
• 1 c wht suga'
• 1 c vegan buttery spread stuff

Then beat into the sugar mix:

• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp almond extract
  

Mix the two bowls together and add:

• 1/2 c raisins
  

Drop the cookies (about 2 tbsp worth) about 1 inch apart on oiled cookie sheets.  Try not to eat too much of th raw dough.  It's good, but it's better cooked.  Cook about 10 minutes.  Check, then cook for another 15 minutes.  Man, those suckers smell good.  Notice Squant staking around the kitchen.  Squant wants cookies.

Wait five minutes.  Use a very stiff spatula to scrape the suckers off the sheet.  They're stuck.  But oh, so freaking delicious.  Stop at 4 with a congratulations to yourself that you've done well.  Feed the same number to squant. 

The Verdict
He likes them.

These cookies will not last nearly as long as 24 giant cookies should last two people.  At my house, we had one with each meal.  Sometimes after dinner we'd have two. 

The good news is they are full of fiber.

They could probably stand to have the butter spread stuff halved, or even quartered.  Flax meal adds a lot of oil, so they were slightly more greasy than necessary.

In which gribblet and squant resolve to be completionists.  They clean out the cupboards and place everything on the counter that hasn't been touched in 6 months. 

The rule is:  each meal must include something off the counter until the counter is clean.

What's on the counter:

Counter Project

• 2 c Yellow And Green split peas (Woulda been more but some got away)
• 3 c Shredded unsweetened coconut
• 2 c macadamia nuts
• 3 Cups Whole ground flaxseed meal
• 16 RyVita Light rye whole gran crisp breads
• 2 13/5 oz cans trader joes light organic cocnut milk - 15% less fat than regular cocnut milk
• 30 Raisins - big fruity ones, too.
• 1 lb. Organic quinoa
• 1 box (6oz) safeway cornbread stffing mix - microwaveable
• 8 oz (by weight) Rice stik pasta
• 15 oz can low fat split pea soup
• 20 oz pineaple chunks in unsweetened pineapple juice
• 2/3 of a bottle blue corn atole (gruel)
• Shitload of "falafel"
• One betty crocker pie crust
• Some popcorn, about one movie night's worth for two people.
  

Hang on, it's gonna be a bumpy ride.