Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Cookies

Oatmeal butterscotch walnut to be exact. Back tomorrow with details and a catch-up. Good night!


Thursday, September 8, 2011

Dinner Fail

I am happy to report that chard did make it on the menu last night. Dinner was definitely an experiment, thrown together from odds and ends that we had in the fridge, and while it was ok, I realize now that I should have taken it in another direction.
I started with the idea of chard and sweet potato fries (I can’t get enough of them lately!), and I was looking around the fridge for something to tie the meal together when I came across a half block of tofu and a hunk of unused eggplant. I knew I wanted to marinate and fry them, but I was torn about what flavor profile to use. I love to marinate tofu in tamari sauce, sesame oil and garlic or garlic powder, but that’s what I had done with the other half block of tofu, so I decided that wasn’t good enough this time around. I wanted to try something new! So I opened up a can of plain tomato sauce and added some crushed garlic, olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, basil, thyme, paprika, cayenne, salt, pepper and sugar. The marinade was quite good on its own, and had a nice kick. I sliced some onions very thin, poured some marinade over them and laid slices of pressed tofu and eggplant on top.


I let those marinate for ten or fifteen minutes, and then flipped them over.



While marinating, I washed and chopped my beautiful chard:


And set it aside in a bowl.
I also sliced, and spiced my sweet potato fries:

(The lighting in the kitchen really sucks, and using my flash totally washes out my pictures- I need to figure out how to correct that)

I tried something a little different with the sweet potato fries too. I usually just slice them and toss them in a bowl with some salt, pepper, spices and coconut oil, and lay them out on my baking sheet in a 450-degree oven. They come out tasting great, but the texture is very soft, like a baked potato (surprise surprise). I’ve heard: a) that moisture makes them floppy and soft, and b) that using egg whites instead of oil will make them crispy. So before I threw them into the bowl I squeezed all the excess moisture out with a paper towel, and tossed them with spices and egg whites. I also covered the sheet pan with foil, since that seemed to help with the coconut oil fries. It worked almost too well… in some ways. I didn’t get a picture of the baking sheet when they came out, but they were glued on there! Nick had to hold and roll the foil while I scraped them off with a spatula. They were a little crispier, but it really didn’t seem worth it. Does anyone have any tips for crispy oven fries?

Back to the rest of the meal: I fried the tofu and eggplant in a skillet, with the intention of popping them in the oven while I sautéed the chard, thinking that they would be crisp on the outside and also achieve the more dense texture of baked tofu. Instead, the tofu stuck to the pan (the eggplant actually turned out pretty well, if a bit flavorless) and was generally unimpressive to say the least. More on that later.


I then sautéed some thinly sliced onions and the chard in the same skillet, and added the marinade, which actually turned out pretty well.


I spooned the greens onto a plate, topped them with tofu and eggplant and served it alongside the sweet potato fries.


The meal wasn’t bad, but it wasn’t particularly good. The tofu just didn’t work in the dish, and the fries tasted dry rather than crispy. Today I was trying to think about why the tofu didn’t work, and originally I came to the conclusion that I haven’t really liked any tofu I have made that wasn’t somehow Asian in flavor. Until I remembered barbeque tofu! Which is when it dawned on me that I obviously should have used bbq sauce to flavor tofu served alongside sautéed greens! Well, better luck to me next time.
Last night’s dinner made me a little bummed that I’ve had what feels like quite a few mediocre results in the past couple weeks. A few ok meals in the midst of many meals that I have enjoyed really shouldn’t get to me, but it makes me realize that even though I have been preparing food, I haven’t been thoughtfully cooking for a few months. I guess I just need more practice!

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Catch-Up

Whew! I have been out of the game for far too long, but I’m back in the kitchen, and although I’ve been starting out slowly, I feel an experiment coming on in the next few days, so look out!

We’ve been eating a fair amount of bean burgers and scrambles lately:


Green Chile Cheese Bean-and-Oat burger on a WW English Muffin with a side of baked sweet potato fries- yum!


Egg and veggie scramble topped with Trader Joe’s raw cheddar.

And I’ve been a little obsessed with a new salad creation:


A fig, goat cheese, broccoli and spinach salad with walnuts (this was the only time I added egg, and it was good, but not as good as it was without the egg).

As often happens when trying to get back into the swing of something, I have also had a few fails:



When I was in college I had a roommate who would often pair a few Jimmy Dean sausage patties with an egg fried in a hole in a piece of toast. I'm fairly certain there is a name for this dish, but I have long since forgotten it. I had never seen it before I roomed with him, and I had never tried it before last week. The picture looks awful, partly because I often sprinkle egg dishes with an almost inordinate amount of brewers yeast, but it tasted awful too. Perhaps there is some crucial step I’m missing?

The bean burgers have worked out really well both times I tried my original recipe (sautéed mirepoix, mashed black beans, raw rolled oats, spices and an egg- I will get more specific next time I make them), but a few days ago I used refried black beans and egg-whites from a carton, and it was pretty disastrous. I couldn’t bring myself to take a picture, but the patties did not stay together AT ALL, so it was basically like eating a tasty bean and oat crumble.

Breakfasts have seemed to be the star of the show around here. Oatmeal made a brief return:


This was the only time I have made oatmeal from rolled oats. When I finally started making oatmeal last year, I bought a bag of oat bran from Trader Joe’s and I never looked back. The regular oats were good, but I definitely prefer the straight bran. Berries, coconut and cinnamon seem to be my go-to toppings for any sweet breakfast.

We also made pancakes for the first time! Nick took the lead on this one (I melted the butter and simmered the maple syrup with the blueberries), and thanks to Chef John they were awesome.


I sprinkled mine with some coconut.

I even invented a new-to-me breakfast.

Nutsy Fruit Toast (worst name ever)


Ezekiel toast with nut butter and fruit slices. Pretty self-explanatory.

I will leave you with the thought of fresh, salty chard, since I’m pretty sure that’s what is on the menu for tonight.


Topped with marinated, fried tofu and sesame seeds.

Happy cooking until next time!

Saturday, April 30, 2011

I love Saturdays

I slept in this morning. Had a quick English muffin and some coffee and after a few false starts, we made our way to the Silverlake Farmers Market. I keep forgetting how hoppin it gets later in the morning. When we first moved here we seemed to have earlyish obligations every Saturday, so we always ended up at the Farmers Market between 8 and 10am. I keep meaning to take pictures but I always seem to get distracted by all the goodies around me. Today we kept it simple.


Farm eggs and goat cheese with sun-dried tomatoes

We had some asparagus burning a hole in our crisper drawer since this arrived on Tuesday:



A few weekends ago Nick and I went to the Green Expo at the LA Convention Center. Aside from a confusing bag issue with the ticket guy (after watching everyone ahead of us in line receive a tote bag with their tickets, we were a bit surprised when the ticket guy just stared at us after handing us our change. We walked a few steps away, and even walked back to ask if we got a bag. He looked straight at us and said "Oh, you'll get those inside." Needless to say, the only people inside with bags were ALL the other attendees. So strange!), it was pretty fun, and we ended up signing up for a CSA. Every other week we can expect a box of food to be delivered to our doorstep, giving us new culinary challenges.

It was a pretty good mix:



We have been munching on the contents all week, but today we decided to make some decadent omelets with the asparagus and our Farmer's Market purchases.

I roasted the asparagus with some olive oil, porcini mushroom sea salt and pepper



And we made one giant omelet with red onions, garlic, corn, chopped roasted asparagus, goat cheese and sun-dried tomatoes, avocado and spices. It was amazing.



Served with some cumin, chili, maple and garlic spiced sweet potato home-fries (they burned a little)



Last night we made short work of the broccoli with a Foodwishes-inspired broccoli salad. Steamed broccoli with a dressing of olive oil, rice vinegar, maple syrup, mustard, chili powder, minced garlic, porcini mushroom salt, ginger powder, pepper and cayenne. It was light, spicy and sweet.



A great compliment to our English Muffin Pizzas




Mine had TJs Marinara, soaked sunflower seeds, red onions, pickled jalapenos, olives, white cheddar and pepper.

I have been loving English muffins lately. My favorite brand so far is Food for Life (of course- I like bread dense), but Trader Joe's whole grain is a close second. Sadly we have neither at the moment, but we made due. My favorite things to top them with is Lemon-Lavender goat cheese (Soledad Goats- you never cease to amaze)...



...with chia seeds and the other side with vegan butter, mango butter and coconut



Alongside my new favorite coffee





Our work weeks have been a little crazy lately, so we have really been trying to make the weekends count. Which of course includes brunch, in my book. Last week it was Green Chile breakfast burritos and tangerine mimosas



Filled with the same potatoes I made today, eggs, onion, pepper and white cheddar



smothered with Green Chile and a side of black beans



Yum.

After this busy week, the Farmer's Market and brunch, it's pretty much been this kind of a day







Hope everyone's weekend is amazing!

Sunday, April 24, 2011

Let's all eat some veggies!

I'm Elektra and I love to cook and prepare food. I love getting my hands in it, I love putting it all together and making it look beautiful, and most of all I love eating it. I love to meet and interact with other people who love food. I've been reading food blogs for quite some time now, and I started a food blog with my boyfriend about a year and a half ago. He lost interest, I tried to continue it on my own, but it just didn't feel like the right tone, and it stopped feeling like me. So I'm giving it another shot.

Since my last blogging venture, Nick and I moved into our own apartment. No roommates, and I went from cooking in this kitchen:




To cooking in this kitchen:



Such a huge improvement.

When we first moved, we were eating a whole lot of wrap variations







But I'm starting to get back into the swing of really cooking lately. Here are some things that I/We have been enjoying lately:

Chocolate oatmeal with fruit and nuts



English Muffin with goat cheese, walnuts and dates



Spicy cumin black quinoa salad over massaged kale and spinach with pistachios, apricots and coconut



Soft-Boiled Brunch pitas with goat cheese, hummus, spinach, red onions, kalmata olives, pickled jalapenos, tomatoes and soft boiled eggs



Raw Lasagna with cashew cheese



And finally, a recent raw creation:

BBQ Collard Wraps!

Ok, so it seems like a fairly large percentage of raw entrees are some form of collard wraps, but I was craving BBQ and the raw route just seemed like the way to go.

I made a raw-ish bbq sauce from sun-dried tomatoes, honey, salt, pepper, mustard powder, apple cider vinegar, onion powder, garlic powder and cayenne. I let it sit in the fridge overnight



Pulsed some soaked sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds in the food processor


I think it's high time for a new food processor



I soaked the trimmed collard leaves in water with sea salt hoping to soften them a bit, but it didn't really work



but we charged ahead anyway!

All the ingredients



Spread some BBQ sauce on a collard leaf and topped with some shredded cabbage and sliced pepper



Then added the pulsed seeds and avocado slices



And topped it with some onion and sprouts



I had to hold it together to eat it but it was amazing.

A few weeks ago, as Nick and I were inventing soft-boiled delights



I mentioned something about how I set out to make something simple to eat, and before I know it I'm playing. I think to myself, "I'm hungry, I'll just make an egg on toast. No big deal." But before I know it I've spread the toast with goat cheese, smeared a little lemon-herb olive oil on it, and topped the egg with avocado, lizard sauce and pepper.

Default to decadence- that's how I like to do it.