Wednesday, April 22, 2009

chili-glazed tofu over snap peas & rice

i love tofu, i just have never cooked with it, until now. the chili-glazed tofu over rice was dinner last night & we both enjoyed this a lot! it was so easy & done in 10 minutes, due to the 4 minute brown rice that steams in the bag in the microwave...not so sure what brand i bought on a whim. the other brown rice i bought, takes over an hour to cook...sheesh.

i did substitute snap peas for the asparagus, sesame oil for the peanut oil & squeezed some lime on the finished plate.

i would highly recommend this recipe if you are in the mood for something quick.

yum yum

Tuesday, April 21, 2009

spinach matzo torta

for lunches this week, i made a matzo torta & it was delish!!
this recipe will be a great passover lunch/dinner for next year.

i did substitute spinach for swiss chard because the grocery store was out of swiss chard. i used 2 bags of organic baby spinach.


this was a recipe that i got out of the hannaford fresh magazine -pg 8-9 - thanks mom, keep them coming!

yum yum

Monday, April 13, 2009

easter meal

the easter meal was delegated to me and i really enjoyed trying to figure out a meal for a day of being with family & cleaning up nana's woods w/ the bonfire.

i decided to go the honeybaked ham route, since we have not had one in years. roche bros. had a honeybaked ham kiosk, so it was VERY convenient to run down to roche and pick up a 10 lb half ham....i had the choice between an 8 & 10 lber & i went big...the family will be eatting ham all week....

now, for the sides -
carrot souffle (our nod to passover) - this is a family recipe...carrots, matzo meal, butter, sugar...yummy goodness.
mustard dressed asparagus - delish side dish, lots of flavor
golden onion strata with gruyère and prosciutto - this was well received. even sweetie tried a bite.
roasted fingerling potatoes w/ horseradish sour cream- sans the red pepper flakes. i really do prefer these little guys, b/c they crisp up on the outside & are light and fluffy in the inside. they are great on the grill too!!
parmesan crescent rolls

my sister-in-law brought the appetizers. between picking up sticks & burning them, we noshed on a hot spinach dip & a 7 layer mexican dip that she put some of her own twists on. we really enjoyed her take on the mexican dip & requested the recipe!!

also, i introduced the peep lovers in the family to a campfire favorite from T....smores made w/ roasted peeps!! it is like a creme brullee marshmallow inside the smores fixings. you must be warned - watch out for the molten sugar, it can burn you bad...real bad! when roasted just right, the outside becomes crunchy sugar & the inside is gooey marshmallow yumminess. or enjoy them my #1 favorite way...hard as a rock.

my mama was in charge of the desserts: strawberry shortcake (strawberries they picked in the fields last summer), lemon meringue pie & key lime pie...nice & springy!!

overall, i believe the meal was a success! i received many compliments & folks enjoyed the new flavors.

i hope you had a lovely holiday weekend.

yum yum

Monday, April 6, 2009

3 cheese pasta bake

i was a bit skeptical of this recipe, but i wanted to give sweetie a new pasta dish for lunches & thought this was interesting....a few ingredients i have never put together within my pasta bakes.

3 cheese pasta bake

i actually needed to use up a few bits of pasta that i had, some elbows, some ziti..so this was a mixture of pastas that cook at the same rate. i used all low fat/skim options for the cheeses & didn't use the entire amount called for w/ the cheeses...it just seemed like a lot once i got to making! i also had some italian chicken sausages that i wanted to use up, so i browned them in a skillet and put them in a layer under the ricotta. i also used an egg substitute and omitted the parsley.

sweetie had some for lunch and raved about it. she thought it would be excellent w/out the sausage too. i am headed to the kitchen to have some for dinner.

yum yum

grilled portobello-goat cheese pitas

sweetie and i really enjoyed this quick, light dinner last night.

grilled portobello-goat cheese pitas

i wanted to throw some organic spinach on top, but our grocer was OUT of organic baby spinach!! so next time i hope to make this a bit more robust veggie meal.

i also cut up the portobello mushrooms so it was a bit easier to eat, as our pita was thinner & thus crunchy after grilling. we ate this more like a pizza, in slices.