Memorial Day Dilemma

I was invited to a Memorial Day potlock with 4 hours notice. Normally that would be plenty of time to go to the grocery store (which was on my list of things to do anyway) and come up with something yummy to make. However, I opted instead to go on a bike ride.



So before I took my bike out, I was waiting for my mom to call me and thought I'd see if I could get started on something (plan B was to buy something, gasp!). I went to vegweb, my favorite for recipes, and checked out the potlucks and picnics category. I stumbled up the recipe for Three Bean Pasta Salad and did a quick inventory of food in my apartment. I thought I could pull something together.



I immediately cut up 4 cloves of garlic and smashed them into a paste, adding a little salt and olive oil to assist. I then let it marinate together in the fridge while I drained and washed a can each of black, garbanzo, and dark red kidney beans. I then decided to use up my baby carrots and carefully cut them up into thin strips. Very time consuming. I also defrosted some frozen cut zucchini that I randomly got the other day (I didn't know they made frozen zucchini). But it seemed seasonal.



I threw in the beans, zucchini, and carrots, then I added the olive oil/garlic mixture I'd made, carefuly not to add a lot of the garlic since I was pretty sure it would be garlicky. I also thought some dill would make a nice addition so I threw some dried dill in as well. I mixed, set in the fridge, added more olive oil and dill to the olive oil/garlic mixture, and went off on my bike ride.



When I came back, I cooked 1 cup of barley and steamed 12 stalks of asparagus. With the asparagus I decided to be fancy- I steamed them for just a couple of minutes and tossed them in an ice water bath. I see it all the time on TV and I'm really sure what it does, but it seemed apporpriate. And it cooked it down so I could add it to the dish. When the barley was done, I put it on a plate and stuck it in the freezer for 10 minutes or so to cool it down. I then added the barley and asparagus to the salad along with the olive oil/garlic/dill mixture and some salt. I'm so scared of over salting so I tried to minimalize the amount I added. It also had a strong garlicky taste, which is fine by me. Then I put it in the freezer just to make sure it's all cold enough.

It was pretty tasty and it lasted forever, which was great during my first week of tri training!

Bean Pile

I used to make something similar to this dish fairly often a few years ago. I rediscovered it tonight and am glad I did. A coworker named the dish way back then.

I got .75c whole wheat spiral pasta going in one pot and heated up 1TB sesame oil in my frying pan. I sauteed a medium onion in the oil and added some green beans (4cups?) when the onions were transparent. I seasoned with some sea salt and red pepper flakes.

I eat green beans every week and it seems like they are the same every single time. So the sesame oil was a nice departure from the norm. Overall, the only thing I'd do differently is cut the green beans into smaller pieces so I can shove them in my mouth faster.

Squashtacular

I bought a few too many yellow squashes last week, so I've been eating them too often. I was tired of stewed squash and wanted to do something new. So I did my favorite cooking trick- I roasted them. I cubed 2 large squash and cut 1 medium onion into strips. I tossed both in 1TB of olive oil and put in a 400degree oven until nice and brown. I only seasoned it with some salt because I couldn't figure out what herb would be best. Meanwhile, I cooked some barley, my favorite.

It was a perfect alternative to stewed squash. I just wish it didn't make my kitchen so hot. Sometimes I had the salt just perfect, but some pieces could use a little more. I blame the sea salt for my inability to flavor things correctly.

Spinach Chickpea Goodness

The past few weeks have been hectic with board meetings, travel 2 weekends in a row, and my workload picking up significantly. So, I haven't had the time to cook, much less blog about what I'm eating. Sadly, 2 days last week I had to settle for (don't take it the wrong way, I love it, but it's no homemade treat) peanut butter sandwiches. But I did go to a "Tex Mex" place (as you'd suspect, DC "Tex Mex" doesn't even come close...) and was proud of myself for avoiding the chips and then only eating half of my veggie burrito. I brought the leftovers back with me, but decided they weren't worth my time.

This afternoon's meal was not quite what I expected- but pleasantly surprising. I sauteed some onions and garlic in about 1/3TB olive oil. I added 1 cup of chickpeas. There was a moment of panic when I looked in the cupboard and couldn't find them. But after moving every single can of beans out of the cabinet, I found the garbanzos hiding in the back. Whew.

I added an entire bag of fresh spinach, about 2TB of white wine, 1.5TB nutritional yeast, and lots of mustard. And salt (amazingly not too much) and pepper. This is clearly my favorite easy sauce for things.

Once the spinach wilted (5 min), it was ready to be devoured. The only thing I'll do differently next time (and I will be making this again) is to cut up the spinach before dumping it into the pan.

Monochrome Mealtime

The past few days I've been making quick, easy meals. But they have all tended to be very monocrhomatic.

Thursday- Green
I made green split peas with frozen spinach. I then added some balsamic vinegar at the end for a little flavor. By the end of the bowl, I wanted to vomit. I don't like balsamic vinegar. Give me red wine vinegar any day.

Friday- Yellow
I boiled some yellow squash with onions and added yellow split peas. Seasoned with salt and pepper. Quick, easy, and tasty.

No pictures, though.

I Couldn't Have Said It Better

An excellent article from the New York Times that speaks directly to my cooking philosophy:

The Minimalist: A No-Frills Kitchen Still Cooks

By: Mark Bittman