Friday, May 26, 2006

Curried Tofu and Green Beans















This recipe is from Everyday Food issue #11. Never having cooked tofu before - this recipe used simple ingredients and didn't look very time consuming. I added a red pepper, some mushrooms and used coconut milk instead of the called for half-and-half, hoping it would add some sweetness. The curry madras I picked up at Urban Herbs smelled fabulous while cooking with the vegetables. If I would have read the recipe correctly and added 1 Tbs instead of 1 tsp of curry I think my dish would have turned out much more flavorful - must try making this again!

Curried Tofu and Green Beans

1 package extra-firm tofu, drained
2 Tbs vegetable oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 red pepper, thinly sliced
8 mushrooms sliced
1 Tbs curry powder
salt and pepper
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 c. light coconut milk
1 box (10 oz.) frozen green beans
4 roma tomatoes, halved lengthwise and cut crosswise into 1/2 inch pieces
cooked white rice, for serving

1. Cut tofu into 16 triangles or cubes. Press tofu to remove excess water for 20 minutes.
2. Heat 1 Tbs oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook tofu, turning once, until golden brown, about 10 minutes. Transfer to paper towel lined plate.
3. Reduce heat to medium. Add remaining Tbs of oil, onion, red pepper, mushrooms and curry powder. Season generously with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring often, until vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic, cook 1 minute.
4. Reduce heat to medium-low. Add coconut milk and 1/2 cup water, bring to gentle simmer. Add tofu and green beans. Cover, cook until beans are bright green, about 2 minutes. Uncover, add tomatoes. Cook until soft, 3-4 minutes. Serve over rice.

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

drive in

I forgot to post about my first drive-in movie experience!

Last Thursday the Cleveland Museum of Art hosted a showing of Targets at the Memphis Drive In Theater. They showed an episode of the 3 Stooges and some funny old drive-in commercials before the movie started. It was fun! It would have been MORE fun if it was not freezing or raining - but we had the windshield wipers going and got through the evening. I think more people would have turned out if it the weather was better - who would have guessed it would be that cold in MAY?

John Ewing said that they are thinking about doing another drive-in movie this summer and I'll post about it when I find out more info. I'm so happy to see that the museum is getting creative while it's closed. Their film series is being held at CASE while the building is under construction.

I hope that Parkworks is going to have the Meet Me on the Mall series again this summer. I went to 2 movies last summer on Mall B and had the BEST time. It was such a great experience to sit on a downtown lawn with a crowd of people, look up at the stars and watch E.T.

Monday, May 22, 2006

Man Shall Not Live By Bread Alone

My parents used to lived in Nelson Township for about 7 years. It's located in between Middlefield and Garrettsville. I lived with them while I went to grad school so I was the official "tour guide" on Saturday when friends and I went for a field trip.

Our three destinations were -

1. A plant sale at a farm called Herb Thyme (I found out about the sale on the food forum)










































There were about 100 different varieties of tomatoes to choose from. My friend Erin (she lives downstairs from me) and I decided to get:

Tomatoes
white -
Cream Sausage
cherry - Yellow Pear
red - Elberta Girl
pink - Julia Child
purple - Japanese Black Trifele
stripe - Mr. Stripey

Herbs
Basil
Sweet Basil
Dark Opal Basil

Sage

2. Middlefield Cheese House



























I purchased noodles, cheese cubes, port wine cheese spread, a muffin mix corn meal and a cook book.














3. Garrettsville City Garage Sale













My finds included a mason jar, Stuckey's coffee mug and picnic basket.














A seller gave my friend this scary bunny that somehow ended up in our stairwell!


















Later that day we went to Rosby's and bought some additional plants - dill, rosemary, cilantro, flat leaf parsley, marigolds & sunflowers. We finished planting everything that night and now it all sits in our driveway.

Wednesday, May 17, 2006

Food Links

Great link from Apartment Therapy discussing what it means when recipes call for dry white wine.

Restaurant Window informs us what we (in Ohio) should expect to find in our CSA boxes each month.

This Garden Is Illegal posts some great tips she learned about container gardening.

Tuesday, May 16, 2006

"To Do" List

Ever since I read this post at Distracted Mind, I've been thinking about how I spend my time. Things that I used to enjoy doing I just can't seem to find time for or a reason to do now. A lot of it must have to do with "growing up" and becoming an adult with reasponsibilities to more than just myself. I get to have all these great adult things that I can very easily turn into excuses for why I don't or am unable to do "_______".

I see my friends do the same thing too. We used to spend lots of time together. Now it's difficult to find one evening where 4 girls are free to go out. I guess it's that we're not just girls anymore - we've all taken on bigger roles in life. Not to mention those damn responsibilities and date books. Can you tell that my 10 year high school reunion is only 1 month away? Yikes.

Anyways....starting Thursday I will have a little vacation from work. Some time off that I'm very looking forward to. Of course (with all of my profound thinking) I have been putting together a huge list of things to do and I'm determined to actually get some of them done, instead of wasting entire days watching daytime tv, wearing my pajamas and eating bon bons - what I like to refer to as "relaxing". These may not be life altering tasks but they're things I enjoy doing or are at least productive - and that's how I want to start spending my free time.

I've alsocame to the realization that I was in swap overload and am focusing on swaps where I can create something rather than swapping stuff that no one wanted to begin with!

To Do List:
label flat file drawers

clean car
buy herbs and tomatoes & plant in containers - not as cool as the
salsa garden!
Sew & Stencil
Art School Confidential
finish
a few books
work on the one skein, shrine,
recipe card and atc swaps
(I've really dropped from quite a few!)
lunch with all my working friends

interview scheduled for Thursday

Thursday, May 11, 2006

Couscous with Carrots, Chickpeas, and Herbs

I usually try to borrow cookbooks from the library before I make a purchase - to see if they're actually worth buying. Sometimes there are complete duds or I find only one or two recipes that look good. Other times I don't like how the book is set up or find out that the index is terrible. My favorite part of cookbooks are the indexes!

My friend gifted me a subscription to Cook's Illustrated and I have checked out many of their other books. The recipes always turn out great. I knew that The Best Light Recipe would be a book worth buying sight unseen. So far, it's been just as good as I had expected!

Last night I made baked cod, french green beans (both frozen from Trader Joe's) and this couscous for dinner. I have never made baked cod before and found out that I would much rather eat it deep fried and dipped in ketchup!

Couscous with Carrots, Chickpeas, and Herbs

1 1/2 c. couscous
1 medium onion, chopped fine
4 tsp. olive oil
salt
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp ground ginger
2 c. water
3/4 c. low sodium chicken broth
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/4 c. minced fresh parsley, cilantro, and/or mint leaves
1 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
black pepper

1. Toast couscous and transfer to large bowl.
2. Combine carrots, onion, 1 tsp oil and 1/2 tsp salt in saucepan. Cover and cook on medium heat until vegetables are softened, stirring occasionally. Remove lid and increase heat. Cook until vegetables become slightly browned. Stir in garlic, coriander and ginger until fragrant. Stir in water, broth and chickpeas and bring to a boil.
3. Stir boiling liquid into couscous, cover bowl with plastic wrap, and let sit until grains are tender, about 12 minutes. Uncover and fluff with a fork. Stir in remaining oil, herbs, and lemon juice and season with salt and pepper to taste.

from The Best Light Recipe

Friday, May 05, 2006

Wednesday, May 03, 2006

recipe card swap

moki is at it again! She's hosting a hand carved stamp recipe card swap. Believe me, you will be amazed at the creativity of these stamp carvers!

Tuesday, May 02, 2006

translation

The Part-Time Buddha thoughtfully posted this gem. Go to Gizoogle and enter the url of a blog and laugh!

Monday, May 01, 2006

Roasted Veggie Salad















TasteBuds is a really great place for lunch - it's a bit pricey, but the fresh and quality ingredients are worth it! My favorite salad is the Roasted, Toasted and Grilled - roasted vegetables, pine nuts, carrots, grilled chicken and their homemade balsamic dressing on the side. But if I go on a Wednesday I'm always torn between the salad and the mini meatloaf.

This is my home version - you don't really need a recipe! It makes a really great dinner because you can use just about any leftover vegetables available in the fridge. Last night's chicken or pork or even a can of tuna would be good to top it off. Be liberal with the seasons and there is no reason for any additional dressing.

Roasted Veggie Salad

2 red peppers cut into 1 inch pieces
1/2 red onion sliced into wedges
1 bag tiny potatoes, halve the "big" ones
8oz mushrooms, quartered
any seasonings of your choice, today I used some
Mr. Spice.
1 bag mixed greens

Heat oven to 450 degrees.

Toss the potatoes in olive oil and seasonings to coat. Put on rimmed baking sheet and into oven. Repeat with other vegetables. I keep each vegetable separate on the baking sheets due to different cooking times.


Allow vegetables to cool a bit before assembling salad.