Hakuna Frittata

What a name…

I’m not going to post the full recipe for this egg dish, because I feel like I’m eventually going to post all of the recipes out of “Eat, Shrink, and Be Merry” if I continue at this clip.

This dish is described as “simple and delicious vegetable and herb frittata with cheddar cheese.” Onions, garlic, red peppers, zucchini, mushrooms, oregano, thyme, eggs, feta. Pretty simple. It was quick and it was tasty.

When I was chopping the onions, I cried. When I was thinking of The Lion King, I wept.

OH MUFASA!

Tuesdays With Dorie – Chocolate Oatmeal Almost-Candy Bars

These are great. I did not put any peanuts in these bars because I forgot them at the grocery store. Otherwise, everything went according to plan. Oatmeal cookie dough; rich chocolatey fudge filled with raisins. Thanks for this, Dorie. It was delicious.

Also, fast and easy, which I appreciate as I spent the day ill and oozing from the nose. Yum.

Beef Pot Roast

I received Edmonds Cookery Book from Shara, my secret santa this year from a group of friends. This book has been part of New Zealand’s heritage since 1879, and now it’s been entrusted to me, a fat-skinny kid from Pennsylvania, USA.

Very juicy and very good – it tasted like something you’d get at a restaurant, which is just tremendous to me since I made it out of such simple ingredients. A little fatty, but that probably had more to do with my choice of meat so I won’t deduct points from the recipe.

I served this with some mashed potatoes (my first ever mashed potatoes, skins on, boiled in chicken stock instead of water – a little hint I learned from my future brother-in-law, if I remember correctly). Also, broccoli, which is our standard go-to green side-dish.

Beef Pot Roast (Edmonds Cookery Book)

1 tablespoon oil
1 kg piece beef topside, trimmed
32g packet onion soup mix
1 cup liquid beef stock
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon Edmonds Fielder’s cornflour (corn starch)
1 tablespoon water
1 tablespoon whole grain mustard

Heat the oild in a large saucepan. Add the meat and brown well on all sides. Remove meat from pan and pour off fat. Return meat to pan. In a bowl, combine soup mix and stock. Pour this over the meat. Add bay leaf. Cover, bring to the boil, reduce heat and simmer gently for 3 hours or until meat is tender. Check liquid level from time to time, adding a little water if necessary. Remove bay leaf. In a bowl, combine cornflour and water, mixing until smooth. Remove meat from pan. Add cornflour mixture to pan. Bring to the boil, stirring constantly until mixture thickens. Add mustard. Serve with sliced meat. If wished, potato and carrot can be added to the pan 30 minutes before end of cooking time. Serves 8.

Skewer Always On My Mind

Oh, the pun. Elvis would be rolling over in his grave if he weren’t alive and well in Tampa.

Another entry from “Eat, Shrink, and Be Merry” by Janet and Greta Podleski. Another interesting thing about this book, which I did not notice until tonight while my salmon was marinating, is that every page is filled with random stuff. Half of each page is devoted to the recipe, and the other half is devoted to random food-related or health-related facts. DID YOU KNOW that alcohol, even of the light beer variety, pretty much slows your metabolism to a halt? EXPLAIN HOW! No, buy the book.

This was good. Rachel regretted picking a salmon dish, as it was fairly expensive and she discovered she was not a huge fish fan outside of sushi. I thought it was great. I don’t own metal skewers, by the way, so this just turned into broiled, marinated salmon chunks. Yum. Served with some tri-color rotini and some yellow squash.

Webber, if you’re reading this: cilantro

SKEWER ALWAYS ON MY MIND
Lime and cilantro marinated salmon skewers

MARINADE
1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice
2 tbsp minced fresh cilantro
1 tbsp reduced-sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp honey mustard
1 tbsp BBQ sauce or ketchup
1 tsp grated lime zest
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp each cumin, ground coriander, salt, and freshly ground black pepper

1 1/2 lbs (680 g) boneless, skinless salmon fillets, cut into chunks
4 12-inch metal skewers

Combine all marinade ingredients in a small bowl. Mix well.

Place salmon chunks in a large heavy-duty, resealable plastic bag. Add marinade and seal bag. Turn bag several times to coat salmon with marinade. Marinate in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat grill or broiler to high setting. Remove salmon from marinade (reserve marinade) and thread pieces onto skewers. Coat grill rack or broiler pan with cooking spray or brush lightly with oil. Grill or broil salmon for 3 to 4 minutes per side, brushing often with reserved marinade. Salmon should be just slightly pink in the center. Be careful not to overcook the salmon or it will be dry. Serve hot.

One Loaf To Love

So about two years ago I was approached by a publishing company to review a new cookbook. They graciously sent me a copy of it, and I proceeded to ignore it.

It’s not that I didn’t like the cookbook. I was unmotivated. Unlike with dessert baking, I had never used a recipe for “meal” food. Now that I’m doing so, here we are.

The book I received is called “Eat, Shrink and Be Merry” and it is by Janet and Greta Podleski.

The first recipe I tried is a vegetable-filled meatloaf recipe called…er…One Loaf To Love.

You see, every recipe in the book is given a punny name; the title and the brief write-up follow a theme, which more often than not has nothing to do with the food. That’s all right, though. This is the cookbook for me. I love dumb puns, and I love the little cartoons that are included with each recipe.

Every recipe in the book also includes nutritional information for the calorie-conscious. This is a nice, handy guide.

Better late than never, right?

Anyway, the meat loaf. It was spectacular. Moist, flavorful, and packed full of vegetables. This is the best picture I got.

The prep time was a little long (dicing the vegetables took a while), but with a meal this good, it was worth it.

So consider looking into this book. I’ll be making more from the book soon, so keep checking in. If the other recipes taste this good, we have a bookshelf staple.

One Loaf To Love
Zesty vegetable-and-cheese-stuffed meat loaf
(from “Eat, Shrink and Be Merry” by Janet and Greta Podleski)

Our sensational stuffed meat loaf is nothin’ like the old rubbery meat loaf they serve down at the General Hospital. We’ve dramatically improved this popular comfort food so it’s not only Bold, it’s Beautiful. All My Children (and yours) will adore it!

1 cup finely diced mushrooms
1/2 cup each finely diced red bell pepper, zucchini, and onions
1 tsp minced garlic
1/4 tsp dried basil
1 1/2 lbs (680 g) extra-lean ground beef
1 cup fresh whole wheat bread crumbs or 1/2 cup dry unseasoned bread crumbs
1/4 cup + 2 tbsp barbeque sauce or ketchup
1 pkg (.9 oz/25 g) hamburger seasoning mix*
1 egg
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup packed shredded light Monterey Jack, provolone, or mozzarella cheese (2 oz/57 g)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Spray a medium, non-stick skillet with cooking spray. Add mushrooms, red pepper, zucchini, onions, and garlic. Cook and stir over medium heat until vegetables are tender, about five minutes. Add basil and cook 1 more minute. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a large bowl, combine ground beef, bread crumbs, 1/4 cup barbeque sauce, hamburger seasoning mix, egg, parsley, and pepper. Mix well using your hands.

One a large sheet of waxed paper, form meat mixture into a 10×12-inch rectangle. Make sure edges are nice and straight, not jagged. Spread reserved vegetable filling over meat, leaving a 1/2-inch border. Sprinkle with cheese. Roll up meat load from the shorter (10-inch) end, lifting the waxed paper to help get it started. Roll it as tightly as possible. Pinch seam closed.

Transfer meat loaf to a broiler pan that has been sprayed with cooking spray. Bake for 40 minutes. Remove from oven and spread remaining 2 tbsp barbeque sauce over meat loaf. Return to oven and bake for 10 more minutes, or until meat is cooked through and a meat thermometer inserted in the center registers 160 degrees Fahrenheit. Let meat loaf stand for 5 minutes before slicing.

*TIP: There are several varieties of dry hamburger seasoning mixes on the market, but we like Club House Superburger the best. It comes in a small envelope and you can usually find it in the aisle where gravy mixes are sold.

Tuesdays With Dorie – Mrs. Vogel’s Scherben

Not my favorite. I have nothing against deep-frying cookies; it sounds delicious! I guess it’s better in concept than in execution.

My problem stems from the fact that there is very little sugar inside the dessert. There is only sugar on top of the dessert. I want sugar.

Feeling grumpy. They are fine, although they remind me of my mom’s Fastnachts which are infinitely better. In conclusion, fried cookies.

I didn’t try and make this look nice, due to lack of motivation. This is the frying station.

Farmers’ Market Bowl

Another dinner from the ol’ vegetarian cookbook. We aren’t hippies, I promise. The next dog-eared recipe is for pot roast, which presumably involves meat of some sort (unless I’m roasting a potater).

This meal is okay. I really like the “bowl” portion. I think there’s too much mass to it. It’s pretty much a stack of over six inches of vegetables on a sort of omelet. I think we’d have gotten along better if we’d have kept it to three inches.

Of course, most of this can be blamed on the American produce system, which genetically engineers its vegetables so that a “medium” zucchini is over twelve inches long, and the average bell pepper is the size of your head.

Farmers’ Market Bowl (from Favorite Brand Name Vegetarian Cooking, 1997)

4 large eggs
1/2 cup whole milk
2/3 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt, divided
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, divided
2 green bell peppers, seeded and thinly sliced
1 medium onion, sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 medium zucchini or yellow squash, thinly sliced
1 cup carrots, thinly sliced
8 cherry tomatoes, cut into halves
2 tbsp minced fresh dill
1/2 ground black pepper
1 cup (4 oz) shredded Monterey Jack cheese
Celery leaves for garnish

Process eggs, milk, flour, and 1/4 tsp salt in food processor or blender until smooth. Let sit 15 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large skillet over medium heat until hot. Add bell peppers, onion, and garlic; cook and stir 5 minutes or until just tender. Place in medium bowl. Heat 1 tablespoon oil over medium heat in same skillet. Add zucchini and carrots; cook and stir 8 to 10 minutes or so until just tender. Remove from heat. Add bell pepper mixture to skillet; stir in tomatoes, dill, remaining 1/4 teaspoon salt and black pepper. Keep warm.

Spray 9-inch ovenproof skillet with cooking spray; brush with remaining 1 tablespoon oil. Place skillet in oven 2 minutes or until hot. Pour batter into skillet. Bake 12 to 14 minutes or until lightly browned and cooked through.

Spoon vegetable mixture into bowl; sprinkle with cheese. Bake 2 minutes more or until cheese is melted. Cut into wedges. Garnish, if desired. Makes 4 to 6 servings

Tuesdays With Dorie – Cocoa-Buttermilk Birthday Cake

Happy second anniversary, Tuesdays With Dorie!

With the spirit of Harvey Dent in mind, we celebrate the second anniversary with our choice from two desserts (presumably with twins at the Second National Bank). The other recipe is Tarte Tatin. I had toyed with the idea of baking both things this week. When I saw that I didn’t have all the necessary equipment for the Tarte, I put it on the backburner; when I couldn’t find puff pastry at the grocery store, I decided against the idea entirely.

So we’re left with cocoa-buttermilk birthday cake, decked out in chocolate malt buttercream icing. I don’t have an icing decorating set, and my previous method of “plastic bag with hole in the corner” has not produced aesthetically satisfactory results, so I just spread the icing on and called it a night.

It’s very chocolatey – almost overwhelmingly so. I had at least a quarter of my buttercream left, which is frozen in a block right next to my meringue buttercream from June 2009 and will probably never be used.

Still, es bueno. Es very bueno.

Happy birthday, Tuesdays With Dorie.

Oh, and your eyes are not deceiving you – my cake IS that lopsided.

Stir-Fried Tofu and Vegetables

Rachel and I have been in a bit of a food-related rut lately. Our dinners (that is to say, the meals we eat which are not microwaveable) lack variety. Outside of the occasional homemade pizza, I pretty much just stir-fry some chicken and random vegetables. As such, we plan on trying some recipes from the cookbooks that we’ve received from various places (from Secret Santas Shara and Lindy, from family, from people that have asked me to review cookbooks on this site but I was negligent, etc). Also, I mysteriously have a subscription to Bon Appetit magazine, and nobody that I’ve spoken to knows where it came from.

Tonight’s recipe, which seems a bit of a ridiculous attempt to break us from our stir-fry rut…

Stir-Fried Tofu and Vegetables (from Favorite Brand Name Vegetarian Cooking, 1997).

This book belonged to Rachel and made the move when she came to live with me. We both were vegetarians for a number of years. This was one of the three recipes we dog-eared for this week.

It was pretty good. Not all too thrilling or different, and a little bit heavier on the oil than I would have liked. Rachel was surprised that she liked tofu as much as she did.

Here’s the recipe:

1.5 lb firm tofu, rinsed and drained
1 medium yellow onion
1 medium zucchini
1 medium yellow squash
1 small red bell pepper
1 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup sliced fresh mushrooms
1 package (6 oz) frozen snow peas, thawed
1/4 cup water
2 Tbsp soy sauce
2 Tbsp tomato paste
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp black pepper

1. Dry tofu on paper towels. Cut crosswise into 1/4-inch-thick slices; set aside.

2. Cut onion into 8 wedges. Scrub zucchini and yellow squash; cut off ends. Cut zucchini and yellow squash into 1-inch pieces. Cut red pepper lengthwise in hallf. Remove stem and seeds, Rinse, dry, and cut into 1/4-inch strips. Set aside.

3. Heat oil in wok over medium-high heat about 5 minutes or until hot. Add tofu; fry about 8 minutes per side or until golden brown, turning once. Remove tofu with slotted spatula to baking sheet lined with paper towels. Drain all but 2 tablespoons oil from wok.

4. Add onion to wok; stir-fry 1 minute. Add zucchini, yellow squash, and mushrooms; stir-fry 6 to 7 minutes until zucchini and yellow squash are crisp-tender.

5. Add red pepper, snow peas, and water to wok; cook 2 to 3 minutes or until crisp-tender, stirring occasionally. Stir in soy sauce, tomato paste, salt, and black pepper until well mixed. Add tofu; stir-fry until heated through and coated with sauce. Transfer to serving dish.

IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION (with the drainage of most of the oil taken into consideration), click here.

Tuesdays With Dorie – Low and Lush Chocolate Cheesecake

Just pretend that I have unmolded this cake to get a good picture; also, just pretend that I’ve tasted it.

This is going to my parents’ house for New Years Eve. This is the obligatory Tuesday post. I’ll try to update you all on the fallout if/when I remember.

(The pale spots are from moisture that accumulated on the cake after I covered it in foil. I knew there was a reason that Dorie wanted us to let it come to room temperature first).