Why Not Try it This Week?

Here's the deal: I've fallen off the vegetarian wagon!

I'm eating chicken again. And last weekend I might have had a moment of weakness and had a sausage with my pasta. And a corn dog. I'm certain my friend MB is gagging out right now!

I had to add chicken back in because I was feeling really crappy - low energy, light headed. I thought maybe I wasn't getting enough protein. I'm sticking with the chicken for now until I figure out how much protein I need.

So, here is the last "Why Not Try it This Week?" until I figure out what I'm gonna do about my diet!

I last blogged about this recipe: Black beans and brown rice. It was pretty good but cooking those beans made my house reek for days!

The base for cooking the beans.

Rinsing the beans

The rice had great taste but, as usual, it was cooked all the way!

The toddler version

Not bad overall, but it might have been tastier over chopped lettuce instead.

Why Not Try it This Week?

Dear Breakfast Quinoa,

I thought you'd be a cross between oatmeal and Cream of Wheat. A warm cereal concoction sprinkled with brown sugar and cinnamon and topped with sliced bananas. Perfect with a hot cup of green tea on a cold winter night (yes, I made breakfast for dinner). Instead, you tasted like tiny, rubbery balls that got stuck in my teeth. Maybe you were undercooked? I don't remember you tasting so squishy when you were a topping on my salad from Veggie Grill. I could only stomach three or four spoonfuls before ditching you for a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Oh man, Breakfast Quinoa, I'm about this close to going back to eating beef and poultry. I'm sorry, but it's you. It's definitely you.

Peace out,

Wendy @ Like My Baby

Here's how it went:

Perfectly good Organic Quinoa from Trader Joe's

Rinsing the Quinoa

Boiling the milk...this might be where everything went horribly wrong.

Adding the only two ingredients I did like.

The final dish - It looks like slop.

Now, I used fat-free milk instead of whole milk as the recipe called for. I don't think that made that much of a difference except for less fat and less calories. I had a terrible time getting the milk to boil because I was afraid of scorching it and then when it finally did boil it bubbled up out of the pot and onto the burner. Then while it simmered for 15 minutes, I still had to take the top off and on because the milk kept bubbling up. Aggravating! Couldn't figure out what I was doing wrong - the burner was at the lowest setting! We didn't have any blueberries or raspberries or anything except bananas that were too ripe for my liking. It was not good.

My blogger friend Jessica at Chaos & Love planned on making this same recipe today. I'm curious to see how it came out in comparison and how she liked it.

For the week of January 25:

Brown Rice and Black Beans

from Martha Stewart Living, February 2010, page 147

For the beans:

8 cups water, plus more if needed

1 bag (1 pound) dried black beans, picked over, rinsed, and drained

1 jalapeno chile, halved and seeded

2 medium onions, quartered

5 garlic cloves, smashed

2 tablespoons red-wine vinegar

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

For the rice:

1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 garlic, mined

Coarse salt and freshly ground pepper

2 cups long-grain brown rice

3 1/2 cups water

1) Make the beans: bring water, beans, jalapeno, onions, garlic, vinegar, 1 tablespoon salt, and 1 teaspoon pepper to a simmer in a medium pot. Cook, stirring occasionally, until beans are tender, about 1 1/2 hours. Add more water, 1/4 cup at a time, if needed. Season with salt and pepper.

2) Meanwhile, make the rice: heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Cook onion and garlic until onion is soft, about 5 minutes. Add 2 teaspoons salt, 1/4 teaspoon pepper, and the rice. Cook until rice is slightly toasted, about 3 minutes. Add water, and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to low, and gently simmer, covered, until rice absorbs water, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from head; let stand, covered for 10 minutes. Fluff rice with a fork, and season with salt and pepper. Serve topped with beans.

Serving idea from Martha: Serve topped with fresh cilantro, diced red onion, chopped tomato, cubed avocado, sour cream, shredded cheese, and hot sauce.

Wendy's Notes: This sounds like a home run, doesn't it? Maybe add some flour tortillas? I've never made beans from scratch so this should be interesting!

Why Not Try it This Week?

Last week I offered up Zucchini Pizza from the vegetarian cookbook "Better Than Peanut Butter and Jelly." And while I had good intentions of making said recipe - because it sounds FANTASTIC and my family LOVES pizza - I failed MISERABLY! I forgot TWO major ingredients at the market: tomatoes and zucchini. Guess I was too wrapped up listening to the Frosty, Heidi, and Frank podcast to remember these items!

So, instead of going back the next day for my missing ingredients I just went forward with what I had bought and what I had in the pantry.

Here's how it went:

The original recipe called for pizza dough, well, that didn't happen - even though Trader Joe's sells dough, I decided to use Boboli Crust instead. Delicious! I put the crusts in the oven for five minutes - the package doesn't say to do that but they seemed kind of wet when I unwrapped them and my inner Julia Child told me that putting them in the oven before piling on the sauce and toppings would help somehow.

Since I forgot the tomatoes, I used the Ragu Pizza sauce I had planned using for my husband's own personal pizza. It may be cheap and unsophisticated but it was tasty!

Shredded some mozzarella, added a little bit of salt and pepper, and tossed on a few black olives on for good measure.

They were yummy and still 100% vegetarian. I actually think they looked like two pies from the local pizzeria!

For the week of January 18th:

Breakfast Quinoa

as featured on the Martha Stewart Show, January 19, 2010 and from the February 2010 issue of Martha Stewart Living.

Ingredients:

2 cups whole or low-fat milk, plus extra for serving

1 cup quinoa, rinsed

3 Tbs. light brown sugar, plus extra for serving

1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon, plus extra for serving

1 cup fresh blueberries, plus extra for serving

1) Bring milk to a boil in saucepan. Add quinoa, and return to a boil. Reduce heat to low, and simmer, covered, until three-quarters of milk has been absorbed - about 15 minutes.

2) Stir in sugar and cinnamon. Cook, covered, until almost all the milk has been absorbed - about 8 minutes. Stir in blueberries and cook for another 30 seconds. Serve with additional milk, sugar, cinnamon, and blueberries.

Makes 2 cups.

Wendy's Notes: I'm not a huge fan of fresh blueberries so I'm thinking of adding dried cranberries or fresh raspberries. Maybe some diced mango for a tropical flare?

Why Not Try it This Week?

So, last week I declared trying two new vegetarian recipes. The first was a stir-fry dish with veggies and roasted cashews and the other was actually a vegan fruit dish called Crocodile Crunch.

Here's how it went:

I burned the crap out of the cashews attempting to roast them. I was too busy cutting vegetables and retrieving my toddler's Barbie car from underneath the kitchen table to occasionally "shake the pan" during its ten-minute roast.

The second batch was better but a tad underdone, in my opinion.

Said veggies.

I didn't have any canola oil on hand so I just used EVOO (by the way, I really hate using "EVOO" but it is easier than typing it all out) and it worked equally fine.

The find of the week: Trader Joe's Organic Brown Rice!

Frozen rice nuked for three minutes - It was really great, except...the first package busted open because I didn't cut a tiny hole in the plastic for the heat to escape. Oops.

The final dish!

Next time I don't plan on adding cashews because I thought they were pointless or perhaps I just did the whole roasting thing incorrectly. I don't know, thoughts?

And while I planned on making what sounded like a yummy mixed fruit dish, I just couldn't get past one ingredient: spirulina. It's blue-green algae, folks. The same found in lakes and ponds. *Gag* I'm just not ready for that, yet. Have any of you ever tried it? Give me some feedback, please!

For the week of January 11:

Zucchini Pizza

From "Better than peanut butter & jelly" by Marty Mattare and Wendy Muldawer, pg. 86.

Ingredients:

1 pizza crust (or focaccia bread round)

3/4 c. low fat ricotta cheese

2 Tbs. fresh basil leaves, chopped

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. pepper

1 large tomato, thinly sliced

1 medium zucchini, thinly sliced lengthwise

2 Tbs. Parmesan cheese, grated

1 tsp. olive oil

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Place pizza crust on baking sheet and heat for 5 minutes.

2) Meanwhile, combine ricotta cheese, basil leaves, salt, and pepper; set aside.

3) Remove partially cooked crust from oven, top with tomato slices, and then top with ricotta mixture. Arrange sliced zucchini on top and sprinkle with Parmesan; drizzle with olive oil.

4) Slide pizza off baking sheet and place directly on oven rack. Bake 8 - 10 minutes, or until dough is crisp and cheese is melted.

Serves 4.

Wendy's Notes: Who doesn't like pizza? Well, my little brother doesn't but this sounds good, right? My husband hates, HATES, tomatoes so I might make a separate mini-pizza for him with his favorite Ragu sauce instead. Sophisticated!