I lied

I lied about having leftovers. I forgot that we’ll be rushed for dinner tomorrow night because we have a basketball game. We’ll be on Big Monday, so look for us at 8pm CST on ESPN! So, leftovers will have to wait.

Tonight, I got adventurous and made this recipe for caramelized tofu. I saw it recently and must have known I really wanted to make it, because I happened to buy brussels sprouts during my morning excursion to the grocery store. This meal was an extra adventurous move for me, because I’ve never cooked tofu OR brussels sprouts (I usually get the microwaveable kind). Amazingly, it turned out really well, and was super easy. I prepped the food in advance, but the actual cooking only took about as long as halftime of the Carolina game. I didn’t follow the recipe exactly - I didn’t have pecans, so I used walnuts, I left out the cilantro (accidentally), and I used about 1/3 lb brussels sprouts instead of 1/2. But it was still delicious! We had it with brown rice and both went back for seconds.

Busy Sunday breakfast

Breakfast is my favorite meal, and Saturdays and Sundays are usually the only days that I have to spend any time cooking it. So, I usually try to be a little more creative and take extra time cooking for us. But today, I woke up wanting a banana oatmeal redux, so I walked to the grocery store and stocked up on produce so that I could make it for us again. This time I got the photo opp on camera:

That’s one of my new bowls from a little shop in Wamego. Matt pointed out that they look like oatmeal, so they’re my new oatmeal bowls. Also featured: new coffee from Emerald City Market called Dorothy’s Dream. It’s Guatemalan Huehuetenango and it’s really good. Nice and light.

Anyway, banana oatmeal for two: bring 1 cup of water and 1/2 cup skim milk to boil. Stir in 1 cup of rolled oats (old-fashioned oats will work, but not the quick-cooking kind), add cinnamon and reduce heat to medium. Cook for 5 minutes, stirring once or twice. Thinly slice a medium banana and stir all or most into the oatmeal after 5 minutes. Add about 1/4 tsp of vanilla extract and a little more cinnamon and stir for about 1 minute. Remove from heat. I saved some of the sliced banana to make Matt’s bowl extra banana-y. So mine probably had about 1/3 of a medium banana in it. That’s just enough though, that you don’t really have to sweeten it. I usually put about 1 tsp of honey in my oatmeal, but this time I didn’t have to.

This is probably the last post for today, as I have a lot to get done today (errands, gym, laundry, cleaning, organizing, Carolina basketball game and some work) and we’ll probably be having leftovers tonight.

Fruity Friday

I had to go by the cable company after work today to pick up our new DVR (yay!) and it happened to be right next to Westside Market, an awesome local produce place. I stopped by to restock the fruit bowl, which was looking pretty sad. It was nice, after a not so great week, to pick out some pretty fruit. They even had peaches for the first time in months. See now nice the fruit bowl looks now (ignore the banana)?

Unfortunately, there was a classic Jenny incident on the way in the house and the perfect pears I scored almost didn’t make it. I managed to salvage part of one and had that with dessert tonight. Pears are my favorite fruit at the moment, ever since I tried one for the first time a few weeks ago (really). I’ve learned the hard way that they’re more delicate than they look, and the ones that suffered today got so bruised that they kind of… caved in. But whatever, at least I know where I can buy good ones now.

On to dinner…

I gave the bulgur a break and made a quick dinner that my friend Donna suggested one day last week when I told her what I had around the kitchen.

It was really easy - I just cut up chicken breast (one package) into smallish pieces, and cooked over medium heat until cooked through. I took out half to save for another meal and then added frozen spinach, cooked for about 4 minutes, stirring often. I added mushrooms and about 2/3 cup of chickpeas for some extra protein, and cooked for another few minutes, stirring in some lemon juices and a little bit of crushed red pepper. While all that was happening, I cooked some whole wheat couscous by adding 1/2 cup couscous to 3/4 cup of boiling water and simmering, covered, for two minutes. If you just remove the couscous from the heat and let them sit for about 5 minutes, they’re ready. It turned out well, so thanks, Donna!

And now, it’s the weekend. We have plans to go to exotic Wamego, KS tomorrow if the weather holds up. There’s likely to be food involved, so I’m looking forward to it.

Happy Friday!

Bulgurrific

After seeing Ellie Krieger cook some kind of bulgur-based meal last weekend on Healthy Appetite, I picked up some bulgur on a whim and decided to figure out what I could do with it. I did some research to learn how to cook it, and I’ve already managed to integrate it into two dinners. It’s made from wheat and really easy to prepare. So far, I’ve only cooked it in chicken broth, and it’s like a cross between rice, quinoa and couscous. I know that people also have it as an oatmeal stand-in, so I may try that next.

Anyway, here’s last night’s experiment, which I’ve been calling Turkey Bulgur Surprise, which I made with stuff I had in the kitchen.

Here’s how I made it:

Cook the bulgur - bring a little over a cup of water or chicken broth to a low boil, then add 1/2 cup bulgur. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. While the bulgur is simmering, brown ground turkey breast (about 6 oz) in a saucepan on medium-high heat, stirring often. As turkey browns, crumble it into small pieces. add about 1 tsp of cumin. Remove turkey breast from heat when cooked through. When the bulgur is done, add a can of diced tomatoes, sauce and all. Stir in ground turkey. Add a little more cumin and stir all together, simmering for about 5 more minutes. This makes about 3 servings (~1 cup each). I made mine a little too spicy by using diced tomatoes with chilies, so I added 1 tbsp of plain yogurt (we’re out of sour cream) to cut the heat.

It turned out a lot better than I expected; Matt had some when he got home from work and he liked it, too.

And then, tonight’s meal - Spinach and Mushroom Quesadilla with Black Beans and Bulgur:

I made the bulgur the same way - it triples in size when cooked, so 1/2 cup dry makes 3 nice 1/2 cup servings of the cooked stuff. I also had a small salad with a few black beans and some cheese that I couldn’t stuff into the quesadilla.

So, if you’re tired of rice, try bulgur - I got it in bulk at the health/organic/hippie food store here and it was super cheap - about $1.40 a pound.