Fun with Visitors

Warning:  This will be a long post… I have a lot to catch up on!  This past week has been especially fun, thanks to a visit from my parents.

But first, a running update.  It’s been awhile!  Last Thursday Maggie and I went for a 3 mile run.  Probably not as fast as we ran during training, but it just felt good to run again.  And I was happy to be able to still run 3 miles after such a long break from running and training.

This Thursday I ran with my dad.  He runs 5 miles every day.  I knew I wouldn’t be able to stay with him the whole time (besides me being out of shape, it was also hot and humid during our run), but I ran the first 3 miles with him, one loop around the park.  I then walked for a bit while my dad ran ahead, and when he turned back around, I ran the last half mile with him. 

Now I just need to keep it up.  It’s hard for me to stay motivated with the running while not training for a particular race.  I need to register for one soon!

Back to the fun week with my parents… it was a week filled with a food tour of Houston, lots of shopping and lots of relaxing.

The first night they were in town we went to Marini’s Empanada House for empanadas and sangria.  It’s one of my favorites in Houston, but we don’t go very often unless guests are in town.  You can get just about any filling you can think of in their empanadas.  My favorites are the Humita (corn, cream sauce, onion, mozzarella and provolone cheese) and Avocado (avocado, tomato, onion, bell pepper and garlic).  I also got my favorite dessert empanada:  The Patty Cake (chocolate, dulce de leche and cream cheese).  We sat outside, it was very relaxing!

On Sunday I took my mom for a manicure and pedicure for mother’s day.  It was my mom’s first.  Believe it or not, I had never had a pedicure before moving to Houston!  After our relaxing morning we all went to brunch at Cadillac Bar.  Their buffet is a sight to see… they have just about every breakfast food you could imagine and lots of tex mex on top of it.  They also have great margaritas, mimosas and a build your own bloody mary bar.  It was pretty much our meal for the day.  That afternoon we went to see The Lincoln Lawyer.  I hadn’t heard of it before (we don’t go to movies at the theater very often anymore), but it was a really good legal thriller.

I had to work on Monday, but we went to Romano’s for dinner.  I think it’s the best pizza in Houston and my it’s a must have whenever my parents are visiting.  After dinner we took Bailey to see the bats at the Waugh bridge.

Bailey loves going to the bat bridge.  Not so much for the bats, but for the people and other dogs.  While we waited for the sun to go down I played around with my camera.

The AIG building next to the bat bridge.

About 300,000 bats live under this bridge.  They come out at sundown to eat about 5 tons of insects each night.

It was not a good night to see the bats.  Instead of flying up into the sky like they normally do, they came out late and flew low over the river.  We could barely see them.  We gave up quickly and walked back to my car… only to find this.

Yep, my car was broken into.  So was the car next to it.  Luckily they didn’t take anything from my car, but they stole an iPhone from the other car.  This was partially my fault.  I left my camera bag in my car and forgot to put it in the trunk.  They left it because it was empty – and didn’t take the money that I had in my center console.  I guess it was a quick deal for them.  The sad thing is, we could see my car the entire time we were at the bat bridge, and we didn’t notice anything.

The police came.  We could see a security camera, so they said an investigator would go out the next day to see if it caught anything.  I never heard back from the police (obviously), but I went back a few days later and talked to one of the shop owners.  She said that they did catch the break-ins on camera, but they could only see the back of the guy’s head.  Ugh.

Pat and I went to lunch with my parents on Tuesday.  We took them to Kenny and Ziggy’s, a NY deli in the Galleria.  My dad is from Long Island, so we thought he would enjoy the NY classics they offer.  They were also featured on Diners, Drive-ins and Dives.  That night we went to a ball game.  It was the Astros vs. the Reds.  I would root for the Astros at any other game, but I grew up watching the Cincinnati Reds.  I embarrassed my husband by cheering loudly as the Reds beat the Astros 7-3.

Wednesday night we went to Hickory Hollow for dinner.  I didn’t used to be a fan of BBQ.  In fact, it wasn’t until after I became a vegetarian that I really began to crave BBQ sauce.  Hickory Hollow offers a veggie platter where you can pick 4 sides, so that’s what I get there.  Corn, mac n’ cheese, beans and potatoes.  Yum.  After dinner we picked up ingredients to make a Hungry Girl drink recipe called Lava Smash.

The strawberry portion was just strawberries and rum blended together.  The “lava” was vanilla frozen yogurt, pineapple (and pineapple juice) and coconut cream jello mix.  The recipe called for calorie-free coconut syrup, but I couldn’t find that at Kroger.  So I substituted with coconut cream jello.  It worked!  The drinks were good, but I liked it better with all the ingredients mixed together.  We played Apples to Apples while enjoying our drinks.

I took Thursday and Friday as vacation days.  These were my first full days of vacation all year and it was fabulous to have a break.  After running with my dad Thursday morning we went to Candelari’s for their lunch buffet.  I always ask them to make their Spinachi pizza for the buffet – spinach, feta cheese, tomato, garlic, it doesn’t get much better.

After lunch we drove to the Premium Outlets.  My mom picked out a Coach purse for her mother’s day gift from my dad.  My parents also got me a Coach wallet for my birthday 🙂  I have a weak spot for Coach!

On Friday my dad took me out for a Starbucks date.  Every year we bet breakfast at Starbucks on our NCAA march madness brackets.  And guess who won this year 🙂  After Starbucks with my dad, my mom and I went to Half-Price Books.  She helped me pick out some new chicklit – I bought 2 books by Marian Keyes.  Has anyone read her before?  I also picked up Food Rules by Michael Pollan.  I enjoyed In Defense of Food and I had wanted to pick up Food Rules for awhile.

We also made a stop by Crave Cupcakes yesterday.  My parents both got German Chocolate and I got Vanilla.  I still haven’t tried Sprinkles, but Crave is amazing!  While we were over there we stopped by the Galleria, mostly to walk off the cupcakes!

Last night was the last night of their trip, so we went to El Tiempo for margaritas and fajitas.  I love their spinach enchiladas!  It was a nice dinner to finish off our Houston food tour.  I was sad to see my parents leave this morning, but I’m hoping they’ll visit again soon! 

If you live in Houston, what are your favorite restaurants?

What books are  you reading now?  Any recommendations?

My Weekend in the Kitchen

It’s been a busy weekend for my kitchen.  I had a charity event on Saturday that involved a cake walk, so I baked up a storm Friday night.  I probably would have been fine just making one batch of cupcakes, but I found a few recipes that sounded good, so I bought supplies to bake 4 different desserts.

I also bought a package of 101 cookie cutters.  I was looking for a stocking, but since it’s not Christmas time, I wasn’t sure I’d be able to find one.  I thought the large package of cookie cutters would have something, but no – a reindeer, christmas tree, dreidel, snowman and gingerbread man, but no stocking.  Oh well, I’m sure these will come in handy some day!

My first project was White and Dark Hearted Brownies from Smitten Kitchen.  I saw these on her blog around Valentine’s Day and knew I would have to try them some day.  You start by baking a set of brownies with chocolate chips and a set of brownies with white chocolate chips.  You then take a heart shaped cookie cutter (this is where I would have liked to use a stocking) and cut hearts out of both the white and dark chocolate brownies, and then swap them.

I didn’t have my camera out yet, so this was taken with my iPhone.  These brownies were more difficult to make than I expected (and I made a huge mess!) but I love how they turned out.  Not only are they cute but they tasted amazing.  I will definitely hold onto this recipe to use again in the future.

My next recipe was Hungry Girl’s Red Velvet Insanity Cupcakes.  I followed the recipe exactly except for the frosting.  I took the easy way out and just used store bought cream cheese frosting.  I didn’t get to eat any of these, but the batter was delicious and HG has never done me wrong before when it comes to cupcakes 🙂  I doubled the recipe to make 24 cupcakes.

Don’t worry, I added the icing the next morning!  Up next were Hungry Girl’s coffee cake cupcakes.  I’ve made these once before, and they were a hit.  Instead of using ground up fiber one cereal for the topping I used panko crumbs.  I doubled this recipe too.

By the time I finished these it was after midnight and I was exhausted.  I went to bed without making the final batch of cupcakes, which were going to be yellow cakes with a strawberry jam and cream cheese filling.  One of my favorite recipes, but I’ll have to save the ingredients for another time!

I found my way back in the kitchen today.  Pat and I went to Costco this afternoon (one of my favorite places), and they had samples of granola, which they told us was made right there in the store.  Pat wanted to buy some, but after looking at the ingredients, I told him I could make it myself.  So I did!

I based my recipe on this one by Alton Brown.

Preheat the oven to 250 degrees.

Add to a bowl:

• 3 cups oats
• 1 cup chopped almonds
• 1/2 cup chopped hazelnuts
• 1/2 cup sweetened coconut
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 2 tbsp brown sugar
• 1/4 cup + 2 tbsp maple syrup
• 1/4 cup peanut oil
• 1/2 tsp salt

Spread the mix onto a baking pan and put it in the oven for 1 hour, 15 minutes.

I couldn’t help myself from stealing a little bit of the mix before it went into the oven 🙂  It came out nice and crispy.

And on top of all that, I still made us dinner tonight.  I was on a roll!  I decided to go with a standard meal for us – tofu, veggies and risotto.

I started with the veggies:  red bell pepper, orange bell pepper, onion and spinach, sautéed in olive oil, garlic powder and celery salt.

Tofu sautéed in olive oil, garlic, garlic powder and onion powder.

Parmesan risotto.

Mixed together for parmesan gooey goodness 🙂

I never get sick of this combination!

While I was busy in the kitchen, Pat was busy outside.  First he bought a new hibiscus plant for the outside of our house.  Our last one died in a freeze this winter, so it was time for a replacement.  And our new plant already had a beautiful bloom!

He also planted new grass in our backyard and cleaned up the bushes on the side of our house.  And while he was at it he cleaned my car 🙂  We took my car through the car wash this morning, but the tires were still very black.  Pat scrubbed and scrubbed until they looked brand new!

The dirty rags…

I have the best hubby in the world 🙂

What did you do this weekend?

Seven is the Magic Number

Because…

Today is mine and Patrick’s 7 year dating anniversary 🙂

I ran 7 miles this morning.

My first half marathon is in 7 days.

I’ll start with the run.  Just like my long run last week, this one was rough.  Maybe I’m just making excuses, but I really think the weather has been a killer for me.  Last week we started the run earlier in the morning.  The heat wasn’t so bad, but the humidity was awful.  Today I thought I would wait for the humidity to go down a bit, and I didn’t start running until 11 AM.  It was only supposed to be 75 degrees or so, but it felt HOT.

I think I started out too fast, but I really don’t think that’s what’s getting to me.  A 10 minute mile doesn’t feel too fast, it feels comfortable.  But after running 10-15 minutes in the heat, my heart rate was up way too high for running less than 2 miles, and I knew it was going to be another rough one.  The walk breaks started during the 4th mile and it went downhill from there.

I took my Gu after completing 4 miles.  I finished my 20 oz water bottle right after that and forced myself to jog to the next water fountain to fill up again.  No matter how many walk breaks I took, I couldn’t get my body to cool down.  And at 6 miles, I quit.

My legs didn’t hurt and I wasn’t out of energy.  I was just hot and mentally exhausted/frustrated, and I gave up.  I stretched and started walking the half mile back to my car.  But I started to feel really angry with myself for quitting, and told myself that if I could just run 1 more mile, I would have at least run more than half the distance of a half marathon.  So instead of turning off toward my car, I took off for my last mile.

Of course, since I was letting myself off with just one more mile, I decided to book it.  I walked two or three times, but even with the short walk breaks, it was still my fastest mile of the day.  When I finished, I considered running/walking the last mile, but I could feel a blister forming on the back of my right foot, and when I looked down, there was blood covering my sock and shoe.  So I stopped at 7 miles.  My splits:

• Mile 1:  10:03
• Mile 2:  10:00
• Mile 3:  10:06
• Mile 4:  10:34 – Gu
• Mile 5:  11:27
• Mile 6:  11:10
• Mile 7:  9:45
• Total:  1:13:06  (10:26 average pace)

Looking at my times, I feel like maybe I was too hard on myself.  But I felt absolutely miserable by the end of the run.  The past two weeks have been rough, which makes me extremely nervous for the half marathon next week.  I feel like I’m not going to be prepared.  I hope that by pushing myself through my long runs in this heat, my body will slowly adapt.

Now for the fun stuff – our 7th dating anniversary!  Even though we’re married, it’s still fun to recognize the dating anniversary.  My parents always celebrate theirs, and I think it’s fun.  And since we were dating for more than 5 years before we got married, I feel like it would be sad to not recognize those 5 years anymore.

Usually we go out to eat for our dating anniversary, but it’s been a busy (but fun!) weekend for us, so I decided to make us dinner at home.  We went to Costco today and picked up some risotto packages that looked really good.  To Kim and any other gluten-free friends – this risotto is gluten-free and it’s amazing!

I decided to try the Creamy Parmesan tonight, and just added baked tofu and onion.  I started by preparing the tofu.  I cut the tofu into cubes and sprinkled them with garlic powder and parmesan cheese.

The tofu went into the oven for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees.  Meanwhile, I prepared the risotto.  It was very easy.  I heated the rice in a bit of EVOO and added half a yellow onion.  I then added 2.5 cups water and the flavor package to the pan.  Pat contributed a little bit of butter to the mix 🙂  I then brought the rice to a boil and let it simmer.

I watched this…

become this…

and then added the tofu.

It was that easy!  I also made a side salad for us.  It included spinach, mozzarella cheese and ranch dressing.  I also added grape tomatoes that we bought at the store this morning.  Unfortunately, I thought grape tomatoes would be similar to cherry tomatoes, but I did not like these at all.  Neither did Pat.

Although the tomatoes were not a hit, the risotto was!  After dinner we went to Swirll for some frozen yogurt (I told Tara I was going to get some this weekend!).  I’ve been craving it for awhile now, and our anniversary seemed like as good excuse as any 🙂  I went for a combination of red velvet and birthday cake frozen yogurt, topped with all kinds of chocolate goodies.  No pictures though, because it was a melted mess by the time we got home.

The rest of my weekend has been dedicated to March Madness.  It’s been hard to peel myself away (up until today my bracket was in great shape!), but we did take a break for some fun yesterday afternoon.  We went to the Saint Arnold Brewery near downtown Houston.  For $7 you can sample up to 4 types of beer, and people hang out at the picnic tables there for a good part of the day.  We had been once before, but this time we came prepared.  We brought lunch, snacks and board games.  We played some Apples to Apples, and then we played a new card game called Bang!  I’m so addicted.  Has anyone else played Bang!?

Since this is a super-long post, I’ll leave you with a few questions…

Any suggestions for getting out of my mental slump when it comes to running in the heat?  I’ve been drinking a lot of water and Gatorade both before and after my runs, but it doesn’t seem to help much.

If you’re married, do you still celebrate your dating anniversary?  What do you do to celebrate?

What’s your favorite flavor of frozen yogurt?  I’ve been obsessed with the red velvet/birthday cake mix!

Creamy Celery Soup

I love comfort food.  I love it even more when comfort food is healthy and easy to make.  This is a recipe I’ve been making frequently, just substituting whatever vegetables I have on hand.  It’s a great way to clean out the fridge when you have produce that needs to be used!

Ingredients:

• 1 block of tofu
• 1 tbsp EVOO
• 1 small yellow onion, chopped
• 3 stalks celery, chopped
• 1/2 cup baby carrots, chopped
• 1/2 red bell pepper, chopped
• 4 stalks asparagus, chopped
• 1 can (14.5 oz) veggie broth
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• garlic powder, onion powder, celery salt and pepper (to taste)

I start with cooking the tofu.  I press the water out as much as possible using a heavy canister, and then cut it and saute it in a little bit of EVOO.  I season the tofu with garlic powder, onion powder, celery salt (just a lil) and pepper.  The celery salt adds a strong flavor, but I think it’s the key ingredient in this recipe.

While the tofu is cooking I chop up the veggies.  You can substitute these veggies for anything you have on hand.  I always use celery, onion and carrots in this recipe, and then add in whatever else I have in the fridge.  This time I added asparagus and red bell pepper.

I then saute the veggies in the veggie broth.  I typically use the whole can and bring the skillet to a boil, then let it simmer until most of the veggie broth evaporates and the veggies are soft.  I also flavor the skillet with the garlic powder, onion powder, celery salt and pepper.

I add the cooked tofu once most of the veggie broth has boiled down.  It’s okay if there’s a little left because the tofu will soak it up.

Finally, add the cream of celery soup.  It makes a sloppy mess of Creamy Celery Soup.

Just don’t judge this recipe by that picture.  It’s not pretty, but it’s a delicious salty meal, filled with lots of veggies.

Theme Dinner: Eat Your Greens

It wasn’t too long ago when I didn’t eat anything green.  Seriously.  Through high school I hated most veggies and had never even tasted an avocado.  It wasn’t until college that I began even tolerating greens.  It all started with caesar salad, and then green bell pepper.

Since then I have (slowly) begun to eat a wide variety of greens – lettuce, spinach, bell pepper, peas, avocado, artichokes and more.  I’m still not a fan of broccoli or green beans, but I tolerate them.  But you can understand how I’m impressed with myself that I actually put together a dinner based on greens that I truly enjoy.  Dinner last night included Phyllo Wrapped Asparagus and Avocado-Parmesan Spaghetti.  And as a bonus, you get our green-themed breakfast this morning, Spinach Artichoke Eggs.

Both were delicious.  I started with the Asparagus – as you might remember, I am working my way through the alphabet of veggies.  This was a recipe I’ve made before, and Pat got really excited when he saw I brought home asparagus from the grocery store.  He asked, “are you going to make that one thing with the phyllo dough?”  Yes!  The main dish came from a recipe I saw last week on Oh She Glows.

Phyllo Wrapped Asparagus

I’ve made this once before.  It’s a Paula Deen recipe, so as you might expect, it is covered-in-butter-delicious.  I really don’t like asparagus, but I do like butter.

Ingredients:

• 10 asparagus spears
• 20-30 phyllo sheets (about 1/4 of a package)
• 3 tbsp butter, melted
• 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Start by preparing the asparagus spears.  I just cut about an inch off of the bottom of each spear.

Next, prepare the phyllo dough.  I took one package and cut it in half length-wise.

I used 2-3 sheets of phyllo for each asparagus wrap.  The phyllo was a little difficult to work with, and it fell apart very easily.  I thought that the thicker I kept the dough, the better it would hold the asparagus.  I then brushed the melted butter onto the phyllo.  Mmm, buttery goodness.

When I put the butter brush in the dishwasher, Bailey pulled it right out.  I guess she loves butter too!  I then covered the buttery phyllo in parmesan cheese.

I then wrapped the asparagus in the phyllo (2 spears per phyllo wrap) and covered them with more butter and parmesan cheese.

Into the oven for 15 minutes at 375 degrees.

Bailey thought these smelled good, she didn’t leave my side the whole time they were baking!

Avocado-Parmesan Spaghetti

As I mentioned earlier, this wonderful recipe is based on the Creamy Avocado Pasta by Angela at Oh She Glows.  I love anything with avocado, so I knew I was going to try this recipe as soon as I saw it – I just made a few additions.  This was a really fast dinner, which makes it even better in my book.

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp chopped garlic
• juice from one small lemon
• 2 tbsp EVOO
• 1 tbsp basil
• dash of celery salt
• 1/2 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 large avocado
• 1/2 cup spinach
• 4 artichoke hearts
• whole wheat spaghetti
• 2 Quorn chick’n breasts

I set the water to boil for the past, and then began to mix the garlic, lemon juice, EVOO, basil and celery salt in the Magic Bullet.  I then added the parmesan cheese, avocado, spinach and artichoke hearts to the blender.

I always cut the avocado to make it easier to scrape out.  I love, love, love avocados!  While making the sauce, I heated up some Quorn chick’n breasts in the microwave.  I then mixed the sauce and chick’n in the spaghetti.  This sauce was delicious!

Dinner was delicious, made even better with a glass of wine!

Spinach Artichoke Eggs

I carried the green-theme into breakfast this morning.  One of my favorite breakfast items at a restaurant is the Green Eggs at Baby Barnaby’s in Houston.

I started by looking for recipes online before deciding to make my own version.  This recipe at Joylicious is probably closer to the real thing, but I decided to give mine more of a spinach-artichoke dip feel.

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 4 egg whites
• 1/4 cup light soy milk
• 2 tbsp butter
• 1 cup spinach
• 1/2 cup artichoke hearts, chopped
• 1/2 cup reduced fat Mexican blend cheese
• 1/4 cup reduced fat cream cheese
• 1/4 cup fat-free sour cream
• pepper & garlic powder to taste

I usually use just egg whites for me and whole eggs for Pat, but since we were splitting this batch, I used half and half.  I prepared the eggs, milk and pepper in one bowl and the rest of the ingredients in a separate bowl.  Scrambled eggs cook so quickly, I like to have all the veggies prepared before I start cooking the eggs.

I then melt the butter in the skillet.  My mother-in-law makes the best scrambled eggs.  I’m still not sure what all she puts in them to make them so amazing, but I’m pretty sure she starts with butter.  As I mentioned before, I love butter 🙂

I then scrambled the eggs and added some garlic powder.

Once the eggs were finished, I added the rest of the ingredients.  I cooked them on low heat until the cheese was melted and the spinach wilted.

Wonderful and creamy!  They could have used more spinach.  I also made way too many eggs for just the two of us, since these were very rich.

We had a big brunch of spinach artichoke eggs, morning star sausage patties, toast with jelly and strawberries.  I was stuffed!

What is your favorite “green” recipe?

Sloppy Joes

I first began cooking my junior year of college, after moving out of the dorms and into an apartment.  At the time I had just a few recipes that I would make over and over again, including this recipe for Sloppy Joes.

I love the version from Allrecipes.com, and after becoming a vegetarian, I’ve continued to make a meatless version of it.  It doesn’t take long (even less time if you don’t have to brown the meat!), and it’s great comfort food.

Ingredients:

• 1 package soy ground crumbles
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp garlic
• 3/4 cup ketchup
• 1 tsp Dijon mustard
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tsp garlic powder
• 1 tsp onion powder

I always start by chopping up the veggies.

Sauté the veggies in olive oil with the garlic.  I love the smell of onion and garlic cooking in the kitchen.

Next, add the soy ground crumbles and break them up.  Then add the ketchup and the rest of the ingredients.  Now it will smell really good in your kitchen!

Pat eats his Sloppy Joes on hamburger buns, and I eat mine on sandwich thins.

What do you put in your Sloppy Joes?

Banana Bread

What are you supposed to do when you have rotting bananas lying around?

Make banana bread of course!  In grad school I had a roommate who would always make banana bread when we had rotting bananas.  It was bad for the waistline, but her bread was so, so good.  I’ve actually never made it myself before.

I searched some of my favorite sites and cookbooks for a recipe and couldn’t decide which to try.  Many were similar with just slight variations, so I made my own.

Ingredients:

• 4 “ripe” bananas
• 6 tbsp butter
• 1 egg
• 1.5 cups flour
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp nutmeg
• 1/2 tsp ground cloves
• 2 tbsp ground flaxseed
• 1/2 cup shredded (unsweetened) coconut

Start by mixing the bananas, butter and egg in a bowl.  I put the butter in the microwave for just 10 seconds to soften it and then went to work at mashing the bananas.

I then mixed in the rest of the ingredients.  I even broke out the handheld mixer for this one.

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.

It was delicious!  It came out a little crumbly, but I think I cut into it too soon.  After I gave it more time to cool the bread seemed to thicken a bit.

It’s very moist.  I think the flaxseed adds a nice nutty flavor, and the unsweetened coconut is very subtle.  If you want a sweeter bread I would try sweetened coconut.  I will definitely make this one again.  In fact, I have 4 bananas sitting on the counter now, just waiting to ripen 🙂

Baking on a Rainy Day

It was raining today.  Although I tried to tell myself to toughen up and make it out in the freezing rain, it didn’t happen.  The weather is supposed to be much better for the rest of the week, so I’ve decided to alter my schedule this week and do my 4 mile tempo run tomorrow night instead.  It will be okay.

Since I didn’t get a run in tonight, you get another recipe post instead. For dinner, I made one of my favorite comfort foods (and a favorite of the husband’s), Tofu Pot Pie.  Since I had more time this evening from not running, I also decided to do the logical thing and bake instead.  I made Cranberry Oatmeal Bars.

Let’s start with the tofu.  The Hungry Girl recipe for chicken pot pie was always my favorite.  Since becoming a vegetarian, I make the same recipe but swap tofu for the chicken.  It’s delicious!

Ingredients:

• 1 block of tofu
• garlic powder, onion powder & pepper to taste
• 2 cans mixed vegetables
• 1 can cream of celery soup
• 1 roll Pillsbury Seamless Dough Sheets

Start with draining and pressing the tofu, and then cut it into small blocks.  To me, the smaller the blocks, the better, because that’s more surface area that will become crunchy.  I then saute the tofu with the garlic powder, onion powder and pepper until it is golden brown.

Next up, toss the mixed veggies and cream of celery soup in a bowl and add the tofu.  Then pour the mixture into a round baking dish.

I promise you, it tastes better than it looks.  Now bake the tofu in the oven for 20 minutes at 350 degrees.  Once it’s done, take it out and add the seamless dough sheets over the pot pie mixture.

Not exactly a work of art, but it will do.  It goes back into the oven for 8-10 minutes, depending on how crispy you like your dough.  I like mine at 8 minutes, which leaves it doughy and light.  Pat likes his at 10 minutes, browned and crispy.  Sometimes I take my serving out early and put it back in for him; other times (such as tonight) I bake it for 9 minutes for a compromise.

Just right!

Perfect comfort food for a rainy day.

Cranberry Oatmeal Bars

This recipe is directly from Cooking Light. Which leads me to a question for y’all:  Is it okay to re-post ingredients lists?  From what I’ve read, no one can own a list of ingredients, and therefore, it would be legal to post, as long as you write your own instructions.  But is it ethical?  I’m curious what your thoughts are on this topic!

When I “adapt” a recipe and change a thing or two, I feel comfortable posting details and writing my own instructions.  But when I don’t change a thing, it just doesn’t feel quite right.  Either way, until (or unless) I feel more comfortable with the legality and ethics of posting exact recipes, you’ll have to go to the original recipe for the exact ingredients, but I promise it’s worth the extra click!

You start by mixing the crust – flour, oats, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon, butter and fresh orange juice.

The orange adds a nice, subtle citrus flavor to the crust, which is not something you would expect from the looks of theses bars.

I forgot how much I love oranges.  Actually, to be completely honest, i just love the juice from the oranges.  I don’t like the texture or the bitter taste from eating the fruit, but the juice alone is refreshing.

Next, pat the crust mixture into the bottom of a (PAM-sprayed) pan.

Next, mix up the filling: dried cranberries, fat-free sour cream, sugar, flour, vanilla extract, one egg white and orange rind.  I accidentally got a taste of the orange rind on its own – yuck!

And then sprinkle some of the remaining crust on top.

Into the oven for 40 minutes at 325 degrees, and out comes this tasty bar:

These are so good that when I volunteer to pack them up to share at work tomorrow, Pat actually asked for me to pack a few to stay at home as well.  I don’t bake often, but Cooking Light dessert recipes have never let me down!

What is your favorite recipe to bake?  Share links!  Also, what are your thoughts on re-posting recipes?

Theme Dinner: Italian

I love planning dinner menus with a theme.  Tonight’s dinner actually started with inspiration from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.  He has a whole chapter devoted to how to cook veggies, and I have decided I would like to work my way through this chapter.  I hope to discover ways to enjoy veggies that I previously have not liked or have not tried before.  This chapter, of course, starts with Artichokes. 

On the menu tonight:  Braised Artichokes, Lemon Risotto and Tofu Parmesan.  Served with Chardonnay.  And water.

I first decided to braise artichokes with lemon juice and parmesan cheese.  Pat loves anything lemon (he actually eats them raw, for dessert).  So I began looking for other recipes that feature lemons, and found one for lemon risotto, which also called for parmesan.  From there I wanted to add a protein.  I’ve been wanting to make Tofu Parmesan for awhile now, so it seemed like a good opportunity.

Braised Artichokes

I love spinach-artichoke dip, but I’ve never actually cooked with artichokes before.  Clueless, and unable to find artichokes in the produce section at the grocery store, I decided to buy canned artichoke hearts for this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts
• 1/2 tbsp EVOO
• 1.5 tbsp chopped garlic
• 1 lemon
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese

I began by sauteing the EVOO and chopped garlic in a skillet on medium heat.  I chopped the bottom part of the artichoke hearts off before cutting them in half.  I’m not sure if you’re supposed to do that, but they were weirding me out so they had to go.  I then added the artichoke heart halves to the skillet.

I then added the rest of the ingredients – the juice from one lemon, italian seasoning and parmesan cheese.

These were delicious.  Pat was impressed with the strength of the lemon flavor.  I was surprised by how tart they were for having used just one lemon, but I really liked them.  The artichoke hearts really soaked up the lemon and garlic flavors.

Delicious, fast, easy and covered in cheese.  My favorite kind of veggie.

Lemon Risotto

Pat and I both agreed, the risotto was the star of the dinner.  Everything was good, but it was the risotto that made us go back for seconds.  I found the recipe at Smitten Kitchen.  I love that Deb has an entire section devoted to recipes that use lemons.  She adapted the recipe from epicurious, and this is my vegetarian version (only slightly different).

Ingredients:

• 6 cups vegetable broth
• 3.5 tbsp smart balance butter
• 1.5 tbsp EVOO
• 2 small yellow onions
• 2 cups white rice
• 1/3 cup chardonnay
• 1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tbsp parsley
• juice from 3 small lemons
• little bit of lemon zest

Begin by heating the veggie broth, and then cover it to keep warm while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.  Next, melt 1.5 tbsp butter with the EVOO.  The butter reminded me of running eggs as it melted.  Mmmm, fat.

Next, I chopped up two small yellow onions to saute over the butter/EVOO mix.  Oh, how I love onions!  I really do, but these two made me cry.

Next up, add the rice to the skillet, and let it cook dry for a minute.  Then add the wine and wait for it to evaporate.  Then add just 1.5 cups of the hot veggie broth.  You wait for the broth to be absorbed before adding the next 1/2 cup of hot veggie broth, and then continue to add a half cup of broth at a time over 30-40 minutes.

After all the veggie broth has been added, you can then add the rest of the ingredients.  I added the remaining butter and cheese first, and let that melt into the rice.  It became thick and creamy very quickly.  Then the parsley, followed by the lemon juice.  I didn’t measure how much I used, but it was the juice from 3 lemons.  I must have some cuts on my fingers because they were stinging by the time I was done.  I tried to scrape some lemon zest in as well, but didn’t have a good tool to do so and gave up pretty quickly.  It still tasted amazing!

It had just a hint of lemon, but it wasn’t over-powering.  I will definitely be making this again.  Next time I make dinner for guests.  Hint,hint.  Anyone want to try some lemon risotto?

Tofu Parmesan

I have wanted to try making tofu parmesan for awhile now, and when I saw the parmesan crusted tofu featured on Running Around Normal, the pictures made me crave it even more.  It seemed like the perfect way to add some light protein to the heavy risotto.

Ingredients:

• 1 block of extra-firm tofu
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• 3/4 cup panko bread crumbs
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• 1 tbsp Italian seasoning
• 1 tbsp basil
• 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
• tomato sauce, for dipping

First, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Then, drain the tofu and press it to get the water out.  I always do this with paper towels, and would love to have an actual tofu press someday.  But Pat would probably tell you it would be one more kitchen gadget that would wind up buried in a cabinet, only to be seen once or twice a year.  And he might be right.

Anyway, I cut the tofu in half length-wise and then created 8 slices.  A few broke in half during the pressing process.

Next, I prepared the crust mix for the tofu.  I added the panko bread crumbs, parmesan cheese, Italian seasoning, basil and garlic powder into a bowl.

The mixture smelled so good, I had to taste it.  Yum!  I then dipped the tofu strips first in the egg white, and then in the bread crumb mixture.  The crumbs had a few issues sticking to the tofu, so I really had to press the mixture into the strips.  The result looked pretty good.

Bake in the oven for one hour.  The hour they spent in the oven was the perfect amount of time for me to prepare the artichokes and risotto.  I flipped them about halfway through and when they were done, I topped each with a little tomato sauce.

These were delicious as well!  The bread crumb crust added a nice crunch to the tofu, making the texture not so… tofu-y (please note:  the spell checker does actually recognize tofu-y as a word).  The texture is the hardest part in selling tofu to others.  I’m still not completely over it myself, but having a nicely cooked outer shell definitely makes a difference.

Overall, it was a very nice dinner.  Lots of lemon and parmesan cheese, and the risotto was a big hit with the husband.  I’m embarrassed to admit, we rarely use our table to eat dinner.  We usually end up eating in front of the TV.  But tonight’s dinner earned its place at the table, and was enjoyed with a glass of wine.  We should do this more often!

Do you always eat dinner at the dinner table?  I always did with my family when we were growing up, but I wonder if it is different for people who don’t have children.  I would imagine that some day, all our meals will be back at the dinner table, but it’s hard to get in the habit when it’s just the two of us.

3.5 Miles Speedwork & Coffee Chili

I wasn’t as excited about tonight’s speedwork.  I was tired after a long day at work and was not feeling ready to take it on by myself.  It helped when Maggie called and said she could make the run after all – I probably wouldn’t have pushed myself as hard tonight without someone else pushing me!  Tonight’s plan was 2 speedy one miles, with walking/jogging half miles before, in between and after.  Our splits:

• 1/2 mile:  10:34 pace
• 1st mile:  8:44 !!
• 1/2 mile:  15:23 pace
• 2nd mile:  9:00 !
• 1/2 mile:  13:39 pace
• Total:  37:30 (10:43 average pace)

Although I wasn’t happy with the overall average pace, I was ecstatic with the speedy miles.  Until today, my fastest one mile was 9:11.  Not only did I beat that pace on both miles, but I ran a mile in 8:44!  It’s just one mile, but it felt awesome to hold that pace for so long.  Of course the half mile following it was almost entirely walking, but we still had a strong second mile too.

My right ankle (on the outside) started to hurt when I started walking, but felt better when I was running.  Any ideas what that could be about?  My feet (and toes) were sore again after this run.  I may give the shoes one more chance on an easy run tomorrow, but I am seriously debating whether I should return them and get the Asics instead.  They might be heavier, but I don’t feel like I’m hitting the ground so hard with every step I take.  At the same time, I’ve now worn the Brooks twice in mud, so the bottoms are not very clean.  Although Luke’s Locker has a 30 day return policy, I’m not sure they would accept them back.

Dinner

I made a Coffee Chili recipe based on Mark Bittman’s Espresso Black Bean Chili in How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.  I had made it once before and it was delicious.  Tonight’s was not quite as good, and I think I know why.  All ingredients can go into one pot.  Bring the mixture to a boil, then simmer covered for about 30 minutes.

Into the pot:

• 2 cans tomatoes (Italian flavored is best)
• 1 (15 oz) can black beans, rinsed
• 1.5 cups (decaf) coffee
• 1 yellow onion
• 2 tbsp garlic
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 3 tbsp brown sugar

This recipe reminds me of Cincinnati chili (made with cinnamon and chocolate) – just without the meat and without the chocolate.  The addition of coffee is interesting.  You definitely do not taste coffee in the chili, but it adds a nice flavor.  I used decaf because we were eating at 8 PM and I wanted to be able to sleep tonight, but I know even decaf has a little caffeine in it.

I think I had two downfalls in tonight’s chili.  It was still good, but my first attempt was better.  First, I didn’t saute the onions with the garlic before adding the other ingredients.  They all got thrown in together because I was in a hurry.  Second, I think it’s all in the tomatoes you use.  Last time I used Italian tomatoes.  This time my husband, trying to be healthier, picked up “no salt added” basil and oregano.  Still a good flavor, but I think we were missing the salt.

I also ran into some issues with the brown sugar.  It was so hard I couldn’t get any out of the container!  I used an old trick to soften the sugar.  You put a piece of bread in and the brown sugar will break up.  I’m not sure what the science behind this is, but I know it works!

In just 30 minutes I was able to scoop out enough brown sugar for the chili.  I left the bread in overnight, so hopefully my brown sugar will be in good shape tomorrow.  Have you ever tried this trick?

What is your favorite chili recipe?