Celebrating successes

From adventures in fooding by E Ree

March 25, 2011

Things have been going better in the kitchen. I did all of my dishes, cleared off the counter tops and scrubbed, vacuumed and altogether cleaned up the space. It feels good--my head feels clearer.

Aloo Gobi--the dish D and I are chasing after. I’ve made it several times so far, and I think this one was the closest yet. Cauliflower, chickpeas (okay, not a traditional aloo gobi), peas, coconut milk, tomato paste, vegetable broth, cumin (lots!), cayenne, garam masala, coriander, tumeric, garlic? I made it up as I went along. That’s really what I’m looking for--I want to have enough knowledge and experience to be able to have a feel for what things will taste like, not just to follow a recipe. My main criticism was there was too much coriander and perhaps a little watered down initially. D’s was that it “so clean,” and could have been a little greasier, which we laughed about. Too healthful? I’ll take it.

Last night was SO DELICIOUS. Another staple dish of D’s and mine is pesto pasta with broccoli and garlic chicken, a family recipe of mine. I really have lost the taste for meat, so I made a recipe from Appetite for Reduction (which I am reading on my Kindle like a novel!) 40 clove garlic chickpea and broccoli--10 cloves of garlic roasted with chickpeas and broccoli in the oven with thyme, salt, pepper and olive oil. D had chicken and I had the chickpeas, the roasted broccoli was crispy and garlicky and the pesto (store bought, some fancy schmancy kind D is very fond of) was amazing as usual, mixed with whole wheat penne and a glass of white wine--one of the best meals I’ve had in a while.

Small successes. I’m super psyched about my new cookbook, I can’t wait to give the cranberry cashew biryani a try.

Falafel, and cooking for two

From adventures in fooding by E Ree

March 17, 2011

One of my favorite dishes. So many recipes to make them! I like Simply Suppers’ Falafel recipe but it seems to have come out differently each time I’ve made it. This time, a little too dry. Trying not to use egg, but it wouldn’t hold without it. Served with left over chipotle hummus (it’s still burning my stomach) and questionably fresh cucumbers and lettuce.

Cooking on the fly without the ideal ingredients (requiring substitutions and less than fresh vegetables) on a limited time budget (“I’m hungry!”) is so frustrating. I feel so cornered--I did the best I could! Such a disappointment to share a hapless, thrown together meal. I keep cooking and cooking, hoping that more practice and time are going to make this easier, more second nature and intuitive--not just sauteing but the planning and timing aspects, too. I know in this case it wasn’t all me--I need D to be more supportive of the planning ahead aspect of preparing healthful meals. On the other hand, he never complains and eats everything I make (even the failed chickpea cutlets: mushy, undercooked and stringy, apparently resembling terrible, flavorless crab cakes). But I don’t want to feel cornered. And I don’t want to feel cornered later on, when I’m cooking for a whole family: hungry children’s mouths begging for dinner.

Trying to push through these feelings of discouragement--I cleaned out my sad fridge and am planning on a grocery trip tomorrow. I’ll make some quinoa!

Beginnings

From adventures in fooding by E Ree

March 16, 2011

I bought Veganomicon a few weeks ago and went crazy with cooking every recipe that sounded delicious (read: 80%). I love the Plantain Stew with Parsnip Chips and Baby Bok Choy with Crispy Shallots. After 10-15 recipes, though, I became frustrated--hardly any recipes were less than 1h, not really sustainable for weeknight cooking for two--and I ran out of steam. The dishes I was making weren’t coming out right, either related to the recipes themselves not matching my palate or my tired approach to them diminished their quality. Either way, I put the cookbook (and cooking) aside.

I started cooking regularly when I moved to upstate New York by myself last year, but my cooking journey really started early on in life. I was fortunate to have a mom and family who embraced healthy, home made food. Every night I was in the kitchen with my mom, helping saute the onions, cracking eggs, pouring sugar into the mixer (and of course, eating the cookie dough covered beaters), asking questions and watching intently the tasks that I was deemed too young to help with. As early as I could, I started baking--classics from my mom, new recipes I found online or borrowed from friends. I did my chemistry project in tenth grade on the Chemistry of Baking, comparing the processes of leavening in traditional and Vegan brownies.

In New York, I found Wegman’s. Oh Wegman’s. While I’m not privy to their environmentally (or not) friendly practices, their incorporation of locally produced foods or their effect on local food growers, I thought they were just fantastic. Family owned, incredibly wide selection of fresh vegetables, food products, food bars, fresh squeezed vegetable juices, healthful meal starters, cooking classes, and my favorite part.. open 24 hours a day (a huge bonus, as I rotated shifts, working all nights through the months of June and July). I loved hanging out at Wegman’s. I discovered Jicamas, almond butter, tuna packed in olive oil and sun-dried tomatoes.

I had complete control over meals, as I lived alone. I loved trying out new recipes as well as restaurants that were all new to me (Jine’s! Jay’s Diner!). While I lived in the co-op we had collaborative meals and dinner using freshly picked vegetables from the nearby farm and had multiple pot-lucks a week (pot-lucks!). A truly fantastic experience. But since I moved back to MA with my hubby, I have had a resurgence of passion for cooking, especially with the gift from my mother-in-law of a cooking light Simple Suppers cookbook, and subsequently with the purchase of Veganomicon.

But here I am now. I’ve let my kitchen fill up with dirty dishes and counter tops, fridge full of vegetables going bad, my canned chickpeas and black beans looking sad and neglected on their shelf. I feel dejected after my last attempt at Dal, a lentil dish that went disappointingly bad. Smelly, too salty, dirt-like flavor. Was it the recipe? Was it the cook? I have a little spark left thanks to the tender, savory roasted brussel sprouts that came out surprisingly well at the same time my Dal failed miserably. And that made up recipe thrown together on-the-fly, the cauliflower and chickpea curry that came out moderately well (and moderately enjoyed by my husband). Can I just say I’m hating on salad right now? Lettuce--UGH.

My next (cautious) step feels like another cookbook--another by Isa Chandra Moskowitz with shorter, more manageable recipes for busy weeks. Maybe some small successes in the kitchen will give me the boost I need.