Saturday, February 28, 2009

Saturday Morning Yogurt Parfait

Best part about blogging your food? You try to make everything you eat beautiful so you can take pictures of it. And eating beautiful food makes it taste even better.

Today I put my usual breakfast into a martini glass. I recommend eating everything out of a martini glass, it's really fun. But for weekdays, I usually just dump a few spoonsful of yogurt in a tupperware with some frozen berries and by the time I get to work, it's thawed and ready to eat with granola. Here's what I did today:


Yogurt Parfait
Layer the following in a dish:
Plain yogurt (recommended: Stonyfield Farms)
Strawberries (I used frozen)
Banana
1 small drizzle of honey



Enjoy with piping hot fresh coffee and have a great weekend!

Friday, February 27, 2009

Frittata

Another one of my all-time favorite "go-to" dinners: the frittata.

This one has zucchini, mushrooms, onions, basil, and topped with muenster cheese. Served with mixed greens dressed with balsamic vinaigrette and crackers with herbed goat cheese.




Frittata
Saute your veggies on stovetop in skillet
Add mixture of eggs, water, salt, pepper, and herbs
Cook for a couple minutes
Top with any kind of cheese
Throw in oven and cook until fluffy and golden brown
Delicious when served with red wine.
I love this dish because it works with every season and every ethnic background. Example: Springtime? Add peas and asparagus. Greek? Put in kalamata olives and feta cheese. Fall or winter? Potatoes make it hearty. Italian? How about tomatoes, basil, and fresh mozz? The possibilities are endless.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Snow Emergency

Today I had a monthly lunch meeting with my supervisor. We went to Barbette, my favorite restaurant in Minneapolis. It reminded me of Cass so much! I hadn't been there since my birthday lunch and I decided I must go there more often.

While we were eating lunch and visiting, it started to snow. By the time we had to go back to the office, there were at least 2 inches of snow on our car. It snowed continuously for the rest of the afternoon. By the time I got home and spent an hour shoveling the 6+ inches of snow from my sidewalks and driveway......THIS was all I wanted for dinner:


Dirty Martini

Icy cold vodka

Olive juice

Shake, pour, enjoy.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Top 50 Food Blogs

I love reading about food.
My favorite food blog tops this list by the The London Times!
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/food_and_drink/real_food/article5561425.ece

Monday, February 16, 2009

Halibut en papillote


It looks so beautiful! This was dinner after Cass's bday party. Veggies and fish, wrapped in a sheet of parchment and baked for about 15 minutes. Couldn't be easier. Next time I would add more herbs to boost the flavor. Here are the gorgeous before and after shots courtesy of Cassandra R. Jones.

Pretty


Lots of pretty colors, and good for you, too! I used my new mandoline to make the ribbons pretty. Now I know why a mandoline comes with a safety guard. You can easily lose a chunk of your thumb if you are not careful.


Ribbon Salad

Thinly sliced onion, zucchini, yellow squash, and carrot

Saute in olive oil with salt and pepper

Add chopped flat leaf parsley


Enjoy with protein of your choice. I had a leftover roasted chicken breast and some roasted brussels sprouts.

Lasagna with Zack


So Zack and his friend came to hang out with me on a lazy Sunday. We visited some record stores and had coffee at Dunn Bros. It was a good day! Then we decided to make a pan of lasagna. I wanted something inexpensive and easy, plus Zack wanted to help so I thought it would be fun because I have fond memories of making lasagna in college with the girls.


Turkey Lasagna

Brown some ground lean turkey with onion, garlic, salt, and pepper in a skillet

Add 1 jar of good garden veggie pasta sauce (wish I would have used my own but the last batch I made and froze was too runny to use in lasagna so I had to buy some)


In a bowl, mix together 1 small container ricotta cheese, some grated parm cheese, and 1 package frozen spinach (thawed and drained).


Cook whole wheat lasagna noodles according to package.


Layer noodles, meat sauce, and ricotta/spinach in pan. Top with shredded mozzarella and bake until hot and melty.


Serve with green salad, bread, and a great red wine.

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Broccoli Soup and Tuna/White Bean Salad

I've been keeping a food journal for several months. I record everything that I can remember eating. So now when I look back at the log over the past 2 weeks, I know why I haven't blogged at all. It's not that I've been eating bad foods (even though I have), it's because I've been very boring in my meal choices.

Lunch has been soups and salads as usual. Been eating the beet and goat cheese and walnut salad a lot. And I have made 2 soups - one that I can recommend, and one that I can't.

The soup I enjoyed was a broccoli and potato soup that I found on the NY Times dining page. I had leftover broccoli and cauliflower from a superbowl appetizer. Plus, I only had a few potatoes so I bulked up the soup with a package of crimini mushrooms. It was pretty good.



The other soup I made SOUNDED promising but I thought it was bland and tasteless. I still have a jar of it in the fridge because I can't bear to throw anything away but I also can't stand to eat it either. It was a lentil, tomato, kale soup I found here: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/lively-up-yourself-lentil-soup-recipe.html

Where I have been really horrible is in my weeknight dinner choices. Apparently, I'm not snacking enough in the afternoon because I'm starving at 5pm when I get home. I've been eating the Whole Foods brand of Triscuits, with cheddar cheese and salsa for too many weeknight dinners. Tasty? Sure. Healthy? Not really. This is why I can't keep crackers, chips, or cheese in the house! It's too convenient to come home and start snacking and then I have to count that as my dinner because it fills me up - but doesn't pack much nutrition.

Finally, I forgot to take a picture but I did make a batch of tuna/white bean salad last week. This recipe is from my Nigella Express cookbook. It's good on field greens for a salad, in a wheat tortilla for a wrap, or with triscuits as a snack.


Tuna and White Bean Salad
1 can tuna, drained
1 can cannelini beans, drained
red onion, diced finely
chopped flat leaf parsley
salt and pepper
red wine vinegar
olive oil