Mostly Meatless March: We’re Halfway Through

MMM has been weird this year. Now in year, three, it’s felt the easiest to pull off. But I also haven’t been super creative, mostly relying on recipes I’ve made before rather than branching out into weird ingredients or new recipes. We’ve also dined out a bit more than usual due to travel and work events. That said, I thought it’d be fun to share our meals that we’ve made so far up to this point.Veggie Stackers

Tuna Southwestern Salad
Pan Bagnat (lunch)
Mac and Cheese
Broccoli Pasta
Veggie Patty Melt (breakfast)
Grilled Cheese and Tomato Soup
Avocado bean toast (breakfast)
Polenta with Marsala Mushrooms
Ginger scallion noodles with veggies, edamame and egg
Tofu Broccoli Stir Fry with shrimp, over soba noodles
Potato pancakes from a box (lunch)
Packaged broccoli and cheese rice (the day I was getting over food poisoning)
Coming up this weekend: Cornmeal Pancakes for dinner
Pineapple Fried Rice (with shrimp instead of chicken)

Low Carb January: A Roundup

So I managed to lose 9.8 pounds in January (John lost even more!), mostly by avoiding starches and sweets. This wasn’t an absolute rule – I still had work events where I ate what was there, had fruit as a snack, and drank alcohol. But this did mean that I brainstormed a lot of fun low carb meals for John and myself. Thought I’d share the dinners we had at home this month, which were a mixture of old favorites, adaptations and new recipes (we’re continuing this into February, but a bit more relaxed).

Broccoli Cheese Soup
Viet Chicken Thighs over Nuoc Cham salad
Salmon Kebabs with greens
Pizzeria Salad
Chicken Piccata over Green Beans Almondine
Cauliflower Soup
Thai Basil Chicken in lettuce cups with stir fry veggies
White Bean Stuffed Mushrooms, zuchinni with tomato sauce and mozzarella
Greek turkey burgers (lettuce wrap, no bun)
A chunky chicken noodle soup made by John
Chicken Milanese with brussels sprouts
Salmon Guac Wraps
Chicken with Snow Peas with quinoa
Hot and Sour Soup with Chinese broccoli
Fajita Steak Salad
Get Well Soon Soup (twice)
Shrimp Asparagus Sauce with Spaghetti Squash
Goat Cheese Stuffed Pork Chops with green beans
Homemade Chicken Nuggets with Caesar salad and veggie slaw
Tagine Kale Wraps with Moroccan carrots
Moroccan Chickpea Soup
Chicken Sausage and Peppers with sauteed zucchini
Veggie Stackers with stewed chickpeas and broccoli rabe

Kitchen Resolutions 2013

It’s that time of year again! I didn’t finish all my 2012 resolutions, mostly because the Cookbook Challenge ended up being a lot more time consuming than I thought. I’ll move a couple of the four uncompleted goals over to this year, but am taking on some new challenges, too. Here’s what I am thinking, but I may adjust these a little with more thoughts.

1) Cook low carb in January. John and I are doing this to peel off some extra holiday poundage. I’ve actually never cooked low carb before, so it’s proving to be an interesting experiment. Additionally, I will spend one month cooking only Recipes I’ve Made Before. Which sort of sounds like the reverse of a typical Missy challenge, but I’ve noticed that because I get so overly ambitious in the kitchen, we don’t get to eat some of our favorites nearly enough (or even try some recipes twice), so this will be an attempt to reign this in consciously. I originally was going to make it Familiar Favorites February, but I don’t really feel like doing two (or three, if we do Meatless March) theme months in a row, so expect this later in the year.

2) Make the ramen recipe from the Momofuku cookbook. Which looks daunting. I see this being the one I procrastinate on.

3) Cook more Cook’s Illustrated recipes. I have a ton of CI magazines I’ve bought over the years, but have made hardly any recipes from them. I finally put the good-looking ones into a database so they’re accessible to me, and I’m going to try to make a bunch of them this year.

4) Make tempura: I don’t know why I’ve never made this before, as I love tempura and can’t imagine that it’s too hard.

5) Make octopus or squid. A holdover from last year.

6) Cook goat in some form. Another holdover.

7) Make paneer. Doesn’t look too hard, and would be a good meatless option to have in the repertoire.

8) Homemade Jerky: Got a food dehydrator for Christmas, so this is a no-brainer.

9) Host a Scotch-themed dinner party. This one’s already in the planning stages.

10) Attempt miso soup from scratch.

Almost All-Natural August: The Roundup

Almost All Natural August actually ended up being kind of a breeze. Once we got into the swing of things, it really didn’t represent a huge lifestyle change for us, though we did make some mistakes here and there.

Our normal non-natural Achilles heels: AANA let me notice what types of overly processed/artificial food we eat on a regular basis. It honestly wasn’t a ton. Chips, soda and candy were the biggies (mostly stuff I eat at work during the day). American cheese/processed cheese. Some condiments (Sriracha). The occasional package of ramen noodles, doctored up Missy-style. Wegmans pierogis (those I’m excited to tear into soon; not going to lie). Canned soup. Vegetarian sausage patties from Morningstar.

Snacking: We branched out a little in the snacking department due to AANA. More dried fruits (mm, Apricots), more nuts, more (non-processed) cheese. I ate a lot of pickles. I also tore into some previously homemade freezer items like white bean soup to supplement my snacking.

Challenges: Bread was one of the most annoying things to buy, and I don’t have the patience to really make it from scratch (I’d hoped to attempt a loaf of sourdough but never got around to it). Could find passable stuff at Harris Teeter and the Farmer’s Market though – it just had a shorter shelf life. Tortillas were another surprise, as I didn’t think of them as having additives. In general Trader Joe’s was a good bet for finding stuff, but you still had to look at the labels to make sure. I’m sure Whole Foods would be even better, but I try not to spend a ton of money there.

One day I literally only had time for a drive-through lunch, so figured the organic chain Elevation Burger was my best bet – still not entirely sure the bun was all-natural though. I kind of missed artificial sweetener in my coffee, but sugar in the raw got the job done and didn’t add a ton of calories. John had trouble finding natural stuff in his work cafeteria, and had to avoid fast food more than I did (he’ll occasionally get it when running errands; I rarely have it). I was most tempted when drunk one night and driving home from Baltimore, smelling the chicken nuggets my friend George was consuming. But I persevered!

Easy swaps: We had good luck with all-natural peanut butter, all-natural bacon, and substituting natural cheeses for processed ones. We drank a lot of homemade iced tea and seltzer in lieu of soda. I forced myself to drink water, which I am not a huge fan of.

From scratch projects: Homemade ginger beer was fun, and I also made my first homemade ice cream (chocolate peanut butter), and some chicken noodle soup when I was feeling sick. Plus, there’s some stuff I just always make from scratch without really thinking about it – spaghetti sauce, salad dressing, salsa. I also made my own steak sauce, which was really good. Never got around to crackers, mozzarella, fruit leather, homemade chips or bread, which was a little disappointing.

Cheats/Mistakes: I put gummy bears on my frozen yogurt when on vacation (I actually didn’t remember until I already bought it, and only had a few because I felt guilty). I twice had ginger ale without realizing it until after the fact, once in a mixed drink and once when avoiding alcohol at Becky’s sister’s shower. I also had it once on purpose because I was really sick stomach-wise, so I made the conscious choice to have it for health reasons. I had a half mini-bag of chips in the car (my “emergency stash” in my glove compartment) one time because I thought I didn’t have time for lunch (turns out I did, so I was kind of annoyed I caved). I also used soy sauce and fish sauce without really paying attention to the label – I figured I might be able to find all-natural ones if I tried, but didn’t feel like spending the money on new bottles of either. John ate a frozen Drumstick before realizing halfway through.

Weight loss? Not really. I’m down about 4 pounds from the start of the month, but my weight was weirdly inflated that day because of our Old Rag trip (8 hours of hiking does odd things to your body). I attribute the lack of weight loss to too much alcohol, too much red meat and too many food-related work events. I would say I generally felt a little healthier though, and am glad to have kicked my candy cravings and daily soda habit.

Other observations: I’d say we spent a bit more money on groceries, but not a dramatic difference.

I’m still trying to decide how I want to apply our experiences to life after August. I feel like it’s better for my health that I didn’t eat chips, candy or soda, but I also don’t necessarily think they are items I need to give up for life. Maybe I’ll make them a once a week treat? Soda I’d like to avoid when possible, as I just don’t really miss it. John plans to continue to avoid chips and soda, though he thought he’d be more affected by a lack of soda than he was.

Coming up: Almost All-Natural August

You’ve seen Mostly Meatless March. This year, John and I are embarking on Almost All Natural August.

That means we’re focusing on whole foods next month, and trying to avoid anything processed, with artificial flavorings or colorings, etc.

John and I are pretty good about emphasizing this in our regular cooking lives (and I’m the queen of unnecessarily-from-scratch projects), but I know we have our exceptions – diet ginger ale, some processed cheese, and my own personal weakness: sour candy. Wish us luck with this month’s experiment!

And if you have any favorite snacks or meals in this vein, feel free to share in the comments! I think I’m going to attempt homemade fruit leather, homemade mozzarella, etc. this month.

Homemade Ricotta

Becky gave me this recipe. Easy enough that I may not buy ricotta again.

Kitchen Resolutions 2011: The Roundup

I had a great time with my cooking resolutions this year. It definitely took me outside of my comfort zone and was a good way to motivate me in the kitchen. Here’s the roundup of what I did!

1. Prepare rabbit. The recipe i used was a little labor intensive, but I enjoyed attempting the new meat. Never ended up making it into our dinner rotation though. (February)

2. Make candy with a recipe that requires a candy thermometer. My friend Jamie, who’s great at making candy, did her best to help me out with this one, but candy did not come easily to me. First I attempted and failed at making strawberry marshmallows. Then I made an entire mess of the kitchen (we’re still finding caramel everywhere) attempting salted caramels. I made two batches, and while one came out a little melty, the other was the perfect texture and had a nice complex flavor. They looked messy, but I’m ok with it. (December)

3. Bake bread. I was really proud of how this turned out. Really nice flavor. My friend Rachel provided the recipe. I never got around to attempting No-Knead bread, though, which I’d meant to experiment with. Next year. (January)

4. Prepare homemade pasta. I made spinach lasagna noodles. I was really glad that John happened to be around to help (and my friend Priya was also there for moral support). If not, I may have given up on the rolling process, which I found challenging. (December).

5. Debone a chicken or fish. Turns out what I really meant was spatchcocking (I researched deboning a chicken, but the old school French technique isn’t really something I need to use in my kitchen, and the alternative had been what I was picturing when I wrote this goal). This was rather easy to do and translated into my favorite way to prepare a whole chicken on the grill – cooks much more evenly. Also learned deboning a fish isn’t really a big deal when John made salt-encrusted fish for Valentine’s Day. You basically can just lift it away when the fish is cooked. (June)

6. Put together Vietamese summer rolls. These were easier than I expected, and I really should make them more often because they’re tasty and healthy. (April)

7. Can a batch of jelly/jam. Actually, I did three. We’re still eating jam from this summer. I think raspberry peach was my favorite. Didn’t love the hot pepper jelly I made but my parents took a bunch off our hands. (August)

8. Kill and cook lobster at home. Ridiculously easy, it turns out. And really not too expensive, at least from the Asian market. (December)

9. Make mole poblano. Another labor-intensive one, but it paid off. Plus, the leftover sauce was great as a marinade. I also achieved the goal-by-extension, which was to cook more out of my Rick Bayless Cookbook – most of my birthday party recipes came from there. (June)

10. Homemade cheese. Ok, this one got down to the wire, given I made it New Year’s Eve, but hey! I did it! It actually was still draining as of this writing; hopefully it’s pretty solid. (December)

11. Make bacon from our pig’s belly. Another one that turned out great. I made three different recipes and really enjoyed them all.

Other cooking adventures this year: I was particularly exciting about pulling off sushi, two types of Pho, Mostly Meatless March, stuffed cabbage without a recipe, my giant fresh ham, thai papaya salad and mulligatawny soup. Also, the fact we exclusively cooked with “good meat” following MMM.

Favorite recipes included: red chile rice, tortilla soup, chickpea masala, Mexican panzanella, Thai basil chicken, better Spanish tortilla, pink eyed peas, caramelized fish and escarole soup with buffalo meatballs.

Ingredients of the year: Swordfish, soba noodles, radishes, pork (of course), feta cheese, and white fish (thanks to Bittman’s chart of 12 that I still haven’t made it all the way through). In general, we ate a lot of fish and salad, which I plan to continue next year.

Also, John made awesome gumbo.

Kitchen Resolutions 2012

It’s that time of year again. I actually managed to at least attempt all of last year’s kitchen resolutions (I’ll post on that later this week), so it’s time for some more! These should be a lot of fun.

1. Make a souffle.

2. Cook goat in some form (roast? tacos?).

3. Use the tagine we got for our wedding to make a tagine.

4. Make either a pate or a terrine.

5. Learn how to cook squid or octopus.

6. Attempt sourdough bread.

7. Instead of Mostly Meatless March (though we may revisit that this year), attempt Almost-All Natural August (avoiding processed food in August).

8. My cookbook project: cook at least one recipe out of all of my cookbooks.

9. Experiment with grains I’ve never tried before (buckwheat?) or barely use (quinoa, barley).

10. Make my own bitters.

11. Cook more with root vegetables I tend to avoid, like turnips and parsnips, during the winter.

12. Make homemade pierogis

My 2012 Cookbook Project

A note to my three readers: For 2012, I’ve decided to cook at least one recipe out of each of my cookbooks. I’m going to chronicle those adventures separately here, if you’re curious, but I’ll still cross-post any new recipes on both blogs.

Week of Turkey Leftovers

I introduced my first leftover turkey recipe yesterday. Most of the rest of what I made is adapted recipes I’ve already made before.

The key to turkey leftovers, in my view, is making a great turkey stock. I got more than six quarts out of my bird, and the stock is bringing lots of depth to my turkey recipes. Which include:

Turkey Chow Mein: Swap pork for cubed turkey meat. Only simmer briefly since the meat is already cooked, but otherwise prepare as normal. I don’t really use bamboo shoots in this anymore, but I do add five spice powder for complexity.

Turkey Gumbo: John made this tonight, and it was so good. For meats, he used cubed leftover turkey, leftover hard chorizo, a bit of browned bacon and a few leftover duck cracklings from awhile back. Turkey stock was incorporated as well

Turkey Matzoh Ball Soup: Use turkey stock instead of chicken and turkey meat instead of chicken meat. I added egg noodles to this soup but cooked them on the side so they don’t absorb all the broth.

Bagel sandwiches with fresh turkey. Nom.

The rest of our turkey is now frozen (I’m running out of refrigerator space), but if we’ve made it through all our leftovers by Wednesday, we’ll round the week out with Turkey Tacos.