Not Cooking?!

I did something a little different this Thanksgiving holiday: I didn't cook! It was the strangest thing. I haven't not cooked for Thanksgiving perhaps since I was in college. Nine years ago, oy.

So instead this year my husband and I drove 2.5 hours to the Lake of the Ozarks to hike, jog, drink hot cocoa, read books, and NOT WORK for four days. It was super lovely.

Here are the food highlights - this first photo is on Thanksgiving day where Jake and I gorged ourselves on fancy hotel cheese omelets, broccoli and cheese, and three kinds of potatoes, among other things. Here I am with a delectable slice of pear tart and coffee.
This was a real find. We drove around mid-Missouri looking for the perfect breakfast eatery and finally happened upon a cute diner in Gravois Mills, MO with $4 breakfast platters.

This might quite literally be the best pizza of my life. Shakespeare's pizza in Columbia, Missouri is fresh and overloaded with veggies and shredded cheese. It is the perfect texture and the perfect comfort food. I daydreamed about this pizza for days before tasting it.

Mustard Potato Salad

I remember we always used to eat potato salad on weekends when I was a kid. Somehow, I haven't had any in years.

So today I changed that.

I boiled four large red potatoes (I didn't remove their skins -- more nutrients), chopped them up, and threw them in a bowl with a handful of diced white onion. Then I sort of eyeballed almost equal amounts of Miracle Whip, spicy mustard, sweet mustard, and dill relish until the salad was creamy and yellow.

And quite good!

Waffles with dried cherries and cranberries

What do dried cranberries not taste delicious in? I woke up absolutely craving waffles, so I googled waffle mix, found this lovely recipe, and tweaked it a bit. Voila!

Combine the following ingredients:

1 cup all-purpose flour

2/3 cups whole wheat flour (if you prefer all whole-wheat waffles, try 1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour total)

1 tablespoon baking powder

2 tablespoons sugar substitute

2 eggs

1 2/3 cups vanilla soy milk

1/2 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup dried cherries

Pour the mixture into a waffle iron. Enjoy with jam or honey (or whatever you prefer)!

Peanut Stew

As I said, I recently spent the weekend with my lovely foodie friend, Astra Libris, and we made some of her delicious Peanut Stew. In fact, it is so delicious that I made some more last night. Yes people, it's that good.

French Toast on a Tuesday Morning

I've been really into eating breakfast lately.

Years ago I'd eat a Yoplait yogurt, but lately I've been wanting eggs, toast, or the perfect blend - French toast - in the mornings. This is especially true after spending the weekend with my lovely friend, Astra Libris - we ate eggs, veggie sausages, home made biscuits, and banana pancakes throughout the weekend (so good!).

This morning I cracked an egg into a dish and added some vanilla soy milk and a dash of cinnamon, dipped a slice of whole wheat bread into the mixture, then fried the toast and added a little honey and powdered sugar on top. Voila! Instant satisfaction.

Pasta maker!

I finally used my pasta maker this weekend and it was a lot of fun. After taking a pasta-making class at the Kitchen Conservatory earlier this year, I decided that I would be a person that makes her own pasta. But how time escapes me. Anyway, I came home today from a workout and errands and thought, why not now?

So to make a recipe that serves six (think leftovers!), you use a large bowl and measure 500 grams of flour. Make a hole in the middle of the flour, then add four eggs and mix it together with a fork until you get dough that is neither too wet nor too dry. Add a bit of water or more flour if you need to do so. Then knead the dough until it no longer sticks to your hands and cut a piece off to use in your pasta maker - you might even want to save some of the dough in a plastic bag for the next day.

Then piece by piece, you feed the dough through the pasta maker quite a few times until it is paper thin; then your pasta maker will make noodles (spaghetti and/or fettuccine) out of the thin dough. Also boil a pot of semi-salty water while you do this. Finally, drop the noodles into the hot water and let them boil for just a bit, then add shredded Parmesan cheese and a dab of margarine to a bowl (or a tomato sauce if you prefer). Voila! A very early Sunday supper.

Altogether with the measuring, kneading, and feeding the dough bit by bit through the pasta maker many times, I probably spent 1.5 hours in the kitchen (so lovely on a weekend, but a bit time consuming for a weekday). So I won't likely be making this a few times a week like my cooking instructor said she did. But oh so tasty! It's also nice to know exactly what you're eating:)

Weekend Eats

A few favorites:

Cheddar cheese, sliced tomato and avocado on whole wheat toast!

Dip for chips or crackers -- though I could eat this with a spoon: 1/2 avocado (chopped); 1/2 tomato (diced); 1/4 white onion (minced); 1 T garlic - stirred

Orange and Molasses Oatmeal Cookies

I sort of messed up an old Quaker Oats cookie recipe and came up with this:

- Heat oven to 350.
- Beat together 1 stick margarine, 1/2 c brown sugar, 1/4 c granulated sugar.
- Add 1 egg, 1/2 t orange flavoring, and 1 T molasses.
- Add combined 3/4 c all-purpose flour, 1/2 t baking soda, 1/2 t cinnamon.
- Stir in 1 and 1/2 c Quaker Oats and 3/4 golden raisins.
- Drop by rounded spoonful onto lightly greased cookie sheet.
- Bake for 15 minutes (I have a slow oven).
- Let cool then eat!

My Cousins' Inventive Halloween Treats!

Isn't this clever? A good idea for next year!

This was called a "Kitty Litter Cake," and since I'm used to cleaning out litter boxes, I couldn't seem to try it!

Scary - but delicious - cheese blob! Boo!

These were made with Quorn, which I want to start cooking with now. So yummy!
For the adventurous!
**Recipes coming soon!**

Matzo Ball Soup

After a long day of voting, class, working out and writing, I felt like comfort food tonight. There seems to be no better comfort food than matzo ball soup. It's easy to make with a matzo ball mix, and healthy and vegetarian-friendly, too.

First you mix together 2 T vegetable oil and 2 eggs, then you add the matzo ball mix (I'm sure you could make this from scratch, but this just wasn't that kind of night) and stir. Then put this in the fridge while you make a 2.5-quart vegetable broth in a 4-quart pot, and throw in celery, carrots, egg noodles, or whatever you prefer.

When you take the matzo mix out of the fridge, make 1-inch (or 2-inch for giant matzo balls) balls with your hands and drop them into boiling water. A mix typically makes 6-9 servings for me.

Cover your pot and let simmer for 20 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Enjoy!

Breakfast

My husband would never go near this, but I love it:

1/2 toasted wheat bagel
Philadelphia cream cheese
Slices of tomato, cucumber and avocado
Egg salad: one hard boiled egg with Miracle Whip and relish

So good. Protein, calcium, carbs, healthy fats, and veggies. Not a bad way to start a Sunday.

p.s. My cousins had the cutest, most creative vegetarian Halloween snacks at their party last night -- I'll try to get some photos from them to show off their work!