Quinoa Cakes

That's right....quinoa cakes.  Not like a sweet birthday cake, but a savory one for breakfast.  

I had pinned a recipe on my "Operation Healthy" pinterest board some time ago for cheesy quinoa cakes.  Since I had this in mind for breakfast, I omitted the lemon-garlic aioli.  Though I would like to try that next time!  I was at a conference last week and it might've been just the jump-start I needed to eat and be healthier.  One of the other RSC's gave me some tips on getting  more protein, especially at breakfast.  So I gave these a whirl!

Couple of things:  first of all, quinoa is messy.  And unlike making a patty with ground beef, it's sticky and falls apart easily.  I had to rinse my hands several times and there was cooked quinoa all over the counter when I was done.  Secondly, when the recipe says "Cook five minutes on each side," DO IT!  Don't just say "oh, these are vegetarian so they should be ok.  I have a whole bowl of screwed-up quinoa cake in the fridge.

This was delicious this morning with a fried egg on top.  And I wasn't hungry til lunch!  (Though I had a "Be Kind" bar for snack, which was equally delightful.)  

Unprocessing

The more things that we make from scratch instead of a box, the more things we want to try to make ourselves.

This weekend was homemade cornbread and homemade mayonnaise.  The cornbread was because we had our friends Tracy and Michael over for chili and not enough jiffy mix.  Brian chose a recipe online and ta-da!  Cornbread for a crowd.  It was quite unlike store - bought,  it had plenty of moisture!  That came from giving the cornmeal a 5-minute milk soak.

The mayo was also born out of necessity.... Brian went to make a roast beef sandwich and we didn't have any!  He said that it was quite an arm workout but that it was delicious.

So, in no way will we attempt to cut out pre packaged foods permanently, as they are a huge time saver for two working parents. But whenever there's time on our side, we are sure to do this kind of thing again.

Brian's Creations

Brian wrote the menu last week, and it was all based on ideas instead of recipes.  I don't usually cook like that, I prefer a recipe.  But he's good at it.  

First one was his new take on Chicken Parmesan.  He had seen something on a food network gameshow that gave him the idea, and this is the result:

Fresh Chicken Parm with Couscous

Pan-fried chicken cutlet, topped with canned tomato, a slice of mozzarella and a spinach-arugula blend.  Oh, and shredded parmesan.  Couscous was a nice departure from the normal spaghetti, too.  It tasted light and fresh, which while I love traditional chicken parm, one does not describe it as "light."

Seared sea scallops over linguine.

This recipe puts Olive Garden to shame!  I say that because we went to Olive Garden last month and it was truly disappointing.  I ordered a chicken pasta dish that was like sixteen bucks and what was it?  A pound of angel hair with a little butter and wine, couple of pieces of chicken and a whole pepper cut into huge hunks.  Not their best efforts.  This was scallops, a wine and butter sauce, pepper and onion stirfy and some more of that shredded parmesan.  Not to mention, the rest of that spinach and arugula blend, with Brian's own made-up balsamic and lemon dressing!  (Totally made up on the spot, and it was great!)

I wrote the menu this week, and it's back to recipes.  It'll still be good, though.

Dulce de Leche

I can't believe that I forgot to write about this....In January, Brian was reading a blog about making your own dulce de leche and I didn't think it would be easy.  He proved me wrong, and it was a snap!

Then he made homemade crepes on Sunday morning for breakfast, with the dulce de leche, strawberries, marscapone cheese, nutella and bananas, make your own!  It was incredible.  Dulce is dangerous though, because it filled a mason jar and can keep in the fridge for some time.  Not something I'd want to make often, but hey, once in a while is ok, right?  :)

Chowdah!

I'm finally getting back to my long-neglected Day Zero List, and it was time to make a fourth soup that I've never made.  Clam Chowder!  That's New England Style....not Manhattan.  I'm a lifelong New Englandah and we make it with cream, not tomatoes.  I've had the Manhattan style and it was ok but not great like cream-based.

For my first shot at it, it came out pretty well.  I did NOT want to shuck clams, so we got the frozen ones and drained the juice from 'em.  The recipe came out of Cook's County Cookbook from America's Test Kitchen and I was very surprised with how quickly it comes together.  I've always thought of making clam chowder as a day-long process, but am happily to report that I was wrong.  And the simplicity of ingredients was nice too:  bacon, onion, potatoes, clams, cream, salt, pepper and herbs.  Done!  I will admit that it was thinner than I thought it would be, but that's something that I can work on over time.  It was delicious for lunch on a Sunday, and I'm thrilled that it all worked out.

Next thing on the DZ-List....fresh, homemade cinnamon rolls, next weekend!

"Under the Dome"

No, I'm not talking about Stephen King's novel or the lame TV show "loosely based" on the book last summer.  I'm talking about food in my kitchen.

For the last couple of weeks, we've been using a domed cake plate for goodies on the island.  One Saturday, I noticed that we had some bananas approaching the mushy stage and whipped up chocolate banana muffins.  They were a hit, especially as part of breakfast after Will's first sleepover.  The next week, I had asked Brian to get Rice Krispies at the grocery store and they only had the industrial-size box.  Rice Krispy treats, after cooling and getting cut into squares, went on the plate.  And on Wednesday night, when I got home from knitting I was greeted by the smell of fresh blueberry muffins because Brian discovered that we had a plethora of blueberries in the fridge.  You guessed it...under the dome!

Wonder what will put under the dome next....or will the streak end?

A Visit to Childhood

What does one do when the primary grocery shopper brings home the biggest box of Rice Krispies?  You start eating it with fruit as planned for breakfast, and then decide on rice krispie treats!

These whisk me right back to childhood.  We had these for school snacks often enough, or would bring a pan to a class party or bake sale.  They always went fast. I don't care what anyone says, the homemade ones are infinitely better than the prepackaged ones.  Plus, they require minimum effort and most of that is melting and stirring.  The kids won't even touch them, though.  They don't know what they're missing.  :)