9.17.2013

A SEAT AT OUR TABLE

 hey everyone! sorry i haven't invited you over for supper in a while. let's just say we have been busy...or i have been kind of out of it, would probably be a better thing to say. so besides the day to day, blogging did not find a place on my plate the last few weeks (yes. the pun was intended.)

anyway, we had some good things and i came up with some new recipes which i am pretty happy about. when i say "recipe" i mean i threw a bunch of things together and it ended up turning out pretty darn good! like this pizza for instance!

LEFTOVER ROAST "BBQ" PIZZA



this was soooo good. i looked in my fridge and thought, what am i going to make for dinner. mind you, i am trying to tighten up our grocery budget (when i say tighten i mean, squish this thing in a corset!) which means i have to be more creative and use what i have on hand and make the most of my leftovers. we had splurged and had a trip tip that i purposefully made with only salt, pepper, and onion and garlic powder so it would be pretty universal. after we ate it with roasted carrots and leftover mashed potatoes (we had them with meatloaf a day or so before)....

anyway about this pizza, i have made bbq pizzas before, but i didn't have bbq sauce and i still haven't stocked my fridge with a ton of condiments, so i had limited resources. i ended up making a sauce with asian sweet chili sauce, ketchup, salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, mustard, and ground mustard, and apple cider vinegar. it turned out great. it was sweet, spicy, tangy. i caramelized a red onion, and shredded the cold meat, i used feta and monterey jack cheese, bell peppers, mushrooms, and cashews for a little crunch. it was GOOD! and will definitely be a go to from now on (that is, when we have leftover roast).

PEANUT BUTTER BAKLAVA




there is no need to even ask. THIS STUFF IS AMAZING! the more i eat it, the more i love it. and yes, the man and i have almost eaten the whole pan! he did share a few pieces with his friends, but other than that we have been eating it at night with tea while we relax! i might just have to have a pan of this in my fridge at all times! i did not come up with this recipe idea on my own. it looks like a few people have thought of it, but i saw the idea here and learned more about baklava here. after reading both of the recipes and quite a few more. i knew i still wanted a lot of nuts, so i used walnuts and a little thin layer of peanut butter. i didn't want chocolate chips, but rather just a subtle amount, so i ground up chocolate chips and sprinkled the powder on each layer. i used agave for the syrup with white sugar and water and vanilla and salt and it turned out wonderful!

OMELETS WITH HOMEMADE SALSA


easy, quick, cheap, yummy.

PESTO PIZZA

YES YES YES. we are obsessed with pizza! and we eat it multiple times a week. we are debating on whether or not to have a month of just pizza. what do you think? should we do it?

FALL PIZZA

this one was a new idea too. isn't it pretty and doesn't it remind you of fall. this is a pizza with cashew "cheese spread" (cashews, water, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder blended until smooth) as the sauce. roasted sweet potatoes, caramelized onion, mushrooms, green peppers, olives, and feta. pizza is my absolute favorite food and so it was a nice change from the typical few that we often eat. it was savory and sweet and warm, and i didn't even miss the cheese! (i used feta on this one just because i like the way it looks, but again you could do a vegan pizza without the feta and you wouldn't even miss it!)

NO CHEESE MAC AND CHEESE


this was surprisingly delicious! i wanted to make a pasta, but didn't want to use cheese and was craving sweet potatoes, so combined it all into one great dish.i carmelized an onion and set it aside, then i used 4 small sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed and sauteed in olive oil with salt and pepper until brown and tender. when they were finished cooking i sauteed an additional minute or so with a couple tablespoons of balsalmic vinegar and about a tablespoon of agave until glazed. then set them aside, i used a bag of pasta and cooked that, wilted a couple of cups of chopped spinach, and cut up some chicken sausages and browned those (you could do without the sausage and you'd have yourself a great vegan pasta, but my man likes meat)...lets see, then i took about 3/4 cup of cashews, half of the sweet potatoes and some of the pasta water, some garlic powder, onion powder, salt, pepper, and smoked paprika and blended in the vitamix until it was smooth. season it to taste and add crushed red pepper for as spicy as you want it. drain pasta water and set some aside to use to thin sauce. it gets thick as it sets, so you can get the right consistency with the extra water. mix everything together and then season to taste, more salt, more spice, more paprika. i salted my onion and sweet potatoes as i cooked them and the sausage also was salty, but the sweetness of the potatoes needed additional salt. this is a comfort food at its finest. it tastes delicious and warm and rich, and besides the sausage, it  really is good for you!
MEATLOAF


there is no picture of the meatloaf cooked. is it just me or is it sad that meatloaf looks better as ingredients, than it does as a baked loaf of beef? i just thought this was a neat picture with the different colors. about 1 lb. hamburger, 1 egg, quick oats, cumin, basil, oregano, italian seasoning, salt, pepper, garlic and onion powder, and smoked paprika. i top it with a "bbq" type glaze. ketchup, agave, vinegar, A1, seasoning. (i think that is what i used this time.)

well. that was the last few weeks of some of the food we ate. hopefully this next week i will be better at posting. i am currently trying to cook Adas Polow a persian rice with lentils, dates, and currants, so look forward to that next week! Until then. ENJOY and let me know if you find or come up with anything delicious.  I used this quote for my website. i think it describes me quite well! 

"I am not a glutton - I am an explorer of food." -Erma Bombeck

2 comments:

  1. Hi Annalee! I was wondering, what's your go-to pizza crust recipe? You may have posted it already... so sorry in advance if that's the case! All of your pizzas look incredible!

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  2. Thank you! To be honest i don't make a homemade crust. i use pre-made dough from trader joes or safeway/vons. you can buy balls of dough (which is enough for 1 pizza) for about $1.25. To me it is worth it to just get one or two of those a week. The dough at both places is good and we usually use the whole wheat. It is usually by the gourmet cheeses in safeway and vons and in trader joes it is by the cheeses as well. They also sell dough at whole foods which is good, but i don't shop there very often. Hope that helps! let me know what you come up with!

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