[auralpoison]

See that's close to the traditional Greek salad I made last night. Tomaters, cuke, onion, garlic, kalamata olives, & feta cheese. Tossed it with a bit of olive oil, sea salt, & pepper. I'm sure it would be good with a dressing, too. I had it for lunch today stuffed into a left over pita. Mmmmmm!

I also did roasted veg, anything I could get my hands on went into it & it was good. I bet it will be good in a sandwich, too.

I made a casserole of broc & Caul with three cheeses. Very tasty. Even the kids dug in!

[damona]

puppykitty, i made a pasta salad-thingie the other night that my hubby and 2 of the boys just inhaled. (the others wouldn't touch it cuz it had onion.) if you add the pasta, it's more of a main dish meal, if not, it's a lovely side salad. i've done it both ways.


mix in a small bowl:
1 clove fresh garlic, minced
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon apple-cider vinegar
1 teaspoon italian seasoning

let sit while you chop up the following:

1 cucumber, cut into bite-size chunks (peeled or unpeeled)
1 or 2 tomatoes, seeded, cut into bite size pieces
1/2 a medium-sized vidalia onion cut in half and then in thin slices

mix veggies in a large bowl. you can add cold, cooked pasta or not, i used a tri-colour brown rice rotini pasta. drizzle the dressing over and toss gently.

serve and devour!

[auralpoison]

PK, how do you feel about Greek food? I'm making three Greek things that require no more than the basics for my fam this weekend & they are tasty. And versatile. And vegan but for the chesse/milk; I dunno if you're ovo lacto. You can cram them in a sammich or have them on their own. Tasty!

[bunnyb]

puppykitty, I'm not vegetarian but often eat a lot of vegetarian dishes. As you are already purchasing endamame, I would suggest mixing that with tuna and rocket with a nice dressing for a salad instead of lettuce. I also love mixed bean caserole, grilled haloumi with cous cous and pasta with pesto, sundried tomatoes and marscapone (if I'm being healthy -without the cheese- I'll substitute cherry tomatoes and maybe some pinenuts instead of the sundried ones.)

[Queen Bull]

Hihi there!

I just went back to being a vegetarian after several years of eating meat.

I eat a lot of tempeh salad (like egg salad or tuna salad) with rye crisps. But it's getting boring. And I'm just not into lettuce salads anymore.

Do you have any ideas for cheap, easy vegetarian dishes?

I'm so sick of pasta, but I would be willing to eat a more interesting pasta.

I would even love it if anyone had some raw recipes they wanted to share.

I'm going to start buying groceries at the food co-op, which can be expensive, but if I could make a small amount of food at a time, or maybe even freeze my leftovers, that would be great.

BTW - I made some really great soup recently: Mushroom broth with arame (seaweed), shitake mushrooms, soba noodles, and edamame. It can also be made into a salad without the broth.

HI. ive been a veg for many many years and my favorite things that are quick and easy are microwaves nachos and tofu scramble. for the nachos, get a dinner plate, cover with tortilla chips, slice pepper jack cheese over said chips, nuke for about 30-45 seconds and eat. then you can add watever on top. they are great when you are in a hurry. for tofu scramble, get a package of tofu, some mixed frozen veggies, and your fav seasonings {i like brewers yeast, hing, and cayenne, paired with braggs amino acids} then stir fry until its all nice and hot and serve over rice. the great thing about this is you can keep it for a few days and it stays tasty.
also, may i suggest quinoa? its kind of an aquired taste, but i love it.

<3's

[puppykitty]

Hihi there!

I just went back to being a vegetarian after several years of eating meat.

I eat a lot of tempeh salad (like egg salad or tuna salad) with rye crisps. But it's getting boring. And I'm just not into lettuce salads anymore.

Do you have any ideas for cheap, easy vegetarian dishes?

I'm so sick of pasta, but I would be willing to eat a more interesting pasta.

I would even love it if anyone had some raw recipes they wanted to share.

I'm going to start buying groceries at the food co-op, which can be expensive, but if I could make a small amount of food at a time, or maybe even freeze my leftovers, that would be great.

BTW - I made some really great soup recently: Mushroom broth with arame (seaweed), shitake mushrooms, soba noodles, and edamame. It can also be made into a salad without the broth.

[deschatsrouge]

*BARGE!

Recently I made moonpies and I must extoll them as a marshmallow filled home-made orgasm that can bring a person to thier knees when topped with chocolate syrup.

[bunnyb]

I ended up making the artichoke salad with spinach, rocket (arugula), watercress, avocado, feta, green grapes and an avocado, mint and lime dressing and it was delicious.

[pollystyrene]

Separate food-related post:

Last night I made Alton Brown's Macaroni & Cheese.

Here's the episode it's from:
For Whom the Cheese Melts, Part I (mostly set-up, and he makes the pasta)
For Whom the Cheese Melts, Part II (he does most of the prep in this clip, plus the other recipes)

It turned out pretty well- I used tubetti pasta:


I think that's better than macaroni- because of the diameter to length ratio, you get maximum cheese coverage on each piece of pasta. Next time, I think I'll put more pepper or paprika or something in it. It had a nice onion-y flavor, but it needed a kick of something...maybe some Louisiana Hot Sauce or something. I'm all for adding stuff- diced tomatoes, peas, bell peppers, whatever, but LeBoy isn't a fan of stuff in his mac & cheese (unless it's ham) so I was surprised I got away with the onions.

The recipe on the Food Network link is slightly different than what he tells you to do in the TV clips. Just a couple of measurements are different, like the butter you coat the panko crumbs with- I'd go with the 4T that he says in the TV clip- I used 3T, as the recipe directs and I think it could have been butterier (mm, new favorite word!) Also, the TV clip says to let the pasta get to, what Alton calls, "Super Al Dente", or a little undercooked, and it will stay firmer when it bakes with the sauce. The recipe never mentions this.

I was quite pleased to see that Alton recommends rinsing the pasta in cold water after dumping it- I've always done that and have had people say it's not necessary. Well, now I know Alton Brown says it's okay!

[pollystyrene]

Tree, I would do a stainless steel sink, mounted under the counter. I think that would be so much easier. Also, I like my faucet with the built-in, pull-out sprayer. My only wish is that I had one where the button was on the side, rather than the top...here's what I mean:

I have one like this:

The button is on top and it's sort of a thin, rubber cover over an actual button. That rubber gets worn out and it becomes less responsive.

I *wish* I had one like this:

The button is on the side and it's a hard plastic button that slides back and forth to switch between the regular setting and the sprayer setting. My grandparents have one like this and it just seems more sturdy.

Also, I wish I had one of those tall, narrow under-counter cabinets that pulled out for spices and small jars, like this:


I wish I had one of those hot-water only faucets.

I love my under-cabinet lights. The bulbs aren't they're not cheap- about $4 or $6 per bulb, and when there's about 8 of them that burn out almost at the same time, that gets pricey. But I still think it's worth it. I have a theory that the lights themselves aren't very high quality (they were there when we got there) and maybe that causes the bulbs to burn out so frequently. The bulbs we get are made by Hampton Bay, which I think is a reputable company, so I don't think the bulbs are the problem. I dunno- maybe it's just the case with those things.

I was looking up other ideas and came across a kitchen that makes me feel a lot better about mine: Jack's Micro-Kitchen in his 10 x 16 apartment- hey, NYC'ers- how much does he pay for that? Probably more than my 1000 sq. ft. condo!

I'll post more ideas as I have them.

[treehugger]

Hi, folks!

Let me know if this should go in House of the Gods, 'k??

I'm trying to design my new kitchen which will hopefully become reality next summer. Just want to take an informal survey. I live alone and am very independent and set in my ways...(meaning I don't anticipate living with anybody for any length of time, cause I'm a loner and it'd drive me nuts)

I am TRYING to encourage myself to eat more healthily. What would you feel are crucial components of a kitchen that would encourage the use of more fresh, natural foods, and downplay "quicky" food prep??? I guess I'm not sure what I'm asking...but just sort of:

What would you love to have in a dream kitchen?

What would your "hates" be??

I'm interested in finding out what kinds of replies I get! I'm planning for a double wall oven, yippee!!

When I get more time, I'll upload my tentative plan. (gotta find the file, save it, upload it, post it...)

[persimmon_grrrl]

Artichokes go well, I find, with fresh cherries. Try a nice bed of mesclun, maybe some bitters like watercress alongside, and then go all out with the artichokes, pitted red cherries (fresh, not dried!), balsamic vinegar (the real kind), and some walnuts. Yum!

In other news, I love rainbow swiss chard! And chard in general. For dinner, I (among other foods) fried two big cloves of garlic, and about an inch-square piece of sliced fresh ginger in olive oil. From there, I added the most gorgeous swiss chard I've seen in a long time. How delicious is that?

+ + +

Slowly, surely
I walk away from
Self-serving
Un-deserving
Constantly hurting me
Love
(J. Scott)

[auralpoison]

It sounds weird, but I had a salad with artichokes & grapefruit once that was awesome.

[bunnyb]

Does anybody have any suggestions for a tasty salad including marinated artichokes? I have some and want to make a salad but can't for the life of me think what I could combine with artichokes to make something tasty... cheese, meat, veg, fruit, seed, nut, I don't mind.

I'm making a casual dinner for a friend and would like a big salad at the heart of it although thinking or several little tapas-like dishes... the only thing I've fully decided on yet is Nigella's Roquemole, which is guacamole made with Roquefort blue cheese, served with either some nice tortilla chips or crusty or sourdough bread. Any recommendations for easy dishes like this would be much appreciated as I don't have much time or really any inclination to cook something.

[persimmon_grrrl]

mmm..dill!

good call, moonpieluv! and i'm glad to hear of other soup-all-year fans.

[hellotampon]

Moonpieluv-

You can also try this raw kale recipe, it's delish!

-coarsely chopped, de-"rib"bed kale
-green and red peppers, chopped into little squares
-fresh ground black pepper
-salt grinder
-cucumbers, sliced thin and peeled if the skin is waxy (cukes are the perrfect summer food!)
-fresh lemon juice
-olive oil

okay, so in a bowl, toss in the kale. with the other veggies. then, squeeze the juice of one lemon over the kale, mixing well. add a healthy dash of fresh olive oil and grind salt and black pepper, to taste. let sit for a bit, then dig in! it's so crunchy and delicious!

super tangy, super delicious...

I would put some fresh dill in there too!

[pollystyrene]

My cousin/boss has one, LMP. She also has a black thumb, but had success with the AeroGarden. However, she found that she just isn't using the herbs before they'd eventually die, so she was going to give it to me. Not sure whatever happened, and I don't want to ask, but I kinda really want it!

I've got one of their catalogs and I think my only issue is that they sell the seed pods in sets, not individually, so you kind have to compromise some stuff. There's maybe 5-6 herbs I want, but to get all of them, I have to buy a couple of different sets and figure out what to do with the ones I don't want.

[LoveMyPugs]

Does anyone have an AeroGarden? Seriously, I have a black thumb of death. I kill everything. I love herbs but they are so expensive from the grocery store. I don't have a lot of sunlight in my kitchen. This thing sounds perfect.

[Moonpieluv]

Dewd I live for soup. I've made such a mean soup that Mr. Luv walks in and says hi in german... and I reply accordingly cause that's how aromatically german it all smells to us.
It's like witch's brew of turnips, brussel sprouts, vidalia onion, fresh dill, potatoes, celery, parsnip, broccoli, kale, tofu, cremini mushrooms, and cabbage. I use veggie stock. I have tried it with organic chicken stock, but it cuts into the flavors too much.
Talk bout cleanin yo ass out!

The salad idea sounds tres yum yum. I shall try! Perfect for this humid hot weather. I've got a vacation coming up and think this would do well with Mr. Luv's folks.

Yeah... I cheese my broccoli. I love Bragg's Liquid Aminos on like...everything, too. Which reminds me.. I need to re-order!

[persimmon_grrrl]

call me a soup-lover, but i love soup year-round! it's so hearty and satisfying...

i wonder if i could make a cold kale soup...? on second thought, that doesn't appeal to me at all.

thanks for that kale soup idea for winter-time - sounds delish and comforting...