Other Culinary Successes

I haven't posted some of my other culinary successes for the last few weeks, so I thought I'd share a few now.



Vegetable Frittata

   I still can't believe how well this frittata turned out. Smiles :)

Pasta Sauce Cubes

Some genius(es) on Pinteres have suggested making pesto and then freezing it into cubes. I figured if it will work for pesto, it will work for tomato sauce! This makes me happy because 1) I could use the jar immediate for kefir-making escapades and 2) I can use only a little sauce on my pasta/pizza/etc and not end up wasting the rest of the jar. Maybe not an issue for tomato-sauce-loving people?
I've already used some of the cubes up, but here's what they look like

 I have a separate ice cube tray for non-water/beverage items, so someday I'll have to try pesto and other sauces. (Individually frozen in ice cube tray, then put in a gallon size bag for storage.


Apple/Pear Crisp
    
Nothing too out of the orfinary here, but definitely one of my favorite desserts. Plus some dried cranberries (again, because I had them). I'm looking forward to stone fruit season as a peach/plum crisp sounds really tasty!

Grains

Breakfast Quinoa

A few weeks ago, I came across a recipe that was basically quinoa treated like the grain it is. It was, I thought, a crockpot recipe. Then I tried to find it again. This was the recipe that started it all. And since quinoa only takes like 15 minutes to cook, I decided I would it make it on the stove instead. Quinoa cooks like couscous, and the important thing here is what you cook it IN.

To make the quinoa taste a little milder and sweeter, I cooked in water, with vanilla and cinnamon. I thought I'd put a lot in, but I think it can take on a lot because the grains expand. I also put some dried cranberries in with the water and quinoa, mostly because I had them. I think a little orange juice in the water would have been good too.

I added some chopped pecans to the finished dish, and the recipes that I originally saw called for some chopped apples.I think those would have been really good, but I didn't have any.

The best thing about this was the morning of. I heated the quinoa and added some almond milk. Soooo good. Plus, with all the protein in the quinoa, it was a hearty breakfast.  I'm really glad I made a large batch, and can enjoy it again tomorrow morning.



In Related News....
 I cooked my couscous in water with some leftover onion soup mix. It was delicious and definitely savory, which will make it enough different from the quinoa that I should be willing to eat both throughout the week. See the onion bits?

Santa Fe Treasures

No photos from the first round but I'll try to get some later today.

Last night I made chicken mole from the mole spice I brought back from Santa Fe. It is New Mexico mole and is red, not dark. The man at the shop said to add cocoa to make it "darker", so I did, a lot in fact. It was still red mole. But it was pretty tasty. I think before I use the other half of the packet I will find some dark chocolate to add and put it through the blender.


Today I am going to make a version of green chili stew. Most NM recipes called for cut up pork, but we had a bowl at Cafe Grecco that was basically the ground beef stew I usually make with a green sauce. It was totally delicious. I brought back some  hatch green chili powder and am going to add a can of diced green chilis to it. Photos to follow!

Two Words

I have two words for you this morning.

Breakfast Quinoa.



More on this, and other meals, later today.

Mini-Bundt Pan

I made myself a cake in my new 6-cup Bundt pan.
I just used the plain yellow cake recipe (halved it) from the good old Better Homes and Gardens red&white cookbook, and glazed it with powdered sugar icing.  The finished product is sitting on a smaller sized plate (salad plate?).

Slow Cooker Veggies Chili

This is a recipe I modified from the Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker for Two cookbook.  There, it's called "Quick Hominy and Zucchini Chili".  I made it this summer when I had a whole bunch of zucchini.  I liked it, but thought it needed something else--like maybe beans.  So this time I thought I would try adding some black beans.
At the grocery store, I saw a tube of chorizo, and thought that might be nice to add.  And I couldn't find hominy at either of the 2 stores I went to that day, so decided that a can of corn would be a decent substitute.  Also, none of the tomatoes looked good (no surprise in January) so  I got a can of diced tomatoes to use instead of fresh.
Here's the chopped zucchini, canned diced tomatoes, canned corn, and canned black beans in the slow cooker:

Then I cooked the chorizo in a skillet.  After a few minutes, I added a couple stalks of celery and an onion and let them get nice and soft.

Next I stirred everything in the slow cooker and set it on High for 2 1/2 hours.

I served it with some sour cream and avocado.  It made 3 large servings, but it could be 4 regular servings if you were going to have salad or something on the side.

New tea area

I have moved the tea area to the tea trolley and lacquer cabinet in the dining room. And wow, did I gain a lot of counter space!

Tonight's dinner is going to be rump roast, cooked in a little wine and crusted with herbs and black pepper. I am also roasting a sweet potato and a white potato--together-- and have made TJ's gingerbread. I think we will also have peas and salad. Yum.