Food, glorious food

Too tired to be productive; too wired to go to bed yet. So I have decided to document some of the things we’ve been really enjoying lately, food-wise. Lyr’s renewed presence in our present becomes obvious in some of the choices, I think.

Hummus: we were lazy and bought hummus from the organic farmer-cook women and my god is their recipe ever good. It has no olive oil in it, just chickpeas, tahini, garlic, lemon, and sea salt. We will be trying to duplicate (only because at $3 a smallish jar, it’s out of our league and we can get the organic components if it is that important to us).  Without the olive oil or a lot of water it stays solidish so not very dip-y, and so we’ve been eating it on sandwiches made with hardo whole wheat bread which is a somewhat dense (“hardo,” get it?) and sweet Jamaican bread, with butter and slices of cucumber. Delish.

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I adapted a Cooking Light macaroni salad as follows:

1 500 gr package whole wheat macaroni
2 cups frozen peas or, of course, fresh peas
2 red peppers chopped reasonably small
fresh green beans (this one time, don’t bother with frozen)
two stalks of celery chopped reasonably small
1 cup grated old cheddar cheese
3 rashers bacon, cooked and crumbled -or- 8 slices salami chopped up -or- artichoke hearts -or- capers (you’re going for something a bit salty and/or with meaty mouth feel, here)

cook pasta, add peas and green beans for last couple of minutes, drain and mix with about a quarter cup (or a bit less) olive oil

dressing: (we just mix components right into the salad)
1/2 cup mayonnaise (can be low-fat)
1/4 cup yoghurt
2 heaping tablespoons of dijon mustard
1-2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
dash of lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste
additional olive oil if it’s dry

It’s very creamy and yummy. Kind of fatty-decadent due to the mayo & cheese. And it’s a huge batch.

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Our every-summer’s-backup-meals for too-hot-too-cook days are:

1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 can sliced black olives, drained
1 can artichoke hearts, drained and quartered
3-4 roasted red peppers, sliced &/or two tomatoes diced &/or cherry tomatoes
feta cheese to taste, crumbled
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
balsamic or red wine vinegar to taste (it depends a lot on your vinegar)
generous heap of oregano and/or basil

eat with whole-grain toast

or:

1 can black beans
1-2 cups frozen corn kernels, rinsed until unfrozen or, of course, leftover corn from corn on the cob the night before – bonus if grilled
3 green onions sliced into small round slices and all separated out to make little onion bits
2-3 tomatoes diced
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (you can substitute others but for some reason this vinegar picks up on the sweet corn and hits the cayenne really nicely. Don’t ask me why; I wouldn’t put cayenne on apples)
couple tablespoons olive oil
1 teapoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
salt to taste; black pepper if you must

Mix all together. If you will be letting it sit, beware adding cayenne; the heat builds overnight.

If feeling decadent, serve with tortilla chips; otherwise this goes amazingly with cornbread or sourdough. And of course either of these goes well with some barbecued meat thing, but we don’t currently own a barbeque, plus we’re fine with it alone.

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We’ve rediscovered homemade fruit salad, what with the bounty of the season. Carl’s trick: a third of a can concentrated white grape juice (which includes sugar).  My version doesn’t have that, just a couple tablespoons of lemon juice if there’s no citrus fruit in it to keep it from getting brown. wash and chop tons of fruit and mix with the above. Voila. Ahaha. :)

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Despite the heat I use my crockpot all the time since I can fill it up when Noah’s napping in the morning, or at least when Noah’s fresh. I’ve recently discovered that butternut squash goes amazingly with tomato and spicy things; it’s sweet without being too sweet. My last stew was:

4 hot Italian sausage (yes, I know, nitrates etc. but buy them from a reputable or organic farmer. Or substitute some red pepper flakes + oregano + basil + tvp in this recipe if you want more of a chili and something vegetarian)
1 butternut squash, cubed into largish cubes (incidently, if you prick the squash and microwave it for 2 minutes it became hugely easy to peel and seed!)
two zucchini cut into about 1/4 inch thick slices (aren’t I nice doing this in imperial?)
1 large (28 oz) can diced tomatoes + 1-1.5 cans of water
two handfuls of lentils
1 handful of barley
a generous shake of black pepper & some salt

Cook for 8 hrs on low; break up sausages into little chunks and eat with bread. Note that the sausages are providing a lot of rich in this recipe, but since it makes about 6 servings it’s not that much sausage per. This really is more of a fall recipe though.

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Edit: one more ’cause this is somewhat new. Couscous curry salad:

2-3 cups cooked couscous, or a little more (couscous being nearly instant to make)
1 can chickpeas
1 cup raisins
3-4 tablespoons olive oil
2 teaspoons or more to taste madras curry powder (yes, I buy it premixed/ground)

Very yummy. A variation is dried cranberries, and two tablespoons orange juice an a bit of salt instead of the curry. Toasted pine nuts or almond bits go amazingly in either.