Veggie-Palooza!!!

This is something I do at least once a week to make getting my vegetables easier.  I take four-five different types of vegetables and cook them all up at once in the oven.  This week I used:

1 leek

Artichoke Hearts

Asparagus

Mushrooms

Sliced Yams

Pre-heat oven to 475.  In a large bowl, mix the vegetables with olive oil and seasonings of your choice (I like salt, pepper, and garlic). Spray a baking sheet with olive oil and spread veggie mixture on it.  Let bake for 25-30 minutes.  I eat the veggies with cous cous, quinoa or brown rice.  Through out the week I’ll put them in an omelet, sandwiches, with pasta… You get the idea.

Aphrodite’s Goddess Salad

It’s so hot today.  Unusually hot, especially for San Francisco.  Such heat inspired me to make a Mediterranean-like salad.  

What was in it:

Lettuce

Cherry tomatoes

basil

Goat cheese

Annie’s Goddess Dressing

 

Serve with Pita and hummus on the side.  It’s very simple, took about 5 minutes to make, and tasted delicious.  On a side note, San Francisco Chronicle just held a Taste Panel of salad dressings, and Annie’s Goddess Dressing was voted the best.  I love this stuff.  I put it on everything, salads, sandwiches, cereal, my dog. Everything.

 

How to make a frozen burrito halfway decent

In the mood for Mexican food, but not up to the task of going to a taqueria or spending all that money?  Here’s how I prepare my frozen burritos to make them just a little tastier.  First off, I recommend Amy’s frozen burritos.  They are organic, with unbleached flour tortillas, so they’re slightly healthier.  

 

Take the burrito, loosely wrap it in a paper towel and microwave it for about a minute.  This makes it so the inside isn’t frozen when you bite into it.  Next, fry it on a pan, making sure each side of the burrito is nicely browned.  Serve with a salad or tortilla chips, or both, and salsa.  Top with an avocado for a truly gourmet treat!

Kick-ass Artichoke Heart, Goat Cheese Omelette

Okay, I can do more than put some bread in the oven.  For dinner tonight I made an artichoke heart-basil-goat cheese omelette.  I don’t really use recipes when I cook.  Basically, I look in my fridge and freezer and throw together things. In fact, I’m a lot better at cooking this way.  When I use recipes I tend to screw up somehow.  I was never good at math or science either.  I don’t do well with formulas.  Here’s the closest thing I can offer you to a recipe:

Ingredients:

Frozen artichoke hears

Cherry tomatoes

 Vegetable broth

Egg whites

Crumbled goat cheese

Basil

Salt/pepper/herbs to taste

 

How you do it:

Put some frozen artichokes and cherry tomatoes in a pan.  Cook at a medium heat with the vegetable broth, until the artichokes are mostly unfrozen and the broth has evaporated.  Add egg whites and basil, and seasoning.  Cook it all up, and at the last minute put the goat cheese on top. Lower the heat and put the lid on for a while until the cheese gets melty.  Serve in a bowl with bread. Top with salsa or whatever you like on omelettes.

Dinner Party

My roommate, Megan, and I had a little dinner party to watch the last three episodes of Top Chef we’d been saving on TiVo. She made her famous pasta with brie, tomatoes, basil and garlic. She couldn’t find any linguine at Trader Joe’s (which she says is the “bane of my existence!”), and had to use spaghetti instead. I bought bread, which I heated in the oven. That’s the extent of my cooking abilities.

She invited over this guy she’s seeing, Otto, who distributes French and German wines. It’s always handy to know some one in the wine industry, and I highly recommend befriending (or dating) them and inviting them over for dinner. While Megan was in the kitchen finishing up the pasta, Otto and I sat at the dining room table. After he poured some French wine, he turned to me and said , “You know, I use to work in a butcher shop.”

I’m not sure what he expected me to say. Maybe start a heated discussion about how disgusting meat is, or call him a horrible person. In my head I thought, “Yuck”. Out loud, I just said, “Oh,” and turned my attention to the wine.

It’s so annoying when people try to get a rise out of you. I don’t believe in pushing my beliefs on other people, and I’m not going to argue. I have my reasons for not eating meat, and lecturing a meat eater isn’t going to stop them from eating bacon in the morning. The same way my step-mom’s Republican brother isn’t going to convince me George Bush is a good president and I should vote for McCain. It’s a waste of time and energy.