Weekend Cooking 11/23

Book By Book

Each weekend, Beth Fish Reads hosts Weekend Cooking.  This is perfect for me since I love food and cooking almost as much as I love books!

I missed posting last week – weekends tend to be busy with family time here. So, I’ll go back two weeks today and just focus on some of our best meals. We have still been using up the last of our CSA veggies, so winter vegetables like bok choy, cauliflower, and cabbage figured prominently in our dinners (until my husband said, “No more cruciferous vegetables – my stomach needs a break!”).

If you stopped by here two weeks ago, you may recall that I was having to get creative with bok choy, as there was a glut of it at the end of the season. I discovered another new and delicious recipe, Vietnamese Beef-Noodle Soup with Asian Greens. The recipe is a simple one that goes together in under 30 minutes – perfect for weeknights – but the list of ingredients is long and unusual. I left a few things out – couldn’t find bean sprouts or fresh basil in any local store this time of year, left out star anise because I hate the taste of anise, and subbed powdered ginger for the fresh because my husband doesn’t like too much ginger (unless it’s in cookies or cake! lol). There was still plenty of flavor left! The unusual flavors combine beautifully to make a tasty soup. And don’t skip the fresh mint on top – it’s delicious.

On a freezing cold night this week, I decided to make a nice hot pot of soup. My son was having a friend over for dinner, so I chose something my son likes that I thought would appeal to teens, Rachel Ray’s Sausage and Broccoli Rabe Stoup. I threw the Paleo diet out the window and included the pasta, as directed (though most of mine went into my son’s bowl) and subbed chopped baby spinach for the broccoli rabe because my son doesn’t like rabe much. It’s a delicious soup…however, my son’s friend explained that he doesn’t like “wet foods”! Huh? We’ve served a lot of picky eaters here over the years, but that’s a a new one! So, we enjoyed the delicious soup, and he picked out pieces of pasta and sausage (then my son finished off his soup).

We had a vegetarian meal this week when it was just my husband and I that is a favorite of mine because it is so packed full of flavor. I combined two side dishes into a full meal. The first was Lentils with Carrots, a simple Cooking Light recipe (of course) with a short list of basic ingredients: sliced carrots, lentils, chopped onion, water, and finished with a tablespoon of butter (that adds so much flavor!). Paired with that, we had Curried Cauliflower with Capers, my favorite roast cauliflower recipe. With capers, lemon, curry powder, and fresh parsley, this dish is just bursting with vibrant flavors. I had left-overs of these two dishes for my next two lunches and enjoyed them just as much!

Last night, we enjoyed a fabulous dinner at a local Malaysian restaurant with friends. The food was delicious. We had four different dishes to share, and each one was unique and wonderful.

The “no wet foods” boys is coming for dinner again tonight, so we are having a very basic (dry!) Sunday dinner, with baked ham, baked sweet potatoes, and green beans.

Hope you are enjoying wonderful food this weekend!