Month: July 2011

sunday night dinner: july 10, 2011—spinach lasagna rolls

1 Comment

growing up lasagna was one of my favorite meals.  i’ll eat any kind hot or cold leftovers.  i was a cook once in an italian restaurant in one day i made 14 large lasagna for catering.  after that making any form of the baked pasta feels like nothing.  lasagna rolls however are a great quick fix when i’m wanting the real deal without all the work or quantity of a lasagna.

lasagna rolls

that night for dinner my friend alaina came over.  we discussed our desire to eat only organic and all natural but how our tiny budgets don’t allow us to.  my up-coming trip back home.  what art projects we are working on, music projects of various friends and then we spent the rest of the night playing with the cats. we are both crazy cat girls.

alaina ready to dig in

 

RECIPE—Spinach Lasagna Rolls

1 box lasagna noodles – cook 1/2 the box

1 small container ricotta cheese

2 cups spinach leaves

1/2 onion chopped

1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 jar pasta sauce

 

1.  in a bowl mix together ricotta cheese, onion and spinach.  place 2 tbspns of cheese -spinach mixture on to a cooked lasagna noodle, spread mixture out onto the noodle evenly.  starting at one end of the noodle roll the noodle up.

2.  in a baking dish spread 1/2 the jar of spaghetti sauce in the bottom of the dish.  place lasagna rolls on end in baking dish.  top with remaining sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese.  bake at 350 for 30 minutes

 

goes great with cheese-garlic bread

 

 

Sunday Night Dinner: July 10, 2011: July 4th BBQ a little late

2 Comments

We ALSO had to eat our BBQ a little late (due to travel last weekend). Ours, of course, was meatless, but I did sit by the grill in the driveway and drink a beer while our tempeh and corn got all smokey and good. Yes, I did forget to take a picture of that– blame the beer.

I made dad’s pasta salad! I decided to use vegetable spirally noodles to add a little bit of color and veggie goodness. I think it looks just as nice as his.

We had smokey tempeh (which I grilled in a cast iron skillet on the little charcoal grill), deviled eggs (I ran out of mustard and used Dijon instead– they were different, but just tasty) and garlic buttered corn on the cob. A last-minute addition was parmesan Jiffy biscuits!

Rosy cheeks from beer and July heat.

We talked about important things that night. What I want to do with my life, how to be more creative, how we should take a honeymoon every year, how we can do a better job saving money. Every once in a while you need to have those kinds of talks and Sunday night dinner just seems right for a heart to heart. It’s quiet and focused, even with Fleetwood Mac in the background

For dessert, I decided to make a peanut butter pie with real whipped cream that I saw on TV (Man VS Food). An Amish recipe that uses chunky peanut butter combined with powdered sugar and vanilla pudding — so it’s really more of a vanilla pudding pie with peanut butter crumbles layered throughout. I had to make up the recipe, but I love vanilla pudding and John loves peanut butter, let’s just say it’s the best of both worlds.

Yeah, I liked it.

On the road again, again– The Village Deli

2 Comments

My favorite place to eat in John’s hometown (Bloomington, Indiana) is The Village Deli. It’s so good, I don’t even know where to begin. On our annual visit  we ate there twice.

Here’s Lunch:

Look at those homemade potato chips. Dear Village Deli, teach me what you know you potato masters you. I loved the ones with puffy parts.

I had the VVD- a veggie, swiss cheese sandwich with special mustard and John had eggs and breakfast taters.

John eating his breakfast for lunch.

All done. Man I wish I had the rest of that right now. So does Frankenstein.

Here’s breakfast.

We usually go for lunch, but I’ve always wanted to get one of their giant pancakes. Yes, I can order one at lunch time, yet the lunch menu is so good! Because we had a loooong drive ahead of us, I ordered an egg with my pancake for some extra protein. What you can’t tell here is that my blissful pancake is filled with peanut butter chips. What a good idea that turned out to be…I can taste it now.

I love pancakes. I love pancakes. I love pancakes. I love pancakes.

John had toast and eggs on the silly side.

Happy plates.

Happy Steph.

Happy John.

sunday night dinner: july 3, 20111 —-RIBS

2 Comments

so i had to do some master planning for my meals this week.  the fourth of july was on monday.  i am not eating meat on mondays.  solution……my fourth of july feast on sunday!   i decided to grill in good ol’american fashion.  one of my favorite bbq items is ribs.  i also find this ironic considering my 5 years of vegetarianism and now one of my favorite items to eat is using my teeth to tear off meat from bones.  yay baby!  i had to consult dad about whether to marinate or not to marinate ribs.  following his advice i dry rubbed the ribs with a mystery seasoning that i had concocted some time ago and had no idea what was in it, and allowed them to get to room temp.

while all that was going on i put together my side dishes for the night.  coleslaw, as well as pea and macaroni salad.  i know i am totally channeling my father when i look down at a dish and think ” there is not enough color.  i should add paprika!”

pea salad with a splash of color

then came time to set up my grill.  this was highly entertaining.  4 trips in totally to get all needed equipment downstairs to the front stoop.  grill, charcoal starter, charcoal, newspaper, lighter, tongs, sauce, brush,  plate with meet, extra plate for cooked meat, and a can of pbr.  i have come to terms with the concept that my neighbors find my entertaining and totally corky.  from planting container gardens on both the front and back stoops to working on art projects outside and now with elaborate grill set-up.

grill set-up (why yes that is an official graceland beer cozie)

grilling always goes faster than i think but when i am in the processes of it, grilling never goes fast enough.  i’m also overly paranoid about turning my meat into giant chunks of charcoal so i have a tendency to turn my meat a little too often.  ribs get me excited.  over the last few years i have actually developed a “rib  voice”  that only comes out when talking about, cooking, or eating ribs.

after the bug bites, the patiently waiting, the heat, and the multiple trips to the stoop and back it was totally worth it my fourth of july feast was finger licking good.  and to top it all off for dessert i had homemade ginger-jack peach pie!

fourth feast

 

my first peach pie

ginger-jack peach pie

1 Comment

 

fruit pie #2

i’ve been trying to conquer making fruit pies.  this is my second attempt.  issues to overcome…..runny insides.  so after in-depth discussion with steph i totally took her advice even if the recipe says not to heat up and cook the pie filling do it anyway.  it totally worked insides not runny!  thanks steph!  this pie was a take on a traditional peach pie with a little something extra added to it.  those extras would be marinating the peaches with ginger and jack daniels.  making this pies felt like such a summer experience.  sitting in the kitchen in front of the fan peeling peaches and listening to the cicadas outside.  i had master plans to make homemade-maple syrup ice cream to go with it but i’m a firm believer in using up what you have first so it’ll just have to have plan ol’vanilla for now.