January 31, 2007
What's For Dinner?
Tonight I'm having a salad made with sweet pea shoots, sprouts, cucumber, carrot, celery, spinach, cherry tomatoes, mushrooms, raw sunflower seeds and perhaps a few walnuts and some blue cheese or goat cheese along with some sort of vinaigrette.
What about you?
Posted by Dianne at 3:38 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
What's In Your Grocery Bag?
I've seen this fun little exercise on several other blogs, but I kept forgetting about it until I actually had my groceries put away. Today Alexis and I made a stop at My Organic Market on the way home from Columbia and I actually remembered to take a picture of what was in our bags! 3 bags total. I was looking for some pumpernickel flour, but they didn't have any. I think I'm going to have to order some from Bob's Red Mill or Amazon Grocery.
Kiss My Face Anti-Stress Shower gel, raw organic cashews, MADHAVA Agave Nectar, Rice Shreds Mozzarella, lime honey, Burt's Bees Lemon Cuticle Cream, Amy's Organic Pasta Sauce, chili powder, vital wheat gluten, Pamona's Universal Pectin, Cascadian Farms Multi Grain Squares, Allegheny Chevre, Muir Glen medium organic salsa, Bionaturæ organic fettuccine, Virgil's natural Root Beer, sweet pea shoots, super salad sprouts, nutritional yeast, Bi-O-Kleen Oxygen Bleach Plus (chlorine free) and Dr. Kracker Pumpkin Seed Cheese "Krackers".
What's in your bag? ;o)
Posted by Dianne at 2:58 PM | Comments (3) | TrackBack
Rosemary Garlic Smashed Potatoes
Nothing says comfort food like mashed potatoes! I like to jazz up mashed potatoes a bit and I also like to cook the potatoes in the oven, instead of boiling them. They're more smashed than mashed, but delicious none the less! This recipe is quick, easy and delicious! What more could you ask for?
What You'll Need Per Person:
1 potato of your choice (Idaho, Red Bliss, etc), skin on, cut into cubes
2 cloves of garlic
1 tablespoon of fresh rosemary, chopped
1 pinch of sea salt
1 pinch of freshly ground black pepper
A splash of extra virgin olive oil
1/4 cup of milk, heavy cream, half and half or buttermilk, warmed
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Place potatoes through olive oil in a baking dish and toss to coat. Roast until tender about 40-45 minutes.
Place hot potatoes into a mixing bowl and mash with warm milk. There's no need to add butter because the potatoes are roasted with olive oil and it gives them a wonderful flavor! Serve immediately.
Posted by Dianne at 2:47 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Meatless "Meat"loaf
Since I started my no meat in January test I started thinking of ways to take "classic" meals that have meat in them and transform them into veggie versions that make you never miss the meat! Actually I've been doing this over the past few years when I started avoiding red meat, given it makes me sick to my stomach. Meatloaf was one dish that I had never tried to adapt though. Given the main ingredient of meatloaf is well, meat, the idea was a bit daunting, but I'm never one to be persuaded when I put my mind to something.
I started scouring the internet to see what was out there. I found rice versions and lentil versions and though they looked delicious, they just weren't what I was looking for. Then I came across Gimme Lean Ground Beef Style and decided that it would be the perfect for a "meat" loaf and I was right...It worked like a charm!
What You'll Need:
2 packages of Gimme Lean Ground Beef Style
2 eggs (If you want to veganize this you could substitute egg replacer)
1 1/2 cups of rolled oats
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 red onion, chopped
1 cup of organic ketchup, divided
1 pinch of sea salt
1 pinch of freshly ground black pepper
Preheat oven to 375 F.
Mix GLGBS, eggs, oats, bell pepper, red onion, 1/2 cup of ketchup, sea salt and black pepper with your hands until completely incorporated. (You've got to get your hands dirty to make a little comfort food!) Place mixture into a loaf pan that has been sprayed with non-stick spray and spread out/flatten to form a loaf. Top with remaining 1/2 cup of ketchup and baked for 30-35 minutes until browned on top.
Serve immediately.
Makes about 8 servings.
Note: I actually halved this recipe and made two mini meat loaves. I had one for dinner last night and froze the other one for later.
Posted by Dianne at 2:23 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
January 30, 2007
What's For Dinner?
Meatless "meat"loaf, smashed rosemary and garlic potatoes, a spinach and tomato side salad and no knead bread.
What about you?
Posted by Dianne at 4:41 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
Sushi: Veggie Rolls
When we moved to Maryland I tried sushi for the first time and immediately fell in love! Since Alexis was born I haven't had much of a chance to actually eat sushi given most sushi restaurants are not kid friendly and Jamison is an extremely picky eater and sushi is nowhere near to any form of food he would even try, let alone eat.
Several times over the years I've thought to myself that sushi (though everyone tries to tell you otherwise) would not be that hard to make. Right after Alexis was born my sister even made me a little "sushi kit" complete with bamboo sushi mat, sushi vinegar and wasabi powder so I could give it a whirl. Today, 3 1/2 years later, I decided to do just that! The was only one problem...I have already packed my bamboo sushi mat (we're planning to move to a new house sometime this year and I'm packing up things that aren't essential to get a jump start on the whole situation!) and it never fails the minute you pack something you need it, but luckily I found an article online that suggested using a dish towel instead of a bamboo mat and it worked, though I would wager it would be a bit easier with the bamboo mat, but we'll revisit that little hunch when the new house materializes.
So my experience with sushi today stuck with veggies as I'm doing a little experiment with no meat for the month of January. I'll most likely add back in seafood and fish once the month is over, but for now the veggie thing is working out quite well. And to be perfectly honest I like the vegetarian sushi better anyway. At first I could eat the raw fish, but as time has passed there is just something about the consistency that I just don't care for, so I usually stick to cucumber rolls or avocado rolls or the like.
Today's incarnation has avocado, carrots and cucumber and I was extremely pleased at how well it turned out! Over the years the reason I haven't tried to make sushi up to this point is it's one of those things that has an aura around it and some people who are good at making sushi like to make it seem harder than it really is. I'm here to tell you that it was EXTREMELY easy! I was shocked at how easy it was and how easily it went together!
What You'll Need:
1 cup of sushi rice, cooked according to package directions and cooled to handling temperature (Makes roughly 2+ cups of cooked rice)
2 tablespoons of sushi vinegar (If you can't find sushi vinegar you can make some yourself. (See step 2). I haven't tried this method, but I plan to as soon as I run out of the bottle I have.)
1 small carrot, cut into matchsticks
1/4 of an English cucumber, seeded and cut into long strips
1/2 of a small avocado, cut into strips
Nori
A bowl of lukewarm tap water with a pinch of sea salt
Soy sauce
Wasabi
Once the rice is cooked according to package directions remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of sushi vinegar per cup of cooked rice (2 in this case) and stir until incorporated. Let cool.
Once rice is cool to the touch lay a single piece of Nori on a bamboo sushi mat or a clean dish towel. Wet your fingertips in the bowl of lukewarm water and spread sushi rice to the edge of the Nori leaving a 1 inch to 1 1/2 inch edge on the bottom:
Next line your ingredients across the bottom edge of the rice on the end with the edge:
Using your sushi mat or dish towel slowly roll the sushi placing the seam side down:
Slice and serve with soy sauce and wasabi.
I personally like my sushi a bit chilled so I put it in the fridge, covered for about 30 minutes prior to eating. You can eat it immediately if you like.
This recipe made 2 rolls with just a little rice left over.
Posted by Dianne at 1:53 PM | Comments (4) | TrackBack
Welcome!
Welcome to Dianne's Dishes! For the past 3 years I've been posting recipes on my other blog, but I felt like it was time to make a blog that focuses on food itself and thus Dianne's Dishes is born!
Sit back, relax and enjoy my recipes and feel free to comment and tell me about food you like or think I should try!
Enjoy!
Posted by Dianne at 12:27 PM | Comments (0) | TrackBack