TV and Dinners

I Might Fail at Self-Esteem, But I Win at Banana Bread

Today, my trainer kicked my ass.

(Maybe if I don't mention how I haven't posted in 11 months, no one will notice.)

It was the kind of ass kicking that makes you feel powerful, because despite how hard it was, despite how much I wanted to quit...I didn't. I finished every last burpee, even if I cursed the whole time.

(If I mention it, I'm going to have to explain why I was gone for so long, and I'm not sure I know how to do that.)

Right after I did my last exercise of the day, struggling and shaking, I stood up. I was proud of myself. I am STRONG. Then it happened. I looked in the mirror. I didn't like what I saw. And, immediately, I started beating myself up mentally.

"You're so fat."

"Why can't you stop eating? You're working out so hard and ruining it with your diet."

"You are a failure."

(Hmm. These inner voices might have something to do with why I've been gone so long. I should note this for later.)

At first, I indulged these inner voices. I mentally wallowed in them. Despite all I had just accomplished, I believed them. On my drive home, it hit me.

Fuck those voices. No, really. FUCK THEM. Did those voices just work out their arms so hard they aren't going to be able to wash their hair tomorrow? No. Those voices are chilling in my brain, sipping martinis and watching season four of Breaking Bad five days early because those voices have it easy. All they have to do is hang out in my brain, festering until they see their opportunity to take me down, like Heisenberg tried to take down Tuco.

(Hey, at least I was gone for so long I could use Breaking Bad references in this post. Bright side!)

I'm done with those voices. Just as Heisenberg ultimately wasn't the one who took down Tuco, those voices aren't going to defeat me. Those voices are the things that caused me to gain this weight in the first place. Those voices aren't welcome here anymore.

(Maybe I took the Breaking Bad thing too far. JESSE PINKMAN, CALL ME. Ahem. Anyway.)

I have a broken relationship with food and my body. And I need to fix it, because this broken relationship is affecting everything else in my life. I'm not quite sure how to do it in the long run. Tonight it involved making banana bread. Not just banana bread, but the best damn banana bread I've ever made.

It seems counterintuitive, I know. Making food to solve your issues with food? But creating recipes is fun. Way more fun than assault and battery on your own emotions. So, if you're having a bad day, make this bread. Eat a piece. Don't feel guilty about it.

And then, the next day, do it again. Because this bread is delicious.

Tropical Banana Nut Bread

3/4 c. flour
3/4 c. whole wheat flour
3-4 ripe bananas
1 8oz. can crushed pineapple
1/3 c. unsweetened coconut
1/3 c. walnuts
1/2 c. sugar
1/4 c. coconut oil
1 egg
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a bowl, whisk together flours, baking soda, cinnamon and salt. Set aside.

In mixer, combine bananas, pineapple, coconut oil and sugar until incorporated. Add egg and vanilla. Slowly stir in flour mixture until just combined - don't overmix! Stir in walnuts and coconut.

Pour mixture into greased loaf pan and sprinkle additional nuts on top of loaf, because it's pretty and we like things that are pretty. Bake 45 minutes to an hour, until a tester comes out clean. (Optional: pull loaf out halfway through cooking time and top with shredded coconut for more pretty, pretty garnish.)

Cool in pan on a wire rack. Then EAT IT.

 

Side note: does anyone else's kitchen look like this when they bake?

I am a nightmare.

The Perfect Summer Meal

I don't know if you've heard, but it's kind of hot outside. Not quaint hot, like "oh, maybe I should rethink my hair choice," but crazy hot, like "gather up your elderly lest they die of heat stroke." While I am a professed fan of warm climes, I have to admit. It is stupid hot in Nashville right now.

I came home from work starving and sweaty and immediately buried my face in this.

Refreshing. If not necessarily ladylike.

I have an overwhelmingly full fridge because of my abundant CSA share this week, so fresh produce was on the menu for dinner tonight, and a lot of it. I also wanted to include some protein and the first thing that came to mind was hummus, so I whipped up a batch and it turned out to be my best hummus ever. Simple - but blog-worthy - for sure.

Creamy Lemony Hummus

1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
Juice of 1.5 large lemons (or 2 smaller ones)
1 large clove garlic, chopped
1 heaping tablespoon tahini
1-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
Salt & pepper to taste

Put all ingredients except olive oil in a food processor and blend until combined. While machine is on, stream in oil until you get your desired smooth and creamy consistency (mine took about 2 tablespoons, but I eyeballed it and didn't measure). Taste a few times along the way to adjust salt & pepper levels. Enjoy!

This hummus is great because the extra lemon juice really gives it a bright kick, and the cayenne gives a bit of background warmth and depth of flavor. If you like it as hot as the ridiculous weather outside, feel free to add more cayenne.

I basically made this hummus as a vehicle for the jaw-droppingly good tomatoes I got from my CSA this week, because just eating slices of tomato for dinner while standing over the sink would be sad. Not that I did that, or anything. All I will say is that there was more to this tomato than is pictured below. And now there isn't.

This tomato masterpiece was a piece of toast topped with hummus, tomatoes, salt, pepper and basil. Served with a quick cucumber salad (similar to this one) and corn on the mother-freaking cob.

Out of this world good. Let's see it all close-like.

Ridiculous.

See that gritty stuff? It's SALT. And the shiny stuff? BUTTER. Man, I am going to have happy dreams tonight.

Later on after wiping the drool off my face I watched the newest episode of Covert Affairs. I wish that show was better. I love spy stuff, I love girls who kick ass, and I love Christopher Gorham most of all (Jake 2.0!!!) but it is just not doing it for me. Oh, well, it's summer. I'll watch anything in the summer.

Other things I do in the summer? Eat my weight in watermelon. This was dessert.

Goodnight! I'm off to dream about butter. And air conditioning.

I'm Not A Vegan, But I Cook Like One

So, the month-long vegan eating adventure has come to an end. I planned on posting my big retrospective yesterday, but I was too busy eating meat (and then paying for it dearly -- I get it, vegetables, you rule and meat drools). Despite being a day late to the party I still wanted to talk a little bit about the experience because, while I didn't fully change my views on eating meat vs. not, I did gain a bit of perspective on the matter. I learned a little bit more about how my diet affects my body to boot. Bonus!

Let's do an old fashioned pro/con thing, shall we?

Vegan Pros:

• Much easier to pull off in the "real world" than I imagined. You have to do more research, but many restaurants post nutritional information online. Also, the explosion of allergies among the population actually greatly helps vegans, because allergy information always includes milk and eggs, making it easy to suss out hidden vegan dangers. Non-chain, local restaurants were very willing to work with me as well to make my meals tasty and vegan. (Vegan nachos from Calypso Cafe are almost better than the real thing!)
• I honestly felt really good about my food all month. There is something very satisfying about knowing you are always getting enough fruits and vegetables in your life.
• I discovered that I don't actually need cheese. At all. Ever since I became lactose intolerant, I've maintained a bit of a cheese habit, just in much smaller quantities because I was convinced I couldn't live without it. I made many of my normal dishes just without cheese, and they were just fine. Good, even! (Now, I can't say the same thing about ice cream. I'll always want ice cream.)

Vegan Cons:

• My hunger was completely thrown off all month. I was hungry at weird times, and full at random times when I knew it was technically "time" for a meal. I'm sure this is because I did the vegan thing "wrong," as it probably had something to do with my protein intake.
• It was uncomfortable to refuse to partake in party food at work. I didn't feel like I wanted to fully explain what I was doing, and it was just awkward. Also, I kind of wanted some cake.
• Having to worry about every little thing I put in my mouth was exhausting. So was the guilt I felt when I ate a fortune cookie without thinking and then realized it probably had egg in it. I don't like added food guilt. I get enough of that from the pound of sugar I eat a week.

Overall, I am very glad I took on the challenge and had a lot of fun coming up with creative ways to eat for the month. Do I plan on doing it permanently? No, I don't. I took on this challenge with more of an interest in the dietary aspect of being a vegan, and not the moral aspect, and I think that unless you're being a vegan for moral reasons it's a really difficult thing to keep up. I did take away a new-found respect for the practice, a different way of thinking about food, and a better way of handling my lactose intolerance, so I am grateful for that. I will also probably eat even less meat than I did before, now that I've seen how fun it is to create vegan recipes (and felt really gross after eating some chicken on Sunday, which sort of freaked me out because why is meat making me feel gross now?!?).

But today? Today I ate an egg on my salad at lunch. And some croutons of unknown origin. I didn't feel guilty about it. And it was divine.

Despite not wanting to be a permanent vegan, when looking over the amaze-craze-ness of this week's CSA haul, the first thing that came to mind was a vegan recipe. Hmm. Interesting.

Check out my loot!

WATERMELON!

Seriously.

WATERMELON!

I was so excited I almost did a little dance. (This isn't even all of my veggies, there are more hiding behind the melon and on another counter. Yay, produce!) Along with the veggies they also had some very pretty flowers.

Aren't they cute? (Also, my clock is crooked. Oops.)
 

They make me smile whenever I walk into the kitchen. Today at the pickup they had some beautiful tomatoes and absolutely gorgeous basil, so the first thing that came to mind was bruschetta. Of course, I had no bread so I improvised. I give you: bruschetta pasta!

Summertime Bruschetta Pasta

1 large tomato, seeded and diced
3 tablespoons chopped basil
2 tablespoons finely chopped red onion
1 clove garlic, finely minced and divided in half
1/2 - 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
~2 tablespoons olive oil
Splash balsamic vinegar
2 servings whole wheat spaghetti
Salt & pepper to taste

In a small bowl, combine tomato, basil, onion, half of the garlic, balsamic and salt and pepper. Set aside. Cook pasta according to package directions. While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium to medium high heat. Add the other half of the garlic, crushed red pepper and some salt and pepper and saute until garlic is light brown. (Take careful steps to make sure the garlic doesn't burn, otherwise your pasta will taste like sadness. Trust.) Once the pasta is done, transfer directly into skillet using tongs so some of the pasta water remains sticking to the noodles. If you don't have tongs, you can just drain with a colander and add a splash of pasta water to the skillet. Toss the pasta in the flavored oil and then add the tomato mixture and toss for just a minute to warm. Transfer to serving dish and top with parmesan cheese and extra chopped basil (if desired, I skipped the cheese). Makes two servings.

This is good stuff. Make sure you have good tomatoes, because they make the whole dish. Mmm...tomatoes. Note: if you aren't super crazy about garlic, leave out the raw garlic in the tomato mixture, because this dish is aggressively garlicky. Don't leave it out of the oil, however, because I'm pretty sure the red pepper/garlic-infused oil is what people eat in heaven. If not, heaven sucks.

One Night, Two Recaps
Very belated links to my two Sunday night recaps. I hate Rachel, but apparently all of my readers disagree. But the voice! And the whining! And the ridiculous notion that everyone else in the house somehow wants to "come between" her and Brendon! Ugh. She is the worst.

'Big Brother 12': Hayden and Kristen fight back

'True Blood': Sookie gets closer to the truth

I'm off to eat a million Pretzel M&M's. Goodnight!

Vegan Day 18: Winter in July

I have had such a lovely past few days of vegan eats. Nothing fancy, just a lot of tasty, healthy food. A friend of mine (who obviously isn't following my blog, for shame) asked me today if I was still hanging in with the vegan eating challenge, and I was happy to be able to easily say yes. I was thinking about my diet yesterday and, honestly, I am not eating all that differently than I normally do. OK, my desserts have been drastically cut down but that is a good thing as I am a bit of a sugar fiend. So far, the only thing I am truly missing is eggs. I want an egg really, really bad. There must be something nutritionally in an egg that my body is craving. Cholesterol? Omega 3's? I'm not sure, but I should probably find a way to get what I am missing so my cravings stop!

I was hanging out with Nea and Pablo on Friday night and we were talking about our CSA (we belong to the same one) and how, now that the harvest is fully coming in, we have a ton of veggies left over at the end of the week. Pablo, because he is a cooking genius, said they have been putting all of their remaining veggies into a crock pot meal every Sunday and enjoying it very much. Such a good idea, huh? Well, I don't have a crock pot but I do have a SOUP pot...so soup it was!

Anyone who has been reading my blogs for a while know I have a bit of an obsession with homemade soup in the winter months. I never make it in the summer, but there's a first time for everything, right? My goal was to use up a bunch of veggies, and use them up I did! Everything but the beets got their turn.

"Everything but the Beets" Vegetable and White Bean Soup

~3 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 can no-salt-added diced tomatoes
1 can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
2 red potatoes, diced
1 medium squash, diced
1 leek, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup green beans
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2-3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper
1 tablespoon spice blend (I used Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute)
salt & pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in a large soup pot over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook for 1-2 minutes, then add garlic and cook for another minute or so. Add carrots and leeks, season with a bit of salt and pepper, and cook for another few minutes. Next add the potatoes and let cook for a minute or two, and finally add the squash. Next add crushed red pepper, spice blend and tomato paste and make sure it is well combined with the veggie mixture. Dump in beans, tomatoes and vegetable stock and bring up to a boil. Lower heat and simmer until potatoes are tender (about 30 minutes) and season to taste. Add green beans about 10 minutes before serving to avoid overcooking. Garnish with chopped basil and parsley and (vegan) parmesan cheese if desired. Makes 4 servings.

The soup was great. This is the first time I've added tomato paste to a soup, and I really should do it more often because it adds a nice depth of flavor. The potatoes and beans give the soup some body as well, which is quite pleasant.

On the side, I attempted some vegan cornbread using this award-winning recipe. This was less successful. The texture was perfect, but it wasn't nearly sweet enough for me. Next time I would double the sugar. Also, this might have had something to do with me using white corn meal instead of yellow. Does anyone know anything about corn meal? I didn't even notice I'd gotten white until I got home. Is there a big taste difference? I assume most cornbread uses yellow because of the color. Any tips would be greatly appreciated!

Two Different Kind of Freaks
Sundays are killer, both for entertainment and my sanity as I blog about two different shows. I sure do like both Big Brother and True Blood, but my fingers are tired. Here are links to tonight's recaps:

'Big Brother 12': Rachel makes her nominations

'True Blood': Vikings, vamps and weres, oh my!

Now I shalll eat coconut milk ice cream and go to sleep. Tomorrow, a new batch of CSA veggies. I hear there is going to be corrrrrrrrrrn!

Vegan Day 11, 12 & 13: Happiness is a Burger and Fries

No matter what my intentions, I only manage to cook something interesting enough to blog about every third day or so. This has been especially exaggerated lately because I have been filling in for someone at work (and will be for the next few weeks) and they do a LOT more work than I normally do, so when I get home I am dead tired and it's all I can do to make myself a salad or sandwich and stuff my face while I relax in front of the tube. Because of this, I'm also a bit backed up on my CSA veggies. My crisper is stuffed. It's sort of angry with me, actually, mocking me and calling me lazy for not creating more recipes. Shut it, crisper. Quit judging me.

But, today. Today I have a recipe. Today I bring you: vegan burger and fries!

When it was time for me to clock out at work today I was STARVING and highly craving a veggie burger and fries. Feeling lazy, I called a restaurant in my neighborhood with a good veggie burger to inquire if it was fully vegan. The verdict? They could make the burger vegan, but the bun was not. Drat. Of course, the vegetarian/vegan restaurant in my neighborhood is closed on Tuesdays. As I sat at my desk and contemplated driving to Whole Foods to buy veggie burger patties and buns, I heard a voice in my head. It was my crisper, letting me know that I should get off my lazy behind and make my own darn veggie burger. And oh, I made it. I made the heck out of it. Take that, crisper.

Italian Veggie Burgers

1 can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1 medium to large summer squash (yellow or zucchini), grated
1 medium carrot, grated
2 tablespoons chopped onion
1 garlic clove, grated
2 tablespoons basil, chopped
2 tablespoons flat-leaf parsley, chopped
2 tablespoons tomato paste
1 tablespoon vegan parmesan cheeze
1 tablespoon breadcrumbs
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon seasoning blend (I used Trader Joe's 21 Seasoning Salute, but Italian seasoning would work well)
salt & pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil

Mash beans with a fork. Combine mashed beans and remainder of ingredients (except olive oil). Note: you pretty much have to use your hands to get the best results. Form mixture into four patties. Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat and cook patties for about 4 minutes on each side, until patties are browned and cooked through. Be very cautious when flipping as the patties tend to break. Serve however you best enjoy your veggie burgers!

I served my burger with a smear of tomato paste, lettuce, cucumbers and red onion from my CSA and some hot pepper rings for a little pickled flavor and heat. My "fries" were some roasted CSA potatoes. Despite having to use some really lame bread as my bun (all I had, unfortunately) this was possibly my favorite recipe I've ever created. I was mmm-ing through the entire meal. What do they say about the necessity being the mother of invention? Well, obviously said mother was a vegan in a land of non-vegan eats. These would also be really, really good with some tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese melted on top. Yum!

And now I shall go watch the premiere of my boyfriend Christopher Gorham's new show Covert Affairs. So much summer TV to keep up with this year! It's exhausting.

Vegan Day 8, 9 & 10: Three Days, One Recipe

Before I blather about anything else, I need to discuss something. That Dark Chocolate Dreams peanut butter I bought at Super Target last week? Is EVIL. I am not a big "snacker." I don't eat much between meals. I don't take random bites of things every time I pass through the kitchen. I've worked hard to become a mindful eater and to take the time to enjoy all of my food either in meal or composed, planned snack form. But that peanut butter? Calls to me. It whispers my name as I walk by the cupboard, begging me to take a spoonful to sustain me in my long, arduous 11-step walk between the fridge and my couch. It invades my dreams at night, spinning elaborate tales of its deliciousness.

As a result? It's more than half gone. See what I mean? The peanut butter is evil. There is no other explanation. It must be stopped.

Besides attempting to remain calm in the face of extreme peanut butter temptation, my eats have been pretty lame in the past few days. I haven't had the motivation to cook anything elaborate lately, which is a shame because the vegetables from my CSA just keep getting better and better. They deserve more than lame (but tasty) salads and simple roasting. Tonight I finally got some inspiration and embarked on some actual cooking! It was all inspired, funnily enough, by something I picked up at the aforementioned Super Target of fabulosity:

No-cook whole wheat lasagna noodles! I didn't even know they made such a thing. Gorgeous. After eying the four (very) large squash in my CSA share that were still sitting in my crisper drawer today, I got the idea to make a lasagna-esque pasta bake using these noodles. I say lasagna-esque because, let's face it, lasagna isn't lasagna without cheese. This is a whole different animal. A lovely, delicious animal, but a different animal nonetheless.

Squash Pasta Bake

~8 sheets whole wheat lasagna
2 medium to large summer squash, sliced in 1/2 inch thick rounds
1/4 cup garlic scape pesto (or other pesto of choice)
1 cup tomato sauce*
1 tablespoon basil, chopped
2-3 tablespoons vegan parmesan cheeze

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Spread 1/3 cup tomato sauce in the bottom of a 9x6 casserole dish. Place enough pasta on sauce to completely cover surface area. Place 2 tablespoons of pesto on top of pasta, and then top with one layer of sliced squash. Place another layer of pasta on top of squash, evenly top with 1/3 cup tomato sauce and about half of the cheeze, and another layer of squash, the remaining 2 tablespoons of pesto and basil. Top with a final layer of pasta, the remaining tomato sauce and cheeze. Cover with foil and bake for about 45 minutes until pasta is tender. Makes 2 large servings.

*I made my own simple tomato sauce using garlic and onion from my CSA, a can of diced tomatoes, salt and pepper cooked and then blended in blender until smooth. Use whatever sauce you love.

I was really nervous putting this in the oven, but it turned out pretty well! I will say that, although I love the whole wheat no-boil noodles, I think this dish would work better with precooked noodles. It has less moisture because of the lack of ricotta so the noodles came out a bit chewy. Otherwise, it was great and I'll definitely be making it again. Next time I am going to add many more varieties of veggie because I think that will take it to a whole new level.

Oh, and about that vegan parmesan cheeze. It doesn't totally taste like parmesan, but it does add a good little nuttiness and salty tang like a real cheese. I enjoyed it! There's still nothing like a good, cheesy, old-fashioned lasagna, but this is a fun and tasty change.

Happy Saturday night, folks! I have a date with the Lifetime Movie Network. (I just found out my cable carrier is getting LMN in HD! It was like Christmas in July!)

Vegan Day 1: Bread? Really?

Today I learned an important lesson about being a vegan: dairy and eggs are in EVERYTHING.

I woke up starving and a bit uneasy about what I was going to eat for breakfast and dinner, as I haven't been the the grocery store in ages and my cupboards are bare. Literally, they're bare because all of my food was here.

I had a bit of an ant "situation" in my cupboards and had to take everything out, fumigate and start over. Apparently, ants like graham crackers. The one (unopened) sleeve I had looked like an ant farm. Ew. And gross.

My plan was to pack an almond butter and jelly sandwich in my lunch. Quick and delicious! When I looked at the bread ingredients, however, I noticed the last one: nonfat milk. Why? Why, why, why? I quickly regrouped and packed a giant salad instead. Thank heavens for my CSA, which provided 90% of the ingredients for this impromptu lunch:

I topped this with some hummus and was good to go. For breakfast, I realized I had no fresh fruit in my house (I swear, I'm normally more prepared) so I rummaged in the freezer and found juuuust enough frozen fruit to make a smoothie.

This is made of banana, blueberries, unsweetened soy milk and oatmeal (for staying power). Oh, and look at my new smoothie cup! It's it pretty?!? I walked around work all morning yesterday introducing it to my coworkers. They weren't as impressed as they should have been. I mean, it has a screw-on lid. That's fancy.

My breakfast and lunch were tasty but not the most filling meals in the world, so as soon as I got home (from the GROCERY STORE, finally) I speed-cooked exactly what I was craving: rice and beans.

Happy happy. So happy. This is your standard weird ingredient-filled yellow rice (mmm...MSG) topped with black beans I sauteed with garlic, onion, a can of Rotel and spices. Layered on top of that is simple sauteed yellow squash, avocado and salsa. With chips on the side for crunch. So good I didn't miss cheese or sour cream at all. Vegan success! Unless one of the weird ingredients in the rice wasn't vegan. Then, fail.

I'm off to make a very, very non-vegan cake for a work party tomorrow. The positive: I actually hate this kind of cake so I won't be tempted to eat any. Score!

My CSA Runneth Over

I simultaneously hate and love Mondays. On the hate side, there's that whole going back to work after the weekend thing. The love? Monday is CSA pick-up day! This lovesick glow quickly turns right back around into hate when I get home and realize I have to do an hour's worth of work washing, trimming and storing all of my haul. (I learned a lesson the hard way after not cleaning my greens right away one week: unwashed farm-fresh produce does NOT last as long as the Frankenproduce they sell in grocery stores. Oops! Swiss chard fail.)

This week's haul was the biggest and most diverse one yet, which means we're definitely getting into good growing season, which for a vegetable nerd like me is pretty exciting. Check out my loot:

Clockwise from top: squash, red onion, red chard, lettuce, green onions, basil, parsley, beets (with their greens!!), potatoes, celery, fresh garlic. 

After I took this picture and started washing everything I realized it would probably be much more visually appealing to look at clean vegetables. Here are a few of the washed beauties:

Yeah...that's the good stuff.

I stood in the kitchen staring at all of this bounty and wondering how I was possibly going to eat it all in one week, and the perfect dish came to me to use a lot of these things all in one meal: a roasted beet salad. Giada De Laurentiis has a gorgeous recipe for one that I've made in the past, but I didn't have all of the ingredients so I decided to improvise just a little bit. It turned out great!

Roasted Beet Salad (adapted from Giada De Laurentiis)

For the salad:
2-3 beets
2 cups chopped lettuce
2 Tbsp. dried cranberries
2 Tbsp. chopped walnuts, toasted
2 Tbsp. crumbled feta cheese
1 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Salt & pepper to taste

For the dressing:
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1 Tbsp. honey
3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
1 garlic clove, grated or put through garlic press
1 Tbsp. red onion, finely minced
1 Tbsp. chopped basil
1 Tbsp. chopped parsley
Salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place beets in a tin foil "package", toss with 1 Tbsp. olive oil, salt and pepper, close foil tightly. Roast for 30-45 minutes or until beets are tender. Once beets have cooled a bit, peel and cut into about 1" pieces.

While the beets are roasting, combine all dressing ingredients (except olive oil) until honey is completely dissolved. Slowly stream in olive oil while whisking until fully incorporated. Toss beets in dressing and place dressing-coated beets on a tin foil-lined baking sheet. (Note: there will be quite a bit of extra dressing. Reserve for use on salad greens or for other future use.) Roast beets in a 450 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.

To assemble salad: toss greens in a bit of leftover salad dressing (if desired) and salt and pepper to taste and place on serving plate. Sprinkle dried cranberries and walnuts over greens. Place warm beets on top of salad and sprinkle feta cheese over the top. Makes one large, tasty salad!

Another reason to hate Mondays? Absolutely no good summer television. Boo. I'm off to go watch reruns of The West Wing in bed.

Shameless Plug Alert!

My recap of True Blood's second episode is up on Zap2it:

'True Blood': Nazi werewolves, oh my!

Click, read, comment! Please. So I can get paid.

The Politics of Tabbouleh

Lately, I've been watching reruns of The West Wing on Bravo. I like to revisit old favorite shows periodically to see how well they've aged and just to remind myself of their general kickassedness. I recently decided to rewatch ER from the beginning via TNT, which was going swimmingly until TNT decided to stop airing the show in the middle of season 13. A year of my life, down the drain. Thanks a lot, jerks! (Granted, they did replace ER with reruns of the very awesome Supernatural, but as much as I want to see Jensen Ackles on my screen every day they could have waited a few more weeks, you know? Sigh.)

Where was I? Oh, yeah. The West Wing. I was a huge fan of the first two seasons but had a hard time swallowing the condescension and naked politics of the post-September 11th season three premiere, and stopped watching some time during that season. When I saw the episodes were about to start over from the beginning, I decided to give it one more shot to see if some time and distance would change my mind. I'm only about three quarters of the way through the first season, and liking it (but not with the passion I had originally -- Aaron Sorkin characters can be much more annoying than I remembered) but the one thing that sticks out to me more than anything in this rewatch is the politics. All of the issues Bartlet's administration is dealing with? Our country is still dealing with today. Here is a list of a just a few I can remember off the top of my head:

- Don't ask, don't tell
- Campaign contribution reform, specifically in reference to corporations
- Rash call to fire someone who says something dumb on television
- Census panic
- Criticism for never getting anything accomplished (OK, this could apply to any presidency)

There are more examples that have already exited my mind, stage left. It's sort of crazy. Seriously, if C.J. didn't wear such dowdy suits and everyone didn't talk about their beepers, I would think this show was a new summer drama. I'm not trying to get political on my blog -- if I attempt to talk about politics I will inevitably just end up sounding like an idiot -- but it is pretty depressing to realize how little things have changed in the past 11 years. But this is a good thing for Sorkin, I suppose. If chunky shoes and long, baggy suit jackets come back into style, he will never have to worry about losing residuals on the reruns!

Enough about politics, as even fantasy television politics can be horrendously depressing. Let's talk about food! My CSA share this week was chock full of leafy greens of all stripes. I used to worry about not getting enough dark leafy greens in my diet, but no more. I am going to start sweating green soon. (That sounds like a euphemism for having lots o' cash. I wish.) The leafy green in my share I was most interested in this week wasn't a leafy green at all, however, but an herb: parsley. And watching The West Wing and thinking about global politics made me realize exactly what I wanted to make with it. Tabbouleh!

I seriously love tabbouleh, but many times when I buy it in the store it is disappointing: too much bulgur, too dry, not zesty enough. I like my tabbouleh to be a very lemony herb salad with grains, not the other way around. The only way I can usually get what I want? Get off my lazy butt and make it myself.

Isn't it pretty? I sure love tabbouleh. I made some substitutions for the normal bulgur based on what I had on hand, making this less of a traditional tabbouleh and more of a tabbouleh-inspired salad. (How is tabbouleh in spell check but not bulgur? Weird.) Anywho, I used this:

 

It is a lovely change.

 

Tabbouleh-Inspired Harvest Grains Salad

1 1/4 cup Trader Joe's Harvest Grains (or other grain of your choice)
2 cups flat-leaf parsley, chopped
1/4 cup mint, chopped
3/4 cup diced cucumber
1 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
2-3 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Juice of one large lemon
Salt & pepper to taste

Cook grains according to package directions and cool completely. Combine rest of ingredients and chill. Makes 4-6 side-dish sized servings.

The celery isn't traditional here, but I had some in my CSA and threw it in. It was tasty! I also randomly sprinkled some feta cheese I had on hand at the last minute for serving purposes, which was SUPER delicious. I highly recommend doing that.

Side note: this weird Kia commercial just came on with hamsters rapping to an old Black Sheep song. Um, what? I really think 90% of advertising is created during drug-fueled ad exec all-nighters. I'd rather picture them all just drinking scotch and smoking Lucky Strikes instead.

Hey, Summer, How You Doin'?

At some point this weekend I realized it was summer. A little late to the game, I know. It wasn't the ridiculous heat and humidity (seriously, Nashville, WTF?) that did it. No, it was Justin Bieber.

Let me explain. I have this weird thing where I become obsessed with pop music in the summer. All pop music. Even the really bad, embarrassing pop music. I've always maintained a side obsession with all things pop -- hello, Britney! -- but for some reason I can really only tolerate it in the summer. Not just tolerate it, crave it. Need it. Three days before summer begins? Can't stand it. I know, I have issues.

Anyway, I was driving around on Friday after work and flipped on a new Nashville pop station. And left it there. For like an hour. Through a Justin Bieber song, a Katy Perry song, AND a KeUSDha song. Ladies and gentlemen, summer has arrived. Let my ears begin to bleed!

Also a sign of summer is the absolutely gorgeous produce available right now. After swooning over beet greens in my CSA last week, I was lucky enough to get them again. This time I incorporated them into a frittata bursting with summer flavor. Bonus: cheap, quick and easy, too! Summer rules.

Beet Green, Tomato and Feta Frittata

2 eggs
Splash milk (or milk substitute) -- I used unsweetened soy milk
1-2 cups chopped beet greens
1/4 cup cherry tomatoes, chopped
1-2 Tbsp. crumbled feta cheese
2 Tbsp. onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, finely minced
1/2 Tbsp. extra virgin olive oil
Crushed red pepper
Salt & pepper to taste

Heat olive oil in small oven-proof skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and garlic and saute for 1-2 minutes. Add beet greens and cook until fully wilted. Season with crushed red pepper, salt and pepper to taste.

In a separate bowl, whisk together eggs and milk and season lightly with salt and pepper (if desired). Turn heat on skillet down to medium/medium-low and add egg mixture, making sure to pour it evenly into skillet so it covers all surface area. Cook for a few minutes until partially set, then sprinkle feta on top.

Place skillet under heated broiler until eggs are fully set and feta is partially melted. Makes 1-2 servings. (Double recipe -- at least -- if using standard-size skillet.)

If you don't have beet greens, any dark leafy greens will do. Frittatas are great because you can add almost anything to them and they turn out delicious, as long as eggs and cheese are involved. Also, they are way easier than omelets because you don't have to worry about that whole pesky "flipping" thing. I command you to make frittatas! Immediately! (But stay away from Justin Bieber. Trust me on this.)

I'm Totally Team Eric
You know how else I know it's summer? True Blood is back! I have the distinct pleasure of doing Zap2It's recaps for the show. Check out my take on the premiere here:

'True Blood' Season Premiere: We have werewolves!