Chickpea/Spinach Curry, Breakfast Burritos, and Pad Thai

I don’t know what took me so long to try the Chickpea and Spinach Curry recipe from VwaV. I’m kind of mad at myself I’ve been missing out on this tasty dish! If you can’t tell by my previous posts, I’ve been on a Chickpea and Curry bender the past week or two. This recipe was absolutely delicious and will give you plenty of leftovers.

One thing I can’t find in Chicagoland is Aunt Mid’s Baby Spinach. I haven’t liked the other brands I’ve tried here and the fresh spinach at the stores has been really hit or miss. Luckily, at Sam’s Club of all places, I found a large 1.5 lb bag of Newman’s Own Organic Baby Spinach. It was on the pricey side at $4.48 but it was tasty so that makes it worth it. This recipe calls for 10 cups of fresh spinach so I’m glad I bought a big bag. I have enough spinach left to make some Pasta Alfredo.

Wow, you can really see the steam in this picture:

This morning for breakfast I made Breakfast Burritos from the Hot Damn and Hell Yeah Cookbook/Zine by Ryan Splint. For the tortillas, I used the ones with the blue label from Trader Joes. The filling is packed full of veggies – mushrooms, onions, carrots, potatoes, corn, and red pepper – and mixed with black beans. The recipe calls for canned diced tomatoes but I’m not crazy about canned tomatoes in burrito fillings. I cut up some fresh Roma tomatoes instead.

I made a double batch so we’ll be eating these for breakfast or dinner for the next couple of days. I’ll also up the spice levels next time too. I’m a big fan of spicy food.

Breakfast Burrito Filling:

A very exciting picture (HA!) of the breakfast burrito. No fancy garnishes because I was really hungry this morning:

Now for another repeat. I made VwaV’s Brooklyn Pad Thai yet again. I always like to use wide rice noodles in my Pad Thai. In fact, the first time I ever had Pad Thai, it was made with wider rice noodles. I sheepishly admit the first time I ever had Thai Food was from a veg-friendly food vendor at Lollapalooza in 1995! LOL

Hope everyone has a fantastic day!!!

Potato Focaccia Pugliese – WCC #13

This is my entry for the the 13th Weekend Cookbook Challenge, which is to make a recipe from one of your newest cookbooks. You have until February 5th to participate so get a move on!!!

My newest cookbook is 100 Great Breads by Paul Hollywood. It was a bargain book purchase at Barnes & Noble. I was hemming and hawing over whether I should purchase it or not. Rob saw the delicious pictures in the cookbook and also noticed it was a bargain book. He said “we have to get this!” Thanks for helping me decide Rob.

I decided to try the Potato Focaccia Pugliese which features potato slices and fresh rosemary sprigs on top. It was delicious and I’ll definitely make it again very soon. I have plenty of potatoes – I just picked up a 10 lb. bag of white potatoes at Meijer for only 99¢. As always, the hardest part is waiting for the bread to cool before you can slice it.

Potato Focaccia Pugliese (slightly modified)

scant 4 cups white bread flour, plus extra for dusting
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 package yeast
1 1/4 cups water
olive oil
1 or 2 new potatoes, thinly sliced
coarse salt, to sprinkle
2 sprigs fresh rosemary, de-stemmed

Put the flour, sea salt, yeast, and water into a bowl and mix to form a dough. Let stand in the bowl for about 1 hour to double in size.

Line a baking sheet. Tip the dough out of the bowl onto the baking sheet and flatten with your hands, then brush with olive oil and, using your fingers, make indentations over the surface. Layer the potatoes over the top, then sprinkle with a little coarse salt and stud with the rosemary sprigs. Let rise on the baking sheet for 1 hour.

Preheat the over to 450 degrees. Bake the bread for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and brush the loaf with more olive oil, then transfer to a wire rack and serve when cooled.

Makes 1 loaf

100 Great Breads – Paul Hollywood

Aloo Chole, Scallion Pancakes, and Thrifty Finds

This past week just flew by! Things have been busy around here so I’ve been making a lot of repeats. However, I did try two new recipes.  I made some Aloo Chole which was really yummy.  I think I’ll make it spicier next time though. It’s definitely a make-again meal. Rob ate it the next day for lunch and said it reheated well.

The scallion pancakes were good but I’m going to have to make some adjustments next time. They were tasty but they were thicker than I expected. The soy sauce-based dipping sauce  looked pretty in my Glasbake custard cups. The cups are wide enough so you can easily dip your fork with the pancake piece into it.

Thanks to a test drive offer Rob participated in last year, we got a $50 prepaid debit gift card in the mail.  We decided to spend it at Amazon where we bought the Simpsons Season 9 DVD set and a case of 12 Newman’s Own Organic Spelt Pretzels. After using the card, our total out of pocket cost was $1.48. Cheap!!! We are seriously addicted to those pretzels. They are fantastic.  I’ve got my parents hooked on them now too.

Now for some thrifty finds. I spent a whopping $2 on two vintage books. The book on the left is The Good Housekeeping – Housekeeping Book. It was published in 1947. It’s a rather interesting book with information that is still relevant today. It’s all about, as you expected, housekeeping. There were some neat items tucked inside the book too – recipe clippings, an old pamphlet about Wisk laundry detergent, and a 1940’s postcard from a hotel where the room rates were between $2.50 and $4.50 a night. LOL

The book on the right is the The Canning and Freezing Book which was published in 1975 by the Culinary Arts Institute. The book is chock full of information and recipes.  I know I will learn a lot of useful information from this book.

Mad props to Rob for spotting this awesome retro clock. It was never used and works fine. It even came with the original box too! The woman running the sale told me how the owner had tons of stuff that was never used and still in the original boxes. I even saw some Pyrex that was new in the box! Of course, the prices on the Pyrex were at a premium because of it. Too expensive for me! I’m thrilled with this nifty clock.

My Chia Herb Garden is doing good however the plants needed more light. I didn’t have a chance to take a picture of it but Rob built a grow light for me. He made a frame out of pvc pipes. It came out really good and works like a champ.

Have a great weekend everyone!!! 

What’s In My Basket?

I’m participating in the What’s in your Basket? round-up at Rachel’s Food Maven Blog. There’s still time left to participate if you’re interested (you have until January 25th to post). Now for my grocery purchases.

I went to two grocery stores. The first store I went to was Caputo’s Fresh Market. I’ll list what I bought under each picture.

• 12 Granny Smith Apples (for pie and crumble)
• 2 mangoes
• 4 pears
• 2 Navel Oranges
• 1 bunch bananas (5)
• 4 pints blackberries
• 11 kiwis (green)
• 1 lb. bag Bunny Luv Organic Carrots
• 16 oz. package white mushrooms

• 1 large cabbage (weighs over 6 lbs)
• 3 white onions
• 2 red onions
• 3 stalks lemongrass (cheapest item, only 16¢)
• 1 medium sized hunk of fresh ginger
• 2 handfuls worth of Thai Chile Peppers
• 3 jalapenos
• 1 bunch fresh rosemary
• 2 green peppers
• 3 sweet potatoes
• 6 heads of garlic

• 4 lemons
• 6 limes
• 2 celery
• 6 bunches of green onions
• bean sprouts (used them yesterday in VwaV’s Brooklyn Pad Thai)
• 1 bunch curly parsley (between the bean sprouts and cilantro)
• 3 bunches cilantro

The second store I went to was Whole Foods.

• walnuts (bulk, half-pound)
• slivered almonds (bulk, three-quarters of a pound)
• blanched peanuts, salted (bulk, three-quarters of a pound)
• 9-oz. container dried blueberries (most expensive item, $9.99 but worth it. I use it in homemade granola)
• 2 cans Muir Glen Stewed Tomatoes (I use this brand because they do not contain high-fructose corn syrup. I also used two $1/1 coupons. Thanks to my Mom for sending me her extra coupons!)
• 4 cans 365-Brand organic black beans
• 4 cans 365-Brand organic chickpeas
• 96 oz. jug 365-Brand orange juice
• 1 package Bionaturae organic linguine
• 4 cans 365-Brand organic tomato paste
• 1 package chives (I had the hardest time finding chives so I had to buy them here…the ones in my Chia Herb garden aren’t ready yet)
• Smart Deli “Bologna” (Thanks to Jody at VegChic for the link to a $1/1 coupon. Rob picked this out as he likes to eat sandwiches and I don’t.)
• 3 packages 16 oz. White Wave Organic Extra Firm Tofu (I tried WF’s brand tofu and hated it. I miss Panda Tofu which was local to Metro Detroit. I haven’t found a locally made tofu yet in Chicagoland so this is the only tofu I can find that I like.)
• 2 cartons 32 oz. 365-Brand Organic Vegetable Broth
• 1 pint Soy Delicious Peanut Butter Zig Zag (had a $1/1 coupon, this is one of Rob’s favorites)
• 1.5 quart Chicago Soy Dairy – Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough “ice cream” (This stuff is freakin’ delicious! My personal favorite is the mint chocolate chip but we bought that the last two times. Had to mix things up a bit! LOL)

Grand Total: I spent $46.30 at Caputo’s and $65.30 at Whole Foods for a grand total of $111. 60. I don’t know how I managed to have both totals end in 30¢. If you shop at Whole Foods, don’t forget to bring bags with you. They will credit you 10¢ for each bag re-used.

Hope you have a wonderful day!!!

Grilled Asparagus, Dal Soup, and Granola

I picked up some good asparagus this week. My favorite way to prepare asparagus is to toss it with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, sea salt, and freshly ground pepper and grill it. Yum! Since it’s chilly outside, I used my indoor electric T-Fal grill. It worked out well and the asparagus was fantastic. I wish I had bought more!

I tried the Maple Orange Blueberry Granola recipe from ExtraVEGANza today. The orange flavor wasn’t as intense as I had hoped but I’ll fix that next time I make it. It’s just a personal taste preference, nothing to do with the recipe itself. For the blueberries, I used Wild Oats dried blueberries which are sold in 4 oz. bags near the bulk section. The granola was very tasty and I grabbed a handful each time I went near the kitchen. I’ll definitely make it again.

I also made another repeat meal – dal soup. Rob likes to take this for lunch and there was enough left for three lunches. Rob’s co-worker, who is Indian, asked him about his lunch. He told Rob it looked delicious and smelled so good. What a great compliment!

I picked up a pepper mill last time I was at Ikea. I needed one for my Penzeys’ Four Peppercorn Blend. The pepper mill works well and looks pretty sitting out on the counter. In the background, you can check out the fugly kitchen walls and counter-tops in the condo we’re renting. Yikes!!!

I finished embroidering the napkin set. My mom requested the Eiffel Tower pattern. My dad loves anything to do with cars. I didn’t like the car patterns in the books so I settled on a truck.

Food Blogging Event: Rachel is hosting the “What’s in your Basket” grocery round-up on her Food Maven blog. Take pictures of your groceries, list what you bought, how much you spent, the stores you went to and post it on your blog. Then email Rachel the link by January 25th to participate. Should be a lot of fun

Hope everyone has a lovely day!!!