We went wildflower hunting in the Rademacher Hills yesterday, and found little more than phacelias and some small yellow flowers. It's early yet, but indications are that this will be an OK year, not great. In Death Valley the yellow flowers are blooming in some places, but the sometimes-luxurious bloom in the southern reaches of the valley are barren.
I've decided to keep my blogging-hand in by writing about what I cook. One thing about being retired -- I have time to try new recipes to my heart's content. We are trying to eat more vegetables and fruits and less meat, so I've been having fun with Moosewood cookbooks and Vegetable Love and my old faithful Vegetarian Planet. We shop at the small Friday Farmers Market and plan our menus around the fresh produce.
In the last couple of weeks, we've had some notable dishes, including Navajo Stew, Polenta-Stuffed Peppers, Pan-Asian Slaw, and Indian Potatoes from Moosewood's Simple Suppers. We also roasted some brussels sprouts (following the Vegetable Love recipe after failing miserably with directions from Mark Bittman), and made some lovely lemon curd from Vegetarian Planet to go on our strawberries. And of course I made yogurt to use in Wednesday night's whole-spice keema with cucumber raita from Indian Home Cooking -- along with parathas, a whole lot of rolling and rolling.
The Moosewood recipes truly are pretty simple. The only failing I find with this cookbook is its sometimes less-than-satisfactory measurements. How much would two medium sweet potatoes weigh? Your guess is as good as mine. The Navajo Stew, served with pitas and topped with yogurt, is nice and spicy. The polenta-stuffed peppers are prepared in the oven -- easy, easy. We used parmesan cheese rather than cheddar, and topped the dish with some of our homemade heirloom tomato sauce from the freezer. The Pan-Asian Slaw with its hot dressing is another keeper, and the Indian Potatoes are perhaps not quite spicy enough.
On the bill for this next week, in the vegetarian department: Potato, Greens & Goat Cheese Quesadillas, a Vegetarian Cassoulet, and a Rustic Cabbage Soup culled from the epicurious.com site, along with pasta with sun-dried tomatoes; an Asian Slaw recipe from an old Bon Appetit, a familiar favorite; Green Beans Au Gratin from the Silver Spoon.
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