Been cookin'

Besides being swamped with work for the past several days, I also caught a case of the sickies. Nothing terrible, just a sore throat and cold that have been going around. I'm on the up-swing now both with school and with my health, so I thought it was time to jump back into some food blogging.


I made Chipotle Yam Wedges from Vive recently, and they were so delicious that we've had them a couple of times since then! Simplest recipe in the world, really, but it's right on. Here they are with some black beans (courtesy of my freezer) and some sautéed kale. This is the kind of lunch I really prefer to have--large and colorful and healthy.


Also from Vive, we tried the Chickpea Ratatouille this week. In one word, FANTASTIC! It's a very warm, mellow, hearty meal, seen here over a brown and wild rice mix. Bob has been raving about how awesome this is (and he's right), so I bet we'll be making this again soon. One recipe of it made about three servings for each of us, which also gives it points in my book.


When I have a sore throat, I love eating a hot bowl of oatmeal for breakfast. I don't have oatmeal very often right now, since I have to get up super early to cook it. But wanting something warm on my throat, I got up one morning and made some. I added some chopped ginger for good health, almond extract and cinnamon for flavor, frozen blueberries for all their delicious antioxidant goodness, ground flax seeds stirred in at the last minute, and a drizzle of agave nectar on top. Served with a nice pot of ginger-infused green tea... There you have it. Breakfast of champions.

Seriously, I am trying to vary my breakfasts a little more these days. Usually I eat a bowl of fortified cereal with soy milk, and then a couple of hours later I have an apple. When you're rushed in the mornings, you don't have time for much fanciness. But if anyone has any winning breakfast ideas that are filling and not too fussy (and not smoothies until it warms up about 20 degrees), I would love to hear your suggestions! Breakfast is my favorite meal of the day, when I have time to do it right.


When I do have more time in the morning, I love baked oatmeal. There is a recipe from Fatfree Vegan that I have come to love, and I made this for breakfast over the weekend. Again, green tea with ginger was an absolute must to accompany this meal.


We tried our hand at making French bread this week from La Dolce Vegan, like Don't Get Mad, Get Vegan also blogged about a while back. Her loaves turned out much prettier than mine--next time I will have to make the slashes more neatly. But this was so tasty and tender, nothing like the stuff you see advertised as "French" bread. No, this reminded me of the real thing. I confess that even though I was supposed to use all white flour, I subbed about half of it with whole wheat pastry flour--I couldn't make myself not do it. No harm done, though--the taste and texture were still amazing. Next time I am going to try baguettes, because I love real French baguettes more than any other kind of bread in the world. See?


This picture was taken three years ago when I was in Paris, and depicts my love affair with baguettes.


Now on to the sweet stuff. I made these chili chai glazed nuts as a treat for Bob to keep on his desk at work. The original recipe used walnuts, but I (like Melissa West) subbed almonds since we generally like almonds better and they're a source of calcium. Yum, these are delicious! I'm glad I sent them to work with Bob so I don't have to try to resist them every day.


And finally, Peanut Butter Cupcakes topped with Quick Melty Ganache, from VCTOTW. I told Bob to pick out a cupcake recipe for us to try, and this was the winner. They came out very elegant looking and quite yummy. They're gone now, mostly because we had plenty of opportunities to share. Gotta share the cupcake love!

Hoping everyone had a wonderful Valentine's day! I wanted to try to cook something special, but then the sore throat and cold thing hit me and I didn't feel like getting creative, or even getting in the kitchen at all. Bob and I have a tradition, though, of going to The Grit on Valentine's day--we have done it every year since we first got together. Yesterday may have been our last V-day at The Grit, since we will be moving away from Athens this summer... But it was fun and the food was great (as always). I had a spicy tofu-veggie stir fry, and Bob had an avocado-citrus wrap with tortilla lime soup, which tasted strongly of chipotle.

This Saturday, yours truly will be 23 years old. How can that be??? Anyway, I don't know what my plans are yet, but I'm sure it will be a good time. I will get back to you in a few days and fill you in on all my birthday antics! Best wishes to you all... Peace!