It seems like just yesterday it was October, and still hot, and I was itching for cooler weather and “oven season.” Well, oven season is in full swing, and our recent icy weekend gave me a chance to spend extra time in the kitchen.
St. Louis pretty much shut down on Friday with the impending ice storm (which was, at least where we were, rather underwhelming). I made a quick grocery store run first thing on Friday morning. A small amount of freezing rain fell right before I left, making untreated areas a bit slippery, but 98% of my route was treated. I debated the wisdom of bike over car, but I was happier on the bike. Definitely a day for sticking to the streets and eschewing the untreated greenway.
I was a bit nervous about what I would find when I left the grocery store, but the precip had stopped and the temp had risen a few degrees, so everything was just wet for my return trip.
Not your stereotypical “bread, milk, eggs” grocery store run. Obviously my biggest fear is being iced in with no fresh produce!
Come dinner time, I turned to a new cookbook, The Veggie-Lover’s Sriracha Cookbook, a Christmas gift from my sister. I certainly love veggies, and I’m quite fond of sriracha, and the “Sriracha Sweet Potato Shepherd’s Pie” caught my eye.
As usual, I used the recipe as a guide, not a dictate — I tossed in some red cabbage and subbed lentils for the tempeh (my original plan was to use both tempeh and lentils, but I was in a hurry to get it in the oven, so I skipped the tempeh). I also went a little light on the sriracha with G in mind (even though he was “stuck” at grandma’s for the day and night) — you can always add more sauce at the table.
We invited a neighbor to dine with us, and we all enjoyed the flavorful, filling dish.
Most of my kitchen experiments are intentional, but every once in awhile, there’s an accident. On Saturday morning, we had a little kitchen mix-up. Matthew was making waffles, and I found a small jar of what I thought was oat flour. I gave it to him to toss into the waffles.
Several minutes later, he brought me a sample of a waffle with great flavor, but a pronounced crunch, a crunch beyond what we experience when adding a bit of cornmeal to the waffles. We weren’t sure why they were so crunchy, and he continued making waffles while I went about my morning.
I was walking down the basement stairs when a thought hit me, and I froze. Suddenly, I was pretty sure I knew what had been in that jar, and it wasn’t oat flour. A few months ago I experimented with making my own calcium supplement from eggshells — the process was laborious, requiring boiling, baking, and then grinding (in small batches in our coffee grinder) the eggshells. The result of my efforts was a small jar of finely ground eggshells that I quickly forgot after putting in a jar in the refrigerator . . .
. . . until now. After a few moments’ deliberation, I fessed up to the mix-up. We now have a triple batch of “Calcium Crunch Waffles” in our freezer. Edible, but not something I would have done on purpose!
Keeping with the [intentionally] trying new recipes spirit, I used this Morrocan Farro and Lentil Soup recipe from Food & Nutrition magazine as a guide for a week night meal. I’d been eyeing the recipe for awhile, but I wasn’t in the mood for soup, so I used the spicing as inspiration for a veggie and grain bowl. It was a fun change from the standard spicing and flavoring I use.
Another night, I was looking for something new to do with millet, and I found this recipe: Millet Cakes with Carrot and Spinach. It was a little involved and time-consuming for a weeknight, but I managed to pull it together by skipping the chilling step, which worked okay because I baked them instead of frying (without the chill time, I think they would have fallen apart when frying).
I’m looking forward to getting my hands on a copy of America’s Test Kitchen’s “Complete Vegetarian Cookbook” (thanks, library), which I discovered through the millet cakes recipe. More kitchen riffs to come, no doubt!
Finally, in the sweets category, I made these Kahlua Truffle Bars. We received some of these truffles as a Christmas gift a few years back, and I was quite taken by them. A soft shortbread crust with a rich, dark chocolate topping — what’s not to love?
For some reason, the crust on mine came out crunchy (no, it did not have eggshells in it!), which was not bad, but also not what I was hoping for. Matthew really likes it with the crunch, but I want to figure out how to get a softer crust next time.
In the spirit of closing a couple of random tabs I’ve had open for weeks, while still keeping track of things, here are a couple of items on my “To Try” list: