I'm Back! and Meatless Monday #1

I'm back!  At the end of my last post, I said I'd be back in a week. Or sooner.  That was about 18 months ago.  I don't have any followers yet, so I probably wasn't missed, but I'll be working on finding some readers soon too!

So in the last 18 months, I have had to eat dinner.  Almost every day.  But, I must admit I haven't done a whole lot of cooking.  But, I'm going to do better, I swear! 

One of the reasons I am trying to cook more often is that I think I will probably make healthier choices if I am cooking most of my own meals.  To that end, I've also decided to start participating in "Meatless Monday."  Yesterday, I made my first meatless meal : Vegan Quinoa and Sweet Potato Chili.

I found this recipe on my favorite place to waste time as of late, Pinterest. If you are not on Pinterest yet, go there now.  (Unless you have something important to do, because I promise you won't get it done.)

The recipe comes from the website Milk Free Mom, which has some other very tasty looking things that I may try on future meatless Mondays.

Here are a couple of notes if you decide to check out the recipe:

1. It made A LOT! This is probably a great thing if you are cooking for a family.  I am cooking for one.  I am going to eat it for a few days, and then I'm going to put a few servings in the freezer to see how it turns out.  If it doesn't turn out well after freezing, I might just make half the recipe next time.

2.  I needed some additional stock because the chili was getting very thick before the sweet potatoes were done enough for my taste.  The recipe called for vegetable stock, but when I needed extra liquid, I cheated and used chicken broth, because it was already open in my fridge.

3.  I am not an expert photographer, and I took this picture with my cell phone.  But, MY PICTURE LOOKED JUST LIKE THE PICTURE ON THE WEBSITE!!!!  If you can't tell from my CAPS, I am very excited that what I made looks exactly like it's supposed to.  That doesn't always happen!

4.  The avocado garnish really adds to the dish.  Please don't skip it.  Unless you don't eat avocado, then I guess it's okay.  For future reference, I will be skipping raw tomatoes in any recipes I make because they are gross, and I'll be skipping tree nuts because they might kill me!

That's it for now.  If  you try the recipe, let me know what you think. 

I promise to be back in less than 18 months!

Bread Pudding for Dinner??

For today, the first day of my experiment, I decided to make Savory Bread Puddings with Ham and Cheddar, from the September 2011 issue of Cooking Light magazine.

So, here's the recipe:

8 ounces multigrain bread with seeds, cut into 3/4-inch cubes

• Cooking spray
• 3/4 cup  shredded sharp cheddar cheese, divided  
• 1/4 cup chopped green onions, divided
• 3/4 cup fat-free milk* 
• 1/4 cup fat-free, lower-sodium chicken broth** 
• 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper***
• 3 ounces lower-sodium ham, minced****
• 2 large egg yolks, lightly beaten
• 3 large egg whites
• 4 teaspoons reduced-fat sour cream
• *I used 1% milk because.....that's what I had.
• **My grocery store was out of low sodium broth, but it was 99% fat free, so that's close enough, right?
• ***I didn't actually measure 1/8 teaspoon black pepper.  Would you?
• ****Does lower-sodium ham actually exist?  I couldn't find it, but of the 3 brands of diced ham I found, I got the one with the least amount of sodium, so technically it was lower sodium.
• 
  
• Instructions

• 1. Preheat oven to 375°.
• 2. Place bread cubes on a rimmed cookie sheet and spray with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 10 minutes or until lightly toasted, turning once. Remove from oven; cool.
• 3. Combine bread, 1/2 cup cheese, 3 tablespoons onions, and next 5 ingredients (through egg yolks) in a large bowl. Place egg whites in a small bowl, and beat with a mixer at high speed until foamy (about 30 seconds). Gently fold egg whites into bread mixture.
• 4. Spoon about 1 cup bread mixture into each of 4 (7-ounce) ramekins coated with cooking spray. Divide the remaining 1/4 cup cheese and remaining 1 tablespoon onions evenly among ramekins. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes or until lightly browned. Top each serving with 1 teaspoon sour cream.

So, my first recipe turned out really good!  It's definitely a make again. I love regular (dessert) bread pudding, so I figured I'd like a savory one too.  Speaking of bread pudding, it always seems funny to me that soggy bread can turn into something I actually want to eat! I wasn't quite sure how I'd feel about the bread with all the seeds, but I liked the texture it added to the dish.

As soon as I figure out how to get the pictures I took from my phone to the blog, I'll put them up.  If I can't figure it out, then I'll try to find my camera for next time!


I'll be back with more next week.  Or maybe sooner!

I really can cook....

I can cook.  I really can.  I just don't. Often.

Whenever someone asks me if I like to cook, I tell them that, "I like to cook when I have a taste for something, or when I want to try something new, but I don't like to cook just because I have to eat dinner."
But, the fact of the matter is, I do have to eat dinner.  Pretty much every day.  And it's almost always cheaper to cook it at home than it is to go out.

So, as I was eating a bowl of Cheerios this morning, it occurred to me that I have TONS of cookbooks, You might even say I collect them.  And I've subscribed to Cooking Light Magazine, and Cooks Illustrated online.  But, I can count on one hand (Well, maybe both hands.  And possibly a foot or two. But it's still a ridiculously low number, considering.) the number of recipes I've actually used. So, I decided this morning that I'm going to pick one new recipe a week to try out.  And I'm going to use this space to blog about the whole experience.

I'll share my successes.  I'll share my failures (but only if they're funny).  And when I can either find my camera, or figure out how to get pictures from my cell phone to my blog, I'll share some pictures too.  So, I'll start cooking, and I hope you join me for the journey!