Adventures of a healthy-ish pseudo-foodie

100% worth the effort to boil and egg-wash them before baking. For New Years' Eve, I like to make party appetizers for just our family dinner. This year, we had cold veggie pizza (on crescent dough with sour cream and cream cheese) and pigs in blankets, which are one of the few items that I like. I've made them before and I know I prefer them with pizza dough. But when I searched online to remember how long to bake them, I noticed a trend. There were many mediocrely-reviewed recipes that involved just wrapping and baking, as I had previously done. And then there were some really well-rated recipes that involved an extra step of boiling them before baking. Like bagels, if you live in a place where bagel stores serve actual boiled bagels instead of rolls with a hole in the center. So, I worked from  this recipe  and it was just right. I mean, look at them! I was also armed with extra-special malden salt (my new love) and good local mustard. Success. The Reci...

FINALLY, I made good french onion soup. This post comes after many attempts at making good french onion soup. I got hooked on french onion soup back when Panera was St. Louis Bread Company and their french onion soup was delicious (it's not worthwhile anymore), and in the 16 years since I left St. Louis, I've been trying to find a decent recipe. Thank you, instant pot. The recipe is from  Gimme Delicious  and I followed it exactly, except that I halved the entire recipe but kept the full quantity of garlic. It only gets pressure cooked for 5 minutes, so I don't know if the pressure cooking is the secret. I think part of the instant pot magic here is that the "saute" function is at the perfect temperature for caramelizing onions. Normally, when I do that part in a pot, I get impatient and turn up the heat too high and it doesn't work. This took just under an hour but it came out perfectly. I think it would have been quicker in a big instant p...

Way prettier crust than I could make myself. I had convinced myself that frittatas were just as good as quiche, but then I found myself with some extra frozen pie crusts (I had bought backup before making the Thanksgiving pie), so I decided to make quiche. And, yes, it's better than a frittata. I worked from  this SimplyRecipes recipe . I substituted almond milk for the milk and cream, and I used red onion this time because I didn't have shallot, but I'll use shallot when I have it. I skipped their step of sauteeing the onion/shallot first, and it was fine. The only other change I made is that I had way more egg filling than would fit in one crust, and since I happened to have two frozen crusts, I spread it out into the two. It was almost enough to fill both. So I've adjusted the recipe to have just two more eggs and fill the two crusts. It's easy enough to freeze an extra quiche. (I read that the best reheating instructions are to heat it at 350, from f...

I forgot to photograph it until it had been sitting in the fridge with foil, hence the flatness. This year, I volunteered to make the pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving and I made it with tofu! No one complained except the toddler. I used  this recipe from Nutritious Eats  because it used pumpkin pie spice instead of cloves/allspice/nutmeg/etc. I don't use enough of those spices to buy them all individually.  The biggest problem was the crust. I tried to get a Trader Joe's frozen crust, but they only had their gluten-free version, and I mistakenly thought that it would be almost as good. It wasn't good. Next year, I'll make sure to get a better crust. The texture was great, and the taste was good, and it's actually pretty healthy. The only modification I'll make to the filling next time is that I'd prefer it with a bit more spice. I'll read some other recipes and figure out whether than means adding ginger, or just increasing the amount of...

This photo makes me sad that it's all gone now. This recipe comes from Grandma Judy, because I've only had her version of clafoutis and it is so delicious that I don't care to compare other recipes.  It's a great sweet breakfast or substantial dessert. It reminds me of french toast meets frittata, but more sweet and fruity. And we've definitely had it for dinner when we're low on dinner ingredients. The Recipe: 5oz fruit (cherries, berries, peaches, pears, etc), cut into pieces if larger than bite-sized zest from 1 small lemon 2 tb sugar, plus about 2 tb additional to sweeten fruit 1/2 c flour 1/4 tsp salt 2 eggs 1 c milk 1 tb butter powdered sugar for serving Mix lemon zest with sugar in small dish Sift together flour and salt. In separate bowl, beat eggs and whisk in milk.  Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and whisk together.  Stir in the lemon sugar. Preheat the oven to 425. In a 10-inch skillet, melt butte...

Proud of his chewy piles of turd A few days before his third-and-a-half birthday, Miles declared that he wanted to make Noop. He said that noop is mashed berries, flour, sugar, and cinnamon ("cimanin"), and you microwave it for one minute. We'd like to think that he called it Noop because it's nuked goop, but probably not. So, we made it. It was very very chewy, but it tasted good. Cinnamon and strawberries! Who would've thought? After batch #1 (photographed), he wanted to try again to make it more dry, so we did another batch with more flour, but he didn't like it because it had less strawberry flavor. So I am blogging version one until we make further adjustments. He says that the next batch will have chocolate chips, brown sugar, and puffed kamut in it. (I vetoed adding raw farro.) Let's call this batch #2 - not worth keeping. UPDATE Batch #3 - Miles wanted to add oats and chocolate chips. So we did about 1 teaspoon of quick cooking oats, ...

Pretty colors. In our last CSA box of the year, we had broccolini, red peppers, and shallots, which screamed stir-fry to me. I'm on a constant mission to make a shrimp dish as delicious as the one at  Pho Grand , so I searched for Vietnamese recipes and found  this one by The Spruce Eats . My modifications: I made it less spicy for toddler (which didn't matter because he decided that night that shrimp is gross), I added a bit of sweetness to the sauce which I saw in another recipe, I stir-fried the shallots before anything else to try to fry them a little bit (because I dream about the fried shallot garnish at Pho Grand but I wasn't willing to go to the effort of frying them in a separate pot), and I increased the amount of sauce. It's fresh, it's easy, the shrimp is delicious, and it's so healthy with stock as the base for the sauce. The Recipe: (adapted from The Spruce Eats) 1 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined 1.5 tb brown sugar 3 cloves ga...

With mashed potatoes and collard greens, because the CSA box said so. I previously made  this seafood creole , which was delicious, but I wanted a simpler alternative. This one is less soupy and more just like a delicious sauce on the shrimp, which we would prefer most of the time. It also has a brighter, fresher flavor. They are both keepers, but right now I prefer this one. I worked from  this recipe from Ready Set Eat . My only changes were halving the quantities (we still had plenty) and simplifying the tomato situation to just use 12 oz of freshly pureed tomatoes instead of whole tomatoes and tomato paste. I also removed the jalapenos because of the toddler, but he thought it was too spicy anyway, so I'd say those are optional in the future. The Recipe: (Adapted from  Ready Set Eat ) 1 tb vegetable oil 1/2 onion, chopped 1 bell pepper, chopped 2 ribs celery, chopped 1 clove garlic, minced 1 tb creole seasoning 1/2 lb shrimp, peeled and ...

I made those! When the CSA box hands you radishes, you eat one. Then you try to give the rest to the neighbors. Then, left with no other option, you pickle them. Then you discover that the pickled radishes are really good. I followed  this super-simple method from My Korean Kitchen . I picked it because it had good reviews on Pinterest, but mostly because it was easy, and I wasn't willing to dedicate a lot of time and effort to these things that none of us really liked. But it turns out that they are delicious.  As is clear from the original recipe, these are good with Korean food. They are also good on Vietnamese rice bowls. And they are PERFECT on salad with hard boiled egg and honey-mustard dressing. And the toddler ate half of them in one sitting, just as a snack. We might actually need to buy more radishes. The Recipe: 1 bunch radishes 1 c water 1 c sugar 1 c white vinegar Pinch of salt Thinly slice the radish bulbs and place them in gla...

Addictive. I hadn't heard of shishito peppers until they showed up in our CSA box. I searched Pinterest, and it was clear that the right thing to do was to blister them in a pan with some seasoning. I was intrigued by  this simple recipe from Gimme Some Oven , and I followed it exactly. I thought that maybe I shouldn't make the whole container of peppers at once, but the original recipe author claimed that they could easily be eaten in a single sitting, so I made the plunge. I ate more than half of them in about 10 minutes and I forced myself to stop only so Jess could have some when he got home. Otherwise I could have happily eaten them all myself. I will be looking for shishitos again. The Recipe: 6 oz shishito peppers 2 tsp canola oil salt and pepper 1/2 tsp sesame oil 1/2 tsp soy sauce 1/2 tsp sesame seeds Heat oil in heavy-bottomed pan (I used my dutch oven) Add peppers and a generous pinch of salt and pepper Saute for 3-4 minutes, to...

These got eaten very quickly. I rarely buy green beans, because I've so often gotten ones that were dry and flavorless. But when we got some in our CSA box, I was excited to make something good with them. And since I was missing the good ones at a recently-closed Chinese restaurant that we loved, I thought I'd try my best imitation. I worked from  this recipe from Fine Cooking . I made no changes, except for making the sauce directly in the pan (rather than combining those ingredients in a bowl first), and eliminating water from the sauce.  The Recipe: 12 oz green beans, trimmed 1 tb soy sauce 1 tb honey 1 tb butter 2 tb olive oil 1/2 tsp kosher salt 2 garlic cloves, minced In a saute pan, heat butter and olive oil When butter is melted, add green beans and salt. Cook, turning the beans occasionally, for about 7 minutes until they are slightly browned and tender. Reduce the heat to low. Add garlic and stir for 15 seconds. Add soy sauce...

THAT SAUCE. I've been making a lot of seafood since we started getting our CSA boxes. Mostly we've been eating solely vegetable-based meals, but when some non-vegetable protein is required, it seems like the best way to honor the amazing vegetables is to pair them with some really fresh seafood. For this meal, I knew I would be making green beans , and I was thinking of Asian-style sticky green beans, so crispy Asian-style shrimp was a good balance to the texture of the green beans. I like this recipe because it's baked, not fried, and because the sauce is SO delicious. How can one go wrong with honey and butter and soy sauce? I followed the recipe exactly, except that I halved the quantities and slightly increased the amount of panko (because it wasn't enough to cover all of the shrimp). I also simplified the corn starch step and it worked out just fine. The Recipe (serves 3): (from  Creme de la Crumb ) 3/4 lb shrimp, peeled and deveined  1 eg...

Chocolate chips should be on the top of every loaf of bread This year, I found a 6-pack of zucchini starter plants for the same price as one plant. At the same time, the house-flippers next door took down a large portion of fence, creating a new extra-sunny, south-facing patch of garden that we didn't have before. The result is wayyyy too much zucchini for a family of 3.  I worked from  this recipe . I like it because it does use a lot of zucchini, it's delicious, and it's definitely healthy-ish. If I were going to make it often, I'd experiment with making it healthier; I think it could be good substituting most of the oil with flax seeds and applesauce, and the applesauce would allow it to have less sugar. And oats. Always oats. But as is, it's very good. The only change I made was that I inadvertently used less cocoa powder than the original recipe called for, because I tripled the recipe (TOO MUCH ZUCCHINI) and ran out. But it was plenty chocolatey...

I forgot to take a picture. When I was in high school, and I was regularly preparing myself tofu stir-fries because I didn't want to eat whatever meat dish that my family was having, I used to just throw every Asian-themed sauce from the fridge into a pan and it would taste pretty good. My tastes have become a little bit more refined, so I've been searching for an actual recipe for a brown stir-fry sauce that doesn't require broth (which I don't usually have on hand in small quantities). I found  this one , toned down the spice, and upped the garlic, and it's good! I generally have all of the ingredients on hand, and it only takes a minute to throw it together. I can make it in advance and keep it in the fridge until I'm ready to stir-fry. And right now, over an hour after dinner, I still have garlic breath. It's a keeper. The Recipe (makes the right amount for 1 block of tofu and a corresponding amount of vegetables): 2 tb soy sauce 2 tb wate...

Bad lighting, good zucchini fries. The main reason that I don't often make zucchini fries is the whole egg-wash thing. It's messy, and I don't usually need a whole egg, so it feels wasteful. So I googled how to make them without egg, and I discovered that flour-milk-panko works too. I added garlic powder into the flour and it was delicious. I planted 6 zucchini plants this year, and they are starting to explode, so I think we will be returning to this recipe a lot. The Recipe: 1 large zucchini, cut into sticks 1/2 c milk (I used almond milk) 3 tb flour 1/3 c panko 1 tsp garlic powder 1 tsp salt 1/2 tsp chili powder In one bowl, mix flour, garlic powder, and 1/2 tsp salt. In another bowl, pour milk. In a third bowl, mix panko, 1/2 tsp salt, and chili powder. Dip zucchini in flour mixture, then milk, then panko mixture. Lay prepared zucchini on a baking sheet.  Bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes. The Verdict: Overall grade: A O...

That one time that I wasn't too lazy to rotate the loaves halfway through baking. This is the only Challah recipe that I will ever make again. It's perfect. Thanks, TBI Preschool.

Looks like a brownie, tastes like a brownie, feels better than eating a brownie. As with this  farro salad , this recipe was inspired by a trip to the fabulous  Camas Country Mill .  We went for sandwiches, bought bread and a scone for a treat, and then I was lured by a cute little jar of lentil brownie bites, so we got one of those too. It was delicious, and so I came home to do some googling. The result was  this recipe from Vegan Richa , which doesn't taste exactly like the one I had at the mill, but it's nearly as delicious and perfectly easy to make. If I didn't have an Instant Pot, I don't think I would have bothered. I've never been successful cooking lentils on the stove top without it bubbling over and making a mess at some point in the cooking process, and also I wasn't excited about having to dirty two pots and a food processor. But lentils are so easy in the instant pot, and after 2 minutes of cooking, they were easy enough to mash that I d...

Steamy This time of year, my 6 swiss chard plants are yielding a full bunch of chard every few days. I've been making lots of spinach recipes and subbing chard, and serving assorted things with a side of chard, but it's exciting when I find an actual chard recipe that I want to try.  This recipe for  Swiss Chard with Lentils and Feta  came up in my Pinterest feed, and I'm actually pretty sure that I tried it once before, but I decided to try it again because I couldn't remember whether I liked it. (This is why I keep track of recipes on this blog.) Having now made it and enjoyed it, I think that I did in fact make it before but I executed it better this time, elevating it to a status worthy of saving on the blog. One change that I unintentionally made is that after realizing my only onion was rotten, I substituted green onions. The original recipe said to saute the onions and cook them with the lentils, so I did that with about 1/3 of the green onions (th...

Not quite soup... When I noticed that I had pinned the same recipe twice on my Instant Pot Pinterest board, I decided it was time to try it. Also, it's a  Pinch of Yum recipe  that I hadn't tried yet, so it was bound to happen sooner or later. I bought the ingredients and then noticed the adamant note at the bottom of the original recipe to use actual wild rice, not wild rice blend. I didn't know anything about wild rice, but apparently wild rice blends (which is what I had purchased) are mostly brown or white rice with some wild rice mixed in. It was too late to turn back, though, so I thought I'd see what would happen. It turns out the rice breaks down too much, so the end result is a bit more like the consistency of risotto than soup. I'm definitely not complaining. I will try it again in the future with actual wild rice for comparison's sake, but this recipe is a keeper even in this halfway-between-soup-and-risotto form. The original recip...

Is it summer yet? This is a perfect simple, healthy meal. It's easy to prep a bunch of the ingredients and eat these bowls for days, just baking the egg rolls and heating a portion of protein each time. It's also completely customizable depending on what vegetables and proteins you have on hand. We will be trying a CSA this summer, and I'll have to keep this meal in mind when I have lots of veggies to use up. The "Recipe": ("Recipe" is in quotations because I don't have any kind of helpful quantities to offer here) Jasmine rice Lots of sliced vegetables (this time I used cucumbers, carrots, scallions, and lettuce) Protein (I like cubed tofu, tossed in olive oil and salt and baked at 350 for 40 minutes, or shrimp) Nuoc cham (I mix water, lime juice, sugar, fish sauce, and chili paste to taste) OR Peanut sauce (I like  Cookie and Kate's recipe : 1/3 c peanut butter, 2 tb rice vinegar, 2 tb soy sauce, 2 tb honey, 1 tb sesame ...

I strongly recommend topping it with seared scallops. I really love the undertones of wine in risotto, but I'm not a big white wine drinker, so I decided to try this wine-free recipe. With fancy parmesan (from the $5 bin at the Fred Meyer cheese counter) and homemade vegetable broth and the delicious creaminess that the Instant Pot creates, I didn't miss it. This tasted like restaurant food. The scallops didn't hurt. I followed this  official Instant Pot recipe , subbing asparagus for their mushrooms and spinach, and subbing dried basil for thyme, and eliminating the crushed red pepper. Oh, and I'm sure I added more than their recommended amount of parmesan. The more the merrier. The Recipe: 2 tb olive oil for risotto plus 1 tb for asparagus 1 medium shallot, minced 1/4 tsp salt for risotto plus 1/4 tsp for asparagus 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 c vegetable broth 1 c arborio rice 1/4 tsp dried basil 1 bunch asparagus, cut into 1-inch pieces...

The weird meat-looking thing on the lower right is Indian pickle. I like my lentils best when they are broken down into mush, and I like bean/rice combination recipes, and I like when the beans and rice are mixed together so the leftovers can be stored together and maybe even cooked in one pot. And obviously, I love any excuse to try something new in the Instant Pot. And so, when I came across khichdi on Pinterest, I was pretty excited. I'm kind of surprised I've never had it before, because from my reading it sounds like it's a pretty common Indian dish. And there are lots of variations. I chose a variation that made it into a totally uniform porridge-like mush, and I used urad dal and jasmine rice because that's what I had, though I'll definitely try it with basmati rice in the future. Apparently khichdi is commonly served to people with sensitive stomachs - sick people, babies, etc. It was already in my meal plan for the week when I ended up with s...

Next time it'll have roasted broccoli, too. In an effort to minimize dairy because it makes me itchy, I decided it was time to jump on the cashew sauce bandwagon. I know I like these sauces, but I haven't made them before because I've read that they really require a good high-speed blender. My blending appliances are the food processor, magic bullet, and immersion blender, and I'm not sure any of those would cut it. After some googling, I found the expensive secret - buy pre-made cashew butter and use that instead. The substitution is to use half the amount of cashew butter that you would have used raw cashews. This recipe used half of a $13 jar, and it made 5-6 servings, which for now is more reasonable than buying a new blender. The consistency is pretty much like fake nacho cheese except less gross. Specifically, it doesn't congeal or separate into weirdness like fake nacho cheese does. The flavor isn't exactly like cheese, but it's definitely...

New Year's Day Lunch This recipe comes from  Carve Your Craving , thanks to another Pinterest search for Instant Pot recipes. I am still amazed at how much better garbanzo beans are when prepared from dry beans, versus the canned version. Another thing I really like about this recipe is that you mash the chickpeas a bit and then cook it more, so the chickpeas act as a natural thickener. It gives it really good texture and heartiness. Once all of the ingredients are prepped (onions/garlic/ginger chopped, spices measured, chickpeas soaked), it's mostly hands-off. If I make this on a weeknight, I'll prep the ingredients in advance so I can just throw it together that night. Normally I prefer dishes like this served over rice, but this has such good texture that it works without the rice too. With naan of course. My only changes from the original recipe are things that the Carve Your Craving post suggests as options: omitting the chickpea flour and the green...