A Little Taste Of Home
Before I go home in four days. (!?!?)
Sunday 26 April 2009
Friday 24 April 2009
Pasta Salad
What I Have Had On Previous Days
That I Would Have Had Today
Had I Not Had Something Else
(title)
Really cheap (in every sense of the word) beer in my Mason jar.
I did drink out of my Mason jar today, but it was iced coffee, not beer.
And I did drink beer today, just not out of my jar because it was dirty from my coffee.
Pasta salad. Atop a bed of lettuce.
Wanna know the recipe? Here it is:
Pasta Salad a la Missus Mustard
roughly 200 g uncooked whole grain egg noodles
a handful of grape tomatoes
a nice bed of lettuce
2 tbsp olive oil
(vinegar if you want)
1-2 tbsp pesto
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1-2 tsp fresh, chopped basil
salt & pepper
dollop of cottage cheese
sprinkling of parmesan cheese
(mozzarella would work nicely too)
1. Cook pasta in salted water
2. Cut grape tomatoes in half, set aside
3. Drain pasta, put back into the pot (make sure it's not too hot) and add oil (vinegar), pesto and spices. (Add enough oil to coat all pasta quite thoroughly, it should not be at all dry. I suppose you could add a little water too if it's too dry and you don't want to add extra oil.)
(At this point I also stuck a lid on the pot and put it outside to cool down. You don't need to, but Mr M wanted the pasta cold)
4. Plate on top of lettuce with cottage cheese and parmesan.
Mister Mustard put vinegar and sliced black olives on his and he loved it.
I'm sure it would be tasty with a lot of different things thrown in too.
That I Would Have Had Today
Had I Not Had Something Else
(title)
Really cheap (in every sense of the word) beer in my Mason jar.
I did drink out of my Mason jar today, but it was iced coffee, not beer.
And I did drink beer today, just not out of my jar because it was dirty from my coffee.
Pasta salad. Atop a bed of lettuce.
Wanna know the recipe? Here it is:
Pasta Salad a la Missus Mustard
roughly 200 g uncooked whole grain egg noodles
a handful of grape tomatoes
a nice bed of lettuce
2 tbsp olive oil
(vinegar if you want)
1-2 tbsp pesto
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1-2 tsp fresh, chopped basil
salt & pepper
dollop of cottage cheese
sprinkling of parmesan cheese
(mozzarella would work nicely too)
1. Cook pasta in salted water
2. Cut grape tomatoes in half, set aside
3. Drain pasta, put back into the pot (make sure it's not too hot) and add oil (vinegar), pesto and spices. (Add enough oil to coat all pasta quite thoroughly, it should not be at all dry. I suppose you could add a little water too if it's too dry and you don't want to add extra oil.)
(At this point I also stuck a lid on the pot and put it outside to cool down. You don't need to, but Mr M wanted the pasta cold)
4. Plate on top of lettuce with cottage cheese and parmesan.
Mister Mustard put vinegar and sliced black olives on his and he loved it.
I'm sure it would be tasty with a lot of different things thrown in too.
Wednesday 22 April 2009
Spätzli
Spätzli
(pronounced sh-PATZ-li)
A Swiss specialty made by my special Swiss Mister.
If you've never had spätzli before, it essentially tastes like pasta. (Is it a pasta?)
In Switzerland you basically don't bother making it from scratch because pre-made is everywhere, cheap and delish. But this is North America! We don't typically do spätzli. But luckily for you, my Swiss guy does. And I will lovingly hash out the directions into English.
Adapted a lot from Annemarie Wildeisen's Kochen recipe for Käsespätzli.
(We made a half recipe)
400 g flour
4 eggs
250 ml fizzy water
1 tsp salt
1. Put flour in a big bowl, make a well in flour, drop in the eggs and lightly beat them.
2. Add in fizzy water and salt and mix for 5 minutes until dough is fluffy.
3. Leave at room temperature for 15 minutes.
4. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.
5. Drop small blobs of dough into boiling water by cutting off pieces as you slightly pour dough out of the bowl (if that makes ANY sense. Look at pictures 1 and 2 and it might make more sense)
6. Let blobs boil until they float to the surface.
7. When they float to the surface, scoop them out with a slotted spoon.
Optional directions:
Lightly fry spätzlis in a pan before serving with sauce.
Mushroom sauce
um...
I'm still waiting on this one. It is a Mister Mustard original and he's not home. Next time, okay? Okay. Deal.
(pronounced sh-PATZ-li)
A Swiss specialty made by my special Swiss Mister.
If you've never had spätzli before, it essentially tastes like pasta. (Is it a pasta?)
In Switzerland you basically don't bother making it from scratch because pre-made is everywhere, cheap and delish. But this is North America! We don't typically do spätzli. But luckily for you, my Swiss guy does. And I will lovingly hash out the directions into English.
Adapted a lot from Annemarie Wildeisen's Kochen recipe for Käsespätzli.
(We made a half recipe)
400 g flour
4 eggs
250 ml fizzy water
1 tsp salt
1. Put flour in a big bowl, make a well in flour, drop in the eggs and lightly beat them.
2. Add in fizzy water and salt and mix for 5 minutes until dough is fluffy.
3. Leave at room temperature for 15 minutes.
4. Bring a pot of salted water to a boil.
5. Drop small blobs of dough into boiling water by cutting off pieces as you slightly pour dough out of the bowl (if that makes ANY sense. Look at pictures 1 and 2 and it might make more sense)
6. Let blobs boil until they float to the surface.
7. When they float to the surface, scoop them out with a slotted spoon.
Optional directions:
Lightly fry spätzlis in a pan before serving with sauce.
Mushroom sauce
um...
I'm still waiting on this one. It is a Mister Mustard original and he's not home. Next time, okay? Okay. Deal.
Friday 17 April 2009
Huevos rancheros, baked egg rolls and falafel.
A breakfast, a lunch and a dinner.
Of course, these 3 meals were not eaten in one single day! That would be a bit much, don't you think?
Although it might be fun to go to Mexico for breakfast, China for lunch and the Middle East for dinner. But again, we're verging on piggishness here and that will not do!
Huevos Rancheros
Thanks to my vast knowledge of first-year-University Spanish, I can safely say the first word of the title means "eggs". I can also safely say, this meal is gooood.
Recipe inspiration from fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com
though I didn't really follow the recipe.
Baked Vegetable Egg Rolls
Recipe from the same site. I like her blog because 1. she loves Mexican food, as the Mustards do 2. she is always looking for ways to cut out fat and make dishes healthier 3. she consistently has tasty recipes to try.
And OH MAMA, these are no exception! We didn't have enough filling (though we made it to the recipe, so if you make these, I would (at least, because, I mean, I can certainly deal with over-stuffed egg rolls!) double the filling for just as many wraps) but they were scrumptious, crispy without being greasy (though give me some greased up Vietnamese roll dips any day and I'll be beaming like a clown), definitely vegan and all other sorts of yummy.
Falafel
You know what? Mister M made both hoummus and falafel from a mix. And you know what? It was good! And we're not ashamed! Go buy yourself a box (or 2 if you want hoummus) and eat yourself a big, bad falafel in a pita.
We used:
whole grain pitas
hoummus
fried falafels
chopped tomatoes
shredded lettuce
homemade tzatziki sauce
Homemade tzatziki sauce (from The Vegetarian Cook's Bible):
1 english cucumber
1 1/3 c Yogurt Cheese (we used plain yogurt)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped (we didn't want to stink, so we omitted this and it was still good)
2 tbsp finely chopped mint (we didn't have any)
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
1. Scrub cucumber (peel if not organic) and shred into a colander. Let stand in the sink or over a bowl for 30 minutes. Squeeze lightly to expel excess liquid.
2. In a bowl, combine cucumber, yogurt, garlic, mint, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Stir to mix well. Taste and add more mint, lemon juice, salt or pepper as required.
And there you have it; a breakfast, a lunch and a dinner.
Of course, these 3 meals were not eaten in one single day! That would be a bit much, don't you think?
Although it might be fun to go to Mexico for breakfast, China for lunch and the Middle East for dinner. But again, we're verging on piggishness here and that will not do!
Huevos Rancheros
Thanks to my vast knowledge of first-year-University Spanish, I can safely say the first word of the title means "eggs". I can also safely say, this meal is gooood.
Recipe inspiration from fortheloveofcooking-recipes.blogspot.com
though I didn't really follow the recipe.
Baked Vegetable Egg Rolls
Recipe from the same site. I like her blog because 1. she loves Mexican food, as the Mustards do 2. she is always looking for ways to cut out fat and make dishes healthier 3. she consistently has tasty recipes to try.
And OH MAMA, these are no exception! We didn't have enough filling (though we made it to the recipe, so if you make these, I would (at least, because, I mean, I can certainly deal with over-stuffed egg rolls!) double the filling for just as many wraps) but they were scrumptious, crispy without being greasy (though give me some greased up Vietnamese roll dips any day and I'll be beaming like a clown), definitely vegan and all other sorts of yummy.
Falafel
You know what? Mister M made both hoummus and falafel from a mix. And you know what? It was good! And we're not ashamed! Go buy yourself a box (or 2 if you want hoummus) and eat yourself a big, bad falafel in a pita.
We used:
whole grain pitas
hoummus
fried falafels
chopped tomatoes
shredded lettuce
homemade tzatziki sauce
Homemade tzatziki sauce (from The Vegetarian Cook's Bible):
1 english cucumber
1 1/3 c Yogurt Cheese (we used plain yogurt)
1 clove garlic, finely chopped (we didn't want to stink, so we omitted this and it was still good)
2 tbsp finely chopped mint (we didn't have any)
2 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
1. Scrub cucumber (peel if not organic) and shred into a colander. Let stand in the sink or over a bowl for 30 minutes. Squeeze lightly to expel excess liquid.
2. In a bowl, combine cucumber, yogurt, garlic, mint, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste. Stir to mix well. Taste and add more mint, lemon juice, salt or pepper as required.
And there you have it; a breakfast, a lunch and a dinner.
Thursday 16 April 2009
Mock crabcakes & cinnamon buns
Mock Mayland Crabcakes
Recipe from delicioustv.com
I have been watching Toni's podcasts lately and thought this one sounded yummy. I will basically try mock-seafood anything, though, so maybe it's just me. Mister Mustard deeply objected to the making of crabcakes, but I persisted and finally made them.
I didn't like them all that much. Sorry, Toni.
Tartar sauce recipe from allrecipes.com
I added a few chopped capers and spices. It was quite a while ago, so I don't remember. It was good, though.
Cinnamon Buns
Recipe from edible-moments.blogspot.com
Half of the recipe I used straight away and half I put in the freezer. Both batches were tasty, but the freezer batch was even more so.
The author of this recipe didn't specify how thick to roll out the dough and I definitely went overboard with the rolling pin. Next time I will stop myself at about 1 - 1.5 cm to make them more fluffy like her's.
Jogging time, folks. We had roasted potato fries with miso gravy for lunch. Guiiilty.
Recipe from delicioustv.com
I have been watching Toni's podcasts lately and thought this one sounded yummy. I will basically try mock-seafood anything, though, so maybe it's just me. Mister Mustard deeply objected to the making of crabcakes, but I persisted and finally made them.
I didn't like them all that much. Sorry, Toni.
Tartar sauce recipe from allrecipes.com
I added a few chopped capers and spices. It was quite a while ago, so I don't remember. It was good, though.
Cinnamon Buns
Recipe from edible-moments.blogspot.com
Half of the recipe I used straight away and half I put in the freezer. Both batches were tasty, but the freezer batch was even more so.
The author of this recipe didn't specify how thick to roll out the dough and I definitely went overboard with the rolling pin. Next time I will stop myself at about 1 - 1.5 cm to make them more fluffy like her's.
Jogging time, folks. We had roasted potato fries with miso gravy for lunch. Guiiilty.
Monday 13 April 2009
Capers loot & Asian market fun.
The spoils of a recent Capers raid.
I love cheese.
I love cheese so much it hurts because of how much it hurts my wallet.
Dutch 3 year aged Gouda cheese.
But it tastes like caramel!
Naam Miso Gravy.
The Naam is one of the Mustard's favorite restaurants in Vancouver. I guess it's been kickin' it for 40 years now? Impressive.
Also impressive, I used to hate this gravy and now, here I am, buying it by the bottle!
Let's go the the Asian market, shall we?
Burger candies. We did not buy them.
A GIANT sack of peeled garlic for less than $4.
We bought this baby bok choy for $1.64. Bargain!
Our super-fun enoki mushrooms.
I also hate mushrooms, but I am trying to work on this. Just ask Mister Mustard. I eat them now and they're not all bad.
Plus, if you're going to eat mushrooms, you might as well eat mushrooms that look like alien fingers.
*cue creepy music*
OooOooooOOooo...
Stay tuned to find out what we did with half of the alien fingers.
I love cheese.
I love cheese so much it hurts because of how much it hurts my wallet.
Dutch 3 year aged Gouda cheese.
But it tastes like caramel!
Naam Miso Gravy.
The Naam is one of the Mustard's favorite restaurants in Vancouver. I guess it's been kickin' it for 40 years now? Impressive.
Also impressive, I used to hate this gravy and now, here I am, buying it by the bottle!
Let's go the the Asian market, shall we?
Burger candies. We did not buy them.
A GIANT sack of peeled garlic for less than $4.
We bought this baby bok choy for $1.64. Bargain!
Our super-fun enoki mushrooms.
I also hate mushrooms, but I am trying to work on this. Just ask Mister Mustard. I eat them now and they're not all bad.
Plus, if you're going to eat mushrooms, you might as well eat mushrooms that look like alien fingers.
*cue creepy music*
OooOooooOOooo...
Stay tuned to find out what we did with half of the alien fingers.
Friday 10 April 2009
Quinoa ratatouille, tabouleh & oreos.
Ratatouille with Quinoa
Mister Mustard coordinating his outfit to his cooking endeavours.
We make ratatouille a lot in our house. It will absolutely be made again, and next time it will be accompanied by a recipe!
This was both of our first times eating quinoa. It's curly! And sticky. And distinctively very yummy.
Homemade iced tea. New obsession as it gets warmer.
Tabouleh
Mister Mustard's Tabouleh
1 chopped tomato
1/2 English cucumber, chopped
1/2 chopped red pepper
3 green onions, white & light green bits sliced thinly
1 avocado, chopped (optional. it wasn't used in this picture here, but it's really tasty)
raisins (optional)
chopped parsley (optional)
3-4 servings of cooked couscous
dressing:
Mix in a separate small bowl or measuring cup
2:1 ratio of olive oil : lemon juice (about 1/3 - 1/2 C in total? he said he doesn't know)
salt
pepper
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp paprika
2 tsp dill (I love it, but the Mister hates it, so add accordingly)
Mix together in a big bowl and eat it up! Mister Mustard served it with hummous and tortilla chips.
**Really, we just add whatever vegetable we have in the fridge and think would taste good.
Homemade Oreos
Does using raw, organic sugar instead of 'ol white, refined sugar make a difference in baking? It sure seems to for me. I could feel the crystals in these and it put me off, but the taste was amazing! So I will be trying these again. Either with un-hippyfied sugar or some kind of powder like sucrose or Splenda or something fancy and chemical like that.
Something else I would change (back), is the method of forming the cookies. In the recipe I'm linking to here, she forms them individually (which I thought was a waste of time!), so I rolled my dough into a log, threw it in the fridge and then sliced it. Do it her way. I think they will turn out more compact and less full of air holes. Because Oreos don't have air holes.
I've had a bit of trouble but I do urge you to try these! They are very tasty and the filling is much better than the original. So easy as well. Everybody wins.
Recipe from cupcakeproject.com
PS The only things I made in this episode were the iced tea (go me!) and the oreos. So, thank you Mister Mustard for your yummy lunches and dinners!
Mister Mustard coordinating his outfit to his cooking endeavours.
We make ratatouille a lot in our house. It will absolutely be made again, and next time it will be accompanied by a recipe!
This was both of our first times eating quinoa. It's curly! And sticky. And distinctively very yummy.
Homemade iced tea. New obsession as it gets warmer.
Tabouleh
Mister Mustard's Tabouleh
1 chopped tomato
1/2 English cucumber, chopped
1/2 chopped red pepper
3 green onions, white & light green bits sliced thinly
1 avocado, chopped (optional. it wasn't used in this picture here, but it's really tasty)
raisins (optional)
chopped parsley (optional)
3-4 servings of cooked couscous
dressing:
Mix in a separate small bowl or measuring cup
2:1 ratio of olive oil : lemon juice (about 1/3 - 1/2 C in total? he said he doesn't know)
salt
pepper
1/4 tsp turmeric powder
1/4 tsp paprika
2 tsp dill (I love it, but the Mister hates it, so add accordingly)
Mix together in a big bowl and eat it up! Mister Mustard served it with hummous and tortilla chips.
**Really, we just add whatever vegetable we have in the fridge and think would taste good.
Homemade Oreos
Does using raw, organic sugar instead of 'ol white, refined sugar make a difference in baking? It sure seems to for me. I could feel the crystals in these and it put me off, but the taste was amazing! So I will be trying these again. Either with un-hippyfied sugar or some kind of powder like sucrose or Splenda or something fancy and chemical like that.
Something else I would change (back), is the method of forming the cookies. In the recipe I'm linking to here, she forms them individually (which I thought was a waste of time!), so I rolled my dough into a log, threw it in the fridge and then sliced it. Do it her way. I think they will turn out more compact and less full of air holes. Because Oreos don't have air holes.
I've had a bit of trouble but I do urge you to try these! They are very tasty and the filling is much better than the original. So easy as well. Everybody wins.
Recipe from cupcakeproject.com
PS The only things I made in this episode were the iced tea (go me!) and the oreos. So, thank you Mister Mustard for your yummy lunches and dinners!
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