Fueling the Trader Joe’s Desire

Nibbles

While Todd and I consider ourselves firmly in the omnivore camp, we dabble with flexitarianism from time to time, too. And with the recent announcement that a Trader Joe’s is coming to our town (date TBA, but you can bet I’m checking out that shopping center every time I drive by), I was particularly excited to get my hands (and sticky notes) on The I Love Trader Joe’s Vegetarian Cookbook by Kris Holechek Peters.

The book aims to make the best use of the TJ’s-branded consumables and just whet my appetite even more for one of their shops opening its doors not 5 minutes from my home (under 2 if I catch the lights just right). Of course, without one nearby, I had to concentrate on the recipes that didn’t depend on branded items as much as general staples, and we still managed to give the book a fair shot.

4 dinners cooked from the I Love Trader Joe's Vegetarian Cookbook

(apologies for the photo quality–my computer ate all but some thumbnails of this week)

(top left) The first recipe I just had to try was the Hawaiian BBQ Sandwich. Using chickpeas for protein and pineapple along with a Kansas City-Style barbecue sauce sounded pretty genius. Unfortunately it was very tough to eat as a sandwich–knife and fork recommended. The flavor was good, though, so I think if I make these again I’ll puree or at least partially mash some of the chickpeas to help the insides stay together. The Sweet Brussels Sprouts Saute, on the other hand, was quite good with its dried cranberries and shredded apple adding a nice hint of sweetness to the very pronounced flavor of the Brussels sprouts.

(top right) Tuesday night saw our favorite recipe of the book, hands down: the Roasted Carrot RisottoÂ totally fulfilled the image that name planted in my head. Smooth and creamy and that extra depth of flavor from roasting the carrots just made it a perfect meal for a lackluster Tuesday. To go with it, I used the Snap Cashew Crunch recipe from the same chapter and just eliminated the “serve over rice” bit to make it a bright green counterpoint side to the rich risotto.

(bottom left) Wednesday night is game night for Todd, and that means a quick supper is needed before he has to dash out the door. These Sweet and Sunny FlatbreadsÂ from the appetizer chapter made great main-dish open-faced sandwiches and really did come together rapid-fire. I served them up with the Apple Mallow Sweet Potato bake I told you about, and it made for a colorful and tasty plate.

(bottom right) Vegetable soups tend to be hit-or-miss in my book; so often they end up too watery for my taste. The Herbed Veggie StewÂ was surprisingly tasty, rich and hearty with two types of potatoes, beans, and plenty of fresh herbs (hence the name). All it needed was a side of biscuits and it was a perfect supper for the dark and dreary day we were having.

Our final dip into the book gave us these delectable Banana Cinnamon Rolls that featured bananas both in the filling as well as in the yeast dough. They were delicious with or without the Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Frosting Peters suggests topping them with. Intended as breakfast, we served them as dessert when we had company for dinner Sunday night, then had the rest of the pan as morning snacks during the week.

As the author is a vegan blogger and cookbook author, I learned quite a bit in the opening sections about ingredient selections for special diets. For instance, did you know that it’s possible for sugar to be non-vegan?! Go figure! Peters is also careful to offer vegan variation notes with each recipe, along with frequent gluten-free tips, as well.

I did have a couple of small quibbles with some of the instructions–often it would read to heat the oil over medium-low heat and then saute. You can’t really saute at medium-low, you need high heat for that cooking method, so that’s a little misleading for beginner cooks. Also, the instructions for the risotto were to add the stock 1 cup at a time and I’ve found that you get the best benefit by only adding half a cup or less at a time.

But those were small quibbles compared to the delight of the variety of recipes included in this book. I still have plenty of sticky notes for recipes we couldn’t fit into the week I cooked from The I Love Trader Joe’s Vegetarian Cookbook that I’m looking to try. Especially once our local store opens!

——————–

I received a copy of The I Love Trader Joe’s Vegetarian Cookbook for purpose of review. The images and opinions above are entirely my own.

Giving Thanks for Resourcefulness

Nibbles

Our oven quit 3 hours before dinner on Thanksgiving day.

Oh, yes, friends, it was one of those holidays.

Strange thing is, the oven worked fine that morning. I’d gotten up in time to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade as I prepped the sweet potato pie, cornbread for dressing, and chicken stock (also for the dressing).

About noon I was done with my prep (dinner wasn’t until 5:30, so we had plenty of time) and shut off the oven.

I kinda wish I’d kept it on for those 3 hours, maybe then Todd wouldn’t have had to “bake” the corn casserole and rolls on our propane grill.

And I wouldn’t have had dressing cooked on some antiquated cross between a hot plate and a crock pot.

But at least our turkey goes into a counter-top roaster oven (leaving the oven free–in this case free and clear to up and die) so that wasn’t a problem.

Though, in a very strange twist of fate the top of the bird was registering done after 1 1/2 hours but when we went to carve it the thighs–the part of the bird closest to the heating elements–was still underdone. Still haven’t figured out the how on that one, but a few minutes in the microwave solved that one pretty quick.

So this year’s Thanksgiving was a true learning experience. Here are some tips I thought I’d pass along:

If you make Alton Brown’s Sweet Potato Pie, don’t use Greek-style yogurt, it’ll be too strong.
But if you do, a slice warmed and served a la mode (with or without Torani Pumpkin Pie Syrup) will still taste just fine and dandy.
If you run out of vanilla and the stores are closed, both vanilla rum and vanilla vodka made quick substitutes.
Make sure to remove both the giblets packet AND the neck from the cavity of the turkey (I caught the error before we put the turkey in to roast).
You can use your propane grill as an impromptu oven, but you might want to prop your casserole dish up on a couple of bricks to allow air to circulate under the dish, too. (If not you’ll end up with a more-than-toasted bottom of the casserole, but it did give it a nice grilled-corn flavor!).
You can also finish dressing in a slow-cooker/hot-plate sort of device, just don’t expect the top to get all nice and brown (seriously, I don’t know what this contraption of Todd’s is, but it worked and that’s all that counts).
Counter-top roasters are the bomb for speed-roasting a turkey. (That’s not new, but still true.)
Placing a towel under the cutting board when carving the turkey may not be enough–you might want to tuck one into the cabinet door below the counter and let it rest on the floor. Just be happy you have a juicy turkey.

And if you have a doggie guest for Thanksgiving, don’t be surprised if they offer to “mop” the floor under the carving station for you. Molly was committed to getting that floor spotless 😉

We also tried a new hors d’oeuvres this year for pre-dinner noshing.

I could swear I got an email last week with a recipe for apples on horseback (either that or I totally misread Angels on Horseback and hallucinated the rest of the article). When I couldn’t find my reference email, I decided to just go with it.

Apples on Horseback

3 Apples, small to medium-sized
18 cheese cubes
12 slices thin bacon, cut into 3rds

Quarter and core the apples and then slice each apple into thirds, lengthwise. You should have 36 apple slices.

Slice each cheese cube in half. I used a combo of pepper-jack and colby-jack (what I had on hand) and the pepper-jack makes for a decidedly spicier end product, but either are tasty ways to go.

Pair up an apple slice and a bit of cheese and wrap with the piece of bacon. You don’t want thick bacon here as it’ll take too long to cook. Dividing each slice in thirds (I just slice through the whole package, makes it easier) means this recipe takes just under a pound of bacon.

Broil the packets until the bacon is crisp on top. Some of the cheese will cook out, but enough will be left behind to lend flavor.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

This was, incidentally, the step in the days process that showed the oven for the fickle fiend it is. It had worked fine that morning to bake pie and cornbread, and I’d turned it off by noon. Come around 3:30 and I guess it resented being woken from its nap or something, as it refused to heat/broil/or do anything of use.

Thankfully we have a toaster oven. If it had been larger we could have cooked the casseroles in it, but it’s on the smaller side (just large enough for 2 hamburger buns, split, to give you a mental picture). It took 3 batches to finish the apples, but it got the job done.

Once we found counter space for everything and sat down to eat the rest of the evening went as usual. Everyone eats, we settle in to watch a movie (The Avengers, this year), and someone makes a goofy comment or 2 that has us laughing days later.

That someone is usually Mom.

It’s good to have traditions.

Recipe | Apple Mallow Sweet Potato Bake

Nibbles

Among other things, November is Better Nutrition Month and sweet potatoes are one of the easiest–and tastiest!–ways to get some solid nutrition on your plate.

Sweet potatoes are a good source of fiber, vitamins A & C, and Potassium. They’re also a complex carb–the “good” kind of carbohytrate–that your body takes its time breaking down so you feel full longer. And I think they take a lot less work to taste good compared to a russet potato.

But just because I can eat a baked sweet potato with absolutely nothing on it and be perfectly happy with its natural sweetness, doesn’t mean I don’t like to mix it up with sweet potato dishes.

For Thanksgiving it’s tradition, at our table, to serve candied sweet potatoes: planks of boiled sweet potato layered with butter and cinnamon, then covered with a brown sugar glaze and baked until nice and gooey. You might be a little more familiar with the ubiquitous sweet potato casserole topped with toasted marshmallows.

This recipe (courtesy of Princella canned sweet potatoes) put a different spin on that sweet potato casserole, interleaving sliced apples and pecans with the sweet potatoes, adding a fun texture change to the usual casserole.

Apple Mallow Sweet Potato Bake

1/2 cup Brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp. Cinnamon
2 Apples, sliced
1/3 cup Pecans, chopped
2 15 oz. cansÂ Princella or Sugary Sam Cut Sweet Potatoes, drained
1/4 cup Margarine
2 cups Miniature marshmallows

Preheat oven to 350Â°F.

In large bowl, mix brown sugar and cinnamon. Toss apples and nuts with combined brown sugar and cinnamon.

Alternate layers of apples and sweet potatoes in 1 1/2-quart casserole. Dot with margarine. Cover and bake for 35 to 40 minutes.

Sprinkle marshmallows over sweet potatoes and apples. Broil until lightly browned.

This casserole made a fabulous side dish to an open-faced sandwich supper. And I really enjoyed the toasted marshmallow topping–we had some pumpkin-flavored marshmallows leftover from Halloween and combined those with the usual mini-marshmallows and it gave the topping a different flavor.

For more tasty recipes, check out the resources at Allens Vegetables.

Take a Bite Of: Buca di Beppo

Nibbles

Last weekend, for our 5th anniversary, Todd and I planned to go out for dinner but without any sort of cravings one way or another. The destination up in the air, I remembered some discounts we received at the office for the newly opened Buca di Beppo so decided to give it a try.

Well, after first looking up the menu to make sure there were ample non-tomato sauced dishes for me to choose from (always a peril at Italian restaurants).

Thankfully, Buca di Beppo has quite an extensive menu and I had plenty of choices. Also a plus was with family-style dining, a single entree (which looks pricey on its own) easily serves 2 so even with the a la carte side dishes, dinner is quite affordable if you’re willing to eat the same as your dining partner. And if not, you’ve definitely got lunch for the next day for each of you!

We went with the sharing option, but not before starting off the evening with cocktails and appetizers.

A Mediterranean Orange for Todd

and a Lemon Basil Vojito for me.

Both were quite tasty, though Todd’s benefited from ditching the pretty layers in his drink and stirring it up to mix the melon liqueur in the bottom with the rest of his drink. Definitely smoothed it out.

For our appetizer we couldn’t–or didn’t want to–settle on just one thing, so went with the sampler platter. It worked out perfectly: Todd got the mozzarella triangles, I got the mushrooms (stuffed with a creamy cheese mixture and with a pesto cream sauce), and we split the mass of calamari.

And speaking of the calamari, it was fried but not greasy, and the breading was very light, letting the flavor of the squid come through instead of just tasting breading.

Before we’d finished our trio of appetizers our entree arrived. We’d both been intrigued by the Veal Saltimbocca (also available with chicken) that we’d seen on our at-home menu perusal and once at the restaurant we were both still leaning that way.

The veal was wrapped in prosciutto and topped with artichoke hearts and a lemon caper sauce–it was like veal met our favorite bacon-wrapped artichoke heart appetizer and there’s nothing wrong with that ideas at all!

With a side of green beans (which the waitress cautioned us was very lemony, though we didn’t have any problem with it) the dinner was more than complete, to the point that we couldn’t even contemplate dessert.

When it comes to chains, what they might lack in originality they make up for in reliability. Buca di Beppo has made a favorable impression on us with this first visit and we’re certainly open to returning.

——————–

The discount coupon I used for this visit was through a workplace promotion. This “review” was not solicited in any way and all opinions and experiences are our own. Your mileage may vary–but you’ll never know if you don’t try it yourself 😉

Nibbles

While I usually eye any book on Cajun or Creole cuisine with a healthy dose of skepticism, I was pleasantly surprised by Taste of Treme, by Todd-Michael St. Pierre.

It helps that St. Pierre is a native of New Orleans, but that’s not always enough to carry a book on its own. The writing is fun and fresh, the recipes uncomplicated, and the little bits of history and culture St. Pierre intersperses make me more than a little homesick for Louisiana.

TremÃ©, a New Orleans neighborhood, is the setting for an HBO series of the same name, following the lives of residents picking themselves up after Hurricane Katrina. If you’ve seen the show, the book will act as a companion to many of the characters and situations you’ve become fond of. But if you’ve never seen the series (as I haven’t), it doesn’t take away anything from your enjoyment of the book.

The real test, of course, is in the recipes. While I flagged many more in my first pass through the book, I fit 4 into a recent week’s menu and it was quite the feast!

First up was Quinn’s Quaint Crab Quiche.

My only quibble with this dish is that it’s supposed to serve 4 from an entire pie, and that’s an awful heavy serving. I’d suggest you serve 6-8 people with this savory, rich quiche and add a nice salad for color and texture contrast. While it’s tough to admit it, there is such a thing as too much of a good thing.

Being a coastal city, it’s no surprise that fish and shellfish feature quite prominently in the cuisine ofÂ TremÃ©. Still, there were a handful of each beef, pork, and chicken recipes to be tried, and we went with Kaki’s Cajun Lemon Stir Fry.

You might wonder what stir-fry has to do with Louisiana cuisine but (and I was surprised to learn this, too) apparently there’s a sizable Vietnamese population that immigrated after the Viet Nam war. Between the ports and the strong Catholic ties, it made sense for them. So, yes, stir-fry in aÂ TremÃ© cookbook. And one of the tastier stir-fries I’ve made at home, too.

Soups and stews are fabulous fare, no matter what part of the country you’re cooking from. I considered trying one of St. Pierre’s gumbos but then I came across Davis McAlary’s Crab and Corn Soup and I new it had to go on the menu.

This soup could easily work without the crab, if the cost is prohibitive or you just don’t feel like picking through the crab meat (a tedious part of every crab recipe, but better to do it than not). I served it with my own Cheddar Buttermilk Biscuits though a loaf of French bread would do easily as nice. Servings are generous on this recipe, too, as the stated 4 could easily stretch to 6 or even 8.

Finally we rounded out the week with Everette’s New Orleans-Style Barbecued Shrimp.

I’m almost ashamed to say I’ve never had the New Orleans take on BBQ Shrimp and it’s nothing like what you would expect, if you hadn’t had it before. These shrimp go nowhere near skewers, grills, or any sort of traditional BBQ sauce. Instead, they marinate for a time in a flavorful butter sauce, get cooked on the stove until done, and the resulting sauce is then bolstered by beer and more butter and poured over the shrimp.

All that’s left is to roll up your sleeves, grab a big stack of napkins (or a roll of paper towels) and some thick slices of French bread (to sop up the wonderful sauce). The shrimp are marinated and cooked with the shell on, so eating is a messy proposition, but all kinds of tasty. It’s not something we’d ever eat on the regular, but for a Friday night treat it was amazing.

There are so many other recipes caught my attention but there’s only so much decadence we can take in a week–the other’s will keep. Taste ofÂ TremÃ© has taken the top spot of my favorite New Orleans cookbooks, and the next time I head to the Big Easy, I’ll make sure to venture a little farther afield than the French Quarter proper.

——————–

Scraps of Life

Better living through creativity!

Nibbles

Fueling the Trader Joe’s Desire

Like this:

Giving Thanks for Resourcefulness

Like this:

Recipe | Apple Mallow Sweet Potato Bake

Like this:

Take a Bite Of: Buca di Beppo

Like this:

The Taste of TremÃ© Tastes Good!

Like this: