Stuff that will change your life- Kitchen Edition

I just have to blog about some kitchen gadgets that we have that are so awesome that I must encourage both of my readers to go and get some.

First is the y-peeler. This will change the way you peel veggies. Seriously. Once you use one, you'll wonder why you ever did it the old way. They are super-cheap at IKEA and places like Target and Walmart.
Next is the super-duper pizza stone. I got one because Macey's ran a deal that involved a cheap one and some free frozen pizza. This thing renders basic blah frozen pizza to crispy, bubbly brown-baked cheesy topped pizza. Better than (or at least equal to) delivery- and hotter. The best part? The stone keeps the pizza hot while you eat your first piece. Totally worth it!

Next up- our smoothie maker. Not just a regular blender- our smoothie maker is heavy duty and takes care of ice lickety split. We get on kicks where we make smoothies almost daily. We've found it is a good way to get rid of ripe fruit in a hurry. Ours has a handy spout at the bottom that makes dispensing super-easy!

Last, but not least, the humble pizza cutter. We use it for sooo much more than pizza at our casa. Quesidillas, waffles, pita pockets, hotcakes- they all get cut into bits by this handy tool. I'm thinking we need at least two...

How 'bout you? What can't you live without at your house?

Recipe- Eggplant Pannini

Sorry for the lack of posts this week. I've kind of had blogger's block. I was actually trying to think of something interesting enough to post and came up with nothing. Good thing we went to an indoor arena football game and had a family party this weekend to spice things up!

In the meantime, I wanted to share a recipe for the awesome sandwiches we had tonight. We gobbled them up so quickly I forgot to get a picture- sorry! We got this recipe from our new BH&G "Vegetarian Cooking" cookbook.

Eggplant Panini

1 cup torn arugla (can sub spinach, arugla is spicer)
2 t. red wine vinegar (we had garlic flavored- yum!)
1 t. olive oil

Toss together in a small bowl.

1 Eggplant, cut into 1/2 in. thick rounds
3 oz fresh Mozzarella cheese, thinly sliced
1 12in. plain or seasoned round foccacia bread, halved horizontally
1 large tomato, thinly sliced
1/3 c. seasoned dry bread crumbs
2T parmesan cheese
1 egg
1T milk
2T flour

In a shallow dish, beat together egg and milk. In another dish, stir the bread crumbs and parm. cheese. Put the flour in a third dish. (we're breading the eggplant, see how that works?) Dip the eggplant slices inot the flour to coat, then dip into the egg mixture and last, into the crumb mixture.

In a 12 in. non-stick skillet, heat 1T oil over med. heat. Add eggplant slices and cook for 6-8 min. or until lightly browned, turning once. Top the eggplant slices with the mozzarella cheese. Cook, covered, just until the cheese begins to melt.

To serve, put the eggplant slices cheese side up on bottom half of bread. Top with the arugala mixture and tomato slices (and the top half of the bread, of course). Cut into serving-size wedges.

TIP: To keep the eggplant from tasting bitter, you will need to "degorge" it (I know, it sounds disgusting). Just make sure you rinse it really well- we didn't do a great job and it was a bit salty...

This was super-quick and really, really yummy! You can also make a great "second day" meal with the leftovers- just put some spaghetti sauce and some of the parm cheese on the eggplant/mozz and viola- eggplant parm!

Food Storage Audition- Curried Lentils and Rice

You thought I'd forgotten- right? Nope. It's just that Meatless May sucked all of our food experement mojo so we kind of slacked on the food storage auditions. We did manage to do one.

For those of you who might be new to my blog, we've been auditioning shelf-stable recipes to be part of our 3 month emergency food supply - you know, in case someone looses a job, or whatever. You can catch up on all of it here.

Anywho- today's dish is Curried Lentils and Rice from- you guessed it- Safely Gathered In. This dish is completely veggie (yeah!) and uses lentils which is on my list of "learn to cook with these ingredients" along with polenta.

The reviews on this one were mixed. I don't know if it was the day or what, but when DMP made this for dinner, I couldn't eat it, smell it or be in the same room as it. DMP and the girls ate it right up. I was able to eat the leftovers a couple of times and found it both filling and yummy, though.

I know that isn't a glowing recommendation, but I'm trying to be honest here. Following the recipe directions produced nicely flavored lentils (even for someone like me that isn't wild about Balsalmic Vinegar) that didn't taste too "dry" and enough sauce to go nicely with the rice. I do wonder what it would be like without the cilantro and sour cream (added because we were "rotating").

So in all, this recipe probably deserves another shot to see if we still like it without the cilantro and sour cream.

Veg-tastic Recipes

A couple people have asked for meatless recipes (no, really!). So I figured I'd post links to some of our new favorites here. 

We made and froze a ton of these "Make Ahead Lunch Wraps" and I've been taking them for lunch (imagine that!). They heat up really well and are tasty with salsa.

Our all-time favorite veggie meal is this yummy California Grilled Veggie Sandwich- sooooo good.  Don't be afraid of the grilled red peppers or red onion- I'm not a fan of peppers, but I"m finding I like them grilled and the onion gets all sweet and mellow.

One night we made Carmelized Onion and Gorgonzola pizza (it was my first time carmelizing onions and it went really well!).  This is a good recipe, but we cut the gorgonzola in half and used a cup or two of mozzerella.  I wouldn't have wanted just gorgonzola!  But still use both onions- we only used one and wished there were more. We used an easy Garlic  Bread Machine pizza crust and our pizza stone and it was fantastic. Next time we are going to grill the pizza.

For quick and easy stuff, we liked this Tortellini with Fresh Vegetables although next time we'll try to grill the veggies and just toss with the tortellini.  For other "quick" nights we had breakfast for dinner (with Morningstar sausages - they are veggie and very yummy).  We also like the Bisquick "impossibly easy pies" recipes-  Especially the Quesadilla Pie and the Spinach Parmesan Pie- they taste like a lighter version of a quiche.

Enjoy!

Food Storage Auditions- Black Bean Burgers and Chicken Salad

Last week, we auditioned two more potential 3 month food storage candidates. 

First we tried the Black Bean Burgers from the excellent Safely Gathered In blog:

Before we proceed with the results of the audition, I want to add my standard disclaimer to this as well as any and all types of "veggie" burger.  If you are expecting it to have the texture and taste of a ground beef burger, you will always, always be disappointed. If you are expecting a delicious grilled sandwich- you may be suprised that you like it in spite of the missing meat.

So- back to this recipe.  It was excellent- one of the best bean burger recipies we've tried (and one of the easiest).  We did almost double the amount of salsa called for in the recipe, and we added about a 1/4 or 1/2 coup of corn (about 1/3 of a can). 

They cooked up nicely on the stovetop, too- crispyish on the outside and mushy (creamy?) on the inside.  We served them with melted cheddar, salsa, tomatos and lettuce.  Kid rating was a double-thumbs-up- Birdy ate her whole sandwich (which is the ultimate kid test). 

My only issue is that I wonder about the suitibility for "shelf storage" since it relies on buns (which, technically I could make- you know, if they have a "hamburger bun" recipe for the bread machine).  However, I think for the practical purposes of the 3 month supply, it gets a "pass".

On Saturday we went to the zoo.  We have a new commitment to NOT eating out, so we decided it was a perfect opportunity to bust out the Chicken Salad  recipe (also from Safely Gathered In) and give it a try (Pic from Safely Gathered In- not mine):

I only became a Chicken Salad sandwich fan recently, and have been pretty committed to a great recipe that my sister  found on one of my favorite recipe sites, Allrecipes.com.  It is awesome, but definately not food-storage friendly.

We really enjoyed this chicken salad. The canned chicken suprised us again by being really good. The craisins gave it a great shelf-stable sweetness and the toasted almonds provided the crunch. Our only complaint was that it seemed a bit dry and we had to add a good 1 1/2 extra tablespoons of mayo.  The girls also thought it was great and ate up their whole sandwiches while watching the rhinos.

So now our total is up to 4 recipes and we have started shopping and collecting ingredients.  I'm curious, readers, shall I continue these reviews? Are you interested? Do you care? Do you want me to just send you our final list/recipes?

Let me know in the comments!~

Food Storage- Black Bean Burgers

Food Storage Auditions- Coconut Curry Chicken and Garbanzo Bean Soup

In order to build our list of 15 dinners to help us on our goal of having a 3 month supply of food we actually eat, we decided to "audition" 2 recipes a week for the next little while.

The first one we tried was Coconut Curry Chicken and rice courtesy of  Safely Gathered In. 

 This one was a total winner.  It was our first time ever using canned chicken in any way, and we were suprised at how good it was, and how the texture worked with this recipe. The sauce turned out kind of salty, but it was OK when you mixed it with the rice. I think the saltiness could have been the cheap-ish spice mixes we used- we'll have to try another. 

I think the "eatability" of this dish outweighs the fact that coconut milk is kind of expensive and it uses some "uncommon" spices that, from a food-storage perspective, will likely only be used for this recipe (vs garlic, rosemary or other more universal stuff). But one bottle of each of the spices will likely see us through the 6 times we are planning to make it.  Since we were "rotating" (internet food storage blog speak for just making something to use up your supply, I've learned) we added peas and the sweetness, color and texture really made this extra-yummy and added some more veggie power.  This one also got a high "kid rating". EJ gobbled it up and asked for seconds (something she never does).  Birdy was just ticked that I "sprinkled" her rice and "ruined" it so it is hard to say what she would have thought if she had decided to try it.

Next we made the Pasta and Garbanzo Bean soup, also from Safely Gathered In. 

This one is probably a keeper, but less of a slam dunk than the Coconut Curry Chicken.  since we were "rotating" and I love to add veggie power wherever I can, we dumped a bag of frozen peas and carrots in and it turned out nicely.

It was nice to have the convenience of a crock-pot recipe, and the taste was awesome, but I think before we add this to the "keeper" pile, we'll make a few changes.  First, the texture wasn't that great- part of that was our fault because the garbanzo beans were undercooked- but I think that the water-to-stuff-that-soaks-up-water is low- the soup was thick the day we made it, and the next day it was about the texture of refried beans.  Not really the best, but we added some water and that made it work again.

I think I'd like to try this one again and substitute lentils or barley for the orzo- just to give it more of a nutritional boost.  I think we'll also try canned garbanzo beans- I think they will make for a better and less grainy texture.  So I think after one more try, this one will be a keeper because the taste really is great!  The "kid" rating on this one was also high- EJ asked if we could "eat it every day" and Birdy ate most of her bowl- unheard of for soup.

So we basically have 2 down, and 13 to go!  I'd love any recipes you might have that are "shelf stable" or easily adapted. We are focusing on main dinner dishes first, and then we'll stock up on canned fruit and veggies and lunch and then we'll probably work on breakfast stuff last. I think it would be fantastic to have a full 3 month supply- breakfast, lunch and dinner including sides- but I think it is more realistic to focus on small goals first :)