Rabbit Rabbit!

Happy June, again! Keeping with the tradition of saying "rabbit rabbit" to start each month with good luck, I made "White Rabbit" salad. Which is really just cottage cheese and apples. I also stirred in some honey. You're supposed to add some other stuff like nuts (I added sunflower seeds), raisins (nope), and poppy seeds (also nope). But this simple dish is actually pretty good, if a little plain! It's a really good light lunch that's filling and tastes really good. Can you believe that I'm willingly eating cottage cheese?? It might actually even be a new favorite of mine!

I'm ready for these summer classes to be over and to be poolside, reading or kitchen-side, cooking!

Cottage Cheese, Round 4

Today was the biggest step forward in my fight against cottage cheese: actually eating cottage cheese. As in, eating it essentially plain, not cooked in anything. And it honestly wasn't that bad.

Today's lunch was Moosewood's March Hare salad, which is comprised of cottage cheese and chopped vegetables. I think this salad could be replicated with really any ingredients you prefer, but I followed the recipe pretty closely. It calls for: tomato, bell pepper, celery, carrot, scallion, sprouts (I didn't use these because I couldn't find them), and cucumber. Additionally, you can add sunflower seeds, lemon juice, and salt/pepper. Moosewood also recommends optional hard boiled egg, which I did not include, but I think it would be really good!

I ate this on top of some slices of whole wheat bread, to give it a little more substance. It was a surprisingly good lunch! I think I will definitely be eating this in the future, with a few alterations. I want to add the hard boiled egg, to up the protein content. Also, I think I would eliminate the celery because I am really not a fan. I didn't use a LOT of vegetables because I was trying to balance the content; but I think more carrot would be good too.

Overall, though I'm surprised to be on board the cottage cheese train, I'm really happy about it. It's a good vegetarian food to have in my corner!

Gorgeous Eggplant is Gorgeous

            Eggplant is one of those foods that I’m pretty sure I’ve eaten before, but I couldn’t really tell you what it tastes like. But since I have no memories of it being gross and stuffed eggplant sounded really yummy, I decided to give it a shot! And it also meant that I could knock out another Moosewood recipe: Greek Pilaf. Pilaf is sort of like spiced/seasoned rice (although I used quinoa) that’s good for stuffing or as a side dish. To jazz up the pilaf, you stir in some feta and top with sliced tomatoes when baking in the eggplant; Moosewood calls it “Mediterranean Style”.

The battle wound. 

            Pilaf is incredibly simple and quick to make, especially if you don’t have to wait for the rice (or quinoa). Though I did find it to be a slightly dangerous recipe. In Medieval times, you weren’t a real knight until you’d bled on your sword. With that logic in mind, I am now a real cook. Of course, knights probably weren’t frantically washing their knives and obsessing over whether or not blood got on the onions. Also their biggest problem most likely wasn’t that it’s really hard to type with gauze all over your finger.

            You’re supposed to cut and bake the eggplant before stuffing and re-baking it. This means you can scoop out the insides and add it to the pilaf. I found it quite difficult to do the scooping bit. This was possibly because I didn’t let it cook all the way through—Moosewood recommends 20-30 mins and I did closer to 20. I like when there’s still a layer of innards attached to the skin (can you tell I watch crime shows while I cook?) so I did minimal scooping.

            The final result is an incredibly tender, melts-in-your-mouth dinner that’s absolutely packed with protein and deliciousness. My only critique is that it’s a little one-note. The eggplant soaks up the seasonings from the pilaf, which adds to the richness of the dish, but this leads to a slightly monotonous dinner. It would be better with a complementary side or maybe even a sauce of some kind. For the other variation, Moosewood recommends its Red Pepper Puree, and I imagine it would probably still be good on this one. It just needs a little something extra

YUM! 

Side note: by making this variation of stuffed eggplant, instead of the other, I get to check off a recipe and get a pass on a cottage cheese recipe. That’s 3 out of 11!

            

Goin' Greek and the Less than Triumphant Return of Pound Cake

Yum! 

            Tonight’s my last night at home as I will return to school tomorrow to work some extra shifts before the semester starts. Using the extra filo dough from Christmas, I decided to make the dish Spanakopita, which is basically a Greek spinach and cheese pie. I paired it with a fruit salad, using Moosewood’s guidelines, and my sister made a white bean salad. Additionally, I was meant to make some bread since I now know how to use our bread machine, but I forgot. 

            The spanakopita was completely delicious. The filo gets crispy and flakey, while the spinach and cheese get all melted and gooey. The spinach is wilted with onions, herbs, and garlic, and then you mix in feta and cottage cheese (that's 2/11!). Using olive oil, you layer the filo dough sheets and spread out the spinach mixture in the middle. Filo dough, also spelled fillo or phyllo, is paper thin and extremely fragile. It’s used in all kinds of strudels to create a delicate crust.

            For the fruit salad, I followed the recommendations under a special heading called “Dead-of-winter fruit salad”. It was less of a fruit salad and more of a mixed fruit bowl because all I used were apples, pineapple, and strawberries. I thought we had bananas at home, but apparently not. Moosewood’s fruit salad “recipe” is basically a list of instructions on how to cut up various types of fruits. So I didn’t really have to use most of it.

I didn't want to use (clean) the
coffee machine so I invented a new system.
Yes, that is a sink strainer...

            The pound cake was a bit of a fail. I decided to make the mocha-swirl variation because it looked the most delicious. Yet again I made the mistake of overfilling the pan, which led to burned edges and an undercooked center. I thought I had left it in long enough for the middle to be mostly set, but that was not the case. My sisters and I were able to eat about 2.5 slices off the end, but then middle poured out in a fountain of lava-like batter. But those two and a half slices were really good. The whole cake is coffee flavored, but there were swirls of chocolate all around. It was absolutely delectable. But the moral of the story is to just buy a bigger cake pan instead of cramming all the batter possible into one tiny tin. 

             It's now been about 2 months of this project and I'm still slightly behind schedule. The first two weeks of January will probably be pretty busy cooking days because none of the dining halls will be open and I won't have anything else to do. But once the semester gets going, it may take me a few days to get into the swing of my new schedule. I think I should be able to catch up, though.

Cottage Cheese *Shudder*

There are eleven recipes in Moosewood that require cottage cheese. A few more have optional cottage cheese or the choice of cottage cheese or ricotta. I am literally quivering in fear.

            Now, full disclosure, I’ve never actually tried cottage cheese. At least, if I have, I don’t remember it. So, you might be saying it’s not fair for me to judge cottage cheese solely on its disgusting look. But seriously, it looks disgusting. Also, people have told me that it’s gross. So my judgments are based on appearance and hear say. Additionally, I was in a play in high school in which someone had to get cottage cheese dumped on him. And that pretty much ruined it for me permanently.

            But, because of Moosewood, I need to either learn to love it or find someone who really likes it. Like, eleven meals worth. I decided for my first cottage cheese exposure I would ease my way in with Cottage Cheese and Apple Pancakes.

            And shocker! They were totally delicious! I don’t know if it was because I was super hungry after three back to back classes, but seriously, these are awesome!

            I was ticking away my grievances with this recipe when it began: cottage cheese, grated apple (just annoying), separated eggs (also annoying). But I completely take them back now! I used my $5 Target hand mixer (a fantastic investment) to beat the egg whites and stirred everything else together by hand. I have to say that there’s nothing quite as fascinating as watching egg whites froth up and then turn to that thick creamy bowl of fluff. It’s actually just amazing. The pancake batter ends up thick and lumpy due to the cottage cheese and apples, but it pours well and fries up nicely.  

My pancake flipping skills leave something to be desired

            Moosewood recommends a few different toppings, but I forgot to buy maple syrup, so mine were plain. Though they do go nicely with a bottle of hard cider. I don’t think they need any additional toppings, but maple syrup would still be good. Moosewood also specifies using tart apples. I used Pink Lady apples, handpicked from a local orchard. They aren’t exactly tart, but I think they work perfectly!

            I’m excited to hit double digits in my recipe counter, but for now, I’m still at 9/241.