Justin & Meredith Winokur's Kitchen Cooking Notebook
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KitchenKatalog: Blog 292
Monday, March 18, 2013, 06:38 PM
This was another recreation of something Meredith made a while ago. It was really easy too. We started by roasting chopped cauliflower at 450 for 20-30 minutes until it was starting to show some browning. Then, we sautéd half an onion and a lot of finely chopped mushrooms. After they had been well reduced and cooked, we added a thing of the Trader Joes Soy Chorizo (pictured below). We then immediately added the roasted cauliflower and mixed it together. We let it cook and get a bit crispy. We also added some capers and the brine. It gives it a bit of saltiness and more flavor. Extremely good and extremely easy. The chorizo is 4.85 servings at 3.9points plus per for 19 total. Add two or three for oil and incidentals. Basically, two large servings at 12 points each! I would definitely make this again. Also, the soy chorizo may be good when used in something else. I'll keep it in mind.
We also made a red-lentil dip from the recipe below. I think she followed the recipe pretty closely except she used grits in place of corn meal. I am honestly not sure if there is really any difference. It's interesting how the corn meal gets cooked by the lentils and not on its own. We also probably used extra sriracha. I liked it a lot. It was maybe a bit gritty but not too bad. I would go lighter on the parsley as well. I could imagine making this as a meal unto itself, or spreading it on some vegetable as a really nice side. It could also take the place of hummus
edit note: Added note to capers
Spicy Red Lentil Spread (from The First Mess)
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Soy Chorizo:
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3265, 2013-03-18_183818
Tuesday, March 12, 2013, 06:25 PM
I made this at Adam's apartment. I used roughly the normal taco stew but we really just threw it together more than anything. I used extra zucchini, more meat, lots of salsa, etc. I also used peas instead of corn since that is all we had. There really isn't much more to tell about it. It was pretty standard. As a side note, we didn't have any sour-cream or yogurt so we used bleu-cheese dressing. It was actually a really different but nice flavor.
The brussel sprouts were done between 400 and 450 (I don't recall which we used, I think it was 450). They were pretty good!
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3253, 2013-03-12_182534
Saturday, March 09, 2013, 05:55 PM
The main meal here was the mushroom thing based on the recipe below. Meredith had made it a while ago and we decided to do it again. We actually had planned it for the night before but scrapped it for lunch the next day so it had a long marinade. Meredith had found this mixed light-dark miso paste that was very good. We served it on a bed of arugula. It didn't make much but it was extremely flavorful. I would happily make it again, but I would make more. I think Meredith_may_ have used less oil.
Meredith also made chia pudding. I do not recall all of the details but basically chia seeds in vanilla almond or coconut milk and let it pud (yes, it's now a verb) in the fridge. We topped it with chopped pistachios. It is very good and pretty easy. It tasted a bit like tapioca pudding but much easier to make. I also added some splenda to mine to make it sweeter. Oh, and we also used dried fruits.
Finally, we threw together a banana bread. There is absolutely no chance we could make it again or even describe it. We were trying to make a banana filling with mashed banana, splenda, maple and some other syrups. It got way too soupy so we tried to add some corn starch. Still not much success. Finally, we gave up and made it into banana bread. Meredith did it and I do not recall the details but it got very puffy. Whatever Meredith looked up called for some cider vinegar. Of course, when we added the baking soda, it bubbled. So we added some baking powder. It was a bunch of adding this and that until we were satisfied. We divvied it up into mini-muffin tins and these ramekins. They came out a bit tough (probably too much mixing) but they were really good. I was happy with them!
Miso-Marinated Portobello Carpaccio [Vegan] (From SeriousEats)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3242, 2013-03-09_175547
Sunday, March 03, 2013, 10:38 AM
We made chocolate drizzle popcorn. We basically air-popped a bunch of popcorn and the drizzled chocolate over it. We used just plain old (boring) hersheys melted in the microwave. We drizzled it on the popcorn as evenly as possible and then refrigerated it. They came out pretty good with a nice mix. There was just a little bit of chocolate on every piece.It was good though my hands got covered in chocolate.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3233, 2013-03-03_103854
Sunday, March 03, 2013, 10:22 AM
I made vegetable and egg fajitas for breakfast. I took a whole onion, a bunch of birds eye chiles, lots of mushrooms, a poblano and beans. I then added egg (beaters) at the end, and mixed it all in. I used salt, pepper and a bit of adobo seasoning.
It was very good but very spicy. We had it with low-cal tortillas.
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3229, 2013-03-03_102252
Saturday, March 02, 2013, 11:22 PM
Emily and I made two ingredient cookies. Basically, you mash up two bananas and a cup of quick oats, then cook them at 350 for 15 minutes. We also added a little bit of Splenda. And we kept having to add some more quick oats since it seemed a bit too wet (and they mentioned that you may need to do that). Also, they warn you about them sticking but I used a silpat and it worked fine.
They were okay. About what you would expect. It just tastes like bananas and oatmeal. Not all that good, but they may serve to be really good on something like a bike ride.
Two Ingredient Oatmeal Cookies (From The Burlap Bag)
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3226, 2013-03-02_232222
Saturday, March 02, 2013, 11:03 PM
I made the carrot pudding again twice. Yesterday was the normal followed closely, and the second batch today, I cut the sugar in half and added 4-5 splenda packets. It came out good but less caramelized looking and slightly fake tasting. I think this is fine but I won't go lower on the
(Note, this recipe is now included in my Recipe Book)
Below is an updated recipe with a note on the two:
Either:
--- OR: ---
Put the milk and the smart balance in the pressure cooker. Heat/bring close to boil. Grate the carrots and add to hot milk mixture. Mix all the dry ingredients separately then add them to the carrots in batches stirring in between. Bring pressure cooker to full pressure on setting 2 for 15 minutes (that timing starts when the regulator starts venting).
Release the pressure quickly (just with the gauge). Then cook on medium to reduce until it is the desired consistency. You may have to scrape the pan a bit.
For the sugar, I found that the 100g/9 packets was very good with lots of caramelization and not too much "fake" flavor. A good mix. However, the 50g/13-14 packets is also still tasty, but tastes_slightly_ more fake and less carmely (in flavor and color). It comes down to whether you're will to add the calories. Obviously, a mix in between is fine too._
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Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3221, 2013-03-02_230334
Saturday, March 02, 2013, 10:47 PM
This was different. I made lentil Moussaka. I basically followed the standard recipe except instead of beef, I added 1-1/4 cup dry lentils. According to this Kitchn post you should be careful cooking lentils with acid because they can remain hard. I decided not to heed that and let it cook in the tomato sauce. Well, they were cooked but still noticeably crunchy. next time, I'll cook them separately and then add them towards the end. I also added more seasonings as I went since it didn't have the usual flavor.
Also, I made the béchamel with regular flour (no point change) but I used a more gentle heat. This worked well. I think I got a better sauce that tasted less floury.
Overall, it was pretty good. Nowhere near as good as the normal with meat, but not too bad either. I do think it needs more seasonings with the lentils.They are much healthier and vegetarian for Emily. Again, it made a lot. At least two big dinners and two nice size lunch type portions. And, as I said above. much lower points with the lentils
Original Wordpress ID and Date: 3218, 2013-03-02_224746