cooking is something i've embraced since nicole and i first moved to bellingham and had our own kitchen. growing up, my mom cooked amazing dinners every night, but i always felt that the kitchen was her territory and was scared away from cooking after the one time i added the cheese powder to my macaroni before draining out the water. gross.
nicole and i made a pretty terrific team in the kitchen, knowing what the other needed without asking and moving from one end of our awkwardly arranged kitchen to the other as if in a choreographed dance. we loved having friends over for food, beers, and a couple episodes of lost.
while living with carrie for a brief, but glorious, six months our schedules were so opposite that we were able to collaborate only occasionally for dinner and would end up at casa more often than not.
now that i'm making my living as a cook i thought i'd get burnt out and find the idea of being in the kitchen on my days off appaling, but quite the opposite is true. making dinner on monday or tuesday nights is some of the rare time i get to spend with john, and what we make is entirely different from what i'm turning out at work. making a recipe that feeds four also allows for leftovers that we're both able to take for lunch.
i have a small cookbook collection that i occasionaly cook from, but being part of the 'blogosphere' has introduced me to so many amazing blogs brimming with recipes and reviews that it's hard to pull myself away from the screen. an added benefit of finding recipes in blogs is that their authors will offer up ingredient substitutions, suggest how they would do it differently next time, and i like to think that anything that makes it into a post is bound to be good, or else why would they bother? also, most of the time i'm drawn to a recipe by a colorful picture, something that many of my cookbooks lack.
my first flog recipe was found via 101 cookbooks and is actually called heather's quinoa. here we go!
for the roasted tomatoes:
1 small container cherry tomatoes big splash olive oil 1 T. brown sugar pinch salt
- pre-heat the oven to 350. mix the olive oil, brown sugar, and salt in a small bowl. cut the cherry tomatoes in half and throw into the bowl, tossing to coat evenly with the olive oil mixture. dump the tomatoes into an oven safe dish, cut side facing up, and put in the oven for 30 minutes or until they're kind of shrunken looking and soft.
2 cups quinoa (or brown rice)
-in a medium saucepan, heat the quinoa and four cups water until boiling. reduce the heat and simmer until all the water is absorbed, about fifteen minutes. meanwhile:
1 T. olive oil
2 cups extra firm tofu
1.5 cups spinach, kale or green of your choice
-in a large skillet, heat the olive oil. dice the tofu into about 1" cubes and add to the skillet, sauteing until lightly browned. while the tofu is browning, finely chop the greens and set aside. when the tofu has browned, set aside as well.
1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
-in the last couple minutes before the timer goes off for the tomatoes, spread the pumpkin seeds on a cookie tray and put in the oven. it will be literally no more than four minutes before they start popping to signal that they're done.
1 tsp. olive oil
1 shallot
1 cup corn (fresh or frozen)
1/3 cup pesto
-after you've removed the tofu from the skillet, add a smidge more olive oil, mince the shallot, and add it to the heated oil. sautee for a minute or two. your quinoa or rice should be done by now, so add it to the skillet, along with the corn. sautee until hot and sizzling. add in the greens and tofu that you have set aside. remove the skillet from heat and stir in the pesto and toasted pumpkin seeds.
-serve up healthy portions, topping with the roasted cherry tomatoes, salt and pepper.
seriously: so good. and good for you; no meat and the only dairy is the small bit of parmesan found in the pesto. TRY IT. COOKING IS FUN.
