I've taken a few days off from the world of Blogger. With the weather getting really nice, I find my evenings being consumed with other activities. We've had a 10-day run on nice weather, it seems. We're trying to get outside as much as possible. Oh, and Sleek started a new blog called Picture West Virginia. It's really cool, so I'll be participating there for sure. If you're a West Virginian, or are just interested about what life is like in the Mountain State, come on over.Okay, cooking...Tuesday evening, I decided to make use of some of the black beans I have in the freezer. I noticed a really interesting-looking recipe in V-con for chipotle black-beans. It was really easy with just a few ingredients, so I was game. The recipe intro mentioned that the Mexican millet (also from V-con, obviously) would accompany the beans nicely. The millet also was very easy with few ingredients. I'd never had millet before, so I decided to give it a try. Well, let me just say (and Sleek agrees), that the beans and millet completely blow my regular black beans and Mexican rice out of the water. Wow. This is the way it's going to be from now on. The millet is very interesting. Soft, but crunchy. A nice change from the usual rice. And the chipotle sauce for the beans. Yaaaaa-hoooo! Look out! That is some spicy stuff. So freaking good. This meal would be absolutely perfect with some cornbread.
Wednesday evening I made one of our favorite sandwiches, veggie reubens. These are just killer. Even just the veggie filling with some of the dressing drizzled over is good. You don't even need the bread and cheese! (I ate them as leftovers that way.) Last night, Sleek requested the tried and true chickpea gravy from WaVV. It's always awesome. This time I served it over some whole-wheat egg noodles for a change. Definitely comfort food.
I've made muffins a couple times this month. After the first batch, Annelies asked me to make her some blueberry muffins. (They're the only kind she likes.) Last week when I had over-ripe bananas and had to make muffins, she was crestfallen when she asked what kind they were. The poor kid just wants some blueberry muffins. So, I decided that I would make her some today. I scoured the internet for the perfect recipe. I had to find something that would be suitable for her. (Read: not uber-healthy.) I finally found a recipe from Ina Garten. It's loaded with butter, sugar and eggs. I knew I couldn't go wrong with these. I did use dried blueberries instead of fresh. I poured some hot water over them so they would plump up a bit. I followed the rest of directions perfectly. (Including a stick and a half of butter!) The recipe made 16 good-sized muffins. Let me just go ahead and say it: They are the perfect muffin. The best blueberry muffin I've ever had in my whole entire life. Incredible! Sleek is out of town for the weekend, so I made sure to put several in the freezer just so he'll get to try them. I have a feeling these will go fast!
3 comments:
There used to be a restaurant nearby (in Kanawha City), called "Ray's Deli" - they had a sandwich called "The Rachel" which was a vegetarian Reuben - tomato, cheese, sauerkraut and maybe a bit of mayo (can't remember) on grilled bread. It was sooo good. My dad made sauerkraut and I made it with him a few times before he passed away. When I get the nerve up, I'll do it myself too. His was so good, you'd never eat store bought again.
That's funny you mention that! I was recently wondering how difficult it is to make homemade sauerkraut. Is it difficult?
It's not difficult, but it is physically intensive - my dad experimented with different ways to chop the cabbage, but only liked using a hand held chopper thing. There's lots and lots of chopping to be done. Then after you set it up in it's little crock to ferment, you have to wait a couple of weeks. Can it when it's ready. That's about all there is to it.
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