Sunday, Sleek and I invited some friends (crusselldrums and family) over for brunch. I always enjoy getting together with friends over a great meal. Brunches often work better than dinners for us because by evening, the kids are starting to get tired and grumpy. (At least during the school-year when they get up early. In the summer, they can go all night!) At brunch time, they're well-rested and can actually hang out for several hours without completely melting down. Much more enjoyable.Anyway, I made a broccoli cheddar quiche using my typical pie-crust recipe (4 cups flour and 1 tsp. salt with 1 3/4 cups trans-fat-free shortening cut in. Add in 1/2 cup water, an egg and 1 TBS vinegar) along with my usual quiche-filling recipe. The milk-egg ratio always stays the same, but I like to experiment with the veggies/cheese that I use. It turned out very good, I think. Sleek thought it was the best quiche ever. Every time I make a quiche he says that! To go along with it, I made some oven-roasted potatoes. I diced the potatoes (russets), and spread them onto a baking sheet coated with canola oil cooking spray. Then I gave them another spray of the oil, sprinkled with salt and garlic powder, and roasted at 450 degrees for about 30 minutes. I stirred them about every 10 minutes. They were really good, and much healthier than pan-frying.
I also made a strawberry spinach salad, which Becky had posted on her blog last month. I thought about that salad for a month before I could get strawberries worthy of it. Like Becky, I also reduced the amount of olive oil called for. I probably used 1/3 cup. It was so good! I have lots of the dressing left over, so I can't wait to buy more spinach tomorrow and finish it off. I made some tropical muffins from the current issue of Cooking Light as well. Honestly, they were some of the best muffins ever. How could they not be? They're packed with pineapple, banana, coconut and macadamia nuts! I'll be making them again for sure. Probably sooner rather than later.
Saturday evening, Sleek and I decided to try our luck with Cafe of India once again. This time we opted for take-out. I had some vegetable pakoras, garlic naan, Shahi paneer masala, rice, and kheer for dessert. It was so good that I ate until I felt miserable. We're already talking about eating there again this coming weekend. We just can't help ourselves.
I'm still digging the new Joseph Arthur EP, Could We Survive. He's released a second one, which I'm putting on my iPod tonight. I can't wait to check it out. Y'all should check him out. I'll predict that anyone reading this would love him! Check out this video of Joseph discussing his new art gallery in Brooklyn. Very cool.
5 comments:
Those muffins sound awesome, I'm going to have to find a way to veganize them and omit the nuts!!
Thank you so much for brunch on Sunday! J, A, and I absolutely loved it (and Alec still talks abou tseeing his friends)! There is nothing greater in the world than great food and company (and great music conversation to boot)!!! Thanks for the hospitality, and we are already planning a get-together for you all at our place soon!
carrie: It could easily be done. Add a little more banana and a couple tablespoons of applesauce. For the buttermilk, just use some soy or rice milk with about 2 tsp of vinegar added. (I think that works with rice milk?) They are so good! I'll try them vegan next time.
c-drums: We had a great time with you guys. I can't wait to get together again.
I'm glad the salad worked out for you! I think you really need good, sweet berries to pull it off. I probably should have waited, too. THey're just starting to come in.
I'm going to have to find the recipe for the black bean cutlets and jalapeno-corn gravy! That sounds amazing! I love jalapenos in just about anything.
becky: I can email you the recipe if you want!
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