Category: Food

Tales of Expansion: Finding a Home for Every Last Crumb

Twelve cups of healthy

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In typical Sunday fashion, I spent allll day today preparing food for the week. Even though I have tomorrow off, I kept to my Sunday routine because I love it. There’s nothing more relaxing than a day of creating and tasting food!

First, I started on this week’s batch of crockpot oats. I decided to make carrot cake oats when I found two items of questionable freshness (belonging to the roommates of course since I have a mind like a steel-trap when it comes to my own food!) in the fridge while I was cleaning it yesterday. Slimy baby carrots:

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And fermented pineapple:

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Since I’d be cooking everything, I figured any unfriendly bacteria/fermentation would burn off. I grated the carrots, crushed the pineapple, shredded an apple, and zested an entire orange:

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I also added 1 Tbsp fresh grated ginger and 1 cup fresh frozen cranberries. The mix-ins:

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Because I’m out of steel-cut oats, I substituted 1/2 cup rye berries and 1/2 cup kamut (other whole grains). Other than that, I followed my crockpot oats procedure exactly, using the 5-hour low-heat method. The recipe made a little over 6 cups. I ate the “over” topped with plain yogurt icing and cinnamon:

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Next project was Red Lentil-Peanut Soup. My roommate Tara made a similar soup last weekend following a Weight Watchers recipe, and it smelled so good that I’ve been craving lentils all week. The peanut butter addition was my idea, and I must say that it was a fabulous one!

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Also during the fridge cleanup yesterday, I found these grape tomatoes in desperate need of assistance:

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I’ve never been one to ignore tomatoes in distress, so I chopped them and added them to the soup, too. And half of the chicken broth I used was my very own homemade stock that I’ve had frozen since I made it from a chicken I bought at the farmers’ market in November.

Just like with the oatmeal, the soup made a little over six cups … and I ate the “over”:

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Soooooo good! I barely had 1/2 cup of this soup, and I was instantly satisfied. Or almost satisfied, since I followed the soup with my last two pieces of peppermint salt water taffy. Then I was satisfied.

Gourmet brunch, thrifty style

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If you’ve been paying attention, you know that my dinners out this weekend have provided me with two new food items: whole cardamom pods from The Ayurveda Cafe and freshly baked bread from Le Pain Quotidien. This morning, I combined the two to make Cardamom French Toast!

I broke into a cardamom pod, and here’s what I found inside:

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I gathered about a tsp of the seeds (and I still have more pods left!):

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Because I don’t have proper spice grinding tools and I didn’t feel like using a knife to chop the teeny seeds to smithereens, I added them to my French toast batter in the hopes that they would soften as they soaked. In addition to the cardamom, the batter contained 1 egg, 3/4 cup skim milk, 1 tsp vanilla, and 1/2 tsp cinnamon. I sliced last night’s bread so I had four pieces:

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And pressed the bread into the batter bowl so it could soak in the fridge for 30 minutes while I worked on other things:

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Eventually, I heated 1/2 Tbsp canola oil in a nonstick pan and dumped in the entire contents of the bowl. Some of the bread pieces fell apart because they were so saturated with the batter. Can you spot the cardamom?

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Once the French Toast finished cooking, I topped it with cinnamon and a tsp of my roommate Brigitte’s (of the pulled pork fame) maple cream. Have you experienced maple cream before? It tastes exactly like those leaf-shaped maple candies they sell in Vermont … except that it’s creamy (surprise!).

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Here’s my brunch spread with Nutcracker Sweet tea, the last half cup of chopped cantaloupe and strawberries (with nutmeg), and French Toast:

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Mmmmmm:

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Of course, I ended up topping the toast with the fruit:

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I loved the cardamom flavor in this dish. The whole seeds were definitely more flavorful than my ground cardamom, and they added a fun crunch to the meal. Because some of the seeds were still a little too strong, I’ll probably soak them longer or find a way to crush them next time.

Although delicious, I’m not sure how long this meal will hold me over since the bread was definitely not whole grain. I will very likely be eating again sooner rather than later!

Restaurant Review: Le Pain Quotidien

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As mentioned, I accidentally went out to dinner last night after the movie. Whoops! Maybe I couldn’t afford it, but it was sooooo good. Gina, Kate, the Feld, and I went to Union Square’s Le Pain Quotidien, a bakery/boulangerie chain that has recently added several new locations throughout the city. The specials board pulled us in:

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Restaurants seem to be all about philosophies these days, and Le Pain Quotidien is no exception. From the menu:

“The idea behind Le Pain Quotidien is simply to make a good daily bread, a handmade bread with a good crust and a firm slice, the kind of bread that makes great tartines. Bread not only to nourish the body, but the spirits as well. A bread best shared around a table, to be savored among friends.”

Normally, I’m not so into chains, but this one was right there and we were
cold. As soon as we crossed the threshold, all chain skepticism vanished because the decor was so simple and sparse that we felt as though we were inside an authentic French country farm kitchen.

Gina ordered the Garden Quiche, and it takes the prize for the best looking quiche I’ve ever seen. I had one bite and discovered it was also the fluffiest and lightest quiche I’ve ever tasted. Usually quiches turn me off because they are dense and slimy, but not this beauty:

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The Feld and I split the Goat Cheese & Arugula Salad with parmesan, toasted pine nuts, olive oil, and lemon (530 calories, as the menu so bluntly stated):

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And the Ricotta Tartine (this is what Kate got, too) with mission figs, diced tomatoes, black pepper, and organic acacia honey (390 calories):

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Here’s my portion of salad:

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This salad had everything I love. I think it was designed just for me with these huge slivers of parmesan, mmmmm:

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Here’s my portion of the tartine:

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It was superbly delicious as well! I want to be able to balance all these exclamations of perfection with some complaints, but I can’t. Figs, ricotta, and honey can’t help but form a magical food trinity:

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Then, the Feld had a brilliant idea! She topped her tartine pieces with some of the parmesan from the salad and gave me a bite:

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The parmesan added just the right touch of saltiness to transform the tartine into a salty-sweet masterpiece. And for all of this deliciousness, I only spent $14, including tax and tip! (The price only becomes a problem when I factor in the $12.50 I had just spent on the movie and the $19 I had spent on dinner the night before. Oh well, I will make it up.) Definitely worth it.

The only downside was temperature. The restaurant was pretty drafty thanks to a side door that randoms kept using to come in from the street. I spent the last half hour fully bundled in my scarf and coat!

I took a picture of us, but again, we looked so cold and bedraggled in it (it’s just not prime photo season, is it??) so here’s one from July when we were neither cold nor bedraggled. L to R — Kate, Q (who couldn’t make it tonight but was present for this brunch), me, the Feld, and Gina:

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And you know I couldn’t leave the restaurant without a little somethin’ somethin’ to bring home so, at the urging of the others, I wrapped these in a napkin and stuffed them into my purse:

hunk of French bread, slice of "organic wheat" bread

hunk of French bread, slice of "organic wheat" bread

Perhaps there is French toast in my future???

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Before I left for the movie, I threw together a very quick and very late lunch. I heated the rest of Thursday night’s steamed cabbage in the oven and topped it with the last of my sofrito sauce:

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And of course, because every meal must end with something sweet, a toasted Chocolate Fig VitaTop with a tsp of peanut butter, a half cup of chopped strawberries and cantaloupe, and a drizzle of yogurt:

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Because I can’t help taking 10,000 close-ups:

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After the movie (Bride Wars — a little bit cute and funny … a big bit sickeningly predictable and superficial), I accidentally went out to dinner with the girls (review to come) and put myself over-budget on entertainment spending before the week has even begun. Dear Sarah: You are not allowed to engage in any social events requiring money for at least one week. Sincerely, your bank account.

After dinner, I decided to hit up the Food Emporium right by the subway station. Holy expensiveness! I used to shop at Food Emporium all the time without realizing the ridiculousness of their prices … but that was pre-grad school when I had an actual income and before I figured out how to prepare fresh food. Everything cost 2-3 times what I usually pay in Brooklyn and I was soooo tempted to abort the mission, but I kept thinking about how much I did not want to have to drag myself to the store tomorrow in the snow. I spent $16 for this paltry showing:

bananas (3), oranges (3), red pepper, red cabbage, dried chickpeas, dried lentils, gallon skim, carrots

bananas (3), oranges (3), red pepper, red cabbage, dried chickpeas, dried lentils, gallon skim, carrots

Right now, I’m preparing my yogurt for its overnight incubation, clearing the fridge of roommate-forgotten rotten produce, and enjoying this little late-night snack:

sugar cookie tea and a freezer-saved conference room cookie from work!

sugar cookie tea and a freezer-saved conference room cookie from work!

Night night night!

Lazy brunch

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All week long, thanks to this and this, I’ve had a pancake craving snowballing out of control. I was ready to take action when I woke up this morning, so I developed a single-serving recipe for Apple-Cinnamon Pancakes with Peanut Sauce.

Hot off the pan:

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All seven pancakes topped with the sauce and flanked by Nutcracker Sweet tea and a bowl of cantaloupe and strawberries:

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I dumped the bowl of fruit on top of the pancakes because I’m a mixer:

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Yum! Despite the laziness, it’s been a productive morning because I have (1) satisfied my pancake craving and (2) completed four loads of laundry. Next up: Bride Wars with the girls!