Around the World: Portugal

We were in Whole Foods and were admiring the vast array of dried beans one day, when I saw Fava beans. I knew I had found a recipe I wanted them for but couldn’t exactly remember why but I bought them anyways. I found the recipe and remembered it was for my Around the World Series- Portuguese Favas. Therefore, we are eating foods selected from Portugal tonight. And might I add that the dessert was one of our favorites. Patrick, not really being a dessert person, put this up there as his #2 on the favorite dessert list, with his most favorite of all time being my Peach (and Blueberry) Galette. He said “I never thought a pastry would be one of my favorite desserts” but this simple custardy dessert is indeed. And this potato/kale soup was very good as well, a nice compliment to the spicy fava/onion dish.

Caldo Verde (Portuguese Green Soup) 

Ingredients:

3 tablespoons olive oil
1/2 onion, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 potatoes, peeled and cut into cubes
1 quart cold water
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
ground black pepper to taste
1/2 pound kale or collard greens

Directions:

1. Rinse the kale/collard greens and dry with paper towels. Cut and discard the stems. Roll up the leaves and cut into thin slivers, julienning the leaves. Set aside.
2. I a large pot, cook olive oil, garlic, and onion for 3 minutes. Add sliced potatoes, cook until browned about 3 more minutes. This browning gives the soup a good flavor!
3. Add 1-2 cups of water and boil for about 20 minutes until potatoes are soft. Mash or puree the potatoes with some small chunks still in the soup.
4. Stir in the rest of the water and add salt and pepper. Simmer for a few minutes. Then stir in kale and simmer for about 5 more minutes, until kale is tender. Stir in another tablespoon of olive oil for flavor.

Portuguese Favas**

Ingredients
5 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 large onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons red pepper flakes
1 mini can (about 1 cup) tomato sauce
2 cups hot water
3 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
2 teaspoons paprika
salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon black pepper
2 (19 ounce) cans fava beans*

Directions
1. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Saute onion and garlic until golden brown. Stir in red pepper flakes, tomato sauce, hot water, parsley, salt (add this at the end if using dried favas), pepper and paprika.

2.Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Gently stir in fava beans. Remove from heat and let stand for several minutes to allow flavors to meld.

*I used dried fava beans. These require a bit more work! They need to soak overnight. In order to easily shell the beans, I would also suggest boiling them for 10 minutes, draining, and rinsing in cold water. Next, squeeze each fava so it pops out of its shell. These uncooked beans must be cooked for at least one hour, adding salt only at the end so the beans don’t dry up. I had a hard time figuring out how long to cook and how to get them out of the shell with a lot of contradicting sources on the web. I finally figured it out. This is a good reference.

**This a great sauce. The concept of using so many onions to thicken is genius. We put leftovers on pasta mixed with regular pasta sauce. Delicious! This would probably also be good as a base for cooking meat or casseroles.

Queijadas

Ingredients
3 eggs
2 cups white sugar*
3 tablespoons butter
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 cups milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
2. In a blender, combine eggs, sugar and butter. Blend until smooth. Pour in flour and milk, a little at a time, blending until smooth again. Stir in vanilla.
3. Pour into muffin tins, filling 3/4 full. Bake in preheated oven 45 minutes, until golden brown. Serve hot or cold.

*Use less. I used ½ cup of sugar, ½ cup agave and it was plenty sweet. Very delicious!

Suggestion: Top with fresh fruit, jam, or coconut before or after baking. Substitute almond or lemon extract for vanilla. Try alternative sources of sweetener like agave.

Chipotle chicken, black bean, veggie soup

The past couple nights were simple tacos and spaghetti. Today, I made another good soup! I saved half the chicken I cooked in the shiitake soup and put it in this. I also had carrots and celery on hand so I added those in, turning the soup into nothing like the described it as, but so delicious. Also, Patrick wasn’t feeling spicy food tonight, so I left that out and added a couple drops of super hot sauce to mine later. This recipe is from the Soup Chic’s blog and she heated her soup up more with chilies and hot sauce. Here’s my version of the recipe:

Chipotle chicken, black bean, veggie soup

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic
3 cups chicken stock
2 cups water
1 cup corn, roasted
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 cup celery, chopped
1 can diced tomato, drained
1 cup chicken, cooked and shredded
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
Salt and pepper

Directions
In a big pot, heat the oil, brown the onion, garlic.

Add broth, water (use less if you prefer it to have a stronger flavor), corn, carrots, celery, tomatoes, chicken, and black beans and simmer for about a half an hour or until veggies are cooked. Season with salt and pepper.

I made rice to make it more filling and added it to individual bowls. For it to be more Mexican, you could top with sour cream and tortilla chips.

Ratatouille Tacos

Tonight I made some tacos, titled below and when eating, realized we were eating ratatouille in taco form. Yum and I really love guacamole.

Smoky Chipotle Roasted Summer Vegetables

Ingredients:

• 1 eggplant
• 1 bell pepper
• 1 yellow squash
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 1 1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder
• 1/8 tsp garlic powder
• 1/8 tsp onion powder
• 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• 1/8 tsp dried oregano
• 1/4 tsp smoked paprika
• 1 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp sea salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper

Instructions:

1. Trim & discard ends of eggplant & squash. Stem & seed bell peppers. Cut eggplant, squash, & pepper & onion into 1 1/2-inch chunks.
2. Combine spice mixture, vegetables, & olive oil in a mixing bowl & toss, coating the vegetables in the spices & oil.
3. Transfer to an roasting pan & spread evenly. Bake at 400 degrees F, for about 45 minutes, stirring occasionally, until vegetables are fragrant & tender. While the vegetables roasting away, make salsa.

To make the salsa, I made a spin-off of this Spicy Summer Salsa recipe using a jar of mom’s canned salsa (tomatoes, onions, mild peppers, carrots) and adding a banana pepper, poblano pepper (less spicy than a jalapeno), onion, roasted corn, cilantro.

Then I made a quick guac. I mashed 2 avocados with some salsa, some garlic, a bit of the chopped poblano pepper, and a little cilantro.

Once the veggies were done, I prepared our blue corn tortillas, piled on lettuce, the ratatouille-like veggies, salsa, and dollops of guacamole.

Tuscan Bean Soup (with Kale chips)

“Hey Patrick. I made some Kale Chips…but I ate them all.” Haha, he got a kick out of that. Story: I used kale in the soup and decided to make a couple batches of chips with leftover kale. We have a small oven so I made two trays. When the first one came out of the oven it was mostly eaten before I even realized it (it was about ¼ cup of crisps). When the second batch came out of the oven, I bumped it on a nearby chair and they, in slow motion, floated up in the air and down onto the floor. That was Patrick’s share. I still have some left over kale so maybe he will get some the next time I make it…or not. P.S. they’re super easy to make. Wash and cut into small pieces. Coat the pieces with olive oil and seasoning (salt, paprika, etc) bake for less than 10 minutes at 350F until crisp, not chewy.

Tuscan Bean Soup

3 cloves garlic, minced

2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed

2 medium carrots, chopped

4 rib celery, chopped

1⁄2 yellow onion, chopped

extra-virgin olive oil

~2cups squash, such as butternut, peeled and cut into 1⁄2″ cubes

4 large kale leaves, stemmed and chopped

1 potato, peeled and cut into 1⁄2″ cubes (I had a sweet potato on hand)

Salt and black pepper

1⁄2 tsp. crushed fennel seeds

8 thick slices country-style bread

1 garlic clove

1. Puree half cannellini beans, carrots, celery, and onions with a cup of water.
2. Saute garlic and 2TBSP oil in large pot.
3. Add 4 cups water, remaining carrots, celery, onion, the squash, kale, potato, puree, and salt and pepper to pot with garlic. Cook covered until vegetables are tender about 25 minutes. Stir in remaining whole beans and fennel seeds.
4. Meanwhile, toast bread and rub with a halved head of garlic and olive oil.
5.  To serve, place 1 to 2 pieces toasted bread in the bottom of soup bowls and ladle soup over the top (or in my case, serve bread on the side). Drizzle soup with oil, if desired.

Spicy Sauté Sandwich with Almond crusted Veggie Fries

Spicy Sauté Sandwich- a variation of Kathy’s blog

Ingredients
1 boca burger, eggplant burger, hamburger burger
1/2 red pepper, sliced
1/2 sweet onion, sliced

olive oil
1/4 cup salsa (I made my own)
fine black pepper
Hummus
Bread, bun, or tortilla

Directions:
1. Cook veggies red pepper, onion, and black pepper in olive oil.

2. Thaw your burger of choice, slice into strips, then cook in another pan.

3. Warm salsa or mix in with veggies.

4. Toast bread or crisp tortillas. Spread hummus, add burger slices, add veggies, top with salsa.

Almond-Crusted Sweet Potato Oven Fries

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into thin strips

3 Tbsp smooth natural almond butter

1 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1/2 tsp sea salt

1. Preheat oven to 400- 425F. Spray baking sheet with nonstick spray.
2. Place the “fries” in a large bowl.  In a small bowl, combine the almond butter, oil, and spices. Drizzle the coating over the fries, and toss the mixture until evenly coated.
3. Put the fries up the baking sheet in a single layer.  Bake 35-50 minutes (depending on thickness of your fries), until the coating is browned and a bit crispy, and the fries are fully cooked.

From dietdessertndogs– She suggests using other root veggies too!

Chicken, Shiitake Mushroom, and Rice Soup

Chicken, Shiitake Mushroom, and Rice Soup

adapted from skinnytaste

Ingredients

1 TBSP butter

1onion

1 TBSP flour

4c chic broth (I always use low-sodium)

3c water

1 cup chopped carrot

3 garlic cloves

3 celery stalks, chopped

2-4 boneless chicken thighs or breasts

2 cups rice

4oz shiitake mushrooms

Rosemary, parsley, salt & pepper

1. Saute butter and onions until soft, add flour and sauté another minute.
2. In a large pot, add chicken broth, water, carrots, garlic, celery, chicken and simmer for 20 minutes. Add rice, mushrooms, and spices and simmer covered for 25minutes.
3. Remove chicken and with forks, shred chicken; add it back into the soup. Serve!

Some suggestions are adding sour cream for creaminess and half white rice, half wild rice for variety. Next time, I would have added more carrots, onions, celery, and mushrooms.

Apartment Searching

It’s that time. The boss says we should get an apartment in Charlotte, NC within the next couple of months. This is good and bad (mostly good though). It will be nice to have a home base, a place to keep our stuff so when we go to hotels (which we will still live in hotels when Patrick is on the jobsite far away). The downside is that we will now face real world bills- after researching, looks like we’ll pay $900-$1200 a month for an apartment in a safe area of Charlotte.  Patrick researched in the morning and I chopped vegetables. Then we went out and were able to visit four places before the leasing offices closed at 5 pm.

The first two places were in a more expensive neighborhood. It is a very nice area (South Park) with a nice mall and lots of stores. These were the first and they were kind of price shock for me. They were about $1,000/month and unfurnished plus utilities, cable, internet, trash, insurance, etc. I wasn’t sold, thinking we could find something a little cheaper. Then we went to a $750/month apartment and I realized that while I don’t care about living in a nice place (I felt they were more fancy then we needed), safety is a concern and it seems like you have to put in the money if you want a safe area.  The last place we visited was one which we are still considering. It is about $1000/month but it’s nice because it’s about a half a mile to Patrick’s work and right on the Lynx rail line, meaning we wouldn’t have to worry about parking when going in the city. We’ll keep researching.

For lunch before we went out, I made some tasty tuna melts (recipe below) and for dinner we ate at Greek Isles (and yes, we did just go to the Greek festival last weekend). The restaurant was near our last stop of the apartment search for the day and it was tasty! We ate Melitzanosalata (eggplant dip) for an appetizer and for dinner, we ate a whole fish! I have never eaten a whole fish and felt pretty brave being served one with all the bones inside and its eyeballs staring at us (though not as brave as Kristen Drake who didn’t even like fish and ate them fresh for a whole summer while a missionary in another country). The Bronzini (fyi $22) was served with grilled veggies which were great dipped in an olive oil, lemon juice, and black pepper mixture. I’m usually the dessert person, but Patrick, seeing their display cart of desserts, decided we should order three of the six dessert, choosing Baklava, Galaktobouriko (custard with phyllo), and Rizogalo (rice pudding) and a to-go box.

Tuna Melts

Ingredients

2 cans tuna

½ red onion

½ red pepper

1 jalepeno

2 hard-boiled eggs (omitted)

4 sweet pickles, splash of juice

3 TBSP mayo

1 TBSP Dijon mustard

salt & pepper

4 english muffins

cheese

1. Combine all ingredients, except the e. muffins. I substituted some of mom’s homemade pepper/onion relish instead of the pickles and did not have any eggs on hand.
2. Put mixture on English muffins, top with cheese. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes until browned.
3. When done, eat whole, or cut into quarters for party food!

Pure Pizza

I took the train into the city in the afternoon after switching hotel rooms. There is a wedding this weekend and there was a request for our room. I didn’t mind changing; It probably took an hour to pack and unpack everything.  Then I took paid $2 and took the Lynx into the city.  I went to the farmers market and library. After Patrick was done with work, we went back to the farmers market and ate dinner at Pure Pizza. Patrick loved it, saying it was the best pizza he’s ever had in the states. It is handmade with locally grown ingredients. The crust was nice and thin (“like it should be” says Patrick) and the sauce had lots of tomato chunks- it was very flavorful with simple ingredients (we ordered the Margherita). I bought tons of veggies and chicken at the market- there will be lots of good meals this coming week and we have a hotel suite (which means kitchen and stove)! God is good!

Stonehenge

Today, they finished up the job. They worked a half day and then we left for Charlotte. But before we left the city, Patrick and I stopped by the Arboretum/Park where I had my butt-kicking hilly run yesterday. We walked around, enjoyed the sights including fun intersecting paths, and saw a bunch of turtles (see picture). Then in the middle of our drive, we stopped in Natural Bridge, VA per my request. Not to pay $20/person to see the bridge, but to check out Foamhenge. Ever heard of Stonehenge in England? Well for April Fool’s Day in the early 2000s, an artist created a replica made out of foam. It was an adventure getting there, but was totally worth it, right Patrick, haha. First we had to find it once we got off the highway. When we found the sign, there was a path that led us up to the faux-monument. Getting there was a long battle though! Very off-road would be one way to describe it. It was only ¼ to ½ mile… of uphill pot holes dragging two cars through the muddy mess. We enjoyed seeing the surrounding hills, taking pictures and having a stretch break. Then we left.  As we were driving back down, we see one lone van pull up… at the bottom of the hill. After noticing the sign on the way down, we discovered we took the handicap accessible way up and didn’t park where we were supposed to park.

Virginia

This week, we’ve been in Harrisonburg, VA. We have a hotel with a beautiful view; we’re up on a raised elevation and have a 360 view of the rolling hills with a backdrop of mountains. Our dinners have been eating out with a couple of Patrick’s co-workers who are also on the job. Patrick comes back pretty dirty each day- these clothes are going through the washer more than once! Oh, and my new (end of March 2012) Honda Civic has passed 10,000 miles, had its first oil change a couple weeks ago, and averages 43mpg. Not bad.

Around the World Series: Turkey

A little while ago, I bought some fresh figs. I realized they’re not my favorite to eat plain, but I made a really good dessert with them- Turkish Fig Cake! This dessert was accompanied by Gozleme and Turkish Cacik (cucumber yogurt kind of dish). This was a fun meal! After dinner we dreamed of our future house and ended up deciding on how we would like our driveway. After that we packed up for an early rise and leaving for Virginia the next day. And for the record, when trying to get egg whites stiff without beaters, it can be a challenge, haha!

Gozleme is a turkish hand rolled pastry. One common version is spinach and feta, I made that with a little more elaboration. I found this random recipe with a dough that I wasn’t too sure of. I had never made a dough out of only flour, water, and salt before- I’ve always added oil or butter or eggs or something else. It worked out in the end, but would have been better if I had a rolling pin. I also cheated-we bought  a lamb meal at the greek festival. I shredded it and used that precooked meat.

Turkish Gozleme

Dough: 1 ½ c flour, 3/4c water, dash salt

Filling: spinach, onion, olive oil, lamb or beef, chili powder, garlic, pepper, red pepper, feta

Directions:

1. Clean spinach, then cook in a little water until wilted.  Then dry on paper towels. Chop onion and red pepper.
2. Cook onions. Add spices and meat until browned.
3. Make the dough by adding the flour, half the water, and salt. Slowly add more water until a ball forms, then knead the dough on a lightly floured surface. Let rest for a few minutes then divide into three balls.
4. Roll out the dough into a thin rectangle. Add spinach, meat mixture, red peppers, and feta to one side and fold over. Cook in olive oil for about five minutes, flipping every minute.

For the cacik:

Mix a cup of yogurt with 2 cucumber (seeded, peeled, and diced), 3 tbsp chopped walnuts, 2 tbsp dill, 1 tsp lemon juice, and a garlic clove. Drizzle 1 tbsp oil on top.

Turkish Fig cake. Have you ever tried to whip egg whites into stiff peaks with a whisk? Have you ever tried it with a fork? We have. The recipe called for stiff peaks, and without having a blender or a whisk, it can be difficult. We whipped the whites for no joke, a half an hour… and ended up with soft peaks. The trick is using a whip motion that pulls air into it. This was a really good recipe and could use any fruit on it. Next time, I want to try it with beaters and a springform pan so it can be about quadruple the thickness. Mmm.

Turkish Yogurt Fig Cake

Ingredients

4 eggs, separated

½ c sugar

3 TBSP sifted flour

1 ½ c Greek yogurt

1 lemon, grated and juiced

Orange zest

½ tsp vanilla extract

3 fresh figs, sliced

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Cream egg yolks and sugar until light and fluffy. Add flour and mix until combined.
3. Add yogurt, orange and lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla extract.
4. Whisk egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into yogurt mixture (Do not overmix.)
5. Grease springform pan. Pour into pan and arrange fig slices on top. Bake 45-60 minutes until browned.

Opa! Yiasou Greek Festival

Yay! We went to the Greek Festival in Charlotte. Evidently it’s a big deal here. There were tons of people at this four day event that draws people from across the state- word is, it takes in a million dollars from the festival. We had fun taking the Lynx train to the festival, walking through the crowds, and eating some good food! We bought a gyro, some greek (seasoned) fries, and two waters (it was a hot 88 degree September day) at the outside food tent. Then after eating and listening to greek entertainment, we went to the dessert tent and ate a piece of baklava and galaktobouriko (a custard and filo dessert). Both delicious. Then we walked around the greek booths and admired the cathedral. Finally we got a lamb dinner to go. The sides will be part of dinner tonight, and the lamb I’ll use for a Turkish dish tomorrow.

Mmmm, Cauliflower Steak and Indonesian-Style Fried Rice

We had a good, flavorful dinner tonight with lots of fresh ingredients. I made cauliflower steaks and fried rice.

To make the cauliflower steaks, I literally took the head of a cauliflower and sliced two meaty cross sections out of the middle of the head, it was about half of the cauliflower. The other half, I used in an earlier recipe of cauliflower mac n cheese. Then rubbed on some olive oil and spices (I used oregano, garlic, salt, and pepper) and put it in the oven for about 20 minutes at 400 degrees, flipping once and baking until tender. Other flavoring suggestions are: tomatoes, olives, onion, basil, parsley sun dried tomatoes, artichokes, and olive oil or olive oil, lemon juice and paprika. Patrick even said he wanted to try it with a gravy, like salisbury steak.

I found a recipe for Indonesian-Style Fried Rice, well actually I watched a video on it (from America’s Test Kitchen) and my own version with the ingredients I had readily available. My version: Saute half a chopped onion in olive oil and add 2 chopped serrano peppers. Add some garlic, then add leftover cooked rice, soy sauce, sugar (they called for molasses, fish sauce, and dark brown sugar but I only had sugar). Meanwhile, Using 4 eggs (I used 3 whole, 2 whites), add some milk, salt, and pepper and mix. Then cook the eggs in butter in two batches, forming 2 omelets. When the omelets have cooled for a min or two, roll them up (like a crepe) and cut into strips/spirals. Now time to serve. Put some fried rice on the plate with egg spirals and garnish with tomatoes and cucumbers.

The meal was so delicious. The flavor combination was surprising with the warm rice and steaks mixed with the cold tomatoes, cucumbers, and pear, but it was great!

Back to Charlotte

Two days ago, we reserved our Roanoke Rapids room (like that alliteration? haha) for an entire week, not knowing how long we would stay. We found out yesterday that we would probably be checking out today. So I packed up in the morning (we didn’t bring everything into the room knowing there was a chance we would not stay long). Then I went for a run at a park, requested a late check out, showered, finished packing, and made lunch. Patrick came home with enough time to shower and eat half the lunch inside the room and half in the lobby, meeting our 1pm late check out deadline. Then we left, hopped in our cars, and drove 4.5 hours back to Charlotte, NC, making it safely home in time for dinner. Ah, the life of a traveler. God is good.

Tofurkey but Not a Vegetarian

I made two dishes with leftovers tonight. I also tried Tofurkey for the first time; it probably costs as much as meat however is high in protein, less fat, and lots of fiber. One dish was spaghetti squash, pesto, basil gnocchi, spaghetti sauce, and sundried tomato and basil “italian sausage” tofurkey. It was all a good combination. The other was leftover pasta, spaghetti sauce, tofurkey, and  some good spicy bbq hot sauce. This hot sauce was habanero with a hint of bbq. It was about the spiciest I can go without melting my mouth. A little goes a long way,  I like it!

On another note, I am not vegetarian. We/I love a good burger from time to time. Chicken is wonderful; I enjoy fish. These things I have begun to learn to enjoy sparingly, I find that it makes that piece of bacon I eat even more flavorful when I have it once in a while. However, I do enjoy vegetarian dishes on a daily basis for these reasons:

1. I do not enjoy cooking meat in a hotel bathroom. (We usually stay in hotel rooms.)

2. Meat is costly, I usually would rather spend money on fruits and vegetables and other healthy foods.

3. With this travelling job, Patrick tends to eat out often (so far it hasn’t been that bad). He explained to me that he would like me to cook healthy meals if possible to kind of offset the unhealthy American restaurant menu.

4. Health. Choosing to eat less meat is purposeful. When glancing at a nutrition label, cholesterol and sodium are things we like to limit while increasing fiber. Calories and fat are things to consider too; however, if you’ve seen Patrick lately, it is not something he needs to worry about (though I am still conscious of fat and caloric intake).  Cholesterol is necessary for our health, our bodies make it, we get it from animal products (meat, eggs, dairy) however, too much can lead to heart/blood vessel diseases. Sodium is necessary for our health, however extra sodium causes fluids to build up, putting extra work on the heart, increasing blood pressure, etc.

Fiber is another element I look for when eyeing a nutrition label. Eating dietary fiber and water obviously helps keep the body regular. But it also helps lower cholesterol and blood sugar, assists the full feeling, and benefits bowel health. Ever since we’ve had this hotel life, I have joined Patrick with his daily oatmeal for breakfast.  We usually have something else with it, but having that fiber in the morning in addition to eating fruits and veggies (and being conscious of the amount of fiber in prepackaged foods) is another way we help our bodies through our diet.

Protein– we get it through dairy, beans, quinoa, lentils, tofu, peanut butter, nuts (and no, I’m not nuts), eggs, and grains. We also enjoy meat at restaurants.  And sugar, my downfall, the thing Patrick always teases me about. I still need to work on that one. (It’s so hard when there are fresh cookies baked every day at Hampton Inn.) Someday, I’ll get better at limiting my sugar.

As you may gather, I spend a lot of time on meal planning because I have the time and it’s a hobby. I aim to find recipes with an alternative protein source that has enough calories to feed Patrick. It can be challenging at times, but I’m just starting out so it’s a fun adventure. God is so good!

Merci bu ku

I spent the afternoon in Charlotte while Patrick worked in the office. He left a couple hours early, we turned on our car engines, and drove off once again, towards Roanoke Rapids, NC. We stopped in the middle of our 4.5 hour drive to walk around Raleigh, NC and get something to eat. We chose the restaurant bu•ku: Global Street Food.

We went all out and chose four dishes:

Malaysian Roti (2) massaman curry (tortilla/crepe-like bread with a curry dipping sauce)

bu•ku Hot Pot roasted chicken, coconut, red curry, house mushrooms (soup)

Empanadas Picantes (2) chipotle-braised chicken, mango-habañero salsa, queso fresco, pickled red onion

Pierogi (3) beer-braised chicken, butternut squash, muenster, brown butter

They were all tasty! The soup was much bigger than the bread and small plates, so we had leftovers. I added broccoli and carrots and served it over rice for dinner another night.

To Roanoke Rapids, NC?..

I am packing up our belongings and heading into the city for a few hours…I think. We think we’re heading to Roanoke Rapids, NC today but we’re not sure. Not knowing doesn’t bother me. I am a planner and at first it was hard adjusting to the spontaneity of Patrick’s job, but overtime I have been able to let go of most of my “needing to know” personality (which is good because the continually changing towns won’t change whether my mindset does or not). So I’m off to relax in Charlotte and see what the day brings! God is so good.

Cauliflower Mac n Cheese, Steamed Broccoli, and Lemon Nut Cake

Here’s dinner!

Cauliflower Mac n Cheese

Ingredients

½ head cauliflower

1lb dried macaroni

8oz cheddar cheese

4oz parmesan cheese

sour cream (or I used greek yogurt)

milk

Directions

Cut cauliflower into small florets. Bring a large pan of water to a boil. Add the macaroni and all your cauliflower and cook according to the macaroni-package instructions (I actually cooked them separately, steaming the broccoli in the microwave). Drain. Stir in cheese, cream (I used about 1/3 cup of yogurt), and milk. If you’d like to make it more flavorful, add spices. For our leftovers, I added cumin, curry, and a bit of cayenne pepper.

Spaghetti Squash and Corn Truffle

Tonight’s meal wasn’t color pleasing as it was mostly yellow. However, it was stomach pleasing.  I bought a spaghetti squash. They are delicious and simple to make! Prick it,  throw it (well place it) in the oven for 45min- 1 hour at 375 degrees. When it’s done, cut it in half and scoop out the seeds with a spoon. Then separate the strands by running a fork through it; the squash should easily form spaghetti like strands. I topped it with spaghetti sauce this meal. It was delicious.  And below is the recipe for Corn Truffle which was awesome and Meyer Lemon and Nut Cake with Honey Syrup.

Truffled Corn Pudding

(chubbyvegetarian.blogspot.com)

5 ears of corn

2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour

2 tbsp corn meal or grits

1/4 cup half & half

1/4 cup 2% milk

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/2 teaspoon cracked black pepper

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 whole eggs

1 egg yolk

1/4 cup parm cheese

1/8 teaspoon smoked paprika

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the corn off the cob. In a large bowl, whisk milk, half & half, salt, eggs, egg yolk, and melted butters.  Add the flour and grits and whisk again.  Add the corn mixture and stir to combine.   Pour into a shallow, buttered  baking dish.  Sprinkle with cheese and a few dashes of paprika.  Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Once cooked, let it sit for 10 minutes to settle.

——————————————————————————————————–

I don’t ever remember eating fruitcake. I only know about it as the classic Christmas gift but if I had to think about how it would taste, this cake would be it with a twist. I halved the recipe, put it in muffin cups, and used a variety of mixed nuts as well as a variety of dried fruits. It is heavy but tasty. I had some lemons to use up so I found this recipe on thekitchn.com

Meyer Lemon and Walnut Cake with Honey Syrup

3 cups walnuts
2 Meyer lemons
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
3/4 cup sugar
6 large eggs
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cup flour
1 cup golden raisins

2 Meyer lemons
1/2 cup juice (from 4 lemons – supplement with water if not enough liquid to make 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup honey

Heat the oven to 350°F and grease a 9″ springform pan. Grind the walnuts until fine in a food processor and set aside. Grate 2 Meyer lemons (save juice for later).

Cream the butter and sugar until very fluffy. Add the eggs and beat on high speed until lightened and fluffy. It is very important that these are lightened and airy before adding the dry ingredients; any leavening the cake has comes from the eggs.

Beat in the flour, salt, ground walnuts, and Meyer lemon zest. Stir in the raisins.

Pour in the pan and bake for about 50 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

While the cake is baking, juice the two lemons you zested for the cake. Zest two more lemons and juice them as well. Simmer all the juice, sugar, and honey until reduced by about half and syrupy. Stir in the zest.

As soon as the cake comes out of the oven, poke holes on top with a toothpick and pour about half the syrup over top. Cover. When the cake is cool, wrap tightly and leave at least overnight – it is significantly better the next day. Serve with any remaining syrup, reheated.

Blandwood Mansion

The DNC is over and we haven’t been told where to go next so the assumption is to head back to the office in Charlotte, NC. That is exactly what we’re doing today. We packed up our things and decided to stop by the city of Greensboro, NC one last time. The Blandwood Mansion was one of the cities things to do and it had been on our list to see. We were there too late to take a tour, but enjoyed outside the estate. It was rustic but elegant and big. We realized that in the 1800s it was huge but now, it is the same size or possibly even smaller than the city’s wealthy areas with their streets lined with the huge houses. One thing that we found neat was that the house was connected on each side with an outdoor walkway and another building. Whether it was servants living quarters or guest rooms, we’re not sure, but it stretched out the house and made it look even larger.

After stopping there, we went once again, to the Mellow Mushroom. We ordered a delicious veggie and tofu pizza and Magic Mushroom Soup, haha. The soup actually wasn’t our favorite because it was mostly a salty cream soup with mushrooms on top. Patrick said it made him want to create a good mushroom soup.  I think I can handle that someday.

And finally, before leaving the city, we walked down the streets and stopped in a cute artsy shop. They had lots of unique things from area artists and I left with a pair of flower earrings. Just as we were leaving, it was starting to rain and our 2 hour drive back to Charlotte was spent in and out of downpours. The rainy weather is one of my least favorite parts of driving. We made it to our home in Charlotte safely and had time to relax and eat pb&j, carrots & hummus, and leftover pizza

Whole Foods and Running at The Bog Garden

We found out that we are not going to Roanoke Rapids, or at least for now. Tonight, we chose to go to the city for a run at one of the parks. The Bog Garden was a sight we didn’t get to see yet so that is where we went and it was fun! We enjoyed running around the dirt, concrete, and wooden paths in a simple maze-like atmosphere. Then we ran across the street to a place we visited a few days prior, the Tanger Family Gardens. After we left, we stopped by a store called Whole Foods and had fun exploring their products and left with some late night foods and some unique foods like fava beans and fresh figs. They will probably be in upcoming recipes!

Explore Greensboro

We decided to stay in Greensboro, NC because we did not yet know if we would be going to Roanoke Rapids, NC or Charlotte and we still hadn’t really explored Greensboro. However, we did move to a different hotel. This one is a little more expensive and still a little outdated, but in a cute way. The entrance is marble looking with a fancy sitting area to the side. And our room has some character too with the wall paper pattern in the bathroom and the couch pattern in our room, but it is very cute. And it has laundry facilities (like most but unlike our last hotel/motel) which was much needed today.

So I spent the morning doing laundry and called Thad in the afternoon- happy birthday brother! After Patrick was done with his work day, we went into the city of Greensboro, NC to walk around and eat dinner. First, we went to the Tanger Family Bicentennial Garden. It was beautiful. If we have tons of money, we will have to put something like this in our backyard. (We enjoy nature/visiting parks.) After spending some time there and taking pictures with statues, haha, see below, we visited the nearby Greensboro Arboretum.

The arboretum was also beautiful and a lot bigger then the gardens but each were parallel in beauty. It was fun seeing all the trees separated into categories (like sun, shade, conifers, sequence of bloom collection, etc) and there were lots of benches to sit and relax at both places. Both had walking paths but the Arboretum has 17 acres and more paths to run or bike. We left just before sundown and went to eat some dinner.

African Continental Cuisine was the restaurant we chose and it was really good. In fact, it made the list of restaurants that are worth the money. So far: Zebra (pricey but superb), The Boardroom (good amount of tasty food for the money), Mellow Mushroom (really good pizzas), and African Continental Cuisine (unique and delicious).

We ordered a traditional Nigerian dish of ila, which is stewed okra with peppers and onions and shrimp and pounded yam on the side. Pounded yam is tasty and interesting but hard to describe. It is made from yam flour and is similar to mashed potatoes except it is stretchy. We also ordered Moi-Moi (steamed bean cake), Curried Fried Rice (great flavor), and Cooked Cabbage (done to perfection, I was afraid it would be mushy). And they brought us our plantain chips with cinnamon and sugar as an appetizer. They were really good with a spicy sauce to dip them in. I have to bake my own plantain chips sometime.

The food was so good and pretty spicy. They asked how hot we’d like it on a scale of 1 to 3, saying 1 was pretty mild. We chose 2. Turns out 2 was pretty spicy. When we were leaving, we talked to the owners and found out they use habanero  to spice it. And mentioned that they had recently moved here from Cleveland, Ohio. Its a small world.

As we were both falling asleep that night, I remembered something and told Patrick Happy four months!

Visiting family in NC

Last night, we made it to our Hampton Inn in Greensboro, split a sandwich and some sides at Smokey Bones bbq restaurant, and went to bed in our unique hotel. Unique, because this Hampton is an older hotel. And when I say hotel, I kinda mean motel because all the room’s doors face the parking lot. Not exactly a place that screams home to us but we survived, haha. Today, Labor Day, Patrick did not have to work. We relaxed in the morning and then went out for lunch, deciding not to travel to Virginia for today at least.

Lunch was at a delicious pizza place called Mellow Mushroom. It has awesome, creative pizzas and other food. We split a small Thai Dye: olive oil and garlic base, curry chicken, mozz, tomatoes, onions, basil, cucumbers, and “a sweet swirl of Thai chili sauce”. It was very tasty and fresh! Mmmm!

After, we drove around the city of Greensboro and headed on our way towards Winston- Salem to visit Aunt Angela, Thomas, Michael, and Maria. We all had a nice time relaxing, catching up, seeing their beautiful house, going on a hike in their woods, and eating dinner at Little Italy Pizza with everyone. It worked out well because even though we called them on short notice, Patrick didn’t have to work, neither did Aunt Angela. And no sporting events prevented us from all having dinner together. Good timing! and it was only about a 45 min drive to their house.

Goodbye Florida

After eating our last free $20/person Hilton breakfast (free since we’ve earned enough hotel rewards points), we looked off the balcony of our room and saw a couple visitors flipping us a goodbye. The dolphins were back, and we were happy to have a visit from them this morning, just like yesterday morning and on our boat ride and another time for Patrick. Goodbye Florida.

We left on our 8 hour drive back to Charlotte to pick up Patrick’s car, which was parked at the airport. By the way, we spent $5 a day to park Patrick’s car in airport long term parking and $19 a day for my car to be valet parked at the Hilton in Daytona Beach. (We didn’t know how much the valet would cost but it was our only option.) After we left the airport, we could travel wherever we wanted. We didn’t have anywhere to be for 3-4 days but we couldn’t be in Charlotte (the DNC took over the whole city and every hotel for miles) and we will probably be in Roanoke Rapids, NC at the end of the week. Patrick has off work tomorrow, but will work from the hotel instead of the office (because Charlotte’s taken over by reporters and politicians). So we decided to travel to Greensboro, NC (halfway between Charlotte and Roanoke Rapids) and travel somewhere else tomorrow, probably Virginia area. There were lots of police cars along the roads this Labor Day weekend, and lots were unmarked police cars. And that is the second reason why you should follow the speed limit (the first is because it’s called a limit for a reason).

Doc Bales’ Grill

 

We planned on going to eat at a restaurant Saturday night. After playing at the beach and relaxing Friday afternoon and Saturday, time got away from us. After debating about what to do for dinner, we decided to go to the hotel’s restaurant. It turned out to be a seafood buffet.

We enjoyed sampling all the cuisine: seafood gumbo, seafood salads, calamari, shrimp pasta, ahi tuna, sushi, crab cakes, crab legs, mussels, chicken, fish, steak, shrimp- they had it all, including a vast selection of desserts. We enjoyed the experience and had fun discussing seafood. We found out which foods we really liked and which foods we didn’t like as much. (Some of our not top foods surprised us- some were things we previously set on a pedestal!) It was a good last night on the beach.