Monthly Archives: June 2012

Munching Meals

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Lately I’ve had a habit of eating little bits of all sorts of things for dinner rather than just sitting down to a huge portion of something.  Especially when I spread it out over a few hours, I’ve found it to be more satisfying.  I also eat less, I think, which is both surprising and unsurprising.

Tonight, though, I decided to go for a combo-plate type dinner.  My combo plate made most things be about equal rather than having any one thing dominate.

Tonight’s menu:

  • Korean mixed grain rice (Microwaveable in 1.5 mins — this stuff is magic.  Find it at your local Japanese, Korean, or possibly Chinese market.)
  • Ohitashi with bell pepper (Cooked spinach with soy sauce.  Try microwaving washed spinach for 30 seconds, then adding a bit of soy sauce, a little lemon juice, and some sesame seeds for my favorite and super easy version).  Both Japanese spinach and bell peppers from the garden!
  • Tomato slices
  • Tamagoyaki (Mix beaten eggs with mirin and soy– mostly eggs, a little more mirin than soy, cook in a pan attending frequently. Periodically lift up cooked egg and allow runny egg to flow under cooked. Fold the layers as you go occasionally, aiming to get a rectangular block you can slice.  Cook until solid and with slight caramelization on either side.)
  • South East Asian inspired salad, with most of ingredients from the garden: peas, radishes, baby mustard greens, cilantro, opal basil, and (not from the garden) grapefruit and green onions.  Dressing: seasoned rice vinegar microwaved for 30 seconds with two coins of ginger to lightly infuse it and let cool before tossing the salad in it.
  • Garnish: lemon slice and home grown shiso.

Pretty satisfying, and the whole thing took maybe 30 minutes to prepare and was vegetarian.  And you can’t get much fresher than vegetables from the garden!

Nutrition tips I’ve learned lately:  in order to absorb all the nutrients from dark leafy vegetables, make sure to pair them with something with vitamin C.  Also, microwaving spinach is not only quicker and easier, but also retains the most nutrients!

I promise, I’m alive. And eating.

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This last semester of grad school really kicked my butt.  I still made some tasty and interesting things and have a nice garden growing– I just haven’t had time to post anything about it.  I have two days until Summer Session starts (3 classes), so I wanted to post something brief to reassure you that while I’m not posting, I am alive and eating well.

Vegetarian Bean Soup

I went up to visit my parents for a few days.  Given my attempts at eating tasty vegetarian things more often and meat generally less (but not strictly so), I decided to cook them a tasty bean soup.  The key to vegetarian soup, to me, is to have a good, rich stock.  I boil several types of dried mushrooms (this time, shiitake, porcini, and black fungus) with onion and some carrot and celery trimmings and add a non-negligible amount of soy sauce (probably about 1/2 cup or so for 5 cups of broth here).  Don’t overdo the shiitake quantity, though, otherwise it’ll just taste funky.  5 or 6 usually does it. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and let it simmer away as long as you can stand it.  We let this batch steep overnight, actually.

Then for the bean soup, I threw in dried beans that we’d soaked overnight and rinsed (adzuki and pinto, I think?) in a crock pot with the strained broth.  The secret ingredient I added this time was dried ancho chilis (seeded and chopped). I don’t like what crock pots do to onions if you just put them in there as is, so I usually sautee them and any other veggies and a bit of chopped garlic in some oil until slightly browned in places before adding them to the pot.  I think this helps to avoid the slight sour taste the would otherwise get.  Some salt, some pepper, some oregano and you’re good to go.  Let that all simmer away for a day time period.

When serving, I finely chopped green onions, cilantro, and some spicy red chilis (seeded, of course) together into a nice garnish and gave everyone a bit of lime to squeeze on top.

Chili-inspired, but not chili.  :)