So far, this is a favorite! It makes a ton so I was able to eat it for lunch all week, it has lots of good stuff in it. I am not a huge fan of spinach however I chopped it up so finely, and there is so much other good stuff in it, that the flavor was not overpowering. This is going into my vegetarian hall of fame!
This recipe called for a lot of ingredients. I am trying to cut back on my dairy so I used almond milk and subbed half the cheese for dairy free "cheese". I also used brown rice as always. The eggs and "milk" are listed as optional. Unless you want to make this a vegan dish, I would go ahead and add them. It makes for a more moist dish. I also used a lot more sunflower seeds than the recipe called for. This was a great move. It added some crunchiness and additional texture to the casserole.
2 lbs of spinach sounded like a lot. I bought two bags and each bag was 9oz so I used a lot less than it called for. I do think that 2lbs might be a bit much but I may try it next time since spinach is such a great source of iron.
Elijah was a great helper in the kitchen as always. :) He loves being worn when I am moving around....not so much a fan when I am sitting still....like now....I am in front on the computer wearing him and he is not thrilled.
This was a great recipe and my in laws and neighbor came over for dinner the night I served this. Everyone enjoyed it and had seconds!
The Moose Wood Chronicles
Cooking my way through the Moosewood Cookbook. This is a blog dedicated to not only vegetarian cooking, but recipes out of one tried and true cookbook. Join me as I cook my way through each and every recipe.
Tuesday, June 19, 2012
Curried Butternut Squash and Mushroom Soup
The Squash Soup called for Butternut Squash. I did not take into account that Acorn Squash is not available in Houston the heat of the summer....so I substituted yellow squash. I think the soup would have been a bit better if the correct squash had been used. Still it was not too bad.
I used my Ninja for the blending. I LOVE my Ninja! It is perfect when you need to get soups really smooth. I think yellow squash has a higher water content than Butternut squash so the consistency was thinner than I would have liked.
As usual, I added more of each spice than the recipe called for. I always think this is necessary. Also, the Moosewood recipes tend to be a little flat so I added some additional salt to taste....to too much. Just enough. Chip and I both thought that the orange juice in the recipe was a little overpowering. This could be due to the substitution of squash. I am looking forward to making this again and using butternut squash.
I used my Ninja for the blending. I LOVE my Ninja! It is perfect when you need to get soups really smooth. I think yellow squash has a higher water content than Butternut squash so the consistency was thinner than I would have liked.
As usual, I added more of each spice than the recipe called for. I always think this is necessary. Also, the Moosewood recipes tend to be a little flat so I added some additional salt to taste....to too much. Just enough. Chip and I both thought that the orange juice in the recipe was a little overpowering. This could be due to the substitution of squash. I am looking forward to making this again and using butternut squash.
Tuesday, June 12, 2012
Orange Cake
The last Girl Vs. Moose blog entry for me was in August, right before I found out I was pregnant! It is no coincidence. I took a hiatus from housework, including cooking due to the high risk status of my first trimester and the insistence of my husband. Well I am back....with a helper!
Our son, Elijah will be continuing my cooking journey with me. First, as a passenger in his baby carrier, and later, hopefully he will be my little helper in the kitchen. At least, that is my vision. Now, back to business!I made Orange Cake from the Moosewood Cookbook! I made a number of substitutions to try to make this recipe healthier and it worked like a charm. Even my toughest food critic, my husband, LOVED it and had a second guilt-free slice! I used Splenda in place of sugar. I also replaced 2/3 of the butter with applesauce. This produced a low fat and MOIST cake. The recipe recommended a bake time of 40-50 minutes. I baked it for 50 and this produced a really nice, sweet outer layer.
I also made 50% more glaze than the recipe called for. The glaze was orange juice, sugar (Splenda) and lemon juice. I recommend using the larger amount because I think this helped make the cake that much more moist! I did get slightly concerned when I was "fluffing" the butter/applesauce and Splenda because it looked like it was not mixing well, but it turned out beautifully!!! Also, I did not sift the flour....basically because I don't have a sifter....but it did not seem to make a difference. I HIGHLY recommend this recipe!~
Saturday, August 13, 2011
Succotash Chowder
Here you can see the onion and celery cooking together. This is usually the point when Chip wanders into the kitchen and asks what I am cooking because it smells so good!
Sunday, August 7, 2011
Minestrone Soup
Thursday, July 28, 2011
Light Cream of Celery Soup
The Light Cream of Celery Soup was a very pleasant suprise. First of all, it is less than a hundred calories a serving. I use skim milk so this helps a lot. I would like to try almond milk next time to make it vegan! The potatoes I used were a little larger than the recipe recommends. I did this because the prospect of Cream of Celery made me nervous and the potato is an old, comforting friend. I also substituted light Country Crock for butter as I normally do. Even butter fanatics probably can't tell the difference. It is only used for cooking the onions and once it gets all put together, the other flavors take over any butter or margarine flavor that was once a part of the vegetables. Word to the wise. Be careful with the white pepper. I tend to add more herbs and spices than the recipes in this book call for. This does not bode well for the Cream of Celery. It ended up OK but has a little more kick than it is suppose to. The recipe calls for sour cream. I did not add this to the soup as recommended and had I not overdone it with the pepper, it would not have needed it. However, I scoop just a little on my bowl of soup when I serve it to cut the kick. The color, I know, is not appealing, but it ended up being a great discovery of soup and I know I will be making it again.
Sunday, September 26, 2010
Mushroom Moussaka
Mark helped Wrigley see what was going on up there!
I have never had Moussaka before this so I have no basis for comparison but, WOW! It was delicious and I am happy to say that I have an entire casserole to enjoy throughout the week. This is a very low fat, vegetarian dish full of flavor, fiber, mushrooms and herbs. There four layers to this dish. A layer of eggplant, the thick and tomato-y mushroom sauce, another layer of eggplant and topped off with the wonderful Bechamel Sauce! I do have some notes on alternation as well as what I will do differently next time. First of all, I used, as always, non fat milk. I hope to eventually use my almond milk for these things but I don't know if the Bechamel Sauce would have thickened. Next time, I would probably use 4 eggplants instead of 3. The top layer wasn't completely covered. Also, although my Bechamel Sauce was AMAZING, I think it turned out a lot thicker than it was suppose to. This top layer browns in the oven if you leave it in long enough and almost has a light cheese sauce flavor to it. That layer is probably the least healthy, but again I used non fat milk and light margarine and really only 3 tablespoons of the margarine for the entire casserole. It was a delicious experience that I will enjoy for the week to come. Now, as many of you know, I severely injured my foot last weekend so, alas, no heavy duty workouts for me for a while. With that in mind, I will be moving to the salad section of the Moosewood cookbook to try to keep the weight down. So look forward to some great light salad recipes in the weeks to come!
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