The Other Fake Meat

Greetings, today we decided to make due with what we have in the pantry and skip grocery shopping. Luckily our pantry wasn't too bare.

I made veggie BLT's for dinner. Morningstar Farms makes a delicious veggie bacon that is very easy to prepare. (I find the lowest price for this product is at Trader Joe's.) I use the frying pan method for preparation as described on the box. I cooked up two slices of bacon for each sandwich.

I toasted up some bread, spread a little mayonaise, threw on some lettuce and sliced up a tomato I had leftover from the Farmer's Market. Then I slid on the crispy veggie bacon.

Even my boyfriend who is a hardcore carnivore loves Morningstar Farms veggie bacon when it's in a BLT.

I have to add that the tomato I got at the farmer's market was fantastic. It had so much flavor and I realized I haven't had a decent tomato all winter. Also, the farmer's market asparagus we had the other night was much better than what I've been getting at the store. I need to go to the farmer's market more often.

Tomorrow I'm going to make a spinach quiche, I'll be posting the recipe. I'll also be making bean and cheese burritos this week, a very quick meal. My father enlisted two new fans for my blog, so I have to keep posting!

Farmer's Market

My sister, Kerry, is visiting me from NYC. She brought me a loaf of rye break from NYC and we made egg sandwiches this morning with eggs from my chickens of course.

For lunch we headed to my favorite farmer's market -the Thursday market in San Rafael. We almost were too full for lunch after all the samples we were given. I had a falafel sandwich from the Avi-ously Delicious truck, which is run by a guy named Avi. Kerry had a tofu & chipotle tamale from Donna's Tamales.

We picked out stuff for dinner and I'm about to start cooking it. We picked up some fresh made eggplant gorgonzola ravioli. Also some nice asparagus. We purchased fresh butter from the Cow Girl creamery and stopped for a loaf of seeded sourdough baguette at La Farine on the way home. We tasted some delicious raisins and got those to go with our japanese cucumbers and tomatoes for a salad. I'm not using any recipes tonight. Just cooking some simple food.

It's nice to have one of my fans here with me. The other one is visiting next month and we'll make another trip to the farmer's market :)

Easter Debrief

Easter was terrific! I'm glad I followed my Mom's suggestion and prepared the strata in advance. This morning all we had to do was make the potatoes, bacon & toast. I just popped the cinnamon buns and strata in the oven.

My guests loved both the strata and the cinnamon buns. Both were really yummy.

Easter!

It's been over a month since I posted to my blog and my two fans are complaining - my Father & Sister. I've cooked lots of yummy meals in that time, but haven't gotten around to posting.

So today I will discuss my plans for Easter. We have six chickens in the backyard and they all lay delicious eggs. Some days they each lay one. We are inundated with eggs. Andy & I decided to invite some friends over for Easter brunch since we have so many eggs to share.

The menu is as follows:

Cinnamon Rolls
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Buttermilk-Cinnamon-Rolls/Detail.aspx
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cinnamon-Bun-Icing/Detail.aspx
Spinach & Gruyere Strata
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/107754
Fresh eggs to order
Home-fried Potatoes
Bacon
Morningstar Farms Veggie Bacon
Toast with jam
Fruit Salad
Mimosas

I've made the cinnamon rolls before and they are outstanding. Be sure to use Fleishman's yeast, other brands haven't turned out as well. For the icing recipe, only make 1/2 recipe.

I've never made the strata before, but I'm looking forward to it. The reviews of the recipe were very positive.

I have my own recipe for home-fried potatoes. Here it is:

2 lbs yukon gold potatoes
3 Tbsp butter
salt & pepper

Scrub the potatoes and chop into 1/2 - 3/4 inch cubes. It's important to be consistant with size for even cooking.

Place the potatoes in a pot and cover with water about 1 inch past top of potatoes. Add a teaspoon of salt and put on high heat. As soon as the water comes to a boil, remove the pot from heat.

Transfer the the potatoes with a slotted spoon to a frying pan where you have melted the butter. Cook on low heat and stir every ten minutes for about 40 minutes. Turn the heat up to medium and cook for another 20 minutes, stirring every 7 minutes.

Everyone I've made these potatoes for loves them.