The Pig and I

One of the other things I like to eat while P is out of town is couscous. Again, it's simple to prepare, but more importantly, it's one of those things I don't eat often when P is here because he doesn't like Moroccan couscous. Anytime he's out of town I try to take advantage of the opportunity to load up on couscous. This is a simple meal to prepare, but also works very well when you just need a side dish (instead of a full meal, as I'm using it for). Hope you enjoy! 1/8 cup dried mushrooms (I used king oyster but you should use what you have) 1/8 cup dried rutabaga (optional) 3/4 cup boiling water 5-6 sun-dried tomatoes, diced 1 3/4 cups vegetable broth and reserved liquid (total; the vegetable broth should make up the difference lacking from the reserved liquid) 1/4 preserved lemon, diced 1/2 cup frozen corn kernels 2 dried lime salt and pepper to taste 1 1/3 cups couscous Pour boiling water over mushrooms and rutabaga, then let sit for 20 minute...

No Food Waste Friday today, since it's Christmas. I'm out of town, and there wasn't any waste before I left. I hope all of you have a wonderful Christmas and spend it sharing love and laughter with your friends and family.

Well, you guys may have noticed in previous posts that I eat a lot of random stuff when P is out of town and I'm on my own. One of the things I normally don't admit to eating copious amounts of when I'm by myself is potato flake mashed potatoes. I primarily because I never have fresh potatoes on hand (and I like to use canned potatoes for other things), but also I eat them because they're fast to make, can be made in single portions easily and because technically, dairy + potato = nutritionally complete meal. Sometimes I really like to top my potatoes with something (loads of mashed potatoes really can get boring sometimes), though, and today is one of those days. These toppings are convenient and easy to make, and I often make them out of scraps of produce that I need to use but simply haven't gotten around to yet. It's easily modified for whatever produce you have on hand, and of course it's great on "real" mashed potatoes as well. Hope you enjoy...

No picture this time either. I lost: 2 slices havarti 1 slice toast 2 biscotti (can you imagine I let biscotti go to waste???)

For ages, I have looked at packages of apricot paste when I go to Phoenicia with longing. Lots of longing. Ridiculous amounts of longing. Oh, how I wanted it. However, looking at a 500 gram package of what I equate with fruit roll-ups seemed maybe... not so good for the waistline. So I just looked, and occasionally touched the beautiful, bright orange packages, but never put one in my basket (which really is impressive, given the tiny amount of restraint I have when it comes to food). Then, one day, I was reading one of my favourite Syrian food blogs, Syrian Foodie in London , and I suddenly had a great excuse to buy this stuff. Kano posted a wonderful roundup of traditional Ramadan drinks, including one that contained this enticing paste. It seemed to me that drinking 300 of the 500 grams (and munching on the remaining 200) seemed okay, particularly given that I'd split it with P. Still not great for the waistline, but less damaging given that I wouldn't simply open the packa...

I finally got around to cutting open one of the pumpkins that's hanging out in the pantry. Since then, we've enjoyed the seeds, and I made a batch of pumpkin butter to can. Yum. I still had half the pumpkin left after roasting, though, so I thought it might be good as a sweet addition to an overly savoury meal (sausage and kraut). Normally I might have mashed the pumpkin and then roasted it a second time with butter and sweetener, but I really just wanted cubes this time. Hope you enjoy! 1/2 sugar pumpkin, roasted then shelled and cut into cubes 3 tablespoons butter 3 tablespoons brown sugar pinch each: nutmeg, ginger, salt 2 tablespoons maple syrup Melt butter and sugar together with spices in a medium skillet. Add pumpkin and cook lightly, evenly coating the pumpkin with the butter mixture. Let cook long enough that the butter mixture becomes sticky and caramelized on the pumpkin. Drizzle on maple syrup and cook another minute. Serves 2.

So close. Again. But once again, no cigar. Despite the rampage I went on to eat up all leftovers in the fridge, I discovered a lone culprit who languished for God knows how long before I discovered it, covered in mold. What I didn't do, however, was keep track of the things on the counter. You'd think that having lived in Houston almost three years I'd be used to the humidity, but sometimes I forget (as I did this week) and as a result, some baked goods were lost. Hopefully next week I can have zero waste. My waste this week is: 2-ish ounces cream cheese 6 dinner rolls 1/3 apple-pear cake

I was looking for the perfect cookie to make. Something spiced, and sweet but not too sweet. Something that you could taste and it would just make you smile. But not something I might normally label as "junk food," i.e., a treat that was a delicious dessert while still being "real food." Something I'd never had before. Something with figs. I poked around all my bookmarks, finding nothing that appealed. Then I poked around my favourite blogs (which really did take a considerable amount of time). I'm thankful I found something here , at Smitten Kitchen , because the next step was to start sorting through my hundreds of cookbooks in search for the one. I found The One. Fig and walnut biscotti . These things are just delicious. I was actually too lazy to toast the walnuts, and they were still phenomenal. I took some of these to work so I could share (because really, who needs to eat 2 dozen cookies on their own?) and even the girl who lives on frozen pizza rol...

Is it just me, or have I been posting a lot of things that are not related to recipes recently? Food waste updates (which are important, since I'm trying to consistently eliminate food waste from my life), product reviews (which admittedly, never make me sad to post because I LOVE LOVE LOVE trying new foods), and updates on my semester. But no recipes. Somehow, that just doesn't sit right with me. My last exam was Thursday, since I happily have no finals to take this semester, I was left with one 5th grade class left to teach on Friday and then lots of cooking to do. I've been baking a lot, which I rarely post since I rarely make my own recipes for baked goods. Perhaps I should start posting those things as well. It's a thought. It's fall, and during fall and winter I think we all get bitten a bit by the baking bug (say that five times fast!). So I believe I'll start posting the things I'm baking, with links back to the original site I got it from. For...

This week was better. We lost only 3-5 ounces of carne asada. Not perfect, but a definite improvement. And, a recipe will be coming either tomorrow or Sunday. I'm done with all my exams now, so I actually have time to cook!