The Power of Suggestion

January 18th, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (7 Comments)

I get these “Your Pregnancy This Week” emails that list a myriad of facts and tidbits about the wee babe growing inside my uterus, along with any other timely pregnancy notes. You know, like “you’re probably busting out of your bra by now” or “your baby is the size of a tarantula”. Stuff like that.

The Week 18 email mentioned that I’m probably feeling an increase in appetite now.

Well, I hadn’t noticed, but now that you’ve planted the hunger seed, I think I AM feeling hungrier than usual. Thanks for the idea!

In fact, now I’m positively starving.  Read more...

, , , , , , ,

The Magical Fruit

January 3rd, 2012 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (13 Comments)

Let’s say you laid down on the couch this afternoon, kids busy and frolicking to and fro, and you decide to close your eyes for “just a minute”.

Then let’s say you woke up some unknown amount of time later, living room dark, kids off entertaining themselves some place else, and suddenly you realize you’ve got about a half hour before your hungry husband would be home from work and ready for dinner.

In other words, let’s say you needed to throw something together for dinner fast.  Read more...

, , , , , ,

World Travel

December 4th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (10 Comments)

It was a dark and stormy night.

Actually, it was just a cold and gloomy Friday morning. And I was in the mood to cook.

Ingredients for Apricot Lentil Stew

I was also in the mood to shake things up! I went googling my way around the world wide web in search of something outlandish to do with a bag of red lentils.

Like… string them together to use as garland on our Christmas tree? Get started on a lentil mosaic of A Starry Night? Toss lentils at wine glasses filled with varying levels of water and teach myself to play I Saw Three Ships Come Sailing In?  Read more...

, , ,

It’s-Not-Thanksgiving-Yet Eggplant Parmesan

November 22nd, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (8 Comments)

For dinner tonight, there was one goal:

Make something completely the opposite of Thanksgiving. I wouldn’t want to spoil my appetite for Thursday after all.

(right. like that could happen.)

So what’s the opposite of Thanksgiving, exactly?

I guess I don’t know, really. I do know that when I was shopping for T Day goodies today, I was on the lookout for anything that none of the other 1,257 Thanksgiving shoppers were loading into their carts. I was looking for anything that might scream “DINNER!!!” at me.

And the item that screamed was eggplant.  Read more...

, ,

The Whole Enchilada

November 17th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (3 Comments)

Enchiladas for dinner tonight!

Pumpkin Enchilida

And they. were. awesome.

But guess what’s inside of them? Just guess!

Never mind, you won’t be able to guess. In fact, you won’t even believe me when I tell you.

OK fine, I’ll tell you.

In a minute.

First, let’s start with these little buggers. They played a big part of what made tonight’s meal so good.

Chipotle Chiles

While I’ve made my own enchilada sauce before, I did it a bit differently this time.

Chipotle Chiles Pureed

Homemade Enchilada Sauce  Read more...

, , , ,

Best Laid Plans

November 14th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (2 Comments)

Today, I had a plan.

That plan was to make dinner early, so that when we got home from an outing with friends late this afternoon, dinner would be mostly ready. All that would be left to do would be to make some guac to top it all off.

And that plan worked. For the most part.

I did indeed make Sweet Potato and Black Bean Chili with quinoa this morning before setting off on the day’s adventure.  Read more...

, , , , , ,

Seitan Seitan Rah Rah Rah

November 3rd, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (4 Comments)

Have you ever eaten Seitan?

Westsoy Seitan

Pronounced “sey-tan”, as in “say, you look tan.”

Seitan.

I stopped eating meat in early 2007, and even though it’s a “meatless meal” substitute, it wasn’t until this year that I’d ever tried the stuff.

My first time was at a veg friendly restaurant, and it was one of the dinner specials. When the waitress described it, she said it was made out of wheat gluten, is high in protein (120 calories, 2 g fat, 21 g protein per serving!) and its texture is a lot like meat.  Read more...

,

Black and Orange

October 31st, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (4 Comments)

A fast and color coordinated black bean burger and orange fries for dinner tonight!

Black Bean Burger

Too bad my black burger was obscured by a piece of provolone cheese.  The black and orange effect was lost. Good thing veggie burger love knows no color.

And a letter:

Dear Frozen Sweet Potato Fries from a Bag,

I didn’t forget how delicious you are, but I did forget how easy you are!  Easy like Sunday morning straight from my grocers freezer case delivered directly onto my plate. Stuff it mandolin!

I should totally start my own advertising business. I could be a hundredaire.  Read more...

, , ,

Tomorrow We Run With Zombies

October 21st, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (5 Comments)

In preparation for running from zombies tomorrow, we hit up the only logical place for dinner tonight.

Actually, in preparation for running from zombies tomorrow, first I dropped the girls off with Aunt Ellen, then I picked up The Man and we hit the bar.

Vegetarian Bar

The veggie bar at Wegmans. If I hope to ditch any zombies tomorrow, greens tonight are a must!

Veggie Bar

This is one of my favorite places to eat in town. No place else can I load my plate up with greens and then pile on a ton of fun stuff.  Read more...

, , , ,

Old Man Dolin

October 17th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (5 Comments)

Dinner tonight was about ease and speed.  Mama’s got a 6:30 yoga class she wants to get to, gang!  Chop chop!

Or should I say “slice slice!”?

With fast cookin’ potatoes on my mind, a couple of orange spuds and I went head to head with the mandolin.

Sweet Potatoes Cut with Mandolin

A mandolin is a fancy schmancy slicer contraption that is supposed to make vegetable slicing easier. The last time I used this thing, the mandolin and I had words.  But tonight?  I grabbed this bull by the horns until it bucked me off.

Oneida Mandolin  Read more...

, , , , ,