Black Bean and Butternut Squash Chili

October 11th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (2 Comments)

Life is settling back into a post-marathon norm around here. I spent much of today getting caught up on all things food and laundry now that I’m hobbling around a little bit less and taking the stairs slightly faster than yesterday.

Or at the very least I’m not doing the “step up with my right leg, drag my left leg up behind me like a sack of potatoes” thing anyway.

Dinner got started this morning when I threw this guy from last week’s CSA share into the oven – not immediately sure what I was going to do with him.  Read more...

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Dinner Time Secrets

September 21st, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (9 Comments)

I don’t think I’ve made it a secret that I’m a Dinner Planning drop out.  Tonight was one of those nights where I found myself slapping together whatever ingredients I had on hand in an attempt to turn those ingredients into a meal.

I do have other secrets though.  If you listen carefully, I’ll whisper some to you while I slap together this post.

So what do we have here?  A small spaghetti squash, sweet potatoes three and four, the de facto garlic and onion, plus a bunch of canned stuff.

Sweet Potato Curry Ingredients  Read more...

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Naan Pizza

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

Tonight we had the BEST and EASIEST pizza ever – but that’s NAAN of your business.

Naan for Pizza Crust

Kidding. I’m nice – really. Please don’t go. I really do want to tell you about the best and easiest pizza ever.

“Best” thanks largely to naan, Indian flat bread.

Garlic Naan for Grown Ups

Garlic Naan

Plain Naan for Pip Squeaks

Traditional Naan

Pre-heat oven to 500 degrees. If you’ve got a pizza stone, slip that sucker into the oven while it’s getting hot and then start working on your pizza toppings.  Read more...

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You Better Stomp Around

August 31st, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (Comments Off on You Better Stomp Around)

I need to start digging through the blog archives more often.  I don’t know why I complain about not being able to come up with dinner ideas in advance.  It’s like owning a closet full of perfectly fine clothes and then stomping around and saying “I don’t have A THING to wear!”

Except I’ve got a website full of meal ideas and I stomp around saying “I don’t have ANY IDEA what to make!”

Time to stop stomping and start clicking, lady.  Read more...

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A Dinner Play

August 29th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (5 Comments)

Me: Good morning everybody!

Condiments

Condiments: Hi Alison!

Me:  Who wants to be turned into dinner tonight?!

Condiments: [cheers]

Crock Pot enters stage left

Crock Pot Enters Stage Left

Me: What about you, Crock Pot?  You wanna play too?

Crock Pot: Yeah, sure.  I guess so.

Me: [ignoring Crock Pot’s unenthusiastic response] OK, then – listen up.

Today is a full day.  We’ve got a jam packed schedule of hiking with friends this morning, a meeting tonight, not to mention the usual house work plus tidying up for visitors tomorrow and hopefully squeezing in a ridiculous blog post where I pretend my condiments are actors in this weird dinner time play I’m putting on.  Read more...

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Ratatouille: Revisited

August 25th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (10 Comments)

I’ve been waiting and waiting for eggplant to show up in the CSA share this summer so I could make Ratatouille.

Finally, the good word arrived in my inbox yesterday.

CSA Items

(more peaches. did ya catch that?)

Well what do you know – this week I’ll be picking up just about everything I need to make Ratatouille!

From inbox to counter top:

CSA Share

I think Peach and Corn Ratatouille is on the menu tomorrow.

I followed my own Ratatouille directions from last year’s premiere stewed veggie attempt – and good news! I didn’t steer me wrong.  Read more...

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The Pizza Show

July 17th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (1 Comments)

(with some behind-the-scenes extras.)

Ladies and Gentlemen, Boys and Girls.  Tonight we’ve got quite the performance lined up!  Allow me to present to you the summer time rendition of:

The Homemade Vegetable Pizza Party Show!

(this is where you cup your hands around your mouth and do that faux screaming/crowd-goes-wild thing.)

The Yeasty Boys are our opening act.

Yeast Resting

(my trusty crusty easy pizza dough recipe at play here.)

My mozzarella likes to do The Shred.

Shredded Mozzarella

(i do typically opt for organic dairy, but I went the conventional route tonight.)  Read more...

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If You Fail to Plan, You Plan to Make Lentils

June 27th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (4 Comments)

On any given day, I cannot tell you what I’m making for dinner that night until the five o’clock hour is upon me. I have tried and tried to become proficient at meal planning, but it appears I am simply unable to make this learned skill a personal reality.

I suppose I could work on this shortcoming of mine, spending hour upon hour digging into my past, trying to uncover from the depths of my psyche why on earth I can’t pull together a weeks worth of meal ideas in one sitting,

OR!  Read more...

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Opening Day

June 14th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (4 Comments)

The girls and I hiked, biked and triked ourselves a couple of blocks to our local farmers market this afternoon.

Opening Day

We enjoyed the sites.

Sea of Strawberries

The sounds.

Local Asparagus

(Asparagus speaks to me.)

The signs.

Eat Your Vegetables New Sign

The realization that tonight’s dinner plans were about to be revamped.

Local Eggs

Brussels sprouts can wait until tomorrow.

Dinner Ingredients  Read more...

Asparagus Frittata

  • A couple tablespoons of olive oil
  • Asparagus and other veggies of choice
  • 8 eggs
  • 2 tablespoons of milk or half and half (optional, but does make the eggs puff up nicely!)

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Hot Off the (Tofu) Press

June 12th, 2011 | Posted by Alison Spath in Dinner Time - (8 Comments)

I love pressed tofu for a myriad of reasons.  It has a different texture than its non-pressed counter part.  It soaks up marinade better and holds together nicely in stir fries.  I’ve heard too that squirrels do not like pressed tofu, but that may just be a rumor.  Squirrels are also supposed to hate marigolds, but I don’t want to talk about that.

You can buy a contraption made for the sole purpose of pressing tofu – it’s called a Tofu Press (go figure) and is basically a little vise that squeezes all the water out of the tofu block for you.  But 1) I’ve already done the vise in my kitchen routine, b) I don’t want to buy one and three) no one has offered to send me one for free.  Read more...

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