food – Page 6 – Out & About

Pretzel Dogs 2021

Though New Seasons didn’t have their Country Natural Beef hotdogs (supply chain issues) and I was forced to buy (gasp) packaged hotdogs for my favorite Independence Day treat, pretzel dogs, they were still delicious.

Matt’s Birthday: Heat and Spanakopita

We are in for some craziness the next few days. Even in the very hot summers of my Boise years, the temperature never got very far above 105 degrees. But Matt’s birthday forecast is 107 and the two days after are in temperature ranges I’ve never seen, ever.

Matt wanted spanakopita for his birthday celebration and so I got the recipe from my Aunt Pat.

Here is my spinach.

And here is the finished product. It wasn’t a winner. There was way too much moisture coming off of the pieces.

The diagnosis: don’t cook it in a 9×13 inch pan with sides (what I think of as a 9×13 inch pan) but use a flat cookie sheet or jelly roll pan. My aunt uses a nice round sheet.

Boxed Frozen Vegetables

For some reason, my purchase of frozen spinach brought to mind a time when all of the frozen vegetables came in these little cardboard containers with a paper label wrapped around them. When did the changeover to plastic bags happen? Why is spinach the only thing still in a box?

Microgreens for the Win!

I signed up for an email course, put on by Oregon State Extension Service, about growing microgreens. Just as I figured, the course was basically “get the supplies, plant them, wait, harvest, eat.” But it did motivate me to do all those things.

And microgreens are delicious, especially in February. They add a pop to whatever they are added to. I also think they would make great gifts, given that grocery stores charge five to seven dollars for them and they are easy to grow.

Celebrating the New Job

Matt and I celebrated my new job by picking up food from Urdaneta, which is a Spanish small plates restaurant on Alberta.

The food was delicious, and I would like to go back when they are seating people.

Matt also was a fan.

P.S. Behind him, you can see my old desk, waiting for a NextDoor buyer to come and pick it up. More on that in another post.

More Cookbook Winnowing

Welcome, blurry photo. I did not factor blurry photos into my middle age experience.

More cookbook winnowing! The Enchanted Broccoli Forest Cookbook might have been the first cookbook I ever bought. And the Laurel’s Kitchen Bread Book was instrumental in teaching me how to make a loaf of whole wheat break.

As with the other pile, I’ve grabbed my favorites. Now it’s time to send the cookbooks off to Little Free Libraries in my neighborhood.

Christmas Dinner

Since all the Christmas traditions were up in the air, I decided that 2020 was the year to try a Tofuky. Even in my vegetarian years, I never shelled out the money. Back in those days, it came with a tempeh drumstick, so I guess I should have sampled the product then.

Here’s the Tofurky, ready to go into the pot. I followed the instructions on the label and made a soy sauce/olive oil concoction for the broccoli and tofurky to roast in.

And here’s our final product, dusted with sage. I also made mashed potatoes, because I don’t like to pass up a chance to eat mashed potatoes.

The verdict? Very salty. The broccoli tasted amazing, through, having roasted in that soy sauce/olive oil concoction. I skipped the gravy (because I almost always skip the gravy) and the potatoes were delicious!

While I wouldn’t turn down a slice of tofuky, if one is offered to me, this was probably a one-and-done experience.

Decorating Santa Cookies with Mom

Mom wanted to give her neighbors some cookies and, when searching the internet, found someone’s great idea to turn a heart-shaped cookie upside down and make a Santa. Using just the star tip, some frosting, and jimmies, red hots, and chocolate chips, we made these darling little creatures.

These are also historic cookies because while we were making them, I got a call offering me a job as a full-time copy editor.