A gross post

I said I would blog about it, so here it is. This meal was really gross.

We were so hungry when we started eating it, and it seemed OK at first, then about halfway through, it was like, "Oh. This is pretty gross all of a sudden."

I thought I'd create something Japanese-inspired. I love Japanese food -- and this salmon and veggies meal turned out great, so I thought I'd be clever and just kind of do the same sauce with whatever ingredients I wanted to use.

So, I put a little fine sugar, soy sauce, fish sauce, dashi-no-moto, and rice wine in the crock pot. Then I threw in green beans, a dried stir-fry mushroom mix that I had soaked, a red pepper, carrots, a little sweet potato, seaweed, chard... I can't remember what else; maybe it can all be seen in the photo. I let it cook for several hours on low, then added some cooked brown rice. The green beans turned out super mushy. The flavors also just didn't go together quite so well.

This photo shows the leftovers, looking even grosser in tupperware. I kept them for a couple days because Dan said he'd take them to work for lunch, but I think he just couldn't bring himself to face the dish again. I tossed it out today.

Stuffed tomatoes

You'd be hard-pressed to find a dish that's as healthy for you as this one, and it uses up tomatoes at a time of year when the last of the them need to be eaten.

We didn't have any luck with our tomatoes in the garden this year, but we've been buying them up at the local market. These were on their last legs, and this recipe works pretty well for such tomatoes.

Stuffed tomatoes (serves 2 as a main dish, 4 as a side)

4 medium tomatoes, tops sliced off and reserved, inside flesh chopped (liquid and seeds discarded) -- I like a mix of yellow and red

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

3 tablespoons chopped, fresh parsley

6-8 tablespoons cooked wild rice

2 tablespoons shredded parmesan

1/2 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs, divided

1 teaspoon olive oil, plus enough to brush the bottom of a pan or crock pot

salt and pepper, to taste

1.) Mix the chopped tomato flesh with the garlic, parsley, rice, parmesan, salt, pepper, and 1/4 cup of the breadcrumbs.

2.) Fill the tomatoes with that mixture, and cook in a crock pot on low for 3 hours or so. If using the oven, bake at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes. (Don't forget to lightly oil the crock pot or pan, so you can get the tomatoes out afterward.)

3.) In a separate bowl, mix the remaining breadcrumbs with the teaspoon of oil by hand.

4.) Take the tomatoes out of the oven or crock pot, top equally with the breadcrumb-oil mix and brown under a broiler. Replace the tops before serving, if you'd like.

Leftovers: Salad with pork and apples

Oh, boy... It's time to save money. I've been in denial, but with food prices the way they are, I can't be running to the store every time I get a hankering for something I want to cook.

So, with that in mind, I will attempt to use up what I have in the house, shopping only at our co-op on member day (when we get a 5% discount).

I have so much to use up this week, both in the fridge and in the pantry:

roasted, marinated pork loin

Farmers' Market tomatoes

celery (who doesn't have celery left over after using just a stalk or two?)

spaghetti squash

lettuce

cooked wild rice mixture

canned beans, black and garbanzo

spelt egg noodles that I got ages ago (they can't really get old, can they?)

frozen, ice cube-sized pesto chunks

I'm thinking of making spaghetti squash with marinara sauce and fresh fish with pesto -- maybe in the crock pot with garbanzo beans? -- as well as stuffed tomatoes, to use up some of that rice. I will have to go the store for the fish, and I still am planning to make my friend Kate's pumpkin soup, which I've decided will be a good dish to serve my in-laws on Saturday.

I used some of the pork and lettuce today: The pork loin I made a couple nights ago is delicious cold, so I put some small, thin slices on top of the greens. I didn't think it would be anything to blog about, but it turned out to be so much better than expected. I should have taken a photo.

I wanted to call this post "pork salad," but that just doesn't sound too good. Does "salad with pork and apples" sound any better? I hope so.

You can just arrange the following ingredients and top this with your favorite salad dressing. I drizzled on some extra-virgin olive oil and balsamic vinegar, and the flavors worked really well together.



Salad with pork and apples (for 1 large salad)

red-leaf lettuce, as much as you'd like

1/2 carrot, shredded

a few rings of thinly sliced red onion

about 2 ounces of pork loin, thinly sliced and cut into pieces about two inches long

1/4 sweet apple, whatever kind you like, cut into about 6 slices

freshly ground black pepper, to taste

1/4 cup garbanzo beans

optional: a sprinkle of toasted walnuts or pecans would go well in this, I think

The ultimate pork marinade

Don't you just hate it when people give things they love titles like "perfect," "ultimate," or "best ever"? Me, too. But I guess it's because I'm running out of words for delicious, tasty, scrumptious, amazing... I suppose I could use "fabulous" or "wonderful," but they're just not my style.

Well, because this is a blog about food and not semantics, I'll move on. Let's just say, this is a doggone good pork marinade.

I got the ingredient list from a former Herald-Times colleague of mine, the much loved and much hated Mike Leonard. (Does that pique your interest about him? His columns are often political.) I am saying "ingredient list" because, as is the fate of so many recipes, this one was transferred over a plate of food, drinks in hand, via a simple conversation. Just a list, no pens or paper in sight that night.

So here's the scoop, with the approximate amounts I used for 4.1 pounds of pork loin* in parenthesis. I had to cut the loin in two to marinate it in gallon-sized plastic bags.

Mike's ultimate pork marinade

red wine (I used one of those airplane-sized bottles, which I think is 5 ounces)

garlic (3 cloves, crushed)

soy sauce (1/4 cup)

dried onion (I used flakes, about 2 tablespoons)

cinnamon (1 teaspoon)

brown sugar (2 tablespoons -- I like things sweet, in case you hadn't noticed)

Whisk together all above ingredients.

1.) Trim roast of fat. Marinate for at least 4 hours in the refrigerator. Overnight is best, I think.

2.) Rinse and pat dry before starting cooking process.

3.) Brown the roast on all sides in a pan in hot oil, briefly, before putting in a 325-degree oven on a rack, fat side up.

Cooking time will vary according to how much meat there is. Let the roast rest for 10 minutes on a cutting board before carving.

*A 4.1-pound single boneless pork loin took about 1 hour and 45 minutes to roast.

A last note: I've had not-so-great luck cooking pork in slow cookers, in terms of how dry it gets, regardless of whether I add water or not. I think roasting is the way to go. Although browning the meat in hot oil in a skillet made me reconsider how much I need a splatter guard -- I vowed to get one, soon -- it really sealed in the juices meat during cooking time. This turned out moist and delicious.

It also would be excellent served cold and thinly sliced for sandwiches. It would actually be beyond excellent, but I can't think of a word for that.

A few side dishes I recommend:

scalloped potatoes

roasted asparagus with parmesan crisps

lemon broccoli

butternut squash-potato puree with fresh thyme

corny cornbread

Mom's tortellini salad

Need an idea for leftovers? Try this salad with pork and apples.

Scalloped potatoes

My husband Dan high-fived me when I gave him a bite of this, just slightly cooled, fresh out of the oven.

I said, "It's from Amy Sedaris," and he said, "She likes people." Then he had another bite.

As a general rule, when things that have terrible ingredients and come straight out of a box but still taste great, the chances are pretty good they will taste excellent if they are homemade. Like macaroni and cheese or falafel. So I figured scalloped potatoes would be another of these.

Now I know I said in my last post that an upcoming recipe was for potatoes au gratin, but I'm pretty sure scalloped falls under the au gratin umbrella because the dish is browned in the oven and includes cheese.

I pulled one of my favorite cookbooks off the shelf for this. Amy Sedaris' I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence is a really fun read, recipes aside. There aren't many cookbooks you can say that about. This book not only has lots of recipes -- for things like "pot roast for Jack Black," cheese balls, and the like -- but it also has crafts you'll probably never make (scented sachets made out of pantyhose, for instance) and sagely advice about partying from Amy herself.

The potatoes are called "Hugh's scalloped potatoes," and fans of the amazing writer David Sedaris (Amy's brother) know Hugh is his longtime love.

My photo shows the following recipe doubled.

Hugh's scalloped potatoes

1 tablespoon minced parsley (I used fresh)

1 cup thinly sliced onion

2.5 cups thinly sliced potatoes (I used new potatoes and left the skin on)

1 teaspoon salt

1.5 tablespoons butter

pepper, to taste

3.5 tablespoons flour

1 cup milk (I used whole milk)

paprika, to taste

1 cup shredded Swiss cheese

1.) Boil the potatoes and onion in enough water to cover them for about 5 minutes. Drain.

2.) Melt the butter in a saucepan, add the flour and milk, and whisk. Add the paprika, salt, and pepper, and stir.

3.) Stir in the cheese.

4.) Oil the bottom of a 9x12-inch baking dish. Put a layer of potatoes and onion down (I used half of it), then a layer of sauce, then the parsley, and repeat until all ingredients are gone.

5.) Bake at 400 degrees for 35 minutes.

A few of my favorite things (part 2)

How much do you love my salt grinder, pictured above? Isn't she great? She's a present from my sister, and can be used for salt or pepper, obviously.

That's the first item of this installation of "a few of my favorite things." Part 1 can be found in this post from August. The first part focused on recipes; this post is about things.

The salt grinder is new and looks just perfect on my dining table (though she makes the pepper grinder look just a little bit boring). I have other various items that I just love, items that simply make the kitchen a better place to be.

Our butter dish, a food-and-cooking-themed Christmas gift from my sister- and brother-in-law, is one. It's a simple, clear, glass design, and there's nothing better than soft butter on a warm piece of toast. Or, I should say, there's nothing worse than having a warm piece of toast and nothing but tough, cold butter!

Then there's my cat apron, a present to me from my parents, modeled here by my husband.

Our salad spinner (also a wedding gift) was an absolutely brilliant invention. I use mine all the time, for herbs, too.

And, my special Alsatian quiche plate, a hand-me-down from my mom, who used it for homemade quiche as well as a nice serving/cooking platter for plenty of au gratin sides. It has plenty of history for my family -- it's at least 30 years old -- and it came from a little store in Alsace.

Now on to appliances... I'm a huge fan of the show "Mad Men," and one of the things that always strikes me is how much time the women spend in their kitchens (kitchens that are a little too tidy, if you ask me.) It's just incredible how the convenience of various small appliances has changed the lives of people who like to cook, and if you imagine that you really hated to cook but are a housewife in the 1950s, well, too bad for you! Your family just wouldn't eat. And the neighbors would talk about you.

I have a few appliances that I can't live without, and they all belong in the kitchen. While I enjoy the monotony and repetition of slicing and dicing at times -- it's actually one of the things I love about doing kitchen "work" -- at other times, it's overwhelming. Some recipes require way too much slicing and dicing for it to remain fun throughout the prep process. For those, I appreciate my Cuisinart basic food processor. It was a wedding gift, but it's something I would spend the money on to get another, for sure, if it ever broke or needed any replacement parts (those are available separately). It's also indispensible for pureeing large amounts of food.

Small amounts of food can be pureed with my immersion blender, which also is great for just sticking into a pot of soup and allowing it to do its magic. Mess-free, at that!

I can't close this post without mentioning something Dan and I are big fans of, especially recently, when we've both been really busy. These Indian food packets, called Micro Curry from Raja Foods, are really yummy and have natural ingredients. Plus, they're cheap, and they cook in about three minutes. You just put the food bag in boiling water for about that long. I didn't like that idea of a food bag initially, then I tried it, and we often have them as "fast food." They are wonderful, especially because we can't afford to eat at our favorite Indian place, Cumin in Cincinnati. (Shanti Indian Cuisine in Bloomington is yummy, too!)

Coming up: A recipe for the best pork marinade I've tasted, a recipe I got from my pal Mike Leonard, a columnist at Bloomington's Herald-Times; a passion-for-pumpkin post; and (possibly) my first attempt at potatoes au gratin. Also, very unfortunately, I made something gross that I will tell you all about. It was a sad, sad night.

Maple-mustard vinaigrette

This will be a quick post... I just got so excited about it, I had to write it down for you!

I so rarely find salad dressing recipes that I am willing to eat more than once, so I stick to my mom's Dijon vinaigrette or my own adapted version of that with dark balsamic and honey.

Believe me, I've tried tons of dressing recipes -- roasted tomato vinaigrette, cilantro-lime-yogurt, fruit-based concoctions that always seemed to be turn out too sweet for me. The list could go on and on. None of them became staples, but this one will.

I was flipping through old magazines, and I found this recipe for maple-mustard vinaigrette in the February/March 2006 issue of Eating Well. I thought it went deliciously well on top of our strawberry-rich salads the other night.

Maple-mustard vinaigrette (makes 1.25 cups)

1/2 cup canola oil

1/4 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup cider vinegar (I'm partial to the Tree of Life brand of apple cider vinegar)

2 tablespoons coarse-grained mustard (I used Maille Old Style Whole Grain Mustard)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

Whisk ingredients together.