The Yum Diaries

I had some people over for New Year’s festivities last night.  For food, I opted for something easy on me to prepare, but tasty for my guests.  I made stewed pork, which served as the main ingredient for some delicious tacos.  You really couldn’t ask for anything easier, and the results are fantastic.

I bought a three pound pork roast, cut it in thirds and put it in my slow cooker.  To this, I added two packets of taco seasoning and filled the pot half full with water.  I cooked the roast on high for about four hours, long enough for the meat to easily shred with a pair of tongs.  Served up in warm corn tortillas (double them up because the meat is juicy, even when you try to squeeze the juice out a bit) with cheddar cheese, sour cream, salsa and chopped romaine lettuce.   Super easy, but everyone went nuts over them.  The meat is tender, delicious, and nearly melts in your mouth.

Usually when I make this, I use a roast half that size and only use one packet of taco seasoning, and obviously a bit less water.  With slow cookers, you want to use less water than you would when cooking on the stove, as water does not evaporate out of the pot.  When doing this, I usually just put enough water to halfway cover the meat, and stir things around about halfway through.

You could probably do this just as well with a beef roast, or even an equivalent amount of chicken breast, but pork is my favorite meat, so I always use that.

We in Western Washington are experiencing a cold spell.  And let me tell you, when you’re used to winters where it rarely drops below 40 degrees in the day time, 25 degrees during the day and 18 degrees at night just feels damn cold.  (Anyone out there in places that get actual weather in the winter, please keep your chuckles to yourselves.)  Nothing is better than a warm bowl of soup on days like the ones we’ve been having around here. (Well, except perhaps for someone cute to cuddle up and keep warm with, but our specialty is food, so we’re sticking to that.)

Yesterday, I had the day off.  In addition to being good cold day food, it’s also good day off food because it’s such an easy thing to make.  Toss some stuff in a pot, add some water, let it boil for a while, and eat.  Nice and simple for a day when you’re not up for much but relaxing.

When it comes to soup, I’m ok with something fancy and adventurous once in a while, but what I really love are the standards.  Chicken noodle, navy bean, split pea (extra ham, please), and yesterday’s soup du jour, beef barley.

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(Photo from Marthastewart.com)

Okay, Okay, I know many people hold some strong reservations for anything Martha Stewart. I used to be one of those united in Martha bashing. However, I guess over the years my German heritage has taken ahold of me including the studious OCD homemaker genes which were passed on to me from my amazing German Grandmother, in turn leading me to embrace a large portion of the Martha Stewart culture. I will admit that when I want to find one of those tried and true classic recipes passed on down through generations I head to Marthastewart.com. Before I go hide in shame from these confessions, I must first share her recipe for Stuffed Cabbage Rolls which is actually her Polish Mother, Mrs. Kostyra’s recipe and it is mighty good.

This was a group effort cooking adventure by my husband and I. We are vegetarian and we love taking childhood comfort food recipes and transforming them into healthier vegetarian dishes. So, what we did for this recipe is substituted the 16 oz of meat for a 12 oz. package of Morningstar crumbles and 4 oz of TVP (Textured Vegetable Protein, you can find TVP in the natural section of your local market). Instead of butter we used Extra Virgin Olive oil as well. I also included at the bottom of the recipe the few other changes we made.*

The link to the recipe is inlcuded as well as a picture of the final dish from the site above. I decided to not take the time to take a picture because honestly our final dish looked EXACTLY like the picture they included. I hate to admit it, but this recipe was much better than the dish my very own beloved Grandmother made when I was a child. They are deliciously comforting and one of those perfect cold weather meals. I highly recommend making these and they are toddler approved! One more noteworthy addition that only having a toddler can inspire is serving these with goldfish crackers, trust me it’s a good thing (hahah, I couldn’t resist).

I can’t wait to enjoy the leftovers for lunch tomorrow. I hope you take the time to make them. Enjoy!

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One of the best parts of Thanksgiving is all that leftover food.  But if you have a big surplus, it’s easy to get tired of eating the same thing for days after the big feast.  Here are a couple of experiments I’ve undertaken the past couple days that yielded good results.

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Here is a peek at my Thanksgiving menu this year. I have linked to the recipes that we are trying for the first time this year (and anything that has dairy will be substituted accordingly). I also included links to some of my favorite vegetarian food essentials as well.  I will post pictures and some of the recipes that are missing from this after Thanksgiving.  Read the rest of this entry →

Every year, I used to make that tried-and-true green bean casserole.  You all know the one.  The beans, the cream soup, the french fried onions.  Then, one year, when it was my stepdad’s turn to cook Thanksgiving dinner, he made green beans with bacon and onions.  Personally, I’m of the opinion that anything is good with bacon.  Now, I do my own version of these green beans instead of the casserole.  In my eyes, a competition between bacon and fried onions is no competition.  Give me that delicious swine!

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Cool Apple Pie
My mother cooked nearly every dinner I ate as a child. Until about the time I hit high school I had probably eaten out with my whole family less than 10 times in my life. The normal dinner in our house consisted of a lot of wild game, because we lived in Alaska and it was plentiful. Other than that, our dinners were meat and potatoes fare, country cooking. Nothing fancy, but lots of hearty foods that I hope to share with you. Many of them call for wild game like moose or deer and salmon, but you can substitute beef or a cheaper fish in most. The thing I looked forward to most, however, was my mother’s baking. I will share all of my favorite baked goods from childhood because that is what my mother did best. I will start with an apple pie, and hope to give you step by step directions so that you can do this from scratch. Please keep in mind that even I, who do this fairly regularly, have trouble rolling out a pie crust, but with patience and a few tricks, you can learn to do a great job. And remember, nothing makes perfect like practice, so make them often, but give them away, cause this is not the health food category. To give credit where credit is due, my Grandma Festa, Mom’s Mom, is credited with this apple pie recipe.

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This week brings one of my favorite holidays of the year.  This year, I’m cooking up Thanksgiving dinner for my mom, my stepdad, and myself.  I’ll be sharing recipes today and tomorrow for some of the dishes I’ll be making for the big feast.  I’ve recruited my mom, photographer extraordinaire, to photo-document my cookery.  I’ll wind up the week with a nice big food-porny post with all the pictures.

Let’s start with dessert:  Pumpkin Cheesecake in a Gingersnap Crust.

Like Melissa, I adore pumpkin, especially in pies.  Now, there’s nothing wrong with good, old-fashioned pumpkin pie.  Nothing at all.  However, when I do up the Thanksgiving edibles, I love to do traditional dishes, but with a few twists here and there.  So, instead of pumpkin pie, I’m making pumpkin cheesecake.  I’ll be making this tonight so it’ll be ready to take with me when I head to my family’s house tomorrow night.

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Tofu and Baby Bok Choy with Black Bean Garlic Sauce (Photo by Melissa Wax)

Due to a bad back some nights I just can’t stand on my feet long enough to cook dinner. I am a lucky gal though with a husband who doesn’t mind cooking. In fact I am convinced he even secretly enjoys it. Tonight was a team effort and the directions at the bottom were written by Steve, who is not only my husband, but a fellow Yum Diarist as well.

Dinner tonight was all about experimenting with a jar of Sun Luck Black Bean Garlic Sauce I purchased out of curiousity at the market. Steve is really good in the kitchen and I can usually feel confident enough to just give him basic instructions of what I have in mind and he typically translates it quite well into his own Stevey dish. Tonight the final dish came out amazing with delicious rich and savory flavors that I loved!  Worthy of  me getting out of bed in pain to photograph. This sauce has definitely found a permanent spot in the crowded door of my fridge and I should mention we also fed this to our 15 month old toddler who happily gobbled it down.  Read the rest of this entry →

Pumpkin Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal Cookies fresh out of the oven (Photo by Melissa Wax)

Around mid-August every year I start to get overly excited for Fall and more importantly for my favorite squash:  the pumpkin.

“Pumpkin, Pumpkin, Pumpkins!”,  This seems to have become my Fall mantra I find myself chanting each year around September when I can start to see the orange hues peeking out of the landscape of our local pumpkin farm.

I love pumpkins.

I love to cook, bake, and of course carve the hell out of them around Halloween. I guess it’s only natural that I find myself brainstorming all the different recipes I can sneak it into during the Fall and Winter months. Last weekend I was on a sweet bread kick and made this amazing Cranberry Nut Pumpkin bread recipe I found (which is an interesting story in and of itself, so I will save it for a later post), but the point is I had about a cup and a half of leftover pumpkin sitting in my fridge.  Read the rest of this entry →