Broccoli Barley Bowl

Day 361

Broccoli Barley Bowl 

Appetizer: Pancakes

On Monday I made pancakes from scratch and discovered a recipe worth keeping so I thought I'd post it here for the record, so we can always find it. I'll probably put it in my Favorite Recipes blog as well.

Pancake

Over the years, we've tried several pancake recipes, but we always come back to, "It's no better than the mix" so we generally save ourselves the hassle and buy the "just add water" mixes. However, Monday I wanted to make pancakes to go with the vegan bacon I bought and found that we were out of pancake mix. Since it was Thanksgiving Day and everything was closed, I just looked a recipe up and happened on the best pancake recipe we've ever tried. Thanks Pete!

Today, Laura waited too long to eat and was too hungry to wait for real supper and made a 1/2 batch of these to tide her (us) over. So we each had a pancake about 2 hours before real supper.

Now for the broccoli barley bowls.

Broccoli Barley Bowl

Original recipe

I like barley; it's one of my favorite grains. I found this recipe online by googling barley recipes. Laur harvested the last of the broccoli tonight - and the third harvest, in fact - so this one grabbed my attention and I decided to try it. We had everything on hand except for feta, and while I was out grabbing some I got a can of chick peas to move things along a bit faster because all we had here were dried ones.

Ingredients

2 cups cooked barley

2 cups broccoli, steamed

1/2 cup chick peas (canned)

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup feta

Dressing, feta, sunflower seeds, chickpeas

Dressing

2 tbsp olive oil

1 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp maple syrup

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp sea salt

It takes about 40 minutes to cook barley to the tenderness I like, so that's the part that took that longest. I started cooking it before heading to Sobey's.

Barley simmering

How to Cook Barley

1 part barley : 2 parts water

Simmer 40 minutes.

While the barley was cooking, I steamed the broccoli and measured out the chickpeas and sunflower seeds. I mixed up the dressing. When the barley was cooked, everything was combined together and served in bowls.

Broccoli Barley

Reviews/Comments

This was quite yummy. It was exactly like mac & cheese but with a different taste and different texture. Just kidding, haha. It seriously was tasty and all the flavors were good together. It was sort of nutty and cheesy, but also had that lemon pepper dressing. It doesn't sound like a good mix, but it worked. It was also really filling. The pic at the top of the page was my bowl and I was stuffed and couldn't finish it. That could have had something to do with the appetizer, too, I suppose. I rate the broccoli barley bowl an 8.

Laura gives it a "solid 8.5".

Mac & Cheese

Day 360

Mac & Cheese

When you want comfort food, you want it. We had a bit of sharp cheddar, some Havarti leftover from our sandwiches and about a quarter cup of parm to be used, so no shopping necessary to give in to my mac & cheese whim.

Ingredients

Little a this....little a that...yada yada cheese...yada yada yada noodles...etc

Cheese sauce

Shells cooking in brine

Directions

Shred cheese...cook noodles...so on, so forth...panko on top...etcetera, etcetera...bake it awhile...voila, donesies.

Cooked shells

Shells in cheese sauce

Garnish

Throw a little Italian parsley on that beauty and toss it in the oven. It'll only wilt and won't look real pretty after it bakes, but it'll make you feel like you're cooking something fancy for the 25 minutes it's in the oven.

Mac & cheese before baking

Baked mac & cheese

Reviews/Comments

Laura has made better ones...but it was a'ight...glad I didn't put onions in it. I give it a 9.

Laura: Glad I stopped you from putting onions in it and that you listened when I compared the gravity of that error to the time I put garlic in the chicken stew. I give it a 9. Solid 9, enjoyed it, considering I'm not a fan of pasta. With onions it would have been a 5. I'm glad you listened to my expert advice. HAHAHAHA It was good (serious tone).

Leftover Poppyseed Casserole

Day 342

Friday, September 25

Leftover Poppyseed Casserole

Poppyseed Casserole

Day 341

Thursday, September 24

Poppyseed Casserole

Baked poppyseed casserole

Leftover Bolognese Pie

Day 337

Leftover Bolognese Pie

One great thing about cooking only for two is that there is usually enough to have the meal two or three times. If you've been following my blog at all, you'll know how much that delights me. For instance, tonight's steps were very basic:

Directions

1. Turn the oven on.
2. Take the leftovers out of the fridge.
3. Put in the oven.
4. Heat 15 minutes.

I love that!!!

Reheated Bolognese pie

I know the casserole dish doesn't look pretty, but I'm okay with that. A little soak and it'll wash right up!

Reviews/Comments

Same as last night. And there is enough sauce made to make it again soon!

Bolognese Pie with Biscuit Topping

Day 336

Bolognese Pie with Biscuit Topping

Bolognese Pie with Biscuit Topping

Recipe here
Laura used the original recipe but made half again as much. And we used meatless Yves Spicy Italian Sausage. We also used some carrots, garlic, herbs and zucchini from the garden and some tomatoes and cheese from the store.

Sauce:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups onions, finely chopped
2 cups carrots, finely chopped (1 cup)
6 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup water
2 cans (28 ounces) crushed tomatoes

Simmer above ingredients for 45 minutes.
Add:1 pound diced veggie sausage
Coarse salt and ground pepper

Here are some pics of the process.

Chopped carrots

Onions & carrots sautéing

Chopped "sausage" being stirred into the sauce

Biscuit dough over the Bolognese sauce

Bolognese Pie

Reviews/Comments

This was excellent and I have to say, total 10. The biscuits are light and fluffy inside and crispy on the outside. Laura loved it and also gave it a 10!

Laura's Broccoli Cheddar Casserole

Day 322

Saturday, September 5

Laura's Broccoli Cheddar Casserole

Laura's Broccoli Cheddar Casserole

Ingredients

From the garden:
2 cups broccoli, chopped

2 cups cauliflower, chopped

3 cups carrots, cubed

2 small shallots, minced

Garden veggies

Other ingredients:

1/3 cup flour

2 tbsp olive oil

1 3/4 cups water

1/4 cup coffee cream

1 cup grated cheddar

Made a roux with olive oil, flour, salt and pepper, then poured in water until it was a nice thick sauce. Then added the cream and melted the cheese in.

Casserole without topping

Topping:

French's Fried Onions

Panko breadcrumbs

Laura's Broccoli Cheddar Casserole

Reviews/Comments

This was amaaaazzing. I had it for lunch next day too.

Broccoli au Gratin

Day 294

We had this alongside last night's leftovers, of which there wasn't much since I also took some to work for my lunch, but we were excited to have what was left to go with our broccoli tonight.

Broccoli au Gratin

Broccoli au Gratin

Original recipe
This was made using our garden broccoli! We had it one other night, but this time Laura harvested seven of the nine heads, which were small, but already showing signs of going to seed. More broccoli will grow back.

Broccoli

I followed the recipe to a T but next time I will use more salt and more cheese. This one contains 3/4 cup grated sharp cheddar and 1/4 cup grated Swiss.

Ingredients

Broccoli
2 tbsp peanut oil
1 1/2 cups coffee cream
1 1/2 cups water
Sea salt & pepper
3/4 cup cheese

Topping
1 1/2 cups panko crumbs
2 more tbsp peanut oil
1/4 cup cheese

While it's cooking in the bubbling milk (we actually used half coffee cream and half water), it looks really yummy.

Broccoli simmering in cream

Broccoli au Gratin

Reviews/Comments

Ignore the unflattering photo of the broccoli. It was a really yummy dish and I'll definitely make it again. But let's talk about our carrots.

Last night, I didn't give much of a review, so tonight I would like to elaborate some on the carrots. O. M.G. They are sooo amazing. They're sweet, and tender and carroty, and Laura says they were the best carrots she'd ever had in her life. They weren't earthy like carrots usually are, and even though she doesn't usually love carrots, she thought they were the best thing on her plate last night, even better than the green bean casserole. And the best thing is, there are lots more in the ground!

Roasted Vegetables & Green Bean Casserole

Day 292

Clearly I don't have enough time for daily blogging during the summer. Noted. I generally do remember to take the pics, but time just gets away from me, most notably during the weekends. This past weekend, for instance, I traveled to Westbrook, ME for a wedding.

Roasted Vegetables & Green Bean Casserole

Roasted Vegetables

Everything from the garden, then roasted in 1/2" water at 350 degrees F for about 40 minutes.

Garden stuff

Ingredients
Carrots
Parsnips
Potatoes
Garlic
Fresh herbs: the Scarborough Fair combo (parsley, sage, rosemary & thyme) plus oregano

Roasted vegetables

Green Bean Casserole

Inspired by our beans from the garden! There is really no better way to eat green beans. Just steam the beans, put them in a casserole dish, pour the soup over top and finally, sprinkle the fried onions over everything. Bake about 20 minutes at 350.

Steamed green beans

Ingredients
Green beans
Homemade cream of mushroom soup (recipe can be found here)
French's fried onions

Green bean casserole

Roasted Vegetables & Green Bean Casserole

Let's Back Up

On Saturday, at the wedding itself, I had some great food, mostly finger food, plus some mac n cheese, but I didn't get a pic, because I didn't realize at the time that it was supper. On the way home, I stopped in Hampden where I took a pic of a fantastic lady - Wendy Pace - making some peach salsa, but that's as close as I came to seeing any food preparation the entire day.

Wendy making peach salsa

After I came back from the wedding trip last night, I had some of Laura's pitas with some spinach/artichoke dip she had made, but failed to take a pic. But tonight, I was in full blogging spirit, so here we are.

Let's Back Up More

The evening before the wedding, Laura and I cooked some veggies from the garden, but I was super busy getting ready for the trip and went to bed early in order to get an early start for a long drive. The evening before that, I was away visiting a relative from the time I got home from work until at least 10 pm and I think I skipped supper that night. No, wait. I think we ordered something. And the evening before that, on Wednesday, it was Eggs Florentine.


Wednesday, August 6: Eggs Florentine
Old stand-by for us.

Eggs Florentine

Friday, August 7: Garden Veggies
Everything from the garden: potatoes, yellow beans and Swiss chard.

Fresh garden vegetables

Reviews/Comments

What on earth is better than this? Hardly anything. Sooo yummy. Got a 10 from us both.

Greek Feast

Day 222

I did skip a few days there; sorry about that...let's catch up.

Friday, May 29
We didn't really have a formal meal. I grabbed a BK veggie burger while running errands and later we shared the rest of a George's mushroom pizza that Laura had gotten for lunch.

Saturday, May 30
We went to Mike's Bar and got a pile of naughty fried food with their Build Your Own Basket. We got the jalapeno poppers, mozza sticks, sweet potato fries, onion rings, mac n cheese bites and deep fried mushrooms.

Sunday, May 31
This was last night, the night Laura slaved over the Greek feast, so we had some of it last night, but some of it wasn't done until it was too late to eat. I also went out and got a BK veggie burger because I was too hungry to wait. I should have just waited, because it wasn't long after I ate that we fried the falafel and pitas, so we sampled most of the Greek stuff.

Monday, June 1
Greek food all day! I had spanikopita for breakfast, and this plate you see in the pics below for lunch and supper. And there is plenty left for tomorrow. WOOT!

Moussaka, falafel, spanikopita, pita, hummus & olives

Moussaka, falafel sandwich, spanikopita & olives

Veggie Moussaka

Recipe here

This is amazingly good. It was the dish that took so long to make, because there were a lot of steps. I can't see us making this often, for that reason, but someday again. Thank you Sia Koulis, for the recipe. We may have gone our whole lives never having tried moussaka. 

So many ingredients in this. Eggplant was the one I was excited about. Oh, and potatoes.

Eggplant

Missy was interested in the process. She was probably hoping for a taste but it wasn't done until very late. These things take time!

Laura slaving over moussaka

It wasn't done until bedtime so we didn't try it until today. It's super yummy and a shame it's such a process to make.

Moussaka

Spanikopita

Recipe here
Greek spinach pie..soooo good. Laura used frozen spinach instead of fresh, but otherwise followed the recipe.

Spanikopita

Falafel

Recipe here
Laura makes awesome falafel. I've only had falafel at three other places before (Boyce Farmers Market, Pita Pit and Calactus), and all falafel is pretty good, but Laura's is the best. There are only a few pieces on a plate in the pic below, but believe me, there is an enormous bowl of falafel dough in the fridge to make more. More! MORE!!!!!!

Falafel

We have the falafel with a delicious tahini sauce that Laura always makes. We usually have this with falafel on pita bread with tomatoes and Romaine lettuce.

Laura's Tahini Sauce

About 1/3 cup tahini
Lemon juice to taste

Add water or until desired consistency

2 cloves garlic

Hummus

Laura also makes the best hummus. We like ours super garlicky so it has a bit of kick to it. Here is the recipe from another blog. It's a keeper.

Hummus

Homemade Pita Bread

Recipe here
Laura has been making her own pita bread for years, and it's so much better than that dry old store-bought kind.

Homemade pita bread

Greek fare

Reviews/Comments

Took a long time to make. Do not attempt this unless you have 5 or 6 hours to kill. But, soooo worth it!!

Missy was here Sunday night while Laura was making it. She enjoyed the falafel and hummus but wasn't a fan of spanikopita. It was still warm, so that could have been why.