Buck the trend

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Crêpes is crêpes. Generally made with white flour as the binder and best known in their sweet form. Now how about buckwheat, that nutty, bluish grain best known as the main ingredient in soba noodles? I first made buckwheat crêpes during an Iron Chef kind of competition at my dining co-op at Oberlin.

Our challenge was to use local potatoes and greens to whip up a delectable meal. One of our team members had a really tasty recipe for vegan buckwheat crêpes–made with tahini thinned with water in lieu of the eggs and milk–which we wrapped around the greens. Buckwheat made the pancakes substantial and savory and, of course, unique enough to satisfy my pink haired chef mentality and fit the spirit of the contest.

I made a lacto-ovo version of these (oh, how the pure have fallen), but you can feel free to experiment. The filling is vegan and the cheese sauce is pretty easy to make vegan–use soy milk and margarine and replace the cheese with an equal amount of nutritional yeast flakes.

But before I get to the recipe, I have to say I don’t like the way my photo of this dish came out. Thus, I am adding a nice but uncalled for photo of a slice of cucumber with goat cheese and a sprig of dill:

 

And another one of the first snow drops of spring, taken back in February:

Thanks. You may now proceed to the recipe.

Continue reading →

VOICES tells a beautiful dinnertime story

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The VOICES event thrown by Women’s Philanthropy of the Jewish Federation of Greater Washington was memorable for many reasons. Partly it was the Jewish/Deaf/Woman power, which I did write about. Partly it was the wonder at so many people shelling out $218 for a dinner party, albeit for a good cause. But oh so much it was the food!

We arrived to wine and hors d’oeurves–elevated every day eats like teensily-crafted tortilla chips individually topped with dollops of south-of-the-border-inspired concoctions, mini veggie eggrolls, something with thin strips of roast beef. Then when the dining room opened to accept the seething crowd of almost 900 decked-out Jewish women into the dining room, we met with a truly delightful sight. Continue reading →

Mt. Pleasant Woman Denied Down Time, Forced to Remove “Lunch Hour” From Her Vocabulary

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This is what the headlines should read right about now. I haven’t had a normal weekend for quite some time. Last weekend I was at the Mid-Atlantic Multisport Triathlon Boot Camp (which my friend wrote about on her new blog) and this weekend was a major paper-writing and cooking endeavor. My Braisin’ Greens menu of saag paneer, jasmine rice, sesame-ginger stir fry, garlic broccoli, multigrain bread, and walnut-currant scones sent me to a record four food stores/markets (don’t ask!)

There’s something refreshing and restorative about coming home from the Saturday night bar run or party to stove top popcorn, red wine, and SNL. Last night, I managed to catch the last few minutes of the show before conking out for 7.5 hours and then getting up to shop and cook for the next 10. While I cook most of the day many Sundays, somehow today was more exhausting, and I blame the lack of down time in my life.

I’m determined to start training for a triathlon, and plan to do the Deaf-REACH Signs of Spring 5K next weekend. According to my calculations, that means even less down time.

I think the only way to do this is to stop taking lunch hours. Ten minutes is all you really need to eat, and those ten minutes might as well be spent in front of a computer screen. Take a bite, chew and type a sentence, repeat. The rest of the hour is then freed up for any number of things, including but not limited to swimming, biking, running, and napping.

Maybe being rich wouldn’t be so bad…

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Oh, YaD! How neglected you must feel! (Not to mention my dedicated readers, who are no doubt checking in every night and crying themselves to sleep when they see no new posts!)

I’m doing a quick check in from 42 stories above the Big Easy. I have only about 48 hours to meet, network with, and suck the wisdom out of a few hundred higher ed magazine editors at this conference, so I’d better get to the point.

My message for today: staying on the Club Floor of the Sheraton with complimentary brie, roasted veggies, mini spanakopitas, and tasty beverages (Hurricanes extra) every day from 5-8 is not bad at all. It makes you think: would it really be so evil, so bad, so wrong… to be a little rich?

Everybody sing! If I were a rich man, yidle didle didle didle deedle dum…

Spread the love

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Keswick Creamery‘s stand at the Dupont Circle Farmers Market is where this stuff starts for me, but it can start with any good feta. The recipe below is a spread I’ve been making and highly recommend. It tastes similar to blue cheese dressing, which definitely works in its favor. C’mon, you know you love blue cheese dressing, and and who hasn’t plotted to add more of it to their diet?

You can make a sandwich with this spread, adding some micro greens and roasted red pepper, or use as a dip for sliced winter veggies like parsnips and carrots (for the dip, replace the cream cheese and mayo with 1/2 cup sour cream or plain yogurt). If you thin it with milk or buttermilk, you can pour it on arugula or a baby lettuce mix. (Recipe comes after the jump) Continue reading →

Sconely you

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Remember those Total commercials? Where they stacked up the bowls and said this is how many you’d have to eat of such and such a cereal to get as much vitamin A as Total, and you’d have to eat that many bowls of the other cereal to get as much beta hydrodalius or whatever? Well, that may all be true, but they fail to mention that you’d have to eat one of those huge stacks of ANY cereal to stay full for more than 20 minutes.

Even if you’re an avid cereal eater, you’ll eventually have to face this fact: cereal–and most breakfast bars, yogurts, and other breakfasty foods–will not hold you over until lunch. Not only that, but with all the superfoods they’re adding to cereals and dairy products to justify jacking up the price, soon the average breakfast is going to cost more than dinner at The Palm. Continue reading →