Homemade Sushi

Beans with homemade salsa and guac

Green Curry

Cashew Fried Rice

Baked Mac and Cheese and Roasted Vegetables

Corn Fritters

Corn fritters and baked sweet potato. (I altered the recipe a bit by adding more flour, and I wished that I'd added a bit more salt.) This meal is cheap, cheap, cheap. It was our penance for going out to eat three days in a row, but it was so good that it really wasn't any hardship.  

Winter Veggies

Roasted winter vegetables and loaded baked potato. 

Green Salad with Garbanzos and Olives

Salad and bread only counts as dinner after you've stuffed yourself with leftover chicken and pastry for lunch. 

Roast Chicken, The Fun Way

I roasted two chickens using this method, which I first read about here. I don't think I'll ever cook a whole chicken any other way. I did cheat and put a quarter of a lemon, clove of garlic and a spring of rosemary in each chicken. 

We ate most of one chicken then de-boned the other to use in chicken salad sandwiches and chicken and pastry. I also saved the skin 'n bones for homemade chicken stock.

I cooked up these as a side dish because they had been languishing in the fridge. 

Chickpea Smash Sandwich Part Two

The Chickpea Smash sandwich just might be too healthy to be satisfying. After dinner last night I nearly ordered a basket of waffle fries with no intention of sharing them at The Habitat. So for dinner tonight I remedied the problem by taking leftover chickpea smash, adding mayo, making a patty, and frying it in vegetable oil. Not exactly low-cal, but at least I wasn't ready to knock people down for french fries two hours later. 

Chickpea Smash Sandwich

I made a Chickpea Smash using this recipe, which was inspired by this restaurant. 

Pigeon Peas and Rice

Pigeon Peas and Jasmine Rice. I sort of followed the recipe on the bag of dried peas, which means cooking them with bacon, onions, and red pepper. Cooking them from scratch takes for-ev-er. This is the second time we've made this and each time we can't wait any longer and eat them when the peas are still a little crispy. We must plan ahead next time. 

Vegetable Lasagna

As long as I have a caesar salad to go with it, I don't think I'll ever get tired of vegetable lasagna. Which is good, because we still have several servings in the fridge. 

Tofu Pancake

Tofu pancake at vegetarian Vietnamese restaurant Lan Cafe in the East Village. 

Eggplant over Rice

Stir-fried eggplant in a sweet/salty/spicy sauce* with green onions and cabbage over Jasmine rice. 

*Blend rice vinegar, honey, soy sauce, hot chili sauce, oil, fresh grated ginger, and pressed garlic, then add a little bit of cornstarch. 

Potato and Leek Casserole

Green salad with Caesar dressing and a casserole made with potatoes, leeks, and lots of stinky gruyere cheese. C and I went to the produce market and C-Town grocery and stocked up to ward off the budget-sucking evils of eating out. 

Sweet Potato and Collards

Baked sweet potato and collard greens. Before I seem too virtuous, let me admit right now that C and I went to Peter Pan doughnuts for breakfast. 

Cashew Fried Rice

A much spicier rice bowl for dinner this time. C's cashew fried rice has portobello mushrooms, carrots, soy sauce, and other ingredients that he keeps secret from me. This dish was inspired by the cashew fried rice at Thai Moon on Ocracoke Island. Thai Moon's version had bits of red pepper that are the hottest thing I've ever eaten to this day. On our honeymoon we ate at Thai Moon repeatedly.  

New Year's Day Dinner

These spicy chicken wings were just an appetizer to the traditional New Year's dinner guaranteed to bring wealth and happiness in the coming year--collard greens and black-eyed peas. We need the luck so badly this year the greens and black-eyed peas were long gone before I remembered to get a photo. 

Homemade Sushi

Sushi, homemade. We learned how here. We used cucumber, avocado, green onion, carrot, cream cheese, and smoked salmon. C made some inside-out rolls for the first time, with rice on the outside of the seaweed.