korean bbq marinade

Well, of course we had to try this. It's in the current (June 2008) issue - here's the recipe. I immediately thought that this would be a good addition to the chicago diner burgers. I added about 1/2 cup of sauce to the full burger recipe. I also caramelized the onions instead of boiling them. The marinade really added a lot of flavor to the burger. I got some broccoli and tofu today that I'll have with the rest of the sauce. The recipe calls for sherry, sake, or mirin. I used mirin- sherry might taste a little wierd. Also, I don't see any reason why this shouldn't last a really long time in the fridge. I didn't take a picture of this. It looks like a black liquid with little floaties.

crunchy chocolate truffle pie and tropical fruit tart

Our friends, whose birthdays are only a couple days apart, have opposite tastes in desserts. So I decided to make them each a dessert of their choice for their birthday presents. They are the ones who first introduced me to Vegetarian Times, and got me hooked after making us one great recipe after another. It was no surprise that Jamie's top choice was VT's Crunchy Chocolate Truffle Pie. When you look at the recipe, you may think it's a little odd. Chocolate chips, peanut butter, maple syrup, and, shhhhh....tofu. But it is so rich and fudgy, even the Markivore liked it. I highly recommend this recipe, and I don't even think it would be unethical to forget to mention the tofu. Also, I made the entire thing with my hand blender.

I made Stephanie the Tropical Fruit Tart, which also contains undetectable levels of silken tofu. This one is sooo good- it's coconut tapioca pudding with fruit and toasted coconut. The only problem was that there was too much filling, so I would recommend reserving a small bowl of the tapioca pudding for later so you can get more fruit in. I barely has room for 1 small mango, a kiwi, and a small banana.

Here's the birthday boy and girl:

And the clean-up crew (we don't have a dog for these kinds of things):

The final damage- Chocolate pie- 12 points for 1/8 pie. Tropical pie- 7 points. Oh, well!
Happy Birthday!!!

vegetable pot pie

There are a lot of different veggie pot pies on VT's site, but I made this one because it had a high rating. It turned out good, and even Mark ate it. The only thing I have to say is that there wasn't enough vegetable filling per biscuit. Other than that, I'd say this was a good anyone-will-like-it recipe.

How about next time topping it with the Sunset Sweet Potato Drop Biscuits? That sounds good! At only 5 WW points per ample serving, this is a really healthy and filling recipe.

mango with goat cheese and basil

OK, so this is not from vegetarian times. I just made this up. I don't even know if this is a socially acceptable flavor pairing. All I know is, I just woke up from a loooong nap and went straight to the fridge and started grabbing things I wanted, and ended up with this. The cheese is from the Hollywood Farmer's Market in Portland, and the mangoes are the smaller yellow variety from New Seasons. The goat cheese is so mild, so it doesn't have that 'smells like a goat' kind of a smell. It's just a tiny bit pungent, but so much more creamy than the more mass-marketed brands. Which all adds up to the best after-nap snack you can imagine.
1 oz goat cheese + 3 oz mango = 3 points.

chicago diner burgers with red pepper aioli

Wow, is that a beautiful burger, or what? Here's the recipe for the burger, and here's the recipe for the red pepper aioli that goes with it. This burger has an oatmeal base with onions, celery, mushrooms, and some seasonings. I was very impressed- it was really good! You couldn't really taste the oatmeal. I didn't get out the grill to make one burger, so I broiled it in the oven for a while, which got the outside nice and crispy. However, it did lack that good smoky taste that other burgers have, obviously since I didn't grill it.

The one odd thing I noticed about this recipe is that the onions and celery are boiled in water, then the other ingredients are added. Next time I will definitely caramelize the onions beyond recognition in order to deepen the flavor. I might even add more onion, garlic, or whatever I find. I bet teriyaki sauce in place of part of the water would be good.

Now on to the red pepper aioli. This was the most amazing three-ingredient dish I've ever had (I left out the olive oil). Someone told me once- was it you?- that the best way to make roasted red peppers was to wrap them in foil and put directly over a flame. I don't know if this would work on an electric range, but it's worth a try. I cut off about 1/3 of the pepper, wrapped in foil, and put the skin side down. After a few minutes, smoke was seeping out of the foil. The skin blackened nicely, and the smoky flavor permeated the pepper. I'll never buy the jarred peppers again- this method is the best. It takes a while to get done after it becomes smoky, so be patient. You can open it up to make sure it's done, but wrap it up tight again to let it cool. I made the sauce with Miracle Whip, and it was so, so, so amazing. Three thumbs up.

The burger with a whole wheat bun and sauce (w/out oil) was only 7 WW points.

I have everything I need to make more of these except the mushrooms, so bring some over and we'll break out the grill. Really!

broccoli dipped in wonderful peanut sauce

This is such a great recipe. As I was making the sauce, I had to taste it after every ingredient, you know how that goes. And I kept thinking, 'where are they going with this sauce?' But when I added the garlic- mashed through a press- it all came together. Don't skip anything in the ingredients- I almost left out the vinegar. Don't! The cilantro is so unexpected, and my cilantro-hating taste-tester even liked it.

The only change I made was that I cut the recipe in half and still made four servings. Be aware that you add a cup of water to the cup of peanut butter... that's 2 cups of dip before the rest is even added. You can look and decide for yourself. I ate a half a pound of broccoli for dinner with this sauce, and I was stuffed! It was super fast to make, and for leftovers, takes no time to prepare. For my alteration with 1/2 lb. of broccoli, and 1/8 recipe of sauce, it was 6 WW points. A little high, but filling.

sunset sweet potato drop biscuits

Yesterday our friends came over with some fantastic strawberries from the farmer's market, so I was looking for a relatively healthy biscuit recipe to make for strawberry shortcake. These were really good- very soft, and a little bit sweet. But they weren't flaky and crusty like a traditional biscuit, if that's what you're looking for. However, they turned out much tinier than what I consider a reasonable size for a biscuit. They looked like sad little cookies. I was disappointed until I tasted them- yum! I'll definitely keep these on my list. Instead of rolling them out and cutting out circles, I just rolled the dough into balls and flattened them.

Here's the recipe. 2 WW points per teensy biscuit.