Continuing the Meatless Cuisine

I didn't expect some of these traditional meat dishes to turn out so well with meat-substitutes! We've had some long-standing favorites on the menu rotation and the traditionalist inside of me can't just archive the recipes. So, we've adapted! Quorn makes these awesome "chick'n tenders" which essentially is a mushroom that looks like, has the texture of, and cooks like cubed chicken. We've tried sauteing it, and it was tasty. The true test - make our classic Cashew Nut indian sauce (made from scratch of course) and use it...the result is in...it's bliss!



In the background is Potatoes in Red Sauce, which is a tamarind/tomato goodie. It would have looked better with small red potatoes, but I only had big russets and stirring everything turned it into a mashed potato glob of sorts. So I added green and yellow beans to make it prettier...



While most italian food is fairly easy to veg out, what does one do for Fettuccine Bolognese?? I submit to you this picture and the fact that Ryan (who does not eat leftovers) at up all of our leftovers of this one:



I used SmartGrounds on this, which we've used for about 3 years now in other dishes to make them low-fat. It's a textured vegetable protein crumble.

We're entering month 3 of a veggie diet and we're feeling great, the cooking is fun, my workouts are still as productive, and I still get red-faced and flustered when someone asks me to explain why. I'm so happy, though, to have friends like Melissa and Bobby who made an awesome Indian Vegetable Curry this week...MMM!!!!

Tschüß!

Summer Adventure #1: Hill Country Road-trip!

Road trip through the Hill Country! We took off early on a Sunday up Highway 71, a direction we hadn't gone before, and followed the Lower Colorado river lake chains all the way up...past Lady Bird Lake (in downtown Austin) and Lake Austin...up past the way-low Lake Travis and stretchy Lake LBJ up to Lake Buchanan. I never realized how close these lakes are together, only thinking Lake Travis was the nearest lake.



Overlooking Lake LBJ


We took Nigel on this adventure - he did well


Stopped to check out and test-drive a vintage MG


Didn't find any Marble Falls in Marble Falls, TX, but found where lots of our granite countertops come from!


Literally, a train hotel.


If we were to "go country" we found Ryan's hair salon...

We ended it all back in Austin with a beer and pizza at Homeslice (click here for our view). So great to see what's right outside your own door!

Tschüß!

Apfelrotkohl

One of the Central Market's in Austin just expanded its German offerings - they even had cute little signs separating the "German" items from the "Thai" novelties. I picked up a few things, but could not pass this packet - and it was tasty!



We also tried out Fabi and Rosi, a new European Bistro in downtown Austin, on the west-side. It was fantastic! Ryan tried to Schnitzel and Spätzle - his first question was, "is it deep fried or pan fried?" Our server, who was a bit blank in general, replied, "pan fried" and so he ordered it. My spätzle is better, in my unbiased opinion, but their Schnitzel was paper thin and fabulous! We will definitely return, although this vegetarian thing makes it super limiting since the only veggie item was a Vegetable Shepherd's Pie. I had that and it was awesome! Other than a bit of Schnitzel and some Proscuitto in Lasagna Rolls that I made for Ryan's family, we've not had a thing and feel great! After seeing about 100 dead chicken heads in a National Geographic article last weekend, it reiterated my feelings.

Tschüß!

Hires Cheese Fries

Dipped in Fry Sauce, a Utah delicacy...one part mayo and one part
ketchup.

Hires in Utah...yum!

Ending the roadtrip at the Slice

Herb Watch Day 14

Doing well! I love using them in salads, on potatoes, or taking a
bland microwave pizza and making it a bit fab with fresh oregano and
thyme leaves sprinkled on top. Mmmmmm!

Summer Adventure Challenge 2009

Alrighty, Corinne, GAME ON!



Although our efforts were good-natured last year, we blended a little of our normal exploring around the city and met the requirements, but perhaps not the spirit of the challenge.

So, here are some ideas for our summer challenges:

1) Texas Hill Country Road Trip (Completed June 2009)
2) Schlitterbahn water theme park in New Braunfels
3) Shiner Brewery
4) Shopping in Dallas
5) Canoeing on Lady Bird Lake

It's on!

Come on pecans

For Katie-- Check out the trees! It goes twice as high as what is
showing. Can't wait for the pecans to grow!!

Jealous much? Mottled mint, basil, strawberry, and gin

Done

Herb Watch Day 8

Made spaghetti with them this week and garnishes galore!

Herb Watch Day 1

Planted some herbs today!! Left to right (back plant is not an herb):
Chives, Sicillan Oregano, Curled Parsley,and English Thyme!

So excited...!!!!!

Vegetarian Medley

Four weeks ago, after a particularly heavy gorge-fest weekend of eating out, eating in, eating heavy, eating whenever...we decided to lay off the meat for a week and see what happened. This presented a really huge challenge for me, because I'm responsible for the meals around here and keeping it interesting, tasty, and healthy. Most of my recipes centered around a meat product. Roasted Pork Tenderloin. Chicken Tikka Masala. Tequila Lime Chicken. Ground Beef Taco Wreath. You get the gist.

We're entering our fifth week of vegetarianism and I do have to say I feel great. All over! It's definitely an adjustment - we are both very ritualistic people. Which doesn't mean we're scared to try new things - we do try new restaurants all the time. But, when we go to a restaurant we've been to before, there is a 84% chance that we'll order the same thing we've ordered before. We're quality junkies and if something has worked in the past, it'll work in the future or by damned we'll be disappointed. Now, those stand-by dishes are off the radar. At Chuy's that means our chicken enchiladas become spinach/mushroom enchiladas. At Guero's it means we actually liked what we ate this time. At Outback...well, we'll just leave that off the list because our dear friends invited us to go and we ended up both having steaks - and regretting it later with stomach aches.

Rather than trying to build an immediate cadre of no-meat recipes in the house, I've been opting for buying lots of produce, some good veggie staples (black beans, noodles, rice, etc.) and then making it up as we go along. Here's a couple interesting examples...

Grilled Asparagus with Angel Hair Pasta and Garlic Toast





Yellow Squash and Mushroom Tacos



Me showing off some local multi-grain tortillas



Rice and Sauteed Veggies



This is essentially fancier version of the mixture I made for the tacos...it didn't turn out too well but that's because I used Lawry's Seasoned Salt and the flavor totally clashed

I saw my entire immediate family this week - on a bittersweet occasion - my dear grandma passed away and so I was off to Southern Utah. I will really, really miss her and her beautiful voice, smile, and humor. We both share a passion for travel and I am just happy to know that she's off running around in space somewhere, not bound to difficult joints from her body. Or cooking up a storm...one dish I make that comes from her is the Arnold's Family Cranberry Salad, which is made on Thanksgiving and Christmas. EVERYONE loves this dish.

After the funeral, a sweet neighbor of my grandparents released their doves in a symbol of hope, peace, renewal and freedom for my Grandma. It was so beautiful.



Tschüß!

Asparagus in Tomato Sauce

I still love Indian Food. Yes, I cheat at times and use the canned sauce...but recently have even started applying basics in one recipe to something different. Last year, I first tried Potatoes in a Tomato Sauce. Awesome, awesome, awesome! I used basically the same sauce but added cut Asparagus to it and it was amazing!





I will admit, this picture is from a few weeks ago - we've recently decided to go veggie for a while (which may be a long while). I've always had some serious meat guilt and struggle with my love of cooking and my love of animals. Using the "circle of life" justification only gets me so far...at the end of the day, I know animals are beautiful and deserve to live their own peaceful life. "But what about overpopulation?" There are always going to be meat-eaters and I'm sure I will eat meat in the future. However, we've created an industrial process that raises animals specifically for food, we raise too many of them, we spend too many natural resources to produce it, we kill and reap the harvest when they are too young, and I'm tired of being a contributor to that. It's the same thing with High Fructose Corn Syrup or other corn by-products. I don't have anything against corn or even goopy sugary syrup. I have a thing against nations, cultures, communities, and companies being dead-set reliant on one crop that's ruining the environment and is full of corrupt policies and practices/subsidies.

Wow, I needed that. I've been very trigger-shy lately about posting - this is a travelogue about our journey through food, through cultures, and through a very fun life in Texas - so let's get on with that, shall we?

I'm making good progress on planning our UK 2009 trip, which is coming this September. We'll be focused in London, Bath, and the Cotswolds, along with two days in Bristol for my BFF's wedding. I can't wait!

Tschüß!

Bowling night

Perfect Austin day

Awesome weekend with Sara, beautiful weather, 12 mile bike ride around
town lake in downtown Austin, meeting my hubby for beers at a
neighborhood pub, perfect Austin Day...done.

Recap: St. Patrick's Day, March, and April

While I had sent a few picture-posts, I forgot that I temporarily disabled auto-posting after a spammer posted on Valentine's day without me knowing. Sheesh!

So, it was time for my annual St. Patrick's Day feast and we had the boys over to enjoy! Happily, our new Le Creuset pan is the most amazing dish ever (yes, the knock-offs just don't quite work as well). I made Cottage Pie, which is like Shepherd's pie but without the lamb, steamed cabbage, brie for appetizers, and Lemon Cupcakes with Green Sprinkles from the neighborhood "Pie Slice" bakery.







We've had a great March and April, hunkering down and focusing on the house and sloughing off the remnants of Winter. My Kindle is my latest passion - I absolutely love it.

I also have another passion - my bike! I'm becoming more sporty these days, especially after a good six months (or longer?) with our amazing trainer, and am happy to be getting in better shape! Ryan is super happy, because he now has a biking buddy and we had our inaugural ride through downtown last Sunday. Here are some pics:





Tschüß!!!!

Scholtz Garten, Austin Texas

Enjoying a great Scottish recital! Go Glendennings!