Garbage Night (aka Playing Ketchup)

Empty Fridge with film and ketchup

The refrigerator is oddly empty so I’ve decided that tonight should be Garbage Night. Tonight we will eat whatever crap is in there. Hopefully it isn’t a gross combo…

DINNER MENU

• Whitefish salad (Russ & Daughters) on cracker. There is only one cracker’s worth (each) left. And that sh!t is too good to toss.

• Edamame from freezer. (see, NEW RULES)

• Salad. Definitely the last day for the greens. Thankfully we’re getting more food tomorrow.

• Pea Soup. Just made from frozen peas.

• Butternut Squash Soufflé. Heated up in oven from freezer. I have no idea where they came from or when we bought them. (see, NEW RULES)

• Sausage. Grilled in pan. A little salsa on top. These are the most delicious vegetarian sausage in existence. We discovered this company at Bark. I like them better than meat sausages. We always have these around and are great when you need a protein. No, I’m not a vegetarian. Yes, they’re very good.

• Vanilla ice cream. Leftover from the tasting. Can probably find some cookies, too.

• Beer or wine, water or seltzer.

NEW RULES:

No more frozen fruits and vegetables. Not until we prove that we actually eat it. We never just “toss some in” as we think we might. And we don’t bring edamame as snacks. We just don’t. Keep buying peas though. It’s a good soup and only takes a few minutes to make.

No more impulse buys at Trader Joes’. Under what situation will frozen File of Sole suddenly sound appealing? And, please, no more random meals from Asian markets. There is too much sodium. And questionable ingredients. I am too afraid to actually try them. Yes, (vegetarian) mackerel would be delicious as an appetizer with nori and avocado, I just can’t imagine defrosting that thing when I happen to remember to buy nori and my avocado is perfectly ripe.

IN CONCLUSION:

I think Garbage Night was a success. The fridge and freezer are neat and organized and I didn’t spend a cent. I had some protein, some veg, some carbs, some fiber and some fat. And I stayed on Plan. With all of the money I saved, maybe I should buy a new pair of skinny jeans...

What We Had For Dinner Last Night

My favorite thing about living in New York* is that I can walk to a fresh pasta store. With no idea what to make for dinner, I knew I wanted to finish up our weekly veggie box before the next batch arrived. They have so many different kinds of pasta there, all fresh: raviolis, tortellinis, cannellonis. I went for a wide fettucini (or was it a narrow parpardelle?) which I know JustAwesome loves. Although the store smelled amazing because they make their own marinara, I held firm and didn’t buy any. I really wanted to get that last batch of spinach in some kind of pasta dish. I couldn’t deal with yet another side of spinach—sautéed in garlic, like I always do...

I heated up some oil with some spicy flakes of whoknowswhat, tossed in some onions & garlic, browned some Trader Joe’s meatless sausage for a little protein (I cut these way too small!), blanched then tossed in the spinach, likewise with the pasta. Topped with freshly grated pecorino.

The verdict? Yum! Fresh pasta is always yum! Was it my best dish? No, not really. But it was a good, satisfying, warming meal. Ate with a lovely salad and some vino. And, I tried something I hadn’t done before, spent about $3, used up the spinach, and accomplished all of this without calling JA fifty times at work to discuss. The ultimate verdict? Success.

With all of this fresh pasta at my beck and call, I still want to take this pasta making class with our pizza guru. I had one of his pasta dishes once at Beer Table and dream about it. Often...

*Ok, maybe not my favorite thing... and probably not my best post either. But hey, that’s what we had for dinner last night.

Dressing 1

So I’ve been challenged by Feral to make 10 salad dressings in 10 weeks. It’s a bit daunting. I don’t like making salad dressing, this is mostly a result of laziness. You’ve finished making dinner, put together a nice side salad and then you have to whip up a salad dressing? Sigh. Some people, like my cousin Cath, can knock together a delicious salad dressing in their sleep. I can’t. It stresses me out. I make it, taste it, it never tastes quite right, does it need more oil? I add more, taste again, D’oh! that was too much! I add some vinegar, I taste it again, now it’s too sour, so I add some honey, this goes on and on, an endless circle of taste, adjust, taste adjust.

For my first dressing I decided to use a Jamie Oliver recipe. Feral thinks my family is obsessed with Jamie Oliver; she’s convinced it’s some sort of weird family quirk, but it’s not, he’s just big in Britain and has been for about 10 years now. His cookbooks are household staples. One of the reasons Feral thinks we’re obsessed with Jamie is that his Party Cake from The Return of The Naked Chef has become my family’s go-to cake for celebrating birthdays. This cake regularly shows up at our birthdays in Canada, France, Scotland, and NYC, here’s a SMALL sampling:

It’s a good cake. Anyway, back to salad....

Thai dressing from Jamie Oliver’s, The Return of The Naked Chef

4 TBSP fresh lime juice

3 TBSP olive oil

1 TBSP toasted sesame oil

a pinch of sugar

2 inch piece of peeled ginger grated with microplane

1 garlic clove grated with microplane

half a small red chili deseeded and finely chopped

a large handful of chopped fresh herbs: cilantro, basil and mint

Put everything in a jar and shake, shake, shake.

It tasted a little sour right out of the jar so I added a bit more sugar. It still tasted tart to me but I trusted the recipe and dressed my salad. I’m glad I did, it was tasty. The salad I used it on:

Lettuce, arugula, tomatoes, asparagus, yellow pepper, carrots, mango, some of the fresh herbs from the dressing, and warm fake beef strips. Topped with a few salted peanuts this was a great dinner salad. I’ll be making this again.