Due to ingredient availability, the schedule got shifted around a bit. Rather than discussing that promising vegetable noodle soup, tofu scramble tacos have been moved up the roster. Amazon has to send me some miso before I can accurately create the noodle soup, but tofu and every veggie in the crisper drawer is easy enough to com by. And let me begin by saying: holy shit, ya’ll. I did not expect to hit a recipe out of this book that would go over so well with both me and my husband. Entirely vegan recipes are daunting and in my experience often not flavorful. These tacos defied this stereotype for me and my husband. I’m glad it got moved up the schedule, because I was beginning to worry I wouldn’t find a recipe that I genuinely liked. I didn’t have everything necessary according to the recipe, but the authors of this book state several times that recipes are just a guideline. For example, I used sweet miniature peppers rather than bell peppers and a poblano rather than a jalapeno based solely on the fact that I had them already. They fulfilled the same purposes as the ingredients I didn’t have, and it helped me make sure nothing went to waste. Best of all, my husband didn’t go picking veggies out of it. I didn’t have to scrape away and discard bits of carrot, pepper, or broccoli when it came time to clean the dishes. This helps me know I stumbled on something special. He’ll eat tofu any way I make it, but sometimes veggies are neglected. These tacos are a vehicle of goodness. The fact that this vegan recipe can clean out my fridge and get my husband to eat all of the veggies makes this a fun, special recipe that may actually find a permanent spot on our menu. Good job, Thug Kitchen. Ratings:
*no translation needed
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This week at the Riverwalk Farmer’s Market, The Cheese Board appeared for the first time this seasons. They were listed last week, but were not present much to my husband’s disappointment. He loves cheese. I love cheese, but we were not disappointed when we spotted The Cheese Board among the vendors. They have a fine display board with them to show what cheese they have, most of which I have never heard of or seen in my life. We only tried two, but we walked out with a section of both that we sampled. Most of the cheeses were available to test. It was a great sales technique. St. Andre cheese is a triple cream brie that captured my husband and I the moment a spoonful of the cheese hit our tongues. It melted the minute I put it in my mouth, and it had such a wonderful, creamy flavor. We used it later that day for grilled cheese. We added absolutely nothing to the grilled cheese unlike we normally would, and I wanted no additions. This luxurious cheese was well worth the money spent. The Cheese Board’s display appears to be able to change on a whim, so we will be visiting regularly to see what other artisan cheeses appear. Check them out next time you’re at the Milford Farmer’s Market! May 5th was the first day of the Milford Farmer’s Market. It was a lovely, cloudy day to walk beside the Mispillion River and visit local vendors. Open 9 am to 1 pm, the first day of the market had vendors for produce, plants, baked goods, and fudge. According to the market facebook page, a total of 26 vendors are signed up to participate throughout the season.
Many of the vendors accepted cash only, so I was ill prepared with my debit card. There were a few vendors that accepted cards as well, so the trip wasn’t a total waste. Make sure you bring cash to fully experience what’s available. The good news is that there are other things going on alongside the market most weeks, so if you make the trip and don’t have cash, you can enjoy a live show in the morning and visit the shops downtown. The produce selection is already pretty great. I got my hands on a wonderful bunch of asparagus and sugar snap peas that are just to die for. I am super thankful for the high number of growers that are out at the Riverwalk now that my diet has changed to incorporate more vegetables. Time to eat good and eat local! If you’re looking to grow things yourself, there is at least one plant vendor there with herbs and starter plants for you to pick up while you’re shopping. Not every vendor was there the first weekend, so I am sure that there will be more the farther we get into the season. I will keep an eye out. The market is a good way to tell what’s in season, and purchasing local benefits the community. For the entire season, I will be highlighting one vendor each week that I have purchased from during my visit. There is no vendor spotlight this week in order to appropriately cover the whole of the Market. I am very much looking forward to having this vehicle through which to get local produce for my cooking going forward. The direction of my cooking is shifting to more plant based meals, and I will feel better for it knowing the ingredients are coming from local growers. It's special to me. The difference is in the taste. There’s love in every leaf, pod, and stem. I know where it came from and who grew it. So my goal is to get as much of my produce as possible from these sources during the season. Support local growers and eat better. It’s a new year with new ideas to explore. All posts are now categorized! You can see them in the menu on the right side. Restaurants will be categorized by state moving forward now that I am travelling more often. This will just be easier for everyone.
The Lightbox Challenge In an effort to improve content on this blog, I want to buy a lightbox for better photography of finished meals. But here's the thing: I know I have been inconsistent since I started this blog almost two years ago. I will not buy the lightbox until I have maintained a consistent posting schedule for the month of May. Integrated into the lightbox challenge is the purchase of my own domain name. The goal is the same. Post all month, buy domain. Recipe Lab: AKA My House My own recipes will be coming to the website more frequently as I get comfortable playing with a new scope of ingredients. Dinner is a fun playground and my husband a lab rat to my cooking whims. My intention is to talk about the things I'm working on turning into a coherent recipe, and then post a coherent recipe involving those things toward the end of the month. This may not be a common thing. I am all over the place with ideas about what I want to do with this blog. Vendor Highlights Farmer's Market season is back. I'm in a new place with a new market and new vendors to meet and sample. Whenever I feel like it, I'm going to highlight a vendor that I am particularly drawn to each time I visit the Milford Farmer's Market. Local food is important, and I want these farmers and craftsmen to thrive in any way they can. I may be just a teeny food blog with like two regular readers, but it's something. The first week cooking out of the Thug Kitchen cookbook brought me to a side dish rather than a main course. I chose this couscous for a few reasons. Firstly, I had never made a couscous that didn’t come with its own seasoning packet. Secondly, I need more options to go with fish filets in my new diet.
The recipe appears to be a fairly standard couscous other than the orange segments it calls for. That threw me off when I was making my grocery list for the week. I never pick up oranges! I wasn’t sure how I would feel about fruit in my side dish, but it worked alright with the warm spices called for in the recipe such as paprika and cinnamon. The recipe itself doesn’t take much work, which is good if the protein for the night needs a lot of attention. Like all couscous, you just add the water and let it go. The seasonings go in with your grain prior to adding the boiling water. All you do is cover it, and it will be ready when you are. This is the beauty of using couscous as a side dish to me. However, it’s a flexible grain. The flavors used in the Moroccan Inspired Couscous are not the only flavors to try. This is the lesson of this dish for me. I have a technique I can use going forward to do my own thing with it. Which leads us to the fun part of Cookbook of the Month: the ratings.
*Translation: I don’t want it again. |
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