The day started with a #cookingfail, but ended with a simple cooking discovery that I will try to use again.
First the cooking failure:
Breakfast: Day Two's menu was supposed to start with two recipes: Blueberry Buckwheat Pancakes and Facon Bacon. The Facon Bacon was based on using tempeh, which I've never quite gotten enamored with, so I just bought LightLife's Smart Bacon and figured I'd cook that. Yes, it has a bit higher fat content than the recipe I was supposed to make, but I figured that would be OK.
And it was. I also discovered you can make that Smart Bacon in a non-stick pan with just a spray from my olive oil mister, and it will cook up just fine, no sticking and no burning.
The pancakes, on the other hand, were an entirely different story. What a mess! I'm not even sure what I did wrong, but that same spray of oil in a nearly identical non-stick pan did not keep the batter from sticking to the pan. And moreover, the batter never really seemed to be cooking. Finally, even when I tried to sort of eat the partly-cooked, mushy disaster, it was gritty and unpleasant.
Some possible issues:
- The recipe called for cornmeal. Hence, the grit. After some tweeting around, I did notice that the cornmeal I bought was "medium grind", and apparently you can buy "fine grind" which might be more appropriate for something like pancakes
- Obviously, I could have had the heat too high, although I had it on Medium
- I mixed my dry ingredients together, and then I went to the the wet ingredients. Now, the recipe says: "In a separate large bowl, combine mashed banana, maple syrup, vinegar, and non-dairy milk", and I confess I just put the wet ingredients together than plopped banana pieces in there and tried to mash it in the bowl with everything else. Of course the liquid made it a little hard to see if I had successfully and thoroughly mashed the banana
- I used agave syrup instead of maple, and I chose to use soy milk as my non-dairy milk, although it said you could use either
- Finally, I probably started with too much batter when I started to make my pancakes
Whatever the exact reason, this was a big cooking fail, and i ended up picking out some blueberries to eat and tossing the rest away!
Luckily, I had a Pumpkin Bolani (sort of a middle-eastern crepe) in the fridge, so I ate that instead.
For lunch I didn't have the exact vegetables called for in their Spinach Salad with Orange Sesame Dressing, so I used their recipe as more of an inspiration. I did throw a tangerine and some walnuts into my spinach salad, along with carrot, celery and cucumber. I also made my own dressing, consisting of:
Sesame Oil
Lemon Juice
Tamari
White Vinegar
Sugar, salt, garlic to taste
Didn't really measure, but did small amounts to taste until the combo seemed right. It was yummy, and very aromatic.
Now, once again, perhaps because it's been the weekend, so I get started a bit later in the day, but between the amount of time it takes to cook, and when my meals were, I didn't really find time to eat the snack recommended for the day (Edamame) and just moved straight on to dinner.
Dinner was simple, just Whole Wheat Spaghetti with Simple Marinara Sauce. Again, I made small variations, mostly that I used canned Diced Tomatoes, instead of "Crushed Tomatoes", and therefore my Marinara was chunky, not smooth. I also used a Leek, not an Onion, which probably contributed a subtler flavor to the sauce.
My advice on this recipe is to go a bit lighter in the "Italian Seasonings" then called for in the recipe; it was a bit overwhelming.
My other advice is to, by all means, cook the garlic and onion or leek in red wine, as per one of their suggested methods. I'm very used to starting any such dish by pouring olive oil in the pan and sauteeing. But, in reality, you're adding fat, not that much flavor, and it gets absorbed into the veggies and then you're almost sauteeing dry. Using the red wine really made a positive impact. It added flavor; it didn't get absorbed, so the veggies could happily simmer without starting to stick or burn, and of course, no added fat.
Simple, but good and filling, end to a day that started with a cooking disaster!
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