A cookbook plan for October

Anyone else find themselves relying solely on the internet for recipe ideas these days? Pinterest makes it so easy - especially now that I've given in to my organization mania and created boards for pretty much every and any recipe I see.

That said, I do have a nice collection of cookbooks I worry I'm neglecting. What's the use in them taking up valuable shelf space if I only look their way when I can't remember the flour measurements for pancakes and waffles? Seriously, my bookshelves are plenty overflowing and nobody likes dead space.

So when planning out what I'd like to eat in October, a practice I've been doing for over a year that's served me well, I thought I'd go old-school and base my recipe selection on my cookbooks. I'm focusing on three that have produced some great dishes before:

 

Since I'm not a huge red meat fan, all three have a great selection of fish and vegetarian recipes that sound pretty tasty. And now that Fall has arrived, I can turn on my oven without worrying I'm going to pass out due to heat exhaustion. So what better way than to celebrate with some roasted veggies, hearty soups, and attempts at new flavor combinations?

Now that I tend to have some money left-over at the end of every month, I'm more willing to take a risk and buy a new spice or ingredient that I'm not positive I'll love. In the past, I've been hesitant because if I ended up hating the dish, it meant I was eating buttered noodles or beans until my next paycheck. Now, however, I'll simply move on to the next dish (or go back to buttered noodles - let's be honest, they're still pretty tasty. I know, I have the palate of a 7-year old at heart).

This month I'm going to experiment with harissa and parsnips. I've eaten parsnips in a stew my cousin made a while back and didn't die, so why not pull on my big girl pants and try making them myself? And I've seen Harissa used in several other dishes that have looked good, so why not give it a try on top of farro (another new-to-me grain I discovered in August) with honey and feta?

So here's my list:

Moosewood Low-Fat Suppers

• Harira (pg 85)
• Orzo and Pea Soup (pg 93)

Moosewood Simple Suppers

• White Bean and Mushroom Ragout (pg 73)
• Vietnamese Noodle Salad (pg 111)
• Old Bay Roasted Fish & Vegetables (pg 164)

Smitten Kitchen

• Honey and Harissa Farro Salad (pg 78)
• Linguini with Cauliflower Pesto (pg  123)

If they turn out well, I'll share some pictures and the recipes as the month progresses (assuming I don't lapse into bad blog behavior again)

Anyone else loving some cookbooks recently? Leave me a comment to let me know - I've found my local library has a surprisingly good selection!

My terrible confession

I had a grand plan for November. I was going to tell you all about my awesome meal planning skills, specifically my latest trend in cooking. I used to have a large cooking day on Sundays, which would make enough for leftovers for lunch throughout the week. But then I started thinking bigger. Why do that four times when I could have one large cooking day and be set for the month?

I have a pretty decent approach, I think. To wit:

1. Look through the circular the day before you go shopping to figure out what items are on sale (chicken breats, pork, ground beef, frozen veggies, etc)
2. Go through your pantry and see what you have wasting space
3. Keeping those ingredients in mind, go through all the recipes you've bookmarked or pinned lately and see if anything looks good
4. Make your grocery list
5. Cook for hours!

This method served me well all summer and through fall. But then November hit. My chili came out inedible (way too spicy). The veggie curry dish is bland and I get bored eating it about half-way through.

Not everything came out horribly, but that didn't mean it was blog worthy. My fried tofu was tasty, but looked rather unfortunate (tofu sticks covered in a peanut sauce, I'll leave it to your imagination what that resembles). My enchiladas were tasty, but were made using left-over frozen pulled pork, and while delicious wasn't exactly a recipe anyone would need me for (put meat in tortillas, cover with enchilada sauce, smother in cheese, bake).

So I can only once again apologize for a lengthy wait between entries. And also let you know that I am by no means a cook who never fails to have something beautiful and delicious on the table. Recently, I've been all about the Austin peanut butter crackers, take-out, and frozen tortellini with vodka sauce. But I have high hopes my cooking mojo will return soon. If for no other reason than December is a new month with some new recipes to try!

Thanks for sticking with me :D

Spicy Black Bean Burgers

Do you guys ever go to the grocery store with the best of intentions of only buying the stuff on your list? And then you see some of the sales you missed the first time you looked through the circular – beans 3/$2, pasta 10/$10, chicken broth 2/$2!

Which would explain why I recently looked in my pantry (or more accurately, large cabinet that works as cleaning supple storage place and overflow dry goods storage) and found I had 5 cans of black beans.

I love black beans, but didn’t anticipate eating that many servings of rice and beans so it was time to google recipes that would use up my excess, allow me to see the bottom of the drawer, and if they could be vaguely healthy it would be a bonus.

Enter these black bean burgers. They’re easy to make, pretty healthy, store for a while in the freezer, and best of us are delicious. Hope you all enjoy!

Dr. Pepper Carnitas

You would think now that I am the proud owner of a crock pot (only took me a year to decide a) if my kitchen really had room and b) if I would really use it and c) if it was going to be worth the investment) I wouldn’t immediately return to slow cooking things in my oven with a pot.

But I think the oven method gives you a better char than the slow cooker, which can make things a bit mushy if you aren’t careful.

Now that the temperature in DC doesn’t make you wonder if it’d be cooler in Hell, I’m a lot less tentative about turning on my oven for hours at a time. Plus I have a gas stove and don’t pay for gas in my apartment complex, so it’s about the same in costs as turning on the slow cooker.

Shrimp and Orzo Bake

I made this in advance of a week of running. Last Sunday I ran my first ever 5K in DC’s The Color Run. Yesterday, I ran my my first ever 10K at the Marine Corps Marathon. The Color Run was a ton of fun – I ran with my roommate and some other friends and it is not lying when it bills itself as the happiest 5K in the world. Though the washing machine in my apartment complex wasn't quite as happy…

The 10K was more challenging, namely because Hurricane Sandy is bearing down on the entire East Coast. Luckily there wasn't much wind and no rain during my run, but the hour and a half waiting for the race to start in my shorts and tee shirt in 50 degree weather wasn't too fun. However, I finished at my goal time and have stocked up on the necessities (Oreos. I had planned on doing a big cook on Sunday of three different soups, but with massive power outages expected in my area, I didn't want to take non-perishable food and make it perishable. So Oreos, pasta, and plans to eat all the frozen food I can in case of power outages. I'll let you know how it goes).

I wanted to have a dish I could eat throughout the week that would be filling, but not too heavy, would have protein, but wasn’t a cooked chicken breast, and if it could use most of the ingredients I already owned I would consider it a bonus. This one hit all those points – orzo to stick to your bones, shrimp and feta for some protein, onion and garlic because they are a basic necessity of any dish I cook, and white wine because it’s awesome.

I’ve mentioned previously that I tend to stock up when I see a great deal on dried goods, so I always tend to have pasta hanging around as well as canned tomatoes and frozen shrimp. So I only had to buy minimal ingredients to make a dish that will likely last me multiple  meals – so overall, cheap as well!

Is it any wonder I couldn’t wait to share?

Apple Pie Stuffed Apples

I gave you a healthy applesauce recipe, then a completely over the top cake recipe, so it seemed like this recipe would touch on parts on both the healthy and sweet worlds. It’s apple pie, but minus the majority of crust – so a bit healthier?

Also really cool looking. Seriously – look at those babies. Everybody gets their own individual apple pie. I feel like Oprah right now – you get a pie! And you get a pie! And I get two pies!

That’s not how it went?

That’s how it goes in my kitchen at least.

Roasted Apple Spice Cake

Now that you have your homemade applesauce ready, you can make this cake and eat it too. And I do recommend eating it – it is amazingly delicious. Roasting the apples makes it taste like you have little pockets of apple pie hiding inside your cake. Seriously, who doesn’t want that?

You’re going to have to peel the apples anyway and roasting the apple halves gives you time to figure out if you really want to make cream cheese frosting from scratch or not. I won’t tell if you decide to grab the pre-made stuff if you don’t tell about my habit of using Skippy brand peanut butter in recipes that call for “all natural” peanut butter. Deal?