June 1, 2012

June MoMe

Here is June's Month of Meals it is also posted below.


The monthly meal is the plan, but I’ve found myself severely distracted in the past month. When I had posted May’s MoMe, I had just landed in the states and was trying hard to keep my mental goal of posting a month of meals. As that visit eventually turned into a full move back to the states, I’ve been distracted by the abundance of these ingredients: cilantro, black beans, corn tortillas, jalapenos and peppers, jars of various brands of salsa, American craft brews, and my in-laws’ well stocked bar. I picked up a lot of healthy looking squash at the farmers’ market (patty pan, summer, zucchini) which makes its way into several meals. The shared meal plan is without the accompanying grocery list.

I recently picked up and read through Jennifer Reese’s (aka The Tipsy Baker) Make the Bread, Buy the Butter. I liked it, a lot. Her writing style is quirky and funny, and her approach is less about the whole organic experience, and more about just trying because if you’re already a pretty good home cook, why not try to make things that were probably not processed and made readily available 30 years ago? So far yogurt making has gone homemade. Peanut butter is made from scratch by roasting and grinding peanuts with a bit of a neutral oil, and I made two batches of brine pickles and vinegar based pickles (out of summer squash and zucchini). Beer was brewed, a sourdough starter thrived, and peanut butter cookies along with half a dozen bread loaves were baked.



June MoMe
Week 1:
  1. Black bean soup and cornbread. To the batter of the cornbread add 1 chopped jalapeno and 1 cup of shredded cheese. Garnish black bean soup with yogurt or sour cream.  
  2. Fish tacos.
  3. Hummus and tabouleh with pita bread.
  4. Mushroom etouffee with lightly grilled summer squash.
  5. Pan-fried cornmeal crusted patty pan squash with blackened seasoning served over a salad.

Week 2:

  1. Greek zucchini fritters.
  2. Soba with edamame, tofu, and greens.
  3. Asian-style tofu served over stir fried summer and zucchini squash served over brown rice. (replace salmon with tofu in recipe, or prepare as is).
  4. tex-mex veg burgers.
  5. Pizza with salad.
  6. Lemon risotto rice pudding with rhubarb compote.

Week 3:
  1. Black bean empanadas with a salad and salsa.
  2. Thai-tuna cakes over salad (leftovers can be used as taco filling the next day).
  3. Thai-tuna tacos with sprouts, radishes, and fresh lime.
  4. Chile con queso, mixed bean chili, and margarita night
  5. Greek-style cappellini pasta with pan-fried cornmeal crusted patty pan squash.

Week 4:
  1. Indian-style lentils with zucchini and steamed corn tortillas (sub in lentils instead of yellow split peas).
  2. Tacos with Indian-style lentils as stuffing served with normal taco fixins. I won’t judge you if you make margaritas again.
  3. Belgian beer braised mushroom stew your choice to serve with fries or not. Tastes good with a salad and farmers’ market green beans.
  4. Vidalia onion soup with wild rice.
  5. Burek with yogurt. What a lovely blog check out her strawberry and pistachio galette.

3 comments:

  1. Half a dozen breads baked? Way cool! Where are the pics?

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  2. Hmmm. I would say they are going through what I would call are "growing pains" We're trying the oven cast iron method but for the most part the breads are discs like frisbees. I will get on the pics. Because you know learning from mistakes is often just as good as when get something totally right. Love your comments Nico! Now back to my Victory Prima Pils =)

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  3. Hmm East-Coast Victory! and you're right... it may not always look pretty - it most often always tastes better than anything you'd buy at the grocery store.

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