Cauliflower Popcorn

Between the curried barley salad and last week’s risotto, I’ve been cooking a lot of yellow food lately.  Now I have another one.  But this recipe is totally spring appropriate (cauliflower season!) and absolutely delicious.  So I’m ok adding another yellow recipe to the list.

Now, normally, I change recipes.  Normally, I find a way to make it more appealing to my palette.  Normally, I think I can make it taste better or be healthier.  But this is not one of those recipes.

How can it be bad with such pretty colors?

My family discovered this recipe a while ago when we first bought the Kosher by Design Entertains cookbook (part of the Kosher Palette cookbook series – a cookbook phenomenon in the Jewish world).  It’s been a favorite ever since. 

The only adaptation we’ve made is that we cut the salt in half (because my mom cooks with very little salt), but otherwise we leave this simple recipe alone so that it can shine in all its deliciousness.  Yes, it’s that good.

By the way, I’m taking a bit of a hiatus for a few weeks.  As of this past Thursday, I am officially one-handed, thanks to surgery on my wrist.  I’m ok, and this surgery has been planned for a little while, but the point is, it’s hard to cook with only one hand.  So I’m taking a break to get my bearings (and get off pain killers).  If anyone has any super easy, one-handed friendly recipes, I’d be grateful if you shot them my way.  Otherwise, I’m totally going to end up in the kitchen, attempting to do complicated things with only one hand, and it won’t be pretty,

You should see the other guy

I will, however, still be online, and I’ll probably getting my cooking fix by reading all about food.  Feel free to follow me on Twitter (@InventiveVeg) to see what I’m reading, or on Pinterest to see what I wish I was eating.  See you in a few weeks!

Getting To Know You

Last week, Willow at Will Cook For Friends tagged me in a game.  It’s a getting to know you game!  I think it’s a great opportunity to get to know your fellow bloggers, outside of the recipes.  I’m so excited to have been tagged!  So, without further ado, here’s a little about me (and the game):

The Rules:

1. Remember to post the rules (check!)
2. Share 12 things about yourself your readers don't already know
3. Answer the questions presented by the person tagging you
4. Ask 12 questions of your own, and tag others to play along (tag 12 if you can, but 6 is totally fine, too)
5. Be sure to comment on the blogs of those you've tagged to let them know they're in

12 Things About Me:

·  My favorite sandwich when I was little was peanut butter and American cheese.  I have no idea how I got started on it, but I have very distinct memories of making that sandwich.  It’s probably the weirdest thing I’ve ever willingly eaten.

·  Sometimes, I wish I could just be a full time student for the rest of my life.  I tend to forget how cool things are, and how much I like learning about them.  I’m kind of a huge nerd, in case you couldn’t tell.  And on the same note…

·  I was a huge theater dork in high school.  I did musicals and (non-musical) comedies.  It’s funny looking back on it because I’m not that great of an actor, and at best you could say that I can carry a tune (sometimes).  But I loved it anyway.

·  When I interact with other people, I am smiling and/or laughing almost constantly.  Sometimes this gets me in trouble because people tend to think I’m super interested in them, but really I just don’t want to be rude.  And I often use the laughing and smiling to cover up being intensely awkward.  Because I am soooooo awkward.  Like, first season of “The Office” awkward.

·  I am the least confrontational person ever.  It’s a problem.  I don’t get things done.

·  I love cats.  And I want one.  So badly.  I relate to cats – they’re independent and self-reliant but can sometimes also be cute and cuddly and sweet.  I feel like I’m the same way.  I also love taking naps in sunny spots.

·  I love dancing!  More on this below.

·  I also love reading.  I love how you can put your own life, your own problems, on hold in live in another world for just a few hours.  I love how you can get lost in that world and somehow become a part of it.  Reading is an escape, in such an amazing way.

·  I make lists like crazy.  Sometimes people think I’m stressed out because I list the gazillion things I have to do, but really making that list keeps me calm.  Making something into a list makes it easier to go through and check things off.  I’m not stressed out until I start yelling.  I try not to get to that point too often.

·  I like writing.  When I was in 5^th grade, I decided to write a chapter book.  It was pretty decent for a 5^th grader, though I never made it past 50 pages or so.  Since then I’ve given up the idea of writing something real and big, but I’ve always loved creative writing assignments in school.  Now, of course, I’ve translated some of that love into this blog, but it’s not quite the same.

·  I play soccer.  It’s fun.  Once upon a time (in high school), I was pretty decent.  Now, I’m mostly just out of shape, playing in a rec league with people who are much better than I am, but it’s still a lot of fun.

·  I’m a huge clutz.  HUGE.  Like, trip over my feet when I walk, drop things constantly, and am always getting bruises from walking into things kind of clutz.  Most of the time I just laugh at myself.

Will Cook for Friends asks:

·  What is your favorite quote or saying?  This is a complicated question.  I have a ring that has an inscription on the inside that says, in Hebrew, “Don’t lose hope.”  I think this is an incredibly important thing to remember.  But I wouldn’t necessarily call it my favorite quote.  I’m going to throw another one out there, because I think it describes my life very well, and it’s by my favorite author, Douglas Adams: “I may not have gone where I intended to go, but I think I have ended up where I needed to be.”

·  What did/do you want to be when you grow up? I totally wanted to be a spy.  No joke.  I thought I would be all Sydney Bristow-like from Alias.  Up until about a year ago, I still totally thought this was going to happen.  Since then, I’ve changed my mind and now I’m heading towards becoming a dietician.  It’s a much more realistic goal, I think.

·  When you began blogging, what were your expectations and were they met, exceeded, or neither?  I expected family and friends to follow my blog and for it to be more of a creative outlet for me than anything else.  It has gone way beyond my expectations.  I have followers I’ve never heard of before, I have pictures up on foodgawker, and I have people whose blogs I really admire tagging me in awesome things like this game.  The more my blog expands, the more of a creative outlet it becomes for me, since I’m inspired by so many other people and encouraged by the comments readers leave and I find myself pushing harder with recipes and photography.  It’s really become a passion of mine, which is something I totally did not expect.

·  Is there a food or dish you'd really like to make but are afraid is too hard? If so, what is it?  Anything involving agar agar.  I want so badly to try using it, because I know I can do totally awesome things with it.  But for some reason it terrifies me.  I’ve gotten as far as buying some, but it’s been sitting in my cupboard for 2 months now.  I’m totally open to ideas on ways to ease me into it.

·  What would you say is your biggest kitchen mishap?  One time I tried making butternut squash gnocchi.  I had seen recipes before, and I tried following one, but in the end I had to add so much flour to the mix that it just tasted like regular gnocchi, which was exactly not the point.  Plus, it didn’t really cook up quite right.  I’m pretty sure I ended up throwing out most of the mix.

·  What would you say your greatest accomplishment up till now has been (in the kitchen or otherwise)?  Figuring out what I actually want in life.  I know, that seems like something that’s not an accomplishment, but it took me a little longer than I would have preferred.  I’m not the most patient person, and I like working towards goals, but for a little while I felt like I was flailing; unhappy with where I was but not having any idea where I would from there.  And I’m in my 20’s, so who’s to say I won’t change my mind again, right?  But this is still recent enough that I feel like it’s a huge accomplishment.

·  What first inspired you to cook?  I don’t think there was a specific inspiration.  I don’t even remember when I started.  Growing up in a traditional Jewish household, we always hosted at least one large meal each weekend, more than one if it was a holiday.  So Fridays, after school, I was required to help my mom cook and bake.  Duncan Hines brownies were my specialty.  I was never inspired, I just did it.  Since then, it’s actually my interest in nutrition and how food affects the body that’s grown.  I tend to look at cooking from that perspective, and then I get inspired to change recipes to fit what I’ve learned.

·  After a long hard day, what would be your ideal meal to come home to?  Pizza.  It’s a cure-all for me.  DC is seriously lacking in good, thin crust pizza, and it makes me sad about life sometimes.  You can put anything on a pizza to fit your mood, and when it’s good pizza, it’s exactly what you need.

·  What is one of your guilty pleasures?  Watching Grey’s Anatomy.  Please don’t judge me too harshly.

·  Besides food/blogging, what are some of your favorite hobbies or past times? I ballroom dance.  Competitively.  I started a few years ago, took a break for a bit, and now I’m back at it.  I love it, it’s such a great combination of dancing and competitive sport.  Plus, the sparkly costumes are AWESOME (the fake tans, not so much).

·  Where would you most like to travel to, visit, or return to someday, and why? South America.  Specifically, I really want to go to Machu Picchu, but South America in general is the only inhabited continent I haven’t been to, and I’ve heard great things and I really just think it’s time to head down there.

·  If you could have any famous person over for dinner (or any meal), who would it be and what would you make?  Does the famous person have to be alive?  If not, it would totally be Douglas Adams, author of the Hitchhiker’s series.  I love his humor, and based on pretty much everything he’s ever written, I think it would be the most entertaining dinner ever. 

12 Questions for My Fellow Bloggers:

·  What’s your favorite cooking/food memory?

·  If you had unlimited funds and all the time in the world, what would you do with it?

·  What’s the one song that when you hear it, you can’t help but sing along, no matter where you are or what you’re doing?

·  What’s the best advice you’ve ever received and from whom?

·  What’s your guilty pleasure?

·  What’s your comfort food?

·  What’s your signature dish?  Why?

·  What’s the best meal you’ve ever had?

·  When you’re not cooking, what do you do in your free time?

·  What made you start blogging?  What keeps you going with it?

·  Who, or what, inspires you?

·  What’s your favorite time of the year, and why?

I want to hear from you!

·  Ann @ Cooking Healthy for Me

·  Ruby @ That’s So Vegan

·  Nikki @ The Tolerant Vegan

·  Sarah @ Sarah Cupcake

·  Colleen @ The Smart Cookie Cook

·  Stephie @ Eat Your Heart Out

Can’t wait to see what you guys have to say!

Spring Risotto

Despite the fact that it totally snowed in DC last week, and despite the fact that the weather has been varying from the 30’s to the 60’s and back again for the past month, I think it’s finally time we all took a deep breath and declared it spring time.  And it’s time we start eating like it, too.

For no apparent reason, risotto comes to my mind when I think of spring.  I have a love/hate relationship with risotto.  I love eating it.  I think it is one of the most delicious dishes in the world.  It is satisfying and comforting and you can do anything you want with it.  But I hate making it.  It’s not a difficult dish to make in terms of technique, it just takes a lot of time.  And arm muscle.  Unfortunately, I have little to no arm muscle, so making risotto is, quite literally, a workout for me.  But sometimes, when I’m really craving that creamy deliciousness, I suck it up and I get my workout on.

And now that I’m officially declaring it time for spring to start, I made a risotto.  I made it with mushrooms and asparagus, which I think is a nice late winter – early spring crossover.  I totally added the asparagus in too early, so it lost its beautiful bright green color as well as most of its crunch, but I fixed that problem in the recipe.  I also flavored the dish with lemon, giving it a nice bright and springy feel.  What I love about risotto is how creamy it gets.  Since the creaminess is actually just the starch from the rice being drawn out slowly, there is no need for dairy to get the right flavor and texture out of the dish.  I made this one vegan, but feel free to add in a little parmesan. 

Happy spring everyone!

Hamantaschen

Do you know what’s happening this week?  It’s one of my favorite holidays.  It’s Purim!!!!!  Purim is one of the more obscure Jewish holidays, but it’s a great one.  We dress up in costumes.  We read the story of Ester.  We boo loudly every time the antagonist’s name is mentioned during the reading.  We give baskets full of food to our friends.  We give gifts to the poor.  We eat so much food.  We drink until we can’t tell the difference between hero and villain (no, seriously, that’s a real tradition).  And then we have to devour all the goodies our friends gave us in order to clear out our pantries for Passover.  Best. Holiday. Ever.

The food that is associated with Purim is hamantaschen (spelling varies).  You may not know it by name, but I’m sure you’ve seen those triangular cookies stuffed with jam or poppy seeds at the bakery.  I grew up making hamantaschen every year with my mom and sisters.  We used to make a big batch, and each of us would get our own little station at the kitchen table to roll out our dough, cut it into circles, fill it, and pinch it together.  It was an all day activity, and it was awesome.  Almost as awesome as eating the hamantaschen when they were done.

Traditionally, these cookies are filled with fruit preserves (apricot tends to be the crowd favorite) or poppy seeds.  As a child, I didn’t like the poppy seed ones because they weren’t sweet enough.  I’ve also never been a fan of jelly type things.  I just don’t like that sticky-sweet kind of flavor.  So my family invented a new filling, and it has continued to be my absolute favorite to this day; peanut butter chocolate chip.  Crazy, or crazy good? 

Answer: crazy good

To this day, I make hamantaschen every year, even though I no longer live at home.  I make about a third of them with peanut butter and chocolate chips, and the other two thirds with various fruit flavors.  I then give the fruit-filled cookies to my friends, and hog all the peanut butter ones for myself.  I know, I’m super classy. 

I love making these cookies with friends.  If you make them by yourself, they’re time consuming and annoying.  If you make them with friends, it’s a fun activity.  If you have a free Sunday afternoon, whether or not you celebrate Purim, you should totally make these cookies, especially if there are small children in your life.  Kids totally love making hamantaschen.  This year, I baked them with my friend Kim from DC-Wrapped Dates, and a whole bunch of his friends.  There were seven of us baking, drinking wine, playing games.  It was awesome.  I fully believe in making a party out of every baking project.

Also, we made SO MANY HAMANTASCHEN!

These cookies are crazy good, no matter what you fill them with, and you can really play around with what goes in the middle.  You can also play around with the thickness of the cookies.  I prefer them to be thinner and crunchier, letting the filling be more of the star, but I know people who swear by the thicker, cakey-er texture.  It’s totally up to you.

So, what are you waiting for?  Let’s break out our costumes, our noise makers, and our hamantaschen and get the party started!  Happy Purim everyone!