November Noms

I was studying at the library and starved for food, and a friend passed by and shared half her sandwich with me--God bless her. But I couldn't conceal my confusion. It was a frozen sandwich.
I was unaware that you could buy whole, frozen, baguette sandwiches wrapped in parchment paper.
They go directly in the microwave. Parchment paper on.
I worry about this world that doesn't have time to fix itself a sandwich.

Matt took me to another Middle Eastern eatery in town. The Palestinian owner plays old school Egyptian music from black & white movies of the '40s.  Obviously, I loved the owner. The food was fabulous and fresh.
AND he offers free tea while patrons wait for their food!! So cute. It's a fragrant, heavely, pink-coloured sage tea. I have yet to find out what makes it pink...  

SO not paleo. Finally went out for brunch at the hippie breakfast place down the street. Real maple syrup! Real coffee! Real food! HUZZAH!
 I asked for creme fraiche and the waiter said they don't normally have any...but then he returned with a ramekin FULL OF KEY LIME CREME FRAICHE leftover from a special from the day before! HEAVEN. 

More real food in Chicago, at a NY/Jewish inspired diner with REAL smoked meat and lox that they fly in from NYC. Smoked meat hash with scrambled eggs and 3 cheeses. Fluffy and so, so, Montreal I could cry. 

...but their challah sucked. It was stale and dry. 

carrot and pomegranate salad

someone was really, really mad at me. But the milkshake was great. 

TURKEY TAILS! I/Matt took this scary picture for my Grandma,
who didn't believe turkeys had tails.
She kept saying "habibti...turkeys don't have tails. you bought the ass."

Quails marinating in yogurt and syrian spices.

Quails aren't in demand here at all for some reason. I'd be met with dumbfounded looks at grocery stores when I'd ask where the quails were. I was at the Soulard Market in St. Louis this May, and I asked the bird farmers (? they aren't really butchers...? What would we call them?) if they raised any quails. One stall told me to come back around Thanksgiving, and one told me to come by the following spring. EVEN then they don't raise them! Weird. 

Kitchen Monday Video!

So that was a couple of hours ago, and things are a bit tider now. The new menu is also up:

Featured are paleo naan (it'll be my first time, so I am very excited to try them and report back here  they're even vegan!), chocolate tart (for the crust I use 1/2 c hazelnut flour, 1/2 c shredded coconut, and 1/4 c white rice flour, and replace the water with yogurt), and stuffed onions (mine will have beef).

I also mention breakfast bars in the video - mine are based on Irish Oat Cakes, but with no wheat (obviously), more eggs, and other variations (no sugar, but with dates, or bananas; cinnamon; tomorrow will be squash and spices and a bit of honey). I make them in the afternoon/evening and they keep nicely. With gluten-free baking though it's always better to replace any water called for with yogurt or vegetables or fruit or something.

Now for a gratuitous tart shot:

Have a great week!

Spaghetti Squash Pizza Casserole

Is in the oven... It smells so good!

1 spaghetti squash, roasted (did that before work today), peeled, seeded and drained (it needn't be dry, just drained of excess liquid)
8 eggs
About a cup of mixed grated cheeses - ours was parmesan heavy
Parsley, oregano, garlic, salt and pepper
1/2 c to 1 c tomato sauce

Mix it all in a bowl, slide into a buttered lasagna pan and bake at 425 F for an hour or something (not sure yet how long it takes, but from about 15 minutes in it will start to smell amazing).

Easy grain-free vegetarian meal for work days... Done.

meal plans & highlights

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This is the past two weeks; I am sitting down with this entry in part to figure out the coming week.

HIGHLIGHTS: Millet, fennel and feta salad was AMAZING. I cooked about 1 c of dry toasted millet, added 200g feta, 1 bulb of diced and cooked fennel with garlic, hum maybe some other things, spring onions and chickpeas, anyways it was wonderful. I wanted to eat the whole bowl:

The other highlight was the popover. It was based on this recipe, but ours ended up having raddichio, bacon, feta, and maybe that was all (...Tony cooked that night, I'm pretty sure he didn't use the planned zucchini, but I am not totally certain). It was an omnomtastic experience. It was our first popover experience and I don't even know why. It will happen again.

Actually I should also mention the third feta highlight - feta and berry muffins with oats. Yeah, they ruled. The texture was a bit weird, but that was a gluten-free issue; the flavour combination itself was awesome.

We are out of coffee, in other food news. Sad times.

Good times:

That was cheeseburger night.

We lost power this weekend so tonight is pizza night and the rest is TBD. What are you eating this week?