This is a recipe I got from my boyfriend. I put more veggies on than were called for (radishes, snap peas, red pepper, cilantro) and marinated the steak in soy sauce and chili-garlic sauce. Isn’t it weird how fish sauce is SO GROSS and also SO GOOD?
PS I can’t be bothered to process this photo. Please excuse the natural light/real colors.
Pork Cutlet, breaded and pan fried in a little olive oil. Kale boiled and then lightly salted. Applesauce made from Washington Gala apples with a cinnamon stick thrown in. This meal did not take kindly to microwaving in the office but it’s all good in the hood.
Fa-whaaat?? Okay, middle-eastern-y beef stew with green beans. From food52.com as usual!
Hi Mom! Lunch Swap is back!
Just Sarah and I are swapping this week. Chicken thighs dusted with salt and pepper, pan fried with no oil. Fried up some garlic and added it to a packet of mashed potatoes (yeah a packet, so what). Blanched the broccoli and topped it with a mustard balsamic vinaigrette + salt and pepper. Done and done!
Late post, sorry! Two man swap went great this week. And John I had no idea the potatoes were from a package! They were delish.
I made pasta e fagioli from food52.com and we had an orange for afternoon snack!
The pasta drank up all the broth :(
What I like about quiche: everything! I found this specific recipe on a website and added slightly more ingredients than what the recipe called for. The salad has pumpkin seeds and tomatoes.
This dish made me feel like I’m tricking little kids into eating vegetables. Except in this case, the little kid is me!
I vaguely followed a recipe I had watched someone make. I won’t say much except that it involved a roux and included three different kinds of cheese - one of which was Prairie Breeze cheddar from Lucy’s Whey (my roommate’s cheese shop) and another won’t dribble off your plate onto your doily.
x Nicole
Oh man did I mess this one up.
I’ve been on a huge ramen kick lately, and figured I would extend that to cooking my own for le swap. Hit the market and decided to get fresh noodles rather than getting the freeze dried nasty ones (not that I don’t eat them at home solo all the time, but you know, it’s the swap, gotta step my game up). All of the packaging was in Japanese, so I asked the clerk and he helped me pick them out. Googled a recipe for a nice sounding peanut sesame sauce and we’re off to the races. Or so I thought.
For whatever reason, the noodles just did not want to properly separate in the boiling water. I ended up with half the batch overcooked and sticking to the pan, and the other half sticking to each other and uncooked in the middle. Ended up figuring out a two pot boiler method and separating the overcooked from the undercooked by hand, and then cooking those undercooked ones in a separate pot. Footnote: the noodles are more of an udon style, but skinnier. Not ramen noodles. Oh well.
Meanwhile, I don’t know how I messed up the sauce so royally, but I did. I took one taste and literally had to spit it out in the sink and go gargle mouthwash. Maybe the rice vinegar had turned. I dunno. It was THAT BAD. It went straight in the garbage.
Sliced carrots and cucumbers for topping, picked up a bag of kimchi radish greens to add some spice, nori flakes + red pepper salt + soy to taste, and brought in a jar of New Bo Ky green chili sauce for kicks. I love that stuff.
Next time I’m making toast. Can’t mess that up. OR CAN I?
We’re baaaaaaaaaack! Did you miss us?!
So, I sort of invented this whole lunch - no recipes sorry. The soup is made from lots of broccoli, some potato, some onion, and a little garlic, boiled up in veggie stock with thyme and oregano, then pureed in the blender. I didn’t think cheese soup would make very good leftovers, so I left it out and we stirred some extra-sharp cheddar in the hot soup right before eating.
We ate it with homemade mustard croûtons and a side salad (not pictured). Btw do you like how tumblr put that hat on the u in croûtons? Is that how it’s supposed to be?
I made this soup for lunch swap months ago, but never posted about it. I just made it again for myself and I had to post the recipe. I can’t handle it, it’s too delicious!!!
If you make this recipe, gentle reader, take comfort in the mundane task of peeling favas. Set aside a good thirty minutes of standing at your kitchen counter and meditate over each greenish bean, or sit at your kitchen table (or couch, if one does not formally dine) and enjoy the peace of a quiet mind and busy hands.
-Nicole
From NY Times Recipes for Health
1 pound dried, skinned fava beans, washed, picked over, and soaked in water to cover for 6 hours or overnight
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 pound tomatoes, peeled, seeded, and chopped, or 1 cup canned chopped tomatoes
10 sprigs fresh spearmint, tied in a bunch with kitchen string
2 quarts water
Salt to taste
Slivered fresh mint leaves, extra virgin olive oil, and dried red pepper flakes for garnish
1. Drain the favas. Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a large, heavy soup pot or Dutch oven over medium heat and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until tender, about 5 minutes, and add the garlic. Stir together for a minute, until fragrant, and add the tomatoes and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring often, until the tomatoes have cooked down slightly, about 5 minutes, and add the beans, 2 quarts water, another 2 teaspoons salt, and the mint. Bring to a boil, reduce the heat, cover and simmer 2 hours, or until the beans have begun to fall apart and thicken the soup. Stir from time to time to make sure the beans are not settling at the bottom of the pot and sticking.
2. When the beans are soft and falling apart, remove the bundle of mint, and using tongs, any stray mint leaves. Using an immersion blender, puree the soup. Taste and adjust seasonings.
3. Serve, garnishing each bowl with a drizzle of olive oil, a sprinkling of slivered mint leaves, and a pinch of red pepper flakes.
Yield: Serves 6
Advance preparation: This is best served the day it is made, as it tends to continue to thicken if it sits overnight. It will still be good, but you may have to thin it out with water.
Each work week, time permitting, a few of us in the office "swap lunches." One day of the week is assigned to an individual who must make lunch for 3-5 people depending on the number involved.
The Rules:
1. Must be vegetarian.
2. No olives.
3. Not TOO spicy!
And so... "The Swap" began.
