It’s official, I hit the trifecta!  After an amazing oatmeal breakfast and an epic sandwich at lunch, dinner did not disappoint.

I found this recipe a few days ago on a recipe aggregator site and thought it would be really easy to just substitute shiitakes, a mushroom I always have on hand, for the chestnut mushrooms it calls for.

Lemme show you what I did.

First I put a piece of salmon rubbed in sesame oil and soy sauce in the oven at 400 degrees.  It takes about 20 minutes to bake, just enough time to do the rest.

I sauteed half an onion in sesame oil…

Then sliced my shiitakes…

Love the little curls at the end of the caps, so cute!  Anyway, I brought some water to a boil to add my soba noodles to…

That is what the package calls two servings, but really it comes out to more like 3 and half or 4.  Something I learned.

I chopped a HUGE clove of garlic, this was probably 2 or 3 regular cloves.

At this point the onions are mostly caramelized.  I threw in the shiitakes and garlic and let them cook down a bit too.  Then I added a splash of rice wine vinegar, about 2 tbsp. of honey, and a generous sloshing of soy sauce.  I firmly believe that; for the most part, if you are measuring ingredients while you are cooking you are doing it wrong. Baking is the opposite, but that’s another story.

Here I am mixing the onions and mushrooms in the sauce…

And here I am smiling because Jeff says I don’t appear in/ smile enough in my own blog…

Can’t you see I’m busy cooking???

Jeff drained the soba that was roiling away…

And I tossed it in the sauce mixture to create this glistening vista…

Here’s what I had for dinner!…

Oh my, yes.

I am a huge fan of onions, raw and cooked.  This was an ode to the onion, for sure.  Loved the sweet caramelized onion sugars flavoring the salty savory sauce.

It has been a successful food day all around.

October 9, 2010 Alayna Recipes 2 comments

This morning I really wanted to use my pumpkin puree that I made yesterday, so I made a batch of pumpkin oatmeal for Jeff and I with a few extra additions.

Yes, that’s a caramelized banana and apple butter!  Wow, this was so good.  Here’s how it came to be:

I started by slitting a banana in half and heating it in a non-stick pan…

And in a pot I added the following:

• 3/4 cup rolled oats
• 1 cup almond milk
• 1/4 cup water
• 1 tbsp. flax meal
• 1 tbsp. chia seeds
• 1 tbsp. maple syrup
• one huge scoop of pumpkin puree

I basically just let the liquid come to a boil then add all the stuff, stir, turn it to low and let it sit covered for about 5 minutes.  Then I just stir vigorously until it thickens up nicely and serve.

Add the toppings…

And serve! Just look at the “veins” on that caramelized banana, creepy but epically good!

Moving on to my equally epic lunch…

Jeff and I went for a walk to enjoy the glorious day going on outside and to try to grab some lunch.  We ended up at Sawicki’s, a sort of general store/ delicatessen/ sandwich shop in downtown Decatur.  While we waited for our sandwiches to be made, Jeff sipped on a cream soda and I tried a chilled rooibos tea.

And we shared some sweet potato chips…

Jeff got the cuban, which he said was excellent…

And I had the single best veggie sandwich I have ever had…

It was spring mix lettuces, avocado, cucumber, artichoke, tomato, hummus, and basil caper vinaigrette on the most delicious crusty roll ever.  EPIC.

We will definitely be hitting up Sawicki’s again, can’t believe it took us this long to try it.

I have an interesting dinner planned for tonight, maybe I’ll hit the trifecta?

P.S.: Yes, I still plan to put up a video of my wedding cake practice, “life stuff” has gotten in the way, but it does exist and I do intend to get it on here soon.

October 9, 2010 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 1 comment

I haven’t been able to find canned pumpkin in the stores yet, it looks like it keeps selling out before I can get my hands on it.  But, the farmer’s market had a huge table full of perfectly round and delightfully orange pie pumpkins on my last trip, so I decided to just make my own.

It’s really pretty simple, the hardest part is cutting the pumpkin in half.  I’ve found that using a very small knife, like a paring knife, works the best.  Just cut out the stem like you would for a jack-o-lantern, then cut down one side and then the other. When you get to the bottom, you can usually just pull it apart from there.

Here he is!

Scoop out the seeds and set them aside for later.

I covered them in olive oil and put them face down on the baking sheet so that they would steam a little as they were roasting.

I think these spent a good hour in the oven at 375 degrees before they came out looking like this…

Scooped out the soft and delicious roasted pumpkin…

And transferred to the food processor.

After a few minutes of whirring about, I had this…

A smooth and delicious pumpkin puree for adding to oatmeal, soups, yogurt, or whatever else.

I am so excited about this.  Fall is here!

October 9, 2010 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 3 comments