Recipe # 20 & #21 & #22: Monster Mash & Homemade Pasta & Veggie Quesadillas

There has been a little bit of a lapse in the blogs lately, not for our lack of cooking but for our lacking of cooking...from the cookbooks. Ms. Boyardee has been a pinterest champion and bringing home a million recipes to try out on her day off, so screw it....I'm going to go really wild and off the walls and blog about non-cookbook related meals....badass I know.

Monster Mash: I came up with the name for these ridiculously good mashed potatoes and it is a pre-requisite that you have to be listening to the "Monster Mash" song while eating them. First thing on the list: Purple Potatoes. Ms. Boyardee picked these babies up at the grocery store and I was flabbergasted (it's a word) as I had never seen these things before. She steamed the potatoes up, mashed them together with some kale, and added some mozzarella cheese. We saw a similar recipe at Ms. Boyardees favourite restaurant, The Green Door, before, but she had to add her frankenstein twist of purpleness. I added some Sriracha for a little kick and they were a graveyard smash...great side to any meal....or a massive bowl as a main in my case.

Homemade Pasta: Ms. Boyardee and I have been making homemade pasta.....from SCRATCH.....for a couple of years now but we haven't broken out the pasta machine in a while and one night we cracked open a bottle of red, threw some Fats Domino on the music machine and went to work ( Fats Domino...how could you not listen to a man named Fats Domino when cooking...it just fits). I didn't think we should blog about it but Ms. Boyardee said homemade pasta is "cool". If that's cool....consider me Justin Bieber ( I'm assuming our fans are mostly 12 year old girls.....I may be a belieber too).

The recipe is simple for the pasta: shitload of flour shaped into a bowl, add eggs, veggie stock, olive oil and mix slowly together until its in a ball....it takes awhile. We add spices, garlic and oregano which gets rolled into the pasta and looks pretty cool. You let the pasta sit for about 20 minutes, then you quarter the pasta ball and run it through the pasta machine. You need a wide set (like my woman**) configuration on the pasta roller and sloooooowly decrease it making it thinner and thinner until it's pasta size. Ms. Boyardee and I then added the pasta cutter and made our own fettuccine noodles. To dry them...we used our own coat hangers and hung them on our key hooks*. Because it's fresh...It takes two seconds to cook, we then made our homemade sauce, the meal was so good I think Mr. Boyardee may be looking for Ms. Boayrdee's recipe.

* Side note...we went out for drinks afterwards and came back to some of our dried hung pasta on the floor....our dog oscar....who is a tiny Weiner dog ( badass I know) jumped up and ate some raw pasta...make sure you refrain from making this mistake.

**Ms. Boyardee is far from wide-set but insisted I keep that joke

Veggie Quesadilla (pronounced K-saw-Dill-Ah): This recipe is pretty simple and is one of Ms. Boyardee's pinterest ventures, Goat cheese, mozzarella and a veggie mix (onions, peppers, eggplant, garlic, zucchini, portobello mushrooms) between two whole wheat pitas. The reason we wanted to try this was to use our BBQ for the first time this year. We cracked a beer, threw the quesadillas on and waited....and waited.....and waited.... after 35 minutes we then determined with a genius mind that the propane was low. Ms. Boyardee who may be a little particular in her food endeavours...insisted on broiling them after the BBQ to get a crisp on them...I was banned from eating them until a crispiness up to Ms. Boyardee's standards was met. I fainted from hunger...but when I awoke....they tasted CRISPY and delicious. 

Recipe #18 & #19: Black Bean Tortas with Coconut Chipotle Mayo & Broiled Zucchini with Yogurt Sauce

Oh...hot...dayuum...I have been looking forward to this recipe for awhile now. We got the "Thug Kitchen" cookbook for christmas and I've had my eye on this recipe like a fat kid on cake...or like a Joel on the Mcdonalds menu. The new CBO (chicken bacon onion) sandwich ads have been taking their toll. The Thug Kitchen cookbook is kind of amazing...and Ms. Boyardee likes it because the language they use ( mostly profanity) is similar to the language she and I use when in the kitchen.

The opening line for the black bean torta is verbatim "Make this motherf*cker STAT and see what your narrow sandwich world has been missing".  If someone were so ask me my favourite meal, I would probably have to say a sandwich (The fact that Netflix has paired me with Friends and I've been watching Joey Tribiani for the last 3 weeks may have had an influence). This sandwich is.....unreal by any other name.

Black Bean Torta: First we have to start with the sauce: coconut chipotle mayo.....COCONUT CHIPOTLE MAYO.....I can hear your salivary glands excreting as I write this. You add coconut milk, chipotle hot sauce, olive oil, chia seeds (to thicken it), lemon juice, garlic powder and salt. You mix all of the ingredients in a food processor and then put it in the fridge to cool. I was worried about the sauce...I voice my opinions to her about it not being thick enough....she directed me to the Thug Kitchen cookbook which told me to " Put it in the fridge. It will thicken, just f*cking be patient".

The "meat" of the sandwich is a black bean puree with onions, chili powder, cumin, a whole lotta black beans,  veggie broth, and lime juice. We top the sandwich with red onions, tomatoes, avocados and lettuce. The result of the combination of all the ingredients was one of our favourite recipes yet.

Ms. B: 9/10

J: 9.1/10

Broiled Zucchini with Yogurt Sauce: One of the things that I've noticed since becoming a vegetarian is how delicious a simple meal with just veggies can be. Broiled zucchini and a yogurt sauce, the sauce contained low fat yogurt, lemon juice, ground coriander, and ground mustard. You garnish with cilantro and you get a delicious side to any meal. As good as this side was, and it wassss good... it took a backseat to this sandwich (please see above).

Ms. B: 7/10

J: 7/10

Recipe #16 & #17: Portobello Gratins & Creamy Peanut Slaw

Ms. Boyardee and I tried to plan a dinner outing for Valentine's day....and then with all the closed menu's and overbooked restaurants we decided why not just make our own Valentines day dinner so I KNOW the food will be good and I KNOW I won't break the bank with the amount of wine we consume. It also allows us to used two different recipes which makes for an obviously nail-biting blog read....calm down...we'll get through this together.

Lets start with the Portobello Gratins...which I have decided, based on this recipe...will now be my middle name. Portobello mushrooms have really become my main "meat" substitute. Friends of mine can recall BBQs last summer and while they had juice double cheeseburgers I was content with my Portobello Burger (this term used loosely) with goat cheese. Now this recipe is basically shrooms on shrooms on shrooms...and not the kind that gives you hallucinations ....although the wine consumed that night could have had similar impacts.

You bake portobello mushrooms in a little oil for 25 minutes after removing the stems from the caps. Meanwhile you cut up shiitake, cremini, and portobello stems and then cook them down with some chives, parsley, shallots, wine (which was difficult to find), and heavy (whipping) cream. Just an fyi....anything with whipping cream in it...is going to taste amazing....its non-whipped whipped cream I mean...come on. You then remove the portobello caps from the oven, fill the caps with the delicious non-whipped cream/wine mushroom mixture and top it with bread crumbs, parmesan and more parsley. Broil for 2 minutes and make SURE you're seated when you take a bite...it's that good.

Ms. B: 9.9/10

J: 9.91/10

We decided to make a side of slaw and we got this wicked vegan recipe from another vegetarian cookbook "Thug Kitchen: Eat Like You Guve a F*ck". Well sir....I believe I do give some f*cks...and so we have to include recipes from this book from time to time too. This slaw portion is made up of red (looks purple to me) and green cabbage, carrots cut into matchsticks (ugh...again), and green onions. The delicious sauce is made up of peanut butter (extra smooth), rice vinegar, lime juice, fresh ginger, soy sauce and Sriracha. The result was the creamy sauce that started out tasting like peanuts, then got tangy and finished with some spice. We made a double batch and I have had it for breakfast and lunch today so far....and its even better the second day.

Tonight we plan to go out for dinner for valentines day round 2....but I expect I may be disappointed unless portobello gratins are a special.

Ms. B: 7/10

J: 8/10

Recipe #14: Rice Noodles with Broccoli Pesto

Fresh back from the west coast and it is safe to say they have some of the best vegetarian food that I have tried to date. Vegetarian breakfast sausage, vegetarian pulled pork (tofu) sandwiches, it was hard to beat and satiated my cravings for meat that arise from time to all-the-time.

As we returned, Ms. Boyardee wanted me to write this blog as we made this recipe before we left and I was told I get less funny the longer I wait in between making the recipe and writing it...so this one might be pretty bland.

This isn't your average pesto. There is no parmesan and the pesto is made up completely of broccoli, almond, basil, garlic, and lemon juice. All you do is blanch the broccoli, and then cook the rice noodles in the leftover water from the broccoli blanching, something I would never think to do. You then add the pesto, top with more broccoli and some almonds and voila, easy recipe.

Now, like every other time she cooks, Ms. Boyardee put in about 4-5 times the garlic that the recipe calls for. This time however, I think it mayyyy have overpowered the dish a little bit. Most of the bites were great but you would get an occasional raw garlic and it brought water to your eyes. Hindsight, don't add 5 times the garlic if its raw. I usually pack up all the meals we make and take them in for lunch the next couple of days. I decided against bringing this dish or my clients would think I gargled with shawarma sauce every morning. We save it for dinners so both Ms. Boyardee and I can have terrible garlic breath....it goes down well with wine :)

Just a side note...over 2000 views now.......crazy to think that Ms. Boyardee and I have hit refresh that many times.

Recipe #13: Chickpea-Brown Rice Burgers

Our first recipe was a burger made with quinoa and mushrooms and it was an easy transition for my newly meatless palate.  Now that I've become accustomed to the veggie ways we figured we should try another veggie burger recipe.

A veggie burger has now been my go-to meal when I go out with some of my friends to watch hockey games. As they chow down on their chicken wings (As I stare) I get the veggie burger with a side of deep fried pickles. Not a very healthy meal I know but I've become a veggie burger connoisseur of sorts. 

Although I now enjoy the veggie burgers, one of my biggest temptations is the BigMac. Ms. Boyardee's family sends me pictures of BigMacs and I am always tempted to go to the closest Mcdonalds and binge out. Luckily, I got a large bag of BigMac sauce for christmas this year and have been putting it on pretty much everything to crush my cravings...even cereal. The day before we made this recipe we got a Mcdonalds coupon book in the mail...2 for 1 BigMac meals...I told Ms. Boyardee we needed to make burgers the next night and buy a shredder or I was gonna give in. 

The recipe is simple enough, cook some brown rice, add some cooked chick peas, and mash them both together until they have the consistency of ground meat. We then add an egg, shallots, garlic and parsley. We then make tiny little "meat" patties and cook them on stovetop in some olive oil until golden brown. 

The recipe calls for lettuce leaf bus to make it healthier and I did't mind them but I think I would have much preferred a bun...more BigMac-like. We topped the burgers with red onion, roasted peppers and dijon mustard. The burgers were good but what made them GREAT was an addition of the BigMac sauce....even Ms. Boyardee was sold. The pictures are again magnificent, and I plan on smuggling in BigMac sauce wherever I go from this point on. 

A: 7/10

J: 7/10...8.5/10 with BigMac sauce

Recipe #12: [Big Quoty] Summer Rolls with Carrot-Ginger Dipping Sauce

What's better to make in the dead of winter than some nice summer rolls...probably anything...but Ms. Boyardee was feeling particularly asian-ish so we chose to make this simple recipe for all my viewers from the east. This website says I have FIVE views from South Korea....which is kind of ridiculous to me...but I am now 99% certain this blog would go viral in North Korea if Kim-Jong-Un wasn't blocking it from the viewers....nevertheless, we purchased some rice papers from the asian-pantry at the supermarket and went to work on our summer rolls.

Just a side note, I always thought these things were called spring rolls...and I am kind of confused as to which season I am eating.

The recipe is pretty easy and all it requires is rice paper, beats, carrots, bell peppers, radishes, and cucumber. The sauce is a mix of carrots, shallots, ginger, rice vinegar, soy sauce, and sesame oil (we added peanut butter which was possibly the greatest idea ever).

The recipes says to cut all the vegetables into "matchsticks" which sounds way easier than it actually is. Maybe I was just really poor at it because Ms. Boyardee had all the cucumbers and beets done while I was widling away at my third baby carrot. What felt like forever later, all the matchsticks were complete (they look more like lighter consistency) and it was time for the rolling of the rice paper.

Unlike some of my friends and hippie's from the 70s, I don't have very much experience with rolling any type of paper, and rice paper is pretty much the worst material imaginable because it sticks to everything and rips if you breathe on it. Ms. Boyardee was rolling like a Cuban cigar factory worker and I finally finished one roll and placed it on the finished plate....it didn't make the cut. Ms. Boyardee told me it looked like a wet used condom.....how appetizing. I decided to put my efforts towards the sauce.

Compared to rolling, the sauce was a piece of cake. I just had to be careful not to use to much sesame oil as one drop to much pretty much ruined everything. We made one batch of sauce without peanut butter and one batch with peanut butter. We added what Ms. Boyardee calls my "icing sugar peanut butter" which is just a plain jar of skippy. The peanut butter really made the sauce unbelievable and we pretty much threw out the other sauce.

I hated eating these things because as soon as you dipped the roll in the sauce all the "matchsticks" would fall out and if you ate one of the ones that I rolled it would just fall apart in your hands. All in all, not a bad meal but next time I'll save it for summer.

Ms. B: 6.5/10
J: 5/10

Recipe #11: Poached Egg Tomato Soup

Ms. Boyardee has already informed our readers of this post even before I wrote it so there's some pressure from the chef to keep this blog going more consistently and I love her and her food so I'll do that and you can expect some more recipes over the holiday season.

This recipe is the EASIEST recipe that we have had on the blog thus far...at least the soup portion. The soup has less ingredient than a PB & J sandwich and for all you culinary experts out there....that's three. Number One: Large can of crushed tomatoes (I skillfully completed the opening of this can without cutting myself-- hint: use can opener ), Number two: Garlic ( we added 300% more than recommended garlic intake as per usual), Number 3: Water (abundantly available via your tap). Bring all those ingredients to a boil and voila, tomato soup.

Ms. Boyardee and I added some spices like black pepper, salt, crushed red chilies because with thought it would be a little bland. The recipe then calls for toasted baguette bread with raw garlic rubbed onto it which surprisingly adds a lot of flavour.  Then the hard part comes along... the poached egg.

Now I knew we had to tread lightly with these poached eggs. Ms. Boyardee and eggs don't get along too well sometimes. She refers to over-easy eggs as "dippy toast eggs" as do all the Boyardees and I have become accustomed to this lingo. If the eggs she's preparing become over-hard or "un-dippyable", it is then un-edible in her mind. Most times she gets it on her first try, if not, the second try, and if not, I PRAY the third try before the eggs start hitting walls. 

All this to be said, I started cracking the eggs to be poached and I cracked three of them in a row, all "un-dippyable"  as I broke the yolk so I dismissed myself from this job (I'll stick to opening tomato cans). I then sat back and watched the master at work, four perfect eggs in row. The key is to bring the soup down from boiling to a medium heat and carefully insert the eggs (ideally all at almost the same time) beneath the liquid. The eggs cook in a couple minutes to a perfect "dippable" consistency and then when you eat the soup, the yolk adds a ton of flavour. The garlic covered bread is also put into the soup and both the yolk and the bread add  a lot to the flavour so even the bland tomato soup would have tasted amazing. 

We topped the plate with some fresh basil and of course washed it down with some vino. All in all the recipe was over(ly) easy (Ha...egg jokes) and will meet your egg-spectations ( Ok...I'll stop). You can tell which picture is ours below by the insertion of wine for water (always a good trade). 

J: 7/10 "eggs-eptional"

A: 6/10 "Could have been dippy-er"