Dinner:

Spaghetti Puttanesca*
(from Cook's Illustrated Mar/Apr 2002 p.15)

Tuscan Bread

Pear, Pecan and Sun-Dried Cherries over Mesclun Greens
w/ a balsamic vinaigrette

Dessert:

Glace Chocolate Ice Cream
(Non-Dairy) Whipped Cream

Coffee

* traditionally, Puttanesca sauce is made with anchovies, but we usually substitute sun-dried tomatoes.

Breakfast:

Yves Breakfast Patties (x2)
w/ Cholula Hot Suace

Brownberry Wheat Toast (x2)

Club Soda

Dinner:

Tofu [Chicken] Tomato
(p.26 Lalita Ahmed "Indian Cooking")

Spinach Bhaji
(p.85 Sacharoff "Indian Flavors")

Thalay Huway Kumbi
(Mushroom Stir Fry w/ Baby Corn)
(p.73 Shehzad Husain "Indian Vegetarian")

Basmati Rice

Dessert

Tropical Source Wild Rice Crisp Chocolate

Coffee

Breakfast

Strawberry, Banana and Soy Milk smoothie*

Brownberry Wheat Toast

Soy Boy Breakfast Links
w/ Cholula Hot Sauce

Club Soda

* The strawberries were surprisingly good
for January.

Dinner:

Roasted Eggplant, Zucchini and Green Beans
with wilted Arugula over a bed of Capellini pasta

Grilled Asparagus with Orange Vinaigrette
served over grilled Tuscan bread

Dessert:

Pound Cake
(apparently there were two pieces left after all...)

Coffee

Dinner:

Tofu [Duck] A La Jojo*
(from Jean-Georges Vongerichten)

Basmati Rice (refried w/ spice mixture from above)

Braised Leeks
(straight outta Julia Child's Art of French Cooking Vol. 1)

Dessert

Pound Cake
(last bit, really)

Coffee


* back to Jean-Georges again, working on this recipe again. I love his use of spices -- I mean this calls for Mace (the ouside skin of the nutmeg), and I had some! ;)

The trick isn't with the sauce -- Maple Syrup and [Honey] Rice Syrup! -- but in getting a crispy outside
to the tofu, like the duck would have (yeah, I know, #5). But, I think I finally got it together using Yuba sheets (the thin skin-like residue from making tofu in big vats).

I pan-fried the tofu cutlets with the spice mixture as usual, then wrapped them like a spring-roll
in a yuba sheet and sealed it along the edges with a cornstarch slurry. I then pan fried it again, seam
side down first and got a great crackly texture on the outside and a nice moist tofu inside.

Little things like this make the 2 hours spent cooking worth it ;)

Lunch

Seitan [Chicken] Stir Fry with Tamarind Glaze*

Basmati Rice

Club Soda

*yes, it's the same dish as dinner last night, but
with seitan rather than tofu. The tofu got too
soggy last night once I added the tamarind puree
and water. Flavorful yes, but the texture was all wrong.
I should have (and have in the past) taken
the tofu out and finished the dish and then poured
the glazed vegetables over the tofu and rice.
The seitan, being much denser, doesn't absorb
liquid as readily as tofu, so I left it in.

Breakfast

Yves Breakfast Patties w/ Cholula Hot Sauce
(about a half-dollar size around and 1/2" thick)

Brownberry Wheat Toast

Tazo Arise Black Tea

Club Soda

Dinner

Swiss Chard with Currants and Pine Nuts
(from Jack Bishop's "Italian Vegetarian")
made into a Napoleon between slices of oven-dried eggplant. *

Glazed Maroon Carrots

Roasted Potatoes, Garlic and Carrots

Tofu [Chicken] Stir-Fry with Tamarind Glaze
(from Jean-Georges Vongerichten's Cooking At Home... pg. 95)

Basmati Rice

Dessert

Pound Cake w/ Whipped Cream

Coffee

* I oven dried the eggplant slices yesterday, and they did dry out nicely. They were a little too rubbery today, but I think the problem was the original slices were too thick. They need to be more
crispy and chip-like for the Napoleon to work better on the plate.

Dinner:

Onion Soup
(from Raymond Oliver, "Nightowl Soup")

Haricot Verts braised in Champagne
w/ onion, shallot & garlic

Ratatouille
(from Cook's Illustrated Sep/Oct 2001 issue)

French Bread

Dessert:

Pound Cake
(it stuck a little inside the mold, but a little
non-dairy whipped cream covered up any
imperfections...)

Coffee

Breakfast

Soy Boy Breakfast Links (x2) w/ Cholula Hot Sauce

Brownberry Wheat Toast (x2)

Club Soda

Dinner

Homemade Ravioli* (chestnut & tofu filling) w/ soy margarine

French Bread (thanks Marsha!)

Dessert:

Homemade Oatmeal Cookies

Coffee


* (we made them about a month ago, vacuum sealed and frozen. Only one broke)

Soy Boy Breakfast Links (x2) w/ Cholula hot sauce

Brownberry Wheat Toast (x2) w/ soy margarine

Tazo Arise (black tea)

Water

Seitan [Lamb Shanks] with Fennel, Tomato & Corriander over Farfalle (Bow Tie Pasta)
(from March 2002 Fine Cooking pg. 60, Braising by Tom Colicchio)

Mixed Greens Salad
(tomato, carrot, celery, scallion w/shittake vinaigrette dressing)

Wine

Le Cigare Volante (Bonny Doon, Santa Cruz, CA) Red Table Wine

Homemade Oatmeal cookies

Coffee

[leftover] Black Pepper Tofu Curry
Stir Fried Rice
Water

Black Pepper Tofu Curry with Basmati Rice

Substitute Spring Creek Nigari Style Tofu for the Chicken, portion into six cutlets, season, fry in grapeseed oil, then place in a 200 degree oven. Assemble the rest of the sauce. Save a little of the seasoning mix from the tofu and sprinkle into the sauce to give the same effect as cooking the tofu in the sauce (which would make the tofu soggy and defeat the purpose of making it firmer when you fry it). Pour the sauce over the tofu and rice when plating.

1/2 cup Irish Oats (cinnimon, vanilla sugar, soy milk)
Soy Boy breakfast links w/ Cholula hot sauce x2
Brownberry Wheat toast (w/soy margarine) x2
Cotton Club club soda (no sodium)