thursday's caraway

thursday, october 24: homemade wheat with tomatoes and melted caraway cheddar. white bean salad with greek seasoning and sea salt and garlic and loads of pepper. butter lettuce (SERIOUSLY TO DIE FOR).

if it's going to look like winter

then i am going to eat like it's winter.

tuesday night = smashed potatoes + white beans with garlic and salt and pepper + sauteed collard greens and onion with a fried egg on top

i really need to be better about posting.

or writing down the contents of my sandwiches. this is march 6th. here's what i do know.

• greasy garbanzo beans. i cannot ever get enough of these beans. the canned garbanzo beans are too smushy for things other than hummus, so dry is best. but you'll coat them in olive oil, sea salt, and crushed red pepper. A DREAM. seriously.
• beets with pecorino. i had some beets for way too long and decided to peel and roast them in a bit of water and then threw them in the fridge for that later date when i wanted them. that date was march 6th and i remember them being perfect. 
• coffee. obviously.
• no clue on the sandwich. but that's wheat bread. i would be the worst detective.

already.

 the photographs are a million times better, right?

this morning's breakfast: leftover beans (cooked with butter, olive oil, thyme, onion, and garlic) tossed with kale sauteed with onion and carrot in olive oil, topped with a hard-boiled egg.

close-out.

i was traveling (and not so much cooking) for the final weeks of 2012. that meant i needed to make sure the fridge was empty when i left for new york (no, not THAT new york. western new york. the one by canada and niagara falls.). the above meal was one of the last ones i concocted before i left. pasta with a sauce that included cream cheese, sour cream, garlic, and tomato paste. i know that sounds crazy, but it was delicious tossed with green beans (a current fave) and crushed red pepper and probably some other spices i can't remember any longer.

let's say i was BEYOND SUCCESSFUL in emptying the fridge. ask casey and alex. it was impressive.

one more.

the last week before class included cooking, reading, reading cookbooks, eating greasy beans, carrots, and peanut butter sandwiches, and drinking too much coffee brewed in the chemex.

back to beans.

we know i love a greasy bean, possibly too much. what is a greasy bean, you ask? well, when it's not a coffee bean (which i also like greasy, rather than dry), it could be any bean, even a bit overcooked (as i sometimes forget the slow cooker is cooking, but i've been gifted a handy kitchen timer for christmas this year), with a generous helping of olive oil, sea salt, and crushed red pepper. it's really the most delicious thing out there. forget pastries and tales of molecular gastronomy, it's mostly a greasy bean i want.

and we're supposed to eat black-eyed peas for new years. i managed a couple of days without them, mostly due to the fact that we were driving from ithaca to north carolina (11 hours in the car) and then spent monday watching the aforementioned football and doing laundry.

so, yesterday: collard greens (also apparently lucky for new years) with mushrooms, garlic, and onions (so much garlic that casey said it was seeping from my pores); a salad of radish and tomato, a fried egg on wheat, and a bowl of greasy black-eyed peas. OH yes.

and today's lunch: a bowl of greasy black-eyed peas (hey! i am alone in this house so i am eating them all), carrots + hummus, and a salad of spinach, tomatoes, and mushrooms, with a hunk of almost-stinky french cheese.

with some coffee from the chemex (more on that later).

the greasiest.

monday, monday.

i always eat at home on mondays, as my class is late and my office is musty.

stinky-awesome french cheese, pea shoots, tomatoes, and cucumbers on 9-seed wheat bread from ninth street bakery, tortilla chips, and chickpeas with olive oil, salt, and pepper. the cutest lunch.

the bean.

 

pounds of edamame in the CSA = lots of bean snacks.

greasy bean.

yes, this meal is from july 22nd. yes, that's a long time ago. yes, i love a meal like this one; it has all the components of awesomeness. yes, it is a perfectly fried egg on toast with cheese and lima beans in olive oil with parsley, sea salt, and crushed black pepper.

i love a "greasy bean," as casey calls them: a well-cooked bean with enough olive oil for it to taste somewhat olivey and earthy and doused with coarse salt and pepper (could be red or black, i don't care). seriously, it's the small things.

fast.

i am unsure as to why i did not blog this breakfast. this was a challenge; i was cooking for myself and kim, and she had an apartment to see. soon. so i had to move fast.

there was leftover brown rice in the refrigerator. i sauteed some green beans and wax beans in olive oil and garlic, and then added the rice to the skillet, resulting in a sort of fried rice. to round off the meal, one egg over-medium, a salad of kirby cucumbers and tomatoes with goddess dressing, and toasted pita (with peach jam added later).

i feel bad about the beans.

i feel a lot of pressure to use dried beans. it might be because they have less salt. and because that is the old-fashioned way of doing things. i am a fan of pickling my own pickles and making my own salad dressing and spaghetti sauces, and i guess it seems like cooking my own beans would be on that list as well.

but i hate it. i hate that i have to soak them, and then cook them. so much time involved. and it takes forever, and i have to make a concerted effort to remember to use them immediately. poo. the soft beans are the best, in my opinion. they only seem to get that way when they are canned.

and other people who cook use the dried varieties, and i feel like an idiot if i want the canned ones.

well, i do. and mark bittman sort of does too. this week, he wrote about "rethinking" the canned beans. he also struggles with the dried ones, but not in the same way. personally, i think he likes the canned ones even more than he has admitted. (i bet he is a secret canned bean eater.)

so there. i am going to stop overthinking the beans. the canned beans i buy are organic. and it's chickpeas and black beans. it's not a hamburger helper pizza burger.