jojo's dinner

don't look twice

I have opened this image several times only to close it immediately.

We had this delicious spaghetti squash and pasta meal about 3 weeks ago. Like I said it was delish and we had leftovers. I brought it to work and ate it at my desk the next day. (...why did you eat at your desk? why not go down to the freezing cold cafeteria?...)

Spaghetti squash sounds so fancy but it is really just another fall crop. Chop it in half and put it face down in the oven for awhile (45 minutes I think...ask Steve when you see him next). When its done the insides are like noodles-long and skinny , tasty and juicy spaghetti. Only they are yellow.

Toss the real noodles with the faux noodles in some olive oil, herbs, spices and add your favorite veggies or what ever you have around. We happened to have grape tomatoes and we also toasted some walnuts... toss and serve with grated parmesan cheese.

simple-easy-meal. only leave out the cat hair..........

Apparently the blackberry has one mighty lens. And the computer has a nice big screen.

I can even tell you the hair belongs to Louie--he's a gray striped tabby.

Remember I took the photo THEN ate the meal.

I cleaned my plate...I cleaned my plate.

 

wok it

olive oil, soysauce, rice wine vinegar

singapore seasoning from penzeys

garlic paste (oooh spicy), orange juice

one garlic clove, ginger, onion, red pepper

broccoli, bok choy, mini zucchini, snap peas

pile it on top of brown rice (that was cooked in garlic, ginger and H20)

top it off with toasted almonds

>>when it is this cold out ...stand by the flame as long as possible

it'll help

slice

Which do you like better pizza or pasta? This is the never ending debate 'round here.

But lets just say that pizza is really the best meal ever... unless your in the mood for something else.

We used to make our own pizza about once or twice a month. Lately -- more like once a week!

I would make the dough in the food processor, let it rise for an hour and Steve would toss flour all over the kitchen while he rolled it out on the wooden pallet thing...

Then he would load it up with everything fresh and good that you think you might like on your pizza.

Sauce--make it simple and open a jar (whoa did I say that?)

cheese--try Emmental instead of mozzarella one day...oh my so good! But mozzarella is good too!

any veggie...any veggie at all but if you use eggplant you have to PEEL it (that's right I demand that you peel it). I like onions, mushrooms (baby portobellos).

But back to the pizza at hand. We recently discovered Mama Mimi's.

This is the place where they make the pizza and you bring it home to bake it. We order a meatball pizza ...bring it home and you guessed it.. ..we load it up with all of our own stuff without coating the kitchen with flour! As seen in the photo above: peeled eggplant, onion, baby portobellos, pizza seasoning (Penzey's) and of course a sprinkling of parmesan cheese because yo can never have enough cheese on your pizza.

...just one more thing:  the crust--thin and crispy please

and another thing... a wood burning oven.......700 degrees!

you want another slice?

seeing red

I'm rating this salad a 10-yes T-E-N! It's sweet, tangy, crunchy and almost too healthy. Eating this salad will  increase your vocabulary and maybe your IQ. I'm sure it will lower your blood pressure.  Just a plateful and you will start oxidizing all kinds of free radicals. whoa that's a powerful salad

All the good stuff is included here:

• Beets (boiled but don't worry the flavor is still there...especially combined with the other ingredients)
• Carrots-shredded
• red cabbage-shredded
• golden raisins
• grape tomatoes
• pear!
• Almonds-toasted (Toasting nuts is just as important as Roasting veggies-always-always toast your nuts)
• tossed in a combo of honey, lemon and orange juice 

And there is enough left over for my lunch tomorrow...

I'll probably get a raise!

eat your vegetables

There isn't anything better than a plate of roasted veggies (well maybe a piece of chocolate cake is better but that would be dessert and you can't have dessert until you eat your vegetables). Roasting is the only way to taste everything a veggie has to offer. Roasting is essential.

Add meatloaf to your plate of roasted veggies and you have a great meal. Make that meat loaf with ground turkey, onion, carrot, dijon mustard, ketchup, lemon juice, garlic sauce, salt, pepper, egg, bread crumbs (wheat-of course) and Bouquet Garni (go to Penzeys) and you have-possibly-a perfect meal.

The veggies we had tonight (beets, potatoes, brussel sprouts, carrots) were tossed in lemon and orange juice, salt, pepper, bouquet garni and a little rice wine vinegar.

 

Turkey meatloaf is probably the most UN-photogenic food there is. Especially when you are using overhead fluorescent lighting and a blackberry to do the photoshoot (so sorry no turkey meatloaf photo)....... now go eat your vegetables.