When I was home last, mom picked some fresh purple beans from their garden to give to me. These beans are so much fun! They taste just like regular green beans but they're purple when raw and slowly turn bright green when cooked. I used them in a dish for Melik. He's mentioned quite a few times this simple dish of potatoes, tomatoes and onions that his mom makes. I made what I thought might be similar and added in the green beans from Mom and Ken's garden to bring some brightness to it. Was it a success? Let's just say the leftovers never made it past day 2 as Melik stole them to bring for lunch at work.

Posted by Maggie at 11:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Saw a program that featured this place - Nicky's Vietnamese Sandwiches on 2nd st between Ave A and B. It's on my list to check out...

Ok, it wasn't on my list for long! On a lazy and beautiful Saturday Sept 16, I wandered the city with Ashleigh and we made our way down to Nicky's, a seemingly hole-in-the-wall sandwich joint. Very small, not so pretty, but they make a mean sandwich with incredibly fresh ingredients. We tried the "classic" and the portabello. Both were on good quality, crispy french bread with pickled carrots and cucumber. The "classic" sandwich added to this a shmear of pate, ham, and cilantro. The vegetarian friendly portabello version added marinated and grilled portabello. We walked to Thompson Sq Park and ate our treats listening to a lively rendition of "take 'em home", a troup of actors singing with a band to bring our troops home. Our bench neighbors were two animated french guys to our right and a couple cracked out, half-asleep "trippers" to our left. Great day :)

Posted by Maggie at 10:49 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

I couldn't walk past another pint of blueberries without picking up some. To "health" it up, I made this recipe with splenda. Pretty good! This came from allrecipes.com

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup light margarine, softened
1 cup SPLENDA® No Calorie Sweetener, Granulated
1/4 cup honey
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup 1% low-fat milk
1 cup fresh or frozen blueberries, thawed

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DIRECTIONS:
PLACE oven rack in top 1/3 of oven.
PREHEAT oven to 400 degrees F. Line 12 muffin cups with paper liners. Lightly spray liners with nonstick cooking spray.
SIFT together flour, baking powder, and salt, set aside.
BEAT margarine at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy. Gradually add SPLENDA® Granulated Sweetener and honey beating until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time beating until blended after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Alternately add flour mixture and milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Beat at low speed until blended after each addition. Fold in berries.
SPOON batter evenly into paper lined muffin cups. Bake 20 to 22 minutes or until golden. Remove from pan immediately, and cool on wire rack.

Posted by Maggie at 12:08 AM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBacks (0)

Thinking about an Italian dish for next week's supper club. Never done eggplant parm... but maybe I'll make my own marinara sauce?
From epicurious:

8 1/2-inch-thick center-cut eggplant rounds (from 2 small eggplants)
All purpose flour
2 eggs, beaten to blend
1 1/2 cups fresh breadcrumbs made from crustless French bread
3/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese (about 2 1/2 ounces)
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 1/4 cups purchased marinara sauce
3/4 cup freshly grated mozzarella cheese (about 3 ounces)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly oil baking sheet. Sprinkle eggplant rounds with salt and pepper. Place flour and eggs in separate shallow bowls. Mix breadcrumbs and Parmesan cheese in another shallow bowl. Coat eggplant rounds with flour, then eggs, then breadcrumb mixture, patting to adhere.
Heat 2 tablespoons oil in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add 4 eggplant rounds to skillet. Cook until golden brown, about 5 minutes per side; transfer to prepared sheet. Repeat with remaining oil and eggplant rounds. Spread 2 tablespoons ricotta cheese over each round. Top each with sauce and mozzarella cheese, dividing equally. Bake until rounds are heated through and cheese is melted, about 15 minutes.

Makes 8 first-course servings.

Posted by Maggie at 03:13 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)