Eat Like a Rabbit

A couple weeks ago, the office ordered lunch for us courtesy of a patient because our nurse practitioner, Shani, is moving away. That's a story in and of itself cause we've bonded so much, and I'll miss her terribly. Anyway, not realizing feta is considered a "soft" cheese and is off my diet, the girls were quite proud that they had ordered this delicious looking Pacific Veggie pizza for myself and Shani (who is a pescatarian). Also, not realizing that the pizza had feta on it, I dove in because it looked so fabulous. It was only after I had a slice that I found an advertisement attached to the top of a box with the ingredient list. I was so disappointed because I was really surprised how yummy it tasted. I'm a girl rather stuck on making pizza at home, but have found lately in my pregnant-always-sick-cooking-makes-me. . .you know. . .state, I've been eating out more and experiencing even pizza from outside of my kitchen. This is one of those pizzas I would love to eat again after the baby or even sooner if they'll hold the feta cheese, which would be sad because it was crunchy and had a nice little bite to it. I'm also not sure that the provolone used vegetarian enzymes as my research says provolone is one of the cheeses that uses calf rennet most often.

I had some leftover cream from the biscuits I made some time ago (yes, it was still good, and yes, I made this dish two months ago, but the photo got pushed back by all of the pics from France.) Anyway, I do have a weakness for fettucini and took the opportunity to make it since cream is fattening, and I don't often have it in my fridge (although that changes for about a month or two). I searched for a recipe and finally settled on Emeril's Fettucini Alfredo recipe from foodnetwork.tv. It looked good, but it didn't taste so good. It was runny. It's hard to appreciate the flavor of a sauce when it runs right off the pasta. I guess I've learned to appreciate thick pasta sauces. Emeril is a good chef; I'm sure it's possible I just made it wrong. I have done that before! But, in the future, I'm going to cook the sauce without the extra butter. I don't think it's necessary.

This is one of Paul's favorite things. I first had it at Christmas and thought it would be a fast and easy protein dish that I had most of the items for.

Publix was having a great sale on Birds Eye vegetables the week after we returned home from Paris. The products were 50% off, which is the equivalent of buy one, get one free. I often take advantage of these sales to try and review a new product.

Eat Like a Rabbit is home from a fabulous field trip to study food across the Atlantic. The experience was incredible, and I invite you to stay tuned to the entire story of the trip with specific reviews of restaurants. Unfortunately, we are suffering from jet lag and are trying to get back into the swing of things both at home and at work. ELAR prides itself on sharing pictures of food and other experiences and therefore will delay in posting stories about the trip until the photos and/or videos have been edited. Please forgive the delay.

In honor of the Chinese New Year, I served Chinese food for dinner last night. I really like Chinese food. I love the sauces and particularly am a fan of egg rolls even though I try to stay away from fried foods. I like making Chinese food with rice, but when I have an excess of spaghetti or egg noodles, this is a great way to use them without having pasta in marinara or alfredo sauce for a week.

Recipe to Make Stir Fry

• 2 large toes garlic, coarsly chopped
• 1/2 large onion, thinly sliced
• 1 medium Carrot, julienned
• 1 cup frozen broccoli
• 2 oz. De Boles (organic) spaghetti style pasta (only because that is what was opened)
• 1/4-1/2 cup sugar snap peas
• 1/8 (or less) teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 6 Tablespoons Pad Thai Sauce from Moosewood Cooks at Home
• Olive oil to cover bottom of a skillet

Boil pasta according to pasta directions. I do not salt the pasta because there is so much salt in the soy sauce. Meanwhile, cover a large skillet with oil. Turn the skillet on medium and add the onions. Microwave broccoli and sugar snap peas 1:30 minutes to defrost. Add carrots and garlic to the onions when they are softened. Add broccoli and peas until warm. Drain pasta and add it to the vegetables. Pour the Moosewood recipe mixture (lime, ketchup, and soy sauce) over the vegetables and pasta. Stir in sauce and two pinches fresh crushed red pepper. Serve hot.

This salsa went over so well at the group dinner, that I decided to take the same recipe and make it again in the form of enchiladas. Paul was confused because I used flour tortillas--which made it look more like burritos--instead of corn tortillas. However, it was quite the success because a few people came up specifically to shake my hands when it was done. As was common on those nights, there was a line for the food when I arrived, which gave me no time to take pictures. The above picture was a plate of leftovers we made for someone who was late. On the night of the enchiladas and Spanish rice, there wasn't a bite of anything left except the chips and salsa.

This post refers to the product in the very front of the photograph. The plate was a sampler platter at a buffet. I created the dishes. Hopefully, recipes for the other dishes will be available soon.

This post focuses on delicious, quick meals and the estimated prices for making them. My goal is to help families prepare healthy menus in spite of the depressed economy.