What shall I make for dinner Tuesday night? Le Cassoulet? Ah-hawnh-hawnh-hanwh!

Oh, to someday learn French. It will happen. Maybe I'll buy a little audio thing. Or take a class, I guess. Anyway, so I was flipping through my very favorite cookbook, Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites: Flavorful Recipes for Healthful Meals, and I came upon the following recipe. It sure looks mighty tasty! I'll let you know how it turns out tomorrow:

Cassoulet
from Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites: Flavorful Recipes for Healthful Meals

POINTS® value | 4
Servings | 4–6
Per 8-oz Serving | 237 cal, 1.7 g fat, 5.1 g fiber

main meal | Cassoulet is the name for the classic baked bean dish that is popular bistro fare throughout France. Although baking is the traditional method, you can gently simmer our vegetarian version for 20 minutes on the stove top instead.

Ingredients
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 6 garlic cloves, minced or pressed
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onion (about 1 large)
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 3 bay leaves
• 1/2 tsp dried marjoram
• 1 tsp minced fresh or dried rosemary
• 1/2 cup dry wed wine
• 1 cup peeled and diced carrots (about 2 large)
• 1 cup diced tomatoes (1 large or 2 Roma)
• 3/4 cup pepperoni seitan
• 1 Tbsp molasses
• 1 Tbsp Dijon mustard
• 1 1/2 cups cooked kidney beans (15-oz can, drained)
• 1 1/2 cups cooked cannellini beans (15-oz can, drained)
• salt and ground black pepper to taste

Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium saucepan, warm the olive oil. Add the garlic, onions, thyme, bay leaves, marjoram, and rosemary and sauté for 2 minutes. Add the wine, cover, and simmer until the onions are soft, about 5 minutes. Stir in the carrots, celery, potatoes, and tomatoes, cover, and simmer 10 more minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the seitan, molasses, mustard, and both kinds of beans. Return to a simmer, stirring gently, just until the seitan and beans are heated through. Add salt and pepper to taste. Transfer to a casserole dish that has been prepared with cooking spray, cover, and bake for 45 minutes.

Bon appétit!

Can I embed music?

It's amazing what a little Google search can do. I just learned how to embed music in 3 minutes. Actually, I just copied code from this link.

Here's a track from Arular, the cd by M.I.A. I was talking about below. It's called "Sunshowers". I was bopping around to it at work today. She's sooo good.



Woo-hoo! Go techy Emily!

(and by the way, it just so happened that the player button on the thingy in this code is pink. how fabulous!!)

"Dash your curry like you're not in a hurry!"

For my blog title, I should give props to M.I.A., a Sri Lankan songwriter/hip-hop artist about whom I know very little, but whose music I completely love. I listened to her album Arular while cooking this meal tonight.

This recipe is from a favorite and well-loved and -beaten cookbook that was a lifesaver in my early days of Weight Watchers. I used to set my cookbook on the top of my stove while cooking, sometimes while baking things. I only stopped doing this and got a cookbook holder after I realized that the pages of this and my other cookbooks were turning very brown and crispy. This recipe was the most fried:




Curried Cauliflower with Black Beans
from Weight Watchers Versatile Vegetarian

POINTS® value | 3
Per Serving | 176 cal, 6 g fat, 10 g fiber
Servings | 4

main meal | As heavenly as it is quick and simple, this is an incredibly satisfying and flavorful meal.

Ingredients
• 1 Tbsp + 1 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 tsp curry powder
• 1/2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp ground coriander
• 1 small cauliflower, cored and separated into florets
• 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
• one 14-oz can crushed tomatoes
• one 19-oz can black beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 Tbsp minced cilantro
• salt to taste

Instructions
In a large nonstick skillet, heat the oil. Add the curry, cumin and coriander; cook, stirring, until just fragrant, 10-15 seconds. Add the cauliflower, pepper flakes and 1/4 cup water; cook, stirring as needed, until the cauliflower is well-coated and nearly all of the liquid is evaporated, 3-4 minutes.

Add the tomatoes and 1/4 cup water; cook, covered, stirring as needed, until slightly thickened, about 10 minutes. Gently stir in the black beans; cook until heated through, 2-3 minutes. Sprinke with the cilantro. Add salt to taste.

The cutest thing in the entire world?

I think it's very possible that this is so:

Here is a video of two otters holding hands. Love it!!!

I reached my Weight Watcher's goal on April 11th!

I noticed in the recipe below that I had converted all the calories and nutritional information to POINTS, with the help from Weight Watchers. I don't think I've ever mentioned on this blog that I'm in Weight Watchers. For those of you thinking of trying it, Weight Watchers is fantastic and incredibly successful. It has been for me, anyway. Since May of 2006, I have lost 22.4 lbs! I reached my goal on April 11th, and I'm currently half-way through the process of "Maintenance". This is a period of 6 weeks, during which you work to maintain your weight goal. If, after six weeks, you weigh in at no more than two pounds over your goal, you are awarded Lifetime Membership! This is very exciting, because you can continue to attend the meetings and gather the support from the group for free for as long as you keep off the weight.

I'm working very hard for this ultimate goal.

So here are the before and after pics:

Before: At my mom's graduation, 05/13/06:


After: In my bedroom, immediately after my WW Meeting, 04/11/07:


Isn't that cool?! Woo-hoo!

Garlic Curry Aioli and Sweet Potato Fries

(This is from one of the aforementioned emails I sent recently to my friends and family.)

Hi Folks!

I'm sending along a recipe that my best friend Lizzie gave to me: it's a very yummy curry-based aioli. For those of you who are lucky enough to have tried my Mom's Chicken Broccoli casserole, it's very similar to the base sauce in that.

Also included here is a great recipe for Sweet Potato Fries that go perfectly with this sauce. The serving size here is based on a snack for one or two people, but this would make a great party food, so adjust the number of potatoes to your liking. Enjoy!

Lizzie May's Garlic Curry Aioli

POINTS® value | 1
Servings | 12

sauces | This sauce is very good served with any starchy root vegetable, including potatoes, carrots, and sweet potatoes

Ingredients
• 4 tsp curry powder
• 1/8 tsp paprika
• 3/4 cup reduced-calorie mayonnaise
• 2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 4 clove garlic clove(s)
• 1/2 tsp lemon pepper
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt

Instructions
Mince the garlic cloves, and combine with the mayonnaise. Whisk in the fresh lemon juice.

Stir in the curry powder, eye-balling to taste (I thought 4 tsp was just about right). Add a dash of paprika, and add salt and lemon pepper to taste.

--

Sweet Potato Fries

POINTS® value | 2
Servings | 2

snacks | These fries are perfectly complemented with Lizzie May's Garlic Aioli.

Ingredients
• 1 large sweet potato
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 2/3 tsp kosher salt

Instructions
Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Peel the sweet potato and slice it into thin strips about 1" wide by 4" long. Arrange the strips on a flat baking sheet. Drizzle on the olive oil and sprinkle with salt, then toss the ingredients until the potatoes are thoroughly coated.

Bake in the oven for about 25- 30 minutes, turning once, until the fries are toasted on the outsides.

Yummy!

Shall I become a homebody and post recipes?

I've been in la-la-land lately, reading cookbooks for pleasure, going to the produce market several times a week and buying only the ingredients I need for recipes. It makes me feel like a French woman, a feeling I love, even though I don't speak a word of French.

I've found myself emailing recipes to my friends and family at least 3 times in the past week, so I'm thinking, maybe the time has come that I become the kind of woman to... post new recipes on her blog! How trendy and hip! (I think.)

Another thing I'm planning on doing is using this blog more in general. I've been getting i-chat lectures at work from my friend Eric Shoemaker, who complains that I never blog anymore. He's right. I don't. I will try to blog at least once a week from now on.

Another thing I'll use this blog for is posting pictures I take, which I'll try to take more of. James and I went for a walk up to Alamo Square park (where the famous picture of the Painted Ladies is often taken), and over to the panhandle, and then to the Haight. I took lots of pictures, most of which James claimed (rightly) that I would immediately delete once I upload into my computer. Those included pictures of trolley wires (I mean, HELLO! How San Francisco can you get??), a drawer handle on a dresser on a side walk, a TV on a sidewalk, and a picture of cars in the street. I might post them. I might not.

The next posts will be of all things above.