Hot & Cold Lettuce Wraps

Do you like P.F. Chang's? I like having a restaurant to suggest when the occasion arises for group dining and no one has any ideas that will accommodate me. I rediscovered this restaurant chain when I was living in Philadelphia, and (at the time) the only location was way in the ‘burbs. Way, way, out. An hour out. But I made the trek once or twice, usually coupled with a visit to the Brandywine River Museum. (Andrew Wyeth, anyone?)

Here in Cincinnati, I’m pretty close to a P. F. Chang’s store, but I still decided to try their signature lettuce wrap appetizer at home. This wasn’t an exact replica, but it was still tasty!

I started by pressing my tofu, about 1/3 of the block, diced small. I marinated it in soy sauce, fresh grated ginger and garlic, and lime juice. I broiled it. I used the rest of the tofu in a stir fry.

Separately, I cooked chopped onion, mushrooms, and water chestnuts. I cut everything small to be roughly the same size in the wraps. Then I tossed in the broiled tofu so it could soak up some of the mushroom juice.

I made a sauce of hoisin, ginger, pepper paste (Sambal Oelek), rice vinegar, and soy sauce. This was nice and hot!

Serve this mix up scooped generously in iceberg lettuce cups along with some fresh cilantro and bean sprouts, if you have any. I promise if I ever decide to make a cookbook, I’ll be more specific with my measurements – but for now, do everything to taste!

Beer and Baseball

I kicked off my vacation week with one of my favorite activities that I would do every day if it weren’t so bad for me: happy hour.

We occasionally go to a neighborhood place simply called The Pub that claims to be an English pub, but they have all sorts of beers including Alex’s local favorite, the Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale. This sweet beer is served in a 10-ounce snifter and is pretty good when it’s on tap. The beer is aged in, well, bourbon barrels, and it takes on slight bourbon scent and flavor. More and more local places are carrying this beer.

I chose a Bass. Previously, my favorite beer in this situation would be a Smithwicks, but after discovering the knowledge available to me through Barnivore I can’t really stomach it anymore.

This place has half-price half-sized appetizers during happy hour, so although you’re not exactly saving money you do save calories unless you have a group to share the food. We usually get the fried pickles, and they’re just the right blend of spicy, crunchy, vinegary and battery and hot from the fryer.

Then we headed out to the baseball game. The Phillies were in town to play the Reds. Our loyalties are split between our current hometown and our previous hometown, so I cheered for both teams. Maybe that’s the beer talking. But here’s what makes Cincinnati better than Philly, at least to me: we drove downtown in 10 minutes, parked on the street for free, and got $5 tickets and had a great view. We sat on both sides of the stadium throughout the game.

So far, the Reds won last night and put up a good fight tonight, only to lose in extra innings after a huge come-from-behind tie. I’d say that’s a pretty good showing for a team that recently was made fun of on Glee. I only searched for a minute and couldn't find the quote, but there was an episode when Kurt’s dad took Finn to a baseball game, but it was hardly a major league game because they were headed to Cincinnati. Eh, I don’t think I can argue against that they way a local would.

Weekend Getaway in Louisville

I love the internet. Love, love, love. You can find just about anything.

This weekend we took a little road trip to The Abbey of Gethsemani and Bernheim Forest in central Kentucky and spent the night in Louisville, which is just about 90 minutes from where we live now. I don’t know where we would have eaten if I hadn’t been able to search for good vegetarian food on the internet. We found two good meals in Louisville.

For dinner Saturday night, we wanted something simple and filling after a day sweating and hiking at Bernheim. I found the Third Avenue Cafe, read some reviews, perused the menu, and confirmed that they serve beer. There were several selections on the menu that looked promising, and they make it known that everything is homemade on the premises, and that they have a dedicated fryer for meats and a separate one for non-meat items. They also specially mark vegan items on the menu so you don't have to worry about your sauces or anything else. That's nice.

We did meet the Elvis on the bench as we walked in, but we sat outside on the patio along the sidewalk. We started with the portabella strips appetizer. This was thick strips of portabella, a whole mushroom cut into half-inch slices, then lightly battered and fried. The batter was very, very light. Lighter than the lightest tempura I’ve ever had. The mushroom was juicy and flavorful, and the horseradish sauce was a delightful touch, although giving each of us a cup of it was more than is necessary.

I considered getting the black bean burger or tofu burrito, but each of those dishes are something I can quickly get at home. Instead, I opted for the barbecue tofu sandwich and Alex got the veggie Reuben. Each comes with a choice of chips, fries, potato salad, cole slaw, soup, or soybean salad. Because I was getting barbecue, I opted for the honey mustard cashew cole slaw.

Our waitress, who attempted to memorize our orders, brought me the potato salad instead. I asked about the slaw and she blamed it on the cook (ah! we saw on the receipt that she entered potato salad). My point here is this: the potato salad is in the photo, but I didn’t eat any. The cole slaw was okay, but kind of limp and not special. The potato salad looked better, but she took it away, so there’s no sure way to tell.

As for the tofu, it was okay. The barbecue sauce was good, sweet, and sticky. And messy. The sandwich was mostly bread, and the red onion dominated the flavor. I must say, though, that the bread was good. They say it’s homemade tomato foccacia, and it was tasty. That said, I’d still rather have the yee-haw barbecue seitan sandwich at Melt.

Alex’s sandwich, on the other hand, was amazing. The marbled rye bread was toasty and tasty, and the sandwich was mostly sauerkraut. There was a flavorful, thin layer of smokey tempeh, some Thousand Island dressing, and some soy-Swiss. This sandwich was perfect. I have never had an actual Reuben, but this was a really good sandwich in itself. His chips were also good. So, there was a typo on the menu and it gave one choice as “homemade mesquite potato chops.” So he asked for the chops. The waitress giggled and said chips. These thick-cut chips were good and came with some kind of ranch-dill dipping sauce that was yummy.

So, all in all, Alex’s selections were the winners. The good news is that we now have a lunch/dinner stop for when we drive through Louisville. We were actually commenting to each other when we were driving home from Saint Louis through Louisville that we didn’t know of any good places to stop, and this could easily be a stop when we drive through on our way to Memphis. It also shows that even these small cities have gems for vegans and vegetarians.

Roasted Red Pepper and White Bean Dip

Does not buying pre-packaged hummus trump using canned beans?

I know it doesn’t look like much but this was good. I oven-roasted half a red bell pepper (left over from last night’s dinner) and blended with a can of cannellini beans, some smashed garlic, salt, and good extra virgin olive oil.

I made flat bread with this recipe to go with it using half whole wheat flour and half white flour. Luckily for me, I get done with work pretty early and can get started on the dough right after work. As most of the trouble with homemade bread is the rising time, that’s not a problem and everything came together in a couple of hours.

Buffalo Seitan and Potato Skins

I love snacky food. Like just about everyone else in the country, we watched the Superbowl and wanted some special snacky food to eat along with. I wanted things that I normally wouldn’t eat, and I don’t mean chicken wings and bacon. Our main dishes were buffalo seitan and potato skins.

I used this recipe for oven-baked potato skins. It was pretty easy, if a little time consuming.

1. Scrub and bake your potatoes. Slice in half, then scoop out enough potato to leave a quarter-inch shell.
2. Coat the insides with a mix of oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and paprika.
3. Bake at a hot 475F for 7 minutes (so they crisp).
4. Turn and coat the jackets with the same mix and bake another 7 minutes. If I were to do this again, I’d probably just spray the outside with Pam or brush with oil and leave it at that, although I’d still bake the 14 minutes to get them nice and crispy.
5. Fill cups with cheese or facon or other toppings and bake until melty, about 5 minutes for mine. Serve immediately.

Alex made some Morningstar bacon strips while these guys were baking, and we filled the potato skin cups with shredded cheddar cheese, and a half stick of bacon each. On our plates, we topped with sour cream and chives. It’s been a while since either of us has had potato skins, and we both enjoyed these a lot. Alex commented that these were less cheesy and more potato than he had at restaurants. I liked how crisp they got as well as the flavor of the spice rub.

Buffalo seitan, the way we make it, is really easy. We simply used packaged seitan and doused it in store-bought wing sauce, heated it one the stove, and that’s it. Served with some of that celery I was worried about using up and some Ken’s bleu cheese dressing.

Holiday Eats, for Two

Although this wasn't technically the first Christmas Alex and I have spent together, it is the first year we've spend the entire day together, and to add to that, it's the first (and hopefully the last, at least for a while) that we spend alone, together. We spent a good bit of time trying to figure out what would be important for us to do to make the day feel special. Okay, I spent a while trying to think about what I wanted to do and trying to get Alex to tell me what he wanted. We ate, played video games, went to the movies, and ate some more.

I knew I wanted to have a special breakfast or brunch. As a kid, we always had French toast and a sausage and egg casserole my grandmother would make. I toyed with the idea of making something similar with vegetarians soysage, but simply ran out of time to plan after a busy week. As it was, I was at the grocery store on Christmas Eve during the single available hour between when I finished work and the store closed.

We had red & green (red bell pepper and broccoli) frittata for breakfast, along with some garlic cheddar biscuits.

For Christmas dinner, we snacked on mushroom bruschetta: chopped cremini and shiitake mushrooms, red onion, garlic, and thyme piled on pan-toasted baguette slices, rubbed with a bit of olive oil. Some we tried with a smear of goat cheese, others just the mushroom mix and bread.

We also ate a spring mix salad topped with pistachios, dried cranberries, goat cheese, red onion, and balsamic vinaigrette. I've said before I don't like to eat right off the stove -- I prefer to relax for a few minutes before eating -- so it was nice to have these appetizers with some Pere Jacques while our oven roasted potatoes, well, roasted in the oven.

I prepared blackened tofu from the recipe in a new cookbook, The Vegan Soul Kitchen, along with some sautéed kale and those oven roasted potato slices. I know I'll be looking at some of Bryant Terry's black-eyed pea recipes for New Year's Day.

This meal was certainly a success. and although I can't say this will become a Christmas tradition for us, it was certainly a very nice meal for our first Christmas alone together. At least Alex liked the meal better than the movie I wanted to watch (Mixed Nuts).

Experimentation Sunday: Soul Sushi

Tonight, I made Soul Sushi from The Ethnic Vegetarian. Sounds good, and this recipe caught my eye early on. The first time I took Alex out for sushi, we went to a place in Philadelphia -- I can't remember where -- and they had all kinds of vegetarian options, including a sweet potato tempura. It was good. Here, the veggie rolls are simple: avocado, "veggie", and tamago (ick). Some places have an asparagus roll. If you know of any better selection around, do let me know!

I don't think I'd make soul sushi again, but we ate it. I didn't dislike it. I do need to practice rolling.

I think I'd be more inclined to try a different roll next time.

Sweet potatoes blended with cilantro and soy sauce; celery and cucumber marinated in rice wine vinegar and sesame oil; nori; sushi rice.

Kale Chips: Fab, or Flop?

The recipe for kale chips has been floating around the web for a while and has been something I wanted to try. I compared a few recipes and decided to go for it.

I washed and dried my kale.


I cut it into pieces, tossed in a small amount of olive oil and salt, and spread it on a cookie sheet. As you can see, I didn't cut away the stems. Seemed wasteful.


I baked at 400F for about 10 minutes, tossing it partway through. I would have baked it longer, but I thought it was done enough. Some of the pieces were dried and crisp, although they were so thin they had a papery quality. Others were nice and juicy, especially those with a piece of crunchy stem in them. I liked those the best, and I thoroughly enjoyed the simple flavor of kale and salt and a little olive oil.


What does this tell me? I need to find a better way to cook the kale, and I certainly need to throw it into the rotation!

On a sidenote, I was listening to a piece on The Splendid Table with some guy talking about how search engines put the relevant recipe sites further down the page and favor giving you recipes from sites like Cooks.com, where people post recipes that haven't been tested or carefully written. He used the example of someone getting a "tummy ache" (his words, seriously) from a recipe that wasn't clear on whether to use raw or cooked chicken in a casserole. I think that this kind of insults us in two ways: first, our ability to cook and see a good recipe; second, our ability to use the internet and find a recipe worth trying.

Oh well. Maybe I'll take that advice and try this recipe, tried and true from The Peppertree, which tells me to remove the kale stems and cook them longer in a cooler oven. I'm not going to say it won't work, but I did like to crunch on those stems. And I did polish off my baked kale.

Restaurant: Vietnam

Last week in Philadelphia, we went to one of my favorite restaurants, Vietnam. For me, it's that place that I go almost every time I'm back in town. Although they violate several of the 100 things restaurant staffers should never do, including not taking reservations and not seating you until your entire party has arrived, they serve some of my favorite food and I like being there. A few times I've been lucky enough to sit by the windows on the second floor, away from the bustling and often crowded dining room.

Because I only eat at Vietnam once or twice a year, I usually get the same thing. We'll start off with a shared plate of veggie spring rolls, served crispy and cut into big bites. They come with lettuce, mint leaves, carrots, cucumbers, and a side of their house sauce, sweet nuoc mam. The serving is heaping; we split it three ways and all had more than enough.


I also like the tofu rolls, which are very different from the crispy spring rolls: translucent rice paper wraps rice noodles, a slice of tofu, lettuce, bean sprouts, and basil. My photo of these turned out completely blurry. I was slightly self-conscious about snapping photos in the restaurant, even though the family at the next table over was taking camera phone shots of their giggly toddler gnawing on his spoon. The darker the restaurant, the more obtrusive the flash, even when our friendly waiter saw me with the camera out and smiled (or laughed to himself at me!).

For entrees, I usually stick to the vermicelli noodle bowl, known as bun. Alex got the crispy spring roll vermicelli and I got the tofu vermicelli, having already eaten my fill of spring rolls. Both of these bowls have soft rice noodles, lettuce, sprouts, cucumbers and carrots and a little hot sauce. The noodles and vegetables are cool, and the tofu or rolls on top are warm. I pour on some of the sauce and scoop it up -- it's delightful and unlike anything else. I actually prefer the tofu because it's not as crunchy as the spring rolls and the soft tofu really soaks up the sauce. I'm getting hungry again looking at these photos.


One last thing. I very rarely order dessert, although I had dessert both nights in Philly. I was immediately attracted to the black eyed pea pudding when I first saw it, and now I get it nearly every visit. I had no idea until I researched black eyed peas that they are native to India and are grown throughout Asia. So this dessert isn't special to Vietnam Restaurant, and it's even mentioned in Wikipedia -- che dau. It's warm, sweet sticky rice with black eyed peas and coconut milk. And it's seriously good, and almost a surprise as it's so different from the usual way I think of eating black eyed peas and rice.

Excuse the blurry photo. It's not much to look at, but this is a tasty dessert, probably one headed toward being recreated at home.

Tofu Lettuce Wraps

Ever since bypassing the Viet Now tofu at Mango's, I'd been craving some Vietnamese flavors. I made lettuce wraps and Faux Pho, two things I'd never tried myself. I was very, very pleased with the results. The lettuce wraps pretty easy to make.



The recipe I used claimed that you should have 1/4 cup of the marinade left to use as sauce, but my thirsty tofu soaked up every last bit of it. That was fine, though, because they were so chock full of sauce that it would have been overkill to add any more to them.

I started with frozen and thawed firm tofu, pressed the water from it, and made the marinade almost as directed. You need lime juice, honey (I used agave syrup), lemongrass, soy sauce, chili paste, and garlic. Slice the tofu before marinating in, and turn the tofu slices as they soak up the sauce. Alex cooked the tofu slices in our wok because he has the patience to turn each piece individually and brown each side.

For the wraps, I used iceberg lettuce and laid out the toppings for both the pho and wraps in one, so some did double duty. We had bean sprouts, carrots, and cilantro. Alex threw in some scallions and hoisin, too. I forgot the chopped peanuts mentioned in the recipe, but that might have been a nice touch. These were great! One of my favorite recipe finds by far and a dish we love to eat out was a success at home.

Restaurant: Mango's in Houston

I knew I'd only have one night to go out to eat while I was in Houston and I wanted to take this opportunity to try something new. Little did I know that I'd enjoy the incredible mushroom ravioli at Macaroni Grill or the best vegetarian option at a wedding I'd ever had (besides other all-veg weddings) -- a really good vegetable napoleon dish.

I searched the web for vegetarian restaurants and among the many that came up, Mango's caught my eye immediately because of the name. When I looked at their menu, I knew that we had to go there. The boneless buffalo wings enticed me and the variety of sandwiches cemented my insistence on going there.

These buffalo wings are tofu, naturally boneless, of course. They were fried and doused in buffalo sauce that with just the right amount of heat. The pesto dressing was a good accompaniment. They also offer these wings as a sandwich, or with spicy or mild barbecue sauce instead of the buffalo.

Their Thursday night music act was canceled, which was probably a good thing for my visit as I didn't realize that this was more of a music venue than restaurant, at least at night. We ordered at the bar and sat outside on the front porch. Although it was a chilly night, this was a better option than the inside which had only a few tables and smelled of lingering smoke, even though the place was empty (the other patrons were on the back porch).

Alex and I went along with my parents, which afforded us the luxury of trying a second appetizer and sampling four sandwiches.

Curry fries. The curry was great -- toss these crisp fries with the sauce for a real treat.

Grilled eggplant hoagie. The hoagie rolls were very good, and I also liked to the roasted tomatoes topping this sandwich. It came with the same cilantro garlic pesto dressing as the wings and other sandwiches.

I got the white bean garlic burger, which was also really good with a little kick of spice, but I didn't care for the crusty ciabatta and ended up eating the patty with a fork. I got the avocado for a little extra and swapped my fries for a salad with a tasty white wine vinaigrette and pumpkin seeds. Yum!



Alex got the "City Boy" Po Boy, which is a fleshless veggie pulled pork style sandwich served with lettuce, tomato, and onion, with three jalapeno slices across the top. I'm guessing this was setian, and it was really good with a good barbecue sauce, although it was slightly spicy as well (and I didn't even touch the jalapeno).

Besides the cigarette smell (I forget there are places where they still let you smoke indoors!) the only disappointment we had was that they didn't serve Bud Lite. Now, I can understand that not everybody has that beer, but it was printed on the menu. My father was pretty disappointed. He got his Boca burger (not pictured) and a glass of water and did just fine. I got the Saint Arnold's amber beer and really enjoyed it; we went to the brewery "tour" on Saturday and had a pretty good, if crowded, time.

I wish I could find a place like Mango's here. The only all-vegetarian restaurants I've been to have been fancy-schmancy (Horizons), or Indian or Chinese. So this was really, really, neat for me to find this unexpected gem in Texas. Plus, the people who worked there was so nice and patient with us newbies. I want to go back and try the "Viet-Now" tofu sandwich and I want to go back for brunch.

Trying to make it easy by not frying it

No-Fry Fried Zucchini is just as good as it sounds. Yeah.


I'm always looking for new sides to go with pasta. Sometimes we'll just toss a whole bunch of veggies together, maybe some ricotta, and stop there. I've already written about the no-cream creamed spinach, but I was ready to try something different. We made actual fried zucchini once, I think it was when we were frying eggplant for eggplant parm. We also battered and fried some pickles, at Alex's request. This no-fry breading pretty much just fell off, but the zucchini was good. Maybe next time I'll try a recipe for oven-fried battered zucchini.

Ingredients:
3 zucchini, sliced or made into "fries"
1 egg
Store bought breadcrumbs, seasoned
Grated Parmesan
Cooking spray

Preheat the oven to 400F. Yes, for this I did something I almost never do -- I preheated the oven. I used something else I almost never use -- Pam. Spray your baking sheet. I find the smell off-putting, but I used it anyway.

Beat the egg in a low dish. In a second low dish, mix breadcrumbs and Parmesan. I used about 3 parts breadcrumbs for 1 part Parmesan. Season it if you wish; I was worried that between the Parm and the seasoned crumbs the breading would be too salty. I thought it was fine; Alex added salt.

Coat the zucchini strips in egg, then breading, and lay across the baking sheet. Bake 10-13 minutes, or until the zucchini is tender. Now, the recipe I used instructed me to spray Pam on top of my breaded zucchini. First of all, I didn't want to do this, but on second thought I decided to give it a real try. When I spritzed my Pam at the zucchini, the breading flew off! So none of that. It also instructs you to turn them halfway through the cooking time, at about 7 minutes, and I think that is absolutely impossible so I didn't even try. Honestly, though, I'm not sure I would have liked this better if I had tried harder. As I said before, the goodness of the zucchini overpowered the silliness I put it through with my breading and baking.

Bruschetta makeover

Over the weekend I obtained a large box of homegrown tomatoes, some my father brought me from his favorite farmer and some from my aunt and uncle's garden. I also brought home some jalapenos and bell peppers from their garden. One last thing I picked up is a new (to me) vegetarian cookbook from a used bookstore. I might have mentioned before that I don't have one cookbook that I'm completely happy with and I typically peruse the 'net for recipes. I picked up The New Vegetarian Epicure and read author Anna Thomas' section on tomatoes.

I made what she calls Minted Tomato Salad with Feta Cheese. Probably the biggest obstacle to this differentiating itself from my previous post on bruschetta is that I omitted the mint. My grocery store happened to be out of fresh mint; I didn't feel like making another stop. Well, that and I just mixed everything up without layering it as she instructs. Alex and I agreed that the red onions and feta, though, were nice additions. I might need to research what parboiling those tomatoes in the other recipe accomplishes, as well, because these were just fine freshly chunked.


Ingredients: (confession - I didn't measure! I eyeballed the amounts to my desired proportions and also tried to make just enough for two servings; the recipe as written claims 6-8 servings as a first course or 10-15 as part of a buffet.)

4 cups ripe tomatoes, cut in chunks
1 Tablespoon + 1 teaspoon olive oil
1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar -- I probably used more, even though I used less tomato
2 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 Tablespoons fresh mint, chopped
2 Tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 medium red onion -- I used less because I find it to have a bite that's pleasant only in small doses
4 oz. feta cheese, cubed or crumbled

Serve with crusty bread

Combine the tomato chunks with a tablespoon of olive oil, vinegar, garlic, mint, and basil. You can reserve some mint for garnish. Salt lightly, especially as the feta is salty. Mound the tomato mixture in your serving dish and arrange the feta around the tomatoes. Scatter thin slices of red onion over the cheese. Drizzle the remaining teaspoon of oil over the feta and onions, then sprinkle on the remaining mint.

Like I already mentioned, I mixed everything up and it was so good I only took one photo. I can see her arrangement being visually appealing, mine sure was easier to eat. Once everything is chopped, this is super-easy to put together.

Jefferson Hall and the disappearance of Cafe Istanbul

Last night we went out to dinner and a movie. Ever since I've made the effort to cook more at home, we typically go out for things that we can't make or that are just too much trouble. I guess in a way, that's what happened. We ended up with a really good meal, but it was nothing like what we expected. I should probably mention that fried foods is something I'll go out for -- seems silly to waste so much oil frying at home. Look for a trial of no-fry fried zucchini coming soon.

We headed down to Newport on the Levee, ready for a meal at Cafe Istanbul. We traditionally go there before concerts at Southgate House, most recently to see Mindy Smith and Tift Merritt. We also had a really memorable night there on the patio earlier this summer, but it was strange because it seemed that their air conditioner wasn't working. We enjoyed the weather on the patio, but our wine was hot from the bar. Maybe they were on the way out at that point. Anyway, when we got there, we were alone -- no restaurant. I can't believe they closed -- they had a great veggie kabob grill and, of course, falafel.

There are several other restaurants in the center, and of course we could leave as well, but we'd just paid for parking and had plans to see a movie there. We stumbled into Jefferson Hall, and I really didn't have high expectations. We had a great view, medicre service, and our meals were served in baskets.

The Purple People Bridge over the Ohio River from our table at Jefferson Hall

One of our bad habits when eating out is to try an appetizer, even when we know we'll have enough food with just our meals. I'm learning to use the appetizer as something just to try so that I'll be hungry enough to enjoy my meal. Last night, we got the soft pretzels with beer cheese, which is available all over the place in this area as a nod to the German heritage. Of course, to us, soft pretzels are very Philly -- plus I used to work in a pretzel shop. These were really tasty, and the beer cheese was better at Jefferson Hall than at Keystone.

Of course, the reason we chose this restaurant above the others in the same area was that we saw on the menu that you could substitute a black bean burger for the animal burger with any of their toppings. We each got a burger and fries and split each in half. Our suddenly attentive waitress wanted to get us a box for our other halves, not understanding that we placed them in the paper trays to swap. She seemed relieved that we would be eating our meals, not reducing their size prior to digging in.

On the left, the "better" burger -- we both preferred the JHall burger. This featured a generous spread of boursin cheese, a thick slice of grilled onion, and then the regular burger toppings (I took off the raw onions). The other one we tried is the California burger, which features pepper jack cheese, roasted red peppers, and guacamole on the side. I wasn't in the mood for spicy cheese, and the red peppers were a little bitter. Don't let my criticism taint this review, though, because this was a tasty burger. The black bean patty was nearly perfect; it wasn't a Gardenburger like I can get in the frozen foods aisle; it wasn't a hit-or-miss attempt at a homemade veggie patty; it was consistent, tasty, and much appreciated. I think we will be back, but maybe next time we should aim to be there for happy hour.

Success at last! Crostini and toppings

Part of tonight's dinner includes two recipes I found online. First, I wanted to use some fresh tomatoes to make my own bruschetta. I found this recipe and followed it practically verbatim except I let the tomatoes cool after the parboil. Second, I made a spinach and bean dip I saw on Everyday Italian. It was good, and my husband loved it, but it wasn't as great as I was expecting it to be.

I served both toppings on crostini, which I made in a very simple way. I cut a baguette into 1/2-inch slices, dipped one side into olive oil, places the slices oil side down on a tray, and baked at 450F for 5 minutes and turned off the oven.

Fresh tomato and basil bruschetta:

Ingredients: about a pound of plum or Roma tomatoes; 2-3 cloves garlic; handful of fresh basil leaves; 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil; 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar; salt

I used four large Kentucky plum tomatoes I found at the grocery store and was really pleased with how it tasted. This was also the first time I'd used a lot of the basil I've been growing in a pot in the back yard.

1. Bring a pot of water to boil, then turn it off. Put in the tomatoes and leave them for one minute. Drain. Peel the tomatoes, remove the watery pulp, and dice them finely. This was really easy to do, even removing the skins, after the parboil. 2. Mince the garlic cloves and chop the basil and add to the diced tomato. Salt the tomatoes generously. You can add some pepper too if you like. 3. Add the vinegar and oil and mix everything together. Serve with crostini.

I'm not going to recreate the spinach dip recipe here because I included the link to the recipe. I think the dip was better when it was still warm, and afterward just tasted a little weird. I was really expecting to like it because I love cannellini beans and I usually can't find too many uses for them. Maybe it's just that I'm not used to eating spinach at room temperature unless it's in a creamy spinach dip. I did like pulling out the food processor to make it! In its defense, it was on the "healthy" show, and it was super easy to make. I would consider making it for a group, so if you're ever invited over -- watch out!