Food Pairing from Belgium

Harvest is but a memory in the slough of winter, but what goes with zucchini? I would have said tomatoes, mushrooms, bell peppers and/or cheese. Also soy sauce--I had a friend who used to marinade long slices of zucchini in soy sauce, but frankly I would say the marinade never penetrated; she was kidding herself.

Now an outfit called "Sense for Taste" out of Belgium has an online food pairing calculator. Just the thing when I'm looking at the end-of-the-week ingredients that somehow didn't make it into any dinners. I'm intrigued but sometimes skeptical of the food pairing suggestions for zucchini, a food which can be a bountiful summer challenge.

http://www.foodpairing.be/FoodPairable.aspx?f=Zucchini

We'll be skipping the tea and Chardonnay, I add, wiping my hands on my apron.

Whether or not this internet toy leads you to your next culinary invention, or causes your frozen food conglomerate to hire them, Food Pairing is fun to play with. There is a long list of set foods, by category, on the right-hand column (you may have to click an arrow triangle to see them). The search box doesn't work for me and my machine--I don't know if that's because their coding is broken or because an ASPX database only interacts with Microsoft products.

Zucchini with ginger? maybe. Zucchini with apricot? Two Utah-ish ingredients I'd never have thought to combine.

Potato Soup with Kale Garnish

<--The mere idea of kale on the plate.
<--Yum for me; tears for her.

It's been cold and rainy. Last week I planned two dinners that didn't happen: one a mildly yellow potato soup with green salad, another garlicky greens on ziti pasta with cannellini. I still have the ingredients for both, so I decided to make the potato soup with a side of sauteed greens. It was not a hit.

Menu:
Double potato soup (sweet potatoes and regular potatoes with half-and-half)
Kale sauteed in olive oil and garlic, steamed in vegetable broth.
Toasted Wheat hamburger bun as roll.
Milk or Cranberry Juice to drink

As a family dinner, this was a fail.
I forgot about the tendency of Kale to be bitter. I love it in a creamy soup, but obviously none of the children do, not even the vegetarian with the sophisticated palate. Also, the younger half of the family hate potatoes and most soups, though I refuse to acknowledge this.

Nevertheless, I assure you it was delicious. I love that greens / starchy soup / cranberry juice triad. However, I'm not sure I'm going to love it for three lunches in a row.

How was your Veggie Thanksgiving?

We had Thanksgiving at our friends' place this year. They were really cool about making alternates of a couple side dishes to expand the vegetarian menu. And I learned how they make gluten-free pie for their family!

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, and I must really love my friends or I would never have enjoyed giving up my role as host and menu czar. I was thinking next year I might serve salmon along with the turkey, since my vegetarian daughter added fish to her diet.

Tell us about your menu this year! And like me, are you already plotting for the next?

A lazy week of split-meals

Not that I recommend living on tacos, burgers, and pizza, which is what we ate this week.

Monday:
Taco Bar (shells, beans, cheese, lettuce, taco-seasoned meat, taco sauce),
homemade applesauce,
butternut squash soup.
Tuesday:
reheated pizza from the weekend (in the frying pan on the stove),
leftover butternut squash soup,
caesar salad from bag.
Wednesday:
Thai vegetarian coconut curry containing baked potato and blue lake green beans,
pineapple,
"asian" bagged salad with dried cherries, shredded carrot, cabbage, lettuce, won-ton strips, and ginger-sesame dressing,
baked chicken thighs on the side deboned and chopped for those who'd like to add it as condiment to curry,
peanuts on the side, for those who'd like to add it to curry.
Thursday:
choice of Sloppy Joe, or Portabella Garden Burger. Orders taken 30 minutes before dinner.
Watermelon,
carrot sticks and olives,
salt-and-pepper chips,
store-bought egg-potato salad.
Friday: Pizza as per contract with 9-year-old.

This week in Split Meals

Monday:
Stuffing (actually, I guess it's called dressing when it's cooked in a dish?)
(apples, onion, celery, raisins, torn bread, vegetarian boullion from Knorr cube. This is my one make-an-effort dish this week.)
--thanks kits54 for suggesting the Knorr.
Top with Poached egg for vegetarian tonight; with Kielbasa, top or to the side, if you're not.
Green Salad

Strange Dessert: Twinkie-Hot Dog, as seen in Weird Al's UHF movie.
Twinkie without hotdog for the vegetarian and the sane.


Tuesday:
Refried Beans, Queso Fresca
Spanish Rice
Green-sauce corn tortilla Enchilada, (some with cooked ground turkey, some without.)
Green Salad


Wednesday:
Sloppy Joe, or
fried egg sandwich on bun, topped with sloppy joe sauce.
fruit

Thursday:
something with yams and leftovers.


Friday:
Pizza. It's always Pizza on Friday.
usually with apples or green salad or both.

This Week's Menu at Scarehaircare

Ooh! Good idea. I will spare you the non-veggie days, here is the rest of the menu:

Meatless Monday: Hoppin' John over rice, collard greens, cornbread with honey butter
Family Night Treat: Peach Cobbler and vanilla ice cream

Wednesday: Spaghetti with homemade Mushroom Marinara , green salad with chickpeas, tomatoes, olives and feta, crusty bread

Friday: make-your-own-pizzas. Magherita pizza for me (I might throw on some eggplant, too.)

This Week's Menu--for Heather

Just to show how flexible we are around here (the blog), I thought I'd show what is on the menu at my house this week.
Heather--I saw your comment on the previous post--you can definitely play here!

Monday: Veggie Calzones (I may throw some turkey pepperoni into a couple for the carnivores-maybe not)
Tuesday--canned soup (I work on Tuesday and heating up soup is about all my husband can do with consistent successful results--last week he made gardenburgers and used every skillet I own)
Wednesday--Indian Cashew Chicken--from this month's Cooking Light
Thursday--(the other day I work--so leftovers from Wednesday)
Friday--Black Bean Burgers
Saturday--Pumpkin Waffles and scrambled eggs
Sunday--Cheesy Potato and Cauliflower chowder

Anyone want to share their menu for the week?