Josh enjoying the meal and giving me our only outside chair. Awwww.

I joined Josh on the deck and it was fabulous.

Spaghetti Rice!

Rice, spaghetti sauce with onion and basil and oregano, fresh steamed broccoli (under the white plate in the bowl) and best of all.... not made by me! Made by my fabulous and fabulously talented Jorshua. Hur hur humph mrrrrrr.

Spring Roll noms!

Peanut sauce and spring rolls is a nom match made in heaben. ^____^

Not-so-secret ingredients in the rolls:

Basil

Mint

Green onion

Lettuce? Obvious to some perhaps but not to others!

Rice!

Josh bought me a cooking book called 'Rice' at a garage sale over the weekend. It is liek a million different recipes. Only with rice. Which is great for ME since that is the staple of my diet.

One of the ideas in the book was to make a egg-rice quiche with a rice-egg-cheese crust.

For the crust (picture numero uno) mix 1 cup of rice (fresh worked better for me since it was more "sticky") with 1 egg and a small handfull (1 Lisa handfull, about 1/2 a Josh handfull) of grated cheese. Mix and mash into the outside of the pie tin. Bake for 20 minutes at 350 F (I lurb 350 F for cooking, so versatile!) and then fill with nommy.

For the inside I used 2 cups of rice, 3 eggs, 1/4 cup of low fat milk, a really big carrot, two handfulls of mushrooms, 1 regular sized polish sausage, broccoli... really one could mix anything one wants in there. Seasoning is pretty important. I used hot sauce, cayenne pepper, taco bell packets (all the spices COMBINE into warm deliciousness!), paprika, and a tiny amount of cardamom as a not-so-secret ingredient.

Covered it with tin foil and baked for 30 minutes before unwrapping and baking for another 10. Om nom! Not the prettiest dish but tastes beautiful on the inside ^_-

Healthy and nutritious breakfast? Perhaps a bit heavy on the cheese...

Om nom nom grapes (good find Josh) that we washed before eating (good ol' pesticides).

Being allergic to wheat gluten... and rather lazy... makes it difficult to do dishes that are traditionally done with bread. Well, I'll be honest. Being lazy is what makes it difficult, gluten free bread is pretty easy. It's just as time consuming as... well... making bread. I've taken to corn tortillas since they are so darn easy and relatively cheap.

Put half an apple, some peanut butter, some cheese in between two corn tortillas (the wheat friendly version calls for two bagel halves) on an oven friendly surface and toast for 3-7 minutes at 350 F.

BAM. Nomming time. Serve with coffee and PRESTO a caloric and caffeine filled start to your morning.

Inspired by Japanese cuisine and green onion!

I'm still learning how to do a good miso soup. It was a bit light on the miso this time but the mushrooms really kicked up the flavor... Moar Umami! Moar!

Green onion is amazing. Picked up >20 green onion blades. One trick with green onion is that because it comes with the root you can soak the roots and about an inch of leaf (after you have cut off the topmost portion) in water for about a week, plant it, and then with minimal care you have a fairly self-perpetuating green onion machine!

The second dish is rice with rice vinegar (magic ingredient) and pan sauted mushrooms and green onion.

Today's dinner was brought to you byyyyyyyyy rice, green onion, and mushrooms! (the mushrooms were starting to go south, mmmkay...)

Tofu Steak!

Tofu is a wonderful substance but it isn't meat. If one expects that brothy flavor, that texture, the fluids... it isn't going to hold up. Tofu is a sauce sponge. If one wants MASSIVE QUANTITIES of a spice or taste then BAM tofu is what you want.

For the tofu steak we left it overnight in just a worcestshire and mustard marinade. When we cooked it it on the stovetop (we also had success later grilling it. Be sure to get extra firm tofu if you want to try this.) the outside got crisp and trapped the smooth saucy juices inside. So delicious! (the green onion on top is also a delicious touch!)