Basil and Such

Last week's meals:

Sunday: paninis!
(With an exclamation point. I baked the bread, the ciabatta recipe I've used before, and it ended up very flat. The previous recipe was linked here, and again the beating for ten minutes step felt so very long. Good thing there was some World Cup soccer to keep my brain otherwise occupied. The flatness meant that we just sliced it horizontally and filled it with tomatoes, onions, and basil. And cheese, plenty of cheese).

Monday: fake chicken nuggets in salad
(https://www.morningstarfarms.com/products/chikn/buffalo-wings have the same texture as I remember from real chicken nuggets. Weird, but tasty enough).

Tuesday: caprese salad, mostly
(Our basil plant is doing aight. Also, I realized this week that I love that there is a word to describe tomato+basil+mozarella cheese).

This is our wee "garden," a few weeks ago. Thankfully, all the plants (including the basil) are bigger now and having them in pots seems to have staved off the slugs of yesteryear. 

Wednesday: spicy wraps
(We are trying to eat a leetle healthier, with a little less flour/sugar, even though flour and sugar are delicious. Ahem, ciabatta bread. Tonight's meal was inspired by my friend Bryttin's blog: http://soyummage.blogspot.com/ and her spicy Asian beef wraps. The point is: ground meat with lots of awesome spices, served in leaves of lettuce, as opposed to, oh, tortillas. We've made this a few times and are always happy with the crisp coolness of the lettuce as a great contrast to the spicy heat of the meat).

Thursday: garbanzo beans
(With spices, yogurt, tomatoes, onions etc. A soaked the beans Tuesday night, cooked them partially Wednesday, and finished off the dish tonight. Awesome).

Friday: more garbanzo beans and more beef wraps, basically leftovers
(With other goings-ons Friday night, this was a quick and simple).


Saturday: stuffed mushrooms and stir fry cauliflower 
(The cauliflower was inspired by The Pioneer Woman and her 16 minute meals.http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2014/05/spicy-cauliflower-stir-fry/ The first taste was rather disappointing, but I found that if I added a lot more of everything she suggested, specifically more garlic, soy sauce, and Siracha, it was a-okay, but not stellar. Her photos are stellar though, right? You can see why I wanted to try this? A is still on his stuffed mushrooms kick, and they were fab again Saturday night. Did you know Pennsylvania was the highest mushroom-producing state in the US?)