A little backtracking

We're back from vacation (sadly) and I have one more post to catch up on before I start cooking again. We were trying to finish up the reminder of the fridge contents before leaving, so it's not the most exciting meal...just to warn you.

I started off with a simple salad of spinach leaves, julienned baby carrots, and the remainder of my home-pickled daikon. I topped the salad with some black toasted sesame seeds and a bit of the leftover pickling liquid.

This was light, fresh, and delicious. I was only trying to use up leftovers, but it's something that I'll make again in the future, even with other options.

We also had a couple potatoes to finish up, and although I've got my own family recipe for potato latkes, we were out of eggs, so I decided it was time to try the V'con version.

Long story short, these were mediocre at best, and I much prefer my own recipe. V'con also reccomends using a food processor, which I did with one potato before switching to the greater. Grating may take a bit longer, but texture is what MAKES latkes. In addition, I made a dipping sauce with ricotta, Olive Oil, salt, and pepper, and that was delicious on these.

Last but not least was a V'con recipe that I've made before and never blogged about, which is the Quinoa-Chickpea pilaf. The first time I made this I didn't have any of the tomato paste the recipe called for, so I replaced it with pasta sauce. This time around I used tomato paste, but will actually go back to the sauce in the future. This rendition was a bit dry overall and not quite as flavorful.

Regardless, this is a great, belly-warming (yes that's steam you see in the picture) food that I highly recommend...with tomato sauce, not paste.

All that said, I went grocery shopping today and I'm off to the kitchen to rustle up some dinner right now, so you can expect more posting soon.

Selah.