Thank You, Rachael Ray

We had three meals this week inspired by Rachel Ray! I would say it was a huge success, and I think Zoe would agree. Although RR must have some sort of magic kitchen that cooks food incredibly quickly, because the recipes came out of her 30 Minute Meals cookbook, and I estimate we averaged about 50 minutes to an hour. Nevertheless, we had some great dishes!

Tuesday night we made vegetable fritters with an arugula spinach salad, topped with a tahini dressing. This was my first experience deep frying, and other than the oil taking 30 minutes to get to temperature (one of our burners is not very trustworthy) they were simple and delicious.

We forgot to take the picture until we were almost done eating, oops!

Since I don't eat meat, Rachel prefers to minimalize her meat intake, and Marisa is all about the meat, we have had to be creative with our dinner concepts. We've been able to make it work pretty well! Rachel and I will eat tofu or garden burgers (depending on the ingredient that suits the dish best) and Marisa tends to eat chicken. I wonder if she is tired of chicken yet...

Anyway, Wednesday night was one of those protein option nights. The dish basically consisted of a raisin, red onion, celery, wine sauce over (insert protein of choice here) with mashed potatoes (expertly crafted by Rachel!) and asparagus.

It was actually pretty funny shopping for this dish. The recipe called for a dry white wine. However, as none of us are particularly alcohol enthusiasts, we weren't exactly sure what kind of wine that would be... We ended up deliberating for a while, contemplating which bottle was the most attractive, which was the least expensive, which wines were local, etc. Before we realized consulting the internet would be helpful. The bottle we settled on seemed to work well in the context of the meal!

We managed to take a picture before we started eating this night!

 Zoe and myself on Wednesday night - although she doesn't particularly live to be held, she doesn't resist much, which we all appreciate!

New Whitman College hoodie courtesy of Whitman College Bookstore!

Our final Rachel Ray meal of the week was the closest to a thirty minute meal. The recipe was for a Black Bean Stoup, and included red bell pepper, yellow onion (we opted for a Walla Walla sweet, of course), black beans, corn, stock, seasonings, lime juice and cilantro. Yummo! We doctored it up with some celery (left over from last night) and tomatoes. We also served the stoup (cross between a soup and a stew) with some nachos (Marisa's handiwork).  It was a delightful southwestern meal!

Cheesy goodness :)

Isn't that beautiful?!

Rachel and I (and Zoe?) finished off the celery with one of the best ways to eat celery: ants on a log! Who would have thought a weird stocky vegetable with raisins and peanut butter would be so scrumptious?

Zoe inspecting.

Being a cat is exhausting, especially when there is so much interesting food to examine!

Zoe resting in one of her favorite locations. I think it's because the bunny is there to keep her company!

Happy dining to all, and to all a good night!