Dave and I have spent the last few days in London. It's always good to be back and catch up with friends and colleagues and of course get a taste of foods that are much harder to come by here. Over the past few days, I've had Indian, sushi, full English breakfast and our favorite rib roast for two at Anchor and Hope on the Cut.

Much to Dave's disappointment, arriving home on a Sunday to a country where grocery stores aren't open doesn't leave much opportunity for a Sunday roast, but in a way we had ours last night and I personally could not stomach that much beef two nights in a row. We did have a Sunday roast beef several weeks ago, and as usual, we had lots of leftovers. So I figured it was about time to write up the leftovers transformation from a full roast beef to an Asian noodle bowl with leftover beef and fresh vegetables.

Noodle Bowl with Beef and Vegetables

8 oz soba noodles
2 bell peppers, any color, cut into strips
1/2c snap peas
1 Tbsp minced fresh ginger
1/3c chicken broth
1/4 soy sauce
1 tsp toasted sesame oil
sliced green onions

Bring a pot of water to a boil. Cook the noodles according to the package. In a steamer basket over the noodles, cook the snap peas for 6 minutes.

Heat some olive oil and add the ginger. Cook for a minute before adding the bell pepper strips. Then add the steamed snap peas. Cook for 4 minutes, then add the broth, soy sauce and sesame oil. Add the noodle and toss to coat.

Note on the beef, since I was using leftover, I seared for just a few seconds to heat without actually cooking. Top each bowl of noodles with a few slices of beef and sliced green onions.

Results: This was a great way to use up the leftover beef but turn it into something completely different from the roast. Dave loves one-pot meals, whether it's rice and stir-fry, noodles, etc. While it wasn't the most colorful dish, the soba noodles are a healthy alternative to other pasta. I topped with some Asian chile paste as well. Use whatever vegetables you have on hand and this goes for the meat as well -- shrimp, chicken or pork would work well too.

Chili is one of my favorite foods to eat on a cold day, but my red meat chili can be a bit intense and heavy. I decided to switch it up a bit by using turkey and white beans while keeping most of the flavor with the normal spices I usually use. I browsed through several white turkey chili recipes and decided that I wasn't willing to lose some of the bright ingredients of my former version, so I used a colorful variety of poblanos and a red bell pepper, as well as added a can of black beans as a contrast to the white ones. And no, that's not cheddar in the photo, just an orange cheese, mimolette -- the only thing close to cheddar that I can find at our grocery store.

White Turkey Chili

olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 stalks celery, diced
3 medium poblano peppers, seeded, deribbed and diced
1 red bell pepper, seeded and diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbsp cumin
1/2 tsp coriander
1/2 cayenne pepper
1 Tbsp chili powder
1 can white beans, rinsed
1 can black beans, rinsed
3c chicken broth
3 turkey breasts, chopped
3/4 tsp dried oregano
1 can corn
salt and pepper to taste
sliced green onions
chopped cilantro
shredded cheddar cheese

Heat the oil in a Dutch oven over medium heat and add the onion, celery and poblano peppers; cook, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are softened. Add the garlic, cumin, coriander, cayenne and chili powder, stirring to mix. Add the beans and chicken broth, then the turkey. Reduce the heat and cook for 20 minutes or until the turkey is cooked through. Then stir in the oregano and corn and season with salt and pepper. Dish out, top with green onions, cilantro and cheddar cheese.

Results: A nice change to the red-meat version I generally make, this is just as filling, but naturally tastes like it's better for you. I still season mine with plenty of regular and hot peppers. Serving with tortilla chips is always a hit too.

I'm such a fajitas fan but don't have them nearly enough. While I have solved the problem of horrible store-bought flour tortillas by making my own, I won't lie, it's a process. Not necessarily to prep them, but to cook them. They really taste best when heated up in a skillet for a couple minutes on each side. Multiple this by batch of 20 and all of a sudden it turns into an hour-long task. It's still worth it, but not on a weeknight when I'm not starting dinner until 8pm.

So here's a more Asian take on fajitas. Same idea with the meat, onions and peppers, but stir-fried up in a soy sauce mix instead. Basically fajitas over rice and for now, it will do. But Mexican will definitely be on my menu plan for the coming weeks

Tri-Colored Peppers with Beef over Rice

1 lb beef, thinly sliced
3 large bell peppers, sliced
1 large onion, cut into half moons
4 cloves of garlic, sliced
1 1/2c beef broth
3/4c red wine
3 Tbsp soy sauce
black pepper to taste
1 1/2 tsp cornstarch, dissolved in 1/4c cold water
3 c white or brown rice (or a combo)

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the beef and cook until browned on all sides, about 5 minutes Set beef aside, with juices.

Heat 2 Tbsp more oil in the same skillet and add the peppers and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes. Add the garlic and continue cooking another 5 minutes.

Return the beef and juices to the skillet and add the broth, wine, soy sauce and pepper. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat and simmer until the liquid has reduced by half, about 5 minutes. Stir in the dissolved cornstarch and cook until the mixture thickens, about 2 minutes. Serve over cooked rice.

Results: Such a simple recipe that really doesn't even need a recipe, but this is a great stand-by. Most of the ingredients I have on-hand at all times and serving with brown rice makes for a quick and healthy dinner.

Very little of my day yesterday resembled Mardi Gras, but as I shut down my computer about 8:00, I tried to switch gears into the festive spirit. As you should know, I love all holidays and more importantly, I love celebrating all holidays, even if not extravagantly.

So while my Mardi Gras did not involve any masks or beads or even any strong cocktails, I at least wanted to serve a dinner that was inspired by New Orleans. I've made gumbo and jambalaya before and since it was a Tuesday, my busiest day at work, I figured something quicker, with less cook-time, would be perfect. And then I remembered muffalettas, the Italian-meats-and-cheeses-stuffed sandwich with a unique olive salad.

Well, neither Dave nor I like olives so I had to improvise. And yes, to all those die-hard muffaletta fans, I realize that without the olive salad, this really isn't a muffaletta at all, but that's fine. To maintain the same oily salad consistency, I used jarred roasted bell peppers, sundried tomatoes and jalapenos. It worked exactly as I had hoped and was absolutely delicious!

Lauren's No-Olive, Not Really Muffaletta, Muffaletta

1 thick baguette, sliced horizontally (you can also use a round loaf of Italian bread
salami, thinly sliced
mordadella, thinly sliced
ham/prosciutto, thinly sliced
sliced provelone cheese
sliced mozzarella cheese
1 cup mix of jarred: roasted bell peppers (red and yellow mix), sundried tomatoes and jalapenos, all roughly chopped

Results: I know this isn't a real muffaletta, but I think this is a great substitute for those who don't like olives. You still get a kick from the jalapenos, as well as something to pull together the otherwise dry sandwich. We also served with hot English mustard. Overall an absolute hit, Dave ate his in record time!

Dave has never been a fan of the Valentines 'weekend' but this year he lucked out -- Valentines day actually fell on the weekend. Generally regardless of the day of the week Valentines day is on, I like to stretch it out. For example, if it's on a Wednesday, sure, celebrate it that day, but also stretch it out to the weekend. Ya, I know, doesn't sound like most guys' idea of fun, but the idea is that it's just an excuse to do something fun anyway, it doesn't mean more presents or planning.

I'm actually all for planning Valentines day together. A few weeks ago Dave and I were looking at the calendar and we (well, mostly he) decided that he didn't really want to do much traveling in January and February. He had a few business trips and so we decided we'd do something special in town. We booked into one of Switzerland's best restaurants, Philippe Rochat, for the Saturday night before Valentines day. This is the perfect way to do it, we get to go out, dress up and celebrate, but then it leaves me actual Valentines day to make a special dinner at home.

Dinner at Rochat was a great experience. This was definitely one of the longest dinner I've had, over 3.5 hours, and up until the very end when Dave got antsy (and asked for his espresso before his final dessert - we had already had cheese and one dessert -- God forbid!), it didn't feel long at all.

The ambiance was what I would expect of Switzerland -- the decor was similar to that of the local auberge, which is basically a family-run restaurant, perhaps with a few rooms for a 'hotel'. Nothing fancy, but spacious rooms, with all tables facing inward.

Service was perfect, by far the best we've had in Switzerland. The breaks between courses were properly timed, we must have gone through 30 pieces of silverware each and each course was artfully displayed on beautiful china.

Dinner consisted of 10 courses and I have to say, each course was better than the last (at least up to dessert). Unfortunately we didn't take any photos, as each table faced inward, it was rather awkward to try to take a photo, let alone a decent photo by using a flash. The Swiss patrons seemed to give us an evil eye just for walking in (and while not really evil, it's more their typical acknowledgment), I wasn't about to earn any further warranted glare.

After checking their website for a reminder of exactly what we ate, here are the courses (in my words, not theirs!):
-Duck foie gras over a little cracker
-Thin slices of scallops with a endive topping
-Parsley soup covered in thinly-sliced black truffles
-Sole in a foamy white broth
-Roasted lobster in a butter sauce with gnocchi
-Whole duck, sliced at the table, with a reduction and potatoes
-Cheese plate
-Cirst dessert of a chocolate truffle cup holding a chocolate 'milk-shake'
-Second dessert of pineapple things, this wasn't our favorite
-Petits fours (but there were more like 8 for each of us), Macarons, etc

Where I really started getting impressed was the parsley soup, this was amazing! The sole was stunning and the broth was delicious, but almost a bit too salty. The roasted lobster in butter sauce was perfectly tender and definitely building in richness from the previous courses. The duck was fantastic, but after the previous courses that were increasingly rich, this was a heavy way to go into dessert. They even asked if we wanted seconds on the duck, I declined but Dave went for it. We were definitely getting full by this point! The cheese tray was one of the best I've seen, at least 40 different cheeses to choose from. I would have been happy ending here, but we still had 3 desserts to get through. The chocolate milkshake thing was good, each dessert was so beautiful on the plate, but the pineapple thing wasn't so good. Macarons are always a nice way to end. But the best part of the meal was when the chef came out to greet the tables. Dave and I even threw out some of our French :)

I would definitely recommend the restaurant, but it's much more Swiss than some of it's 3-star competition in France or the US. While the waiters were all in tuxedo-service suits, some guests simply wore khakis, or there was the table of 5 in the corner wearing sweat pants with the teenagers texting away throughout dinner. To us, it really was a special dinner out and we had fun dressing up for the occasion. It's definitely an outstanding restaurant, but perhaps on a simpler scale. You're in a small Swiss town just outside of Lausanne, there's no valet parking. But I think the decor and the ambiance stays true to this; a modern interior just wouldn't fit with the feel of the place housed in the hotel de ville building.

So after a wonderful dinner out, I was excited for actual Valentines day and to start with a somewhat special breakfast. No matter how fancy I try to make the eggs, Dave prefers good old scrambled eggs and bacon, so that's what he got. I did added chopped onions and tomatoes to the eggs, then stirred in a bit of basil and mozzarella cheese just before serving alongside bacon.

But I couldn't leave it at that so I also made a coffeecake. I never really make coffeecakes, but dessert for breakfast is a must on Valentines Day. I browsed through several recipes and took things from several to make this one.

Blueberry and Cinnamon Coffee Cake

2c flour (I used one cup white and one cup wheat)
1c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
zest of half a lemon
1/2c butter, softened
1c whole milk (could use regular though)
2 eggs lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla
2c fresh blueberries
1/2c powdered sugar
water
cinnamon and nutmeg to top

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a pan, I used an 8x8 square. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and zest in a bowl. Use a pastry blender to cut int he butter. Then stir in the milk, eggs and vanilla. Pour 3/4 of the batter in the pan, then top with the blueberries in an even layer. Top with the remaining batter. Sprinkle cinnamon over the top, and a several dashes of nutmeg, evenly. Bake for 35 minutes. Prepare the powdered sugar drizzle but pouring the sugar in a bowl and adding water a tsp at a time until a thick but drizzlable consistency is achieved.


Results: I served my coffee cake right out of the oven, but I think it's better to let it sit for at least 20 minutes. It was rather crumbly when I served it. I think I'd pass up the powdered sugar topping completely next time and instead mix the cinnamon and nutmeg into some sugar and use that instead. It was really tasty though and I would definitely make another variation again.

What a game! Dave didn't last long, but I was on the edge of my seat and had no problem keeping my eyes open. All of our snacks were finished by half-time, which was about 2:30am, and everything was a hit.

Although I hadn't planned it that way, it worked out nicely to have an 'appetizer' course, then 2 other snacks. I started with warm goat cheese and leek dip. This is so simple to make and ready in minutes, so it was a great thing to get on the table while starting the other treats. Next I rolled out dough and stuffed it to make mini pizza breads, complete with tomato dipping sauce. Finally was the chicken wings. I was shocked when they had a tray of these at the grocery store a few weeks ago, I had never seen them before, but Dave and I immediately grabbed them for our Superbowl party. I followed an Alton Brown recipe which involves steaming them first, refrigerating them for an hour and then baking them. Delicious, but get started early. This was a perfect end to our treats.

Ideally I would love to have had a wider selection of game day snacks, but with just the two of us to enjoy everything, it wouldn't make much sense. The combination of these 3, even though each was very different, proved to be a winner as we were full, but not too full and felt like we got a taste of some of the traditional snacks, plus added a bit more class with the goat cheese dip.

Warm Leek and Goat Cheese Dip

I first had this recipe at Stacey's parents' house and I posted it before here. For those of you who know me well, you would be shocked to see that I like something mainly consisting of white creamy ingredients like cream cheese and goat cheese. But I absolutely love leeks and add them to everything now. This dip is rich and creamy, but has a hint of something different from the leeks that you don't get in similar dips. I found some little toasted bread bits (sort of like bagel chips), with olive oil, that were a perfect dipper. I added a pinch of nutmeg before one final stir and then served.


Homemade Pizza Rolls

Next up was fun to make and to eat. Very easy when using store-bought pizza dough and the filling you could use are endless. I came across this idea on a another cooking blog, Cooking During Stolen Moments. I used store-bought dough, rolled it out, cut it and then filled with salami and cheese. The idea for using the string cheese is great because you literally just break it in half and you're done. The seasonings on top made all the different.


I used a bit of Emeril's Essence and garlic salt. Definitely don't pass up the garlic salt and an Italian seasoning would work well too. I whipped up a little tomato dipping sauce by using a can of crushed tomatoes, adding a little tomato paste, some basil and oregano and crushed red pepper. Obviously a store-bought sauce would be easy too -- I had totally forgotten about a sauce for these so that's why I created my own at the last minute.


Alton Brown's Buffalo Wings

I really haven't made chicken wings before and while the recipes I browsed all seemed to have the same handful of ingredients, I chose to follow and an expert's steps for preparation. I really haven't made many of Alton Brown's recipes, but this one was the first one listed on Food Network and looked great. While I wish I had had a better hot sauce, these turned out very well and it's great that no frying is involved. As noted above, make sure you take note of the time involved to prep these.


All in all (and despite the fact that my Superbowl party quickly dropped to a single attendee), it was a fun night, a great game and definitely winning food. Dave may not have been impressed when he saw me sneaking football decorations, napkins and plates into our already-overweight suitcase, but I think even he agreed it was worth the trans-Atlantic haul.

It's almost midnight and any other Sunday night I'd definitely already be in bed. Factor in the day Dave and I have had and I should have been in bed several hours ago. But no, it's Superbowl Sunday and I definitely won't miss that. Unfortunately our Superbowl doesn't technically begin until Monday -- starting at about 12:30am, I'm trying to kill the last hour until it actually starts.

I've filled the last few hours preparing Superbowl treats that have mostly all been devoured (later post to come on that). Dave is now taking a pre-game nap, but I know that won't revive me if I allow myself to succumb. Dave and I walked in the door from skiing at 9pm -- long after our 4pm departure from a ski resort in France, just over an hour away from our house. We made it about 40 miles before Dave's ultimate nightmare (and while I agree, I hadn't really thought of it before) descended on us... our car broke down. Dave pressed on the gas while pulling away from the last (of many) toll booths and the car sort of sputtered. Thank God there was a little pull-off on the side of the road, but when Dave tried to re-start the car, nothing happened. He said it felt like the car had run out of gas, but we had just refilled when we left the ski resort.

Now obviously this type of thing is a huge pain no matter where you are, but if you're on your home turf, you know to call AAA or other roadside assistance. Not only did we not know who to call, we had no idea how to communicate what the problem was. After dreading it for several minutes, I finished picked up the phone and dialed 17, France's equivalent of 9-11. It was all I knew from a handy card in our user manual that has the emergency number of every European country on it. I would never call 9-11 for such a thing and they'd probably hang up on you for such a minor emergency, but we had no other option. (Ironically enough, I was reviewing some French notes out loud with Dave while we were driving, and one of the words was 'panne' which is basically used to say your car is broken, while this didn't help explain everything, it definitely helped!) Surprisingly, the French police were fine, and after clarifying there was no accident, finally gave us another phone number to call. Struggling through my limited automobile French vocabulary, we miraculously arranged for someone - we weren't sure who - to come to the rescue. They even said (in French of course), 'oh, are you in an Audi, ya we see you in the camera' -- what?! Anyway, beyond that I understood 'trente minutes' and again, shockingly, just after 30-minutes a full-on tow-truck arrived (I was convinced that a little twingo would show up as the only roadside assistance vehicles I've seen in Switzerland are these mini 2-door cars).

Well, I was hoping it would be like AAA, that they wouldn't just load your car up, but try to figure out the problem and fix it if they could. No such luck. So after loading the car and hopping in the truck, we were off. We were hoping to go to a mechanic, but ya right, it's a Sunday night in France; there's no chance. We arrived at a big lot of towed cars and after the guy rambled for several minutes with practically nothing being absorbed on our side, he took off. Dave and I looked at each other, but I swore I caught that he would 'return quickly' and some reference to calling our insurance company. Great, I didn't even know what was wrong. Luckily we were calling Switzerland and immediately were greeted with English after the obligatory 'parlez-vous anglais?' That was easy enough, but after 30-minutes, we had no idea when this guy was coming back and what we were supposed to do from there.

In the end, it all worked out fine. We got an expensive cab ride back to Geneva train station, sharing with another girl who was rushing to catch the last train back to Paris. Then we caught the 15-minute train to Nyon and a short walk further with skis and all, we finally walked in the door.


Things like this, while such a pain, and horrifyingly so in a foreign country, at least remind you that things can always be worse. We could have had this happen on the narrow mountain road we drove on for 20-minutes after getting that now-shady gas. Then we would have had to deal with not only getting all the way back home, but getting back to that place to pick up the car. And obviously, it can always be much worse than that as well. So after the slight detour, which I filled by planning future trips from the Frommer's Switzerland book (mom always said never leave home without a book, you never know how long you'll be stuck somewhere!), I took a hot shower and immediately started on the football food -- we were starving.

I've decided to save those recipes for a post later this week, but this morning's breakfast still fits in with the theme. I don't know if I dreamed it or just woke up hungry, but I literally woke up with this idea for breakfast, using up a leftover thick baguette -- French toast sticks. Now a baguette can be a bit too tough for French toast, so I thought about cooking the bottom as well, so soften it up and then crisp it, but helping to lose the day-old crunch. Such a hit!


French Toast Sticks

2 eggs
2 Tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 a thick baguette

Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk with a fork. Whisk in the milk, vanilla and cinnamon. Cut the baguette into 3-inch pieces, then slice each piece in half (slicing open the soft middle, like you're making a sandwich). Dip the soft tops in egg, carefully turning to get the soft sides eggy as well (no need to fully immerse as the crispy bottom can stay dry). Melt some butter in a skillet over medium heat and add the egg-dipped bread, dipped-side down. Cook for a minute or 2, then turn all pieces of bread to the same side edge (which should be much smaller so only needs maybe 30 seconds); turn again to the last eggy side and do the same. The only side that should be uncooked is the crust side. Remove all bread to a plate, melt another tbsp of butter and add all the bread back in, crust side down, this only needs about 20 seconds or so. Arrange on a plate with a small bowl of syrup in the middle. Serve hot.

Results: I'm sure these have been done before (in fact, I think even by Burger King), but it really was a great way to use up the leftover baguette. While I'm not necessarily convinced that the baguette is the type of bread for French toast, this totally worked and combined the fluffiness of a thick soft bread with a slightly crispy base. I have to admit, I went through a lot more butter than I normally would when making French toast as I added more when crisping up the bottom, but oh well, it was worth it.