Slightly Disappointing

Tonight's meal was not all that I'd hoped it would be. I had high hopes it would be amazing, and it seemed merely adequate. Ah well.


MASHED GARLIC POTATOES WITH KALE
p. 94 GOV
Prepared 10/09/06

Straightforward enough, sounded good, tasted fine...but not as ultimately yummy as I'd hoped. I love garlic, mashed potatoes and kale, so there were some pretty heavy expectations weighing upon this recipe. Above is a before photo of the ingredients prettily assembled (except for the door of the toaster oven-- dag, that really needs some cleaning!).

It tasted good; my socks, however, weren't knocked off. The older of the two gentlemen that I live with gave it higher marks, though.

I used purple potatoes and threw in a sweet potato for extra nutrition (because um, the kale and flax oil weren't good enough I guess).

BIG BEN'S LENTIL BURGERS
p. 110 GOV
Prepared 10/09/06

I have made these a lot before, and I bake them instead of fry them. Tonight's mixture was too dry and so in the end, we were left with a lot of lentil crumbles. Tasty, though, especially when topped with condiments, the highlight of which was...

BALSAMIC ONIONS
p. 160 GOV
Prepared 10/09/06

I have also made these a number of times before, and man, are they awesome!! If you like onions and twanginess, you will really really like these. It is a very easy recipe, however, I have managed to mess it up a few times due to not paying attention and the onions have still come out amazingly. Easy peasy and delicious.

However, I didn't learn my lesson from yesterday and assumed we had a kitchen staple/important ingredient...yes, gentle readers, we appear to be out of balsamic vinegar. Sheesh. Fortunately, our neighbor had given us something that appears very similar: zinfandel vinegar. Fancy pants vinegar saved me a bike trip to the grocery store with a non-napped child strapped to the back, and the onions tasted just as yummy!

A final note: measure your oil! I often eyeball and always end up with too much oil after the onions are cooked. I mean, it isn't harmful, but you know...I'm just saying.