What I Made for Dinner :: Vegetarian Udon

OK, it's not the most beautifully plated bowl of udon, but it's full of vegetarian (but not vegan) goodness. I included blanched spinach, wakame (seaweed), sliced abura-age (fried tofu), and a poached egg (which I made properly today for the first time). A little sprinkling of shichimi-togarashi and tonight's dinner was complete (and remarkably filling)!

Notes:

• Timing is everything, which is a basic tenet of cooking, but especially so with noodles, in my opinion. It's best to undercook the noodles in case the toppings take longer to cook than you anticipate.
• I used all four burners on my stove to get the stuff ready: a big pot of water to cook the udon (and the soba for Ian) and to blanch the spinach, a kettle to boil water to rehydrate the wakame and to rinse the abura-age, a shallow pan to poach the eggs, and a medium pot to make the dashi.
• The order of cooking each component of the dish is important so that most (if not all) of the toppings are cooked before the noodles finish cooking: 1) put the water on to boil (in the kettle, big pot, and the shallow pan) while you make the dashi (combine water, soy sauce, mirin, and hondashi powder); 2) place a colander in a bowl and rehydrate the dry wakame for a couple of minutes with boiling water; 3) poach the eggs; 4) put the rehydrated wakame into the bowl and use the colander to rinse the abura-age with boiling water; 5) cook the noodles; 6) begin plating the dish: some dashi in a deep soup bowl (or proper udon bowl), the noodles, a poached egg, wakame, and abura-age; 7) blanch the spinach in the same pot you cooked the noodles in, and it's going to be hot, but squeeze out as much water as possible and cut the spinach into bite-size pieces (discarding the tip of the step holding the bunch together) before adding it to the bowl (alternatively, you can blanch the spinach beforehand and squeeze out the water after it's cooled; in the same vein, do not cook the spinach first in the same water as the noodles because the water will turn acrid). 
• If you like your food a bit spicy, use shichimi-togarashi (or even ichimi). You can also garnish with green onions or tenkasu.

What I Made for Dinner :: Vegetable Lasagna

I can't deny it: Rupert and I are getting old(er) and leading a much more sedentary life than we used to. No doubt that's causing health issues we can see (the "pooch" around our middle getting bigger) and can't see (higher cholesterol, vitamin & calcium deficiencies, etc.). We certainly need to eat healthier food so I've been thinking about incorporating more vegetables (and less meat) into our diet.

My intentions have been slow-going in the action department mostly because Ian is a meat & potatoes kind of kid. Yes, he eats more vegetables than most of his friends but he'd prefer being a carnivore over an herbivore any day. The only action I've taken has been to slowly collect vegetarian recipes on Pinterest; I haven't gotten around to actually cooking anything yet.

But things are starting to change. At Maya's request Thursday night's dinner was going to be lasagna. It figures she would head to my in-laws' so she wouldn't get a chance to eat what she wanted. It also worked against Ian because at the last minute I decided to make it vegetarian. Instead of the ground meat I usually add to the sauce, I used eggplant. To give it some extra texture I added chopped kale (I usually use spinach but it's good to mix it up sometimes). And, of course, the usual diced veggies: onion, garlic, carrots, and celery.

I gotta say, it was really good! Probably better than my usual meaty lasagna, which I like a lot. It did not, however truly pass muster with the boy: "It's good, Mom," says Ian, so I inform him there's no meat in it, and not 30 seconds later he says, "I'm full" and stops eating! Well, at least he tried it!

 

[I had it for dinner on Thursday and Friday, and for lunch on Saturday!]