High Suburban Style

Food shopping with Edie in the morning, a car trip with Uncle A and the fam to the wilds of Montclair, NJ to visit A's friend and family. Definitely high-suburban life style out there, with a 20 minute drive from midtown. Definitely not my speed. A & B were craving Doritos-shelled tacos from Taco Bell, thank goodness that didn't happen!

TODAY'S COOKING
Tomato Juice: Gonna make salsa this week, but the recipe calls for tomato juice. Tomatoes were on sale, vine ripened 99 cents per pound, so I experimented with this recipe. What is tomato juice, other than tomato sauce with a thinner texture? I halved it, sent it through a food mill, where it pretty much looked like smooth sauce, so I sent it through a wire mesh strainer. Out came a cloudy pink cup of liquid,  maybe 1/4 the original mass. More like what a fancy restaurant would call tomato broth or tomato water. Big flavor, should go nice in my salsa in a few days.


Granola: Ready for another batch of bars. 5 cups rolled outs, 4 cups of raw cashews, slivered almonds, pepitas and sunflower seeds, 1/2 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup maple syrup, 1/4 cup dark brown sugar, 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 tsp cardamom, 1 tsp salt, a heavy dash of vanilla extract. 325 degrees for 45 minutes, stirred every 10 minutes. 1/2 cup of chopped dried cherries tossed in after baking. Ready for bars later in the week!


BREAKFAST: 8am, banana bread, iced green tea, .25 bowl, hunger 3/5

LUNCH: 12:15pm, breaded shrimp, leftover roasted broccoli, 2 pickles, pudding & whipped cream, water, 1.25 bowl, hunger 4/5


PM SNACK: 2:30pm, bits of donuts, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5


DINNER: 6:45pm, pad thai with tofu, chive pancake, thai salad, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5

EVENING SNACK: 9pm, chocolate pudding with whipped cream, .25 bowl, hunger 4/5