Vegetable Jambalaya

I don’t always have time to make it to The Rathskeller on Thursdays, like today. Rather than be crunched for time and run back into town for the 4th time this week, I chose to end my 10k run this morning at the grocery store and make my own Vegetable Jambalaya.

I hesitated to buy an eggplant but I was trying to replicate the recipe from The Rathskeller and went ahead and chose a firm one. The skin area was a little bitter so I pealed half for the jambalaya but baked the other half unpeeled for a small batch of Baba Ganoush. The peeled half I cut and salted along with yellow and zucchini squashes then let them sit to sweat it out for a while. That got a lot of extra bitterness out of them and I gave them a rinse before adding them to the rest of the cooking veggies.

I was in such a rush getting everything thrown together in time that I can’t even come up with a proper recipe right now. I did use a couple of the Vegan Boudin links, carrots, celery, filé, bay leaves, crushed red pepper, onion and garlic but there was a lot more. I used a cup of rice and a can of crushed tomatoes – oh yeah and a fresh tomato too! See? I just remembered that and the red bell pepper.

It took a good hour to simmer so the rice would get nice and soft and it did turn out pretty well. Jim said he liked mine better because it was a lot less oily. I was also able to spice it up enough with a Scotch Bonnet pepper that it didn’t even require any hot sauce.

Late Summer Food Reviews

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We had the great fortune to enjoy many meals with our family this summer. Of the places we dined out, I am sharing a few food reviews from My Thai and
Home Delivery Pizza and Otto’s Pub and Brewery in State College, J.P. Edward’s Bar and Grill in Burnham and a brunch at Elk Creek Cafe in Millheim.
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My Thai
I have had mixed luck with service at My Thai as I blogged in the past. This past visit was a good one and we all shared some Drunken Noodles, Pad Thai, Veggie Spring Rolls, Thai Basil Tofu and Red Curry Tofu. My favorite is to mix the Red Curry over the Pad Thai. The Vegetable Spring Rolls (Poh Pia Tod) aren’t bad either.
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Home Delivery Pizza
Thanks to our cat being featured in PAWSitivly Pets Magazine, he scored us a gift certificate to Home D. We all enjoyed different salads, at least 5 big entrée sized salads for vegetarians, but I can’t say any of them were outstanding. We filled up on Mediterranean, Milan Pasta and Portabella Grill salads along with fresh iced teas as a huge storm blew through the area.
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Otto’s Pub and Brewery
Oh Otto’s, I really like you but your food just isn’t something I can count on anymore. Is it the difference between the departure of your talented Chef Tim and the arrival of your friendly Chef Pete? I know you have a some salads and pastas but now even your soups that sound vegetarian (Cream of Corn) will frequently have animal stock in them. As a Pub Club member, it really stung to have the message “A Vegetarian Alternative will not be available” tacked onto the Oktoberfest Pub Club dinner. Fifty bucks for beer, Cucumber Salad and Apple Crisp? I guess I will just go back to having folks poke at me that I am not a “real” Pub Club member since I don’t go to the events.

Your Baba Ganoush and Pita Points the other night were fun but a little skimpy even as an appetizer and your Tomato Bruschetta was the sorriest we had been served in town. It was twice the price and half the portion that Luna 2 offers.

Thanks for finally bringing back vegetable of the day and thank you for using local farmers. Thank you so much for, grudgingly, listening to your customers and bringing back the Nachos with melted shredded cheese as opposed to cheese sauce. Thank you also for keeping the Cheese Quesadilla but we really miss the Black Bean Ragout we used to be able to get with both.

Other things we really miss were the Helles Batter Dipped Tofu, Hummus Platter, Asian Slaw and the never ending list of vegetarian soup specials (AND chili). Even the Kimchi Soup that we joked tasted like Mrs. Weasley’s wand broke when making it was a welcome meal.

Lovin’ your beers Otto’s but lately your vegetarian options… not so much.
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J.P. Edward’s Bar and Grill
After cruising the Belleville Farmers Market this past Wednesday, we stopped in Burnham to have lunch at J.P. Edward’s. It is a rare occasion when we stop and there isn’t an aggressive-looking element to at least one table full of patrons. I refused to allow my Mom nor Daughter-in-law to go the bathroom by themselves because this restaurant draws in an element that seems to be looking for a barroom confrontation by the slogans on their t-shirts and slanderous conversations. It’s surprising because it’s a big, open and friendly looking place with more than the normal vegetarian options, a nice outdoor area and free Wi-Fi.

The big Greek Salad has a surprising portion of mild potato salad secreted at the bottom. I have gotten it a few times and it fills me up before I get tot the potato salad!

They have Vegetable Fajitas (also huge) that says it comes with rice (mine didn’t). The veggies are served on a hot griddle flavored with a garlic ginger sauce. It’s strange they would flavor these fajitas with an oddly friendly Asian theme since a good number of their customers give any ethnically diverse patrons the hairy eyeball.

I think we are going to have to pass on this place from now on. Between the feeling like a fight might break out, having to look at pro Hegin’s Pigeon Shoot t-shirts and the fact the place has a veal sandwich, I am going to have to look harder to find a Mifflin County restaurant that fits my BiNaH criteria to review.
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Elk Creek Cafe
I think you can see where this is going; I saved the best for last. If you haven’t yet read either of my reviews of Elk Creek Cafe, you can find the good review here and the better review here. If you haven’t visited Elk Creek Cafe yet, put it on your bucket list.

Some of my favorite Sunday plans have included filling up on their brunch foods after a nice long run through Poe Valley. My plantar fasciitis has limited my running distances lately but, thankfully, not from eating in Millheim. This past Sunday was just delightful.

We all started of with Mango Mimosas and, good golly, I can’t believe I had lived without them for 48 years of my life.

Amy got a thick stack of pancakes and a bowl of Mushroom and Squash Soup that just a taste made my knees go week. Jim and Arron were teased by some old menus that had the tofu scramble on them but settled on some very nice eggs scrambled with local squash.

I chose a Chickpea Spread Sandwich that was blessed by Marty’s Sprouts. I was on my second mimosa when I started mentally composing an ode to Matry’s Sprouts and I think it was the former that made me not remember the poem. I thankfully I remember the multi sized and variously flavored sprouted beans and seeds that made me look like I had happy cat whiskers each time I bit into my thick tasty sandwich – so much fun with food.

I wasn’t kidding when I said I was saving the best for last. I haven’t yet mentioned the Crispy Potatoes! I dream of them. When I mumble and Jim cannot tell what I just said, 60% of the time it has something to do with these potatoes. I have tried to replicate them at home and have failed. They have ruined The Waffle Shop’s home fries for me because they fall so short of Crispy Potato perfection. Someday, when I am able to run 15k again, I am going to return to Elk Creek Cafe and order a double portion of the Crispy Potatoes and that will be bliss.