Veggies Galore

One of my fave lunch spots in Harvard Square is Veggie Planet - as you can guess by its name it is a vegetarian restaurant, with lots of vegan options/alternatives as well, and they've been open for over a decade. They have daily specials in addition to a great menu of dishes that can be put on top of pizza dough, coconut rice or brown rice, plus salads, soups and other entrees like mac and cheese and peanut udon noodle salad. I like their lunch special - 1/2 pizza with salad or soup, and my go-to is their "Henry's Lunch" - roasted butternut squash, caramelized onions, rosemary and sage, goat cheese and asiago on pizza crust. Vegetarians and meat eaters alike can find something tasty and very filling for lunch here. I've never ventured to try their brunch so when they decided to open a sit down, diner style version of their restaurant in Central Square I was quick to try it out. Veggie Galaxy is a diner style restaurant with many of the same great concepts as their smaller Veggie Planet, but with all kinds of new menu options as well to keep the two menus a bit different.

Veggie Planet - 47 Palmer Street, Harvard Square

Veggie Galaxy - 450 Massachusetts Ave, Central Square

My friend and I ventured there during the Head of the Charles weekend thinking that since it was outside the main Harvard area - it would be less crowded. We were right! No line on a Sunday morning at 11:30am for brunch - I'll take it! It took us a really long time to read our way through the menu - and so many of the items sounded good. My usual indecision led me to a toss up between savory and sweet.

Olé con amigos - Inman Square

After trying to get a reservation at Rendezvous in Central Square, they didn't have anything but really late openings so we went back to our list of restaurants we've been wanting to try - we all agreed on Olé in Inman Square. We were able to get a reservation for 8:15p on a Friday night for our group of 7 and they seated us right away - even before our whole group was there! This restaurant is pretty big - it's separated into a front and back room, and the place has a nice festive feel to it.


Olé Mexican Grill
11 Springfield Street, Cambridge - Inman Square

Most of the group started with a variety of drinks - ranging from the Olé Gimlet to their traditional margaritas, sangria and Mexican beers. My friends who had been there before said we must get the guacamole made at the table - so we ordered two of those, which was a perfect amount for our group size as you can see from the empty bowl below. They also brought out a untraditional salsa that wasn't chunky, but rather very pureed and had a sort of smoky tomato taste to it.

Bosphorus - Inman Square

I have a very bad habit of buying groupons and forgetting about them - then realizing I need to use them in the next 48 hours. Thankfully my old college roommate was around to help me use a last minute forgotten coupon to a new Turkish/Mediterranean restaurant in Inman Square - Bosphorus. I think we both really enjoyed our selections - and chose a few dishes to share so we could try out some different dishes. Some of the reviews online suggest that their service is slow, but I think because we were there earlier in the night and on a weekday, we were fine. I would definitely go back!

Bosphorus
1164 Cambridge St, Cambridge - Inman Square

The atmosphere is nice - seems sort of middle eastern with fun lighting. This could be a good group restaurant with plenty of large tables. The menu is extensive so it made it a little difficult to choose, but the nice part is that many of the dishes come in small or large, so you can opt for small plates to share or just ordering individual entrees.

We started with a cold dish - Stuffed Baby Eggplant with tomato ragout, bell peppers, goat cheese and tabouleh. We both expected the dish to be a warm appetizer, but it was delicious - we were very happy with this order. It's easily shareable - I don't think I could eat this all by myself and still have room for another dish.

Cauliflower and Chickpea Cilantro Curry

At the beginning of this week I attempted to plan out everything I would cook for the dinner this week . I've been a bit lazy about trying out new recipes and cooking anything extensive - especially when I don't get home from class two nights a week until 8pm . But tonight I stuck to my cooking plan! I had seen a couple recipes for Cauliflower and Chickpea Curry over Rice - so I thought I'd try it out.

Cauliflower and Chickpea Cilantro Curry
1 TB butter
1/2 cup chopped red onion
1 TB mild curry paste
2 tsp minced fresh ginger
1 tsp minced garlic
1 tomato, diced
1/4 cup water + 1 tsp chicken bouillon
1/2 head of cauliflower
1/2 can of chickpeas
1 cilantro cube
3 TB white wine
1/4 cup of tomato sauce
dash of ground ginger
dash of cinnamon
handful of chopped spinach
salt and pepper

I realize this is a lot of ingredients but I think it's because I wasn't following a recipe. I have a bad habit of throwing everything but the kitchen sink in a dish when I'm not following something because as I cook I keep thinking of things I think might enhance the flavors/dish. Unfortunately, I didn't track my amounts, but with this recipe - it's a bit of a 'how you like' situation. I don't like my dishes spicy, so I use less curry paste. I tried to at least estimate the amounts I used here!

Tofu Stir Fry with Peanut Sauce

I know, I know - it's been well over a month since I've written any new posts. I apologize - it's been one heck of a month, with lots of weddings, family, friends and the start of a new fall course. With all of my weddings behind me, I'm back and with lots of foodie things to share with you!

After a lovely fall afternoon apple picking my friend and I worked up an appetite so we decided to make some dinner together at her place. Soon to come is some sort of yummy fall apple dessert with all of these great fresh apples! I had bought a package of tofu a few weeks back that I needed to use so that was an easy selection. Our go-to with tofu has been stir fry so far, so we went with that and decided on a peanut sauce, like you often find in thai restaurants.

Peanut Sauce
1/2 cup reduced sodium chicken broth
2 cloves garlic, choppped
1/4 cup peanut butter
2 TB rice vinegar
3 TB reduced sodium soy sauce
1 TB toasted sesame oil

The nice thing about this peanut sauce is that you can use it on almost any sort of stir fry - you don't have to like or want to use tofu. It would go great with chicken or shrimp - or even just lots of vegetables!