I’ll let her describe it, since — as was often the case — I was playing the role of sous chef that night.

The lentils, rice, and caramelized onion dish is a Lebanese dish called mjaddarah (Erin: also see mejadra or mujadara). The basic recipe is to cook equal portions of brown rice and lentils, then caramelize some onions (yellow onions are best since they tend to have the highest natural sugar content and are therefore good for caramelizing). Mix the rice, lentils and half the onions together and put in a baking dish. Top with remaining half of onions and bake to warm ingredients together and if you want to brown up the onions on the top. I used a 1 pound bag of lentils and 3 cups of brown rice (which obviously cooks to be more than 3 cups). I used 3 large yellow onions, but could have easily used 4 or 5 since they cook down quite a bit (and the onions add all the flavor to the dish). I cooked the lentils for about 40 minutes (you still want them to have some structure so they don’t smoosh when you mix up the ingredients). The onions take the longest…about 1 hour to caramelize the onions. I cut the onions in half rings and separated them into a pan, added less than 1 tbsp of olive oil, then let them cook on medium-low heat, stirring frequently. Towards the end of cooking, after they are very soft and starting to caramelize on their own, I added 1 tsp of brown sugar (could do it without this, but this helps to finish the caramelizing process). Continue to cook, stirring frequently until a nice brown color (need to be very careful not to burn the onions at any point during the hour of cooking or the flavor will be ruined).

simple salad of cilantro, tomatoes, green onions, and balsamic vinegar

Another tip from my sis:

Caramelized onions could make many dishes taste terrific. I read a suggestion on the web one day to caramelize a bunch of onions and freeze them in small portions to grab and thaw out for quicker use of caramelized onions on many different dishes. I haven’t tried this yet, but it is a good suggestion since it takes a long time to caramelize onions. This way you could just have them at the ready whenever you wanted to use them.

Thanks Amera, for keeping me well-fed while I was down there (both at home and while showing me around), for allowing me to share your words on the blog, for introducing yourself on the forums, etc..

I left at 5:30 AM and, according to my new GPS, I was due to arrive around 6:40 PM. Alas, with the recent snow storm in DC and Baltimore, the actual time was more like 9 PM.

Washington, DC

It wasn’t just the single lane, 25 MPH traffic that caused delays; there were also a few clean-up crews along the route, shutting down two out of three lanes in places and bringing things to a complete standstill.

Things eventually cleared up though, and it was smooth sailing from there on out…

George Washington Bridge?

And, it was sunny too, unlike on the way down, so I got some nice views of the skyline and river. (This picture doesn’t do it justice.)

The skyline from the bridge

What amazes me is all these photos were taken at speed, often just haphazardly pointing and clicking without looking through the finder! I’m pleasantly surprised.

A grueling 15+ hours on the body, but well worth it for the couple of weeks spent with family.

As it turns out, I enjoyed the car rides more than I thought I would too. I packed a bunch of raw veggies and hummus both ways and discovered some good radio stations along the way. Lastly, the TomTom was a life saver, taking away ALL the stress of navigation.

Stay tuned for more food pics and recipes.

As you saw a few posts back, it was mostly canned food, snacks, and fruit while there. Nothing exciting, but it kept me nutritioned (new word) and saved me lots of money.

The night before I left though, my sister made a delicious homemade Thai meal for us while we stayed in and watched Obama’s first State of the Union address. She’d tell you she cheated with some box mixes, but still. I just helped chopped veggies, she did the rest.

 
Summer rolls:

You can see the basil leaves, carrots, and noodles inside. The dip is a coconut milk/peanut sauce. (OK, not low-fat. Doing a fair bit of cheating myself this trip.)

 
Pad Thai:

Tip: We got a chuckle out of this… The peanut bits you see sprinkled on the top? They were from those little packets that come with salads at McDonald’s.

We went to The Irregardless Cafe, a small restaurant in Raleigh, NC priding itself on local, fresh food and musical talent.

This evening we were serenaded by the smooth jazz stylings of keyboardist Mike Jones. The volume was just right, and even with several other groups of patrons on all sides, you could still hold a conversation without strain, which is important when you’re catching up with family.

The menu was extremely helpful in noting the many vegan and gluten-free options. I’ll let their own descriptions do the talking, with a couple comments. Everything was delicious. I hope you’re able to enjoy it vicariously through this bit of “vegan food porn.”

MIDDLE EASTERN PLATTER – A Middle Eastern appetizer featuring a scoop of hummus, tabouli, and butterbean pâté. Served with grilled pita wedges & pitted kalamata olives.

{We all delighted in the still warm pita bread and the tabouli, which Dad commented seems not as easy to find in the standard grocery stores as it is in the Northeast.}

GRILLED VEGETABLE BIRYANI (vegan, gluten-free) – Grilled portabella mushrooms, zucchini, squash, onion, peppers and asparagus. Served on brown rice with a balsamic reduction.

{Wow! This was my main dish. The mushroom cap had been marinated in balsamic vinegar and was wonderfully meaty. The dish as a whole was rather oily, but the pronounced smoky grilled flavor was amazing. The brown rice was actually more of a pilaf, but quite good and not at all a disappointment.}

SHEPHERD’S PIE (vegan) – Vegetarian casserole layering vegan short crust pastry dough with red bliss mashed potatoes splashed with chop tomatoes, cucumbers, parsley, and bulgur wheat, sliced pomegranate marinated carrots, sauté sliced cabbage with onions, celery, and fennel, garlic wilted spinach. Baked and served topped with a shitake mushroom miso gravy.

{More of a shepherd’s stack than a pie, this was my Dad’s meal. I tried a bite — very hearty and potato-rich. It was consumed in the blink of an eye. LOL.}

ACORN SQUASH CASSOULET (vegan, gluten-free) – Slow roasted acorn squash stuffed with a melange of roasted fall vegetables, served on a bed of black turtle beans spiced with cumin, roasted red beets, & tomatoes/white navy beans spiced with grilled pineapple, roasted gold beets, & carrots. Served with fresh roasted corn/green pea/red bell pepper salsa.

{My brother-in-law had this. Probably the biggest dish of the evening. It looked like something I’d make at home. My sister had a seafood risotto primavera, gluten-free, but decidedly not vegan.}

APPLE AND RASPBERRY CRISP (vegan)

{My choice of dessert, the only vegan one on offer. Served rather hot, I had to let it cool a bit first. While not really that crispy, it was yummy and not too guilty a treat. The strawberry garnish won the berry battle as far as flavor was concerned, the raspberries having completely melted into the apples, mostly just contributing some color. A black coffee or two was the perfect finish.}

I woke up at 5 AM and hit the road a little after 6 AM. Stopping only for bathroom and stretch breaks every few hours, I just kept driving and driving through torrential downpours* and aching limbs to arrive at my sister’s at 8 PM.

(*)Unfortunately, the NY skyline was obscured by clouds, but the rain finally let up in Baltimore and temperatures even reached a beautiful 67 °F in Virginia.

The morning stretch was fueled by some homemade high-protein, “peanut-butter, chocolate crunch fudge” and a little coffee (not too much though, lest stops be forced more frequently).

(Sorry about the fuzzy picture; I’m not used to the photo editing software on this laptop.) Per usual, this was an unmeasured, in-the-moment creation, but it was delicious, so I’ll be making it again. Next time, I’ll pay more attention and hope to post the recipe in a few weeks.

For the afternoon and evening, I opened up the gallon-sized ziploc bags I’d filled with washed carrots, zucchini, broccoli, cauliflower, red cabbage (in large chunks to make for easy finger food), and a huge family-sized tub (supposedly 16 servings, hah!) of roasted red pepper hummus. Aside from the samples I snuck the day before, I ate the whole thing. Some raw veggies remain, however (I basically cleaned out the fridge, so there was plenty with which to scoop out that yummy sustenance).

For the hotel stays, I also packed some non-perishables. I don’t often buy canned veggies, but made an exception this time. All no-salt-added, including adzuki beans, green beans, sweet peas, spinach, potatoes, and tomatoes. And, of course, fruit (apples, bananas, and oranges) as well as some mix-mash trail mix (some cereals, nuts, and dried fruit I had kicking about).

This, my laundry basket, I’ll just keep in the trunk and bring in the next meal’s worth. Funny thing is, I remembered the hot top, but forget a pan. No biggie, all the canned goods are edible without heating, if I don’t pick one up somewhere.

Anyway, I hope these give you some ideas for your next trip. I find it a fun challenge packing for travel, living out of your car, and avoiding the high-priced, unhealthy fare that lines America’s highways. I seem to do it differently each time, depending on how much I want to deal with icing a cooler and budgetary constraints. It’s early yet, but so far so good…

That said, I’m at my sister’s now, so we’ll be doing a little dining out with her hubby and our Dad. Planning to bring the digital camera.