Couch Tomato Café (Manayunk, PA)

Couch Tomato Café (Manayunk, PA; http://manayunktomato.com/)

My husband and I were in Manayunk for the annual Arts Festival.  We were looking for lunch and stumbled upon the Couch Tomato Café.  The name caught my attention and I saw open tables outside, so we went to look at the menu.  There were a number of vegetarian items, so we went in and ordered.  The place was packed! There was a small eating area directly inside the door and a counter with stools off to the right looking out the front window.  We walked up to the counter, where they showcased fresh salad ingredients and pizza.  I ordered the Beet It salad and a cup of Gazpacho.  My husband ordered two slices of pizza.  We went outside to await our food.

The salad consisted of spinach, roasted beets, goat cheese, and slice almonds, covered in a raspberry-vinaigrette dressing.  When I first looked at the bowl, I could see that there was way too much goat cheese and sliced almonds, so I had to pick some of those out (more the cheese than the almonds).  The spinach leaves were coated in the dressing – a little too much.  Despite these drawbacks, the salad was pretty good and the dressing was sweet.  The Gazpacho was fantastic!  It was cold and spicy, a perfect contrast.  And I’m not just talking a little spicy, I’m talking eye-watering spicy!  My mouth was on fire but I didn’t want to stop eating the soup.  So good!  Both the soup and salad were served with wheat bread – that was good too, lightly buttered and with a little Italian spice. 

I would certainly go there again – there are so many options.  And, for those of you wondering, my husband was so-so about the pizza.  He ordered one slice of white, which he liked, and one Pepperoni slice, which he said was overcooked and just kind of blah.

Easy Cheesy Ravioli

Easy Cheesy Ravioli (slightly adapted from Kraft Recipes, Total Time: 25 minutes, Servings: 6)

Ingredients

2 pkg.  (9 oz. each) refrigerated cheese ravioli or tortellini

1  red pepper, chopped

1 tub  (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Chive & Onion Cream Cheese Spread

1 cup  frozen peas

1 cup  shredded Italian cheese

Directions

1.)    Cook pasta as directed on package, omitting salt. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water.

2.)    Cook and stir peppers in large nonstick skillet on medium heat 5 min. or until crisp-tender. Add 3/4 cup of the reserved water, cream cheese spread and peas; cook and stir 2 to 3 min. or until cream cheese is melted and peas are heated through.

3.)    Add pasta; stir to evenly coat. If sauce is too thick, thin with remaining reserved cooking water. Top with shredded cheese.

I made a few adjustments to the recipe, but wanted to include the basic information here.  First, I used tortellini instead of ravioli because it was lower in calories and sodium!  I could not find the low fat version of the cream cheese spread, but if your local store has it, go for it.  I used fresh instead of frozen peas because we had them in our CSA bag.  I followed the directions as above, but should have thrown in the fresh peas with the red pepper.  As is, they are quite crunchy (a little too much).  I also did not use the shredded cheese, I don’t feel that the dish really needed it.

Now, on to the taste of the dish.  I thought it was OK, but I didn’t love it.  I did add in some chopped garlic greens in the leftovers and that has really helped the flavor!  My husband liked it as is, so I guess it all depends on your preference for cream cheese (by the way, he also did not add extra cheese, which is a big deal!).  I recommend adding some pepper or garlic if you make this recipe.  If I make it again, I might try one of the other flavored cream cheese, just to see if that works a bit better.

Easy Cheesy Ravioli

Easy Cheesy Ravioli (slightly adapted from Kraft Recipes, Total Time: 25 minutes, Servings: 6)

Ingredients

2 pkg.  (9 oz. each) refrigerated cheese ravioli or tortellini

1  red pepper, chopped

1 tub  (8 oz.) PHILADELPHIA Chive & Onion Cream Cheese Spread

1 cup  frozen peas

1 cup  shredded Italian cheese

Directions

1.)    Cook pasta as directed on package, omitting salt. Drain pasta, reserving 1 cup of the cooking water.

2.)    Cook and stir peppers in large nonstick skillet on medium heat 5 min. or until crisp-tender. Add 3/4 cup of the reserved water, cream cheese spread and peas; cook and stir 2 to 3 min. or until cream cheese is melted and peas are heated through.

3.)    Add pasta; stir to evenly coat. If sauce is too thick, thin with remaining reserved cooking water. Top with shredded cheese.

I made a few adjustments to the recipe, but wanted to include the basic information here.  First, I used tortellini instead of ravioli because it was lower in calories and sodium!  I could not find the low fat version of the cream cheese spread, but if your local store has it, go for it.  I used fresh instead of frozen peas because we had them in our CSA bag.  I followed the directions as above, but should have thrown in the fresh peas with the red pepper.  As is, they are quite crunchy (a little too much).  I also did not use the shredded cheese, I don’t feel that the dish really needed it.

Now, on to the taste of the dish.  I thought it was OK, but I didn’t love it.  I did add in some chopped garlic greens in the leftovers and that has really helped the flavor!  My husband liked it as is, so I guess it all depends on your preference for cream cheese (by the way, he also did not add extra cheese, which is a big deal!).  I recommend adding some pepper or garlic if you make this recipe.  If I make it again, I might try one of the other flavored cream cheese, just to see if that works a bit better.

Sweet-and-Sour Sloppy Joes

Sweet-and-Sour Sloppy Joes (adapted from Real Simple, Servings: 4, Total Time: 25 minutes)

Ingredients

·         1 Tbsp. canola oil

·         3 green onions, chopped (used white parts only)

·         1 Tbsp. grated fresh ginger

·         1 package Morningstar Farms Burger Crumbles

·         ¼ cup low-sodium soy sauce

·         ¼ cup tomato paste

·         3 Tbsp. light brown sugar

·         ¼ tsp. black pepper

·         ½ cup water

Directions

1.      Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the scallions and ginger and cook, tossing, until softened, 2 to 4 minutes.

2.      Add the Burger Crumbles and cook, breaking up with a spoon, until cooked through, 5 minutes. Add the soy sauce, tomato paste, sugar, ¼ teaspoon pepper, and ½ cup water and cook, stirring, until slightly thickened, about 1 minute more.  Serve immediately on hamburger buns.

As I have been on a big Asian food kick lately, I thought that this recipe would be interesting to try.  Interesting it was, a huge success, it was not.  My husband was OK with it, but he didn’t love it.  I also was not big fan.  I think that the freshly grated ginger makes it a little too sweet.  If you try this (and it I ever make it again), I recommend cutting back to maybe ½ Tbsp. fresh ginger, maybe even less. When I added the tomato paste, I thought that it would overpower the dish, but it definitely didn’t.  All of the additional ingredients, save for the ginger, worked really well together.  I only used the white parts of the green onions because my husband is not a big fan and I knew that he’d see the green peeking out of the crumble mixture and not want to try it.  I think it hides nicely in the Sloppy Joe.

So, overall assessment: OK, less ginger should make it better.