The Nasoya Project

About a month ago, the Nasoya company contacted us and asked if we would like to feature their line of healthy, natural products in our Bite of the Week section. Mom and I are always up for freebies, so when we received the coupons that the Nasoya representative had sent, Mom looked up some recipes on Nasoya.com so that we could make something out of these great products. I almost dropped dead when Mom said that she'd like to try the baked spinach ravioli, which included both spinach and tofu - two things Mom has never had ... and has never wanted to. I mean, she had a sandwich wrapped in a spinach pita once, but that was about it. Of course, I was all for it as I adore both spinach and ravioli. Mom and I planned on making one meal and one dessert, so we also wrote down the ingredients to create apple cinnamon rolls. After tracking down the Nasoya products in the refrigerated natural foods section of the market, we grabbed the rest of the stuff we needed (and definitely spent some money there) and went home to create our dishes. The Nasoya products purchased included firm tofu, and egg roll and won ton wraps.
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Now, we followed the recipes exactly, but it took us a lot longer than we expected. That was probably because we were cleaning up spilled things, crimping ravioli edges to death, and rinsing the spinach-covered mixer. Most people could probably do these a lot faster. Let's start with the main course - the baked spinach ravioli. You'll need one package of Nasoya Won Ton wraps, one package of Nasoya firm tofu, 10 ounces of fresh spinach, 15 ounces of ricotta cheese, three quarters of a cup of grated Pecorino Romano cheese, one teaspoon of salt, and a half teaspoon of ground black pepper.

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First, I put the spinach into a bowl and poured two tablespoons of water on it. Then, I put it in the microwave for five minutes so that it could wilt. NOTE: Your house will stink, and you will find that spinach is a huge ripoff as it shrinks to a quarter of its normal size when wilted.

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Next, take your wiggling, jiggling tofu, slice it up, and chuck it into a food processor and pulse until it is pureed. After I figured out what that meant, it got done.

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After the tofu has been pureed, add the ricotta cheese, blend the two together, and then add the drained spinach and Pecorino Romano cheese. Process until smooth. NOTE: My food processor was too small, so I had to do this in batches. It was a pain in the butt, but I got over it. It was better than having sloppy mush all over my house.

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What you'll end up with is a big bowl of thick, green paste. Don't worry, though. It's supposed to look like that. Don't forget to season with salt and pepper.

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The next step turned out to be a huge pain, but thanks to the durability of the Nasoya Won Ton wraps, Mom and I did not come to blows over the simple task of making homemade raviolis. Take two won ton wraps, place two tablespoons of the filling in the center of one wrap, wet the edges of that wrap, and then place the second wrap on top. Crimp the edges with a fork (don't make holes) and/or your fingers to make the two wraps stick together. Now, we found that two tablespoons of filling made the two wraps hard to meet, so we improvised and just put in what we could to get the two wraps to close properly. We had three baking sheets going - all for 12 minutes at 375 degrees. Before putting them in the oven, I brushed the raviolis with a light layer of olive oil.

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When they came out of the oven, they were lightly browned and none of them had exploded (our biggest fear). Although some of them could have used more filling, we found it hard to fill them by hand. You may want to stretch out the top wrap before putting it on the bottom, allowing you to stuff more filling inside. Mom served them with a marinara sauce (a.k.a., Ragu) for dipping, and my family had them for dinner (that recipe certainly made enough).

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Well, Hell must have frozen over because my mother was eating spinach. Also, my father was unknowingly eating tofu, which we told him about a few days later (we were afraid that he would get all snotty about the tofu if he knew it was inside). The taste of the raviolis was great. The filling was not watery, which Mom was afraid of, and it had an overwhelming ricotta flavor. The wraps were thin, crisp, and very strong considering we beat the Hell out of them during the assembly process. We would definitely make them again, but we'd need to set aside a few hours.

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Although we were exhausted, we still insisted on making dessert. To make the apple cinnamon rolls, you'll need one package of Nasoya Egg Roll wraps, one 12 ounce can of apple pie filling, four ounces of room temperature water, a half stick of melted whole sweet butter, a half cup of confectionery sugar, a quarter cup of ground cinnamon, and a pinch of nutmeg.

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Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Take the wraps and lay them out so that the are shaped like a diamond. Place a level tablespoon of apple filling in the center of the diamond. NOTE: We bought a 21 ounce can of filling because that's all we could find, so needless to say we stuffed these rolls with every apple we had.

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Next, wet your finger and trace the edges of the wrap so that they become wet. Fold both sides of the wrap over each other, and then roll it up (from the bottom to the top). Place them on a baking sheet and bake them at seven minutes or until lightly golden brown.

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Now, we had some issues with our oven, so we had to leave the rolls in a little longer because they were not browning. During this found time, I made the topping. I melted the half stick of butter, and mixed the cinnamon, nutmeg, and confectionery sugar together in a bowl.

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When the rolls were finally ready, I brushed them all with a light layer of butter, and then generously (very generously) sprinkled on the topping. The rolls turned out great! They were sweet, and the added toppings really gave the plain wrap a really tasty flavor. Mom likes that the wrap wasn't too crunchy, and we both enjoyed that this particular recipe was really simple. They even tasted great the next day!

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Wow, I'm tired just typing this. We really worked hard on these recipes, and thankfully the Nasoya wraps were really easy to deal with - and delicious! Mom and I would definitely buy them again, and we'd like to thank the people of Nasoya for introducing us to their fabulous products. If you haven't tried them already, please go out and get some today!

Bite of the Week - Phillips Candy House Pumpkin Pie Fudge

It seems that we're getting quite famous! Since Mom and I have started this Web site, we've been offered free meals, been given complimentary coupons to try new items for our weekly Bites, and have even had our restaurant bill secretly reduced by a wonderful fan (thanks again, Liz). This week, the fabulous people at Phillips Candy House, Boston's oldest chocolatier, decided to send us a sample of their pumpkin pie fudge. What a great way to kick off the fall season! Mom and I love all things pumpkin, so when I spotted that obnoxious "sorry we missed you, a.k.a., we are holding your fudge hostage" tag from UPS on our security door, I flew into a rage. To make a long story short, after a few heated phone calls (we were home - they just chose not to ring the doorbell), I found myself standing at the UPS Customer Center in North Dartmouth waiting for our yummy treat. Once I got it home, Mom and I tore apart the adorably gift wrapped box to reveal a pumpkin pie-shaped piece of fudge with a chocolate-coated bottom. Heavenly!

THE VERDICT: The aroma alone was enough for us to fall in love with this fudge. Besides the wonderful smell and adorable look, Mom was thoroughly impressed with the texture. Usually when you cut into fudge, it has a tendency to crumble apart, leaving you to pick out which oddly shaped sliver you would like to eat. This was NOT the case with this handmade brand. The fudge was just as smooth and creamy to cut as it was to eat. It wasn't overly sweet, which is great because Mom starts choking to death when she eats abnormally sweet candy (she's such a handful). The dark chocolate coating on the bottom - which I was afraid would be too overwhelming - was actually thin and crisp. Both Mom and I were amazed that the taste of the fudge was almost exactly like an actual piece of pumpkin pie instead of a candy. It was nicely spiced, with ginger being the most outstanding flavor. We were very impressed with the Phillips Candy House fudge, and I can't believe that they've been around since 1925 and we're only trying them now. Mom and I cannot wait to try some of their other goodies. Please visit their Web site for more information.

Tavern on Main

1157 Putnam Pike

Chepachet, RI 02814

(401) 710-9788

www.tavernonmainri.com

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE MENU

Did you know that there is a ghost at the popular Tavern on Main in Chepachet? Well, we did, which is one of the reasons we visited this adorable inn built in 1800. What we didn't expect to happen was that the ghost would "appear" in our dining room shot! Mom and I arrived here, after taking a scenic autumn drive down Putnam Pike, at around 3:30 p.m.


We parked in the back of the restaurant and went inside. What we didn't know was that this restaurant used to be called the Stage Coach Inn, presumably a stop in the year 1800 for all the various stage coaches that were looking for a room for the night. I'm not sure if it is still a working inn, but I swear I saw someone going up the stairs with suitcases. Mom and I decided to eat in the dining room, although we heard that the ghost was often seen in the tavern. We were greeted by our waitress, who we only know by the initial D, and she took our drink order - two diet colas ($2 each). After choosing our entrees, D informed Mom and I that we could help ourselves to the soup station, which contained a large crock of potato cheddar soup. She also mentioned that there was a loaf of bread up there as well. How quaint! Since Mom wasn't interested in that particular flavor of soup, I helped myself to a cup and cut two slices from an Italian style bread. The soup was extraordinarily flavorful and filled with chopped potatoes, and the bread was soft and fresh. Salads also came with our meal, and for our dressings, Mom chose the homemade French while I went with a Parmesan peppercorn. They were outstanding.


As we waited, Mom and I both talked about how much we wanted to live at this restaurant. We just loved the authenticity of the place, complete with warped floors, low ceilings, mismatched furniture, and antique appliances. It was decorated for Halloween, and according to a flyer I found at the front desk, some ghost hunting was going to be done at the restaurant to try and make contact with Tavern on Main's resident spirit. Now, it seems that ghosts avoid me like the plague as I've never had any sort of "experience" aside from smelling some displaced perfume at a local cemetery when I was walking alone, but we do think that we may have caught the ghost on film! Check out the picture below of the beautiful dining room. What the heck is going on with all the orbs (circled in green)? I read that orbs are a sign of spirits. Well, according to the picture below, it seems that four spirits were dining with us.


Now, we know what you're thinking - so what? Well, according to the video captured on the restaurant's Web site, there is a floating orb almost EXACTLY where these orbs are in this photo. What are the odds that two ghostly things would happen in the same spot? I think we really have something here! CLICK HERE FOR THE GHOST VIDEO.


The view from our window was gorgeous. We just love living in New England at this time of year! After gazing out the window and trying to figure out how we could move into the restaurant without the staff knowing, our entrees arrived. Mom ordered the haddock with her choice of fries and butternut squash ($14). I chose the pecan chicken ($15) which came resting on a plate of butternut squash ravioli. I had been obsessing about this dish ever since Mom described it to me from the restaurant's Web site. We also ordered an appetizer of crab cakes ($8) ... which never showed up. We thought that the waitress had written it down, but alas, she hadn't. We were going to say something, but our plates of food looked so large that we thought that not getting the crab cakes might have been a saving grace. We would just have to pay attention to the bill to make sure that we weren't charged for them.

Mom's haddock was a very good size piece. She had asked for it broiled, with nothing on it, and got exactly what she wanted. The fish was perfectly done. It was flaky and fell apart with the touch of her fork. She said the fries were good and the butternut squash was sweet and tasty - the surprise hit of her meal!

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After eating this dish, I never want to see another pecan as long as I live. It was excellent! The chicken was moist, perfectly cooked, and surrounded by large, meaty pecans. The butternut cream sauce was tasty and the raviolis were stuffed with squash filling. This was one of the heaviest dishes I have ever eaten, and I was beyond surprised that I finished the entire plate. I just couldn't stop - it was too good!
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D returned to clear the dishes and bring the bill. The total came to:

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$15 - pecan chicken

14 - broiled haddock

4 - 2 diet colas

Subtotal - $33

Tax - 2.64

TOTAL = $35.64

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We left $43 on the table, which included a 20% tip for D, even though she seemed a bit distracted during our visit. Before leaving the restaurant, Mom and I visited the ladies' room. It was very cramped, but the stalls were roomy and everything was clean and neat.

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Tavern on Main just may be our new favorite restaurant. It is a unique place to eat, especially if you're new to New England. The food was outstanding and they have quite a vast menu. As for the ghost, Mom and I are surprised that it possibly showed up in our photo. We don't usually take photos on our second visit to a restaurant, but I will definitely bring my camera the next time around. Who knows, maybe the ghost will be kind enough to pick up the tab!

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Please click here for the Tavern on Main hours of operation.