W.F.D. 6/15/2011

What's for Dinner?  Last night, it was a Middle Eastern inspired meal, and I quite enjoyed it.  I'm honestly not certain whether Paul liked it or not... his first reaction (just looking at his plate) was not good.  After he ate, though, he said "So, what inspired that healthy and delicious meal?"... Was he being facetious or did he think it was delicious?  I don't know, but I liked it so I guess that's worthy of blogging.  That and the fact that it's been several weeks since my last post.  And I don't want to talk about weight-loss today.  I'd rather talk about food. 

The Menu:

Nutty-Pilaf Stuffed Round Zucchini with Unie Kaas Reserve

Israeli Eggplant Salad

Hummus

Mini Pita Bread 

First, I made the eggplant salad (because it is meant to be served cold or room-temperature).  I followed a recipe (I hardly ever use recipes!) from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest.  The dish turned out deliciously, I couldn't stop nibbling on it while I prepared the rest of the meal!  To make the salad, you cube the eggplant, toss it with 1/2tsp salt, and then set it aside.

Cook 1 1/2 cups minced onions in 2T olive oil for 5 minutes, then add 2-3 cloves minced garlic and cook 5 minutes more.

Add the eggplant and another 1/2 tsp salt.  Stir, cover, and cook for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding water as necessary to prevent sticking (I didn't have to add any water).  After 20 minutes you stir in 1-2T red wine vinegar and black pepper to taste.  I didn't have red wine vinegar so I did 3/4t of each white balsamic and apple cider vinegar... it worked out! 

The stuffed zucchini was pretty easy although I didn't follow any recipe.  I simply halved the globe-shaped squash and used a spoon to scoop a small amount of the flesh away, leaving a cavity for stuffing.

I placed cut-side down on a lightly oiled baking sheet and roasted them at 425 until they started to brown (I didn't keep track of how long it was, keep an eye on them... 10 minutes or so?).

While the zucchini roasted, I cooked a box of "Nutted Rice Pilaf" that I picked up at Whole Foods, according to package directions.  Zucchini is a very watery veggie, so before stuffing them with the rice I picked up each roasted half and squeezed it gently over the sink, allowing excess moisture to drain out.  Then, I stuffed each one with a good spoonful of pilaf and topped each with a small amount of the world's most delicious cheese... it's an aged Gouda, I believe, and it has little crystallized bits in it which give it a sort of crunchy yet rich and smooth texture.  It's divine.  So, once each zucchini had been stuffed and topped with Unie Kaas, I put them into a 450 toaster oven for just a few minutes until the cheese began to bubble, keeping an eye (and nose) on them as they finished up.

The finished meal was, to me, quite satisfying.  A glass of Newmans Own Cabernet Sauvignon for me, a big frosty draft beer for Paul, and a spread of pitas, hummus, eggplant dip, and stuffed zucchini made for a nice weekday summer meal.  I love letting my produce drawer dictate what's for dinner, and that's exactly what happened last night.

I Love Chiles.

I love Chiles!  They are so diverse and yummy and fun to cook with.  My number one favorite chile is the poblano, and I have several poblano plants growing in my little backyard "salsa garden".  

To roast chiles, I just put them in my toaster oven with the heat as high as it can be (450F for my model).  I keep an eye on them as the skin begins to blister, and turn them occasionally to make sure they roast evenly.  Once they're thoroughly blistered up, I put them into a big tupperware container and put the lid on for 5 minutes or so.  This gives them an opportunity to release a lot of heat and steam, which loosens the skin, which makes it easier to peel them.  Once you have a lovely pile of roasted, peeled (and stemmed and seeded!) chiles the possibilities are endless.  Chop them up and add them to just about anything- Mac N Cheese, casseroles, soups, salads, paninis, pastas..... 

My two most recent roasted chile recipes were rajas and green chile salsa.  

For rajas, I roasted poblanos and red bell peppers, cut them into strips and then added them to sauteed onions and garlic (I cut the onions into long thin strips to match the size and shape of the peppers).  Then I made a creamy, cheesy sauce and combined it with the chile mixture, which resulted in a delicious dish for dipping tortillas in or for spooning over rice and beans or adding to burritos... it was spectacular!  

Rajas (the photo definitely doesn't do it justice!)

The green chile was an attempt at re-creating Paul's Grandma Emma's chile, which we have tried to do several times.  This time wasn't *just* like Grandma's, but was our closest yet and absolutely delish.  For Grandma's green chile (the vegetarian version), you need a combination of 6 jalapenos, 6 green chiles, and 6 yellow chiles.  I added 2 poblanos to the mix, because.... well... I wanted to.  So, we roasted the chiles in the toaster oven, set them aside in a covered container to steam, and then de-stemmed, de-seeded, and peeled each one (without running them under water!).  We diced the roasted chiles and combined them with 3 cloves of diced garlic (this makes a very garlicky chile, 1 clove would suffice if you're not big on the raw-garlic flavor), 2 chopped scallions, and 1 chopped yellow tomato (that was a random addition, simply because I had the tomato and it needed to be eaten.).  This chile wasn't nearly as liquidy as Grandma's is for some reason, so it's more like a chile salad than a salsa.  We have been sprinkling it onto everything for the past several days, and it is addictive.  It's quite spicy, but not painful to eat.  I'm totally pleased with how it turned out this time but am still looking forward to playing around with the recipe a bit more, too. 

Springy Lasagna

 A couple of days ago I spent over an hour prepping a lovely spring lasagna.... I think that merits a blog post.  Also, I just don't post enough on here so it seems like a good excuse to add another post to my poor, lonely, neglected bloggy-blog.

So, here we go.

I bought a bunch of super skinny asparagus, which was the inspiration for the dish.  I also got a nice yellow squash, a zucchini, and a shallot to add to the Springtime vibe I was going for.

First, I boiled the lasagna noodles according to the package directions.  I sliced the zucchini and yellow squash on an angle to get nice big oval shaped discs, and sauteed them with olive oil and a couple of cloves of chopped fresh garlic.  Once they were nearly cooked through, I transferred them to a bowl and then used the same garlicky-oily pan to briefly sautee the asparagus (just for a couple of minutes to get them started before they hit the oven).  I transferred them to a separate plate and then got to work on the sauce.

At some point here the noodles finished cooking (cooked to al dente so they could finish in the oven), so I drained them and separated them from each other a bit so they wouldn't form a big noodle clump while I was still working on the other components.

Ok, sauce.  I diced the shallots, plopped them into the same pan I used for the veg, and added about 2T butter.  When the shallots were translucent, I added 2T of flour and cooked while stirring continuously for a couple of minutes.  Then, I poured in some whole milk (didn't measure, just added as much as I thought seemed right.... hopefully you can do the same.) and whisked to combine everything.  Once it hit a simmer I reduced the heat, added salt and pepper, and let it sit on med-low heat for a few minutes to thicken up.

Once all of the components were cooked and ready, I assembled my masterpiece.  The first thing into my lightly sprayed lasagna pan was a ladle-full of the bechamel sauce.  Next, 4 of the cooked lasagna noodles, slightly overlapping, and then another one (torn to fit) along the top because the noodles aren't as long as the pan.  The first veggie layer was the squash.  Even though it wasn't visible, I got all shmancy and alternated rows of zucchini and yellow squash to form that layer.  Then I sprinkled on some chopped fresh Italian parsley and some chopped sun-dried tomatoes (from a bag, not soaked in oil but not crispy... kind of like raisins).

After that I added the cheese layer.  I mixed 1 whole egg with 1/2 a small container of ricotta and added dollops of that all over the top of the veggies.  Then, I sprinkled grated mozzerella on top.

Next another layer of noodles, then more sauce, then the asparagus.  I trimmed it so it was shorter than I would have if I was serving it on it's own, and then arranged it so that there were asparagus tips on both of the outer sides and the stem sides all met in the middle.

I added another ladle full of sauce on top of the asparagus, then a bit more mozzarella and another layer of cheese.  Last layer was just noodles, sauce, mozzarella.  I baked it at 350 covered for about 25 minutes, then took off the cover and baked another 20.  It was delicious! 

The Oatmeal Trifecta.

I cannot decide what to call these cookies. They are sweet oatmeal heaven. They are divine. They are, quite possibly, the most delicious cookies I have ever made.

It started with a hankering for a chocolate chip oatmeal cookie. I did a recipe search on allrecipes.com and decided to give the recipe 'Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies III' posted by Janie Mai a try.

The recipe was interesting. First of all, it doesn't call for any eggs. I was tempted to find another recipe, fearing that there had been a mis-type that would result in a failed batch (it's happened before using recipes found online!).  The author made a point of saying that this is an egg-free batter, so I went with it.  I didn't have enough chocolate chips, so I had to improvise... which is what led to the trifecta of deliciousness that made them so crazy good. The recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips and an optional 1/2 cup of raisins. My four year old is vehemently opposed to raisins, so I couldn't add them unless this was meant to be a way to torture her... which it wasn't. So, I used 1 cup of chocolate chips and 1/2 a cup each of butterscotch and white chocolate chips. The combination is very sweet, and the result is a sweet-tooth's dream. I found that they took longer to cook than the 10-12 minutes the recipe called for, more like 14-15. You really have to pull them out when they have *just* finished cooking through, before they become overcooked. They're kind of delicate and wanted to fall apart when I transferred them to cooling racks, but most of them turned out perfectly.

I will definitely be making these again, and plan to use the batter to make a batch of oatmeal trifecta cookie dough ice cream, too (I think it'll be perfect because it's eggless!)!

Here's the recipe..... try it, and then tell me what you'd name them.  I don't think oatmeal-chocolate-chip-butterscotch-white-chocolate cookies sounds very good......

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies III a la Maryanne:

Ingredients:

* 1 cup butter

* 3/4 cup packed brown sugar

* 1/4 cup white sugar

* 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

* 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

* 1/2 teaspoon salt

* 1 teaspoon baking soda

* 1/4 cup boiling water

* 2 cups quick cooking oats

* 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

* 1/2 cup white chocolate chips

* 1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Directions

1. Beat butter or margarine, sugars and vanilla until light and fluffy. Add flour and salt, mix well.

2. Dissolve baking soda in boiling water and add to mixture. Stir in rolled oats, and the 3 kinds of chips.

3. Drop by teaspoonful onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 10-12 minutes. Don't over cook.

Kickin' Salad!

That's what Paul said when I fed him last night. I always feel a bit guilty when dinner is either a)ethnic or b)healthy.... and this salad was both. He's a hamburger helper loving, American cheese worshiping, crispy-fried kind of guy.... he recently told me that if I'm planning on making Indian food I should give him several days of forewarning so that he can mentally prepare himself to walk into our curry-scented house thinking 'Mmm... Indian food!' instead of 'Crap. Indian food.'. Being vegetarian, it can be challenging to come up with a good variety of meals which provide us with our daily nutritional needs while also making us feel satisfied. I try to balance out the mac n'cheese and burritos with things like roasted vegetables and cheese-less ethnic items. Last night I made an Asian salad and was pretty thrilled when Paul scarfed it down saying, "This salad is kickin'!".

Here's what I did:
In a calm moment during afternoon nap, I sliced half a zucchini, half a red pepper, and half a cucumber into long thin strips. Meanwhile, I cooked some 'smart' spaghetti (the kind that looks like white pasta but is really full of protein & stuff), and made an Asian sauce/marinade. For the sauce I mixed together a splash of apple cider vinegar, plenty of ginger-soy sauce (Kikomans... it's hard to find, but SO good!), a good glug (don't you love the exactness of my measurements?) of sweet chili sauce (bottled, in the Asian food aisle), a splash of toasted sesame oil, and some sesame seeds. Once the noodles were cooked & cooled I put them into a bowl, added the slivered veggies, and poured on the sauce. I gave everything a good "jooj" (as Rachel Ray would say), and put it in the fridge until dinner time.
When Paul got home I assembled our salads. First, I sliced up some scallions and some fresh cilantro, then diced an avocado. I put a bed of baby spinach leaves onto a large plate, topped the spinach with a mound of the marinated noodles & veggies, topped that with the diced avocado and sliced scallions and cilantro. For some crunch I sprinkled toasted slivered almonds on top, and then drizzled some of the sauce on top.

Voila. Kickin' salad! I suppose I should have taken a picture to include here.... oh well, I'm sure you can imagine it in all of it's glistening soy-noodle-avocadoey goodness. Try it, let me know what you think.... and go ahead and throw some chicken or shrimp on top if that's your thing.

My mouth is en fuego!

Today I harvested 8 large jalapenos, 4 tiny green chili peppers (still trying to determine what they are), and tons of "sweet million" cherry tomatoes. I decided to pickle the jalapenos for using on nachos or as a condiment. I found Guy Fierri's recipe for pickled jalapenos & carrots on foodnetwork.com (http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/guys-big-bite-/pickled-jalapenos-and-carrots-recipe/index.html) and since it seemed simple and got great reviews, I used that as the basis but jazzed it up a bit. I added a bunch of whole garlic cloves, a generous amount of black pepper, a dash of salt, and a Tbs or so of honey. It made enough to fill a large Clausen pickle jar, and is now sitting in my refrigerator looking quite tasty.

WFD 03.02.10

Whats For Dinner?

Tacos!
1/2 small onion, diced
1 bag Morningstar Farms ground crumbles
1/2 package taco seasoning
1 tomato, diced
1 bag shredded lettuce
1 avocado
garlic salt
pepper
grated colby jack cheese
sour cream
taco shells
salsa

-Saute onion until translucent. Add crumbles & cook a few minutes. Add taco seasoning & mix well (you may need to add a small amount of water to loosen up the seasoning).
-Meanwhile, mash avocado with generous amount of garlic salt & pepper to make a quick guacamole. Add a splash of lime juice if you have a lime, but it's not crucial.
-Heat taco shells according to package directions just before serving
-Put out dishes with all of the items- cheese, tomato, lettuce, avocado, sour cream, salsa, taco "meat, taco shells- and let everyone build their own tacos at the table.

I served this with fruit salad (blueberries, kiwis, apples, and grapes), and it was a yummy dinner!

I Can Make Ice Cream!

It's like a dream come true, really.  I can't imagine how many times I have said "I want an ice cream maker" over the years.... for some reason I didn't think I was capable of making something as delicious as Ben & Jerry could... but I am!  In our freezer at the moment we have Scharffen-Berger dark chocolate ice cream with green mint chips.  It's insane.  Before that was peanut butter ice cream with a chocolate swirl and mini peanut butter cups.  Yeah.  I'm constantly thinking about what flavors I'd like to try.... I have a million ideas.  I wish I had more friends nearby to share the love with!  Here is a picture of the first batch that Emma and I made: pink vanilla ice cream with mini-chocolate chips!

WFD 2.24.10

What's For Dinner?!

I picked up a package of fresh peirogis from Sprouts the other day and have been pondering how I ought to prepare them. Next time I'm thinking I'll do peirogi enchiladas..... but this was our Wednesday night dinner, and I rather enjoyed it! I served this with a simple green salad.

Peirogis & Sausage

1 package peirogis (I used potato & cheddar)
1 package Trader Joe's Italian Sausage with Sun Dried Tomatoes
1 onion, thinly sliced
1 orange bell pepper (or whatever color you prefer), thinly sliced
1/2 jar prepared bruschetta topping (or a dollop of tomato sauce or some drained canned diced tomatoes or diced fresh- whatever!)
splash of balsamic vinaigrette
olive oil
salt & pepper

-Saute onion & pepper in a little oil until soft. Add a drizzle of vinaigrette and a dollop of bruschetta topping or tomato product of your choice, stir into peppers and onions.
-Push that mixture to the side of the pan and place sausages in pan. Cook sausages, turning occasionally to let all sides brown.
-On a separate non-stick and lightly oiled pan/skillet, place all of the peirogis so they are laying flat. Cook until crispy golden brown, and then flip to let the front cook.
-Serve peirogis atop a bed of peppers and onions, with sausages on the side.