It's like being back in St. Louis

I have a lot of extended family from the St. Louis area - so we visited the area often when I was a kid, even through my time in college. One of my favorite things about visiting family there - aside from actually being WITH my family - were the many, many, restaurants that had toasted ravioli on the menu. Oh, and there was also this Mexican place in the nice mall that made their own tortillas and served that as the munchie instead of chips and salsa - delicious, warm, soft tortillas with this amazing orange butter. OMG!

OK, so back to ravioli. Any time we went out, I had to get toasted ravioli. It was a requirement. And something we just couldn't find in the greater Chicagoland Area. And once I went off to Indiana for college and then moved out east - forget it! Toasted ravioli quickly became a thing of my past. (excuse me while I shed a tear).

Fast Forward to this wonderful day in October of 2012, I was going through my Google Reader (remember when that existed?) and found a recipe for oven toasted ravioli on Six Sisters' Stuff. Could it be - could I make these at home?!

Why yes, yes I could.  So on Christmas Eve of last year, when the hubs and I indulge in lots of sinful and delicious heavy apps for dinner that night, I made the oven toasted ravioli with mushroom ravioli. Oh heavens! They were amazing!! In fact, so amazing, I decided I'll make them again this Christmas Eve as well.

Oven Toasted Ravioli Recipe from Six Sisters' Stuff

Ingredients:

1 (20 ounce) package refrigerated ravioli (found in the deli section) - I used mushroom ravioli - my favorite!

2 eggs

2 tablespoons milk

3/4 cup Italian bread crumbs - I used plain that I seasoned myself.

1/4 cup grated Parmesan Cheese - um, yeah, Kraft it was!

Nonstick cooking spray

Directions:

 Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Whisk together egg and milk in a small bowl.  In another bowl, combine bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.  Dip each ravioli in the egg mixture and coat in the bread crumb mixture.  Place on an ungreased baking sheet.  Spray ravioli with cooking spray.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until golden grown.  Serve with marinara sauce for dipping. *I did bake these on a silicone sheet and I think that helped with any sticking. Although I may try baking them on racks this year. I also did flip them once during the baking process to evenly brown.*

 (Recipe adapted from Plain Chicken)

A Side Dish Transformed to an Entree

First off, I want to apologize for neglecting my blog since August.  But between work, working many weekends, a hurricane, some vacations, and the winding down of one job to start another, things have been a little chaotic - leaving very little time for blogging. Or let's be honest, very little interest in blogging.

But I have a folder filled to the brim on my computer with pictures of dishes we've made that I'm just dying to share.

For Christmas a year ago, my mom gave us the Guy Fieri Food: Cookin' It, Livin' It, Lovin' It book. She sent it because that fall (in the fall of 2011) we road tripped and made a point to visit as many as the DDDs we could.

Really, everything we've made out of this cookbook as been fantastic. But this is one of my favorites. It's actually meant to be a side dish, but we turn it in to an entree by lightening up the cooking process a bit and then adding some tofu to make it a full meal.

The recipe that Guy uses calls for frying the beans in oil, 2 cups of oil. I just can't imagine using that much for a dinner, so instead of deep frying the beans in oil, we just pan sauteed them. So I'm writing the recipe below how we make it. But the recipe as Guy makes it can be found on the Food Network site here.

Szechuan Green Beans with Realistic Eats Changes to make it dinner!

• 1 T canola oil1 tablespoon minced fresh ginger1 tablespoon minced garlic1/4 cup soy sauce1/2 T Siracha1/4 cup rice wine vinegar
  2 tablespoons hoisin sauce
  1 tablespoon mirin or white wine1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
  1 - 2 T chopped fresh cilantro leaves
• 1 container mushrooms1 pound green beans, cleaned and trimmed2 tablespoons chopped peanuts
• 1 brick extra firm lite tofu
• 1 avocado sliced or diced

Directions

Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silpat. Dice your tofu in to small cubes and place on the lined baking sheet. Bake in the oven at 350 for approx. 30 minutes - or until the tofu is dry and has a light brown color.

While the tofu is baking...

In a large skillet, add 1 T canola oil and heat it up.  When the oil is hot, add in the green beans and mushrooms and cook them until they are tender but start to brown a bit.  

In another skillet or a small pot, spray with PAM, then add in the ginger and saute until you can start to smell it. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute or until it turns light brown; add soy sauce, siracha, rice wine vinegar, hoisin, mirin, sesame oil. I let this simmer a bit to get the flavors blended then turned it off..

When the green beans are done, and the tofu is done, place in a big bowl or pot and toss with the sauce that you made.  Then toss with some fresh chopped cilantro and the chopped peanuts, which I admit I did toast up first.  Plate that and top with the avocado. 

While I know the meal has enough fat between the peanuts and fried green beans, the avocado makes this recipe with the cool creaminess in contrast to the great salty flavors in the dish.

I did serve this with a 3oz. side of rice noodles as well.

A New Go To Salad

Typically when I make Mexican food for dinner I make my Mexi-slaw to go with it, and we devour it! But I recently found this recipe on Kalyn's Kitchen for an avocado and heart of palm salad that had cilantro and lime as the seasoning - how perfect for a side dish for a Mexican feast?

This has become a staple in our house now - so much so I just had to buy two two pack jars at BJs - knowing this will get me 8 salads.

If you like heart of palm and avocado, make this STAT! It's just so perfect!

Ingredients: I typically half this recipe for just the hubs and I as a side dish for our dinners. It still makes MORE than enough!

2 (14 oz) cans or 1 large jar (26 oz.) hearts of palm

2 avocados

2 T + 1 T fresh-squeezed lime juice (or more)

1/2 cup finely chopped fresh cilantro

1/4 cup thinly sliced green onion (or chopped red onion) - I omit this each time, we just don't love raw onion enough and for some reason each time I make this, I buy or have green onion for it but totally blank on putting it in - it's still great without it!

sea salt to taste for seasoning finished salad

Instructions:

Drain the hearts of palm into a colander placed in the sink, and let them drain well while you cut the avocado. Dice avocado and toss with the 2 tablespoons of lime juice.

Cut the hearts of palm into slices about 1/2 inch thick, breaking it apart into rings or cutting the larger slices in half if they don't break apart. Chop cilantro and thinly slice green onion.

Add the sliced hearts of palm, chopped cilantro, and sliced green onion to the avocado and stir gently to combine. Add the final tablespoon of lime juice (or a bit more if desired) and season the salad well with sea salt and pepper (my addition).

All Things Delicious

Mushrooms

Bread

Cheese

All melty and gooey and delicious.

Yup. That's pretty perfect!

Add the hub's perfect homemade bread and this meal is spot on!!

Thanks to Closet Cooking for this fantastic recipe!

I did make a few slight changes which I posted here.

1 tablespoon butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small onion, sliced

8 ounces cremini mushrooms, sliced

2 cloves garlic, chopped

1 teaspoon thyme, chopped

1/4 cup white wine or broth

salt and pepper to taste

1 tablespoon parsley, chopped

1/2 teaspoon truffle oil * I omitted this

1 cup fontina or gruyere, shredded

1/4 cup parmigiano reggiano, grated - I skipped this added cheese

4 slices bread

2 tablespoon butter

Melt the butter and heat the oil in a pan over medium heat.

Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes.

Add the garlic and thyme and saute until fragrant, about a minutes.

Add the cremini mushrooms and saute until the start to caramelized and turn golden brown, about 10-15 minutes.

Add the wine, deglaze the pan and cook until most of the liquid has evaporated.

Season with salt and pepper and remove from heat and let cool a bit. * I omitted the salt - there's plenty of sodium with the cheese.

Mix the cheese into the mushrooms. * Instead of doing this, I layered the mushrooms and cheese on the bread and then did the grilled cheese portion.

Butter one side of each slice of bread and place 2 in the pan buttered side down.

Top each with 1/2 of the mushroom mixture and finally the remaining slices of bread with the buttered side up.

Grill until the cheese has melted and the bread is golden brown, about 2-4 minutes per side.

Easy Vegetarian Eats

Back at the end of September this recipe went on to the menu one week. That week ended up being chaotic and we missed that meal. We tried again the following week - and yet again, we passed this meal up on the menu plan again. Finally, at the start of October we got to make this and boy are we upset we waited to long to make them! They were so good!

These are so quick and easy to make and absolutely delicious. Don't wait 3 weeks to make these like we did - you'll be missing out!

Sesame Scallion Tofu
From Serious Eats

• 2 tablespoons arame or other dark sea green, such as kombu or wakame
• 1/2 bunch scallions, trimmed
• 12 ounces firm tofu, patted dry
• 2 tablespoons panko or fresh bread crumbs
• 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
• 2 teaspoons soy sauce
• 1 teaspoon dark sesame oil
• Salt and pepper

Pour boiling water over the arame and soak for a minute or two. Drain well.

Put the scallions in a food processor and pulse a few times, until minced. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Put about half the tofu and all the arame in the processor (no need to wash it out) and pulse a couple of times, until crumbled. Add to the mixing bowl.

Put the remaining tofu in the processor and let it run until the tofu is smooth. Add it to the mixing bowl, along with the panko, sesame seeds, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Sprinkle with a little salt and lots of pepper and stir well to combine. Form into 4 patties.

*Here's where I strayed from the recipe. Instead of frying in oil, I just placed them on the dry non-stick griddle pan and cooked them until they were done/heated through.

I served them with some sushi rice and some miso roasted vegetables. So incredibly good!

ENJOY!

Perfect Saag Paneer

So, I made saag paneer once at home, and it was good but just not the texture I was seeking. I finally came up with the idea of using, gasp, canned spinach to make the saag paneer again... and you know what, it was the exact texture I was seeking!!

The recipe was creamy, flavorful and delicious. Instead of paneer, I used haloumi cheese this time that I diced up and browned up.

The rest of the recipe for the paneer I followed from Serious Eats.

1 large can canned spinach.

1 onion diced

3 cloves of garlic minced

about 1 T fresh grated ginger

6 oz. haloumi cheese diced and browned

1 teaspoon cumin

2 teaspoons curry powder

1 container plain yogurt

salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion and garlic with the cumin and curry and then add in the canned spinach, undrained. Stir in the yogurt, salt and pepper to taste at the end. Add in the cheese and toss to combine. I also did add in some crushed red pepper flakes for a little spice.

Farmer's Market Fresh

It's that time of year again! Farmer's markets are in season and our garden is blooming and growing well. We're eating more fresh produce and local foods than ever and it's so delicious and wonderful.

The other week I made open faced eggplant parm sandwiches - which were tasty.

The how to:

Slice eggplant in to long slices and dip in egg white and bread crumbs. Place on a baking rack on a cookie sheet and spray with some Pam. Bake at 350 until until the eggplant is tender and the pieces are crispy.

Lay strips of the cooked eggplant on some fresh bread - we used our fresh sourdough. First we put some garlic scape pesto on the bread, then the eggplant pieces, then some fresh tomatoes, fresh mozzarella and some basil and cracked black pepper. DELICIOUS!

We dipped in some sauce on the side and enjoyed with some fresh garden zucchini. It was a wonderfully filling and delicious garden fresh meal!

It's like a flavor explosion

I love with quick and easy meals surprise you in a million ways. This meal was pretty much added to my reader because I liked the idea of having a great, new, flavorful meals to "clean out the pantry" a bit.

The main course was quick, easy, flavorful and delicious. The salad, I totally winged it and made it up on my own - but I'll share it here so you can give it a whirl.

Thanks to Branny Boils Over for this delicious, hearty, filling meal.

Pineapple Pinto Beans

2 cups pinto beans, rinsed

1 small jalapeno pepper, minced

4 oz crushed pineapple in juice

1/4 tsp cumin

1 tsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

In a small sauce pan, heat olive oil until shimmering. Add minced jalapeno and cook about 3 minutes over medium heat, until softened. Combine remaining ingredients in sauce pan and cook until heated through, mashing a portion of the beans, if desired.

Mexislaw

In a bowl, combine 2 -3 tsp. canola oil, 1-2 tsp. white vinegar, a pinch of salt, a sprinkle of cayenne and taco seasoning (remember I make and use my own). Whisk that up and give a little taste to make sure your seasoning and spices are ok. Then toss this with a half of a bag of coleslaw mix and let sit for 30 minutes to get the flavors to meld. I topped the coleslaw with a low carb tortilla that I cut in thin strips and sprayed with Pam and seasoned with taco seasoning and warmed until crisp in a non stick skillet. SO GOOD!!

Siete de Mayo

So a few days, late - but better late than never.

And to tell the truth, I made these back in April. And as much as I loved these, this meal confirmed the reality that the hubs does not like any sweet type flavored enchilada and only likes meat in his enchiladas.

But if you're a true vegetarian lover, you will love these - just like I did.

I love plantains, and black beans, and Mexican food - so I decided to make some plantain and black bean enchiladas. They were a bit sweet, savory, filling and so yummy!

I followed the similar method for the plantains that I use to make my Fufu, boiling them in broth, peeling, mashing with green onion, lemon juice but I also included some taco seasoning in them this time. Then I laid those out in the tortilla with some black beans, some cheese, roll, top with sauce/cheese and bake and devour!

I baked these in the oven for about 30 minutes on 350 to heat through and met the cheese.

See it really couldn't be any easier!

The filling of the tortillas

YUMMY!!

My First Adventure with Paneer

The first time I had paneer, my good friend Rupa brought me some to work to try - she's so good about brining me in tastes of the delicious food she and her husband make so I can try new Indian flavors and spices.

Since then I've been determined to make saag paneer. But I don't do anything half assed (ok that's a lie), so I decided to make my own paneer. Yeah that was a BIG FAT SUPER DUPER FAIL!!! Instead of forming in to a brick/cube, it came out all crumbly and well, it was great the next night on our has and eggs! So I had to make a pre-dinner run to Whole Foods to pick up paneer. Let me just say at 8.99 a box, and needing 2 boxes for the recipe, I need to work at finding a really fantastic recipe for making paneer at home.

The recipe for the spinach was pretty good, the flavor was great but it wasn't creamy enough for me, I wanted something more pureed and smooth. So this is a recipe I will continue to play with and figure out how to perfect.

Since I don't eat much meat, having the paneer as a protein option is really a nice choice and I just have to keep working at this!

Next time, I'm going to use this paneer recipe. And I relied on my old stand by of Serious Eats for the Saag Paneer recipe. Again, I just have to play around with the creaminess of it, but that's just my taste. I served this with naan and it was just a wonderful vegetarian meal full of great flavor.

Mark Bittman, My Type of Recipe Guru!

Can I tell you how much I love Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express? I got the book from the library and have been trying some of the recipes out. Well, now I need to buy this book. These are my types of recipes and really how I cook - a little of this, a little of that, do this until it looks right/tastes right. No heavy list of ingredients and measurements. LOVE IT!

I made his recipe for Linguine with Pea Sauce and Prosciutto a few weeks ago and WOW what a delicious and easy meal to make! I served this as a side to some steaks that I grilled up and it was just the most perfect meal.

Linguine with Pea Sauce and Prosciutto
From Mark Bittman's Kitchen Express

Boil salted water for the pasta and cook it reserving some of the cooking water. While this is cooking, cook a bag of frozen peas and some chopped scallions in salted water until the peas are just tender. Set a few of the peas aside and then drain the peas and puree with some of the pasta water, leaving some whole for tossing in later. Cut Prosciutto in to matchstick pieces and pan fry until crispy in a non stick skillet. Add the whole peas to the prosciutto. Drain your pasta and toss it with the pea puree and toss in the prosciutto and peas. Top with some parmesan and voila.

This would be fantastic with seafood as well!

Who needs Buffalo Wings...

When you can have these awesome Buffalo Chickpea Patties?

OK, granted the meat lover will miss the chicken wings, but the non-meat lover will adore the kick of these!

And I can even say they are delicious leftover - even frozen and re-heated they are great. I've had them for breakfast on a biscuit (think Chick-Fil-A esque chickn' biscuit), I've had them on an English muffin, on a bun, and alone. And every way they are AWESOME!

I splurged and topped mine with some blue cheese and they were just great with the cheese - really gave it a hot wings dipped in blue cheese dressing feel.

Easy to make, great to eat! Hope these find a spot in your recipe rotation!

Thank You Veggie Belly for another great recipe!

Please note this is the recipe as on Veggie Belly - but I doubled the recipe to make extras for leftovers. The Hubs didn't think they were big enough (read: thick/meaty like enough) so he ate 2 patties on a bun. Next time I'll still double but make them thicker.

1 15 oz. can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 c. rolled oats

1/4 c. buffalo sauce (note: if you like spice, and I don't always like spice, but I'll admit this could have used more buffalo sauce)

1 egg white

1 small yellow onion

1 tsp. garlic powder

Salt and pepper

Add chickpeas to a bowl, use a potato masher and mash until about 2/3 of the chickpeas are pasty and 1/3 are in pieces or whole.

Add the buffalo sauce to the chickpeas.

Add half of the oats to a food processor, pulse to create a crumb, add to the chickpeas. (Note: I blended all of the oats)

Beat the egg white in a small dish to a froth, add to the chickpeas.

Grate onion into the chickpeas, finally add the garlic powder, salt and pepper.

Use a spatula and fold mixture, combining ingredients well.

***At this point, from making other veggie patties, I knew to let this sit a bit to let the oats do their thing so you get a firm/solid patty. I highly recommend letting this sit for about 10 minutes or so before forming in to patties.***

Heat a griddle over medium, spray with nonstick spray or add 1 T oil.

Use a 1/3 measuring cup to portion out chickpea mixture onto griddle, this yields about 5 patties.

Cook patties for 5-7 minutes, until crispy and brown, flip gently and cook for another 5-7 minutes.

The Best Thing We ate in Turkey

We can now make at home!

We had the most delicious eggplant salad in Turkey at this great little family owned restaurant and it left such an impression on us as one of the best things we ate during our trip. I searched for Turkish Eggplant Salad recipes when I came home, coming up with a lot of babaganoush of course! But that was NOT what we had.

Finally, I struck gold with a recipe that had a picture and it looked pretty close to what we ate.

We did a Mediterranean food night the other week and made the eggplant salad, enjoyed some yummy pita (ok store bought) and some grape leaves (also, purchased from a great little restaurant near my office for 3 bucks for a dozen!).

The salad was WONDERFULLY yummy - maybe I added more tomato than what was in it when we had it in Turkey but it was pretty close. I am thinking we may have had it with white eggplants though, as the texture of the eggplant seemed a bit different than what we had. Either way it was still fantastic.

I took a container of it in to work as well and it received rave reviews. This is surely something I think would be great to make this summer when the gardens and farmer's markets are plentiful - it would be great at a cookout with some pitas.

We did like it with the pita, but we had it with this wonderful fluffy light bread in Turkey. Thankfully I had a bit of Italian bread left in the house and we both agreed it was MUCH better with bread than pita, it really gets the juices soaked in and the flavors are stand out much more on bread than pita. But really both are equally yummy!

I hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

Roasted Eggplant Salad

Adapted from Hayriye's Turkish Food and Recipes

2 medium eggplants

1-2 cubanelle peppers (one was PLENTY for us, we're not pepper eaters)

1 tomato, diced - or use some halved/quartered grape tomatoes

1-2 cloves of garlic, minced

¼ cup olive oil

½ lemon’s juice

2-3 sprigs parsley, chopped

1 tsp salt to taste

To prepare the sauce, place lemon juice, olive oil and minced garlic in a wide bowl and whisk to emulsify.

Now, you can roast the eggplants and peppers whole until they are tender, then remove them from the oven, remove the skins, etc. However, I was lazy and just peeled and diced the eggplant and roasted it with some oil and salt in the oven on 425 for about 40 minutes - tossing throughout. For the pepper, I roasted over my gas flame on the stove, then removed the skin, seeds/stem and chopped.

Now about 10 minutes near the end, I added the peppers in to the oven with the eggplant, and 5 minutes to go, I added in the tomato to soften that a bit too - but next time, I would not do that with the tomato - it was certainly more fresh how we had it in Turkey and not cooked.

Once your veggies are roasted (either pre-diced or dicing after they are roasted), toss everything in to the sauce and toss to coat.

Pea-Lafel

So, if you are a frequent reader you know my affinity for Aarti on Foodnetwork. Well did you know she has a blog?? Um, I didn't and I can't believe I haven't found it before. It's a great mix of recipes, music, culture, fun and more - check it out.

So back in Feb. we made these WONDERFUL pealafel sandwiches for dinner from her Belly Dance show. Oh my goodness they were so good and really more flavorful that traditional falafel. They were rich, crispy, smooth, creamy and had the most beautiful vibrant green color.

I do have to say though they did not re-heat in the microwave well the next day for lunch and became a bit greasy, but I think re-heating in the oven would be a much better route - that is if you have any left, because they are so good you'll want to eat them all!

We served with a simple tabouli salad and in pitas with the sauce - delicious!!!

This is certainly a great summer meal as tomatoes, cukes, and herbs start sprouting!!

Pea-Lafel/Fried Pea & Mint Sandwiches

Adapted from Aarti Parti, Food Network

For the Sauce

1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds

1/4 teaspoon coriander seeds

1 cup plain non-fat yogurt

1/2 cup lightly packed fresh mint leaves, finely chopped, plus 3/4 cup whole leaves

Kosher salt

For the patties

1 cup frozen peas, thawed and drained

1 cup frozen edamame, thawed and drained

1 small onion, peeled and roughly chopped

1 clove garlic, peeled

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1/4 cup flour

Canola oil, for frying

pitas, halved

2 large vine-ripened tomatoes, cut into large dice

1 large English cucumber, sliced into 1/8-inch rounds

In a small skillet, toast the fennel and coriander seeds for a couple of minutes until they're fragrant and slightly darker, about 2 minutes. Remove from the pan and throw into a coffee/spice grinder. Grind to a fine powder.

For the yogurt sauce: Mix the yogurt with the 1/2 cup finely chopped mint leaves and a generous pinch of salt. Chill in the fridge.

Throw the peas, edamame, ground spices, shallot, garlic, remaining whole mint leaves, olive oil, and salt into a food processor and puree until smooth. It won't get completely smooth because of the edamame, but process until it is as smooth as possible.

Scrape into a big bowl and stir in the flour. The mixture will still be pretty soft. Not to worry!

Pour enough oil into a large skillet - about 1/4-inch deep. Heat over medium heat until shimmering. Then shape the pea mixture into 12 small patties the size of a golf ball, and then gently drop into the oil. I did this by using my cookie scoop to get the rounded size I wanted. I then flattened them a bit between my hands before popping in the oil. Fry until the bottoms are browned and then carefully flip over. Brown the other side, and then remove from the pan and drain on a paper towel-lined plate - do drain them!! they retain a bit of oil and you'll want that to soak out before you put these in your pitas.

Serve warm in a pita bread pocket stuffed with the fresh veggies and a spoonful of the yogurt sauce.

Like our sushi bowls - but vegetarian!!

We made these, so long ago now, but it was a really good meal and certainly blog-worthy - it just took me time to get to it!

I secretly borrowed (ahem, stole) this recipe out of the magazine at my chiropractor's office and let me tell you I am so glad I did and it was so good I have no remorse.

This meal was really easy to make, really filling and satisfying and a great vegetarian, actually vegan dish. I will say though that between the sesame oil and sesame seeds it was a bit sesame-y, and if you don't do well with that much sesame (like me) you may want to cut back on some of the sesame goodness.

This recipe comes from Health.com magazine from Sept. 2010 and I've written it with my adaptations below. Thanks Dr. D for not noticing I took this page of your magazine (oh and 3 others!!, it's OK the magazine was there for 4 months!)

Rice with Edamame and Sea Greens

1 1/2 cups cooked rice (brown or white)

1 container shitake mushrooms cleaned and chopped up (you can use reconstituted dried mushrooms here)

1/2 cup dried seaweed

1/2 small onion finely chopped - we just used green onion

1 teaspoon toasted sesame seeds

1 T sesame oil

2 T low sodium soy sauce

1 cup shelled edamame cooked

Cook your rice, soak your mushrooms if using dried - or chop the fresh if you're going that route. Add the mushrooms, seaweed, sesame seeds, onion, soy sauce and edamame to the rice and stir to combine. Toss with soy sauce and garnish with more toasted sesame seeds.

ENJOY! it was super tasty and would really be a powerhouse of a lunch at work too!

We're doin' it up Aarti Party Style!

So after the delicious meal we had on my birthday from Aarti Party, I decided I'd try her Chickpea and Artichoke Masala recipe.

Oh my goodness, so easy, so good, so flavorful, and incredibly filling! Serve with some naan or rice and it's a meal fit for a king on a pauper's budget and vegetarian's palate! And even the non-vegetarian loving husband enjoyed this meal quite a bit! There are very few veggie recipes that he asks for a repeat of - this was one he said he'd be happy to see on the menu again and again. YAY!

Chickpea and Artichoke Masala

Recipe courtesy Aarti Sequeira and Aarti Party

Ingredients

1 large red onion, chopped (about 2 cups)

2 tablespoons Ginger-Garlic Paste, recipe follows, or 1 clove garlic and 1/2-inch piece ginger, peeled and chopped

3 large Roma tomatoes, chopped - since it's out of season, I simply used 1 can petite diced tomatoes and drained it.

2 tablespoons canola oil

1 teaspoon cumin seed

1 teaspoon ground coriander

1/2 teaspoon garam masala

1/4 teaspoon paprika

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1/4 cup yogurt, whisked until smooth

1 tablespoon lime juice (about 1/2 a lime)

1 (14 1/2-ounce) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 (14 1/2-ounce) can artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed, and halved - I chopped these up even more so the pieces were smaller to handle.

Kosher salt

1/2 cup water

Chopped fresh cilantro, for garnish

Directions

Process the onion, Garlic-Ginger Paste, and tomatoes in a food processor or blender until smooth. * I Just used 1 garlic clove and a nob of fresh ginger here.

Meanwhile, warm the oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is shimmering, add the cumin seeds. Once they're done popping, add the onion-tomato paste you just made, and saute until it thickens and deepens in color, about 10 minutes.

Add the ground coriander, garam masala, paprika, and turmeric and saute about 30 seconds. Then add the yogurt, a little at a time so it doesn't curdle. Stir in the lime juice, chickpeas, artichokes, salt, to taste, and water. Cover and simmer 10 minutes. Taste for seasonings and serve garnished with cilantro

A fresh and light soup

Great in the winter, will be wonderful in the spring and delicious in the summer and fall with that fresh cabbage from the garden.

I found this recipe for Chickpea Rice Soup with Cabbage on Post Punk Kitchen and really what prompted me to make this was how beautiful the soup looked in her bowls in the photos. It looked rich and creamy without the addition of dairy product. It looked filling and delicious and so colorful.

The soup was so hearty and satisfying. I enjoyed the addition of the rice to the soup, but the hubs felt he would have liked it without the rice. So next time, I'll make the rice on the side and we can just spoon it in to our bowls as we'd like.

Instead of boiling the rice in the soup, I made rice in the rice cooker and then scooped some cooked rice in to the finished soup. It did take a way from the creaminess a bit of the rice breaking down in the broth, but it made it hold up really well for leftovers without the rice getting pasty and mushy.

I also used a short cut and instead of shredding the cabbage I used a bag of coleslaw mix to make life easier.

Do add the fresh dill as well at the end, it really brings a wonderful flavor that brightens the dish up!

Made the recipe pretty much as is aside from what I just mentioned so just follow the link above for the recipe.

An absolutely incredible vegan meal....

So incredible you won't even miss the meat!

I love the website Eating Well and often find so many delicious recipes on this site.

I knew I had some gnocchi in the pantry and some butternut squash that needed to be used up - so this recipe fit the bill.

I can honestly say the only change I made was to use onion instead of shallot and I did skip the currants because it's just not something we enjoy.

This Chickpea, Spinach and Squash Gnocchi was hearty, filling, satisfying and made SO MUCH FOOD!! It really came together quite quickly as well - even with having to cook the squash - I think it took about 30 minutes.

Do make this, I promise even your non-vegan/vegetarian loving spouses or families will enjoy it and be satisfied.

(on a side note, I find it funny that Chrome thinks Gnocchi is a mis-spelled word!)

Egyptian Cooking 101

My husband and I just got back from a 24 day vacation, a Mediterranean Cruise. We visited 3 continents- Europe, Africa, Asia. We enjoyed our days exploring Spain, Morocco, Grand Canaria, Madeira, Italy, Greece, Turkey (the Asiatic part), Egypt and Malta.

Between the delicious food on the boat, of course we dined on delicious local cuisine as well in most cities. However, there were certainly areas we couldn't eat for GI safety reasons - like Morocco and Egypt- so instead we've opted for cook books to bring a taste of the cuisine home with us.

Tonight was my first foray in to our Egyptian cook book. This book has so many delicious recipes that we really just need to make every single one.

Since we splurged on so many sweets and meats while we were away, we're trying to eat as light and vegetarian right now.

Tonight's dish was a super vegan dish. We both agree this is a make again, and often. And it makes so much that I'm certainly getting plenty of leftovers for lunches!

It seemed like an odd, carb-heavy, mix to me for a meal. But the flavors were fabulous and it was incredibly filling and hearty. I did make a few alterations, which of course I'll list here.

Do make this - it's such a great intro to Egyptian food- which really seems very similar to Turkish and other African type foods.

Kushari be'adds abu gibba

aka Brown lentils with rice and macaroni

For Daqqa (Sauce)

6 cloves of garlic

1/4 cup white vinegar

salt to taste

1 teaspoon chili pepper (or 1 teaspoon Siracha, which is what we used)

2 cups tomato juice (I used 1 8oz can tomato sauce and one can of water because it's what I had on hand)

2 T oil (I used barely 1 T)

1. Crush Garlic, salt and chili pepper together (I just crushed garlic and tossed with siracha). Fry in oil until light and golden brown.

2. Add tomato juice and cook until sauce thickens and oil rises to the top. Add vinegar and bring to a boil. Then let simmer until you're ready to use it.

For the main dish

1 cup brown lentils, rinsed and picked through

1 cup rice, uncooked

1/2 cup vermicelli (Please note I used 1 cup of Barilla broken pasta in exchange for opting out of using the 1 cup of small pasta in addition, it just seemed like too much starch)

1 cup small pasta like elbow or ditalini (again I omitted this and added the extra 1/2 cup of broken pasta)

1 can chickpeas drained and rinsed and warmed

2 large onions chopped

1/4 cup oil.

1. Slice onions and fry in oil until golden brown, then remove and set aside. Fry the pasta in the remaining hot oil until golden brown. Add 1 1/2 cups water and a little salt and bring to a boil. Add rice and continue cooking until water is absorbed and rice is fully cooked. **NOTE - This part used WAY more than 1 1/2 cups water, probably closer to 2.5 cups water and I had to keep a really close eye on it to make sure it didn't stick. I did cook it covered but kept stirring and adding water as needed. Still took about 30 minutes**

2. In another pot boil the lentils in 2 cups of water for about 40 minutes until tender then drain and rinse with water. Keep them warm.

3. In another pot, boil water and cook the small pasta until done, drain and rinse and keep warm.

4. To serve, layer in the following order: rice with vermicelli, macaroni, lentils, chickpeas, onions then the sauce.

Oh my gosh, heavenly good!! Enjoy!!!

A Savory Vegan Lunch

I have been doing pretty well lately with eating primarily vegetarian/vegan for breakfasts and lunches, and actually have been doing even better at making vegetarian dinners for me and meat meals for the hubs. While I do still enjoy milk, cheese, eggs and well, gosh I can't seem to commit to giving up pork, red meat or seafood yet - I'm making small strides. And I do really enjoy and feel better when I decrease my meat consumption.

Last week I enjoyed a great, hearty vegetable and bean soup for lunches at work. This week we're going to be cool all week so I wanted something really filling and warm - since I do much better during the day/night with snacking when I eat a warm and savory lunch at work.

I made a delicious lentil and butternut squash salad for lunches this week - but it would be fantastic for dinners too, or even to take to a fall party.

Easy to make, satisfying, warm, and really makes you feel like you're capturing every essence and taste of fall in one simple and clean meal!

Lentil and Butternut Squash Salad

Serve warm

1/2-3/4 cup French Lentils -rinsed, drained and placed in a pot of water to boil with 1/2 tsp. salt

1 medium sweet potato, peeled and diced

1 small butternut squash, peeled and diced

1 small onion

fresh sage - about 10 leaves

pepper, salt, olive oil.

1/2 cup dried cranberries

While your lentils are boiling, peel and diced your root veggies placing them in a pan to roast in the oven. Slice your onion in to half circle slices and separate the pieces. Shred your sage - leaving about 4 leaves for lagter, toss with the root veggies and onion. Drizzle with 1 T olive oil, 1/2 tsp. salt and about 15 turns of fresh ground pepper. Place this mixture in a 375 degree oven and cook - stirring once or twice until everything is just tender - about 30 minutes.

When the lentils are tender, drain, rinse and place in a bowl to let cool. Your lentils should be firm and not mushy. French lentils are firmer than regular brown lentils and hold their shape tremendously well. They are more rounded than regular lentils and are black in color. You can find them in the bulk section at Whole Foods. If you can't find these, regular lentils would be fine just do not over cook them!

Once your roasted roots are done, remove from the oven and let cool for about 15 minutes. Once cool, toss these in with the lentils and stir to combine. Add about 10 more crank of black pepper, the rest of your sage and the dried cranberries. You can add another T or so of olive oil here but if you're not serving it right away, omit the extra olive oil here, you can add it when you eat it.

So tasty and delicious!! Enjoy!