Summer Spaghetti Squash

Stats: 

I know… It’s the end of November. To my defense, this is one of the recipes I’ve been neglecting to post for some time now. Furthermore, I don’t see why we can’t hang on to one last summer recipe before bundling up for winter…

Ingredients: 

• 1 large spaghetti squash
• Olive Oil
• Pint of grape tomatoes 
• Asparagus (baby asparagus are best)
• Black pepper (freshly ground is best)
• Basil, shredded or cut into small pieces

How To: 

1. Cut squash in half, lengthwise. Remove seeds with a spoon.
2.  Put face down in a baking disk and add 1-2 cups of water to the bottom of the dish – just enough to cover the bottom.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for about 1 1/2 hours or until the squash is easily pricked with a fork.
4. Meanwhile, saute asparagus (which should be cut into pieces about 1 inch long) in a bit of olive oil. Feel free to add salt and pepper,  or even garlic powder to taste.
5. Flip squash over to reveal insides. Using a fork, pull the flesh away from the skin of the squash. This should create thin, spaghetti-like strands.
6. Mix squash with olive oil, tomatoes (cut big ones in half or thirds), pepper (a nice, hefty amount), and shredded basil leaves.

Tips: Spaghetti squash is great with any kind of lightweight sauce. You can also swap out the asparagus for fresh peas, spinach, green beans, or any other seasonal vegetable. Basil can be swapped out for another herb of your liking. Have fun with it!

This dish is also great cold or room temperature as a side “salad” to some grilled chicken or fish!

Ribollita

Stats:

This meal was made for leftovers: for using leftover bread, sauce, and spices in the recipe; for eating leftover as the flavors have really gotten a chance to blend together.

This is a filling, hearty, and well rounded one pot meal.

Ingredients:

• Leftover bread – this time, I used some left over sour dough bread from Panera, bought earlier in the week for a homemade panini dinner. Italian bread, French bread, or anything crusty is perfect. The more bread, the better, but you’ll want at least enough to fill a small pot up with bread cubes.
• Chicken or vegetable broth
• Tomatoes – A 16oz can of stewed tomatoes works best; crush them with your hand before adding to the pot
• Tomato sauce – 16 oz can
• Large white onion, diced
• 3-5 stalks of celery, roughly chopped with leaves
• 4 cloves garlic, roughly chopped into small pieces
• Basil (fresh is best)
• Black pepper (freshly ground is best)

How To: 

1. Cut or rip bread into bite sized chunks
2. Meanwhile, bring crushed tomatoes, broth, and tomato sauce to a boil.
3. Add diced onion, garlic, bread, and black pepper
4. Let simmer for about 30 minutes before adding the basil.
5. Simmer with basil until you are ready to enjoy.

Tips: This keeps well in the refridgerator for at least a week. I have never tried to freeze it and wouldn’t imagine it holding up too well.

You can add some roughly chopped carrots for more vegetables but be sure to add them to the boiling broth early on. Carrots take a while to get soft and you don’t want to have to chew your ribollita…

 

 

Butternut Squash Rissoto

Stats: 

Risotto is never “quick and easy” because of all the stirring it requires. but Risotto CAN be a one pot meal if you make something as hearty and creamy as this dish! It pairs nicely with chicken, pork, or beef with minimal seasoning. To make it vegetarian, just swap out the chicken broth for vegetable broth. It’s just as tasty!

Ingredients: 

• Risotto (as much as you’d like to eat. This recipe is based off of one batch – 2 cups of risotto)
• Chicken broth (5 cups)
• Butternut Squash – peeled and diced into small pieces
• White onion, diced
• Olive Oil
• Butter (just a bit.. maybe 1 tablespoon)
• Salt
• Pepper

How To: 

1. Dice up the squash and onions in small pieces
2. Add a bit of olive oil and the butter to a large skillet. Melt butter over low heat.
3. Add onions and saute until translucent (about 3 minutes)
4. Add risotto and stir well for about 2 minutes until grains start to take on some color
5. Add butternut squash pieces and keep stirring
6. Add enough broth to cover the risotto  – keep stirring
7. As the risotto absorbs the liquid (and you are still stirring…) keep adding more liquid gradually. Absorb a little, add a little. Repeat until all liquid has been used.
8. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Tips: If you are feeling particularly autumnal, add some rosemary or sage to the mix. It makes this dish just a bit more festive!

Roasted Cauliflower & Corn Delight

After making this dish, I was questioning its nutritional value. I did a little research and was pleasantly surprised to learn cauliflower is packed with important vitamins like C! It’s also very high in fiber! If you *really* want to be healthy, you could leave out the salami, or swap in some turkey bacon. I think its well worth the splurge…

Stats: 

• Delicious blend of flavors – Savory salami, sweet roasted corn, toasty cauliflower, and smooth garlic!
• Thrown on top of pasta (whole wheat might add a delicious level of flavor) this is a hearty, full meal.

Ingredients: 

• About 1/2 a head of cauliflower, roughly chopped or broken up into small pieces
• Corn (I shaved the kernels off of two leftover ears)
• 4 cloves of garlic, peeled and chopped roughly in to quarters
• Salami (I chopped up about 1/8 of a lb. but use more or less depending on what you’re going for)
• Olive oil 
• Salt
• Pepper
• Spaghetti
• 1 cup of grated parmesan cheese

How To: 

1. Throw cauliflower, corn, garlic, and salami into a pan or onto a cookie sheet (I prefer it be covered with foil so clean up is easier!). Drizzle with just a little bit of olive oil. Toss to mix before putting in the oven, preheated to 425 degrees.
2. Let the mixture roast for about 25 minutes before bringing a pot of water to boil for the spaghetti.
3. From this point forward, you’ll want to keep an eye on the tray of cauliflower. You want things to start browning, but “browning” can turn quickly to “burning” if you’re not careful.
4. When spaghetti has been cooked, drain the water and place back in the pot.
5. Toss with parmesan and another drizzle of olive oil until well mixed and coated.
6. Toss with the roasted cauliflower/corn/garlic/salami mixture until blended.

Lentil & Chickpea Dhal

This is a high protein vegetarian dish that can be adapted to your liking. For a soup, add more broth. For a thicker dhal, let it simmer until thick. Spices can also be adjusted based on your tastes. I meant to add a splash of cream to my recipe to make it richer, but I forgot – maybe you’ll want to try!

(You might even be able to make this in a crockpot!)

Stats: 

• Very easy to throw together
• Made of non-perishables so its a great choice when you haven’t gotten out to the grocery store
• Uses lots of spices, but there a good investment – versatile and last quite a while.
• High protein but low in fat

Ingredients: 

• Lentils (about 1/2 a pound which is usually about 1/2 a bag)
• 1 small can of chickpeas
• 1 can of tomato sauce
• Broth – I actually used “broth concentrate” from Swanson with 1.5 cups of water, but one can of chicken or vegetable broth will do the trick. You could also make one cup of an instant soup/broth like onion, depending on what you have in your pantry.
• Curry powder
• Garlic powder
• Salt
• Paprika
• Cilantro

How To: 

1. Add lentils to about 3 cups of boiling water.
2. After the lentils cook for about 20 minutes, add chickpeas, tomato sauce, and broth.
3. Spice to taste. I unfortunately did not (nor do I usually) measure, but I speculate the following:

• 1 tablespoon curry
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder
• A nice, big pinch of salt
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• Small handful of cilantro, chopped (maybe it was 1/3 of a cup loosely packed?)

That’s about it! You’re going to want to taste this and add more spices if necessary. If you have a sensitive pallet, you might prefer to add the spices little by little until you get it just right.

Let the dhal simmer until the lentils are very tender and much of the liquid has evaporated. This takes about 40 minutes total. If you find the liquid evaporates prior to the lentils being done, just add some more hot water.

Baba Ganoush

Stats: 

• Something to do with late summer eggplant
• Something different, other than the ‘same old’ hummus

Ingredients: 

• Medium sized eggplant, peeled and sliced
• 1/4 cup, diced fresh parsley
• Juice of a lemon
• 4 table spoons of tahini paste (Sometimes its hard to find tahini in small packages. Today, I had to buy mine in a quart sized container. According to the expiration date, I have until August of 2012 to use it up, but I’ll try to come up with some new recipes over the coming weeks that use tahini so the container doesn’t just sit collecting dust.)
• Honey
• Pepper

How-To: 

1. Remove the skin from the eggplant and cut into circles about 1/2 inch thick. Sweat the eggplant to remove the bitterness (Lay the eggplant slices on a baking sheet and cover both sides with a thin layer of salt. After 30 minutes, wipe off the salt, but DO NOT rinse the eggplant. Rinsing will make the eggplant rubbery.)
2. Roast the eggplant in a 400 degree oven for about 30 minutes or until it becomes very tender, almost mushy. Do not over cook or the outer rim of each circle slice will become tough. If this happens, simply discard the outer rims and use the tender, inner flesh.
3. Add egg plant to a bowl with parsley, lemon juice, and tahini. Use a fork to mash and mix.
4. Taste the mixture. Mine was way too bitter so I added a squeeze of honey (maybe it was a tablespoon? I’m not sure… I just squeezed the Honey Bear a few times…). Taste again. Adjust as necessary.
5. Enjoy on hearty pita chips or vegetable sicks!

(Best if refrigerated and then removed about 20 minutes prior to eating so that it’s still cool.)

Chillibean

As much as I’d like to deny it, there has been a chill in the air over the past few days. I decided to spend the good part of Saturday prepping some meals for the rest of the week, with some left over to freeze for a later day. While this Chillibean warms the belly and leaves me satisfied, it’s still light enough to let me hang on to the last bits of summer.

Stats: 

• Fast, filling, hearty & healthy

Ingredients (for a HUGE batch – enough for at least 12 servings. Eat some, save some, freeze some)

• 2 bell peppers, diced (I used green)
• 2 onions, diced
• 4 cups of vegetable broth (use more if you are using dried beans, or keep this measurement if you’re using cans. If using cans, drain the liquid from half of the cans, while dumping the liquid from the other half of the cans into your pot.)
• Beans – lots and lots of beans. You can used dried or canned, but today, I used the following cans:

                                   1 can of black beans

                                   2 cans of red beans (kidney or other)

                                   2 cans of white beans (cannellini or mini-white beans)

• 2 cans of corn kernels (but fresh off the cob would be even better!)
• 1 can of tomato sauce
• 1 jalapeno, diced with the seeds (or a small can of jalapenos)
• 2 packages of taco seasoning (or a combo of cumin, cayenne, garlic, salt, and pepper as you wish)

How-To: 

1. Dice peppers and onions and saute at the bottom of a large pot.
2. Add vegetable broth and bring to a rolling boil.
3. Add beans, corn, tomato sauce, jalapenos, and seasoning.
4. Simmer for at least 1 hour. You could eat it sooner, but the flavors will be more mild.

After the chillibean cools, divide it into containers for the refrigerator and freezer to enjoy on another blustery day!

Peasant Stuffed Peppers

Stats: 

• Red peppers delicious roasted.
• One dish meal
• Prep for later meals/use left overs (rice & beans)

This dish looks fancy, but the basis of it is cheap, nutritious rice and beans. The fiber, protein, and carb combination makes this a very filling meal!

Ingredients: 

• 1 large red bell peppers per person (any color would do, but I prefer red)
• Rice (I used left over basmati rice, but any will do)
• Beans (I used pink ones, from a can – but again, be creative! Use whattcha got!)
• Olive Oil
• Spices – Tonight, I used fresh cilantro, cumin powder, garlic powder, and sea salt for a “Mexican” flavor, but change it up based on your tastes… Italian? Try basil, oregano, garlic powder, sea salt, and black pepper…

How To: 

1. Pre-heat oven to 425
2. Toss beans with spices of choice.
3. Slice the top off the peppers, right below the stem and the “bumps.” You’ll be saving the top so try to do it in one clean, cut.
4. Spoon in beans, about 1/3 of the way up the inside of the peppers.
5. Layer another 1/3 with rice.
6. Layer beans to reach the top of the pepper. Drizzle with olive oil. Re-top the pepper.
7. Place peppers in a high sided baking dish (to keep the peppers propped upright) and cover tightly with foil to hold it all together. Bake for 25 min.
8. Remove foil, and bake for an additional 10-15 minutes until peppers start looking roasted (they’ll have some brown spots)

Everything but the Kitchen Sink Soup

Stats: 

• Can be vegetarian
• Lots-a-veggies
• 30 minutes prep
• One pot meal
• Makes enough to save & freeze

I spent last week vacationing in Cape Cod and while I came back with a tan and sand stuck between my toes, I was greeted by a barren refrigerator. With just a little bit of produce brought back from the trip, some sturdy root vegetables still holding out in the crisper, a few cans of chicken broth from my always-stocked pantry, and some chicken thighs from the freezer, dinner was on the table in no time!

Bellow is a list of what I threw in the pot, but any veggie combo would work! The chicken was an added bonus but not crucial to the overall taste.

Ingredients: (Everything can be rough-chopped, “rustic-style,” to save yourself a ton of time!)

• Some peeled & diced potatoes (I used 5 small, Yuckon gold but whatever’s in the house will do)
• Some diced celery, leaves included if you have them (I used about 4 stalks)
• Some diced carrots (I used about 4)
• A white or yellow onion, diced
• Stalks of some mushrooms, diced (I’ll be using the mushroom caps later in the week. Stay tuned!)
• Whole chicken thighs (Or any pieces of chicken, whole or cut up)
• Some chicken or vegetable broth (I used 4 cans, but use what you have and add cups of water seasoned with garlic powder, salt, and pepper if you need more liquid)
• Any other veggies you’d like to finish up
• Salt, pepper, garlic powder to taste

How To: 

1. Throw this all in a pot and cover it to bring to boil.
2. Lower the heat so the broth simmers and cook it for as long as you’d like. To fully cook the chicken, you’ll need at least 30-minutes of simmer-time. If its all veggies, just cook until the ingredients become tender.

This made enough for 2 hefty bowls, 2 servings saved in the refrigerator, and 2 servings packaged for the freezer. Even though its a soup, this dish was light enough for mid-August but the potatoes made it delightfully satisfying.

10 Things to Make Life in the Kitchen Simple and Affordable

@ the Grocery Store: 

1) Buy what’s in season. You’ll not only save major cash, but you’ll be reaping all the vitamins, nutrients, and energy fresh produce has to offer. Lately, even big-chain grocery stores have begun to stock their produce bins from the harvest of local farmers. The taste and benefits of “from around the corner” fruits and veggies are second to none. As far as organic is concerned, there’s plenty of research out there from which you can make your own conclusions.

2) It’s cheaper to be a pseudo-vegetarian. I confess. I love chicken, beef, and pork but that doesn’t mean I need to eat it every night. There are tons of other ways to get your protein – beans, yogurt, eggs, nuts.

3) Meat’s expensive. Know a deal when you see one. I’m a big fan of buying bags of freshly frozen fish. It’s typically available at my local stores, on sale, for about $10-11/6 fillets of salmon or tilapia.  That’s a healthy meal for under $2 per serving! For chicken, pork, or beef, buy in sale (or even in bulk), bring it home, and repackage it in meal-sized freezer safe containers to store it for future use. It can be pulled out the night before and left in the refrigerator to defrost in 24hours.

4) If it’s on sale, buy it. You can figure out what to do with it on the car ride home. This goes for pantry staples as well as fresh foods. These cheep finds will be the seeds of your creativity! I’m not a coupon-er, but if you are, more power to ya! I read my weekly grocery store circulars, but I’m not going to waste my time running from store to store. Pick the store that seems to have the best sales on the items you need and go there. You might not save every penny, but then again, you’ll save on time and gas…

5) Don’t buy too much. There’s nothing worse then buying a beautiful head of broccoli, bag of peppers, bunch of grapes, etc. only to not have the time to eat it before it goes bad. I try to shop for perishables once a week. If time is of the essence (isn’t it always?) then shop for two weeks, but freeze meats & use up the more fragile produce first. Things like squash, carrots, and apples have a much longer shelf-life than tomatoes, mushrooms, and berries.

@ Home:

6) Keep your pantry stocked. This includes your spice rack. I always have at least one box/can of the following on hand:

• pasta, brown rice, quinoa, couscous, risotto, tortillas
• black beans, pink beans
• chicken broth, packets of onion soup mix
• tomato sauce, tomato paste, crushed tomatoes, a jar of pasta sauce
• frozen veggies like spinach, peas, or broccoli
• olive oil, vegetable oil, white vinegar, balsamic vinegar
• garlic, onions
• salt, pepper, garlic powder, curry powder, paprika, cumin, red pepper flakes, ginger, rosemary, basil
• sugar or agave syrup, flour
• cheese of choice for Mexican-style dishes, mozzarella (buy a lot when its on sale and freeze it)
• butter (again, buy tons when it’s on sale & freeze it to avoid paying full price in a pinch)

It might seem like a whole lot – and it might add up if you have to go out and buy all these things now – but having a well stocked pantry will make cooking a fast meal much, much easier and affordable in the long run. Replace things as soon as you finish them so you’re not left surprised. Besides, many of these spices last for quite a long time. Better yet, if you have a green thumb (I don’t…) plant some fresh herbs!

7) Plan your meals in pairs. Mushrooms look good this week? Then maybe you can use them on Monday with some chicken, and then again on Wednesday for stir fry. Better yet, how about making some rice for a Monday side dish and cooking extra to add to Wednesday’s dinner? Cooking double portions will not only save you time, but reduce the amount of perishable items that end up in the trash because they’re not used up fast enough. If you cook an extra big meal (big pots of soups, sauces, or chillis in particular) don’t be afraid to employ some tupperware and the freezer. You’ll be happy you did after you come home from work a few weeks later at 9pm starved and feeling lazy!

8) Google is your kitchen’s best friend. Have some okra you don’t know what to do with? Me neither. Pop it into your search box and weed through some recipes. You don’t need to have 100% of the ingredients listed. Mix and match recipes and make it your own!

9) Keep tools handy. If you have to search for the can opener, even heating up some beans becomes a chore. Keeping a neat kitchen is more important than having the latest, most expensive gadgets. Most of what I cook can be made with some combination of a pot, a frying pan, a bowl, an oven-safe dish, spatula, and big-ol-mixing spoon. If you’re feeling adventurous, think about a blender. If not, c’est la vie. Want to know a secret? You don’t even need measuring cups or spoons!!

10) HAVE FUN! This is food we’re talking about – it’s supposed to be delicious. It’s supposed to fill your stomach and be the pathway to your soul. I make no claims that my recipes can do any more than make dinner time quick, easy, affordable, and tasty, but after all, what more can you ask for? So pick out some food, grab a recipe here or elsewhere, throw out the parts you don’t like, and add your own flair. Your stomach & wallet will thank you!