Turmeric!
Posted: October 25, 2012 Filed under: dinner | Tags: curry, delicata squash, dinner, kale, lacinato, nutritional yeast, pasta, turmeric Leave a comment »Tonight was my first experience with fresh turmeric!
It is similar looking to ginger and packs a punch of flavor as well. Turmeric is used from a dye to a super food in fighting cancer. It is also the principal ingredient in curry powders. I thought I would roll with the curry theme for my dinner tonight.
Curry with Fresh Turmeric
- 1 yellow onion
- olive oil
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 delicata squash
- 1 bunch lacinato kale
- 1 bell pepper
- 1/3 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 1/2 tsp fresh or dried turmeric
- 1 tsp curry powder
- 1/2 cup water
- pasta serving of choice
- Pre-heat oven to 350 and de-seed the squash then cut into small pieces.
- Rub with olive oil and place in over for 30min
- chop onion and add it to the olive oil heating on the stove in a large wok or pan
- add crushed garlic to the onions once they are translucent
- cut bell pepper into small pieces and add it to the onion
- once the pepper is soft add the yeast – water and let simmer
- cook pasta to taste
- add the kale when there is 5min left on the squash
- add the squash hot out of the oven and cover everything with the sauce.
- Serve the pasta and top with the curry veggie mix
I’m not sure if I could taste the added turmeric over the curry, but whatever the case this dish was delicious! Curry and squash is a very nice combo. Let me know if you find turmeric near you!
p.s. I am trying to get back to blogging recipes – mainly dinners. Sorry for the lighting, I am just trying to get these amazing flavors out there! Thanks for still reading!
Weeknight Meal
Posted: August 28, 2012 Filed under: dinner | Tags: amaranth, dinner, millet, recipe, weeknight meal Leave a comment »I have gotten back into meal planning. Working for an organic food market can make you go a little crazy with shopping, and I wasn’t really saving any money compared to my pre-discount days.
Tonight I created a millet and amaranth bake with hummus, veggies and chickpeas.
Weeknight Bake
- 1.5 cups cooked millet and amaranth combo – I cooked 1/2 cup amaranth and 1/4 millet in 2 cups of veggie broth
- 1/2 cup cooked chickpeas – canned or home cooked
- 1/2 cup hummus – flavor of choice. I used roasted red pepper
- 1.5 cups diced and cooked veggies that you have on hand – I used red pepper, garlic, zucchini and some frozen spinach
- sprinkle of herbs on hand – I just used an Italian blend
- S&P to taste
Once all of the elements are cooked mixed everything in a large bowl and place them in an olive oil sprayed pie dish and bake for 20min. Total time is about 50min, which is kind of long for a weeknight, but you could always cook the grains before to cut out some time.
The reason I like this meal during the weak so much is you can mixed and match grain, protein and veggies with whatever you have on hand.
What is your favorite weeknight meal? I think ours is actually enchiladas.
Eggplant Bake
Posted: February 29, 2012 Filed under: dinner | Tags: dinner, eggplant, mozzarella, recipe 1 Comment »The original plan for tonight’s dinner was eggplant parm, but I forgot the parm! I did however pick up some delicious fresh mozzarella cheese so I went with it. I started by doing the normal egg, breadcrumb and bake portion of eggplant parm.
Eggplant Bake
- 1 large eggplant sliced into rounds
- 1 egg
- 1 cup breadcrumbs of choice
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp Italian spices
- 1 cup favorite pasta sauce
- 2 cups frozen greens
- 1/2 onion
- 1 clove garlic, pressed
- 1 ball mozzarella, sliced
- Preheat oven to 375
- Slice eggplant into rounds and dip in egg then mix of breadcrumbs, spices, and garlic powder before placing it on a baking sheet and baking for 30min
- 15min into cooking sauté the onion and garlic clove in EVOO until clear then add frozen greens and pasta sauce
- Pull the slices out of the oven and begin to layer – sauce – eggplant – sauce – mozzarella – eggplant – sauce
5. Put her back in the oven for 20min more, slice and serve!
Super cheesy and delicious! A fortunate accident of forgetting a key ingredient.
Nick approved, and Sissy begged for a taste.
Not really, she was staring at the light fixture, but we have been missing Sissy pictures on the blog lately.
Quinoa Pizza Casserole
Posted: February 23, 2012 Filed under: dinner | Tags: dinner, garlic knots, greens, quinoa Leave a comment »In line with my meal planning I have been scanning Pinterest for some good recipes. I came across this one for quinoa pizza bites and added it to the to make list!
I adjusted the original recipe to go with what I had and not use too many of my precious farm fresh eggs. This is what I came up with and it was pretty darn delicious!
Quinoa Pizza Casserole – serves 4-6
- 1 cup uncooked quinoa
- 1/2 yellow onion, chopped fine
- 1 clove garlic, pressed
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1 tsp italian herbs or your own blend of oregano, sage, thyme, rosemary and marjoram
- 1 tsp dried basil – fresh would be better but we had none on hand
- 1/3 cup hummus – I used a “pizza” hummus that a tried to make earlier in the week, basically just tastes like oregano so I think any hummus would work – I used it as a binder more than a flavoring
- 1 egg
- 1 cup grated cheddar/mozzarella/whatever mild cheese ya got
- 1 small can of diced tomatoes – I used more tomatoes from NC
- couple grinds of S&P
- Cook quinoa in 2 cups of water until all of the water is dissolved
- Coat 9×9 baking dish with olive oil and pre-heat oven to 350
- mix all ingredients while the quinoa is cooking
- mix in the quinoa and spot check to make sure everything is evenly mixed
- spread evenly in your dish and bake for 40-45min
- let cool for 5min and then scoop it out to enjoy!
This was super simple because quinoa is such a fast cooking grain! AND it tasted like…wait for it…pizza! Obviously not exactly but the flavors were there.
Along with the casserole I made some garlic knots with leftover empanada/pizza dough and cooked down some mixed dark greens with smoked paprika.
Love garlic knots!
What have you found on Pinterest lately that has inspired you? Do you pin?
Red Beans and Rice
Posted: February 20, 2012 Filed under: Uncategorized | Tags: beans, beets, dinner, rice, salad, slow cooker, vegetarian 1 Comment »No our dinner had nothing to do with the Mardis Gras festivities, but it did involve red bean and rice!
When my mom and I were in Costa Rica last year, we had the most amazing black beans all of the time for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. They were cooked in a slow cooker and I loved combining them with a tortilla and eggs in the morning. I could not get over their creaminess and I attempted to recreate that tonight for dinner.
I cooked the beans based off a bunch of recipes in the slow cooker for 8 hours (6 hours low, 2 hours high) along with 1/2 an onion, jalapeño, salt, and 2 cloves of garlic.
I added some fresh cilantro, salsa, and a lime slice to the beans after spooning them on top of rice cooker brown rice that I doctored up with more cilantro and lime. We love cilantro around these parts, and I used to hate it!
Along with our beans and rice I made up some fresh Maryland greens with MD beet chips. I had no idea you could cook beets so fast! 475 18min thin slices aka “chips”, olive oil, s&p. They were crispy and delicious. I will no longer wait an hour for my beets to roast and then burn my fingers trying to peel them! I got the idea from my Fast, Fresh, and Green cookbook, that we got for our wedding.
I hope everyone enjoyed their President’s Day and hopefully you had the day off as well!!!
Bison Empanadas!
Posted: February 15, 2012 Filed under: dinner | Tags: bison, dinner, empanadas, goat cheese, Gunpowder Bison, spinach 2 Comments »Ole! The shape of tonight’s dinner is basically the only thing that resembles your regular deep fried empanada.
I saw a chicken, fig, spinach, and goat cheese hand pie on the interwebs and I wanted to make my own!
These are what I came up with!
Bison, Spinach and Goat Cheese Empanadas – makes 5-6
- 1/2 batch of Jenna’s whole wheat pizza dough (seriously the easies and most delicious pizza dough – can make ahead of time and freeze)
- 1/2 onion chopped fine
- 1 garlic clove, pressed
- 4 cups raw spinach chopped fine
- 2 hot italian bison sausages, casing removed
- 10 tsp goat cheese
- tomato sauce of choice for topping (optional)
- roll out pizza dough as thin as you can get it – I like thin crusts, but you could always keep thing thick and fluffy with a lower yield (you can also use store bought dough)
- use a cereal bowl to cut out 5-6 circles for filling – you may need to ball up and re-roll your dough
- pre-heat oven to 425
- sauté onion and garlic in olive oil until translucent
- add sausage and cook through – could also use chicken, turkey, steak, beans, whatever!
- add the spinach until all wilted and mixed in
- spoon about 2 tsp +/- goat cheese onto dough then spinach and sausage mix
- fold dough over and make sure not to tear, pinching the edges
- place on cooking sheet or parchment paper – cook 7min, flip, cook 8min more or until golden brown
- Take out, top with tomato sauce, and enjoy! Make sure you don’t burn your tongue!
It might seem like a lot of steps but it is basically, roll out dough, cook innards, stuff dough, close up, bake, eat!
The best part about this meal, everything besides the dough was grown in MD, NC, or PA! Sausage from Gunpowder Bison in Monkton, MD, spinach from Spiral Path Farm in PA, goat cheese from Firefly in MD, canned tomatoes from N’s aunt’s garden in NC. I am loving the winter Farmer’s Market Silver Spring!
Meatless Monday
Posted: February 13, 2012 Filed under: dinner | Tags: cauliflower. pasta bake, dinner, kale, Meatless Monday 1 Comment »Now that Nick and I have finally settled into our life in Silver Spring, I can recommit myself to the blog. Truth is for the past 1.5 years of feeding just me and Sissy Cat, my creativity has basically gone to one pot wonders, eggs, and bread as my “whole grain" of choice. With someone else to feed I actually need to meal plan again and get creative!
Last night I made an awesome enchiladas pie with winter veggies instead of the usual corn and tomatoes (think acorn squash and kale), layered with fresh pinto beans and drenched in a real ingredient sauce from Whole Foods. Wish I had taken some pictures…
Tonight I found my camera, and the meal was delicious, but just not as amazing as the enchiladas. Still post worthy.
Spicy Lime Pasta with Kale and Cauliflower
- 1 cup uncooked whole wheat pasta
- 3 cups shredded kale
- 1 head baked cauliflower (30min at 350)
- 1 onion diced
- 1 clove garlic, pressed
- 1 TBSP “Arizona Dreaming” penzey spices – a blend of chili’s and peppers from the southwest
- 2 TBSP tomato paste
- zest of 1 lime
- juice of 1/2 lime
- 2 TSP whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup veggie broth
- 1 TSP salt
- Cook pasta and cauliflower
- Keep the oven pre-heated once the cauliflower is done
- Sauté onion in olive oil and add garlic once onions are translucent
- Add remaining ingredients (minus pasta, cauliflower, and kale) to pan and mix
- Now that you have your sauce add the kale, cauliflower, and pasta and stir it all up (you may need to add a little more broth, flour, or paste depending on how well your goods are coated)
- Throw it all in a baking dish and coat with a thin layer of grated cheddar
- Bake at 350 for 20min so the pasta gets crispy on top
- Serve and squirt with lime!
Not your average tomato sauce!
Springfield Farm Dinner
Posted: December 12, 2011 Filed under: dinner | Tags: chicken sausage, dinner, Springfield Farm 1 Comment »Sometimes I still eat meat. Sometimes I still make a delicious well balanced meal off the top of my head. Most of these times N is in town. This past weekend all three stars aligned!
N and I took a trip up to Springfield Farm to visit the geese, get some eggs and pick up some meats to freeze and have for dinner.
The white wine, garlic and herb chicken sausage made it into Saturday night’s dinner.
I cooked up some millet (long lost seed) to add to a sautéed onion, garlic and 1 giant sausage mix. To finish I mixed in some fresh chopped parsley and put the entire mixed onto of a baked portabella mushroom top.
This sausage was amazing! SO much flavor to it and given their size we can probably get about 8 (4-6oz) servings out of a pack of 4. Along with our bangin’ sausage I made salad of spinach topped with crispy parsnips and a balsamic mustard dressing.
This was a awesome meal. Hands down best Saturday night meal in a long time!
Side note: When I cut back on my meat intake to maybe once a week, I was worried that my system would react poorly to meat occasionally making an appearance. I had heard stories about people’s bodies freaking going in both directions (veg->meat, meat->veg). I am happy to say so far, so good! Knock on wood.
Quack!
Posted: November 8, 2011 Filed under: dinner | Tags: dinner, duck egg, farmers market 4 Comments »I got something new at the farmer’s market today!
Duck eggs! My egg lady had them today, and I thought why not? It is now or never! They are larger than your average chicken egg and I was told they had a deeper flavor. One reason I buy local eggs is for their better flavor so I was sold.
Check out the yoke on that guy!
Served up with sautéed greens and black beans cooked with onion, garlic, yellow pepper, oregano and steamed in vegetable stock (these beans were a close second to the egg – I must use veggie stock in stove top cooking thing more often!). I also had a piece of toast for yoke dipping because it is the best part of any egg.
Have you ever had a duck egg? I know they are kind of trendy right now, but I don’t remember having one and I definitely have never made them. I can’t wait for Nick to try one this weekend!
Pollan-vore
Posted: November 7, 2011 Filed under: dinner, micheal pollan | Tags: butternut squash, dinner, enchilada, micheal pollan Leave a comment »Katherine (my MOH) got me the new Food Rules by Michael Pollan!
I seriously love this book. It just makes so much sense to me and the way he presents his ideas and thoughts are very approachable for anyone. I find that some sustainable food writers force ideas on you and it is all or nothing for them. Pollan’s writings don’t come off that way to me. ( I even got two of my co-workers to read it! ) I checked out his tour dates and the next time he is in Baltimore tickets are going for $265!!!! Holy moly! I am thankful for having the opportunity to see him for free AND have gotten him to sign my book. Re-reading his book got me all reeved up about food politics and how it mingles with our failing healthcare system. Read the book if you want to know more!
So for dinner I had some lovely real food!
Black bean and butternut squash enchiladas!
Roasted squash, home cooked black beans, frozen corn rolled in a tortilla. Topped with MamaPea’s taco bell sauce, salsa and all the cheese I had left.
Delicious! Butternut squash is so delicious and totally worth the time to roast.
Have you read and of the Michael Pollan books? What did you think?
