Whole wheat pasta with garbanzo veggie sauce

We are in a good space right now, coming out of a very busy period.  As you might expect between that and the spring weather, we are on a little health kick.  Our goal is to eliminate hidden sugar from our savory foods, and switch to whole grains wherever we can.  To that end, I found whole wheat pasta for $1.00/lb in the bulk section at Winco.  For dinner on Saturday, I chopped a red bell pepper, an onion, half a bunch of Italian kale, and a double handful of criminis in the food processor.  While they were saute'-ing with a little salt and cumin, I took a small can of garbanzos, covered them with chicken broth, and heated them up.  When the beans were hot, I pureed them until smooth with the immersion blender.  Then I tossed in a leftover hard boiled egg and about a quarter cup of plain yogurt.  I mixed the veggies into the garbanzo sauce and served over the pasta with parmesan cheese, chopped cilantro, and black pepper to taste at the table.  It was wonderful.  Plus, Samara loved the whole wheat pasta.  Patrick and I found it gave us a completely satisfied feeling in about half the portion size of normal pasta.  Later, we both agreed it kept us feeling full for longer, too.  Yay!

Italian Zucchini Bake

Just as I hate when people call bean patties veggie burgers, I hate when people call a pasta substitute pasta.  The recipe I found was for zucchini "ravioli."  Well it's not ravioli, so think of a different name.  Anyway, I digress.

I made a good, veggie-ful bake last night.  We both ate it up and decided it should be added to the list of recipes we re-use.  Here's what ya need and what I did...

What ya need
Onion
Garlic
Spinach
Zucchini
Marinara sauce
Ground beef or turkey or tofu or something
Mozzarella

What I did

1. Make your favorite marinara sauce.  Use lots of crushed red pepper if ya like it spicy!
2. Saute some onions and ground beef.  You could sub ground turkey, crumbled tofu, or just skip entirely I imagine.  Season however you'd like.  I went simple with basil and oregano.
3. When beef is almost done, add more spinach than you think you need.  Fill that pan!  Saute until wilted.
4. Thinly a zucchini lengthwise to form "noodles."  This would be much easier if you had a mandolin.  I do not, so mine weren't sliced evenly, but it was fine.
5. Put a layer of zucchini in the bottom of a baking dish, put some of the beef/spinach mixture on top, then some marinara, then some mozzarella cheese.  Lather, rinse, repeat.
6. Bake until zucchini is soft and cheese is melted.

I bet you could throw more veggies in there.  Mushrooms would probably be great.  Peppers if ya like 'em or have extras lying around.  It was really satisfying.  It didn't feel like we were just eating veggies and pretending it was pasta but secretly wishing it was pasta.  

We had it with eggplant a la Mom, though next time I think I'd just throw the eggplant in the beef mixture.  I also had made some really good rolls to have with it too.  

Yum!

Wanted: Simple veggie ideas

I'm curious to know what you all do for super simple veggies.  I'm thinking mostly as "side dishes."  The most common thing we do is steam some broccoli and throw some salt on it.  I'm happy to eat that almost every night of the week.  However, I'm trying to branch out a little.  Partly for variety, partly because it's fun, and partly because I want to use other veggies I can get at the farmer's market

So this week I have eggplant, green beans, kale, and broccoli for side dishes.  What are your favorite ways to make those bad boys?

I'm also curious about cucumbers because they're cheap here.  I haven't bought any cause I don't really know what to do with it.  Ideas?

Also, Dad, can you post your lentils and rice recipe?  I remember never being real jazzed about it growing up, but I feel like that may have changed.

Molly

Shrimp and rice noodle salad

Maybe it's all the Asian food Molly's been posting about lately, but I found myself making Thai red curry and a shrimp and rice noodle salad for dinners this past week.  The curry was better than I've ever made before, but still not quite good enough to post about.  But, the shrimp and rice noodle salad I made last night was great.  I think it would be especially perfect on a hot summer day - which yesterday decidedly wasn't, but my spring fever carried the day!

It's pretty simple, and I think will lend itself to a lot of variation.  The real key is the sauce.  I used cashew butter, since that's what the recipe I found called for, but I think it would probably be just as good with peanut butter (you might need to adjust the ratios a bit, since peanut is a stronger flavor than cashew).

For dressing/sauce:
Puree in a blender:
1/2 c cashew butter
1/4 c water
3 T rice vinegar
3 T toasted sesame oil (or olive oil if that's what you have)
2 T soy sauce
2 T fish sauce (or another 2 T soy sauce)
2 T sugar
~2T Thai roasted red chili paste
6-8 cloves or garlic
1/2 - 1 inch piece of fresh ginger, chopped
hot sauce or Thai red chili paste to taste, if you want it spicier

For our salad, I used:
 ~1/2 pound of rice noodles according to the package directions, putting them in cold water as soon as they were done cooking.
1 lb shrimp - boiled in the noodle water after the noodles were done, then put in cold water immediately
1 head of Boston Bibb lettuce, shredded/sliced into strips
4 smallish carrots, cut into matchsticks
4 scallions, sliced thinly
~1/2 c cilantro, chopped
~1/3 c chopped cashews
Some thinly sliced red pepper or cucumber would also be really good, I think.

I served it all in one big bowl, with a mound of noddles in the center, surrounded by the lettuce, and everything else just sprinkled on top.  I served the sauce on the side, so everyone could add however much they liked.

I was quite pleased with myself :), Aleks said this one should go on "our list" (he then asked if we actually have a list, to which I had to reply "not really, only in my head"), Will ate all of his, and Suzie ate a decent amount too.

Hope you enjoy it!
-Maggie