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

Stir Fry Marinade

The grocery stores in Hawaii make and serve some pretty great food.  It's a great place to grab some lunch, especially if you like Asian food.  The other day, we picked up some pork hekka from the local store to have for lunch.  

Never heard of pork hekka?  Neither had I.  It was basically a stir fry with rice noodles.  The flavor was amazing though!  I knew what I was eating probably wasn't healthy, but darn it was delicious.  I decided to look up some recipes and try to re-create pork hekka at home.

We tried last night.  What we ended up with was basically nothing like what we had bought, but was probably slightly more healthy.  Essentially we just had stir fry with lots of veggies on rice noodles.  Pssst.  I love rice noodles!

What really stood out from the dish was the marinade for the pork.  I made it early in the day and the pork was sitting in it for hours.  Oh man it was good!  Next time you make stir fry or need a marinade, give this a shot.

1/2 c soy sauce

1/4 c brown sugar (sugar is bad, I know, but it's so good in Asian sauces)

2 T olive oil

1 T grated ginger (use more than 1 T, that's what the recipe calls for, but go nuts)

2 garlic cloves, minced (again, who are we kidding..2?  Amateur hour)

1/2 c red wine

pepper (no salt, the soy sauce takes care of that I believe)

Throw all that together and marinade whatever you want in it.  A yoga mat marinaded in this stuff would probably taste pretty good.

We cooked up the pork and threw in bok choy, celery, carrots, mushrooms, scallions, bean sprouts, a green pepper (random, but we needed to get rid of it)..etc.  It was good stuff.

Molly

Back in action! Turkey burgers and chickpea salad

Hey all!

Well after a hiatus of cooking for one and just not being terribly excited about cooking, I'm back and ready to go!  It seems as though my style of cooking will turn more Asian, simple, and/or summery.  Amazing how your style changes depending on where you live.

Anywho, last night I experimented and made a healthy, summery (unless you live in Hawaii..in which case it's just normal) dinner.  Here's what we had...

Spinach Chevre Turkey Burgers
I don't know what possessed me to make turkey burgers.  I think it's cause I'd never had one and wanted to try it and I imagine it's healthier than beef.  Didn't really follow a recipe, here's what I did.

1. Saute some onions, garlic, and greens.  Ideally I would have used spinach, but we have a huge bag of "power greens" from Costco that we need to use up.  It has spinach, kale, and chard.  You saute anything with garlic and onions and it's good though, so use whatever greens you'd like.
2. In a bowl, throw your ground turkey, greens, an egg, some chevre (could use feta, but again, we have a huge hunk of chevre from Costco), breadcrumbs and whatever seasonings call to you.  I put some lemon juice and sriracha (because we rarely have meals without it) in mine.  Oh, and of course salt and pepper.
3. Put them in the fridge and go for a run.
4. Cook 'em up however you'd like.  We both put extra chevre on our burgers and I had extra greens on mine.  Then of course, extra sriracha.

They were actually quite good.  I mean, I tend to believe that if it's not made of beef, don't call it a burger.  Right?  It's a veggie patty...it's not a burger.  But these turkey burgers...I might allow them to use the term burger.  They were tasty.

Chickpea Corn Salad (?)

So this was another new recipe for me that I didn't really measure for.  Just threw some stuff in a bowl and got lucky.  Here's what you need...

• chickpeas (I used one can for two of us and we have leftovers)
• corn (used one can)
• cucumber (about half of one)
• red onion (some?)
• tomato (the recipe called for cherry tomatoes but I couldn't stomach the price at the store so I just used a regular old tomato)
• green pepper (used about half of one)
• oil
• lime juice
• cilantro
• garlic

Chop the cucumber, tomato, red onion, and green pepper to similiar size pieces.  Throw them in a bowl with the chickpeas and corn.  Mix together your dressing of olive oil, lime juice, cilantro, and garlic.  Throw the dressing on the salad.  Done!  Right before we ate I made the game time decision to chop up some mozzarella and put it in there because...again..we bought some from Costco and so we have a ton to use up.  Plus it was delicious.

Anyway, that's a really simple salad, perfect for a weeknight.  I made everything ahead of time and then we went for a run.  Ahhh, the advantages of not working..

Go forth and cook!

Molly 

Indian cauliflower - aka the best cauliflower ever!

I got some Indian cookbooks last year for my birthday, and, as Aleks said, "This the by far the best recipe to come out of [those] books.  The official name is Gobhi Kari, or, Cauliflower and Scallions with Black Mustard Seeds.  The recipe seems a little complicated, but it's pretty simple in practice.  Definitely more work than just steaming your cauliflower, but the results are WAY better than normal and totally worth the extra effort.

1 1/4 pounds cauliflower, cut into small (1/2 - 3/4")
2 bunches of scallions, including green part, cut into 1/4" pieces
4 T light veggie oil, divided
1/2 - 1 t. black mustard seeds
1 - 2 t. urad dal (white split gram beans), optional (but I think they add a nice flavor and texture)
1/2 t. tumeric
1 -2 green chilies, chopped, or 1/2 t. red pepper, optional
1 - 1 1/2 t. Kosher salt
6-8 fresh or dried kari leaves, slightly crushed, optional
(I use the larger amount of mustard seed and urad dal, see no need for the hot pepper, especially since I'm feeding kids, and have never had the kari leaves to use).

Measure out the mustard seeds and urad dal.  Put tumeri.c, salt, and scallions, and chilis (if using) in a bowl. Measure out 1/3 cup of hot water and keep that, spices, and cauliflower next to stove.

Heat 3 T of oil, then add mustard seeds.  When seeds are spluttering, add urad dal.  When the dal turns light brown and the mustard seeds are gray, add the scallion and spice mix.  Saute briefly (15 s), then add cauliflower.  Stir to distribute the spices, then add water.  Reduce heat to medium-low and cook, covered, until cauliflower is cooked to crisp tenderness.  Uncover, and increase heat to evaporate any remaining moisture in the pan and to lightly brown the cauliflower (~5-10 min).  Stir in remaining tablespoon of oil during the browning.  Add kari leaves, if using them, and serve immediately.

We had this tonight with rava dosas with potato chickpea masala. http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Rava-Dosas-with-Potato-Chickpea-Masala-356035

The potato chickpea masala takes a bit of time, but is delicious.  The dosas, which as far as I can tell are basically Indian crepes, but made without eggs, are wonderful, and worth making for other fillings as well.  We found that a combination of the potato filling and the cauliflower inside a dosa was phenomenal.
-Maggie