Cooking Galore

I actually cooked tonight! I haven't cooked an entire dinner since Monday. I've missed cooking. I made a fabulous vegetarian dinner tonight. Poor Scott is working tonight. He will be sad he missed it.

I was hungry while I was prepping for dinner so I snacked on this:

Grape tomatoes with chipotle pepper hummus

Tofu and Spinach - adapted from Cooking Light

2 T soy sauce
1 T mirin
2 tspn rice vinegar
1 tspn honey
1 (16 oz) package extra-firm tofu

1 tspn sesame oil
3-4 garlic cloves, minced
1-2 tspn minced ginger
1 bunch spinach, chopped
2 tspn soy sauce
Sambal Olek, to taste

1. Combine marinade ingredients. Cut tofu into thin slices. Soak in marinade 30-60 minutes, turning once.
2. Broil tofu for about 10 minutes, turning once.
3. Heat sesame oil, garlic, and ginger over medium heat.
4. Add spinach and cook until wilted. Add soy sauce and sambal olek to taste.


Broiled tofu

Stack the tofu on top of the spinach



Smashed Edamame and Sweet Potatoes - adapated from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman

2 medium sweet potatoes, chopped
2 cups shelled edamame
2-3 T red miso
1/4 cup water

1. Boil sweet potatoes until soft.
2. Boil edamame about 5-7 minutes. Place in food processor and pulse until roughly chopped. Do not puree.
3. Mix miso with water.
4. Stir together sweet potatoes and edamame, smashing the potatoes. Add in miso.


Chopped sweet potatoes - I didn't bother peeling. There's so much nutrition in the skin. And I'm lazy.

Miso

Boiled edamame; ready to chop

Roughly chopped edamame

Mashing


Dessert

I broiled four half-slices of pineapple topped with a little brown sugar. I was pretty full by this time, so I only had two half-slices. But I did have to have a small scoop of light butter-pecan ice cream with it. It was wonderful! The acid-sweetness of the pineapple mixed with the creaminess of the ice cream. Fabulous and easy!


Broiled pineapple

Broiled pineapple with ice cream

Sweet Potato/Black Bean Croquettes

I found a fabulous recipe for Sweet Potato/Black Bean Croquettes, or as Scott would say, Korokkes. I just couldn't wait to try them. I made some adaptations given my ingredients, but tried to stay true to the original recipe.

1 cup sweet potato puree
1/2 cup black beans
Salt
1/2-1 tspn chili powder
1/3 cup flour (she recommended whole wheat, but I didn't have any)
1/2 cup mozzarella cheese (more or less)
2 egg whites
1/2 cup panko breadcrumbs

1. Mash sweet potato and black beans together (I cooked a sweet potato in the microwave and just scooped it into the bowl). Add salt and chili powder and flour.
2. Roll into balls. I had enough for 6 medium balls.
3. Poke small holes into the balls and sprinkles cheese in them. Reform balls.
4. Dip in egg white then in breadcrumbs
5. Cook at 375 degrees for about 40 minutes. I turned them halfway through.


Mash together the beans, sweet potato; add spices; mix in flour

Make divots in the balls and add cheese

Dip in egg whites

Roll in breadcrumbs

Ready to bake

Out of the oven, oozing cheese

Croquette pyramid!

I served the croquettes with Barbecue Salmon. I brushed the salmon with Bullseye Barbecue Sauce, my favorite, and baked it at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes. I also boiled a bag of frozen broccoli, seasoned with soy sauce and a little sugar.


Brush with barbecue sauce

The croquettes were unbelievably good! You must try them! The only change I would make is to make smaller balls and/or cook them longer. I could taste the flour a bit. They could easily be the main dish. I couldn't finish my salmon, because the croquettes were so filling.


Ready to eat. I thought the croquettes (a.k.a. korokke) had an Asian feel, so I got out the chopsticks. I couldn't finish all that salmon, even though it was a small piece.

Roasted Vegetable Pizza

Dinner

For dinner last night, I cut up a bunch of veggies and roasted them with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt, and pepper.

Pre-roasting

I used some of the veggies to make a fabulous pizza. I used a whole-wheat Boboli crust with sun-dried tomato pesto as the sauce and topped it with the roasted veggies and a little mozzarella and parmesan cheese. I had all the ingredients to make my own cilantro pesto, but my ambition ran out. I served it with a big salad.


Crust and sun-dried tomato pesto

Ready for the oven

All done!

Finished pizza with salad