I was proud of this dinner - It was simple yet elegant. I made a shrimp and veggie stir-fry with Trader Joe's sprouted wheat pappardelle pasta.
The pasta is quite healthy - 3g fiber. The first ingredient is sprouted organic whole wheat berries. It's entirely whole grain. I loved the nutty smell wafting up from the pot while the pasta boiled. The taste is okay...good enough. It definitely has a "healthy" taste. I liked it because I'm fond of the whole grain taste. But it's an adjustment.
Shrimp with Vegetables
3 tomatoes, chopped
1/2 very large zucchini, chopped
2 T garlic
2 T tomato paste
1 lb shrimp
6 oz spinach
1. Heat tomatoes, tomato paste, zucchini, and garlic on med-high heat until zucchini is soft.
2. Add shrimp and cook about 5 minutes until done.
3. Add spinach and cook until wilted.
Dinner
One of my stand-by summer meals: Panzanella
I chopped up half a loaf of Honey Wheat bread from Great Harvest and toasted it in the oven for 10 minutes. I combined that with several chopped tomatoes, 1/2 pound of fresh mozzarella, lots of fresh basil, and a dressing of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, and dijon mustard. I served it with a side of sauteed spinach.
Dinner
Fajitas! They are super-easy. I sauteed two onions and two green peppers with 12 oz chicken. I seasoned it with 1 tspn cumin and 1 tspn chili powder and some taco seasoning. At the end I added some chopped spinach and tomatoes.
I served the fajitas with Trader Joe's frozen roasted corn. It was great - I could really taste the char from the roasting. I didn't like it the next day though - I hate leftover corn. I gave the rest of the corn to Scott. It's not a reflection of the corn itself - I just have weird issues with leftover corn.
Dinner
I've had less energy to make ambitious meals lately. Luckily, I have a stock of simple healthy meals in my head for which I don't need a formal recipe. Tonight is one of my favorite go-to meals.
Chickpea Salad
2 cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
3-4 radishes chopped
1 green bell pepper, chopped
10 grape tomatoes, halved
3 oz baby spinach
3/4 cup fat-free Greek yogurt
1 T garlic
1-2 tspn curry powder
1/2-1 tspn lemon juice
Salt & Pepper to taste
1. Mix together chickpeas and vegetables
2. In a separate bowl combine yogurt, garlic, curry powder, and lemon juice
3. Stir yogurt mixture into chickpeas
I served the Chickpea Salad with a slice of Honey Whole Wheat bread from Great Harvest and some fabulous grape tomatoes I bought at the farmer's market.
Dinner
Zucchini Okonomiyaki - The recipe isn't very good, since I just eyed the amounts and changed my cooking methods as needed. I am excited that I made it up entirely on my own.
1 large zucchini, shredded
2/3 cup whole wheat flour
3 radishes, thinly sliced
1/2 green bell pepper, diced
1 egg
Soy sauce
Sesame oil
2 eggs
1. Mix all ingredients together.
2. Cook on medium heat until brown on bottom. Put a plate upside down on the pancake and turn the pancake onto the plate. Put back onto pan.
3. Cook and turn pancake over several times until finished.
4. Break 2 eggs on top of pancake. Turn pancake over so egg will finish cooking.
5. Serve with okonomiyaki sauce
Dinner - Barbecued Pork
Barbecue Pork sandwich with spinach and zucchini
Barbecue Pork
1.5 lbs center-cut pork loin
Barbecue Sauce
1. Place pork loin in slow cooker.
2. Cover with barbecue sauce. Cook on low for 5-6 hours.
3. Shred pork. Return to slow cooker. Turn slow cooker to high and cook for about 30 minutes with cover off to thicken sauce.
Dinner
I made an improvised Pad Thai tonight. Apart from the effort of chopping the veggies and tofu, it was a very simple recipe. I used some Thai eggplants in the recipe. They tasted best when sliced thinly so the seeds weren't as bitter.
Pad Thai
7 oz rice vermicelli
1 lb tofu, sliced very thinly
1/2 green bell pepper, sliced thinly
3-4 small Thai eggplants, sliced into 4-6 pieces
1 onion, sliced thinly
2 T garlic, minced
1 T ginger
1 egg
2 T fish sauce
1 T sugar
Soy sauce
1. Cook rice vermicelli in boiling water for 3-5 minutes. Drain into colander and rinse for a few seconds.
2. Stir-fry tofu and veggies in skillet on medium-high heat until tofu is brown and veggies are soft.
3. Add fish sauce and sugar.
4. Make a well in the middle of the skillet. Beat the egg in a separate bowl and then pour into skillet. Scramble the egg gently until cooked.
5. Add the rice noodles to the veggie mixture. Sprinkle with a little soy sauce and serve.
Dinner
I made a fabulous dinner, Chana Masala by Molly Wizenberg of Orangette. I can't remember if I've made it before, but I really liked it. Even though there are a lot of spices, it was really simple to put together. I added a bunch of spinach and a chopped sweet potato. I served it with Garlic Naan from Trader Joe's.
Chana Masala
Good-quality olive oil
1 medium onion, coarsely chopped
2 medium cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp cumin seeds
½ tsp ground coriander
¼ tsp ground ginger
1 tsp garam masala
3 cardamom pods, lightly crushed
1 28-ounce can whole peeled tomatoes
1 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
1 Tbs cilantro leaves, roughly torn, plus more for garnish
A pinch of cayenne, or to taste
2 15-ounce cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed
6-8 Tbs plain whole-milk yogurt, optional
A few lemon wedges, optional
Film the bottom of a large saucepan or Dutch oven—preferably not nonstick—with olive oil, and place the pan over medium heat. Add the onion, and cook, stirring frequently, until it is deeply caramelized and even charred in some spots. Be patient. The more color, the more full-flavored the final dish will be.
Reduce the heat to low. Add the garlic, stirring, and add a bit more oil if the pan seems dry. Add the cumin seeds, coriander, ginger, garam masala, and cardamom pods, and fry them, stirring constantly, until fragrant and toasty, about 30 seconds. Add ¼ cup water, and stir to scrape up any brown bits from the bottom of the pan. Cook until the water has evaporated away completely. Pour in the juice from can of tomatoes, followed by the tomatoes themselves, using your hands to break them apart as you add them; alternatively, add them whole and crush them in the pot with a potato masher. Add the salt.
Raise the heat to medium, and bring the pot to a boil. Reduce the heat to low, add the cilantro and cayenne, and simmer the sauce gently, stirring occasionally, until it reduces a bit and begins to thicken. Taste, and adjust the seasoning as necessary. Add the chickpeas, stirring well, and cook over low heat for about five minutes. Add 2 Tbs water, and cook for another five minutes. Add another 2 Tbs water, and cook until the water is absorbed, a few minutes more. This process of adding and cooking off water helps to concentrate the sauce’s flavor and makes the chickpeas more tender and toothsome. Taste, and adjust the seasoning as necessary.
Stir in the yogurt, if you like, or garnish with lemon wedges and cilantro. Serve.
Yield: About four servings
Dinner
I made a caprese salad and cornbread. Very tasty!
I added lots of spinach to the traditional basil, mozarella, and tomato caprese salad
Dinner
I had a sample recently of BBQ Chicken Pizza and I've been craving it ever since. I made this with Boboli whole-wheat crust, 1/2 a chopped red bell pepper, 1 very large chicken breast, and about 1.5 cups of Gouda which I hand-shredded. Scott couldn't compliment it enough!
Served with a big spinach salad with red bell pepper and tomatoes.
Dessert
I have all this leftover cornbread that I need to use up. I made a Cornbread Pudding off the cuff for dessert. I took 2 pieces of cornbread which I crumbled. I poured in milk and added blueberries. I drizzled the mixture with honey. I put the Cornbread Pudding mixture into two ramekins and baked it at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes.
It was a little rich for a weeknight dessert, even though it didn't have eggs, but it was a fun experiment.
Dinner
I made ravioli with loads of tomatoes, zucchini, and arugula. Plus I made pesto with the basil from my backyard! I love fresh pesto! With the food processor, it probably took less time to make than chopping the vegetables.
I combined basil, shredded Gouda, shredded Parmesan cheese, and drizzled olive oil in the food processor and pulsed until smooth.
It comes right together!
The finished product:
Ravioli with veggies and pesto
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Sunday Dinner with My Parents
Main Course - Sausage Risotto (recipe based off How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman)
1/2 - 1 T butter
4-6 cups chicken broth
1.5 cups arborio rice
12 oz chicken, spinach, and garlic sausage, thinly sliced
1/2 onion, chopped
4 oz arugula
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded
1/2 cup Gouda cheese, shredded
1. Warm chicken broth in microwave or stove. Keep warm.
2. Melt butter over medium heat. Add in rice and stir to coat in butter.
3. Pour broth into rice about 1/2 cup at a time. Stir. When broth is almost completely absorbed, add the next 1/2 cup. Stir occasionally - it's not necessary to stir all the time. Repeat until the rice is thick, moist, and a good texture. This will probably take 30-40 minutes. I only used 4.5 cups of broth.
4. Saute sausage and onion separately. Once rice is done, add sausage mixture into rice.
5. Stir in arugula until it's wilted.
6. Add in cheese.
Side Dish - Tomato Salad
I originally planned on putting the tomatoes in the risotto, but we tasted them first. They were so good that I just couldn't sully them by mixing them into a strongly flavored rice dish. Instead, I made an easy salad with them.
3 large tomatoes, sliced
2-4 T fresh basil, chopped
EV Olive Oil
Balsamic Vinegar
Salt and Pepper
1. Mix tomatoes and basil together. Drizzle with olive oil and vinegar. Add salt and pepper.
Dessert - Apple Crisp
I bought a bag of Paula Red apples from Target. They weren't very good and I didn't feel like eating them. So I made apple crisp from them. Paula Red isn't the best baking apple, but it worked out well anyway.
*I'm typing the recipe off my head. It may not be entirely correct, but close enough.
6 cups apples, sliced thinly
2 T brown sugar
Lemon juice
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup oats
1 cup flour
4 T butter, cold, sliced thinly
1. Mix together apples and brown sugar. Drizzle with lemon juice. Place in 8x8 pan.
2. Add brown sugar, oats, and flour to the food processor. Pulse a few times to mix. Add in butter. Pulse until butter is well mixed in.
3. Pour crisp over apples.
4. Bake at 400 for 30-40 minutes.
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