Archives for April 2012

Meatless Monday: Vegetarian Stuffed Zucchini

April 30, 2012 · by ·

As I walked in to my local kosher store, I eyed the big zucchinis in crates in the entry way. At 49 cents a pound, I had to toss a few in my cart.

I usually just chop up some zucchini in to a dish – for the most part, it becomes an afterthought. I find that I often use it as a way to stretch a recipe. I decided that I wanted the zucchini to shine tonight. I had never made stuffed zucchini before. I think the last time I ate one was back in summer camp. I didn’t have fond memories. I knew I could top the vegetarian menu at camp. I am pretty happy with the way this turned out.

Stuffed Zucchini
Ingredients:


2 large zucchini
1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 package of cremini mushrooms, chopped
1/2 package of soy italian sausage, chopped
3 plum tomatoes, chopped well
thyme
basil
oregano
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, powder or shredded, plus two tablespoons
1/2 cup bread crumbs or corn flake crumbs, plus two tablespoons (can use gluten free option)
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
1/2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. butter
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 350.

Wash the outside of the zucchini well.

Slice the zucchini in half lengthwise.

Scoop out the insides of the zucchini. Chop the zucchini pulp and set aside.  There should be a 1/4-inch layer of skin all around. Be careful not to puncture the skin.

IMG_1151

Place on a parchment lined baking sheet. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Place in over for around 10-12 minutes.

While the zucchini shells are baking, prepare the stuffing.

In a large pan, saute the onion and garlic in some olive oil and butter.

Add in your spices.

Add the soy sausage and mushrooms. Saute for 5 minutes.

Add in the chopped zucchini pulp and the chopped tomatoes.

Cook for another 5-7 minutes.

Remove from heat.

Stir in the cheeses and the bread crumbs, reserving the two tablespoons of each.

Taste the mixture now. Add salt if necessary.

Scoop the mixture in to the zucchini shells.

Sprinkle on the remaining bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.

IMG_1153

Bake in the oven for 30 minutes.

Turn the oven up to broil and bake for another 5-10 minutes. Bread crumbs and cheese should look a little toasted.

Remove from oven and enjoy!

IMG_1155

Filed Under: dairy, Dinner, easy, Gluten Free, Main Course, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , ,

Vegetable Jalfrezi

April 30, 2012 · by ·

Everyone knows I have a special love for curries. Another curry that I discovered on the fly is vegetable jalfrezi. It’s mixed vegetables in a curry, creamy tomato sauce. A bit sweet and spicy. Always good. It’s one of those dishes that is pretty forgiving. I like to call it my “kitchen sink” curry. Use whatever is on hand with the spice mixture and you are good to go. As I cook the dish, I love to marvel at all of the wonderful colos of the vegetables. So pretty! It’s a mild curry, so it is very family friendly in this house.

Vegetable Jalfrezi
Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp. ginger, chopped
1/2 bag of chopped cabbage
2 small zucchini, sliced
2 small yellow squash, sliced
1/2 container mushrooms, sliced
2 carrots, diced
1/2 can of chickpeas (I used white beans since I needed to use them up)
handful of green beans, cut in to 1 inch pieces
1/2 cup peas
chili powder (optional)
juice of one lemon
butter
1 cup plain yogurt
3 tbsp curry paste
salt – to taste
In a large pan, saute the onion with the garlic and the ginger for a few minutes in some ghee or butter. Add in a bit of salt.  
Add in the other veggies to the pan. Cook for about 10 minutes.
In a separate bowl stir the curry paste with the yogurt and the lemon juice. 
Once the veggies are cooked, add in the tomatoes. Cook for a few minutes.
Add the curry paste mixture to the vegetable mixture. Cook for another 10 minutes. The mixture should be saucy, but not too saucy. If there is too much liquid in there, cook for a few minutes to let the liquid boil off.

Add salt and chili powder to taste.

Serve the vegetable jalfrezi over some steamed Basmati rice.

IMG_1124


Enjoy!
Filed Under: curry, dairy, Dinner, easy, Gluten Free, Main Course, rice, Vegetarian · Tagged: , ,

Quesadilla Pie

April 26, 2012 · by ·

I had big plans for this dinner. Some roasted veggies, and some nice fish. When I got home though, the fish wasn’t defrosted at all. It was still in the freezer. And the veggies – well, the veggies just didn’t come out right. I quickly threw together a salad, and grabbed whatever I could find.

I always keep cans of beans and some soy meat product around the house for crazy nights. I also happened to have some tortillas lying around. I didn’t want the standard quesadilla or burrito though. I decided to play around a bit and make up some sort of quesadilla pie. Was happy when it came together quickly and tasted fantastic!

Quesadilla Pie (makes 2 pies)

Filling Ingredients:
1 package of soy meat crumbles (I used Trader Joe’s brand)
1 large onionm chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 jalapeno, chopped (optional)
1/2 can of small white beans
3/4 cup corn
a few mushrooms, sliced
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. chili powder
1/2 cup salsa
2 tsp. olive oil
salt to taste

The rest:
3 cups Shredded Cheese (approx.)
6 Tortillas
Enchilada Sauce or Extra Salsa

In a large saute pan, heat up your oil.

Toss in the onions, garlic, and soy crumbles.  Saute for a few minutes.

Add in the spices.  You could also choose to saute some other veggies for the mixture. I chose to keep it simple. It was plenty filling as is.

Add in the rest of the filling ingredients. Saute a few more minutes. Maybe 5 minutes. Make sure that everything is mixed well. Taste the mixture.

In a 9-inch round pan, pour a tablespoon or two of the salsa or enchilada sauce. Lay down a tortilla. Layer some of the fake meat mixture over it. Not too thick a layer. Sprinkle cheese over. Lay another tortilla over. Then again, the meat mixture and more cheese. Now another tortilla. Add a tablespoon or two of the enchilada sauce or salsa. Top with some shredded cheese.  Repeat with the other pan.

Bake for around 25 minutes at 350 or until the cheese starts to bubble and brown.

Serve with some sour cream and a salad on the side.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: dairy, Dinner, easy, Vegetarian · Tagged: , ,

Snackin’ Granola

April 26, 2012 · by ·

I need to be honest right from the start and let you know that I didn’t intend for this recipe creation to become this granola snack. I really intended this to become granola bars similar to what my kids eat from Trader Joe’s.

I had all of my ingredients laid out and the best intentions. I even promised my older daughter that she would get the first taste. Alas, the bars didn’t hold together too well. I must not have had enough moisture in the granola mixture. So this became some mighty fine snackin’ granola. Similar to what you can find in those big tubs at Costco. My friend graciously refers to this mixture as “Costco Crack.” It really is addicting as a snack. Would also be great as a yogurt topping.

Snackin Granola
Ingredients:

4 cups oats
1/2 cup sliced almonds
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup dried cherries
1/2 cup chocolate chips
2 tbsp. chia seeds
3 tbsp. flax seeds
2 tsp. salt
3/4 cup honey
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350.

In a huge mixing bowl, mix up all of your dry ingredients.

In a small sauce pan, warm up the honey and the peanut butter. Stir together until it is all melty.

When melted, pour the mixture over the granola mixture. Mix it well.

Press in to a rimmed cookie sheet.

Bake for 15-20 minutes.

Check at 15 to make sure that it isn’t burning.

Let cool for 10 minutes.

Break up in to clusters.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: Breakfast, Gluten Free, granola, nuts, snack, whole grain · Tagged: , , , ,

Spinach and Walnut Pesto

April 24, 2012 · by ·

Some of you may already know about my love for pesto. Those of you that know me will also know that not everyone in my life shares this love of pesto. So I keep trying to come up with ways to change up the pesto in hopes that J might become a pesto convert. The good thing is that he is willing to try anything.

While watching Lidia Bastianich the other night, I came across her making some spinach pesto. Looked so good! I decided to give it a whirl.

I decided to wing it as far as a recipe goes. Taste as you go along. Measurements below are estimates.

Spinach and Walnut Pesto
Inspired by Lidia Bastianich

Ingredients:

1 bag of washed spinach leaves (standard Trader Joe’s size)
2 cups washed basil leaves (loosely packed)
5 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup of chopped toasted walnuts
Olive Oil
Salt to taste

Place the various leaves in the food processor. Turn it on.

Add the garlic while it’s going.

Add in the walnuts.  Chop Chop

Slowly add in the olive oil. Let it get to the consistence you like.

Taste it a bit. Add some salt. Just a couple of teaspoons.

I like to make a lot and then freeze it for future meals.

Enjoy it over anything you like. We had it with some pasta. Delish!

Filed Under: Dinner, easy, Gluten Free, Vegan, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , ,

Meatless Monday: Vegan Tofu Balls!

April 24, 2012 · by ·

My ten-year-old daughter couldn’t stop laughing when I told her we were eating “vegan tofu balls” for dinner.

“You said balls, Mom! You said BALLS!”

Oy vey! I am sure I was like that when I was ten. She doesn’t even know what BALLS are, but she knows that they’re something to talk about. Lucky me.

I feel like I get all my meal ideas from Pinterest lately. It’s all house and food porn on that site and I keep getting sucked in. While perusing Pinterest, I came across Post Punk Kitchen’s recipe for tofu balls.  Looked pretty easy. I recently made a big batch of spinach and walnut pesto. I decided to try to adapt the recipe a bit and make them gluten free to serve with the pesto and and some pasta.  Lo and behold, it was a hit! So happy I found the recipe!

Tofu Balls
slightly adapted from Post Punk Kitchen
Ingredients:

1 lb. extra firm tofu, mushed up

1 medium onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
5 mushrooms, chopped
3 tablespoons soy sauce
3 tablespoons peanut butter
1/2 cup gluten free “bread crumbs” or corn flake crumbs
2 tsp. oregano
2 tsp. garlic powder
2 tsp. basil
2 tsp. thyme
red pepper flakes (optional)
salt
pepper
Rice flour for rolling balls in
Vegetable oil for frying or baking spray

In a large mixing bowl, mix everything up except for the flour and the oil. I used my cuisinart to chop the veggies up.

Roll mixture in to 1-inch balls. It’s best to use your hands for this.

Roll the tofu balls in the rice flour and pan fry until light brown on all sides.

You can also choose to bake in the oven on a sprayed baking sheet at 400 until done. You will want to flip them to ensure even browning.

Serve the tofu balls however you’d like. We had them over a pasta with spinach & walnut pesto sauce with some roasted cauliflower on the side. Delightful!

Enjoy!

Filed Under: dairy, Gluten Free, Main Course, Vegan, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , ,

Palak Paneer

April 23, 2012 · by ·

So I had this lovely brick of paneer cheese. I had to make dinner. I would go back to my first curry and make some mutter paneer, but I was out of peas. I did have some spinach sitting in the freezer though. I decided to make some palak paneer. J loves spinach curries, as do I. I knew that this wouldn’t sit well with one kid, but the younger child would be happy with this. You can’t please everyone.

Palak Paneer
Ingredients:
1 pound of spinach
prepared paneer, cubed
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp. ginger, chopped
1 large onion, chopped
2 tsp. veg. oil
1 tbsp. butter or ghee
2 tsp. garam masala
1 tbsp. curry powder
2 tsp. cumin
chili powder to taste
salt to taste

Clean the spinach well. Steam the spinach in a pot and squeeze out the liquid.

In a large saute pan, heat the vegetable oil and the butter or ghee.

Saute the onion, garlic, and ginger.  Cook until soft. Mash up the mixture a little.

Add the spices to the mixture.

Add the paneer. Let the paneer cook a bit. Paneer doesn’t melt – so no worries.

Add the spinach. Mix up well. Add the chili powder and the salt to taste.  Add a bit of veggie broth if the gravy is too thick.

Serve over basmati rice.

Enjoy!

Filed Under: curry, Gluten Free, indian, Main Course, rice, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , , , ,

Homemade Paneer

April 23, 2012 · by ·

We love Indian food in our house. Back in my college days, I lived right in the heart of “Curry Hill” in New York. Living along a corridor of fantastic kosher and Indian restaurants, I had the opportunity to discover my palate for Indian food. I don’t think I had ever had authentic Indian food until I moved to New York. Dining at local Indian places was far better than any of the other kosher options in the neighborhood. One of the first dishes I tried was mutter paneer. It’s a curry dish made up of peas and the special Indian cheese called paneer. From there, I samples a variety of dishes and have made a variety of Indian dishes in my home. Had never tried making paneer dishes at home. You can’t find paneer cheese with a kosher symbol. It never occurred to me that I could make it. Finally, one day, I came across a couple blogs that discussed paneer. All it contains is milk and lemon juice! Whoa! Who knew it could be that easy to make. I quickly picked up some cheesecloth and got to work.

Paneer
Ingredients:

1/2 gallon of whole milk = 8 cups
3-4 tbsp. lemon juice

Before you get to working on the stove, get your strainer and cheesecloth ready. Set the strainer in the sink and line it with some cheese cloth. You may need to double layer the cheesecloth, depending on how big the holes are.

In a large pot over medium-high heat, heat up the milk. Bring the milk to a boil, but don’t let it boil over.

When the milk starts to boil, turn off the heat.

Start by stirring in about 2 tablespoons of the lemon juice. Keep stirring and you should see the milk start to curdle. If it’s not doing it’s curdling job, add some more lemon juice. I needed a bit over 3 tablespoons total.

Keep stirring the curdles.  Pour the curdy cheese mixture in to the cheesecloth-lined strainer.

At this point, the mixture is a bit like a dryer cottage cheese or ricotta cheese. This is also a good point to add a little bit of salt. The cheese is pretty bland on it’s town.

Pull up the size of the cheese cloth and squeeze out as much liquid as possible, while forming the mound of cheese in to a disc shape.

Now it’s time to press the liquid out of the cheese. I like to press the liquid out similar to the way I press the water out of tofu.

Place the lined cheese on a rimmed plate and place a heavy plate on top of it. Weigh it down with a heavy can or two. Press the cheese for an hour – pouring off the liquid when needed.

When completely drained, you will have this lovely disc of cheese. Cut it up however you’d like and use it in a variety of meals. We had it in our palak paneer!

Enjoy!

Filed Under: dairy, Dinner, easy, Gluten Free, indian, Main Course, Vegetarian · Tagged: , , ,
1 2