This dish is exactly what the title says it is- pasta with broccoli and spinach in a garlic olive oil. I end up making this a decent amount because I almost always have all the right ingredients on hand. In fact, I made this up one night when I really needed to go grocery shopping but didn't feel like it, so I started throwing stuff in a pan. And voilà! The pasta was born.
Ingredients:
Pasta (really any kind will do)
Broccoli
Spinach (I tend to use frozen)
Olive Oil
Minced Garlic
Salt
Quorn Chick'n cutlets, cut into bite-sized chunks (optional)
Grated Parmesan cheese
All the proportions can be whatever you want. I usually use about equal amounts of broccoli and spinach, and then a few cloves of garlic.
Directions:
Start cooking the pasta, then do all the other prep while it's cooking. If it's done before the other stuff, just drain it and then toss with a little bit of olive oil so the noodles don't stick together.
Heat up a little olive oil on medium heat in a pan and throw in the broccoli (and chick'n, if using. I started throwing it in because it makes for a more balanced meal).
Stir around and then cover for about 2 min, stirring once or twice, so the broccoli steams and cooks.
Add the minced garlic, salt, and spinach, then stir and cover again for a couple minutes.
Turn the heat down to medium-low and add in some more olive oil. The trick here is to get the olive oil to pick up some of the flavor, mostly garlic, without being hot enough to start frying everything in the pan.
Cook for a few more minutes, then mix together with the pasta.
Serve with some grated Parmesan cheese. Don't skip this; the cheese really enhances it.
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On a side note, I have been waiting a week for my red pears to finally be ripe. I got to eat one last night and it was really really exciting. Also- sliced pears with sharp cheese (I use extra-sharp cheddar) is extremely delicious- the sweet and tangy work together perfectly. It's good cold, but try putting a few cheese-topped pear slices in the microwave, just long enough to melt the cheese. Delicious.
Monday, February 28, 2011
Wednesday, February 9, 2011
Portable Turk'y Apple Pie
Whoever invented pita bread is a genius. Bread that can hold all kinds of grains, salads, and spreads, and not have it gush out the sides like normal sandwiches? Brilliant. Anyway, because I'm getting tired of my yogurt and granola combo for lunch, I decided to make a portable version of turk'y apple pie for tomorrow. (On a side note, I really should make that again. But that's for another day). This mix is really easy to make, and really delicious.
Ingredients:
Turk'y (Quorn is my fav brand, and the only turkey I know of that's sold in a loaf besides Tofurky, which comes with stuffing inside)
Apple
Some sharp cheese (I used low fat cheddar)
Dijon mustard
Pita (bonus points for whole wheat)
Directions:
1. Defrost turk'y, if necessary, so that it can be cut.
2. Dice equal amounts of turk'y and apple. Cut up about half the amount of cheese (aka 1/2 cup each of turk'y and apple, and 1/4 cup cheese, but in whatever inexact proportions you want.)
3. Toss everything with some dijon mustard- just enough so that everything is coated.
4. Stuff into a pita.
A variation on this, for the non-pita crowd: use slices instead of chunks, and then put in a normal sandwich. Also good toasty and warm.
Ingredients:
Turk'y (Quorn is my fav brand, and the only turkey I know of that's sold in a loaf besides Tofurky, which comes with stuffing inside)
Apple
Some sharp cheese (I used low fat cheddar)
Dijon mustard
Pita (bonus points for whole wheat)
Directions:
1. Defrost turk'y, if necessary, so that it can be cut.
2. Dice equal amounts of turk'y and apple. Cut up about half the amount of cheese (aka 1/2 cup each of turk'y and apple, and 1/4 cup cheese, but in whatever inexact proportions you want.)
3. Toss everything with some dijon mustard- just enough so that everything is coated.
4. Stuff into a pita.
A variation on this, for the non-pita crowd: use slices instead of chunks, and then put in a normal sandwich. Also good toasty and warm.
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Roasted Veggies
I came home today to a pan of roasted vegetables, with a note from my housemate inviting me to eat them. Which I did. Roasted vegetables are delicious. It's just a fact. Roasting stuff is so versatile, and easy, and the results are always wonderful. While I did not actually prepare the veggies tonight, this winter has been full of roasted vegetables of various sorts, so it seemed necessary to document.
Almost all vegetables are roast-able, but my favorites are potato, carrot, string beans, asparagus, and zucchini. And garlic, although it's not a vegetable....I think? Anyway, roasting stuff is pretty easy:
1. Cut up whatever veggies you want
2. Toss em around in some olive oil, salt, and garlic (either fresh or powder, if you're feeling lazy), so that everything is well coated. Obviously the amount of garlic can be altered depending on your taste. I like lots and lots of garlic, but just because I have an unhealthy obsession with garlic doesn't mean everyone else does.
3. Pop them in the oven. I usually set the oven around 375, but so far haven't come to a decision as to exactly what temperature is best. Something to note is that different vegetables have different cooking times, so you'll want to add certain veggies later on in the cooking process. I'm terrible at timing things well, but approximate cooking times:
Potatoes, carrots, and garlic (possibly other root vegetables?) go in first. Set the timer for about 20 min.
Next comes string beans and asparagus, maybe peppers. Set the timer for another 10/15 min.
Lastly I would add zucchini, because I don't like overcooked zucchini. It's mushy. Cook for another 10/15 min.
My main MO for cooking vegetables is to put them in the oven and then every so often take them out, toss them around so they don't stick too much to the pan, and poke them with a fork to see if they're done. It's really precise and scientific.
One thing I have experimented with is roasting wrapped in tin foil vs. roasting on a pan or a glass dish. Tin foil is awesome because it's an easier clean-up, even though the oil usually seeps out and has to be cleaned off later anyway. Wrapping the veggies in tin foil also keeps them soft, and pseudo-steams them. Leaving the vegetables exposed on a pan makes them slightly crunchy on the outside, but you have to be careful that they don't burn. Also, then there's more clean-up because sometimes the veggies stick slightly to the pan. I usually prefer to roast on a pan because I like the crispy texture, but if I'm lazy then tin foil is definitely the way to go.
Almost all vegetables are roast-able, but my favorites are potato, carrot, string beans, asparagus, and zucchini. And garlic, although it's not a vegetable....I think? Anyway, roasting stuff is pretty easy:
1. Cut up whatever veggies you want
2. Toss em around in some olive oil, salt, and garlic (either fresh or powder, if you're feeling lazy), so that everything is well coated. Obviously the amount of garlic can be altered depending on your taste. I like lots and lots of garlic, but just because I have an unhealthy obsession with garlic doesn't mean everyone else does.
3. Pop them in the oven. I usually set the oven around 375, but so far haven't come to a decision as to exactly what temperature is best. Something to note is that different vegetables have different cooking times, so you'll want to add certain veggies later on in the cooking process. I'm terrible at timing things well, but approximate cooking times:
Potatoes, carrots, and garlic (possibly other root vegetables?) go in first. Set the timer for about 20 min.
Next comes string beans and asparagus, maybe peppers. Set the timer for another 10/15 min.
Lastly I would add zucchini, because I don't like overcooked zucchini. It's mushy. Cook for another 10/15 min.
My main MO for cooking vegetables is to put them in the oven and then every so often take them out, toss them around so they don't stick too much to the pan, and poke them with a fork to see if they're done. It's really precise and scientific.
One thing I have experimented with is roasting wrapped in tin foil vs. roasting on a pan or a glass dish. Tin foil is awesome because it's an easier clean-up, even though the oil usually seeps out and has to be cleaned off later anyway. Wrapping the veggies in tin foil also keeps them soft, and pseudo-steams them. Leaving the vegetables exposed on a pan makes them slightly crunchy on the outside, but you have to be careful that they don't burn. Also, then there's more clean-up because sometimes the veggies stick slightly to the pan. I usually prefer to roast on a pan because I like the crispy texture, but if I'm lazy then tin foil is definitely the way to go.
Sunday, February 6, 2011
Shepherd's Pie
I've been craving something potato-y for a while now, so tonight I decided to make Shepherd's Pie- vegetarian, of course. Katie had made a vegetarian version once before, so I based mine roughly off of her version. I'm terrible at keeping track of exactly what I do when I cook something, but here's the approximate recipe:
Ingredients:
5 medium potatoes (or 4 larger ones)
Olive Oil
Boca meat crumbles, or other meat substitute
Half a medium onion
2 carrots, cut into chunks
Peas and corn ( I used frozen for both)
Garlic
Vegetable broth
Soy Sauce (instead of Worcestershire sauce, which has anchovies in it)
Corn starch
Directions:
Peel and quarter the potatoes, then boil until tender- about 15-20 minutes. Mash the potatoes with minced garlic (maybe 4 cloves?), salt, and add veggie broth until a creamy consistency is reached. I also added in about 1 1/2 tbs of Smart Balance for a buttery flavor.
While the potatoes are cooking, heat some olive oil in a large pan and add the carrots and onion. Cook for about 5 minutes, then throw in the fake meat and chopped garlic (again, maybe 4ish cloves). Add the peas and corn- I don't know exactly how much, maybe 1/2 cup to 1 cup of each, or however much you want. Pour in a bunch of veggie broth and a few sprinklings of soy sauce, then stir and cover so all the flavors meld together, and let cook for a few minutes. Stir again, and add salt if necessary (depends on how salty the broth is), and add more veggie broth if it's needed. You want it to be decently liquid-y. Mix about a Tbs of broth with some corn starch (approx 2 tsp) until dissolved, then pour it into the mix. This will thicken the rest of the broth so that there's lots of moisture without being too watery.
Spread the meat/veggie mixture into a casserole dish thingy, and then spread the mashed potatoes on top. Use a fork to make little peaks on the potatoes, because they'll get brown and crispy and delicious in the oven.
Cook for about 25-30 minutes at 400 degrees, or until the potatoes are beginning to lightly brown. Caution- when I made this the dish was really full, and halfway through cooking it started bubbling over the sides. It's much safer to put the dish on a baking pan, so if it overflows it doesn't drip onto the oven and get gross and charred. Or you could just use a bigger pan and not have it dribble over the sides.
Besides the slight mishap with drippings in the oven, this dish was pretty easy to make and now I have leftovers to eat this whole week. I especially like it because it's decently healthy, especially when I use veggie broth rather than butter and milk for the potatoes. Actually, now that I think of it, this might be vegan (except for my tiny bit of Smart Balance in the potatoes). Yay! Almost vegan once again.
Ingredients:
5 medium potatoes (or 4 larger ones)
Olive Oil
Boca meat crumbles, or other meat substitute
Half a medium onion
2 carrots, cut into chunks
Peas and corn ( I used frozen for both)
Garlic
Vegetable broth
Soy Sauce (instead of Worcestershire sauce, which has anchovies in it)
Corn starch
Directions:
Peel and quarter the potatoes, then boil until tender- about 15-20 minutes. Mash the potatoes with minced garlic (maybe 4 cloves?), salt, and add veggie broth until a creamy consistency is reached. I also added in about 1 1/2 tbs of Smart Balance for a buttery flavor.
While the potatoes are cooking, heat some olive oil in a large pan and add the carrots and onion. Cook for about 5 minutes, then throw in the fake meat and chopped garlic (again, maybe 4ish cloves). Add the peas and corn- I don't know exactly how much, maybe 1/2 cup to 1 cup of each, or however much you want. Pour in a bunch of veggie broth and a few sprinklings of soy sauce, then stir and cover so all the flavors meld together, and let cook for a few minutes. Stir again, and add salt if necessary (depends on how salty the broth is), and add more veggie broth if it's needed. You want it to be decently liquid-y. Mix about a Tbs of broth with some corn starch (approx 2 tsp) until dissolved, then pour it into the mix. This will thicken the rest of the broth so that there's lots of moisture without being too watery.
Spread the meat/veggie mixture into a casserole dish thingy, and then spread the mashed potatoes on top. Use a fork to make little peaks on the potatoes, because they'll get brown and crispy and delicious in the oven.
Cook for about 25-30 minutes at 400 degrees, or until the potatoes are beginning to lightly brown. Caution- when I made this the dish was really full, and halfway through cooking it started bubbling over the sides. It's much safer to put the dish on a baking pan, so if it overflows it doesn't drip onto the oven and get gross and charred. Or you could just use a bigger pan and not have it dribble over the sides.
Besides the slight mishap with drippings in the oven, this dish was pretty easy to make and now I have leftovers to eat this whole week. I especially like it because it's decently healthy, especially when I use veggie broth rather than butter and milk for the potatoes. Actually, now that I think of it, this might be vegan (except for my tiny bit of Smart Balance in the potatoes). Yay! Almost vegan once again.
Saturday, February 5, 2011
Banana Bread- A staple
I make banana bread probably more frequently than I make anything else. This is probably because I feel a compulsion to use up the neglected bananas so often left on my kitchen table by my housemates, and banana bread is a great way to use bananas that are past their prime. The first time I made banana bread I followed a fairly traditional recipe, with good results, but then after that I started varying the recipe to make it healthier. At this point, my banana bread is usually almost vegan (I still need real chocolate chips) and thus I can gobble it up relatively guilt-free. The only problem is, I have never made the same banana bread twice because I never remember what variations I did on which recipe. Luckily for me, banana bread is a very forgiving food to bake, so I have never had a terrible banana bread experience. The worst was probably one time when I forgot to spray the muffin tins before I put in the batter, and then because there was barely any oil in the batter the muffins stuck like whoa to the pan. It still tasted good, but I learned my lesson.
Anyway. In an attempt to use up the cream cheese frosting from when I made Red Velvet Cupcakes last week, I decided to make banana bread. I figure they'll even each other out- healthy banana bread + unhealthy frosting = mediocre health level, but delicious snack.
I kind of followed this recipe, but with a lot of variations. My list of ingredients:
3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup mixture of maple syrup and corn syrup (I was running low on maple syrup so I supplemented with Karo, but it would probably be better and more maple-y with just maple syrup)
1/4 cup brown sugar
splash of vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
decent sprinkling of cinnamon
chocolate chips
chopped pecans
nonstick spray for the pan
Note 1: I was running low on flour, so it was a scant 1 1/2 cups, but if I had more flour I probably would have done about 2 cups of flour, and added some applesauce in (maybe about 1/4 cup?).
Note 2: These came out pretty sweet, and I'm saying that as someone with a huuge sweet tooth, so I would probably cut back on the brown sugar and/or maple syrup next time.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Mash the bananas in a bowl until you really can't mash them any more. I don't like chunks of banana in my bread so I try to make it really mushy.
Add the maple syrup, brown sugar, and vanilla to the bananas, and mix until combined.
Add flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon, and mix until combined. Taste it to see if it needs more cinnamon (yay no raw eggs in the batter, so tasting is definitely salmonella free!)
Roughly chop up some pecans- I did about 2 handfuls worth. Add them and some chocolate chips (about a handful and a half??) to the batter, and stir to combine.
Spray pans with nonstick spray (I used muffin tins and a loaf pan) and fill them about 1/2 to 3/4 full of batter- it won't rise that much.
Bake for 20 min, then check for done-ness by sticking a toothpick in the middle to see if it comes out clean. I think my muffins took about 25 min and the loaf took more like 30 or 35, but just keep checking on it.
This bread is pretty dense, but it makes for a nice, hearty snack. And it's delicious with the cream cheese frosting.
Anyway. In an attempt to use up the cream cheese frosting from when I made Red Velvet Cupcakes last week, I decided to make banana bread. I figure they'll even each other out- healthy banana bread + unhealthy frosting = mediocre health level, but delicious snack.
I kind of followed this recipe, but with a lot of variations. My list of ingredients:
3 ripe bananas
1/2 cup mixture of maple syrup and corn syrup (I was running low on maple syrup so I supplemented with Karo, but it would probably be better and more maple-y with just maple syrup)
1/4 cup brown sugar
splash of vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
decent sprinkling of cinnamon
chocolate chips
chopped pecans
nonstick spray for the pan
Note 1: I was running low on flour, so it was a scant 1 1/2 cups, but if I had more flour I probably would have done about 2 cups of flour, and added some applesauce in (maybe about 1/4 cup?).
Note 2: These came out pretty sweet, and I'm saying that as someone with a huuge sweet tooth, so I would probably cut back on the brown sugar and/or maple syrup next time.
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Mash the bananas in a bowl until you really can't mash them any more. I don't like chunks of banana in my bread so I try to make it really mushy.
Add the maple syrup, brown sugar, and vanilla to the bananas, and mix until combined.
Add flour, salt, baking soda, and cinnamon, and mix until combined. Taste it to see if it needs more cinnamon (yay no raw eggs in the batter, so tasting is definitely salmonella free!)
Roughly chop up some pecans- I did about 2 handfuls worth. Add them and some chocolate chips (about a handful and a half??) to the batter, and stir to combine.
Spray pans with nonstick spray (I used muffin tins and a loaf pan) and fill them about 1/2 to 3/4 full of batter- it won't rise that much.
Bake for 20 min, then check for done-ness by sticking a toothpick in the middle to see if it comes out clean. I think my muffins took about 25 min and the loaf took more like 30 or 35, but just keep checking on it.
This bread is pretty dense, but it makes for a nice, hearty snack. And it's delicious with the cream cheese frosting.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
The drink I hate to love
Yesterday I went out to Starbucks to get coffee with a friend, and got one of their Salted Caramel Hot Chocolates. It was pretty darn delicious. I only drank half, though, and being me I put the other half in the fridge to save as a treat for the next morning. Fast forward to today, this morning, when I took my hot chocolate out of the fridge and popped it in the microwave to warm it up. When I took it out of the microwave, I was horrified- giant blobs of oily fat were lounging around on the top. We're not talking one or two little droplets here; it looked like someone had just poured about a teaspoon of oil into my drink. And it was the small size, and only half full. I feebly attempted to scrape some of it off, by skimming the top with a spoon, and it kind of worked and kind of didn't work. I'd really like to be able to say that at this point I chucked the whole thing in the trash and walked away a better person. But I'm not a better person. I'm weak when it comes to warm, chocolately, caramely, and yes, fatty goodness. So I drank it. I'm not proud. But it was still delicious.
Tuesday, February 1, 2011
Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows
I should have learned my lesson this weekend and stopped baking for a bit. But then I was reading food blogs, as I do, and came across these Peanut Butter Chocolate Pillows. And I knew that I had to make them.
Vegan baking is, to me, much more satisfying than normal baking. I feel like it's really easy to make something delicious if there's lots of butter and stuff in it, but when something is delicious and vegan it's much more of a baking success. These cookies were made by basically making two doughs, one peanut butter and one chocolate, and then wrapping the chocolate dough around the peanut butter one. I mostly followed the recipe online, with the exception of substituting for stuff I didn't have (like vegetable oil for canola oil, since I didn't have canola and veggie is healthier anyway). These cookies were pretty delicious, but they were a bit oily for my taste. This is understandable, since the oil substituted for butter, but I wonder if there is a way to make these with less oil... maybe substitute some of it with applesauce or something. I'll have to experiment, because I like these cookies but the oil makes them a bit heavy for my taste.
On a side note, I did my stand-by stir-fry tonight for dinner. I start with a little oil in a pan, and then throw in onions and carrots. If I'm lazy and didn't get a chance to press the tofu (firm) ahead of time, I throw in the tofu early too- this way the water has time to cook out of it and evaporate instead of being pressed out, so the tofu still has a firmer texture by the time everything is added in. Next I threw in some broccoli and frozen edamame, and some chopped garlic. I decided that I like adding garlic a bit later on in the cooking process, rather than earlier, because this way the garlic isn't quite as thoroughly cooked and thus has a stronger taste, which I like. A lot of people throw in the garlic earlier on, like with the onions, and I used to do this too. But then I could never taste the garlic through whatever sauce I used, and I just assumed it had blended flavors. But no, it was just weakened from being cooked for so long. So now, I add garlic later. Anyway, after letting all this stuff cook for a minute, I threw in a mixture of strongly "brewed" veggie broth (using bullion cubes) and soy sauce, then covered the whole thing for a few minutes so all the flavors could meld and the veggies would have some time to steam a bit in the sauce. I then uncovered it and let it cook until some of the liquid boiled off, but not letting too much evaporate. Once I had it where I wanted it, I scooped some rice out of the rice cooker (my favorite invention, because it saves me many hours of scrubbing burnt rice out of pots) and threw the stir-fry on top. Of course, every time I stir-fry I always make too much, no matter how hard I try to make a single serving, so I know what I'm having for dinner tomorrow!
Vegan baking is, to me, much more satisfying than normal baking. I feel like it's really easy to make something delicious if there's lots of butter and stuff in it, but when something is delicious and vegan it's much more of a baking success. These cookies were made by basically making two doughs, one peanut butter and one chocolate, and then wrapping the chocolate dough around the peanut butter one. I mostly followed the recipe online, with the exception of substituting for stuff I didn't have (like vegetable oil for canola oil, since I didn't have canola and veggie is healthier anyway). These cookies were pretty delicious, but they were a bit oily for my taste. This is understandable, since the oil substituted for butter, but I wonder if there is a way to make these with less oil... maybe substitute some of it with applesauce or something. I'll have to experiment, because I like these cookies but the oil makes them a bit heavy for my taste.
On a side note, I did my stand-by stir-fry tonight for dinner. I start with a little oil in a pan, and then throw in onions and carrots. If I'm lazy and didn't get a chance to press the tofu (firm) ahead of time, I throw in the tofu early too- this way the water has time to cook out of it and evaporate instead of being pressed out, so the tofu still has a firmer texture by the time everything is added in. Next I threw in some broccoli and frozen edamame, and some chopped garlic. I decided that I like adding garlic a bit later on in the cooking process, rather than earlier, because this way the garlic isn't quite as thoroughly cooked and thus has a stronger taste, which I like. A lot of people throw in the garlic earlier on, like with the onions, and I used to do this too. But then I could never taste the garlic through whatever sauce I used, and I just assumed it had blended flavors. But no, it was just weakened from being cooked for so long. So now, I add garlic later. Anyway, after letting all this stuff cook for a minute, I threw in a mixture of strongly "brewed" veggie broth (using bullion cubes) and soy sauce, then covered the whole thing for a few minutes so all the flavors could meld and the veggies would have some time to steam a bit in the sauce. I then uncovered it and let it cook until some of the liquid boiled off, but not letting too much evaporate. Once I had it where I wanted it, I scooped some rice out of the rice cooker (my favorite invention, because it saves me many hours of scrubbing burnt rice out of pots) and threw the stir-fry on top. Of course, every time I stir-fry I always make too much, no matter how hard I try to make a single serving, so I know what I'm having for dinner tomorrow!
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