Spring into Flavors

We’ve done it! We’ve tipped our pints to St. Paddy’s Day, suffered through the Ides of March and landed squarely into Spring. Camille has once again developed a severe case of Spring fever, which drives her to sit at the back door and meow endlessly to go out and sit in the garden - the unplanted garden mind you. 

Perhaps she is psychic and senses the bounty that will come later this year or perhaps she just likes sitting in the dirt. Either way in her current aged state she seems happiest there and even though I get annoyed I find it hard to deny her this pleasure. 

I spent last weekend visiting my Dad and his wife in Fargo, we had a nice visit and I got caught up on the latest happenings and events. On my way home I stopped at a little cheese shop and purchased a wine soaked goat cheese, which I’ve been sampling since I got home - it is delicious. I even made myself a small sandwich on an earthy piece of stout bread, with a dab of merlot mustard (from the mustard museum in Madison, WI) and the cheese - it was heaven - actually I’ve been thinking another one of those for dessert would be perfect.

Our crisper was bare when I returned (why is it husbands cannot look in the refrigerator to see what you need?) so I headed off to the grocery store. I purchased onions, carrots, spinach, cucumbers, green beans, zucchini, broccoli and cauliflower, much of which found it’s way into our salad bowl. I enlisted Dan Dan the sauté man to cook up some mushrooms, onions and Quorn in olive oil and a wee bit of garlic and we put that on top of a quinoa pilaf (kale, peppers, chickpeas, salt and pepper). 

If you’ve never tried or heard of Quorn it’s a fungus based mycoprotein, which was popular  in the UK for more than a decade before it made its way to the US. It has the consistency of chicken (kind of) and easily absorbs the flavors it is exposed to (i.e garlic, ginger, etc.). We don’t eat a lot of it but it is a nice change of pace. 

We added a spinach salad to the mix that included peppers, cucumbers, celery, tomatoes, olives, and blueberries. I topped it with a pomegranate vinaigrette, which was a nice change from my standard balsamic vinaigrette and truth be told there were no leftovers.

I’ve started my squash seeds and am looking forward to tending garden 2017. Each year I try an experiment or two - this year will be Japanese eggplant and fava beans - wish me luck!

“Meatloaf” Heaven

As a kid I would have to say one of my favorite dinners was meatloaf, mashed potatoes and veggies. My mom combined beef and pork and later when I found out that beef made me sick I made mine with ground turkey and pork. These days it’s a totally different story. 

I’ve gone through a number of vegetarian loaves - one of my favorites is a carrot and seed loaf, which is not Dan’s favorite. I’ve also made and had intermittent success with a lentil and kidney bean loaf but my last few attempt were dismal. Lately I’ve been searching for a vegetarian loaf that is not mushy and filled with veggies. I found this one at Nadia’s Healthy Kitchen and decided to give it try (mostly because it has rosemary in it and I love rosemary!). Rosemary is one of my favorite herbs and it really adds a nice dimension to the dish. 

The recipe makes 10 servings, we sliced it a bit thicker but still got 3 meals out of it (so 6 - 7 servings), which was perfect because 2 nights of leftovers is generally my limit! The first night we served it with asparagus, the second roasted cauliflower and broccoli and some delicious cranberry walnut bread and tonight we finished it off with roasted sweet potato and a small green salad (ok it was not small but who can resist spinach, cukes, tomatoes, carrots, peppers, avocados, raisins, shaved onion and a red wine vinaigrette - not me!) 

If you want to view all the pretty pictures and a great blog post, go to the link below - if you want the down and dirty recipe keep reading :-) Oh and I have made a few changes (but of course)

1 can chickpea

1 can green lentils

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 cup baby portabella mushrooms, thinly sliced

4 cloves garlic, crushed

3 medium carrots, grated

1 egg, beaten

1/4 cup ground almonds

1/4 cup wheat flour

1/2 cup oats

1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce

1/4 cup tomato paste

3 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp mustard

2 tbsp fresh chopped rosemary (you can also use thyme or sage)

salt & pepper to taste

Sauce

4 tbsp tomato paste

2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1.5 tbsp honey

1/2 tsp mustard

1 tbsp water

Preheat your oven to 375*F

Sauté the chopped onions in a little bit of oil for 5 minutes then add in the crushed garlic and rosemary and cook for another minute. Take off the heat and leave to cool.

Drain and rinse the lentils and chickpeas. Transfer them to your food processor along with the mushrooms and blend. Depending on the size of your food processor you may need to blend in batches. We were able to blend everything at the same time in our Vitamix.

Transfer the blended lentils, chickpeas and mushrooms into a large bowl.

Add in the rest of the ingredients, including the sautéd onion and garlic. Mix everything well until you have an even, thick batter. Transfer the mixture into a loaf tin lined with parchment paper and 

bake for 30 minutes.

While the loaf is baking, mix together the sauce ingredients in a small bowl. I have to confess I didn’t read this part very well. I put all the sauce ingredients into the same pan I salted the onions and mushrooms in (it could have been that Friday night glass of wine :-)) When I realized the mistake, we simply mixed the ingredients over a low heat, removed it from the burner and then continued on with the recipe. 

Take the loaf out of the oven after 30 minutes. Spread the sauce mixture evenly on top. Return to the oven and bake for another 20-30 minutes. Let rest for 10 minutes and then slice. 

I’d have to say as it aged I liked it more, the texture became firm and the spices came together - it will definitely be on the regular rotation. 

If you have a veggie loaf that you like send the recipe along I’m always looking for new veggie adventures