Southwest Salad and Arthur Miller

I go through phases and lately I've been in a salad phase. We had dinner with Dan's daughter Alona, her boyfriend Nate and his mom to celebrate his birthday at the Surly Taproom last week. While not a beer drinker myself I understand the options were quite good. What I did sample was some of the best roasted brussel sprouts and cauliflower I've had in a long time. Of course none of these are directly related to salads right?

While waiting for our food to come Alona was telling me about her new ventures in salads. She's been using mason jars and layering ingredients so that they stay fresh. Her new fav is a kale salad with other veggies and a simple oil, vinegar, salt and pepper dressing. Which got me thinking we hadn't had a giant salad; you know the kind that is a meal, all by itself for a very long time.

So as luck would have it, I had an idea. For those of you who've been to my house for dinner you know I rely on a balsamic vinegar with garlic and curry as my main dressing but I was thinking we needed to shake things up a bit and we had 2 ripe avocados so I did a quick search for a salad/dressing that could incorporate them. I found a keeper that is simple, requires few ingredients and is delicious.

I used ½ avocado, 1 cup of water, and the juice of ½ lime, cumin, salt, pepper and ½ of a jalapeno finely chopped. Place everything in and mix until smooth – you'll be glad you did. 

So now that I had an avocado based salad dressing, I realized that they only salad that would perfectly compliment it would be … of course a "Southwest Salad." I started with a mixture of spinach and kale (about 2/3rds spinach to 1/3^rd kale). To that I added, 1 can of black beans (rinsed), 1 cup of corn, 1 red pepper (chopped), 1 bunch scallions, 2 sweet potatoes (chopped and roasted with olive oil and maple syrup), 1 large tomato (chopped), 1 ½ avocados (chopped), and a large handful of chopped cilantro.  Pour the dressing on top, toss and serve. 

And what does all of this have to do with Arthur Miller; well it was dinner before we went to see his play The Crucible, which by the way was extremely well done. It had a 3-hour run time (including intermission) but it seemed like time just flew by. The acting was superb and everyone seemed perfectly cast. The sets were well done and the pacing and intensity just right – if you happen to be in Mpls, spend the time and money to attend the performance at the Guthrie. 

Have a great week - and don't forget to make a salad now and then. 

Rainy Days and Sundays Always Make Me Hungry!

They say too much of anything isn't healthy – and for the most part I agree. Too much red meat, too much fat, too many eggs, and too much tofu sometimes it's hard to know what to eat and not eat. I like to take things in moderation – balance things out, I actually think I got that from my mom, she was a big believer in vegetables, protein, and desert – especially pies. She made the best lemon meringue pie; the meringue was at least 5 inches high and the lemon filling creamy and tart – ah the delicious memories.

It's been a rainy day in MN and for me that means hanging out indoors, watching movies and at some point cooking. I did manage to get my 13,000+ fitbit steps in between the raindrops and a quick trip to the grocery store for some staples.

We had some tofu in the fridge and I'd seen a recipe on the Inspiralized site for a marinated baked tofu which sounded interesting so I thought I'd give it a try. The recipe is here but as you'll see I deviated from it to incorporate some of my favorite veggies and spices into the mix.

I asked Dan to cube and drain the tofu – three paper towels later it was pretty dry. To a large bowl I added 3 Tbsp. of soy sauce, 1Tbls. Maple syrup, 1Tbsp. grated ginger and some salt and pepper. I added the cubed tofu and let it marinade for about an hour, spooning the sauce over the tofu from time to time.

I then spiralized 2 large carrots and chopped the spirals into small pieces. I also took 3 large cauliflower florets and chopped them fairly small and defrosted ½ bag of Trader Joe's frozen kale.

I preheated the oven to 450 and then put the tofu in for 10 minutes, turned it over and then cooked for an additional ten minutes. While the tofu was baking, I melted 1Tbsp of coconut oil in a pan and added 3 cloves of garlic and 2 tsp. of grated fresh ginger. To the oil, ginger and garlic mixture, I added the cauliflower and sautéed it for 3 minutes, then added the carrot pieces and sautéed for another 2 – 4 minutes. When it was crisp tender I added the thawed kale, some additional garlic powder sea salt and fresh ground pepper and a couple shakes of pepper flakes. 

When the tofu was crisp/tender I removed the veggies from the stove, added the tofu to the pan and served it with a side of mashed avocado for a bit of creaminess. We both named this a keeper and to be honest, you can make it with what ever veggies you have on hand or like – you could substitute spinach or bok choy for the kale and add broccoli and/or sweet potato the sky's the limit. Personally I liked the kale, carrot and cauliflower combo.

There was also banana cream pie for dessert – with a graham cracker crust – which as I recently found out is Dan's favorite.

If you stop by, feel free to leave me a message, I'd love to hear from you - have a great week!

For the Love of Sweet Potatoes

Ever had one of those weeks where the only thing that could make you feel better was sweet potatoes – well this week was one of those weeks.  Did I mention that sweet potatoes are one of my favorite foods?  I love them mashed, roasted, roasted with a little maple syrup, curried, in veggie burgers, on top of shepherds pie, in place of pumpkin in a pie, as fries with ketchup …  – in my opinion they're good no matter how you choose to prepare them.

When the hubby got home tonight and asked the usual question "What would you like for dinner?" I knew that whatever we had it needed to include sweet potatoes.  My first inclination was to roast them with the carrots and cauliflower in the fridge but in the back in the recesses of my mind I recalled a delicious curry recipe, which had been absent from our dinner table for a while.

Actually the recipe comes from a cookbook called Savoring India – it's a Williams Sonoma cookbook by author Julie Sahni. The original recipe is Gobhi Masala, which is a fragrant cauliflower stew – and it calls for the standard white potatoes, which are not my favorite. Actually anytime a recipe calls for white potatoes I always substitute sweet potatoes I don't even think about it.

We started by heating 3 Tbsp. of oil. To the oil we added 2 cassia leaves, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 tsp. cumin seeds and fried them in the hot oil for 30 seconds until the seeds began to sizzle. To the spices we added 2 small onions finely chopped and cooked until lightly browned (about 3 minutes) then added 1 Tbsp. peeled and grated fresh ginger, 1 Tbsp. ground coriander, 1 ½ tsp. salt, 1 tsp. cayenne pepper, 2 chopped tomatoes, 1 can coconut milk and ½ cup of water.  Stir the mixture to combine and then add 2 lbs. of cauliflower (be sure to peel and chop the stem and the leaves they add an additional flavor) and 1 sweet potato chopped in 1-inch cubes. Bring the mixture to a boil over high heat; cover, reduce heat to low and cook for approximate 35 – 40 minutes. 

We served it with basmati rice and a black lentil and kidney been dal – it really hit the spot – as you can see, there is no problem too big for a sweet potato solve.

For those of you in Minnesota – it's time to get outside and enjoy this beautiful weather we're having.

Thanks for stopping by,

Ann

Seeds; New Beginnings and Old Friends

I've started my seeds! I know, I know for those of you who live in warm climates and have an endless growing season, I'm sure you're scratching your head and saying "Huh." Well here in Minnesota the growing season is short and we try to pack 12 months of flowers, fruit and vegetables into a little more than 3 months – we're efficient that way.

We've got 4 – 4 by 8 foot raised beds that we've been planting a variety of herbs and veggies in for the past 5 years.  We've had great success on the herb front and mixed success on the vegetables.  My favorite vegetables are swiss chard, spinach, collard greens, lettuce, turnips, carrots and green beans.  Each year I try a few "experiments," this year I'm giving acorn squash, wax beans and arugula a shot.

We've been working to empty out the freezer in anticipation for the coming season. I had some zucchini in the fridge that was begging to be eaten and I remembered that we still had some tomato sauce that I made and froze last fall; can you say spaghetti!

I set my chopping assistant (Dan) on a mission, onions, peppers, mushrooms, garlic, oregano, basil, sage, chili flakes, salt and pepper; I'd like to give you precise measurements but he works on the dump and taste method. He estimates; 1 onion, 1 cup chopped peppers, 4 cloves of garlic, 2 tsp. oregano, 2 tsp. basil, 1 tsp. sage, 1 tsp. salt and a couple of shakes of chili peppers – modify to taste.

To the onion/spice mixture add approx. 2 cups of tomato sauce, 2 Tbsp. tomato paste and 1 ½ medium sized zucchini – spiralized into noodles. Reduce heat, cover and cook for approximately 20 minutes – or until zucchini is crisp tender.

We served with a spinach and strawberry salad dressed with a balsamic dressing, some multi grain bread and a glass of wine.  

I enjoy reading your comments and posts. If you have vegetarian recipes you'd like to share please let me know.  I've not met many vegetables I don't get along with and I'm always looking to experiment.

Have a good week!

Spring, Snow, Sun, Sausages, Tofu and Lentils.

The calendar says it's spring, which makes me think of sitting out on our deck and enjoying a glass of wine with the neighbors. Unfortunately the Minnesota weatherman has other ideas. I mean where else does it go from 60 to snow in the space of a week – not too many places.

We've been trying a few commercial vegetarian products lately – back from our Whole Foods shopping trip a month or so ago. I've come to really like the Field Roast products; they have some very tasty "sausages" chipotle (which are good but not my favorite), Italian (they have an eggplant base and are my favorite) and an apple sage (which I also really like).  To date we've only cooked them in a pan and they are a bit fragile so I'm not sure how they'll do on the grill but I'm certainly willing to give them a try.

We also went out to dinner at a local Asian restaurant and had the BEST tofu I've ever had. First I'm kind of picky about my tofu; if it's not crispy it's not good. To me there is nothing worse than tofu that is simply warmed up – it's slimy, it's soggy, it's….. well you get the picture. When Dan suggested we go to the Asian restaurant I was luke warm to the idea. We'd been there before and the service was horrible and I didn't recall the food being amazing either, but I was willing to give it a second try.

The service was again horrible but the food was wonderful. We ordered a spicy seared tofu dish and a garlic eggplant both were amazing. The tofu was crispy on the outside and had a spicy sauce that was not overpowering but had just the right amount of heat and the flavor was like nothing I'd had on my tofu before – I'd order it again in heart beat; although I'd do takeout.

Last night I was browsing through the fridge and realized there were some peppers I needed to use up so I decided to make lentil stuffed peppers with a spicy oil to drizzle over them. I started by having Dan chop an onion (he's my main chopper) and cook it until it started to soften. To that I added 2 cloves of minced garlic and a half-teaspoon of ground cumin and sautéed for a minute. 

I then added 1 cup of vegetable broth 2/3 cup of red lentils, 1 ½ tsp. of tomato paste, ¼ tsp. salt, 1/8 tsp. of cayenne, bay leaf and 1/8 tsp. of paprika, covered it and cooked it until the lentils were mushy.

While the lentils were cooking I cut 2 peppers in half and cleaned out the ribs and then microwaved them for about 4 minutes to soften them. I then transferred them to a baking dish. When the lentils were done, I removed the bay leaf and added 1 ½ tsp. of fresh lemon juice, ½ cup chopped tomato, ½ spinach and divided the lentil mixture between the pepper halves, topped with feta cheese and baked them for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees until heated through. 

When they were done, I drizzled them with a combination of 1T olive oil, ½ tsp. paprika and ½ tsp. cayenne pepper.  Served with a nice fruit salad and a crisp glass of white wine. It was delicious if I do say so myself.

Happy Spring – let's hope that Mother Nature is done making it snow, I'm ready for some sunshine and warmth and wine on the deck with our friends.

Emergency Room, St. Paddy's Day and Avocado Fries

For those of you who know my husband Dan, you know he really enjoys LED lights and arduino's – when you put them together – well let's just say he's a happy camper .. or he was anyway.

The day before St Paddy's day he was working to get the color and patterns just right for the occasion. I was in the living room reading and he came in with his hand over his eye and said; "I hurt myself." As it turned out he was bending over to put up the newly programmed St. Patrick's Day lights and got poked in the eye with a branch – Yikes!

After trying to convince him to go to the emergency room (and I was unsuccessful) he spent a painful night and then conceded at 7am so off we went.  It was long and painful but in the end resulted in 3 prescriptions and no more pain, which was the goal.

So it's St. Paddy's Day (and I'm Irish) but we couldn't really go out to dinner (because Dan was doped up on Percocet) so I pulled out the recipes from our vegetarian cooking class and decided to make the black eyed pea, cabbage and cheese dish since it kind of reminded me of corned beef and cabbage (btw I would never eat corned beef).

The recipe is pretty simple, 1 head of cabbage 1 cup of black-eyed peas (uncooked, cooked equals 3 cups), tamari, salt, pepper and cheese (I used almond cheese). I didn't have any tamari or soy sauce so I opted to leave it out – don't do that it really adds a flavor that you need. While healthy our dish was bland, but we did include some Field Roast Italian sausages (made of eggplant and other delicious things) on the side and carrot cake cupcakes – they saved the day!

To make the dish cook 1 cup of black eyed peas in a pan of water for about an hour and at the same time steam 1 small head of cabbage. When the beans are done, combine them with the steamed cabbage, tamari (between 1 – 2 T), salt and pepper to taste and then add cheese. The recipe calls for cheddar, since we don't do cow cheese here I used almond cheddar which is pretty flavorless – so aside from binding it all together it really didn't do much for the dish.  Bake it for about 25 – 30 minutes. 

We had lots of leftovers – initially boring leftovers but we revived them the next day by sautéing an onion, peppers, mushrooms and adding cayenne pepper the result was delicious. Next time these things will be added upfront, I mean really, onions make everything taste amazing right?

And speaking of amazing, have you tried avocado fries? I was browsing Pinterest a while ago and saw a recipe for them and pinned it but I never got around to actually making them. When I got my first paycheck from my new job I took Dan out for dinner to celebrate and the restaurant had avocado fries as an appetizer – I had to try them, they were so delicious, I was not disappointed. They had a crunchy outside and a creamy, velvety inside that definitely made my taste buds do a happy dance.

If you like avocado you need to and I do mean NEED to try these. You cut an avocado in like 6 or 8 pieces, dip it in egg white and then roll them in panko bread crumbs with some cayenne pepper, salt and any other spice you like and bake them at about 400 degrees until crispy on the outside. Serve them with a chipotle mayo and well just do it – you'll be glad you did.

A few lessons about this week; don't poke yourself in the eye, don't refuse to go to the emergency room and be in pain for an entire evening, don't leave out key ingredients in the recipe and DO order avocado fries – all good advise.

Cooking Classes, New Venues, Good Friends and Spiralized Lo Mein

It's been a fun week! Second week of the new job and I'm still thrilled with the decision (ok the fact that it was payday on Friday might have something to do with that.)  The weather in Minnesota has been beautiful – today it was 70 degrees.  I've been expanding my walking from 3 to closer to 4 miles each day. The trail is filled with walkers, bikers, roller bladers and a skateboarder here and there.  All signs of Spring.

Last week Dan and I took a vegetarian cooking class – we made 7 dishes in 3 hours – we were busy! There were 5 students in the class and somehow Dan and I each ended up making 2 dishes – maybe we are crazy cooks or over achievers?  I made a Dahl and a Quinoa salad and Dan made a black eyed pea and cabbage bake (which we're planning to recreate for St Paddy's Day on Tuesday) and a mushroom risotto.

We got some great new dinner ideas and lots of containers of leftovers. This week I'm taking an African cooking class which I'm really looking forward to because we're cooking with collard greens; one of my favorites veggies.

Last night we met a friend from L.A. he was in town attending a conference (which he was one of the Keynote speakers.) We tried a new local venue called Saffron – the food was delicious. We started out with hummus dressed with a spicy oil and warm pita bread . The menu had a nice range, our friend is a meat and potatoes kind of guy and we well aren't, but the menu accommodated all of our needs. I had a delicious vegetable tangine with chickpeas, carrots, squash, onions, sweet potatoes, tomatoes and spices – I was not disappointed.

Today I was hungry for something fresh – so I logged into the Inspiralized site and found an Asian lo mein recipe:

http://www.inspiralized.com/2015/03/03/daikon-noodle-vegetable-lo-mein/

I headed off to the local Asian grocery store to get some baby bok choy, green scallions and a few other things I couldn't live without. I changed the recipe up a bit (of course) and spiralized 2 carrots and one zucchini in addition to the daikon radish to add some depth to the "noodles." I elimianted the baby corn and mushrooms (only because I didn't have any) and I added some edamame for protein. 

The result was a keeper - here is picture of it in the pan as it was cooking:

And once it got to our plates we added some dark brown gain bread as a side, we're still debating over who gets the leftovers for lunch tomorrow!

Whether you're Irish or just pretending to be, have a Happy St Paddy's day and don't forget to search for the pot of gold.