Creamy Avocado Lemon Pasta

Tags

Avocado, Basil, Lemon, Pasta, Vegan, Vegetarian

I have to admit I’m in sort of a blogging funk.  As of late I’ve just had no idea what to say on this here blog.  Maybe any of you fellow bloggers can relate.  Sometimes, well, a lot of the time actually, I talk about the weather. (It’s just been so darn strange this year.) Most of the time I talk about how I decided to make whatever recipe I happen to be featuring at the time.  Sometimes I make a plug for the seasonal/local/non-processed food lifestyle.  Sometimes I’m practically whistling (that being just a figure of speech since I can’t actually whistle) while typing because I’m so happy with whatever I’m blogging about.  And then there are times when I’m typing one letter at a time hoping inspiration will come, and I just end up presenting my recipe without any remarks, opinions or watered-down diatribes on my part.

So I don’t know, we’ll see what this funk will produce in future posts.  I might have to put my thinking cap on and think of more creative ways of writing my posts.  Because the last thing I want is for people to be bored reading this blog – it makes the food seem less interesting in my experience.  What I want even less is for me to be bored writing them!

I found this recipe on Pinterest, where I practically get my mail delivered.  It is one of the best sites to find great food ideas, or any great idea really.  If there is a delicious, unique or gorgeous recipe out in cyberspace, someone will inevitably pin it.  And thus, we have a treasure trove on the ever expanding, virtual bulletin board we call Pinterest.

Creamy Avocado Lemon Pasta (adapted from the blog Oh She Glows)

Makes 2 servings

• 1 medium ripe avocado, pitted
• Juice from 1 lemon
• Zest from 1/2 lemon
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher/sea salt
• 1/4 cup fresh basil
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 servings/6 oz. dried pasta (I used spaghetti)
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Cook your pasta according to its instructions, preferably to al dente.  Meanwhile, place the garlic cloves, lemon juice and olive oil in a food processor and process until smooth.  Add the avocado, basil and salt.  Process until smooth and creamy.

Drain the cooked pasta and return to the pot or put in a large bowl.  Pour the sauce over the top and toss to fully combine.  Garnish with black pepper and lemon zest.

This is, like, lightning bolt quick.

A caveat: you want to serve this immediately (and eat all of it!) because it will not reheat well with the avocado in it.

I’m still amazed how avocado makes everything so creamy, without actually adding any cream or dairy.  I knew this was the case with smoothies, and now I have proof of the same phenomenon with pasta.

The creamy avocado (which you can’t really taste by the way), the tart lemon and the fresh basil is a pleasing combination.  Eating this was one of those experiences where you love every bite and are so sad when it’s gone.  It’s all the indulgence of a creamy dish with none of the bad stuff.  Cha-ching!

Roasted Tomato and Caramelized Onion Farro Salad

Tags

Caramelized Onion, Farro, Roasted Tomato, Salad, Vegan, Vegetables, Vegetarian

I found this recipe on the blog Joy the Baker completely by accident.  I wasn’t looking for it.  But it’s perfect because it’s so few ingredients, plus I still had some farro to use up.  And since I used it in a soup last time, I thought I’d try it in a grain salad this time.

Roasted Tomato and Caramelized Onion Farro Salad (adapted from Joy the Baker)

• 1 cup cherry tomatoes
• 1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher/sea salt
• 1 medium yellow onion, sliced
• 1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher/sea salt
• 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
• 1/2 cup farro
• 1/2 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons coarsely chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Place the tomatoes on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Bake for 15 minutes, until some tomatoes burst and start to turn golden brown.  Remove from the oven and set aside to cool slightly.

Place the 1/2 tablespoons of olive oil and butter in a large sauce pan and heat over medium heat.  Add the sliced onions and toss to coat them.  Allow the onions to cook down for 5 minutes without stirring.  Toss after 5 minutes, then allow them to cook for another 5 minutes without being disturbed.  Add salt and toss.  The onions will begin to brown and break down.  Remove from the heat, stand back and add the balsamic vinegar.  Toss to coat all the onions and return to heat to continue cooking until they’re all browned, broken down and smelling heavenly.

Bring 2 cups of water to a boil in a pot and add a pinch of salt.  Add the farro and stir.  Cook until it’s softened through but still has a light al dente bite to it, about 15-20 minutes.  Drain in a strainer, return to the pot and toss with a 1/2 tablespoon of olive oil.

Add the roasted tomatoes, caramelized onions and chopped parsley.  Toss and serve warm.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.

I hear that it’s made even better by adding Parmesan, but sadly I wouldn’t know anything about that.

This stuff is seriously good.  It’s such an interesting melding of flavors, and they just go.  The caramelized onions are my favorite.

On a side note, Joy’s blog is such fun to read.  She’s quirky and hilarious and always has the best pictures of her food.  Even the food I know I wouldn’t like looks so beautiful in her photos that my brain almost fools me into drooling.  And she just had her first cookbook published!

 

Lady Grey Cupcakes with Citrus Glaze

Tags

Citrus, Cupcakes, Lady Grey tea

I started to get an itch to make something English inspired.  That just happens to me now and again, being the Anglophile that I am.  Plus my Kitchen Aid was collecting dust from lack of use.  And then…

Sunday was William and Kate’s first anniversary, and I was even more excited to make something English-ish.  You must believe me when I say that I am not the type to be gaga (that’s the official term) over celebrities.  Trust me, if it’s not on CNN I probably don’t know about it.  I’m a self-proclaimed news snob.  But since their fairy tale of a wedding last year, I’ve found them so fascinating.

So on Sunday I watched the replay of their wedding, cried again and was absolutely gaga (again) that from the church bells to Prince William’s wedding attire, everything was just like the Disney movies…and once again realized that, duh, the movies are based on real life, not the other way around.  And I made these cupcakes.

Lady Grey Cupcakes with Citrus Glaze

Makes 6 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/4 cup all-purpose flour (I used an unbleached variety)
• 1/4 cup almond flour (recipe below)
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• Pinch of kosher/sea salt
• Contents of 1 bag of Lady Grey tea
• 1/4 cup almond milk (homemade recipe here)
• 1 egg
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

For the glaze:

• 1 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 1/2 tablespoon freshly squeezed orange juice
• Lemon and orange zest, for garnish (optional)

For the almond flour: place 1/3 cup of raw almonds in a food processor and whir around for about a minute or so, until the almonds are broken up finely.

Place the ground almonds in a sieve over a bowl and sift.  Whatever is left in the sieve, put back in the processor, whir them again and sift them again.  And that’s your almond flour. (You can remove the skins before grinding up the almonds if you don’t want brown flecks in the flour.)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Cream together the butter, flour, sugar, baking powder and soda, salt and tea leaves. See the flecks of tea?

In another bowl, whisk the milk, egg and vanilla together.  Pour half the milk mixture into the dry ingredients while mixing on medium speed.  Beat until it’s just incorporated and then add the rest of the wet ingredients.  Beat until well blended. The batter will be gritty from the almond flour and very thin.

Fill greased or paper-lined muffin pan cups halfway.  Bake for 15-20 minutes.

To make the glaze, just whisk the lemon and orange juices into the confectioners’ sugar and spread on the cupcake tops.

And add some zest if you wish.

Lady Grey tea, which is one of my faves, has citrus notes in it, so I thought a citrus glaze would complement that nicely.

I seriously had no idea how these would turn out, never having used tea to make cupcakes before, or anything else for that matter.  They were pretty tasty and like nothing else I’ve ever had before.  You can definitely taste the tea; it gives it a bit of a kick.  And they’re not very sweet at all, which I like.  They’re not your typical dessert cupcake; they would be great tea cakes.

And back to William and Kate: can you imagine 2 BILLION people watching your wedding?!  Or having that day be declared a national holiday?  Wild.

On another note, but still English related, I absolutely cannot wait for the summer games in London!  I love, love, love the Olympics.  Between that and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee, this summer is full of wonderful Englishness!

Cheers!  And God Save the Queen!

Lighter Eggplant Parmesan

Tags

Eggplant, Italian, Light, Parmesan, Vegetables, Vegetarian

I haven’t had anything “Parmesan-ed,” so to speak, eggplant, chicken or otherwise, in years.  Years!  Yet I love it so much.  It’s one of those things I actually forget how much I like until I eat it again.

It always reminds me of the years on my high school yearbook staff when we’d order food on deadline days from a local sandwich place and I would almost always get the chicken parm sandwich.  Man, was it good.  Too bad that kind of thing absolutely doesn’t fit with my dietary needs these days.

Even though anything with Parmesan is a bit of a cheat on my part, I can still feel good about eating a little of this lighter version of a classic while memories of ad sales, class pictures and grease pencils flood my mind.

Lighter Eggplant Parmesan

• 1 small eggplant (I actually used half a large one)
• 1 egg
• Panko breadcrumbs + Italian seasoning (or Italian breadcrumbs)
• Kosher/sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 2 cups marinara sauce (I used my homemade sauce)
• 3 tbsp Parmesan
• Basil strips, for garnish (optional)

So few ingredients for such a delicious dish.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Wash and slice the eggplant into about 1/4 to 1/2-inch rounds.  Brush a tablespoon of olive oil onto a baking sheet.  Add about a teaspoon of water to the egg and beat.  Mix some Italian seasoning into the Panko.  Dip the eggplant rounds into the egg wash, dredge either side in the Panko, place them on the baking sheet and sprinkle with salt and pepper.

Bake for 10-15 minutes or until browned to your liking.  I like mine on the golden brown, crispy side.  Flip them over and bake for another 8 minutes or so.  Meanwhile, put a little marinara sauce in the bottom of a small baking dish.

Place half the eggplant rounds in a single layer on top of the sauce.  Put more sauce on top of the eggplant.  Repeat with the rest of the eggplant and sauce.

Lower the oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 20 minutes.  Sprinkle the Parmesan on top and bake for another 10 minutes or so, until the cheese starts to brown.

You get all the flavor of traditional Eggplant Parmesan without a lot of extra sauce and cheese.  Hence the “lighter.”

And I’m personally not a big fan of heavy, saucy, cheesy dishes anyway.  So this version is juuust right.

It’s good to know that in the future this will more than satisfy my infrequent craving for rich, Italian food without feeling too guilty.

Homemade Marinara Sauce

Tags

Marinara, Sauce, Tomatoes, Vegetables

Since I haven’t mentioned this for a while, I thought I’d make another plug for opting for homemade instead of store-bought food.  It takes a little more time, but it’s infinitely better on your body and your psyche.  Any time you can avoid ingredients made in a lab in lieu of something that comes from the soil is a good thing.

I’ve wanted to try my hand at homemade marinara sauce for a while but just hadn’t gotten around to it.  Probably because I rarely eat cooked, tomato-based anything.  But I still think it’s a valuable sauce to know how to make.  And beside the fact that homemade is better for you, it tastes so much better too…and real.  Any store-bought, processed, long-shelf-life taste is removed and the real ingredients shine through.

Homemade Marinara Sauce (adapted from the blog Indochine Kitchen)

Makes about 2 1/2 cups

• 1 pint grape tomatoes (or 3-4 regular medium tomatoes)
• 1/2 stalk celery, chopped finely
• 1/2 onion, chopped finely
• 1/2 carrot, chopped finely
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped finely
• 2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/8 tsp kosher/sea salt
• 1/8 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 large basil leaves (optional)

Get a medium pot of water boiling and then thoroughly wash the tomatoes.  Cook them whole in boiling water for about 15 minutes (30 minutes for larger tomatoes.) Lower the heat to a simmer and continue cooking until the skins start to come off.  This took only a few minutes for my small tomatoes.  Take the tomatoes out and peel them.  Reserve the cooking water.

Heat the olive oil over medium heat and cook the onion and garlic for 5 minutes.  Add the chopped celery and carrot and cook for another 10-15 minutes, until all the ingredients are soft.

Add the tomatoes, bay leaf, salt and pepper, reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for about 45 minutes.  Cook until the sauce is thick.

Remove the bay leaf.  Transfer the mixture to a food processor and if it’s really thick, like mine was, add a little of the reserved cooking water.  I used a few tablespoons.  Add the basil leaves if you’re using them and pulse it all together until you reach the consistency you want.  I wanted mine just a little chunky.

And that, my friends, is all.

Oh boy, is this stuff good.  I’m not even the biggest fan of marinara, but if I’m going to eat it I think I’m spoiled by the homemade stuff now.

And soon I shall reveal how I used the sauce.  Stay tuned!

Southwestern Vegetable Soup

Tags

Soup, Southwestern, Vegetable

We had an unexpected cool snap (cool snap?) earlier this week.  In fact, I’m pretty sure we’ve had more consecutive cool/cold days this month than we did in February.  Mother Nature has just been all over the place.  Naturally, soup seemed totally called for.

This soup is so wonderful.  I made it many times last year (before I had a food blog) and never tired of it.  And since, until recently, it’s been unseasonably warm, summer produce seems to be popping out of nowhere: summer squash, tomatoes, corn, bell peppers.  And since the middle of summer is no time for soup, a few cool days in the middle of a warm spring is the absolute perfect time to make this dish.  And yes, that is me upside down in the spoon, wearing a tie-dyed shirt.

Southwestern Vegetable Soup

• 1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, cut into a 1/4-inch dice (I used an orange pepper)
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 zucchini, cut into a 1/4-inch dice
• 4 cups chicken stock
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 2 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 pint grape tomatoes (or any tomatoes you’d like), cut in half
• 1 cup fresh corn kernels (1-2 ears of corn)
• 1 cup cooked black beans
• 1 tsp kosher/sea salt
• 1 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4 cup cilantro leaves, chopped

Heat the olive oil over medium heat in a dutch oven or large pot.  Add the onion and sauté for 2 minutes.  Add the peppers and continue to sauté for 2 more minutes.  Add the zucchini and garlic and sauté for 1 minute.  Add the chicken stock, tomato paste and cumin, and bring it all to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer for 15 minutes.  Stir in beans, corn and tomatoes and simmer until heated through.  Add the chopped cilantro and serve. (If you don’t like cilantro, you can use parsley.  I’ve used it before in this soup and it’s very good too.)

You can add tortilla chips or strips and make it a tortilla soup.  And I’m not a big fan of spicy food, but if you want to add some heat to the soup, you can use a poblano or jalapeño pepper in place of or in addition to the sweet bell pepper.

Money in the Bank Vinaigrette

Tags

Dijon, Dressing, Herbs, Red Wine Vinegar, Vinaigrette

I have found it.  My favorite, and the easiest, vinaigrette-making method in the world.  Not that making a vinaigrette is akin to making something like a soufflé.  But all the same, I think it’s fabulous.

A jar is all you need.  No bowl, no whisk, no food processor, no blender.  After shaking all the ingredients, the vinaigrette is already in its storage container.  I love that.  No extra dishes or utensils or appliances getting messy.

The vinaigrette itself is great too.  I found it on the blog Dinner: A Love Story, which is full of practical meal ideas.  It’s very tasty…and has such a great name.

Money in the Bank Vinaigrette (recipe adapted from DALS)

• 1 tbsp Dijon mustard
• 4 tbsp red wine vinegar
• 1 tsp raw honey
• A squeeze of fresh lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp kosher/sea salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper
• Chopped herbs (chives, parsley, dill, thyme, etc. – I used parsley and thyme for this recipe)
• 1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil

*Note: if you use a more delicate herb like parsley or dill, try to use all the vinaigrette within 2-3 days or it will get grossly soggy in the liquid.

Shortest instructions ever: Put everything in a jar and shake vigorously.

Jenny from DALS suggests drizzling it over cold asparagus or warm potatoes in addition to green and grain salads.

I’ve made this a few times with different herbs since I found the recipe.  I used parsley every time because I like the freshness it adds.  I also liked thyme and chives, but next time I’d like to give dill a try.

It has a nice bite to it from the mustard, vinegar and lemon juice.  The thyme perfumes the vinaigrette and together with the parsley adds wonderful flavor and earthiness.

Zucchini and Carrot Fritters

Tags

Carrot, Fritters, Gluten Free, Zucchini

Happy Easter!  I will dispense with the pleasantries today and get right to it.  I love exploring new ways to make and eat vegetables, and with trying to properly combine food, that becomes especially difficult.  But here is success story number one.

Zucchini and Carrot Fritters

• 1 zucchini, grated
• 2 medium carrots, grated
• 1 tbsp chopped red onion
• 2 tbsp green onions (scallions), white and green parts
• 1 egg
• 1/4 tsp kosher/sea salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground black pepper

I know I have three carrots in the picture, but I only ended up needing two.  This was my first time grating vegetables after all.

After grating the zucchini and carrots, squeeze out as much water as you can.  I just squeezed it all out over the sink one handful at a time.  You could use paper towels as well.  Put the grated vegetables and chopped onions in a bowl.

Add the egg and salt and pepper and mix it all thoroughly.  If it still seems too watery, you can carefully drain out as much liquid as you can.

Put just a little bit of butter, about  1/4 of a tablespoon, in a nonstick pan and melt over medium heat.  (By the way, I got this dandy new nonstick pan that I first heard about here that’s supposedly one of the best nontoxic, Teflon-free pans.  I thought you could only order in online, but I found them at Bed, Bath and Beyond.) Spoon about two tablespoonfuls of the mixture into the pan for each fritter. Cook until it’s brown on the bottom, about five minutes or so, and flip over.  Wipe the pan down and add a bit more butter for each batch since the butter from the previous batch will start to burn.  The recipe will make about 10 small fritters.

Grating the vegetables takes the longest, but the process is incredibly easy.  Especially for a first-time project.

And the flavor was really good.  I had no idea what to expect from these guys, but I was pleasantly surprised.  I can’t really describe the taste so much, but they were definitely better than just plain carrots and zucchini.  I think the two types of onions bumped up the flavor.

I might have to experiment with some different combinations next time; maybe different vegetables or spices.  Adding some garlic flavor might be really good.

In other news, I finally saw the Hunger Games. (I’ve never really been one to face the midnight crowds.)  I loved it, of course.  I thought it was well done and except for a few minor things, it kept to the integrity of the book.  And I cried.  Twice.  I can’t wait for Catching Fire!

Sprouted Whole-Grain Bruschetta

Tags

Basil, Bruschetta, Ezekiel Bread, Garlic, Sprouted Bread, Tomatoes, Whole Grain

I had an incredibly lucky weekend, food-wise that is.  First, I found honey that is both raw and local, a nearly impossible feat.  Up until recently my favorite honey was local mountain honey from my farmers’ market.  When I learned that anything raw is more easily digested, I tried out some raw honey.  I liked it, but it did nothing for my allergies, which have been plaguing me since the beginning of March. (And it’s totally not a myth that local honey helps with allergies.)  So I was in quite the pickle until I randomly saw a local mountain raw honey at the grocery store: a ginormous jar of it was on sale.  Every once in a blue moon all the pieces of my life fall into place.

I got new herb plants (I added basil and chives to the usual suspects this year) and some Begonias and Forget-me-nots for my little potted garden.  Potting and tending plants and flowers is such a zen experience.  And seeing some of my old plants, which I thought had died, come back to life in the spring was truly incredible.

And I finally found the Ezekiel Bread I’d been trying to find for weeks.  Which inspired this bruschetta.

Sprouted Whole-Grain Bruschetta

• 2 pieces original Ezekiel Bread
• 1 cup grape tomatoes, cut in half (or any tomatoes you like)
• 1/2 clove garlic
• A few basil leaves
• 1/2 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil
• Kosher/sea salt and pepper

Start by toasting your bread.  While it’s toasting, halve and clean out your tomatoes (or dice if you’re using larger tomatoes), mince the garlic, and stack your basil leaves, roll them up and chiffonade into ribbons.  Combine them together in a bowl and add the olive oil and salt and pepper to taste.  While the toast is still hot, rub a halved garlic clove over the surface.  The tiny nooks and crannies will soak up that garlic flavor.  Cut into triangles and spoon the tomato mixture on top.

Being fresh and bright, this is the perfect afternoon snack or lunch accompaniment.  And you get the best of both worlds from this sprouted whole-grain bread; you get to add something filling and hearty to a meal without adding refined flour, which most breads have, and without adding meat.

It’s wonderfully colorful, fresh and flavorful.  And so quick.  I think it took me about 5-10 minutes from start to shoving it in my mouth finish.

Spinach, Mushroom and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

Tags

Gluten Free, Goat Cheese, Mushrooms, Quesadillas, Spinach

I made these quesadillas a few weeks ago, before I really started cracking down on this food combining business.  And so because cheese and grains aren’t to be combined, I probably won’t be making these exact quesadillas again.  But I still wanted to share the recipe and not let it go to waste.

I always have lots of spinach around, and I still had some mushrooms and goat cheese to use up.  And some tortillas from taco night.  If you have tortillas for any reason, you can throw just about anything in there and make quesadillas.

Spinach, Mushroom and Goat Cheese Quesadillas

• 2 tortillas (I used gluten-free)
• 1 1/2 cups chopped mushrooms (I used baby bellas)
• 1 1/2 cups spinach leaves
• 1-2 oz. goat cheese
• extra-virgin olive oil
• chopped red onion and parsley (optional)

Put a little olive oil in a large pan and heat it over medium heat.  Place a tortilla in the pan and pile in the mushrooms, spinach and goat cheese.  I put in as much spinach and mushrooms I could fit because it cooks down a lot.

Place another tortilla on top and brush with a bit more olive oil.  Gently lift the bottom tortilla every few minutes to see how it’s browning.  When it’s just starting to brown (mine took somewhere around 5-10 minutes) carefully flip the whole thing over and cook for another 5-10 minutes.

Transfer the quesadilla to a cutting board and use a pizza cutter or very sharp knife to cut into four pieces.

Then chop up some red onion and parsley for garnish and color.  Garnish is optional of course, but it really adds a wonderful freshness.

I just love the warm combination on the inside with the fresh bite of red onion and parsley on the outside.

And I’m more than a little obsessed with mushrooms these days.  They’ve been replacing meat for me a lot lately.  Mushrooms filling and hearty, the perfect meat substitute.