Sunday, March 27, 2011

Delivery #1

 First delivery was a success!  It has been less than a week and we have eaten most of the fruit and veggies.  The highlight by far was the Red Chard.  I never would have tried this on my own and was even dreading it a little, but we will definitely make it again! 

I made a variation of the recipe below.   Mostly I just skipped the pinto beans and lime juice (didn’t have any) and salt since the red chard tasted almost salty on its own.


http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Swiss-Chard-with-Pinto-Beans-and-Goat-Cheese/Detail.aspx

On Saturday, I got nervous that I hadn’t used up any veggies so I cooked all of these with onions, chicken, whole wheat rice, a little wine and butter.  It made a ton and will be perfect for dinner when Dave is out of town this week.


Saturday, March 19, 2011

Freezer Cooking 101

Hi there!  Thought of you guys when I came across this link for cooking for the freezer.  I just checked out some of the freezer recipes and I didn't really see anything that I'd want to cook, but thought maybe you guys might find something or benefit from the planning tips (I don't plan). 

Green Bean Delivery

Check out Green Bean Delivery’s website:  http://www.greenbeandelivery.com/cincinnati/
I signed up for a small produce box to be delivered to my door every other Tuesday!  I am so excited!  You view your box the weekend before and make changes.  All I changed this week was adding an extra apple instead of a lemon.  I am going to try not to change much so we can try different fruits and veggies we normally wouldn’t purchase.  I will post a picture of the box once it arrives this week. 
Here is what will be coming:
5 Pink Lady Apples, Asparagus, Broccolette, Greens (Red Chard), Lettuce (Boston Bib), 10oz White Button Mushrooms, 4 Navel Oranges, 16oz Strawberries, and a pint of Grape Tomatoes

Sunday, February 13, 2011

Quinoa Broccoli Frittata

Another great recipe thanks to Melissa (and Oxygen Magazine)!  I can’t wait to have this for lunch the next two days!   I really liked it but it was a little bland so we added pepper and a little more cheese on top.  :)

Ingredients -
1 whole egg and 2 egg whites (I used 3 whole eggs....and then threw in a 4th when I thought the egg to quinoa/broccoli ratio looked too low.  This is my first Frittata, but somehow I thought I still new better than the recipe  ;)
½ cup nonfat milk
½ cup fat-free shredded cheddar cheese (I used regular) 
Sea salt, to taste (I used a little garlic power instead because I saw that in another version of this recipe online)
1 cup quinoa, cooked
1 14-oz bag frozen broccoli
I also added chopped onion which was really good in it if I do say so! 

Directions-
In a medium bowl, scramble egg, egg whites, and milk, then add cheese and salt to taste. Put quinoa and broccoli in an oven safe skillet, pour egg mixture over it and cook over medium-high heat until eggs are set around edges. Place skillet under broiler until middle is set and edges are brown.

Makes 4 (good sized) servings, Nutrients per serving (in original recipe)
Calories: 263, Total Fat: 4 g, Saturated Fat: 1 g, Trans Fat: 0 g, Cholesterol: 56 mg, Sodium: 229 mg, Total Carbohydrates: 37 g, Dietarty Fiber: 5 g, Sugars: 5 g, Protein: 15 g, Iron: 2 mg

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Veggie Hummus Pizza at Poppytalk

Hey everyone!  It's been awhile, eh?  I haven't been very adventurous lately but plan to start up again soon...  Well, here's the thing.  I was looking through my blogs today and I came across this veggie hummus pizza on Poppytalk, a blog I LOVE, and I though of you guys.  Well, first I thought- I've got to try this! then I thought of you guys:)  So anyway, its a veggie pizza that uses hummus instead of tomato sauce.  Visit here to get the details.  I think I'll add some tomato and some artichoke hearts when I make it and maybe nix the cauliflower..... what would you put on yours?

Sunday, January 9, 2011

Happy New Year!

Hi all - I have been a terrible contributor recently. Its not that I haven't been cooking; it just that between the new job, new dog, and the holidays, I haven't made time to share. Hopefully, the new year and the crappy winter weather will inspire me to be a better contributor.

Today's recipe was a simple one for minestrone. Be forewarned - there is a lot of chopping, but it is a great way to get in lots of vegetables. The recipe I started from is below. I made a few substitutions based on what I like and had on hand. I love that about soups - unlike say, baking, with soup you can measure entirely by eyeball, add/subtract/substitute almost anything within reason, and if you forget something, you can usually add it in later without any problems.

First, I used beef broth instead of water or stock since I had some leftover from last weekend's spicy pepper beef stew (will try to post on that later when I have time t transcribe the recipe). I also used V8 left over from that stew in place of the tomato puree. I added some green beans with the carrots because they looked good at the store. I used canned garbanzo beans because soaking for 2 hours and cooking for another one seemed like a lot of work when the canned variety are almost as cheap as the bagged dried variety. Since I still try to limit refined carbs, I left out the pasta (making my version not 'real' minestrone, but whateva). In its place, I added some diced chicken sausage that I had leftover. And I added crushed red pepper flakes because they make everything better.

I topped the soup with the parsley, which seemed a little wasteful given I had to buy more parsley than I could use in a year. However, it really did add something. I also shaved a little Parmesan on to it the bowl. Yum! My only other advice is don't leave out the wine. I almost did, but once I added it, the soup definitely tasted better. Enjoy!

Minestrone

Recipe By: Mollie Katzen, "Moosewood Cookbook"
Serving Size: 4 (crazy talk - more like 6)

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup chopped onion
5 cloves crushed garlic
1 cup celery -- minced
1 cup carrot -- cubed
1 cup eggplant -- cubed (Or zucchini)
1 cup chopped green bell pepper
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 cup fresh parsley -- chopped
1 1/2 cups cooked garbanzo beans (Or pea beans)
1/2 cup dry pasta
1 cup chopped fresh tomatoes
1 teaspoon basil
2 cups tomato puree
3 1/2 cups water or stock
3 tablespoons dry red wine
In a soup kettle, saute garlic and onions in olive oil until they are soft and translucent.
Add 1 tsp. salt, carrot, celery and eggplant.
(If you use zucchini, add it with the green pepper.) Mix well.
Add oregano, black pepper and basil.
Cover and cook over low heat 5-8 minutes.
Add green pepper, stock, puree, cooked beans and wine.
Cover and simmer 15 minutes.

Add tomatoes and remaining salt.
Keep at lowest heat until 10 minutes before you plan to serve.
Then, heat the soup to a boil, add pasta, and boil gently until pasta is tender.
Serve immediately, topped with parsley.

NOTES : This recipe calls for cooked pea beans or garbanzo beans (chickpeas).
If you use chickpeas, begin soaking them 3 1/2 hours before you make the soup.
After 2 soaking hours, cook them in boiling water for about 1 1/2 hours - until comfortably chewable.

If you use pea beans, you needn't soak them, but give them 1 1/2 -2 hours to cook.
In either case, if you cook the beans in plenty of water, save the extra water to use as stock for the soup.
You'll have a fuller-flavored, higher-proteined minestrone.