Meals Made Easy #11 - Black Rice with Edemame, Avocado, Radishes, Pomegranate, Mushrooms & Lettuce

Coming back from a week away on vacation I had no idea what was in my fridge other than some avocados I knew I forgot. I needed something nutritious and delicious for lunch today. Scouring the fridge/freezer and cupboards I began to pull stuff out: black rice, avocado, some forgotten radishes, a pomegranate, dried mushrooms, frozen edemame, spinach flour tortilla, colby cheese, red wine vinegar, sesame oil, salt & pepper.

I first started the rice that takes 30 minutes to cook and by far the longest thing in the process, then getting to work on the rest.

I boiled some water to re-hydrate the mushrooms  Thawing some already shelled edemame & a frozen spinach tortilla, I seeded the pomegranate, chopped up some radishes & lettuce and sliced the avocado. Once the rice was done I set it in a bowl to cool. I re-hydrated my mushrooms for about 20 minutes and then chopped & cooked them in sunflower oil & ground flax for about 7-10 minutes until the smelled and tasted delicious.

While the mushrooms were cooking I added the edemame, avocado, radishes, pomegranate seeds, red wine vinegar & sesame oil to the black rice, mixing thoroughly. Once the mushrooms were cooked I put them aside and put the tortilla in the pan over medium low heat turning it every few minutes so it would harden up and cook uniformly. For the last couple minutes I added thinly sliced cheese and covered it to quickly melt.

Once the tortilla was done I added the shredded lettuce, mushrooms and black rice mixture over the top. The results: it was simple, took 30 minutes and tastes fantastic. The best part is I have left over rice mixture and mushrooms!

Ingredients:
.5 c black rice
1 c frozen edemame
8 small radishes
1 avocado
1 flour tortilla
few thin slices of cheese
small bunch of lettuce
small handful of pomegranate seeds
handful of dried mushrooms (I had hen of the woods)
dash or two of red wine vinegar
small dash of sesame oil (it's potent!)
salt & pepper to taste

Meals Made Easy #10 - Curried Lentils and Spinach

Being Spring is taking a long time to really set in with warm temperatures and flora rebirth I am still finding great solace in comfort foods. Lentils have been a high priority lately. I rarely cook with meat at home so am constantly looking for high protein foods to keep the body happy. I got the base recipe from The Vegetarian 5-Ingredient Gourmet and added a few of my own additions, of course.

This dish is high in protein, flavor and ridiculously easy. I like to eat it with paratha and while it isn't a low cal bread option it is mighty delicious.

Ingredients:
3.5-4c broth or water
1c dried lentils (red, green or both)
2-3 stalks of celery, leaves included, chopped
1-2 carrots, chopped
3-5 garlic cloves, minced
.25c chopped onion
1 tblsp curry powder (bought or homemade)
1 package frozen spinach
salt & pepper to taste

Rinse your lentils and pick out any bad dudes.

Add the broth, lentils, garlic, onion and curry powder in a suitable saucepan, bring to a boil and then simmer for 25-35 minutes until lentils are tender. Drain the spinach a smidge and add to the lentil - heat through, roughly 5-10 minutes. Season with the salt and pepper.

It doesn't photograph super well, it is spinach and brown/red legumes after all.

Soups Made easy - Melon, peach, mango chilled number

My CSA from Tangletown is in full effect and holy food. I only did a half share and I seriously have enough veggies for a family. Every. Week. My fridge and freezer are chock full of delicious.

Basil has been overwhelming but even more than that I have been getting so much cantaloupe! What does one even do with all this cantaloupe? Get creative. Melon infused vodka? Check. Diced melon? Check. I still have three large melons. I went to a good source: Clean Food by Terry Walters. This has a recipe for Carrot Fruit Soup. The base recipe seemed pretty good but I didn't have carrot juice and did not feel like juicing carrots and, of course, I love modifications. Below is base recipe and my modifications. It is good. Very fresh, delicious and makes me think summer. I garnished with both mint and basil and it offsets it wonderfully. Due to the sweetness of the fruit it tastes phenomenal all hours of the day. Thinking it will freeze well too when I want that delicious taste of summer in the throes of winter.

1 cantaloupe
1 mango
2 peaches
1.5 c carrot juice (I used 1 c orange juice)
.25 tsp ground cloves
1 tblsp lemon juice (omitted due to orange juice)
handful of mini carrots (my add-on)
sprig of mint (my add-on)
.5 cucumber (my add-on)
pinch of sea salt
blueberries, mint or basil for garnish

Peel, cut and cube cantaloupe. Same for the mango. Cut peaches. Put fruit into pot, adding juice, cucumber, carrots, cloves and salt. Bring to a simmer for 3 minutes. Take off heat, add mint. Use immersion blender or stand blender to puree. Let cool at least one hour. Enjoy!

Dessert Made Easy #1 - Strawberry Rhubarb Compote with Cashew Cream

Oh the delights of seasonal offerings. While at the Minneapolis Farmers Market I picked up a huge bunch of beautifully, deep red rhubarb. Being completely naive on how to cook the rhubarbs I went to my new favorite cook book: Clean Food which outlines recipes by season (side note: I received this cookbook for beta testing a really amazing tool: No Plan Meal Plan).

ANYWAY, one of two rhubarb recipes was this wonderfully delicious and easy recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Compote with Cashew Cream. This is technically a 'summer' recipe but with the rhubarb dominating the farmers market I had to try it out.

Strawberry Compote with Cashew Creme
 I will note where I made substitutions, but did the cooking slightly outside of the recipe so will just list that. 

Cashew Cream
2 c. apple juice (I used 1.5 c. apple juice)
2 c. lightly roasted cashews (I used 1.5 c. raw cashews that I pan roasted over low heat)
3 tblsp. maple syrup (I used 1 tblsp of maple syrup, 1 tblsp agave)

In small pot, bring apple juice to a boil and remove from heat. Place cashews and syrup in food processor (I used a Vitamix; the food processor left it quite chunky, not smooth). Turn on and add juice. Blend until you have desired consistency, in my opinion the smoother the better. Refrigerate covered for at least an hour.

Compote
2 c. chopped rhubarb
.5 c. apple juice
3 tblsp. arrowroot or kudzu (both can be found at a co-op, natural foods store)
1 tsp. agar powder (vegan gelatin substitute - can be found at a co-op, natural foods store)
4 c. de-stemmed and halved strawberries (I substituted 16 oz. bag frozen mixed berries)

In saucepan over medium heat, combine apple juice and rhubarb. Simmer until rhubarb starts to fall apart, about 7 minutes. Because my berries were frozen I added after a couple minutes and had it simmer all together so they'd defrost. Add mixture to blender. Add arrowroot (or kudzu) and agar and blend until mixture begins to thicken and is fully blended. Set aside and cool slightly.

From there you can prepare a few ways. I found my cashew cream was not layering very nicely so I did a large layer of compote and then dolloped the cream on top, mixing it through with a knife which gave it a sorta pretty marbled look.

The final product was visually appealing (thought not so photo friendly) and delicious. Get yourself some rhubarb and try this out, I promise your friends will love it!

Cooking on an empty cupboard - Meals Made Easy #8 - Black-eyed Peas & Rice

Due to travel and such my cupboard has been sorely neglected, like my fridge has a couple beers and carrots in it, all dry goods in the cupboards and let's face it one cannot survive off of girl scout cookies and almonds (although I may try).

Inspiration: Needed to cook something delicious, easy and filling til I can make it to the store.

Food Obtained from: Seward Co-op

I made enough for 4-6 servings so cut your recipes accordingly

List of Ingredients:
1 c. dried black-eyed peas
1/2. c. red rice (can use any rice)
1 small yellow pepper
1 small white onion
2 garlic cloves
salt & pepper
pad of vegan butter
some olive oil

Preparation:
Chop onion, garlic and pepper.

In a large sauce pan full of cold water, add black-eyed peas, bring to a boil and simmer for roughly 45 minutes, or until tender. Strain (I like to rinse to cool down) and set aside.

In the meantime, in a smaller sauce pan boil water or broth (I used black-eyed pea water for some flavor as I made ahead of time) to a boil, add rice and simmer on very low for roughly 45 minutes or until tender.

In the saucepan used to make the beans, heat the olive oil and butter over medium heat, add the onion and saute for 7 minutes until it begins to get tender, add garlic and pepper and saute for a few more minutes. Over low heat, add a bit of water (or leftover bean water), the black-eyed peas, rice, salt & pepper; stirring to mix it all together.

From there just eat it. It's good.
p.s. I was just thinking as I write this - add celery, that would enhance the flavor. Maybe some dried cranberries too. I love dried cranberries in stuff.

Meals Made Easy - Blueberry, Cranberry Vinaigrette

Homemade dressing is very simple to make and tastes so much better than the store bought stuff. It takes minutes to make and the results are fantastic.

Start with a staple recipe and expand based on your tastes. My Blueberry, Cranberry vinaigrette is a variation from Betty Crocker's basic vinaigrette recipe. My version makes a purple-hued dressing, adding even more color to your salad.

1/3 c olive oil
1/3 c apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
1 in ginger

1/4 teaspoon mustard or mustard seed (I use seeds)
1-2 cloves of garlic
1/8 teaspoon pepper(corns)
Few tblsp water

In a food processor combine all ingredients and blend until fully processed. Put in a airtight jar. Mixture can become thick so give it time to warm up and if dressing is too thick cut with small amounts of water.

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Not pictured: ginger

Meals Made Easy - Roasted Garlic

Roasted garlic is delicious and amazingly easy to make. You can prepare multiple bulbs at one time and save leftovers in the fridge

Preheat oven to 400. Take the bulb of garlic and cut of the top so the garlic cloves are exposed (I recommend saving the tops to use another time). Place on tin foil right side up and drizzle with olive oil. Completely wrap in tin foil and bake for 45-50 minutes until garlic is soft and slightly browned. Let cool fully and then remove the cloves.

Meals Made Easy #5 - Avocado & Kale Salad

Avocado and Kale Salad


A very simple and supremely delicious salad that can be added to a meal or enjoyed as a stand alone.
Inspiration: My buddy, Claire

Food Obtained From: Seward Co-op

List of Ingredients:
4 stalks of kale
2/3 small avocado
1/4 c. red onion
small amount of lemon juice
salt and pepper

Prep: Remove kale from stalks and chop. Add to mixing bowl. Halve an avocado, remove pit and cut inside vertically and horizontally so it is cubed and add to bowl. Roll lemon on cutting board so it becomes softened (loosening the juice.pulp). Add lemon juice, salt and pepper to the mixing bowl. Combine until well mixed (I have read that is 16 tosses of any salad). Add salt and pepper to taste.

This literally takes about 6 minutes to make and is amazingly delicious and healthy!

(instead of taking a photo I ate it promptly).

Meals Made Easy #4 - Carrot Ginger Soup

Being it is autumn, and I love food, I am consistently thinking of soup. Carrot Ginger Soup keeps popping up so I figured - let's do it. Perusing a few different recipes everything called for oranges but being fresh out I improvised (my favorite!) with frozen pineapple.

Inspiration: Autumn!

Food Obtained From: Tremont Farmers Market, West Side Market

List of Ingredients:
1 lb. carrots
1-2 inches fresh ginger
2 medium onion
2 tblsp butter
4 cups of broth or water with spices
1 cup pineapple
2 handfuls of spinach
1 oz goat cheese
salt and pepper.

Prep: Chop carrots, onion and ginger. In a pan over medium-high heat melt the butter and sautee the carrots, onion and ginger until soft. About 7 minutes. Add two cups of broth/water and simmer covered until tender. Roughly another 10 minutes. Combine the sauteed mixture with the spinach, pineapple and goat cheese either in a blender or using an immersion blender (I use a Vitamix). Combine until pureed. Add salt and pepper to taste.

All in all this takes under 30 minutes to make, the majority of the time being spent sauteing the veggie mixture. To make it vegan take out the goat cheese.

While the soup is a dull yellow and not the most pretty thing to look at it tastes fantastic.

Meals Made Easy #2 – Soba noodles with Veggies and Tahini Sauce

Meals Made Easy #2 – Soba noodles with veggies and tahini sauce

Inspiration: a remembered meal and a lost recipe

Food obtained from: Basketeria at the Westside Market and Blue Pike Farm

Location: Cleveland, OH

List of Ingredients (all sizes approx): srvg. soba noodles, 5 baby bella mushrooms, .5 red pepper, .5 head broccoli, 3 clove garlic, 2 tblsp tahini, .5 hot pepper, 2 tsp mustard, 1 tblsp flax seed oil, 1 tsp honey, 1 tsp marmalade, 1 tblsp rice vinegar, 1 tblsp butter, salt & pepper

Prep: cut mushrooms, red pepper and broccoli. Bring water to a boil for soba noodles.

In a small bowl add about 2 tblsps of tahini, one clove of garlic, half a hot pepper, 2 tsp of mustard, 1 tblsp flax seed oil, a tsp or two of both honey and marmalade, half a tblsp of rice vinegar, salt and pepper. Whisk together and set aside.

Melt 1 tblsp of butter over medium heat, add garlic. Add veggies and sautee. Meanwhile, cook soba noodles. Both should cook for 4-5 minutes.

Drain noodles; add to plate, top with veggies and sauce. Mix together and enjoy.

Result: Takes about 10 minutes max to cook, is nutrient dense, easy to prep, light and delicious.