Wednesday, May 19, 2010
Tilapia with Mango Salsa
Friday, April 30, 2010
Minestrone Soup
Thursday, April 29, 2010
Currry with Roasted Cauliflower
I made this for dinner last night and loved it. I can't take credit for it - it was created by my friend Kate. It's a sweeter curry, which I like. The recipe makes a lot, so I cut it in half. I also forgot to add chopped cilantro.
Kate’s Inauthentic But Totally Delicious Curry
3 tbs. butter or vegetable oil
2 medium onions, diced
1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
4 Tbs. high quality curry powder
2 Tbs. garam masala (I didn't have this, so I added a little bit of nutmeg, coriander and cumin)
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes, or more to taste
1 can coconut milk
2 Tbs. tomato paste
1 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
2 large yukon gold potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces
1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup cashews
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 small head of cauliflower, cut into bite-sized florets (roasted)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper
cilantro, for garnish
Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Melt butter or oil in large skillet or stockpot over medium high heat. Saute onions until softened and barely golden. Add ginger and garlic and cook stirring constantly until fragrant, 30-60 seconds. Add spices and toast, stirring constantly until fragrant, 30-60 seconds. Add coconut milk, broth and tomato paste and stir to combine, making sure to get all the spices off the bottom of the pan. Stir in sugar. Add potatoes and chick peas and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, covered, until potatoes can be easily pierced with a knife. Meanwhile, place cauliflower on a foil-lined baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and season with salt and pepper. Roast in oven until florets begin to brown on the edges, 15-20 minutes. When potatoes are tender and cauliflower is roasted, stir in cashews, raisins and cauliflower. Continue to simmer for 10 minutes. Salt to taste. Serve garnished with cilantro with basmati rice.
Friday, April 23, 2010
Black Bean Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries
Black Bean Burgers: (from Veganomicon)
2 cups or 1 (15 oz.) can black beans, drained and rinsed
1/2 cup vital wheat gluten (*or flour works too)
1/2 cup plain whole wheat bread crumbs
1 teaspoon chile powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/4 cup water
1 tablespoon tomato paste or ketchup
1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro (optional but highly recommended)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 small onion
About 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus olive oil spray
Whole wheat buns
Mash the beans with a fork in a mixing bowl. You don't want to puree them; just get them mashed so that no whole beans are left, but leave some half-beans.
Add the wheat gluten, bread crumbs, chile powder, cumin, water and tomato paste (and cilantro) but don't mix yet. Use a microplane grater to grate the garlic in. Use the large holes on a box grater to grate the onion.
Mix everything together with a fork and then proceed to mix with your hands until the mixture is firm and uniformly mixed (about a minute).
Preheat a heavy-bottomed pan over medium-high heat.
Divide the burger mixture into six equal pieces. Roll each piece into a firm ball. Use your palm to press the ball down on a clean surface to form a patty that is about 1-1/2 inch thick. Press so that the patty is flat on both sides. Make six patties.
Pour a thin layer of olive oil into the pan. Cook the patties three at a time for 5 minutes on each side, gently but firmly pressing down on them with a spatula. Spray with olive oil before turning them over, for uniform browning. Once cooked, the patties should be very firm when you press down on them.
Serve warm on burger buns.
Sweet Potato Fries: (I made this one up! yay me!)
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into fry-size wedges
2-3 Tbsp olive oil
1/3 C four
1/3 C bread crumbs
1 Tbsp garlic powder
1 Tbsp onion powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
Preheat oven to 350 Degrees. In a large bowl coat sweet potato wedges with olive oil. Mix dry ingredients and sprinkle over sweet potatos. Mix until fully coated.
Spread eavenly on a large cookie sheet and bake for 20-30 min. Just until it is easy to poke them with a fork. Don't over cook them, they will be too soggy. Enjoy!
p.s. My favorite way to eat the fies is with home made fry sauce: Mix equal parts of tomato ketchup, your favoite BBQ sauce, and mayo. (our fave is Sweet Baby Ray's)
Tuesday, April 6, 2010
Dad's experiments
My hamburger soup is a lb of meat, two cans of diced tomatoes, a small pile of Italian seasoning, and an onion that I saute with the meat. Then I throw in some pasta noodles. IF I put in too many noodles and it soaks up all the juice, I add a can of poultry broth or whatever I can find in the basement. Mom likes it. (Maybe cause she didn't need to cook.)
Oh yeah, I put in a few carrots, too. Nice color and Mom really thinks the soup needs them.
How about you ?
DAD
Monday, March 22, 2010
Menu Planning
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Fresh Pizza with strawberry salad
This isn't exactly a recipe, but this is what we had for dinner tonight. This is my favorite salad and pizza. It was excellent!
-fresh spinach
-fresh strawberries
-toasted almonds
-dried cranberries
-crumbled goat cheese
-berry vinaigrette
Pizza:
-pizza dough (can buy from your favorite pizza place or at the grocery store or homemade)
-mozzarella cheese
-fresh sliced tomatoes
-fresh basil