Stuffed Peppers

Tomato Soup

If you've taken a look around my blog, you might notice my deep and abiding love for soup. And muffins. Sadly, the way I eat these days, I don't make muffins the way I used to. (I do still make Mug Muffins once a week). But soup is still there for me.

Except that it is 105 degrees. Is it that hot where you are? From what I see on the national weather, it is that hot everywhere, and has been for a while. I'm not going to complain about the weather, but it sure makes soup sound unappetizing.

Unless it's this soup -- which is served cold or room temperature. Genius!



This soup comes from Marcus Samuelsson's website. I don't follow a lot of "real" or restaurant chefs, because in looking at some of their blogs, the food is seriously complicated. Not a bad thing, just not great for my everyday life. But I loved Marcus Samuelsson on Top Chef, so when I saw this simple soup, I pinned it to try later.

And I'm glad I did.

Now, as I look at the site, I have no idea who came up with this recipe, and it totally doesn't matter. Because good food is just good food.



Five Minute Tomato Basil Soup
From Marcus Samuelsson

My changes to the ingredients:
I left out the celery -- inadvertently. I thought I had more in the fridge than I did, so I didn't buy more at the store. Oops.
I blended up this soup and ate the first bowl. It was delicious, but I was curious about adding some heat. So I tossed half a jalapeno in the second half and blended it up. It was lovely without being really hot.

Pasta Salad -- Update

In the summertime, I love doing outside things. When I lived in Boone, we would go hiking in the mountains, I worked outside in the summers and there were tons of opportunities for hanging out outside. On all those hiking trips, we would bring a picnic with us. Whenever my sister came to visit, the picnic would include pasta salad.

I made this pasta salad twice this week. Once to feed some friends dinner and once to take on a picnic.

Because I made it over and over, I looked back at the blog and realized I have the recipe -- an older version -- but no picture. How unPinnable!

So I determined it was absolutely necessary to give you an update for the pasta salad.




Heather's Pasta Salad

Ingredients:
8 oz package rice pasta (I still like DeBole's rice pasta the best)
1 box cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 can black olives, sliced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup champagne vinegar

Optional: 1 box crumbled feta cheese

Directions:
Cook the pasta, then shock it in cold water. Add the pasta to the chopped veggies. Pour the olive oil and vinegars over everything and mix well. Serve immediately or let it sit and marinate. The flavors develop nicely overnight, but the pasta is better at room temperature. So let it warm up as you go for a long hike.

Tacos in a Lettuce Leaf

When I was growing up, we would have taco night regularly. I loved taco night. I would always stuff the taco shell as full of the various toppings as possible. And then I'd tilt my head to the side, open my mouth as far as possible, and take a bite. Of course all my fantastic toppings burst out the backside of the taco shell and the juice from the ground beef and salsa would start to run down the back of my hand and down my arm.

Delicious.

I saw this recipe for Lettuce Wraps with Quinoa and Black Beans, and it sounded a whole lot like tacos, so I knew I had to try it.



I mixed everything up in a bowl before I put it in the lettuce leaves.



Tacos in a Lettuce Leaf
by Keep Your Diet Real

My Changes:
No hot sauce.
I did add salsa (from a jar) after I took this photo.
I used Red Swiss Chard leaves instead of the Bibb lettuce suggested in the original recipe. With the chard, just cut out the thick part of the stem.

This was delicious and took me back to those days of having an overstuffed taco shell that dripped down my arm.

Sesame Noodle Bowl

There are so many ways to find inspiration these days. I love being able to find recipes on Pinterest. I also love Tastespotting. People are so creative with their recipes and so talented with their pictures. Hopefully I will be able to get better.

Today's recipe comes through Pinterest and is from the blog A House in the Hills. It is a Sesame Noodle Bowl. 

This looked beautiful, sounded filling, and (most appealing some days) had a short ingredient list. So I tried it.



My Changes:
1. I couldn't find completely buckwheat soba noodles. Even the ones that said 100% buckwheat had regular wheat flour in them. Lesson: Read labels carefully. So I used rice noodles instead.

2. I used regular white sesame seeds. It's what I had.

3. Instead of soy sauce I used Bragg's Liquid Aminos. And inadvertently used a scant tablespoon instead of a teaspoon and a half. If you use too much liquid aminos, I would suggest less salt. It wasn't horribly salty, but it was a little salty.

4. I started trying to use a peeler on my carrots, and then I decided it would be easier to grate them, so I did.

The Verdict:
Delicious! I served it at room temperature and thought it was a perfect light, summery dish for this perfect summer time.

I tried a few more "posed" pictures.



Is it funny that I have purple chopsticks?



And these are the chopsticks that I bought in Tokyo.

Grilled Romaine Lettuce

I'm loving a few things in my kitchen these days. Not because they are new, just because I am rediscovering how fabulous they are. 

Today, it's my George Foreman Grill. 

You might be thinking, what does a non-meat eater do with a George Foreman? The whole point is to drain the fat from the meat. 

Really, this little George Foreman is perfect for me, because it is a small size and it requires no preparation to be able to toss something on and grill it. Just plug it in, toss the food on, and enjoy. 

So what am I grilling?

Romaine Lettuce.

I saw a recipe pinned on Pinterest (are you on Pinterest? You can follow me) for grilled romaine lettuce. I looked at the recipe, but it had cheese and bread crumbs. I didn't even repin it, because that made it a no-go for me. 

And yet, I kept thinking about it. So I grilled some romaine lettuce, and it was delicious. 

Grilled Romaine Lettuce

1 heart of romaine, cut in half lengthwise

1/2 - 1 whole Tbs extra virgin olive oil

salt

Wash the romaine lettuce and dry it really well. Cut it in half lengthwise, and drizzle it with the olive oil. I was able to coat both halves pretty well with just 1/2 tablespoon, but if you want or need more oil, go for it. Sprinkle with salt. 

Put the romaine on the grill until it gets nice grill marks. Because of the size of my George Foreman, I had to grill just one half at a time. 

Then I sliced up the romaine and put it in a bowl. It was light and summery, grilled, and delicious. 

Tomato Millet Salad

I went to lunch with a friend of mine recently. We went to a new restaurant in town that is vegetarian/vegan and a little hippie. Which was perfect for us!

As we sat and chatted, my friend remarked that she is working on going completely vegetarian. I was surprised by the comment. Not because she is a meat-and-potatoes kind of girl, but because she isn't. I figured she was close enough to vegetarian that she wouldn't be making a shift to completely vegetarian. But of course, I was completely supportive.

And she mentioned that she found a new blog that had some really good recipes that she was trying and loving. Of course I had to check it out. Emily Malone is a vegetarian chef who writes Daily Garnish and focuses on recipes and healthy living.

I surfed through the site for a little while and came across this post for Roasted Tomato Millet Salad. It sounded perfect, so I made it myself.



My changes:
1. No sugar. Obviously, I don't know what sugar would have added to the dish, but I didn't need it.

2. I didn't roast the tomatoes! I know, it's in the title. But it is 105 degrees here (and based on the news... it's probably 105 where you are). And I have a programmable thermostat that the electric company can override if there is too much power being used... and they chose to override my thermostat the day that I was making this dish. I'm sure that roasting the tomatoes would add delicious flavor to this dish, but I thought it was good anyway. And I added a few sundried tomatoes to substitute for the roasted flavor.

3. I soaked the millet. This is another change that my nutritionist advised. Soaking grains makes them more digestible. I soak the grain in a bowl of water with a tablespoon of lemon juice (apple cider vinegar will work too) for at least eight hours. Then I cook the grain in my rice cooker. I discovered (after a bit of trial-and-error) that if I measure two cups of grain, I just need to fill the rice cooker to the two cups water mark. The grain expands with soaking, but doesn't need extra water.

My verdict:
Delicious. I will definitely make this again. It also would be very good served over greens (lettuce, spinach, etc).

Edamame and Bean Salad

It is full-on summer now, and from what I hear, it is hot everywhere. I love summer, but I don't really want to heat up the whole oven and bake stuff. So with my menu plan this week, I focused on salads and light and refreshing meals. 

Including this Edamame and Bean Salad that I found at Cooking Light. Ok, they gave it the longest name ever, but it really isn't as pretentious as they made it sound. And it is pretty perfect for a summer meal. 

My changes:

I cooked my own cannellini beans. This is another of the dietary changes I am making. If I cook my own beans, I can use organic and still afford it. 

I left out the jalapeno. 

For next time, I will steam the edamame a little longer. I was worried about cooking them too long, but they are still a little crunchy. 

And for lunch today, I served this Bean Salad on a bed of dandelion greens. Just a note on that, dandelion greens are pretty bitter, so if you aren't used to things like that, eat this salad plain, or serve it on a bed of spinach or romaine lettuce. 

Sorry about the photo quality there. 

Carrot and Ginger Soup

This is carrot soup. I've posted about it before here -- but I made a modification this time. I added ginger.

Roasted Carrot Soup

8 carrots

2 ribs of celery

1/2 onion

3 cloves of garlic

Safflower oil

5-6 cups of water

2 bay leaves

salt

1 inch ginger

cumin

paprika

Wash and chop the carrots into halves. Put them on a cookie sheet and drizzle with safflower oil. Bake at 400 until the carrots are tender. Check and flip them about halfway through.

In a stock pot, sautee the onion, garlic, and celery in a little safflower oil. Add the water, bay leaves, and salt. Bring to a boil and drop to a simmer.

Add the carrots and ginger. Simmer for just a little while. Puree everything (using your handy immersion blender -- or a real blender). Sprinkle in some cumin and paprika, and a little salt if needed.

Lebanese Lentil Salad

I was looking at recipes and came across this recipe for Lebanese Lentil Salad. I modified it a little (of course), but totally loved it! I picked up all the ingredients so I can make it again this week.

Lebanese Lentil Salad

Adapted from Kalyn's Kitchen

1 C brown lentils

1 C sprouted mung beans
2 T + 2 T extra-virgin olive oil
10-12 cloves garlic, very finely minced
finely chopped fresh parsley (I used dried last time, but will use fresh this week)
4 T fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 1/2 tsp. ground cumin
salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Romaine Lettuce

I bought dehydrated sprouted mung beans. Cook them according to the package directions to rehydrate them.

Cook the lentils in about 3 cups of water.

While the beans are all cooking, mince the garlic. Then in a saucepan, heat 2 tbs oil over low heat and add the garlic. Keep the garlic over low heat so it doesn't get burned.

In a bowl, squeeze the lemon juice, add the other 2 tbs oil, cumin, salt and pepper. Then add the fragrant garlic and whisk everything together.

Add the mung beans and the lentils together and pour the dressing over everything, add the parsley, and combine.

Chop the romaine lettuce and spoon the lentils over top.

Parsnip, Turnip and White Bean Soup

I bought some turnips a few weeks ago. Then I roasted them and stored them in the freezer. That wasn't a good idea. When I thawed and ate them, the turnips were incredibly mushy and -- let's be honest -- gross.

I bought some more turnips last week. They are on the list, and I'm not really sure what I thought I would do with them.

So I thought and thought. I knew I didn't want to just roast them again. Then I thought what if I combine it with parsnips. Then I thought, that might be a little overpowering. It needs something to tone down the flavors. So I came up with this soup.

Parsnip, Turnip and White Bean Soup

2 tbs sunflower oil

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 carrot, chopped

1 rib celery, chopped

3 medium turnips, diced

4 parsnips, diced

4 cups (or more as needed) water

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper

1 tbs dried sage

1 can navy beans, rinsed and drained

Start the sofrito. When the sofrito is softened, toss in the turnips and parsnips. Cook them just a little and then add the water and spices. Bring everything to a boil and then drop it to a simmer.

When the parsnips and turnips are soft, add the can of beans. Let everything cook for 5-7 minutes.

Then blend the soup with your immersion blender until it is smooth and creamy. Check for the seasonings and adjust as needed.

Black Eyed Peas and Kale Soup

If you have read much of this site, you know I love soup. Especially this winter. It has been so cold around here that I have a really hard time eating raw veggies. Since veggies are most of what I eat, soups become perfect.

Black Eyed Peas and Kale Soup

1/2 onion, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 rib celery, sliced

1 carrot, sliced

2 tbs safflower oil

4 cups water

1 can black eyed peas, drained

handful of fresh parsley, chopped

2 bay leaves

salt and pepper

4-5 leaves of kale, destemmed and chopped

In Italy, the onion, garlic, carrot and celery is called a sofrito. So start your sofrito in the two tablespoons of oil. Once the onions are translucent and the celery and carrots are softening, add the water. Bring it to a boil. Once the water is boiling, add the black eyed peas, bay leaves, salt and pepper. Bring back to a boil and lower the heat.

Simmer for a while so that the flavors begin to blend and the veggies soften. Then toss in the chopped parsley and kale and cover so they steam for a minute.

Remove from heat and serve.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

I had some friends over for lunch this weekend. I haven't seen them in a while, so it was really nice to get together.

Sometimes when we get together we do a potluck. This always turns out fun because everyone will bring the veggies they have in the fridge and we turn it into a huge salad. But this time I decided to cook the meal.

First I made the Lima Bean Soup. I've made it before and really liked it and it was a big hit with my friends too. And secretly, it was the perfect way to use up that yellow squash that was looking a little sad.

Second, I made Stuffed Acorn Squash. I had an acorn squash sitting on the counter, which was where my idea came from. Then I looked in my Mark Bittman cookbook to see if he had any good ways to cook acorn squash. He had several, but none of them worked for me. But I liked the idea he included of stuffed acorn squash with a filling with rice and some other stuff. So with that idea in mind, I took to the internet.

I quickly found that most people stuff their acorn squash with a lot of very sweet stuff. I like my squash (and my sweet potatoes) a little more savory. They are sweet enough themselves, so I need balance.

After looking and looking, I decided what I wanted to put in my squash.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

3 acorn squash, halved and deseeded

1 cup wild rice blend

1/2 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 carrot, diced

1 celery rib, diced

1 apple, diced, but slightly larger

1/4 cup walnuts, chopped

2 tbs olive oil, plus some more

1/2 tbs sage

salt and pepper

Start the rice. Check the package directions, because some wild rice blends are different, but mine was the usual 2 cups of water for one cup of rice. Salt the water and add some oil.

Prep the squash, then brush the flesh with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place it cut-side down in a baking dish or on a cookie sheet. Bake in the oven at 350 for 30 minutes.

While the rice is cooking and the squash is baking, prep the veggies. In a large frying pan, heat 2 tbs of olive oil. Toss in the onions and garlic and cook for about 2 minutes. Then add the carrots and celery. When those are starting to soften, add the apples and remove it from the heat.

In a large bowl, combine the rice with the veggies/apple mix. Add the chopped walnuts. Stir it gently. Add the sage and salt and pepper to taste. Go ahead and be liberal with the seasoning, because there isn't a lot of strong seasoning on the squash.

Pull the squash out of the oven. Flip each half over and fill it with the rice stuffing. I had enough of the mix to fill all 6 halves plus a little left over.

Return the squash to the oven and bake for another 10-15 minutes.

Red Lentils and Rice with Carmelized Onions

I'm still having a lot of fun cooking out of my brand new cookbooks. The second book that I bought is Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero.

I tried one of their recipes this week, and I quite enjoyed it. Although when I make it again I will be making a few little tweaks.

The Recipe is Red Lentils and Rice with Carmelized Onions.

The carmelized onions are absolutely the best part.

And this is the final dish.

It really is very tasty, but I have to be honest. I like red lentils so much plain that this is just not my favorite way to use red lentils. And of course, because I am slightly cheap, I would rather use cheaper regular old lentils because they would work perfectly here.

I'll post my adaptation when I make this dish again.

Sweet Potato and Leek Soup

I was reading my Mark Bittman cookbook and kept looking at the recipe for Potato and Leek Soup.

It said "3 potatoes, any kind."

Does that really mean ANY kind? Would it work with sweet potatoes? I love soup. How bad could it be?

It is delicious. It's a little like a butternut squash soup. And absolutely the best kind of recipe.

Sweet Potato and Leek Soup

adapted from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman

2 tbs olive oil

3 sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped into small pieces

2 leeks, cleaned and sliced (cut off the dark green parts)

2 cups homemade vegetable stock

water

salt and pepper

1 bay leaf

Heat the oil in a deep stock pot. Add the vegetables and cook for 2-3 minutes on medium high. Salt and pepper.

Add the stock and enough water to cover the vegetables. Toss in the bay leaf and another teaspoon of salt and a few grinds of pepper. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.

Simmer for about 30 minutes until the sweet potatoes are soft.

Remove the bay leaf and puree the soup. Taste and adjust seasoning.

This is linked to Simply Sugar and Gluten Free.

Tuna Steak

One of the things on my green list is tuna. I've eaten a lot of tuna from a can, and I love tuna sushi, but my sister has always told me to try tuna steak.

I was at the grocery store one day and found some frozen tuna steaks that were on sale. So I bought them.

This was the sweetest, most delicious piece of fish.

The package directions recommended broiling. So that is what I did. I wilted some spinach in a pan, with just a little olive oil and salt, and then plated everything.

It was delicious. And I should go buy some more tuna.

Soba Noodles and Sauce

This meal is a little bit of a miracle. Do you know how much stuff they put in tomato sauce? By "they" I mean those companies that process tomato sauce and put it into jars. I make really good tomato sauce (I lived in Italy. I did learn a few things). But sometimes, especially now, I really need something simple that actually feels like a meal.

By doing some finagling on my daily rotation, I was able to eat this tomato sauce. It is the most basic tomato sauce I have ever seen in a jar. Just tomatoes, olive oil, garlic, onion, and basil. The brand is Monte Bene and it's the plain tomato and basil sauce. I found it in the gluten-free section of my local health food store.

I generally like a chunky tomato sauce. This isn't chunky, but it has really good flavor. And it has some chunks of garlic, which satisfies the desire for chunks a little bit.

The brightly colored noodles are a package of soba noodles that are 100% buckwheat. The brand is King Soba. Again, I found them in the gluten-free section of my health food store.

A note about soba noodles. The first time I made these, I realized that there is definitely a reason why they are used in Japanese preparations exclusively. They are not at all what you expect when you are thinking Italian pasta. And if you put tomato sauce on them, you can't help but think Italian pasta. Be sure to cook them long enough so they loose the little bit of slimy-ness. Also I wound up just cutting mine with my kitchen scissors. They were a little hard to bite through.

There isn't really a recipe here, but I am recommending both of these brands.

Baked Sweet Potatoes

For most of my life I hated sweet potatoes. I wouldn't ever eat them. Then I had a friend in grad school who told me that marshmallows on top wasn't the only way to eat sweet potatoes. Really?

Now I love sweet potatoes. It got so bad last year, I started to turn orange. Does that memory stop me? No!

Baked Sweet Potatoes

Preheat the oven to 350. Wash and dry the sweet potato. Drizzle a little oil and rub it in. I think I used olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Cook until a fork easily pierces the potato.

Cut it up and sprinkle with a little more salt, paprika, cumin, and maybe some coriander.

Mashed Pumpkin

Since I am going with simple food these days, I'm also going with simple pictures. Yes, I will show you that I do most of my cooking on my stovetop because it is flat. I will show you my cutting board where I chopped my toasted walnuts and the debris that is left on that. This is simple food and this is how I make it.

I was still using up the rest of my pumpkin, so this is another recipe for it.

Mashed Pumpkin

2 wedges of roasted pumpkin

walnuts, toasted

sunflower oil

dried sage

salt

I just chopped the pumpkin into a bowl. I toasted the walnuts in a pan on the stove. Be careful with that. Then I added those to the pumpkin, drizzled with oil and sprinkled in a little sage and salt and mashed everything together.

Rice with Pumpkin

I've been thinking this weekend that maybe I should change the name of this blog (again) to "Simple Food." I won't, but simple food is all I eat these days. I'm pretty impressed with myself if I make a dish that has more than two ingredients in it (not counting oil and salt).

This dish came together because it was a Sunday evening and I opened the fridge and just tossed stuff in a bowl. It was delicious.

Rice with Pumpkin

2 wedges of roasted pumpkin

1/2 cup cooked brown rice

sunflower oil

dried sage

salt

I roasted a pumpkin a couple weeks ago by just cutting it into wedges and roasting it at 425. I think I had grand plans for the pumpkin, but they never materialized. I just froze the wedges instead.

So to make this, I cut up two of the pumpkin wedges, dropped them into a bowl with rice, heated that up in the microwave. Then before everything was completely warm, I took it out, drizzled it with oil, sprinkled salt and about a 1/2 teaspoon of sage, and heated it again. Then I stirred, and ate it.