risotto and chickpea stuffed peppers

First, mix three packets of trader joe's savory veggie broth concentrate with four cups of water, put it in a saucepan and start it heating on low. 

Next, Pour some extra virgin olive oil in a pan, probably about 1/4 cup. I used a pan that's halfway between a skillet and a saucepan. It's shallow and wide, but it has straight sides like a saucepan.You could probably just use a big pot, but make sure it isn't too thin, so the risotto won't burn. 

Heat the oil on medium-high heat, and saute about 2 tbsp minced garlic, along with parsley, rosemary, oregano, basil, and thyme, and just a pinch of crushed red pepper. I didn't measure the herbs, so just use your best judgement. These were all dried, except for the garlic, which we have a jar of minced garlic in the fridge. Saute this for about 1-2 minutes, until the garlic starts to brown a bit, and then add 1 cup arborio rice.

Stir the rice around, and let each grain get coated in the oil. Keep sauteing it until the rice starts to smell a bit nutty. This can be a bit hard, with all the herbs, but trust me, you will notice a difference in smell. Once it smells nutty, add about 2/3 cup of a semisweet white wine. Reduce heat to medium, and let this simmer until it no longer smells strongly of alcohol.

Next, start adding broth, a ladle-full at a time. Add 1 ladle of broth, stir and simmer, until there is very little liquid left. Then add another ladle. Keep doing this, and stirring constantly, until the rice is al dente. It will take about 40 minutes. If you run out of broth, then add hot water. (I didn't run out of broth, but the risotto recipe I was using as a guideline had that suggestion.) Add salt and pepper to taste. It won't need much, because of the broth, but I did add a sprinkle of salt. Once it is al dente, remove the risotto from heat, and let it cool.

Now, Open a can of chickpeas, and drain and rinse them. 

Prepare the peppers by cutting the tops off, and removing the seeds and as much of the white stuff as you can without breaking the peppers. This recipe should fill 4 red bell peppers.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Mix about 1/2 the can of chickpeas in with the risotto and stuff that into the peppers. Top each pepper with bread crumbs. Bake for about 40 minutes in the oven, then remove and eat.


If you don't want to do this all at once, you could double the risotto recipe, and have that for dinner one night, and then use the leftovers to stuff peppers the next night.

creamy yam and peas

This is what I made last night for dinner, and it was really tasty:

Ingredients:
1 long yam, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
~1 c frozen peas
2-3 tbsp olive oil
salt
pepper
parsley
rosemary
nutmeg
half & half
parmesan cheese
half an onion, cut in strips
1 tbsp minced garlic

Directions:
Heat olive oil in large skillet on medium high heat. Add garlic and onions. Once they are sizzling, add yam. While it's cooking, stir frequently and add spices. Cook for about 15 mins or so, and then add peas. Cook until the peas are no longer frozen, and add a generous splash of half and half, and parmesan cheese to taste. Reduce heat to medium low, and cook until the cream thickens.

I served this with a side of spinach and cheese ravioli, but it was great on it's own, and could also go on pasta.

For any vegans out there that find this recipe, it was tasty before the addition of the half & half, so you could serve it like that, or splash in some "motherless milk" and a little nutritional yeast, if you want to have that added creaminess.

Sorry for the lack of posting+enchiladas

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the lack of posts over the past several months, but I have been very busy with work and moving across the country. I promise to post a new recipe this week.


The only new thing I've cooked lately was cheese enchiladas. This was really easy.


Ingredients:
mozzarella string cheese
small tortillas (either flour or corn will work, but they should be about as wide as a mozzarella stick is long)
2 cans of enchilada sauce
shredded cheddar cheese


1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Unwrap the string cheese. Wrap each cheese stick in a tortilla, and place seam side down in a shallow baking dish. Repeat until pan is full, or you have sufficient enchiladas for everyone who will be eating.
2. Pour enchilada sauce over the enchiladas. Top with shredded cheddar cheese.
3. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes or until the cheese is melted.

These are tasty on their own, or topped with sauteed onions, peppers and summer squash. This would also go well with a Spanish rice. Enjoy!

super easy salsa pasta

I did this for lunch on Wednesday, and it was super easy and really tasty.

All you need is some olive oil, a small onion, pasta, and some jarred salsa.

First, start a pot of water going for the pasta. Then, dice the onion. When the water boils, toss the pasta in.

In a skillet, heat some olive oil and saute the onion, until it gets a little browned, but still firm. Pour salsa in with the onions, and stir. Let that cook a little more. When the pasta's done, drain it and toss it in with the salsa and stir to coat it. Enjoy!

I made about 1/4 pound of penne pasta, and used about 2/3 cup of medium tostitos salsa. Feel free to use whatever brand you prefer.

The sauce came out tasting sweet, spicy, and a little smoky. It didn't really taste like salsa anymore, and if I hadn't made it myself, I probably wouldn't have known it was made from salsa.

orange cranberry sauce

Ok, so I did this before thanksgiving, and I'm only getting around to posting this now, but it's really good, so enjoy!
I started with this recipe:
http://www.mccormick.com/Recipes/Gravy-Sauce-Condiment/Homestyle-Cranberry-Sauce.aspx?cmpid=ps-Holiday2010-RM_Cranberry_Sauce-cranberry_sauce_recipe-ex
And I replaced the water with orange juice, only used half the sugar, and left out the vanilla. Oh, and I couldn't find my jar of ground cinnamon, so I ground up some cinnamon sticks with a mortar and pestle, which smelled amazing. Don't feel like you have to do that, though.
It was pretty sweet, so you can probably even get away with 1/4 or 1/3 cup of sugar, if you want it less sweet.

kale chips

Ok, this is really simple. All you need is some kale, some oil, and some salt.
1. Wash the kale, and rip the leaves off the rib in the middle, and break them up into chip-sized pieces. If there are thick ribs running through the sides of the leaves, you can remove these too.
2.Put the leaves in a bowl. Pour some oil in. Toss the leaves around so they are all coated. Liberally sprinkle with salt, and toss around again.
3. Put the leaves on a single layer on a cookie sheet (I lined mine with foil for easy cleanup). Bake at 300ºF for about 15-20 minutes, or until crispy. Try one to see if it is crispy enough for you. If they are still a little chewy in the middle, then bake a few more minutes.

Potato, rice, rice, potato, carrot, parsnip, and lentil stew

Ok, so I had a bunch of veggies that I needed to use up, and I was feeling pretty lazy. Soup is the obvious choice to make in this situation, because you can just throw a bunch of stuff in a pot and let it cook.

10 cups water
4 veggie bouillon cubes (each makes 2 cups broth)
1 large can crushed tomato with basil
1 large clove garlic, minced
some olive oil
1 cup rice
3 handfuls of lentils, probably about 1 cup
about 3-4 medium potatoes, cut into bite sized pieces
3 carrots and 1 parsnip, cut into bite sized pieces
1 leek, chopped up (you could use an onion instead)
a dash of cayenne pepper (optional)

1. Pour olive oil in a large soup pot. add the garlic, leek, carrots, parsnip, potato, and rice. Turn heat to high, and cook for a couple of minutes, stirring constantly.
2. Add water and bouillon cubes, stir. Reduce heat to low, add the lentils in, and cover.
3. Simmer until the rice and lentils are tender to your liking.

The next day, it was even thicker. And my boyfriend said it was even better with a little bit of hot sauce added.