Chickpeas…

I’m not too sure what to call this recipe, other than good! It comes from
Orangette, where it is named Chickpea Salad with Lemon and Parmesan. That will work for me. It’s simple to put together, and the ingredients do blend wonderfully. I also agree that cold tastes best. Though I did toss some of this onto a salad the other day, too.

• 15-oz. can of Chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 tsp. Fresh Lemon Juice
• 1-1/2 tsp. Olive Oil
• Pinch of Salt – I used Sea Salt
• 1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese, shredded

Mix together and chill.  Doesn’t really get any simpler than that…

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Inside-Out Lasagna…

I took this recipe for Inside-Out Lasagna from my Eating Well magazine… it’s like a deconstructed lasagna of sorts. I added mozzarella cheese to the mix, and, well, I mixed it all up. I also used a full box of whole-wheat pasta and more mushrooms. The picture at the bottom shows the recipe version of this dish, before I added the extra cheese and mixed mine together.

The dish had a familiar taste to it, similar to lasagna… I think the ricotta cheese added the most for that effect. The diced tomatoes made it lighter than the traditional tomato sauce, and we enjoyed this as a weeknight meal. This dish had all my required elements for such weeknight meals: it is basically quick to prepare; it is healthyish and good-for-you; it provides leftovers; and it is simply quite tasty. I don’t know that I’d go so far as to call it lasagna-like, but I’ll definitely be adding it to my menus on a regular basis.

• One package (13.25-oz.) Whole Wheat Rotini Pasta
• 1 Tbsp. Olive Oil
• 1 Medium Onion, chopped
• 3 Cloves Garlic, minced
• 16-oz. Mushrooms, sliced
• 1/2 tsp. Salt
• 1 14-oz. Can Diced Tomatoes
• One bag (8-oz.) Baby Spinach
• 1/2 tsp. Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
• 3/4 cup Ricotta Cheese
• 1 cup Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

1.  Bring large pot of water to boil.  Add pasta and cook accordingly.  Drain and transfer to large bowl.

2.  As pasta cooks, heat oil in saute pan over medium-high heat.  Add onion and garlic.  Cook, while stirring, for 3-4 minutes or until it begins to soften.  Add mushrooms and salt.  Cook, while stirring, for 5-6 minutes or until mushrooms begin to release their liquid.

3.  Add diced tomatoes, spinach and crushed red pepper flakes.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until the spinach is wilted, about 5 minutes.

4.  Toss sauce with pasta and serve with 3 Tbsp. dollops of ricotta cheese on top (bottom pic).  This is where I added some shredded mozzarella and mixed everything together (top pic).  Yum!

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Leftover Chinese Food, AND…

Scrambled Eggs!! It was a delicious combination!

I had been having a hankering for scrambled eggs, but discovered a small portion of Beijing Beef from Panda Express in the fridge. So, a few eggs later, along with the leftovers, and I had a fine dinner. The eggs seemed to add a slight bit of heft to the Chinese food, which though generally good, can sometimes be not the most filling meal. I will definitely be doing this again.

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Food Geeky Links and a Thumbs Down…

Mixmygranola.com
Interesting site. You can make your own granola mix or order pre-mixed batches. I’m not sure that I would add candy corn to my mix, but whatever. Batches come in 16-oz. sizes.

Walkerswood Traditional Jamaican Jerk Seasoning
Normally, I do not prefer hot and spicy things, but this jerk seasoning is delicious to me! Years back, a favorite dish was jerked tofu, zucchini, and cabbage over couscous. I need to order a jar of jerk for the pantry now, as I’m thinking it would be delicious on chicken breasts. A little bit of seasoning definitely goes a long way. I’m not sure why I like this… maybe it’s the allspice, thyme and nutmeg combination in there. Anyway, it’s good…

Thumbs Down Link:
Olive Oil
OK, so this one is nominally food-related… It’s a suggestion for taming and smoothing your dry and frizzy hair by working olive oil into it. Being that I had some time to try it today, I did. Apply olive oil, put hair in a scrunchie and leave for 30 minutes, shampoo and rinse. I would not recommend this. My hair is still frizzy, and, as probably should have been more obvious to me, it’s quite difficult to completely rinse the olive oil out of one’s hair in one shampoo session. I’ll stick to cooking with olive oil and leave it at that.

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Chopped Salad with Blue Cheese Vinaigrette…

Yesterday, I saw a comment on Twitter that reminded me… I’ve always wanted to try making a chopped salad of my own, but I’ve never gotten around to it (yet). Our history with chopped salads comes solely from The Outback Steakhouse, but we’ve really liked the ones that we’ve had from there, so I’ve been wanting to do one at home. Yesterday was the day, and it was pretty darn good! I’m not sure what exactly it is, but a chopped salad is quite appealing. Perhaps it’s because everything is already cut into bite-sized pieces, or perhaps it’s because the dressing can coat the ingredients more evenly, or perhaps it’s because it’s simply a slightly different way of presenting a ‘salad’… Whatever it is, we enjoyed it!

I cheated a little bit and bought 2 bags of a pre-cut salad mix with romaine lettuce, red cabbage and carrots. Even though it was pre-cut, it wasn’t pre-chopped… So, I chopped about 1/2 of a bag at a time, using my handy-dandy rocking chopping knife:

Next, I added 1/2 of a medium red onion and a handful of green onions, after chopping both, of course… Then, some bacon too. Finally, I added the blue cheese vinaigrette dressing and mixed it all together. I did a Google search for The Outback’s recipe and found this copycat one, and that’s how I came up with the dressing. I must say, it is a delight to make one’s own salad dressing. I know exactly what is in there, and all I have to do is whisk everything together.  I will definitely be using this one again!

• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup White Vinegar
• 1/4 tsp Balsamic Vinegar
• 2 tsp Dijon Mustard
• 2 Tbsp Sour Cream
• 2 Tbsp chopped Fresh Basil
• 1/2 crumbled Blue Cheese

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Deep-Fried Bacon-Wrapped Macaroni and Cheese…

Courtesy of Ms. Paula Deen. She does have a knack sometimes for putting together the most outlandish ingredients… Now, I like fried things. I like bacon. I love macaroni and cheese. I even put bacon pieces in my macaroni and cheese sometimes. I still don’t think I would have ever thought to put them all together in this fashion. Tee-hee…

This just cracked me up when I saw it… I’m sure it’s damn tasty, but it just seems like it’s a bit much. I suppose that is the whole point though.

Paula Deen’s Fried Mac and Cheese Video Clip

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Lentil-Bulgur Salad, Variation…

This is pre-mixing, which is why it looks so heavy on the walnuts. I tend to toss everything in a bowl, then stir it all up. And sometimes, I take the pic beforehand. Go figure.

I came across this recipe again, after thumbing through my Moosewood Cookbook the other day. It’s been awhile since I’ve opened this particular one, and I completely forgot how much I enjoy this ‘salad’. Among my notes on the page is a “Yum!” in a circle. The original recipe uses dill, parsley, celery, feta… I’ve mixed it up a bit over the years, mostly omitting those ingredients and adding the thyme, green onions and sometimes carrots, too. I also opt for canned beans, for ease of preparation, instead of their suggested dry lentils.

• 1 can Lentils
• 1 cup Dry Bulgur Wheat
• 1 cup Boiling Water
• 1/4 cup Olive Oil
• 1/4 cup Lemon Juice
• Garlic Powder
• 2 tsp. Dried Mint
• 3 tsp. Dried Thyme
• 1 bunch Green Onions, chopped
• 3 medium-sized Tomatoes, chopped
• 3/4 cup chopped Walnuts, toasted

1. Rinse lentils under cold water and set aside. Place bulgur wheat in a small bowl. Add boiling water, cover with a plate, and let stand for about 15 minutes.

2. Add everything else to the lentils, mixing thoroughly. Add bulgur wheat once it is soaked. Mix again. Cover and refrigerate. I enjoy stuffing this salad in a pita, and I’m guessing it’s pretty good in a wrap too. That will be my lunch today… Lentil-Bulgur Salad in a wrap. Should be good.

Bulgur Wheat is a wheat grain probably best known for its part in Tabbouleh and Kibbeh. I’ve got my own recipes for each of them, but the links do have pretty pictures. Now that I’ve found a bulgur wheat source here in town, I’m sure I’ll be making both of them one of these days.

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Good Food Link…

I came across this link the other day to Penny Thoughts ‘11 Ways to Eat (and Enjoy!) More Vegetables‘. It was a very good read, and I really liked some of her ideas:

• Keep a dry-erase board on the fridge, with a list of all the current veges inside. This should help reduce spoilage and make it easier to keep in mind exactly what perishables are in there. I know for me, sometimes out of sight does, unfortunately, mean out of mind. At least when it comes to ingredients…
• Menu planning – there is no argument from me on the benefits of planning. I find it makes the week’s food prep and cooking much easier, and we end up eating better too, rather than having too many throw-together meals. Although, some throw-together meals come out quite good. I would imagine that the bullet point above may even help further in throwing things together, when necessary, of course.
• Plan meals around veges rather than around meats. I found this suggestion rather interesting… I’m not really the meat-eater of the household, but I do find that I plan meals around when it’s time for something meaty again. I like her idea of using veges as more of a guide. Particularly, as the author notes as well, when it’s farmer’s market time and the veges are both abundant and spontaneous.
• Make interesting salads. Tee-hee… I think I can say that I do pretty darn well in this area. She’s got a few salad ingredients that I could try adding, but I usually do a fair amount of experimentation and ‘just toss it in’ in that area.
• Snacking on vegetables… We’re just starting to focus on doing that, consistently. Keeping celery sticks on hand, along with carrots and peppers. Grapes, too. Nibble food, but good nibble food. That’s not to say that we’re out of chips, or anything… Just trying to better moderate the salty snacks with the healthy ones, and be sure the healthy veges are available and fresh.

So, there’s a synopsis with commentary on some of the author’s vegetable suggestions. I actually found the title on the WordPress homepage and took a gander. And I’m glad I did. Food for thought, as the case may be…

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