Polenta with Roasted Bok Choy, Beets and Edamame Salad March 3, 2009

 

When I want to be able to do other things while diinner is getting ready, I usually let my oven do the work. This means I need to do the prep and the assembly (and of course there are short cuts for that as well )

What You Need

1. 2 Bunches of Bok Choy
2. 2-3 small Beets
3. 1 cup frozen shelled edamame
4. 2 cloves of garlic
5. 2 tblsps of EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
6. 1 Polenta tube (available in the local supermarket)
7. 1 cup of shredded cheese of your choice
8. Salt and pepper
9. Your favorite salsa or marinara sauce

How Its Done

1. Preheat you oven to 450 degrees
2. Cut the Bok Choy and beets into 1 inch pieces. Do not mix the two.
3. Toss separately dreasong made by mixing the olive oil, crushed garlic coves, salt and pepper. Put in separate oven safe baking dishes. Mix the frozen edamame with the beets. Pop in the top shelf of the oven. Roast for 20-30 minutes till the greens wilt.
4. Cut the Polenta tube into 8 rounds. Place on a greased cookie sheet or silpat (never fails) and top with shredded cheese. Pop in the second shelf of your oven and let cook till the cheese melts and browns a bit (if you work on the polenta and put it in after the veggies, it will be ready by the time the veggies are roasted).
5. Go surf the web or watch TV or work (you workaholics!) for 20 minutes.
6. Take the veggies and polenta out of the oven and assemble dinner. The beets and edamame are served on a bed of the bok choy. I served this with a salsa I had (you can use you favorite marinara- jazz it up with some parsley. Bon Appetit!!

Coconut Treat February 25, 2009

Here’s a quick recipe for a simple treat.

What you need
- 2 Tblsps Fresh grated coconut (or defrosted frozen shredded coconut)
- 2 Tblsps Almond butter
- 2 Tblsps sweetened condensed milk
- 1 Tblsp honey or agave
- 1 Tblsp flour ( or vegetable protein powder)

How it’s done
- Heat a nonstick pan and add all the above ingredients and mix and stir till the mixture starts leaving the sides if the pan. Turn off heat.
- Spread evenly onto a plate or tart pan, which has some butter spread on it. Refridgerate till set (about an hour or so).

Cut in pieces and enjoy…a light, healthy treat that is sweet enough for the craving after dinner or serves ss the perfect afternoon snack!

Swiss Chard Lemon Rice January 25, 2009

 

A few months ago, I signed up for home delivery of produce from Farm Fresh To You. The box comes filled with green leafy vegetables, many I’ve never used before, and it’s always a surprise! I like trying new vegetables- all vegetables are good for you until you experience otherwise.

I’ve used Swiss Chard in soups, have sauted them for sides, and was a little bored of doing the same thing. So, this time I decided to try using it as part of a main dish.

What You Need

• 1 1/2 Cup of Brown Basmati Rice
• 1 Lemon
• 3 1/2 Cups of Vegetable Broth
• 1 Bunch Swiss Chard
• 2 Cloves of Garlic
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1/2 Cup of peanuts

How Its Done

1. Wash the rice and put it in your rice cooker along with 3 cups of vegetable broth and a couple of pinches of salt (if your vegetable broth has salt, adjust for that). Also add the juice of 1/2 a lemon and the zest of the whole lemon. Cook the rice as you normally would.
2. Chop the chard. I remove the stem by folding a lead lengthwise and cutting along the veins. I then stack the leaves and roll them, and then cut thin rounds. I think the official term for the process is “chiffonade”. Wash the leaves well to get rid of any soil.
3. Heat the olive oil in a non-stick saucepan. Add to it the two cloves of garlic, minced ( I use my handy garlic press for this). Sauté for a minute making sure the garlic does not burn. Add the washed chard and sauté till the leaves are wilted. Add salt and pepper to taste and let cook till done. Finally, add the juice of the remaining half of the lemon.
4. While the chard is cooking, roast the peanuts till they are crunchy. I like to roast them with their skins as they have a distinct, earthy flavor.
5. Mix the cooked rice and chard and garnish with roasted peanuts.

I served the Swiss Chard Lemon Rice with beluga lentils cooked with carrots, spiced with some cumin powder and a quarter jalapeño. The swiss chard rice has the tangy, refreshing taste of lemon and the crunchy earthy flavor from the peanuts. The vegetable broth adds another dimension to the rice, making the meal complelety satisfying! Try it..

Grilled Vegetable Naked Burrito January 7, 2009

Over the past year or so of living in the Bay Area, we’ve tried a lot of restaurants and enjoyed most. This area is known for its high restaurant per capita ratio, and definitely lives up to it’s freshest-tasting-food reputation. However, we still miss our quick Mex joint in Denver – Qdoba. Qdoba has locations in most of the US , but alas, none in the Bay Area.

G’s favorite meal at Qdoba is their Naked Grilled Vegetable Burrito. Why naked? Because it’s not rolled in a tortilla- you can skip the 200 calories that a flour tortilla adds to the meal. You can add as many salsas as you want, and have the burrito made with the fixings that you fancy. Yes, it’s like the Burrito Bowl at Chipotle, but the grilled veggies are a Qdoba specialty.  There are many layers of flavors in the Naked Burrito – there’s the cilantro-lime rice, the black beans, the grilled vegetables, the salsa verde (made with tomatillos), pico di gallo, the fiery habanero salsa (yes, we would get all three), and a generous helping of the three cheese mix.  We’ve recreated our favorite Qdoba meal at home, and it comes close to the real deal. The recipe serves 6.

What you need

For the cilantro-lime rice

1. 2 Cups of Rice
2. 4 Cups of water
3. Zest of a lime 
4. Juice of a lime 
5. 1/2 a Cup of chopped cilantro
6. Salt

For the Grilled Vegetables

1. 2 Zucchinis
2. 2 Yellow Squash
3. 1 Eggplant (optional)
4. 1 Red Bell Pepper
5. 4 cloves of garlic
6. 1 Tsp of oregano
7. 1 – 2 Tblsps of olive oil
8. Salt and pepper

For the pico di gallo

1. 2 salad tomatoes
2. 1/2 a red onion
3. 1/4 a jalapeno
4. 1/4 cup of chopped cilantro
5. salt and pepper
6. 1 Tsp of olive oil

For the Salsa Verde

1. 5 Tomatillos
2. 1/2 cup of cilantro
3. 1/4 a jalapeno
4. Salt and pepper

For the Black Beans

1. 2 Cans of Black Beans
2. 1 Cup of water
3. 1- 1 1/2 Tsp of Ground Cumin
4. 1/2 Tsp of oregano
5. 1/2 Tsp of thyme
6. Salt and pepper

• TJ’s Habanero Hot salsa
• 2 Cups of TJ’s Lite Mexican Shredded Cheese
• 1/2 Cup of chopped cilantro
• Sour Cream (optional)

 

How its done

1. Dice the vegetables.  Mix the olive oil, minced garlic, oregano, salt and pepper and toss the vegetables in it.  Marinate for about 15- 20 minutes before you broil the vegetables in your oven. Make sure you evenly spread the vegetables in an oven-safe dish.  Broil them for 15-20 minutes. Toss them half-way through so they evenly cook.  The vegetables need to be crunchy for best flavor and texture.
2. In the meanwhile, Wash the rice and cook it like you usually do, add some salt and half of the lime juice before cooking.  I use my microwave rice cooker – I add the rice, the lime juice, salt and water and cook it at half power for 18 minutes.
3. While the rice is cooking, you can get the beans cooking too. Well, technically they’re cooked so all you’re doing is seasoning them and heating them through.  Rinse the beans out of the can first and add them to a saucepan. Add the water and all the seasoning and let simmer for about 15 minutes.  Mash some of the beans.
4. Now you can turn your attention to the salsas.  For the salsa verde, halve the tomatillos and grill them along with the jalapeno with a little olive oil.. you can also pop them under the broiler till you see them brown.  When you see the browning or caramelization, put the tomatillos, jalapenos with the cilantro and salt and pepper in your blender and blend until smooth. 
5. For the pico di gallo, halve the tomatoes and deseed them. Dice them and finely dice the onions and jalapenos. Mix the onions, tomatoes and jalapenos with the cilantro. Add the salt and pepper and oil and mix. Let rest while the vegetables are broiling.

To assemble – ladle the beans over a bed of the cilantro rice; the grilled vegetables come next, followed by the pico di gallo, the salsa verde and the hot salsa. Top it with the cheese, sour cream (if you have non fat greek yogurt, thats a great and healthy substitute) and some cilantro. Buen provecho!

Lemon Vegetable Clear Soup November 3, 2008

Oh! Its the time of the year when a warm bowl of soup comforts you and soothes you! Its dark when you leave for work and its the same when you come home…all you want to do is curl up with something warm and a good book!  I was in the library yesterday looking for a couple of books I’ve been wanting to read and that were finally available on the shelf! Strolling through the food section, I saw a two books on soups.  The first one called “Vegetable Soups” from Deborah Madison’s Kitchen has a wide array of soups that go with the seasons.  My soup is inspired by her Green Coriander and Ginger Broth (page 12 of the book). The recipe required tofu, celery, jalapeno and scallions – I had none of these.  I also did not have a half cup of chopped coriander or a third cup of chopped coriander stems.  To top it all, my taste buds wanted something tangy and lemony (I had 5 little lemons from the tree in my backyard, that looked very inviting)! Here’s what I came  up with:

 

What You Need

1. 1 Small Onion
2. 2 Cloves of Garlic (Optional)
3. 1/2 Inch piece of ginger
4. 1 Cup of mixed frozen vegetables (TJ’s Soycutash or Tex Mex Vegetables, which have red peppers, onions, corn, black beans, edamame)
5. 1/2 Cup of Frozen Shelled Edamame
6. 1/2 Cup of Shredded Carrots
7. 1/2 Cup of cracked wheat (optional)
8. 1 Tblsp Cilantro Stems
9. 2 Tblsp Chopped Cilantro
10. 1 Cayenne pepper (or 2 Thai chiles)
11. 2 Cups of Water
12. 3 Small Lemons (about 1/3 cup of lemon juice)
13. 2 tsps of Lemon zest
14. 2 tsp Sesame oil
15. 1/4 Tsp of Cumin Powder 
16. 1/4 Tsp of Pepper (or more, if you like)
17. Salt to taste

How Its Done

1. Dice the onion.  Mince the ginger and the garlic and chop the cayenne finely. Chop the Cilantro stems into fine bits and the Cilantro leaves as well, separately.
2. Zest the lemons. I had about 2 tsps of Lemon zest.
3. Cover the cracked wheat in a deep microwave-sage dish (it tends to boil over, so you need a deep dish or a microwave rice cooker) with a cup of water and microwave for 5 minutes.
4. Heat the oil in a sauce pan. 
5. Add half the ginger, all the garlic and the cayenne to the oil, and add some salt. Stir for a couple of minutes till you smell of the ginger and garlic in the oil.
6. Add the Cilantro to the oil and stir till they are a bright green. Add the onion and saute till translucent.
7. Add the frozen vegetables, edamame and some more salt. Stir and let cook for a couple of minutes.
8. Add the water, the lemon zest, the cooked cracked wheat and the rest of the ginger and let come to a boil. The vegetables should be half done by now, still crunchy.
9. Add the cumin powder and pepper, and the shredded carrots ( I give the carrots a rough chop so they’re easy to handle with a spoon). Simmer for 5 minutes and then add the cilantro and turn off the heat.
10. Now, add the lemon juice, test for seasoning and adjust per your taste. The soup is ready!

The soup has layers of flavor – the first you experience is the tangy and refreshing lemon, then comes the slight heat of the cayenne, and finally when you swallow, the unmistakable warm taste of ginger.  The crunchy vegetables and the cracked wheat add depth to the soup, while still keeping it light.

I served the soup with Spinach Bolani I’d bought at my farmers’ market, you can read more about it here A Bolani is an Afghani flat bread, stuffed with lentils or spinach or pumpkin or potato (akin to aloo paratha, but much thinner and lighter ).  I usually just warm the bolanis on a griddle, and spread a red pepper tapenade (or mango pickle). A variation is to add cheese on top and fold over while the cheese melts.