Greek Pasta Salad

I love pasta salads in the summer. It’s too hot to do much, other than sit by the pool with a margarita. So when lunch or dinner rolls around sometimes its nice to have a cool, light option. This pasta salad is it. And it is SO FREAKING EASY!!! It includes a recipe-ish for dressing, but feel free to put on what ever your fav dressing is. Sometimes simplicity is all that matters!

Ingredients

16oz of pasta… cook’s choice! Prepare to package directions. I find a little al dente is nice J

½ green bell pepper, diced

½ red bell pepper, diced

½ red onion, diced

½ cucumber, diced

1 pint grape tomatoes, halved

1 small package of feta cheese, if you must J

Here’s the hard part:

Dump it all in a bowl and stir. Boom. Dinner or lunch is served. Now I realize that some of you olive lovers out there are thinking, “what the heck? (or hell, depending on your verbiage preferences) This salad TOTALLY needs olives.” To you I say, “Olive away!” If I thought olives were remotely tasty I would be loading them up in this bad boy. Sadly, olives have the ability to make my stomach turn at the mere mention of their consumption, so I will stop there. I don’t know why, I’ll blame it on an unknown childhood experience. 

 

If you're game for a lovely Greek dressing, here you go… its also super difficult (sarcasm).

½ c. olive oil

½ c. apple cider vinegar

tsp oregano

tsp basil

tsp dried mustard

salt and pepper to taste

Dump it all in a glass jar and shake it like you mean it. Boom. Boom.

The boy told me he wanted to eat this salad forever and the Man ate 2 huge servings followed by a text complementing the meal. When the men folk happily eat salads it is immediate meal success.

Happy Summer Salading!

Mushroom Okra Curry

Its okra season and I plan to take full advantage of it!

Ingredients:

4 chopped garlic cloves

1 inch fresh ginger, grated (if you keep it in the freezer, it grates nicely)

1-2 fresh chilies seeded and chopped

¾ c cold water

1 tbsp coconut oil

1 tsp coriander seed

1 cumin seed

1 tsp ground cumin

2 green cardamom pods (seeds removed and ground)

Pinch turmeric

14 oz can diced tomatoes

1 lb mushrooms, quartered if large

8 oz okra, cut into ½ inch slices

2 tbsp cilantro

This pic is kind of sad. Once my pics are off the camera I don't do much more editing.
No biggie. I used some home-made paneer cheese a friend made.
Amazing dish!!

Place garlic, ginger, chilies and 3 tbsp of water in your food processor, process away. Heat coconut oil in a large saucepan. Add coriander and cumin seeds and let them sizzle in the pan a few seconds. Add ground cumin, cardamom and turmeric and cook for a bout a minute. Add the garlic paste from the processor, the tomatoes and the remaining water to the saucepan. Mix it up really good then add the mushrooms and okra. Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 5 minutes. Remove cover, turn up the heat a bit and cook 5-10 minutes more or until okra is soft. Stir in the chopped cilantro and you’re done! Around here we serve it over brown basmati rice… delish! Enjoy this summer, okra treat!

Red Pepper Risotto

I love risottos and according to this website it is gluten free and a decent protein source, win-win! I don’t think it has much in the way of fiber so mixing in some fiber-full veggies sure does make it almost perfect!

Ingredients:

3 large red bell peppers (this is a good time of year to get them cheap! In the winter, 1 organic red bell pepper will cost you a fortune!)

2 tablespoons coconut oil

3 large garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2 handfuls chopped spinach

About 20 oz diced tomatoes

2 bay leaves

5-6 1/2 c. veggie stock

2 ½ c. Arborio rice

6 fresh basil leaves

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Place your whole peppers on a broiling pan and broil in the oven until the skins are blackened and blistered all over. Put the peppers in a bowl and cover them with a damp paper towels. Set them aside for about 10 minutes. After the 10 minutes, peel off the skins and slice the peppers thinly. Toss out the core and seeds. Heat oil in a large saucepan. (I have a wide pan about 6 or 7 inches deep that is perfect.) Next add the garlic and tomatoes; gently cook for about 5 minutes. Add the pepper slices, spinach and bay leaves, cook for 15 minutes stirring occasionally. In a separate heavy, large saucepan, add the stock and heat until simmering. Now, put the rice in with veggies and stir and cook for about 2 minutes. Add about 2 or 3 ladlefuls of the hot stock to the rice/veggie mixture, cook while stirring occasionally until all the stock is absorbed. Continue to add the stock this way. Make sure all the stock is absorbed before adding more. Once the rice is tender, season with salt and pepper, remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes before stirring in the basil… this will also help keep your kids from searing their tongues. An added benefit!

Thai Red Curry

I’ve been making Thai Curry for YEARS! I LOVE LOVE LOVE it! I have thought a time or two about getting adventurous and making my own curry paste but I have yet to take the plunge. There’s always next time, right? Ha! Anyway, this is one recipe that we turned vegetarian quite some time ago because we could put so much other goodness in it. It doesn’t taste exactly like a Thai restaurant but it is pretty darn close! Maybe when I make my own… or maybe not.

Here’s what you need:

2 cans coconut milk

3 tbsp red curry paste (less if you don’t want it hot)

1-2 tbsp fish sauce (I can forgo this one but it does add a very authentic flavor)

1 tbsp agave or sucanat

1 sliced red bell pepper

2 sliced zucchini

½ c frozen peas

1 small can sliced bamboo

Salt

Start off by pouring your coconut milk into a large skillet or saucepan. Add the red curry and whisk it into the milk. Let simmer for 4-5 minutes then add the fish sauce and sweetener of your choice. Let these guys mix together and simmer for a few more minutes. Next add in your veggies: pepper, zucchini, bamboo and peas. (You can add other veggies too, whatever needs to be used in the frige) Salt to taste. Let it cook until your veggies are tender and delicious! Serve it over some brown basmati rice and you have a treat!

Crock-Pot Tikki Masala

Um, this recipe is delicious. Seriously, every time I make it, I feel sorry for everyone who isn't eating with us. It’s just that good.

So here's what you need:

Marinade:

1 tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

1tsp pepper

½- 1 tsp cayenne (this depends on you)

1 tbsp garam masala

½ c. almond or coconut milk

Whatever veggies you want to put in the mix. I usually slice up some zucchinis, eggplant, broccoli and bamboo if I’m feeling crazy J

It should total about 4 cups of assorted veggies.

In a plastic Ziploc place all the veggies as well as the other ingredients. Toss them around a bit in the bag and let all the goods get nice and mixed up and the veggies get thoroughly coated in the marinade. Refrigerate for an hour or so.

Masala:

1 can 28 oz diced tomatoes, or fresh if you are so lucky

1 can 5.5 oz tomato paste

About 2 inches of fresh grated ginger or 2 tsp if its ground (ground wont give you the same awesome flavor as the fresh stuff but it will be good, none the less.)

2 gloves minced garlic

1 diced onion

1 tbsp garam masala

1 tbsp tikki paste or 2 tsp tikki masala powder (I like both, so no worries)

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp dried coriander

1 can coconut milk

Salt to taste

So you add the ingredients to the crock-pot and mix it all up. Let it cook for about 2-3 hours on high (or 4-5 on low) then add the veggies from the refrigerator in and cook for another hour. That’s it. Cook some rice according to the package (we usually go for brown or basmati) and you have a delicious dish! Right before I serve it some times I’ll add a pinch more cumin, chili powder and garam masala just to make the taste even more exciting… if that’s even possible! You can garnish with some fresh cilantro if you’re in the mood.

ENJOY!!!

Eggplant Parmesan

So, I have NEVER consumed eggplant IN MY LIFE. The Man never seemed interested and my littles, even with their diverse palates, I was afraid it would be a waste of time. I like to imagine myself an adventurous eater but whenever the subject of eggplant was approached, all my ‘adventure’ was thrown out the window. What can I say, I like adventure on my own terms! I wouldn’t even tell the Man what we were having for dinner when he called from work because I didn’t want him to talk me out of it! Ha!

Last night, my life-long eggplant-free streak ended with delicious eggplant Parmesan, a recipe that I kind of made up as I went. When I looked recipes online I saw a bunch of fried eggplant deals and a handful of baked ones but most of them required eggs and such for the breading process. So, I free-styled… my favorite way to cook! This recipe is vegetarian but it isn’t vegan. Mostly because it was my first time so I wanted to get a good hold on the process (and to see if I even liked it!) before I moved on to a dairy-free version. I’ll include what I plan to do next time to make it vegan

Here’s the ‘recipe’:

1 eggplant

1 tsp salt

1 stick melted butter (next time I’m using coconut oil)

2-3 c. bread crumbs (I crumbled some of my homemade bread and let it stale)

½ tsp (ish) salt, yeah, salt round 2

1 tsp Italian seasoning

¼ c. Parmesan cheese (not doing this next time.. I don’t think it was a deal breaker!)

So I sliced the eggplant about ¼- ½ inch thick pieces and placed them on a cookie sheet (I think I had like 10-12 pieces) and sprinkled them with salt. I let them sit for about 30 minutes to let the ‘juices’ rise out of them. (I read about this process on food network) Next I combined the crumbs, salt, Italian seasoning and parm cheese in a bowl.  I dunked the eggplant in the butter and rolled it around in the crumb mixture (it doesn’t really stick super awesome) so I put it back on the cookie sheet with a sprinkling of breadcrumbs on top. I did this to all the slices and then stuck that pan of skepticism in the oven for 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees. What I pulled out was muy delicioso! I put some mashed cauliflower on the fam’s plates topped with a couple slices of egg plant and then covered with some homemade marinara. The Man, my eldest and I WORKED IT!!! The younger two I had to work a bit harder to get them to try it but once they did, they ate most of it. It was a success!! I am SO pumped when a new recipe works out! I should have taken a pic... maybe next time.

If you try it, let me know how it works out for you J

Vegetable Pilaf

Vegetable Pilaf: Vegan

2 c. basmati rice

4tbsp coconut oil

1 tsp cumin

4 bay leaves

8 cardamom pods

8 cloves (I use a teaspoon ground cloves)

2 onions, chopped

2 carrots finely diced

2/3 c. frozen peas

2/3 c. frozen corn

½ c cashews (lightly toasted or fried)

½ tsp additional cumin

1 tsp salt

Let the rice soak for 30 minutes.

Heat oil in a large pan. Sauté cumin, bay leaves, cardamom and gloves for a couple minutes. Add onion and cook until it is soft and light brown (about 5 minutes). Stir in carrots and cook for 3-4 more minutes.

Drain rice, add to the pan with peas, corn and nuts. Cook for 4-5 minutes at medium heat.

Add 2 cups water, ground cumin and salt. Bring to a boil, cover and let simmer over low heat for 15 minutes or until the water is absorbed. Let stand 10 minutes covered before serving.