White Orchid Melody

I made up this recipe for dinner this week and it turned out really good, so I thought I’d share.  I used chicken bullion granules, so technically this is not vegetarian.  I think the important thing is to buy organic animal products and use in moderation.  You could substitute vegetable broth/bullion though.  It was quick and easy.  The most time consuming part is cooking the rice.  I made it earlier in the day so it would be ready to go whenever I decided to make dinner!

Vegetable Wild Rice Casserole

1 cup brown rice
½ cup wild rice
1 lb frozen mixed vegetables (corn, peas, carrots, green beans)

Sauce:
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp flour
¼ c half and half
1 cup water
1 tbsp chicken bullion
Italian seasoning
Garlic powder
Onion powder
Lemon pepper seasoning

Cook brown and wild rice mixture until nearly done.  Meanwhile, in small saucepan, melt butter, mix in flour until smooth.  Add half and half, stirring until smooth.  Mix bullion with water until dissolved.  Add bullion to flour mixture, whisk smooth.  Add seasonings.  Bring to a simmer. 

Combine rice and vegetables in large mixing bowl, and pour in sauce.  Stir well to combine.  Transfer to baking dish.  Toss bread crumbs or crushed crackers with melted butter and sprinkle over top of casserole.  Bake about 20 minutes until heated through.

Serves 4

This recipe makes individual frittatas using your muffin tin.  I personally don’t care for eggs, but my family LOVES this recipe.  They look fancy enough for a special brunch, but they are easy enough for a Saturday morning treat. You could add any sort of filling to the eggs.  My version has onions, garlic, and spinach.

8 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/2 teaspoon salt
pinch of black pepper
1 tablespoon olive oil
Onion
Garlic
fresh baby spinach
Mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 350° F. Beat together eggs, milk, salt, and pepper. Saute onion, garlic, and spinach. Brush the inside of a muffin tin with olive oil or coat really well with cooking spray.  Pour the eggs 1/3 full into muffin tin.  Add spinach mixture.  Pour remainder of eggs. Top with shredded cheese. Bake at 350° F until cooked almost all of the way through, about 15 minutes. Then broil until the tops are brown, about two minutes. Let rest for 5 minutes and serve.  Makes 10-12 frittatas.

It is so cold here!  This is a great stew for warming up these winter nights!

2 tbsp olive oil
1 onion
4-6 cloves garlic
1 cup carrots
1 tsp celery seed
1 tsp italian seasoning
28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 cups vegetable broth
2 cups cooked white beans (can be navy, northern, or cannellini)
1 cup green beans, cut into 1″ pieces
2 cups fresh baby spinach, chopped
1 cup of pasta (rotini or elbow macaroni work well, but any small pasta will do fine)
salt/pepper to taste

Heat oil in stock pot over medium heat.  Chop onion and garlic (I use a food processor).  Saute in olive oil.  Finely chop carrots in food processor (this adds texture, rather than having chunks of carrots).  Season with italian seasoning mix and celery seed.  Add tomatoes.  Bring to a boil and stir until thickened.  Add white beans, broth, and green beans.  Return to a boil.  Stir in spinach.  Cover and simmer for 5 minutes.  If you are making this early in the day, you can allow it to simmer here for as long as you want.  About 20 minutes before serving, stir in pasta, salt, and pepper.  Cook until the pasta is tender, but firm.  You can thin with additional vegetable broth if the mixture seems too thick.  Serve with crusty italian bread.

I prepared this for the family over the holidays and it turned out really good!  I found the recipe at epicurious.com.  I modified it a bit though to keep it simple.  It called for letting things sit overnight and such.  Who has time for that?

Vanilla-Maple French Toast

Servings: Makes 6 servings.

Ingredients
9 eggs
2 1/4 cups reduced-fat (2%) milk
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 teaspoon salt
12 3/4-inch-thick slices French bread
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
Warm maple syrup

Preparation
Whisk eggs in medium bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in milk. Add 1/3 cup maple syrup, sugar, vanilla, and salt; whisk to blend. Divide custard between two 13×9x2-inch glass baking dishes. Arrange bread in single layer in dishes. Let soak 5 minutes. Turn over, let soak 5 minutes. Heat large griddle or heavy large skillet over medium heat. Working in batches, brush griddle with some butter. Add soaked bread; cook until brown on bottom, about 4 minutes. Turn French toast over; cook until bottoms are brown, about 4 minutes. Transfer to plates. Serve with additional syrup and Warm Berry Preserves (see below).

Warm Berry Preserves

Ingredients
1 1-pound bag frozen unsweetened strawberries
1 1-pound bag frozen unsweetened raspberries
2/3 cup low-sugar strawberry preserves (I use Smucker’s- no corn syrup!)
1/3 cup sugar
water

Preparation
Mix all frozen berries, jelly, and sugar in large nonstick skillet.  Add water about half way up berries. Boil until mixture thaws and thickens but is still chunky, stirring frequently.

I thought I’d posted this one before, but don’t see it…who knows?  Anyway, I thought it would be good since it is party season and these make a great party food.  Get little mini pitas (2″ rounds) for appetizers.  If you are making this as a meal the 4″ rounds work well.  These are simple to make, and the filling can even be made a day ahead and reheated prior to stuffing.  Even the most discriminating guests will enjoy these.  No one will even realize they are eating vegetarian!

Thai Pitas

1 pkg Soy Crumble
1 sweet red pepper, finely chopped
2 Tbsp ginger, minced (you can substitute dried)
3 cloves garlic
1 tsp red pepper flakes
1 tsp cilantro
3 Tbsp smooth peanut butter
2 Tbsp lemon juice (or lime juice, if you have it)
2 Tbsp soy sauce
1 Tbsp canola oil

Cook soy crumble with red pepper, ginger, garlic, and pepper flakes.  In a small bowl, whisk together cilantro, peanut butter, lemon juice, soy sauce, and canola oil.  Stir into crumble.  Line pitas with romaine lettuce and stuff with mixture.  That’s it.  So easy!

I think we are finally going to get a deep freezer tonight.  I’ve been wanting to get one so that I could start preparing meals for after the baby is born.  Brian’s cooking skills are pretty limited, and if I leave the meal planning up to him, we could be living off pizza and french fries for a month.  So, I planned out some cooking days.  Friday I’m planning to have a Mexican Cooking day and make 4 different dishes using similar ingredients.  I’ll make veggie enchiladas and spanish rice for dinner that night, plus 2 extra batches to freeze.  Since I’ll be cooking up black beans for the enchiladas, I’ll make some black bean soup as well.  Then with some beans, cheese, and spanish rice, I’ll make some quesadillas.  And with any leftover fillings, I’ll make an assortment of freezer burritos for lunches.  I’ve posted most of those recipes here before. 

I usually make pancakes, waffles, or muffins on the weekends.  I’m planning to start making double batches so that I can stock up on those for breakfasts. 

So, after the mexican food this week, my next big freezer cooking day will be for sauces and fillings.  I’ll get a bunch of soy crumbles and tomatoes and make spaghetti sauce, sloppy joe filling, and taco filling.  I read in one of the many freezer meal cookbooks that you should label the item with name, date, as well as a “meal plan”…i.e. what to serve with sloppy joe filling.  That will be essential — not having to worry about whether we are getting well balanced meals.  If not labeled, the side dish might be french fries every night :)  I read four or five of those month of meals type cookbooks.  The logistical information was great.  How to plan the shopping, storage, labeling, etc.  But the recipes were just okay.  Most were meat dishes.  I’m thinking we’ll be better off freezing some of our normal staples and favorite meals.  

I’m also planning to just double or triple some of our dinners over the next few weeks.  I’ll make a triple batch of vegetable casserole, three dishes of mac and cheese, and four dishes of lasagna.  If we eat one each cooking night, I’ll have seven extra meals in the freezer.  I should also have 8 meals frozen from mexican cooking day, plus an assortment of sauces and fillings.  I probably won’t have a full 30 meals in the freezer by my due date, but even if I have half that many, I’ll have peace of mind that we won’t be eating junk every night.  I imagine we’ll also have some leftovers from christmas dinner, which I might be able to transform into something delicious for the freezer. 

These are so good!  And easy!  I used to buy the premade cookie dough that you could bake up, but seriously, these take maybe 10 minutes to prep.  They are a great homemade gift for the holidays.

 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
8 Tbsp (1 stick) of butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375.  Grease cookie sheets (I use the wrapper from the stick of butter).  Whisk together flour and baking soda in a small/medium bowl.  In a large bowl combine butter, sugar, and brown sugar.  Beat on medium until fluffy and well blended.  Add the egg, salt, and vanilla and beat until combined.  Stir in the flour mixture until well blended and smooth (you can use a mixer or stir by hand).  Stir in (by hand) the chocolate chips.  You can also add nuts if you like. 

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the cookie sheets.  Space about 2″ apart.  Bake about 8 or 10 minutes, or until the cookies are brown just at the edges.  Let the cookies stand on the sheet for a couple minutes until firm, then transfer the ones you haven’t already eaten to a rack to cool. 

Mmmm! I’m making some of these tomorrow!  If I remember I will take a photo to add here!

These vegetarian Sloppy Joes make a quick family dinner.  Good messy fun!  Serve on a toasted wheat bun with your favorite side dishes.

1 Tbsp Canola Oil
1 Medium Onion, finely chopped
½ c Mixed Bell Peppers, finely chopped
3 Garlic Cloves, minced
Sea Salt
Cracked Pepper
Dash Celery Seed
1 pkg Soy Crumble (Morningstar or Boca)
1 – 15oz can Tomato Sauce
¼ c Ketchup
1 Tbsp Worcestershire Sauce

In a large skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat.  Add onion, peppers, garlic, and seasonings.  Cook, stirring frequently until vegetables are softened, 5 to 7 minutes.  Add Soy Crumble.  Cook until thawed.  Stir in tomato sauce, ketchup, and Worcestershire sauce. Simmer until thickened, stirring occasionally.
Season with more salt and pepper as desired.  Scoop onto toasted wheat buns.  Enjoy!

This is a simple but hearty soup for a cool fall day.  I usually make cornbread with mine, but it’s also good in a sourdough bread bowl.  You can use canned beans or cook your own from dried.  If you don’t like spicy, omit the serrano peppers and the cayenne pepper.  The red pepper flakes add flavor, but not much heat.

2 cups dried black beans (or 4 cans)
2 carrots (or 1 cup baby carrots), diced
1 cup frozen corn
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 serrano chili peppers (more or less to taste), chopped
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp garlic salt
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
dash of cayenne pepper
2 cups vegetable broth
3 cups of crushed tomatoes (you can also use Rotel tomatoes w/ green chiles)

Cook black beans.  Heat oil in stock pot.  Add onions, garlic, and peppers.  Saute until onions are tender.  Add spices and stir to combine.  In blender or food processor, puree half of beans along with onion mixture.  Return to stock pot.  Add broth, tomatoes, and remaining beans.  Stir well and bring to a boil.  Reduce to simmer and add carrots and corn.  Continue to simmer an hour or so, until carrots are tender and flavors have melded, stirring periodically to avoid sticking (I recommend a non-stick pot for this recipe).  Serve with homemade cornbread muffins.  Yum!

This is a 2 for 1 Thursday: entree and side dish for a completely yummie meal!  This one takes a bit of time to prepare.  You’ll want to start the rice first and let that get going for awhile before you start the enchiladas.  It depends on what type of rice you use.  Some rice, such as the long grain brown rice I use, takes longer to cook, especially with the addition of the tomatoes.  As always, you can substitute your favorite veggies; and if you want to up the protein content, they are good with the addition of black beans. 

Preheat oven to 350. 

You will need: 

4 flour tortillas (white or wheat)
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

To make filling, combine in skillet: 

2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup fresh spinach
1 small potato, diced
1/2 cup carrots, diced (one medium carrot)
1/4 cup frozen corn kernels
1/4 cup frozen sweet peas
1/4 cup frozen mixed bell peppers (or one fresh red pepper, diced)
1-4 red chili peppers (depending on the amount of heat you like!) or 1/2 tsp red pepper
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tbsp lemon juice

Saute above ingredients until tender and heated through.

Meanwhile, whisk together in sauce pan:

1 cup crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 tsp powdered sugar (or brown sugar)
1 cup vegetable broth

Bring to a boil, stirring constantly.  Cook approximately 20 minutes, until sauce is thickened and reduced by a third.

Spoon a quarter of the filling into the center of each tortilla.  Roll the tortillas and place seam side down in an oven-proof dish (coat with non-stick cooking spray first).  Pour tomato sauce over the tortillas, sprinkle with grated cheese.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbly and golden.  (If using a casserole dish, place on baking sheet for easier removal from oven.)

Serve with Spanish Rice:

1 tbsp olive oil
1 cup brown rice
1 tsp onion powder
1 tsp garlic salt
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup crushed tomatoes or tomato sauce
1 cup frozen peas (optional)

Heat olive oil in pan, add rice and spices.  Saute until rice looks transparent.  Add vegetable broth and tomatoes.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce to simmer.  Cook until most liquid has been absorbed, then add peas for last part of cooking (about 10 minutes).  Fluff with fork and let stand 5 minutes before serving.