Category: Main Dishes

Two-Cheese Pumpkin Spinach Pizza

I saw a Butternut Squash pizza with ricotta and spinach on Green Lite Bites the other day, and was thinking about it this weekend. I didn’t buy any butternut squash this week, but I did have 3 cans of pumpkin in my cabinet, just waiting to be used. I added a second type of cheese because when it comes to pizza, more cheese is always better, and the almonds added a little crunch.

Roni seasoned her pizza with sage and nutmeg, which I think would be an interesting combination. I tried allspice and cayenne, which also turned out to be interesting. I was trying to balance the sweet and spicy, and it worked pretty well. It’s fun to try new spice combinations, and you never know what you’re going to like until you try. So use this pizza recipe as a template, and make your own fall creation.

Two Cheese Pumpkin Spinach Pizza

1 Joseph’s Flax, Oat Bran, and Whole Wheat lavash
1/2 c. pureed pumpkin
1/4 c. ricotta cheese
1 T sliced almonds
1/4 t allspice
Dash cayenne
1 c baby spinach, chopped
1 T Parmesan cheese

Fold lavash in half, and place on a cookie sheet coated with cooking spray. Mix pumpkin, ricotta, almonds, and spices in a small bowl, and spread evenly on lavash. Place spinach on topping, and then sprinkle with Parmesan. Bake at 400F for 5 minutes.

Spaghetti with Scallops and Peas

When I want help in making a sustainable seafood purchase, I turn to the Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch. Every type of seafood is listed by the region where it is caught and the method used. There are 3 possible ratings based on the environmental impact: Best Choice, Good Alternative, and Avoid.

When I wanted to make this scallop recipe from Real Simple, I turned to the handy Monterey Bay app on my Iphone. The market offered scallops from New Bedford, MA. Scallops from the US Atlantic caught by dredging are considered a ‘good alternative.’ If the seafood in the market isn’t labeled, it’s OK to ask! The person helping you may not know the answer, but simply by asking, you’ve let them know that you’re an interested consumer.

So back to the recipe, I made several tweaks from the original. I wasn’t excited about using browned butter, so I built the sauce around wine instead. A fancy scallop meal deserves to be accompanied by a glass of wine anyway. I swear I bought a lemon, but it was nowhere to be found. However, I did find some sage in the back of my freezer.

Scallops are one of my favorite types of seafood, and this dish was good, but it wasn’t perfect. The peas were the element that just didn’t belong, and they kept falling off my fork which was annoying. I know I use spinach a lot, but I think sauteed spinach might be a better choice here. Still, this was a nice meal to end a tough week. I am looking forward to a fun weekend, including reconnecting with my cooking club for a night of “Finger Foods”!

Spaghetti with Scallops and Peas

4 oz. whole wheat spaghetti
1 c. frozen petite peas
1 T olive oil
8 sea scallops, sprinkled with salt and pepper
1/4 c. white wine
1 T chopped fresh sage
2 T whole wheat breadcrumbs with Italian seasoning

Cook pasta according to package directions. 2 minutes before it is done, add the peas to the pot. Drain and set aside.

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan. Place scallops carefully in pan. Cook for 3-4 mintue on one side, flip and cook for 1-2 more minutes until done.

In a bowl, toss pasta, peas, scallops, wine, and sage. Serve on plates, and garnish with breadcrumbs.

-Adapted from Real Simple

Mexican Pasta Toss

We’re at the tail end of tomato season, and I was determined to make one last dish with roasted grape tomatoes since I loved them on the Italian Baked Potato. The rest of this dish just kind of came together with what I had on hand. It’s very mild, so if you want to kick it up a notch, go for it! Maybe some sauteed peppers or a dash of cayenne?

Mexican Pasta Toss

1 pint grape tomatoes, roasted in a 400F oven for 30-40 minutes
2 c. whole wheat shells, cooked and drained
1 (15 oz.) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 c. corn, cooked and drained
1 t chili powder
Shredded cheddar cheese

Toss tomatoes, pasta, beans, and corn in a large bowl, and season with chili powder. Serve topped with shredded cheddar cheese.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli, and Pears

There is so much I like about Real Simple. I want everything I see in that magazine: rooms which are nicely decorated and perfectly clean, a wardrobe full of clothes that are stylish and functional, and efficient solutions to everyday problems. Of course, the recipes and food ideas are also an inspiration. When I saw this one for Broccoli, Sweet Potatoes, and Pears, I was intrigued by the combination of fruits and vegetables. With a quick trip to the market, I had everything I needed.

I set out to make the recipe myself, changing just a few things but keeping it simple. It took a while in the oven, but it was worth it when it was done. Seasoned with just a little salt and pepper, all the flavors worked together really well. This would be a great side dish for a pork chop if you’re a meat eater, but could stand on it’s own as a lighter meal. I enjoyed a scrambled egg on the side, which works if you think of this dish as gourmet hashbrowns.

Roasted Sweet Potatoes, Broccoli, and Pears

2 sweet potatoes, scrubbed and cut into 1″ cubes
3 c. broccoli florets
1 T olive oil
2 pears, cut into 2″ cubes

Toss sweet potatoes and broccoli with olive oil, and roast in a glass dish for 30 minutes at 450F. Add the pears, and roast for an additional 20-30 minutes until all the vegetables are soft. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Chickpeas and Carrots over Couscous

Just a couple of weeks ago, I made a chickpea and carrot salad which was pretty good. Then I saw this Cumin-Spiced Chickpeas and Carrots recipe in Cooking Light, and decided that sounded even better. Most of the comments indicated that the dish needed more sauce, so I increased the amount of liquid and made a few other changes to suit my tastes.

All of the changes worked well, and I really liked this dish. That was a good thing since it made 5 lunches worth of food! I also really like using whole wheat couscous as a base for the chickpeas and carrots. It’s not always available in the regular grocery store, but I do find it at Trader Joe’s. If you can’t find whole wheat couscous, brown rice would work well too.

Chickpeas and Carrots over Couscous

1/2 c. vegetable broth
Juice of 1 lemon
8 oz. tomato sauce
2 (15 oz.) cans chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 T canola oil, divided
2 c. sliced carrots
1 t cumin
1/2 t garam masala
1/4 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
Dash cayenne pepper
4 c. cooked whole wheat couscous

Combine broth, lemon juice, and tomato sauce in a small bowl and set aside.

Heat 1 T oil in a large skillet over high heat, and fry chickpeas for 5 minutes, or until browned. Remove chickpeas from pan and set aside.

Add remaining tablespoon of oil to pan, and add sliced carrots. Stir fry for 5-10 minutes. Add cumin, garam masala, salt, black pepper, and cayenne pepper and stir well. Add in broth mixture and chikpeas. Bring to a boil and simmer for 5 minutes. Serve over couscous.

How to Make Eggplant Parmesan

There’s a very simple reason why I haven’t blogged about Eggplant Parmesan. I am too lazy to make it! Luckily for me, my Mom isn’t too lazy, and she let me try to document the process. We started with at least 3 large eggplants.

First, you peel each eggplant and cut it into thin slices. Then, you sprinkle the slices with salt and layer them in a strainer.

Many years ago, people would place the slices in a wooden basket and weigh them down with bricks. Our updated method involves a plastic strainer and a ceramic plate, weighted down with a large can of tomatoes. You can place this directly in the sink, or over a large bowl. The eggplant slices should drain for at least two hours.

Now you need to rinse the salt off the eggplant slices, and dry them well with paper towels. Don’t be afraid to squeeze the slices between the paper towels.

Prepare a mixture of 3 eggs, 1/4 c. water, and 1/4 t black pepper, and whisk with a fork. You may need multiple batches, but you can make more as you go along. Heat about 1/4″ of oil in a frying pan, until a small drop of egg mixture sizzles when added to the pan.

Dip each eggplant slice in the egg mixture, allow the excess to drip off, and place in the frying pan. Cook until browned, turn, and cook on the other side.

Now you can drain the cooked eggplant on more paper towels, to absorb some of the excess oil.

Finally, we’re ready to assemble a dish of eggplant. You can use jarred sauce, or make your own meat sauce or tomato sauce. It’s more important that you use real grated Parmesan cheese. Add a few spoonfuls of sauce to the bottom of the dish, and then layer the eggplant, followed by more sauce, and Parmesan cheese.

Keep going until you’ve reached the limit of your pan. We made one large dish for dinner that evening, and two smaller dishes. Cover each pan tightly with foil, and heat in a 200F oven for 20-30 minutes just prior to serving.

There are many variations of Eggplant Parmesan, and everyone probably thinks that their way is best. This version contains no skin, and yields thin slices with no breading. I am biased of course, but I do think this is the best!

Grass-Fed Local Beef Sausage

While shopping at a Rhode Island farmer’s market this weekend, my family and I met the Browning’s of Browning Homestead in Matunuck. Farmer’s markets are a great place for local produce, and also a convenient place to buy local meat. This farm has a mascot that travels to the market.

I don’t feature a lot of meat-based recipes on the blog, and occasional readers sometimes think that I am vegetarian. I do eat all kinds of meat, but I am against factory farming, and I believe in eating locally. I try to make conscious choices that support local, sustainable farming. So I was excited to hear that the animals on this farm are grass-fed. No steroids, antibiotics, or hormones are used. The animals are slaughtered in a USDA facility also located in Rhode Island. Most importantly, the farmers seem to be very committed to producing quality food.

Last year we tried grass-fed hamburger from a different farm, and learned the hard way that it cooks much more quickly. This time, we tried the all-beef mild Italian sausage, and paid closer attention when it was on the grill. (Thanks, Dad!) The meat was finely ground and tightly packed, with almost no visible fat. The flavor was mild as promised, and almost reminded me of keilbasa – with a lot less grease of course.

I don’t eat sausage all that often, and this was a nice change of pace. Grass fed meat does taste different, but once you learn how to cook it properly, it’s a good kind of different. This meat is raised in a way that’s kinder to the environment, and contains essential fatty acids that are healthier for your heart. I am hoping to try another cut of grass-fed meat from a local farm soon!

Stuffed Eggplant

This was supposed to be an end of summer masterpiece. Sometimes when you build a recipe up in your head and predict it will be fabulous, it can’t possibly meet your expectations. It started when I bought another $1 eggplant from a stand at the Brookline Farmer’s Market. Last year, I made zucchini boats which were kind of neat, so this time I figured I’d try stuffed eggplant. I read through a bunch of different recipes like this one, and then gave it a go using the ingredients I had on hand.

The end result wasn’t inedible, it was just boring. I felt like I was eating stuffing out of a theoretically edible bowl. I say ‘theoretically edible’ because the eggplant shell still wasn’t very soft after an hour in the oven, and I had to scrape it with my fork to remove the flesh. Although the eggplant looks reasonably pretty when it comes out of the oven, things go downhill pretty fast when you try to cut each shell into pieces. So unless you’re going for initial presentation, actually stuffing the eggplant seems like a waste of time. The filling itself did taste pretty good, but required even more salt and pepper in my dish. None of the flavors were dominant, and the dish really needed a strong herb to give it some character.

So why am I sharing this recipe at all? Because either you’ll, a) use this information to create a much better version of stuffed eggplant or, b) decide to use your eggplant in other ways. Maybe Grilled Balsamic Eggplant Sandwiches?

Stuffed Eggplant

1 T olive oil
1 shallot, peeled and diced
1 bunch Swiss chard, leaves torn and stems chopped, divided
1 large eggplant
6-7 white mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 c. cooked brown rice
1/4 c. sliced almonds, toasted

Heat olive oil in a large frying pan. Cook shallot for 3-5 minutes, until just starting to brown. Add Swiss chard stems, and cook until softened.

Meanwhile, halve eggplant, and scoop out the insides, leaving a 1/2″ shell. Chop the eggplant pieces, and add to the frying pan. Cook until softened, and then add the mushrooms and Swiss chard leaves. When all of the vegetables are done, remove the pan from heat. Add brown rice and almonds, and season generously with salt and pepper.

Place eggplant shells in a glass dish. Fill with vegetable/rice mixture. Cover tightly with foil, and bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake for an additional 30 minutes.

Italian Baked Potatoes

When I went to the farmer’s market last week, I was stunned to see apples and squashes already. Those are most definitely fall foods and I haven’t yet accepted the fact that my leisurely summer is coming to an end. I filled my bag with eggplant and zucchini and peaches and almost ran away so I would not be faced with reality.

And then I spied local potatoes for just $1/lb., and threw some of those in my bag as well. While you might not think of baked potatoes at the end of August, this recipe from Real Simple needs to be made now while tomatoes are still seasonal. I managed to make this recipe decidedly less ‘simple’ and yet I think much better than the original.

Italian Baked Potatoes

2 large potatoes, scrubbed and poked with a knife
1 pint grape tomatoes
2 t olive oil
Salt and Pepper
1/2 c. ricotta cheese
2 T freshly grated Parmesan cheese
1 t garlic powder
1 t dried basil

Place potatoes in a 400F degree oven. Meanwhile, toss tomatoes with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and place on a baking sheet. After potatoes have cooked 30 minutes, place pan with tomatoes in the oven. Bake for 20-30 minutes until potatoes are soft, and tomatoes are roasted and split open.

In a small bowl, mix ricotta, Paremsan, garlic powder, and basil. Place each potato on a plate and cut in a criss-cross fashion. Top with ricotta mixture and roasted tomatoes and serve.

-Adapted from Real Simple

Stocking the Freezer

My second nephew came into the world last week, and my sister asked if we could help stock her freezer so she would have plenty of healthy meals for the inevitable hectic days ahead. Earlier this month, we selected the recipes and made a master grocery list. My Mom was able to pick up many of the non-perishable items on sale, and it was really helpful to have all of the ingredients on hand when we started to cook. Here are the five dishes we made for the freezer:

1. Jamie Oliver’s Vegetable Tomato Sauce & Ziti Casserole

We started by making a huge batch of Jamie Oliver’s Vegetable Tomato Sauce. It’s a tasty sauce with onions, peppers, carrots, zucchini, butternut squash, and tomatoes of course. We added yet another 28 oz. can of tomatoes, to make sure the sauce had a deep red color. Then we used a portion of the sauce and a pound of pasta to assemble two ziti casseroles with ricotta, Parmesan, and mozzarella cheese. In the end, this recipe yielded two ziti casseroles, two containers of sauce which can be used for pasta or pizza, and lunch for the cooks.

2. Turkey Chili

My sister’s favorite chili is based on this Weight Watcher’s Turkey Chili recipe, which includes plenty of vegetables like peppers, zucchini, and corn. I only took a small taste from the pot before it was packaged into containers, but it was good.

3. Spinach Mini Quiches

I adapted my favorite crustless quiche recipe a bit to make these mini quiches. I mixed 3 eggs, 1 cup of reduced fat cottage cheese, 1/2 cup shredded reduced fat cheddar, a 10 oz. package of spinach, and a dash of salt and pepper. This filled about 10 regular sized muffin cups, which were baked, cooled, and then put into the freezer for busy mornings.

4. Macaroni and Cheese Cupcakes

We were starting to get a little tired by this point, and took a well deserved shortcut by using frozen chopped vegetables for these macaroni and cheese cupcakes. We also skipped the beans in this recipe, since two of the recipes already had beans. The cupcakes looked a little dry in the freezer, and might need a fresh sprinkle of cheese when reheated. But they’re still so cute!

5. Bean Burritos

The final recipe was brand new. We made these bean burritos which contain brown rice, a bean mixture, and cheddar cheese. The burritos are assembled, and then wrapped individually and frozen. When you take a burrito out of the freezer, you can cook it in either the microwave or oven. One of the tortillas ripped (oops!) so my Mom and I split a burrito for lunch and it was tasty. Even though this is a new recipe, I think it’s going to be a winner.