Meatball Sub at Gillette

Last week I talked about how much I enjoyed spending Sunday afternoons cooking meals for the week. But this past Sunday, I was given the opportunity to see my first professional football game, and visit Gillette stadium for the first time! It was a great experience to be in such a fun atmosphere on a beautiful fall day, and of course enjoy the excitement of a Patriots win.

When it came time for lunch, I was expecting typical stadium food. You could smell the sausages from our seats. There was popcorn everywhere. But I placed my bet on this meatball sub, and it was actually really good. The bread was soft, the sauce was fresh, and the provolone cheese was a nice touch. Not every meal of the week needs to be perfectly balanced, there’s room for special occasions like this one. In my mind, this was all part of the new experience!

French Lentil Salad

Lentils are what I like to call a “low maintenance” bean because no soaking is required and they cook fairly quickly. While lentils are often associated with soup, they can be used in many other dishes, including salad. My friend Susan first made Lentils aux Lardons from the blog Real Food Has Curves, and the salad was amazing. The flavors were simple, based on a small amount of bacon, shallots, vinegar and mustard, but the combination worked very well. It wasn’t the nicest looking salad, but we don’t judge on that criteria.

It was suggested that French green lentils hold their shape better in salads such as these, producing a prettier final product. I was excited to find green lentils in the bulk bin at the nearby Whole Foods. I had planned to make the original version of the dish, but since I’ve been on a vegetarian cooking kick, I looked for a similar recipe, but without the bacon or a meat substitute. I found this version from Orangette, and decided to give it a try.
The salad is primarily lentils, with the addition of onion, carrot, and celery, and flavored with garlic, thyme, red wine vinegar, and mustard. I substituted dried thyme for fresh, and cut back the oil by 2 T, but the real key here is not to eat the salad on the same day that you prepare it. You can take a taste or two with a spoon, but really, it’s so much better on the second day. I found that the temperature didn’t matter a lot; I enjoyed it both warm and at room temperature. This version was different than the one with bacon of course, but I liked them both equally. The choice is yours.

Since I already showed you this week how I pack soup for lunch, I wanted to show you how I assembled this meal. I cut some celery ‘spoons’ and put them in the same container as the salad. A carton of yogurt and a kiwi round out the meal. My cube will turn into a French cafe for just a short time while I enjoy my lunch.

Mushroom Bhaji

Time for another Indian recipe! This recipe for Mushroom Bhaji came from a new (to me) site called Cheap Healthy Good. This one was certainly cheap, and the only ingredients I had to purchase were the mushrooms and a jalapeno pepper. It was healthy, covering the vegetable, whole grain, and healthy fat groups when served on a bed of brown rice. And it was good! I love the texture of mushrooms, and the spices were fragrant.

It was also very spicy. My hands were burning from cutting the pepper, and my eyes were watering a little when I ate my first bowl. I just can’t seem to find the right balance of heat. But an odd thing happened when I ate this dish the second night. The spice had mellowed and it was much more enjoyable. Yes, definitely cheap, healthy, and good!

Fall Minestrone

Fall is here, and like many of you, I am back in a routine. There are some parts of this routine I love – on most Sundays, I make a dish that will generate leftovers for the week ahead. Often, that means a big pot of soup. When things get busy, it’s reassuring to know that I have a supply of meals already prepared.

This week, I chose a Fall Minestrone recipe. A hearty vegetable based soup is the perfect healthy lunch. This soup did involve a lot of peeling and chopping, but is otherwise very easy. It features onions, carrots, potatoes, green beans, butternut squash, kale, white beans and orzo. The flavor is very mild, with just a touch of salt and pepper. When the soup was done, I let it cool for a few minutes and then divided it right up into containers, plus a bowl for dinner.

By the time I finish dinner and clean up, the soup has cooled down and I can put the lids on the containers and store them in the refrigerator or freezer. And of course, I also pack small containers of freshly grated Parmesan to bring with the soup. It’s the little things that make a packed lunch more fun!

Sweet and Spicy Roasted Kabocha

I have been reading about kabocha in so many places, and yet when I went to the produce market, it was no where to be found. But I picked up a green pumpkin shaped squash that looked similar, and was labeled “Abobora Japanese Squash”. A little Internet research revealed this article, which explains how the names evolved, and leads me to believe that indeed, I did buy a kabocha. Actually, I bought half of one, so I wouldn’t have to try to hack it open.

I decided to try this recipe for sweet and spicy roasted kabocha, and it was incredible. I used sugar, chili powder, cinnamon, and cumin, with a dash of salt, and it was a great blend of spices, topped off with a splash of soy sauce. Once the pieces were coated with this mixture, I drizzled them with canola oil, and roasted them in the oven at 400F. There’s no need to peel the squash, the skin was perfectly edible after cooking. This was a great recipe, and of course you can tweak the spices to your own taste. Make sure you put this on your list of recipes for the fall!

Uncle Sam’s Cereal

I won my very first blog giveaway on Don’t (White) Sugar Coat It, and was given a coupon for a free box of Uncle Sam’s cereal. It was quite an exciting moment!

Now I’ll be honest, I don’t eat a lot of cold cereal these days. Not because I don’t like it, but because I have a hard time just eating one bowl. If there’s a little milk leftover, I’ll add some cereal. And if there’s a little cereal at the bottom, I’ll add some milk. And thus I end up eating more than I need. It’s a vicious cycle. Plus, sometimes when I eat cereal I am hungry again just a couple of hours later.

But I was still very happy to try a new cereal, especially one that features whole grains and flax seed, offering plenty of carbohydrate, fiber, and some healthy fat. I poured my first bowl, and loved the crunch. The texture was great, but the flavor was just a little too plain. So the next time I tried it, I tossed in a few raisins. That pushed this cereal from good to great, and I wasn’t hungry again until lunchtime. If you are looking for a new cold cereal, this is a great choice.

Thanks to both Elizabeth and attune for giving me the chance to try it out!

Roasted Ratatouille with Eggs

Last month I put an egg on a pizza. This time I baked eggs into a pan of ratatouille! I thought it was a fun idea, and it turned out great. Of course, when you start with all my favorite vegetables, and add an egg and some cheese, it’s bound to be good.

The basic concept is that you roast eggplant, zucchini, and onion in the oven, and then put the vegetables into a casserole dish with chopped tomatoes. You bake this until it’s hot, and then make indentations to hold 4 raw eggs. You pop it back into the oven until the eggs are just cooked, and then add Parmesan and serve it on whole wheat bread. (My favorite is Great Harvest Honey Whole Wheat.)

You do need to be careful not to overcook the eggs. I am paranoid about runny yolks, but I left the dish in the oven a little too long and the eggs were quite firm. But this can be a great meal for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.

Patatas Bravas

My cooking club theme this month was Spanish Tapas, and what a fabulous meal we had! Chorizo braised in red wine, Spanish tortilla, a lovely orange salad, Manchego cheese, and an orange almond cake. Oh, and sangria of course! Only one problem: I forgot my camera, and my Iphone pictures just don’t do the food justice.

My contribution was patatas bravas, made with this recipe from Fat Free Vegan. The recipe starts with roasted potatoes, which I cooked with a generous drizzle of olive oil. But what makes the potatoes ‘bravas’ is the spicy tomato sauce made with red onion, tomatoes, paprika, and cayenne pepper. I am not sure if my spices are particularly strong, but the sauce was a little too hot for our tastes. In this case, a very little bit of sauce went a loooong way.

I am still happy I tried this recipe, but would need to tone it down significantly if I make it again. But if you’re a fan of spicy food, I would recommend this one for your next tapas party.

Black Bean Smothered Sweet Potato

It’s finally cold enough at night that turning on the oven doesn’t feel like torture! I baked the sweet potatoes for this recipe although you could microwave them. It does take about an hour to bake them, but the rest of this recipe requires no time at all. You just toss the beans, a tomato, a bit of olive oil, and some spices in a bowl, and then warm the mixture either on the stove or in the microwave. Once the potatoes are done, you smother them with the beans, and top with sour cream. It was a warm and filling meal!