Salad with Caramelized Pecans

This is ever-so-slightly adapted from a recipe in a really awesome cookbook that was temporarily residing at my house.

Here's a pretty bad picture of a very tasty salad

Ingredients

Salad

• 12 c lettuce/spring greens (or something like that)
• 1/2 c crumbled feta or (ugh!) goat cheese
• 3/4 c caramelized pecans (see below)
• 1 c fresh sliced grapes/strawberries/oranges (I've been using grapes)
• whatever else you have that fits... eg. carrots, dried cranberries, etc.

Dressing (part of the magic)

• 1/2 c olive oil
• 1 tbs maple syrup
• 2-3 tbs balsamic vinegar (I like a little more)
• 1 tbs soy sauce
• 1 tbs sesame oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 tsp pepper

Pecans (the rest of the magic)

• pecans (3/4 c or more)
• melted butter (~2 tbs)
• 1 tsp salt
• 2 tsp white sugar

Directions

First Caramelize the Pecans:

1. Roast pecans (I think about 1.5 c is good for these proportions, but you can do more or less and adjust) on a cookie sheet in a 350 deg. oven until they are "lightly browned" - I have a hard time figuring out when this is, given that PECANS ARE ALREADY BROWN, but just toast them a bit.
2. Toss the pecans in a bowl with some melted butter
3. Mix in sugar and salt and toss together
4. Put them back on the tray and return to oven for a few minutes until they're nicely caramelized-looking - just be careful not to burn them!

Oh and the dressing.  Mix all the dressing stuff together.  You'll probably make more than you need.

Now make a Salad.  If you roasted lots of pecans you'll have extras for the next salad you make!

Mason Jar Salads

I'm not the first to be quite excited about the idea of putting together salads in mason jars for a quick grab 'n go healthy lunch/snack option.  I'm particularly pleased with my latest batch, so I thought I'd share....

Ingredients:
In my latest batch, I made 3 jars full (how big are these.. roughly 500-600mL? They're pretty standard.  For some I used old jam jars instead, although they're a little harder to shake out since the opening is a little smaller) of salad... so the ingredients below were split up between the 3.  Adjust amounts to fit the number of jars you're hoping to fill!

Dressing:

• juice of 1/2 lemon + 1/2 lime
• roughly the same amount of olive oil as the lemon/lime juice
• a small clove garlic, minced
• pinch of salt
• black pepper

Salad Stuff:
Here's my latest creation... but be creative and try whatever sounds good to you!

• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa, cooked (but then I ate some of it, so probably about 1/3 cup would have been enough... that is, about 1 and 1/3 c cooked quinoa)
• 1/2 jalapeno pepper, diced small
• several sundried tomatoes, sliced (I used about 3-4 per jar - enough for a thin layer)
• 1/2 a yellow bell pepper, diced
• frozen edamame beans, thawed (actually they were still frozen when I threw them in)
• frozen corn, thawed just like the edamame :)
• cilantro, chopped
• chunk of cucumber, diced
• some sliced almonds

Directions:

Mix up the dressing ingredients and distribute it between the jars first (at the bottom).  Then layer the other ingredients in a way that looks pretty/makes sense.  Whatever is at the bottom soaking in the dressing should be resistant to getting wilty or icky when soaked in liquid - I put the sundried tomatoes in first to marinate them and they were delicious!  Since my quinoa was still pretty warm, I put it on top of one of the frozen veggies which wouldn't be badly affected by a little heating.

When you're ready to eat it, just dump it into a bowl and grab a fork!

Vegetarian Pad Thai

This will be a quick post - no pictures or anything too fancy, just linking to a very tasty veggie pad thai recipe I tried tonight.  You can find it at http://thaifood.about.com/od/vegetarianthairecipes/r/padthaiveg.htm

Changes I made:

1. Don't cook the rice noodles.  Just soak them in cold water for 1/2 to 1 hour then drain them well.  They should soften up enough, though you might find you need to stir fry them a little longer than the recipe suggests.

2. Add a little extra tamarind paste, sugar, and chili sauce (if you like spice) to the sauce recipe.  I used palm sugar instead of brown sugar, but I'm sure brown or white would be fine.  We also used a jalapeno (seeds included) instead of a chili pepper.  Turned out just the right level of spicy!

Other than that, basically just followed the recipe.  I'd like to try this with fresh galangal instead of ginger next time I manage to get a hold of some.

yum yum yum.

Lentil-and-Rice-Stuffed Tomatoes

Stuffed Tomatoes waiting to be sauced and baked

I don't often eat lentils.  I think I should.  The filling for these tomatoes was really tasty just on its own, and superb stuffed inside tomatoes with a garlicky sauce and crumbled feta on top!

The recipe is based on one from AllRecipes.com, incorporating a number of reviewer suggestions.  Here is the original.

The following describes exactly what I did, which involved making a heck of a lot of filling - so much that I stuffed the original 8 tomatoes then a couple of days later used my leftover filling to stuff about 20 more little Campari ones.  So you could reduce the amount of rice and lentils if you're only stuffing 8 tomatoes, or you could just have extra tasty stuff.


*Note if you're in a hurry, you could make a really tasty stew by just preparing the filling and mixing in some chopped up tomatoes (this is basically what I did with some of my leftovers)... just don't forget to top it with feta for extra tastiness!

Ingredients:

- 1 cup brown rice
- 3/4 cup Puy Lentils (I thought these would have a good taste/texture and they did.  The original calls for red lentils and other reviews used green ones or even black beans, all of which would also be good... these alternatives might require some adjustment of cooking time.)
- 3-4 tsp Veggie stock powder
- 2 tbs butter
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 tbs chopped fresh mint
- salt and pepper
- cumin or garam masala
- several cloves of garlic, minced (I use lots!)
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 8 medium tomatoes or more smaller ones
- crumbled feta for topping


Directions:

1. Put the rice, 4 cups water, and the veggie stock in a medium-sized pot.  Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer and cook for 15 mins.
2. Add the lentils into the pot with the rice and simmer for about another 25 mins, until most of the liquid is absorbed (probably not quite all though).
3. Meanwhile, melt butter in a saute pan. Add onion, and saute until golden brown over medium low heat. Stir in lentil mixture and mint. Season generously with salt and pepper. Add cumin or garam masala to taste for extra flavour. (I used cumin).
4. Slice the tops off tomatoes, and reserve. Scoop out the middles, and reserve. Fill tomato shells with lentil mixture, and replace the tops. Stand in a baking dish.
5. Chop reserved tomato middles, and place in a small bowl. Mix in oil and garlic. Pour around the stuffed tomatoes. 
6. Bake in a preheated 450 degree F (230 degree C) for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove from oven, and serve with crumbled feta as a topping.   Good with some tasty bread on the side to soak up the extra sauce!

The Verdict:

Katie's rating: delightful!

Easiness: Easy
Speed: Slowish

Black Bean Salad

I always forget about bean salad and then when I finally remember I get really excited about it.  How can you go wrong with tasty fresh things doused in lime juice and cilantro?

Bean Salad

Ingredients:


There are infinite variations on this - choose what looks tasty!  Here is roughly what I did tonight...
- 1 can garbanzo beans
- 1 can black beans
- 1/2 red pepper, diced small
- 1 tomato, diced
- some feta, diced
- some sugar snap peas, chopped
- 2 green onions, diced
- 1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

Dressing:
- juice of 2 limes (they weren't that juicy)
- olive oil - a little less than the amount of lime juice
- 1 chili pepper, seeded and sliced
- a clove or 2 of garlic, minced
- a few shakes of salt
- black pepper
- a dash each of cumin, coriander, and mystery red powder (I think it was actually paprika, though it ought to have been chili powder)
- a dab of honey (about 1/2 tsp)

Directions:
Whisk the dressing ingredients together with a fork in a mug or small container.

Drain and rinse canned beans and toss in a bowl with the rest of the ingredients.

Toss with the dressing.

It's probably a good idea to let everything meld together in the fridge, but it tastes good eaten right away too.

The Verdict:

Katie's rating: yum

Easiness: Super easy
Speed: Super speedy

Kale Chips!

Last of the Kale Chips

There weren't many left by the time I took the picture, and now they're all gone! If you've never tried them, you'll be surprised and amazed. They basically taste like potato chips... just better. My former roommate was making these one day and I never tried them since I was on my way out the door at the time. But I have been meaning to get around to making them ever since.

Ingredients and Directions:

Toss kale leaves in oil & salt and bake.
Or, see the full instructions here: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Baked-Kale-Chips/Detail.aspx

Notes:

• I used some green chili sea salt that we happened to buy recently at Sous Chef, but I'm sure just plain old salt would make tasty chips too.
• The only complaint I have is that it took a while to separate the leaves from their stalks... but it was important because in the few smaller ones where I left the stalks in, the result was not quite as satisfying - the stalk part is just too tough and chewy.

The Verdict:

Katie's rating: Delightful!
Johnny's rating: Yum+

Easiness: Super easy
Speed: Pretty quick

Pita Pizzas!

pita pizzas!

First off, let me mention that while looking for some tips on roasting peppers, given that I had never done it before, I came across the awesome Vegan Dad blog with tonnes of great recipe ideas. By the way, if you want a truly vegetarian pizza, skip this and instead take a look at his Roasted Red Pepper Pizza recipe - looks delish!


So that brings us to tonight: pita pizzas. Well, again I can't quite say these are vegetarian, but they could easily be. Before I realized that we could roast some peppers to expand on our apparently limited topping options, we decided to pull some of Johnny's coworker's fabulous venison sausage out of the freezer. While they were cooking, I roasted my first peppers - it was fun!

Ingredients:

5 pitas
1 can tomato paste
seasonings for tomato paste (minced garlic, herbs, salt, pepper) basil leaves, chopped
1/2 can of pineapple tidbits, drained
1/2 each: roasted green, red, and yellow pepper1 block mozzarella, grated
1 homemade moose/venison sausage, boiled and fried (you know, if you just happen to have this on hand)
a touch of olive oil
a sprinkle of garlic powder
grated parmesan/asiago (for garnish)

Directions:

Well, it's a pizza. You know what to do.

A few things that Johnny did to make these ones extra special:
- heat up the tomato paste and mix in garlic and other seasonings before spreading it on the pita shells
- put some toppings under the cheese and others on top (the peppers and sausage were on top and I think it was better that way)
- drizzle the edge of the crusts with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic powder before baking
- sprinkle the finished pizzas with grated asiago before eating

The Verdict:

Katie's rating: Yum+
Johnny's rating: Yum+

Easiness: Easy
Speediness: Slowish