In search of food....

Last Sunday, after we finished as much staining and painting as we could do in a day, my mind turned to food. And I turned into a cooking fool, hoping to stock-up on pre-made meals for lunches and dinners throughout the week. In my ideal world, I get all of my groceries on Sunday afternoon and cook up one or two batches of something yummy and healthy for lunches throughout the week. I’ve hit a wall, you see, with sandwiches for lunches. For one reason, they start to just feel like a whole lot of bread after awhile—too big pieces of bread, with some meat and cheese stuffed inside. That equals a lot of carbs, and basically no veggies. Now, I’m not ruling out sandwiches completely. They’re great, I love them, and they’ll be back in the rotation. But for now, I’m trying to challenge myself to find new and different lunch options that include more veggies.

This last Sunday, I really got on a roll and cooked up four different batches of food for the week. James and I ate our way through these dishes for breakfast, lunch and dinners. Here’s what I made:

1. Roasted vegetable quinoa salad

This recipe is from cooking light June 2008 and I love it! It has such a variety of veggies you can throw in, it tastes delicious, and it stays tasting great all week. James also likes this one. Here is the recipe:

1 red bell pepper

3 cups water

1.5 cups uncooked quinoa

¼ balsamic vinegar

2 tsp olive oil

¼ tsp black pepper

2 cups chopped carrot

3.5 Cups chopped zuccini

1 ¾ cups yellow squash

1 cup feta cheese

1 garlic clove, minced

Crumbled Turkey sausage (my own addition for more protein)

Yields 8 servings.

Directions:

1. Preheat broiler

2. Cut bell pepper in half lenghthwise; discard seeds and membrane. Place pepper halves, skin side up, on a foil-lined baking sheet; flatten with hand. Broil 15 minutes or until blackened. Place in a zip-top plastic bag; seal. Let sit 15 minutes, then peel and cut bell pepper into strips.

3. Reduce oven temp to 500.

4. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil in saucepan, and stir in quinoa. Cover, reduce heat, and cook for 15 minutes or until liquid is absorbed. Remove pan from hheat and set aside.

5. Combine vinegar, oil, and black pepper in a medium bowl, stirring with a whisk. Add carrot to vinegar mixture, toss to coat. Drain carrot through a fine sieve, reserving carrot and vinegar mixture. Place carrot on baking sheet coated with cooking spray. Bake at 500 for 10 minutes. Add zuccini and yellow squash to reserved vinegar mixture in bowl, toss well to coat. Drain zuccinni and squash through a fine sieve over a bowl, reserving zuccinni and vinegar mixture. Add zuccinni mixture to carrot on baking sheet in a single layer. Bake an additional 20 minutes or until veggies are browned. Remove from oven; cool completely.

6. Combine quinoa, roasted veggies, reserved vinegar mixture, cheese, [sausage] and garlic in a large bowl; stir well to combine. Cover and chill.

2. Lasagna Tart

I found this recipe on one of my regular food blogs, 101 Cookbooks (almost all of my food blogs were introduced to me by my friend Alison, including this one0. This dish was really yummy, although I don’t tell James it’s lasagna cause it doesn’t have any noodles. And so I called it a “Rustic Italian Tart” so that he wasn’t expecting something else. I used a pre-made pie crust from the stroe that I just baked for 12 minutes before putting the tart together. And again, I added Italian turkey sausage to this recipe.

Weblink for this recipe, from which I pasted and copied below: http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/lasagna-tart-recipe.html

Lasagna Tart Recipe

You can do this with any par-baked pie or tart shell you like. Next time around I might experiment with a Parmesan tart crust like this one, or add some herbs to this version.

2 medium zucchini, sliced into very very thin coins
scant 1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt

Tart Crust
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour (or spelt flour)
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
zest of one lemon
1/4 cup olive oil
scant 1/2 cup cold water

Tomato Sauce
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
scant 1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
pinch of salt
1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes

1 1/2 cups ricotta cheese

Preheat your oven to 375F degrees, and place a rack in the middle. Oil a 10-inch tart pan and set aside.

Start by tossing the sliced zucchini with the salt in a medium bowl. Transfer the zucchini to a colander and let it drain while you make the tart shell and tomato sauce.

To make the tart shell combine the flour, salt, and lemon zest in a large mixing bowl. Drizzle the olive oil over the flour and stir that in as well. Drizzle the cold water over the flour and mix with a fork just until it is absorbed. Knead one or twice - just until the dough comes together into a ball. On a lightly floured surface use a rolling pin to roll the dough into a circle roughly 13-inches across. Ease the pastry into your tart pan and press it into the corners and up the sides without stretching the dough. Trim away any excess dough, and place the pan in the refrigerator for at least thirty minutes. When the dough is done resting, prick the crust with a fork a few times. Now line the pastry with parchment paper and fill the tart with pie weights. Bake for 15 minutes. Carefully remove the paper and pie weights, then toast the tart crust in the oven for another five minutes or so before transferring it to a rack to cool. Leave the oven on, but dial it down to 350F.

In the meantime, you can make the sauce. Stir the garlic, olive oil, red pepper flakes, and salt together in a small, cold saucepan. Turn the heat to medium-high and cook until the garlic starts to sizzle just a bit. Stir in the crushed tomatoes, bring to a simmer, cook the sauce down a bit, 10 minutes or so, then remove from heat.

When you are ready to assemble the tart, use a spatula to spread half of the ricotta cheese across the base of the tart shell. Now spoon about half of the sauce over the ricotta and arrange half of the zucchini in a single layer on top of the sauce (see image). If your zucchini is still quite wet, press it into some paper towels. I use my fingers for this next part. After spooning the remaining ricotta over the zucchini, push it around a bit with your fingers so that it forms a layer. Arrange another layer of zucchini and finish with the remaining sauce. You want the filling to nearly, but not quite fill the pan.

Place the tart on a rimmed baking sheet - in case you end up with an overflow - and bake for roughly 40 minutes or until the tart is cooked through. Remove and let cool for 10 minutes before serving. I would have dusted the top of this with a bit of Parmesan, but was out of it!

Serves 8.

3. Spinach Bacon Quiche with Parmesan

This was great. Nothing fancy, I just found a spinach quiche recipe on-line and added bacon and parmesan cheese, and the flavors mixed really well. James and I ate our way through this for breakfast, lunch and dinner.

4. Black Bean Chili-Topped Sweet Potatoes

We’ve had this for dinner a few nights now, and you seriously can’t find an easier, cheaper, quicker, healthier option. The recipe is from Enlightened Cooking, link here: http://enlightenedcooking.blogspot.com/2010/10/black-bean-chili-topped-sweet-potatoes.html. We ate ours with light sour cream and fresh cilantro. C’est tres bon!

Makes 2 hearty, main-dish servings

2 medium sweet potatoes

1 15-ounce can black beans, rinsed

1-1/2 cups good quality, chunky bottled salsa (preferably chipotle)

1 tsp ground cumin

2 tablespoons plain Greek yogurt (or dairy-free sour cream, if vegan)

2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro

Optional: Additional toppings, e.g., crumbled cheese (queso fresco or goat cheese), fresh herbs

Prick sweet potatoes with a fork in several places.., Place in a baking dish and bake at 425F about 1 hour.) (Alternatively , microwave on High until tender all the way to the center, 12 to 15 minutes

Meanwhile, combine salsa, cumin & beans in a saucepan over medium heat (or medium microwave-safe bowl; microwave on High until just heated through, 2 to 3 minutes.

Cool potatoes 5 minutes, then slit each lengthwise, pressing open, then spoon the chili into the center of each. Top each with a dollop of the yogurt (or non-dairy sour cream) , a sprinkle of cilantro, and (optional) other toppings.

Now it’s Sunday again, and I’m looking for new things to cook up for the week. I’m seriously considering the Lazy Day Peanut Noodle Salad recipe from 101 Cookbooks. http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/lazy-day-peanut-noodle-salad-recipe.html I’ll let you know how it turns out!