Vegetarian Cabbage Rolls

Cabbage rolls are something new to me, but I thought I would try them as I had a cabbage hanging out in my fridge. They are really easy, and surprisingly delicious. It is a really cheap main dish and very versatile. It usually has ground meat in it but we didn't miss it at all.

Vegetarian Cabbage Rolls for 3-4 people

Ingredients:
1 pint tomato sauce
1 head cabbage
1 bell pepper
1/3 onion, diced
1 garlic clove diced
1/3 c rice
1/4 c sliced artichoke hearts
2 sticks of celery, diced
a few sun dried tomatoes, diced
1 T mustard
1 t sesame seeds
1 t mustard seeds, crushed

1. Roast the bell pepper (to do this either broil or put on a gas stove top until all sides are blackened, then put in a bowl covered immediately to steam off the skin, remove the skin and seeds and chop)
2. Mix bell pepper, onion, garlic, rice, artichokes, celery, tomatoes, mustard, mustard seeds, sesame seeds, salt and pepper
3. Take the core out of the cabbage while still leaving the cabbage whole. Carefully remove leaves one by one- try to keep them from tearing. You should et 2 per person.
4. Boil water with a T of salt
5. Add the leaves to the water and let cook until wilted, 1-2 minutes. Plunge in ice water to stop cooking.
6. Lay out one leaf at a time, add filling and fold like a burrito.
7. Pour tomato sauce in a wide pot (big enough to do one layer of cabbage rolls) and arrange rolls in a layer. Bring to a simmer, cover and cook for 1 1/2 hours.

Have you signed up for the giveaway yet? Because if you haven't you're missing out!

Spaghetti Squash- Take One

When I was in college I had a health conscious roommate who thrived on spaghetti squash. It seemed so bizarre and I just always thought- why not just eat pasta. I am a little more open minded now, and more health centered and realize you eat it because it is a vegetable instead of flour- big plus.

So today I attempted to make it for the first time.

Here's what I did.
1. Poke holes in it with a knife.
2. Microwave for 6 minutes.
3. Flip and microwave for another 7 minutes.
4. Scoop out seeds and use a fork to fluff up strands.
5. Mix with a Moroccan spiced oil, almonds and artichokes.
6. Eat

Result: John ate it, I tried it. I really didn't like it and John thought it seemed oily. I'm not giving up though, I have some other ideas and I am determined it will be good if I work a little harder at it. So if you have any ideas please share, otherwise come back next week for attempt two.

Bread Bowls and Beet Salad

Alright, here they are- bread bowls. Delicious bread bowls. You know the best thing about bread bowls? You need to carve out the inside which makes for an excellent "while cooking" snack.

I know I was asked to make soup for the bread bowls, but I almost got roasted alive in my house yesterday just making the bread. Something to do with near a hundred degree temperatures outside. So soup was out of the question. But after lots of thinking and talking the "why not put anything in a bread bowl" question came up. And really, why not?

Bread Bowls, this makes 2 good sized bread bowls
(taken from a recipe in the bread bible by Rose Levy Beranbaum, one of my fav authors who has a blog!)

Dough Starter
1 c flour
1/4 c wheat flour
3/8 t instant yeast
1 1/4 t honey
1 1/3 water
Flour Mixture
1 3/4 c flour
1/2 t yeast
1 1/2 t salt

1. Mix starter mixture with a whisk until incorporated in a large bowl (the kitchen aid bowl is a good option).
2. Mix flour and yeast from flour mixture and pour over top of the starter.
3. Cover bowl and let rise for 1-4 hours, however long you have, the longer the better.
4. Add salt, put bowl on kitchen-aid and using the dough hook mix on low until incorporated, then mix on speed 4 for 5 minutes.
5. Put in greased bowl, covered, and let it rise for an hour, until doubled.
6. Shape dough into two large rolls and place on cornmeal covered baking sheet.
7. Cover and let rise for another hour.
8. Bake at 475 degrees for 10 minutes then reduce to 425 for another 10 minutes, a thermometer inside should reach 200 degrees.
9. Let cool.

Beet Salad

While baking the bread I put a beet in foil and a couple cloves of garlic in foil into the oven. Let cook for 30 minutes then take out garlic. Turn off oven and let beet stay in oven to finish cooking.
Once cooled chop up beet into a large dice, and add diced cucumber and tomato.
To make dressing mix 3 T red wine vinegar, 1 t salt, 1 t pepper, and 1 t sugar.
Add plenty of grated pecorino romano and spoon into bread bowls. Delicious!

Acorn Squash Latkes

Lately we have been trying to buy a couple different vegetables each week to get ourselves to try new things. It has been fun and we have come up with some good combinations.

Last night the veggie of choice was an acorn squash. It isn't too crazy or out there, but it is delicious and really pretty. I love the shape. Too be honest that is a big part of the reason that I bought it.

To come up with a new recipe I usually go to epicurious.com. It has a great database of really good recipes. I found recipes for gnocchi, lasagna, couscous and so on, all containing acorn squash. The one that got me excited though was the latkes, because it was a very veggie meal, instead of being a carb covered by a veggie.

You can find the recipe at:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Butternut-Squash-Latkes-with-Sage-and-Pine-Nut-Yogurt-Sauce-350788

I halved the recipe for a main course for the two of us, which was 1 squash.


It is actually meant to be for butternut squash, but they have a very similar flavor. It says to serve it with yogurt which I thought sounded delicious, but sadly we were out of yogurt. The salad was nice with it to give a little freshness and crunch to the meal. But all in all we would make this meal again.

Any ideas for new veggies next week?

Oh and as a side note, as soon as I get up from this computer I am going to start making bread bowls, so be looking tomorrow Juliet, or anyone else who loves things served in bread instead of dishes.

Meal for One

I've been staying at my parents house for the last week. Without John. Which means a lonely Joy. Luckily I have my parents, sister and her four kids nearby to keep me company.

Food is a little interesting here right now. We are all on our own kind of meal plans so it means a lot of cooking for one. A good staple I have used a couple of times this week already is roasted veggies, it is like a whole meal in one bowl, with minimal cleanup. So that works for me.

Roasted Veggies for One

1 potato or a couple new potatoes, diced big
1 large carrot chopped
3 asparagus
1/4 onion, a couple green onions or a shallot, chopped
squash, peppers, brussel sprouts, whatever you like
1 clove garlic
1/4 c finely shredded cheese
olive oil
salt and pepper
brown mustard

Toss all your ingredients together, except the mustard
Cover a sheet pan with foil and pour everything onto it
Bake at 400 degrees until everything is crispy and caramelized
Toss in mustard and eat up
And throw away the lovely foil that makes for no mess

enJOY

Sausage and Brussels Sprouts

As I was saying yesterday, I am not overly fond of vegetables. I have been doing a lot of experiments as of late to find new ways I like veggies and I've found that roasting veggies is the best way to eat cooked veggies.

Last week for the first time I tried brussels sprouts.
Have you had brussels sprouts?

If you add something a little fatty and let them get a little crispy they are actually quite good.

Sausage and Brussels Sprouts

10-15 brussels sprouts, cleaned and quartered
1/2 lb spicy sausage, removed from its casing
1 t caraway seeds
salt and pepper
vegetable oil

1. Mix everything on a sheet pan so it is all well coated
2. Bake at 400 degrees until the sausage is cooked through and browned and the sprouts have crispy ends
3.Remove from oven and serve

I served ours with quinoa, but rice or any other carb would have served as an excellent base.
By the way brussel sprouts are very cheap!

Homemade Fresh Salsa

I love fresh tomatoes. Somehow tomatoes from a garden are about a million times more delicious than even the best store bought ones.

A week or two ago I mentioned that we brought home a lot of tomatoes. Sad to say - those tomatoes started to go down hill fast and I needed to do something with them before they spoiled!

Answer: Homemade Salsa, its yummy, easy and makes the best use of the tomatoes strong flavor.

Ingredients:
10 tomatoes- finely chopped
1 onion, red or yellow- finely diced
3 garlic cloves minced
1-2 chipotle peppers in adobo chopped fine
1 lime, zest and juice
1-2 T oil
salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder
avocado

1. Mix together the tomatoes, onion, garlic and chipotles. Season to your taste. Add a little oil and the lime. It will be good in the fridge for like a week like this.
2. Whenever we go to eat a bowl of eat i cut up half an avocado and put it in with the salsa. It makes for a really yummy guacamole-salsa combo that means all the flavor- half the bowls!

hint: it wouldn't hurt to throw a little cilantro in there! but I'd do that day of too.