Broccoli slaw spaghetti

January 25, 2012 at 7:36 pm (recipes)
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For lunch I had a fairly delicious bowl of baked whole wheat ramen with oodles of sodium, spinach, carrots, and baked teriyaki tofu. There was so much, I couldn’t even finish it.

For dinner, I made this concoction, which was… uh… not terrible? Have I gone off the deep end?
Dice one medium yellow onion and brown in olive oil.
Add 1 package (1.7 lb) ground turkey and brown, chopping up with a spatula.
Pour 1 jar tomato sauce over the top and warm up.
Snip fresh parsley into the sauce (I made a mistake and added fresh cilantro. Fusion!)

Dole out some raw Trader Joe’s Broccoli Slaw into a bowl. Dish out sauce over the top. This made about four servings, 458 calories apiece according to my app.

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Coconut tofu and brussels sprouts

January 19, 2012 at 8:10 pm (recipes)
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On Monday the 16th, I started logging my calories using an app called LoseIt! I put in as my goal losing 1 lb a week for 20 weeks and was told I would need to eat around 1500 calories a day. THAT IS NOT A LOT OF CALORIES. I have been hungry but feel encouraged by the app–eating a lot of fruit and such, shying away from bread and mindless snacks. I hope it works.

Tonight, making this:

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/baked-coconut-shrimp/

but with coconut instead.
Beat 2 eggs, cut tofu into cubes, mix sweetened shredded coconut and cayenne pepper, spray baking sheet with cooking spray, dredge tofu in egg and then coconut and bake 30 mins at 400 degrees.

Also roasted brussels sprouts–grease cast iron skillet with bacon grease and sprinkle with black mustard seeds, halve brussels sprouts and lay them face down, sprinkle lightly with salt and sugar, put in oven at 400 degrees for 20 mins or so.

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Coconut cauliflower

January 17, 2012 at 9:28 pm (Uncategorized)

Made a variation on this cauliflower recipe (my version includes mustard seeds): 

http://www.grouprecipes.com/51571/roasty-toasty-coconut-curry-cauliflower.html

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Pour 1-2 Tbsp of grapeseed oil in a Silpat-lined rimmed baking sheet and add a teaspoon or two of black mustard seeds.

In a large plastic bag, mix 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut (this is all they had at the store), 3 tsp mild curry powder, 1 tsp salt, and 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper.

Separate 2-3 eggs and beat the whites till frothy. 

Cut up 1 head cauliflower and dredge it through the whites. 

Put the cauliflower in the bag and shake it up until coated with the coconut mixture.

When the oven is preheated, place the baking sheet inside for a few minutes to toast the mustard seeds, then remove it, swirl the oil and seeds around the pan, and add the cauliflower mixture. Roast for at least 1/2 hr, stirring and turning the cauliflower partway through.

I overcooked the cauliflower and hardly any coconut stayed stuck to it, but it was pretty tasty nevertheless.  

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Upma with quinoa, brussels sprouts, sardine pasta

January 5, 2012 at 2:06 pm (recipes)
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Made sardine pasta with homemade egg pasta (a disaster–must never attempt without a pasta machine)

Fried garlic in drained sardine oil with a pinch of saffron, added chopped sun-dried tomatoes (didn’t have currants), red pepper flakes, pine nuts, mashed sardines, fresh parsley, salt.

Roasted brussels sprouts:
Cut them off the stalk, cut them in half and roast them! I just made some that I roasted with walnuts, bacon, onions, and sage. 375 degrees for 30-45 mins. I cooked the bacon in a skillet first and added the walnuts to toast them. I drained off some of the grease and used the remainder of the hot grease to oil the sprouts–added the chopped sage, crumbled cooked bacon, chopped onion, and walnuts at this stage, although it might work better to add the bacon/walnuts later in the process.

Also made upma with quinoa:
Rinse 1 cup quinoa, then spread it out in a skillet and toast over medium heat till brown. Remove from heat.
In another pan, heat oil and throw in 1 tsp-ish black mustard seeds, 1 tsp-ish moong dal (I don’t think we have urad dal as indicated), a few curry leaves, 3 green chilis, a slice or two of fresh ginger.
Add 1/2 chopped onion and a few cloves garlic, chopped, and cook till lightly browned.
Add 1 chopped fresh tomato and cook for a couple of minutes.
Add 2 cups water, 1 tsp sugar, 1/2 tsp salt. When the water boils, add 1 cup frozen mixed vegetables (ours has peas, carrots, corn, green beans, lima beans) and the quinoa. Simmer till the water is absorbed.

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Turkish-esque eggplant and turkey macaroni

December 31, 2011 at 6:12 pm (recipes)
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Slice 1 large eggplant and drain in a colander.

Chop 2 small onions and brown in oil in a large skillet.

After the onions start to brown, add a few cloves of minced garlic.

Chop the eggplant into cubes and brown in the same pan. Add a splash of white wine, scraping up the browned bits from the bottom of the pan.

Add 1 package ground turkey and cook, breaking up the meat with a spatula. Season with cinnamon, cumin, nutmeg, sugar, salt, red pepper flakes, and balsamic vinegar. 

Chop 1 tomato and a few Tbsp of sun-dried tomatoes. Add to the pan. Continue cooking and simmering until most of the liquid has evaporated.

In the meantime, cook 1/2 package of whole wheat elbow macaroni according to the package directions. 

Mix the macaroni with the eggplant mixture. Mix in chopped fresh parsley. Season with a drizzle of walnut oil.

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Lunch

December 21, 2011 at 1:11 pm (recipes)

A cup of steamed white medium-grain rice (1:1.25 ratio of water–I read somewhere recently that this is the usual ratio for Chinese-style rice to make it more like restaurant-style). 15 mins into steaming, I dumped cut-up Chinese broccoli stems and leaves on top and then broke 2 eggs on top of that. We’ll see how it goes; intention is to eat it with furikake and chili sesame oil.

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Pad see ew

December 19, 2011 at 4:04 pm (recipes)
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Rahul made kung pao chicken to go with this, with celery, peanuts, and leftover rotisserie chicken. We served it to Tim and Kathryn when they came over Saturday night before we went out on the town. I got all the ingredients at Midway.

Pad See Ew (sorta)

1 package fresh ho fun (wide, flat fresh rice noodles)
1 big bag Chinese broccoli
3 eggs
1 yellow onion
3-4 cloves garlic
For sauce: mix together:
Soy sauce
Fish sauce
Sugar
Mirin

Prep all vegetables first: peel the onion and cut it into thin half-moons, peel the garlic cloves and smash them flat with the side of the knife, wash the broccoli thoroughly, cut the leaves from the stems, cut the stems into reasonably thin and bite-sized pieces on the diagonal, and coarsely chop the leaves and keep them apart from the stems.

Rinse the noodles in a strainer under hot running water so they are softened and separated. Leave to drain.

Set a large mixing bowl out on the counter, and get your stir-frying utensil ready (iron spatula for me).

Mix together all sauce ingredients in a glass and set aside.

Set the stove to the highest temperature and let the wok heat up. Add a generous splash of grapeseed oil, and when it starts to smoke, throw in the garlic and onions and stir vigorously. It should smell fantastic and will probably be quite smoky. When the onions are softened, with black spots in places, add the broccoli stems and stir-fry for a few minutes, till these are crisp-tender. Pour everything out into the mixing bowl.

Now heat up more oil and add the greens (you may want to ration the garlic, adding a clove to the hot oil at each stage, so everything gets some garlicky oil). Stir-fry until wilted, then dump these into the mixing bowl as well.

Heat more oil and add the softened rice noodles. Pour the sauce all over the top and mix with the spatula, stir-frying until the noodles are soft, evenly heated through, and evenly coated with the soy sauce mixture. You may want to leave the noodles alone for a minute or two at a time between stirs to help them develop a smoky/charred flavor. When done, scrape the noodles into the mixing bowl.

A tad more oil, and break the eggs directly into the wok. Stir with the spatula and then scrape the eggs into the mixing bowl when they are cooked through, but not entirely dry.

Mix everything together and enjoy.

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Worst-looking and worst-smelling dinner ever?

December 13, 2011 at 6:53 pm (recipes)

Shredded and pan-fried onions (1) and red cabbage (1/2 head). Added a can of teriyaki mackerel, mashed up with spatula. Poured 4 eggs beaten with flour, soy sauce, sugar, and mirin over the top and cooked till set. Rahul remarked on the smell when he came in. The cabbage started turning an ugly dark blue-green. I don’t care. It was tasty.

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Soup!

December 10, 2011 at 10:10 pm (recipes)
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Taco Soup:
2 onions, peeled and diced
1.5 bags carrots, peeled and diced
1 sweet potato, peeled and diced
1 regular potato, peeled and diced
nearly a whole head of garlic, roughly chopped
about 3/4 head of celery, diced
one bay leaf
taco seasoning
sugar
salt
soy sauce
pepper
red wine

Browned the carrots, sweet potatoes, celery, onions, and garlic in olive oil in the pot in 2 batches, then deglazed with a generous slug of red wine and added the potatoes, bay leaf, sugar, salt, and soy sauce, and water to cover. Simmered about 45 mins and then pureed and seasoned with taco seasoning and pepper. Ate with tortilla chips crumbled in.

For band dinner last weekend, I made a nearly identical soup (no taco seasoning), a fairly disastrous polenta (with dry cornmeal spots!) with mushroom sauce (soffritto, fresh tomato, red wine, fresh mushrooms, and rehydrated dried wild mushrooms, browned then simmered), and a translucent apple pie from Nigella Lawson.

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kale chips

October 29, 2011 at 12:22 pm (Uncategorized)

http://smittenkitchen.com/2010/03/baked-kale-chips/

Toss kale with oil, bake at 300 degrees 20 mins or till crisp. I drizzled mine with soy sauce and sugar, too. They go well with furikake.

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