Vegetable Soufflé Wednesday, Feb 27 2013

I found this recipe in an old recipe box I was given. I thought it an easy, simple, and healthy recipe, and wanted to give it a try. My one child seems to be going through a particularly picky stage, and, with my pregnancy, so am I. 😉  I was hoping it would be well received, and it was! I’m definitely adding this dish to our list of simple, easy meals to make. 🙂

Vegetable Soufflé

6 eggs, separated
1/4 tsp cream of tartar
1 cup cooked rice
1 cup white sauce (see recipe below)
1 cup vegetables, chopped and cooked
Salt and pepper to taste
Cheese sauce (see recipe below)

Beat egg whites until stiff, adding cream of tartar while beating.

Then beat egg yolks, and fold into egg whites. Add rice, white sauce, vegetables, and salt and pepper. Pour soufflé mixture into greased casserole dish. Bake at 350F for 45min-1hr, until cooked through. Serve with cheese sauce.

White Sauce

1 Tbsp oil/butter
1 1/2 Tbsp flour
1/4 tsp salt
dash pepper
1 cup milk

Melt butter in small pot. Mix in flour. Add salt and milk. Whisk frequently until sauce comes to a boil over medium heat. Let simmer 2-3 minutes. It’s ready!

Cheese Sauce

Make the white sauce recipe above, but use only 1Tbsp flour for a thinner consistency. In the end, add approximately 1 cup shredded cheese and stir until melted.

 

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Quinoa Patties Wednesday, Jan 9 2013

 

 

I branched out and made some quinoa patties! They’re so good! A good vegetarian option for sure. Even my boys loved them and ate them up! I made extra and froze them for quick lunches on other days.

The recipe is a slight variation from Whole Living.

 

Quinoa Patties

2 1/2 cups cooked
4 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
1 onion, finely chopped
1/3 cup shredded cheese
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup bread crumbs
Oil, to fry

Combine quinoa, eggs, salt, onion, cheese, and garlic. Add bread crumbs, mix, and let sit for a few minutes.

Form mixture into patties, I made mine about 3″ across and it made 25 patties. (Add more bread crumbs if the mixture is too wet, or more water if too dry.)

Heat oil in frying pan, and cook on medium-low heat until browned, approximately 3-4 minutes on each side.

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Zucchini Fritters Monday, Oct 8 2012

I bought a large zucchini at a farmers’ market this fall. I shredded it all up and froze it into baggies to use as Zucchini Bread, and Zucchini Brownies. I also wanted to try making Zucchini Fritters, as I had some at a friends’ this summer and really enjoyed it. I followed a recipe from here, with just a few tweaks. It’s a bit plain in taste, but I prefer it that way due to my boys’ still-budding taste buds. 🙂  They ate theirs with ketchup, while I ate mine with homemade green ketchup! I’m glad there are leftovers to eat tomorrow for lunch. 🙂

Zucchini Fritters

2 cups zucchini, shredded
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour (I used wheat)
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 cup onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4-1/2 cup cheese

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Heat a frying pan, add some oil, and drop zucchini mixture by heaping tablespoonfuls, and cook for a few minutes on medium-low heat, until golden on each side.

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Secret Recipe Club: Chick Pea Stew Monday, Oct 1 2012

I’m part of an online club, called “Secret Recipe Club“. Every month, I am assigned a recipe blog where I get to choose a recipe, blog about it, and all the posts (of my group) go live on the last Monday or every month. It’s fun as it exposes me to new recipe blogs, get me to try new recipes, see what recipe someone else picked from my blog, and helps promote each others’ blogs.

Recently, one of the Secret Recipe Club members, Daniel of Haggis and Herring passed away (his wife Meredith wrote of his passing, and a eulogy here). Today, there is a special tribute reveal in his honor. All those who chose to participate picked one recipe from his blog, and we are now blogging about it. I thought this was pretty special, considering we only know each other through this online venture! Thank you, SRC hostesses, for organizing this!

I picked a Chick Pea Stew recipe. I put all the ingredients in the crock-pot, let it simmer all day and voilà! So easy! I really liked this recipe, though my boys were not quite as fans of it. I’ll be making it again anyways. 😉  I did cut down on the cayenne pepper and chili as my boys aren’t so keen on spicy (“it spices my tongue!”), but I personally quite liked the kick of this recipe. 🙂

Chick Pea Stew

1 cup onion, diced
1 cup carrot, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups potatoes, cubed
1/4 tsp ground cayenne pepper
2 tsp ground cumin
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/8 tsp salt
1 can (28oz) diced tomatoes
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (about 2 cups, I cook my own from dry)
1 cup vegetable/chicken broth

Stovetop: Sautee onions and garlic (with 2 Tbsp oil) for 2-3 minutes. Add carrots and continue to saute for 4-5 minutes. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium and simmer for 20 minutes or until potatoes are done.

Crockpot: Simply combine all ingredients and let simmer on low about 8hrs! The exact time will depend on strength of your crock-pot, but a crockpot is pretty forgiving that way. 🙂

Can be eaten just as it is, on top of rice, or noodles! I ate mine plain, my husband ate his on top of noodles, and my boys ate it plain with noodles on the side. 😉

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Lentil Meatloaf Monday, Sep 17 2012

That’s right! Lentil meatloaf! And guess what? My family loves it! 😀  I’ve made it twice already, and both times my sons just gobble it up like there’s no tomorrow. That makes this mama happy! 😉  I’m so excited at this recipe. It’s an awesome vegetarian meal for sure!

Feel free to play around with the seasonings as this recipe is not overly strong in that area. I wanted it to be plain enough for my boys to eat. We eat it with extra ketchup on top. Yum!

Lentil meatloaf

3/4 cup breadcrumbs
2 cups lentils, cooked
1 large onion
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 tsp worcertershire sauce
2 eggs
2 Tbsp kethup

Put onion and garlic in food processor until chopped up. Add remaining ingredients and proceed a little bit until all mixed. You don’t want to over puree your food, but have it mashed together a bit. Pour into greased bread pan (or any other pan!), top with ketchup. Bake at 350F for 40 minutes.

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Crustless Vegetable Quiche Wednesday, Apr 11 2012

My husband loves quiche! I do too, except I don’t like making pie crusts! 🙂  There are 2 quiches I tend to do, this rice-crusted quiche, and one that has a potato base (hashbrowns-like). I love those quiche recipes, because they require no crust! And make my husband happy. 🙂

(Yes, there is a crust in this picture… it doesn’t need a crust! Actually, tastes much better without one!)

My cousin made a cookbook of family recipes, and sent me a copy. YAY! I was so excited to get it!! One of the recipe is this crustless vegetable quiche recipe. I’ve made it twice, and plan on making it many more times. It’s the easiest quiche recipe, I’ve done yet!

Crustless Vegetable Quiche

1/2 cup onion, diced
1 1/2 cup vegetables*
3 eggs
1 cup milk
1/2-3/4 cup flour (1/2 cup white flour, or 3/4 cup when using fresh-ground wheat/spelt)
Salt and pepper
1/2 tsp Oregano
1/2 cup cheese
Meat, optional

Fry onions, mushrooms, and peppers in frying pan, to soften. Add in blanched** broccoli.

Mix together milk, eggs, flour, salt, pepper and oregano. Add to vegetables. Transfer to pie plate*** and sprinkle with cheese. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes or until eggs are cooked.

*I’ve used what I have on hand, approx: 1/2 cup mushrooms, 1/2 cup broccoli, and 1/2 cup red/green/yellow peppers
**microwaved for 30 sec to soften.

***I cooked the vegetables in a cast-iron pan, and baked it in that! It was a double recipe.

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Lentil Chili Friday, Oct 14 2011

I’m always on the lookout for new recipes that use beans and lentils. They are so healthy for us, reduce our meat intake (which is a good thing!), and stretch the food budget. I was excited to come across this lentil chili recipe over at Raising Olives. I tried, using soy protein instead of ground beef, making it a completely vegetarian chili. It is very different than a traditional chili, but tasted wonderful! We ate ours over brown rice and really enjoyed it. I will definitely be making this again, and again, and again!

Go ahead and try it! 🙂

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Kusherie (Lentils and Rice dish) Wednesday, Sep 21 2011

A very tasty vegetarian meal. I love the combination of rice and lentils! Thanks to my sister Milca for sharing her recipe!

 

Rice and Lentils

(Serves 6-8)

1 1/4 cup lentils
1 1/2 cups rice*
2 Tbsp oil
1 tsp salt
dash pepper

Heat in a heavy saucepan 2 Tbsp oil, add lentils, brown over medium heat for 5 minutes, stirring often.

Add 3 cups boiling water or stock, salt, and pepper. Cook uncovered 10 minutes over medium heat. Stir in rice and 1 cup boiling water or stock. Bring to boil, reduce heat to low, and cook 25 minutes.

* This recipe uses white rice. We used brown rice and simply cooked it longer once we added the rice to the lentils.

 

Tomato Sauce

3/4 cup tomato paste
3 cups tomato juice, puree, OR sauce
1 green pepper, chopped
chopped celery leaves
1 Tbsp sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne peppers, or crushed chilis
3 onions sliced*
4 cloves garlic, minced

In a saucepan, heat together all ingredients except onions and garlic. Bring sauce to boil, reduce heat, and simmer 20-30 minutes. Heat a little bit of oil in a small skillet. Saute onions and garlic over medium heat until browned.

*I only used one onion, and added the garlic to the sauce. It’s versatile!

TO SERVE: Put rice and lentil mixture on platter, pour tomato sauce over, and top with onions and garlic.

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Summer Squash (or Zucchini!) Casserole Friday, Sep 9 2011

Abigail, over at Tammy’s Recipes, shares her family recipe for a summer squash casserole. It tastes just as great with zucchini! It’s a perfect recipe for this time of the year when squash and zucchini is cheap to buy, or over-abundant in some of your gardens. 🙂

It’s a very easy recipe to make. The bread crumbs on top are a great way to use leftover stale bread. The recipe calls for mayonnaise, and I always use my homemade mayonnaise. I’ve also made it with some chicken chunks in it, or serving slices of ham on the side. It’s a great recipe we really enjoy around here. 🙂  I always make extra to have some for lunch the next day!

My husband bought me two zucchinis last time the farmers’ market was in town (they come to our town once a month in the summer). Look at the size of the zucchini! Almost the length of my big 6 month old! 🙂

I ground some of it up and put it into meatballs and hamburger patties I was making (to freeze). I also put some of the ground beef I cooked and froze for casseroles later on. Then we ate this squash/zucchini casseroles several times.

What are your favorite ways to use and eat zucchinis?

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Vegetarian Pizza Thursday, Aug 11 2011

I really enjoy having vegetarian meals once in a while, and this vegetarian pizza is delicious! I usually make one with meat, and one vegetarian!

What veggies do you like on your pizzas?

Vegetarian Pizza

Pizza Crust
Sauce: pizza sauce, italian dressing, or voeller dressing
Diced veggies: zucchini, tomatoes, broccoli, peppers, grated carrot, and onions (regular, purple and/or green onions)
Cheese

Once again, this recipe is versatile, so I don’t feel I can give exact quantities needed, it’s up to your taste buds! Use the veggies you have in your fridge, and add it on. To me? The more variety, the merrier! 🙂

Spread sauce of choice on your crust, add your veggies, and top with cheese. Bake at 450F for 20 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.

Shared at Tempt my Tummy Tuesday and Cast Party Wednesday!

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