Recipe of the Week: Pan Seared Scallops with Saffron Risotto

Even though it's officially spring, the weather in PA has been far more winter like and I always want to make more comfort food when its cold and wet out. 
Risotto takes a while, and requires a little tending too, but it's not that hard. I tend to keep my risotto on the al dente side as I'm not fond of mushy stuff!

Ingredients:

1 quart vegetable broth
1/2 cup white wine
1 cup brown arborio rice
1/2 lb sea scallops (mine were huge and I sliced them in half)
2 tablespoons butter
1/2 onion diced
1/4 of red pepper sliced
handful of snap peas, cut in 1/2
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/2 Saffron threads, crushed
ground pepper

1. In a saucepan add vegetable broth and wine, heat at medium low until warm and then turn off. Keep a lid on the sauce pan
2. Add rice to large saute pan, put heat on medium and toast rice, until fragrant. Turn heat down.
3. Add 2 cups of vegetable broth/wine mixture to rice, stir gently and cover
4. When liquid is almost absorbed by the rice add another cup of liquid
5. Meanwhile in another saute pan add 1 tablespoon butter and saute onion, pepper and mushrooms.
6. When vegetables are close to cooked add snap peas. When snap peas are warmed remove all veggies from the pan
7. Add another tablespoon of butter, turn pan to medium high heat, wait for pan to heat and then add scallops
8. Sear scallops for a couple minutes on each side until just cooked through
9. Test rice. It is cooked when the rice is still firm, but soft. Add Parmesan at this point and stir
10. Add saffron and a dash of pepper, mix in
11. Add sauteed veggies in  and place cooked scallops on top. 

NOTE: The whole process take about 45 minutes. 

Vegetable Substitutions:
Celery
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Spinach
Grape Tomatoes
Carrots
Corn

Use your imagination and combine different things.

Recipe of the Week: Tuscan Spinach, Bean and Sausage Soup

This super easy, super fast soup is great for a weeknight meal. It's ready in 30 minutes. Serve with rustic bread and a salad if you desire.

1 link hot Italian sausage
1 19 ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed
2 cups of chicken broth
1 14 ounce can of diced or crushed tomatoes
1 clove garlic, smashed
8 ounces of fresh spinach, washed and stem removed
1/4 teaspoon dried marjoram
salt and pepper to taste
garnish with grated Parmesan

1. Bring sausage and 1/4 inch of water to simmer in a large sauce pot over medium heat. 
2. Cook uncovered until water evaporates, approximately 8 minutes. Cook until sausage until is browned.
3. Remove sausage to a cutting board and slice into 1/4 inch pieces when cool enough to handle.
4. Add broth, beans, garlic and marjoram to saucepan. Add sausage. Bring to a simmer and cook for 5 minutes. Add spinach stir gently until wilted. When spinach is completely wilted, remove from heat. Season with salt and pepper.
5. Garnish with Parmesan if desired and serve.

Where am I sourcing my food from?

Sausage: Forks Farm (This is part of my 1/2 hog that we bought in December. I don't usually like hot sausage, but this is not too hot and really flavorful)
Chicken Broth, Canned Beans and Tomatoes: Kimberton Whole Foods
Spinach: Two Gander Farm (my winter CSA)

Recipe of the Week: Moroccan Lentil Stew

I made stew for friends the other night. It is great on cold, snowy nights because of the wonderful combination of sweet and spicy flavors. Not too hot, the stew really warms you. It also makes great leftovers. 

The original recipe came from Vegetarian Times, but below are the ingredients I used. I don't usually use prepared soups either, but Dr. McDougall's* soups are all real food (I checked the ingredient list!) and on a busy weeknight this can be made in 30 minutes or less.

Serves 6

• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 cup chopped onion
• 3 carrots diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (1 Tbs.)
• 1 28-oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 2 18.2-oz. cartons prepared lentil soup, such as Dr. McDougall’s
• 1 15-oz. can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup raisins or dried currants
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon,
• 1 teaspoon chili powder
• 1 1/2  teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4  teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 6 Tbs. plain nonfat Greek yogurt or soy yogurt, optional

1. Heat oil in medium saucepan over medium heat. Add carrots, saute for 5 minutes. Add onion, and saute for 3 minutes, or until softened and translucent. Add garlic, and cook 1 minute, or until garlic is softened, but not browned, stirring constantly.
2. Stir in tomatoes, soup, chickpeas, raisins, and all spices. Season with salt and pepper, if desired. Bring stew to a simmer over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.
3. Reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer, uncovered, 20 minutes, or until mixture is reduced and sauce has thickened, stirring often from bottom to prevent sticking. Garnish each serving with 1 Tbs. yogurt, if desired. 

*Dr. McDougall soups come in  box and can be found in the "organic" section at Giant, at Wegman/'s and health food stores.

Enjoy and keep eating real food!

Turkey and Black Bean Soup

I posted this last year at about this time and since it is so cold, and all I really want to do is hibernate, I thought I would re-post it. I made the soup this evening and added a parsnip and a little chipotle pepper. Everyone was happy at my house

Turkey and Black Bean Soup: This is a staple at our house. It's easy to make, you can double recipe, it freezes and frequently it's something I give as a gift. Even Brian, my oldest and my sister, who claim they don't like beans, love this. The original recipe is from Cooking.com, but I have changed enough to call it my own.

The Recipe:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion chopped

1 lb ground turkey

1 tablespoon chilipowder

1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

2 teaspoons oregano

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

several dashes tabasco

1 15oz can diced tomatoes

1 15oz can black beans

1 quart chick stock

10oz spinach, kale or other steaming greens, washed, stems removed

1. In a large stock pot or dutch oven add olive oil and ground turkey. Brown turkey until completely cooked. Remove turkey.
2. Add onion and saute over medium heat until translucent
3. Add turkey back to pot and add spices. Let cook for several minutes to allow flavors to blend
4. Add chicken stock, tomatoes and beans. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes
5. Add spinach or kale. Cook until wilted and serve.

Serve with at little parmesean as garnish.

Note:

I prefer Kale when I know I'm going to freeze this. The kale holds up better and doesn't get mushy.

What We Had for Dinner

The fall back to school schedule is a bit full this year, I'm not sure how it happened, but somehow the boys have at least one commitment most weekdays. Tuesdays are my favorite, there is cross country, intramural sports, baseball and piano, and Tuesdays happen to be the day that I have most of my networking events too. Finding the time to make dinner, never mind something that everyone likes and is healthy seems like an impossible feat. This last week we have had the following:

Lemon Garlic Braised Chicken: I made this last Sunday and while it does take a while to make, about one hour of cooking time, I made a lot of extra brown rice which I used later in the week. For this dish, you place whole cloves of garlic in 2 cups of chicken broth and simmer for about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, place the chicken thighs a saute pan and brown. When the chicken is done add 1 tablespoon of flour and make a roux with the fat. Slowly add about 2/3 cup of white wine, stirring constantly. Pour the chicken broth in the saute pan and continue to stir until slightly thickened. Place chicken, sliced lemon, and liquid into oven-proof dish and cook for about 45 minutes on 350. I served with local green beans, beets and shitake mushrooms, but you can serve with whatever makes you happy. While it does take a while to make, I love this dish because I can double or even triple it and we have leftovers or I can freeze it for dinner another week.


Fried Rice: With the left-over rice from the Lemon Garlic Braised Chicken I made what we call "Fried Rice" Not exactly Asian, our Fried Rice includes whatever vegetables are on hand at the moment. For this I scrambled 2 eggs and then sauteed, onions, carrots, swiss chard,  and mushrooms. I add the cold rice to the pan and let it heat through, not stirring too often. Once heated I add mixture of tamari, minced ginger, fish sauce and rice vinegar. Toss gently until mixed through. Serve with cashew if you like. Oh, and make sure you stir the ginger in thoroughly. I got sidetracked and we had a lot of ginger in one area.

Stuffed Pumpkins: I made this Saturday with the local Sweet Italian Sausage, red quinoa, and lentils as the base. Again I cooked extra lentils to use in soup later. For this I sauteed onions, garlic, carrots, sweet potatoes and one beet. Mix everything together and stuff your pumpkin. Cooking time is about one hour, but at least you can do something else while it's in the oven.

Lentil Soup:  We'll be having this on Tuesday! I made this on Sunday, while I was making a bunch of other things. Sauteed onions, carrot and sweet potatoes, added the lentils in and the broth that was left over from cooking them. Next add one 15 ounce can of diced tomatoes and I had some broccoli left over from something else so I put that in too. When I reheat I'm going to add some baby spinach and serve with a loaf of this amazing bread I bought from Sweetwater Baking Co. http://www.sweetwaterbakingcompany.com/index.html

Enjoy and try something new

Healthy, Easy Dinner Salad

We haven't had summer squash or zucchini since the zucchini cakes about a month ago, but I saw this recipe from Clean Eating and had to try it. The local zucchini/summer squash season is pretty much over, but I was lucky to find a few at my favorite farmers market. I added mushrooms and substituted the champagne vinegar for rice vinegar and fresh mozzarella for the feta, because I forgot to pick up feta at the farmers market. The feta would only make this dish even better than it was.

http://www.cleaneatingmag.com/recipes/downloads/ce32_harvest_salad.pdf

enjoy and eat real!

Too Much Zucchini - Make Zucchini Cakes

Yes, you read that right, Zucchini Cakes. This is the time of year where all of my garden growing friends are trying to pawn of their summer squash and zucchini on me. I'm pretty sure we have has some sort of squash every night this week.. I'm a little tired of it (coming from someone who barely makes the same thing twice) and have been trying to come up with something creative to do with all the squash.
Don't get me wrong, I like zucchini and pretty every other squash. It's versatile and easy to cook. So in an attempt to do something different, I came up with these. The cakes kind of tasted like potato cakes.  They were a touch on the mushy side. Zucchini has a high water content and normally I would have pressed the water out, but I wanted to see what they came out like this way.

This is what I did:

Shredded 2 good sized, but not baseball bat size zucchini (in the food processor)
1/4 cup grated parmesan
1/4 cup quinoa flour
1/2 cup cooked quinoa (substitute with rice or couscous, I happen to have quinoa left over
1/4 teaspoon tabasco
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon cumin
salt
pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 clove garlic, mashed

1. Mix all ingredients together except olive oil and garlic. Form into patties
2. Heat olive oil and mashed garlic
3. Place patties into heated pan, cook for 4-5 minutes on each side, until golden brown
4. remove from pan, sprinkle a touch more parmesan cheese

I served this with a little arugula, chopped tomatoes, and roasted cumin scented chickpeas.

What We Ate for Dinner

Life had been full as of late, and last week was the first time in a while that I had a menu for dinner planned. What did we eat?

BBQ Shrimp and Sugar Snap Pasta Salad:
Another Clean Eating Magazine recipe. Oh this was so good and easy. The salad had grilled shrimp with Chinese 5 Spice powder on it, snap peas, cucumber, cilantro, basil and soba noodles with a gingery soy vinaigrette. A version of this will show up at the cafe. Email me at mary.kirschner@gmail.com if you would like the recipe.


Whole Wheat Pasta with Fresh Tomato Salad:
I made this at Brian's request. Another exhausting day at the pool (it's a tough life for Brian :) ) left him craving carbs. And you might be thinking whole wheat pasta, what a mushy mess! We only eat whole wheat and multigrain pasta. Cook it al dente and you should be ok. I made a fresh tomato sauce with local tomatoes from Lancaster that were super ripe, sauteed summer squash, zucchini and mushrooms, added a clove of garlic, a little fresh thyme, oregano and basil and of coarse a dash of sea salt and pepper. After sauteing the squash and mushrooms, I added the chopped tomatoes and herbs to the hot pan and let it sit for about 10 minutes to let the flavors mesh. Anyone can make this, just add your favorite veggie if you don't like squash or mushrooms.

Baharat Tomato Soup with Couscous:
I made this one of the days it was over 90 degrees thinking my family would revolt because I was serving hot soup on such a hot day. We were all surprised by how refreshing it was. The soup is made with a mixture of spices called Baharat which means "spice" in Arabic, fresh tomatoes (again) jalapeno, couscous, cilantro, and mint. When you taste this soup there is a hint of heat at first. Without adding any real "minty" flavor the mint finished the flavor sensation with a refreshing coolness. I can hardly wait to make this again. AND I had extra  of the Baharat and I have been using it as a rub on chicken steak too.

What We are Having for Dinner

I spent Saturday working on menus and food costs projects for Emi's Cafe (I should be officially incorporated by the end of this week!) and found a bunch of recipes that I saved and haven't made yet. I was creating our menu for the week simutaneaously so I added a couple of them. I always try to incorporate at least one new recipe. I get bored eating the same thing so there is lots of change. My family is getting used to trying new flavors, textures and ingredients etc. I'm not hearing "What is that glop" as much.

This week:

Gingered Red Lentil Soup with Sweet Potatoes: This tasted great, was easy to make and would probably freeze pretty well. The only problem was the color and texture. The directions tell you to blend the cooked red lentils, which is fine but the color turned out to be a bit pukeish and very pasty. I'm going to have to try this again before I give out the recipe or send a link out. If I can improve looks and texture this will be a winner.

Soba Noodle Salad: Soba Noodles are made from buckwheat and can be found in the Asian section of the grocery store or at an Asian market. This would be great in the summer since it is served cold. It was very simple to make. I would marinate the flank steak (or you could use chicken) first before cooking it. The recipe didn't call for it, but it would add a little more flavor. Cook the soba noodles, shred about 1 cup of nappa, add about 1 cup shredded carrots, I added chopped scallions even though the recipe didn't call for them,  and a few bean sprouts.  For the dressing add equal parts of rice vinegar and tamari (all natural soy sauce) about a tablespoon of sesame or peanut oil, 1 teaspoon of minced ginger and a sprinkle of sesame seeds and mix. Toss over noodles and veggies.  You can either grill the steak (3/4 lb) and then slice thinly or stirfry. Let the steak cool a little and add to the salad. Let it all sit together for at least 1 hour.

Next time when I make this I will double the dressing and marinate the steak before cooking.

Other things to substitute or add to the salad:

snap peas
snow peas
mushrooms,
broccoli
cauliflower
or anything else that appeal to you

My Family's New Favorite Soup - Chicken Tortilla Soup

We have been eating a lot of soup lately. Mostly because I can double the recipe easily and freeze half. On those nights I don't feel like cooking, it's really easy to pull out some frozen soup and heat it up.
With all the snow on the ground there is nothing more comforting than hot soup. I made this twice in the last week it is so good. It takes about 45 minutes to make, you can double the recipe and freeze the soup too. And again, even my son Brian, who claims he dislikes chicken, loved it

INGREDIENTS:

1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

4-6 chicken thighs (see note)

1 onion diced

1 jalepeno pepper, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 qt chicken broth

28oz can diced tomatoes

1 cup frozen corn

2 14oz cans black beans, rinsed

1/4 cup parsely and/or cilantro, chopped

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper

3 soft tortillas, sliced thinly

1 lime quartered

DIRECTIONS:

1. In a large sauce pot brown chicken thighs until cooked through, remove from pot and let cool. Drain fat, leaving about 1 tablespoon.
2. add onion and garlic. Saute until the onion is translucent Add jalepeno pepper, saute for 30 seconds
3. Add the chicken broth, deglazing the pan and scraping any bits from the bottom of the pan.
4. Add tomatoes, corn, black beans, salt and pepper. Cover and simmer gently for 10 minutes
5. Meanwhile shred the chicken, and add back to the pot and simmer for 5-10 minutes
6. Heat a small sauted pan over medium-low heat. Add sliced tortilla strips and "saute" until the strips start to brown and become crisp.

TO SERVE:

Ladle soup into bowls, add a little parsley/cilantro and squeeze lime on top of soup. Garnish with tortilla strips. Serves 4-6 as a main dish.

NOTE:

You can substitute 2 chicken breast for the thighs if you like. I use thighs because I think they add better flavor. The chicken breast have less fat.

Dinner Ideas: What We Are Eating This Week - part two

So what else are we eating besides Turkey and Black Bean Soup?

Tonight we are having Salmon w/ Pepita Lime Butter, and Curried Squash. The Salmon is from Eating Well http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/salmon_with_pepita_lime_butter_for_two.html and the Curried Squash is from Clean Eating Magazine. It has brown basmati rice, acorn squash (although I'm going to use butternut squash) and baby spinach in it. I thought the combination of the flavors of Mexico/Latin America and India might be fun to try. We'll see how everyone else likes it.

Rustic Genovese Basil Pesto Pasta:  Again this is from Clean Eating Magazine. This is pasta (multigrain) with  basil pesto,  1 russet potato, cherry tomatoes and green beans. I'm going to add parsely to my basil pesto because I don't have enough fresh basil to make pesto. Of course you can buy pesto too and just add the other ingredients. 

I'll also be serving a huge salad with this too. Probably mixed field greens and cucumbers and who knows what else. I always do something different!

Black Bean and Feta Quesadillas:  I'm planning to make this on the weekend. It's quick, easy and really good.  I saute a little onion, add a 15oz can of tomatoes, one 15oz can of black beans and mash it together so that it becomes a really rough paste.  Add a little salt and pepper, about one teaspoon of chili powder and a tablespoon of chopped parsely. Mix altogether and add to whole wheat tortillas. You can cook them in the oven at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or put them in a saute pan with a tiny bit of oil heat them that way.

Enjoy and I hope you try something new.

Dinner Ideas: What We Are Eating This Week

It's been warmer here the last couple of days and I'm really dying to grill. The grill, however is in the gargage surrounded by the sub-floor, the bamboo floor, and bathroom fixtures for the basement project we've been working on for a couple of months. There is a small path from the back door through the garage and out the garage door, so getting the grill out isn't going to happen for at least another week when we should have the sub-floor down. So since I'm stuck cooking inside for the next couple of days, this is what we are having:

Turkey and Black Bean Soup: This is a staple at our house. It's easy to make, you can double recipe, it freezes and frequently it's something I give as a gift. Even Brian, my oldest and my sister, who claim they don't like beans, love this. The original recipe is from Cooking.com, but I have changed enough to call it my own.

The Recipe:

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 onion chopped

1 lb ground turkey

1 tablespoon chilipowder

1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon paprika

2 teaspoons oregano

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1/4 teaspoon salt

several dashes tabasco

1 15oz can diced tomatoes

1 15oz can black beans

1 quart chick stock

10oz spinach, kale or other steaming greens, washed, stems removed

1. In a large stock pot or dutch oven add olive oil and ground turkey. Brown turkey until completely cooked. Remove turkey.
2. Add onion and saute over medium heat until translucent
3. Add turkey back to pot and add spices. Let cook for several minutes to allow flavors to blend
4. Add chicken stock, tomatoes and beans. Bring to a boil and reduce heat to simmer for 15 minutes
5. Add spinach or kale. Cook until wilted and serve.

Serve with at little parmesean as garnish.

Note:

I prefer Kale when I know I'm going to freeze this. The kale holds up better and doesn't get mushy.

The Chicken Pot Pie

Last week in my post I wrote that I was going to make Chicken Pot Pie from a Bon Appetit magazine that I have had for quite some time. Well, I didn't thoroughly read the ingredients or the directions for this recipe, which by the way, is not my usual menu planning method. I went to make this Sunday afternoon, and read the instructions only to find that it required three, yes that's THREE sticks of butter. Now I remember why the last time I made this was about seven years ago. All that butter, two for the cream cheese crust and one for the  sauce in the filling, not exactly on my healthy list. The pot pie was outstanding, we were all falling all over ourselves to have the last bite, but now that we have eaten it, I'm going to have exercise twice as much this week

The reason why I chose this recipe, artery clogging that it is, and what you will see here over and over is to try something different! Just a little change can be inspiring. Add a little something different to a recipe that you make all the time. Try a food that you thought you might not care for. As I always tell my guests when I'm serving something new "You can always spit it out" and I hand them a napkin.

Dinner Ideas: What We Are Eating This Week

The holidays are over and we are getting back to our regular schedule. As I do every year, I endeavor to seek different things to try. This week is no different, most of what I'm cooking this week, I have never made before. I have chosen pretty simple meals during the week and a couple of more time consuming recipes this weekend. So, this is what we are eating:

Minestrone Soup with Quinoa: I found this in January issue of Clean Eating Magazine and it was amazing. It took a total of 30 minutes and even Brian who is rather particular went back for seconds. The recipe included tomatoes, carrots, cannelli beans, spinach, and of course the Quinoa (pronouced KEENwah) I added chicken broth and celery.

Stuffed Butternut Squash: Around Thanksgiving we saw an article about stuffed pumpkins and what to put in them. I have been planning to do something similar since then, but hadn't gotten to it. Tonight I stuffed butternut squash with wheatberries, sausage from one of the local farms, brown rice, leeks (I had these left over from something I made a couple days ago) dried cranberries, a couple mushrooms and chili powder, cumin, salt and pepper. I cut the squash in half, scooped out seeds and a little of the middle and spooned the wheatberry and rice mixture over. This was perfect tonight. It has been so cold and this warmed us all.

Chicken Pot Pie with a Twist: I'll be making this during the weekend. You can forget the standard peas and carrots here. This is a recipe from an old issue of Bon Appetite and has roasted red peppers, shitake mushrooms, and green beans. I bought a whole chicken so I'll probably make two and freeze one pie.

Coq Au Vin: Last weekend Garth and I watched Julie and Julia. Watching Meryl Streep as Julia Child inspired me to give one of Julia Child's recipes a try. I have never made coq au vin, which is a chicken stew made with red wine. I googled Julia's recipe and will be making this over the weekend too.  Here is the link to the recipe I will be making http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/recipe?id=7113750

Happy Cooking!!

Dinner Ideas - What we are eating this week:

It's the holidays so like everyone else the next several weeks are busy for my family. We are all going in different directions so I'm trying to keep most of our dinners short and sweet. That doesn't mean boring though. For the most part we eat as together every night.

Quesadillas: I use whatever I have for these. Since I will be getting home late from work it will probably be sauteed mushrooms, onions, shredded smoked mozzarella and black beans.

Pizza: Garth makes pizza every week and it is always something different. Maybe I can convince him to add a little feta and arugula to whatever he finds in the fridge. We have been buying fresh dough at the grocery store, but I think I have convinced him to try making our own. I let you know how that works out!

Chicken with Mushroom Duxelle, Wilted Greens and Baked Sweet Potatoes: Mushroon Duxelle is just finely ground mushrooms. I'm going to add a little parmesean and sun dried tomato pesto. I will slice the chicken breast in half, length-wise and add the duxelle, roll in to a pinwheel and bake. I'm nost sure what I will receive for steaming greens from our winter CSA, but I'll either steam or saute depending on what they end up being and my mood. as for the baked sweet potatoes, I will probably cube them, and toss some oil, salt, pepper and a few other things and bake them next to the chicken.