I've, temporarily at least, got a new desire to start updating this blog again. So, I'll start with tonight's dinner. I've made this recipe once before and have tweaked it a bit to make it better for me. I've also recently discovered Daiya cheese. This stuff is seriously amazing. I tried a fake cheese once, and only once, and never had the guts to do it again. I was at a local restaurant that advertised this vegan cheese. I looked it up on the internet and saw that it had great reviews. Next time I was at that restaurant I ordered a sandwich with it and was very impressed. I've since been experimenting with it, now that my regular grocery store carries. This stuff is so good that when I used the cheddar crumbles in my scrambled eggs, my step-daughter finished them off for me and she doesn't even like eggs that much. But she loves cheese and thought it tasted like cheese.
Anyway, enough about the cheese. I've been working on moving towards a more vegetarian diet. I know, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that I generally don't eat nearly enough veggies. I rarely eat red meat and have been getting bore with chicken lately so I started researching vegetarian recipes as a way to get more veggies in my diet. If my dinners are made of almost nothing but veggies, I really can't go wrong. Since this recipe has quinoa rather than any kind of pasta, it's super healthy for you. It tastes great too and if you use something the Daiya cheese, it's technically vegan.
This recipe originally comes from Vegetarian Times and you can find it here. The first time I made this I didn't have enough zucchini (because really, where did they find such huge zucchini in the first place?) and I used real mozzarella. I can't remember what kind of sauce I used and I'm pretty sure I used chicken broth instead of vegetable broth. Moot points. I meant to take a pic and didn't, because I'm lame so the picture in the link will have to suffice. Without further ado.....
Ingredients:
* 2 large (or 4-5 small) zucchini
* 2 cups vegetable broth
* 1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained (or use 1 cup uncooked Ancient Harvest quinoa)
* 1 jar spaghetti sauce
* 1 small finely chopped onion
* 1 cup sliced baby bella mushrooms
* 1 tsp dried oregano
* 1 1/2 bags (about 3 cups) Daiya mozzarella
* 4 tsp sugar (optional - to reduce the acidity of the tomato sauce)
Instructions:
Cut zucchini into strips, long ways, lay out on paper towels, sprinkle with salt, and cover with more paper towels. Let sit while you prepare the quinoa. This reduces the moisture in the zucchini.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix together spaghetti sauce, broth, quinoa, onion, mushrooms, and oregano in a medium to large sized pot. Bring to a boil and then turn down heat and let simmer for 25 minutes or until the sauce has been absorbed by the quinoa. Spread some of the sauce mix in the bottom of a 16x9 pan. Layer zucchini slices and cheese. Add another layer of sauce, zucchini, and cheese. Top it off with the rest of the sauce mix and cheese. Cover with tinfoil and bake for 25 minutes.
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Saturday, January 28, 2012
Sunday, May 23, 2010
Spaghetti Squash Pesto Shrimp Scampi
I'm at it again, at least temporarily. I've been trying to think of new things, low carb, low sugar, to make for dinners as I think I've over done it on white rice products and have gained too much weight. Time to get back on track. The problem with low carb is that it's hard to come up with something new that isn't basically the same thing over and over. Meat and veggies, no matter how many different ways you cook them, can get old if you don't have anything to mix it up a bit. So, I came up with making something using spaghetti squash as a pasta substitute. I've never cooked a squash before, the only squash I've really ever eaten is pumpkin, zucchini, and yellow squash. Zucchini and yellow squash don't really count though. Anyway, so I've never cooked a spaghetti squash but I remember my mom making once when I was a teenager and I remember liking it so I thought, why not? I don't really ever do anything with tomato sauce so spaghetti was out. I thought, why not a pesto dish? Why not pesto and shrimp and vegetable thrown together like a scampi dish? With that thought I went to the grocery store, bought everything I needed and tonight proceeded to give it a go. Not too bad at all, I really like it! Hope you do to if you decide to try it. Now, there are two ways you can cook a spaghetti squash. You can either cook it whole, and if you do remember to poke it like you would a potato. Or you can cut it half and cook it. In this recipe I used the cutting in half method so that's how I'll be explaining it. However, in the future I may try cooking it whole because it's very difficult to cut when raw.
What you'll need
1 spaghetti squash
1 red bell pepper, sliced
1 yellow bell pepper, sliced
1 cup sliced mushrooms
15 shrimps
oregano
garlic powder
salt
pepper
olive oil
pesto
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut the squash lengthwise in half. Place in a baking dish, cut side down, and add about a cup of water. Cover with tin foil and bake for 45 minutes. When there is about 15 minutes left until the squash is done start sauteing the peppers and mushroom in a little bit of olive oil. Sprinkle with garlic powder, oregano, salt, and pepper. Grill your shrimp over medium heat until fully pink. Once the squash is finished, remove it from the oven and turn the pieces over. Using a fork scrape the squash from top to bottom, removing the "meat" which will look like strands of spaghetti. Place everything into one dish, add 2 tablespoons of pesto, and stir it all up. Enjoy!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
I'm back!
I've been MIA both on this blog and with trying anything new. Mostly have been making the same old thing or using someone else's recipes, I just haven't been into it. I got the cooking back again though, as I've gotten bored with my menu and need new things. I really need to stay away from dairy completely so I feel like I'm almost starting over on figuring out things to make.
Tonight I made two new dishes. One isn't entirely new, mostly revised, and the other is a new breakfast bake that I'm excited for. I don't like to get up in the morning any earlier than absolutely necessary so having something quick, easy, and nutritious is major plus in my book. Just scoop onto a plate, heat in microwave, and voila! Breakfast is made.
The first, revised, dish is stuffed green peppers. I decided that this recipe needed to be changed. I'm trying to cut down on my rice consumption as well as trying to ex out dairy altogether. The changes? I substituted quinoa for the rice, ground turkey for the beef, and left out the cheese. I've also recently learned that red bell peppers are chock full of vitamin C, a vitamin I know I don't get too much of due to my acid reflux, so I'm trying to incorporate more of those into dishes.
The second thing I made, well it doesn't really have a name. You can call it an egg casserole, a breakfast back, a sort of crustless quiche, whatever. Basically I combined the best things about a good breakfast (in my opinion anyway) and put them all together in one dish. I used bacon, potatoes, and goat cheese for this dish. And now, on to the recipe's!
Quinoa Stuffed Green Peppers
What you'll need
1 cup dry quinoa
1 pound lean ground turkey
About 1/4 cup sliced mushrooms
1 can corn, no sugar added, liquid drained
1 red bell pepper, cut into pieces
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Cook quinoa according to package directions. While the quinoa is cooking, heat a large pot of water on high, cut tops off of green peppers, clean out the insides, slice your mushrooms if you didn't buy them sliced, and cut up the red bell pepper. Once the pot of water come to a boil, drop the green peppers in, making sure they're covered, and boil for 8-10 minutes. Remove from pot, drain out water, and set aside. Cook the turkey until done then add in the mushrooms, red pepper, can of corn, and quinoa. Sautee until mushrooms start to turn dark.* Spoon mixture in the green peppers and place into the oven for 20-25 minutes. Enjoy!
*you may need to add a little oil as mixture may become dry and stick to the pan.
Bacon, Potato, Egg Bake
What you'll need
10 large eggs
1 cup dairy free milk (I use SoDelicious original coconut milk)
2 gold potatoes
1 package bacon
1 package goat cheese
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Dice potatoes (think potatoes o'brien) and place into a pan with a little oil. Saute for a about 5 minutes on medium heat, then reduce heat, add a little water, and cover. Cook bacon until crisp. Beat eggs and mix in milk. Place crumbles of goat cheese into a square baking dish. Crumble bacon into the egg mixture. As soon as the potatoes are soft, rinse with cool water and then add to the egg mixture. Pour the egg mixture into your square dish and use remaining goat cheese to crumble over the top. Bake for 40-50 minutes until set. Enjoy!
Tonight I made two new dishes. One isn't entirely new, mostly revised, and the other is a new breakfast bake that I'm excited for. I don't like to get up in the morning any earlier than absolutely necessary so having something quick, easy, and nutritious is major plus in my book. Just scoop onto a plate, heat in microwave, and voila! Breakfast is made.
The first, revised, dish is stuffed green peppers. I decided that this recipe needed to be changed. I'm trying to cut down on my rice consumption as well as trying to ex out dairy altogether. The changes? I substituted quinoa for the rice, ground turkey for the beef, and left out the cheese. I've also recently learned that red bell peppers are chock full of vitamin C, a vitamin I know I don't get too much of due to my acid reflux, so I'm trying to incorporate more of those into dishes.
The second thing I made, well it doesn't really have a name. You can call it an egg casserole, a breakfast back, a sort of crustless quiche, whatever. Basically I combined the best things about a good breakfast (in my opinion anyway) and put them all together in one dish. I used bacon, potatoes, and goat cheese for this dish. And now, on to the recipe's!
Quinoa Stuffed Green Peppers
What you'll need
1 cup dry quinoa
1 pound lean ground turkey
About 1/4 cup sliced mushrooms
1 can corn, no sugar added, liquid drained
1 red bell pepper, cut into pieces
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Cook quinoa according to package directions. While the quinoa is cooking, heat a large pot of water on high, cut tops off of green peppers, clean out the insides, slice your mushrooms if you didn't buy them sliced, and cut up the red bell pepper. Once the pot of water come to a boil, drop the green peppers in, making sure they're covered, and boil for 8-10 minutes. Remove from pot, drain out water, and set aside. Cook the turkey until done then add in the mushrooms, red pepper, can of corn, and quinoa. Sautee until mushrooms start to turn dark.* Spoon mixture in the green peppers and place into the oven for 20-25 minutes. Enjoy!
*you may need to add a little oil as mixture may become dry and stick to the pan.
Bacon, Potato, Egg Bake
What you'll need
10 large eggs
1 cup dairy free milk (I use SoDelicious original coconut milk)
2 gold potatoes
1 package bacon
1 package goat cheese
Instructions
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees. Dice potatoes (think potatoes o'brien) and place into a pan with a little oil. Saute for a about 5 minutes on medium heat, then reduce heat, add a little water, and cover. Cook bacon until crisp. Beat eggs and mix in milk. Place crumbles of goat cheese into a square baking dish. Crumble bacon into the egg mixture. As soon as the potatoes are soft, rinse with cool water and then add to the egg mixture. Pour the egg mixture into your square dish and use remaining goat cheese to crumble over the top. Bake for 40-50 minutes until set. Enjoy!
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Banana Nut Muffins
I haven't really been much in the mood for trying new things and blogging about them. Obviously. I've had a really busy summer, kids, mother-in-law visit, garage cleaning, setting up a new business, birthdays, etc. Not to mention that I still work full time. I've just been using the same old recipes over and over again. I have been able to incorporate gluten-free into some of the meals I make for the family. Burritos, for instance. I just substitute corn tortillas and have tacos. We also grilled a lot of hamburgers on the grill this summer and all I needed to do was buy some gluten-free hamburger buns. My local Fred Meyer has EnerG brand "Seattle" buns.
Today, however, before we went grocery shopping, I decided to bake something. I always have bananas in the freezer and I knew we were buying a bunch of frozen goods so I decided to use up those bananas and bake myself something. I went with banana nut muffins. Perfect for breakfast, or for a snack. These turned out good enough that my (now) fiance even likes them. He's usually really picky about gluten free things so if he likes it I know it passes the test for tasting just as good as the "real" thing. I used a flour blend that I got from the Gluten-Free Baking book. It's an all purpose mix and this was my first time trying it with a regular recipe, substituting the flour. To make this basic gluten-free mix you'll need brown rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca starch. I buy the Bob's Red Mill brand. You can find it at most health food stores or grocery stores that have an organic or natural section.
Basic Glute-Free Mix
2 cups brown rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca starch
Mix it all up and keep in an airtight container. Refrigerated is best but not necessary. I often don't have room in my refrigerator and have never had a problem. If you're using a gluten-free recipe, it will tell you how much xanthan gum to use. If you're using this mix to substitute flour in a regular recipe, figure about a teaspoon xanthan gum per cup of flour. On to the recipe, yes?
What you'll need
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 ripe bananas*
2 cups basic gluten-free mix
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (may be omitted)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend sugar, egg, and oil until well blended. Add in bananas. Add in flour, xanthan gum, and baking soda. Mix until nice and smooth. Fold in walnuts. Spoon drop into greased muffin pan, or ungreased muffin papers. (I used the disposable foil muffin pans with the papers and they didn't stick.) Bake for 30-40 minutes. You'll know when they're done when you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean. Enjoy!
Today, however, before we went grocery shopping, I decided to bake something. I always have bananas in the freezer and I knew we were buying a bunch of frozen goods so I decided to use up those bananas and bake myself something. I went with banana nut muffins. Perfect for breakfast, or for a snack. These turned out good enough that my (now) fiance even likes them. He's usually really picky about gluten free things so if he likes it I know it passes the test for tasting just as good as the "real" thing. I used a flour blend that I got from the Gluten-Free Baking book. It's an all purpose mix and this was my first time trying it with a regular recipe, substituting the flour. To make this basic gluten-free mix you'll need brown rice flour, potato starch, and tapioca starch. I buy the Bob's Red Mill brand. You can find it at most health food stores or grocery stores that have an organic or natural section.
Basic Glute-Free Mix
2 cups brown rice flour
2/3 cup potato starch
1/3 cup tapioca starch
Mix it all up and keep in an airtight container. Refrigerated is best but not necessary. I often don't have room in my refrigerator and have never had a problem. If you're using a gluten-free recipe, it will tell you how much xanthan gum to use. If you're using this mix to substitute flour in a regular recipe, figure about a teaspoon xanthan gum per cup of flour. On to the recipe, yes?
What you'll need
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup vegetable oil
3 ripe bananas*
2 cups basic gluten-free mix
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons xanthan gum
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (may be omitted)
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Blend sugar, egg, and oil until well blended. Add in bananas. Add in flour, xanthan gum, and baking soda. Mix until nice and smooth. Fold in walnuts. Spoon drop into greased muffin pan, or ungreased muffin papers. (I used the disposable foil muffin pans with the papers and they didn't stick.) Bake for 30-40 minutes. You'll know when they're done when you insert a toothpick and it comes out clean. Enjoy!
Friday, June 26, 2009
My Trader Joe's Creation
I've been eating the same things over and over again, having a really hard time coming up with something new using the same ingredients that I can find at Fred Meyer. They opened up a new Trader Joe's near my house quite some time ago but I didn't make it opening weekend. Too many people and, having never been to a Trader Joe's, wasn't all that excited. I decided to stop by a week later, after the frenzy had calmed some. It was pretty busy when I went in there, hard to get through the isles, to many people to really look around and see what they had. I spent all of maybe 20 minutes in there and came up with a frozen risotto dinner and a quart of rice milk. Then I saw the lines. Okay, fight through the crowd to put my two things back, get out of there before I go mad. I had pretty much given up on them but with my recent boredom of food I decided to give them another try. Was I ever glad I did! There weren't many people in there, I could make it up and down each aisle and I could actually see what they had on the shelves. I inspected every shelf of every aisle in that little store. I had to because, unlike Fred Meyer, they don't have all their gluten free things in one handy labeled aisle. It's mixed in and sharing shelf space with their gluten filled counterparts. I keep finding new things that they either didn't have or that I missed on previous trips.
Here are some of my finds that I now regularly buy at Trader Joe's. rice pasta, which is a given, but I prefer theirs over the tinkyada brand. It cooks faster and holds its consistency, making me feel like I'm eating the real thing. Cheaper too, that's always a bonus. They have all kinds of nuts, bagged and salted or unsalted if you prefer that. Dried fruit roll-up thingies, there are flat but very good. Vacuum fried banana chips. I don't even know what vacuum fried really is but this are a great alternative to chips when you're craving something crunchy. Chicken sausages. They have different flavors, they are all white meat chicken, organic, and of course, gluten free. Some of the sausages have cheese in them so check the ingredients and make sure you didn't accidentally grab ones that contain dairy. Sliced white mushrooms that are cleaned, sliced, and bagged. My boyfriend swears that these mushrooms taste better than regular grocery store bought ones. Dark chocolate bars that are made without dairy and soy. This is an especially nice find!
So, if you have a Trader Joe's near you and you aren't familiar with them, it's worth a trip. Everything in their store is organic and cheap, compared to organic items in other stores. Wasn't I supposed to post a recipe of some sort in here? The recipe that I'm going to post is made all from ingredients that I found at Trader Joe's, but if you don't have one in your area you can substitute with any other brand and still make it. I don't really have a name for it, it was just a few things that I thought would taste good together. I call it my Trader Joe's mess or concoction. It's also really quick and easy to make. It also makes a quite a bit. So here it is.
What you'll need
* 1 package penne brown rice pasta
* 1 package chicken sausage, cooked (I've used sweet italian and apple chardonnay flavored sausage and they both taste just as good in this)
* 1 package sliced white mushrooms
* 1 pack of fresh goat cheese
* Olive oil
Instructions
Cook rice pasta according to package instructions. While the pasta is boiling, heat or cook your sausage and saute your mushrooms in a little bit of olive oil. Cut the sausage into slices after it's done heating.
Strain the pasta and rinse excess starch off. Pour pasta into a large bowl, add mushrooms and sliced sausage. Pour some olive oil over the entire dish, about a 1/4 cup or so, maybe slightly less. Add in the goat cheese. It will melt and mix into the entire dish rather than staying in chunky pieces. I usually break it up into pieces over the bowl and then mix in but I've also just dumped the log in whole and mixed it up, it just took longer to spread and melt it that way. Enjoy!
Here are some of my finds that I now regularly buy at Trader Joe's. rice pasta, which is a given, but I prefer theirs over the tinkyada brand. It cooks faster and holds its consistency, making me feel like I'm eating the real thing. Cheaper too, that's always a bonus. They have all kinds of nuts, bagged and salted or unsalted if you prefer that. Dried fruit roll-up thingies, there are flat but very good. Vacuum fried banana chips. I don't even know what vacuum fried really is but this are a great alternative to chips when you're craving something crunchy. Chicken sausages. They have different flavors, they are all white meat chicken, organic, and of course, gluten free. Some of the sausages have cheese in them so check the ingredients and make sure you didn't accidentally grab ones that contain dairy. Sliced white mushrooms that are cleaned, sliced, and bagged. My boyfriend swears that these mushrooms taste better than regular grocery store bought ones. Dark chocolate bars that are made without dairy and soy. This is an especially nice find!
So, if you have a Trader Joe's near you and you aren't familiar with them, it's worth a trip. Everything in their store is organic and cheap, compared to organic items in other stores. Wasn't I supposed to post a recipe of some sort in here? The recipe that I'm going to post is made all from ingredients that I found at Trader Joe's, but if you don't have one in your area you can substitute with any other brand and still make it. I don't really have a name for it, it was just a few things that I thought would taste good together. I call it my Trader Joe's mess or concoction. It's also really quick and easy to make. It also makes a quite a bit. So here it is.
What you'll need
* 1 package penne brown rice pasta
* 1 package chicken sausage, cooked (I've used sweet italian and apple chardonnay flavored sausage and they both taste just as good in this)
* 1 package sliced white mushrooms
* 1 pack of fresh goat cheese
* Olive oil
Instructions
Cook rice pasta according to package instructions. While the pasta is boiling, heat or cook your sausage and saute your mushrooms in a little bit of olive oil. Cut the sausage into slices after it's done heating.
Strain the pasta and rinse excess starch off. Pour pasta into a large bowl, add mushrooms and sliced sausage. Pour some olive oil over the entire dish, about a 1/4 cup or so, maybe slightly less. Add in the goat cheese. It will melt and mix into the entire dish rather than staying in chunky pieces. I usually break it up into pieces over the bowl and then mix in but I've also just dumped the log in whole and mixed it up, it just took longer to spread and melt it that way. Enjoy!
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