Baked Pasta

Day 8 of no meat.  I cannot say that I miss it entirely, but there are certain things that I find I cannot do.   One is eat at Alex's favorite sandwich place Jersey Mike's.  Sure they have vegetarian options, but they are not as satisfying as a nice turkey sandwich.  I choose to just get something from the grocery store and he can have his sandwich.  Today was a snow day from  school.  My car has not left the parking lot since I arrived home on Thursday.

Sourdough Bread Lasagna

Time gets away from me.   Weeks turn into months and pretty soon we do the whole year again.  This year is already flying by.  On February second I took my last bite of meat (hopefully) until my birthday.  So far so good, especially if I find more recipes like this one that are wholly satisfying.

Vegetarian Mexican Lasagna

Well the new year has come and gone.  

Yesimir Kik Wot

The other day Alex and I had this wonderful Ethiopian spicy red lentil stew for dinner.  We were so taken with it that we decided to find a recipe to try and make it ourselves.  I'm hopping it makes enough for us to eat for several days.  I'm going to be a busy girl.

Sautéed Veggies and Shells

 

So today was a wash.  I wanted to go to D.C. and see the cherry blossoms.  However, we walked out the door to a rain storm.  No Cherry Blossoms for me today.  This made me a little sad.  I wanted to have a fun Easter since we are far from home and our wonderful friends, who celebrate in style every year.  

Sweet potatoes with tomatoes and collard greens

It's February. WOW! Where has the time gone.

Creamy Dal

A cold fall evening.  

Well all day it's been cold.  

I've started a new scarf, but I'm not sure if the yarn is long enough I might have to pull it out and begin something else.  A hat?  A cowl?  Or something else. 

For dinner I decided to pull out my copy of The Gourmet Vegetarian Slow Cooker and put some lentils in the pot.  

Creamy Dal 

pg 18

Black Bean Soup

Happy Labor day everyone.  I'm sure there are countless backyard grills going as I write this, with hamburgers and hotdogs.  Alex and I left our trusty grill back in California, I think our little car would have looked quite the sight with a big red charcoal grill strapped to the roof as we drove 3,000 miles across the country.

This leads us to the realization that we cannot grill this holiday, sad day.  I did not disrepair, since this gives me the opportunity to try out a recipe that I found on Babble.  It's an adaptation from a recipe found on Smitten Kitchen.

Meatless Mondays is something that I've been trying to do for some time now.  Some weeks it works some weeks it doesn't.  This week is a success even though Alex tried to convince me that the soup needed ground turkey, I did not give in to the meat temptation.

Black Bean Soup

Tri-colored Pasta Salad

The days are getting longer.

And Hotter.

Another summer in Chico makes me shutter, but that is the way things are shaping up.

So baking or anything that requires turning on the oven makes me cringe. 

Especially in my tiny house that get very hot in the afternoons. 

For dinner tonight we are having pasta salad.  

Tri-Colored Pasta Salad

Adapted from 

Diners, Drive-Ins and Dives 

Joe's Famouse Tri-Colored Pasta with grilled Chicken 

Ingredients:

• 12 ounces tri-colored Rotini
• 1 Red bell pepper, finely diced 
• 1 yellow bell pepper, finely diced 
• 1 orange bell pepper, finely diced 
• 4 medium tomatoes, chopped 
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 1 small can finely diced black olives 
• 2/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 2/3 cup red wine vinegar 
• 1/4 cup sugar 
• Kosher salt and black pepper to taste 

Directions:

• Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat 
• Add pasta and cook, until al dente 
• Drain and cool
• Stir bell peppers, tomatoes, carrots, and olives together in a large bowl
• In a separate bowl whisk together oil, vinegar, and sugar.
• Season with salt and pepper
• Pour dressing over vegetables 
• Add pasta 
• Toss to combine 
• Serve 

\

What we think:

 Dianna: "I love it. Light and tasty perfect for a hot summer evening."
 Alex: "This should be a side and not dinner"

Cucumber Tomato Pasta

50 WOMEN GAME CHANGERS #7 Madhur Jaffrey: The Best Eggplant Ever

Kale Chips

My dear friend Jacks challenged me to eat 3 new foods this week for my birthday!

First up is Kale Chips.  I've been meaning to try out this very simple and delicious recipe.  

50 WOMEN GAME CHANGERS #6 Marcella Hazan: Fettuccine al Limone

It's time to move on to some Italian and Marcella Hazan.

Marcella is another fabulous cookbook author that until the advent of Gourmet's 50-Women Game Changers article I had never heard of.

As per my new years resolution I not purchasing books.  So, I took myself down to the local library and picked up a couple of books.

The first is for some light reading.

The second is a cookbook.

Marcella's Italian Kitchen

For dinner last night Alex and I made pasta for Marcella's

Fettuccine al Limone

 

 pg. 96

Pasta

Ingredients:

• 3 large eggs
• about 2 cups of flour

Directions:

• Pour the flour onto a work surface.
• Shape it into a mound, scooping out a deep hollow in its center.
• Break the eggs in the hollow.

• Beat the eggs lightly with a fork as though you were making an omelet.
• Draw some of the flour over the eggs, mixing it, a little at a time, until the eggs are no longer runny.
• Draw the sides of the mound together, pushing to one side any flour you think may not use.
• Work the mixture of flour and eggs with your fingers and the palms of your hands until it is well amalgamated.
• If it is still too moist, work in more flour as needed.
• Put the egg flour mass to one side and scrape the work surface clean of all loose or caked bits of flour and of any crumbs of dough.
• Wash your hands and dry them.
• Knead the dough for at least 8 minutes.

• Roll the ball of dough through the pasta machine.
• Let rest for 10 minutes.

• Use the broad cutters on the machine to make fettuccine.
• Let dry.

Fettuccine al Limone

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1 cup of heavy cream
• 2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice
• The grated peel, but none of the white pith beneath, of 4 lemons
• Fettuccine
• 1/2 cup freshly grated parmigiano-reggiano

Directions:

• Choose a skillet or saute pan large enough to accommodate the cooked fettuccine later.
• Put in the butter and cream and turn on the heat to high.
• When the cream begins to boil, add the lemon juice and stir thoroughly.
• Add the grated lemon peel.
• Continue stirring while you reduce the cream to half its original volume.
• Do not reduce it completely because that fettuccine will be tossed with it later in the pan and absorb it all.
• Turn off the heat.
• Drop the pasta into a pot of abundant boiling salted water.
• When cooked, but still quite firm to the bite, drain, transfer to the pan with the lemon sauce, turn on the heat to medium, and toss the fettuccine thoroughly in the sauce for 15 to 20 seconds.
• Transfer all the pasta and sauce from the pan to a warm serving bowl.
• Add the grated cheese, toss two or three time, then serve at once with additional grated cheese on the side.  

50 WOMEN GAME CHANGERS #5 MFK Fisher: Tarte a la Tomate

MFK Fisher.

She is a super famous cook and author.  Long before I started on this little journey down Gourmet magazines 50-women game changers, I read The Gastronomical Me.  Currently, I'm reading another of her fabulous books An Alphabet for Gourmets.

Up next on my reading list is her To Begin Again.  I just love reading her prose.  She transports me to a time where I was not alive.  A time when not even my mother was alive, but for some reason I feel nostalgic for this time in American history.

For this weeks 50-women recipe I'm making 

Tarte a la Tomate
From The Cooking of Provincial Franese



pg 50

Pate Brisee

Ingredients:

• 6 tablespoons chilled butter, cut into 1/4 inch bits
• 2 tablespoons chilled vegetable shortening
• 1 & 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 to 5 tablespoons ice water

 

 Directions:

• In a large, chilled mixing bowl, combine butter, vegetable shortening, flour, and salt
• Working quickly, use your fingertips to rub the flour and fat together until they blend and look like flakes of coarse meal.
• Pour 3 tablespoons of ice water over the mixture all at once, toss together lightly and gather the dough into a ball.
• If the dough seems crumbly, add up to 2 tablespoons more ice water by drops.
• Dust the pastry with a little flour and wrap it in wax paper.

• Refrigerate it for at least 3 hours or until it is firm.
• Remove the pasty from the refrigerator 5 minutes before rolling it.
• If it seems resistant and hard, tap it all over with a rolling pin.
• Place the ball on a floured board or table and, with the heel of one hand, press it into a flat circle about 1 inch thick.

• Dust a little flour over and under it and roll it out - from the center to within an inch of the far edge.
• Lift the dough and turn clockwise, about the space of two hours on a clock, roll again from center to the far edge.
• Repeat - lifting, turning, rolling - until the circle is about 1/8 inch thick and 11 or 12 inches across
• If the pastry sticks to the board or table, lift it gently with a metal spatula and sprinkle a little flour under it.

• Butter the bottom and sides of a 8 to 9-inch false-bottomed quiche or cake pan on more than 1 & 1/4 inch deep.
• Roll the pastry over the pin and unroll it over the pan, or drape over the rolling pin. 

• Lift it up and unfold it over the pan.

• Gently press the pastry into the bottom and around the sides of the pan, being careful not to stretch it.
• Roll the pin over the rim of the pan, pressing down hard to trim off the excess pastry.
• With a fork, prick the bottom of the pastry all over, trying not to pierce all the way through.

• Chill for 1 hour 
• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• To keep the bottom of the pastry from puffing up, spread a sheet of buttered aluminum foil across the pan and press it gently into the edges to support the sides of the pastry as it bakes. (I didn't have any aluminum foil and I used wax paper and pinto beans to keep my dough in place)

• Bake on the middle shelf of the oven for 10 minutes, then remove the foil.
• Prick the pastry again, then return it to the oven for 3 minutes or until it starts to shrink from the sides of the pan and begins to brown.
• Remove it from the oven and set it on a wire cake rack to cool.

Tarte a la Tomate

Ingredients:

• 1 pate brisee pastry shell
• 1 pound Gruyere cheese, cut in thin slices
• 2 or 3 large tomatoes, cut in 1/2-inch slices
• Salt
• Freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried basil 
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
• 2 tablespoons melted butter

 

 Directions:

• Sprinkle the tomato slices generously with salt, and place them on a cake rack to drain for about 1/2 hour

• Preheat oven to 375 degrees 
• Arrange the cheese slices, slightly overlapping, in the bottom of the pastry shell. 

• Place the drained tomato slices side by side on top.

• Sprinkle with a few grindings of black pepper, the basil, and the grated Parmesan cheese.

• Dribble the melted butter over the tomatoes and bake in the upper third of the oven for 25 minutes, or until the cheese has melted and the top of the pie is lightly browned.
• Served hot or warm

Thanksgiving Recap

This year Thanksgiving was a low key event.

Only 10 people.



So, I told my Mother-in-law that I would help out by making the potatoes.

Then, I decided to make a new dish this year.

In addition to the potatoes I made Roasted Garlic Yams.

This dish is different from the yam dished usually served around the holidays, which are packed with brown sugar and maple syrup.

I'm a huge fan of these yams with marshmallows melted on top, but as I'm trying to watch my weight the sugary yams are out.

Roasted Garlic Yams

Ingredients:

• 6 Yams, scrubbed





• 1 head of garlic, cloves separated and unpeeled





• 1/2 cup low-sodium chicken broth
• 1-1/2 teaspoons fresh rosemary leaves, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• Fresh ground black pepper, to taste
• 4 large egg whites
• 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
• olive oil cooking spray

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees
• Using a fork, prick each potato 2 to 3 times.
• Place potatoes on a baking sheet, transfer to oven and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until softened.
• Meanwhile, loosely wrap garlic in foil, sealing tightly.
• Place on a separate baking sheet, transfer to oven and bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until softened but not burned.
• Remove potatoes and garlic from oven and let cool.
• When cool enough to handle, peel potatoes and place in a large bowl.
• Add broth and use potato masher to mash until smooth.
• Stir in rosemary, salt and pepper.
• Up until this point can be done the night before.
• In a separate large bowl, combine egg whites and cream of tartar.
• Using an electric mixer, beat on high speed until stiff peaks form
• With a rubber spatula, gently fold half of egg whites into potato mixture until just a few streaks are visible.
• Fold in remaining egg whites, allowing a few small white streaks to remain visible.
• Coat a 9x13-inch baking dish with cooking spray.
• Add potato mixture, using a spatula to smooth top





• Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until top is lightly browned.
• Serve hot.

I hope that all of you had a wonderful Holiday and weekend.



My weekend was full of Christmas decorating, a Hell's Kitchen marathon, and a craft fair with my co-worker.

Shared with:

Chard and Chickpea Stew

Twas the night before Thanksgiving and the house was astir.

Baking an Caramel Apple Pie

Pureeing Yams for Roasted Garlic Yams.

With all of this hustle and bustle I wanted to make something simple.

However, I also wanted to have something vegetarian so that we could indulge in endless turkey for the next few days/weeks.

Chard and Chickpea Stew
Inspired by a Recipe from Eats Well With Others.
Swiss Chard, Chickpea and Tamarand Stew.

Ingredients:

• 1 lb (stalks and leaves), cut into 3/8-inch slices
  
  
  
• 1 medium onion, thinly sliced
• 2 teaspoon caraway seeds
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 14 oz canned chopped petite tomatoes, with their juices
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 can chickpeas, drained
• 1 1/2 tsp coriander
• 3 tablespoons Black Bean Garlic Sauce
• salt and black pepper
• 3/4 cup quinoa
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 1 1/2 cups water

Directions:

• Bring a medium pot of salted water to a boil and blanch the chard for 2 minutes.
• Drain in a colander.
• Put the onion, caraway seeds and olive oil in a large heavy pan and saute on medium heat for about 10 minutes, or until the onion is soft and golden.
  
  
  
• Add the tomato paste and stir as you cook it for about a minute.
• Add the canned tomatoes, water, sugar, chickpeas, ground coriander, chard and some salt and pepper.
• Add the black bean garlic sauce.
• Bring to a boil, then cover with a lid and leave to simmer for about 30 minutes.
• When ready, the dish should have the consistency of a thick soup.
• Taste and add more salt and pepper if needed.
• While the stew is cooking, put the quinoa , coconut oil and a bit of salt in a medium pan and set on a medium heat.
• Stir to coat the quinoa with the oil.
• Add the water and boil, then cover the pan with a tight fitting lit and leave to simmer on a low flame for 20 minutes.
• Remove from the heat and leave covered for 5 minutes.
• When ready to serve, spoon the quinoa into shallow soup bowl, creating a crater in the center.
• Ladle some of the soup stew into the middle of each quinoa hole.

Happy Thanksgiving.