Weekly Tidbits: Cauliflower + Sweet Pepper Casserole

I tossed this together from the ingredient in my fridge.  I had this big plan to make fresh pesto to toss with peas and fettucine tonight, but....I was a couple days late on the basil.  It had gone bad.  So what else was in there?  Cauliflower that needed to be cooked up ASAP.

I had some cream cheese leftover from the Banana Cake earlier this week, so I used that as the base to my gratin, I added a little spice, red pepper (sale!) and breadcrumbs to turn it all casserole-like.  Pop it in the over and delicious!  Here is how it goes.

Cauliflower + Sweet Pepper Casserole

Ingredients: 


1 head of cauliflower, rinsed and sliced
1 red pepper, large diced
1 cup of cream cheese
1/2 cup of vegetable broth
1 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp of Joe's Stuff (cajun seasoning)
Salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup bread crumbs
1/4 cup of shredded parmesan

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375.
2. First steam your cauliflower. While the cauliflower is steaming until tender, toss your diced red peppers into a pan with some oil to soften and brown around the edges. Toss together the cauliflower and peppers into a medium-sized baking dish.

3. Next prepare the sauce:  In a small saucepan on low heat, combine cream cheese, broth, and seasonings.  Stir until combined and beginning to bubble at the edges.

4. Pour the cheese cause over the vegetables in the pan, gently turning them with a spatula to coat.  Once combined, dust the top of the casserole with a combination of bread crumbs and shredded Parmesan.
5. Place in the oven and bake until the top is golden and melted.

Weekly Tidbits: Avocado Grilled Cheese

I felt inspired to tackle the classic grilled cheese after reading an article written by Ruth Reichl for Gilt Taste on several small changes you can make to take your grilled cheese from ordinary to extraordinary.  Although I think we all have to admit that it's not physically possible to make a bad grilled cheese.  It's cheese and bread.  Even if you fail to melt the cheese or burn the crust, it's still cheese and bread!  Frankly, I'll eat one in pretty much any condition.

I have loved the classic white bread and Velveeta grilled cheese since childhood.  On a faster and similar note, I used to eat cheese pouches (Hoffman Super Sharp + Pita Bread + 45 sec microwave) for lunches in high school.  Or breakfasts. Or snacks.  Did I mention I love cheese?

As I've grown older, I've experimented with new variations.  Whole grain, seeded, honey and oat breads.  I've combined provolones, cheddars, swiss, monterrey jack and brie.  I've rotated in tomatoes, faux ham, spicy mustards, even peanut butter on occasion.  I've also always known that the key to a melted, golden edged grilled cheese is patience and low heat.

So not everything Ms. Reichl describes in this article is new to me.  But what really turned the tables on me in the article was her suggestion to coat the outside of the sandwich not with butter, but with mayo.  Mayo!  I really hate mayo.  I was raised on Miracle Whip Light and have the same sort of violent opinion on the matter that I reserve for Yankees vs. Red Sox debates (clearly, the Yankees are smarmy, overpaid, juiced up egotists that have never deserved a single World Series win).  So when I gave this savvy suggestion a shot with MW instead - and just as awesome, adding a little tang to the sandwich, while perfectly browning the bread.

Another great suggestion was shredding the cheese as opposed to laying on slices.  Most cheeses aren't overly processed and meant to melt at the drop of a hat like pasteurized cheese product, so by grating the cheese you increase the surface area exposed to the heat and it melts so much faster!  Bravo, Rachel!



Here is a little summary of the new and improved grilled cheese sandwich:

2 slices of Whole Foods 365 Organic Mighty Multigrain Bread
1 tbsp Miracle Whip Light, divided in two parts
3 slices of deli-sliced Havarti (or grate if you buy a hunk)
1/4 cup of shredded mozzarella
1/2 avocado, 1/4" slices lengthwise
Spectrum coconut oil spray

1. Spray your nonstick frying pan with a light layer of coconut oil and heat to medium.  Toss in the slices of avocado and saute, flipping them periodically, until a light gold crisps the edges.  Remove from heat and set aside.
2. Re-spray the pan with a little more coconut oil (or use butter depending on preference and health concerns - although you're eating a grilled cheese sandwich so I assume health isn't your primary focus in constructing a meal) and place on high heat.
3. Slather the miracle whip on one side of each piece of bread, and place one, miracle whip side down, into the pan once it has heated up.  Immediately drop the temperature to low heat.  
4. Sprinkle or lay your cheese onto the first piece of bread, and top with the second, miracle whip side facing upward. The first side will take on the order of 5 minutes or so.  During this time watch some hulu or wash some dishes. 
5. Once the bottom half of the cheese begins to melt, it's ready to flip.  At this stage, the bread shouldn't be golden, merely a little shiny and softer.  Repeat this melting process on the second side, but don't flip again until the bottom side is a golden brown.  This should be faster than the first half.
6. Once you're back to your original side, grab some tongs or use your fingers to peel up the top piece of bread.  Layer your lightly sauteed avocado in the cheese.  Allow the sandwich to cook until the first side browns to match the second.  
7. Remove from heat, cut in half and serve! (I enjoyed mine with some mango salsa!)

Spicy Sauteed Okra (Bhindi)

A few weeks ago I was introduced to this amazing dish whipped up by a friend of friend's wife.  We had returned to the house from a winding shopping trip and were ready for a bite to eat.  Food preferences can always be a bit tricky when you're a guest in someone's home, but luckily my friend chimed in that I was a vegetarian while the menu was still under debate.  The news was readily accepted and a plan for an all Indian-meal was devised with curry, rice, potatoes and bhindi (okra).

It was my first time having okra outside of a Southern gumbo-type situation and I was completely blown away (actually it was also my first time having authentic, homemade Indian outside of a restaurant). The okra was so crisp, flavorful and fresh with a depth of spices to enhance what remained a solid green vegetable dish.  Who knew?  I always pictured okra as sour and slimey. Clearly someone has been cooking it wrong.  With cravings to try this delicious main dish, I ended up prompting one of my Indian coworkers for the recipe - she immediately knew what I was talking about, and while she professed she personally wasn't a fan, that she'd snag the details from her friend.

And the result is below!  I added a bit of yogurt in because I thought it was a touch dry without an accompanying dish (yes, I just sat down and gluttonously ate a whole bowl of it).  Some scallions or dill would make a nice touch to mix in with the yogurt as well.  I'll add an update if I make any adjustments to the recipe in the future, as I've seen a variety of options online as well that I'm itching to try in an attempt to bring a more complex range of flavors. Enjoy!

Spicy Sauteed Okra

0.5 lb okra

Olive oil

Salt (to taste)

1 tsp coriander

1 tsp tumeric

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chile powder

Dash of cayenne
1/2 cup of greek yogurt, plain (optional)
1/4 cup scallions, chopped

1. Wash and chop okra into 1/2" pieces, disposing of stems.
2. Add a tablespoon of olive or coconut oil to a saute pan with the burner set on medium heat.  Add okra and spices to the pan and begin to cook, stirring with a wooden spoon as you go.
3.  After about 10 minutes, the okra should begin to get golden in the white centers near the seeds, the slippery interiors will dried up and the edges will begin to get caked with spices.  Taste to verify that the spices are to your liking, mix in a little extra if necessary at this time to adjust.
4.  Continue to cook until the edges are browned and the okra has soften, no longer the crisp fresh fruit.
5.  Serve immediately with a dollop of plain greek yogurt and a dusting of fresh scallions.

Pumpkin Mac and Cheese

I'm completely serious when I tell you that I still have those sugar pumpkins in my kitchen just waiting for me to make use of them.  And now that I'm no longer eating vegan (did I mention this?  I started November as a regular vegetarian again), it was clear that I had to indulge in the most decadant of dairy comfort foods: macaroni and cheese.

But what about pumpkin macaroni and cheese?  It's been done.  It's been in Gourmet, Better Homes and Gardens, the Food Network, a million food blogs, but not by me!  And surely that's a massive oversight.  I love pumpkin.  I love cheese.  Marrying the two together in a creamy, spicy autumn dish sounds like just the ticket to heaven.

And fat thighs.

So rather than try to make this dish healthy (because really, can you?  I think not), I just dropped down the serving size to reduce the temptation to overindulge.  This is a two serving recipe that you should be able to double if you're serving more than one or two.

Some notes on the recipe before we get started.  I only had vanilla soy milk in the house, so where I would normally use milk in the cheese sauce, I ended up using plain greek yogurt. I'm quite pleased with the results and will likely continue to use it in the future. I also only happened to have Four Cheese Mexican shredded, which I'd hesitate to use as my cheese base - opting for an American or Gruyere, something super melty, but this actually turned out fairly well once creamed with the yogurt and butter.

Now I left the house while roasting my pumpkin and remember, in a panic, two hours later that it was in the oven.  My pumpkin was a bit brown on the skin and the underside blackened on the surface, but the great part is that the skin peeled off instantly, as did the crusty edge, leaving a rich, flavorful well-roasted pumpkin interior.  Lesson learned: None.  Without proper ramifications, I will continue my spree of nearly burning down the house via the oven/stove.

 My last note is that I love adding a spicy kick to pretty much every savory dish.  My most frequently used spice is cayenne pepper.  Add this, or not.  I put it in both the cheese sauce and the crumb topping.  I highly recommend including, but I do recognize that cayenne in every single dish isn't for everyone.  I'm thinking next time that I might toss in some chipotle in adobo sauce to kick things up a notch as well. 

Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese

3/4 cup of roasted sugar pumpkin
1 cup of Ezekial 4:9 rotini (or other pasta)
1 cup of shredded cheese (use what you have or love)
2 Tbsp of plain greek yogurt
1 Tbsp salted butter
2 garlic cloves, pressed
1-2 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 Tbsp of butter, diced
1/4 cup of whole wheat breadcrumbs

Pre-heat oven to 400F.

The first step is roasting the pumpkin.  I pretty much exclusively roast vegetables.  It is a slow cook method that caramelizes and brings out the richest flavors.  To do this I halved the sugar pumpkin, chopped off the stem, cleared out the seeds and lay it face down on an olive oil-greased pan. Place it in the oven until the flesh is tender, the edge caramelized (or go shopping and leave it in the oven for two hours until it's burnt and just scrape off the toasty parts).



The next step is cooking up the pasta.  I exclusively eat Ezekial 4:9 pastas, which are rich and dimensional in flavor with high protein content and wide nutritional profile.  This pasta cooks a bit quicker than your average pasta, so if you go with it, make sure to test for readiness after 6 minutes or so.  Once done, drain and set aside.



The cream sauce is quick and easy.  In a saucepan, toss in your garlic along with the cheese, butter and yogurt.  Cook on low and constantly stir until creamy.  Add pumpkin.  Once combined, toss in any spices just as you take it off the stove.




Fold sauce into the pasta.  Top with a combination of bread crumbs, salt and spice.  Then pop into the oven until the top is a golden brown and the sides are bubbling.  Eat.



Bonus:  Toasted Pumpkin Seeds

Using up all the parts, I threw my pumpkin seeds in the oven with some olive oil, salt and chilli powder.  I totally do not recommend using any oil.  I don't know why I did.  The wet pumpkin guts are enough to stick the seasoning to the seeds.


One sugar pumpkin down!  One last pumpkin to go.

PPK's Chipotle Chili with Sweet Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts

Saturday was my first fully plant-based diet day on what will be a two week experiment.  My foray into veganism is only scheduled to last only two weeks because I'm traveling for work.  Specifically, I am headed to Philadelphia for a couple of days and the highlight of my trip is a visit to my favorite Mexican restaurant.  You see, cheese is used in their sopa azteca and I can't skip the sopa azteca.  It was the inspiration for my own tortilla soup four long years ago and completely changed my relationship with homemade soup (as in, I didn't have a relationship before that).  I will make a separate post about both soup and restaurant in the subsequent weeks.

As I was saying, Saturday I headed to the grocery store and loaded up on vegetables, legumes and a few grains.  I did this in a chaotic shopping trip for which I had no list, no idea what I was going to make, and no set recipes.  I grabbed what looked good, what was on sale, and what looked easy.  I tried valiantly to avoid the dairy section, but caved when I decided I needed hummus.

Promptly after I arrived home, I found the perfect recipe and had to go grocery shopping again. Of course I didn't pick a dish that I already had the ingredients for!

I do most of my recipe search online rather than in a cookbook.  Once I discovered Tastespotting, where I could search for everyone else's inspired dishes, I couldn't imagine going back to a limited selection of recipes, the majority of which had no accompanying photo.  I have no imagination when it comes to end products.  I want a clear image of how it's supposed to look when I'm done, thus I can have a visual cue when things are going poorly.  Food blogs have changed everything for me. Even if I find a recipe in a cookbook, I scour the web to find a blogger who has tried and photographed the dish.

So when I decided to locate a visually inspiring, common ingredient, low energy vegan recipe, I first turned to Post Punk Kitchen for inspiration.  The site, of course, did not let me down.  I like to make a one-pot dish on the weekends to minimize the hassle of lunches during the week.  I'm big on casseroles, pre-roasted vegetables and hearty soups (stoups!).  Thus when I found PPK's Chipotle Chili with Sweet Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts, I knew that it was destined to be my first (intentionally) vegan dish.  I love all of the main ingredients: beans, sweet potatoes, brussel sprouts (remind me to tell you about my brussel sprout experience at Herbsaint in New Orleans) and chipotle in adobo sauce.  Especially chipotle in adobo sauce.

Since this is my first recipe blog, citing a recipe from another food blog, I'm going to provide a link to their original recipe.  Honestly, I hate when bloggers do this since I want everything in one place, but I'm iffy on the etiquette and legal business so I'm going to proceed with caution and sort out getting permission to include other people's recipes in my own posts down the road.  I will tell you, however, my modifications.

The original recipe:  Chipotle Chili with Sweet Potatoes and Brussel Sprouts

Ingredient Commentary and Adaptations:

Brussel Sprouts:  I used a 16 oz store brand frozen baby brussel sprouts bag. Because they were baby, I only sliced them in half rather than quarters and I dropped them into the pot still-frozen.

Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce:  I used a full 7 oz goya can.  I didn't remove the seeds because I love the heat. I also spatula-ed in all of the sauce for more flavor.

Crushed Tomatoes:  Instead of 32 ounces, I used a 26 oz tetra pack of chopped tomatoes by Pomi.  I use these in all of my tomato-based soups because it's just straight tomatoes and water without an added salt, sugar or herbs.

Garlic:  I love garlic.  She says four cloves, but I used what amounted to an entire bulb.  I buy my garlic in pre-peeled tubs from my local grocery store and I place them in the freezer for convenience and longevity.

Herbs:  I skipped coriander because I had none on hand.  I used from fresh oregano from my garden that I'd tossed in the freezer at the end of the summer last year, as opposed to dried.


Cooking Commentary and Adaptations:

I followed the recipe nearly to the letter.  Everything went precisely as she said it would.  I may have let it cook a bit longer, and I added an extra cup of water at one point since it was cooking down too quickly without the sweet potatoes softening enough.

I did let it sit over night in the pot.  Mainly it was because I was too lazy and it was too late for me to spoon it into containers, but it worked out kind of like lasagna, where it was even better the next day.  Oh, I also forgot the lime juice at the end.  I don't think it actually needs it, but I could be missing out on something dramatically enhancing for the dish.  Add at your own discretion.

The final product!  My additional chili and seeds added a fabulous heat that didn't overwhelm the other rich flavors.  Just a nice tingling spice that enhanced the otherwise well-rounded flavors.  This is comfort food at its best.  I've spend the last three days telling anyone and everyone about this recipe.  I ate it for both lunch and dinner.  And how much do I have left?  A lot.  I ended up getting somewhere near 72oz of chili out of this.  Enough to feed a small dinner party.  And frankly, this is the perfect dish to bring to a potluck.  You will win hearts everywhere and people will be shocked when they realize how amazing vegan chili can really be!