putting a gift to good use: making curried lentil soup with sausage butternut squash and kale

We took one of our homemade gifts for a test run last night. All in the interest of recipe development, of course. If you're making it along with us, in addition to the 4 cups of dried lentils and spice packet we included (which was 2 cubes of Rapunzel veg bouillon + 2 bay leaves + 1 tablespoon madras curry + 1 tablespoon of the spice rub we made), you will need:

• a large pot
• olive oil
• 1 onion, diced
• 4 carrots, diced
• 2 (or more) of your favorite sausages (chicken, pork, soy, etc..), chopped
• 2 cups of butternut squash, diced
• 10 cups of water
• 1 bunch of kale, stems removed, roughly chopped
• salt & pepper, optional
• Greek yogurt (optional, as a topping)

Over medium heat, saute the onions and carrots in a bit of olive oil.

Add the sausages and butternut squash, and continue sauteing until the onions are translucent.

Add the contents of the spice packet that came along with the gift + 10 cups of water and let the whole thing simmer for about 20 minutes, until lentils have softened. Then remove the bay leaves...

and add the kale, stirring it in to the soup. Continue simmering for another 5-10 minutes, until the kale is wilted and lentils are fully cooked. Soup will be stew-like consistency. (I make most of my soups this consistency because it's easier for little hands to get it from bowl to mouth!!)

Serve warm, with a dollop of Greek yogurt with counterbalances the heat from the curry powder and white pepper in the spice blend. Because the soup is quite monochromatic, I recommend serving it with a bright green salad.

p.s. The soup is even better on day two, when the flavors have blended. It will freeze nicely. Simply add some fresh broth to the soup when you are reheating it. Enjoy!

lemony pasta with chickpeas and Feta

I didn't feel like going to the supermarket today, so dinner was a hodgepodge of what I had on hand. It turned out so well that I'm going to quickly share two of the recipes, because everyone enjoyed them, and they are so ridiculously simple! Plus, if you make a big batch, like I did, you'll have lunch made for tomorrow. Here's the first one, that can be serves warm or room temp, and makes a great vegetarian side or meal:

Lemony Pasta Salad with Chickpeas and Feta

(makes 8 servings)

8 oz dried whole wheat rotini (or your favorite pasta), cooked according to pkg

15 oz can of chickpeas, rinsed

zest and juice of 1-2 lemons

6 oz herb pesto*

6 oz Feta, crumbled

sat & pepper, to taste

Combine everything in a mixing bowl. Serve warm, or room temp. Can be made ahead and stored in the fridge.

* I happened to have a jar of Bella Cucina herb pesto (nut-free, bonus so this can be sent in my little one's school lunchbox this week...) in my pantry that I'd been given as a gift. If you want to make your own, simply combine a few hearty handfuls of your favorite fresh herbs in a blender with enough olive oil to reach your desired consistency.

planning my peaceful pre-Thanksgiving

I love Thanksgiving: the food, the family, the crisp Fall day dedicated to nothing other than both. But somehow it snuck up this year, and I am finding myself feeling slightly overwhelmed by all I used to do in past years. Inspired by this post on Simple Mom (which, ironically, my dear friend Leslie forwarded me on... um, November 11th, and I didn't have a chance to read until this morning...), I have decided to pare back a bit this year. The good intentions are still there, but there's a need to be more practical this year. I will still cook the feast on Thanksgiving (despite our kitchen that is bordering on full collapse with now 1 or 2 working burners (depending upon the day), and a semi-functioning fridge and now single oven), but I am going to get organized this weekend and be realistic about what I can accomplish cooking-wise. And, I still want to continue our tradition of gifting dishes of Homemade Pumpkin Cannelloni with Sage Cream Sauce to the boys' teachers, but this year we are simplifying a bit.

Last year, we made pumpkin cannelloni for all of them. It started out simple enough. Some onions, shallots and garlic chopped in the Cuisinart...

...so many cans of organic pumpkin puree, marscapone, and bottles of sherry I lost count...

...Legos spread out all over the kitchen floor, the amazing smell of the pumpkin filling bubbling away on the (then fully functioning) range.

I'd thought nothing of a day trip to the Container Store, where I filled two shopping carts with glass containers,

excitedly filling them with this labor of love.

Our kitchen was transformed into a pumpkin cannelloni factory, of sorts.

A happily humming factory, where every surface was put to good use.

And at the end of the day, the fridge was filled with 28 dishes (yes, 28) of Pumpkin Cannelloni. The boys and I delivered each dish to one of their current or past teachers the next day, to be enjoyed with their families during the week of Thanksgiving. It was one of those times when 'tis way more fun to give than to receive. But this year, for a variety of reasons, I just can't swing this massive effort. It's been in the back on my mind, this guilt that we did something so special last year and we're not doing it again this year. But then I had to take a step back and think about how my children and I can still do this fabulous project together, but keep it manageable from a planning, time and cost perspective. It's not the majesty of last year, but I have to remind myself that it still means a very special, very well-deserved night "off" for each of my children's two current main teachers and their families.

homemade vegetable soup + my new food crush: wholeG bread

My husband and older son returned from their "Y Guide" camping trip, full of excitement. Really, what could be better than heading off for a special weekend with dad, filled with canoeing, hiking, arts & crafts, romping around the campfire with other kids well past normal bedtimes-- and more junk food than a 3rd grader could ever imagine eating in 24 hours? I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to end up making for Sunday dinner, but a quick trip to our local market resulted in a cart full of fresh veggies. Subconscious? Probably not. The end result was a super simple vegetable soup that was absolutely delicious...and offset some of the junky wonderfulness of the weekend camping trip with dad.

Homemade Vegetable Soup

I've listed amts of the various vegetables here but you can modify them however you'd like, depending upon your family's tastes + how much soup you'd like to make. My pot made 6 pints to share with friends or freeze + dinner for 4 two nights in a row...

5 Rapunzel brand vegetable bouillon cubes + 10 cups of water
1 pint cherry tomatoes (left whole)
1/2 large onion, minced
1 T garlic (i used Dorot brand frozen)
2 T basil (i used Dorot brand frozen)
2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled & chopped
3 medium-sized red bliss potatoes, skin on, chopped
1 smallish butternut squash, peeled and chopped
2 small zucchinis, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 can artichoke hearts (in water), chopped
1 can butter beans (rinsed)
1 can white beans (rinsed)
1 head of broccoli, chopped

There's a lot of chopping involved, which takes time. But this is a great recipe to make if your kids are in the kitchen wanting to catch-up on their day.

I started by filling a large soup pot with water, the bouillon cubes, the whole cherry tomatoes, minced onion and the frozen cubes of garlic and basil. I find keeping those frozen herbs on hand convenient because I always have them on hand and can just pop them into any recipe. While waiting for that to boil, I chopped the sweet potatoes, red bliss potatoes and butternut squash into 1/2 inch pieces, because those were going to take the longest to cook. As soon as they were chopped, they went into the pot. This took some time and elbow grease, so by the time they were all in the pot the veggie broth was boiling. I lowered the heat a little bit and then added the zucchini and bell pepper, once they were chopped into 1/2 inch pieces. A quick check of the pantry resulted in artichoke hearts, butter beans and white beans, so a can of each of those went in. (I rough chopped the whole artichoke hearts before tossing them into the pot.) Then last to go in was the broccoli, since I wanted the broccoli blanched not soggy. Really, the broccoli went in right before I served the soup. From start to finish, the soup took about 45 minutes because of all of the chopping. Relatively speaking that's a long time for me to spend cooking a meal. But, it's one of those meals that just gets better with time. So, spend a little extra time making one big pot and you'll get to enjoy this soup over the next few days, or freeze it for a night when you're running around to after school activities but still want to come home to a warm, comforting, heathful meal.

That first night (and again last night) I served the soup with a variety of stinky cheeses and chunks of a local bread that I stumbled upon that immediately became my latest food crush: G Whole German Bread. Local folks can find this New Haven-baked bread at Walter Stewart's Market. It is amazing. We tried the "Fitness Bread" in the green bag (which is loaded with corn grits, oat flakes, flaxseeds, soybean bran, sunflower seeds, and more...) and the "Muesli Bread" in the yellow bag (which is made with raisins, golden raisins, hazelnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, oats, sesame seeds and more). I am not sure how widespread their distribution is, but found this article on them if you want to learn more about this new bread company. I might just have to make more soup to go with this bread.

A New (Creamy, Smooth) Beans & Greens Soup

Last winter, I made a fabulous, easy "beans & greens" soup. Yesterday I made up another version that might have even been better. Well, maybe not better, but it was enjoyed by everyone in our family and I am thinking it was due to the last step, when I blended the soup into a creamy puree. I had green soup on my mind when I did my marketing the day before. I think it was last weekend when I read an article about one woman's venture into satisfying green soups. (I'll have to dig up the article...) We all know leafy greens are good for us. And when the weather turns brisk and drizzly there's nothing more satisfying than soup. I like soups, my kids don't love them. My motive for coming up with a health and protein-packed soup that they actually like stems from the fact that both kids have already missed a day of school because they were sick. After a summer of chicken nuggets and other junk from snack bars, it's time to get back to nourishing meals when we're at home.

The "recipe" (if you can even call it that, because it's so simple):

A New Beans & Greens Soup
(makes a giant pot, at least 12 servings)

1 lb dried navy beans, soaked*

8 cubes Rapunzel brand vegetable bouillon

16 cups of water

2 T frozen garlic, or a few cloves (minced)

22 oz (two large boxes) kale or other leafy greens**

optional: chicken sausages, sliced (see my notes at the bottom photo)

Bring the water, bouillon cubes and garlic to a boil. Add soaked beans and cook over a medium simmer until the beans are tender (about 1 hour). During the last few minutes of cooking, add the leafy greens and cover. Let the greens wilt and stir them into the soup.

The soup is done, your kitchen will smell fabulous and you can sit down and enjoy the soup as is-- very chunky. Or, as you'll see in the photos below, you can blend it until smooth. You can either do so using an immersion blender (which I don't have), or you can let it cool down and run it through a regular blender, until desired consistency. This soup freezes beautifully, so making a big pot and setting some aside for a busy night is ideal.

*I quick soaked the beans, because I had not planned ahead to make soup. The method for quick soaking beans is to bring 1lb of beans to a boil for 2 minutes, in 10 cups of plain water. Then turn the burner off, cover the pot, and let the beans soak for 10 minutes. Drain and proceed as you would with beans soaked overnight.

** Our local Whole Foods has many convenient packages of greens these days. Yes, they cost more. But....if their convenience encourages you to use them in your cooking, then I think they're worth it!

I first served the soup to the kids as is, plus I added some whole wheat rotini I had leftover in the fridge to their bowls before heating them. My little one had a hard time getting the soup from bowl to mouth without in slopping everywhere and dribbling down his chin...

I enjoyed the texture and the individual tastes of the beans and kale. But, I did wonder what it would be like pureed...

So, the next meal, I popped it into the blender...

and whizzed it around using the pulse function, stopping at this point to check and see if they wanted it a bit chunky still? Nope. They wanted it smooth.

So, this is where we ended up, and all four of us enjoyed it. I had my bowl vegetarian, or as is. For the kids and my husband, I added a few cooked chicken sausages when blending the soup. They loved this addition. It gave the soup even more bulk, protein from the chicken and a nice smokey flavor.

versatile meatless meal idea: walnut sauce

A week ago, I winged a walnut sauce. In an effort to detoxify a bit from too many rounds of snack bar food and too many fruity, summer cocktails I vowed to spend my week eating only "whole foods". (My definition: I had to know the ingredients in what I was popping down the hatch, and recognize all of them). The base for that week's meals was this walnut sauce I whipped up and then stored in the fridge. I didn't want to feel deprived, since it is summer vacation after all. This versatile sauce hit the spot.

Walnut Sauce

walnuts
walnut oil
your choice of vinegar
water (optional)
herbs (optional)

In a blender, combine walnuts, walnut oil and a splash of your favorite vinegar. Pulse until thick and creamy. Taste, and add more vinegar or oil to get to your desired level of tanginess or creaminess. Add water if you'd like to thin the sauce to make a dressing. Add fresh or frozen herbs, if you'd like, and blend until smooth.

I divided the sauce in half, leaving the first half as is (walnuts + walnut oil + a splash of both champagne vinegar and sherry vinegar). Then I added a fresh batch of cilantro to the second half. I just stored them in their thick glory in the fridge. Then during the week, I used them a bunch of different ways, in addition to thinning them and using them as salad dressings:

The plain walnut one was the dressing in a batch of roasted beet & barley salad...

The walnut-cilantro one was smothered over a piece of sea bass for dinner one night...

and I popped a dollop of the walnut one in the center of portabello mushrooms + diced tomatoes + a sprinkling of Parmesan and roasted them at 350, alongside some zucchini from the farmer's market

for a meatless feast. Delicious.

chard & scallion scrambled eggs on toast

My neighbor shared half of her CSA bounty this week. Lucky me. The big bunch of chard and dainty scallions became our brunch: sauteed in a bit of olive oil, and scrambled with a few eggs then served over a toasted slice of Alvarado Street California Protein bread. I added cheese to my husband's and kid's. Mine was delicious as is.

new favorite (energy packed) breakfast

I've taken up tennis again this summer. And, this has become my go-to breakfast. Not only is it delicious, but it tides me over til lunch and gives me the energy to zip around the court (totally avoiding my to-do list while the kids are at camp). The breakfast is simple (and makes an equally fabulous lunch or hearty snack):

Alvarado St. Bakery California Protein Bread* (toasted)
+ Hummus, White Bean Dip, Edamame Hummus or (mashed) avocado (whichever I have on hand)
+ one sliced hard-boiled egg

The key is to hard-boil a bunch of eggs once/week and keep them in the fridge so this can be made in minutes.

*I find Alvarado Street bread in the freezer aisle of our local markets.

Now for those wondering, no, my kids aren't digging that breakfast. And so, I've kept a supply of Trader Joe's French Toast on hand...

or I'll give them a muffin, fruit and yogurt...

or, one of the hard-boiled eggs, some fruit and a frozen tube of yogurt if it's hot...

and they've seen their fair share of Van's waffles.

busy, busy-- but breakfast is made!

My head was happily swirling on the train home from the city, thinking of all of these recipes & ideas I wanted to share with you. And then, blogger (which powers "full plate") was down for 24 hours...it was way too gorgeous to sit inside...and a few new mealsinasnap videos were posted to YouTube. So, I got a little sidetracked. I will share a few take-aways from the nutrition forum, but today it's more timely for me to post one of my new videos since I just so happen to be whipping up a frittata and protein pancakes right now, in anticipation of a busy weekend ahead! The frittata I am making this afternoon includes asparagus, artichokes and kale-- but as you'll see in the video, you can use just about any veggie or meat you might have on hand for this fabulous make-ahead dish.



And, as you all know, the protein pancakes are one of my go-to make-ahead breakfasts. So, it was time for me to whip up a fresh batch of those to store in the fridge too. Here's that ("oldie but goodie") video as well, for anyone who may have missed the earlier posting of it. Enjoy these simple ideas for make-ahead breakfasts. I hope you have a fabulous weekend ahead.



If you cannot see the videos above, here's the link to the frittata one, and here's the link to the protein pancake one. Enjoy!

off to the city + taco night

I cannot wait. Tomorrow I am spending the day in the city at this culinary nutrition workshop. I feel good about the way I feed my family

but there's always something to learn...a new recipe, a research blip, a cooking tip...

I look forward to hopefully sharing some new ideas from this workshop.

Oh, and if the above looks appetizing, here's the scoop on last week's taco night. The filling was: cauliflower, mushrooms and zucchini (all diced finely) and white corn sauteed in a bit of olive oil with lots and lots of fresh cilantro, hearty shakes of cumin and chili powder, some minced garlic, a teeny bit of chipotle, and some smoked paprika. Everything else should be pretty self-explanatory except the white stuff. Instead of sour cream that's leftover tzatziki from the night before. Just as good.

simple spinach lasagna

Lasagnas freeze perfectly. Since my freezer is stocked with so many chicken and turkey entrees right now, I decided to make a veggie lasagna this week. I was using what I had on hand, so it wasn't a traditional lasagna prep (with ricotta or bechamel), but the result was delicious and if you're a fan of spinach, then this is a simple recipe to add you your repertoire.

Simple Spinach Lasagna

(makes 2 6-serving lasagnas, one for now and one to freeze)

2 lbs frozen spinach
1 brick cream cheese
garlic
basil
salt & pepper, to taste
mozzarella (or your favorite cheese), sliced
oven-ready lasagna sheets
2 jars of your favorite pasta sauce
shredded Parmesan/mozzarella blend (or your favorite shredded cheese)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a Cuisinart (using the metal chopping blade), combine the frozen spinach (no need to thaw it), cream cheese, fresh or dried basil, a few cloves of garlic and a sprinkle of salt & pepper. Pulse until a puree. Set aside. Then, in your two baking dishes, you'll alternate pasta sauce, pasta sheets, the spinach mixture and slices of cheese, ending with pasta sauce and a layer of shredded cheese on top. Wrap one dish tightly for the freezer. Bake the other for 45 minutes, or until pasta sheets are cooked through. (You test this by inserting a butter knife into the center...if is cuts in easily, the lasagna is ready. If not, let it cook for another few minutes.)

The frozen lasagna can either be thawed in the fridge and then baked as above, or you can cook it from frozen. If cooking from frozen, put the baking dish into the oven as it is heating (to avoid shocking the dish with a temp change) and then double the cook time. Check if it's done the same way as above.

I know some of you like pics, so here's the prep in photos:

2 lbs of spinach, 1 block of cream cheese a few cloves of garlic, a handful of basil (or a few teaspoons of dried basil), and a sprinkle of kosher salt and freshly ground pepper are pulsed until they turn into a puree. I used frozen spinach and did not thaw or drain the spinach, because I wanted that extra moisture in the lasagna to help cook the noodles. This is the crux of the filling, so make sure it has enough basil and garlic for your taste!

I always start with a layer of sauce on the bottom of my baking dish, as it prevents the lasagna from sticking...

Then you'll alternate pasta sheets, spinach filling, slices of cheese and more sauce.

Ending with a layer of pasta sauce and shredded cheese.

This is not the most appetizing "after" photo, as I'd already scooped out our dinner. But, it'll do!

linguine with lemon cream sauce

I have been cooking up a storm this week, stocking the freezer with mini turkey meatloaves, enchiladas, chicken pot pies, chili and spinach lasagna. So, on the "off" days when not making meals for my family to enjoy while I am out West, I have tried to whip up super simple recipes. One day I made a farro tabbouleh...right now there's a lentil-sweet potato stew bubbling away on the stove... and last night I made a quick batch of Linguine in Lemon Cream Sauce. I'd originally seen the linguine recipe in the September 2010 issue of Vegetarian Times under the header "10 Outrageously Easy 5-Ingredient Dinners". Not just simple. Outrageously simple. Sounds perfect.

And the recipe was outrageously simple. But it was a little one dimensional, if you want my opinion. Here's the original recipe and how I modified it last night:

Linguine with Lemon Cream Sauce (from Vegetarian Times)

4 servings

8 oz. dry linguine
1/2 cup light cream cheese
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 lemon, zested and then juiced
1/2 cup chopped parsley

True to their word, the recipe couldn't be easier: Cook linguine according to package directions. In a saucepan, warm cream cheese, oil and lemon juice over low heat. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup cooking water. Stir reserved cooking water into cream cheese mixture. Add pasta, lemon zest, and parsley; toss to coat. Season with salt and pepper, if desired.

And if you like creamy lemony goodness then you can just stop right there. But I was thankful I had pine nuts on hand, to toss on top, for a little texture and alternate taste. Then about half way through my bowl, I decided I wanted more flavor than just lemon so I added my sides to the pasta and mixed it all together. I'd made: roasted zucchini (400 degrees on a cookie sheet, drizzled with a bit of olive oil and a sprinkling of kosher salt for about 12 minutes or until al dente and turning golden brown) and some chicken sausage I'd run through the shredder attachment on my Cuisinart b/c I wanted it "ground" instead of sliced for a few things coming up. And with those two additions, it was a pretty interesting meal.

I am posting the original recipe now because I said I would on the FB page, but I think I'll work on tweaking this recipe a little more when I get back to town. It's got potential...