Roasted Beet Hummus

It's the end of football season, the only part of the season that I actually get into, except maybe the very start of the season.  Okay yes, I am a fair weather fan, so I hope by the time we get to playoffs there is at least a team or two on my short list of faves still in the running.

You see for me it's not so much about the football, the football just serves as the event.  For me, it's about the food.  I try to keep it in line, just a few choice items, so they need to be good.  I certainly will make some killer nachos and wings, but I also feel I need something in the offering that is, dare I say it, on the healthy side.  What!? I know.  Anyway, this cool looking hummus served with veggies and baked chips fills that need perfectly.  

Now go grab a beer and start cheering!        

Roasted Beet Hummus

1 medium  beet
1 head  garlic
15 ounces  garbanzo beans, canned -- rinsed and drained and peeled
2 tablespoons  tahini
2 tablespoons  fresh lemon juice
1/3 cup  olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 400. Cut the end off the head of garlic, exposing the cloves, wrap in foil. Wrap the beat in foil, drizzled with a little olive oil, salt and about 1/2 teaspoon of water. Roast both for about 45 minutes.

Let the beet cool, then rub the skin off and roughly chop.  Put the beet in a food processor or blender, and pulse a few times. Open the garlic packet and squeeze it straight into the food processor.  Throw away the skins.

Add the peeled garbanzo beans, tahini, lemon juice, salt and pepper to taste and some of the olive oil and pulse.  Drizzle in the rest of the olive oil and add more if needed for consistency. Taste and season to your preference.

Serve with carrots sticks, cucumber slices and pita chips.

Chocolate Coconut Bark

I know I've talked about coconut oil before, but I feel the need to do so again, and again. That's because this saturated fat used to get such a bad rap, I want to make sure the word is getting out.  I discovered coconut oil a few years ago to help me get off Pepcid and Prevacid.  I have awful acid and digestive issues that run in my family.  When I eat well, exercise and get a daily dosage of coconut oil these issues literally disappear.

What's more is that coconut oil being a medium chain fatty acid, gets used in your body much differently than other saturated fats.  It gets broken down in your system and instead of being stored as fat, it makes energy.  Something we can all use more of.  So what does this mean?  It means you are eating fat, but not getting fatter, in fact you are improving your metabolism and have a good shot of losing weight.  Yup that's what I said.  Google coconut oil and you'll see I am not making this stuff up!

So how much coconut oil should you have each day?  I think 1-2 tablespoons a day seems to do the trick. You can use it anywhere you use other oils, so you can start there.  Or you can swirl a teaspoon or so into your morning coffee or tea. Or you could make this awesome chocolate bark and get some extra antioxidants in at the same time.  This bark, like any other chocolate bark can take on all kinds of add ons.  This batch has pecans and dried cranberries, with a few mini marshmallows thrown in on part of it for my daughter.  It comes together fast and keeps well in the fridge.

Chocolate Coconut Bark

1/2 cup organic coconut oil
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup honey

add ons:
handful of dried cranberries
1/2 cup of chopped pecans
mini marshmallows

Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper.

Over low heat in a small saucepan, heat the coconut oil until it melts.  Stir in the cocoa powder mixing well.  Once dissolved, add in the honey, cook and stir a few minutes longer then remove from heat.

Pour into the pan and top with your add ons.  Put the pan in the freezer for 30-60 minutes.  Remove from the freezer and break the bark into pieces.  Store in the refrigerator.

Israeli Couscous with Red Pepper and Spinach

This is a quick and flavorful side dish to go with pretty much anything.  I paired it with the Parchment Roasted Salmon and some steamed spinach the other night. A meal with restaurant quality attention to detail and flavor was on the table in less than 30 minutes.

I've had a hard time finding time for the blog lately, but I knew I wanted to post about this dish.  As usual it was a dish on the fly and I didn't want to forget the details.  I was too lazy to go type the ingredients so I decided to send myself an email using voice technology.  Easier said than done.  When I said "chopped spinach" the voice technology interpreted it as "shop with kids" and then it interpreted " vegetable broth" as "see my bra". Yes, this could have been a very strange post indeed.

Israeli Couscous with Red Pepper and Spinach

1/4 cup diced onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 clove garlic, pressed
1/2 large red bell pepper, chopped
1 1/4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup Israeli couscous
2 handfuls fresh spinach, roughly chopped
Kosher salt and pepper to taste

In a medium pan with a tight fitting lid, saute onions in olive oil over medium heat until soft.  Add the garlic and saute 30 seconds longer. Toss in the red bell pepper and then add the vegetable broth. Raise the heat and bring the broth to a boil.  Add the couscous and stir.  Add the spinach on top and cover.  Cook 8-10 minutes stirring once or twice to incorporate the spinach.  Add salt and pepper to taste. Set a side for a few minutes before serving.

Refrigerated Pickled Veggies

Now that summer is in full swing there is an abundance of fabulous fresh veggies.  So many in fact, it can be hard to eat them all before they go bad.  We got some luscious little white and green pickling cucumbers in the last few CSA boxes, so I decided pickling them along with a few other veggies could be a good way to preserve them a bit longer.  

Now I know absolutely nothing about canning and it seems a bit intimidating, so I did a bit of research and found tons of recipes for refrigerator pickles.  A much easier process, that will will keep your veggies for up to 2 months. That's the ticket!  

One thing that many of the research recipes had in common was an incredible amount of sugar.  It's something I always try to cut back on in recipes, so my recipes uses much less than others, working on the savory side side rather than the sweet side.

You can put these in pretty picking jars, but since I don't own anything like that I just used a nice airtight container. Also these are just the veggies I had on hand, use whatever you have.  Most veggies can be used raw, but harder veggies like beets and carrots will need to be cooked a bit first to soften them so they will absorb the flavor better. This recipe includes jalapeno peppers which gives the mix a nice kick, if you don't want it spicy, just leave them out.

Refrigerated Pickled Veggies

1/2 teaspoon olive oil

kosher salt and pepper

6 cloves garlic, peeled and left whole

2 cups cider vinegar

2 1/4 cups water

1/4 cup sugar

1/8 cup kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper

1/2 teaspoon celery seeds

few sprigs fresh dill

1 teaspoon mustard seeds

1 teaspoon black peppercorns

1 sweet onion, sliced

1 summer squash, sliced

6-8 pickling cucumbers, sliced

2 jalapenos, sliced

4 beets, roasted then peeled and sliced

Wash and scrub the beets, removing the tops and tails.  Place them on a piece of foil large enough to create a tent for baking.  Drizzle a bit of olive oil on top then sprinkle with salt and pepper. Tent the foil, sealing the edges well and roast the beets in a in 375 degree oven for 50 minutes. Remove them from the oven and open the foil allowing the beets to cool. Once the beets are cool, peel and slice them. 

In the meantime in a large sauce pan add the vinegar, water, kosher salt, sugar and garlic cloves to the pan. Heat over medium heat stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt.

Put the crushed red pepper, celery seeds, fresh dill, mustard seeds, black peppercorns in the bottom of an airtight container, or divide them among your containers if using more than one.  Pull the garlic out of the vinegar mixture and them to the container. Then pack the veggies into the container(s) really tight. Make sure the vinegar mixture is at a boil then pour it over the veggies, leaving just a bit of room at the top. Tap the container on the counter a few times to remove all the air bubbles and then seal.  Let the container sit on your counter until completely cool and then refrigerate.  You can eat these the next day, but the longer the sit (for up to 2 months), the better they will taste.

Pantry Pasta

Meal planning is a great tool.  You set up the plan in advance so you know what you are having for dinner, you organize a good shopping list which in turn cuts down on impulse buying and wasted food.  I try to keep a meal plan going most weeks, but let's face it this is real life and sometimes things don't work out as planned or maybe there was no time to make a plan.  That's what this post is about, what to do for dinner when there is no plan.

This vegan dish is a good crowd pleaser and it is simple. What's more, I almost always have all the ingredients on hand.  So it's great for an impromptu pot luck, teacher's dinner or just OMG dinner time is here and I haven't got a planned meal.

Wait, did I say vegan?  It looks so creamy! Yes, the secret to this cream sauce is coconut milk.  This may seem odd to some but coconut milk makes a great pink sauce.  Don't let the fat scare you.  Coconut milk does a body good, check out the changing views on coconut milk and oil to see for yourself.

Pantry Pasta

2 T olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, pressed
1/4 cup red wine
2 cans diced tomatoes
1/4 t oregano
1/2 t basil
1/8 t crushed red pepper
1/4 t salt
1/8 t black pepper
1 can beans (Roman, kidney, butterbeans, whatever you have on hand), drained and rinsed
12-14 oz coconut milk
1 lb box of pasta

Saute the onion in olive oil until soft, add garlic and saute another minute.  Add red wine, stir then add tomatoes, and spices (the measurements are approximate, so season to taste).  Simmer for about 15-20 minutes.  Meanwhile, prepare the pasta.  Add the beans to the sauce and cook for about 5 minutes, then stir in the coconut oil.  Cook for another 5 minutes.  Mix sauce over pasta.

Mushroom Stroganoff

I love beef stroganoff.  So when I started cutting back on meat based dishes and adding in more vegetarian meals, a mushroom stroganoff recipe in the Forks Over Knives cookbook caught my attention. What I love about beef stroganoff is the mushrooms, the sour cream sauce and the noodles. The beef isn't really important to me.  I thought it was important for the flavor of the sauce, but as it turns out that's not true.

This recipe is not the Forks Over Knives version, I tried it once but it didn't have the right elements for me.  Also, I was not a fan of the homemade tofu sour cream. I use either real sour cream (since I am not worried about practicing veganism or Tofutti's Non-Hydrogenated Better Than Sour Cream (which is quite good.)  After trying the FOV version, I decided to revamp my beef stroganoff recipe into a mushroom stroganoff.  The result is a wonderful stroganoff that has forced beef stroganoff off the menu.  Okay, I will still make the beef version, but only if I need to use up leftover beef from another meal. 

Note: the lead picture for this post depicts linguini instead of the fettucini called for in this recipe.  I prefer the fettucini, but it's all I had in the pantry at the time.  Use whatever pasta you like, but if you want a vegan version make sure the pasta does not contain eggs.       

Mushroom Stroganoff
6 Servings

1/2  vidalia onion -- chopped
2 tablespoons  olive oil
3 garlic cloves -- pressed
2 Portobello mushrooms -- sliced
16 ounces white or baby bella mushrooms -- sliced
8 ounces shiitake mushrooms -- sliced
12 ounces vegetable broth
1 tablespoon worcestershire sauce - vegan or regular
1/2 cup white wine
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
1/8 teaspoon pepper
12 ounces tofu sour cream
16 oz fettucine
1 tablespoon fresh parsley -- minced

Cook fettucine in salted water according to the instructions on the package.
Meanwhile, over medium heat saute onions in oil until soft, add garlic and cook another minute.
Add the mushrooms and saute several minutes, adding a little vegetable broth during process to keep mushrooms moist.
Add the worchershire sauce, wine and any remaining broth. Simmer 5 minutes.
Stir in tofu sour cream,salt and pepper.
Add drained pasta to stroganoff mixture, toss and sprinkle with parsley.


Nutritional Analysis from Mastercook:
Per Serving: 562 Calories; 8g Fat (12.7% calories from fat); 19g Protein; 106g Carbohydrate; 9g Dietary Fiber; trace Cholesterol; 309mg Sodium.