Meatless Monday: Sweet Potato Burritos

I have fun news!  Today is my first time guest posting!  My virtual pal, Allie, invited me to post a Meatless Monday recipe... which is also another first for me :)   But I thought it might be fun, and I already had a recipe in mind, so I whipped it up and sent it on over to The Greenists. 

This is a great alternative to standard burrito filling, and it's a fabulous change-up from our usual way of eating sweet potatoes - baked with butter.  It's easily made nondairy/veganized, and it's a great way to get in loads of Vitamin A, fiber, and iron.

Click On Over!

 

Sweet Potato Burritos at The Greenists

Veggie Stuffed Calzone

I found this week's recipe in the September 2010 issue of Fitness magazine. It sounded so good I had to try it!

(Do you think I could look like that if I ate enough Veggie Stuffed Calzones?!) ;)

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Veggie Stuffed Calzone

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Ingredients:

Nonstick cooking spray

1 pound frozen bread dough, thawed ( I made my own white/whole wheat)

1/4 cup prepared basil pesto

4 cups frozen mixed vegetables, thawed

Salt

Freshly ground pepper

1 cup shredded part-skim mozzarella

1 tablespoon grated Parmesan

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1.) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Coat a large baking sheet with cooking spray. I chose to use a sheet of parchment paper.

2.) Form the thawed bread dough into a ball and then roll out into a 15-inch circle.

3.) Spread the pesto over dough to within 1/2 inch of the edge.

4.) Place the vegetables on one half of the dough and season to taste with salt and black pepper.

5.) Sprinkle with the mozzarella.

5.) Fold dough over vegetables and pinch around the edge to seal. Transfer the calzone to prepared baking sheet, mist with cooking spray and sprinkle with the Parmesan.

6.) Bake 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown. Let stand 5 minutes before slicing into wedges.

I could get into the habit of making this every week! It was so delicious! Plus it only took 10 minutes to put together, so I had this on the table in 35 minutes. Very nice. It made 4 very hearty servings. our family gives this a definite 5 spoon rating!

Blessings,

Teresa

Pasta Fagioli

Pasta Fagioli

Ingredients

• Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic, chopped
• Spinach (from the garden!) equivalent of 2 bags (6 ounces each) baby spinach
• 1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
• 1 15 oz. can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup kalamata olives
• 1 tsp. dried thyme ( from the garden!)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• Freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 1 Box Whole Wheat Penne Pasta
  

1.) Heat the oil in a large skillet. Add the garlic and saute for a few seconds. Add the spinach one bag at a time and cook for 4 – 5 minutes, or until wilted.
2.) Add the tomatoes, beans, olives, thyme, salt, and pepper and simmer for 8 – 10 minutes.
3.) Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package directions. Drain in a colander and transfer to a bowl. Serve sauce over the pasta.

Doesn't this dish just scream of flavor & vitamins? "Bud" loved the olives. It was the highlight of the dish for him. Everyone else ate their dinner, however, I noticed that they left the olives in their bowls. So I think I will try this recipe again but either leave out olives completely or substitute with black olives. Sorry Bud! Majority rules. :) Our family gave this a 3 - 4 spoon rating.

If you would like to see how I was able to make this dinner for 4 for under $5.00 you can check out my post over at Money Saving Maine-iac.

Quinoa and Black Beans

Alrighty, if you haven't yet experimented cooking with quinoa, I highly recommend it!  Quinoa (pronounced "keen-wa") is a cereal grain that is a complete protein.  It's also gluten-free!  Because of its high riboflavin and magnesium content, it's supposedly good for migraine sufferers.  I choose to eat it because it's a complex carbohydrate that offers up a good amount of fiber and iron.  Think of it as a slightly crunchier, nuttier version of brown rice.  And it takes on the flavors of what you cook it with. 

At first, I wasn't sure about serving up a "crazy hippy food" item like quinoa, but Bo loves it and requests it all the time.  We both love this recipe because it's packed with flavor.   My next goal is to cook it for breakfast as an alternative to oatmeal.

It's definitely a 5 Spooner in our house. 

Enjoy!

Quinoa and Black Beans
1 tsp. vegetable oil                     
1 shallot, minced                        
3 cloves garlic, minced              
½ c. uncooked quinoa               
¾ c. chicken broth
½ tsp. cumin
¼ tsp. cayenne
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 (14oz) can roasted, diced tomatoes, drained
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
¼ c. fresh cilantro, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Stir in the onion and garlic, and saute until golden. Mix quinoa into the saucepan and cover with broth. Season with cumin, cayenne, salt, and pepper. Bring mixture to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes. Stir mushrooms, black beans, and tomatoes into saucepan and simmer additional 5 minutes, or until mushrooms are cooked through. Remove from heat and stir in cilantro. Makes 3-4 servings.

The ingredient lineup.

Quinoa looks exactly like birdseed.

Even after you've added the chicken broth and seasonings...it still looks like birdseed.

And now!  Pastey birdseed.  :)

But when it's finished, I love all the colors and textures!

Bean & Pasta Soup

We've been without power for 3 days so I've been cooking on our gas stove top alot. This is a family favorite that sure came in handy this week. I've had this recipe for at least 10 years. I used it when I was running my Accredited Child Care from my home and the kids loved it! Serve this with Sliced green apples and a glass of milk and you have all the requirements met for the child care food lunch program. I double this recipe so we have enough for lunch the next day. The aroma of the rosemary cooking brings my family hovering around the kitchen. It is simple and quick to make and carrots and beans make this a pretty inexpensive dish to create.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 cloves of garlic minced ( I used the prepared garlic in a jar)
1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon tomato paste
2 cans cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
4 cups chicken broth ( I use 2 cups water with 1 Knorr chicken or vegetable bouillon cube)
3/4 cup tubetti, ditalini or other short, tubular past
1/4 cup chopped parsley

1. In a Dutch oven, add onion and carrots to the olive oil and cook until the vegetables are soft, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and rosemary; cook until fragrant, 1 minute. Season with salt and pepper.
2. Stir in tomato paste, beans, broth, and 4 cups water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer, partially covered, until soup has thickened slightly, about 10 minutes.
3. With a potato masher, mash some of the beans (still in pot) to thicken soup. Add pasta; cook until al dente, about 10 minutes.
4. To serve, ladle soup into bowls; sprinkle with parsley
It takes about 20 minutes of prep time and 20 more minutes to cook. Makes 6 servings.

Blessings,

Chunky Chickpea & Herb Dumpling Soup

In our family we have 5 birthdays in the month of February to celebrate. It can become a bit stressful to remember who's birthday's when so we've developed "Soup Sunday" as a way of bringing the whole fan damily together to celebrate all five birthdays on the same day. Every family brings a crockpot with a large quantity of soup, chowder, stew or chili to share. It's alot of fun to taste test each soup! Somehow we always have bread or rolls and of course one homemade birthday cake with all five names in icing on top.This year I wanted to try a new soup. Actually our 11 year old chose this recipe out of The Complete Vegetarian Cookbook that I had checked out of the library. Looks can be deceiving with this recipe. It looks plain or bland but with cumin, coriander & chili pepper the broth is scrumptious. My family all had seconds!

Chunky Chickpea And Herb Dumpling Soup

1 Tablespoon oil ( I used olive)
1 onion chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed (I used minced from a jar)
2 teaspoons cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
2 15 oz. cans chickpeas
2 15 oz. cans chopped tomatoes
3 1/2 cups vegetable stock ( I used 2 Knorr vegetable boullion cubes & 4 cups water)
Heat the oil in a large saucepan and cook the onion over medium heat for 2 - 3 minutes or until soft. Add the garlic, cumin, ground coriander and chili and cook for 1 minute or until fragrant. Add the chickpeas, stock and tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 10 minutes.

Dumplings

1 cup flour
2 Tablespoons butter
2 Tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese
2 Tablespoons mixed chopped fresh herbs ( I used chives and parsley I had on my windowsill)
3 Tablespoons milk

To make the dumplings, sift the flour into a bowl and add the chopped butter. Rub together with your fingertips until the mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. Stir in the cheese and herbs. Make a well in the center , add the milk and mix with a flat bladed knife until just combined. Bring together into a rough ball, dived into eight portions and roll into small balls. Add the dumplings to the soup cover and simmer for 20 minutes.
After I took the above picture we sprinkled Sargento Bistro Italian Pasta Cheese on top. Wow! This was good. I doubled this recipe for "Soup Sunday" because we had 16 people together and I wanted enough for everyone to try.

We gave it a unanimous 4 spoon rating!

Happy Birthday Seth, Uncle Phil, Dad, Chelbie & Aunt Lynn!

Blessings,

Teresa

Warm German Red Cabbage

The town that I live in is called Waldoboro, actually when I moved here 20 years ago it was called Waldoborough, and it was founded by German immigrants. Here is a recipe that the adults will love, and kids will look at with curiosity. It is super easy to make and it adds such a pretty color to your plate. Your kitchen will smell sooooo good!

German Cabbage

Ingredients:
1 medium head red cabbage, cored and sliced
2 large tart apples, peeled and sliced
1 medium sweet onion, sliced and separated into rings
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup cider vinegar
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon salt
6 whole peppercorns
2 whole allspice
2 whole cloves
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons cold water

In a large crockpot, (Yes! I bought a new one on sale at Sears! It's my new love.) toss cabbage, apples and onion. Add water, vinegar, sugar, butter and salt. Place the peppercorns, allspice, cloves and bay leaf on a double thickness of cheesecloth, (I used one of those handy reusable spice bags); bring up the 4 corners of cloth and tie with kitchen string to form a bag. Add to crockpot. Turn on high for the first hour and then turn to low. I continued cooking mine 8 hours. The house smells wonderful!

Discard spice bag. In a small bowl, combine cornstarch and cold water until smooth; stir in cabbage mixture. Cook 5 - 10 minutes more until thickened. Serve warm.

All the boys gave it 3 spoons and the adults gave it a resounding 5 spoons. :)

Friede und Segen (Peace and Blessings),

Teresa

Homemade Breakfast Pizza

So here is week one in including a meatless dinner in our weekly menu. I decided to start with something familiar to our boys...............pizza! I also included them in the baking.

For this recipe you will need:

• One homemade pizza crust
• 10 eggs
• 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
• A variety of toppings - I use a few sliced olives, a few slice & seeded cherry tomatoes, 1 scallion sliced, and some thawed broccoli.

Begin by preheating your oven to 400 degrees. This is where I invited our 7 yr. old to crack the eggs and beat them using a hand held egg beater. I then supervised his scrambling of them. Cover the pizza crust with the scrambled eggs. Top the eggs with 1 cup of the cheese. Then add your veggies toppings. Cover with the last layer of cheese. Wasn't my 10 yr. old artistic? This is what it looked like before it went in the oven.

We baked it for 20 minutes. This is a filling & rich pizza. I served it with grapefruit segments and broccoli slaw.

While the adults gave it a 5 spoon rating the boys gave it 3 spoons. What would have given it a 4 or 5 I asked. "SAUSAGE" they insisted. Hmmmm......... I have my work cut out for me don't I!

Blessings,

Teresa