Quinoa Salad

I just kind of made this one up. I eat it plain, but it's good with tortilla chips as well. If by chance you are on the weight watchers program, it's about 3 points for 1 cup.

1/2 C. dry quinoa
1/2 C. low sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 C. black beans (1 can)
1 1/2 C. canned corn (1 can)
1 can chopped tomatoes
1/2 avocado coarsly chopped
1/2 green pepper chopped
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 t. coarse salt
pinch of cayenne pepper
3 T. chopped cilantro

Bring quinoa and broth to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Cook quinoa for about 15 minutes. Transfer to a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients and toss. Chill in refrigerator for about 1 hour.

Roasted Sweet Potato Rounds with Black Bean Cream

This is supposed to be a side dish, but I think it's a great little snack. My little girl loves eat this for lunch!

2 lg. sweet potatoes, sliced 1/4 inch thick
1/4 C. olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 C. fat free sour cream
1 t. ground cumin
1 T. chopped cilantro

Heat oven to 425 F. Line 2 baking sheets with foil; lightly coat with nonstick cooking spray. Place potato slices in single layer; brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake 20 minutes, flipping potatoes over after 10. The potatoes should be slightly crisp. In a bowl, mash beans with a fork leaving some beans whole and others mashed. Mix in cumin, sour cream and cilantro. Season with salt and pepper. Evenly divide bean cream on potato slices; garnish with cilantro. If you don't care for cilantro, the original recipe actually called for scallions instead of cilantro. I'm not a fan of raw onion, so I went with cilantro.

Sweet Potato Gnocchi with Maple Cinnamon Sage Brown Butter

The best way to describe this dish is YUMMMMM!!! This is kind of a labor intensive dish, but it is so worth it! I LOVED it! It's one of Giada De Laurentiis' recipes and I just made a few slight adjustments after reading the recipe reviews. I would suggest making the gnocchi dough 1 day ahead so it can chill in the fridge. It was much easier to work with when it was chilled!
6 to 8 servings

Gnocchi:

2 lbs sweet potatoes
2/3 C. whole milk ricotta cheese
1 1/2 t. salt
1 t. ground cinnamon
1/4 t. freshly ground black pepper
1 1/4 C. all purpose flour, plus 1/3 for work surface
Preheat the oven to 425 F. Pierce the sweet potatoes with a fork. Bake the sweet potatoes until tender and fully cooked, about 40-50 minutes. While the sweet potatoes are cooking, place ricotta in a strainer or some cheese cloth and allow excess moisture to drain into a bowl and set aside. Remove sweet potatoes from the oven and cool slightly. Cut in half and scoop the flesh into a large bowl. Mash the sweet potatoes and transfer to a large measuring cup to make sure the sweet potatoes measure about 2 cups. Transfer the mashed sweet potatoes back to the large bowl. Add the ricotta cheese, salt, cinnamon, and pepper and blend until well mixed. Add the flour, 1/2 C. at a time until a soft dough forms. You may need slightly more flour than the recipe calls for. Just continue to add flour 1/2 C. at a time until the dough is no longer goopy and a soft ball forms. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and chill in fridge for at least 1 hour. Lightly flour a work surface and place the dough in a ball on the work surface. Divide the dough into 6 equal balls. Roll out each ball into 1-inch wide rope. Cut each rope into 1-inch pieces. Roll the gnocchi over the lines of a fork (this is just for looks) and transfer to a large baking sheet.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil over high heat. Add the gnocchi in 3 batches and cook until tender but still firm to the bite. The gnocchi will float when it is done. Drain gnocchi using a slotted spoon and transfer to a baking sheet. After all gnocchi is cooked, saute in a nonstick pan with a little butter to create a slight crust on the gnocchi. Return gnocchi to the baking sheet and tent with foil to keep warm.

Maple Cinnamon Sage Brown Butter:

1/2 C. unsalted butter (Make sure it is unsalted! If you use salted butter, do not add salt to the sauce.)
20 fresh sage leaves
1 t. ground cinnamon
2 T. maple syrup
1/2 t. salt
1/2 t. freshly ground black pepper
Melt the butter in a large saute pan over medium heat. When the butter has melted add sage leaves. Continue to cook, swirling the butter occasionally until the foam subsides and the milk solids begin to brown. Remove from heat and stir in the cinnamon, maple syrup, salt and pepper. The mixture will bubble up. Gently stir the mixture and toss with the gnocchi. Transfer to a platter and serve immediately.

Stuffed Red Peppers

I have been participating?(I don't know if that's how you would put it)in a food co-op called Bountiful Baskets for a few months. It's great because you get a whole laundry basket full of fruits and vegetables for only $15. Supposedly the value of the produce is around $35. Last week I got five beautiful red peppers in my basket. Red peppers are usually about $2 a piece so I was really excited to get them. I decided the best thing to do with these peppers was to make stuffed red peppers, but I couldn't find a recipe that appealed to me, so I just made one up. I was pretty happy with the results.

4 large red peppers (or any other color)
2 T. olive oil
3 scallions sliced
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 jalapeno with ribs and seeds removed, minced
1 1/2 t. cumin
1 1/2 t. chili powder
2 medium sized tomatoes chopped, about 2 cups
1/2 C. chopped zucchini
1 carrot grated
3/4 C. corn (I grilled mine, but you could certainly use canned or frozen).
1 can black beans rinsed and drained
Salt and pepper to taste
2 C. Mexican blend cheese
2 T. chopped fresh cilantro

Set oven to 350 degrees. Wash red peppers, cut off the top and remove ribs and seeds. If the peppers don't sit up straight, slice just a tiny bit off the bottom without making a hole in the bottom. You just want to cut off just enough to help it sit up straight. Save the tops of the peppers. Place the peppers in a buttered glass 8x8 baking pan and set aside. In a large skillet heat the olive oil. Add onion, garlic, jalapeno, chili powder, and cumin. Cook on medium heat for 3 to five minutes. Do not let the garlic brown. Add tomatoes, zucchini, carrot, and corn. Cook until the vegetables are softened. About 5 minutes. Add the black beans, salt and pepper and cook for another 3 minutes. Fill each pepper with the vegetable mixture. Top with cheese, about 1/2 C. cheese for each pepper. Place the top of the pepper over the cheese to prevent the cheese from browning too quickly. Bake for about 40 minutes. You can remove the top of the pepper after about 30 minutes if you like the cheese to crisp on top. Sprinkle with chopped fresh cilantro and serve.

Mediterranean Salad

I love this salad. It has all of the textures I love! It's crisp, crunchy, creamy, and juicy. I really think the polenta croutons make the salad, so don't leave them out!
1 package (18 oz) fat-free, plain precooked polenta
Olive oil cooking spray
2 pints grape tomatoes. I actually used a yellow tomato from my garden and some cherry tomatoes.
2 T. balsamic vinegar
1 C. canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper
1/4 t. red pepper flakes
1 head romaine, torn (about 6 cups)
20 basil leaves or less if basil is too strong
4 oz fresh part-skim mozzarella, cut into small cubes. I use mozzarella pearls. It's cheaper and easier!

Heat oven to 400°. Halve polenta lengthwise, then halve each piece lengthwise. Slice crosswise 7 times (to yield 32 triangles). Coat a small baking sheet with cooking spray; evenly arrange triangles; coat tops with cooking spray. Place tomatoes on a small rimmed baking sheet; spray with oil and toss. Place both sheets in oven for 10 minutes; remove tomatoes from oven and stir. Return to oven and cook until croutons are toasted on 1 side and tomatoes are wrinkled and brown in spots, about 20 minutes more. Remove tomatoes. Flip croutons; return to oven for 20 minutes more. Pour vinegar over tomatoes; transfer to a bowl. Mix in beans, salt, pepper and pepper flakes; set aside. Divide romaine and basil among 4 plates. Pour tomato mixture over greens; top with croutons and cheese.
Note: I find that it's hard to find polenta at the grocery store, so I just make my own.

Polenta:
3 C. water
1 t. salt
3/4 C. plus 2 T. cornmeal
Boil water and salt in medium pot. Add cornmeal in a slow steady stream, whisking vigorously. Once all of the cornmeal is added, reduce heat to medium low and cook until the mixture is creamy and no longer has a cornmeal taste to it, about 30 minutes. Whisk the mixture often while cooking. Pour onto a buttered cookie sheet and spread to the edges. It will be a thin layer. Cover with plastic wrap and chill until the polenta is firm. I like to cut mine into triangles and then follow the crouton directions in the recipe.

Caprese Ravioli

A few years ago I got a little ravioli maker and a good old fashioned pasta roller. I am constantly on the lookout for good ravioli recipes so there will probably be quite a few more ravioli recipes on this blog in the future. Anyway, making ravioli CAN be time consuming, but the great thing about it is that you can make a big batch and freeze what you don't cook. I like to make my own pasta dough, but you can just buy wonton wrappers and use those instead. I found this ravioli recipe in one of Jamie Olivers cook books, but I changed it a little to make it my own. The ingredients in the filling are similar to the ingredients in caprese salad, so that is where the name came from. Caprese salad is a simple, but delicious Italian salad that consists of fresh mozzarella, basil, tomatoes, olive oil, and balsamic vinegar.

Ravioli Dough:
2 C. flour
1 t. salt
2 T. butter
1/2 C. boiled water
In a food processor pulse flour,salt and butter together. Slowly add boiled water while pulsing until all of the dough collects on one side of the food processor and forms into a ball. Kneed the dough until smooth, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest for about 10 minutes. Cut the dough into four pieces. Run each piece through your pasta maker until very thin and about 5 inches wide and 12 inches long (maybe longer). You can also roll it out, but it takes a lot of work! You just want the dough to be 1/16th of an inch maybe a little thinner.

Filling:
8 oz. fresh mozzarella pearls or chopped fresh mozzarella
About 6 or 7 sundried tomatoes, chopped fine
5 fresh basil leaves chopped fine
3 slices of cooked bacon, chopped fine
1/3 C. grated romano cheese
Combine all ingredients. Brush your 5 x 12 sheet of pasta with water or an egg wash. Place 12 mounds (about 1 T. each) of filling on your sheet of pasta dough making sure to get at least 1 piece of mozzarella in each mound. Lay another sheet of pasta over the top and press around the edges of each mound and cut into squares. Repeat with the rest of the pasta dough and filling. If you are using wonton wrappers, brush water on one wonton, put the filling on top and then put another wonton over the top and then press around the edges.
If the pasta is fresh, cook in boiling, salted water for about 3 minutes. If it's frozen, cook for about 7 minutes and drain. Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar and top with fresh ground pepper, romano cheese and fresh basil.

Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Feta and Cabbage Slaw

I found this recipe in a Bon Appetit magazine and it is so simple, yummy and healthy! I have been trying to cook at least one vegetarian meal a week for the past few years and this is a great one! It's not that I don't like meat, I actually love a good steak. I have just found that meat can be pretty expensive. I like to stay within my $55/week food budget, so going vegetarian once or even twice a week saves me some money!

Crispy Black Bean Tacos with Feta and Cabbage Slaw

1 15-ounce can black beans, drained
1/2 t. ground cumin
5 t. olive oil, divided
1 T. fresh lime juice
2 C. coleslaw mix (I just shred my own cabbage and add some grated carrots)
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 C. chopped fresh cilantro
4 white or yellow corn tortillas
1/3 C. crumbled feta cheese (I guess you could use monterrey jack cheese if you don't like feta, but I LOVE feta cheese!)
Bottled hot sauce

Mix beans and cumin in a small bowl and slightly mash the beans. In a separate bowl mix 2 teaspoons of olive oil and lime juice. Add the coleslaw, green onions, and cilantro and toss together. Season the slaw with coarse salt and freshly ground pepper.
Heat some olive oil in a non-stick pan. Add the tortillas in a single layer and put some of the bean mixture (1/4 of the mixture) on one side of each tortilla. I like to add my feta cheese at this point because I like it a little soft and gooey. Cook for one minute and then fold the tacos in half. Continue to cook until golden brown. Remove from the heat and fill the tacos with the slaw and top with a little hot sauce.