Lentil Chili and the End of a Very Busy Semester

Ian graduated today, so we spent most of the morning and a good portion of the afternoon in an uncomfortable coliseum listening to speeches and recitations of names and chants and songs and...my butt still feels numb.

The one thing I didn't anticipate was that I would see so many previous students of mine graduating at the same time. I might preface this with the warning that I'm the type of person who cries at Discover Card commercials, and I'm pretty sure Rita Wilson was mocking my waterworks in that scene in Sleepless in Seattle. Needless to say, seeing students who were doe-eyed freshman ready to set the academic world on fire with their words (please, no Freedom Fighters references here) matriculating and moving on to greener pastures was entirely too much for this sappy teacher.

So what better way to celebrate than to make lentil chili? Yes, I'm the queen of the non sequitor. I may be done tearing up, but here comes the grading and advising. Sigh.

Lentil Chili
(adapted from Not Your Mother's Slow Cooker Cookbook)

1 onion, chopped
1 red bell pepper, choped
1 jalapeno, finely diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 carrots, diced
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. cumin
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
2 tsp. oregano
1/2 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. dry mustard powder
2 1/2 c. dried brown lentils, rinsed
8 c. vegetable broth
3 tbl. olive oil
Salt to taste

Directions
1. Combine all ingredients in slow cooker, except olive oil and salt. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. Add olive oil and salt in the last half hour.

2. Serve with cheddar cheese and green onion toppings.

Acorn Squash and Black Bean Chili

Here's another very simple, very filling vegetarian recipe. I love black bean chili, and after a lovely day of grocery shopping and tidying up around the house, Ian and I decided the fiber-filled dish was perfect for a cold, lazy day.

I couldn't resist the gorgeous acorn squash from the Moscow Co-Op, and even though I can eat acorn squash simply roasted with a pat of butter straight out of the shell, I figured adding it to the chili might be a welcome twist to the evening. I'm so glad I did: this was fantastic!


Acorn Squash and Black Bean Chili
(Loosely adapted from/inspired by the NY Times)

2 tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3 15 oz. cans black beans, drained and rinsed
1 can Rotel diced tomatoes with green chilies, undrained
2 chipotle chilies in adobo sauce, chopped
2 tbsp. tomato paste dissolved in 1 1/4 c. chicken stock
1/2 tbsp. cumin (or add a lot more...like I do)
1 tsp. Mexican oregano
Black pepper to taste
1/2 cup frozen corn
1 acorn squash, roasted and cut into chunks

Directions
1. Heat olive oil in a 2 quart pot and add onions and garlic. Saute until onion is translucent, then add next 7 ingredients, through black pepper. Turn heat down to medium low, and cover. Simmer for 25 minutes or until chili thickens.

2. Add acorn squash and frozen corn to pot and simmer for another ten minutes, uncovered. Serve with sour cream, chopped green onions and/or shredded cheddar cheese.

Another day, another fast and delicious lentil recipe

I love lentils. This is perhaps not surprising given I live in Pullman, Washington, the home of the National Lentil Festival, but what is surprising is that I've never, ever actually been able to get a bowl full of free lentil chili at the festival. I've gone every year for 6 years now, and every time they've run out before I can get to it.

Perhaps this is why lentils make their tasty way into many of my recipes. The festival mascot, Taste E. Lentil, would most likely agree with me.

For a few more awesome lentil recipes (I recommend the Rhubarb Lentil Crisp), follow this link to the Lentil Fest webpage.

Lentil Sauce for Pasta
Adapted from Diana Shaw's The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 sweet yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 large carrots, finely chopped
2 stalks celery, chopped
1 tbsp. oregano
2 cloves
2 tbsp. tomato paste
2 tbsp. red wine vinegar
1 cup lentils
3 cups vegetable broth
Fresh ground black pepper

1. Heat oil over medium heat. Add onion to pan and cook until almost translucent, then add garlic, carrots, celery, cloves and oregano. Cook 2-3 minutes more and then add tomato paste and vinegar. Stir to combine.
2. Add lentils to pan along with vegetable broth. Simmer on medium low for 15-20 minutes, or until lentils are tender. If sauce is thin, add 1-2 tbsp. tomato paste. Season with fresh ground pepper. Serve ladled over whole wheat farfalle along with an over easy egg.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna

Now that we have the mouse situation under control, I can finally use my stove again (that's a lot of scrubbing and bleaching--phew!), and I decided to try out a recipe I've been dying to give a shot since I saw it on For the Love of Cooking.

I love lasagna, and I love roasting vegetables, and combining these two elements together made for one perfect dinner. With a salad on the side, I was able to get a full day's worth of my vegetable intake in one meal.

The only changes I made here were to sub yellow sweet onions for the red onions and I used a mixture of crumbled tofu and ricotta in the ricotta layer. Tofu adds protein and isn't detectable; it absorbs the other flavors and its texture mirrors that of the ricotta. I also cooked my noodles beforehand and used leftover homemade marinara sauce in place of the jarred.

Roasted Vegetable Lasagna (from For the Love of Cooking)

Roasted Vegetables:
8 oz button mushrooms, quartered
1/2 red onion, quartered
2-3 orange, red or yellow baby bell peppers, sliced
Broccoli florets
1 small handful of shredded carrots
6 cloves of garlic, leave the skins on for roasting
1 green zucchini, sliced
1 yellow squash, sliced
Olive oil
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
Dried basil
Dried oregano

For the ricotta layer:
1 16 oz container of fat free ricotta cheese
3-4 tbsp mozzarella cheese, grated
3-4 tbsp parmesan cheese, grated
1 clove of garlic, minced
1 egg
Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
Dried oregano, to taste
Dried basil, to taste
Dash of nutmeg

Additional ingredients:
Lasagna noodles
Marinara sauce
Mozzarella cheese, shredded
Parmesan cheese, grated
Dried basil

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Line a baking sheet with tin foil (for quick and easy clean up) then coat the tin foil lined baking sheet with olive oil cooking spray. Clean and slice the veggies and layer all but the zucchini and yellow squash on the sheet. Drizzle a bit of olive oil on top, season with sea salt, cracked pepper, basil and oregano to taste. Toss to coat and place in the oven for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, add the zucchini and yellow squash to the roasted veggies, toss and return to the oven for an additional 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside. Once the garlic cloves cool down, carefully peel the skin off and slice. Add sliced garlic back in with the rest of the veggies.
2. Combine all the ingredients for the ricotta layer and set aside.
3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a large glass baking dish with olive oil cooking spray. Pour a bit of marinara sauce on the bottom of the dish then place a few lasagna noodles down to completely cover the bottom of pan. Add half of the ricotta mixture and spread evenly over the noodles. Next add half of the roasted veggie mixture. Cover the veggies with lasagna noodles then sauce. Add the last of the ricotta mixture then the remaining veggies. Cover with lasagna noodles, more sauce then sprinkle the top with mozzarella, parmesan and dried basil. Bake covered for 30 minutes; remove the cover and bake for an additional 5 minutes or until the cheese is melted and golden brown.


Nutritional goodness


Ready to roast




Ready to bake

Chili Relleno for recovering from the Miss Piggy Flu

So my institution is famous. Not for anything noble or medal-worthy this time. Just a little touch of the swine flu, or rather, 2000 students or 10% of the student population becoming sick within two weeks of school starting.


After a high fever for a few days and a desperate longing to get back on my feet, I decided it was time to get back into the kitchen wearing cute vintage shoes. 1940's reconstructed vintage shoes, to be exact. I can't tell you how in love with them I am, and how much more cheery they made me feel in the midst of a wave of aches and shivers.




Once I had the duds on, I did some victory rolls to my hair and realized that sometimes if you build it, wellness may come. I extended this optimism to my favorite Mexican food, the chili relleno. I've made a slow cooker version in the past that was more like a casserole than anything, but since I'm not anywhere near Chicago and can't simply order out in this college town/petry dish, I decided to take the plunge. In fact, the last time I ordered chili relleno in Pullman, I got a chili stuffed with cheddar cheese wrapped in an egg omelet. Gah.

This proved to be the best activity in which I could partake whilst in recovery. You know, since I really wasn't well enough to produce any meaningful work yet. Sometimes being ill is a slightly unfortunate euphemism for vacation.


So here's your first step: buy some peppers. I picked up some peppers from the farmer's market the week before that needed to be used, and even though they weren't the traditional poblano variety, they had a sheen to them that screamed natural oils. Perfect for chili relleno.


I had four peppers total, so I broiled them in my electric oven until they charred on all sides, turning them over once.



Once charred, I let them steam in a Zip-loc bag for about twenty minutes, or just long enough that the charred skins were easily removed. When I tugged lightly on the pepper stems, most of the seeds came out along with the stem. I used a spoon to scoop out the rest of the seeds. I've seen people wash out the seeds under running water before, but that seems like a waste to me. Keep those natural oils that get released during the broiling process!




Next, I separated about three eggs and beat the egg whites until stiff. Fold the three beaten yolks into the egg white mixture.




After stuffing the chilies with some panela cheese (you can use chihuahua or the blasphemous monterey jack) and then securing my poor torn chilies with toothpics, I dipped them in egg batter and then added them to a preheated frying pan with about 2 tbsp. of olive oil



After browning the chilies I added them to a sauce pan filled with a mixture of tomato sauce, a bit of water, very finely minced onion and garlic.



Once they had a little simmer time (I'm talking less than 5 minutes) in the tomato gravy, they were ready to be eaten.

Here is hubby's portion:




I served these with warmed corn tortillas, guacamole and refried black beans. A perfect feast for someone clinging to the shirt tails of health. Yay for Tamiflu.

Curried Coconut Lentils with Chopped Baby Spinach

A little disclaimer: Sorry about the blurry pics; I don't own a tripod and I still have no idea what I'm doing with a digital camera. I don't even have cable so I probably won't be figuring it out anytime soon...


Ian isn't a big fan of spinach or kale, two of my very favorite greens, so I often have to find creative ways to sneak the ingredients into dishes without him knowing. At times he doesn't even know he's eating kale (the puree is my best friend) but with spinach, I've found a better way of getting him to eat his greens: chop it into tiny, unavoidable pieces. That's right folks, back the haters into a corner and force them to down the very ingredient they despise.



And then watch in surprise as they eat it without complaint.



I make a couple of vegetarian items a week, and this particular meal is one of my favorites. There's something comforting and hearty about lentils, and in this heat, the no-fuss prep for this meal is hard for me to pass up. I could call this a dal since it's close to many recipes I've seen, but I can't really vouch for its authenticity since I really just slap it together at the last minute and then return to sitting in front of the fans with an ice pack.




The particular lentils I used are from the local Pacific Northwest Farmers Cooperative in Genesee, Idaho. I was happy to see that the lentils were great quality and didn't have any grit or grime all over them as is so often the case.






Curried Coconut Lentils with Chopped Baby Spinach

1 1/2 c. lentils
2 3/4 c. vegetable broth (or chicken broth)
1 tbsp. olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 Walla Walla sweet onion, minced finely
1 tsp. turmeric
2 tsp. garam masala
1 tsp. cumin
2 cups finely chopped baby spinach
1/2 cup light coconut milk

Directions
1. Soak lentils in cold water for 20 minutes. Rinse.
2. In a dutch oven or heavy skillet, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add onion, garlic, and spices to the pan and cook until fragrant. Pour in vegetable broth and lentils, and bring to a boil.
3. Turn heat down to simmer and cook until lentils are soft and broth is reduced (anywhere from 20-35 minutes).
4. Stir in spinach and coconut milk and heat for about a minute. Serve with rice or naan bread.

Road Trip Detox Part Two: Miso-Ginger Soup with Shitake Mushrooms, Tofu and Baby Bok Choi

After such a long drive in a cramped space, my entire body was screaming for nourishing food and a little TLC. Whenever I get sick I make miso soup, but I also had a serious craving for mushrooms, so I ended up making a pretty hefty (but nonetheless delicious) batch.

Ian and I have been buying a protein-rich tofu lately that has a very pleasant texture to it. Not all tofus are created equal, so I think I might stock up on quite a few of these blocks from Wildwood.




Using the same basic miso recipe as always, I simply added the shitakes to the soup right before the miso, along with sliced baby bok choi, a handful of julienned carrots, and sliced scallions.

Detox complete!!




***I completely forgot to mention this when I wrote up this post earlier, but I also shredded about two tablespoons of ginger and steamed it with six cups of water before adding all the ingredients. After straining the ginger out, it made a wonderful ginger broth to which I added the miso paste.

Road Trip Detox Part One: Chilled Sweet Potato Carrot Soup

Since Ian and I ate a ton of fatty, greasy, not exactly healthful foods for almost two weeks on vacation, I quickly returned our daily eats to the kind of comforting whole foods we usually eat on a daily basis. My first object was to get some veggies into our systems, so I decided to just barely cook one giant sweet potato (a little longer than the rest of the ingredients, obviously), 1/2 an onion, and three giant organic carrots in olive oil. Once soft, I added them to the blender and then added about a cup of chicken stock. After chilling overnight, I ate a few bowls over the week along with a garnish of fat free Chobani and a few sprigs of cilantro.



Detox complete!

Bring on the cheap summer meals! Baked Falafel with Tzatziki Sauce and Quinoa Tabbouleh

Early summer is an inspiring time for me in the kitchen. The grocery stores and farmer's markets are rich with beautiful, aromatic herbs and fresh produce, but not being rich myself means carefully budgeting and planning meals faced with an abundance of healthful options.


One of my favorite ways to get a little mileage out of weekly foods is through summer pasta, rice and grain salads. I make a large batch on Sunday evenings and then eat it throughout the week for lunch with fresh fruit, for breakfast smothered with an over easy runny egg, or with light summer dinners.


After getting a pretty awesome deal on quinoa a few weeks ago, I decided to reinvent a traditional tabbouleh side using the grain. If you haven't tried quinoa, it's a little nutty but has a pretty interesting texture that adds an unexpected bite to side dishes, warm or cold. I rounded up a bounty of fresh produce and prepared one of my new favorites.


Quinoa Tabbouleh Salad

2 cups cooked quinoa
1/2 cup chopped cucumber
1/4 cup diced carrots
3 green onions, sliced into 1/4" pieces
3 campari or roma tomatoes, chopped
2 tbl. finely chopped Italian parsley
1 tbl. finely chopped mint
1 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 1/2 tsp. extra virgin olive oil
Juice of 1/2 a lemon
Pinch of sea salt, fresh ground pepper

Directions
1. Mix all ingredients together except for quinoa. Slowly fold in quinoa.






















Ian isn't a fan of cucumber, so he generally picks the pieces out of this particular salad, but he doesn't mind cucumber if it's finely blended. Making tzatziki sauce in this household is a bit tricky, so I had to pre-mix red onions, peeled and diced cucumber and a clove of garlic in my food processor before adding to Fat Free Chobani Yogurt. I never measure out this sauce, since I generally just prepare it to taste, but the trick for me has always been to add just the right amount of sugar for the cucumbers to stand out.



As for the falafel, I'm not a huge fan of frying these bad boys up, so I bake them as patties instead. I used this recipe, subbing the peanut butter for the last bit of sunflower butter I had left. As one might expect, baking falafel patties means a few cracked casualties occur, but this girl isn't very picky: I ate the cracked ones straight with tzatziki about three minutes after they finished baking.

Healthier Veggie Quiche

There are few things I love more than quiche. Eggs and cheese perhaps, but alas! They make quiche! Quiche isn't exactly a light meal however, so the challenge of lightening a rather unhealthy meal was definitely one I feared would compromise the overall taste. Luckily it was a fear that was not realized.


My husband likes to scramble egg whites along with a whole egg in the morning, and from what I can taste, just one yolk is enough to satisfy my craving. About a month ago I also purchased egg substitute from Costco, and since I'm swimming in egg products, I decided that egg whites, egg yolk and egg substitute would make a fantastic lighter version of quiche.


I also tend to use quiche as a way of cleaning out my fridge, often relying on just vegetables to make an appearance in the pies (as opposed to the meat laden versions I often see in restaurants). With some goat cheese and reduced fat feta on their way to the great expiration date in the sky, these pies were not only healthier than the original but full of depth and sharp flavor.



Healthier Vegetarian Quiche

2 prepared pie crusts (someday I'll post a recipe for this...)
4 egg whites
1 egg yolk
1 1/2 cups egg substitute
1/4 cup fat free half and half
1 tsp. oregano
Freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese (I used fat free)
1/4 crumbled goat cheese
3 tbl. grated Romano cheese
1 1/2 cups assorted fresh vegetables
Ground flax seed, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350. Lightly brush olive oil over the prepared pie crusts.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the egg yolk and whites together with egg substitute and fat free half and half. Add oregano, fresh ground black pepper, and cheeses. Gently fold in vegetables.
3. Pour half of the quiche mixture into the first pie shell and half into the second pie shell. I sprinkle ground flax on top for a little pseudo crust (it also keeps the eggs from browning for some reason--you could also beat the flax into the eggs in step 2).
4. Bake pies for 35-40 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.






Mixing and cleaning out the fridge at the same time...











See the flax??











Eat. Then curl up with a zoo of cuddly animals, if you can fit on the couch with them....