spicy winter vegetable stew with turmeric basil quinoa

yesterday was the gloomiest day that Austin has seen since I've moved here, except for maybe today which is shaping up to be just as cold, wet and gray. Unfortunately, all the cold weather is turning my waist line into a waist round. This is a great warm, comforting winter dinner, it's flavorful and extremely filling, and the greatest part is that one large serving of quinoa and stew is only about 350 calories.  So let's get to it!
I always make just one serving of quinoa and about 4-6 servings of veggies so that I can freeze the stew and heat it up later in the month :)

For 2 Servings of Quinoa:
1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water, vegetable stock or chicken stock (low sodium)
a dash of turmeric
a dash of salt and pepper

For approx 4 servings of Stew:
between 1/2 lb-3/4 lb of butternut squash, medium diced (that's half of a smallish medium squash)
1 zuchinni, medium diced
2 large carrots or 3 small carrots, medium diced
1-2 large handful's of spinach leaves
1 14 oz box of diced tomatoes (I use the box not the can just because I've heard that the acid in the tomatoes reacts with the aluminum can and I try to avoid putting that weird acid aluminum erosion into my body)
1-2 cups of water as needed
1/2 yellow onion, medium diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 t olive oil (the only fat added to the dish..not too shabby!)
for the spices my measurements are approximate as I adjust them to taste as the stew cooks, you may like more or less spice than I do.
1 T cumin
1 T sweet hungarian paprika
1 T salt
1/2 T cayenne pepps
2 t chili powder
2 t ground coriander
1 t ground ginger
1 t turmeric
a few grinds of cracked black pepps
a few leaves of fresh herbs for mixing in and garnishing, you can use any cool toned sweet-ish herbs that you like, so this would include, cilantro, flat or curley parsley, mint, basil (i use basil and mint, cilantro and I are NOT amigos unless it's in the form of ground coriander)

Get 'Er Done:
bring the quinoa, tumeric and liquid to a boil, reduce to simmer and cook covered about 15 minutes until all the liquid is absorbed and the little spiral germ has come out from the grain and it's soft and fluffy.

Add the teaspoon of olive oil to a medium sauce pot over medium heat, add the onion and garlic and saute until soft, about 5 mins.

Add in the dry spices (not the salt or fresh herbs though). You should be hit with a really spicy, warm aroma and the onions and garlic will turn a nice orange yellow hue. (they should actually be more red than the picture but we all know what my camera can do to colors and whatnot)

Let the spices and onions marry together for a few minutes and then add in the diced squash and carrots and stir to get them coated in the spices.

Add the salt, tomatoes and enough water to cover the vegetables and an inch above them.  It seems like a lot of liquid but it will cook out and the veggies will draw some of it in.

(Your quinoa is probably finished by now, turn off the heat, stir in some chiffonades of basil and let it sit until we're ready)

Bring the stew to a boil, covered on high heat, reduce to medium and let cook for about 20 minutes or until the vegetables are ALMOST to the consistency you want them (I like mine soft but with a bite, not mushy)

Once you're at the point where a piece of squash can be cut with a fork, add in the zucchini, stir and cook uncovered (so that some liquid can cook out) for about 15 minutes or until the veggies are at the right consistency.

Add in 2 handfuls of spinach and mix--the heat will wilt it within 1 minute. 

Taste the stew and adjust the seasonings and spices as necessary. 

Now, this is my trick for the quinoa that looks really pretty but also gives me the illusion that I'm eating way more quinoa than I am (think waist line, not waist round).

Form the quinoa around the edge of your bowl, leaving a big whole in the center of the bowl.

Scoop 1.5-2 cups of the stew into the center well. Garnish with the fresh basil and mint (or whatever herbs you used)

Another alternative to freezing any leftovers you might have is putting the stew into a blender or food processor until it's more of a ragu type mixture and adding some more tomatoes or tomato sauce and roasted garlic and using it as a pasta sauce or a hearty ragu to serve along side lamb or beef or to serve over grilled polenta rounds. 

Happy Healthy Eating!!!

pumpkin ravioli with pecans and sage brown butter

My heart beats for this type of dish. 

I want to make a list about this dish. Here it is:

1. I used pumpkin ravioli and butternut squash ravioli but I should have left out the butternut squash, it wasn't nearly as delicious and plump and flavorful as the pumpkin. 
2. I know that it doesn't look so beautiful because the two different raviolis don't match etc. The taste makes up for what the aesthetics lack. 
3. Pumpkin ravioli is widely available this time of year at your normal grocery store, if not, you can definitely find it at a specialty store like whole foods, balducci's etc. Or just buy a pasta roller and make it yourself if you're feeling motivated. 

The Shtuff:

pumpkin ravioli (approx 5 per person if you're normal, 9 if you're me)

2 T room temp butter

1 handful of pecan halves

a little less than 1/4 cup chiffonade-ed sage leaves, loosely packed (loosely packed means you're not packing it into the measuring cup)

salt

VAMANOSSSSSSS! : (i'm going to do this in list-ish form because list's are a good thing)

1. boil a large pot of water, LARGE, the ravioli request that you please don't crowd them in the jacquzzi. 
2. kind of chiffonade up some sage, just chop it relatively thinly and so it's not totally busted looking. Always remember to respect your food. Respect the sage, bro.

     3. Once the water is boiling, SALT it. See my Mountain Salty McSalterstein as an example:

        4. Heat a medium saute pan over medium high heat, add the ravioli to the water-it takes about 4 minutes    cook depending on the size. Once your pan is HOT HOT HOT Add the butter to the saute pan, it should kind of sizzle and immediately start to brown. Add the sage in and let it fry up for a minute. Drain the pasta.

Notice the butter is brown-ish looking, this is the key. Don't burn it! just get the pan hot enough so it immediately turns the butter a caramel color, not a mucky brown. You'll know by the smell :) 

     5. add the pecans to the sage butter, toast 2 minutes. 

       6.  Toss the pasta in the saute pan, add a small pinch of salt, garnish with a few sage ribbons. 

 and it's party rocker time!

Now for a quick photo montage of my pasta..

Enjoy with a nice mug of spiced whiskey cider :)  

(my mug is half full  because I sipped as I cooked)

college peanut noodles w/ veggies

I call this a college dinner because its quick, easy, and inexpensive. College is also code for lazy.

sorry for the lack of pictures, last night was a lazy one.

What You Need for this Low Cost, Low Maintenance Meal:

(disclaimer: if you are someone who never has pantry items, ie: pasta, peanut butter and soy sauce, this will not be low cost for you as you will need to buy all of those things. however, try and make it work with what you have at home in the form of whole grain starch and vegetable.)

1 serving, 4 oz whole wheat angel hair pasta (or more if you're feeding more people) 

(you can use regular bleached pasta but since this is a low budget meal I like to use the whole wheat  pasta as my protein component to avoid spending money on meat or beans)

A vegetable, or more.  (i told you this was college)

I used snap peas and orange bell pepper but use ANY frozen or fresh veggie you have in the house or that is on sale at the store. 

some soy sauce (min 1 T, max 1/8 cup)

some creamy peanut butter  (min 2 T max 1/8 cup) 

some rice wine vinegar or if you don't have that, use white wine vineger, or just use some citrus juice. a few tablespoons.

its approx 1.5 parts peanut butter, 1 part soy sauce, 1/4 part acid (vinegar or citrus). Just mix the stuff up and see how it tastes, if you don't like it or if its too thick or too thin just add different proportions of the ingredients until it's just right for you! 

Cook the pasta according to the box directions. DON'T FORGET TO SALT THE WATER!

while the water boils, whisk together the peanut butter, soy sauce, and vinegar. If you have sesame oil and siracha hot sauce that's a bonus! if not, don't fret, we're on a budget here. 

julienne, or very thinly slice up your veggies. 

In the last minute of cooking drop the veggies into the water with the pasta so that they blanch.

Strain pasta and veggies, combine with sauce!

I added some chopped garlic chives and some fresh basil to mine because I had it in the house and needed to use it up, if you don't have that, no worries amigo. 

I told you it was easy. and I promise it is delicious! And decently healthy so long as you don't abuse your peanut butter privileges :)

middle eastern roasted cauliflower

This. Is. Awesome. I don't know what beautiful kitchen gods were on my side when this happened but I am eternally grateful. 

What You Need for 4 servings:

1 head of cauliflower, cut into uniformly sized florets

1 cup of pistachios and pine nuts

2 cloves of garlic, minced

1/3 cup of chopped dates or dried apricots

1 T butter

1  T olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

optional: orange/lemon zest and/or juice

How To Make a Yucky Vegetable DELICIOUS:

preheat the oven to 350

toss the cauliflower florets with olive oil, salt, pepper. place on a sheet pan and roast about 30 minutes, flipping once, until the cauliflower is golden brown. 

While the cauliflower roasts, Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat, add the nuts and toast about 3 minutes. 

Add the garlic and dried fruit. Cook until you can smell the garlic. Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Once the cauliflower is finished, heat the mixture back up and toss the cauliflower in the skilled with the fruit and nut mixture. Add any additional oil or butter for moisture if you'd like. 

Optionally: Add some orange zest or even juice from an orange or lemon if you want to brighten it up a bit. 

Enjoy!!

sesame siracha vegetables

So this sauce would be delicious on snap peas, green beans, okra, broccoli etc. I only  had chickpeas so that is what I used.

Also, I already had the sauce in a squeeze bottle so I don't have pictures to show you of the sauce making but it's easy peasy:

What You'll Need:

vegetable

LOTS of siracha, :)

2 T sesame oil

2 T rice wine vinegar

3 T honey

lemon or lime juice to taste

In a bowl whisk together siracha, vinegar, and honey. Add the lemon juice to taste

Heat the sesame oil in a sauce pan over medium heat, add the chickpeas and cook until golden brown and toasty roasty.

 Pour in the sauce, reduce to a simmer to let thicken.

and that's all she wrote!

rosemary roasted broccoli and garbanzos

You know sometimes people add nuts or bacon or butter to vegetables to make them taste better? Well this is not one of those times, at all. If you're not a fan of veggies-this isn't for you. 

I usually just use broccoli and chickpeas/garbanzo beans but today I added pine nuts and sun dried tomatoes that I had in my pantry.

What You'll Need for 2 servings:

about 2 cups of broccoli florets (fresh/frozen, roasting is the only time I use frozen broccoli)

1 cup of canned or fresh garbanzo beans/chickpeas, if canned-buy low sodium and be sure to rinse them well

1/2 T of olive oil, just enough to coat the vegetables

2 springs of fresh rosemary, minced

salt, pepper

How The Magic Happens:

broccoli, chickpeas and olive oil go into a baking dish. 

Add a healthy pinch of salt, some fresh ground pepper, and the chopped rosemary. Give the pan a nice big wiggle jiggle so that the seasonings coat the veggies. 

Into the oven for 20 minutes. At 10 minutes, take the pan and give it a shake just so that any flippage that needs to happen can happen to ensure even roasty toastiness. 

So, I used pine nuts because I've had a bag of pine nuts sitting around for a few months now. Pine nuts are a really smooth, delicate, buttery nut. They worked really well in this dish but these veggies are great on their own so no need to splurge. Although, if you have leftover pine nuts you can make some pesto later in the week...definite PRO.

I added a half of a handful of pine nuts to the veggies once they had been in the oven for 17 minutes and I left it in to toast for about 4 minutes. 

final product with toasted pine nuts and a handful of sun dried tomatoes

butternut squash soup

It's officially fall in Austin. And also, I had 3/4 of a butternut squash left from making the tart the other day. Naturally, that equation equals soup.

The Hit List:
I just realized I have yet to include serving size in my blog posts...this made about 4 servings but to be honest, I had no idea what the yield was until I finished making it.

1 medium butternut squash (or 3/4 of one if you are me), peeled, cored, and diced.
about 2 cups of vegetable stock, chicken stock, or water. I used vegetable stock but in retrospect I think water would be the best choice here so that the squash can really shine through.
1/2 yellow onion, diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2 T olive oil or butter (or both, i always use both)
1.5 T chopped  fresh sage
1 T chopped fresh rosemary
2 sprigs of thyme, chopped
crushed red pepper


optional for garnish: pepitas (roasted, salted pumpkin seeds), maple syrup, chopped fresh chives
optional: pumpernickel bread for dipping/side munching
equipment: blender

Execution:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.
peel, core, and dice squash. put on a sheet pan with 1 T olive oil

mince up about 1 T of sage and sprinkle it on the squash along with salt and pepper.
roast it in the oven for 40-50 minutes, flipping all the squash once. you want it to be really golden brown on both sides.

while the squash is roasting, dice up the onion, mince the garlic and chop up the rest of the herbs.

When the squash is nearly finished
melt 1 T of butter and half a T of olive oil in a large pot over medium heat. add the onion and garlic and sweat for about 7 minutes. add a pinch of the chopped herbs, salt, and red pepper and add the stock or water, squash and let simmer for 10 minutes.

in 2-4 batches, ladle the contents of the pot into a blender and liquify until all of the soup has been pureed and is a creamy consistency and orange color.
return to the pot, adjust the seasonings, adding salt, pepper and herbs if necessary.

ladle into bowls and garnish with pepitas, chopped chives, and a swirl of maple syrup around the center garnish. yum yum yum enjoy with a nice thick slice of pumpernickel bread!

i posted this last night and am now going in to make this edit: I just had a bowl of leftover soup and it is actually 10 times better the next day. All the flavors have really gotten stronger and I am SO angry at myself for not making more to be eaten today!! So, be sure to leave enough left over so you can enjoy it for lunch the next day!

fall tart

One of the great things about going to culinary school is that when you are waiting to meet with someone in the administrative offices you have an epic archive of culinary magazines and cook books to peruse. SO, while I was waiting I saw a picture of a squash apple tart with blue cheese and decided I'd try to make one up. Here's what I came up with..disclaimer: i should have kept it in the oven just a bit longer but I had to leave and so I took it out a shade too soon. On yours you will want the squash and apples to be browned a bit.

Game plan:

For this you either need sharp knives or pre-cut squash. Butternut squash is really woody when raw so if you don't have good knives and can't find thinly sliced squash in the grocery store than you can buy a whole squash, stick it in the oven at 400 degrees and cook until soft, about 30 minutes, and then cut it once it's soft..just be careful because it will be steaming hot once you cut it open.

Ok so here's what ya need:

A food processor.

1 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 sticks of butter

2 eggs

1/3 of a medium size butternut squash

3/4 of a red apple

1/2 yellow onion

dried thyme, rosemary, sage

fresh rosemary, time and sage (optional but would make it MUCH better)

black pepper

2-3 Tablespoons maple sizzurp

1/4 c ricotta cheese (optional but would make it much better)

First things first, make the dough.

Add the flour and generous pinches of salt,  and the dried rosemary, thyme, sage, pulse to mix.

Dice one stick of butter into small cubes, add to the food processor and pulse for about 10 seconds 10 times until the dough is moistened and in small and large crumbles. 

quickly beat 1 egg and add it to the processor and pulse until a dough ball forms.

Take the dough out, kneed it a bit and then form it into a disc, plastic wrap it and let it rest in the fridge for 40 minutes 

pre heat the oven to 400 degrees...i forgot to do this part. oh, and if you are opting to roast your squash a bit so you can cut it easier, then stick it in the oven at this point.

so, take out your badass knife set..

and cut the onion first, save the apple for last so it doesn't oxidize too much. cut the onion in slices like this: 

to do this, cut the onion in half from the root to the weird fuzzy/hair end and peel it lay it on the flat side and cut lengthwise from root to tip. you dont want hamburger halves here, you're looking for a more elegant almost half heart-shape. 

cut the butternut squash...slice the end off so you  have a flat surface to work with.

then stand up the squash and cut it right down the center.

slice the squash in half moons to be the same thickness as the onion, you want to keep it thin so that the squash cooks through all the way-maybe about 1/4"-1/2" thick. 

Lastly, slice the apple to be in wedges of the same thickness.

Put the squash, apple, and onion into a bowl. Top with 2 T maple syrup, and herbs. If you are using fresh herbs use them here, if not just use the same dried herbs that you put into the dough mixture. Fresh: 2 T of thyme and sage and 1 T chopped rosemary. Dry: 1/2 T of rosemary, 1 T each of thyme and sage.

Melt 3 T of butter and add on top of the fruit/veg mixture and stir to combine.

Pour the filling onto a sheet pan and roast in the oven for about 15 minutes while you work on the dough.

Take the dough out of the fridge and roll it out into a "circle". I didn't have a rolling pin so I used a bottle of rice wine vinegar...maybe you can plan ahead better than I can. This is a very rustic, autumny dish so that's why I say "circle"..

Sorry that the shadow of my hand got in the way of the picture. Also, take a moment to marvel at how beautiful the dough looks with specks of rosemary and thyme and sage in it...yummmmmm.

Ok. so take the squash and apple out of the oven and begin layering it onto the dough, leaving about an inch around the edge to fold over. 

Note: I did not put my mixture into the oven first which is why it doesn't look cooked and its also why my final product was not as golden brown and glorious as I wanted it to be...which is why I told you to put yours in the oven for 15 minutes and why you should also not take yours out early, like I did mine.

So, fold the sides over the tart and then rub them with an egg wash. Egg wash=1 egg beaten, I used the bowl that I melted the butter in. If you have fresh herbs I would sprinkle them over the egg washed tart now...

Stick it in the oven for 40ish minutes, you want the sides to be golden brown and yummy and you want the squash and onion to be carmelized and smelling delicious. 

If you are using the ricotta cheese, this is where it comes in. Mix about 1/4 cup ricotta with 1 T of maple syrup. 5 minutes before the tart is finished, dollop teaspoonfuls of the ricotta syrup mixture onto the tart. Put it back into the oven for 5-7 and then, fall tart party time!!

I'm on a tight budget so I didn't use ricotta or fresh herbs, but you should, you really really should.

Happy Eating!!