Month: February 2013

Spiced Carrot Soup with Crispy Chickpeas and Tahini

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 I don’t know about you, but I am not a huge fan of raw carrots.  Warm spiced carrot soup with tahini on a cold day, though?  Yeah, I’m a big fan of that.

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 This is another dish brought to you by my vegetarian lunches with Melissa at Smells Like Brownies.  She pulled together a couple of recipes to come up with this one.

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Carrots, onion, garlic, coriander, and cumin all go into the pot with vegetable stock. (more…)

Quinoa and Kale Crustless Quiche

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Here is a dish that is simple, easy, healthy, and totally delicious.

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All you do is mix together cooked quinoa, wilted kale, caramelized onions, eggs, and cheese; then bake until set.

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It sets up a bit like a frittata.  So simple!

Quinoa and Kale Crustless Quiche
adapted from Food 52
serves 4-8

1/2 cup quinoa
1 cup water
2 tbsp olive oil
1 bunch kale, stems removed and cut into ribbons
1 sweet onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 cup shredded white cheddar cheese (or whatever you like)
3 oz reduced fat cream cheese (or Laughing Cow), cubed
4 eggs
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350 and prepare a 9″ pie dish (either butter the dish thoroughly or spray with baking spray).

Rinse the quinoa.  Combine the quinoa and water in a pan.  Bring to a boil on medium-high heat and then reduce to a simmer.  This will take about twenty minutes.  Set aside.

Meanwhile, start to caramelize the onions.  Heat the olive oil in a large saute on medium heat.  When the oil is shimmering, add the onions.  Slowly cook until the onions are soft and browned.  Remove the onions from the pan, and place them in a large mixing bowl.

Add the kale into the hot onion pan.  On medium heat, cook until the kale is wilted and bright green, about two minutes.  Allow the greens to cool.  Squeeze out any extra liquid using a sieve or a clean dish towel.

Add the kale, quinoa, garlic, cream cheese and cheddar to the mixing bowl.  Stir the ingredients so that they are evenly distributed.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs so that they are well combined.  Pour over the quinoa/kale mixture.  Stir until the egg clings to the greens.  Add salt and pepper.

Pour the mixture in the prepared pie dish.  Bake for about 45 minutes, until the top is golden and the pie has started to pull away from the edge of the baking dish.  This dish is delightful hot, but even better at room temperature.

Fall Pasta Dishes

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I’ve been playing with combining squash and pasta for comforting Fall/Winter dishes.  Like last weeks White Lasagna or the Butternut Squash Stuffed Shells from the beginning of the month.  And now I have a few more, starting with this Butternut Squash and Leek Pasta Sauce.

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This is simple and delicious – pureed squash, leeks, garlic, butter, sage, and Parmesan form a rich and creamy sauce to perfectly coat spaghetti.

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Next up is Pumpkin Macaroni and Cheese with Amaretti Crumbles.

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Roasted pumpkin combined with noodles, cheesy bechamel, and sage.

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Mini Pie Party

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My friend Keerin was coming over to watch Game of Thrones (I’m pretty much obsessed) and I wanted to make some food for us.  She is vegan and I do not cook vegan food that much so I was trying to think of what I could make.  I knew that I had a bunch of fresh and frozen vegetables, but I didn’t want to make something boring.  That’s when it hit me – we could play with my mini pie machine!

What the heck is a mini pie machine, you ask?  It’s a fun little electrical device, kind like a panini press – except that it makes adorable personal sized pies!  The machine comes with a cutter to cut the perfect size circles for the base and top.  You use puff pastry for the tops and you can either use puff pastry or pie dough for the bottom.  I am not a big fan of store bought-refrigerated pie dough is general, but it works great for this because it is a bit tougher.  All you do is press a circle of dough into the bottom of one of the four wells using a tool that is included, spoon in the filling, lay a circle of dough on top, and close the lid.  The pies cook in about 8 minutes – so fast!  Because the cooking time is so short, the filling needs to be precooked.

Fear not if you do not have this machine, though (and I assume most people don’t because it is silly and extravagant) – You can just fold circles of dough over filling into half moon hand pies and bake them in the oven.

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So, because the pies are personal sized and because they cook so quickly – I knew that each of us could play around with filling combinations.  I had frozen peas, corn, green beans, spinach, and butternut squash – so I microwaved those to pre-cook them (I cut the green beans into bite-sized pieces).  I cut up some carrots and parsnips and microwaved those, and then I drained a can of chick peas (gotta have protein!).  I also had some fake beef crumbles and Keerin brought some fake cheese. (more…)