Sweet Onion and Mixed Vegetable Stir-fry

Tonight's original plan was cereal for dinner. But as I was driving home, I remembered some vegetables I had in the fridge that were almost past their window of peak freshness, and I decided to seize the day. You can make this really with any vegetables you have, and even add some meat, but I absolutely loved this combination of my classic favs. Let me know what combination works for you!

Ingredients

1 onion, peeled and thinly sliced
1 clove garlic, minced
2 heads of broccoli, cut into florets
3-4 stalks diced celery (for crunch!)
1 carton of  mushrooms, sliced or whole
1 bunch spinach, stems removed
1 T rice wine vinegar (a splash or two)
1/4 cup reduced sodium soy sauce
1/4 cup sesame dressing
2 T honey

Directions

Heat up a wok or big skillet on medium to medium high heat as you chop your vegetables. Add a drizzle of oil to the bottom of the pan when you're almost finished chopping. The pan should be nice and hot.

Add the onions, sprinkle with a little salt and pepper, and stir to coat in the oil. I thinly sliced my onions instead of diced them because I wanted their caramelized sweetness to be a major star in this dish. When the onions are glossy and translucent, add the minced garlic and stir.

Stir in the vegetables, except for the spinach, adding a few sprinkles of salt and pepper. If the skillet looks dry, splash with a little rice wine vinegar. You can also use chicken stock, dry white wine, or anything that will keep it moist and give it flavor. Just remember: less is more. You want to give your veggies a little drink, not drown them. Add the spinach and coat it with the pan liquids so it will begin to wilt.

Let it cook, stirring occasionally, while you prepare the sauce in a small bowl so you can get the taste just right. I started with equal parts soy sauce and sesame dressing and drizzled in the honey to taste. I ended up adding a little more sesame dressing because I wanted my stir fry to be more savory and I knew my onions would release their natural sugars. But if you want it to be sweeter, honey is your main man!

Once you've perfected the sauce, add it in increments. Once again, less is more. You want there to be just enough extra liquid to drizzle over your rice, but if it starts to look like soup, you've added too much. Stir it around until the vegetables absorb the sauce a little, taste test to see if you need to adjust your seasonings, and serve with brown rice, sesame noodles, Ramen, or whatever strikes your fancy.

Other ideas: try it with bell peppers, snap peas, or pineapple. Sprinkle some crunchy Asian noodles on top for texture. Add some red pepper flakes for a little heat. Add cornstarch or flour to your sauce if you want it to be thick.

KERF's Best Vegetable Lasagna

I think Kath is right. This is super delicious and pretty easy! If I can make it in the middle of house showing season with no stress, you can, too! My favorite part is that 1) it's fairly inexpensive, 2) it will not get old because you can use whatever vegetables you like/your family will eat/you can't find any other use for in your fridge. I've really been enjoying Kath Eats Real Food, from the different ways she flavors her oatmeal to creative ways to implement healthy habits into life. Plus, as you will discover, she has great recipes!

Ingredients

3 cups pasta sauce
16 ounces 2% cottage cheese
1/2 cup grated parmesan
9 whole wheat lasagna noodles
8 ounces mozzarella cheese
Approximately 4 cups mixed vegetables (I used spinach, broccoli, mushrooms, and zucchini)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees and prepare your baking dish with cooking spray. Chop your vegetables until they are bite-sized and close to the same shape and size. Combine cottage and parmesan cheeses in a bowl. Place 3 uncooked noodles along the bottom of the pan. Cover with 1 cup of your pasta sauce, making sure to cover all of the noodles with sauce. Next spread on about 1/3 of your cheese mixture, and then layer 1/3 of the chopped vegetables, and sprinkle 1/3 of the mozzarella cheese. Repeat this step twice.

Being the quintessential undomestic that I am, I forgot the last step in this process, the mozzarella cheese. I can't wait to make it again with that extra cheesy goodness, though my husband and I were perfectly happy with just the cheese on top this time!

Cover tightly with aluminum foil and bake one hour, until cheese is golden brown and sauce is bubbling. I was out of aluminum foil, and the recipe still turned out great!

And now...

The secret to a happy marriage

Texas Caviar

This is an easy peasy salsa/dip to serve with some blue corn tortilla chips or alongside some chicken or fish. I adapted this recipe from Mckmama, originally found here. The sweetness complements the salty chips so well, though. In as much time as it takes to open a few cans and rinse, you can get this ready in the morning, refrigerate overnight or during the day, drain the salsa and serve.

Ingredients:

1 can black beans (drained/rinsed)

1 can garbanzo beans (drained/rinsed)

2 cans corn (drained/rinsed)

1 small carton of cherry or grape tomatoes (halved)

1 small white or yellow onion (diced)

1 bunch cilantro (shredded or finely chopped)

1/3 bottle of Italian dressing

lime juice (1-2 limes' worth)

sugar to taste (I start with 2 T and add more if needed)

salt to taste (I start with 2 T, but remember the salt from the chips)

Directions:

Drain canned ingredients and rinse well (especially the beans). Combine all ingredients, unless you're worried about the tomatoes or cilantro going bad, in which case you can add those right before serving, but I love the cilantro infusion as it marinates and have never gotten sick since it's refrigerated. Mix well and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 6-8 hours, though I'm sure it would still taste great if you did at least one hour. Excess liquids will accumulate during the marinating process, so drain before serving.

I would recommend serving with Tostidos corn chips or blue corn chips. Mckmama also adds kidney beans and avocado to her recipe, but I don't like either. If you do work with avocado, add it at the end or squirt it with a little lime juice to keep it from browning. Enjoy this easy hit!

post-Christmas pesto pasta

I threw this recipe together for lunch while JT was shoveling our White Christmas out of our driveway. He asked for a warm meal and I couldn't think of anything to put together since Christmas cooking has preoccupied me and all of our leftovers were at my parents' house. Luckily, I had leftover pasta from a soup I'd made (check out that AWESOME Cavatappi -- corkscrew-shaped macaroni), and some homemade pesto, which was a little harsh and garlicky by itself, but calmed down considerably with some creamy Laughing Cow cheese wedges.

Ingredients:


Pasta
Pesto sauce (practice with ingredients and portions YOU like!)
--> Your favorite greens and herbs (about a cup to a cup and a half)
--> 1-2 garlic cloves
--> eyeball about 1/4 cup of parmesan cheese
--> the juice of half a lemon
--> drizzle in EVOO while blending/food processing until it forms a sauce
2-3 Laughing Cow cheese wedges, depending on how much pesto you have, how strong it is, and how creamy you want your pasta to be.

Directions:


Cook pasta according to package directions. In the meantime, prepare your pesto sauce and dice Laughing Cow cheese wedges. Drain pasta and return to pan, removing from the heat. Add pesto and diced cheese while the pasta is still hot, stirring consistently until the noodles are coated and the cheese is completely melted and incorporated into the pasta.

If I'd had parmesan pita chips, I'd have served with that for some crunch, and JT recommended some diced, cooked chicken for protein.

Mushroom Ragout

JT says this is one of his favorite dishes I've ever made! I'm pretty sure it was inspired by the classic Italian sauce starter (onion, garlic, tomatoes), but I absolutely love mushrooms. Even though it has heavy Italian influences, I call it a Mushroom Ragout because French names sound fancy. It's vegetarian, takes less than 20 minutes but JT says serving it with grilled tilapia or chicken would taste delicious, too!

Ingredients

Pasta (I used orecchiette, but penne or linguine would work great, too!)
EVOO, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes
1 small onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 pound mushrooms
1 can diced tomatoes
1-2 cups spinach leaves
Parmesan cheese
white wine (optional)

Directions

Bring a pot of cold water to a boil, add salt to the boiling water, and cook pasta according to package directions.

In the meantime, drizzle EVOO on the bottom of your saute pan, and once heated at medium high heat, add onions and stir frequently until almost transparent. When the onions are pretty much cooked, add garlic and stir. Once the garlic is fragrant, anywhere from 30 seconds to 2 minutes later, add the mushrooms, plus a little salt and pepper, and stir until they darken and release their natural juices.

Add spinach leaves (about three handfuls or more: they will wilt down severely) and pour tomatoes over it with about half of their juices. I've added about 1/2 cup white wine at this time before for flavor, but it tasted much better this time without it, we thought. Maybe it's because I was using dry wine, and I am not a huge fan of that flavor. If you choose to add white wine, don't add any of the tomato juices. You may wish to salt and pepper again, or add red pepper flakes for a little kick. With red pepper flakes, it's best to start very small and add to taste, depending on how spicy you like your cuisine.

Stir until spinach has wilted and pan liquids are simmering (and hopefully reducing). Dial heat down to medium or medium low and add parmesan cheese about 1/4th cup at a time until your ragout has thickened. If it becomes too thick and difficult to stir, simply add a little pasta water.

Drain pasta and toss with sauce, but make sure your ragout is proportionate to your noodles. JT likes to have 1.5:1 ratio of noodles to sauce, but I like mine to be about 1:2 with more ragout than noodles.

Enjoy!

Portabella Parmesan

I got this baked mushroom recipe from Natalie Mikles, the Tulsa World food writer. You can check out her blog here. It's a great and inexpensive substitute for chicken parm!

2 large Portabella mushrooms (you may wish to gently remove gills with a spoon)
Olive oil
1 cup tomato pasta sauce, divided (I make this sugar-free sauce.)
4 fresh basil leaves, thinly sliced
1/4 teaspoon crushed red peppers flakes
1 cup (4 ounces) shredded part skim mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup (1 ounce) grated Parmesan cheese

Heat oven to broil, with top rack about 4 inches from broiler. Brush both sides of mushrooms with oil. Place mushrooms, gill side down, in a 9-inch baking dish. Broil for 4 minutes, remove and turn gill side up, broil 4 minutes.

Remove mushrooms from baking dish, drain excess liquid. Reduce oven to 400 degrees.

Spread 1/2 cup pasta sauce on bottom of baking dish, then place mushrooms, gill side up. Sprinkle with basil, red pepper flakes and the remainder of the pasta sauce. Top with mozzarella cheese and Parmesan; bake 5 to 10 minutes, until the cheese begins to brown. Remove and serve. Note: use at least part-skim mozzarella. Fat-free mozzarella is very rubbery when baked!