Stuffed Eggplant

I haven't been posting many recipes lately.  To be honest my digestive system is all whacked and painful again.  So I'm just trying to figure that out and trying to get through all the veggies from my CSA box each week.  This usually leads to a vegetable juice type thing every morning and salads.  But yesterday I was tired.  I was tired of searching for the answer, tired of being sore, and I really wanted something a bit savory and yummy - but something that hopefully didn't make everything worse.

So reviewing my stash of vegetables I realized I needed to use up some of my eggplant.  So that led me to create the following stuffed eggplant recipe AND it was GOOD!  So here it is, sorry for the poor pictures.

This recipe could be tweaked to suit you and the veggies you have in your fridge so treat this as a guideline.  You could switch and make it Stuffed Zucchini, add sliced kale or other greens, or add a variety of other herbs.!

Christine's Stuffed Eggplant

• Preheat your oven to 375.
• Wash and cut the ends of your eggplant.  Cut in half and slit each half down the middle, not cutting through the skin.  Sprinkle cut sides with salt and set aside.

• Gather the veggies you want to sauté for the stuffing.  In 1 Tablespoon coconut oil (use oil of your choice) I sautéed the following in order:

1. 3 slices of onion, chopped
2. 1 clove of garlic, minced
3. 1/2 zucchini, chopped small
4. 1 roasted poblano pepper, chopped
5. 1/2 small spicy pepper (from my CSA - I don't know what kind it is!)

• Check your eggplant. If the salt has brought out lots of nice moisture, soak it up with a paper towel.  I decided the eggplant needed a bit of preheating.  I suggest popping it in the oven for 10 minutes or in the microwave for 2-3 minutes.  I used the microwave as I was ready for it.
• At the end of the sauté I added salt, pepper, 5 leaves of chopped basil and stirred.
• Sprinkle the vegetable sauté on top of the precooked eggplant.
• Optional: I needed a treat so I sprinkled crumbled feta and chopped walnuts on top of the sautéed vegetables.  This was my main course and the eggplant does get pretty soft so the nuts added good texture.

• Pop in the oven covered for 15 minutes.  Uncover and cook another 15 or so minutes until the top looks a little brown with the walnuts and everything is cooked nicely.

Yes, the plate is dirty because these were seconds for me - but really - it was just stuffed eggplant!

Today's Tip: Roasted Peppers:  Anytime I want a little extra flavor from my pepper I turn on a burner and roast it!  For something like this I left that yummy roasted skin on for flavor, but if I want to take the skin off after roasting them I drop them into a paper bag (no fingers - use your tongs) and close it up for about 15 minutes.  Tada!  They are cooled a bit and the skin comes right off when you rub it with a paper towel!

Asian Lettuce Wraps and Bok Choy Slaw

It's summer!  Do you know how I know this?  Well besides the warmth and amazing flowers all around, I'm reminded every Monday when I pick up my CSA vegetables.  Yes, I once again live somewhere with local farmers and I'm wasting no time taking advantage of this! 

I pick up my vegetables between 4:30 - 6 PM on Mondays.  Now I admit, sometime I leave here at 4:30 to drive across town at that hour and I'm tired and not so excited, but I come out with my bags of vegetables and a big smile on my face.  It feels like my birthday every Monday!  Really I get one of everything?!!?

This week my box consisted of:

• Mustard Greens
• Kale
• Lettuce
• A bunch of Beets w/ the greens
• A bunch of Carrots
• A bunch of radishes,
• A large head of Bok Choy
• Spinach
• 1 Zucchini
• A bunch of Green Onions
• Mizuna

I know some of you don't quite embrace greens to the extent that I do and so you would be less excited about the above haul.  And I admit it is a challenge to use all of them with just the two of us, but that's a challenge I'll take on every week. 

I've been enjoying the Bok Choy as it's not a vegetable that's been a regular for me in the past so last night I took the Bok Choy on and I won!  Here are a couple ideas for you if you are overwhelmed with your greens.

1. Don't forget you can use any green in a quiche.  I made a crustless quiche the other night with a ton of kale and chard.  We had it with a salad for dinner and then small slices went well the next few days for a breakfast or lunch for me on top of .... yes you guessed it, another pan full of sautéed greens.  In this case it was usually beet greens. 
2. You can always take care of a few handfuls of greens with a green smoothie for breakfast or lunch.  It's true, blenders aren't only for Margaritas!  Don't let Smoothies be harder than they are, throw a bunch of spinach in that blender, top with a handful of blueberries, 1/2 a banana, celery, an apple, whatever feels good.  Add your choice of liquid, almond milk, milk, whatever you want.  Still feels like you need something else?  Chia seeds are a great addition for energy.  Blend for a long time and enjoy.
3. Try Pesto - there is no rule that says this needs to be made with Basil.  I'm going to make a Mizuna Pesto.  I'll let you know how it works out.
4. Or enjoy the below meal of lettuce wraps and slaw.  Bok Choy makes a great slaw!

Asian Pork Lettuce Wraps : I made up these lettuce wraps, but here's the general idea.

Finely Shred:

• 2 carrots
• 1 scallion
• the greens to the bok choy from the slaw

• Sauté the vegetables in a bit of Coconut or Sesame Oil until soft. 
• Take out of pan and add 1 pound of ground pork (preferably from a very happy pig that your local farmer provided).
• Saute pork until all pink is gone and add vegetables back in.
• Mix in following dressing and serve with lettuce leaves.

Dressing: I used the following, but you could easily use any Asian dressing you might have on hand, or make something up!

• 1/4 cup of Anne's Lite Gingerly Vinaigrette,
• 1 Tablespoon Soy Sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon honey

Oh - I toasted some chopped almonds and sesame seeds and this topping made Joe very happy!  Wrap and enjoy - these are fun for adults and kids alike!

Bok Choy Slaw

• Bok Choy stems thinly sliced
• 2 carrots sliced to same width
• 1 scallion sliced
• 1 handful of cilantro chopped
• Bok Choy leaves can also be chopped and added.

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup Rice Vinegar
• 1 Tablespoon Sesame Oil
• 2 teaspoons honey
• 2 teaspoons Dijon Mustard
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

I used my mandolin here and sliced the bok choy stems and carrots.  Then added all other salad components and mixed it with the dressing.

Do you have a fridge full of vegetables?  Take that on as the best challenge ever.  A challenge that won't do damage to your waistline and will improve your health!

Meatloaf: Two for One

Warning: This may not be the post for a vegetarian!

There's something about meatloaf and guys.  They just plain like it!  Well, any guy that likes meat anyway.

A couple weeks ago I realized I had meatloaf just waiting for me in my freezer.  I had ground lamb, ground pork, and ground red meat - in this case, my parents farm raised venison.  All of this meat was from a local farmer, or a farmer I knew very well.  So I went about determining what recipe to use for my meatloaf.  I used Alton Brown's Good Eats Meatloaf as my base, but out of that base I actually made two very different meatloaves.  One went in the oven that night for dinner and one went in the freezer for a future week.  I could just as easily taken the second half and made meatballs to freeze for a future week.

While not a big issue, I also wanted to make my meatloaves gluten free, so that meant out with the croutons or bread crumbs.  I used ground oats and that worked well.

Meat Base: For my meat base, I defrosted a pound each of ground lamb, ground pork, and ground venison and mixed it together.  That mix I divided in half.  Isn't half the fun of meatloaf the leftovers?

Meatloaf One
1/2 c. roughly ground oats (I used a clean coffee grinder.)
1/2 teaspoon  ground black pepper
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon thyme
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
2 carrots, peeled and roughly chopped
3 whole cloves of garlic
1/2 green bell pepper
1 portion of ground meat base
1 egg

Glaze: For this one I did use Alton's glaze, with less cumin.
1/2 cup Ketchup
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Dash Worcestershire sauce
Dash hot sauce
1 Tablespoon honey

Directions:

1.  Combine onion, carrot, garlic, and green pepper in the food processor and pulse until chopped to desired texture. 
2. In large bowl combine, black pepper, cayenne pepper, paprika, thyme, salt, vegetables, roughly ground oats, meat, and 1 egg. 
3. Mix, hands seem to work best here so take of any rings, wash your hands well, and go for it.
4. You could use a meatloaf pan, but I formed my meatloaf into a football like structure and cooked it in a square baking pan.
5. Top with glaze, if desired.
6. I cooked this at 325 for about 1 hour and 20 minutes, but check earlier and take out when it's reached 155 degrees.

Meatloaf two
 1/2 cup roughly ground oats
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoon thyme
1 teaspoon oregano
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 1/2 teaspoon salt
1 carrot, peeled and roughly chopped
1/2 cup sundried tomatoes
1/2 onion, roughly chopped
1/2 green bell pepper
2 cloves garlic
1 portion of ground meat base
1 egg

 

Directions:

1.  Combine onion, carrot, sun dried tomatoes, garlic and green pepper in the food processor and pulse until chopped to desired texture. 
2. In large bowl combine, black pepper, thyme, oregano, paprika, salt, vegetables, roughly ground oats, meat, and 1 egg. 
3. Mix, hands seem to work best here so take of any rings, wash your hands well and go for it.
4. You could use a meatloaf pan, but I formed my meatloaf into a football like structure and cooked it in a square baking pan.
5. Top with glaze, if desired.  See glaze tip under hints below.
6. I cooked this at 325 for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, but check earlier and take out when it's reached 155 degrees.

 Hints:

1. You could add more vegetables if needed or change it up, add red peppers instead of green if preferred.  Zucchini would work great.
2. The traditional glaze is a slice of bacon and ketchup.  But pretty much anything will work.  For my second meatloaf I was out of ketchup and I just topped the meatloaf with a slather of spicy mustard.  It worked!
3. Meatloaf leftovers: of course there are always meatloaf sandwiches.  Meatloaf and Swiss cheese Panini's are my favorite, but with the second meatloaf I chopped up the meatloaf fine, mixed in some beef broth, chopped carrots, peas, and corn and topped it with some mashed sweet potatoes.  After baking for a bout 1/2 hour at 350 that was my version of a Shepard's pie.

Sadly, I did not have any good pictures of the completed meatloaves, so following is a so-so picture.  You'll have to trust me, they were both good with lots of nice crispy sides and top!

 Trust me, you will have a happy guy at the table, if you serve him meatloaf.

Easter For One

My dear husband was traveling over Easter Weekend.  Luckily it was a stunning weekend here in Missoula, a weekend that made you believe Spring was not only right around the corner, but it, in fact, was here!

On Saturday I gave the fruit some love.  The Raspberries received a much needed pruning and tying.  How did we learn things before the Internet?  It's so handy.  I simply googled Pruning Raspberries and watched this great 8 minute video from the University of Maine Extension office.  I also cleaned out the old dry strawberry leaves and the flower beds inside the protected patio area.  The rhubarb didn't need any love, but I'm sure I could watch it grow that weekend!

On Sunday, I knew I would be outside again and wanted a nice brunch to keep me going all day.  The below sautéed kale topped with two local eggs and a little fruit was perfect!

I then spent almost 7 hours outside, cutting down the ornamental grasses, until my back said "Enough!".   Yes, all the grasses below are now gone - in fact three weeks later and there are new bright green grasses coming up.  I'll have to do a future post on the spring gardens.

The week before I had received the much awaited half pig that the great farmers at Tucker Family Farms lovingly raised for us.  I'm sure you'll hear more about this wonderful meat in future blog posts, but back to Easter ... I had some fresh ham steaks in the freezer, I thought that would be the perfect way to get a little ham on Easter.    Now I can't eat a whole Ham steak, that actually lasted me 3 meals!  So I dreamed up the following Easter Meal for One.

I decided to make a scalloped potato and ham dish, but I used what I had so Scalloped Butternut Squash, Sweet Potatoes, and Ham was born.

 

I can't provide you the recipe since I didn't use one.  I made a simple sauce with butter, onion, corn starch, milk, salt, pepper, and just a little white cheddar cheese.  Similar to a Béchamel.

Then I just layered the squash, potatoes, and ham and poured the sauce over it and baked until it looked good.

Since I didn't use a recipe, it didn't thicken quite enough.  But it was tasty paired with a nice salad and the well deserved beer!

One can enjoy healthy local foods even when just cooking for ourselves.

A Home

So, how long do I get to ride the "busy from moving" excuse when it comes to not posting very much? 

As you've seen the kitchen has been up and running, but the house has still been pretty bare for about 2 1/2 months now.  During that time, we've needed some comfort food to deal with the empty rooms.  As I was thinking we needed comfort food, I noticed that The Good Food Store, which is the most amazing store ever, had locally raised pork roasts on sale.

We all have a different idea of comfort food, but to me the crock pot can turn out some pretty tasty comfort food.  So, I got up one morning and I browned the pork roast.  I simply sprinkled it with salt, pepper, and thyme and browned it quickly.

 

I cut up some vegetables and put them in the bottom of the crockpot.  I chose onions, fingerling potatoes and sweet potatoes.  Carrots or other root vegetables would work, if desired.

 

Don't forget the splatter screen when browning at high temperatures.  Wouldn't want to mess up the new counter tops!  You would not have to brown the piece of meat, but I feel like it really adds good flavor.

Then I just top the raw vegetables with the browned pork roast.  This same recipe can be followed with any piece of meat.  When using the crockpot for a long slow roast of any type of meat, put the raw vegetables in the bottom and the roast on top.

Cover and cook.  I let this cook on high for 7 hours and ta da!  The pork roast fell apart and was very moist and flavorful.  This was perfect with a small side salad.

It felt like Santa had come yesterday, as we finally got furniture for the upstairs living room delivered.  We have furniture and a rug, which finally encouraged me to put some white lights around the windows.  Last night as I walked around turning off lights, I stopped at the doorway to that room.  It's the first time this house we bought and love feels like a home.

An Easy Pasta

So often we find ourselves with busier days than we'd expected, or maybe hoped to have.  In these situations, it's good to have a warm comforting meal at the end of those day when you look in the fridge and wish something would magically appear.

Ta Da!

Well with just a few vegetables and some pasta, maybe a stray slice of bread and some grated parmesan cheese you can create something very comforting.  The other night my husband said, something to the effect that I could make this more often as he dug into his bowl.

This is one of those without a set recipe.  I had an idea and went to the fridge to see what veggies I had.  Broccoli, cauliflower, and kale will do.

Then I thought, hmmm, I'm going to want some crispy, meat cheese flavor.   Just a little.  So I chopped up some Pancetta. Would you like a little meat flavor but dont' have any pancetta?  Just one slice of chopped bacon, some ham, or prosciutto would do the trick!

And made some yummy breadcrumbs.  Whenever I want some crispy breadcrumbs to cover some pasta or something.  I put a slice of bread in the food processor and mix that with salt, pepper, grated parmesan to please, and chopped parsley, if i have it.  This time I also added some flax seeds. NOTE - the picture below is finished, do not add the cheese until after you've browned the breadcrumbs. 

With parts collected, it's time to cook and assemble.  There are two pans here.

Pot One:
I started by putting the water on to boil for the pasta and vegetables.  For the pasta I actually used a Gluten Free pasta by DeBoles.  It was good, the Multi Grain Penne with rice, quinoa and amaranth.  I just figured out how long the pasta needed and about 4-5 minutes before it would be done, I put the broccoli, cauliflower, and kale into the same pot to lightly cook.

Pan Two:
While the water is heating and the pasta and vegetables are cooking, I set some olive oil to heat in a pan.  When it was warm I added the chopped stems of the kale and pancetta to crisp a bit and then I added the breadcrumbs  (chopped bread crumbs, salt, pepper, and flax seeds) and some chopped garlic to that pan to brown up.  If you are feeling decadent, add some butter to this mixture.  Mmmmm.

When the breadcrumbs are toasty, take off the heat and mix in the parsley and parmesan.  The beauty of no recipe is you can mix in as little or as much as your heart desires!  Drain the vegetables and pasta add the breadcrumb mixture and toss.

Bon Appetit!

Savory Tarts

With summer upon us, I believe one of the best ways to highlight the fresh flavors of our vegetables is in a savory tart!

I was reminded of this by Martha Stewart the other day as I made my lunch and I used her recipe as a guide to create my own tart that very night.

I watched her make the Tomato Tarte you can find on her website, here.  Of course being me, I thought "Well I would like to add Swiss Chard and fresh corn to that dish." and "I don't want to go to the store for Comte cheese.  Yes, I think it will work!"  You can find Martha's recipe at the link above, but I want to provide some thoughts on how you can use this recipe as a guide for your own creation - although it is hard to improve on Martha!

Knowing this, I didn't even mess with the roasted garlic base.  Really, there isn't anything better than roasted garlic.  If you grow garlic, or have access to heads of it from your farmers market, you should be roasting some!

Now I believe this tart really can open itself up to many vegetables.  I had a beautiful head of Swiss chard in the fridge so I chopped that up and sauteed it.  I also had the first fresh corn of the season.  I took one ear and grilled it lightly before cutting the kernels off the corn.  But, I'm pretty sure there would be room for kale and possibly peppers in this tart.

I used white cheddar because that is what I had, be creative with your cheese.  A simple feta topping would have been perfect also.

One last hint, don't be afraid of the crust.  Use the food processor and even spice it up by adding some herbs.  I used Whole Wheat Pastry flour and added some thyme to my crust. 

This made a great dinner and the next day it still made a special lunch, sided with some fruit.  Treat yourself to a special dinner and lunch over and over again through the summer with this fresh vegetable tart. 

Spring Rhubarb and a Saturday Dinner

It's time to take a small break, at least one post, from my reflection on Paris. It's been quite the whirlwind around here as we put the house up for sale and look forward to a new great adventure, while at the same time embracing our time in Green River, traveling for fun, and keeping up with work and work travel demands. I've traveled for the past 6 weeks and have two more weeks of work travel to go, before getting a week at home. As I pack for this next trip, you can imagine how much I've enjoyed the past three days at home. I've been able to walk with my good friend, Kathy, and enjoy my kitchen. I do miss my kitchen when traveling.

Yesterday amidst, walking and working outside, I managed to spend quite a few hours putzing through a Saturday dinner for me and my husband. I have so many recipes in my to-do list, but the focus of this meal started with the amazing rhubarb growing in my back yard. Just check out that pretty patch above and this is after I took out two cups of stalks! Aren't those bright green leaves pretty?

As I was chopping the rhubarb, I popped (as always) a raw piece in my mouth. The flavor just pops in my mouth and while at first I get the overwhelming tart, afterward, I enjoy the rhubarb flavor and find myself looking forward even more to what I am baking.

I had lots of rhubarb options, pies, custard bars, compotes, but this recipe for a Rhubarb Custard Crumb Pie had grabbed me a couple days ago. This pie is from a new blog I've discovered, Apt. 2B Baking Co. In this blog, Yossy uses a lot of different grains, of which I'm a big fan, so I am fully enjoying this blog. In addition, I had a plethora of eggs and cream in the fridge to use up from ice cream experiments, so I had been leaning toward custard.

Don't be scared off by the rye dough or the measurements in ounces. I don’t have a great kitchen scale and yet my measurement of ounces came out fine.

Yossy says she adapted the rye pie dough from Kim Boyce's Good to the Grain cookbook. A cookbook, which I own and must use more! It tasted so earthy, but it did not have a strong rye taste. The dough went very well with the rhubarb. If you read the whole recipe through ahead of time, always a good idea, it would be easy to get scared off because of the time it takes to make the dough. Just do it! I will try the dough as listed, but did not have that time yesterday and just let it sit in the fridge about 45 minutes each time. The dough was still very tender. My only suggestion would be to use plenty of beans or pie weights when prebaking to keep the sides from falling down.

While it seems only right to start with the pie, it's now time to go backwards.

I marinated one of my last remaining chickens from last fall’s trip to Utah Natural Meat in a mustard based marinade, using a wonderful hearty Balsamic Mustard given to me by my mother-in-law. I look forward to finding fun uses for the other Mustard versions she gave me that were created near her by a small business in Kentucky. I based this recipe on the Honey Mustard Glazed Chicken Thighs in the most recent Clean Eating magazine.   The recipe isn't online yet.

The dish is simple with roasted bell peppers and the marinated chicken topped at the end with chopped parsley and toasted almonds.

I did pull the rhubarb into the main meal, via the salad. I tossed rhubarb and sweet onions in a little sugar and roasted them. I tossed them in the salad with feta and roasted walnuts and a quick balsamic vinaigrette.

Don’t ever underestimate the calm joy of quiet time in the kitchen followed by a nice dinner with someone you love.