This is going to be a quickie. The theme this week is fast and moderately healthy.

Sunday- Enchiladas. Enchiladas are usually time consuming, however J’s mom was nice enough to can a bunch of enchilada sauce for us. So all we have to do is dip tortilla in oil and add some sauce and cheese. This is one of J’s favorite recipes.

Monday-Vegetarian (leek and mushroom) fried rice and mix green (arugula and spinach) from the garden. Thanks Smitten Kitchen for the recipe.

Tuesday-Cabbage, pork, and rice. The recipe for the cabbage is from a friend of mine. I’m always excited to try new food and cabbage with turmeric sounds delish.

Wednesday- Vegetable  soup (with the leftover cabbage) and bread.

Thursday- Date night. We’ll probably pick up takeout after swim practice.

Friday- Bean burritos. I’ll be making the beans and using up leftover tortillas from enchiladas.

The recipe can be found here: http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2011/12/cranberry-and-orange-granola

Chicken korma, chole saag, naan, and rice.

Chicken korma.

Chai tea cupcakes.

Pork sausage, arugula, caramelized onion, provolone, and balsamic vinegar open faced sandwich. 

New Year’s Eve Brinner. Coconut waffles, fruit salad, and mimosas.

Christmas goodies/gifts for friends. Fudge, ginger cookies, honeycomb, and caramel.

Barley and mushroom risotto with manchego cheese. 

I totally forgot what this was but it was some Indian inspired dish with lentils and spinach.

Cranberry, orange, and maple granola.

Ah that is better. I’m actually smiling. Look at all the groceries!
Last week:

Saturday- Vegetable soup and garlic bread. A great way to get rid of leftover vegetables in the fridge. 

Sunday-Ground turkey and quinoa patties with salad. I saw this recipe on a blog and had to try it. It was actually quite delicious and I think I’ll be putting quinoa in burgers from now on. 

Monday-Beef and eggplant and choy (from the garden!) stirfry over rice. My favorite chinese restaurant makes a delicious eggplant dish. I tried to recreate it and failed miserably. That said, the stir-fry was still delicious. 

Tuesday-Spinach and sun-dried tomato panini.

Wednesday-Pasta with tuna and parsley + squash.

Thursday-Takeout. Jonathon was sick so I didn’t make dinner.

Friday-Pumpkin soup. I had a leftover pumpkin from the fields at work. I roasted it in the oven, saving seeds as a snack, then added onion, celery, and half a green apple. Done! Instant soup.

This week: It’s soup week and pasta week! J wanted soup for dinner every night. Because we only thought of 4 soup recipes, we decided to throw in a few other meals for good measure. I’ve blogged most of the recipes before. Sweet! Now all I need is some rain to make Winter complete.

Saturday- Tabbouleh and sausage.

Sunday-Vegetarian chili

Monday-Spicy pasta bake.

Tuesday-Chicken udon.

Wednesday-Corn chowder and spinach.

Thursday-Chicken barley soup. Bulk barley. It’s easy. 

Friday-Pasta w/ broccoli.  I have some mediocre pasta sauce I made back in summer. We have leftover pasta in bulk jars and decided it was time to use up the sauce. Why broccoli? We’ll it is a seasonal vegetable I haven’t had recently. 

The recipe is loosely based off “Chicken and sausage gumbo” recipe in William’s Sonoma One Pot cookbook. The meat and broth proportions are the same, but I altered the roux and added spices. I wasn’t going to make soup and only add salt and pepper for spices.

I probably should have made this soup a couple of months ago when okra was in season, but I really wasn’t feeling in the mood for gumbo until temperatures dropped below 80F. I’m always in the mood for chicken, oh wait, I’m not. I actually hate chicken, unless it is in soup.

My roux wasn’t cooked long enough, but other than that, the soup tasted amazing. Don’t expect authentic gumbo as I have no idea what real gumbo should taste like… Maybe I should call this sausage, chicken, and okra spicy soup.

Chicken Gumbo

serves: 4-6

• 1 lb boneless chicken breast
• 12 oz precooked andouille sausage, thinly sliced
• 4 tablespoons canola oil
• 4 tablespoons flour
• 4 stalks celery, sliced
• 1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
• 1 bell pepper (red or green), diced
• 1 jalapeno, seeds romoved, minced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• chicken broth, 6 cups
• 2 cups okra
• Spice mix (cayenne, paprika, garlic powder, oregano, thyme)
• Rice

In a medium sauce pan, heat chicken broth.

In a second sauce pan (large), add 1 tsp oil and heat through. Add chicken and sausage to oil, seasoning with salt and pepper, and cook until browned. Remove meat to plate and set aside. Add remaining oil to sauce pan and heat. Whisk in flour. Cook roux over medium heat until browned. Add onion, celery, bell pepper. Cook about 5 minutes. Add garlic and jalapeno and cook about two more minutes.

Stir in broth and return meat to the pot. Add spice mix. bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer about 40 minutes. (It is better to simmer longer, but I hate waiting…)

Add okra and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to low again, and simmer about 10 minutes. Adjust seasoning and serve over rice.

I usually shy away from stuffed anything because I feel that it is wasteful to throw out insides. This recipe however has you chop insides and mix them into the zucchini shells. Win! And there is also sautéed onions and peppers. Yum!

Not pretty, but healthy (ish) and a great way to turn a vegetable side into main dish.

“Stuffed Zucchini”

from DFC “Twelve for Forty” #1

Serves: 2

• 6 small zucchini
• 1/4 cup finely chopped onion (red or white)
• 1/4 cup finely chopped bell pepper
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1/4 tsp ground cumin
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup cooked rice
• 1 jalapeno (seeds removed, diced)
• 1/4 cup grated jack cheese

Preheat oven to 350F.

Cut zucchini lengthwise and scoop out insides. Chop and transfer to mixing bowl with remaining vegetables and rice.

Fill shells and top with cheese. Place on oiled baking sheet and bake until cheese melted and slightly browned about 20 minutes.

I usually try a few new recipes each week. The downside is sometimes I try things I don’t like, such as this stir-fry. This week, however, I know I’m going to be tired and busy. So, I’ll be playing it safe in the meal department and mostly making meals I’ve made many times before and don’t have or need recipes for. As always, I’ll be mixing vegetarian with meat dishes, unhealthy comfort food with healthier meal options.

In the fridge: chipotles en adobo, 1 jalapeno, hummus

In the pantry: quinoa, rice

In the garden: basil

Saturday- Greasy chinese food. I was too tired to cook and wanted to fill my body with lots of junk food after a long long day. Weights in morning, trip to Napa to visit family, 2ish mile hike up hill, Costco for dog food and Halloween candy, C0-op for food, car cleaning. Oh and J’s car broke down. I managed to remember everything on my shopping list, but finished the evening off by leaving some eampty bags in my shopping cart and driving home. 

Sunday-Halloween party with friends. I feel super guilty not making anything, but my Aunt’s caretaker made me a pineapple pound cake that I shouldn’t eat by myself and a bunch of crackers. Guess what I’ll be bringing?

Monday-Corn and cheese chowder and salad. I’ve tried to make corn chowder before and was less than happy with it. I’m hoping this time around it goes better as I will be using fresh corn and lots of cheese.

Tuesday-Turkey burgers w. chipotle sauce and kale chips. Have I mentioned that I’m obsessed with kale chips? 

Wednesday-Gouda skillet mac ‘n cheese and salad.

Thursday-Chipotle pork, quinoa, roasted cauliflower.

Friday-Pesto roasted root vegetables and side of chipotle beans.

Reflections: I am going to make good use of the leftover chipotle by putting them in three meals.  Loving all the seasonal vegetables. I’m looking forward to cauliflower, kale, lettuce, turnips, and summer squash. I am also looking forward to pomegranate in my salad and lots of apples. Nom

Happy Halloween and all that!

Golden fritters. Not so healthy, but I’m a sucker for almost anything that has been pan fried.
The menu recommends serving them with rice, but I wanted to mix things up a little so I mixed peas, ham, and seasonal herbs in. In retrospect, I’d say the meal was a little carb-heavy and I think the fritters would go better with a green salad with some protein (meat, nuts, tofu) mixed in.

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“Summer Squash Fritters”

Serves: 2

• 2 cups grated summer squash
• 1/2 cup minced or grated onion
• 1/4 cup finely grated cheese
• 1/2 cup fine bread crumbs
• 1 egg plus 1 egg white
• 6 tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup half and half (I used soy milk)
• 2-4 tbsp olive oil (I used canola b/c it is better for frying)
• 1/4 tsp black pepper*
• 1/4 tsp paprika*
• 1/4 tsp salt*

Mix all the ingredents together in a bowl.

Heat 1 tbsp oil in cast iron pan over medium heat. Drop in batter (~1/4 cup at a time) and flatten. Cook over medium heat until golden brown (~4 mins). Flip and cook until browned. Add extra oil as necessary.

Serve warm! Unfortunately, like most fried food, these fritters are not as tasty the next day.

I’m interrupting my zucchini series to share this seasonal dessert.

Apples might be my favorite fruit and they scream Fall to me, probably more so than pumpkin or tea. I love apple pie, apple cake, apple sauce, apple cider, hard cider, oh and apples and peanut butter (my all time favorite post workout snack).

I visited home last weekend and a family friend gave me some apples. He actually gave them to my dad, but I took a few home. They smelled amazing and were very sweet, but the texture was a bit off. Sad. I wanted to make cake, but J convinced me to make pie. Good choice. There weren’t enough apples, so I had to buy a macintosh. Here are the apples.

It is hard to make a bad apple pie. Since I do not make apple pie often, I did not have a go to recipe. I decided to go with Bittman because my mom raves about his pie. While I made his filling, I couldn’t pass up the chance to bake with my super sweet pastry pie crust. Sorry Bittman!

Here is the Bittman filling. It is very apple centered and the spices are not overpowering. Thank you J for peeling all those apples while I made the crust!

And here is the finished pie. Mmmm…*************

Apple Pie

from How To Cook Everything

• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp grated nutmeg
• 6 apples (McIntosh, Cortland, etc)
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
• 1 1/2 tbsp instant tapioca
• 1, two-crust pie shell (refrigerated). If you are using homemade a homemade crust, split dough in half. Roll out bottom crust and put in pie pan. Roll out top crust on parchment paper and put the rolled sheet in fridge.
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• milk and sugar for brushing crust

Remove bottom crust from fridge. Fill with apple mixture. Dot with butter and cover with top crust, sealing the edges with a fork, etc and removing excess crust. Return to refrigerator.

This recipe is from J’s mom. It is delicious and super easy to make! Enough said.

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Grated zucchini.

The batter.Baked slice of bread.**************

Zucchini Bread:

Makes 2 loafs or 1 9×13″ pan.

• 3 eggs (lightly beaten)
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup oil
• 3 tsp vanilla
• 3 cups flour
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp soda
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1 tsp nutmeg
• 2 cups grated zucchini
• 2 tsp orange rind
• 1/2 cup nuts, chopped. (Almonds, walnuts, and pecans are all good choices.)

Mix together flour, salt, soda, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a medium bowl.

In a separate large mixing bowl, grate zucchini. Add in eggs, sugar, oil, vanilla, nuts, and orange rind.

Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients. Stir to combine.

Pour mixture into buttered and floured loaf pan(s).

Bake for about 1 hour, until top is golden brown and tooth pick inserted comes out clean.

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Next up, stuffed zucchini.