Grilled Summer Vegetable Couscous Salad

 A tasty summery salad!

In my last post, I wrote about a little bit about my eating habits over the course of the day. I've been trying to focus my lunches on vegetables as much as possible, so I've been making a lot of different salad combinations. This is my most recent. It's certainly good as-is, but don't be afraid to shake it up! Substitute orzo, quinoa, or even rice for the couscous, and use whatever veggies and/or dressing you have on hand. Toss in some diced chicken, canned tuna, or beans for a protein kick. It's a great way to eat seasonal veggies and clean out your fridge at the same time.

Grape tomatoes, zucchini, and red bell pepper are the stars here.

Grilled Summer Vegetable Couscous Salad
Serves 2 as a main dish

Ingredients

• 1 cup dry pearled couscous (I cheated and used a box of Near East Roasted Garlic & Olive Oil couscous)
• Olive oil
• 1 medium zucchini, sliced in half lengthwise
• 2 red bell peppers, cleaned and cut in half
• 8 grape tomatoes, cut into quarters
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1-2 tablespoons salad dressing (I used homemade balsamic--recipe follows)
• Fresh basil, salt and pepper, and/or other seasonings as desired

Steps

1. Cook couscous as directed on the package. When finished, remove from the burner and cover to keep warm.

2.  Prepare vegetables. Brush a grill pan with olive oil and heat over medium heat. When it's hot, place peppers skin side down and the zucchini cut side down on the surface. (You can also use a real grill--brush the veggies with oil in that case--or a Foreman grill for this.)

Start with zucchini cut-side down and peppers skin-side down.

The zucchini will develop grill lines after a few minutes. Turn it over and cook one or two minutes more skin-side down.

Lovely grill lines.

Cook the peppers until they begin to blister and char on the outside. Flip and cook a few minutes more on the other side. I wasn't going for the blackened skin of a roasted pepper here, just a slightly softened pepper with a nice grilled flavor. I still wanted them to have a bit of crunch.

Still a few steps away from roasted peppers.

Set the grilled vegetables aside to cool. Place the tomatoes and spinach in a large mixing bowl.

3.  When the grilled vegetables are cool enough to handle, slice the zucchini into half moons and the peppers into strips. Toss the warm vegetables on top of the spinach and tomatoes in the mixing bowl.

The warm vegetables will wilt the spinach just slightly.

4.  Fluff the warm couscous and pour it over the vegetables in the bowl. Drizzle with the dressing and toss everything together.

Now is the time to add seasonings. I used the packet
that came with the couscous, and didn't feel that it
needed anything more after the dressing was mixed in.

I originally intended this to be a cold salad, like a pasta salad. But of course I had to taste it right away, and it's pretty good served warm too! It's joining my lunch tomorrow with some cherries and Greek yogurt.

And, as promised, here is the "recipe" for my balsamic dressing. I apologize for the lack of specificity--this is something I just sort of throw together every couple of days. It works well with a savory dish like this one, but it's also delicious on a simple salad of spinach and berries.

Homemade Balsamic Vinaigrette
Enough for 2 or 3 salads

Ingredients (amounts are approximate)

• 1-1/2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
• 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar (you may not want this much)
• 1 tsp honey
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard
• 1-2 tsp lemon juice
• Salt and pepper 

Steps (just one!)

1. Combine all ingredients in a shake-able container with a lid. Shake well until blended. Taste and adjust as needed. The dressing will keep in the fridge for at least a week (at which point I'm usually all out and need to make more).

A tip on salad dressings: If you can't figure out what it's missing, think through the five tastes. With this recipe you have bitterness (vinegar and mustard), sourness (lemon and vinegar), sweetness (honey), saltiness (salt), and umami (olive oil). If I think about that while I'm taste-testing, I can usually figure out what I need to add to balance the flavor. Works for other dishes too! Read more about the five tastes here.

Vegetarian Spaghetti Carbonara

So, my foray into the world of vegetarianism is nearly at an end. Yes, I know that Easter was last weekend, but I decided to do an extra week of Lent to atone for my meat consumption at home over spring break. (I can only justify my behavior with the following words: Steak. Pork chop. Cheeseburger. As in, I ate and relished them all in their homemade glory.) But I'm "doing the time" now and on Sunday I'm back to my omnivorous habits once more.

I already have my first meat-containing meal picked out: spaghetti carbonara.

Carbonara is one of the dishes I have missed a lot over the past couple of months. But, eventually I decided to stop missing it and to create an alternative, vegetarian version.

My first attempt was a pared down version, exactly like the original but without the bacon. It was bland and boring. I realized that it wasn't enough to leave out the bacon; instead I had to replace it with something that would add depth and flavor to the dish, as well as some sort of fat to help the sauce come together.

The version I ultimately created relies on spinach sauteed in garlic, red pepper, and olive oil to provide that extra fat and flavor, not to mention a little bit of a kick!


Vegetarian Spaghetti Carbonara
Serves 1

Ingredients

• 1 large egg
• 3 tbsp grated Parmesan cheese
• 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
• Spaghetti or other long pasta
• 1 tbsp salt 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• Crushed red pepper flakes, to taste
• 1 cup fresh baby spinach

This dish features many of the "usual suspects" in my kitchen.

Steps

1. Beat the egg in a serving bowl. Add the Parmesan cheese and black pepper, and stir to combine. Set aside near the sink where you will drain the pasta.

2.  Bring a pot of water to boil. Add the salt and pasta and cook according to the package's instructions.

3.  While the pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil over medium heat in a frying pan. Add the garlic and red pepper and cook for about a minute. Add the spinach and saute until just barely wilted.

Saute the garlic and pepper for about a minute.

After the spinach is just wilted, I turn off the heat
and push it all together so it's easier to dump it
in the bowl later.

Don't overcook the spinach; it will continue to wilt in the pan
and once it's tossed with the pasta.

4.  When the pasta is al dente, drain it and immediately add it to the egg mixture. Dump the spinach and olive oil on top, and toss until a sauce forms on the noodles. Top with additional cheese and black pepper, if desired.

Remember, this is the step where you need to work quickly
to cook that egg! Toss it like you mean it!

The result:

Mmmmmmm....

It may not be bacon but I do love spinach--especially when it's paired with garlic and red pepper. I think the spiciness of this version makes up for the lack of meat. It's not a replacement for the real thing, but it's a decent alternative and one that I'd make again--even if it's not Lent!

Homemade Sweet Potato Fries & Honey Mustard

I've had a pretty great week. In the past seven days I've been at home with my family, started new classes, delivered a killer presentation, met and taught a group of awesome students, and landed two internship gigs. More on all that in the next couple of weeks.

There is absolutely no connection between sweet potato fries and all the things that have happened this week. Unless you count the fact that they are both awesome...which they are.

Sweet potatoes are one of those things I never really tried until college, but once I did I was hooked. Since I've been cooking for myself, I try to keep a couple in the pantry at all times. When I'm feeling super lazy, I poke a few holes in one, zap it in the microwave, and top it with peanut butter, cinnamon, and a little brown sugar for a simple lunch or dinner that tastes like dessert.

Messy, but oh so delicious.

If I have a little more time, though, I opt for the fry preparation (because let's face it, who doesn't like fries?). You could buy the frozen ones at the store instead...but if you throw them together as the oven's preheating, it's just as fast and even more delicious to make them yourself! This is the same basic method that I use for regular potatoes, except that I usually cook those somewhere between 400 and 425 degrees Fahrenheit.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Use a sharp knife--sweet potatoes can be hard to cut.

Serves 1

Ingredients

1 sweet potato
1 tbsp olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Paprika
(or other seasonings as desired)

Steps

1.  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Scrub and dry the sweet potato; peel if desired (I like the skin, so I leave it on).

2.  Slice the sweet potato in half, and then into quarters.

Ugly on the outside, pretty on the inside?

Hold the round side of each quarter and cut it into slices, about half an inch thick.

These are a bit thick--I ended up slicing a few of those pieces
in half.

Rotate the potato quarter 90 degrees, so that you now have a stack of slices. Make two or three cuts through the stack so that you end up with fry-shaped pieces.

We are not striving for perfection here.

You can make these as thick or as thin as you want, but be aware that cooking times may change. I like to have some variation in size, so that some end up crunchy while others are still soft.

3.  Toss the fries with the olive oil. Add a bit of salt and pepper, and a few good shakes of paprika. Toss to coat.

For best results, coat the fries in olive oil first...

...then add the spices and toss again.

4.  Grease a cookie sheet with olive oil or Pam. Spread the fries on the pan in a single layer.

Just enough room left for a Trader Joe's vegetarian corn dog.
Which, by the way, are really starting to grow on me.

5.  Bake for about twenty minutes, turning halfway through. Prepare honey mustard sauce (see below) or whatever dip you enjoy. Barbecue sauce is also pretty good.

Flip the fries (and the corn dog) after about 10

minutes.

6.  When they start to brown a bit, or reach whatever texture you are going for, remove from the oven and serve!

Fries after baking.

Honey Mustard

The honey bear makes everything better.

Ingredients

1 tsp honey
2 tsp Dijon mustard (or to taste)

Steps

This is pretty self-explanatory: mix it together. Taste and add more honey or mustard as needed. Thin it out with a little vegetable oil, if desired.

Homemade honey mustard. Also good on chicken and pork.

Put it all together, and call it dinner!

Mmmmmmmm...

You win some, you destroy some.

I don't know how it happened in my culinary life that the first time I tried stuffing filling into sheets of dough it wasn't for an Italian dish. I am half-Italian, so ravioli or tortellini would have made sense.

But instead my first attempt was potstickers, something decidedly Asian. Although if Marco Polo really did bring pasta back to Italy from China...maybe it does make sense.

Anyway, the back story: I "discovered" potstickers about a year ago, and made a habit of buying them whenever I saw them in the freezer section. This was during my undergrad days, and my grocery store then always had them. The Kroger where I shop these days, however, does not, so for a while I lived with no potstickers.

And then, I discovered Trader Joe's, a magical store that carries not one, but FOUR different types of potstickers (or gyoza, as they are labelled there). So for a while I bought the pork or chicken potstickers and was contented. And then, Lent happened. No more pork, no more chicken. My choices were narrowed to Shrimp or Thai Vegetable, so I got the vegetable ones.

Trader Joe, I was disappointed. The Thai vegetables were mushy, the wrappers were pre-browned for some odd reason, and I still don't know what makes them "Thai." I gave them a chance, but ultimately this is not a solution.

Which brings us to Wednesday's interesting adventure. I typically don't go "off book" on foods I've never made before, but this was an exception. I'm not going to say these potstickers are authentic or correct or anything like that. I mean, I had to use wonton wrappers (more on that later). These are borne of the mind of a finals week graduate student. Take them for what you will.

Vegetable Potstickers

Ingredients

1 small package of coleslaw mix (shredded broccoli, cauliflower, carrots, and cabbage)
8 white mushrooms, cleaned
1 tbsp minced garlic (3-4 cloves)
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 tbsp soy sauce
1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
Black pepper
Crushed red pepper flakes
1 egg, beaten
1 package (40-count) wonton wrappers (get potsticker/gyoza wrappers if you can)
Water

Steps

1.  Chop coleslaw mix roughly in batches. Chop mushrooms into small dice.

Just a rough chop on the coleslaw, so you don't end up
with huge pieces!

2.  Heat vegetable oil in a nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add coleslaw, mushrooms, garlic, and seasonings. Stir to coat with oil. Cover the pan for 1-2 minutes so that the vegetables steam, and then saute for another 1-2 minutes.

Cook the veggies until crisp-tender

3.  Remove pan from heat and place the vegetable mixture in a strainer over a bowl. Allow it to strain and cool for about half an hour.

Strain the extra liquid out of the filling.

4.  Taste the vegetables and add additional seasonings if needed. Press out as much liquid as possible. Beat the egg in a mixing bowl and add the vegetables, mixing thoroughly.

5.  Prepare your assembly area. Have a bowl of water (for sealing), a damp paper towel (to cover unused wrappers), a plate, a spoon or fork, and a baking sheet lined with parchment or waxed paper ready to go.

Not pictured: a cup of water for wetting the skins.

6.  Take each wonton wrapper and lay it on the plate. Use your fingers to spread water along the edges of the wrapper. Use the spoon or fork to place ONE teaspoon of filling in the center of the wrapper. Fold the edges and pinch them together (pictures below).

Wet the edges of the wrapper and place a spoonful of filling
in the center.

The easiest way to do it with the wonton wrappers is to just make a triangle-shaped potsticker:

Fold corner to corner...

...seal one edge...

Press out as much air as you can while sealing the other side.

 Or, try the pyramid shape:

Fold the top corners together just like for the triangle shape.
Then, fold the side corners in one by one.

You should end up with something that looks like this!

I even tried crimping a few like "real" potstickers. They came out pretty ugly, so I only did a couple!

Not my best work.

7.  Place finished potstickers on the baking sheet. When it is full, place the sheet in the freezer (you will probably need to have two sheets available). Continue forming the potstickers until the wrappers or filling runs out.

On the plus side, these potstickers are one of the most
photogenic foods I've ever blogged about!

Cooking station. Yes, I ate all of those. It was a long

cooking session.

8.  To cook the potstickers, heat a tablespoon of oil in a pan with a lid over medium heat. Place the dumplings in the hot oil and cook for about two minutes (until the bottoms brown). Reduce the heat, add about a quarter of a cup of water, and cover. Steam until done. (And remove promptly!) The first batch I steamed for over two minutes, which was wayyyyy too long and resulted in a bowl of destroyed dumplings:

If this happens... just slosh some soy sauce on top
and call it good. That's what I did.

The  second time, I steamed them for only ONE minute, and most of them came out with no trouble. Some even had crispy bottoms still! Even so, wonton wrappers are not the same as potsticker wrappers. They are thinner and thus cook faster (which is nice), but they don't crisp up the same way that potstickers do (and they seem to lose the crisp pretty quickly). I'm not saying it's good or bad; it just is.

One of the few that came out perfectly steamed
AND nicely browned on the bottom.

Alternatively, place dumplings in a microwave-safe bowl with a tablespoon or two of water. Cover with a damp paper towel and microwave 30 seconds to a minute. While not quite as tasty, this method at least kept them all in one piece!

The microwave was kind to this little guy.

So, while I didn't succeed at producing perfect potstickers with wonton wrappers (I don't think that's possible), they're still better than the Thai vegetable things that are still sitting in my freezer. Why?

Fresh, tasty, and non-mushy veggies!

The filling is the real winner here. The seasoning may not be authentic, but the vegetables are just the right texture--soft, with just a little bit of bite left to them. I'm looking forward to trying this recipe again sometime with a different mixture of veggies and seasonings...right after I finish all the ones left in my freezer!

Oatmeal Four Ways

Can you tell it's finals week?


If you haven't inferred it from the lack of blog posts, suffice it to say that I've been busy. Grading, researching, writing papers, editing and proofreading, analyzing, rewriting...I've been doing a little bit of everything for the past couple of weeks, and I'm ready for it all to end in the next week or so.

Don't let the lack of posts and recipes fool you into thinking that I've stopped eating, though! I certainly haven't, although I've been nomming more pre-packaged foods (thanks, Trader Joe's) than usual, and making quicker meals when I do cook from scratch.

Which brings us to the topic of this post: oatmeal. Quick, easy, cheap, and delicious.

I love oatmeal. I really do. I have fond childhood memories of the Quaker Oats instant packets, particularly the kind with the dinosaur eggs (remember those??), but also equally fond memories of my parents whipping up a pot of the plain stuff to top with raisins and brown sugar on cold Sunday mornings. While I've "graduated" from the super-sweet instant packets and I still love the raisin and brown sugar combination, I've also come up with a handful of my own variations, some of which I'm sharing with you below (with possibly more to come).

A word about oats and cooking methods: I know the steel-cut stuff is all the rage right now, but I prefer the texture of the quick-cooking oats. You can use whatever you like for these recipes (they're more about mix-ins than technique), but you'll need to adjust the cooking time accordingly.

As far as technique, I probably use the stove-top and microwave methods about equally, and I have preferred cooking methods for most of my oatmeal variations. The stove-top gives you a firmer texture, whereas the microwave tends to be creamier because everything cooks together. You can also get the creamy texture on the stove if you add the oats when the water is hot, but not yet boiling. If you do use the microwave, NEVER leave it unattended; the oatmeal will expand to fill whatever bowl you have it in, and from there it can overflow.

I also make a slightly smaller serving size than standard:

Basic Oatmeal Ingredients

3/8 cup oats
3/4 cup water (or milk)

Mix-ins (see variations below)


#1: Banana Oatmeal


This variation is great for using up bananas that are past their prime!

Banana oatmeal with a touch of milk.

Add-Ins

Ripe banana (whole or half)
Dash of cinnamon
Nuts (optional)

Steps


1.  Peel a ripe banana, break it into pieces, and place in a bowl (I just use the one I'm going to eat from). Add the cinnamon and mash it with a fork. (You could also slice it, but mashing is faster.)

2.  The best method for this one is the microwave. Add the oats and water to the banana and microwave on high about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.

2b.  If you want to make it on the stove, add the banana to an empty saucepan on low heat and cook and stir it for about a minute. Then, add the water and oats. I've found that if you add everything together the banana ends up being oddly starchy; the extra cooking step fixes that.

3.  Top with a spoonful of walnuts or a splash of milk, if desired.


#2: Chocolate-Banana Oatmeal

This variation plays off the sweetness of the banana instead of adding extra sugar. It's still possibly more of a dessert than breakfast!

Chocolate-banana oatmeal.

Add-Ins

Ripe banana (whole or half)
Heaping teaspoon of cocoa powder

Steps

1.  Peel the banana and mash in a bowl with the cocoa powder.

2.  Follow the steps for cooking Banana Oatmeal above.

#3: Pomegranate Oatmeal

Pomegranates are in season in the winter, so they're a great way to liven up your oatmeal on a cold morning.

Pomegranate oatmeal.

Add-Ins

1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp pomegranate seeds

Steps

1. On the stove, heat the water and vanilla in a small saucepan over medium heat. When it boils (or sooner, for creamier oatmeal), add the oats. Cook and stir.

2.  When the oats are just about done, turn off the burner and add the pomegranate seeds (you just want to warm them, not cook them). Mix them in until they are distributed throughout the oatmeal. Top with additional seeds if desired.

2b.  To make in the microwave, combine water, vanilla, and oats in a bowl. Microwave on high for about 2 minutes, stirring occasionally. When it's cooked, add pomegranate seeds to the hot oatmeal.

#4: Savory Oatmeal with Spinach and Egg

An interesting departure from the usual sweet varieties. Honestly, this is my least favorite of the bunch, but I've been seeing savory oatmeal all over cooking blogs so I had to try it.

An Asian-inspired savory oatmeal variation.

Add-Ins/Extras

1 tbsp olive oil
1 clove minced garlic
1 cup baby spinach
1 egg
Soy sauce

Steps

1.  Add the water to a saucepan and bring it to a boil.

2.  While you're waiting for the water to boil, heat the olive oil in a saute pan over medium heat. Saute the garlic for about a minute. Add the egg to one side of the pan (most people cook it sunny-side up or or over-easy so that you end up with a runny yolk to mix into the oatmeal). When the egg is about two minutes away from being done, add the spinach to the other side of the pan (keep them separate) and wilt it. Remove the pan from the heat.

3.  Add the oats to the saucepan. Cook and stir until done.

4. To serve, add the oatmeal to a serving bowl. Stir in the spinach. Top with the egg and a drizzle of soy sauce.

A vegetarian soup for those of us under the weather

That's one steaming pot of comfort food, right there.

The past few days have been sort of a setback for me, and from what I've gathered, for other people too. Some sort of bug is making its way around campus and it seems to have reached me.

I woke up on Ash Wednesday with a case of the sniffles and a headache. At first I chalked it up to the changes in the weather, and the fact that I got up earlier than usual for church. I did all my usual Wednesday things, including my run. But then at about 3:30pm, I crashed. I was so unusually fatigued that I took a long nap and didn't move much for the rest of the evening.

Fast forward to today. I felt significantly better, though still sniffly and tired. As much as I wanted to go for a run this afternoon, I decided that it's probably best to just wait it out. I'm hoping tomorrow or Sunday will be the day.

There is one good thing that's come out of this: a pretty good soup recipe.

Something that I've learned to pick up on over the years is that my body knows what it needs, especially when I'm sick. When I was trying to come up with something for dinner tonight, I realized that I wanted three things: onions, mushrooms, and spinach.

It took me a while to figure out to do with that combination. Salad? Too much chewing. Pasta? Maybe, but not what I really wanted. Soup? Yes! Broth, vegetables, and noodles. That was exactly what I needed.

I looked around for a recipe with those ingredients, but wasn't satisfied with any of them. I finally gave up and decided to wing it. I took a few ideas from the soup recipes I'd looked at and Ashley Lojko's Paprika Chicken (one of my favorite one-person chicken recipes). The result is what I'm calling Spinach & Mushroom Noodle Soup, until I or someone else can think of a better name. (Hint, hint.)

Spinach & Mushroom Noodle Soup
Makes 3-4 servings

Ingredients

2 tbsp unsalted butter
1 medium onion, sliced into "half-moons"
1 clove minced garlic
1 small can mushrooms, drained
Pepper, parsley, and paprika (or whatever seasonings you like)
1 extra-large vegetable bouillon cube + 3 1/2 cups water (or vegetable broth)
1 1/2 cups uncooked egg noodles
2 cups fresh baby spinach

Steps

1.  Melt the butter over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and cover the pan. After about 5-6 minutes, stir and cover it again.

2.  Check and stir the onions every few minutes until they start to turn slightly brown (I think this took about 10-12 minutes total). Add the mushrooms; cook and stir for another minute or two. (If you want to use fresh mushrooms, add them with the onions in the first step.)

3.  Add the bouillon, water, and seasonings. I took my inspiration from the Paprika Chicken recipe and used a little pepper, a few dashes of garlic powder, and lots of paprika. I also added some dried parsley and a shake of red pepper flakes (I think I'd leave the pepper flakes out next time, though).

4.  Bring the soup to a boil, add the egg noodles, and reduce the heat. Simmer uncovered until the noodles are cooked (8-10 minutes, maybe).

5.  Turn off the heat and stir in the spinach until slightly wilted.

And there you have it.

I apologize for the lack of photos and precise measurements in this post--I didn't think to take pictures or record details until the soup was almost done and I realized that it would be worth posting.

I'm hesitant to try and describe the soup, because my senses of smell and taste are a little out of whack right now. I felt that there was something a little "off" with the seasoning (I think it was the red pepper), but I can't be sure. But if you want to take my word for it, the soup was pretty good and almost exactly what I was craving. Plus, it came with a decent dose of Vitamins A and C, which couldn't hurt.

So for everyone who is sick right now: have a bowl of soup and feel better!