Roasted Chickpeas!

A great snack!  Roast 'em.  Devour 'em.

Ingredients

2 15oz cans of chick peas
2 T olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
spices of your choosing

Directions

Open cans.  Drain and rinse beans.  Dry them with a very clean dish cloth.  Toss in olive oil and salt/pepper.  Roast on a rimmed baking sheet at 450F degrees for 40 minutes, stirring (or shaking the pan) every 10-15 minutes.  Remove from oven when crispy.

Remove from oven and toss with spices or herbs of your choosing.  Some great options are smoked paprika, curry powder, garlic/chili powder/cumin, rosemary, lemon zest, etc.

Serve.  Enjoy.

Meal Plan -- Week of 8/19

The meal plan this week is really fennel heavy.  Fennel bulbs are in season right now (yay for seasonal cooking!) and I got a good deal on 8 of them...

Staple meal: ratatouille and farro
Meat meal: roasted chicken, salad/veggies, and rice
New Vegetarian meal: fennel skillet and pasta
Soup meal: cream of fennel soup and herb bread

Snack suggestions:

• veggies and dip
• celery and peanut butter
• apple and cheese

Herb Bread!

Bread is a thing I love to eat, but am not good at making.  Cooking is forgiving when you don't follow a recipe (which is pretty much my M.O).  Baking is not.  Baking is science.

With that being said, this bread is great for adding a little flavor to simple meals like soups or salads.

Ingredients for yeast mixture:

2 pkg dry yeast
1/2 cup warm water

Ingredients for bread:

1 T olive oil

1/2 c chopped onions

1 1/2 c skim milk

1/2 c dry milk powder

1/2 chopped parsley 

3 T granulated sugar 

1 t salt 

1/2 t dried dill

1/4 t ground thyme

1 c cornmeal 

4 1/2 c whole wheat flour

Directions

Dissolve yeast in water.

Saute onion in olive oil until onion is tender.  Combine onion, milk, milk powder, parsley, sugar, dill, and thyme.  Beat in yeast mixture, cornmeal, and 2 cups flour.  Stir in by hand remaining flour.

Turn dough out on lightly floured surface and knead for 5 minutes.  Place in greased bowl (making sure to turn dough to grease surface of both sides), cover, and let rise until doubled, approx. 1 hour.  Punch down, divide in half.  Place in 2 well-greased 1-pound coffee cans (or any other 4c/32oz container--preferably metal, definitely oven-safe).  Cover and let rise until doubled, 30-45 minutes.  Bake at 350F for 45 minutes.

Makes 2 loaves.  Nutrition info is for 10 slices from each loaf.

 

Dip Ideas

I eat plain veggies and fruit a lot.  It's great and I being able to appreciate the natural flavors.  But sometimes you want to enhance the flavor of some aging produce, or you're having guests over and you want to treat them (/not make them eat your spartan fare).  Enter dip!

Savory Dips:

• 4 c plain Greek yogurt; 1 packet Hidden Valley "fiesta ranch" salad dressing mix

Sweet dips

Roasted Chicken!

Okay, roasting a chicken might seem really intimidating, but I promise you can do it.  Even better, spatchcocking (or butterflying) a chicken is super therapeutic--there's just something about cutting out a spine and breaking a breastbone that makes one feel like Super Woman.

A 4-pound chicken will serve 3-4 people.  Most chickens I've seen are closer to 7 pounds.  I find it's good to roast a chicken every week, or every other week.  I can eat the chicken until I'm sick of it, and then freeze the remainder for meals in another week.  I also save the bones to make bone broth (another conversation for another day).

Now, to the good stuff.

Ingredients:

1 5-7 pound chicken
4 cloves garlic
2T olive oil
herbs of your choice, or a couple lemons
salt and pepper to taste

Important Tips:

Uncooked chicken is one of those things that is really capable of spreading bacteria, so make sure you have all the tools you need nearby so you aren't leaving uncooked chicken juice all over your kitchen as you search for stuff.

Unwrap your chicken over the sink. There may be a packet of entrails inside the cavity.  Remove it (you can cook and eat it, save it in the freezer for soup or something, feed the non-bony parts to a pet, or toss it).

Directions:

Using your kitchen shears (or a strong pair of dedicated kitchen scissors) remove the spine by cutting up both sides of the spine from the tailbone to the neck cavity.  Then turn the chicken over, laying it out flat, and press down on the breastbone until you feel it crack.  The goal with spatchcocking is to make the chicken as flat as possible to cut down on the cooking time.

When your chicken is flat, bend the wing tips behind the shoulders so they don't burn.  You could also cut the wings off at the elbows with your scissors.

Once your chicken is flat, you're ready for seasoning.  Chop your garlic and herbs.  Mix them with the olive oil, and rub them under the skin of the chicken.  You'll probably have to detach some of the connective tissue between the meat and the skin to get it under there -- that's okay.  Rub any remaining oil on the skin itself.  Salt and pepper the skin if desired.

Depending on the herbs you're using, you could also slice a lemon and place the slices on the skin.

Cook the chicken in a 450°F oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 400°F and cook until the skin is golden and a meat thermometer inserted into the thickest part of the meat reads 165°F, approximately 40 minutes.

Remove from oven and let chicken rest 10 minutes before serving.

Fennel Skillet!

This is a great side dish.  Or a bruschetta-style appetizer.  OR add pasta, grain of your choice, and/or protien and have it as a whole meal!

Adapted from Simply in Season cookbook.

Ingredients

2 cloves garlic 
1 tbsp olive oil  
2 fennel bulbs, julienned  
1 large onion, julienned 
1 T lemon Juice  
3 medium tomatoes, chopped  
8 oz fat free crumbled feta cheese

The protein in this dish comes from cheese.  If you add meat, you could cut back on the cheese (or choose a cheese with a lower sodium content).

Directions

Saute garlic in oil for 1 minute.  Add fennel bulbs and onion, and saute until tender, approx. 10 minutes.

Add lemon juice and tomatoes and cook over medium heat until liquid partially evaporates, approx. 10 minutes.

Stir in cheese.

Summer Ratatouille!

All the fresh veggies and herbs.  All. Of. Them.  This is great served over pasta or grains of your choosing, or as a side dish!

Ingredients

• 2 onions, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 bay leaf
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 1 medium eggplant, chopped
• 2 tbsp fresh basil
• 1.5 tsp fresh rosemary
• 1 tsp marjoram
• 2 summer squash
• 2 sweet peppers
• 2 cup, chopped tomatoes

Directions

Sweat onions and garlic in oil.  Add eggplant and herbs, cover and cook over medium heat until eggplant is soft, about 15-20 minutes. 

Add squash, bell peppers, and tomatoes, and simmer until tender, about 10 minutes.

Cream of Fennel Soup!

This is a new recipe for me.  I love soup and miss it during the summer.  This soup is supposed to be good hot or cold, so here goes!

Ingredients

1 leek
4 cloves garlic, minced
5 fennel bulbs
8 medium whole tomatoes, chopped and seeded
6 c low sodium chicken broth 
1/2 c fennel greens, chopped finely
1 c plain greek yogurt, non-fat
2 tbsp Olive Oil
salt and pepper to taste

(You can substitute heavy cream for the yogurt and 3 bullion cubes for the chicken broth.)

Directions

Sautee leeks in oil until tender.  Add garlic and fennel. Stir and cook until fennel begins to soften.

Add tomatoes.  Stir and cook over medium heat until tomatoes dissolve into a sauce.  Add stock.  Bring to a boil and cook over medium heat for 15 minutes.

Blend the soup in a blender then return to pot.  Add fennel greens and yogurt.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.  Bring to a boil for 1 minute.  Turn off heat, stir well, cover, and let soup rest for 10 min before serving.  Or chill soup in refrigerator for 1 hour and serve cold.

Asian Garlic Ginger sauce!

This sauce is great in stir-fried veggies.  It's great as a tofu marinade/sauce.  It would be great on rice.  I think I'm going to try it on pork chops next.  If you roasted the garlic first and added more oil it would probably make a good salad dressing.  Make it--you won't be sorry.

Ingredients

• 3 cloves garlic
• 2 T fresh ginger
• 2 T honey or agave
• 1/5 c soy sauce (embrace lower-sodium varieties if you haven't already; for a gluten free option, use aminos)
• 1/4 c water
• 1/4 c rice vinegar
• 1/4 c canola oil

Directions

Remove garlic skins.  Peel ginger.  Add ingredients to a blender and process until smooth.

Toss your veggies/meat with half of the sauce and cook in a skillet/wok.  Add the other half as needed.  Makes enough for 2 standard size blocks of extra firm tofu or a whole bunch of veggies.

Quinoa Filling!

I love this stuff!  I use it for stuffed peppers, stuffed zucchini, or even as a side dish in another meal.  You could probably even shred some chicken and eat it like chicken and rice.

You can substitute any grain for quinoa, and it will still taste great, but the nutritional info will change accordingly.  You can change the herbs and spices (from Italian to Mexican, for example) and use it in even more ways--burrito filling, side dish for tacos.  You can also add any meat option you'd like; ground meats would be good in the Italian version, and shredded pork or chicken would be great in a Mexican version.  It's wonderfully versatile!

Ingredients

• 2c quinoa
• 2 large carrots, chopped
• 1 stalk celery, chopped
• half a large onion, chopped
• 1 large (2 medium) zucchini, chopped
• 1c chopped Cremini or button mushrooms
• 1 15oz can diced tomatoes (I always used the unsalted kind)
• 1T smoked paprika (you can use more if you want)
• red pepper flakes to taste
• salt & pepper to taste 

Seasoning options:

• Italian herbs & spices: fennel, oregano, and basil
• Mexican herbs and spices*: cumin, chili powder, cilantro
• Poultry seasoning: thyme, citrus, tarragon, sage, Herbes de Provence
• Pork seasoning: sage, balsamic vinegar reduction, chopped apples

*Pro tip: trade out the carrots, celery, and zucchini for corn and black beans, and chili peppers (jalapeno, Serrano, or Anaheim)

Directions

Cook the quinoa per package directions (pro tip: if you want to add more flavor, cook in stock instead of water).  If you're going to use this as filling for something (peppers, zucchinis, enchiladas, etc.) you won't need to cook the veggies in advance.  If you're going to serve this as a side dish, you'll probably want to sauté the veggies in a little olive oil until tender (and you'll probably want to drain the tomatoes).

Add veggies to cooked quinoa and season.  This makes approximately 10 half-cup servings.  I based that on the way I make stuffed peppers--split in half length-wise, stuffed, and covered in cheese.

Nutrition info is for basic recipe, with veggies, without beans or meat.

Scones!

The coffee shop by my house makes great scones!  I'm a scone nut, but had never had a savory scone...until I walked in and saw cheddar onion scones.  My life was changed.  I'd found my scone soul mate.  But how many $2.50 scones can you eat before you start to do the math on whether or not it's cheaper to make them yourself?  "Don't do it!" I told myself, which was working pretty well, actually.  And then they changed the recipe, or changed bakers...  So, alas, I've stopped buying them there.

But that's to our collective gain, because I now have a great recipe for scones!  The two combinations I found that I like best are Cheddar & Green Onion and Parmesan & Rosemary.  I'm pretty sure you could mix any cheese with any herb and be okay, but don't hold me to that.  Gruyere & Lavender.  Smoked Gouda & Dill.  Blue, Walnuts, & Thyme.  *shrug*  Experimenting is half the fun! (The other half of the fun is eating them, in case you were curious.)

Ingredients

• 2 1/2c flour
• 2T sugar
• 1T baking powder (you can substitute 1t baking soda if that's all you have)
• 1t salt (I omit this)
• 1/2c butter (you can substitute oil)
• 2 eggs
• 2/3c buttermilk (or 2/3c milk plus 1T white vinegar or lemon juice -- mix together and let sit until milk curdles, approx 5 min)
• 2/3c grated cheese
• 1/4c chopped, fresh herbs (adjust this up or down depending on how strong you want the flavor--1/4c of rosemary is a very different intensity from 1/4c thyme)
• optional: sometimes, depending on the cheese, I may also add a little smoked paprika for flavor

 

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees. 

Whisk dry ingredients together in a bowl.  "Cut in" butter.  If you have a pastry cutter, great.  I use my fingers or a fork to mash it around until it's loose and crumbly with no huge chunks of butter.

Add eggs and buttermilk, and stir until combined.  Keep in mind, it's not going to be a smooth dough.  Stir in cheese and herbs.  At this point you will have a very sticky dough.

From here you can do a couple of things.  These are basically fancy biscuits, so the easiest thing to do is drop them right onto a cookie sheet (like you would with drop biscuits).  You could also roll the dough out onto a floured surface, form it into two rounds and then cut each round into 4 wedges.  Or you could roll the dough onto a floured surface, form it into a 1.5 inch thick round, and then cut it into circles (sort of like cut biscuits).  Go nuts!  Try 'em all.  But end up with 8-10 scones.

Let rest for 10 minutes to allow scones to rise a little.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until golden on top.

You may not be a perfect baker, and they may look a mess, but they are guaranteed to taste great!!

 

All the Single Ladies: rumor has it we eat too

Meal planning is hard.  Like, really hard.  Sure, you can subscribe to meal planning kits or services, but I've found that they aren't designed for people like me--busy, single women with taste buds.  But contrary to what you may have heard, single ladies DO eat.  And we like it too!

Most available meal plans/services are family or couple oriented.  With a little ingenuity these can be scaled down, but I've found that the companies that also include vegetarian options try to make them kid-friendly, which means they aren't particularly adventurous (or flavorful).

Balancing your schedule and dietary needs alone is difficult, but food should also be good for the planet and our neighbors and...IT SHOULD TASTE GOOD.  Yeah, that should be shouted.  At this point you may be thinking "no shit" as you're stopped in traffic catching up on texts while eating a granola bar you found crushed in the bottom of your bag.  Been there.  Done (doing?) that.  I promise, I'm not judging. 

Instead, this blog is an attempt to share what I know about the above.  I like cooking.  I like sharing meals with people.  I like building community around food.  But most often I cook for one.  And I have a complicated relationship with all of the above.

Nevertheless, here I am.  I bring with me several commitments to this work.  The first is that meals should be:

1. nutritious & balanced
2. tasty & adventurous 
3. seasonal
4. flexible
5. easy on the meat

The second is that I am committed to make things interesting but manageable.  To that end, weekly meal plans will make 10-12 meals, and include:

1. one staple
2. one meat dish
3. one new vegetarian dish (I'm pretty excited about getting to try such new things)
4. snack suggestions

I also plan to post breakfast and dessert ideas periodically, as well as party ideas.  Heck, maybe I'll even include cocktail suggestions!

I know food is a really difficult thing.  Most of us have a complex relationship with the things we eat (I do want to point out that complexity isn't necessarily a bad thing).  I want to share what I know, and make a difficult thing easier.  Or maybe make a shameful thing less shameful. So, finally, I commit to sharing what I know without blaming or shaming. And maybe along the way you'll find recipes or tricks that make you excited about what you eat and the place it comes from!