Curried Potatoes with Cauliflower and Peas
So I know it has been too long since I posted last, but with the arrival of our wee one things have been a little crazy around here. However, I am now going to try to get back into the swing of things. My posts still may be a bit less frequent, but I will at least try to stay consistent.
So on to to the actual food part of this post. A few nights ago, I made my first attempt at cooking an Indian inspired dish because I love, love, love Indian food! The recipe was sourced from the Jan/Feb issue of Vegetarian Times magazine. It was a simple, healthy dish quickly prepared in the pressure cooker. Seeing as how we recently invested in this Cuisinart pressure cooker, this seemed like the perfect time to try this dish.
I think it turned out great. The leftovers the next day were even a little better in my opinion as the spices had time to further infuse into the veggies.
We enjoyed some store bought garlic naan with this dish. I think next time I’m going to try navratan korma (my absolute fave!) and homemade naan. Does anyone else have any favorite Indian dishes they like to make?
Creamy, Chunky Potato Soup
Last night Bill and I were both really in the mood for some “comfort food” for dinner. Having just bought a 10b. bag of potatoes coupled with a need to use up some celery, we figured, “Why not soup!?” So that’s just what we made. The recipe can be found here or by reading below:
Grove’s Potato Soup
Ingredients:
| 1 ea Yellow onion peeled and diced | |
| 1 ea Carrot peeled and diced | |
| 1 stalk Celery finely diced | |
| 3 tablespoon Butter | |
| 6 ea Potato peeled and cut into 1″ cubes (we left the potato skins on) | |
| 6 cups Chicken broth (I substituted veggie broth made from Better Than Bouillon vegetable base) | |
| 1 teaspoon Thyme | |
| 1/2 teaspoon Sage | |
| 1/2 teaspoon Basil | |
| 1 teaspoon Black pepper | |
| 1 teaspoon Kosher Salt | |
| 2 cups Half-and-half cream | |
| 2 tablespoon Parsley fresh, chopped |
Melt the butter in a stock pot and saute the carrots, celery, and onion for about 8 minutes, until the mirepoix is tender.
Add the broth and potatoes then bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes, until the potatoes are fork tender.
Removed from heat and stir in the half and half cream.
Garnish with parsley and some home made garlic pepper croutons
This went together quickly and easily and we enjoyed it so much that we each went back for seconds!
Simple Peppers and Pasta
Last night for dinner I decided I wanted something warm yet on the lighter side. I had just scored a great deal on some Healthy Harvest pasta at Kroger, including spaghetti, so I decided to do a mixture of peppers, onions and garlic in olive oil and spices and toss it with the whole wheat spaghetti. The result? A super quick and easy to put together meal that was delicious and healthy!
Here’s what I used, but you could of course do more or less with it depending on your tastes.
Ingredients:
1 small onion, thinly sliced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 green pepper, thinly sliced
2 colored peppers of your choice, thinly sliced (or in my case I had a container of a bunch of small, sweet red, yellow and orange so I sliced em up and added them all)
A few dashes each of oregano, basil and thyme
Salt and Pepper to taste (I used both crushed red pepper and ground black pepper for extra fire)
About 2-3 TBSP olive oil
1 box whole wheat spaghetti (or other pasta of your choosing)
Cook the pasta until al dente and drain. While the pasta is cooking, add olive oil to large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic and saute for 30-60 seconds. Add peppers and spices and continue to saute for a few more minutes until all veggies are crisp-tender. Return pasta to pot and add in pepper and onion mixture. Toss all together and enjoy!
I know, I know, our plates are pretty hideous. I plan on replacing them at some point. The funny story about those is that I’ve had them almost 10 years now and I originally purchased the whole set (dinner plates, salad plates, cups and saucers, etc.) at KMart for $19.99 I believe. This was when I first planned on moving out and getting an apartment, which didn’t happen for another couple of years anyway. Hey, I was ready though, so when I did move out they were there! Now my husband and I have been together for 7 years and we’re still using that same darn set. Oh well, whatever works. Anyway, happy cooking!
Tempeh Goodness
Last night Bill’s mom came over to visit so I cooked dinner and dessert for all of us. I didn’t do anything too adventurous, but it was still yummy. So what was on the menu you ask? Well, we had braised and marinated tempeh, garlic sesame sauteed kale and herb roasted potatoes. I was really excited about this meal because I love tempeh and kale for their nutritional value. Tempeh is packed full of protein, fiber and B vitamins, and kale is a great source of calcium.
As the potatoes had to cook the longest, I started them first. I just made my own concoction on this one. Here’s what I did, but obviously this can be tweaked in many different ways to your liking. The herb measurements say about because to be honest I eyeballed most of it and just went with what I thought would work. It’s really all about how much or how little flavor you want to add, so use what works for you! What I really liked about making this dish was that all of the herbs I used were grown right here at home.
Elizabeth’s Herb Roasted Potatoes:
2-2.5 lbs. russet potatoes, skins intact, cubed into 1-1.5 inch pieces (most any variety would work here – I like using reds a lot too)
2 cloves garlic, minced
about 1 TBSP parsley
about 1/2 tsp. thyme
about 1 tsp. oregano
about 1 tsp. rosemary
sprinkling of salt and fresh ground black pepper
1/4 cup olive oil
Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and gently stir to coat all potato pieces. Spread out on a flat pan such as a pizza or jelly roll pan and bake at 400º for about 45 minutes. I stirred mine a couple of times throughout cooking time.
Voila! Flavorful, crispy potatoes that serve as a nice side dish.
Next, I got to work on the tempeh. I had 2 cakes of it, and as it wouldn’t all fit in the pan at once anyway, I decided to prepare it 2 different ways for a little variety.
The first was a braised tempeh, which I made by following the recipe from this podcast. It is veeery flavorful.
The next version I wanted to go a little lighter on flavor, so I again concocted my own little marinade and cooked it using that. My method was quite simple. I prepared the tempeh exactly as in the other recipe by cutting it into smaller pieces and browning to a crisp on both sides, and then added in my marinade. I don’t have exact measurements, but this is what I used.
• water
• reduced sodium soy sauce
• splash lemon juice
• vegetable oil
• a little toasted sesame oil
• dried ground ginger
• dash of sugar
I continued to cook over medium heat until most of the liquid had reduced down and been absorbed. Delish!
The lighter one was cooked in my marinade, and the darker one is the braised version.
Finally, I cooked up the kale, which is super, super simple to do! I chopped and washed the kale leaves. Next, in a large skillet I sauteed crushed red pepper and 2 cloves minced garlic in olive oil for not more than 1 minute. I proceeded to add the kale to the skillet with a little bit of water (I’d say not more than 1/4 cup). Once the kale had wilted and cooked for several minutes, I transferred it to a medium serving bowl. To finish, toss with a 1-2 tsp. toasted sesame oil and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
Another great side dish!
So that was our dinner, which Bill and his mom both seemed to like, so I was happy. For dessert, we just had plain ole brownies, so I didn’t even bother to take a picture. They were still delicious though! 🙂
I love to cook. I'm vegetarian. This blog is all about what I've been cooking, from old favorites to new explorations. Enjoy!
Elizabeth Ann's Kitchen 