Roasted Green Beans

Welcome to recipe Thursday! Today's recipe is quick & easy and a great way to eat more veggies. I know I need help in this arena. Monkey will even eat a few when I prepare beans like this. Our pole beans are slowing down in production but we've been able to eat this dish a few times this season.

What you need:

a bunch of green beans (or any type of long beans). We use an assortment of purple, yellow wax and green. The small green beans work the best because they get sweet. If you're buying at the store I'd do string beans or green beans. It would be interesting to try Chinese long beans (but I never have).
Some olive oil
salt & pepper
1-2 cloves garlic (minced) optional (but I say essential!)

Preheat oven to 450
Trim your beans
Toss beans with some olive oil and lay on a baking sheet (rimmed) in as close to a single layer that you can get
Roast for about 10 minutes (shake pan 1/2-way through) until browned a bit and tender.
Sprinkle garlic on the beans and salt/pepper to taste and roast about 1-3 minutes longer (don't burn the garlic)
Transfer to bowl and serve

Optional additions:

roasted red pepper
splash of lemon juice (right before serving)
splash of vinegar (right before serving)
parmesan cheese
red pepper flakes or chili oil

Braised Kale

Sorry, I missed recipe Thursday last week. I haven't had much time to post lately! Here is an easy, yummy recipe to help you eat your greens. I've never been very good at doing vegetable sides (I always forget) but this one I've mastered and both M & I like it (Monkey will not dare to try it).

Braised Kale
(amounts are approximate) - this feeds two people with a bit leftover (as a side of course)

Ingredients
1-2 T olive oil
1/2 onion or a small onion sliced very thin
red pepper flakes
one bunch of kale (any kind will do) if you don't like kale this works with swiss chard too (Chopped or torn with thick stems removed)
1-3 minced garlic cloves
vegetable stock (or chicken stock)
splash of flavored vinegar (I use red wine vinegar but cider vinegar would work well too)

Heat the olive oil in a large pan over Med High heat
Saute the onion slices until slightly carmelized (3-5 min)
Sprinkle red pepper flakes to your liking
Add kale, garlic (on top so it doesn't burn) and enough vegetable stock to cook the kale but just have a little bit left at the end for "sauce". I'd say try 1 cup but I eyeball it. You can always add more - harder to take it out!
Cook for about 8-10 minutes until kale is tender (I use tongs to get the onions and everything mixed well)
Take it off the heat and add a splash of vinegar (serve immediately)

We often have this with broiled salmon & rice

Let me know what you think!

Poached Halibut

This recipe is very easy and Monkey will even eat bites of the fish! I've started getting our seafood delivered from Surfin' Seafood. It's great to have it on hand and not have to go to the store (especially now that we're eating fish at least once a week). It's also been very yummy!

And now for the recipe (adapted from Rachael Ray on food network) I use less fish but the same amt of shallots/garlic for four pieces . . .

You'll need:

pan with tight fitting lid
olive oil
2 halibut fillets
salt/pepper
sliced shallot (or a thinly sliced 1/4 of an onion if you don't have shallots on hand)
garlic clove (diced)
enough white wine to fill pan about 1/4 inch or so (1/4 - 1/2 cup?)
about a cup of diced tomatoes (or 1/2 - 2/3 of a well-drained can)
lemon
thinly sliced basil for topping

Season the fish with salt/pepper.
In a large pan (with a tight lid) add a bit of oil (less than a T).
Lightly dredge the fish in the oil (turn over so both sides get a bit of oil)
add garlic, shallots and wine to pan
Top each piece of fish with tomatoes
Heat to boiling over Medium heat, then put on the lid
Cook until done (but not too dry) about 7-10 minutes

Transfer to plates (add some of the cooking juices and garlic/shallots)
Squeeze lemon over the top and top with basil

Serve immediately

I like to serve this with whole wheat pasta with Newman's Own tomato/basil sauce (if I don't have my own and I usually don't!) or quinoa (then put the fish on top and the quinoa will soak up the juices).

This is a great weeknight meal that looks fancy and tastes great.

Squash!

It's that time of year (finally) when the squash is getting ripe. You spend so much time waiting for it and then it's finally here . . . and then you're thinking, "what the heck do I do with all this squash???" Yeah, you could make some muffins but what about dinner?

Here's a recipe that can use up some of your squash and rosemary (I have a bounty of both) and you can also throw in garden tomatoes. We don't have enough yet (Monkey keeps eating them as soon as they are ripe so there's no build-up).

This dish is good vegan and even yummier with the addition of Pecorino or Parmesan cheese.


You'll need:

Pasta (I like to use a short tube pasta)
olive oil
1/2 onion (diced) - optional - I like onions
about 3 squash or zuchs (or use up a bunch!) - cut into 1/2 moons about 1/4 inch think
garlic clove (minced)
T chopped fresh rosemary (I use a bit more than this)
Can of diced tomatoes (or fresh!) drained
2 cups garbanzo beans (or well-rinsed if using canned)

Start the water boiling for your pasta (salt the water). We've been using 100% whole wheat pasta but I long for the days of its non-brown compatriots. Sigh . . . okay, back to the recipe . . .

Heat the olive oil over medium/med high heat until it shimmers
Cook the onions until almost translucent
Add your squash and cook until tender (3-5 min)
Add the garlic on top (don't let it burn) and cook for about 30 seconds or so
Add in the tomatoes, beans and rosemary
Stir to combine and put it on low until the pasts is ready (or at least 10 minutes)

Serve immediately with cheese to pass (I like the sharper bite of pecorino with this dish but parm is fine too!)

optional: toss a bit of white wine in when adding the tomatoes

Recipe Thursday - Vegan Enchiladas

Now, before you stop reading at "vegan", there are no soy products or fake cheese, or anything like that in these enchiladas. If I hadn't mentioned vegan you wouldn't even realize something was missing--I mean it! This was the first thing I made for Mark after his diet change that he didn't say, "it's good but it needs some meat" or "this would make a good side." It's also the first thing we decided we could make for friends. I've taken this to a lot of summer bbq's this year so Mark would have something to eat and have gotten a lot of requests for the recipe. Okay, now I've built it up too much--but really, it's yummy! Let's get down to the recipe:

Black Bean & Roasted Sweet Potato Enchiladas

Two large sweet potatoes
T olive oil
Clove of garlic (minced)
small chili (I've used mild and medium but hot would be good too--I like to use red for color)
2 cups (or can of black beans--if you use a can be sure to rinse well--I like to use a can & 1/2 when I haven't had time to make my own)
Small can of diced tomatoes (I think it's 14.5 oz) or whole plum tomatoes chopped & drained (I've also used a big can and added more beans)
T Chili Powder
salt/pepper
Salsa
Tortillas (I use whole wheat)

Preheat Oven to 400
Peel & dice the sweet potatoes and put in a single layer on a lightly oiled baking sheet
Roast for 20-30 minutes (shake or turn over once) set aside to cool
(you can do this the day before too)

Lower oven to 350

Heat olive oil in large pan over medium heat
Cook the chili and garlic until fragrant (30 seconds or so) don't let them brown
Add in the beans, tomatoes and chili powder and cook for about 5 minutes
Add in the sweet potatoes and lower heat. Let flavors blend for 10 minutes or so.
Remove from heat.

Lightly oil a baking dish
Spoon a thin layer of salsa on the bottom of the dish (I like to use green salsa)
Place a few spoonfuls of the mixture in a tortilla, fold the ends in and roll up (place in dish)
Continue until dish is filled.

If you have leftover filling, spoon it over the enchiladas
Spoon more salsa on top
Sprinkle with chopped red onion

Cover and bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes (sometimes I remove the cover to crisp it up a bit for the last 10 minutes or so).

These are also wonderful with jack cheese (just add a bit to each tortilla and sprinkle on top). I made two pans for a party (one with cheese and one without). They both emptied out but the cheese went first of course!

This recipe was adapted from Vegan Planet which I HIGHLY recommend. We've liked almost everything I've made from this book.

Mormon Muffins

Recipe Thursday

A lovely friend of mine (who grew up in Utah) brought these muffins to share for an overnight we had with the kiddos at the Kingfisher Cabin on Vashon. Monkey loved them (and I inhaled a few too many myself). I made them again this trip and they were well received by all (and I'm not a pro baker like she is so this was an amazing feat). This time I made them with whole wheat flour so they weren't quite as attractive but just as yummy. What's great about this recipe is that the batter stays good in the fridge for a week so you can bake what you need each day. Fresh muffins without going to the coffee shop--yum!

These muffins were made famous by the Greenery restaurant in Ogden, Utah. Get the recipe here.