Day Five: International Love

The people at my work LOVE to eat an in accordance we honor just about all the holidays. Cinco de Mayo is one of our favorites and we had a potluck today. The food was ,as always, exceptionalg and I brought chips and dip and International Quinoa Salad. You'll have to forgive the poor photo quality because it's a bit strange to be photographing food at your desk so I had to be sneaky about taking it.

This is the International Quinoa Salad recipe that I altered from Fat Free Vegan. I didn't have all of her ingredients so the following is my version.

International Quinoa Salad
Quinoa:
1 1/2 cups quinoa, rinsed very well
3 cups water
2 clove garlic, minced or pressed
1/2 tsp. salt (optional)

Vegetables:
1 large cucumber, peeled, seeded, and diced
2 medium-large tomatoes, finely chopped kernels of
1 cup frozen corn kernels
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded, de-veined, and minced
1 1/2 cups cooked chickpeas (or (1) 14 oz can, rinsed and well drained)
1/2 cup scallions, thinly sliced
1 1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 ripe avocado, peeled, pitted, and diced (reserve a few slices for garnish)
Dressing:
1/3 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (NOT lemon)
1/2 teaspoon salt, or to taste
3 cloves garlic, pressed or minced
1/4 - 1/2 teaspoon chipotle chili pepper

Rinse the quinoa VERY well until water runs clear. Let drain for about a minute. Put the quinoa in the water and bring to a boil, then lower heat to a simmer. The quinoa will expand in size and will be ready after about 20 minutes. Drain. Fluff the quinoa and allow it to cool.
Combine all of the vegetables in a large bowl. Add the quinoa and mix well. Whisk the dressing ingredients together and pour over the salad. Mix well and refrigerate until chilled. Taste before serving, and add more lime juice as necessary (you want it to be tangy). Garnish with avocado slices and serve.
Makes about 10 servings.

Cuatro de Mayo Soup

One of my favorite recipe blogs is Cheap, Healthy, Good, where the title pretty much sums up the content. Flavorful, healthy recipes on a budget! Everything that I love all on one website. While searching for vegetarian recipes for this month I hit up the site pretty hard since I knew that the dishes wouldn't be calling for 4 cups of cheese. (what's up with so many vegetarian recipes calling for 4 cups of cheese)?

On this site there was posted a black bean soup recipe that looked intriging to me because first she got the recipe from Mark Bittman who I believe really does know how to cook everything, or at least can give you a good running start on unfamiliar foods. Second, it has a fried on top of it! I"ll let you in on a little secret passion of mine: poached or fried eggs on top of food. It may sound strange if you've never tried it, but the eggs lend certain recipes a richness they would otherwise not have without overpowering the dish. Plus, they give you a punch of protien, although, this soup certainly doesn't need that.


Short of time last night I opted to make this recipe which came together in about 20 minutes and let me tell you: it was hands down one of the best soups that I've ever had. Simple to make, a complexity of flavors, the creaminess of the egg, and the brightness that the lime and cilantro lend to it make this soup a keeper in the ol' recipe box. You could make it without the egg but why would you?

The Recipe:
Serves 4 to 6

1-1/2 tablespoons canola or olive oil
2 medium onions, chopped (I only had one onion and it was fine)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder, or more to taste
2 15-ounce cans black beans (or 3 cups cooked from dry), drained and rinsed
4 cups chicken or vegetable stock
Juice of 1 lime, or to taste
1/4 to 1/2 cup cilantro, chopped (depending on how much you like cilantro)
4 to 6 eggs (1 egg per bowl)

1. Heat 1-1/2 tablespoons of the oil in a heavy soup pot over medium heat. I perfer one that is deeper than you'll need so when you blend the soup it won't make such a mess. Add the onions and cook until they're a bit softer but not translucent, about 6 or 7 minutes. Stir in the garlic and chili powder and cook, stirring constantly, for an additional minute. It seems like a lot of chili powder but it ends up not being very spicy.

2. Add the beans, stock, and salt and pepper to taste. Bring to a gentle boil, then simmer, stirring occasionally, for 15 minutes.

3. While the soup cooks you can get out a pan to fry the eggs in. Don't actually fry them yet though.

4. When the soup has cooked for 15 minutes take your stick blender and blend until the soup still has some small chunks but is more soupy than stewy. Turn off the heat, add the lime juice and give it a stir. Laddle into bowls and let stand while you fry the eggs. Once you've turned the eggs sprinkle them with a tiny amount of paprika if you want, for color.

5. When the eggs are done garnish each bowl with cilantro and top with one egg per bowl.

Here's the breakdown that I got from Cheap, Healthy, Good:
Calculations for Soup Plus Fried Egg

1 tablespoon olive oil: 119 calories, 13.5 g fat,

eggs: 296 calories calories, 20 g fat,

TOTAL: 415 calories, 33.5 g fat,

TOTAL PLUS SOUP: 1449 calories, 58.6 g fat,

PER SERVING WITH SOUP (TOTAL/4): 362 calories, 15 g fat.

Day Three or The Not So Pretty Omelet

This morning was another beautiful start to the day. (I made one of my all-time favorite kind of omelets with mushrooms, Swiss cheese, sauteed green bell peppers, tomatoes and onions. Served up with some homemade rye bread toast that I had made a month ago and stashed in the freezer.

Then, another peanut butter sandwich for lunch, because I was so busy doing yard work.

For dinner, I tossed the rest of the pizza sauce with some penne since I had to put in a few hours at work and didn't have time to make much of anything else.

Day Two

It's finally warming up here in Alaska and I am extreamly pleased because I love eating outside in the mornings. What can I say? I'm a morning person. The birds are finally out in full force singing their little birdy songs for you to listen to while you eat this fantastic breakfast of coffee, juice, and "everything" bagel loaded with egg, cheese and a Morning Star Breakfast Patty.

For lunch I indulged in something that I've loved since childhood: peanut butter and banana sandwich. Don't judge me until you've tried it. It's a classic in my world.

Then, to round out the day, we had our pizza night. Almost every Friday we have pizza, it's fast, it's easy, and you don't have to worry about what you're going to make because it's always the same. We have different kinds of pizza but I make the sauce and the dough in bulk and freeze it so that most of the work is done. Meat is always is an ever present part of our pizza night but I came across this recipe and thought that it sounded great. While I made the dough and sauce myself like I usually do, I don't recommend doing that. The chopping and shredding and sauteing and pre-cooking of all the parts took so long that it was a complete hassle, something that goes against everything that pizza night stands for.



Superfast Veggie Pizza

Yield: Makes 8 pieces

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 medium zucchini, diced

1 medium-size yellow crookneck squash, diced

1 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper (more or less to your taste)

1 16-ounce baked cheese pizza crust (such as Boboli)

1 14-ounce jar mushroom pizza sauce

4 large garlic cloves, minced

1/4 cup of sliced fresh mushrooms

1/2 cup drained oil-packed sun-dried tomatoes, thinly sliced (or leave them whole like I did, however they did tend to burn a bit)

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1 cup packed shredded mozzarella cheese (about 4 ounces)

Preheat oven to 450°F. Heat oil in heavy medium skillet over medium heat. Add zucchini, yellow squash and crushed red pepper; sauté until vegetables are almost tender, about 5 minutes. They're going to cook in the oven so you don't want to over cook them. They should still be pretty crispy. If you want to you could remove them and saute the mushrooms a bit at this point.

Place pizza crust on baking sheet. Spread mushroom sauce over. Sprinkle with garlic, then mozzarella. Top with squash mixture, tomatoes and fresh mushrooms. Sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake pizza until cheese melts and crust is crisp, about 13 minutes. Let cool about 5 minutes to "set" the cheese. Cut into pieces.

Day One Lunch and Dinner

No photos for this whole day, I'm sorry to say. However, here is what I made:
Lunch: Addictive Sweet Potato Burrito (recipe and longer post to follow)
Dinner: Baked halibut with roasted garlic and a salad.

Day One Breakfast

Good Morning! Woke up this morning and made the following for breakfast:
1. Egg sandwich on toasted english muffin with avocado and tomato
2. Small glass of orange juice
3. Cup of lemongrass green tea

Fantastic start to a morning.

Currently consuming: Cup of irish breakfast with tad o' cream.

The One Month Miracle

I'm a meat eater and my husband is a serious meat eater. We eat A LOT of meat. Too much in my mind but not enough for my husband who would happily consume some form of meat three times a day if I left it up to him, (bacon would feature heavily). Don't get me wrong I love meat, and when it comes to red meat I think that someone in some movie said it best: "No, no! "Rare" implies dangerously cooked. When I say rare I mean just let it look at the oven in terror, then bring it out to me." There might be a bit of hyperbole there but you get the general idea. Even with my love of meat I enjoy eating vegetarian meals from time to time and think that they're not only a great way to save money but are a healthy alternative to eating so much meat from time to time.
I have often dreamed of wanting to do an experiment of eating only vegetarian for an entire month. The idea seems a bit ludicrous even as I type it out. First of all my husband would NEVER go for it. Second of all I could never do it without his help; there's no way that I could go vegetarian for an entire month while he sat there chewing down tasty steaks and burgers.
Last week however I casually mentioned that I had always wanted to try being a vegetarian for a month and out of the blue ( I still think that I hallucinated this next bit) my husband said why not, he'd give it a whirl.
I got to work looking for recipes right away, knowing full well that if we didn't' have every meal planned we would lapse into eating a steak or two. While looking at a lot of vegetarian recipes I realized that because we're doing this for health reasons I cannot possibly consume as much cheese as a lot of those recipes called for. How can adding 3 cups of shredded cheese to a recipe that serves 4 be even remotely healthy? Another obstacle that I've run into is that I often find a lot of vegetarian meals to be boring and underspiced. I'll have none of that thank you.
I decided that there had to be rules, otherwise we'd be lost in a sea of vegetarianism confusion.
1. We will still eat eggs. They're cheap, and a great source of protein.
2. We will still eat seafood. We have so much of it in our freezer that I can't pass it up. It's also healthy.
3. We will eat a limited amount of fat.
4. We will eat meals that are full of flavor.

I may revise these as we go along.

And so, God willing, at this blog I will try to test out vegetarian recipes for two meat lovers and give the reviews of each recipe.

Our adventure/trial begins May 1st.