Rainbow Vegetables w/ Curry & Coconut Sauce

Rainbow Vegetables w/ Curry & Coconut Sauce

served with Brown Rice Noodles

yields: 5

1 c. red pepper

1 c. carrots, 1 inch strips

1 c. onion, in strips

1 . asparagus, 1 inch pieces

1 c. broccoli florets, blanched

1 can black beans

2 T. olive oil

2 tsp. curry powder

salt & pepper, a few dashes for taste
small can coconut milk (5 oz)

1/2 package of brown rice noodles

3 eggs, beat, fried, cut in 1 inch strips

Prepare veggies.  Start w/ onions, peppers and carrots.  Saute over medium-low heat in olive oil until tender, about 8-12 minutes. 

Stir in curry once veggies in pan are coated in the oil.  Continue another few minutes as curry until curry becomes fragrant.

Mix in the asparagus.

Add broccoli after about another 8-9 minutes.  

Check your food a few times for desired texture.  I prefer my veggies a bit crunchy and still packed with their nutrients.  Some people, however, may cook longer for the vegetable to get a bit softer. Just remember, the longer you cook the vegetable, the less nutrients it will have to offer you.

Meanwhile, cook the brown rice noodles.  I sprinkle sea salt and olive oil into the water.   

At some point you’ll also need to cook the eggs.  Fry on both sides in a ½ tsp. olive oil.

Combine noodles and vegetables.  Add sliced egg to top.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Covered Coconut Macaroons

How about making a fun treat for yourself?  If you like coconut, you should definitely try this out.  Living fully digging deeper http://www.taprootmag.com/ (The recipe was part of an article titled "Feeling Your Way Around the Kitchen" and that's exactly what you will do with this recipe.)  I found this experience, as I do many others that I'm mindful about, to be very meditative, as I used my hands to work the ingredients into something special.

The author's take in this article is that touching our food has countless advantages.  From learning theories that boast superiority through sensory learning (Waldorf and Montessori), to nerve ending relaxation, writer Cynthia Lair shares a few recipes that allow the chef to use his or her hands as processing tools.

I got excited about the macaroon recipe.  The pictures made them look so appetizing, the ingredients' list sparked my interest, and the idea of making something fun while getting my hands messy- well, it just seemed like I should dive into this adventure.

I did change the recipe up a smidgen and I'd like to share it here with you this Easter.  Here's a picture of my final product.  Yum!

Chocolate Covered Coconut Macaroons
makes 12

ingredients...
2 1/2 cups shredded coconut, unsweetened
1/2 cup honey
2 egg whites
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 oz dark baking chocolate
2 Tablespoons butter
1/4 cup sugar

directions...
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F.  Lightly grease cookie sheet.
2.  Lightly oil a measuring cup to measure honey.  Place sweetener in a pan on low heat.  Heat until honey thins.  Then add coconut and egg whites, stirring constantly.  Continue stirring and cooking on low heat for 2-3 minutes.
3. Remove from heat and stir in extracts.  Let cool.
4. With moist hands, make small balls the size of gold balls with the mixture.  Here's where you get your hands messy.  This process can be grueling if you are not attentive.  You will need to cup mixture tightly and pass it back and forth from one hand to the other.  This may take some time but making strong, adhesive balls, while only be a benefit to your final product.
5. Bake for 20 minutes.  Let cool.
6. Melt 3/4 of the chocolate in a double boiler.  Turn off heat and add last 1/4, plus butter and sugar.  Mix well until all melted and blended.
7.  Pour chocolate mixture over each macaroon.  Let sit at room temperature for 1 hour.  Then refrigerate.

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Shades of Green with Sage Upon Summer

Healthy quinoa spaghetti in a butter sage sauce.

I've posted about sage before.  It was earlier in the year last time.  It's June ~ almost summer June and my sage is growing these beautiful smelling leaves.  Sage leaves are great for cooking with or drying and burning. Both offer benefits to your overall wellness. 

Our recipe today will feature SAGE.  One of my favorite meanings of this word is: a wise person.  And a wise choice of an added flavor.  Look up SAGE: it holds so many meanings.  As a plant, sage has been around and popular since ancient times.  Thought to ward off evil spirits, work as a local anesthetic, and increase a woman’s fertility, to name a few, this plant had its importance.  Its official name is Salvia officinalis, and while it goes by many names, I like the Greeks etymology, which is “island tea”. 

We often think of sage in fall when it so pleasantly appears in stuffings and such.  But for today, let’s think of sage as green, a reminder that Spring has blossomed and Summer is around the corner.  A blessing of the growth that is alive outside. In remembrance of my Spring trip to Italy, today’s dish is an adaptation of one of my first dishes from when I first lived in Siena, Italy.

I remember entering the trattoria, the family run restaurant, as a silly young American college student, being famished and knowing little to no Italian.  Partnered with my dear friend, Martha, we were seated in the small, quaint dining room – alone.  Apparently we hadn't figured out their meal timings yet but the happy family invited us in and served us right.  We had Ravioli with a Sage and Butter sauce; it was ridiculous.  I remember little thereafter since the owner introduced us 19 year olds to the drinking of an appertivo, vino di tavolo and digestivo (you can read more about these in my post about The Big Night) http://www.vitaaterra.com/2013/02/tri-colored-risotto-from-movie-big.html . 

Simply put – we were sloshed.

I’d like to re-do the Butter and Sage recipe to fit into my diet where I try to limit durum wheat pasta and high fatty foods, like butter.  We’ll use quinoa pasta and olive oil to make this simple, yet ultimately satisfying dish, just light enough to know Summer is upon us, with shades of green J.

Painting from Koehler's Medicinal Plants (1887)

Spaghetti w/ Fresh Sage Sauce                                                                                  serves 4

http://www.quinoa.net/127/index.html

INGREDIENTS

One box of Quinoa spaghetti

3 T. olive oil 

2 T. butter

8 fresh sage leaves

a splash of white wine                                       10 garlic shoots, diced

½ a lemon, juiced                                             1 lb. of asparagus, steamed and chunked

¼ c. pecorino-Romano

Salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:

1- Put a large pot of water on, to boil your spaghetti.  Cook as box directs.  Save some of the cooking water.

2-  On the stovetop, on a low heat, melt butter and heat olive oil.  (Mario Batali says cook until you see a “noisette” or golden brown color from the butter.  This is the butter’s thinnest liquid form.)

3- Now add the garlic shoots and the sage leaves (that have been cleaned if plucked from your garden) make sure they get fully coated and then splash in a little white wine and let it sizzle off.

4- Once the leaves are covered and the wine has sizzled for 1-2 minutes, remove from heat.  Then add lemon juice.  Whisk a bit to emulsify.

5- Return sauce to low heat.  Stir in the asparagus. Gently pour in the spaghetti and a little of that cooking water, very little (too much will make the sauce watery).  Add cheese.  Toss pasta in sauce to coat each piece.

6 – Serve and enjoy.

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Turkey Breast Slow Roasted

Early spring is wild and crazy.  Warm days with sun; cool days all gray.  The weather fluctuates and maybe everything does as well.  The trees are budding and flowering.  Rivers are raging after storms.  Teenagers are laughing.  It's a cool time, al fresco.

Here's an idea that's easy, cheap and good for you too.  I'm slow cooking a turkey breast for the week's lunch meat.

1 turkey breast (>5 lbs)
3/4 cup water
1 tsp olive oil
1 2 chopped garlic or garlic powder
1 2 parsley
1 tsp salt
1 T basil
1 T oregano

1.  Mix water and all spices.  Whisk.
2. Place turkey breast in slow cooker.
3. Pour herb mixture on top.
4. Cook on low for 7-10 hours; turkey is done at 170 degrees

Cool, slice and store :)

Baked May Sunshine

Yes, ‘they say: April showers bring May flowers’, but foodies have put a twist on this.  How about May shower brunches bring hoards of people together to celebrate new arrivals, embarking relationships, sunny mornings with friends; however you do it, brunch is a happening thing this time of year and to celebrate this, I’ll cook up one of my all time favorites: an egg bake (some call this one an egg strata, crust-less quiche, it’s an baked egg dish that is light and delicious and really doesn't matter what you call it).

More formally, egg bakes are actually quiches without the crust.  Since flour and gluten are faux pas, or less the social, cultural, and health-wise norm, I like to make my quiche without the crust.  Plus, without the butter and flour crust, the flavors/veggies  I add to my eggs get extra special attention.  And the greatest thing about the crust-less quiche , in my opinion, is literally anything can go into it; it’s really all about your palette’s preference.  Because this recipe is for a one-pan meal, I have added French bread, therefore, it becomes non-gluten free but please feel free to add or omit whatever you choose to make your baked egg masterpiece.

For today, we’ll make an egg strata because of the layers of goodness and we’ll  call it “Baked May Sunshine”.  Early spring vegetables, such as, asparagus, are shooting out and are the perfect highlight to this dish.  We’ll add other ingredients for flavor and color and  “Le viola” French or “Eccola” Italian…here is it!                

                                                                                      

Baked May Sunshine                                                                                                          serves 6                                                                                                      

INGREDIENTS

½ an onion, sliced thinly

½ a red pepper, sliced      

2 Tbsp olive oil

¼ lb asparagus, cut in 2" rods

one head of broccoli

~ ½ loaf of French bread

½ - 1 c of shredded cheddar, your preference

8 eggs

3 c. milk

1 tsp salt

1 tsp ground mustard

¼ tsp pepper 

Instructions egg bake creation:

1 – Butter baking dish and preheat oven to 325°.

2 – Sauté onions and peppers in oil over medium heat until they begin to soften, stirring occasionally.

3 – Meanwhile, steam the asparagus and then the broccoli; just until tender.

4 – Prep bread by slicing the bread and then cut them once again in triangles.

5 – Now we’re going to layer or strata the ingredients.  First lay down half of the bread triangles.  On top of that evenly spread the green vegetables, then the sautéed ones, top with cheese.  I don’t like a  lot so I sprinkle about ½ cup.  Now top with the last layer – the remaining bread triangles.

6 – In a separate bowl, blend eggs, milk, salt, ground mustard, and pepper.   Pour egg mixture over layers in baking pan.  Be sure to be even.  Sprinkle with remaining cheese (here I do only about ¼ cup).

7 -  Cover pan with foil.  The next step is to cool the strata, so place in fridge.  You can leave it in up to 24 hours; I wait only 20 minutes to pop mine in the oven.

8 – Bake cover for 30 minutes.  Then uncover and continue baking for another 35-45 minutes.

9 – Allow your dish to cool and meld.  Lastly, serve and enjoy.

Sauteed just lightly since they'll be cooked in the oven.

Layers before egg mixture added

Just out of the oven.  Time to cool.