Deep Fried Veggies

I got a craving for fried mushrooms the other day and decided to try making some myself.  I happened to have a fridge full of avocados as well so I fried some of them as well and they came out great.

Ingredients:
-1 part water to 1 part flour: for example 1 cup of flour and 1 cup of water
-oil to fry
-panko bread crumbs
-garlic powder, salt, Italian seasoning to taste

To make:
-whisk together 1 cup of flour and l cup of water until smooth add seasoning as desired
-fold veggies into flour mix and take out one by one with a fork and coat with panko bread crumbs
-fry until golden brown
*tip - only use firm avocado to fry and cut into large chunks as smaller and softer pieces do not stay together well

Slow Cooker Vegan/Vegetarian Sunday Sauce

This had my meat loving coworkers drooling! 

Ingredients:
-pasta of choice
-1/2 green pepper chopped
-1/2 yellow onion chopped
-1 small package of mushrooms chopped
-1 large can of crushed tomatoes
-olive oil
-1 package of beyond meat meatless crumbles
-3 cloves of garlic chopped
-2 teaspoons of Italian seasoning
-1/2 teaspoon of garlic salt
-a generous sprinklings of nutritional yeast

To make:
Sautee chopped garlic, onions, peppers and mushrooms in oil until onions are translucent and add beyond meat crumbles.  Cook until defrosted and slightly browned.  In a slow cooker add a layer of sauce and then 1/2 of the veggie mix on top.  Top this with seasonings and nooch.  Add another layer of sauce and top with the remaining veggies and more sauce.  Cook on low for a minimum of 4 hours.  I cooked mine for 8 hours. 

Sauce in the crock pot after being cooked for 8 hours.

I used Banza pasta with the sunday sauce and it was amazing!  It tastes great and has a ton of fiber and protein.  I found some at Fresh Market and I will definitely be back to get more!

 

Vegetarian Empanadas

I have to admit that I have a bit of an addiction to green peas and lima beans...I try to include them in everything...my favorite is green peas and mac and cheese!  I also do really like eating meat and chicken but have guilt for ethical reasons about eating meat so I usually end up going through several month spurts of eating vegetarian...this recipe was made during one these vegetarian spurts.

 

 

Ingredients:

- package of store bought dough (I used packaged pie crust)

- 1 package of spinach

- 1 cup of green peas

-1 cup of chopped green beans

- 1 cup of lima beans

-olive oil

- 3 garlic cloves sliced

- 1 teaspoon Italian seasoning and herbs

- pinch of crushed red pepper

- pinch of salt and pepper

- optional :feta cheese

 

Directions:

-sauté spinach in olive oil and garlic

-when spinach is cooked down add lima beans, green beans and green beans

-season with salt, pepper, Italian seasonings and crushed red pepper

 

 

When filling is cooked through preheat oven to 350 and grease a casserole dish or baking pan

- cut dough into small circles and fill with veggies and feta if you wish

- crimp ends of the empanadas with a fork so that they stay closed and cut slits to vent

- bake until dough begins to brown

 

 

Enjoy :)

 

 

 

 

Tomato and asparagus gratin

I had a large amount of heirloom tomatoes give to me and started to find creative ways to use them. This recipe was by far, my favorite.

Ingredients:

- sliced tomatoes (enough to line the bottom of a casserole dish)

-balsamic vinegar

-asparagus spears

-olive oil

-parmesan cheese

-salt and pepper to taste

Slice tomatoes and layer on the bottom of a casserole dish. Top with asparagus spears. Drizzle generously with balsamic vinegar and olive oil. Top with grated parmesan cheese and salt and pepper to taste.  Bake at 350 until cheese melts. Don't eat all at once :)

 

Sliced tomatoes above and with toppings below before going in the oven:

And after coming out of the oven:

Mom's Chicken and Artichoke Dish

So it's been a really long time since I have posted anything on this blog! I got to a point where I decided that I was on the computer all day at work and didnt want to get on the computer once I was home to update the blog. Also...I really need a better camera. I have still been cooking and taking pictures so maybe it is time to play catch up. Two things have inspired me to get back to blogging - one is that I really needed a recipe and and couldn't find it anywhere and then I realized it was on my blog - my blog is like my own personal recipe rolodex! The other thing is that the director of marketing found my blog online and has kind of given me a little push to continue. For my first entry back I thought I would post a favorite dish of my mothers - she makes this for company whenever she wants to make something tasty and easy to make. This is of her creation.

The following is the recipe in my mothers words:

Ingredients

4 chicken breasts, skinned and off the bone
1 large onion, chopped
2-3 Tablespoons olive oil
5 Tablespoons, flour
pinch salt
pepper to taste
2 cans diced tomatoes with garlic and basil
1/2 jar of marinated artichoke hearts, quartered

Directions

Saute onion in olive oil in large frying pan until golden. Meanwhile, clean and cut chicken breasts into 1-2 inch pieces. Mix salt, pepper and flour on a piece of aluminum foil and lightly coat chicken pieces. Place chicken on top of onions and lightly brown over low to medium heat on both sides. Add two cans of diced tomatoes and artichoke hearts and mix together.




Cover and simmer for about 25 minutes. Serve over rice or pasta or mashed potatoes. Serves six. May be cooked the day before and reheated. Refrigerate or freeze leftovers.



Enjoy with rice or pasta.

Eggplant and Ziti Casserole

At work we get all types of free samples of produce for various reasons. Last month I got a few eggplants and had to think of some creative ways to use them. I also had some non-fat ricotta cheese that I needed to use up. I decided to try to make a casserole. I had seen something similar on a recipe website a few months before. I love casseroles! Not alot of work or clean up, plenty of leftovers and the food is so hearty!

I cut the eggplant up into long slices about 1/4 inch wide and fryed until brown on both sides. I lined the bottom of a casserole dish with the eggplant and set aside.

I used Ronzoni smart taste penne rigati- its suppose to have vitamins and be healthier for you. I used 3/4 of the box of penne - boiled some water and cooked the pasta until tender.

While the pasta was cooking I mixed the carton of non-fat ricotta cheese with a little parmesan cheese, cracked black pepper, italian seasoning, a little crushed red pepper and garlic salt.

When the penne was done cooking I drained and mixed with the ricotta cheese mixture. Layered half of the penne/cheese mixture over the eggplant and then add a layer of red sauce and the rest of the penne/cheese over that. Bake at 400 degrees until the cheese and noodles on top turn golden brown.

What I got looked like this:

It was sooo good and pretty healthy too!

Some yummy things to do with avacado

The secret to making a good meal with avacados is using the right kind of avacado...always use Hass avacados when available. Hass avacados should be black on the outside when ripe and just a little soft. If you are using the avacado right away it doesn't need to be refrigerated but if you want it to keep for a few days refrigerating will slow down the ripening process. The two followong recipes use Hass avacados:

Tropical Scallop Salad

Ingredients:
-1 Hass avacado
-1/4 a yellow or red onion
-2 cups whole sea scallops
-1 cup orange juice
-1/4 cup lime juice
-salt and pepper to taste


Directions:


1. boil a pot of lightly salted water and add scallops, cook scallops for no more than 3 minutes


2. take scallops out of water and chop into bite size pieces


3. in a bowl mix scallops, orange juice, lime juice, salt and pepper

4. mince onion and add to bowl, mix all ingredients together

5. refridgerate for an hour



This is what mixture should look like when refrigerated



6. after the hour is up take mixture out of fridge and add *chopped avacado and more salt and pepper to taste....mix and serve

*To chop an avacado: Start with a ripe avocado and cut it lengthwise around the seed. Rotate the halves in different directions to separate. Take a spoon and scoop the seed out. You can either then scoop out the rest of the avacado with a spoon or use a knife and cut the avacado into bite size pieces and peel from skin.

Tropical scallop salad on the left and guacamole on the right - guac made with yellow tomatoes

Guacamole

Ingredients:

-1 Hass avacado

-garlic powder

-1/2 lime

-1 tomato

-salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Cut up avacado and totmato into small chunks, mash avacado with a spoon or in a mortar and pestle....i still leave it a little chunky.

2. mix in tomatoes and season with garlic powder, salt and pepper

3. squeeze 1/2 lime over mixture and mix thoroughly...serve with tortialla chips!

Vegetarian Chamorro Meal

This meal consists of a lot of key staples of Chamorro cuisine that would be served at a fiesta. Usually these things would be served with some sort of meat, chicken or fish dish but these things are way more than enough just by themselves.

The meal consits of red rice with finadene sauce, cucumber salad and eggplant finadene.

Red Rice -All you need to make red rice is some sort of white rice (as much as you want per person and annatto/achiote powder or liquid. You can also used annatto seeds that you strain the pigment out of...this is a lot of work and annatto seeds are harder to find than the powder. I tried to make red rice for a friend years ago and had a hard time finding seeds. Today, they sell annatto powder in the regular grocery store and also in asian and spanish markets. I bought some achiote liquid online at Mytienda.com and am I really pleased with it. If you do go the liquid route just know it does stain...I found this out the hard way.

Ingredients:

-white rice, any variety

-achiote powder/liquid

-salt/pepper
Cook rice according to package directions, when the package instructs to add rice, add achiote seasoning and salt and pepper. The more powder or liquid that you add the more deeper in color the rice will be so the amount is really up to you. I add a tablespoon of the liquid. Also add as much or little salt or pepeper as desired according to your taste.
This is my pot of red rice before it boiled. You will notice the green flecks- I sauteed some onions and peppers and added them to the bottom of the pot before I put the rice in. I like the flavor they give to the rice. Some red rice in Guam does contain onion and some contain bacon as well.

Finadene Sauce- Finadene is served everywhere in Guam, even KFC has finadene for your meal. There are different variations of finadene but they all have the same main ingredients: scallions (green onion), red hot pepper (donne), yellow onion, and lemon juice. In some finadene's coconut milk is added, some add soy sauce and still others include a combination of soy sauce and cocunut meat. This finadene uses soy sauce. This finadene can be used as a topping for rice, a marinade for meat or chicken or just on as a sauce on top of the meat. These ingredients are sometimes used in a dish called Kelaguen. In Kelaguen meat, chicken, fish and shrimp are marinated in finadene. Sometimes it is then cooked, in the case of shrimp or fish they are not cooked because the lemon juice in the marinade "cooks" the dish. Finadene tastes great on anything-even pizza!

Some donne (hot red peppers) that I smuggled back from Guam - these little guys pack a lot of heat!

Ingredients: soy sauce, lemon juice, 1 stalk scallion, 1-2 red hot pepper(s), yellow onion

Directions: In a small bowl/container mix 4 parts soy sauce with 1 part lemon juice, slice scallion into small pieces and add to mixture, use about 1/5 of the onoin and slice into small/thin slices and add to mixture, dice up hot red pepper as much or as little as you want (i take the seeds out because then the sauce is way too hot for me!) put this mixture in the fridge to let the flavors mix until you are ready to use it. Finadene will stay for about a week in the fridge.

You may notice the lack of scallions in my finadene...I bought some at a local farms market and they were pretty slimy when I went to use them so I omitted them-tasted just as good!

Cucumber Salad-
Ingredients: 1 cucumber (sliced), soy sauce, white vinegar, salt, pepper, onions sliced
Directions: Slice 1 cucumber and half of an onion and place in a container/bowl. Pour in enough soy sauce to cover 75% of the cucumbers, cover the other 25% with vinegar and add salt and pepper to taste. Mix and place in fridge until ready to eat so flavors can combine.




Salad before adding soy sauce and vinegar

This is approximately how much soy sauce should be in the dish/container before you add the vinegar.








Eggplant Finadene-

Ingredients: 1 eggplant, 1 stalk scallion, coconut milk, lemon juice, 1/2 a yellow onion sliced, 1-2 hot red pepper(s) diced

Directions:

1. cut eggplant in half and place on a baking tray, lightly salt and drizzle olive oil over both sides of eggplant. Bake in oven at 450 degrees for about a half hour or until the eggplant is golden.















This is what the eggplant should look like when you take it out of the oven. Be careful because the eggplant will be very hot. Give it some time to cool down. Cut eggplant into small slices on a cutting board. The skin should just peel off easily at this time. The eggplant should be so soft it almost breaks apart for you without much effort. If the eggplant it still hard on the inside then it should go back in the oven for a little while. Put slices in a dish or bowl.


2. Cover eggplant with coconunt milk. Add sliced scallions, yellow onions and hot peppers.


3. Start adding lemon juice, a few drops/squeezes at a time to taste. It should be sweet, spicy and sour all at the same time. Serve this immediately. Do not refridgorate beforehand.

Enjoy:)