Lentil & Couscous Medley Over Greens

Thoughts & Inspiration

My girlfriend invited us over for a Moroccan Tagine so I told her I'd bring a salad to go with dinner.  This salad is hearty and delicious.  It has a rich flavor profile and different textures which will delight your palate.  The lentil/couscous medley can last for at least a week in the fridge so you can do a lot with this recipe.

Ingredients
1/2 cup green lentils (cooked according to package) 

1/2 tsp lemon pepper

1 package Near East Pearled Couscous Mix - Roasted Garlic and Olive Oil

10-15 cherry tomatoes, diced

1 whole roasted red pepper, diced

10 fresh mint leaves, chopped

2 green onion sprigs, chopped

1 tsp Sumac (Sumac has a really nice tart flavor)

2 tsps finely grated lemon zest
1/2 head of frisee

3.5-4 ounces arugula (approximately 1/2 bag)

Dressing - combine together with a whisk

1 lemon, juiced

3 Tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Salt and pepper

Garnishes

1/4 cup of hazelnuts, chopped

Goat cheese crumbles (however much you like - I used about 2-3 ounces)
Drizzle of balsamic glaze

Mint leaves

Optional

Dollop of Tahini Sauce (See bottom picture: If you don't like TJ's you can always combine 1 Tbsp tahini + 1 Tbsp Greek yogurt with a pinch of salt and a little squeeze of lemon juice)

Cook green lentils according to package (a little bit al dente since this is a salad).  Once the lentils are ready remove from heat and mix in lemon pepper while still warm.  Transfer lentils into a large mixing bowl.  Cook couscous according to package.  Once couscous is cooked remove from heat and allow to cool.  Gently fluff with a fork and transfer into mixing bowl with lentils.

In the mixing bowl add tomatoes, red peppers, mint leaves, green onions, sumac and lemon zest to the lentil/couscous.  Gently fold ingredients together.

In a separate bowl toss frisee and arugula with the dressing. 

Plating: Place greens on the bottom of a serving dish.  Spoon lentil/couscous medley over greens.  Sprinkle goat cheese crumbles on top and then drizzle balsamic glaze in a zig-zag pattern.  Top with chopped hazelnuts and a dollop of tahini sauce.

Note: The lentil/couscous medley can be used for other dishes.  Try stuffing this into bell peppers, mushrooms or tomatoes!  Stuff your favorite vegetable, bake and top with your favorite cheese!

Here are some of the ingredients I used:

Zucchini Pesto Bites with Goat Cheese

Thoughts & Inspiration

This was something I tried for my dinner party.  It is super easy and a fun little bite.  I used store bought pesto to make this a quicker recipe, but obviously fresh homemade pesto is always better!

Ingredients
1 Tbsp of olive oil
1-2 zucchinis, sliced
Pesto (homemade or store bought)
Goat cheese crumbles

Trim the ends off the zucchini.  On a mandoline or using a very sharp knife, cut the zucchini into medium thickness slices, approximately 1/4-1/2 inch thick (you want to have approximately 24 slices of each, to create 12 bites).

Heat a grill pan and add olive oil.  Place zucchini slices onto pan and grill on medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes.  Flip all slices over and grill for 1-2 more minutes.  Remove slices from heat and place onto a dish and allow to cool for a few minutes.

Arrange zucchini as follows onto a serving dish:
Zucchini slice, followed by a dollop of pesto, zucchini slice and finally a small crumble of goat cheese.  

This dish can be served at room temperature.

Variation:  Feta cheese crumbles instead of goat cheese.

Carrot, Kale, Apple Ginger Spiked Smoothie

Ingredients 

12 baby carrots
1 celery stalk (quartered)
2 large kale leaved (stems removed)
1/2 apple (I used Honeycrisp)
1/2 inch knob of ginger
1 cup Orange Juice (or 2 fresh peeled oranges)
1 cup water (or 1/2 cup water and 1/3 cup ice)

Place ingredients into Vitamix in order listed and blend from Variable to High speed (1-10) for 45 seconds.

Curry Roasted Cauliflower Bites with Yogurt Lemon Sauce

Thoughts & Inspiration

We had a holiday dinner party and this was a perfect tiny bite that you could pick up and eat without a mess.  It has warm South Asian/Indian flavors.  It's simple and quite flavorful!

Time: 25 minutes

Ingredients

1 head of cauliflower, medium size florets

1 Tbsp olive oil (I used garlic infused olive oil)

1 single serving container Greek yogurt

1 small garlic clove, minced

1 Tbsp Tahini

1/2 lemon, zest only

Salt and Pepper

Spice Blend Ingredients - combine together in small bowl

1/4 tsp turmeric
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp thyme
Pinch of clove
Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 425.  Line a baking sheet with foil.

Mix yogurt, garlic, tahini, lemon zest, salt and pepper together.  Set aside.

In a separate bowl toss cauliflower florets with oil.  Add spice blend and mix to coat seasoning evenly.  Transfer florets onto the lined baking sheet.  Roast in oven for 10 minutes.  After 10 minutes, turn florets once and return to oven for an additional 5 minutes to slightly brown.  Remove from oven and serve warm with yogurt sauce.

Zucchini Spaghetti ala Tomato Pesto

Thoughts & Inspiration

This is a great quick weeknight dinner.  I got home pretty late one evening after work and wanted to make something easy!  I used pre-made sauces and whipped this together!  It would be even more delicious if you had the time to make the red sauce and the pesto fresh!

If you aren't into the spiralized zucchini, you can obviously sub out the zucchini for real pasta!!!

Serves 3

25 minutes

Ingredients

2 medium thickness zucchinis, spiralized (or julienned into long strips on a mandolin)
1 tsp olive oil 
5 shiitake mushrooms, cut chunky
1 garlic clove, chopped 
1/2 Japanese eggplant, peeled and diced
 1/4 yellow squash, diced 
1 cup favorite pasta sauce  
2 Tbsp pesto 
Crushed red pepper to taste

Optional Ingredients 
A couple shaving of either Parmesan or my choice which is a dollop of Mascarpone cheese!

Heat a pan and sauté mushrooms with olive oil of medium heat for about 3-4 minutes.  Next, add garlic, eggplant and squash and sauté for an additional 3-4 minutes.  Add tomato sauce, pesto and crushed red pepper and bring to a simmer. Once the sauce is heated through, add zucchini (or real pasta) to pan and mix with tongs lifting zucchini strands to combine with sauce.  Cook for 2-3 minutes for a more al dente texture, or 4-5 minutes for a softer spaghetti texture.  

Garnish with a few shaves of Parmesan, a dollop of mascarpone cheese or do what I did and add a little of both!!!  Mmmmmm!!!

Here is what I used:
 

Roasted Vegetable Gouda Stacks

Thoughts & Inspiration

This was something I tried for my dinner party.  I did a play on a layered ratatouille.  This dish is fun, light and simple with twist of smokiness from the Gouda.  Enjoy!

Ingredients
1 cup of your favorite red sauce (any pasta sauce)
2 Tbsp of olive oil (I used a flavor infused olive oil - Garlic Olive Oil from Trader Joe's)
1 yellow squash, sliced
1 long Japanese eggplant, sliced
1 zucchini, sliced
3 Roma tomatoes, sliced
Gouda cheese, cut into thin slices (approximately the same size of the vegetable slices)
Toothpicks

Spice Mix - Combine all the spice together
1/2 tsp Herbes de Provence
1/4 tsp Ancho Chili Powder (or Chipotle Chili)
1/4 tsp Paprika
Pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Pour tomato sauce into the bottom of a baking dish, approximately 10-13 inches across the long way. Drizzle 1 Tbsp of olive oil over the sauce and add a few pinches of the spice mix.  

Trim the ends off the yellow squash, eggplant, zucchini and tomatoes.  On a mandoline or using a very sharp knife, cut all the vegetables into thin slices, approximately 1/4-inch thick (you want to have approximately 24 slices of each, to create 12 stacks).

Start arranging the vegetables in stacks on top of the tomato sauce.  Start with the yellow squash on the bottom, followed by a slice of Gouda, tomato, eggplant and zucchini.  Sprinkle with spice mix.  Continuing layering on top with Gouda, yellow squash, eggplant, zucchini and tomato.  Place a toothpick starting in the center of each stack and push all the way down to the bottom to hold all together.  Repeat this to make all of your vegetable stacks.

Drizzle the remaining tablespoon of olive oil over the vegetables and season them generously with the remainder of the spice mix.

Cover the baking dish with a piece of parchment paper cut to fit the inside of the dish.  Bake for approximately 45 minutes, until the vegetables have cooked through and released juices.  Remove from oven carefully.  The stacks may have slided down, but you can carefully pick the toothpick back up and re-structure your stack.  The tomato sauce should be bubbling with the Gouda melted. 

Variation:  If you don't like Gouda, Smoked Mozzarella would also be great in this dish!

~Dinner Party~

These dishes will be featured in the upcoming posts!  We had a holiday dinner party on Saturday night and of course my main concern and focus was absolutely the food!  What to make... what to make?!... I needed to make sure that each palate would be satisfied!  I created a broad menu full of flavors from around the world to hopefully appeal to each person!

Here are a few dishes from the party!  

It was a major success and the night was fabulous!

Before - Roasted Vegetable Gouda Stacks

After - Roasted Vegetable Gouda Stacks

Appetizer - Curry Roasted Cauliflower Bites with Yogurt Lemon Sauce

Appetizers

Mini Mint Chutney Sandwich Bites

Zucchini Pesto Bites with Goat Cheese


Ciabatta Mixed Mushroom Sandwich with Arugula, Goat Cheese and Harissa

Twisted Deconstructed Falafel

Look at how delicious!

Twisted Deconstructed Falafel Part 2

Vegetable Gyoza's with Spinach and Thai Basil

Fiesta Chipotle Wrap

Thoughts & Inspiration

A quick but yummy dinner after an intense workout!  This wrap is veggie loaded and deliciously seasoned!  I used Morningstar Buffalo Chik Patties, but feel free to use your favorite filler and it in your own!

Cook Time: 25 minutes     Makes 2

Ingredients

1 tsp olive oil

3/4 white onion, sliced

1/3 cup frozen corn

5 oz package of shitake mushrooms, slices
3 large kale leaves, chopped

4 grape tomatoes, chopped
2 radishes, sliced (just for some crunch)
Sprinkling of cheddar cheese (however cheesy your heart desires)
2 Morningstar Buffalo Chik Patties (cooked in oven according to package)

Sauce Ingredients
3 Tbsp of sauce from the canned chipotles in adobo sauce
Juice of 1 lime
1 tsp honey

1/4 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp oregano
1/4 tsp garlic powder 

Salt to taste

2 burrito style tortillas

For the sauce:

Combine all the ingredients together in a medium sided bowl and whisk together.

Saute onion in oil olive on medium high heat until onions are cooked and browned, approximately 3-4 minutes.  Add frozen corn and saute for an additional 2 minutes.  Next, add mushrooms and cook an additional 2-3 minutes.  Toss in kale and 3 Tbsp of the sauce.  Mix and saute for 1-2 minutes until kale wilts.  Remove from heat.  (I used a cast iron skillet to cook the vegetables.)

Once the Chik Patty is cooked, chop into a few squares and add to bowl with remainder of sauce.  Mix patty pieces until slightly coated with sauce.

Assemble wraps by placing 1/2 the chik patties, cheese, veggies along with tomatoes and radishes along one side of the tortilla.  Roll and tuck the ingredients to get a tight wrap so that it looks like a burrito.

Helpful Tip:  I take a piece of fold and wrap it around the bottom of one end of the wrap.  This makes it clean and simple to eat!

Mushroom Miso Soup

Happy rainy Tuesday everyone!  This is perfect for today!

Thoughts & Inspiration

What goes perfectly with some home rolled sushi?!... Of course some Miso Soup with a little extra punch of mushroom!  This is a super quick and easy way to make Miso soup to warm your heart.

Cook Time: 15-20 minutes   
Serves 6

Ingredients 

1 tsp olive oil

7-8 shitake mushrooms, sliced
1 carton Whole Food Miso Broth
2 cups of Mushroom Broth 
1 cup of kale, leaves hand torn into small pieces

3 stems of green onions, chopped fine
Optional: tofu, diced

In a deep soup pot saute shitake mushrooms with olive oil for about 4 minutes on medium heat.  Next, add in both broths and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to simmer and add in kale and 1/2 the green onions (and tofu if desired).  Simmer for an additional 4-5 minutes.  Serve hot garnished with green onions.

 

Arugula Salad with a Twist of Spice

Thoughts & Inspiration

My family was coming over for my husband's birthday and all he wanted were tacos!  I needed a little something else to go along with the tacos so I threw this salad together real quick!

Time: 10 minutes     

Salad Ingredients 

1 bag of baby or wild arugula (6-7 oz)

2-3 radishes, sliced thin into rounds or matchsticks

1/3 cup of thawed frozen corn
1/2 cup red cabbage, shredded
5-6 cherry or grape tomatoes, quartered 

Note:  You can make this salad with Iceberg or Romaine as well for extra crisp lettuce!

Dressing

2 Tbsp good extra virgin olive oil
1/2 large lemon, juiced
1 Tbsp Ranch (I use yogurt salsa ranch)
1 tsp Buffalo Wing Sauce

Pepper to taste

Optional: 4-5 Cool Ranch Doritos, crushed 

This is the one I used

Place arugula, radishes, corn, cabbage and tomatoes into a large salad bowl.
Combine all of the dressing ingredients into a bowl and whisk together.
Add dressing into salad bowl and toss to coat all the leaves.

Optional Garnish: When serving in a bowl, add crushed Doritos for a crunchy bite!

Stuffed Green Pepper

Cored bell peppers

Thoughts & Inspiration

This was a dinner I put together with a whole bunch of odds and ends I had that needed to be used up! Be creative and use leftovers to make this your own!

Cook Time: 45 minutes     Makes 4

Ingredients

4 green (or any color) bell peppers, top cut off and seeds/stem cored from inside pepper
1 tsp olive oil

2 cloves of garlic minced

1/3 cup frozen corn

1/3 cup black beans
1/3 cup diced tomatoes (fresh or canned, I used canned)

1/3 cup cooked farro
1/3 cup cooked brown rice
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp Mexican chili powder

Salt to taste

1/3 cup shredded cheddar cheese

A few sprigs of scallions chopped

Place a large pot of water to boil.  Gently place bell pepper into boiling water (so that water fills the green pepper).  Allow green pepper to cook for 2 minutes and then immediately remove from water and allow to cool on towel.

In a pan, heat olive oil and add corn, black beans and garlic.  Cook for 3-4 minutes on medium flame.  Next, add tomatoes and cook for an additional 2 minutes.  Add farro and brown rice along with all of the seasoning.  Mix and cook for 3 more minutes.  Remove from heat.

Preheat oven to 350F.  

Spoon mixture into bell peppers to fill.  Place stuffed bell peppers onto an oven safe casserole dish and add 1/2-2/3 cup of water onto the bottom of the baking dish.  Bake for 7 minutes.  Next, add a little bit (or a lot!) of cheddar and scallions on top of peppers and place back into oven for an additional 5 minutes (or until the cheese has melted).  Serve immediately while still warm.

Optional: You can add a dollop of sour cream on top!

Pulled King Oyster Tsao Bun with Greens N' Shrooms

Thoughts & Inspiration

Random Wednesday night dinner... oh what to make!  I love being creative and challenging myself in the kitchen.  So why not take king oyster mushrooms and julienne them to create an interesting textured sandwich?!  With a side of sauteed veggies of course!  This meal is delicious!

The Greens N Shrooms can be served as an entree itself.  Throw the vegetables over a bed of brown rice or farro and you have a hearty delicious meal!

Ingredients for Greens N' Shrooms

1 tsp olive oil (or coconut oil)
4 garlic cloves diced/sliced
3-4 dried red chili peppers (optional)
1 tsp sesame seeds

1 bundle of Mustard Greens, washed and chopped into large pieces (Asian markets generally have this)

1 package Oyster Mushrooms
2 Tbsp vegetable broth

1 Tbsp chili garlic sauce

1 Tbsp soy sauce

Pinch of salt

Ingredients for Pulled King Oyster

1 tsp olive oil
1/3 sliced white or yellow onion
3 King Oyster Mushrooms julienned (I used a mandoline with the julienne blade attachment to get nice long thin strips)

1/3 cup Trader Joe's General Tso's Sauce (or any other brand)

1/3 lime, juiced
Any bun (I used mini potato slider buns) lightly toasted

Ingredients for Salad

1/3 cup shredded red cabbage
2 scallion stalks thinly sliced
3-4 baby carrots julienned
1 radish thinly sliced
4-5 Thai basil leaves (optional)

Pinch of salt
1/4 lime, juiced

Optional Ingredient

Bean sprouts

Greens N Shrooms Preparation (25 mins)

Heat oven to 350F.  Place oyster mushrooms into an oven proof pan and toss in 1 Tbsp of olive oil.  Sprinkle with salt and fresh ground pepper.  Roast mushrooms for 15 minutes and then turn.  Roast for an additional 10 minutes.  Remove from oven.

In a non-stick pan or wok add 1 tsp oil.  Add dried chilis, garlic and sesame seeds and saute on medium flame for 2-3 minutes.  Toss in mustard greens along with vegetable broth, soy sauce and chili sauce.  Saute for 4-5 minutes.  Add in roasted mushrooms and finish with a sprinkle of salt.  Serve warm.

Pulled King Oysters (25 mins)

Heat oil in a non-stick pan and add onions.  Saute for 2-3 minutes.  Add julienne mushrooms and cook for 3-4 minutes.  Add sauce, mix well and place lid on pan.  Cook for an additional 5 minutes.  Remove lid and allow to cook for another 2-3 minutes.  Finish with lime juice.

Salad

Place all ingredients into a bowl together and mix.  Allow to sit for 5 minutes.

Assembly
Place 1-2 Tbsp of the pulled mushrooms onto toasted bun and top with 1 Tbsp of the salad.  Garnish with bean sprouts if desired.