Elisa's Eye on the World

Sunday Dinner from the Freezer

Photos of chili always look terrible but the house sure smells fantastic. I pulled wto small containers stowed in January in the freezer - they defrosted quickly in a small sauce pan.

Meanwhile, I rinsed and drained short grain brown rice. It's cooking now with the simmering pot with some frozen corn and "fake chicken tenders." This batch ended up too spicy and then too tomatoey and these additions have given it a good body.

Soon, I will rise from the comfortable spot on the couch and make some salads from the ready to go Romaine and some cherry tomatoes. Sundays can't always be spent in the kitchen. Today was a good example of pulling off a good meal while having time for other things.

As an added strategic bonus, chili burritos - or the stew with cooked riced and shredded cheese wrapped in flour tortillas and baked until golden brown and super bubbly. A nice worknight meal to come home to on on of my on site days.

Dinners this Week

Hi Readers;

I really have to get my photos in synch - until then, here's the list of the latest meals:

• Superbowl Sunday Lasagna. While the game dragged on this got a little dry, but still very tasty with a crisp salad. We've been lucky to get great California lettuce this time of year.
• Snow Chowder. Drawn from the freezer this still was tasty, especially with TJ Oyster crackers bobbing around.
• Chili. Also drawn from the freezer, reheated on the stove top while a fresh bath of brown rice cooked. Served with Colby Jack cheese and some home made chips made by baking torn tortilla shells sprayed with canola. There was a bit leftoever and I baked them into fresh tortillas with cooked rice and sliced cheese. Chili Burrittos Mmmm!
• Veggie Pizzas. Using a portion from this month's fresh batch of dough
  
  ...Last night I made a full size pie using up the mushroom sauce from the lasagna and topped it with chopped orange peppers, sliced mushrooms and shredded mozzarella cheese. A sprinkle of dried oregano and it was ready to bake...meanwhile I had an odd amount of dough and made one deep dish invidiual pie with the same sauce, cheese and mushrooms, but added sweet onion and some fresh spinach. That one I baked until it was almost done, with the intention of serving it today for lunch. Sorry No Photos.

Week of Eats

Ah, we have rolled into February, with 29 days this years so extra extra!

This week we had:

• Walt's classic baked burritos. Refried beans, chopped red pepper, carrots and spinach. Monte Jack Cheese rolled up in a flour shell, served with brown rice.
• Mock Chicken Chow Mein with "non meat" tenders, lovely fresh noodles mixed with homemade sauce following package directions. Veggie list: purple onion, baby bok choy, orange pepper, peas.
• Another amazing pizza with the "Artistan Dough in Five Minutes Per Day" book. Pulled from the freezer were the dough, sauce and cheese. From our co-op a small container of Vegan (no cheese) basil pesto. Topped with chopped fresh sweet onion and orange pepper this was nothing short of Kick Ass.
• Thai Fried Rice for One was a zippy lunch with some stray veggies: chopped Swiss Chard and Bell Pepper a scrambled egg topped with slivered almonds.
• Baked potatoes were simply delicious, flaky and flavorful without any added fat. The accompaniment were Ms. Paltrow's Roasted Vegetables with of equal amounts of maple syrup, extra virgin olive oil and Dijon mustard. I did not have sweet potatoes but had turnips and carrots. Served the next night, it was even better. Can't wait to try again with the sweeties.

Another Week O Dinners

Last week brought another round of home made and store supplemented meals.

• Leftover baked potato sliced and served in a deep casserole with chopped spinach, carrots, grated cheddar with a bit of strained tomato.
• Lentil soup with carrots, onions and long grain brown rice served with cheddar cheese. With three containers stowed in the freezer.
• The last pizza from the three balls of dough stowed in December. Thursday night pie featured blue cheese, mozzarella, a bit of spinach, chopped green pepper and walnuts over a red sauce. Splendid.
• Tuna casserole from the freezeer with the leftover cauliflower reheated together with slivered almonds.
• Tonight we have risotto cakes from the freezer which will be freshly rolled in bread crumb and Parmesan cheese before baking to reheat- perhaps with some TJ falafel.

 

Fresh Tomato Risotto

Risotto to kick off the July 4th weekend...I found this Early Summer Tomato Risotto recipe in the Wall Street Journal. The featured ingredient is the extracted juice of heirloom tomatoes. 'Nuff said?

The finished dish with speckled lettuce from our garden. A+

There's a good amount leftover which I'm going to reheat/freeze in cupcake form with parchment liners.

Thai Style Fried Rice

I loosely followed a cookbook receipe:

• Canola oil, heated in pan
• Egg, scrambled
• 1 tbsp fish sauce, 2 tbsp sweet soy sauce, 1 tbsp sugar
• Cooked brown rice (about 2 cups)
• Add sliced veggies (red pepper, kale, scallion) once the mixture is hot and cook some more

Thank you T.  in B.C. for the authentic sauce!

A Bunch of Green Dinners

Penne with Cottage Cheese, & Red Sauce with steamed Asparagus and Red Leaf Lettuce.

Re-heated roasted vegetables with chopped fresh Spinach.

Fried rice with Kale and Asparagus.

Lemony Orzo salad with Bay Shrimp, Feta, Parsley and Scallions, which are green but not as hearty as the other greens.

Elisa's Sweet Curry with Mock Chicken

One of those recipes that just came together from what was on-hand and tasted fantastic:

• Onion, sliced and browned
• Red pepper, previously roasted and sliced
• Two Carrots, sliced
• Broccoli, florets and peeled and chopped stems
• Small can of tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp. garlic powder
• 1 tbsp. Thai green curry paste
• package of "Chicken Tenders" made of soy

Heat up the vegetables and get the sauce bubbling adding water so it's not too dry. About 20 minutes before serving (time with rice) add mock chicken and heat thoroughly. Serve with (brown) rice. The roasted red peppers added a very sweet taste, but starting with fresh would work too.

Risotto with Peas and Smoked Salmon

With the "Joy of Cooking" as my guide, we made a very tasty risotto for Christmas night. Peas (1 package frozen, defrosted) and onions (1/2) are in the recipe, we used red to add color along with red pepper and carrot (1/2 cup each). Three tablespoons of butter to brown the onions and coat the rice. Flaked, Alaska Smoked Salmon (1/4 cup) was used instead of the pancetta specified in the book.

Naturally creamy. Quite delicious. Very filling!

Pulling Dinners from the Freezer

Dear Readers. Sorry again for the gap in posts as my travel schedule has pulled me away from the kitchen. Now home, my energy is low and list huge of projects for cooking and fall planting.

But in the meanwhile, we must eat, and eat well. In the past few days I've brought some great homemade meals to the table straight from our freezer:

• Eggplant Parmesan. Served up last night with a salad of mixed greens, chopped carrots and a sprinkle of sunflower seeds.
• Lentil Soup with Rice. Really a meal in itself- so full of goodness and warmth on a dreary November night
• Vegetable pie. Made earlier this week, it never made it to the freezer. Served up with the rest of the lentil soup this made a quick, hearty weekend lunch.
• Riostto Cakes. My energy is still low, and I pulled these out for tonight, to serve with a green salad and some store-bought "Crab bite" appetizers to make it even more fancy.

They key is storing food properly in tightly sealed containers. Waxed paper is great for forming a layer to separate items,  protecting food and making it easy to remove them from icy containers.

Baked Risotto Cakes

Using risotto leftover from the night before, patties were formed and topped with grated Parmesan cheese.

The risotto, with onions, carrotts and peas was served with California avocado mixed with Maine shrimp meat. The topping were home grown cherry tomatoes and beverage Prosceco.

Cup and Half Casserole

Another simply delicious, economical meal here; I made it up and called it the Cup and Half Casserole because that's basically the recipe. If you have two cups of each, use a bigger pan and freeze the leftovers.

• leftover rice
• tomato sauce
• black beans, rinsed and drained
• corn, preferably freshly cut off the cob (see "Oven Baked Corn" posts)
• Monterey Jack cheese, grated
• red pepper, chopped strips

Layer ingredients in order listed in a deep casserole dish, about 8" x 10". Emile Henry is fabulous.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for at least 40 minutes, carefully bake some more until it is bubbling all the way to the center and golden brown.

Labor Day Burrito Dinner

Regular readers know "traditional" holiday meals are not in this blogger's vocabulary. On the recent wet and cool Labor Day we had baked burritos with long grain brown rice, mild salsa and plain yogurt. So delicious, economical and filling. A glass drawn from the box-o-Organic-wine made a fine accompaniment.

Flour burrito filling:

• Refried beans
• Chopped carrots, red pepper and spinach
• Colby-Jack cheese

Roll, bake on parchment in a 350 degree oven for about 20 minutes. Turn after 15 minutes if you can so they brown evenly.

If goo comes out you now have a hot bean dip to scoop into a small bowl to snack on while they finish baking.

Red Curry with Red Snapper over Jasmine Rice

Guest Chef T and our nephew are now heading home to B.C. Before they left we were able to dine on bowls of Guest Chef T's Red Curry with Red Snapper in the rare June sun.

Ingredients were: jarred Red Curry Paste (Thai Kitchen), Coconut Milk, Red Snapper and a sprinkle of red pepper; a few torn basil leaves made a great garnish. All was served over Jasmine rice. Yum Yum Yum!

Thai Noodles with Three Soy Sauces

 

A few hours before serving, soak rice noodles in a big bowl of water and cover...

After soaking notice how color changes to white (vs. opaque), drain well, cut into smaller pieces (no need to be fancy) and set aside while preparing the wok...

Preparing the veggies: broccoli, mushrooms and garlic; liquids included soy sauce, dark soy sauce and sweet soy sauce as well as rice vinegar and vegetable broth. Other ingredients included: sugar and tofu...

Scramble eggs in pan, add noodles and some of soy sauce and the tofu...

Add vegetables along with a little sugar and broth as needed to keep everything from sticking to the pan...

Enjoy! Thanks Again Guest Chef T!

Roasted Root Vegetable and Pinto Bean Casserole

No photo of this Friday night almost instant dinner baked in a deep glass casserole dish, layered as follows:

• small can of tomato sauce, such as Muir Glen
• cooked long grain brown rice
• canned pinto beans, rinsed and well drained
• caramelized onions
• strips of roasted red pepper and carrot
• roasted Yukon Gold potatoes
• grated Colby / Jack cheese

Note, there are both spuds and rice but not too much of either.

Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven. After 30 minutes I rotated the pan in the oven and baked for 15 minutes more. Just in time for a nice supper on the back porch / steps.

Tofu Stir Fry

Guest Chef G continues to impress with her non-traditional ethnic dinners in Prague. Last night she prepared a stir fry recipe from The Joy of Cooking. She kindly substituted tofu for chicken on my behalf and fragrant Basmati rice to please everyone at the table.

Homemade Pad Thai in Prague

Yesterday Guest Chef G. made a batch of Pad Thai for dinner. I was glad to be the prep assistant.

We didn't have the lime or bean sprouts for topping but it still tasted darn good!

Risotto Cakes

A spectacular dine-in menu: homemade Risotto cakes with freezer case Shrimp Cakes.

Holiday Risotto

Oh so good! Risotto with onions, peas, carrots, corn, Provolone and Parmesan cheese. The leftovers will be formed into cakes and baked tonight.

Fresh Roll with Prawn

Guest Chef T. returned last weekend and treated us to a few more Thai specialties. Fresh Roll with prawn ingredients: 

• Lettuce
• Cilantro
• Green onion
• Carrots (shredded)
• Thin rice noodles
• Prawns (peeled, cleaned and boiled for about 3 min. or until bright color)
• Rice paper wraps

To do:

1. Prepare ingredients->wash and put in small bowls
2. Soak rice paper wraps in hot water (10 seconds) one at a time, or as you wrap
3. Place prepared rice paper wrap on clean surface and add one of each ingredient; with the prawn on top
4. Roll like a burrito (outward 2 times-> then tug both sides in then roll outward again.

Sauce:

• Chili flakes, 1 tsp.
• Hot sauce, 1 tsp.
• Sugar, 2 tbsp.
• Tamarind paste, 1 tsp.
• Rice vinegar, 1 tsp.
• Corn starch, 1 tsp.

Mix well in a saucepan over low heat. Delicious. Please note this is NOT the sauce in the picture, which is from the jar Thai Chili sauce we deemed unworthy of these fine rolls. Many thanks Guest Chef T. for taking the time to whip this up for us.

Pad Thai with Green Beans

Using the leftover rice noodles from our Sunday dinner with Guest Chef T., I pulled together this Pad Thai of Sorts dish, served with green beans because that's what we had. Also, some "chicken tenders" were added for texture and protein. The sauce idea was based on Mollie Katzen's dish from her beloved Still Life with Menu.

Guoy-Deow Kua Koong (Thai rice noodles with shrimp and mushrooms)

Oh boy. One of our visitors this weekend is a native of Thailand, and much to our delight she offered to cook. This dish consisted of thin Thai rice noodle, prawns, 2 eggs, leaf lettuce (!), soy sauce, salt & pepper, sugar, mushrooms and basil. Essentially she scrambled the egg in a heated wok with canola oil. The soaked noodles were stirred in, followed by the vegetables and seasonings before the shrimp. Salt & pepper was added in stages, and water was poured in things started to getting too sticky. Everyone but me topped their dish with a simple sauce of white rice vinegar and chopped red chili. "Everybody happy." Thank you Guest Chef T!

Brown Rice Salad with Veggies and Blue Cheese

The basic idea is courtesy of Mark Bittman who writes the The New York Times "Minimalist" cooking column, but I had to add some extras. The basics are cooked brown rice (1 cup dry); a few minutes before it was done, chopped broccoli florets and slender green beans (from our garden) were placed on top of the rice, where they get nicely steamed. When done, all was dropped into a big mixing bowl, to which I added: chopped pecans, dried cranberries, chopped basil (also from our garden) along with some salt and pepper. Once plated, Blue Cheese crumbles were added to the top. Fantastic!

Black Bean and Roasted Vegetable Casserole

Tonight's dinner was pretty much based making the best use of what was in the fridge.
- can black beans
- small can tomato sauce
- few tablespoons of salsa (in lieu of other seasoning)
- chopped roasted red pepper
- roasted carrots, slice on diagonal
- a few cups of cooked, preferably brown rice
- grated Monte Jack cheese
- crumbled corn tortilla chips

Prep: rinse and drain beans before simmering with a small can of tomato sauce. I added a little bit of salsa and some water. Added to the bubbly mixture were sliced roasted red peppers. Simmer for about 30 minutes.

Assembly: sliced roasted carrots topped with cooked brown rice. The simmered bean mixture was spread on top and patted down with a wooden spoon. This was topped with crumbled corn chips and shredded Colby / Monte Jack cheese.

Baking: Preheated 350 degree oven for about 45 minutes, or bubbbly. After 20 minutes I covered it with foil because it was getting brown.

Soup with Cabbage, Kidney Beans and Brown Rice

Ingredients:Leek, chopped and sauteed in a large soup pot. Add large can of tomatoes, simmer until reduced a bit, then stir in a large can of kidney beans (previously rinsed and drained). Add about 8 cups (two containers) of broth, stir a bit over a medium heat. Add cup of rinsed and drained brown rice. Cover and bring to boil. Then reduce, and simmer at a low heat covered for 45 minutes. Add a small green cabbage, chopped into small strips and simmer for about 15 minutes more. Add seasonings and serve with crusty bread, grated Parmesan cheese and Pinot Noir.

Risotto with Peas and Carrots - Topped with Salad Shrimp

Risotto requires constant stirring, and extra hands to help the cook are always a welcome addition. This batch features carrots, onion and peas; seasoned with Rosemary, Thyme and Black Pepper. After the grains were plump the dish was removed from the stove where goat cheese and Parmesan cheese were stirred in. Portions were mounded on the plates, and salad shrimp placed on top. Tonight leftovers will be formed into patties and baked in the oven. Happy New Year!

BBQ Tofu and Rice

This is a  work night dinner that came together on a whim. I started by making a pot of brown rice; meanwhile I heated up BBQ tofu from the natural food store deli with sliced carrots and red onion.

To keep the dish from drying out, I added catsup, honey and maple syrup. Which are basically the ingredients in BBQ sauce.

When the rice was done, I mixed it all together, added cheddar cheese with baby spinach and baked for a few minutes.

Leftovers=0

Four July 4 Salads

Regular readers know, I don't prepare "traditional holiday fare."

Here's what is in the line up for the odd mid-week holiday so we can relax:

1. Fruit Salad: local strawberries, pineapple, cantaloupe and kiwi - also have a few apricots and plums to eat out of hand.

2. Rice Salad: brown rice coated with a secret dressing mixed with chopped sweet peppers, and celery, topped with peanuts and bean spouts

3. Yukon Gold Potato Salad: the lightest amount of Canola mayo, chopped celery and red onion

4. Quinoa Tabbouleh: no icky cucumber. Mint, parsley, lemon juice, tomatoes

These will be staged over Tuesday and Wednesday, leaving grab and go leftovers for the rest of the week. Or at least that's the plan for now.

A Week of Lunches and Dinners to Go

So last week was vacation in a cabin with a full kitchen. Breakfasts were cereal, juice, milk and toast. Some homemade granola and yogurt were on hand too. Easy.

Lunch and dinner needs more variety, but ease of preparation after a morning of mountain bike riding is essential. Most items have their own posts here, since this is essential a "Greatest Hits" pulled from the freezer.

Here is how the week went, more or less:
Lunch
Sun - cheese and roasted pepper sandwiches in the car; fruit salad (cantaloupe, honey dew, watermelon and kiwi)
Mon - rice salad and fruit salad
Tues - grilled cheese and quinoa soup
Wed - leftover fajitas from dinner out; avocado on crackers, twice roasted Yukon Gold potatoes
Thu - shown above, reheated pizza with kiwi and strawberry salad
Fri - cheese and pepper sandwiches in the car 1/2 way home

Dinner
Sun - Lasagna with steamed broccoli
Mon - Burritos with rice
Tue - dinner out in town: Chicken Fajitas
Wed - Lentil Soup with rice and cheese
Thu - Quinoa Soup with colby jack

Purchased ingredients at our destination were: 1/2 gallon milk and another loaf of whole wheat sandwich bread. Otherwise we ate what we brought, which worked out quite well.

Rice Salad

The always pleasing favorite from Mollie Katzen, served up on plastic plates for outside dining.

Stir Fry with Tofu and Homemade Peanut Sauce

Using the homemade peanut sauce posted yesterday; here's another delicious dinner served over a bed of brown rice. I'm not a big fan of tofu, but following the instructions from this Mollie Katzen recipe idea, I may be a convert.

I used broccoli, spinach and celery because that's what we had on hand, but her green bean idea sounds fantastic.

Lentil and Rice Soup with Spinach and Cheese Triangles

Homemade soup from yesterday, heated up with hot sandwiches in the midst of a "Pineapple Express" storm that's hit our region.

Using "Naan" bread, I made little pies with a layer of Cabot Cheddar Cheese, fresh chopped spinach, a little more cheese and a drizzle of olive oil. Bake 15 minutes in preheated 400 degree oven, fold in half, then into 4 triangles.

This was the first time I bought Naan, these were from Indian Life Food .

Rice Salad

Loosely based on a recipe from Mollie's Katzen's "The New Moosewood Cookbook" this is a rice salad with fresh vegetables, nuts and raisins. A perfect non-traditional dinner for this Labor Day.