Talk About Using What You've Got...

There wasn't much for me to cook for dinner last night. No chicken, no onion, no fresh veggies... I felt lost. (But I did have bacon!) I looked in the cabinet and saw brown rice and lentils and I figured I could do something with them. Maybe the (often cringe-worthy) word casserole. I Googled "rice lentil casserole" and discovered that this is an actual dish! Pretty popular, I might add. According to the Internet anyway.

The basics are the right proportions of rice to lentils to liquid. Then whatever seasonings and add-ins you want. I found mostly Mexican flavors going on, but I went Italian instead...

What I Used:

• 3/4 c. brown rice
• 1/2 c. lentils
• 1 1/2 c. chicken broth
• 1 1/2 c. crushed tomatoes w/ basil
• the last bit of a can of cream of chicken soup
• a couple spoonfuls of tomato paste
• 3 cloves chopped garlic
• onion powder (I didn't have an onion!!)
• 2 chopped carrots
• oregano & parsley (just a little)
• peas

Put It All Together:

• Mix it all in a baking dish. 
• Cover and bake. Most of the recipes I found online said to bake at 300 for a little over an hour. But after about 40 minutes I checked on it and realized that would never work. So I upped the temperature to 325. It was in the oven for about 2 hours. ...It did come out a bit mushy, but surprisingly incredibly tasty!
• Oh and the best part: I topped with mozzarella, but didn't have quite enough so I grated lots of fresh Parmesan on top. (The good stuff, from work.) And then crumbled bacon!! This really made it.

I served it with salad & bread (rustic bread with prosciutto and provolone baked in).

*No photo... It's not exactly the most attractive dish. 

Pears & Gruyere from The Piemaker

One of my favorite shows is Pushing Daisies.
It only made it to two seasons, of course. (That always happens with favorites, right?) This show had a personal, hidden danger though: It made me want to bake. Pies. All the time. For a while I was convinced that I could even open a pie shop (like the Pie Hole, as in shut your) and bake pies and delicious treats all the time. Maybe some day...

One of my favorite pies I've baked was inspired by this show: a pear & apple pie with Gruyere baked into the crust. (Apple pie with cheddar in the crust is also great.) And yesterday that particular mood struck again, but I wasn't really into the idea of a buttery crust, so I created something new...

The Facts Were These:

• 6 Anjou Pears (peeled & thinly sliced)
• Flour (as usual, I used white whole wheat)
• cinnamon
• ginger
• cloves
• oats
• brown sugar
• chopped & toasted almonds
• butter (only about 2 tablespoons & cubed)
• applesauce (au naturale)
• salt (a pinch)
• honey
• Gruyere cheese, shredded

1. Mix the pears with flour, cinnamon, cloves & ginger and a little brown sugar. (And some chopped candied ginger if you have it!) I really didn't measure at all... I was in a creative/experimental mood and was just kind of throwing stuff in. But if you've ever made a pie before, you'll have a good feeling for typical ratios. (And if not, just look a pie recipe or two and make your best judgement.)
2. In a separate bowl, prepare the crumbly topping: flour (about 3/4 of a cup?), oats (maybe closer to 1 cup?), brown sugar*, butter, applesauce (maybe about 1/2 cup, if not more), cloves, ginger & salt. It will get a mold-able (malleable?) kind of consistency.
3. In a greased baking dish or a pie dish, spread pear mixture over bottom. Sprinkle cheese over pears and drizzle with honey. Add almonds (however much you want) and top with oat crumble. 
4. Bake at 325 for about a half hour. 

*I ended up using a lot more sugar than I initially intended. But I think in order to get the right consistency for that crumble topping it needs it. I probably ended up using at least a half a cup. I'll measure next time -- this one is definitely a recipe to come back to and work on!

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Pardon Me Vinaigrette

If you don't have one already, you really ought to invest in one of these:

They're in the grocery store and it even comes with a packet or two of that delicious Good Seasons salad dressing mix. And if you've never made your own vinaigrette before, just follow the directions on the box and you'll realize how easy it is to substitute your own ingredients. Like this one for example:

• In your bottle, shake together (or whisk in a bowl if you really aren't going to get one, sheesh) a couple spoonfuls of Grey Poupon, a squirt of honey, a generous shake of sage, a little garlic powder & black pepper with white wine vinegar (I also used apple cider vinegar... good, but not as awesome). The amount of vinegar should be a bit above the line marked on the bottle since the mustard takes up more volume (yeah, volume... right?) than just a packet of seasonings. 
• Add a little dash of water and your olive oil. The ratio for these two can change to fit your own health requirements and consistency preferences. Give the bottle one more good shake to combine (or a few good whisks) and you're done!

**Tastes best served over salad with the following ingredients:

• romaine lettuce
• arugula
• carrots
• cucumber
• red onion
• chicken (browned with sage & garlic)
• sliced strawberries
• sunflower seeds

Carrot - Apple Muffins

 
As I perused various cooking sites in the world of the Internets on Tuesday I had my eye out for a healthy muffin recipe. Many called for ingredients that I didn't have... raisins, cake flour, sour cream. So I got out a notebook and a pen and wrote my own. I actually wrote down amounts and measurements, combining aspects of other recipes I liked and making substitutions for the basic components of a muffin:

1. Flour (I used white whole wheat flour)
2. Sugar (I used honey)
3. Baking powder/soda (I used both)
4. Eggs (I used... well... eggs)
5. Fat (I used applesauce -- in place of oil)
6. Milk (I used yogurt)

With my basic ingredients decided I set out to create a new muffin. To relative success, no less.

What You'll Need:

• 1 1/2 c. white whole wheat flour
• 3/4 c. oats
• 1 tsp. baking soda
• 1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp. cloves
• 1/2 tsp. ginger
• 1/2 c. honey
• 1 egg
• 3/4 c. yogurt (I used plain with a dash of vanilla)
• 1/3 c. applesauce 
• 1 c. shredded carrots
• 1 c. shredded apples
• flax seeds (sunflower seeds would be good too)
• chopped candied ginger

Put it All Together

• Combine flour, oats, baking soda & powder, salt, cinnamon, cloves and ginger in a large bowl.
• Whisk together honey, egg, yogurt and applesauce.
• Fold in carrots, apples, ginger and flax seeds.
• Lightly stir wet mixture into dry. Don't over-stir or the muffins will come out dense. (And don't make my mistake: be sure to actually mix all the flour into the batter. I left a bunch of the flour mixture at the bottom of my bowl after I poured half the batter into the muffin pan, so half my muffins came out a bit... err... soggy.)
• Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. 

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