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. 

Caramelized Onions and Fusilli

As tasty and satisfying as this meal came out, it was born in disaster...

It all began at Jamba Juice on 5th Avenue on Tuesday, March 29th. Despite working so close, a half hour break still doesn't leave much of a window to order lunch, wait for it and make it back to work in time -- nevermind actually sitting down and eating it. But I tried. I got to work at 7 a.m. (yes, I had to get up before 6!) and was already looking forward to 12:00 because I had already decided to try out the oatmeal at Jamba Juice. I organized all the bread and filled baskets and blah blah, let's fast forward to 12. I rushed downstairs to grab my coat and purse, fumbled with the lock on my locker and the frustration started to build. Forgetting to clock out, I made it outside. I power walked across the street to Jamba Juice and at about 12:08 I found myself in front of the menu, confronted with too many choices, as usual.

"I'll have an oatmeal with fresh bananas and a 16 Orange Carrot Karma."

"We're out of carrots."

"Uhhhhh...." My eyes robot-scanned the menu again and fixed onto the all fruit choices. "Mega Mango, then," I sighed with disappointment.

I waited in line with the suits for the guy behind the blender to call my name. Finally. I sat down with about 10 minutes to have my lunch. I opened my newest issue of Cooking Light anyway to find something for dinner -- something I could make without shopping again. I pretty much decided on the first recipe I found: Fusilli with Caramelized Spring Onions and White Wine.

With dinner hastily decided, I shoved the last bite of (wonderful) oatmeal into my mouth and left with my Mango in hand. I had about 3 minutes to get back to work. With my eyes on the approaching walk signal, my pace quickened on the sidewalk. Then the disaster happened. My Jamba Juice slipped out of my hand and splattered onto the sidewalk. For a split second I contemplated picking it up and saving it to transfer to another cup. But in that split second it continued to pool all over the pavement. I looked up, devastated. An older woman saw my pain and sympathized with my loss, "Oh! I'm so sorry!!"

My sadness quickly transformed to rage. I stormed back to work and fumed about my wasted $4 and my lost nutrients in the form of deliciousness. And what does this loss have to do with my fusilli and caramelized onions, you might ask? Everything. I was looking forward to cooking it and taking photos and taking my time -- a leisurely and enjoyable cooking night. But my Jamba Juice frustration still lingered when I began cooking and as soon as I began I found myself rushing and overly frustrated.

BUT nevertheless, it came out delicious and I will give you the rundown of my recipe. I made some changes from the original.

What You'll Need:

• bread crumbs 
• I made my own with leftover slices of Otto bread from work. Toasted, pulverized & mixed with a little olive oil, chopped garlic, salt and crushed red pepper. Then toasted in the oven for a few minutes.

• garlic: chopped or minced
• onions, thinly sliced (about 1 and a half... I didn't have spring onions -- just regular yellow)
• white wine
• chicken broth
• parmesan rind
• peas
• bacon
• whole wheat fusilli
• quinoa

Put it All Together:

• Caramelize your onions. Ideally, do it nice and slow and low with butter. This equals perfection. I didn't have the time or the patience for this so I used some water and then a little olive oil and sauteed until soft and browned.
• Add a couple cloves of garlic and the wine. Heat it up to cook off the alcohol. Add parmesan rind for flavor (don't eat it!). 
• Add chicken broth and reduce.
• Throw in your frozen peas to heat them all the way through.
• Mix in about a quarter to a third of your prepared quinoa (1 cup uncooked) and most of your pasta (from 1 box). Toss it all together.
• Serve with bread crumbs, grated parmesan and crumbled bacon on top.

And hopefully you can do it all with less frustrations than me.

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Pasta e Fagioli

This is one of my favorite Italian dishes... It's got everything delicious: beans, garlic, bacon, onion, pasta -- It's really hard to go wrong. Unless you're my grandmother. She takes this dish in a completely different direction. She uses Boston baked beans and some kind of tomato sauce... very strange. But this recipe is not red: I don't believe in red pasta e fagioli.

What You'll Need:

• quarter package bacon, chopped
• diced onion
• chopped carrots
• chopped garlic
• chopped celery
• olive oil/butter
• red kidney beans
• cannelini beans
• chicken broth
• sage
• basil
• bay leaves
• elbow macaroni 

Put it All Together:

• Heat a skillet and add bacon first. Cook it for just a minute or two, to give it a head start. Then add some olive oil and a little bit of butter, onion, carrots, celery and garlic. Allow vegetables to soften.
• Sprinkle a bunch of sage over veggies, black pepper, 2 bay leaves and a few basil leaves torn up.
• Take about a half cup of red kidney beans and half a cup of cannelini beans and puree them -- this will make the "soup" thicker. (I used an immersion blender because it's all I have and it's super easy.) Add chicken broth, beans and bean... mush. Bring it all to a boil, then turn down to a simmer.

• Add about 1/3 to a half box of elbow macaroni and cook until they reach desired tenderness. (I like more pasta and cooked really well... makes it less soupy and more dense.)
• Serve with grated cheese on top.

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Superior Meatloaf

3 Key Ingredients That Makes My Meatloaf Better Than Yours:

• Bacon. (Cooked and chopped and mixed right in AND right on top.)
• Barbecue sauce.
• Cheddar cheese (in the middle).

 Add these to your ground beef and you're all set. (Oh yeah... and don't forget 2 eggs, breadcrumbs, crushed garlic, diced onion, salt & pepper and some ketchup... there may have also been some paprika and crushed red pepper involved.) Serve with baked potatoes (with cheese and grape tomatoes -- sauteed mushrooms would have been a great addition, but unfortunately the boyfriend doesn't eat them so I rarely buy them, so when you make this meal have some for me) and broccoli.

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