Roasted red pepper tapenade

On a late Fall yoga retreat our cook offered up a side dish she was calling "red pepper walnut pate." I was considering side dishes for Thanksgiving that could accompany our mushroom risotto and remembered that rich roasted pepper flavor and color. It was a big hit alongside every part of dinner, and made our next day lunch tacos super special. Here's what I came up with to please the crowd. This needs to be in the fridge at least an hour or two or overnight. It really was great the second day. Sorry I didn't get any good photos of this -- but next time I make it, I will upload them.

Roasted Red Pepper Walnut Tapenade

3 Roasted Red Peppers - peeled & seeded

3/4 cup of water

2-3 sesame rye crackers or 2 toasted slices of bread

1 clove garlic

3/4 cup toasted walnuts

3/4 tsp cumin

1.5 tsp paprika

1-2 tsp olive oil

1 Tablespoon balsamic vinegar

3/4 tsp coarse salt

1/2 tsp Black pepper

Break the toast/crackers into the water in chunks. You will be squeezing the water out of it after it soaks to add substance.

Pulse the garlic and nuts until crumbly. Add the spices and peppers and squeezed bread/crackers. Add the balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper and pulse until consistent in texture. Put it in a bowl and drizzle oil on top. Chill and enjoy!

Garlic Leek Soup

Cold weather in November and too many hard frosts in a row made it necessary to pull out all the remaining leeks in our small garden. As it turned out, this was way too many leeks to use up fresh so I chopped and froze some for later. I did use a large number of them fresh, along with many heads of homegrown garlic to make this warming, healthy, easy soup. It freezes very well too, and for those who will eat croutons, that dresses things up indeed! We put chopped onion greens on top - or even a drizzle of olive oil if you eat that.

5-6 medium leeks, washed, chopped

4-5 heads of garlic (@25 cloves), peeled & smashed

1 zucchini- chopped

1-2 teaspoons summer savory

1-2tsp dry thyme

1tsp black pepper (add to taste)

1-2 tsp salt (can be added to taste)

3-4 creamy potatoes chopped - Yukon gold or chieftain or other variety 

6-8 cups water 

Prepare leeks - slicing lengthwise to rinse between the layers and get all the dirt out! Cut off the tough dark leaves and save for making some other broth. Chop the more tender white and pale green parts and toss in a large pot with all the peeled garlic, zucchini, potato, herbs, seasonings and water. Bring to a boil, then cover and simmer for about 20-35 minutes until all is cooked thoroughly. Blenderize or use a wand blender until all is puréed smooth. That's it!

Parsnip Quinoa with Enoki

Quinoa is a versatile material for absorbing flavor and the texture is also flexible enough to replace a risotto as a main course. This was a variation that invoked cooking chopped vegetables with the quinoa-- adding more flavor and textural elements at the very end. It went beautifully with a lemon-ume plum treated broccoli and a quick anything goes miso soup! Here's the plan:

Parsnip Enoki Quinoa

1.5 c white quinoa

4 c water 

2 small sweet parsnips chopped small

1 medium onion finely chopped

3 cloves garlic minced

1 poblano pepper finely chopped & set aside

1 package Enoki mushrooms (chopped & set aside)

2 tsp fresh thyme, chopped or 1 tsp dry

.5 tsp white pepper or to taste (black pepper is on too but you will see it...)

.5-1 tsp sea salt

Put quinoa, parsnips, onion, garlic, salt & water in a good sized saucepan. Bring to boil uncovered and then turn way down to simmer with lid on for about 15-20 minutes.

Check on the absorption if water but don't stir. When water is all absorbed add the chopped poblano, white pepper, chopped enoki and stir in until the green flecks of pepper for the whole thing. Cover and let sit while you get everything else organized, and serve!

Lemon-Ume Plum Broccoli

Large bunch broccoli 

Half a lemon

Tsp ume plum vinegar

2 tsp Braggs liquid amino

5 cloves minced garlic 

2 tsp mirin

Steam the broccoli in medium sized branch pieces until just tender.

Put the lemon juice and garlic together and microwave 1-2 minutes or sauté just long enough to heat and soften the garlic.

Add all the other seasonings/sauces to lemon garlic and mix in with broccoli in a large bowl. 

Add seasoned tofu or mushrooms! 

Low Calorie Spaghetti Dinner: Squash it is!

Spaghetti squash is a delicious low calorie alternative to pasta that adds a crisp texture without  interfering with flavors of sauces or toppings. We first tried it with homemade torpedo onion sauce and brussels sprouts, and decided to try it again with garlicky broccoli raab and a store-bought organic tomato sauce.  Eating whole grains and vegetables does tend to make for a lot of cooking and I'm happy to find short cuts like a good jar of sauce. Today I tried Walnut Acres Organic Tomato & Basil because it is low sodium and fat free (yup, no oil!). It turned out to be a little sweet, and so I added a little salt and pepper on the plates. Preparation of the squash can be done ahead of time, since it does have to bake for an hour and is easily heated by pouring boiling water over it in a colander just before serving.  Use fresh herbs if you have them, but dried will do -- and season as you like best, taking into account the flavors in your tomato sauce.  You can definitely do without the tomato sauce if you want more green and less red.

And, I'm sure that garlicky chard would be just as terrific as the broccoli rabe, though go easier on the salt if you use chard. 680 calories for the whole thing and feeds 4-6 people! I've given separate nutrition facts for the main ingredients below, since you could use home made or different sauce, and spread this out for 8 people by having something besides a salad (like sesame zucchini or something) on the side.


Spaghetti Squash With Garlicky Broccoli Raab & Tomato Sauce 
A big bunch of broccoli raab
A good sized spaghetti squash
At least 3 cloves to a whole head of garlic
1 cup water
Jar of good tomato sauce
2 tsp salt
pepper
1.5 tsp oregano
1.5 tsp basil

1. You will need about an hour to bake the squash (prick it first a few times with a fork) at 375F.

2. In the 20 minutes or so of that, you can begin to water saute the garlic with herbs of your choice, wash and chop up the broccoli raab into 2-3 inch pieces to make it easier to eat in a normal mouthful. Toss the broccoli raab into the garlicky, salty, herby water and cover, stirring occasionally for about 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, heat your sauce by your preferred method.
4. Once the squash is soft to the touch (not mush though), you will pull it out of the oven and chop it in half long wise. With a fork, hook-lift-scoop out the seeds and then use the fork to scrape out the spaghetti like strands of squash flesh. You can definitely do all this ahead of time and then heat the squash just before serving by putting it in a colander and pouring boiling water over it.
5. Pile the squash spaghetti on a platter. You can cover this in sauce and then pile the garlicky broccoli raab on top, or pile the green on top and pour the sauce all around the base of the squash pile. Either way it looks beautiful -- and tastes great!

Here's the tomato sauce nutritional facts, according to their label 1/2 cup is a serving, but you might want more or less:

Walnut Acres Tomato & Basil Sauce Nutrition Facts (6 servings per jar) Serving Size: 1 1/2 cup Serving (125g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 40 2% Total Fat 0% Saturated Fat 0% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 20mg 1% Total Carbohydrate 9g 3% Dietary Fiber 1g 4% Sugars 7g 0% Protein 2g 4% Vitamin A 10% • Vitamin C 15% Calcium 2% • Iron 6% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs.

Here's a big squash - 1760 g before taking the seeds out! Makes about 8 cups "spaghetti" and less than 2 cups will fill the plate!

Squash, winter, spaghetti, cooked, boiled, drained, or baked, without salt Nutrition Facts  Total Squash: 8 cups (1240g) (divide for servings) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 335 17% Total Fat 3g 5% Saturated Fat 1g 4% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 223mg 9% Total Carbohydrate 80g 27% Dietary Fiber 17g 69% Sugars 31g 0% Protein 8g 16% Vitamin A 5% • Vitamin C 72% Calcium 26% • Iron 23% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs.

Here's about 480 g of broccoli raab, enough for 4 people as a main course:

Broccoli raab, raw Nutrition Facts Serving Size: 17 oz (482g) Amount Per Serving % Daily Value* Calories 106 5% Total Fat 2g 4% Saturated Fat 0g 1% Trans Fat Cholesterol 0% Sodium 159mg 7% Total Carbohydrate 14g 5% Dietary Fiber 13g 52% Sugars 2g 0% Protein 15g 31% Vitamin A 42% • Vitamin C 162% Calcium 52% • Iron 57% * Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calories needs. according to cronometer.com