Spinach Pesto and Piccolini Farfalle.....Superfast

Don't you just hate it when you have no fresh basil in the fridge and you're hankering for some pesto? Or when you go to the grocery store and a measly bunch is more than the price of milk? I have a solution that works okay. Can't spend money on pricey foodstuffs everyday..... :)

Spinach pesto fills the void for a basil pesto. A two minute sauce, super healthy, and tastes like a fresh Italian dream. Now you'd think pureed spinach would be nasty, but with the addition of some of that frozen basil you may have lying in those ice cube trays in the freezer, it turns into something wonderful. And of course this post being about NOT having fresh basil, you can used dried.

Another note about the cost of basil, I frequently buy it in packs at the Chinese grocery or small farmers markets. This variety they sell at my particular grocery store is a pungent, spicy variety that does NOT hold a candle to straight up big leaved sweet Italian basil. But there you go, the cost of money.......

Spinach Garden Pesto

• 3-4 cups lightly packed spinach
• 3 cloves garlic
• kosher salt to taste
• black pepper to taste
• 1 TB olive oil
• 2 TB toasted walnuts
• 1-2 cubes blended frozen basil (or 1/2c fresh or 1ts+ dried)

1. Now, take the above ingredients and blend them up together.
2. TaDa! You're done! Surprised? Too good to be true?

*NOTES:

*A quick easy way to toast walnuts is to just microwave them. Watch them carefully, mine took about a minute and half.

*Top with Feta (my fave) or Parmesan.

Peppers - Grilled, Stuffed, Annhilated

Crisp, creamy, tangy, and mellow, I use these words to describe my stuffed peppers. All the ingredients in these peppers do NOT blend into one ubiquitous taste in your mouth, they stay their separate characters, so you get burst after burst of different tastes and textures. And I am proud to say this is my own recipe. Made out of desperation at the soggy stuffed pepper recipe of Giada De Laurentis (Food Network), who bakes hers in broth in the oven. Ugh! So lets begin, and hey, it's a fast recipe, you're quite welcome!

Stuffs Two Large Peppers:

• 1/2 c cous cous
• 1/2 c water
• 1 ts "Better Than Bouillon " or your choice of boullion or stock
• 1 tb extra virgin olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves chopped
• 1/2 small onion
• 1/2 c cooked chickpeas, then smashed (if using canned, microwave covered for 5 min)
• 2 c chopped mushrooms (I used my mushroom mix, Portabella, Beech, Cremini, and Shitake)
• 1/4 ts celery seed, heaping
• 1 c chopped spinach
• 1/2 ts dry mint
• 1/4 c to 1/2 c feta (I used 1/2 but I LOVE feta. Use the smaller amount, then add more after tasting the filling)
• salt
• dash of black pepper (very light hand of this please, very!)

CousCous is VERY simple to make, rather it makes itself. Microwave or heat the water and the boullion, and pour into the couscous. Cover immediately and set aside. That's IT. (Here are 2 brands if you can't find it in stores (though you should), Organic couscous, or Osem North African )

Turn heat on low and add oil and garlic. Sprinkle a bit of salt as well. After two minutes, add onions, (on medium heat now), stir for a minute or two, and add mushrooms and chick peas. Saute on medium high until mushrooms are softened, not mushy. You will want a bit of meaty bite to your dish. Turn gas off.

Take out your couscous and stir around, lightly with a fork. Add spinach on top and immediately your mushroom mixture. Mix until well everything is well balanced.

TASTE. This is very important now. Do you need more salt? All bullion's are not created equal, and knowing that I deliberately do not tell you the amount of salt to add to your filling. Taste it, please. Add more feta if you'd like. Don't add extra mint as the sauce will introduce more.

SAUCE:

• 1/4 c heavy cream
• 2 ounces cream cheese
• 1 cube frozen pesto (or store bought OR simply a tablespoon of blended basil)
• 1 ts cornstarch
• salt (to taste)
• black pepper (to taste)
• 1/2 ts mint (then more if you'd like after you taste it)
• dash or two or oregano
• couple of dashes of garlic powder

Simply combine all, and microwave, one min high. You need to know, not all delectable sauces need low simmering and constant bending over a stove. This sauce will knock your socks off. Your welcome. Mix, until fully blended.

Add the above, tasting as you go. This is food that will go into YOUR stomach, YOU should like it. After you add my recommended amounts, if you find you'd like more mint or garlic go ahead!

Home Stretch:

Heat a frying pan with a ts of oil. Make it HOT. Cut the top off of a bell pepper (maybe 1/4 inch), take out the seeds and white parts. Sprinkle the inside with salt, crushed pepper, and garlic powder. Sprinkle the same three into the frying pan right before adding the pepper. Basically you will grill the pepper on each side on high heat until the walls begin to give a little, and the skin begins to char. Now it is totally up to you how much you'd like your peppers done. I like them crunchy, and I like the skin to develop some black marks. This is achieved by the highest heat possible on a stove.

Take your filling, fill the peppers. Add a dollop of sauce on the side, around your plate, on top of the peppers. Viola, done! The recipe may sound long, but I am trying to write so that people without much cooking experience can follow. I made these in about 30 min? :)

If you try these I'd LOVE to know what you think! Please comment!

Pizza Trio! A Dance in Italy.

What's better than piping hot homemade pizza? Why the pizza from your favorite pizzeria of course! I kid, I kid, but up until a few days ago, that was completely true for me. My homemade pizzas had a way of morphing into mass piles of toppings heaped onto a watery 'dumpling' dough or a dough so chewy, it felt like pizza flavored gum (NOT as nice as it sounds). But this time I teamed up with a fellow pizza lovin' cus, teamwork helps! Three types of pizzas in one night? No problemo. (Dough recipe from allrecipes.com, Phyllis's pizza dough).

• Baby Spinach Feta
• White Wonder
• Mushroom Craze
  

First of all, this does not take that long. Of course being homemade pizza, it does take more than most of my quickie recipes here. Consider this a Friday night dinner, the whole family will have fun joining in and spending time together. Now first you should know I made a quick recipe pizza dough, but it still came out beautifully. I have in mind an overnight dough for later, which I will compare and update you guys on.

• 1 package yeast
• 1 c warm water (not hot, just warm-ish
• 2 ts sugaR
• 2 c all purpose flour
• 2 tb oil (olive recommended)
• 1 ts salt
• Combine the yeast, water, and sugar. Let sit for ten minutes, get everything else together until then.

Add the flour, oil, and salt to your yeast mixture and either start kneading (for 10 min) or throw it in your stand mixer. If using a stand mixer, keep it on 2, use a dough hook, and let it rip for 5 -7 minutes. Using this dough recipe from allrecipes.com, I had to add extra flour as the dough was pretty unworkable. So go ahead and add tiny bits of flour until you get something workable. Let it rest, covered, and near (12 in) a medium flame on the stove top.

When the dough is doubled, turn on your oven, 450 F. If you have a Pizza Stone -
use it! I not being able to afford stones, bought four unglazed ceramic quarry tiles from a Lowe's Home Improvement store. Do make sure they are unglazed. And place on the bottom rack in your oven. I will give a link for a good Pizza Stone as well.

Using a sharp knife, cut the dough into 2 pieces, be gentle. Take a piece and start to shape it into a round pie. By using your fingertips and pressing and gently (gently) stretching at the same time. (1/4 inch thick is good) Take your little pizza and lay into a heavily cornmealed sheet. Bake in the oven for 3-4 minutes. Take out and add sauce and toppings. Be gentle with both, I know it is tempting but I have finally learned my lesson. After ripped and wet pizzas, one after the other. Ideally, make or buy a pizza sauce, they are thicker than bottled. Or boil your bottled sauce until it becomes thicker. In a pinch go ahead and used bottled, it just wont be as good.

WHITE WONDER

• Layer mozzarella down (no red sauce in this one guys, don't worry it is AMAZING)
• Next add some baby spinach leaves, a packed cupful is good.
• Throw small 'blobfuls' of ricotta on top, randomly, all over the pie.
• Throw feta all over the pie, the amount depends highly on your preference.
• Lightly sprinkle with salt, and black pepper.Place the pizza directly on the stones (or keep it in your tray)
  

MUSHROOM CRAZE

• Saute a cupful of chopped, Shitake, Cremini, Portobello, Button, and Beech. Now obviously guys you can use any mushrooms you want. These are what I happened to pick up at the Chinese Grocery (aka mushroom heaven). Add salt and black pepper, a bit of rosemary can be good too.
• Spread your pie with sauce, mozzarella, and then mushrooms.

BABY SPINACH and FETA

• Spread your sauce.
• Your mozzarella, or mix in some Parmesan and other cheeses - if you're wild :)
• Add well packed cupful (or 2) of spinach and sprinkle with feta.
• Sprinkle pie with olive oil, and a bit of salt.
• Bake your pizzas (right on top of your stones) until the cheese is melted, and bubbly. The recipe I gave was for two medium pizzas.

Nixed Beef Bean Tacos

It's a twenty minute dinner, chop a salad, nuke some beans, add salsa and get ready to rip. Okay, well the ripping will come later.....unless you had the foresight to take a beano. I rushed around the house in my jammies to get this dinner ready. Why? Burn Notice (that's a show) is addictive, what can I say?

P.S My method for tacos is ....er, dashes. You know every time you shake what god gave you........the spice sprinkler?

• 1 can kidney beans
• 2 dashes Taco seasoning
• dash of salt
• 6 dashes of oregano (or italian seasoning)
• 3 dashes of crushed pepper
• 5 dashes of garlic powder
• Bowlful of chopped salad, (cukes, onion, tomato, bells, carrots, green onions)
• Bowlful chopped lettuce
• Salsa

Mix all of those ingredients together into a bowl (excluding the salad, lettuce, and salsa), add 2 TB of water and nuke on high for 5 minutes. Keep them covered or you will get crunchy beans. While they are cooking get your salad ready.

When your beans are done, mash them until slighty creamy/slightly still in whole pieces. Microwave two taco shells for 30 seconds (all microwaves differ from each other), watch your shells like a hawk, these babies burn in.05 seconds. One sec they are a sizzling golden yellow, and the next a burnt ridge peeks over the taco shells bum. Spread your bean mixture on one side of the taco (pick a wall), add a TB of salsa to the bean side spreading well, then add your salad, and lastly lettuce. You can add cheese, but beans create such a creamy texture you might not even want it anymore!

Another Non-Fried Springy Roll

Tonight, after 'eveningdreaming' of amazing fresh spring rolls I would make with the ingredients I was to lazy to go and buy, I fell sick and had a *huge* headache. The timing was perfect as I was in the middle of making these rolls. Again, I had no green onions, nor had I tofu; both of these ingredients I would have used had I had them. If I hadn't fell deathly sick for an hour tonight I might also have mustered up the energy to add fresh cilantro leaves, and fresh mushrooms. These were QUICK, like a 30 min Rachel Ray type dinner, healthy and tasted good. (Side Note: NEVER take a tablespoon of Castor oil on an empty stomach even if your ex-lax doesn't work.)

• 1 TB olive oil
• 5 cloves garlic chopped finely (for those of you who hate 'garlic hands' buy a bottle of minced garlic
• 1 medium onion thinly sliced
• 4 or 5 pieces of black fungus (type of mushroom), rehydrated and cut into strips
• 2 cups cabbage grated instead of chopped for quickness
• 2 baby carrots grated
• 1/4 bell pepper thinly sliced long strips
• Stack of rice paper wrappers

Heat the oil, add the garlic and saute for one minute.

Add the onion and fungi(mushroom), and saute till onion is slightly soft. Don't worry about the fungi. :)

Add the cabbage, carrots, and pepper. Saute on high for 2-3 minutes. Take it OFF of the heat. Just put it on a cool stand as you do not want it to cook till it's mush.

SAUCE:

• 1/2 ts sesame seeds
• 1 ts Black Bean Paste
• 2 ts mushroom soy (I use Chings (not online) but this has good reviews, Pearl River Mushroom Soy
• 2 ts sushi vinegar
• few shakes of fresh ground black pepper
• 1/2 ts dry mint
• 1/4 ts grated ginger
• 1/2 Ts Huey Fong Sambal Oelek Chili Paste

Put together all the above ingredients in a small bowl. Mix and pour onto your veggie section. Mix well. Add salt to taste, as well as any other extras of the above ingredients. Make sure you use SMALL increments and taste as you go, every time you add something, taste it. This will help you learn what type of flavor is imparted from each ingredient. And as each family in America is different, you can have it "your way"!

Fill a large bowl with some hot water (tap, don't go boiling water now). Dip a wrapper in, make sure the whole thing is coated with water, and wait 30 seconds as it softens. Place on a cutting board. Take a few spoonfuls of filling and place on the edge nearest to you. (I had to slightly squeeze the filling before it was added to the wrapper-- it let 'leak' a lot of juices). Use my handy dandy diagram if you have never rolled a spring roll before. Place the filling where indicated, and fold section A over it. Then fold over section B, and C. Now just roll the whole roll away from you, pushing forward, onwards and upwards!!! (Okay maybe not upwards.)

Guess what, you're done.

Some notes:
-As mentioned above, I would definitely add chopped green onions to the veggies (during the cabbage stage).
-I would also think strips of fried or baked (my favorite method) tofu would enhance the flavor.
-You can add a handful of cooked rice vermicelli.
-Baby corn (chopped).
-Some strips of cucumber, added right before filling the rolls, would create a fresher taste and crunch.

I hope you guys like this recipe, it's one of those fast (and healthy) meals that create a spike in the dullness factor of 'everyday' dinners.

Threads: Mung Bean. Style: Chinese. Taste: Mmmmmm.

So tonight's quick dish was based on a Chinesey noodle craving. And of course it was quick, I never can plan ahead. Then when my stomach kicks in (literally) I scramble around in the kitchen and eat whatever quick unhealthy things are lying around in wait. Well today I resolved NOT to get sucked into "fat hole" and feed my cravings. Something with salty soy was beckoning me, something with crispy bells and nutty sesame seeds, and toothy cabbage and noodles. A really quick meal even though I didn't have everything I wanted for it, and it was still good! So here you are.

1 TS olive oil

a few grates of ginger

4 cloves of garlic, minced

Heat the oil, until hot. Then add the garlic and ginger, be sure to keep moving it around a bit. About 2 minutes on medium heat is fine.

1/2 cup finely chopped broccoli head

Stir around on high heat a min or two.

1/2 cup grated cabbage
2 grated baby carrots
1 small onion, thinly sliced long
1/2 c long sliced bell peppers, thin
Very light sprinkle of salt (tell you why later)

Turn heat on high and add the above. Move around your pan to prevent sticking and take off of heat in 2-3 minutes. You want your veggies crunchy not mushy.

1 cup cooked Mung Bean Noodles

Add your noodles.

Here is the tricky part, I forgot to measure. (LIAR!!) Okay fine. I was so hungry - I didn't want to waste my time with measuring spoons! Happy?! So from mind guesstimates.....

1 TS mushroom soy sauce (I use Chings but this has good reviews, Pearl River Mushroom Soy
1/2 TS Black Bean Paste
1/2 Ts Huey Fong Sambal Oelek Chili Paste
1 TS sushi vinegar
1/2 Ts Sesame Seeds

Combine all of the above. (If you cannot get any of these items at your local grocery store, I will try to link to what brands I use, or the next best.) Add a Teaspoon of water to dilute. Then add this mix into your noodles, stir it up fast. Your cabbage is not fully cooked and I do not want it to suck up the soy. If you need more flavoring, just mix up some in a small bowl and add to your noodles as you need it. Sometimes people like more or less soy, more heat, etc. I have tried my best from my memory. Oh and add more salt at the end if you need it, or you can just add soy as it is plenty salty.

Additions::
-I should not call this an addition as I would have added it had I had it, Green Onions Chopped, add with the veggies.
-You could add some bean sprouts.
-Some tofu.
-Some chopped baby corn.

The Baked Antimeat TexMex Pizza!

I made a fast (well faster than usual) Mexican pizza when a family member complained about being bored with his everyday health food. Now, I have always made my pizza by frying tortillas, layering sauce, cheese, and vegetables, and then nuking in the microwave just enough to melt the cheese. Let me tell you, those are some seriously GOOD EATS. Yes, the nuking part does not sound so 'gourmet cook', but then again what about Tex-Mex food makes you think that anyway?

This time, after seeing a BAKED Mexican pizza at my Aunts house, and thinking it couldn't possibly be any good (I was wrong BTW), I tried my hand at it. I, the perpetually lazy bum, had no tortillas in the house. Rather than run out and get some, I made homemade. No, don't try and make sense of this, you'll just confuse yourselves. The recipe itself is quick and easy, especially if you have a tortilla maker at home.

2c flour
1ts salt
1ts baking powder

Mix these together.

1tb butter or shortening

Cut into your flour mixture, until it resembles crumbles of something or other (think pie).

1/2c H2O

Add into the above, until you get a dough, cut into 8 parts. Then let it rest until you want to use it, minimum 30 minutes. Roll out 1/8 of an inch thick, and cook in a hot pan until they are as you want them. That's right, the way you want them. For my recipe today, I needed tortillas very soft and pliable as I was going to bake them anyway. So to each his own, if you're not going to cook them further, let them develop little brown spots. If you are planning ahead and making extras, I'd suggest keeping them on the 'whiter' side for extra pliability. Homemade tortillas can get crunchy hard in the fridge!! HINT: As soon as I made each one, I popped them into a Ziploc and sealed it shut. It helped with the moisture. Gave me 8 pizza skins (tortillas).

RESULT: This tortilla recipe yielded soft tortillas.....until I baked them and sat down to eat. They were a bit on the chewy side. I guess it is because I kneaded the dough quite a bit (and you're not supposed to!). So learn from my lesson. I will try this recipe again to see if it was the kneading or the recipe itself.


After this, I chopped up a bell pepper, an onion, a can of black olives, and half a tomato. I shredded a blend of mozzarella with cheddar and a bit of pepper jack. I also made the beans in the microwave whilst doing all of the chopping.

For the beans,
I tore open three cans of kidney beans, drained & added
taco seasoning
salt
dry oregano
garlic powder (liberal dose)
dry red flake pepper or crushed
dry basil
onion powder

All these seasonings were used with the "taste and shake" method. Shake a bit on, mix your beans and taste. Add more of the seasoning YOU find wanting in your dish. Simple! After this I nuked the beans for 5 minutes, and afterwards mashed them with a potato smasher/masher/musher/smusher?

Now the ending, I baked all the tortillas in my oven until they started to get crunchy. A piece fell off, into the flame grate and I inhaled massive amounts of buttery tortilla smoke. Anyway, spread the beans on the first layer, 2 TB of sauce or a smooth salsa (like chipotle), sprinkle some of your veggies, cheese, another tortilla, more cheese, and then finally some veggies again. Bake this until the cheese starts to bubble, 15 minutes and onwards at 350 degrees.

Serve with sour cream, guacamole, salsa, and a nice green salad to offset that cheese.