Cashew Cauliflower Curry

I love this combination.  It's colorful, has a lot of textures, is quick and easy, and I really love the cashews that bring out the nuttiness of a great brown rice.  I splurged on the Lundberg mixed whole grain brown and might not ever go back.  This curry could be made with any combo of veggies, but I do like the green beans and cauliflower.  I fried the tofu in some peanut oil tonight but it's kind of a pain and might go back to just stir-frying it.

Creamy Turnip Soup with Sausage

A slight variation on creamy potato soup, I used 4 turnips, chopped and boiled in homemade chicken stock, plus the leftover roasted veggies from the weekend.  The soup was a little bland, needing salt and pepper, but spicy chicken sausage added a bit of both texture and flavor, and warm bread was a great dipper for the soup.

Lentil Brussel Spout Stir Fry

I read somewhere that brussels sprouts have been selectively bred to be less bitter.  I don't know if it's true, but the sprouts we had tonight were crisp and fresh and toasted nutty and fantastic.  Lightly caramelized with some tiny new potatoes and black lentils, with a sauce of mint and Greek yogurt, plus almonds and dates sprinkled on top.

Thomas wasn't interested, but he's not feeling 100%, and Andrew fought on principle, but the adults were happy and have big bowls for lunch tomorrow.

Salmon Burgers with Summer Salad

These burgers turned out fantastic, despite being a total improvisation.  A pound of salmon, a little bread crumbs, some bottled teriyaki sauce, and a spin in the food processor.  I lightly coated the outsides with bread crumbs before pan-frying them.  They were great on thin sandwich buns with some lettuce, although I might add a little sauce of some sort to the sandwiches.  Teriyaki mayo of some sort? Wasabi mayo?  Just a little teriyaki thickened up?

The salad was also great, very light and summery and nice after a hot few days.  Cucumbers, tomatoes, and radishes in a tahini-lemon-yogurt dressing, with cayenne, cumin, and garlic.

Spinach and Ham Casserole

This casserole was good, with a nice flavor and a good consistency.  It would be easy to prepare and assemble, then bake the next day.  It's a bit light on the vegetables - we ate the rest of the fruit salad to round it out, but maybe a side salad or adding some red peppers?

I used red onions and skim milk with a lot less Gruyere.  It was a bit less saucy than I think whole milk would have done, but it might also sauce up overnight.  I'm excited for the leftovers, as I think it all meld together well.

Milk-poached Tilapia

I saw a recipe suggestion for fish poached in milk and thought it sounded a little weird, but worth a try.  I just laid tilapia fillets in a 9x13 pan, sprinkled on some Old Bay and covered with milk (a cup? maybe a little more, enough to just cover the fish).  I baked it uncovered for about half an hour, flipping them about 20 minutes in.  The milk evaporated a bit, although not enough to thicken into a sauce.

They were good, a little bit buttery almost, but without a thick creamy feeling.  It might be good to bake them longer and let the milk boil off or to pour it off and reduce into a sauce.  I served it with some simple roasted potatoes and steamed carrots.

Spring Gnocchi

We're trying to take full advantage of the spring weather before this weekend's snow, so this was another bright, light dinner.  It didn't turn out quite as good as I had hoped, but might be worth trying again, with some modifications.  We also didn't make our own gnocchi, but the packaged ones are pretty good.  This was largely a bit of a trick of timing, so maybe that will help next time.

I put the proscuitto in the toaster oven to crisp and then started two pots of water boiling.  The larger is for the gnocchi and the smaller is just to blanch the peas.  I chopped and started sauteeing the shallots (in a large pan) while the peas blanched, and then drained the peas.  The peas went into the large pan and I tried to keep them stirring, then cooked the gnocchi.  Once they were floating, I threw into the large pan as well, and let them sautee as well.  This was tricky as I basically made a double-batch, maybe next time sautee in small sections.  I made (with Andrew's help) the lemon ricotta, which needed way more lemon, and sliced the cripsy proscuitto into pieces.

We plated it all with a scoop of gnocchi and peas, topped with a large spoonful of ricotta, and sprinkled some proscuitto, and served it up.  It needed salt and pepper, despite adding some during the cooking.

Shrimp Spinach Orzo Salad

Again taking advantage of the fantastic weather, this salad was light and summery and fairly easy to throw together.  We left about half the ingredients out, in the interest of time, thanks to once again spending too much time after work outside.

The ratios weren't quite right, and I think it would be better if it all set up together for a few hours or overnight.  It needed more dressing and the veggies should have been chopped a bit smaller.

Cook orzo.  Mix spinach, sliced cucumber and radishes and onions, and dress.  Drain orzo and rinse with cold water.  Grill shrimp with lemon juice and pepper.  Top salad with shrimp, crumble feta, and add in the rest of the dressing.

Not Pad Thai

Originally we were going to have pad thai tonight, as we tried it a few weeks ago and it worked fairly well (the trick was small batches).  But pad thai does require some prep work and with the time change combined with beautiful weather, we were a little pressed for time.  I had also grabbed a bag of microwave steam-in-the-bag veggies to boost the nutritional value, so I went a different route.

Instead, I just pan fried some tofu, mixed in the veggies, and softened the noodles in steaming water.  Then I mixed them into the pan and stirred it all together with some garlic, soy sauce, and lime juice.  It was good and quick and easy and easy to clean up.  Definitely something to try again, especially once the CSA veggies start rolling in.

Southwest Egg Rolls and Spanish Rice

While dinner did not look particularly noteworthy, it was pretty tasty.  Although these were written up as an appetizer, with a side of Spanish rice, they made a nice dinner.  If I consider this a trial run, this could probably be a good dinner for company.

The egg rolls were much easier than I had thought, and definitely something I'd try again, probably with a more typical Asian filling.  I used my favorite thing - chipotle cheddar- and black beans, frozen corn, and spinach.  These were spicy with a good heat, but not overwhelmingly so.

The Spanish rice was dry, but okay.  I made brown rice in the rice cooker and added a can of diced tomatoes and a couple tablespoons of cumin.  It wasn't saucy like the packaged stuff, but probably also not full of salt.  Worth some googling to see if someone has a better recipe.

Shrimp Picatta with Peas

I wanted something like chicken picatta, but without real meat (shrimp and fish don't count, in my version of vegetarianism) and so this super easy and bright dinner with hints of spring.  Which is a bit cruel as winter will probably last another month, or more.

Saute the (peeled) shrimp with a little garlic and oil, then remove while keeping the good juices in the pan.  We like it really piquant so I added just over a half cup of lemon juice and a small bottle of white wine.  Season with a little salt and pepper and parsley if you have it.  Meanwhile, cook small pasta (alphabets if you grocery shopped with a 3 year old) until al dente.  Scrape the bottom of the pan and then reduce the sauce to a thick, saucy consistency.  Add the shrimp back and coat and then mix in some peas.  Serve over the pasta.

The peas turned a bit of a murky canned-pea green, despite being good frozen ones.  I'd like to try either fresh peas (ideally from the pea pick at the farm in the summer) or steaming them first and adding in at the last second.  These needed to thaw in the sauce and maybe got overdone.  They tasted pretty good, despite my not liking cooked peas much.

It all came together nicely and quickly and was quite delicious.  I always forgot how much I like small pasta.

Hawaiian Pulled Pork

I was pleasantly surprised by how easy and tasty this turned out.  One (half-price!) pork tenderloin in the crockpot with bottled teriyaki sauce and a can of crushed pineapple.  Reminiscent of Natalie's family's party, but it worked quite well.  It was sweet and tangy and saucy.  We put it over the flatbread style buns and steamed some carrots on the side.

Veggie Calzone

Here's a nice alternative to pizza, that's not really any more work.

Make a simple pizza dough, rolled out into a rough circle.  Some tomato sauce, any toppings/fillings you want (this was leftover mushrooms, red pepper and some black olives) and a nice thick layer of mozzarella.  Fold in half, seal shut, and bake until the crust is cooked (not long, maybe 20 minutes?).  A bit hit all around, although I'm wary of how it'll fare for leftovers.

Stuffed Shells

 I love stuffed shells and hadn't made them in a long long time.  They're so easy, so versatile, and so good.

These were part of my "clean out the freezer" kick.  I had some leftover sausage with chopped peppers that I just mixed with a tub of ricotta cheese.  I cooked some shells and stuffed the mixture inside once they were cool.  Some marinara on top and they baked for half an hour or so, plus Parmesan to pass.  The outer shells were plenty hot but the ones in the middle were still just lukewarm.  Next time I'd do a little more veggie, a little less cheese, and a little longer in the oven.

Andrew ate three of these, and Thomas ate green beans for the first time!

Lentil Sausage Stew

Definitely not vegetarian!  This was thick and warm and a little spicey, and worth breaking a veggie streak.
I cooked hot Italian sausage meat (split open and remove the casings) and then took them out of the pot.  In the remaining fat I sauteed some onions, then added salt, pepper and thyme.  I added a bunch of sliced carrots and cooked the a couple minutes, but this is probably unnecessary.  Then added in diced potatoes and enough water to cover.  Cook 20 minutes or so, then add lentils.  I used red French and forgot they turn yellow-white.  Cook another half hour or until everything is soft and the stew is thick.  A little balsalmic vinegar and some more salt and pepper to taste.

Veggie Peanut Stir Fry

I liked this, but it needs some tweaking.

Vegetables  - tonight I used zucchini and carrots, cut into matchsticks.  Some whole wheat capellini and a Thai-flavored peanut sauce and it all came together quite quickly and easily.  I also threw in chick peas for some protein.

It was fine, but not anything to write home about.  Maybe different vegetables? Maybe marinating them?  The sauce should be spicier, I left out any heat because of Andrew and put Sriracha on the table, but no one used it.

Mexican Lasagne

This looked like a big pile of brown mush, but tasted pretty good, and the texture wasn't bad.

I layered salsa, tortillas, refried beans and then cheese (Monterey Jack and Cheddar), then again, lasagne-style.  Baked the next day until the cheese was bubbly and served with some homemade guacamole.  An easy, quick dinner that doesn't need to be made ahead, it's so easy.

Teriyaki Tofu

I made this up as I went, but it was very simple and pretty quick and worked out well.

Tofu, cut into small pieces, marinated in jarred teriyaki sauce and some water, then sauteed over high heat until crisped on the outside.  I reserved the marinade for sauce at the end, which is a nice feature of using tofu over meat.  I took the tofu out and then sauteed carrots and soy beans.  Throw it all back together with the reserved marinade and serve over rice.

Rice note: rinsing really does make a difference.  This was light and fluffy and not clumpy, after a quick rinse in the strainer.  I used 3C water to 1.5C brown rice and it was the perfect amount for dinner and leftovers.

Chicken Piccata

Served with farro and green beans, this was a very nice and simple dinner.  We used Giada's recipe again and it was excellent.  The reviewers said it had too much lemon, but we used a full 1/2 cup for three chicken breasts and thought it was good.  It was definitely piccata, too much for Andrew and his pursed face, but the adults liked it.

The farro was made with half chicken stock, half water and was great on its own, even better with the sauce.  The green beans were just steamed but rounded it out nicely.

Mushroom Tetrazzini

I tried Giada's recipe, leaving out the chicken to make this vegetarian.  It was a little bland, but some salt and pepper made it okay.

I thought I had a package of sliced button mushrooms as well as the portabellas, but I couldn't find them, so it was a little skimpy.  On the other hand, I wanted to use up some ice cream ingredients (cream and half-and-half) so I made the sauce from them, which made it nice and rich.  I switched out linguine with whole-wheat spaghetti (the protein kind).  Given the nutmeg in the recipe and the sweetness of the noodles, this made some people think it smelled like dessert.