YUM…I just love recycling food into other options…like roasting vegetables and making them into a frittata with roasted vegetables!…
vegetable
Split Pea Soup with Rosemary
Everyone knows I love soup, even on a hot summer day I can order or make a big pot of soup. I don’t need an excuse to make a pot and with all the rain we are experiencing in California, it’s given me an opportunity to explore new soups like this soup for Split Pea Soup with Rosemary.
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Vegetable Bean Soup with a Twist
With all the rain we are getting in California I had to make a homemade soup. I went to my favorite soup recipe box and made this vegetable soup with a twist…it was sooooo good I had to post it for you all to try!
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Quinoa with Grilled Vegetables – Paul Martins
I love quinoa (pronounced KEEN-wah), I have shared a few quinoa recipes here on my blog with you like healthy quinoa salad, roasted vegetable salad with quinoa and my quinoa and black rice cakes (one of my first posts ever). Today I am sharing a new quinoa recipe combining two of my favorites, quinoa and grilled vegetables. I was inspired to creating this recipe because of a visit to Paul Martin’s in Westlake Village, the manager, Paul, brought out the dish which I fell in love with…click here to read my review on Paul Martin’s.
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Roasted Vegetable Salad with Quinoa
I love rooted roasted vegetables in the fall which then leads into enjoying them for the winter. Usually when I make them I tend to use the roasted vegetables as side dishes, as a staple, I tend to use carrots, parsnips and brussle sprouts which I think is a pretty good combination. Recently I had a follower, Jim, send me their favorite recipe for roasted vegetables for the winter, it included beets and bok choy. I had never roasted bok choy so I thought this could be an interesting recipe to experiment with and it would allow me to explore something new, I’m glad I did. I do make an amazing beet salad, where the beets are roasted in the oven and I love that recipe so when I had seen that this recipe had beets I thought why not try it.
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Roasted Cabbage and Carrots YUMMY!
And here we go again…what was I thinking to roast cabbage? I wasn’t thinking, it just happened and let me share why I decided to roast my cabbage? You ready, I roasted my cabbage because I hate to throw anything away and when I saw I had cabbage in the refrigerator that was not crispy enough for my salad, I thought “why not try and roast it”…and let me tell you, I’m soooooo happy I did. Roasting the cabbage made the cabbage super sweet and simply delicious, it almost didn’t even taste like cabbage anymore!
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Amazing Roasted Green Beans with Mushrooms
MmmmmmMMMMmmmmMMMMm….that’s about all I can say when it comes to roasting vegetables (although a great bbq works for vegetables as well), especially in the winter. If you have ever eaten at my house, you would know that I love to roast vegetables, I do it all year long. In the summer I do a lot of bell peppers, zucchini, eggplant and onions, in the fall I do all the rooted vegetables and in the winter I do broccoli, cauliflower and green beans.
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Healthy Roasted Chicken with Vegetables
Rapini with Garlic
It’s “tasty Tuesday” and I’m gonna tell you all about Rapini (also known as Broccoli Rabe)…are you familiar with rapini? Rapini is something I grew up with and I just love, love, love love it. It’s definitely has a unique flavor and you may even say it tastes bitter. I will explain how to remove that bitter taste later on so make sure you read the whole post if you are brave enough to make rapini.
I remember when we first moved from Connecticut to California my mother and a cousin would “find” these open fields with rapini growing wild, we’d all get out of the car and quickly cut as much as we could before we would rush off. I would saute some and make a “pizza pocket” type of a snack out of the rapini. What I mean with regards to the pita pocket is is that I would roll out some dough, put some of my rapini (the way I’m demonstrating today) and then fold over the dough, seal it and bake it. It was something my grandmother would make for us growing up and I still make and love today. I made this dish as part of our Easter dinner as I love the way it compliments ham. You can also make some and throw it over pasta…OMG it’s so good that way!!!
Ok for my recipe, I used 2 bunches of rapini from the market (when you are buying rapini, do not buy the bunches that have yellow flowers as that means that the plant is older and more bitter and if the market doesn’t have any without the flowers, I’d pass on buying it). Rapini is like spinach when you cook it, starts off looking like you will have tons and then as it cooks, it withers down to nothing. So if you are trying it out for the first time, you can purchase 1 bunch but be prepared you will not have an abundance.
Anyway, I took my first bunch and cut off the ends from the bottom of the stems, I then cut the rapini into 1 1/12 inch pieces
I wash it in my sink like I would lettuce and remove as much water as possible.
I then put my oil in a pan and add my red pepper flakes
I walked away for like a second and ended up burning my first batch lol so lesson learned…don’t walk away!
I basically cleaned out my pan and started over by putting my oil in my pan and then the red pepper flakes, I then added my chopped garlic
be careful at this next step…I then I added my rapini to my pan…see how high it starts out?
In 5 minutes of cooking it
5 minutes more
and when it’s completely cooked…and remember I did 2 bunches
If you find that the rapini is too bitter for you, you can boil it as boiling it will remove most of the flavors and nutrients. If you boil it, I would recommend putting olive oil, garlic, salt and red pepper flakes on top and serve.
I hope you enjoy!
Ingredients
- 2 bunches Rapini
- 2 tablespoons Canola oil
- 1 teaspoon Red pepper flakes (more or less to taste)
- 2 teaspoons Garlic, chopped
- salt to taste
Directions
- Cut your rapini into 1 1/2" pieces and wash thoroughly.
- In a fry pan, put your heat to high and add your oil and red pepper flakes (watch it or it will burn), add your garlic. Add your cut rapini and cook uncovered for 4-6 minutes.
- Toss your rapini and cook for an additional 4-6 minutes.
- Toss again, cover and cook until it's tender. Can be served hot or cold.
Pesto Stuffed Mushrooms
This weekend we were invited to a friends house for a birthday celebration, I was asked to bring an appetizer…so, I was thinking, what can I bring that would be easy, delicious and different. I have found that most stuffed mushrooms are stuffed with a mixture of Parmesan and bread crumbs.
I found a great recipe using pesto and thought I’d go that route and I have to say…no was was disappointed! While the recipe recommended making your own pesto, I was short on time and just used store bought pesto from Costco and it worked out just fine.
This recipe was so simple to make…my daughter even helped.
Here they are pre baked…
And here they are on a platter, I used some basil as a garnish.
Ingredients
- 30 small Mushrooms, cleaned, stems removed
- 1 cup Pesto sauce (I used prepared pesto sauce)
- 4 oz Parmesan cheese
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- While your oven is preheating, clean your mushrooms using a brush, do not wash them...remove the stems and place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Place a small dollop of the prepared pesto into each mushroom cap. Place in the preheated oven and bake for 15 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and place the cheese on top, place back in the oven and bake for 2-3 minutes more to melt the cheese.