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Category Archives: Vegetarian

Quick and Tasty Chicken, Sausage and Peppers

23 Aug

While I have a few minutes of a break for lunch before starting up work again, I thought I would just pop in and give the recipe I made for dinner last night. I had seen this recipe on Food Network’s website and it sounded perfect for a weeknight meal when you need something quick and easy. I altered it slightly, changing up the kinds of peppers used in the recipe, but other than that I stayed pretty true.

Chicken, Sausage and Peppers

2 tablespoons butter

3/4 pound sweet or hot Italian sausage, cut into chunks

3/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into chunks

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

1 small onion, chopped

2-3 peppers of various colors, cut into 1-inch pieces

3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped

1/2 cup dry white wine

3/4 cup chicken broth

1/4 cup roughly chopped fresh parsley

Heat 1 tablespoon of the butter in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add the sausage and cook until golden, about 2 minutes. Season the chicken with salt and pepper., then toss the chicken with the flour in a bowl to coat; add the chicken to the skillet and cook until golden brown but not cooked through, about 3 minutes.

Add the onion, peppers,garlic, 1/2 teaspoon of salt, and pepper to taste and cook for 3 minutes. Add the wine, scraping up any browned bits; bring to a boil and cook until slightly reduced, about 1 minute. Add the broth and bring to a gentle simmer. Cover and cook until the sausage and chicken are cooked through, about 5 minutes.

Transfer the chicken, sausage and vegetables to a platter with a slotted spoon. Increase the heat to high and stir the parsley into the skillet.; boil until it is reduced by one-third, 2 to 3 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the remaining 1 tablespoon of butter. Pour the sauce over the chicken mixture.

I served the meal with some white rice to round things out. For the peppers, I had bought a variety of colored peppers at the farmers market – red, orange, yellow, purple and white – so I used them all to make it more colorful. I would use whatever type of peppers you like best; if you want ones that will add some heat, get them and use them here and then use hot Italian sausage in the recipe.

That’s it for today. I have a doctor’s appointment this evening so I don’t think there ill be an organized meal tonight. Check back tomorrow and see what I’ve got. until then, enjoy the rest of your day and enjoy your meal!

 
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Posted by on August 23, 2012 in Cooking, Dinner, Pork, Poultry, Vegetarian

 

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What a Crock (of Cream of Broccoli Soup)!

15 Mar

Well not quite a crock, but at least it’s a nice pot of cream of broccoli soup. There are lots of recipes for different cream of vegetable soups, and they all seem pretty much the same to me. You basically cook the vegetables you want until they are done, puree it and re-heat it with some cream. This recipe, which I got from Mark Bittman, does a slight variation that seems to taste better to me. He uses a little more cream and adds either some white rice or a potato to the soup to help make it thicker and creamier. You can choose to leave the rice or potato out of the recipe if your like your soup with a thinner consistency; I personally prefer to have it thicker.

Cream of Broccoli Soup

4 cups broccoli florets

1/2 cup white rice or 1 medium baking potato, peeled and cut into quarters

4 cups chicken, beef or vegetable stock, or water

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups cream or half-and-half

Chopped fresh parsley leaves for garnish

Combine the broccoli, rice (or potato) and stock in a large, deep pot over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat to medium and cook until the broccoli is very tender, about 15 minutes. Cool slightly, then puree through a food mill, blender or food processor. (At this point, you may refrigerate the soup, covered, for up to 2 days; re-heat before proceeding).

Return the soup to the pot and re-heat over medium-low heat. Sprinkle with salt and pepper, then add the cream. Heat through again, garnish, and serve.

Just a couple of notes about this soup. I am using homemade chicken broth, but any broth or even water will do nicely. For a soup like this, homemade broth doesn’t really make a huge difference since it’s not really the star of the meal, and if you’re going with a vegetarian meal, use vegetable stock or water. As far as pureeing soup, I think the blender probably works best of all your options. It reduces chunky ingredients into a smooth consistency very quickly. I often use the food processor myself for this, but be sure you only fill the food processor half-way to prevent the soup from leaking out of the bowl. Food processors don’t usually have a watertight seal like a blender, so be careful. Another option for this would be to use the immersion blender, which I also use often for soups. You can place it right in the pot, eliminating the mess created by using the blender or food processor. The only downside to this method is that the immersion blender doesn’t give you quite as smooth of a puree as a blender or food processor.

I’ll be serving a crunchy loaf of bread I got at Adams Farms this morning, and that’s all we have for this meal. Tomorrow’s meal is another one pot meal that I’ll be doing. It is Artichokes, Potatoes, Garlic, Olives and Shrimp. It’s something different, our seafood meal of the week, and cooks like a stew. It should be a good one. Check back tomorrow to see what it’s all about. Until then, enjoy your day and enjoy your meal!

 
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Posted by on March 15, 2012 in Cooking, Dinner, Equipment, Soups & Stews, Vegetables, Vegetarian

 

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Flipping Over Some Fettuccine Alfredo (Or Some Crab-Stuffed Trout)

08 Mar

Today’s dinner is the meat free meal of the week. Sean Michelle are going totally meat free by having Fettuccine Alfredo. I, on the other hand, not being a fan of pasta or cheese, am making a Crab-Stuffed Trout for myself for dinner with some white rice and cauliflower. First, the fettuccine. If I had the space to do it, I would like to make my own pasta.Unfortunately, our kitchen is the size of a closet and we only have 1 counter to do any work on, so I can’t do it. I did buy some fresh pasta from the store though, so it should taste better than the stuff in a box.

Fettuccine Alfredo

2 cups heavy cream

Salt

1 pound fettuccine

2 tablespoons butter

2 ounces Parmesan cheese, grated (1 cup)

Pinch nutmeg

Pepper

Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot for the fettuccine. Meanwhile, simmer the cream in a large skillet over medium heat until it has thickened slightly and measures roughly 1 1/2 cups, about 8 minutes. Cover and keep warm off the heat.

When the water is boiling, stir in 1 tablespoon of salt and the fettuccine. Cook, stirring often, until the pasta is almost tender but still a little firm to the bite. Reserve 1/2 cup of the pasta cooking water, then drain the fettuccine and return it to the pot.

Whisk the butter, Parmesan, and nutmeg into the cream and season with salt and pepper to taste. Add the sauce to the pasta and toss to coat. Add the reserved cooking water as needed to loosen the sauce before serving.

Michelle and Sean will be having some crunchy bread with their pasta and some of the cauliflower as well. It’s a simple dinner and only takes 20 minutes to make.

For the trout, I’ll be using a whole trout, with the head and tail cut off. If you’re stuffing the trout yourself, make sure you check the trout for any pin bones on the flesh before you stuff and cook it. I scaled this recipe back since I am only making 1 trout, so adjust it accordingly for your own use.

Crab-Stuffed Trout

1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup celery, diced

1/4 cup onion, diced

1/4 cup mushrooms, diced

1/2 cup lump crabmeat

1/4 cup breadcrumbs

1/2 teaspoon pepper

4 fresh trout, cleaned and de-boned

1 lemon, cut in wedges

Parsley, for garnish


Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Melt 1/4 cup of the butter in a heavy, non-stick skillet over
medium heat. Sauté celery and onions about 5 minutes or until celery the is soft. Add mushrooms and cook another 5 minutes. Stir in the crabmeat and breadcrumbs. Mix thoroughly. Season with salt and pepper to taste.Remove the mixture from the heat. Using a spoon, fill each trout with the mixture so that both sides of the trout almost come together. Place the trout on a buttered cookie sheet. Dot the top of each trout with the  remaining butter. Bake about 20 minutes or until the fish flakes easily with a fork. Serve with lemon wedges and garnish with the parsley.

As I said before, I am serving this white rice and cauliflower, but this would also go nicely with some wild rice. For tomorrow, it will be fish for all of us for dinner on our fish Friday. I’ll have to check out what looks good at Adam’s Farms to determine what the fish will be, so check back tomorrow to see what I’ll be cooking. Also, I hope to have next week’s menu in place so I can share it on here tomorrow. Until then, enjoy this beautiful, warm day if you are here in New York and for everyone else, just enjoy your day!

 
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Posted by on March 8, 2012 in Cooking, Dinner, Pasta, Seafood, Vegetarian

 

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A Couple of Meat-Free Meals

01 Mar

Yesterday was our meat-free meal day, and we actually had two ideas for the meal, one I had planned, and then one my sister-in-law had suggested that sounded really good as well. My idea was Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions. it’s a great one pot meal, completely vegetarian if that’s what you are looking for, and very filling and satisfying.

Lentils and Rice with Caramelized Onions

3 tablespoons olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped, plus 1 large or 2 medium onions, halved and sliced

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1 teaspoon ground cumin

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

2 cups lentils, washed and picked over

6 cups water, vegetable, chicken or beef stock (your preference), warmed

1 cup long-grain rice

Chopped fresh parsley for garnish

Put 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large, deep saucepan over medium heat. When hot, add the chopped onion and cook until it begins to become tender, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, and some salt and pepper and cook for 3 minutes more. Add the lentils, stir, and add 4 cups of liquid. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the lentils begin to soften, about 20 minutes. Add enough of the stock or water so that the lentils are covered by about an inch of liquid. Stir in the rice. Cover and turn the heat to low.

Meanwhile, put the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. When hot, cook the onion slices, stirring frequently, until they are dark brown but not burned, about 15 minutes. Scoop out the onions and let them drain on paper towels while you finish cooking the lentils and rice.

Check the rice and lentils after 20 minutes. When both are tender and the liquid is absorbed, the dish is ready. If the lentils and rice are not tender, add more liquid, cover, and cook for a few more minutes. If the rice and lentils are soft and there is much liquid remaining, raise the heat a bit and cook, uncovered, stirring, until it evaporates. Taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary and serve, garnished with the caramelized onions and parsley.

The lentils and rice make for a very hearty meal. The second meal for meat-free night is Browned Cabbage and Noodles. Michelle loved the sound of this one so we thought we would give it a try.

Browned Cabbage and Noodles

3 pounds cabbage

1 tablespoon salt

1 1/2 sticks butter

3 tablespoons grated onion

2 teaspoons sugar

1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 pound broad noodles, cooked and drained

Wash the cabbage and grate very fine. Mix in the salt and let stand for 2 hours. Rinse, drain and dry the cabbage (you could skip this step if you wanted and just go straight to cooking).

Melt half the butter in a deep large skillet or Dutch oven. Mix in the cabbage, onions, sugar and pepper. Cook over low heat for 1 1/4 hours, stirring frequently. Add the remaining butter after 1 hour. Toss in the cooked noodles until thoroughly mixed with the cabbage. Cook over low heat for 5 minutes.

This recipe serves 6 to 8, so you can adjust the recipe down a bot if you are cooking for a smaller crowd, like I do. There’s not many ingredients in this one, but it does take some time to make it. It’s also a great one pot dish, and I really like those as it cuts down on the clean up afterwards.

So that was Wednesday’s meal, nice and easy. Check back later today for tonight’s meal of Sesame Chicken Stir Fry with Fried Rice and Steamed Vegetables. It promises to be quite tasty. See you later!

 
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Posted by on March 1, 2012 in Cooking, Dinner, Rice, Vegetables, Vegetarian

 

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Belly Up to Some Black Bean Stew

22 Feb

It’s our meat-free meal for this week and today is some Black Bean Stew. This is a hearty and healthy dish, full of fiber with the black beans and butternut squash.This is a vegetarian dish, so you don’t have to make any alterations if you are trying to keep it as a vegetarian meal. I am planning to make some biscuits to go along with this meal as well. I’ve made the biscuits before, so if you would like to see the recipe for them, you can check here.

Black Bean Stew

1 cup dried black beans

4 cups water

1 large yellow onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 small butternut squash (about 1 pound)

1 yellow pepper, seeded and diced

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1/2 cup lager beer, at room temperature

1/2 teaspoon salt, or more, to taste

Freshly ground pepper, to taste

Pick over the beans, discarding any misshapen beans and stones, and rinse well. In a large pot, combine the beans with cold water to cover by 3 inches. Soak for at least 4 hours or overnight. Alternatively, for a quick-soak method, bring the beans and water to a rapid simmer (but do not boil), then simmer for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat, cover and let stand for 1 hour.

Drain the beans, place in a large saucepan and add the 4 cups of water. Bring to a boil over high heat, reduce the heat to low, cover and simmer gently until almost tender but still quite firm, about 1 hour.

Add the onion and garlic to the beans, re-cover and continue to cook over low heat until the beans are tender, about 30 minutes more.

Cut the squash in half. Remove and discard the seeds, then peel the flesh. Cut the flesh into 1-inch cubes. Add the squash, pepper, oregano and beer to the pan. Raise the heat to medium and cook, uncovered, until the squash and beans are soft but still hold their shape, about 30 minutes. Stir in the salt and pepper. Ladle the stew into warmed soup bowls and serve immediately.

If you have the time to do the beans overnight, that’s probably the best way to go about it so they are ready to use the next day. This stew takes some time to cook, but I think it’s worth the effort for the taste you will get. It’s filling, tastes great, and makes the whole house smell good. Serving with the biscuits round out the meal nicely, but you could also serve this with a salad if you wanted to add something else to the meal.

There weren’t a lot of ingredients in today’s meal, but tomorrow has quite a few. I’ll be making Jambalaya tomorrow, and the recipe I use has 23 different ingredients in it, so I have my work cut out for me! It doesn’t take long to cook, it just has a lot of items in it so there is quite a bit of prep work involved. Check back tomorrow to see what’s in it. It is definitely worth it! Enjoy the rest of your day!

 
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Posted by on February 22, 2012 in Biscuits, Cooking, Dinner, Soups & Stews, Vegetarian

 

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Calling For Some Cauliflower Soup

15 Feb

After last night’s elaborate meal (which was very tasty by the way; there’s not much left in the way of leftovers- a little bit of soup and steak, that’s it), we get back to an easier meal today. Today’s Cauliflower Soup is our meat free meal of the week and promises to be quite delicious. This recipe is very easy and doesn’t have a lot of ingredients to it. You can make it in about 30 or 40 minutes as well, so it works well as a mid-week meal when things can get busy.

Cauliflower Soup

2 tablespoons butter

1/4 yellow onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 cups chicken broth

1 head cauliflower, trimmed and coarsely chopped

1/4 cup heavy cream

Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

1/2 tsp. paprika

In a large saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add the onion and garlic and sauté until nearly translucent, about 2 minutes. Add the broth and cauliflower, increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer gently, uncovered, until the cauliflower is tender, about 20 minutes. Using a food processor or blender, process the soup to a smooth puree. Return the soup to the pan. Place over medium heat, stir in the cream and re-heat to serving temperature. Season with salt and pepper. Ladle the soup into warmed bowls, sprinkle with the paprika and serve immediately.

This recipe doesn’t make a lot of soup (this one serves 4), so if you want more, you can always double the recipe. You could also easily use broccoli in this one instead of the cauliflower, if that’s your preference. The biscuits we made the other night would go well this meal, or a nice salad of some mixed greens to add to the soup and fill out your meal. Either would go well with this dinner.

Wow, that was a really quick entry today. One pot, quick cooking and easy clean up – just the way I like it! Tomorrow’s dinner will be Oven-Fried Catfish with rice and an Herbed Salad with a Champagne Vinaigrette. I plan to go to get the fish in the morning tomorrow, so hopefully they have catfish, or we’ll be changing up the meal tomorrow night with a different fish. We also be talking about the meal plan for next week tonight, so hopefully I will be able to put that up as well. If you would like your own meal plan to follow, print out the one I use right here:family_meal_planner. We’ll be making some good hearty meals over the next few days as we have Pot Roast on Friday and Roast Leg of Lamb on Sunday, so make sure you check in for those. They are going to be good. If you have any questions or comments or something you would like to see a recipe for, please leave me a not here or feel free to send me an email at IguanaFlats@msn.com. I hope you all have a wonderful day (it’s a little gloomy here in New York today, but not cold) and enjoy your meal, whatever it may be, this evening!

 
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Posted by on February 15, 2012 in Biscuits, Cooking, Dinner, Salad, Soups & Stews, Vegetables, Vegetarian

 

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Savoring Some Vegetable Soup

07 Feb

It’s hard to believe that it’s actually February based on how the weather has been here in New York. It’s been a beautiful day here, but we’ll pretend it really is winter and make some soup today. This soup is from Giada De Laurentiis on the Food Network. It looked really good when she made it, so I thought I would give it a try and it fit nicely this week since we needed something for our meat-free meal this week. This recipe for Rustic Vegetable and Polenta Soup has few ingredients, only takes about 20 minutes to make, and only uses one pot. We’ll be having some crunchy dinner rolls from Rockland Bakery with our soup tonight. Anyone who lives in this area of New York (and many other places as well) knows how good the breads and rolls are at Rockland Bakery. The recipe calls for instant polenta in it, which only takes minutes to cook and it adds a nice, creamy texture to this soup.

Rustic Vegetable and Polenta Soup

3 tablespoons olive oil

2 medium carrots, peeled and diced into 1/2-inch pieces

1 medium onion, chopped

Salt and pepper

2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons chopped fresh thyme

3 cloves garlic, peeled and smashed or chopped

3 plum tomatoes, diced into 1/2-inch pieces

2 medium zucchini, diced into 1/2-inch pieces

4 cups chicken broth (I am using homemade [remember the chicken from Saturday?], but store-bought low sodium is fine)

1/3 cup instant polenta

3 tablespoons butter, at room temperature

In a large saucepan or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, onions, 1 tablespoon of salt and 1 teaspoon of pepper. Cook, stirring frequently, until the onions begin to brown, about 6 minutes.

Add the parsley, thyme, garlic, tomatoes and zucchini, and cook for 3 minutes. Add the chicken broth and bring to a boil. Slowly stir in the polenta and cook until the soup thickens and the vegetables are tender, about 8 minutes. Stir in the butter and season with salt and pepper. Ladle into soup bowls and serve.

That’s a fast and easy meal (and it smells great by the way). This recipe is only for 4 servings, so if you want more, you could easily double the recipe to have extra for a bigger meal. With this meal, there is only 1 pot to clean, and the soup bowls, and that’s it, the meal is done, cleaned up and put away so you can go on with the rest of your evening.

I feel like I cheated today since there is hardly anything to write about with this recipe. Tomorrow’s recipe, another Sean choice, is Stir-Fried Pork with Peppers and Pineapple. I’ll be using pork loin for the meat and canned pineapple. The fresh pineapple just didn’t feel good, so I went with canned this time. Make sure you get the canned in juice and not syrup if you’re making this because you’ll need the juice as well. We’ll be making Fried Rice tomorrow night too to go with the meal. If you don’t want to make rice specifically for fried rice, if you have any leftovers from last night’s stir fry (or from any other meal you have had rice in), use that since it’s already cooked and chilled. If you have any questions, comments, suggestions or recipes you might like to see, please feel free to leave a comment and let me know. Enjoy the soup and all the extra free time you have since the meal cooks so quickly (I may get to read a bit tonight!) and check in tomorrow to see the next Sean meal!

 

 
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Posted by on February 7, 2012 in Soups & Stews, Uncategorized, Vegetables, Vegetarian

 

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