Category — Recipes

This is an adaptation of a recipe from Clean Eating Magazine – it’s got an eclectic set of ingredients, but they work together well.  This is a fast, flavorful meal that will add flare to your weeknight repertoire.

Sesame Garlic Chicken, Spinach With Tahini Sauce and Roasted Peanut Quinoa

Tahini Sauce

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Place chicken on a foil-lined baking sheet.  With a sharp knife, make 3 slits in each chicken breast, taking care not to cut all the way through the breast.  Stuff the slits with garlic, dividing it evenly amongst the breasts.  Sprinkle each breast with salt, pepper and the sesame seeds.  Bake for 30 minutes, or until no longer pink.

Meanwhile, rinse the quinoa thoroughly with water and drain.  Combine the quinoa with the stock in a medium saucepan.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook until the liquid is absorbed, about 20 minutes.  Add the peanuts to the quinoa and set aside.

Prepare the Tahini Sauce:  In a bowl, whisk together the tahini, vinegar, soy sauce, agave nectar and 1 t. of water until smooth and combined.

Steam the spinach, either in the microwave or in a metal steamer insert for a saucepan.

To serve, mound a portion of quinoa in the center of each plate.  Arrange the steamed spinach around and on top of the quinoa and drizzle some Tahini Sauce over the quinoa and the spinach.  Place a chicken breast on top and serve.

Serves 4.

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For a while now I’ve been telling you guys to avoid canned foods because of BPA.  And I know that many of you rely on beans as a source of quick and healthy fiber and protein in your diets.  And I also know that Eden Organic brand is, right now, the only brand of canned beans that doesn’t use BPA in the liner.  So . . . how ’bout avoiding the issue altogether, while saving time and money?  Cook your own!?  I think that home-cooked beans taste worlds better than canned.

But I can hear you now . . . it takes time to cook beans yourself!  You’re here reading Semi-Sweet ’cause you don’t have loads of time.  I understand – most beans will take 1 to 1 1/2 hours to cook until tender.  But maybe this handy-dandy primer will help?  I’m also including instructions on how to freeze your own beans – so you could do up a big batch on, say, a weekend or weeknight when you’re hanging around the house (the cook time is largely unattended time) so you can eat some that week and freeze some for the future.  Do this a few weeks in a row, varying your bean selection, and voila!  You have a store of beans in your freezer that’ll rival anything you’ve had in your larder.   [Read more →]

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Happy Monday, friends – hope you all had a great weekend!  We’re busy busy busy over here at Chez Semi-Sweet.  The perfect storm of school events, Valentine’s Day and Chinese New Year, writing deadlines, oh yeah, and D. out of town, again = mama is over-freakin’-loaded.  It’s all I can do to keep everyone in clean undies, let alone develop ravishing recipes.

So, we’re hangin’ in with some old stand-bys and some non-recipes.  What’s a non-recipe?  Fage 0% with dried sweet cherries, sunflower seeds and Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Butter.  That’s a non-recipe.  Or cottage cheese with cracked pepper mixed in and an orange on the side.  Or a packet of flaked salmon with a little light mayo, curry powder and a sprinkle of salt and a grapefruit.  You get the drift.

But Friday, D. came home and I wanted a cooked meal.  You remember this frittata from a week or so ago?  It was good, but I wanted to amp it up.  This version, also with spinach and sun-dried tomatoes but with the cheese switched up and the addition of onions has been judged by D. to be “the best one ever” – I hope you’ll agree!

Two Cheese Spinach & Sun-dried Tomato Frittata  

Preheat the broiler to medium-high.

Put the sun-dried tomatoes in a bowl and cover them with boiling water – let stand for 10 minutes to soften, drain, and chop coarsely.

Fill a microwave-safe bowl with as much spinach as you can, cover (preferably with a glass lid and not plastic wrap!) and microwave for 1-2 minutes ’til the spinach is wilted.  Repeat with another batch of spinach.  Squeeze excess water out of the spinach, chop it coarsely, and set aside.

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-low heat and add approximately 2 T. of olive oil.  Add the the onion and saute until soft and translucent.  Remove the cooked onions from the pan and set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg substitute/eggs, a dollop of milk, the Parmesan cheese and some salt and pepper.  Add the sun-dried tomatoes, spinach and onions and stir. 

Heat another tablespoon of oil in your skillet over medium heat.  Add the egg mixture and cook, gently lifting the edges so that the runny egg on top can make it to the bottom and cook.  When the egg is fairly well set, but still damp on the top, crumble the goat cheese evenly over the top.  Place the pan under the broiler and broil until puffed, brown and bubbly and set – approximately 5 minutes or fewer.  Remove from the oven, let stand for 5 minutes, slice and eat!

Serves 2 heartily, 4 smaller portions, or 1 with leftovers for lunch the next day.  Would be nice with a tossed salad (more veggies, more veggies!) and a crusty loaf of bread on the side.

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I’m not sick of soup yet, and I hope you aren’t either.  While D. did request a “solid meal” when he returns end of week, even he’s been digging the soup lately.  And who wouldn’t?  They’re hearty, healthy, flavorful, warm, cheap and easy.  D. gets dinner made for him, most nights, but easy on me is easy on him.  ‘Cause as we say in our house, “if mama ain’t happy, no one’s happy.” 

This soup takes a bit longer to prep than the Slow Cooker Taco Soup I made the other day – but not too long.  It’s about 40 minutes of your time, total – that includes rolling up the little meatballs, which are so cute, and so tasty, you’ll be glad you made the effort.

Slow Cooker Escarole Soup With Turkey Meatballs

 In a large (mine is 6-qt.) slow cooker, combine the carrots, escarole and chicken broth.  Cook on low for 4 hours, making sure your escarole gets submerged in the chicken broth.  Meanwhile, in a large bowl combine the turkey, 1/3 c. cheese, breadcrumbs, Italian seasoning, eggs and some salt & pepper (best way to do this is with your hands).  Rinse your hands and fashion the turkey mixture into 1-inch meatballs.  Place on a plate or cookie sheet and cover.  Keep in the refrigerator until it’s time to place the meatballs in the soup.  After your veggies have cooked for 4 hours, carefully put the meatballs in the soup, recover the slow cooker, and cook on high for another 3 hours, until the meatballs are cooked through.  Stir and taste for seasonings, adding more salt and pepper as needed.  Serve topped with additional Parmigiano-Reggiano sprinkled on top.

Serves 6.  You could add some small cooked pasta to this just before serving if you like.  Good with a crusty loaf of bread, and if you’re L., slather that with LOTS of butter.  Mmmmmmm.

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I am, once again, faced with the issue of what to eat when the hubs is out of town.  I’m cooking for one, because as most of you know, my darling daughter does not eat most of what I prepare and blog about here.  Yes, a travesty, but also proof that it’s not necessarily modeling and exposure that gets a kid to strike out into new food frontiers.  Sometimes your kid is just a nuggets/pasta/plain tofu/pb&j homebody and there’s not a damn thing you can do about it.  That’s where I’m at.

So anyway.  Hubs gone, don’t want yogurt and cereal for dinner every night, so what to do?  Enter my buddy, the frittata.  You remember, I love the frittata, right?  It is one of those pull it out of your you-know-what moves that makes you look like a culinary superstar, even though you had NO earthly notion what you were making 30 minutes prior.  It’s genius. 

Wednesday night’s was delicious, and made entirely from stuff lolling around in my fridge and pantry.  Sort of a deconstructed lasagna frittata, only I didn’t add any leftover noodles, which you could do, if you had some and you were feelin’ extra fancy.  Though I’m not sure how I feel about pasta in my frittata.  I leave that to your discretion.

This is great cold or warmed up the next day for lunch, which is what I did with the second half.  And as always, if you’re not an Eggbeater/Nulaid/pasteurized egg white kinda person, by all means, use real, whole eggs in this.  It’ll be that much more luscious.

Deconstructed Lasagna Frittata

Preheat the broiler to medium-high.

Put the sundried tomatoes in a bowl and cover them with boiling water – let stand for 10 minutes to soften, drain, and chop coarsely.

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium heat and add approximately 2 T. of olive oil.  Add the spinach in batches, tossing it to wilt as you go.  Meanwhile, add the garlic to the pan too, and toss it in with the spinach.  When the spinach is wilted, remove it from the pan.

In a large bowl, whisk the egg substitute/eggs, a dollop of milk, the ricotta and some salt and pepper.  Add the sundried tomatoes and the spinach and stir. 

Heat another tablespoon of oil in your skillet over medium heat (maybe less, depending on how your pan looks).  Add the egg mixture and cook, gently lifting the edges so that the runny egg on top can make it to the bottom and cook.  When the egg is fairly well set, but still damp on the top, sprinkle the shredded cheese on top and grind more pepper all over the top.  Place the pan under the broiler and broil until brown and bubbly and set – 5 minutes or fewer.  Remove from the oven, slice and eat!

Serves 2 heartily, 4 smaller portions, or 1 with leftovers for lunch the next day.  Would be nice with a tossed salad (more veggies, more veggies!) and a crusty loaf of bread on the side.

And if you’re interested in more egg-based meal ideas, here’s a recent thread from Chowhound, jam-packed with ideas and inspiration.

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So right.  You’re trying to eat more vegetables in 2010?  You’re trying also to eat them un-creamed, without oozing cheese, etc. because maybe you’re also trying to be healthier and/or lose a few lbs.?  But aren’t those steamed veggies a little boring???  I think so.  Don’t get me wrong.  Sometimes you need to go hard-core and slam down some plain steamed broccoli with lemon juice, but most of the time, no.  If you’re counting calories or points, you can budget in a little sauce here and there, and let me tell you, it actually makes eating scads of greens . . . dare I say . . . enjoyable?  Here’re some ideas for pepping up your produce.

To Lightly Steamed Broccoli, Add

Dijon Vinaigrette:  extra-virgin olive oil, sherry vinegar, Dijon mustard, Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Sesame Vinaigrette: dark sesame oil, rice wine vinegar, soy sauce and optional chili oil for heat.

 Curried Mango Mayo:  mayonnaise, Major Grey’s chutney, curry powder.

Italian-Style:  Add extra-virgin olive oil to a large skillet and saute the broccoli ’til crisp-tender.  Sprinkle with finely grated Parmesan cheese and hot pepper flakes.  Optional – add a thinly sliced garlic clove to your oil and saute for 30 seconds before adding your broccoli.

To Lightly Steamed Green Beans, Add:

Yogurt & Tahini Sauce:  Greek yogurt, tahini, Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste and a drizzle of lemon juice to finish.

Olive Tapenade:Add a bit of pre-made tapenade to your beans.  Make it a meal by adding fresh mozzarella, hard cooked eggs, roasted peppers, etc.

Herb Butter:  Mix unsalted butter with chopped fresh herbs such as thyme, marjoram, etc. and some Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

To Cooked Carrots, Add:

Chili Butter:  Butter, chili powder, Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Honey Mustard:  Butter, honey, Dijon mustard, Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

To Winter Squash, Add:

Sage Butter:  Butter, chopped fresh sage, Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste.

Harissa: Remember this stuff?  Add a little extra-virgin olive oil and Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Moroccan Spices:  Sweet paprika, cumin, cayenne, olive oil and Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper.  If you have them on hand, chip up a bit of fresh cilantro and/or parsley to sprinkle over the top.

Sweet Fix: Maple syrup or agave nectar, pumpkin pie spice, and if you want extra richness, add some butter.

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It’s official, folks, I’m on a soup bender.  More gross weather on Tuesday in Boston . . . cold, snowy, gray . . . what better soup weather?  Plus, I didn’t know if D. was going to make it home in time for dinner, so I wanted something that would hold ’til he got home to eat.  I got inspired by a post on the Epicurious blog and 30 minutes later, I was sipping a bowl of hot, spicy goodness.  After he got home and ate, D. said that “this one is even better than the bean and barley one the other night . . . .”  This one is a helluva lot faster, for sure.  Enjoy!

Chorizo & Chickpea Soup With Spinach

Heat the olive oil in a stockpot or large Dutch oven over medium heat.  Add the onions and saute until they’re translucent.  Add the garlic and saute just until fragrant, about 2 minutes.  Add the chorizo and stir.  Add the chickpeas, diced and strained tomatoes, chicken stock, cumin and oregano, stirring to combine.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove lid, add vinegar and salt and pepper to taste.  Add spinach, stirring to wilt.  Serve with grated cheddar on top. Great with a crusty loaf of bread to help sop up the spicy broth.

Serves 4.

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Parents, you know those days when you swear the clock is broken?  Or that maybe it’s . . . moving backwards?  That was our Monday holiday.  Cruddy weather, plans for a trek to the South Shore to redeem gift certificates and visit Daddy and Grampy thwarted.  Blah.  Luckily our good buddies down the road were in the same position, so we rounded up the kiddos for a snowy park playdate.  But as I trundled L. home at 5, I thought “and now I have to COOK DINNER?”  Not in the mood.  I whipped up this easy pilaf in about 10 minutes, slapped some Stonewall Kitchen Vidalia Onion and Fig Sauce on a chicken breast and steamed some broccoli.  30 minutes to a complete meal, with a fruity, nutty pilaf on the side.  It was the best part of the day.

Quinoa Pilaf With Fruit And Nuts

Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring often, until the onion is translucent. Add the quinoa and toast, stirring constantly, for 1 minute. Stir in the broth, salt and cranberries and bring to a boil; reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer until liquid is completely absorbed and quinoa is tender, 15-20 minutes. Toss with almonds and serve.

Serves 6.  Make it vegan by subbing vegetable broth for the chicken broth.

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