Weekday Experiment: Grilled Nectarine

Yesterday we received our Door to Door Organics box. We get organic produce delivered every other week. Based on what size box you are ordering, there is a "menu" of items that they will fill the box with, which changes week to week. We also have the option of substituting items that are on the "menu", and this week we substituted a couple things and ended up getting 8 nectarines because Austin and I love them. In addition to the nectarines, we received a bunch of Kale, Swiss Chard, a Cucumber, Mixed Cherry Tomatoes, Cantaloupe, Avocado, Oranges, Lemons, Pluots, and Bananas.

Most times I cook, I just put things together as I go, and don't necessarily know what I'm making until its almost on the plate. For that reason, and the fact that it is a week day and Austin was in the kitchen with me, I do not have step by step pictures for everything. Honestly I didn't consider making this meal into a blog until I was half way through.

I had started cooking quinoa, which was to act as a side to Kale, which I had also started cooking, that was all I had figured out at the time. The quinoa recipe I borrowed from the Zucchini Eggplant Lasagna recipe.

1 cup Quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup tomato sauce
1/4 onion chopped
1 tsp pizza seasoning (or herb of choice)

Bring to boil, cover and let simmer for 20 minutes.

After that was squared away, I threw the rest of the diced onion into a pan with olive oil and let them soften over medium heat. I then trimmed the stem from the Kale, roughly chopped it, and added it to the pan. Then I add about 1/2 cup broth and put the top on the pan and let it steam some. As the Kale wilts, I eventually remove the top and let it continue to cook down as I add a little water when needed.

Now, at this point I think about those beautiful tomatoes in the fridge and think to myself, 'gee, those would be a tasty addition'. I sliced a couple handfuls in half and threw them in. Then I thought to myself, 'wow, that's pretty, I should take a picture and make a blog!'.

Here are the pretty tomatoes on the mostly cooked kale

Here is the fully cooked kale and tomatoes. Not as pretty, but mighty tasty.

Now those beautiful nectarines pop into my head, and the only way I can think to incorporate them into dinner is to grill them. As the title suggests, I have never grilled fruit before, so here goes nothing.
 

Yum, Organic Nectarine

I sliced the nectarine into 12 slices. It has to be just barely ripe to do this. A too-ripe nectarine would be squishy and difficult to cut.

I heated up my non-stick grill pan to scorching hot. I also sprayed it with olive oil, because in the past this pan has not always performed adequately in the non sticking department. I grilled both sides for a few minutes, until there were some handsome grill marks, and the slices were heated all the way through.

The final product, garnished with chopped fresh basil. So pretty you could eat it!

The final test: Austin approved! This picture is from the beginning of dinner, by the end, there was quinoa on the walls, ceiling and floor and folds of Austin's skin that I didn't know had existed. Okay perhaps I'm exaggerating, but quinoa is about the messiest food in our repertoire

Overall this was a really tasty dinner. We are trying to eat less meat, and it is going to take some getting used to, because although quinoa is a protien rich grain, the meal was not completely satisfying. Justin ended up making a pb&j right after dinner, and I am about to do the same, now a few hours later. I hope that this is a phase, and our tummies will soon be satisfied by a delicious vegetarian meal such as this one. I would love any tips from vegetarians or quasi-vegetarians. Also please share any recipe ideas, comments, questions, and clarifications on any of my posts.

Tofu Stir Fry

I have not made a stir fry or cooked with tofu in ages. I am interested in learning new ways to cook tofu, and perfecting methods. I did some research on general methods for tofu stir fry and threw this together. This is how most of my cooking usually happens, I look places for inspiration and cooking methods, then just put it together in my own way.

Here are the ingredients I used. I actually found sesame oil in my cupboard after starting, so I used that instead of the olive oil. Fist step was to cook the rice with some broth, the Brown Basmati took 40 mins.

I cut the tofu into cubes and pressed it between paper towels and plates.

While I was waiting for the tofu to press, I found a different, more effective method. I laid the cubes out in a single layer between paper towels, and put a cookie sheet on top with some weights.

Online, I found the "dry fry" method of drying the tofu. After it had been being pressed for about an hour, I fried it without oil over medium heat in a non-stick pan, using a spatula to press down to remove any excess moisture.

I kept turning and pressing the tofu until all sides were golden brown. Doesn't that look delish!

I removed the tofu from the pan and set aside. Then added some sesame oil to the pan, turned it up to high and added the vegetables.

When the vegetables were all tender I added some of the Soyaki sauce and the tofu and stirred till coated and the sauce had a chance to caramelize a little.

Served over rice.

Austin loved it too! And the plate stayed on his tray the whole time. Bravo little man!

Over all a delicious meal. Like I said I am still experimenting with tofu. The next method I want to use would be to marinade and broil; this would happen after the pressing and the dry fry. If you have any tofu recipes that you like, please share them with me.

Brown Rice Mexican Bake

My friend Anne gave me this recipe, she got it from another friend, who found it through weight watchers. I used regular cheese, I think the lower fat versions do not melt as well, or taste as good for that matter.


Ingredients
Cooking Spray
1 1/2 cups brown rice
3 cups broth
1 1/4 cups salsa
1tsp ground cumin
15oz can refried beans
10oz frozen corn
4oz diced green chillis
1tsp chili powder
10oz frozen spinach
3/4 cup cheddar cheese
Fresh cilantro to garnish

Start the brown rice cooking first. Depending on what kind you have it can take up to an hour. I like to cook my brown rice with broth whenever possible, it makes it very tasty. 

Here are the ingredients I used. The picture doesn't include and onion and a can of black beans, but those and the peppers were used as side dishes.

Here are the sliced onions and peppers, again, not for the main recipe, but very pretty!

Making the filling. I used refried black beans, the amount of corn was estimated because I have a costco sized bag of it, the the green chilis and chili powder.

Here it is all mixed together, not quite as pretty as the previous picture.

Shredded cheese. Quite a bit more than 1/4 cup, a happy mistake.

All this time, the spinach has been draining over the sink. It is crazy the amount of water you can get out of it. I just kept going back and squeezing.

This is after cooking down for a very long time. The key is to get the peppers tender.

Once the brown rice is cooked, mix it with the salsa and cumin.

Here it is all mixed up.

Spray the bottom of you pan. I used my square pyrex, and it ended up being full to the brim, but it didn't spill over, so a good size to use. Then you put half of the rice (2 cups) in the bottom of the pan, spread it out evenly.

Then the whole batch of corn and bean mixture goes on top of the rice, and spread out evenly.

Spread out the spinach next, and sprinkle a little cheese on top of that.

Spread out the remainder of the rice and top with more cheese.

I just love side shots, being able to see the pretty layers through the glass pan.

Here is the finished product cooked for 30 mins at 375

I served with black beans, peppers and a tortilla, and cilantro to garnish.

Austin's plate. He is still learning to use a plate, I ended up scraping it on to his highchair tray after a few minutes.

It was a hit! He ate pretty much everything.

Zucchini Eggplant Lasagna

I found this recipe from Peas and Thank You, a wonderful blog about vegan family cooking. I un-veganized it with ground turkey and real cheese.

Here are the ingredients I used

 

Sliced zucchini and eggplant, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Next time I will try to get the eggplant thinner.

Cook the quinoa with chicken broth, tomato sauce, onions and pizza seasoning (I used that instead of oregano). I also skipped the cream cheese and fresh parsley, because I didn't have any.

Saute more onions, I love onions!

Cook the ground turkey with the onions, this is an add on to the recipe, I think it makes the dish heartier. I also added some pizza seasoning here, I love it, use it for everything.

Tomato sauce in the bottom of the pan, and a layer of eggplant slices.

Quinoa is done cooking, yummo! I will probably make just this as a quick easy side in the future.

Mix the quinoa mixture with ground turkey and chopped fresh basil.

On top of eggplant, spread some turkey quinoa mixture, sprinkle some frozen chopped spinach, some shredded mozzarella cheese, and some tomato sauce.

A layer of zucchini. Then repeat the filling layer.

After the 2nd filling layer, I put the remaining eggplant and zucchini. Next time I might put this in the middle, so I have a pretty all zucchini layer on top. But it all tastes the same in the end.

Tomato sauce and cheese on top.

I had enough left over to make a bread pan sized batch, which went straight into the freezer uncooked.

Baked at 400, for about 30 mins.

Delish!!

I love this recipe. The eggplant on the top layer turned out a little tough, that's my fault for cutting it too thick. Next time I will try it with out the turkey to see if it is equally satisfying. We ate off of that large pan for 3 days, Austin was eating full servings of it as well, he loved it!