Vegetarian Enchiladas

I have actually been cooking quite a lot lately, but every time I think about sitting down to write in this blog, I find something better to do. However, tonight's dinner was so amazing that I had to immediately blog about it!

Vegetarian Enchiladas

(adapted from multiple recipes I found around the internet - so now I'm calling it my own recipe!)

Ingredients:

1 tbs olive oil

2 cloves garlic

1 onion, diced

1 green pepper, diced

2 cups broccoli

2 tbs water

Salt and pepper to taste

1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

1/8 tsp cumin

1 can corn (or 2 cups thawed frozen corn)

1 can black beans

1 can diced tomatoes with green chiles

1 can refried beans

2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

16 tortillas

Enchilada sauce (2 12oz cans)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Heat oil in a large pan over medium high heat. Saute garlic, onion and pepper for 2-3 minutes. Add broccoli and water and cook for an additional 3-5 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste. Add cayenne pepper and cumin (feel free to add more if you like these spices.) Add corn, black beans and tomatoes. Remove from heat.

Lightly oil a 9x13 baking dish. (If you plan to make all of these, it might take multiple pans.) Assemble the tortillas by adding a thin layer of refried beans, a layer of vegetable mix and layer of cheese. Roll up and place side by side in the baking dish. Top with enchilada sauce and the remaining cheese.

Cover and bake for 30 minutes or until hot all the way through.

These enchiladas were AMAZING. If you're a meat eater, you probably won't miss the meat. However, you could easily add meat to this recipe.

They were really difficult to get out of the pan, probably because I crammed a few too many in the pan. We turned it into "enchilada casserole" and just cut out squares, rather than individual enchiladas.

I didn't want to make so many, so I froze half of the veggie mixture and only used 8 tortillas and 1 can of sauce.

Enjoy!

Oh, hi there (and Mexican Polenta Stuffed Peppers)

So, I have bunches of excuses for not writing in this blog. The main one is that I did not cook much this summer and fall. I would love to have really good reasons for that, but I don't. I just wasn't feeling particularly adventurous. Since this whole "no meat" thing is still new for me, it seemed to require too much effort.

First, let me clarify. I don't consider myself a vegetarian. I consider myself a "flexitarian"; that is to say, I eat vegetarian most of the time, but still occasionally eat meat (and I don't really feel that bad about it when I do). However, I am not cooking meat at home anymore, mostly because I've always found raw meat to be disgusting.

Anyway, now let me get to my recipe!

Mexican Polenta-Stuffed Peppers

(from Simple Suppers - above photo is from the cookbook itself)

Ingredients:

5 large bell peppers

1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil

sprinkling of salt

4 cups water

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 tb red pepper flakes

1 cup polenta cornmeal (or buy regular cornmeal)

1 1/2 cups corn kernels

1 tablespoon olive oil or butter

1 1/2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese (optional, omit for vegan recipe)

1/2 cup chopped spanish olives

1 16-ounce jar of your favorite salsa

1 15-ounce can of black beans, drained

1/4 cup chopped cilantro (optional)

Preheat oven to 450º. Cut the peppers in half lengthwise and remove the seeds, but leave the stem ends on so the peppers will hold their shape. Brush the pepper halves with oil, inside and out, and sprinkle lightly with salt. Place cut-side up on an oiled baking sheet and roast in the oven until tender but still holding their shape, about 15 minutes.

While the peppers roast, in a heavy saucepan, bring the water, salt, and red pepper flakes to a boil. Add the polenta in slow, steady stream while whisking. Cook on medium heat, stirring often, until thickened. Stir in the corn, oil or butter, 1 cup of cheese, and the olives. Remove from the heat.

Fill the roasted pepper halves with the polenta mixture. Sprinkle the tops with the remaining cheese and return to the oven for 5 to 10 minutes, until the cheese is melted. Meanwhile, combine the salsa, black beans, and cilantro in a saucepan and bring to a simmer.

To serve, spoon some of the black bean salsa on each dinner plate and place one or two pepper halves on top.

Modifications: I used a mixture of green, red and yellow bell peppers, to get a variety of flavors. Also, I omitted the olives (because I don't like olives), and I didn't use any cilantro. Also, rather than using that much oil on the peppers, I just lightly sprayed them with a bit of olive oil.

Let me just say: I LOVED this recipe. My dinner guests also seemed to be very happy with it (we didn't even have any time to take pictures - we just wanted to eat it!) I will definitely make it again! Also, the timing is perfect: there's the perfect amount of time to make the polenta while the peppers are roasting.

I paired this recipe with roasted sweet potatoes and green beans (coated in a bit of olive oil and salt and pepper, and roasted at the same time as everything else).

Happy cooking!

Creamy Lemon Pasta

A few nights ago, I cooked my first meal from my new favorite cookbook. This cookbook is called Simple Suppers, and it has already been incredibly helpful in planning all our meals. In fact, if I had to cut my (ridiculously large) recipe book collection down to only one book, this would be the one.

The recipe I made was called Creamy Lemon Pasta. Overall, it was delicious, and I will definitely make it again. I made a few modifications to the original recipe, which I've noted below. (Also, I completely forgot to take any pictures of anything along the way, but I'm gonna try to get better about that!)

Creamy Lemon Pasta:

Ingredients:

1 lemon

1/4 cup unsalted butter

1 cup heavy cream

1 pound fresh fettuccine or dried spaghettini

1 cup grated Parmesan cheese

salt and pepper

Bring a large covered pot of salted water to a boil. Meanwhile, grate the lemon peel (about 2 teaspoons of zest) and squeeze the lemon (about 3 tablespoons of juice).

In a small skillet or saucepan on low heat, melt the butter. Stir in the cream and heat gently. Stir in the lemon juice and zest. Turn off the heat.

When the water boils, cook the pasta until al dente. Set aside a cup of the hot pasta-cooking water and drain the pasta.

Place the hot drained pasta in a large serving bowl, add the lemon cream sauce, and toss. Add some or all of the reserved hot water if more liquid is needed. Toss in the grated Parmesan. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

Modifications: I made a few changes to the recipe, because 3 of the 6 ingredients were a little too high in fat for my tastes. I substituted 3 tbs of olive oil for the butter, and 1 cup half and half for the heavy cream. This did cause the final product to taste a bit bland, so I ended up adding garlic and basil to the final product, which gave it a great taste and a bit of color. Also, we added shrimp (which we had sauteed in olive oil with garlic and lemon juice) and it made a great addition.

Apparently, I do not know what "heat gently" means, and this recipe almost ended up on an entirely different blog when the olive oil and half and half started to take on a very strange texture when I heated it too quickly. However, I just dropped the heat down, and I was able to salvage it.

We paired this with steamed broccoli and fresh rosemary olive oil bread. Overall, I would definitely make this again. In fact, I would actually add a bit more lemony goodness the next time I make it (either a bit more juice, or some additional dried lemon zest) because the lemon taste was not quite as pronounced as I would like.

Farmer's Market Extravaganza

About 2 years ago, I discovered the wonder that is the State Farmer's Market in Raleigh. Visiting the market has become a summer tradition with my coworkers over our lunch breaks. It makes a great midday break, and the produce available is amazing. The quality is far and away better than even the best grocery stores, and the prices are typically cheaper. Plus, I just like knowing that my money is going directly to the farmer, and not to grocery stores and distributors.

Although the market remains open year round, the available produce is definitely not quite as stellar during winter and the early spring months. Late spring is always exciting, when there is suddenly a huge selection of beautiful looking produce. Check out what I got when I visited before my trip last week:

I've spent some time researching the best way to store produce. Perhaps this is common knowledge, but I always just assumed that all fruits and vegetables should be kept in the refrigerator. Apparently, this is completely untrue. This page has a really helpful table to help you know where to store everything. Here are some of the surprises:

Do not refrigerate:

Apples (if storing for less than 7 days)

Tomatoes

Basil

Cucumbers

Eggplant

Mangoes

Oranges

Peppers

Watermelon

You should definitely check out the table with that article - it's extremely helpful!

I spent time tonight planning recipes and a shopping list for the week. I'll be sure to post some recipes soon!

Starting Over: Meatless

After weeks (months? years?) of blog envy, I have finally decided to start my own food blog. I know there are lots and lots of food blogs out there, so I don't really expect mine to be that exciting. However, even if I have 0 followers, I think a blog will help me keep track of my new way of eating.

In case the blog title didn't give it away, my (new!) husband and I have recently decided to start cooking exclusively vegetarian food. This was a conscious decision, but one that we have been headed towards for years. I realized that even though I used to love cooking, in recent years, I have not enjoyed it anymore. I finally figured out that this was because I did not enjoy preparing meat, so I would cheat my way through any recipe that required meat and used pre-cooked meat instead. This did not make for very delicious food.

So, I'm starting this blog to share the new recipes we're trying and how they turn out. I might even occasionally share knowledge to help with the vegetarian lifestyle.

Here goes!