Lentil Tacos with Broccoli Slaw

This Monday is feeling more like a Friday after this dinner. I think it's one of the first recipes I've actually developed, beginning to end, with almost no recipe inspiration. And it's SO GOOD. Vegetarian. Packed with veggies. Relatively healthy. 

NOTES: 

For the mixed veggies, use your favorites, but think stuff like onions, carrots, celery and yellow pepper - veggies that hold up well when cooked. 

For the liquid, I used water, a teaspoon of broth base and about 1/2 c. tomato juice, drained from a can of tomatoes. You could use just water, but feel free to use a mix of flavorful liquids.

LENTIL TACOS WITH BROCCOLI SLAW

For the lentils:
1.5 cups mixed vegetables, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. taco seasoning, chili powder or Mexican spices of your choice
3 c. liquid
1 c. green lentils
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. grated cheese

For the broccoli slaw:
1/4 c. mayo
1/4 c. 2% Greek yogurt
1 Tbsp. sugar
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1/2 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp. celery salt
A dash spicy mustard
3/4 bag broccoli slaw

For toppings: Fresh salsa (recipe below), yogurt and hot sauce

1. For the lentils, begin by frying the vegetables in a saucepan over medium heat in a bit of oil for 5 minutes. Add the garlic, and saute for 2-3 minutes more. Add the spices, and saute for 1-2 minutes more.
2. Add the liquid and bring to a boil. Add the lentils. Bring to a simmer and cook, uncovered, over low heat for 20-30 minutes, until lentils are soft. You may need to add more liquid in small increments (2 Tbsp. or so at a time), but don't let it get soupy because you won't be draining it.
3. Once lentils are soft, stir in cheese and butter.
4. While the lentils are cooking, make the broccoli slaw. Mix all of the ingredients except slaw well. Then, stir in the slaw until well coated.
5. Serve lentils in hard taco shells, topped with broccoli slaw, salsa, yogurt and hot sauce.

Simple fresh salsa: In a food processor, finely chop 1/2 a small onion, 1/4 c. fresh cilantro, 4 cloves of garlic and 1/2 a jalapeno. Put in a bowl; set aside. Then, put two medium fresh tomatoes and one can of chopped tomatoes, drained, in the processor. Pulse until well blended, but still chunky. Add tomatoes to onion mixture. Add fresh juice of one lime, salt and pepper. Mix well and allow flavors to blend for at least 30 minutes. 

What I've made recently

Red Lentil Dal with Coconut Milk and Kale: I subscribe to Food & Wine magazine and absolutely LOVE the dishes they publish. It sounds like a pretentious magazine but it definitely isn't.
I try to cook vegetarian somewhat regularly, so this looked perfect (I subbed green lentils). You don't miss the meat because the coconut milk makes it so creamy and hearty. I served it over rice with a mint and garlic yogurt sauce. I just found this similar recipe, Spiced Dal with Cilantro Yogurt, and will be making it this week with mung beans.

Chicken Shawarma: I haven't had a good shawarma since I lived in Istanbul four years ago, so was itching to make it. This was a good substitute. I served with a cucumber, tomato and radish salad, mint garlic yogurt sauce and pitas.

Skillet Pasta with Sausage: I actually liked this a lot, for a "cheater" dish. It came together really quickly and had great flavor.

Kung Pao Chickpeas: Sadly, these weren't that impressive. They got really nice and crunchy like fried meat would be, but they flavor was  much too tangy. I would maybe try this again if I altered the sauce recipe a bit.

BBQ Margarita Chicken Fajitas: This is a weird recipe. BBQ sauce and Tex-Mex don't seem like they would go together, but surprisingly, it worked! It's funky, so don't cook it for your pickiest friends, but I really enjoyed it. I made my own BBQ sauce, I used chicken thighs instead of breasts and pineapple in the salsa instead of mango. I mixed in some plain white beans with the chicken to make it a little heartier. I served it on regular flour tortillas with spicy black beans and rice on the side and guacamole and regular fresh salsa.

Chicken Kottu Roti: This was so good! My dad, a very meat-and-potatoes guy, really liked it. I know I used a lot of substitutions, but I made it awhile ago so I don't remember what exactly. However, it's a very flexible recipe, so don't feel obligated to buy things like "pandan leaves" or "Sri Lankan chili powder." I just used things I have in my pantry that were "close enough." I also didn't use roti bread; instead, I added rice.

Vegetarian Spaghetti and Meatballs: I had no idea what to expect with these, but I really liked them. The "meatballs" are made of white beans. I think next time, I would add some cheese to the meatballs to make them a little more hearty. Overall, though, this was a good recipe.

White Bean and Bacon Pot Pies: Another gem from my Smitten Kitchen cookbook. I made this one as just a stew -- no pot pie -- and served with bread. It is comfort food at its best though, surprisingly, my husband did not like it. I could eat it every day, though.

Cuban Quesadillas: I make a simpler version of this pretty regularly  - I love the flavors. I usually coat one tortilla with mustard (either dijon or spicy dijon), layer deli ham, Monterrey jack and pickles on top, and serve with a mayo/mustard mix. Divine and tastes really fancy, even though it's not much more effort than a plain cheese quesadilla.

I've also tried quite a few new soup recipes lately, including this doctored up ramen recipe, which I really liked. Super easy to pop an egg on top of the bowl, add some veggies and call it dinner rather than a poor college student's last resort. I also tried my hand at two Dutch soups, brown bean soup and Dutch pea soup. Both pack a lot of veggies and are actually pretty healthy, and taste like the ultimate warm comfort food in the middle of winter.

Finally, I've been really into breakfast/brunch lately. We make these oatmeal cottage cheese pancakes at least once a week. I've also tried this Cajun Skillet Hash which was pretty good but took a LONG time and this positively amazing Huevos Rancheros recipe. It's one of the best breakfasts I've ever made. EVER.

I know that's a lot, but these are almost all recipes I loved and want to make again, so I needed to write them down :) Eet smakelijk!

Bean and roasted veggie tacos

There are a few things I always have in my pantry -- onions, garlic, canned beans, canned tomatoes (and their Tex-Mex cousin, Rotel). Today, I was needing some lunch but too lazy to go to the grocery store, so I whipped together one of my favorite easy, cheap dishes using those key ingredients listed above and a couple other things taking up residency in my fridge. These tacos are healthy, cheap and incredibly easy to make. They are even vegetarian.

Another huge bonus is that they are endlessly customizable. You can use whatever veggies you have on hand, and if you aren't feeling the Tex-Mex vibe, you could switch up the seasonings and make something more Italian or even Thai inspired. This is hardly a recipe so I'm just going to throw out the basic steps I followed

BEAN AND ROASTED VEGGIE TACOS

You'll first need tortillas (I used corn) or some other wrap - pita bread would even do.

The filling
The taco filling is basically beans + roasted veggies. I sauteed black beans in oil with garlic and onion, and added bit of Rotel, some leftover rice and chili powder. For the veggies, chop your veggie of choice into very small pieces (I used broccoli and red onions), coat with oil, salt and pepper, and pop under the broiler for about 10 minutes. Stir it frequently.
Then, just mix the two together.

Additions
Plain 2% Greek yogurt is a great topping here, and I made mine a little Tex-Mex by adding a couple tablespoons Rotel. You could sub sour cream, any yogurt or even mayo. I also sprinkled on a little cheese. Wrap all those goodies up in the tortilla and you're ready to eat!

I've fancied these up and served them for guests before, too. If you make some fresh salsa and guacamole to serve on the side and pop a bag of tortilla chips into a serving bowl, suddenly your quick lunch is turned into an impressive but easy dinner.

Cheater calzones

Hey there, long time, no see! It's been a busy winter, but I finally am throwing something up on the blog.

I've been partial to quick and easy meals lately, but that doesn't mean cheating on quality or health! So, the other night, I whipped up these "cheat's calzones," inspired by another great recipe from my 200 20-minute meal cookbook, a gift from a wonderful friend. Seriously, the book is dirt cheap on Amazon and I use it a few times a month - definitely worth the $4 or so. (I am not a fancy enough blogger to make any money if you buy the book. I just really like it.)

The best thing about this recipe is that, as long as you have tomato sauce and cheese, you can make it. There are endless combinations; what I used below are obviously just suggestions.

I also recommend making a big batch of homemade tomato sauce and freezing it in 1-cup or so increments in baggies to use in this recipe or whenever you need red sauce. My "recipe" is at the bottom of this post. It's really easy and cheap to make. If you don't want to make it, feel free to use the tomato sauce you can buy in cans. It's way cheaper than name brand "pizza sauce" or "pasta sauce" and you won't notice the difference. I paid 55 cents per can yesterday!

Without further ado, here is a delicious recipe for cheater calzones, also known as pizza quesadillas.

CHEATER CALZONES
Serves: 2
Preparation: 15 minutes

Frying oil (light olive oil, canola/vegetable oil, coconut oil)
Salt and pepper
1/2 onion, sliced
1 c. mushrooms, sliced
1/2 red pepper, sliced
4 small flour tortillas
1 c. tomato sauce (recipe below)
1 roma tomato, sliced
2 slices bacon, fried or broiled and chopped
4 thin slices deli salami (about 4" in diameter), sliced
1/2 to 1 c. mild tasting cheese of choice, shredded (we used Monterrey jack)

1. In a small nonstick frying pan, heat 1 tsp. oil over medium heat. When hot, add onion, mushrooms and pepper. Season with salt and pepper. Saute until soft; 5-7 minutes.
2. Heat a larger nonstick frying pan over medium high heat. When the veggies are cooked, assemble the calzones. On one half of each tortilla, layer with cheese and then layer all your fillings on top. Top with a few spoonfuls of tomato sauce. Then, fold the tortilla in half.
4. Place calzones in frying pan and cook about 2 minutes on each side, until the cheese is melted and tortillas are browned.

TOMATO SAUCE

extra-virgin olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 can chopped tomatoes

In a frying pan, heat up a few teaspoons of olive oil over medium-low heat (no higher or it will burn the oil). Add the onions and garlic; season with salt and pepper. Cook until soft; 5-7 minutes. Add the tomatoes with liquid from the can and cook for a few minutes more. Add other seasonings here if you'd like (like oregano, herbs de provence, basil, etc.). Add a bit of water if it's too thick. Transfer to a food processor or use an immersion blender to process to a sauce. Add salt and pepper to taste.


(Just a shout-out: Here's a link to the Cuisinart Smart Stick if you don't have a hand blender. Again, I make absolutely no money off of this but I really, really love my immersion blender for soups, sauces and even smoothies.)

Cheesy quinoa cakes with roasted veggies

I love using quinoa in place of rice or pasta because it's so much healthier, but my husband has never been a fan of the magical South American grain. That changed with this recipe. Apparently, all that was necessary to make quinoa palatable for him was to add cheese and fry it. In general, those two actions make any food taste good.

This was a really easy recipe to whip together, once I got the quinoa cooked. The Kitchn has a good tutorial on cooking quinoa if you've never done it.

Then, I tossed some fresh vegetables (tomatoes, red peppers, onions and mushrooms) with olive oil, fresh garlic and paprika and popped them under the broiler for about 10 minutes. While they were roasting, I made these cheesy quinoa cakes, halving the recipe and adding 1/2 c. each of frozen corn and pinto beans. I used Asiago cheese.I added a little side salad made of mixed greens and homemade ranch dressing. I used that ranch recipe as a base and added dried parsley, salt, pepper and nutritional yeast. The ranch also was delicious drizzled over the quinoa cakes.

Easy, peasy, vegetarian weeknight dinner. I will definitely be making this again.

Tomato biscuits with whipped goat cheese

A lot of favorite foods revolve around tomatoes. Salsa, gazpacho, tomato basil soup, bloody marys, ketchup (I'm serious). Big, meaty tomatoes, sliced thickly and sprinkled with salt and pepper and broiled. Cherry tomatoes, eaten fresh off the plant. Tomato sauce made with just a little salt, pepper, garlic, onion and olive oil.

I know that it's a vegetable that divides people. I mean, we can't even make up our collective minds about whether it's a fruit or a vegetable. But I simply cannot identify with anyone who orders a sandwich and says, "No tomatoes, please."

Which is why this sandwich, made entirely of tomatoes, caught my eye. The blogger behind smitten kitchen even put it on the cover of her cookbook (which I highly recommend).

I modified it quite a bit (as always) and I could have eaten the entire batch.

You start with a crumbly biscuit made with scallions and Parmesan.

Then, you make an easy tomato salad (make sure you have some perfectly ripe, farmers market or homegrown tomatoes).

Finally, you top it off with some whipped goat cheese, bacon and walnuts.

TOMATO BISCUITS WITH WHIPPED GOAT CHEESE

Biscuits
2 c. + 2 Tbsp. flour
2 Tbsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. salt
5 Tbsp. butter, chilled
2 scallions, sliced
1 c 2% milk
1/2 c. Parmesan cheese, shredded

Tomato salad
1.5 c. tomatoes, roughly sliced or chopped
Olive oil
Red wine vinegar
Salt
Pepper
Sugar

Toppings 
2 Tbsp. whipping cream
3 oz. goat cheese
4 slices bacon
1/2 c. walnuts
1 Tbsp. honey
1 scallion, chopped

1. Start by making the biscuits. Preheat the oven to 425*. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Mix all of the dry ingredients well and then mix in the butter with your fingertips until all incorporated (use a pastry blender if you're fancy). Stir in the scallion and cheese and then add the milk. Form the dough into six biscuits. Place them on the baking sheet on a center rack and cook for about 15 minutes. Leave the top rack of the oven empty.
2. Cut the bacon up into small pieces and fry it over medium heat until crunchy.
3. Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and put them on the top rack in the oven. Bake for 3-5 minutes, watching closely and stirring frequently, until toasted. Remove from oven, place in a bowl and drizzle with honey. Mix well.
4. Make the tomato salad by mixing the ingredients to taste.
5. Whip the whipping cream and goat cheese together until fluffy and light.
6. To assemble, slice a biscuit in half. Spread the goat cheese mixture on bottom half. Top with a generous helping of the tomato salad and a tablespoon each of crumbled bacon and honey walnuts. Sprinkle with scallions and top with second half of biscuit.

Thai Peanut Curry with Chicken

My cousin works at this great restaurant in our area called New Scenic Cafe. They were pretty early to the farm-to-table, local food movement, opening in a cute little cabin-y building on the shores of Lake Superior in 1999. They make creative but accessible food in an atmosphere that strives to not be pretentious (and most of the time, they actually succeed).

As a wedding gift, my cousin gave me the New Scenic Cafe cookbook. It's a work of art! Of-the-moment restaurants often try to capitalize on their popularity by publishing some bare bones cookbook to bring in some extra revenue, but this is no such effort. You can tell it took years to put together and it was a labor of love. A lot of the recipes are pretty involved, with obscure ingredients and some pretty intense, high-level techniques. I love it, though. It has given me tons of ideas for unique flavor combinations and the handful of recipes I've tried have been great successes. It's definitely not a beginner's cookbook, but if you've been cooking for a couple years, you'll adore it. It's going to be well-loved kitchen tool for me for years to come.

This is a recipe based on one in the cookbook. I tinkered with it and personalized it, based on what I have in my kitchen and my bare-bones knowledge of Thai food. It turned out great!

NOTE: I've been using boneless, skinless chicken thighs instead of breasts lately. They are cheaper and more flavorful. I'd recommend giving them a try, but you could easily do this recipe with breasts or any leftover, cooked chicken you have on hand.

THAI PEANUT CURRY WITH CHICKEN

Serves: 4
Preparation: 1 hour

4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs, fat trimmed and cubed
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
2 large carrots, peeled and chopped
4 celery stalks, chopped
2 small to medium onions, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp. fresh ginger, minced
1/2 c. coconut milk
1 c. chicken broth
1/4 c. peanut butter, unsweetened
1/2 Tbsp. red curry paste
1/2 tsp. cumin
1.5 tsp. sambal oelek
1/4 c. cilantro
1 large tomato, chopped
1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
Cilantro, lime wedges and sambal oelek, for serving

1. Season chopped chicken thighs with salt and pepper. Heat half of the coconut oil over medium heat in a frying pan. Add the chicken and cook, stirring every few minutes, until no longer pink; about 10 minutes.
2. Heat the other half of the coconut oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat. Add the carrots, celery and onions and cook, stirring frequently, until tender; about 5 minutes. Add the garlic and ginger and lower heat to medium.
3. Add the coconut milk, peanut butter and chicken stock and stir with a whisk until combined. Turn heat to low.
4. Stir in the curry paste, cumin, sambal and cilantro. Bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Add the chicken, garbanzo beans and tomato and keep on heat for about 5 minutes, until warmed through. Season to taste with salt.
5. Serve over basmati rice and top with sambal oelek, cilantro and lime juice.