Simple Food Daily

Miso Couscous

I can’t find the recipe I used to make the vinaigrette for this!  Since I didn’t measure out the proportions anyways, I guess it’s not that big of a deal.  Below are approximate measurements!

I made this from random things I had in the fridge.  I love when something good comes of that. This is a good side dish or main meal, warm or chilled!

Miso Vinaigrette

• 1/2 cup white miso paste
• 1/2 cup water
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 1 garlic clove, minced
• 1 tablespoon honey
• the original recipe called for grated ginger as well, which I didn’t use

I whisked the ingredients together, but the original recipe called for using a food processor.

Couscous

• 1 cup whole wheat couscous, cooked
• 2 ears of corn, boiled and kernels cut off
• 2-3 green onions, sliced
• few handfuls of broccoli slaw mix

Mix ingredients together with vinaigrette to taste.  I meant to add sliced almonds, but forgot!

Pomegranate Risotto

I had left over pomegranate seeds from the last post and wanted to use them.  I made this pomegranate risotto, which is really just risotto with pomegranate seeds, but the seeds really changed the flavor of the dish.  Next time I would add parsley as well, but I didn’t have any on hand.

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup arborio rice
• 1 14 oz can vegetable broth
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, diced
• 1 tablespoon white wine
• drizzle olive oil
• 1/2 tablespoon butter
• 1/4 cup pomegranate seeds

Directions

Heat olive oil and butter in saucepan.  Saute garlic and onion for 1-2 minutes.  Add rice.  Add white wine and heat for 1-2 minutes, but do not let the rice brown.  Add vegetable broth to just cover the rice.  Stir.  Once liquid has been absorbed, add more broth to cover rice.  Continue until broth is gone.  The rice should be done by this point, and this takes roughly 20 minutes.  If the rice is still hard, add a little water.

When rice is finished, stir in pomegranate seeds.  Would be great with parsley or almonds as well.

Brie and Pomegranate Bruschetta

This is the easiest thing that I have made.  I THINK that I saw the recipe in a copy of the magazine Real Simple where they featured 3 types of bruschetta. 

So far, it’s been a hit!  The real bonus is that the husband assembles them.

Ingredients

• 1 french baguette
• 2 red pears, thinly sliced
• 1 wheel of brie
• pomegranate seeds
• honey
• olive oil

Directions

Preheat open to 400 degrees.  Slice baguette into thin pieces.  Place on baking sheet and brush on olive oil.  Bake at 400 degrees for 8-10 minutes.  Let cool.  This is to make the crostini. 

Place a slice of brie on to the crostini.  Top brie with a slice of pear.  Drizzle on honey.  Top with pomegranate seeds.

Green Bean and Tater Tot Hotdish

Sometimes when it’s really cold out, you crave good ole Midwestern food.  I made a vegetarian version of the ever popular Minnesota favorite.  I put the tater tots on the bottom because I topped with french onions.  However, next time I might mix the french onions in to the green bean mix, and then top with tater tots so they are crispy.

Warning: Not healthy but oh so delicious!

Ingredients

• 1 can french style green beans, drained
• 1 can cream of mushroom and roasted garlic condensed soup
• 1/2 yellow onion, diced
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/2 cup of milk
• frozen tater tots
• french fried onions
• splash of olive oil
• salt and pepper

Directions

In a saucepan, heat a splash of olive oil.  Cook onion for 2-3 minutes, until translucent.  Add can of green beans, soup, milk, garlic powder, salt, and pepper.  Stir and heat.

Line 8” square pan with tater tots.  Top with green bean mix.  Bake for 30 minutes.  Top with french onions and bake for another 5 minutes until onions are browned.

Black Bean and Lime Quinoa

A little Latin inspiration!  This would be a good side dish with tacos.  Being the dead of winter, I used frozen corn, but this would taste so much better with fresh corn cut off the cob.  I’m already looking forward to making it this summer.

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup quinoa
• 1/2 cup water or veggie broth
• 1/4 cup frozen corn
• 1 sweet potato
• 1/2 can black beans
• 2 green onions, sliced
• handful of chopped cilantro
• 1/2 lime
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• sea salt
• pepper

Directions

Cook 1/4 quinoa with 1/2 water or vegetable broth.  I use a rice cooker, but it also works well on the stove.  Add frozen corn to cook with quinoa.

Bake sweet potato. 40-45 minutes at 400 degrees.  When finished, peel and cube.

To make the dressing, add cumin to olive oil.  Squeeze half of the lime.  Mix.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Drain black beans and rinse.

When quinoa is done cooking, mix in green onion, cilantro, black beans, and sweet potato.  Toss with dressing.

Quick and Easy Lunch

Sometimes I am in the mood for a hot lunch, but don’t want to spend a lot of time making it.  Here is what I ate the other day.  Yum!

I heat up the leftover quinoa from the earlier post.  Remember how I didn’t make the glaze correctly?  I mixed it in the quinoa and it made more of a sauce instead. 

Mixed greens tossed with your favorite dressing.  Mine is Newman’s Own Parmesan and Roasted Garlic. 

Sandwich: Toasted wheat bread with a Quorn Chik’n Patty and melted white cheddar cheese.  Topped with dijon mustard and mixed greens. 

Ready in 5 minutes!

Quinoa and Cherry Salad

I started off trying to make this dish with pomegranate seeds, but wouldn’t you know it, the minute I decide to use them, I can’t find them!  This is the second time it has happened to me recently.  I see pomegranates or pomegranate seeds in the store, decide to use them (but don’t buy them).  Later, I try and buy them and can’t find them anywhere!  So, instead I decided to use dried cherries and walnuts. 

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup of quinoa
• 1 1/2 cups water
• 1/2 veggie bouillon cube
• extra virgin olive oil
• handful of chopped basil
• handful of chopped walnuts
• handful of dried cherries
• handful of gorgonzola cheese
• Pomegranate Balsamic Glaze

Directions

Cook quinoa on stove or in rice maker.  3/4 cup of quinoa to 1 1/2 cups of water.  Add veggie bouillon cube.  Cook like rice: takes about 20 minutes.

When done, drizzle with olive oil and mix in the basil and walnuts.  Top with cherries and gorgonzola cheese.  Drizzle with glaze.

Pomegranate Balsamic Glaze found here

• 3 Tbs Pomegranate juice (I used cherry pomegranate juice)
• 2 Tbs brown sugar
• 2 Tbs balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbs Dijon mustard
• 1 tsp cornstarch
• pinch cayenne pepper

Whisk together all the ingredients in a small saucepan.  Bring to a boil over medium heat and cook for about 1-2 minutes, until thickened and syrupy.  Remove from heat and cover to keep warm.

—I wasn’t paying attention to the directions, and totally messed up the glaze, which is why it isn’t nice and thick in the picture above.

Gnocchi

This was NOT simple.  It did turn out well, but it took me a long time and the dough was soooo sticky—I felt like I added way too much flour, but it was never NOT sticky.  I found the recipe at 101 Cookbooks and paired it with the pesto that I had made.  It was really fantastic—but quite a lot of work.  My gnocchi didn’t turn out quite as beautiful as Heidi’s…maybe next time.  Served with a side salad.

Ingredients

Scant 2 pounds of starchy potatoes (2 large russets)
1/4 cup egg, lightly beaten
scant 1 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour
fine grain sea salt

Directions

They are kind of long and found at 101 Cookbooks.  Good luck!

Pesto

I have never made homemade pesto before because I don’t own a blender or a food processor.  I was so excited to run into the recipe at 101 Cookbooks.  No blender need!  Hand chopping only!  I instantly decided to make this for dinner.  I will never buy store bought pesto again!  My arm was a little tired from the chopping, but it was so worth it.

Ingredients

1 large bunch of basil, leaves only, washed and dried
3 medium cloves of garlic
one small handful of raw pine nuts
roughly 3/4 cup Parmesan, loosely packed and FRESHLY GRATED
A few tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

Directions

Start chopping the garlic along with about 1/3 of the basil leaves. Once this is loosely chopped add more basil, chop some more, add the rest of the basil, chop some more. Scrape and chop, gather and chop. At this point the basil and garlic should be a very fine mince. Add about half the pine nuts, chop. Add the rest of the pine nuts, chop. Add half of the Parmesan, chop. Add the rest of the Parmesan, and chop. In the end you want a chop so fine that you can press all the ingredients into a basil “cake”.  Transfer the pesto “cake” to a small bowl (not much bigger than the cake). Cover with a bit of olive oil, it doesn’t take much, just a few tablespoons.

You can set this aside or place it in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. Just before serving give the pesto a quick stir to incorporate some of the oil into the basil.

Snack Time!

To make sandwiches for lunch, we buy bread from a local bakery at our co-op.  Since we don’t eat too much bread, we buy a small loaf.  The middle makes for a good sandwich, but the ends are pretty small.  I use the ends for snack to get use out of them!

Toast a slice of wheat bread.  Spread on brie cheese (creme de brie).  Top with your favorite topping; here topped with sliced almonds and dried cranberries (I usually use a red pear slice or two).  Drizzle with honey.  Eat!