Busy Bee

Things are starting to pick up in the Perloski/Koltookian household, summer is in full force along with wedding planning, training for a marathon and making sure there is enough time in-between to visit this cutie.

Ella

I been doing some thinking and since this year is jammed pack, I have decided to cut back on blogging a little. I promise to keep posting good recipes and my crazy thoughts but probably not every night as most nights are going to be leftovers/ throw together meals.

That being said last night I was a busy bee in the kitchen. I cooked a veggie tart for dinner, roasted a chicken for easy throw together meals this week and made baked oatmeal for breakfast.
First up veggie tart! Gather these ingredients:

• 1 clove(s) garlic, crushed with press
• 1 small red onion, finely chopped
• 1 large red pepper, finely chopped
• 4 ounce(s) low fat cream cheese, softened
• 1/4 cup(s) fresh basil leaves, finely chopped, plus additional for garnish
• 1 small (4 ounce) zucchini, trimmed
• 1  (9-inch) refrigerated pie crust, ready-to-unroll

Saute the onion, pepper and garlic in some evoo, until it starts to brown. While the onion/pepper mixture is cooking mix together cream cheese, basil, salt & pepper to taste. Next roll out the pie crust (I placed it on a pizza stone) and spread cream cheese mixture over crust leaving about a 1 inch border.

Place pepper/onion mixture on top of cream cheese

Next adding ribboned zucchini on top.

Fold up the edges of the crust, and brush the top with some more evoo.

 Bake at 425 for 30 mins or until crust is browned and flaky.

After eating dinner I roasted a organic chicken to use in dinners and lunches this week. I used these ingredients to stuff in side the chicken.

lemon, fresh thyme, shallots

for the outside I mixed together the following:

• 2 teaspoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1 1/2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• 2 garlic cloves, minced

and rubbed it under and on the skin. Then cook for 350 for 45 mins and then turn heat up to 425 until temp reaches 165.

Lastly, I threw together a batch of baked oatmeal for my breakfast this week. Here is the recipe I followed (adapted from the salted kitchen).

2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup sliced almonds, divided
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp sea salt
1/3 cup maple syrup
1 1/2 Tbsp melted unsalted butter
2 cups 1% milk
1 egg
2 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 cups blueberries

Directions:
1. Generously butter or spray an 8 x 8 inch baking dish. Preheat oven to 375 F.
2. In a large bowl, mix oats, 1/4 cup sliced almonds, baking powder, cinnamon and salt.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, melted butter, milk, egg and vanilla extract.
4. In prepared baking dish, arrange a single layer of fresh or frozen berries on bottom (about 1 to 1.5 cups berries).
5. Cover fruit with the dry oat mixture.
6. Pour the liquid mixture over the oats and gently shake the dish to distribute the liquids over the oats.
7. Sprinkle the remaining berries and 1/4 cup almonds over top.
8. Bake for 40 minutes, or until top is nice golden brown and the middle has set. Remove from oven and cool for a few minutes before serving.

And now it's time for bed!

Pasta with zucchini and tomatoes

This week for food shopping I decided to hit up Wilson's market instead of the grocery store. Wilson's is basically a huge farmers market about a 15min drive from our apt. I love this place the produce it always fantastic! The only down side is I always have to visit a regular grocery store afterwards because they don't carry staples there so it's always a 2 stop trip.

This week I went a little further and spoiled myself with bread from Great Harvest, I bought a Dakota Seeded Wheat and a Cinnamon raisin for breakfast. There bread is homemade will all natural ingredients and is amazing, it is a little on the pricy side  (about $5 a loaf) but is totally worth it in my book. Plus they have one of those cards if you buy so many loafs you get one free. I fall into these traps a lot I love free things especially on products I  would buy anyway so a free item once in a while is an added bonus.

Anyways back to dinner I bought some zucchini and mixed tomatoes at the market to use for this meal.

The zucchini I cut into thin ribbons and marinated them in the following:

• 2 tablespoons white wine vinegar
• 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme leaves
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

 The tomatoes I left as is, then cooked the noodles reserving 1 cup of the cooking water.

Once the noodles were finished I rinsed (sin I know but letting them cool they get sticky, and I hate that) But for the record I only rinse my noodles when I am not using them right away, in case you needed to know. :)

Then in a pan I heated some evoo and added garlic and crushed red peppers and the zucchini. Once the zucchini was cooked I added in the tomaotes to warm them up then the pasta.

Add the reserved cooking water as needed.
One the side I did make garlic bread but accidentally burnt it when I forgot it was in the oven until I started smelling burnt garlic. So instead we just had plain Dakota Seeded Wheat butter bread.

Collard greens, rice and black beans

All of these things sound yummy to me but when I found a recipe that mixed them together and add tomatoes, and a few seasonings I was pretty excited. John however was not.

John's sad face

I assured him that it will be good for him to try something different.
I sauteed these items in my dutch oven:

• 1 Tablespoon olive oil
• 1/2 a medium onion, diced
• 1 medium green bell pepper, diced
• 1 large hunch of collard greens, stems removed, and chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning

Then I added

• 1/2 cup wild rice or brown rice
• 1 14-ounce can of black beans
• 1 14-ounce can crushed tomatoes
• 1/2 cup chicken broth
• salt and pepper to taste

Then cooked roughly 40 minutes until rice was cooked through.

I served it with some blue corn tortilla chips and the left over corn bread from yesterday's dinner. I thought the chips went pretty well with the meal it added a crunchy factor. John however, as polite as he was trying to be I know he didn't like it.
How do I know this, you ask? After discussing he was hungry on the way home from work he took a small portion and then did not go back for seconds.

Looks like I'll be eating the rest for lunch this week!

Black bean quinoa salad

I was on the hunt for a vegetarian meal for dinner tonight when I came across a quinoa black bean salad which sounded great. At the end of the recipe it said serve with pitas or tortillas so I thought why not make them into tacos! Besides everything is better in taco form. Here's the recipe for the salad:

• 1/2 cup quinoa, (see Note)
• 1 cup water
• 1/4 cup orange juice
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
• 2 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 2 teaspoons toasted sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• Pinch of cayenne pepper
• 1 small mango, diced (see Tip)
• 1 small red bell pepper, diced
• 1 cup canned black beans, (see Tips for Two), rinsed
• 2 scallions, thinly sliced

For the tacos I had toppings of avocado, lettuce and tomatoes, I just added avocado and tomato to mine.

I thought these were going to be amazing, but sadly they were just ok. They had a bit of an Asian flavoring going on which I should have expected with adding sesame oil and rice vinegar, duh! Maybe next time I'll try cooking the quinoa in taco seasoning instead adding of adding the sesame oil and rice vinegar.

Anchovies

Tonight I took a walk on the wild side and used something I'd never thought I'd use in a dinner.
Anchovies!

This week I let John do the meal planning, something I never do because I'm afraid we'll have steak every night for dinner. :) He did a good job, I nix 2 of the recipes which included red meat and had him find others (since he has been having a lot of steak lately).

One of the meals was a pasta puttanesca from Pioneer Women, which included the anchovies. My first thought was to just leave them out but I decided why not give them a try! So I did. Here's the recipe: serves 6 so I halved everything

• 8 ounces, weight Bucatini Or Spaghetti
• 2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
• 1/2 whole Red Onion, Sliced
• 1-1/2 cup Grape Tomatoes, Halved
• 3/4 cups Chicken Broth Or White Wine
• 2 cloves Garlic
• 4 whole Anchovy Filets
• 1/2 cup (heaping) Assorted Pitted Olives
• 12 whole Basil Leaves
• 4 ounces, weight Good Parmesan Cheese

1. Cook pasta until al dente.
2. Mash (in this order) garlic, anchovies, and olives using a mortar and pestle, or just chop them finely together. Set aside.
3. Using a fork, crumble the Parmesan cheese.
4. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium-high heat. Add sliced red onions and cook until slightly caramelized. Add halved tomatoes and cook for a couple of minutes. Pour in broth or wine and cook for another two minutes, then pour in garlic/anchovy/olive mixture. Stir and continue cooking for several minutes, or until sauce is nice and reduced and wonderful. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Drain pasta and add to the skillet. Add the crumbled Parmesan and toss to coat pasta in the sauce.
6. Tear basil leaves and sprinkle over the top. Serve right out of the skillet.  

I made sure to cut the anchovies into tiny little pieces to be sure I couldn't decipher them with the other ingredients. And I might have added a little more olives then the recipe called for since they are so good.

It was a really good dish, tons of flavor with a little bit of a kick (since I used some spicy olives). I would recommend giving this a try even if you don't like anchovies. But now I have to figure out what to do with the leftovers ones....

Mediterranean Couscous Cabbage Rolls

I am not going to sugar coat this post these were awful, totally not edible, don't ever make these. I haven't made something this inedible in a long time I believe since I burnt rice.  I won't even post the recipe because I don't want people to make these but if you are curious I will post the link.

I'll repeat don't make these, they were somewhat edible the night I made them, then I took one for lunch the next day and I had to throw it out.

TOTAL FAIL...
 

Egg salad

John's at the bruins game with Timmy so on my agenda was looking at wedding venues so instead of taking time to cook dinner I whipped up a quick egg salad sandwich for dinner.
I hard boiled 2 eggs

chopped them up

added a little mayo, spicy mustard, and paprika.

Toasted some whole wheat bread and added the salad on top

Dinner served!