Zucchini Pasta- or How to Eat (and Enjoy) Two Zucchini in One Sitting

I'm currently trying to immerse myself in the Specific Carb Diet- the premise behind this one makes sense.  Certain foods create bacteria/yeast in your digestive tract which compromise your health, and you avoid such foods (wheat products, refined sugar, preservatives, potatoes...).  It is essentially gluten-free meets paleo meets raw, and I'm really enjoying how I feel on it.  It is so fabulous that a lot of people attribute it to curing autism/Crohn's/Ulcerative Colitis/ms/etc..

Now, I love pasta.  Noodles & Co was my to-go spot in high school, and even whenever I would wind up at the Mall of America I would always pass the more "exotic" eateries in favor of good old Noodles.  With that said, it is going to be hard for me to pass up pasta.  To cope with this loss, I bought a spiralizer

With said spiralizer I have had this same meal twice in one week, which testifies to the fact that it quick, easy, and crave-inducing.

You can make zucchinia pasta without a spiralizer of course.  You can use a mandolin to create wide and thin noodles, you can use a julienned (this would take longer of course), and you can just match stick the zucchini (this would be the least consistent and take the longest).

Ingredients

• 2 medium sized zucchini- spiralized
• 2 handfuls of grape tomatoes- sliced in half
• a few slices of roasted red peppers and a few tablespoons of their juices if from a jar
• 1-2 tbsp butter
• salt

Heat up a skillet over medium heat and add the vegetables and butter.  

Heat up until the butter melts and the zucchini warms up a bit (the less you cook it the crunchier it will be).

Adjust the butter and red pepper juice to taste and lightly salt to taste.  Yummo!

Fall Soup

I haven't been cooking much lately, and I have a good reason.  I got offered a job- yay!  That means we went to Buca di Beppo to celebrate and we have been eating leftovers ever since.  I'll be working at a hospital in Minneapolis, and I can't wait to start (it doesn't hurt that the cafeteria there is so good that I will probably hit it up even when I'm not working).

Anyway, to celebrate my first fall as an adult with responsibilities (I never thought that I would miss essays this much!) I made this extremely orange soup with some vegetables that I had lying around.  It immediately had me going nom nom nom in a soup trance.  The soup turned out to be creamy, savory, and filling (even without the half and half).  Alex preferred the soup without the half and half, but I liked it with a dash of cream since I am still getting acquainted with squash.  I can't wait to make this again!  Rating 8.5/10

Recipe adapted from Wishful Chef
Ingredients
1 large butternut squash- chopped
1 medium red onion- chopped
2 carrots- chopped
1 sweet potato- chopped
2 cloves of garlic- minced
4 cups of vegetable stock
salt and pepper to taste
half and half

Add the vegetables and 2 tbsp olive oil to a stock pot that is set over medium heat.
Cook the vegetables for about 5 minutes, or until fragrant.  Stir frequently!
Add the vegetable stock, bring to a boil, cover, and simmer for half an hour (and run to Target for half and half)
Remove the soup from heat, puree it in a blender or with an immersion stick.
Season with salt and pepper, add 1 tbsp of half and half to each bowl if desired.

Serves 6+

Roasted Peppers and Browned Butter

Last night Alex and I took it pretty easy when it came to dinner.  Not as easy as tonight (spinach and goat cheese Archer Farms pizza for me... I DID have plans to make a feast, but my lengthy Target trip got in the way).  When I say easy, I mean that we had a low ingredient count dish.  However, ALL of the ingredients except for the salt (I should have picked some up in Utah) and cheese were prepped with our hands.  Homemade pasta, homemade roasted peppers, and browned butter.  It was really good, I am still thinking about how satisfying it was over 24 hours later.  It was so good that there is no good in-focus picture because I made the mistake of sampling it as I was bringing my plate over the to the table.

Oh, and the aroma of roasted peppers is probably even better than that of apple butter.

How to make roasted peppers

The peppers don't need to be completely charred all over, but the skin does need to be pretty wrinkly/loose

Preheat your oven to 450 degrees
Place your sweet peppers on a tin foil lined pan and set on the middle rack in the oven.
After 15 minutes flip your peppers 180 degrees
Roast for an additional 15 minutes and remove from your oven.
Place in a closed paper bag or a covered bowl for 5-10 minutes.  This will help the skin loosen up and be easier to peel.
Remove the skin and slice your peppers into strips.

How to make browned butter

This is just before the butter started to kick up brown specks.  Don't judge my dirty stove top!

For every 2 people place 5 tbsp of unsalted butter in a small saucepan.
Constantly whisk the butter over medium heating.
After a vigorous bubbling session, the butter should start to have a nutty aroma and kick up flecks of brown.  Keep whisking!
Remove the pan from the heat now, or continue to whisk the butter to allow the butter to brown a bit more.  You do not want your butter to turn black.
Serve over your pasta with a sprinkle of sea salt and parmesan cheese, nom nom!

Grilled Tomatoes

I came home from San Francisco expecting to find dead tomato plants and rotten tomatoes lying everywhere.  Instead I found dead tomato plants with gorgeous tomatoes still attached.  Oh, and my basil plant is still kicking.  Life is rough sometimes like that.  This recipe is sooo good, and it might have been even better without the basil topping.  Definitely a great 5-minute snack or meal!  Rating 9/10.

Recipe adapted from For the Love of Cooking

4-5 medium tomatoes- sliced in half and sprinkled with salt and pepper
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1/4 tsp balsamic vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1 garlic clove- minced
1 tbsp basil- finely chopped

Heat a grill pan over medium-high heat and spritz with a light coat of PAM
Start to prepare the marinade while you grill the tomatoes by combining the evoo, balsamic vinegar, lemon juice, garlic, and basil.
Place tomatoe halves flat side down and cook for about 2 minutes or until you have some nice char lines going.
Flip the tomatoes and continue to cook for another 2 minutes.
Serve up the tomatoes on a plate and douse with the basil mixture.

Coconut Balls- moderately healthy

I don't really have an eloquent title for this, and Al's was not the most appropriate.  He created this masterpiece today, but I didn't know what he was doing until he had already thrown a bunch of stuff together- so this isn't a precise recipe and I had to guess the measurements based on how much of the ingredients were leftover, but it seems pretty hard to mess up. These are good.  So good that I thought that I should show it off for Al.  I ate five today for dinner.  Rating 10/10.

Recipe by Al
Approximately 3 cups dates
1 cup walnuts
1.5 tbsp honey
Approximately 1 bag of chocolate chips- melted
Approximately 1 cup of unsweetened shredded coconut

Combine the dates, walnuts and honey in a food processor.  Adjust ingredients so that they clump together but aren't overly sticky.  Honey= stick and dates= substance.
Roll the date mixture in your hands to create balls into desired size.
Plop the date ball into the melted chocolate and thoroughly coat with chocolate
Use a spoon to transfer the date ball into a bowl filled with the shredded coconut and do your best to coat it with coconut.
Transfer all of the coconut balls to a covered bowl and refrigerate.

Tomato Soup

Ahhh, I'm running late on posting!  I made this soup over a week ago, but I can still remember how satisfying it was to craft my own soup vs. dumping something out from a can.
Onto the soup!

Recipe adapted from Spelonca
12 medium tomatoes- you can skin them if you want.  I didn't.
3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
1 tbsp dried basil
2 cloves garlic- minced
1 tbsp fresh basil- minced
2 tbsp fresh oregano- minced
1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
1 tbsp coconut oil
1 tsp sea salt

Chop each tomato in half.
Line a tray with tin foil and place the tomatoes with the seedy part facing up.
Top with olive oil, dried basil, and 1/2 tsp sea salt
Roast at 300 for half an hour.  Flip and roast for an additional 30 minutes.

Place the tomatoes (don't add the juices- this will make your soup quite thin) into a blender and blend.

In a medium pot heat up the coconut oil and the garlic.  After 10 seconds add 1/2 tbsp fresh basil and 1 tbsp of oregano.
Reduce the heat and add the tomatoes.
Add half of the remaining fresh  herbs and the rest of the salt.
Add water if the soup is too thick, continue to simmer if the soup is too thin.
Add the remaining fresh herbs before serving.

Serve with grilled cheese, because that is the only way to fully enjoy tomato soup.

Meatless Monday- Lentil Walnut Burgers

I have made the decision to attempt to hop on the Meatless Monday bandwagon.  I accidentally let this slip to Al, and he was naturally horrified that there is indeed such a fad.  Oh well, chef's choice in this household!

Despite the absolute lack of meat in this meal, Alex and I both really enjoyed it.  I wish that I had doubled it so that I would have some leftovers tomorrow for lunch.  Alex even commented that it tasted like meat, score!  The spices add a nice Middle Eastern flavor, which was extremely welcome since we haven't found any good restaurants of the sort nearby.


Rating 9/10

Recipe from Great Food Fast

Burger 
3/4 cup lentils- rinsed (remove any lentils that float)
3/4 cup walnuts
1/3 cup plain breadcrumbs (whole wheat if you can find them)
3 garlic cloves
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1/4 to 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1 1/2 tsp sea salt
1/4 tsp ground pepper
4 tbsp olive oil- divided
1 large egg
Lettuce leaves or buns

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Place walnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for ~10 minutes until darkened and aromatic.  Remove from oven and let cool.
Place lentils in a saucepan and cover with water by 1 inch.  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to a simmer.  Cook for 15-20 minutes.  Drain and let cool.

Whip out your food processor or super-blender.  Add the walnuts, breadcrumbs, garlic, cumin, coriander, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.  Pulse until blended.
Add in the lentils and 1 tbsp of olive oil.  Pulse until integrated.
Whisk your egg and add into the food processor and pulse.

Remove the lentil mixture and form into 4 balls of equal size and press into 3/4 inch patties.
Heat up the remaining 3 tbsp of olive oil in a large pan and cook the patties for 8-10 minutes on each side.
Remove and place on a paper-towel lined plate to drain.
Serve with the sauce below, red onions slices, tomato, and a lettuce wrap or bun.  Increase your veggie factor even more by using several lettuce leaves as a wrap instead of just one.



Yogurt Sauce
~1 cup plain fat-free yogurt
2 tbsp fresh cilantro- chopped
1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper- a pinch or so of each

Whisk everything together, lather your burger with it.

Reheat leftovers in a preheated oven until warmed through.