Tacos
Taco shells
Cuban black beans (mine were frozen from when my mom made them, but you can buy them canned)
1-2 tomatoes (diced)
1-2 avocados (made into guacamole)
3-4 leaves lettuce (sliced into "shreds")
1/4-1/2 pound shredded cheddar
1 package chick-un
1/2 onion
salsa
I cooked the onion and the chick-un in a pan together, but they weren't anything special and I would just leave them out in the future. Then you just pile each ingredient into your taco shell... so fast and easy and fresh!
Spiral Casserole
1 package whole wheat spiral noodles (cooked per directions and drained)
3/4 pound cheddar cheese
2 veggie sausages
2-3 roasted red peppers (mine were from a jar)
1 small package goat cheese
This dish was inspired my macaroni and cheese, but it has a western twist. I often make my mac and cheese as just that: macaroni and cheese. No other ingredients. This is unusual, as most recipes add a lot of cream, but I feel it is the heart and soul of the dish, and when served hot the cheese melts and you really don't miss the cream (when cold, it is much stiffer).
I decided to add a little kick to the dish. The sausages and peppers gave a little spice, while the goat cheese gave it some tang (and a little more creaminess).
It's pretty easy - just mix all the ingredients together in a very large bowl, then pour into a casserole dish. You can bake extra to get a crispy top, or you can just eat it as it is.
Noodle casserole is great - I froze 2 servings, had 2 servings for lunch this week.
Showing posts with label pepper. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pepper. Show all posts
25.4.10
5.4.10
Weekend: Camping Scramble Eggs
When camping, Marshall really likes to make gourmet meals - he cooks more on the camping trips than any other time! But this time we were winging it. We didn't make a huge grocery shopping trip like we usually do, and we mostly packed what we had in the cupboard. This included eggs, and we thought we could make them scrambled (one dish meals always reign since we have only one propane burner).
4 eggs (we really lived it up with 2 eggs each!)
1 Chorizo-flavored soy-sauge
1 tomato
3 mini bell peppers (or 1/2-1 bell pepper would work)
Salt & Pepper
Scrambled eggs are an easy affair. We started with the veggies, cooking them up a little bit before adding the eggs. But then we just cracked the eggs right into the pan, and stirred quickly, then cooked until there was nothing shiny or clear. The chorizo soy-sauge was great, but the other veggies turned out a little bland. I don't know why; sometimes that just happens. So we poured the rest of our salsa on top and it was delicious. Bon appetite!
4 eggs (we really lived it up with 2 eggs each!)
1 Chorizo-flavored soy-sauge
1 tomato
3 mini bell peppers (or 1/2-1 bell pepper would work)
Salt & Pepper
Scrambled eggs are an easy affair. We started with the veggies, cooking them up a little bit before adding the eggs. But then we just cracked the eggs right into the pan, and stirred quickly, then cooked until there was nothing shiny or clear. The chorizo soy-sauge was great, but the other veggies turned out a little bland. I don't know why; sometimes that just happens. So we poured the rest of our salsa on top and it was delicious. Bon appetite!
27.3.10
Friday Dinner: Soup & 2 sides
My parents were coming for dinner, and as usual I was already running out of time before I'd even started to make dinner. Also, I wanted something healthy and fresh. And I'd bought some random vegetables a few days before that I needed to use up. Oh, and I had some leftover rice from making sushi, and I wanted to use that, too. But my dad is a little picky - he'll eat what ever someone makes for him, but I actually wanted him to like it, too. Mexican is usually popular, so I wanted to combine the rice into something Mexican... I thought maybe I could mix into some soup, so I went to one of my old standbys: Vegetarian Soup Cuisine: 125 Soups and Stews from Around the World
. I found a couple soup recipes that used rice, but didn't have the ingredients for either one. Instead, I combined them into a Mexican Corn Soup with Sweet Potatoes and Greens.
Mexican Corn Soup with Sweet Potatoes and Greens
2 sweet potatoes
2-3 leaves collards
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 cube buillion
3-4 cups water
1 can corn
serve with rice
Soup is always easy, and I try to make it even easier. Basically, chop the vegetables, boil those that take longer first, then add the others. In this case, cook the collards and sweet potatoes for 10-15 minutes (with boullion & nutritional yeast). Then at the very end add the canned corn. To serve, scoop into a bowl and put some rice on top.
Bean & Tomato Salad
1 very large and wrinkled heirloom tomato
1 container pre-mixed bean salad
6 leaves basil
6 sprigs parsley
I felt like we needed some protein, but as I looked through my canned beans nothing really sounded like ti would go with the soup. I thought about adding some white kidney beans, which would have been fin,e but didn't sound great. I also had a can of bean salad, and thought I could serve that with some herbs and tomatoes.
Basically, open the bean salad and out in a large bowl. Chop the herbs finely, and the tomato coarsely. Add to bowl, and mix everything well. Tada!
Brussel Sprouts
1 small bag brussel sprouts
2 small sweet mini bell peppers
white balsamic
butter
olive oil
brown sugar
I had the brussel sprouts, and those are not good when they are not fresh. For that reason, I wanted to use them up. I also bought them at the regular store, so I was already suspicious that they'd be bitter. (If you think you don't like brussel sprouts, try them fresh from the farm... they are a different vegetable). To make sure they weren't bitter, I decided to add butter and brown sugar :)
I also mixed in some white balsamic and olive oil, just to add some more depth. I cut the sprouts in half (so they'd absorb more in their leaves), added the butter, oil, vinegar, and sugar. Baked for 20 minutes in the oven at 350, covered with foil. In hindsight, I would have left the foil off to let them get crispy.
Everyone says: The brussel sprouts are the big winner.
Time: Maybe 45-60 minutes to prepare everything, plus another 20-30 while they cook.
. I found a couple soup recipes that used rice, but didn't have the ingredients for either one. Instead, I combined them into a Mexican Corn Soup with Sweet Potatoes and Greens. Mexican Corn Soup with Sweet Potatoes and Greens
2 sweet potatoes
2-3 leaves collards
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1 cube buillion
3-4 cups water
1 can corn
serve with rice
Soup is always easy, and I try to make it even easier. Basically, chop the vegetables, boil those that take longer first, then add the others. In this case, cook the collards and sweet potatoes for 10-15 minutes (with boullion & nutritional yeast). Then at the very end add the canned corn. To serve, scoop into a bowl and put some rice on top.
Bean & Tomato Salad
1 very large and wrinkled heirloom tomato
1 container pre-mixed bean salad
6 leaves basil
6 sprigs parsley
I felt like we needed some protein, but as I looked through my canned beans nothing really sounded like ti would go with the soup. I thought about adding some white kidney beans, which would have been fin,e but didn't sound great. I also had a can of bean salad, and thought I could serve that with some herbs and tomatoes.
Basically, open the bean salad and out in a large bowl. Chop the herbs finely, and the tomato coarsely. Add to bowl, and mix everything well. Tada!
Brussel Sprouts
1 small bag brussel sprouts
2 small sweet mini bell peppers
white balsamic
butter
olive oil
brown sugar
I had the brussel sprouts, and those are not good when they are not fresh. For that reason, I wanted to use them up. I also bought them at the regular store, so I was already suspicious that they'd be bitter. (If you think you don't like brussel sprouts, try them fresh from the farm... they are a different vegetable). To make sure they weren't bitter, I decided to add butter and brown sugar :)
I also mixed in some white balsamic and olive oil, just to add some more depth. I cut the sprouts in half (so they'd absorb more in their leaves), added the butter, oil, vinegar, and sugar. Baked for 20 minutes in the oven at 350, covered with foil. In hindsight, I would have left the foil off to let them get crispy.
Everyone says: The brussel sprouts are the big winner.
Time: Maybe 45-60 minutes to prepare everything, plus another 20-30 while they cook.
19.3.10
Friday: Quinoa and Butternut Squash "Salad"
I needed something healthy. I needed something green. I was back in the same predicament I'd faced earlier this week: limited time, nothing fresh in the fridge, and not enough patience to start from scratch. So again, I decided pre-cut vegetables are still a better option than a restaurant or a frozen meal. This time it was butternut squash and collards. I didn't even know they made pre-cut collards; I have to admit that I was actually kind of excited when I made that discovery.
This is a salad like a pasta or potato salad.
Quinoa and Butternut Squash Salad
1 1/2 cups quinoa
3 cups water
2 bouillon cube (or replace water AND bouillon with broth)
Put the quinoa, water, and bouillon in a small or medium pot. Bring to a boil, and then turn to the lowest possible heat. Let cook about 20 minutes while you prepare the rest.
1 bag cubed butternut squash (or about 1/2 whole squash)
1/2 bag chopped collard green (or about 1/2 bunch)
olive oil for pan
If using whole veges, chop up the squash. Mix the squash in a bowl with some olive oil (or other oil). Then place on cookie sheet. Put in oven; turn oven to 375. It is not necessary to pre-heat. Cook about 15 minutes, then add the collards (chop just before if necessary). Cook another 5-10 minutes. I put half of the collards on the baking sheet, and half on top of the quinoa. Those in the oven get crispy, while those on top of the quinoa are steamed and softer.
4 mini red bell peppers (or 1/2-1 large)
olive oil
balsamic vinegar (I used half regular and half white)
a few dashes cayenne powder
salt and pepper
Chop the mini bell pepper. Remove all the ingredients from heat. Mix together in a large bowl, and add bell pepper, oil, vinegar, cayenne, salt, and pepper - all to taste! Mix well. Taste often to make sure you have enough salty, spicy, peppery, sour for your preference. It's a beautiful salad!
Marshall says: He wasn't home... he would probably have added more salt and another dressing. But I snarfed it up as is. Yum! I feel so healthy after eating it, too!
Time: about 30-45 (would probably be about 60 if you had to chop, too)
Leftovers: Lots! This recipe probably serves 4 (large servings).
This is a salad like a pasta or potato salad.
Quinoa and Butternut Squash Salad
1 1/2 cups quinoa
3 cups water
2 bouillon cube (or replace water AND bouillon with broth)
Put the quinoa, water, and bouillon in a small or medium pot. Bring to a boil, and then turn to the lowest possible heat. Let cook about 20 minutes while you prepare the rest.
1 bag cubed butternut squash (or about 1/2 whole squash)
1/2 bag chopped collard green (or about 1/2 bunch)
olive oil for pan
If using whole veges, chop up the squash. Mix the squash in a bowl with some olive oil (or other oil). Then place on cookie sheet. Put in oven; turn oven to 375. It is not necessary to pre-heat. Cook about 15 minutes, then add the collards (chop just before if necessary). Cook another 5-10 minutes. I put half of the collards on the baking sheet, and half on top of the quinoa. Those in the oven get crispy, while those on top of the quinoa are steamed and softer.
4 mini red bell peppers (or 1/2-1 large)
olive oil
balsamic vinegar (I used half regular and half white)
a few dashes cayenne powder
salt and pepper
Chop the mini bell pepper. Remove all the ingredients from heat. Mix together in a large bowl, and add bell pepper, oil, vinegar, cayenne, salt, and pepper - all to taste! Mix well. Taste often to make sure you have enough salty, spicy, peppery, sour for your preference. It's a beautiful salad!
Marshall says: He wasn't home... he would probably have added more salt and another dressing. But I snarfed it up as is. Yum! I feel so healthy after eating it, too!
Time: about 30-45 (would probably be about 60 if you had to chop, too)
Leftovers: Lots! This recipe probably serves 4 (large servings).
10.3.10
Wednesday: Easy Dinner of Soup and Side
Mid-week, and I am feeling tired. But yet I want something fresh for dinner, and don't want to go out. Soup is always easy, and you'd be amazed at how many vegetables can fit into a bowl of soup! Another trick is to combine something homemade with something store bought or already prepared. Tonight I used that trick twice! I had some Aisan-style dumplings, and they only needed 2-3 minutes to boil. That sounded good to me. I also had some pre-cut sweet potatoes.
Asian Dumpling Soup
1-2 carrots
2-4 mini bell peppers (1/2-1 regular bell pepper would work, too)
1 small handful broccolini (broccoli flowering stalks, but 1/4 head of broccoli would work, too)
1 small handful already shelled edamame beans
4-6 cups water (6 if you are using larger volume of vegetables)
6-12 small Asian-style dumplings (mine were stuffed with mung-bean noodles, cucumbers, cabbage, carrots, and a lot of flavoring, but mostly soy sauce)
1 large spoonful miso paste (or 2-3 packets instant miso)
1 large spoonful tahini (sesame seed paste)
Chop the vegetables to your preferred size. Larger chunks are easier to cut, but slower to cook (and vice versa). Add to boiling water. Cook for a few minutes, until carrots are just turning soft. Add the dumplings, cook a couple more minutes. Remove from heat.
After you remove from heat, add the tahini and miso. If using paste, you may want to mix well in small bowl with 1/2 water before adding, to make sure it gets dissolved. Miso is "living" (it is fermented), so it is best to add it after the soup has stopped boiling, so it stays "alive."
Curried Sweet Potatoes and Apples
Curry used on anything besides curry in an instant way to fancify. I prove it here with curried sweet potatoes.
1 package pre-cut sweet potatoes (or 1 large sweet potato, cut into strips)
1 apple, sliced thinly
1-2 tablespoons curry powder
I used an apple slicer to slice the apples, and they were too thick. If you use an apple slicer, cut them in half after you use it, so they are closer in size to the sweet potatoes. Place sweet potatoes and apples on a cooking sheet, spray with oil, spread around, and spray again. You could also put them in a bowl and pour oil over them and mix them up; more oil would make them crispier. Once arranged on try, sprinkle with curry powder. Bake at 350-375 for 15-30 minutes (longer for crispier product).
Marshall says: "The soup needs more salt." "Woah! Are these apples?? I just dipped them in my ketchup!" I recommend warning guests that apples are mixed in with sweet potatoes so they don't make the same mistake. I thought the soup would have actually been better as a stir fry - all the same ingredients, but without the water and in a pan instead of a pot. With a little more oil of course.
Total Time: 45 minutes or so
Leftovers: Ate all the potatoes and apples; had 1 bowl of soup for lunch the next day.
Asian Dumpling Soup
1-2 carrots
2-4 mini bell peppers (1/2-1 regular bell pepper would work, too)
1 small handful broccolini (broccoli flowering stalks, but 1/4 head of broccoli would work, too)
1 small handful already shelled edamame beans
4-6 cups water (6 if you are using larger volume of vegetables)
6-12 small Asian-style dumplings (mine were stuffed with mung-bean noodles, cucumbers, cabbage, carrots, and a lot of flavoring, but mostly soy sauce)
1 large spoonful miso paste (or 2-3 packets instant miso)
1 large spoonful tahini (sesame seed paste)
Chop the vegetables to your preferred size. Larger chunks are easier to cut, but slower to cook (and vice versa). Add to boiling water. Cook for a few minutes, until carrots are just turning soft. Add the dumplings, cook a couple more minutes. Remove from heat.
After you remove from heat, add the tahini and miso. If using paste, you may want to mix well in small bowl with 1/2 water before adding, to make sure it gets dissolved. Miso is "living" (it is fermented), so it is best to add it after the soup has stopped boiling, so it stays "alive."
Curried Sweet Potatoes and Apples
Curry used on anything besides curry in an instant way to fancify. I prove it here with curried sweet potatoes.
1 package pre-cut sweet potatoes (or 1 large sweet potato, cut into strips)
1 apple, sliced thinly
1-2 tablespoons curry powder
I used an apple slicer to slice the apples, and they were too thick. If you use an apple slicer, cut them in half after you use it, so they are closer in size to the sweet potatoes. Place sweet potatoes and apples on a cooking sheet, spray with oil, spread around, and spray again. You could also put them in a bowl and pour oil over them and mix them up; more oil would make them crispier. Once arranged on try, sprinkle with curry powder. Bake at 350-375 for 15-30 minutes (longer for crispier product).
Marshall says: "The soup needs more salt." "Woah! Are these apples?? I just dipped them in my ketchup!" I recommend warning guests that apples are mixed in with sweet potatoes so they don't make the same mistake. I thought the soup would have actually been better as a stir fry - all the same ingredients, but without the water and in a pan instead of a pot. With a little more oil of course.
Total Time: 45 minutes or so
Leftovers: Ate all the potatoes and apples; had 1 bowl of soup for lunch the next day.
4.3.10
Wednesday Day: Simple & Light Lunch
Usually for lunch at work I will either bring in leftovers or make something really simple and easy. This is mostly the latter.
Hummus on Naan with Peppers
1 large piece Naan (I got mine at Trader Joe's; there are better brands out there, but it's decent)
1 tub hummus
1 small container leftover chopped fresh green bell peppers
This is really easy; I jsut spread the hummus on the naan, and then sprinkled the bell peppers on top. Adds a nice fresh ingredient to the simple dish. I also ate this with the leftover cucumber salad.
Hummus on Naan with Peppers
1 large piece Naan (I got mine at Trader Joe's; there are better brands out there, but it's decent)
1 tub hummus
1 small container leftover chopped fresh green bell peppers
This is really easy; I jsut spread the hummus on the naan, and then sprinkled the bell peppers on top. Adds a nice fresh ingredient to the simple dish. I also ate this with the leftover cucumber salad.
28.2.10
Sunday Night: International Three Course Dinner
Lentil-Spinach Soup
Looking in the fridge, I see some frozen spinach water (water used to boil spinach, then frozen for use later as a broth). I had been looking through my current favorite cookbook earlier, Vegetarian (Homestyle)
, and it had a recipe for lentil soup with spinach. While I didn't have any spinach, I did have lentils. And now I had spinach broth. I defrosted the spinach broth, threw in the lentils. Rummaged around the fridge some more and remember the arugala (rocket) - that's close to spinach! This is not very heavy on the spices, but being lentil soup it is roughly Indian.
1/2 cup red lentils (any color will work)
about 4 cups spinach broth
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 handful golden raisins
Mix the above ingredients together, bring to a boil, then simmer 20 minutes or so.
Arugala/rocket
Jarred crushed garlic
Salt
Add a handful of arugala (or spinach), and a small teaspoon or less of jarred crushed garlic, and a few dashes of salt, simmer another 5 minutes, then turn off and leave covered.
French Egg Rolls
In the same cookbook, I saw a recipe for something that looked delicious, but was made with filo dough. I hate filo dough because it's really time consuming; I always use puff pastry instead. I had some puff pastry left over from a dinner party a few weeks back, so I took it out of the freezer to thaw. In the mean time, I had to make up the rest of this dish. I had very few of the ingredients that the recipe actually called for (celery, carrots, etc). But I did have peppers, which it called for. The recipe was originally roughly French or Italian, but since I had so few of those ingredients, I decided to go with Asian. I wanted to add tofu. I had three kinds of tofu in the fridge: plain, baked savory, and baked teriyaki. The teriyaki looked the most flavorful, and fit with the Asian theme.
2 orange peppers
2 green peppers (I actually cut all 3 of the green peppers I had; I figured I could use the others on top of one of my salads, sprinkled on the soup, etc.)
1 package baked tofu - teriyaki flavor (mine was from Trader Joe's)
1/2 box puff pastry
Teriyaki sauce (I used "Soy Vay" brand)
Sesame oil for cooking in a pan (any oil will do)
You have to thaw the puff pastry!!! This takes at least 40 minutes, but it's really important. The good news is all you do is throw it on the counter and wait. But there's no cheating either - you can't run it under hot water to speed it up. You also need to preheat the oven (this takes about 10 minutes).
Cut up the peppers really small. Cut up the tofu the same size. By really small I never mean as small as a chef - that would take too long. Something close to the size of thumbtack will work. Add a couple spoonfuls of teriyaki sauce and mix it all up. Heat up a pan with some oil and then cook the peppers & tofu for 10-20 minutes, just until the liquid is mostly gone and the peppers are a little softer than when you started.
Once the puff pastry is thawed, cut one sheet into 6 pieces. If it's not thawed it will break when you unfold it. Mine did this, which is why I decided to cut the puff pastry into the shape that I did, and is how fate guided me to invent french egg rolls! Take a spoonful of peppers & tofu and sprinkle it in longways, then wrap the edges up and press together along the top, leaving the ends open (you can fit more filling in this way). On a whim, I sprinkled/pressed some sesame seeds along the top edge. You can do this if you want to.
Put the french egg rolls on a cookie sheet. I lined it with parchment paper first - it works WAY better than oil! And I recently found out you can reuse parchment paper! Bake for 15-20 minutes. I served mine with some habenero-mango sauce I had in the fridge. They were also delicious plain. And of course you could serve them with any other sauce you might have: more teriyaki sauce, or some hot pepper suace diluted in vinegar and sugar.
Spinach Arugala Salad
You might be wondering how I managed to have spinach for the salad, but not the soup. Well, I had already mixed together the end of a bag of spinach and the end of a bag of arugala (both still fresh, just almost gone) to make a salad for work. Three salads, to be exact, in three containers. But I didn't really mix them; the spinach was on bottom. So I just pulled some arugala off the top for the soup. But I took one of the containers of salad for dinner. It's really easy to make more than one salad at a time, so I had used the same mix of two kinds of greens, but mixed in different toppings. Most toppings will last several days; avoid adding cut up fruits more than one day before eating. I chose this one:
2 handfuls baby spinach
2 handfuls arugala/rocker
1 handful golden raisins
1 handful cashews
cilantro dressing (mine was from Trader Joe's)
Mix in a very large bowl, or shake in a bowl with a tight-fitting lid. It was a little risky, since the toppings were kind-of trendy/Californian, but the dressing was Mexican. I think because it was simple (only 2 toppings), it all came together well. I made this early and let it sit with the dressing, so the dressing kind of marinated and "deflated" the spinach, softening it up (the way I like it). If you prefer crispier/crunchier spinach, add the dressing just before serving.
All this was served with 2 slices of orange and a glass of sparkling water with lime. Yum! Marshall approved of everything. He wanted me to write down the French Egg Roll recipe, which is actually why I decided to re-visit this blog with a new theme. I plan to write down everything I cook for at least a week, maybe more. I even promise to take a few photos.
Serves: 2
Total time: maybe 90 minutes or possibly 2 hours...sorry - decided to write this up after I'd already cooked!
Leftovers: The other two salads and one small bowl of lentil soup. Plus I had at least 1 cup of the pepper-tofu filling. Stay tuned for how I re-use this later in the week!
(I had planned to have 2 of the 6 French Egg Rolls for lunch, but Marshall ate 4 instead of 2.)
Looking in the fridge, I see some frozen spinach water (water used to boil spinach, then frozen for use later as a broth). I had been looking through my current favorite cookbook earlier, Vegetarian (Homestyle)
, and it had a recipe for lentil soup with spinach. While I didn't have any spinach, I did have lentils. And now I had spinach broth. I defrosted the spinach broth, threw in the lentils. Rummaged around the fridge some more and remember the arugala (rocket) - that's close to spinach! This is not very heavy on the spices, but being lentil soup it is roughly Indian.1/2 cup red lentils (any color will work)
about 4 cups spinach broth
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 handful golden raisins
Mix the above ingredients together, bring to a boil, then simmer 20 minutes or so.
Arugala/rocket
Jarred crushed garlic
Salt
Add a handful of arugala (or spinach), and a small teaspoon or less of jarred crushed garlic, and a few dashes of salt, simmer another 5 minutes, then turn off and leave covered.
French Egg Rolls
In the same cookbook, I saw a recipe for something that looked delicious, but was made with filo dough. I hate filo dough because it's really time consuming; I always use puff pastry instead. I had some puff pastry left over from a dinner party a few weeks back, so I took it out of the freezer to thaw. In the mean time, I had to make up the rest of this dish. I had very few of the ingredients that the recipe actually called for (celery, carrots, etc). But I did have peppers, which it called for. The recipe was originally roughly French or Italian, but since I had so few of those ingredients, I decided to go with Asian. I wanted to add tofu. I had three kinds of tofu in the fridge: plain, baked savory, and baked teriyaki. The teriyaki looked the most flavorful, and fit with the Asian theme.
2 orange peppers
2 green peppers (I actually cut all 3 of the green peppers I had; I figured I could use the others on top of one of my salads, sprinkled on the soup, etc.)
1 package baked tofu - teriyaki flavor (mine was from Trader Joe's)
1/2 box puff pastry
Teriyaki sauce (I used "Soy Vay" brand)
Sesame oil for cooking in a pan (any oil will do)
You have to thaw the puff pastry!!! This takes at least 40 minutes, but it's really important. The good news is all you do is throw it on the counter and wait. But there's no cheating either - you can't run it under hot water to speed it up. You also need to preheat the oven (this takes about 10 minutes).
Cut up the peppers really small. Cut up the tofu the same size. By really small I never mean as small as a chef - that would take too long. Something close to the size of thumbtack will work. Add a couple spoonfuls of teriyaki sauce and mix it all up. Heat up a pan with some oil and then cook the peppers & tofu for 10-20 minutes, just until the liquid is mostly gone and the peppers are a little softer than when you started.
Once the puff pastry is thawed, cut one sheet into 6 pieces. If it's not thawed it will break when you unfold it. Mine did this, which is why I decided to cut the puff pastry into the shape that I did, and is how fate guided me to invent french egg rolls! Take a spoonful of peppers & tofu and sprinkle it in longways, then wrap the edges up and press together along the top, leaving the ends open (you can fit more filling in this way). On a whim, I sprinkled/pressed some sesame seeds along the top edge. You can do this if you want to.
Put the french egg rolls on a cookie sheet. I lined it with parchment paper first - it works WAY better than oil! And I recently found out you can reuse parchment paper! Bake for 15-20 minutes. I served mine with some habenero-mango sauce I had in the fridge. They were also delicious plain. And of course you could serve them with any other sauce you might have: more teriyaki sauce, or some hot pepper suace diluted in vinegar and sugar.
Spinach Arugala Salad
You might be wondering how I managed to have spinach for the salad, but not the soup. Well, I had already mixed together the end of a bag of spinach and the end of a bag of arugala (both still fresh, just almost gone) to make a salad for work. Three salads, to be exact, in three containers. But I didn't really mix them; the spinach was on bottom. So I just pulled some arugala off the top for the soup. But I took one of the containers of salad for dinner. It's really easy to make more than one salad at a time, so I had used the same mix of two kinds of greens, but mixed in different toppings. Most toppings will last several days; avoid adding cut up fruits more than one day before eating. I chose this one:
2 handfuls baby spinach
2 handfuls arugala/rocker
1 handful golden raisins
1 handful cashews
cilantro dressing (mine was from Trader Joe's)
Mix in a very large bowl, or shake in a bowl with a tight-fitting lid. It was a little risky, since the toppings were kind-of trendy/Californian, but the dressing was Mexican. I think because it was simple (only 2 toppings), it all came together well. I made this early and let it sit with the dressing, so the dressing kind of marinated and "deflated" the spinach, softening it up (the way I like it). If you prefer crispier/crunchier spinach, add the dressing just before serving.
All this was served with 2 slices of orange and a glass of sparkling water with lime. Yum! Marshall approved of everything. He wanted me to write down the French Egg Roll recipe, which is actually why I decided to re-visit this blog with a new theme. I plan to write down everything I cook for at least a week, maybe more. I even promise to take a few photos.
Serves: 2
Total time: maybe 90 minutes or possibly 2 hours...sorry - decided to write this up after I'd already cooked!
Leftovers: The other two salads and one small bowl of lentil soup. Plus I had at least 1 cup of the pepper-tofu filling. Stay tuned for how I re-use this later in the week!
(I had planned to have 2 of the 6 French Egg Rolls for lunch, but Marshall ate 4 instead of 2.)
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