Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Sprouts has beautiful vine-ripened tomatoes on sale.  And I have a ton of roasted red peppers from their sale a couple weeks ago.  Pair that with some fresh homemade bread and you've got a yummy Meatless Monday meal.

Tomato and Roasted Red Pepper Soup

Ingredients:

• 4 large tomatoes
• 2 red peppers, roasted, seeded and peeled
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1 cup water
• 1/2 teaspoon dried basil
• salt & pepper
• 1 can evaporated nonfat milk

Directions:

• In a large pot, bring some water to a boil.  Put the whole tomatoes in and boil for a few minutes.  Transfer the tomatoes to an ice bath.  This will help you to peel them.  Peel and chop the tomatoes, remove seeds.
• Place the chopped tomatoes into a clean pot.  Add the roasted red peppers, onion, water, dried basil and some salt to taste.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer.  Cook for about 20 minutes until the tomatoes are tender/soft.  (Cook longer if you want a really smooth soup.  I like mine with texture so the tomatoes are soft but do not disintegrate.)  Puree with a stick blender.
• Add the evaporated nonfat milk and continue to simmer until the soup is heated through again.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Stuffed Zucchini

Another use-what's-in-the-fridge night including another delicious giant zuke from Ferrari Farms (thanks, Cheri and Dorian!).  The marinara on top was an afterthought when the top of the filling looked dry as it was baking; next time I will probably either mix it in, or omit it but cover the tops with foil while baking.  Soooo good!

Make sure you drain the meat mixture and squeeze the spinach really dry.  Mushrooms and zucchinis put out a lot of liquid when cooked, and if your filling is too moist the whole thing will be soupy.

Stuffed Zucchini


Ingredients:

• olive oil
• 2 large zucchinis
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 pound lean ground sirloin
• 1 (8 oz. bag) trumpet mushrooms
• 1 large handful frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
• 1/2-ish cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1 egg
• a few tablespoons prepared marinara sauce (optional)

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray a baking sheet with olive oil and set aside.
• Cut the zukes in half and remove the pulp, keeping a 1/2-inch border all around.  Chop and reserve the pulp.  Place the zuke halves cut side up on the sprayed baking sheet and sprinkle lightly with TSSS.  Set aside.
• In a skillet over medium heat, saute the onion and garlic in a tablespoon of olive oil until soft. Add the ground sirloin, some TSSS to taste, and brown.  Drain.
• Add the reserved zucchini pulp, mushrooms and spinach and continue to saute until the mushrooms are soft.  Drain.  Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes.
• Add the feta and egg and combine.
• Divide the mixture into fourths and fill each zucchini half.  Cover with foil (so they don't dry out) and bake for 25 - 30 minutes.  Remove the foil (and top each zuke with a little marinara sauce - optional) and continue baking for another 5 - 10 minutes until the zukes are tender (but not mushy).

Quinoa Lentil Chili

Today is Meatless Monday.  I've been doing Meatless Monday for several months now, where I cook meatless meals for dinner.  Part of it is health-driven (eat more veggies and legumes), part of it is eco-driven (lessen our footprint on the planet), part of it is spiritually-driven (don't kill, even animals), and part of it is to force myself to experiment with ingredients/methods/recipes I otherwise would not use.  Today's experiment was with quinoa, you know, that supergrain-that's-also-a-complete-protein that's been all the rage these past few years.

I'll admit it - I've never had quinoa before.  Wait, I take that back.  In the early 2000s I went on a training seminar for work, and my roommate introduced me to quinoa.  We were in one of those extended stay suites with kitchen, so she prepared it for dinner one night.  I don't remember how she prepared it, but it was awful, so needless to say it's taken me about 10 years to actually want to give it another try.

I have quinoa.  And I have some beautiful red lentils.  How about a vegetarian chili?  I browsed the internet for recipes.  There's a bunch out there, but I settled on a combination of this one and this one as my main guide.  And of course I used what was in my fridge and pantry.  I served it with a slice of toasted rosemary garlic sourdough; it was really good.  Hubby had it with Triscuits.

Next time I think I'll add a bell pepper and a can of kidney or garbanzo beans.

Quinoa Lentil Chili
Inspired by this recipe and this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/2 cup uncooked quinoa, rinsed and drained
• 1/2 cup dried red lentils, rinsed and drained
• 2 cups water
• 1 (15 oz.) can of diced tomatoes
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 2 stalks celery, chopped
• 1 large zucchini, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

• In a large dutch oven, sweat the onion in the olive oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and stir for a minute.
• Add the quinoa and lentils, water and diced tomatoes.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cook, covered, for about 20 minutes.
• Add the rest of the ingredients, bring to a boil and reduce to simmer again.  Cook, covered and stirring occasionally, for another 20 - 30 minutes until lentils and vegetables are tender.

Off Topic - Decorated Cookies - July 4th Fireworks and Butterflies

July - More Independence Day cookies; USA and fireworks cookies; patriotic butterfly cookies
The square ones were for hubby's work (1 dozen triple vanilla sugar cookies), and the butterflies were for Claire's dance class (1 dozen vanilla sugar cookies).

Off Topic - Decorated Cookies - Tulips, Daisies, Butterfly, Retirement, Sea Turtles, 4th of July Flag with Star Spangled Banner

May - a Random Act of Cookie for the Werner family; daisy, tulip and butterfly cookies
1/2 dozen vanilla and 1/2 dozen chocolate sugar cookies.


May - Chu Long's Retirement / Welcome Home party; freehand happy face and wine glass cookies
3 dozen chocolate sugar cookies
 

June - Claire's Birthday; turtle cake and turtle cookies
She's been obsessed with baby sea turtles lately, so that was the theme of her party.  The cookies were for her classroom. Devil's food cake birthday cake, 3 dozen triple vanilla sugar cookies.


July - Independence Day; flag cookies
I didn't plan out the lettering as well as I could/should have so I ended up having to put in filler squiggles. Oh well. At least there are fifty stars in there. :-) 2 dozen vanilla sugar cookies.

Zucchini Lasagna

What do you do with a gigantic zucchini that you receive from friends (thanks, Ferraris!)?  You make a lasagna, of course.

I've seen this a number of times on Pinterest, and it sounded good, so I thought I'd give it a try.  It's more of an idea than a recipe.  You just take thin slices of zucchini (or eggplant) and layer them, in place of noodles, with typical lasagna ingredients like sauce, cheese, ground beef/sausage, etc.  It was absolutely delicious, and I didn't miss the noodles at all.

One note: zucchinis release a lot of liquid when cooked, so try to keep your sauce on the thicker/drier side, otherwise it will come out a little soupy.  Still tasty, though, but you might need a spoon instead of a fork.

Zucchini Lasagna

Ingredients:

• zucchinis, cut thinly into 1/8" slices
• typical lasagna ingredients, minus the noodles

Directions:

• Layer ingredients into a baking dish like you would a typical lasagna, using the sliced zucchini in place of noodles.  Bake as usual. (I did mine at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes, and the zucchini was perfectly "al dente".)

Steak Chili

A slightly fancier version of my Chilly Night Chili.  Perfect for rewarding your hubby on those days when he vacuums the floors without you asking.  :-)

Steak Chili

Ingredients:

• 1.5 lbs. roast or steak, trimmed of all visible fat and cut into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 medium onion, diced
• 1 green bell pepper, seeded and diced
• 2 stalks celery, diced
• 2 (15 oz.) cans of beans, drained (pinto, kidney, black, etc.)
• 2 cans (14.5 oz.) petite diced tomatoes
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• a few generous dashes of Worcestershire sauce
• salt & pepper to taste

Directions:

• Place all the ingredients into a crockpot and cook on low for 8 hours, stirring occasionally.  Add more s&p at the end if necessary.

Baked Shrimp and Rice

I made this last week but forgot to take pictures.  It's based on this other recipe that bakes shrimp atop a bed of chickpeas.  I had some leftover rice and thought it might be good that way.  Thankfully it was yummy and hubby asked for it again, so here you go, second time in a week.  So quick and easy.

Note: make sure you cover the surface of the rice with the shrimp as much as possible to preserve moisture and keep the rice tender.  If you have large areas of uncovered rice, the tops will dry out and get hard and crunchy from baking.

Baked Shrimp and Rice


Ingredients:

• 1 lb. jumbo shrimp, peeled and deveined
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• Tastefully Simple Seasoned Salt
• Tastefully Simple Garlic Garlic
• juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 3 tablespoons Smart Balance, divided
• 2-ish cups cooked brown rice

Directions:

• Pre-heat oven to 400 degrees F.
• In a bowl, combine together the shrimp, olive oil, TSSS and TSGG, and lemon juice.  Set aside.
• Grease the bottom of a 9x9 (or equivalent) baking dish with half the Smart Balance.  Spread the rice loosely in the bottom of the dish and dot the top with the rest of the Smart Balance.  Sprinkle lightly with TSSS.
• Arrange the shrimp on top of the rice.  Again, make sure the rice is well covered by the shrimp or it will dry out from baking.  
• Bake for 15 minutes, until the shrimp is opaque and cooked through.

This goes great with a crisp green salad.

Vegetable Soup

I was drawn to the Farmer's Market and bought way too many veggies this weekend and don't have room to store them in the fridge. How fitting for Meatless Monday.

Vegetable Soup

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 carrots, chopped
• 3 ribs celery, chopped
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 1/2 teaspoon thyme
• salt & pepper
• 2 cups vegetable stock
• 4 cups water 
• 1 cup dry whole wheat elbow pasta
• 1 large zucchini, chopped
• 1 large yellow squash, chopped
• 1 can red kidney beans, drained
• 1 can great northern beans, drained

Directions:

• In a large dutch oven, heat the oil over medium heat and sauté the onion and garlic for a few minutes until they soften.
•  Add the carrots, celery, diced tomatoes, thyme, salt & pepper (to taste), vegetable stock and water.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook, covered for 15 minutes until carrots begin to soften.
• Add the pasta, zucchini, yellow squash, and beans.  Bring to a boil again and reduce to simmer; continue cooking, covered, for another 15 minutes until the pasta is done.  Add more s&p as needed.

Simple Tomato Beef Stew

This recipe is for Todd's friend, Brett.  A long time ago (5+ years?) we had Brett and some friends over for lunch.  I'd made a beef stew, and Brett asked for the recipe.  At that time I was winging it (I still wing it most of the time nowadays) and didn't keep a recipe book.  So I honestly don't remember exactly how I made it.  I decided to make a beef stew for dinner tonight and thought I might try to make something similar and document it for Brett.

Since I'm trying to keep this South Beach Diet friendly, I did not add any potatoes.  (I don't think I'd added potatoes back then either.)

Simple Tomato Beef Stew


Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 pounds rump round or chuck, trimmed of fat and cubed into 1" pieces
• salt and pepper
• 1/4-ish cup Worcestershire sauce
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 3 carrots, cut into large pieces
• 3 celery ribs, cut into large pieces
• 2 (15 oz.) cans diced tomatoes

Directions:

• Heat olive oil in a dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Generously season the cubed meat with salt and pepper, add to the heated oil and brown on all sides.
• Add the rest of the ingredients in the order listed above and bring to a boil.  Reduce to medium-low heat to simmer.  Cook, covered, for about 2 hours, stirring occasionally, until the meat is tender.  Add more salt and pepper as needed.
• Serve with crusty bread.

If you like a thicker stew, you can mix a tablespoon of whole wheat flour with a little bit of water until it forms a loose paste, then add it to the pot about 10 minutes before the end of cooking time.