Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers - Take Two

This is my second take on vegetarian stuffed peppers. The first can be found here. These were Mexican themed, so I served them topped with salsa. Turns out my three year old likes salsa, but not stuffed peppers. Ah well.


Vegetarian Stuffed Peppers
6 poblano peppers, cut in half lengthwise
1 tblsp olive oil
1 small red onion, sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1 can black beans, drain only the very top of the liquid
1 batch cooked brown rice (mine was for 2-3 servings)
1 1/2 tblsp taco seasoning
1/2 tblsp cumin
salt and pepper
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Place peppers in a glass casserole dish. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large skillet. Brown onion. Add garlic and cook until fragrant. Add beans, brown rice, and seasonings. Stir to combine. When liquid from beans cooks off, add 1/4 cup water and cook until heated through. The mixture should be moist, but not wet. Remove from heat and stuff peppers. Top with cheese and cook in 375 degree oven for 20 minutes, until cheese is melted and a little brown.

Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Fall Veggies

Since it officially got all cold and fall-like this weekend, some comfort food was required! But, since I had eaten a bunch of crappy food (too much pizza), I wanted to make sure some veggies got in there so that I didn't have to feel too guilty. 


Baked Mac and Cheese with Fall Veggies
1/2 box whole wheat elbow macaroni
4 tblsp butter, divided
2 tblsp AP flour
1 cup veggie broth
1/2 cup whole milk
1 tsp yellow mustard
1 cup grated cheese blend (I used colby, cheddar, and provolone)
1 small head broccoli, blanched and chopped into bite size chunks
1 small head cheddar cauliflower, blanched and chopped into bite size chunks
1/2 butternut squash, roasted and pureed
1 cup whole wheat breadcrumbs
Cook macaroni in salted water a minute less than called for on the packaging. In the meantime, melt 2 tblsp butter in saucepan. Add flour and whisk to combine. Cook for a minute. Whisk in broth and milk. Cook over medium hear until sauce thickens. Whisk in mustard and salt and pepper. Remove from heat and stir in cheese until melted and smooth. Combine macaroni, cheese sauce, and veggies in a casserole dish. Melt remaining butter in microwave and toss with breadcrumbs. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over macaroni. Cook 20-30 minutes in 350 degree oven until topping is crunchy.

Grilled Vegetable Sandwich

I had a couple of rolls left over from making steak sandwiches the other night, so I made these to use them up. Very simple, but the sandwiches ended up tasting even better than I expected. Kevin says, "If Atwaters served that, I would order it every time." There was also a lot of rambling about it being a vegetarian substitute for cheese steak subs or Novakians (perish the thought). He says the toasted roll made the sammie, so you shouldn't skip that step.


Grilled Vegetable Sandwiches
1 long skinny eggplant, cut in half and sliced in 1/4" slices lengthwise
1 summer squash, cut in half and sliced in 1/4" slices lengthwise
2 medium carrots, sliced in 1/4" slices lengthwise
2 portabella mushrooms
olive oil
salt, pepper, garlic powder, crushed red pepper
1 green pepper
2 sub rolls
1 cup grated mixed cheese (I used mozzarella, parmesan, and cheddar)
pickled onions
Place sliced veggies in a bowl together and mix with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and crushed red pepper to taste. Let sit for at least an hour. Clean mushrooms and coat in oil, salt, and pepper and let sit for a half hour. Heat your grill to high. Place the green pepper on the grill and turn until blackened. Remove from grill and let cool. (Theoretically, you should be able to peel it like a roasted pepper, but that didn't work, so I just ran with it and ate the burned up skin.) Slice it and set it aside. Place all other veggies on grill and cook to your taste. Meanwhile, brush olive oil on the inside of the sub rolls. Place them face down on the grill and toast for a couple of minutes. Flip them over and top with cheese. Cook until melted. Cut mushrooms into slices so they fit on the rolls. Top with all other veggies and pickled onions. 

Grilled Stuffed Tomatoes

I came home from vacation to find my tomatoes had ripened! Joy! Instead of just plopping them on a plate with every meal, I figured I should try something a little different. It was also hot as heck, which meant I was not interested in firing up the oven, so I decided to try stuffed tomatoes on the grill. They were delicious, but definitely a mess.

Grilled Stuffed Tomatoes
3 plum tomatoes, halved, seeds removed
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
1/4 cup grated romano cheese
1 tblsp fresh oregano, chopped
1 tblsp fresh basil, chopped
extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper
Mix all ingredients except tomatoes. Add olive oil until the bread crumb mixture just comes together. Grill tomatoes, meat side down, for a minute to warm up and add a little grill flavor. Flip tomatoes over and spoon filling into the tomato and grill until the cheese melts and the filling browns lightly.

Greek Tomato Sandwich

This is way too easy and probably doesn't deserve its own blog entry, but I'm putting it here anyway. It's mostly the mayonnaise. I tried to make this without making the mayo and it was just a mess of a sandwich. And I'm sure "Greek" is a bit of a stretch, but it's what I think of when I taste it, so that's what it is here.

Greek Tomato Sandwich
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 tblsp chopped fresh oregano
1 oz crumbled feta
1 large tomato, sliced
sliced onion
lettuce
whole wheat bread
Combine mayo, oregano, and feta in a small blender. Let sit in fridge for at least an hour. Assemble sandwich on toasted bread. Enjoy!

Barley with Veggies

This was just something I threw together to serve the dual purpose of being lunch and cleaning out the fridge a little, but it ended up being really tasty. I normally don't like any application where feta cheese becomes warm, so I'm not sure why I put it in, but it definitely worked.


Barley with Veggies
3 tblsp olive oil
2 tblsp sliced onion
1 clove chopped garlic
1 zucchini, sliced into half moons
1 small bunch spinach, chopped
1/4 tsp fresh basil
crushed red pepper
3/4 cup leftover pearl barley
2 oz feta cheese, crumbled
salt
Heat olive oil over medium high heat. Add onion, garlic, and zucchini. Cook until zucchini begins to get tender. Add spinach, basil, and red pepper (to taste) and cook until spinach is wilted. Add barley and cook until warmed through. Remove from heat and add feta and salt to taste. 

Eggs Benedict

I made the most beautiful, picture perfect eggs benedict for Kevin for his father's day breakfast. I so wanted to take a picture because I never make anything that's picture perfect, but my camera batteries were dead. So were the backup batteries. Sad.


Hollandaise
4 egg yolks
1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
pinch cayenne (I actually used a bit more than a pinch by accident, but it was quite tasty)
2 tsp warm water
1 stick butter, melted
Add all ingredients except butter to a food processor. Turn on processor and slowly drizzle in melted butter. Serve warm over toasted english muffins topped with canadian bacon and poached egg.  

Vegetable Pie

Hmm... I don't have much to say about this one. I was basically looking to use up some veggies and some pie crust. Exciting, right?


Vegetable Pie
1 pie crust
2 tblsp olive oil
1 small onion, sliced
1 large zucchini, sliced
2 cloves garlic, smashed
3 bunches spinach (I'm guessing this is about one bag), chopped
1/4 cup leftover pizza sauce (or, you know, any tomato option you like - I was going to go with chopped tomatoes and some fresh herbs, but the kids had other ideas)
1/2 cup fresh peas
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
Heat olive oil over medium high heat. Saute zucchini and onion until onion is softened. Add garlic and saute for a minute. Add spinach and cook until wilted. I then set about trying to dry out the veggies. First, I dumped everything into a colander and let it sit for 20 minutes. Then I dumped all of them out onto some paper towels and let them sit while I rolled out the pie dough and fitted it to a 9" pie plate. Spread spinach and onion as the bottom layer of the pie. Layer zucchini on top. Drizzle pizza sauce on top of zucchini. Sprinkle peas on top of that. Top the whole thing with cheddar and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Crazy Green "Pesto"

I've been hearing all about garlic scapes for a while, but since they've never appeared at my farmer's market, I had never tried them. That all changed this week. I picked up two bunches since I think they're only available for a short period of time and I wanted to take a stab at more than one preparation. Tonight, I went with a "pesto" sauce. Wooey! These guys are pungent. Since I have the baby to consider, I tried to tone down the bite of the scapes, but no dice. Here's hoping the baby still wants to talk to me tomorrow!


I think I'm going with roasting the next batch of scapes. What do you think? What do you do with your scapes?


Garlic Scape Pesto
1 bunch scapes (7 in my bunch), cut into 1/2 inch chunks
leaves of one stem of basil (about 10 leaves)
leaves of 3 stems of flat leaf parsley
5 large leaves of spinach
1/2 cup romano cheese
1/2 cup reserved starchy pasta water
extra virgin olive oil
salt
Place scapes, basil, parsley, and spinach in food processor. Pulse until everything is lightly chopped. Add cheese and turn processor on. Stream in pasta water and olive oil until desired consistency is reached. Salt to taste and serve on warm pasta.