Tag Archives: vegetarian

Summer T.B.M. Pizza with Corn Relish

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Last weekend as I was paging through this month’s volume of Martha Stewart Living I came across a delicious-sounding recipe for Grilled Pizza with Cheesy Corn, Fresh Tomatoes, and Basil.  I was already planning on making pizza for dinner on Sunday and happened to have some extra frozen corn, garlic, and Parmesan, so I decided to mix up my standard Tomato-Basil-Mozzarella pizza and make this recipe instead.

Since I made this on short notice I had to improvise a bit.  I didn’t have any fresh corn so I used frozen corn which I rinsed and drained before blending into the relish.  Although I’m sure corn freshly sliced off the cob would have been even better, I thought that the corn was pretty tasty.  I also cheated by baking the pizza in the oven rather than grilling it because it was waaaay to hot out to stand over a grill (we’ve been having a major heat wave here on the east coast) !  All in all I thought the pizzas were quite yummy.  Thanks, Martha Stewart!

Summer Tomato-Basil-Mozzarella Pizza with Corn Relish (from Martha Stewart Living)

You will need…
15 oz. store-bought Pizza Dough (I used Trader Joe’s dough, of course!)
1 1/3 cups Corn Kernels (from two ears of corn or just measured out if using frozen)
1/4 cup Parmesan Cheese
1-2 medium Garlic Cloves
4 tablespoons Olive Oil, divided
Salt, to taste
2 Tomatoes, thinly sliced (I used small plum-sized “on the vine” tomatoes)
4-6 oz. Mozzarella, thinly sliced (this worked out to 12 of TJ’s small marinated mozzarella balls)
1/2  cup Basil Leaves

Directions:
Make the corn relish by combining the corn, Parmesan, garlic, 2 tablespoons olive oil, and 1/2 teaspoon salt in a blender and blend well.  Stretch the pizza dough into two pizzas and place them on a greased baking pan.  (For best taste let the dough sit at room temperature for 1 hour beforehand.)  Season the dough with a few pinches of coarse salt, then bake in a 425° preheated oven for 6 minutes.  Remove from oven, flip the dough, then top with the corn relish (spread it on with a spoon), tomatoes, and mozzarella.  Bake the pizzas for another 6 minutes until the mozzarella has melted.  Top with the basil leaves and enjoy!

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa

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I’ve been wanting to share this recipe for Roasted Tomatillo Salsa for quite some time since it is one of our all-time favorite salsas.  It is a great go-to recipe for summer barbecues and picnics and features a fresh flavor, beautiful green color, and just the right amount of kick.  The original recipe came from The Food Network’s Tyler Florence and can be viewed here.

We first made this salsa last Spring when our oven was broken.  Instead of roasting the tomatillos, peppers, onion, and garlic in the oven, we wrapped the bottom of our 13×9 glass pan in foil and roasted the veggies on our grill over indirect medium-high heat.  If you find yourself wanting to make this recipe during a heat wave, using the grill might be a good way to avoid heating up your kitchen!

Tomatillos look sort of like green tomatoes with protective husks.

Roasted Tomatillo Salsa 

You will need…
10-12 Tomatillos, husked and sliced in half
4 cloves Garlic, peeled
2 Jalapeño Peppers, whole
1 White Onion, sliced into 6-8 large wedges
Juice from 1/2 to 1 Lime (depending on how juicy your lime is!)
1 teaspoon Salt
2 teaspoons Cumin
1/2 cup Cilantro, loosely chopped
Tortilla Chips

Directions:
Place the tomatillos, garlic, peppers, and onion in a 13×9 glass pan and roast in a preheated 400° oven for 20 minutes until veggies have softened.  Switch the oven to broil and broil for 4-5 minutes until black spots start to form on the tomatillos and peppers.  Remove from oven and set aside to cool.

Tomatillos, Garlic, Jalapeños (from my garden!), and Onion ready to be roasted.

Meanwhile, place the lime juice, salt, cumin and cilantro in a blender.  When the tomatillo mixture is cool enough to handle safely, pour the roasted veggies and any accumulated juices into the blender.  Blend the mixture until it is fairly uniform (or to your desired salsa consistency) and serve with tortilla chips.

Veggie Wraps with Feta, Hummus and Basil

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Matt and I live about five minutes from work which means that we are able to drive home in the middle of the day to visit Bailey and eat lunch together.  Usually we eat leftovers, lean cuisine pizzas, or lean pockets (my fav is the grilled chicken jalapeno cheddar!) but this week we decided to plan ahead and actually prep food on Monday that we could enjoy all week.  The minimal amount of prep work at the beginning of the week was well worth it and we happily assembled and ate our fresh veggie wraps with feta, hummus, and basil on Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday.

These wraps were inspired by Cosi‘s Hummus and Veggie Sandwich and Panera‘s Mediterranean Veggie Sandwich.  We made a few changes including using soft, pliable flatbread from The Fresh Market and adding our favorite types of hummus.  (I prefer Trader Joe’s Cilantro Jalapeno Hummus and Matt likes TJ’s Mediterranean Hummus.)  The resulting sandwiches are flavorful, colorful, and just messy enough to give you an excuse to lick the excess hummus and melted feta off of your fingers when you’re done eating.  🙂

Veggie Wraps with Feta, Hummus and Basil (makes 6 sandwiches)

You will need…
6 pieces Flatbread or flexible, fresh pita bread
Approx. 1 cup reduced fat Feta Cheese, crumbled
Approx. 1 cup of your favorite hummus
1 Red Onion, thinly sliced into rounds and cut in half
1 Cucumber, thinly sliced on a diagonal and then cut into strips
1 Red Pepper, thinly sliced into long pieces
Handful of Basil Leaves, thinly sliced

Directions:
Place one flatbread on a microwave-safe plate and sprinkle with feta cheese.  Microwave on high for 30 seconds to warm up the bread and slightly melt the cheese.  Top the cheese with 2-3 spoonfuls of hummus and gently spread the hummus over the cheese with the back of the spoon.  Top with sliced onion, cucumber, pepper, basil and a spoonful of feta.  To eat your veggie wrap, fold up the edges of the flatbread taco-style and enjoy!

What do you eat for lunch during the work week?  Please share!  🙂

Herbed Pizza with Spinach and Feta

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We made these delicious pizzas for dinner a few weeks ago just when the spinach in our garden was at its peak.  I picked about 3 cups of baby spinach leaves (almost wiping out the whole crop but that’s ok… I was making room for pepper plants and basil!) and rinsed and dried them well before using them in this recipe.  Fresh spinach leaves from the garden are juicy and bright green – very different from the bagged stuff you buy in the store!  I’ll definitely be planting more spinach when the weather cools off in the Fall so we can continue to enjoy this delicious leafy green.

Herbed Pizza with Spinach and Feta

View the recipe

Eggplant Parmesan – Trader Joe’s Style!

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Matt has lacrosse practice one evening a week which means that Bailey and I are left to our own devices.  I usually make some kind of simple, vegetarian meal for myself and then Bailey and I snuggle on the couch and watch TV.  My latest guilty pleasure is the NBC show “Smash” which is about the drama and excitement of Broadway.  I’m sure that Matt is very happy that I watch that when he’s at practice rather than subjecting him to it every week!

For tonight’s meal, I wanted to use up some of the Trader Joe’s Ciliegine Mozzarella and fresh basil that we had left over from our Sausage TBM Pizzas.  After rummaging around in the freezer, I discovered half a box of Trader Joe’s Eggplant Cutlets and some frozen tomato sauce that we made back in February.  So… what do you do with eggplant, mozzarella, basil and tomato sauce?  Make Eggplant Parm, of course!  Granted, I’ve never made Eggplant Parm and I never looked up a recipe (or actually used Parmesan cheese…), but those ingredients came together as a very tasty Eggplant Parmesan “Tower” for one.

Quick and Easy Eggplant Parmesan  (serves one)

You will need…
8 Trader Joe’s Breaded Eggplant Cutlets (or make your own!)
3 Small Mozzarella Balls (I used and recommend TJ’s ciliegine mozzarella balls)
1/4 cup Tomato Sauce (I used some smooth tomato sauce that we froze several weeks ago)
2 cloves Garlic, thinly sliced into “chips”
1 tablespoon Olive Oil
Handful Fresh Baby Spinach (Mine was straight out of my garden, woohoo!)
Sprig of Basil for garnish

Directions:
Cook the Eggplant according to the package instructions.  For Trader Joe’s Eggplant Cutlets, this involves baking the eggplant slices in a 425° oven for 12-14 minutes.  As soon as the eggplants are done, remove them from the oven and carefully begin to stack them on the baking sheet with the biggest slices at the bottom.  When you get halfway, place one mozzarella ball between the 4th and 5th eggplant, then continue stacking upwards.  Drizzle the stack with a few spoonfuls of tomato sauce then top with a mozzarella ball.  Insert your eggplant tower into the over under the broiler.

Meanwhile, saute the garlic slices in olive oil over medium-high heat until they start to turn golden.  At that point, add the spinach and stir constantly until the spinach wilts.  Remove from heat.

Check on your broiling mozzarella tower.  Once top cheese ball is melted, carefully add another mozzarella ball to the top of the tower and continue to broil until that ball is about 3/4 melted.  Remove the eggplant tower from the oven.

To plate your dish, spoon about 3/4 of your remaining sauce into the center of a plate.  The diameter of your sauce should be slightly larger than your largest “base” eggplant cutlet.  Place your bright green, wilted spinach and garlic chips around the edges of the tomato sauce, then carefully transfer your eggplant tower to the center of your plate.  Spoon the remaining tomato sauce around the top of your eggplant tower so that it drips down the side.  Top with a spring of basil and enjoy!

Corn and Black Bean Salad

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This healthy, colorful salad is easy to make and the combination of rice vinegar, lime juice and cilantro give it a great, fresh flavor.  Because you can make it several hours ahead of time, this has been a go-to side dish for us when we’re having people over for dinner.  The leftovers (if there are any!) keep well and are delicious either alone or as a chunky salsa/dip with tortilla chips.  We found the original recipe on Whole Food’s blog.

Corn and Black Bean Salad

You will need…
2 – 15 oz. cans of Black Beans, drained and rinsed
15 oz. frozen Corn, rinsed (if using canned corn boil it for 1 minute and then drain)
1 small Red Onion, chopped and rinsed
1 Red Bell Pepper, chopped
2 tablespoons Rice Vinegar
1 tablespoon Extra Virgin Olive Oil
1 tablespoon Lime Juice
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Ground Black Pepper
1/3 cup Cilantro, chopped

Directions:
Rinse the beans, corn and red onion in a large colander.  Allow to drain thoroughly, then add the red bell pepper.

Meanwhile, combine the rice vinegar, olive oil, lime juice, salt, and pepper in a large bowl.  Mix well, then add the bean, corn, onion, and pepper mixture from the colander.  Add the chopped cilantro.  Mix the entire salad well and then cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour to chill.  Stir again before serving.

Cuban-Style Black Beans

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Someday I will make “real” beans.  I mean the kind where you soak dried beans overnight, pick through them for stones (stones, really?!?), and then cook them for hours with seasonings.  But for today I had my hands full with pork carnitas and jicama slaw so I just decided to use a recipe where I can doctor up a basic can of black beans and make them taste like they have been soaking all night and simmering on the stove.  This recipe from SkinnyTaste.com was exactly what I needed.  The beans turned out flavorful and slightly saucy (a good attribute in my opinion!) and complemented the rest of the meal very well.

Cuban-Style Black Beans  (view the original recipe here)

You will need…
1/2 Onion
2 cloves Garlic
2 Scallions
1/4 Red Pepper
3 tablespoons Cilantro
Olive Oil
1 15oz. can Black Beans, undrained
1/3 cup Water
1 Bay Leaf
few pinches of Cumin (I love how there’s no exact measurement in the original recipe… this is exactly how I cook!)
one pinch Oregano
1 teaspoon Red Wine Vinegar
Salt and Pepper, to taste

Directions:
Chop the onion, garlic, scallions, red pepper, and cilantro in a food processor.  Add a small amount of Olive Oil to a pan and sauté the onion mixture for approximately 3 minutes.  Add the rest of the ingredients and stir well.  Bring to a boil and then lower heat and simmer, uncovered, for approx. 15 minutes stirring occasionally.

Jicama Slaw

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Tonight for dinner we are making pork carnitas with jicama slaw, cuban-style beans, and cilantro-lime rice.  The pork, which has been simmering the crock pot all day, will not have a huge amount of seasoning which is OK because the real flavors will come from the combination of the slow-cooked pork and this delicious jicama slaw in our green chile corn tortillas.  I’ll post the pork recipe and photos of the finished dinner later.

We made the slaw this afternoon so that the veggies will have time to soak up the dressing before dinner.  The original recipe came from the Food Network’s Guy Fieri.  You can view Guy’s recipe here.

Jicama Slaw

You will need…
3 tablespoons Lime Juice
1/2 teaspoon Red Chile Flakes (we used Crushed Red Pepper since we didn’t have Chile Flakes)
1/2 teaspoon Chile Powder
6 tablespoons Rice Wine Vinegar
1 teaspoon Sugar
6 tablespoons Olive Oil
1 teaspoon Salt
1 teaspoon Pepper
1  1/2 cups Jicama, peeled and julienned
1 cup Carrots, peeled and julienned
1 cup English Cucumber, julienned
1/2 cup Red Pepper, julienned
1/2 cup Red Onion, thinly sliced
1 cup Shredded Cabbage (use bagged cole slaw mix if you don’t feel like buying a whole head of cabbage; for tonight’s dinner we used a bag of “broccoli cole slaw”)
2 tablespoons Cilantro, chopped

I was able to fit nearly all of the ingredients onto this cutting board... there are a lot of them!

Directions:
In a small bowl or measuring cup combine the first eight ingredients (lime juice through pepper) and stir together.

If you have a mandoline, use it to julienne and slice your veggies. We made this slaw one time before we owned our mandoline and it took about 40 minutes longer because I am not very quick with a knife!

In a much larger bowl, combine the rest of the ingredients (jicama through cilantro) and toss.  Pour the dressing over the veggies and mix well.  Cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours before serving.