Foods I Cooked (with Jason's help)

[viciouswishes]

Savory Indian Sweet Potatoes from Moosewood Restaurant: Low-Fat Favorites

Serve on rice and with chutney, salsa, or yogurt. I had it on Jasmine rice. Though I do think that with something a little more liquid-y, it might help make it less rice. I fucked up my cooking and ended up just heating the entire mix on the stove as my shells were damaged and it still seemed to work pretty well. I really liked how it tasted and it was a pretty hot dish too.

2 large sweet potatoes
1 cup diced onions
1/3 cup water, unsweetened apple juice, or orange juice (I used water.)
3 garlic cloves, minced or pressed (I did not use. Allergies.)
1 1/2 tbsp grated fresh ginger root
2 tsp ground cumin
1 minced small green chile, remove seeds to make milder dish
2/3 cup diced red and/or green bell peppers (I did not use. Allergies.)
3 tbsp cream cheese
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice
1/2 cup fresh or slightly thawed frozen green peas (I did not use. Allergies.)
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Bake the sweet potatoes at 400° for about 1 hour or until tender. (Took me about 1.5 hours.)

While the potatoes bake, combines onions and water or juice in a medium saucepan. Cover and simmer until the onions soften for about 5 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, cumin, chile, and bell peppers, cover, and simmer until the pepper are tender or about 5 minutes. Removed from the head Cut the cream cheese into small pieces and stir it into the hot vegetable mixture to melt. Set aside.

When the sweet potatoes are baked, cut them in half lengthwise. Hold each potato half with a towel or mitt and scoop out the central part of the flesh with a spoon. Leave about a 1/4 inch shell so that the potatoes maintain their shape. Mix the potato flesh with the vegetable-cheese mixture. Add the lemon juice, peas, and salt and pepper.

Lower the oven temperature to 350°.

Stuff the potato shells with the filling. Place them in a lightly oiled baking dish. Cover and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes until hot.

Spinach-Rice Casserole from the Moosewood Cookbook: New Revised Edition

This was probably the plainest dish I've made. Good, but not going to spice up your life. The recipe says that you can substitute the spinach for things like mustard, kale, or collard greens.

2 cups uncooked brown rice (long or short grain)
1 tbs butter or margarine or olive oil
2 cups minced onion
2 lbs fresh spinach, stemmed and finely chopped
1 tsp salt
4 to 5 medium cloves garlic, minced (I didn't use. Allergies.)
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp cayenne
black pepper, to taste
optional: 1 to 2 tsp prepared mustard (I forgot this.)
1/2 cup sunflower seeds (Couldn't find, didn't use)
2 beaten eggs
1 cup milk (I used plain soy.)
1 1/2 cups grated cheddar
paprika (Didn't use, allergies)

Place rice in a medium-sized saucepan with 3 cups water. Cover, bring to a boil, then lower to the slowest possible simmer. Cook, covered and undisturbed, for 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from heat, transfer to a medium-sized bowl, and fluff with a fork. (I instead used my rice cooker. It's awesome.)

Preheat oven to 350°. Oil a 9x13 inch baking pan.

Heat the butter, margarine, or oil in a deep skillet. Add onion and saute 5 to 8 minutes until soft. Add spinach, salt and garlic and cook about 5 minutes more over medium heat, stirring frequently. Add this to the rice, along with the rest of the seasonings and half the sunflower seeds. Mix well.

Beat together eggs and milk and stir this into the spinach-rice mixture, along with the grated cheese.

Spread into the prepared pan, sprinkle with the remaining sunflower seeds and dust with paprika. Bake uncovered for 35 to 40 minutes until heated through and lightly browned on top.


Eggplant-Almond Enchiladas from the Moosewood Cookbook: New Revised Edition

This was a big hit. Jason and I both really loved it. It was gobbled up. It was also probably the most "it has what in it?" dish. We'll definitely be making it again.

1 tbs olive oil
1 cup minced onion
6 cups diced eggplant (approximately 1 large or 2 small)
1 tsp salt
black pepper
4 medium cloves garlic, minced (Didn't use, allergies)
1 medium green bell pepper, minced (Didn't use, allergies)
1 cup almonds, minced
1 packed cup grated jack cheese (or similar mild white cheese)
12 corn or flour tortillas
1 can 14oz enchilada red sauce
Optional: I added the rest of the jack cheese I'd grated and a bunch of cheddar cheese on top of it with olives before cooking.

Heat olive oil in a deep skillet or Dutch oven. Add onion and saute for about 5 minutes over medium heat.

Add eggplant, salt, and pepper and mix well. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the eggplant is soft.

Add garlic and bell pepper. Stir and cook 5 to 8 minutes or until the pepper is just tender.

Remove from heat and stir in almonds and cheese.

Preheat oven to 350°. Moisten each tortilla briefly in water, then place approximately 1/4 cup of filling on one side and roll up. Gently situate the filled enchiladas in a baking pan. Pour enchilada red sauce over the top. (Then I put on the cheese and olives over it.) Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes.

Comments

[chicken-cem.livejournal.com]

Mmm, I leave the eggs and dairy in, too, although I try to use the new organic valley "lactose free" milk because it tastes better than Lactaid.

[viciouswishes.livejournal.com]

I tend to just use soy milk, not because I'm lactose intolerance, but because I actually like it better.