Veggie – Meals We Like

Saag Paneer Pizza

We’ve made some delicious Saag Paneer in the past few months, and we make a lot of pizza, so when TheKitchn, one of my favorite blogs, had a recipe for Saag Paneer Pizza, I knew we had to try it. I am sure it would be great on Naan, but we just put it on our regular pizza dough and cooked it on the pizza stone. It was delicious!

Saag Paneer Pizza

MealsWeLike.com, adapted from TheKitchn.com

Delicious Indian food meets pizza

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 15

Total Time 30

Course Main

Cuisine Pizza

Servings 6

Ingredients

2 9 oz Packages frozen spinach thawed
2 Tbs Olive oil
1 Yellow onion finely chopped
1 Clove garlic finely chopped
1 tsp grated fresh ginger
2 tsp garam masala
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/3 cup Heavy cream
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 recipe pizza dough--fr 2 medium pizzas
2-4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese--we like it cheesy!

Instructions

Put pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 450.
Thaw the spinach and squeeze out the excess water.
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium heat
Add the onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 5 minutes.
Add the garlic and ginger and cook about 30 seconds.
Add the garam masala and pepper and cook about 30 seconds.
Add the spinach cook, stirring occasionally, until heated through cooking off any moisture from the spinach
Remove from heat, add cream and lemon juice.
Stir to mix.
Divide the pizza in two and roll out.
Divide the spinach mixture between the pizzas, spread out
Top with cheese
Bake one at a time for about 10 minutes or until the cheese is melted and browned.
Cool 5-10 min, slice and serve

Avocado Naan Flatbread with Garlic Kale, Acorn Squash and Sausage

Sounds like we should eat all the avocados we can between drought and Laurel Wilt, the industry has seen better days. I ran across this recipe on Vegan Richa trying to find something new to do with kale, and am very happy we tried it out. It wasn’t as complicated as it looks, but a good weekend recipe. While you could certainly leave out the sausage and keep things vegan, it was a nice addition.

Avocado Naan Flatbread with Garlic Kale, Acorn Squash and Sausage

MealsWeLike.com

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Prep Time 2

Cook Time 1

Total Time 3

Servings 4

Ingredients

For the Naan:

1/2 Cup Warm water
1 tsp Yeast
2 tsp Sugar
1 1/2 Cup White Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp Onion powder
1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1 Avocado mashed
1/4 Cup Basil chopped
2 T Nutritional yeast
1 Green chili finely chopped (optional)

For the Garlic Kale with squash and sausage:

1 Tbs Olive oil
1 Bunch kale washed, stems cut out and sliced
2-6 Cloves Garlic minced, depending on how garlicky you want it
1/2 Butternut squash peeled and diced
1 Pack Pre-cooked Sausages sliced

Instructions

Making the Naan:

Mix the water, yeast and sugar in a bowl and let stand for 10 minutes or until frothy.
Add all the dry ingredients and avocado and mix.
Knead into a soft dough(3-4 minutes).
Cover and let sit for 1.5 hours or until doubled.
Add chopped basil, green chili, nutritional yeast
Knead for a minute to combine well adding flour if needed.
Divide dough into 6 parts and roll into oval shape
Heat a pan until very warm (med-high heat)
Spritz with water and place the naan in the pan.
Cover and let cook on medium high until it starts to puff.
Flip after about 1 minute and cover and cook another minute or so

For the Garlic Kale and Sausage:

Heat a pan add some oil.
Sautée the squash until starting to soften (~10 min)
Add the Sausage and continue to cook until browned
Add the garlic and kale and stir until the kale is wilted
Serve on Avocado Naan

Brown Rice Salad with Grapes

Somehow I ended up picking a bunch of rice salads a few weeks ago. I think there were 3 on the menu in a couple of weeks–kind of odd given that we rarely make salad with rice…

But they were yummy and I made a couple of cups of brown rice early in the week and put it in the fridge and dinner was ready in no time! Worked out well. Also no cooking, which is always nice on a hot summer day.

This one came from TheKitchn. We switched out the walnuts for sunflower seeds due to allergies and maybe simplified things a bit here and there. With rice in the fridge, this can be ready in about 10 minutes. It’s a very hearty salad that could be a main dish.

Brown Rice Salad with Grapes

MealsWeLike.com adapted from theKitchn

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 55

Total Time 1 5

Course Salad

Servings 4

Ingredients

For the salad:

1 cup brown rice
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 bag salad greens
2 cups red grapes sliced in half
1 cup crumbled ricotta salata Trader Joe's has this

For the vinaigrette:

3 Tbs white wine vinegar
3 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs brown mustard
pepper

Instructions

Cook the rice and cool. I found it easiest to make up a batch of rice in the morning, put it in the fridge for the evening or a day or two later.
In a large bowl combine the cold rice, sunflower seeds, salad greens. Toss.
In a small bowl mix the vinaigrette, whisking to mix.
Pour vinaigrette over the salad and mix.
Add the grapes and ricotta salata, toss a bit and serve cold.

Sweet Potato Torta Española with Chard

Sweet Potato Torta Española

This Torta Española with Rainbow Chard recipe on theKitchn sounded really good, though we tend not to eat regular potatoes. I wondered if it could be made with sweet potatoes and Googled around and ran into this recipe on Well Fed, Flat Broke. So, while I am sure Spaniards would complain that this has no resemblance to a true Torta Española, we mixed and matched between the recipes and came up with the delicious dinner. We increased the chard to 1/2 the bunch, and sautéed the rest with some garlic and served that on the side. Our only regret was that there were no leftovers!

Sweet Potato Torta Española with Chard

MealsWeLike.com adapted from theKitchn and Well Fed, Flat Broke

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Prep Time 15

Cook Time 30

Total Time 45

Course Main

Cuisine Spanish

Servings 4

Ingredients

2 Medium sweet potatoes thinly sliced
1 Red onion thinly sliced
3 Tbs olive oil
1 Clove garlic minced
1/2 Bunch of chard sliced into strips
8 Eggs beaten

Instructions

Heat the oil in a non-stick pan over medium-high heat.
Add the potato and onion slices, stir to mix and coat with oil.
Add the garlic and mix in.
Cover and let cook until potatoes are soft, about 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Put the sliced chard on top of the potatoes and cover.
Cook another couple of minutes so the chard wilts.
Pour the beaten eggs over the chard and cover, cooking another 5-8 minutes, or until the eggs are mostly set.
Loosen the edges with a spatula and carefully slide the torta onto a plate.
Put the pan on top of the plate and invert so that the torta is back in the pan upside-down.
Cover and cook a few more minutes, until the eggs are cooked through.
Slice and serve.

Spinach Quiche

This Spinach Quiche recipe from SmittenKitchen was so good, we had it two weeks in a row! I just use my standard pie crust (1 c flour, 1/3 c butter, 6-8 Tbs water). I think making this in a tart pan, rather than a pie plate keeps the quiche a bit shallower and that seems to make it extra yummy. We had gruyere cheese which was delicious, we never did try it with cheddar as the original called for–maybe next time 🙂 ! Everyone in the family was fighting for leftovers. The second time, we basically doubled the recipe to make sure everyone had a delicious lunch the following day.

This goes really well with the Zucchini Carpaccio Salad, also from SmittenKitchen.

Spinach Quiche

MealsWeLike.com adapted from SmittenKitchen.com

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Prep Time 10

Cook Time 35

Total Time 45

Course Main

Servings 4

Ingredients

1 Pie crust
3 oz Cream cheese room temp
1/3 cup Milk cream or 1/2&1/2
3 Eggs
1 Package frozen chopped spinach thawed and drained
1/2 cup Grated gruyere cheese original called for cheddar)
1/4 cup Grated Parmesan cheese
4 Green onions whites and a little bit of green sliced
1/4 tsp Pepper

Instructions

Preheat oven to 425°.
Roll out the pie crust and place into a tart pan (we use one that's about 11 inches across)
With a fork, mash up the cream cheese in a medium bowl.
Gradually add in the milk and eggs, mixing well.
Mix in the remaining ingredients.
Pour mixture into uncooked crust.
Bake until crust is brown and filling is set, about 25 minutes.
Cool a bit before serving.

Ravioli with Sautéed Butternut Squash and Thyme

Frozen ravioli makes a nice start to a fast dinner. We had gotten tired of ravioli a while back since all we did was add some spaghetti sauce. This recipe is a relatively fast and easy dish that adds flavor, veggies and something different to the routine.

We used beef ravioli, though with cheese ravioli this could be a vegetarian dish. To make the cooking go a bit faster at meal time, you can dice the squash ahead of time and store in the fridge until your ready to go.

Ravioli with Sautéed Butternut Squash and Thyme

MealsWeLike.com, adapted from Women's Day

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Course Main dish

Servings 4

Ingredients

2 Tbs olive oil
1 medium butternut squash about 1 lb, peeled and cut into ½ inch pieces
2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
1 tsp dried thyme leaves
1 package ravioli
¼ cup grated Parmesan Cheese

Instructions

Heat the olive oil in a large skillet and add the butternut squash.
Cook covered, stirring occasionally, until the squash is soft and starting to brown (10-15 min).
Meanwhile boil the water for the ravioli and prepare according to package directions.
When the squash is ready, add the garlic and thyme and cook uncovered for a couple of minutes.
Serve the ravioli, topping with the squash and a sprinkle of Parmesan cheese.

Sweet Potato Samosas

I’m always on the lookout for new sweet potato recipes. Besides being tasty and popular with the kids, they have a lot more going for them than regular potatoes (e.g.: this site). So when I ran across this recipe for Sweet Potato Samosas on Culinate.com, I decided to give it a try. I added some ground beef, though you can leave that out for a veggie option. I’ve also thought peas were a required part of samosas, so I added a can. These were quite good and made a lot. In fact, with the peas and beef, I think you would need 2 batches of the dough for all of the filling. We just served some filing on the side and for left-overs. The green sauce was especially good!

Sweet Potato Samosas

MealsWeLike.com, adapted from Culinate.com

Sweet potato, beef and pea samosas

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Prep Time 1

Cook Time 20

Total Time 1 20

Servings 4 -6

Ingredients

Cream-cheese pastry

8 oz. Cream Cheese
1/2 cup Butter softened
2 cups Flour--we used White whole-wheat
1/4 tsp. Ssalt

Sweet-potato filling

1 lb Ground Beef or, for a veggie option, omit and add some olive oil
1 Large onion chopped
2 Tbs lemon or lime juice
1 tsp. Fresh ginger finely minced
1 clove garlic minced (about ½ teaspoon)
1/4 tsp. Cardamom powder
3 Large sweet potatoes
1 14 oz can Peas

Green dipping sauce

1 cup Low-fat Greek yogurt
1/2 cup loosely packed cilantro leaves
1/2 cup loosely packed mint leaves
1 jalapeño chile seeded, chopped (optional)
1 garlic clove

Instructions

Prepare the pastry:

Using the paddle attachment of a stand mixer, beat the cream cheese and butter together until smooth and creamy.
Add the salt
Add in the flour half a cup at a time, mixing until it comes together in a ball.
Wrap in plastic, flatten, and refrigerate while you make the filling. (You can make this dough up to 3 days ahead of time and refrigerate or freeze it for up to a month.)

Prepare the filling:

Microwave or bake the sweet potatoes until soft.
Peal and mash the potatoes in a large bowl.
Heat a large skillet over medium-high heat.
Brown the ground-beef if using, or add some oil.
Add the onion and sauté
Add the lemon or lime juice, ginger, garlic and cardamom
Transfer the beef and onion mixture to the bowl with the sweet potatoes.
Fold everything together.
Drain the peas and gently mix them into the mixture.
Set aside to cool--the dough gets too soft if the filling is too hot.

Forming the samosas:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface.
Using about a 3-inch round cookie cutter or biscuit cutter, cut circles in the dough--I used a big wide-mouth jar.
Place spoonful of the sweet-potato filling in the center of a dough circle and fold in half, sealing the edges.
Place on the parchment-lined baking sheet.
Once the sheet is filled up, bake until the edges are lightly browned, about 20 minutes.

Make the dipping sauce:

While the samosas are cooking, combine the sauce ingredients in a food processor or blender and process until smooth.

Serve the samosas warm or at room temperature.

Portobello mushroom wraps

These wraps from FoodandStyle.com were easy to make and delicious. This is a great weeknight recipe as everything comes together quite quickly. We used spinach tortillas which, surprisingly enough, were a hit with the kids.

Portobello mushroom wraps

MealsWeLike.com, adapted from FoodandStyle.com

Portobello Mushroom Wraps with Mozzarella, Peppers and Spiced Mayonnaise

Print Recipe

Servings 4

Ingredients

For the mushrooms:

3 Tbs olive oil
4 large Portobello mushrooms – stems trimmed caps brushed clean
Freshly ground pepper to taste

For the wraps:

4 to rtillas we used spinach tortillas
3 Tbs Mayonnaise
1/2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp paprika
1 8 oz jar roasted bell peppers sliced
12 oz mozzarella sliced kind of thick
1-2 handfuls baby spinach

Instructions

Preheat oven to 500°F.
Cut the mushrooms in 1/4” slices.
Lightly brush a rimmed baking sheet with olive oil.
Spread the mushroom slices onto the sheet in a single layer.
Brush with the rest of the olive oil and grind some pepper over them. Bake for 6 minutes.
Turn the mushroom slices over and continue baking for another 6 to 8 minutes until the slices are golden-brown at the edges.
While the mushrooms are cooking, mix the mayonnaise, lemon juice and paprika.
Arrange the mushrooms in a row across the bottom third of the tortillas.
Spread the mayonnaise on top of the mushrooms (about 2 tsp of mayonnaise for each tortilla).
Top with the mozzarella slices and sprinkle pepper to taste.
Top with peppers and the baby spinach leaves.
Roll each tortilla, cut in half and serve.

Saving extra fresh basil

A few weeks ago we planted a pot herb garden. We actually have 5 pots, one with basil, one with mint, and 3 with cilantro that we started from seed–the only cilantro plants we could find in town looked really pathetic! The garden has been doing fairly well, though after the recent rains, I need to remember to go back to watering it almost every day now.

The basil plant keeps getting taller and taller, so we decided to trim it back quite a bit to keep it from bolting too much. That lead to the “problem” of having too much fresh basil. of course I hadn’t thought far enough in advance to plan a meal needing pesto or using lots of basil, so we wanted to find a way to save it for later.

The best idea I found online was to chop it up, put it into an ice cube tray add some olive oil and freeze. Worked out really well. This morning I threw a cube into a skillet and scrambled up some eggs for breakfast–oil and seasoning all in one!

Butternut squash, sage and Parmesan pasties

These yummy pasties were fairly easy to make. I made the chopped the squash and made the dough in the morning and left it in the fridge until about 30 minutes before we were ready to make the pasties. Throwing them together in the evening didn’t take very long and then you have 40 minutes to do other stuff before dinner.

Butternut squash, sage and Parmesan pasties

Adapted from TheKitchen

Dough

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
Pinch of salt
1/2 cup butter
6-8 Tbs ice water (I add a bit of lemon juice)

Filling

8 oz butternut squash, peeled and cut into 1 cm cubes
1 medium red onion, diced
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsb dried (or 1 Tbs fresh finely chopped)
1 Tbs finely chopped parsley
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

egg for egg wash

To make dough

Cut the butter into the flour using a pastry blender or your hands. Start with about 5 Tbs of water and then add 1 Tbs at a time until all the flour comes together to form a nice ball. Refrigerate 30 min or longer (if you wait more than a couple of hours, let the dough warm up a bit so it can be rolled out.

To cook

Preheat oven to 375.

In a large bowl combine the filling ingredients. Divide dough into 4 pieces and roll out into circles. Spoon the mixture over half of the dough circles and fold over, crimping the edges shut. Transfer to backing sheet. Cut steam vents in the pasties, paint tops with beaten egg. Bake for 40 minutes at 375.