Showing posts with label Meatless Monday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Meatless Monday. Show all posts

Scallops & Zucchini Ribbon Pasta 

Friday, August 5, 2011 -
Hubs and I had ordered some scallops from a groupon we had purchased a while back.  These work perfectly for a planned out recipe or a thrown together dish (like the bok choy stir fry I had guest blogged on with Messy Aprons).  I guess I normally lean towards thrown together dishes, so hubs and I started doing our thing.

While he warmed up the grill and prepped the scallops with some salt and pepper, I put on a pot of water for some angel hair pasta and prepped some zucchini we had from the farmers market.  I simply used a vegetable peeler to make long pieces of zucchini into beautiful ribbons to mesh with the pasta.

For a sauce, I added some extra virgin olive oil to a pan and added some garlic and red pepper flakes.  At the market I had also picked up some cherry tomatoes, so I cut those in half and added them to the mix to get some more juice to be part of the sauce.  I added the zucchini so that it would slightly cook, but only for a minute.  A bit of pasta water with the pasta, and there was a good dish happening.

Hubs had grilled up the scallops and they turned out perfectly.  Adding them on top of the pasta with some fresh basil from our herb garden, we had a delicious and healthy dinner.

Frozen meets fresh - sounds like an easy dinner option to me.

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Mushroom & Cheddar Tart 

Thursday, February 3, 2011 -
Another Meatless Monday recipe, I was looking for something different.  I saw we had a puff pastry in the freezer and started thinking, "what can I make, other than baked brie, with the puff?"  We always have cheddar in the fridge (we are from Wisconsin after all) so I was thinking some sort of tart.  All I needed was some onion and mushroom to make the dish complete.

I began by chopping up shallots and mushrooms.  I had some oyster mushrooms and baby bellas, but you can use whatever you find on hand or at the store.  I sauteed up the shallots in some olive oil and added garlic.  Once those were softened, I dropped in the mushrooms until they were all softened.  Some seasoning was added (I believe I added garlic wine seasoning and black pepper) and I set that aside.


I had the puff pastry defrosting while I was prepping everything else, so it was ready to go when I finished up with the mushrooms.  I had rolled it out just a tiny bit and cut it into four pieces before placing it on a cookie sheet.  A note here - I didn't have parchment paper, but if I did, I would have put that down on the pan.  Instead, I very lightly sprayed the sheet and it ended up more greasy than I would have liked.  I'm sure parchment isn't needed (or the spray), but if you have, lay it down!

To prevent the puff pastry from, well, puffing up, I pierced it with a fork.  I topped it with extra sharp cheddar cheese, the mushroom mix and then a bit more cheddar.


These baked in a preheated, 350 degree oven until they were crispy and golden.  Chives add a crisp freshness to the savory tart, and I served them with a mixed green salad dressed with balsamic vinegar and olive oil to lighten it a bit more.  Hubby was starving, but after his salad and one tart, he was surprised with how full he really was.  I even got the much anticipated "I didn't even miss the meat!" which I'm sure is due to the variety of mushrooms.  And normally, he insists on overloading his food with cheese, but each had at most one ounce and it was more than enough.  The leftovers the next day heated up great too - all around, a great meal!

What do you like to cook with puff pastry?

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Roasted Red Pepper Pesto 

Tuesday, November 23, 2010 -
It was Meatless Monday once again, and this was another "what can I make with what I have in my pantry" type of a night.  I then saw this...

...a can of roasted red peppers.  I won it in my Italian gift basket from the Giving Dinner.  It is one of those things that hubby looked at and said, "we'll never use that."  I had to agree, I wasn't sure what I wanted to do with it.  So when I was digging up our herbs that died from the cold weather and silently crying over the wasted basil, I had an epiphany - roasted red pepper pesto.  Thus, the pantry Meatless Monday was born.

I grabbed the jar and some basic ingredients for pesto sans basil.  I'm sure basil would have been a great addition, but as just mentioned, it was now thrown aside in the brisk cold air. 

I had every intention on adding more olive oil, but after seeing all the great oil that was already seeping with flavor, I didn't need any.  I toasted up some pine nuts that I had leftover from a recipe last week and grabbed handfuls of Parmesan to add. A few cloves of garlic and we were ready to blend.

Adding some salt and pepper to taste, I had this beautiful, red/orange pesto.  It had great char flavor due to the roasted peppers, a taste of earthiness from the pine nuts, and a nice salty contrast from the cheese.  This would be absolutely fantastic on some fresh pizza dough or even some toasted crostini's.  I was pleasantly surprised and I think hubby was too as he feasted on lots of pasta.

With Turkey Day right around the corner, I was happy to not indulge in any meat as I know that bird and I will become very good friends come Thursday!

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Pumpkin & Shrimp Bisque 

Thursday, November 18, 2010 -
Some of you know that I like to have Meatless Monday at home. I think it helps get us to try new food (which normally isn't a struggle - I'll try anything) and think outside the box.  I could never be a vegetarian, but that doesn't mean that I dislike my veggie meals (or veggie friends of course.)  But sometimes, hubs immediately thinks that we'll end up having pasta on Meatless Monday, so it is more fun when I purposely do not incorporate the fantastic carbs.

But, what some of you don't know is that in the fall, I subject my hubs to a pumpkin meal at least once a week.  I do this until I see that look of "more pumpkin!?" in his eyes, which normally happens right after Thanksgiving.  I just adore pumpkin, I can't help it.  And this past Monday, I decided to combine our seafood and pumpkin dish into one, and since it is meat-free, why not make it Meatless Monday?

Once again, perusing some blogs, I found a dish I just couldn't pass up over at Closet Cooking - Pumpkin & Shrimp Bisque.

After shelling the crab, started off by creating a stock utilizing the shrimp shells, wine, onions, carrots, celery, sage, bay leaves (I had Turkish, it works) and some broth.  I had chicken bouillon on hand, which I'm sure gave it a smoother finish.  And yes, I realize chicken is meat, but just ignore that for right now.

After letting that simmer for a little over 30 minutes (to be honest, I cleaned out our coat closet and did some reorganizing during that point.  I like to multitask, I can't help it,) I drained the solids and was left with a great tasting broth.

I then added pumpkin, cayenne and cream.  I have to say, I really tried to stick to the recipe on this one (despite measuring, I don't really enjoy measuring...) and I have to say, it was a valiant effort.  Main reason why I didn't, no saffron was in my kitchen.  But that would have made it that much more heavenly.  However, I raised the spice bar just a little bit and was happy to have the back heat of cayenne on my palate.

This simmered for about 15 minutes (yes, I wrapped up putting the coats away before chopping up the shrimp that I had cleaned earlier) while I prepped the shrimp.  Sauteed the shrimp and continued to drool as the remainder of the dish came together.
 
Then, it was time for the pumpkin bowls!  I put some shrimp in them, then ladled the soup on top before adding a combination of sage, lemon zest, garlic and toasted pine nuts.

It really was a great dish - had a nice lemony flavor from both the sage and zest which lightened what many people think of a "heavy" pumpkin cream soup.  The crunch of the pine nuts contrasted well with the smooth soup, and I loved the taste of the shrimp combined with the pumpkin.  Though the richness of the toasted nuts could have added too much to the already rich soup, this didn't happen at all - I chalk that up to the lemon.

I love pumpkin soup, so this was a great variation of what I normally make.  The shrimp was fantastic in it, and the leftovers were as good the next day.

Any other pumpkin lovers out there?  How do you feel about combining with seafood?

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Meatless Monday - An Easy Pasta 

Wednesday, November 10, 2010 -
Many people don't enjoy Mondays.  My hubs happens to be one of those people.  Don't get me wrong, I don't really enjoy Monday's either - I think they are the cousin of the week days that no one really enjoys (yes, I have an analogy for each day of the week.)  But, I try to make the most of it.  This past Monday when I got home from the gym and hubs wasn't in the mood, I rush him out of the kitchen and get cooking.

I'm one of those people that plan a menu around our busy schedule for the week.  I make a grocery list to follow the order of the store.  Yes, I am a planner, I get it.  For me to say, "we'll figure it out" when chatting about a meal is rare, because I usually have some sort of idea.  But alas, it is Monday, and I wanted something simple too (because remember, I'm sleepy too.)  So, I grabbed a box of pasta and decided to "figure it out" by taking a look in the fridge to see what we had remaining from our busy, but fun, weekend.

While I had the pasta water boiling, I roughly chopped up some spinach leftover from the stuffed mushrooms I made for the Halloween party.  We also had a lonely tomato from hub's taco dip for the football game.  We always have at least 3 types of cheese in the fridge so I grabbed some Parmesan and added that to the mix.
Garlic, pepper, salt and olive oil are always home staples, so I add those as well.
Now, none of this took long.  I threw in a batch of chocolate chip cookies for a sweet post meal treat I knew hubs would enjoy.  I know he isn't a huge fan of me making him eat veggie once a week, but he's a good man, so a treat he gets!

Another note - hubs doesn't like whole wheat pasta.  We really enjoy making our own pasta and do so frequently, but sometimes when you want quick and easy (like Monday's,) we end up purchasing it.  We agree on the whole grain pasta - we get the healthy benefits and hubs doesn't have to taste the nutty flavors of the whole wheat that he doesn't like.  Thank you to all the companies who make this because it helps us out!
Once the pasta was drained, I tossed together everything.  The heat of the pasta wilts the spinach just a bit, melts the cheese a little, and brings all those simple ingredients together.  The garlic becomes fragrant and the Parmesan gives off it's own flavorful aroma.  And just like that, an easy (and healthy) dinner.
Hubs even said, "Thanks for making a great dinner I wasn't looking forward to."  Now, I take that as a compliment because hubs just doesn't look forward to meatless Monday's.  But I know with flavorful dishes (like the veggie meals we've had at Tastings or Zing,) he doesn't miss the meat.  And of course, with a sweet surprise treat like cookies, this makes it even better.  He didn't even mention a word that I left them in the oven a tad bit too long (I was cleaning the kitchen - got distracted!)
If you aren't vegetarian (shout out to my friends who are!,) do you try to eat vegetarian meals throughout the week?  What kind of easy meals do you prepare on days that you want something simple?

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