Texas Tomato Broth and Roasted Veggies

Yes, Texas. Well, not because it has anything to do with Texas itself, but because the whole time I was in Texas I kept craving this dish. Somewhere in my heart I decided that roasted veggies in tomato broth would be amazing, hearty, healthy and delicious. Of course this could only be served over some quinoa. I was frustrated at every restaurant- why didn't people have this on the menu? After all, we were in Austin, the home of all things hipster and healthy. Then I came to my senses and realized that I could just make it once we were home. So,  I did. And. It. Was. Amazing. Let me say it again- it was amazing! But, of course, I made it up in a flurry of creativity, and I did not write anything down. This was a major misstep. Has anyone else out there ever done that?

Luckily, I was able to find the two recipes I adapted and recreate it in all of its original thyme-covered, savory, tomato-based glory. My mouth is watering. The best thing about this is that it combines all the best of  a recipe from Emeril (don't I feel cool) that involves come citrus and the comfort from a Smitten Kitchen recipe. I love all things Smitten Kitchen. Seriously, check out her blog. And her cookbook. I read mine cover to cover because I am a nerd like that.

Okay, here we go.

Texas Tomato Broth and Roasted Veggies

Chop:
2 medium zucchini
2 medium squash
The key here is consistency. You want to make sure that they all roast the same.
Toss in olive oil, the place on cookie sheet. season with seas salt, thyme. I don't know how much thyme exactly, but it should look like this:

Bake for approximately 30 minutes at 350.
You know they are done when they have a little resistance when poked with fork.

Chop:
1 medium carrot
1 stalk celery
1 medium onion
I recommend doing a fairly small/fine chop on these as you are going to puree them with an immersion blender.
Season with sea salt and 1 tsp thyme.
Saute until the onion becomes translucent.
Add 3-4 cloves finely chopped garlic.
Saute for 1 minute more.
Add 1/2 c. white wine. I recommend a fruity, citrusy chardonnay, but really whatever you have is fine.
In fact, the first time I made this I did not have white wine or vegetable stock and simply used water.
Reduce by half.

This what I used, isn't it pretty? The woman at the store tried to sell it to me because it was named after a song by Train. I bought it anyway.

Add:
Half 28 oz can crushed tomatoes
2 cups veg broth
3 cups water
2 bay leaves

Simmer forever. 1-2 hours. stirring occasionally.

After it has simmered to your satisfaction or time table, add:
Juice from 2 lemons
1/4 cup orange juice

Then use your immersion blender and blend until smooth and then blend some more.
No one likes chunks of celery.

Add:
Roasted veggies
Remaining canned tomatoes

Serve over quinoa with fresh Parmesan  I suppose you could serve it over rice, or something else, or *gasp* nothing, but then I should warn you that it will not be the glorious meal I imagined in Texas. It is, after all, TEXAS Tomato Broth and Roasted Veggies.

You might note that there is no quinoa in my picture. Well, that is not entirely  true. The project I was working on this evening exploded into something much more detailed and time-consuming than I thought and in an effort to get something done, I started this post. I got almost all the way through and realized that I did not have a picture of the finished product, so I took the 1/8 cup quinoa I had, and put cold broth over it. So, the post is completed, and there is quinoa- barely. But it is done, dang it. Something has to be done this evening. 

Meatballs for Hobbits

This year for Christmas Eve, my family made appetizers instead of a traditional Christmas meal with all the trimmings. I decided to combine a couple of recipes from Pinterest to try my hand at home made meatballs. Here are the two recipes I adapted. Dialed-In Nutrition's Italian Meatballs and Cheesy Chicken Parm Meatballs from Tracey's Culinary Adventures. I have awakened some kind of experimenting, Pinteresting, blog-surfing meatball monster.

I am learning a lot about meatballs. And there are many different schools of thought: with cheese vs without; one egg vs two eggs; bread crumbs vs flour; spices vs. spicy sausage; veal vs lamb vs sausage. It is over dramatizing things a tad to divide the world of meatball opinions into schools of thought and pit them against each other in a battle to win your loyalty, but I really wanted to use the "vs." language so you all have to deal with the drummed-up drama. Thank you for bearing with me, at the end of this ramble there is a meatball recipe that is, I think, worth it for those who like things on the mild, predictable, Hobbity side of things. 

After all this digging and nerd-style research, I have learned one thing that is true of every recipe that I am drawn to: they all have beef and a secondary ingredient. The first batch I tried at Christmas had ground turkey. This made for lighter, less fatty meat balls if that is possible in something that is a glob of meat. I like to stick with very lean beef to begin with. It is a good foundation, and it means that if you want to add spicy sausage, or some more fancy meat, that there is more freedom to do that without worrying about your meatball being too, too heavy. See above comment about globs of meat.

I have also learned that there is actual, not invented-for-Sarah's-grammatical-whims debate about cheese worked into the meat itself so it runs throughout or packed inside like a little cheese bomb. I much prefer the second and set out to see if I can make a meatball recipe that is something I will actually write down and be able to recreate again and pass onto you. I prefer more spice (ahem, flavor) than the ones I made on Christmas.

So, for you, my faithful, blog-reading friends that put up with the randomness that is this blog, I will write down both recipes. Here, near as I can figure it, is the recipe that I made over Christmas. They were actually quite tricky to make into packets of meat with cheese bombs in them. This is primarily because I used shredded cheese, which was hard to pack inside of the raw meat. I imagine that cubed cheese would be much easier.

Meatballs for Hobbits ( and all other people who resemble my parents and like mild things. The all-knowing receptionist falls into this category - you would love these, lady!)

Sauce

1 can (48 oz) crushed tomatoes

1 small onion - diced

3 cloves garlic- minced

roughly 1/8 cup red wine (more or less to taste)

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp oregano

1/4 tsp marjoram

1tsp basil

dash of pepper

dash balsamic vinegar

* Saute garlic, onion and spices in olive oil in large skillet until onions are soft and translucent.

* Add red wine. Reduce until desired thickness- was roughly 8 minutes for me.

* Add tomatoes and their juices. Simmer uncovered roughly 25 minutes.

* Remove sauce from skillet transfer into slow cooker (or a dutch oven, seeing as I don't own a slow cooker. My bother and sister in law do and this is what we used for Christmas dinner with the fam) DO NOT CLEAN THE SKILLET. Leave all those juicy, tasty bits in the skillet so that you can sear the meatballs in it. Seriously, this is the best thing ever and it makes the meatballs that much more tasty, which is important because these are fairly mild and they need to additional flavor.

Meatballs

1 lb lean ground beef (93/7)

1 lb ground turkey

1egg

1/4 cup flour

2 cups shredded mozzarella

1/4 cup shredded parmesan

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp oregano

1/2 tsp basil

1/4 tsp marjoram

* Preheat oven to 350. line large cookie sheet with foil.

* Combine ground beef and turkey in large bowl. I did this with my hands as it was easier to  ensure the meat was well mixed.

* Add egg, flour, and spices. Combine until fairly evenly distributed.

heat the skillet with 1-2 tbs olive oil on medium heat.

* Take a golf-ball sized glob (I am guessing this was roughly 1/4 cupish) flatten onto your hand, and pinch a small hand full of cheese mixture into the flattened meat. Then close the meat around the cheese so that you can't see any of the cheese. Place meat ball in skillet. Repeat this until your skillet is full.

* Turn the meatball several times so that you brown all sides of the meat ball. This way they get crispy and they get all the flavor of the sauce that is still in the skillet- making a tasty crust on your meatball and a happy marriage of meatball and sauce.

* Once your meatballs are browned on all sides, remove them from the skillet and place them on a foil-lined cookie sheet. Cook for 25-30 minutes.

Once they are done you can add them to the sauce and all live happily ever after. 

A week of Pinterest projects

Yay! Thank you, Pinterest for all the ideas, creativity, and for putting it in the voices of real people who have tried real projects. I will happily add mine to the din.

I fell in love with the idea of painting/decorating the inside of a bookshelf, and decided that the bookshelf made pantry in our kitchen was ripe for a make over. I removed all the shelves, shored up some nails in the back, then laid in face up on the dinning room floor. Then I mod-podged some craft paper onto the inside of the shelf- it took about 13 pages that were 12 inch squares. There was some piecing together to do, but not much.

It took two rounds and several hours in between for the mod-podge to dry to my satisfaction, but once I put the shelves back in it was totally worth it. 

I think it looks best without food in it, but we have to keep our pantry supplies somewhere- so it might as well be pretty!

I also made some recipes this week that were super easy, healthy, and very tasty. I always like to know which things work best for other people, so I thought I would throw these out here with my endorsement.

1. Lentil Soup from 101 cookbooks.com. She encourages us to "think of this soup is broad strokes," and I second that. I accidentally made a variation on the recipe here, and it was very good, easy, healthy, and really tasty. Dani and Betsy can attest to that. :)

I made mine with a poached egg, which I highly recommend- poaching instructions courtesy of Smitten Kitchen.com. If you have not gone there and fallen in love with it, please do so at once.

2. Gimmesomeoven no bake energy bites. I can't believe that these are not far worse for you than they are. Oatmeal, honey, peanut butter, and grains. These are the perfect snack- I am always eating one just as I start cooking because I inevitably wait until I am overly hungry to start the cooking process and don't want to wait 30-45 minutes to eat. These are perfect.

3. Finally quinoa mac n cheese by Around the Table. Belive it or not, this only has a cup and a half of cheese, several eggs, and vegetables! It is SO good for you, and really, really tasty. Anyone who knows me knows that I love cheese and this is an amazing dish. Thank you, Dani and Jon, for introducing me- it could very well be a life-long relationship.

This is all- happy pinteresting. :)

Don't Forget The Lime

I enjoy cooking. Lately I have stumbled across several recipes that work well, and one that was an epic fail. So, I thought that I would share them with you. Aren't you glad? Try them and let me know which one is your favorite.

Gwennth Paltrow's Healthy Fried Rice and Kale

1 lb kale, stems discarded
1 ½ tbsp vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, peeled and very finely chopped
3 large spring onions, cut into 3mm diagonal slices
175g brown rice, cooked
1 ½ tbsp soy sauce

1. Cut the kale leaves in half lengthways, and then cut crossways into very thin ribbons (chiffonade). Steam the kale for seven minutes.
2. Meanwhile, heat the vegetable oil in a large saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for two minutes, being careful not to brown the garlic. Raise the heat to medium and add the steamed kale and spring onions. Cook for two minutes and then add the rice and cook for another two minutes, stirring.

3. Add the soy sauce and cook for 30 seconds more.

My delightful roommate loves all things Gwennth and recently bought her cookbook. It is very good and really easy to make. Did you know there are two types of Kale? I didn't. But I learned on this helpful you tube video about both types and about how to steam them. Handy. I made this with curly kale, but I hazard a guess Gwennth meant flat kale. If you use the curly kale, it needs to steam for more like 15 minutes. Try this, you will not be disappointed, it is super easy and really good for you. I ate it as a meal or 3, but she lists it as a side.

Fish Tacos

4-6 Fish fillets. I used tilapia, which is my go-to these days.

1 bell pepper

1 can corn

1 can black beans

1 jar mango salsa. I used Frontera Mango and Key Lime- I highly recommend it. I got it at Jewel.

cilantro
lettuce

1-2 limes

1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons dry mustard
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon white pepper
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt 

1. Chop bell pepper and mix with salsa, corn, and black beans. set aside.

2. Coat the fish with the above seasoning. The recipe I found called for butter, but I think olive oil works just fine as well. I also found that I ran out of seasoning about 3/4 of the way through and had to make more.

3. In a very hot skillet saute coated fish 3-4 minutes on first side and 2-3 minutes on second side until fish flakes apart with a fork.

4. Remove fish from heat set aside to cool. 8 minutes (ish)

5. Assemble and enjoy. Seriously, don't forget the lime. That is the best part. Just squeeze it over everything before you eat. I also added a little shredded cheese, because this is one of my favorite foods.

Enjoy and happy eating!

The epic fail was chicken coated in corn flakes. It looked so crunchy and good, but, alas, it was awful. It does not stay crunchy, the corn flakes don't stick to the chicken after the first 20 minutes, and the marinade (buttermilk, garlic and thyme) was super overpowering. Just trust me, don't do it, my friends. Don't coat your chicken in corn flakes no matter how crunchy and satisfying it might look. You will be left with chicken that you don't want to eat, but can't waste. And THEN what are you going to do? Sigh. I am still not sure. Any ideas?