Since starting a new job, I’ve been doing a fair amount of dinner prep on Sunday night for Monday (and sometimes Tuesday). Whenever possible, I like to prep pretty much all of Monday’s meal while I’m making Sunday’s dinner, so that Tom just needs to pop it in the oven or heat it on the stove when he gets home (about 15 minutes before me).

The nice thing is most of these dishes tend to be baked pastas, chicken casseroles, etc. and make for lunch leftovers, too. The bad thing is most of these dishes tend to be baked pastas, chicken casseroles, etc. and I don’t want to make the same thing every week.

This meal definitely started as the idea of a baked pasta in my mind, but it utilizes quinoa instead of pasta and chicken, where most baked pasta dishes either lack a protein or use something like ground beef or sausage. The result is a meal that is tasty, healthy, packs a crazy protein punch, and can be made in advance. All good by me.

I made a really simple sauce for this, but if you’re not feeling it, you can always use the jarred stuff. I meant to add spinach to this to make it a full meal, but of course I didn’t see the spinach  until I was putting this into the fridge, fully assembled. So, we just had spinach salads instead. :)

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A lot of good, healthy grains in this house are called “tiny pasta.”

It’s not that I’m afraid to give Zachary the real names of things (he’s not really to the point yet where he will refuse to try things based on the name) but sometimes, it’s easier. “What’s this mommy?” “It’s quinoa. It’s like…tiny pasta.”

Plus? He’s infallible. The other day, he had bulgur (more tiny pasta) with zucchini.

“What’s this mommy?”
“It’s zucchini.”
“No! Cucumber!”
“Well, you’re right. It does look like a cucumber, but it’s called ‘zucchini.’”
“CUCUMBER!!!!!!”

Oh.

So when something’s called “tiny pasta” I go with it. Here’s a recipe for pasta cakes. Errr…quinoa cakes. And, they’re pretty fabulous. If you haven’t already eaten quinoa, I urge you to try it. It’s delicious, nutty, and incredibly healthy. It’s got plenty of protein and fiber, and will keep you full for a long time.

The flavors mixed into these patties are some of my favorites—lemon, parsley, olives, and of course cheese. I used kalamata olives rather than green because I’m not a big green olive fan. But I’m a BIG kalamata olive fan. They are cooked in just a little bit of oil in the pan and end up  nice and crispy. I added a little cornmeal to them to keep them together a bit better and also to provide some added crunch.

We had these with a salad with lots of feta and Greek-ish dressing. (And I’m sure that the feta would also be lovely actually *in* the cakes, instead of the Romano I used, too.) They paired really wonderfully together and even though the leftovers were not quite as crispy the following day, I still enjoyed them.  Tom particularly liked these, and mentioned again after work the next day how much he liked them and how great his lunch was. That’s always the sign of a winning dish—especially when the meal doesn’t contain meat.

While I adored these with salad, they would also be great for breakfast with an egg on top, which I will definitely try next time. You can keep the mixture in your fridge for a day or two and just cook them whenever the mood strikes you, so go ahead and make a batch up on Friday for dinner and then fry up the leftovers on Saturday morning with a poached egg.

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Mushrooms and hearty grains go together for me like peas and carrots. Except an earthy mushroom pilaf or something similar is way better than peas and carrots, of course.

The other day I got a craving for a homey, creamy casserole. And I really wanted wild rice. I sometimes get weird cravings.

This recipe is similar to ones you may have had from the Campbell’s site, but doesn’t use any processed ingredients. Instead of canned condensed soup, herbed chicken broth is thickened with a little flour, and milk is added in to make it a touch creamier. The mixture is combined with wild rice, brown rice, and chicken for a hearty meal. It tastes great, and you can feel good about eating it, too.

This dinner does take a bit of time to make, particularly since wild rice takes a while to cook. But, it’s definitely easy to pull together, and you can assemble it the night before you bake it. I did just that. If you’ve made soups and stews with rice and pasta before, you know they tend to absorb excess liquid in the fridge. So, the next day before baking, I poured about 1/4 cup of broth over the top of the casserole to combat any dryness. You don’t need to do this if you baking the casserole right after assembling it.

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Like most people who cook on a daily, or near daily, basis, I love the “one pot meal.” Being able to  have your protein, starch, and vegetables all cook away in the same vessel with minimum effort (and only one pot to clean at the end) is a pretty good deal.

The problem I run into is that  I often have a hard time making them with complex carbs. White rice is easy enough to add to a one-meal concoction, but try throwing brown rice or barley in there and you are often left with rice that hasn’t cooked thoroughly or a piece of meat that is so overcooked it ruins the happy vibe of the one-pot meal.

But other grains that take less time to cook, like bulgur, which is one of my absolute favorite starchy sides, are perfect. You may recognize it as the main ingredient in tabouli,  but it does so much more. We easily eat it once a week. The most common way I prepare it is to make it into a pilaf, sauteing just a little onion & garlic in the beginning, cooking it in chicken broth, and topping it with toasted pine nuts or slivered almonds. I’ve also made this recipe as a side before, sans the chicken. Bulgur takes less time to cook than even white rice, and easily outweighs rice’s nutrition benefits, too (a serving has 50 less calories but 6 more grams of dietary fiber).

This meal is sort of a play on arroz con pollo, or chicken with rice. The ingredients and flavor profile are similar, but the arroz is obviously replaced with bulgur (which I have no idea how to say in Spanish, sorry. I mean, lo siento!).

Boneless/skinless chicken thighs would be a great replacement for the breast in this recipe. You can use bone-in, too, but I would simmer them in the liquid for about 5 minutes before adding the bulgur, to assure they get fully cooked.

Chicken with Bulgur and Peppers

Serves 4

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4 small chicken breasts or chicken breast halves, about 5 oz. each
cumin
paprika
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 small red bell pepper, diced
1 small green bell pepper, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp. tomato paste
1 cup medium grain bulgur
2 cups beef broth
1 bay leaf
2 green onions, sliced

Season the chicken to taste with salt, pepper, cumin, and paprika.

Heat a large saute pan with lid over medium heat and add the oil. Once hot, add the chicken and sear for 1-2 minutes per side. Remove the chicken from the pan.

To the pan, add the onion and peppers and cook until tender, with just a little bit of bite. Stir in the garlic and tomato paste and cook for 1 minute. Add the bulgur and stir around to toast, before adding the beef broth and bay leaf.

Bring a mixture to a low boil, and nestle the chicken back in. Cover the pan with a lid and reduce the heat to low. Cook about 12-13  minutes, then turn off the heat, and let sit for 5 minutes.

Top with green onions before serving.

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I remember coming across this recipe a really long time ago, thinking, “I need to make this right away!” and then somehow it got pushed from the menu the following week and back into the depths of my Google Reader. It’s really quite unfortunate, because this was a great meal.

I love meals that are spins on other popular dishes. I do it frequently with burgers and risotto myself. This risotto is based on chicken cacciatore. Cacciatore, while flavorful in itself, is usually put on top of plain pasta. It’s still delicious, but letting the flavors of the cacciatore permeate through the whole dish, as it does with this risotto, is a fabulous idea.

I normally use white wine in my cacciatore [please click only if you want see a  horrific picture and an even more horrific "write up"], but I liked Josie’s use of red wine so I went with it. I’m now looking forward to making another red wine risotto very soon. The red wine just gave the risotto a greater depth of flavor—and a very pretty color!

Although this recipe called for chicken thighs, I used breasts. It’s not that I don’t like thighs—in fact, if you read this blog at all, you should know I hold them far superior to chicken breasts—but breasts were what I had in my freezer. I made a few other small changes to this recipe, and we were very happy with the results. I’m looking forward to making this again and not letting it get lost in the black hole of internet recipes.

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I have a magazine problem.

A few years back, I had subscriptions to entirely too many magazines. I never resubscribed to any of my cooking magazines, because I already had such a cache of recipes saved from various outlets, but I still received a couple other magazines. After I had Zachary, it was like someone notified family publishers and I started randomly receiving all of these parenting magazines, on top of the stack already taking up space in my living room. And so, they’ve been sitting there, unread, for ages.

Even though I probably don’t have much use for a Rolling Stone circa April 2009, Zachary seems to enjoy “reading” every single magazine on the rack.  Frequently. He calls every kid a “girl” regardless of sex, enjoys pointing out the cars and dogs, and relishes in ripping out the subscription cards.

I decided to actually start reading some of my magazines—the ones that weren’t time-sensitive—so I began with several Real Simple magazines. I came across this recipe in the back of one of the issues, and I had nearly all the ingredients to make it, so it went on the menu a couple days later.

I didn’t have grits, so I used cornmeal and essentially made polenta. I know there is a difference between grits and cornmeal, including the grind, but I can never remember exactly what that difference is, and besides, I don’t really stock grits. Also, I didn’t have a bell pepper around, but I did have some frozen tricolored peppers, which I used in this recipe. I also lacked shallots (okay so maybe I didn’t have nearly all the ingredients after all…), but I used onions & garlic. Finally, I used chicken andouille.

The original recipe calls for boiling the greens and then removing them and cooking the grits in the same pot. While this does save a pot, I decided to just cook them separately, so I could start everything a little earlier and so I wasn’t cooking a small amount of polenta in a massive pot. I made the vast majority of the andouille sauteé as the liquid for the polenta boiled, and then just kept it warm so I could focus on whisking the polenta.

Sautéed Andouille with Greens and Grits/Polenta

Adapted from Real Simple
Serves 4 

1 large bunch collard greens, thick stems removed, chopped into 1″ pieces
1 Tbsp. canola oil (only if you are using chicken sausage)
3/4 lb. andouille sausage, sliced
1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced
1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced or about 1 cup thinly sliced bell peppers
2 cloves garlic
1/4 tsp. crushed red pepper
2/3 cup cornmeal
3/4 cup milk  (I used milk)
1.5 cups chicken broth, divided
3 oz. sharp white cheddar, shredded
1 Tbsp. butter

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Drop in the collards and simmer until tender, about 6-8 minutes. Drain well.

In a large sauté pan over medium-high, heat he canola oil if you are using chicken andouille. Otherwise, add the sliced andouille directly to the hot pan. Cook until nicely browned, about 4 minutes. Remove from pan with a slotted spoon. Stir in the onion and bell pepper, and cook until tender. Add the garlic, crushed red pepper, sausage, and the cooked collards. Stir until the collards and sausage are reheated.

Meanwhile, make the polenta. In a medium saucepan, bring the milk and 1 cup of chicken broth to a boil over medium heat. Slowly add the polenta, whisking to incorporate and prevent any clumping. Reduce the heat to low and continue cooking  until the mixture has thickened and the cornmeal is soft, stirring frequently. If the mixture gets too thick, add additional chicken broth.

Off the heat, stir in the cheese and the butter. Season the polenta with salt and pepper to taste.

Spoon the andouille and greens over the polenta.

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This is not risotto.

It tastes a lot like risotto. It uses arborio rice. It has cheese. It is creamy.

But it is not risotto.

In her cookbook, Dorie mentions that her Italian friend warned her never to order risotto in a French restaurant, because the French can’t get it right. After experiencing this first hand, I typically tend to agree. It’s not that the risotto I’ve had in French restaurants is bad, not at all. It’s creamy and quite tasty. But it didn’t seem to have that same texture as Italian risotto – didn’t have that slight bite in the center of each rice kernel, and it wasn’t “loose,” like risotto should be.

(Though, I will say that we did dine at a French restaurant in Seattle once, and though I was hesitant, I did order a risotto that sounded too good to pass up. I have to say, they pretty much nailed it. And how can you not be happy when you can go to the same place for risotto and gougeres?)

This dish, while not risotto, is still creamy, delicious, and comfort food at its finest. And you know what? It’s not that bad for  you. It only uses a tablespoon of butter (for quite a large amount), and of course there is the extra benefit of spinach. Zachary enjoyed this, too (even though he thought it tasted better by the fistful, rather than off a spoon or fork). Another benefit to this dish is that, while it has a very similar flavor to risotto, it does not require nearly the same amount of attention. There is no constant stirring, adding liquid, etc. This is much easier and quicker to make.

I modified this recipe a bit. Since my spinach was already washed and dry, I decided to just cook it alongside the onions and garlic (Dorie has you cook it first, then wring it dry and chop). I also doubled the garlic and, since we don’t keep heavy cream around, I substituted whole milk.

We just ate this on the side of a piece of chicken with a quick pan sauce, but the rice would also be great stuffed into peppers or tomatoes. If you have leftovers, you could definitely make some fried risotto patties/balls, which would, of course, be awesome.

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When I first received this German lamb sausage from Lava Lake Lamb, I wasn’t really sure what to do with it.  The obvious choice would have been to grill it (or beer-braise and then grill it),  slide it into a bun, and enjoy.  While that would have been tasty, I wanted to do something a little different.  Still, I used the beer as my starting point, and then thought of other things you’d put on a brat, like mustard or cheese.  Eventually, I decided to incorporate all those ingredients into a German style risotto. The peas…well, those were mostly to make it look a little prettier and add a little more nutrition. But I do love peas in my pastas and risottos as a rule.

This turned out fabulous and ended up being one of my favorite risottos.  The beer was very much a background note (I may even use a little more next time), but you’ll still want to use a good beer (this is not the time for Miller Lite).  We had this with a sharp white Cabot cheddar, which was just perfect. I had initially intended on using smoked gouda, but it completely escaped me when it came time to make my grocery list for some reason.  Give the gouda a try if cheddar is not your thing. (Is cheddar not everyone’s thing, though?)

German Risotto

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Serves 4-5

1 Tbsp. butter
1 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, thinly sliced
1 lb. German lamb sausages, casings removed and crumbled (or sliced)
3 cloves garlic, minced
1.25 cups arborio rice
1/4 tsp. dry mustard
1 cup beer
4 cups chicken broth, kept warm on the stovetop
1/3 cup peas
2 oz. sharp white cheddar or smoked gouda, shredded

Heat the butter and oil in a heavy pan over medium heat, and then add the onions. Stir occasionally, until onions are golden, about 8 minutes.  Add the sausage and brown.  Stir in the garlic. (Drain any extra fat, if necessary.)

Add the rice and stir a few times until it gets toasty and opaque.  Add the dry mustard and the beer. Cook until nearly all the beer has evaporated.

Add 1-2 ladles full of broth. Stir the risotto frequently until nearly all the broth has been absorbed.  Add the remaining broth 1 ladle-full at a time, allowing the rice to absorb the liquid before adding more.  Continue this process until the rice is cooked–it should still be a little firm and have a slight bite in the center.  Just before it’s finished, stir in the peas and a little extra broth.  The risotto should be creamy, and a bit loose (not like regular rice).

Off the heat, stir in the cheese. Season to taste and serve immediately.

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One of my favorite food bloggers, Annie of Annie’s Eats, reached out to a few of us fellow bloggers about having a virtual holiday party.   When you meet so many great people online that share your love of food, it really is a tragedy that you’re too far away to invite most of them to share in your real-life holiday get togethers, isn’t it?  So, of course I was on board with a virtual eating extravaganza!  The six us (Annie, Kelsey, Nikki, Josie, Tara, and myself) decided to host our own little shindig via our blogs.

Two of us tackled appetizers, two made cocktails, and two made desserts.  I decided on an appetizer for my contribution.  No way I was touching dessert in the presence of some dessert goddesses! :)

I went with a Greek appetizer of dolmades, which are stuffed grape leaves.  They can be stuffed with meat  or made vegetarian, with just rice and herbs, which is what I did here.  If you want, you can make these with avgolelmono sauce (similar to my favorite meal ever, lahanodolmades), or just serve them as-is.  The great thing about serving these as appetizers is that they’re great at any temperature.  In fact, I just eat the leftovers straight from the fridge.  I used to not be the biggest fan of stuffed grape leaves, but I’ve since turned over a new leaf (ba dum ching!) and now I really enjoy them.

Nikki from Pennies on a Platter decided to share her baked fontina.  Hello! Who can resist ooey, gooey, bubbling cheese, especially when paired with some nice crusty bread?

Annie from Annie Eats made these absolutely gorgeous candy cane macarons.  I’m such a sucker for anything minty during the holidays.  Oh, who am I kidding, I couldn’t resist these any time of year.

Josie from Pink Parsley shared these awesome looking creme puffs loaded with raspberry pastry cream. I’m a bit of a creme puff fanatic and I’m pretty sure that if we were together for real, there would be none of these left after I polished them off.

Of course we needed some boozy beverages to wash down our delicious eats.

Tara from Smells Like Home brought these lovely cranberry-lime bellinis.  I looove the combination of cranberry and lime.  I also love booze.  Like, a lot.  Tara even made a virgin version of these to share.

And finally, Kelsey at Apple a Day made these gorgeous sparkling pepper berry cocktails. So festive! I  have no doubt that with the unique peppery twist of these cocktails they are really complex and delicious.

I had a lot of fun throwing this virtual get together with such a great group of bloggers.  I hope  you visit all of their blogs and check out these (and other) fabulous recipes! And, of course, I wish you some wonderful holiday parties, virtual or otherwise, this time of year.

Dolmades

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Makes about 25

6-8 oz. jarred grape leaves (about 25 leaves)
2 Tbsp. olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 cup rice
2/3 cup broth + additional for cooking dolmades
1 lemon
3 Tbsp. chopped dill
2 Tbsp. chopped parsley
avgolemono sauce (optional)
Additional lemon wedges for serving

Cook the grape leaves in a large pot of boiling water for 5 or 6 minutes, or until pliable.  Drain and cut off any tough stems.

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan.  Add the onion and cook until translucent.  Add the rice and stir until slightly toasted and coated in the oil.  Stir in 2/3 cup vegetable or chicken broth and the juice of half a lemon.  Bring the mixture to a boil and then reduce to a simmer.  Simmer until the broth has been absorbed by the rice.  Off the heat, stir in the dill and parsley and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Place a grape leaf on your work surface, dull side up, with the stem at the bottom.  Spoon about 1 Tbsp. of the rice mixture at the bottom of a grape leaf.   Fold up the bottom of the leaf, fold in each side, and then roll up, cigar style.  Place in the bottom of a large Dutch oven.  Continue doing this with the remaining grape leaves, placing the rolled dolmades in a single layer on the bottom of the Dutch oven, if possible, layering in concentric circles if necessary.

Add enough broth to come up about 2/3 of the way of the dolmades.*  Squeeze in the juice from the other half of the lemon.  Then, slice the lemon and place the lemon slices on top of the dolmades.  Put an inverted plate over the dolmades (to keep them from coming up and  unraveling).  Bring the mixture to a boil, cover the Dutch oven, and then reduce the heat to low.  Simmer for about 30 minutes, until the dolmades are tender and the rice is cooked.

Make the avgolemono sauce, if using.

*If you plan on making avgolemono sauce, you will want to add enough liquid to come just above the top of the dolmades.

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Oh, mujaddara, how I love thee.  Who would ever imagine lentils and rice to be so good? But, they are.  This is one of my favorite Middle Eastern dishes (and it should be one of yours, too).  Mujaddara consists of onions that have been caramelized and lentils and rice that have cooked together with the caramelized onions.  It can be served as a vegetarian main dish or as a side. Traditionally, it’s only flavored with salt and pepper, but I think cumin and bay complement the ingredients so well, so that’s how I make mine.

I cook the rice and lentils together (some cook the lentils beforehand and mix at the end) because it’s easier and I feel like the flavors meld better.  However, the only issue with this is that the amount of liquid you need is not an exact science, so you may or may not need to add a little more as you go.  Don’t worry, it’s a very forgiving dish.  Certainly not the most beautiful dish, but very forgiving.  And delicious.

Mujaddara

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1.5 Tbsp. olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, cut in half and then into slices
1/2 tsp. cumin
1 bay leaf
1/2 cup lentils, rinsed and picked over
1/2 cup brown rice
2.5 cups water or broth (or a combo)*

Heat a deep saute pan or medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add the oil.  Once hot, add the onions.  Cook for two or three minutes over medium heat and then reduce to medium-low.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until onions are a dark golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.

Stir in the cumin, bay leaf, lentils and brown rice and saute for a minute before adding the liquid.  Increase the heat to bring to a boil, and then cover and simmer until the rice and lentils are tender, about 45 minutes.  Season to taste with salt and pepper.

*Add more liquid as you are cooking the mujaddara, if necessary.

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