Lentils and carrot tops (carrot greens) ~ 09-04-2013

Tonight, I had the pleasure of trying carrot tops for the first time.  I opened some web pages to read about these greens before cooking them, but I followed my intuition instead, without reading first.  I filled my pan with greens and then about half-full with water.  I didn't want to drown the greens, just steam/cook 'em only as long as needed.  I figured they would cook down significantly, as greens normally do.  After I started to cook them, I read that the bottoms of the greens would be tough.  Indeed they were!  I overcooked the leaves while the bottoms remained tough.  This was definitely a learning experience.  Next time, I will certainly trim away the thicker parts, the bottoms, and save the thinner, leafy parts at the top.  Anyway, the verdict is.....

The leaves were delicious!  I added butter, salt and pepper, and just ate around the tough parts.  My sweetheart added the garlic-and-olive-oil mixture that I will describe below.  He went back for seconds and maybe even thirds.  He described the taste as carrots, celery, and [something else..  was it onions?].  I agreed that it did taste like all three of those things..  Although, now we can't remember what the third item was.  :-p

Idea for future meal:

Add these to a casserole or "stuffing" (a.k.a. "dressing") type of meal or side dish.  Something with seasoned bread/croutons.  With celery, onions, sage, thyme...?

The main course:  brown lentils (basically, lentil soup)

I seasoned them with salt, pepper, cayenne (not enough to make it spicy, only just enough for great flavor), cumin, and fresh onion, carrot, and garlic.  I would have added celery, if I had still had some on hand.  But I didn't have any celery.  Note:  I don't usually cook in this aluminum pot, but it was the only appropriate-sized pot I had on hand.  It is on my mental list of items that I will eventually replace with stainless steel.

Fresh garlic mashed with a mortar and pestle.  I just roughly chop the garlic, put it into the mortar, add salt, and mash it.  The salt helps the pestle to grip/mash the garlic instead of slipping off of it.

Then add olive oil.  If you like fresh garlic, this makes a great dressing for salads or any savory meal.  (Store leftovers in a glass jar for a day or two.)  We put this on top of the lentils after serving, which totally kicked it up a notch!  (Am I allowed to use that expression here?)

Cooked carrot tops.  See how the thick parts weren't cooking down?

Cooked lentils with the mashed garlic & olive oil & salt mixture on top.  IT.WAS.SO.GOOD!!!  The seasoning was perfect.  The flavor was wonderful!  I went back for seconds and thirds, ended up eating too much, and then complained afterwards about being full.

Red potatoes and kale ~ 09-03-2013

I cut red potatoes into eighths and steamed them.  I then used the same pot to steam the kale after transferring the steamed potatoes into a skillet with a little bit of olive oil.  I steamed the kale, then added it to the skillet with the potatoes.  I wanted to brown the potatoes, but didn't leave them in long enough for them to brown.  I decided they would be good enough just like this.  And they were.  I chopped some garlic and tossed it in and gave the whole thing a few more minutes.

Simple, easy, and sooo delicious!

This was served with fish sticks.  (There was nothing special about the fish sticks; they were just a processed food item that was easy to heat up in the oven.)

Basil ~ 09-02-2013

 

This is sweet basil from our plant. I just washed it and am about to put it in the oven on low heat to be dried.  I will then use some of it to make Italian seasoning with five other dried herbs we already have on hand.

Quinoa with grilled yellow squash, cauliflower and onions ~ 08-31-2013

Yellow squash, cauliflower, and onion grilled in extra virgin olive oil until a little brown and slightly caramelized.  The sesame seeds were thrown in at the end and all was tossed so that the seeds could get a little toasted.

A closer look at the veggies and seeds.

The veggies were used to top some hot, freshly cooked quinoa.  Quinoa is super easy to make, quick, and very versatile.  It's like a grain, but not a "true grain".  I will try to find a clearer picture to insert here, to show the detail of the quinoa.

Pic #1 of the finished meal

The finished meal.  I was just coming off of a several-day fast, so i couldn't eat any of this. :(  (Oh well..  Next time!)  However, my sweetheart has been talking about it ever since. :)  And he thought he wasn't hungry when i made it!

Pic #2 of the finished meal

I don't remember if i added any salt to this, although the quinoa was cooked with salt in the water.  Normally i would have added salt and/or pepper on top when serving.  I had eaten a fresh veggie salad topped with a mixture of mashed garlic, olive oil and salt.  (My salad was delicious, by the way!)  I suggested the garlic-oil mixture as a dressing to go over the cooked meal, but my boyfriend forgot about using it (i had left the apartment to go somewhere and hooked him up with a meal before leaving).  He didn't add salt, pepper or anything, and was sufficiently pleased.  He said he even scraped and ate the remaining sesame seeds from the pan afterwards!

Grillin'!! ~ Sweet potatoes and other wonderful stuff! ~ 06-25-2013

A packet of sweet potato, onion, salt, pepper, butter, and raisins.  Plus a little bit of water sprinkled on before wrapping it up and putting it on the grill.

Sweet peppers, onion, garlic, salt, pepper and olive oil.  This also went on the grill.

Here's the "After" picture.  The sweet potatoes were cooked in packets.  The sweet peppers were placed directly on the grill.

It was soooo good!!!

We had also made a packet of garlic.  The thing in the lower right of the picture is the garlic.  The creamy, cooked garlic cloves were squeezed out of their skins and added to the meal.

Great salad!

It looks like too much dressing.  But it wasn't overpowering. Before I took this pic, there were more veggies, but we had already eaten some of it.  So the ratio of salad to dressing was better in the beginning. :) I don't even think there was any dressing left at the end. I think that I (or we) drank it!

 

grape tomatoes

cucumber

bell pepper

onion

fresh (raw) corn

olive oil

Kraft Balsamic Tomato Basil dressing (a very small amount)

sea salt

pepper

Italian seasoning