Category Archives: Vegetarian

Gluten-Free / Pescatarian / Salads / Savory / Stay Healthy / Vegetarian

Arugula and Endive Salad with Citrus

January 15, 2015

I meant to post this yesterday and forgot. I also got on an elevator going down today and forgot to get off, leading me right back up to the floor where I had boarded the elevator. And I almost missed my BART stop last night.

Basically, my brain is barely functioning at this point. I keep thinking that it’s a good thing that this baby is literally attached to me, otherwise I’d probably forget her and leave her at Starbucks or something.

I’m gonna be such a good mom.

Anyway, this is a salad I made for my extended family the night of our annual cioppino feast in December. We have a cioppino night every year around Christmas as a pseudo Feast of the Seven Fishes, which is an Italian tradition. My mom makes a killer cioppino with seven types of seafood and we all eat way too much of it (worth it).

My contribution was this salad, which ended up pairing quite nicely with our pescatarian feast. It’s a good recipe for a crowd if it’s a side dish, and it’s pretty dang tasty (if I do say so myself). Plus, all the ingredients can be found at TJ’s (as this salad actually came about because I didn’t go home to grab anything out of my fridge before dinner). So head on over to Trader Joe’s and whip this up next time you’re tasked with bringing a salad somewhere. You won’t be sorry.

Arugula and Endive Salad with Citrus

Salad:

1 bag or large bunch arugula, washed and spun dry
3 small heads endive, washed and sliced into 1/2″ ribbons
1/2 cup pomegranate seeds (I just dumped the whole pack from TJ’s in)
mandarin oranges from one small can, drained, rinsed and chopped
1/4 small red onion, sliced
big handful of toasted almonds, chopped (you can also buy the toasted sliced almonds at TJ’s and use those — the honey roasted ones would probably be delicious in this)
bleu cheese crumbles

Dressing:

You have a few options with the dressing here. I’d recommend a standard champagne vinaigrette (equal parts champagne vinegar and olive oil + salt and pepper, or Girard’s makes a nice one). I ended up using TJ’s Champagne Pear Vinaigrette and adding a little red wine vinegar + salt and pepper to cut down on the sweetness. A sherry or red wine vinaigrette with a little dijon and honey added might work well also.

You know the drill — put it all in a big bowl, dress it and toss it to your heart’s content.

Dairy-Free / Dinner / Fall / Gluten-Free / Pescatarian / Savory / Soup / Stay Healthy / Vegan / Vegetarian

Soup Recipes for Rainy Evenings

December 3, 2014

Just like I go crazy for salads during the summer, I love making a giant pot of soup when the weather gets cold in the fall and winter. Soups are so wonderful because they generally require fairly little effort, and have a big payoff with enough food to cover more than one meal. Plus, it’s an awesome way to get a crapload of veggies into your body (always helpful when trying to fend off the plague when you ride BART).

I’ve posted a lot of my favorite soup recipes on here already, but thought a recap post might be in order (I always like to have a one-stop-shop for the “what am I going to make for dinner” dilemma).

Sooo, here we go! (Just click on the name of the soup to link to the recipe.)

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup with Black Beans and Butternut Squash

Vegetarian Tortilla Soup with Black Beans and Butternut Squash

You guys, this soup is the business. It doesn’t make a TON of soup like some of the other soup recipes, but it’s so delicious and easy to make — perfect for a weeknight meal. And trust me: you shouldn’t skimp on the toppings!

Split Pea Soup

This is a great, basic recipe for split pea soup; and it’s another nice option if you don’t want to be eating the same soup for the next 7 meals (it makes about 6 generous servings).

Not Your Mama’s Chicken Soup

This soup is a little more time-consuming than some of the others, and makes A LOT of soup. But it’s awesome if you or someone you know is feeling a little under the weather. Maybe whip up a batch and give half of it to your neighbor who isn’t feeling so hot.

Lentil Soup

Lentil Soup

This soup is so delicious and comforting — perfect for a cold, rainy night. I like it with some Grana Padano grated over the top and a big hunk of sourdough bread. (But really, I like most things with a big hunk of sourdough bread…)

Potato Leek Soup

This soup is so crazy-easy to make. And it’s just a little indulgent (not quite as veggie-full as many of the others on this list). It’s so delicious though, and awesome to make for a crowd.

Winter Minestrone

Winter Minestrone

This is my go-to soup during the fall and winter months. It makes a ton of soup and is overflowing with all kinds of good-for-you ingredients. Grate some fresh parmesan on top and have at it.

Butternut Squash Soup

Roasted Butternut Squash Soup

I made up this recipe after being dissatisfied with butternut squash soups that were either lacking flavor or wayyy too sweet. This soup is a good balance of salt, spice and sweet. It tastes rich and creamy, but it’s actually full of veggies. Yum!

Spicy Tomato Soup 4

Customizable Spicy Tomato Soup

This tomato soup is great for picky appetites — there’s a million and one ways to modify it. Make it upscale with spices and some coconut milk, scale it down and make it basic — whatever your little heart desires. Just don’t serve it without the grilled cheese if you’re making it for me. 🙂

Dinner / Lunch / Meals for Two / Pescatarian / Savory / Vegetarian

Cheesy Garlic Noodles

October 22, 2014

First of all, I had to google how to spell “cheesy.” I wasn’t sure if it was “cheesy” or “cheesey,” and really, both don’t look right to me. Apparently “cheesy” is the correct spelling, though, according to google, so who am I to question that.

Second, this isn’t health food, so let’s not pretend that it is. I mean, the healthiest thing in this whole dish is the garlic, and there’s only one clove of it in the dish, so… that should give you an idea of where this falls on the “I feel good about eating this” scale.

That said, sometimes you just need a dish like this. Sometimes you want to make mac and cheese from a box, but you decide that maybe making this is a tiny bit better, if only because you know what’s actually going into your body. (Seriously, what is that cheese packet made out of? It’s like neon orange.)

I call dishes like this “babysitter food,” because it’s the type of thing I’d whip up when I was babysitting back in the day (heyyy high school), after I’d convinced the kids that yes, they really did need to go to bed even though their parents weren’t home. (Of course, I’d generally let them sneak in an extra 30 minutes of Veggie Tales beforehand…)

So next time you’re feeling like having something a little indulgent, or you simply have zero ingredients to make any semblance of a real meal — try this out. You won’t be disappointed. (Unless garlic sometimes gives you heartburn, like it does to me. Ouch.)

Cheesy Garlic Noodles

serves 2

Ingredients:

1/4 pound spaghetti or angel hair pasta
salt
1 tbsp butter
1-2 tbsp olive oil
1 large clove of garlic, finely minced
parmesan or pecorino romano cheese

Steps:

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Once boiling, add in a big handful of salt and cook noodles according to package instructions.
While the noodles are cooking, combine butter, olive oil and garlic into a small pan over low heat (lowest heat possible!). Cook until butter is melted and garlic is fragrant, 2-3 minutes.
When pasta is done, drain it and transfer to a bowl. Pour the butter, oil and garlic mixture over the top and toss to combine. Add in cheese to taste (I like a couple handfuls) and toss to combine.

It literally doesn’t get any easier than that.

Breakfast / Dairy-Free / Gluten-Free / Savory / Uncategorized / Vegetarian

Breakfast Burritos! (And Tacos, too.)

August 26, 2014

Those spicy roasted veggies ended up lasting us through two full dinners (breakfast burritos one night, tacos the next) and a couple random lunches as well.

And man were they delicious.

I don’t think I really need to tell you how to assemble a taco or a breakfast burrito, but I’ll tell you what I made for ours (in case you’re curious).

First, along with the veggies, I made some pico de gallo. With only three ingredients — chopped tomatoes + onion + cilantro — pretty much nothing could be easier.

For the breakfast burritos, I grilled some chicken sausages KC had picked up at TJ’s (I think they were the Jalapeno Chicken Sausages), heated up some refried beans, whipped up some scrambled eggs with cheese, and layered all that business together with the veggies, pico de gallo, some greek yogurt, and a healthy dose of hot sauce.

For the tacos we used all the same fixins (aside from the eggs and sausage), and added some grilled carne asada (pre-marinated from TJ’s). We layered that business onto corn tortillas instead of flour.

I was too hungry on taco night and so didn’t snap any photos, sorry!

These tacos and burritos are super customizable, so mix and match things as you like. The veggies are nice and hearty on their own, so feel free to leave out the meat altogether (or sub in crumbled bacon instead of sausage on the breakfast burritos…omg yum.) The below is just what we had in our burritos/tacos, so don’t take this to be an exhaustive list by any means.

Breakfast Burritos

Spicy roasted veggies
Grilled jalapeno chicken sausage
Pico de gallo
Refried beans
Scrambled eggs with cheese
Greek yogurt
Hot sauce
Flour tortilla

Tacos

Spicy roasted veggies
Grilled carne asada
Pico de gallo
Refried beans
Greek yogurt
Hot sauce
Corn tortilla

Dairy-Free / Dinner / Gluten-Free / Savory / Stay Healthy / Vegan / Vegetarian

Double-Duty Spicy Roasted Veggies

August 25, 2014

I make an effort to make dinner during the week. Tackling dinner while holding down a full-time job can be challenging (and tiring — let’s just be honest). I’ll be the first to admit that I get stuck in the rut of making the same couple of salads over and over when I’m feeling particularly overwhelmed with life.

Our CSA box has helped a bit in pushing me outside of my normal cooking repertoire (because, like what the hell do you do with kohlrabi?)

This week’s box inspired me to whip up a bunch of spicy roasted veggies which I decided would be perfect for both breakfast burritos one night and tacos the next.

Nothing like cooking once for two meals, eh?

These vegetables are a great end-of-summer blend of things you probably have sitting in your fridge right now (and, frankly, are so easy and delicious, there’s really no reason not to make them.)

Double-Duty Spicy Roasted Veggies

2 medium squash, diced (I used round zucchini, but any summer squash works here)
1 medium yellow onion, diced
2 large bell peppers (any color you like — I used a mix of green and red)
1 cup corn kernels (cut off the cob or frozen)
2-3 tsp. cumin
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp chili powder
1/4 – 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (to taste)
olive oil
salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 425°.
Place all veggies onto a large baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and add all the spices (feel free to just eyeball the amounts — it doesn’t need to be exact, by any means). Toss everything together until evenly coated, then spread out the veggies so they’re in a single layer on the pan.
Bake 15-20 minutes, until desired done-ness is reached (I wanted a little bite left in mine, so I just did 15 minutes).

Post on our breakfast burritos and taco feast coming up!