Spicy Wild Rice with Mixed Vegetables

This was a matter of trying to finish off some food in the fridge before going up to Phoenix for Thanksgiving. I wasn’t sure the avocado would work well, but it actually did!

1 stalk celery, chopped
1 avocado, cubed
5 cherry tomatoes (from the garden), halved/quartered
A handful of broccoli florets
Some cabbage, chopped
Some fresh ginger, garlic & red onion
Hot peppers (from the garden)
Chili oil
Wok oil
Lundberg wild blend rice

In a saucepan, sauteed the hot peppers, some garlic & onion in a tablespoon or two of chili oil. Added the water & rice according to the package instructions (1 cup rice to 1 3/4 cups water); covered and simmered 45 minutes. Removed from heat and let sit covered for 10 minutes.

In a skillet, sauteed onion, garlic, and ginger in wok oil with the celery 5 minutes. Added the cabbage for another 2-3 minutes, then the broccoli for 5 minutes and finally the tomato until everything was just cooked but still crisp. Salt and pepper to taste. Added the avocado and mixed together when ready to serve, so the avocado was slightly warm but not cooked. Served over the rice.

Spicy Vegan Potato Curry

Earlier this week, I cooked this recipe, the only differences being I didn’t peel the potatoes, and since I couldn’t find garam masala at the store, I had to make my own using this recipe (without the cardamom, which I also couldn’t find).

Curry simmering

It only took about 30 minutes to make, start to finish, and I would definitely make it again. Very hearty and nice flavors.

Because of the spice, I made a raita on the side. A simple combination of plain yogurt, peppermint (from the garden), squeeze of lime juice, and a pinch of cumin, sugar, and salt. I didn’t have cucumber, unfortunately. I made it again for the leftovers and added celery, which worked as a nice alternative to cucumber.

Raita

I didn’t end up making rice, but had paratha on the side.

Curry with raita and paratha

Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies

Back in September, we had a new oven installed, and now we can finally bake! The old oven was probably from the 70s, if not even older. It took a good 20 minutes to preheat, always had to be set 25 degrees cooler than the recipe asked for, and had a tendency to burn things.

Old oven

The new oven is a Maytag and works wonderfully. Because of the space limitations, it is the same width (24 inches – the smallest possible), but we got a double oven so have a lot more space than previously.

New oven

We don’t bake much, but last weekend we made some cookies using the America’s Test Kitchen Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe, and I gotta say, these were the best homemade cookies I’ve eaten – nice and chewy and moist. Even a week later, the cookies are still soft. (See why this recipe works).

Chocolate chip cookies ready to bake

Chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven

Rice and Lentil Pilaf

1 cup dried brown lentils
1 cup jasmine rice
2 cups vegetable broth
2 tablespoons chili oil
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 small bell peppers (I had red & orange from the garden)
1/3 red onion, chopped
1 vine-ripened tomato, chopped

I cooked the lentils according to package directions (simmered in water 20 minutes), and the rice in vegetable broth (20 minutes).

Meanwhile, I slowly sauteed the onion in chili oil until it started to caramelize, then added the celery.

After 5 minutes or so, I added the rest of the vegetables and let everything cook another 5-10 minutes over medium, adding garlic powder, salt, and pepper to taste.

When the vegetables were cooked, I mixed in the rice and lentils and added a little more salt and pepper.

Made a nice, hearty pilaf.

Couscous and Garbanzo Bean Salad

I cooked up some whole wheat couscous, let it cool, and tossed with some canned garbanzo beans (rinsed), sliced olives, carrots, and cucumber. From the garden, I added chopped peppers, tomatoes, and a few leaves of peppermint. A squirt of lemon juice and tossed everything together nicely, then spooned over a bed of greens. Real yummy.

Grilled Vegetables

There is nothing quite like vegetables grilled on the BBQ.

First, I chop the vegetables and put them in a tupperware container with some olive oil, chopped garlic, and sliced red onion. I cover and shake it a bunch and let it sit to marinate for between10-30 minutes to soak up some of the flavors, shaking a couple more times.

I have a BBQ grill skillet that works great for grilling vegetables. No foil needed, and I don’t have to keep the vegetables in big pieces to avoid them falling through the cracks in the grill. I put the vegetables in the skillet and cook on medium/high for about 10-15 minutes, adding salt to taste and stirring and tossing frequently.

This particular batch included cherry tomatoes, red & yellow peppers and yard long beans from the garden, as well as mushrooms. I served on the side of a veggie burger and sliced avocado.

Community Garden Progress in October

The winter garden was planted, beginning with lots of broccoli, carrots, garlic, onion & lettuce as I talk about in the recent post on winter garden beginnings.

It didn’t take long for the carrots, garlic, and onion to sprout.

Carrots (front bed), onions, and garlic (back bed) beginning to grow

The lettuce we planted from seed is also coming up nicely.

Lettuce plants

In the subsequent week, we also planted beets and radishes from seed, in rows near the broccoli plants. These grow nice and quickly, as well, and are looking healthy. The radishes are growing especially quickly and will probably need to be thinned out.

Rows of broccoli (left), beets (center), and radishes (right)

Radish plants up close

We also planted some kale and Swiss chard plants.

Swiss chard (front) and kale (back)

And snap peas from seed, already growing nicely.

Snap pea plant growing up the fence

And some cabbage plants out front in the same beds as the peppers we have still growing.

Cabbage plants

Very much looking forward to the winter harvest!

Delicious Cantaloupe

For the most part, our attempt to grow cantaloupe was a disaster. We had one that we were able to eat back in June (even though it wasn’t quite ripe), but the others never grew big, fell off the plant, or were eaten by ants.

Well, we picked the very last one before uprooting and composting the plant a few weeks back. We could tell it wasn’t ripe yet, but I let it sit on the counter for a little over a week. That’s just what it needed, because when we cut into it, it was juicy and delicious. I guess that’s the trick!

It’s Soup Season

The evenings are getting chillier, and I’ve made soup several times in the last couple of weeks.

I was hoping to try making pumpkin soup again, this time spicy & flavored with Thai basil, but I let the pumpkin sit on the counter a few days too long and it went bad (tried overcompensating since it was a bit underripe last time – can’t get it right!).

I’d already started sauteing onions in chili oil and had the seasonings ready, and I was in the mood for soup, so I just threw together what I had on hand. Broccoli and celery, and a couple of yellow peppers from the garden. Covered in vegetable broth, added the Thai basil and little Sriracha, and covered & simmered over medium for 10-15 minutes until the veggies were soft.

I then blended in the blender and it was ready to serve. Turned out a little too spicy (I should have taken it easy with the Sriracha) but otherwise really nice flavors. I wouldn’t have thought Thai basil would go with broccoli soup, but it worked.

Spicy broccoli and celery soup with Thai basil

Then yesterday we wanted soup for lunch. This was essentially the potato-leek soup with chives recipe found in the October Vegetarian Times (p.32). The only difference is we left the skins on the potatoes, made a slightly bigger batch, and added a couple of hot peppers from the garden to give it some kick. And my meat-eating partner also added some pancetta to his serving.

2 tbs olive oil
2 large leeks, light green & white parts thinly sliced
1/4 tsp nutmeg
2 small hot peppers, seeded and chopped (we used a fresno and poblano)
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 gold potatoes, thinly sliced
4 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup finely chopped chives from our garden

Heated oil and garlic in large pot, added leaks and peppers and sprinkled with sea salt, covered & cooked 5 minutes. Added nutmeg and cooked 1 minute more. Stirred in potatoes and broth. Simmered, partially covered, on medium-low.

The recipe said 10 minutes but it took about 15 minutes for our potatoes to get soft enough (probably should have sliced even thinner). Pureed with immersion blender. (Purposely didn’t puree completely, so it was a little chunky which we like). Sprinkled with chives.

Spicy potato-leek soup with chives

It turned out really nicely. Very simple and the subtle spice added a nice kick.