I hate to waste food. So after a recent party instead of just tossing the leftovers, I made an effort to to come up with a meal that utilized the crudites that were left.
I didn’t want another raw food meal or a stir fry rice thingy.
This reminds me a little of pot roast; vegetarian style , of course.
It kind of looks like that, don’t you think?
I just sauteed the vegetables as they were, added them to some linguine added feta cheese, balsamic vinegar and Ghee. You could also use butter.
This was a complete meal and quite different from the ingredients original incarnation.
My secret ingredient ? Live music in my kitchen!
Check out this video performance of “Summertime” by Dolinar Spahija!
This kale soup is so simple, so delicious, so nutritious and so inexpensive that it would be just wrong not to share it!
This recipe comes from the Aunt of this guy; my “Cooking Buddy”.
The family comes from Albania and learning about a new cuisine has broadened my own cooking repetoire, especially when it comes to vegetables.
I have gained a new perspective on preparing and serving food and learned how to create complete meals from very simple ingredients.
The ingredients for this soup are: Kale, potato, onion, garlic and celery, olive oil and yogurt . With salt and pepper to taste.
We garnished with sheep milk feta cheese and fresh green onion.
A hearty wheat bread truly rounds out this meal.
I will make this a part of my regular rotation of dishes around here, to be sure.
And I would like to experiment with vegetable stock, which we didn’t use.
I had my doubts about the lack of broth but I was pleasantly surprised by how flavorful the soup was without the added boullion.
And considering that most boullions contain MSG, sugar, sodium and other unnatural and unneccesary processed ingredients, it is nice to know that I don’t need to have homemade stock handy or run out to pick up something at the store when I want to make this soup.
The other thing that I like about this soup is that the olive oil and yogurt are added at the end of cooking.
From a nutrition perspective this helps to maintain the health benefits and maximum flavor of the yogurt and the olive oil.
Method
The process begins by boiling 1 large yellow onion and about 5-6 cloves of garlic.
We’re garlic lovers around here so I tend to use twice what I recommend at times!
I had 2 large baking potatoes which I chopped and added to the boil.
I then cleaned and chopped 2 large heads of kale and added them to the boil. Curly Kale worked well but I would have preferred Lacinto Kale.
I then chopped 4-5 large celery stalks and added these to the boil, as well.
I cooked this mixture until everything became soft and wilted.
Now, I was supposed to drain the water and pour the veggies into the food processor but I didn’t know that, so I just pureed everything together.
The cooking water was included and amounted to about 2-3 cups.
I put the pureed mixture into a large pot and continued to cook at medium heat for about 15 minutes.
We then added about 1 cup of olive oil and about 1 to 2 cups of yogurt.
We served this with some crumbled sheep milk feta and freshly cut green onion.
What do you do when unexpected guests, a limited budget and a lack time conspire to put a wrench into an otherwise beautiful summer evening?
I had the quinoa, an avocado, some olives and cheese and the chocolate sauce!
The grocery was about to close in 10 minutes!
I ran in without a plan. Went straight to the “fish area”; I needed something fancy that would cook fast and go well with the quinoa salad I had just decided to make.
I bought the salmon; Wild Norwegian Salmon which is thick and moist which for me means easy cooking and a juicy dinner.
I chopped the avocado and put together a deconstructed salad on a cute plate with some olives and feta cheese.
A handful of fresh veggies get chopped and go into the cooked quinoa with olive oil and lime juice.
I broiled the salmon with crushed garlic and some olive oil and lemon.
A quick toss of the quinoa and veggies and plate it up! 20 minutes! Quick and Fancy!
I bought a quart of coconut ice cream and blackberries and topped it off with chocolate syrup.
I was almost embarrassed by how impressed everyone was but happily took the credit!
I blanched spinach for about 5 minutes and added feta cheese and mixed well, then stuffed the mushrooms, drizzeled olive oil on top and broiled them until them until things started to bubble and smell good.
I also broiled the whole wheat buns with a little bit of olive oil until toasty!
Tomato and red onion added the final touch.
Yogurt sauce would have aslo made a nice condiment compliment but we were ravenous!
Where comfort food meets healthy salad, this potato and green bean salad will surely fit the bill.
Feta cheese and Dijon mustard add a kick to this yummy, nutritious dish.
Recipe Courtesy of Martha Rose Shulman
Ingredients
1 pound waxy potatoes, cut in 1-inch dice
2 tablespoons finely minced red onion, soaked for five minutes in cold water, then drained, rinsed, and drained on paper towels
2 tablespoons sherry vinegar
1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
Salt to taste
1 small garlic clove, green shoot removed, minced or pureed
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoons plain low-fat yogurt
Freshly ground pepper to taste
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh herbs, such as parsley, tarragon, chives, chervil or dill
6 ounces green beans, trimmed and broken in half
2 ounces feta cheese, crumbled
1 6-ounce bag baby spinach
Method
1. Steam the potatoes above 1 inch boiling water for 10 minutes or until tender. Meanwhile, whisk together the vinegar, lemon juice, salt, garlic, Dijon mustard, olive oil and yogurt.
2. When the potatoes are tender, remove from the heat and toss at once with 1/4 cup of the dressing, the onion, herbs, and salt and pepper to taste.
3. Add the green beans to the steamer pot, and steam for five minutes. Remove from the heat, refresh briefly with cold water, drain well and toss with the potatoes, 2 more tablespoons of the dressing and the feta. In a separate bowl, toss the spinach with the remaining dressing. Top with the potatoes and beans, and serve.
Yield: Serves four as a main dish or six as a side dish.
Advance preparation: You can prepare everything several hours ahead. Reverse the order of preparation if you want the potatoes to be warm, steaming them at the last minute.
