Baked Asparagus Chips and Baked Sweet Potato Fries

I have to admit that sometimes my cooking techniques are uncreative and boring. Meaning, the majority of the time I settle for boiled or steamed asparagus and baked sweet potatoes. WHY WHY WHY WHY? I have no idea. We all get in our ruts and routines. So, I stepped out of my bubble and tried something new- for me- and by no means a novel idea. I'm sure many have tried this before, but NOW it's our turn!!! :)

Baked Asparagus Chips (inspired by a dear friend)

Preparation: 5 minutes

Bake Time: 40 minutes

Serves: 1 person

Ingredients:

1/2 bunch asparagus

1 tsp olive or canola oil

sprinkle of salt

sprinkle of pepper

sprinkle of garlic powder

Steps:

1. Buy fresh asparagus and chop off the ends.

2. Place on a baking sheet. Poor about 1 tsp olive or canola oil in your hands and spread over asparagus. Be sure to lay each spear flat on sheet.

3. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

4. Bake 30-40 minutes. Time varies based on individual ovens as well if you want yours more/less crispy!! Enjoy!

Uncooked Asparagus

Cooked/baked Asparagus

Sweet Potato Fries (inspired by above Baked Asparagus Chips)

Preparation: 5-10 minutes

Bake Time: 40-50 minutes

Serves: 1

Ingredients:

1 small/medium sweet potato, peeled and 1/4 inch long strips.

1 tsp olive or canola oil

sprinkle of salt

sprinkle of pepper

sprinkle of garlic powder

Steps:

1. Peel sweet potato

2. Cut into thin strips

3. Place on baking sheet and cover with olive/canola oil. Be sure to lay flat.

4. Sprinkle with salt, pepper and garlic powder.

4. Bake 30-40 minutes. Time varies based on individual ovens as well if you want yours more/less crispy!! Enjoy!

Of note: I paired these two side with the garlic baked cod recipe (from yesterday!)

Garlic Baked Cod

Moving away from salmon (because it's over fished...) and moving on to other types of fish, please say hello to Mrs. Cod. :)

Garlic Baked Cod

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

Bake Time: 30-40 minutes

Serves: 2

Ingredients:

1/2 pound cod

Vegetable broth

sprinkle of thyme

sprinkle of black pepper

sprinkle of salt

3 cloves garlic, sliced thinly

Steps:

1. Place uncooked cod in a glass baking dish

2. Cover with vegetable broth

3. Sprinkle with thyme, black pepper and salt (Of note, I had to use extra salt b/c my vegetable broth was low sodium and therefore- I have to admit- the flavor was a little bland.)

4. Thinly slice 3 cloves of garlic and add to fish/broth.

5. Bake at 350 degrees for 3o-40 minutes

6. Enjoy with your favorite sides!! (See tomorrow's post for my side dishes!)

Tasty Tofu Broccoli Pasta

So first-up in 2011 is the infamous tofu. I know. I know. Tofu is SO hard to work with, right. NO! Wrong. It gets easier the more you practice. Practice makes better.

For my recipe, I was inspired by this tofu recipe.

Tofu Broccoli Pasta

Serves: 2-3

Preparation Time: 15-20 minutes

Cook Time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

1 block extra-firm tofu

1 tbsp olive oil

3 cloves garlic

1 tsp dried/powdered ginger

1/4 tsp chili powder

2 tbsp maple syrup

2 tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp lemon juice

bag of frozen broccoli (sauce/salt free)

1/2 box wheat pasta

Steps:

1. Drain tofu. Place tofu in-between 2 dishes. Place something heavy on-top of tofu to aid in squeezing out the liquid. Let stand for 15 minutes or so.

2. Slice and dice tofu into equally sized cubes (probably medium sized, but your choice.)

[See below for preparation steps for broccoli and pasta which can be done simultaneously.]

3. Pan fry tofu in frying pan with oil until light brown on medium heat approximately 10 minutes.

4. Add in garlic, ginger, and chili powder for approximately 5 minutes.

5. Stir maple syrup and lemon juice and soy sauce.

6. Remove from heat and serve!

Making it a meal!

Before you begin pan frying your tofu, boil 2 pots of water- one for the broccoli and one for the pasta. You just want to heat up the broccoli, which probably takes 5-8 minutes. The pasta usually takes about 15-20 minutes. The tofu takes about 20 minutes in total. Time it right and all 3 will be cooked and hot at the same time! Mix together and you have a complete meal! I recommend 1 cup cooked wheat pasta with 1-1.5 cups cooked broccoli, and half the block of tofu! Enjoy! (It's taaaaaastY! :))

Well Hello Again!

Well hello fellow readers. I apologize for my hiatus. What can I say? Sometimes we unexpectedly get trapped by quick sand and as you know yourself, it's not so easy to escape. With that said, I used my magic powers to escape and voila! here I am!! Get ready for some new cooking adventures! Happy Reading

Spicy Vegan/Vegetarian Bean Chili

Football and Autumn scream chili. CHILI. CHILI. CHILI.

I'm always in search of a mouth-watering, irresistible vegan chili recipe. The mouth-watering recipes always seem to be too time consuming with too many ingredients and too much preparation time; we've also all tried that quick-mediocre recipe. (Enough said.) Alas, you have stumbled upon a tasty, spicy, minimal effort (limited ingredients) vegan chili recipe (courtesy of me!) Yay! :) Enjoy!

Spicy Vegan Bean Chili Recipe:

Serves: 6

Preparation: 15 minutes

Cook time: (unsupervised) 1 hour

Ingredients:

1 can of black beans, rinsed and drained

1 can of red kidney beans, rinsed and drained

2 medium ripe tomatoes, diced

1 cup chopped carrots

1 medium onion, chopped

1/2 bag frozen corn

1 medium red pepper, chopped

1 small green hot pepper, diced

1 small can of tomato sauce

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp extra-virgin olive oil

2 tbsp of chili powder

1 tbsp of ground cumin

1/2 tbsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp shredded mozzarella/vegan cheese

Directions:

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in large pot.

2. Add minced garlic. Stir frequently for 2-3 minutes until fragrant.

3. Add onions and peppers. Stir frequently and cook for approximately 5 minutes as vegetables begin to soften.

4. Add carrots, tomatoes, beans, corn, tomato sauce, and spices. Stir well.

5. Cover and simmer mixture over low heat for about one hour or until carrots are cooked. Stir occasionally.

6. Remove from heat and serve in mugs with mozzarella or vegan cheese!

Vegan Chili!! (and with a little UConn spirit!)

...don't forget the cheese!!

Tomato Swiss Chard Soup!

Yeah. I was thinking the same thing. Jen, don't you dislike soup?! Yup. I'm not a soup fan. BUT when you have tomato paste, swiss chard, and vegetable broth left over- what do you do with it?! You make soup. This is probably not the fanciest soup ever, but it's super quick and easy. It also warms your blood on these cool days.

Tomato Swiss Chard Soup!

Serves: varies

Time: less than 30 minutes

Ingredients:

anything left over from previous recipes and whatever is lying around inside the fridge!! aka....

1/2 bunch swiss chard, washed and chopped

2 heaping tbsp tomato paste

12 oz vegetable broth

water

baby carrots, chopped

3 cloves garlic

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 tbsp feta cheese

Directions:

1. Heat 1 tbsp oil in pan.

2. Sautee garlic until fragrant.

3. Add swiss chard to pan. Stir frequency. Cook greens down approximately 3-5 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, pour vegetable broth into a large pot. Add tomato paste stirring until dissolved. Add additional water as needed.

5. Add cooked swiss chard and pre-chopped carrots.

6. Gently mix.

7. Simmer approximately 20 minutes or until carrots are cooked.

Voila! Soup in less than 30 minutes! Serve soup in a soup bowl. Sprinkle with feta cheese. Enjoy with whole grain pita on the side! Of note- I have made this with (leftover) beans before as well, which is also quite tasty! There are many varieties! Enjoy!!

Scrumptious Butternut Barley Bean Pilaf Dish

I sympathize with barely. It seems that barley is misunderstood! (Haha. Who doesn't have those moments?! I think we can all sympathize with barley!!) I personally love barley. I need to start cooking with it more often. (And so should you!!) I (very unfortunately) don't know many people who would scream at the top of their lungs "I LOVE BARLEY!" (However, I might just have to give it a try.) :)

Going with my Autumn theme, I wanted to give my hand at another winter squash recipe. I think you'll also find this a tasty dish- and this one's quick too!!

Butternut Barley Bean Pilaf Recipe:

(Original Recipe found here!)

Serves 7-8

Preparation 15-20 minutes

Cooking time (unsupervised) 45-60 minutes

Ingredients:

1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

1 medium onion chopped

21oz vegetable broth + 8 oz water

1 cup pearl barley

2 cups peeled and cubed butternut squash

1 can cannellini beans

1 tbsp dry cilantro

1 tbsp dry parsley

3 cloves garlic

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

Directions:

1. Prepare vegetables. (Hint- buy pre-peeled and cubed butternut squash. Saves so much time and effort!!)

2. Heat oil in large saucepan over medium heat.

3. Add onion. Stir often until onions soften/turn translucent approximately 2-3 minutes.

4. Add broth, water, barely, beans, and squash. Turn heat to high and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer until most of liquid has been absorbed approximately 45-60 minutes.

5. Add parsley, cilantro, garlic, salt, and pepper. Mix gently. Turn off heat. Allow to sit a few minutes.

6. Serve and enjoy!!

Side note: The amount of vegetable broth might seem obscure. I did not use broth from a can (Noooo BPA!!); I used it from a 32oz cardboard container. Therefore, I experimented with the amounts of liquid (broth vs water) to use. Lucky for me, I had extra vegetable broth to put into another recipe!! :) Almost any variation will do! Give it a try! Happy cooking!