Tag Archives: quick meal

Green Green Pesto

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What to do with a bunch of green onions, fresh from a local organic farm? Pesto! There’s a reason I make so much pesto. It’s super easy to freeze for those days where you need a fast dinner. And I love the ingredients that go in a homemade pesto.

Green Onion Pesto

  • 1 bunch green onions
  • 1/4 cup shelled sunflower seeds
  • 1/2 cup walnuts
  • Juice of 1 1/2 limes
  • 1 clove garlic
  • 3/4 cup olive oil (always get extra virgin olive oil, first cold pressed)
  • 1/2 tsp salt

Combine all the ingredients in a food processor and process until relatively smooth–no big chunks! Enjoy right away on cooked pasta or freeze for later use.

On another note, have you purchased Mama Pea’s new cookbook? It’s a great buy and I’m slowly (and happily!) making my way though it. Made the Teriyaki Tofu on brown rice, with a side of steamed vegetables (snow peas and burgundy beans from a local organic farm). Yum! The sauce is delicious enough to drink!

Crunchy Veggie Wraps

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It’s finally summer. Hot, humid, sunny weather. Love it. My meals tend to change though during this time of year to light, crispy, and refreshing foods.

A day before I receive my next food share box, I needed to use up some of the remaining vegetables in the fridge. A veggie wrap is a great way to do this because it’s so versatile–you can put anything in there!

Crunchy Veggie Wrap (makes 1 wrap)

  • 1 whole wheat tortilla
  • 1 tbsp homemade baba ghanoush (so much tastier if you make it yourself)
  • 1 lettuce leaf
  • 1/2 small avocado
  • few strips red pepper
  • few slices baby carrots
  • few slices cucumber
  • dash of black pepper

Heat your tortilla in the microwave for 10 seconds so it becomes softer and pliable. Spread the baba ghanoush on the tortilla and place a lettuce leaf on top. Add all your veggies and sprinkle some pepper on top. Roll. I clearly overloaded my wrap which became a soft taco. No worries though!

You can swap the baba ghanoush for hummus, cream cheese, a mixture of light mayo with lime juice and lime zest, etc. The veggies can be swapped for any other veggies! The sky is the limit here! Enjoy!

Garlic Scapes Pesto

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I received a weird-looking vegetable last week in my farm share box. It turned out to be garlic scapes, a cross between garlic and green onions, the stem of a garlic bulb. I love discovering new produce!

In it went in my regular pesto recipe, with a few tweaks.

Garlic Scapes Pesto

  • 1 bunch garlic scapes, roughly chopped
  • 2 cups basil
  • 1/2 cup olive oil
  • 2 tbsp pine nuts
  • 1/4 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese or vegan version
  • 1 tbsp softened butter or vegan butter (e.g., Earth Balance)

Combine all ingredients in a food processor and you’re done! Pesto freezes really well in a well sealed jar. It comes in handy when you need a quick meal–thaw in fridge, make a pot of pasta. Serve a dollop of pesto on pasta and enjoy with a side of salad. Mmm.

Kale and White Bean Salad

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Today was grocery shopping day and so the choice of food in my fridge is low. Here’s a meal salad I put together with some items I had left. It’s yummy and filling!

  • Kale, enough to fill a meal-sized bowl
  • 1/4 cup corn niblets
  • olive oil
  • salt
  • 1/2 cup cooked white beans
  • few grape tomatoes, halved
  • few lettuce leaves, torn in bite-sized pieces
  • 1 tbsp nutritional yeast flakes
  • 1 tbsp capers
  • 2 tbsp pine nuts
  • juice of 1/2 lemon
  • dash of cayenne pepper

Remove the stems from the kale and tear up the leaves by hand (I swear it tastes different than if you use a knife!). Drizzle with olive oil and add salt. Massage leaves with your hands for a minute or so–this part is important, you want the leaves to soften a bit. Then add remaining ingredients, mix, and enjoy!


Asian-Inspired Collard Wraps

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I received a beautiful collard green bunch this week in my organic basket and decided to make some collard wraps for lunch. These wraps have an Asian spin on them by dipping them in a delicious sauce. I was so happy to see the Mr. gobble them up.

4 large collard green leaves

An assortment of cut vegetables (I chose 1 avocado, sliced; 1/2 large carrot, in strips; handful of baby spinach; 1/2 green pepper, sliced; 1/2 cup mixed sprouts; handful basil leaves; few tbsp raw sesame seeds)

For the dipping sauce:

1 tsp Asian hot chili sauce

1/2 tsp sesame oil

2 tbsp tamari sauce

1 Tbsp rice vinegar

Combine sauce ingredients and set aside. Prepare your collard leaves by shaving down the stem on the side of the leaf where the stem pops up. Take a leaf and place 1/4 of each vegetable ingredient in the middle of your leaf and wrap up.

Click here to see a great tutorial on how to prepare and wrap your collard leaves. Repeat with remaining 3 leaves. Cut each wrap in half diagonally and serve with dipping sauce. Such a satisfying and healthy meal! Enjoy.

Smooth Carrot Soup

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I hate getting to the last day of the week before grocery shopping. The fridge is almost empty and I have to scrounge around to figure out what to eat. I either make too much food or too little for the week. Can’t seem to get it quite right.

I did have a bunch of carrots though, so I made a really easy and quick soup. Most of us have the rest of the ingredients on hand. Turned out really good!

1 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, coarsely chopped

1.5 lbs carrots, peeled and sliced

2 cups vegetable broth (I ended up using a herbal bouillon cube added to 2 cups water)

Additional 2 cups water

1 tsp dried thyme leaves

1 cup almond milk

1 tsp pepper

Salt to taste

Cilantro sprigs

Heat oil over medium heat in a pot and add onions to cook for a few minutes, until they get soft. Add the carrots, broth, water, and thyme and bring to a boil. Cover and simmer over low heat for 25 minutes. Blend with hand blender. Add milk, pepper, and salt to taste (depends how seasoned your broth is). Top with a few sprigs of cilantro.

Enjoy!

Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Capers Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette

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Funny thing…I make the Mr. meat dishes because he complains he doesn’t have enough meat in the house, then he eats up all my vegetarian dishes. Ok, plan B for lunch today. Use up everything else in the fridge. Result: a great big salad.

4 cups romaine lettuce, coarsely chopped

1/2 cup yellow and red cherry tomatoes, sliced in half

1/2 cup frozen corn and peas, thawed

1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, coarsely chopped

1 tbsp capers

2 tbsps pine nuts

Few tbsp of balsamic vinaigrette, recipe below:

4 tbsp balsamic vinaigrette

2 tbsp lemon juice

1 tsp grainy mustard

1 tsp dried oregano

1/2 tsp Himalayan or Celtic sea salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 cup olive oil

Blend the vinaigrette ingredients together until well mixed. For the salad, combine all ingredients in a bowl, and add a few tbsp of the vinaigrette. Mix and enjoy! The remaining vinaigrette can be stored in the fridge for a few days.

Collard greens wrap

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I subscribe to an organic fruit and vegetable basket delivery program and this week I got collard greens in my basket, which I find a bit tougher to incorporate, compared to other veggies. I could use it in a soup, but decided on eating it raw. This was a really quick lunch, especially needed today, getting ready for New Year’s Eve! I hope everyone has a safe and healthy NYE, hope to see you back here in 2011!

Serves 1

1 whole wheat wrap

2 tbsps vegan cream cheese

1 collard green leaf

A few chunks of different vegetables

1/2 tsp Cajun spice

Throw your chunks of vegetables into your vitamix (speed 5), blender, or food processor (or you can finely chop them by hand) until you get small pieces.

Get your wrap and lay it out on a plate. Spread the vegan cream cheese on top, sprinkle with the Cajun spice, and place one collard green leaf on the cheese. Sprinkle a few Tbsps of the veggie mixture on top, roll the wrap, and enjoy!

A quick lunch idea

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Sometimes, I just don’t  feel like making an elaborate meal (I know, shocking). I like to roast squash as a quick lunch, and simply add some olive oil, salt and pepper to it at the end. However, as I roasted a spaghetti squash today, I was thinking about how it resembles noodles once you begin to shred it out of its skin (hence its name!). It gave me an idea to add pesto to it! I mixed pesto to some hot, roasted squash, and it was delicious! I always keep some homemade pesto in my freezer for a quick meal. You could also add some pasta sauce to the squash, if you don’t have pesto on hand.

Super easy lunch, and very filling! I ate 1/4 of the squash and was satisfied.

On to other news: stay tuned because beginning in January, I will be choosing a vegetarian food item each month, and will showcase some recipes (all dairy-free!) using the chosen item. I promise they’ll be yummy! If you have a specific item you’d like to get recipe ideas for, leave a comment with your suggestion!

Happy eating!