Morrocan Stew (the rockin kind!)

I just had this for dinner tonight and it was fantastic!  If you don't know what kind of flavor profile Moroccan food is, just imagine all your favorite flavors together on one plate.  The spice mixture alone contains chili powder, cumin, coriander, curry, and ginger.  The main components include sweet potatoes, garbanzo beans, tomatoes, peppers, and raisins.  Add in a little peanut butter and cilantro at the end and you have a modest but exotic dish that is easy to make and even easier to love. This stew is spicy (not hot), sweet, savory, filling, and very nutritious.  It tastes good any time of year, but especially in the winter when a warm stew hits the spot.

Rockin Moroccan Stew (adapted from "Crazy Plates" cookbook)

2 tsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
2 stocks of celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
3 cups vegetable broth
3 cups of peeled, cubed sweet potato
1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
1 15 oz can of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
1 TBSP lemon juice
2 tsp grated gingerroot
1 tsp each cumin, chili powder, coriander, and curry powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 cup raisins
2 TBSP peanut butter
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

Heat olive oil in pan.  Add onions, celery, green pepper, and garlic and cook until vegetables begin to soften (3-5 minutes). Add all remaining ingredients except raisins, peanut butter and cilantro.  Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer, covered for 20 minutes.  Stir in raisins, peanut butter, and cilantro and cook for an additional 5 minutes.  Serve hot alone or over couscous, rice, or quinoa.  YUM!

Garbanzo bean flourless chocolate cake

I have an intense driving desire to make food healthy, which is not hard when it comes to everything but desserts.  And even though I can reduce the amount of oil in cakes and muffins and breads, I have never found a dessert recipe that I trust to make a cake or cookie or dessert completely oil or butter free.
I also have a sick sense of curiosity, and when I saw this recipe for flourless chocolate cake and saw that the main ingredient was garbanzo beans, I knew I had to try it.  I was SHOCKED by how good it was.  I actually served it for a big family Christmas dinner.  But when everyone started "oohing" and "aahhing" about how good it was, I couldn't help but blurt out "it was made with garbanzo beans!"  I even had a friend who detests beans taste this cake and she said she couldn't taste the beans at all.  And granted, it does have a lot of melted chocolate in it, and granted that I topped it with ganache (couldn't help it-- I have very little restraint with chocolate), but still, it has no butter or oil or flour, it comes together really easily, and the cake itself tastes wonderful even without the extra frills.

Flourless chocolate cake (adapted from allrecipes.com)

1 1/2 cups semi sweet chocolate chips
1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
4 eggs
3/4 cup white sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla
dash salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 inch round cake pan.  Place a circle of wax paper or parchment paper in the bottom.  Lightly spray with cooking spray.
Place chocolate chips in microwave safe bowl and heat for about 2 minutes, stopping every 30 seconds to stir, until chocolate is melted.
Combine the beans and eggs in the bowl of a food processor. Process until smooth.  Add the sugar and baking powder and pulse to blend.  Pour in the melted and chocolate and blend until smooth, scraping down the sides as needed to make sure all the chocolate is mixed in.  Pour the batter into the prepared cake pan.
Bake for 40 minutes in preheated oven.  Cool for 10-15 minutes before inverting the cake onto a serving plate.  Top with powdered sugar, chocolate glaze, whipped cream or fruit.  I made a quick ganache type glaze and it was wonderful.  May be served warm, room temperature, or cold.

Minestrone. The perfect one dish meal

Soups are like your favorite sweatshirt.  You might wear new clothes and snazzier clothes, but what really feels good is your old sweatshirt-- comfortable and familiar and easy.  The same is true with food.  New food is great and fun and an adventure, but most nights I just want something easy and comfortable and hot that fills me up.  This minestrone is perfect.  It packs more vegetables than a produce co-op. Its easy, its made in one dish, it has all the important food groups, and if you are really feeling lazy...you can drink it.  It is also highly adaptable to what you have on hand.  A lot of times when I make it, it is because I have not planned anything for dinner that night and I will just happen to have everything I need on hand.  That is true food friendship-- there, when you need it.

Enjoy.

Minestrone (adapted from Jaime's Minestrone on allrecipes.com)

2 TBSP olive oil
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, chopped
2 cups chopped celery
5 carrots, peeled and sliced
2 cups chicken broth
2 cups water
2 can diced tomatoes (14 oz)
1 can tomato sauce (14 oz)
1/2 cup red or white wine (optional)
1 can of kidney beans (14 oz)
2 cups of green beans, either canned or frozen
6 oz of baby spinach
3 zucchini, quartered and sliced
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp dried basil
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup of dried seashell pasta, or other small pasta (I used rotini in the picture)
parmesan cheese for grating on top

Directions:
In a large stockpot, saute the onion for 5 minutes.  Add garlic, celery, and carrots and saute for another 2 minutes.  Add chicken broth, water, diced tomatoes and tomato sauce.  Bring to a boil, stirring frequently.  If desired, add wine at this point (I have liked it with either kind of wine).  Reduce heat to low and add kidney beans, green beans, spinach, zuchini, and the spices.  Simmer for 30-40 minutes-- the longer the better. Taste for seasoning and add more salt or pepper if desired.  If the soup is too thick, feel free to add some more broth or water.

In a separate pan cook the pasta according to package directions.  Once the pasta is done, drain it, and add to the rest of the soup.

Ladle into bowls and top with parmesan cheese!

Vegan Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse

There is a reason why food stylists get paid so much.  They are the fashion designers of the food world.  And I merely dress my food like I dress myself-- simple and utilitarian.  No fuss, no special lighting, no airbrushed effect or dreamy background blur while the food lounges about on robins egg blue plates.  Nope.  Its in a bowl, with a spoon, and it tastes really good.  Thats the way I roll.
This is my new favorite dessert discovery.   I have always been a fan of brownies and cakes and cookies.  For some reason, I can fool myself into thinking that it is a better dessert choice because they have flour and flour is kind of like bread (In one of Bill Cosby's greatest bits, he makes a similar rationalization and feeds his children cake for breakfast under the guise that it has milk, eggs, and flour-- much to his wife's horror).  So I have stayed away from mousses because in my head a mousse contains butter and cream and eggs which leaves me NO room for the health food rationalization I use.  This mousse is different.  It is made with silken tofu, peanut butter, bittersweet chocolate, and maple syrup.  And it takes roughly 10 minutes to make-- tops.  As far as desserts go, is the best bad choice you can make, and it tastes really wonderful and smooth and creamy.  You can make a small serving go a long way by eating small bites with a baby spoon (which is how I eat most of my spoon-needing desserts).  It has a nicely intense taste that doesn't require drowning yourself in dessert.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Mousse (adapted from Spork-fed)

1 1/2 cups bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate chips
1 block silken tofu (14 oz) (you can find this at most grocery stores, and all asian markets-- pretty cheap)
1/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup chunky peanut butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
dash sea salt

Melt chocolate chips in a double boiler or in a metal bowl over a small  pot filled with an inch or two of simmering water. Let chocolate melt for about 3 minutes, then stir until all the chips are melted.  Remove from the stove and set aside.
In a large food processor, combine all the remaining ingredients and blend until the mixture is smooth and creamy.   Add in the melted chocolate and blend a little more until the chocolate is fully incorporated and the mixture is uniform.
Transfer mousse mixture to a bowl and refrigerate at least a couple of hours or overnight for a thick consistency.  Or consume now...
Serve to your adoring crowd and enjoy!  Or eat it all yourself over the course of a week...in small doses.

Butternut squash bisque

This is one of my all time favorite soups.  It is perfect for autumn.  It has loads of good stuff in it-- butternut squash, carrots, apples and a little bit of kick from some cayenne.  I make mine without any cream, so the end result is very healthy and flavorful. Its BUTTERnut squash we are talking about here, it does not need any cream! And if you use vegetable stock, the soup is vegan.  I just roast the squash in the oven while I cut up and simmer the rest of the ingredients.  When the squash is tender, it is really easy to scoop out the flesh and just add it to the softened vegetables.  Then you just use an immersion blender and voila!   Bisque! And without the cayenne, it makes pretty kick butt baby food (I'm just saying...)

Butternut squash Bisque (adapted from allrecipes.com)

1 TBSP canola oil
1 large butternut squash, seeded and roasted with the flesh scooped out
1 large tart apple, peeled, cored, and diced into chunks
1/2 cup diced onion
1 cup diced carrots
3-4 cups vegetable or chicken stock
2 bay leaves
1/8 tsp nutmeg (or more to taste)
1/8- 1/4 tsp cayenne, depending on your level of heat
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oven to 375 degrees.  Cut the squash in half, lengthwise.  Scoop out the seeds and place the squash, cut side down, on a baking pan and fill with about half an inch of water.  Roast for about 35 min or until the squash is tender.  Scoop out the flesh and set aside.

While the squash is roasting, saute the onion in the oil over medium heat until the onion is tender.  Add in the rest of the ingredients, except for the squash and salt and pepper.  Bring the soup to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer until all the vegetables are tender (about 20-25 minutes ?).  When the vegetables are tender, add in the roasted squash.  Simmer for another 5 minutes or so and then puree with an immersion blender.  Season to taste with salt and pepper, or more cayenne or nutmeg.  If you want, you can add cream...if you like that sort of thing.

Tilapia Tinfoil dinners

For the first time ever, I have a garden.  And not one of those fake plastic aquarium gardens... a garden that actually produces things that you can eat!  And even though I mistakenly cared for a weed for awhile because I thought it was a basil plant, the plants that I intended to grow have grown abundantly.  So yesterday I harvested my first zucchini (a big baseball bat of a thing that created a huge dinner and enough shredded stuff for zucchini muffins).  We also have some great cherry tomato plants.  And I had bought some tilapia earlier in the week.  And Richard had given me a challenge to only spend $60 on groceries that week. Naturally, I was looking for a recipe that would incorporate what I already had on hand.  I found this recipe and was really happy with the results.  So was Richard.  We had almost no leftovers.  We baked it in the oven, but this could easily be a grill or campfire dinner.  The original recipe had each tilapia filet in its own individual tinfoil packet, but I decided to bake the whole thing together and conserve foil. I served the tilapia and roasted vegetables over a simple pasta that was tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic and parmesan cheese.

Tinfoil tilapia with roasted vegetables (adapted from cooksillustrated.com)

1 lb zucchini sliced crossways into 1/4 inch rounds (cut rounds into quarters if your zucchini is huge)

8 oz mushrooms, sliced and lightly sauteed (in frying pan for about 5 minutes) and set aside

8 oz of tomatoes, chopped (about a cup) (any kind will do)

2 TBSP olive oil

salt and pepper

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/4 tsp dried oregano leaves

1/4 tsp dried red pepper flakes

4 TBSP dried white wine or lemon juice (I used lemon juice)

1 lb tilapia filets (I had about 5 filets in mine)

Toss zucchini with salt and place in colander for 30 minutes to drain while you prepare the rest of the ingredients and while the oven preheats to 450 degrees.  The zucchini will release a few TBSP of liquid-- just drain and blot dry with paper towels.

Toss the tomatoes, olive oil, oregano, 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp of pepper, red pepper flakes and garlic together in a bowl.  Sprinkle the tilapia filets with a little additional salt and pepper.

Tear off a large sheet of aluminum foil and place on the counter, spread your zucchini slices evenly in the middle of the foil, leaving a sizeable edge of foil around the zucchini so that you have room to fold.  Drizzle the lemon juice or white wine evenly among the zucchini.  Top with the tilapia filets, the mushrooms and the tomato mixture.  Place another equally large piece of foil on the top and gently fold each side of the foil to form a large, sealed packet.  Or you can do 4 smaller packets with equal parts of each of the ingredients, layered in the same manner.

Place the packet on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes for the large packet.  Remove from the oven, cut a slit in the top and let the steam escape.  Serve on its own, over pasta, or with rice or potatoes.  Its a winner no matter how you look at it.

Favorite Summer Salad: Quinoa, black bean, and avocado

Why is this my new favorite summer salad?  Simply, its a chilled salad.  And it hits the right spot on hot days where the last thing I want to do is turn on the stove or oven.  I would also consider it the superman of salads because everything you need is in one bowl:  it has quinoa, beans, tomatoes, avocados, and red peppers tossed in a lime cilantro dressing.  It is a complete protein with healthy fats and lots of veggies.  And you can make it in less than 20 minutes!! What more could you ask for (a whole watermelon...not shown because I ate it!).  I will be making this at least once a week for the duration of the hot season (anything above 80 degrees feels like Death Valley in Seattle because no one has AC).  I would pair this meal with a good popsicle!  Enjoy.

Quinoa, black bean, and avocado salad (adapted from "Womens Health")

2 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
1 can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cups halved grape tomatoes or coarsely chopped regular tomatoes
1 avocado, pitted and diced
1 red bell pepper, chopped

1 cup cilantro leaves
1 lime, juiced
2 TBSP olive oil
1/2 tsp lime zest
1 clove garlic
1/2 tsp ground pepper
1/4 tsp salt

To make the quinoa: Just combine 1 cup of quinoa with 2 cups of water or broth, bring to a boil, and then reduce heat and simmer, covered, for 10-15 minutes until the liquid has been absorbed.  Set aside or chill until ready to use.

Combine quinoa with black beans, tomatoes, peppers, and avocado.  In a food processor, combine all the dressing ingredients: cilantro, lime, olive oil, zest, garlic, salt and pepper.  Pulse until combined.  Pour over salad ingredients, toss to combine, and chill until ready to eat.