Mizuna Greens & Mac N' Cheese

We just finished a delicious dinner, including one recipe I just made up myself. For a main we had baked macaroni & cheese, found here: http://www.recipezaar.com/Homestyle-Macaroni-and-Cheese-12360
I've made this recipe in the past, and knew that it was always too rich for our tastes, so I doubled the amount of pasta required. I also topped it with panko breadcrumbs mixed with Italian seasonings.

As a side I served sauteed mizuna greens, which I received this week in my produce delivery. They looked like a more delicate version of Dandelion greens. Knowing only that mizuna greens are an Asian cousin of the mustard green, I minced some garlic and red onion and sauteed in a little olive oil. When that smelled nice, I added a splash of Mirin (sweet rice wine) and threw in the greens. After just a minute, I added a splash of soy sauce and a couple of shakes of sesame seed / sea salt mixture. After just a minute or two on the heat, the greens had shrunken to half their original size. Luckily they were delicous! They had a good, interesting flavor, that niether of us could put a finger on. We'll look forward to receiving them again!

Vegetable Stock

After months of complaining about throwing away my vegetable scraps, it dawned on me that I could be making my own vegetable broth! So, last week I diligently collected my veggie scraps in a plastic ziplock in the fridge. When the bag was full, I threw everything in my big stock pot and filled it to the brim with water. Floating about were: carrot tops, onion & garlic skins, leek tops and bottoms, chard stems and a bunch of sad looking parsley from the back of the fridge. After letting the concoction boil away on the stove for a few hours, I scooped out all of the largest scraps and then poured the remaining liquid through a gold coffee filter to remove any leftover particals. Voila! Remaining in the pot was beautiful, rich colored vegetable broth. I haven't seasoned it yet, so it still needs some salt & pepper. Most of it now sits happily in my freezer, waiting to be used. It was so easy -- and made so much -- I'm all stocked up on stock for the foreseeable future!

Rainbow Chard!

Last week my produce delivery included a gigantic, beautiful Swiss chard bunch. I decided to chop it and saute it in butter with minced garlic, salt & pepper. DELICIOUS!!! In addition we had some leftover eggplant parmesan and a couple of baked sweet potatoes.

Leek & Goat Cheese Pita Pizza with Cucumber Salad

Last week I went to the grocery store to pick up some vegetables for dinner, but the only thing that looked good was the leeks. I grabbed a bunch and decided I would figure out what to do with them once I got home. I ended up taking some large whole wheat pita bread rounds out of the freezer, basting them with olive oil, and crumbling some herbs de provence goat cheese on top. I then sliced and sauteed the leeks in some butter, and piled them on top of the pitas as well. I popped them in the oven and baked them at 350 until the pitas were crispy and the cheese was a bit melted.

I served them with a salad I made with the only items I could find in the fridge: cucumbers, parsley, kalamata olives, red onions and feta cheese. All told, it was a very quick meal that was VERY delicious!

Homemade Granola Bars!

Since moving to Boulder, I've become more Boulder than most Boulderites by making homemade granola bars each week. I got tired of spending so much money on store bought granola bars that weren't that good, so I decided to start making them myself!

Here's the basic recipe: http://www.recipezaar.com/No-Bake-Granola-Bars-60235
I usually use half corn-syrup and half honey, sometimes entirely honey.

So far I'm made several different varieties, including peanut-chocolate chip, coconut-currant, peanut-raisin, and butterscotch-chocolate chip. This week I'm thinking about making a honey-almond-flax mix. The photo above is a chocolate chip peanut batch.

Blackbean Tortilla Casserole and Kale w/ Feta & Red Onions

Here are two recipes I make pretty often, especially the kale, which I receive often in my produce delivery box.

Blackbean Tortilla Casserole: http://www.recipezaar.com/Black-Bean-and-Tortilla-Bake-34881
Kale w/ Feta & Red Onion: http://www.recipezaar.com/Feta-Cheese-Kale-Red-Onions-16999

Chicken Garlic Bites, Roasted Zucchini & Sweet Potatoes

While my sister-in-law Danielle was visiting, I made a quick and easy dinner for us of: chicken garlic bites http://www.recipezaar.com/Chicken-Garlic-Bites-27733; zucchini that I chopped and roasted with sliced onions and tossed with olive oil, salt, pepper & Italian seasonings; and baked sweet potatoes that I served whole. Yum!