Cheddar and Veggie Pinwheels

Tim and I had some trouble with our propane range today- we were sitting around watching the Olympics and suddenly smelled gas (and I realized why I had such a bad headache).  The tank seemed to be leaking- we think maybe rubber ring that seals the tank to the tubing was worn.  We'll be looking into that tomorrow, for certain, but in the meantime we just turned it off and opened all the windows (thus letting in mosquitoes since we don't have any screens...sigh).

In the interim, I tried to figure out something for dinner that didn't require the stovetop... I settled on a recipe loosely based on these broccoli and cheddar pinwheels.  I had pizza dough in the freezer and a ton of veggies and cheddar in the fridge, but I wanted to add more flavor to the recipe by roasting the veggies with garlic and red pepper flakes instead of steaming it.  

Here's what I did:

- Mince 2 cloves of garlic 

- Finely chop about 3 cups of veggies (in my case I used broccoli, cauliflower and carrot)

- Mix veggies and garlic with a couple tablespoons of olive oil, some salt and pepper, and a couple shakes of red pepper flakes.

- Spread it out onto a baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes or so at high heat (about 400F), until starting to brown on the edges; cool

- Shred 1.5-2 cups of cheddar cheese

- Mix cheddar, veggies, 1 tablespoon of dijon mustard and 1 tablespoon of mayonnaise

- Roll out 1 lb of pizza dough (I used this recipe from Martha Stewart) into a large thin rectangle

- Spread veggie and cheese mixture onto 3/4 of the dough, then tightly roll into a long tube

- Cut the tube into pinwheels

- Put the pinwheels on a parchment covered baking sheet and bake at 425F for 15-20 minutes

Pretty tasty!  

Orange Glazed Tempeh with Broccoli

Did you know that tempeh originated in Indonesia?  On the island of Java, in particular.  Me neither, until recently.  Fermented soy beans formed into a cake and wrapped in a banana leaf, it's got a meaty texture and it's pretty inexpensive and quite tasty.  It's got a bit of a nutty flavor that I adore.

In the U.S. tempeh is almost exclusively sold to hippies, but here's it's ubiquitous.  I've been eating a lot of it (spelled "tempe" here) around town... fried, curried, coated in sweet soy sauce and chilis... they've got it all.  My favorite, though, is this curried tempe/tofu combo (which I think may be called tempe gulai, but I am not sure yet- I just point) that I have been getting for lunch, along with these awesome papaya leaves and spicy green beans (all the above, including Diet Coke for the equivalent of $2.92).  

Inspired, I bought some tempeh at the grocery store and used it to make a recipe I had made last year using tofu... orangey ginger glaze, cilantro and coriander, plus my addition of hot sauce and green onions.  Mmm.  

I highly recommend you try some tempeh, and this recipe.  I also warn you that the tempeh smells not unlike feet when it first starts to cook.  Don't be intimidated or dissuaded.  Soldier on and it will be worth it.

Broccoli Frittata

Frittata = world's easiest weeknight meal... maybe not the most exciting, but certainly pretty decent for you when you stuff it chock full of broccoli.
I added some minced garlic when I sauteed the onions, because you know how I feel about garlic. Topped it with a combination of fontina and Romano. Served alongside some roasted potatoes.

Hot Cheesy Broccoli Dip

This hot, cheesy broccoli dip recipe was super easy- thrown together with randoms odds and ends from my fridge. I microwaved the dip, as instructed, but then threw it under the broiler for a few minutes at the end to get a crusty top. Pretty good! Basically a cheddar broccoli soup in dip form. Fine by me!

Copycat Panera Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Chuck is addicted to Panera's broccoli cheddar soup, which is a super cheesy, thick, delicious soup that is only nominally broccoli. It's usually served in a bread bowl. There aren't currently any Paneras that are easy for us to access from Columbia Heights on any sort of regular basis, so we decided to use one of the internet's copy cat recipes to recreate it.

I've made cheesy broccoli soups before, but I've tried to err on the side more broccoli than cheese, to keep it healthy. The Panera recipe doesn't even attempt that. It was cheese-a-licious.

Thai Time: Thai Corn Fritters and Pad Kee Mao (kinda)

It was Thai time tonight at 1346.

A probably-not-authentic-but-tasty-nonetheless version of Drunken Noodles (Pad Kee Mao) with chicken and broccoli. The sauce has the quadruple threat: sweet, spicy, sour, salty.

Served alongside some delicious Thai-style corn fritters dipped in sweet chili sauce.

The corn fritters are tasty, but dangerous! Chuck was in charge of frying these up, but when the oil got hot and made contact with the corn kernels, they popped like popcorn. Actually, more like searing hot corn kernel mini bombs. Chuck has the battle wounds to show for it, too.
So, beware if you attempt these corn fritters. They are not to be fried by the faint of heart or those slow to react in the face of fast-moving projectiles.

Broccoli, Gruyere and Pancetta Quiche

Since she had the day off, Chuck pulled together this quiche, using a recipe from the Washington Post and adding cooked pancetta, Gruyere instead of Swiss, and steamed, chopped broccoli. Delicious!

Creamy Potato and Broccoli Soup

The DC Snowpocalypse is starting to get really ridiculous... ridiculous or not, the snowy weather really called for some soup. Scrounging up odds and ends from the fridge (as the grocery store is a total shit show right now- long lines, bare shelves, nothing fresh), I was able to pull together a pretty tasty broccoli and potato soup with a little cream and some cheese. Topped it off with cheesy garlic toasts and some bacon bits. Perfect winter comfort food.

Chicken Stir Fry with Red Peppers and Broccoli

Another Eating Down the Fridge challenge: used up frozen chicken breasts as well as CSA peppers and broccoli I had chopped up and frozen last summer when we had a glut.
Just like yesterday, I mashed-up two different recipes... Emeril's (which uses ginger and sesame oil) and my favorite stir fry, Jaden's from Steamy Kitchen (which uses oyster sauce and sherry). Came out pretty well considering I used all frozen veggies!

Broccoli Pesto: Meh

Hmmm... I wanted to like this broccoli pesto. It had all of my favorite stinky foods- broccoli, olives, garlic, goat cheese- yet I was not a fan for some reason. It was kinda thick and overwhelming... not enough variation in texture, perhaps?

Chuck totally wasn't fooled by the fact that the olives were all chopped up, either. She hated it. Oh well.

Ina's Lemon Fusilli with Broccoli and Arugula

About 5 heads of broccoli, a bunch of arugula, and a whole bag of lemons were crowding up the fridge, so I chased down this well-reviewed Ina Garten recipe that included all of those ingredients and put it to work.

Ina's pasta salad was really good, although probably not an everyday meal since it had so much cream in it. The creamy lemon sauce was simple, but really flavorful.

Butternut Squash Parmesan Pasta Sauce

After cooking at cooking class all weekend, I didn't have a lot of energy to cook dinner at home, so my CSA produce has been piling up... I had approximately a thousand butternut squashes staring at me from the counter. OK, I exaggerate. There were 3. But that's a lot of butternut, yes?I saw this recipe for a simple butternut and parmesan pasta sauce on Simply Recipes and thought I would give it a try. It was pretty good... I made some changes, though:

- Rather than roast the squash whole, I cut it up and threw it on a cookie sheet to speed up the cooking process.

- I threw a minced clove of garlic in with the shallots because it seemed like natural addition to the recipe.

- The sauce was super thick, so I added probably 1/2 cup of chicken stock to thin it out at the end.

- I amped up the lemon juice a bit to contrast the sweetness of the squash-- added about 2 tablespoons.

- Threw some roasted broccoli on the side, which was also a good contrast to the sauce.

Beef and Broccoli Stir Fry

Yum... Steamy Kitchen (guest blogging at Simply Recipes) strikes again. I made this super easy beef and broccoli recipe, with only a few additions. I gave the sauce a big squirt of Sriracha for some heat, threw in some chopped scallions with the broccoli, and added an extra clove of garlic, because, well... duh. Served it on steamed white rice. Really tasty. Better than take-out Chinese.

My main recommendation is this: have all of the ingredients ready before you start cooking: pre-chopped, pre-measured and pre-mixed. Stir fry cooks so quickly, you don't have time to measure once the action starts.

Moroccan Chicken with Fennel and Carrots

I got some fennel from Star Hollow Farm this week, as well as some of the biggest, fugliest carrots ever. The other Martha had this Moroccan chicken recipe on her site, and I thought I would give it a go, despite the fact that Tim and Chuck like neither fennel nor black olives nor cooked carrots, really. It sealed the deal when I remembered I had a ton of dried apricots and chicken thighs at home from a particularly overzealous trip to Costco recently.

This was really good: sweet, but has a nice spice! I think I pretty much like anything with Moroccan or Moroccan-esque spices. We served this with couscous cooked in chicken broth, with broccoli on the side. Tasty! I think even the haters liked it.

PS: we cooked this tag-team style like last week's Top Chef Quickfire challenge. I started the mis en place, but got distracted by a previously scheduled beading project, so Tim finished the chicken, and Chuck the broccoli, without really knowing what they were getting themselves into. Good work, kittens.

Chuckerd's Pie

Chuck had a hankering for some shepherd's pie recently, and we found ourselves rife with potatoes, ground beef and other veggies, so she went at it, with delicious results.

She used this basic recipe, but sassed it up with mushrooms, broccoli (from the CSA) and frozen corn instead of the typical peas and carrots. Pretty tasty! However, we decided that perhaps next time we would not pre-cook the broccoli (it got a wee bit grey) and that we might sprinkle the top of the potatoes with some sharp cheddar.

Chicken with Mustard Sage Sauce

The first time I made this, I asked Tim to get me some whole-grain mustard at the store... he was confused, so I clarified by describing the mustard as "the one with all the tiny balls in it." That seemed to work for him.

I've made this chicken recipe a bunch of times and it's really tasty and easy. Made even easier if you use chicken tenders like I did... they don't take very long to cook. I used sage from our rooftop garden. I like the flexibility of this sauce- you can make it as is, or you can splash some cream in. Mmm.

Served with roasted potatoes with garlic and rooftop rosemary (the potatoes were fresh from the soil as of today... picked by yours truly at Amy's CSA farm). Also, roasted broccoli with garlic, red pepper flakes and lemon juice.