try 43 new recipes

Last night I made a pasta dish.

Whole wheat spaghetti
Frozen Peas
Shrimp
Parmesan Cheese
Galric/Wine sauce

Tossed it all together and served.

I’m no chef…but for just throwing stuff together and using up leftovers, it was very well received.

2 T Olive Oil
1 Yellow Onion – cut in half and thinly sliced half moons
1 Large Potato (Yukon Gold)
1 Red pepper – sliced in thin rings
1 Carrot – shredded
1 Zucchini, thinly sliced
12 oz. Seitan, cut in 1/4 inch think pieces
6 oz. tomato paste
1/4 C dark unsulfured molasses
1/4 C tamari or other soy sauce
2 T Cider vinegar
2 T packed brown sugar
1 C water

1. Heat 1 T olive opil in a skillet. Add onion. Cook about 5 min. Transfer to 4 qt. slow cooker. Add potatoes to same skillet and brown. Arrange on top of onions. Then add the bell pepper, carrot and zucchini.

2. Heat the remaining oil, add seitan and cook until brown on both sides, 7-10 min. Layer on top of vegetables.

3. In a small bowl, mix together the rest of the ingredients and pour over the other ingredients in the slow cooker. Cook on low 6-8 hours.

Review: Well, I couldn’t find sietan. I knew of one health food store that would have it, but it was so far out of my way I decided to try it with tempeh. I had a sloppy joe type thing made from tempeh in the past, so I thought it would be OK. But, quite frankly, it wasn’t a hit. I sort of got tired of the flavor after I ate half my bowl.

I wonder if it’s worth trying again and actually using seitan. Would my local Harris Teeter carry seitan? Do I find it in the frozen section or where I found the tempeh? I’ll keep my eye out for it…

I love crock pot recipes. Especially warm comforting soups. I received this one off of 43things from catherineaq.

The recipe is in this thread.

5 Stars. Very yummy. Will definitely be added to the crock pot rotation!

2 med. ripe tomatoes
2 T olive oil
2 C chopped onion
3 med cloves of garlic, crushed
1 stalk celery
2 C peeled, diced sweet potato
1 t salt
2 t mild paprika
1t tumeric
1 t basil
dash of cinnamon
1 bay leaf
3 C water
1 med bell pepper, diced
1 1/2 C cooked chick peas (I used canned)

1) Heat med saucepan full of water to boiling. Core the tomatoes and plunge them into the boiling water for a slow count of 10. Remove the tomatoes and peel them over a sink. Cut them open – squeeze out and discard the seeds. Chop the remaining pulp and put aside.

2) Heat the olive oil in a kettle ot dutch oven. Add onion, garlic, celery and sweet potatoes. Saute over medium heat for about 5 minutes. Add salt and saute 5 more minutes. Add seasonings and water. Cover and simmer 15 minutes.

3) Add tomato pulp, bell pepper and chick peas. Cover and simmer for about 10 more minutes, or until vegetables are as tender as you like them. Taste to adjust seasonings and serve.

Big hit…absolutely delicious. (Which is why I am sharing)

Also, very kid friendly. Both of my boys (5 and 2) ate it with gusto. I did have to add crackers for them to thicken it. But still…when they eat anything with that many vegetables in it I consider it a hit!

From The Enchanted Broccoli Forest. This one didn’t turn out so hot. At least not the way I envisioned it.

Basically it was a bunch of veggies (broccoli, caulifower, carrots, sauteed onion, and corn) spread out over an 8 inch pan with bread batter on top. The batter had thyme, oregano and dill in it. It was actully quite yummy. But I had hoped the veggies would settle into the bread and not fall everywhere when the “cake” was turned upside down.

But it didn’t quite go that way. I was scooping veggies up my fork and then eating the bread. Too many vegetables? Maybe. But I followed the recipe. Maybe it needs a bigger pan. But then I would need more bread dough. Not sure I would do it again. It was a bit time consuming for it not to knock my socks off. It also wasn’t a big hit with the kids.