Swamp Dinner - for when I'm swamped with tasks, that is...

Have you missed me?  You might've noticed, or maybe not (even worse!) that it's been slim pickins' for posts from me this month... and just a month after I promised more frequent posting.  Tsk tsk on me.  [Warning: excuse follows] It's a very busy time at the company I work for, which just so happens to coincide with an uptick in the myriad of things due for classes this semester.  My hands have begun to take on a smooth, powdery feeling from handling so much paper as I move it from one pile.. to another pile... to the waste bin or, if they're lucky, the rest home where all good papers go to die: a crisp manila folder.

I know I shouldn't complain. I will admit to smiling to myself, even, as I careen around Chicago from one train to the next - shaking my mittens at the fresh sheet of snow that hides the slick ice beneath.  It's ridiculous in a way.  This is temporary, this wandering around in a fog of bibliographies and spreadsheets fueled with a steady diet of bad coffee.  Work will slow up, as will school.   And there are always good things to remember.  Basic things like love, and warm socks... and yes, food.  Always food.

So what do I eat during these times?  Lots of quick stuff, obviously.  Things that don't require much thought, certainly.  Things that aren't apt to be so heavy as to make me fall asleep onto my laptop, definitely.  Basically, that means a "if you can boil water" meal.   And boil water is exactly what I do.  That means rice/pasta/noodles + veggies + sauce/flavorings.  Normally this is great tasting, quick... but not exactly picture-worthy or recipe-worthy.  Last night, however, I looked down at my bowl, blurry-eyed with reading, and decided to get out my camera...

I am not going to write a recipe for this, because it's meant for the sorts of nights when recipes are not to be fussed with.  And frankly, I'm just too tired for it, my dear people, and I'm afraid it would come out in APA style (horrible academic joke).  I'll just spare you this and tell you the very simple steps...

1. Put water on boil (or broth if you're feeling industrious)
2. Add soba noodles
3. Add vegetables - in this case, Chinese broccoli and some purple cauliflower I found at the market
4. Boil on until the noodles are done (veggies will comply and be ready at the same time)
5. Add flavor - I used good soy sauce, sesame oil and kimchi

It's so pretty, isn't it? 

Now *book spine cracking*, I'm going to get back to it...

Midweek Meals: Healthy, Quick Mediterranean Vegetable Saute

Vegetables are amazing.  In looking up nutritional content for the ingredients for a midweek meal, I learned some very nifty things about what I was eating...

Eggplant - Is a fabulous "diet" veggie.  It's low in fat and calories, high in thyroid-supporting manganese and a good source of fiber.  Another interesting thing about eggplant?  It has more nicotine than any other edible plant!  Though you'd have to eat a bushel of eggplant before you reached the concentration of nicotine found in just one cigarette, so it's probably not the best idea to light one up, sorry.

Cauliflower - Considered a "nutritionally dense" food, cauliflower is a happy place to find vitamin C and a host of phytochemicals to fight cancer.  There are also studies that show it may work as a estrogen regulator (due to indole-3-carbinol) and glucosinolates that could help your liver detoxify.  Happy news for pub crawlers!

Chickpeas (garbanzos) - A nice low-fat source of protien and fiber.  Tossing a can of these precooked babies into your veggies gives your 29% of your protien in every serving.


Green (or French) beans - Great for your bones as they contain 25% of your vitamin K in each serving (helps fight osteoperosis), and a good amount of calcium.  Many sources believe that green food sources of calcium are betterfor the body then dairy sources, too, by the way!  I know my favorite clinical professor way back when I was in school as a bodywork therapist always paraded that theory.

In 2010 I'm making efforts to revive an old way of eating that worked really well for me, but I just got away from.  On the weekdays, I would focus on vegetarian and seafood meals only and enjoy meat only on the weekends.  I always felt like I had great energy when I followed this with care.  The problem came in when I was too busy to make proper meals and ended up eating potato chip dinners.  Bad, bad!  That's where having some nice pre-planned recipes that I love come in handy.  For me, it's motivational to know why the foods I'm preparing are good for me, too, so I've been doing my research!

Essentially, these recipes are going into a sort of food journal for me to improve my eating habits.  In doing so, I figured why not share them with all of you, too?  I'm planning to add some recipes that are based on fun healthy foods lists (if such a thing can be called fun?) such as the recent New York Times article on The 11 Best Foods You Aren't Eating (thanks to Cheryl for printing that out for me!).

So what do you think?  Would you like to see more recipes like this one?  What are some of your favorite healthy foods to include in weekday meals? 

Recipe: Healthy Quick Medditerrean Vegetable Sautè

What you need...

1 can chickpeas
3 cups chopped eggplant
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1/2 pound whole fresh green beans
3 cups chopped cauliflower florets
2/3 cup chopped yellow onion
2 tablespoons tomato paste
3 cloves of garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon dry dill (or small bunch of chopped fresh)
1 tablespoon dry oregano (or small bunch chopped fresh)
1 tablespoon dry mint (or small bunch chopped fresh)
1 1/2 teaspoons allspice
1 teaspoon tumeric
1 lemon, juiced and zested
1 cup vegetable stock or water
Olive oil for sauteing
Salt and pepper to taste

What to do with it all...

• Heat (on medium) enough olive oil in a large heavy bottom sautè pan to coat it
• Add your onions and cauliflower florets and allow to sautè for 3 mins or until they get a fragrant
  
• Add eggplant, red pepper and green beans and cook for another 5 - 8 minutes on medium, stirring occassionally
• Add all the rest of your ingredients, toss/stir to combine and cook on medium-low until cauliflower is just fork tender (about 10 mins)
• Serve over rice!

Roasted Cauliflower Pasta: 3 Ingredient Recipe #2

3 Ingredient Recipe: Roast Cauliflower Pasta w/Goat Cheese

Day two of my challenge got some help from a post from TheKitchn.com .  I subscribe to the site's newsletter and yesterday as I hashed over ideas for getting more flavor out of 3 ingredients, I received their email with piece called How To Roast Any Vegetable .  As I was planning on making a dish today that I knew would have cauliflower in it, this was perfect.

This recipe for a simple pasta dish gives you a chance to take notice of individual textures and find nuances in a common vegetable normally found pan fried, boiled or muted in sauces or breadings.  Here the roasted cauliflower is crisp, bright and smoky.  Tangy goat cheese is sauteed to create a caramelized crust and oozing rich center.

For a refresher on the rules of my 10 day, 3 ingredient challenge, check out the first post.

3 things to get...

1. 1 head of cauliflower - chopped
2. 4 cups of bow tie pasta (or similar)
3. 8 ounces of goat cheese (tube shape preferred)

What to do with it...

• Preheat oven to 425 degrees
  
• Toss cauliflower in olive oil to coat, paying special attention to coat the floret tops so they brown evenly
  
• Place cauliflower into a roasting pan and roast for 20 minutes, checking occasionally and shaking/turning to get even browning
  
• Cut half the goat cheese into 1/4 rounds and set aside
  
• Prepare pasta according to instructions and drain, place in large bowl
  
• Toss hot pasta with the uncut half of your cheese and 2 tablespoons olive oil and set aside, covered
  
• Heat enough olive oil to a skillet to coat bottom evenly
  
• Add your 1/4 cheese rounds and saute on medium heat for 1-2 minutes until brown, watching carefully
  
• Carefully flip rounds with a metal spatula (cheese may cling to rubber/wood) and saute another 1-2 minutes, then transfer to paper towels to absorb excess oil
  
• Remove your roasted cauliflower from the oven and add to pasta along with salt and pepper to taste
  
• Serve immediately in individual bowls topped with sauteed goat cheese rounds
  

2 down, 8 to go!