Steamed Beet Greens

Beet greens have become a favorite side dish of mine. I’d never had them until this year. Every week, I call my maternal grandparents, and my grandma told me about some beet greens she was cooking for dinner. I didn’t even know you could eat them!

The best greens are early-to-midpoint in the beet season. You want them to have been picked just as they sprout up and when they’re small/medium sized. Unfortunately, later in the season, they get too big and began to lose flavor.

Steamed Beet Greens

Ingredients:

Beet greens
Salt, to taste

Beet greens only need to be steamed. They take maybe 8-10 minutes until tender and edible. Add some salt while their still warm to bring out the flavor.

Kale Potato Frittata

Frittata is one of my favorite things to make. It makes as a wonderful breakfast/brunch or dinner. Kind of like an omelet, except I find it more filling. Kale is a great match, both in texture and taste. It really adds something to the egg, onion, and potato mixture. The original recipe, which I’ve made so many times I don’t even look at it anymore.

Kale Potato Frittata

Ingredients:

Extra-virgin olive oil
5-4 small/medium potatoes, cut into 3/4-inch cubes
1 large onion, julienned
2 cups of kale leaves, in bite-size pieces
7 eggs
Salt
Pepper

Make sure to use a pan, which can also go into the oven. Heat oil in pan on medium-high. The oil should cover the bottom for optimal non-stick. Toss in onions and potatoes. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until the onions are browned and that potatoes are soft. Add kale and cook until kale’s slightly wilted.

In a separate bowl, whisk eggs together just like if you were making scrambled eggs or an omelet. Pour eggs on top of vegetable mixture. Mix together.

Cooking on the stove top

Cook until the edges of the frittata are firm. The top will still be runny; however, it’ll be close to being down. In order to finish it, put it into the oven under the boiler. The top will be just barely browned. Serve hot and enjoy.

Frittata ready to eat

Stuffed Artichokes

Stuffed artichokes are tasty. However, they are moderately annoying to clean out to stuff, especially compared to how easy the rest of this recipe is. One artichoke is filling for two people. Of course, that depends on how many germs you’re willing to share because I wouldn’t try to cut them in half.

Stuffed Artichokes

Original recipe, which is cooked in a crockpot.

Ingredients:

2 large artichokes
1 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup bread crumbs
3 tbsp of lemon juice (or 1 lemon)
1/2 cup water

The hardest part of this recipe is cleaning the artichokes to stuff. Be careful, between the odd angles with your knife and the poky parts of the artichoke. You want to cut off the stem. Then you want to clean out the inside, all the hair and other gunk. This takes a while and I recommend rinsing it after you’re done chopping to get any stray lingering bits.

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Mix the oil, cheese, bread crumbs, and lemon juice together. Use a spoon to stuff the artichokes with the bread crumb mix.

Put water into a large pot and the artichokes inside. Cook for 2-4 hours or until tender. Serve hot.

Stuffed artichokes just out of the oven

Kale Chips

I have a potato chip obsession, but slowly kale chips, which are far more healthy for you, have been replacing my salty, crunchy cravings. These are easy to make. They also cook super quickly.

I’ve used a variety of kale — green kale, red Russian kale, and Italian kale — and my favorite is red Russian kale as it’s a little sweeter.

Kale Chips

Ingredients:

A bunch of kale
2 tablespoons of olive oil
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
salt to taste

Heat your oven to 400°.

Wash the kale. Then strip kale leaves from stems. The easiest way to strip off leaves is to fold each kale pieces in half and rip off both sides of the leaves together. You’ll only need the leaves. (I save my leftover kale stems to feed to a friend’s rabbits. They go nuts.) You’ll want to make sure the leaves are in bite-sized pieces and dry.

Put in a bowl and add olive oil, apple cider vinegar, and salt. Then toss.

Cook for 12 minutes either on your pizza stone or a cookie sheet. After 10 minutes, take tongs and turn the kale over to the other side. Cook for 10 minutes or so until desired crispiness. Serve right away.

Tasty Bite: Kashmir Spinach

This was a take on Palak Paneer with the very Americanized name. It was easy to cook. Looks wise, it’s not too much off from the photo on the box, and it smelled pretty good. However, those can be deceiving with food from boxes.

This was not great. It was soggy, even when I made jasmine rice to go with it. And taste-wise it had little to no flavor. Additionally, it was not filling. I ended up wanting to eat again only an hour later.

Verdict: Don’t Bother

Cheddar and Dill Beer Bread

Beer bread is great because it’s quick and versatile. You don’t need to wait for it to rise because of the beer’s yeast. You can also throw whatever cheese and/or herb combination that suits your fancy into it. Fresh herbs give a great pop.

Cheddar and Dill Beer Bread

Makes one loaf

Ingredients:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp baking powder
12 ounces beer*

*Usually, I prefer a good microbrew as it does taste like beer.

Optional cheese and herbs which I used:

2 tbsp chopped fresh dill (or 2 tsp dried)
1 cup grated sharp cheddar cheese

I’ve also tried rosemary and feta. Yummy. The original recipe has a variety of suggestions (check out the comments) for flavors.

Heat the oven to 375°F.

Mix all the dry ingredients, including herbs and cheese. Then pour the beer in and mix. The dough will be thick.

Grease a loaf pan. Then cook for 45 minutes until golden brown on top. Remove from the oven.

Let the bread rest for 10 minutes. Then take out of the pan and put on a cooling rack. Let cool again for 10 minutes before eating. It’s great with butter.

Beer Bread

Stuffed Fried Bread Dough

Stuffed Fried Bread Dough is delicious. It’s really up to you what you stuff it with. I’ve done it with mozzarella, a little basil, tomatoes, and spinach. Jason added some pepperoni to his own. I’m sure you could make some sweet ones too.

Stuffed Fried Bread Dough

Original recipe from Not Quite Nigella

Makes about 10 turnovers.

Ingredients:

500 g plain flour
1 tbsp instant dried yeast
275-300 mls water, lukewarm
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp sugar
1 tbsp softened butter

Mix flour, yeast, salt, and sugar together in a bowl. Then slowly mix the water in. The dough itself won’t be completely mixed. Knead in the butter to finish the dough.

Shape the dough into a ball and put the dough back into the bowl. Place a damp tea towel on top. Let it rise for 1-2 hours.

Then punch down the dough. Let it rest for 20 minutes.

Roll out the dough and then put about a tablespoon of your filling inside. Fold over and pinch together. Cut out the extra dough off to use.

Fry the turnovers in a generous amount of oil. Eat hot.

Honey Whole Wheat Bread

I love baking bread. In the past year or so, it’s become one of my favorite things. It tastes so much better than what you can buy in the store, and it’s less expensive than really good bakery bread. This Honey Bran Whole Wheat is really yummy. Makes excellent sandwich bag.

If you need to save your extra loaves for later, these freeze really well. I wrap them in saran wrap and then foil before putting in a freezer bag.

Honey Whole Wheat Sandwich Bread

The original recipe is a little different.

Makes three loaves

4 cups / 1 lb-4 oz / 568 g all-purpose flour
2 cups / 10 1/4 oz / 290 g bread flour
2 cup / 8 oz / 231 g wheat germ
1 1/2 Tablespoons / 1/8 oz / 17 g instant yeast
2 Tablespoons / 30 ml canola oil or melted butter
1/3 cup / 3-5/8 oz / 102 g honey
5 cups / 40 fluid oz lukewarm milk (about 85°F)
4 cups / 1lb-5 oz / 604 g whole wheat flour
2 Tablespoons / 30 ml salt

In a large bowl, mix all-purpose flour, bread flour, wheat germ, and yeast together. I find that a wooden spoon works best to mix dough. Then make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and add canola oil, honey, and then milk. Next, you want to add the 4 cups of white whole wheat flour. Add only one at a time; otherwise, you’re going to have a hard time mixing it.

On your baking mat, knead the dough for 5 to 7 minutes. I found this dough to be very sticky. You will need more flour. But in general, due to the whole wheat and honey, it’s a little more sticky in general.

Form the dough into a ball and place the bowl over it for 20 minutes. This is called autolyse.

Next you’ll be adding the salt. Flatten the dough out and pour half the salt over it. Knead for a bit and then add the rest of the salt for 5 to 7 minutes.

Then you’ll want to dough to rise. I put mine back in the bowl, cover it with a damp, warm tea towel, and put it in a warm place. It’ll need to rise for about 1 hour. When it’s done, it’ll be 70°F-78°F in temperature and when you poke it with one finger, it should spring back at you.

Divide the dough into three parts. Shape each loaf. The easiest way to do that is to make it into a rectangle; fold it into the middle; roll the ends onto one another; turn 90° and fold over the ends on each other again; and then roll them in on each other.

Place each loaf in a lightly oiled bread pan. Sprinkle the tops with flour and a little wheat germ. Let them rise for another hour under the damp tea towel. (Usually, I wet it again.)

I like to bake my loaves on top of my baking stone to simulate a bread baking oven. When your loaves are ready, heat your oven to 375°F. You want to cook them for 40 minutes or until their golden brown and sound hollow when you tap on the bottom of them.

Time to eat the Honey Whole Wheat Bread

Eggplanet-Almond Enchiladas

Eggplant-Almond Enchiladas

Recipe originally from Moosewood Cookbook: New Revised Edition

Ingredients

1 tbs olive oil
1 cup minced onion
6 cups diced eggplant (approximately 1 large or 2 small)
1 tsp salt
black pepper
4 medium cloves garlic, minced (Didn’t use, allergies)
1 medium green bell pepper, minced (Didn’t use, allergies)
1 cup almonds, minced
1 packed cup grated jack cheese (or similar mild white cheese)
12 corn or flour tortillas
1 can 14oz enchilada red sauce

Optional: I added the rest of the jack cheese I’d grated and a bunch of cheddar cheese on top of it with olives before cooking.

Heat olive oil in a deep skillet or Dutch oven. Add onion and saute for about 5 minutes over medium heat.

Add eggplant, salt, and pepper and mix well. Cover and cook for about 10 minutes over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the eggplant is soft.

Cook eggplant mixture on stove

Add garlic and bell pepper. Stir and cook 5 to 8 minutes or until the pepper is just tender. (I omitted this step due to food allergies.)

Remove from heat and stir in almonds and cheese.

Preheat oven to 350°.

Moisten each tortilla briefly in water, then place approximately 1/4 cup of filling on one side and roll up. Gently situate the filled enchiladas in a baking pan.

All the stuffed tortillas in the pan

Pour enchilada red sauce over the top. (Then I put on the cheese and olives over it.) Bake uncovered for about 30 minutes.

Eggplant-Almond Enchiladas

Spinach-Ricotta Pie

Spinach-Ricotta Pie
Recipe is originally from the Moosewood Cookbook.

Ingredients:

1 tsp butter
1 cup minced onions
1 lb spinach, stemmed and finely chopped
1/2 tsp salt
freshly ground pepper
1 tsp basil
1 lb ricotta cheese
3 beaten eggs
3 tbsp flour
1/2 packed cup grated sharp cheese (I used cheddar.)
a dash of nutmeg

Optional topping: 1 cup sour cream and paprika (I didn’t do this as Jason’s not big on sour cream.)

Create pie crust. I used this recipe.

Pie Crust for Spinach-Ricotta Pie. Plus leftovers for more pies.

Preheat oven to 375°.

Melt the butter in a medium-sized skillet. Add the onion and saute for 5 minutes over medium heat. Add spinach, salt, pepper, and basil and cook until the spinach is wilted. Remove from heat.

Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.

Mixing the ingredients

Spread into the pie crust.

Putting the mix into the crust

Add cheese topping here if you choose.

Pie with half of its cheese topping on

Me sticking the pie in the oven

Bake 40 to 45 minutes or until firm to the touch. Serve hot, warm, or at room temperature.

This Spinach-Ricotta Pie is ready to eat