Jack-Be-Lucky: Stuffed Cabbage Leaves

"The time has come," the Walrus said,
"To talk of many things:
Of shoes—and ships—and sealing-wax—
Of cabbages—and kings—
And why the sea is boiling hot—
And whether pigs have wings."

 -Lewis Carroll, Through the Looking Glass

In the spirit of St. Patrick, I decided to do a green cabbage recipe last week.  I'm not a huge fan of the traditional corned beef with boiled cabbage and potatoes, so I opted for cabbage leaves stuffed with a cheesy sweet potato filling and topped with a creamy ricotta and butternut squash sauce.  To round out the Irish experience, we paired it with a Guinness.  Sláinte!

• 6 green cabbage leaves (removed from outside of cabbage head)
• 1 1/2 cup shredded cabbage
• 3 small sweet potatoes, cooked and mashed
• 1 carrot, finely chopped
• 1 cup corn (I used some leftover frozen corn that I had in the freezer)
• 1/2 cup reduced fat shredded cheddar cheese
• 2 bags frozen butternut squash, thawed
• 1 tbsp dried parsley
• 8 oz. low-fat ricotta cheese
• 2 onions, chopped
• 1 tbsp garlic
• 1 1/2 cup water

Preheat your oven to 375, get a small pot of water boiling, and have another bowl of ice cold water out.  As you wait for the water to boil, add one of the chopped onions and the garlic to a non-stick skillet, and saute until onions are translucent.  Add the corn, cabbage, and carrot to the skillet, and cook another 3 minutes.  Pour vegetables into a bowl, and stir in the cheddar cheese and mashed potatoes.

At this point, your water should be boiling, so immerse each cabbage leaf in the boiling water for 30 seconds, and then immediately immerse it in the ice water.  Now you can stuff your leaves.  I did one roll, so that the leaf was covering the filling, then tucked the edges in, and then finished rolling.  Place your stuffed cabbage leaves in a greased baking dish.

Stuffed leaf

Place squash, water, and the second onion in a pot and simmer until everything is tender, and then blend the squash mixture in a vitamix or food processor.  Stir in ricotta and parsley after blending, and pour the sauce over the stuffed cabbage.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.

Fresh out of the oven - delicious!

Red Viper Sun-Dried Tomato Polenta & Beans

Beans are evil.  Bad, bad beans.

Doctor Who

What you need:

• 16oz. Tube of Sun-dried Tomato Polenta, cut into small cubes
• 15oz. can butter beans
• 1 red bell pepper, finely chopped
• 2 cups baby spinach
• 1 onion, finely chopped
• 2 cups white button mushrooms, chopped
• 1 tbsp garlic
• 3/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup shredded Manchego cheese
• 2 tsp Sherry
• 1 tsp paprika
• 2 tbsp olive oil

Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat and then add in the polenta.  Cook until it browns a bit (approximately 10 minutes), and then remove and set aside.

Heat remaining 1 tbsp of olive oil and add garlic, pepper, and onion, then add in vegetable broth, and sherry.  Bring the mixture to a boil and then cover, lower heat, and simmer for 15 minutes.  Add in spinach, recover, and simmer for 5 more minutes.  Next, stir in the beans, and simmer for about 10 more minutes.

Remove from the heat, pour vegetable mixture over the polenta, and stir in the cheese.

Gregor Clegane's Spaghetti Squash Pad Thai

No more rhymes now - I mean it!  Anybody want a peanut?

Princess Bride

I've never been very good at making pad thai, but it's one of my favorite things to eat.  For example,  I once tried a raw pad thai with bean sprouts instead of noodles.  It was fine, but definitely tasted nothing of good pad thai.  This time, I think I finally made a recipe that I will try again.  Stoney complained about the lack of spiciness, but I really enjoyed it.  I opted to make the recipe with spaghetti squash instead of noodles, and went with tofu as the protein.  In the future I might also add in some mung bean sprouts to the recipe, because I love them, but I didn't have any of those on hand this time.  The recipe is delightfully simple to make, and the lengthiest part came in cooking the spaghetti squash.  So overall?  I'm super happy with this one!

What you need:

• 14oz. container extra firm tofu, pressed (If you aren't sure how to press it, see our post here) and cut into small squares
• 1 red bell pepper, chopped
• 2 carrots, sliced
• 4 green onions, sliced 
• 1/4 cup dried cilantro
• 1/3 cup peanuts (raw or roasted, either will work)
• 2 tbsp sesame oil
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1/4 cup rice vinegar
• 1/4 cup tamari (you can sub soy sauce for this, but soy sauce is a bit saltier)
• 2 tbsp lime juice
• 3 tbsp raw honey (but any honey will probably work)
• 1 tsp sesame oil
• Chile pepper or black pepper to taste

Step 1: Cook the spaghetti squash

To cook, simply preheat your oven to 350, cut the squash in half, removing the seeds and "guts," and spray or brush olive oil onto the meat.

Place the squash flat-side down on an oiled baking sheet, and bake for 45 minutes.  When it's done, take it out of the oven and let it cool before scraping the inside "spaghetti" part out with a fork.  I would recommend scraping it into a colander to let it drain a bit.

Step 2: Make the sauce

Combine vegetable broth, rice vinegar, tamari, lime juice, honey, 1 tsp sesame oil, and chile/black pepper in a small sauce pan.  Set the temperature to low and let it get warm while you cook do step 3.

Step 3: Everything else

Heat your sesame oil in a large skillet or wok, and add your tofu (realistically, you can use any protein you want, or just add in more veggies and forego the protein altogether!).  Cook until your tofu has started to become golden, then add in the green onion, carrot, and pepper.

Cook the veggies and tofu until the veggies have softened a bit (they should still be pretty crisp).  For the final step, stir in the squash, cilantro, peanuts, and sauce.

And that's it!  Enjoy!  I know I did!

Bread & Salt: Savory Mushroom Bread Pudding

The mushroom, of course!

Alice in Wonderland

I am a huge fan of bread pudding.  One of my favorite things to make and eat is leek bread pudding, which is full of cheese and cream and other delicious diet-killers.  So, I decided to try a lower calorie bread pudding for Stoney and I.  Rather than cream, I used 2% milk.  Rather than a pound of Gruyere, I used 5oz. of goat cheese.  And I loaded the whole thing up with mushrooms and other veggies (including leeks, because as I said, leek bread pudding!  nom!).  The result was a fantastically delicious bread pudding that actually fit in with a lower-calorie lifestyle.  Plus, it had the added bonus of feeling like we were cheating by eating it!

What you need:

• 1 1/2 cup 2% milk
• ~ 1/3 lb Cremini Mushrooms, chopped
• ~ 1/3 lb White Button Mushrooms, chopped
• ~ 1/5 lb Shiitake Mushrooms, chopped
• 1 jar roasted red peppers, drained and sliced
• 5 oz. goat cheese crumbles
• 1 loaf of Sourdough bread
• 4 eggs
• 1 Leek, white and light green part finely chopped
• 1/4 cup finely chopped fresh parsley
• 2 tsp Herbes de Provence
• Salt, to taste
• Pepper, to taste
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp garlic

The prep-time for this is pretty short.  I got the whole thing prepped during my lunch hour.  Start by heating your oil in a large skillet over medium heat.   Toss in your leek, chopped mushrooms, salt and pepper to taste, and saute until the mushrooms have begun to soften and brown and the leeks are soft and becoming transparent.  This whole process doesn't take very long.  Maybe 10 minutes.  Next, add in your roasted red peppers and parsley, cooking for a few minutes more, just enough to get everything stirred together and looking fantastic.

Next, cut your bread into chunks around 1" each.

They don't need to be perfect, as you can see

Sprinkle a little goat cheese in the bottom of an 8 x 11 baking dish, add a layer of bread, and then add a layer of mushroom mix.  Repeat.  Sprinkle the last of your goat cheese on the top.

At this point, you can stick the baking dish in the refrigerator overnight or for the day.  This lets the bread really soak up some of the great flavors in the mushroom mixture.

When you are ready to cook, preheat the oven to 350.  Whisk together the milk, eggs, garlic, and Herbes de Provence, then pour the mixture evenly over the bread.  Put the baking dish back in the oven for 15 minutes or so, and then bake for 45 minutes.

Let everything sit for 10-15 minutes before serving.