From a ditch full of S… to my plate

I don’t know who first thought about digging  into a pile of manure to dig up ferns. But I for one am thrilled that someone discovered asparagus.  Of course my veggie-hating daughter calls them Aspara –gas.   Just leaves more for me.

Asparagus is low in calories, a mild anti-inflammatory and is high in vitamins A and C.

Asparagus is a vegetable that you love or hate.  For those who love these green spears let’s share the love.

First cleaning them.

My husband can just grab them and chew them raw. Without even washing them.  Ick.  I need them cooked, but just enough, otherwise they get stringy.

Asparagus are like women, some are tall, some are short, Some are fat some are skinny. Some are tough, others are tender.

Michigan Asparagus are grown locally and always snapped, not cut from the field.  Still I think the bottoms are tough so the first thing I do is snap off the bottoms.  They snap at the point where tough ends and tender begins.

Fat spears tend to have a tough skin so I use a peeler to scrape off the skin and those little buds. Thin spears are fine without a trim.

Wash them well or you might get grit in your teeth.  Sloshing in a bowl of salted water works best. Then drain.

Three good ways to cook them, unless you’re like my hubby and like them raw:

Saute

Blanch

Roast

To Saute, just heat butter and/or oil in skillet.  You can add flavors first by first cooking sliced shallots or minced garlic. Toss in the cleaned spears, add  salt, pepper and other spices and within 5-7 minutes they will be ready to eat immediately or add to other dishes.

To Blanch:  Boil heavily salted water.  Slice the spears into 1 to 2 inch chunks. Add to the boiling water for just 2-3 minutes.  Remove and cool immediately   Best way to cool is to drop into a bowl of ice water. This method is especially good if you plan to use the spears in a salad.  The trick is to dry the cooled spears before adding to the salad.  If they are left wet, they’ll water down the salad and the dressing will not stick to them. Dry them on a clean (please) dish towel.

Roasting. Yum.  This works in a hot oven or on the  outdoors grill.  Clean and place on a cookie sheet or grill pan. Pour a thin dressing of olive oil over all. Roll them around a bit so they’re all coated. (you can also add a bit of balsamic vinegar)  Sprinkle with salt, pepper and other spices as desired. Roasting time can be 6-8 minutes or longer if you like them crispy and carmelized.  As they cook, occasionally turn with tongs.

Once they are cooked you can add to pasta or rice dishes, salads, other vegetables, wrap in bacon or filo, the options are endless.  Paula Deen has a great recipe for an asparagus sandwich.

Here’s what is for dinner tonight:

Ravioli and asparagus.

Ingredients

12 oz packaged of refrigerated or frozen (thawed) ravioli.  (I am using 3 cheese ravioli)

1 lb of asparagus

2 Tablespoons of sliced onion (preferably red or shallots )

Salt and pepper

2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin olive oil

3 Tablespoons butter

12 oz package of sliced mushrooms

¾ cup prepared Alfredo sauce

One large tomato cut into ½ inch dice.

Garlic powder and dried oregano to taste

Pinch of dried red pepper

Grated parmesan cheese

Total time 15 minutes

For my husband this will be not quite 2 servings

For me, it’ll be 4

Boil a large pot of heavily salted water

While that cooks, prepare your asparagus, clean, trim and cut into 1 1/2inch pieces

Drop asparagus into boiling water, Cook for 3-4 minutes. Scoop spears out of water into colander. Bring water back to a boil and cook ravioli until almost done.

While the pasta cooks Saute onion and garlic in skillet and 2 Tbls olive oil When soft add asparagus spears  and mushrooms. Add in butter as the mushrooms soak up the oil   Cook until mushrooms are soft. Stir in alfredo sauce. Stir in diced tomato. Add seasonings and spices. Scoop ravioli from boiling water. (Reserve pasta water)  Stir gently until combined. Add pasta water ¼ cup at a time until the sauce is smooth.

Remove from heat. Shred a bit of parmesan cheese and serve.

To add protein use chunks of cooked chicken, tuna or salmon.

Olive This Lunch

Here’s what Vegetarian recipe Nazis who put nutrition above taste will never tell you: You don’t have to eat brussel sprouts, carrots, tomatoes only.  There are yummy vegetables.  I give you:  Mushrooms and olives. Yes, these are vegetables.  If you goal is to power pack vitamins, then go for the broccoli, Lima beans and cauliflower.

If you goal is to eliminate or reduce meat, but still want a satisfying lunch, you’ll love this lunch too.

Olives and mushrooms offer mild anti-inflammatory qualities. (Important to we who have Lupus)

Olives have low cholesterol, provide vitamin E,  but they are a bit high in sodium.

Mushrooms have low sodium, offer many benefits including, fiber, Protein, vitamin C, Zinc and other minerals.

Now that we’ve rationalized consuming tasty veggies Here’s a great lunch.

Basically it’s a quesadilla. Quesadillas are  quick, tasty ways to have a non-meat lunch.  You can have them for supper too,  Offer a few variations and each family member can get what they want. Other suggestions include onions, summer squash, tomatoes, hot peppers, sweet peppers, lettuce, spinach, salsa and even meat.

Here’s the quesadilla I love:

For one serving

1 flour tortilla (Read the labels. Some brands have only 100 calories per tortilla)

½ cup olives (green or black)

¾ sliced fresh mushrooms (white button or baby bellas)

Extra Virgin Olive oil

Seasoning (I use Emeril’s essence)

Cheese (I use two slices of vegetarian non-dairy cheese, found in a produce section, You can use as much of what cheese you like)

1 Tablespoon sour cream

1 teaspoon hot sauce

In a hot saute pan, pour one turn of olive oil. Drop sliced mushrooms into pan.  Leave them undisturbed a couple minutes, they’ll get brown and yummy,  Sprinkle with Seasoning and turn.  Add sliced olives to pan. Continue to saute 2 more minutes.

Remove from pan

Place tortilla in hot pan,  Place cheese on one half of tortilla.  Leave in pan until cheese is soft and tortilla is slightly brown on bottom.

Slide tortilla to plate.Place olives and mushrooms on cheese, fold and cut into half.

Mix the sour cream and hot sauce on plate, and use a a dip for the quesadilla.

Busted!

Getting your family to go along with meat-less entrees can be a challenge.  I started when my kids were young, but I got busted.

Everyone I know loves lasagna .  While my kids were still young and innocent I made meat-less lasagna so that I could eat it with them. It was tasty enough I got no complaints. . .  Until the day daughter Casie stayed for dinner at her friend’s house.  When she came home her eyes had that “what do you mean there’s no Santa Claus?:” look.

“Mom,” She exclaimed. “her mom put MEAT in her lasagna!”  Busted! Of course Italian sausage ramps up lasagna from an 8 to a 10.  Here I had forced her to suffer through meat-less lasagna her entire short life. So from that day on whenever I make lasagna I have to make two pans one with meat and one for me. Here are my two recipes. I think the meat-less one is fine, I hope you will too.

If you have a favorite lasagna recipe you can follow that and just leave out the meat. My version gets high praise from guests and my husband even eats the meat-less dish and likes it.

You’ll include the standard five steps

Noodles
Cheese mixture

Mean and/or spices

Marinara

Mozzarella cheese

Noodles Use a full box of dry  lasagna noodles

I have yet to find no-cook noodles that actually perform well, plus they break when layering in the dish.

Cook per label instructions just short a couple minutes so they are pliable but not soft. I add salt and olive oil in the boiling water. This helps flavor the noodles and seems to discourage them from sticking to each other as they dry.

Cook the Noodles well ahead of time so they can cool off and you won’t burn your fingers.

Cheese mixture

In a large bowl combine
1 ½ cup of ricotta cheese

One pound package of frozen chopped spinach, thawed and wrung dry

Two eggs, slightly beaten

½ cup grated parmesan cheese

Minced garlic

A handful of dried parsley

1 teaspoon of dried basil or oregano

Salt and pepper to taste

Stir well, This mixture should be on the dry side.

 

Meat

Brown a pound of Italian Sausage, sweet, mild or hot, whatever you prefer. Break up the links as they brown.

Spices

To the meat-less version I also add two spices that remind me of Italian sausage:  a pinch of dry red-pepper flakes and about a tablespoon of caraway seeds.

Marinara

You can make it from scratch, but I think lasagna takes long enough and uses enough pans and dishes without adding this step.  I use a good store-bought sauce. At least two jars.

Mozzarella
You can use fresh, packaged, slices or grated. They all taste wonderful

Assemble in two separate casserole dishes in layers

½  of the Noodles

Dot with  ½ of the cheese mixture

Cover with ½ of the meat or spices

Pour 1 jar of marinara sauce evenly over the top

Sprinkle ½ of the grated mozzarella cheese

Repeat.

Note: for the top layer if you sprinkle the mozzarella before pouring the marinara, you'll avoid getting a burned cheese top.

Bake both in the same oven 350 degrees 30 -40 minutes. 

Allow to cool before serving.

Two pans can serve 12 people, but my family seldom stops at one serving.

Noodles, cheese mix and meat

Noodles, cheese mix and spices

First layer: meat

First Layer, no meat

Yummy lasagna

Meatless lasagna

.

Eat Your Spinach

Ask anyone who’s ever watched Popeye cartoons, spinach will make you strong. Alas,as  with many cartoon created conceptions, spinach will not give you big sailor muscles.  Nor can you  get flattened by a truck, get back up, shake yourself out and keep on running.

But, spinach is good for you. One cup has only 7 calories and little more than 1 carb. It delivers 11 vitamins and is especially high in A and K. .  You’ll also get 9 minerals from each cup of spinach.

Growing up at my house, it was served boiled and the best we could do was cover with salt or vinegar, ick. According to my parents, and probably yours, starving children in China would love my un-eaten spinach. And probably like you, I offered to send it to them.

Times have changed,  First those Chinese kids eat pretty well these days. We have found spinach is great in calzones, artichoke dip, Hidden Valley dip and creamed . It’s a good thing there are only 7 calories in a cup of spinach because all those dishes add lots of calories and fat. Here’s a way to get your family pumped up on vitamins and minerals without all the calories and fat.

Spinach Pesto

You might be familiar with basil pesto. Replace with spinach to make it more cheaply, more healthful and spinach is available all year long.

You’ll need a food processor for this.  I was able to make it in my Bullet/mini food processor. This will yield about a cup of pesto..  It’s like magic. You’ll put in more than 2 cups of ingredients and end up with a smaller volume.

Ingredients:

2 cups fresh baby spinach.
Juice of ½ lemon

1 clove garlic, chopped

2T chopped nuts (walnuts or pine nuts)

Olive oil

½ cup grated Parmesan cheese (use freshly grated hard cheese. Soft cheese will gum up the blades)

Salt

Pepper

1/8 t ground nutmeg

Grind up the spinach with the lemon juice. Add garlic and nuts. Process until fine. Slowly add in olive oil, you may use up to ¼ cup.  You want to add the olive oil slowly until the pesto is a smooth consistency, or as you like it.

Add the Parmesan  cheese slowly, again watch for desired texture.

Mix in nutmeg

Add salt and pepper to taste

Of course your family won’t want to eat this with a spoon like oatmeal, You’ll need to serve it over some thing.  I used a package of fresh tortellini (sold on dairy aisles)

Cook per package directions. During the last few minutes, I dropped in a handful of broccoli florets. When pasta is done and broccoli is slightly cooked, drain. Put back into dry, hot pan. Stir in a few slices of roasted red peppers. (You can roast your own, or buy a jar already roasted) .  Turn the heat on low. Add the pesto, stir til warm.

When ready to serve, grate a little more Parmesan over the top.

Edit for "How to cook Vegetables"

When I wrote this I meant  from least favorite to Most favorite.

Really--Boiling has to be the worst thing to do to vegetables.

In order of my preference the cooking choices are:

Boil

Microwave

Steam

Blanch

Saute

Roast

Grill.

How to cook Vegetables.

You might think this is a useless topic. Oh I disagree. As someone who can’t eat meat, let me assure you, people do not know how to cook vegetables. Or, they only know one or two tasteless ways. Not eating meat has many plights.

First, no one invites you for dinner., Here’s what happens: We’re visiting with friends when the husband says, “We’ll have to have you  over for dinner, soon.” 

Wife smiles but kicks her husband under the table. She grits her teeth, “Yes, we’ll check our calendar” and her eyes say “What in the world would I feed this woman?”

And if they do invite us, I get a plate of soggy veggies that look and taste like they went through the dishwasher; while everyone else has a sumptuous dinner.”  Then rather than be rude I slide the mushy peas and carrots down my throat.

I have found before attending social or business dinners, it’s just easier if I eat before going to dinner. Whether I pre-order a vegetarian meal or try my luck with whatever’s for dinner, no one at the table is able to ignore someone who doesn’t dig into the meat.

Man A says scornfully, “Don’t you eat meat?”  meaning what kinda nut job are you?

Man B says hopefully. “Aren’t you going to eat that?”  Meaning I hope she gives it to me.

Turns out men are perfectly willing to eat off a stranger’s plate if the meat looks tasty enough.

Woman A says, feeling guiltily “I should eat less meat”, counting  the calories of her filet in her head.
Woman B  starts a discussion of why don’t I eat meat. Stopping otherwise interesting table talk into guilt, or cruelty to animals or “What do you eat?” and other tension creating subjects.

So, whether you  want to eat more vegetables or want to  know what to cook when one of those odd-ball vegetarians darkens your  dinner table, here’s a resource of how to cook vegetables

Think TENT

Taste –

 They are veggies but it helps if they have a good taste

Ease – Chopping and peeling  raw, fresh vegetables can be time consuming. Frozen veggies are a good choice, but please, not those canned things.

Nutrition

 - After all, isn’t this why we eat those green and orange things?

Time

 – In general, cooking time is less than for meat but prep time can take a while.

Notice there is no C –Calories.  Yes, veggies have calories but they offer redeeming value of fiber and health benefits.  Unless you’re on a really strict diet (perish the word). I don’t count these calories. You can if you want.  And some cooking techniques will add calories. (Which is why I am not including fried methods)

In order of my preference the cooking choices are:

Boil

Microwave

Steam

Blanch

Saute

Roast

Grill.

Boil.

Put the Corn, Carrots, broccoli, beans, peas, whatever into boiling water. This will cook them, and if you cook them very long they’ll get soggy.  Usually the only seasoning is salt. Plus   most of the nutrition will leach out into the water which gets poured down the drain. Yuck.

Microwave and Steaming give similar results.

To microwave, put veggies into a microwave safe bowl with  just a bit of water. Add Salt, butter, whatever you like and cover.
To Steam you need a steamer which sits inside the pot, just over the water, And cover with lid. Season as desired.

Or they have those fancy “steamed vegetables in a bag” in the frozen food department. But for a fraction of the cost you can get the same results with your own fresh or frozen vegetables.

              Whether steaming or microwaving, you control the time to avoid soggy veggies, unless you like soggy veggies, although I can’t imagine why you would.  This is easy and you keep the nutrition intact

Blanch.  This is just a fancy way to say boil for a quick minute or two. Generally you’ll use this if you want to soften the vegetable a bit before adding to a salad, pasta, or roasting.  And if you want to peel a tomato, blanch it first and the skin peels right off.  This doesn’t really cook the vegetable.

Saute. Heat a wide pan, add olive oil, butter, canola oil, whatever you like. Sounds like they’ll taste better already, don’t they? You can cook one type of vegetable this way. Like summer squash cut into coins, sliced carrots, garlic, mushrooms, onions, tomatoes, peppers,  broccoli, spinach, etc..  You control how well you want the food cooked.   I like to combine several vegetables when I sauté. For example, garlic, onions, zucchini, peppers, mushrooms and tomatoes. Put  the ones that take the longest to cook in first, then add the others as you go along. Season with salt, pepper and other spices like thyme, basil, oregano, tarragon, dill.  At this point you can sprinkle with cheese, or grate some parmesan over the dish. Add some cooked pasta or rice, stir around and you have a wonderful side dish.

Roast. Usually you will roast hard vegetables like winter squash, sweet potatoes, white potatoes , pumpkin,, carrots, turnips, These are often called root vegetables, even though all vegetables had roots at one time. You can also roast broccoli, onion, kale, cauliflower, brussel sprouts, asparagus. These come out crisp and carmelized.. Some people say this brings out the sweetness, but don’t get you hopes up. They’ll taste good but won’t taste like a chocolate chip cookie.

               To Roast, slice in uniform sizes, place into casserole dish. Pour olive oil, add salt, pepper, maybe some garlic or other spices if you like. Stir all around and put into an oven. Heat can run from 350 – 425.  The hotter the oven, the quicker they’ll cook and the quicker they’ll burn too. I can’t tell you how long they’ll take, depends on the oven and the veggies and your preference. Can take from 10 minutes to 40 minutes. Sorry, One of these days I’ll come up with specific recipes for specific vegetables.

Grilling.  Here you can join the world of normal people in the summer time.  Approach as you would roasting . Slather with olive oil and seasonings and put on the grill.  I use a metal grill basket. This prevents the vegetables from touching the grates where the meat was cooked, and keeps the vegetables from falling into the coals too.  You can eat the veggies simply grilled, or cool and add to salad, or toss h into freshly cooked pasta with olive oil and then grate parmesan cheese over.

Now, That is what I’d like to eat if you invite me over for dinner. I’m free next Tuesday.