Vegetable Pie

What happens when you come home from the market (actually, two markets) with a ton of random vegetables with no recipes in mind? Why, vegetable pie of course! My inspiration came from this "recipe". It's not exactly a recipe, but more of a guide on how to create your own vegetable pie. I adjusted it to what I had from the market and on hand. Here's my version:

steamed rainbow chard
the following sauteed in extra-virgin olive oil:
-a few cloves of garlic
-1 medium onion
-2 red bell peppers
-1 yellow squash
-the stems (chopped) from the chard

Place in a pie plate (I used the Pampered Chef Deep Dish Baker) and sprinkle with salt, pepper, oregano, marjoram, and parmesan cheese.

Bake in a 350 degree oven 15-20 minutes.

Yield: 4 servings

Oh, and to fulfill my usual carb-cravings, I made drop biscuits.



I look forward to trying other interesting combinations. And I HIGHLY recommend rainbow chard. Mmmmmm

Cookie recipe #4: Something from a website

All right, folks, it's about time we returned to the original point of this blog: to document our journey toward the perfect chocolate chip cookie! This is the 4th and final recipe in our original set of something old, something new, something borrowed, and something...from a website. Kira has already posted a review of the first two. I will post here the recipe for #4 and in a subsequent post, the review. Recipe #3 has still yet to be tried (sorry, my spontaneous ways led to a disregard for the order!), but in due time it will be reviewed here as well.

This recipe comes from allrecipes.com. They are "Award Winning Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies." They make A LOT, so I only made half.

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (I used unbleached)
2 teaspoons baking soda
2 cups butter, softened
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix
4 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups chopped walnuts (optional) (I didn't add)

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture.
3. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
4. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

Yield: 6 dozen

Spicy Quinoa Bowl

I recently discovered quinoa. A powerhouse of good-for-you-ness, I was eager to find yummy ways to utilize it. Well this dish certainly fits the bill! It's fairly quick, easy, and absolutely delicious. It's adapted from a recipe on allrecipes.com. Note that the fresher the corn, the better. I was lucky to have recently purchased corn at the South Wedge market from the local farmer himself (accompanied by his corn-raising anecdotes). Peter and I were thinking afterwards that the addition of ground beef or shredded chicken would augment it as well (but it's hearty enough alone). Or try topping each serving with a fried egg.

1 teaspoon vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
1 whole guajillo pepper (mine was dried)
2 ears of corn, as fresh as possible
1 (15 ounce) cans black beans, rinsed and drained
chopped fresh cilantro, to taste

1. Saute onion and garlic in a medium saucepan until onion is translucent.
2. Rinse the quinoa; add to pot and add chicken broth; add seasonings, bring to a boil; cover and simmer for 15 minutes (there should be a bit of liquid left).
3. De-husk the corn; carefully cut off the kernels and set aside; chop/crush/crumble the dried pepper until minced.
4. After the quinoa has been cooking for 15 minutes or so, add the corn kernels and minced pepper. Simmer another 5 minutes (trust me, fresh corn doesn't need much cooking).
5. Stir in beans and top with desired amount of cilantro.

Yield: 8 side dish servings or 4 main servings

Spiciness rating: medium