Beautiful Rice

There are few things we love more in this house than a huge spread of delicious Latin food. Homemade enchiladas, Cuban black beans, tacos, and a variety of recipes we discovered on our travels to Brazil are all favorites in our menu rotation.  So, when I came across this recipe for Beautiful Rice (also known as arroz verde) on Jocelyn Taylor's Raising Foodies blog, I immediately pinned it and knew we had to give it a try.

The recipe was included in a post on the details of a gorgeous homemade Mexican meal: grilled flank steak with salsa verde, pork tamales, beans, and this beautiful rice.  The punch of the cilantro in the recipe makes the rice a natural accompaniment to any Latin meal, but is not so overwhelming that it screams "Mexican".  In fact, the dish is so versatile that it is hard to think of something it wouldn't compliment.  This would be a perfect elegant side for a simple piece of grilled meat or fish, or an ideal way to dress up a vegetarian dinner and make it feel special.

I love the subtle, complex flavor of this rice, the hidden nutrients from the spinach, and the stunning green color on the plate.  There is a tad more mixing and chopping in the recipe than I'd want for a weeknight side, but I made it for Sunday dinner this week and for that it was perfect.  We had friends over and served it alongside Brazilian Muqueca, spicy grilled pork and black beans, and it was phenomenal. However, where it really stole the show was in my lunch today.  I heated up leftover rice and beans and topped them with a fried egg, a bit of grated cheese, and plenty of hot sauce.  

Like so many herbaceous dishes, this one was even better the next day... I'm so thrilled we have leftovers!  Knowing how well the dish keeps now, I'm certain large batches of it are going to make frequent Sunday night appearances, as there is nothing better than a leftover lunch that sings.  Put this dish on your short list of things to try... it is a deliciously unexpected way to give your side some glamour and punch!

Beautiful Rice (or Arroz Verde)

Recipe via Raising Foodies

Ingredients

1/2 cup packed fresh cilantro

1 cup packed fresh spinach

1 1/4 cups homemade or organic chicken or veggie broth 

1 1/4 cups organic skim milk

1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 1/2 cups organic long grain rice

1/4 minced onion

1 clove minced garlic

Directions

1) Put the cilantro, spinach, and broth in a blender and puree, add milk and salt and blend until combined.

2) Heat the butter and olive oil in a heavy medium-sized pan, when butter is melted, add the rice and saute 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly. Add the onion and garlic and saute 1 minute longer.

3) Add the blender mix, stir well, bring to a boil. Turn to very low heat, cover and cook for 20 minutes.
4) Stir carefully and cook for another 5 minutes.

5) Remove from heat and let stand for 10 minutes until ready to serve.

Hippie Food

Yesterday, my energy was dragging.  The night before, I'd stayed up late-ish for a long-awaited girls' night of drinking red wine and watching The Help, only to be up with the little guy at 1, 2:30 and 4am, and then awake for good with him at 6am (we're thinking two-year-old molars are to blame? Not fun.).  Needless to say, the morning found me bleary-eyed, and I overcompensated with a quad latte in a bid to be mentally present for a date we had to spend the morning with friends at Boston's Museum of Science.

The museum date did not disappoint, and a good time was had by all mamas and boys, as we chased our four little dudes past the volcano and into the discovery zone, where they got to check out baby chicks, play with water tables and balance scales, and examine real animal bones.  Awesome.  However, by the time we got home, I was pretty much cross-eyed with exhaustion.  I had an evening yoga date to keep, however, and knew I had to rally.  In this situation, it is tempting to lean heavily on caffeine, but that's a quick fix, and always leaves you feeling worse for the wear in the end.  So I opted for a power nap, a little cup of green tea, and super-nutritous dinner to pick me up.

You see, I've found that when I'm feeling really wrung out, nothing revives me like some good, old-fashioned hippie food.  Kale? Check.  Tofu?  Yes, please.  Sauces made of things like tamari, agave, coconut oil, and miso?  Bring it.  When I'm bone tired, nothing tends to sound better to me than pizza, but that greasy comforting goodness will only give way to more sloth (which is all well and good if you have another movie night planned, but not so much if you need to rally).  If I can pull through and prepare something with all the vitamin and mineral-enriched loveliness of some hippie food, I always feel worlds with my body well-nourished.  

Last night, I chose two recipes that I've been wanting to try for awhile as a light, pre-yoga dinner: Sprouted Kitchen's Wild Rice Salad with Miso Dressing and the Kale Salad from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day. The wild rice salad looked just gorgeous on Sprouted Kitchen, and I've never tried anything from Heidi that hasn't come out amazing, plus my sister and her husband have been making this salad twice a week and loving it, so I had to give it a try myself. One side benefit of this menu plan?  It allowed me to take in and appreciate what a glorious natural foods pantry we've stocked over time...

This dinner was so delicious, and completely reviving.  I felt ready for my little yoga night, and had a great practice.  I feel one thousand times better today.  The husband also really enjoyed this flavorful feast.  The light, Asian flavors in the rice salad make the wild rice, edamame, carrots and tofu shine.  I love having miso in the fridge, as it makes meals like this one taste restaurant-ready.  And the kale salad was everything my sister said it would be: salty, savory, sweet, crunchy, chewy, toothsome, and completely unlike any kale preparation I've made before.  Also, it was incredibly quick and easy to prepare, so you can bet it is getting a spot on the regular menu rotation.  

Since this rice salad is pretty much my dream lunch, I actually tripled the recipe, and we now have fabulous lunches awaiting us for the rest of the week.  It's worth noting that a single batch probably wouldn't make enough for leftovers at all, so consider multiplying the recipe... it keeps beautifully, and would be the perfect thing to make on a Sunday night and scoop over greens for lunches all week long.  For the record, I used two blocks of tofu in my triple batch, but only one shallot per the original recipe, to avoid onion-y overload.  We loved the combination of the two salads together.

For extra points, play some bootlegged Grateful Dead while you cook.

Namaste.

Wild Rice Salad with White Miso Dressing 

Serves 2 as an entree, 4 as a side

Adapted from Sprouted Kitchen

Ingredients

For the Salad:

1/2 cup wild rice (I had a coupon for Whole Foods brand Red Rice, so I used that, but black forbidden rice or any other blend would work as well)

1 block extra firm tofu

2 tsp. coconut oil

2 tsp. soy sauce or tamari

fresh ground pepper

1 heaping cup shredded carrots (from 1 large or two medium carrots)

3/4 cup cooked, shelled, organic edamame

3 Tbsp. toasted sesame seeds

Handful of Chopped Cilantro 

For the dressing:

2 Tbsp. white miso

2 Tbsp. agave nectar or brown rice syrup

1 Tbsp. sesame oil

2 1/2 Tbsp. rice vinegar

1 shallot, minced

Juice of half an Orange

Directions

1) Cook the rice according to package instructions. While the rice cooks, prep the rest of the salad:

2) Wrap the tofu between a few layers of paper towel  and set it aside to drain for 10-15 minutes. Cut it into a 1/2” dice. 

3) Heat the coconut oil over medium high heat. Add the tofu and sauté for about five minutes.  Sprinkle the soy sauce and a few grinds of fresh ground pepper over the top and sauté another few minutes until the edges are browned. Turn off heat and set aside.

4) Whisk all of the dressing ingredients together.

5) In a large bowl, combine the rice, tofu, sliced carrots, edamame. Toss everything with the dressing. Add the sesame seeds and cilantro and give it another toss. Serve room temperature or chilled.

Kale Salad

from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day

Ingredients

1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil

2 tablespoons shoyu, tamari or soy sauce

3 1/2 lightly packed cups chopped kale, stems trimmed, large ribs removed

1 1/2 cups unsweetened large-flake coconut (if you can only find finely shredded coconut flakes, which are much more common in stores, reduce the amount to 1/2 cup)

Directions

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees with two racks in the top third of the oven.  

2) In a small bowl or jar, whisk or shake together the olive oil, sesame oil, and shoyu or soy sauce.  Put the kale and coconut in a large bowl and toss well with about two-thirds of the olive oil mixture.  

3) Spread the kale evenly across two baking sheets.  Bake for 12-18 minutes, until the coconut is deeply golden brown, tossing once or twice along the way.  If the kale mixture on the top baking sheet begins to get too browned, move it to a lower rack.

4) Remove from the oven and transfer the kale mixture to a medium bowl.  Taste.  If you feel it needs a bit more dressing, add some and toss. Serve warm. 

New Fave Side: Edamame and Sweet Corn Succotash

I love Joslyn Taylor's gorgeous, eloquent lifestyle/design/mama blog called Simple Lovely, and while perusing it I have also checked out her side projects: Operation Simplicity and Raising Foodies.  I'm particularly drawn to the latter, which concerns trying desperately to cook for and nourish picky eaters, a subject with which I am intimately entangled at the moment.  As I scrolled through Raising Foodies for the first time, I came across her recipe for Edamame and Corn Succotash and knew immediately that I had to give it a whirl.  It looks like the perfect weeknight/winter side/veg option: a frozen bag o' this, a quickly chopped up that, and you have a restaurant-quality side at the ready in about five minutes.  Yes, please.

Here's the exceedingly simple recipe:
Ingredients
1 bag frozen organic sweet corn
1 bag frozen organic edamame
1 small shallot
2 tablespoons butter
1 marinated roasted red pepper
salt and pepper to taste
Directions
Completely thaw the corn and edamame. Saute the shallot in butter. Add corn and edamame and saute until cooked through. Dice red pepper and add to the pan, cooking for a few more minutes. Salt and pepper to taste.
* I also added a heaping teaspoon of chopped fresh thyme, a drizzle of honey and a sprinkle of paprika to my dish as I was feeling creative.  All were great additions and probably ones I will use again in the future.

It was love at first sight between this recipe and me, for a few reasons: there is almost no work involved, anything with shallots is gold, a side/veg rich with protein (from the edamame) is always a good thing in my book, and there was the slimmest margin of a prayer that my picky guy would eat this (he has been known not to flatly reject edamame and sometime deigns corn acceptable). 

Unfortunately, he was not into it, but the husband and I most certainly were.   I served the succotash alongside spice-rubbed, pan-seared, bone-in pork chops and jasmine rice for a special weeknight dinner, but I think this would make a fabulous veggie entree with a great salad on the side, and also would stand up alone as a side to a meat dish without any starch at all.  I'm thinking I'll eat the leftovers for lunch today with a fried egg on top and a little shaved sharp cheddar.  This is a dish that can wear a lot of hats, and for something so low-maintenance, it's incredibly elegant.

I think the husband said it best, "... you shouldn't call this succotash, because it really doesn't suck, it's delicious.  I think you should call it awesome-tash."  There you have it.  Serve some awesome-tash with dinner tonight!  Even your toddler might like it... just don't hold your breath.

Pasta e Fagioli

Just when I was feeling particularly smug about the lack of mid-winter sickness in this house, I suddenly got a cement-block head and serious case of the sniffles.  You may remember that during Baby J's first winter and the one after, all of us were basically sick as dogs from October through April.  Things have certainly improved since then, and we had seemingly made it all the way to January without much more than a round of stuffy sinuses right around Thanksgiving.  Please remind me next time I say, write or think that to find the nearest, largest piece of wood and knock on it one hundred times.  I really don't want to tempt the gods who dole out the winter bugs around here.

When I feel stuffy, bleary, queasy or otherwise under the weather, my go to meal is, not surprisingly, a hot bowl of soup.  Said soup is hopefully easily prepared, nutrient-packed and, above all else, comforting.  And around here, nothing is more universally comforting than some good old Italian peasant food.  Pasta e Fagioli (translation: pasta and beans), is about as traditionally Italian and comforting as it gets.  Versions of this soup vary widely from region to region in Italy, so it is a perfect soup to take your own license with depending on what ingredients you may have on hand or according to your mood.

Normally, I'd include more vegetables in the base of a soup, but I wasn't in a chopping mood, so I kept this one to onions and garlic.  Traditionally, pasta e fagioli is a vegetarian dish, but I was craving the salty punch of pancetta, so I threw it in the pot.  I kept this soup incredibly simple: just those two aromatics, the pancetta, some herbs, tomatoes, beans, pasta, and stock.  After chopping the onion and garlic, the rest of this soup mostly involved opening cans and stirring; perfect for my energy level (low) and my need of near-instant comfort food (high).

I encourage you to use this recipe as a jumping off point for your own pasta e fagioli creation: add carrots and celery if you're feeling it, leave out the pancetta if you are a vegetarian or otherwise not down with pork, use a different shape of pasta, or leave out the red pepper flakes for a milder dish... make it your own!

However your soup turns out, I can guarantee you'll create the perfect bowl of winter comfort food to nourish your soul and cure what ails you.

Pasta e Fagioli Soup
Serves 6 to 8
Ingredients
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1/4 lb. pancetta, minced
1 sweet yellow onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 28 oz. can chopped tomatoes
1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon each dried basil and oregano
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
4 cups chicken or veggie stock
1 15oz. can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1 cup dried pasta (I love using orecchiette, but elbow macaroni or ditalini would be more traditional choices)
Parmesan cheese for garnish
Directions
1) In a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium low heat, warm the olive oil. Add the pancetta, onion and garlic and saute, until the onions are soft, about 10 minutes.
2) Add the tomatoes, rosemary, basil, oregano, red pepper flakes and salt and pepper, as well as the beans and stock and simmer for another 30 minutes.
3) Add the pasta to the soup and simmer until the pasta is cooked, about 10-12 minutes more. Serve with grated Parmesan cheese on top.

Tortilla Soup

Tortilla soup is a perfect holiday dish; filling yet light, hearty and satisfying, and full of a robust heat to kill any germs weary travelers may have picked up along their way.  Most tortilla soups consist of a thin tomato broth with an underlying punch of jalapeño, punctuated by goodies floating within (usually chicken, some veggies, and crispy tortilla strips that are added at the last minute).  I wanted to create a version of tortilla soup that would be smoother, lighter, and healthier than the traditional version, and I am so happy with how this recipe turned out!  I daresay it gets 5 husband stars, as it was one of those dishes that gained me compliment after compliment as he took down one bowl and then a second.  Love that.

Here's how my tortilla soup is a bit different than your traditional bowl:
1) Rather than leaving the soup broth-y, I added more veggies, and then pureed the whole pot with my immersion blender.  I love how this gives a dairy-free soup a smooth creaminess, and I think it was part of why this soup was so satisfying.
2) I really upped the garlic and jalapeño in this recipe.  Why?  I am tired of being sick all winter.  I believe in the immunity boosting properties of these ingredients, and intend to burn us all within an inch of our lives with the both of them this winter.  In my defense, the soup wasn't particularly garlicky in the end, just incredibly flavorful, so I say go for it and down a big bowl of this before your next flight.
3) I wanted to forgo the crisy tortilla strips because a) who needs the added fat, and b) bubbling, splattering fryer oil and toddlers don't mix.  I added strips of corn tortilla without frying them, and we still got an amazing corn flavor, just with a chew instead of a crunch.  Had I served the soup within 20 minutes of adding the tortillas, the strips would have added a slurp-y, noodle quality to the soup, but as our evening played out, the soup simmered for an additional hour before we sat down to eat.  As a result, the tortillas totally disintegrated into the soup, but I have to say, I loved the effect this had on the dish.  We ended up with an almost bisque-like concoction, even though it contained no dairy, and the delicate chew of the corn in the puree was delicious.  Try it this way and let me know what you think!

The best thing about soups like this is serving them with plenty of fixings.  I set out shredded sharp cheddar, cilantro, green onions, salsa verde, sour cream and diced avocado.  You could also offer a variety of hot sauces, guacamole, or anything else your imagination offers.  A big pot of this soup would be the perfect thing to greet your guests with upon their arrival at your door.

And nothing says holiday like margaritas, I always say...
 
SMJ's Tortilla Soup
serves 6-8 
Ingredients
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 red bell peppers, chopped
7 cloves of garlic, minced
1 large or 2 small jalapeños, finely chopped
1 8 oz. can diced green chiles
1 15 oz. can diced tomatoes
4 cups vegetable or chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon each of cumin, cayenne, paprika and oregano
Kosher salt and pepper
5 corn tortillas, sliced into thin strips
Optional: 4 chicken thighs or two chicken breasts, 1 tablespoon olive oil, salt and pepper

Directions
1) Let's start with the optional... I think this would be a phenomenal vegetarian soup, but I made mine with chicken, and it was stellar.  I started by pre-heating the oven to 350F, and rubbing 4 bone-in, skin-on chicken thighs with olive oil, and sprinkling them with salt and pepper.  I roasted them for 20 minutes until they were cooked through, allowed them to cool, shredded them by hand and set them aside.  Alternatively, you could shred half of a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store, or roast off and then shred chicken breasts instead of thighs... the cooking time would just be slightly longer.  But seriously, I think this soup would be just as good without any meat at all. Okay, moving on...
2)  Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot or Dutch oven over medium-high heat.  Add the onions and red peppers and saute, stirring frequently, until the onions become translucent and start to caramelize, about 10 minutes.
3) Lower the heat slightly and add the garlic and jalapeño and continue to saute for another 5 minutes until the jalapeño softens. 
4)  Add the canned chiles and tomatoes and the broth. Puree to your desired consistency with an immersion blender, or in batches in a blender or food processor.  I left mine just slightly chunky.  Adjust the seasonings to taste.
5) Add the shredded chicken and the tortilla strips, and allow to simmer for about 15-20 more minutes until the tortillas soften. Serve with a variety of fixings... the more the better!

Kale Chips

This is a sugar-laden time of year.  Beyond all of the phenomenal cookies and rich hot chocolate that starts to cross our path as the holidays approach, there is the incidental chocolate that sneaks its way into St. Nicholas stockings, advent calendars, your officemate's desk and your life in general.  I've found that moderation is key and that indulgence is fine if you can make up for it elsewhere in the day.  That's where these kale chips come in. 

Kale chips have been all the rage in the world of food blogs and high end gourmet shops for some time, but you are like me and late to the party in trying them, I can't think of a better time than now, when your lunch or dinner deserves a nutritional powerhouse to make up for all that chocolate inhaling you did earlier in the day.  I also must insist that you make them at home, since the cost differential is astounding.  A bunch of kale costs a whopping $1.50 tops, whereas our local specialty shop sells a bag of kale chips for $8.  Come on now.  Kale chips are easy to make, and taste like awesome little healthy potato chip doppelgangers.  I even think kids might go for these, mine just only happens to eat five things, and kale is not yet one of them.  Yet. 

I had a plate of kale chips for lunch yesterday and they were filling, satisfyingly salty and crunchy, and totally made up for the fact that I had red wine and pizza for dinner while maniacally stamping holiday cards.  They would also be perfect as a between-meals snack at your family holiday gathering when awkwardly timed festive meals call for a light snack at some point in the early afternoon or evening.  It just depends on how receptive your family is to kale.   Perhaps wearing one of these fetching t-shirts might help make the sell?

Eatmorekale.com

Kale Chips
makes a generous plate full
Ingredients
1 bunch kale
Cooking spray
2 teaspoons olive oil
Kosher salt to taste

Directions
1) Preheat oven to about 375
2) Clean and dry your kale.  A salad spinner is the best way to ensure that the kale is really, thoroughly dry.  It is important to make sure it is dry, or you'll just have steamed kale! Tear the leaves off the stems into bite size pieces.
3) Spray a cookie sheet with cooking spray. Spread out torn kale pieces on cookie sheets.
4) Drizzle with about olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Other fun add-ons could include a handful of parmesan cheese (as pictured above), nutritional yeast, or garlic powder (or truffle salt if you're feeling fancy!)
5) Bake for about 15 minutes, until edges are brown and kale is crispy.

  Eat more kale!

Enjoy!

Pho Sho!

I'm happy to report that our Thanksgiving dinner was a smashing success!  The surprise scene stealer was not the bourbon turkey or the fougasse stuffing, but the phenomenal balsamic braised brussels sprouts with pancetta from Smitten Kitchen.

The recipe is labor-intensive, requiring about thirty minutes of your undivided attention adding ingredient after delicious ingredient to an aggressively simmering pan, but the end result is well worth the effort: each bite contains something a bit sweet, a bit savory, a little crunchy, a tad tender, and endlessly complex.  I would call this a go-to holiday dish for the rest of the season, as well as a perfect special side to accompany any mid-winter dinner party.

And even though I'm sure that your turkey leftovers are dwindling at this point, I had to share the other culinary highlight of our weekend, something that is sure to be a new tradition on every Black Friday to come: turkey pho.

I found this recipe on food52, and immediately knew that I had to try it.  I love a leftover turkey sandwich as much as anyone, but I never like the continued sluggish feeling you get from reliving the Thanksgiving over again in leftover form.  I also suffered from a bad cold/flu thing for much of the holiday weekend (such a bummer), and was on the hunt for healing herbs and spices to rid my system of the bug.  This soup seemed like the perfect hybrid of healing remedy and innovative leftover usage.

On Friday morning I simmered the turkey bones with a carrot, apple and onion from about 8am until 1pm, creating a rich, savory broth.  I strained it and allowed it to cool so we could skim the fat from the top.  While the little man napped, I shredded a big pile of leftover turkey breast meat by hand while chatting with my mom, who cleaned two heads of lacinato kale and tore it into bite sized pieces.   In the evening, as we sipped on prosecco, I toasted a blend of aromatic spices (star anise, coriander, cloves, cinnamon sticks) in a cast iron skillet to bring out their flavor, then let them simmer with my stock, a huge pile of sliced fresh ginger, and the greens of bunch of scallions for the duration of happy hour, then strained the broth again.  Finally, I threw in a package of cellophane noodles, the shredded turkey and torn kale.  Ten minutes later, dinner was ready, set up with a fixings bar of lime wedges, chopped scallions, chopped cilantro and Sriricha. 

Everyone raved over this dinner.  It was warming, filling, soothing, and a completely different incarnation for our Thanksgiving turkey.  I'm sharing it now because even though our turkey is long gone, I plan to make this soup many times over the course of the winter; I think it is my new favorite version of a cold-mending chicken noodle soup.  You also don't need a turkey to make this happen!  You could apply the same method to a leftover roasted chicken, or make a delicious vegetarian version by simmering the spices with a veggie stock, then adding all kinds of veggies (matchstick carrots or sweet potato, spinach, bok choy or almost any leafy green come to mind).  You could also make a simple seafood version with shrimp.  I can tell you that you'll see all kinds of variations of this recipe in my kitchen throughout the coming winter; I'm a little obsessed.  So obsessed, that I've decided I may need this shirt:

The perfect stocking stuffer for your favorite foodie.

I'm not saying it is because of the soup, but my cold is gone!  And with that I say, bring on the holiday season.  And more pho!

Turkey Pho 
via food52
This recipe makes 2 big bowls, I quadrupled it to feed our family with planned leftovers.
Ingredients
2 tablespoons coriander seeds
4 whole cloves
4 whole star anise
1 cinnamon stick 
1 quart homemade turkey stock (or homemade or store-bought chicken stock)
1 bunch green onions (green top parts only) chopped
1 3-inch chunk of ginger, sliced and smashed with side of knife
1 teaspoon brown sugar, or more to taste
1 tablespoon fish sauce, or more to taste
1-2 cup kale, chopped into bite-sized pieces
1/2 pound leftover turkey breast, shredded
1 bunch (approx. 2 oz.) cellophane/bean thread noodles (or enough flat dried rice noodles to serve 2)
1-2 tablespoon cilantro, chopped- for garnish (optional)
1-2 tablespoon chopped green onions (white parts only), minced- for garnish (optional)
1/2 lime, cut into wedges
Sriracha chili sauce to taste

Directions
1) Toast the spices: heat a cast-iron skillet or frying pan over medium heat. Add the coriander seeds, cloves, star anise, and cinnamon stick and toast until fragrant, about 3-4 minutes. Immediately spoon out the spices into a bowl to avoid burning them and set aside.
2) In a large pot, add the toasted spices and all ingredients from stock through fish sauce and bring to a boil.
3) Reduce the heat to medium-low and let simmer for 20 minutes, skimming the surface frequently.
Taste the broth and add more sugar or fish sauce, if needed. Strain the broth and discard the solids.
4) Add the kale and cook for 1-2 more minutes. Remove from heat.
5)Add the shredded turkey and the cellophane noodles. Allow to sit for a few minutes while the noodles soften.
6) Ladle the broth into bowls. Divide the kale, shredded turkey and the noodles evenly into each bowl. Sprinkle on the garnishes and add sriracha to taste. Squeeze lime juice to taste over the top of your bowl before eating.

Veggie Dinner of the Year: Miso-Curry Delicata Squash with Tofu and Kale

Last night I cooked the best vegetarian dinner I've cooked all year: Heidi Swanson's Miso-Curry Delicata Squash with Tofu and Kale from her new cookbook, Super Natural Every Day. 

This dish was so simple to prepare, so healthy, and so flavorful and warming; you must put it in your rotation for the holiday season immediately.  On those upcoming nights where you're feeling bloated from your cookie swap or that glass of egg nog you should have just turned down, and you're feeling like you just don't have time to cook with the holiday madness swirling around you, give this recipe a try.  It is seriously just the thing.  It is also terrifically vitamin-packed to keep the cold weather germs at bay.

As I set out to cook dinner last night, pulling tofu, kale, and squash out onto the counter, the husband and I exchanged knowing glances that read: "Man, wouldn't ordering pizza just be soooo much better than this hippie feast we're about to put together?"  But we were determined to stick to the meal plan, so tofu and kale it was, Saturday night party food cravings be damned.  I am so glad we did.  This light, energizing dinner sings with flavor from the miso and Thai curry.  The tofu, squash and potatoes get crispy, crusty and caramelized in the oven, and each bite has an incredible burst of texture and flavor, especially since the delicata squash skin is edible and adds a special chewiness to the dish. 

We served the dish over rice, but it would also be wonderful with quinoa or just on its own; the squash and the potatoes provide plenty of carbiness.  This is a very filling dish, despite its lightness, which is why I think it is perfect for the holiday season.  On those nights when you are really starting to feel gross, this dish will hit your nutritional reset button without leaving you feeling diet-y and deprived.  You could also pre-whisk the sauce and pre-prep the veggies to really move this into easy weeknight dinner territory.   Try it this week!

Miso-Curry Delicata Squash with Tofu and Kale
from Super Natural Every Day, by Heidi Swanson
Serves 4
Ingredients
12 ounces delicata squash
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup white miso
1 tbsp red Thai curry paste
8 ounces extra-firm tofu, cut into small cubes
4 medium new potatoes, unpeeled, cut into chunks
2 tbsps fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 cups chopped kale, tough stems removed
1/3 cup pepitas, toasted, or tamari pumpkin seeds
2/3 cup chopped fresh cilantro
Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees with a rack in the middle of the oven.
2) Cut the delicata squash in half lengthwise and use a spoon to clear out all the seeds. Cut into 1/2 inch thick half-moons.
3) In a medium bowl, whisk together olive oil, miso, and curry paste. Combine the tofu, potatoes, and squash in a large bowl with 1/3 cup of the miso-curry paste. Use your hands to toss well, then turn the vegetables onto a rimmed baking sheet, and arrange in a single layer.
4) Roast for 25 to 30 minutes, until everything is tender and browned. Toss once or twice along the way, after things start to brown a bit. Keep a close watch, though; the vegetables can go from browned to burned in a flash. (Note: It took me almost a full half-hour longer than this to get the doneness I wanted on my tofu, squash and potatoes.  It makes me wonder about our oven!  I googled the recipe to see if any other bloggers or cooks noted this cooking time discrepancy, and it seemed to be just me.  In any case, cook until the veggies and tofu are brown, no matter how long it takes!)
5) In the meantime, whisk the lemon juice into the remaining miso-curry paste, then stir in the kale until coated.
6) Toss the roasted vegetables gently with the kale, pepitas, and cilantro. Serve family style in a large bowl or on a platter.

*due to a camera fail, photos are via Food is Forever, Chez Pim, and my darling lemon thyme

Indian-Inspired Butternut Squash Soup

Barely a week had passed since our busy summer came to an end and my family was collectively exhaling into fall, when my mom fell and broke her arm last weekend.  She's very active at work, at home and at play, and while she's putting on a brave face about it, this injury is definitely going to put a kink in her fall.  This morning she had to see an orthopedic surgeon to find out what the healing process will entail, so I thought that the little man and I would make a quick run up to New Hampshire and meet her afterward to bring some good cheer and nourishing soup.

It seems like many in their wonderful community are already rallying and bringing my parents meals, so I wanted my soup to stand out in the mix.  My parents usually subsist largely on salad and seared fish for dinner, and I know they've received lobster mac and cheese and an exotic chick pea-almond-pineapple stew this week, so I thought I'd bring something more like the simple fare their bellies are used to (and if some of said lobster mac and cheese "accidentally" replaced the soup in my cooler bag, well, oops!).

I went on a fall veggie shopping bender at the grocery last week after the cold snap had me craving all things squash and cider, so I had a large butternut squash on hand as the soup's base.  Still, I wanted to give it a little interest, a little special flavor, and not just have it be your run-of-the-mill fall soup.  I've been loving the Indian spice Garam Masala lately; it translates to mean "warming spice" and is a blend of things like cloves, cumin and coriander seeds, cardamom pods and cinnamon.  Garam Masala gives a delicate, sweet/savory Indian flavor to dishes, and I thought with some coconut milk, it could make a squash soup special.  Funny that many of those spices echo those in "pumpkin pie spice", making them a natural accompaniment to squash.  Yes, these are the things I think about in my spare time.

I tinkered with various amounts of Garam Masala in the mix, and finally came out with a beautiful soup that I really love.  Most of my favorite recipes feature bold, hit-you-over-the-head flavors, but this soup is very delicate and almost aromatic.  It is most definitely warming and healing, and the perfect thing to bring to someone feeling under the weather.  With cold season on the way, keep this one in your back packet!

SMJ's Indian-Inspired Butternut Squash Soup
Ingredients
1 butternut squash, halved and seeded
1 sweet potato, holes poked into it with a fork 
1 sweet onion, peeled and quartered
2 leeks, halved lengthwise and thoroughly rinsed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 can light coconut milk
4 cups veggie broth
2 teaspoons Garam Masala
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1 heaping teaspoon tomato paste* (optional)
Directions
1) Heat oven to 375F.  Place all prepped veggies on a baking sheet and drizzle thoroughly with the olive oil.  Roast for about 90 minutes or until fork tender.

2) Removed skins from roasted vegetables and roughly chop.  Place in large soup pot or Dutch oven.

3) Add liquids and blend with an immersion blender until smooth (note: if you don't have an immersion blender, you can do this process in batches in a blender or food processor).  Stir in spices and tomato paste and adjust to taste.

*One note about the tomato paste: as I adjusted the soup's spices, I just felt something was missing.  Knowing that a strong tomato flavor is common in some of my favorite, similarly spiced Indian dishes like Tikka Masala, I added a bit of double concentrated tomato paste from the tube we keep on hand in the fridge.  I loved the addition, but it is not necessary.  If you buy your tomato paste by the can, it is probably not worth busting into one for this subtle addition.

This soup would be especially delicious served with warm, buttered naan and a crisp, sweet salad (I'm thinking butter lettuce, sliced apples and goat cheese).  However, I'm delivering this batch with a dozen homemade chocolate chip cookies because, let's be real, sometimes chocolate is really life's greatest cure-all.  Time to hit the road!

Grilled Summer Salad

Most weeks, I hit the grocery store with a meal plan in mind and solid list of items to procure.  Sometimes, though, I'm not so organized, and my trip to the store is much more like an episode of Supermarket Sweep, with me grabbing things from the shelves and getting out of there as quickly as possible.  When one of these rush trips occurs, I try to focus my random shopping on the produce section, figuring that whatever I come home with, I'm bound to create something healthy from a good haul of veggies. Last Friday, the week drew to an end, and I still had quite a bit of random produce in my crisper from one of these crazy grocery runs.  Inventory included:
6 ears of corn
2 Japanese eggplants
1 pint of heirloom cherry tomatoes
1 orange bell pepper
2 leeks
and 1 bunch of fresh basil

I also had a beautiful loaf of rosemary-olive oil fougasse bead from a trip to a favorite bakery.  I stared down these ingredients for quite awhile, trying to make sense of how to use them.  Roasted vegetables with a grain of some sort?  Tomato and basil pasta with a ratatouille-inspired side dish?  Soup?  Nothing seemed quite right.  Also, it was a summer Friday, and unless there is an outright hurricane happening (and sometimes even in the middle of one), the husband prefers to be standing by the grill with a PBR to celebrate the start of the weekend.  What to do?

I took a gamble.  I halved and cleaned the leeks and the pepper, brushed everything with olive oil, sprinkled it with salt and pepper, and sent it out to the grill.  The husband grilled everything in the photo above except for the tomatoes and basil, which I chopped and put in a large salad bowl.  He came back in with meltingly sweet leeks, perfectly charred eggplant, salty-caramelized ears of corn, slightly crisped bread, and a beautifully heat-blistered pepper.  I chopped all of these ingredients, removed the nibs from the corn, and tossed them all together with a solid dousing of white balsamic vinegar, a splash of olive oil, and a drizzle of honey.  

The result was a little slice of summer dinner heaven.  All the flavors married together beautifully, with the char-grilled flavor being the common denominator.  This salad was light, complex, and utterly delicious.  I served it on a bed of mixed greens, but it was perfection on its own, and we topped it with grated parmesan to take it right over the top.  This dish just goes to show what kind of kitchen kismet can occur when you let yourself run wild in an in-season produce section (or at the farmers' market!).  I never would have planned this meal in advance, but it is now something we'll make again and again, and it would make an elegant dinner to serve to vegetarian friends with a crisp glass of white wine.

Friday night already seems like a million years ago, but this dish stuck with me, and had to be shared.  Sometimes the best recipes are happy accidents!

Vegan Family Meals Cookbook Review + Niçoise Salad Recipe + Giveaway!

Let me state for the record, this family is not vegan, and not even vegetarian (see: husband slow-cooking six pound pork shoulder for twelve hours last Sunday).  However, we appreciate meatless dining, and have definite vegetarian leanings.  With a lactose-intolerant husband, and a budget and family history of high cholesterol which logically point to eating less meat, I was thrilled to receive a copy of vegan chef Ann Gentry's new cookbook Vegan Family Meals: Real Food for Everyone as part of her summer blog tour.  Ann is the owner of Real Food Daily in Santa Monica and West Hollywood, as well as being a successful blogger and author, and her new cookbook is just gorgeous in every way.

 

I'm a visual person and a sucker for a good layout and typeface, and so this book had me at the minute I took it from the envelope.  The photography is stunning, and I love the funky fabric on the binding.  But when I opened it and started examining the recipes, I really fell in love.  This cookbook is definitely going to be my go-to source for vegetarian cooking going forward.  The recipes are accessible and well-explained, and every one doesn't call for obscure vegan ingredients that average people wouldn't have on hand (sure there are a few chia seed/nutritional yeast selections, but by and large, I think this cookbook really is, as promised, for everyone).  The book includes everything from basic breakfasts with amped up nutritional stats to special-enough-for-company dinners, and I appreciate that range.  I think Ann might even be my LA/Vegan answer to Ina Garten.  And that's saying something. I couldn't wait to get cooking.

As part of the blog tour, I volunteered to prepare Ann's "My Niçoise Salad". 

Photo from Vegan Family Meals

I'll warn you in advance, this is not a weeknight recipe, unless you prepare each element in advance.  I was determined to make the salad on a Wednesday, though, despite a very busy week, because my mom was coming to stay with us and she really appreciates vegan cuisine and I thought this recipe was right down her alley.  So, I sprinkled parts of the recipe into times of the day when I was in the kitchen:  setting up the tofu to drain and trimming the haricots verts while the little guy ate his breakfast, throwing together the dressing and prepping the Tofu Chevre while he ate lunch, baking off the Chevre while I worked in the afternoon, and quartering potatoes and steaming veggies during happy hour.  If you aren't within an arm's reach of your kitchen, though, I'd save this recipe for a Saturday.

The completed recipe, despite my lack of a professional food stylist and adequate lighting, was absolutely beautiful.

First of all, the shallot-Dijon-thyme dressing is just spot on.  It brightens the whole dish and gives it an herbacious bite.  I'll definitely make this vinaigrette again just to have on hand for our weeknight salads.  This is also the perfect time of year to construct a salad like this one.  The organic cherry tomatoes, new potatoes and haricots verts were at the peak of their season and tasted that way. And the Tofu Chevre is really something special.  It took awhile to make, but was worth the effort (I didn't peppercorn-crust mine, you might notice.  I had to draw the line somewhere.  It was Wednesday!!!).  Rich, creamy, and perfectly salty from the miso, it is a healthy protein powerhouse masquerading as a fatty, dairy treat.  Its only downfall would be that despite following the instructions literally to the letter, my "chevre" was pretty creamy and gloppy, whereas, as you can see from the professional cookbook photo above, Ann's version slices neatly into little disks and actually appears to be goat cheese.  I don't know how she did it!  None of us really cared how it looked, though, because it was just so delicious.

Sitting around my table last night were three very tired, very maxed out people who were in desperate need of some good nutrition and a little pampering.  I was happy that I took the time to make such a special, beautiful dinner that made us all feel nourished and spoiled.  We lingered around the table picking at beans and dragging our forks through the chevre again and again, and all agreed that the salad was superb.

I highly recommend Vegan Family Meals based on my adventures with it thus far (I made killer Szechuan noodles from it on Tuesday, so we're now two for two + extra points for just being so darn pretty).  And I'm so happy to say that...

One SMJ reader will win a free copy of Vegan Family Meals: Real Food for Everyone!

Just leave a comment below, and I will pick a winner at random next Tuesday, August 9. 

If you don't win or feel like waiting until next week, I'd definitely suggest scooting over to Amazon and grabbing a copy.  Also, check out Ann's blog for more healthy recipe ideas and inspiration.  And at the very least, make this salad!  You'll be glad you did. 

Happy vegan dining...

Ann Gentry’s My Niçoise
Serves 4
Ingredients
8 ounces slender green beans (such as haricots verts), trimmed
4 medium red-skinned potatoes (about 1 pound total), cut into ½-inch-thick wedges

Vinaigrette:
¼ cup fresh lemon juice
1 small shallot, minced (about 2 tablespoons)
2 teaspoons Dijon mustard
2 teaspoons minced fresh thyme
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt
¼ teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
½ cup extra-virgin olive oil

Salad:
1 large head butter lettuce, leaves separated and larger leaves torn in half
3 ripe tomatoes, cut into wedges, or 10 to 12 cherry tomatoes, halved
Fine sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 log Peppercorn-Crusted Tofu Chèvre (recipe follows), sliced into rounds
1/3 cup olives or kalamata olives
2 tablespoons capers, drained
1½ tablespoons minced fresh flat-leaf parsley

Directions
1) Cook the green beans in a large pot of boiling salted water until they are crisp-tender, about 4 minutes. Drain and submerge the green beans in a bowl of ice water just until they are cold. Drain the green beans again and pat dry. Set aside.
2) Place the potatoes in a steamer basket set in a saucepan filled with 1 inch of simmering water. Cover and steam until they are just tender and still hold their shape, about 8 minutes. Set aside to cool completely.
3) Vinaigrette: While the vegetables are cooling, whisk the lemon juice, shallot, mustard, thyme, salt, and pepper in a medium bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in the oil to blend well.
4) Salad: Arrange the lettuce on a serving platter or in a large shallow salad bowl. Place the green beans, potatoes, and tomatoes in a large bowl. Toss with enough of the vinaigrette to coat, then season to taste with salt and pepper. Spoon the beans, potatoes, and tomatoes atop the lettuce. Arrange the tofu cheese slices amid the vegetables. Sprinkle the olives, capers, and parsley over the salad. Spoon more vinaigrette over the salad and serve immediately.

Tofu Chèvre
Makes 1 (13-ounce) log
Ingredients
1 (12-ounce) container waterpacked extra-firm tofu, drained and halved
1 large clove garlic
2 tablespoons yellow miso
3 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
¾ teaspoon fine sea salt

Directions
1) Pat the tofu dry with paper towels. Set the tofu in a colander and set the colander over a bowl to collect all the liquid that drains from the tofu. Cover the tofu with plastic wrap, then place 3 heavy cans, each at least 14 ounces, on the tofu to weigh it down. This weight will help extract all the excess liquid from the tofu. Refrigerate the tofu for at least 4 hours or overnight.
2) Mince the garlic in a food processor. Pat the tofu halves with paper towels to absorb any excess moisture, then add the tofu to the food processor. Add the miso, 2 teaspoons of the olive oil, and the salt, and blend until the mixture is very smooth, stopping the machine occasionally and scraping the bottom and sides of the bowl.
3) Lay a sheet of plastic wrap flat on the work surface. Scrape the tofu cheese onto the center of the plastic wrap, then wrap the cheese, forming a log. Refrigerate for 1 hour.
4) Preheat the oven to 375°F. Unwrap the cheese log and place it on a baking sheet. Brush the log lightly with the remaining 1 teaspoon oil. Bake just until the cheese is warmed through, but the center is still creamy, about 25 minutes.
Serve warm or cold.

Super Soy Sushi Bowl

If a genie appeared from a bottle and offer me three wishes, one of them would likely be to somehow get unlimited, on-demand sushi for the rest of my life.  Sushi is my fave, and I truly could eat it most nights of the week if we won the lottery.  I love the clean flavors, fresh proteins, and light satiety it provides, not to mention the fact that it is one of the few great indulgences in life that is actually good for you.  Since I haven't run into too many genies or winning lottery tickets lately, I'm looking for creative ways to bring Japanese food into our cooking rotation.  We have tatami mats and everything else you'd need to make home sushi, but that is way too much of a production for a weeknight, and better saved for a fun theme party with friends and a variety of cold sakes. For homemade Japanese on a Monday, I'm looking for streamlined recipes with lots of nutrient bang for the buck, and minimal prep work.  A tall order, to be sure, but I was recently inspired by ValSoCal's recipe for a California Roll in a Bowl.

Photo from ValSoCal

Look how pretty!  This would a perfect recipe for company, with big bowls of edamame to start, Kirin Ichiban with dinner, and mochi ice cream to finish.  But since our Monday menu did not include fresh crab (and imitation crab kind of gives me the willies) and I was out of sesame seeds and forgot to get them at the store on Saturday, I made my own little SMJ version.

Ladies and Gents, I give you...
SMJ's Super Soy Sushi Bowl
Serves 4
Ingredients
Like so many great weeknight recipes, this one is component-based.  You can add and subtract based on your mood and the contents of your fridge and pantry.  Consider this recipe a jumping off point...
2 cups sushi or short grain rice
2 cups water, plus more for rinsing rice
3 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons sugar
1 tablespoon kosher salt
1 avocado, sliced
1 carrot, julienned
1 cucumber, julienned
2 scallions, finely chopped
8 slices Baked Tofu (either use my recipe here, or for an even quicker weeknight fix, buy prepared baked tofu at your local health food store -- there are so many fantastic flavors available, you really can't go wrong)
Sesame seeds for garnish (Val also suggests sliced nori sheets, which would be yummy, we just didn't happen to have these in house either)

Directions
1) Rinse and prepare the rice according to package instructions in a rice cooker or saucepan.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes.  Thoroughly mix in the vinegar, sugar and salt.
2) Assemble your bowls!  I created a buffet so that we could each take as much as we wanted of each ingredient.  Each person should get a good base of rice in their bowl, as well as a good handful of each veggie and 2 slices of tofu.  Done.

This was such a fresh and delicious dinner, I can't wait to use the concept as a base for more sushi bowl recipes.  Chopped nori and sesame seeds would really take it to the next level, and I plan to grab those on my next grocery run.  Seared tuna, lightly grilled salmon, or shredded teriyaki chicken or beef would all make great protein components, and shelled edamame and pickled ginger would be great additions as well.  The only limit is your imagination...

Have a happy, healthy Tuesday!

Arugula Almond Pesto

There are problems with going to the grocery store after an excruciatingly challenging, ninety-minute-long hot yoga class.   For one, you're a little light-headed, and apt to forget staple things you really need, like butter (oops).  For another, you're in this wonderfully light, virtuous, yogini state where you think to yourself, "I really shouldn't need anything other than a large bin of arugula and a couple kombuchas to survive this week.  Who needs meat or cheese?"  Um, I do! Flash forward to me last night, long after the fade of the yogini afterglow, wishing desperately that I had not passed up some really phenomenal looking black-and-white cookies and had perhaps scored a nice chunk of gouda while I was at it.

You see, it's a cupboards week around here.  The husband and I both have work travel planned between now and Friday, and with one or the other of us dining alone all week, we didn't need a big grocery haul.  My post-yoga shop was meant to just cover some basics to see us through, plus gather the little man's weekly necessities.  Well, he got his drinkable yogurts, Cheerios and blueberries, but in my yogic state, I really under-shopped for myself, and really, really got way too much arugula.  Why? I still couldn't tell you.  It seemed like a good idea at the time.

When I'm dining alone for several nights, I need something more exciting than a series of arugula salads, so I did what any desperate/creative person would do and made pesto; but this was cupboards pesto, as I had no basil, no pine nuts, and very little parmesan.  I'm so happy with the result that I had to post the recipe.  This pesto is a nutritional powerhouse, so spicy and tasty, and proof positive that necessity is the mother of invention.  I could have planned to make pesto and bought a boatload of basil, and it wouldn't have come close to what I created using just what we had on hand.  Instead of a boring salad, I plan to dine this evening on a tangle of beautiful angel hair pesto with roasted tomatoes.  Maybe my inner yogini knew what she was doing all along.  My inner gourmand thanks her kindly.  Namaste.

Arugula Almond Pesto
Ingredients
2 cloves garlic, peeled
3 oz. arugula (or about 1 medium bag)
3/4 cup whole, roasted, salted almonds
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
3/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon granulated sugar
Kosher salt and fresh ground pepper to taste
Directions
1) In a food processor fitted with the blade attachment, first mince the garlic.  Then, add the arugula and process well.  
2) Next add the almonds and process until smooth, and repeat with the parmesan.
3) Add the olive oil slowly, drizzling through the tube while the food processor is on, until the pesto reaches your desired thickness.
4) Add the sugar, salt and pepper to taste, pulsing between additions to blend thoroughly.

This recipe yields about 12 ounces of pesto, or enough to cover about 2 lbs of pasta (or less if you prefer a really concentrated pesto punch... taste as you go!).  Generally speaking, pesto will store well in the refrigerator for about a week to 10 days and freezes beautifully.  Don't be afraid to think outside the (pasta) box and use the pesto for everything from a sandwich spread to a salad dressing base to a scrambled egg topper.  The possibilities are endless...

Strategic Grilling

I haven't posted a new recipe in awhile.  Sorry about that.  May has been a really busy month at Casa SMJ: I'm back to working part-time while momming full-time, we've been on the road or hosting guests every weekend, and I'm also the de facto part-time wedding planner for my little sister's upcoming nuptials.  Whew! In all, the hubs and I are both pretty slammed at the moment.  During times like these, I tend to fall back on a reliable stable of go to family recipes: pizza night, Tofu Tikka Masala or Thai Curry-style, and turkey tacos are in heavy rotation at the moment.  Another favorite of ours is anything simply marinated and grilled and served alongside a salad or veggie of some sort.  We've been grilling about twice a week, as cooking with fire is one of the husband's favorite ways to relax after a long day. 

At this time of year, when produce is becoming so abundant, fresh and inexpensive,  I love to put the grill on double duty, and douse as many veggies as possible in olive oil, salt and pepper to be grilled alongside whatever is on the menu for the evening.  I've mentioned this strategy before, but it definitely bears repeating as we roll into grilling season again.  A fridge full of perfectly grilled veggies is the working woman's weeknight dinner secret weapon.  Tossed with regular or Israeli couscous or cooked pasta, you have a whole-meal salad, or you can use them on sandwiches, in green salads or as a side for a quickly cooked protein.  Some of my current favorites:

Photo from Summer Foods

Corn is just coming into season, and it is so sweet and so cheap right now (39 cents an ear at Trader Joe's or 50 cents an ear at Whole Foods).  Grilling corn does things to it that simple boiling never could... the sugars caramelize, the ears become sticky-sweet, and it is altogether obscene.  Sliced off the cob, the grilled kernels take any salad up a notch, or are delicious sauteed quickly with a little butter.  There's just nothing that says summer like corn.

Cherry tomatoes have also been especially sweet and inexpensive lately (got a gigundo box of them for $2.99 at WF this week).  I love to skewer those little suckers and grill them quickly to perfection.

Tomato photos from The Kitchn

Toss them with some angel hair and torn basil and/or chopped fresh mozzarella and you have a restaurant-quality dinner in minutes.  Or mix them into Israeli couscous with feta and chopped mint for a great Mediterranean side.  They're also phenomenal as a topping for any simply grilled flaky white fish.

Photo from Veggie Belly

Finally, my old workhorses zuchinni and summer squash are always dirt cheap and reliable on the grill.  They're fabulous on their own as a side, or with almost any carb for a complete meal.  Or dare to make them the centerpiece of your dinner with a zesty rub and special sauce like the Chipotle-Lime Grilled Squash with Creamy Tomatillo Sauce pictured above.

Busy times call for dinner shortcuts, but that doesn't mean you have to sacrifice on flavor or nutrition.

What's your favorite way to use grilled veggies?