Penne with Spring Vegetables

Sometimes you just want something light, fresh, nutritious and filling- but not too filling- and still delicious.  And sometimes, all you need to get that is a few fresh vegetables and some pantry basics.  (Hey, I never claimed to be a revolutionary.)  

Penne with Spring Vegetables

1/2 lb. dried penne pasta  (I like Barilla Plus or Ronzoni Smart Taste)

1 medium Italian yellow squash

1 medium zucchini

2 small broccoli crowns

1 red onion

1 garlic clove

A handful of grape or cherry tomatoes  OR  2 Roma tomatoes

Extra-virgin olive oil (The good stuff-  cold-pressed, imported from Italy)

Balsamic vinegar (Again, a good one)

Salt & pepper

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, then add the penne and a small amount of salt.  Continue to cook penne according to package instructions.

Meanwhile, heat a large saute pan over medium-low heat. 

Halve the squash and zucchini lengthwise.  Halve lengthwise again, so you have long triangular sticks.  Chop the sticks (haha) into pieces approximately 1/4 inch thick.  Cut broccoli crowns off the stem, creating large-ish florets.  If using grape or cherry tomatoes, halve them.  If using Roma or another variety of tomato, seed and dice them.  Remove the skin from the red onion, and slice off two very thin, uh, slices.  (Note to self: work on cooking vocabulary.)  Mince garlic or press in garlic press, whichever you prefer.

Add a couple of tablespoons of olive oil to the saute pan.  Let it heat through for about a minute, then add the vegetables and garlic, except for the tomatoes.  (If you prefer, you could keep the broccoli out and steam it.  But that means another pot to clean, and I do enough dishes already.)  Cook, stirring frequently, until vegetables are tender-crisp or desired doneness.  Remove from heat.

See, it's even pretty while it's cooking.

Combine penne and cooked vegetables in a serving bowl.  Add the tomatoes.  Drizzle with olive oil and balsamic vinegar to taste.  Sprinkle with salt and pepper, also to taste.  Toss to coat.  Admire its gorgeousness.  Serve warm.   (Serves 4.)

Easy Peasy Tomato Soup

Tomato soup is a beloved comfort food of mine.  I don't even need a grilled cheese sandwich alongside it (although that never hurts), just give me the good stuff.  My husband, however, despises tomato soup.  His is a hatred that runs deep and surely stems from some long-buried childhood tomato soup-related trauma.  So imagine my surprise, nay, my SHOCK when he willingly tried this tomato soup... and then... he liked it.  Coulda knocked me over with a feather.

Here's the scoop on how I made mine, and how you can make your own:

I made homemade vegetable stock the night before, and as I said in the post about said stock, on the suggestion of someone else out there in internet land, I kept the vegetables afterward for use in tomato soup.  I wasn't sure how it would work out, but I figured I would give it a shot.  (I didn't keep the apple cores or the parsley, just the vegetables.)  The additional vegetables gave the soup a lovely body and thickness, not to mention a good wallop of fiber.  The carrots lent a subtle sweetness which balanced the acid of the tomatoes nicely, and well, you can never go wrong with garlic.  If you don't happen to have vegetables laying around from making stock, you could cook them in the microwave or steam them.  Roasting them is another option, but that will caramelize the vegetables and intensify their flavors- a beautiful thing to be sure, but they may overpower the tomatoes.  Only way to know for sure is to try though, huh?   Any which way, adding the vegetables elevates this tomato soup beyond what you'll get from a can.

Easy Peasy Tomato Soup

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 can (28 oz) whole peeled tomatoes

2 cups low-sodium vegetable stock

Vegetables reserved from making stock (cooked carrots, celery, broccoli, onions and garlic)

In a medium saucepan, heat olive oil over medium heat one minute, add tomatoes, let heat through for about 5 minutes, or until they begin to break down a little bit.

Meanwhile, in a blender, puree vegetables and vegetable stock.  Add heated tomatoes.  (When blending warm/hot ingredients in a blender always be sure to remove the center piece from the lid to allow steam to escape and prevent your blender from cracking or exploding- I'm not kidding.  Hold a clean dishtowel firmly over the lid to prevent a huge mess.) 

Puree again until mixture is smooth.  

Return to saucepan over medium heat until heated through.  Serve hot.

Compromise is the Secret to a Happy Marriage

I love sweet potatoes.  Love, love, love them.  And it's a huge bonus that they are one of the most nutritious vegetables you can put in your body.  (Okay, technically, they're a tuber, and I don't know if those qualify as a vegetable because I'm not an expert in the classifications of agriculture.  But if you really care that much about it, feel free to research.  And then, maybe get a hobby.  Because seriously? )  I am not, however, a fan of the candied sweet potatoes found on so many Thanksgiving tables.  Why ruin a lovely sweet potato with all that excess??  What did it ever do to you? 

My hubs, on the other hand, adores candied sweet potatoes (and pretty much any other food drowning in sugar and butter), and so, I agreed to make them for him at Thanksgiving.  Of course, I was going to drastically reduce the butter and sugar in the recipes and try to save the integrity and flavor and natural awesomeness of the little lovelies, but he didn't need to know that.  And then, tragically, I was not able to make them for the big day.  I bet you can imagine how sad I was.  There were buckets of tears... or maybe not.  At least not on my end.  He was pretty disappointed.  

After a while, I started to feel bad about the fact that he missed his favorite part of Thanksgiving (other than the turkey and cranberry sauce and my mom's rolls and the stuffing and the pie), but I was no longer interested in revisiting and modifying the recipes I'd found for candied sweet potatoes.  So I made these:

Baked sweet potatoes with marshmallows!  I was able to forgo the criminal amounts of sugar and butter (and keep the skins!), but he still got the sweetness and beloved marshmallows.  Our toddler couldn't believe we were having marshmallows for dinner.  She was BEYOND excited.  This was a hit all around.  

If you want to make your own, it's really easy.  Here's what you do:

You'll need one sweet potato for each person.  Scrub them well, and then pierce in a few places with a fork.

Preheat the oven to 375 F.  Place your sweet potatoes in a nonstick cake pan or something like it because after a while, the insides start to bubble out and it will make a mess in your oven if you don't use a pan.   You can forgo the pan if cleaning your oven is your idea of a good time, but if it is?  You need more than a hobby.  But I digress.  

Bake the potatoes for about an hour or until cooked through and soft.

Remove from the oven.  Cut open lengthwise, but not all the way through.  Add a small pat of butter, a sprinkle of salt and a TINY BIT of sugar and mash the flesh of the potatoes well.  I am not kidding about the SMALL pat of butter and the TINY bit of sugar.  DO NOT make me come over there. 

Switch the oven to broil.

Top the potatoes with a small handful of mini marshmallows, and return the pans to the oven for 2-3 minutes, until the marshmallows are golden on top.  You'll want to stick around and keep an eye on them so they don't burn.  Once they're ready, remove from the oven and let cool a few minutes before serving.  

Spiced Apple Butter Muffins

These muffins scream "fall", but they're equally delicious any other time of the year. I got the recipe in an email from RealAge.com, so you can be assured they're reasonably healthy, too. when I made them, I subbed honey for the molasses (I have this thing against molasses, mostly that I hate the way it smells) and I used half rice milk and half 2% milk because I didn't have any lowfat milk. Oh, and I threw in a couple of tablespoons of flaxseed at the end. They were really good- good enough that my two-year-old called them cupcakes.


SPICED APPLE BUTTER MUFFINS

1/2 cup raisins
3/4 cup whole-wheat flour
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
3/4 cup unprocessed wheat bran or oat bran
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1/2 cup low-fat milk
1/2 cup spiced apple butter
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar or 1/4 cup Splenda Sugar Blend for Baking
1/4 cup canola oil
3 tablespoons molasses
1 cup finely diced peeled apple


1. Preheat oven to 375°F. Coat 12 standard 2 1/2-inch muffin cups with cooking spray. Place raisins in a small bowl and cover with hot water. Set aside.
2. Whisk whole-wheat flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a large bowl. Stir in bran.
3. Whisk egg, milk, apple butter, brown sugar (or Splenda), oil and molasses in a large bowl until blended. Make a well in the dry ingredients and pour in the wet ingredients. Drain the raisins; add them and the diced apple to the bowl. Stir until just combined. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan (the cups will be very full).
4. Bake the muffins until the tops spring back when touched lightly, 18 to 22 minutes. Let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Loosen the edges and turn the muffins out onto a wire rack to cool slightly before serving.

TIP: Wrap leftover muffins individually in plastic wrap, place in a plastic storage container or ziplock bag and freeze for up to 1 month. To thaw, remove plastic wrap, wrap in a paper towel and microwave on Defrost for about 2 minutes.

Three Bean and Corn Salad with Salsa Vinaigrette

If you invite me to a potluck barbecue, chances are I'm bringing this. I love it because it's easy, it's healthy, and it's so good. The original recipe came from a chef on the Today show a few years ago, but I've made a couple of changes.

1 can each kidney beans, Great Northern beans, and black beans, drained and thoroughly rinsed
1 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
3 green onions, chopped
1 bell pepper (any color), seeded and chopped
1/3 cup canola oil
1/4 cup tomato salsa
2 to 3 tablespoons cider vinegar
1 teaspoon crushed garlic
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
1/2 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1. In a bowl, combine all the beans with the corn, green onions and bell pepper. Mix well.

2. In a small bowl*, whisk together the oil, salsa, vinegar, garlic and cumin. Season with salt and pepper.

3. Pour the dressing over the bean mixture and stir to mix. Let stand for about 30 minutes to allow the flavors to combine.

4. Just before serving, garnish with cilantro.

*I put all of the dressing ingredients into a jar, put the lid on and shake it up- especially if I'm making this ahead of time or taking it somewhere, since I can just leave it in the jar until I'm ready to use it.

A favorite dinner

I discovered this recipe while watching the television version of Real Simple (it's a magazine, too). I decided to give it a try, since we adore salmon in our house, and it seemed like a relatively painless process. Also, since it was on TV, I got to see what this mysterious vegetable called fennel is and how to prepare it. Just in case some of you are as lacking in education as I am, this is fennel:



Apparently, in some grocery stores, they call it anise. I don't know why. Some vast self-righteous foodie conspiracy, I'm sure. Anyway, in the middle is what the recipe-making lady called a "woody core". You don't want to eat it, unless you like chewing on things that are tough and tasteless. If you cut the fennel bulb in half up and down, you'll see it at the bottom in the middle. Cut it out. Also, fennel tastes a bit (and smells a lot) like licorice. Black licorice. This scared me because I do not black licorice as much as Hollywood doesn't like President Bush. Yeah, it's that serious. However, once it's roasted, it's quite good, so don't be afraid of it. If you are still afraid of it, I suppose you could come up with some sort of substitution, but I'm not gonna help you with that... mostly because I have no clue what you might use.

Anyway, my husband and I don't usually agree on what tastes good, but we both love this- as does our 18 month-old, who will eat almost as much of it as we do. The tomatoes burst open and are so good (and I'm not big on tomatoes in general), the onion gets sweet and soft and the salmon is fantastic, and the recipe practically makes itself. What's not to love?