This recipe comes from Mark Bittman’s How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. I made it over the weekend when some friends came over to dinner. I think they and Mike thought I was a little crazy when I told them I was feeding them kidney beans with pears. But they’re good friends, so they tried it anyway. It was a hit! So here is the recipe for you to enjoy.

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 shallots, minced
• 3 pears, cubed
• 2 15-ounce cans kidney beans, drained
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• 2 teaspoons fresh thyme, chopped (or heaping 1/2 teaspoon dried)
• sea salt and freshly cracked pepper

1. Heat the oil in  a large skillet over medium heat. Add the shallots and pears. Cook for about 5 minutes, until just starting to brown.
2. Add the wine and thyme. Bring to a boil and allow most of the wine to cook off.
3. Add the kidney beans and a generous sprinkle of salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes more until the beans are heated through. Serve.

(Serves 4)

I used Asian pears because I love their crunch. I used one can of dark red beans and one can of light red just to add a little variety.

The grocery store had purple potatoes the other day. As you know by now, if there is a food that’s not the “normal” color, I have no choice but to purchase it. This led to a fun incident tonight in which, while Mike is chopping vegetables, I hear a sudden intake of breathe.  I assume Mike sliced his finger. Nope, just startled by the purple insides. Heh. Much better than bloody finger(s) to deal with while we’re trying to prepare dinner. I laughed at him and dinner making continued. We ended up with this tasty dish.

• 2 cups cubed carrots
• 2 cups cubed turnips
• 2 cups cubed potatoes
• 1 cup cubed onion
• vegetable oil (for drizzling)
• sea salt
• freshly cracker pepper

For the horseradish sauce:

• 1 egg yolk
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2-4 tablespoons prepared horseradish

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Combine the carrots, turnips, potatoes and onions in a large roasting pan. Drizzle with oil and season generously with salt and pepper. Toss to coat. Roast until vegetables are tender and starting to brown along the edges, about 1 hour.
3. Meanwhile, combine the yolk, lemon juice, water and salt in a large bowl. Whisk together. While continuing to whisk, add in a few drops of oil, then a few more, to start the emulsion. Add the remaining oil in a slow, steady stream. When all the oil has been added, stir in the horseradish.
4. Once the vegetables are ready, serve, drizzled with horseradish sauce.

(Serves 2-3)

Obviously, purple potatoes are not required to make the dish. But if  you can find them, they certainly make the dish more colorful.

The horseradish sauce is really mayonnaise with horseradish added. When you’ve first made the mayonnaise it should be thick enough to cling to the whisk. After the horseradish is added it thins out and is more pourable. I provided a range for the amount of horseradish to add since that will depend on how much you like horseradish and how “spicy” your particular horseradish is. Unless you really douse the vegetables you’ll have leftover sauce. To make less you’d have to start using part of an egg yolk, and that seemed silly. So save the rest and think up other dishes that horseradish could accompany.

This dish won’t win any healthy recipe awards, but I’m ok with that. Sometimes a rich creamy pasta is called for when the temperature drops. (Guess I’m trying to fatten up for winter or something.)

• 6 ounces blue cheese, crumbled
• 1 cup half and half
• 2 small Asian pears, chopped
• 3/4 cup walnuts, chopped
• 3 cups well-packed torn chard
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sherry vinegar
• freshly cracked pepper
• sea salt
• 12 ounces gluten-free pasta

1. Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Salt and add the noodles.
2. Heat a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the half and half. Then add blue cheese. Stir to allow the cheese to melt. Stir in the vinegar. Season generously with pepper. Add the pears and walnuts.
3. When the noodles are cooked, add the chard to the noodle pot. Then drain the noodles.
4. Stir noodles and chard into the cheese sauce and serve.

(Serves 5-6)

If you use red chard, like I did, be gentle when stirring the noodles into the sauce, stir just enough to get the noodles coated. If you keep stirring you’ll end up with pink sauce. (On the other hand maybe you want that, so stir away.)

You can reduce the amount of cheese to lessen the blue cheese flavor (and give your arteries a bit of a break), although really if you have issues with the flavor of blue cheese then perhaps you should just skip this recipe entirely. Or try it with a different cheese and let me know how it goes.

You know it’s fall when the roasted squash recipes appear. I made this a couple weeks ago to bring to a friend’s “Autumn Fest.” Basically, I started with my recipe for roasted squash and pears and added some other ingredients to make a more substantial dish.

• 2 small delicata squash, cubed
• 4 anjou pears, cubed
• 3 small red onions, cut into eighths
• 3 well-packed cups of torn kale
• 1/4 cup dried cranberries
• 2/3 cup wild rice
• 1/3 cup brown rice
• 1/3 cup red rice
• 3 cups water
• walnut oil, for drizzling
• freshly cracked pepper
• sea salt

Dressing

• 5 tablespoons walnut oil
• 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
• 1 tablespoon water
• 1 tablespoon dijon mustard
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon honey

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Mix the squash, pears, and onions in a casserole dish or roasting pan. Drizzle lightly with oil, season with salt and pepper, and toss to coat. Roast in the oven for about one hour and fifteen minutes. Scrap and mix about halfway through the cooking time. The edges should be just beginning to brown.
3. Meanwhile, combine the rice and water in a pot. Bring the water to a boil; then cover and reduce to a simmer.
4. Make the dressing by whisking all the ingredients together; set aside.
5. Add the kale to the rice pot when about 5 minutes are left on the pears and squash.
6. Mix the rice/kale and pear/squash mixtures in a large bowl or serving platter. Add the dried cranberries and dressing. Toss to coat. Adjust salt and pepper and serve.

(Serves 6-8)

I used the delicata squash and anjou pears, mainly because that’s what looked best at the store. If you decide to give the recipe a go, I would worry more about produce that looks good rather than making sure to have the exact same type of produce.

You don’t necessarily have to use the same proportions of rice, but for the timing to work make sure to stick with unmilled rice. You could make the recipe with white rice but make sure to adjust the cooking time down as white rice cooks in much less time.

Mike declared this one of his favorites foods that I’ve made up for the blog, so I guess you could say he recommends it.

This is my first time participating in Book of Yum’s Adopt a Gluten-Free Blogger Event. I’ve pondered it before, but then never got around to joining. Mike has been nagging me to stop being lazy and just do it.

Then, a couple days ago, I sent Mike the link the Carrie’s website. I was excited about the pictures of Ocracoke Island–my family had some great camping trips there when I was a kid. Mike didn’t care so much about the pictures but was excited about the Potato and Spinach Enchiladas and insisted we make them. So my first “adoption” came about.

Carrie was nice enough to agree to answer some questions about herself so that we can all get to know her a bit better.

Now, some notes about the enchiladas:

1. These things are crazy healthy. 6 cups of spinach! Do you know how much spinach that is? (One more cup than five Carrie is working really hard on healthy eating right now, and these are right on the mark.
2. They are mighty tasty too. I’d never made sofrito before, but really enjoyed the flavor. (Like Carrie we used half cilantro/half parsley.)
3. They’re quick and easy, which is always a plus for weeknight meals.
4. I think next time I’ll go ahead and add in the whole can of beans. We love our beans around here.
5. There were lots of leftovers. Just the two of us here, and we value our leftovers. Great way to save time during the week and have delicious lunches that are the envy of your coworkers.

Thanks to Carrie for the great recipe and for taking the time to answer my questions. If you’d like to try some tasty vegan enchiladas, head on over to her site to get the recipe.

There we were, shopping for groceries, admiring all the colorful summer produce (at least I was), and there they were, sticking out like a sore thumb: black bell peppers.

Ok, I’ll stop acting like a dork and making up stories out of grocery trips. But they are kinda cool. At least, I’ve never seen or heard of them before. We bought a couple and a couple red peppers for good measure.

The second surprise came when we cut them open and they were green inside. I suppose I could’ve guessed that. They did have greenish streaks when I looked at them carefully. I wanted to make something that would feature their color. I decided on stuffed peppers, since they would stay mostly whole. Apparently they turn green as you cook them, so I guess my plans were somewhat thwarted. That doesn’t mean the peppers weren’t good though.

• 4 bell peppers, de-stemmed, de-seeded, de-ribbed
• 1 cup cooked quinoa
• 8 ounces tempeh, crumbled
• 1 medium yellow onion, minced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 8-ounce can of tomato sauce
• 2 cups well-packed torn spinach
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon dried parsley
• 1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• freshly cracked black pepper
• sea salt
• 1/4 cup water

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Heat the oil in a large frying pan over medium-high heat.
3. Add the tempeh, season with salt and pepper, and cook for about 5 minutes, until browned
4. Push the tempeh over to one side of the pan, add the onion and garlic. Cook for a few minutes, until starting to brown around the edges.
5. Remove from heat and mix in the spinach, quinoa, parsley, rosemary, red pepper, and most but not all of the tomato sauce. Taste and adjust seasoning if necessary.
6. Stuff the peppers with the filling and place in a casserole dish. Top with the remaining tomato sauce. Add the water to the casserole dish.
7. Bake in the oven for about 40 minutes, the peppers will look wrinkled. Serve.

(Serves 4)

I did not precook the peppers before stuffing them because I wanted the finished peppers to be firmer. If you’d like the peppers to be softer you can cook them in boiling water for a few minutes before stuffing them. Alternatively, you can roast them in the oven (it’s on anyway) for 15ish minutes before stuffing.

Many stuffed pepper recipes call for cheese on top. I omitted cheese this time, but you’re certainly welcome to add it.

Hannah and Phoebe over at I Heart Kale posted a recipe about a month ago for basil, fig, caramelized onion pizza. I was intrigued and made a mental note to give it a try.

This past weekend Mike’s mom sent us home with some fresh basil from her garden, and when we went for the “just got back from out of town” grocery trip, lo and behold the first figs were in. Obviously, it was meant to be.

This pizza was scrumptious. I was happy because I finally got to try it. Mike was happy because it was fruit on pizza. Basically it was good all around.

I didn’t change the recipe at all, so I’m gonna send you over to I Heart Kale to get the recipe. I’m just here to spread the word and post pictures to get your mouth watering.

Note from Kalinda: Mike wanted to borrow the blog to share one of his food creations.

Sometimes, Kalinda decides to make things involving radishes or some such. So I’m forced to fend for myself for dinner. Last time that happened, I made a banana pizza.

Working on the premise that any meal can be improved by replacing the vegetables with fruit, I axed the whole tomato sauce concept and used mashed up bananas instead. I wasn’t sure what to use for toppings, so I opted to diversify my holdings. My asset allocation was as follows:

1. Blueberries: 50%
2. Walnuts: 25%
3. Chocolate chips: 25%

[Kalinda's note: Any guesses what Mike normally blogs about?]

Looks delicious, right? Yep, it was. All 3 of the sections tasted great (as if there had been any doubt that blueberries, walnuts, or chocolate chips would go well with bananas and a bread product). That said, it’s debatable whether the end result can truly be called a dinner (breakfast? dessert?).

I don’t so much have a “recipe,” as I just used a Whole Foods frozen gluten-free pizza crust. I really only have three tips:

1. 3 bananas should be plenty. I mashed 4, and I ended up with extra banana mash.
2. I’d suggest putting the chocolate chips on after cooking rather than beforehand unless you want them to get completely melted. (I like mine so that they’re soft, but still distinguishable as “chips.”)
3. Try putting the nuts and the berries together. That probably would have been even better.

(Serves 1 pizza’s worth of people.)

Enjoy.

I made this last week when we had some friends over for dinner. I liked it enough that I decided to make it again.

• 3/4 pound green beans
• 3 1/2 cups cooked cannellini beans
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
• zest and juice of 1 lemon
• freshly cracked pepper
• sea salt

1. Blanch and shock the green beans. (For reference: Bring a small pot of water to boil. Salt well. Have a large bowl with ice cubes and water nearby. Once water is boiling, add the green beans. Cook just long enough to take the raw edge off, 1-1.5 minutes. The green beans should be bright green. Drain, then plunge the beans into the ice bath to stop the cooking. Drain again once they are cooled.)
2. Trim and chop the green beans into half inch segments.
3. In a large bowl mix the green beans, cannellini beans, and parsley. Zest and juice the lemon over the top. Add a large pinch of salt and lots of freshly cracked pepper. Mix well. Chill for an hour before serving.

(Serves 6)

You can serve the salad immediately, but I felt the flavor was better after the salad was chilled a bit.

The food blogosphere has been full of spring risotto recipes for weeks now: risotto with ramps, risotto with peas, risotto with asparagus. And they all sound delicious. However, as I pointed out in my previous soup post, it’s hasn’t been that warm around here. I haven’t seen any peas or ramps at the store. Our produce boxes have steadily included apples and hearty greens though. So I made risotto with what I had.

I’ve mentioned before that I dislike store-bought veggie broth. I didn’t have any homemade broth either. So I made some up on the spot which I’ve included in the recipe.

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 small white onion, diced
• 3 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 cups Arborio rice
• 3/4 cup hard apple cider
• 4 1/2 cups mushroom broth (see below)
• 2 large leaves of kale, de-stemmed and chopped
• 1 small apple, chopped
• 1 tablespoon butter
• sea salt, freshly ground black pepper, and crushed red pepper

For the broth:

• 1/2 cup hard apple cider
• 4 cups water
• 1 ounce of dried shitake mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon cracked peppercorns
• large pinch of sea salt
• 1 sprig of fresh rosemary

1. Combine all the ingredients for the broth in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cover and let simmer for at least 15 minutes. Keep the broth over low heat while making the risotto.
2. When ready to start the risotto, heat the olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat.
3. Add the onions and garlic and cook for a few minutes until the onions are translucent.
4. Add the rice, cook for 1 or 2 minutes, stirring so that the rice gets coated in oil.
5. Add the hard cider, continue stirring until the cider is absorbed, another minute or two.
6. Add the broth a ladleful at a time. Stir frequently. Once the broth is absorbed add another ladle. Continue until all the broth has been used.
7. When the broth is mostly used, remove the shitakes and allow to cool. When cool enough to touch, slice.
8. After all the broth has been absorbed, stir in the kale, apples, shitakes, and butter. Season with salt and peppers. Cook for a few minutes until the butter is melted, the kale is wilted, and the apples are heated through. Serve.

(Serves 6)

You certainly can use pre-made vegetable or mushroom broth if you have either. I’d use the same technique and soak the shitakes while the broth is being warmed. Or you could leave the mushrooms out entirely, since their purpose was to flavor the broth.

Obviously I veered from typical risotto making by using hard cider in place of white wine. The apple flavor was pretty subtle. Wine would certainly work if you can’t track down (or don’t feel like tracking down) hard cider.

This recipe has a fairly high ratio of veggies/fruit to rice. That’s considered good in my book, but others may think it distracts from the creaminess of the risotto. If that is you, you may want to scale back on the kale, apples, or mushrooms.