let's get down tonight with a millet vegetable bowl

I can't explain just how happy this meal made me. I loved every single bite. I kicked myself that I didn't make more because while it was filling, I would have loved leftovers to enjoy all over again. And, if that wasn't enough, the dinner was healthy and helped to rid the bits inside my refrigerator, including the remaining amazing tahini-ginger dressing that I made the night before.

Somehow the cumin-scented vegetables (crush your own cumin seeds, so worth it!) and the ginger, lemon and tahini of the dressing mingle to make sweet, sweet love to your mouth. It's plain delicious.

millet vegetable bowl
(inspired by 101 cookbooks)
3 potatoes, diced
1 onion, diced
1 small rutabaga (swede), diced
1 large carrot, diced
2 T olive oil
1 T cumin seeds, crushed
salt & pepper
1 c millet
2 c vegetable stock
1 small head broccoli, broken into florets
1/4 c toasted pecans, broken
tahini ginger dressing + extra olive oil and lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 450. In a large bowl, combine the diced vegetables (potatoes to carrots) with the olive oil and cumin and mix until everything is coated. Dump into a large baking tray and bake until vegetables are that perfect mixture of soft and crispy, about 35 minutes.

2. Meanwhile bring the veggie stock to a boil and add in the millet. Turn heat to low and cover until all the liquid is absorbed. Set aside.

3. Steam broccoli for just a few minutes until bright green and crisp-tender. Remove immediately from the heat.

4. Mix up the ginger-tahini dressing. If you don't have enough leftover dressing, add in the juice of half a lemon and more olive oil. Taste and adjust seasonings.

5. Get out your 2 most favorite large bowls and section out the millet, the roasted vegetables, the broccoli and the pecans into said bowls. Drizzle dressing over top and dig in. Kick yourself because you didn't make a double batch.

like an old sweater, but better: baked pasta with roasted vegetables

It's been rainy and grey for the past 2 days now and I'm totally getting back into cooking and baking again. It feels good and familiar, like wearing a comfy sweater with holes in the cuffs to poke your thumbs through. I may not win any style points but it feels so right. Last night's dinner is like that sweater. It ain't pretty but it was comfort through and through.

baked pasta with roasted vegetables
My fridge is pretty packed with vegetables and I had to do something with them before things turned bad, so I pulled everything out onto the counter and decided that roasting them would be the best option. I turned on the radio to my favorite station and poured myself a bit of wine and got busy. Onions were peeled and chopped, green beans were snapped, cauliflower was broken into florets, cherry tomatoes were chopped in half, kale was roughly torn and into the pan went a lone yam. Everything was drizzled with soy sauce, a generous glug of balsamic vinegar and a pull of olive oil. Salt, pepper, rosemary, oregano, a few cloves of fresh garlic and even a chopped apple rounded out the mix. Into a high heated oven it went and I tossed things occasionally to keep the cooking even. When I felt things were almost ready, I put on a pot of water, set it to boil, salted the water and added in some whole wheat rigatoni. Another glass of wine was poured and the pasta drained.

In a large oven proof pot I mixed the pasta and the roasted vegetables and tore up some slices of emmental cheese, threw in some leftover soft stinky cheese left over from a party last week, and stirred in a few heaping spoonfuls of ricotta. If I was so inclined I would have covered the whole mess with buttered crumbs, but I wasn't....so back into the oven this meal went. A few minutes later, once all the cheese got all melty and creamy, it was out of the oven and into a couple of waiting bowls....Oh yeah, that's what I'm talking about. Comfort through and through.

tired of take-out

I'm once again working away from my home office during the day and catching up on freelance work at night. I don't have much time for cooking or blogging and everything seems like a bit of an effort. Don't even ask me about doing the dishes! But after a bad bout of salty, MSG-laden Chinese delivery, I decided I couldn't live with take-out horrors any longer. I had to make something simple and try to make use of the bits and pieces left in the cupboard and fridge. This was last night's dinner and the results were not only delicious but so simple to prepare. You could easily substitute any vegetable you had on hand as this recipe lends well to improvisation. I'd eat this over bad take out any day!

roasted vegetables & chickpeas over couscous
*Make sure all the vegetables are similar in size to help even out cooking time.

1/2 tin of chickpeas, drained
1/2 onion, diced
1 large potato, diced
1 large yam, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 head of broccoli, broken into florets
2 T olive oil
1/2 t Hungarian sweet paprika
1 t cumin
1 t coriander
salt & pepper
2 handfuls of raisins
2 handfuls of chopped walnuts
1 c couscous
1 1/2 c water or vegetable broth
feta cheese (optional)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. In a large bowl, mix the chickpeas, onion, potato, yam, celery, broccoli with the oil and the spices and combine well. Dump in a roasting pan and heat until the vegetables are fully roasted, about 30 minutes or so. Remove from oven and add raisins and walnuts and mix well.

2. Boil water or broth in a saucepan, add couscous, turn off heat and cover. Wait 15 minutes.

3. Serve couscous in large bowls topped with the roasted vegetable/chickpea mixture. Sprinkle with feta cheese, if desired.

get your veg on.

It was so sunny and bright and warm this afternoon that I spent a lot of time wandering my neighbourhood. It was a welcome relief from being chained to the computer working on client projects. The sun was strong and it smelled like springtime -- a welcome relief from the cloudy drizzle that the Pacific Northwest is known for. I went to the little Italian market in my neighbourhood and picked up some beautiful looking vegetables that could, by their very presence, transform my kitchen into a bit of early spring.

With this recipe, any vegetable combination would work well. Use what's in your kitchen and I'm sure you'll be fine.

roast vegetable pasta bake
250 g dry short pasta (I used Creste di Gallo)
1 red onion
5 cloves of garlic
1 small zucchini
6 large mushrooms
1 small red pepper
1 small yellow pepper
2 large leafs of kale, torn into small pieces
salt & pepper
3 T olive oil
1 T dried basil
zest of 1 lemon
2 T capers
1 c grated mozzerella
1/2 c crumbled feta cheese
1/4 c grated parmesan cheese
2 c cubed bread

1. Cook pasta as per box directions. Drain and set aside.

2. While pasta is cooking, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Chop onion into large chunks and roughly chop the garlic. Cut zucchini into 1/2" slices. Cut mushrooms into quarters and chop up the peppers into large pieces. In a large bowl, toss the vegetables with 2 T of olive oil, some salt & pepper and 1/2 of the basil. Dump the vegetable mixture into a large baking dish and roast until vegetables are somewhat soft, about 20 minutes.

3. Add the cooked pasta into a large bowl and toss with the capers, lemon zest, roasted vegetables, kale, feta cheese and the grated mozzerella. Add a bit more salt & pepper and throw in the rest of the basil. Pour out into a large baking dish.

4. For the topping, combine the bread and parmesan cheese with the reminder of the olive oil and spread over the pasta mixture. Bake uncovered for 400 degrees until golden, about 30 - 40 minutes.