Some food experiments: Grilling and sweet potato burritos

Since I found the list of 101 ideas for the grill, I've been experimenting with different grilled foods. My results: grilled asparagus, great, but don't overcook it. Grilled watermelon, not great. But my parents' dog Amos really, really liked that one--probably something about the bratwurst flavor that was infused in the watermelon after grilling. In fact, Amos liked it so much that he scarfed down all his food for the first time since I got here, with minimal coaxing! Grilled avacado is ok, but it didn't add a lot to the normal avacado flavor. Grilled peppers, very good. All in all, my favorite grill experiment so far is definitely the asparagus. I just tossed it in olive oil with sea salt (since my parents don't have kosher salt and I was house-sitting during this particular experiment) and a little bit of pepper, and grilled it for probably less than 5 minutes. The coals were super hot from the chimney starter (I'm not ready for gas or the green egg grill yet...they seem much more likely to blow up in my face when I don't know which buttons to hit) so the stalks directly over the coals were already burnt by that point.

My other experiment for the week was sweet potato burritos. I was very skeptical about these, even though they are labeled "addictive." I'm very picky about how I like sweet potatoes, and I wasn't entirely sure about the idea of a burrito essentially completely filled with smooshy food. I decided to take my chances since all the reviews were so positive, and I'm glad I did. I made all the fillings from scratch (no canned sweet potatoes or refried beans) since I heard that made a difference, and they were delicious. My cautions--they are best when you make sure the beans and the sweet potatoes are mixed well inside the tortilla, to make sure you're not getting a full bite of sweet potatoes and another full bite of beans. Make sure you have enough cheese, as the sharpness balances out the rest of the flavors. And, if you're using the smaller tortillas, make a few of these! They're good enough to eat several of and not as filling as they look. These are vegetarian, but I think you could easily add shredded pork or chicken to them if you wanted.

Red Pepper Bagel Sandwiches...finally!

After a week of alternately being busy and fighting with an unpleasant case of food poisoning, I'm finally ready to write about my last vegetarian experiment. And since I made it on Monday, it's about time! I'm really torn between French and Mexican food for this month's experiment. I had every intention of working with French food, so I can really use the cookbook I got from my sister for Chistmas and do some good experimenting. I've heard that this guy wrote some of the best cookbooks for learning French food, which definitely interests me. Also, I've never really eaten much French food, and I'd like to have a general idea of what's going on when I head over to France this fall. But, a lot of the food that really appeals to me in the book is a little beyond my level of need at the moment...as much as I would like to cook a 3 pound chicken every week, I really don't need that much food! And I LOVE Mexican food an unnatural amount. So, I'll do some pondering and hopefully come up with an idea before I go grocery shopping!

I made roasted red pepper bagel sandwiches for my experiment this week, and they were surprisingly both a lot better and a lot more filling than I expected. I made them from a recipe from Cooking Light magazine and followed it pretty close, but did make a few changes. First, I served it on a normal sized bagel--I was looking for dinner, not appetizers! The first time I made them, I did include the garlic cloves. When I made them again for lunches at work, I left that part out so I wouldn't kill everyone around me with the garlic smell! My only objection to these is using the canned roasted red peppers--they're convenient, which is wonderful, but I had a hard time getting over how slimy they looked and felt pulling them out of the jar. They tasted great, but each time I took I bite I was expecting a mouth full of slime.

Roasted Red Pepper Bagel Sandwiches
My version. These are great, quick and surprisingly filling.

Ingredients

• Plain bagels
• Fat free cream cheese
• 1 jar roasted red peppers (or roast your own to get around the slimy look!)
• 1 clove garlic, minced (optional--when I did this, I used a whole clove on one sandwich and it was good and spicy!)
• Black pepper

Directions

1. Toast the bagel.
2. Meanwhile, combine enough cream cheese for 1 bagel (about 2 big spoonfulls), minced garlic and black pepper and whip them together until well mixed.
3. Coat both sides of the bagel with the cream cheese mix.
4. Add the red pepper.

It's really that fast and simple, and tastes a lot better than I expected with the simple ingredients. Yum.

Happy Easter to everyone tomorrow! Enjoy your jellybeans and deviled eggs :)

Food Experiments: Moroccan Lentil Stew and Kickboxing

When I first joined the gym by my house, I had been out of college (and my college-era martial arts training) for about a year. One of my goals was to get back into something close to the great shape I had been in for martial arts, and I decided that I wanted to go to a few kickboxing classes. I miss martial arts still, but I will probably never be willing to sell my soul to them to become a black belt. To remedy this, within my first month, I went to my first kickboxing class.

It was pretty darn horrible. I thought I was going to throw up for most of the class, and I was surrounded by skinny little high school students who were doing everything I couldn't, six inches higher, and laughing and cheering the whole time. That was about two years ago, and today (at Steamboat Willie's instigation) was the first time since that I have decided to go to a kickboxing class. This was the class I originally had wanted to go to, because it adds weighted gloves and a heavy bar to the exercises to add some resistance.

I was absolutely terrified.


But, I am pleased to announce that the last two years of working out must have paid off, because...I made it all the way to the burpies at the end of the class before I thought I was going to pass out! And it was fun, in a horribly painful sort of way. But then again, I suppose that is kind of the point of anything based on martial arts. At the very least, it gave me a taste of what I had been missing, and it could definitely have the potential to get me back into good shape!

After about a half an hour of walking and stretching until I no longer looked like a cherry tomato, I was happy to come home to my next vegetarian experiment...mostly because it was in my slow cooker and ready to eat. This Moroccan Lentil Stew is my first experience with the lentil, and I can't say it's a bad one. The stew itself is delicious, and the lentils don't seem to have a lot of taste to me. AND for my vegetarian or mostly-vegetarian friends who have a hard time getting in enough protein--the beans and apparently the lentils add quite a lot of protein to this stew. As does the cheese that I smothered it in when serving it!

Just in case, I'll copy the recipe for this below, but I would strongly recommend visiting Stephanie's blog or buying her book if you have any interest in cooking--both are fantastic!



Moroccan Lentil Stew
I made this in a 5.5 qt crockpot...the programmable kind that I love because I can be gone all day and it never burns! It took me aboput 20 minutes to chop everything up and add it in the morning. And you can find dried lentils right by the dried beans in the grocery store, for those of you who have never used them before! Also, keep in mind that this makes a LOT of stew, but she says that it freezes well.

Ingredients

• 1 cup dried lentils
• 1 can garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed and chopped
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped carrots
• 28 oz can of diced tomatoes (and juice)
• 4 cups vegetable broth
• 1 1/2 tsp garam masala
• 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 1/2 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp nutmeg
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 1 inch ginger, peeled and grated

Directions

1. Chop the veggies and add them to the bottom of the crockpot.
2. Drain and rinse the beans, and add them with the lentils.
3. Grate the ginger and add it with the dried spices.
4. Stir in the vegetable broth and tomatoes.
5. Cover and cook on low for 10 hours.

Vegetarian Experiments month

After a month of dessert, I decided it was time for something a little healthier. As much fun as it was for me to have two or three desserts in the fridge at all times, I can't say it helped my pants fit any better!

So I'm declaring this month a vegetarian challenge month. I have a few inspirations for this--first of all, it would be nice to have some recipes I could make when my sister comes home that I know are good. Second, I continually hear that cooking vegetarian once or twice a week is a great way to save money. And finally, I recently found this website with a ton of recipes that sound really, really good!

This week, I made a broccoli brown rice bake (I'll also copy the recipe below, although I'd recommend visiting the website to get some more ideas!). It was good, especially considering how healthy it was, but I think next time I'm going to try adding in a cream of mushroom soup (or something else to add some liquid) and some more smaller vegetables. The casserole was great the first day, but dried out pretty badly on reheating. Also, since the broccoli usually comes in larger chunks, it didn't mix in very evenly with the rice. I think it might be better if I added in some green peas, chopped okra or carrots, or something of a similar smaller size. It is still definitely worth trying, though--for such a simple dish, it was surprisingly good.

Broccoli Brown Rice Bake
I made this in a 9x13 pan, and about a sixth of the pan is a serving.

Ingredients

• 2 cups long-grain brown rice
• 5 cups water
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 cup celery, finely chopped
• 1 cup onions, finely chopped
• 4 cups broccoli, florets and peeled stems
• 4 ounces (half a brick) low fat cream cheese (I added about 2 extra ounces for more moisture)
• freshly ground pepper and salt, to taste
• 1 teaspoon dried basil

Directions

1. Cook the rice according to package directions (in a pot or rice cooker) until tender. Transfer to a large bowl and set aside.
2. Preheat the oven to 350 and lightly grease a large, shallow casserole dish.
3. In a large skillet over medium-high heat, heat the olive oil. Add the celery and onion and sauté for about 7 minutes, or until onions are translucent.
4. Add the broccoli, stir to combine and sauté for another 3 minutes or until broccoli is not quite tender.
5. Add the cheese to the skillet, breaking it up and stirring it to make a slightly thick, creamy gravy that coats the vegetables. Season to taste with salt and pepper.
6. Scrape the vegetable cheese mixture into the bowl with the rice and toss to mix well. Season the casserole with the basil. 
7. Transfer the mixture to an oiled casserole dish, cover with foil and bake for 30-35 minutes or until heated through. Serve hot.