Summer and Fall Flavors

To me, nothing beats the summer flavors of tomato and basil. A simple caprese salad (tomato, basil, mozzarella, balsamic vinegar, and olive oil) is one of the most satisfyingly delicious meals you can eat. And after purchasing an additional 20 pounds of tomatoes from our CSA, Brendan and I had our fill of the tomato-basil combo. But just as satisfying as those summer flavors is the warm taste and smell of fall vegetables being roasted in the oven, with just a hint of olive oil, salt, and pepper. This post is a tribute to the best of summer and best of fall flavors.  

Best of Summer: Tomato-Basil Quinoa
Serves 4
Ingredients:
-1 cup quinoa
-1 tablespoon olive oil
-2 cloves garlic, minced
-1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
-1 tablespoon tomato paste
-3 small tomatoes, diced
-1 bunch of swiss chard, chopped
-1/4 cup basil, chopped
-1 15oz. can low-sodium navy beans, drained & rinsed
-Parmesan cheese
-salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:
1. Cook quinoa according to package
2. Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and red pepper flakes, and stir for 1 minute. Add the tomato paste and stir for another 1 minute. 
3. Add the diced tomatoes and cook for 5 minutes
4. Add chopped swiss chard and cook until wilted (3-5 minutes)
5. Toss in the basil, beans, and cooked quinoa. Mix well to make sure everything is heated through (particularly the beans).
6. Serve with Parmesan cheese grated on top. 

Best of Fall: Roasted Harvest Vegetables 
Modified from: Fight Back With Food, by Editors of Reader's Digest
Serves: 6

Ingredients: 
-1 pound brussels sprouts, halved
-1 butternut squash, peeled and cubed
-1 head of cauliflower, chopped into bite-size pieces
-2 apples, chopped into large chunks
-1 onion, quartered (skin still on)
-3 tablespoons olive oil (remember, 3 teaspoons = 1 tablespoon)
-1/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes, chopped
-2 green onions, sliced
-1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
-1 tablespoon dried rosemary
-2 teaspoons garlic powder
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mix brussels sprouts with 2 teaspoons of olive oil. Mix well.
3. Spread sprouts on a baking sheet and bake for 10-15 minutes, until browned and crispy. 
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 for squash, cauliflower, and apple. Spread onion quarters with remaining 1 teaspoon of olive oil and roast on the corners of one of the baking sheets.
*My oven fits two baking sheets, so I was able to do two rounds of roasting veggies.
5. When onions are done, peel off the skin and chop the roasted onion into bite size pieces. 
6. Combine all roasted veggies (and apple!) in a large bowl. 
7. Add remaining ingredients to the bowl (sun-dried tomatoes through pepper) and mix well. 
8. Serve hot or at room temperature. 

Best of Summer & Fall: Roasted Beet Salad with Basil Dressing
Modified from Cooking Light
Serves 6

Ingredients for salad
-4 beets, roasted and sliced 
-1 fennel bulb, thinly sliced
-fronds from fennel bulb, chopped
-1 small head of endive, sliced
-1/3 cup walnuts, chopped
-6 cups baby spinach, or any other type of salad greens
-3 tablespoons crumbled goat cheese (or whatever type of cheese you prefer)
-salt & pepper, to taste

Ingredients for salad dressing
**The salad dressing is out of this world, crazy-good. Be prepared to fall in love. 
-3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
-1 tablespoon honey
-1 teaspoon grated orange rind
-orange juice from 1/2 an orange (should be about 2 tablespoons)
-2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
-2 teaspoons olive oil
-2 teaspoons dijon mustard
-1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions
You can follow the exact directions from Cooking Light, but I recommend my way of roasting the beets. And you can add the cheese at the very end.
To roast beets: 
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. 
2. Place whole beets (with skin) in an oven-proof container, with just a bit of water in the bottom, covered with aluminum foil. 
3. Roast for 50 minutes. 
4. When you can easily pierce the beets with a fork, the beets are cooked. 
5. Let the beets cool. 
6. Once you can handle the beets, use your hands to peel off the skin--it should slide right off. 
7. Cut the beets into slices for the salad.

Roasted Veggie Recipes

As promised, here are the two roasted veggie recipes. They use similar ingredients, so I suggest making the two recipes within a few days of each other. Also, I must warn: you may become addicted to roasting vegetables after making these recipes...Enjoy!


Roasted Veggies Mixed With Orzo
Serving size = 1 (but can easily be doubled!)
**also, feel free to use whatever veggies you want. These are just the ones I had on hand. 

Ingredients:

-1 sweet potato
-1/2 medium eggplant
-1/4 cauliflower
-1 small onion
**cut the above ingredients into 1-2 inch pieces
-4 beets, remove greens (save for Roasted Veggies Over Cheesy Polenta recipe) and trim off tops and bottoms so that beets have a flat surface
-3 cloves of garlic, minced & separated (you'll need 2 cloves for roasting and 1 clove raw)
-1/4 cup parsley, coarsely chopped
-2 cups kale, chopped (separate stems & leaves)
-1/4 cup orzo
-1/2 cup canned chickpeas, drained & rinsed
-2 tablespoons olive oil (separated)
-1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
-1 tablespoon dried herbs of your choice (I used herbs de provence)
-pepper, to taste
-optional: some nice italian cheese (Pecorino Romano, for instance) to grate on top


Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit; place saucepan filled with water on the stove on high heat
2. Combine sweet potato, eggplant, cauliflower, onion, 2 cloves minced garlic, 1 tablespoon olive oil, dried herbs, and pepper in a bowl. Mix well. 

3. Evenly spread veggies on a baking sheet; wrap beets in aluminum foil (like a tent) and place them on the same baking sheet.
5. Place baking sheet in oven for 20-25 minutes (after 10 minutes, check on the veggies, mix them around with a spatula, then let them continue cooking for 10-15 more minutes). 

6. Heat sauté pan on stove on medium heat; once the pan is hot, add remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil 

7. Add kale stems & cook for 2 minutes; then add kale leaves (you may need to do this in batches, depending on the size of your pan)

8. Meanwhile, your saucepan with water should be boiling. Add orzo to water and cook according to package.

9. Remove veggies from oven after 20-25 minutes; carefully remove beets from foil and peel off their skin; chop the beets into 1-inch pieces and combine with the rest of roasted veggies --- you will only use half of this roasted veggie mix. Save the other half for another meal!

10. Drain orzo. Combine 1/2 of roasted veggie mix, sauteed kale, orzo, 1 clove minced garlic, balsamic vinegar, parsley, and chickpeas in a bowl. 
11. Top with grated cheese and serve!

Roasted Veggies Over Cheesy Polenta
Serving Size: 1

Ingredients:
-remaining 1/2 of roasted veggie mix from Roasted Veggies Mixed With Orzo recipe
**if you don't have leftover roasted veggies, you can follow the directions for the above recipe as to how you should roast some veggies!
-2 cups beet greens (or other greens like swiss chard, spinach, kale, etc.)
-1/2 cup canned chickpeas, drained & rinsed

-1/4 cup yellow cornmeal 
-1 cup water 
-2 tablespoons cheese (this time I used crumbled blue cheese, but grated cheddar tastes really good as well!)
-1 tablespoon olive oil
-pepper, to taste


Directions:
1. Heat sauté pan on stove on medium heat; when hot, add olive oil, followed by beet greens
2. Cook greens for 2-3 minutes, until wilted, but still bright green; turn heat to low.

3. Combine cornmeal and water in a saucepan; bring to a boil and then reduce to simmer immediately, stirring the cornmeal constantly until it turns to a thick porridge-like consistency (about 5-10 minutes); this is your polenta.

4. Add cheese to polenta (be sure to keep stirring); add a few grinds of pepper.
5. Once polenta has formed an almost solid consistency, turn the heat off and place a top on the saucepan to keep the polenta warm. 
6. Turn saute pan up to medium-low heat, add chickpeas, and cook for 2 minutes. 

7. Add roasted veggie mix to saute pan and cook for 1-2 minutes, until veggies are heated through

8. Pour polenta into a bowl; top with roasted veggie, beet green, & chickpea mix, and serve! 

BON APPETIT!

Boastin' About Your Roastin'

It is officially FALL...so you know what that means? Time to roast some veggies!! During the summer it's too hot to turn on the oven, but as soon as that crisp air hits, I'm ready to start roastin' me some veggies. They are one of my FAVORITE things to cook and not just because they taste de-LICIOUS. Roasted veggies are super easy to make, they can be used in/added to basically any recipe, and if you make a big batch of them at the beginning of the week (which I often do), they'll last you through Friday!  


How do you roast veggies? Here's the basic idea: preheat your oven to 400-425 degrees fahrenheit (depending on the strength of your oven). Cut your veggies (whatever veggies you want & however many you feel like!) into 1-2 inch pieces (make sure they're all the same size, otherwise they'll cook at different speeds). Also, mince 2-3 cloves of garlic. Place all the cut vegetables and minced garlic into a bowl, drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons of oil (amount of oil depends on how many veggies you're cooking and either olive or canola oil is fine), and sprinkle 1 teaspoon of ground pepper, plus 1-2 teaspoons of whatever other dried herbs you'd like to add (e.g. dried oregano, basil, cayenne pepper, sage, herbs de provence, rosemary, etc.). Toss the veggies, garlic, oil, and spices together - make sure to coat all the vegetables. Evenly spread the veggies onto a baking sheet (you may need more than one) and place in the oven for 10 minutes. 

After 10 minutes, check on the veggies, using a spatula to toss them around, then continue cooking them for another 10-15 minutes. The veggies are done with they have a crisp (but not burned) look to them and can be easily pierced by a fork.
To store: keep roasted veggies in an air-tight container in your fridge. Whenever you want to use them, just open the container and scoop out the amount you want to use. Simple, easy, delicious...love it!


Last week I made two different meals with a small batch of roasted vegetables. The first was Roasted Veggies mixed with Orzo (I got the idea from a recipe I read in a magazine), the second was Roasted Veggies on top of Cheesy Polenta (a dish I created last winter, that I absolutely love to make and eat). I'll post the recipes (with pictures) tomorrow, but in the meantime, here are some other ideas for how to use your batch of roasted vegetables: 

• Put them in a sandwich wrap
• Add them to a salad (with mixed greens or grain-based)
• Cook them with eggs (great for dinner AND breakfast!)
• Make them into a casserole (just add some rice, put the whole mix in a casserole dish, top with canned crushed tomatoes & cheese, bake for 15-20 minutes!)
• Eat them as a side dish with meat/fish

Roasting doesn't take very long (I do it on weeknights all the time); but for those of you with very little time to cook during the week, this is a perfect cooking activity for a Sunday afternoon/evening. Just make yourself a big batch of roasted veggies and enjoy having this tasty treat all week long in any breakfast, lunch, or dinner recipe you want! Trust me, when you start making your veggies this way, I guarantee you'll be boastin' about your roastin'!