Soy-Ginger Marinated Chicken Stir-Fry

By Ashley
May 23, 2013
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I came up with this marinade as a way to use up some of the chicken that I had in the freezer. It used ingredients that I almost always have on hand. I used up some of the veggies that I had in the house to bulk it up a bit and served it over forbidden rice that I cooked in the rice cooker. It had a lot of flavor, and we really liked it, but I definitely unintentionally overcooked it. The color of the peas made me sad, and the chicken was a little dried out. Dang! Ah well, it was good, but definitely not a stand-out in this house.

Soy-Ginger Marinated Chicken Stir-Fry
Ashley Covelli

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
4 tablespoons low-sodium soy sauce*
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 cloves garlic, minced, divided
1 teaspoon ginger, grated
1 tablespoon honey
pinch of red pepper flakes
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
1 tablespoon peanut oil
1 small onion, chopped
8 ounces snow peas
8 ounce can sliced water chestnuts, drained
cilantro, chopped, for garnish
dry-roasted peanuts, chopped, for garnish
lime wedges, for garnish

Whisk soy sauce, sesame oil, 1 clove of garlic, ginger, honey, red pepper flakes and rice vinegar in a medium bowl. Add chicken pieces and toss to coat. Cover and refrigerate for 4 hours.

Heat peanut oil in a large, non-stick skillet. Add reserved clove of garlic and onion and sauté for a few minutes, until beginning to soften. Add the chicken with the marinade and cook over medium-high heat, stirring, until the chicken is almost cooked through. Add snow peas and water chestnuts and sauté until chicken is done. Serve over rice, garnishing with cilantro, peanuts and lime.

*Optional: use Gluten Free

Big Flavors Rating: 3 Stars

Raw Vegan Pad Thai

By Ashley
May 22, 2013
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Some friends of ours came over to babysit while Dino and I went out to dinner to celebrate our anniversary. They’re newly vegan, and I wanted to make some dinner for them to enjoy while watching our rambunctious toddler. I love pad Thai, but I always figured that fish sauce was key to making it great. I also would have never thought to make it raw! So when I saw that combination, I knew it would be a fun one to try out. And this recipe says it tastes better after it sits in the fridge overnight. Perfect! I decided to make it the day before, and then QC some for lunch before they came over. Win/win! It was really tasty, but I think it tasted more like a satay than a pad Thai. The recipe author says that this recipe is easy, which I only agree with to an extent, because making the veggie noodles can be a hassle, so I’m not categorizing it that way for the purposes of this site. Also, if you want this to be raw, you need to make sure to use raw almond butter, tahini and tamari. The stuff I used wasn’t. Anyway, it was a big hit for dinner, and I found a new, vegan, raw and GF friendly recipe to add to my repertoire.

Raw Vegan Pad Thai

Raw Pad Thai
Vegangela

This easy raw vegan dish uses zucchini and carrots for the “noodles”

Total time: 15 minutes

Serves: 2-3

2 medium zucchini
2 large carrots
2 green onions, chopped
1 cup shredded purple cabbage
1 cup cauliflower florets
1 cup mung bean sprouts or radish sprouts (spicy) (optional)
½ cup crushed peanuts (optional)
½ cup chopped fresh coriander/cilantro (optional)

Sauce
¼ cup tahini
¼ cup almond butter (or cashew butter, or a blend of both)
2 tbsp lime or lemon juice
¼ cup tamari (select a wheat free version for gluten-free diets)
2 tbsp agave (or maple syrup)
½ tsp garlic, minced
1 tsp ginger root, grated

Instructions
Use a spiralizer (or mandolin or vegetable peeler) to create noodles from the carrot and zucchini. Place them in a large mixing bowl and top with the other vegetables.

Whisk sauce ingredients in a bowl. The sauce will be thick, but will thin out after it’s mixed with the vegetables.

Pour the sauce over the vegetables and toss. Best after 1 day in the fridge.

Big Flavors Rating: 4 Stars

Freeze Your Veggie Scraps to Make Stock in the Slow Cooker!

By Ashley
May 22, 2013
1 Comment

Veggie Scraps

I’ve been saving bits of the veggies that I’ve been using over the last few months in a bag in the freezer (aptly dubbed “Stock Bits!”) so that I could cut down on waste and also make something tasty out of food scraps. The bag has been bursting at the seams for quite some time now, so I finally got out the slow cooker and dug the bag out of the freezer.

Stock Bits

My bag contained a lot of veggie bits, including onion tips and tops (I didn’t save the rest of the peels with them, because I use so many onions in the kitchen that it would basically just be onion stock – ha!), a few bell pepper stems and cores, some kale stems, carrot ends and peels, a few pieces of tomato stem (technically a fruit, but I thought it would work here), celery leaves and stems, shallot tips and tops, and some zucchini ends.

Slow Cooker Veggie Stock

This process is super simple – I just filled my slow cooker with the contents of the bag (plus a little bit more that I had left from the Raw Carrot Avocado Soup that I made earlier today), filled it with water (it took around 10 cups to fill my slow cooker up to about 2 inches under the top), added a little bit of seasoning (I chose 2 dried bay leaves, 6 black peppercorns, 1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt). I set it on low and let it cook for 5 hours.

Slow Cooker Veggie Stock

When it was done, I was left with a beautiful, amber colored stock. I strained out the solids and poured the stock into some containers, let it cool down, and popped it into the freezer. Once they’re completely frozen, I’ll put the slabs of stock into a freezer bag for later use. It’s so nice to have this on hand, and it really was pretty low maintenance! Plus, I didn’t have to have a stock pot on the stovetop all day, heating up my kitchen.

Slow Cooker Veggie Stock

Just a note: I found a good article over on The Kitchn about stock vs. broth. What I’ve made here is very lightly seasoned, so technically, it may be broth… but it’s definitely not seasoned enough to be something you’d want to eat without some adjustments. So… I’m going to stick with calling it stock.

Slow Cooker Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

By Ashley
May 21, 2013
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A lot of people think that slow cookers are a wintertime luxury. As someone who doesn’t really have air conditioning that reaches the kitchen, I think that slow cookers are perfect for summertime cooking! You can have a nice, hot meal without heating up your kitchen, usually with minimal effort. I came across this recipe on a blog with one of the funniest names I’ve ever heard and knew I wanted to give it a try. It took very little effort to get it going this morning, and before it finished, I had to make a glaze and baste it a few times. Probably not a recipe I would have chosen back when I was working full-time, but not a big deal now that I work part-time from home. Anyway, this was wonderful! I hadn’t previously considered glazing something that was cooking in the slow cooker, but it worked beautifully. The extra glaze was very tasty, and it went well with the pork, which was nice and tender. I served this with an Avocado Mango Lime Chickpea Salad and a green salad, which made dinner a breeze!

Slow Cooker Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin

Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin
C+C Marriage Factory

Ingredients:
1 (2 pound) boneless pork tenderloin (or regular pork loin)
1 teaspoon ground sage
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 clove garlic, crushed
1/2 cup water

Glaze
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar
1/2 cup water
2 tablespoons soy sauce

Directions:
Combine sage, salt, pepper and garlic. Rub over roast. Place in slow cooker with 1/2 cup water. Cook on low for 6-8 hours. About 1 hour before roast is done, combine ingredients for glaze in small sauce pan. Heat and stir until mixture thickens. Brush roast with glaze 2 or 3 times during the last hour of cooking. Serve with remaining glaze on the side.

Servings: 6-8

Big Flavors Rating: 4 Stars

Avocado Mango Lime Chickpea Salad

By Ashley
May 21, 2013
2 Comments

Avocados and mangoes have been on sale at the store lately, and they’ve been beautifully ripe. This is a good thing, but it also means that I need to use up what I buy so they don’t get overripe. I had a Brown Sugar and Balsamic Glazed Pork Loin cooking in the slow cooker all day, and I wanted to make an easy side dish to go with it. I threw this salad together, and oh… my… goodness. It was fantastic! It’s super simple to put together, and if you’re working with really ripe fruit, it just melts in your mouth. This was fantastic, and I’ll definitely be making it again!

Avocado Mango Lime Chickpea Salad

Avocado Mango Lime Chickpea Salad
Ashley Covelli

1 lime, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
1 avocado, peeled, pitted and diced
2 mangoes, peeled, pitted and diced
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
2 tablespoons cilantro, chopped
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Whisk lime zest and juice with oil in a large bowl. Add avocado, mangoes, chickpeas and cilantro. Season to taste with salt and pepper and toss gently to combine. Serve and enjoy!

Big Flavors Rating: 5 Stars

Strawberry-Rhubarb Squares

By Ashley
May 20, 2013
1 Comment

I love rhubarb, but I don’t get it too often, so I almost always make my very favorite Rhubarb Custard Pie when I acquire some. When I saw some beautifully red rhubarb at the Farmers’ Market on Saturday, I bought a bunch and swore to myself that I would try new things with it. I haven’t made lemon bars before, and these looked like a fun spin on them, so I decided to give them a go. Plus, they were from Eating Well, so that’s a bonus, right? So I busted out the whole wheat flour and got to work while my toddler was ~~singing in his crib~~ trying to take a nap like a good boy. These are a bit of work, but they taste great. They’re sweet and tart and the crust has a nice crunch. The only thing that we weren’t huge fans of was the flavor of the canola oil in the crust. I know that the oil is there in lieu of more butter, but it just has a… taste. It’s the same thing we experienced when I made Vegan Mexican Hot Chocolate Snickerdoodles a while back. Good, but just a little strange. I wonder if vegetable oil would be better? Or peanut oil? I’ll have to experiment with that. Anyway, these are beautifully bright and perfect for summer.

Strawberry-Rhubarb Squares

Strawberry-Rhubarb Squares
Eating Well

Inspired by our love of lemon squares, we developed this healthy strawberry-rhubarb squares recipe. We slashed the butter in the shortbread crust for these strawberry-rhubarb bars, but kept the crust light and crisp with heart-healthy canola oil and a little cornstarch. A judicious amount of sugar in the filling lets the natural sweetness of the fruit shine and keeps calories in check.

Makes: 9 squares, 2 1/2 inches each
Active Time: 25 minutes
Total Time: 2 1/4 hours (including 1 1/2 hours chilling time)

CRUST
1 cup white whole-wheat flour or all-purpose flour
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons canola oil
2 tablespoons butter, softened

FILLING
2 cups coarsely chopped strawberries, fresh or frozen (not thawed), plus more for garnish
2 cups coarsely chopped rhubarb, fresh or frozen (not thawed)
1/3 cup water
2 tablespoons lemon juice or lime juice
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs
Confectioners’ sugar for garnish

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch-square baking pan with foil and generously coat it with cooking spray.
To prepare crust: Combine flour, confectioners’ sugar, cornstarch and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl. Add oil and butter; using your fingertips, blend into the flour mixture until evenly combined. The mixture will be a little crumbly. Firmly press the dough into the prepared pan. Bake until just barely beginning to brown around the edges, 15 to 20 minutes.

To prepare filling: Meanwhile, combine strawberries, rhubarb and water in a medium saucepan. Cook over high heat, stirring frequently, until the fruit is very soft and mostly broken down, 4 to 6 minutes. Pour through a fine-mesh sieve into a medium bowl, pressing on the solids to extract all the liquid. Pour the strained juice into a glass measuring cup. You need 1 cup strained juice; remove any extra or add a little water if you are short. Stir lemon (or lime) juice into the strained fruit juice.

Whisk granulated sugar, cornstarch and 1/8 teaspoon salt in a medium bowl until well combined. Whisk in eggs. Stir in the juice mixture. Pour the filling over the crust.

Bake until just set, 15 to 20 minutes. (The center should still be a little jiggly—it will firm up as it cools.)

Let cool to room temperature in the pan on a wire rack, about 1 1/2 hours. Gently lift out of the pan all in one piece using the edges of the foil. Cut into 9 squares. Garnish with fresh strawberries and dust with confectioners’ sugar, if desired, just before serving.

TIPS & NOTES
Make Ahead Tip: Cover and store at room temperature for up to 1 day.

NUTRITION
Per serving: 204 calories; 8 g fat ( 2 g sat , 4 g mono ); 48 mg cholesterol; 30 g carbohydrates; 12 g added sugars; 4 g protein; 2 g fiber; 115 mg sodium; 135 mg potassium.

Nutrition Bonus: Vitamin C (30% daily value)

Carbohydrate Servings: 2

Exchanges: 1/2 starch, 1 other carbohydrate, 1 1/2 fat

Big Flavors Rating: 4 Stars

Craig Claiborne’s Pasta con Asparagi

By Ashley
May 20, 2013
1 Comment

I got some asparagus from the Farmers’ Market on Saturday morning, and when I saw this recipe pop up in my feed reader, I knew it was the one I wanted to make. I love that the sauce is a tomato-y twist on pasta carbonara – with egg making it beautifully rich and creamy. I halved the recipe, and used 1 whole egg and 1 yolk, and it was perfect. The asparagus was such a great, fresh addition to this dish. It really allows you to bulk up the recipe without making a ton of pasta, which is nice. We really enjoyed this, and I got to use some of the basil from my garden for the first time, this season. Yesssss!

Craig Claiborne's Pasta con Asparagi

Craig Claiborne’s Pasta con Asparagi
Food52

Author Notes: A mashup of all the best pasta sauces — tomato, asparagus, and carbonara — with surprisingly harmonious results. Adapted slightly from The New New York Times Cookbook (Crown, 1979)

Serves 8

1 1/2 pound fresh asparagus
3 tablespoons butter
Salt and freshly ground pepper
2 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cloves garlic
2 cups canned Italian plum tomatoes, put through a sieve or grated coarsely
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh basil
3/4 pounds penne, rigatoni, or other tubular pasta*
2 eggs, plus one yolk, beaten well with a fork
1/2 cup grated parmesan

1. Have all the ingredients for this recipe prepared and ready to cook before beginning. Bring about 3 quarts of water to a boil and have it ready for the pasta.

2. Cut the asparagus into lengths about 2 inches long. If the stalks are thick, cut them in half or quarter them. Leave the tips in tact. Heat the butter in a large, deep skillet and add the asparagus pieces, salt, and pepper to taste. Cook for 4 to 5 minutes, or until crisp-tender and lightly browned. Transfer the asparagus to a plate and reserve.

3. In the same pan, add the oil and garlic. Cook until lightly browned and remove and discard garlic. Add the tomatoes, parsley, basil, salt and pepper to taste. Cook, stirring, for about 10 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, add the pasta and salt to the water and, when it returns to a boil, cook for about 7 minutes or until tender. Do not overcook.

5. Just before the pasta is done, turn off the heat under the tomatoes and add the beaten eggs, stirring vigorously so that they blend without curdling. Do not boil the sauce after the eggs are added. (If you are nervous about curdling the eggs, you may temper them in, by stirring a ladleful of the hot tomato sauce into the eggs, then whisking the mixture back into the pan.)

6. Add the asparagus to the tomato sauce and stir to blend.

7. Drain the pasta immediately. Add the tomato sauce and asparagus, and toss with half the cheese. Serve piping hot with the remaining cheese on the side.

*Optional: use Gluten Free

Big Flavors Rating: 4 Stars

Big Flavors from a Tiny Garden

By Ashley
May 20, 2013
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Every year, we plant a small garden on our patio. We have room for a few tomato plants and some herbs. The weather finally cooperated long enough for me to get everything planted Monday morning. I forgot to plant garlic over the fall, so we don’t have any of that this year, but here’s what we do have:

Big Flavors from a Tiny Garden

-green and purple basil
-flat leaf parsley (2)
-thyme (I planted one new, and there’s some that popped up from last year)
-chives (they pop up every year, but this year there isn’t much there yet, so I’m going to buy another plant)
-mint (I’ve tried to grow it a few times and haven’t had luck with it, but I’m going to give it one more try)
-4 tomato plants: yellow pear, patio, jubilee and sungold
-6 marigolds (in between the tomatoes and mixed in with the herbs)

I still have a rhubarb plant over at my in-laws’ house, and I can’t wait to harvest some of that goodness!

Frisky Bison AKA Polish Kiss (Żubrówka Cocktail)

By Ashley
May 19, 2013
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Frisky Bison AKA Polish Kiss (Żubrówka Cocktail)

One of our best friends brought us a bottle of Żubrówka from Poland a while back (complete with the coolest bottle packaging ever!), and we’ve been drinking it occasionally the way they showed us – over ice mixed with some apple juice. It’s such a unique flavor, and it’s really smooth. Plus, any drink with a name this fun has got to be good, right?

Grass-Fed Cheeseburgers with Sea Salt

By Ashley
May 19, 2013
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Grass-fed Cheeseburgers

We had some friends over for dinner, and we figured it was a great time to fire up the grill! I picked up some beautiful grass-fed ground beef from the Farmers’ Market on Saturday, and we made the tastiest burgers ever! We kept it super simple – forming quarter-pound burgers and seasoning them simply with just a sprinkle of sea salt on top right before they hit the grill. They were incredibly tender, and Dino cooked them to perfection. We topped them with lettuce, tomato, onions, avocado, pickles, ketchup, mustard and mayo. We had them with some grilled corn on the cob, baked beans and a nice salad. They were superb!