A Happy Meatless St. Patty's Day to You All!

Janet here: I grew up in a house where St. Patty's Day was a big deal. My mother's father, Michael Aloysius Martin, emigrated from Ireland to the States as a young man so she took the day seriously, requiring that we all wear something green. I also remember her drawing green freckles on my nose and that I actually went to school that way. Needless to say I not one of the cool kids.

Not surprisingly, we always had corned beef and cabbage on St. Patty's Day. I remember liking it, although as I look back on it I wonder why. Everything was boiled for God's sake.

As a vegetarian, I no longer think corned beef on St. Patty's Day. I do, however, love cabbage, especially served in this tasty, meatless meal inspired by one of my go-to early vegetarian cookbooks, The Moosewood Cookbook. The sauteed cabbage with onions and caraway seeds adds a wonderful zip to the comforting mashed potatoes. Enjoy and Erin Ga Bragh!

Cabbage Casserole
ingredients
4 medium potatoes, cut into pieces, skin on
2 tablespoons butter (this is not a time for olive oil my friends)
1 plus cups diced onion
about 3 cups of sliced cabbage
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
3/4 teaspoon dill
salt and pepper to taste
2 teaspoons cider vinegar
1 1/2 cups low fat cottage cheese
1 cup sour cream.
2 teaspoons sunflower seeds
paprika to taste

method
After cutting the potatoes into boiling pieces, add to water and boil until just done. Drain and put into a bowl with the cottage cheese, sour cream, dill and salt and pepper. Mash up into mashed potatoes.

While the potatoes are cooking, saute the onions for a couple of minutes. Add the caraway seeds and cabbage and saute until the cabbage and onions are just done. Add to the bowl of mashed potatoes with the cider vinegar. Mix well.

Place into a casserole. Sprinkle sunflower seeds and paprika to taste on top. Bake, uncovered, at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until hot.

Homemade French Onion Dip, Ooh La La!

Hey Rachel
When I was a kid, cocktail parties were the main neighborhood entertainment. Lots of martinis and manhattans and hors d'oeuvres and women in swanky cocktail dresses and men in jackets and ties. Think Mad Men and you've pretty much got the idea.

As an adult now, I look back on those in marvel. Why was dinner never served? And if dinner was never served, how did those people ever make it home after consuming all that hard alcohol? (Wine and beer were never on the booze menu, at least not where I grew up.) I guess the fact that these were neighborhood bashes and everyone walked there made it okay.

Anyway, I loved coming down to the kitchen the next morning and eating the leftovers. My particular favorite was the onion dip, which seemed incredibly exotic and which I would eat right off my finger. Imagine my surprise as a college kid when I was organizing my first parties (decidedly more plebian believe me) and learned that this magical dip that I assumed my mother slaved over was actually just some soup mix and sour cream! Who knew!

Once I was an official adult, serving something that only involved a pre-made mix and some sour cream seemed a little like cheating so I basically stopped the onion dip and carrots deal. But I'm not going to lie: I missed it. So I was pretty excited to discover this dip in Skinny Dips by Diane Morgan. I amended it so it's not low-fat because really if you're going to have something with sour cream and cream cheese, my theory is go for it 100 percent. Anyway, I hardily recommend this to one and all. Add a little Herb Alpert, a manhattan, and you'll be doing the bossa nova before you know it.

Fresh French Onion Dip

ingredients
1-2 tablespoons olive oil
2 sweet onions, diced small
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 1/4 cups sour cream
2 ounces cream cheese at room temperature
1 teaspoons white wine vinegar
1/4 cup finely snipped fresh chives

method

Saute the onions, salt and pepper in the oil over medium heat. Stir frequently until they're a nice golden color but not too brown. Should take you about 30 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.

In a medium bowl, combine the sour cream, white wine vinegar and cream cheese. Add the onions and chives. Taste. Adjust seasonings. I think this is better if it's made ahead several hours at least to give the seasonings time to, um, season. Take it out of the fridge about 45 minutes before you'll be serving.

Cook Once, Eat Twice

Janet here: Much of my current cooking life involves cooking ahead because I work out of town part of the week and I want to make sure my husband and son don't starve. I mean a duo can only eat so many hamburgers and fries, I don't care how delicious Peter's version is. So I assuage some of my traveling guilt by cooking ahead.

What I have realized in the two-plus years I've been doing this is that it's actually a brilliant idea to cook ahead one day of the week and ensure you've got stuff to heat up easily when you come home from a trying day at work. I can remember my children asking me in the car on the way home from school/music lessons/sports/day care what was for dinner. My standard response, because I hadn't really figured it out and was feeling kind of tired myself, was, "Arsenic" or "Ardvaark noses," depending on my mood. Why didn't I think of cooking ahead decades ago? Imagine the peaceful bliss of walking in the door, popping something in the oven and everyone happily playing together while the food warmed up ... or something like that.

At any rate, this recipe I've adapted from the original Moosewood Cookbook by Mollie Katzen is great the first time and reheats beautifully. I hope you learn something from my story and cook at least one meal ahead. It'll change your life.

Russian Macaroni
serves 6-8

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups sour cream
2 cups cottage cheese
1 cup grated cheddar cheese
1 red onion, thinly sliced
2 cups shredded cabbage
1 carrot, chopped
1 teaspoon caraway seeds
worcestershire sauce to taste
salt and pepper to taste
2 cups macaroni

Method
Boil the macaroni in water until al dente. Drain.
Heat oven to 350 degrees.

While the macaroni is cooking, combine the sour cream, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese and onion in a large bowl.

Saute in butter the cabbage, carrot and caraway seeds until the cabbage is wilted and just beginning to brown.
Add the sauteed ingredients and drained pasta to the large bowl. Stir until combined. Place in a casserole. Bake covered for 40 minutes. Easily microwaved for reheating.



Rachel here: Ah...reheating. I have three midterms this week, in addition to a paper due and 600 pages of reading. It's one of those weeks that the mere anticipation of is enough to make my stomach churn a bit. It's also one of those weeks that leaves me wanting to eat quick and easy comfort food. While I can't say that pizza won't be ordered in my house in the coming days, I can say that tonight it will be nice to sit down to a warm bowl of reheated homemade chili (for the recipe, see my post here). When I originally made it a few weeks back, I made a giant batch. John and I ate a bit of it, I gave a bit away to a friend of mine with two kids (oh, dinner is the best surprise), and I froze the rest in portions in microwavable containers that just need to be pulled from the freezer. Tonight, healthy heartiness (as opposed to the greasy deliciousness that is pizza) will fill our bellies and it will feel good. What do you stockpile in your freezer for these crazy weeks?

It's Ch-Ch-Chili

Janet here: In the winter in the Northeast, I turn to chili when I want an easy dinner that will satisfy. First, I can make it ahead. Second it's easy. Oh and then there's the nutrition factor. It's made of all kinds of stuff that are good for you (which also meant that it was a dish that I used to sneak good food into my kids when they were younger without them realizing it. I have one son, for instance, who will not eat beans or onions in pieces ... except he does in chili so haha.)

But I digress.

Anyway, I make a lot of different kinds of chili, including a very tasty white one that I just discovered this past year. I decided for this post, however, to do the vegetarian one since my carniverous daughter was going to be including some kind of meat. So on to the dish, which of course is also just a great way to have a lot of melted cheese too. :) This batch will serve 6-8.

Ingredients
1 large yellow onion, diced
2-3 cloves garlic, diced
1 19 ounce can red kidney beans
1 15 ounce can black beans
1 28 ounce can diced tomatoes
1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes with jalapeno
about 1/2 cup rice
chili powder, hot sauce, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper to taste


Method
In a large cooking pot, put in the oil and saute the onions and garlic until translucent. Then add the beans, tomatoes, rice and seasonings. Cook, covered, on low heat until the rice is done. Serve with grated cheese and sour cream.


Rachel here: Chili is awesome. I really think this. First, it's a vehicle for cheese and sour cream. Second, it's warm. Third, it's hearty. Fourth, it's easy. Really, it's like a wonder-food. For this batch I used a combination of leftover items in my fridge along with umm...non-leftover items (there must be a better way to say that). And, in the end, I now have new leftovers, but now they are of the chili variety (yeah!) and some will be frozen in portions for a future evening and the rest will be eaten for lunches and whatnot this week. It's a happy day here in Oakland (oh, and it's a bit chilly, too...ha ha ha).

Ingredients
1 medium yellow onion, chopped
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 medium sweet potato, chopped
28 oz. whole peeled tomatoes (I use the organic variety and, I dare say, you should, too)
28 oz. ground peeled tomatoes
2/3 lb. flank steak, cubed
1 large bone-in, skin-on chicken breast
1 c. chicken stock (or more if you have it...just use that instead of the water)
2 c. water
4 c. beans (NOT dried...I used the leftover black beans I posted about last week)
6 large fresh basil leaves
2-3 T. fresh lemon thyme
2 c. couscous (already cooked)
2 c. fresh chopped spinach
fennel
dried oregano
paprika
cayenne
orange peel
chili powder
worcestershire sauce
salt and pepper

Method
In a large pot, saute the onion, garlic and sweet potato in butter. Add tomatoes, steak, chicken stock, water, beans, chicken breast (I like to put it in whole and then pull it out after it's cooked, chop it up and throw it back in), couscous, spinach, basil (I just tear these up as I throw them in) and thyme. Let simmer until starts to cook down and chicken is cooked. Add spices listed above to taste. This recipe makes a big old pot of chili so I don't cook it down quite as far as I would if I were serving it all at once so that in future re-heatings I won't have to water it down. Sprinkle cheese on top and add a dollop of sour cream and go get cozy.

Simple Suppers

Rachel here: Oh, we all know those days. You know, the ones where you come home and you sort of realize that your day isn't actually over yet because there's still dinner to figure out. As a city-dweller, this often leads to take-out or delivery in my house. Sometimes, though, even that seems like more effort than I can handle, what with the plentitude of options and then the inevitable waiting. On these nights, there is a staple in my house: the quesadilla. There are always (and I do mean always) tortillas in my freezer and cheese in the fridge. Throw in whatever random vegetable and meat bits we have leftover and a hearty dinner is mere minutes away (particularly if you have made a batch of black beans earlier in the week...see Wednesday's post). After a long day, I can't think of anything better.

Quesadillas
Ingredients
flour tortillas (I prefer corn and John prefers flour, which is what I ended up using for these)
grated cheese (I used a bit of jack and a bit of cheddar)
chicken, chopped into uniform bite-sized piece
medium tomato
avocado (I recognize that avocados and tomatoes aren't in season everywhere, so substitute with a good local alternative)
cayenne
salt and pepper
lime

Method
Cook chicken in large pan, seasoning to your preference with salt, pepper and cayenne. Prepare tortillas by lining one half with a bit of cheese before dividing chicken up amongst them and covering with cheese (Amounts for tortillas, cheese and chicken will vary depending on how many you're looking to feed. I used one large tortilla per person and divided about 3/4 lb. of chicken between them). Place these tortilla pockets back into pan you cooked chicken in (one-dirty-dish cooking is part of the beauty of this easy dinner option!). Flip after a few minutes, once underside is nicely browned and cheese has started melting. Serve when everything is hot and gooey, garnishing with diced tomato and avocado on top and serving with lime wedges on the side. Of course, various hot sauces and sour cream should be waiting on the table to optimal enjoyment. Yum!

Janet here: Rachel has the best idea here for a simple supper you can throw together in minutes. I wish I had thought of it but I didn't so there it is. Anyway my main way of making supper easy these days is cooking ahead. Shepherd's Pie is my go-to comfort dinner in the winter months, and it's a crowdpleaser so it's doubly satisfying. I make this shepherd's pie using ground turkey because I don't eat red meat. I also use taco seasoning as my secret seasoning ingredient. In other words, it's tacos with mashed potatoes, making it a win-win for feel-good meals. Here's how I do it.

Shepherd's Pie

Ingredients
1 pound ground turkey
1 package taco seasoning
1 1/2 cups corn (I use frozen)
dried onion flakes to taste (this is the way I get onions into things for picky eaters)
4 Russet potatoes
1 stick butter
3/4 cup sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

Method
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Brown the turkey in a little oil. Add the taco seasoning and follow directions for regular tacos. Add in the corn. After it's done, place in the bottom of a casserole baking dish.
While the meat mixture is cooking, cut up some potatoes (skins on is my preference), cook in boiling water until tender. Then drain, put back into the pot with a stick of butter. Mash up the potatoes, add salt and pepper to taste, maybe a little chicken broth with the sour cream to make them as smooth as you like. Sometimes I add grated cheese as well if I'm feeling really decadent.
Bake uncovered for 30-40 minutes until it's bubbling slightly.