Tag Archives: cooking

Bok-os!

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Problem #1: the week 7 veggie box shows up with just over 2lbs of bok choi in it. Holy carp…what am I going to do with TWO POUNDS of bok choi?

Problem #2: the usual Saturday evening blahs over what to have for dinner on the one unplanned night of the week, and we were missing one of the usual key ingredients. We decided to make tacos, and though it took some convincing, I was finally able to persuade dh that if you have no ground turkey in the house, the taco gods will still approve of you making tacos with diced chicken. [We don’t typically use ground beef – the one exception being the “meatloaf mix” of ground beef and pork that we get from BJ’s a couple of times a year.]

…and then I said, “What if we use bok choi instead of taco shells?” We had taco shells in the house. As a matter of fact, we had two boxes of them, due to a shopping oops on my part a few weeks before. Still, the idea intrigued him. “So, what – it would be like the lettuce cups from PF Chang’s?” he asked. Yep, that was the idea.

So, we created the tacos in the usual fashion (less the ground turkey) and then put them on bok choi leaves instead of taco shells. The verdict? OMG, this may be the only way I have tacos again if I can ever help it. And thus, we proudly present…

BOK-OS!

Note also that this is a bit healthier than using the shells – at least 100 cal less. And, you get all the benefits of the hard shell (crunch!) with the benefit of the soft taco (no breakage!). It’s really a win-win situation.

Bok-os

Bok-os: Crunchy, soft, healthy...what a combination!

Prep Time: 5 mins

Cooking Time: 15-20 mins

Serves: 4

Ingredients

1 lb boneless, skinless chicken breasts

1 Tb olive oil

1/2 pkg reduced sodium taco seasoning

2/3 cup water

4 leaves bok choi, washed

toppings of your choice (we went with reduced fat sour cream, shredded monterey jack/cheddar blend, and medium-heat salsa)

Make it Happen

1. Dice the chicken breasts (small pieces) and cook with the olive oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium-high heat.

2. When the chicken is fully cooked, add the taco seasoning and water; stir to combine and stir frequently throughout cooking to ensure no sticking.

3. Once the majority of the liquid is gone from the pan, remove the chicken from the heat. Serve on leaves of bok choi (one per person), with the toppings of their choice, and fold the leaf as you’re eating it (like a soft taco shell).

Roasted Garlic Eggplant Dip

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First off, let me say that I’m not a fan of eggplant. I’ve tried it in parm form – meh. I’ve tried it in grilled form – meh. I’ve never been a fan of baba ganoush. In other words, eggplant’s just never worked for me. I tried to make things out of it when it showed up in earlier weeks’ veggie boxes, and it just never found a warm spot in my heart.

Until now.

I’ve FINALLY found a way that I like eggplant! My theory about it still stands: eggplant is a delivery mechanism. Just as pita is often a means of delivering hummus, eggplant is typically a way of delivering something else. In the case of the most common use for eggplant (eggplant parmesan), it’s for delivering cheese and red sauce. You might as well be eating cardboard that was breaded and fried – and in some cases, you’d get more flavor.

So, when I got yet another eggplant in the CSA box (albeit a small one), I knew I had to find some way to turn this thing into a delivery of something I wanted. It didn’t exactly help that I’m slightly under the weather and have a completely variable appetite. As I was thinking about what to do with said eggplant, I was struck by the idea of roasting it until it was mushable. Just roasting the eggplant by itself seemed silly and wasteful, though. As long as the oven’s on, why not roast some garlic with it and put them together in a bowl? YES! I would turn eggplant into a roasted garlic delivery mechanism! GENIUS!

How did it turn out? I LOVED IT. Given that it was a small eggplant, it made enough for about one person, or *maybe* two people (if they’re friendly). I saved a small amount for dh, since he was out of the house while this was made. And, now, if I *ever* have another eggplant cross my path, this is the first thing I’ll want to do with it. This could totally be done with a larger eggplant; all of the other ingredients just need to be scaled up proportionately. Given the size of the eggplant that I used, if you got the standard 1lb eggplant, you’ll just want to double the rest of the ingredients and probably add about 5-10 min cooking time, to make sure that you get it to the desired consistency. The eggplant should be browned (not blackened) on top.

The other nice thing about this recipe is that it requires very little “active” time in the kitchen. And it’s easy. I’m a big fan of easy. Note that I don’t use a blender or food processor. For one thing, this was done with a small eggplant, so it was a small enough quantity that A) it wouldn’t have worked well in a machine, and B) I had a sleeping child a few rooms away and was afraid to wake him up! With a larger eggplant, a machine may be employed – but I don’t feel that the dip was lacking because it had a less-than-smooth consistency.

(Apologies for the chip being in better focus than the dip…my camera REFUSED to believe that the dip was focus-worthy. IT WAS WRONG.)

Roasted Garlic Eggplant Dip

My new favorite way to eat eggplant!

 

Prep time: 5 min (active) + 30 min (inactive)

Cooking time: 30 min

Serves: 1-2

 

Ingredients

1 small white/Italian eggplant (about 6oz)

1 small head of garlic (about 4 small/medium cloves)

1/2 tsp lemon juice

1 tsp grated parmesan cheese

olive oil

salt

 

Make it Happen

1. Wash the eggplant and pat it dry. Slice it lengthwise and leave it with the insides (meat) facing up. Sprinkle salt over top of the eggplant meat and pat it down gently, to distribute it evenly across the top of the eggplant. Leave it to sit for 30 minutes to draw water out of the eggplant.

2. While the eggplant is sitting, prep the garlic for roasting: slice off the top and a thin layer of the bottom of the head of garlic, so the tops and bottoms of the cloves will be exposed. Set the head of garlic aside on the same cutting board as the eggplant.

3. Preheat the oven to 400F about 15 min. into the eggplant’s resting phase.

4. When the eggplant is done sitting, use a paper towel to wipe off the water and salt from the top of the eggplant. Place the eggplant halves (still meat-side up) on a cookie sheet covered with a sheet of aluminum foil.

5. Lightly brush olive oil on the meat of the eggplant halves.

6. Take a smaller piece of foil and pour a little olive oil on the center. Place the garlic head on top of that olive oil, then lightly pour olive oil all over the head of garlic, until it’s fully coated. Fold up the tin foil around and over the head of garlic, so as to make a closed pouch, then place that on the cookie sheet next to the eggplant halves. Roast at 400F for 30 mins.

7. Remove the cookie sheet from the oven and scoop the inside of the eggplant out into a bowl with a large spoon. Mash the eggplant gently with the spoon.

8. Squeeze the roasted garlic cloves out of the skin, then add those to the bowl. Mash those gently, as well, then stir to combine.

9. Add the lemon juice and the parmesan cheese to the bowl; stir to combine.

10. Serve with chips of your choice (or good dipping veggies – like carrots, celery or peppers). I served mine with multi-grain tortilla chips.

Crock Pot Potato Leek Soup

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When the week 6 CSA box held leeks (yeay! leeks!), I knew that I had to make potato-leek soup. It’s one of those great dishes that I have no idea why I don’t make it. So, here I am. Making it.

I perused some recipes to see what others have done in terms of making a soup, but most of the soups I saw involved the use of a stick blender or a food processor to make the soup smooth. I knew that might not improve acceptance from the kids, and neither dh nor I were really interested in a smooth soup. Chunky seemed the way to go. I also saw some folks suggesting that you put bacon in during cooking or after, and I liked the idea of bacon during cooking, to impart some extra flavor.

What this then turned into is basically a loaded baked potato soup with leeks and shallots AND THERE’S ABSOLUTELY NOTHING WRONG WITH THAT. Before bringing this to the table, I hit up the grocery store for a nice crusty boule – and that went ever so nicely. Soup on a crisp Fall night is great, but soup with a nice crusty bread is just divine.

I will note that dh and I diverge a little on soup style. He wanted chunky, and I was happy to oblige. He wanted something chowder-esque, being a native New Englander, so I obliged. However, when he dared tell me afterward that we could have gone with less bacon so that the flavor of the soup could have been more subtle, that’s where I drew the line! Less bacon? Did he know who he married? I’m no Paula Deen, but saying “too much bacon” near me is like claiming that a dessert has “too much chocolate”. Say what? Try again, buddy. I know that “subtle” is code for “bland”, because native New England food isn’t always known for having much spice to it. However, I’m NOT a native New Englander, and I believe in flavor! So, no bacon corners were cut in the recipe listed below. I stand by all that bacon. Mmm. Bacon.

One thing we definitely agreed upon: this soup is totally worth making again. Of course, it wasn’t until after dinner was well over that I realized I never took a picture of it. We’d dug into it so eagerly (and then drained the entire thing between the two of us) that the only picture I have to show you is this:

The dish formerly known as Crock Pot Potato Leek Soup

If you can't tell, we *really* liked it

(All deference to Daily Cynema, who totally understands how this happens in food blogging…)

As for the servings below, please note that a “serving” is a single bowl. Since dh and I each had two bowls + bread as our entire dinner, we emptied the crock pot between us. If you serve this as an appetizer/soup course/accompaniment to a larger meal, then you can probably get away with 4 servings. If you plan to serve this as a cup of soup, rather than in a bowl, you could probably get 6 servings, easily.

Prep Time: 20-30 min

Cooking Time: 8-10 hrs on LOW

Serves: 4 bowls (or ~6 cups)

Ingredients

3 leeks

1 lb red potatoes

1 large shallot or 1 medium yellow onion

8 slices cooked bacon

4 cups low-sodium chicken broth

1/4 tsp salt

1/8 tsp white pepper

1 bay leaf

1/2 cup reduced fat sour cream

shredded cheddar cheese or monterey jack/cheddar blend, for topping

Make it Happen

1. Wash the leeks and remove the stems; you’ll only be using the white part of the leeks. Thinly slice the leeks and add them to a 4qt crock pot.

2. Wash and peel the potatoes; remove any eyes. Then give them a quick rinse and dice them. Add the potatoes to the crock pot.

3. Peel and thinly slice the shallot and add to the crock pot. (If using a yellow onion instead, peel and mince it before adding it to the crock pot.)

4. Crumble or roughly chop the bacon slices so that no piece is more than about 3/4 inch wide. Add the bacon to the crock pot, then stir to combine all of the ingredients.

5. Add the broth, salt and white pepper to the crock pot, then stir to combine.

6. Add the bay leaf. Cover and cook on LOW for 8-10 hrs.

7. Remove the bay leaf. Add the sour cream to the crock pot and stir well to combine.

8. Serve with cheese on the side and allow people to add cheese on top, as they wish.