Orzo with Tomatoes, Feta and Green Onions

I must be on a real carb kick lately, because I'm posting another pasta recipe.

This recipe For orzo pasta with tomatoes, feta cheese and green onion is so good that I thought that it was probably an old, secret family recipe of a friend of our family. When I boldly asked him for the recipe, he sent me... a link to a webpage. NOT a family recipe, but still incredible. It also mixes up well with other food: I serve it over spinach, or add chicken sausage. After I make this, I stand by the bowl stealing big spoonfuls of it and thanking the gods of the kitchen for sending something so tasty. The full recipe serves eight, but I won't tell you how many servings we get from it at our house: It's too embarrassing.

Click here for the recipe.

Pasta, sauce and sauteed vegetables

Last year, over Memorial Day weekend, I visited a dear friend and her husband in Boston. The two of them engage in all sorts of food preparing endeavors upon which I've yet to embark, grilling pizzas and brewing beer being among the more exciting of them. I did, however, manage to pick up a couple tricks from them during my visit, which have now become staples 'round the Sanchez house. One of the tasty meals that my friend prepared for me was nothing more than sauteed veggies and homemade pasta sauce over spaghetti, but it was so good and so easy that it now finds itself regularly employed in my menu rotation. Thank you, dear friend.

While spaghetti or any pasta you prefer works fine, we've recently discovered (at Trader Joe's) and grown to love the bucati noodle. It's a long, thin and hollow tube. I've read it described as "toothy", which somehow perfectly captures the texture.

Sauce:

Pour two 15-ounce cans of diced tomatoes into a small sauce pan, season as desired, and simmer for 30 or so minutes, or however long it takes to prepare the rest of your dinner. I use a Cuisinart Smart Stick hand blender to puree the sauce to a less chunky consistency, but this step depends on personal preference.

In my sauce, I like to: heat some olive oil in the pan and cook minced garlic in it for a minute before adding the tomatoes; add some oregano, basil and ground black pepper; and, if I'm feeling really ambitious, I add cooked carrots to the sauce before pureeing it. (These are the only sneaked vegetables I foist upon my children!)

Vegetables:

Heat 2 Tbs. olive oil in a large pan, and add vegetables. For this dinner, I like zucchini and broccoli and sometimes yellow pepper. Saute until tender-crisp, about 7 minutes, adding more oil if necessary. Add fresh minced garlic during the last minute of cooking, if desired. Spoon sauce on pasta; serve vegetables on the sauce. Enjoy!

Vegan Chocolate Cake

(I found this recipe on a print-out a church while I was cleaning. I’m not sure who it’s from, but I appreciate their generosity in sharing it.)

“Vegan chocolate cake! If it’s vegan, it must be good for me, right?”

Oh, how I wish that were the case. Please ignore all the refined carbs and empty calories in this cake and just enjoy it.

Cake:
3 c. all purpose flour
2 tsp. baking soda
6 Tbsp. cocoa
1 tsp. salt
2 c. sugar
3 Tbsp. vinegar (I used white balsamic, as that’s all I had)
2 tsp. vanilla
¾ c. oil (I used vegetable)
2 c. cold water

Measure flour, soda, cocoa, salt and sugar into large mixing bowl. Add vinegar, vanilla, oil and water and mix well. Pour batter into greased 9 x 13 inch baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes. After removing cake, let cool, then drizzle with icing.

Icing:
1 c. powdered sugar
3-4 Tbsp. cocoa
½ tsp. vegetable oil
1/3 c. water (add more if needed)

Lentils & Rice

(This recipe comes from Gentry, a friend of a friend.)

This is almost vegan, almost. Perhaps one could try soy cheese with this, though I’m not sure how that cooks up. This was a good recipe, and quite easy. I would add more spice (my husband tells me that I say that about all foods), and I would probably double the recipe to fill a 9 x 13. Our 8 x 8 dish was consumed in no time flat! Even Jonah ate and said he liked it. Lentils! Who knew?

2 2/3 c. chicken broth
¾ c. dry lentils
¾ c. chopped onion
½ c. brown rice
¼ c. water (or dry white wine)
½ tsp. basil
½ tsp. thyme
¼ tsp. salt
¼ tsp. oregano
1/8 tsp. garlic powder
1/8 tsp. pepper
4 oz. Swiss cheese: 2 oz. shredded, 2 oz. sliced thin (set slices aside)

Stir everything together including the shredded cheese. Pour into greased 1 1/2 quart casserole dish. [8 x 8 baking square]
Cover and bake at 350 1 1/2 -2 hours or until rice and lentils are done, stirring twice (every 30-45 minutes) while baking.
Remove from oven, uncover casserole and lay remaining cheese on top. Put back in the oven and bake for 2 more minutes.

Stuffed leek leaves

(This recipe comes from Miriam. "Comes from," as in, "completely made it up herself." I'm posting it with her comments, and I can't wait to try it! Thanks for the submission, Miriam!)

** I labelled this as vegetarian, even though it contains fish. Does anyone have a better label?

This meal is super easy and truly delicious. What's really good about this recipe is that it's a good combination of sweet, from the dried fruit, savory from the onion and salmon, spicy from the ginger and pepper, bitter from the parsley, and well-textured from the crunchy veggies, the moist cous cous, and soft leaves.

Ingredients: 2-3 large leeks

Stuffing: 1 cup of finely chopped onion, sauteed
about 1 cup each of the following, chopped:
flat leaf parsley
carrots
prunes or other dried fruit
celery
cucumber
red or green pepper
about 1/2 cup ginger
1 cup of cooked cous cous (I used garlic and herb instant cous cous)
1 piece of cooked fish, like salmon or shellfish
salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

tomato sauce (I used a canned tomato, onion, garlic sauce)
olive oil (optional)

Preparation: Clean, trim, and cut the leeks into 2 -1/2-in. long pieces. Make a slit along one side of the leek through to the center and separate the leaves.

Combine the rest of the stuffing ingredients. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Mix well.

Place a leek leaf on a work surface. Spread about a tablespoon of stuffing in the center of the leek. Roll the leaf up like a cigar, securing it with a toothpick if necessary. Line rolls up in a baking pan. Brush leaves with oil. Pour your favorite tomato sauce over the rolls.

For added moisture and flavor, drizzle olive oil over. Bake at 400 deg. for 20 minutes or until leeks are soft.