The first taste of spring...

The Vegetarian Times roll continued with Lemony Bulgar with Asparagus and Spinach. This was one of the 30-minutes-or-less recipes and it took me closer to 45, but that was fine.

I have never cooked Bulgar before, but recognized it from Tabbouleh, once I got it softened. I had a little trouble zesting the lemon (I really need to get a zester!), but otherwise it was a really easy recipe. The fresh basil and lemon provided a fresh taste and a hint of the coming spring.

Hugh enjoyed a little parmasean on is, but Liz and I ate it straight up. It was satisfying and yummy! As soon as the recipes are up on thier website, I will provide a link... I'm too lazy to type it all out. If your really interested in getting them sooner rather than later, let me know and I can send it to you.

Bananarama

Recently, I have not been enjoying Vegetarian Times much. They have moved through about 3 editors in the past 18 months and it has not boded well for the magazine content (in my humble opinion). For example, I have noticed that more of the recipes have involved ultra-exotic ingredients that I can't find at my local Ukrops - even the fancy, big one. And, if I can't find the recipe ingredients at Ukrops, I ain't makin' the recipe.

However...

This month, I found 5, count them, f-i-v-e recipes that sounded good, included reasonable ingredients, AND came in at 8 WW points or less. And (icing on the cake here) 3 of the 5 *said* I could make them in 30 minutes or less (which translates to a weeknight meal in this household). So, maybe they are turning things around at the old VT...

I decided to make one of the non-30-minutes-or-less recipes on Sunday. It was a beautiful day, I had nothing on the agenda, and I had been shopping so I had all of the fixins in the house. I whipped out the dough for the Banana Black Bean Empanadas pretty quickly that morning, as it has to chill for at least an hour. I was very proud of myself for being so terribly on the ball and figured I could just throw together the rest of the recipe later that evening and it would be easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy (as Hugh says).

Note to self... empanadas, even when you already have the dough prepared, are not easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. There was sauteing the filling, rolling out twelve 6'' circles of dough for the empanadas, wetting the sides, crimping the edges, etc. It was some work... but it was absolutely worth it.

One of the tricks is getting slightly green bananas so the filling is slightly sweet, but not overpoweringly so (think plantains). Liz and I agreed that some type of sauce would have really

been good, but we couldn't decide what kind.

We ended up eating outside on the deck, enjoying the weather, with a glass of wine. A little later than I had thought, but other than that, a close to perfect evening.

Polenta surprise...!

Okay, so I am not a huge polenta fan, but I really want to be, so I refuse to give up trying recipes that involve this yellow grit. Last week, my perseverance paid off as I think I found my favorite polenta recipe ever!

I stumbled across it on the Cooking Light website (surprise, surprise, I know...) and decided to give it a whirl. I used Bob's Red Mill Corn Grits and took Cooking Light's advise in using the alternative polenta prep method that they reccomend as a part of the recipe. In a word: delish. This was a weight watcher's bargain at 5 points, so we sprinkled 1 Tbsp. of parmasean on top for another point and served with a salad for a grand meal total of 7 points. Really, it doesn't get much better than this. I love the flavor combination of the sage and parsley and was furtunate to still have some in my herd garden. Ladies and gentleman, I give you Polenta with Tomato-Braised Beans. Enjoy!

The Taste of Summer

There are a few very special recipes that I just HAVE to make at certain times of the year. Honey calls them signature dishes and there is one that I have to make in the summertime because when you are eating Orzo with tomatoes, feta, and green onion, you can just close your eyes and taste the warm air and sunshine. There is something about the combination of tomatoes and basil (both fresh from our garden) that absolutely takes my breath away.

I haven't made this dish since we started our weight watchers journey because when I figured out the points, it was about 11 points per serving. Too many. Last week, though, I sat down with the recipe and my points calculator, determined to figure out a way to make it work for us. With a few little substitutions, I brought the points from 11 to 8 and, long story short, we had it a couple of night ago and it was delicious. Here is the recipe and here is a brief summary of the changes I made to bring it down a bit...

• reduce the oil in the vinaigrette from 1/2 cup to 1/4 cup
• substituted chicken broth with veggie broth (not sure if this makes a point difference, but I am a vegetarian)
• used Athenos light feta (the small crumbles)
• reduced the 1/2 cup pine nuts to 1/4 cup

In all honesty, the flavor was slightly 'lighter' then the original recipe, but it still comes in as one of my top 3 recipes of all time. All time! If you can do the 11 point serving, though, go for it!

Pasta, Beans, 'n', Greens

I made a simple, one pan supper tonight that was surprisingly tasty. Usually, when I try new recipes, it's about a 50/50 chance of how it will turn out. Sometimes it's new family favorite (Sesame Noodles with Broccoli - yay!) and sometimes... not so much (Cowboy Meatloaf). Tonight, the Pasta, Beans, 'n' Greens was REALLY easy - it was together in 30 minutes - and very tasty. I did substitute the chicken broth (with veggie) and I also used black eyed peas instead of white beans. Hugh ate it happily, with a little extra Parmesan on top, and I'm happy to have a serving left over for lunch. All that and only 6 points! Yum!

Beans, beans, they're good for your heart...

Well, they were a long time comin', but they are worth it! Look at these babies! The Kentucky Wonder pole beans are bearing fruit and we couldn't be happier. I picked these today and I plan to cook them tomorrow along side some baked tofu and brown rice. I have a feeling the beans are going to steal the show...

Leftovers Are a Beautiful Thing

One thing that I have appreciated about the smaller portions that we have been eating is that we have more food left over. More food left over translates to less cooking for me at a later date. The trick is to have enough left over for another entire meal, freeze it in time, and BINGO! Dinner another day with only a quick defrost.

We have been doing a lot of storing and not much eating, so today I pulled out the leftovers from the Spinach Chick Pea Curry that I made the week before last. We paired it with a salad and I was reminded how absolutely delicious this one pot meal was. It might be my favorite Indian-type dish that I have ever made. I was dubious about substituting the tofu for the paneer but I took the suggestion of baking it beforehand (with just some Pam) and it was really good. I also have never heard of using creamed corn in a recipe like this and it was GREAT! It really made the creamy texture perfect without the heavy dairy. I added some Garam Masala, and it really contributed to the good flavor, as well.

Dare I say... another new family favorite!