Broccoli and Spinach Pie

We had some broccoli and some spinach (both are the last of the season, unfortunately) so we looked around for some ideas of what to make with them, and came across this recipe, then changed it a little bit. It was ultra-fly. We used a frozen prepared pie shell, but if you can make one that's probably way better.

Ingredients:

1 cup spinach, rinsed and roughly chopped

2 cups broccoli, blanched

3/4 cups grated cheese

1 egg

2 shallots finely chopped 

2 cloves garlic

salt and pepper

olive oil

pie crust

 1. Chop the shallots, garlic, spinach, and broccoli.

2. Saute the shallots and garlic in some olive oil, and blanch the broccoli. Also preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

 3. Mix together the broccoli, spinach, egg, cheese, salt and pepper, then add in the shallots and garlic.

4. Pour the mixture into the pie crust, and grate some extra cheese on top.

5. Bake it for 25-30 minutes, or until it becomes golden. Let it cool for about 10 minutes before you eat it. 

You will stand here the whole 10 minutes.

The pie tasted awesome, and was also good reheated the next day for an easy lunch. It fell apart a little when we cut it, but that was not really a problem.

Tomato carrot soup

We got the idea for this recipe from cancerrd.com and changed a few things, so here's our version:

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped into small pieces
1 small celeriac, peeled and cubed
3-4 cups tomatoes, seeds removed
1 tablespoon flour
3 cups water or broth or a combination
2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
bit of salt if you didn't use broth

celeriac, carrot, basil!

 

 

chop that shit.

1. Heat oil in a big soup pot, then add onion, garlic, carrot, and celeriac and saute it for a few minutes until the onion gets soft.

 

2. Add the tomatoes and let it all simmer for 10 minutes while stirring it around occasionally.

3. Sprinkle the flour in and mix it around until it's all smooth.

4. Add the water or broth (we used half broth and half water), bring it to a boil, then reduce the heat and let it simmer for 20 to 30 minutes.

5. Blend the soup (like it owes you money), then put it back in the pot and reheat it a bit if necessary.

6. Eat it! We made another french bread and had it with this soup which was very good.

notes: we left the tomato seeds in and found that they were annoying and didn't get blended, which is why you should take them out.

Creamy broccoli cheddar soup

Ingredients:

2 cups chicken broth

2 1/2 cups broccoli

Broccoli!

1/2 cup chopped onion

Tiny onion!

1 cup milk

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 cup (or so) shredded cheddar cheese

fresh oregano, salt, and pepper to taste

1. Bring broth to a boil.

2 1/2 cups of broccoli. We might need a new measuring cup soon. Maybe.

2. Add broccoli, onion, and oregano. Cook for five minutes, or until broccoli is tender.

3. In a separate bowl, slowly add milk to flour, and mix until well blended. 

4. Once the broccoli is tender, blend the broccoli broth slightly, so it still is a little chunky, but not big pieces.

 

Like this. Takes about 1 second in our Reagan-era blender.

 5. Put the blended soup back in the pot, then stir the flour mixture in. Cook, stirring constantly, until soup is thick and bubbly. 


6. Add the grated cheese and stir it until its melted. Add salt and pepper.

Final product tasted suspiciously delicious. And cheesy.

Barley and Swiss Chard Skillet Casserole

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 cup chopped red bell pepper
1 cup chopped green bell pepper

1 + 1 doesn't always equal 2

3/4 cup quick cooking barley
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon red pepper flakes
2 cups packed coarsely chopped swiss chard

Swiss chard from the garden!!

1 cup canned navy beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons bread crumbs

1. Chop! And preheat broiler.

2. Bring water to a boil in large ovenproof skillet; add bell peppers, barley, garlic powder and red pepper flakes. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 10 minutes or until liquid is absorbed and barley is tender. Remove from heat.

3. Stir in chard, beans, tomatoes, basil and olive oil. Sprinkle with bread crumbs. Broil 2 minutes or until golden.

French bread!

We made some bread. It was pretty easy, and felt awesome. And tasted awesome. 

Felt awesome on my hands.

The ingredients were:
1 package active dry yeast
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 tablespoon butter, melted
4 cups all-purpose flour
cornmeal

1. In a large bowl, combine the yeast with 1/2 cup of the water and stir until the yeast is dissolved.

2. Add the sugar, salt, butter, and remaining 1 cup water. stir until all the ingredients are well blended and the powdered ingredients are dissolved. Add the flour and stir until the dough is smooth; do not knead. Cover the bowl and let the dough rise in a warm place until it is doubled in size, about 1 hour.

3. Lightly flour a work surface. Divide the dough in half; let the dough halves rest for 10 minutes. Using a lightly floured rolling pin, roll one dough half into a 10 x 8-inch rectangle. Beginning on a long side, roll up the dough, jelly-roll fashion; pinch the edges to seal the loaf. Repeat with the remaining dough half.

4. Lightly grease a baking sheet and sprinkle it with cornmeal. Place the loaves, seam side down, on the prepared baking sheet; sprinkle the tops of the loaves with additional cornmeal. Cover the loaves and let rise until doubled in size, about 45 minutes.

5. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Using a sharp knife, make five diagonal cuts across the top of each loaf. Bake the loaves until they are lightly browned, 20 to 30 minutes. Remove the loaves to wire racks to cool.

6. Before removing bread from oven, press play:

And...the final product: yum!

Black bean & mushroom Chilaquiles

BACK FOR ANOTHER ROUND SOUTHRN UNDERGRND1

Our first recipe was the Black Bean & Mushroom Chilaquiles from the recipe book "The Vegetarian Bible" (although I'm fairly certain there are upward to a million books with that or similar titles).

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
1 jalapeno or serrano pepper, seeded and minced
2 cans (about 15 oz. each) black beans, rinsed and drained
1 can (about 14 oz.) diced tomatoes
10 oz. white mushrooms, cut into quarters
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1 cup (4 oz.) shreeded sharp cheddar cheese, plus additional for garnish
6 cups tortilla chips

We strayed from the recipe a bit, using a red bell pepper instead of a green, chopping fresh tomatoes, and fresh oregano from our garden.  We mortared some cumin seeds instead of using previous ground cumin, which was fun, made us feel like alchemists and what have you.

 

1. Heat oil in medium skillet over medium heat.  Add onion, bell pepper and jalapeno.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion softens.

While the things fried we prepared our other ingredients.

Mushrooms and tomatoes and cumin

A chinese tea cup's worth of oregano.  Very precise.

2. Transfer fried ingredients to slow cooker. Add beans, tomatoes, mushrooms, cumin and oregano. Cover; cook on LOW 6 hours or on HIGH 3 hours.

3. Sprinkle Cheddar cheese over bean mixture.  Cover; cook until cheese melts. Stir to combine.

4. Coarsely crush tortilla chips.  Top with black bean mixture and sprinkle with additional cheese.

Finished product is like an explosion with a flavour eagle flying out of it.