Lentil and Beet Salad with Goat Cheese

Do you remember when I attempted to make a beet and lentil salad?  And it was awful?  I do, and since then, I have been plotting a way to make it again.  Except delicious.  

Challenge accepted.  Enter Bobby Flay.  This was the blueprint.   Of course, I didn't have sherry vinegar, so I used a mix of red wine vinegar and apple cider vinegar.  I'm not sure why, but it worked.  I didn't use bacon, because we didn't have any.  I THOUGHT we had dijon mustard, but we didn't.  We had mustard seeds, though so....

I smashed it up with some olive oil.  Go me.

On to the actual cooking.  The day before, I chopped up the beets and roasted them at 375 until they were tender, and mixed the dressing.  I did not photograph those steps.  Bad Blogger!  I also made the lentil broth that night.  

 Nice broth of chicken stock, celery leftover from our fondue-ing, and some onion mixed with tons of spices. 

 The morning I was ready to make it, I added in the lentils and cooked them until the liquid was gone.  

In a separate pan, I mixed onion and garlic with butter, and then threw in the lentils.  I discarded the mushy celery and onion.  

At dinnertime, all we had to do was throw the lentil mixture over some arugula and dressing, throw on the goat cheese, and arrange the beets. 

It was so much better.  It was easy, surprisingly easy, especially with the changes and prepping it in steps.  It was cheap, other than the goat cheese, but you could omit that.  We probably would have, but I wanted to make it just like the meal at the restaurant.  SUCCESS!!

This was also posted at
Kelly the Kitchen Kop for Real Food Wednesday!
and
Wholesome Whole Foods!

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First Day Back and Nut Butters

Now that the honeymoon is over (honestly!) and John and I are back into the swing of things, I have started to cook again!

I woke up extra early this morning so I would be able to make some nut butters for the week.  I had never made them completely from scratch.  Now, I know what you are thinking, "Hey!  I remember when you first got your food processor you made walnut and almond butters!  You even made them as presents for Christmas!!"And you would be right.  I did.  BUT.  I did not roast the nuts.  The peanuts were pre-roasted and the others were raw.  Today?  I did it all!

I roasted peanuts and almonds.  There are about 3 cups of shelled peanuts and 2 cups of slivered almonds.  They baked at 350 for 15ish minutes.  Until they were brown.  While they were still piping hot they went into the food processor.  

 For the peanut butter, I wanted to use the honey as a sweetener, so I drizzled it in as it processed.  

The heat from the nuts and the processor helped make it very creamy.  I didn't have to add any additional oil!

I just processed the heck out of it!

John wanted the almond butter sweetened with molasses.

So the entire process was repeated, replacing the peanuts with almonds and the honey with molasses.  

This one fit into a jar for storage!

I did add some salt to each.  While we were in Hawai'i we were able to snag some sea salt, which I pummeled with a mortar and pestle (or Tupperware and heavy smusher)  until it was ultra fine.  

The nut butters are so good!  They don't taste anything like store bought (in a good way!) and they are really really easy to make!

I will leave you with a photo of my yummy lunch... spinach salad with strawberries and Parmesan Cheese. 

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Pizza Friday!

This week's Pizza Friday features a Ricotta-Vodka Sauce Pizza with a side salad.  Enjoy!

 

Raw.  

Layer of whole wheat dough, layer of Ricotta Cheese, layer of Vodka Sauce, sprinkling of parsley, oregano, basil, and Parmesean Cheese.  There is also a grapeseed oil-parmesean-garlic glaze on the crust.  FANCY!

 

Cooked.

Note the crispiness?  It is thanks to another one of my bridal shower gifts.  A pizza crisper!  It is basically a pizza pan with holes in it to allow the air to circulate and crisp it up. 

  

Served....

with a salad on the side.  

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Sneak Peak at My Week!

What out-of-the-ordinary things have I been consuming lately?  Let's see...

Earlier this week I had no idea what I wanted for breakfast.  I peeked into the freezer and found THIS little gem. 

 

During the summer when I am smoothie-ing it up, I tend to freeze the extra into ice pops for a sweet, healthy snack.  I guess I forgot this one!  I think it is beet-banana, but I'm not sure.  It was DELICIOUS. That, I am sure of.  

On Wednesday of the Meal Plan I notated that it was a grab-n-go kinda day.  I made this Tuesday night so I had it ready to go. 
 

I chopped up a cucumber and a tomato, added parsley,
 

Some bread I made earlier that was a LITTLE too crusty,
 

and some lemon-olive oil dressing.  

It kept me from over-indulging in food at the Nets game.  Oh, did I not mention that John and I had FLOOR SEATS to a NJ Nets game?  And that is came with access to a special VIP area with free food and drink?  I didn't mention that?!  Oops.

On Thursday John wanted me to make the rest of the meatballs.  When I make them, I make twice as many meatballs and freeze 1/2 raw.  When I am ready to make more, I just have to make the gravy and throw them in.  This time, I tried it in the slow cooker!
 

 I know the picture isn't really appetizing, but they tasted just as good as they do when I make it on the stove, but it is MUCH less messy.  SCORE!

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Quick Fix

Hi! 

There are tasty things to come, but until then, here's a quick fix for ya!

 

John made delicious burgers and I had mine with cheddar cheese, baby mixed greens, oil, and vinegar.  DELICIOUS!!

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This Week's Highlights!

Today I am posting the best Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner from this week.

Best Breakfast:

It kind of looks like a sugary cereal, doesn't it?  What is it really, you ask?  WELL! It is.....

• 1 banana
• 1 small box of blackberries
• 1 big handful raisins
• 1 big handful peanuts

YUMM!  I didn't add any liquid, even though I ate it with a spoon from my cereal bowl.

Best Lunch:

This lunch is the ultimate in leftover cooking salad making.  I literally opened up my fridge, took out 1/2 of the contents, and poured it into a salad.  It is...

• Romaine lettuce
• Leftover white meat turkey
• Mushrooms
• Raisins
• Walnuts
• Lentils
  
• Ground flax seeds
• Shredded Coconut
• Hummus
• Olive Oil
• Red Wine Vinegar

On the counter it looked like this!

Best Dinner:

This meal was straight out of this blog.  The only changes I made were using chicken thighs instead of breasts (it's what I had in the freezer) and serving it over quinoa (it's what John wanted to make).  I know it looks burnt, but I promise, it is SUPER yummy!

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Sick Sick Sick

Hi!

So, I'm back!

So sorry I was gone for so long.  I had pneumonia.  For a while.  I was sick.  Really sick.

BUT NOW! I am back and cooking and eating again!!!

I was lucky enough to be sent some yummy leftovers to tide my over when I was sick.  I added the chicken to my salad and had that for dinner last night.  MMMmmmMMMm!

Today, I wasn't quite ready for a smoothie for breakfast.  I decided to have cinnamon raisin oatmeal instead.  UNFORTUNATELY there was no cinnamon left.

So I soaked some raisins, 

Cooked some oatmeal,

and added peanut butter to make it yummy!!!  It was probably the best oatmeal I have ever made myself. 

And I deserve it!

Lunch was a simple spinach salad with mushrooms and balsamic vinegar.

 aaaaaaand dinner was a version of this but with spinach.  Just rotini, penne, in a garlic clam sauce WITH spinach.  GO ME!

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Nothing Interesting

I know I haven't posted in a while.  Don't worry, it's nothing personal.  I just haven't really cooked anything interesting.  Lots of salads and variations on peanut butter sandwiches. 

 Salad, Apple, Nutella

Peanut butter and coconut on whole wheat bread

Peanut butter and boysenberry jam sandwich

... and thaaaat's it, in a (pea)nut shell. 

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Chicken Noodle Soup (with a salad on the side)

Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup with a salad on the side!

That's my version of WebStar/Young B's song.

I didn't plan meals for this week.  Shame on me.  For Monday, John made some super yummy turkey burgers.  Last night?  I threw together some CHICKEN NOODLE SOUP.  But I'm sure you figured that out by now.

First, I melted some frozen chicken broth I had made.  The last 3 times I roasted a chicken I made broth.  I used 1 bag of broth from each of the last 2 times because one time the broth was much darker than the other.  Also, one was in cubes, the other in a bag.  The broth had a very onioney lemoney taste to it that was awesome.  The bag one was actually left from this meal, as were the chicken pieces added later!

I cooked about 1/4 box of whole wheat spaghetti until it was ALMOST al dente.  I plunked it into the now boiling chicken broth.  When it was cooked, I added the extra pieces of chicken I had saved from the roasted chicken.

Served with.....A SALAD ON THE SIDE!

I crack myself up. 

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Spaghetti (SQUASH)

I have been having green smoothies every morning for the last few weeks, but this morning I was in the mood for cereal.  I had YOGI cereal, which is very good and delicious, with rice milk and a pear.  It was a nice change of breakfast pace. 

  Dinner was to be a spaghetti squash, but I had no idea how.  A quick web search resulted in this recipe, onion garlic spaghetti squash!  

First, I cut the spaghetti squash.  Then, I stuffed it with chopped onion and garlic and drizzled olive oil over it.  After it cooked 375 for about 45 minutes and cooled for about 15 minutes, I scooped it out...

  With a light sprinkle of parmesean cheese and a nice salad, this baby was perfect!

 

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Quick Pizza Friday

Hi!  Nothing too interesting happened today, but it is Pizza Friday, so I thought I'd let ya know what I made!

I WANTED to make a pasta vodka ricotta pizza but SOMEONE who shall remain nameless ate all the leftover macaroni and forced me to have salad pizza because I didn't feel like making more macaroni.

I brushed the whole wheat dough with grape seed oil...

and then sprinkled parmesean cheese all over it!

Whipped up a quick salad while the dough baked

and then topped it!

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