non-quionoa vegetable stew!

friday night i made quinoa vegetable stew from the "moosewood restaurant: low fat favorites" cookbook, except i made a few changes. namely, i had no quinoa. but nevermind that, nevermind that.

its basically a vegetable saute - done with whatever i had on hand - onion, garlic, pepper, onions, and zucchini.

as well as corn and tomatoes...

and spices - cumin, a bit of cayenne...

oooh - plating! couscous!

stew!

cheese!

mediterranean lentils and rice!

my step-sister has been on a quest to recreate a mediterranean lentils recipe from an old restaurant. i have no idea if this is anywhere close to what she is looking for, but i googled 'mediterranean lentils,' and this is one of the few things that came up that looked healthy and that wasn't a soup - so this is for her. i really liked it - the next time i make it i would include even more raisins than 1/3 cup. this suggestion would only work if one likes raisins. if not, you'll probably want to go for something else....

one thing that's a big bonus about this recipe is that its CHEAP! one onion? that's nothing. and everyone should already have cumin and cinnamon hiding in their cabinets already.

and lentils are, like, a dolla. that's it. and so is the rice you'll be cooking on the back burner. if you can't spring for fancy veggie broth, boil water and add a broth cube to mix to the lentils. speaking of which, here is the soupy mess before half an hour of simmering...

and after. its true that you have half an hour to do nothing but occasionally stir lentils. what to do with the time? might i suggest motown dance party. you could start with 'money: that's what i want' and sing ironically to the lyrics: "the best things in life are free, but you can give them to the birds and bees. i need money. (that's what i want.)"

then you add fun things tomatoes and raisins...

and let the whole thing blend...

and serve over rice. nice.

vegetable and chickpea ragout!

i made vegetable and chickpea ragout for dinner last night. i got the recipe from the epicurious website, but this is also somehow from the self magazine website at the same time. its crazy how they do that. either way, (click here to get to it). i sort of adhered to the recipe. as in, everything you see there i did, but i used more of it.

as in, i think this is more like 3/4 of a cup of an onion instead of 1/2. oh my!

the broccoli and red pepper you see before you is also more than 1/2 a cup. i'm a rebel.

the tomato paste you see wasn't even if the recipe. yup, i'm crazy like that. but with the extra veggies, an entire can of chickpeas, etc, i needed more tomatoes, and that was what i had on hand. and to help offset the whole thing, i added a cup of veggie broth.

i was, however, very happy that the holy grail of tomatoes was on sale. we'll be happy to splurge again next time they are on sale, too:

this is what the pan looked like after 20 minutes (what mess in the bottom left corner?)...

and here are the final add-ins of peas, olives, and artichoke hearts - cooked long enough to warm...

and now for the assembly. first, the pasta. smart people have guessed that i made more than the recommended 1/2 cup, which is just silly. i made the whole box, because leftover pasta goes with everything...

ragout...

and blurry basil! this was prettier in person, and quite tasty. go TOP CHEF in the making. and speaking of my favorite cooking show, i have been re-watching season 2, and i feel marcel got a bad break. sure, he was a bit socially awkward at times, but he became the scapegoat in a strange witch hunt for no real reason that i could see. he has cool werewolf hair and he can make me foam anytime. and so can sam and elia. thank you and please have a nice day.

tomato-rice soup with roasted garlic and navy beans!

yesterday i was still feeling kind of blah, and i wanted soup. the kind of soup that can be made without having to drive to the supermarket, that i could make out of the pantry.

i ended up with tomato-rice soup with roasted garlic and navy beans from veganomicon.

and, lucky you, i also happened to find one person who posted the recipe online - you can (click here) to get to it.

to begin with, i should probably point out that i made some alterations, based on the whole 'no supermarket' thing. the first being that i didn't have two bulbs of garlic to roast. so, i went with the alternative directions of taking around 6 cloves...

and throwing them in a soup pot with the finely diced onion.

after it cooked a bit, i threw in the rice...

and the rest of the spices and stirred things around for a couple minutes.

next came the tomatoes. a 28 oz can of diced tomatoes went in the pot...

as well as a 15oz can of crushed tomatoes and a few chopped fresh tomatoes lurking in the fridge. altogether, this is almost what the recipe called for.

and i don't care if this is now going to be called 'chunky' tomato-rice soup.

in fact, because i'm so crazy, i decided to add one of my organic veggie broth starburst creatures to the mix after i added all the water and it came to a boil. after this, i turned it down and it simmered for 45 minutes.

and then i added the beans and let them warm up:

and then i ate it. i should probably mention that, while all this was cooking, i did walk 1 block down the road to the panera to get a baguette to eat with this. this has happened pretty much every time i've cooked something that a baguette might go with - i've just never mentioned it or taken a picture. and, keeping with tradition, i forgot to take a picture last night. oh well - we'll have to make due with this: