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By sally, on July 23rd, 2010
I think Graham and I have officially become adults. In addition to the fact that I just turned 30 (eek!), we were put on the schedule to cook dinner for the whole family at Graham’s annual family reunion! No small task—believe me!
For the last 23 years, Graham’s family has maintained a wonderful tradition of gathering every summer in Hilton Head, South Carolina. Aunts, uncles, cousins, and grandparents all gather together for a week of relaxing on the beach, playing tennis, riding bikes, and hanging out.
For the last few years that I’ve attended, Graham’s mom and her brothers and sister have each taken responsibility for a night of cooking dinner for the entire group (usually between 20-35 people!). We’ve helped out before, but never have the two of us been solely in charge of the family meal.
Even though Graham’s mom encouraged us to keep it simple, I still felt a little pressure. What kind of vegetarian dish could we make on a large scale for a group with mixed preferences and eating habits? After nixing several grandiose ideas, we ended up making lasagna—2 spinach and cheese, 1 spinach, artichoke and cheese, and 1 vegan spinach and artichoke.
Although lasagna is not the simplest dish to make, it can be prepared ahead of time and put in the oven about an hour before dinnertime—very convenient for spending prime afternoon time on the beach and not in the kitchen. We also used no-boil noodles, which cut down the prep time.
We served the lasagna with a big green salad (with mandarin oranges and almond slices) and garlic bread and rounded out the meal with ice cream sandwiches made with our own homemade cookies. The meal seemed to be a hit with the family (at least people’s plates were clean and they came back for more!), so I think our first year cooking was a success—whew, what a relief…! 
Spinach and Artichoke Lasagna (vegan and vegetarian versions)
Recipes were adapted from here and here
Vegan Version
- 1 container of extra firm tofu (12oz), crumbled
- juice from half a lemon
- ½ teaspoon garlic powder
- ½ teaspoon onion powder
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
- 1 small onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 bag of frozen chopped spinach (10oz), thawed and drained
- 1 jar of tomato sauce
- 9 no-boil lasagna noodles
- 1 can artichoke hearts (16oz), drained and roughly chopped
In a medium sized bowl mix together the crumbled tofu, lemon juice, garlic powder, onion powder and salt and pepper to taste. Set aside.
Heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet. Add diced onion and cook until translucent. Add garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the spinach and cook until just warm. Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
To assemble the lasagna, spread a small amount of sauce on the bottom of a 13 x 9 pan. On top of the sauce place three dry no-boil noodles. Spread half of the tofu mixture on top of the noodles and top with half of the spinach mixture and half of the artichokes. Cover with another layer of noodles, tofu, spinach, and artichoke. Top the lasagna with the remaining three noodles and pour the rest of the sauce over the top.
Cover the lasagna with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour at 350° or cover and refrigerate and bake later.
Vegetarian Version
- 1 15 oz container ricotta cheese
- 3 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- ½ cup Parmesan cheese, divided
- salt and pepper
- olive oil
- 1 small onion
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 bag of frozen chopped spinach (10oz), thawed and drained
- 1 jar of tomato sauce
- 9 no-boil lasagna noodles
- 1 can artichoke hearts (16oz), drained and roughly chopped
In a medium sized bowl, mix together the ricotta cheese, 2 cups of mozzarella and ¼ cup of Parmesan cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
Heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet. Add diced onion and cook until translucent. Add garlic and cook for 2 more minutes. Add the spinach and cook until just warm. Add salt and pepper to taste and set aside.
To assemble the lasagna, spread a small amount of sauce on the bottom of a 13 x 9 pan. On top of the sauce place three dry no-boil noodles. Spread half of the cheese mixture on top of the noodles and top with half of the spinach mixture and half of the artichokes. Cover with another layer of noodles, cheese, spinach, and artichokes. Top the lasagna with the remaining three noodles and pour the rest of the sauce over the top.
Cover the lasagna with aluminum foil and bake for 1 hour at 350°. Remove the lasagna from the oven and uncover. Top the lasagna with the remaining mozzarella and Parmesan cheese. Bake for another 15 minutes or until the cheese has melted.
Tasty Easy Healthy Green Recipe Ratings:
| Recipe Report Card |
Notes About Recipe Ratings |
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Tasty Rating
Four Chefs (Delicious!)
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We couldn’t decide whether we liked the vegan or vegetarian version better—they were both very tasty. |
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Easy Rating
Three Easy Chairs (Average Difficulty)
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Making four lasagnas was a little bit of a task, but one lasagna takes a little less effort and the no-boil noodles cut down the time needed to prep the lasagna. |
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Healthy Rating
Four Apples (Healthy, Wealthy, and Wise)
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This healthy score is for the vegan lasagna. It is packed with veggies and lower in fat. The vegetarian version would get a three because it is good on veggies, but is considerably higher in fat because of the cheese. |
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Green Rating
One Leaf (Polar Bears are Crying)
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We didn’t have a whole lot of time for shopping or knowledge of the stores around Hilton Head. The big supermarket that we ended up going to did not have much in the way of organic or local products. I think only the tofu was organic. Definitely not what we are used to! |
By sally, on July 15th, 2010
I have dreams of one day having an herb garden. Whenever a recipe calls for fresh herbs, it would be great to walk right outside to the garden and snip a bit of basil or pluck a few leaves of mint. But as I’ve mentioned previously, Graham and I currently don’t have much of a yard, so a garden is not in the cards for us.
While I do have a small pot of herbs growing on the porch, it is not quite cutting it for all of our cooking needs. Instead, I buy herbs from the store or farmers market. Usually I find everything I need, but most of the time the herbs come in bunches that are much larger than what the recipe calls for. Once I add the required amount to the recipe, I try to use up the leftover herbs in other recipes, but it seems like inevitably some goes to waste.
After making the chimichuri sauce for last week’s empanadas, I was left with about half a bunch of cilantro. Not wanting to let the cilantro go to waste, I started brainstorming ways to use up the herbs. Both Graham and I loved the chimichuri sauce that went with the empanadas, so why not make something similar that could be served over pasta!?
So I threw together the cilantro and a few other ingredients that I had on hand and the results were a pesto that was light and packed with refreshing cilantro flavor. The cilantro pesto would also probably be good over potatoes and other vegetables, so really, in the future, I’ll have no excuse for letting herbs go to waste again!
Cilantro Pesto Pasta
Similar to the chimichuri sauce, I used my mezzaluna to mince together the ingredients. A food processor or a knife would also work for mincing.
- About 8oz of dried whole wheat pasta
- ¼ -½ cups olive oil
- 3-4 cloves of garlic
- ½ a bunch of cilantro
- Salt and pepper
- ½ pint cherry or grape tomatoes
- Shaved pecorino cheese
Prepare pasta according to the package directions.
While pasta is cooking, heat the olive oil in a small pot for a few minutes. Use a mezzaluna or knife to mince together the garlic and cilantro. Stir the garlic and cilantro mixture into the warm oil. Add salt and pepper to taste.
In a large pot, mix together the pesto and the cooked pasta. Fold in the tomatoes and garnish the pasta with shaved pecorino cheese.
Tasty Easy Healthy Green Recipe Ratings:
| Recipe Report Card |
Notes About Recipe Ratings |
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Tasty Rating
Four Chefs (Delicious!)
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How can you go wrong with cilantro and garlic? |
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Easy Rating
Four Easy Chairs (ABC, Easy as 123…)
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The pesto is super quick to make and of course cooking dried pasta is pretty easy. |
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Healthy Rating
Three Apples (Average Nutritional Quality)
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The pesto has a good amount of oil, but using whole-wheat pasta helped make the dish a little healthier. |
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Green Rating
Four Leaves (Mother Earth Approved)
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All the ingredients were organic, except for the pecorino I used to garnish the dish. |
By sally, on July 6th, 2010
Inspiration hit me last week and it was hard to ignore. This inspiration came from the farmers market and was in the form of a palm-sized pastry. This delicious savory pastry, or “empanada,” was stuffed with a fresh corn filling unlike any I had tried before. So taken was I by this empanada that I decided instead of waiting a week to buy another at the market, I needed re-create it at home as soon as possible.
My mind started racing with ideas about what ingredients I would need and where I would acquire them. My plan was to go the next day to another farmers market in the area (one that sadly does not have empanadas) and pick up the fresh vegetables and cheese for the filling. Unfortunately, however, sometimes even the best-laid plans go awry…
First of all, the day flew by and for a variety of reasons I wasn’t able to make it to the farmers market. Dashed were my plans for an all local and organic filling! But still determined to make my empanada dreams come true, I headed to one of our neighborhood grocery stores, thinking that at least I could make an all organic filling with ingredients I could find there. Alas this was not to be either. The store had most of the ingredients that I needed, but only a few of them were organic! What to do?
It ended up that in this instance, Graham and I decided that buying organic wasn’t the end all and be all. We could have tried another store, but that would have required driving somewhere else (we had walked to the store we were at) and would have taken more time out of the already dwindling day. All without any guarantee that the ingredients would be at the other store, let alone be organic. Oh the tradeoffs!
I felt a tinge of guilt when we sat down to eat our non-organic, non-local empanadas, but they tasted so great that I soon forgot about my earlier frustrations of the day. The one thing preparation for this meal did reveal was the potential hidden costs of trying to buy the greenest ingredients – if we had driven to another store, we might have been able to find those ingredients, but the separate trip would have increased the carbon footprint of the meal substantially. So buying “green” products does not always translate into living a “green” lifestyle. Next time we’ll just try to make it to the farmers market or get our ingredients en route from somewhere.
For us being green is a process in which we frequently encounter a lot of hitches along the way, and there always seems to be ways we (and the places we buy from) can do better. One step at a time…!
Fresh Corn and Manchego Cheese Empanadas with Chimichuri
The filling for these empanadas was inspired by an empanada I had at a farmers market. I found the recipe for the empanada dough here. I would recommend doubling the empanada dough recipe to match the amount of filling that the recipe below yields (the filling on its own is still quite tasty though). The dough is easy to work with when it is cold, but quickly warms and becomes more difficult. Next time I may split the dough into smaller pieces and work with one piece at a time while the other pieces stay chilled in the fridge. These empanadas are also wonderful when served with a little chimichuri sauce (see recipe below).
- Empanada dough
- Olive oil
- 1 medium onion, diced
- 3 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 red bell pepper, diced
- 4 cobs of corn, kernels cut from the cob
- ½ teaspoon of smoked paprika
- Salt and pepper
- ½-¾ cup shredded Manchego cheese
- 1 egg, beaten (optional)
Assemble the empanada dough according to recipe directions. For the filling, heat 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet. Add the onions and cook until almost translucent. Add garlic and cook for another minute. Stir in bell pepper and corn and cook until tender crisp. Add smoked paprika and salt and pepper to taste. Remove from heat and set aside.
Preheat the oven to 400°. Roll out empanada dough and cut into 5-inch rounds. Spoon about 2 tablespoons of corn and pepper filling into the center of each round. Fold the dough rounds in half and seal in the filling by crimp with your fingers or using the tines of a fork. Arrange the empanadas on a baking sheet and lightly brush the tops of each one with a little of the beaten egg. Bake empanadas for about 25 minutes or until they are golden.
Chimichuri Sauce
The recipe below is not super precise, as I kind of experimented and threw together what I had. If you need more precision, there are plenty of chimichuri recipes online. You can use a food processor to blend together the ingredients for the sauce, but I used my mezzaluna to mince everything together.
- ¼ -½ cup olive oil
- 2 cloves of garlic
- 2 shallots
- 1 small bunch of parsley
- ½ a bunch of cilantro
- Juice from half a lemon
- Salt and pepper
In a small pot, heat the olive oil for a few minutes (the warm oil takes a little of the edge off the raw garlic). Use a mezzaluna or knife to mince together the garlic, shallots, parsley, and cilantro. Stir the garlic, shallot, and herb mixture into the warm oil. Squeeze in the lemon juice. Set aside sauce and allow it to marinate for 30 minutes to an hour.
Tasty Easy Healthy Green Recipe Ratings:
| Recipe Report Card |
Notes About Recipe Ratings |
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Tasty Rating
Four Chefs (Delicious!)
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The empanadas had a nice flaky crust and the flavors of the manchego and smoked paprika went well with the fresh corn. |
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Easy Rating
Two Easy Chairs (A Long March…)
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Making the crust, filling and sauce from scratch takes a fair amount of time and energy. Making in bulk and saving some for another meal or two might be the way to go with this recipe. |
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Healthy Rating
Two Apples (Surgeon General’s Warning!)
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While these empanadas had a vegetable filling, the crust was packed with butter and the cheese added saturated fat and calories. The sauce also had a good amount of oil. |
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Green Rating
Two Leaves (Chemical Fertilizers and Pesticides Rock)
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As mentioned above, I failed in my quest to make our empanadas fully “green.” The crust was organic, but most of the filling and the sauce ingredients were not organic or local. Nevertheless, we didn’t make a gratuitous extra trip for them either, which would probably have translated into a penalty of one fewer leaf as well. |
By sally, on June 28th, 2010
Summer is here and even though we don’t have a grill, we are grilling! Yes, not having a grill makes capturing those summertime-grilled flavors a little more difficult, but luckily our handy stovetop grill pan has so far managed to fulfill most of our grilling needs. Sure a real grill would be nice, but we are currently yard-challenged—meaning that we do not have a yard suitable for a grill.
Now grills (or grill pans) are not something I typically associate with pizza, but when I recently came across a grilled pizza recipe, I was intrigued. Not having a pizza stone, I’ve shied away from other homemade pizza recipes, but this recipe could easily be made in our little grill pan.
 People’s pizza preferences certainly run the gamut, so this pizza might not be for everyone. However, Graham and I were both quite pleased with the results.
The crust was thick and chewy with nice crispy edges and a hint of charred grill flavor. The sweet and creamy mozzarella that topped the pizza was a perfect accompaniment to the thick and tangy tomato sauce. Lastly, the torn basil leaves gave the pizza a nice shot of summertime freshness.
This pizza is certainly on the docket for future meals around here. The fact that the pizza can be made without turning on the oven makes it a great option when the heat is on outside. Next time we may even try spicing things up with some other pizza toppings.
Grilled Margherita Pizza
Adapted from Cooking Light, May 2010
The dough for this pizza requires at least 24 hours of refrigeration before it is grilled or baked. The resulting flavor of the dough makes the extended refrigeration time well worth it.
Pizza dough:
- 1 cup warm water (100°-110°)
- 10 ounces of bread flour (about 2 cups and 2 tablespoons)
- 1 package active dry yeast
- 4 teaspoons olive oil
- 1 teaspoon salt
Tomato sauce:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 5 cloves of garlic, minced
- 1 can (28 oz) whole tomatoes
- 2 tablespoons tomato paste (optional)
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon dried oregano
Pizza topping:
- 1 ball of fresh mozzarella (8 oz), sliced into thin rounds
- A small bunch of fresh basil leaves (1/3 cup)
To make the dough, pour ¾ cup of the warm water into the bowl of a stand mixer. With the stand mixer at a low speed and the dough hook attached, slowly begin adding the flour to the water until it is combined. Cover the bowl and allow it to stand for 20 minutes.
While the dough “rests,” pour remaining ¼ cup warm water into a small bowl. Add the packet of yeast to the bowl. Once the yeast and water mixture appears bubbly, add it to the dough in the stand mixer. With the mixer at a low speed, add in the olive oil and salt. Continue mixing until a soft dough forms. Adjust levels water or flour so that the dough is tacky, but not too sticky or too dry. Spray the sides of a bowl with cooking spray. Place the dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate dough for 24 hours.
To make the sauce, heat olive oil in a large pan over medium heat. Add minced garlic and cook for 1 minute. Drain about half of the liquid from the canned tomatoes and crush the tomatoes. Add the tomatoes, tomato paste, salt and oregano to the pot with the garlic. Bring mixture to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
About an hour before you would like to make the pizza, remove the dough from the refrigerator. Once the dough is room temperature punch it down and press it into a 12-inch oval (because of the size of my grill pan, I ended up dividing the dough into several smaller ovals or mini-pizzas). Place oval on a baking sheet sprinkled with corn meal.
Prepare grill or grill pan to high heat and spray grill with cooking spray. Place pizza dough (cornmeal side up) on the hot grill rack. Grill for roughly 4 minutes and turn over the dough. Top crust with tomato sauce and cheese. Continue to grill for 5-7 minutes or until cooked thoroughly and cheese is melted. Sprinkle pizzas with torn basil leaves and serve. Yields 5 mini-pizzas about 4-5 inches in diameter.
Tasty Easy Healthy Green Recipe Ratings:
| Recipe Report Card |
Notes About Recipe Ratings |
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Tasty Rating
Five Chefs (Gourmet Fare!)
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When I asked Graham what I should rate this pizza, he said it was as good as the pizza from one of our famous local pizza places—that says a lot about this recipe! |
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Easy Rating
Two Easy Chairs (A Long March…)
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This recipe requires some planning because the pizza dough must be assembled and then refrigerated for 24 hours. This does split up the preparation time though and the grilling time is actually quite brief. |
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Healthy Rating
Two Apples (Surgeon General’s Warning!)
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Even though this pizza had loads of tomato sauce and less cheese than other pizzas, it is still not something you’d want to eat too frequently. |
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Green Rating
Four Leaves (Mother Earth Approved)
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All of the ingredients were organic, except for the mozzarella |
By sally, on June 21st, 2010
I had burrata cheese for the first time a few years ago at a restaurant in LA and let me tell you, I have not stopped singing its praises since. For those of you who may not be familiar with burrata, please allow me to introduce you to it — though I’m not sure my words and pictures can do this heavenly cheese justice!
From the outside, burrata cheese looks like just a ball of fresh mozzarella, but when the mozzarella is cut into, a sweet and creamy inner layer oozes forth. This inner layer is made up of delicately soft and smooth curds of mozzarella mixed with cream. For all of you fresh mozzarella lovers out there, burrata really kicks it up a notch.
Similar to mozzarella, burrata is wonderful in a tomato and basil salad. It can also be served simply atop some bread with a little drizzle of olive oil. When I first experienced it in LA, it was paired with some roasted beets and topped with toasted hazelnuts. I split this dish with a friend of mine as an appetizer and we found ourselves fighting for the last bite.
I’d been thinking about trying to recreate the beets and burrata dish for a while, but fresh burrata can be difficult to find. When some beets came in my CSA box recently, I was inspired to look a little harder for the cheese. Luckily, a store near my house that carries somewhat exotic and hard to find items had it in stock.
While I wasn’t completely satisfied with the texture of the burrata I found, the flavor of the dish overall was delicious. Definitely good enough to fight for the last bite again. Give it a try and let me know what you think.
Roasted Beets and Burrata Cheese topped with Hazelnuts
Inspired by a dish from Ford’s Filling Station
The beets in my CSA box came with their green tops. Beet greens are very similar to chard, so I sautéed them with a little olive oil (like I do chard) and added them to the dish. They had a nice mild flavor with just a touch of bitterness that added a little complexity to the taste.
- 3 medium beets, with beet greens attached
- olive oil
- ¼-½ cup hazelnuts
- 1 ball burrata cheese
- Salt and pepper to taste
Wash, peel and cut the beetroots into roughly 1-inch cubes. Toss the diced beets with a little olive oil (1-2 tablespoons) and salt and pepper. Spread beets on a cookie sheet and roast in the oven at 400° for 30 minutes or until beets are tender and have caramelized or browned around the edges.
While the beetroots are roasting, roughly chop the beet greens. Heat about 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot. Add the stems of the beet greens to the pot. Cook for a few minutes and then add the leaves. Cook until greens are fully wilted and tender. Stirring occasionally.
The hazelnuts can either be toasted dry in a small pan on the stove or put on a separate tray in the oven with the roasting beets. Either way, they should toast in about 5 minutes or so. Make sure to watch them closely, so they don’t burn. Once toasted, roughly chop and remove any loose skins from the nuts.
To assemble the dish, layer the beet greens and roasted beets in a bowl. Top the beets with 1-2 slices of the burrata cheese, add salt and pepper, and a drizzle of olive oil. Toss a few toasted hazelnuts on top and enjoy!
Tasty Easy Healthy Green Recipe Ratings:
| Recipe Report Card |
Notes About Recipe Ratings |
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Tasty Rating
Four Chefs (Delicious!)
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As I mentioned above, I was not totally satisfied with the texture of the burrata—the outer mozzarella layer was not quite soft enough. The flavor of the overall dish was spot on though. |
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Easy Rating
Three Easy Chairs (Average Difficulty)
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This was not a difficult dish to make, but burrata is not the easiest cheese to find, so I am lowering its easy score to a 3. |
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Healthy Rating
Three Apples (Average Nutritional Quality)
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Beets and beet greens are certainly healthy, but the decadent burrata cheese adds calories and saturated fat to this dish. |
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Green Rating
Three Leaves (Average Environmental Friendliness)
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The hazelnuts were organic and the beets were organic and local. Unfortunately, the burrata was neither organic nor local. You can bet that I’m on the lookout for another more sustainable and tasty burrata though… |
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