Roasted Cauliflower

Given all the veggies I have roasted over the years, I don't know why I never used cauliflower until today.  In all honesty, I thought chopping it up looked daunting.  But it is so much easer to cut up and clean than broccoli.  The stems are much easier to chew too.  This is a delicious side dish so make plenty because everyone will want to eat it in entree quanity!

Simple steps:

1. Preheat oven to 400-425 degrees. 
2. Chop up one head of cauliflower. 
3. Rinse florets in a colander. 
4. Lay evenly on a cookie sheet. 
5. Toss in 2 tbsp extra virgin cold pressed olive oil, 1 tsp fine sea salt, and a few twists of freshly ground black pepper. 
6. Bake 20-25 minutes until desired crisp. 
7. Dust with parmesan cheese.

My new favorite leafy green: Bok Choy

I used bok choy (Trader Joe's baby bok choy) for the first time ever today in a tofu vegetable stir fry.  It was so good and added the deluxe to the dish.  It is much more simple to deal with than its cousin, cabbage.  The internet has oodles of uses and recipes for bok choy.  The following is a quick, easy, and zesty side dish I made.

Ingredients:
1 tsp sesame, canola, or olive oil
3-4 baby bok choy
3 garlic cloves smashed or sliced in half lengthwise
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 twist of freshly ground pepper
optional: 1/4 tsp ground ginger

Directions:
1.  Do the following for each bunch of bok choy - cut off about a half inch at the base of each head so that you get rid of the tough notch.
2.  Then lay the bok choy horizontally across your cutting board.  Chop from stem end to leaf end.
3.  Separate stems from leafy parts and rinse each group in a colander or place in a bowl of cold water and agitate.  (The dirt will sink to the bottom like it does with leaks.)
4. Smash/halve garlic cloves.
5.  Heat sesame oil in a pan at medium low for 2-3 minutes.
6.  Add bok choy stems.  Saute 2-3 minutes.
7.  Add leaves then salt, pepper, & ground ginger if you have it but it's perfectly tasty without.  Preferably while tossing with tongs, cook for 3-5 minutes to retain some crisp.

Serve as your favorite side dish, add into a stir fry, serve on rice, or toss into whole wheat noodles that have been marinated in soy sauce.

(photo from: https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi8lC-4IrBVFkMcI8TvMyGCLiZ1iIkbSOBA0yQa4vNDMcc56EY3I57PX-CRzqiQY3gK385aQ3Nnd8Z1h5fBbRFvtdaMbCROG_J4fOoCsJl9yPlpxKybFK7NBfN3a6Er1MBvcQFdMVmCzOc/s320/bokchoy1.jpg)

Lentil Soup makeover

I like lentil soup but I love good lentil soup.  The kind that not only warms you up and fills you with tons of vitamins, fiber, & protein but that which is so savory that it keeps you ladling for more.  I found a recipe in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food which really is a great magazine full of lots of suprisingly simple, quite light, wholesome & delicious recipes. But I found wanting more from their Caramelized Onion and Lentil Soup so below is my makeover and as Goldilocks would say:  It was jusssst right!  But feel free to give my makeover a makeover :)

Inspired by: http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/caramelized-onion-and-lentil-soup - my opinion is that it didn't have enough veggies to make it more of a meal, not enough flavor, & not enough stock.

Ingredients:

1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tbsp unsalted butter
3 cups low sodium vegetable broth
2 15 oz. cans of lentils rinsed & drained OR 2 cups of lentils cooked/soaked (dry lentils soften much quicker when cooked than dry beans so you can soak them a few hours or overnight)
1 medium-large yellow onion - thinly sliced or chopped
2 cloves garlic thinly sliced
1/2 a carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, cut lengthwise then diced
3-4 tbsp fresh thyme, minced
1 tsp curry powder ($1.99 a bottle at Trader Joe's or about as cheap at an Indian store - other grocery stores tend to overcharge for this)
Salt & pepper at hand


Directions:
1.  Heat olive oil in your soup pot.
2.  Add onions.  Cook on low to medium-low for 10-15 min. until they are as soft or caramelized as you like them.  Do NOT season yet.
3.  Add butter and garlic.  I found that this little bit of butter kept the garlic from burning.
4.  Turn up heat to medium and add celery and carrots.
5.  Now season with 1/2 tsp sea salt and 1/8 tsp black pepper or 2-3 turns freshly ground black pepper.
6.  Saute it all together 2-3 minutes.
7.  Add lentils and vegetable stock. Turn heat to medium-high.
8.  Add 1 tsp sea salt and black pepper to taste.
9.  Bring to a boil, add curry powder, reduce to a simmer, add thyme, and simmer 10 more minutes.


For extra decadence, ladle some into a bowl, drizzle with olive oil, & top with parmesan or your favorite cheese.