one-pot – And What I Ate

Tortellini and Basil Shrimp in a Lemon-White Wine Sauce

So, let’s say you go to the grocery store and shop for the week, then get to the checkout aisle and only after the checkout girl starts ringing you up, realize that you’ve forgotten your wallet back at the office, and have to leave everything there. Then, let’s say you go back home and wing a recipe by putting cheese tortellini, lemon, shrimp and basil together, make a lemon-white wine sauce with a little butter and parmesan, then sit down for a really delicious meal that’ll knock your socks off and only leave you with one pot to clean. Who needs a wallet anyway. It’s Monday. This is a great recipe to start the week.

ONE-POT TORTELLINI AND BASIL SHRIMP IN A LEMON-WHITE WINE SAUCE (serves 3-4 as a side; 1-2 as a main)
– 1 lb. shrimp, frozed, uncooked, peeled & deveined, tails off
– 1 12-oz. bag of frozen tortellini
– zest of 1 lemon
– juice of 2 lemons (divided)
– 2 tbsp. butter
– 1 tbsp. EVOO
– 4 cloves garlic, chopped
– Bunch of fresh basil, chiffonaded
– 1/3 grated parm (use same microplane you used to zest the lemon)
– 1/4 c white wine

1. Cook tortellini in salted water in a french oven (I would cook absolutely everything in this), set aside.

2. In the pot that you used to cook the tortellini, melt butter, add EVOO & simmer with the lemon zest on low for 5 minutes.

3. Add chopped garlic and shrimp, cook until pink (2-3 mins).

4. To this mix, add juice of 1.5 lemons, and 1/4 c white wine, then let infuse for another 2 minutes on low.

5. I removed the shrimp at this point and put them on a plate to rest, so they didn’t overcook, then cooked down the wine/lemon/butter/garlic sauce a little bit. When the shrimp cooled, I chopped it up into bite-size pieces.

6. When sauce is mildly reduced and the alcohol has burned off the wine, add the shrimp & the juice collected on the plate, tortellini (dry – don’t add EVOO or anything, or it won’t stick!), parm, basil, and give everything a big stir.

7. Remove from heat, cover, let sit to warm up the tortellini and shrimp again (get a salad ready or something – we had it with a green salad topped with my favorite avocado-cilantro dressing).

8. Right before serving, put a little slice of butter in, along with half a lemon, juiced, and a little more grated parm. Taste and adjust seasonings, and enjoy.

Mediterranean Shrimp & Feta Bake

Not only is most Mediterranean cuisine amazing for you & your health, it’s also awesome. There’s an emphasis on fresh cooking, olive oil instead of butter, foods with flavors of their own so you don’t need a bunch of add-ons, and then flavors like dill, lemon, olives, feta, etc. The “Mediterranean diet” practices eating habits that the U.S. recommends for us, and just think of how much better off we all would be if we lived like this all the time! Plus, I’m a fan of any eating plan that encourages drinking red wine. So pour yourself a glass and get this Shrimp & Feta bake started. It’ll be ready in 30 minutes, tops.

MEDITERRANEAN SHRIMP & FETA BAKE (SERVES 4-6)
– 1 lb. frozen, uncooked shrimp
– 1 vidalia onion, diced
– 3 cloves garlic, chopped
– 1 tbsp. EVOO
– 1 28-oz. can chunky crushed tomatoes
– 1 tbsp. chopped dill
– 1/4 c. fresh chopped flat-leaf parsley
– juice of 1 lemon
– 1/3 c. crumbled feta
– Kosher salt & fresh-cracked pepper to taste
– Orzo, or pasta, or rice, to top with the Shrimp & Feta bake

1. Quickly defrost your shrimp. Fill a bowl with cold water, add the shrimp, and change the water twice over the next 20 minutes. You’ll be able to throw the rest of this together by the time they’re de-thawed.

2. Preheat the oven to 425.

3. In a saucepan (or better, to make this a one-pot meal, a Le Creuset Dutch Oven), heat 1 tbsp. EVOO over medium-high heat. Add the onions and cook until softened, approx. 5 minutes.

4. Add the chopped garlic and stir until fragrant, approx. 60 seconds.

5. Add the tomatoes, stir to combine, and let heat until it starts to shimmer (approx. 2 minutes). Then, lower the heat to a simmer, and simmer for 5-10 minutes, or until the juices start to thicken.

6. Remove from the heat. and stir in the dill & parsley, juice of 1 lemon, feta, shrimp, and salt & pepper.

7. Place pan on the middle rack in the oven and bake, uncovered, until shrimp are cooked through, approx. 10-12 minutes.

8. Serve over cooked orzo, pasta, rice, etc. – or eat it on its own for a fully gluten-free meal.

Black Bean Soup with Lime & Cumin-Infused Sour Cream

There are a ton of recipes for making a black bean soup with dried beans that you soak overnight, turning an hour-long process into at least a 12-hour one. I love black bean soup, but I really love the fact that you can throw this recipe together using canned black beans, and have a great, flavorful, one-pot meal in almost no time at all. Red bell peppers, red onions, cilantro, lime & garlic combine with the canned black beans & chicken broth, then are finished by roughly blending it all together. A dollop of lime & cumin-infused sour cream adds the perfect amount of creaminess to this, too. Don’t be scared by the 4 tablespoons (!!! I know) of cumin in this soup as a flavoring. Cumin is great for you – tons of health benefits from liver detoxification to metabolism acceleration. If you’re not a fan of the spice, though, I’d probably cut this back to 2 tablespoons for a less noticeable flavor.

Happy first day of Spring!

BLACK BEAN SOUP WITH LIME & CUMIN-INFUSED SOUR CREAM (makes approx. 10-12 bowls of soup)
– 1 tbsp. EVOO
– 1 red bell pepper, diced
– 2 red onions, diced
– 3 cans black beans (I can’t recommend buying Eden Organic products enough, if you can find them. They’re truly organic, use BPA-free cans, etc. Totally worth the relatively minimal extra cost.), rinsed and drained
– 4 tbsp. ground cumin
– 3 garlic cloves, minced
– 1/3 C. fresh cilantro, chopped
– juice of 1 lime
– 1.5 – 2 C. chicken broth (depending on how thick or thin you like your soup)
– 1.5 – 2 C. water (same note as above)
– Kosher salt & pepper

LIME & CUMIN-INFUSED SOUR CREAM
– zest of 1/2 a lime
– 1/3 C. sour cream
– juice of 1/2 a lime
– 1 tbsp. cumin

1. Dice your onions & your bell pepper.

2. Over medium high heat in a Le Creuset French Oven, heat 1 tbsp. EVOO. Add diced bell pepper & onions, and sautee until they start to brown, approx. 10 minutes.

3. Add 4 tbsp cumin & 3 minced garlic cloves, stir until fragrant.

4. Add 3 cans rinsed and drained black beans, stir everything to combine.

5. Add water just to cover – either 1.5 – 2 C, depending on how thick or thin you like your soup. Then add 1.5 – 2 C. chicken broth, too. Pacific makes a great 4-pack of 1-cup servings of chicken and vegetable broth, and they too are “truly” organic, as well as supporters of regulations for GMO labeling (hurraugh).

6. Bring soup just to a boil, then cover and simmer for approx. 30 minutes. Uncover, then add 1 tbsp. salt, 15 grinds of black pepper, juice of 1 lime (I used our new Rosle Citrus Reamer/Juicer again, which is the greatest thing ever), and the chopped cilantro. Stir & let simmer for another 10 minutes.

7. At this point, blend it with an Immersion Hand Blender. You can taste it before you do, but I wouldn’t recommend it, because it’ll just taste like bean water (“hot ham water” – Lindsey Bluth). I roughly blend this, because I like the end result to be a little chunkier, but blend it to whatever consistency you’d like. Taste, then adjust seasonings. Cover again, leave on low heat, and make your lime & cumin-infused sour cream.

8. Easy-peasy: combine sour cream, cumin, lime juice, lime zest. Taste and adjust. This will keep well in the refrigerator over the next couple of days to top off your bowls of soup.

9. Ladle a bowl of soup, top with a dollop of sour cream, mix & enjoy. Overnight, this will get thicker & blend the flavors together – like so many soups, it’s good today, but will be great tomorrow. So will the sour cream.

Creamy Avocado Dressing – No Olive Oil or Dairy!

This dressing was a happy accident. Dinner was almost ready one night, and I realized we didn’t have any olive oil left to make a salad dressing. So I searched the internet and found a couple basic recipes, combined a few of them, and came up with this. It’s fantastic. It’s like a salad on top of a salad, is one of the healthiest, most refreshing dressings I’ve ever put together, and will keep a couple of days, too. We ended up using it for a dipping sauce for mexican summer rolls for dinner the next day. I really can’t express just how much I love avocados and how they seem to make just about every recipe better.

CREAMY AVOCADO DRESSING (serves 4-6)
– 1 avocado, cut into chunks
– 1/2 english cucumber, chopped
– 1/4 C. cilantro, chopped
– juice of 1/2 lime
– zest of 1/2 lime
– juice of 1/2 lemon
– 1/4 C. water
– kosher salt to taste

1. Cut up the avocado, english cucumber, cilantro, and put into a Food Processor. Add the lemon & lime juice, lime zest, water, & 1/2 tsp. kosher salt to start.

2. Blend everything really, really well. Taste, then add more juice, water, salt, etc. to taste.

3. Serve on top of a nice green salad, use as a dipping sauce, etc. This is a great way to sneak in an extra serving of veggies, too.

Tomatillo Salsa

Tomatillos have to be one of the cutest foods out there. They come in their own little leaf packaging, they’re a bright green which would be fabulous in a wedding color palette, and they’re perfectly, adorably, palm-sized. They also have a really unique flavor – kind of tart, kind of tangy – and are a great, fresh base for an incredibly flavorful salsa. I used this as a topping to the fish tacos I made a couple of days ago, and it was terrific.

TOMATILLO SALSA (serves 4)
– 4-5 tomatillos, seeded and diced (approx. 2 cups)
– 1/3 red onion, diced
– 1 lime, juiced
– 2 small cloves garlic, chopped
– handful cilantro, chopped
– 1/2 tsp. cumin
– 1/4 tsp. kosher salt, couple of grinds fresh black pepper

1. Peel the “leafy” part away from the tomatillos. This has a bonus of smelling like crumpling leaves in the fall! Wash the whole tomatillo to remove any residue.

2. Cut the tomatillos into quarters, then with your fingers, kind of push out the whole middle part to “seed” them. These seeds are teeny, so don’t worry if you don’t get all of them. You also lose a lot of the bulk of the tomatillo in this process, but that’s ok too.

3. Dice a 1/3 of a red onion – make slits along the natural ridges of the onion, lengthwise, then flip it to the side and make horizontal cuts. The onion will dice itself naturally.

4. With a Citrus Reamer, juice a lime into a small prep bowl. Add the cumin, garlic, salt & pepper, stir to combine.

5. Combine the diced tomatillos, onion, chopped cilantro in a bowl. Add the dressing and stir to combine. Taste and adjust seasonings. Serve as a topping to any mexican dish, or even on its own.

Chili with Chipotle and Lime (Homemade Chili Seasoning, too!)

There are few better comfort foods during the winter months than a bowl of chili. It feels like it’s been snowing for weeks here, so I yesterday I made a big pot of this, and let it simmer for hours. I also made my own chili seasoning for 2 reasons: 1. I’m not a huge fan of spice, so this lets me control the amount of heat that goes into it (although I think this mix was a good middle ground for both Brad and me); and 2. Pre-packaged seasonings are full of preservatives and other gross stuff, and it’s so much easier, and healthier, to throw a “seasoning packet” together using whatever’s in your pantry.

I’ve made this a couple of times with a few tweaks, but this is going up on the site now because last night, after a couple of bites, I asked Brad what he would change about it. He answered: “I would eat this faster, and with a bigger spoon.” So…I think we’ve found the recipe.

CHILI WITH CHIPOTLE AND LIME (and homemade chili seasoning, too!) Serves 7-10
– 1.25 lbs. ground beef
– 14.5 oz can navy beans, rinsed and drained
– 14.5 oz. can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
– 14.5 oz. can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
– 14.5 oz. can black beans, rinsed and drained
– 28 oz. can diced tomatoes
– 14.5 oz can petite cut tomatoes with chipotle chilis (chipotle salsa will also work – use 2 cups of this)
– 6 oz. can tomato paste
– 5 stalks celery, chopped (approx. 2 cups)
– 1 green pepper, diced
– 1 medium onion, diced
– 1 tsp. chili powder
– 1 tsp. cumin
– Juice of 1/2 lime
– 1 1/2 C. water
– sour cream, shredded cheese, green onions, avocado for garnish

HOMEMADE CHILI SEASONING
– 1/2 tsp. cumin
– 1/4 tsp. cayenne pepper
– 1/2 tsp. coriander
– 1 tsp. chili powder
– 1/2 tsp. oregano
– 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
– dash paprika

1. In a large skillet, brown the beef. If it’s lean, you won’t need to drain it, but if it isn’t, drain the excess fat that collects.

2. In a large pot (I used one of my trusty Le Creusets – I really don’t think I’d be able to cook as well without these), heat 1 tbsp. EVOO over medium high heat. Add the diced celery, green pepper, and onion, add a heavy pinch of kosher salt, and let them sweat for approx. 20 minutes, stirring frequently.

3. Add the tomatoes & tomato paste, stir to combine, cook another 5 minutes.

4. Combine all the ingredients for the chili seasoning.

5. Add the beans (if you can find them, Eden Organics make one of the best canned products on the market – they are truly organic, their cans are BPA-free, etc.) and meat to the pot with the veggies and tomatoes, mix all of this together. Next, add the chili seasonings. Stir well.

6. Add 1.5 cups water, then stir this all together, cover, and let simmer for approx. 4-6 hours.

7. Just before taking this off the stove, stir in the lime juice, then let sit to combine. Taste, adjust seasonings (I’m a huge fan of adding Herbamare to this – it’s a great, natural blend of sea salt and herbs/minerals – and usually I add about another tablespoon of this to bring everything together), then pour yourself a bowl. Top with sour cream, shredded cheese, avocado chunks, scallions, etc.

A small confession – I ate this again for breakfast this morning. So delicious!

Shaved Cauliflower & Radicchio Salad with Honey-Toasted Walnuts & a Meyer Lemon Vinaigrette

Did you need something super healthy and fresh to kind of ease you back into a week following the over-indulgence of Super Bowl weekend? I did. I also got to use one of B’s Christmas gifts to me for the first time, this ridiculous Cuisinart Food Processor, which made making this salad a 10 minute process instead of maybe a 20 minute one. Shaving the cauliflower and radicchio into paper-thin slices really “takes this salad from a meal to an event” (we do the same thing with the radishes and avocado for our Favorite Salad Ever), so a julienne will work just as well if you don’t have a food processor that will accomplish this. You can also just shave these into thin slices with a really sharp knife. This salad is so pretty and crunchy, the dressing gives it a little lift of sweetness, and the honey-kosher salt toasted walnuts finish it perfectly. It also makes a ton of it (this would be great for parties), so I just kept the salad and the dressing separate so we could combine them when we were ready to have this over the next day or so. A paper towel in the bowl with your salad will keep the ingredients from getting soggy.

SHAVED CAULIFLOWER & RADICCHIO SALAD WITH HONEY-TOASTED WALNUTS & A MEYER LEMON VINAIGRETTE (makes a really big bowl of salad – adapted almost exactly from the lovely Happy Yolks)
– 1/2 a head of cauliflower (not cored)
– 1 head radicchio, cored
– 4-5 celery stalks, with leaves
– 1/4 c. chopped fresh parsley
– 1/2 c. honey-toasted walnuts
– 1-2 tbsp honey
– 3 meyer lemons, juiced
– 1 tbsp. dijon mustard
– 1/4 c. EVOO
– kosher salt & fresh ground black pepper

1. Cut a head of cauliflower in half, then shave it either with a julienne, a food processor, or a very sharp knife. Include the stem of the cauliflower. Throw this all into a big bowl.

2. Core a head of radicchio, and shave that as well. Do the same with the celery sticks, and also roughly tear the celery leaves. Add to the bowl. Chop the chives and the parsley, add to the ingredients, and stir everything to combine.

3. For the meyer lemon vinaigrette, juice the lemons, then add (in this order, to help it all blend together) kosher salt, pepper, dijon mustard. Whisk together (or shake it up, if you’re using a little mason jar), then add the olive oil. Whisk or shake it to combine, then add to the salad (or keep separate if you’re planning to eat this over the next day or so, too).

3. To make the walnuts, drizzle them with honey and then sprinkle lightly with kosher salt. Bake for approx. ten minutes at 350. Remove, let cool slightly, then top the salad with these. Serve and enjoy.

Four-Ingredient Fruit Snacks

There have been a bunch of recipes for fruit snacks on Pinterest popping up in my news feed lately, and blueberries were on sale at Wegman’s, and we’re always looking for snack alternatives to our beloved hummus and Pretzel Chips. So….fruit snacks it is! As someone who likes to know what we’re consuming, and where it comes from, the fact that there were 4 ingredients in this, total, was really appealing. Organic blueberries, local organic honey, and lovely Meyer Lemons make up for the fact that these include gelatin. Let’s just think of the detoxifying benefits of the lemons cancelling that right out, though!

HOMEMADE FRUIT SNACKS (makes approx. 2.5 cups)
– 1.5 cups blueberries (or your choice of berry)
– 3/4 cup meyer lemon juice (approx. 4-5 meyer lemons) These are a cross between a clementine & a lemon (a friend of mine calls them “lemontines”), which makes the recipe sweeter, and better, than the sourness of traditional lemons
– 2 tbsp. honey
– 2 tbsp. gelatin

1. Wash the blueberries, juice the lemons, then combine in a saucepan over medium heat until the berries start to soften.

2. Remove from heat and let cool approx. 5 minutes.

3. Puree – ideally with an Immersion Blender – or in a blender. Strain to remove the blueberry skins. A lot of these will just come up with the immersion blender, so if that’s good enough for you it’s good enough for me (it was).

4. Add honey, stir to combine. Taste at this point – what it tastes like now is what it’ll taste like when it sets, so modify the recipe as needed. More honey, more juice, etc.

5. Whisk in gelatin a tiny bit at a time, until fully incorporated.

6. Pour mixture into an ungreased shallow glass dish, and refrigerate for approx. 45 minutes until set.

7. Cut them into whatever shapes you like, remove from the glass dish, dust with a tiny bit of cornstarch to prevent them from sticking together, and store in a tupperware container (in the fridge) to enjoy. These had kind of a jello jiggler texture, which we liked, but if you want them to be more of a traditional “fruit snack” texture, I’d add maybe 2 more tbsps. of gelatin.

Avocado Chicken Salad – No Mayo!

In the last post I mentioned that I’ve made some of my favorite chicken salads with avocado as a substitute for mayo, so I thought I would post that recipe this time around. This, again, is a super easy recipe – very light and flavorful, and really healthy too. It’ll keep for a day or two, but it’ll probably be gone before then!

AVOCADO CHICKEN SALAD (makes approx. 2 servings)
– Shredded cooked chicken, approx. 2 cups
– 1 avocado, cubed
– juice of 1 lime (a Rosle Citrus Reamer works great for this)
– 1 tbsp. cilantro, roughly chopped
– 2 scallions, chopped

1. Cut an avocado in half, remove the pit, and dice it. Add to a bowl and mash roughly with a fork to break it up a bit.

2. Once the avocado is mashed, add the cilantro, lime juice, scallions, and kosher salt/pepper (a pinch of each to start – then add more to taste). You want to kind of make a guacamole base, and then add the chicken to it.

3. Add the shredded chicken to the mix, then stir to combine.

4. Taste, season, then taste again. Delicious!

Chickpea, Avocado, & Feta “Smash”

I felt like Maria von Trapp making this, because: Chickpeas? Avocados? Feta? These are a few of my favorite things…

Avocado is a great substitute for mayo – I’ve made some of my favorite chicken salads with avocados as a base – but mashed with chickpeas, combined with a little feta, lemon/lime juice, and cilantro, this was beyond delicious. The citrus keeps the avocado from browning, so you can keep this for a full day in the fridge for a healthy snack, or a sandwich filler, or a scoop on top of some salad greens. You get the picture. It’s healthy, it’s filling, and it’s ready in no more than ten minutes, tops. Enjoy.

CHICKPEA, AVOCADO, & FETA “SMASH” (serves 2-3)
– 1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained (I use Eden Organic beans, because they’re fully organic, their cans are BPA-free, and they’re only slightly more expensive but significantly better for you than the alternatives)

– 1 avocado, cut into chunks

– 1/2 lemon, juiced

– 1/2 lime, juiced

– Approx. 3 tbsp. crumbled feta

– smallish handful of cilantro, chopped (approx. 2 tbsps)

– kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

1. Rinse the chickpeas well and drain them, then add to a mixing bowl.

2. Cut an avocado into chunks. The easiest way to do this is to cut an avocado in half, lengthwise:

Then, carefully but firmly, thunk (that’s a made-up cooking term) the knife blade into the avocado pit, twist it a bit, and gently pull out the pit.

those are some balancing skills, right there!

Then, in the avocado half itself, cut the avocado into a grid, run your knife around the perimeter of the avocado, and squeeze out the chunks into the bowl with the chickpeas:

2. Combine the chickpeas and the avocado, lemon/lime juice, and kosher salt & pepper, and smash it all together. If you have a Potato Masher, this helps to get things started, but finishing smashing with a fork until you have the chickpea/avocado consistency that you want. If you want more of a chunkier avocado texture, smash the chickpeas until they’re 75% to the texture you want, then add the avocado to finish. Say smash again. Smash!!