Have done more cooking over the last couple of weeks than I have done in a long time. One of the surprisingly good dishes was Zucchini and Green Rice (p. 249). First I cooked brown rice then added lemon juice (I also used zest so it was lemony good!) and parsley or cilantro. Spread in a casserole dish it is topped with a layer of cottage cheese, then a layer of zucchini, then a layer of grated cheddar. Yummo, to quote a much more famous cook! It was only one cup of cottage cheese and half a cup of cheddar for a pan that is closer to 11x7 than 13x9 so you can see it isn't too cheesy to be healthful! And the layer of zucchini was more than one zucchini deep. More zucchini and rice than cheesy goo, but still it satisfied my desire for something casserolish. As a note, I didn't cook the zucchini before assembling even though that is in the instructions. I cooked it slightly longer and with foil on top at the start, but the veggies were much less mushy than I imagined they would be if steamed first.
I also made the High Protein Granola (p. 117). This one I have made many, many times before. Unfortunately, when I made it this time I forgot to leave the raisins out before baking. I thought, "Oops! Oh well, raisins get baked in oatmeal cookies and they are fine." Well, when baked in granola they turn into hard, burned little nuts! So I'm not too impressed with my granola this time. It's been a long time since I have had it and I am disappointed with the taste. I was hoping for a little breakfast nostalgia!
Another semi successful dish was the garbanzo spread. Like Mia in this post, I smiled to myself and noted that these days we call it hummus! In some ways a lot has changed in 30+ years of food since LK! I had made it to use as a spread, but next time I will leave out the oregano. I ended up bringing it to Mom's for the last-minute Wednesday garden party we had. Mom suggested to use green onions cut small, rather than the white onion with my coarse chopping style. I agree with that. Also, note to self: more garlic, a dash may have been ok for the 70s, but for the 21st century more garlic is better!
The most successful dish of the last two weeks was another pizza. See how successful? No leftovers!
I got home late yesterday (was pruning a large ornamental grass for my friend Kathy who just had surgery for breast cancer), and didn't want to take the time to let the pizza dough rise. So I googled "no rise pizza dough" and when I read the recipes they were pretty much the same as the LK bread book recipe, except they didn't let it rise! I guess pizza dough doesn't need to rise! Flour, water, yeast, olive oil, salt. I put it in the bread machine to mix and knead since time was short. What was the topping for the pizza? Agretti and goat cheese! (I also added a few olives to the recipe and forgot the lemon!)
This part of the recipe came from the Two Small Farms CSA newsletter that we get with our veggies. We don't get agretti very often, but I really like it. It is kind of a succulent-looking plant.I have also used it in frittata, where it looks more like pine needles. It doesn't have that texture, though.
The other dish on this plate is a quinoa and (grated) zucchini recipe. It was good, but nothing to write home about. But look at the frittata! Not sure it looks appetizing, but definitely interesting (and was good, too)!
3 comments:
Kelly, I hate to blame her,but Grandma always had a fear of yeast dough and handed down that fear to me. Recently I found a recipe for no kneeding wheat bread, just fifty strokes of mixing. It's so easy and tastes so good,now it's the only bread Uncle Daryl and I eat. Funny how healthy we all are, all of the sudden:)Keep the recipes coming.
Afraid of the yeastie beasties? Oh no! Treat them nice--water at about 110 degrees, a source of carbs (they like sweets better than the complex carbs in wheat flour, but will settle!), a nice warm place to rise--and they are wonderful! Kneading dough is a great way to get rid of stress, too. Ten minutes of rhythmic playing with my food...
I'm glad I didn't inherit the fear! And I'm glad you found a recipe you can use for healthy bread!
Kelly, if I weren't leaving town tomorrow night for the week, I'd be having that zucchini and brown rice 'casserole' for sure! The crazy zucchini I planted in my front yard is producing nicely, but I'll leave the squash on the plant until I get back.
That's so funny about the pizza dough! I use a recipes that literally says, "let rise for 45 minutes. Or skip this step". haha! Number of times I've waited 45 minutes? Zero.
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