It’s a weeknight, and you need dinner on the table. One solution: planning. One option is doing your preparation ahead of time, such as making your mirepoix and freezing it for dishes you can make throughout the week. Here, we use the prepared mirepoix to put the dish together on Sunday evening. Come home on Monday, and all one has to do is pop the skillet into the oven.
MIREPOIX
Ingredients:
4 onions
2 celery stalks
2 carrots
Directions:
Dice each ingredient then toss together. Make more or less of the mixture in the same ration (2 onions to 1 celery to 1 carrot). Use immediately or place in a plastic bag and freeze to use as needed.
Ingredients:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1.5 cups mirepoix
10 fingerling potatoes, halved
Juice of one lemon
Salt
Paprika
3 chicken quarters
Sumac
Directions – The Night Before:
In a cast iron skillet, coat the bottom of the pan with the oil. Add the mirepox and spread evenly.
Toss the potatoes with salt and paprika, then place on top of the mirepoix.
Season the chicken with salt and sumac (approximately 2 tbsp over all three chicken quarters). Squeeze the lemon over the entire mxiture.
Place the chicken on top of the potatoes. Cover the skillet with foil then refrigerate.
Directions – Day of Cooking:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and let oven stand at 20 minutes at temperature. While preheating the oven, remove the skillet from the fridge to come to temperature.
Place skillet in oven and cook for approximately 55-60 minutes or until the chicken reaches an internal temperature of 165 degrees.
We are back after a couple weeks of delay with some exciting news. I am officially moved into an apartment in Austin to continue my culinary knowledge and journey with an exploration of flavors. Before I left my fiance, however, to come to this brave new world of flavor, I prepared a dish that combined two of our favorite cuisines together: Indian food and Italian food.
Not a combination you see every day, true, but this vegetable korma risotto led to no leftovers. The spiciness of the East Asian flavors coupled with the saltiness of Parmesan in the risotto led for a decadent dish full of flavor. Want to go vegan? Sub out the risotto with some regular rice for a more classic pairing!
Vegetable Korma Risotto
For the Korma:
2 tbsp vegetable oil
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 tbsp ginger, minced
1 28 oz. canned tomatoes, diced
3 carrots, peeled and diced
1 onion, diced
1 jalapeno, diced
3 yellow potatoes, diced
12 oz cauliflower (either frozen or 1 head, trimmed and cut)
12 oz broccoli (either frozen or 1 head, trimmed and cut)
salt to taste
2 tbsp turmeric, ground
1 tsp ground cardamom
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne pepper
Directions:
In a blender, blend the tomatoes, garlic and ginger. Set aside.
In a large pot, heat vegetable oil over medium high heat. Once oil is hot, add onions and carrots and a pinch of salt. Cook until translucent, approximately 5 minutes.
Add jalapenos and cook until fragrant, approximately 30 to 60 more seconds, stirring.
Add potatoes, cauliflower, and broccoli. Cook approximately 8-10 minutes, stirring, until potatoes are seared.
Add puree mixture and remaining ingredients, scrapping bottom of pot as it is de-glazed. Bring to a boil then reduce to a simmer.
Cook, covered, until vegetables are tender, approximately 30-45 minutes depending on range. Adjust seasonings and serve.
For the Risotto:
Ingredients:
1 cup short grained rice, like Arborio
6 cups good quality vegetable stock
1 onion, finely diced
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup Parmasean, grated
Salt to taste
Directions:
In a sauce pot, bring the stock to a simmer and keep it at a low simmer during the cooking process.
In a large pan, heat a tablespoon of vegetable oil over medium high heat. Add the onion with a pinch of salt, and cook until translucent approximately 5-6 minutes. Add the rice, and cook another 1-2 minutes, stirring, until well coated with the onions and oils and beginning to toast.
Add approximately 1 cup of the hot stock to the pan, de-glazing it, and stirring frequently.
When the liquid is mostly absorbed by the rice, add another ladle of stock, continuing to stir frequently. Keep repeating this until the rice is cooked through and is al dente with a slight bite.
Stir in the cheese until incorporated and melted. The mixture will be thick. Taste and adjust salt as desired. Serve with the Korma above.
I love lasagna. By far, it is my favorite Italian dish with its rows of hearty pasta, pools of tomato and bechamel sauces, with bursts of meaty goodness. Growing up, it was the one dish I would demand not be altered in any way, shape or form because, to me, it was the perfect dish as imagined. It required no modernizing or changes.
This is all to say that sometimes we all must eat our words, and this time deliciously so. Lasagna is not exactly a diabetic friendly recipe, so we found a way to lighten up the dish and make it slightly more healthy at least. Extra perk? It would be easy to turn this into a vegan dish – just omit the first steps featuring the meat. There’s so many vegetables in this hearty dish that you won’t miss it if you do.
So while traditions are good, moving forward into the future of better awareness of our health, and with no further adieu, we give you or vegetable boosted lasagna! Buon appetito!
Ingredients:
6 lasagna noodles, cooked per box directions to al dente
1 pound of ground beef (choose leaner if you want to lighten this up even further)
1 onion, diced
2 carrots, peeled and diced
2 celery stalks, diced
5 cloves of garlic, minced
Salt
1 cup diced bell peppers
2 pints mushrooms, cleaned and cut into slices (we used white button mushrooms)
28 oz favorite marinara sauce (use homemade if you can but it’s perfectly okay to use your favorite jarred sauce).
1/2 bunch of kale, stems removed (discard), and leaves chopped
1 tbsp Italian seasoning
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 cup shredded Parmesan
1 cup shredded mozzarella
Directions:
In a large pot, heat up approximately 2 tablespoons of vegetable oil over medium high heat.
Add the ground beef, and cook most of the way through, approximately 8 minutes depending on stove top and stirring frequently. With a slotted spoon, remove the beef to a bowl and set aside. Drain some of the liquid on top of the beef but leave enough in the pan to begin the vegetables.
Add the onions, carrots, and celery with a pinch of salt. Cook, stirring frequently, for 3-4 minutes until the onions begin to soften. Add the bell peppers. Cook down another 3-4 minutes. During this time, add the Italian seasoning and cayenne pepper.
Add the mushrooms. Continuing to stir occasionally, cook them down until they are approximately half in size from when you started.
Add the sauce along with the meat and juices. Incorporate everything thoroughly. Bring to boil then reduce to a simmer. We are going to stay here the rest of the way.
After about 10 minutes, add the kale, once again incorporating it well and stirring frequently. This will cook down significantly. Cook another 10 minutes on simmer.
Adjust seasonings then allow to cool before assembling the lasagna.
For Assembly:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Meanwhile, put some of the tomato liquid on the bottom of a 9 x 13 pan and spread along the bottom.
Add 2 lasagna noodles. Spoon some of the filling onto the noodles, flattening it with a spatula. Sprinkle Parmesan and mozzarella.
Add the next 2 noodles and repeat step 2.
For the top layer, once again, spoon some of the liquid from the sauce mixture onto the noodles. Top with more Parmesan and mozzarella.
Bake for 40 minutes, covered with foil that has been sprayed with non-stick cooking oil. At 40 minutes, remove foil, boost temperature to 400, and cook another 10 minutes.
Remove from oven and allow to rest for at least 30 minutes so that it will not fall apart when you cut the lasagna into slices. Serve and enjoy!
It’s Monday evening. A long day of work finished, and the project of dinner looms like a towering obstacle. Ordering take out may be your go to option in this weekday struggle, as it often was mine. Before my diagnosis of diabetes, I ate take out at least a couple of days a week. With the demands of long workdays and household tasks to also accomplish, it was an all too easy solution.
With this recipe, the preparation is done ahead of time on the weekend so the entire meal on the weekday takes a mere 15 minutes to cook. A perk? It’s delicious – with some key, light substitutions, you can have a far healthier version of one of my favorites – chicken lo mein. Here, we replace the pasta with zucchini noodles and the hoisin sauce with a lighter mixture. An optional sprinkle of everything seasoning adds another twist.
We hope this recipe inspires you to take on take out and eases the weeknight struggles!
Ingredients:
6 zucchinis, ends removed
6 carrots, peeled and stemmed
1 red onion
3 cups baby spinach
4 green scallions
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 tbsp vegetable oil
¼ tsp salt
¼ tsp pepper
½ tsp garlic powder
¼ cup soy sauce
¾ cup chicken broth
1 tbsp Dijon mustard
1 tbsp siracha sauce
1 tbsp sesame oil
1 tbsp garlic, minced
1 tbsp ginger, freshly grated
Salt
1 tbsp everything seasoning
Directions:
The day before cooking, use a spiralizer to make the zucchini into thin strips like noodles (you can also buy them already like this at the grocery store.
Grate the carrots. Slice the scallions into ¼ inch pieces, omitting the white ends, and slice the red onions into thin half-moons.
Cut the chicken breast in half and then into strips. Season with the vegetable oil, salt, pepper, and garlic powder, tossing well. Marinate overnight. Whisk together the soy sauce, mustard, sriracha and broth, and put in the fridge in a separate container.
The next day take all ingredients out of the fridge and get your mis-en-place ready (everything ready beside you).
Heat a wok with 2 tbsp of sesame oil on medium high heat. Once the oil is hot, add the chicken. Stir often but not too frequently until the chicken is mostly cooked. This will not take long. Remove the cooked chicken from the pan and put in a clean bowl (do not use the same container you had the raw chicken in).
Add the garlic and ginger. Sautée until fragrant, approximately 30 seconds, stirring frequently.
Add the vegetables with a pinch of salt. Cook down, stirring frequently. Return the cooked chicken to the pan and mix to incorporate. Add the soy sauce mixture to de-glaze the pan, scrapping any brown bits.
Add the zucchini, tossing well to incorporate. Cook an additional 1-2 minutes, until softened. If desired, add the everything seasoning, and toss to incorporate again.
The Comforted Table 