Sweet Love and Ginger

Recipe

Vegetable Spotlight & Spring Vegetable Ravioli

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One of my many goals for this year was to bring vegetables to the forefront of our lives. I want to stray from the typical American focus on meat as the main dish at meals. The hope is that this helps us to be healthier. There is so much research out there that shows just how much better a vegetable based diet is. I know this, and what I don’t know is why it took me so long to make this step.

This does not mean that we will be going vegetarian by any means, or anything of the sort, instead meat will be used more as a flavor enhancer
than a main staple. I am nowhere near ready to give up steaks and bacon believe me.

A vegetable based diet to me is more about taking a step back in time back to a more traditional diet; a time when meat was expensive and the personal garden was in large part a main source of food. Yes I am aware that protein is important especially for those of us who are very physically active, but you can get protein from more than just the handful of meat sources that we focus on today, not to mention the quantity of protein that the average American consumes far exceeds what the body actually needs daily.

This is not the end of steak dinners, chicken parmesan, and burgers, but these will be less often and more of a side dish than the main course.

I am very excited about this change, about the chance to experiment with different flavors and textures. Meat only comes in a handful of flavors and textures that in order to change we typically add vegetables and herbs to it, so why don’t we just focus on the vegetables and herbs to begin with?

I hope that you can appreciate my efforts, and join in with me in this. If you have any ideas, or things that you would like me to try please don’t hesitate to email, or comment.

In honor of the topic at hand I thought I would post a fabulous recipe that I came up with upon experiment with the fresh spring vegetables that are showing up in stores.

 

Ravioli with Spring Vegetable Toss

1 tbs butter
1 tbs oil
1 cup mushrooms, sliced
1 large leek, sliced
1 lb asparagus, cut into 1-2” pieces
1 cup fresh shelled peas (or frozen)
½ cup dry white wine
½ cup low sodium vegetable broth (or Chicken)
1 tsp cracked red pepper
Salt & Pepper to taste
2 lbs whole wheat ravioli prepared according to package instructions.
Fresh grated parmesan cheese

Heat oil and butter in a large cast iron skillet, stir in mushrooms and sauté for 2-3 minutes. Add leek and continue to cook for 2-3
minutes. Add asparagus and peas. Deglaze with white wine, and allow it to reduce again to a glaze. Add in broth and spices. Simmer for an additional 1-2 minutes. Remove from heat and add cooked ravioli tossing with sauce and vegetables to coat well. Serve warm topped with Parmesan.

D4One: Sherry Mushroom Chicken

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I know you have heard me say that I don’t like mushrooms,
but it’s like Momma Chuck says “you have to try something 17 times to know for
sure if you don’t like it”, so I’m still trying them; lately with success.
On our recent trip to NYC for my birthday we went to Butter Restaurant. Inside this
wonderfully chic and intoxicating establishment I ordered homemade ravioli that
came with mushrooms, parsley and pecorino cheese. And let me tell you it was
fabulous! I ate everything on the plate, and like an Italian would I used the
table bread to scoop up the last little bits of goodness. Now I’m on a mission
to try more mushrooms, starting with this recipe.
I was browsing through some chicken and mushroom recipes and
came across this one about a million times, so my guess is that everyone knows
about it, and it’s some sort of classic somewhere, but I had never heard of it,
probably due to my past mushroom aversion. Any-who I decided that since I like Sherry Butter Sauce so much on
its own, that this one was probably a good recipe to start with and surprise,
surprise it was.
Sherry Mushroom
Chicken & Egg Noodles
1 tbs Oil
1 chicken breast, pounded thin
1 tbs organic unsalted butter
1 small shallot, chopped
1 (8 oz) package mushrooms, sliced
¼ cup sherry vinegar
¼ chicken broth
1-2 cups egg noodles, cooked according to package directions
Salt & Pepper to taste
Chopped parsley for garnish

In a large skillet heat oil over medium high heat, cook add
chicken and cook for 3-5 minutes flipping once, until all sides are golden and
chicken is cooked through. Set aside. In the same pan add shallot butter and
mushrooms. Sauté until the shallot and mushrooms become soft, roughly 2-3
minutes. Deglaze with sherry, and broth and cook until thickened add parsley,
and noodles, tossing to coat. Add chicken to warm and adjust seasoning. Serve.

French Onion Grilled Cheese/Cheesy Bread

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Even though spring is
blooming I’m not completely ready to give up some of my favorite fall and
winter flavors. That’s when I came up with the recipe you see here. I am well
aware that there are about a million of these recipes floating around, but this
one I totally made up as I went based on the flavors that I was trying to focus
on. If you are looking for something more sandwich-like simply combine the two
halves as soon as they come out of the oven and you will have a complete French Onion Grilled Cheese Sandwich.

I also made this for a get
together with friends a few days later which I accomplished by simply slicing
the finished bread into individual pieces for the taking.  It’d so darn easy and perfect for a little
appetizer, and can even be dipped into some Dijon Vinaigrette or ranch dressing.
 

Open Faced French Onion
Grilled Cheese

1 tbs oil

3 large onions, sliced
thin

1 tsp salt

1 tsp dried Thyme

1 tsp pepper

2 Large slices of French bread

1/3 cup grated gruyere
cheese

¼ cup grated parmesan
cheese

Preheat the oven to broil.
Heat the oil in a skillet over medium high heat and then add onions and salt. Cook
the onions stirring often until they become opaque and caramelized. Stir in the
thyme and pepper and continue to cook 1-2 minutes. Set aside. In the same
skillet place the slices of bread face down. You may need to add a little oil
to the pan but no more than a few drops. Allow the bread to toast slightly
before removing from heat and placing in a baking pan face up. Layer onions
generously on top of the bread. Do the same with both cheeses making sure to
cover the entire thing. Place in the oven for 5 or so minutes, or until the
cheese becomes bubbly and browned. Remove from heat and serve immediately.

 

Steak Salad with Dijon Vinaigrette

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Simple, clean delicious what more could you ask for? With spring
in the air I have been looking forward to some lighter dishes and this is one
of my favorites to make in the spring and summer months. The vinaigrette is
good for sandwiches and dips as well.

I did a simple marinade of soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce,
and pepper before cooking it on a cast iron pan for roughly 4-5 minutes a
side.  Then an even simpler salad of
whatever looked the freshest in the store, and of course some spinach.

Dijon Vinaigrette

1 tbsp Extra-virgin oil

1 tbsp Dijon mustard          

2 tbsp champagne or white wine vinegar

1tsp thyme

Salt & pepper to taste

In a small bowl whisk together all ingredients. Serve.

Note: this can be made ahead and will keep in the refrigerator
for about a week.

See that Open Faced French Onion Grilled Cheese? Doesn’t it
look great? Don’t worry that’s coming soon!

Guest Post: Homemade Tortillas

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Hey guys! As you know I am in the very hectic process of starting a new job and moving so Tiffany from The Dwelling Tree is here to lend me a hand.

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Hey everyone! I am super excited JC asked me to share a recipe with all you Sweet Love and Ginger followers. She is a talented gal, and cooks up awesome meals.

My name is Tiffany and I blog over at The Dwelling Tree. My husband and I are big foodies, and love to host dinner parties. The only problem: we are also frugal. Behold! There are plenty of ways to host dinner for friends on a dime (not really a dime, but you get the point).

Dining with friends and family is one of life’s greatest joys. I think the best meal times are full of laughter, jokes, and stories. I come from a large Hispanic family. My favorite tradition was when we had tamales for Christmas. Many families have a plated, sit down dinner, then clean up and move on. Not our family! The tamales, beans, rice, and margaritas flowed ALL night! No feeling embarrassed by getting into the leftovers and re-heating it.  The food was the centerpiece of our night, and joy and festivity danced around it. While this may not have been good for my waistline, it was good for my soul and taught me an important lesson- food should be fun,  not serious. Gathering around a meal means memories and belly laughs! Or perhaps a good game of Texas Hold’em. 

I want to share with you all a delicious and time-tested recipe that all of our guests have loved. We make our own home made tortillas. There is nothing like them. They are soft and doughy and have a crisp in certain parts. Once I eat a home made tortilla, it is so hard to eat store bought! These are easy to make- you probably already have the ingredients in your pantry. Plus, you can make them anytime. Last night we cooked up some refried beans, ground chicken, and topped them off with salsa and avocado and we had last minute tacos. Muy Bien! 

Hand Made Tortillas
2 and 3/4 cup flour
1/3 cup lard or vegetable shortening chilled
3/4 cup warm water
3/4 tsp kosher salt

Place flour into food processor. Add lard or vegetable shortening and pulse 10-12 times in food processor with flour. Dissolve salt into warm water. Pour into flour and lard mixture. Pulse 10-12 more times until it creates a dough ball. Place dough on counter. Form into 10-12 dough balls. Let sit 30 minutes. Dust flour onto workspace and using a rolling pin, roll out dough forming a flat circle, dusting flour onto dough as needed. Heat skillet to medium or medium high and place dough directly onto skillet. Wait for bubbles to appear on tortilla, then flip. 

Enjoy!