Warm Winter Salad

I, for the most part, eat salad every day for lunch. I love a delicious salad, however, there are those very cold chilly days where I want all that vegetable-ness, but not the cold food factor.

Today I left my house scrambling for some leftovers in the fridge and ended up grabbing a container of blanched green beans, some roasted spaghetti squash, boiled lentils, a carrot, and some mustard. For some reason, I needed mustard. I looked at it at lunch and thought, "hm". So I played it by ear and made myself what turned out to be a delicious hot salad.

Warm Winter Salad

I think this can really be done with a myriad of vegetables, the ones I used were just what I had lying around. I would imagine adding tofu, or some greens could also be a delicious addition.

1 cup roasted spaghetti squash

1/2 cup cooked sprouted green lentils

1 large chopped carrot

1 1/2 cups blanched green beans

1 TB olive oil

2 TB whole grain mustard

1 tsp rice wine vinegar

salt and pepper

In a pan warm the olive oil, then add the spaghetti squash, and warm for a minute.

Add the lentils, carrot, and green beans, and combine. Cook until warm.

In a seperate bowl, combine the mustard and vinegar, then slowly drizzle into the pan over the salad.

Combine then serve.

Meyer Lemon Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Thyme

Sometimes I think I hit the jackpot. There are some very few and far between, amazing days, that I get to stay home from work when the Mr. has to go to work, that I relish in. Those are the days I wake up, go on a run, read through some cookbooks, clean the bathroom, do some laundry, possibly head to the store, then plan my attack.

Yesterday was one of those days. Except it happened somewhat backwards. The day before I had picked a plentiful amount of Meyer Lemons from the tree next door and was so excited to start using them that my run got pushed to the end of the day. So here I was was at 5:30 showered and clothed in what my sister would refer to as "the frumpiest outfit ever", a long gray skirt, moccasins, an oversized tshirt, with my hair in disarray. The Mr. walks in, (and here is what I mean about the jackpot), and tells me I look amazing.

With a smile on my face, he starts munching on the only thing I probably made beautiful that day, Meyer Lemon Gnocchi.

Meyer Lemon Gnocchi with Brown Butter and Thyme

1 lb potatoes

3 egg yolks

finely grated zest of two lemons

1 tsp olive oil

1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup All Purpose Flour

3TB unsalted butter
juice of 1-2 meyer lemon(s)
3 thyme sprigs

Peel and chop potatoes into 2 inch pieces and place them in a boiling pot of water and cook until tender.

Drain the potatoes and place on a dry rag to dry, then push the potatoes through a ricer.

Mix egg yolks, zest, olive oil and salt in a small bowl, then pour over potatoes and combine.

Gently fold in the flour, then roll the dough into a long strand.

Cut the strand into four pieces and roll each into a smaller strand.

The "ropes" should be approximately 1/2inch thick.

 Cut each rope into 1/2-inch pieces.

Roll each piece against the tines of a fork (or a gnocchi board) to make ridges.

Have a boiling pot of water ready.

Boil gnocchi until they float, then carefully strain and place on a plate.

In a pan, heat butter.

When the butter is hot, place gnocchi in the pan in one layer.

Occasionally toss the gnocchi in the pan, being careful that they do not stick.

When the gnocchi begin to brown, separate the thyme from the sticks, and then add the thyme to the gnocchi.

Cook for several more minutes allowing the thyme to become aromatic.

Pour lemon juice over the gnocchi (season with salt to taste), toss in the pan, and heat for another minute.

Serve and enjoy.

Quinoa Vegetable Burgers.

My dear friend Tim once had this huge revelation about quinoa, well, maybe a revelation is not quite the correct word, a tirade rant would better suit this specific situation. I am not sure what it was exactly that I had cooked that night, but the topic of quinoa and salad came up. Quinoa was the hot new ingredient at the time, and he was announcing his dislike for the fact that every dinner party or barbecue that he had been to recently had a quinoa salad, as if there was nothing else that anyone could figure out what to do with it.

Months later, Tim brought us bushels of garbanzo beans...fresh ones...they were delicious.

It immediately occurred to me that it would be a great base to a veggie burger.

After trials and tribulations with how to make a veggie burger, incorporating quinoa as my main ingredient, I finally prevailed with something that i was proud to slap on a bun, and eat more than one of.

Quinoa Vegetable Burger

2 cups of fresh garbanzo beans

(i think you can substitute for a can of drained chickpeas)

2 cups of cooked quinoa (2/3c uncooked)

1 small zucchini, julienne

1 largish carrot minced

1 yellow onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 Serrano pepper, minced

4 eggs, beaten

1c breadcrumbs

salt and pepper

pulse garbanzo beans in a food processor until it forms a paste like consistency.

take the prepped zucchini and onions, and put on a towel, sprinkle with salt, and allow to drain of liquid.

you can even squeeze the paper towel, as you want the zucchini and onion to be relatively dry.

place the zucchini, onion, garlic, pepper, quinoa and carrot in the bowl with the garbanzo paste and mix.

incorporate the eggs, then the breadcrumbs and allow to sit for 10 minutes.

get your pan hot and line the bottom of the pan with olive oil.

form patties with the mixture, and cook in the hot oil.

cook until the bottoms are brown (5-10 minutes) and flip.

cook the same on the other side, then remove from your pan.

enjoy as you would a burger with the same accompaniments.