After Dinner Thoughts

So, it was a bit labor intensive what with all the prep work. I personally don't think the artichokes were worth the trouble. Don't get me wrong, they were tasty, but there wasn't much to get from them and it was more difficult to eat than it was worth.

The beets were yummy. This was the first time I ever cooked beets, I always used the beets from a jar in the past. The potatoes and green beans were delicious, as well as fresh tomatoes, the kalamata olives, eggs, etc. I don't think I'll make this exact recipe again, but I will try a Niciose platter again.

The Chocolate-Blueberry cake was pretty tasty, and very pretty!

Nicoise Platter

Last Saturday, Cindy (my sister) wanted us to take Mom for pedicures. Of course I said sure! They needed to stop by the veterinarian and a pet store first, so I told them I'd meet them at Borders bookstore; I had a 40% off coupon plus I needed to pick up items for a drawing we are having at the library for National Library Week (April 10 - 16). With my coupon I purchased a couple of cookbooks - imagine that! I picked up 1,001 Low-Fat Vegetarian Recipes and Isa Chandra Moskowwitz's Appetite for Reduction. I really like cookbooks that include complete nutritional information for the recipes, both of these books do that. They both also look like they'll keep me busy for a long time.

For Sunday dinner this week I plan to make Nicoise Platter from the 1,001 Low-Fat Vegetarian Recipes cookbook. Here's the recipe:

Nicoise Platter - serves 4 (424 calories per serving)

12 small red potatoes (about 1 1/4 pounds), unpeeled, cooked
2 large beets, cooked
12 ounces green beans, ends trimmed, cooked
4 Braised Whole Artichokes (recipe follows)
2-4 hard cooked eggs, halved
2 medium tomatoes, cut into wedges
3 cups mixed salad greens, torn into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup halved ripe olives
4 teaspoons drained capers
1/2 cup salt-free, fat-free Italian dressing with herbs
1 small shallot, minced
1 clove garlic, minced
Salt and Pepper to taste
Tofu Aioli (recipe follows)

1- cut potatoes into fourths; peel and slice beets. Arrange with Braised Whole Artichokes, eggs, and tomatoes on greens-lined plates; sprinkle with olives and capers. Drizzle with combined Italian dressing, shallot, and garlic and sprinkle lightly with salt and pepper. Serve with Tofu Aioli.

Braised Whole Artichokes

4 medium artichokes, stems removed
Salt
2-4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil

1- Cut 1 inch from tops of artichokes and discard. Place artichokes in medium saucepan and sprinkle lightly with salt; add 1 inch water to pan. Heat to boiling; reduce heat and simmer, covered, until artichokes are tender, about 30 minutes (bottom leaves will pull out easily). Drain. Holding artichokes with a towel, brush bottoms with olive oil; return to saucepan. Cook, uncovered, over medium to medium-low heat until bottoms of artichokes are deeply browned, 10 to 15 minutes.

Tofu Aioli

1/2 package (10 1/2 ounce size) light firm tofu
1 tablespoon olive oil
3/4 teaspoon each: tarragon vinegar, lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Dijon-style mustard
3 cloves garlic, minced
Salt and white pepper, to taste

1- Process all ingredients, except salt and pepper, in a food processor or blender; season to taste with salt and white pepper. Refrigerate, covered, until ready to use.


This recipe actually has quite a few steps if you consider all the ingredients that are already prepared in the ingredients list. Someone has to prep them too (that will be me). But this just sounds yummy to me. Ms. Moskowitz also has a similar salad in the Appetitie for Reduction cookbook. Hers is called Goddess Nicoise and uses chickpeas in the salad; it is also listed as 250 calories per serving. It looks really good too. I probably should go for the recipe with fewer calories, but I'll try it another time and let you know which I prefer.

So, for tomorrow it's the recipe listed above. I also plan to make the FatFree Vegan Kitchen's Chocolate-Blueberry Cake. I'll let you know how it all turns out!

Oh, and FYI, our pedicures were great - even if we had to walk out in flip flops into a snowstorm! Boy, was that a surprise.

Enchiladas

Today we had veggie enchiladas. I, of course, surfed the Internet looking for recipes and came up with a few. However, after looking at the various recipes I found, I ended up making up my own.




Veggie Enchiladas
1 10 box frozen spinach, thawed an drained with excess liquid squeezed out
1 cup frozen corn
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
1 4 oz can diced mild green chilies
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup chopped yellow onion
2-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 can tomato sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon cumin
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
pinch crushed red pepper
10 corn tortillas
2 oz low-fat cream cheese, divided into 10 small pieces
1 cup (more or less) shredded cheddar cheese

1- In a large bowl mix spinach, corn, beans, and chilies. Set aside.
2- In a medium size sauce pan, heat olive oil. Saute onion until just beginning to turn golden; add minced garlic and saute for about 1 more minute. Add tomato sauce, chili powder, cumin, cocoa powder, red pepper. Cook to blend, but do not boil. Set aside.
3- Wrap tortillas in moist paper towels and microwave for 1 minute. Prepare a large casserole by spraying it with non-stick spray.
4- Take one tortilla at a time, put spinach mixture in middle of tortilla and add 1 piece of cream cheese. Roll tortilla unto itself, place onto prepared casserole seam side down. Repeat with all tortillas.
5- Place any spinach mixture left over all tortillas. Spread tomato mixture over all then shredded cheese.
6- Bake for 30 minutes in a 350 degree oven.

Makes 10 servings, more or less.

It was pretty good. But the tortillas got a little tough on the seam side. Next time I will make more sauce and put some down in the casserole before putting the enchiladas in. They were tasty though.

We also had corn fritters from Whole Foods - these were yummy - and some edamame succotash. I was not fond of the succotash myself. Mom liked it and gets to take it home with her.

I also made a Ricotta Cheese cake from the Eating Well Dessert Cookbook. It was good too.