Potato Feta Gyros
I lived as a vegetarian for 2 1/2 years during my college career; it was the dorm food that sealed the deal. For the first year of my vegetarianism, I was more of a cheese-atarian. I lived in Oregon and it was Tillamook EVERYTHING. My roommate and I ate cheese, pizza, french fries, hummus and stir fry like there was no tomorrow. For a college student, it was all about convenience. Having our own fridge with our OWN food (not managed by parents) was really an exciting thing. That's why I gained a Sophomore 15 (I managed to avoid it Freshman year due to the crappy food). I clearly needed help!
A few months ago during the busy holiday season, I had the opportunity to meet cookbook author/cool mom Pam Anderson & catch up with her daughter Maggy at a fabulous dinner for her latest cookbook, Cook without a Book: Meatless Meals: Recipes and Techniques for Part-Time and Full-Time Vegetarians. Let me tell you, these two are as good as it gets! I know that if they lived closer, Maggy & I would be tied at the hip. Both these fine ladies have a tremendous amount of love to give and their passion for food and helping others is downright contagious!
What I love Pam's new cookbook is that it's vegetarian home cooking in an easily digestible format. Pam covers many cooking basics and gives a tremendous amount of tricks & tips for the aspiring vegetarian cook. She's basically teaching you how to cook without a book! Each recipe has Pam's suggestions to change things up a bit. For example, there's a bran muffin section where she shows you the muffin base and then lists add-ins & extras so you can build your own flavor profile. Her suggestions will keep your brain turning with ideas! I love it. Reading through this book is like having a cool mom teach you how to cook and fend for yourself in a vegetarian world. It would have made my college years as a vegetarian a BREEZE!
As a part time Vegetarian, I fell in love with this Potato Feta Gyro recipe. I made it earlier this week and boy was it incredibly satisfying and simple to execute. The mashed potatoes are flavor packed due to the feta & roasted garlic and the cucumber yogurt sauce is straight up ADDICTIVE. If only I had this recipe in college!
Here's the deal!
I have an extra copy of this book that I want to give one to a lucky reader!
Please leave a comment below and you'll be entered to win!
Giveaway ends on Friday January 13th (ooh creepy!).
****CONTEST ENDED. THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR ENTERING!!!!******
Corn Zucchini Lime Pizza
For a good year, Casey worked close to the amazing/prolific Arizmendi Bakery. Not only are their pastries, muffins & cookies TO DIE FOR, they make the most fabulous/unconventional pizza with the craziest, most exotic toppings; it's fancy pizza! We created a tradition where every other Thursday, he'd call me and tell me what the pizza of the day was and nine times out of ten, he'd bring one home. I'd fire up the oven after hanging up and eagerly anticipated heating up the pizza and slicing into it.
One of the best pizzas he came home with was a wonderful corn, feta, lime & cilantro pizza that had slices of jalapeno scattered throughout. It tasted just like summer. Casey changed jobs, and sadly Arizmendi pizza has been out of our rotation. That hasn't prevented me from thinking about their pizza constantly. Before bed the other night, this pizza popped into my head and I seriously lost sleep over it. I woke up the next morning plagued with the NEED to make it. I fulfilled that need and if given the chance, I would have eaten the entire pizza myself. Thank heavens for husbands who come home early from work and neighbors who will try anything I make.
The corn is sweet and crunchy, the feta is salty and slightly creamy, the cilantro adds a nice herbal greenness to the pizza and the slices of jalapeno add great heat. Squeeze lime on top and all of the flavors step up a notch! This pizza is truly addictive, earth shattering and seriously the best way to exploit fresh corn right now. I can honestly say this is a pizza worth losing sleep over.
Continue reading→
Couscous with Swish Chard, Raisins & Feta
After posting Brown Butter Biscuits with Sausage Gravy & Baked Caramel Apple Donuts, I felt the need to balance out my indulgences with something on the healthier side. Last Sunday afternoon while Casey worked in the basement and Cooper napped, I made this yummy couscous dish. I stood at my kitchen island, chopping up a huge bunch of dark green & crimson leaves when all of a sudden, a cool draft wafted through the window. I breathed it in and realized that Autumn had arrived. With a little Ray LaMontagne playing in the background, I was in my happy place. Alone in the kitchen, a few pans sizzling behind me with a hearty fall recipe in the making...Life is good.
Have I told you how much I love chard? I'd never thought I'd say that because I absolutely hated it as a child. Chard is a good balance of bitter & sweet and it makes me feel like I'm being super healthy when I'm shoving fistfuls of it in my mouth. Red Swiss chard is an excellent pairing with the sweetness of the plump golden raisins, the hearty nuttiness of the chickpeas and the salty feta crumbles in this dish. There's soo many fun textures to venture through! The only thing I can't figure out is whether I like this dish hot or cold because it's fabulous both ways. It's definitely going in my fall rotation and next time I might add a poached egg on top...or perhaps some toasted walnuts to the mix? Continue reading→
Spinach Feta Pocket Pies
Awhile back I made these Chicken Pocket Pies and they were fabulous. The dough worked out perfectly, angels sang, and we left nothing but pie dust in the kitchen. Remember?
I've been "trying" to bring spinach back into Cooper's diet so I thought these Spinach Feta Pocket Pies might do the trick! Plus this momma loves spanakopita, and these are pretty similar (except they're made with cream cheese pastry instead of phillo dough).
I whipped up the pastry dough the night before using light cream cheese instead of full fat. I am soo happy to report that it tastes just fine! A bullet has been dodged, people. We can have a tasty lower fat pie crust and eat it too!
The spinach pockets were super. I was delighted every time I got a chunk of feta in a bite. Next time I am going to add a little more cheese to the filling. Oh man do I love feta! The pies totally satisfied my spanakopita cravings!
Citrus Beet Salad
Ummm I've been going a little overboard on the juicing lately.....
I've been stock piling fruits & veggies in my house!
This is what my counter looked like a few days ago-via my cameraphone.
I am totally crazy huh? This doesn't account for the stuff that's already in the fridge!
Since I have a surplus of veggies, I decided to make a Citrus Beet Salad for dinner tonight.
I gots to get rid of it somehow!
It's really refreshing, sweet, tangy & delightful! The sweetness is balanced by the tartness of the citrus.That red onion and feta give it such a sharp bite!
The best part is that it is SOOO easy.
Wanna see?
Continue reading→
Greek-Style Stuffed Peppers
Last week, I checked out the cookbook The Food You Crave, by Ellie Krieger at the library and was pleasantly surprised at how many recipes I bookmarked. I guess there are LOTS of foods that I crave. HAHA GO FIGURE!
This Greek Style Stuffed Pepper recipe was the first of many recipes I'll be trying soon and I was pretty impressed with the results. Thinking about all of the vegetables I put into one meal was totally awesome. My meat and potatoes loving husband really loved the results too and so did my baby!
Next time I might add a little bit of feta in the filling because I am such a sucker for feta! I will probably add a little bit of red pepper cuz I dig on spice! I did add some chopped parsley because it was sitting around in my fridge waiting to be used. Maybe I will knock it up with some chopped garlic too. I have a feeling that this recipe could be improvised in many ways... Here I am brainstorming....
Here I am mixing the filling:
A peak at pepper assembly:
About to put them in the oven:
Dinner- Served with a salad:
Soo filling-- that I didn't end up eating bread!
Coop would like to share his first bite of the filling for you. "See guys, I'm eating it!"
And YES! I loved it. I ate the filling of TWO peppers last night!
Greek Style Stuffed Peppers
Print This Recipe(recipe Ellie Krieger)
- 1 pound lean ground beef
- 1 (10-ounce) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and squeezed dry
- 1 medium zucchini, coarsely grated (about 2 cups)
- 1 small onion, minced (about 1 cup)
- 1/2 cup bulgur
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- Freshly ground black pepper
- 3 red bell peppers, halved lengthwise, cores and ribs removed (I used 4)
- 2 (14 1/2-ounce) cans low-sodium stewed tomatoes, finely chopped
- 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
In a large bowl combine the beef, spinach, zucchini, onion, bulghur, egg, oregano, salt and a few grinds of pepper. Mix until thoroughly combined.
Arrange the pepper halves cut side up in a 9 by 13-inch baking dish and fill each pepper half with the meat mixture. Pour the tomatoes over the peppers and sprinkle with the feta cheese. Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes. Uncover and bake until the meat mixture is completely cooked and the peppers are tender, about 25 minutes longer.
summer lovin’
last night's dinner:
I am very proud to say that I grew EVERY tomato in that lil bowl up there!
I made a little Greek inspired salad with:
-mint
-feta
-tomatoes
-cucumbers
-white corn
-salt & pepper
-olive oil
-red wine vinegar
Served that with some grilled chicken sausage & some grilled lavash bread. Now we're talkin'!!
Cooper joined us on the patio. I think he likes eating outside too. It's dinners like this that reassure me that I can be a mom AND make a really good dinner. Just don't look in my kitchen. It's a disaster.
I think he enjoys eating dinner with us...but he's always trying to get his hands on things he can't yet eat.
This sounds like someone familiar....
Mediterranean Couscous
Favorite Trader Joe's Item #30: Couscous
Cook couscous according to directions.
I doubled the recipe so that we could have leftovers for the next few days.
Let's begin with the recipe......
Chop 1 red onion:
Drain & rinse 1 can of garbanzo beans:
Chop up some little tomatoes, sun dried tomatoes (half of the TJ's jar), two handfuls of basil, 2 lemons & 1 jar of marinated artichokes:
Open 1 package of crumbled feta:
Mix those ingredients with the Cous-Cous.
Make sure to add some Extra-Virgin Olive Oil.
Squeeze the lemons on top & mix. Add salt & pepper to taste.
Serve in a bowl:
Dig in with a fork or spoon:
It's pretty good with grilled sausage on top:
Now you have a tasty meal & a few leftovers to last you a few days. The end.
