Sun-dried Tomato and Artichoke Risotto with Mushrooms and Truffle

Risotto is a fragrant, creamy rice dish that is usually cooked on the stove in a sauce pan. However, risotto can be really tedious because you have to stir it constantly the whole time it is cooking.. Ain't no body got time for that.

My risotto is done in a rice maker, which you can get for as little at $20 at Target or Walmart. If you don't have a rice maker and don't want to get one (seriously get one you can use if for all kinds of things), you can do this on the stove, but you'll just have to watch it and make sure that it is stirred constantly so the bottom doesn't burn!

Ingredients:
1 cup wild grain or brown rice
1 yellow onion (chopped)
8 oz mushrooms (sliced) ... I used baby bella
1/2 cup chopped sun dried tomatoes
1/2 cup chopped artichoke hearts
1 clove garlic minced or 1 tsp minced garlic
2 TBL dried Italian spices
salt and pepper to taste
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1 cup water
1 TBL olive oil
5 drops white truffle oil -- use sparingly.... it is very powerful (optional - a bottle is pretty expensive but will last FOREVER)


Process:
Place all ingredients in rice maker. Push "white rice" button and guess what? You're done! I pop in the kitchen and stir it every once in a while - maybe 2-3 times during the 45 minute cooking cycle.
Once the rice maker is done, fluff the rice and put it over fresh spinach or kale. The greens will wilt because the rice is so hot, YUM!

NOTE: If you are using sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil or artichoke hearts packed in oil, don't add another TBL of oil. Also, be really careful with the truffle oil. If you can smell it, thats enough. You can ALWAYS add more to the dish at the end.

 ♥ E

Spaghetti Squash {Two Ways}

Tangy Balsamic Spaghetti Squash:

Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash (cut down the center long ways and seeds discarded)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper

1 TBL coconut oil
1red pepper (sliced)
4 oz. mushrooms
1/2 onion
1 clove garlic minced (1tsp)
2-4 TBL balsamic vinegar






Process:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the halves on the baking sheet - bowl side up and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for an hour, checking at 30 and 45 mins to make sure that it's not cooking too fast. The squash is done when you can stick a fork in and pull across the flesh and it shreds to look like angel hair pasta. When the squash is nearly done, saute pepper, mushrooms, onion, and garlic in the coconut oil. Just before removing from heat glaze with balsamic vinegar.

Remove from oven and fork the squash until removed from skin. Top each squash half with pepper, mushroom, balsamic mixture.

Serve along side a fresh salad or steamed kale.


Latin Chimichurri Spaghetti Squash:


Ingredients:

1 spaghetti squash (cut down the center long ways and seeds discarded)
Olive oil
Salt and pepper


1 TBL coconut oil
1/2 yellow onion
1 clove garlic
1 cup  black beans

1 bunch cilantro removed from stem
2 TBL white wine vinegar
2 TBL olive oil
1 tbl lemon juice
salt and pepper
dash crushed red pepper
1 avocado


Process:
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper. Place the halves on the baking sheet - bowl side up and drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Bake for an hour, checking at 30 and 45 mins to make sure that it's not cooking too fast. The squash is done when you can stick a fork in and pull across the flesh and it shreds to look like angel hair pasta. While the squash is cooking, saute onion and garlic in coconut oil. When tender, add the beans and cook until warm. In a blender or food processor, add cilantro, vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper. Blend until smooth.

Remove from oven and fork the squash until removed from skin. Top each half with beans, chimichurri, and 1/2 diced avocado.



Serve along side a fresh spinach salad.

 ♥ E

Vegan, Gluten Free, Spicy Cilantro Avocado Pizza

I seriously want to take a bath in cilantro... Is that wrong? Then I don't want to be right. 

Spicy Cilantro Avocado Pizza

Ingredients:

BASE SOCCA:
1 1/2 cups garbanzo (chickpea) bean flour
1 1/2 cups water
1 T olive oil
1/2  tsp salt

TOPPINGS:

1 onion (diced)

1 clove (1tsp) garlic minced

1 cup kale (chopped)

2 bell peppers (cut into strips)

8 oz mushrooms 

SAUCE:

2 bunches cilantro

1/4 serrano pepper seeded

1/4 cup olive oil

2 TBL lemon or lime juice

salt and pepper to taste 

AVOCADO CREAM:

1 ripe avocado 

2 Tbl non dairy milk (coconut, almond, rice)

1 Tbl lemon or lime juice

2 Tbl cilantro 

salt and pepper to taste 

Process: Mix all the socca ingredients in a container that can be covered or has a lid. Let the mixture sit for one hour to overnight (if sitting over night put in fridge). Heat the oven to 500 degrees. Drop a tsp of coconut oil in a 9x13 inch glass baking dish and put the dish in the oven while it heats. When the oven is all warmed up to 500 degrees, pull out the dish and move it around so that the oil gets all over the bottom. Pour socca batter into the dish. It should sizzle. Bake for 6-8 minutes. The top of the socca should start to crack. If not golden and cracked, bake for up to more 4 minutes.  Remove. While the crust is baking, saute the onion, garlic, pepper, mushrooms, and kale until soft. For the sauce, place all ingredients into a blender or food processor and pulse until smooth. Spread sauce over socca crust. Top with sauteed toppings. Place pizza back in the oven for 5-8 minutes. This allows the sauce to soak into the socca and the toppings to get extra crunchy. While pizza is in the oven, throw all of the ingredients for the avocado cream into the food processor or blender (don't bother cleaning it after the sauce- the cilantro will just add more flavor to the avocado cream).  Blend until smooth. Place in a plastic baggie and snip the very tip off of the corner of the baggie to create a piping bag. Once pizza is done. Remove and plate. Top with avocado cream just before serving. I served mine with a side of steamed kale. 

Serves 4-6 people. 

♥ E

Creamy Butternut Squash Quinoa

I will literally put this sauce on anything and everything. Quinoa, rice pasta, cooked zucchini shavings, toasty socca... It is a super healthy comfort food.

Ingredients:
1 Tbl olive oil
1 butternut squash (cooked -- see instructions below)
1 Tbl Coconut oil
1 meduim yellow onion
1 clove (1tsp minced) garlic
3/4 cup coconut milk (from a carton, or almond milk)
1 Tbl arrowroot powder (or constarch)
1 Tbl Dijon mustard
1 Tbl lemon juice
1 Tbl smoked paprika (I like it spicy and smokey use less and season to taste if you like it more mild)
Salt and pepper to taste
2 cups kale (cooked just before serving)
3-4 cups cooked quinoa for serving


Process:
Peel and chop squash. Cook squash either by steaming in a rice maker with 3/4 cup water for 20 mins, or bake in oven at 425 degrees drizzled with olive oil, salt and pepper. While Squash is cooking, heat coconut oil in a medium sauce pan. Add onion and garlic. Saute until soft. In another bowl, add coconut milk and arrowroot. Whisk until smooth. Add to sautéed onion and garlic along with the dijon lemon juice, paprika, salt, and pepper. Add the cooked squash to a blender or food processor along with 1/2 of the coconut milk mix. Blend until smooth. Serve over cooked quinoa and kale.

♥ E

Eclectic Enchilada Pie with Cilantro Chimichurri

The reason I call this enchilada dish eclectic is because you can literally throw any vegetables into it. Got some sweet potatoes you want to use up? Throw it in. Got some kale that you know you can't use, but you just couldn't pass up the giant bag of organic kale goodness at Costco? Throw it in.

I literally can't get enough of this. I have made it twice within one week... So you know I am obsessed.



Here is for how I made this specific (and favorite) variation of the Eclectic Enchilada Pie:


Ingredients:

Veggies:
1 Tbs coconut oil
1 onion -- diced (whichever color you prefer)
2 bell peppers -- chopped into 1/2 inch pieces (whichever color you prefer, I like to mix red & green)
8 oz of mushrooms -- washed and sliced
1 zuchini -- cut long ways into fourths and then sliced into 1/4 inch pieces
2-4 handfuls of kale - stemmed and chopped into fine pieces (helps the kale to wilt faster)

2 Gluten Free tortillas -- I like the flavor of La Tortilla Factory's Smart & Delicious Wheat/Gluten Free Softwraps - or home made rice tortillas.

Sauce:
1 - 28 oz jar diced tomatoes with green chilis
ancho chipotle powder (to taste.. I like mine smokey and spicy so I pour in a LOT)

Chimichurri:
1 bunch Cilantro (Chopped fairly fine)
1/4 cup EVOO (extra virgin olive oil)
2 Tbs White Wine Vinegar
Crushed red pepper flakes (to taste)
Salt and Pepper (to taste)

Process:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Throw all of the veggies (except the kale and zucchini  into a skillet or a large bottomed pot with the coconut oil and sauté until the veggies are almost soft. When the veggies are part way done, add the zucchini and kale - they cook much faster than the other veggies. Meanwhile, add the jar of diced tomatoes and the chipotle powder to a sauce pan and heat on the stove. I leave all of the juice in the tomatoes and cook it on high heat so that some of the juice cooks off and it leaves the tomatoes really soft and saucy. <-- Very technical, I know.

Once the sauce and veggies are ready, take a 9 inch pie dish and add put a little sauce in the bottom (about one and a half cooking spoons full, just to line it.) Layer a tortilla on top. Add a layer of veggies, then a layer of sauce, next another tortilla, then a layer of sauce, and then a layer of veggies. Bake in the oven for 20-30 mins depending on how crispy you like your edges. The tortillas get really soft, and almost take on a lasagna noodle texture.

While that is baking, Take all of your ingredients from the chimichurri and add to a mason jar. Shake and go.

Serve hot with cool chimichurri on top. YUMMO

I made a double batch and put it in individual containers for lunches, I just pop them into the toaster oven and they are good to go. Keep the chimichurri in the fridge. If for some reason you have extra veggies that didn't all fit into the enchilada pie, save them and serve them over cooked quinoa! Dont forget to have some chimichurri with it! Cilantro addicts, unite! :)

♥ E