Family Recipe - Chili

Having go-to meals that can come straight from ingredients in the freezer and/or pantry is a huge-time saver and a great way to avoid what-are-we-going-to-eat stress. This easy, throw-it-in-the-crock-pot-and-forget-about-it chili is that kind of meal for us. (also, today is apparently two-for-the-price-of-one hyphen day)

LLOYD LAWLESS VEGETARIAN CHILI

1 can black beans, drained
1 can pinto beans, drained
2 cans no-salt added diced tomatoes, drained
1 can no-salt added whole kernel corn, drained
1 can Hormel chili starter (we like the 'Texas' kind)
(optional: one cup brown rice)

1. Open all cans and drain all except the chili starter
2. Pour beans, corn, tomatoes, and chili starter into crock-pot. Mix.
3. Cook (either at 'medium' for 5-8 hours or 'high' for 3-4 hours...bubbling is a good sign)
4. Prepare brown rice (in rice-cooker or on stovetop) and mix into cooked chili if desired prior to serving

We top this chili (and, let's be serious, everything else we eat) with cheese. It is also delicious when accompanied by cornbread (at least, I imagine it would be...in what alternate universe are Matt & I prepared enough to have/make cornbread when we are making chili?)

Family Recipe - Aunt Veronica's Spinach & Tortellini Soup

Matt and I eat a lot of salads, but sometimes we run into trouble keeping enough fresh greens in the house...seems like we always buy too little and run out or too much and it goes bad. This soup is a good way to get the good stuff without relying on fresh greens.






AUNT VERONICA'S SPINACH & TORTELLINI SOUP

1 10-oz package frozen spinach (thawed or frozen is okay)
1 package three-cheese tortellini
1 small onion
1 32-oz container vegetable broth
feta cheese to garnish

1. Bring vegetable broth + 32oz water to rolling boil in large stock pot
   
2. Dice onion and add to boiling broth
3. Add spinach to broth/water (It is fine to add the spinach when it is still frozen...we usually do because who has the foresight to plan ahead and defrost?)
4. Once spinach is unfrozen and water has returned to rolling boil, add tortellini and cook according to package instructions
5. Once tortellini is cooked, remove stock pot from heat and add 5-10 ice cubes to stop further cooking (You don't want soggy tortellini)
6. Season to your taste with salt, garlic, oregano, basil, etc...whatever you have on-hand is good!
   

Cool before serving. Garnish with feta cheese (don't have feta? try another hard cheese...just avoid anything too soft, because the hot soup will cause it to congeal into a gooey, sticky mess.)

PS. We have to credit our good friend, Veronica, with the origins of this delicious soup.

Family Recipe - Garbanzos with Spinach and Rice

Matt and I eat a lot of fresh baby spinach...and we love buying it the big, 2-lb plastic clamshell at Costco (so cheap!)...but, sometimes we run into trouble finishing it all before it spoils.

This easy recipe is a great one for using up that extra spinach (and you can buy the garbanzos at Costco too!).

GARBANZOS WITH SPINACH AND RICE

1.5 c brown rice
6-oz fresh baby spinach
2 15-oz cans garbanzo beans, drained
1 medium onion
3 tbs olive oil
2 c water

1. Cook rice according to package instructions
2. Dice onion and saute in olive oil over medium heat in large saute pan
3. Once onion is softened/translucent, add garbanzos to saute pan. Add water. Bring to boil, then cover and simmer for 30-35 minutes.
4. When garbanzos are nearly done, add spinach to saute pan and recover. Steam spinach for ~5 mins.
5. Remove garbanzos from heat and drain excess water.
6. Add rice to garbanzos and spinach.
7. Season with whatever you have on-hand: salt, pepper, basil, oregano, curry, paprika, etc.

*Note: this time we used kale rather than spinach...it doesn't look at pretty, but it's what we had in the fridge.

Family Recipe - Peanut Pasta with Broccoli and Tofu

You're probably noticing that the recipes I've posted are all meat-free. Indeed, I am an almost-vegetarian (I eat fish, but no meat or poultry). Though Matt enjoys all sorts of hoofed and feathered fare, he is a relatively willing participant in our vegetarian home cooking. Because Matt doesn't particularly love fish, and neither of us wants to take on the challenge of learning how to cook it properly, we eat nearly entirely veg at home.

Done right, vegetarian cooking is easy, nutritious, delicious...and, perhaps best of all, cheap.

PEANUT PASTA WITH BROCCOLI & TOFU

1/2 lb whole-wheat rotini
2 heads broccoli, washed, trimmed, and stemmed (kale or green beans are other options here)
2 tbs sesame oil
1 block extra-firm tofu, drained and diced into 1/2" blocks
3 tbsp rice vinegar
2 tbsp honey
1/4 c soy sauce (we use the reduced salt version)
1/4 c smooth peanut butter (we like Smuckers All-Natural)Cook pasta according to package directions in large pot of salted boiling water.

1. Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water according to package directions
   
2. Begin steam broccoli in vegetable steamer until tender
   
3. Heat sesame oil in large saute pan on medium heat
   
4. Saute tofu for ~8 mins, stirring occasionally. Be sure to flip the cubes so all sides are cooked. Turn heat to medium-low if tofu burns.
5. Heat peanut butter in microwave until it is very soft
   
6. In a large bowl, mix vinegar, peanut butter, honey, and soy sauce until smooth
   
7. Add pasta, broccoli, and tofu; toss to combine
   

Serve immediately or refrigerate and serve chilled.

*You'll notice that I used green beans, not broccoli, in the pictured iteration...again -- just use what you have -- no need to make cooking more challenging than it already is!

Family Recipe - Coconut Rice

There is a lot of talk these days about knowing your 'love language'. Once you get past the cheesy name, this idea is powerful -- the idea that different people express love in different ways.

One way I've always expressed my love to Matt is by making sure that we have plenty of wholesome, nourishing food to eat. Serving nourishing food is a very concrete way for me to show Matt that I care about him. And, slowly, he's beginning to return the favor in kind.

Thus, it's very exciting for us to share some of our most well-worn recipes...recipes that you can make on a Sunday and box up for lunches for the rest of the week or can pull out of the pantry for an easy dinner.

COCONUT RICE

1/2 can lite coconut milk
1 c brown rice
1 tbsp red curry paste
5 eggs
1 package frozen peas (frozen green beans work too)

1. Cook rice according to package directions
2. When rice is ~10 mins from completion, scramble eggs and set aside
3. Microwave frozen peas according to package instructions
4. Simmer coconut milk on low heat in large sauce pan. Mix curry paste into coconut milk.
5. Mix scrambled eggs, peas, rice, and coconut milk mixture in sauce pan on low heat
6. Salt to taste

Family Recipe - Lasagna

Matt and I try hard to eat in a way that is healthy and affordable. One way we do this is by making a big batch of something over the weekend, to box up into individual servings for lunch for the work-week.

I'm the more confident chef, but Matt is really coming into his own in the kitchen these days.

As I prepare to start my surgical residency, I know that I won't be able to captain our cooking adventures to the same extent that I used to. As such, I'm putting together a recipe series of all of our 'go-to' family meals for Matt to refer to when he becomes Kitchen Captain.



LLOYD LAWLESS VEGETARIAN LASAGNA

1 package no-bake lasagna noodles (we like the whole-wheat ones from Target)
1 package chopped frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1 egg
1 container ricotta cheese (10-15 oz is fine)
1 package shredded mozzarella cheese (we like the 2% milk kind)
2 28-oz jars pasta sauce (nothing too chunky -- we use Prego)

1. Preheat oven to 375 F
2. Mix ricotta cheese, drained spinach, egg, and 1/2 package of shredded mozzarella
3. In a glass 9x13" baking dish, cover bottom of dish with sauce
4. Layer first layer of noodles across baking dish
5. Spoon 1/3 of ricotta-spinach mixture over noodles
6. Spoon 1/4 of remaining sauce over ricotta layer
7. Repeat this layer process 2 more times, using up all of the ricotta-spinach mixture
8. Place final layer of noodles on top of lasagna
9. Cover final layer of noodles with remainder of sauce and remaining 1/2 package of mozzarella
10. Cover lasagna with foil
11. Bake lasagna for 45 mins; remove foil and resume baking for 10 additional minutes until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly

Allow to cool before cutting or serving.