Two times the Martha

I recently started subscribing to Everday Food magazine (Martha Stewart's food magazine). I've been a longtime fan for it's simple, short recipes highlighting fresh ingredients, because it provides a great place for ideas for my own recipe creation. This recipe is a mash-up of a recipe in this month's Everyday Food (I couldn't find it online) along with a recipe from Martha Stewart that I found online for rosemary lentils. Fun fact, I'd never prepared lentils before this and had rarely eaten them, but I loved it! so Martha, I owe you double thanks for this recipe.

Roasted Veggie and Rosemary Lentil Salad

3/4 pound red or fingerling potatoes, halved or quartered
4 medium-sized carrots, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 shallot, peeled and cut into 5-6 large pieces
1 tablespoon olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste
2 sprigs rosemary, divided
1 cup dried green lentils
1 shallot, finely chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 bay leaf
2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
6 ounces spinach
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
3 ounces goat cheese

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. On a large baking sheet, place potatoes, shallot and carrots. Finely chop the rosemary on one of the sprigs, reserving the other sprig. sprinkle over vegetables, season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil; toss to combine. Place in oven and bake until vegetables are fork-tender and slightly charred, about 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, place lentils, shallots, garlic, rosemary, and bay leaf in a medium saucepan; cover with 5 cups of cold water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low. Partially cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender, about 15 - 20 minutes. Drain; discard garlic, rosemary stem, and bay leaf. Place in a large bowl and season with salt and pepper and drizzle with olive oil, stir to combine and set aside.

When vegetables are done, add to the large bowl with lentils. Toss in spinach and and balsamic vinegar and combine. Top with goat cheese and serve!

Fun bonus, Luke and I used leftovers to create a delicious pita for lunch. Love repurposing leftovers like that!

Butternut Squash Ravioli

How's this for meeting a New Years resolution? I invited a few friends over (Teddy and Cara) for New Years Eve dinner before going out and wanted to make something worthy of serving on the gorgeous china we got as a wedding present. Why not tackle two goals and also make some ravioli?! Since Teddy is a vegetarian, butternut squash ravioli seemed like the best way to go.

I started with my basic pasta dough recipe from my homemade pasta experiment last year, but made 2.5x the original recipe since I was feeding five. I don't know about you, but I hate ordering ravioli out at dinner to only be served 4 raviolis and leave feeling hungry, so I wanted to make sure we had plenty. Luckily I had Luke there to help me since it was quite a lengthy process! Lots of fun though, so no complaining here :)

For the filling and sauce, I used this recipe for Butternut Squash, Sage, and Goat Cheese Ravioli with Hazelnut Brown-Butter Sauce and topped it off with some shaved Parmigiano Reggiano and chopped fresh sage. I will say that I had WAY too much filling left and am still trying to brainstorm what to do with the remainder...

Note the lovely china :) Also, thanks Cara for sharing your photo!

This was a delicious combination, though I'll need some practice stuffing ravioli since some didn't get a whole lot of filling. Also, I think next time I'd run the pasta through the pasta maker a few more times to make it a bit thinner. Overall though, delightful!

Unfortunately I didn't get a picture of the salad I served, but it really complemented the ravioli and I wanted to share:

Pear Salad with Hazelnuts and Parmigiano Reggiano

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1/4 red onion, thinly sliced

1 1/2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

6 ounces baby spinach leaves

4 ounces escarole (or any lettuce you prefer)

1 large or 2 small pears, cored and cut into 1-inch pieces

1/3 cup toasted hazelnuts

2 ounces shaved Parmigiano Reggiano

Salt and pepper to taste

Heat a medium skillet on medium heat and warm olive oil. Add red onion and saute a few minutes, then turn heat down and let simmer, stirring occasionally, until caramelized. I let these go about 35 minutes. Stir in balsamic vinegar and remove from heat.

In a large bowl, combine spinach, escarole, pears, hazelnuts and Parmigiano Reggiano. Now toss in the caramelized onions, making sure the balsamic/olive oil mixture coats the salad. Add additional olive oil as needed. Season lightly with salt and pepper and toss, then serve.

The Great Vegan Experiment

If you've been a long-time Apron Adventures reader, or even if you haven't, you've probably noticed my affinity for cheese, bacon and other meat/dairy products. I find I often rely on them to make a dish pop. So, in order to step out of my comfort zone, and also just to see if I can, I'll be following a vegan diet today through Friday. This isn't to make a statement, rather just a friendly experiment to see if I can hack it.

So far, I've armed myself with homemade hummus and olive tapenade, almond milk for my morning coffee and ceareal, tons of fresh produce, grains such as quinoa, cous cous and lentils, and tofu. If you have any tips for this brave blogger entering a new world, they are much appreciated.

I'll be blogging along the way, so cheer me on since I know I'll need as much support as I can get!

Roasted Red Bell Pepper Hummus

1 red bell pepper
1 can chick peas, rinsed
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon cumin
Dash cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
Approx. 1/4 cup olive oil

Roast the red pepper in the oven until skin begins to blister, turning occasionally. Place in a paper bag for about 1 minutes. remove the blistered skin and place in a food processor. Add the chick peas and galic and pulse. Add in seasonings and pulse, then slowly stream in the olive oil until a desired consisteny is reached. Enjoy with pita bread, fresh veggies or on your favorite sandwich.

Vegetarian Mediterranean Panini

You know me, I love a good sandwich! I also tend to get in a very comfortable produce rut, so I decided to switch things up, while still making one of my favorites. What did I throw into the mix? A big, beautiful portobello mushroom. Mushrooms are such a nice meaty food without the heaviness that some of my go-to proteins lend to an otherwise light meal. Since I tend to go pretty heavy-handed with my sandwich toppings, the portobello mushroom was the perfect addition.

Vegetarian Mediterranean Panini

1 large portobello mushroom cap, stemmed and cleaned
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 teaspoon dried rosemary
1 large clove garlic, minced
1 red onion, sliced
2 roasted red bell peppers
2 cups frozen artichoke hearts, thawed
8 large sun dried tomatoes packed in oil, chopped
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
Salt and pepper to taste
1 loaf ciabatta
2 ounces goat cheese, crumbled

Heat a grill pan on medium heat. Brush 1 tablespoon olive oil on both sides of mushroom and sprinkle with rosemary. Grill about 6 minutes on each side until grill marks are formed. Remove from heat and let sit 5 minutes, then slice and set aside.

Heat a large skillet on medium heat and warm other tablespoon oil. Saute garlic and onion 2 minutes, then add bell pepper, artichoke hearts and sun dried tomatoes and saute 3-5 minutes. Stir in balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper.

Reheat grill pan or panini grill. Cut ciabatta in half to form a top and bottom, then slice into 5 pieces. Pile mushroom slices, vegetable mixture and a few crumbles of goat cheese on each bottom half, then place top on the sandwich. place sandwiches on grill pan and place a heavy skillet on top (I used my cast iron) and let it cook 4-5 minutes, then flip and let it cook an additional 3-4 minutes. Enjoy!

On the side:

Blackberry Spinach Salad

5 ounces baby spinach leaves
3 ounces fresh blackberries
1/4 cup shelled pistachios
1 ounce crumbled goat cheese
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
3 tablespoons olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine first 4 ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Whisk together vinegar, oil and salt and pepper and drizzle over salad.

Southwestern Mac N Cheese

Well, it was only a matter of time before I made mac and cheese for the blog. This is one of mine (and my roomies') favorite go-to meals because it's delicious comfort food, but I've got a TON of fun variations to pack some nutrients in it to make it not quite so guilty. Tonight's is a southwestern spin on my favorite carb and dairy combo :)

Southwestern Mac N Cheese

Ingredients
1 red onion, diced

4 cloves garlic, minced
3 ears corn, kernels removed
1 red pepper, halved, seeded and diced

1 green pepper, halved, seeded and diced

1 can diced tomatoes and green chiles
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder

Salt and pepper to taste 1 lb. elbow macaroni

2 tablespoons butter

2 tablespoons flour

2 cups 2% milk

1 cup parmesan cheese

2 cups sharp cheddar cheese

2 cups Mexican cheese blend

1/2 cup cilantro, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place a pot of water on high and boil. In the meantime, place onions and garlic in a medium sized skillet and sautee on medium heat about 3 minutes. Add other veggies and seasonings and cook another 5 minutes, set aside. Once water boils, salt the water and add pasta.

While pasta cooks, heat a large saucepan on medium low heat and melt butter. Add flour and whisk together, let cook for about 30 seconds to a minute. Add milk and whisk to remove clumps. Let cook until it thickens, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Next add parmesan cheese and stir; remove from heat and set aside.

Once pasta is done, drain and put in a large bowl. Add parmesan mixture and cooked veggies. Place 1/3 back in pasta pot (which has been greased on the bottom), then layer with 1/3 of the sharp cheddar/Mexican cheese. Continue layering, ending with the cheddar on top. Place in oven and let bake 10-15 minutes. When removed, add chopped cilantro on top.










I served this with a simple avocado salad to get even more delicious greens in, which turned out to be the perfect compliment:

Avocado Salad
1 bag salad mix
1 orange bell pepper, halved, seeded and chopped
2 small avocados, chopped
1 lime, zested and juiced
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup cilantro

Add all to a large bowl and toss to combine.










The happy vegetarian Brooks!