Week 31 in Review

The Score
Eaters - 9     Compost - 1     Carry Over - 1

Our mix-it-up week went really well.  We had some delicious meals, and I had a lot of fun in the kitchen!  The idea of using others recipes as guides really resonated, but allowed for some fun playing around that ended up quite well.  Ingredient proportions are all the more important with baking, but even the bread turned out great.  For the past week, I've been back on an elimination diet for health reasons - meaning that I didn't eat everything that I made - but I was sure to get feedback on the items that I wasn't eating myself.

The Best

• I know I'm probably a bit biased here, because this was one of the few items that I could eat this week... but my pumpkin curry soup (based on a combination of this and this) was so delicious that I ran out, bought another pumpkin, and made a second batch!

 

Pumpkin Curry Soup

• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme
• 1 pumpkin (small sugar), cut in half and seeds removed
• 2 tablespoons olive oil, plus additional for pumpkin
• 3 cups low sodium chicken broth
• 1.5 teaspoons curry powder
• 1 can light coconut milk
• salt and pepper

• Heat oven to 375
• Coat pumpkin flesh with olive oil or olive oil spray and roast, skin down, in oven for one hour until soft throughout.  Remove from oven.
• Sautee onion in olive oil for 5-7 minutes, until translucent.  Add garlic and thyme and cook for one additional minute.  Remove from heat.
• Scoop out flesh of pumpkin and put into a soup pan.  Add in onion mixture, chicken broth, and curry powder.  Heat over medium until it reaches a boil, then simmer on low for 15-20 minutes.  
• Take soup off heat, and add coconut milk.  
• Puree in blender, or with immersion blender.  Add salt and pepper to taste.
• Garnish with fresh basil and/or crushed cashews. 

The Good

This zucchini banana bread (based on this and this) finally hit all the right notes - sweet but not using bananas in addition to sugar, moist thanks to yogurt not oil - and was a big hit at home and at a school bake sale!

 Zucchini banana bread (this loaf with walnuts only)

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 3 cups zucchini, yellow or green, shredded
• 2 bananas, very ripe and mashed
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

• Heat oven to 325.  Grease and flour two 9x5 bread pans.
• Beat eggs until light and fluffy.  Beat in oil, brown sugar, sugar and vanilla.  Fold in zucchini, bananas and yogurt until well mixed.
• In a separate bowl, mix together all dry ingredients. 
• Carefully fold the wet ingredients into the dry, until the batter looks just combined.
• If desired, fold in chocolate chips and walnuts (you can use one full cup of one if you don't want both, or nothing at all).
• Pour into two bread pans.  Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 50-60 minutes.  Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool on wire rack.

I wasn't able to eat it, but the frittata (based on this and this) went over very well with my family and was quite nice to look at!

Frittata with Bacon, Potatoes and Swiss Chard

• 5 slices bacon
• 1 bunch Swiss chard, stems removed and chopped
• 3-4 small potatoes, blue or red - cut into chunks and boiled until soft
• 1 clove of garlic
• 6 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup ricotta
• 1/4 cup parmesan cheese
• red pepper flakes, if desired
• salt and pepper

• Heat oven to 400
• Cook bacon slices in oven proof fry pan until crispy, remove from heat and cool
• Leaving 1 tablespoon of bacon fat in pan, saute Swiss chard until wilted.  Add in garlic and potatoes, and cook for two more minutes while chopping up the bacon into small bits.  Add bacon bits back into pan.
• Whisk ricotta into beaten eggs, then pour over mixture in pan.  
• Cook in oven for 8 minutes.  Egg should be mostly done at this point.
• Switch oven to broiler
• Add parmesan and red pepper flakes (if desired), then put under broiler for one to two minutes until cheese has melted.  Salt and pepper to taste. 

The zucchini banana bread (based on this and this) was another thing that I couldn't eat this week, but it was a big hit at home and at a school bake sale!

 Zucchini banana bread (this loaf with walnuts only)

• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup canola oil
• 2/3 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cups zucchini, yellow or green, shredded
• 2 bananas, very ripe and mashed
• 1/2 cup plain yogurt
• 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1.5 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (optional)
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

• Heat oven to 325.  Grease and flour two 9x5 bread pans.
• Beat eggs until light and fluffy.  Beat in oil, brown sugar, sugar and vanilla.  Fold in zucchini, bananas and yogurt until well mixed.
• In a separate bowl, mix together all dry ingredients. 
• Carefully fold the wet ingredients into the dry, until the batter looks just combined.
• If desired, fold in chocolate chips and walnuts (you can use one full cup of one if you don't want both, or nothing at all).
• Pour into two bread pans.  Bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean, 50-60 minutes.  Cool in the pan for 5 minutes, then remove from pan and let cool on wire rack.

I did eat a lot of this vegetarian lentil soup (based on this and this), which helped me get into the spirit of autumn.

Vegetarian lentil soup

• 1/2 pound lentils, placed in a large bowl and soaked in boiling water for 15 minutes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 large onions, chopped
• 2 leeks, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 4 stalks celery, diced
• 3 large carrots, diced 
• 1 bunch of spinach (4-6 cups), finely chopped
• 1 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground cumin
• 6 cups low sodium vegetable stock
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or lemon juice
• Parmesan cheese (optional)

• In a large soup pot, heat olive oil.  Saute onions and leeks for 15 minutes, then add garlic, celery, carrots, and thyme and cook 10 more minutes. Add spinach and saute until wilted.
• Add lentils, salt, pepper, cumin, and vegetable stock.  Bring to a boil over medium heat, then lower heat and simmer for one hour.
• Add vinegar/lemon juice and check salt and pepper.
• Serve with a drizzle of olive oil and/or a sprinkle of parmesan cheese.

The pesto pasta with green beans dinner didn't end up requiring a look at a recipe after all.  Our pesto was based on this (minus the walnuts), though I tend to wing it these days when assembling pesto.  The green beans were steamed, then I added some smoked chicken and parmesan cheese.  The boys ate it twice this week.

Also thrown together without much ado was a chicken salad, eaten by my husband on a baguette, but by me salad-style with spinach and avocados.  I made a simple mustard vinaigrette (olive oil, red wine vinegar, dijon mustard, fresh tarragon) and combined it with chopped cooked chicken, minced shallots and slivered almonds.