Grate Pepper Pasta

Today I am thankful for water! So so thankful for water. Not even just water, but the best water in the world. (Seriously, it's liquid awesome.) And I can actually say that because I've been to a bunch of different countries. Most of which you can't drink the water. When I lived in China I had to have one of those water coolers, and make the call every time I needed a new one in ridiculously broken chinese. True story. On monday there was a water main break a block away and we didn't have water for half the day. So for running water I am also thankful!

Okay, so I did not miss type the title of this post. I know how to spell great and I know how to spell grate. I'm calling this one Grate Pepper Pasta cause of how its made. Half the stuff you put in the sauce, ya grate it. Badabing badaboom. This turned out so good. It was creamy. It was spicy. It was flavorfull. Umm, yeah, I'll take seconds. Which I didn't, actually, because I wanted to spread out this goodness over a couple days. I'm about to reheat the last of it as soon as I post this. ::sigh:: I guess I'll have to make more soon!

 INGREDIENTS:
whole wheat penne pasta
2 red peppers, roasted, peeled and seeded
3 cloves garlic, grated
2 teas crushed red pepper flakes
1 carrot, grated
1/2 a small onion, grated
2 tbls olive oil
1 tbls basil
2 cups almond milk
1/3 cup grated parmesan
1 handful spinach, chopped

*Prepare the pasta as direct while making the sauce.
*In a food processor or blender, put the peppers, garlic, crushed red pepper flakes, carrot, onion, olive oil, and basil. Blend until smooth.
*Heat a saucepan over medium-high heat. Bring the milk to a simmer adding in the pepper mix and the parmesan cheese. Once its heated through and mixed well throw in the spinach and the cooked pasta.
*Enjoy!

Quinoa Tostadas

Today I am thankful for organization. Now, this thankful moment I'm having is two fold. I'm thankful for having an organized room, things put in their place, everything neat and tidy. When and if that happens-I love it! Its effort but such a weight off when all is said and done. Secondly, I'm thankful for event type things that are organized. When you have a group of people that are doing something, going somewhere, all pitching in on something...when things run smooth that my friends is a blessing. Because so often there are bumps along the way. So here's to being organized, getting organized or aspiring towards organization.

Okay, so for those who have come here a time or two, remember the Quinoa Stuffed Peppers? Well this is using the base of that! We fell head over heals for the filling to those peppers and this is the second go-'round that couldn't come any sooner. This time I went the route of a tostada. I bought some small corn tortillas which I baked in the oven till crispy, saving some calories from going the frying in oil route. The assembly line went as follows: crispy tostada, slathered with refried beans(from a can, I wasn't that ambitious tonight), sprinkled with lettuce, covered in the quinoa mix, and topped with a few slices of avocado. YUM! The crispy tortilla really did the trick. All in all, a great use for this. Four thumbs up from the Reich's.

Spinach Eggplant Lasagna

Today is the first day of November. You know that time of year that men stop shaving? I mean, that time where we are more than ever reminded to be thankful for the blessings in our life. And I'm all for this! We go through life to fast and really need to stop and be thankful. I'm joining in on this because of an old friend and the blog she has with her sister. So, I'll be starting off every post this month with something I am thankful for!

Today...today I am oh so thankful for being able to run! Its a new love of mine and I really am thankful that I can do it. For a good handful of years I wasn't able to and had to stick to biking or using an elliptical to get a good cardio going. But this spring, after trying out a new technique I was able to start running with my knee brace. Working up to my first race! Which was actually a 12 person relay where we ran 196 miles(my portion was 13.5 miles)...Ragnar Relay its pretty epic. Long story short, we are doing another race and I'm now running without my brace!! I am thankful that I can run because its a blast!


This my friends is a wonderfully easy lasagna!! Yes this is straying far away from being vegan, with four kinds of cheese and a couple eggs...I mean come on. But alas a vegetarian delight! As winter is upon us, sometime soon at least, I am constantly looking for affordable meals that will go the distance. Heating bills are going up and my grocery bill needs to go down. This week, combining some of my coupons with a sale or two, and I made this hearty dinner for about $12. All things considered and the fact that it was dinner for myself and a friend last night(2), a late night snack for all last night(2+1=3)left over lunch for Al today(3+1=4), I will dine on it for lunch or dinner today(4+1=5), and that well over half of it is left....that makes this lady pretty happy. Whenever I make lasagna, I never precook the noodles. I have never had issues with doing it this way. Love saving an extra step too, don't we all.

INGREDIENTS:
olive oil
1 eggplant, peeled and cubed
1 16 oz bag frozen spinach
1 24 oz jar of marinara sauce
whole wheat lasagna noodles
2 cups ricotta cheese
3 cups cottage cheese
1 cup & 1/2 cup(for topping) mozzarella cheese
1/4 cup & 1/4 cup(for topping) parmesan cheese
1 teas nutmeg
1 teas black pepper
2 eggs

*Heat oil in large sauce pan. Add eggplant, and cook for about 8 mins, cooking all sides. Add in the spinach and cook until heated and no longer frozen.
*Combine, in a large bowl, ricotta, cottage, mozzarella, parmesan, nutmeg, pepper, and eggs. Reserve some of the mozza and parm for topping the lasagna.
*Pour half the sauce in the bottom of the pan. Place first layer of noodles and then top with half of the spinach mix. Spread half of the cheese mix over it all. Layer noodles and repeat with second half of the spinach and then cheese. Layer your final noodles and then top with the second half of the sauce.
*Cook in a preheated oven, at 375 for 25 mins. Pull out, sprinkle with the remaining mozza and parm. Place back in the oven for 30-35 mins. Remove, let set for at least 10 mins until serving.

Note: the reason I did the cooking the way I did...I didn't have any tin foil. If you wanted, you could fully assemble the lasagna, top with foil and after the 25 remove and cook for the remaining time without removing from oven. I did it the way I did and it worked just fine.

Quinoa Stuffed Peppers

Oh. My. Good food! So I'm not a mom yet, but I know I'm going to be one of those moms who quietly hides veggies in food unannounced to the little mouths that will eat it. That is unless they come out like their mama, aka veggie loving! This is seriously a dish that is jam packed with awesomeness. In my pursuit of all things nummy, I scour the web and the growing stack of cookbooks I have for ideas. This one caught my eye and my taste buds wanted at it! I've made stuffed peppers before, but this one takes the cake. The combination of everything in it seriously wanders close to the line of perfection. I used poblano peppers this time, I might try good old bell peppers next time...its just hard when they're so expensive. Not to mention I got some mighty good sized poblanos this week. On a spicy scale from 1-10 this ranks at a "I noticed there was something there". But we love ourselves some spice here at the Reich household. (So we topped it with a little chopped jalapeno!) We ended up with extra filling, I only had 3 peppers, so I'm freezing it to use for a burrito filling the next time we are in need of an insta-meal. And like I said before, check out all the great super foods packed into these delicious peppers...

INGREDIENTS:

4 or 5 peppers(poblano or bell)
2 tbls olive oil
1 onion, chopped
2 tbls chili powder
1 tbls cumin
1 teas oregano
2 cloves garlic, minced
a generous handful of spinach
1 28 oz can diced tomatoes, drained
1 can black beans, rinsed and drained
3/4 cup uncooked quinoa
1 cup frozen corn
1 large carrot, grated
1 1/2 cups water
1 cup shredded cheese
salt & pepper

*Heat oil in a large pot, over medium-high. Add in the onion and cook for 5 mins. Then add the chili powder, cumin, oregano, and garlic and saute for about a minute.
*Toss in the spinach and tomatoes, cook off some of the extra liquids for 5 mins. Then add in the black beans, quinoa, corn, carrots, and water. Bring to a boil then reduce to a medium to medium-low heat. Simmer for about 20 mins or until the quinoa is cooked.
*Stir in the cheese and s&p.
*Take your peppers and cut them in half from top to bottom. Strip out the seeds and ribs. Stuff with the hot quinoa mix. Place in a baking dish with tinfoil tented over the top. Put in a 375 degree oven for 30-35 mins.
*Remove tinfoil and top with a little bit of extra cheese, place back in the oven for another 5 mins. Serve and enjoy to your little hearts content!

Veggie Filled Pita & Fries

Dinners on Friday nights usually happen a little earlier and are gobbled up pretty quick. Cause its football season, and that means we are on the field. Well I'm down on the field snapping photos and Al is up in the box taping the game. We're such nerds...its true. That's a whole 'nother point though. This is all about the veggie filled pita! And fries! Tonights dish highlighted the loveliness that is: avocado. Finding vegan condiments and "cheeses" that aren't crazy imitations of regular condiments or...cheese is my ultimate goal. And yes there are ones out there. But I'm all about using stuff that satisfies, like avocados. They are buttery in consistency and mighty tasty if you ask me. Carrots were another highlight of the sandwich, I used peelings to offer a different texture, and loved it. The fries are another staple in the house. Normally they are sweet potato fries, but that would have been a bit much considering they were consumed multiple other times this week.

There's no real recipe to the wrap, I just used a whole wheat pita and the following veggies filled it: spinach, carrots, red peppers, onions, and avocado. Badda bing! Badda bomb! Done! And the fries are simply cut, dressed in olive oil, salt, pepper, and paprika and put in a 400 degree oven for a bout 45-50 minutes, until crispy. The trick is to put them on a cooling rack on the cookie sheet. That way they are off the sheet and all sides can crisp up, no flipping necessary!

Asparagus Stir-Fry

Day 1! Pretty sure I wont be counting everyday off like this, but the first day is kind of exciting, I gotta admit. Most of these posts will be dinner meals, with the occasional snack and dessert mixed in. Well, I guess I take it back, I put no parameters or limitations on this food blog. But for today, it was dinner. And it was smashing!!! I adore asian style food and this fit in the category of stir-fry for sure. I got the inspiration from here, and made a few minor changes based on what I had in my kitchen. Not to mention bumping up the recipe so that it would suffice for the needs of our family....aka dinner for myself and Al with leftovers for Al's lunch the next day, at least. I made some basic brown rice to go along with this dish. I am honestly considering it as one of my top five meals that ever cooked. It had so many levels of flavor and great textures. Al was also a fan. There was only enough left overs for one, and I am graciously giving it to him for his lunch...he should honestly give me a really good foot rub or do the dishes for that kind of treatment. This was a wicked awesome meal, will for sure make again.

INGREDIENTS:

3(or so) tbls sesame oil

1 14oz pack of extra firm tofu, cut into pieces

2 shallots, chopped

1 inch of ginger, finely chopped

1 teas crushed red pepper

1 bunch of asparagus, cut into 1 inch pieces

pinch of salt

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 cup toasted cashews

2 cups spinach

zest and juice from a lime

3 tbls hoisin sauce

mint

basil

*Heat the oil in a skillet or wok over med-high. When oil is hot drop in the tofu and cook until golden brown on both sides. Remove tofu and set aside. 

*Add some more oil into the pan and once its hot add shallots, ginger, red pepper, asparagus, and salt. Cook for 2 minutes and then add the garlic, cashews and spinach. Once the spinach wilts, add the tofu back in. Then zest the lime and add its juice. After that stir in the hoisin sauce and let it all come together for a couple minutes.

*Take off the heat and add in the mint and basil to your liking. Stir & serve.