Olive and Sundried Tomato Tapenade

Taken from Love and Olive Oil.

Calories: 1200 (hard to estimate +-200)

Ingredients

• 2 cups pitted olives (mix of Nicoise, Picoline, black, etc)
• 1/4 C sundried tomatoes
• 1 T capers
• 1 clove garlic
• 1 anchovy fillet (or 1/2 T anchovy paste)
• 1/4 C olive oil
• 1/2 T fresh basil
• 1/2 t thyme, dried
• 1/2 t parsley, dried
• 1/4 t oregano, dried

Preparation

1. Pulse everything in a food processor until reasonably smooth, or reasonably not smooth, whatever you like, adding oil as you go (start dry).  Refrigerate and enjoy over the course of a week, or an hour.

Bean salad

Calorie Estimate: 600

Ingredients

• 2 cups of mixed beans
• 1/4 large red onion, diced
• 1 cup grape tomatoes
• 8 basil leaves, shredded
• 1 t olive oil
• a few T of raspberry vinegar
• salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Make a salad.

Vegetable Samosa Filling

Buy some puff pastry, wrap this as a filling, deep fry or bake with an egg wash, and you’ve got samosas.  One can imagine making the wrapping from scratch, but that proved to be beyond me, despite trying.  I’ll say nothing about the shame of using prepackaged “curry powder”.

Calorie Estimate: 650

Ingredients

• 1 baking potato, peeled and 1/2 cm dice
• 1 onion, 1/2 cm dice
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1.75 C frozen peas and carrot mix
• 1 T olive/vegetable oil
• 2 T off-the-shelf curry powder
• 1/2 C vegetable broth
• salt to taste (1/4-1/3 t kosher)
• adjust with cumin (1-2 t) and coriander (1/2-1 t)
• 1/2 t ground hot pepper of your choosing

Preparation

1. Prep the vegetables.  In a nonstick pan/pot with a lid, cook the onions and garlic over medium-high heat until they brown a little and soften.
2. Add in the peas, carrots, and potatoes.  Pour in the broth, add the curry powder, and simmer covered for 30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Depending on your curry expertise (or lack thereof), you’ll need to adjust the seasoning during the cooking.  After about 15 minutes, my old Trader Joes curry mix needed some help, so I added salt, cumin, coriander, and ground hot pepper to perk it up.

Bean and Feta salad

Calorie Estimate: 800

Ingredients

• 1 can mixed beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 1/4 cup crumbled feta
• 1 bunch green onions, sliced
• juice of half a lemon
• lots of black pepper to taste

Preparation

1. Mix everything together and enjoy.  Season as you like.  I’m sure I’ll get better at this as it goes.

Red Cabbage and Lemon Juice

This was Jeney’s idea, and I like it quite a bit, although it’s not something everyone will get excited about.

Ribbon some red cabbage, squeeze lemon juice on it, let it sit a bit, and enjoy.  The correct ratio is about the juice of one whole lemon per half-head of cabbage.

The taste is clean and, for me, far better than a reasonable person would expect.

Radish Chips

Food shopping while blind with hunger is never a great idea.  For dinner tonight, I came home with a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken, a loaf of crusty bread, and radishes?!  When did I last eat a radish? Never.  Anyway, having already eaten my portion of bread and chicken, tamping down the fury, what to do with the radishes?

The internet turns up an idea from caloriecount.about.com, of all places. Tweaked slightly to my taste:

Calorie Estimate: 120

Ingredients

14	radishes
1 1	tsp cayenne t olive oil
1/2	tsp garlic salt
1/2	tsp paprika

Directions

1. Thinly slice radishes
2. Steam in microwave for 5 minutes
3. Put in bowl with spices and oil; stir
4. Spread on foil on a baking sheet.  Rub a few drops of oil on the foil to help prevent sticking.  Spread the radish rounds evenly across the sheet, so none are touching. Bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes, flip the chips, and bake for another 10 minutes, or until crispy.

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Needs no introduction.

Calories (w/o marshmallows or pecans): 2900

Ingredients

• 3 lb orange sweet potatoes
• 1 stick butter
• 1 C real maple syrup
• 1 T lemon juice
• 3/4 t salt
• 1/3 t black pepper

Preparation

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Peel and section the potatoes into wedges.  Lay the wedges into a 9×13 baking dish.  Everything should fit in one layer, more or less.
3. Melt butter in a pot.  Pour in syrup, lemon juice, and seasonings.  Stir to mix pretty well and pour the mix over the potatoes.
4. Bake covered for 20 minutes or so.
5. Uncover, stir around, and bake for 45-60 more minutes, stirring a bit every 15 or so.  Take out when the potatoes are done to your taste and the glaze has thickened.
6. If you want to go classic, put marshmallows and crushed pecans on top during the last 10-15 minutes or upon reheating.

Mashed Butternut Squash

I’ve recently discovered winter squash, and I figured this would make for a nice twist on steak and potatoes.  This time of year, the squash are great-sweet and flavorful.  This simple recipe is a keeper.

Calories estimate:  100 per cup of mashed squash

Ingredients

• butternut squash (you get about 3 cups per pound, so buy accordingly)
• butter (1/4 T per cup or so)
• salt to taste
• (a little maple syrup, depending on how sweet the squash is and the dish it’s going with)

Preparation

1. Split the squash in half and scoop out the seeds.  Roast skin-side down in a wide pan with 1/4 inch of water in a 400^o oven for 1 hour or until tender.
2. Drain the water and let the squash cool until you can handle it.  Scoop out the cooked squash, leaving the skin behind.  Mash the squash with butter and seasonings.  Adjust to suit your tastes.