An Autumn Meal – Part 1

I know, it’s been a long time since I have posted on “The Dweeb” (that’s what all the cool people are calling it), but it’s been for good reason. Reasons I can’t get into right now, but I will soon. Well, by the end of the year, at least. So, anyway…

I noticed that I’ve been making up a lot of my recipes, so I decided to look in one of the millions (slight exaggeration) of cookbooks I own to make a new and delicious meal. This week I looked to my Orange County Bounty cookbook, which was gifted to me from my friend Marian.

Yes, I am one of those “tabbers”!

I like this cookbook because the recipes are organized by season and the recipes revolve around the fresh local produce of that season. In the Fall section, and I found this great recipe for Stuffed Swiss Chard.

Redactions for copyright reasons!

I have most of the ingredients already, yet it’s something different from my usual fare. I made a special effort to leave the recipe as it is and not change it around too-too much. Changes: from rice to quinoa – it’s always good to add a healthy protein and I only made enough for one serving (4 leaves for me!).

Here are the ingredients:

I only mise en place for the camera (stuntin’)…Walnuts, celery, onion, cottage cheese, feta cheese, quinoa and an egg to act as a binder.

So I mixed it all up used it as stuffing in my rolled Swiss chard leaves…

Season every layer!

After you roll the leaves you fill your baking dish halfway, with water. I decided to add some 21 Seasoning Salute to the water. If I had broth on hand, I’d probably use that for even more flavor.

I decided that I needed a side…and it had to fit in with the fall theme…AND it had to use my new crinkle cutting tool. So butternut squash it is! I was inspired by Instagram to make the squash fries…

Yay! Crinkle cutting tool! I saved the bulb-y part for soup…

I tossed the fries in a baggie with some olive oil, pink Himalayan salt and garlic powder…

Fry prep!

I put both in the convection oven (it’s still too warm to use the regular oven!) at the same time, but the squash fries took slightly longer (and they would not have if they were in one, single layer)…

These colors make me happy!

After about 35 minutes the chard was done and 45 minutes, the fries were done…

Healthy and delicious! Yay!

This is such a colorful meal! It makes me so happy just looking at it, and I’m ecstatic tasting it (that’s why I’m a dweeb)!

I am enjoying this meal with an awesome seasonal beer from Harpoon Brewery (Boston, MA).

Yum!

I actually haven’t had beer in a few months (since a wedding) so this was really good and refreshing.

So, make this! It’s easy! Oh…what? Dessert you say? Well, okay then…

How could I make a fall meal, this beautiful, without dessert? I couldn’t!

Since October is National Apple Month: Hasselback Apples!

People are hasselbacking everything these days, so I thought “why not apples?” I thought I was being innovative until I looked it up on Pinterest. Yeah, other people have thought of this as well! So, here’s my take on it…

Preppin’ like crazy today!

It is a pretty standard “crumble” recipe, on top of a half sliced apple. I used Cinnamon Oat Kodiak Cakes mix instead of regular flour and/or oats. That adds protein and lots of flavor. I used coconut oil instead of butter to form the crumble, just because I bought a new jar.

Golden Delicious apples are my favorite, so I used them of course!

Pour on the cinnamon blend (try to get in between the cuts, I actually let it cook for about 15 minutes and then when back in to put more of the mix inside the cuts) and cook for about 30-40 minutes. I covered my pan with another pan of the same size and added cinnamon water to the bottom of the pan so it would steam them a bit…

NOM!

I topped it with some amazing Halo Top just for some extra autumn-ness!

Oatmeal Cookie, for more cinnamon and oatness!

So, now, enjoy! Make a day of this deliciousness!

I’ll be back next week with a fall recipe from another cookbook (that had been wasting away on the shelf!)…

Broccoli Frittata (Frittatleson!)…

This is coming to you a little late. I actually prepared this frittata last Sunday (9/3) and ate it with the zoodles on Tuesday (9/5). Things are a little cray, but, a great kinda cray!

Anyway! This is a very easy recipe, great for meal prepping.

I made one small frittata – I only used two eggs…

To the eggs, I added:

• 2 tablespoons of chickpea flour
• 1 tablespoon sour cream
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese 
• The smidgiest-smidge of baking powder (I have a fear of flat frittatas!)

Yes! I did give up cheeses, mainly of the soft variety, because I think I was overdoing it in the “cheese is low carb” department. It is low carb, but it’s not the best choice to make if you are looking for something salty/fatty/healthy. Cheese is salty and fatty and can curb hunger, however, not so healthy. I’ve decided that I should go for avocados, nuts and olives to satisfy that fatty need. BUT, I use parmesan as more of a seasoning. I don’t feel the need to eat a cup of parmesan in one sitting – like I have to stop myself from doing with a block of mild cheddar…Speaking of seasonings…

The “Spice Trinity”…

I add several shakes of each to my egg mixture. Plus, I had some leftover broccoli, which I added as well…

I, most definitely, sprayed my 3-cup Pyrex dish with Trader Joe’s Coconut Oil Spray…

No sticking!

I popped it in the convection oven for about 20 minutes at 375 degrees.

It comes out like this…

Yummy! I cut it into triangles to serve, on a bed of zoodles…

So easy, so delicious! The chickpea flour makes it almost into an egg pancake. It’s not quite as flat as one though, and it’s not as airy as a quiche. It’s so good! I had the other two wedges the next day, so this dish keeps nicely for meal prep (I also had it with zoodles – it was a zoodly week…)…

Enjoy!

OH! Frittatleson! – That’s a family joke. When we don’t remember someone’s last name we’ll say its Frittatleson. If we don’t know their name at all, they become Abe Frittatleson. We are all dweebs!

 

Burmese Tofu!

I don’t really remember how I got obsessed with making Burmese tofu. I think I was reading about how terrible soy is for women (especially if you have hormonal dysfunctions like I, and so many women, do), and I was looking around for a substitute (probably, sounds like me). I do remember this was several months ago. I have been wanting to make this recipe for a while now. I had the bag of chickpea flour, just waiting in the wings. When I started making mug cakes and waffles with the flour I knew I had to use it for what I originally bought it for (because I would end up making 101 chickpea mug cakes and no tofu). So, here’s how I started…

First time using pano on my phone and it’s for food!

The ingredients:

• 1 Cup of Chickpea (Garbanzo Bean) Flour
• 3 Cups of water
• Several shakes of turmeric
• Two shakes of crushed red pepper
• As much garlic as you can stand in your cooking (I can stand a lot!)
• About four grinds of Himalayan Pink Salt
• A few grinds of black pepper

As you can see, I’m really precise (heh). The most important thing is the flour and the water – you can season this however you like. Some people use broth or stock in place of water and, hey, if I had some I’d probably use that too. So, you boil two cups of the water and, in the meantime and in a separate bowl:

• Blend the flour, and the spices, with the remaining cup of water.

Once the two cups of water have reached a rolling boil, add the flour/spice/water mixture. It’ll look like this:

Glossy…

So, you have to whisk-whisk-whisk away to get rid of any lumps and until the mixture looks glossy (like it goes in the picture). You are now ready to pour the mixture into your prepared pan. To get your pan ready, line it with parchment paper. I used an 8×8 Pyrex pan.

Smooth it better than I did! I should’ve used a bigger pan…

Smooth it out in your pan, using a spoon or a spatula.

Then, once it’s spread out in the pan, let it sit until it gets room temperature (so condensation doesn’t form when you put it in the fridge). Which brings us to the next step: put it in the fridge! I let it sit out for about an hour and put it in the fridge for about three hours and I got this:

After it firms up in the fridge, you can cut up your tofu in any shape you want for your dishes. I cut mine two ways – in triangles and small rhombuses (yup, I said “rhombuses” – wait, is it “rhombuses” or “rhombi”?).

Rhombuses (rhombi), for stir-fry…

Here I am frying the triangles in some olive oil:

Try not to use too much oil – these are like little sponges…

They are SUPER YUMMY! Take a look at this:

Golden brown and delicious!

Crisp on the outside, a little soft on the inside. Seasoned perfectly (if I do say so myself)!

So, I made some meals with it:

I will most definitely share my stir-fry on Instagram!

So this was an easy, delicious recipe. A success! I can add this one to my repertoire, change it up a bit, make different sides. A great soy substitute!

Enjoy!