Are you trying to get your family to eat more dark leafy greens? Learn how to cook them in a way they can’t resist. Combine collards or kale with a whole grain of your choice and something savory like sausage for an easy one pot meal. That’s how to eat more vegetables when you don’t like them.
I made more bulgur than needed for tabbouleh the other day, so it was a no-brainer to add the leftovers to this dish. Try quinoa or barley for a gluten-free alternative.
I enjoy dark leafy greens braised, so I started by sautéing chopped onion and garlic with olive oil in a big pot before adding the andouille sausage. Add some chicken broth and the chopped kale. Season, cover and simmer until stems are tender. Add precooked bulgur just before serving to heat through.
The seasonings you choose depend on the style of protein you’re using. Because I was using andouille, a spicy smoked sausage, I chose herbs and spices that I thought would complement it:
Herbs de Provence
smoked paprika
turmeric
cayenne
Once the greens were nearly done, I added some chopped red bell pepper for color and sweetness. Hey, tomato might have been good too. Are you vegan? Try using Kalamata olives instead of sausage for something salty and enticing. How else could you adapt this to your family’s taste? Which other greens might you use?
Ingredients:
chopped onion
minced garlic
olive oil
kale
chicken broth
andouille sausage
red bell pepper
bulgur
herbs and spices listed above
Cooking really can be this simple. I often intentionally prepare more of a whole grain than needed for a particular meal because it saves me time later in the week if I want something quick and nutritious to bulk up a salad or another veggie dish such as this. How do you save time on meal prep?
A simple meal of asparagus and farro comes together in less than 30 minutes.
Spring is here and asparagus is on sale. What will you do with it? Combine it with farro and shrimp for a quick and easy meal tonight that will put a spring in your step. It’s easy!
What is farro? An ancient grain of the wheat variety that we discovered in Italy. I fell in love with its toothsome texture and nutty flavor. If you’re gluten free, feel free to substitute with another whole grain such as barley. Whole grain pantry staples are a great way to add more fiber to your diet as well as stretch your food budget.
Boiling the shrimp shells to make stock provides a great base for cooking the farro. Simmer farro in stock along with minced garlic and dried mint for about 20 minutes until tender. At that point, add the chopped asparagus, red bell pepper and shrimp seasoned with salt, garlic powder, chopped parsley stems (because that’s what I had left), a little juice from a Clementine and olive oil. Cover and cook a few more minutes until shrimp has turned pink and asparagus is crisp tender. Top with feta cheese and delight in these refreshing vegetal flavors.
Ingredients:
asparagus
farro
shrimp
red bell pepper
shrimp stock
mint
parsley
juice of Clementine
garlic
olive oil
salt
feta cheese
Is this a recipe? You could adapt it to whatever ingredients you have on hand. Here’s how I go about creating a simple one pot meal such as this one: Start with an anchor ingredient. In this case, the asparagus. Decide on the direction you want the flavor profile to go. I decided on fresh herbs and citrus. What grain and protein would complement them? What else did I have that might add a pop of color and sweetness? Red bell pepper. Anything else that might contribute a little zing? I had some feta, so I crumbled that on top.
This is what I call intuitive cooking, my friends. One doesn’t always require a pre-planned menu and recipes to cook delicious, healthy meals at home. Cooking is more fun when give yourself the freedom to invent it as you go, don’t you agree?
Here’s what you do when nothing is going right: improvise!
Sometimes a new combination of ingredients is born from a comedy of errors. Last time I ordered groceries online, they were out of corn tortillas. I had requested green enchilada sauce, but ended up receiving red instead. So I considered making my own flour tortillas because I didn’t have any corn flour…but then I decided to simplify by improvising with another corn product. Why not use grits? Cheesy polenta would do nicely with some chicken and enchilada sauce.
I love making grits in the slow cooker. I start by boiling 4 parts chicken broth and whisking in one part corn grits in a saucepan. After cooking for a minute or two, I put that into the slow cooker on high for about an hour and 20 minutes. I whisk the mixture once or twice while cooking, but otherwise it doesn’t require any attention.
Well, on this occasion I had inadvertently used far too much liquid for the amount of grits. When I went to stir the grits after about 40 minutes, I realized my absent minded mistake. Oops! It happens, folks. Don’t panic. No need to start over. I just dumped it back into a saucepan and added more grits. It simply meant I needed to continue to whisk it on the stovetop for another 30 minutes before adding some grated cheese. No big deal. That being said, I ended up with a lot more grits than I had originally intended, so guess what we had for lunch the next day?
Leftovers are made for casseroles! Starting with a layer of polenta in a greased baking dish, I topped with chicken and sauce, followed by another layer of polenta. More sauce and cheese finished it off and then I put it in the oven for 30 minutes.
Of course there are numerous ways to reinvent leftover grits. Read No Waste Begets Big Taste for another idea.
A well-stocked pantry and freezer are essential to creating simple meals anytime.
Looking into my refrigerator, I realized I needed to use up some okra. I had some leftover cooked rice and roasted chicken and decided to make jambalaya. Is okra required for this? No, and even without it, I will generally always have the necessary ingredients on hand: onions, celery, bell pepper, rice; and chicken, shrimp, sausage…or a combination of all 3. Yup, shrimp and andouille usually live in my freezer and you will often find leftover roast chicken in my refrigerator or freezer and it’s fantastic for simple meals like this one.
No sooner had I uttered the word “jambalaya”, Michael insisted that it begin with a roux…I had envisioned a more Creole style jambalaya with tomatoes, but what can I say to this adorable guy who had his heart set on a roux base…See how much variety there is with food? I believe there is rarely, if ever, only one way to do something. The possibilities are endless.
If you’re starting with uncooked rice, add it to the pot once you have the other ingredients in there and enough water to cook the rice. Cover and simmer until done.
My Method
So, for the roux, I whisked together over high heat about a tablespoon of grapeseed oil and a tablespoon of flour until dark brown. This only takes a couple of minutes. For more on cooking a fast roux, please read Gumbo Ya Ya.
Chopped onions, bell pepper, celery and okra then go into the pot to keep the roux from burning. I poured a little beef stock in after cooking the vegetables for a few minutes. I had defrosted what I thought was chicken stock, but without labeling it, I wasn’t sure until heating it up. Doesn’t really matter. Flavorful liquid to get a sauce going is all you need to know. Again, if you’re cooking rice from scratch, you need more liquid. Meanwhile I was boiling the shrimp shells and used the resulting shrimp stock to finish the dish.
Sausage and garlic go into the pot next along with some spices. I chose:
paprika
French thyme
red chili flakes
smoked paprika
oregano
basil
I would normally put cayenne into this, but I was out of it, so substituted with the chili flakes. Black pepper and some hot sauce can round out the heat factor.
Once the vegetables are tender, I added the cooked rice and chicken to heat through. Shrimp and stock go in at the end because shrimp only need a couple minutes covered over low heat to cook. They’re done when they turn pink.
What About Leftovers?
Reinvent them for lunch the next day, of course. Eat all the shrimp the first day because you don’t want them to turn rubbery by reheating. To round out the remainder, I added some canned tomatoes and canned clams with their liquor. Heat just long enough to heat through. Served with corn, no one thought of this lunch as leftovers. It was just as delicious as if it was the original meal made from scratch.
Have you embraced your leftovers yet? They’re an awesome time saver. Think of them as a foundation upon which you can build with whatever you have on hand that appeals to you. Work smarter, not harder! Have some fun making simple meals everyone will enjoy.
I can help you sneak more veggies into your meals to get your family to enjoy eating more of them even if they don’t like them.
Wishing your family would eat more veggies? Here’s how to eat more vegetables when you don’t like them: Season them well and start subtly sneaking more of them into your daily meals. Small changes repeated over time can have a huge impact.
I talk a lot about hard squash because besides being nutritious, it lasts a long time in the refrigerator. Along with cabbage and root vegetables, it’s a superhero.
Let’s take one: butternut squash. What do you do with it? The simplest way to begin is to peel it, cut it up into bite sized pieces and roast it in the oven on a cookie sheet. You can season it up with some warming spices and serve it in a soup or as a side dish. One butternut squash offers a lot of flesh, so I can usually use it in a few meals if I desire. So often, I leave most of it plain when roasting (aside from salt and maybe some garlic powder) and sneak it into a main dish.
Brown Rice With Squash, Bacon and Onion
Here’s one example. We don’t eat bacon often and when we do, it’s generally a little at a time. Kept in the freezer, it’s easy to cut off an inch or two to put into a dish like this. I watched Ina Garten make risotto with butternut squash once and I enjoy that simple, comforting meal. We don’t always have arborio rice around the house, though, so I substitute it with a more nutrient dense and fiber rich brown rice. I always have that in my pantry. Below are the ingredients.
chopped bacon
onions
cooked brown rice
roasted butternut squash
French thyme
parmesan cheese
Brown the bacon in a pot and then add the onions and seasonings of your choice before adding rice and chicken stock or other liquid. Or if you have rice that has already been cooked, add it to the pot and heat through. Add cooked butternut squash and sprinkle with parmesan cheese.
Macaroni and Cheese: A Sneakier Idea
If you think your family will balk at the chunks of squash pictured above, then try another approach. Do they like macaroni and cheese? Guess what! If they are used to yellow cheddar, you can puree the squash and sneak it into your mac and cheese. No joke. It’s delicious.
While boiling half a box of macaroni, I started the sauce in a skillet. I didn’t even have any milk on hand, so after cooking some chopped onions in a little butter, I added some oat milk and thickened with a little flour. Seasoned with salt, cayenne and French thyme. Mixed in about 3 cups of pureed squash and then a couple ounces of grated cheddar. I put that into a greased casserole dish and topped with a couple ounces more of cheddar before baking.
Compared to the amount of squash, I really used very little cheese here. But it was delicious, and no one missed it. I might even think of pureeing some white beans to add to the mix for some fiber. Yes, that works great in cream sauces! (Just don’t tell anyone what’s in it until after they try it.) Experiment with the proportions and seasonings and let me know what you think.
Family style sushi is the quintessential simple meal.
Being raised by a Japanese father, I have often been asked to prepare sushi rolls for parties of friends. Um, although I did it a couple of times, I must say it is not a thing that I particularly enjoy doing and I am not an expert at it. Easier to buy premade from someone who knows what they are doing. There are people who enjoy fussing with beautiful bite sized packages of food and although I appreciate the meticulous person who has labored over it for others’ enjoyment, I am not that person.
This does not mean that I can’t have a sushi party though…and so can you! I follow the lead of my Aunt Akiko who serves it “family style”. Trust me on this. It’s not only easier on the host, but it’s more fun for guests too. Add this to your repertoire of simple meals.
Aunt Akiko’s table is set for a family of 7
What You Need:
sheets of nori (seaweed): Label might read “Temaki” for “hand roll”
white rice
rice vinegar
sugar
salt
assorted cuts of sashimi (raw fish)
soy sauce
wasabi (horseradish paste)
any vegetables desired (such as shiso leaf, daikon sprouts, cucumber)
pickled ginger (“sushi shoga” for cleansing the palate)
Preparing the Rice:
This is the only work involved here. While cooking the rice according the directions on the package, prepare the seasoning by heating the 3 ingredients listed below just enough for the salt and sugar to dissolve. I always look up the proportions to make sure I get it right because if you have ever had sushi rice that had too much of one ingredient, you know that you don’t want to repeat that experience. Here’s what Alton Brown suggests on the Food Network and I think it’s a good rule of thumb:
For 2 cups of Uncooked Rice:
2 Tablespoons rice vinegar
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 Tablespoon kosher salt
Once the rice has finished cooking, put it into a non-metal bowl because you don’t want it to retain heat. Pour the seasoning over it and gently combine using a flat sided wooden utensil. If you have an assistant to fan the rice while you do this, it’s very helpful to cool it down, especially if you are preparing a large quantity of rice.
To Serve:
Now all you have to do is put the fish on a serving plate. On a big platter is appropriate for a large number of people, but if you’re just serving a couple of people, individual portions are fine too.
Shown here: yellowtail, King salmon, Ahi tuna, Splendid alfonsino, spicy tuna and salmon roe.
Everyone Creates Their Own:
Cut or tear the sheets of seaweed into quarters or halves so that you have squares or rectangles.
Everyone dips their unique creations into their own individual dish of wasabi and soy sauce. The only question is whether to serve beer or sake or green tea. Are you ready to entertain with this idea or another simple meal?
If you’re not a fan of sushi yet, try starting with a seared ahi as they commonly serve in restaurants. Learn how to make it by reading Ahi Tataki next.
The other day a friend asked me what to do with lentils. A more relevant question is, I think, what can’t you do with lentils? They are very versatile as well as a nutritious and delicious addition to your pantry. Lentils are inexpensive and don’t require soaking or long cooking like beans and work well with all kinds of herbs and spices. Do you like Mediterranean flavors? Indian? Middle Eastern? Then lentils are for you! Cooking lentils is so easy.
One of my favorite simple meals is mujadara: lentils and rice with olive oil, onions and salt. Yup. That’s it, folks! Just 5 humble ingredients will take you to lentil paradise. I ate this 3 times a week when I was single and I still love it.
Mujadara with baked sweet potato slices
The most important thing to know is that having the patience to cook the onions long enough will make all the difference in the flavor. Skimp on that and the dish will just be so-so. In this case, I had some leftover brown rice in the refrigerator that had been cooked with turmeric. Once the lentils were ready, I sautéed some garlic in a skillet and reheated the rice. Then stirred the cooked lentils in.
Cooking Lentils
To begin, I chose a huge onion and cut one half into slices and the other half I chopped up into smaller pieces. I started cooking the chopped onions in a saucepan with olive oil and the sliced onions in a skillet with olive oil. Beginning with high heat, I stir continually until they start to get a little golden and then reduce heat to the lowest setting to cook low and slow until they are brown because that’s when they impart the desired depth of flavor.
I cooked the chopped onions about 40 minutes before adding 4 cups of water and 2 cups of sorted and rinsed lentils. Let that boil, then reduce heat to simmer for about 20 minutes until done. Once tender, scoop out the desired amount of lentils with a slotted spoon and mix with cooked rice.
Cooked lentils
I let the sliced onions cook for about 50 minutes in a skillet to get nicely caramelized as a topping for this dish. Is it absolutely necessary to do a topping of onions in addition to what’s in the cooked lentils? No, but I consider it minimal effort yielding maximum flavor and textural benefit. Michael agrees. He thinks of it like fried onion rings.
Caramelized onions
Variations
If you were using white rice, you could even cook it together with the lentils in one pot. What kind of spices could you add? Sometimes I make this with a combination of red pepper flakes, cardamom, cloves, turmeric, cinnamon, ginger and coriander. Choose one or two of those and experiment to see what turns you on. Allspice is great too. Salt to taste, of course.
As I often do, I prepare the first meal with limited ingredients because it gives me more versatility in using leftovers. In this case, I made a fast and fabulous soup the next day by adding chicken stock to the lentils along with some chopped spinach, garlic and lemon juice.
Lentil soup with spinach and lemon
Guess what! I still have leftover lentils. What will I do with them? Maybe I will add a couple of other ingredients, mash them up and fry them like burgers? Or maybe I will eat them just as they are! Paired with fish and vegetables, I have another simple meal that’s ready in no time.
Rockfish seasoned with cumin, coriander, ginger and garlic accompanies mujadara, spinach and squash
Lentils and rice are “must-haves” for my pantry. We used brown lentils here, but there are so many other varieties with their own unique qualities. Try some red ones in a colorful stew with squash and chickpeas. How do you like your lentils?
Try this recipe and learn to make southern chicken and dumplings the way your family likes best.
Who likes southern chicken and dumplings? There are so many variations on this recipe, so you probably have your own preference and opinion about which way is best.
After experimenting with various ratios of ingredients over the years, I decided that less is best on leavening agents because we prefer our dumplings on the denser side. Michael’s favorite chicken and dumplings was at Aunt Kizzy’s Back Porch, a soul food restaurant in Marina Del Rey, CA. Sadly, it is no longer there, but in its heyday, it was in his weekly rotation. I don’t think I ever had their dumplings, which appeared flatter than mine; but my mother also made them rather dense and I always enjoyed them.
If you like a fluffier dumpling, your recipe will differ from mine. (Use more baking powder) To each his own!
How To Do the Chicken
You could start the chicken in all kinds of ways. I have a friend who says that her favorite way to eat chicken is boiled and she calls it “stupid”. If it’s your favorite, what’s stupid about that? There’s a reason why so many cultures make chicken soup!
So, in a big pot, I put a whole deskinned chicken and enough water to cover more than half of it. I added some vegetable ends from the freezer and brought it to a boil, covered and reduced to simmer for about an hour until it was done. I flipped the chicken a couple times to cook it evenly.
Meanwhile, Some Vegetables…
In a big, deep skillet that I recently learned is called a “rondeau pan”, I heated some olive oil and added a chopped sweet potato. Once it was a little golden, I added half a chopped onion, a couple of chopped carrots and a couple stalks of chopped celery. Seasoned with dried sage and French thyme. You could experiment with all kinds of vegetables and herbs. Thicken up the stock in the end with some flour if you want it more like gravy. It’s up to you!
Ingredients for Dumplings:
2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
1 egg
1/2 cup milk
First, sift the dry ingredients through a strainer to remove any lumps. Then cut up the butter into small pieces and smash it with a fork into the flour mixture. Once the flour/butter combination looks a bit crumbly, add an egg beaten in a measuring cup along with the milk. Stir to combine and with wet hands, form the dumplings. I made 8 big ones with this amount.
Finishing Up
Remove the chicken from the pot and once cool enough to handle, pick off the pieces that you want to eat. Pour the stock through a strainer into the rondeau pan with the vegetables. While boiling, drop dumplings in, cover and reduce heat to simmer for about 15 minutes or until done. I flipped the dumplings over about halfway through cooking time and added the chicken pieces that I wanted to use. Resist the temptation to stir, especially when starting the dumplings because they will disintegrate into a mess resembling egg drop soup. Simply drop them in and let them to do their thing.
What’s your favorite way to do chicken and dumplings?
Ready for more comfort food inspired by Aunt Kizzy’s? Please read Keen On Beans and Greens next.
Another heat wave…another flex alert. I needed to put a quick snack together and the mango I had bought a while ago was finally ripe. Time for mango salsa made with chopped red onion and a little jalapeno from the freezer. Seasoned with salt, lemon juice and olive oil. Wait! Where’s my protein? A can of tuna was perfect for this 5 minute preparation. Simple meals don’t always require cooking.
Here’s an example of how I usually use a piece of jalapeno from the freezer. Frozen, I cut off a sliver appropriate for my purposes. In this case, a quarter inch was sufficient. Chopped fine and tossed with the mango, it defrosts immediately and it’s awesome. If I were making a pot of chili, I might use a whole jalapeno. But I would treat it the same way by taking it out of the freezer just when I want to use it because otherwise it will turn soft by defrosting in the refrigerator. The same goes for ginger, which I also keep in the freezer. Frozen, I cut off just the amount I want to use in a given dish and put the rest back into the freezer. Chop it up while it’s still firm because chopping things that have gone soft is much less convenient. Simple meals begin with a well stocked freezer and pantry.
Mango Jalapeno Trio
ripe mango
jalapeno
can of tuna
chopped red onion
salt
lemon juice
olive oil
Ready for another cool, refreshing meal without cooking? Please read Simple Ceviche next.
Let simple meals like hummus and parsley salad bring us together.
With as many issues as there are causing division in the world, I believe that food should not be one of them. I learned to make hummus from a Middle Eastern friend when I was a teenager. Not until many years later did I realize that hummus could be such a hot topic with everyone claiming theirs is the best and the only way to do it. Certainly there are regional preferences across the Middle East and Mediterranean as well as variety among families from the same culture. So, if you already make hummus that your family enjoys, stick with it because delicious, simple meals bring us together.
Making Hummus
You can start with cooking dried garbanzo beans (chickpeas) that you have soaked overnight. That’s a good idea if you want to make a lot of it. For a smaller portion, I think a drained can works just as well. Into the food processor goes:
a clove of garlic
about 2 Tablespoons of Tahini (sesame seed paste)
juice of one lemon
drained can of garbanzo beans
olive oil
pinch of salt
pinch of cumin
splash of water
Starting with the garlic, put each ingredient in one at a time before running the food processor to incorporate ingredients. Do you like it thick or thin? Adjust the amount of liquid. Maybe you like a bit more tahini or lemon or garlic? Sometimes I add a little coriander or cardamom. Taste along the way (using a clean spoon each time) and create your own masterpiece. You will soon be cooking without a recipe.
You can even experiment with different beans. Surprisingly enough, I tried an edamame (soybean) hummus once that was fantastic. I watched a friend use lime juice instead of lemon and I even used a touch of rice vinegar once when I was out of fresh lemons. Yes, use what you have to create simple meals, my friends. Gain more confidence in cooking as you develop your intuition in the kitchen.
Tabouleh (Parsley Salad)
Tabouleh, or parsley salad also can be made with many variations…just as you will find it spelled differently, depending whom you are asking. Is it tabouleh, tabbouleh or tabouli? Let’s just call it parsley salad…Here’s how I learned, growing up among many Armenian families:
First, simmer the bulgur wheat and let it cool. Drain if necessary. Fluff with a fork and put it into the refrigerator. You might also use quinoa or barley or some other grain that you have in your pantry.
Pulse the food processor to chop the parsley a little at a time. You don’t want it to turn into mush. I would personally rather underchop than overchop.
Healthy Homemade Salad Dressing
To make the dressing, crush a clove of garlic with salt using your mortar and pestle. Whisk in lemon juice and olive oil. In this case I decided to add a little dried coriander as well and a lot of dried mint because I didn’t have any fresh. If you have fresh mint, I would use about a third as much compared to the parsley. This is the basis for many healthy, homemade salad dressings.
Chop some tomatoes and green onion and cucumber if you have them. Toss everything together and enjoy a delicious, vegan, no-cook meal. Experiment with the ratio of vegetables to grain. This looks like the ratio that I grew up with and that my husband enjoys best. But I also like it with very little grain and without the mint. Sometimes I throw some feta cheese in there. Simple meals like this are so versatile.
Some may disagree, but I think tabouleh tastes even better the next day…
Ingredients:
bulgur
chopped parsley
chopped mint
chopped tomatoes
chopped green onions
chopped Persian cucumbers
crushed garlic
lemon juice
olive oil
salt
By the way, if you make it in the food processor and you wanted to do hummus the same day, start with the tabouleh first so that all you have to do is rinse the food processor before making the hummus. If you start with the hummus, you will have to wash and dry the work bowl before moving on to the parsley. Just a common sense tip…Let’s work smarter not harder.
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