Squash Frittata, Wheat Bread, Carrot Medley

Squash Frittata

This is one of our family favorites we adopted from a Martha Stewart recipe and it's pretty low fat too. We like frittatas over quiche since you save calories and fat from skipping the crust.

Onion, squash, zucchini sliced 1/8 in

Feta cheese, crumbled

Dill

6 eggs

Milk

Garlic

Olive oil

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place onion in bottom of baking dish with a few glugs of olive oil, bake for 10 minutes. Add remaining veggies and sprinkle with cheese.

Reset oven to 400 degrees. While oven cools, whisk together eggs, milk, garlic, S&P, and dill. Pour over veggies and bake for 20 minutes until the eggs have puffed.

Wheat Bread

Chris is the bread baker of the house. He started with a free bread machine from Freecycle but has moved on after great success with Bread Alone by Daniel Leader. We checked it out from the library numerous times and it definitely changed his bread making for the good. He got Local Breads by the same author for Father's Day and this was the whole wheat sourdough. And if you ever want a pinch...we've always got a batch of sourdough starter on the counter-top that Chris would be happy to share.

Carrot Medley

Chris and I had a date at Monica Pope's T'afia in Houston last weekend. She was on Top Chef Masters so we had to try her restaurant out! I ordered this carrot side dish and was shocked with how tasty and simple it was. This was my attempt to re-make it and I was happy with the results.

Carrots, sliced and steamed

Sun-dried tomatoes

Parsley, chopped

Pepperocinis, sliced

Heat olive oil and add ingredients with S&P to taste.

Total cost for 4 families = $25

Tofu Egg Salad, Brown Rice Salad, Veggies and Ranch

Tofu Egg Salad

Heather and Courtney have made tofu spreads recently and I loved them on sandwiches and then eating the leftovers with crackers. I think this is such a tasty, easy, and light summer treat. I love egg salad and was really happy at how similar this tasted with less fat and no cholesterol.

Crumbled tofu, scallions, chopped celery, a little miracle whip, dijon mustard, fresh dill, apple cider vinegar, tumeric, garlic powder, S&P.

Brown Rice Salad

I lost the directions to my rice cooker - so I made this on the stove. It turned out really gummy but since it was going into a cold salad I just rinsed it in a wire mesh sieve and was okay with the resulting texture. I reduced the oil in the recipe by half.

http://www.wholefoodsmarket.com/recipes/505

Veggies and Ranch

The third dish has to be a no-brainer for co-op to not kill me - so tomatoes, carrots, and ranch it was!

Total cost for 3 families = $17

Our first go at it...

Better late than never. A late post about what we made yesterday:
*Tomato salad (tomatoes from the yard, basil from the yard, mozzarella we had nothing to do with)
Cost: probably about $7 once I add the balsamic and oil.
*Three corn grits (from a piece about a vegan chef in Oprah's magazine). I'm so glad Zoe said she liked it. We didn't think much of it. It had grits, cornmeal, fresh corn, ground cashews, and spinach. Corn must be coming into season, it looked great. It was about $1o to make.
*Cucumber salad (mint, cucs, yogurt, garlic, salt). It was $5 to make. And easy. And good.
*Watermelon salad (for dessert). That was our favorite. It was just watermelon chunks in a dressing of lime zest, lime juice and sugar. Maybe $5 to make.

Guesstimated total: $27

We learned a lot about getting portions right. We thought we'd made a lot more grits than we actually had once we had it portioned out to the Pyrex.

Roasted Corn and Edamame Salad

Stolen from Epicurious. Maybe next time we'll try swapping out olive oil for the mayo.


2 ears fresh corn, unhusked, or 1 1/4 cups cooked corn kernels
1/2 cup shelled edamame
1/4 cup chopped red onion
1/4 cup small-diced red bell pepper
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh cilantro
1 tablespoon light mayonnaise
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons finely chopped or grated ginger
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Soak fresh corn in cold water about 30 minutes. Heat grill on high. Grill corn in husk, 10 to 15 minutes, turning once. Let cool. Remove husks. Cut corn from cob into a bowl; combine with remaining ingredients. Cover and chill in refrigerator until ready to serve.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Roasted-Corn-and-Edamame-Salad-238346

Corn Stir-Fry on Soba Noodles with General Tso Sauce, Chinese Green Beans, and Fruit

Corn Stir-Fry on Soba Noodles

Adapted from Martin Yan's China.

2c. thawed frozen corn

2 tbsp grapeseed oil

1 tomato, diced

1/2 bell pepper, diced

4 scallions, diced

1/2 jicama, diced

1 block of tofu, baked in teriyaki marinade

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

Place wok over med-high heat. Add th oil, corn, tomato, bell pepper, onion, jicama, tofu, and stir-fry the vegetables until tender crisp. Add the General Tso sauce, toss to combine and serve hot over soba noodles.

General Tso Sauce

Adapted from Martin Yan's China.

1/4 c. Hoison

2 tbsp + 1 tsp bragg

2 tbsp rice vinegar

2 tbsp sugar

1 tsp chili garlic sauce

1 tbsp grapeseed oil

1 tbsp grated ginger

4 garlic cloves, pressed

1 1/2 tsp cornstarch dissolved in 1 tbsp of water

Combine the Hoison, bragg, rice vinegar, sugar, and chili garlic sauce in a samll bowl and mix well.

Place a wok over high heat. Add the oil, ginger, and garlic and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 20 seconds. Pour in the seasoning and cook, stirring, until the sugar dissolves. Add the cornstarch mixture and cook until the sauce boils and thickens, about 1 minute.

Chinese Green Beans

1 pound green beans

Sauce:

1 tablespoon bean sauce

1 tablespoon bragg

2 teaspoons Chinese rice wine or dry sherry

1 1/2 teaspoons sugar

1 tablespoon chopped garlic

1 tablespoon chopped ginger

2 scallions, chopped, white part only

1 tablespoon grapeseed oil

Wash the green beans and drain thoroughly. Trim the ends and cut on the diagonal into pieces approximately 2 inches long.

Combine the sauce ingredients and set aside.

Total Cost for 3 families: $25

Chickpea Salad

(stolen from Orangette: http://orangette.blogspot.com/2007/01/brown-bag-it.html; I did some editing of the recipe description)

Chickpea Salad with Lemon and Parmesan

This little salad only has five ingredients, so make sure that they’re all of good quality. There’s no room for second-rate pantry closet cast-offs here, so don’t even think about it, missie. First of all, be sure to use a good brand of chickpeas. The best canned chickpeas are produced by Goya, Bush, and Trader Joe’s. Other brands, such as generic supermarket ones, can be mealy, bland, and / or mushy, rather than firm, fat, and earthy-sweet. Also, get out your best olive oil – one you’d want to eat from a spoon, if you’re into that sort of thing.

1 15-ounce can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 tsp. fresh lemon juice
1 ½ tsp. olive oil
A pinch of salt
¼ cup loosely packed shredded Parmigiano Reggiano

Combine all ingredients in a bowl, and stir gently to mix. Taste, and adjust seasoning as necessary. Serve immediately, or chill, covered, until serving.

Yield: 2 servings

Pasta Salad, Broccoli, and Fruit

This was a super easy meal - thank goodness! We just got back from Kansas City yesterday and I hadn't done any meal planning. Lucy is out of school for the summer so we all shopped together today. Everything has gone surprisingly well...especially considering that Lucy wouldn't take a nap today. Please let that just be a little jet lag...

Pasta Salad

Whole wheat pasta

Garbanzo beans

Sun-dried tomatoes

Parsley

Zucchini

Scallions

Feta

Broccoli

Mix together and dress with 1:1 red wine vinegar and olive oil

Steamed Broccoli

Honeydew Melon and Grapes

Wow the honeydew tastes like its name...so good!

Total cost for 3 families: $20