May | 2010 | Apron Strings

Meatless Monday: Wholegrain Confetti Zucchini Cakes

May 31, 2010 in Entrees, Side Dishes, Vegetarian Entrees

I have been trying for about a year now to come up with a vegetarian version of crab cakes, a perfect task for Meatless Mondays. My family members can testify if need be: at least two dozen attempts.

Then my neighbor Joyce,Â who owns the on-line business Dr. Grandma’s specializing in healthy and convenient products, decided to host a recipe contest using her products. My favorites are her whole-grain muffin and pancake mixes. ( If you can’t find Dr Grandmas where you live, you can buy Dr G’s online orÂ just use any multigrain pancake mix that requires the addition of an egg.) I decided to toy with making a veggie pancake using veggies with just a bit of pancake mix as a binder to hold the veggies in a patty while cooking.

Since zucchini season is coming, I went heavy on the zuks, but you can try any grated veggie you like. These are so tasty and make perfect sides for your main course, or three of them make a fine vegetarian entree. They take only about 20 minutes to make – a great healthy weeknight meal! I like them drizzled with a Greek yogurt sauce mixed with a little Frank’s Red Hot Sauce and some cumin. Yum.

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Tags: 20 minute dinners, pancake mix recipes, vegetarian cakes, zucchini cakes, zucchini recipes
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Fab Frugal Friday: Make Your Own Refrigerator Pickled Peppers (So Good You'll Want to Make a Peck!)

May 28, 2010 in Frugal Tips

Making pickled peppers is so easy you’ll wonder why you haven’t made them before. I know I have. Case in point: Bobby Flay’s pickled jalapeÃ±os. Celebrity chef Bobby Flay is always thinking outside the box. I love to take out his Mesa Grill Cookbook and just thumb through it for something creative to try. I wanted to make some fruit salsa, and as part of fruit salsa he made pickled jalapenos.Â This just sounded too intriguing to pass up. I had no choice- I had to make them. And, I decided to add pickled carrots – the kind you get at taco stands – so yummy when treated with a boiling brine.

The result is surprising – the jalapeÃ±os are still crisp – the brine does not make them soggy, but only adds tartness. This is a very easy recipe – you don’t need to blanch the veggies first, the boiling brine takes care of that. Just stuff the jar with veggies and pour in the boiling brine. That’s it. Really.

Next time: Refrigerator Pickled Cucumbers!

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Tags: home made pickle recipes, home made pickled peppers, pickle recipes, pickled carrots, pickled jalapenos, pickled peppers
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Fab Frugal Food Cooks up Quesadillas on Studio 5 TV !

May 25, 2010 in Entrees

Video Courtesy of KSL.com

What fun to be on KSL’s morning show today making quesadillas! I demo’ed a recipe from the Quesadilla cookbook – Shrimp on the Barbie – which is a fun quesadilla to make on the barbecue grill. Perfect for Memorial Day Weekend or any summer grilling!

Happy Summer Everyone!

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Tags: grilling recipes, KSL, Memorial Day recipes, Quesadillas, Studio 5, summer recipes
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Meatless Monday: An American Classic Goes Healthy – Lentil Sloppy Joes

May 24, 2010 in Entrees, Gluten Free, Healthy Fare, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Entrees

For Meatless Monday, I decided to attempt a re-do of an American classic recipe – Sloppy Joes. I tried a version with a variety of beans, but the beans turned out too starchy for this – not at all resembling ground meat. So then I thought of lentils. These little high-protein gems are packed with nutrients and they are so much easier and handier than using dried beans – no pre-soaking required! Turns out they are similar to the texture I was looking for to replace ground meat.

I used the ingredients I would have used 25 years ago to make Sloppy Joes for one of my kid-friendly desperation dinners – onions, peppers, tomato paste, brown sugar, spices and just a touch of mustard. Takes me back to the big-hair and florescent-fashion 80′s.

Sometimes a vegetarian re-do of a recipe is a distant second to the original in taste. Not so here. I was shocked to find out that this is a BETTER dish than if I had used hamburger. Seriously – much better. Bye, bye ground beef - Hello lentils!

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Tags: easy vegetarian dinners, easy vegetarian entrees, easy vegetarian main dishes, lentil recipes, Meatless Monday, vegan entrees, vegan sloppy joes, vegetarian sloppy joes
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Fab Frugal Friday: 20-Minute Five-Ingredient Berry Parfaits with Pound Cake Croutons and Tangerine Zest

May 21, 2010 in Desserts, Healthy Fare

Don’t you just love Berry Time of year? Seasonal berries are healthy, frugal and fabulous – perfect for this blog! So, here is a dessert that takes 20 minutes - tops! – from grocery bag to table. Each bite has a different taste: someÂ crunchy, some creamy, some tangy but all bites are light, refreshing and fruity. The tangerine zest is what makes this dessert extraordinary. It is the perfect bit of intensity and adds such an amazing flavor – but you can use any citrus zest you like. I made these last Sunday and my family is already begging to have this again!

Use your best clear parfait glasses – so colorful and inviting!

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Tags: 20 minute recipe, berry parfait, budget dessert, easy dessert, easy healthy recipe, five ingredient recipe, fresh berry dessert, fresh berry recipes, low cost dessert, spring fruit recipe, summer fruit recipe
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S.O.S. Challenge: Wilted Spinach Salad with Thai Peanut Vinaigrette

May 19, 2010 in Entrees, Gluten Free, Healthy Fare, Side Dishes, Vegan Recipes, Vegetarian Entrees

It’s strange. I don’t like peanut butter, but a good spicy Thai peanut sauce is one of my favorite things. I love it drizzled on just about everything and I discovered that it is a fabulous flavor pair with spinach. This recipe is re-worked to make it low-glycemic and vegan this time around and for the May vegan recipe challenge – SOS (a.k.a Sweet or Savory) - by Ricki of Diet, Dessert and Dogs and Kim of Affairs of Living. We agree with these two fabulous food bloggers: spinach is one of the healthiest things you can put in your mouth – calorie for calorie dark greens have the most nutrients of any food! We should all eat it every day!

I always had trouble making good peanut sauce until it finally dawned on me: to have really good Thai peanut sauce, you must start with really good peanut butter. It was one of those “Duh” moments for me!Â It is a little more expensive, but you only use a little and it is well worth it. I like the all-natural “dark roasted” style with only two ingredients: salt and peanuts. I made this recipe with the idea of serving it cold on salads, so it is more like a vinaigrette than a sauce you would serve warm with chicken. I must admit that I tried to mimic Trader Joe’s Peanut Vinaigrette, which is also good BUT mine turned out even better – fresher tasting and more of a flavor punch!

I very lightly and briefly sauteed some rough chopped spinach for less than a minute until it just barely started to wilt. You could also blanch it quickly in boiling water. I then drained it and drizzled it with peanut vinaigrette, and sprinkled it with some diced roasted peanuts. Wow! Such an explosion of flavors!

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Tags: 20 minute dinners, 20 minute entree, 20 minute main dish, 20 minute salads, easy entree salads, easy vinaigrette, low glycemic recipes, main dish salads, peanut sauce, peanut vinaigrette, SOS challange, spianch recipes, Vegan Recipes, wilted spinach
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Daring Cooks Challenge: Stacked Green Chile and Chicken Enchiladas – made here with Pumpkin Seed Mole

May 14, 2010 in Entrees, Gluten Free

I love Daring Cooks challenges – they force me out of my comfort zone as a cook and I especially love how much I learn and grow as a cook each month. Thank you Bunnee of Anna+Food and Barbara of Barbara Bakes for this most excellent adventure!

For this month, the recipe challenge was Stacked Green Chile and Chicken Enchiladas. I grew up a few miles from the Mexican border in Tucson, Arizona. While most American kids were eating PB & J for lunch, we were eating bean burros (Yes, they were called burros, NOT burritos then). Needless to say, this challenge was right up my alley.

One requirement of the challenge was that we make “any homemade Mexican-style sauce.” I chose a Pumpkin Seed Mole that I once had at a fabulous Southwest restaurant in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Coyote Cafe, famous for its contemporary southwest cuisine. I have been craving this sauce ever since I ate it a few years ago – and now was the perfect time to re-create it.

This “pipian verde” mole has pumpkin seeds and fresh greens as a base. It also has a surprising ingredient: radish leaves, which give it a peppery flavor. (and, YES! Radish leaves are edible!) To the Coyote Cafe recipe, I added a few jalapeÃ±os with their seeds for heat and a small can of tomatillos and onions for acid. Unlike most moles, this one has a short ingredient list and doesn’t take all day to make. A 30 minute mole – surprisingly easy and incredibly flavorful. What’s not to love?

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Tags: easy mole, enchilada recipes, green chile enchiladas, green mole, Mexican mole, Mexican sauce, mole sauce recipe, pumpkin seed sauce, stacked enchiladas
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Avocado Challenge: Avocado Coconut Milk Custards with Toasted Spiced Hazelnuts

May 12, 2010 in Appetizers, Healthy Fare, Side Dishes

I love a good culinary challenge – especially one involving a delicious ingredient like avocados. The Challenge by the Avocados from Mexico folks, including anthropologist/chef Rick Bayless, is to try avocados in a new type of cuisine (ie., not Mexican), and cilantro is forbidden as an ingredient.Â An avocado adventure – I’m definitely game.

I have been working on this recipe for about a year – trying various combinations of eggs and different liquids. I won’t bore you with the more than 25 (NO, I am NOT making that up!) failed or marginal versions, but share with you here only my final and favorite version: Avocados and Coconut Milk – truly smooth and luscious.

This recipe uses avocados in two novel ways – 1) with Asian ingredients, and 2) by cooking them. I know, I know. People don’t generally cook avocados, although battered and deep fried avocados are all the rage with some folks. But, trust me – this gentle, low-heat, water-bath method is perfect for that yummy creamy green flesh. It turns out that avocados make delicious custards.

Move over, Guacamole. It’s time for a new avocado classic!

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Tags: avocado custards, avocado recipes, hazelnut recipes, savory custards
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Meatless Monday: Hip Hip Hooray for Mario Batali! – and featuring his fabulous Broccoli Rabe Pesto, budget-friendly style

May 10, 2010 in Healthy Fare, Side Dishes, Vegetarian Entrees

Iron Chef Mario Batali’s rock-star signature dishes often include meat-lover’s ingredients like veal shanks and bone marrow. Needless to say, we were surprised and thrilled at the announcement that Chef Batali is going meatless on Mondays!

“The fact is, most people in the U.S. eat way more meat than is good for them or the planet,” said Batali. “Asking everyone to go vegetarian or vegan isn’t a realistic or attainable goal. But we can focus on a more plant-based diet. That’s why I’m such a big believer in the Meatless Monday movement!” Batali announced last week that he will feature several vegetarian entrees in all his restaurants on Mondays.

To applaud his efforts, I made up a huge batch of his Broccoli Rabe Pesto and tossed it with orchiette pasta.

I have never eaten broccoli rabe, and have never seen it in my local grocery stores. I understand the taste is similar to broccoli with a more bitter taste. I als0 understand it is very expensive. I made a more budget-friendly version by using regular broccoli with some Balsamic vinegar to give it some tang.

For this recipe I also substituted toasted walnuts for the pine nuts to save money and discovered that broccoli and walnuts are a fabulous flavor combination. As Chef Batali would say: “Perfecto!”

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Tags: 20 minute dinner, 20 minute recipe, broccoli rabe recipe, easy dinner, healthy dinner, Mario Batali recipe, pasta recipe, pesto recipe, vegetarian pasta
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