Oven Baked Broccoli Frittata and Dave's Killer Bread

 I can never get frittatas right in a pan, the top is always runny while the bottom burns, so I baked this one in the oven. Awesome for a weekend breakfast.

Oven Baked Broccoli Frittata
Serves 2

4 eggs
1 stem of broccoli
2 oz cheddar (optional)
salt and pepper

Preheat the oven to 375. Chop up broccoli, I recommend using the stem and just shaving off the tougher parts of it, and steam it for a minute or two. Meanwhile crack four eggs into a bowl and beat them along with salt and pepper. Spray olive oil or pam on an oven proof pan, I used a small pyrex rectangle, add eggs and broccoli to the pan. Top with 2 oz of shredded cheddar. You could use another cheese or skip this altogether, but Charlie won't eat eggs and broccoli together without cheddar, so we always use it. :)

The broccoli frittata is shown here with Dave's Killer Bread, a new discovery from Elizabeth. She was eating it on our snow shoe day and I zeroed in on it for its high seed content. Great for vegetarians, this bread is made with flax seeds, a non-animal source of omega 3s and B-12. In addition to being scrumptious bread, it comes with a great story of how an ex-con turned his life around through baking bread, it's 100% organic down to the cane juice and it comes in a biodegradable bag. One of these days I am going to get organized and use the bags for composting food scraps in the yard waste bin.
 

Arugala Tomato Pasta

 Quick, easy and satisfying! This is a great way to eat the mature arugala (pictured) that isn't as good in salad. What do I mean by mature arugala you might ask? I mean larger leaves that are still excellent, but don't have quite the same crisp peppery pizzazz as their younger counterparts. Oh god, am I describing myself in my 30s?

Arugala Tomato Pasta
Serves 2

4 oz whole wheat spaghetti
half bunch mature arugala
2 tomatoes (I used Roma, but it doesn't matter)
2-3 Tablespoons olive oil (this is a recipe where more is even better, but I'm trying to watch calories a bit)
2 cloves garlic
dash of red pepper flakes
salt and pepper
Dusting of Parmesan and Pine nuts (optional)

Set pasta water to boil. Saute chopped garlic in 1 tablespoon of the olive oil on medium low, add salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. Add chopped tomato, followed by rinsed and chopped arugala (you want it to be ever so slightly wet). When pasta is finished, drain it and add it to the saute pan to mix. Separate into two bowls, then top with Parmesan, pine nuts, and 1 tablespoon of olive oil per bowl. Correct with additional salt and pepper if you like. Buon Apetito!
 

Tricks of the Trade

While prepping tonight's dinner it occurred to me that I've picked up a few things working in restaurants that have helped make my prep work go more smoothly. I'm no virtuoso, but I thought I'd share the ones I used tonight. Some of these are especially for Full Circle people.

Basil is a very fragile herb. It's tricky to stop it from going black. It doesn't want to be held at room temperature, but it's too fragile for the cold fridge. The key to making it last is to insulate it, which is probably one reason why it's often sold in those plastic boxes. Alas, Full Circle is way too PC to send us their home grown greenhouse basil in a plastic box. What does a girl do? You've got to baby your basil, big time. I like to use at least three bags to keep it warm, first a plastic layer, then a paper layer, and then another plastic bag layer. This picture shows Thai Basil that has been in my fridge for over a week without blackening, along with all the crazy baggage I used to keep it warm:
 

The easiest way to cut up a mango is to slice it in thirds, then cross hatch it, then slice it out of its skin. Which sounds like nonsense, but this is what it looks like midway through the process:
 
As for the middle section, you can usually slice off a few slivers, but I love mango so much I generally just eat this part like corn on the cob. LOL.

The easiest and most effective way to de-seed an avocado is to cut it in half, hack your knife into the seed and twist it out. This picture shows your knife hacked into the seed:
 

And this one shows what it looks like after you twist and pop the seed out:
 
Also, for Full Circle people, I've noted that Avocados, Tomatoes, Mangoes, and Pears all arrive a bit under-ripe and need a week on the counter before eating. I actually really love this about FCF because I can eat the stuff with a short shelf life first and enjoy those items in the second week (I get an every other week delivery).

Spring is coming!

Behold! My very first harvest of 2010! Two green onions! I am very excited. But clearly from the picture, my cats are even more so. I could not get a picture of this without a cat in it!

 

I am so so excited about the idea that my garden will be back soon!!!! So excited. Here is a picture of a one day harvest from my veggie patch last September, just to give you all a tiny sense of the loss I feel during the winter:
 
I am drooling over it. I can't wait. Also I'm excited to post more stuff here that include things I grew myself. Anyway, I've decided I'm not going to tough out this locally grown thing too much longer. Expect to see more summery dishes here soon. Full Circle is hip to the winter problems and has some tropical stuff available from Mexico that I will soon be taking advantage of.

Green Bangers and Mash

 Another great winter vegetable recipe complete with a fun pub grub name. This was inspired by a Mark Bittman post on the New York Times Website. It's a Morning Star Farm Italian Veggie Sausage along side kale mashed potatoes. Both are delicious and even better together.

Kale Mashed Potatoes
Serves 2-4

2 Large Yukon Gold Potatoes
2/3s of a bunch of green curly kale
1 clove garlic
1/4 cup olive oil
salt and pepper
grated parmesan (optional)

Preheat oven to 400. Heat some water to boil while you chop up your potatoes. Add them to the boiling water. Wash and rinse your kale, then chop it into inch strips or smaller. I don't use the thicker part of the stem, but you can if you like it. In a nonstick pan add kale and a bit of water for steaming. Cover with a large lid. Meanwhile chop up the garlic. After the kale has steamed for a couple of minutes, pour off any excess water (if there is any) and then add garlic, salt, pepper and a dash of olive oil. Saute on medium. As long as it has been at least 15 minutes, drain the potatoes and mash them in a bowl with salt pepper and the 1/4 cup of olive oil, stir in the sauteed kale. Personally, I view this next step as optional, but it's how Mark Bittman did it so I followed suit. Transfer your green mashed potato mixture to a greased oven proof baking pan. I used a souffle pan because that is what Mark Bittman did. Here I had to differ because I don't have any breadcrumbs, let alone homemade ones. So topped my dish with parmesan cheese and pepper. Bittman baked his dish for 15 minutes. I baked mine long enough to cook up my sausage, make tea and prep my camera for the photoshoot. The result was a very comforting, yummy dish:

 

Winter Vegetable Pasta

  This may be the best dish I've ever made. No joke. Better yet, it's another way to use leftover roasted root vegetables.

Winter Vegetable Pasta
Serves 2 heartily

4 leaves green kale
half medium onion
2 cloves garlic
6 cremini mushrooms
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup roasted root vegetables (my most recent batch featured sunchoke and rutabega, both were really good in this dish)
1.5 cups whole wheat farfalle (or other short pasta)
2 Tablespoons Butter
2 Tablespoons walnuts
2 oz white wine
2 oz half and half
Pecorino or Parmesan to garnish (optional). Picture shows pecorino ribbons.

Melt butter in sauce pan on low for several minutes, you want the butter to begin to brown like this:
 
Meanwhile, set the pasta water to boil. Saute onion in olive oil over medium heat. Add chopped kale, mushrooms and garlic until cooked thoroughly. Set aside. If you are using leftover roots, microwave them for 3 minutes. If not, microwave chunks of yam or another root until full cooked.

Keep a close watch on the butter, once it has browned and begun to evaporate, add your wine to deglaze the brown bits from the pan. Add walnuts. It should look like so:
 

Then add half and half:
 

Stir well and add your vegetables to the pan. Salt and pepper the lot. Once pasta is finished cooking, add it and stir well. Serve in bowls with shaved pecorino ribbons or parmesan cheese. Enjoy!

Leftover Rice Recipes

I am a huge fan of cooking with leftovers. I always try to make extra rice or any other staple, so that I can use it to make something else later. The only exception here is pasta, where I just seem to eat it all no matter what. This post features 3 recipes for using the left over rice I made as a side to go with Mexican Lasagna along with the recipe for the "Spanish" Rice shown in the picture.

I made two dry cups of short brown rice in the rice cooker and set one cooked cup of it aside to make deliciously simple Breakfast Fried Rice, inspired by Elizabeth:
 

Breakfast Fried Rice
Serves 2

1 cup cooked brown rice
2 eggs
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 Tablespoon Soy Vay Teriyaki sauce

Fry the rice in in oil. You can either add the egg and fry it in with the rice or fry it separately and top your rice with it (both ways are really good). Add teriyaki sauce to the rice just enough to heat it up before serving. YUM.

"Spanish" Rice
Makes plenty - enough to eat now and have more for leftovers

2-3 cups cooked brown rice
1 Tablespoon olive oil
2 Tablespoons tomato paste
1 Tablespoon smoked paprika
1 clove garlic
Salt and pepper

Saute olive oil, garlic, and tomato paste in a large pan. Add rice and mix in. Season with salt and pepper.

Here's what I did with my leftover "Spanish" rice after serving 1 cup along side Mexican Lasagna.


Breakfast "Spanish" Rice
Serves 2
Very similar to Breakfast Fried Rice

1 cup spanish rice
1 tsp olive oil
2 eggs

Fry up rice in saute pan with oil on medium heat. Once it's heated through, make two indentations in the rice separate from each other and crack an egg into each. Top your pan and wait about 4 minutes for the egg to steam cook. Use a spatula to carefully transfer one egg rice hash to each plate. Enjoy!

 
Rice Fritters
Serves 2-4

1-2 Cups Spanish Rice
1 egg
1-2 Tablespoons Whole Wheat Flour
salt and pepper

Mix all the ingredients together. The flour binds the egg and makes it possible to fry the patties, but you can replace it with a gluten free flour. Once your ingredients are mixed together it should have the consistency of cookie dough. Heat your fry pan and put pam or oil it it. Spoon 2-3 Tablespoons of the mixture onto your pan and cook for 4 minutes on medium for 4 minutes a side. Enjoy!

Migas

Migas are tex mex eggs scrambled with leftover tortilla chips. Not only are they a good use of those leftover small chips in the bottom of the bag, to my tastes Migas are a more fun version of huevos rancheros. In these recipes I used blue corn tortillas, which didn't photograph as well as I would like. I think you could make these with any sort of leftover tortilla chip, although I opted not to with Tostitos Hint of Lime, or you can fry up your own strips of leftover tortillas. I made a version with eggs and one with tofu. Both recipes are posted here and both were really good. I preferred the tofu version while charlie loved the egg one.

 

Migas
Serves 2

2 eggs
2 tsp smoked paprika, chipotle or other chile powder
1/4 cup crumbled tortilla chips
1 oz cheddar cheese (optional)
yogurt or sour cream garnish (optional)
Salsa verde (optional)
avocado (optional)

Spray or oil a non stick pan, crack two eggs into it, scramble them and add cheddar and chile powder, add chips. Cook on medium until eggs solidify. Transfer to plate top with optional garnishes.

Tofu Migas
Serves 2

6-8 oz firm tofu
2 tsp smoked paprika, chipotle or other chile powder
1 tsp spike
1 tsp cumin
1/4 cup crumbled tortilla chips
salt and pepper
Optional veggies: half zucchini, half yellow pepper, 3 tablespoons onion, 2 mushrooms
Olive oil

Personally I find tofu scrambles more flavorful with veggies scrambled in. Saute veggies in nonstick pan with olive oil. Start with onion and slowly add pepper, zucchini and mushrooms (or any other combo). Add spices and saute for 2 minutes. Add tofu and break it up with your spatula so that it looks more like scrambled eggs. Add chips and saute until everything is warm. Correct with salt and pepper. Tofu scrambles taste much better than they look, but here's a photo. Enjoy!

 

Here's a picture of eggs made with the tofu migas recipe, these were super good too.

 

Mexican Lasagna

  This turned out fantastically.

Mexican Lasagna
Serves 2

2 Wraps (I used La Tortialla Factory)
1 cup spinach
1/2 cup corn
1 zucchini
1/2 onion
1 clove garlic
olive oil
2 oz cheddar
yogurt (or sour cream) I just eyeballed this
Tony chacheres cajun seasoning
Green salsa (or red if that is what you have)

Preheat oven to 400. Saute onion in olive oil. As you add each vegetable take a moment to stir them up before adding the next. Add in this order: zucchini, corn, spinach, garlic. When spinach is wilted, set vegetables aside. Spray a small pyrex rectangle or other baking pan with pam or olive oil. Cut your wraps into lasagna sheets like so:

 

Put one square on the bottom, top with half the vegetables, sprinkle on some chachere's and spread yogurt over the top like so:
 

Make layer 2 out of tortilla scraps, add remaining vegetables, more seasoning and yogurt, then top with wrap rectangle. Spray top layer with pam or olive oil then spread salsa over the top. Top with cheddar and more yogurt if desired. Bake for 30 minutes and allow ten minutes to "marry" before serving. Serve with rice and beans for complete protein. Shown here is a Spanish style brown rice made with tomato paste and smoked paprika. Enjoy!

 

Slowcooker Veggie Chili

Great for football days and using up pantry items. I put rice in this to make a complete protein.

Slowcooker Veggie Chili
Makes 6+ cups

1 cup dried red beans
1 cup short brown rice
3 cups water or stock
1 can stewed tomatoes
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
1.5 tablespoons chile powder
1.5 tablespoons cumin
1 tablespoon smoked paprika
1 tsp red pepper flakes
Vegetables - I used 1 yellow pepper and 1 zucchini, you could use two peppers, mushrooms, corn or whatever you've got.
Salt and pepper

Optional garnishes:
Chips, cheddar, sour cream/yogurt, chipotle tabsco, green onions, avocado.

Turn slowcooker on high, add beans and 1 cup of hot water. Give the beans a good 30 minutes in the slow cooker alone if you can (not totally necessary, but it's good to give the beans a head start). Chop up onion, other vegetables, and measure everything else. Add more water to the slow cooker, then tomatoes, then spices, then onions, then rice, the vegetables, salt and pepper. Stir it all up. Let slow cook for 4 hours on high or up to 8 hours on low. Most of the liquid will be gone when it's ready, but test a bean just in case and add salt if you desire.

Pumpkin Soup

Jill's favorite! This soup is divine and remarkably easy to make. Forgot to take a picture, sorry! Also Charlie tells me that the food I've been cooking is too orange. I'll try to switch it up or rename this blog: The Beta Carotene Recipe Center. Speaking of which, do we need more beta carotene during the winter?

Pumpkin Soup
Serves 4-6

1 Can Libby's Pumpkin
1 can evaporated milk (or soy creamer or coconut milk)
1/2 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
2 cups vegetable broth
3 tablespoons brown sugar (you could just add agave syrup at the end if you want low-glycemic)
1 Tablespoon olive oil
salt and pepper
3 sprigs sage (optional)
chestnuts (optional)

Dice onion and saute in olive oil using a good size sauce pan for 3 minutes. Add one tablespoon of the brown sugar to carmelize the onions for another 3 minutes. Add entire can of pumpkin and stir up, add stock, stir up, add milk, and stir up. Add the remaining sugar (or all of your agave syrup), salt and pepper. Soup is ready. I like to fry up sage leaves and chestnuts to put on the top to give the soup a crunchy garnish. Enjoy!

Root Enchiladas

Although I could almost title this post: More Uses for Leftover Roasted Root Vegetables, these are so good, these enchildas might merit making the roasted root vegetables for!
 

Root Enchiladas
Serves 2 (heartily)

4 wraps (I use La Tortilla factory low carb, high fiber)
1 cup spinach
1 cup black beans
1 cup roasted root vegetables
4 oz shredded cheddar cheese (optional)
1/2 - 1 cup green salsa (I prefer green here, but red is fine)
4 tablespoons sour cream or yogurt (optional)

Preheat oven to 400. Spray down a pyrex rectangle with Pam or olive oil. If you are using cheese, save about half for the top of the casserole and use the other for filling inside the enchiladas. Begin each wrap by putting some spinach on the bottom, followed by black beans, followed, by roots, then cheese. Try to center your filling over the bottom part of the widest part so that when you roll it up, you can overlap the tortilla somewhat. As you finish wrapping, put each enchilada into the pyrex until you have four like so:

 

Spray the tops of the wraps with more Pam or olive oil, then spread the green salsa over the top, so that the enchiladas are covered but not so thickly that you can't see them. If you are using cheese or sour cream/yogurt, distribute the cheese on top and drizzle your crema over. Since everything is already cooked, 30 minutes in the oven should suffice. You want it to be thoroughly heated and the cheese to melt. I let this "marry" about ten minutes, which made it cool enough to eat right away. Enjoy!

 

Side note: I have been buying organic plain yogurt lately and using it for everything. Before my attempt to buy things more organically, I used to use Darigold's Mexican Style Sour Cream, which really is better and I would go back to once I can find it in Organic - it's just thicker or something, although using yogurt is probably lower calorie and better for you. So maybe I won't.

Pierogis - More Wonton Wrapper Uses

  Inspired by the success with the Oven Baked Samosas, I tried out Pierogi with the remainder of the wonton wrappers. It's a similar recipe - at least in that it's steamed mashed potatoes and uses up random things in the fridge. For example, we had a bunch of sauerkraut leftover from our meat eating days that I really couldn't think of a use for until I came up with Pierogi.

Pierogi
Makes 24

24 wonton wrappers (note double this recipe to use a whole package of wonton wrappers)
1 potato
1/4 onion
1/4 cup sauerkraut, loosely packed
1 tb oil
1 tb sour cream

Preheat the oven to 400. Cube your potato and boil it. Meanwhile chop onion and saute in oil and once its semi-translucent, measure out your sauerkraut into 1/4 cup. This is important - press on your sauerkraut and drain all the liquid out. Once you've done this, add it to the onion saute. When your potato is cooked, drain it and mash it up with salt, pepper, and sour cream (i actually used plain yogurt, which was fine). Then add the sauerkraut onion to the mix. Your filling is ready.

Set your wrappers on your work station and put a tablespoon or less of filling on them. In this case I followed the wrapping direction on the package. I folded them in half, tried to smooth the seal on the triangle and then wrapped the two sides back. You can either bake these in the oven or boil them in water with a bit of oil for ten minutes either way. See picture:

 

How Does One Scramble Tofu?

Way back in the day, Charlie and I lived on Capitol Hill and there was an awesome spot on Olive called the Green Cat Cafe. A vegetarian place with the best Tofu Scramble ever. I can't even describe how mouth watering it was. Sadly, they are no longer there and we are no longer on Capitol Hill, but the memory lives on and I've been attempting to make a Tofu Scramble of my own. The two posted here were pretty good, but never quite reach the level I was going for. I made a new once since that is radically different and I'll post about it soon, but I think the trick there was Spike - a product with nutritional yeast - thank you Erica and Jenny! Since these were good vegetable combos I'm posting them here and adding them with the Spike I didn't use when we actually ate them.

 

The veggie combo in the picture above was inspired by the oven baked samosa recipe.

Tofu Scramble
Serves 2

10-12 oz Tofu
1 Tablespoon Curry powder
salt and pepper
1 tsp Spike
Dab of oil
Vegetables of your choice -
pictured above is onion, peas and carrots, below is mushrooms

Saute your veggies in oil, start with onion if you are using it, then add as you chop, roots before others. Add a bit of water to the pan as well as your Curry, Spike, and salt/pepper. Then add tofu and scramble away. Serve with toast or a veggie patty from Morningstar - which are so good and low cal you really should be eating them regardless of your dietary status.

 

Winter Vegetable Quesadilla

  Have I mentioned my root vegetable pile? It's winter, I belong to a CSA, philosophically I want to eat locally, but boy do I have roots. I worry this blog isn't very original - also for anyone who is reading this blog, I promise that there will be interesting fresh from the garden spring posts when April rolls around. Until then, here's something I make with left over roasted root vegetables. I make this into a brunch when I invoke my theory that everything is better with an egg on top, but you could also top it with salsa and enjoy it for dinner.

Winter Vegetable Quesadilla
Serves 2

1 big wrap (I use La Tortilla Factory LowCarb wraps, they are low cal whole grain and high fiber)
2 oz cheese, this picture shows two slices of provolone, but cheddar or mozzarella would be fine
1 cup roasted root vegetables
1 egg (optional)
chipotle tabasco (yes i love this stuff, but it's optional)
salt and pepper

Since this is a way for me to use left overs I start by putting my root veggies in the pan to heat up. I use a lodge cast iron flat. Then I plop my wrap on a plate, put the cheese on it - make sure it's evenly distributed - and pop it into the microwave for 1 minute. When that dings, I take the plate out and pour the root veggies from the pan on to half of the wrap. Then put the full wrap back on the pan to crisp. See picture:

 

Once you are here, fry up the egg if you are using it. Keep your quesadilla in the pictured state for about a minute and then fold it up.
 
Then after less than a minute flip it to the other side. I like to press down on it a bit. Cut it in half and serve with your desired garnishes. Like egg and chipotle tabasco. Or try salsa, sour cream or avocado.


 

Kushibar - Restaurant Review or Nostalgia?

Charlie is having what could be his first big deal publishing meeting, so I'm hanging out in Belltown working on my blog before we carpool home together. I found Kushibar by the "Free WiFi" sign alongside some good looking pictures of fish. And I must say their "seafood set" is amazing. It's these skewers of sushi grade fish, lightly grilled, including chunks of albacore, salmon, scallops, unagi, and spot prawn. Plus they serve it with some amazing cabbage, which I can only describe as cooked coleslaw, but still it is amazingly delicious. And ok yes, as a recovering meat eater who still eats fish - I am in heaven with the animal protein, especially since I just lifted weights. Yippee. But the nostalgia. Wow this place is like a modern northwest lodge, au naturel wood tables with concrete walls, and they give you popcorn flavored with five spice to munch on, and the bathroom is decorated with the Bone comic. And I am nostalgic because after we came back from Malaysia charlie used to make me scrambled eggs with five spice, inspired by the tea eggs we enjoyed there, and when we first met, Charlie read me the entire Bone comics series and it was delightful. Oh yeah, and we spent our wedding weekend in a northwest lodge with wood tables like this. I hope his meeting is going well. All is well in my world.

Fish?

Since I am still eating seafood, I wondered if people would appreciate some fish posts up here. Let me know... Thanks!

Oven Baked Samosas

  We loved these. They were awesome out of the oven as well as re-heated in the microwave for a quick snack. They are filled with potato and pea curry. I made them because the won ton wrappers caught my eye at Safeway. They were selling them for $1.50 next to the tofu. I meant to make something more traditional, but I seem to have so many roots lately, I went for this.

Oven Baked Samosas
Makes 24 (note double this recipe to use a whole package of wonton wrappers)

24 wonton wrappers
1 potato
1 carrot
half onion
half cup peas
2 tsp curry powder
salt and pepper
0.5 tsp cumin
0.5 tsp smoked paprika
1 tb veg oil

Preheat oven to 400 and begin chopping your potato. Put cubed potato into a pot with about an inch of water on medium high heat. Add vegetables as you chop them up, starting with carrot, then onion, and then peas, but wait until water is nearly gone for this. While the water is steaming your vegetables add your spices and vegetable oil. It should look like this:

 
Once your water is mostly gone and the potato is soft, mash up the mixture and set up a work space to do your dumpling making. I used a cutting board, put 1 Tablespoon (no more) of mixture in the center of each square and then fold the edges up to meet.

 

Once you've folded them up, try to press together the seal on the pasta, then transfer finished ones to a greased cookie sheet. About 12 fit on mine, so I sprayed some oil on them and popped the first set in the oven while i filled up the rest. Set timer for 10 minutes. I found it helpful to put a ramekin of water in the oven to keep the heat moist. The first set should be finishing up right when you are done filling the second batch. Pop those in the oven while you let the others cool down a spell. If you are like us you will probably eat a lot of the first batch while you are waiting for the second to cook and the last 12 will be left overs for lunch. Reheat them in the microwave for about a minute. Enjoy!

Italian Baked Butter Beans

This tastes much better than it looks. Plus it's excellent for those "i'm going to clean out my pantry/cupboards" resolutions. Serve either as a hearty side or entree.

Italian Baked Butter Beans

1 can butter beans
1 tb olive oil
3 cloves garlic
2 tsp italian seasoning
salt and pepper
1 bay leaf
1 tablespoon tomato paste

Preheat oven to 400. Open up cans of beans and tomato paste. Drain beans and add to small oven proof dish. Add garlic, oil, seasonings, and tomato paste. Stir. Cook for 15 to 20 minutes. Enjoy! Note about the photos, I actually used more like 3 tablespoons of tomato paste. I thought it was too much. Feel free to adjust this to your taste.

Veggie Pot Pie

Perfect for a hearty after gym meal, especially when you need to use up a random combination of vegetables before your next CSA box: Vegetable Pot Pie. You really can use nearly any combination of vegetables. This is a great recipe for using up small amounts of things. This just shows what I had on hand. The result was excellent.

Vegetable Pot Pie
Serves 4 (generously)

2 potatoes
1 carrot
3 cloves garlic
2 leaves kale
6 stalks celery (i had a lot)
1 bay leaf
4 mushrooms
1 can cream of celery soup (or other cream soup, or soy milk bechamel)
20 sheets of Phyllo dough

Preheat the oven to 375. Chop your veggies, starting with roots, and put them in a pot with a half inch of water for steaming.

As the veggies are steaming, line a greased oven proof square with Phyllo dough and heat up the cream of celery soup, add a bit of water if it seems to thick, but not enough to make actual soup. After water has mostly evaporated from vegetables, add them to the pan and sprinkle a bit of salt and pepper on top. Then pour cream sauce over it.



Stir the cream sauce in, then top with more phyllo dough. Spray the top with olive oil so the crust can brown. Put in the oven for 30 minutes, let stand ten minutes before serving. Enjoy!

I heart Dansko

I am a huge Dansko Shoe wearer. In fact, I don't think I have bought more than 2 pair of shoes that weren't Danskos in the last ten years. I am religious about them. Trouble is, my latest pair are wearing out and I don't want to buy leather. This has been causing me intense angst. What will I do wearing man made shoes from Payless? I fear I will develop a limp!

But I need fear no longer. Dansko has come through for me and I can continue to worship them.
Check out the email I got from them below. I love you Dansko!

Dear Michele,

Thank you for your email and interest in Dansko. I have great news! Dansko will be introducing a line of Vegan Professional clogs that will be available for the Fall/Winter 2010 season. Look for these new styles to arrive at your local Dansko retailer at that time.

Sincerely,
Lise
Dansko Customer Service