Tabouli

Another fabulous recipe by Valine Quinn (Camille's mom) :)

1 ½ cups water
1 cup coarsely ground bulgur
(Bulgur is whole wheat that has been parboiled and crushed into fine, medium, or coarse partials.)
¼ cup silvered almonds, toasted
3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
½ lemon juiced
½ teaspoon kosher salt
Freshly ground black pepper
5 sprigs mint leaves roughly chopped
10 sprigs flat leaf parsley roughly chopped
4 scallions thinly sliced
10 cherry tomatoes, quartered

In a medium saucepan, bring the water to a boil and stir in the bulgur. Cover and simmer until the water is absorbed, about 10 minutes. While the bulgur is cooking, toast the almonds: Spread them in an even layer on a baking sheet and toast in a 350 degree oven for 4-5 minutes. When the bulgur is done, remove from heat and fluff with a fork.

Whish together the oil, lemon juice, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Mix in the mint, parsley, scallions and tomatoes. Mix in the bulgur. Sprinkle with the almonds. Serves 5.

Per Serving (3/4 cup)
220 calories
12 g total fat
1.5 g Sat. fat
5 g protein
210 mg sodium
26 g carbohydrates
7 g fiber

Eggplant, Zucchini & Portobello Schnitzel

Schnitzel Ingredients:

1 can coconut milk
1 large egg
2 cups breadcrumbs (use your favorite bread)
4-6 portobello mushrooms (sliced)
1 large eggplant (sliced into ½” rounds)

Lemon-Caper Sauce:

3 tbs butter
3 tbs olive oil
3 tsp capers
3 tbs lemon juice
2 tbs parsley

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Grease baking sheet (I use coconut oil)

2. To make Schnitzel:

Whisk together milk and egg in wide, shallow bowl. Spread bread crumbs on a large plate. Dip eggplant, zucchini, & Portobello into milk/egg mixture, then coat with breadcrumbs. Set on baking sheet. Bake vegetables 10 minutes. Flip them and bake another 10-15 minutes, or until vegetables are tender and breadcrumbs are brown. Set aside.

3. To make Lemon-Caper Sauce:

Melt butter in saucepan over medium heat. Cook 2-3 minutes, or until butter begins to brown. Stir in oil and capers, and cook 1 minute more. Remove from heat, and add lemon juice and parsley.

Serve vegetables immediately with sauce on top.

This can be served as a side or main dish. To make this a complete meal, you can dip cooked chicken or sausage in the schnitzel sauce, and voila!

homemade risotto

I have anticipated the children putting food into the shopping cart for a while...just didn't know what it would be. Carsten chose some risotto. I thought, "well, it could've been candy or something loaded with msg or corn syrup." I enjoy Lundberg products. We eat their long grain brown rice regularly. Their product, vision, practices are all excellent. So why not try some risotto?

Carl and I enjoyed it very much. But I like to do as much as I can on my own...make sure i feel satisfied about all of the ingredients. So i tried my own version last nite at dinner and this is what I came up with:

zucchini & mushroom cheddar risotto

1 1/2 cups brown rice
2 cups water
3/4 cup chicken broth (i bottle my own from chicken i have boiled and store it in an old juice container in the fridge)
1 small onion, chopped
1 zucchini, sliced into small almost grated-like pieces
1/2 cup mushrooms, thinly sliced
1/4 cup white cheddar cheese
salt
2 tbs herb pesto
2 tbs butter

I used the rice cooker and cooked the rice in the water. Meanwhile, i melted the butter and cooked the onion on low in a large saucepan. Added the rice and chicken broth to the pan. Brought the broth to a broil and then turned down the heat to a simmer. As the broth was nearly all soaked up in the rice, i added the mushrooms, cheese, pesto, and zucchini. It only took a couple minutes to get everything stirred in evenly, the vegetables were lightly cooked, and the broth replaced with a creamy sauce. It was delicious!