Yesterday I was determined to cook lunch at home, despite our severely limited grocery situation.  We still haven’t been to the store for the big load!  But we had a few things that I knew I could make use of, resulting in the first official recipe born in my new kitchen – hurrah!  I present to you…

Green Bean Pasta Salad with Chickpeas

Ingredients:

• 1 pound green beans
• 2 servings pasta (I used brown rice fussili to make it gluten-free!)
• 1 can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
• 1 handful fresh basil
• 1 tbsp grapeseed oil
• 1 tbsp white balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp ume plum vinegar

To Prepare:

Start by getting a big pot of water boiling on the stove.  While you wait, you can trim the green beans – remove the stems on each end, and cut them in half so that they aren’t quite so long.

When the water is ready, plunge the green beans into the boiling water for about 4 minutes, or until al dente. 

Then strain out using a skimmer or slotted spoon.  Do NOT drain the entire pot, because you are going to reuse the boiling water!

Transfer beans to a colander and rinse with cold water (to stop them from over-cooking). 

Now let your water come back to a boil. 

Time to cook the pasta!  I used a brown rice fusilli pasta that is gluten-free!

Cook your pasta of choice to the package directions.  Meanwhile, mince a handful of fresh basil and set to the side.

While the pasta cooks, you can also go ahead and make the dressing – combine 1 tablespoon each of grapeseed oil, white balsamic vinegar, and ume plum vinegar.  If you don’t have ume plum vinegar I recommend #1:  that you get some ume plum vineger.  And #2: that you substitute with either soy sauce or apple cider vinegar (plus extra salt).  Whisk together!

Once the pasta is al dente, toss the green beans back into the boiling water to reheat, and then immediately drain the entire pot into your colander.  Rinse with cold water to stop the cooking!

Open a can of garbanzo beans (chickpeas), and rinse to remove all the excess goo and salt.  If you are a superstar, you can also use dried beans that have been soaked!

Add the pasta, green beans, chickpeas, and basil to a large bowl.

Pour the entire mixture of dressing over the bowl, and then toss to combine.

The result is a delicious, protein packed gluten-free pasta salad.  Delicious!

So often pasta salads are way too pasta-heavy, and the dressing are usually heavily oil or mayonnaise based.  I like having something lighter and loaded up with veggies and beans as an alternative!

This dish is also totally versatile – works great as both a main dish or side salad, and tastes good eaten warm right away, or after cooling down in the refrigerator. 

The first of many new recipes to come from my new kitchen!  As always, enjoy.  :)

Even though my farm cooking days are over, I still have a LOT of fun recipes and creations to share with you guys.  Soon enough, they will be from the comfort of my brand new kitchen, but this particular one took place down on the farm.  The fun thing about this recipe is that it is so customizable – you can pick your own toppings, and even make a gluten-free version (just get GF corn meal).  It’s quick and easy to throw together, but feels like a decadent treat.

Make Your Own Polenta Pizza

Ingredients:

• 1 cup cornmeal
• 2 1/4 cups water
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper
• 1/2 cup cheese (parmesan, mozzarella, gruyere – your choice!)
• pizza toppings of your choice!

Preparation:  First things first, go ahead and preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Next you need to make the polenta itself.  Start with 1 cup of white or yellow corn meal.

Mix the cornmeal, salt, and pepper slowly into 2 1/4 cups boiling water in a sauce pot.

Whisk quickly and constantly, as polenta takes very little time to form.  It should be sticky and kind of gluey – make sure to whisk enough to remove all the lumps.

Once the polenta is thick enough (pulling away from the sides of the pot), spoon it into a large coated spring form pan (about 10 inches).  If you don’t have a spring form pan, you can probably also do this in a shallow pie pan.  If you are using a smaller pan, use a little less cornmeal – otherwise your “crust” will be super thick!

Spread the polenta evenly around the base of the pan, trying to get it a little bit higher on the outside edges – you’re basically trying to make a Chicago deep dish pizza here, mmmmm. 

Now that we have a “crust” – we need toppings.  I made mine based on what was available in the fridge, so I went with sun dried tomatoes, arugula, and a mixture of gruyere and parmesan cheese. 

Chopped the sun dried tomatoes into tiny bite sized pieces…

I mixed the arugula, tomatoes, a bit of olive oil, and half of my cheese mixture in a small bowl. 

Feel free to take liberty and use whatever mixture of toppings and cheese (even soy cheeses!) that you prefer.  Next, spread a tiny bit of olive oil on top of the polenta to help the crust crisp up, and then pile the toppings on.  Before it goes into the oven, sprinkle the remaining 1/4 cup of cheese on top.

Bake in the oven at 400 degrees until the cheese is nice and melted and starting to brown – about 40 minutes  If you used white cornmeal, you should also see the polenta start to brown a bit too. 

The result is thick and doughy, and absolutely wonderful.  When I mentioned making this on twitter, I had someone ask if it was high in calories.  One cup of corn meal clocks in at around 600 calories, and this much polenta easily makes 4 large pieces, 6 if you’re sharing.  So for 4 pieces, the crust itself would be 150 calories per slice – as long as you top with light cheese and loads of veggies, you can probably figure about 200 calories per slice.  Better than most pizza!

I loved using arugula as a topping here – it got nice and crispy, but still held that wonderful peppery flavor. 

Cut into pieces and serve on a plate!  I think homemade pizza can be kind of intimidating sometimes (especially the crust), but I assure you that this recipe was easy and delicious. 

Enjoy!  :)

As promised, I am back with a recipe.  This creation was equal parts creativity and pantry-leftovers – you have to work with what you have, right?  The end result was, in my opinion, the best potato salad I’ve ever made. 

Cranberry Walnut Potato Salad

Ingredients:

• 3-4 pounds potatoes (I used a mixture of russet, blue, and red)
• 4 ribs celery, diced small
• 2 ripe pears, diced small
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped finely
• 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped finely
• 1/2 cup Nayonaise or other spread
• salt and pepper to taste

To Prepare:  Start by cooking the potatoes – chop and quarter them all so that they are roughly all the same sized pieces.  Then place them in a steamer pot above about an inch of boiling water, and steam for ~15 minutes or until fork tender.  Once cooked, side aside to cool.

In the meantime, chop the celery, pear, cranberries, and walnuts and mix into a large bowl.  Dried fruit is pretty high in calories, but if you chop it up really finely, it is well distributed through the bowl and you find you don’t need to use quite as much. 

In the past, I have used Veganaise and goat cheese as potato salad binders – both delicious, but also both relatively high in calories.  I was recently sent a jar of Nasoya’s latest creation – Nayonaise, a vegan mayonnaise alternative with half the fat and calories of most other spreads.

Add about 1/2 cup of the Nayonaise (or your preferred spread) and the potatoes to the bowl, and mix the salad together.  Salt and pepper to taste!

The result is a really great balance of sweet and savory – sweet from the pear and the cranberries, and savory from the potatoes and Nayonaise.  SUCH a great combination!

I have made a similar version of this salad in the past, and always used apples.  But without any apples in the kitchen, and a hungry lunch crowd waiting, I improvised and used pear instead.  The result was absolutely delicious, and it added a sweet flavor surprise that you weren’t expecting.

This potato salad can be served right after mixing, or also cooled down in the refrigerator.  Perfect for using up all those end of summer potatoes!

Enjoy! :)