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Undercover Carrot Mac & Cheese

13 Mar

I am experimenting with ways to sneak in more vegetables into my nieces’ diet…  I know their moms try very hard, but they take the path of least resistance often to avoid confrontation.  Hey, I understand perfectly after spending 5 glorious 24-hour days with them.

Because they love macaroni and cheese, I thought I would try how it would taste “sneaking in” some carrots. I have done this with butternut squash and pumpkin in the past… so why not try with another orange vegetable?  And carrots are cheaper and more readily available in my fridge than those other options. 

I was fascinated by the concept of hiding vegetables and nutrients into kids’ diets when the book Deceptively Delicious came out.  I think it’s a great concept and one to try not only with kids, but for us as adults too.  Sometimes you know something is good for you, but you just don’t like to make it just for yourself… or you just like certain vegetables in certain preparations, not others.  What I also liked about the book is that besides “sneaking” vegetables into kids’ meals, it stressed you should always include a side of vegetables on your kids’ plates.  The fact that added veggies are hidden within the recipe does not excuse the fact we need to teach kids it’s important to eat salads and vegetables as part of a healthy diet.  The hidden veggies are just an insurance policy if they decide not to try the side of veggies that time around.

The mac and cheese turned out really nice… because I first tried it on myself and I was not too keen on dirtying my food processor, I just mashed the carrots into the sauce.  But the time I actually do make it for my nieces I will puree the carrots to make it blend in more with the rest of the cheese sauce.

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UNDERCOVER CARROT MAC & CHEESE

3 medium carrots, steamed and pureed
1 cup buttermilk
½ cup Cheez Whiz – I don’t normally use this ingredient, but I had it in the fridge and I felt bad just throwing it away.  You can substitute very well with cheddar cheese
½ cup cottage cheese
¼ cup parmesan cheese, divided
1/3 lbs of whole-grain pasta – I used whole wheat penne

 

  1. Pre-heat oven or toaster oven to 350 F.
  2. Bring a large pot filled with very salty water to a boil and cook pasta according to package directions.  I usually give it about 10-12 minutes.
  3. While the pasta water is coming to a boil, prepare the cheese sauce…   in a medium sauce pan over medium heat add the buttermilk and carrot puree.  When that is warm, add the cottage cheese, most of the parmesan, cheez whiz or cheddar and let it all melt together.  Watch out it does not boil because it will make the buttermilk runny/watery… just enough for all the cheeses to come together as a sauce.
  4. When the pasta and sauce are done, drain the pasta and combine it with the sauce.   Place them in a pyrex casserole dish, sprinkle with some of additional parmesan cheese and place in oven.
  5. It will take about 15-20 minutes for the cheese on top to brown… that’s when you take it out.
  6. Wait about 20 minutes for the cheese sauce to stop bubbling and dig in…

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When I make these recipes, I usually don’t measure and eye-ball the ingredients.  I had some extra sauce that did not fit the casserole dish and used it to top some steamed potatoes… they were extra delicious too.

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Vegetable Tian

9 Mar

I think we have established already I love anything French…  so every time we have a get-together with my French-speaking friends, we try to create French recipes to keep the theme intact.

I first made this recipe for the Yoga Center – back when I was more consistent cooking at least once a month.  It was a way to introduce cooked vegetables in a different way than how they make them week in week out. 

Most recently, I shared the recipe with my friend Annie Mariel and she was the one who actually made the version photographed here.  It is cheesy yet tastes very light.   She created it as an example of Parisian cooking…  bon appétit.

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VEGETABLE TIAN

2 large onions, sliced in half
2 garlic cloves, minced
5-6 potatoes – I used russet potatoes, but Ina Garten says that Yukon Golds are a particularly good choice
2 medium zucchini
4 medium sized tomatoes – I used plum tomatoes
1 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp black pepper
1 tbs thyme leaves or 1 tsp Italian Seasonings blend
2 ounces gruyere cheese, grated
Olive oil

 

  1. Pre-heat oven to 375 F
  2. Brush a rectangular baking dish with olive oil.
  3. In a medium sauté pan, heat a drizzle of olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onions and cook for about 8 minutes until they’ve beginning to soften.  Add the garlic and cook for a few additional minutes.  Spread this onion mixture on the bottom of the baking dish you oiled.
  4. Wash well and dry the potatoes.  Slice them in thin slices, about ¼” thick.  Slice the zucchini, tomatoes too the same thickness.  Layer them alternatively on top of the onions.  I placed them slightly at an angle one on top the other like shingles. Place a potato, zucchini, tomato, potato, zucchini, tomato, and so on…
  5. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, thyme leaves or Italian Seasonings and drizzle a bit more of olive oil.
  6. Cover the dish with a parchment paper and then aluminum foil.  Place in oven and bake for 30-40 minutes until the potatoes are tender and cooked. 
  7. Remove the covering, add the grated cheese and bake for another 30 minutes until the vegetables are browned nicely on top.

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Rice and Soy Picadillo

7 Mar

This is a staple of Latin cuisine…  made the vegetarian way.    This is also another way to use they Soy Picadillo recipe I gave you guys a few weeks ago.

It’s amazing, but I have several non-vegetarian friends who regularly ask me to make this Soy Picadillo for them and their families.  They tell me they love to eat it as a filling for lasagna, on top of a baked potato, as an appetizer in “barquillitos”.  But the most popular way of eating it is on top of white rice… I still have not been able to convenience them to change to whole grain rice, but one has to pick their battles.  They’re eating soy picadillo already!!!!

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RICE AND SOY PICADILLO

Soy Picadillo recipe here
Whole Grain Rice

 

Serve with a side salad and sweet plantains…  traditional Puerto Rican fare at its best.

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Pita Pizzas with Arugula Salad

3 Mar

I just came back from a skiing holiday in Vermont with my little “nieces” Mariana and Natalia – they’re the daughters of my 2 best friends.

We stay at a slope-side apartment with a fully equipment kitchen.  We love to buy stuff for breakfasts, dinners, and the much needed après ski break.  Mariana and Natalia specially requested this time around for me to make them pizzas.  And my kind of pizzas is Pita Pizzas – especially because I was not going to “bake” any crust in an unknown kitchen.

This is what we came up with to satisfy the kids and adult tastes alike…

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PITA PIZZAS with ARUGULA SALAD

Serves 4

 

4 whole-grain pita breads – about 6″ in diameter
1 cup of your favorite jarred tomato sauce – you may not need as much but I did not measure the sauce after I already placed it on the pizzas.  You can also make your own… mixing crushed tomatoes and seasoning them with some garlic salt, pepper and Italian seasonings.
Shredded cheese – I like the Italian Blend type, but you can certainly go as fancy as you want … using fresh mozzarella, Fontina, gruyere, etc.
1 tomato, sliced thin
1 small onion, sliced thin
About 1 cup of Parmesan cheese, grated or shredded
Arugula Salad – click for recipe here

 

 

  1. Pre-heat oven or toaster oven to 400 F
  2. Take the pita bread and smear some tomato sauce leaving a ¼” border.  Not too much so they do not turn soggy.  
  3. Top each with pita a few slices of fresh tomatoes and onions.  Sprinkle some parmesan cheese and top with the Italian-blend shredded cheese mix.
  4. Place in oven for about 10 minutes until the cheese melts and turns a nice bubbly golden brown in sections.
  5. Top each pizza with a handful of arugula salad for a nice contrast of freshness and tang.
  6. Sprinkle with additional shaved parmesan cheese on top of salad.

 

Have to admit, the girls ate the pizzas on their own and left the salad to the side, but the adults loved it.

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“Camarones” Enchilados / “Shrimp” Creole

2 Mar

When I was in Miami recently, I visited this Chinese market where they sold many soy based products, like the ones I usually buy when I go to Chinatown in NYC.  I brought with me 2 bags of “shrimp”…  why?  Because my aunt in Miami makes the most awesome Enchilado de Camarones or Shrimp Creole and I missed tasting these flavors a lot.

I did not have time to make this in Miami, so I interviewed my aunt for her recipe… and being from the same family, she also cooks without measurements, so this is my interpretation of her recipe.

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“CAMARONES” ENCHILADOS / “SHRIMP” CREOLE

1 cup of tomato sauce – I use Viter Fried Tomato Sauce
2 tbs of sofrito
¼ cup of apple cider vinegar
½ cup of water
1 bag of soy “shrimp” product, defrosted
1 bay leaf
Salt and Pepper to taste
Drizzle of olive oil
2 roasted sweet bell peppers, sliced thin

 

  1. In a medium pot, heat olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the sofrito and sauté lightly for a few minutes.    Add the tomato sauce, vinegar, water, bay leaf, salt and pepper and cook for about 5-8 minutes.  The idea is to cook the tomato sauce and impart the flavors for the rest of the ingredients.
  2. Add the “shrimp” to the tomato mixture and braise in the sauce for about 20 minutes at medium-low heat.  Cover so the sauce does not evaporate much.
  3. At the end, add the sweet bell peppers and turn off the stove.  Leave covered for about 10 minutes until the sauce cools down a bit before serving.

 

Serve over whole grain rice and a side of sweet baked plantains.  The sweet taste will balance the salty/tart taste of the tomato sauce of the “shrimp”.

The funny thing… I made this dish for a group of friends who are NOT vegetarians.  Some of them knew these where not real shrimp but some of them didn’t.  They devoured the whole dish.  None of the “shrimp” were left.  My friend Kristina has not failed to mention to me once after this how delicious the sauce was…  to me that spells SUCCESS!!!

If by any chance you have some sauce left over and you do not want to throw it out… cook some baby potatoes in the sauce and serve over rice again.  They will taste delicious…

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