Tag Archives: spinach

Give new life to your recipes…

30 Aug

In the spirit of reusing, reducing and recycling I wanted to share with you some of my recipes and how do I use them and re-use them in other preparations. As a very wise Alton Brown once said in one of his TV shows – “There is no room in my kitchen for uni-taskers!!!” I think Alton was referring more to kitchen utensils and gadgets than recipes… but you get my drift.

In my everyday life I cook and eat most everything I post here in this blog… and when making a recipe, I sometimes have leftovers. Sometimes… too much leftovers for just one person to chow down. I personally try as much as possible to cook just for now and maybe, to have something for tomorrow… but in my ideal world, I would cook for just now and make everything fresh right before I eat it.

Something I learned from the Yoga Center is that if you’re using leftovers, at least combine them with fresh stuff to give the leftovers a new lease on life. You see… leftovers have lost some of its nutritional value because it’s been a while since they’ve been cooked. This is the exact same reason why I discourage the consumption of frozen prepared meals or that convenient idea of cooking one day for the whole week and then just reheat and eat it whenever you’re hungry. If it’s something you do occasionally… it’s not that bad, but doing it as a system, well, in my opinion, you’re always eating old food that’s not as healthy and nutritious as when it was originally cooked.

So here are my ideas to use recipes the next day converting them into new dishes altogether. This way, we use our leftovers right away and do not accumulate lots if little containers in our fridge. OK??

Whenever I make Bruschetta Mix, I eat some as a snack or appetizer, but I always try to make more than I think I’ll need and eat with pasta.

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When I have leftover mashed potatoes – or just leftover boiled potatoes – this is a perfect opportunity to create a pastelón with it. Cook a filling made of veggies or soy protein and top with your favorite cheese…. And there you have a complete meal.

You are familiar already with my Meyer Lemon Thyme Granita recipe… if you do not want to eat it all as a granita, what I have done in the past is save pieces of the leftover frozen simple syrup in a freezer bag. And every time I want to create a fruit smoothie I supplement the ice/juice in my smoothie with a few pieces of the frozen lemon thyme mixture. The end result is a great tangy taste to your favorite morning drink… My suggestion, add a few pieces to a BB Shake – banana, blueberries, meyer lemon, thyme… YUM!!!

Anytime you have leftover rice, it’s easy to give it new life by adding a few delicious odds and ends you might have in your fridge. Just make your very own version of Millionaire Rice, the one that would cost you and arm and a leg if you had to go and buy so many ingredients to make, but it’s cinch just using up whatever you have cluttering up you fridge. Or make some Rice with Corn.  And if after making rice you still end up with a leftover, you can revive it once again into a Stuffed Pepper.

Cooked greens is not something I grew up with… eating spinach, for example, was an acquired taste I developed well into adulthood. If you make a version of creamed spinach to fill a spinach crepe… you can use any leftover mix into a Spinach Canelloni with the same crepes but adding some ricotta cheese to the filling and topping with tomato sauce. Add some more flour and create delicious Spinach Croquetas. You could even use it to fill a traditional Spinach Lasagna.

I hope you have learned a few tricks on how to give more mileage to the recipes you already know and how to use similar ingredients and flavors to enhance a brand new dish. This is kinda taking the semi-homemade concept to your leftovers.

What other magical recipes do you create based on your leftovers??? I want to learn something from you guys too!!!

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Easy-No Cook Spinach Dip

25 May

It’s been a while since I’ve given you any dip recipes… haven’t you noticed?

Partly the reason has been I am in the midst of remodeling my apartment, including my kitchen, and between that and the miles I’ve racked up in several airlines in the last few months, there’s been little entertaining at home.

While cleaning my office I ran across a few recipes I had written but have not shared with you yet. I made this originally for a lecture on Vegeterian Appetizers at the Yoga Center.  This Spinach Dip is a quick put together, especially if impromptu company drops in on you. It’s made from staples I always have in my fridge and freezer.

EASY NO-COOK SPINACH DIP

1 small package of frozen spinach
1 cup sour cream
4 oz. cream cheese
¼ cup grated or shredded parmesan cheese
1 tsp Garlic Salt – optional
Salt and Pepper to taste
  1. Thaw the spinach well and wring as much water out of it as possible. Cut it a bit with a knife or kitchen scissors to make the pieces smaller and easier to eat later on.
  2. Mix well with the rest of the ingredients.

If you use vegan cream cheese, vegan sour cream and Rice Parmesan cheese, this recipe is suitable for a vegan diet too. It’s just a matter of knowing the right products for your diet.

Serve it with crackers, pretzels or even carrot sticks.

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Dominican Mangú

4 May

As part of our “Puerto Rican” dinner in Paraguay we made mangú. Mangú is a Dominican Republic staple, actually eaten very typically for breakfast. It’s so hearty and filling that in my book is more aptly eaten as a main dish.

Mangú is made with green plantains… but if the plantains are starting to ripen and turning a bit sweet, it’s fine too. Maybe this is not the traditional Dominican way, but this is a “Puerto Rican” mangú and I say it tastes very delicious too. Usually you also create a topping/mix-in mixture to soften the green plantains with. We created a vegetable mixture made from onions, tomatoes, garlic, peppers and spinach. Onions are what’s most traditional but you can get creative and add what you have around in your fridge.

What’s best about mangús is the fried cheese. We didn’t have any, so we decided to make a vegan mangú. But if you’re not keeping a dairy-free or vegan diet, I highly recommend covering the top of the mangú with slices of fried cheese in addition to the vegetables. You will thank me after trying it.

My friend Tania is an expert on mangú and she can make it in one of a thousand varieties. So in honor of all the Dominicans in our yoga group, we give you Mangú.

DOMINICAN MANGÚ

4-5 green plantains, peeled and cut into 2” pieces
3 large yellow onions, 1 of them chopped and 2 sliced thinly
1 large green bell pepper, sliced thinly
1 large red bell pepper, sliced thinly
6 garlic cloves, 2 left whole and 4 chopped finely
3 large tomatoes, chopped
4 cups of fresh spinach leaves
Olive Oil
¼ cup of apple cider vinegar
Garlic and Herbs Seasoning
Salt and pepper to taste
  1. First we boil the plantains… so add the cut plantains to a pot of water. Do not add too much water because we’ll use this water to mash the plantains afterwards so try to add just enough water to barely cover the plantains. Add only 1 onion that you’ve chopped and 2 garlic cloves. Add some salt to the water, cover the pot and bring to a boil. After reaching a good rolling boil, reduce the heat and cook the plantains until they’re fork-tender. That’ll take about 20-30 minutes. To prevent the plantains in the bottom from getting scorched, stir the pot a few times during the boiling process.
  2. When the plantains are cooked well, just turn off the heat and leave them there covered until you’re ready to mash them.
  3. While the plantains are boiling away, you can make the vegetable mix-in/topping…
  4. In a large deep skillet, we will cook all the vegetables for the mangú. Add a drizzle of olive oil to the pan over medium-high heat and add the onions slices from the 2 onions left, the strips of green and red bell pepper and the chopped garlic. Season the veggies with some salt and pepper and sauté until the onions and peppers start to soften.
  5. Add the chopped tomatoes and the fresh spinach. Mix in well to help the spinach wilt. The moisture in the tomatoes and spinach will start to create juices in the bottom of the pan. Those will be a tasty addition to our mangú later on. Season again with some additional salt, pepper and the garlic and herbs seasoning. Mix well and keep on cooking until the tomatoes and spinach have wilted enough and looked thoroughly cooked.

6.  To finish off, add the vinegar and mix well. This will add a nice tangy taste. Let the mixture sit until the plantains are fully cooked.

7.  Transfer the cooked plantains to a large roasting pan or baking dish… this is where you will serve it in. Transfer as much of the cooked onions and garlic as you can and most of the boiling water, but there shouldn’t be that much water anyways. Mash well with a potato masher. Make sure you have mashed every piece of plantain there is. If the mixture is dry, add as much of the boiling water as you want but you want to avoid it getting too soupy. It should have soft consistency.

8.  Add half of the vegetable mixture into the mashed plantains. Mix well using the potato masher or a large spoon. Feel free to add as much of the vegetable liquid as you want. After it’s all mixed well, add the remaining vegetable mixture over the mangú.

9.  Serve immediately. But if you can’t serve immediately, the mangú will keep warm for a while… Just cover the dish with a plastic wrap or aluminum foil and keep warm on the side until you’re ready to serve. Mangú makes a great potluck dish too.

 

If you’re adding the fried cheese slices… place them on top of the mangú after you’ve mixed in half of the veggies. Place them right over the mashed plantains and pour the remaining veggies over of the cheese slices. Delicious!!!!!

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Spinach Cannelloni

6 Jun

My sister invited us to a full long weekend of merriment to celebrate my BIL 40th birthday… It was jam-packed with surprises and food.

I traveled with the excuse of spending time with my nephew, Ale. So he never ever suspected the conga-line of people that would appear each night to celebrate the weekend. First, we started the celebration last Thursday, the official birth date, with his mom and brother coming in by surprise. I had to buy groceries and make everything that same day because I couldn’t let the birthday boy know we were cooking for 12 that day…

I was planning to make a taquiza/taco bar menu for dear BIL, something he had enjoyed a lot once before. But when he insisted all he wanted was his favorite tiramisu for a birthday cake, the menu quickly shifted to Italian and the poblanos and corn were set aside for another day.

Make a crepe and fill it with Nutella or gruyere cheese and you immediately think Paris or French… But take the same crepe and fill it with ricotta and spinach and what do you get? Cannelloni…

I know… there are a lot of ingredients in the list, but it’s really an easy assembly recipe. This recipe is very easily halved for a smaller crowd.

SPINACH CANNELLONI

Makes about 24 cannelloni to serve 12 people

24 crepes
24oz of ricotta cheese
2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese
4 cups of Italian-Blend shredded Cheese
1 cup of grated parmesan cheese
1 bag of frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry as much as possible
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, minced
2-3 tbs of chopped fresh Italian parsley
2-3 tbs of chopped fresh basil leaves
3 tbs of olive oil, divided
2 packs of Pomi chopped tomatoes
2 cups of half and half
2 tsp dried basil
2 tsp dried oregano
Garlic Salt, Salt and freshly cracked Black Pepper to taste
  1. I make my own crepes using this batter recipe right here. I make the batter the night before and allow it to rest in the fridge overnight.
  2. In a medium skillet over medium-high heat, add a few drizzles of olive oil, onions and garlic. Season them liberally with salt and pepper. Cook for a few minutes to allow the onions to release their moisture, but do not brown them, just until they’re soft. Set aside.
  3. Pre-heat oven to 425F.
  4. To make the filling… In a large bowl combine ricotta cheese, the cooked onions/garlic mixture, 2 cups of the Italian cheese blend, ½ cup parmesan cheese, the chopped fresh parsley and basil and the chopped thawed and squeezed spinach. Season it with salt, pepper, garlic salt and a few drizzles of olive oil. Mix well to combine. Set aside. If you want to make some cheese cannelloni without the spinach, just omit the spinach or set some cheese mixture aside before adding the spinach. The flavors will work really well.
  5. To make the sauce… mix together in another large bowl the chopped tomatoes, half and half and season with salt, pepper, dried oregano and basil, garlic salt and a few drizzles of olive oil. Mix together well to combine and create a pink sauce and set aside.
  6. Now we assemble… I had to use 2 large 9” x 13” glass oven-proof dishes for this amount of crepes. Pour 1/4 of the sauce in the bottom of each baking dish. Take each crepe and smear about 1 large soup spoonful of cheese/spinach mixture and roll into a cannelloni. Place on top of the sauce. Repeat with all the crepes and place them side by side on the baking dishes.
  7. When you’re done assembling the crepes in the baking dish, spoon the sauce that’s left on top of the crepes. Sprinkle the rest of the Italian blend cheeses, the mozzarella and the parmesan cheese on top of the cannelloni to create a cheesy crust on top.
  8. Bake in oven for about 30 minutes to allow the tomato sauce to cook and for the cheese on top to melt and brown. If the cheese is not browned to your liking, you can always turn on the broiler on low and watch it for 10 minutes or so until it’s brown and beautiful.

You can certainly make this for a large crowd like I did, or make it into individual dishes and serve for a smaller group or even just one. I did some filled with just cheese and some with the spinach… the kids ate the ones with spinach even though I had mentioned I had ones with just cheese. They were skeptical at first, but they ate it all in the end.

And if you have any creamed spinach leftover from another side dish or from making a stack of crepes…  you can indeed use it and skip the step of cooking onions and garlic beforehand.

We served these cannelloni with a caprese salad and delicious garlicky bread…

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Spinach Polenta

20 May

What to eat next to some Creamy Stuffed Mushrooms??    Well Spinach Polenta, of course…

It’s so easy to make. This was the first time my mom ate polenta… at least called polenta. – because she told me that when she was little they would serve something similar but with another complicated name in Spanish.

This is a great way to repurpose creamed spinach or cooked spinach you may have made for crepes…

SPINACH POLENTA

1 cup vegetable broth
½ cup milk
5 tbs quick cooking polenta – but make sure to read and make it according to your package suggested measurements
½ cup of creamy spinach mix – like the one I use to stuff crepes…
2 handfuls of shredded 5 cheese blend
Salt and Pepper to taste
  1. Pour vegetable broth and milk into a medium pot over medium-hi heat and bring to a boil.
  2. Add the polenta slowly while whisking the liquid to avoid any lumps. Stir occasionally until the mixture reaches your desired consistency. I like it smooth for this preparation.
  3. Turn off the heat and add the creamy spinach mix and the shredded cheese. Mix well using a spoon until it’s all well combined. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
  4. Leave covered until ready to serve.

If you’d like, you could also add about ¼ cup of Parmesan cheese to add more flavor to it…

 

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