Melissa's Cooking!

This is a favorite of ours…I found the recipe at Whole Foods’ web site and have made it several times. Takes a little prep time, then time in the oven (to bake the pie crust). It’s very filling and nutritious with all the veggies used!

Ingredients include:
(Make sure you buy organic!!!)
• 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1 cup canned soybeans
• 1 cup chopped carrots
• 1 cup chopped yellow onion
• 1 cup sweet corn (from about 1 large ear)
• 1 cup chopped broccoli
• 1 cup chopped red bell pepper (which I didn’t use because they didn’t have an organic one at the store…)
• 1 pound baby spinach
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans (optional)
• 2 frozen prepared pie crusts, thawed (I used an organic whole wheat crust.)
• 1 cup grated mozzarella cheese (I used shredded mild chedder cheese for this pie.)
• 2 teaspoons sesame seeds (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add soybeans, carrots, onions, corn, broccoli, bell peppers, and spinach and cook until tender-crisp. Add garlic, nutmeg, salt, pepper and pecans and cook for 5 minutes, or until the flavors blend. Set vegetable mixture aside.

Line a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan with one of the prepared crusts. Layer the vegetables with the cheese in the pan, beginning with the cheese and ending with the vegetables. Top with remaining crust, seal edges with a fork and trim off excess pie dough. With a sharp knife, poke vent holes in the top of the crust. Sprinkle top with sesame seeds. Bake for 20 to 30 minutes, or until the crust turns golden brown. Set aside for 5 minutes, then slice and serve.

This lasts us each for 2 dinner nights and lunch the next day.

ALSO…although there were plenty of vegetables served within this dish, I still had a hankering for a side of…

Steamed Kale

I used (for 2 servings):
• 2 stems of kale (chopped)
• Mediterranean dressing
— Extra virgin olive oil
— lemon juice
— 1 clove of garlic minced
— salt and pepper

Prepare your steamer pot. Steam the kale for no more than 5 minutes. (Do not overcook!)
Toss with the Mediterranean dressing and enjoy!

Risotto is a traditional Italian rice dish. It is one of the most common ways of cooking rice in Italy. Having had it a couple of times, once at our favorite local relatives, Jay & Kellie, (who love Italian cuisine) and then the other time, my husband and I had from a box bought at the store…I decided to find a recipe and make it from scratch myself.

This particular recipe I had found in my cookbook called One-Dish Vegetarian Meals. It takes a while to make, esp. given the vegetables that need chopped accordingly beforehand, and then as the rice is cooking, you need to be at the stove stirring pretty much constantly. But be patient! The end result is definitely worth it

Oh, and as a side to the Risotto, I decided to healthy boil up some flat-leaf spinach as well, which you can find out how to do that within my Yummy Veggie Wrap blog here.

Risotto Primavera ingredients include:
• 4 1/2 cups Vegetable Stock
• 1 TBS extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper
• 1/2 cup grated carrots
• 1 cup shredded zucchini
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1-1/2 cups Arborio rice
• 1/4 cup dry white wine
• salt and pepper to taste
• parsley
• 1 TBS fresh lemon juice
(says it serves 4, but it could be more or less depending on how much you eat, obviously)

In a medium-size saucepan, bring the stock to a simmer, reduce heat to low, and keep it at a simmer.

Heat the olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat until hot. Add the bell pepper, carrots, zucchini and garlic, and sauté for 5 minutes. Add the rice, and stir to coat with oil. Add the wine and simmer gently, stirring occasionally, until it has been absorbed.

Add 1/2 cup of the hot stock and cook, stirring constantly, until all the liquid has been absorbed. Adjust the heat as necessary to maintain a simmer. Continue cooking, adding stock 1/2 cup at a time and stirring until it is absorbed, until the rice is tender but still firm and the risotto is thick and creamy. This should take about 25 minutes (and you may not even need all of the stock.) Add salt and pepper, then add the parsley and lemon juice. Adjust the seasoning if necessary. Serve immediately.

(Note: I tend to refer to my World’s Healthiest Foods book in order to cook my foods. It tells you how to prepare and cook the foods so that you can do so without losing much, if any, of the nutrients that the oh-so-good food provides. It’s an amazing book. Pick it up or just visit their web site: whfoods.org But it’s an excellent resource for your kitchen!)

On Sunday, August 30, for lunch, I created a delicious wrap. I was craving healthy healthy ingredients, so I chose the following ingredients:

• flat-leaf spinach (tossed with the Mediterranean Dressing – see below)
• diced tomatoes
• zucchini (tossed with the Mediterranean Dressing – see below)
• black bean hummus
• whole wheat wrap

• Mediterranean Dressing tends to include: 3 TBS extra virgin olive oil, 1 tsp lemon juice,  a clove or 2 of garlic, sea salt and pepper to taste…but depends on the vegetable and your preference to determine exactly how much to include. I typically wing it.

First, I quick-boiled my flat-leaf spinach. (Why? because “quick-boiled” reduces the acids found in Spinach, brings out its mild, sweet, distinctive flavor, retains its bright color and maximizes its nutritional profile.) While the water was boiling, I prepared my spinach, by cutting the stems and rinsing well. Once the water was boiling, I boiled the spinach for EXACTLY ONE MINUTE (Don’t overcook!) You want to boil UNCOVERED as well, as doing this helps the acids escape into the air. Once a minute is up, take the spinach out of the water and press out the excess liquid with a fork. I tossed the Mediterranean Dressing ingredients together with the spinach.

To prepare the zucchini, I cut into cubes and “healthy-sautéed” them for  minutes. By “healthy-sautéed,” you heat up 3 TBS of vegetable (or chicken) broth. Once the broth steams, you add the zucchini for 3 minutes. (Don’t over cook this either! If it becomes translucent, then they’re overcooked.) Once that is done, I tossed the zucchini with the Mediterranean Dressing. (The book tells you how much of each, but I pretty much just wing the amount of those ingredients.) Seriously, with those ingredients tossed with your veggies, that creates the most yummy taste to go along with vegetables…and SO GOOD for you!

With my spinach and zucchini prepared, I put together my wrap. First adding the black bean hummus, then the spinach, then the zucchini and diced tomatoes…but obviously, you can choose the order

I apologize for having no image of my final wrap all ready to eat, but I’m sure you can imagine what it looked like and believe me, it was SO YUMMY and good for you!