Meatless Monday - Spinach and Chickpea Pasta Toss

I have really been trying to find some GOOD vegetarian meals that will satisfy my meat eating family and  bring them around to the Meatless Monday idea.  What better way to do that than to incorporate their favorite ingredients?

My kids are huge fans of pasta and creamy sauces. The only problem is that  several of the recipes I have tried for meatless pasta dishes are not very hearty.  I started thinking of maybe finding something with beans when I ran across this dish on Foodnetwork.com. Emeril Lagasse's recipes for Pasta with chickpeas and spinach seemed like a great place to start.

I tweaked the recipe a bit to fit more into what my kids would like and lightened it up a bit to make myself feel better.

Here are the changes I made.

Ingredients


1 pound fusilli or penne
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/4 cups chopped red bell peppers
1 cup chopped yellow onions
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 1/4 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
2 cups vegetable stock, or canned vegetable broth
1 (15-ounce) can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
16 ounces fresh baby spinach, rinsed well and stems removed
1/2 cup grated asiago

Directions

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add the pasta and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes. Drain well.



Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat the oil over medium-high heat. Add the bell peppers and onions, and cook, stirring, until soft, about 4 minutes. Add the garlic, red pepper flakes, salt and pepper, and cook for 1 minute. Add a bit of stock and stir to deglaze the pan. Add the rest of the vegetable stock and chickpeas and bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to low and simmer until the chickpeas are tender, about 5 minutes, and almost all the broth is gone. Crush the peas lightly with the back of a spoon against the side of the pot. Add the spinach and cook until wilted, about 2 minutes. Add the cooked pasta and toss well to coat. Adjust seasoning, to taste.






Add the cheese and toss to combine.





Divide the pasta among serving plates and serve immediately.


The meal was very creamy and flavorful. The kids didn't miss the meat or the extra cream in the sauce. I will be making this one again!!

BBQ and Beans- Korean Style

I decided to go a bit out of my comfort zone and try something new. That was one of my resolutions after all. Being from Texas, we love traditional bbq with all the trimming. In fact, the Poprik family bbq has become and annual affair. Nothing says home cooking like slow cooked meat with a big side of beans. Why not try it with a bit of a different flair? Last week I made Spicy Korean Pork bbq over sweet rice with Seasoned Spinach and Black Soy Beans.

The Spicy Korean BBq was made with thin slices of pork tenderloin, marinated and cooked in a spicy red sauce. This sauce had a bit of kick since it was made with sweet chili sauce, but it wasn't overpowering with spice. The thinly sliced pork tenderloin was marinated for about 8 hours and then cooked in the sauce.

The big surprise of this meal was the black soy beans. These protein packed little guys were hard to find, but definitely worth the effort. My son who NEVER eats beans loved them. He even asked for a second serving- that's totally unheard of for beans in this house. The season spinach was also a nice surprise. The spinach was only blanched for a few seconds, so it stayed a vibrant green and was just beautiful. I will definitely make this meal the next time we are searching for BBQ with a bit of flair!

Spicy Korean Pork Barbecue

Serves 6

1 ½ pounds pork tenderloin cut into ¼ inch slices

3 tbls brown sugar

3 tbls soy sauce

2 ¼ tbls Thai chili paste

¾ tsp ground ginger

1.5 tsp dark sesame oil

½ tsp crushed red pepper flakes

2 tsp chopped garlic

Combine the pork with the remaining ingredients in a 1 gallon freezer bag and freeze.

Thaw and prepare grill. Place a grilling basket on a grill rack. Remove the pork from the bag and discard the marinade. Place the pork on the grilling baskets and grill for 5 minutes turning frequently or until you reach the desired doneness.

Korean Sweet Black Beans (Kongjaban) Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 cup black soy beans, washed

• 1 cup water

• 1/2 cup soy sauce

• 1/2 cup sugar

• 1 Tbsp sesame oil

• 1 tsp sesame seeds (optional)

Preparation:

1. In a small pot, bring water and beans to a boil and cook for 15 minutes.

2. Turn down heat to medium-low and add soy sauce, sugar, and sesame oil.

3. Stir to combine and continue to cook for 10-15 minutes.

4. If adding seeds, take pot off of heat and stir in sesame seeds.

Pork Loin    Superfoods

Chicken Stuffed with whatever- because yummy food inside yummy food is good.

Christmas Eve was a little different for us this year. Usually we have a house full of out of town family for dinner and the menu is planned out weeks in advance. This year it was just my family of five and found myself not even thinking about dinner until 4 o'clock that afternoon.

After scrounging around in the fridge, I managed to come up with some ingredients that I thought would be excellent together:

Sun dried tomato and mozzarella Laughing Cow spreadable cheese
A partial wedge of Smoked Gouda
a handful of baby spinach leaves
a tube of crescent rolls
3 chicken breasts

First, I cut a pocket in the chicken and spread the Laughing Cow cheese.

Then I added several slices of the Smoked Gouda to the pocket and seasoned the outside with freshly ground salt and pepper.

I seared the chicken in a hot pan.

This is when I realized that I had forgotten the spinach so I quickly stuffed it in.

After the chicken breasts were browned on each side, I rolled them in a rectangle of the crescent roll dough and baked them for 25 minutes.

The finished product looked good, tasted great and everyone loved it!

This was really simple and used up several ingredients from my fridge. I would definitely have to say that stuffing yummy food inside other yummy food is always good, especially when you wrap it in dough. next time, I think I need to figure out how to add bacon!

Chicken Breast- صدور الدجاج