Greek Goulash

I was really surprised that I decided to make Rachael Ray’s greek goulash. The word goulash just sounded terrible. Plus, I’d never picked out an eggplant before & had no idea how to tell if it was ripe. I couldn’t believe that I didn’t have any garlic when I got home from the store. Rachael Ray would kill me for roughly attempting to substitute some garlic salt for multiple cloves of garlic. Also the lamb was some 15/85 mixture, so I didn’t use any extra virgin olive oil either (she would die if she knew… that EVOO is her favorite).

• 1 pound ground lamb
• random amount of pepper
• 1 teaspoon dried oregano
• 2 pinches ground cinnamon
• random amount of garlic salt
• 1 small eggplant, peeled and chopped into 1/4-inch dice
• 1 box frozen spinach, 10 ounces, defrosted and wrung dry in towel
• 1 (15-ounce) can tomato sauce
• handful pitted, chopped kalamata black olives
• handful reduced-fat crumbled feta cheese

I heated a large high sided skillet over medium-high heat with Pam cooking spray. When the pan was hot, I added the lamb, which I browned and crumbled for about 5 minutes. I seasoned the meat with garlic salt, pepper, oregano, cinnamon. I added the eggplant and cooked 6 to 7 minutes then stirred in spinach and tomato sauce. I simmered a few minutes and adjust seasonings.

I served with chopped olives & feta cheese over brown rice. It was a ton of flavor. My boyfriend really liked it, but I was on the fence. It was way better the next day when I cut up the eggplant & olives into smaller chunks before eating it, and sprinkled a little less cheese on it.

Margarita Shrimp Burrito

I went to the grocery store & got all irritated. They were out of a bunch of stuff I wanted, the lines were way too long, and some stuff wasn’t worth it because it wasn’t on sale. So instead of making Rachael Ray’s margarita fish soft tacos, I made just about the roughest interpretation ever:

• Flight size bottle of tequila
• 1 big squeeze (like a tablespoon?) from a plastic lime
• Approx 1 teaspoon each of “seasoned pepper” (black pepper, red bell pepper, sugar, spices*), paprika, celery salt, and cayenne pepper
• Precooked, frozen shrimp

I put it all in a pot & boiled for about 4 minutes. Then I shocked it in cold water & drained it. I put it in a "life balance" tortilla & started eating it, but I didn’t finish it. I didn’t really like it. I couldn’t really blame the recipe though because I didn’t follow it.

* Attention food label makers: "spices" was really vague. All the ingredients should have been listed. Thanks.

Lemon Shirataki Noodles

I thought Rachael Ray’s lemon chive noodles were going to be easy & tasty. I was going to eat them as a main dish. But I didn’t really consider a couple factors beforehand. I roughly substituted or omitted almost every ingredient, and I didn’t have all the tools.

• Pinch of salt and pepper
• 1 bag shirataki noodles
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tsp olive oil
• 1 lemon, zested and sliced
• Almost 1/4 cup soy sauce

I put it all in a pot & boiled for 5 minutes. I didn’t have a zester & my grater only had big holes, so at first I shaved off some lemon peel with a knife. But then I realized that I wasn’t about to cut it up into little pieces. So I just threw the shavings in the pot, left the rest of the skin on the lemons when I sliced them, & put the slices in the pot. I served it with one of my old kung pao chicken crock pot recipes:

• 1 pound skinless, boneless chicken thighs
• 2 tablespoons vegetable broth
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 2 tablespoons sesame oil (there wasn’t that much in the bottle, so not sure how much I actually used)
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch, dissolved in 2 tablespoons water
• 1 ounce hot chile paste
• 1 teaspoon distilled white vinegar (I misread the amount, so it was actually 1Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar)
• 2 teaspoons brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon chopped garlic
• 1 can green beans
• Throw it all in the crock pot & cook on high for 2 hours or low for 4

The chicken was excellent. The noodles were a little too bitter by themselves. Together, they didn’t look very good, but they tasted great (like most things that come from a crock pot). I’m glad I made something to go along with those noodles. The chicken would have been even better over rice though.

Stuffed Bell Pepper

I don’t usually blog about a recipe I already made in the past (the reason I haven’t been posting much lately), but yesterday I roughly made my leftover quinoa tabbouleh even better. I stuffed it in a bell pepper & baked it in the oven on 350 for about 40 minutes. I don’t remember where I even got that idea, but it was a good one. I almost bought an orange bell pepper, but it was 3x more expensive. The green one was on sale, it added a slight bitter bite, which made the stuffing taste sweeter.

Tuna and White Bean Shirataki

I made a rough version of Rachael Ray’s tuna and white bean pasta with gremolata bread crumbs recipe, specifically to eat as leftovers for lunch at work. I had already eaten dinner, didn’t have any leftovers from that, and thought this would be really fast to make before I went to bed.

• Pam cooking spray
• 1 teaspoon worcestershire
• 3 teaspoons garlic, finely chopped
• 1 lemon
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 bag shirataki noodles, cut into small pieces
• 1 (15-ounce) can white beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 teaspoon rosemary
• 1/4 cup vegetable broth
• 1 can tuna, drained
• 1 roma tomato, chopped

I heated a pot of water to a boil for the noodles. Then I did the stuff below in 8 to 10 minutes, so it was done when the shirataki noodles were done.

I sprayed Pam in a pan & heated over medium-high with worcestershire, garlic, juice of 1 lemon, crushed red pepper flakes, white beans, and rosemary. When it bubbled a bit, I added broth, flakes of tuna, and chunks of tomato. I stirred for 2 more minutes, then strained the noodles & dumped them in the pan too. I took a bite while it was hot, and the taste was questionable. Maybe it was odd because I didn’t use all the ingredients & I didn’t follow all the instructions. Then again, I re-read some of the reviews, and somebody called it “glop” so perhaps I wasn’t the only one. But when I ate it for lunch the next day, I didn’t heat it, I just ate it cold (I sit near the break room & I didn’t want to smell microwaved tuna all day long). It was better when it was cold.

Falafel

I watched Melissa d'Arabian make falafel, but I thought it should be so much easier. So I roughly followed the idea behind her recipe, but I didn’t really follow the directions.

• 1 can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/8 teaspoon ground turmeric
• 1/8 teaspoon curry powder (note to self: try cayenne next time)
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• forkful of greek yogurt

I mashed all the ingredients together with a fork. Then I rolled the mixture into 12 falafel balls. I baked them at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then rolled them over and baked for 10 more minutes. I broiled for 3 more minutes so they’d get crispy on top. I served them in a “life balance” tortilla with cucumbers, tomatoes, and a little sauce that I made from ½ cup greek yogurt and ½ teaspoon of dill. This was really tasty and pretty easy. I forgot to take a picture before I ate it, but I’ll take one of the leftovers.

Banana "Ice Cream" Fakeout

I saw Rachael Ray make banana "ice cream" fakeout on tv the other day. It looked really easy, I had bananas, so I cut up and froze one to give it a try. I didn’t have milk, but I had fat-free plain yogurt. I didn’t have Fage Total 0 like usual, but Oikos because I had shopped at a different store. Oikos was also greek yogurt, but it was higher in calories, higher in cholesterol, and it tasted less like sour cream. So I put the banana & a couple spoonfuls of yogurt in the blender. It was fine. It tasted roughly like a banana smoothie.