budgetsmartgirl

Posts Tagged ‘broccoli’

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It’s Meatless Monday-Broccoli and Cheese Fritters

In Meatless Mondays on January 21, 2013 at 4:15 pm

Keeping with the theme of using leftovers, I came up with this recipe that’s perfect for a Meatless Monday meal. It uses leftover mashed potatoes and broccoli and a few items that you’d find in the pantry.

2 cups each of mashed potatoes and broccoli
½ cup shredded sharp cheddar cheese
Good pinch of salt and pepper
1 teaspoon of garlic powder
1 teaspoon of onion powder
1 egg
Flour for coating
Breadcrumbs for coating (I used Panko style for extra crunch)
Oil for frying

This first step you can do by hand with a potato masher, but I used a food processor. Place the potatoes, broccoli, cheese and seasonings into the processor and mix together until everything well blended.
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I found it’s easier to do the next step if you tip the mixture into a bowl.
Roll about one and half to two tablespoons of the potato mixture into balls and place on a plate.
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Using threemore plates, on one place some flour, the second one, a beaten egg, and the last one the breadcrumbs.

Roll each ball into some flour and put them back on the plate.
Next step is to roll them in the beaten egg and then put them on their original plate again.
Once you’ve coated each of them start to roll them in the breadcrumbs.
Doing it this way helps makes for less of a mess and a better result.

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I know lots of people deep fry fritters but I’ve had good results with cooking them in a couple of inches of oil too. Have a plate lined with paper towels ready.

Heat the oil over medium high heat and then cook the fritters in batches of six. You’ll need to turn them after a few minutes, and then when they’re browned all over place them on the paper towel lined plate.

Continue until they’re all done and serve immediately.
I served these with some sun-dried tomato vinaigrette and they pair well with a salad and bread.

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I also tried a few of them cold and they were just as good. I think they’ll be a perfect meal served cold in the summer too.
Makes 24

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CSA Box-Week 7

In csa box on July 26, 2012 at 7:27 pm

I found lots of goodies in the CSA box last week including-

Beets, parsley, cherry tomatoes, red slicer tomatoes, carrots, onions, potatoes, broccoli and Asian eggplant.

Parsley, I dried this as soon as I got it home. The flat leaf variety is one of the best for drying and it only takes about an hour or so in my dehydrator.

You saw the dish I made using the broccoli. I usually just serve it as a side dish but it’s shown me a whole new way of cooking with it. It’s also a good example of when things get too routine and yes, boring when you’re on a budget, search online or look through some cookbooks and see what else you can make.

The beets…well I was trying to save them to pickle and can them but the other week I got a craving for roasted beets to put on a salad. They’re great cut into quarters, tossed with some olive oil, salt and pepper and roasted at about 375 degress for twenty minutes. The CSA flyer also suggested Googling chocolate beet cake. Anything with chocolate gets my attention and I found lots of recipes. I haven’t selected the one I want to make but when I do, I’ll let you know how it turned out. Anyone else used beets for making a chocolate cake? Not sure if it counts as one of the five fruit and vegetable requirements but I’m guessing they make a moist and naturally sweet treat.

The tomatoes…my favorite time of the year for these goodies. I use them on salads and toasted cheese sandwiches.

Carrots..these I steamed and tossed with some butter and a sprinking of the dill I’d dried from previous CSA boxes. Steaming them seems to bring out their natural sweetness.

Onions…another one of my favorite this time of the year as they’re sweeter and not so hard on the eyes when you chop them. I used these in just about every dish I made last week.

Potatoes…just steamed them and we ate them as is. I had a few leftover and not really enough for potato salad so I sauted them and had them with a veggie burger for lunch.

Asian eggplant…I first tried these last year at a local farmstand and have to say I prefer them to the regular ones. Only drawback is they cost more. However, if you make them the star of the meal I think it’s worth the extra money. Plus, they have more flavor so a little goes a long way. So how did I use them? Usually toward the end of August I make a big batch of ratatouille and freeze it for fall eating…one of my favorite treats after raking leaves. This time I decided to make some now and served it with some French bread. More about this in a future Meatless Monday feature.

This last week I’ve been making salsa and jam and canning everything. It got me thinking that while summer is the season most likely to be connected with preserving the harvest, it’s budgetwise to can, dry,  and freeze extras all year round. Definitely something I’ll keep in mind now.

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It’s Meatless Monday-Velvety Broccoli and Feta Pasta

In Meatless Mondays on July 23, 2012 at 3:23 pm

Each week in the CSA box there’s a flyer that contains two recipes. Last week I saw this one and thought it was a great way to use the broccoli. I checked out the site the recipe came from and it’s called thekitchn. Definitely worth visiting and browsing as it has lots of wonderful recipes and photos that make you feel hungry.

I used this sauce on spaghetti and it turned out perfectly. And what a good way to get children to eat something like broccoli that they usually hate.

http://www.thekitchn.com/recipe-velvety-broccoli-and-fe-46428

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It’s Meatless Monday-Cheese and Broccoli Pasta Pinwheels

In Meatless Mondays on May 14, 2012 at 2:46 pm

Sometimes you can fall into a cooking rut. Making the same old recipes over and over again. For me, vegetable lasagna often falls into that category. The other week I had half a box of lasagna pasta, a jar of pasta sauce, and half a container of cottage cheese. All of which got me thinking about what I could possibly make with them. Here’s what I came up with, a new twist on lasagna by using the pasta in a slightly different way. This dish is filling so it easily serves 4-6 people especially if you pair it with a salad. Leftovers also freeze well too.

7 strips of lasagna pasta…cook them, rinse them in cold water and then cut them in half lengthwise and set them aside

1 jar pasta sauce…your choice of flavor

1 cup cottage cheese

1 1/2 cups chopped cooked broccoli

3/4 cup breadcrumbs

salt and pepper and a dash of dried basil

1 egg

Sharp shredded cheese for topping

Spray a large casserole dish with non-stick spray. Place about 1/2 cup of the pasta sauce in the bottom and swirl it around so everything is covered.

In a mixing bowl add the cheese, broccoli, breadcrumbs, seasoning and egg and mix together.

Take a strip of lasagna and place just over one tablespoon of the cheese and broccoli mixture on the end and roll up. Place in the casserole dish.

Repeat until all the pasta and mixture is used.

Pour the rest of the sauce over the top of the pinwheels and sprinkle on some shredded cheese.

Cover the dish with foil and bake at 375 degrees for about 15-20 minutes until everything is warmed through and cheese has melted and is lightly golden brown.

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It’s Meatless Monday-Tofu and Peanut Noodles

In Meatless Mondays on March 26, 2012 at 2:56 pm

A package of ramen noodles is always inexpensive. Tofu won’t break the bank, and broccoli’s been on sale for the last month. Add them all up, throw in some peanuts and pantry standbys and you’ve got the perfect combination for a Meatless Monday meal.

2 packages ramen noodles, your choice of flavors. I used Oriental

1 16 ounce package of tofu

3 cups of broccoli florets

1/3 cup peanut butter

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/3 cup peanuts

Oil

As always I freeze and then defrost the tofu. Drain it well and cut it into bite size cubes and place in a glass dish and add some oil and the flavoring from the packages in the ramen noodles and mix until completely coated. Let this marinade for a few hours or all day if you like. Saute the cubes until crispy and set them aside.

Cook the noodles, drain them but reserve about 1/2- 3/4 cups of liquid.

Heat some oil in a saucepan and stir fry the broccoli until crisp tender. Add the tofu. Add the noodles and stir everything together and then gradually add the soy sauce, peanut butter and reserved water. Heat throughly and right before serving, top with peanuts.

As a garnish I also added some French’s fried onions

Serves 4

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It’s Meatless Monday-Broccoli and Mushroom Lasagna

In Meatless Mondays on March 19, 2012 at 1:51 pm

Sometimes I create meals around what’s on sale and what’s in the pantry. That’s how this broccoli and mushroom lasagna came about. It’s quick and easy. I used cottage cheese in place of ricotta cheese because it was also on sale and I think tastes just as good in this type of dish. Nice thing about this one is you can make it ahead of time and then just put it into the oven. It also freezes well and serves 8, so it goes a long way.

1 pound broccoli, washed and cooked until tender, break it into small florets

1 8 ounce box mushrooms…I used baby bellas as that’s what was on sale. Slice them and saute until slightly browned

9 slices of lasagna pasta, cook until tender

1 14 ounce jar of pasta sauce, your choice

8 ounce carton cottage cheese

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Spray a large cooking dish or pan with non stick spray. Pour some pasta sauce on the bottom and then layer with 3 sheets of the lasagna, top with a layer of mushrooms and broccoli, then a layer of pasta sauce, a layer of cottage cheese, and then finally some shredded cheese. Keep layering in this order until everything is used.

Cover in foil and bake for around 20 minutes in a 375 degree oven until everything is heated through, bubbly and cheese has melted and slightly browned.

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