Category Archives: lunch & dinner

Pizza Margherita

Straight from the most recent Bon Appetit! We used Trader Joes out of the bag whole wheat dough… probably should have rolled it a bit thinner, but it’s so sticky!

Ingredients:

1 13.8-ounce tube refrigerated pizza dough
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 12-ounce bag cherry tomatoes, stemmed
1 garlic clove, pressed
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds, coarsely crushed in plastic bag
1/4 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
2 4-ounce balls fresh mozzarella in water
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil leaves plus small leaves for garnish

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Pot Roast

Ingredients:

1 whole (4 To 5 Pounds) Chuck Roast
2 Tablespoons Olive Oil
2 whole Onions
6 whole Carrots
Salt To Taste
Pepper To Taste
1 cup Red Wine (optional, You Can Use Beef Broth Instead)
2 cups To 3 Cups Beef Stock
3 sprigs Fresh Thyme
3 sprigs Fresh Rosemary


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Julia Child’s French Onion Soup

 

Julia says it best: “Fat gives things flavor! The only time to eat diet food is while you’re waiting for the steak to cook.”

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup olive oil
3 lbs onions, halved and sliced thin
2 cloves garlic, minced very fine
1 teaspoon granulated sugar
2 cups red wine
6 cups beef stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper
12 toasted slices of French baguettes, 1/2 inch thick
1 cup swiss cheese, grated
3 cups parmesan cheese, grated

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Halibut Cabbage Rolls

A little intensive on the prep the first time you  do it, but so worth the effort. Great, savory taste… we all sat around raving while we were eating!

Ingredients:

Ice cubes
6 large savoy cabbage leaves
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature, divided
1/4 cup drained capers, divided
2 tablespoons chopped fresh Italian parsley
Coarse kosher salt
6 4-ounce halibut fillets

Get the whole step by step process on BonAppetit.com!

Broccoli Leek Soup

Ingredients

3 tablespoons butter

3 cups chopped leeks (white and pale green parts only; about 3 large)

6 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme, divided

1 1/4 pounds broccoli crowns, chopped (about 8 generous cups)

4 cups (or more) homemade chicken stock

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Chicken Barley Soup

Adapted from Nourishing Traditions cookbook, using what we had on hand in the kitchen

Ingredients:

3 cups homemade chicken stock
3 cups filtered water
1 cup cooked barley
1 onion, finely chopped
5-6 stalks celery, chopped
2 cups cooked chicken

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Lavender Lamb Chops

Ingredients:

1/4 cup molasses
1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
2 tablespoons walnut oil
1/2 cup finely chopped white onion
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons culinary lavender
8 lamb chops
sea salt & ground pepper

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Split Pea Soup

Want to know the (not-so) secret ingredient? Bacon! Seriously… best split pea soup we’ve ever had!

Ingredients:

1 cup split peas
3 cups water
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 slices bacon
1 stem celery
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon celery flakes
1 tablespoon parsley flakes

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Bison Burgers

Ingredients:

1 pound of ground bison
lemon pepper
salt
oregano

 

Instructions:

Knead together the ground bison and spices (to taste) in a bowl
Form into four patties
Grill 5 – 7 minutes on each side
Pile high with toppings and enjoy!
For a slow-carb version, wrap your burger in lettuce or collard greens 

Moroccan Chicken Minestrone

This is Tami’s version of Minestrone Soup, with Moroccan influenced spices and  chunks of chicken. You can use any ratio of veggies you happen to have on hand. This is just what we used when we took the pictures.

Ingredients:

Onion
Carrots
Celery
Zucchini
Fresh Tomatoes
Canned Skinned Tomatoes
Tomato Paste
Chicken

Equal Parts:
Cumin
Coriander
Turmeric
Cinnamon

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Lamb Burgers

A yummy variation on your standard hamburger. Taken straight from the allrecipes.com site, but we used sprouted buns instead of pita bread.

Ingredients:

1 pound ground lamb
2 tablespoons chopped fresh mint leaves
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 tablespoons chopped fresh oregano
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon sherry
1 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1 teaspoon molasses
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

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Homemade Peanut Butter

Not only did we make homemade peanut butter, but we did a comparison of the texture of the peanut butters in the Quisinart  and in this crazy industrial juicer we have have. The good news for those that don’t have an industrial juicer… we didn’t notice that much difference!

Ingredients & Instructions:

Peanuts
Some sort of oil… peanut oil, sunflower oil
Salt

Mix the peanuts in your Quisinart first, until they get to a really thick peanut paste-like consistency
Add salt to taste and oil until you get the texture you want!
Enjoy!


Esalen Meatloaf

An Esalen favorite, in our book! The word “basic” doesn’t give this meatloaf enough credit, but that’s what it is, a nice basic meatloaf. Honestly, when we want meatloaf we don’t want something that’s trying to be more than it is. Meatloaf is comfort food. This is the ultimate recipe.

Ingredients:

2 teaspoons olive oil
1 medium onion, finely diced
1 stalk diced celery
1 pound ground beef
1 pound ground pork (the original recipe called for 2 pounds ground beef, we like the depth the mixture gives)
2 eggs
1/4 cup Worcestershire sauce
1 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon sea salt
1 tablespoon ground pepper
1 can tomato sauce

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Cottage Pie with Mashed Yams

We found this yummy recipe on the Nourished Kitchen blog and just had to try it (with our own additions and modifications, of course)!

Ingredients:

1 pound grass-fed ground beef
1 cup beef stock
1/3 cup cream
1 stick butter
1 large onion, chopped
1+ cup frozen peas
1+ cup diced carrots
3 medium sized yams or sweet potatoes
2 cups shredded cheese
1 tablespoon arrowroot powder
1 tablespoon finely chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon dried thyme
2 tablespoon tomato paste
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
sea salt and crushed black pepper to taste

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Mac & Cheese

This recipe came from the Macaroni & Cheese cookbook, which is pretty hilarious because the only requirements are literally that the recipe contain macaroni AND cheese. So recipes like Truffled Timbales with Zucchini Pesto, Lemon-Scented Pasta Pudding and Tuna Noodle Casserole are in this book because they have… you guessed it… both cheese and macaroni! We’ll be trying out a couple more recipes, especially a couple of the baked versions.

This recipe is SUPER easy and SUPER quick. You can literally prep everything in the time it take for your pot was water to come to a boil.

Ingredients:

12 ounces smallish macaroni (elbows or pennette)
2 cloves chopped garlic (we minced 4 cloves)
1 shallot, chopped (we clearly used a red onion)
10-12 ounces shredded Gruyere, Emmenthal or Appenzeller (we used about 16 ounces total of all three!)
4 ounces of creme fraiche (we used heavy whipping cream)
A grating of nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
2 – 3 tablespoons butter


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Sourdough Dinner Rolls

Our first recipe from food.com. It went really well with meatloaf, though not very many of the rolls actually made it to the table! They were pretty easy for homemade bread too… we might just make them again to go with tomorrow’s turkey!

Ingredients:

1 cup sourdough starter
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 tablespoon yeast
1 tablespoon salt
2 tablespoons white sugar OR 2 tablespoons brown sugar OR sucanat
2 tablespoons olive oil
3 -4 cups flour (we used half whole wheat, half bread flour)
butter, melted

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Butternut (or any other Squash) Soup

We found this recipe at Wise Food Ways, but found it too bland initially so we added in our own little concoction of garlic and rosemary to give it a little more oomph! Other variations could include pumpkin, or any other squash you have on hand.

Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
2-3 leeks, sliced into rounds
1 butternut squash (seeded, baked four about an hour, peeled and cut into chunks)
1 bouquet garni (an herb bundle tied with string) including any or all of the following:
a bay leaf, a sprig of thyme, a sprig of sage, a sprig of parsley, a rosemary stem
Chicken stock
1 cup yogurt, buttermilk, half-and-half, or whole milk (or 3/4 cup cream or crème fraiche)
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: minced garlic and chopped fresh rosemary


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Esalen Smoked Salmon Spanakopita

Another Esalen success! This recipe turned out so well we literally sat around the table talking about how good it was, while we were eating it. Yeah. It’s that good! (Thanks for taking pictures Laurie!)

Ingredients:

1 medium onion, diced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 pounds fresh spinach (or 2 frozen packages) stemmed and chopped
1 1/2 cups crumbled feta
1/2 cup ricotta cheese
2 teaspoons minced garlic
2 eggs
1 teaspoon chopped fresh dill
1/4 cayenne pepper
2 teaspoons sea salt
1/2 bunch parsley, finely chopped
1/2 pound filo dough
1/2 cup melted butter
1/2 pound smoked salmon

 

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Curried Chicken Salad

We got this recipe from the Nourishing Traditions cookbook (no surprise) and made a couple modifications (also no surprise). The original ingredients are listed below, with our modifications or substitutions in italics and parenthesis.

Ingredients

shredded chicken meat from one whole chicken
1 red pepper, diced (we left this out)
1 bunch green onions, finely chopped (we used a whole red onion instead)
3-4 stalks celery, diced
1/2 cup crispy almond slivers, toasted (we totally leave this out when we don’t have any on hand)
2 cups mayonaise (1 cup mayo plus 2 tablespoons curry powder)
2 tomatoes, sliced for garnish
1 avocado sliced for garnish
bread or pita to eat it on!

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Peter’s Minestrone Soup

Monday is Peter’s night to cook, so he used up all the vegetables in the fridge to make his “world-famous” (his words) Minestrone Soup! You can use whatever ratio of veggies you happen to have on hand, or use our list of ingredients below as a general guideline. The main key is to cook all the vegetables individually. That and add lots of tomatoes. Oh, and don’t forget to season and taste as you go along!

Ingredients:

4 sticks of celery
4 carrots
Bunch of broccoli
A handful of green beans
1 can of white beans
1 onion
4 cloves of garlic
4 cups of chicken stock (to start)
1 can of tomato paste
3 blanched tomatoes
4 chopped and crushed tomatoes
2 cups of pasta
2 tablespoons of chopped parsley
2 tablespoons of chopped fresh oregano & 1 teaspoon dried oregano
Salt & Pepper to taste

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Poblano White Chili & Rajas

We found this recipe on www.vegetariantimes.com, but for the life of us we can’t get back to it or find it again.

Ingredients:

3 cups cooked white beans OR 2 cans white beans, drained and rinsed
1 recipe rajas
2 cups stock (vegetarian or chicken)
2 tablespoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 cup fresh (or frozen) corn kernels
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1 tablespoon lime juice
1/4 cup whole milk
3 ounces goat cheese
1/4 cup roasted pumpkin seeds

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Esalen Provençal Veggie Turnover

Another amazing recipe from the Esalen Cookbook! Savor this with minestrone soup or a greek salad! If you can’t find fresh herbs, you can use dried but make sure to reduce the quantities by half!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes (either the type in olive oil pat dry, or the totally dry type)
1 medium onion
2 bell peppers
1 medium zucchini
olive oil
2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil
2 teaspoons chopped fresh thyme
2 teaspoons chopped fresh rosemary
2 teaspoons chopped fresh oregano
2 teaspoons chopped fresh sage
2.5 cups grated parmesan cheese
1-2 boxes of puff pastry (we had enough filling for 12 turnovers)

 

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Esalen Artichoke, Yam & Blue Cheese Scones

Here’s our declaration of the week: we’re going to cook our way through the Esalen Cookbook!

It’s not quite as ambitious as the Julia Child cookbook, but it should be a yummy challenge! So far we love everything we’ve tried from the cookbook and are excited to sample everything! Just a note: while these are healthy, mouth-watering recipes they are not generally quick; so we’ll make sure to mix it up with some less time-intense ideas!

We hope you enjoy our culinary journey, we sure will!!!


Ingredients:

1 large yellow onion
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 medium yams
8 ounces artichoke hearts in water
1 3/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1.5 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
pinch cayenne pepper
1 cup unsalted butter
2.5 cups Asiago, grated
1/2 pound crumbled blue cheese
2 tablespoons chopped sage


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