STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

Teresa · Kate Spade

food rut

Sibeski · Dooney & Bourke

This is my favorite and it's supa-easy smile but not very technical...

It's best when left to marinate for a day or so but most of the time I can't wait that long.
1 can black beans - drained and rinsed
1 green bell pepper - diced
1/2 white onion - diced
3 tbsp Balsamic Vinegar
Chili Powder to taste - I just shake the bottle a couple of times
Sugar to taste - I just shake my dispenser once

Mix together and enjoy :)
Oh - I've also added a can of corn and roma tomatoes.

ETA: spelling errors (eeps)

-- Edited by Sibeski on Wednesday 18th of November 2009 05:33:14 PM

Elle · Hermes

Ginger paste is really handy for making peanut sauce, which is great on udon noodles w/veggies or for making thai pizza

!

Soup. Soup is easy, it only takes one pot, you can make a thousand different variations (chili; black bean; lentil and barley; pasta e fagioli; corn chowder; split pea; on and on and on) and it's great for leftovers. You can make most in the crock pot, too.

Burritos/tacos/fajitas - If you have the stuff for one of these, you likely have the stuff to make the others too. I've also been doing 'naked' burritos, and putting my beans/rice/toppings onto a salad and making a quick dressing out of lime juice, sour cream, and salsa. It tastes just like Chipotle!

I used to plan meals and go buy the ingredients, but I found it so annoying to either be missing one random thing for a recipe or end up with one random thing I'd bought for a recipe that I'd never use again. Now I just buy the same stuff (a good assortment, but still) and everything I cook comes from those same ingredients. As long as the items you get are versatile, you can use them in almost anything .....

Kelly · Hermes

whenever I buy something random and don't know how to use it again, I go to allrecipes.com. If you do the ingredient search you can just type in "ginger paste" or whatever and it will spit out a list of recipes that use that as an ingredient. It's a good way to use up stuff you have and to discover new recipes.

And I second Elle's soup suggestion! When I make soup (I don't even have a crock pot, although I'm sure that would make it all better - I just use a big pot on the stove) I make a ton, then section off into tupperware containers and freeze. If you make soup once or twice a week for a few weeks, then you can spend the next few weeks taking it easy. Just take a tupperware out of the freezer and put it in the fridge in the morning before you leave for work/school and when you get home it'll probably be thawed enough that the microwave can do the rest. Then you don't have to make a big pot of soup and get stuck eating the same thing 5 nights in a row!

-- Edited by Kelly on Wednesday 18th of November 2009 06:13:17 PM

Natalie23 · Nine West

here are some of my dinner go tos:

stir fry (and you get to use the ginger paste ;)) - just keep some frozen chicken breast and things like pea pods, broccoli, mushrooms, peppers and canned sprouts and water chestnuts on hand and mix it up with whatever asiany sauce you want (I keep soy and fish sauce in the house and sometimes just add some orange juice, garlic, ginger and thicken it, sometimes I use sauces you buy premade at the store)

steamed fish- I take salmon or tilapia and throw it in tin foil with lemons, mustard, garlic, salt and whatever else sounds good and bake in the foil. Just steam some veggies and your done!

i also just get really creative with pasta so I dont get too sick of it.

I also usually plan four or five meals before I go grocery shopping just so I do have everything I need on hand.

Teresa · Kate Spade

thank you, ladies!!! kelly, i will definitely have to try that search feature on allrecipes.com.

Aurora · Marc Jacobs

I would love to have more meatless dishes in my life but my husband insists that a meal is not a meal without it and I don't have the patience to make 2 dishes. Sigh.

One recipe I love to make and want to make again is super easy. Basically you boil cheese ravioli and then you make a cheesy marinara sauce to go over it. I think you just mix 1/2 cup or 1 cup of ricotta with the same measurement of marinara sauce. Top it all off with fresh chopped basil. Super tasty and quick to make

Here's the official recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/ravioli-with-creamy-tomato-sauce-recipe/index.html

Suasoria · Chanel

I third soup, and also chili. I think you should add some beans to your life! When I was single I too made big one-pot meals, usually on Sundays, and ate it throughout the week.

This looks fantastic - I can't wait to try it
http://delicioustv.com/2007/06/black-bean-and-fire-roasted-tomato-soup/

Here's a lentil soup recipe that's pretty much how I make it
http://www.theppk.com/recipes/dbrecipes/index.php?RecipeID=105

Hummus is another easy bean-based dish if you have a food processor, and something you can make in quantity. We eat it a lot for lunch. We'll slice cucumber, bell pepper, onion, tomato, onion, and mushrooms, smear hummus on pita triangles, and top them with the fresh raw veggies.

And ditto burritos or "Mexican pizza" - one of my DH's specialties. He smears canned refried black or pinto beans on a tortilla, puts salsa and assorted veggies on top, and bakes it until the tortilla is crispy around the edges.

Speaking of pizza, if you have a Trader Joe's nearby, they have bags of pizza dough that you roll out yourself. This is a surprisingly quick meal...roll, add sauce, sliced veggies, bake, done.

Keep in mind you can also pre-chop most vegetables and keep them in the fridge until you need them. Also good if you want a quick salad - bag o' salad greens, handfuls of cut-up veggies, handful of walnuts or pumpkin or sunflower seeds, dressing from a bottle.

Ginger paste: add a little soy sauce and serve over your stir-fried or steamed veggies. In fact I used some tonight - I mixed it with some peanut oil, cardamom and allspice, coated some chunked-up sweet potatoes in the mizture, and roasted them. Personally I like having tons of random condiments/seasonings on hand. To me it means I have options! variety! yumminess!

Rice or grains are another thing you can make a batch of and keep in the fridge. Brown rice and quinoa are really nutritious - so that would be something you could have as a side dish or underneath your veggies, chili, etc.

Do you ever go for veggie burgers, mock meats, stuff like that? Not the greatest veg food in the world, but sometimes it's handy to have in the freezer for a night when you really don't feel like doing much.

I won't recommend tofu, but there are several ways it can be prepared that would make you say 'oh, yum!'

greendiamond · Marc Jacobs

My new favorite is butternut squash pasta sauce. Costco sells a 2 pack that is awesome (I'm sure you can find soemthing similar at a grocery store.). Here are 2 ideas for it....

Add some enchilada sauce to the butternut squash sauce and pour it over enchiladas made with whole wheat tortillas, a little shredded cheese, black beans, green onion and cilantro. Bake until bubbly.

Pour the sauce over ravioli and add steamed asparagus, steamed portabellos, green onion, apple slices.

Also, if you have any of those sandwhich thins, smear a little hummus on them and add your favorite chopped veggies and pop in the over for about 10 minutes. they make a really yummy pizza, and since they are so small, you can make a few different flavors and see what you like best on them. I like zuchini, summer squash, green onion and red peppers.

Boots · Gucci

Kelly wrote:

whenever I buy something random and don't know how to use it again, I go to allrecipes.com. If you do the ingredient search you can just type in "ginger paste" or whatever and it will spit out a list of recipes that use that as an ingredient. It's a good way to use up stuff you have and to discover new recipes.

And I second Elle's soup suggestion! When I make soup (I don't even have a crock pot, although I'm sure that would make it all better - I just use a big pot on the stove) I make a ton, then section off into tupperware containers and freeze. If you make soup once or twice a week for a few weeks, then you can spend the next few weeks taking it easy. Just take a tupperware out of the freezer and put it in the fridge in the morning before you leave for work/school and when you get home it'll probably be thawed enough that the microwave can do the rest. Then you don't have to make a big pot of soup and get stuck eating the same thing 5 nights in a row!

-- Edited by Kelly on Wednesday 18th of November 2009 06:13:17 PM

I fully second everything Kelly, Su & Elle said. I love the ingredient search at allrecipes.com. And soup/veggie stew is a great option. I like to make a big pot of things like that and freeze them in individual portions using ziplock sandwich bags. That way you have a nice, healthy meal on a weeknight without having to cook.

I like to share ingredients with my SIL or a friend if it's something I don't use all that often. It makes buying something like saffron threads or masala spices a better buy.

We all get stuck in food ruts from time to time. I'm most definitely not a vegetarian, but I don't have a lot of time to cook on a weeknight, so I eat way too many sandwiches for dinner. On weekends I really like to experiment with cooking. Trying one new dish a week really helps with the rut feeling.

Here's a link to Cooking Light's 5 ingredient vegetarian page.

http://www.cookinglight.com/food/quick-healthy/heathy-dinners-5-ingredients-vegetarian-00400000052017/

The butternut risotto looks really good. aww

-- Edited by Boots on Thursday 19th of November 2009 11:38:40 AM

JackieO527 · Dooney & Bourke

One thing I love is Blue Cheese and Red Pepper Stuffed Zucchini. I hollow out the zuch, then bake the canoe upside down to let some of the moisture come out, then I mix blue cheese and Peppers, and stuff the zuch, then bake it a little longer with a tiny bit of bread crumbs.

I also make zucchini lasagna, I uses zucchini as the pasta.

ILoveChoo · Hermes

soup is awesome
I've also been loving veggie calzones lately (buy premade pizza dough and fill with eggplant, peppers, and caramelized onion)
I recently made a brussels sprout and cranberry dish that I could eat for the rest of my life an be happy
Also shredded brussles tossed with pasta, pecans, and a quick blue cheese sauce (melt down some blue cheese in a little bit of milk)

pollyjean23 · Marc Jacobs

These are not all vegetarian, but very good. I have made 3 of them so far (the polenta-veggie bake, the cod, and the chilaquiles).

www.eatingwell.com/recipes_menus/collections/healthy_casserole_recipes

Next, I'm going to try:

www.eatingwell.com/recipes/cauliflower_red_lentil_curry.html

Lentils are jammed with protein! I buy dried ones in the bulk food section.

-- Edited by pollyjean23 on Sunday 22nd of November 2009 10:32:21 AM

Teresa · Kate Spade

I've tried out a few of these...they are great! I REALLY need to get back on the health wagon. I've been feeling so crappy lately; low energy, low self-esteem, etc. Ugh. I need to start working out and eating better! Thanks ladies. Maybe we should start doing menus again? It personally helps me get some inspiration! And Suasoria, its the texture of tofu, not the flavor, that wigs me out. I wish I could eat it though. I like the Morningstar "Spicy Black Bean Burgers", but even those are iffy. I enjoy lentils, quinoa, black, navy, soy, and pinto beans, I just don't know what to do with them other than throw them in soup.

Kelly · Hermes

collegegirl5858 wrote:

Maybe we should start doing menus again? It personally helps me get some inspiration!

Oooo I forgot about these! I would be up for that, especially since now I cook a lot more than I used to

Elle · Hermes

I'd be up for menus again too - I'm out of school for awhile in a couple weeks and I can feel my desire to cook something other than beans and rice again coming back!

Collegegirl - I had a hard time with tofu for quite awhile too. I found a style I like though (Nigari - I get it at New Seasons, which is like Whole Foods) that fixed any textural issues for me, and now I really like it. I can't stand tofu that's really eggy in texture

. As for beans, I find them to be one of the only things that truly stand in for meat in some instances. I through refried black beans on fajitas, whole black or pintos into burrito filling, any of them into chili, white kidney beans into pasta dishes, etc. And there's always hummus! I love Ina Garten's recipe on Food Network, because it's really flavorful and it's fat free

.

Have you ever perused Recipezaar? That's my favorite place to get ideas. They have a recipe sifter tool where you can search by meal type, season, ingredient, etc and there's both a vegetarian filter and a vegan filter. Then you can sort the recipes that come up by rating, and read reviews of what other people have had issues with in the recipe or have liked or have changed. It's a great jumping off point!

-- Edited by Elle on Tuesday 24th of November 2009 10:48:39 AM