Easy Entrees

Another appliance I cannot live without is my Wok. A stainless steel wok. I use it nearly every meal, certainly everyday and it's not a very expensive item. I do not wash my wok (or cast iron pans) with soap because it ruins the seasoning. I wash it in very hot water, then rub oil into it with a paper tower. It makes a nice nonstick surface. I always heat the pan up before I put food in it, so I suppose that helps sterilize it.


Pasta Primavera
In an olive oil-drizzled wok, stir-fry whatever veggies you like. Yesterday when I made this I sauted red onion, garlic, red pepper, a few garlic cloves, zucchini and carrots. Throw in some good salt and fresh pepper, basil & tarragon (or whatever you like). If you want some meat in this start with some diced chicken breasts/onion/garlic first, then add the rest of the veggies one or two at a time. Stir all of this into some Tinkyada brown rice penne pasta (or whichever kind you prefer) and drizzle a little more olive oil in. Taste to see if it needs more seasoning. Sometimes I add my homemade vinaigrette (...Basics post) when I want it more zingy.  I added orange slices on the side and dinner was served!


Chicken-Garlic Pasta  (inspired by my friend Bonnie)
Staute some onion, several cloves minced/sliced garlic and some diced chicken breasts in the wok with olive oil (s & p). After chicken is cooked, add several handfuls of fresh spinach and stir till spinach is wilted down. Stir into pasta and drizzle with more olive oil; salt if needed. Top with pine nuts.

Spanish Stew
I use my enamel-coated cast iron pan for this and it melds the flavors together beautifully, but probably any good baking dish would work.  Chop a variety of veggies into chunks. Today I used: 1 red onion, 1 red pepper, 4 sliced carrots, 3 diced yellow squash (little ones), four sliced garlic cloves, 4 diced roma tomatoes and a couple handfuls of snipped green beans. Generously salt and pepper, drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with brown sugar, pour in 1/4 c. sherry, and stir it all together. Add a couple sprigs of rosemary on top. Cover and bake for 45 minutes at 400 degrees. After you pull it out of the oven, remove the rosemary sprigs and add one can of garbanzo beans. Stir altogether and serve with croutons (recipe below).

Croutons
Cut stale bread into cubes (or pull them out of your frig if you've frozen some) and put them on a baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and garlic powder. Bake at 400 until they're brown and crispy. Check often, they burn quickly!

Tip of the Day:  Don't throw away anything. Food is way too expensive in both time and money to waste. ALL baking crumbs of any kind are pure gold. Religiously freeze them once they start getting stale. Stale bread outsides can be cut into cubes and frozen for croutons. The inside part of the bread crumbled and frozen for use as breading. All desert baked goods (cookies, brownies, cakes) should be crumbled or blended into crumbs and frozen with a "sweet crumb" label. These replace graham crackers for pie crusts and crisp toppings. It doesn't matter what they were baked as originally, they'll be good.  Stale bread can also be cubed and dried for dressing, but beware. You practically have to dry it into pottery if you don't want it to become glop instead of dressing. Gluten free bread disintegrates if it's not really hard before you mix and bake it.

Honey Mustard Chicken  (Which actually has no honey because I like brown sugar better, but it sounds nicer :0)   Skin chicken thighs and place in a baking dish. Squirt mustard (be careful, buy it at a health food store without junk or white vinegar which is corn) on each piece of chicken and spread it around with the back of a spoon. Sprinkle with brown sugar, then a thick coating of bread crumbs. Press the bread crumbs lightly into the mustard-sugar. Sprinkle (lots of sprinkling in this recipe) with salt, pepper, and sweet basil (I actually use Thai basil which is heavenly, but if you don't grow it yourself, you probably won't find it). Drizzle the whole thing with olive oil. Serve with Jasmine rice. I also like roasted sweet potatoes (The Roasted Vegetable post) and stir fried broccoli (below) with it.

Stir-Fried Broccoli
Cut the broccoli into little pieces. Add it to a hot, olive oil-drizzled wok. Sprinkle a fair amount of water on since broccoli needs a little moisture to cook. Add some celtic sea salt (or regular).

Seasoned Baked Chicken
This is similar to the roasted chickens in the grocery store (which all have corn ingredients). Put chicken pieces in a baking dish. Sprinkle generously with salt, pepper, paprika, onion powder,  garlic powder and turmeric (turmeric gives it a very distinctive taste; sometimes I leave it out if I want a milder flavor).  Bake at 350 or 400 till it is browned and tender, about 45 minutes.