Super Fancy Courgette Pasta with Lemon Basil Sauce

So, so fancy.

This recipe is perfect for when you want to make an impressive-looking (and tasty) dish without a whole lot of effort. Or, as in my case, if you want to have a super fancy date with someone who lives 3645 miles away, and you want a recipe that you both can follow without anyone stressing out over time management. 


What you will need for cooking: 

• A pan
• A food processor
• A vegetable peeler

Foodstuffs:

• 3-4 medium-sized courgettes (a.k.a. zucchini, but doesn't "courgette" sound so much fancier?), depending on your preferred sauce-to-noodle ratio
• 1/2 t olive oil
• 1 ripe avocado
• 2 handfuls of fresh basil, give or take (just how basily do you want it?)
• Juice of 1/2 a lemon
• 3 cloves garlic
• salt & pepper to taste
• hot water
• capers as a garnish (optional)
• if you have a zester, lemon zest as an additional garnish (optional)

Makes 2 servings- just enough for you and your glamorous date!

How can you make this dream a reality?

1) Make the noodles!* Peel your courgettes into noodly strips using your vegetable peeler. Stop at the seedy part.
2) If your pan is cast iron, go ahead and start heating it up to lowish-med.
2) Make the sauce! Put avocado, basil, lemon juice, and garlic in processor and pulse til chunky. Then start processing, adding hot water as you go to make it nice-n-saucy. Once it reaches the desired consistency, add salt and pepper to taste.
3) Cook the noodles! Heat oil until it's ready for some hot sauteing action, and then add your courgette noodles and a dash of salt. Stir constantly til they're soft and noodly. This won't take long at all.
4) Move noodles to a bowl, add sauce, stir gently to make sure each noodle gets his or her share of the sauciness. Divide into 2 bowls, and add your garnish.
5) Om nom nom!!!

So, there you have it! It's right around 240 calories/serving, with 8g protein. Pairs delightfully with chardonnay. If you don't have a super fancy date, you can just save the second serving for the next day. 2 days of being super fancy for you! This recipe does not lend itself to reheating, but it is quite tasty cold! In fact...


*To make this a cold dish from the get-go, make your sauce first (replacing the hot water with cool water) and put in the freezer. Then blanch your noodles rather than sauteing them. To do this, boil a pot of very salty water. While you're waiting for it to heat up, peel your courgettes into noodles and prepare a big bowl of cold water. Once the salt water is boiling, add the noodles. Leave them in the hot water for 1 minute, then pour into a colander to drain, and transfer immediately to the cold water and let them cool off. Drain well, add your sauce, and proceed as normal. Yum. Super fancy.

Kale & Chickpea Salad

Mmmm, know what my favorite vegetable is? It's kale. Not only is kale delicious and versatile, it's ridiculously good for you. I try try to have kale or spinach every day, and my go-to recipe for kale is to saute it. However, it is summer, summer is hot, and generally I don't want to be within 20 feet of a hot stove.  Spinach salads are fine and dandy (and I will post some recipes when I'm no longer sick and tired of spinach), but I wanted to find a way to incorporate raw kale into my diet. I've never particularly enjoyed the texture or taste of kale in its raw state, but friends, VINEGAR CHANGES EVERYTHING. Don't let anyone tell you differently. It softens up the kale and (I think) allows it to absorb the other flavors you mix in! Let's go!


What you will need for cooking: 

• A giant bowl
• A knife
• A food processor
• Hands

Foodstuffs:

• 1 big bunch of kale
• 1 can of chickpeas, rinsed and drained (or 3/4c dry chickpeas prepped using your desired method, if you've got time for that- though I have read that, unlike most canned vegetables, there is little nutritional difference between canned and home-prepped)
• 1 very small onion, quartered (or chopped, depending on what your food processor can handle)
• 3T apple cider vinegar (I use this one or Bragg's ACV- I think they have a noticeably better flavor than the kind that comes in $2 gallon jugs)
• 4 cloves garlic
• 1/2t sea salt
• 1/4c nutritional yeast
• 1 big handful of fresh basil
• 1T olive oil

Makes 10-12 big handfuls/servings.


How can you make this dream a reality?

1) Wash and drain the kale and tear into little pieces. I use a salad spinner, which really cuts the prep time. Place into giant bowl.

2) Combine all remaining ingredients except chickpeas in food processor and blend until smooth.

3) Add chickpeas to food processor and pulse a few times- you don't want a paste, just pulse until there are no whole chickpeas remaining.

4) Pour mixture over kale and massage in using your (clean) hands.

5) Om nom nom!!!

According to my calculations (based on what I found on the internet), each serving is right around 100 calories, give or take, with 6ish grams of protein. It's yummy and filling and good for you! It holds up well if kept in an airtight container, so I make a 4-quart Pyrex bowl of it and have it as part of my dinner (and sometimes lunch) for a week!

Savory Steel Cut Oatmeal

The other day, I wanted a savory breakfast, but my options were rather limited- being vegan, bacon and eggs was out (and also not on my list of desired breakfast foods). I can't have gluten, so no toast. Being allergic to soy, tofu scramble and tempeh bacon was also not an option. I could have stir-fried some bell peppers and onions, but that is incredibly boring, and if I had gone with that, I would certainly not be blogging about it.

I tossed around a few ideas- grits are fine, but I wanted more. Then a magical voice in my head (we'll call it Grumble, because I've always wanted to name something Grumble) whisper-yelled... OATMEAL. Oh yes. Oatmeal. STEEL CUT, friends. And guess what- Arrowhead Mills (God bless 'em) sells Gluten Free Steel Cut Oats! Let's do this!

What you will need for cooking: 

• A small skillet
• A small pot with a lid
• A sharp knife
• A cutting board
• Something with which to stir things
• A stove

Foodstuffs:

• 1/3c uncooked steel cut oats (+2/3 c water and a dash of salt)
• 1/4 small onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1/2 jalapeno, sliced
• 1/2t olive oil
• pinch of salt
• red pepper flakes (optional)
• 1T raw pumpkin seeds
• 1T natural peanut butter
• 1/4c sauerkraut
• 1t coconut aminos (or soy sauce/tamari)
• 1t nutritional yeast (optional)

Serves 1-2, depending on how hungry you are.

How can you make this dream a reality?
1) Start your oats a-cookin' as per the directions on the package (on mine, it says to boil 2/3c water with a dash o'salt, add 1/3c oats, reduce heat to low, cover and simmer til done, about 10 min, stirring occasionally) and if your skillet is cast iron, go ahead and fire it up at medium heat. If your skillet is not cast iron, you really ought to fix that.
2) Prep your onion, garlic, and jalapeno while the oats are cooking, adding the oil to the skillet when you're almost done. I like using 1/4 red and 1/4 green jalapeno to make it pretty. (Prettier, I should say... the dish is... not exactly beautiful. It's what's inside that counts, though, right guys?)
3) Your oats are probably done now. Don't burn them! Give 'em a good stir, remove from heat, and cover.
4) Make sure the oil is all hot and ready for you (hee hee) by throwing in a teeny bit of onion. Saute the vegetables in the oil with a pinch of salt (and the chili flakes if you're awesome and like everything spicy). Saute a few minutes, til onion is soft and translucent and browned a bit.
5)  Stir your vegetables into the oats and return your skillet to the burner. Cover the pot back up. Toast your pumpkin seeds til they're brownish, stirring constantly. Some of them will pop, but don't be afraid! They're just excited about being a part of this oatmeal!
6) Add the pumpkin seeds as soon as they're done (they will burn if you leave them in the skillet, silly). If you want to be fancy, set a few of them aside to use as a garnish.
7) Add everything else and stir. The kraut is going to lower the temp of the oatmeal a bit. Garnish with the rest of those pumpkin seeds, fancypants!
8) Om nom nom. Yummy!

I was quite pleased with how it turned out. If you're looking for a hearty, filling, protein-rich, stick-to-your-ribs kind of breakfast, give it a shot! When I have this for breakfast, I am not hungry again until lunch time. According to my calculations (and don't quote me on this, as the internet, where I got my information, is full of lies), it comes to about 410 calories and 17g of protein.