Buddha Bowls

This looked like a worthwhile vegetarian recipe to try!  Why Buddha?  Supposedly it's a heaping, bulging bowl that fills you up, also no animals were harmed in the making of the meal...

Recipe

Veggies
1 sweet potato, halved (or pre-chopped, not sure why not...)
1/2 red onion, sliced
1 bundle broccolini, stemmed and chopped
1-2 handfuls kale, chopped

Chickpeas
1 can chickpeas, drained, rinsed & patted dry
1 tsp cumin
3/4 tsp chili powder
3/4 tsp garlic powder
Optional: oregano, turmeric

Sauce
1/4 c tahini
1 tbsp maple syrup
juice of 1/2 lemon

Start roasting your sweets (skin side down) and onions at 400 degrees, drizzled with olive oil and salt and pepper.  After 10 minutes, flip your sweets and add the broccolini, drizzling again...  After another 10, add the kale and drizzle again...  Bake 5 more minutes until ready to go!

Meanwhile, toss the chickpeas with the seasonings and saute in some oil, turning up the heat to brown as needed.  Also mix together the sauce, adding hot water to make it thinner and easier to spread.  Combine and eat!

Notes

Lots of great ingredients in there!  If anything, I over-drizzled and that kind of took over.  It's easy enough to do and adjust as your ingredients dictate, just keep an eye on the roast timing!

Unballed Chicken with Lemon & Kale

Earmarked this recipe for allergy-friendly Boston cookings:

Recipe

2 shallots, minced
1 scallion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1 lb ground chicken
1 lemon, thinly sliced, seeds removed
2 c chicken broth
olive oil
salt & pepper

Heat a tbsp of oil in a pot or large, deep skillet.  Add one shallot, plus the scallion, garlic, and red pepper. Cook until soft and fragrant.  Next, add about a third of the chicken and cook through, breaking up and mixing in.  Transfer to a bowl, and mix in the remaining chicken with some salt and pepper.  Clump into about 8 (soft, loose) meatballs, 2+ inches each.  Wipe out your pot/skillet and heat another tbsp oil, brown your meatballs on all sides, and set them aside.  Cook the lemon with the remaining shallot a couple minutes, then add broth and meatballs back in.  Cover and simmer until meatballs cook through, then add kale and braise about 5 minutes until tender and bright green.  Season, divide, and serve.

Notes

As expected, with no binding agent (egg, bread crumbs, etc.), the meatballs ended up more as loose clumps that either fell apart as we put them in the skillet or would have as soon as we tried to pick them up and turn them.  So, we broke them up and ended up with more of a chili or soup.  And no regrets!  It simplified the process a bit - once the meat is browning, add the lemon, then broth, then kale.  And in the end it was still delicious!  The lemon tang goes great with the meat, and kale is always a nice element.

Potatoes & Kale

A nice and healthy way to enjoy some farmer's market bounty:

Recipe

1 lb medium red potatoes
4 c shredded kale
2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, chopped
salt & pepper

Boil the potatoes until tender, then (peel and) slice.  Heat the olive oil in a skillet and saute the onion until starting to brown.  Add the kale, toss until it wilts, and saute about 5 minutes.  Add the potatoes, heat, season, and serve.

Notes

As sides go, it's pretty hearty - if you're not too hungry, it might do for a light meal.  The picture from the original recipe seems to be more of a mashed potato configuration; mine was definitely chunkier:

Butternut Squash Bread Pudding

One of these days I'll get to enjoy a Philly cheesesteak when visiting the City of Brotherly Love.  For now, though, it's all about finding good vegetarian options.  Cooking in this time, we gave this recipe a try (definitely the one I found most promising here (but more dishes worth taking a look at!)).

The Recipe

2 lbs butternut squash cut into small pieces - about 1-2 medium to large squashes
1 baguette, torn into 1 inch pieces
7 eggs
2 1/4 cups half & half
6 tbsp white wine
1 1/2 tsp dijon mustard
1 cup shallots, chopped - about 4 large
2 bunches kale, stems removed and chopped/torn
8 oz extra sharp cheddar, grated
olive oil, salt

Peel, de-seed and chop your butternut squash, toss with some olive oil and bake at 400 degrees until soft, about 20-30 minutes (stir occasionally).  Meanwhile, whisk together your egg, half & half, wine, mustard, and a little salt, and fold in the bread chunks.  Let this sit about half an hour (yes, stir occasionally).

Catch your breath, then chop your shallots, and wash and prep your kale.  Saute the shallots for a few minutes with some oil in a very large saucepan.  Then add your kale and stir, saute, cover/uncover about 5 minutes until wilting but still bright green.  Oh yeah, and grate your cheese.

Once those four elements are all ready, turn the oven down to 350 and butter a large casserole dish.  Start with a bottom layer that goes (half of the) bread, kale, butternut squash, then cheese; repeat with the second half of each.  Cover with tin foil and bake for 20 minutes, then uncover and cook until the inside layers of bread are set - about another 20-30 minutes.  Then put it under the broiler a few minutes for a toasty finish.

The Outcome

You definitely want a team working on this one so you can get the squash and bread elements going at the same time.  We vaguely 1.5'ed everything.  No complaints about the balance; if anything, I'd do it again with a little less bread and more squash and kale.  But it's hard to go wrong when you have a nice chunk on your plate and you can carve out a bite wherever looks good!  And the recipe's cooking time may be on the low side - we waited until the inside was clearly set.  The top was crusty but still juicy; the bottom was a bit further along, but it just tasted like Yorkshire pudding...

That left us with a delicious meal, not to mention one of the most filling vegetarian dishes I've ever had.  The egg-soaked bread on its own gives you plenty of starch and protein, and butternut squash and kale are both hearty ingredients too.

Oh yeah, if vegetarianism isn't your thing (or your fellow diners'), maybe crisp up some bacon before the shallot saute?  Some chicken would go well in there too.

Meatloaf!

Tough day at work, redeemed by a solid Knicks win, a hearty carnivorous feast, and the dulcet stylings of the eponymous vocalist:

I was never a big meatloaf fan as a kid (goes for a lot of stuff on here...), but was definitely intrigued by this take on it.  (Have a look if you don't mind really gratuitous profanity.  If you do, no worries; key takeaways below.)  Why go off a recipe when you have license to combine your choice of ground meats and extras?  I'd just preface by saying that meatloaf will be a process of ongoing experimentation.  It's a dish that lends itself to whatever you feel like, have on hand, etc., even after you find formulas that work really well.

OK, to sum up the key meatloaf principles:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Start with your ground meats - I used a mix of chuck and sirloin, really wanted veal, and supposedly even pork or turkey can be solid components.
• Add more ingredients!  They recommend a cup of add-ins per pound of meat.  Most of that should be bread crumbs.  Onions are solid; I want to try other veggies like kale, jalapeno, carrot, etc.
• For chemistry reasons, I assume, add a "glug" or two of milk and a (whisked) egg or two.
• Season (maybe a couple tsps?) - salt and pepper; mustard and thyme (what I used); red/cayenne pepper; garlic and parmesan; the possibilities are not endless, but near to it...
• Get your mitts in there and mix roughly - no need to be a perfectionist.
• Instead of squeezing into a bread pan, lump it into a vague loaf shape and cook in a deep pan or dish so that it's not confined by the sides.  The goal is to get a delicious crust on as much surface area as possible.
• Cook for 60-90 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 160 (I actually used a meat thermometer for the first time).
• Squirt some ketchup on top, and cook another 15 minutes or so.
• Serve on toast and/or with mashed potatoes and veggies, and definitely more ketchup - no way around it, it's the perfect complement to the blob of meat.

That's a lot of steps, but it's not that complicated and turned out very well in my first try (with my signature onion, mustard, and thyme, side of zucchini).  More variations to come!

Crockpot Apple Ginger Pork

I first tried this recipe a little while back at the convergence of a few themes of my cooking experimentation to that point - paleo recipes from CrossFit, getting use out of my crockpot, and trying to incorporate ginger.  This isn't my favorite crockpot pork roast preparation, but it's a solid recipe with distinctive sweet-but-not-too-sweet flavors.

The Recipe

2 lb pork roast
1 onion, sliced
2 apples, sliced
2/3 cup broth
1 tbsp honey
2 tbsp ginger, grated
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp pepper
1 garlic cloves, smashed
1 bay leaf

It's a crockpot recipe.  Put it all in there and cook for like 6-8 hours on high.

Notes

Because of my much lamented mini-crockpot I really had to cut back on the onion and apple just to fit everything.  And I used vegetable broth as the liquid base.  Otherwise, not much to improve on!  I would point out that the recipe doesn't specify a type of apple, but since it gets kind of mushed into the gravy it's not a big deal - I just lean toward something sweet versus tart.

Here's the finished product - that crispy green on the side is a batch of kale chips:

Crockpot Chile Pork

I went through a phase where I was ducking out of work briefly to set up a crockpot meal about once a week - don't know why I stopped!  Aside from the Johnson family classic, this crockpot pork and peppers was maybe the biggest success.  A lot of peppers and spices in there - too many to fit into my kiddie crockpot, unfortunately.  But even cutting back gives the meat plenty of flavor and a great sauce.

The Recipe

2 lb pork roast
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
3 4-oz cans of diced chiles
2-3 jalapenos, diced
2 cups broth
1 8-oz can of diced tomatoes
1 tsp each of oregano, salt, pepper
1/2 tsp each of cumin, sage, paprika, cayenne pepper

Put your pork in the crockpot, then veggies, then chiles and tomatoes, then spices, then broth.  Cook on low 6-8 hours.

Outcome

Because of said mini-crockpot, I had to stretch the pork for a couple people.  With some tortilla, papaya and kale chips, made a very nice meal:

Honey Mustard Chicken

Trying to get a lot of my favorites and reliable stand-by's out of the way, so time now for Honey Mustard Chicken.  Although, to be fair, I don't really follow that recipe too closely.  Yeah, it was helpful to use their cooking guidelines: 350 degrees, about 30 minutes, flip and another 10-15.  And I try to use equal parts mustard and honey as they prescribe.  But I ignore their spice additions (maybe if they called for some thyme that would get my attention).  I also prefer using skinless, boneless thighs when ol' Morton Williams has 'em.

In any case, it's a straightforward but tasty dish, and it's worth keeping the two main sauce ingredients (honey and mustard, if you're paying attention) around.  Here's it with some classic kale chips:

And here it is accompanied by roasted Brussels sprouts with pepperoni.  This concept (not even really a recipe) deserves its own paragraph.  It's so simple - just half a sprout with a pepperoni on top.  Amazing, though:

Baked Breaded Pork Chops

After trying out a number of pork chop recipes, here's the one I've gone back to by far the most.  Breading and baking the chops just seems to be much simpler and harder to mess up than pan-searing it.  Instead of stressing about not over- or undercooking your chops, you have a little bit of fun getting your hands dirty breading it, then just let it sit in the oven some 40 minutes. OK to get specific:

The Recipe

pork chops
butter crackers (1-2 servings per chop)
1 egg
butter
garlic powder, salt and pepper

Beat the egg(s); crush the crackers and sprinkle in the seasonings and anything else you want to mix in.  Dip the chops in egg, then coat with the cracker mixture.  Put in a baking dish with pats of butter - a quarter cup for two chops.  Cover and bake at 375 degrees for 35-45 minutes.

Thoughts

I've experimented with different substitutions and additions to the breading - Corn Flakes, pretzels, Goldfish, Parmesan.  But it's hard to top the way the butter crackers absorb the juices and, yes, butter.  If you do want to change it up, I recommend mixing equal parts crushed butter cracker and breading element of choice.

Another advantage of the hands-off baking approach is that, while it's cooking, you have plenty of time to prepare a vegetable or other side, e.g., roasted asparagus, Parmesan zucchini, or sauteed kale.

Pretzel pork with roast asparagus