Our roommate Matt went away for the weekend and brought home a new meal idea.  He and his lady Jane made it together first, then Joe and I were lucky to try it and help with the second batch!  We ate it for dinner; it’s filling enough to qualify as a meal but light enough to treat it as a snack. It’s a healthy pita pizza!

Ingredients :: chopped walnuts, goat cheese, arugula, mushrooms, walnut oil, balsamic vinegar, pita, thyme, salt & pepper.

Preheat oven to 400°.

The amount of ingredients you need will depend on how many pitas you want to make.  We made 6 and measured everything by eye, dividing the ingredients into 6 portions.

Place goat cheese in a bowl and mix with walnuts.  We used about a 3 inch log of cheese and about a cup of walnuts.  Don’t bother measuring it out, just pour some walnuts in, mix up and add more until there’s enough.

Slice mushrooms and lightly sauté in olive oil.  We used about a half pack of baby bellas.  I think most other types of mushrooms would work nicely in this dish as well.  Use whatever you have and however much is necessary.

Prepare your thyme by removing the leaves from the stem and lightly chopping. We used 1-2 tablespoon across the 6 pitas; adjust according to how strong you prefer the flavor.

Place your pitas on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil. Sprinkle your chopped thyme and divide mushrooms on to the pita.

Spread the walnut goat cheese and sprinkle lightly with fresh black pepper. Place in to the oven and cook it for 10-15 minutes.  Keep an eye on it, you’ll want to remove it from the oven once the cheese has softened and is slightly browned.

As it is cooking prepare the arugula.  Toss it with walnut oil, balsamic vinegar, and a dash of kosher salt.  Splash these ingredients on, you don’t need much, taste as you go.  Avoid using too much oil, you want it to feel fresh and light but have a hint of flavor with this simple dressing.

Once the pita pizza is done cooking remove it from the oven, serve it on a plate, and top it with your arugula salad.

Huevos Rancheros can be served in many different forms. It seems as though every restaurant has their own way of preparing essentially the same meal.  This is because there are many ways to make this concept delicious! The staple ingredients of Huevos Rancheros include tortilla, eggs, sauce/salsa, avocado and beans. Joe and I make this meal frequently and have about 4 or 5 different “preferred” ways to do it. This particular style is referred to “huevos rancheros, B-style” or “huevos rancher-B’s”  (soon to come- Huevos Rancher-Joe’s and Eggs Arhar Daal).

B- style rancheros require crispy corn tostadas to be stacked vertically. We use 2 fried eggs, shredded cheese (usually cheddar), homemade salsa, avocado, black beans & spinach.   If you didn’t make your own salsa use another delicious salsa and add some diced tomatoes to freshen it up.

Ingredients : Tostadas, black beans, spinach, 2 eggs, salsa, cheese, avocado,

Begin with preparing your black beans. Drain one can of beans and add frozen or fresh spinach, warm up. Spinach is good for you, add as much as you’d like.  We also like to add a bit of cayenne pepper or black pepper, cumin, and a dash of cinnamon for some extra spice.   Other ingredients to consider are mushrooms, corn, artichoke hearts, and edamame.

Next get your plate ready with one tostada and some cheese on it.   Begin frying your eggs (we fry four at once for two dishes), once eggs are flipped put your first layer of beans & spinach on the tostada.  Place one egg on the first layer of beans.   Add another tostada and repeat with another layer of beans, the 2nd egg and another sprinkle of cheese.  Top it off with some salsa and avocado.  Serve with a glass of orange juice and eat with a fork & knife… or if you’re like me you prefer a Spork for almost everything.

The other night Joe and I decided that we would try to make a “Mediterranean” style meal. We wanted it to be relatively easy and fresh – so we chose to prepare pita, hummus, & tabbouleh.

Pita seemed like it would be fairly easy to create.  We have experimented with a few different types of flat bread before, but this was our first attempt at making pita – it won’t be our last! Unfortunately, I would not say it was a great success this time; it was definitely edible and pretty good, but not quite good enough to share the internet recipe that we followed with you. However, it turned out to be a great meal anyway as the improv Hummus and Tabbouleh made up for it!

Hummus is a pretty easy dip to figure out; the basic ingredients are chickpeas, tahini, lemon, garlic, oil, & salt.  It seems like a welcoming palette for additional flavors.  We added a few things to the mix.

Hummus Ingredients ::

2 cans chick peas
1 cup edamame
3-4 cloves garlic
1 jalapeño
1/3 cup tahini
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup olive oil
2 lemons
water to thin

• Use a blender to combine the ingredients.  Chop and seed the jalapeño before blending, include seeds if you want more heat.  If the mixture is too thick add a small amount of water to thin out to the desired consistency.  You can also choose to add more lemon or oil but be sure to taste it as you add more flavor (and liquid).  Taste as you go; make it as spicy, as salty, or as sour as you like it! Use our recipe as a guide.

Basic ingredients of tabbouleh include – bulgur, parsley, mint, tomato, oil, & lemon.  It doesn’t seem too difficult to make that combination taste good right?  This would be our first experience of working with bulgur.  Here is the mixture we came up with.

Tabbouleh Ingredients ::

½ cup dry bulgur wheat
1 cup or 1 bundle chopped cilantro
½+ cup mint
3 garlic cloves
2 cucumbers diced (1 ½ cups)
3 plum tomatoes diced (1+ cup)
1 lemon juiced (3 tablespoons)
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

• Boil 1 cup of water and add a ½ cup of dry bulgur wheat, cover and steep for about a half hour.  In the meantime, finely chop the cilantro & mint, crush the garlic, and carefully dice the tomato & cucumber.  Once bulgar is soft, drain excess water. In a large bowl combine all ingredients and mix.

• You can use the tabbouleh and hummus in many ways; we assembled this meal as an open faced sandwich, layering each on top of the pita.  Of course it’s always great as a dip or stuffed into a pocket pita.  Also, FYI – Joe made an omelet with leftover tabbouleh in the morning!  More possibilities to be discovered… enjoy.

This Tofu recipe is inspired from the Grit and my friend Rebekka who first introduced me to this meal. Tofu and Broccoli!  I have been eating it regularly ever since the first time I tried it!  Delicious, healthy, and simple.  The focus of this meal is on the tofu and while broccoli naturally goes well with it, it’s just as easy to modify the recipe to include any other vegetable you desire. We often make this tofu with other vegetables including asparagus, kale, and mushrooms.

The key ingredient to making this tofu amazing is nutritional yeast.  It is often used in vegan dishes as a cheese substitute as well as a nutritional boost. It has a nutty flavor and comes in flake form. I really enjoy the flavor it adds and love finding new ways to use it; there are a lot of great vegan recipes that I can’t wait to try. Not only is it great to taste, it is also packed with the B-complex vitamins and it’s a complete protein — an easy way to get some extra nutrients while adding a hardy and unique taste to your meal. Nutritional yeast can be purchased at your local natural food store in the bulk section.

Ingredients: 1 block of tofu, soy sauce, nutritional yeast, vegetable of choice.

• Cut and prepare the vegetables, you will cook them at the same time as the tofu.  You can choose to cook them anyway you prefer. Because we eat this meal so often we like to switch it up each time but generally we like to steam our broccoli, fry our asparagus, or steam & fry our kale with mushrooms.

• Use one block of firm tofu, drain and soak up as much excess water as possible.  I usually just press it with Viva Paper Towels a few times.  Cut block to ½ inch squares.  In a large frying pan, pour a small amount (about a tablespoon) of oil, turn heat on med-high and toss tofu in.  Flip your tofu cubes in the pan to help spread the oil around.  Allow pieces to sit on one side for a bit, turn/flip every minute or so until your cubes are golden and somewhat crispy.  Splash in some soy sauce; this will contribute to a salty flavor as well as a darker color.  I never measure. The amount used will depend on how salty you like it — but don’t over do it! Fry it up for another minute or so, eliminate heat and any extra moisture that might exist in the pan.  Toss in nutritional yeast. I don’t measure this either, though it probably comes out to about ¼ cup. It should act like a breading; too much nutritional yeast and or too much moisture will result in a gummy texture, so add to the tofu gradually.  Spoon over the NY flakes and stir it up. You want it to be coated with nutritional yeast, not swimming in it.   Serve fresh with vegetables and eat this simple meal often!