Pot lucky

As it's late on a Friday night, I'm not going to go too far into details, but today I made a ton of food for a ton of people at my crisis hotline training. Yes, Sunday is a potluck.

I thought Martha's Roasted Zucchini and Tomato Pasta was the perfect, easy meal to make for a large number of people. How many people it feeds remains to be seen, but it was definitely straightforward to make.

Recipe (not my creation, but Martha's):

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 pounds zucchini, trimmed and cut into 1/2-inch pieces
• 1 1/2 pounds plum tomatoes, cut into 3/4-inch chunks
• 3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced
• 5 tablespoons olive oil
• 2 teaspoons coarse salt
• 1 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 pound long fusilli or linquine
• 1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, plus more for serving

Directions

1. Heat oven to 450 degrees. On rimmed baking sheet, toss zucchini, tomatoes, and garlic with 5 tablespoons oil; season with salt and pepper. Spread into single layer; roast until zucchini is lightly browned, 20 to 25 minutes.
   
2. In large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta until al dente, about 12 minutes. Drain pasta, reserving 1/2 cup cooking water. Return pasta to pot. Toss with remaining tablespoon oil; cover.
   
3. Pour reserved pasta water onto baking sheet of cooked vegetables; scrape with a wooden spoon to loosen browned bits. Stir vegetables and juices into pasta. Add parsley and Parmesan; toss to combine. Serve with more Parmesan.
   

Kosher quinoa

Quinoa is kosher for passover! Thank goodness, because I was running out of ideas. Plus, this gave me a way to use the dijon mustard dressing I had stored from a few nights ago.

I decided on Martha's Quinoa Salad with Toasted Almonds. Of course, I didn't have almonds so I made due with Walnuts. I added in some bell pepper and zucchini and I was good to go.

And it was miraculously yummy!

Recipe (courtesy of Marths Stewart): 

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup (3 ounces) quinoa
• 4 teaspoons olive oil
• 1 yellow bell pepper ribs and seeds discarded, cut into 1/2-inch chunks
• 2 garlic cloves minced
• 2 scallions thinly sliced
• 1/8 teaspoon red-pepper flakes
• 1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme plus more for garnish (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
• 1 medium zucchini halved lengthwise and sliced 1/2-inch thick
• 1 large celery stalk diced
• 1 lime halved

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toast almonds until crisp, lightly browned, and fragrant, about 7 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside. Meanwhile, place quinoa in a fine sieve and rinse under cold running water until the water runs clear; drain well.
   
2. In a medium saucepan, heat 2 teaspoons olive oil over medium heat. Add yellow pepper, garlic, scallions, and red-pepper flakes; cook until the pepper is crisp-tender, about 5 minutes.
   
3. Stir in quinoa, thyme, 1 cup water, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, reduce to a simmer, cover, and cook 7 minutes. Stir in zucchini, cover, and cook until quinoa is tender but not mushy, 5 to 8 minutes longer. Remove the saucepan from heat.
   
4. Stir in celery, almonds, and remaining 2 teaspoons oil, season with salt, and fluff with a fork. Cool to room temperature before packing into two containers and refrigerating. When ready to eat, squeeze lime over salad, if desired. Serve with additional lime wedge and thyme, if desired.
   

http://www.marthastewart.com/256026/quinoa-salad-with-toasted-almonds

Meatballs, kosher style

I have been craving meat like CRAZY lately. Keeping kosher means that my meat options are usually extremely limited. This means that I am essentially a vegetarian 90% of the time, which for someone who loves meat, kind of sucks.

Thankfully, I happened to have some kosher ground turkey meat on hand in the freezer to satisfy my craving. I decided that the best thing to do with said turkey was to make some meatballs! Because who doesn't love meatballs.

Naturally, Martha has an entire section of website devoted to meatball recipes. I decided on the Meatball Hero recipe, minus the hero part, because that requires bread and I'm pretty much off bread now.

I made the vegetables according to the instructions - cut up peppers, onion and zucchini and baked them in the oven with olive oil and oregano.

While this baked, I whipped up some turkey meatballs. For this aspect, I employed my own creativity. I took the ground turkey, added in a dash of egg white and oregano, and finished it off with flax seeds and whole wheat flour. I formed this mix into balls and placed these with the vegetables into the oven to cook for a bit.

Simple, but great, healthy comfort food for a random weekday. And there was plenty left over for lunches this week!

Recipe

Serves 2

• 1 onion, halved and sliced
• 1 yellow bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed, cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips
• 1 zucchini, halved crosswise then lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch-wide strips
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1/4 tablespoon dried oregano
• 2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• Coarse salt
• 10 Mini Meatballs
• 2 hero rolls, split

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. On a rimmed baking sheet, toss onion, bell pepper, and zucchini with oil and oregano. Bake 15 minutes.
2. Sprinkle vegetables with vinegar, and season with salt; toss to coat. Push vegetables to one side of pan; place meatballs on other end.
3. Bake until meatballs are cooked through and vegetables are tender, about 15 minutes. Serve in rolls.

Read more at Marthastewart.com: Meatball Hero - Martha Stewart Recipes