Onion Cheese Omelet and Watermelon Smoothie

Michael made dinner tonight and it smelled too good to consider leaving the table to get my camera with all the delicious aromas wafting up at me. So, no picture. But it was very tasty.

Heat 1 tbsp oil and saute 1 onion, chopped, until it's golden brown. Salt vigorously. In a separate bowl, whisk up 4 eggs. Salt and pepper them vigorously again. Pour them in the pan with the cooked onion and do the omelet thing. When you're done, top with 3/4 cup grated cheese (we had some fun rosemary-crusted something in our cheese drawer) and then fold in half.

Michael and I split the omelet and each half came to slightly under 400 calories. I will say, though, that it was heavy. Also really, really good from all the cheese and salt, but man. I am not used to such high-fat dinners. Anyway, it was way good but just for the sake of my gall bladder, I'd probably make it with half as much cheese and some steamed veggies instead next time.

We had an old watermelon that had been sitting on our counter for weeks, and it wasn't rotten or anything, but it had gotten pretty mealy--way too mealy to eat and enjoy. So I whirred up a quarter of it with some other stuff and made a really delicious smoothie! Hooray!

Watermelon smoothie

3-4 cups watermelon
1 banana (we used a frozen one for maximum coldness)
1 cup ice cubes
1 cup milk (or, since we had no milk, cow or otherwise, I improvised with 1/2 cup half-and-half and 1/2 cup watermelon. Half and two quarters?)

Blend it all up and drink it. I think we calculated that even with the half-and-half, 1 serving (out of 4 servings) of this comes out to around 120 calories or something. Very reasonable! I just got some coconut milk and I'm going to make more of it with that. Yum.

Baked Falafel

Falafel! Very good, but not always very healthy. I found a recipe for baking them, and it worked great! They were really delicious. 

Baked Falafel

1 can chickpeas
3 tbsp olive oil
1/3 cup chopped red onion
1/2 cup fresh parsley (we just left this out and it was fine)
1/2 cup fresh cilantro
1 garlic scape (what we used) or 3 cloves of garlic
1 tsp ground cumin
salt and pepper

Form into 12 slightly flattened golf-ball-sized patties and bake at 375 for 13 min, then flip and bake for another 13 min.

Before blending everything, it looked like a little terrarium in the food processor.

    

The little blobs waiting for the oven.

And the finished falafels!

Michael just ate a plateful plain (very tasty) and I wrapped mine up in a lettuce leaf with a little of the light chive-mayo spread I sometimes make. It would also be really good in a pita pocket with fresh, crisp veggies, or slathered in hummus (you know, for the true chickpea fan), or topping a fresh chopped salad.

Next time I will definitely make a double or triple batch and freeze a bunch of these little guys before baking. If you're cleaning the food processor anyway, you might as well. The only thing that stopped me from doing so this time is that our can opener was broken and even opening one can was pretty laborious.

Lemon Parmesan Pasta with Sauteed Green Beans and Garlic Scapes

The combination of cooked vegetables, pasta, and some seasonings/sauce is a really classic standby for me. It only takes the creativity of looking in your fridge but there's pretty much endless variations.

Step 1: Boil a package of pasta (I've been getting more into whole wheat pasta lately, but whatever floats your boat).
Step 2: Heat up a teaspoon of oil in a big skillet and toss in whatever veggies you have on hand. We had garlic scapes and green beans. Saute until everything's soft and browned.
Step 3: Drain the pasta. Put a little in each bowl and toss with a capful of lemon juice, salt, pepper, and a sprinkle of Parmesan.
Step 4: Top with the sauteed veggies and a little more Parmesan.

I thought this was a pretty good, filling dinner. The garlic scapes that were SUPER potent raw mellowed out a lot with the cooking—they almost even tasted like asparagus once they were done.

Chilled Avocado Basil Soup

We made this chilled avocado basil soup with a languishing avocado that was lying around getting squishy and all the overgrowth from our huge basil plant.

Um, just for future reference, it was yucko. Admittedly, I've never been a real big avocado fan (although I don't hate them or anything), and also, I used green beans instead of radishes. But still, I could barely choke down a few bites before I was done. Michael finished his bowl, but he agreed that it was not very good. It probably would have been a lot yummier to make a quick basil dressing to go over cubed avocado or something. Alas.

Oregano Butter Zucchini

!!!!!!! New favorite zucchini dish! I've done a lot of nice things to zucchini--roasting, grilling, sauteeing, steaming, and with the right seasonings, it always turns out great. These, however, are AMAZING. There is something so wonderful about using butter instead of olive oil, and the way the zucchini and onion get soft and sweet, and the tender freshness of fresh oregano instead of dried. Soo good.

• 1 Tbsp butter
• 1/2 onion, chopped
• 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 Tbsp FRESH oregano, chopped
• 3-4 zucchini, chopped into half-moon slices
• salt and pepper to taste

Saute the onion in butter until it is starting to soften, then add the garlic and oregano and saute for a minute or two, until it's all fragrant and yummy. Then add the zucchini, about a third of a cup of water, and the salt and pepper, and cover. Cook until everything's tender.

The butter and the fresh oregano work so well with this semi-stewed way of cooking it. New favorite side dish!

 We enjoyed it with our Olive Garden leftovers (btw, best strategy there: fill up on salad and breadsticks (make sure you ask for a breadsticks refill), eat about a fourth or a third of your entree, and get enough leftovers for at least two more meals; boom).

Black Bean Tacos with Cilantro Lime Rice

Pretty quick dinner. For the taco filling, I microwaved two cans of black beans with a packet of taco seasoning. It actually made a really tasty and easy taco filling! I will have to remember that little trick. Then we topped with salsa, cheese, green onion, and avocado.

For the rice side dish, I followed this recipe for cilantro lime rice, except that I used lemon juice instead of lime juice (use what you got) and I chopped up the cilantro and stuff and stirred it in instead of trying to make a pureed dressing in the blender, which is what the recipe actually calls for. Anyway, it was a pretty good way to use up the cilantro from our herb garden.

Garlic Scape Pesto and Skillet Tortilla Pesto Pizza

These, friends, are garlic scapes. They are weird, alien vegetables that happen when you chop off the tops of garlic bulbs. They are very potently garlicky, but they come in this bright green, curly/stalky form. I always read about how much people love them in the spring, so I picked some up at the farmer's market last week.

And, this, friends, is what I made with them. Well, first I made a garlic scape pesto. Recipe from A Farmer in the Dell.

1 bunch of garlic scapes (about 7 scapes)
1 bunch of fresh basil (about 1/3 cup)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1/4 cup walnuts or almonds
3 tbsp lemon juice1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Blend it all up in the food processor and put it on stuff.

This makes an intensely garlicky pesto. It will give you very strong breath if you eat it raw. It is also very delicious and it calms down a lot if it gets cooked (like on top of these little pizzas, or in the microwave). We made little pizzas in a skillet with a tortilla, a spoonful of the garlic scape pesto, a sprinkle of mozzarella, and a handful of chopped snow peas. Just put them in the skillet (covered) long enough for the bottom to get a little crispy and the cheese to melt. These are a really, really good and easy dinner, and depending on the size of your tortilla and how much cheese you use (we used 6-inchers and about two tbsp cheese), about 150-200 calories each. I loved them and I plan on making a lot more variations on skillet tortilla pizzas.