let me just start this out by saying it is amazing how recipes that are filled with veggies can turn fattening in a hurry. in a real hurry. even if it’s good fat. it’s a lot of fat. i learned my lesson with my fitness pal (now that i’m attempting to log things again) that it really pays to check the content of what you are eating before you assume it’s super healthy. you know that they say about assuming? it makes an ass out of your ass. or was it an ass out of u and me? either way don’t check your calorie content/fat content/carbs…. you’ll make an ass out of yourself. literally.
(can you tell i’ve been learning this lately?)
it’s mid august and now my garden is exploding with eggplants, tomatoes, peppers, flowers and other squash. and i’m on a mission to not waste any of it. i’ve been going to the grocery stores/markets at least every other day because what i have been making at night greatly depends on what i’ve been picking this morning. and as much time as it takes, it’s very satisfying. what doesn’t go in my dinner goes in to the ball jars for later this winter. (it’s like i’m laura ingalls wilder. i just to wrestle a bear or something to get some real credibility)
i’ve been scouring sites like cooking lite, bon appetite and the food network because you can search by veggie or meat. i also love love love the blog half baked harvest and while her meals are mostly splurges, they’re amazing and use up a TON of produce which is good.
here are some of the meals i’ve made in the last week or so. (note you can enter recipe links into my fitness pal to save and log everything!)
i have been having great luck with my eggplant this year. which is a bit of a trade off because last year i did awful with it and awesome with zucchini. they’ve traded places this year. i’ve had two zucchinis. anyways… i loved that this recipe used almond coconut milk and almond butter for the curry sauce. heads up this one is still a splurge (high calorie) but treat it as a treat it’s delightful. i found that a lot of curry recipes lack in flavor because they are cooked “quick” and not stewed. this one was perfection.
i broke out my “vegetti” monday night for my first attempt at zucchini noodles. joe was greatly disappointed to find that vegetti is in fact a vegetable spiralizer. to his credit though, it does sound naughty. we made a creamy ricotta zucchini noodle dish that used up the last of my zucchini and fist fulls of tomatoes. this was an awesome and quick weeknight dinner recipe (once you get the hang of the vegetti). the sauce is so simple with garlic, skim milk and skim ricottta. it’s amazing the complex flavors you can build with simple ingredients. this recipe made a lot and was not very good the second day just a heads up. zucchini noodles tend to not hold their shape overnight. i will say though, the zucchini noodles were amazing as a replacement for actual pasta. i don’t want to swap them out every time of course but even joe thought they really complemented the dish!
last night we made another curry dish because i picked another pound a half of baby eggplant. eggplant and indian currys go so good together! i made a few adjustments to this recipe. i forgot to add the greek yogurt (didn’t even need it to thicken the sauce), tripled the amount of curry powder (i like it hot an flavorful) and then i increased the amount of eggplant by .5 lbs because i didn’t want it to go to waste. it was really good! basically the sauce is water and curry. can’t beat that! joe did ask me though how much longer we’ll be vegetarians. i promised him meat (for dinner) this weekend. i’m not leaving it out on purpose i swear it’s just kind of worked out that way! what are some of your favorite veggie heavy recipes?
