One Pan and One Pan Only

I can't believe I've never done this before.  This was way too easy and saved me from dirtying extra dishes.  

I was cooking up some brown rice (a big batch of 3 cups of uncooked brown rice in the pot) and had cauliflower and red pepper in the fridge as possible veggies to include in my dinner.  I was feeling pretty lazy and decided to just chop the veggies up smaller than I normally would and throw them in the pot of rice.  I just waited until the rice was just barely done and the water was mostly absorbed.  Then I shut off the fire, stirred in the chopped veggies and replaced the lid.  10 minutes later the veggies were perfectly tender and the rice was done.

I drizzled this combo in a flax oil-lemon olive oil-tamari-umeboshi plum vinegar dressing.  Excellent side dish- but I ate a big bowl for my dinner.  It could use some grilled tofu on top or something, though.  I imagine this would work with nearly any vegetable -carrots, cabbage, sweet potato, broccoli- you'd just have to cut it smaller or larger (or shred it) to make sure it gets fully cooked.

Anyhow, I love that the veggies could cook in the same pan as the rice.  And the leftover veggie-spiked brown rice can go in burritos, stir fries, etc.  Am I the last person on earth to try this?

Cauliflower, Two Ways

Cauliflower isn't my favorite vegetable of all time, but I always enjoy it. It's a vegetable that I look at in the store and think, "Nah, I'll get something more colorful". But really, it's so freaking good and good for me that I should eat it every day! I got a free head of cauliflower from the co-op a few days ago and brought it home...only to find out that the one cauliflower plant in the garden has suddenly produced the most beautiful head in the world (see above)! So I have to eat this free one so that I can harvest the one from the garden before it's past its prime.

Last night I was home by myself (amazing!) and wanted a really healthy dinner- Perfect time to use the cauliflower. I heated a bit of olive oil in a skillet and added chopped cauliflower, broccoli from the garden, and a carrot. I let that cook just until it was starting to lose its crunch and added some leftover brown rice, 1/2 a jar of marinated artichoke hearts, some thyme, and salt and pepper. I just let that heat through. Then I mixed up about 1/2 cup plain Wildwood soy yogurt with a tablespoon of Veganaise, and a couple of tablespoons of the artichoke marinade and added it to the pan. I really didn't expect this to be so flavorful! The vegetables were crisp-tender and the sauce was creamy, but not heavy at all. I ate it all!

Tonight I had two sick boys with me and wanted to use up more cauliflower. They're really good vegetable eaters, so I wasn't too worried. I did need something really quick, though, because they were "starving" three hours after their last meal of Pizza Luce pizza!

I cooked up some rice (I took the time to make brown rice, but it really would have been a lot faster if I had just used basmati. Honestly, I usually take some much time cooking that 40 minutes for some rice is kinda quick.) While that was cooking I heated a bit of olive oil and sauteed some chopped cauliflower, carrot, and red onion in the skillet. When it was starting to get tender and the onions were translucent...almost golden brown...I added some brown mustard seeds, fennel seeds, and ground coriander. I would have added salt here, but I accidentally dumped a bunch in the rice.

Then I added a can of Jyoti Madras Sambar (Lentils with fresh vegetables). Does anyone else adore this stuff as much as me? It's flavorful beyond belief and good straight out of the can on a camping trip, or added to rice, or as a sauce. Mike likes his on bread with tofu jerky for an interesting Indian/White trash sandwich.

Anyways, I added the Sambar with a bit of water to thin it out and mixed in the rice when it was done. I served it with an easy yogurt sauce made with Wildwood plain soy yogurt, lemon juice, fresh chopped tomato, and a bit of ground coriander. And a bit of salt.

The kids gobbled it up, as did I. I love cauliflower!

But not as much as I love those PB Caramel Apple Bars. We've got about 2 left in the fridge right now. I already ate two tonight. I want to eat them all! They are so good cold- unlike a lot of baked desserts, I really would recommend waiting until they are chilled to eat them. I didn't believe the other 600 bloggers who have written about serving this dessert. But now I know for myself. Eat them cold and bake them often.