eggplant, tempeh and sweet potato roasted with maple glaze

This is a recipe from Heidi Swanson's Super Natural Every Day, which I have made a few times and really enjoyed each time. I feel like I'm on a race this week to use vegetables - either before they go bad or before we get the next CSA installment (on Thursday already!) and we start drowning in vegetables. It's good. This is the best part of the CSA. You have to try new things, have to cook and eat more vegetables. This felt like a bit of a fall/winter dish, but it was a crisp 60-something degrees outside today, and I had eggplant to cook. :)

I love the colors when chopping everything for this dish. The eggplant is such a beautiful purple color, it always makes me a little sad how it turns brown when it cooks.

ingredients:
1-2 eggplant (I used 2 of these long skinny Chinese eggplant)
8 oz package of tempeh
1 sweet potato
zest of 1 lemon
glaze: mix together 1/4 cup olive oil, 1/4 cup maple syrup, some red pepper flakes, and 2-3 cloves pressed garlic (depending on how garlicky you want it...), salt and pepper
garnish: cilantro, plus feta (non-vegan version)

instructions: Preheat oven to 350. Cut the tempeh and sweet potato into 1/2-inch cubes, and the eggplant slightly larger (it cooks faster), about 1-inch cubes. Toss with lemon zest and about 2/3 of the glaze. Roast in the oven about 45-50 minutes, stirring halfway through. When all vegetables are soft, toss with the rest of the glaze and add some cilantro and feta.

This makes a great packed lunch!

This is me playing around on the internet... :)

whole-grain salad with mushrooms, fennel, feta, walnuts and parsley

I'm returning from a month of silence - whew. And posting from Germany, no less. It's been a busy month. Michael was in Minnesota with me, we ran a marathon, spent time with family. I had a big work deadline and was preparing for my three weeks abroad... so I wasn't cooking much while in transit and didn't really have time to post anything. And now while spending time in Germany (and a few days in Switzerland) I'm also eating a lot of good German food and not doing much cooking. My first night I wanted to have Schnitzel, at Felix Austria, which is still my favorite place to go for Schnitzel in Berlin. I've had some Kuchen, all though not too much yet...., also really good Thai food at Fehrbelliner park (Thai people gather there on weekends and sell "street food" in the park - delicious), and Turkish grilled marinated meat with parsley-red onion salad and soft bread. Yum. So good to really enjoy things you can't get in the US - at least not where I'm living.

Berlin varieties: Turkish dinner, Kaffee und Kuchen, Schnitzel and Wurst

But in the airport I did spend a lot of time going through my cooking magazines and tearing out good recipes. Eating Well had a great issue - almost took out all those pages. :) And the other night I got to hang out with my friend Anne, and after a nice long walk to get super-delicious ice cream...we made a nice home-cooked meal. :)  Anne also gave me some recipes from her trusted binder of good ones... I am excited to try those out.

I love grain salads. They're very satisfying and feel really healthy at the same time. This one is inspired by a recipe in Cooks Illustrated. Anne made some cocktails with a homemade rosemary-lemon simple syrup (yum yum) and it felt super summery and perfect to balance out the halloumi, pizza, and schnitzel from the last few days. :)

best salad ever: mung bean-carrot salad with lemony garlicky dressing

Okay, I haven't been posting much, but what I'm lacking in quantity I am going to make up in quality. :) This is another amazing Ottolenghi recipe I was introduced to via Synne, who brought it to some potluck or picnic in Berlin. And every time I have made it, it has been a favorite and has been completely devoured - no leftovers. I was totally unfamiliar with mung beans, but when cooked properly they have a really nice texture and the salad combines great flavors and colors. (Look for mung beans at natural/whole foods stores, sometimes in the bulk section, or at Asian markets.) This salad holds up well and is perfect for bringing for lunch or picnics - except be warned that it does have a bit of raw garlic... Also, I wouldn't suggest making it when your kitchen is 70 degrees with 77% humidity, as mine is today, but I have been eating avocado on toast and needed to finally cook something. Not that there's anything wrong with avocado on toast...

ingredients:
140g dried green mung beans (about 2/3 cup)
60ml olive oil, plus extra for drizzling
1 tsp cumin seeds
1 tsp caraway seeds
1 tsp fennel seeds
2 tbsp white wine vinegar
2 garlic cloves, peeled and crushed (or 1 garlic clove if you are worried about the raw garlic)
½ tsp dried chili flakes (red pepper flakes)
1 tsp salt
3 large carrots, peeled and cut into 1cm batons
½ tsp sugar
chopped cilantro
Grated zest of 1 lemon
140g feta, broken into chunks

1. mung beans: First get the beans boiling: bring water to a boil, add mung beans and simmer 20-25 minutes. Check after 15 minutes - the beans can vary, and you don't want them to turn to mush (I have done this once before). Taste a couple and see whether they still have some bite. Drain, shake off water, and put in a large bowl.

2. carrots: While the beans are cooking, cut and prep your carrots, into small batons. Put the carrots in a saucepan so they form a shallow layer. Add some water, some oil, and 1/2 tsp of sugar and salt. Bring to a rolling boil and keep on a high heat until the water evaporates and the carrots start to caramelize (about 8 minutes). (This is when you don't want to be doing this on a hot day...oops...) You want the carrots to still be slightly crunchy, not mushy.

3. seeds and dressing: When the beans are almost done or done, heat 2 T oil in a small saucepan and add the seeds. Cook on medium, stirring, until they start to pop (about 3 minutes). Really use your senses here: you will start to smell the seeds become fragrant, and hear them pop. Then pour the beans and hot oil over the beans (in the bowl).  Add the vinegar, garlic, chili flakes, lemon zest, and some salt.

3. Combine everything. I let the beans cool a bit, then added the chopped cilantro and feta, and a drizzle of olive oil.