Vegetables | The Wannabe Chef

Tag Archive: Vegetables

Healthy Vegetable Chickpea Salad

Written on March 10, 2015 by Wannabe Chef in Entree

As quick as the weather changes, so do taste buds. After weeks of snow and cold, the weather here has skyrocketed to the 50s and the streets are full of melting snowbanks. Instead of being just another barrier to speed-walk past in the cold, the open air vegetable stalls are suddenly more inviting to stop and pick up new ingredients.

While none of the ingredients in this dish are exactly “new”, they’re definitely a fresh take on heavier tuna or hard boiled egg salads. I’m not usually a fan of bright and loud flavors like black pepper and thyme but they work well with the creamy mayo and balanced chickpeas. Whether you’re serving this on top of a freshly chopped salad or if it’s the only vegetable on your plate it’s sure to be a healthy meal.

Healthy Vegetable Chickpea Salad

Prep time: 15 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 2 servings):

1 14oz can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1/2 cucumber, diced
1 small tomato, diced
2 (heaping) Tablespoons mayo
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 Tablespoon chopped thyme

Method:

In a large bowl, toss together the chickpeas, cucumber, and tomato. If there’s any liquid at the bottom of the bowl carefully drain it out.
Add in the mayo, salt, and pepper and mix thoroughly until it’s evenly creamy. Add in the thyme and mix again.
Serve at room temperature. Keep refrigerated if not eating right away.

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Roasted Garlic Parmesan Brussels Sprouts

Written on August 20, 2014 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

Brunch is the best meal there is; the competition’s not even close. You can go sweet or you can go savory(you can even go both!). It can be at 10am or 3pm. And even when it’s at 10am it’s always acceptable to have alcohol. What could be better?

My favorite items on any brunch menu are the different roasted vegetables(and home fries, but that’s a given). They’re something that you have to put time into but end up being well worth the effort.

If you want to wake up with savory food, these brussels sprouts are perfect for you. They’re just the right amount of crispy, satisfying, and seasoning to wake you up. Combine them with a runny yolk from a fried egg and they’re that much better.

Roasted Garlic Parmesan Brussels Sprouts

Roasted Garlic Parmesan Brussel Sprouts

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 35 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 2 servings):

1 1/2 cups brussels sprouts, trimmed and washed
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons olive oil, divided
1 large garlic clove, diced
3 Tablespoons parmesan

Method:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Toss the brussels sprouts, salt, and 2 Tablespoons of oil together.
Lay the brussels out on a non-stick baking try and roast until slightly crispy(about 30 minutes for small-medium brussels)
Heat the remaining Tablespoon oil in a pan over low heat.
Toast the garlic until browning.
Add in the brussels sprouts and toss until well mixed and they’re cooked in the oil.
Remove from the heat. Sprinkle the parmesan over and toss until well-mixed.
Serve hot.

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8 Healthier Thanksgiving Side Dishes

Written on November 14, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Recipe Round-Up

It’s already November and Thanksgiving is quickly creeping up. Not quite as quickly as I thought evidently with my bus tickets booked for the wrong weekend, but quickly nevertheless.

I’m not someone who thinks eating healthy during the holidays has to be tough, especially if you’re the chef. It’s all about finding and making recipes that are satisfyingly delicious but also good for you and your family. Here are a few recipes to try that break out of the mold of white bread and buttery foods that will still fit in at the Thanksgiving table.

And I’ll apologize in advanced for some of the terrible photos these recipes have, especially the ones from 2 years ago. They’re in desperate need of a holiday makeover.

Instead Of Buttery Vegetables Try…

Maple Roasted Brussels Sprouts are a perfect sweet side dish with a lot of nutrients and fiber included.

Balsamic Brussels Sprouts with Red Wine have a tangier taste that adults will love. They’re especially good paired with the wine they’re cooked with.

Instead Of Traditional Stuffing Try…

Quinoa Stuffing(gluten-free/vegan) tastes just like traditional stuffing with all of the fixins but without the bread and empty carbs. It’s a great healthier option on the Thanksgiving table but even better heated up the next week for leftovers.

Roasted Broccoli Quinoa would be the health-nuts version of stuffing. It’s full of good carbs and a nutty flavor to satisfy.

Instead Of Mashed Potatoes Try…

Low-Fat Butternut Squash Casserole uses squash instead of potatoes but still has a creamy mouth-feel and savory taste to it.

Low-Fat Garlic & Herb Mashed Potatoes are a great substitution for regular mashed potatoes. The garlic and herbs add enough flavor that you’ll never know they’re made with Stonyfield yogurt.

Try Making Yourself…

Cranberry Sauce is a favorite of mine whether it’s homemade and intricately flavored or just from a can. This recipe’s for any cranberry connoisseur out there.

Vegetarian Buffalo “Chicken” Dip is something I recommend for any get together, holiday or not. It will always get eaten up.

Got a favorite holiday recipe with a healthy twist? Share it in the comments below to help inspire other readers.

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Thai Reese’s Puffs Peanut Butter Sauce

Written on October 28, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Entree, Sauce

When I was at the Wine & Food festival, I was lucky enough to meet Justin Warner after his demo. Justin has made a number of sweet and savory recipes for General Mills using their Big G cereals in unexpected ways(here’s the blog post featuring those).

Jason from General Mills sent me some of their cereals along with some unusual ingredients Justin would go crazy with. At first I wasn’t sure how to use some of them(a pestle and mortar? sriracha sauce?), but then it hit me: A Thai sauce with Reese’s Puffs.

It’s not as crazy as it sounds; a lot of the ingredients in Reese’s Puffs are found in regular sauces: Corn starch is a common thickening agent; sugar can be just as important as salt for bringing out flavor profiles; even chocolate is used to add a richness and depth to tomato sauce.

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As with any sauce you should taste as you go along and add salt and seasoning to adjust it to your taste. For a lower-fat version, use cartoned coconut milk or almond milk.

Thai Reese’s Puffs Peanut Butter Sauce

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes enough for 2 servings):

3/4 cup Reese’s Puffs cereal
1/3 cup soy sauce or gluten-free tamari
1 Tablespoon sriracha
2 Tablespoons honey
1 Tablespoon peanut butter
1/3 cup coconut milk

Method:

Combine all of the ingredients in a food processor or high-speed blender.
Blend until smooth.
Add to sautéed vegetables and tofu or chicken.
Heat the pre-cooked vegetables, chicken, or tofu in the sauce until it is warmed through.
Serve hot.

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Roasted Balsamic Brussels Sprouts

Written on May 16, 2013 by Wannabe Chef in Side Dish

At some point recently I could feel myself becoming one of those vegetarians who doesn’t actually eat enough vegetables. Its not that I don’t like them—I love them. I’ll order them off of a menu any chance I get. But more often than not I cook for myself, and by cook I mean make oatmeal, open a yogurt container, scramble eggs or microwave a potato.

That’s definitely a habit I need to change. I never regret buying and cooking vegetables when I do, especially not these sprouts. Anything is delicious with some good olive oil and vinegar. I thought I was making a lot at the time but this hardly lasted me two meals.

If you want to make this fancy, you can add some other roasting vegetables into the mix with the brussels sprouts. These would especially be good with some julienned onions and diced potatoes(the kind not made in a microwave).

Roasted Balsamic Brussels Sprouts

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 25 minutes

Ingredients:

1lb brussels sprouts, washed and cut
2 Tablespoons olive oil
2 Tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon black pepper

Method:

Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Make sure all of your brussels sprouts are clean and trimmed.
In a large bowl, toss together all of the ingredients.
Spread the sprouts out on a roasting pan.
Roast for 20-30 minutes until the sprouts are cooked and the edges begin to crisp.
Remove from the oven and serve hot.

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Salt Roasted Beets

Written on August 22, 2012 by Wannabe Chef in How To, Side Dish

Salt is something that a lot of people don’t understand; too much can make anything a disaster, but just a touch on fruits and vegetables always helps to make them taste sweeter. When you eat something with natural sugars that’s been seasoned right, it touches more taste sensations on your tongue and you’ll enjoy it more.

Salt roasting is a technique I learned last Summer when I was interning in a restaurant. It was something that the lunch crew trusted that I couldn’t possibly screw up so I did it quite a bit whenever we got more beets in. Since then I’ve done it at home whenever I have the chance; you really can’t screw it up! Beyond the ease, I swear it makes the vegetables taste like candy.

This may seem like it’d be a hassle to clean up after but it’s really not. Just put the pan with the burnt salt under the sink and run hot water on it until the salt dissolves.

Salt Roasted Beets

Prep time: 10 minutes

Cook time: 1-2 hours

3/4 cup coarse grain salt
Beets, tops trimmed and peel on

Method:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.
Lay the salt out in a single layer on a roasting tray.
Wash the outside of the beets. If your beets are large you can cut them into quarters or leave them whole. The larger they are, the longer they’ll take to cook.
Lay the beats on top of the salt and place them in the oven.
Roast for 1-2 hours until you can poke a fork through the skin with some ease.
Remove from the oven and begin peeling off the skin while still hot. You may want to use gloves or a towel to keep the beets from burning your hands. Brush off any remaining salt on the outside.
Serve hot or chilled.

What do you do with your beets? Well they make a good salad, for one, especially if you keep those beet greens. Vegetables roasted in salt don’t need any further seasoning so you can just pop them in your mouth.

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A Day In The Life Of A Restaurant Intern

Written on August 12, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Miscellaneous

Back in January when I started looking for a restaurant internship, I had no idea what to expect. I didn’t even know if those sorts of things existed or if anybody would want someone who didn’t attend culinary school. By amazing luck I got an internship at the best restaurant in town almost right away, “auditioned” in April to make sure it was a good fit, and started officially in June. Today’s my 4th-to-last day on the job and I thought I’d share what a “typical” day is like by chance anyone else looking for a restaurant internship is wondering what to expect.

I work during the lunch shift Wednesdays and Fridays. Since I don’t have to be in until 10 I usually sleep in until around 8 and make breakfast around 8:30-9. This is usually the last chance I’ll get to eat a full meal until mid-afternoon so I try to make it filling with protein, fiber, and fat. A normal breakfast for me is 3 eggs, gluten-free pancakes, fruit “jam” made with microwaved berries and chia seeds that have gelled for a few minutes, and almond butter. This day I also was still hungry after breakfast so I grabbed a peach on the way out the door around 9:30.

The restaurant is 5 miles away and I don’t have a car so I bike. Transportation is something to think about for any job you get. I didn’t know how to ride a bike when I first got the internship but quickly taught myself in time for my first day. Besides lowering your carbon footprint, you get pretty fit biking 5 miles 2 times a day 2 days a week.

Please don’t come and steal my bike now that you know which one it is.

The first thing I do at the restaurant is change into a uniform. Add a spiffy coat and sleek black hat and—voila! You’re a chef. Pants are also part of the uniform; who doesn’t like to start their day by putting on someone else’s pants?

There are countless jobs I do at the restaurant and it’s hard to stay consistent since the menu changes weekly. Typically I do things that are long and repetitive, which no one else seems to like but I love. It makes the day go by faster to only do a few things for a while than a lot of things quickly.

One thing I usually do is make pasta. It’s an Italian restaurant so we go through pasta like it’s bread(which we also go through a lot of). It’s a little ironic to have a celiac making pasta in the kitchen but from what I hear I’m pretty good at it.

With the pasta machine I can make spaghettini(little spaghetti), pennette(little penne), and bucatini. It spits out the shape and I cut + bundle them to throw in the freezer. It usually gets used that day or the next, so it’s definitely fresh when we serve it.

My favorite pasta to make, garganelli, is a little more complicated. I don’t make the dough for this; it’s usually made and sheeted the day before. What I do is take the sheets of pasta, which are roughly the size of a piece of paper, and cut them into 3-inch squares. Then I wet one corner and roll the other end over to it with the handle of a big wooden spoon(we used to have an actual dowel for this but I think it broke).

There’s a flat piece of wood with ridges in it that texturizes the pasta when it’s rolled on to it. It slips easily off the end and gets put on a floured tray to go in the freezer.

I told you I liked mindless, repetitive tasks, which is why I love doing this. I usually make 200+ at a time, which takes around an hour.

There’s also a lot of prep work that is involved with the vegetables we serve. Beets are commonly on the menu and need to be cleaned, roasted, and peeled along with the beet greens. Peas are also very time consuming. I’ve literally spent hours taking the fibers off of snow peas, on days when my coworkers got to go home early no less. That job really sucked.

Technically we are allowed to make ourselves a snack or meal at the restaurant, but I choose not to. Part of this is because I’ve seen how easy it is for gluten contamination to occur in a restaurant that has open flour all over the counters; the other part is that I could eat the restaurant out of vegetables like it’s nobody’s business.

Some days I work straight through until 3 without eating; others I’ll have a snack around 12 or 1. It’s either a Ziploc full of nuts that I pack or a Larabar/Pranabar. Anything with nuts that’s portable and semi-filling is a go, especially since it’s not a meal that will spike your energy and then make you crash. Working in a kitchen really is like a marathon and not a sprint: It takes a lot out of you; you need to remind yourself to hydrate or you’ll forget and start getting dizzy; you’re always on your feet. If that isn’t a marathon, I don’t know what is.

I get home around 3:30 after biking back. By this point I’m starving for lunch and something raw/vegan always taste good. This day I had a bowl with zucchini noodles, carrot noodles, bean sprouts, chickpeas, a homemade peanut sauce, and mushrooms sautéed in sesame oil. I was definitely craving mushrooms because I had just finished roasting a pan at the restaurant. The difference is their mushrooms are $20 a pound and mine are $4. I couldn’t imagine paying $20 a pound for mushrooms, or at least not the legal kind{kidding}.

The rest of my day isn’t that exciting; it involves more eating and a lot of Netflix + True Blood, aka how I’d be spending my entire Summer if it weren’t for my internship. I’ve really enjoyed my time at the restaurant, but I’m ready to move on. For the school year I’ll be focusing on balancing classes and food blogging. Maybe next Summer I’ll look for an actual job at a restaurant, but it would have to be one whose food philosophy 100% fits with mine or I would never truly feel comfortable cooking in that kitchen.

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Fruity Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip

Written on May 11, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Snack

As good as peanut butter, fruit, and chocolate are, peanut butter and fruit can be damn good on their own, too. With fruit and yogurt, this is a great snack for a toddler. Or yourself if you don’t want to share; I didn’t. I used a strawberry yogurt and the dip tasted just like a PB&J but the recipe is totally customizable. It keeps in the refrigerator for a few days, too—not that they’ll be any extra.

Fruity Peanut Butter Yogurt Dip

Prep time: 5 minutes

Cook time: 0 minutes

Ingredients(Makes 6-8 servings):

1/2 cup fruit-flavored yogurt*
1/2 cup natural runny peanut butter
1/4 cup powdered sugar
Fruit/veggies for dipping

*To customize the flavor, use 6 tablespoons of yogurt and 2 tablespoons of any fruit jam.

Method:

Mix together all of the ingredients completely making sure there aren’t any clumps.
Move to a serving dish.
Serve with chopped fruit and vegetables.

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Food For Training

Written on February 13, 2011 by Wannabe Chef in Uncategorized

Saturday I didn’t want to get out of bed in the morning, because I knew I had to at least attempt a long run even after a less-than-stellar week of running. The plan was to shoot for 14 miles and—if I made it—continue marathon training for a week, and if not accept that I should drop down to the half-marathon. Unfortunately(fortunately?), I did make it. It was long; it was hard(TWSS). But somehow I pushed my tired bones along 14 miles in 2:18:17. I can only assume that my stellar diet is to thank.

Every time I workout, whether it’s running or going to the gym—no matter how long—, I need something sweet to get me out the door. It doesn’t matter if it’s 7am or 3pm. And I’m fine without coffee, but without sweets? Keep dreamin’. I recommend double chocolate oh baby bars.

After finishing 14 miles, I stopped and waddled(think John Wayne in a Western only painful and without the chaps) into my home, took a few swigs of water and then went for a sports drink:

Gatorade, soda—it’s all sugar anyway so what’s the difference? Besides, this drink tells me I’m a grown-up whereas the other one only makes me worried I’m going to sweat purple, so this seemed like the better choice.

It didn’t last long.

And then of course there’s the importance of vegetables…

Spinach on one leg and broccoli on the other, because variety is important in your diet. I’ve also learned that small vegetables like peas and corn are good, whereas clunky ones like green beans are not. These are really just a starter until I give in and finally go to take a cold shower, which by the way are as awful as they sound and never get easier no matter how many you do.

And that’s how I would eat differently on a day that I run 14 miles. I would also eat in bed, where I would watch 27 Dresses and do some reading for 8 hours because the thought of walking anywhere is not appealing. Marathoning is the sport of masochists.

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