pierogies.

No, I did not make these pierogies from scratch. Please, I wish I was that talented. These were bought at a local farmer's market and trust me when I say they were delicious. They're filled with cheese and potatoes, and I sauteed them in butter with some onion and snap peas. Delicious. They were so pretty, I just had to share.

green pilau with cashews.

I was browsing through my Vegetarian: Tasty Recipes for Every Day book one day because you know, I wanted to try something new. I had passed by this recipe a couple times because the cooking time is pretty long and I'm not usually that patient. This particular day though, I did have time, so I decided to go ahead and make it.


the recipe
serves 6
200 g baby english spinach
2/3 cup cashew nuts, chopped
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups long-grain brown rice
2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
1 teaspoon fennel seeds
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
3 tablespoons chopped fresh mint
3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley


1. Preheat the oven to moderate (350 F). Shred the English spinach leaves.
2. Place the cashew nuts on a baking tray and roast for 5-10 minutes, or until golden brown--watch carefully.
3. Heat the oil in a large frying pan and cook the spring onion over medium for 2 minutes, or until soft. Add the rice, garlic and fennel seeds and cook, stirring frequently, for 1-2 minutes, or until the rice is evenly coated. Increase the heat to high, add the lemon juice, stock and 1 teaspoon salt and bring to a boil. Reduce to low, cover and cook for 45 minutes without lifting the lid.
4. Remove from the heat and sprinkle with the spinach and herbs. Leave, covered, for 8 minutes, then fork the spinach and herbs through the rice. Serve sprinkled with cashews.


substitutions
Okay, I had a couple for this one. I use frozen spinach instead of fresh pretty much always, including in this recipe. I can just never seem to go through fresh quickly enough. I also used regular brown rice instead of long-grain. I don't have fennel seeds, so I didn't use those. I also used dry parsley instead of fresh.


Also, this isn't really relevant to the recipe, but neither of my frying pans came with lids. I had to place one of my large dinner plates over the pan while it was simmering. Kind of funny.


great with
Morningstar Farms Chicken Pattie. I probably sound like I turn to those often. It's probably because I do. I love them.


the review
Okay, for starters, this recipe definitely involves a time commitment. That is automatically a downside, since I know I personally do not always (or ever) have an hour and a half to devote to cooking something. I think a lot of people are probably the same way. Regardless, this recipe is very good. It has an excellent flavor to it, though it was perhaps a little bit salty. I think I'll pare down on the vegetable stock next time, or maybe eliminate the teaspoon of salt. I believe that's where the problem was. Really though, this is very good and if you ever have the time, I think it's worth the time spent making it.

stuffed green peppers.

One day, I had the burning desire to make stuffed green peppers. This is weird because I've never made them before, and I honestly don't remember the last time I had a stuffed pepper. Regardless, turned to Google and did a search, to happy results. The following recipe was found on allrecipes.com.


the recipe
serves 4
1 cup water
1/2 cup uncooked Arborio rice
2 green bell peppers, halved and seeded
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 green onions, thinly sliced
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning
1 teaspoon salt
1 pinch ground black pepper
1 tomato, diced
1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese


1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. In a medium saucepan, bring water to a boil. Stir in the rice. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, and seat aside.
3. Place the peppers cut-side down on the prepared baking sheet. Roast 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until tender and skin starts to brown.
4. While the peppers are roasting, heat oil in a medium skillet over medium-high heat. Cook the onions, basil, Italian seasoning, salt and pepper in oil for 2 to 3 minutes. Stir in the tomato, and cook for 5 minutes. Spoon in the cooked rice, and stir until heated through. Remove from heat, mix in the feta cheese, and spoon the mixture into the pepper halves.
5. Return to the oven for 5 minutes. Serve immediately.


substitutions
Brown rice instead of Arborio rice, spring onions instead of green onions, dry Italian dressing powder for the Italian seasoning, and no tomato.


great with
I thought at first that this was going to be filling enough to have on it's own, but the peppers I got were pretty small, so I quickly realized that wasn't going to work. I had one stuffed pepper half with a Morningstar Farms chicken pattie.


the review
Regardless of the fact that my picture of the pepper doesn't necessarily make the pepper look very pretty, you really must believe me when I say that these were very good. Very flavorful and for the most part, healthy. I like this recipe because I think there are a lot of different things that you could do with the rice mixture, depending on what your tastes are. I certainly changed it from the originally recipe, and it was great. I've already bought another pepper, so I'm looking forward to having these again.