Vegetarian | MJ's Kitchen

Tag Archives: vegetarian

Green Chile Pecan Cheese Spread

by mj on April 11, 2013

If you enjoyed the Roasted Bell Pepper Cheese Spread from a few days ago but wanted something with more of a kick, you’re going to love this Green Chile Cheese Spread. It is as easy to make, if not easier, and it’s just as delicious. So for all of you lovers of spicy foods, this one is for you! No fancy ingredients except for maybe the green chile which may not be available to some of you, but never fear – in the Kitchen Notes I provide some suggestions for alternative chiles. The cheese is cream cheese so nothing fancy there.

Just like the bell pepper cheese spread this green chile cheese spread can be served with bagel chips, pita chips, or any chips for that matter. You could also spread it on a flour tortilla, roll the tortilla, and cut into little bite size snacks. Just be sure to refrigerate for an hour before cutting. It will make the cutting process much easier. This morning I just spread it on half a bagel and had it for breakfast with a cup of tea. No matter how you dish it up, you’re going to love it!

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Roasted Bell Pepper Cheese Spread

by mj on April 7, 2013

Figuring out what to have for breakfast and supper is easy, but I do have a hard time sometimes with lunch. If we don’t have any leftovers, then we’ll either have a peanut butter and jelly sandwich or I’ll throw together a snack type lunch like my Cucumber Crostini. This week I’ll be sharing two more of our lunchtime snacks – this Roasted Bell Pepper Almond Spread and another one that is a bit more spicy – a Green Chile Pecan Cheese Spread. I have had several readers mention that they can’t handle spicy foods very well, so this one is for you.

This bell pepper spread is a little sweet but that’s due only to the sweetness of the roasted bell pepper. The cheese is capricho de cabra – a Spanish goat cheese produced with the milk from Murciana goats. This goat cheese is different from what I normally buy. Instead of being crumbly, capricho de cabra is creamy and can be stirred into a buttery spread. You really don’t have to add anything to it, but it works as a great complement to the roasted bell pepper. Add a little olive brine for acid and chopped almonds for another layer of flavor and texture and you have a tasty spread for bagels, pita chips, your favorite crackers or apple slices. Have it for lunch or share with friends as an appetizer or party dip.

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Stovetop Macaroni and Cheese with Asparagus

by mj on March 28, 2013

For some reason my craving for macaroni and cheese has been escalating. Maybe it’s because of all the wonderful mac & cheese recipes I’ve been seeing online lately. But the one that pushed me over the edge was Zsuzsa’s stovetop Creamy Macaroni and Cheese. When I first saw her picture, I knew that was the mac & cheese I wanted to eat. Her recipe looked fabulous and the video she provided in the post was a great tutorial on how to put all of the components together for a creamy outcome. You definitely need to check it out.

For this recipe I used Zsuzsa’s for the most part, but purely out of habit I ended up making the béchamel (white sauce) the way I normally do. I added a couple of herbs to the dish because I love herbs, and then cut back a bit on the cheese. For the finishing touch and to create a complete meal for Bobby and me, I added my Simply Asparagus dish which you’ll find later in this post. Each plate was served with a serving of macaroni and cheese and about 5 to 6 spears of asparagus. We cut the asparagus into bite size pieces and ate a piece with each bite of mac & cheese. It is quite tasty!

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Avocado, Orange and Cucumber Salad

by mj on March 14, 2013

I don’t remember when I discovered that a dinner salad could be more than iceberg lettuce and bottled dressing, but WHEW- I’m so glad I finally did! Of course I do have to say that there was a time when iceberg lettuce was the only lettuce you could find at the grocer, thus its past popularity. But now let’s ponder this question. Does a dinner salad really have to have lettuce at all? Actually – No.

A dinner salad can be just about anything you want it to be. It can be made with just a few ingredients or a whole host of ingredients, none of which are lettuce. The main thing I enjoy about making a salad is incorporating different textures and flavors, and – in my opinion – the fewer the better. This salad is representative of the type of salad that Bobby and I love to eat. It only has three main ingredients – avocado, orange, and cucumber, and the dressing (if you can call it that) is a little lime juice, some sea salt and a dusting of red chile powder. It’s a refreshing little salad that makes a great brunch, lunch or side at dinnertime.

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Mashed Potatoes with Roasted Garlic and Herbs

by mj on March 4, 2013

I think by now you know how much I love garlic, but you may not know how much I love potatoes. I could eat potatoes almost everyday. I love them mashed, smashed, roasted, au gratin, as hashbrowns, and in a variety of soups. I guess the only way I don’t like potatoes is as French fries. Those I can take or leave. This winter organic potatoes have been really cheap, so we’ve been eating a lot of potato dishes. This roasted garlic mashed potato dish is one of our favorites.

It’s a very quick and easy dish for us because I always have a bottle of roasted garlic infused oil in the pantry and jar of roasted garlic in the fridge. So what better way to use the garlic and some of the oil than in mashed potatoes. Add some fresh herbs for color and another layer of flavor, and you have yourself a bowl of gourmet mashed potatoes with very little effort.

If you don’t have the garlic oil or roasted garlic on hand, not to worry. In the Kitchen Notes I explain how to get both in 20 minutes, which is about the time it takes to cook and mash the potatoes. Also, if you aren’t a huge garlic fan, but do like “a little” garlic, this recipe is still for you. Just cut back on the amount of garlic or replace the garlic-infused oil with extra virgin olive oil or butter. And if you don’t like garlic at all, just omit it altogether. The buttermilk and olive oil alone make this a very tasty bowl of mashed potatoes.

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Sauteed Mushrooms with Onion and Spice

by mj on February 2, 2013

This spicy mushroom dish makes a great side for just about anything. You can serve it with another vegetable, pretty much any meat, or over rice or a creamy polenta. It’s also a very quick and easy dish to throw together. It takes longer to chop the vegetables than to cook the dish. There are four basic ingredients – mushrooms, garlic, onion, and bell pepper – and then a little bit of spice. The spices can be changed to better complement the other components of the meal. It’s a simple little dish with a burst of flavor in every bite!
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Swiss Chard Leek Quiche

by mj on January 27, 2013

For years I was intimidated by quiche because I was always trying to make it too healthy. I used skim milk, too few eggs, and too many vegetables. Therefore, my quiches were always runny, thin and tasted like sauteed vegetables with scrambled eggs. And no – I never followed a recipe, but I have gotten better at that over the years. So after many failed quiches, I did decide to follow a recipe and made a beautiful quiche with lots of eggs, heavy cream and cheese. I finally understood what made a quiche work: great vegetable/meat ingredients (but not too many), a tasty and light crust, and the right proportion of eggs to cream to milk. At this point I started working my way toward a healthier quiche.

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Black-eyed Pea Chipotle Dip

by mj on January 18, 2013

Whenever I think of black-eyed peas I remember the time, way back when in grade school, when me and my three older siblings had to shell 5 bushels of black-eyed peas that we had picked at my granddaddy’s farm. Do you know how many peas are in 5 bushels? A lot! By the time we got to the last bushel we were so giddy that we started shooting peas at each other and having contests to see who could shoot a pea from its pod the farthest. Needless to say, the kitchen floor soon became covered with peas. When our mother came into the kitchen, let’s just say she wasn’t too happy, but we sure were having fun!

This black-eyed pea dip is one of those pleasant little surprises you get when you throw a few things together and end up with something very special. Last week I had some black-eyed peas that I had set aside before making Skippin’ Jenny. On a whim, I threw some of the peas into a blender, added a few other ingredients and pureed it into this dip. It was so tasty! I ate some with chips and saved the rest for the next day for Bobby. Well, you know how soups are better the next day? Well, so is this dip! I no longer tasted black-eyed peas with chipotle. All of the ingredients had blended together to provide a very unique and delicious flavor. It was so good that I used the rest of the peas to make another batch. I can’t wait to take this dip to a party! But in the meantime, I’m sharing it with you.

It’s easy, it’s quite different, and it is absolutely delicious!
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