Posts Tagged greens

How to eat rice for a week without getting ill

October 25, 2007 at 12:36 am · Filed under Budget-friendly, Main Course, Quick, Vegetarian ·Tagged ,

I am lucky enough to live in a place and have means such that I can make a statement like this title. I am very thankful for that.

I must admit that my life of privilege–despite my limited grad school income–has spoiled me, and I hate eating the same thing every day. One of my good friends can have the exact same thing every day for lunch and never tire of her turkey and cheese sandwiches. I envy the simplicity of packing such lunches.

Despite disliking repetitive meals, this is a busy time of year (when isn’t really), so I’ve been making large meals I can eat through the course of the week. This week, I made a big pot of rice on Monday, and I’ve been eating it different ways each day. Here’s what I’ve managed so far:

Monday: Rice and black beans with cheese. I like to make beans from scratch, but it was canned this time. What’s worse, I have class on Monday nights, so I packed a resealable, microwavable container with a layer of rice, a layer of rinsed beans and some salsa. I took shredded cheddar cheese with me in a separate container and added it after heating the rice and beans.

Tuesday: Sauted some julienned carrots in a touch of oil, then seasoned with garlic powder, ground ginger and pepper. I removed the carrots from the skillet, trying to leave most of the oil behind. Then I made some veggie potstickers in the skillet (frozen ones). While those were cooking, I heated up a bowl of rice. Then I mixed the carrots into the rice. Voila: rudimentary fried rice and potstickers. Tasty.

Wednesday: Farmer’s Market! Wednesday is my one break during the work week, so I did some real cooking tonight. I got some beet greens for free at the market today, and I had some leftover arugula that I wanted to use, so I created the recipe below. It’s different (black beans in Asian food…), but pretty good I think.

Thursday: Stuffed Bell Peppers. Recipe will follow soon.

Friday: Yet to be determined. Possibly rice and cheese quesadillas. Suggestions?

Asian Bitter Greens and Beans over Rice

Cooking time: 20 minutes

Servings: One very large serving

Ingredients:

  • About 3 or 4 cups beet greens
  • 1-2 cups arugula
  • 1/3 cup carrots (when chopped)
  • 1/3 to 1/2 cup canned black beans, rinsed
  • 1 small to medium garlic clove
  • 1 tsp vegetable oil
  • 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
  • 1/2 tsp soy sauce
  • small amount Asian chili sauce (to taste)
  • 1/2 tsp sesame oil
  • dash ginger
  • dash ground pepper
  • one serving of rice
  1. Thoroughly wash the greens and shake out most of the excess water (I used a salad spinner). Tear any large pieces into smaller ones. (Be careful with the stems of the beet greens–they’ll turn your fingers pink just like the beets.) Mince the garlic. Julienne the carrots (tip: use baby carrots and chop lengthwise into 4-8 pieces depending on width of carrot). In a small bowl, mix together apple cider vinegar through pepper.
  2. Heat the vegetable oil in a large non-stick skillet over medium heat. Saute the garlic and carrots together for about two minutes, or when the carrots begin to get tender. Add beans and saute another minute or two. Meanwhile, reheat the rice if necessary. Add the beet greens and saute about two minutes before adding the arugula. Saute about two minutes more, or until all the greens are bright and wilted.
  3. Remove from heat. Stir the sauce again quickly, then pour over greens. Toss well. Serve over rice.

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Sicilian-Style Greens over Lentils and Polenta

June 18, 2007 at 4:45 pm · Filed under Main Course, Vegetarian ·Tagged ,

Most of this recipe appeared in the May 2006 issue of Cooking Light, however, I’ve made some modifications. The biggest change is the addition of lentils because I wanted more protein in the meal. Also, the original recipe called for Belgian endive, kale, and turnip greens. I used kale, but I used two types of Asian greens for the others, tatsoi, and another the woman at the farmer’s market could remember the long name of, but it looked like it was in the chard family. What’s important is to have different kinds of greens so that you get slightly different flavors and textures in every bite.

Other than that, I’ve halved the recipe and rearranged the cooking order.

This recipe takes a while, but it’s well worth it. However, because it is so labor intensive, you might want to double it back to its original size so that you get more bites for effort. I like this recipe because there are so many different textures and flavors in it, greens are very good for you, and it’s surprisingly filling.

greens and polenta

Servings: 2-3

Cooking time: 1 hr 30 min

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup dry lentils
  • 1/2 cup water
  • 1/4 tsp onion powder
  • 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper, divided
  • 6 cups greens (about 6 oz), preferably two cups each of three different kinds (see note above)
  • 1/4 cup golden raisins (I could only find sultana, which worked ok)
  • 1/8 tsp salt
  • 1/2 cup yellow cornmeal
  • 1 cup vegetable broth
  • 1/2 cup milk (I used 1%, original recipe says fat-free, but that’s because it’s Cooking Light)
  • 1/4 cup freshly grated “Parmesan cheese” (any hard salty cheese will due)
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 small garlic clove
  • 1/8 cup dry breadcrumbs
  • 2 tsp pine nuts
  1. Grate the cheese and thinly slice the garlic. In a small skillet (or, to reduce the number of pans you need to wash, in a larger one in which you will later cook the greens), heat the oil over medium heat. Add the garlic and cook it until golden, stirring frequently. Add in the breadcrumbs and stir frequently until golden. Remove mixture from the stove and empty into a small bowl. Stir in half the cheese and set aside.
  2. In a small saucepan, bring the water to a boil. Add the lentils, onion powder and 1/8 tsp crushed red pepper. Cover and simmer about 30 minutes, or until soft. (Best to use a back burner on the lentils since you pretty much don’t mess with them after this.) Turn off the heat if they finish before everything else.
  3. Wash the greens thoroughly. Chop or tear them into smallish pieces. If you have any particularly thick stalks, (over 3/8 inch), remove them. If your greens cook at different rates, make sure to keep them separate.
  4. Coat a large skillet with cooking spray and heat over medium heat. Add the greens, one type at a time depending on how long they take to cook. (For instance, I added the kale first, the chard-looking one a minute later, and the tatsoi a minute after that.) After greens have started to wilt well, stir in the raisins and salt. Reduce the heat to low and cover for about six minutes, or until the stalks are tender. If the greens finish cooking before the polenta is done (likely), remove them from the heat and keep them partially covered.
  5. In a medium saucepan (2 qts), heat the cornmeal and 1/8 tsp red pepper over medium heat. Slowly whisk in broth and milk. Bring mixture to a boil, then cover and reduce heat. Simmer for about ten minutes until very thick, stirring frequently. Turn off heat and stir in cheese. During a break from stirring, toast the pine nuts.
  6. Layer as follows: polenta, lentils, greens, breadcrumbs, pine nuts. Dig in!

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