Roasted Veggie Calzone

I made a double batch of Amazing Alfredo Sauce the other night because I just love it so. I love calzones and wondered how that creamy, yummy sauce would do in it. I had leftover roasted veggies and sautéed mushrooms and used some of the Alfredo. When I cut into the piping hot calzone and took the first bite, I was transported to another place!!! Oh my! Heaven on a plate! Make this TODAY!

Vegetable Red Thai Curry

I have a great love of curries.  Especially Thai curries.  This was delicious!  

Adapted from Cooking Fresh.  

1 tbsp + 1 tsp vegetable oil

3 tbsp red Thai curry paste

2 cups sugar snap peas, trimmed and cut in half on the diagonal

2 large shallots, thinly sliced

1 red bell pepper, thinly sliced

1 14-oz can coconut milk

1 tbsp light brown sugar

1# extra firm tofu, drained and pressed and cut into 1" cubes

2 tsp soy sauce

1 cup loosely packed Thai basil (or regular basil), torn into small pieces

4 tsp fresh lime juice

Heat 1 tbsp oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat until shimmering hot.  In a separate small saute' pan, heat remaining oil over medium-high heat until hot.  In the large pan, add curry paste and cook, stirring frequently until fragrant, about 20 seconds.  Take the pan off the heat and stir in snap peas, shallots, bell pepper, coconut milk, sugar, and 1 cup water.  Stir to combine.  In the smaller saute pan, add the tofu cubes. I had seasoned mine with a Pampered Chef Thai curry rub.  If you cannot find a similar seasoning, you can simply season with a little salt and pepper to taste.  The tofu will pick up the flavor from the sauce.  But I like my tofu crispy around the edges, so I saute it in a hot pan on all sides until browned.  

Add the tofu to the large skillet with the vegetables and bring to a simmer over medium heat.  Cover and cook until vegetables are tender, about 8-10 minutes.  Stir in soy sauce, basil, and lime juice.  Let rest off heat for 5 minutes.  Taste and adjust salt/pepper.  Serve over hot cooked rice.  I used a brown jasmine rice.  

There were NO leftovers from this.  I was quite disappointed my family liked it so much!  I was counting on lunch the next day!  

Sweet Potatoes and Keen-What?

My friend found a great deal on sweet potatoes and let me in on it. I have a :::few::: lying around now and wanted to do something different with them

In Cajun Country, sweet potatoes can be found one of three ways: candied, baked, or in the holiday favorite Sweet Potato Casserole, which could double as a diabetic-coma-inducing dessert. Good, yes. Healthy? Not on your life!

I wanted my sweeties to be spicy. And roasted. Nothing new and inventive here, but they were spicy and really tasty!

Spicy Roasted Sweet Potatoes

4 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1" chunks

1/2 tsp chili powder

1/2 tsp chipotle chili powder

1/4 heaping tsp cayenne pepper (or less if you aren't Cajun or don't like spicy stuff)

3 cloves of garlic

Salt to taste

1 tbsp olive oil

Combine in a heavy roaster or stoneware dish. Roast potatoes at 400° for 20 minutes or until potatoes are tender, stirring every 10 minutes or so.


We are also in dire need of a major grocery shopping trip so I'm scrounging in the cupboards until I can make the time. This is shaping up to be an incredibly busy week. I love quinoa and had quite a bit on hand. So it sounded like a quinoa kind of night to me.

If you've never tried quinoa (pronounced KEEN-WAH), you definitely should. It is the only grain that is a complete protein. It is very versatile and can be used in place of rice or other grains in many dishes. My favorite way to use it is in a salad, either warm or cold. I saw a recipe with apples and Gouda cheese with quinoa in a recipe. The cheese was out and it called for other ingredients I didn't have so I simply used the recipe as a jumping off place and did my own thing. The slightly sweet, crunchy notes in this salad complemented the spicy sweet potatoes very nicely. I can't wait to have the leftovers for lunch.

Fall Quinoa Salad 

1 1/2 cups quinoa

sea salt

4 tbsp olive oil, divided

1 onion, cut in half and then sliced thinly

5 tbsp red wine vinegar, divided

4 oz radish greens, thinly sliced (about 3 cups) - this was what I had from my sister-in-law's garden - kale would work well, as would arugula, but you would probably want to leave that raw

3 medium celery ribs, slice thin

1 large crisp apple (I had a big Jonagold)

1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped and toasted

3/4 cups dried fruit (I used blueberries and golden raisins - cherries or cranberries would work well, too)

salt and cracked black pepper, to taste

In a bowl, rinse the quinoa with water a few times.  Quinoa has a bitter alkaloid on the outside of the grain, but it is easily washed off.  Just make sure to rinse it three or four times.  Drain and transfer to a 3 quart pot.  Add 2 1/2 cups water and about a teaspoon of salt.  Bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes.  When the quinoa is cooked, the germ will spiral off slightly.  Unlike rice, it gives you a visual clue!  Isn't that nice of it?  When the quinoa is cooked, fluff it with a fork and put it in a bowl to cool slightly.  You don't want it to be hot for this dish.  

While the quinoa is cooking, heat 1 tbsp olive oil in a skillet and saute' the onion over medium heat until the onions become nicely caramelized.  Add 2 tbsp of the vinegar to the onions and stir it around while the vinegar cooks away.  Remove and cool slightly.  

In the same pan, without added oil, add the radish greens (or whatever greens you are using if you need them to be cooked) and toss them around just until wilted.  As you can see, my 3+ cups cooked down a lot.  I could have used more.  

Mix the remaining 3 tbsp olive oil with the remaining vinegar, a few grinds of pepper and a little salt.  Whisk together and toss with the quinoa and all the other ingredients.  Taste and adjust seasoning if needed.  

Spicy Stir-Fried Radish Greens

 My sister-in-law has put in a fall garden and it is doing WONDERFULLY well!  I'm so glad she decided to start this little venture, because I'm also getting to reap her bountiful harvest!  

One thing she planted was a ton of radishes because her dad loves them so.  However, radishes grown in the hot South Louisiana (even in fall) tend to turn out a bit spicy!  Even for the radish loving dad.  She asked me if one could eat the greens.  I didn't know, but turned to the Knower of all Knowledge - the internet!  Yes, was the answer!  I sent her a recipe and she sent me an enormous bag of radish greens!  Then I couldn't find the original recipe, but I did come upon this recipe from Kalyn's Kitchen.  

I didn't have any garlic at all, which is so unusual for this household, but I did have some Pampered Chef Garlic Oil, which worked wonderfully well.  This Cajun didn't find the greens to be especially spicy, so next time I will double the sriracha sauce.  

It took me forever to wash all the radish greens!  She sent over an enormous bag!  It took me two hours to wash all the greens, but less than two minutes to cook the recipe!  It was delicious and I didn't find the radish greens to be bitter at all!  Brooke and I devoured the recipe so fast and when I was downing the last bite I thought, "Oops!"  No picture of the finished product for the blog!  Trust me - it was good!  

One of Susie's Watermelon Radishes.  It was DELICIOUS with just enough spicy bite.  The color was GORGEOUS!!!  And this radish was enormous - larger than a chicken egg!