Monday, March 26, 2012

Pasta e Fagioli: A Poor Man's Meal


I'm excited to announce that the Yogic Kitchen will be featuring recipes from guest yoga teachers! Today's recipe comes via guest blogger Cori Fratelli, a yoga teacher and mom from Colorado.

Cori Says:

While it may have seemed, at the time,  like my parents could afford the many luxuries of life, looking back I recall many hardships and I make the conclusion that my parents perhaps lived from paycheck to paycheck, like so many of the American population currently do. Time and again....well more specifically, several times a week, my father would cook us "the poor man's meal," as he called it. In my Italian neighborhood growing up, we called this dish Pasta e Fagioli, or pasta and beans. Today I make this meal for my family, and I recall my loving  father standing over the stove cooking this very same scrumptious meal for his family.

Ingredients:

1 clove of garlic, chopped
1 Tbsp. olive oil,
2 cups fresh spinach
1/4 of a red onion, sliced
1 can white beans, such as Great Northern or cannellini
1 box spaghetti

Cook it up

Cook pasta according to directions on package.

Meanwhile, saute the garlic until fragrant. Add the spinach, onion and cook until the spinach wilts. Add the beans and heat through. Finally, drain the spaghetti and toss with the spinach mixture, cook another 2 minutes.  Add in more olive oil, salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Saturday, March 3, 2012

Japanese Style Ramen

I am not afraid to admit that I've probably eaten about ten tons of Top Ramen in my life; first as an after school snack, then as a starving college student. But as an adult, I just can't bring myself to bring something so full of salt and fat into my home. Why is it that all of our childhood food nostalgia involves horrible, horrible things? (Like ho-hos, or twinkies, or instant oatmeal).

Fast forward to yesterday, where I found organic, authentic, Japanese style ramen! You have no. idea. how excited I was.  Aren't they beautiful?





To make basic recipe:

Bring 4 cups of vegetable broth to a boil and salt to taste. Reduce heat to simmer, and add in desired amount of noodles. Simmer for about 4 minutes, or until noodles are done. Ladle hot noodles and soup into bowl and top with your favorite toppings. 

I used celery, carrots, green onion, radish and a hard boiled egg. Delicious! A new, grownup version of the old favorite that I'm not afraid to feed my kids.



Friday, March 2, 2012

Asparagus and Goat Cheese Pizza


I'm up to my eyeballs in asparagus. This time of year it goes on crazy sale overload, and no matter how many bunches I have in my fridge, I just can't seem to pass a deal like this by. So this week we've had asparagus in everything from omelets to teriyaki wraps to soup. But my favorite way to eat asparagus is on pizza. It's dense enough that it holds up well when cooked, and lends a light, fresh flavor.

Marinating the asparagus ensures a loaded flavor in this simple and delightful pizza! The way I made this was to eyeball the toppings, so don't worry too much about exact measurements and get creative! You can add a little or a lot more of what I did, or add other veggies as they suit you.

Ingredients:

1 pre-made pizza dough, stretched and ready for topping
1 bunch of asparagus, halved lengthwise
1 tablespoon minced garlic
olive oil
1 lemon, halved
salt and pepper to taste
herbed goat cheese
parmesan/fontina/mozzarella mix, (or similar) pre-shredded
2 green onions, chopped

In a bowl, combine asparagus, green onions and garlic. Drizzle with oil and the juice of half of the lemon. Salt and pepper to taste. Let marinate 20 minutes and up to a few hours, depending on how long you have to prepare.

Meanwhile, bake your un-topped pizza dough on a cookie sheet or pizza round at 425 degrees, for 10 minutes. Remove from heat, let cool a minute or two, then proceed to the next step.

Top your pizza dough with a sprinkling of your shredded cheese mix (not too much now!) Then layer on the asparagus mixture, drizzling any juices on top of the pizza as well. Top with spoonfull/dollops of goat cheese and another light layer of shredded cheese mix.

Bake another 10 minutes, at 425 degrees, directly on the rack. Remove carefully, cool 5 minutes, slice and enjoy.

We like to top our pizza with a bit of fresh arugula that has
been tossed with olive oil, pepper and lemon.
(Here is another version of the pizza we made,
this one with mushrooms)