40 Meatless Meals: Aztec Quiche

1 1/4 c grated Monterey Jack cheese

3/4 c grated mild cheddar cheese

1 9-inch deep dish frozen pie shell

1 4 ounce can diced green chilies

1 c half and half

3 eggs beaten lightly

1/2 tsp salt

1/8 tsp ground cumin

Spread Monterey Jack cheese and half of cheddar over bottom of pie shell. Sprinkle chilies over cheeses. Stir together in a bowl the half-and-half, eggs, and seasonings. Pour carefully into pie shell. Sprinkle with remaining cheddar. Cover pie with foil, and put in freezer. To prepare for serving, thaw pie and remove foil. Bake uncovered in a preheated 325 degree oven for 40-50 minutes. 6-8 servings.

NOTES: This froze well in a 5-liter Rubbermaid container. In fact, after it was frozen, I could stack another pie on top and they'd both fit nicely.

Served neatly and would be good for brunch.

Source: Once-a-Month Cooking

CL Hint of the Day: Leftover Yolks

Pour cold water over leftover egg yolks before storing in the fridge, to keep them from drying out.

I admit that I usually have the opposite problem (an abundance of whites), but you never know when I might go on a macaron kick, I suppose...

Tip via ATK Feed, where they have lots of other fantastic kitchen hints.

40 Meatless Meals: Pasta Limone

All the comfort of fettucine alfredo with some lemony pep.

Pasta Limone (serves 4-6)
Adapted from Cook's Illustrated

1 lb whole wheat spaghetti
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
1 medium shallot, minced
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 t lemon zest, finely chopped
1/4 cup lemon juice
1/2 cup grated mozarella cheese
black pepper
2 T fresh parsley or basil

In a dutch oven, cook pasta according to package directions. Drain, reserving 1.75 cups pasta water.

Heat 1 T oil in dutch oven. Add shallot and cook until soft. Stir in 1.5 cups pasta water and cream; simmer 2 minutes. Turn off burner. Fold in pasta, then stir in remaining oil, lemon zest, juice, cheese, and 1/2 t black pepper. Cover and let stand 2 minutes. Stir in fresh herbs and salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 4-6.

It's March; Do You Know Where Your Tomatoes Are?

(image source)

I'm constantly behind in planning out my garden. Maybe it's because I have moved from zone 4 to zone 6, so everything comes just a bit earlier; more likely, it's my deliberate, perfectionist, and yes, procrastinating personality clashing with an activity that's a bit more here-and-now. At any rate, I was pleased to discover SproutRobot, a site that reminds you when to plant your vegetables.

You can simply enter your zip code on the home page to see a week-by-week calendar, or create an account, to receive email reminders to start the plants you check in your profile. They also have paid memberships, where they mail seeds to you at the right times. The calendar includes instructions for each plant. These are geared toward the beginner, but having everything laid out by date might appeal to more advanced gardeners, too.

Here, it's already time for me to start my tomatoes and peppers. Lacking a lot of sunny indoor space for pots, I'll be trying this method using milk cartons as mini-greenhouses.

Other gardening links I've been enjoying:

• Garden Diary and Planning Worksheets
• A 4'x4' garden plan (Boy's Life)
• Growing Guide for Eleven Common Herbs
• 66 Plants you can Grow in a Container

40 Meatless Meals: Salmon & Red Pepper Pizza

1 pizza crust, unbaked
1 can salmon, drained (skin and bones removed)
1 sweet bell pepper, cut in strips
1 scallion, thinly sliced
1 cup mozarella cheese, grated.

Preheat oven to 420. Spread pizza crust in pan. Sprinkle next three ingredients over crust. Make 15 minutes. Top with cheese and bake until bubbly.

Serves 4.

40 Meatless Meals: Spicy Black Bean and Sour Cream Enchiladas

2 cans Black Beans, Drained (15 Oz Each)

2 cloves Garlic, Minced

½ cups Chopped Onion, Divided

½ whole Lime, Juice And Zest

1 teaspoon Cumin

1 teaspoon Onion Powder

1 teaspoon Chili Powder

½ teaspoons Cinnamon

½ cups Sour Cream

1 cup Shredded Monterey Jack Cheese, Divided

1 can Green Enchilada Sauce (16 Oz)

1 can Mild Green Chilies (small, 4 Oz Can)

1 package Small Corn Tortillas (10 To 12 Tortillas Per Package)

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• In a mixing bowl, combine black beans, garlic and about half the chopped onions.
• Next, add the lime (juice and zest), cumin, onion powder, chili powder, cinnamon, sour cream and about one third of the shredded cheese to the mixture. Combine well.
• Spoon the filling into the corn tortillas (one at a time) and roll them by hand. Try to get them as tight as you can and then place them in a baking dish, seam side down.
• Pour the green enchilada sauce on top so that it coats each tortilla.
• Top with the remaining cheese, onions, and here is where you’ll add the super spice! I topped mine with a handful of the pickled jalapeno slices but if you’d prefer milder spice, use the mild green chilies listed in the ingredients list instead. Add as much as you want to suite your taste.
• Bake in a 9 by 13 inch baking dish (or anything you have that’s long and rectangular) for 15 to 20 minutes until cheese is melted and tortilla edges look crispy and brown.

NOTES:

• Apologies for the lack of a photo.
• The flavors in the filling were great! I loved the lime and cinnamon together.
• Corn tortillas are annoying. Even though we warmed them a little in the microwave, they tended to crack when rolling. Great flavor, but if I wanted this dish to look better, I'd go for flour tortillas.
• Be sure to drain the beans well. The sour cream tends to make it a little runny as it is.

40 Meatless Meals: Creamed Mushrooms on toast

2 T butter
8 oz mushrooms, thinly sliced
2 cups milk
2 T cornstarch dissolved in water
1 bouillon cube
1 T Worcestershire sauce
1 t parsley
salt and pepper
Fresh bread

Melt butter in frying pan. Sautee mushrooms until tender; remove from pan. Pour in milk and cornstarch, stirring frequently until sauce thickens. Stir in bouillon, Worcestershire sauce, and parsley. Fold in mushrooms. Season to taste.

Serve over fresh bread.

Serves 4.

40 Meatless Meals: Sweet Potato Risotto

Serves four.

2 tablespoons butter

1 pound sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 onion, chopped

1/4 teaspoon minced peeled fresh ginger

2/3 cup Arborio rice or medium-grain rice

1 cup dry Riesling wine

1/4 cup walnuts, toasted, chopped

1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley

2-3 T heavy cream (optional)

Melt butter in heavy large skillet over medium-high heat. Add sweet potatoes, onion and ginger; sauté about 5 minutes. Add rice and stir until glossy (add a bit more oil or butter if needed). Turn heat up to high and add wine, stirring until evaporated. Add hot water or vegetable stock 1/2 cup at a time, stirring each until evaporated, until rice is cooked. Season with salt and pepper, and finish by adding the heavy cream, if desired.

Spoon risotto onto plates. Sprinkle with nuts and parsley.

Note: For a less labor-intensive version involving mascarpone cheese, see the original recipe.

We are waiting, O Lady, for your word of compassion

You have heard, O Virgin, that you will conceive and bear a son; you have heard that it will not be by man but by the Holy Spirit.

The angel awaits an answer; it is time for him to return to God who sent him.

We too are waiting, O Lady, for your word of compassion; the sentence of condemnation weighs heavily upon us.

The price of our salvation is offered to you. We shall be set free at once if you consent. In the eternal Word of God we all came to be, and behold, we die.

In your brief response we are to be remade in order to be recalled to life.

Tearful Adam with his sorrowing family begs this of you, O loving Virgin, in their exile from Paradise. Abraham begs it, David begs it.

All the other holy patriarchs, your ancestors, ask it of you, as they dwell in the country of the shadow of death. This is what the whole earth waits for, prostrate at your feet.

It is right in doing so, for on your word depends comfort for the wretched, ransom for the captive, freedom for the condemned, indeed, salvation for all the sons of Adam, the whole of your race.

Answer quickly, O Virgin. Reply in haste to the angel, or rather through the angel to the Lord. Answer with a word, receive the Word of God.

Speak your own word, conceive the divine Word. Breathe a passing word, embrace the eternal Word.

Why do you delay, why are you afraid? Believe, give praise, and receive. Let humility be bold, let modesty be confident.

This is no time for virginal simplicity to forget prudence. In this matter alone, O prudent Virgin, do not fear to be presumptuous.

Though modest silence is pleasing, dutiful speech is now more necessary.

Open your heart to faith, O blessed Virgin, your lips to praise, your womb to the Creator. See, the desired of all nations is at your door, knocking to enter.

If he should pass by because of your delay, in sorrow you would begin to seek him afresh, the One whom your soul loves.

Arise, hasten, open. Arise in faith, hasten in devotion, open in praise and thanksgiving. Behold the handmaid of the Lord, she says, be it done to me according to your word.

-From a homily In Praise of the Virgin Mother by Saint Bernard, abbot (December 20 Office of Readings)

-Image credit: Filippino Lippi, Apparition of the Virgin to Saint Bernard

40 Meatless Meals: French Onion Soup

Slow cooker French onion soup