Minestrone Soup

A good soup for when the weather is just starting to get cold. Even better when reheated!

Ingredients:

• vegetable oil
• 2 medium onions, diced
• 2 leeks, diced
• 1 carrot, diced
• 1 potato, diced
• 1 can of beans (I used kidney because it was all I could find)
• 1/2 a cup of parsley, chopped
• 1 bag of spinach, chopped
• marinara sauce
• water or vegetable stock
• 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
• 1 cup of cooked pasta

Directions:

1) Heat 4 TBSP oil in a pot.
2) Add the onions and let sweat until they become soft (you may need to add more oil to prevent burning).







3) Add the leeks, carrot, potato, salt and pepper and cook for a few mores minutes, until they begin to soften.








4) Add the beans, parsley and spinach until the spinach wilts.








5) Add the stock or water (to cover), and add half as much marinara sauce.
6) Simmer until the vegetables are soft.
7) Add the Parmesan cheese and pasta and cook until the cheese has mostly dissolved and the pasta is warmed.

 So much soup...

Garlic Parsley Toast

Pretty simple, but sometimes I don't think of a recipe until I see it, so I think other people must do the same thing.

I added more parsley than the original recipe called for because I just found out it's SUPER healthy. Better than kale healthy.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 TBSP olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, smashed
• 1 TBSP parsley, chopped
• pinch of red pepper flakes
• pinch of salt
• 2 slices of wheat bread

Directions:

1) Mix the oil, garlic, parsley, red pepper and salt.
2) Put the bread in a pan until it is toasted on one side.
3) Flip and spread the oil mixture.
4) Allow to toast on the other side.






Of course, if you have a toaster oven or oven you can toast the bread at 450 F to your liking.

Tomato, Zucchini, and Eggplant Tian

 As other posts will tell you, we get a box of fruit and vegetables once a week from Boston Organics. This box contained eggplant, thus this recipe was followed and altered a bit.

Ingredients:

• 2 pounds round tomatoes, about 4, sliced thin
• 1 red onion, sliced thin
• 1/2 pounds zucchini, about 2, sliced thin
• 1 eggplant, sliced thin
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
• 1/4 tsp basil leaves
• 1/4 tsp thyme
• 1/2 tsp parsley
• 1/2 tsp dill
• 1/2 oregano

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 375F/190C.
2) Arrange the vegetables in rows in the baking dish in the order of: tomato, eggplant, tomato, zucchini, onion, repeat. If there is extra place it in the middle or around the edges.
3) Season with salt and pepper






4) Mix the herbs and additional salt and pepper into the olive oil.
5) Poor the olive oil over the vegetables in the dish.







6) Place tinfoil over the vegetables and bake for 1 hour.








7) Remove the tinfoil and bake for another 1/2 hour.

Pepper, Tomato and Pesto Omeltte

Again, you need to eat well before an exam!

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• salt and pepper
• 1/4 of a pepper, cut into small bits
• 1 tomato, cut into small bits with the seeds taken out
• 1 TBSP parsley
• 2 tsp pesto
• 2 TBSP cream cheese

I was skeptical about how the cream cheese would taste, but it worked out well!

1) Place oil in a pan on medium heat.
2) Mix the eggs and seasoning in a cup.
3) Place the egg mixture in the pan.
4) After it is solid, add the pepper, tomato, parsley, pesto and cream cheese, making sure the cream cheese goes around the edges.




5) Flip over the half that does not have filling.
6) After a few minutes, flip it again.

Leek and Pepper Omlette

You need a good breakfast before taking an exam! Leftovers from other things, that sounded like they would work in an omlette if done right.

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 1 garlic clove
• Spray oil
• 1/4 green pepper (but any colour will do)
• 1/4 cup leeks, chopped into small pieces
• 1/4 cup ricotta cheese
• 2 TBSP parsley

Directions:

1) Put some water in a pot with a steamer and bring to a boil.
2) Add the leeks and pepper (you can leave out the pepper, but its necessary for the leek to get softer) and cook for about 5 minutes.
3) Mix the eggs with salt, pepper and the garlic.
4) Spray a pan with oil and place over medium heat.




5) Add the egg mixture to the pan and cook until it is not runny.







6) Add the leeks, pepper, ricotta and most of the parsley.








7) Flip over half of the eggs to cover the vegetables and cheese.








8) Flip all of it over again after 1-2 minutes.
9) Top with the rest of the parsley.

"Minted" Spring Vegetables

Minted is in quotes because Tesco does not sell mint anymore! At least not the one I went to. So I thought I would change it up and make them "vinegar-ed" spring vegetables since I'm starting to like that flavour as well.

From: BBC Good Food 101 Veggie Dishes

Ingredients:

• 25 g/1 oz butter
• 1 TBSP olive oil
• 225 g/8 oz baby onions or regular onions (chopped up if regular)
• 200 ml/7 fl oz dry white wine (vinegar if you leave out the mint)
• 2 medium leaks, halved and cut into 5 cm/2 in ribbons
• 350 g/12 oz frozen peas
• 3 heads of baby gem lettuce, quartered lengthways (I thought this was a lot, and it was, so I only used the outside bits)
• 200 ml/7 fl  oz creme fraiche
• 2 TBSP chopped fresh mint
• 2 TBSP chopped fresh flat leaf parsley
• bulgar wheat or couscous or rice to serve (I used rice) 

Directions:

1) Heat the butter and olive oil in a large pan until lightly foaming.








2) Add the onions and cook over a low heat for 8 minutes.








3) Add the wine and leeks and bring to a boil.

4) Start cooking the rice, bulgar wheat or couscous now.
5) Simmer the vegetables for 5 minutes until the leeks are tender.
6) Add the peas and simmer for a further 5 minutes.
7) Add the lettuce and simmer for a further 3 minutes.





8) Stir in the creme fraiche, herbs and seasoning and simmer for a further 3 minutes, until everything is warm.

Pea and Ricotta Pesto

 From: Veggie Feasts

Ingredients:

• 4 TBSP extra virgin olive oil
• 500 g (16 oz) fresh or frozen shelled peas
• 2 garlic cloves, crushed
• 100 g (4 oz) ricotta cheese
• juice of 1 lemon
• 2 tsp mint (I used parsley because Tesco was out of mint)
• 30 g (1 oz) Parmesan cheese
• salt and black pepper

Directions:

1) Cook the peas in a saucepan of lightly salted boiling water for 3 minutes.








2) Drain and immediately refresh under cold water.









3) Put the peas into a food processor with the oil, garlic, ricotta, lemon juice, mint (or parsley), Parmesan and salt and pepper and process until fairly smooth. I don't have a food processor so I used a potato masher.
4) Serve with crostini or a baguette.