Mediterranean antipasta

Last week for lunches I cooked up a batch of quinoa and roasted some tomatoes (with olive oil and rosemary). I then enjoyed these ingredients with hummus, pita, feta cheese, and olives, depending on what was on-hand.

I tossed the quinoa with a bit of olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt for good measure.

Peach, mint, and tomato salad

This was a happy salad to share with friends at the end of summer. Recipe by Martha Stewart Living. I used heirloom tomatoes and cherry tomatoes, and I roasted the peaches a bit because they weren't quite ripe and I was in a rush.

Carrot and noodle salad

I've been making a lot of noodle salads lately because they're so satisfying and easy to pack for lunch (the photo is from eating it outside!). First I cut and baked some tofu cubes. Meanwhile, I lightly steamed a head of broccoli, grated 3 carrots and thinly sliced half a red onion and half a cucumber, and cooked up some rice noodles.

After everything was ready, I mixed it all together with some red wine vinegar, a bit of rice vinegar (to not overpower it), and peanut sauce. I added cilantro at the end.

Veggie pizza with black beans and roasted zucchini

Pizzas are good for throwing together all of the random vegetables in your fridge and pantry. I made this pizza a while ago and forgot to post it! It was extremely delicious.

Ingredients:

-1 roasted zucchini

-1/2 small can tomato sauce

-several slices mozzarella cheese

-handful of canned black beans

-about 1/4 red onion, sliced

Sorry, not too many specifics here.

Greek pasta salad

When I get in a cooking slump, it usually means I need to turn to my several recipe stocks: this blog, my cookbooks, recipes that I bookmark, and recipes that I pin on Pinterest. While I don't post everything on Pinterest, it's a great way to visualize things I've made and would like to make, all in one place.

I found this recipe via Pinterest, and it turned out great. Ignore that the picture on the original website is so pretty, and mine looks like standard potluck fare. Well, actually, this would be good for a potluck!

I followed the recipe pretty exactly, only using whole wheat pasta instead. I would recommend halving the amounts of oil and vinegar, then adding more to taste. Some white beans would've been a good addition, for extra protein.

This meal had only minor prep-work (chopping, mostly) and cooking (only the pasta), and lasted in my fridge for about 3-4 days.

Panzanella

Not to sound like a Martha Stuart wannabe (thought I might secretly be), but I literally threw this salad together on my way to my weekly ladies breakfast club. I hadn't planned what to bring, so as soon as I woke up I started scrounging the few extra foods that I had leftover. I had a large tomato that I knew I should use, some red onion, and frozen chunks of bread that I had previously stashed for an unknown future. It turns out you can make a pretty good panzanella from these ingredients! And, luckily, the lady who was hosting the breakfast has an overabundance of basil in her backyard.

I followed this recipe from Ina Garten, substituting my less-fancy mustard and red wine vinegar for the original ingredients. I also didn't have any of the other vegetables, although that would've been good.

I'm glad I got a chance to make this salad, as I've wanted to for a while, but it's not something that you can keep leftover. Maybe for a future party!

Tofu stir fry with bell peppers and green beans

I wanted to try out a new marinade this week and I'm still breaking in my new ceramic pans, so a stir fry seemed like the right thing to do (my roommate just moved out; left me lots of food goodies). There are many different ways to cook tofu, but today I tried making it the way it is often served in restaurants; dry-fried, then marinated.

So I cooked the tofu first, in two batches and with minimal oil. Then I set it aside to marinate in the peanut sauce (which you could make yourself, and it would probably taste just as good if not better). While the tofu was marinating, I stir-fried 1 sliced onion, about 1 (maybe more?) thinly sliced red bell pepper, garlic, ginger, and green beans (added in that order). Then, when everything was just about cooked, I added the tofu and a bit more of the marinade.

Meanwhile, I cooked up some jasmine rice. I think some basil added to the stir fry would've been a good topping, but this was good as is!