Cheesy polenta with spinach, mushrooms, and sundried tomatoes

This recipe was born out of one of those "cook whatever you've got in the fridge" nights and I was surprised at how much the boyfriend liked it. The title pretty much gives away everything that's in it and I ate mine like it is in the picture, but if you want a little more protein in the meal it is delicious with an over-easy egg on top as well.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup corn meal

3 1/2 cups veggie stock

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1-2 dashes cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning

4-5 cracks black pepper

salt, to taste

1 ounce cream cheese

2-3 tablespoons parmesan cheese

1/2 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1 tablespoon oil

1/4 of an onion, chopped

1/2 a box of mushrooms, sliced thinly

5 sundried tomato halves

1/2 cup hot water

1 large garlic clove, minced

1 large handful spinach leaves

1/4 teaspoon garlic powder

1-2 dashes cayenne pepper

1/4 teaspoon Italian seasoning

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a large sauce pot, bring 3 cups veggie stock to a boil. Combine the corn meal with the leftover 1/2 cup of veggie stock and stir until it is smooth. Stir this into boiling stock and whisk to prevent lumps. Turn the heat down to low and add garlic powder, cayenne, Italian seasoning, and black pepper. Cover and simmer this mixture for 30-35 minutes, stirring occasionally. While this is simmering, heat the oil in a separate pan over medium-low heat. Add the onion and cook until it is tender, about 5 minutes, then add the mushrooms and cook until they have lost most of their water and have started to turn golden brown. While you are waiting for this to happen, soak tomatoes in the hot water for a few minutes, then chop them into pieces. When the mushrooms are nice and brown and starting to caramelize, then add the tomatoes and a splash or two of the soaking water. Cook for about 2-3 minutes, then add the spinach, garlic, garlic powder, cayenne, and Italian seasoning and cook until the spinach is tender. Add more of the soaking water if necessary and then season with salt and pepper. When the 30-35 minutes of simmering is finished, stir in cream cheese, parmesan cheese, and mozzarella and stir until everything has melted together. Season with salt and pepper. To serve, place a few spoonfuls in the bottom of a bowl and top with the veggie mixture. Top with more parmesan and potentially a fried egg. 

Lentil sloppy joes

Sloppy joes always look so good to me. They just seem so warm and comforting and filling, but rarely do you see them without ground beef so I decided to try making my own with lentils instead of the meat. It turned out really well and came together faster than I expected, especially since I used lentils that I had cooked in advance. If you don't have cooked lentils on hand just boil them for 30 minutes while you're making the sauce.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon oil
1/4 of an onion, chopped
1/4 of a green pepper, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
4-5 baby carrots, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup ketchup
2 teaspoons dijon mustard
3 tablespoons worcestershire sauce (look for a vegetarian one)
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
1 can (15 ounce) tomato sauce
3 tablespoons brown sugar
1-2 dashes of crushed red pepper flakes
salt, to taste
pepper, to taste
1 cup of cooked brown lentils

Directions:

In a medium sauce pot, heat oil over medium-low heat. Saute onion, green pepper, celery, and carrots for about 5 minutes, or until tender. Add garlic and cook for another 30 seconds. Add ketchup, mustard, worcestershire sauce, soy sauce, and paprika and stir to combine everything. Add tomato sauce, brown sugar, and crushed red pepper flakes, then stir to incorporate. Bring everything to a simmer and cook for 10-15 minutes, or until the sauce is nice and thick. Taste the sauce a few times during the cooking process and adjust the seasonings to your liking being careful not to add too much salt to early since the sauce will continue to reduce as it cooks. Put lentils in a separate small sauce pot and turn burner to medium heat, then add some (not all!) of your sauce, stirring frequently until it is as saucy as you'd like. Allow the lentils to warm up in the sauce for a few minutes, then remove from heat and serve on buns with any toppings you'd like (red onion, pickles, mustard, lettuce, etc).

Apple butter

Nothing says Fall to me more than apples and cinnamon. This is the perfect thing to make in early fall when the apples are inexpensive and it is just starting to get cold out. This recipe is so easy it almost shouldn't count as a recipe. The hardest part about this is waiting to eat it while your house smells amazing. Feel free to adjust the seasonings to your liking - I'm not a huge fan of nutmeg so I went really light on it but you could easily add more if you like that flavor.

Ingredients:

Roughly 3 pounds of apples, cored and chopped (I used a mix of honey crisp and green apples)
1/2 rounded teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup white sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup water
1/4 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

Add all ingredients except vanilla to a large crock pot and stir to combine. Cover the crock pot and cook on low overnight. In the morning, take the lid off and give it a good stir, making sure to scrape down the sides of the pot. Using an immersion blender, blend the apples until they are completely smooth and thick. Add more water if necessary to get the consistency you like. If it isn't thick enough for you just leave it in the crock pot and let it cook, uncovered, for a few more hours. Add the vanilla when it is finished cooking and stir to combine. Ladle into mason jars and store in the fridge if you'll be eating it within a week or two and freeze the rest of the jars.

Veggie lo mein

I love americanized chinese food but sometimes I don't want to order takeout, especially when I have plenty of veggies I should use up in the fridge. This is the perfect meal to make for times like that. You can really throw any veggie you want in this, which makes it really flexible so feel free to change up what you put in it.

Ingredients:

1/3 box spaghetti noodles, cooked and cooled
1 tablespoon oil
1 stalk celery, sliced thinly
6-8 baby carrots, sliced thinly length-wise
1/4 green bell pepper, sliced thinly
1 handful spinach leaves
1 handful broccoli florets, cooked
1/4 cup peas, cooked
1/4 cup veggie stock
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons sugar
1 teaspoon rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sriracha sauce
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon sesame oil
1/2 teaspoon sesame seeds
1/2 tablespoon cornstarch
cilantro, to garnish

Directions:

Heat oil in a saute pan over medium heat, saute celery, carrot, and green pepper until tender, about 5 minutes. Once tender, stir in spinach and cook for about one minute, or until wilted. Turn off heat and add broccoli, peas, and noodles to the pan. Set aside for later. In a large pot, combine veggie stock, soy sauce, sugar, vinegar, sriracha, garlic, sesame oil, and sesame seeds and stir well. Stir cornstarch into a tablespoon of cold water, then add to the pot. Heat mixture over medium heat and stir well as you bring it to a boil. Allow it to bubble until it starts to get nice and thick, which will take about 3 minutes. Once it has thickened a bit, add the veggies and noodles and stir to coat everything in the sauce. Allow this to heat through for about a minute or until the sauce is thick and sticking to the noodles. Serve with cilantro and more sesame seeds.

Ravioli with zucchini and mushrooms

After making the lasagna that I posted a while back I had a lot of ingredients left over but was sick of eating lasagna, so I used pretty much the same filling ingredients to make these ravioli. If you're not a fan of zucchini or mushrooms feel free to add whatever sauteed veggies you'd like to the cheese mixture. Just make sure you chop them finely. These were really tasty and froze really well. I had always been a little intimidated to make ravioli but they were much simpler than I had anticipated since I used wonton skins.

Ingredients:

20-25 wonton wrappers
1 tablespoon oil
1 zucchini, shredded
5-6 mushrooms, chopped in small pieces
7-8 ounces ricotta cheese
1 egg
1/3 cup parmesan cheese
1/8 teaspoon garlic powder
salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

Heat oil over medium heat and saute zucchini and mushrooms for 5-6 minutes, or until soft and tender. Remove from heat and allow them to cool to close to room temperature. Once your veggies are cool, combine ricotta, egg, and parmesan in a bowl. Stir in veggies and season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper. Take a wonton skin in your hand and place one spoonful of the filling in the middle of the wrapper. Wet the edges of the wrapper and fold in half, pressing the edges to seal completely and pushing the air out of the middle. Place it on a cookie sheet that is lined with wax paper. Repeat with the rest of the wonton skins and filling. Mine made about 24 ravioli. When ready to eat, boil water in a large pot, once boiling, turn the heat down to a simmer and stir to create a whirlpool. Add about 6 ravioli to the pot and cook for about 3 minutes, or until they float to the top of the water. Remove from the water and continue to cook as many as you will eat that day in batches. Freeze the rest of the uncooked ravioli on the baking sheet, then transfer to a ziplock bag. To cook the frozen ravioli just follow the same process, but cook for about 5-6 minutes. Serve with pasta sauce and parmesan cheese.