Black-eyed Pea Spinach Pie

Even after some research I could not find where this recipe originated from. But it has been so modified that it is a true Ross recipe. I do not like black-eyed peas. I don't much like any peas, but my husband does. And this recipe is my one annual promise of peas on New Year's Day. It is a great dish for pot-lucks or holiday meals too.

Black-eyed Pea Spinach Pie

2 cans black-eyed peas, preferably organic

1 bag spinach

2 pie crust shells, such as Pillsbury

5 oz pepper-jack cheese, shredded

1 egg, beaten

1 white onion, diced

garlic

cilantro

Preheat oven 350 degrees. In a 9 inch pie plate fit one pie crust. Stab with a fork and bake for 8 minutes and let cool. Saute onion and garlic in 1 tsp oil. Add spinach and stir until wilted. Remove from heat. Stir in cheese, egg, cilantro, salt/pepper and peas. Fill the pie dish and top with the second pie crust. Cut slits in the top layer to vent. Bake 45 minutes. Cool before cutting.

Mama added three links of chicken sausage to the frying pan before mixing in the spinach. The sausage makes this dish a meal in itself, but it works better as a vegetarian side dish.

Vegetable Pad Thai (Quick Meal)

This is a recipe I found in Martha Stewart's Everyday Food. I was actually somewhat disappointed in the description of "vegetable" which only consists of three scallions. So we had to fix that.

Continuing my excitement over my CSA vegetables, I picked up a pound of pak choi, which is a kind of baby bok choy with more leafy greens and less stalk. They could be related, but I am not sure. I also picked up some summer onions, which look like over-sized green onions. The ones I picked up even came in red onion. So cute. So this was my first real CSA dinner.

Vegetable Pad Thai

8 oz (half a box) of linguine pasta or flat rice noodles

2 tbsp brown sugar

2 tbsp fresh lime juice

3 tbsp soy sauce

2 tsp vegetable oil

1 bunch spring onions (more or less depending on the size)

1 tsp garlic or one minced garlic clove

1 pint whole mushrooms

2 eggs, beaten

1 lb bok choy or pak choi (about 2), lightly chopped

cilantro

cashews or peanuts, roasted and salted

Wisk together brown sugar, lime juice and soy sauce and let sit. Boil pasta or noodles until aldente. Drain and keep covered to retain moisture and heat.

Heat oil in skillet and add garlic and onions. I used six spring onions and about 4 scallions I had leftover in the fridge. I had a good bunch of onions. Trader Joes sells huge scallions so you can get a lot of onion from those too. The State Farmer's Market sells big spring onions as well.

Stem and half the mushrooms. A trick a friend told me was to keep the mushrooms rather big so they have a meatier texture to them. Add mushrooms to pan and sauté. Once vegetables look soft add beaten eggs and slowly stir until eggs are almost set, maybe 30 seconds. Remove vegetables from pan and keep in a bowl. Add another tsp of oil to pan and add leafy bok choy to pan. I did not chop very deep into the root so I had just the tender leaves. Sauté until vegetables are reduced to 1/3 original size. Add bok choy to vegetable bowl.

Add warm pasta to pan and pour soy sauce mix over pasta, mixing well. Make sure pasta is coated with sauce and add vegetables back to pan. Mix thoroughly but remove from heat quickly. Leaving the meal on stove top too long will dry out the pasta. Serve with roasted nuts and cilantro. I don't keep peanuts in the house (one of the few nuts/legumes I don't keep in stock), but I did have cashews, which I think matched the meal better.

I have seen versions of pad thai with chicken and shrimp. You can also garnish with chives from your green onions, but I think that is a tad too much onion for me. I thought the mushrooms and the eggs gave this meal a meaty taste. I was really surprised how much I liked it. I only made it because pak choi was with my CSA and it looked like it would be a good add-in.

Not to mention how fast this meal takes. I was rushing to cook for some company coming in and it was done in 15-20 minutes. The pasta took the longest at 9 minutes. Everything else sautés fast and then you just mix.

Which vegetables do you love?

Nutrition Action is a journal I subscribed to for a while. My favorite aspects are the journal was to take similar products on the market and compare them according to nutritional value v calories and fat content. It saves so much time at the grocery trying to read calories per serving and ingredient lists. You get accustomed to know what brands are better for what products.

Another edition I loved was a comparison of vegetables and how they scored in their content of calories, vitamin K, lutein, vitamin C, potassium and fiber. Because of this list, there are vegetables I have learned to embrace because of their intense health benefits. I have also enjoyed the fact that if I don’t particularly like a vegetable and it’s low on the list, I don’t force myself to try use it. I do think the more variety, the better you are able to get the vitamins and nutrients you need without a vitamin supplement.

Top choices:
Kale is far and away the biggest powerhouse vegetable you can find. My sister marks it as a food garnish, but there are so many great sides you can make with kale. NA score: 1389. Most leafy greens are top choices, including baby spinach at 672 point for 2 cups raw.

Interesting notes: canned pumpkin (raw, not the seasoned pie variety) is more wholesome than fresh (117) and is the first non-green top scorer on the chart at 570 points. Also, South Beach and Atkins got it wrong - sweet potatoes (485) pack in more vitamins and are nine times healthier than white potatoes (53). Don’t let the name “sweet” keep you away from these wonderful roots.

Not just for seasoning:
I found a surprisingly high number of herbs on this list as well. A quarter cup of raw parsley packs out enough vitamins that beat out green leaf lettuce and ½ cup cooked broccoli. Cilantro, just 2.5 tbsp, still brings enough vitamin K to your meal to compete with zucchini and lima beans.

Learned to love:

For a good while, I convinced myself that supplementing parsnip for carrot was an acceptable exchange . . . not so much. Carrots give me much-needed fiber and vitamin K and tower vitamin richness over parsnips by 350 points. The non-pepper bell pepper has also had to sneak its way into my menu because of scores like 340 for red and 193 for green. I was quick to replace bell peppers in recipes with the spicier pablano or green chili pepper, which was only scoring 53 in vitamin richness.

Learned to live without:
No need to fret over not getting enough sprouts. These seedlings only scored an 18 for half a cup. I’ve also gotten over my distaste for eggplant (19), cucumber (29), beets (32), radishes (34) and corn (47). No need to worry, I will still present recipes with these fine vegetables.

What are your favorite vegetables? Did your favorite make the cut? What are you told you need to eat more of but can’t stand? Maybe it’s not worth fighting. Let me know your thoughts.