Elle's New England Kitchen

This dinner was put together one night when looking for a way to use up a package of steamed lentils from Trader Joe’s, a few Portobello mushroom caps, and some quinoa. Yes, I said steamed lentils! It’s a pack of 2 1/2 cups of lentils, vacuum sealed and ready to go. Now, there’s no reason at all why you couldn’t make your own lentils, but I think it would be better if you made them ahead and let them sit in the fridge for a day. Just like you do for fried rice. It lets them separate and firm up, and hold up better to sautéing—so they don’t turn to mush.

The quinoa part of this is done polenta-style, with some fresh grated parmesan, and is from Whole Grains for Busy People, by Lorna Sass. Couldn’t be easier! I’ve made this quite a few times already, even adding an extra bit of half and half at the end for a little more creaminess. Delicious!

Lorna’s book is loaded with great recipes—I have a ton marked to try. And it’s not a vegetarian book, by any means. There’s plenty of meaty recipes in there, but whole grains are included. And they’re all quick, weeknight meals, with grains that cook quickly. But don’t feel the need to limit them to just weeknights!

So get your quinoa polenta going in one pot, and start the lentils in another pan. If you like, you can do the mushrooms in a third pan, but I just transfer the lentils to a bowl when they’re done, then do the portobellos in the same pan. They’re very quick to cook up, so your other stuff isn’t going to get cold.

Don’t look at the three elements and think it’s too complicated, please. Each one is extremely quick and easy, I promise!

Quinoa-Style Polenta
From Whole Grains for Busy People, and slightly changed

1 cup quinoa
2 cups chicken broth (or use vegetable broth if you prefer)
1/2 cup grated fresh parmesan
1 tbsp butter
1 tbsp of your favorite fresh herbs, minced (or about 1 tsp dried)
salt and fresh cracked black pepper

In a saucepan, bring broth and quinoa to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium, cover and cook about 12-15 minutes, until most of the liquid is absorbed.
Stir in the remaining ingredients and set aside.

Sautéed Lentils

2-3 garlic cloves, minced
1/2 cup onion, chopped
2 1/2 cups cooked lentils
1 cup chicken broth (or vegetable if you prefer)
2 tbsp of your favorite fresh herbs, minced (or about 2 tsp dried)
fresh cracked black pepper

In a skillet over medium low heat, heat some olive oil, then add the garlic and saute for a few minutes, being
careful not to burn it.
Increase the heat to medium high, and add the onions--cook for a few minutes.
Add the lentils and broth, and simmer for about 5 minutes or so, stirring occasionally.
You want to cook off most of the liquid.
Add the herbs and pepper.
Set aside, or remove from pan--then wipe it clean and slowly heat a little olive oil to get ready for the mushrooms...

Sautéed Portobellos

2 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 large Portobello mushroom caps, stems removed and sliced, gills removed, and rinsed
your favorite herbs
fresh cracked black pepper and a little salt

Slice the mushrooms into pieces about 3/4 inch thick. Use the sliced stems, too, if you like!
Heat a bit of oil in a pan over medium low heat, then add the garlic.
Saute, being careful not to burn it.
Add the mushrooms and cook for about 2 minutes on each side.
Add herbs, salt and pepper.

Layer the quinoa, lentils, then mushrooms in your bowl, and top with extra grated parmesan.

Serves 3 people

My meat-eating husband absolutely loves this one! And see how it serves three people? That means the two of us for dinner, and he gets the leftovers for lunch the next day. That’s how much he loves this dish.

Mmmmmmm, broooooownieeees. Whether you like them cakey or fudgy... fudgey (I've GOT to get a correct spelling on that. Firefox is telling me that those are both wrong, hehe.), everyone loves brownies. I usually go for fudge-like (that works! woo!), but I won't turn a cakey brownie away, either. I'm an equal-opportunity-brownie kind of girl. Give me a brownie and a glass of milk, and I'm happy!

In the last couple of weeks, I've tried two new recipes, and come across so many more I want to try. Who isn't always on the lookout for the perfect brownie recipe, right?

The two that I ended up choosing were not for their sinfully-bad-for-you and chocolate-loaded qualities, but for their "Hey, this looks interesting, let's see what they're like" qualities.

And guess what? They're both fantastic brownie recipes! Both rich and chocolatey, but not so bad for you that you'll feel guilty indulging in one or two.

First up was Whole Wheat Brownies from Made Healthier. We've really been trying to get more whole grains into our diets and into our kids, hehe. They were really good! I'll definitely make them again! They were cakey, moist and very chocolatey. They didn't taste like whole wheat, either, and the kids liked them--that was the most important test!

I knew I wanted to get more chocolate into them, so I melted some chocolate to add to the batter. I also keep some instant coffee on hand just for brownies. Never. For. Drinking. Ever. But add some to brownie batter, and it makes them have a deeper, more intense chocolate flavor. Geez, I'm getting hungry just thinking about them! I also doubled the recipe because we're a big family, and an 8x8 pan will be gone faster than you can look at a brownie and yell "I call that one!" The recipe calls for 1/3 cup vegetable oil, and since I was doubling it, I melted 1/3 cup of butter, along with between 1/4 and 1/2 cup of bittersweet chocolate. You can see the original recipe here. And I'll post it here with my changes:

Whole Wheat Brownies

1 1/3 cup white whole wheat flour
2/3 cup all purpose flour
1 1/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup butter
scant 1/2 cup bittersweet chocolate
2-3 teaspoons instant coffee granules
1 cup milk
1/2 cup water
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Heat the oven to 350.
In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
Melt the butter and the bittersweet chocolate together in the microwave. Start with about one minute, then 15 second increments, stirring after each 15 seconds until the chocolate is melted.
Stir the coffee granules into the butter chocolate mixture.
In another bowl, combine the oil, butter mixture, milk, water, eggs and vanilla.
Add the wet stuff to the dry stuff, stir in the chocolate chips, and combine.
Pour into 2 greased 8 inch square pans.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.
Cool (if you can wait), and cut into squares. They tasted even better every day, too. Until the end of the third day--then they were all gone. ;)





Being served next: Raw Vegan Brownies

I was so intrigued when I saw this recipe. I read it over at 28 Cooks--another great blog! It has only 5 ingredients, and no baking--hence the name Raw Vegan Brownies. ;)

My husband loves bars and things made with dried fruit, so I knew right away he'd love these. I mentioned the recipe to him and he hounded me until I made them, hehe. They are fabulous! Really. I can't even believe how chocolatey they are. They're like a little miracle brownie! I don't think you could make these without a food processor, though. You've got to process it all together until you have the dried fruit chopped ultra fine and mixed thoroughly with the other ingredients. I should add that I doubled the recipe, planning to make 2 pans, but pressing half the mixture into one 8 inch pan was going to give us really thin brownies, so we put all of it into one square pan and got what you see in the photo.

Raw Vegan Brownies

1/2 c dried pitted dates--not the sugary coated chopped ones--you're using a food processor anyway, get the whole pitted dates
1/2 c dried cherries
1/4 c cocoa powder
1 c walnuts
3 tbsp agave nectar

(you can use carob powder and honey in place of the cocoa and agave, if you prefer)

Add all ingredients to food processor and process until everything is thoroughly combined and chopped. Press into a square pan, and freeze for one hour. (To make it easier to cut them into bars, I lined the pan with plastic wrap and then lifted the whole thing out after freezing. Peel off the plastic and cut into bars.) Remove from freezer, cut into squares, and store in the fridge. Deelicious, and rich, so cut them into small squares.

This past Saturday was my husband Billy's birthday, so we of course had a party for him, and had everyone over that evening. Earlier in the week, I figured that if we were going to see everyone on Saturday, why not just skip making a huge Easter dinner? Not that I minded making one, it's just that I didn't really feel like entertaining two days in a row, you know? And that way, we could pack up the kids and get out of the house on a (sort of) mild, sunny day. Good plan, right? Right!

Until this morning, when I was reading some blogs and came across this post at culinography. I'll wait while you go have a look. Looks delicious, doesn't it? That's why I'm kicking myself for not making an Easter dinner. I love those leftovers! Ham sandwiches, quiche or frittata, and any other stuff that includes ham and your leftover veggies and stuff. Why didn't anyone remind me? Why didn't someone tell me that I'd miss out on the glory of big holiday dinner leftovers? Why????? Ah well, I guess I could pick up a ham at the store this week. Maybe even on sale! Whatever the next holiday is, I'll be counting on you guys to remind me of this, ok? Thanks in advance. ;)

So! When I asked Billy what he wanted for his birthday dinner, he said he wanted to make pizza. What? HE wanted to make pizza? He's the official pizza chef in the house, not me. So I said "Are you sure?" He was! By the way, if you're wondering if I'm talking about my husband or a kid named Billy--yes, Billy is my husband. I cannot ever get used to calling him Bill. He was Billy when I met him (we were 19! God!), and he always will be. He's Bill to everyone else, though. But I'm off topic! He wanted to make pizza. His pizza is the best, so I wasn't going to argue. I was in charge of toppings. We had plain cheese, garlic shrimp, and meatball for my sister in law, because she's allergic to shellfish, poor thing, and we kind of like having her around!

The garlic shrimp is one of the easiest things in the world to make. It's all in the timing. Get everything ready to go ahead of time and that way, you can add it to the pan without having to run around the kitchen. Otherwise, you'll end up with rubbery overcooked shrimp, instead of the tender little morsels they are. This recipe is adapted from an old friend's recipe. It makes some sauce, and is great over pasta, or with crusty bread for mopping up the sauce. You can double everything but the shrimp if you want more sauce. It also makes an amazing pizza topping! Just remove them from the sauce, but save that for something else, like dipping your pizza crusts in!

Garlic Shrimp

5 or 6 tbsp olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
pinch of red pepper flakes
1/3 cup white wine (you know the rule, use wine you'd actually drink!)
1 lb shrimp, shelled and deveined
coarse salt
1 tbsp lemon juice
1 tbsp butter
chopped parsley to garnish

Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat, and add the garlic. Cook slowly for a minute or two to flavor the oil with garlic, but be careful not to burn it.
Add the red pepper flakes and increase the heat to medium high.
Add the wine and let this go for about a minute, then add the shrimp.
Season with salt.
Cook until the shrimp is almost done (this will only take a couple of minutes.)
Add the lemon juice and butter to finish the sauce.
Garnish with finely chopped parsley.


The chocolate cake was really good! It didn't look perfect--my cakes never do. But it was homemade and tasty. I used the recipe for Decadent Chocolate Cake from Whole Grain Gourmet. It was delicious! Not quite as fudgey...fudgy? fudge-like as I had hoped, but since we're trying to get more whole grains into our diet, we wanted to try this one. It was moist and dense though. It didn't taste whole grain at all, and the guests all loved it. It was topped with their ganache, as well. All in all, really good cake! And I managed to get one lamo shot. Be nice, I'm not the best when it comes to cake presentation!

So what did we do on Easter Sunday? We hit the road and went to the beach. It was so sunny and blue. A very nice change from the dirty gray snow that's left over, and the grass that's not yet lush and green.