Monday Recipe - Off the Cuff Cooking

So I didn't have much time this weekend to cook. Normally, I'll take my Sunday to cook for leftovers for the week, or for the freezer. But this Sunday was pretty busy. So I figured I'd just eat out of the freezer for this week. Then at Whole Foods, the veggies were calling me. So I threw together a two-meal veggies and ravioli dish. I think that the recipe might need a little tweaking, and I might get ravioli with a different kind of cheese next time (the goat cheese was a little too...creamy, I guess). But it was pretty good for having thrown it together off the cuff.

Veggie-Topped Ravioli
12 walnut goat cheese ravioli (or whatever kind speaks to you)
1 head of broccoli, broken into bite-sized pieces
2 small onions, cut into rounds and then halved
12-15 baby portobello mushrooms, broken into pieces
1/2-1T butter (optional)
a short pour of white wine (just enough to keep it moist and add flavor)
garlic olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
red pepper flakes to taste

Sautee the onions in garlic oil until translucent and slightly browned. Add the mushrooms, wine, and butter until the mushrooms are cooked down. Add the broccoli and spices and cook until broccoli is bright green and hot (but not mushy).

In the meantime, bring water to boil and cook the ravioli (about 3-4 minutes). Don't overcook, as the ravioli may fall apart.

Serve ravioli topped with veggies.

Monday Recipe - American Chop Suey

Almost typed American Chop Suet. And man would that be a really damn different recipe. Ugh.

I've had a craving for American Chop Suey for a couple weeks now, and finally got around to looking up a recipe online and making it this weekend.

Somehow, the onions I bought turned out to be the gold medalists in attacking eye ducts. I'd cut up half an onion and then my eyes would sting so badly I'd have to screw them shut for about five minutes while OCD washing my hands to get the onion smell off. Then repeat. Managed to get through an onion and a half without slicing a finger off, which is always a good thing.

And this was even after I put the onion in the freezer, which is my personal trick for cutting down on the onion-y smell. Hmph. I've also heard of breathing through your mouth and chewing gum. Any other tips?

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American Chop Suey

medium onion, finely chopped
green pepper, finely chopped
red/italian pepper, finely chopped
lb ground beef/turkey (I used beef)
lb whole wheat elbows
2 cloves garlic (or more)
a shake of celery seed
a shake of chili powder
salt/pepper
olive/grapeseed oil
4-5C tomato sauce (used the same sauce as with the eggplant parm last week, and added about 1/4-1/2 lb mushrooms)

Make the sauce first, as it needs to cook for a while. The recipe listed for the eggplant parm above will make more than you need for this recipe (about 10-12C total), but it can be frozen or used for any tomato sauce based recipe you want to make.

Put onion, peppers, and oil in a large pan and saute until onion is translucent. Add meat and cook until brown. Drain fat. Stir in garlic, celery seed, and chili powder. Add tomato sauce and let simmer. While sauce is simmering, prepare pasta until al dente. Add to meat mixture and serve.

I don't know how well it comes out frozen and reheated, but I had a bunch extra, so I'll find out! This recipe made about 10 servings, if I recall correctly.