Squash and Potato Frittata with Roasted Potatoes

After a long busy day at work, I came home unmotivated to cook. I had a recipe I wanted to follow tonight but just didn't feel up to it. So I peeked inside my fridge just for a minute - found some cabbage, zucchini, eggs, tomatoes, and lots of fruits, plus more. Somehow, though, I mustered up the will to improvise and throw together a rather delicious meal with what I had on hand - zucchini, potatoes, eggs, and some herbs.

Here's another frittata recipe - this time with no cheese - I added some milk to this for some extra fluffiness. Also I roasted some diced potatoes and remaining cauliflower florets in some olive oil and rosemary while the frittata was cooking over the stovetop. Dinner on the table in less than 1 hour!





Squash & Potato Frittata

1-2 small squash (approx 2 cups), thinly sliced summer squash (I used zucchini)
1 1/2 cups of potatoes, diced
6 large eggs
1/2 cup of milk - I used soy milk
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp basil
1 tsp salt
pepper to taste
a splash of soy sauce
1 tablespoon of oil

1. In a small mixing bowl, mix the eggs, milk, thyme, basil, salt, pepper, and soy sauce.
2. In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium heat, and sautee the squash slices and diced potatoes for a few minutes.
3. Pour in the egg mixture.
4. Let it cook over low heat for 10-15 minutes or until the eggs are almost completely cooked.
5. Turn off heat and serve!

Roasted Potatoes

Dice up some potatoes.
In a bowl, drizzle some olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary for seasoning.
Roast the potatoes in the oven at 450 degrees for 20-25 minutes, or until the outsides of the potatoes have softened and hardened just a bit.

Quinoa and Zucchini Recipe

Here's another great way to use up your zucchini! Any summer squash variety will do. I used a mix of gold rush and patty pan squash. The avocado dressing, along with the eggs make this recipe very refreshing and fulfilling. Unfortunately, I didn't have any pine nuts or goat cheese (as the recipe called for) but it was still great!

Quinoa and Zucchini Recipe

Tofu Bim Bim Bap

I got inspiration to make this dish after eating at a Korean restaurant earlier this week. It was a hole in a wall joint in the Paldo market in the Crossroads area in Bellevue. This dish is a mix of lightly sauteed zucchini, carrots, bean sprouts, mushrooms, and tofu, topped with an egg and gochujang, a hot pepper bean paste. The hot pepper bean paste is what makes it taste great - if you can't find it at your local asian supermarket, you can easily make it yourself. Yum!

Makes 4 servings

about 4 cups of cooked rice (1.5-2 cups of uncooked rice - I used organic brown rice)
2 cups of carrots, julienned
2 cups of zucchini, julienned
8 oz of bean sprouts, washed and drained
4 oz of dried mushrooms, sliced
8 oz of firm tofu, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sugar
4 eggs
some vegetable or canola oil
gochujang sauce (or make yourself - try this one)
salt to taste

1. Soak the mushrooms for 10-15 minutes until they plump up and ready to slice.
2. Julienne the carrots, zucchini. Then slice the mushrooms once they are plump and soft.
3. In a pan, heat some oil, stir fry the zucchini for just 1-2 minutes. Add salt to taste. Place in a small bowl. Below are all of the ingredients to stir fry.
   

   

4. In the same pan, add additional oil, and stir fry the carrots for 1-2 minutes. Place in a small bowl.
5. In the same pan, add additional oil, and stir fry the sliced mushrooms for 1-2 minutes. Add 1 tsp of soy sauce and 1 tsp of sugar.
6. In the same pan, add additional oil, and stir fry the bean sprouts for 1-2 minutes. Add salt to taste. Place in a small bowl.
7. In the same pan, add additional oil, stir fry the tofu cubes. Add 1 teaspoon of soy sauce. Stir fry for 2-3 minutes. Place in a small bowl.
8. In the same pan, add additional oil, cook the eggs. You can cook it sunny side up, but I like my eggs cooked almost thoroughly. Place the eggs on a small plate/bowl.
9. In a serving bowl, add a cup of cooked rice, topped with all of the vegetables, including the egg and about 1 tsp of gochujang sauce, depending on how spicy you want it!
   
   

   

   Here's the gochujang sauce I used.
   
   

   

Corn and Egg Soup

This soup is easy to make and super yummy! I've been making a lot of salads lately these past summer weeks, so my stomach's been yearning for something different :) This soup surely highlights the sweetness of the fresh corn. It's great for a not so hot day, or slurp it slightly warm on a hot day. I actually doubled the recipe below - makes for great leftovers when you're lazy to cook. Note: I would make sure to add low-sodium vegetable broth, or alternatively, add additional water to your vegetable broth. You don't want the broth to overpower the sweetness of the corn.

1 ear of sweet corn, shucked, makes about 1 Cup
1 large garlic clove, minced
2 cups of water, or light vegetable broth
1 tablespoon cornstarch, mixed with 1/2 tablespoon of water
1 egg, beaten
1/4 teaspoon of white pepper
1 green onion, chopped (optional)

Makes 2-3 servings

1. In a pot, add the water/vegetable broth and garlic to a boil. Add the corn. Reduce heat.
2. Stir in the cornstarch.
3. Slowly pour the beaten egg while stirring the soup.
4. Turn off heat, taste and adjust seasoning with salt, soy sauce, or additional cornstarch mixture to adjust thickness of the soup.

Spinach Rice Gratin

I open my fridge and it is full of fresh veggies from my csa. It also reminded me of the fresh eggs I purchased from the Redmond farmers markets this past weekend. The eggs came from Sky Valley Farm in Startup, WA, just 40 miles from Seattle. They are truly farm-fresh eggs where the chickens are raised on pastures and are not treated with any antibiotics. Thank you chickens for rounding out my meal!

I typically have some ideas of what I want to cook with the veggies I choose. So tonight, the dish I set out to make is a spinach rice gratin based on this recipe from the 101cookbooks site, using those farm-fresh eggs. It will be enough for dinner as well as leftovers for work the next day. I didn't have any olives on hand, so I added some soy sauce and salt for additional seasoning to the dish before baking it. I used the spinach from my CSA, eggs, organic brown rice, and some cashew cheese.

You can follow the recipe here.

Vegetable Fried Rice

Fried rice is one of my comfort foods. To make delicious fried rice, you'll need to cook it on high heat, add just the right amount of seasoning, and stir fry it just long enough so the vegetables and rice don't become too mushy. Since my next CSA box is coming soon, I used whatever vegetables I had in my fridge. Here's a quick and easy recipe:

Ingredients:
3 cups cooked rice (I used leftover cooked brown rice)
1-2 cups of carrots, chopped
2-3 cups of green cabbage, shredded
2 cups of celery, chopped
2 cups of spring onions, green and white parts, chopped
2-3 large eggs
3-4 tablespoons of oil

Seasoning:
3 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspon fish sauce
dried chili peppers

Directions:

1. When the pan is extremely hot, pour in the oil and stir in the white part of the spring onion. Stir quickly.
2. Add the eggs and scramble until almost cooked.
3. Add all of the vegetables, except the green part of the spring onion, along with the cooked rice. Stir quickly.
4. Add the soy sauce, fish sauce, and chili peppers.
5. Stir for 1-2 minutes.

Swiss Chard Gratin

I made this easy swiss chard dish adapted from this recipe. I added 1 medium/large yellow potato to the recipe which made it more of a main course. Potatoes were added and sauteed for a few minutes before putting in the swiss chard stalks. The eggs, swiss chard, and potatoes came from my CSA box. Enjoy!