Balti Mixed Vegetables

Tasty healthiness!

These mixed vegetables are based on a recipe from my trusty Indian cookbook, Complete Indian Cooking, and they are the best. If you add in a can of chick peas this could easily be made into a main dish. This is not a spicy recipe, the flavors are actually pretty mild, more on the savory and slightly sour side from the lemon.

I like to make these when I have some veggies I need to use up and am short on time. Also, if I am running low on cash this is a pretty cheap meal and works quite well using frozen vegetables or fresh ones. And this is a very healthy recipe, that, with the addition of chick peas, is filling as well.

Spices all blended together

Enjoy!

Balti Mixed Vegetables
1 Onion diced
1 tablespoon minced Garlic
1 1/2 inch long piece Ginger chopped fine
1 1/2 teaspoon Chili Powder
2 teaspoons Coriander
1/2 teaspoon Turmeric
2 teaspoons Curry Powder
1 1/2 lb (approx) Vegetables (I used Zucchini, Squash, Potatoes, Carrots, and Green Peas) chopped in small pieces 
2-3 Tomatoes diced
4 tablespoons Lemon Juice
Oil
Heat large frying pan with a little oil on medium heat; once pan has heated put in onions and saute for a few minutes then add in the garlic, ginger, spices, and chopped up vegetables; saute for about 2 minutes then add in the tomatoes and lemon juice and cook covered on medium-low for about 15 more minutes until vegetables are tender but not mushy. (I had to transfer everything into a pot once I had sauteed it for a few minutes because my skillet wasn't big enough). Serves 4-6 depending on whether you make it a main dish or not.

Salmon Sandwich Spread

Fresh veggies!

This spread is based on a recipe I used to make as a teen for lunches, and I remembered it when my partner mentioned that he was tired of eating his typical meat and cheese sandwich at work. It is especially great if you feel iffy about the taste of tuna (which I do) and also if you want to incorporate more fish into your diet but at a more affordable price. This spread is super tasty and you can throw it together in about 15 minutes and it will keep just fine for a few days so it would be handy to take to work for cheep lunches.

I have work on the brain today because I just found out that I am finally starting my part-time job tomorrow! Excited to finally be working again.

Anyway enjoy the spread.


Salmon Sandwich Spread
1 14.75 oz can Salmon drained
6 oz Cream Cheese softened
6 Green Onions chopped fine (bulb and all)
4 Carrots grated
1 tablespoon garlic chopped fine
2 tablespoons Miracle Whip
2 tablespoons Lemon Juice
3/4 teaspoon Salt
3/4 teaspoon Fresh Ground Pepper
Dump salmon into a medium mixing bowl and mash up add in the other ingredients and stir until well mixed. Make sandwiches! Makes about 6-8 sandwiches depending on how much you use.

Linguine with Roasted Asparagus in a Tomato Lemon Sauce

I've been getting over a cold for the past few days and haven't felt like doing much, but I am finally starting to feel better so I will be cooking yummy things again! I made this dish last week though, the idea of roasting asparagus and then adding it to pasta popped into my head at work and I decided I had to try it since asparagus was conveniently on sale at Publix (also, I love asparagus and will use any excuse to eat more of it). Lemon sets off the flavor of the asparagus nicely, so I decided to use some fresh lemons in the sauce. This came out really excellent, but it is quite sour so if you don't enjoy sour food that much use less lemon. I forgot to take a picture of this before I ate all of it but it is really pretty and colorful.

Enjoy!

Linguine with Roasted Asparagus in a Tomato Lemon Sauce

½ lb. Whole Wheat Linguine (Ronzoni’s brand is the best I have tried so far)

2 lb. Asparagus

4 Fresh Tomatoes

1-2 Lemons zested and juiced (depends on how sour you like your food)
1 tablespoon Sugar

1 tablespoon Flour

1-2 teas. Lemon Pepper seasoning

Salt to taste

Fresh Ground Pepper to taste

Olive Oil

Asiago Cheese grated

Snap the base of the asparagus off and discard it (so that you only use the tender part), then snap again in half so that the pieces aren’t too big when in the pasta. Place the asparagus onto a large cookie sheet and toss with lemon pepper seasoning, pepper, salt, and olive oil. Roast at 425 for about 20 minutes or until tender (make sure it doesn’t get too soft, the asparagus should still hold its shape). Then roast the whole tomatoes with a little olive oil and salt and pepper for about 25 minutes at the same temperature until the skin of the tomatoes starts to crack and turn brown. Cool tomatoes slightly then remove skin and place the skinned tomatoes in a bowl and mash up slightly (so you don’t end up with huge tomato pieces in the pasta). Mix flour in with the lemon juice to form a paste and heat a large skillet to medium or medium low heat and place some of the tomato juice (from the bowl of roasted tomatoes) into the skillet with the lemon paste. (Meanwhile cook pasta according to package directions.) Cook until the flour begins to thicken the sauce then add in the rest of the tomatoes and cook until slightly thickened. Add in asparagus as well as the lemon peel and sugar and cook some more until the sauce is thick enough to coat pasta and then toss in the pasta. Serve with grated asiago cheese on top.