No-Bread Romesco Sauce (Gluten-Free, Paleo)

Here in Massachusetts, it's finally spring with some consistency. Of course, we still have the occasional "surprise! It's 40 degrees and raining while you have to be outdoors in dressy clothes" day, but for the most part, the sun is shining and birds are chirping.

I don't know about you guys, but when the weather gets warmer, our dinners get pretty basic. The grill gets a lot more use and we start having more simple grilled meat and veggie dinners. Things like grilled chicken, however, are not terribly interesting on their own (even when it's made really well).

Enter this Romesco sauce. A smoky, garlicky concoction that originated in Spain, Romesco sauce is super easy to make if you have a food processor. My version eliminates the traditional slice of bread as a binder (blah blah gluten-free blah blah) and uses jarred roasted red peppers to cut down on the prep work, because... well, have you read the name of my blog?

Roasted garlic is still a key component, and it's not hard to do the traditional way. However, I have a few suggestions to cut down on the work.

One - go ahead and use your toaster oven. That way, you don't have to heat your whole kitchen on a hot day just for this.

Two - just bundle everything up in a piece of foil and stick it in the oven for minimal cleanup!

Three (this is the big one, and Italian grandmothers everywhere are probably cursing my name) - use pre-peeled garlic cloves! Around here, I can think of 3 stores that sell pre-peeled cloves: Trader Joe's, Wegmans (both TJ's and Wegmans come in bags with sealed pouches of 10 or so cloves) and Stop and Shop (they have a jar of peeled cloves in the produce section). If you roast the already-peeled cloves, you get to skip the annoying step of fishing out hot, squishy cloves from a whole roasted head of garlic.

Once the garlic is roasted, then everything takes a spin through the food processor, and voila! A big ol' batch of Romesco sauce. I guarantee you'll be able to carry it through at least 3 different (two-person) meals in one week.

This is how we used one batch of Romesco sauce:

• Topped plain grilled chicken breasts with it
• Tossed it with penne, cut-up leftover grilled chicken, a bit of reserved pasta water, and goat cheese crumbles (we did this two different nights, in fact!)
• As a burger condiment

How else could you use it?

• As a topping for other plain, grilled meats and seafood; it would go really well with steak and fish
• Spread it on toasted baguettes slices, top with goat cheese crumbles and broil them to brown the tops for an appetizer 
• As a dip for pita chips
• Tossed with roasted veggies or spaghetti squash

If you have a favorite use for Romesco sauce, let me know in the comments!

Hey look, there are some Frozen Roasted Vegetables on the side!

No-Bread Romesco Sauce (Gluten-Free, Paleo)
Makes 2 cups

Ingredients

• 1 small head (or 10 peeled cloves) of garlic 
• 1 large jar (15-17 oz, depending on the brand) roasted peppers packed in water, drained
• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1/2 teaspoon smoked paprika
• 1 tablespoon red wine vinegar or lemon juice
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• Salt to taste

Directions

Preheat oven or toaster oven to 450°F. Tear out a square of aluminum foil. 

If roasting a whole head of garlic, slice the top 1/4"-1/2" off with a sharp knife. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt. Place in the middle of the foil piece and bundle it up. Put it in the oven and roast for 20-30 minutes, or until the cloves are easily pierced with a fork. Let it cool down, then remove the cloves.

If roasting already-peeled cloves of garlic (this is how I roll, because it's much easier), place the cloves in the middle of the foil piece, drizzle with olive oil, and sprinkle with salt. Bundle it all up and shake it up a bit to coat all of the cloves with oil. Roast them in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the cloves are soft.

Place the garlic, drained roasted peppers, almonds, smoked paprika, and red wine vinegar (or lemon juice) in the bowl of your food processor. Process it for a minute or two, until everything is pureed. You may need to stop the processor and scrape down the sides once.

With the processor still running, slowly drizzle in the olive oil. Most (if not all) food processors have a small hole in the feed tube plunger that's meant for this - you can just dump all of the olive oil in there, and let gravity do the work of slowly drizzling it in through the hole. Once all of the oil is incorporated, stop the processor, taste the sauce, and mix in salt to taste (I usually add a couple of pinches).

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Macaroons? Cookie Dough Bites? (Gluten-Free, Vegan)

Have you ever gotten halfway through a recipe you found somewhere, and realized there was no way that it was going to work as written? With cooking, it's definitely easier to recover from and make tweaks, but when it's a baked good... well, all bets are off.

This happened to me about a month ago. I had come across a recipe for cashew flour chocolate chip cookies, and even though I had some warning bells going off in my head as I read the recipe, the positive comments convinced me to give it a shot.

Mix together dry ingredients - okay. Add butter - hrmm, no indication of the temperature or state of the butter given. Guess I'll soften it, that's pretty typical for cookies, right? Okay, now I have lumpy flour. Maybe when I add the liquid... liquid... there's no more liquid in this recipe. I guess the butter was supposed to be melted. Uh oh. Now what do I do???

Well, I'm not one to give up, especially when I've psyched myself up for chocolate chip cookies. I added some liquid, more flour, sugar (the original recipe also had no sweetener)... just guessing at amounts, until I had something that resembled a cookie dough. Whew! Let's get these guys onto a cookie sheet and bake 'em up.

7 minutes in - gee, these look awfully puffy and they're not spreading. I think I'll squish 'em down with a spoon and give them another few minutes.

12 minutes - well, these look like they're about as done as they're going to be. Yikes.

Hey, even though they look like they fell off the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down... they tasted good! I fed them to my husband, who thought they had a similar texture to macaroons. Macaroons. I can get behind that.

The next time I made them, I decided to use coconut oil instead of softened Earth Balance to enhance the macaroon-iness of them. Coconut flavor without the chewy coconut bits, for those who don't care for that texture. I also rolled the dough into balls for baking and did NOT flatten them with a spoon this time.

Hooray! They looked more like macaroons this time. But - to further confuse matters, my husband said that he felt like he was eating cookie dough, but in a good way. Cookie dough bites? I can also get behind that.

This is my long-winded way of saying, this is a gluten-free, vegan treat that is having a slight identity crisis. Make the dough balls a little bigger (1.5" diameter) if you want to call them macaroons. Make 'em a little smaller (1" diameter or even a little smaller) if you want to call them cookie dough bites. Don't like coconut? Use softened butter or margarine instead of coconut oil. Mix in whatever other chocolate or nuts or dried fruit you want.

Just don't flatten them with a spoon.

Macaroons or Cookie Dough Bites
Makes approximately 20 2" macaroons, more if you make them smaller

Ingredients

• 1 cup gluten-free AP flour OR regular AP flour
• 1 cup nut meal (I used cashew meal - almond meal should also work!)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 tsp baking powder
• pinch of salt
• 1/3 cup coconut oil, room temperature OR 2/3 stick butter, softened
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup non-dairy milk OR dairy milk
• 1 cup mix-ins (I used 1/2 cup chopped pecans and 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a couple of cookie sheets with parchment paper.

Mix together flour, nut meal, sugar, baking powder and salt in the bowl of your stand mixer until combined. Add coconut oil or butter and beat on medium speed until the dry ingredients look like they have small lumps evenly distributed throughout. 

Mix vanilla and milk together. While running the mixer on a low speed, slowly pour milk mixture into the bowl - the dough should come together. Add mix-ins and mix until just combined.

Roll dough into balls (1" balls for 2-bite treats, 1.5" balls for 3-bite treats) and place a couple of inches apart on the prepared cookie sheets. Bake for 9-10 minutes for smaller treats, or 10-11 minutes for larger treats. If they don't feel tacky to the touch on top and they're slightly firm, they're done - they won't brown much. Remove from oven and let cool on the cookie sheets for 5 minutes, then move them to a cooling rack.

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Slow-Cooker Chicken Burrito Bowl (gluten-free, dairy-free)

Life has gotten in the way of this Slacker Gourmet these past few weeks. Our oldest cat, Oliver, was diagnosed with lymphoma in March (following over a month of mysterious symptoms and red herrings leading to incorrect diagnoses), and the 3 weeks that followed were filled with vet visits, tube feeding, and absolutely no cooking at home. Unfortunately, chemotherapy was unsuccessful and he had become too weak to fight any longer, so we had to make the devastating decision to put him to sleep on March 30. The house feels so much emptier without his room-filling purrs. :(

But - life goes on, and our other two kitties, Amber and Orville have been getting awfully spoiled this past week. The emotional toll of the past couple of months plus the constant stream the takeout and restaurant food of the past few weeks haven't done good things to our bodies. It was time to ease back into home cooking, and what better way than with a home adaptation of a takeout favorite?

One of my favorite fast-food(ish) compromises is a burrito bowl from Chipotle. 85% of the deliciousness of a burrito, with about 50% of the guilt. It's easy to recreate most of the yummyness of the bowl at home with a few simple ingredients (and some Slacker Gourmet shortcuts)! Jarred salsa (I use Goya Salsa Verde, due to the hubby's tomato sensitivity), frozen rice and corn (Trader Joe's frozen roasted corn is amazing, if you can get your hands on it!), prepared guacamole, and boneless chicken thighs make this come together so quickly - 5-10 minutes of prep in the morning, and another 10 minutes at night.

This is not a beautiful dish. If I had used sour cream and shredded cheese and sliced avocado, it could have been prettier... but that's at odds with the dairy-free (and always-lazy) Slacker Gourmet household these days. Of course, you can use whatever toppings you'd like!

The recipe as written makes A LOT of the chicken and bean mixture - but it freezes really well for future use! You can always use it as an actual burrito filling or nacho topping, too.

Slow-Cooker Chicken Burrito Bowl 
Adapted from Slow-Cooker Chicken and Pinto Bean Burrito Bowl
Serves 6-8

Ingredients

• 2 lb boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• 1 16-18oz jar of your favorite salsa
• 1 Tbsp cumin
• 1 Tbsp chili powder
• a healthy squeeze (approximately 1 tsp) agave nectar
• 1 15oz can pinto beans
• cooked brown or white rice
• salt and pepper to taste
• Any combination of your favorite toppings or add-ins, including:
• cooked corn
• guacamole
• sour cream
• shredded cheese
• sliced olives
• finely diced onions
• chopped cilantro
• lime wedges

Directions

Put chicken in a medium (3-4 qt) slow cooker. Mix together salsa, cumin, chili powder and agave nectar and pour over chicken. Cook on low for 6 hours (chicken thighs are pretty forgiving, so you can go longer, but it's better if you have a slow cooker that can switch to "keep warm" mode after 6 hours). 

After 6 hours, shred chicken with 2 forks right in the slow cooker. Drain and rinse the pinto beans and add to the chicken mixture in the slow cooker. Stir to combine, and cover the slow cooker and cook for an additional 1/2 hour on high or 1 hour on low. Taste and season with additional salt and pepper if needed (I usually don't need to add any).

Meanwhile, cook rice, if it's not already made. Season hot rice with a bit of salt and pepper (some lime juice is nice if you happen to have it, but completely optional). 

Make your burrito bowls by spooning a bed of rice into a bowl, and topping with a hearty serving of the chicken and bean mixture. Top with your favorite additions (corn and guacamole are the standard toppings in the Slacker Gourmet household). Enjoy!

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Oven-Cooked Bacon: Which Method Works Better?

My name is Val, and I love bacon. (Hi Val!)

However, I don't love cooking bacon. Standing over the stove, with my vision slowly being obscured by the thin film of bacon grease covering my glasses... I'm not interested. Sure, it's great to have a batch of bacon grease at the end to save for another application, but I never actually end up saving it (mostly because I'd find an excuse to fry EVERYTHING in the leftover grease, and I enjoy keeping my heart beating regularly). 

I don't mind bacon that's been cooked in the microwave, but it requires some annoying cleanup as well. Purpose-made plates with ridges and channels to let the bacon drain as it cooks are a pain to wash, and the microwave ends up covered in grease splatters.

Links have been circulating on Facebook and Pinterest claiming that you can cook bacon in the oven. There are a few methods out there - on top of a cooling rack, directly on a foil-lined baking sheet, and by making a "rack" out of foil. I immediately discounted the cooling rack method, having had multiple bad experiences with trying to wash little meaty bits out of the grid (and the last cooling rack I tried to wash in the dishwasher got completely rusted over, so I'm not eager to ruin another one). 

So that leaves the 2 foil-based methods for easy cleanup. Whenever I roast veggies or make tater tots, I line a baking sheet with foil so that I don't have to wash it afterwards. The idea of applying that same principle to bacon-making was very appealing. 

I suspected that the rack made from the foil "accordion" would be more effective for crisping the bacon by allowing for more airflow and draining the grease. Conversely, I figured that the bacon cooked directly on the pan would be soggier and greasier from sitting in its own fat without draining. 

Both methods began with lining the baking sheet with foil. If your aluminum foil isn't wide enough to fold over the sides of the pan (to prevent the bacon grease from getting on the pan), crimp 2 pieces together in the middle by lying one piece on top of the other, and folding the long sides over each other 2-3 times. When the pieces are secured together, spread them out - you should have a double-wide piece of foil to line your pan and fold easily over all sides.

For the foil "accordion" rack, simply fold a piece of heavy-duty foil that's about twice as long as the pan back and forth like an accordion, and spread it out to fit in the pan. The bacon is then laid out over the "rack". Don't have heavy-duty foil? Stack 2 pieces of regular foil and fold as if it was one piece.

Both batches of bacon were started in a cold oven, set to 400°F. Since I used a thicker-cut bacon (not super-thick, but thicker than typical bacon), I left them in the oven for 30 minutes total, but began checking on them every few minutes at the 18 minute mark. After removing from the oven, I drained and blotted both batches with paper towels.

I was surprised by the end results. The bacon cooked directly on the pan ended up cooking more evenly, and was less greasy after blotting. The bacon cooked on the "accordion" rack didn't drain nearly as well as I had theorized. The bottom of the bacon strips didn't cook nearly as well as the top because they weren't in contact with a hot pan. They ended up greasy and slightly flabby, even after blotting. Don't get me wrong - I still ate plenty of bacon from both batches. But, it's not worth using extra foil and an extra couple of minutes to fashion a makeshift "rack", and that makes this Slacker Gourmet very happy.

Oven-Cooked Bacon

Serves 1 - 4 people

Adapted from many, many people on the internet

Ingredients

• 1 lb bacon

Directions

Line a baking sheet with foil, making sure to fold the foil over the sides to prevent bacon grease leaks. If your aluminum foil isn't wide enough, make a double-wide piece of foil by crimping 2 pieces together in the middle.

Lay the bacon out evenly across the baking sheet - try not to have them touch. Put the baking sheet in a cold oven and set it to 400°F. For thinner pieces of bacon, begin checking for doneness at the 17 minute mark. For thicker-cut bacon, begin checking for doneness at 20 minutes. 

When the bacon is browned around the edges and at your preferred doneness level, remove the baking sheet from the oven. Using tongs if the bacon is too hot to handle, transfer the bacon strips to a paper towel-lined plate, and blot the top of the bacon with another layer of paper towels. 

If you want to save the bacon grease, carefully pick up the foil lining and drain the grease into a container. If you just want to dispose of it, you can do one of two things: layer some paper towels on the foil to soak up most of the bacon grease, then carefully fold up the foil for disposal; or wait until the grease cools and solidifies and fold up the foil at that point. Hopefully, you shouldn't need to wash the pan!

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Maple Nut Oatmeal Cookies

Our oldest kitty, Oliver, hasn't been feeling quite like himself for awhile. Even after many vet visits, he ended up at the emergency vet for a couple of nights this past weekend. I don't want to get into too many details about what's wrong, but he came home with a feeding tube for meals for now. This has resulted in me making what can only be described as a "liver milkshake" in smell and texture out of canned food and water, for pumping into the feeding tube. Yummy.

Partially to distract myself from worrying about Ollie, and yes, partially to eradicate the lingering odor of his dinner, I set out to make some more oatmeal cookies. As much as I adore my double chocolate peanut butter oatmeal cookies (known as DCPBOC from here on out), I wanted to make something with a completely different flavor profile. I wanted to use the same basic recipe, with the building blocks of nut butter, oats and gluten-free flour giving the same soft-but-toothsome texture, so I settled on making a maple nut oatmeal cookie.

The recipe is quite similar to the DCPBOC - almond butter instead of peanut, grade B maple syrup (for a distinct but not overwhelming maple flavor) instead of brown sugar, extra flour and less milk, and pecans instead of chocolate chips. The resulting cookies, based on my initial guesses at amounts for substitutions, were everything I hoped for - maybe more! Salty, sweet, nutty... just like me.

As with the DCPBOC, I made these gluten-free and vegan, but regular all-purpose flour and dairy milk should work just fine here. Even though we don't typically eat vegan in our house, I love making eggless cookies because I can rationalize "taste-testing" a lot more cookie dough without raw eggs giving me pause. So go ahead - let your kiddos and your grandmothers grab a spoon and eat the dough too - I won't tell.

Maple Nut Oatmeal Cookies
Yield: approximately 2 dozen 2" cookies
Adapted from Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients

• 1 cup almond butter (9 oz by weight)
• 1/2 cup grade B maple syrup (if you dare to use pancake syrup, we can no longer be friends)
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup gluten-free AP flour OR regular AP flour
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 1/4 cup non-dairy milk OR dairy milk
• 3/4 cup chopped nuts (I used pecans, but walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts would also be nice)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a couple of sheet pans with parchment paper.

Add almond butter and maple syrup to the bowl of your stand mixer, and beat on medium speed until well combined (2-3 minutes). Add vanilla extract and beat until mixed in.

Stop the mixer. Add the flour and mix on a low speed until just combined. Stop the mixer again, add oats, baking soda, and salt and mix again on low speed until just combined.

The dough at this point should be somewhat crumbly and sticky. With the mixer running at a low to medium speed, add the milk in a thin stream. By the time you finish adding the milk, the dough should come together and pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Stop the mixer, remove the bowl and mix in the chopped nuts with a spoon. Using a cookie scoop (I used my OXO Good Grips Medium Cookie Scoop) or 2 spoons, drop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough a couple inches apart on the prepared sheet pans. If you're using a cookie scoop - don't overfill it - this dough is pretty sticky and thick, so you don't want to overtax the spring release mechanism. Flatten them out to about 1/4 inch thick with the palm of your hand - they won't spread much in the oven.

Bake for 9 - 10 minutes (11 minutes in my oven, but I tend to always need another minute past the upper bound of recipe times) - the tops of the cookies should look slightly dry and may be starting to just barely crack in places. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to finish cooling. Enjoy with a glass of milk, or with more cookies.

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Pumpkin Sausage Sauce

Winter, why won't you end? We had a brief reprieve with a sunny, 50 degree day this past Saturday, but now we're back to gusty winds, frosty air, and the promise of more snow. Oh well - spring veggies and grilling time will come soon enough. In the meantime, I have more hearty, cold-weather recipes to share.

A few months ago, I was browsing Instagram. Laura of Mangia Paleo had posted a picture of homemade pumpkin bolognese over spaghetti squash, and I started drooling. However, I looked up the recipe, and one of the ingredients was a jar of marinara sauce. Brilliant idea, adding tomatoes and seasoning all at once, but with a tomato-allergic husband, this recipe was a no-go. But, I just couldn't get the idea of a meaty pumpkin sauce out of my head.

I set out to find another pumpkin bolognese recipe that didn't rely on added tomatoes, and failed. Tomatoes have a unique characteristic that blends together so well with other ingredients, so I didn't want to just leave them out of a recipe without a substitute in place. Suddenly, it came to me - instead of ground beef, why not use sausage meat instead? Letting sausage simmer with other ingredients is a really easy way to infuse great flavor into a sauce.

Turns out I was onto something! There are many recipes for pumpkin sausage sauce out there. But most of them called for the addition of heavy cream at the end to add richness. I liked the idea of a creamy sauce, but since we try to limit our dairy intake, I discovered that full-fat coconut milk could play that part quite easily. The mild coconut flavor melded harmoniously with the subtle pumpkin sweetness.

The flavor profile of the finished sauce will heavily depend on the sausage you choose to use. I typically use sweet Italian sausage, but hot Italian sausage, chorizo, or even a good breakfast sausage would be a delicious change. If you can find bulk (uncased) sausage meat, that will make your life easier - otherwise, you'll have to pull the casings off the sausage. Be sure to use the best quality sausage you find! The recipe wouldn't work quite as well with pre-cooked sausage since you finish cooking the sausage (and infusing the seasoning) in the sauce.

Like many of my recent recipes, this sauce is easily adapted to many different ways of eating. Paleo? It's fabulous served over spaghetti squash (which adds its own sweetness and a welcome crunch). Gluten-free? Either spaghetti squash or gluten-free pasta (which, quite frankly, is more photogenic, so that's how I made it for the pictures). Vegetarian/vegan? Well... I hear that Soyrizo is pretty tasty (I've never tried it), so you could try that in place of the sausage. If you do, let me know how it comes out!

Pumpkin Sausage Sauce
Serves 4-6

Ingredients

• 1 15oz can pumpkin puree (no spices, just pumpkin!)
• 1 cup chicken broth OR vegetable broth
• 1 tsp dried sage
• a sprinkle of nutmeg
• a splash of olive oil
• 1 clove minced garlic (the pre-minced stuff is fine)
• 1 lb bulk sausage OR 1 lb sausage links, casings removed (any type - breakfast, Italian, chorizo, etc.)
• a couple of handfuls quick-wilting greens (baby spinach, baby arugula, baby kale, etc.)
• ½ cup full-fat unsweetened coconut milk OR ½ cup heavy cream
• salt and pepper to taste
• a 2-3 lb spaghetti squash OR 12oz dry pasta

Directions
Before starting to make the sauce:
If you're making spaghetti squash, get it prepped and start cooking it using your favorite method. If you're making pasta, start boiling water for the pasta.

Combine pumpkin puree, chicken broth, sage, nutmeg, a pinch of kosher salt, and a grind of black pepper in a decent-sized saucepan (it will eventually hold all of the ingredients). Bring to a simmer over medium heat, stirring occasionally to combine as it heats up.

While the pumpkin mixture is heating, in a nonstick skillet, heat a splash of olive oil and add some minced garlic. Cook for a couple of minutes, till garlic is fragrant but not too brown. Add sausage meat to skillet and break up with spatula, and cook just until no pink remains (but not really brown and crispy).

Using a slotted spoon, add the sausage and garlic to the saucepan with the pumpkin mixture. Bring back to a simmer and let it simmer for 10-15 minutes.

While the sauce is simmering:
If you're making spaghetti squash, scrape out your spaghetti squash strands and set aside. If you're making pasta, cook your pasta according to the package instructions. Drain and set aside.

Add the greens to the sauce, a handful at a time, stirring each handful in until it wilts. Let it simmer for another minute or 2.

Add coconut milk and stir to combine. Taste sauce and add any additional salt and pepper if needed.

Toss with spaghetti squash or pasta. Top with grated parmesan or romano cheese, if desired.

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Recipe Shout-Out: Chocolate Hazelnut Coconut Fudge

While looking for easy recipes for gluten- and dairy-free sweet treats a few weeks ago, I came across something that sounded too good to be true: creamy, rich vegan fudge made with only 5 ingredients (6 if you count the fleur de sel sprinkled on top). I had all of the ingredients on hand though, so I gave it a try.

Guess what? It was every bit as good as the original recipe promised! "Real" fudge has a slight sugar-graininess that I don't love, but this "fauxdge" had a smooth, almost truffle-like texture. I also really liked that it isn't super-sweet, but it's very chocolate-y. It came together quickly in my trusty food processor - the only hard part was waiting for it to set up in the fridge.

I've got some plans for experimenting with some other flavor combinations - if I come up with something brilliant, I'll write about it! For now, though, you should give the original recipe a try, because you can't really go wrong with chocolate, coconut and hazelnut (well, unless you're allergic, in which case, I'm sorry!).

Get the recipe: Crazy Delicious Dairy-Free Chocolate Fudge from Oh My Veggies

Side Dish: Roasted Frozen Vegetables

When you were a kid, and your mom needed to add a last-minute veggie side dish to dinner, chances are she did one of two things: (a) opened up a can of veggies and boiled them, or (b) opened up some frozen veggies and boiled them. Like most other kids, you probably staged a coup at the dinner table, which most likely ended in tears and/or an empty stomach.

Then... you became an adult and realized that Mom was just trying to keep your meals balanced as best she could with a busy schedule. Soon, you found yourself in a similar place - eating dinner at home is healthier and much easier on the wallet, but some nights you're too tired to cook a meal from scratch (even a Slacker Gourmet meal), or you just don't have the right ingredients on hand.

In our house, when we have one of those nights, our go-to meal is either chicken sausage or bratwurst, and some kind of frozen seasoned veggie blend. However, since the hubby has some food sensitivities, that narrows the field to about 2 - 3 types of seasoned veggie blends, and we get tired of them pretty quickly. Plus, they've still got a bit more salt and not-entirely-wholesome ingredients than we'd like. So what's a Slacker Gourmet supposed to do?

Canned vegetables? NOPE. They're generally loaded up with salt (yes, I know they make no-salt-added varieties), and the texture, even before you cook them, is not quite right. They have a strange, mushy texture and slightly tinny taste. No thank you.

Plain frozen vegetables, on the other hand, have the potential to be a blank canvas in the right application. They're completely unseasoned, they're already cut up, it doesn't matter if they're in-season or not, and they've already been blanched before they are frozen (meaning they are partially cooked even before you get your hands on them). However, the cooking directions on the bags always suggest either steaming them in the microwave, or (gulp) boiling them. Can we treat them better?

One of my favorite ways to cook fresh vegetables is to roast them. Roasting at a high heat caramelizes the edges, brings out sweetness and nutty flavors, and tames the bitter edge on many vegetables. Of course, this works best on larger, harder veggies like brussels sprouts, potatoes, cauliflower, etc. - not so well on corn (off the cob) or peas, for example.

I got to thinking - can we roast frozen vegetables straight from the freezer? The answer: YES! The final texture is slightly different from roasted fresh vegetables, and the cooking time (which is almost completely inactive) is about 40 minutes, but there is barely any prep involved. Most importantly, the flavor of these humble frozen vegetables goes from boiling's "blech!" to "hey, these are pretty good!" They'll never be nearly as amazing as roasted fresh veggies, but they're a good trick to have up your sleeve.

I tried roasting frozen cauliflower, Brussels sprouts, crinkle-cut carrots, broccoli and green beans. The Brussels sprouts were the biggest disappointment - they're my absolute favorite roasted fresh vegetable, but their frozen counterparts just didn't have a fantastic flavor. I suspect that they are more sensitive to the blanching and freezing process than other vegetables. The carrots didn't really brown up; they seemed to get a little dry on the outside instead. The flavor really concentrated and got nice and sweet, though. The cauliflower and broccoli were tasty, but the surprise favorite of the bunch were the green beans! They started getting crispy in places and almost tasted like green bean chips. Yum!

Roasted Frozen Vegetables
Serves 4-6 (or whatever the bag says)

Ingredients

• 1 lb bag frozen vegetables - cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, etc. (please use bagged veggies and not frozen-in-a-brick veggies!)
• a couple of glugs of olive oil (approximately 2 Tbsp)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil for easy cleanup, and put a cooling rack on top of the cookie sheet. I used a cooling rack as the cooking surface to allow air to circulate all around the veggies so any additional water would drain off, and I didn't have to toss them at all during cooking. If you don't have a cooling rack, you'll probably want to stir the veggies a couple of times during cooking. 

Toss the still-frozen veggies with olive oil, and season generously with salt and pepper. Spread the veggies on the cooling rack, and roast for 10 minutes. 

Boost the oven temperature to 450°F, and roast veggies for another 30 minutes, or until they are nice and browned around the edges. Enjoy!

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I personally like my roasted veggies seasoned simply with salt and pepper, but feel free to experiment with different oils and seasonings! A sprinkle of parmesan or Cabot Cheddar Shake at the end would also be great.

And if after all this, you try roasting canned vegetables, I really don't want to hear about it. Ew.

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

Hello, fellow lazy foodies! After an extended spell of putting the slacker in Slacker Gourmet, I'm back! Don't worry, I hadn't forgotten about this humble little corner of the food blogosphere.

What have I been up to? Well, here's the thing. A few months ago, my husband was diagnosed with a whole slew of food intolerances, including gluten, wheat, rye, yeast and casein. The doctor put him on a strict elimination diet to avoid all of the trigger foods, which ended up lasting 3 months (right through the holiday season - yikes!). So I was cooking, all right, but much of it was far from Slacker Gourmet - there was a lot of experimentation and substitution. For the most part, I stuck with recipes that other, far smarter, bloggers and chefs had developed.

The hubby is off the elimination diet now, but has discovered that he does indeed feel better when he avoids dairy and gluten most of the time. Since this is now a part of our everyday lives, I've started to adapt and streamline recipes to fit into our busy schedules, and I'm looking forward to sharing them! I've also restarted Project 365, so I'm taking more and more photos (and learning how to take proper food photos). Now that I keep my camera close to me at all times, it's much easier for me to remember to grab a few photos of something I've made so I can write about it! I'm hoping to settle into a weekly update schedule eventually.

Anyway... enough about me! Let's talk about cookies, shall we?

I'm not much of a baker to begin with, but add in the constraint of staying gluten-free and dairy-free, and I'm ready to just break out the box mixes and be done with it. However, there were some recipes that the hubby really loved that I wanted to try to adapt. In general, the less reliant a baked good was on flour, the better chance I had of adapting it successfully.

One of the recipes that worked really well was this recipe for Healthy Peanut Butter Chunk Oatmeal Bars. It was already dairy-free, so I only had to use gluten-free oats and swap in a gluten-free AP flour blend (I've been using Namaste), and it worked beautifully.

There are a couple of drawbacks, though. When I make bars, brownies, etc., I really love using my Chicago Metallic Slice Solutions Brownie Pan - it's got the convenient sling to lift the bars out, and the cutting grid gives me beautiful bars every time (if I try to cut them myself, I inevitably end up with a crumbly mess). But the darn thing is a pain to grease (even though it's nonstick, i don't trust it that much), and even more of a pain to wash.

The bars themselves are also pretty serious. They're thick and filling, which is great sometimes, but not always what you're looking for. I've taken to cutting them in half from the original bar size, but... see above about the crumbly mess. Yeah.

I got to thinking - can I adapt these into cookies instead? Parchment-lined cookie sheets don't need to be washed (usually). If I could make cookies... then all of my equipment could go into the dishwasher. Plus, I could make them a little more manageably sized. For cookies, though, I was afraid that the amount of flour in the bars would make for a crumbly, dry cookie, so I swapped out 1/4 of it for raw cacao powder.

The results? A resounding success, I'd say! These cookies come together quickly with a stand mixer - you can have these mixed, baked, and cooled in well under an hour. They're also perfect for nearly any food restriction (well, except for a peanut or chocolate allergy) - no one would be able to tell that they are gluten-free or vegan unless you tell 'em. Plus, you can go ahead and eat the uncooked dough - no raw eggs to worry about!

Double Chocolate Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies
Yield: approximately 2 dozen 2" cookies
Adapted from Healthy Peanut Butter Chunk Oatmeal Bars

Ingredients

• 1 cup peanut butter (see below for measuring tips)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup gluten-free AP flour OR oat flour OR whole wheat flour
• 1/4 cup raw cacao powder OR cocoa powder
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1/2 cup non-dairy OR dairy milk
• 1 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips (check the label to make sure they fit in with any food restrictions) 

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a couple of sheet pans with parchment paper.

Add peanut butter and brown sugar to the bowl of your stand mixer, and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Add vanilla extract and beat until mixed in.

Stop the mixer. Add the flour and cacao powder, and mix on a low speed until just combined. Stop the mixer again, add oats, baking soda, and salt and mix again on low speed until just combined. Stopping and starting the mixer keeps you from throwing the dry goods all over the kitchen - don't ask me how I know that.

The dough will look very dry and crumbly now - that's okay! With the mixer running at a low to medium speed, add the milk in a thin stream. By the time you finish adding the milk, the dough should come together and pull away from the sides of the bowl.

Stop the mixer, remove the bowl and mix in the chocolate chips with a spoon. Using a cookie scoop (I used my OXO Good Grips Medium Cookie Scoop) or 2 spoons, drop rounded tablespoonfuls of dough a couple inches apart on the prepared sheet pans. Smush 'em down a little bit - they won't spread much in the oven.

Bake for 10 - 12 minutes (13 minutes in my oven, but I tend to always need another minute past the upper bound of recipe times) - the tops of the cookies should look slightly dry and may be starting to just barely crack in places. Remove from the oven and let cool on the pans for 5 minutes, then transfer the cookies to a cooling rack to finish cooling. Try not to eat all of them in one sitting.

Print this recipe!

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Let's discuss the elephant in the room - peanut butter.

I hate measuring peanut butter. Even with a handy little plunger-style measuring cup (like this one from OXO), it's still a sticky mess. I've found a couple of ways to lessen the pain, though.

If you have a kitchen scale, a cup of peanut butter is 9 oz by weight, so you can just put your stand mixer bowl on the scale, zero it out, then scoop 9 oz right into the bowl. In fact, go right ahead and add 3 5/8 oz of brown sugar in there too - now you don't have to pack it into a measuring cup!

My other sneaky peanut butter measuring trick? Well, most jars of peanut butter are 16 oz, which is not quite 2 cups. But Whole Foods sells their peanut butter in 18 oz jars, which is exactly 2 cups. If you want to be really efficient, go ahead and make a double batch of cookies (though I will warn you that you will be pretty much at max capacity in the classic 4.5 qt KitchenAid mixer).

Slow Cooker: Pumpkin, Turkey, White Beans, and Greens Chili

The hubby's tomato allergy has been somewhat of a challenge to accommodate. Many of our favorite easy meals were tomato-based (which is evident throughout the blog), and there's no easy substitute.

As the weather started getting cooler, my mind turned to chili. But - my standard slow cooker chili recipes call for cans of diced and pureed tomatoes... clearly it was time to think a little differently. White chilis are good, but I wanted something that had that hearty, stick-to-your-ribs feeling like a tomato-based chili. Chilis based on a purée of reconstituted dried chile (with an E!) peppers provided the richness I was looking for, but making the purée was an additional time-consuming step that I simply don't always have the time or inclination to do.

However, a couple of weeks ago, I had made a very successful pumpkin lasagna (which was maybe a bit more involved than a typical Slacker Gourmet recipe, but oh boy was it delicious). While eating the leftovers, I realized that I felt just like I was eating a red-sauce lasagna, but without a tomato in sight. The pumpkin added an earthy slight sweetness, but did NOT taste like a pumpkin pie. I wondered if the same principle would apply to chili. 

I searched around and found this recipe for a pumpkin, turkey and white bean chili. However, based on the comments, I tweaked the amount of meat and spices, and added baby kale (though any leafy greens would be a very welcome addition). The verdict? YUM... and even better the next day! It's not spicy, but it's quite flavorful, and easy to kick up with some hot sauce at the table. And (shhh!), it's actually quite healthy, but you don't really think about that when you're inhaling it.  

Pumpkin, Turkey, White Beans and Greens Chili

Makes 6+ servings

Adapted from Crock Pot Turkey White Bean Pumpkin Chili

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
• 1 small onion, diced
• 3 cloves garlic, minced (I used the pre-minced fridge stuff)
• 2 heaping teaspoons chili powder
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 heaping teaspoons cumin
• 1 heaping teaspoon oregano
• a couple hefty shakes of cinnamon
• 2 15oz cans small white beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 15oz can plain pumpkin purée (make sure the ingredients are only pumpkin, no spices!) OR 1 12oz package of frozen pureed winter squash (the kind that comes in a frozen brick)
• 1 1/2 - 2 cups chicken broth
• 1 4.5 oz can chopped green chiles 
• 1/2 pound baby kale or other leafy greens, cut into bite sized pieces
• olive oil for sautéing
• salt to taste

Directions

Add all spices, beans, pumpkin purée, chicken broth (use only 1 1/2 cups of broth if using frozen squash - it's more liquid-y to begin with), chiles, and a good pinch of salt to the slow cooker and stir to mix together. 

Heat olive oil in a large skillet. Add ground turkey, onion and garlic to the skillet, along with a pinch of salt, and sauté until turkey is no longer pink and onions are soft, about 5-7 minutes. Add to slow cooker and stir until coated with the pumpkin mixture. Cook on high for 4 hours or low for 8 hours.

About 45 minutes before serving, boost the heat to high (if it isn't there already). Add the baby kale (or other greens) in handfuls, stirring after each addition. They should wilt pretty quickly. Cover and cook for another 20-30 minutes. If the mixture looks watery, uncover and cook for another 15 minutes. If using spinach, you'll probably only need 15-20 minutes of additional cooking to wilt and soften it, but the hardier greens will need the full 45 minutes. 

Taste and correct seasoning (you'll likely need a bit more salt), and serve!

Print this recipe!

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When I made this, I cooked the ground turkey separately from the onions and garlic, but with a sufficiently large skillet, I see no reason to keep them separated. My hubby suggested that some sautéed mushrooms would be a welcome addition, and I agree.

As for accompaniments - we ate it with shredded Monterey Jack cheese, Fage 2% plain Greek yogurt, and Tostitos Multigrain Scoops. The plain Greek yogurt made a fabulous stand-in for sour cream (seriously, I think it's even better!).

Why Scoops instead of plain tortilla chips? Because they're delicious, and who really needs a spoon when you can do this:

Chicken Avocado Salad, Revisited

 

So, once upon a time (read: for the past few summers), the hubby and I both had a love affair with Chicken Avocado Salad. I mean, seriously. It was basically deconstructed guacamole with chicken - what's not to love?

But then... disaster struck. More specifically, the hubby gradually realized that he had developed a tomato allergy. No more chicken avocado salad? Whatever would we do on those hot, sultry nights where we needed a legitimate cover for eating guacamole with a fork?

Summer hit with a vengeance in Massachusetts this week, and as usual, my thoughts turned to the beloved chicken avocado salad. Was it possible to swap the tomatoes out for something equally delicious, but in a completely different way? A quick Google search later, and I had cobbled together a recipe that, quite frankly, beat the pants off the original incarnation. And it took me, my cluttered kitchen and my pathetic knife skills only 30 minutes to put it all together. 

 

Chicken Avocado Salad: The Tomato-less Version

Makes 3-4 servings
Adapted from Avocado Chicken Salad and Chicken and Avocado Salad

Ingredients

• 3/4 pound cooked chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces *
• 1/2 pound frozen corn, thawed but not hot **
• 1 14oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 large avocado or 2 small avocados, diced
• 3 scallions, white and green parts sliced
• a handful (about 1/4 cup) of cilantro, chopped
• 2 limes
• 3 tablespoons olive oil
• Salt and pepper to taste

Directions
Combine chicken, corn, beans, avocados, scallions and cilantro in a large bowl. Zest (using a microplane if possible - it's much less frustrating than a zester) and juice limes into a small bowl and add the olive oil. Whisk together (or use a fork, it's easier) until it looks like a dressing, and dump it into the big bowl with everything else. Mix it all together with a big spoon. Taste and add salt and pepper, if needed.

* I used Trader Joe's frozen grilled chicken.
** 3 minutes in the microwave on 50% power did it for me. I used Trader Joe's frozen Fire-Roasted corn - highly recommended!

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Another beautiful thing about this salad - if you decide you want this taste of summer in, say, November, black beans and frozen corn never go out of season, unlike tomatoes. And sometimes, we all need a little summer in the middle of cold November rain.

Food Processor/Stick Blender: Easy Olive Tapenade

Have you ever found yourself in one of these all-to-familiar situations?

• Eating a piece of plain grilled chicken or fish and wishing you could jazz it up?
• Making a sandwich and discovering that you're out of mayo and mustard?
• Putting out crackers or sliced baguettes for company, but missing just one more spread for them?

Well, there are certainly many solutions for each situation. But what if I told you there was one recipe that could fix all of those problems, and more, in one fell swoop?

Enter olive tapenade. From Wikipedia:

Tapenade is a Provençal dish consisting of puréed or finely chopped olives, capers, anchovies and olive oil. Its name comes from the Provençal word for capers, tapenas.

Well, doesn't that sound fancy! However, your Slacker Gourmet alarm bells are probably going off. Finely chopped? Capers? ANCHOVIES? Breathe, people! Let's break this down:

• You don't have to chop anything up into itty bitty pieces, as long as you have a food processor or stick blender. Traditionally some tapenades were made with a mortar and pestle - we're definitely not going down that road either. 
• Yes, capers are one of those items you've typically bought for one recipe and one recipe only. They usually come in expensive little jars, of which you use 7/8ths for the aforementioned recipe. But - if you find yourself at Trader Joe's or an Italian grocery (not just a specialty shop), they sell capers in larger jars, and if you keep 'em in the fridge in their brine, they last for quite awhile. If you have them around on a regular basis, you'll find yourself using them in pasta/grain salads, stews, chicken sautés, or anything that needs a briny kick. However, if you still don't want to buy them, they are NOT essential to my quick tapenade recipe (which I suppose would technically make it an olive relish instead, but whatever). 
• Anchovies? So not necessary. If you happen to have them around, sure, go ahead and throw a fillet in, but there's no reason to go out and buy them. 

What kind of olives should you use? Well, that's a matter of personal preference. I do recommend using a mix of a couple different kinds of olives if you're not using capers. Buy them pitted, since, well, this is the Slacker Gourmet. You don't necessarily have to get them from the fancy olive bar in nice supermarkets; there are many perfectly nice jarred olives out there. The only guideline I personally have is: if it comes in a can, it's really not appropriate for tapenade.

A little more explanation on the puréeing technique: typically a food processor is the easiest tool for the job. But - this recipe only makes a cup or so of tapenade, so if you have a 14-cup food processor and can't find your little mini processor, it's definitely not worth getting the big processor dirty if you have a stick blender.

 

Easy Olive Tapenade

Makes 1 - 1 1/2 cups

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups pitted olives, rinsed (this is important!) and divided (any kind, or a mix - see notes above) 
• 2 tablespoons capers (optional - use a mix of olives if not using)
• 1 whole clove garlic 
• 1/2 - 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, basil, or oregano (optional)
• 1/2 - 1 tablespoon lemon juice or red wine vinegar 
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• Fresh cracked black pepper

Directions

Food Processor:
Combine 1 cup olives, capers (if using), garlic, herbs (if using), and 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice or red wine vinegar in the food processor bowl. Pulse until all components are between chunky and finely chopped. Drizzle olive oil in while processing until the mixture comes together and looks almost like a paste. Add the reserved 1/2 cup of olives and pulse until the new addition is coarsely chopped - this will add some extra texture. Taste and add the additional 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice/vinegar if necessary, and stir in pepper to taste.

Stick Blender:
In the smoothie cup that comes with your stick blender, or a medium bowl, combine 1 cup olives, capers (if using), garlic, herbs (if using), and 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice or red wine vinegar. Hit it with the stick until the texture is between chunky and finely chopped. Add the olive oil all at once, and hit it with the stick again, until the mixture looks like a rough paste. Add the reserved 1/2 cup of olives and give it another hit with the stick until those olives are coarsely chopped and the tapenade looks like it has a variety of textures. Taste and add the additional 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice/vinegar if necessary, and stir in pepper to taste.

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Okay, now you have tapenade, and it should keep for at least a week in the fridge. Now, what can you do with it?

• Use it as a relish for grilled chicken or fish. 
• Slather it on raw chicken or fish, wrap in parchment paper or foil, and bake for 15 minutes (thin cuts of fish), 20-25 minutes (thicker cuts of fish), 30-40 minutes (chicken) at 350 degrees.
• Use as a delicious sandwich spread (especially on a Mediterranean-inspired sandwich)
• Spread it on baguette slices or crackers for an elegant appetizer. If you want to jazz up the spreading platform, brush baguette slices with garlic olive oil and toast in the oven or toaster oven until golden brown.
• Toss it with cooked pasta and top with a sprinkle of Parmigiano-Reggiano for a quick meal or side dish.
• My mother, a dyed-in-the-wool New Yorker, once suggested using tapenade as a non-dairy/non-fish spread alternative to cream cheese and lox - and let me tell you, it's darn tasty! You get that nice saltiness without the fishiness, which is a huge bonus for my smoked-salmon-hating hubby.

Easy, savory, and versatile - the perfect Slacker Gourmet condiment.

Ugly but Delicious: Green Eggs and Rice

When it gets cold out, I want hearty, warm breakfasts to start my day. But now that I'm home all the time, I have to make the warm breakfast for myself, and breakfast sandwiches every day probably aren't the healthiest plan.

A couple of mornings ago, I surveyed the fridge for likely breakfast candidates. Eggs, cheese, green salsa, leftover brown rice... somehow, combining all of those seemed like the right thing to do. And... it was. It looked, quite frankly, hideous in the bowl, but it was so comforting and filling, I didn't care. No pictures for this - I didn't think this would photograph particularly well.

Green Eggs and Rice
Serves 1

Ingredients

• about a cup of salsa verde (green salsa)
• 2 eggs
• about a cup of cooked brown rice
• a heavy sprinkle (probably small handful) of shredded cheese (I used a Colby/Monterey Jack blend)

Directions

Pour salsa into a smallish non-stick frying pan over medium heat. When salsa begins to bubble, kick the heat down to medium-low, and crack the eggs into the salsa. Cover (or not - I didn't bother) and cook until the egg whites are just barely set, and yolks are still runny (if it looks just a touch underdone in the pan, it'll be done in the bowl).

Meanwhile, while the eggs are cooking, heat up the rice, and dump into a bowl. When the eggs are done, glop the whole mess on top of the rice, top with shredded cheese, and mix well.

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YUM.The egg yolk, cheese, and salsa mix together into a wonderfully creamy and tasty sauce for the rice... it's like a breakfast stew. It may be ugly, but it's good, decently healthy, and filling, and sometimes, that's all you need.

Mexican Poached Eggs

Who here likes making big full dinners after work?

Don't all raise your hands at once.

Well, for the 100% of us who don't want to spend the entire night dealing with dinner, here's a dish that is practically the embodiment of the Slacker Gourmet philosophy.

• It's quick - about 15 minutes from start to finish.
• It's easy - if you can open a can, open a jar, and crack an egg, you have the necessary skills to make this.
• It's versatile - it works equally well for breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
• It's cheap. Like, really cheap. You probably have 3 out of the 4 ingredients on hand already.
• It's really satisfying. It may not look too pretty, but after a full day at work, it's the perfect warm, tasty, and healthy meal.

This is very loosely inspired by the Italian dish Eggs in Purgatory, which was one of those eye-opening epiphany recipes for me - namely, "Hey, I can poach eggs in flavorful liquids, not just water!"


Mexican Poached Eggs
Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 14.5oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
• 1 1/2-2 cups salsa (I used salsa verde)
• 4 eggs
• Queso fresco, crumbled

Directions
Combine beans and salsa in a large skillet over medium heat and simmer for 3-5 minutes. Break the eggs into the bubbling mixture, spacing them evenly in the pan. Cover and let simmer for about 5-6 minutes, or until whites are barely set (on my stove, this results in firm but slightly creamy yolks). Scoop beans, salsa, and 2 eggs into each bowl and top with queso fresco.

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Like I said before, this is not a pretty dish in the slightest. There's really no good way to present it, and I find it's ultimately the most satisfying when everything is just glopped together in a bowl. I definitely recommend queso fresco as the cheese topping, as opposed to something melty like shredded monterey jack - both for flavor and texture.

Avocado "Pudding"

So, you have a recipe (say, Tuna Avocado Ceviche) that calls for 1/2 an avocado. No matter how well you wrap it up, even if you sprinkle it with citrus juice, that other half is just never going to be the same the next day. So what, pray tell, do you do with it?

Make dessert, of course!

*crickets*

No, I'm serious.

Avocado's a fruit, and the buttery taste and texture are just as at home with sugar as they are with savory citrusy applications. In all of 2 minutes, you can have a cool, refreshing pudding-like concoction that will be unlike anything you've ever had before, but you'll want to make it again and again. No pictures this time - lumpy green glop isn't particularly photogenic, even if it is delish!

Avocado "Pudding"
Serves 1

Ingredients

• 1/2 avocado
• 1 tsp sugar
• splash of vanilla extract
• splash of milk (non-dairy milks work well, I used almond milk)

Directions
Put avocado half in a bowl and begin mashing with a fork. Sprinkle sugar on the mashed avocado and mash some more - the sugar crystals help cut into the avocado flesh so it mashes easier. When the avocado is pretty well smooshed, splash the vanilla extract into the bowl and a slightly bigger splash of milk and mix well. You're looking for a pudding-y consistency, so if it's not quite there, keep adding splashes of milk and mixing until it's the consistency you'd like. If you're a perfectionist, I suppose you could do this in the food processor, but I don't mind the lumps. If you have more patience than I do, chill the pudding in the fridge until it's really cold, or just grab a spoon and CHOW DOWN!

Indian-Spiced Lamb, Chickpeas, and Spinach

I love Indian food. Unfortunately, Indian food doesn't always love me back - something about all the cream and butter, I suppose. Every so often, I try to make an Indian dish, and up until recently, they all ended up as failures. The turning point was when I visited the Indian grocery store down the road, and came away with bags of spices for a fraction of the price that they were in the supermarket (if the supermarket even had all of them!). Finally, Indian dishes I cooked began to taste similar to their restaurant counterparts, if not quite the same. Close enough!

Many Indian dishes are a bit more involved than the usual Slacker Gourmet fare, but the few I've cooked have given me a better understanding of the spices involved in creating that distinctive Indian flavor profile. Be sure to use spices from the Indian grocery if possible - Indian red chili powder is very different from McCormick's chili powder. A closer substitute would be cayenne pepper - but be sure to start with less than is called for and add more to taste.



Indian Spiced Lamb, Chickpeas, and Spinach
Inspired by Spicy Sautéed Chickpeas with Beef and Cilantro

Ingredients

• 1 lb ground lamb (or ground meat of your choice)
• 1 can chickpeas, drained, liquid reserved
• 16oz frozen cut-leaf spinach
• 1-2 tsp vegetable oil, for sautéing
• 2 tsp cumin seeds
• 3/4 tsp red chili powder (cayenne pepper would be an acceptable substitute, start at 1/4 tsp and add more to taste)
• 1/4 cup chopped cilantro
• 1 1/2 tsp minced garlic
• a couple squirts of lemon juice
• salt and pepper to taste
• plain lowfat yogurt, for garnish

Directions
Heat oil in a large pan or wok over high heat. When oil shimmers, add cumin seeds, and fry for about a minute, until they darken slightly and start to pop. Add ground meat, season with some salt and pepper, and use a spatula to break it into bits. Brown for about 3 minutes, then add the chickpeas (you did remember to reserve the liquid for later, right?). Let the meat and chickpeas cook together for another 7-10 minutes, until the meat is fully browned and the chickpeas darken a bit.

While the meat and chickpeas are cooking, defrost the spinach in the microwave and squeeze out some of the water. You can throw the frozen spinach directly in, but defrosting it beforehand will speed up the cooking. Once the meat and chickpeas have browned, add the spinach and combine well to heat through. Add the red chili powder, cilantro, and garlic, and pour in the reserved liquid from the chickpeas. Stir to combine, and season with salt and pepper. Let simmer for another few minutes, and stir in a couple squirts of lemon juice to finish. Serve hot, with a good dollop of plain lowfat yogurt (I like to mix it right in to add creaminess and extra tang).

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Yes, the instructions for this recipe are a bit longer than the usual Slacker Gourmet entry, but it really comes together quickly - under 1/2 hour from start to finish. For a tasty, warm, and pretty healthy recipe made entirely from ingredients I usually have in my pantry, I consider that a win, and hopefully you will too!

Chicken Avocado Salad

When temperatures hit 70 degrees on Saturday, my body went into full-on spring food mode. Of course, by the time Wednesday hit, the weather had reverted to 50 and windy. The mind is a powerful thing, though, and cool temperatures weren't going to stop me from my favorite warm-weather Slacker Gourmet meal! It's quick, healthy, and seriously delicious.


Chicken Avocado Salad
Adapted from Healthy & Delicious: Avocado Chicken Salad

Ingredients

• 3/4 lb. cooked chicken, diced into 1/2 inch cubes
• 1 large tomato, seeded and chopped
• 1 Hass avocado, diced
• 1/2 bunch scallions, chopped
• 2 Tbsp (or to taste) fresh cilantro, chopped
• 1 lime
• Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions
Combine tomato, avocado, scallions, and cilantro in a medium-large bowl and stir gently (the avocado should barely coat the rest of the veggies, but not break down completely). Cut the lime in 2 and squeeze the larger half over the veggies. Squeeze the smaller half of the lime over the chicken, then mix the chicken into the veggie bowl. Taste and season with salt and pepper, if needed. Keep tasting... until you're full. :)

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This may seem like a bit of chopping and prepping for a Slacker Gourmet meal, but here are some shortcuts:

• Use pre-cooked chicken. I know I'm showing the Trader Joe's love again... but they sell frozen, pre-cooked chicken in 1lb bags. 3-4 minutes in the microwave on half power should be enough to fully defrost the chicken without heating it up too much. You can also find pre-cooked chicken in the fridge case in most supermarkets, near the bacon and kielbasas, or use chicken from a cooked rotisserie chicken.
• Instead of slicing and dicing a large tomato, use cherry tomatoes. You can cut them in half, or even toss 'em in whole.
• Got a mini food processor? Toss in the cilantro and scallions (make sure to cut off the bad ends first!) together, and give it a few quick pulses.