How many Sunday nights have I found myself making promises? To myself.

“Starting tomorrow, I’m going to cut out all sugar.”

“Starting tomorrow, I’m going to do 100 crunches every morning.”

“Starting tomorrow, I’m going to finish _____________.” (Fill-in the blank with one of any countless unfinished projects.)

Screw that! I’m going to make one goal that’s easy to accomplish. I’m going to eat something healthy.

Here’s a simple, yummy recipe for “Meatless Monday.” I think I ate the whole thing myself.

You need:

Too bad, Libby!

INGREDIENTS
2 large eggs (I used egg replacer)
1 c cottage cheese
1/2 c sour cream
1 tsp Dijon style mustard
Salt
1 TBSP olive oil or unsalted butter
8 oz crimini mushrooms, chopped
1 large yellow onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, finely chopped
3 c cooked wild rice (and/or brown rice) Btw: it’s a little embarrassing to reveal what a flake I am but I actually boiled 3 c of dry wild rice. Do you know how much COOKED rice that is? A ton. You are supposed to end up with 3 c of cooked rice. But if you do accidentally make a few vats of rice, just put it in some freezer Zip-locs and chuck it in the freezer for next time!
1/3 c grated Gruyere cheese
1 tsp chopped fresh tarragon or thyme

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 350. Grease a medium-large baking dish with olive oil or butter. (I used an 8×11 casserole dish.)

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, cottage cheese, sour cream, mustard, and a scant 1/2 tsp salt.

3. Heat olive oil over high heat in a large skillet with a pinch of salt.

Stir in mushrooms.
After stirring to coat with oil, leave mushrooms sautéing for about 5 minutes.

Continue cooking, stirring every couple of minutes.

4. Add onions to mushrooms & cook for another 4-5 minutes, until onions are translucent.

Add garlic, stir and cook for another minute. Remove pan from heat.

5. Add rice to skillet & stir.

6. Add rice mixture to the cottage cheese mixture and stir until combined.

7. Pour mixture into greased baking dish.

Sprinkle with two-thirds of the grated cheese and cover with aluminum foil.

Sometimes I don’t read the directions closely, so I added my tarragon at this point. I actually had fresh tarragon for the first time in my life, having just planted it in my backyard. Even though this is the wrong order, doesn’t this look delish?

Anyway, bake covered for 30 minutes. Remove foil and bake another 20-30 minutes, until the casserole is golden brown.

This is seriously so good! Serve with a green salad. I didn’t because I never have time to make more than one component. But I would! If this didn’t turn you on, stay tuned for REALLY easy chocolate cake. Remember my No Knead Bread? This is the No Knead Bread of Chocolate Cakes.

Here’s a gratuitous kids shot. Valentine’s Night.

From Heidi Swanson’s Super Natural Every Day.

Two weekends ago I made three things and had high hopes of posting all three recipes BUT was unable because of CARMAGEDDON!!!!!!! Well, actually, Beamageddon. Bea started crawling. I’m blaming her for problems with the recipes. And the pictures. Anyway, these were all good hot weather dishes.

Here’s one of our favorites given to me by Joy Armagost who is not only an excellent cook but also an outstanding FARMER. Earth, Wind & Fire Salad is a hearty, fresh & tasty salad. Every time I take it to a cookout or serve it at home I get a lot of compliments.

EARTH WIND & FIRE SALAD

You’ll need these ingredients for the salad. The only ones you might have trouble finding are the wheat berries. I get them at Whole Foods but they don’t have them at the Ralph’s near our house.

Salad ingredients:
1/2 c wheat berries
1 c wild rice
2 green onions (what we call scallions)
1, 2 or 3 peppers (I used 1 red, 1 yellow & 1 orange for looks!)
1 c edamame (Fresh is best but I had these frozen ones so I used ‘em – boiled in microwave with salt!)

The time-consuming part is making the rice & wheat berries. I simmer them according to package directions on the stove for 45-60 minutes – just keep checking them after 45 mins. I think Joy used a rice cooker which is probably a lot more efficient but I wanted to cook them both at the same time. Also, she is a lot more organized than I am. Btw: you can do this a day before and store in fridge b/c you’ll want them cold for the salad anyway.

Chop up those peppers.

What is that haunting specter? Oh, water on the lens.

There it is AGAIN!! I thought I got it.

Here is one way to cut peppers. I am only slightly embarrassed to admit I learned this from the BEST SOURCE OF EDUCATION IN THE WORLD! – TV. Yes, I saw it on Top Chef. Cut the top off first. It will look like this.
(Who left the flash on??)

After removing the stem I give the tops to Maddie who thinks they are edible flowers. I definitely don’t like to waste the tops no matter what the folks at Top Chef tell me.

Then scoop out the inside.
Dang that flash!

Now chop in relatively thin strips. I like to get rid of all the “white stuff.” And dice.
Check this out.
WITH FLASH:

WITHOUT FLASH:

Which looks better? You know the answer.

How pretty!

Chop scallions any old way!

Add peppers to a large bowl (preferably a salad bowl if you have one handy) and toss with the chilled rice & wheat berries. Keep green onions/scallions separate. They can get slimey! (Yes, I know, I combined them but don’t be like me!)

This is where my photography goes wayyyyyyy downhill. Things got hectic in the kitchen so it’s all downhill from here.

Dressing Ingredients

1 tbsp red chili paste (I believe you could substitute that red rooster sauce if you have it – “Sriracha”)
1 tbsp brown sugar
1/4 c sesame seed oil
2 tbsp sherry
1-2 tsp rice vinegar
1/3 c low salt soy sauce

Wisk these ingredients together & taste! Adjust anything you like (i.e. if you like it spicier add more chili paste!)

Omit the chili paste/rooster sauce if you don’t want it spicy.

At the last minute, combine everything! Mmmmmm this is so good!

Between missed photo ops & flash malfunctions, I hope what I DID post inspires you to try this salad! It gets easier & easier to make. Somehow, I neglected to take a pic of the final product.

I DID get this shot though:

If you try this please let us know about any improvements you made in the comment section below! (On blog, not on Facebook so Zuckerberg won’t own it!) Thank you & enjoy!