Green Eggs (and pasta?)

Before this even gets started, I must implore you: If you ever have a child in a Dr. Seuss phase, and you want to make him/her Green Eggs (+/- Ham), you must promise that you will never ever ever try to stir pesto into beaten eggs and scramble them.  Bad things happen to good eggs when you do that.  (They don't taste that bad, but they are so visually unappealing that you want to unsee them.)

Little Gurgly isn't really in a Dr. Seuss phase yet, but I made green eggs anyway.  I started by making a very slight variation of this recipe from 101 cookbooks. It was a great quick dinner for Mister and Little Gurgly a few nights ago while I met friends for dinner.  I was bummed out about missing it, but I figured it was a good night to make that since I'm trying to limit how much grain I eat.  As I taste-tested the sauce, I *really* wished I had made it a different night so I could have some.  I simply *had* to figure out a way to share in this goodness.  I had leftover sauce, and today I came up with exactly what to do with it.  I used it as a base for baked eggs.  And Oh my goodness...what a great idea.  I do wish that my egg had been just a little less done, so there would have been a bit of yolk to mix in with the sauce...but then again, without a slice of buttered toast to mop it up, what good is a runny yolk, anyway?  The sauce lends a nicely seasoned verdant flavor to the dish, and gives it a bit more substance.  You could substitute spinach for the kale, but I don't imagine it would be quite as good since the kale is a bit sturdier texturally.

Green Pasta Sauce (barely adapted from 101 cookbooks)
1 large bunch kale, double washed and roughly chopped (I used lacinato, aka Tuscan or dinosaur, kale)
1 medium onion, peeled and roughly chopped
5 cloves of garlic, peeled
3 oz goat cheese
Extra virgin olive oil (or broth) as needed for consistency
Juice of 1/2 lemon (optional, but adds a nice brightness to the dish)

Boil a large pot of water, salted to taste.  If you will use the sauce for pasta, boil enough that you can cook the pasta in the same pot.  Add the onions and boil for about five minutes, then add the garlic and kale to the pot.  Cook for an additional 1-2 minutes until the kale is nicely wilted and soft.  Be sure to test an onion for softness also.  Scoop out the vegetables with a strainer (I used a Chinese "spider" type strainer) and add to the bowl of your food processor.  If you are using this sauce for pasta, add the pasta now and cook per package directions.

Give the contents of the food processor a quick pulse, scrape down the sides, and pulse again.  Add the goat cheese and pulse once more.  Taste and adjust seasoning (it will most definitely need pepper, and will probably also need some salt).  If the vegetables were drained very well, it may need a little moisture, so add some olive oil, broth, or even some pasta water to thin to desired consistency.  Drain pasta when complete, toss pasta with sauce, and serve.

Baked Green Eggs
4 large eggs
1 cup of green pasta sauce (recipe above)
cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Spray four ramekins with cooking spray (bottom and sides).  Add 1/4 cup of green pasta sauce to each ramekin.  Crack one egg into each cup, over the sauce.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Check for doneness by giving the ramekin  a little shake.  When it is done you will not see any egg white jiggle on the top. (If you want a runny yolk and are okay with a little jiggle in the white of the egg, take it out as you like it.)  Serve in ramekin, on a plate, with a side of toast and/or fruit.

Savory-sweet Microwave Baked Apples

I'm not sure how I did this, but I just blurred the lines between salad and dessert, and am eating it for breakfast.

I'm currently (and temporarily) avoiding grain.  This sucks most at breakfast, especially in the early fall when I'm done with smoothies and none of the fruit is that good in a smoothie anyway.  I so want a warm bowl of scratch-made oatmeal, or a spicy-nutty granola bar.  Their time will come, but in the meantime, I have had to get creative to avoid egg monotony. 

I've been eating a lot of apples since it is just that time of year, and my grain-less evening snacks have often consisted of raw apples with nut butter, or microwaved baked apples with cinnamon, or dried cranberries in the place of the core.  But this morning, I had a revelation: stuff the apple with cheese for a little more "staying power" and a little less sweet than I want first thing in the morning.  I love apples with cheese (Oh, who am I kidding? I love everything with cheese), and sharp cheddar is always a good pairing for an apple.  But I also really enjoy those autumnal salads that include apples, nuts, dried fruit, and blue cheese on a bed of greens.  I bought gorgonzola dolce this week as it was on sale (along with the apples and pears that are now in season) and decided that this would be my cheese of choice.  Gorgonzola dolce is a semi-soft blue cheese, similar in consistency to a brie or camembert. It is sweeter and softer than standard gorgonzola, with a little less funk due to the shorter aging process, and is well-suited for this sweetish preparation.

I kept it simple this time with just the apples and cheese, because it is first thing in the morning and I didn't want to fuss, but this could be taken in so many different directions.  This could be presented as a salad course, perched on a bed of lightly dressed baby spinach (with perhaps the aforementioned dried fruit, candied nuts, or maybe some croutons), or as a first course with crostini for spreading the softened cheese and apple.  I immediately thought of a balsamic reduction being delicious with this combination.  It could be made into a simple but sophisticated dessert with a drizzle of good honey, and maybe sweet bread toast (I'm thinking the kind of date-nut bread that often accompanies a cheese course).  Of course, it could be baked in the oven instead, but I've chosen to microwave it in this case and it came out wonderfully.

Savory-sweet Microwave Baked Apples

1 apple (mine was a Cripps Pink)
1-1.5 oz gorgonzola dolce

Core the apple, leaving the peel intact. Microwave in a bowl for 2 minutes, uncovered.  Remove from microwave and stuff gorgonzola into the hole where the core was.  You are looking for it to be a little bit overstuffed and the cheese becomes almost liquid when melted.  Return to microwave for an additional 20-30 seconds, until cheese has melted.

Chili-Rubbed Sweet Potato Salad

I'm going to come straight out and say it. When cooking, I rarely measure. Usually I just have an instinct for the amount of each ingredient the recipe needs, especially with seasonings.  Sometimes my instincts are way off.  But like so many people, that is the way I learned to cook: watching the women in my life (and sometimes the men) cook by eye and by tongue.  The "taste and tweak" method.  I think that's why I like cooking vegetarian food so much.  There is very little that you can't (or at least shouldn't) taste in the middle of the cooking process.
This recipe, is no exception.  The amounts of spices are approximate, but I think you can at least see where it is going and then do your own "taste and tweak" method to come up with something delicious, like I did.
And delicious this was.  I served it for dinner alongside grilled sandwiches.  I tell you that to highlight the fact that it must have been really good because Mr. Gurgly had seconds and thirds of it before he ate his second sandwich.  This is unheard of.

My inspiration was a half-full can of black beans in the fridge, the need to stretch about 2/3 of a leftover chicken breast into a meal for the three of us (Little Gurgly had the other third for a couple of meals where what we ate was too spicy for him), and the rut we've been in of eating a lot of sweet potato wedges (homemade) or fries (frozen) along with our sandwiches.  I felt like we needed to shake it up, and I love the combo of black beans and sweet potatoes.  Looking over the recipe, it seems like it was a lot of ingredients and a lot of work, but it wasn't really difficult at all and everything came together really nicely.  A single roasted sweet potato rubbed with texy-mexy spices for a little bit of smoky kick, combined with canned black beans, and some greens.  I opted for a chili-lime vinaigrette that echoed the flavors of the rub on the potatoes, and sweetened it with a little bit of agave nectar to tame the sourness of the lime and add a little bit of its signature smokiness.

If you wanted to serve it as a stand-alone meal, there are several ways to bulk it up.  I imagined it with some crumbled feta, goat cheese, or queso fresco added, as well as with some avocado, more black beans, or even some grilled chicken or tofu.  Likewise, I think the recipe could take all sorts of different vegetables and still fit together well as a flavor profile: some roasted or grilled corn, red bell peppers (roasted or raw), or some diced onion come immediately to mind.  I did quick-pickle some onion strings ahead of time thinking I would add them to the salad, but once the dressing was done I decided that the pickled flavor would compete too much with it.

Chili-rubbed Sweet Potato Salad

1 large/2 small sweet potatoes, washed and cut into cubes (you're looking for the size of home fries)
1-2 Tbls. olive oil
1 tsp. smoked sweet paprika (or smoked hot paprika if you're a fiery soul)
1 tsp. ground cumin (I ground mine myself so it was on the course side, but it lent interest to bite into a bigger piece now and then)
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
a few grinds of black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.

Whisk together olive oil and spices in a large mixing bowl.  Add sweet potato cubes and toss to coat thoroughly.  Lay sweet potatoes out on a cookie sheet and roast for 10 min.  Move them around and return to oven.  Check after another 10 minutes, and remove when done.  I roasted mine for 15 min and then 15 more, and they were overdone but still delicious.

Prepare dressing:
Juice of 1 lime (and zest if you like)
2 Tbls. olive oil
1 tsp. ancho chile powder
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
1/2 Tbls. agave nectar (to taste, depending on how tart the lime and how much juice it gave)

1/2 can of black beans, drained and rinsed (mine didn't have seasoning aside from the usual salt in canned beans)
1 small clamshell of baby spinach (according to the container it was 2 cups but it seemed like much more)

When the potatoes are finished, allow them to cool while tossing spinach, beans, and dressing together.  Add potatoes, give one more quick toss (the potatoes don't really need the dressing, just to be sure there is equitable distribution of the potatoes) and serve.  This salad is good with the potatoes cooled all the way to cold, served at room temp, or even rather warm.  In the last case, the spinach wilts a bit, but I for one really like it that way.

Makes 4-6 servings as a side dish, or 2 as a meal.
Nutritional information for 1/6 of the salad without optional additions: 144 kcal, 19 g carb, 7 g fat, 3 g protein

Red Lentil Hummus

The Gurgly family is moving. Soon. Like in three weeks. I feel a tremendous sense of urgency (as evidenced by my taking time out to blog, hehe) about this. We have lots of food still in the pantry and freezer. It's a bit like an episode of Chopped, as there are some things I am trying not to buy any more of (like butter...we are down to less than one stick!)while trying to use other things as much as possible (like grains and frozen vegetables). It is going to be an interesting three weeks of menus, especially with the things I can't donate because they are already open. Hopefully I have some local friends that are interested in open containers of non-perishables. It is with this in mind that I post today's recipe: Red Lentil Hummus. I goofed not too long ago and bought a bunch of stuff when a local grocery store had a moving sale. They pretty much put the whole international aisle on clearance. For Mrs. Gurgly, this is like Christmas. I bought several bags of red lentils and a jar of tahini (if you're not familiar, imagine peanut butter made of sesame seeds instead of peanuts). I bought other things too, but they are mostly gone. The lentils and tahini remain. I kept intending to make Egyptian Red Lentil soup like my mother-in-law taught me, but we have had a really hot spring and I don't feel like eating hot lentil soup. So basically, I made hummus but subbed in lentils for the chick peas. And it is delicious. It turns out, the taste of the bean isn't really the flavor profile of hummus. The stuff you add is what gives it the flavor, and that didn't change. Although I think I might try a more Indian-inspired one next time...garam masala, coriander, etc. A few advantages of lentil hummus: 1. Nutrition (as per http://www.sparkpeople.com/food_vs_food.asp?food=76_78_chickpeas-(garbanzo)_versus_lentils). 1 cup of red lentils contains 60 fewer calories, 14 g fewer total carb, 2 g fewer fat than chick peas. They also contain 6 g MORE protein (12 vs 18 g) and 5 g MORE dietary fiber (11 vs 16 grams). Lentils are packed with nutrition. 2. Quick cooking in raw form. My red lentils boiled for less than 20 minutes. Try doing that with chick peas! And if you would use chick peas from a can as I typically do, add a huge difference in sodium to the nutrition advantage (something like 700 mg per cup vs 4 mg per cup in lentils). 3. Smoother texture. Unless you have a really great food processor, it's hard to attain the "store bought hummus" smoothness with chick peas. Lentils (slightly overcooked) made a very smooth hummus. So here is the recipe. I hope you enjoy as much as I did! Red Lentil Hummus 8 oz dried red lentils, picked over and rinsed 1/4 c tahini (sesame paste) Juice of 1/2 lemon 1/2 tsp ground ginger 1 Tbsp. ground cumin 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped Put lentils in a saucepan and cover with water by about 1 inch. You can add some salt if you like (I didn't salt until later but they will turn out fine). Bring to boil, then lower heat to simmer. Check them periodically starting after ten minutes. You want them to be soft but not completely falling apart. Red lentils don't take long to cook and it varies depending on how much heat is on, so just watch them and judge by taste test. When they are done, scoop them into a food processor with the garlic. Pulse them a bit to break down the beans and garlic. Add the rest of the ingredients, and salt if you haven't yet. If you know you'd like different/more spice, more lemon juice, add now. Pulse again until a smooth paste forms (about 30 seconds). Taste and adjust seasoning. If it feels a bit dry to you, you can add more lemon juice or a bit of water. Some olive oil would also loosen it and lend some more richness, but will also add to calories and fat. Mine was the perfect texture while warm but seemed to dry out a bit as it cooled, so I might add some more liquid next time. Mix-ins would be great here, too. I really like hummus with red roasted peppers blended in, or chopped Greek olives. I think both would be delicious here. Serve with pita chips or soft pita triangles, crackers, crudités, or as a sandwich spread. Since I have a bunch of corn tortillas, I will cut them in fourths and bake them dry on a cookie sheet or about 15 min on 400 degrees F for a quick baked tortilla chip, also out of the pantry!

Tomato Tart with Brown Rice Crust

I ended up giving a good bit of brown rice left over from the Baked Brown Rice I posted about last week. I found a great use for it while paging through my copy of The Essential Vegetarian Cookbook by Bay Books. I adapted the recipe quite a bit, but used the Brown Rice Tart with Fresh Tomato Filling on page 148.

We've had nice weather here lately so we've been firing up the grill quite a bit. Rather than oven roasting the tomatoes, we threw them on while our chicken was grilling last night. Of course they would be delicious either way.

Tomato Tart with Brown Rice Crust

Brown rice crust:

2 cups cooked brown rice

1/4 c shredded cheese (I used mozzarella b/c I had it)

1 egg, beaten

Preheat oven to 400 F. Spray a pie or tart pan with cooking spray. Mix rice, egg, and cheese together and press into greased pie pan. Bake for 15 minutes.

Tomatoes:

6 Roma tomatoes, washed and halved

Olive oil

Salt and pepper

Rub tomatoes with olive oil, salt and pepper to taste and roast in oven for 30 min. Alternately, grill on medium heat, skin side up first, for 3-5 minutes per side.

Filling:

4 large eggs

1/4 c milk

2 oz goat cheese or feta

2-3 oz basil pesto

Fresh ground black pepper

Arrange tomatoes on rice crust. Crumble goat/feta cheese over tomatoes. Beat eggs and milk together, season with pepper, and a pinch of salt if using goat cheese rather than feta. Pour egg mixture over tomatoes. Drizzle or scatter pesto over top of egg mixture and tomatoes. Bake in 350 F oven for about 30 min, until eggs are cooked through.

The leftover rice dried out a bit, which allowed it to make a crust with crunchy edges, which I really liked. This was delicious, with Mister Gurgly and Little Gurgly approving. I suspect the leftovers will make a great lunch tomorrow. Because it will be great warmed or at room temperature it is great for a brown at lunch, and would also be great picnic food if you sliced it ahead of time and wrapped each portion in some foil.

We served with a large garden salad and it is fantastic. I don't know that I would make rice for the sole purpose of making this, but I will certainly add to the rice I make so I have extra to make this.

Repurposing leftovers

As I have mentioned previously, one of my ways of saving money on groceries (or rather, affording higher quality stuff for the same as my old grocery bills) is to waste less and make good use of leftovers. Fortunately, this is something that is frequently done in restaurant kitchens, so there are lots of good professionally written recipes out there exploring this concept. Soups become gravies, sauces become stews.

One of my favorite ways to reuse leftovers is to use them as a filling. I heard once that Italians use leftovers to stuff the next nights ravioli, or the next day's calzones for lunch. I took this idea and ran with it.

My "wrapping" of choice is samosa dough, because it holds up well to fillings of all kinds (including things at are rather moist). It is also among the leaner doughs that I've found. And while samosas are typically fried, they are also wonderful baked. It's also a more passive process, not to mention neater and healthier, than frying.

Of course, savory shortcrust (pie dough), puff pastry, empanada dough, or pizza/calzone dough all work well too. Phyllo is finicky to work with but can also be a good option.

I use this recipe Inspired by Aarti Sequeira of the Food Network for my samosa dough. If I'm filling with something Indian I add the ajwain seeds. If not, I skip them.:

2 c flour

1/4 c vegetable oil (I have used canola and coconut. Coconut is great with an Indian filling)

1/2 c low fat yogurt or buttermilk

Good pinch of salt

1/2 tsp ajwain seeds, optional

Today I made samosas filled with leftover chicken molé. I also made a few filled with vinegary slaw that sat for a few days. I drained the vinegar but the cabbage and carrots were a bit pickly. These came out tasting a bit like egg rolls.

I rolled out the dough and cut into nine pieces. I filled each, careful not to overfill, and pinched the edges together. They mostly came out like turnovers, but one looked more like a samosa (pyramid shaped) and I'm not sure why. The edges stick together pretty well but if you want them to be pretty you can crimp with a fork.

I baked at 425 F for about 30 min, until golden.

They are delicious, and thrifty!

We had a few for lunch today, and the rest went in the freezer after baking and cooling. Depending on your filling and the size of your samosas, they can make a good appetizer for dinner guests, a quick snack if dinner will take a while, or for a workday lunch. By freezing, I was able to extend the shelf life of the chicken and slaw. They will sure beat a PB&J, or a fast food lunch, for Mr. Gurgly.

What's your favorite way to reuse leftovers?

Baked Brown Rice

This is a short one...not much needs to be said except that this recipe may have changed my life. :-)

Seriously. I love brown rice but cooking it to a just right texture is not easy, and brown rice is pricy enough that messing it up regularly (as I have in the past) is a total deterrent to buying it.

But now I say, "Be gone white rice! There's a new, healthier sheriff in town."

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/baked-brown-rice-recipe/index.html

Why am

I not surprised that it is AB who came through for me?

I made this recipe as is except I subbed olive oil for the butter. Delicious either way, I suspect.

Enjoy! Happy Registered Dietitian's Day to my RD's, and Happy Pi Day to my nerds. (To my dear friend Heather, this must be like your Christmas!)

Beet Tart with Beet Green Pesto

Beets. Growing up, one of my least favorite foods. I learned later in life that this was nothing to do with beets and everything to do with the can they came in at my house. Not delicious.

What I found recently is that the fresh ones are not only delicious and pretty versatile, but they are two vegetables in one. I've been reading and thinking a lot lately about food waste and am trying to make a conscious effort to waste as little as possible. We are buying less, recycling more, and my personal favorite...pureeing the leftovers and putting them in the freezer for Little Gurgly. It's working pretty well so far, but the frilly greens at the top of the beets are a revelation. They taste like a cross between beet roots and Swiss chard. I sautéed some, and they were delicious, but I had something else a bit more creative in mind for the rest.

I've been trying to work through one of the contents of our freezer and found A LOT of nuts. Walnuts, almonds, pine nuts, hazelnuts, pecans. Pistachios (those won't end up anywhere but in my belly straight from the shell). A friend suggested I make pesto, so I worked on a few different versions. Different veg, different nuts, different uses. I've got three variations in the fridge, and I plan to share thm all.

Today's is a beet green pesto.

Greens from the top of one bunch of beets, triple washed and spun in a salad spinner if you have one

2 cloves of garlic

1/2 cup toasted walnuts

Olive oil (I used just a tablespoon, but can adjust for taste and consistency)

The first three ingredients go into the food processor. Begin pulsing. The greens will grind down fairly quickly. Once the greens are reduced most of the way, begin streaming in the olive oil until desired consistency is reached. Taste, and adjust seasoning. I found it to be salty enough and "bright"enough not to need any salt or acid added.

I used this pesto as the base of a phyllo crusted beet and goat cheese tart.

8 sheets frozen phyllo pastry, thawed overnight in fridge

Olive or vegetable oil, melted butter, or cooking spray (I used olive oil cooking spray to lower fat)

2 large beets, steamed or roasted until cooked through and sliced ~1/4 inch thick

4 oz. goat cheese

1/2 of the beet green pesto recipe above

Layer phyllo pastry sheets, one at a time, into pie/tart pan. Brush or spray oil between each layer. I did this by laying two perpendicular to each other, then turned the pan slightly and did the same, repeating four times.

Once the pastry is down, spread the prepared beet green pesto onto the bottom of the crust. Layer the beets on top of the pesto, working in concentric circles. Break up goat cheese into small crumbles over the top of the beets. Bake at 350 degrees F until phyllo hanging over the sides is golden brown, about 20 minutes.

The flavors of this recipe work really well together. The beet greens make a slightly salty and slightly bitter pesto, which provides a good counterpoint to the somewhat sweet beets, and tangy goat cheese.

Another assembly option which would also be great would be to start by spreading the goat cheese on the bottom, topped with the sliced beets, and then drizzled with a wetter version of the pesto. If you feel there isn't enough pesto flavor, you could also try assembling according to original directions, then adding a bit more oil to the remaining half of the pesto recipe and drizzling that over the tart when serving. Any way this is assembled, it is delicious!

Pancake Day

When I think of Mardi Gras, and Carnival, I think of topless women painted purple, green and gold. I think of stuffing myself with chocolate in preparation of going almost six weeks without it. I think of people the world over engaging in drunken debauchery so they can bid it farewell the next day. And then I heard about how the Brits celebrate: Pancakes.

Now, I understand that when this tradition of eating pancakes on Fat Tuesday began, times were leaner, and the eggy, buttery, sugary goodness of a pancake was considered indulgent. But, my, times have changed. In a world of deep-fried butter balls, Joel Robuchon's mashed potatoes, and even breve Frappuccino's at the corner coffee shop, pancakes seem so tame. Leave it to the Brits to live up to the (very often misinformed) stereotype of restraint, even on this day of complete decadence.

So, I will go on to say that pancakes are a big deal in our house. A Very. Big. Deal. This started when I was early in pregnancy, and couldn't think of going near meat, eggs, or most dairy products. Just try building a baby out of bananas and rice cakes...see what happens. Mr. Gurgly loves to make Saturday morning breakfast (and until then it was mostly omelets). He needed to change up his game and came up with pancakes. Eggs, yes, but hidden well enough that I could still get some protein without getting squeamish. Every weekend...pancakes. I'll go so far as to say Mr. Gurgly got a shade obsessed. Researching recipes and "pancake philosophies" (whatever THAT is...), perfecting techniques, learning ratios, and eventually "riffing" on recipes he found to concoct his own. Last Christmas, I was at a loss for shopping, and when I said, "but you don't collect things and you have no hobbies," he replied that he makes pancakes. (I ordered some high end maple syrup from VT.). A Very. Big. Deal.

Even with all that, we don't have one go-to recipe two years later. He still "riffs," and I even made pancakes a few weekends ago when he was sick (albeit following a recipe nearly to the letter). So rather than a "recipe," I am going to list some pancake tips that we have picked up along the way.

1) separated eggs and whipped whites = beautifully fluffy pancakes. It is absolutely worth the extra 2 minutes and dirty bowl. Whip to medium peaks (between soft and stiff peaks), and incorporate after mixing together the wet and dry ingredients. If using a hand mixer or stand mixer, use the whisk attachments (I thought this was obvious but Mr. Gurgly treated me like a genius for doing this a few weeks ago!)

2) Buttermilk is delicious, but there are options. If you don't have buttermilk, you can sour some milk at home by adding lemon juice or vinegar to some milk and allowing to sit for twenty minutes. Meyer lemon juice is especially good for this. If you do use lemon, add some zest, too. Yum!

A common sub we use is yogurt. If you keep strained "Greek" yogurt in the house, you'll want about 1/8 - 1/4 of the volume as milk and the rest as yogurt (so about 3/4 c yogurt and 1/4 c milk for most recipes), to compensate for the water that is strained off the yogurt. If you use all Greek yogurt the mixture will be dry.

Sour cream works well, also. If its super thick, mix with milk as above.

3) when it comes to topping a pancake, you can't beat real maple syrup. Grade B is my favorite...not so sweet. It is not cheap, but we have found that we use so much less (because it is more flavorful) that it ends up being about the same price. And extra bonus, no high fructose anything! We also love fruit compotes. I've been known (sorry again people who knew me as a vegetarian!) to put sliced apples and a little bacon inside, fold it over, and make a "taco." It sounds like a crazy pregnancy concoction, but trust me, it's good.

4) if you find yourself in the unique position of having leftover pancakes, they freeze quite well wrapped in foil. You can pop them in a toaster or toaster oven (microwave is ok too) to reheat them for a quick and easy weekday breakfast.

Little Gurgly had a pancake for breakfast this morning (left over from the weekend). He sure did enjoy it! He wouldn't even share with his mama!

Gurgly Bellies!/Pumpkin Pancetta Pasta

Welcome to Feeding the Gurgly Bellies! This is a blog that I've started as a way of creating, and passing along, food memories.

This blog gets its name from a joke at my husband's expense several years ago. The hospital where he did his residency had a pager system that would somehow convert the spelling of your name to a pronunciation. Our last name looks much harder to say than it actually is, and the machine ending up totally butchering it and calling him "Gurgly." His fellow residents ran with it, saying "Paging Doctor Gurgly" whenever possible.

Since this blog is focused on the food I buy, prepare, and otherwise feed my family...it shall be called Feeding the Gurgly Bellies. I hope you enjoy it.

Philosophy:

I have always tried to be a healthy eater. I have had prolonged stints of vegetarianism and short stints of veganism. Since becoming pregnant with my son two years ago, I have focused more than ever on healthy, balanced diet of quality ingredients (both vegetable and animal). Recently, I am trying to buy as much food as I can that is organic, and "higher welfare.". Fair trade, free range, eco-friendly. In short, astronomically expensive.

I am trying to balance shopping my conscience, our health, my taste and my budget (not always in that order). I am getting better at it, but honestly I still need some work. Part of this blog will include dollar-stretching ideas. Another focus will be child-friendly recipes, as I'm always in the market for a new way to feed the youngest Gurgly Belly.

As for today's recipe, here is a link to what I made for dinner tonight: Pumpkin Pancetta Pasta

I wish I had pictures but we tore into this one too fast.

This is a pasta dish almost entirely out of the pantry. It was tasty, balanced, and came together in a flash.

I should mention that for vegetarians, the pancetta could of course be omitted. Olive oil could substitute for the pancetta drippings, but I think butter would be better for the non-vegans. Butter and sage together are always a delight. Likewise, for a component with a little protein and an extra bit of heft, some toasted walnuts would probably work nicely. Of course, vegetable broth could be subbed for the chicken stock, too.

For the nutrition conscious:

Dairy free (without cheese) and egg free (as long as pasta is eggless)

For 1/6 the final recipe (standard 2 oz serving of pasta...smart taste is only 12 oz per box)

Calories: around 270

Fat: 6 grams (I am an über-nerd and weighed the fat I poured off. It was about 15 grams so I subtracted it from the total fat contributed by the pancetta)

Protein: 11.5 grams

Total carbs: 50 grams

Fiber: 9.5 grams