Easy and delicious roasted vegetable & chickpea casserole

I just made this recipe this week, and am currently heating up some leftovers. It is so delicious, and very simple, so I thought I'd share.

It's made up of roasted 'summer' veggies, according to the recipe name, but here in Turkey, these are 'all year' vegetables, so hopefully you can find them too.

Since it's from the BBC Good Food website, I'm going to briefly translate it into 'American English' just to avoid any confusion that will keep you from trying this yummy dish. (I've also added the modifications that I made to the recipe but you can find the original here).

1 eggplant, cut into thick fingers

3 zucchini, thickly sliced

2 red peppers, de-seeded and chopped into chuncks

3 garlic cloves, chopped

1 onion, chopped

2 large potatoes, peeled and chopped into bite-sized chunks

1 Tbsp whole coriander seeds (although ground coriander will also do, I imagine)

1 14oz can of chickpeas/garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

2 14oz cans of chopped tomatoes

4-5 Tbsp olive oil

a small bunch of cilantro, roughly chopped

So, it's really easy. Preheat the oven to 4oo degrees F. Chop up all the vegetables, put them in a big oven proof dish or baking tin (if you've got one that can go on the stove and in the oven, use that), toss in olive oil, add the coriander seeds, some salt and pepper. Put it in the oven for about 45 minutes. When I cooked mine, I think it took a bit longer because my potato chunks were a bit too big, but roasted vegetables aren't an exact science, so you don't have to be too precise. When everything is soft enough to eat, it's ready.

Then put the dish on the stove, over low heat, add the tomatoes and chickpeas/garbanzos. Bring it to a gentle simmer and stir gently. When it's done, sprinkle on the chopped cilantro (I left the cilantro out because it's pretty tough to find in Istanbul) and serve with olive oil and crusty bread.

I actually made the meal one night and we ate it the next. I read from some comments that it was better the second night after letting the flavours mingle together. I reheated it in the oven and when it was just about done, added a sprinkling of feta cheese, which added a lovely flavour to it.

The recipe also suggested a meaty version. If you have a carnivore in the family, you can start to roast a chicken for 30 minutes, take it out of the roasting dish, put in all the vegetables above, nestle the chicken in the middle and continue roasting as per the recipe. Sounds pretty good. But trust me, the vegetarian version is delicious as it is. And it will make your kitchen smell amazing!

Chicken Spaghetti

A recipe given to me via my Grandma, given to her via my Aunt. I actually made it yesterday but it was softball night and we never got around to eating it so I put in the fridge for tonight. Tonight was labeled Left Over night anyway so it worked out perfectly. I popped it back in the oven tonight on the warm setting and it was so good; probably better after all the ingredients sitting together a whole day. Another thing, since it called for half a stick of butter I cut other corners to make it a little healthier; see below.

Ingredients:
-1/2 lb to 1 lb of chicken
-1/2 stick butter
-1/2 cup chix bouillon water
-1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
-1/4 c Parmesan cheese (I didn't have this. I had mozz. on hand so I threw a little in)
-1/2 tsp garlic powder (I ran out of this so I added garlic salt; not the whole 1/2 tsp though)
-1 can cream of mushroom soup (I used fat free)
-8 oz sour cream (again, I used fat free)
-10 oz spaghetti, cooked

Directions:
-Cut chicken into small pieces and cook; fry in pan with a little salt and pepper. Remove from pan and set aside.
-Melt together first 3 ingredients
-Add parmesan cheese, garlic powder and soup; bring to a boil.
-Put cooked chicken back in along with the sour cream. Mix well.
-Poor over cooked spaghetti in a 9x13pan. Sprinkle lightly with Parmesan cheese.
-Bake @ 350 for 30 minutes

Serve with a salad and enjoy.

Bean & Beef Enchilada Casserole

This is from one of my favorite cookbooks, "Fast Fix family food" by BHG. I've been making this ever since it was in the magazine. It's basically a Mexican lasagna and you use corn tortillas instead of pasta.


Ingredients
1 pound of lean ground beef
1 medium onion, chopped
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1 15oz. can pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 4oz. can diced green chile peppers, undrained
1 8oz. carton sour cream
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
10-12 6-inch corn tortillas
1 10oz. can enchilada sauce
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

chopped tomatoes (optional)
sliced green onions (optional)


Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

1. In a large skillet, cook the ground beef, and onion over medium heat until onion is tender and the meat is no longer pink. Drain off the fat.
   
2. Stir in the chili powder, cumin, drained pinto beans and undrained chile peppers; set aside.
3. In a small bowl, stir together sour cream, flour and garlic powder;set aside.
4. Place half of the tortillas in the bottom of a lightly greased 2-quart rectangular baking dish; cut to fit if necessary. Top with half the meat mixture, half the sour cream mixture, half the enchilada sauce, and 1 cup of cheese. Repeat the layers, except the remaining cheese.
5. Cover the dish with foil; bake 35 to 40 minutes or until bubbly. Sprinkle with the reserved cup of cheese. Bake, uncovered, about 5 minutes more or until cheese melts.
6. If desired, top with tomato and sliced green onions. (I just used the tomato)
   

Serves 6.

*Sorry for the messy plate, I was back for seconds. YUM! :)

Fast and Easy Veggie Skillet

I love summer food, especially the vegetables that are abundant and cheap. This is a little meal that I kind of pulled together at the last minute, but I had gone to the store that day and picked up all the vegetables. It's yummy and easy and you can basically use whatever vegetables you want. If you want you can even skip the pasta and add some grilled chicken or shrimp.

Easy Veggie Skillet

2-3 tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion (you can use the whole onion if you want)
1 zucchini
1 yellow squash
1 green pepper
1 red pepper
1/2 pint grape tomatoes
1/2 cup Italian bread crumbs
1/2 box penne or rotini pasta
1/2-1 cup Parmesean cheese

Dice up all the vegetables and saute them (all except the tomatoes) in the oil for about 5 minutes until they're soft. Add the tomatoes toward the end of the 5 minutes. Sprinkle the bread crumbs over the top and stir to coat the vegetables. Meanwhile cook pasta and drain. Preheat oven to 350. In a quart baking dish combine the cooked pasta and vegetables, sprinkle generously with Parmesean cheese (as much as you want) and stick it in the oven for about 20 minutes to warm everything up and melt the cheese.

Chicken Noodle Casserole Bake

With a sick hubby, nothing sounds better than chicken and noodles. This is a casserole recipe I've been making for years. It is delicious. I was lazy yesterday and did not photograph it, although next time I make it I will do just that.

Chicken Noodle Casserole Bake

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup sifted flour
1/2 tsp poultry seasoning
1 cup chicken broth
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cup bite sized chicken dices
8 oz. thin cooked egg noodles
1 cup soft breadcrumbs ( i use about 3 slices of bread that i cut into cubes) mixed with 3 TBS melted butter

Preheat oven to 350. Melt butter in saucepan and blend in flour and poultry seasoning. Slowly stir in broth and milk. Add salt and pepper. Heat, stirrring until mixture thickens. Off heat, combine above sauce wtih remaining ingredients...the chicken and the COOKED egg noodles. Spoon into buttered 9x13 baking dish and sprinkle with topping. Bake uncovered for 30 minutes. YUM