Spinach Raita (The "other" warm spinach salad)

Before we bid adieu to the winter (finally!), here’s another warm spinach salad recipe for those crisp “almost spring” days. This is actually a spinach raita (or koshimbir), which is an Indian yogurt salad. You can make raita with a lot of different ingredients, and it is typically eaten along with roti or rice as a cool and creamy condiment which goes well with spicy Indian food. Not a lot of raitas are “warm” salads, but my sister introduced me to this extremely delicious spinach raita with a cumin tadka (tempering), and now its one of my favorite salads! I have made a few modifications to adjust to my liking - I like my salads crispier because I typically pack them as a side with my lunch for work, and don’t eat it with roti. So I added onions to her recipe for extra crispiness and also reduced the cooking time for spinach. Whichever way you make it, its a delicious salad with a strong cumin flavor.

 
Ingredients:

2 cups fresh spinach leaves

½ cup roughly chopped onion (optional)

2 cloves garlic sliced (optional)

½ tsp oil

¼ tsp cumin seeds

⅛ tsp asafoetida/hing powder (optional - but gives a nice aroma especially if using onions. See note)

1 dry red chili pepper (optional) - broken in half (I also removed seeds to reduce the heat)

2 tbsp thick yogurt (or more depending on how creamy you like it) - I used 2% reduced fat Greek yogurt

Salt to taste
Heat oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add cumin seeds and red chili once the oil is hot. Add the asafoetida powder, quickly followed by the onion and garlic. Add salt, and saute for just a little bit so that the raw onion taste is gone but it still keeps the crunch. At this point take the pan off the heat. Transfer the onion, garlic mixture to a bowl. Add spinach to the bowl and mix well. This wilts the spinach just a little, but still has a bite. If you would prefer a creamier version, you can add spinach to the pan once the onions are a little soft and saute for a minute or so before transferring the mixture to a bowl. Mix in the yogurt and enjoy as a snack on its own, or served with roti or a nice pita sandwich with homemade lentil patty and hummus!

~Gayatri

Notes:

Asafoetida, or hing is an herb used extensively in Indian cooking to enhance flavor and aid digestion. It can be found in any Indian store.

 

If you’re like me and don’t like a lot of heat, you can take the red chili pepper out before mixing the yogurt. If left in, it keeps adding heat - which works well if you like that kick.

Warm Spinach Salad

Salads can be a quick and easy way to get some good nutrition (as long as it's not just iceberg lettuce and dressing!), but they don't often make for good leftovers. Limp raw lettuce? No thanks. Something I can reheat, however, might be doable. I've had some really good warm spinach salad at restaurants before, so I thought I'd try it out myself. Turns out it's pretty easy to make, and prepping the ingredients takes up most of the time. The nice thing about warm spinach salad is that you can personalize it any way you wish!

Ingredients

10 oz. fresh spinach

1-2 garlic cloves, minced

1 small sweet onion (or half a red onion, if you prefer the flavor; I have tried both)

1-1½ sweet bell pepper (I used one half of each red, orange, and yellow)

~1-2 TBSP apple cider vinegar (or balsamic for a more tangy flavor)

~4 oz. feta cheese, crumbled

Canola oil for cooking

Fresh ground pepper to taste

Dried fruit (I used cranberries) and/or nuts (I used sliced almonds) for garnish

Roughly chop the bell pepper and onion into strips about 2 inches long. In a little bit of oil, sauté pepper and onions for maybe 5 minutes. Add minced garlic and season with fresh ground pepper. Pour in vinegar and let simmer for a minute or two. Remove pan from heat, and add the feta cheese directly to the pan and mix. The cheese will melt a little bit, but mostly still maintain its crumbled form.

Put the fresh spinach in a large bowl. Add the contents of the pan to the spinach and mix well. The spinach leaves will "cook" a little bit from the heat of the veggie mixture and wilt a little, but won't go limp. Add in the cranberries and almonds, or garnish each individual bowl when serving.

You can refrigerate the leftovers and reheat portions for about 30 seconds whenever you want more!

 

~Karla

NOTE: If not a fan of bell pepper, cherry tomatoes also add some nice color and flavor. You can also use sun-dried tomatoes or raisins or other dried fruits in place of cranberries. And other goat cheese instead of feta. The possibilities are endless!

Cabbage and potato pie

Continuing with more guilt free, cold day comfort food, here is a recipe for a pie that uses hardly any oil, and is a good vehicle for any veggies in your fridge that you need to use up. I made this with green cabbage, but will use red cabbage next time for more color. I also didn’t have a lot of vegetables, so I used only mushrooms. Hence it turned out to be not a very colorful pie, but it was certainly delicious.

 

Ingredients:

6-8 whole cabbage leaves + 1 cup chopped cabbage

3 small-medium potatoes - boiled

About 1 cup of chopped vegetables (optional) - I used only ½ cup of mushrooms. Peas, broccoli, carrots etc. would add a lot of taste and color!

½ cup of soy based vegetarian protein / cooked ground meat (optional) - I used MorningStar Grillers Crumbles

Garlic - 1 clove minced

Salt

Pepper

Paprika/ chili flakes (optional)
 

Preheat oven to 375 F.

 

Mash the potatoes and set aside. Boil water in a large sauce pan and add the cabbage leaves. Once tender, remove from the water (about 2-3 minutes), cut out the thick stem and set them on some paper towels. In the same water, add the chopped cabbage and cook for another couple minutes. You may add salt to the water before cooking cabbage, but thats optional. Drain and add the cooked chopped cabbage to the mashed potatoes.

With very little oil, saute the garlic and mushrooms (or other vegetables if using any). Add the cooked soy protein/ground meat. Season to taste. Saute until heated through. Add to the mashed potatoes and cabbage. Season this mixture with salt and pepper (add chili flakes or paprika if desired).

 

Lightly grease a pie pan or a small cast iron skillet. Arrange half of the cabbage leaves to completely cover the bottom, and if possible the sides of the pan. Add the filling over the cabbage leaves and flatten the mixture with a spatula. Cover with the remaining cabbage leaves. Sprinkle a little salt and freshly ground pepper on top. Cover the pan with aluminum foil.

 

Place a cookie sheet (or larger baking pan) in the oven with about ½ an inch of water. Place the pie pan on the cookie sheet and bake covered for 35-40 minutes until lightly browned on top. Remove the aluminum foil and broil on high for a minute or two till the top is browned to your liking.

 

Let it cool for 5-10 minutes before cutting. Enjoy with a side of some crisp salad.

~Gayatri

Note: I used a 6” cast iron skillet and needed 6 small cabbage leaves to cover the bottom, sides and top. For a larger baking dish, you might need more cabbage leaves.  

  

Sweet potato and carrot soup

Sometimes on a lazy weekend afternoon, I just want a quick and easy lunch, which doesn’t require a lot of cooking or cleaning. Soups generally fall in that category, and given how cold its been lately, that didn’t seem like a bad idea. I had a sweet potato on hand and typically have some carrots too for making salads, so I threw them all together along with some yogurt for a little tanginess. It took me only 10 minutes to put together this scrumptious meal.

 

Ingredients:

1 small sweet potato cooked (~½ cup)

¼ cup chopped carrots

½ cup water/stock

1 tbsp yogurt

1 tsp flour

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

lemon juice (optional)

salt

pepper

chopped parsley (optional - for garnish)

1 tbsp chia+flaxseed powder (optional)

 

 

In a blender/food processor, make a puree with the sweet potato, carrots, water/stock, yogurt, flour, nutmeg, salt, pepper. Transfer to a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until thickened to your liking and heated through. Add chia+flaxseed powder if using. Adjust water/stock if required. Adding lemon juice and lots of freshly ground pepper helps cut the sweetness of sweet potato and carrots. Add a dollop of sour cream or yogurt on top and garnish with fresh parsley. The soup makes for a perfect guilt free (aka oil/cream free) lunch on a cold winter day.

~Gayatri
 

Spinach Avocado Pasta

Avocado is an incredibly nutritious fruit – its good for your heart, has lots of fiber as well as vitamins and minerals. However, it is also quite expensive. So when I saw it on sale a few weeks ago, I jumped on the opportunity and bought a few avocados. I generally eat it with salads or spread it on toast sprinkled with some salt and pepper, but I had to get more creative to use them all up before they would go bad. I had some spinach on hand, so I decided to make pasta sauce with spinach and avocado. Its flavored with basil and garlic which pairs well with the creaminess of the avocado. Like everything else made using avocado, this is best eaten fresh. I made it for lunch and had leftovers for dinner. The color got darker due to the avocado, but it still tasted the same!



Ingredients:

1.5 cups dry pasta of your choice (I used Farfalle/bowtie)

½ avocado

¾ cup fresh spinach (reduce quantity if using frozen)

½ tsp chopped garlic (~1 clove)

1 tsp chopped basil

2 tsp lemon juice (or to taste)

½ tsp oil/butter

Salt

Pepper

Parmesan cheese (optional) 

Cook pasta as per package instructions. While pasta is cooking, heat oil/butter on medium heat and saute garlic for a few seconds before adding spinach and basil. Cook only until spinach is slightly wilted (30-60 seconds), and take it off the heat. Transfer the spinach mixture to a food processor along with avocado and lemon juice. Process until you get a smooth paste. Add water or olive oil if it is too thick. Add salt, pepper to taste. Mix the sauce with the cooked pasta, top it with any vegetables you like. I only had tomatoes at home, but sautéed mushroom, broccoli, asparagus would taste great with this sauce. Sprinkle parmesan cheese (optional – I didn’t use any), squeeze more lemon juice on top if you like, and enjoy the delicious creamy pasta without any cream!

~Gayatri

Orange-glazed Sweet Potato Bread (Or: You Can Never Have Too Many Desserts)

This past holiday season, my husband and I hosted a Christmas Day potluck at our house. Everyone brought all sorts of amazing food, from ChristmasTree Pastries to green bean casserole to corn pudding and more! My mom was in charge of candied sweet potatoes, and, since my parents were driving 5ish hours to come stay with us over the holidays, I figured she would make the dish once they got to our place. To my surprise, they showed up with coolers overflowing with pre-made food – including candied sweet potatoes! I then had a serious dilemma on my hands – what should I do with the extra sweet potatoes I had already bought? In true Cooks of Cake and Kindness fashion, I made another dessert!

This recipe was originally for cookies (see recipe here), but I soon got tired of waiting for each batch of cookies to bake (I had a lot of batter!). Solution: mini bread loaves!

Ingredients
2 cups well-mashed or pureed sweet potato (roughly 3 medium-sized sweet potatoes)
2.5 cups flour (I used about half all-purpose, half whole wheat)
2.5 tsp baking soda
2.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (optional - I added only a dash)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup unsalted butter or margarine (or substitute 1/4 cup applesauce + 3/4 cup canola oil)
1.5 cups packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp finely grated orange rind (optional - I did not add orange rind)
1 cup chopped pecans (optional - I did not add nuts)

Glaze: 1 cup confectioner's sugar + 2 TBSP orange juice (adjust amount of liquid for desired consistency)

Heat oven to 400°F. Grease a baking sheet.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, sweet potato, vanilla, and (optional) orange rind. Gradually mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients. (Optional: stir in pecans.)

To make cookies, drop the batter by heaping teaspoons onto a baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between – they will spread! Bake 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown and firm. This amount of batter should make about 6 dozen cookies.

If you get tired of too many cookie batches, as I did after 2 rounds of making cookies, grease 6 mini-loaf pans. Divide batter evenly among the pans and bake about 20 minutes (you should be able to bake all the loaves together at the same time) until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. In all, I made 2 dozen cookies and 4 mini-loaves.

For the glaze, mix the confectioner’s sugar and orange juice to desired consistency (you may need to increase the amount of both depending on how many cookies/mini-loaves are made). Glaze is best when applied to cookies or loaves when they are still warm. Note: I didn’t actually have confectioner’s sugar, and I didn’t really want to break out the food processor just for this step, so I used regular granulated sugar in the glaze. It wasn’t as smooth as it would have been, but it turned out okay and still tasted delicious!

~Karla

Chocolate on chocolate on chocolate!!! (...and sprinkles)

 

Not only do Karla and I still work together (we also went to school together and were roommates for three years) and write this blog together, we also share a love for chocolate - which is apparent from the candy stocked at our desks and the “chocolate breaks” we take at work. So, when I asked Karla what kind of birthday cake she wanted, her answer was obvious. To make it as chocolate-y as possible, I made a chocolate cake frosted with chocolate buttercream and topped with dark chocolate ganache - and then added sprinkles. The birthday girl liked it and it surely was well received by our colleagues based on how quickly it was gone.

 

Chocolate cake: Recipe

Chocolate buttercream: Recipe

Once the cake is completely cooled, frost the top and sides with the buttercream.

Chocolate ganache:

On low-medium heat on the stove top, heat ½ cup of heavy cream and 4 oz dark chocolate chips. Keep stirring until chocolate is completely melted to form a smooth mixture. Take it off the heat and let it cool down to room temperature (otherwise it can melt the buttercream).

Once cooled, carefully pour the ganache starting at the center of the cake and spread it outward with a spatula if required. Use a clean knife or spatula (wipe it off often during the process) to smoothen out the ganache.

Just a few colorful sprinkles to add a trim-like decoration and the cake was ready for the birthday celebration :-)

~Gayatri

 

Note:

If using ganache directly on the cake, you can pour it over when it is still warm.

The consistency of ganache can be adjusted to your liking by changing the ratio of cream and chocolate.

The ganache can be cooled and whipped to make a nice thick frosting to pipe on the cake as well.