Veggie Pot Pie

photo by sara tady ©

I made a vegetable soup a few weeks ago and froze about half.  This is sooo easy and will bring you back to your childhood.  All you have to do is heat up the soup, make a simple roux, and bake the flaky topping.  Virtually no prep and dinner will be on the table, or in my case, breakfast bar, in less than 30 minutes.  So simple and you'll feel like a pro!

Ingredients:

leftover soup- already cooked

5 tbsp of flour

4 tbsp of butter

1 1/2 cans of chicken stock

1 sheet of puff pastry

1/2 cup of cream or milk

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 400.  

2) Unfold the puff pastry sheet. Trace the top of your serving dish with a knife, cutting through. (Save the excess!!!) Pop into the oven for 13 minutes or so.

3) In a non-stick skillet, make the roux using the above measurements.  

4) Mix in the leftover soup and the 1/2 cup of cream or milk.

5) Pour into serving dish and top with the flaky puff pastry. 

Bonus Dessert:
Cinnamon-Sugar Twists

photo by sara tady ©

Directions:

Cut the leftover pastry dough into 1 inch strips.  Brush with some melted butter, sprinkle on cinnamon, sugar and twist.  Place on a greased baking sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes.  You can bake these at the same time as your pot-pie topping!

Roasted Broccoli Side Dish

photo by sara tady ©

Forget what you know about broccoli.  Especially if what you know is steamed broccoli.  Eeek. 

Roasting broccoli is SO simple, takes 7-8 minutes, and it tastes 100% better!  The good news is you probably have all the ingredients on hand. This is not your mother's broccoli :)

Ingredients:
1 head of broccoli
1 clove of garlic- chopped/grated
extra virgin olive oil (evoo)
red pepper flake
sesame seeds (optional)
salt/pepper

Directions:
1) pre heat oven to 400 degrees
2) cut the heads of broccoli loose from the stalk (trim from the stalk, not the head.  This keeps the florets in tact)
3) throw the broccoli on a baking sheet, add the garlic, salt, pepper, sprinkle on some red pepper flake, drizzle some evoo and use your hands to mix together.
4) pop it into the oven for about 7 minutes. Sprinkle on the sesame seed for the last minute or so.

Enjoy!

Pasta with Broccoli, Green Beans and Spinach

sara tady ©

We've all been there.  We went a little crazy at the farmer's market or the produce aisle.  Now we have vegetables that are withering away faster than we can eat them.  Here's my solution:  saute them together with a few special touches, and you've got a heart-healthy pasta dish that can be made a million different ways.

Ingredients:
Fresh green beans
Broccoli
Spinach
Rotini or Cavatappi pasta (a thicker noodle works best vs. a spaghetti type noodle)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Parmasean or Ramano Cheese (that kind you keep in your refrigerator :) )
1 garlic clove

Directions:
step 1: bring water to a boil, add a liberal amount of salt, drop in pasta noodles
step 2: chop ends off of green beans
step 3: chop broccoli into bit sized pieces, eliminating stems
step 4: roughly run your knife through the spinach leaves
step 5: in a saute pan, drizzle some extra virgin olive oil around the pan- just enough to coat the bottom, low-medium heat
step 6: grate in about half a clove of garlic (don't own a grater? you can simply chop it)
step 7: drop spinach leaves into saute pan, let leaves wilt.  Salt and pepper. Keep heat low-medium as to not burn garlic
step 8: When pasta has about 5 minutes to go, drop broccoli and green beans in the same pot of boiling water for the remainder
step 9: strain pasta, broccoli and green beans
step 10: drop pasta, broccoli and green beans into the pan with the spinach, oil, and garlic. Mix.
step 11: mix in some parmasean/ramano cheese and serve!