Pasta Salad: Trader Joe's Components

Typically, doing all your shopping for a meal at one place means compromising on either the cost or the quality of some of the components. I'm lucky to have many grocery store chains, as well as farmer's market and bakery options, to find my ingredients. Ideally, I shop in a nomadic way, getting guacamole from TJs, salsa from Safeway, meat from one of the smaller places that only carries Painted Hills (because they won't have a lower quality for specials). That requires a lot of time and traveling.

So I have an ongoing challenge to myself to take the components from any one place to make a meal. For the last few years, I've had the extra challenge of not having a real kitchen to cook in, only plug-in appliances and a small refrigerator. This has meant that I eat a lot of simple salads, using oil and vinegar as a dressing.

That wasn't going to work when I needed a ready-made entree to take to a party. I needed to make something where I wouldn't be stuck trying to store lots of leftover ingredients. I feel that I succeeded in this pasta salad because it covered these bases:

1. total ingredients bought in a $20 shopping trip
2. minimal cooking
3. simple prep/short time to prep
4. varied and tasty
5. organic ingredients
6. vegetarian
7. good for hot weather

This recipe makes good use of Trader Joe's package sizes. You'll need something to cook pasta (appliance and pot or dish), refrigeration or other cold-holding, containers for cut vegetables, a zester/peeler if you have one, a cutting board, and a knife.

Because I used the marination from the mozzarella as the dressing, to make a dairy free/vegan version of this, you would need to substitute in a vegan dressing with garlic and herbs as well as leaving out the two cheeses.

Cooling the cooked pasta apart from the raw veges allowed the marinate flavor to sink in to the cooked ingredients. I didn't have any large containers, so I had to use several. This is how I split it up for travel. It was assembled at the final destination.

A) penne, broccoli, parmesan cheese, peppers, cherry tomatoes

B) cucumber, carrots

C) mozzarella

D) olive can unopened

TJ Trip Pasta Salad

Organic Penne Rigate, dry, 8oz (half of the package)

Organic broccoli (1 package crowns or crowns from 1 stem)

Purple carrots (2 from package of organic rainbow carrots), thinly sliced 

1 organic cucumber, seeded and thinly sliced

4 mini bell peppers (from 8oz package of baby bell peppers, red to yellow), slivered

Organic cherry tomatoes (3/4 of a 10oz package) cut in half

12 oz Marinated Mozzarella (small mozzarella balls in oil/herb/vinegar marinade)

Slivered parmesan cheese, about 1 oz (to taste)

Sea salt (to taste)

Cook 8oz of penne in a saucepan for 7 minutes, or until cooked but still very firm. For me, this means:

boil water in an electric kettlepouring enough water to cover the penne in the pot, cover with lidstart timerleave the covered pot on a hot plate until there's a rolling boil, turn off the hot plate

Add the cut broccoli crown pieces directly into the pot. Cover and cook for 3 minutes. (If you are using whole broccoli, save the stem! Cut away the hard outer layer and slice the tender middle for stir fry or soup.)

Drain. Pour 2 Tablespoons of the mozzarella marinade into the mixture; stir until coated evenly. Cool for 1-2 hours in the refrigerator. After cooling, add salt to taste.

Cut up the rest of the vegetables after washing. Thinly slice the carrot into elongated coins. Use the zester to peel furrows into the skin of the cucumber before slicing, then seed (if desired) and slice thinly.

Select four (about 4 oz) of the baby bell peppers, orange and yellow. Cut off the tops, slice in half lengthwise, and scrape out all seeds. Slice each half against the grain into slivers. Cut each cherry tomato in half.

Assemble: cooled pasta, broccoli, parmesan, vegetables. Add the marinated mozzarella balls. Spoon out the herb mixture from the marinade over the cheese, but not the rest of the marinade liquid. (Save for future salad dressing.) Drain the olives and add them in.

Makes 4 entree portions or party food for 8.

Giant Zucchini: it can be delicious, really

Now is the time of giant zucchini, those monsters gushing with liquid, their skins woody and tough. These sun-soaked squash are still good for eating. In fact, the overgrown ones are my favorites for a late summer comfort food.

The dish can be a side dish or a meal all its own. Mix with cooked rice for mock-risotto or serve over pasta as an alternative to alfredo sauce. Whatever you do, serve it in a bowl, because while it tastes heavenly, its looks are, well... cooked down zucchini in cream. 

It's easy, uses inexpensive ingredients, and cooks up in 45 minutes with minimal attention. All you need are:

• A saucepan with a lid
• zucchini, enough to fill the saucepan when cut up (1 or 2 squash/1 to 2 pounds)
• oil or butter
• 1 teaspoon lemon juice (optional)
• sour cream and/or plain yogurt, 1 Cup per pound of zucchini
• parmesan cheese, grated, shredded, or shaved (best with hard cheeses)
• black pepper
• salt
• breadcrumbs (optional)

Step 1. Slice the zucchini into large chunks, an inch & a half long, then cut again to make half-circles.

2. Add 1 TBL of butter or oil to the bottom of the saucepan. Add the cut up zucchini. Add the lemon juice. If not using lemon juice, add a splash of water, just a teaspoon the start the steam. Put the lid on the saucepan and place over medium heat.

3. When you hear the contents start to sizzle and steam, turn the heat down to low. Set a timer for 15 minutes.

This is important: don't lift the lid for the next 15 minutes! You are creating a steam to start the cooking. Letting them steam means that you can use just a little butter or oil, you don't have to stir, and the squash will juice out properly instead of burning. Instead of opening and stirring, hold the lid down on the saucepan and give the whole thing a shake a couple of times. That will be enough to keep them from sticking.

4. After 15 minutes, you can lift the lid and stir the zucchini around. It will still be firm at this point. Cover again and allow it to continue cooking on low for 20 - 25 minutes more. If you cook it longer, it will be suitable as a sauce, but it won't have any body to stand alone.

5. Check your zucchini for tenderness. Like it? Great! You can take the saucepan off the heat.

6. Spoon some of the hot zucchini broth into a bowl. Now add your sour cream, yogurt, or mix of the two and the hot liquid. This will prevent curdling as you add the cream mixture into the zucchini. 

7. Add pepper and cheese. Taste. Add salt as needed.

• If the result is too runny for your tastes, add breadcrumbs, return to the heat, and allow it to simmer for up to five minutes. Do not try to make it thicken by longer simmering. The zucchini will cook down to oblivion and you'll have a weird soup. 

• Alternately, you can move the zucchini and sauce into an oven safe dish, sprinkle with breadcrumbs and more cheese, and toast the top.

Farmers Market Beets, Goat Cheese, Pecans, and Butter Sandwich

Well, that makes it sound fancy.

A big bag of small red beets was my inspiration for beets in a sandwich. The small beets mean that I can cook one or two of them in short time and have fresh beets ready to eat with minimal fuss. Beets are dandy with butter. I'm a fan of artisan bread, so making a beet-and-butter sandwich. This sandwich evolved.

It would be a pretty sandwich if done with thin layers of sliced beet, using the goat cheese as a spread on the butter-grilled roll. However, beets are slippery. Slices of beets shoot right out of the sandwich if it is any larger than a slider. The concoction pictured is quick and easy -- and can be eaten without flying beets.

For 3 well-filled sandwiches:

Ingredients
1 Cup of cooked beets, chopped into small pieces or julienned
2 ounces of goat cheese (this was half a package of Trader Joe's basic goat cheese)
Artisan bread rolls or demi-baguette (any firm, crusty bread)
butter, about 1 TBL
1/4 Cup pecans or walnuts
2 TBL cream cheese (optional)

Prepare your beets. Ideally, you will have done this in advance, and you'll be using them chilled from the refrigerator. My little beets -- about 3" in diameter -- took about 15 minutes to cook to tender, boiled. I scrub them well, put them in a saucepan with water to cover, and simmer covered until a fork pokes through easily. When they have cooled, I peel off the skins. I suspect that these sandwiches would taste good with grated, raw beet as well. I guess I'll find out in the next round!

* Beet juices wills stain your skin, clothes, and porous dishes. No kidding! Wear an apron, watch out for your shoes, and use a plastic or glass cutting board. If you don't have food gloves, plan on prepping your beets just before you wash your hair. Shampooing hair is pretty effective at getting fresh stains out of your fingers (says the multi-media artist and former barista). It also helps to moisturize your skin well before working with dyes. The hydrated skin won't be as absorbent.

Cut your rolls in half lengthwise. In a large skillet or on a griddle, melt the butter. Place the rolls cut side down to grill them with the butter. Don't let them burn!

Mix the goat cheese and beets together in a bowl until incorporated together. The more you mix them, the more pink the mixture will become, so go easy.

A little cream cheese rounds out the flavor and helps everything stick together, so I like a little spread on each half of the grilled roll before applying the beet-and-goat-cheese mix. Add your pecan halves and the other half of the roll.

You can make these in advance; they hold up surprisingly well and are good cold picnic food.

One-Bowl, 15 Minute, Super Easy Ham & Vegetables Dijon Pasta Salad

Emails about food make my email inbox at work a little more fun. One of the big brand's free calendars graces our wall, brightening the space with a big, colorful photo every month of something that looks mouthwatering.

For summer, I have been getting recipe emails that tout easy dinners with minimal cooking. These inevitably utilize the brand's cooking shortcut products. I understand that these have their place in the world, but they are not for me, a person who doesn't even make hot chocolate from a mix. 

The "recipe" in today's post is a hack of one of the 30-minute, Cooking Shortcut Bag recipes. The result is a slightly warm pasta salad (yum) with a crisp vegetable appeal, low in salt and without a lot of fuss.

Mine is faster and leaves fewer dishes to wash, but it requires that you, like me, are someone who has small amounts of good stuff in your refrigerator and cupboard for the components.

These were my ingredients:

• 1/3 Cup elbow macaroni or small pasta of choice, such as rotelli or fusilli
• salt to taste
• pinch oregano
• pinch onion powder
• pinch dry basil, to taste
• pinch red chili flake

If you have fresh herbs, add them to the chopped vegetable mixture instead of the pasta water.

• 1 TBL sliced red onion (I used the onion heart, which is tender and makes small pieces)
• 1/4 Cup diced red bell pepper
• 1/2 Cup chopped heirloom tomato
• 1 TBL olive oil
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp dijon mustard
• 1/2 Cup diced ham of good quality (avoid using a fatty ham steak)

• 1/4 Cup frozen green peas (if you have fresh peas, add them to the vegetable mixture)
• 1/4 Cup grated parmesan

1. In a small saucepan, bring 2 to 3 Cups of water to a boil. I use as little water as possible, enough to cover the pasta while it cooks. Add oregano, onion powder, dried basil, chili flakes, and salt. 
2. Measure the elbow macaroni by pouring one layer of the dry pasta into the bowl that you are going to use for the completed pasta salad. Elbows are plain, so I didn't want to use so much that the end salad is blah. Too much pasta makes a bland pasta salad.
3. When the water is boiling, add the elbow macaroni. Set a timer for 9 minutes. Lower the heat to medium and allow the pasta to cook uncovered.
4. While the pasta cooks, chop up your onion, bell pepper, and tomatoes. Place them in the bowl.
5. Add olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and dijon on top of the vegetables. (Do NOT add the frozen green peas!)
6. Dice the ham. Add it to the bowl.
7. Grate the parmesan.
8. When the timer goes off, test the pasta for firmness. I like mine slightly past al dente for pasta salad. If you like yours firmer, 8 minutes may work better.
9. Add the frozen green peas to the pasta water. Stir for a minute.
10. Drain the water from the peas + pasta. Stir it around to get the water out of the pasta tubes.
11. Carefully spoon (I use the same fork that I will use for eating) the peas, herbs, and pasta mixture into the bowl. Some water will still be in the saucepan, and you don't want watery pasta salad. Using a fork to push the pasta out of the saucepan helps drain it as you go.
12. Gently stir together everything in the bowl until well mixed.
13. Add parmesan cheese.

Cutting up the vegetables while the pasta cooked meant that this only took me about ten minutes. I've added five more for the grating of the cheese and putting away of oil, vinegar, etc.

I put the dry herbs in with the cooking pasta to kickstart their flavor. With single serving amounts of everything, it's more difficult to get flavors to infuse or mix evenly.

I thaw the peas with the pasta to stop the cooking of the pasta without rinsing the pasta. I never rinse pasta if I can avoid it. Rinsing removes the starch in the cooking water that helps the sauce or dressing stick to the pasta. I'd rather keep a small amount of cold ingredient or sauce to toss in with the pasta in place of rinsing. I like my pasta salad slightly warm, rather than refrigerator cold.

Chickpea Popovers stuffed with Curry Chicken Salad

For the chicken salad:

2 Cups of roasted chicken, chopped

1/2 Cup plain yogurt, or mayonnaise if preferred

2 TBL curry powder

1 Cup roasted, salted cashews

1/4 Cup golden raisins

1/4 Cup cranberries

 cilantro leaves for garnish (optional)

For the popovers:

1 Cup chickpea (besan) flour

1/2 tsp salt

3 eggs (I use medium sized eggs)

1 Cup milk

1 tsp olive oil

1/4 tsp garlic granules

1/4 tsp black pepper

spritz of lemon juice (about 1/8 tsp)

Jumbo (6 muffin) muffin tin

Cooking spray

Mix all ingredients except cilantro for the chicken salad together. Set aside. If possible, prepare the chicken salad in advance. The flavors of the spices come out more fully after a day. 

Preheat oven to 450.

In a separate bowl, gently wisk together all in ingredients for the popovers until a smooth batter forms. Grease the muffin pan; cooking spray makes this easy. Pour the batter equally into each of the muffin cups, about halfway. 

Bake at 450 for 20 minutes. Then lower the heat to 350 and continue baking for 15 more minutes. Total bake time is 35 minutes.

Pop popovers out of the pan while still hot. Turn so that the side with a depression is up, and fill the "bowl" with curry chicken salad. Garnish with cilantro.

Gruyere & Applesauce biscuits

2 C all purpose flour
2 1/2 TBL baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 C non-hydrogenated shortening
small knob of gruyere, about 3 TBL


1 C small curd cottage cheese (including separated whey)
1/4 C unsweetened applesauce

Preheat oven to 450F.

Combine flour, b. powder, & salt. Mix thoroughly. Cut in shortening until you create a sandy consistency. Slice the gruyere into small pieces and blend in.thoroughly. You can do this with your hands.

Add cottage cheese and applesauce. Mix in, allow to rest 5 minutes if it looks dry. Knead to incorporate the dough into a ball, shape into a log, and slice into 6 pieces. Bake for 15 minutes for a golden color.

Roasted Parsnip Soup

It started with this recipe for spicy parsnip soup: Jamie Oliver's soup.

Tired of the repetitious paring of coconut milk with curry seasoning and appalled by a recipe that makes enough soup to swim in, I restructured the whole thing. It becomes vegan very easily.

2 parsnips
2 TBL butter or high-heat oil (suggestion: sunflower oil)
1/4 tsp salt

1 TBL olive oil
1 Cup Vegetable stock (homemade)
1 can (15 oz) Coconut milk (Trader Joe's light coconut milk)
1 small red onion (about 1 Cup, chopped)
1/4 C celery
2 cloves of garlic (at least), chopped
1/2 a carrot
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried sage
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp fresh parsley


Onion, garlic, and herbs are to taste. Feel free to use fresh herbs if you have them on hand.

Preheat your oven to 425F. Peel your parsnips (you don't have to, but it will make the soup prettier) and slice into thin (1/4") circles. Cut each circle again into 4. The faster way to do this is to cut each parsnip in half, then split the half lengthwise, then cut two longs at a time as if you were cutting half-circles. You want an end result of confetti sized pieces that will roast quickly.

A 9"x12", 1" deep pan is the perfect roasting pan size. Put butter and parsnip confetti into the pan and into the oven for 2 to 5 minutes, until the butter is melted. If using oil, skip to the next step. Remove, and stir the parsnips around so that they get a good coating of butter. Sprinkle with salt. Set a timer for 20 minutes and let those beauties roast. Give them another stir up during the roasting if you like. They should be tender but should not be soft; think "al dente".

Chop your onions, garlic, and parsley. Slice the celery. Cut the carrot into thin (1/8") coins. Half a carrot is plenty; just eat the rest! Proceed when the parsnips are roasted.

In a medium saucepan, saute the onions & celery in oil until the onions start to become clear. Add your garlic, and saute one more minute. Lower heat. Add your roasted parsnips. Add your sage, rosemary, thyme, and carrot. (If you are using dry or frozen parsley, add it now.) Add with vegetable stock and coconut milk. Stir.

Cover and allow to simmer for 20 minutes (already on the timer, how convenient!). Check your parsnips for tenderness. If they are not soft enough for your taste, allow another 10 minutes of cooking on low heat.

Sprinkle with parsley before serving.

From Food

This photo does not do this soup justice. Peeling and roasting the parsnips makes the soup a creamy golden tone, and the carrot coins create accent points of color without being flavor bullies.

Mad Scientist Waffles

I used this recipe for waffles:

Yogurt Waffles

Ingredients
1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups (16 ounces) plain non-fat yogurt
1/4 C skim milk
1/4 olive oil
2 eggs

And I added about 1/3 C of crumbled feta, 1/4 tsp of dill, a pinch of thyme and a pinch of white pepper. I actually used 3 small eggs (from the co-op), as an equivalent to the 2 standard eggs. Nixed the salt, because the cheese had plenty, and the spices and yogurt kept the batter from being bland.

Applied lightening...
They lived!

These unexpected constructs were delicious. They had a light, crispy body and the feta melted in just the right amount, without causing any sticking onto the griddle.

It's not science. It's Mad Science -- mwhahahahaha!

Lemon & Lime Fish Chowder

Lemon & Lime Fish Chowder

1 small leek, thinly sliced
2 TBL unsalted butter (don't substitute or leave out)
3 sprigs marjoram
1 1/2 lbs white fish (cod and sole), fillets
1/2 a medium lemon
1/2 a medium lime
salt to taste (1 tsp)
splash (around 1/4 C) of mirin cooking sake (sherry or white wine)
fresh parsley, chopped (optional)

I used to think that every meal would be improved with garlic. The problem is how often anything I cook tastes the same as any other thing I cook: garlic, oregano, black pepper. Tonight I set out to cook something that would bring out the best in the fish. Due to too much fish for too small a cooking pot, this became a chowder instead of poached fish. Happy accident!

In a 3 quart (or there abouts) saucepan, melt the butter. Add the leeks and cover. Cook on medium heat until soft but not brown. (About 3 minutes.) Cut a couple thick slices of lemon.

Cut the fish into 1/2 pieces and place in the pot on top of the leeks. Add the marjoram and the lemon slices. Squeeze the juice out of the remaining lemon and the lime, over the fish. Cover and cook over low heat. (About 5 minutes.) Add the mirin. Let simmer uncovered for another minute. Don't overcook; you'll lose the "broth". When the fish flakes easily, remove the pot from heat and gently turn all the ingredients, removing the marjoram twigs, slices of lemon, and any pips or bones that got loose.

If you're serving this, you can garnish it with a pinch of chopped parsley and one of the lemon slices, which should still look pretty good, since this all cooks very fast. I would say that this serves 2 people generously. I ate the whole thing, I will admit, and it was too much. I ate the whole thing partially because it was soooo gooood and partially because I don't think this is something that will hold up to reheating. I was too hungry/impatient/lazy to make rice or angel hair pasta to go with the fish I wanted for dinner; again, I think that turned out for the best. While some crusty bread would compliment any fish chowder, I don't think this needs it.

It's all about the fish and the butter, but the delicately musty marjoram, the mildness of leek, and the zingy mix of citrus, further sweetened with the mirin, were the right supporting flavors. Sole by itself would have been mushy. The fillets are so thin, they are better for flash cooking. Mixed with the cod, which is a pretty robust fish, the sole broke up the dominant flavor and added texture interest.

No photo. I had nearly eaten it all before I thought, "I should post this."