I made a mixture of carrot “pasta” and regular. The carrot pasta was inspired by this Kitchn Post, but I didn’t really follow anything specific. I used a vegetable peeler to slice down 4-5 carrots (after discarding the outside). Then, I put four cloves of minced garlic into about 1 tbsp of olive oil and a heaping scoop of Smart Balance (already hot). I also added a heaping pinch of crushed red pepper. After that went for about 30 seconds, I added the carrots and then one serving (2oz dry) of mostly cooked pasta. I mixed it all and added a bit of the pasta water. I also added garlic powder, salt and pepper. When I put it into the bowl, I added some cheese.

It came out very good. Much more bulk than just the pasta and a good amount of flavor. I liked it very much and I would definitely do it again. I may also find a way to get more of the carrot out of it. I still had a good amount of carrot left. Using thicker carrots would work much better but they didn’t have them at the supermarket.

I also made zucchini fritters with with no major changes. I did let them cook a bit more to crisp them up.

I threw together shakshuka from the following:

• Big head (crown?) of broccoli
• Half an onion
• Half a shallot
• Two sliced jalapeños (with the seeds)
• Half a bell pepper
• Big thing of mushrooms
• celery
• 1 28 oz can and 1 14 oz can of diced tomatoes
• Lots of seasoning

I did the onions and shallots first, then added the peppers, then the rest. I let it cook for about 30 minutes or more and then poached eggs inside of it. I topped it with grated parm cheese. It came out very good. Lots of flavor. And the broccoli was nice and covered with the tomatoes. I probably could have cooked it a bit longer, but it was fine. It did have a nice spice to it, my guess is it was the jalapeño seeds.

I also tried to make something with the rest of the broccoli. I had the dipping sauce from tuna tataki (from 2013-05-02). I strained it to remove any chunks of stuff, including some old tuna that was there. I added some (actually, too much) corn starch. I then steamed broccoli a bit then added the sauce. As I said, it was too much corn stach and the whole thing thickened too much. That wasn’t so bad, except that the sauce was extremely salt and way too lemony. It may work well for a tuna dipping but it pretty much failed for coating/stir-frying broccoli. I ate a few pieces and threw out the rest.

I based this loosely on this recipe. Basically, I thinly sliced zucchini into little pieces using the mandolin. I then added a tad of olive oil and lots of salt and pepper. Then I added 1 serving of Whole Wheat Plus pasta. I added a bunch of grated ricotta salata. I mixed it all together and microwaved it to warm it up. After it was done, I added two “fried” eggs. (probably over-medium. No oil, just doen in the pan). I added more salt and pepper plus more cheese. It was really good. The egg flavor mixed well with the salt and pepper (and cheese).

I also made curried cauliflower. It was very good but way toooooooo salty. The salt shaker broke open a bit and poured in. Still, it was very good. Crispy as always and really good.

I didn’t calculate the points, but it must be low. Just the pasta, a bit of oil, the eggs and the cheese.

I made Mushroom + Quinoa stuffed mushrooms. First, the filling. I started with sautéing half an onion using dry sherry to deglaze the pan. I then added a lot of finely chopped mushrooms. That included both the stems of the caps I stuffed and an additional pack of mushrooms. Basically, a lot. I kept adding sherry and letting it cook away. I then added cooked quinoa (started as 1/2 cup dry, Osem in the water). Finally, I added lots of garlic powder and TJ’s 21 seasoning salute.

For the mushroom caps, I pealed away the outer layer and then spread laughing cow into the inside. I cooked it for 25 minutes at 350 (see 2011-01-10). These mushrooms were a bit small making it difficult. And annoying to peel. I wonder if there is an easier way.

Anyway, they came out pretty good. They were small and not the most filling thing, but the laughing cow trick really gives it a lot of flavor. And the topping got nice a crispy, though a lot fell off the caps.

The points were 9 for the 1/2 cup dry quinoa, 3 for 5 wedges of Laughing cow, plus some for the sherry. It made two meals worth including extra filling. Even if you count the sherry as, say, 5, it is 17 for two meals. Not bad.