NEW RECIPES February 5, 2003 Susan Noble Family and Consumer Science Extension Agent

Congratulations are in order. I've succeeded in keeping my new year's resolution to try out more recipes. Yes -- before any irritatingly rational people call me -- I realize we're only a month into the new year. But every year my resolution is to try more recipes. Every year I get busy. Every year my resolution fizzles. So this year, even a month is success. That's my story and I'm sticking with it. Don't burst my bubble, and I'll share my experiments with you.

My garden club was the guinea pig for my first experiment. Several months ago they asked me to do a presentation at the January meeting on healthy eating. The plan is for us to get back in shape after the holidays. I wanted to serve the ladies a nice and healthy snack of some sort but just couldn't come up with anything new. Then I read about fake fried veggies and inspiration struck.

The dish featured mushrooms, which I love. The dish used a fat-busting technique that was new to me. The dish was so simple I could easily whip it together "live" at the meeting. It was a perfect recipe. The fact that I had not tried the recipe before (and did not try it before the meeting) was no concern to me. I think it's against the garden club creed to impeach members for bad food. Maybe the ladies were just being polite, but I think they enjoyed the experiment. I will certainly prepare the dish again myself.

Next I experimented on myself; after all, I have to eat dinner. This is another garden club creed - members HAVE to eat all meals, no matter what. I had pulled an appealing pasta recipe from Martha Stewart's web site. Lacking all of her ingredients and not wanting to make a trip to the grocery store, I just used the ingredients I had on hand. I never missed the missing ingredients - the results were fine by me.

I got so carried away with experimenting, I even created my own salad to go with the pasta. I sliced red and green bell peppers into thin strips and sautéed them in just a tad of olive oil till they were barely tender. Then I added a splash of balsamic vinegar and served the "salad" hot from the stove. I think Martha would have been proud.

Here was a tasty, healthy, very gourmet-looking meal ready in minutes. Now if I could set a table as fancy as Martha's. Maybe that will be our next garden club meeting.

Preheat oven to 375°F. Cut large mushroom caps into halves or quarters to get uniformly sized pieces. (This will help all the mushrooms cook in the same amount of time.) Dip mushrooms and broccoli florets into mayonnaise; then roll in bread crumbs. Place on baking sheet that has been lightly coated with cooking spray. Bake about 15 minutes or till veggies are browned and slightly tender. (I did not find it necessary to turn the veggies during baking, but be alert to do so in case they get too brown on one side.) If desired, serve veggies with reduced-fat Ranch dressing.

I often cook "fresh" (vacuum-sealed) pasta from the refrigerated section of the grocery store. Typically, I add a touch of tub margarine to the cooked pasta instead of a sauce. This version, adapted from Martha Stewart, is a nice change with a little kick.

Cook tortellini according to package directions; drain. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat oil over low heat for 3 minutes. Add crushed pepper and cook 2 more minutes. Combine drained tortellini with flavored oil, green onions, and lemon juice. Season with salt to taste. Serve at once.

Yields 4 servings.

The use of brand names in this column does not imply endorsement by the North Carolina Cooperative Extension Service of the products or services named or criticism of similar ones not mentioned.

E-mail address: Susan_Noble@ncsu.edu

Mailing Address:
P. O. Box 2280
Lumberton, NC 28359-2280

Phone: 910-671-3276
Fax: 910-671-6278

Date Created 5/22/03