I’m on a mission to try at least one new food a week!

I love trying new things and there are just way too many things I’ve never tried. I think this is one of those goals that will be easy to stick to, because it will be delicious. 

Bok Choy

Fun facts about Bok Choy, it contains glucosinolates. These compounds have been reported to prevent cancer in small doses, but are toxic to humans in large doses. It’s also super high in vitamin A and C. (thanks wikipedia!)

I found this recipe for baby bok choy and shiitake mushrooms, I was helpless against its potential delicious factor. I LOVE an excuse to use mushrooms. I’m such a mushroom junkie I adapted this and made it with a mix of mushrooms including shiitake, oyster, portabello and enoki. (yes they sell these at the local grocery store!). 

1 Tbs oil
1.5 C (about) mushrooms
garlic
ginger powder
1/4 C broth (veg or chicken)
1 Tbs light soy sauce
3 large baby bok choy (the thick end of the stem removed, rinsed and steamed)

1. Heat up the oil, add the mushrooms and saute until tender
3. Add the garlic and ginger powder
4. Add broth, deglaze the pan
5. Add the soy sauce, simmer to reduce
7. Pour the mushroom sauce over the steamed bok choy

We usually eat chili once every week or so. Its a quick and easy dinner solution. I always use Six Gun Chipotle Chili Mix and ground turkey. I’ve been dying to work on my own chili recipe that could made just as easily from scratch. Plus, having the same type of chili week after week was getting old! So I hunted down a unique spin on things and found this Turkey and Zucchinni Green Chili. I’ve never worked with tomatillos so I figured what a great time to learn about them. I love me some salsa verde too, more than regular salsa. Plus a chance to incorporate fresh seasonal veggies into my chili! Yes! Here’s what happened:

Make your salsa verde, which is the base of this chili. I used this recipe, but you can just as easily use store bought or your own recipe. If making from scratch you can roast the veggies for some extra flavor. 

Sautee an onion until tender and season with garlic and cumin. 

Add your ground turkey and cook until no longer pink. 

Add chicken stock, salsa verde, beans, oregano, jalepenos and salt and pepper. Let simmer for about 20 mins. 

Add zuchinni and corn and simmer for another 10 minutes. 

Remove from heat and add cilantro.

• You basically toss everything in the pot and let it go. 
• It was great for dinner with guests, a lot of food but minimal effort.
• It was a nice change of pace from our traditional chili. 
• Leftovers!

• The recipe calls for 3 cups of stock. I doubled the recipe but only used 2 cups of stock total and it was still very thin. I prefer a thicker style chili so if I try this recipe again I’ll add even less stock, or try a thickener. 
• I didn’t add more jalapenos because I added extra to my salsa verde, but it definitely needed that second set of jalapeno. There was almost no heat in my version. 
• I used fresh corn off the cob, not frozen or canned. 
• Definitely make sure you have the cilantro to add at the end, it brings the flavors together and really makes the dish. It was a bit bland before I added it. 

Thanks Chris Rim Photo for the awesome pics of my food!

I don’t get to encounter the elusive eggplant anywhere near as often as I’d like. Most of the time I eat it in vegetable tempura while out for sushi OR roasted with various other veggies in my oven as a side dish. I’m not a huge Italian food fan so I’ve never had the drive to make Eggplant Parmesan. If I do anything italian-y at home its usually a bowl of pasta.  So I set out on a mission to find an accessible, tasty eggplant alternative. Time after time in my internet searchery this eggplant and olive pizza from Smitten Kitchen was in the top eggplant recipes on my go to culinary sites. 

Luckily I had all the ingredients! Here’s what happened:

No pizza stone? No problem! You can check out Smitten Kitchen’s tips for pizza making. Or just do what I did… 

Mix the ingredients to form the dough and allow it to rise. Give yourself an hour and a half. I used this crust from Smitten Kitchen. 

Fire up the grill or grillpan and grill eggplant slices while brushing them with olive oil. Optional: toss some garlic in the oil for extra flavor. 

Chop up the eggplant, olives and slices of provolone cheese. 

Form your dough (once it has risen) into whatever shape you so desire, (square? circle? oval? hexagon?) on a cookie sheet. 

Put another cookie sheet in your oven, on the lowest rack. Fire your oven up as high as it will go so that you’re preheating the second cookie sheet. 

While that gets warm, assemble your pizza! I went sauce, eggplant, olives, cheese. I don’t think it matters though. 

Once the oven beeps at you and tells you its preheated, slide the pizza onto the preheated cookie sheet already in the oven. 

Set your timer for 10 minutes. The last two minutes switch your oven to broil. 

Let cool on a wire rack.

• It made my house smell amazing. Think fresh baked bread and melted cheese. 
• No meat! Normally I’m a cheerleader for meat but I did not miss it in this dish one bit. That is saying a lot.
• Baby Olive can eat it. Baby Olive loves it. 
• I can make the dough the day before and throw dinner together faster than it would take to order a pizza. 
• It was actually crispy. With all the hearty toppings and this being my first pizza and having no pizza stone I was certain of sogginess. Not even a little.
• The green olives pack nice little packets of saltiness that are fun to bite into. 

• Next time I’ll look for a different crust recipe. It was a little too dense and bland. I’m thinkin’ herbs and spices in the crust or at least around the outside rim of the pizza. (Anyone know a recipe that incorporates cheese into the crust?)
• Next time I’ll cut the olives smaller than halving them. The punches of saltiness were delicious but could have been reigned in a little bit. 
• I think this would taste marvelous with some smoked Gouda or another stronger cheese along with the provolone. I’m a cheese junkie though. 

Thanks Chris Rim Photo for the awesome pics of my food!