Dinner 4.10.18 - Pureed Cauliflower, Vegetable Ragout, Chicken Meatballs

I had a pretty bad day yesterday brought on by the stupid winter-lingering-into-spring weather we've been having and big grief that smacks me in my head and weakens my knees brought on
by losing my beloved dog Jasmine a few weeks back.

It was one of those days where I didn't think I was in any shape to deal with dinner until I remembered that one of the best things I can do for myself when I am under stress or some other travail is to cook.  Big bonus points if that process includes chopping and slicing.  Don't know why but it helps significantly.  I lose myself in the chopping, in the slicing, the peeling; I'm sure it has to do with the rhythm.

After a round of deep soul-searing crying (missing dog bad), I splashed cold water on my face and dashed off to the grocery store at 5:30pm for dinner ingredients.  By 6:00pm I was back home and chopping.

not a great picture 😏

Baking is different but I almost never use recipes when I cook.  I might look up a recipe to see how someone else does it, but 9 times out of 10, I wing it.  Because of that I've decided to post my food creations so that I'll remember what I did for the next time I want to make it.  Plus maybe someone out there might like to cook it, too.

We eat really healthy around here on a regular basis (we do indulge ourselves from time to time though) especially since JP's health scare back in January.  Cooking delicious and healthy food is really easy and not expensive despite what a lot of people think. 

But this stuff is really boring to write about and to read about, right?

So anyway, to the right is a picture of last night's meal which JP and Sherb described as amazing, wow, crazy good.

Pureed Cauliflower
So easy.  Break up a head of cauliflower, cook in large pan with a can of (low sodium) chicken broth.  Add two cut up garlic cloves.  Cook until tender.  Cauliflower will absorb most of the broth but do not strain if there's broth left in the pan.  Once cauliflower is tender remove from heat, add a couple tablespoons of butter, about 1/4 cup parmesan, salt and pepper to taste.  I pureed in the food processor in two batches because my head of cauliflower was quite large and added a tiny bit of (skim) milk - maybe a tablespoon or two - because the cauliflower had absorbed all of the broth liquid.  If you still have broth, add it to the food processor.  You can add milk if you want a looser puree...or less if you want more a mashed potato texture.

Quick Vegetable Ragout
In a large pan, add a couple tablespoons of good quality extra virgin olive oil. Slice one pound or so mushrooms (I used portabella) and add to pan, cook through.  While mushrooms are cooking, toss a bag of chopped spinach in the microwave, cool after cooking, then squeeze out all the water.  Add spinach to mushrooms.  Add 1/2 cup dry marsala wine. 
Cook one bag of baby carrots in saucepan filled with water.  When tender, strain, then slice on the diagonal and add to mushroom spinach mixture.  Add seasonings of choice (garlic powder, basil, s&p, etc). Cook until marsala is absorbed.

Chicken Meatballs
In large bowl, add one lb ground chicken breast (make sure it's breast because it's leaner and better quality).  Add about 1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used panko because it's way lower in sodium) and seasonings of your choice (red pepper flakes, garlic powder, basil, etc).  Dive in there with your hands and mix it up really good.  Roll golf ball size meatballs and you'll get 12-16 meatballs.  I cook mine in our Cusinart Air Fryer Toaster Oven for about 10 minutes on the air fryer setting but you could bake them in the regular oven (350 for 15-20 minutes).

Took about one hour to throw all of this together. 
My family has requested that I definitely make this again.