Healthy Shabbat Recipes

Savory Brown Rice Pilaf

This lightly cumin-flavored brown rice dish is JUST PERFECT for shabbat. Try it -- you'll see!

This recipe is from Friendly Foods: Gourmet Vegetarian Cuisine by Ron Picarski

First You'll Need:

2 1/2 cups water or vegetable stock
1 1/3 cups short-grain brown rice
1/2 teaspoon salt.

Bring the water to a boil in a medium saucepan. Add the rice and 1/2 tsp salt. Cook, Covered for about 1 hour.

Next Gather:

2 Tablespoons olive oil
1 1/2 cups julienned carrots
1/2 cups julienned onions
1 tablespoon choppped garlic
2 teaspoons dried savory
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon cumin
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
1 1/2 cups thinly chopped celery

Tip: You can put the carrots,onions, garlic, savory, basil cumin and black pepper in one bowl because they will all be sauteed together at the same time.

Directions:

Heat the oil in a large skillet. Saute the carrots, onions and garlic along with the savory, basil, cumin and pepper for 5 minutes. Add the celery and continue cooking 3 to 4 minutes. Stir in the cooked rice and pour the mixture into a baking dish. Bake for 1 hour (Sarah's Tip: Put it in an hour before candle lighting...then turn the oven off right before candlelighting and keep the dish inside to keep it warm)

Zesty Artichoke Pesto

Here' another unusual pesto to go on your whole-grain noodle salad. Remember to leave some plain if you have little kids that don't like spicy or unusual foods.

    * 1/4 cup walnuts or pine nuts
*1/4 cup roasted red pepper, jarred or fresh
* 1/2 cup artichoke hearts, drained
* 1 or 2 cloves garlic
* 2 tbsp olive oil
* 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
* juice from 1/2 a lemon
    * one package of  fresh basil
    * 3 tbsp nutritional yeast
    * salt and pepper to taste

Just dump everything in a food processor and blend it up!

Spinach Pesto

As you may know, I usually serve cold noodle salads  as the starch side dish for shabbos lunch.  This pesto is great in the winter when large amounts of fresh basil aren't readily available. 

Just blend up the following a food processor:

2 cups baby spinach - Don't forget to check it for bugs!
1 cup flat leaf parsely - Check this too!
1/4 cup pine nuts or walnuts
2 cloves of garlic
2 teaspoons of dried basil (3 tablespoons of fresh if you can get it)
1 tablespoon of olive oil -- or more to taste.
salt and pepper to taste

Optional -- Add 1/2 cup of Pareve Parmesan Cheese Substitue. You can get this terrific recipe here.

Serve on whole grain pasta for a healthy dish!
Don't forget to add colorful chopped veggies for additional color and nutrition.

Pasta Salad Ideas for Shabbos Lunch

In looking to simplify my shabbos prep, I decided that cold pasta salads would make an nice low-prep grain dish for shabbos lunch, since we don't use a blech...

Simply boil up the pasta before shabbos and decide on a dressing. I always use whole-grain pasta! Add veggies, nuts, even orange slices where appropriate to add color and flavor.  I also, as usual, keep some pasta plain for the kids, just in case they don't like the sauces or embelishments. Here are my top 5 cold pasta salad ideas. Recipes will follow..but for now...you can google recipes if you need them :)

1) Pesto - store bought or homemade
2) Peanut Dressing (asian dressing  below - just plus peanut butter)
3) Olive Oil & Balasmic Vinegar with a touch of honey
4) Asian - Equal parts soy sauce, rice vinegar, mirin, honey, plus toasted sesame oil to taste
5) Tahini Dressing

And here's a link with even more ideas:

http://vegetarian.about.com/od/pastaandnoodlerecipes/Vegetarian_and_Vegan_Pasta_and_Noodle_Recipes.htm?nl=1