Meatless Monday: Thai Style Green Curry Stir Fry with Freekeh

October 5, 2015September 29, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 8 Comments

I have a confession. I’ve been slacking off. Slacking off with meal planning. Slacking off with food prep. And eating some of the same meals over and over again (hint: one rhymes with Bibotle Churrito Coal). Work has been busy. Life has been busy. And I’ve been somewhat uninspired. Which is likely why it’s been a while since I shared a Meatless Monday post, and even longer since I shared a freekeh recipe (the last one was cajun shrimp freekeh) … That’s why when I cleaned out my pantry last weekend and saw the bag of freekeh AND cans of curry paste, I got excited. Inspired. I had one meal for the week planned out! Yes, I got excited over one meal … it’s the little things.

So here you go. Something easy. Quick. With leftovers! And something to hopefully inspire you for a delicious vegetarian meal!

thai style freekeh green curry stirfry icrashedtheweb

Thai Style Green Curry Stir Fry with Freekeh

Serves 2ish (Made two dinner portions plus a lunchtime portion for me for leftovers)

Here’s what you need:

1 cup cooked freekeh (I used Freekeh Foods brand)
1 Tablespoon canola oil
1 clove garlic, finely diced
1 sweet potato, chopped into thin pieces
1 carrot, roughly chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1 cup green beens, roughly chopped
1/2 cup unsweetened coconut milk
1 Tablespoon green curry paste (I used Maesri Green Curry Paste)

Here’s what you do:

Prepare the freekeh according to package directions. I love the Freekeh Foods original because it’s cracked freekeh and easy to prepare and takes only 25 minutes to cook. If you get the whole freekeh (not cracked) it takes a loooot longer to cook. My mom did that once. Don’t make that mistake.
Heat canola oil in a pan on medium heat. Add in garlic and cook for about a minute. Turn up heat to medium high and toss in sweet potatoes and carrot. Cook for 3 to 4 minutes or until starts to get soft. Add in rest of veggies – onion, pepper, green beans.
While the veggies are cooking, prepare your sauce. In a separate sauce pan, heat up coconut milk with green curry paste. Whisk together or stir with a spoon until green curry is evenly distributed and mixture is thin and light green. If you’re a fan of more spice, you can probably add in some more green curry paste, to taste. A little goes a long way! (And alternatively, if you prefer less heat to your curry you can always add in less paste or more coconut milk)
After veggies are nearly done, about 4-5 more minutes, add in the curry sauce and toss in the freekeh. Stir everything together so that it’s heated through and the sauce is throughout. Avoid overcooking your veggies – I like mine slightly crisp and not mushy – and serve immediately.

green curry over freekeh - icrashedtheweb

Some questions for you:

Have you ever had freekeh before? How did you prepare it or have it cooked?
What’s the best meatfree dish you’ve eaten recently?

For more Meatless Monday posts, check out some of my past recipes or visit the linkups below!

Meatless Monday!

WIAW #33 – Notsomeatless Monday

September 30, 2015September 29, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 9 Comments

Goooood morning and happy WIAW. This What I Ate Wednesday post was Monday’s eats. Yum yum.

If we’re being honest (and that’s what WIAW is all about right?), I would tell you that I had fully intended to have a complete Meatless Monday. It’s been ages since I did, and I had plans to fill the day with vegetarian goodness. I was going to meal-prep on Sunday and have an amazing Monday (and other days this week) of eats.

Sunday meal prep didn’t happen. We did make it to the West Side Market but since we had walked there, we only picked up a few items. And then we watched the Browns game and went to B’s parents house for dinner so productivity went out the window (full weekend recap is here).

So here you go. A not-so-Meatless Monday for What I Ate Wednesday (are you still following?).

Breakfast started with egg whites with hot peppers and some pepperoni in the eggs. B makes my breakfasts and surprised me with the pepperoni (leftover from our pizza night Saturday). So I guess you could say I was doomed for my Meatless Monday from the start? It was very delicious, though AND had some great veggies on the side.

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For lunch, I had no groceries. (see above – no meal prep and not much food from the Market …) SO I opted to take a walk with some coworkers to one of my favorite and most-underrated downtown lunch spots – Stone Oven! I picked up Janea’s Salad, which is my favorite. I know I’ve shared it before. It’s chicken, feta, roasted red peppers, sundried tomatoes, croutons, tabbouleh and great dressing and bread. It is a hearty salad and I ate the entire thing over about the course of 2 hours in between and during meetings. And yes, there was chicken so again, not-so-meatless.

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Snacks that afternoon included some fruit and nuts. Yum!

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For dinner, I finally got my act together and hit up Heinen’s on my way home from work to pick up some supplies and I made a vegetarian curry dish. It was really good! I stir fried some veggies (green beans from the local farm stand, onion, pepper, sweet potato and carrots) and topped them with a green coconut curry sauce and mixed in some freekeh. I’m definitely going to be sharing the recipe soon – so easy and so good. I even had enough for leftovers for lunch the next day!

green curry over freekeh

No day is complete without dessert. For dessert I made myself a mini ice cream sundae with vanilla maple Arctic Zero. I topped it with some chocolate and white chocolate chips, as well as some peanut butter and a bite of a Take Five.

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And that was it! A pretty good Monday – even if it didn’t end up being meatless after all.

Some questions for you:

Do you participate in Meatless Mondays?
Do you meal prep or plan in advance?

Meatless Monday: Pumpkin Black Bean Burgers

November 24, 2014November 16, 2014 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / Leave a comment

I somehow missed most of the pumpkin baking season this year. Between work, traveling and who knows what happened, I barely baked with pumpkin this year. Which means that I still have one large jar of pumpkin puree in my pantry just begging to be used. Seriously, its TALKING to me, guys. Yes, I have a problem.

So, I used half of the giant can to make this amazing pumpkin bread. But I still have some left. Instead of immediately baking with it – I decided to try something not-so-sweet based on what I had in my pantry. I didn’t tell B these had pumpkin in them until after he tried (and enjoyed) them – so that should tell you something. Success? Yes!

pumpkin black bean burgers i crashed the web

Pumpkin Black Bean Burgers

Here’s what you need:

1/2 c canned pumpkin
1/2 c. cooked grain of your choice – e.g. rice, quinoa, freekeh, etc. I used freekeh which has a similar texture to rice but more whole grain, protein and fiber
1 15-oz can black beans, rinsed and drained (about 1 1/2 c. black beans)
1 green onion, diced
1 diced carrot
1 tsp olive oil
1 Tablespoon ground flax seed
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp chili powder
1 Tablespoon cumin

Here’s what you do:

Saute the diced carrot and green onion in olive oil until softened.
Divide the rinsed and drained canned beans in half. Mash half of them with a fork – not so they become a paste but enough so that they become mushy.
Put it all together! Mix together pumpkin, cooked freekeh (or quinoa or rice), whole beans and mushy beans, cooked veggies and flax seed. Combine until everything is evenly distributed.
Add spices (cumin, garlic powder and chili powder) and continue to mix well.
Create 4-5 patties, about 1/3 – 1/2 cup in size and place in the freezer for 30 minutes to an hour. This will help the patties harden somewhat so they keep their shape while cooking.
When hardened, cook the patties! I put them on a pan sprayed with Pam and cooked on medium until each side was somewhat browned.
Enjoy! I like mine with avocado on top of a salad.

pumpkin black bean burgers i crashed the web

Some questions for you:

What’s your favorite way to use pumpkin? Do you have any savory recipes to share? Please? 🙂
Do you like veggie burgers?
Have you tried freekeh yet? If you’re looking for inspiration, I have a few recipes to share here and here.

Freekeh freekeh!! Cajun Shrimp Freekeh

May 27, 2014February 23, 2015 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 2 Comments

Are you a meal planner? This is a dish that I threw together not having much planned ahead of time. Which isn’t always like me. I like to plan my meals in advance. I like knowing what I’m eating for dinner the morning of – or heck, even the night before. But sometimes we can’t always plan. And that was one of those nights. Luckily, we had a few ingredients on hand, and some frozen shrimp, that when put together made for a pretty good dish.

B even suggested we make this again – so it’s a winner in my book!

CAJUN SHRIMP FREEKEH

Cajun Shrimp Freekeh

Here’s what you need:

1 c. dry freekeh (I used Freekeh Foods original)
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced or diced
2 red peppers
1 10-oz can diced tomatoes with green chilis
12 oz frozen shrimp, or four servings
2 TBS Cajun or Creole seasoning (I like this “Creole” mix from Emeril)

Here’s what you do:

Prepare freekeh according to package directions (my freekeh said to add to 2 1/2 c water, boil, then simmer). About halfway through cooking add 1 TBS cajun seasoning to freekeh. Stir, and continue to cook freekeh nearly to completion – I cooked mine for about 17 minutes (package said to cook for 20).
While freekeh is cooking, heat 1-2 TBS olive oil on a pan over medium low heat. Add chopped onion and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add in garlic and red pepper and cook for 3-4 more minutes.
At this point, freekeh should be nearly done cooking. Add nearly-done (definitely soft, it may have 2-3 more minutes) freekeh, can of diced tomatoes and 1 TBS cajun seasoning to the onion/garlic/pepper mixture. Cook for 3 more minutes on medium heat, stirring to make sure all flavors are combined.
Add defrosted shrimp to pan and cook for 4-6 minutes until shrimp is warm and flavors are all absorbed. When shrimp is ready your dish is too.
Enjoy!

Makes: 4 main courses

CAJUN SHRIMP FREEKEH - i crashed the web

Anyway, I’ve really been enjoying cooking with my freekeh that Freekeh Foods sent me. I started small/easy, with the freekeh chickpea and goat cheese salad, and have been eating it as a side dish, as a main dish, and more. I think I need to try it as a dessert – freekeh pudding or cookies anyone? Maybe that’s next.

Have you tried freekeh yet?
Do you like Cajun food?
Do you count fish as meat? I wanted to post this on a Monday as a Meatless Monday .. but would it even count as a Meatless Monday?

Meatless Monday: Freekeh Salad with Chickpeas and Goat Cheese

May 12, 2014May 12, 2014 / Melissa (I Crashed the Web) / 1 Comment

While I’m back to eating meat (I gave it up for Lent) and have been for some time, I still enjoy the occasional meatless meal. I’d been dying to try freekeh for a while now – after hearing it dubbed the “new quinoa” I knew that I had to give it a try.

What is freekeh? According to Wikipedia, freekeh “is a cereal food made from green wheat that goes through a roasting process in its production.” Freekeh Foods says, “Freekeh is a healthy alternative to rice because it has up to 3 times the protein as even brown rice! Freekeh is a roasted ancient grain that is equal to quinoa in protein and fiber … Freekeh has 6 g protein and 4 g fiber per serving.”

Freekeh Salad with Chickpeas and Goat Cheese

Anyway, enough about the health aspects of freekeh. You get it – it’s healthy. Now, how does it taste?

It reminded me more of rice than quinoa from the texture and flavor. It wasn’t nutty like some quinoas can be and it had a similar soft texture to rice. And it was just as easy to prepare! The fine folks at Freekeh Foods sent me three packages of Freekeh (original, rosemary sage, tamari) along with a bunch of recipe cards with recipes from freekeh breakfast cereal to freekeh chili. I can’t wait to try all the recipes out. But in the meantime, let me share some recipes I came up with, based on what I had on hand. First, Freekeh Salad with Chickpeas and Goat Cheese:

Freekeh Salad with Chickpeas and Goat Cheese

Freekeh Salad with Chickpeas and Goat Cheese

Here’s what you need:

1 c. dry freekeh (I used Freekeh Foods original)
2 TBS olive oil
1 yellow onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced or diced
1 can chickpeas
1/4 c. goat cheese
1/4 c. toasted pine nuts

Here’s what you do:

Prepare freekeh according to package directions (my freekeh said to add to 2 1/2 c water, boil, then simmer for 20ish minutes).
While freekeh is cooking, heat 1-2 TBS olive oil on a pan over medium low heat. Add chopped onion and cook for 3-4 minutes. Add in garlic. Cook onion and garlic for 5 or so more minutes, until onion is translucent and soft.
Remove onion and garlic from heat but keep in pan. Add chickpeas and toss to mix well.
When freekeh is done cooking, drain well. Add to onion/garlic/chickpea mixture. Toss so the olive oil and garlic fully incorporate with the freekeh. Pour mixture into a bowl.
Just before serving, toss with pine nuts and goat cheese. Enjoy!

Makes: 2-3 side dishes or 1-2 vegetarian main meals

Some questions for you:

Have you tried freekeh before?
What’s your favorite meatless meal?
What other freekeh recipes should I try?

Disclosure: Freekeh Foods sent me three packages of Freekeh to try out. I was not compensated for this post and all opinions/thoughts/photos/other randomness are my own. And I can’t wait to try out my next package and share the info with you!

Freekeh Salad with Chickpeas and Goat Cheese