Easy weeknight chicken minestrone

Get a warm, hearty dinner on the table in less than 30 minutes with this healthy and easy weeknight chicken minestrone soup.

It's October and the weather is starting to get cooler. So of course I can't stop making soup and chili. And basically anything I can cram into the slow cooker.

Easy Weeknight Soup

Of course, any soup that I'm making now has to be easy enough for a busy weeknight meal. This one fits the bill, as it takes less than a half hour, including prep, to pull it together.

And did I mention that there will be enough left over for tomorrow's lunch bag? Winning.

Creamy slow cooker pork and vegetables

Creamy slow cooker pork and vegetables: easy weeknight comfort food that will make your whole house smell as good as dinner tastes.

Do you remember that Carly Simon song, "Anticipation"? The one used in the popular Heinz ketchup commercial when I was growing up? The one that evoked the feeling of not being able to wait to taste something? (Although ketchup -- really? I could wait, no problem, really.)

That song will be running through your head all day long as you smell this creamy slow cooker pork and vegetables dinner cooking. I speak from experience.

Slow Cooker Comfort Food

And it wasn't just me. The first time I made this slow cooker recipe, a pair of HVAC guys were working upstairs in our house, installing a new air conditioning system. At the end of the day, one of the guys said to me, "Well, we have a little problem."

I begin freaking out. You know, because I'm always so calm when problems arise (snort). "What's wrong?"

He replied, "We really don't mind working hard all day. But you made it really, really hard today since you've made us smell something that delicious all day long!"

Healthy one pot Asian pasta

Get a complete, good-for-you dinner on the table in 10 minutes with this one pot Asian pasta. Weeknight dinnertime just got easier -- and healthier!

Have you tried my one pot tomato basil pasta? Somehow I bet you have, as it's the most popular recipe on this site. Seriously popular: 126,000-people's-eyeballs-looking-at-it popular. (Squeeeeeeee!)

That means I don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand that you love you some quick-and-easy weeknight meals. With pasta.

Well, guess what? ME, TOO!

Which is why I've come up with another one-pot pasta for you. As with the one pot tomato basil pasta, it's ridiculously easy and comes together in one pot in 10 minutes. Yes! Ten minutes to dinner, plus leftovers for lunch.

And this one pot Asian pasta is healthy, too, loaded with good-for-you veg like peppers, carrots, mushrooms and bok choy. Plus, the pasta is whole wheat (feel free to opt for a gluten-free pasta if that's your jam). With or without chicken, it's a healthy, complete dinner that I know your entire family will love.

And it's ready in 10 freakin' minutes, people!!

No lie. If you haven't yet tried one of these one-pot wonder pastas, you're going to go cray cray over this. You simply throw all the ingredients into one large pot, bring it to a boil, stir like a maniac and then -- WHAM! -- dinner is complete.

What could be easier?

Carrot and turkey pasta

Enjoy this easy, healthy pasta recipe that features lots of good-for-you carrots, lean ground turkey and dried plums. 

I'm pretty psyched about this carrot and turkey pasta, peeps. Read that sentence again and you'll know why. Carrots. As the main ingredient in a pasta dish.

And -- wait for it -- it doesn't suck.

So much so that it got two thumbs up from Mr. Ninj, and regular readers know that's like having your picky three-year-old eater declare that she is a devoted fan of lentils salads.

Now that you're already reeling from the fact that a carrot-based pasta is awesome, let me turn it up to eleven: There are also prunes in this pasta dish.

Whoops, sorry, I meant dried plums. Apparently prunes got a bad rep as prunes and have now been reinvented as dried plums. The plum formerly known as a prune.

Whatevs. I still love prunes. I mean dried plums.

And I've got 'em in this pasta, adding a little touch of natural sweetness.

Pan-roasted cauliflower pasta

A better way to eat cauliflower: healthy and easy pan-roasted cauliflower pasta with spicy sausage, arugula and olives.

I think I may have mentioned a few hundred times that I'm a pasta addict. In fact, I always say that if you really wanted to punish me, you wouldn't have to send me to prison -- just make me give up carbs.

Yet I don't do your standard American spaghetti and meatballs. I like my pasta to be interesting. Like when it includes healthy, yummy ingredients like butternut squash, pumpkin, olives, beets, broccoli and even sardines.

And sometimes bacon. (Who am I kidding? Often bacon.)

No bacon in this cauliflower pasta but there is spicy Italian sausage, another one of my pasta add-in faves. The spiciness pairs really well with the pan-roasted flavor of the cauliflower and the peppery arugula.

Yep, you pan-roast the cauliflower in this stove-top meal. It comes out tender with just the right amount of cruciferous crunchiness left. And who couldn't benefit from a better way to eat lots of cauliflower than drowning it in cheese sauce or picking it off a crudite platter, am I right?

Sweet carrot bread

Enjoy this easy, healthy recipe for sweet carrot bread, a perfect snack or breakfast bread. Serve either plain or lightly toasted and topped with a little crunchy, sea-salted butter.

So let's talk cookbooks. Do you still use them? I do -- well, not really. Or sort of. Let me explain.

I don't buy many cookbooks anymore. Historically, I found that I would wind up liking only about six recipes in each 200-plus page book. And those books take up way, way too much real estate for that kind of return on investment.

The exception to this rule is my collection of Cooking Light recipe annuals. Basically, after getting me to subscribe to the magazine for a year, the crafty marketeers at Cooking Light then convinced me to shell out a bunch of money for a book that contains all the recipes from every issue for that year.

(Yes: I just paid for the same content twice.)

For years, I justified it by congratulating myself on all the bookshelf space I was saving by replacing 10 bulky magazines with one simple book. Until I ended up with 10 books. Fail.

Finally, after much agonizing over how it might mess up my recipe-saving system, I just said no to the annuals.

And?

Honestly, it has worked out fine for me because, once I started this blog, recipe variety had to become my new middle name. I rarely make the same recipe twice anymore (with a few exceptions, of course) because I'm always looking for new, healthy-and-delicious recipes to share with all of you . Because, unlike some other bloggers, I blog about what we actually eat around Casa de Ninj: no special blog-only recipes, just our daily fare.

Quick weeknight falafel

Quick weeknight falafel -- a super-easy, protein-packed meatless meal recipe.

It's unusual to see a meatless recipe like falafel being touted by someone who regularly refers to herself as The Meatasaurus. I grew up in a household in which we did not eat unusually or adventurously; meat, potato and one veg at 6pm every night, that was us.

But you have probably noticed that, with a nod to both good health and fearless cooking, I have been trying to add more meatless dinners to my weekly menu. And not just more pasta, which has always been my meatless crutch.

However, any meatless or vegetarian choices must still meet The Ninj's stringent dinnertime recipe criteria: easy to make and free of unpronounceable, difficult-to-procure ingredients. These falafel patties check both those boxes (seriously -- they only take about 15 minutes from start to finish!) and, with an entire can of chick peas in the ingredient list, are a great source of protein. Plus, adding extra veggies like carrots, peas or even some finely chopped spinach to the falafel, together with a quick pan saute in place of the more traditional deep frying, makes them light and wholesome without sacrificing any of the classic Mediterranean flavor.

Pineapple rice with chicken

Easy weeknight recipe for pineapple rice bowl with chicken -- with plenty of leftovers for lunch.

I have a new favorite quick and easy weeknight dinner. OK, it's beyond mere favorite status: I am more than a little crushing on this pineapple rice with chicken.

Rice bowls are the best, aren't they? Easy to throw together for a weeknight dinner, generally full of fresh, seasonal veggies and most of the time there's a lot leftover for tomorrow's lunch. And if, like me, you tend to add some cooked chicken, you've got a pretty complete meal in that one bowl.

This pineapple rice bowl has a great blend of flavors: Thai-style spices complement the sweet tang of the pineapple, and carrots and peanuts add just the right amount of crunch.

Carrot cake cookies

 
It's still September, so I'm still not talking about pumpkin.

(I'm beginning to think I'm the only blogger who is not.)

What we're talking about today is carrots. Well, really what we're talking about is carrot cake cookies, but that's only because I'm slightly crazy.

Seriously: Am I the only person that gleefully plans and plants a huge garden full of vegetables, only to find at harvest time that I'm trying to turn them into baked goods instead of savory side dishes?

Crap: I finally may be developing a sweet tooth after all.

Even though we have had two pretty significant frosts already here in Vermont, I'm still getting a few things from the garden. I have a little bit of kale, which I had better hurry up and harvest before the deer find it (bastards!), and carrots.

This year marked my first attempt at growing carrots: It was a success! It's so rewarding to see the little orange tippity top of a carrot poking through the ground and then to pull it up. Gasp! It's a real carrot! That I grew!

(It's the little things, really.)

The fun and wonder begins to wear off as you pull up carrot after carrot after carrot. And realize that you don't particularly like cooked carrots.

Uh oh.

CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2013: pickle roundup (20 ways!)

It is indeed Monday, the day we share the CSA Share Ninja Rescue, a weekly feature in which you tell me on Fridays what veg you got in your CSA share box (or found at the farmers' market) that you don't know what to do with and I'll give you a whole bunch of recipe ideas on the following Monday.

But the feature may look a little different today. I decided to shake things up a little and not focus on specific vegetables but on a technique instead.

So today we're talking preserving: namely, preserving through pickling. 

Pickling is a great way to preserve a lot of the garden's excess bounty to enjoy over the winter months, when your CSA or garden isn't overloading you with delicious, colorful veggies.

Additionally, I tried to include a lot of recipes and posts from some of my favorite bloggers, rather than just recipes from professional chefs and foodie mags (although they are represented as well). Who knows? You might find a new blog to follow!

Lastly, for all of you who are thinking, "Great, Ninj, but I don't can!" or perhaps, "This is lovely, Ninj, but I don't like cucumbers!" -- don't worry, I've got you covered, too. (Come on, would The Ninj leave you hanging?!!!)

Let's get pickling, shall we?

Cucumber Pickles (canned)

• Garlic Dill Pickles from Food in Jars
• Dill Spears from Sherri Brooks Vinton's Put 'Em Up
• Best-Evah Dill Pickles from The Ninj 
• Curry Pickles from Homemade Trade
• Sweet-n-spicy Bread and Butter Pickles from Martha Stewart

Other Pickled Vegetables (canned)

• Pickled Chard Stems from Local Kitchen
• Pickled Garlic Scapes from The Garden of Eating
• Carrot and Daikon Radish Pickle from What Julia Ate
• Pickled Pepper Rings from Sweet Domesticity
• Pickled Rhubarb from Well Preserved

No-Canning-Required Recipes

• Quick Cucumber Pickles from Rachel Ray
• Cider Vinegar Pickled Beets from Food and Wine
• Pickled Radishes from Bon Appetit
• Refrigerator Dilly Beans from The Ninj 
• Pickled Eggs from What Julia Ate
• Fermented Dill Pickles from The Ninj
• Fermented Honey-Garlic Pickles from Well Preserved
• Pickled Carrots from David Lebovitz
• Pickled Green Strawberries from Kitchen Apparel (guesting on Shared Appetite)
• Pickled snow peas from Alana Chernila

Do you have a favorite pickling method or recipe? Leave a comment below: The Ninj wants to know.

CSA Share Ninja Rescue 2013: carrots (9 ways)

Happy Monday, friends! Why so happy? Because Monday is the day we share the CSA Share Ninja Rescue, a weekly feature in which you tell me on Fridays what veg you got in your CSA share box (or found at the farmers' market) that you don't know what to do with and I'll give you a whole bunch of recipe ideas on the following Monday.

Coming up in gardens this week are lots of colorful, yummy carrots. I was a little boring this year and planted small orange carrots; if they survive the swarm of bunnies in my yard, next year I might try some purple heirloom varieties. They'd look so lovely in salads and slaws.

Speaking of which, the French carrot slaw featured in my photo is deeeeeelicious and included in this week's recipe roundup below. I love it because it's not the deli-counter mayo-laden, raisin-studded salad of my youth but instead a tangy, crisp side that really lets the flavors of the fresh carrots shine through.

• French carrot salad: It's the mustard that gives it that certain  je ne sais quoi
• Dilly carrots: You love dilly beans, so why not quick-pickle some carrots?
• Carrot-fennel soup: One of my favorites from Amanda Hesser (or, at least, Amanda Hesser's friend)
• Morning glory breakfast muffins: Start your day off with a carrot-cakey muffin that's packed with healthy goodness
• Carrot jam: Lovely on the aforementioned breakfast muffins or anywhere you'd normally use marmalade
• Potato-zucchini-carrot pancakes: With an egg baked into the top and a crisp green salad on the side, these savory pancakes make a nice summer dinner
• Carrot cake oatmeal: Doesn't that sounds delightful? This will become a fall favorite around Casa de Ninj for sure
• Carrot lemonade: One of Michelle Obama's favorite summertime drinks, with a gingery twist
  
• Carrot martini: Because you can always count on The Ninj to booze up your veggies
  

Do you have a favorite carrot recipe? Leave a comment; The Ninj wants to know.