Hummus and Roasted Vegetable Wrap

Okay, I've recently discovered my new favorite lunch wrap. It's been hiding out in one of my Ellie Krieger's cookbooks, and I just happened to stumble upon it almost by accident. I was looking for a particular recipe, but my eyes wandered to this Hummus and Roasted Vegetable Wrap before I got there. A few hours later, this lovely meal was perched on my table for lunch.



First of all, can I point out how beautifully colorful and vibrant this wrap is? Look at that red, that green, that yellow! It's so fresh and delicious, not to mention super easy to assemble. All you need to do is grill or roast some fresh zucchini and squash (Ellie just used zucchini, but I had the yellow squash so I did half and half), then allow the veggies to cool a bit. Next, you put together the wrap by spreading hummus on the bottom, then sprinkling spinach leaves, pine nuts (toasted or untoasted, your choice), the zucchini and squash, and some roasted red pepper. Roll and wrap, and there's your lunch! Try it with some cheese or olives, too. The possibilities are vast!




Hummus and Roasted Vegetable Wrap
adapted from The Food You Crave
makes 4 wraps

Ingredients
1 medium zucchini, cut into 1/8-inch-thick rounds
1 medium squash, cut into 1/8-inch-thick rounds
2 tsp. olive oil
1/8 tsp. kosher salt
Pinch of freshly ground black pepper
1 cup hummus (store-bought or homemade; I used my Roasted Red Pepper Spread)
4 pieces whole-wheat wrap bread or whole-wheat tortillas
1/4 cup pine nuts
2 jarred roasted red peppers, drained, rinsed, and quartered
2 ounces baby spinach leaves (2 cups, lightly packed)
1/2 cup red onion, thinly sliced into half-moons (I didn't use any)
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Toss the zucchini and squash with the oil and sprinkle with the salt and pepper. Roast the veggies on a nonstick baking sheet for about 15 minutes, until tender. Set aside to cool slightly.

2. Spread 1/4 cup of the hummus over each piece of wrap bread. Sprinkle 1 Tbsp. pine nuts on top. Top with 1/4 of the zucchini and squash, 2 pieces of red pepper, 1/2 cup of the spinach, a few sliced onions, and 1 Tbsp. of the mint. Roll each of them up and cut in half on a diagonal.

Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Spread (Plus a Birthday Cake!)

This weekend is my oldest son's sixth birthday. I can't, for the life of me, believe that I have a child going into first grade! It seems like only moments ago, he was born and I was holding a little baby (okay, maybe not so little. He was nearly 9 pounds when he came into the world!). But enough of me strolling down memory lane. We have a cake to discuss here!

I blogged about this Butterscotch Krimpet cake a couple months ago, and I mentioned how much my son loved it. Turns out, he loved it enough to request it as his birthday cake this year! It actually works out great, because orange is his favorite color, and the butterscotch frosting is naturally orange. I did add a couple drops of orange gel food coloring to make it pop a bit more, and I think it turned out nice and vibrant. I baked the cake in two round 9-inch cake pans, slathered a generous helping of frosting in between the layers, and piped a teal border around the top and bottom of the cake. Since his favorite TV show is Scooby Doo, he wanted there to be some sort of Scooby theme. So, orange and teal represent Scooby, and just before serving the cake we pressed a few of his Scooby Doo action figures onto the top. Voila!

Now, I promised you a Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Spread recipe, and I did not forget about it. This is my own, made-up version of a white bean hummus with a nice chunk of feta and a roasted red pepper thrown in for good measure. I decided to make it to go along with my CEIMB recipe this past week, since I was too chicken-y to try the assigned feta spread. I really loved it; give it a try and see if you agree!

Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Spread
recipe by Bri
makes about 2 cups

Ingredients
1 (15-ounce) can cannellini beans, preferably low-sodium, drained and rinsed
1 roasted red pepper, drained and coarsely chopped
1/4 cup (1 ounce) feta cheese, crumbled
Juice of 1 lemon
2 Tbsp. tahini (sesame seed paste)
1/2 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp. dried oregano
1 jalapeno pepper, seeded and coarsely chopped
Salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

Directions
1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the cannellini beans, roasted red pepper, and feta cheese. Pulse a few times to break up the ingredients. Add the remaining ingredients, turn on the food processor, and blend until very smooth. Transfer to an airtight container; store in the refrigerator.

CEIMB: Fettuccine with Creamy Red Pepper Sauce

It was back to making an entree for this week's Craving Ellie in My Belly selection, Fettuccine with Creamy Red Pepper Sauce. This delicious meal was chosen by Jessica of Learning to Love Vegetables. I am so glad she picked this one, because it has caught my eye more than a few times, but for some reason I never got around to making it on my own.

This one is such a snap, too. You puree up a blend of roasted red peppers (I wanted to make my own roasted reds again, like I did recently for soup, but the pickings were slim at the grocery store so I went with jarred), sauteed onion and garlic, a splash of chicken broth, and a healthy sprinkling of feta cheese. My feta cheese was the reduced-fat variety, and I didn't detect a decrease in flavor at all. Anyway, you puree all these ingredients to make a thick sauce. Boil up a batch of fettuccine (mine wasn't whole wheat, unfortunately), reserve some of the starchy cooking liquid to loosen the sauce, and then toss everything together. Sprinkle the pasta with a couple tablespoons of reserved feta and some fresh flat-leaf parsley, and you've got dinner!

I wanted my pasta to be just a tad more substantial, so I tossed it with a bunch of fresh spinach. I have to say, I liked that addition! It gave the dish more bulk, and of course made it healthier, too. I served this with some steamed broccoli tossed in lemon juice. We really loved it. If I had anything to gripe about with it, it would be that the leftovers were very dry. I guess my sauce could have benefited from lots of cooking liquid. We liked our sauce kinda thick, so I didn't use all that much pasta water. Other than that, no complaints! A great, flavorful pasta dish from Ellie, as usual.

Thanks so much to Jessica! I'm always up for trying a new pasta meal. You can find the full recipe on Food Network's website, here. To check out the CEIMB blogroll for this week, click here.

Meatless Mondays: Red Pepper Fennel Soup

Wow, this is two Meatless Mondays in a row! This could be habit-forming. I have to say, I have been enjoying it. I can get a little tired of chicken and then chicken, so it's always great to find ways of preparing meat-free meals that are just as satisfying.

This soup is perfect for filling you up on a cold night. We've been getting hit with some snow this past week, and I tend to crave soup when the temperatures drop (or drop even lower than they were before!). I found this Red Pepper Fennel Soup on Food.com, and it was cited as having come from Rachael Ray's September 2007 magazine. I could not find this soup on Rachael's official website, though, so I have provided the link to the Food.com version down at the bottom of this post with my take on the recipe.



The soup starts with a leek and a bulb of fennel as its base. Since these are two vegetables we love to eat when we can get our hands on them, I figured we were off to a good start. I roasted my own red peppers for this; I feel like it's worth the extra time to do that instead of using a jar of roasted peppers. Fortunately, I actually did have enough extra time to do it this time! That's not always the case.

So you throw in your sliced red peppers, along with a sliced potato, broth, and some seasonings (I added fenugreek because I had just purchased some for the first time the day before I made this. I was looking for just about any excuse to try it out!). Let everything come up to a boil and simmer until the potato has cooked through. Then you pull out your immersion blender and puree the veggies. It becomes so thick and luxurious, and then you make it even more luxurious with the help of some heavy cream. I didn't want too much; the original version called for 1/2 cup, but I just put in 2 Tbsp. It was just enough for me. It made the soup slightly creamy without adding tons of fat.

To go alongside, you whip up some homemade pita chips in the oven. It's so easy; I do it every now and then, experimenting with different ways of seasoning them. This time, they had a mix of salt, pepper, fenugreek, and some fennel fronds on them. I overcooked them by a minute or two, so they were slightly charred. I thought that was actually pretty good in this case, since it matched well with the charred red peppers. I thoroughly enjoyed this meal, and was plenty full after one bowl. All that, and it was meat-free! Not shabby at all.

Red Pepper Fennel Soup

adapted from Food.com

makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients

2 roasted red peppers, thinly sliced lengthwise

1 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil

1 leek, thinly sliced crosswise (white parts only)

1 small fennel bulb, with fronds, bulb finely chopped and fronds chopped for garnish

1 (1/2 lb.) potato, peeled, halved, and thinly sliced

2 cups chicken broth

1/2 tsp. fenugreek, plus more to taste

salt and pepper, to taste

3 pita bread, split and cut into wedges

2 Tbsp. heavy cream

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. In a medium Dutch oven, heat 1/2 Tbsp. olive oil over medium heat. Add the leek and chopped fennel bulb and cook until lightly golden, about 10 minutes.

2. Add all the roasted pepper strips except 4-6, leaving the remaining 4-6 for garnish. Add in the potato, broth, salt, pepper, and 1/2 tsp. fenugreek and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer, partially covered, until the potato is tender, about 10 minutes.

3. Meanwhile, place the pita wedges on a baking sheet and toss with the remaining 1 Tbsp. olive oil. Sprinkle salt, pepper, a few fennel fronds, and fenugreek seasoning over the wedges and toss to coat. Toast in the oven, 6-8 minutes, until crispy. Set aside to cool.

4. Once the potato in the soup has softened and cooked through, use an immersion blender to puree the soup (or puree in a blender, in smaller batches). Stir in the heavy cream and season with salt and pepper. The soup can be served hot or cold, with the reserved red pepper strips and fennel fronds on top for garnish. Serve the pita chips alongside, for dipping.