Tina Phan

The farmers market in Abilene on North 1st Street and Mesquite Street. I went to talk to farmers/get details on an agriculture story I’m working on for The Reporter-News. Instead I left with 5.2 lbs of fruits and veggies for $9 and a bottle of local honey for $4. Nomz. Got there later in the morning so everyone was sold out of eggplant, wah-wah. Oh, and I did leave with some info for my story.

Abilene Farmers Market haul:

5.2 lbs of produce = $9
- 2 green bell peppers: $1
- basket of 5 sweet onions: $2
- mix fruit basket(pears, green apples, peaches): $6

12 oz bear bottle of local pure honey from Winters, TX = $4

In addition to my position as the Multimedia Editor at The University Star, I am also a self proclaimed foodie. Whenever I’m not out shooting a story or yelling at timeline errors in Final Cut, I’m usually in the kitchen so I’ll be posting recipes and my food-tography here. I’m a lacto-ovo vegetarian (that means I still eat dairy and eggs, but no fish/poultry/meat) and consequently all the recipes I post are meatless, but feel free to substitute the tofu or whatever with your choice of meat.

Black Bean and Corn Salsa

I love this salsa for three reasons:
1. It’s a quick and easy process…only takes about 10 minutes to chop up all the ingredients and 5 minutes to mix up.
2. It’s made up of a bunch of healthy veggies (which also makes for colorful food photography!)
3. It’s a hearty salsa: I can even eat this this as a lunch if I spoon it over some tortillas.

Serrano chiles

Garlic salt and sugar close up

Cilantro leaves

* 1 15 oz can black beans, drained
* 2 cups corn
* 15 oz diced tomatoes, drained (I used 1.5 cans of Rotel)
* 1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped
* 1/2 small red onion, diced
* 1/4 cup serrano chiles, diced
* 1 clove garlic minced
* 1/2 teaspoon sugar
* 1 teaspoon garlic salt
* the juice of 2 limes

In a large bowl, mix up all the ingredients except for the sugar, salt and lime juice. My measurements were created for my taste, so adjust the amount of sugar, salt and lime juice for however sweet, salty or tangy you like your salsa.

Eat immediately or refrigerate for an hour to let all the flavors meld together.

Tina Phan, Multimedia Editor & vegetarian foodie

Goes great with tortilla chips!

I didn’t take a photo of the final product because by then the sun went down and fluorescent light does nothing for foodtography.

Spaghetti Pie from Deceptively Delicious.

Prep: 20 mins
Total: 45 mins
Serves 8-10

– Nonstick cooking spray
– 3 oz whole wheat spaghetti or angel hair pasta (I used regular spaghetti…all we had atm)
– 1/2 lb lean ground turkey or sirloin (I’m a vegetarian so I used Gimme Lean Ground Sausage style veggie protein)
– 1/2 cup broccoli puree
– 1 large egg white
– 2 tablespoons grated parmesan
– 2 cloves garlic chopped
– 2 cups bottled tomato sauce
– 1 cup lowfat cottage cheese
– 1/4 cup carrot puree
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1/4 tsp pepper
– 1 cup shredded part skim mozzarella

1. Preheat oven to 350F/180C. Coat a 9 inch pie plate with cooking spray. (I used a square Pyrex dish pan)

2. Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil, add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain in a colander (Skip this step if you have leftover pasta).

3. In a small bow, mix the ground sausage with the broccoli puree, egg white, parmesan and garlic. Form the mixture into 1/2 inch balls. (I made em bigger, about an inch.)

4. In a large bowl, stir the cooked pasta, tomato sauce, cottage cheese, carrot puree,, and salt and pepper. Spoon the mixture into the pie plate and smooth the top. Scatter meatballs on top and sprinkle with mozzarella. Bake, uncovered until the center is firm and the cheese is bubble, 25 – 30 minutes.