Confident Cook, Hesitant Baker

Homemade Caramel Corn

2012-01-08T14:28:00.000-08:00

I have always hated shopping. As a kid, even more so. I was the worst companion at Dayton's or City Center. I just wanted to get out of there. I do remember though, that at the end of each shopping trip to Dayton's, the experience was sweetened by a trip to Candyland. This old school candy and popcorn emporium was some sort of tastebud paradise. A bag of popcorn or caramel corn for my sisters and I, and a bag of jujubees for my mom. Life was good.

I don't think I have had real caramel corn since once of those shopping trips, but I was reminded of the crunchy sweet goodness of the stuff the other day. While browsing the kosher grocery store on Thursday night, a woman next to me had cart full of tubs of caramel corn. I mosied on over to the aisle and saw that the tubs were $5 and that they also contained pretzels and peanuts. Huh? We didn't need the glutens, and $5 for a small tub of popcorn and sugar seemed pretty overpriced. We always have popcorn in the house. There's always sugar and butter as well. What more did I need?

I set out to make it motzei shabbat. J is the expert at the popcorn making - so I put him to work at the stovetop. We don't do microwave popcorn. I find it too chemical tasting. I was surprised by how easy it was to make the caramel corn. Just a few ingredients, and a few easy steps! It really is as good as I remembered. Even the kid who doesn't like caramel loved the stuff.

Homemade Caramel Corn
Ingredients:

6 quarts cooked popcorn (stovetop, storebought, or microwave)
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cups corn syrup
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. vanilla

Place the poprcorn in the biggest mixing bowl you have. I have a few of those restaurant sized stainless steel bowls. If you don't have them, then just throw them in to a couple of baking pans. The disposable foil 9x13's are perfect for this.

Preheat the oven to 250.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter at a medium-low heat. You do not want the butter to burn.

Whisk in the brown sugar, corn syrup, and the salt.

Keep stirring. Turn the heat up to medium high. Let the mixture come to a boil for a few minutes. Keep stirring.

Turn the heat off after a few minutes. Add in the baking soda and the vanilla.

Pour the mixture over the popcorn.

Stir the popcorn to coat it entirely. If you haven't already done so, dump the popcorn in to the baking pans.

Place the baking pans in the oven at 250.

Stir the popcorn every 15-20 minutes. Remove from the oven after about an hour and let cool for aout 10-15 minutes.

Break up the popcorn and store in an airtight container. Or eat it all up. It was be hard to fight the urge to keep eating. It's that good! Enjoy!

Teriyaki Tofu and Veggie Rice Bowl

2012-01-05T19:22:00.000-08:00

So the other night around dinner time, J suggested we go out and get Chinese take-out. Of course he said this after dinner was already prepared. He also knows that the kosher Chinese place in the neighborhood pretty much sucks and I always get food poisoning when I eat there. Of course I looked at him like he had two heads when he suggested it.

Don't get me wrong - I like take-out as much as the next gal; but a: it's not in our budget and b: I refuse to pay for crappy food.

I do still try to consider what J wants when making the meal plan. He mentioned being in the mood for a greasy bowl of teriyaki chicken or beef - similar to what you could hypothetically get from a crappy Chinese take-out joint.

I hemmed and hawed about this. I even considered being a nice wifey and getting him some $5 dollar special. Gasp!

We do have all the ingredients though and I had a package of tofu sitting in the fridge. I decided to make some teriyaki tofu. I figured that I could make it better, cheaper, and definitely healthier than any neighborhood joint. And none of us will get sick after eating it! Yay!

Teriyaki Tofu & Veggie Rice Bowl
Ingredients:

1 package of extra firm tofu
1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 tsp. sesame oil
2 tbsp. ginger, minced
2 shallots
5 cloves of garlic, minced
2 small zuchini, chopped
1 cup of mushrooms, sliced
1/2 red pepper, chopped
3/4 cup green peas
scallions, chopped (garnish at the end)
red pepper flakes

Teriyaki Sauce Ingredients:
4 tbsp. tamari (you can also use soy sauce or Braggs Amino Acids)
2.5 tbsp. brown sugar
2 tbsp. mirin
2.5 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. ginger, minced
1/2 tbsp. sriracha (or more)
1 tsp. sesame oil
1 tbsp. corn starch
2 tbsp. warm water

Cube up the tofu and press it down to remove all the water.

In a wok, stir fry the tofu in a small amount of vegetable oil mixed wth a small amount of sesame oil. Cook for about 5 minutes.

Add in the ginger, garlic, and the shallots. Cook for 2-3 more minutes.

Add in the other veggies. Cook for a few minutes. Let the zuchini soften a little.

Mix up the teriyaki sauce ingredients.

Add to the stir fry. Cook for a couple more minutes. Add in the scallions and some red pepper flakes.

Serve over some white or brown rice. Enjoy!

Quinoa Veggie Burgers - Gluten Free

2012-01-03T18:26:00.000-08:00

I recently moved my younger daughter over to a gluten free diet. For dinnertime, this means that for the most part, all of us are eating gluten free. I definitely don't mind, but it's sometimes hard to convince the rest of the gang that gluten free could be good. I am also new to the gluten free thing for the most part, and having a hard time coming up with fun and tasty things that the whole family will enjoy. Emphasis on the easy part.

When discussing gluten free stuff with a friend, she mentioned that there is a lot that can be done with quinoa. I had never really gone past pilafs and salads with the grain. It has also been a Pesach-only food for us. I have always loved quinoa, but the rest of the family haven't been huge fans. I love that it's a grain and a protein at the same time.

When I bought the quinoa the other day, I had no intention of turning it in to burgers. The idea came to me when I decided I wanted something french fry like and needed a main dish to go along with. I haven't had a burger in a long time - veggie or otherwise. I have read about various quinoa and lentil loaves, and decided that this could probably work as a burger. I was right. Tonight's burgers were a hit. They made everyone happy. Even the little one scarfed down two!

Quinoa Burgers
Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups cooked quinoa
1 onion
2 carrots
1 small zuchinni
6 mushrooms
3 cloves garlic
Handful of shredded cheddar cheese
2 eggs
1/3 cup rice flour or corn flake crumbs
salt
pepper

In a food processor fitted with the steel blade, chop up the onion, garlic, and mushrooms. Switch in the shredding disk and shred the rest of the veggies. Put the veggie mixture in to a mixing bowl and press down on the mixture with your hands and drain the liquid.

Mix the quinoa in to the vegetables. Add the cheese and seasonings.

Mix in the egg and flour.

Form in to patties and fry them on the stove for a few minutes per side.

Move them to a 350 degree oven to finish baking.

Serve them on a bun with all the fixings or in a wrap or however you tend to eat your burgers.

Enjoy!

Amazing Onion Rings and Dipping Sauce

2011-12-31T20:03:00.000-08:00

Some of you who know me, may know that I am obsessed with onion rings. Whenever I go out to eat, I often judge a place by two things; if they have onion rings, and if they are any good. Often times when you go out to eat they will toss you a plate of those dreadful Kineret freezer bag onion rings. Or, in the case of a place like Dougie's, they will throw some onions in whatever batter everything else is getting tossed in. That's just not how it's supposed to be done! I wish there was a good kosher restaurant that would step up to the plate and do it right. If you know of some place, please, pretty please - fill me in on the details.

I have eaten onion rings at both kosher and non kosher places. I have sampled onion blossoms, strings, wedges, and whatever shape they come in. I just want them to give me that greasy, but not too greasy and crunchy feel that I need. I am a fan of both the breaded style and the battered style - again it just has to come out right. Both can achieve greatness.

The recipe I will share with you today is for a battered recipe. This onion ring came out perfectly crunchy with the right balance of coating to onion. It was especially good with the great horseradish dipping sauce I made. Highly recommend this recipe when you are in the mood for some greasy goodness!

Dipping Sauce
Ingredients:

1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon ketchup
2 tablespoons horseradish sauce
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon italian seasoning
1/4 teaspoon oregano
dash of salt
2 grinds of black pepper
splash of some sriracha or cayenne (optional)

Mix up the sauce ingredients in a small bowl and set to the side while you make the onion rings. It's that easy!

Onion Rings - slightly adapted this Martha Stewart Recipe
Ingredients:

1 large Vidalia onion, sliced in to thin rings
Vegetable oil for frying
3/4 cup flour
1/8 cup cornstarch
1 teaspoons baking powder
1.5 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons garlic powder
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon italian seasoning
1 teaspoon paprika
1 cup ice cold water

Soak the sliced onions in cold water for about 5 minutes and then dry them well on a towel. Let them dry while you make the batter.

Start to eat up your oil. You will want at least an inch of oil to cover the onions.

In a small mixing bowl, whisk the dry ingredients together. Slowly whisk in the ice water. Whisk until you get a nice, smooth consistency. Sit the bowl over a bowl of ice. Keep the batter cold.

Dip the onions in to the batter. It needs a thin even coating. The batter will puff up, so it doesn't need to be too heavy. Place the onions in a single layer in to the hot oil. Fry onions in batches for a few minutes each. The onion rings should be light brown.

Drain onion rings on a paper towel.

Serve hot with the dipping sauce on the side. Enjoy!

Mock Crab Rangoon

2011-12-29T17:01:00.000-08:00

This recipe came about on Sukkot, but I finally made it when I could photograph and write about it.

At least one of our sukkot meals during yom tov tends to be something pretty casual. Sometimes it's omelettes, sometimes an easy salad. It always includes something warm. It's usually comfort food that works well for when it's just us. Except this year, we didn't have any "just us" meals. We had to play up the casual meal a bit.

J suggested we do a fried bar food fest. It got a bunch of us talking and reminiscing about all that good bad-for-you food that we love, that we don't eat anymore now that we are kosher. Some of it just is never available as good at kosher restaurants. It's hard to find the right onions rings, and hot poppers. Don't tell me that Dougies is a good stand-in. That place stinks. Anyhow, I wanted this meal to be dairy.

The conversation came around to crab rangoon and cream cheese wontons. The wontons are totally a Midwestern thing. I have never seen them on an east coast menu - treife or otherwise. Whenever we used to eat out at LeeAnn Chinn's in the Twin Cities, these wontons were always ordered. My yom tov guests also brought up crab rangoon - which I have never had due to the whole crab thing. We kept kosher in the house growing up, and my mom has a seafood allergy. Crab was verboten. Anyhow, crab rangoon is basically a cream cheese wonton with crab added to it.

I decided to make it. I always have surimi (mock crab) and cream cheese around. I happened to have some wonton wrappers in the freezer. So this worked out. Was easy to make and was a big hit with everyone.

Mock Crab Rangoon
Ingredients:
1 8 oz. brick of cream cheese - softened at room temperature
5 sticks of surimi, chopped up (approximately - use more or less depending on how crabby you like it)

2 tsp. lemon pepper grinded

3 scallions, chopped finely
1/2 tsp. garlic powder

1 package of wonton wrappers

vegetable oil for frying

In a small bowl, mix up the cream cheese, crab, scallions, and spices.

Take a wonton wrapper and plop a teaspoon of the mixture in to the center of the wrapper.

Fold up the wonton. Here are some good wonton folding instructions. You will get the hang of folding after you screw up a few.

Heat up a pan with some vegetable oil. I don't like to deep fry, but you could if you like. I use about a 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch of oil in the pan.

Once the oil is hot, add the wontons carefully to the pan. Fry until lightly brown on one side and then flip. It's about 2 minutes a side.

Drain on paper towels.

Dig in! It's especially good when dipped into a hot and sweet chili sauce.

Cheesy Breadsticks

2011-12-29T10:20:00.000-08:00

The big kid is not a demanding eater by any means. She doesn't like things too complicated, but also doesn't really beg for new things to make or try. When she does think of something new to make, I try to oblige.

She keeps telling me about pizza sticks with sauce or cheese sticks with sauce. I think she was inspired by one of the school lunches she saw kids eating. When we go out for pizza, she gets pizza and doesn't venture out of that routine. So I know she didn't get it from restaurants. Anyhow, I promised her I would make some when I had the chance.

I came up with a breadstick base - similar to my pizza dough recipe. Stuffed some cheese in it, and baked. Was pretty easy. She said it was the best lunch ever!

Cheesy Breadsticks (makes about 8 breadsticks)

Ingredients:
1/3 cup warm water
1/3 cup warm milk
1 tsp. yeast
2 cups flour
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. italian seasoning

1 tsp. garlic powder

Filling:
shredded mozzarella cheese or cheese sticks

Topping:

Olive oil

Parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450.

Add the yeast to the bowl of a mixer. Add the warm water and milk. Let it sit for a minute. Add the rest of the ingredients and stir. Mix until the dough starts to form a ball and pulls away from the bowl.

Knead the dough and form in to a bowl. Place in a lightly oiled bowl and cover for about 5-10 minutes.

Roll the dough out on a floured surface. Slice the dough in eighths.

Roll out the slices a bit. Fill with cheese and seal the bread sticks. I found that wrapping it like a burrito works well.

Let the breadsticks rest in the pan for about 5-10 minutes.

Brush the breadsticks with olive oil and parmesean cheese.

Bake for about 12-15 minutes.

Serve breadsticks with a side of marinara sauce. Would also be good with a nice aioli. Enjoy!

Cottage Cheese Latkes

2011-12-28T08:16:00.000-08:00

Chanukah isn't over yet! There is still time to post some of the Chanukah goodies I made.

It was the first night of Chanukah. I felt obliged to do something in the spirit of the holiday. The big kid isn't a huge potato fan though. I didn't want to smell up the house with hot oil and then have to figure out more dinner for the rest of the family. I thought back to the time when the big kid was just a weed toddler and loved the cottage cheese latkes I made. I think I made them just that one time, about 8 years ago. The bonus is that they seem like more of a complete dinner than the regular potato latke.
Lo and behold, both kids loved them!

Cottage Cheese Latkes
Ingredients
1 lb. small curd cottage cheese (medium container)
2 extra large eggs
1/4 cup flour (gluten free flour works too)
salt and pepper
garlic powder
vegetable oil

Mix everything up in a bowl. Yes, it's that easy.

Take out a fry pan and heat up some vegetable oil.

Take a big spoon of the batter and drop in to the pan. I like them to be around 2-3 inches wide. Don't mess with the latke until you are sure it is ready to flip. The cheese latke should be a little brown on the edges before you flip it. It will also flip easier when it's done on that side. The melty cheese will stick to the pan before it's ready. Cook another 2-3 minutes once flipped. Drain on a plate covered with paper towels.

Enjoy!

Red Beans and Rice - The Kosher Way!

2011-12-12T11:24:00.000-08:00

Last Sunday night, with two hungry and cranky kids in tow, we found ourselves wandering the grocery store in search of something quick to prepare. I am rarely grateful for Acme Markets and their high prices. Except for nights like that. They have a kosher deli counter and a great kosher section that rivals our local kosher grocery store. Being that they are spawned from big corporate mayhem, they are also able to provide better sale prices every so often.

As I perused the deli case, I noticed that they had a big selection of Jacks's Gourmet Sausages on sale. I tried their bratwurst this summer at a BBQ, and we really liked them. Decided to pick up some chorizo. Figured that the extra spice would help. So glad that I chose that flavor. It was perfect for the dish.

As we drove home, we brainstormed how best to elevate the chorizo for a mid-week dinner. A special request was made for red beans and rice. J grew up in the South where he ate the real thing. I didn't know if I could top that in a pork-less dish. I know it wasn't going to be completely authentic. I figured I could at least try. It did come out well. I even brought leftovers for lunch the next day. I never bring the leftovers. It was that good.

Red Beans & Rice

Ingredients

1.5 tbsp vegetable oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
4 stalks of celery, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
2 small zucchini, chopped (I know, not authentic - but added some texture)
salt
ground black pepper
pinch of red pepper flakes
pinch of cayenne
2 bay leaves
handful of chopped fresh parsley
a few teaspoons of fresh thyme
1 package of chorizo sausage, sliced
1 can of red beans (could even use two cans)
2 cups of veggie broth
Cooked white rice (I used basmati)

Cook your rice as you normally do. Keep warm and set aside.

In a large pan, heat up the oil. Throw in the garlic and onions and let soften. A few minutes.

Throw in the other veggies and stir, Let them cook for a few minutes.

Add in the spices and herbs.

Now add the sausage and beans. Cook for a few more minutes.

Add in the broth. Let the broth boil. Mash some of the red beans. Let it cook for about a half hour. The flavors get betters as you cook it longer. Let some of the broth evaporate. It should still be saucy. Serve over some white rice.

Enjoy!

Chewy Ginger Snap Cookies

2011-12-12T05:57:00.000-08:00

Last year I decided to be a bit frugal and start making my teacher gifts. I can be crafty, but I don't have time to be as crafty as I want to be. I knew I wouldn't be buying out A.C. Moore and making fancy baskets. I still had to do something. Each kids has a gaggle of teachers, and buying something more tangible from a store would be ridiculously expensive. I decided to make a cookie basket of sorts. I think I will continue with that place this year. About $20 in baking ingredients + $15 in packaging supplies from the craft store, and we're good. I may add some cute pictures of the kids in aprons or something along those lines to add to the card.

Anyhow, I made about 4 different kinds of cookies. My Russian tea cakes bombed. Will need to find a new recipe for that. The chocolate krinkles and the chocolate chip cookies were easy and appreciated. It was the chewy ginger cookies that were the biggest hit - both at home and in the schools. I have since made the recipe a few times, and they get devoured pretty quickly. Definitely recommend it.

Soft and Chewy Ginger Cookies
Recipe slightly adapted from the Cooking with my Kid Blog

Ingredients: 
3/4 cup melted butter 
1 and 1/4 cup sugar 
1/4 cup molasses 
1 egg 
2 cups flour 
2 tsp baking soda 
1 tsp cinnamon 
1/2 tsp ginger
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp chopped crystallized ginger
1/2 tsp cloves

Melt the butter and let it cool.

Mix in the egg, molasses, and 1 cup of the sugar.

In a separate bowl, mix the flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and salt.

Add the dry mixture to the wet mixture a little at a time until combined. Chill for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, line a cookie sheet with foil or parchment paper and heat the oven to 375 degrees.

Make 1″ balls with the dough and roll in the remaining 1/4 cup of sugar until coated.

Place on cookie sheet with about 2″ between each ball. Bake for exactly 9 minutes in the middle of the oven (only 1 cookie sheet at a time).

Take them out at 9 minutes even if they don’t seem done. Let them sit on the cookie sheet for 2 more minutes before removing and cooling on a rack.

Enjoy!

English Muffins

2011-12-07T09:21:00.000-08:00

I don't remember ever having a breakfast sandwich until I moved to New York.

Don't get me wrong. We ate breakfast in Minnesota. They had Egg McMuffins (shudder) there as well. They just don't have all the greasy delis, bodegas, and carts where you can order that classic egg & cheese on a roll.

If I ate breakfast out in Minnesota, it was usually two eggs - over easy, with a side of hash browns and toast. If I wanted to shake things up a bit, there were always omelets and pancakes. My father is a master omelet maker. Still, there is something to being able to go to a corner store and pay a guy $1.50 to make a greasy sandwich - that also serves as a really tasty hangover cure.

Fast forward a few years. When I was pregnant with my daughter, I had huge cravings for egg sandwiches in the morning. I decided to start searching for that perfect breakfast sandwich. I still haven't found it. I haven't found anyone who gets all the parts just right. If the bagel or roll is good, then my luck - the eggs are overdone. Or the cheese is all wrong. I don't need much. A toasted english muffin or roll with american cheese, two eggs, salt, and pepper. That's all it takes.

I have done bagels. Rolls are easy. I had never done English Muffins.

Growing up, we often used to eat the classic Thomas's English Muffins. With all its nooks and cranny goodness. I decided I had to make something like that. I studied dozens of recipes online and in my various baking cookbooks. I researched flour and muffins rings. It didn't seem too complicated. I simply procrastinated. I finally dug in. Sunday morning was D-Day. It really wasn't hard to do. Was fun to make - and tasty too!

Traditional English Muffins

Recipe from The Bread Bible: Beth Hensperger's 300 Favorite Recipes

Ingredients:

1/4 cup warm water (105 - 115 degrees)

1 tablespoon (1 package) active dry yeast (or a little less than a tablespoon of instant yeast)

Pinch of sugar

4 to 4 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons salt

1 egg

1 1/4 cup warm milk

2 tablespoons melted butter

Cornmeal (for dusting)

If using active dry yeast, combine the water, yeast, and a pinch of sugar in a small bowl and let stand until foamy, about 10 minutes. If using instant yeast, as I did, you can just mix the yeast in with the flour and omit this first step and the sugar.

Combine 2 cups of the flour and the salt in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and pour in egg, milk, butter, and yeast mixture. Mix until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time, stirring in each time, until you have a soft dough that just clears the sides of the bowl.

Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and knead for 3 to 5 minutes. Return the dough to a clean, greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow the dough to rise until doubled in size, about 90 minutes.

Sprinkle a work surface with cornmeal. Pour the dough out of the bowl and onto the surface. Sprinkle the top of the dough with cornmeal and then roll the dough into a rectangle about 1/2 inch thick. Use a large round cookie cutter or an upside down drinking glass to cut the muffins out of the dough.

Preheat your oven to 350.

Heat a large skillet over medium heat. Place the muffins onto the skillet and let the bake for 5 to 10 minutes until quite dark before flipping.

I threw my english muffins in the oven for a few minutes to finish the baking process.

Cool them on a wire rack when out of the oven.

Serve toasted with butter as I did on Sunday, or as a breakfast sandwich with egg and cheese as I intend to do tomorrow morning. Enjoy!

Check out all the nooks and crannies here!

Vietnamese Iced Coffee Popsicles

2011-08-02T05:06:00.000-07:00

I rarely succumb to impulse buys. Especially when the ads show up in my inbox. I will blame the heat. These 90+ degree days are doing something funky to me. I keep getting emails advertising a variety of popsicle makers and popsicle stores. There's even a popsicle food-truck!

I haven't been in to popsicles since I was pregnant with my older daughter. Popsicles were my crack. I am not a fan of most store-bought popsicles. I like the occasional Fudgsicle or pudding pop. Do pudding pops still exist even? Trader Joes and Whole Foods make some pretty tasty fruit juice popsicles. When I am there though, it's just not something I reach for. When my sisters and I were kids, we used to pour juice into dixie cups and then stash them in the freezer. Only to have my mom open the freezer to half-frozen cups of juice pouring on to her. My parents stopped buying dixie cups at some point. They did buy popsicles. They weren't evil. They just didn't like the sticky mess all over the freezer. I get it now.

Anyhow, those emails worked. Good marketing, Amazon! Good marketing, Williams Sonoma! You got me on an online popsicle search. They have these handy dandy electric popsicle makers now! I'll admit, that appliance was tempting. I don't need my popsicles to be ready in 5 minutes, though. I also don't really need another big appliance. I want more than 3 popsicles at a time. The old-school plastic popsicle molds are great, but you end up losing the pieces. I decided to buy this one. I like the familiar shape of the popsicle and I like to use the traditional wooden sticks. It's very easy to use. Highly recommended. It also showed up in my inbox, on sale, on a 100 degree day. Once again - good job, Amazon!

It showed up in my house 2 days later and I had to make something. I knew that coffee had to be the star of my first shot at popsicle making. We had just cleaned our pantry and noticed three cans of sweetened condensed milk. 3 cans? I never use that stuff? Good thing those cans have a long shelf life.

When I was in college and high school, I used to spend the majority of my time (when not in class or work) at a local coffee shop. Cafe Wyrd was the best coffee shop around. I used to sit with my school books, a pack of American Spirits, and a big pot of coffee. Being that I was a regular there, the baristas used to push special drinks on me every so often. They introduced me to Vietnamese Iced Coffee. I could get hooked on that drink. If it weren't for the fact that I was a poor college student at the time - I probably would have been hooked. I am not usually a fan of sweet coffee, but that stuff was good and it stuck with me, in the back of my coffee addicted mind. It's so easy to make. A good espresso and some sweetened condensed milk over some ice. It's perfect popsicle fodder! I didn't even need a real recipe!

Vietnamese Ice Coffee Popsicles

Ingredients:

2 cups espresso

1 small can sweetened condensed milk

I brewed up some super strong espresso. About 2 cups. I let it cool for a bit. I poured the sweetened condensed milk into a small mixing bowl. About 3/4 of that small can. Add in the cooled off espresso. Mixed it all up. Let the mixture chill in the fridge for about a half hour. The poured everything in to the molds. Put the mold in the freezer for an hour. Stuck the sticks in when partially frozen. Let freeze overnight.

This made for amazing popsicles! What's my next popsicle flavor?

Black Bean and Corn Salad

2011-07-31T14:32:00.000-07:00

It's been a hot summer. The past few shabbats have been getting close to 100 degrees. This does not make for happy campers in my house. We just want to zone out in front of the air conditioning vent and ignore the world.

Instead, I have things I have to do. I have kids I have to parent. I have guests I have to entertain. I do love both of those tasks. It's just the stove/oven/blech thing that I despise on hot shabbats.

I have been making a lot of salads lately. Trying to get away with just a crockpot on for shabbat lunch. Seems to be working. Make a bunch of assorted salads to go with my daughter's beloved cholent. Everyone is happy.

One of the well-loved salads is a black bean and corn salad. Protein+crunch+veggies. You can't go wrong!

Black Bean and Corn Salad
Ingredients:
1 can black beans
1 can or white whole kernel corn or 2 cups frozen corn or about 3-4 ears of corn steamed and cooled down
1 small red onion, chopped
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1/2 red pepper, chopped
handful of cilantro, chopped
juice of 1 lime
2 tbsp. olive oil
salt
pepper
dash of cumin

This is the easiest recipe I might ever have on my blog.

Chop everything up and mix it all together. You've got a fantastic side dish! Enjoy!

California Rolls - Sushi

2011-07-31T11:53:00.000-07:00

I have never understood the gefilte - fish that is. It's a mish mash of all sorts of fish, and then it's boiled. It's not that appealing. There isn't much flavor going for it. Yet it's so popular. I like serving fish on shabbat - especially when I have company over. I want to serve something that I enjoy eating as well. Salmon is a nice treat, but it's too much of a main course dish to serve as an appetizer. I recently decided to carry on my dad's tradition of shabbat sushi.

One weekend last summer, I asked him for some shabbat sushi guidance. He suggested I cook the rice on Friday, right before shabbat, season it, and then keep it covered until you are ready to use it. Keeping it room temperature in the pot, keeps the rice ready to go. It worked out well. Everyone loves sushi and thinks I worked my tushy off to make it. It really is super easy.

To make the rice:
Ingredients:
2 cups sushi rice
2 cups water
2 tbsp. sugar
2 tbsp. rice vinegar
1 tbsp. salt

Rinse the rice until the water runs clear. I like to use a strainer to do this.

Put the rice in pot (only wimps use rice cookers). Cover the rice with the water. Turn the heat on high.

When the water starts to boil, turn the heat down to low and cover the pot. Cook for about 10-15 minutes. Turn off the heat. Keep the pot covered. No peeking. Let it sit for another 10 minutes.

While the rice is cooking and cooling. Mix up the vinegar, sugar, and salt in a small saucepan. Heat it. Do not let it boil. Stir it up. Let the sugar dissolve.

Mix the vinegar mixture into the rice mixture with rice paddle. Let the rice cool down. I like to keep my seasoned rice covered.

For the California Rolls
Ingredients:
Nori
Cooked and seasoned sushi rice
Surimi (fake crab sticks)
Seedless Cucumber - julienned
Avocado - sliced thin, lengthwise (sprinkled with lemon juice to prevent browning)
sriracha (I like my sushi spicy)
black toasted sesame seeds

Cover your sushi rolling mat with plastic wrap.

Cut your nori sheets in half.

Lay your sheet of nori on the mat.

Take a handful of rice and spread it out on to the nori. Sprinkle it with the sesame seeds and flip over.

Place a bit of the veggies and surimi in the middle of the sheet. Squirt a bit of sriracha on it if you like it with a little heat.

Hold on to the edge of the sushi mat (the edge near you). Start rolling, keeping the filling in place with your fingers. Roll and Shape with the mat. Set aside that sushi roll and make more rolls.

Slice the rolls up with a very sharp knife. Enjoy your sushi with wasabi and soy sauce. Enjoy!

Pasta with Smoked Salmon in a Light Cream Sauce

2011-07-31T11:36:00.000-07:00

Does one have to like lox to be Jewish? I like sable. Isn't that enough? When I was a kid, I was a picky eater as far as my family goes. My parents cooked for a pretty varied palate. My palate has thankfully expanded, but I still don't like lox. The smell, the texture, and the taste all bother me. When J wants a agel with lox - he knows enough to eat it at the bagel store or while I am at the gym. Both of my kids like it enough. J loves it. When I head back to the midwest for a family visit - I have to bring back smelly packages to my parents. You can't get the good east coast stuff in Minnesota. It's a rough life, you know?

J went and picked up a small package of smoked salmon at TJ's one Sunday morning. It was most definitely intended to be a special breakfast treat for him. Instead, I decided to play with it. Turn it in to some semblance of dinner. Can't remember the restaurant, but J used to love this one place that served the pasta with a cream sauce and smoked salmon. I decided to surprise him with a nice dinner treat.

Pasta with Smoked Salmon in a Light Cream Sauce
Ingredients:

1/2 a box of thin spaghetti
butter
olive oil
3 cloves of garlic, chopped
handful of cremini mushrooms, chopped
zest from half of a lemon
salt
pepper, freshly ground
juice from half of a lemon

1/4 cup half and half

4 oz. smoked salmon, chopped
parmesean cheese
frozen peas - a handful or two
2 tbsp. dill, chopped

Instructions:
Cook the pasta until al dente. Do not overcook. Set it aside.

In a large pan, heat up some olive oil and butter. Toss in the onions and garlic. Cook it a bit.

Add the mushrooms. Saute a few minutes. Now add the cream and the lemon zest and juice. Add some salt and pepper. I would also recommend some red pepper flakes at this points.

Throw in the dill and the peas. When you are almost ready to serve, toss in the chopped smoked salmon. You don't want to over cook that. Now toss in the pasta. Mix it up a bit. Shred in some parmesean cheese. Dinner is ready! Enjoy!

Veggie Chili with Soyrizo

2011-05-15T17:27:00.000-07:00

It was a veggie chili kind of day today. Been pouring on and off all day. I've been wanting to make a big pot of chili for a while now. It finally happened today. Woke up to some crazy rain this morning.

The ingredients can usually be found in my pantry. No reason not to hold off any longer. Chili is also a cheap and easy meal that goes a long way. Throw in some brown rice, cheddar cheese, and sour cream - and everyone's happy.

Veggie Chili with Soyrizo

1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 package of soyrizo (trader joe's or friedas brand)
1 red onion, chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
6 medium baby bella mushrooms, chopped
1.5 cups assorted chopped peppers
1 jalapeno, chopped
1 medium zucchini, chopped
4 cans of beans - kidney and black bean combo
28 oz. of chopped tomatoes
2 tbsp. good balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp. chili powder
1 tbsp. cumin
salt, to taste

In a large pot, heat the oil. Crumble up the soy chorizo and add it to the pot. Cook on medium-high for a few minutes.

Add in all the chopped veggies and cook for around 5-10 minutes on medium high. Let all the veggies soften.

Add in the beans and the spices and stir a bit. Add in the tomatoes. Add in the balsamic. Let the mixture come to a boil. Cover the pot and let everything cook and simmer for about an hour. Add salt to taste.

Serve over brown rice with whatever toppings you desire. We enjoyed our chili over some brown rice tonight with some salad on the side.

Enjoy!

Veggie and Soy Chorizo Burritos

2011-04-02T20:44:00.000-07:00

It was a Thursday night like any other. Need to get some shabbat shopping in. Need to get some shabbat cooking in. Would love to get a gym session in. Any other night, right? On a typical Thursday night, we have a bad habit of running to get takeout. It's so much easier, but it adds up, you know? J doesn't like pizza. The kids don't like eating meat, and recently both J and I both get sick whenever we eat from the kosher Chinese place. Our options are limited for dining in town. I am trying to limit the eating out to places that are really worth it. A $50 meal out where I feel good about eating it - both health wise and taste wise.

So this past Thursday, found me in the kitchen, as always, with little time to spare. The kids had pasta, cheesy noodles - a reward for behaving so well in the grocery store. All right, all right, it was a bribe. I admit. Through all this, I am also trying to clean out the kitchen for Pesach. Trying to use stuff up for the big royal clean up/clean out. I found some soy chorizo in the fridge and this can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce that have been begging to be used up. Burritos it is! Yummy!

Veggie and Soy Chorizo Burritos (serves 6-8)
Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 package soy chorizo (I recommend Frieda's or Trader Joe's brand - Frieda's has a hechsher)
cumin
salt
pepper
1 zucchini, chopped
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup green pepper, chopped
1/2 cup red pepper, chopped
1 cup corn
1 can small white cannellini beans
1/2 small can chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
6-8 flour tortillas (depends on how much filling you like in your burritos
cooked white or brown rice
shredded cheese blend (monterey jack, cheddar - it's all good)
sour cream (optional)

In a large saute pan, saute the onions and garlic in a small amount of oil. Maybe two teaspoons.

Add in the soy chorizo and cook it a bit. Note: The casing is inedible in the soy chorizo. squeeze the soy meat into the pan.

Add in the cumin, salt, and pepper.

Add in the veggies. Saute for a few minutes..you don't need the veggies too soft.

Now add the corn and beans. Cook a few more minutes.

Stir in the peppers in adobo sauce. This gives the whole mixture a nice smokey taste. So good.

Lay out your tortillas on a plate. It's good if you heat the tortillas covered in warm oven for a few minutes.

Plop some rice, then some filling, and then the cheese onto your tortilla.

Now it's time to roll up your burrito. Fold the bottom in a bit and also the top. Now roll up from the side. Now take a bit. You know you want to. Enjoy!

Chicken with Chickpeas

2011-03-30T20:36:00.000-07:00

Some people collect stamps. We collect cookbooks. The cookbook doesn't have to be popular. It doesn't have to have a celebrity chef attached. It just has to be interesting. I like the cookbooks that come with stories attached to each food. I rarely cook straight from a recipe anymore, but I like the cookbooks for inspiration, and they keep me company in the kitchen.

Several years ago, while on a visit to my aunt, I came across her well leafed copy of Claudia Roden's cookbook "The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey From Samarkand to New York." Paging through the recipes that span the world...I knew I had to have this coobook. We finally found the cookbook reasonably priced at a Half Priced Books and quickly got to work deciding what to cook first. To be honest, I have only made maybe three recipes from this cookbook, but cookbooks to me are more for inspiration rather than cooking straight from them.

On a whim...we randomly opened to a sephardi section of the book - and blindly pointed to a recipe. In a "pick a card any card" fashion, our finger landed on the Chicken with Chickpeas recipe. The first time I made the recipe, I followed it to a T, and it was amazing. The next couple times, I slowly adapted it. This past shabbat, I made this dish for Friday night dinner...and then and there, my husband and guests insisted I make it again during the week to be eaten and posted to the blog. I laughed...and I obliged.

Chicken with Chickpeas - adapted from "The Book of Jewish Food: An Odyssey
From Samarkand to New York." by Claudia Roden
Ingredients:

1.5 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 large onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tbsp. ginger paste
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 whole chicken, cut up
1.5 cups of cooked chickpeas
lemon zest (from a whole lemon)
juice of 1 lemon
10 cardamom pods, cracked
salt
pepper

In a large dutch oven, saute the onion until soft. Add in the turmeric, garlic, and ginger and sautee until fragrant.

Add in the chicken pieces and brown the chicken. Turn them over after about 8 minutes.

Add in the chickpeas and the cardamom.

Add in about 4 cups of water. Bring the mixture to a boil. Turn down the heat and cover. Cook for about an hour. Serve with rice. Enjoy!

Curry Turkey Burgers

2011-03-29T18:58:00.000-07:00

The hubster did the Trader Joe's shopping this weekend, and excitedly brought home a package of ground turkey. I'm not usually a fan of turkey, so I kind of shoved it to the back of the fridge. Today was the day. Had to use it or freeze it. Burgers sounded good for today. I've been on a curry kick and these burgers hit the spot. I served these with some curried sauteed onions and mushrooms and broccoli on the side, but they would be excellent with a side of baked sweet potato fries.

Curry Turkey Burgers
Ingredients:

1 lb. ground turkey
1 small onion, chopped
1 tbsp. garlic paste
1 tbsp. ginger paste
2 scallions, chopped
1 egg
1/2 cup bread crumbs
2 tsp. dried coriander
1 tbsp. curry powder
salt
pepper

Mix all the ingredients in a medium bowl.

Form into patties. This recipe mkde me around 8 small burgers.

Fry the burgers on medium-high for a few minutes on each side. Transfer to a 425 degree oven to finish cooking, around 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

Homemade Spaghettios

2011-03-28T19:49:00.000-07:00

My daughter loves to get me to reminisce about the past. When I try to get her to eat certain things, she brings up my past food transgressions. As in, "Savta said you loved Kraft Dinner when you were my age.." or lovely tidbits like, "Savta said that you always refused to eat meat." Well....

I can't complain about my past. We were raised well and fed even better. Those Kraft Dinners were at our pleading and probably only served between the ages of 5 and 6. One of those forbidden foods that I remember well were Spaghettios. That ring shaped pasta from a can. It probably would taste awful to me now, but I do remember being a little twerp and enjoying it. Sprinkled with "parmesean" from a can - we gobbled that stuff up.

While wandering the aisles of Trader Joe's a while back, I spotted some anelletti (ring-shaped) pasta. I knew I had to try making a copycat recipe of the spaghettios...well at least make it better. I vaguely remember Spaghettios being gloopy and had a somewhat sweet & tinny tomato taste. I didn't want to recreate that part, but wanted to just recreate that warm comfort food aspect I remember. I wish I had my parent's white vintage Denby bowls with the green leafs. That would really bring the dish home.

Here is what I came up with....nothing gourmet...just an attempt.

Homemade Spaghettios
Ingredients:

Anelletti Pasta - about 1/2 lb.
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. butter
1/4 cup onion, minced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
2.5 cups of tomato sauce (I used a roasted garlic marinara sauce)
3 tbsp. half & half
parmesean
1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used a mixture of cheddar and mozarella)
2 tsp. italian seasoning
salt and pepper to taste

Cook pasta in salted, boiling water according to the directions on the package. Cook the pasta until it's al dente.

In a pot, heat the olive oil and the butter together.

Saute the onion and garlic in the pot. Once soft, add in the tomato sauce. Slowly stir in the rest of the ingredients. Taste test the sauce. Stir in the pasta. Serve the pasta with a sprinkling of parmesean. Enjoy!

Meatless Monday: Baked Salmon Patties

2011-03-28T15:48:00.000-07:00

So it's kind of meatless. Does fish count? In searching around through other Meatless Monday recipes, I came across many posts that included fish. I hope you like this.

I make salmon patties about once a month. If I don't have leftover baked salmon, I like to use the canned salmon from Costco, the Kirkland brand. It's boneless and skinless and tastes very good.

Baked Salmon Patties
Ingredients:

1 can of salmon or use leftover baked salmon
1/2 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 tsp. dried, mixed herbs (I like using an Italian seasoning)
1 egg
1 tbsp. horseradish sauce
1/4 cup bread crumbs (or to desired consistency)

Preheat oven to 425.

Spray a baking sheet with oil spray.

Mix up all the ingredients in a mixing bowl. Form patties into balls and flatten. I get about six small patties from this mixture. Place on baking sheet and bake for 10 minutes. Flip and bake for another 5-7 minutes. Enjoy!

Couscous and White Bean Salad

2011-03-27T18:28:00.000-07:00

When shabbat comes, I like making a variety of salads. I love looking at the assorted colors on my table. It's just pretty, and it tastes good too. I had the chance to get to the vegetable market during the day this week. It's a rare opportunity. With the crazy weather around the world, the vegetables and pricing have been all over the place. Green peppers are $2/lb, while the usually expensive colorful peppers are now .99/lb. My favorite veggies were all pretty cheap this week. Love when that happens.

One of the salads we enjoyed with this past shabbat lunch was a couscous and white bean salad. It's an easy salad to make. I prepare the couscous on Friday before shabbat starts and then add the rest of the ingredients Saturday morning when everybody is in shul. Like all of my dishes, it can be tweaked. Use the veggies that make the most sense to you.

Couscous and White Bean Salad
Ingredients:
1.5 cups whole wheat couscous
1.75 cups boiling water
2 tsp. olive oil 1 can of white beans, drained
1/2 cup orange pepper, chopped
1/2 cup yellow pepper, chopped
3/4 cup seedless cucumber, chopped
1/4 cup red onion, chopped
1 shallot, minced

Dressing Ingredients:
1/4 cup of olive oil
1/8 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp. dijon mustard
3 cloves of garlic, mashed
2 tsp. honey
a couple of squeezes of fresh lemon juice
salt
fresh ground pepper

In a bowl, pour the boiling water over the couscous and cover for 5-8 minutes. Uncover the couscous and fluff with a fork.

Sprinkle in the two teaspoons of the olive oil.

Mix in the various chopped veggies.

In a separate bowl, whisk up the dressing ingredients. Mix the dressing into the salad and let the salad sit for about an hour before serving. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

2011-03-24T15:40:00.001-07:00

Cooookies! Did someone say cookies?

I took a day off work today to get some appointments out of the way, and then lo and behold, two of those three appointments got cancelled. Doctors get emergencies? Who knew? Anyhow, I had lots of time to kill and no plans.

I got my shabbat shopping and a Target run out of the way and I still felt like I had endless time. I decided to knock out the shabbat desserts. I first made an apple crisp. Easy peasy, right. But then I had leftover flour, brown sugar, and oats. They are useful to have around, but not in the amounts I had. A cup or two here and there. These leftover ingredients screamed cookies to me. I love a good oatmeal cookie. Always, always with chocolate chips and never with raisins. I also had some peanut butter at the bottom of the jar begging to be folded in to the cookie. Voila! The cookie was born!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies (Pareve)
Ingredients:

1 cup earth balance or butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. cinnamon
2 eggs
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups flour
3 1/2 cups oats
2 tbsp. coconut milk or regular milk
3/4 cup peanut butter - creamy or nutty would work
1 + bag of chocolate chips (I had a 1/2 cup or so chocolate chips left in a bag begging to be used)

Preheat the oven to 360.

Cream the butter with the sugars until smooth.

Add the vanilla, cinnamon, and eggs. Beat some more.

Add the rest of the ingredients slowly, one by one. Mix well with an electric beater or mixer.

Drop by rounded spoonful on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for around 8-9 minutes for yummy chewy cookies.

Enjoy!

Crab Spring Rolls: Well, actually Krab (Surimi)

2011-03-22T17:07:00.001-07:00

Some people window shop for their next pair of Jimmy Choos or their next evening dress. Don't get me wrong...I do that too. I also window shop our next meal. When I pass by an interesting menu, I get ideas for what to cook next. So much of what is out there that is tasty, is not served at kosher restaurants. I get tired of the bland and boring options out in kosherland. So I wander the ethnic restaurants paired up with ethnic grocery stores to find kosher options for my home.

I love a good Spring/Summer roll when I'm in an Asian restaurant. I love the fresh flavors inside. It's so easy to make. You can change up some of the veggies, if you'd like. Play with it a bit. I don't know why it's never on kosher restaurant menus, but it's so good and the ingredients are readily available.

Crab Spring Roll (Using the Surimi Sticks)
Ingredients:

Spring Roll wrappers (found in your asian food section, or in a Vietnamese or Thai store)
Bean thread noodles or rice vermicelli noodles, cooked
Surimi Sticks
Avocado, sliced
Seedless Cucumner - sliced lengthwise
Red or Green leaf lettuce
Cilantro, chopped

Prepare all your filling ingredients.

Soak the spring roll wrappers in warm water. Soak one at a time. They are very easy to rip and hard to handle until you get the hang of it. Soak it for about 30 seconds, until the wrapper has a soft, leathery texture.

Lay the wrapper on a plate or cutting board. Fill the center of it with your filling, like you would do with sushi. Leave space around it to allow for folding.

Fold the bottom edge towards the center, and then fold the top edge down. Roll the wrapper jelly roll style. Be gentle and squeeze like ingredients in like you would with sushi. Slice the roll at an angle and serve with dipping sauce of your choice. I like mine dipped in peanut sauce.

Enjoy!

Meatless Monday: Veggie and Cheese Quesadillas

2011-03-21T14:51:00.000-07:00

As you all know, I love easy recipes. I also demand tasty recipes. Emphasis on the flavor. Anything that works out well that my kids will eat is extra special in my book. I have two daughters, and as far as eating habits go - they are night and day. One kid is extremely adventurous, and the other one is very limited. It can get frustrating...for me. I have two rules when it comes to dinner time. One is that the food must be tasted. Even if it's "weird" and "funny looking." We often have surprise hits with the picky kid. The second rule, is that the food must be balanced. Dinner is not just the pasta. There has to be a veggie and a protein included in the meal.

One meal that works in our house are quesadillas. I always have tortillas and cheese lying around. It is one of those meals that can be a "build-your-own." There is no right or wrong recipe for this. Use whatever is lying around the house. The kids like it because they can pick what they want to go in to their quesadilla. My daughter might choose a totally tame one made up of just egg and cheese, and us adults will opt for a more sophisticated variety.

I whipped up a veggie and cheese quesadilla tonight, with a bit of soy sausage thrown in for protein. Fast, easy, and tasty! Hope you like it.

Veggie and Cheese Quesadillas (serves 4)

2 tsp. olive oil or vegetable oil
1 small onion
4 cloves of garlic
1/4 cup chopped red pepper
1/4 cup chopped green pepper
5 baby bella mushrooms, chopped
1/2 ground soy sausage or 1/2 cup black beans (use what you have)
2 tsp. cumin
salt (to taste)
1.5 cups of shredded monterey jack/cheddar blend
4 tortillas

In a large saute pan, heat the olive oil. Add the onions and garlic and cook for a few minutes.

Add in the rest of the veggies and beans or soy sausage. Cook for 5 minutes. Add in the salt and the cumin. Do a taste test. Cook veggie mixture until veggies are softened.

Remove the mixture to a bowl and wipe out the pan

Back in the saute pan, heat a drop of oil or spray the pan with the oil spray.

In a tortilla, place some of the cheese over half of the tortilla. Put 1/4 of the mixture on top and sprinkle with more cheese. The cheese works like a glue. Fold the tortilla over and transfer to the hot pan. Cook for a few minutes and then flip. Cook on the other side for a couple minutes or until desired crispness. Cut into wedges and serve.

We devoured ours with some rice and veggies. Enjoy!

Glazed Corned Beef with Potatoes

2011-03-20T17:38:00.000-07:00

Another shabbat dish with no pictures for proof.

We did eat this and it was good.

And if a vegan eats this hunk of meat, you know it's really good.

There's a custom to eat smoked meats on Purim. I have no idea why or where this custom came from, but I can't complain. I liked smoked meat and it results in discounts on corned beef in our local kosher market. Coincidentally, it times out well for the custom of corned beef on St. Patricks day. This year it played out really well, with St. Patricks Day falling a day away from Purim. Of course my purchase had nothing to do with either holiday, it just worked out that way. I saw corned beef. I drooled a bit. I saw it was on sale, and in the basket it went.

I am not a boiled meat kind of gal. I like some oomph thrown into everything I eat. Glazed corned beef it is. It just works.

Glazed Corned Beef
Ingredients:

1 - 3 lb corned beef (or more, it's what they had that fit in my budget)
1 large onion, cut up
2 potatoes, chunked
pickling spice - 2 tbsp

Mustard Glaze:
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup dijon mustard
1/4 cup vinegar
1/4 ketchup

In a large pot of water, boil the corned beef with the potatoes, onions, and a cheesecloth pouch filled with pickling spice.

Cook the corned beef in the water for a bit over an hour.

Preaheat oven to 350

In a small mixing bowl, whisk up the glaze ingredients.

Transfer the cooked corned beef to a roasting pan. Lay the potatoes and onions around it. Pour the glaze over the roast. Cover the pan with foil and cook in oven for a half hour. Uncover and cook for another 20-25 minutes. Slice meat against the grain. Serve with cabbage or egg noodles or whatever you are in the mood for. Enjoy!

Baked Five Spice Chicken

2011-03-19T17:13:00.000-07:00

This Friday was a rare Friday that I had some extra time to burn. I took a rare vacation day. Let me tell you - I am totally jealous of all of you who either take Fridays off or work from home on Fridays. That lifestyle would be totally amazing. My 10:30 hair appointment felt so bizarre, so unlike me, and so luxurious! By noon, I started thinking about the coming Shabbat. In a perfect world, Shabbat meals would be totally planned out and mostly cooked by Thursday night. Alas, this is my world. I buy the ingredients on Thursday without a menu in mind. It works for me. For the most part, Shabbat is put together in the better part of the hour right before Shabbat. Having so much time this Friday for Shabbat planning was like a spa day in my eyes. Around 2pm, I pulled out the raw chicken I had purchased the day before. A whole, cut up chicken. What to do, what to do. I opened my overstuffed spice cabinet and some garlic powder and five spice powder containers flew down at me and hit my forehead. Well...if it smacks you in the head....turn it into a dinner? Isn't that what they always say? I guess it could work...and it did! The five spice melded into the chicken beautifully! Sorry for the lack of pictures. It was Shabbat, and the chicken was devoured.

Baked Five Spice Chicken
Ingredients:

1 whole chicken, cut up
1/3 cup soy sauce
2 tbsp. olive oil
1 tbsp. dry sherry
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp. minced ginger
2 tsp. red pepper flakes
3 tsp. five spice

Place the chicken skin side up in a baking pan.

Mix up the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Whisk.

Pour over the chicken. Cover the the chicken and marinate for an hour or two.

Preheat oven to 375.

Bake chicken covered for 40 minutes.

Uncover chicken and continue baking until done. Let the skin get crispy.

Enjoy!

Red Lentil Coconut Curry

2011-03-15T15:27:00.000-07:00

We got home at 5:30 p.m and my daughter promptly asked me what was planned for dinner. I honestly had no clue. My mind was drawing a blank. The kids had pasta last night. Couldn't do that again. I knew that they would object to fish or meat tonight. I wasn't in the mood for a fight. What to do, what to do. I didn't want to pull out the fish sticks or soy nuggets. I only use those when I have no options.

I quickly threw on some rice to cook. That's easy enough. I then thought back to earlier today and the yummy smells of thai food that my coworkers ordered. Yummy coconutty curry smells. I had to do something with that! I quickly put together a makeshift red lentil curry dish. Packed with protein and amazing flavors. This recipe can easily be played with and adapted. Add whatever veggie you see fit to the dish. Totally fit the craving bill for today!

Red Lentil Coconut Curry
Ingredients

1 tbsp. vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
1.5 tbsp. ginger, chopped
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 stalk celery, chopped
.5 cup red pepper, chopped
.5 cup green pepper, chopped
1 small potato, diced
1 small sweet potato, diced
handful of mushrooms, chopped
1.5 tbsp. curry powder
red pepper flakes (optional)
1 tsp. cayenne pepper
salt
pepper
2 cups dry red lentils
1 can coconut milk
3.5 cups vegetable broth

In a large pan, saute the onion, garlic, and ginger over a medium-high heat.

Add in the chopped veggies and cook for a few minutes.

Add in the spices and stir.

Stir in the coconut milk. Add in the vegetable broth and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cover. Cook until the lentils are done, around 30-40 minutes. Add more salt or cayenne to taste. Serve over basmati rice. Jasmine rice would also work.

Enjoy!

Meatless Monday: Vegetable & Pasta Frittata

2011-03-14T11:22:00.000-07:00

What do you do with your leftovers? Do you ever turn them in to a new fresh meal? I have to admit - I am not good with leftovers. I hate dealing with them. I will try and pawn them off on anyone else in the household to send for lunch. Otherwise, they just sit and fester in the back of the fridge and then I toss them all come Friday morning. I hate wasting. I really do, but it gets to a point that I can't stand to look at the same meal twice, or at least multiple days in a row.

One thing that does get used up is pasta. There is always something that can be done with pasta. When I have leftover spaghetti or angel hair pasta lying around, I like to take whatever else is sitting in my fridge and turn it into a frittata. So good, so healthy, and so easy.

I learned this frittata trick from my mom on one of her visits. You see, when my mom comes to town, she takes over my house...and my kitchen. I love her dearly and I love all that she brings to my household. It makes things easier for me. Anyhow, several years back, she introduced me to the frittata. She looked at the lonely mound of pasta staring at her from the fridge and asked us why we let it sit unused. Shame on us, right? I had never had a frittata before. Never thought it could be applied to pasta. Lo and behold, after she worked her dinner magic - this frittata was damn good! Served with a salad, we were filled up! Awesome!

So here it is, a dinner a I turn to once in a while that seems to make everyone happy. The best part of this recipe, is that it is very flexible.Enjoy!

Vegetable and Pasta Frittata

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp. olive oil

1 small onion or 2 shallots, chopped

3 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 leek, chopped

6 mushrooms, sliced

1/4 cup green pepper, diced

1/4 red pepper, diced

1 tomato, chopped

1 scallion, chopped

2 cups (approx.) of cooked spaghetti/linguini/capellini - anything really

6 eggs - beaten

red pepper flakes (to taste - I like things a bit spicy)

a few basil leaves, chopped

salt

pepper

1/2 cup shredded cheese (I used a blend of mozzarella and cheddar)

parmesan cheese - grated

Preheat oven to 400.

In a large ovenproof skillet, heat the olive oil. Saute the onion and garlic. Cook until soft.

Add the other veggies. You really can use any veggies with this dish. I just use what I have on hand. Cook a few minutes - maybe 5.

Stir in the pasta. Make sure that the pasta is mixed in well with the veggies. Cook for a minute.

Add in your beaten eggs, salt, pepper, red pepper flakes, and the basil. Let it set for 30 seconds or so. Add in the cheese.

Now transfer the pan to the oven and bake for around 10 minutes or until the eggs are completely set and the cheese is melted to your preference.

Serve a slice with a salad or soup and maybe a nice hunk of crusty bread. This dish is perfect for any meal of the day and so easy! Enjoy!

Meatless Monday: Pasta with Sauteed Veggies and White Bean Sauce

2011-03-07T16:33:00.000-08:00

So two years ago, in the infancy of this blog, I did a white bean hummus that when thinned out - doubled as a pasta sauce. I blanked it out of my mind. I don't think I have made it since. So maybe it was some sort of deja vu that propelled me to make this similar but different dinner tonight. Who knows? Whatever inspired me - this dinner was awesome. It didn't take long either.

Pasta with Sautee Veggies and White Bean Sauce

Ingredients:
1 box of pasta
1 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, chopped
8 oz. of sliced mushrooms
1/4 cup of red pepper, chopped
1/4 cup of green pepper, chopped
1 can of white beans
3/4 to 1 cup of veggie broth
salt
pepper
red pepper flakes (to taste)
1/4 cup of basil, chopped
1/8 cup chopped parsley
parmesean

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the box.

In a sauce pan, sautee the onions and garlic in the olive oil. Add salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes. I added about a quarter of a tablespoon. I like things spicy. Remove half of the onions and garlic to a plate once soft. Add in the other chopped veggies and about half of the white beans. Add in the basil. Once cooked, move this veggie mixture to a bowl.

In that same pan, add a teaspoon of olive oil and and toss in those onions and garlic that you put aside. Add in the rest of the white beans, and a smidge more of that basil. Cook for a minute or two. Add in the broth. With an immersion blender, puree the white bean mixture. Mix the veggies that you already sauteed in to the puree.

Serve this over pasta with a sprinkling of chopped parsley and parmesean. Enjoy!

Mushroom and Tofu Curry

2011-03-02T16:39:00.001-08:00

Everything tastes good as a curry. Almost everything.

On any given night, I know that if I can't figure out a thing to make - I can always put together a curry. Just a few veggies, some ginger, garlic, and spices - is all it takes. Curries are very forgiving and adaptable. It doesn't have to be too complicated. Cook it all up and throw over some yummy basmati rice and you're good to go. It's that easy.

Tonight's dinner was mushroom and tofu curry over basmati rice. Yum!

Mushroom Tofu Curry
Ingredients:

2 tsp. vegetable oil
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
1/2 tsp. mustard seeds
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 tbsp. ginger - paste or minced
1 green chili chopped
1/2 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. chili powder
2 tsp. coriander powder
1 tsp. garam masala
10 oz. mushrooms, sliced
1 package of firm tofu, drained and chopped up
1/2 cup of vegetable broth
1/2 package frozen, chopped spinach (optional - I added it because I needed to use it up)
1 large tomato, chopped
handful of toasted and sliced cashews
salt

In a large saute pan or wok, heat the pan on medium-high. Add 1 teaspoon of the oil and toast the mustard and cumin seeds for 3o seconds.

Add in the other teaspoon of oil and add the onions, garlic, ginger, and chili pepper. Saute for a few ,more minutes, until the onions are soft. Add in the spices.

Add in the tofu and mushrooms. Sautee for about 5-7 minutes, until the mushrooms are cooked through. Add in the tomatoes and spinach. Add in the broth. Taste and see if it needs anything. Here is where I will add more chili powder or extra spices and salt. Toss in the cashews and stir.

Serve over some steamed Basmati rice. Enjoy!

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup with Pistou

2011-03-01T17:58:00.000-08:00

Tonight was a night like any other. With not much time, I needed to execute a decent dinner for two starving children.

I try not to serve ready-made processed food, but I do take the liberty to have shortcuts lying around in wait. I am not ashamed to have some easy, ready-to-go meal starters. Tonight's meal starter was on of those boxed organic soups. I love them. They aren't good on their own, but used as a base to something - they work out well. I usually just buy the vegetable broth cartons to keep on hand, but a recent trip to Trader Joe's had me buying some other flavors to play with.

A quick scan of the pantry and freezer when I got home this evening revealed the perfect quick fix for tonight. We had creamy tomato tortellini soup with a basil pistou. I had everything ready to go! Dinner came together in less than a half hour and the kids were ecstatic with full bellies. I served the soup with some good crusty ciabatta bread and some chopped veggies. Everyone is happy tonight.

Creamy Tomato Tortellini Soup with Pistou
Ingredients:

1 tbsp. olive oil
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 carton of tomato soup (I used the boxed Trader Joes)
1 can of chopped tomatoes
2 cups of vegetable broth
1 cup of milk
2 tsp. italian seasoning
1/4 cup chopped basil
salt (to taste)
pepper
red pepper flakes (optional)
1.5 cups of small tortellini
1/2 cup pesto (I prepare in large batches and then freeze in ice cube trays)
Parmesean Cheese, grated

In a soup pot, heat the olive oil on medium-hight heat. Add the onions and garlic and saute for 5 minutes on medium.

Add in the canned tomatoes, vegetable broth, milk, and the boxed soup. Add in the spices. With an immersion blender, puree the soup.

Bring the soup to a boil. Add in the tortellini. Let cook for 15-20 minutes or until the pasta is done. If using fresh tortellini, this will only take about 5 minutes.

Serve the soup in a bowl with a spoon of pesto and some grated parmesean cheese. Enjoy!

Meatless Mondays: Polenta Lasagna

2011-02-28T16:53:00.000-08:00

Mondays are sometimes the hardest days to figure out dinner. I am not a big fan of Shabbat leftovers, and there are never enough to serve the whole family come Monday. I am tired and not wanting to really prepare anything, but it's too early in the week to justify getting takeout.

A big trend in the food blog world lately is Meatless Mondays. I like this idea. Of course in my house, almost every day is a meatless day. Still, I like the ideas behind it, and am more than happy to spread the word.

I decided on polenta lasagna. I always have cornmeal lying around, but as luck would have it - I had one of those handy dandy tubes of prepared polenta from Trader Joes sitting in my cabinet. I had my doubts about this dinner. I knew that my husband would love the lasagna, but I was nervous that the kids would be begging for some sort of dinner alternative. I lucked out. The kids loved it. They ate it all up. They didn't even bat an eye at the spinach! Score! To top off the good luck - they devoured the steamed broccoli I served with it. Ten points for me!

Polenta Lasagna
Ingredients:

1.5 cups of good tomato sauce
1 tube of polenta, sliced into 12-15 slices
1.5 cups of ricotta cheese
3/4 box of frozen spinach
1 tbsp. italian seasoning
5 cloves smashed garlic
salt
pepper
2 tsp. garlic powder
1 tsp. red pepper flakes
1 egg
1.5 cups of shredded mozarella
a few leaves of basil, chopped
shredded parmesean

Preheat oven to 375.

In a mixing bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, the spinach, half of the mozarella, the egg, and the herbs.

In an 8x8 pan, spread a thin layer of tomato sauce. Place half of the polenta rounds over the sauce. Top with half of the ricotta cheese mixture. Spread a thin layer of sauce and repeat the polenta/cheese layers. Spread another thin layer of sauce. Top with mozarella cheese and sprinkle with the parmesean.

Bake in the preheated oven for about a half hour. Garnish with the chopped basil. Serve with some steamed veggies and/or salad.

Enjoy!

Rava Dosa with Masala - Do you Dosa?

2011-02-27T17:43:00.000-08:00

If I were to be reborn in to some new life, I hope it could be in to an Indian family. I would love to grow up with the flavors and colors of Indian cooking.

My adventures into Indian flavor and cooking began when I was in college and was living in a largely Indian neighborhood. Peeking into Madras Mahal on Lexington, the first dish I ordered was Mutter Panner. A curry with peas and cheese. The flavors popped in my mouth, and I needed to explore more.

Running into Kalustyans and into the India Bazaar store, I explored the various flavors. Once I had a kitchen of my own, I was free to explore more. The one thing I never ventured into, was the world of dosa making. I have tasted my fair share, but it was never my highlight of an Indian meal. I didn't have the equipment, and it seemed like too much work to try to make them.

This morning, in speaking with the hubster, I asked him what I should make. To which he replied, "a masala dosa, of course." Of course that's what he wanted. The one thing I was really not ready to make. I had plans to spice shop in Jersey City's Indian markets today...so there was no excuse. We could easily have the ingredients here and ready. While at Patel market, I found a Tawa right by the checkout. I guess it was fate.

With the ingredients and spices in hand, I set out to make dinner. The potato mixture was easy and came out perfect. Not so much with the dosas. The first three were tossed. The fourth was somewhat edible. The fifth was getting there. By the sixth, I finally got it! I had also had enough playing with dosa making for the night and the Oscars were about to start, so we called it a night and chowed down. I am glad I now know how to make the dosa though. Next time, I will be an expert.

Here's my fancy shmancy new Tawa!

Rava Dosa with Masala

For the potato masala mixture:

Ingredients:

3 potatoes - boiled, roughly mashed

1 tsp. urad dal

1 tsp. mustard seeds

1 tsp. cumin seeds

2 small red onions, chopped

1 green chili, chopped

peas, handful

1 carrot, chopped

1 tomato, chopped

1/2 tsp. turmeric

1 tsp. garam masala

1/2 tsp. cumin

1 tsp. coriander

1 tsp. chili powder

1 tbsp. chopped cilantro

1 tbsp. chopped curry leaves

1 tbsp. veg. oil

1/2 cup water

In a large saute pan, heat the oil oil on high heat. Add the mustard seeds and cumin seeds. Toast for less than a minute. Add the onions and chili pepper. Saute for a minute or two. Add the carrots, tomato, and the peas. Add the spices. Add the water and cook for a few minutes. Cook until the carrots have softened and the water has evaporated a bit. Stir in the potatoes. Mix in the chopped curry leaves and cilantro. Set the potato mixture aside or gobble it up. It tastes great on its own. It may need a little bit of salt, but taste it and see.

For the Rava Dosa:
Ingredients:

1 cup rice flour

1/2 cup semolina or rava

1/4 cup maida flour (all purpose flour)

1 tsp. cumin seeds

2 tsp. salt

1/2 tsp. mustard seeds

2 curry leaves, chopped

3 coriander leaves, chopped

1 tsp. ginger

4 cups water (approx - you may need more for consistency)

vegetable oil + 1stp

Equipment - a flat griddle or traditional tawa pan or use a large flat fry pan (see pic above!)

Mix the flours. Add the salt and water to it. Toast the spices in 1 tsp. of oil. Transfer the spices to the flour mixture. Let the batter sit for about 30 minutes. Stir the batter. It shouldn't be too thick. More of a thick milk consisteny.

Heat the pan on high. With a paper towel, wipe oil on the pan. Do not pour.

With a ladle, spread the batter on the pan. Moving from the outside in. The batter should be very very thin on the pan.This does take practice.

After a couple minutes, sprinkle a dab of oil and some butter on to the dosa. When it starts to brown, fold it over.

Serve the dosa with the masala mixture or with the traditional sambar. Enjoy!

Please note: Your first few dosas may need to be tossed. Your first few dosas will not look like the giant beautiful cornucopias you can get at the local Indian restaurant. That's totally ok. Have fun with it.

Braised Turkey Legs and Veggies and Stuff - The New Cholent?

2011-02-27T06:52:00.000-08:00

In a perfect world I would plan ahead. In a perfect world, my shabbat menu would be planned on Tuesday, with shopping done on Wednesday, and cooking done on Thursday. In a perfect world.

My reality is worlds away. My reality is that it occurs to me that Shabbat is coming on Wednesday. I doodle some menu ideas during the day and forget those notes at work when I get home. At work on Thursday, I doodle out some shopping lists. Once again, I forget those lists at work. On Thursday night I tell myself I will take something out of the freezer or run to the store. Reality is that I am exhausted and would rather veg out in front of Grey's Anatomy while sipping some honeyed tea. That was my week.

On Friday morning I grab some chicken soup out of the freezer. Quickly scan the vegetable drawer and draw up a realistic list for the husband. I forgot to take any protein out of the freezer the night before, so I beg J to run to the store on his way to work to pick up chicken and some sort of beef product for cholent or some other shabbat lunch treat. I mosey on off to work and ignore the impending last minute shabbat cookathon that will greet me when I return home.

Sitting at my desk at work, sipping my coffee - it's 8:30 am. The phone rings. It's J. "Good news," he says, "I bought turkey legs!" He is excited and totally proud of this.

What the heck am I going to do with turkey legs? I don't like turkey! I don't like cholent, but at least I can cook it with my eyes closed. J protests that the turkey will be perfect. It's the perfect protein for cooking overnight.

When I get home from work, I have minutes to brainstorm what this turkey will become. It's T-minus 1.5 hours until Shabbat starts and I still need to come up with a menu. I open the fridge and glance at the two ginormous turkey legs. Those legs look larger than my 4-year-old's! I glance at the crockpot...too small! I yank the dutch oven out of the cabinet, heat up the flame, and get to work.

What I came up with worked really well. I highly recommend this as a substitute for your cholent, or really any night of the week.

Braised Turkey Legs with Root Vegetables
Ingredients:

Two to Three Large Turkey Legs (thighs would also work)
1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, chopped
6 cloves garlic, chopped
salt
pepper
1 tbsp smoked paprika
4 stalks of celery, chopped
1 large leek, chopped
5 carrots, sliced
1 large potato, cubed
2 turnips, cubed
3 parsnips, sliced
2.5 cups vegetable broth
Bay leaf
Chopped parsley

Wash and dry the turkey. Sprinkle the turkey with salt and pepper. In a large dutch oven, brown the turkey in olive oil. Takes about 6-10 minutes. Remove the turkey to a plate.

Throw in the onions, garlic, and leeks. Saute a few minutes. Add in the smoked paprika. Add in the chopped veggies. Cook for a couple minutes. Place the turkey over the root veggies. Now add the vegetable broth. Bring the broth to a boil. Add in the bay leaf and chopped parsley. Turn the heat down to medium low or cook in an oven set at 210 degrees. Cook overnight - slow cook on low for 10 hours.

Enjoy!

Homemade Kit Kat Bar Awesomeness

2011-02-24T15:13:00.000-08:00

If a recipe includes two sticks of butter and a huge amount of sugar, it's a sure bet it's going to taste pretty good. Even one stick of butter is pretty indulgent in this household.

A couple of weeks ago, the most amazing treat possible popped up in my blog reader. Paula Deen, the Butter Queen, concocted homemade kit kat bars. Whodathunkit?!

The rundown of ingredients seemed easy enough. No oven was involved either. Almost too easy! And so good!

You must make these bars. Alas, they taste nothing like a kit kat bar - which is probably a good thing. These treats are way better than anything in the candy aisle. I beg of you - make these bars!

P.S. Thank you to my in-house guinea pigs for tasting these treats to make sure they aren't poisonous, and thank you to my dear colleagues for letting me bring my creations in to the office and eating these fattening treats so I don't have to pig out on the whole pan myself.

Homemade Kit-Kat Bars
adapted from Paula Deen (and all around the blogosphere as well)

Ingredients:
75 club crackers
2 sticks of butter
2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup whole milk
1/3 cup sugar
2/3 cup peanut butter (creamy)
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chip
1/2 cup butterscotch chips

Directions:

Line a 9 x 13 inch foil pan with one layer of club crackers. Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, then add graham cracker crumbs, dark brown sugar, milk, and granulated sugar. Bring to a boil and continue to boil for five minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Pour half of the mixture over crackers in pan evenly. Arrange another layer of club crackers over the mixture, then cover that layer with the other half of the butter mixture. Arrange a final layer of club crackers on top. Now lick that buttery, caramelly spoon. You'll be glad you did. It's that good.

Combine peanut butter, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips in a small saucepan. Melt the chocolate mixture. Stir it and stir it some more so that it doesn't burn. Once melted - spread the chocolate goodness over the crackers.

Cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate. It needs a good few hours. Cut the bars to desired size and enjoy!

Thai Beef + Veggies + Coconut Rice = Yummy!

2011-02-24T11:42:00.001-08:00

I love Thai food. If I knew how to insert a heart symbol, I would insert it somewhere into this sentence. Did I mention I love Thai food? Somehow when you throw in fish sauce, lime juice, sriracha, and basil into a dish - magic happens. For real! Try it sometime!

I am not a ground beef fan or a Martha Stewart fan, but I came upon this recipe that intrigued me. Thai ground beef over coconut rice sounded good. It was also looked easy enough that I was able to amp up the flavor and stretch the ingredients to make it work for us. I happened to have all the ingredients on hand, plus some veggies that I thought would only add to the dish. If you want, you could substitute tofu, turkey, or soy crumbles in place of the cow.

For the Coconut Rice:

2 cups jasmine rice

1 can coconut milk

1.5 cups of water

salt

Put the rice, milk, water, and salt in a saucepan on medium-high heat. Bring the mixture to a boil. Turn the heat down to medium low and cover. Cook until the liquid is absorbed.

For the beef dish:

1 tbsp. vegetable oil

6 garlic cloves, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

2 tbsp ginger, chopped

2 chili peppers, chopped

1 lb. ground beef

10 oz. container mushrooms, sliced

snowpeas - a bunch

chinese broccoli, choped

1 red pepper, chopped

1/2 green pepper, chopped

baby corn, sliced

scallions, chopped

red pepper flakes

2 plum tomatoes, chopped

2 tbsp. fish sauce

2 tbsp. soy sauce

1 tbsp. sriracha

1 tsp. sugar

chopped basil

lime wedges

Combine the fish sauce, soy sauce, sriracha, and sugar in a small bowl. Let it sit for a bit.

Add oil to your wok and add the garlic, ginger, onion and chilis. Cook for about a minute. Add the meat and brown it. Add in the vegetables and cook some more. Add in the tomatoes. Add in the fish sauce mixture, chili flakes, and the basil. Cook a few more minutes.

Serve this over coconut rice with a good, healthy squeeze of lime juice. It's soooo good! You will want to keep eating and eating this dish. I wish I had doubled this recipe - it was that good.

African Peanut Chicken

2011-02-24T05:58:00.001-08:00

This chicken was so good that I didn't get a chance to take a picture of it. Well actually it tasted good, but looked pretty awful. It was also shabbat. So really no chance to get a good shot of it.

I love trying new ideas. The weekend is really my canvas to play with flavor. What I love most of all though, is experimenting with my dinner guests.

I love Asian style peanut sauces on foods, but had never ventured into the African peanut realm in food making. I often come upon recipes for African peanut soups and chicken dishes, but have held back on messing with them. The dear hubster has never been a fan of the asian peanut sauce - so I always assumed that an African peanut dish was off limits.

I decided to ignore his opinions and work out a recipe for me. I was really in the mood for a chicken dish that popped with flavor. I was in the mood for something different. A colleague has often mentioned a traditional African peanut sauce that she makes for her husband. I thought I would try my hand at something.

In searching through cookbooks and various blogs, I came up with a recipe that worked with what I had on hand. It came out amazing. Even the hubster loved it. To prove it, he devoured all the leftovers.

African Peanut Chicken with Vegetables

Ingredients:

1.5 cups of creamy peanut butter (not the sugary kind)
3 cups of vegetable broth
1 chicken - cut up
1.5 tbsp vegetable oil
salt
pepper
1 large onion, chopped
6 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green pepper, diced
1 jalapeno, diced (optional)
2 teaspoons cayenne pepper
1 tbsp ground coriander
1 can diced tomatoes
2 large turnips, cubed
3 carrots, sliced
1 potato, cubed
1 sweet potato, cubed
cilantro, chopped (about a handful)

Preheat your oven to 325°F.

In a small bowl, whisk the peanut butter with 1.5 cups of the vegetable broth.

Wash and dry your chicken. Season it with salt and pepper.

In a large dutch oven, brown the chicken in the vegetable oil. Transfer the chicken to a plate.

Add the onion, garlic, and peppers to the pot. S
auté a few minutes. Add in the cayenne and coriander.

Once the onion mixture has softened, add in the chopped root veggies.
Stir in the peanut butter mixture as well as the tomatoes and the remaining broth.
Add the chicken to the pot and bring to a boil. Turn the heat down to simmer and cover the pot. Transfer the chicken to the oven and cook for another hour.
After an hour - take the chicken out of the oven and place on the stove on medium heat. Transfer the chicken and veggies to a serving dish. Simmer, and reduce the sauce on the stove. Should take about 15 minutes. Mix in the cilantro.

Pour the sauce over the chicken. Serve over rice.

Enjoy!

On Being a Foodie When Food Hates Me

2011-02-24T05:51:00.000-08:00

So I know I have been gone a while. I have a good excuse.

I have Crohns. A disorder of the gut. I won't go in to all the gory details, but to sum it up - when it kicks me in the ass, it really kicks me in the ass. Food doesn't like me.

With the gut acting up, I wasn't really eating - mostly keeping to a liquid diet. That doesn't mean I wasn't thinking about food. The whole time I was sick, I was watching food network and ingesting all the lovely food porn in the blogosphere. My cooking habits turned into pathetic mode. Feeding my family quick and easy meals likes mac & cheese, fish sticks, eggs, and such. Really pathetic. Of course the kids loved it! What kid doesn't like food out of a box? Now I am back -thank goodness. Back to eating, back to cooking. So here I am. I promise to cook more, feed my family better meals, and tell you about it.

Vegan Green Bean Casserole -Thanksgiving Redux

2010-12-05T12:45:00.000-08:00

I never had a casserole growing up. Not even a bite of one of those canned french fried onions! Imagine that!

Casseroles always piqued my curiosity. These four ingredient dishes that look so easy and convenient. What could be wrong with that? Of course the ingredients scared me. A can of this with a bag of that and throw in some can of cream soup. Yikes! MSG + Fat + unidentified objects. Seriously? I'm supposed to eat that?

This year was the first year I was hosting Thanksgiving. I wanted to do it right. Wanted to bring in some of that "traditional" American Thanksgiving that I didn't grow up with.

One of the iconic dishes that comes with tradition is the green bean casserole.

How could I make it kosher and tasty and healthier was my question.

Here is what I came up with.

Vegan Green Bean Casserole (adapted from a recipe on vegweb.com)

Ingredients:

1.5 cups vegetable broth

1 onion, chopped

1 cup baby bell mushrooms, chopped

1 carrots, diced

4 cloves garlic, smashed and chopped

basil, a few leaves, chopped

oregano, a bunch of leaves, chopped

sage leaves, a few - chopped

thyme, a few sprigs, chopped

salt

pepper

cayenne

2 tbsp. corn starch

3 tbsp. cold water

16oz. cut green beans (I used frozen)

1.5 cans of those crunchy french fried onions (I found them at whole foods and trader joes)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a saucepan, heat the soy milk and broth.

In another pan, saute the onions, garlic, mushrooms, and carrots. Add the herbs. I like to add a teaspoon or two of cayenne to bump up the heat a bit, but it's purely optional. Saute on medium until everything is soft.

In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch with the cold water. Add it to the broth mixture to thicken it.

Add the green beans and sauteed veggie mixture to the broth mixture. Mix in a half a can of the fried onions. Pour the mixture into a baking pan. I used a 9x9 pan, but I could have used something slightly larger. Sprinkle more fried onions over the top.

Bake for 20 minutes.

To be honest, I was surprised that I actually liked this. It had some sort of comforting taste to it. I probably won't make it again for at least another year. It's not bad though. Just not what we are used to eating. You have to make it once, though. Enjoy!

Playing Recipe Catch-Up with Thanksgiving

2010-12-05T12:19:00.000-08:00

I know I could totally go back six months to play catch-up. I'm awful, awful, awful. Three times! I have many valid excuses as to why I haven't been posting, but I won't bore you with any of them. I will simply back up to Thanksgiving and post some highlights of the meal.

I am not so gung-ho on Thanksgiving to begin with. It never rung true as my holiday. Aside from a day off from work, I don't get anything out of this. I have fond memories of the family we used to share Thanksgiving with each year as a kid, but once I moved out and moved on, I was never sure how to include Thanksgiving in my family's life.

From a food standpoint, I am the total anti-Thanksgiving. I really dislike turkey. Aside from the smoked turkey that comes sliced at a deli counter - I stay away from the big behemoth of a bird. I have never liked the taste of the cooked bird. Don't get me started on the look of the raw turkey as it sits in my kitchen. The bird, at twice the size of my daughter when she was born, scares the living daylights out of me. To make things worse, I am supposed to stick my arm up it's ass to stuff herbs and stuff into just to make it taste better.

That being said, I promised to host Thanksgiving this year. After a 7-year hiatus, I also promised that the feast would include a big honkin' turkey and all the proper customary Thanksgiving fixings.

I came up with a traditional menu, with flavor added (of course):

Herbed Roasted Turkey
Cranberry Sauce
Big Green Salad
Vegan Green Bean Casserole
Mashed Potatoes
Gravy
Sweet Potato Dumplings
Rutabagas
Rice Pilaf
Roasted Asparagus
Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie
Pumpkin Pie

What am I missing? Will be posting the recipes to the stars of the feast.

Coffee-Oreo Ice Cream

2010-05-21T08:25:00.001-07:00

The title says it all. How could you go wrong with coffee oreo ice cream? It was a dairy holiday, with the weather warming up. Ice cream had to make it on the menu. I first sampled this flavor either at Sebastian Joes in Minneapolis, or Max & Minas in Queens. Either way. It's the perfect flavor combo and I was determined to make it my own.

Around 5 years ago, I received this handy dandy Cuisinart ice cream maker as a token of appreciation for doing some product research stuff. I used to do various focus groups and product testing in my "free time." My love of kitchen appliances brought me this baby. I think I can count on my hands the number of times I have actually used this appliance. It averages out to two times a summer. Making ice cream is so easy. Not necessarily cheaper than buying it though. Still, it's wonderful when it's homemade and Shavuot calls for yummy, delicious, homemade ice cream.

Coffee Oreo Ice Cream

Ingredients

1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar

3 teaspoons instant espresso powder

1/4 cup very strong coffee/espresso (ice cold)
2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extra

broken up sandwich cookies (I used Trader Joes chocolate JoeJoe's) - About 20 or so, maybe more.

In a bowl, whisk the milk, sugar, coffee, and espresso powder to combine. Whisk in the heavy cream and the vanilla.

Pour into the ice cream maker. Turn the machine on. Let it run a good 20 minutes. Watch it thicken up and turn into ice cream.

Toss in the cookie pieces. Let it run another 5-10 minutes.

When done, it will be like soft ice cream. Think Carvel. You can enjoy it now, or you can let it freeze and harden a bit more. Enjoy!

Oreo Cheesecake

2010-05-20T18:49:00.001-07:00

What do you do when you can't find a recipe or have trouble with a recipe? Do you look to the cookbooks? Do you look to Chef Google? No! We turn to social networking! Really! We tweet our kitchen nightmares, or blog about it. Or we updated our facebook status with the latest. It's instant. My cookbooks get old and dusty and sit on my bookshelves until I am bored and just need a hint of an idea to run off of. Google is nice and all, but not necessarily trustworthy like tried and true resources. It's so much more gratifying to get that instant response in the form of a comment to my kvetchy status update.

So it was the case a few nights ago, when my facebook status made mention of my troubles in the cheesecake department.

Shavuot is one of my favorite holidays. I love having some sort of extra salute from above to stick to a vegetarian menu. Of course, part of that whole Shavuot dairy thing, is the essential dessert - the cheesecake. I love most things dairy and vegetarian - except for cheesecake. I have never felt the cheesecake love. Maybe it's that whole sensitive stomach thing. Who knows. Cheesecake doesn't love me back. It's mutual. I've made peace with it. I'm still supposed to make it. Gotta keep up with the customs, right? So I have attempted cheesecake a couple times in the past 10 years of Shavuot cooking. The first time I tried, it's just fell apart. No love lost. A few years ago, I was determined. I googled "easy cheesecake recipe." That was probably my first mistake. The second mistake was the recipe I chose. It was some "no bake easy cheesecake." So many things wrong with that stament. Anyhow, facebook pulled through for me this year. My status eluded to my past cheesecake failures. An old camp friend (and culinary genius) came through and quickly sent me a tried and true cheesecake recipe that I quickly adapted to work with what I had (lots and lots of JoeJoe's cookies). As promised, the cheesecake came out great and everyone was happy. Thanks, Matt! The recipe is below.

Oreo Cheesecake -
only slightly tweaked from my friend, Matt, who adapted it from someone else

Ingredients
1 1/4 cup oreo crumbs - about 24 cookies crushed

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup melted butter, plus an extra 2 tablespoons - also melted

16 oz. sour cream
2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1 lb cream cheese - 2 of those rectangular boxes
another dozen or so crush oreo cookies, plus more for garnish - and a few more for eating

Preheat oven to 350

Shove a bunch of cookies into a ziploc bag. With a rolling pin, crush the cookies.

Mix the cookie crumbs, 1/4 cup sugar, and melted butter in a bowl.

Press the mixture into the bottom of an ungreased springform pan

In a blender, blend the sour cream, 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, and vanilla for a minute. Add in the cream cheese. Blend until smooth. This goes fast. Add the crumbled cookies at this point. Add in the melted butter. Blend a bit more.

Pour into the springform.

Garnish with the oreos if you'd like.

Baked in the lower third of the oven for 45 minutes.

When baking is finished, turn the oven to broil. Broil the cheesecake until the top begins to show some nice brown spots. Matt said that they should be "attractive spots of brown." Hmmm. Have I ever met an ugly cake? I'll give on this one. I hope my cheesecake was pretty enough.

Chill in the fridge for at least day before serving. Enjoy!

Shavuot Run-Down

2010-05-20T18:26:00.000-07:00

Am I turning in to my parents? I never thought I would say that, but I think I am becoming them - in the way I relate to food...and guests. The whole concept of how much to serve when having guests - I totally get that from my parents. The whole fear that you just may embarassingly run out of food when you have company over. Yikes! It's totally never happened - at their house or mine. The fear is still there, so we compensate, and we make entirely way too much food. Heaven forbid there should not be enough food options for anyone at the table...and you must please everyone. The vegan should have multiple food choices, the chick allergic to ten different foods - she, too, must also have multiple food options. It's all there...it's all cooked, by me. And don't get me wrong. I am totally not complaining. I enjoy cooking. I enjoy entertaining. There is just way too much food in this house. And there is going to be more. We just finished Shavuot, and tomorrow I start cooking for Shabbat. More food? Yikes.

We had lots of food success over Shavuot. No misses. Suprising. During a long holiday, there is usually at least one food that doesn't go over too well with more than one person. This time, except for my picky 8-year-old, just about everything went over well. In the next few blog posts, I will share with you some of the hit recipes.

Below, I present to you my Shavuot menu.

Tuesday Night

Hungarian Mushroom Soup - recipe to come
Salad
Roasted Brussel Sprouts
Baked Salmon
Asparagus Rice Pilaf - recipe to come
Oreo/JoeJoe's Cheesecake

Wednesday Lunch (ate out - brought slaw)

Oriental Cole Slaw - recipe to come

Wednesday Night - Just us

Salad
Spaghetti with Meat Sauce

Thursday Lunch

Salad
Salmon Salad - using leftover salmon from Tues. night
Roasted Broccoli
Potato/Cheese Blintzes - recipe to come
Spinach Pie - recipe to come
Baked pasta dish with mushrooms - recipe to come
Oreo Cheesecake
Coffee Oreo/JoeJoe's ice cream - recipe to come

Pad See Ew for You!

2010-05-11T16:42:00.001-07:00

I love Vietnamese food first and foremost, but good Vietnamese is not as prevalent on the East Coast (surprise, surprise) as it is back home in Minnesota. So I have moved over to Thai food. Thai food is abundant in my corner of the world, and a good meal along with a good deal can be found fairly easily around these parts. One of my favorite noodle dishes at Thai restaurants is Pad See Ew. It is one of those dishes, that in my opinion, is the test factor as to whether or not the restaurant is worthy of my business. That dish more so than the Pad Thai. It is really basic comfort food, tastes great, and is very easy to make.

Pad See Ew
Ingredients

vegetable oil
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2 eggs
1 container extra firm tofu, or seitan
2 tablespoons dark/black soy sauce
1 bunch Chinese broccoli, chopped
1 pound wide rice noodles
fish sauce

scallions for garnish

Make sure you have all your ingredients ready to go, as this dish cooks fast.

In a bowl, pour boiling water over the rice noodles. Set aside.

Heat a wok or large skiller. Add a drop of the oil. Beat some eggs into the hot oil. Scramble and set aside.

In the same pan, toss in your garlic. Add a drop more oil. Toss in your protein - tofu/seitan/dead animal option.

Toss in the Chinese Broccoli. Cook, stirring to get all the veggies cooked and in there. Strain your noodles and add to the pan. Stir and stir some more. Stir in the dark soy sauce. Stir in a tablespoon or so of the fish sauce. Stir in the scrambled eggs. Stir some more. See a theme?

Portion some onto a plate. Dress with a few chopped scallions. Enjoy!

Crunchy Granola and Proud

2010-05-03T17:08:00.001-07:00

My mornings are pretty routine each week. After waking up at 5:00, I only have eyes for my coffee. Breakfast is pretty distant in my mind. If I remember, I might just grab a granola bar, a Luna bar or something of that power/energy bar ilk. Once in a blue moon, I go high style and pick up an egg sandwich somewhere in Manhattan on my way to work. Between the coffee and the energy bars, my mornings can get expensive. I also feel guilty eating the overly processed granola bar products? I mean, really. I do love that whole coated in chocolate aspect of the Luna bars. At $1-2 a pop though, is it really worth it?

I started researching homemade granola, and homemade granola bars. To be honest, diving into this realm is not the best idea for me. My gut truly can't handle most homemade granola bars. My gut should can only handle that processed stuff. Still, I wanted to try to make my own power/energy granola bar and feel some crunchy granola bar power.

I knew what I wanted in there: some combo of oats, flax, wheat germ, almonds, dried fruit, and chocolate chips. But what else goes into that perfect bar, and how much? There are many recipes out there. Using my math skills, I came up with what I think works for us. Even my picky 8-year-old, who prefers bars of the "Kudos" variety approved of this nutty good-for-you power bar.

There are some modifications I may make next time, aside from processing my ingredients, so it isn't too nutty for me. I may go all honey and no sunflower butter. Also switch up the fruit. I would like to play with some nut combinations. Maybe throwing in a pecan or two.

Granola Bars

Ingredients

4 cups oats
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/4 cup flax seeds

1/4 cup wheat germ

3/4 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup chopped, dried fruit

3/4 cup chocolate chips

1/3 cup honey

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup sunflower nut butter

2 tbsp vanilla

4 tbsp butter

pinch or two of salt

Combine all the nutty stuff on to a baking sheet and toast at 350 for 15 minutes.

Stir the mixture around every five minutes. When done, dump in a large mixing bowl and cool down. Stir in the coconut, dried fruits, and choco chips in to the mixture. Turn the oven down to 300.

Get a 9x13 pan ready. Line it with parchment paper.

In a small saucepan, add the sugar, the nut butter, the honey, the vanilla, and the salt. Stir up until the brown sugar has dissolved. Just a few minutes. Let cool a couple minutes.

Pour the sticky mixture over the granola mixture and stir. Press the mixture into the pan. Press down so it's all even.

Bake at 300 for around 25 minutes.

When done, remove from oven and let cool on counter for a good 30 minutes or so.

Slice into granola bar shapes - anything goes really. Enjoy!

Wrap in plastic wrap. I prefer the "Stretch-Tite" brand. Saran is for wimps. Enjoy your bars.

Vegetables+Pasta+Seitan=Dinner

2010-04-27T17:15:00.000-07:00

I promised I would a post something on the blog using the seitan. I am sticking to that promise.

My daughter saw me pull the seitan log out of the fridge and got nervous. She asked me if it was food. She politely whispered in my ear that the log o' fake meat "looks like poop." She's right. It doesn't look pretty. What's a mom to do? If that isn't a ringing endorsement, then I don't know what is!

Tonight's dinner was easy and tasty. I fooled everyone with the seitan! Even my super picky 8-year-old who complained about the look of the seitan, boldly said that this fake meat stuff was "really yummy!" She picked out all the seitan pieces from the vegetables and ate it. My 3-year-old also gobbled the seitan up.

I had some fresh basil that I had to use. So I quickly threw some basil, garlic, olive oil, and pine nuts into the Cuisinart and chopped away until it became a yummy pesto. I tossed some whole grain pasta into some boiling water and got to work.

In a pot, I sauteed up some garlic, tossed in the cubed seitan (about half a log), threw in some sliced mushrooms, zucchini, peas, and a can of chopped tomatoes. Added in about half a cup of the pesto. Tossed in some shredded Parmesan. Steamed up some broccoli - dinner was done! Under 30 minutes, and I had dinner on the table! Woohoo! None of it came from a freezer! Go me! I highly recommend a dinner like tonight.

Yummy Seitan Goodness

2010-04-25T15:35:00.000-07:00

I like seitan, yes I do! I like seitan, so should you! It's hard to convince people to delve into the world of phony meat products. Carnivores aside, seitan isn't pretty. Really though, seitan is a wonderful, versatile fake meat product. It's so easy to make, and so easy to use. There is no reason why you should have to buy those little, expensive plastic tubs of wheat gluten product, when it is so simple to make it at home.

The recipe I am posting is of the baked seitan log variety. Some seitan is boiled, but I prefer it when baked. There are many versions of this recipe out there. After cooking, this seitan can be cut up and cooked up into a variety of phony beef style recipes. I like to chop it up and use in place of meat in stir fries, or pasta dishes. The way I present it below would be great in place of sausage crumbles. You can play with the spice combination as well to get to the desired "meatiness," or lack thereof.

Seitan - adapted from the Post Punk Kitchen
Ingredients:

Dry
1.5 cups vital wheat gluten
1/4 cup nutritional yeast
1 tsp salt
2 tsp paprika
1/4 tsp cumin
a few grinds of pepper
a bunch of red pepper flakes
1/8 tsp allspice
2 tsp garlic powder
fennels seeds
1 tsp. bacon salt

Wet
3/4 cups water
4 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp olive oil

It would be great with some liquid smoke, but I didn't have any. So I used the bacon salt in it's place. You could also throw in some smoked paprika.

Preheat the oven to 325°. This comes together fast, so be prepared. Have a couple mixing bowls ready, a fork, a cutting board to knead on, and some foil.

Dry Ingredients in one bowl, whisked wet ingredients in the other bowl.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients. Mix quickly with a fork.

Turn the blob of dough onto a cutting board, and quickly mix and knead the dough together. You do not want to overknead the gluten, otherwise you may end up with a beef scented piece of shoe leather.

Form the gluten dough into a log and wrap tightly in some foil. Bake in the oven for 90 minutes.

When it comes out of the oven, it will look like this.
Slice up and use in any recipe. I hope to post some recipes this week with my bounty of seitan! Stay tuned!

Babkalicious!

2010-04-25T15:24:00.000-07:00

We eat very few baked good around here, despite my urge to master the realm of baking. So, I bake, and then I bake some more, and then I dump said baked goods on unsuspecting taste testers. Such was the case with the babka.

Babka is one of those things that has to be perfect or else it really sucks. It's also one of those things that comes in all sorts of shapes, sizes, and flavors. One person's babka, is another person's coffee or bundt cake. My mission was to accomplish a successful chocolate babka in a similar realm of the infamous Green's Babka. That stuff is awesome.

I ended up with the babka over at the Smitten Kitchen blog. Because the recipe is over there, I will not repost the recipe, but I will share some photos. It wasn't as difficult as I thought it would be, and it came out great. I highly recommend the recipe, and Smitten Kitchen in general. Everything I have made from that blog comes out great.

Count the sticks of butter. You know it's gonna be good when there is that much butter and chocolate in a recipe.

You could probably put this together by hand, but it's much more fun with a mixer.

Ball of kneaded dough in a butter bowl, ready for some rising...

I normally detest any recipe that requires me to pull out the rolling pin and actually use it, but this wasn't too bad. It was actually very easy. Probably has something to do with all that butter.

mmmmm....chocolate....

Now go on over to Smitten Kitchen and get that recipe and make babka! It's so good!

Tortilla - Quesadilla Fest

2010-03-14T17:31:00.000-07:00

I feel this rush to get all my chametz out of the kitchen. I feel embarassment by the amount of stuff I have left. My freezer is full, as is my pantry. I don't know where I will put the Passover products that I need to buy. There are eight bottles of Passover wine living in the guest room, if that tells you anything.

In my freezer, sat 2 1/2 lonely cups of all-purpose flour. I rarely use AP flour, unless I have some event I need to bake for. Bread flour gets used, but not the "all purpose" kind. I thought about cookies or brownies or something similar, but I am not eating sweets lately, and I have imposed my baking adventures on my colleagues enough this month. They have probably reached their cookie and cupcake quota for March.

So as not to pester my coworkers with any more baking leftovers, I pondered other uses for flour. I had two cups too much flour for any gravy or sauce. Too little flour for anything that I would normally find use for. While scouring uses for flour, I came across an idea I always shoved aside - tortillas! Really, who makes tortillas? I have a few budget conscious friends who make them. I have always relied on the yummy handmade tortillas at Trader Joe's and I am not a huge fan of anything that could be deemed a patchke - a bother. I have a fear of rolling pins. Really! Still, I had just enough flour, and all the ingredients. Even without a tortilla press, it can't be too complicated, right? Well it is a patchke, and it is one of those things that requires some amount of practice. I could still see myself making these again, as the finished product was pretty good, and once I got the hang of it, it was pretty easy.

I made an evening out of this adventure. Got people over here. It's easy when there is beer (also chametz) to be used up. Turned the fresh tortillas into quesadillas, with a slew of yummy toppings and a great salad. It was a good night.

Flour Tortillas
Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vegetable oil
3/4 warm water

Mix the dry ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl.

Mix the water and oil in a separate container.

Make a well in your flour mixture. Slowly pour the water mixture into the dry ingredients, bit by bit. Use a fork to mix up the dough. The dough will be sticky.

Once all the water is incorporated into the flour, turn the dough onto a floured board.

Knead the dough for a few minutes until the dough is nice and smooth and can be shaped into a ball.

Put the big ball of dough back into the mixing bowl and cover with a damp kitchen towel for 20 minutes. Use this time to prep your other dinner ingredients, mingle, have a beer, clean up a spilled beer, etc.

Take the big ball of dough out, and pinch of pieces of dough and roll them into little balls of dough. Place the dozen or so dough balls onto a plate and cover with a damp towel. Let it sit for 10 minutes.

Preheat your skillet on medium/high heat. A cast-iron skillet is recommended, but any large heavy skillet will do.

Re-flour your cutting board. Lightly flatten the doughball out on the board to a circle.

Roll out the dough with your rolling pin. It should be around 1/8 inch thick.

Once you have rolled out the tortilla, place it on the skillet. No oil is needed. Cook the tortilla for about 30 seconds a side.You will notice brown spots all over your tortilla. Flip it over and cook an additional 30 seconds.

Don't over cook. The first tortilla came out a little too well-done and too crispy. Cover the tortillas on a plate while you cook the rest.

We ate the tortillas as bean and cheese quesadillas...slathered with salads and sour cream. It was a yummy dinner adventure!

Leftover Fried Rice

2010-03-09T19:45:00.000-08:00

The title is pretty self explanatory. Dinner tonight was simple and pretty budget conscious. Like any other evening, had very little time to come up with something for dinner. Didn't want to do a grocery run until tomorrow. Stuck with random bits of veggies in the fridge. I did have plenty of leftover rice from last night's curry. Once a month or so, we end up with fried rice for dinner. It's quick and easy. I usually have fresh veggies around the house, but if you don't have anything fresh, frozen will work just fine.

With something like this, there is no concrete recipe.

In a large wok or pan, heat up a tiny bit of vegetable. Scramble some eggs in the pan, and then set the eggs aside. In that same pan, start sauteeing some chopped onions, garlic, and ginger. Cook for a couple minutes. Throw in whatever protein you have lying around. Tonight we had some soy ground sausage. You may need to add a few more drops of oil at this point. Throw in whatever veggies you have lying around. I added corn, peas, pepper, broccoli, and yellow squash. Stir fry the mixture for a couple minutes. Now add in the rice, and stir everything together. Stir the rice to break it up. It may be clumpy from the cold. Cook a few minutes. Add the egg back to the mixture. Now add a few drops of sesame oil, red pepper flakes, and some soy sauce. You are ready to go! Enjoy!

Curry in a Hurry

2010-03-08T15:40:00.000-08:00

I love quick and easy. I thrive on quick and easy.

Tonight was no different. Monday night. Come home from work. Five minutes to make sure I have what I need to get some food on the table. Once again, I am trying to use things up. Hate throwing up random remnants of food in the fridge. I also like dinner to be stretched to lunch the next day.

In the mood for curry. I scrambled together the spices, set up some Basmati on the stove, and peeked in the fridge. Like some divine presence, I found cabbage, carrots, onions, garlic, and chickpeas all ready to go.

Came up with this:

Cabbage & Chickpea Curry
Ingredients:

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tbsp ginger, chopped
1 ½ cups cooked chickpeas (mine were from a can)
3 cups cabbage, shredded (or you can use the bagged mix)
2 carrots, shredded
1 tsp mustard seeds
1/2 tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1 tsp sweet curry powder
1 green chillies, seeds removed and chopped
1/2 cup vegetable broth (optional)
salt

In a large saute pan, heat the oil. Saute the onions. garlic, and ginger. Cook for 4 minutes.

Add in the spices and continue to cook for a couple minutes.

Add in the cabbage, carrot, chickpea mixture. Cook for 10 minutes. Stir every so often. I chose to add some vegetable broth, but it is not necessary...I just like my curries to be a little saucy so the rice can soak up the yumminess.

Sample a bite or two from the pan. (I promise - I won't say a word).

Serve over Basmati rice.

Enjoy!

Asparagus Mushroom Risotto

2010-03-07T16:50:00.000-08:00

Just about any evening of the week, you will find me scrambling in the kitchen, opening and shutting cupboard doors, in search of the perfect meal. I try and set a meal plan in the beginning of the week, but the plans always change. Anything labeled as dinner, must come together in less than 30 minutes. I just don't have time for more than that. Shabbat and Sundays are the exception to the norm.

A couple weeks ago, someone at work boasted that he was making some risotto later that night for his "someone special." Can't remember if it was a birthday or a Valentines thing, but the idea of risotto, had me salivating. I picked up some arborio rice, just thinking of diving in to some of that comfort food. Of course, I wasn't thinking of what actually goes in to making it. The other factor being that the way I want to eat it, is not equal to the way the kids would ever eat it. I put my risotto dreams aside and continued on.

Looking at my dinner options today, I was set on salmon and brussel sprouts, but needed a starch. An almost empty bottle of white wine and a smattering of baby bella mushrooms looked out at me from the fridge wanting to be turned into something tasty. The light bulb clicked and I decided on the risotto.

So it became - asparagus mushroom risotto.

Asparagus Mushroom Risotto

Ingredients:

2 tbsp. butter
1 tbsp. olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onions onions or shallots (I had 3 good size shallots to use up)
3 or 4 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 cup dry white wine
3 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup cream
sliced baby bella mushrooms
chopped asparagus (better to use fresh, I had some frozen that I wanted to use up)
parmesean - be generous with it
salt
pepper - I used the TJ's lemon pepper grinder - a few generous twists

In a pot, heat the butter and olive. Don't let it burn. Throw in the onions and garlic. Saute for 3-5 minutes until transluscent. Add in the rice. Let it cook a few minutes. Keep stirring.

Stir in the white wine. Stir. Let the wine get asorbed. Stir in 1/2 cup of the broth. Keep stirring.
Let it get absorbed. You starting to see a theme? Good. Keep stirring.

As the broth gets absorbed, keep stirring and stir in some more broth, bit by bit, until the risotto is done. Stir in the cream. Let it get absorbed.

Shred and stir in the parmesean cheese. Keep stirring. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Cranberry Almond Biscotti

2010-03-07T14:12:00.001-08:00

I know, I know. I have been neglecting this blog. It's been over 6 months! Crazy! My apologies for not sharing any cooking nuggets here. I have been on a blog hiatus. Haven't been reading too many blogs either.

If you didn't already know, Passover is coming in a few weeks. For various reasons, I have chosen to stay home for Passover, for the first time ever. I don't know what I will miss more; my mother's brisket, the fun sing-songy seder, or the fact that someone else is taking care of the whole Passover process for me.

With Passover forcing itself into my life, I am trying to make sense of my house, especially the kitchen. Trying to use things up. It's embarassing what you find, when you actually take a look at the pantry and the various cupboards. Won't spare you all the details, but the 3 half bags of flour, 2 unopened containers of baking powder (to add to the 2 opened containers), and countless half-used bags of chocolate chips. These items call out to me to somehow get used.

While browsing the aisles at Trader Joe's this morning, I decided that I should try to make biscotti. The various dried fruit and the various half-used baking supplies at home spoke to me. More specifically, the orange flavored dried cranberries at TJ's. They made me curious. Without a real plan, I tossed them in to the cart, paid, and hurried home to try and hash out a recipe.

I came up with this:

Double Chocolate Cranberry Almond Biscotti
Ingredients

2 sticks of butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup slivered toasted almonds
1/2 cup dried cranberries

Directions:

Preheat oven to 365. Cream together the sugar and butter. Beat in the cocoa and baking powder. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Mix in the flour. Slowly mix in the chocolate chips, almonds, and craisins. It comes together pretty fast in the mixer.

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let it chill for around 10 minutes. On a parchment lined cookie sheet, split the dough in to two logs.

Bake for 20-22 minutes.

Lower oven temperature to 300. Cool on a wire rack for 10-15 minutes. Slice into 1/2 inch slices. Let sit for another 15 minutes.

Bake for 9 minutes. Cool. Enjoy!

Lemon Basil Cupcakes with a Lemon Glaze

2009-07-26T12:14:00.001-07:00

I had an itch to bake something sweet the other day. Usually when that happens, I mull the idea in my head for hours. Potentially annoyed with the forseeable mess to clean up, I give up the thought at 11pm and go to bed. I really wanted to play in the kitchen though, and I knew that the cleaning lady was coming the next day - so I felt a little bit better about any kitchen experimenting I planned to do.

The basil in my garden is usually reserved for pesto, and a few savory kitchen exploits here and there. While thinking about a lemon basil cream sauce I have made, I got to thinking that maybe basil and lemon could go well together in a cake. Lightbulb moment I tell ya. The cupcakes were yummy, with a very subtle hint of basil. Almost too subtle. Next time, I may use a little more basil or a little less lemon. It was fun playing in the kitchen though.

Lemon Basil Cupcakes with Lemon Glaze

Cake:

2 sticks butter, softened
1 1⁄2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1⁄2 teaspoon salt
4 large eggs
1 cup milk
3 tsp vanilla extract or paste
2⅔ cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup basil, chopped

zest of two lemons

Glaze:

1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoon milk

1 tablespoon lemon juice

2 teaspoons lemon zest

Preheat oven to 350. Mix all the cake ingredients in a large bowl. Divvy up in to the cupcake pans. Bake for around 15-20 minutes, or until cupcakes are done. While the cupcakes are cooling, get to work on the glaze.

To make the glaze, just whisk everything together.

When everything is cooled down, drip the glaze over the cupcakes. Enjoy!

Is it a Frittata? A Casserole?

2009-07-26T09:22:00.000-07:00

Whatever you call it, it was good. It was something I came up with when dealing with that "must cook dinner" crunch time one evening after work. I have to admit, I have been very lazy with dinner this summer. On nice days, I sit outside with the kids and play until 7pm, when I realize that these kids should probably eat at some point. On the rainy days, I end up running errands. Go figure.

I grabbed whatever random veggies I had languishing in the fridge, and got to work. It turned out amazingly good.

Zucchini/Mushroom/Leek Suprise
Ingredients:

2 medium size zucchini - sliced in thin rounds
1 medium sized yellow squash - sliced thin
2 leeks - sliced thin
handful baby bella mushrooms, sliced thin
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 cup panko crumbs
handful of fresh thyme, chopped
handful of fresh basil, chopped
1 cup of shredded cheese (mozarella and provolone work)
1/3 cup olive oil (good stuff)
3 eggs
salt
pepper
parmesean

Mix everything together in a big bowl and dump into a 9x13 pan. Sprinkle a couple drops of olive oil and parmsean cheese on top and bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for around 40 minutes. Serve with a salad. Enjoy!

Morningstar Farms, What did you do?

2009-06-04T15:50:00.001-07:00

I don't normally write product reviews for the blog, but after buying two new products, I just had to.

Whenever new phony meat products debut in the stores, I feel the need to quickly buy and sample. I like having these convenience foods on hand for the nights that I have crazy schedules. I haven't had too many awful experiences. Until now.

I was recently at Shoprite, when I saw Morningstar Farm's answer to the ubiquitous McRibs sandwich and then their take on some sort of Jimmy Deanesque maple flavored sausage. Aside from the kosher aspect, I now know why I have never eaten the treifed up versions. These stuff is awful. Upon pulling the "ribz" out of the box and microwaving as per the instructions, I was struck by the whole goop factor. I still gave it the benefit of the doubt. J and I sat down with a tortilla and "rib" and got to work. After one bite we had enough.

Now on to the maple flavored sausages patties. Never again. Even my younger daughter who eats everything she can chew - she wouldn't touch these sausage patties. The smell alone...it smelled like I had spilled a bottle of fake maple syrup product all over my kitchen floor. I am forever disappointed that Morningstar Farms has decided to venture to the dark side. They should have left well alone with the Grillers and nuggets, but damn that adventurous streak of theirs.

BBA Challenge #3: Bagels

2009-06-03T19:15:00.000-07:00

I was debating whether or not to post this challenge. I already made bagels a while ago for the blog. These bagels didn't come out as planned, so I was a bit embarassed to post them. Alas, this is the Bread Baker's challenge. Not all recipes will come out as intended. The challenge is to create and share. As far as the flop, I know where I flopped. I overproofed and underglutenized the dough. This flop should not happen again. The bagels didn't taste bad - they just weren't right.

This bagel recipe is quite different and a bit more complex than what I posted a month or so ago. This bagel is intended to be a two-day adventure. You start the process in the early evening hours, and finish up in time for breakfast the next morning.

You start with a sponge made up of high gluten flour, yeast, and water. The sponge will grow and grow, and keep growing until it's ready to be used.

You then mix up the rest of the ingredients, including the special barley malt syrup. This dough should get stiff.

You must knead the dough well. Helps the dough and helps you get a good workout at the same time.

Divide the dough into 4oz. balls of dough for the bagels and let them rest a bit.

Poke the holes in the bagels and let them rest a bit, but not too long, so as not to overproof.

Do a "float test" on the bagel. You are checking to see if the bagels are ready to go to sleep in the fridge for the night. If they float, you cover the formed raw bagels and stick them in the fridge. Clean up a bit and go to sleep.

In the morning, you are ready to get going again. Get your oven preheated, and the pot of water with malt syrup and/or baking soda added, ready to boil your bagels. While you wait on the oven and the water, have some coffee.

Boil the bagels for 1-2 minutes per side, then add your toppings, and then in to the oven they go for 10 minutes.

Let them rest for a bit to cool down. Enjoy!

Stay tuned for BBA#4 - Project Brioche

Italian Sausage and Mushrooms Over Creamy Polenta

2009-05-25T17:12:00.000-07:00

Tonight was the kind of night where I looked up at the clock and noticed that it was almost 6pm and I had no idea what to make for dinner. Oops. To my credit, nobody was famished. Everyone more of less grazed throughout the early afternoon. Lunch didn't happen at a normal time. Dinner wasn't really expected, but it was assumed that it would happen eventually.

Looking around, I saw that I had a few things that needed to be used up. Looking at an almost empty bag of coarse ground cornmeal. It seemed like a perfect night for polenta. I usually buy those tubes of prepared polenta at Trader Joes and then bake them up. I wanted something a bit different tonight.

I remember going out for dinner with my parents as a tween in the Loring Park area. The restaurant doesn't exist anymore, but I still remember the food. The only thing that seemed appealing to my twelve-year-old self, when my parents explained the menu, was a polenta dish. I had never had polenta before, and there must not have been pasta on the menu. Cheese appealed to me. I remember it being served to me, very creamy and cheesy. It was some simple, awesome form of comfort food. I haven't had it served like that since. I had to make some semblance of it. Eyeing the Italian faux sausages, I decided to chop them up and saute them with mushrooms and garlic, along with some tomatoes, to serve over the creamy polenta. Dinner was perfect. We walked away from the table happy and full.

Italian Faux Sausage Mixture
Ingredients

2 tablespoons of olive oil

1 onion, chopped

8 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 package of Trader Joes Italian Faux Sausage - sliced

1 - 10 oz. package of mushrooms, sliced - I like baby bellas

1 can of diced tomatoes - I use the flavored kind

Basil, chopped

1 teaspoon oregano

salt

pepper

Polenta
Ingredients

4 cups water
salt
1 cup coarse ground corn meal
2 tablespoons butter

lemon pepper

2 tablespoons grated parmesean

2 tablespoons grated mozzarella cheese

1 tablespoon grated monterey jack cheese

2 tablespoons cream cheese

1 tablespoon ricotta

***Note: You may have noticed the odd assortment of cheeses. I was using some things up. It worked in this dish. You can play around with the cheeses.

To make the polenta:

In a small sauce pan, bring your 4 cups of water to a boil. Add salt to the boiling water. Slowly pour in the corn meal. Whisk the mixture. Add in the butter. Keep whisking. Turn the heat down to bring the corn meal mush to a simmer. Let it simmer for 10 minutes or so - whisk every so often. Before you are ready to serve, add the cheeses and spice mixture to the polenta and stir.

For the sausage mixture:

In a large saute pan, start sauteeing the onion and garlic in some olive oil. Toss in the sausage slices. Saute for 4 minutes or so. Add in the mushrooms. Saute for another 4-5 minutes. Add in the tomatoes. Saute for a bit. Let some of the liquid evaporate off. Stir in the herbs.

Spoon the polenta on to a plate. Serve the sausage mixture over the polenta. Enjoy! I know we did!

BBA Challenge: Artos Bread

2009-05-23T20:27:00.000-07:00

The second bread in the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge is the Artos bread. The Artos is a Greek Celebration bread. Traditionally, this bread is served as a Christmas bread, referred to as Christopsomos bread. In the Christopsomos version, the bread is typically studded with nuts and dried fruit, then formed into boule decorated with a pretty cross. Knowing that the family is not a huge fan of fruity, nutty bread, I chose to do the basic Artos version. The Artos is an enriched and spiced bread.

I learned how to make a poolish with this bread. A poolish is a type of a starter. You combine yeast, water, and flour and let it sit on the counter for a few hours until bubbly ripe, then transfer to the fridge for at least a day until you are ready to bake. This poolish is a precursor on the baking knowledge scale to a more traditional sourdough starter or barm.

As far as putting this bread together, it reminded me a bit of challah until the spices were added. I added cloves, cinnamon, all spice, and almond extract. I formed the bread into a boule. While baking, this bread smelled heavenly. I took it out of the oven. The thing was huge! We cut into it as soon as we could. We were both a bit underwhelmed. It wasn't a bad bread. The consistency and flavor were spot on. Just wasn't crazy. That's ok with me. It was still fun and I learned a bit.

I am excited for the upcoming BBA recipe - bagels. Peter Reinhart's bagels seem like a step up from the bagels I made a short while back. Hopefully that will fare better to our palates.

Chocolate Cookie Brownie Ice Cream

2009-05-19T19:18:00.000-07:00

I screamed for ice cream!

I used to do many product reviews. Product reviews come with free stuff. Sometimes that stuff is worth it, like 409 cleaning spray, and sometimes the free stuff sucks, like crappy drugstore makeup. Some of my coworkers will remember the endless supply of microwave popcorn that I had to test, even though I can't eat popcorn.The Cuisinart ice cream maker I received a few years ago, was definitely the upside of the whole product review era.

So this ice cream maker arrived from kitchen appliance heaven on my doorstep. I had some visions of making all sorts of cool ice cream flavors. Heck, I could be the next Ben or Jerry. The reality is that this little machine has been used maybe three times each year. We don't even buy ice cream that much. Either we eat the tub too fast, or it just sits in the freezer gathering ice crystals.

I pulled the machine out of the abyss of my pantry the other day and put the bowl in the freezer so I could make some yummy ice cream this week. I bought the cream and some whole milk. I hadn't really thought out the whole flavor thing though. I decided to wing it. I had some cookies and leftover brownies lying around. I figured that would be perfect for the stuff. I decided on chocolate "oreo" brownie ice cream with a touch of cinnamon to kick up the flavor.

The recipe is as follows:

Chocolate Cookie Brownie Ice Cream

2 cups heavy or light cream - icy cold

1 cup whole milk - icy cold

1/2 cup of sugar

1/4 cup cocoa

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla

3 big squirts dark chocolate syrup

1.5 cups smushed up oreos/sandwich cookies

1.5 cups smushed up leftover brownies

In a mixing bowl, whisk the milk, cream, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, choco. syrup, and vanilla until blended.

Pour in to the chilled bowl of your ice cream maker.

Turn the machine on. Mix the creamy mixture for around 20 minutes. When you start to see it thicken, add in the mixins. Mix for another 5-7 minutes. It will be the consistence of Carvel or other soft serve ice cream. You can sample a bowl now if you would like. It is preferable to freeze. Enjoy!

Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge (BBA) - Anadama Bread

2009-05-17T13:56:00.000-07:00

I decided to take part in the Bread Baker's Apprentice Challenge led by Nicole of Pinch My Salt. Each week we will bake a recipe from the Bread Baker's Apprentice cookbook by Peter Reinhart. We showcase our work via flickr, twitter, and the blogosphere. I am doing this as a challenge to myself. I will stick to the program and learn new skills. I will not be sharing the recipes, for the most part, just the techniques used. I encourage you to buy this book as well. You can find the book here on Google Books - many of the recipes are searchable.

Last week I baked the first bread on the list, the Anadama bread. The Anadama bread is traditional to New England. I started off the bread with a corn meal soaker, turning the corn meal into mush. I have never used or made a soaker before. These are the kinds of recipes that I have always shied away from.

I let the corn meal sit all day - mushing. When the liquid was absorbed, I began to create a yeast and flour based soaker to which the corn meal mush was added. I let the starter ferment for an hour. I then added the rest of the flour and the special ingredient - the molasses.

When I put the dough aside to let it proof, I had to keep myself from peeking under the towel. It doubled in size. I was thrilled. After shaping the loaves, I let it rise some more. Then into the oven it went. It came out perfect. I had to hold back and not eat the whole loaf.

The bread is excellent toasted with butter, or toasted with avocado and turkey. Yum. Check out #BBA on twitter if you would like to follow along with us, or just keep coming back to the blog. Stay tuned for the Artos bread coming soon!

Lentil Burgers

2009-05-10T19:23:00.000-07:00

I have been on a vegetarian dinner kick. I am usually an accidental vegetarian, but lately I have intentionally been subjecting the family to vegetarian dinners. I don't get too many complaints. A recent dinner was lentil burgers. I was inspired by a lonely bag of red lentils sitting in my pantry. They were waiting to be made into some type of dal recipe, but I had some other plans. I had a photo to go with this recipe, but it disappeared in the abyss of my computer. You will have to just trust me that they both tasted yummy and looked yummy.

I served the burgers with sweet potato fries and some brussel sprouts. Yum!

The burgers were served on a bun with lettuce, onion, and a bit of tzatziki. Yum.

The recipe is below.

Lentil Burgers

1 cup lentils
2 cups vegetable broth
1 small onion, chopped
1 egg
1/4 cup flavored bread crumbs
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tsp. thyme
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. pepper
1 tbsp. oil

Bring the broth to a boil over high heat. Add the lentils. Cook covered on low. Cook until all liquid is absorbed. Let the lentils cool.

Once cool, add the rest of the ingredients, except for the oil.

Form the burgers into burger size patties. Do not make them too thick. Let the formed patties cool in the refridgerator for 30 minutes.

Oil a fry pan. Cook the patties in the oil, about 5-6 minutes each side, or until lightly browned.

Serve as you would a burgers, as suggested above, or however you feel lentil burgers deserved to be eaten.

Enjoy!

Homemade Bagels

2009-04-26T17:22:00.000-07:00

Whenever I go back home to the midwest, bagels are at the top of the list of delicacies to bring home to the parents. Along with a list of good smelly food from Zabars, bagels rank pretty high. Maybe higher than lox even. You see, where I grew up, bagels can come in the form of the Lenders bagel, or the flavored bagels at Bruegers and Byerlys. If the bagels were only as simple as an onion and garlic bagel or a salted bagel, we would be ok. In Minnesota, bagels come in flavors like Cinnamon Streusel, Blueberry Pie, and other unmentionables. We were taught that you hoarde the precious bounty of East Coast bagels in your basement freezers and they only come out when the VIPs come for brunch.

Back when my office was in Chelsea, I had some decent bagel buying options, albeit a bit overpriced. Way downtown in the financial district, our options are slim. My options are even slimmer near my house. The one bagel place in the neighborhood, serves overpriced, raw, lead-filled bagels. They even add a toasting fee when you visit the store. Crazy stuff, right?

So I have been researching various bagel recipes. The whole boiling step always scared me away. I learned that it really is easy to make bagels. It is not much more difficult than any other bread recipe. The recipe that I am posting below, was perfect for us. It was light, but crusty and chewy and came out perfectly when toasted. It reminded me of a Toronto bagel, which is perfectly fine with me.

Bagels
Ingredients:

1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
1 3/4 cup warm water
4 cups bread flour (very important since you need to gluten to aid in the chewy factor)
1 tablespoon salt
extra sugar or honey and a pinch of baking soda for the bagel bath

1 egg for the egg wash
assorted toppings (minced onion, minced garlic, kosher salt)

In the bowl of your mixer, combine yeast, sugar and water. Let stand for 5 minutes, then stir in flour and salt. Mix dough until it comes together in a large ball and pulls away from the mixing bowl. I ended up needing to add some additional water, around a tablespoon. Turn dough onto a floured board and knead by hand for 10 minutes. The dough should be very elastic. Place dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour, or until doubled in size.

Bring a large pot of water to a gentle boil and preheat the oven to 400F. Add some sugar and/or honey and a pinch of baking soda to the water. Make sure to keep the water at a low boil.

When dough has risen, turn the dough out onto a very lightly floured surface and divide into 12 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball . Let though dough balls rest for around 15 minutes. Do not let them sit too long or they will be over-proofed and end up very flat after baking.

Now it is time to turn that dough ball into a bagel. Poke a hole through the center of the dough ball with your finger. Twirl the ring round and round a bit to stretch the hole. Let bagels rest for about 7 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, lower the bagels into the bagel bath. You can "bathe" about 3-4 bagels at a time. Boil for 2 minutes and then then flip and boil for an additional minute. Transfer the bagels to a wire rack to drain and then place them on a parchment lined baking sheet. Do this for all 12 bagels. Brush boiled bagels with lightly beaten egg and bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on a wire rack. Slice and toast to serve.

These bagels freeze well.

Herbed Lemon Tofu

2009-03-23T18:57:00.000-07:00

I have made my life easier by subscribing to RSS Feeds. Google makes it even simpler with their Google Reader. It puts all my favorite blogs in one place. No drawbacks, but some days, I can just sit and drool at the screen as I page through some of the food blogs that are sprinkled in. For most of my weekday recipes, I stalk many of the vegan and vegetarian blogs for ideas. I recently came across this tasty looking Herbed Lemon Tofu on the VegCooking Blog. It looked perfect for a simple Monday night dinner. It came out tasty. Even J loved it, and J is often pretty skeptical when it comes to tofu dinners. I served the tofu with some steamed asparagus with a lemon mustard sauce along with some basmati rice. Everything tastes better with a bit of basmati.

Herbed Lemon Tofu - (from VegCooking Blog)

Ingredients

1 package extra-firm tofu
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tsp. chopped thyme
salt and pepper, to taste
I also added a couple teaspoons or garlic paste

Preheat the oven to 475°F.

Wrap the block of tofu in paper towels and press for 10 minutes by adding weight on top. Remove the paper towels and cut the tofu into 1/2-inch-thick pieces.

Combine the remaining ingredients in a small bowl.

Add the tofu to a casserole or baking dish in a single layer, then cover with the liquid mixture, turning once to coat.

Bake the tofu for 30 to 40 minutes, or until browned, and turn once halfway through baking.

Enjoy!

Gnocchi with Basil Cream Sauce

2009-03-23T17:47:00.000-07:00

I came across some gnocchi the other day, and I decided that I must have them...I just needed to make them for a dinner. I have eaten gnocchi maybe twice in my life. When made the right way, it is really good. When made wrong, it can me a heavy, lumpy, pasty mess. Gnocchi are essentially potato/wheat dumplings. They are a heavy meal, so you don't need much to fill you up. I am determined to make my own one day. I fondly remember one Saturday afternoon with my dad in Minneapolis, watching Lidia Bastianich and her family making gnocchi. They make it look so simple. Lovely Lidia had her miniscule grandchildren working hard on the gnocchi. I wonder if I can get that sort of child labor into my kitchen. They can even pronounce gnocchi properly!

Anyhow, I decided to make the gnocchi with a basil cream sauce. I chose the basil cream sauce mainly because I scored some beautiful fresh basil at the store when I was picking up the gnocchi. The spouse is not as fond as pesto as I am...so basil cream sauce is some sort of middle ground. One day I will share the great pesto story.

Basil Cream Sauce
Ingredients

2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
5 cloves garlic, chopped

1 small onion, chopped
2 tablespoons flour
salt

pepper
1/2 cup half and half
1/2 cup milk (I used skim)
1/4 cup grated parmesean
1/2 cup baby peas

1/3 cup pesto (I whipped some up in the food processor for this, you could use store-bought)

In a sauce pan, melt the butter. Add in the olive oil. Add in the garlic and onion and saute a few minutes. Add in some salt and pepper. Stir. Stir in the flour. Whisk in the milk and cream. Keep whisking. Add in the parmsesean. Do not stop whisking! Add in the pesto and the peas. Stir, stir, stir. Turn the heat to low. Let's move on to the dumplings.

Gnocchi cooks up very quick. Do not cook until you are ready to serve. For a pound of gnocchi, heat up 4 quarts of salted water until boiling. Throw the gnocchi into the hot water. When the gnocchi floats to the top, it means they are done. Drain the gnocchi.

Plate up your dinner. Garnish with some pine nuts, basil leaves, and a good healthy dose of parmesean cheese.

Enjoy!

Morrocan Inspired

2009-03-16T19:20:00.000-07:00

Someone recently shared with me a Moroccan chicken dish recipe that is cooked in the crockpot. It sounded good, but I am not so big on crockpot cooking (even though I secretly want to be). I decided to adapt the recipe to make it on the stove and also upped the spice ante a bit as well. I was very happy with how easy it was and how well it turned out. Even my 7-year-old asked for second helpings. She ate the chicken and didn't just pick out the olives! She never asks for second helpings, unless its mac and cheese. So this was the ultimate compliment a mom could get.

Morrocan Chicken Over Couscous
Ingredients:

1 cut up chicken
salt
pepper
olive oil
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
1 tablespoon ginger paste
1 teaspoon hot pepper flakes
2 carrots, chopped, or a good handful or baby carrots, cut up
rind of one lemon
juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon turmeric
1 cup vegetable broth
1/2 cup of white wine

handful of green olives

In a large pan or dutch oven, heat up some olive oil. Add in the ginger. Saute 1 minute.

Dust your chicken with salt and pepper.

Add the chicken to the pot and brown on both sides for 5-10 minutes per side.

Add in the onions and the garlic. Cook for a few minutes. Add in the spices.

Add the lemon rind and the lemon juice. Add in the carrots.

Add the broth and the wine. Cover and cook for 45 minutes.

While the chicken is cooking, cook up the couscous. Couscous is super easy. Put the desired amount of couscous in a bowl, and the same amount of boiling water, and cover and let sit for 5-7 minutes. Fluff with a fork.

About 3 minutes before serving the chicken, toss in the olives.

Serve the chicken over the couscous. Enjoy!

Seitan Ribs

2009-03-16T18:57:00.000-07:00

I like fake meat products. I actually prefer the fake meat to the real stuff. Aside from using crumbled bits of the products in recipes, I haven't played around with them much. I definitely had never tried to make my own.

I enjoy seitan when it's made right. I used to buy the prepacked seitan, but the store stopped carrying the kind I liked. The only kind available was not the right texture and didn't absorb flavor the way I wanted it to. So I went on a seitan hiatus, unless I was in a restaurant that served it.

I have been wandering around on all sorts of vegan/vegetarian blogs recently. I noticed that many people out there are making their own seitan. It looked so easy. Some vital wheat gluten, water, and flavor, and you are good to go! There was no reason I should be paying five dollars for a small container of the stuff, when it costs maybe $2 to make a good sized batch. A few blogs mentioned making seitan ribs. I decided to start there.

Before I share the recipe, I will let you know that I did enjoy it, though the rest of the family was not blown away. I will not give up though. I do intend to play around with the seitan and am determined to get my family to eat it and like it.

Seitan Ribz from Fat Free Vegan Kitchen Blog

Ingredients:

1 cup vital wheat gluten
2 teaspoons smoked Spanish paprika
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
2 teaspoons onion powder
1 teaspoon garlic powder
3/4 cup water
2 tablespoons tahini or other nut butter
1 teaspoon Liquid Smoke
1 tablespoon soy sauce
about 1 cup of your favorite barbecue sauce

Preheat the oven to 350 and lightly spray an 8x8 baking dish with canola oil. Mix the first 5 ingredients together in a large bowl. Mix the water with the nut butter, Liquid Smoke, and soy sauce and add it to the dry ingredients. Stir to mix well and then knead lightly in the bowl for a couple of minutes.Put the dough into the baking dish and flatten it so that it evenly fills the pan. Take a sharp knife and cut it into 8 strips; then turn the pan and cut those strips in half to form 16 pieces:

Put it in the oven and bake for 25 minutes. While it's cooking prepare your grill.Remove it from the oven and carefully re-cut each strip, going over each cut to make sure that the ribz will pull apart easily later. Generously brush the top with barbecue sauce. Take it to the grill and invert the whole baking dish onto the grill (or use a large spatula to lift the seitan out, placing it sauce-side down on the grill). Brush the top of the seitan with more sauce:

Watch it closely to make sure that it doesn't burn. When it's sufficiently brown on one side, turn over and cook the other side, adding more sauce, if necessary. When done, remove to a platter and cut or pull apart the individual ribs to serve.

Aloo Gobi Masala

2009-02-23T18:17:00.000-08:00

I may have already mentioned this, but I love Indian food. My love affair with Indian cuisine began when I was in college. I don't remember eating much of it growing up in the midwest, but I dove in once in New York. My dorm was right in the center of an Indian neighborhood. I had about 6 vegetarian Indian restaurants and several spice stores to choose from. I even had a sari store or two, but I am not brave enough to figure out how to wear one properly. They are beautiful though.

I do remember the first dish I tried. It was Aloo Mutter. Since then, I have sampled many dishes, and have also had the opportunity to cook many of my favorites and play around a bit in the kitchen.

I wasn't planning on Indian food tonight. In fact, I had nothing planned for dinner. The menu popped into my as I was headed home to pick up my car, which was perfectly parked right next door to the Indian grocery store. This wonderful little store has everything I need, and they are wonderful to me. They don't mind my questions when I ask them to identify things, and they are very helpful about figuring out what is kosher around the store. Sometimes I wonder if I am the only Jewish observant person that shops in the store.

On the menu tonight was Aloo Gobi Masala, which is a curry of cauliflower, potatoes, and peas. It was so good. Lucky for me, there are tasty leftovers for me to take for lunch tomorrow. Well...lucky me, but maybe not so lucky coworkers. They have to smell my yummy lunch. Should we thank the open office floor plan gods now? On to the recipe.

Aloo Gobi Masala

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 medium onions, chopped
1 overflowing tablespoon garlic paste
1 heaping tablespoon ginger paste
2 tomatoes, chopped
1 small green chile, chopped
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon coriander powder
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1 teaspoon garam masala
1 head of cauliflower, cut up into florets
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1 potato, cubed and boiled
1/2 cup of peas
1/2 tablespoon chopped cilantro (optional)
1/4 cup half and half
Methi Leaves, for garnish

Saute the onions in oil - for around 7 minutes.

Add in the garlic and ginger paste. Saute a few more minutes. Add in the chopped tomatoes. Saute for 2 minutes. Add in the spices. Stir the mixture and cook a few minutes. Add in the cauliflower and the broth.
After 5 minutes, add in the potatoes and the peas. Cook for another 5-10 minutes. Stir in the half and half and the optional cilantro.

Serve over some rice. Garnish with the methi leaves.

Call it Hummus or Call it Sauce

2009-02-18T15:24:00.000-08:00

I regret not making more of this tasty dish. Today was another day where I came home later than expected. Rainy day, bad traffic, made for Late Mom. When I got home, I needed to come up with someone fast for dinner. Those dinner alarm bells were ringing in my kids heads, smoke pouring out their ears. I had to come up with something that would take mere minutes. I had to restrain myself from running to the nearest pizza store on the way home.

I put some water on to boil...I literally threw it on the stove, water puddling on the floor. I always have some type of pasta in the pantry. What to serve with the pasta to up the healthy factor. Chopped up salad veggies are fine on the side. What to put on the pasta though. I wanted some protein for them, and had no time to cook up some chicken.

As I was eyeing my mini cuisinart, I decided on a white bean puree. This puree would also be good turned into a Hummus. Just omit the vegetable broth if you want to serve it as a dip.

White Bean Puree or Hummus

1 can of white beans
2 tablespoons basil, chopped
5 cloves of garlic
salt
pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1/4 cup shredded parmesean (optional)

Process the entire mixture in a food processor. Toss with warm pasta.

Enjoy!

Parmesean Crusted Tilapia

2009-02-13T08:08:00.001-08:00

When I am craving protein in the middle of the week, we usually turn to fish. We have been buying fish at some of the local Korean and Japanese markets. We find the fish to be freshest and pretty cheap. This week I had some tilapia that I wanted to use up. My only regret, was that since we bought it whole, it wasn't cut properly. I can't debone or fillet a fish for the life me. Our dinner was still tasty, but we had to eat around the bones. Next time I will buy the fillets. So much for saving a buck.

Parmesean Crusted Tilapia
Ingredients:

3/4 cup grated parmesean
1/2 cup bread crumbs
1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 tablespoons butter - softened
Juice of one lemon
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
salt
pepper
One lemon, sliced thinly
4 tilapia fillets

Preheat the oven to 425.

Mix everything except for the fish and lemon slices in a small bowl. Grease a baking pan.

Lay the lemon slices on the pan. Lay the fish over the lemon. Spread the cheese mixture over the fish.

Bake 15 minutes, or until done.

Enjoy!

Soyrizo, Chorizo, Soy Chorizo

2009-02-04T19:17:00.001-08:00

While wandering a grocery store a couple months ago, I was delighted to come across some soy chorizo. I am always seeing some interesting recipes that call for the real thing, so I was intrigued and bought a package. Having never tried the real thing, I wasn't quite sure what to expect. I do know that it is supposed to be a crumbled, oily, and spicy sausage treat. I dove in and decided to test the waters. I didn't use a recipe, I just worked with what I had in the pantry. It came out excellent. It was one of those dishes that I actually fight with my husband over the leftovers to take to work the next day. I almost always let him take the leftovers. So you know it's good.

Soy Chorizo Saute
Ingredients:

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 onion, chopped
5 cloves garlic, chopped
Soy Chorizo or the real stuff
1 can of white beans, drained and rinsed
1 can of diced tomatoes (I like the kind that has added flavor, jalapenos or otherwise)
salt
pepper
1 tsp cumin
2 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)
1/4 cup veggie broth

In a large cast iron pan or skillet, saute the onions and garlic in olive oil for 7 minutes.

Remove the chorizo from the casing and crumble into the pan. Cook over medium heat for another 5 minutes.

Add in the white beans and tomatoes. Stir into the chorizo mixture.

Add in the spices. Stir and cook for a few minutes.

Stir in the veggie broth. Let the dish simmer for another 10 minutes.

Serve over steamed rice. Yum! I will not say, "Yum-O," because that would be lame. It is good though, and it is a super easy meal for a crazy weeknight.

Potato Leek Soup

2009-02-03T18:43:00.000-08:00

Last week I picked up my younger daughter from daycare and was informed that there were some issues with her food and eating. I got all nervous. I couldn't imagine what the problem could be. I prepare her lunches. I send it to daycare. She is fed. End of story, right? Well, I was wrong. Apparently, her well-meaning teacher is concerned. She doesn't like that my daughter gets the same rendition of food each week. There is some variety, but I do admit, it is pretty predictable. The teacher was concerned that we were depriving her and decided to take matters in to her own hands. She fed my daughter some of the non-kosher, sodium-filled, school served chicken soup. There was a meeting after school discussing the events of the day. I went home with some guilty-parent syndrome. Maybe I do need to start sending some new lunch options, but what will she eat? So I am on the road to becoming a super-duper lunch maker. For the younger daughter only. The older daughter still insists on peanut butter sandwiches, cream cheese sandwiches, or pasta in a thermos. Ah Well.

Potato Leek Soup is a wonderful hearty and warm soup. It is perfect for chilly winter nights along with a salad. This soup only works when you stick to the recipe. You should never skimp by substituting the butter, or anything else for that matter. It is a very simple soup and comes together in minutes.

Potato Leek Soup
Ingredients:

4 leeks, only the whites, halved, washed, and sliced (Leeks are very sandy - wash carefully)
1 onion, chopped
2 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 stick of butter
5 medium potatoes, diced
1 carton of veggie broth, or 4-5 cups
4 cups of water
salt
pepper
2 teaspoons of marjoram

In a large pot, saute the leeks, onions, and garlic in the butter. Cook on medium-low heat for 10 minutes.

Add in the diced potatoes. Stir to coat the potatoe in some of that yummy butter.

Add in the broth, water, and seasonings.

After the soup comes to a boil, turn it to medium-low. Let it simmer for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, mash the potatoes and stir, or blend with an immersion blender to your desired consistency. I prefer the blender method.

In crafty news, I knit my first hat!

2009-02-03T18:20:00.000-08:00

I want to apologize for neglecting the blog for a bit. I have been playing nurse to the rotating sick residents in this house. The bug circulated around the office and then took a detour to my house. Lucky us.

I love soups in the winter. Soups are an easy, filling, and flavorful meal. The added bonus is that they hide nutritious veggies from my older daughter. My older daughter is a bit of a picky eater, so I need to get crafty to keep her meals vitamin-packed.

I usually have a decent supply of soup in my freezer and some ideas for soup in my mind. I find it hard to mess up soup. During my lunchtime wanderings, I peek in to the local eateries to get new ideas.

Carrot Ginger Soup with Cumin

Ingredients:

1 onion, chopped
5 cloves of garlic, chopped

1 tablespoon garlic paste

2 tablespoons ginger paste
1 tablespoon of curry paste
1 pound of carrots, sliced
1 carton of veggie broth, approximately 4 cups

3 cups water

2 tsp. cumin

2 tsp. coriander

red pepper flakes (optional)

salt
pepper

In a soup pot, saute the chopped onions, garlic, and the garlic paste. Saute for around 5-7 minutes.

Add in the ginger paste. Saute for 2 more minutes.

Add in the spices and the curry paste.

Add in the sliced carrots. Stir everything up a bit. Let it saute for another 5 minutes.

Pour in the veggie broth and the water. Cook over a medium-high flame until it starts to boil.

When it starts to boil, cover the pot and let it simmer for 30-40 minutes.

Using an immersion blender, puree the soup to your desired consistency. I like it to be mostly smooth.

It is really tasty when served with a dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream for the sinful types.

Enjoy!