Curry Cabbage and Chicken

And yet another curry. This one was inspired by the bag of chopped cabbage I received (thanks Efrat!) that day and I decided that I would try a recipe I had seen for Curry Cabbage but I would serve it with chicken and do it over egg noodles, to break up the cabbage feel and flavor a little. Overall, it was a great success and it is a recipe I would try again. I got the recipe for the cabbage from Cooking Light magazine, found on  MyRecipes.com. Of course, I tweaked the recipe a great deal, but that was my inspiration.

Curry Cabbage and Chicken over Egg Noodles

1 yellow onion, diced

1 package large cut egg noodles

1 tbsp minced ginger

8 cups Osem chicken consomme

2 minced garlic cloves

1 pound chicken breast, skinless boneless

1 shallot, diced

8 cups chopped green cabbage

2 tsp olive oil

1 tbsp whole grain mustard

I heated the oil in a large pan over medium heat. I added the shallots, onion, and garlic (super-finely chopped) and cooked until browned. I added the mustard and the curry and cooked for one minute, stirring constantly. I stirred in the cabbage and 1 cup of the chicken consomme, stirred and cooked to desired tenderness. 

While this was cooking about, I brought the rest of the chicken consomme to a boil and cooked the noodles in it. I heated another pan and placed small cut up pieces of chicken and let it cook in the pan. I added a bit of curry, mustard, and consomme (to keep it from drying out to quickly) to the chicken, and cooked it until it was finished.

I removed the noodles and placed them at the bottom of the plate, topped it with the cabbage, and finished it off with the chicken pieces. It was so tasty and the little whole grain mustard pieces were a delightfully spicy surprise each time I bit into one! It gave the whole dish a little needed crunch.

Curry Cabbage and Chicken over Egg Noodles ~340 calories per serving, recipe makes 6 servings

Vegetable Curry Pie

Having a pouch of curry powder in the house is resulting in a lot of curry based dishes. Another thing that greatly influenced my recent creation was an abundance of fresh vegetables in the house. I had some frozen pie crusts (quiche style) in the freezer, and I decided to go from there.

Please note that this recipe made 2 full pies. One was eaten and the other was frozen.

Vegetable Curry Pie
2 frozen pie crusts
3-4 golden potatoes
1 head cauliflower
1 sweet onion
3 garlic cloves
3-4 carrots
1 cup frozen peas
curry powder, to taste (I think I used about 1 tsp, I didn't measure it though)
1 tsp olive oil
5 bottles of coconut water
Cumin seed infused cheese (a light cheese, like gouda, but un-identified other than 'Cheese with Cumin')

In a large saucepan, bring the coconut water to a simmer. One at a time, giving each time to soften in the water, add the diced potatoes, chopped carrots, and chopped cauliflower. In another saucepan, brown the onion and garlic in the olive oil. Once they are browned, add the onions and garlic to the potato/cauliflower/carrot mix. Add the peas and the curry powder and allow to cook for about 10-15 minutes until nice and thick. While the vegetables are thickening, bake the pie crusts as suggested on the packaging (I did mine for 15 minutes) and then fill the pans with the vegetable mixture, top with shredded cheese and bake for 10-15 minutes, until the cheese is golden brown. Slice and serve!


Vegetable Curry Pie ~388 calories per serving, makes 8 servings in total, 4 servings in each pie.

Zucchini Eggplant Tomato Sauce over Ravioli

I can add this to the list of delicious tomato sauces I have made so far. I took one small white onion and sauteed it in a pan with olive oil until lightly brown and add about 4 small garlic cloves, minced. I added two finely chopped small zucchinis and cooked them for about 5 minutes. I added one small Spanish eggplant, finely chopped. Add a handful of finely chopped sun dried tomatoes and heat them for a few minutes before adding in a can of diced tomatoes. Season with salt and pepper, and a handful of finely chopped fresh basil leaves. Simmer sauce for a few minutes until nice and thick. This time I served it over butternut squash ravioli and smoked mozzarella ravioli, because that was what I had in the freezer from the Pastaria Seconda at the North Market in Columbus. I served it with large slices of fresh mozzarella and I let it get nice and soft before digging in.

Coconut Curry Fish with Rice Noodles over Lettuce

In the summer of 2011, my family and I went down to Emerald Isle, NC for a family vacation. On that trip, I had my first hush puppies and enjoyed some truly tasty fresh fish dishes. I had key lime pie that was to die for, and I made a long list of restaurants to visit next time we go. Well, the time is coming up soon when we  will be returning back to the beach and the biggest food item I am looking forward to most is having the opportunity to enjoy another taste of a dish I have been trying to recreate for the last year. I don't remember what the dish is actually called and I can't find the dish on their website (Oh, I sure hope it is still there!), but the name of the restaurant is California Roll Cafe. I have tried many variations of the dish, but I am getting to the point where I'm not sure what the original tasted like. Anyway, I will get it again and I will ask for tips. In the meantime, I think this version was one of the best I've made yet, so I will put it all out here now and I will make a second post that is more accurate to the actual recipe later on.


Coconut Curry Fish with Rice Noodles over Lettuce

Open a can of reduced fat coconut milk and soak a large piece of fish (hallibut works great, but so does any other white fish) for about 4-6 hours in the coconut milk. When you are ready to cook the fish, take it out of the fridge and add some fresh ground ginger, curry powder, salt & pepper and let simmer with the lid on for about 5 minutes. While it is cooking, julienne 1-2 carrots and add them to the fish, cover and simmer for about 5 more minutes. With one minute to go, add some chopped green onion so they just get soft. While all of this is happening, bring water with chicken broth (I use Osem Chicken Consomme) to a boil and add a package of rice noodles.

Take fresh lettuce, I prefer bibb because of the hearty texture and soft flavor, and create a bed with it. Place a nest of rice noodles on top of the lettuce. Place a piece of fish on top of the noodles and generously cover the dish with the coconut curry sauce used to cook the fish. I have tried it with sprouts as well, but I find it difficult to eat the whole package of sprouts before it goes bad.

Coconut Curry Fish with Rice Noodles over Lettuce ~209 calories per serving, recipe makes 4 servings.

Cherry Brie Ravioli with Honey Caramel Sauce

Once upon a time, I went to the North Market in Columbus and got a bunch of ravioli from Pastaria Seconda, and then I ate most of them and went back for more. Somehow one bag of ravioli got left by the wayside. Before Passover, I went through my fridge and freezer to clean out the chumetz and I decided it was finally time to make the ravioli. I don't know if it was because it was in the freezer too long or because that's just how the ravioli was made, but I was hoping that the Cherry Brie Ravioli would be more smooth and creamy, like brie dis. However, it wasn't, but it was still very tasty. For a sauce I thought about what I like with my brie, and I love honey with brie. I decided to make a honey caramel sauce for the brie. I put 2 tsp butter and 4 tsp honey in a small saucepan and cooked it down to a smooth caramel. Overall, it was pretty tasty!

Kiwifruit Avocado Guacamole

Twice now, we have gone to a fantastic restaurant in Cleveland called Paladar. It is a Latin Kitchen and Rum Bar and they make daily special guacamole to order. I was thinking of something to make for a party and I decided to go Paladar style and spice up some guacamole. I thought maybe something sweet could be a special mix, so I used kiwifruit. It turned out to be such a nice sweet and savory side dish, I couldn't wait to share it! Something else to be aware of is that it didn't turn brown nearly as quickly as other guacamole do. I do believe that it had to do more with the kiwifruit than with the lime juice since I didn't use much lime juice and it stayed bright green even 3 days later. To serve, I placed the guacamole in a bowl and made a ring of fresh cut tomato around the rim to give it a little color.

Kiwifruit and Avocado Guacamole
4 avocados
3 kiwifruit
2 tsp olive oil
1 small/medium lime, squeezed
salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder to taste

Mix all ingredients together to desired consistency and serve with chips or even eat with a spoon! Garlic powder could be traded for fresh minced garlic. ~125 calories per serving, recipe makes 12 servings.

Whipped Marshmallow Fluff Cups

My dear friend started having parties for the TV show Once Upon a Time on ABC, which means you should be expecting creatively themed desserts or hors d'oeuvreeach Sunday until the season is over. In this last week's episode, some interesting changes had occurred. I saw this preview at the end of last week's episode and it inspired me to make something that mirrors the change "from white as snow to dark as night." In the spirit of that, I made these: Snow White's Dark Chocolate Marhsmallow Mousse Cups.
 
The first thing I did, was I took 1 cup heavy whipping cream and whipped it up a bit. I gently added some of the mousse powder that came in the dobla Belgian Chocolate Dessert Kit, about 1/2 the package. Once it got a little thick, I added in a 7 oz. package of Jet-Puffed Marshmallow Creme and whipped it up to a thick creamy filling. I filled each chocolate cup that came in the dobla Dessert Kit with the mousse in a piping bag with the tip cut off and topped it with a little shaved dark chocolate. The idea behind the whole dessert was that Snow White was the super soft and sweet white cream mousse, and she was inside a dark chocolate cup of anger being topped with dark chocolate.  

All kinds of substitutions could be made on this recipe. For example, smaller cups could be used, such as Dobla Dark Belgian Chocolate Cordial & Toasting Cups, Kirkland Signature Belgian Chocolate Cups, or Lang Chocolates Milk Chocolate Dessert Cups. Any store bought mousse mix could be used and add it in gently until it has the desired consistency (somewhere around 4-5 tbsp) and you have the freedom to use chocolate or a fruit flavored mousse.
Snow White's Dark Chocolate Marhsmallow Mousse Cups. ~150 calories per serving, recipe makes 12 servings (which can be easily shared with someone nice! That is of course if you are able to let someone else take a nibble from yours.)

Friday Night Dinner in March

Shabbat dinner was at our house this weekend and I wanted to make something seasonal and special. I made Moroccan-Style Tilapia with Cumin, Mango and Cilantro, Marinated Heirloom Tomato Salad with Herbs, Fall Vegetable and Orzo Casserole, and Brussels Sprout Gratin. I was in such a rush after school on Friday to get it all done that I didn't get to take any pictures. However, it was all so delicious that the next time I make it all, which I will, I can take pictures then.

Brussels Sprout Gratin
2 pints (1.5 lbs) Brussels sprouts, trimmed and halved
2 tbsp butter
3 tbsp flour
2 cups skim milk
salt and pepper
5 oz Gruyere cheese, grated (about 1 cup grated)

Preheat oven to 350*, boil sprouts in water until soft (7 minutes) and strain. While the sprouts are boiling, begin making the sauce. Melt butter and flour together in saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stir until smooth and bubbly (1 minute), slowly whisk in milk and cook until thick and creamy (3 minutes) and season with salt and pepper. Lay sprouts in a baking dish and pour the sauce over the sprouts, sprinkle with cheese, and bake for 15-20 minutes until top is golden brown and bubbly. Brussels Sprout Gratin ~125 calories per serving, recipe makes 6 servings.

This little dish was so delicious! It was my very first roux and I can't believe that it was so simple and that it turned out so well. It really did taste like potatoes gratin, but better because it was made with soft green Brussels sprouts. Also in the use of the Gruyere, it is a very smelly cheese when being freshly grated, but once it is in the mix, the sharp taste gets softens out and it really does add a little umph to the dish.

Moroccan-Style Tilapia with Cumin, Mango and Cilantro
4 tilapia filets
salt and pepper
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp coriander
1tsp olive oil
2 ripe mangoes
1/4 cup chopped cilantro

This recipe calls for a pan fry, but I popped it into the oven at 350* for about 15 minutes. Before I did that, I oiled the pan. To prepare the fish, I gave it a quick rinse with water, patted it down, and rubbed it with a salt/pepper/cumin/coriander mixture. I placed the fish on the pan and put it in the oven. While it cooked, I diced the mangoes and cilantro, mixed them together, and placed it in the fridge to chill. Top the tilapia with the mango salsa just before serving. ~200 calories per serving, recipe makes 4 servings.

This dish, much like most of my other dishes, was a little under-seasoned. I am still afraid, after all this cooking, to add more spices just because I don't know how they are going to turn out! However, even with that, the cool mango salsa on top was so refreshing against the spices of the fish, that it was a spot on recipe. I think the only thing that might have made it a little more delightful would be a little splash of fresh lime in the salsa.

Marinated Heirloom Salad with Herbs
5-6 Heirloom tomatoes, of varying colors
1/2 red onion, finely chopped
3 tbsp olive oil
2 tsp Due Vittorie Famiglia, balsamic vinegar (thanks Josh!!)
fresh ground salt and pepper
handful fresh parsley, chopped
10 large basil leaves, chopped

Largely dice the tomatoes, chop the onions, mix together in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix together the olive oil, vinegar, salt and pepper. Fold in the parsley and basil, chill until ready to serve. ~70 calories per serving, recipe makes 6 servings.

I do know that most people don't use heirloom tomatoes because they are more expensive, but they are very flavorful and don't have so many seeds inside to make the salad very soft. Heirloom also comes in red, orange, yellow, and green which makes the salad very colorful if you get a mixture of it all. I was so enjoying the fantastic taste of it all, but especially the vinegar. The Due Vittorie Famiglia website says about this vinegar: "In an elegant spherical cruet, it consists of a condiment with a round flavour, a velvety consistency and a unique clarity." Whatever that means, it is a sweet and savory flavor, thick and delicious!

Martha's Fall Vegetable and Orzo Casserole
I made Martha Stewart's recipe, just the way it was written. I decided not to copy the entire recipe here since it is fairly lengthy. ~226 calories per serving, makes about 12 servings as a side dish.

This recipe was so delicious, and it made a great side dish. I am sure that I would be able to make seasonal orzo casseroles that are based on this recipe an I am excited to try! This was even delicious as leftovers, topped with My Most Delicious Meatball ~200 calories per serving, recipe makes 4 servings. ~426 when served as a main dish together with one serving of the orzo and one serving of the turkey meatballs.

I enjoyed this recipe so much and it's a good thing because I have had at least one serving each day since Friday when I made it. The sage made me excited for my herb garden to start up this summer because I always have sage growing on the balcony!

Pasta with Spinach Pesto

Thinking about vegetables and wanting a very green dinner, I went for pasta with a spinach pesto. Fortunately, I made enough that we ate it for three nights.  It was super simple and it had enough spinach to make Popeye proud! To top it all off, it was so simple, which was exactly what I was looking for.

Pasta with Spinach Pesto
1 package of spaghetti or angel hair
2 bags of spinach (1 bag can be used for a less spinach-y dish)
3 garlic cloves
2 tsp olive oil
1 tbsp toasted pine nuts
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper

Boil pasta, do not rinse, transfer to large bowl. Place all other ingredients into the food processor and puree. Mix all ingredients together and fold into pasta. Top with fresh grated Parmesan cheese. May also top with chopped with sun dried tomatoes and toasted pine nuts.

We ate it for 2 nights before deciding to spice it up a little with the sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts. I do admit, it was much better with the tomatoes, as most things are.

Pasta with Spinach Pesto: ~265 calories per serving, recipe makes about 6 servings.
With 1/4 cup sun dried tomatoes and 1/2 tbsp toasted pine nuts: ~328 calories

Tikka Masala with Tofu and Halloumi Cheese

Tikka Masala with Tofu and Halloumi

I used Seeds of Change Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce as my shining star tonight at dinner. I had imagined using the sauce with pan fried tofu and halloumi cheese, served over a nest of rice noodles.

Tikka Masala with Tofu and Halloumi Cheese, serves 4 as a main course
8oz Rice Noodles (1 package)
1 full jar Seeds of Change Tikka Masala Simmer Sauce
14oz Extra Firm Tofu
1 package (9 slices in a solid block) Halloumi Cheese, cubed

Lightly fry the tofu in cubes. Add the cubed halloumi cheese for a minute to heat it up before adding the simmer sauce. While they are cooking, bring a pot of water to a boil and cook the rice noodles, drain, and build nests on the plate. Add the simmer sauce to the tofu and cheese, cover and simmer for 10 minutes. Serve on top of the bed of noodles.

The sauce had a nice sweet tomato flavor to it and a very mild heat, which is good for me. I think that I had a really good idea and I was really happy that it all worked out just as I had planned. It was my first time making something with halloumi cheese, as I have only every had it grilled in restaurants. At least I know I have had it, but honestly, I can't remember and I was a bit nervous opening the package as I didn't remember how it tasted.

I almost feel like a real chef who can come up with my own recipe ideas. Now, I just have to learn how to make my own Tikka Masala sauce. I can't imagine that it would be too difficult, but I just have to give it a try one day.

Tikka Masala with Tofu and Halloumi Cheese: ~600 calories per serving, recipe makes 4 servings as a main course with no other sides.

Wednesday's Lemonade Cupcakes

It's Girl Scout cookie season!! You know what that means? Cookie cupcakes! Not only do I love Girl Scout cookies, but I love thinking about the great joke in The Addams Family Values. It was a classic dialogue when the Girl Scout tells Wednesday that she will trade a box of her cookies for a glass of lemonade so long it is made from real lemons, to which Wednesday replies, "Are they made from real Girl Scouts?." In Wednesday's honor I shall call these Wednesday's Lemonade Cupcakes.

I made the decision to use the brand new Savannah Smiles cookies for my first new cupcake. Can I just tell you all how awesome they turned out? The cookie itself is crunchy and lemony, and are covered in powdered sugar. I went with a lemon glaze instead of a frosting this time because I knew that I wanted to put half of a Savannah Smile on top of each cupcake before dusting them with powdered sugar, just like the cookies.

Wednesday's Lemonade Cupcakes, makes 12 cupcakes
1/2 cup butter (1 stick), softened
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cups flour
1/4 cups crumbled Savannah Smiles cookies, about 4-5 cookies, flour-like texture
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/4 cup skim milk

3/4 tsp vanilla extract

Lemony Glaze
1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp powdered sugar
fresh lemon zest
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp boiling water

Preheat oven to 350* and prepare 12 cupcake liners. Cream together butter and sugar. Once combined add eggs, vanilla, and milk. In a separate bowl, mix together flour, cookie crumble, baking powder, and salt. Mix lightly until combined, about 2-3 minutes on low. Spoon into cupcake pan and bake for 20 minutes. Let cool before topping.

While baking, mix glaze ingredients together into a small pan (I have a one-egg frying pan that I used, but the 2-cup pot would probably work well too). Simmer on medium heat and stir to combine all ingredients. Let heat and thicken, being careful not to boil over or burn. Remove from the heat and let cool, being sure to stir often to keep the cooling consistent throughout the liquid.

Once cupcakes have cooled, spoon desired amount of cooled glaze to the top of one cupcake at a time, placing the halved cookie piece on top. Finish with powdered sugar. Eat and enjoy!

Savannah Smiles Cupcakes: ~180 calories per cupcake, recipe makes 12 cupcakes

Trying Indian & Lebanese

I pulled out "The World of Street Food: Easy Quick Meals to Cook at Home" by Troth Wells today to plan what I was going to make for the week. I decided on two similarly flavored (I had hoped, and I was right) dishes and I served them both with naan. It was pav bhaji from India and batata bil kizbara from Lebanon. Basically, the pav was a cauliflower curry and the batata was potatoes with seasoning. I changed the recipes a little bit and I will write the recipe as I did it, not as the recipe was published.

 Thanks Joe for the super awesome cookbook!

Pav bhaji, makes 8 servings
2 tbsp butter

Indian & Lebanese with Naan

1 large yellow onion, diced
1 medium green bell pepper, diced
4 cloves garlic, chopped
4 medium tomatoes, chopped
1 cup potatoes, diced
1 whole head cauliflower florets, about 2 cups
2 carrots, chopped
1/2 cup thawed frozen peas
1/2 tsp turmeric (I didn't have any, but I intent to next time, so I used saffron and mustard powder and it was pretty good)
1 tbsp curry powder

Indian Pav bhaji

salt and pepper (about 1/2 tsp in total)
1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

Melt butter in large pan, cook onion and pepper until soft, add garlic and cook for a few minutes. Add tomatoes for 10 minutes and parboil the potatoes, cauliflower, carrots, and peas in a small amount of water at the same time. Drain vegetables and keep the water on the side. Add the vegetables to the tomato mixture with the spices in it. As the vegetables are cooking, add the parboil water a little at a time until a thick broth is in the pan. Serve with cilantro on top.

Lebanese Batata bil kizbara

Batata bil kizbara (I doubled the amount of potatoes but not everything, but I see now that I should have), makes 6 servings
2 lbs potatoes, cubed
4 cloves garlic
1/2 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp coriander
1 tbsp toasted sesame seeds
4 tbsp cilantro
lemon wedges
oil salt

Parboil the potatoes until fork tender. Heat oil in a large frying pan and fry potato. Add garlic, paprika, coriander, sesame seeds, and 3 tbsp of the cilantro. Season with salt and serve with 1 tbsp cilantro and serve with lemon wedges.

Pav bhaji: ~120 calories per serving, recipe makes 6 servings
Batata bil kizbara: ~80 calories per serving, recipe makes 8 servings

Fried Poached Eggs over Salami Potato Hash

Saturday morning, I made something totally special, since it was after all- the weekend. I had been thinking about salami and eggs, but I wanted to do something a little more special than just scrambled eggs with fried salami in it. I had thought back to the episode of 5 Ingredient Fix with Claire Robinson and the episode when she makes Deep Fried Poached Eggs, and I thought to myself: I can do that! I decided to make a potato and leek hash with salami. I plated it with the eggs resting on tip and I was oh so proud of it all.

Not the most clear picture, but a delicious breakfast!

After poaching eggs to taste (I like mine super runny), dry them off on paper towels. Dust the poached eggs in flour, roll in beaten eggs, coat with panko (with salt and pepper) and fry eggs in a heavy saucepan with hot fry-ready pan oil. Take the eggs out of the oil and rest them on paper towels. Meanwhile, I sautéed 1 leek in a small amount of olive oil, add softened (by microwave, but boiling would be fine too) diced potatoes and diced salami (I used lean Hebrew National). Season with salt and pepper.



The eggs were runny inside and crispy on the outside. I was so happy with them. My poaching skills need to get better but I think there is hope for me. I heard that if you put a bit of white vinegar in the water that it causes the egg whites to cling together. I knew that there was also something about swirling the water, but I didn't quite get it right. I am sure I will only get better so I am not worried. Eventually I will be a poaching champion!


In other news, I got an app where I can put recipes together and it will tell me the calorie count of each meal, so if I put it in I will add it to the bottom of my posts. I can't promise accuracy, but I can try!


Fried Poached Eggs over Salami Potato Hash: ~400 calories in total, ~200 calories in the poached eggs.

Spring Leek Hash with Polenta and Cheese

Hash & Polenta

Leek & Pepper Hash

In my latest edition of Vegetarian Times, there was a recipe that looked so interesting and simple, I knew I just had to try it. The recipe only had one slight variation where in it originally called for goat cheese and even though I love it, Nathan doesn't. It was so simple, the most complex part was the slicing and dicing, which I love. I sauteed 3 leeks (finely sliced), 1 red pepper (finely sliced) and 2 tbsp fresh thyme (the recipe called for 1 tbsp in the dish and 1 tbsp on top, but I decided to put it all inside). The recipe also called for red pepper flakes, but we didn't have any. In the end, Nathan solved this the problem the same way he usually does: sriracha sauce. Once the veggies were nice and bright, about 10 minutes, I added in 1/4 cup vegetarian chicken broth and 4 minced cloves of garlic (the recipe called for 3 and two were a little small, so I brought it up to 4). I moved the veggies into a Pyrex pan, covered it with thick sliced polenta, topped it off with finely shredded cheese and baked it at 400* for 10 minutes. I can't remember the name of the cheese, but it was a mildly sharp white cheese. It had a bit of a fruity nutty taste to it as well.

Baked Polenta with Cheese

All in all it was a deliciously flavorful, salt free, low fat, vegetarian dinner. I wonder what it would have tasted like with a great goat cheese. I have also been a little proud of myself the last few recipes using peppers. I do love peppers, especially red, orange, and yellow peppers. However, I don't like them hot (temperature wise), and especially not roasted. I usually steer clear of recipes with peppers but I decided to stop doing that, and they were surprisingly fantastic in this dinner, and even in my tomato soup last week.

Hand Blender

Just a quick little post to share how excited I am about my newest kitchen toy! I got a Cuisinart SmartStick Hand Blender today and I can't wait to use it. I decided that I wasn't going to make another soup until I got one, because transferring soup from a pot to a food processor and back to a pot again is so difficult and messy. Unfortunately, I am determined to make a new recipe for broccoli and spinach soup this week that I needed to get it sooner rather than later. So I did! I can't wait to give it a try!

Breakfast Squares

Breakfast Square Assembly Steps

Folded Breakfast Square

With breakfast being my favorite meal of the day, I like to have an awesome breakfast even when I don't have the time. My solution to this comes at quite a price of time and cash, but it is well worth it. Being a vegetarian, I had to find a solution that didn't involve real meat, and being a health conscientious type of person, I like to know what is in my food. I came up with a solution that is similar to the Pillsbury Toaster Scrambles. What I do first is I take the low fat Pillsbury crescent rolls dough, which comes in a sheet of 8 triangles, and separate them out into four rectangles. I place some scrambled eggs in the center of one half and top it off with one piece of MorningStar Farms Veggie Bacon and half a piece of American cheese. I fold the roll over and pinch it shut. I bake the squares at 350* for 10 minutes, flipping half way through. After they have cooled, I stick them in the freezer, separated by parchment paper. When it comes time to defrost them, I like to pop it in the microwave for 30 seconds and then flip it over for another 30 seconds. That way, I can be sure that the inside is entirely warmed. I put the square in the toaster on low and then flip it over for another go on low. It is a lot of work for an even cook, but it really is worth it.

Cracked Eggs

When I make my squares, I like them to be worth my time and I do what I can to make them last a long time. I start with 12 Pillsbury crescent roll tubes, 2 packages of American cheese with 12 slices each, 24 eggs, and 48 pieces of veggie bacon. I really get a great assembly line together when it comes time to start putting them together and they get more efficient each time I make them. This makes 48 breakfast squares, and I like to add some chipotle powder for Nathan in a batch, and then I sprinkle a little on top. He likes a little kick in his food.

Dill Salmon, Potatoes, & Wine Brussels Sprouts

A Dilly Dinner

Feeling the cold of winter can sometimes make me feel lonesome for the summertime. In the summer, my Yaya (grandmother) makes her famous potato salad with dill, onions, and capers. My summer is literally not complete if I don't get my potatoes. Sometimes I try to replicate her recipes, but they are never the same, naturally. For dinner on Thursday, I got some fabulous looking salmon and decided to give a simple dill salmon a try. I cooked the salmon very simply with salt, pepper, olive oil, and fresh dill (I put the dill on after it had been in a 350* oven long enough to not be entirely raw). Once I was sure that the fish was just right, I took it out to serve.

Brussels Sprouts Cooking in Wine

Dill Potatoes

Side dish #1 was dill potato salad. I used white fingerling potatoes and I boiled them until fork tender. I tossed them with olive oil, sea salt, dill, and some pepper. Side dish #2 was Brussels sprouts with wine. I sauteed them with olive oil until slightly browned and then added Riesling and reduced the wine quite a bit. I added the Melting Pot Wine Seasoning. As a whole dish, I found it all to be quite delicious. My favorite part was definitely the potatoes. I know they will be just as awesome reheated, or even cold.

Slow-Cooked Buttery Leeks

I'm still working on my Spanish cooking, and tonight was a success in creativity and recipe following. Like I mentioned before, Spanish food is not for a quick dinner. I was thinking about it today, and the Spanish people really do seem to be the slow cooked type. When we were in Barcelona for our honeymoon this summer, nothing was open before 11am and nothing closed before 3am. It seemed to be the type of place where people took their time to get the best flavor out of life, and I am noticing that in the food.

Buttery Leeks & Spanish Couscous

For dinner tonight, I made Puerros Cocidos, Slow-Cooked Buttery Leeks. They were so incredible that I literally felt like the leeks were filled with butter, which they almost were.

Cut the roots and green tops off leeks (the recipe called for 6 small leeks, but I used 3 large ones), and cut them into ~3 inch stalks. Sautée 1/3 cup of olive oil in a saucepan and lightly brown 4 sliced garlic cloves. Add 5 bay leaves and the leeks to the oil, laying them flat in the pan. Add 2/3 cups white wine (we used Riesling), 5 tbsp butter, enough warm water to almost cover the leeks, and a pinch of salt. Bring to a quick boil and then return to low heat and simmer covered for 45 minutes. Remove the leeks and then reduce the sauce.

Buttery Leeks & Spanish Couscous

In the meantime, I made some couscous with flavors inspired by the recipes I had read about. I toasted my Israeli couscous, which really gives the couscous a nice nutty taste to it. I added the water and simmered until cooked thoroughly. I added dried thyme, paprika, cumin, and smoked salt to the mix. I served the leeks on top of a pile of couscous and put some of the leek sauce on top. The words melt-in-your-mouth don't even describe how incredibly soft and buttery the leeks were.

Playing with Poached Eggs

Cheesy Grits with Poached Eggs

I was watching one of my favorite cooking shows, 5 Ingredient Fix with Claire Robinson. She has brunch episodes sometimes and I watched a recorded episode where she made deep fried poached eggs over heirloom tomatoes. They were breaded and then rolled in panko before being lightly deep fried and they looked so good. I will try them another day, but yesterday morning I went for a slight variation of one of our favorite weekend breakfasts. I made cheesy grits with a soft poached egg on top. It was quite the treat. Even though I don't know how to poach eggs in water and I use silicone poaching pods that you put in boiling water because I'm a cheater.

This afternoon as I was deciding what to make for dinner, I took out Rustica and started to make some decisions. One thing that I noticed is that Spanish home cooking is a slow process. Most recipes cook for 30 minutes to 90 minutes. I did let my short ingredient list rule fly out the window to try this recipe out. The recipe was called Sopa De Tomate Al Camino, Tomato and Cumin Soup. Here was the recipe (with my slight variations):

Spanish Tomato and Cumin Soup

Heat some olive oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add 1 red onion (diced) and a pinch of salt and cook until translucent. Add 1 chopped red pepper and 2 fine sliced garlic, turn heat to low, cover and cook for ~40 minutes. Stir in 2 lbs diced fresh tomatoes and 2 cups of water and simmer for 30 minutes. Add 2 tsp superfine sugar, 1/2 tsp of paprika and 1/2 tsp of cumin. The recipe called for smoked paprika and sea salt, but I could only find regular paprika so I used what I could and used my North Market Spices smoked salt instead. I think this gave me the desired flavor. I used about 1 tsp of the smoked salt. After the soup had cooked for a while, about 15 minutes, and ran the soup through a food processor. After returning the soup to the pan and heating to a simmer, I added the eggs. Crack the eggs in a bowl and slide them into the pan along the edges and the eggs poach in the soup, giving them a delicious consistency and flavor. Poach for about 3 minutes for runny eggs (just the way we like them!) and gently spoon the eggs into the bowls. Ladle in the soup and serve with toasted baguette slices. The whole thing was awesome, but breaking the poached eggs in the soup gave it such a fantastic eggy taste that just can't be beat! I also know that I need to get a hand immersion blender because pouring things into the food processor and then back into the pan is too much of a pain.

Spanish Inspired Broth

I know that the chefs all say not to be afraid of spices, but I am still a little afraid. Especially since I am still unfamiliar with most of the spices. The paprika was complete unfamiliar to me, never used it before in my life. The cumin is still slightly unfamiliar to me, I have only used it in one other recipe before and I under-spiced then too. One of these days I will be comfortable with spices and I won't under-spice. Cooking with salt is a new experience for me too since I don't tend to do it very much.

Spanish Inspired Tilapia

Also for dinner, I made a Spanish inspired tilapia. I took some flavors that I read about in my cookbook and made up this recipe:
Make a broth with 1/2 cup water, 2-3 bay leaves, 1/4 tsp paprika, 1/4 tsp smoked salt with garlic, sprinkle of garlic powder and onion powder. I cooked the tilapia in the broth for 5 or so minutes, until cooked through, flipping once.

Dinner was so good that Nathan couldn't stop telling me about it. He said I could charge for it ;)

Thyme Brie Alfredo

Thyme Brie Alfredo

What do you do with leftover pasta and a block of Brie? Alfredo! My friend Efrat got me Barilla Piccolini Mini Pipe Pasta with Carrots and Squash for Hanukkah and we had cooked it up on Tuesday or Wednesday, and it was so good! With the leftovers I sautéed it up in a pan with butter, melted in Brie, added a bit of milk to cream it out, added some dried thyme, salt, and pepper. I was thinking it would be more like macaroni and cheese and to my great delight it turned out to be Alfredo! It was so good and all the sauce got into the pasta since they were like large macaroni noodles. This is a makeshift fridge cleaner recipe that totally worked out!

In other news, I finally got a small set of (dairy) China yesterday. They are beautiful and I cannot wait to have people over for a dairy meal! I also got a new book about herbs- growing them, keeping them, cooking with them. When I get a chance to go through them all I will post about it. I also heard about a book called "Cooking for Geeks" that sounds so interesting that I am adding it to my list of books to get!

Almond Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Almond Vanilla Bean Cupcakes with Chocolate Frosting

Tomorrow night is a pot-luck dinner at our synagogue and having a wonderful last name that starts with 'C' means that I get to bring dessert! This is absolutely perfect because I have been waiting to try a new recipe lately, but I was waiting for a good reason. I also have been dying to use my new cupcake tool, and tonight was the night! First things first: the cupcakes...

Vanilla Bean & Almond

1 cup softened butter
1 cup sugar
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk (I used a half&half/skim milk mix)
1/4 tsp ground vanilla bean powder from North Market Spices
1 tsp almond extract

Beat all ingredients in electric mixer for 3 minutes or until smooth. Spoon into cups and bake for 20 minutes at 350*. Remove from the pan and cool on cooling rack before frosting.

Baked Vanilla Bean Almond Cupcakes

I decided to use the ground vanilla bean powder to mellow out the almond flavor and to give the cupcakes these delightful little brown speckles. Coming at $9.99/oz, I didn't want to use too much of it and I also haven't used it yet so I wasn't sure how strong it was. It smelled pretty strong, but I am happy with the amount I used. You can really taste the almond flavor but it isn't overpowering and you can taste hints of vanilla in the cupcake.

Cupcake Batter Dispenser

Tonight, I had the pleasure to use my brand new Chicago Metallic Baking Essentials Cupcake Dispenser, and it was awesome! The batter comes out slow enough that I have control of it but not so slow that it drives me nuts. I can keep the batter in the cups this way instead of having it go all over the place. The cupcake recipe makes exactly one dispenser full (4 cups is what the measuring part of it says). The trigger isn't difficult to squeeze and is pretty comfortable. It is nice that it is clear so that I can see how much batter is left. The only thing that is a bit of a bummer is that the less batter there is, the more the apparatus slows down since there isn't such a weight pushing it down, but it isn't so bad. There is an online demonstration here from the 'Bed, Bath, and Beyond' folks, but I bought mine off Amazon.

Chocolate Frosting

For the frosting, I used the Ghirardelli Chocolate Frosting recipe that came on the side of the container. I had originally thought about putting some almond extract in the frosting instead of vanilla, but I decided that there was enough almond in the cupcakes, so I left the frosting alone:

1/4 cups butter
3 tbsp milk
1/2 cup Ghirardelli Sweet Ground Chocolate & Cocoa
2 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
dash salt
1/2 tsp vanilla

Frosted Cupcakes

"Combine butter, milk, and Sweet Ground Chocolate in saucepan; stir over very low heat until butter melts. Remove from heat. Add confectioners' sugar, salt, and vanilla; beat until smooth." I used my mixer to beat the frosting and letting the machine run until the frosting was nice and fluffy also allowed it to cool a bit more. It was so delicious! I am still working on my frosting techniques, but I think these worked out pretty well.

Frosted Cupcakes

In the end, it made about 30 delicious cupcakes since I like my cupcakes to be below the paper edge. The next time I make these I am thinking about putting crushed chocolate covered espresso beans on top like sprinkles. The cupcakes were fluffy and sweet and the frosting was creamy and delicious.

North African Chickpea and Date Tagine

North African Chickpea & Date Tagine

I had made this recipe once before, but I had some kosher strip steak in the freezer and I wanted to use it. I took a recipe from The Vegetarian Times, a Chickpea and Date Tagine. A tagine is a sweet and savory dish, and this particular one comes from North Africa. The recipe, with my own variations, can be seen below:

North African Chickpea & Date Tagine

1 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, diced (I used a medium sweet onion)
4 cloves garlic (I used 3 large cloves)
1 tsp each ground cumin, coriander, ginger (I used 1/2 tsp each)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon (I used 1/4 tsp)
15 oz.can crushed tomatoes
15 oz. can chickpeas
1 cup whole wheat couscous
1 cup pitted dates, halved (I large chopped)
1/4 cup lemon juice (I used lime)
salt and pepper (to taste, I didn't use any)
1/4 cup chopped cilantro (I used more like a cup, because we love cilantro)

Cilantro and Lime

Cook onions until brown, cook 10 minutes. Add garlic, cumin, coriander, ginger, and cinnamon. Add tomatoes, chickpeas, 1/4 cups water, simmer 10 minutes. While the tagine is cooking, brown dry couscous in pan, add 1 3/4 cups water and bring to a boil, remove from heat, cover for 5 minutes, fluff to serve. Add dates, lemon juice, salt and pepper to tagine and serve with couscous, garnish with cilantro.

To serve, I put the couscous down first, followed by the meat (if using), spoon the tagine on top, and top it off with cilantro. The recipe says to garnish with cilantro, but I really pour it on top. I find that the fresh cilantro does something magical to the whole dish. It is also very good for you, and many claim that cilantro is helpful in removing heavy metals and other toxic agents from the body. Cilantro is also used as an anti-inflammatory for arthritis, for relief of stomach gas, to ward off urinary tract infections, reduce feelings of nausea, and to help stimulate the endocrine glands (which secrete hormones into the bloodstream). Cilantro has also been used to ease hormonal mood swings, reduce menstrual cramping, and is a source of iron and magnesium, which may be helpful in fighting anemia.

For the meat, I cooked it in a pan with olive oil, salt and pepper. While the meat was cooking, I pressed cilantro with fresh squeezed lime juice with a mortar and pestle. After the meat had been cooked medium rare, I added the cilantro lime mix and simmered it for a couple minutes.

I really found this to be a filling and delicious dish when we made it without the meat, but with the meat cooked in similar flavors, it really went with it. I was very happy with now the dish turned out, as was Nathan. The best part is that the leftovers will marry in the fridge overnight and be even better tomorrow.