Thursday, April 28, 2011

Baked Oatmeal


This was an awesome, simple recipe that took only getting out of bed in the morning early to do (you can always go back to bed and wake up the the house smelling like cinnamon rolls : ))

Note: If I were to make again, I would add twice as much cinnamon sugar. As is, it was nicely flavored, and not too sweet. This allowed me to drizzle some of my dulce de leche over top without it being too much.


Baked Oatmeal
adapted from PattycakeLink

Serves: 4 large servings, 6 smaller servings

Ingredients:
1/4 cup vegetable oil (or melted butter)
2 eggs beaten
4 T. cinnamon sugar
1 c yogurt
2/3 cup milk
3 cups old-fashioned oats
dash of salt
1 1/2 t. baking powder
optional: 6 sliced dried dates

Instructions:
1. Combine everything in a bowl, and spread evenly in a cake pan.
2. Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge overnight.
3. In the morning, preheat oven to 350 F.
4. Bake for 40 minutes.

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Stuffed Shells



Sin-fully delicious. I did this recipe once upon a time with whipped cottage cheese, but this version with the (home-made) ricotta is far superior. Serve 3 - 4 shells each with a light side salad.




Stuffed Shells
adapted from Healthy Food for Living
makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
2 cups ricotta cheese (recipe here)
1 Tbs. butter
2 cloves garlic, minced
9 oz. fresh spinach (4 cups tightly packed)
1 egg, beaten
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
1/4 t. salt
1/4 t. pepper
1 t. Italian seasoning
1 1/2 cup marinara sauce, divided
1 cup shredded mozzarella
16 jumbo shells

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Bring a pot of water to boil. Add shells, and cook for 10 minutes (until al dente), then strain and set aside.
3. Heat butter in a skillet on medium heat, then add garlic and saute for 30 sec. Add all spinach, and cook until all spinach is wilted, stirring often.
4. In a bowl, combine whipped cottage cheese, sauteed spinach, salt, pepper, Italian seasonings, egg, and Parmesan cheese. Combine well.
5. In a cake pan, spread 1/2 cup of marinara sauce evenly over the bottom.
6. Take a shell, open up (like a coin purse), and fill with the cottage cheese mixture. When stuffed, place into cake pan. Repeat process until all shells are filled. Cover with remaining marinara sauce, and sprinkle the mozzarella over the top.
7. Bake for 35 mins.

Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies


Super delicious! My grain-free friend's mom sent this link along to me, so I decided to make it for my computer science women's group this week. They came out very tasty! (even though I only used half the cacao powder the recipe calls for because I ran out of my cheap cocoa powder x.x)


Double Chocolate Chunk Cookies
adapted from health-bent

makes 2 dozen

Ingredients:
1 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup chocolate chips
2 t. vanilla extract
1/4 c. sugar

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
2. Combine everything except the chocolate chips. After dough is throughly combined, mix in chocolate chips.
3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Drop tablespoon-sized dough balls onto the sheet. Then gently flatten balls down into disks (they will stay whatever shape you make them)
4. Bake for 12 minutes.

Oat Taco Salad


I was actually impressed with myself on this one. It turned out deliciously! I had no idea oats would make such a good taco salad base. This came about because 1. I remember reading about oat taco salad on a oats-dedicated blog a bit ago (unfortunately I couldn't find it to site it, but that was my inspiration) and 2. it used up many things in my cupboard (and I'm trying to use up everything before I move out of this apartment! Only a little over 2 weeks to go)

Oat Taco Salad

serves 2

Ingredients:
3 cups milk
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 T. taco seasoning
1 green bell pepper, sliced lengthwise into strips
1/4 c. cheddar cheese
1/4 cup salsa
1/4 t. salt
oil

Instructions:
1. Put milk and salt into a sauce pan, and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring the bottom of the pan frequently to avoid milk sticking to the bottom. Once milk is boiling, add oats and taco seasoning. Stir oats (scrapping the bottom of the pan) until milk has completely soaked into oats, and it is very thickened up (almost hard to stir). This will take 10 minutes or more.
2. Heat a skillet to medium heat. Add bell pepper strips and oil, and saute bell pepper until soft.
3. Place the thickened oats on a plate or bowl, then top with the sauteed bell pepper, cheddar cheese, and salsa (and any other toppings desired, such as sour cream, shredded lettuce, sliced black olives, jalapeƱos). Enjoy!

Hasselback Potatoes


This recipe turned out absolutely superbly. I'll definitely be making this again for my family over the summer.

Hassleback Potatoes
adapted from Sophistimom

Ingredients:
1 large potato, scrubbed
1 clove garlic, thinly sliced
olive oil
salt
any toppings desired (I used some left-over sour cream dill dip)

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400F.
2. Using a sharp knife, cut down the potato width-wise 3/4 the way down about every 2 cms along the length of the potato. Make sure not to cut all the way through your potato!
3. Stuff a thin slice of garlic into each crevice, making sure to use all garlic slices, and cutting some slices into half if there aren't enough.
4. Place potato into a pan (I used a cake pan, worked nicely). Drizzle olive oil slowly and evenly over top of the potato. Salt to taste.
5. Cover oven pan (I placed another cake pan on top) to avoid splattering, and place into oven. cook for 1 hour.
6. After the hour is up, place oven-friendly toppings on potato (cheese, sour cream, bacon, etc.) and place potato, uncovered, back into the oven for 5 minutes.
7. Take out, place non-oven friendly toppings on potato (chives, etc) and serve immediately.

Dulce de Leche

Dangerous, delicious recipe! I kept my water just under broiling, so my dulce de leche didn't thicken up completely. But, I liked the way it turned out. Any more caramelized and it wouldn't be drizzle-able.

Dulce de Leche
from Pikelet and Pie

Ingredients:
10 oz. can(s) condensed milk

Instructions:
1. Peel off labels on condensed milk cans.
2. Get a large pot, place cans in, and fill up to the top of the pot. If the cans aren't covered completely with an extra inch (or two) of water above, then you need a bigger pan.
3. Bring water to a low simmer, and simmer for 2.5 hours. MAKE SURE to keep the cans covered with water at all times. Check every 15 mins or so, and if it needs it, add some more water to the pot.
4. Let cans COMPLETELY cool to room temperature before opening. I just left my cans in the pot of water over night, and by morning they were completely cooled down (slightly rusted at the edges, but the rust washed right off)

Garlic Foccacia


This is a recipe friend Julia got me. I had this once at her house when her step-dad made it. It was pretty much the best bread I've ever had.



Garlic Foccacia
from 2006 in 2006

Ingredients:
9 oz. peeled and diced potatoes
1 bulb garlic
3 1/2 unbleached flour
1 1/2 t. yeast
1 1/4 t. salt

Instructions:
1. Place peeled and diced potatoes in a pot, and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil, then drop the temperature down to a simmer, and simmer for 15 mins. Drain the potatoes, reserving 1 cup. potato water, then mash the potatoes.
2. Peel all the cloves of garlic. Place in a small sauce pan, cover with olive oil, and simmer for 15 minutes.
3. In a large bowl, combine flour, yeast, and salt. Stir in potato water until dough forms a shaggy ball. Then add in mashed potatoes and 2 T. of garlic-infused olive oil, and mix until just combined.
4. Transfer dough to oiled bowl, cover, and let rise for 40 minutes.
5. Tear dough into two rounds, flatten into a circle on an oiled oven pan with a lip, cover, and let rise for another 40 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 425. Once dough has gone through it's second rise, using an oiled finger, poke holes into the bread to stick the cloves of garlic into. Use all cloves, and pour oil evenly over the two rounds until all the oil is used.
7. Bake for 23 minutes.

Monday, April 18, 2011

Parsley Potato Salad


I had some left-over parsley from my Bulgarian pepper experiment, and Google lead me to this recipe! Great side dish, I liked how it turned out.


I found some spring onions around the university, and decided to pull some big ones up. These came in handy today, because I didn't have a whole onion for the recipe, and these substituted nicely. They can be found in lightly-grassy areas. To dig them up, just dig out the earth around a clump of them until you can see the tops of the onion bulb. Then grab the entire group, rotate in a circle pulling up slightly until they give.


To prepare, get rid of all the green parts, and chop off the roots at the end. Then carefully peel off the outside of the white part, and use just the inner bulb.



Parsley Potato Salad
adapted from All RecipesLink
Ingredients:
1 onion, diced (I used half an onion and 6 or 7 spring onions)
1 clove garlic, minced
1 lbs potatoes, scrubbed
1 cup vegetable broth
1 T. olive oil
1 cup minced parsley leaves (all stems removed)
1/2 t. ground black pepper

Instructions:
1. Peel a strip of skin off the potatoes around the center, and put into a pot of warm/hot water, and set aside.
2. Heat oil in skillet on medium heat, and add diced onions and garlic. Saute for 5 minutes, or until soft. Add in parsley and broth, and bring to a boil, then turn off heat.
3. Pour out water on potatoes, dice potatoes, refill pot with salted warm water, add potatoes. Bring to a boil, and then cook on low heat for 10 minutes.
4. Strain potatoes, add in pepper to parsley mix, and toss potatoes with parsley mix. Garnish with more parsley leaves if desired.

Mango Lassi


If I were to make this recipe again, I would double the amount of sugar and mango. The yogurt I used, while delicious, was a little over-powering in flavor.



Mango Lassi
from Simply Recipes

Ingredients:
1 cup chopped mango (approx. 1 mango)
1 cup plain yogurt (I used Brown Cow)
1/2 cup milk
4 t. sugar
ground cardamom (optional)

Instructions:
1. Combine mango, yogurt, milk, and sugar in a blender, and blend for 2 minutes, or until completely smooth.
2. Pour into glasses, and top with optional cardamom. Enjoy!

Tempura Dipping Sauce


I had an awesome tempura fried foods party! For it, I made a surprisingly delicious and easy to make dipping sauce for the tempura. Being a non-mayo fan, I think it turned out quite well. For the veggies, we cooked up green pepper, mushrooms, carrots, broccoli, sweet potato, and green beans.

We also used some other dipping sauces, which were perfect for this Japanese food event. Sweet ginger sesame chili sauce and general tso's sauce and glaze.

These are candy bars deep fried and covered in corn-dog batter. Delicious! We had a pack of different bit-sized chocolates, including snickers, milky ways, milky ways midnight, twics, and 3-musketeers. All delicious!


The Gang!

Tempura Dipping Sauce
from a Cozy Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 cup mayonnaise
juice from half a lime
sriracha sauce

Instructions:
1. Combine mayo and lime juice, and stir in sriracha until desired hotness. Serve with tempura-coated foods.

Yellow Cake Corn Bread


This is a recipe that my mom discovered a few years back. It's the best of both worlds: cake and corn bread. It's like super moist, delicious sweet corn bread, but also cake with some substance and texture.



Yellow Cake Corn Bread

Ingredients:
1 box yellow cake mix
1 box/bag corn bread mix (I used Betty Crocker, the only vegetarian mix I could find)
ingredients listed on box
cupcake liners

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 375 F.
2. In a big bowl, combine both mixes and their respective ingredients using a hand-held mixer.
3. Line cupcake tin with cupcake liners, and pour batter in so it's 4/5th full.
4. Bake for 21-22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.

Friday, April 15, 2011

Bulgarian Stuffed Peppers


I bought some yogurt, but Hy-vee ran out of the wholesale granola I like! So, it's been sitting in my fridge for a while. I decided to go out and find some awesome recipes to use it on, and this one looked easy and delicious: Bulgarian Stuffed Peppers (vegetarian) with yogurt sauce.






Bulgarian Stuffed Peppers
recipe from Craving Greens

Ingredients:
2 peppers (as large as possible, try to get flat bottomed ones)
1 cup feta cheese
2 eggs
pepper to taste
1 cup yogurt (I used Brown Cow cream-top plain yogurt)
drizzle of olive oil
salt to taste
handful of parsley

Instructions:
1. Heat oven to 375 F. Oil oven dish with a lid that your peppers can fit under (alternatively, any oven pan with a tall sides that you can cover with foil)
2. Take out the stem of the pepper, making sure to keep it intact. Remove white innards and seeds as much as possible (a spoon and washing it out help with these tasks, respectively). Then place into the oiled dish so the stem-hole is on the top.
3. Mix together the feta, eggs, and black pepper, and divide evenly into the peppers. Make more feta-egg mixture if needed.
4. Place lid on dish, and bake for 1 hour with lid on, then for another 15-20 minutes without the lid.
5. While peppers are cooking, combine yogurt, olive oil, salt, and parsley to make your yogurt sauce.
6. When finished cooking, remove dish from oven, take a pepper, cut in half, and drizzle yogurt sauce over to taste.

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Alfredo Sauce


This is an Alfredo recipe I've been working to perfect for a while. I think it's pretty much there. A couple notes: you can substitute the dehydrated garlic with a clove of minced fresh garlic, 1 recipe of this matches 1 - 8 oz. box of pasta, cooked, and I made a double batch (so keep this in mind when looking at the pictures)




Alfredo Sauce

Ingredients:
1 cup cottage cheese
1 cup milk
1 egg
1/2 tsp. fresh ground black pepper
1 clove garlic, minced (or 1 tsp. dehydrated garlic)
1/2 cup Parmesan cheese

Instructions:
1. Add garlic and butter to sauce pan, and heat over low heat.
2. Blend together cottage cheese, milk, egg, and fresh ground black pepper until well combined.
3. Add cottage cheese blend to sauce pan, and heat over medium heat, stirring frequently, until the mix threatens to boil when you stop stirring.
4. Turn heat to low, and add Parmesan cheese, stirring constantly, and take off heat immediately after it has been melted into the mixture.
5. Combine with pasta (8oz. of dried pasta, cooked until al dente)

Tip: If you let the pasta and Alfredo sit together for a time, it will create a great texture that sticks easily to the pasta. This pasta mix is perfect the next day

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Broccoli-Mushroom Loaf


This turned out amazing! I even invited my friend over to share this with me. I substituted farro for breadcrumbs, powdered garlic for real garlic, and broccoli for carrots (as compared to the original recipe), just because those are things I needed to use up. This Moosewood book has never failed me. If ever you have a vegetarian friend, or someone who doesn't know what vegetarians eat besides salads, give them a copy of the New Moosewood. Healthy, delicious vegetarian dishes with common ingredients, and simple instructions.






Broccoli-Mushroom Loaf
adapted from The New Moosewood Cookbook

Ingredients:
2 cups minced onion
1 T. butter
1 lb. mushrooms, chopped
2 heads chopped broccoli (or 1 1/2 lbs carrots, grated)
1 1/2 t. salt
1 t. basil
1 t. thyme
1 t. dill
1 T. garlic powder (or 3-4 cloves garlic)
2 cups cooked farro (or 2 cups bread crumbs)
1 cup packed grated cheddar + some for sprinkling
2 eggs, beaten
2 T. black beans (optional)
black pepper to taste
panko for sprinkling

Instructions:
1. Oil loaf pan, pre-heat oven to 350
2. In a large skillet, add butter and onions. Saute for 5 mins. Add mushrooms, and saute for 3 mins. Add broccoli, salt, herbs, and garlic, and saute for 10 mins.
3. In a large bowl, combine cooked farro, cheese, eggs, and pepper. Add the sauteed mixture, and mix well. Spread into the prepared pan, and sprinkle with the panko and extra cheese. Cover pan with foil.
4. Bake for 30 mins covered, then uncover and bake for 15 mins more.

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Black Bean Burger


Delicious recipe! I made it with friend Connie (who is shown not eating the beautiful food, but playing on the internetz!). I will definitely make this again (and make sure to add in the spices I forgot!)



Black Bean Burgers
adapted from Can You Stay For Dinner

makes 4 patties

Ingredients:
4 T. olive oil
1/2 cup finely diced onions
1/2 cup finely diced carrots
1/2 cup finely diced bell peppers
1/2 cup finely diced mushrooms
4 cloves garlic, minced
4 T. ketchup
4 t. ground chili powder
1/2 t. salt
1 1/4 cup black beans
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs
Note: original also includes 4 t. dijon mustard and 4 t. ground cumin.

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 450 F, and heat large skillet over medium-high heat.
2. Add oil, onion, carrots, bell peppers, and mushrooms to skillet and saute for 4-5 mins.
3. Add garlic, and saute for another minute. Add ketchup, chili pepper, salt to skillet (as well as dijuon mustard and cumin if desired)
4. Remove pan from heat. In a separate bowl, combine beans, bread crumbs, and sauteed vegetables. Foil line a baking sheet.
5. Once cool enough to handle, form into four equal patties, place onto foil lined sheet, and bake for 15 mins.

Monday, April 11, 2011

Eggs Florentine


This is from one of the many vegetarian cook books my family has given me over the years. This is not my favorite one, I don't suggest it. It turned out rather unflavorful. That being said, I'm still glad I made it, because it was my first successful milk-flour thickening experience. For future implementations of this recipe, I think adding some salt and sharp cheese to the spinach before it's layered into the pan would greatly improve this.


One of the awesome girls in my club has a family that raises chickens of all types, and she brought several dozen eggs to the club meeting last week. That inspired me to find an awesome egg recipe to let these babies shine, instead of just scrambling them like I normally do for breakfast, or putting them in an egg and cheese quesadilla.




Eggs Florentine
adapted from The Big Book of Vegetarian

Ingredients:
2 - 10 oz. packages of chopped spinach, thawed and drained
4 large eggs
2 T. flour
1/4 t. salt
3 dashes of paprika (+ more for sprinkling)
1 1/3 cup milk
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese(+ more for sprinkling)
4 English muffins, split and toasted
salt and pepper to garnish
Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Grease a 9" cake pan, and press spinach evenly into the bottom. With a spoon, make 4 egg-sized indents. Crack the four eggs into each of the four indents.
3. In a medium sauce pan, combined the flour, salt, and paprika. Gradually add milk, stirring with a whisk until well blended. Place over medium heat, whisking constantly, until thick (8 mins)
4. Remove sauce pan from heat, add Parmesan, and whisk until combined. Pour sauce over eggs.
5. Sprinkle with a little extra Parmesan cheese and paprika, and bake for 25 mins.
6. Cut the spinach-egg bake into 4 portions, and serve each portion over 2 toasted English muffin halves. Salt and pepper to taste (it will need both)