Chicken Cordon Bleu Bake

This is a great easy take on the classic. I highly recommend watching the video before making. Honestly with slicing, I would say this recipe makes about 6 servings.

Made this for my friend and her family, and the picky kids ate it up! Will definitely make again in the future.

Chicken Cordon Bleu Bake
from BuzzFeed

Ingredients:
4 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless
salt & pepper
1 Tbs. garlic powder
1 Tbs. onion powder
16 slices Emmental cheese
8 slices ham
2 sheets puff pastry
mustard
1 egg

Instructions:
1. Combine salt, pepper, onion powder, and garlic powder in a large bowl. Toss in all four chicken breasts, and coat each well with the spices.
2. Lay out a long stretch of plastic wrap and put one breast on the wrap. Pull side of wrap to cover breast, such that there's space to expand all around chicken. Using a rolling pin, pound chicken breast until 1/2" even thickness. I found pounding lengthwise, and then widthwise was easiest. Do this for all 4 breasts.
3. Take one flattened breast, peel back the plastic. Place 2 slices of cheese on the flattened breast to cover length-wise, 2 slices ham the same, then another 2 slices cheese. From one end, firmly roll up chicken breast keeping the slices in their position. Recover breast with plastic, and roll holding two ends of the plastic wrap to wrap chicken tight. Do this for all breasts. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
4. Take one sheet of puff pastry, cut down middle to make two equal pieces. Take one of the pieces, and roll out with rolling pin until wide enough to completely cover a chicken breast roll. Do this with each of the pieces of puff pastry.
5. Pre-heat oven to 400F.
6. To finish assembly, take one of the rolled out pieces of puff pastry, lightly brush on mustard on entire surface. Place chicken breast in the middle, and wrap with puff pastry, pinching seams together in middle and folding edges underneath. Place on cooking pan. Do this for all of the breasts.
7. Lightly score puff pastry on tops with a fork. Beat egg in a small bowl, and brush all exposed puff pastry with egg.
8. Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until interior temperature is 165F.
9. After taking out of oven, let cordon's sit for 10-15 minutes before cutting into. Slice thickly, and serve fanned out on a plate with a light salad.

Slow Cooker Biryani

Easy and quick Biryani recipe. You can add or change out vegetable or even the protein as desired. I've added quite a few recipes compared to the original. Delicious with raita sauce (recipe not included).

Slower Cooker Biryani
Serves 4
Adapted from Awaken Living

Ingredients:
1 lb. chicken, cut into small cubes (optional, can make as veg by adding hard boiled eggs sliced at serving time)
4 Tbs. ghee (or butter)
1 green chili, chopped
1 cup fresh mint, chopped
2 Tbs. ginger & garlic paste
1/2 cup cilantro leaves, chopped
1/2 tsp. ground black pepper
1 tsp. black cumin
1 tsp. cayenne pepper or chili powder
1/2 tsp. tumeric powder
1 tsp. salt
1 tsp. cumin powder
2 tsp. coriander powder
2 bay leaves
1" stick cinnamon, whole
2 cloves, whole
3 green cardamom, whole
2 black cardamom, whole
1 star anise, whole
1 1/2 cups yogurt
2 cups rice
3 cups water
1/4 cup onions, diced small
1 large carrot, diced small
1 potato, diced small
1 handful green beans, cut into small circles
1 handful corn kernels
1 handful peas
1 handful cooked Lima beans

Quick raita sauce:
1/2 sweet red onion, sliced into thin quarter-circles
1 cucumber, diced small
1 tsp. salt
2 cups yogurt, plain

Instructions:
1. Heat some oil in a frying pan on medium heat. Add carrot, onion and potato and cook until carrots are semi-soft. Add green beans, corn, and peas and fry for a few more minutes.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, combine all ingredients except rice and sauteed vegetables.
3. Place chicken and spice mixture in the bottom of your crock pot. In the same mixing bowl, add vegetables and rice and stir to combine.
4. Pour rice and vegetable mixture over chicken and spice mixture in crock pot.
5. Cook on high for 2-3 hours, until chicken and rice is cooked. Serve with raita sauce.

Baked Eggs in Potatoes

My friend Julie and I have gotten into the great habit of cooking together at her place and listening to fun new music and having wonderful conversation : ) This should be the norm for cooking and hopefully will be just as soon as my mom figure out our new living situation, which is coming along swimmingly, btw.

In the meantime, though, I look forward to every time we do dinner! She is gulten-free AND corn free, which is a particularly difficult combination here in the Midwest. So! Challenge accepted : ) 

For this, I didn't use the rosemary because it was Asian themed, as I served it on a bed of sauteed baby bok choy with ginger and garlic. Delicious! But the Rosemary wouldn't fit. This is definitely something I'd make again, though. Simple and can be served on top of many varieties of green things! Salads, zucchini noodles, carrot-slaw, truly anything. If you don't have time to cook it all in one night (recommended) you can pre-bake the potatoes the night before, as I did (but you'll end up with wrinkly potatoes!)

Baked Eggs in Potatoes
inspired by Our Best Bites

Ingredients:
4 potatoes
4 eggs
8 oz. mushrooms
2 Tbs butter
1 sprig rosemary, dried
salt and pepper
4 Tbs cheese, grated, to garnish

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 425F.
2. Poke potatoes with fork making deep holes. On a baking sheet lined with a silicon mat, toss potatoes in olive oil and salt.
3. Bake for 45 minutes, until potatoes are fork-tender.
4. Set a medium, heavy-bottomed skillet over medium flame and take oven down to 375F.
5. Chop mushrooms into small cubes. Melt butter in skillet, then add mushrooms, rosemary, and a generous pinch of salt. Cook mushrooms all the way down stirring occasionally, then remove the sprig of rosemary.
6. Once potatoes are cool enough to handle, scoop out the centers of them until there is a cavity large enough for an egg and 1/4 of the mushrooms to fit.
7.Assemble potatoes by putting 1/4th the mushrooms into each potato, cracking an egg neatly on top and sprinkling each potato with 1 Tbs of cheese.
8. Bake potatoes for 20-25 minutes, or until white of the eggs have set.
9. Let potatoes cool, sprinkle with fresh ground pepper, and serve.

Classic Egg Salad.... with a twist

Ahh... egg salad. The perfect bachelors dish.

"What do I have in the fridge? Some eggs, a loaf of  bread... and a shit ton of condiments. Let's do this!"
That was basically my thought process when figuring out what to make for dinner tonight/lunch tomorrow. I have a nice loaf of sour dough (Happy Sour Dough Day!) from Farm-to-Market I took out of the freezer a couple days ago and I'm trying to use up before it goes stale. I also have some excellent local organic eggs I got from Howard's Organic sitting in my fridge, waiting to be purposed.

 The funny thing about good eggs is, they taste like chicken. Having been vegetarian for so long, I can tell a huge difference between conventional eggs (watery, really) and REAL eggs (tastes like chicken when fried). I made some scrambled eggs to use up the rest of my sweet potato/caramelized onion mash I had in the fridge to bring for lunch, and just having the eggs sitting on top, not mixed in, was too chicken-y/overwhelming-y. I needed to figure out a good way to cover up their real flavor (sad, really!) and this egg salad did the trick.

What I was thinking while making this, though, is that one day I'd love to make my own egg salad sandwitch, ENTIRELY: raise my own chickens, make my own aioli with oil I press and garlic I grown, use my own canned pickles from my garden (using vinegar i make!), and bread from wheat I grow and grind and yeast I cultivate (probably a sour dough like this!) The more I cook, the more these thought keep happening, and the more I'm convinced I need to open up a farm-to-table once I retire. An not any farm-to-table, a MY farm-to-table vegetarian science-themed restaurant. More to come on that....

I once had these incredible curry deviled eggs that my Aunt made for a family get-together, and thought the same thing could apply to egg salad, which is normally not the most exciting of dishes. It definitely worked, and incorporated some of that good turmeric that 'Science Confirms [Turmeric] as effective as 14 drugs' (anyone else see that and others floating around lately?)

Simple, quick, delicious, healthy, and all ingredients you have in your fridge, right now.

Curry Egg Salad
makes 2 sandwiches

Ingredients:
4 slices good sourdough
1 large handful baby spinach, washed
3 eggs
1 pickle spear, minced
2 Tbs vegenaise
1-2 tsp good mustard, depending on how much you like it
2 tsp curry powder
fresh ground black pepper, to garnish

Instructions:
1. Place eggs in a small pot, cover with water an inch above the eggs, set on high flame and bring to a boil. Once boiling, bring flame down to medium until water is just simmering and cook eggs for 12 mins.
2. Pour off water, fill pan with cold water to level of eggs, and set aside to cool.
3. In the mean time, combine veganase, mustard, pickle, and curry.
4. Once eggs have cooled down enough to peel, do so and chop small.
5. Mix to combine with veganase mix.
Assemble sandwitch
1. Layer slice of bread, half of the spinach, half of the egg salad, 2-3 turns of the pepper grinder, then second slice of bread. Repeat for second sandwich.

Poached Egg with Mashed Sweet Potato and Steamed Broccoli

I had a wonderful weekend; went to a local brewery for some drinks, dinner, and basketball after work Friday. Met up with a couple of their wives and then we went to another co-worker's house and drank and partied all night until about 3 am. It was extreme fun and involved eating chic dog-bakery dog food, wrestling, riding bikes around the house, smoking tobacco from wooden pipes, and more beer than was strictly necessary. Total blast.



Saturday I bought a beautiful new bike! This is something I've been saving up for for over a year and holding off until I found the perfect one for me. I ended up getting a Surly touring bike that one of my co-workers hand-picked for me. It fits me perfectly and I'm extremely excited to start bike-commuting to work again (once MO decided to stop snowing) and bike-packing (back-packing on bikes!). After that I spent a nice calm evening hanging out with my roommate and biking friend Melissa who came over, eating veggies with hummus and drinking tea and working on moving over accessories to my new bike, and then taking a ridiculous photo shoot (as shown above).

After Melissa left, I caught my roommate (sushi chef/ex-professional ballet dancer) and we geeked out over HP, LOTR, and Doctor Who until about 3 am, after which I was already on my computer and ended up writing for 4 hours straight analyzing a lot of things I've been thinking about with regards to pretty much everything going on in my life and how it relates back to work and vice versa. I'm making a detailed presentation I want to give to my manager in our up-coming meeting. : ) Something I've needed to do and get off my chest for quite some time now! I was up until 8 am Sunday morning. I started receiving FB notifications because people were waking up for the day x.x The college schedule dies hard in this one.

Sunday I had a delightful conversation over a long (and delicious brunch) at Gratitude Cafe with my mom. We talked about literally about everything, but the focus was on the community house that we're going to start together : ) She loves the idea and has full support from her church community and explained the family history behind a community living initiative that my grandfather (a Kansas City builder) did back in the day. It was called Purple Circle, and so shall ours be named! I'm completely excited about this prospect, something I've been thinking about for a very long time now. We drove around for about an hour, impeding traffic as we looked at a ton of different houses in the Midtown area (Hyde Park and Hospital Hill areas are where we're thinking). Very exciting!

After that I came home to some block printing my roommate Stephanie and her friend were doing for a new KC local zine they just started (Undercurrent: A Zine About Kansas City). This is something I would like to participate in in the future, especially with the community house. We had an intriguing conversation about poly vs monogamous relationships after that. Definitely reminded me of the Oscar-nominated movie 'Her' that just came out. I highly recommend everyone see it! Great film and great lessons about life and love.

After THAT (this weekend just doesn't end, does it?) my good friend Rachael came over and I cooked this meal while we talked about her art class lesson plans she's making for her students in rural Missouri (while drinking left over wine from her paint-and-sip studio she works at!). Such a fun and great evening/weekend. I think it could have lasted forever (though my body would soon give out due to lack of sleep in there! I'm greatly looking forward to my detox weekend)

So, without further ado:

Poached Egg with Mashed Sweet Potato and Steamed Broccoli
serves 4

Ingredients:
4 eggs
2 large sweet potatoes
1 large red onion
1 head broccoli, sliced into thin florets
cheese, grated (to garnish)
1 Tbs butter
1 pinch sugar
1 pinch salt
vinegar or lemon juice
olive oil
1 tsp smoked paprika
garlic salt
fresh ground black pepper

Instruction:
1. Heat a medium heavy-bottomed skillet over a medium flame. Dice the red onion small, melt the butter in the skillet, and add onion, sugar, and a pinch of salt. Stir together and cook onions down until golden-brown, stirring every so often.
2. Bring water to boil in a steamer. Dice sweet potato in to 1" cubes (no peeling necessary). Once water in steamer has boiled, and steam until fork-tender (5-10 minutes). If possible save water in pot so can be used for broccoli steaming. If not, refill and bring back to a boil.
3. In a medium-small pot, boil enough water for egg poaching, and add a splash of vinegar into the water. Meanwhile, mash together sweet potato, caramelized onions, paprika. Set aside.
4. In steamer, steam broccoli florets for 5 minutes until just softened and bright green. Set broccoli aside.
5. Once poaching water boils, bring down to just below boiling, stir pot with a spoon to make a vortex in the middle and crack an egg into the middle (I like to crack an egg into a ramekin then pour egg into vortex). Poach for 1-2 minutes or until white has set on the egg.
Assembly:
1. On a plate or in a bowl, mound about 1 cup mashed potatoes and flatten on top. Pile on a handful of steamed broccoli (1/4th of what's there) on top of that, place poached eggs on the very top. Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with garlic salt, black pepper, and grated cheese. Enjoy!

Chocolate Candy Filled Chocolate Cookies

Now this is not my usual: I have been trying to avoid processed sugars and unhealthy food. In fact, one of my friends has persuaded me to try a juice detox coming up here soon! That being said, we had a couple of cool Canadian associates doing some training at my work for a couple weeks. A group of us locally-based associates took them out for a bar tour of Kansas City last weekend and good times were had by all. One of them who was sweet and vegetarian was leaving this last Friday, and for his departure I wanted to make a truly American cookie. In my mind this means extremely unhealthy. My first thought was chocolate chip, as to me this is very American but I was unable to find my chocolate chips and I ended up finding this recipe.

I put dark-chocolate covered salted caramels as the center for these bad-boys (since I had a Costco-sized container that's been living in my room, so many bad choices there I know). The original called for Snickers bites, but I have boycotted candies like that in recent years. A home-made snickers would be a fabulous cookie filler though. I also used craisins instead of chocolate chips since I was unable to find my chocolate chips this time and, somehow, all of my 85% bars have migrated to work <.<

I definitely plan to make this one again, but cutting the caramels in half and squishing them into a ball. There was way too much caramel and the cookies too large. It also meant I only had 13 to share which, among my self, my co-workers, and my house mates, isn't as much as I'd like to have.

Chocolate Candy Filled Chocolate Cookies
from Pretty. Simple. Sweet.
makes about 18 cookies

Ingredients:
125 g. flour (I used whole-wheat flour and it was fine in these)
42 g. cocoa powder, unsweetened
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
113 grams butter, softened
100 g. brown sugar
100 g. sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup small chocolate chips
16-18 candies
coarse sea salt, to sprinkle

Instructions:

make dough
1. In a medium bowl sift together flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt.
2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugars for 3 minutes using electric mixer until fluffy, then beat in egg and vanilla to combine.
3. Add dry ingredients and gently mix with by hand or wooden spoon until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips, cover with damp towel, and chill for 1-2 hours or overnight (helps with cookie spread-age)
assemble and cook
1. Pre-heat oven to 350F and line a baking pan with a silicon mat.
2. Take 1 Tbs of cookie dough, press candy on top of it, and take another Tbs of cookie dough and press edges together until candy is completely sealed in dough.
3. Sprinkle cookies with sea salt (if desired) and bake for 8-10 minutes, until edges start to set. Let cool for 10 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to finish cooling.

Baked Eggs in Avocados

Simple and delicious egg bake. I served this with quick-sauteed kale and sweet potato bread french toast for my friend while she was in town! Delicious weekend brunch plate : ) I think next time I will make a chipotle/southwest veganase sauce to cover over the top, and I'll pre-scoop out the whole avocados out of the shell and put them directly on a bed of lightly-salted steamed kale with corn muffins on the side.

Baked Eggs in Avocados
serves 2

Ingredients:
2 avocados
4 eggs
sprinkle of smoked paprika
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 425F and line a baking sheet with a silicon pad.
2. Evenly cut in half two avocados, and take out the pits. Scoop a little extra avocado meat out of each of the halves, especially if you have larger eggs.
3. Set each of the halves onto the lined baking sheet, make sure the tops are flat or you'll have egg matter falling out.
4. Crack an egg into each of the halves, and gently place in the pre-heated oven. Bake for 20 minutes, or until the egg whites have set.

Baked Sweet Potato with Black Beans, Arugula, and Poached Egg

I seem to find that when there are many things, those are the times I do the most cooking, especially baking. Maybe that's because I know I'll be pre-occupied anyway, so waiting 2 (or 3 or 4) hours for black beans to cook really won't be an issue. I'll be up anyway. Maybe it's because that I subconsciously want to create periods of great activity so I'll enjoy and appreciate downtime more when it comes. Maybe it's because my brain knows it needs some reprieves, and cooking can be a great way to work out stress. Maybe my cooking drive proportionally related to the amount of other things I have to do. I'm not sure, but I do know there should be a name for this baking-when-I'm-super-busy phenomena. I've seen it happen to many a food blogger. Anyhow....

This dish is basically made out of food gifts: one of my besties Alex gave me these two beautiful sweet potatoes from the farmer's market, and told me to make something special with them, and I happily obliged. Along with the dried black beans that my friend Eldina's mom so generously gave me when she moved and the eggs I buy from a co-worker (which are gifts in-and-of themselves), this recipe really brings me back to my roots of using what you can find and what you along with my new goals of cooking using local ingredients (potatoes, arugula, and eggs). Finders Eaters!


Baked Sweet Potato with Black Beans, Arugula, and Poached Egg
from How Sweet
serves 4

Ingredients:
2 large sweet potatoes
1 cup cooked black beans
4 oz. cheese (I used essentially queso fresco)
2 cups arugula
1 tsp olive oil
1 Tbs lemon juice
4 eggs, poached (or however you like)
salt and pepper, to taste

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 425F.
2. Poke sweet potatoes all over with a fork, place on a baking sheet with a silicon slip-mat (for easy cleaning) and bake for 30 minutes. Reduce heat and cook for 30-40 minutes more, until a fork slides all the way into the center of the potato with ease.
3. Remove potatoes from oven and let cool for 5 minutes or so. Start to cook your eggs at this point.
4. Slice the potatoes length-wise down the center and top each half with 1 oz. of cheese. Place back into the oven (put on broil) and cook for 1-2 minutes until cheese starts to turn golden-brown.
5. In a mixing bowl, toss arugula with oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste.
6. Plate the potatoes and top with 1/4 cup black beans, 1/2 cup salad, and the poached egg. Grind some pepper over the top (if desired), and serve immediately.

Kale and Quinoa Salad with Tahini Dressing

I've been getting tons of spam-comments on my blog lately from what look like comment-spam bots from India. I've taken it as a sign calling me to get back into cooking and blogging, since I've really fallen out of doing that as of late. But I'm making it a goal as of now to at least cook one new blog-worth thing a week and post about it.

I've been getting these wonderful eggs from a co-worker, who raises chickens free-range and on vegetarian feed. They're seriously the best egg's I've ever eaten, and amazingly good and flavorful when hard-boiled without even needing salt sprinkled on top. The yolks are deep orange-yellow, and you can really taste the nutrients in them. They're actually so nutrient-rich, when I made a 2.5 egg omelettes the other day, pan-fried in oil, it smelled and tasted like what I remember dark-meat fried chicken to be like, and it was too much for me! I got sick off them. I couldn't believe that, but I guess I need to skip out on the pan-frying and water cook or bake these nutrient-rich babies. I don't think I'll ever be able to buy store-bought eggs again after this, though.

This simple light-but-hearty kale salad is perfect for dinners where you want a lot of flavor with little effort. It's quite thick with the tahini dressing, but doesn't weight you down.

Kale and Quinoa Salad with Tahini Dressing
adapted from Foodness
serves 2

Ingredients:
2 farm-fresh eggs

3/4 cup quinoa, rinsed
1.5 cups water
1 small bunch kale, stems removed and thinly-sliced
1/4 cup craisins
1 Tbs. sesame seeds, toasted
 1/4 cup tahini
2 Tbs. olive oil
3 Tbs. lemon juice
1 tsp. lemon zest
1 clove garlic, minced
1 Tbs. honey
salt (to taste)

Instructions:
1. Combine quinoa and water in a medium sauce pan over high heat. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for ~12 minutes until water is absorbed. Let stand for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork and let sit lidless while quinoa cools.
2. Whisk together tahini, olive oil, lemon juice, zest, garlic, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
3. Add kale and cooled quinoa to bowl and toss until well-combined. Add craisins and half of the sesame seeds and toss again to combine. Sprinkle with remaining sesame seeds and serve.

Quiona Vegetable and Egg Sushi

I really loved this quiona version of sushi! A little bit experimental, definitely, but it's was great. The nuts give it a really unexpected texture.

Quiona Vegetable and Egg Sushi
based off of Wholesome Cook and Turntable Kitchen

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
1.5 cups water
2 Tbs nut mix, roughly chopped (sunflower, almond, and pepitas)
4 sheets nori
2 Tbs. rice vinegar
1 Tbs water
1 tsp honey
1 tsp salt

Instructions:
1. Combine quinoa and water in a small sauce pan, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Once at a boil, reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 12 - 15 minutes until no liquid remains. Let sit for 5 minutes, then fluff with a fork.
3. In a small bowl, combine vinegar, water, honey, and salt. Stir mixture into quinoa until evenly distributed. Add nuts and stir in as well.
4. For each nori wrap, distribute quinoa as you would sushi rice, then place fillings for either roll on top, then roll. Seal with water.
(Hint: youtube will show you how to roll more effectively than I could describe here, if you don't know how to roll sushi)

Cucumber Carrot Avocado Roll:
1/4 cucumber, sliced into 1 cm. length
1/2 carrot, grated lengthwise on a mandolin
1/4 avocado, sliced into strips

Sriracha Egg Omelette Roll:
2 eggs
1 Tbs. ice cold water
1 Tbs. Sriracha
Optional: a few snow pea spouts

Instructions:
1. Heat a tsp. of oil in a small pan over medium heat.
2. Whisk together eggs and cold water. Pour egg mixture into the pan and cook for 3 minutes. Reduce heat to low.
3. Drizzle Sriracha over the omelette and cover with a lid. Cover and cook for another 2 minutes or until eggs are set.
4. Remove from pan and cut into 1 cm. strips.

Cranberry Gingerbread Cookies

These delicious gingerbread cookies are soft will still having the gingerbread dry-texture. Enjoy with a glass of milk!

Cranberry Gingerbread Cookies
from Hy-Vee Seasons Magazine

Ingredients:
2 cups flour
1.5 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup molasses
1 large egg
1 tsp grated orange peel
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup dried cranberries (craisins)
powdered sugar for dusting

Instructions:
1. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, baking soda, and salt. Set aside.
2. In another medium (or large) bowl, beat butter and brown sugar with a mixter until smooth. Beat in molassas, egg, and orange peel.
3. With mixer on low speed, add flour mixture to wet ingredients, and beat until just combined. Fold in walnuts and cranberries.
4. Divide dough in half. Roll each half into a 7" log, wrap in plastic wrap, and refridgerate for 1.5 hours (or freeze for 45 minutes).
5. Pre-heat oven to 350F. Unwrap logs, cut into 3/8" slides, and place 2" apart on an un-greased cookie sheet (use a silicon pad if you have one). Bake for 12 - 14 minutes, until light brown on the bottom. Lightly sift powdered sugar over cookies.

Butternut Squash and Ricotta Empanadas

These things are additively delicious. Please be careful!

Butternut Squash and Ricotta Empanadas
from Sandy Hoopes

Ingredients:
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1 cup butter, cold and diced
3/4 cup ice water

2.5 cups butternut squash, diced very small
3 Tbs olive oil
1 Tbs oregano or rosemary, diced
1/2 tsp crushed red chili pepper
2 eggs, divided
1.5 cups ricotta (recipe here)
1/4 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1 Tbs parsely, minced
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1 Tbs milk

Instructions:
1. In a food processor combine flour, salt, and sugar. Add butter and process until just incorporated. Slowly drizzle in water while processing until water dough mostly comes together. Dump onto a surface, shape into a disk, wrap in plastic, and refridgerate for at least an hour.
2. Preheat oven to 400F.
3. Peel, seed, and dice butternut squash (very small-ly). In a large bowl, combine the squash, oil, herbs, and chili pepper. Spread onto a baking sheet and bake for 15-17 minutes, until fork tender. Then remove from oven and chill.
4. In a medium bowl, lightly beat an egg. Then add ricotta, parmesan, parsely, salt, and pepper. Cover and chill.
5. Roll out the dough into 1/8" thick circles. Cut into 4" circles with a biscuit/cookie cutter.
6. Place a spoonful of chilled squash and a spoonful of ricotta onto the center of each circle. Fold one half over the filling to form a half-moon, then seal the edges by pressing with your fingers (or a fork). Then fold the edge back to create a ridge around the seam. Place onto a baking pan lined with foil or parchment paper.
7. In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg with the milk. Brush over the empanadas, cut 3 small holes into the top of each, and bake for 16 minutes (or deep fry)

Avocado Scrambled Eggs

Basically this is just another way to eat more avocado than you're already eating x.x The avocados give such a great, creamy texture to the eggs.

Avocado Scrambled Eggs
from Dinners, Dishes, and Desserts
serves 2

Ingredients:
4 eggs
2 Tbs milk
2 tsp. butter
1 avocado, diced
salt and pepper
2 tsp. chives, chopped (to garnish)

Instructions:
1. Melt butter in a skillet over medium-low heat.
2. Beat together milk, eggs, and salt and pepper.
3. Once butter is melted, swirl to coat pan and add eggs.
4. Cook eggs until they start to set, add in avocado, and cook until eggs are fully cooked. Serve with chives sprinkled on top.

Zucchini Cheese Quiche

My favorite thing about this quiche was how healthy it tasted. The thick zucchini pieces and whole wheat crust balance out the rich cheese custard in between, far better than the majority of the tarts/quiches that I make. Feel free to substitute different cheeses. The original used goat cheese.

Zucchini Cheese Quiche
adapted from ArtKulinaria

Ingredients:
1 whole wheat crust (recipe below)
3 - 4 skinny zucchini, enough to fill tart pan when cut to tart pan height
3 eggs
50 ml. cream or milk
90 g. Irish cheese + more for sprinkling
pepper
2 Tbs. olive oil
1 clove garlic, minced

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 375F.
2. Bring water to a simmer in a steamer. Cut the zucchini into equal pieces, the height of the tart pan. Steam zucchini for 3 minutes.
3. Brush olive oil over crust, and evenly sprinkle garlic. Then nestle in zucchini into the tart standing on their ends.
4. Whisk together eggs, cream, cheese, and pepper. Pour between the zucchini in the tart, then sprinkle top of tart with cheese.
5. Bake for 20 minutes, and let set 10 minutes before cutting and serving.

Whole Wheat Crust
from ArtKulinaria

Ingredients:
250 g. wheat flour
125 g. butter
5 g. salt
50 mL water

Instructions:
1. Combine flour and salt in a food processor, and pulse a few times to combine. Then add butter, and pulse until butter is incorporated.
2. Slowly drizzle water until dough starts to come together. Pour dough out, shape into a flat disk, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
3. Pre-heat oven to 375F. Roll out dough into shape of a deep-tart pan, and fit dough into the pan.
4. Line dough with foil, add pie weights, and bake for 15-20 minutes. Then remove weights and foil and bake for another 5-10 minutes. Let crust cool before using.

Vareniki (Cheese Dumplings)

This is my second recipe in my Russian collection. Serve with a side of borscht (recipe here) and hot tea!

Note: pan-frying is recommended, but optional. After dumplings have been boiled, pre-he a a large skillet on medium-high heat with half of butter (2 Tbs) and lightly fry each side of the dumplings.

Vareniki (Cheese Dumplings)
from SheSimmers

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. ricotta (farmers' cheese) (ricotta recipe here)
1 egg
2 Tbs. sugar (omit for savory dumplings)
1/4 tsp. salt
1.5 cups flour
4 Tbs. butter
sour cream, to serve with
veggie bacon bits, caramelized shallot, sauerkraut, to serve (optional)

Instructions:
1.  Set a large pot on the stove filled half-way with water to boil.
2. Whisk egg, cheese, sugar, and salt together in a mixing bowl until well combined.
3. Stir in flour, and mix until combined enough to turn over onto the counter and kneed. Flour counter if necessary and kneed just until a ball is formed.
4. Divide dough into 4 pieces, and roll each piece into a 1/2" thick rope, and cut into 2" pieces, then flatten a bit in the middle if intending to pan-fry.
5.  Drop the vareniki into the pot of water. When they float to the top, remove them from the water and combine with butter in a medium-bowl.
6. Serve with add-ins.

Shakshouka

This north African dish is super delicious, and pretty flexible. My friend who ate it with me said it was her favorite dish while on her middle east trips, and that this dish served it justice. Note: pictured above is a half-batch, since I was only cooking for 2.

Shakshouka
from Indulge & Devour 
serves 4

Ingredients:
1/2 tsp. cumin seeds
3 Tbs. olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 large onion, peeled and sliced into half rings
2 red peppers, seeded and chopped finely
2 yellow peppers, seeded and chopped finely
2 Tbs. fresh thyme
2 Tbs. fresh parsley, chopped + extra for garnish
6 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 tsp. ground turmeric
1/2 tsp. smoked paprika
4 large eggs
salt and ground pepper to taste

Ingredients:
1. In a large pan or skillet, dry roast the cumin seeds on medium-low heat for a few minutes until fragrant. Increase heat to medium, and add olive oil, garlic, and onions and saute until soft.
2. Add peppers, thyme, and parsley and cook on medium heat until softened (~10 mins).  Lower heat to medium-low, and add tomatoes, turmeric, paprika, and season to taste. 
3. Cook for another 15 minutes or so, until the liquids from the tomatoes and peppers have reduced to a chunky, thick sauce.
4. Make 4 spaces within the sauce, and crack egg into each one. Use a fork to spread the white around a bit, and season with salt and pepper.
5. Cover pan with a lid (or foil), and cook for another 5 minutes, until the egg whites have just set. Serve immediately.

Ricotta Gnocchi

Ricotta Gnocchi
from Cookbook of the Month

Ingredients:
2 eggs
2 cups flour
1 lb. ricotta (recipe here, I needed a little over 2 batches)
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. pepper
3 Tbs. olive oil

Instructions:
1. Beat the eggs together in a small bowl.
2. Whisk together flour, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Add ricotta and combine gently with flour.
3. Make a well in the middle of the ricotta mixture and add the eggs, and gently incorporate. Once eggs are mostly mixed in, use hands to briefly knead the dough until it comes together into a ball. If too moist, add more flour (I had to add quite a bit more).
4. Turn dough onto a lightly floured cutting board, cut into 8 equally sized pieces and cover with a kitchen towel.
5. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil. Taking 1 piece out at a time from under the towel, roll into a 1" (or less) thick rope, and cut into 1" pieces. Take a cut piece, place on the tip of your thumb, and roll the tines of a fork around on the opposite side from your thumb, creating the classic gnocchi texture with the fork and a well with your thumb for sauces.
6. In batches, pop the gnocchi into the water. Once the gnocchi have floated to the surface, let cook for 1 minute, and then take out with a slotted spoon and place on a large baking sheet and toss with olive oil.
7. Serve with sauce of choice (mushroom/corn/sage/browned butter recipe here)

Carrot Cake Pancakes

This was one of the main dishes in Sunday brunch, and it was absolutely delicious. Make sure to make the cream cheese syrup to go with it!

Carrot Cake Pancakes
from Cooking Classy

Ingredients:
1.5 cups finely grated carrots (about 3 medium)
1 cup buttermilk (or substitute)
3 Tbs. sugar
1 cup flour
1.5 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
1/8 tsp. nutmeg
1/4 tsp. salt
1 egg
2 Tbs. vegetable oil
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 recipe Cream Cheese Syrup (recipe here)
chopped pecans, to garnish

Instructions:
1. In a medium airtight container, whisk together grated carrots, buttermilk, and sugar. Cover container and refridgerate overnight.
2. Heat 2 skillets over the stove on medium heat (or a non-stick griddle to 300F).
3. In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, sinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together egg, oil, and vanilla extract. Add egg mixture and carrot mixture to flour, and whisk until just combined.
5. Butter the skillets and pour on 1/3 cups batter onto each, and slightly spread batter out. Cook until bubbles begin to form and bottom is golden brown, then flip, and cook until opposite side is golden-brown.
6. Serve immediately with syrup and garnish with chopped peacans.

Squash Pepper and Sausage Quiche

My parents came into town for family weekend, and I made them Sunday brunch, which involved this quiche. This was a definite crowd pleaser, but I suppose I wasn't 100% satisfied with it because I've been cooking so gourmet (at least for my standards) recently, but it's a super solid recipe, used tons of fresh, in season stuff (my parents took me to the farmers market when they were in town!!! fridge.veggies = full; ) Perhaps the fact that I used pre-made things (the sausage) is what bothered me. I dunno, but I originally wasn't going to blog about this, but my parents and friends who tasted it all agreed that it should be blogged about, so here it is!

This quiche is one of the few Ann-originals. No recipe (besides the crust recipe) was used : D But it is really nice to know that even if I go off of the books, I can still produce something delicious ^_^ Finally getting to that point in my cooking career. So, much more to come!

Squash Pepper and Sausage Quiche

Ingredients:
1 pie crust,  blind-baked (I used Martha Stuart’s recipe)
1 yellow squash (or zucchini), shredded
4 "sausage" patties (I used Morning Star)
4 eggs
1/2 cup milk (or cream)
1 handful fresh basil, torn
1 - 2 small red bell peppers, cored, seeded, and sliced length-wise
2 Tbs. + 1 tsp. oil, divided
salt and pepper

Instructions:
1. Pre-heat oven to 350F.
2. Heat 2 table spoons on medium-low heat. Place shredded squash in the skillet, sprinkle evenly with salt, and saute for 10 minutes until most all of the water has leeched out and evaporated, stirring often. Then turn heat up to medium, and cook until caramelized. Set aside on a plate.
3. Heat a teaspoon of oil in a skillet on medium heat. Crumble the sausage patties and fry until caramelized on all sides.
4. Whisk the eggs and milk together, then whisk in the salt, pepper, and basil. Add in the sausage crumbles and squash, and pour mixture into the pie crust. Use a brush (or you finger) to dip into the quiche mix and coat the crust.
5. Arrange the red pepper slices on the top in a circle (I made an inner and outter circle with most-all the curved parts of the peppers overlapping).
6. Cover with tin-foil and bake for 30 minutes, then uncover, and bake until crust and top of the quiche is golden-brown. Let cool for 5 minutes before serving.

Egg Drop Soup

Better than at the restaurants. The fresh ginger really makes it.

Egg Drop Soup
adapted from Bella Eats

Ingredients:
4 cups vegetable broth, divided
1" ginger root, peeled and finely grated
3 scallions, finely chopped
4 tsp. corn starch
3 eggs
salt to taste

Instructions:
1. Reserve 3/4 cups broth, and place the rest in a large sauce pan. Add ginger and scallions and bring to a rolling boil.
2. In a bowl, stir together remaining broth and cornstarch until smooth. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, whisk the eggs together. Drizzle the egg in a steam into the boiling mixture, and take off the heat as soon as you're done pouring in the egg.
4. Stir in the corn-starch/broth mix to thicken, salt to taste, and serve.