Tag: Recipe

Bananas Foster Creme Brulee and How I’m Going to Find the Love of My Life

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I’m pretty sure this is how I’m going to get a husband.

One sunny afternoon, I’ll be making this wonderful creation:

I’ll serve it up to that special someone. He’ll take a bite and propose to me right then and there. Simple as that.

Okay, so it probably won’t happen that way, but I can almost guarantee that if you were to feed this to a fella (or lady! Gentlemen, don’t be scared to get in the kitchen!) it would most certainly, at the very least, land you a date.

Worth a shot, right?

Bananas Foster Creme Brulee

6 prepared ramekins of custard for creme brulee
3-4 bananas, sliced
3 tbsp butter
3 tbsp brown sugar
3 tbsp hazelnut liqueur (or rum, optional)
6 tsp white sugar

In a skillet, melt together the butter and brown sugar. Add bananas and turn the heat up to high.

Add the hazelnut liqueur. Shake the pan a little bit then flip each banana. Once the liqueur has reduced (and nearly completely evaporated), turn off the heat.

Arrange bananas over custard.

Sprinkle with a teaspoon or so of white sugar.

Using a kitchen torch, burn the top of the bananas so you get a good caramelized crust.

Serve and wait for a dinner invite/proposal/confession of adoration/etc.

If this doesn’t work… then I’m pretty sure men are crazy, and I’m doomed to be an old maid.

Colorful Quinoa Salad

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I’m in the life stage where I’ve graduated and living with my parents again.  I somehow managed to skip this step when I graduated the first time around by going to India then grad school.  Since moving back home, I’ve made one major observations:  my family eats a lot of meat and very few vegetables.

I’m going nuts.

I offered to cook all meals for my parents.  They said no, because they would pretty much be exclusively meat-free meals.  So basically, I’ve given up on trying to get them to eat healthier.  Instead, I’m making stuff for myself and sharing leftovers.

Yesterday, I made a quinoa, bean, vegetable salad.

Surprisingly, everyone liked it (even though once they claimed to not like quinoa).

Colorful Quinoa Salad

1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 cup edamame
1/2 cup black beans
1 red pepper, diced (I used about 5 multicolored sweet mini ones)
1 mango, diced
1 cucumber, diced
1 tomato, diced
1 handful of cilantro, chopped
Juice of 4 limes
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tsp cumin powder
salt and pepper to taste

Cook the quinoa in 1 cup of water.  Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 minutes with some salt.  While the quinoa cooks dice your vegetables.  Place edamame, black beans, red peppers, cucumbers, tomato, mango and cilantro in a large mixing bowl.  In a small bowl, whisk together lime juice, olive oil, cumin, salt and pepper.  Once quinoa is done and slightly cooled, add to the mixing bowl with vegetables, pour in the lime dressing and mix.  Serve and enjoy!

Serves 4-6.

So I guess this is my new strategy: make healthy, tasty (to me) things I like and hope they’ll eat it as well.

Off to the gym I go! Have a great day!

Redemption, Almost.

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I thought for a second I had lost all my baking skills to the meaty Italian gods.  I was wrong.  This past weekend I almost redeemed myself by making the almost perfect cornbread.

It was sweet, perfectly textured and pretty much fantastic.

Almost Perfect Cornbread

adapted from All Recipes Buttery Corn Bread Recipe

1/3 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1/2 cup nonfat plain yogurt
1/4 cup milk
1 cup + 2 tbsp flour
3/4 cup cornmeal
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt

Preheat oven to 400F (~200C), grease and flour a 9in round baking pan or other baking dish, muffin tin, etc.

Cream together butter and sugar, add the remaining wet ingredients and mix together until just combined.  Add dry ingredients and mix until just combined.  Pour batter into prepared baking dish.  Bake for about 25 minutes or until golden brown.  Poke with a toothpick to make sure it’s cooked through in the center.  Allow to cool and serve.

Even better when served with homemade Lentil/Chana Masala.  We eat cornbread and chili all the time, why not try it with a South Asian flair?

The perfect combination of sweet, spicy and salty.

Like I said, I pretty much redeemed myself. But wait…

I jumped the gun and tried to turn it on to a plate without sufficient cooling time.

Lesson learned: be patient… and keep baking.

Mushroom-Spinach Risotto

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Last Tuesday, after a full day of work and two hours of class, I went to the grocery store.  In my drowsy state of exhaustion, I decided I wanted rice.  Unknowingly I purchased arborio, the kind of rice used for risotto, instead of the regular longer grain rice that I’m accustomed to.  I don’t think it was a language barrier, as the box was clearly labeled “arborio.”  It was probably just that I was tired, hungry and not in the right state of mind.

Long story short.  I now have a box of arborio rice sitting in my kitchen cabinet.  Clearly, it can’t go to waste.  Neither can the huge bag of spinach that I purchased in a moment of desperation when I felt like I’d had it with carbohydrates.

But alas, carbohydrates can’t seem to escape me.  Luckily, they’re delicious.

Mushroom-Spinach Risotto

2 tbsp olive oil
1 cup chopped mushrooms
1 cup arborio rice
2 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
1 cup white wine
3 cups vegetable broth, warm
2 cups fresh chopped spinach
pepper to taste
1/2 cup fresh grated parmesan cheese (or more if you’d like)

Heat oil in a pot on medium heat.  Add mushrooms and arborio, cook for 5-10 mins until rice begins to turn translucent.  Add garlic and cook for an additional minute.    Add white wine, stir until it is almost completely absorbed.  Then begin to add the broth, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring until the liquid absorbs.  Repeat until you’ve used all but a bit of the broth.  Stir in the chopped spinach and the last bit of liquid.  Keep stirring until almost completely absorbed, then add the pepper and parmesan.  Once all the liquid is absorbed, serve immediately.

Serves 4.

I think I’m going to suck it up and pay the 195 Euro to use a gym for three months.  I think it might be worth it.

Even though I walk everywhere here, I don’t think it’s going to cut it.  I hadn’t realized how lucky I was to have a cheap gym so close to me in Ithaca.  While I don’t miss the snow, I definitely miss how easy it was to work out.

I’ll keep you posted on the gym dilemma.  Any thoughts?

Pasta alla Puttanesca

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I’ve probably mentioned this before but I’ve never been a big fan of pasta.

It just was never that exciting.  UNLucky for me, I’m spending the next few months in the land of pasta.

But as the saying goes… When in Rome, do as the Romans do.

So I’m trying, and here’s my experiment.  Pasta alla Puttanesca, which I guess literally means “whore style pasta.” It’s not a Roman recipe originally, and I like to think I’m not a whore, but why not give it a shot.  While I’ve never been a big fan of pasta, I’ve always loved sauce (or “gravy” as they call it on The Sopranos) and more importantly I love olives.

I have no idea if this recipe is anywhere nearing authentic, but I read the basic ingredients of Pasta alla Puttanesca, took a quick trip to the grocery store and came up with this:

To be honest, it was delicious. And to be even more honest, I didn’t measure these things.  So these are estimates of how much I used.  If you give it a try, add stuff and keep tasting and adding more until you like the flavor.  After all, who cares about authenticity if it doesn’t taste good to you? (At least in your own home)

Puttanesca (ish) Sauce

1 tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced (apparently the original version doesn’t include onions)
2 gloves of garlic, minced
2 cups tomato puree
2 tbsp tomato paste
1 tbsp dried basil
1 cup sliced olives
3 tbsp capers
salt and pepper to taste
1 handful of fresh italian parsley, chopped

Heat oil in a large pot, add onions and cook until translucent.  Add garlic and cook an additional minute.  Add tomato puree, tomato paste, basil, olives, capers, salt and pepper and bring to a boil.  Simmer for 15 minutes, then stir in parsley.  Simmer for another 15 minutes or so, really the longer you simmer it the better.  If your sauce is too thick, add a bit of water.

Serve over pasta and enjoy!

And enjoy I did, standing at my window, admiring the view

Off to Florence for the weekend!  Be back with pictures!

Spaghetti alla puttanesca

Discovering Indoor Exercise and Roasted Vegetables

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As much as I hate to admit this, being at my parent’s house was driving me crazy.  For some reason, being there makes me the most sedentary person on the planet.

Example: I watched every episode (5 1/2 season) of How I Met Your Mother in the nearly 3 weeks I was home.  Hilarious show! But that’s wayyyy too much TV.

The truth is, I feel better when I’m more active.  I like walking places and working out.  It just makes me feel better about myself.

So now that I’m in Ithaca, I’m trying to find ways to feel better about myself and my health… despite this:

I won’t lie.  The weather here can be terrible.  I walked to meet up with some friends and my toes were numb even though I was wearing tights, thick socks and snow boots.

But to keep myself moving, I present to you, my home gym:

Real state of the art, right?

Lately I’ve taken to doing circuits while watching episodes of last season’s The Biggest Loser.

Circuit 1: 25 Step ups
Circuit 2: 20 crunches
Circuit 3: 25 jumping jacks
Circuit 4: 20 bicycle crunches
Circuit 5: 25 bunny hops (back and forth over my computer charger)
Repeat

Not the most exciting work out ever but definitely better than sitting and doing nothing.  I’ve also recently discovered ExerciseTV online!

I made another discovery.  It’ll revolutionize lunch (or dinner… for me, at least).  Okay so I didn’t really discover it.  Rather, it’s new to me.

Roasted Broccoli

Who knew it could be so delicious.

What you need:

  • Broccoli, Carrots, Onions, etc.
  • 1 tsp olive oil
  • 1 tbsp balsamic vinegar
  • salt and pepper
  • baking sheet
  • oven preheated to 400F

Combine broccoli, other vegetables, olive oil, balsamic vinergar, salt and pepper.  Put it all on a baking sheet like such:

Roast at 400F for about 25 minutes.

Makes a wonderful side dish.  I’m so pleased!  Last night I went and bought more broccoli just so I could have it again.

Definitely recommend it if you haven’t tried it.

Off to try to get some work done, or at least move myself a bit.  Have a wonderful day!

Cakes and Rum Balls

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I left Ithaca where it was a chilly 10F for California, where countless friends and family members had been bragging about the warm weather.

The second I landed, the weather turned rainy and cold.  It’s been raining for 5 days straight.  I have the worst luck.

So since I’ve been stuck at home, I worked on the never ending report! made a cake (among other things).

Okay really I made 2 cakes.  Both were mistakes.  My brother asked me to make a cake for a party he’s going to.  For some reason I thought his party was on Monday December 20th.  Nope, it’s on Thursday December 23rd.

Clearly a cake made on December 19th would be no good by the 23rd.  So instead, I took one to a party, and another was made for family friends.

Chocolate cake filled with chocolate mousse and frosted with raspberry whipped cream.

I didn’t try it, but I can only imagine it’s good.

Facebook wall confirmed.

Great!

Now, you know everyone favorite part of making layer cakes… leveling off the top?

Well I had a lot of leveled off cake tops after making 2 layer cakes.  So instead of stuffing my face, which ordinarily is my favorite thing to do.  I decided to make something exciting.

Chocolate Rum Balls

1 1/2 cups crumbled chocolate cake
1/2 cup powdered sugar
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts
2 tbsp dark rum
1 tbsp honey
Extra powdered sugar, cocoa powder, or melted chocolate

Combine all ingredients in a bowl.

Any good Guatemalan household has Guatemalan Rum…

Use your hands to form it all into a mass.  Break off pieces and roll into one inch little balls.

Then you can roll them in powdered sugar, cocoa powder or dip them in melted chocolate.  Refrigerate for a few hours and serve!

My brother gave one to my niece; she wasn’t a fan.

Me on the other hand… I’ve eaten about 5 today… Clearly I hated them.

Now I need to figure out what cake to actually make for my brother’s gathering.

In the meantime…

 

Pear Almond Galette

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Last night, I couldn’t sleep.  Around 11pm, after a while of tossing and turning, I decided to just get up and have a glass of wine.  Because really, wine makes life better.

Around midnight, while I sipped on wine and did everything BUT read about the global food system, I decided this was a good time to start baking.  So I made tart dough, since the idea for a pear almond galette had been brewing in my head for a few days.

Galette Dough

adapted from Joy of Baking

1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tbsp sugar
1 stick butter, cold and cut into pieces
about 1/4 cup ice water

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl.  Using a pastry blender or knives or your fingers, blend butter into flour mixture.  Gradually add in ice water and mix using your hands until you get a ball of dough.  Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for a few hours (I refrigerated over night).

Once the dough has chilled, roll it out to about a 12-13 inch circle.  It doesn’t matter if it’s a perfect circle.

Put the rolled out dough, place it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, then put it in the refrigerator while you make almond cream (frangipane).

Almond Cream

adapted from Joy of Baking

1/4 cup sugar
3 tbsp butter, softened
1 egg
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tbsp flour
1/2 cup almond meal (ground almonds)

Using a hand or stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar.  Next, beat in egg and almond extract until smooth and sorta runny.  Blend it one tbsp flour.  Lastly, add almond flour and continue to blend until smooth.

Take the dough out of the fridge and spread the almond cream onto the dough, leaving a inch or two border all around.

Next, take some pears.  I had some raggedy old ones that were on their last leg…

Peel, core and thinly slice.  I used two but I wish I had used three because they definitely would have fit.

Arrange the sliced pears onto the almond cream part of the galette.

See I could have fit 3 pears… Oh well.  Next fold the edges up over the top.  Trim any excess dough.

Take one tablespoon of melted butter and brush it onto the assembled galette.

Then sprinkle it with sugar.

Bake at 375 for 45-55minutes.  (Mine took about 50 minutes but start checking it around 45).

Allow it to cool.  If it’s 28 degrees outside like it is here, putting it next to the window speeds up the process.

Once the galette has cooled

Sprinkle it with powdered sugar and serve with whipped cream or creme anglaise.

Now I just need to figure out who to feed this to…  Shouldn’t be that hard to find a worth recipient, right?

Pumpkins and Leftovers

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If there’s one thing I hate, it’s throwing food away.  After Thanksgiving, I was determined to not throw a single thing away.  Not even the meat.  I bought a twenty pound turkey, you better believe I was using every last bit of it.

While I usually don’t eat meat, I would rather eat it than throw it away.   So I make turkey noodle soup, using a sad looking turkey carcass (I’ll spare you the photo), some whole wheat pasta that’s been in the cupboard since August 2009 and a rather boring assortment of vegetables. The result:

Not too exciting… Turkey noodle soup.  But don’t you worry.  I brown-ified it and made it a million times better.

The magic additions?  Lime, sour cream and Goya Adobo seasoning.  Tastes like home.

In addition to a turkey, I also had half a large can of pumpkin puree sitting in the fridge.  No way that’s going in the trash.  2 solutions: Pumpkin Pizza and Pumpkin Biscuits

Pumpkin Pizza was inspired by a Well’s Vegetarian Thanksgiving recipe that someone brought for Thanksgiving.  I made a few changes.

Pumpkin Pizza

inspired by Winter Squash, Onion and Pine Nut Pizza

1 recipe pizza dough (I used Eating Well’s whole wheat pizza dough recipe)
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 tsp dried sage
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp salt
1 tbsp butter or olive oil
1 onion, sliced
about 1/2 cup grated parmesan or asiago cheese
1-2 tbsp pepitas

In a skillet, heat butter or oil (or both), add onions and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes until caramelized and sweet.

Preheat oven to 400F.  Make the pizza dough, shape into whatever pizza dough shape you would like.

In a bowl, mix together pumpkin, sage, nutmeg and salt.  Spread onto pizza dough.  Next layer on caramelized onions and pepitas.  Top with cheese and bake for about 15 minutes or until dough is golden.

Pretty delicious.  Definitely would make it again.

As for the pumpkin biscuits… who doesn’t love a biscuit.

Pumpkin Biscuits

inspired by Eggs on Sunday

1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsp butter, chopped
1/2 cup pumpkin, sage, nutmeg, salt mixture (same as pizza above)
1 tbsp yogurt (or more as needed)

Preheat oven to 450F.  Combine dry ingredients.  Cut butter into the flour mixture, then add the pumpkin mixture.  Using your hands combine to form a ball.  If you need extra moisture, add some yogurt (I used about a tbsp).  Once the dough is sticky but well combined, roll it out.  Using a cup or biscuit cutter, cut into 5 pieces.  Bake for about 9 minutes.

Goes great with turkey noodle soup!

Now that I used up all my canned pumpkin, I just need to find something to do with these sugar pumpkins…

What should I do with these??

Creamy Potato Leek Soup: The Cure for the Forgetful

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I have a tendency to be very forgetful.  Aside from the little things like forgetting to pick up shoes or forgetting to shave my legs, there are the more important things in life like remembering to pick something up for a friend (sorry, Sara!!!!).

Consequently, I’m a fan of reminders.

I remind myself to sleep, exercise and eat well by leaving notes for myself.

I sometimes forget to eat protein.  So then I make up for it… 1 cup milk + 1 scoop protein powder + 1/2 cup mango chunks… blend, blend, blend…

I, apparently, also need a reminder to wash my travel mug daily so as not to depend on jars for transporting beverages.

I definitely don’t need a reminder that ugly omelets

made with egg beaters, cheddar cheese, mushrooms, onions, oregano and paprika have tons of protein too.

Next I need to find a way to remind myself that produce doesn’t last forever.

So if you’re forgetful like me and have a few leeks sitting in the back of your fridge for nearly a month, here’s something to save the day.

Creamy Potato Leek Soup

1 tbsp olive oil
3 leeks, sliced, white part only
3 garlic cloves, minced
4 small potatoes, peeled and diced
1 tsp dried thyme
4 cups vegetable broth
1/2 cup heavy cream
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a pot.  Add leeks and garlic, cook until leeks are tender about 10 mins.  Add potatoes and thyme, cook for 10 more minutes, add broth and simmer until potatoes are tender.   In a small bowl mix cream with a bit of the soup, add mixture to the rest of pot.  Add salt and pepper.  Allow to cool then blend and reheat if necessary.

Serve with goat cheese!

Don’t forget to make this ASAP!