Tag: Recipe

African Recipe Semi-Fail but Still Delicious

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Yesterday my schedule got all turned around!  I intended to go to class then work for an hour, go to an another class and stay on campus to study til 4 then come home a cook.  However, the second class that is usually at 12:20 got moved to 3:00 and went almost til 5:00!  I still managed to get a lot done in between but I was not prepared to stay on campus til past 5!

Anyway, when we last spoke, I was soaking black eyed peas…

Here’s why:  Rhoda, my friend who pops up around here all the time, is moving to Africa!  She threw a Rhoda is going to Africa party, where we all made recipes from her future home, Burkina Faso!

So I made Savory Bean Cakes! Not the healthiest but these could definitely be made healthier while still tasting delicious!

Burkinese Savory Bean Cakes

adapted from Savoury Beancakes

200g dried black eyed peas (I actually ended up using about 220g… not a big deal)
1 carrot, chopped
1/3 onion, chopped
salt to taste
1 egg, beaten
oil for frying

Cook and peel the black eyed peas.  Allow to cool.


Put all ingredients in the food processor and process until smooth.

At this point, I would allow your dough to cool.  I think this is where mine went wrong.  Form them into ball and flatten, essentially into patties.

Fry for about 10 minutes.

I guess I should also say that I’ve never fried anything before, so I don’t really know how to.  I think of myself as a pretty able cook for the most part but when it comes to frying… oh jeez!

Some were burn (oil too hot).  Some broke apart (should have let the dough cool… I think).

But they tasted great!  Beany and delicious!

Even though they weren’t fabulous looking, I took them to Rhoda’s for our Rhoda is going to Africa celebration.

There was a ton of tasty Burkinese food! Check out the spread:

Rhoda made this DELICIOUS Stew!

Served with cous cous

This stuff was dense!  I was full the entire night! (My two helping of dessert probably had something to do with that too!)

She also made a millet porridge for us to try!  I thought it was tasty!  Rhoda was apprehensive but she’s going to be eating it a lot in the next couple years apparently!

Julie made the same recipe as me!  Coincidence!  Guess there aren’t too many recipes from Burkina Faso out there.  She made hers with black beans.  They were delicious!  Amazing how two different beans can taste so different!

Liz made a tasty mango chutney to complement it all!  I believe she used this recipe.

My plate (definitely had seconds…)

Dessert were Sara’s brownies with fruit and hazelnuts!  Delicious! And Anna’s apple crisp (which I’m bummed I forgot to take a picture of!)

Sooo good! It was really fun to try out these new recipes!  Even if some of them didn’t turn out as expected… Are you a fan of trying to make things you’ve never heard of or do you prefer to have a point of reference (i.e. you’ve eaten it before) when you make something?

After dinner, we headed to a party at Sara’s house.  I danced it up a bit (Beyonce came on and you better believe I was all over it), but pooped out at about 12:30am.

Today is another sunny day!  Any fun weekend plans?

Have a great day!!!!

Baked Eggplant Parmesan

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Today was a surprisingly good day!  Despite the fact that my headache never went away, I managed to get a lot of reading done and have a great class (we talked about land titling and home ownership which for some reason I think is a really interesting topic).

I got home this evening slightly hungry but excited to make this dish.  As usual, I found this recipe for Eggplant Parmesan a LOOOONG time ago, bookmarked it and decided to make it now.

Baked Eggplant Parmesan

adapted from Eggs on Sunday’s Eggplant Parmesan
1 eggplant, sliced
1 egg
1/2 cup whole wheat bread crumbs
1/4 cup parmesan cheese
1 tsp Italian seasoning
1 can of diced tomatoes (plain or Italian seasoned works too)
1/2 an onion, chopped
1 tsp chopped garlic
1/2 tbsp olive oil
Cayenne to taste (I used about 1/4 tsp)
1 cup ricotta
1/4 cup shredded Parmesan
1 tbsp fresh chopped basil (more if you’d like)
A few slices of fresh mozzarella

I’ve never really cooked eggplant, so this was a first for me.  My sister’s friend once told me to put a lot of salt on eggplant and let it sit for a while then rinse it and pat dry, but I wasn’t really sure what that meant.  This recipe confirmed…

Heavily salt the sliced eggplant on both sides, let stand for 15-20 minutes.  Then rinse and pat dry.  It doesn’t yield salty eggplant, just reduced the water content, which apparently tastes better?

After you’ve salted, rinsed and dried your eggplant you need to bread it.  Put one egg (beaten) in a shallow bowl.  In another bowl, combine bread crumbs italian seasoning and parmesan cheese.

Dip each slice into the egg then into the bread crumb mixture and place on a greased baking sheet.

Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes, flip and baked for another 15 minutes.

In the meantime, make your sauce.  Heat the oil, add the onions, garlic and cayenne and cook for about 5 minutes.  Then add the can of diced tomatoes and cook for about 15-20 minutes until liquid has reduced and sauce is thick. In the meantime, combine the ricotta, basil and parmesan in a bowl, set aside.

When the eggplant is ready and your sauce is reduced, you are ready to assemble it all!

Pour 1/3 of the sauce into the bottom of a baking dish.

Next do a layer of eggplant slices.

Then spread on all the ricotta mixture.

Then the next 1/3 of your sauce and the rest of the eggplant slices.

Finish off with the remaining sauce and the mozzarella.  I went kind of light on the cheese since I figured the huge amounts of ricotta was plenty of cheese!

Bake at 425 for about 15-20 minutes.  Serve and enjoy!  Makes 4 good sized servings!  I wish I had a broiler because bubbly burnt cheese is delicious!  If you make this I would suggest putting it under the broiler for a few minutes for crispy goodness!

DELICIOUS!

Perfect ending to my day!  I love the crispiness of the eggplant without the oiliness of typical fried eggplant parmesan!

Are you an eggplant fan?

Tonight, I really want to catch up on Lost since I didn’t get to watch it last night!  I’m also considering making some granola bars for good afternoon snacks to have on hand.  What are your relaxation plans for the evening??

Have a great night!

Maple Sandwich Cookies

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Time for Sunday baking!

After my faculty/student mixer where I made carrot cake cupcakes, I had a TON of maple cream cheese frosting left over.  Instead of throwing it away (or eating it straight with a spoon), I decided to incorporate it into my weekly baking.  I didn’t want to make cupcakes again since I’m low on cupcake liners.

Then inspiration came… hmm I could make maple homemade oreos… Sounds delicious right?  Since I don’t have enough cocoa powder to make chocolate cookies and digging out my cars seems like a terrible idea, I thought of another alternative: maple cookies!


Homemade Maple Cookies + Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

Maple Sandwich Cookies

adapted from Smitten Kitchen’s Graham Crackers and Smitten Kitchen’s Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 cups + 2 tbsp all purpose flour
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp sea salt
7 tbsp of butter
1/3 cup maple syrup
5 tbsp milk
2 tbsp vanilla extract
Maple Cream Cheese Frosting

In a food processor pulse together dry ingredients.  Add butter, maple syrup, milk and vanilla and process until it’s a smooth ball.  Wrap in saran wrap or wax paper and chill for a few hours or overnight.

Once chilled, preheat oven to 350 degrees, roll out the dough and cut into circles.  No need for fancy tools.

You could pretty much do this in any shape you’d like.

Bake for about 10 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom.  Let the cookies cool completely.  If you’re in a hurry throw them in the freezer for a few minutes.

Put your maple cream cheese frosting in a plastic bag and cut off a corner.

This will make it easier to fill the cookies, no need for a knife!

Pipe a dollop of frosting on one side of the cookie

Press the other cookie onto the frosting.

Makes about 30 deliciously sweet cookies.

Enjoy!  Watch out for maple drippings!

I googled maple cookies after I made these and a lot of the recipes use maple flavoring!  That’s nonsense!  Use the real thing!

What’s your favorite type of sandwich cookie?

P.S. Don’t forget to go vote for my penguin olives over at Mara’s blog for the Cute Food Saturday, The Cuteiversary Contest!

P.P.S.  You can win some maple syrup to make this at Jessica’s VERMONSTER giveaway!!!

GINORMOUS Bean Chipotle Extravaganza!

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Hi friends!

I hope you’ve all have a great day!  Mine has been busy and sadly not very productive but oh well!  As I mentioned before, I’m trying to have more complete, balanced meals.  Today was a success!

Oats for breakfast, sandwich and soup for lunch, cantaloupe for a snack and dinner…

Just plain delicious!  I found this recipe on 101 Cookbooks a long time ago and bookmarked it for future making. I finally got around to doing so.  Of course I tweeked the recipe (quite a bit actually) but it still turned out delicious!

Ginormous Bean Chipotles Extravaganza

adapted from 101 Cookbooks Giant Chipotle White Beans

1/2 lb dried lima beans, cooked in salty water
1 tbsp olive oil
few dashes of cayenne, more for more heat
salt
1 tsp chopped garlic
14oz can of diced tomatoes (I only had whole tomatoes so I chopped them up myself, works fine)
2 tsp dried oregano (more if you use fresh)
1 tbsp of adobo from a can of chipotle peppers
1-2 tbsp chopped cilantro
1-2 handfuls of kale, chopped
1-2oz crumbled feta (or other crumbly cheese like cotija… which apparently doesn’t exist in Upstate NY…)

Heat the oil (about medium heat) in a pot, add the garlic and the cayenne, cook for about a minute.  Add tomatoes, salt and oregano.  Cook for a few minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in the cooked beans and adobo sauce.  Stir in the kale and cilantro.  Transfer to a baking dish, bake at 450 for 10-15 minutes.  Serve and enjoy!

I had mine with red quinoa!

and a huge salad!

You should definitely try this recipe!  It was soooo good!  If you’re one of those people who hates lima beans (don’t get this by the way) you can probably use any other bean, maybe cannellini?  That being said, I thought the lima beans were the perfect bean for this dish!  So big and “meaty”!  Delicious!!

I seriously loved this flavor combo!  Chipotle, feta and cilantro!  What could be better!?!

Try it!  I bet following the original recipe would be even more delicious!  She makes a cilantro pesto that I was just too lazy to make 🙂 Hence I just stirred in some chopped cilantro…

This is also a great make-ahead dish!  I actually prepared it all on Sunday, and today I just stuck it in the oven while my quinoa cooked.  Healthy and Delicious dinner in 15 minutes!  Voila!

Anyway, now I’m off to read before Lost!!  Anyone else as obsessed as I am?!?

Have a fantastic night!!

Post-Valentine’s Day Peanut Butter Blossom

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Last week, I baked Vegan PB cookies for my class.  Kim commented on how much she liked Peanut Butter Blossoms.

Last week was also Valentine’s Day!  On Monday, I went to Target to find Valentine’s Day goodies on sale!  I got a Valentine’s Day bowl for $0.44 and a few bags of Valentine’s Day Hershey Kisses.  I knew Peanut Butter Blossoms were in my future.

These aren’t your average Peanut Butter Blossom.  I kicked these up a notch with Raspberry Hershey Kisses and Caramel Hershey Kisses.

Post-Valentine’s Day Peanut Butter Blossoms

adapted from Hershey’s Kisses Peanut Butter Blossoms

~40 Hershey Kisses (any flavor), unwrapped
1/2 cup butter
3/4 cup creamy natural peanut butter
1/3 sugar
1/3 brown sugar
1 egg
2 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
extra granulated sugar for rolling

Pre-heat your oven to 375 degrees (I did this after I made the dough, while I was unwrapping the chocolates, just to save energy!)

Cream together the PB and butter.  Add the sugar and blend with a hand mixer until fluffy.  Add the egg, milk and vanilla.  Add the flour, salt and baking soda.

Form dough into 1 inch balls and roll in granulated sugar.  Bake for about 8 minutes.  Immediately press in the chocolates.  Allow to cool and enjoy!

Makes approximately 40 cookies.

Peanut Butter Blossoms are delicious, but these were OUTSTANDING!  Great flavor combo!

The worst part about making these… aside from their addictive qualities…

Unwrapping all the chocolates.  This can be remedied by the use of a loved one (i.e. significant other, sibling or child).

I have a few ideas for different types of blossoms:
-Mexican Chocolate blossoms.  Use regular chocolate kisses but add cinnamon and cayenne to the rolling sugar.
-Snickerdoodle blossoms with butterscotch kisses (I think Hershey’s makes these) and rolled in cinnamon sugar)
-Almond Blossoms with Almond butter instead of PB and Hershey Kisses with Almonds

Any other ideas?

Well today is another study day!  Not excited for it but it has to happen.  I hope you all have a wonderful Sunday!

Zucchini Stir Fry

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Hi everyone!

I hope you’re having a great day!  Mine is better than yesterday!  I seriously think the weather here is getting to me!

Today I tried two new things!

Remember WAYY back when, when I tried Amazing Grass for the first time and absolutely hated it?  Well I still had a packet of the chocolate superfood powder from when I ordered that sampler.  I decided to give it another try!  However, this time I decided to try less.  So instead of dumping the whole packet in my green monster, I sprinkled about a fourth of the packet in.

It was delicious!  The gritiness that I hated the first time around wasn’t there, and the chocolatey-ness was great!  I’m not sure I’ll keep buying it just because it’s expensive… when I’m rollin’ in the dough, I would definitely consider adding it to my smoothies more regularly.

Are you a fan of Amazing Grass?

The second new thing I tried was Kikkoman Ponzu, which is a citrus seasoned soy sauce.  I got this a few weeks ago as part of the Food Buzz Tastemakers program.

I’m running low on groceries so I pulled together a bunch of random ingredients to make a delicious stir fry!

Zucchini Stir Fry

1/2 onion, sliced
1/2 tsp chopped ginger
1/2 tsp minced garlic
1 zucchini, diced
1 tsp Trader Joe’s Soyaki
2 tsp Kikkoman Ponzu
Pepper to taste

Add the onions to a nonstick pan (sprayed with olive oil or any oil you prefer) and cook for a few minutes.  Add garlic and ginger, cook for 1 minute.  Add zucchini, sauces and pepper, cook for a few more minutes until tender.  Serve with noodles or rice.

This would be great with some pineapple chunks in there too!  Maybe some nuts?

I enjoyed mine with Trader Joe’s Harvest Grain Mix that I’ve had since about August… Finally time to use it up! And a Morningstar Veggie Patty for some added protein.

Delish!

The Kikkoman sauce was really good.  Since I didn’t try it on its own, it tasted somewhat like regular soy sauce but with a tiny kick.  Worth a try!

Now I’m off to read and then head to class!  Have a great afternoon/evening!

Tomorrow is Friday!!! WOOO!!!

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

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As I’ve mentioned before, I like baking for my class every week.  Last week, we started talking about random things at the end of class, and one girl mentioned she is a vegan.  I felt a little bad, because every week she hadn’t been eating my baked goods!  While I don’t want to change the goodies only for one person, I think it’s okay to accommodate her dietary needs every so often.  Remember my post about being a “Picky Eater”?

I hadn’t really planned a baked good when I went to the grocery store on Friday.  So I looked around for a recipe using ingredients I had at home. Here’s my version:

Vegan Peanut Butter Cookies

adapted from 101 Cookbooks Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour (you can probably use spelt or all purpose)
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup Natural Peanut Butter (smooth or crunchy should work, I used smooth)
1/2 cup Agave Nectar
2 1/2 tbsp Canola Oil
1 tsp Vanilla Extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Combine all the dry ingredients in a small bowl.  In a larger bowl, combine the wet ingredients.  Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix to combine.  Chill dough for a few minutes in the freezer (I did this while I quickly washed dishes).

Spoon dough onto a baking sheet (about tablespoon sized drops), press with a fork, bake for 8-10 minutes.  Allow to cool and eat your heart out!

Makes about 20 cookies.

In other news, today has been the most unproductive day of my life!  Other than going to the gym and baking, I’ve pretty much done nothing since 7:15am when I woke up.  I need to get some reading done, prepare for my discussion section and then babysit!

Lastly!  I’m almost out of peanut butter!

While I know I just bought 2 jars of Barney Butter, I like having a variety of nut butters around.

What’s your favorite Peanut/Nut butter?

Wake up and smell the COFFEE Cake!

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Happy Valentine’s Day!!!

About 10 minutes after my last post, there was a knock at the door.  This arrived:

Thanks, Lovely Fella!

After smiling for a good while and admiring my flowers, I headed out on my mission to find new running shoes.  The first stop was Kohl’s.  I tried on pretty much every pair of running shoes they had and decided upon these Asics.

Can you believe they were only $35!!!!  What a steal!

I may have also done some more shopping… long exercise pants and maybe a pair of red pumps…

Sadly, I might have to return them 😦 They’re a little too tight!  This is sort of silly but I saw them at the store, didn’t even try them on just grabbed them and walked straight to the register.  These are the pumps I’ve been looking for!  I made the lovely fella go to every Marshall’s and TJ Maxx in the Bay Area to find my size!  A little sad they’re too small. Oh well!  There will be other red pumps!

Earlier this week, my friend Liz e-mailed a recipe to a bunch of friends (myself included) wondering if someone would be willing to bake it for Valentine’s Day.  You really don’t have to twist my arm to get me to bake… Of course I said yes!

I was intrigued by this recipe!  I’m sure most of you have heard of Pioneer Woman, right?

This is her recipe for Coffee Cake, Literally… as in coffee flavored cake, not coffee cake.

This recipe turned out ridiculously good!  I would definitely make it again (for a new crowd that is!).

The recipe makes a cake but I decided to make cupcakes because they’re easier to enjoy, and they’re just darn cute!   I used my environmentally friendly baking cups!

The recipe called for buttermilk, which I never have around so here’s a tip: 1 cup milk (-1 tbsp) + 1tbsp of vinegar.  Let it sit for 5-10 mins!  Voila!  You’ve got buttermilk!

Honestly, I liked them better without the frosting.  The cake is so light and moist! The coffee flavor isn’t too strong in the cake.  The frosting on the other hand is very strongly flavored!  Pretty delicious as well!

I am thoroughly impressed at how good these are!  I feel like I need to try more of Pioneer Woman’s recipes!

I will be taking these cupcakes to a Valentine’s Day gathering!  But before that, I’m babysitting for a friend so he and his wife can have a Valentine’s Day outing!  They probably need it!

What are your plans for the day?

Have a great day!!!!

Taste the Rainbow

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Happy Tuesday!!

Did you all hear about Michelle Obama’s Campaign Against Childhood Obesity?

What do you think of this new Let’s Move campaign?

I had some colorful eats today and luckily they DID NOT include any of this:

For lunch, I had a DELICIOUS, COLORFUL and HUGE salad!

Isn’t it bright?! Lettuce, Cucumbers, Tomato, Carrot Ribbons and a sliced up string cheese with some olive oil and balsamic vinegar as dressing.  Along with a Morningstar Sausage Patty taco, which you’ve seen so here’s part of the tortilla process:

I would die without a gas stove!

After my scrumptious lunch, I went to class then I worked on Econ and Methods problem sets with people.  Ugh I need to learn to be more patient!

Then the highlight of the evening.. Dinner was pretty much the epitome of a fake and delicious makeover!

You know chicken parmesan? Served as such…

Forget that!  Mine was a million times better!

Boca Spicy Chik’n Patty topped with marinara sauce and cottage cheese (soo good!  If you’ve never mixed marinara and cottage cheese… go try it now! Creamy and delicious!), served with a side of spaghetti squash and broccoli, then sprinkled with some grated pecorino romano for good measure.

A dinner entree of Chicken Parmigiana at Macaroni Grill will set you back 1650 calories, 98g of fat and 2500mg of sodium!  Isn’t that nuts!

My version had a grand total of 405 calories and 12g of fat!  Much better and just as tasty and voluminous! Honestly, I’m not a huge fan of pasta (maybe because I didn’t grow up eating it?) but I understand that a lot of people do like it.  A serving of pasta still would make this a million times healthier than a restaurant version!

What’s your favorite at home dish makeover?

Ahhh Lost is on in a little over half an hour!  I have to read now so I can then glue myself to the TV!

Have a fabulous night!!

Warming Up Tropical Style

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Hi all!  I hope you enjoyed your weekend!

Remember when I was deciding whether or not to bake for my class… I chose Yes! Mostly because I love to bake but also because my other class was canceled this morning so I could legitimately justify baking while I looked at Decision Trees 🙂

To beat the dreariness that is Ithaca for today, I decided to make something tropical sounding!  However, I didn’t have time to go to the store so I made due with what I had.  Behold Tropical Oatmeal Cookies!

All the fruitness of the tropics with the warmth and comfort of a cold winter day!

Tropical Oatmeal Cookies

inspired by Smitten Kitchen’s Thick, Chewy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 cup old fashioned oats
3/4 cup mixed dried fruit (I used dried mango, papaya, cranberries and raisins)

In one bowl combine dry ingredients except the oats and dried fruit.  In another bowl, cream together butter and sugar.  Add vanilla and egg, blend with a hand mixer until smooth.  Add dry ingredients, mix until combined.  Fold in oats and dried fruit.

Isn’t it colorful!?

Chill for about an hour.  Then bake at 350 degrees for about 10 minutes or until golden on the bottom.

This made 35 small cookies for me, but I’m guessing maybe 20 average sized cookies.

Pretty tasty! I tried one 🙂

While these baked, I made myself a healthy tropical lunch!

Thai Egg Drop Soup

2 servings of dry lentils
2 cups Thai Culinary Stock
1 tsp cornstarch
handful of Kale, washed and chopped
frozen veggies
1 egg, lightly beaten

Bring the lentils and stock to a boil, simmer for about 15 minutes.  Add cornstarch to thicken slightly (first mix with a bit of water in a separate cup).  Add veggies and bring to a boil.  Turn heat down and drizzle in the egg while stirring.

I have a tendency to eat the same thing everyday, but I’m trying to switch it up.  Any good lunch suggestions other than a wrap or sandwich??

Now I’m off to Wegman’s for the first time this week.  I’m literally out of vegetables!  That can’t happen in my household!

I feel like I should do a post dedicated just to Wegman’s since apparently I’m obsessed.

Have a wonderful afternoon!!!

P.S. Giveaways at Salt and Humor and The Actor’s Diet!