Eggplant parmesan

Tags

casserole, dinner, eggplant parmesan, savory, vegetarian, yum

I recently bought some ricotta cheese for a dish I wanted to make. I bought much more than I needed and wasn’t sure what else to use it in.  Cheesecake?  No!  I had enough sweets over Christmas.  An internet search turned up lots of pasta dishes but that wasn’t it either.  How about eggplant parmesan?  I’ve wanted to make eggplant parmesan for quite some time but I didn’t really want a heavy, greasy dish as it can sometimes be.  I looked around and found a recipe that baked the eggplant first instead of frying it. I didn’t really like anything else about that recipe so I decided to use that idea but make my own sauce, plus there was the ricotta.

I love putanesca sauce so I made something along those lines, you can use any sauce you like of course.  As usual the measurements are not exact, I throw in what I have or what I feel it needs after tasting.

The Sauce

• 2Tb olive oil
• 4 garlic cloves minced
• 10 green olives sliced
• 15 Kalamata olives sliced
• Can of diced tomatoes
• 2 small cans tomato sauce
• 1/4 cup red wine
• 4 drops fish oil
• 1/2 Tb yerma or Schezuan pepper
• salt/pepper/sugar

Heat the oil over med heat in a pan, add the garlic. Cook a few minutes and add the olives. After they heat a bit add the diced tomatoes and cook together for around 5 minutes.  Add 1 can of tomato sauce, the red wine, fish oil, Schezuan pepper. Taste and add salt/black pepper and about 1 Tb sugar to cut the acidity.  If it looks like you will need more sauce, add the other can of tomato sauce and cook until thickened.

• 2 Eggplants
• 2-3 eggs
• Italian bread crumb mix (bread crumbs, oregano, garlic, pepper & parmesan)

Meanwhile, cut the eggplant into 1/4 inch slices and salt. Let sit while salted about 1/2 hour.  You will see drops of water coming out of the eggplant.  The salt will take some of the bitterness away from the eggplant.  Rinse and pat dry.  Whisk the eggs together and dip the eggplant and then coat in breadcrumbs.  Put on a parchment paper covered cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 10 minutes each side.

• 1 cup Ricotta cheese
• 2 eggs
• 1/4 parmesan cheese
• 1 TB basil
• salt/pepper
• 1 cup or more Grated mozzarella

Mix together the Ricottta, eggs, parmesan, basil and salt/pepper.  Butter a baking dish and layer eggplant, ricotta mixture, sauce and mozzarella cheese, about two layers.  Sprinkle with parmesan and bake at 350 for 35 minutes.

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Burgundy Mustard Pork

Tags

burgundy, dijon, dinner, Fall, food, Pork, roasted, savory, squash, yum

So yummy!I got this recipe from a Williams Sonoma catalog of all places. The catalog came into my work and a friend of mine who also likes to cook (as well as fantasize about all the cookware in said catalog) told me that she had made the recipes from the catalog before and that they were pretty good. I decided to give this one a shot and am really glad I did, so is Jason.

It’s been modified a bit, for example the actual recipe uses white wine and Burgundy mustard. I had neither at the time so I used red wine and dijon. It was delicious. So here goes. You will need a dutch oven to make this or some kind of oven proof pan with a lid. I used my cast iron dutch oven and it was perfect as it put a nice sear on the meat.

3/4 cup red wine
1 TB packed brown sugar
2 Tb olive oil
1/4 cup Dijon mustard
1 Tb rosemary
2 chopped garlic cloves
1 boneless pork loin roast
salt/pepper
1/4 cup heavy cream

Whisk together the wine, brown sugar, olive oil, mustard, rosemary & garlic. Brush the pork on all sides with the mixture. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit at room temperature for about an hour. Put the rest of the marinade in a saucepan and reserve.
Preheat the oven to 475 F. Place the pork in a Dutch oven, season with salt and pepper, cover and roast for 20 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 400 and continue roasting with the lid on for about 30-40 minutes. (Meat thermometer should read 145 when done). Remove from the Dutch oven and let sit while you make the sauce.

Pour the marinade into the Dutch oven and add the 1/4 cup cream. Bring to a boil on the stovetop until reduced (about 5 minutes). I’ve made the sauce without adding it to the roasting pan but it’s not as rich and delicous that way. The juices and browned bits from the pork add a depth of flavor, so I highly suggest you try it like that.

I served it with roast squash, I figured since the oven was on for the pork I might as well roast squash. I added the squash when the temperature was turned down to 400 and it took about 40 minutes for it to finish, which was how long the pork needed so that was good.  I served the squash with coconut oil and Fleur de Sel, yummy!

Stuffed Turban Squash

Tags

dinner, Fall, food, holiday, idea, Pork, sausage, stuffed, turban squash, yum

The first time I saw a turban squash I knew I had to possess one!  They are so gorgeous.  But I had no idea what to do with it. Internet search here I come (what did we do before the internet?)  This is what I found and I’ve never looked back.  My husband LOVES this dish and every fall whoever sees the striped beauty first always brings it home.

The recipe is super easy and open to lots of adaptation.

Ingredients

• 1 turban squash
• 2 Tb butter or olive oil
• 1/2 onion chopped small
• 2 carrots diced
• 2 stalks celery diced
• 1 lb pork sausage
• 1/4 c breadcrumbs
• 2-4 TB brown sugar (depending on your taste)
• salt & pepper
• any herbs you want to experiment with, hot chili? sage? etc

Preheat the oven to 350 F. First you must cut the top off the turban squash and remove the seeds from top & bottom (keep the top). Brush the cut edges with olive oil and put cut side down on a foil wrapped cookie sheet.  Roast the squash until mostly soft, depending on the size it will be at least an hour.  You want to be able to scoop some out but it will also cook a little more when you stuff it so you don’t want it to fall apart.

Saute the onion, celery & carrots in a saucepan in the butter or oil until tender.  Add the sausage and cook, drain any fat.  Mix in brown sugar, bread crumbs, salt/pepper and herbs if you want to use some (I usually like it as is).  Scoop out some squash and add to the sausage mixture.  Stuff the mixture into the squash, cover with the top and bake at 350 F about 25 minutes so the flavors can blend.  Serve!

I completely forgot to take a picture of the finished meal until it was …much…too…late………….

I was lucky to get a picture of these last remains.

My apologies, I’m a terrible food blogger but a wonderful cook! 

 

 

Kale, Quinoa & cheese casserole!

Tags

casserole, cheese, clean eating, dinner, Fall, food, gluten free, healthy treat, idea, kale, quinoa, savory, side dish, yum

So is this a “clean” recipe you might ask?  Somewhat.  Too much cheese can be a bit heavy but I think the other ingredients make up for it and what’s a little cheese between friends?!  The other ingredients are kale and quinoa, plus some eggs and I even added Greek yogurt….so there’s lots of protein and the kale is healthy right?  I’m totally justifying.  What the hell?  Let’s eat some cheese! Lots and lots!!!!  Cheesy goodness.  Whew! That’s out of my system.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 c quinoa
• 1 bunch kale
• 4 cloves garlic
• 2 eggs
•  1/2 cup milk
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/4 tsp ground coriander
• 1/4 tsp paprika
• 1/4 tsp cayenne
• salt/pepper
• panko

Cook the quinoa, I get mine in the bulk section so I always soak in cold water for about 10 mins and rinse until the water runs clear.  Then add 2 1/2 cups water to the quinoa, bring to a boil, cover & simmer until the water is absorbed. While it’s cooking, cut the kale into bite sized pieces and either stir fry or saute until wilted.

In a bowl whisk together the eggs, milk, yogurt, spices, salt/pepper and the chopped garlic.  Mix in the quinoa, the kale and the cheese.  Pour into a greased 13 x 9 baking dish and sprinkle panko or bread crumbs on top.  Bake in a 350 oven for about 30 minutes.  Like all recipes you can adjust the amounts of anything including the spices to your taste.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And done!

Mexican Mash

Tags

black beans, casserole, clean diet, dinner, food, green enchilada, ground turkey, healthy treat, Mexican, Roasted chili, yum

Once again I have Janetha over at mealsandmovesblog to thank for this recipe.  I’ve modified it a bit but it’s quite tasty.  I think I’m getting the hang of what foods to eat on this challenge and how to combine them.  If you haven’t heard yet, I’m doing the 12 week Body for Life challenge.  12 weeks of clean eating and exercising!! What happens after the 12 week challenge is over you might ask?  Well by then I will have started some new habits and will continue on this path.  I am actually enjoying myself and have noticed a few changes in my body overall.  I’ve dropped a few pounds too! The one thing that has kept me on track is that one day a week I can eat whatever I want….anything in any amounts!  What I’ve found though is that the further into the challenge (I’m starting week 6), the less I really want any super-sweet things to eat. My so called cheat days are actually pretty boring lately.

On to the meal!  This is a casserole with lots of tasty things in it and with Mexican flavorings.  I wouldn’t call it too authentic though!

Ingredients:

• 1 pound of ground turkey (or chicken)
• about a cup or more of brocolli (the original called for bell pepper but I didn’t have any)
• 1/2 red onion chopped
• 6 mushrooms chopped (or more to taste)
• 2 cups cooked brown rice
• 1 can black beans (14 oz can)
• 2-3 diced tomatoes
• 1 can green enchilada sauce
• 1 cup nonfat Greek yogurt
• roasted Poblano chilis, chopped (about 3)
• roasted Serrano chilis, chopped (if you like the heat and as many as you like, or Jalapeno etc)
• taco seasoning (I make my own which I will share at the end)
• 1 cup cheddar cheese
• avocado, cilantro, salsa etc for garnish

My taco seasoning uses chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, black pepper, oregano & cayenne pepper in varying proportions. I don’t measure I just kinda eye it so I’ve written it in the order I use from most to least, you can taste it or just smell it!  Oh and salt.

Saute the onion, brocolli, onion & mushrooms in about 1 Tb olive oil.

Add the ground turkey and cook until browned. Add the taco seasoning, the roasted chilis and add the enchilada sauce.  Remove from heat and add the rice, the black beans and the tomatoes.

Preheat the oven to 350.  Add the Greek yogurt to the mixture and combine everything really well.  Transfer it all to a 9 X 13 baking dish and sprinkle with cheese.  Cover with foil and bake for about 25-30 minutes.  You can uncover the dish for the last 5 minutes or so to brown the cheese a bit.

Makes about 4 servings depending on the people. I had about a cup to a cup and a half for a serving and Jason had double servings (as usual!). There was enough left for both of us to eat some for lunch.  I would say it could serve 6-8 people who don’t eat seconds and thirds!  Garnish with avocado slices, cilantro, Greek yogurt instead of sour cream, salsa etc.

 

Salmon with quinoa-grapefruit salad or….I can do this!

Tags

clean eating, dinner, grapefruit, healthy treat, quinoa, salmon, yum

Diet, Diet, Diet, hateful word.  However, this challenge I am doing is nothing like a traditional diet!  I’m not hungry and I get to eat up to 6 times a day!!!  In fact, it’s encouraged.  I have to admit some days I can only eat 5 times.  What in the world kind of diet is this you might ask (and I would too).  It’s from a book called Body for Life and it’s an exercise and eating program.  Yes exercise and you push yourself quite hard.  But I’m a bit of a masochist so I don’t really mind that part.  It’s the sweets part that’s harder for me.  Sweets are limited to one “free” day a week. But I can do this….  Anyway, I had a nice piece of salmon waiting for dinner and I had a grapefruit that I hadn’t eaten yet.  What could I make?

Salmon with quinoa-grapefruit salad of course!  Adapted from the Food network here

• Peel of a grapefruit
• sliced ginger (a piece as large as a thumb)
• olive oil  (3-4 Tb)
• 1 cup Quinoa

While your quinoa cooks, just like rice 1 cup quinoa, 2 cups water, bring to boil, cover and simmer until water is gone.  Oh, if you get your quinoa from a bulk food section like I do you will want to let it soak in cold water for at least 10 mins and then rinse until the water runs clean.  Otherwise it supposedly leaves a bitter taste.  I’ve never had that happen yet but I always soak and rinse.

Put the olive oil in a small pot and add the grapefruit peel, careful not to get the white pith part, and the sliced ginger.  Bring to just a simmer and turn off the heat.  Let it soak while you prepare everything else.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Separate the grapefruit into segments removing the membrane. You will need at least 3 Tb of juice so make sure that happens as you separate!

Put the Quinoa in a bowl and add chopped scallion (2-3) and chopped cilantro and salt & pepper to taste.

Combine:

• 3 Tb grapefruit juice
• 1 Tb rice vinegar
• 1 tsp agave sweetener (the original recipe says 2 tsp honey)

Whisk together and slowly stream in the oil from the peel/ginger mixture to make a dressing.  I reserved some of the oil mixture to use on some asparagus and on the salmon.  Pour the dressing into the quinoa and mix well. You can add the grapefruit segments to it now, or if you’re like me and have a Jason who doesn’t like grapefruit all that much, add it to your own serving.

I took some asparagus, put it on a cookie sheet covered in foil and brushed some of the peel/ginger oil on it, sprinkled it with salt and put it on the bottom rack of a 400 F oven.  The other rack was 2 down from the top. While the asparagus cooked for about 5 minutes I put the salmon on a foil cookie sheet and poured the remaining oil on the salmon and sprinkled it with about 1 tsp of brown sugar and some salt and pepper.  After the 5 minutes was up, I left the asparagus in the bottom and put the salmon on the 2nd rack.  This cooked for about 10 mins.   Lovely.

It was really delicious. I’m getting the hang of this “clean” eating thing, I probably still don’t have it figured out yet.  But hey, I have one more meal to go tonight!  I’ll leave you with a picture of one of my silly dogs who really wanted, either my attention or a piece of fish!

Fish please.

 

Tags

chilies, dinner, food, hominy, Pork, Pozole verde, roasted peppers, savory, tomatillo, yum

Just made this tonight and it is fantastic! Did it in my slow cooker and had to use canned hominy.  I roasted half of the tomatillos while roasting the chilis because I like that smoky flavor.

Oh so good and Oh so easy! I even have some leftover for tomorrow and I can tell the flavor will be even better then, it will funkyfy I call it!

Ethiopian cabbage – quick and easy!

Tags

cabbage, carrot, cumin, dinner, Ethiopian, food, potato, savory, turmeric, vegetarian, yum

A few years ago my office had a pot luck and Mr. A’s wife brought in some dishes from her home country, Ethiopia.  I love collecting recipes from around the world, from people that I’ve actually met. Well at least until I started reading blogs, I’ve truly made some wonderful dishes from some of these blogs around here!  Anyway, I fell in love with this dish. She also brought a lentil dish that was ok and those flat breads that many African countries make. I can’t think of the name off the top of my head but they are flat and have bubbles, almost like when a pancake is ready to flip it has bubbles in it?  Hang on….let me look  up a picture online.  It’s called Injera.

Injera

It’s kind of spongy and I don’t remember much else about it. I do remember that she wouldn’t give me the recipe for Injera, she said it would be too difficult…she didn’t know me very well but for the sake of peace in the office, and because I wasn’t that impressed with them, I didn’t push it.  I wish I had pushed it and Mr. A is long gone so….I’ll have to find a recipe online.

The thing I think I love the most about getting recipes from people from other countries who are cooking a family recipe, or people who have been cooking for years, is that they don’t really measure the ingredients.  I remember when I was a child, my aunt had a woman who was a housekeeper and cook (this was in Greece) and I used to watch her cook.  It was a teacup full or a coffee cup full, or a water glass etc.  Then it was a big spoon or a small spoon or an amount poured into the palm of her hand. Watching her was like magic and wonderful smells and dishes flowed from her kitchen.

Mon petit chou

Anyway, that is how I was told this cabbage recipe and I tried to write it down as best I could.  This recipe is so simple and yet so good.  I posted this recipe on the AllRecipes site and people there made suggestions and added things.  So the recipe below is as close to the original as possible.  Oh and many of the cooks on allrecipes suggested the spices should be doubled so I will write the double amount in the recipe that follows…..

Ethiopian Cabbage

• 1/2 cup of olive oil
• 4 carrots sliced
• 1 sliced onion
• 1 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp black pepper (or more)
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 head of cabbage
• 3-5 potatos cubed into bite size (any kind of potato works) 

The start

Heat the oil in a skillet or a dutch oven on medium, Cook the onion & carrots about 5 minutes.  Add the spices and then the cabbage and cook another 15- 20 minutes. Add the potatoes and cover, turn the heat down a bit and cook until the potatoes are soft. About 20-30 minutes.

I don’t know why this dish tastes so good, there’s not much to it.  But the combination of flavors is really wonderful. I make it fairly often.  You can serve it with meat or a flat bread but I usually have it alone.  I made it the other night with almost an entire small cabbage and only 3 potatoes and I was hoping for some leftovers but we at it all up!

First time Bagels!

Tags

bagels, baking, basil, bread, feta, food, fresh from the oven challenge, oregano, savory, snack, sun dried tomato, yum

I decided to join a baker’s challenge group Fresh From the Oven because of another blogger Sam of From Samwiches to Samosas. She recently posted some Jalapeno/Cheddar bagels that looked amazing and talked about the challenge so I decided to join up as well.  Thanks Sam!  But what to make?  I love Jalapeno/Cheddar as well but she had just done it.  I decided to go with my heritage and give them a Greek flavor with basil, oregano, sun dried tomato and feta! Yum!  But would it work?  How would putting all those things in there affect the dough?  Experimenting is the whole point of a challenge correct?

I got the recipe straight from the challenger’s site.  You can find the original here.

• 450 g white flour (I used all purpose unbleached)
• 7 g fast acting yeast
• 2 tsp salt (I reduced to 1 because feta is salty)
• 250 ml warm water
• 2 Tb honey
• 1 Tb veg oil

My additions

• 1/2 tsp fresh  oregano
• 1/2 tsp fresh basil
• 1 tsp diced sun dried tomato
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta

In a bowl mix the flour, yeast, basil & oregano.  Add the warm water, honey & oil.  Mix this together and then add the salt, tomato & feta.  Mix on med for 10 mins or by hand. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover and let sit until doubled, 1-3 hours.  (I let it sit three because I was doing other things!) 

Risen dough

Punch the dough down and turn it out onto a floured work surface.  Divide the dough into 7 equal pieces.

Now the fun part.  You have two options, one roll into a sausage shape and form a ring and seal the ring shut with some water. OR…..form the dough into a ball, push your finger through the middle and spin around your finger!  Turns out Jason is really good at this!  We made a video for your enjoyment.  Cover the bagels and let them rise again for about 20 minutes.  You’ll notice we also have a braid instead of a ring.  Jason got carried away with the spinning and decided the hole was so big it should be turned into a braid.  The bagels will expand during this stage and during the next (water) stage so make sure your holes are large enough.  I had a few that ended up not really having holes….so lesson learned.

 

Preheat your oven to 425.  Fill a large skillet with enough water to float the bagels and bring to a  simmer.  Gently place the bagels in the water, don’t overcrowd as they will expand a bit here and poach for about 90 seconds a side.  Turn them with a slotted spoon or spatula.  Let the water drip off and then place on a baking sheet.  I used a silpat, the directions said to grease the sheet, parchment would probably work too.  Oh! AND you’re supposed to brush with a beaten egg before baking but I forgot that part.  It didn’t seem to affect them too much so do it….or don’t!

Bake them in the oven for 15 minutes, turn and then bake another 10.  I put the baking sheet on a pizza stone in the bottom of the oven and the last 10 minutes browned the bagels more than I would have liked.  Next time I will cook them in the middle of the oven without a pizza stone.  Oh and my pizza stone cracked!?!!!   It’s been in the oven all the time and I’ve read about the cracking problem.  I think I will go buy some quarry tiles at the local home improvement store and try those.  I’ve heard that thicker stones don’t crack as easily.  The bagels were good but I also think that next time I should add more of everything.  The feta seemed to melt into the dough as it was being mixed so I’m not sure when to add it.  Maybe next time after the rise the feta can be mixed in?  It will be fun to experiment on this and other flavors.

Pastries & prostitutes!

Tags

capers, dinner, food, olives, pasta, puttanesca, spaghetti, yum

I’ve had the busiest week!  I didn’t bake a thing and barely cooked at all.  However, I ordered the new pastry book by Pierre Hermes and it arrived yesterday!!!!  You can order your own through Amazon here.   Needless to say the anticipation in my house can be cut with a knife!  Now the only question is what to make first?!?!

Oh happiness!

What do prostitutes have to do with this you might wonder?  Nothing at all.  That’s a completely different subject.  One of the only thing I managed to find time to cook this week and I want to share is….Spaghetti alla Puttanesca!  Now I must admit I read someone else’s blog and that is what gave me the idea.  I’ve had it many times before and love it but this blogger did things a little differently.   I use tomato sauce when making this and she used fresh grape tomatoes and white wine/chicken broth!  What a clever idea.  There were a few other differences in her recipe, she doesn’t use capers which I think are a must,  so I adapted and used her three ingredients with my basic recipe.  You can find her recipe at The Pioneer Woman Cooks  First a picture of the end result to tempt your tummy and then a history of the name!

Pasta of the Prostitutes (puttanesca)

Spaghetti alla Puttanesca.  Puttana in Greek and Italian is a prostitute.  The story goes that a restaurant somewhere in Italy would make this dish for the working girls to get a quick pick-me-up before going back to the streets.  It is a very quick dish to prepare and DELICOUS!  I don’t know if the story is true but if this dish is going to have a story,  might as well be it.  I remember my dad used to order this and make a big deal of telling us the story!   I am putting approximate measurements on the ingredients because I don’t really measure and you shouldn’t either. This dish is very individual so taste along the way and add what you want more of.

• 1/2 onion
• at least 3 cloves of garlic
• 3 anchovy fillets (very important for the flavor, don’t be afraid!)
• assorted olives chopped into pieces (only please don’t use canned black, they have no taste)
• 2 Tb capers
• 2 Tb chopped sun dried tomato
• 1 Tb red pepper (flakes or whole dried ones chopped)
• 1 carton grape tomato (the one I used was 10 oz)
• 1/2 cup white wine
• 1/2 cup chicken stock
• 2 glugs olive oil
• 1/2 tsp sugar
• salt/pepper

• For the topping, fresh basil and soft goat cheese.

Heat olive oil in a skillet, chop the onion & cook on med.  Chop the garlic & the anchovy and add to the skillet.  The anchovy should almost dissolve away leaving a salty flavoring.  Add the chopped olives & capers with a little bit of the juices.  Add the red pepper, the chopped sun dried tomato (I used frozen which are supposed to be rehydrated but I just toss them in dry and they hydrate in the liquid as it cooks). Cut the grape tomatoes in half, throw them in and sprinkle with some sugar.  I always put sugar in my tomato sauce as it cuts some of the acidity and brings out the flavor a bit more. Let all this cook until it combines really well and add the white wine and chicken stock as soon as it starts to get dry or before! Taste and then salt and pepper.

Wonderful smells should be starting.

Meanwhile your pasta should have been cooking and is now done.  I pour my sauce onto the cooked pasta, tear up the basil into pieces and put on top along with some goat cheese which melts slowly into the dish. Oh it’s divine!  You can add parmesan if you want, it really doesn’t need it.  Serve with a salad, or crusty bread….or just as it is.  Oh I forgot, since I’m so used to this being more of a tomato sauce (I usually use a can of chopped tomatoes), I was worried about there not being enough tomato flavor from the grape tomatoes but I didn’t have any paste….so I used a squirt or two of catsup (or ketchup, we have a debate in my house regarding which is the correct spelling, the outcome has not been determined yet).  Yes I have been known to use catsup for flavoring in soups before as well.  Sorry to the purists but it works!

Once more....

Come to think of it, if it weren’t for other bloggers inspiring me to cook this week it would have been fast food all the way.  This dish and one other are the only things I actually made.  How sad.  The other dish (which I cooked two nights in a row!) was courtesy of Chica Andaluza’s Huevos Revueltos Con Gambas y Setas, which translates as Scrambled Eggs with Prawns & Mushrooms.  Quick, easy and tasty.  I’m ashamed to say what the rest of our dinners consisted of…….