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.

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!

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!

Spring Salad for Summer!

Tags

brocolli, dinner, food, Grapes, healthy treat, salad, savory, sweet, yum

I’ve been on a road trip for the last two weeks!  I went all over California visiting family with family!  A wonderful trip.  What was not so wonderful was some of the eating I did….fast food is so easy on the road and when I was at my sister’s….well she likes eating as much as I do so we went to various restaurants and ate pretty well at home too.  There were a few dishes that she and her husband made for us that I had forgotten about and will have to add to my regular rotation as they are pretty healthy. Nicoise salad anyone?  I had forgotten how delicous that was.  I had also forgotten about the recipe I’m about to share with you.  It’s so healthy, tasty and cool for those hot summer days.  The only thing you have to cook is bacon which you can do ahead.  Yes I did say healthy and bacon in the same paragraph!  I don’t consider bacon to be bad in moderation.  In fact, bacon is damned good!

Bacon improves everything!

I got this recipe from someone at a pot luck. Jason tried it and stated that we must have the recipe.  I only changed one thing to make it healthier, substituting half the mayo with Greek yogurt and reducing the original amount of sugar.  Below is the recipe for Spring Salad… a delightful treat. Ingredients:

• 6 slices of crispy bacon
• 2 cups of chopped brocolli
• 1 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 1 cup red grapes
• 1 cup green grapes (I use the tiny champagne grapes)
• sliced almonds (as much as you like)
• raisins or dried cranberries etc (again as much as you like or leave out)
• 1/2 cup mayo
• 1/2 cup Greek yogurt
• 1 Tb white or rice vinegar
• 2 Tb sugar
• 1 Tb honey
• salt and pepper

Chop all the green vegetables, add the grapes, bacon, nuts if you are using them and raisins.  You can also use chopped apple if you prefer or even some berries although this will change the taste.  The salad is really versatile though so feel free to experiment.  Then mix together the mayo, Greek yogurt, vinegar and sweeteners and pour over the top.  Next time I might use all Greek yogurt but I didn’t want to shock Jason too much this time in case it didn’t work out.  He didn’t notice the substitution at all so I have high hopes!  This salad is best if it sits in the refrigerator for at least an hour to let the flavors blend.

Enjoy!

Soft Chicken tacos

Tags

body for life, chicken soft taco, clean diet, clean recipe, dinner, food, roasted peppers, savory, yum

I love roasted peppers and look for any reason to toss them into a recipe.  If you’ve never roasted a pepper you really should try it. It adds a smoky flavor to a dish. I roast all kinds, hot, mild, bell, I’ve even been known to roast a tomato.  And tomatillos, if you’re making a green enchilada sauce, you must roast them first.  After I bought a big handfull of assorted peppers and roasted them I knew I would have to make soft tacos with them!

The process….wash the peppers and place them on tinfoil, you can cover a baking sheet with foil or do as I do and just put the foil straight onto the rack in your oven.  No need to put any oil on the pepper like you do when you roast other vegetables, turn the oven on broil and keep an eye on the peppers.  You’ll notice that the pepper skin starts to blister and even turn black, this is exactly what you want.  Turn them to the other side so that all sides get really dark.  Pull the peppers out and place them in a plastic bag for at least 5 minutes. Somehow this helps in removing the skin.  Then you just peel the skin off and pull out the inside seeds. Done!

I had some leeks so I decided to use them instead of onion.  I browned the leeks and some chopped garlic in about 1 1/2 T of coconut oil. I then added chicken that I had marinated for hours in lemon juice, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder, cayenne, oregano and salt & pepper.  I cooked that until the chicken was done and then I added a bit more of the above spices and the chopped peppers. It smelled so good.

I served it on whole wheat tortillas with black beans, tomatoes, avocado and cilantro. Quick and easy and yes, clean!

For those of you who have been following this blog and the changes that have occured, I am still on the Body for Life 12 week challenge and am starting week 7.  I’ve lost about 5 pounds but more importantly, I’ve dropped 4% bodyfat!!!  4% of my body has changed from fat to muscle!  To me that’s more important than the number on the scale because muscle looks better than fat, takes up less room than fat and burns calories even when resting.  All fabulous reasons to get out there and move and make some muscle.

 

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.

An unexpected dinner

Tags

aloo paratha, bread, dinner, food, potato, savory, snack, yum

All day I was planning on having leftovers from last night for dinner.  Jason never eats the leftovers during the day…in fact I have no idea what he eats when I’m not around, although I can imagine.  Things like cereal, sugary sweet cereal and pastries he buys at the store and these Chinese peanut type snacks we call Crack!  Because they are highly addictive.   But as we were walking the dogs before dinner and I mentioned that we were having leftovers he got this little smile on his face and I realized he had eaten it….all.  Now what? The contents of my refrigerator raced through my head.  In a flash a page of the book I had recently borrowed from the library light up in my head.

Aloo Paratha!  YES.

The book was Bread, A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes.  What is Aloo Paratha you might ask.  It’s an Indian stuffed flatbread, similar to naan.  I kept the bread part of his recipe but expanded on the filling (of course).  I knew it needed more if it was going to be dinner.

Dough

• 300 g whole wheat flour (I used two thirds whole wheat, one third all purpose)
• 3 g salt
• 225 g water

Mix the ingredients together and either knead by hand for 10-15 mins or in the mixer ofr 5 on med.  Put in a bowl and cover with plastic for 30 mins.  Or put in the refrigerator and use the next day.

Dough just sitting around

Filling – now this is definitely NOT traditional

• 2 potatoes
• 1/4 c peas
• 1/4 c baby lima beans
• 1/2 c chopped spinach
• 1/2 grated zuchinni
• 1/2 onion
• 2 tsp grated ginger
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 tsp coriander seeds (I only had ground so used 1 1/2 tsp)
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 2 T mustard oil *
• salt

To make the mustard oil toast black mustard seeds in a skillet and then crush in a mortar, place in a dish with 2 Tb veg oil and let sit for awhile.  Meanwhile boil the potatoes whole in their skins. When they were almost done I added the peas & lima beans since I used frozen, to take the freeze off.  I then put the chopped spinach (I used fresh) in a colander and poured the boiling water over it to soften. Then I peeled and grated the potato   In a skillet I toasted the cumin seeds, added the mustard oil, onion, grated zuchinni, ginger & ground  coriander and cooked over med until the onions were soft. I then added the potatoes, peas, lima beans and spinach and mixed it all together and let it cook.  I then salted it and let it cool down.

Now take the dough and put it on a floured surface, cut it into 6-8 equal portions. It will be a bit sticky so flour your hands, flatten it and shape it into a little cup in your hand.

Put filling in the dough.

Then pinch the dough together and seal in the filling.  Make sure it’s really well sealed so the filling doesn’t come out.

Now the fun part!  Heat up a big skillet or if you have a super well stocked kitchen, a flat Indian tava, on med heat.  Roll the dough pocket on a well floured surface until it’s rather thin.  Try to make sure the filling is well spread out and don’t roll so hard that the filling bursts through.  You want an almost pita bread thiness.

You can see if your skillet is hot enough by sprinkling water on it. If it sizzles away it’s ready.  Place a paratha on the skillet and cook for about 2 minutes each side.  You will see nice brown spots on each side.  Brush with oil or ghee after it gets the brown spots and flip onto each oiled side for about 30 seconds or so.

Oh so yummy!

These can be eaten right away or if there are any left (yeah right) you can reheat wrapped in aluminum foil and put in a 300 oven.

If you want to make these the traditional way the ingredients for the filling are potato, cumin seeds, coriander seeds, ginger, chopped green chilies, cliantro and mustard oil.  I didn’t have the chilis or cilantro (next time) and just wanted to make them more filling.  These are so good and really so easy.  The filling I made was actually enough for a double batch so I made more for lunch tomorrow!

I’m submitting this recipe on Lisa’s Kitchen, she is having a contest and giveaway, vegetarian, Indian food submissions here.

Strictly for my crepes!

Tags

Breakfast, crepes, dessert, dinner, food, savory, snack, sourdough, sweet, wild yeast, yum

The wild yeast starter obsession continues …I recently discovered you can make crepes with the discarded starter!  Crepes….I adore crepes….filled with pretty much anything I can think of. Nutella being the most obvious and the one I decided not to use this time around.  Mostly because my jar of Nutella is almost empty and I’m too lazy to go to the store on a Saturday morning!

Lazy dogs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So this actually starts the night before.  Take 3/4 cup of the sourdough starter (before you refresh it) add one cup warm water and 1 1/4 c flour. Mix together, cover and let sit for 8-12 hours.  It will be bubbly.

 

 

In the morning, beat 2 eggs (at room temp) with 3 tablespoons of vegetable oil and then add to the batter.  Mix together 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp baking soda and 1 Tb sugar. Sprinkle onto the batter, stir, cover and let sit for at least 15 mins. Original recipe here

To make the crepes you can use a variety of pans, it’s really personal preference. I know some people say you must use a crepe pan but I’ve used many different types of pans and found they all work once you find the right temperature for each one.  I currently use a cast iron skillet for pretty much everything, so that is what I used for this!  I heated it up on med until drops of water sprinkled on it sizzled and evaporated. I then wiped it with a paper towel with some veg oil on it and turned it down one notch.

thin layer of batter

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The batter has to be thin enough to spread on the bottom of the pan fairly easily. If it’s too thick just add a little bit of warm water until you get the right consistency.  I pour some batter into the pan and then pick it up and swirl it around to coat the bottom.  Flip it over once the bottom is light brown, it cooks very quickly.

  

The thing I love about crepes is that you can fill them with pretty much anything! Sweet or savory.  We had shrimp salad, made with scallions, fennel seed and celery seed, ham & cheese, ham & mango, plain mango and Meyer lemon with powdered sugar (my favorite).  You can also store left over crepes (unfilled) in the refrigerator and heat them up in the microwave and then fill….but….I had no leftovers! We ate them all!!!!! 

Some choices.

 

I’ve heard of some amazing fillings, like:  Roasted garlic with brie; Peaches or apples with vanilla ice cream,; poached pears with chocolate syrup; blueberries & cream; asparagus, ham & gruyere; curry chicken or curried vegetables; hummus, sweet potato and spinach; potato,eggs, cheddar cheese & roasted peppers. It’s really limited only by your imagination.  You can also add herbs, mustard, cinnamon or vanilla etc to the batter itself!

shrimp filled crepe.

 

 I would love to hear what you use to fill a crepe!