Candied Sweet Potatoes

So, this post may be a little bit late for "holiday" cooking, but this recipe is good all throughout the winter, and it can successfully impress any guests you have by it's appearance and taste.


Note: Also try out the Cranberry Sauce pictured in the background!

Candied Sweet Potatoes

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

3 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into french fries

1 Tbs flour

3/4 c sugar

1 Tbs cinnamon

1/2 lemon

1/3 c water

1 stick butter

nutmeg

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 400 F, and grease a large (9"x13") baking dish.

2. Add cut sweet potatoes to dish. In a separate bowl, mix sugar, flour and cinnamon. Sprinkle over sweet potatoes.

3. Slice lemon thinly, twist and place about 4 slices on the potatoes.

4. Add the 1/3 c water (or however much water it takes to cover the bottom of the dish).

5. Slice butter into small pats, and place evenly over all of the sweet potatoes. Sprinkle a small amount of nutmeg over the entire dish (remember, a little goes a long way).

6. Cover with aluminum foil, and place in middle rack in the oven. Bake for 60 minutes, basting the potatoes every 15 minutes with the juice/water mixture in the bottom of the dish.

Breakfast Puffs

Note: This recipe is the exact recipe from BHG's Cookbook, called "Nan's Puffs".

These puffs are so simple.

So delicious.

So...adaptable! I made the bare-bones version at home this morning, but I can imagine so many delicious possibilities: Cheese and chive puffs, cinnamon and nutmeg puffs, custard filled puffs...and the list goes on.

These are a perfect "Sunday" breakfast in my mind: quick to make, only a few staple ingredients, and only 1 pot and 1 muffin tin to clean up! Perfect!

Breakfast Puffs

Makes 12 puffs

Ingredients:

1/2 c butter

1 c milk

3/4 c flour

4 eggs

sugar for sprinkling

honey for topping

Procedure:

1. Preheat oven to 375F, and grease a 12 cup muffin tin, inside and around the edges.

2. In a 2 quart saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, add the milk and carefully (let's not repeat the dreaded TAPIOCA INCIDENT) bring to a boil.

3. Once boiling, immediately and quickly stir in all of the flour. The mixture will stick to itself and make a large ball, coming away from the sides of the saucepan. Allow the mixture to cool for 5 minutes.

4. After cooling, add the eggs one at a time, beating vigorously after each addition for one minute.

5. Scoop into equal portions in the muffin tin, filling the cups about 3/4 of the way full. Sprinkle sugar on top of each puff. Bake for 30 minutes at 375F, until puffed up and golden. Be careful not to startle the muffins too much (treat them as gently as you would a souffle, because they will deflate easily.

6. Serve immediately, drizzled with honey for extra sweetness.

Happy Muffin Says ENJOY! :)

Throw-It-Together Vegetable Soup

Hi Friends.

I'm sorry I've been absent from this blog for well over a month (or two) now. I haven't been posting because I haven't been cooking. We've been really busy, and I've been exceptionally tired after work, so we've been eating out, or eating "staple" meals that I've already described on this blog.

One day, however, I was really in the mood for some soup. So I decided to raid the fridge, freezer and pantry to concoct something sans recipe.

I hope you all can use this recipe as a foundation, and add or remove ingredients to your liking.

Hopefully, I'll be able to post a little more frequently now that the holidays are just around the corner and I will at least be doing some baking!

Throw-It-Together Vegetable Soup

Serves 6-8 (Or 2 people 3 times. Hah.)

Ingredients:

1/2 medium red onion, diced

1/2 bunch of celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 head of a small cabbage, shredded

1 can sweet corn, drained

1 can garbanzo beans, drained

1 can whole tomatoes, chopped and juice reserved

1 tsp thyme

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp parsley

1 tsp Lawry's seasoned pepper (or any coarse ground pepper)

2 Tbs vegetarian bullion

8 cups water

salt to taste

Procedure:

1. In a large soup pot over medium heat, saute the onion and celery until translucent. Add the garlic and saute for about 30 seconds (don't let the garlic burn!).

2. Add all of the rest of the ingredients except the salt, and bring to a boil. Cover and turn the heat down to allow the soup to simmer.

3. Simmer on low heat for about 45 minutes, or until celery and onions are very tender. Finally, add salt to taste.

4. Serve with a sprinkling of Parmesan cheese on top and a whole wheat roll on the side.

Bread Pudding and Whiskey Sauce

Hey y'all!

It's been a while.

But I come bearing gifts. Buttery, nom-a-licious gifts.

I learned this recipe while on my New Orleans trip last year thanks to Brittni's amazing idea to take me to an authentic New Orleans cooking class.

Life shall never be the same again.

I've modified the recipe a bit, but that's what you're supposed to do. If there's one thing I took away from that class, it was cook with feeling. Do you feel like adding raisins? Do you feel like adding extra booze? Then DO IT.

I made this recipe for my in-laws and friends at a small get together we had at our house, and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I hope you all get to have as much fun experimenting with this as I did!

NOLA Bread Pudding

Serves: 8-10

Ingredients:

6-8 cups cubed, stale French bread

2 c sugar

8 Tbs melted butter

3 eggs (break yolks, but don't whip)

2 tsp vanilla

1 c shredded coconut

1 c chopped pecans

1 c raisins (I didn't add these because I married a raisin-hater)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp nutmeg

Dash of whiskey for kicks

milk (add at end)

Sweet Treat

Procedure:

1. Mix all ingredients except milk thoroughly (I used my clean hands). Add the milk to get the desired consistency: the mixture should be moist, but not soupy.

2. Pour mixture into a greased (with butter, crisco or cooking spray) 9"x13" baking dish. Sprinkle with Sweet Treat if you have it. Place into a non-preheated oven. Bake at 350F for about 1 hour and 15 minutes, or until bubbly and golden brown.

Serve with Whiskey Sauce, or eat plain when no one is looking...

Whiskey Sauce

Ingredients

1/2 c butter

3 egg yolks

1 1/2 c powdered sugar

1/3 c whiskey (or as much as you prefer)

Procedure:

1. Cream the butter and sugar over medium heat until uniform in consistency.

2. Remove from heat, and blend in the egg yolks.

3. Add the whiskey to your taste, constantly stirring.

Serve warm with warm bread pudding!

Raw Chocolate Date Bars

Sorry again for the absence. You can read all about it here.

I learned this easy recipe from a friend of mine who brought it for dessert to yoga night. She made the mistake of leaving the leftovers with me, and a million calories later, here we are. Tummy ache.

Actually, this dessert isn't inherently bad for you, as long as you enjoy it in moderation.

Feel free to experiment--don't like dates? Used dried papaya and white chocolate for a more tropical rendition.

The possibilities are endless!

Raw Chocolate Date Bars

Serves 10-12 (or 3 Lisa sized portions...)

Ingredients:

1 cup raw cashews

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 large dark chocolate bar

1 8 oz portion of pitted dates (you can also use the chopped dates, I just couldn't find any without any extra sugar)

1 cup unsweetened coconut

Procedure:

1. Place all ingredients in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped.

2. Grease an 8x8 serving pan LIGHTLY with some cooking spray. Wipe off excess with a paper towel. Press the contents of the food processor into the pan firmly. Refrigerate, cut into squares and enjoy!

Some 'naner chips

I bought a dehydrator recently.

I am such a sucker for kitchen gadgets, it's really not even funny. Basically, they gadget just uses low heat to dehydrate food over a certain amount of time (these chips took about 1 day).

First, I made some banana chips. They were DELICIOUS. I only used 2 large bananas, and I got a quart sized ZipLoc bag full of banana chips for the week.

I put them in my morning oatmeal with some cinnamon and sugar substitute. Next up: strawberries!

Chana Masala

I love Indian food.

I have a pal who goes to eat delicious Indian food with me at least once a month. My favorite dish to get is called Chana Masala, which is a spiced garbanzo (chick pea) and tomato dish with the consistency of a hearty stew or chili.

Actually, I marketed this to Tones as "Indian Chili". He liked it! I think the real name would have scared him off from trying it.

Be warned, this dish is SPICY. There are, however, ways you can reduce the spice. For example, don't use the membrane and seeds of the chili pepper used, and reduce the amount of cayenne pepper by half (or more).

I found this recipe on one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen, and only tweaked it a little bit. It's an outstandingly easy dish to prepare, particularly now that Uncle Ben's Rice has a 90 second microwavable Basmati rice product!

Chana Masala

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 small onion, finely diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 Serrano chili (or any other chili), diced

1 inch of fresh ginger, diced

1 Tbs ground coriander

2 tsp ground cumin

1/2 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp ground turmeric

2 tsp paprika

1 tsp garam masala

1 can whole tomatoes, diced, juices reserved

2 cans garbanzo beans, drained and rinsed

1/2 c water

Juice from 1 lemon

Salt to taste

Procedure:

1. Heat about 1 Tbs oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the onion, garlic, chili pepper and ginger. Sautee for about 5 minutes, or until tender and onions are translucent.

2. Add the spices, and stir to incorporate. STEP BACK. When the cayenne pepper is heated it can cause irritation to mucus membranes (i.e. it makes me cough). Just be careful :). Cook another 2 minutes or so on medium heat.

3. Add tomatoes and juices, garbanzo beans and water. Stir well, and simmer for about 10-15 minutes. Add the lemon juice and salt to taste.

Serve with flatbread, naan, or basmati rice.

My New Favorite Grilled Cheese

This is not a manly grilled cheese sandwich.

In fact, if I served this to Tony, he'd probably ask 1) if we were out of good old American and 2) what we were really planning on eating for dinner. Lucky for me 1-2 nights of the week I'm on my own for dinner, and I can eat whatever I darn well want without any cracks from the peanut gallery. Hurumph.

I've seen many variations of this type of grilled cheese sandwich on the cooking channel and food blogs, but I made this one with the ingredients I had on hand--so this is what you get to read about! I really enjoyed this sandwich, and it gave me more ideas for new combinations I plan on trying in the future. Enjoy!

Golden Delicious and Muenster Grilled Cheese Sandwich

Serves 1

Ingredients:

2 slices sourdough bread

1/2 small golden delicious apple, sliced into thin wedges

2 slices low-fat muenster cheese

1-2 Tbs margarine or butter

Procedure:

1. Butter one side of both pieces of bread. Put a small skillet with a spritz of cooking spray over medium heat.

2. Begin to build the sandwich: with butter sides OUT, add cheese, apples, and then a final layer of cheese.

3. Place the sandwich on the skillet for about 2 minutes, or until the bottom is browned to your liking, and flip over. Cook for an additional 2 minutes until the cheese is melting and both sides are golden.

Ambrosia

This dish means so much more to me than most of the other recipes I post on here.

It's not particularly complicated, or fancy.

But this dish is beautiful.

For me, this recipe symbolizes home. My mom used to make this "salad" (which is actually much more of a dessert to me) in the spring and summer time. It's a fool proof recipe, which means I can replicate it even if I'm about 2,500 miles away from my mom. We've started a tradition a couple of years back to always make at least one dish that's the same for Easter dinner, no matter how far away we were from one another. This year, I requested ambrosia. Having a physical connection, knowing my mom and dad are eating the same thing I am, enjoying each other's company like I am enjoying the company of my husband and friends, is a very comforting feeling.

I got to spend time with a local family and friends this Easter. Transitioning to living in San Diego has been very hard for me (you can read about my struggles on my other blog). For the first year or so, I really didn't have any community or friends that I felt comfortable with. Then, in an answer to prayer, I was taken under the wing of a lab mate, and included in her fellowship community. At first, I was awkward.

Well, I'm always a little awkward. Awkwardness comes naturally when you are a giant lady with red hair. But then, I became comfortable. And then I became happy. And then, after I had assimilated into a group of lovely, godly women, I became totally and tearfully joyful. There is no better feeling than knowing people have been hand picked and placed in your life. This knowledge keeps my faith strong.

Tony and I were so kindly welcomed into a friend's family household this Easter, I was nearly reduced to tears at the dinner table. I brought ambrosia, and even Tony, a self-proclaimed hater of fruit salad, cleaned his dish. Perhaps he sensed the weepy-ness and decided he better clean his plate to prevent the irrational "WHY DON'T YOU EVER LIKE ANYTHING I MAKE?!?!" waterworks. I felt like I was tapping into some underlying current of family, tradition and love by sharing my mom's dish.

I am so grateful for friends, family and ambrosia.

Enough of the story--enjoy the recipe with your own family and friends!

Ambrosia

(in my mother's words)

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

1 can pineapple chunks in juice, drained some liquid reserved

1 can fruit cocktail, drained

~8-10 maraschino cherries, drained and halved (used mostly to add color)

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup sour cream

1 cup miniature marshmallows (Kraft brand Jet-Puffed Marshmallows are the best)

1 cup chopped pecans (optional; delete if nuts are a problem)

1 can mandarin orange segments, drained

Drain juices from all the canned fruits, one can at a time, then dump each into one large bowl for mixing later. (Don't worry about getting the fruit "dry" -- you just need to get rid of most of the juice. But save a little of the pineapple juice for later if the mix seems too dry -- or drink it for breakfast or as a snack while you cook! )

Add the coconut, sour cream and mini-marshmallows to the bowl of fruit. Take a big spoon and mix gently with a folding motion, but mix well so that the fruits and other ingredients are evenly distributed.

Pour the mixture into your serving bowl (the bowl for mixing needs to be much bigger and will be "messy looking" after folding and stirring), and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours, but it tastes better made in the morning for serving that evening or even made the night before to let the flavors mellow and the marshmallows to "dissolve" a bit in the sour cream. You do NOT need to mix again before serving.

Garnish with cherries, mandarin oranges or anything else edible and pretty!

Moo Shu Pork Wraps

This is a great recipe if you want to try something fast, easy and different from your typical weeknight meal.

This recipe takes under 30 minutes, start to finish (hooray) and is very flavorful. If you've never tried cooking with hoisin sauce at home, I highly recommend trying out this recipe. I was surprised how much this dish tasted like it came from a restaurant!

If you are looking for a more low carb option, you could easily replace the tortilla wrap with a large Boston bibb or iceberg lettuce leaf.

Moo Shu Pork Wraps

Serves 4

Ingredients:

1 lb ground pork

seasoned pepper (or fresh cracked pepper)

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 inch fresh ginger, minced

2 Tbs reduced sodium soy sauce

About 1/4 cup hoisin sauce

8 soft taco sized flour tortillas (I recommend Mission's Carb Balance brand)

2 carrots, grated

2 cups bean sprouts

fresh cilantro

Procedure:

1. Coat a large skillet with a light amount of cooking spray, and turn on medium-high heat. Cook ground pork until browned, seasoning the pork with pepper before it is fully cooked.

2. Add the soy sauce, garlic and ginger, and cook for about 2 minutes more. Remove from direct heat, but leave in the warm pan while you assemble the wraps. NOTE: You don't want to burn the garlic or ginger, because this will give a bitter taste to the dish (or any dish, for that matter). Adding garlic and other spices towards the end of recipes ensures full flavor.

3. Begin to assemble your wraps. Heat the tortillas in the microwave (or on the stove, fancypants). Place about 1 spoonful of the hoisin sauce (or more/less depending on your taste) in the center of the tortilla. Add the sprouts and carrots, and top with the ground pork. Add a bit of chiffoned cilantro for an extra pop of flavor.

4. Wrap up and serve! How easy was this!? I suggest serving with stir-fried green beans, or if you need some more filling bulk to your meal, some jasmine rice.

A Big Bowl of Fail: Tex Mex Macaroni and Cheese

It was supposed to be delicious. It was supposed to be easy.

IT was neither. It=Rachel Ray's Tex Mex macaroni and cheese recipe. Everything was going great--my pasta was boiling, my ground beef was cooked to perfection, my roux was a nutty brown, and my cheese was grated.

Then, the unthinkable happened. I added the required amount of milk and broth to the roux, and allowed it to reduce. I tried to get it to reduce. WHY WASN'T IT REDUCING!??! GAHH!?! I tried adding a bit of flour (cornstarch would have been better) to thicken it a bit, but the sauce just was. not. having. it.

I decided to press forward, telling myself, "maybe it's supposed to look like that." No. No, my friends, it was most definitely NOT supposed to look like that.

I added the cheese to the "sauce" and this awful emulsion occurred, the likes that have never been seen before in my kitchen.

This is what it looked like.

Needless to say, we ate leftovers, and I will not be posting the recipe...

Still, this was not as bad as this incident :).

Quick and Easy Steak Nachos

These nachos are perfect for game-day (not that I really know what that means), as an appetizer for a get-together, or a fast weeknight meal.

Use the recipe for Kaye's Steak Marinade to cook the steak, and from there, it's all about layering what you want.

I'll go through what I normally put on our nachos, but you should feel free to add what you like. Fan of pico-de-gallo? Onion it up. Like green peppers? Add some color. The possibilities are endless. I will suggest if you like adding things like sour cream or guacamole to your nachos, that you should do that after the cooking process. No one enjoys runny guac.

Easy Nachos

Serves 4

Ingredients:

4-6 cups of your favorite tortilla chips (about 1/3 of a 1 lb bag)

1 lb steak, marinated and cooked like so

1/2 cup low fat refried beans

1/2 chopped red bell pepper

1/4 cup sliced olives

1 small can diced green chili peppers

1 cup shredded cheese (I like to use cheddar and monterey jack)

1/4 cup sour cream

Preparation

0. Preheat oven to 400F. Place rack towards top of the oven.

1. Assemble! I like to start with a base of the chips, then dollop on the refried beans. From there, it's pretty much just throw everything on.

2. I always like to end with the cheese on top, but that's just a personal preference.

3. Bake at 400F for about 3-5 minutes. Keep a watchful eye on this. Nothing is worse than burnt nachos. Well, maybe a burnt kitchen. When the cheese is melted, these babies are good to go.

4. Add sour cream, salsa or guacamole, then serve immediately!

Freezer Calzones

These calzones are a perfect make-ahead-and-freeze dish. No, they aren't the healthiest of meal options, but if you serve them with some fresh veggies, you might be able to wash away some of your carbohydrate related sins.

Plus, you can put whatever you want in them!

I've come up with a few filling pairs that would be delicious to try out:

White-Spinach Calzone:

Alfredo sauce

Cooked spinach

Parmesan cheese

Mozzarella cheese

Meat Lover's (blech):

Marinara sauce

Italian sausage

Ground beef

Pepperoni

Mozzarella

Greek:

Alfredo

Cooked spinach

Kalamata olives

Feta cheese

Mozzarella

Veggie Lover's:

Marinara sauce

Mushrooms

Black Olives

Green peppers

Onions

Roma tomatoes

And the options are endless! The recipe is simple to follow. Just prepare the crust (recipe below), and fill with whatever your heart desires!

You can cook the calzones right away by placing in a pre-heated 350F oven for about 15-20 minutes, or until the cheese is bubbling out and the crust is a light, golden brown. You can also place them in individual zip-loc freezer bags and freeze for later. To cook later, just heat the oven up to 350F and cook for about 28-35 minutes.

Enjoy experimenting with this recipe!

Calzone Dough

Makes about 8-10 calzones

Ingredients:

1/2 packet active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

4 cups flour (I use unbleached all purpose)

2 Tbs olive oil

1 tsp salt

Procedure:

1. Sprinkle the yeast into the warm water in a bowl.

2. Mix the flour and salt thoroughly in a separate bowl. Drizzle in the olive oil and mix with a spoon until incorporated.

3. Stir the yeast in the water, then add to the flour mixture. Mix until the dough forms a ball.

4. Coat a large bowl with a drizzle of olive oil, and transfer the dough ball to the bowl.

5. Cover the bowl with a damp towel and set in a warm area for about 1-2 hours, or until the dough has nearly doubled in size.

6. Prepare an area to work with the dough. Coat area with a light dusting of flour. Divide the dough into about 8 balls (in between the size of a golf ball and the size of a tennis ball...).

7. Work the dough into a rectangular shape. Fill one diagonal half (does that even make sense? look at the photo!) with sauce and toppings, taking care not to overfill.

8. Fold over the un-sauced half, and crimp the edges together with a fork or your fingers.

9. Place in freezer bags to freeze, or pop in the oven right away!

Cooking times:

Frozen: 350F, 28-35 minutes

Fresh: 350F, 15-20 minutes

Enjoy!