Thank you Pinterest!

After a week's vacation spent eating Cheetos for breakfast, I needed a clean break.  The first step has been preparing healthy lunches to bring to work, followed closely by eating less meat.  With better organization ahead of time, I've found that I have been able to make 'cleaner' lunches without too much effort.

When I was trying to figure out some easy recipes for lunches, I started looking around the internet.  Most of the recipes that I found looked amazing, but involved a lot of work and time.  I never have much energy in the evenings, and certainly not first thing in the morning.  But then I remembered the receptcal of all things homey/inspiring/cheesy/useful/cutesie/annoying....Pinterest.  What a brainwave!  Between pins showing beautiful country kitchens and 25 easy workouts, I also found a bunch of easy, healthy recipes.  My favorites this week have been for quinoa bowls. 

Quinoa, a grain crop, is high in protein and fiber and can be mixed with almost anything to taste great.  It is super easy to make - approximately one cup of quinoa added to two cups of boiling water until the water is soaked in and then let it rest for about five minutes before fluffing with a fork.  Something even better - add a vegetable stock cube to the boiling water to flavour the quinoa.  Once the quinoa is ready, it serves as a base to everything else. 

Image from Closet Cooking.

 

One delicious "bowl" (or really, plate), this week was quinoa topped with corn, black beans, diced fresh cilantro, green onions and a fried egg (not completely healthy).  Yum!  I got the basic recipe from the website associated with one of the 'Pins' that I found - Closet Cooking -  and adapted to what I had in the house.
 
I have also started roasting sweet potatoes and other vegetables and using them as toppings.  The easiest has been to cut up a sweet potato in small pieces, lightly toss with olive oil, salt and pepper and roast at 350 for 20 minutes or so.  So good!!  Very similar to sweet potato fries, only hopefully healthier.

Image from Glow Kitchen.

Homemade Pizza

Last night, we made homemade pizzas for the first time.  They turned out incredibly well and I can't wait to do it again.  We used this recipe.

We weren't very adventurous and only made pepperoni.  But due to the success of our first venture, we easily came up with a list of future toppings and flavors.  We bought prepared dough from our local grocer, which made the whole project simpler.  The other ingredients were tomato sauce, mozzarella and parmesan cheeses, sliced pepperoni, fresh tomato and spices (pepper, Italian seasoning and Oregano.  It was a fun and easy dinner!

Another snow day...

I cannot complain that we are enjoying another snow day, although it feels as though we have had one every week since January.  It is so wonderful to relax at home guilt-free.  I generally set one goal for the day and try one new recipe, along with making celebratory chocolate chip cookies. 

Today, I completed my Canadian taxes (last snow day, I did my U.S. ones) and made Moroccan couscous with chickpeas, along with the perfect chocolate chip cookies from Cook's Illustrated.  (These are amazing!  The secret seems to lie in browning the butter.)  The sweet, familiar smell of vanilla is so comforting.  It reminded me of reading that it is used as a key ingredient for some perfumes, although this article about it's usage just made me laugh.

Here are a couple of other things that made me laugh today:

- Rick Mercer making fun of Canadian excitement over warm(er) weather;

- President Obama on "Between Two Ferns" with Zach Galifianakis;

- and this Automobile Association ad from the U.K.

Monkey Bread in 10 Easy Steps

Monkey Bread 
Recipe originally from The Pioneer Woman 

2 cans of Pillsbury Grands
3/4 cup Sugar
2 tbs Cinnamon (appox.)
1/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 Orange (zest only)
2 sticks Butter

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees and butter a bundt pan. 

2.  Open the Grands cans and cut the biscuits into little pieces.

3.  Zest the orange.

4.  In a large ziploc bag combine the sugar, cinnamon and orange zest.  Shake to combine.

5.  Add the biscuit bits to the ziploc bag and shake well, fully coating all the biscuits with the cinnamon/sugar/zest mix.

6.  Place the coated biscuits in the bundt pan, spreading evenly.

7.  Brown the butter on the stove top.  Add the brown sugar until combined.

8.  Pour the butter over the biscuits in the bundt pan.

9.  Bake for 30-40 minutes.

 10.  Let sit for 15 minutes, before turning over onto a plate.

Recipe Porn

I can while away (or should it be 'wile away'?), an evening reading recipes online.  Time passes as I study ingredients and decide whether something is too complicated to try or not.  Here are a couple of the delicious looking recipes that caught my eye today:

Barbecue, delicious slow cooker balsamic honey pulled pork.

 Just a taste...

 Heavenly mashed potatoes.

The Pioneer Woman

    

Lavender Cupcakes

Cooking Classy

  

To balance all the butter, and because I love my slow cooker, a healthy quinoa, kale and chicken soup.

 Cooking Classy

 

Slow Cooker: Beef Stroganoff

As the weather gets cooler and my work days get longer, I am enjoying using my slow cooker (crock pot) to prepare dinner.  I recently made this simple beef stroganoff recipe and it was delicious!

 

2 cans Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup

1 package dry French onion soup mix
1 package sliced white mushrooms
2 lbs of stewing beef
1 cup sour cream
 

Directions:

 

Stir the soup, sour cream, mushrooms in a 6-quart slow cooker.  Add the beef and stir to coat.  
 

Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 9 hours or until the beef is fork-tender.  Stir the sour cream in the cooker.  Serve the beef mixture with the noodles.  Sprinkle with the parsley, if desired. 

 

Alternative recipe.

Squash Cheesecake

 My mother's garden produced an abundance of zucchini, crooked neck squash, tomatoes, peppers, watermelon and beans.  We have benefited greatly and have fresh veg everywhere! 

 A small sampling of the bounty.

I found a great recipe for Zucchini Ricotta Cheesecake on 101Cookbooks, a recipe journal, which looks delicious.  Fingers crossed it turns out well!

Here is the recipe:

2 cups zucchini, unpeeled & grated
1 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
2 1/2 cups ricotta cheese
1/2 cup freshly shredded Parmesan cheese
2 shallots, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1/4 cup fresh dill, chopped
zest of one lemon
2 large eggs, well beaten
1/3 cup goat cheese, crumbled
drizzle of olive oil

Preheat oven to 325F degrees, racks the middle. Butter/oil a 7-inch springform pan.
In a strainer, toss the shredded zucchini with the salt and let sit for ten minutes. Now aggressively squeeze and press out as much moisture as you can. Set aside.

In the meantime, combine the ricotta cheese, Parmesan cheese, shallots, garlic, dill and lemon zest in a medium bowl. Stir in the eggs and continue mixing until well combined. Now stir in the shredded zucchini. Fill the springform pan with the ricotta mixture and place on a baking sheet. Place in the oven and bake for sixty minutes. If there is any moisture left on top of the cake at this point, carefully use a bit of paper towel to dab it off. Now sprinkle with the goat cheese and return to the oven for another 20 -30 minutes or until the goat cheese is melted and the cake barely jiggles in the center (it will set up more as it cools).

At this point, if the cake is baked and set, but the top isn't quite golden, I'll zap it with the broiler (just about a minute) to get a bit more color on top. Remove from the oven and let cool five minutes, then release the cake from its pan. Cool completely, serve at room temperature drizzled with a bit of olive oil and a few sprigs of dill.

Serves 8.

Red Velvet Cake

I made this recipe over the weekend and it was fantastic!!  The only thing that I would change is the food coloring - it blended into the cake and therefore wasn't needed.  I did hear today however that originally beet sugar was used in Red Velvet cake and that is where the red color came from.  I wonder where I could find beet sugar?

The BEST Red Velvet Cake Recipe. Easy. Moist. Homemade

Recipe type: Dessert

Author: Divas Can Cook – Monique

Prep time: 15 mins

Cook time: 35 mins

Total time: 50 mins

Serves: 12

This is the best red velvet cake I’ve ever had! Super moist with the perfect, classic red velvet taste. Everybody that I make this for loves it!! Hopefully you will too!

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of salt
• 2 Tablespoon of unsweetened, cocoa powder
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup buttermilk
• 2 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 1-2 oz. red food coloring
• 1 teaspoon of white distilled vinegar
• 1/2 cup of prepared plain hot coffee (don’t skip this ingredient)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 325.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, cocoa powder and salt. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl, combine the sugar and vegetable oil.
4. Mix in the eggs, buttermilk, vanilla and red food coloring until combined.
5. Stir in the coffee and white vinegar.
6. Combine the wet ingredients with the dry ingredients a little at time, mixing after each addition, just until combined.
7. Generously grease and flour two round cake pans with crisco and flour.
8. Pour the batter evenly into each pan.
9. Bake in the middle rack for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not over bake as cake will continue to cook as it cools.
10. Let cool on a cooling rack until the pan are warm to the touch.
11. Slide a knife or offset spatula around the inside of the pans to loosen the cake from the pan.
12. Remove the cakes from the pan and let them cool.
13. Frost the cake with cream cheese frosting when the cakes have cooled completely.

No Knead Bread Recipe

I am trying this recipe for bread out and hoping the mix of flours (cake and farm-bread) work together well!

No Knead Bread Recipe

Servings: One 1-pound loaf

No Knead Bread Recipe is adapted from Mark Bittman of NY Times who got it from Sullivan Street Bakery. When the recipe first came out, it was the blogging community who took the bread to new heights, especially Rose Levy Beranbaum, author of The Bread Bible. I followed Rose's experiments through the weeks and learned from her recipe adjustments and the why's of how this bread works.

Ingredients: 

3 cups bread flour

 1/4 teaspoon instant yeast

 1 teaspoon fine table salt (or 3/4 tablespoon of kosher salt)

 1 1/2 cups warm water
Covered pot (five-quart or larger cast iron, Pyrex, ceramic, enamel...something that can go into a 450F oven.) 

Directions:

1. Mix dough: The night before, combine all ingredients in a big bowl with a wooden spoon until the dough just comes together. It will be a shaggy, doughy mess. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit 12-20 hours on countertop.

2. Shape & preheat: The dough will now be wet, sticky and bubbly. With a wet spatula, dump the dough on a floured surface. Fold ends of dough over a few times with the spatula and nudge it into a ball shape. You can use your hands if you like, just keep your hands wet so that the dough does not stick. Place a large sheet of parchment paper on counter. Plop your dough onto parchment paper. Lift parchment paper up with dough and place into a large bowl. Cover bowl with a towel. Let it nap for 2 hours. When you've got about a half hour left, slip your covered pot into the oven and preheat to 450F.

3. Bake: Your dough should have doubled in size. Remove pot from oven. Grab the ends of the parchment paper and lift entire wobbly dough blob out of bowl into pot. Doesn't matter which way it lands. Shake to even dough out. Cover. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover, bake another 15-20 minutes or until the crust is beautifully golden and middle of loaf is 210F. Remove and let cool on wired rack. If not eating right away, you can re-crisp crust in 350F oven for 10 minutes.

(Recipe from: Steamy Kitchen)

Lemon Cake and Rio

Lemon cake (from a white cake mix) with whipped cream icing and lemon zest topping.

Colorful buildings in Rio.

Old street sign in the Santa Theresa neighborhood, Rio.

Rustic Plum Tart

Rustic Plum Tart

Crust
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2″ pieces
3 tablespoons ice water

Filling
1 1/2 lbs. plums, halved, pitted and cut into slices
6 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 egg, beaten to blend (for glaze)
1/4 cup apricot preserves

Blend flour, sugar, and salt. Add butter and cut in until mixture resembles coarse meal. Add 2 tablespoons ice water; blend until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoons if mixture is still dry. Gather dough into a ball, flatten into a disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Toss plums, 4 tablespoons sugar, ginger, cinnamon in a bowl. Roll dough on floured surface to 12 1/2″ round. Transfer to rimmed baking sheet. Mix 1 tablespoon sugar and 1 tablespoon flour in a small bowl; sprinkle over dough leaving 2″ plain border.

Arrange plums in concentric circles on the dough, leaving 2″ plain border. Drizzle with melted butter. Fold dough border toward center. Brush border with egg glaze; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Bake tart until plums are tender and crust is golden, about 35-45 minutes.

When making tarts in pans, use one that is nonstick and has a removable bottom.

Stir preserves in saucepan over low heat until melted. Brush over plums. Cool tart 1 hour on baking sheet. Run long knife until tart to loosen. Transfer tart to serving plate and serve at room temperature. Makes 6 servings.

Easy Bread Pudding

Ingredients

• 1 (10.75 ounce) loaf day-old bread, torn into small pieces
• 4 cups milk
• 2 cups brown sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup butterscotch or chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. 
2. In a large bowl, combine bread, milk, sugar, butter, eggs, vanilla and butterscotch chips; mixture should be the consistency of oatmeal. Pour into prepared pan.
3. Bake in preheated oven 1 hour, until nearly set. (It should have a "thigh wiggle" or wiggle as much as a well endowed thigh.) Serve warm or cold. 

What to do with old bananas?

Banana Cookies Recipe

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1 egg, room temperature
• 1 cup of mashed bananas (about 2 ½ large bananas)
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 2 cups of flour
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground mace or nutmeg
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cloves
• 1 cup of pecans (walnuts and chocolate chips are fine alternatives)

Method

1 Preheat the oven to 350°F. Cream the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the egg and continue to beat until the mixture is light and fluffy.

2 In a bowl, mix the mashed bananas and baking soda. Let sit for 2 minutes. The baking soda will react with the acid in the bananas which in turn will give the cookies their lift and rise.

3 Mix the banana mixture into the butter mixture. Mix together the flour, salt, and spices and sift into the butter and banana mixture and mix until just combined.

4 Fold into the batter the pecans or chocolate chips if using. Drop in dollops onto parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until nicely golden brown. Let cool on wire racks.

Makes about 30 cookies.

Cinnamon Rolls

Last Saturday, I made cinnamon rolls from scratch for the first time.  The recipe came out wonderfully, but I should have let them cook a couple minutes longer.  I used another fantastic recipe from "The Pioneer Woman."  It was easy to follow and the step-by-step photos showed me how things should really look.  Until I can next visit Cinnabon, this recipe will keep me happy!

Best Coffee Cake Ever

Ingredients

• FOR THE CAKE:
• 1-1/2 stick Butter, Softened
• 2 cups Scant Sugar
• 3 cups Flour, Sifted
• 4 teaspoons Baking Powder
• 1 teaspoon Salt
• 1-1/4 cup Whole Milk
• 3 whole Egg Whites, Beaten Until Stiff.

• FOR THE TOPPING:
• 1-1/2 stick Butter, Softened
• 3/4 cups Flour
• 1-1/2 cup Brown Sugar
• 2 Tablespoons Cinnamon
• 1-1/2 cup Pecans, Chopped

 

Preparation Instructions

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Beat egg whites and set aside. 
• Cream butter and sugar. Add flour mixture and milk alternately until combined. Don't overbeat.
• Fold in beaten egg whites with a rubber spatula. 
• Spread in a well-greased 9 x 13 (or LARGER!) baking pan. A cake pan with higher sides would be best.
• In a separate bowl, combine topping ingredients with a pastry cutter until crumbly. Sprinkle all over the top.
• Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, or until no longer jiggly. Serve warm---delicious! 

(Recipe found on The Pioneer Woman)

Lemonade

Easy Fresh Lemonade

1. In a small saucepan combine 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, but do not stir, until the sugar dissolves (3-4 mins). Remove from heat and let cool completely.

2. Squeeze enough lemons to gather 1 1/2 cups of juice into a measuring cup, about 10 lemons. You can also strain the juice if you don't want any pulp in there.

3. In a large pitcher, combine lemon juice, cooled sugar syrup and 4 cups cold water.  If it is too tart, add more water but remember that ice will dilute the lemonade. Refrigerate.

4. Before serving, thinly slice lemons or cut them into wedges, stir into lemonade.

 

Creamed Spinach

I love creamed spinach and cannot wait to try this recipe that I found online. It looks delicious and easy to follow. Many parillas offer spinach as a side dish and I've enjoyed it as a main course several times. By far the best creamed spinach that I have had in BA so far is from the rather touristy La Cabrera in Palermo. So good!

Creamed Spinach
Serves 6
2 pounds baby spinach or 2 1/2 pounds fresh spinach, tough stems discarded
1 3/4 cups heavy cream or whole milk, or a mix thereof
1 small onion, finely chopped
1 small clove garlic, minced (optional)
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Pinch of freshly grated nutmeg
Wash your spinach well but no need to spin or pat it dry. Place spinach in a large pot over high heat. Cook, covered, with just the water clinging to leaves, stirring occasionally, until wilted, about 2 to 4 minutes for baby spinach and 4 to 6 minutes for regular spinach.
Press or squeeze out the excess liquid any number of ways, either by wringing it out in cheesecloth (my favorite method), putting it in a mesh strainer and pressing the moisture out with a spatula or large spoon or letting it cool long enough to grab small handfuls and squeezing them to remove as much water as possible. Coarsely chop the wrung-out spinach.
Wipe out large pot so you can use it again.
Heat milk or cream in a small saucepan over moderate heat, stirring, until warm. Keep warm. Meanwhile, cook onion and garlic, if using, in butter in your wiped-out large pot over moderately low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened, about six minutes. Whisk in flour and cook roux, whisking, about three minutes. Add warm milk or cream in a slow stream, whisking constantly to prevent lumps, and simmer, whisking, until thickened, three to four minutes. Stir in nutmeg, spinach, and salt and pepper to taste and cook, stirring, until heated through.
http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/11/creamed-spinach/