Cupcake Fondue Party October 23, 2011

I’m pretty certain that any girl who reads food blogs has wanted to have a cupcake fondue party. Courtesy of several sources, and many re-linkings, it’s probably impossible to have looked up cupcakes or party ideas or girly baking recipes on blogs and missed all the fun that everyone else is having.

I am not immune from adorable ideas, or excuses to have parties. So, my friend and I finally threw one.

With six kinds of cupcakes. Lemon, coconut, Mounds (i.e., coconut with chocolate), chocolate amaretto, peanut butter-filled chocolate, and pumpkin. By the way, you need 24 of these if you don’t already have them.

And, yes, it was every bit as adorable as it should have been. Especially because she got fall sprinkles (from Target, in case you’re looking). And maybe it was also cute because we made cake batter martinis….with cake vodka.

Chipotle Mac and Cheese October 17, 2011

Finally – the leaves are beginning to turn and it’s cold enough that I get to wear  blazer-weight jackets around outside. That also means I get to start cooking heavier foods (without feeling guilty about it).

Mac and cheese was first on the list this fall. (Pumpkin things are coming next.) Now, we love mac and cheese here – we’ve made pumpkin Gruyere mac, nacho mac, and three cheese mac, and some other random cheese/pasta dishes.

This weekend, I was all about this easy chipotle mac. (I love all things chipotle, so I tweaked the original recipe to be spicier and more adobo-y. Watch out.)

Chipotle Mac and Cheese

3/4 cup onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 – 3 Tbs. chipotle chilies in adobo, finely chopped
2 Tbs butter
1/8 cup all-purpose flour
2.5 cups milk
1 can fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1/2 lb noodles, such as macaroni, cooked al dente
8-oz cheese, such as cheddar and monterey jack, grated
1/8 cup breadcrumbs

In a large saucepan, cook butter, onion, garlic, and chipotles, stirring until onion is soft. Then, add flour and cook for about 3 more minutes. Whisking constantly, add the milk, then bring the mixture to a boil.   Stir in the tomatoes and simmer for 2 minutes. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Add pasta to the mixture, then stir in the cheese. Transfer the combination to a buttered casserole dish. Sprinkle bread crumbs on top, and bake at 350 for 25 minutes, or until golden and bubbly.

Fall Potluck: Baked Apple Sundaes October 2, 2011

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it before, but I have really wonderful friends. Earlier this year, they willingly rated all the dishes at my mac and cheese tasting party. They took pounds of squash off my hands when the squash plant was getting out of control. And they humor my constant desire to be at Tria drinking wine and eating cheese.

This fall was no different. I wanted to have a get together, but didn’t have time to have a dinner party – so they all pitched in for our autumn-themed potluck. Get ready to be jealous of our menu:

Cornbread, made in a skillet that’s been in the family for four generations
Chili, made with the unbelievably delicious DiPaola turkey sausage
Butternut squash gnocchi with sage butter sauce
Roast lamb
Beet and orange salad with hazelnuts
Spinach salad with almonds and cranberries
Ginger carrot soup
Pecan pie

Everything was as wonderful as it sounds. Pretty darn awesome party, I must say.

We also had baked apple sundaes, which are so delicious that you should probably make some right now.

Baked Apple Sundae

Take 1 apple, such as a honey crisp (pick an apple you actually want to eat here, not just a pie apple), per person or per couple, depending on how hungry you are. Using a knife and a spoon (a grapefruit spoon would be perfect here), core the apple, being careful not to pierce the bottom. You should be left with a 1-in. hole in the top, and no core.

Sprinkle the inside with some cinnamon and brown sugar. Adding butter is a nice touch if you’re just making a baked apple, but it’s not necessary in a sundae. Bake the apples inside a glass baking dish at 350 for 40 to 50 minutes. You do not need to grease the pan or add water, as some recipes suggest.

When the apples are done, they will be incredibly warm and soft enough to cut with a spoon, but will still be a little crisp and will maintain their shape.

At this point, using a cookie scoop, scoop vanilla frozen yogurt, or vanilla ice cream, into the apples. B.A. recommended Stonyfield organic…and it was really good, I have to say. Drizzle with caramel (yes, you can make your own, but the smuckers butterscotch caramel ice cream topping is just as delicious).

Easy, and pretty healthy (for a fall dessert, especially).

1 indulgent serving: 263 Calories, 0.4 g fat (no trans fat), 5.8 g fiber

Pasta Sauce with Chickpeas September 24, 2011

Last week, all my meals were based around the deliciou carnitas meat I defrosted (I promise to share that recipe at some point in the future): burritos, omlettes with carnitas, naked burritos, carnitas salad, etc. It was delicious.

This week, I’m ready to have a vegetarian (well, almost vegetarian) week. And yes, as a single girl with a full time job, I cook a full recipe of something over the weekend, and nosh on it all the way through the work week. There is NO WAY I am going to start using those “cooking for one” recipes; what’s the fun of cooking if you don’t get no-effort leftover dinners later?

So, on to a very easy recipe for pasta sauce with chickpeas. This recipe is from Smitten Kitchen with really only one change: I added squash to the pureed chickpea mixture so I could (a) sneak in some extra vegetables without even noticing (b) get rid of some of the last of the squash and (c) get the sauce the added moisture it needed without just having to add in pasta water.

Pasta Sauce with Chickpeas

1 can chickpeas, or 2 cups freshly cooked chickpeas [If you haven’t tried using dried chickpeas, this isn’t the recipe to start with…but you do need to start. They are delicious in a way that canned chickpeas can never be.]
1/2 cup vegetable or chicken stock
(If you’re dying to use squash like I did, throw in some here)
Olive oil
1/2 cup pancetta – toss in some extra herbs if you’re excluding to make the dish vegetarian [I cheated and used just some proscuitto since I didn’t have pancetta]
1 onion, chopped
4 cloves garlic
Lots of chile flakes
1 can diced tomatoes
10-15 basil leaves
Salt and parmesan cheese to taste

Reserve 1/3 cup chickpeas. Throw the rest in the food processor or blender along with the stock (and squash, if you’re using that). Set aside.

In a medium pot, cook the pancetta with the olive oil, then put in the  onion and garlic, until everything gets translucent and fragrant. Then, add in the tomatoes, chickpea puree, and basil, cooking for about 20 minutes. When you’re done, toss in the chickpeas and some cheese, and put it on top of pasta. Mmmmmm.

Homemade instant oatmeal September 21, 2011

So, I only eat breakfast at work at this point in my life. 60+ hour weeks do that to you. (As periodic readers…ahem, our moms…may have noticed, we’re really busy and haven’t been cooking real food for a while now.)

And, while the instant oatmeal from Trader Joe’s is the best thing ever, I decided to try out making my own instant oatmeal.

And, well, if it doesn’t make for the most amazing oatmeal away from home, I don’t know what does. It has a better texture and, if you do it right, is way healthier, with fewer preservatives. Plus, it’s simple and can still be compiled ahead of time.

Here’s my (non) recipe:

Homemade Instant Oatmeal

1/2 cup quick oats per serving
A pinch of salt
And all the add-ins you want
I put each serving in a little plastic bag, so it’s easy to make a bunch ahead of time and leave them at the office. And, if you do it right, you can keep all the little bags of delicious oatmeal inside the cleaned out oats canister, which makes a nice holding container.
To cook, just add 1/2 to 1 cup water (depending on desired consistency and microwave for 1 to 2 minutes (depending on your microwave).

Now, for mix ins that I’m particularly loving (in addition to the usual flavor combos with cinnamon and dried or fresh fruit) :
Walnuts, dried cranberries, and brown sugar
Pecans, coconut flakes, and ginger
Chocolate chips (not all of these options have to be good…)

End of Summer Rice September 12, 2011

Here in Philadelphia, it does not feel like summer has ended. It is muggy and hot and humid and muggy and humid. Yuck.

But on the bright side, my squash plant is finally showing signs of dying, so I’m delighting in what I finally know are the last squashes of summer. To celebrate, I’ve thrown together a nice rice dish that I served with sausage.

[Sorry, no photo. I packed it all up into little containers for my lunch this week before I snapped its picture.]

End of Summer Rice adapted from B.A. 

1 bell pepper, diced
2 small-medium squashes, diced
1 onion, diced
Olive oil
1 1/2 cups long-grain rice
3 cups broth – or 1/4 cup lemon juice and 2 3/4 cups water, if you’re, say, out of broth
Cayenne pepper to taste

Cook the diced veggies in olive oil, stirring frequently, until onions begin to become translucent and all have softened. Then, add rice and continue to cook for 1 to 2 minutes more. Dump in your liquid and spices, cover, and cook for about 20 minutes, or until water has been absorbed.

Healthy, simple, and delicious with some nice spicy Italian sausage on top.

Simple Veggie Stir-fry September 3, 2011

It’s that time of year again wherein working (3 jobs this time around) and full-time school converge to make cooking interesting things a secondary, sometimes tertiary activity. (I could venture to say when is it not that time of year actually…) Things have started off swimmingly with classes, although at the end of the day I’m pretty exhausted and headache-y most of the time. Solution 1: drink more water throughout the day. Solution 2: eat meals with a lot of different colored vegetables, and not just cobbled-together unrelated/minimal energy sources. Such as watermelon and matzoh crackers. Yes, I just admitted that. Don’t let it happen to you; make this stir-fry instead.

2 cups frozen peas

2 cups frozen cauliflower

1 cup frozen sweet corn

1 cup frozen orange bell pepper, sliced

1 cup sliced mushrooms, dirt patted off

1 medium onion

1 clove garlic, minced

1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger

2 eggs, whisked*

1-2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Black pepper to taste

Saute onion, ginger, and garlic until onions are translucent. Add mushrooms and saute on high heat. Deglaze pan with the vinegar after about 3 minutes. Add remaining vegetables and stir until cooked through on medium heat. Season to taste, and remove from pan to serving dish. Using the same pan, pour in the whisked eggs evenly and cook on medium-low heat as you would for an omelet, flipping over after about 3-5 minutes. Serve atop the veggies or crumble it into the mix.

*Omit the eggs if you want to keep it vegan.

Spicy Ginger Carrot Soup September 1, 2011

A spicy-sweet and light end-of-summery dish that’s easy to make with the help of an oven and a blender (or food processor).

1 lb carrots (I used peeled baby carrots)

1 1 1/2 inch piece of peeled fresh ginger

1 small sweet potato, cut into smallish pieces

3 cloves garlic

1 medium onion

2-3 cups vegetable broth (or water)

Salt, pepper, paprika, and Sriracha to taste

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and roast the carrots,  garlic, and chopped sweet potato for about 45 minutes, rotating so they don’t burn on one side. I wrapped the unpeeled garlic gloves in aluminum foil to roast them separately. Saute the ginger and onion in a small skillet until the onions are translucent and the ginger is fragrant (don’t let anything blacken.) When cool enough to handle, transfer the sautéed ingredients and roasted ingredients to blender (or food processor) in batches and puree with vegetable broth (or about 2-3 cups of water) to desired thickness. Season to taste with black pepper, salt, paprika, and hot sauce. Best eaten cold with a toasted baguette.

Vegan Version of Pasta with Ricotta, Basil, & Tomatoes August 31, 2011

This one is in response to a post from ages ago, that somehow got away from me. Better late than never though. K made a simple hot weather-friendly dinner for two involving pasta with ricotta, basil and tomatoes a while back. Thankfully the weather has cooled off a little bit since then, and I’m still moved to try a vegan version of this. Pressed tofu crumbled and seasoned with lemon juice and nutritional yeast actually makes for a suitable substitution for the ricotta. Nutritional yeast is one of those vegan ingredients that makes starches taste somewhat cheesy. It’s quite good as a macaroni and cheese enhancer too. In general, I have to say I prefer actual ricotta, but it’s fun to try these things now and then. The texture is spot on and the taste is definitely in the ballpark.

2 servings whole wheat pasta of your choice, cooked to box specifications 

1 medium bunch fresh basil

3-4 medium tomatoes, diced or 1 1/2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved

1 block extra firm tofu, pressed

2-3 teaspoons lemon juice

2-3 teaspoons nutritional yeast

Salt, pepper, balsamic vinegar to dress.

Prep the pasta, tomatoes and basil, set aside. Crumble the pressed tofu into a medium bowl until the texture resembles ricotta. Season with lemon juice, nutritional yeast, and salt/pepper if desired. Dress the tomatoes with balsamic and toss everything together. That’s it!

Savory Summer Squash Bread for the Bread Maker August 30, 2011

Here goes my next recipe for using summer squash (I like this one too, as it combines my abundance of squash with my fascination with my new-ish breadmaker.)

Makes quite a delicious base for a grilled cheese

Savory Squash Bread – for a 1.5 lb. loaf that cooks to the size of a 2 lb. loaf

3/4 cup warm water
1 Tbs honey
1.5 Tbs vegetable oil
1 cup zucchini or squash, shredded
1 cup flour
2.5 cups bread flour
1/2 tsp dried basil or rosemary
1 Tbs sesame seed
1 tsp salt
2 tsp dry yeast

Throw it all in the bread machine and bake it.