Just a simple pasta salad...

Well, I may have gone a touch heavy on pasta recipes this week - but, it seems we have a never-ending supply (darn sales!) sitting in the pantry. We hope to do some hiking and exploring in local parks this year when the weather starts to warm up, so I've been keeping my eye out for recipes that we could bring along to snack on or for a picnic.

We tried out another one of those kind of recipes tonight with a dish for Whole Wheat Pasta Salad with Walnuts and Feta Cheese. With just a few simple ingredients, this dish can be made ahead of time and should be good to leave out for awhile, if needed, as it is not dressed in a mayo base. Coating the twisted nutty pasta is a light and delicate dressing made from walnut oil, red wine vinegar, minced garlic and a touch of Dijon mustard to hold it together. Tossed with the salad are chunks of salty feta cheese and tender baby spinach leaves for color with a bite coming from diced red onion. Rounding out the dish is a generous handful of toasted chopped walnuts to give the salad a bit of richness and crunch. Be sure to taste it before you add the salt and pepper as we didn't need to season it with much since it was pretty flavorful by itself. If you wanted to bulk the dish up with a bit more protein, I'm betting (and will be doing!) that some grilled and sliced coins of chicken sausage would be an excellent addition!

Recipes
Whole Wheat Pasta Salad with Walnuts and Feta Cheese

Only had to buy a red pepper for this Hoisin Beef and Edamame Noodle dish!

After last night's dinner, I still had just about half a pound of raw flank steak left over. When I was doing the menu planning on Saturday, I knew I would have some leftover... so I went on a mission to find something in my to-try piles which only used close to that amount.

The main reason I picked out this recipe, Hoisin Beef and Edamame Noodles, was that I only needed to pick up a bell pepper as the bulk of the recipe called for ingredients we almost always have lingering in our pantry or freezer. While some soba (buckwheat) noodles boil away, we quickly cooked the rest of the thinly sliced flank steak in pungent toasted sesame oil that has been heated in a large skillet. I love how sesame oil brings in such a rich nutty background without needing a large amount of it. After just a couple minutes, the steak is removed and diced red bell peppers are added to sauté in the juices the steak left behind. The edamame (green soy beans) are stirred in and the two are left to thoroughly heat through. I always have some frozen edamame in the freezer, so we quickly thawed them by running the beans under cool running water until they started to have some give to them. Fresh ginger is added, followed by the cooked beef and a dressing made from fresh lime juice, hoisin sauce, chile-garlic sauce and cornstarch. The cornstarch only takes a minute or so to thicken the dressing up and we were ready to toss in the soba noodles and fresh cilantro. Tangy and slightly sweet from the hoisin, there was only enough dressing to just barely coat everything - I would double the sauce next time as it was almost too dry. I used two full teaspoons of the chile-garlic sauce and it was just spicy enough for us - feel free to adjust to your taste. If you don't have access to soba noodles, I imagine this would work just fine with whole wheat spaghetti!

Recipes
Hoisin Beef and Edamame Noodles

Tacos with an Asian flare...

We've had a busy past couple of days in the kitchen, so I decided to take it easy tonight with dinner. This weekend when I was checking out how well we were stocked, I noticed we had a pretty large cut of flank steak in the freezer. I took it out last night and we ended up using just over half of it with tonight's dish of Thai Beef Tacos with Lime-Cilantro Slaw.

Even though the flank steak needs to marinate for about 20 minutes, this recipe comes together quite fast once the prep work is done. If you go to make these Asian flavored tacos, you will notice that there are similar ingredients in both the marinade and the dressing for the slaw - be sure to do the measuring and chopping of them at the same time so you don't prep the same things twice. For an extra crunchy slaw, I used a packaged broccoli slaw, instead of the suggested angel hair mix - I've been using it a lot lately and love the crisp texture it adds. The slaw is dressed in a sweet, salty and tangy mixture of fresh lime juice, sugar, rice wine vinegar, ginger, fish sauce, chili garlic sauce and minced garlic. Once the flank steak is cooked and cooled a bit, it is thinly sliced (across the grain please!) and placed along side the slaw mixture in soft flour tortillas. While we normally go for corn tortillas, we found these to be superior as they are thicker and held up much better as the slaw mixture is quite juicy. These were bright, crunchy, pretty healthy and you get a generous amount - two were satisfying enough with a side of baked soy crisps.

Recipes
Thai Beef Tacos with Lime-Cilantro Slaw

Transforming a classic pie into a cupcake...

March does not strike me as being spring-like even though the "official" start happens then. April feels much more like it as the weather is warming up and it just seems brighter outside with everything coming back to life after the dark winter. So, to celebrate the new season, we thought it was a perfect time to make these Lemon Meringue Pie Cupcakes as the next Wednesday Treat Day treat that Jeff will bring into the office tomorrow.

With the windows wide open and the fresh spring air flowing through the house, I got started early this morning as this recipe has quite a few steps. A buttery and tangy lemon curd is first up - this is a pretty straight forward recipe with fresh lemon juice, eggs, sugar and butter being cooked over a double boiler until it has thickened. To ensure an extra luscious curd, this mixture is pressed through a fine sieve - then fresh lemon zest is stirred in for an extra punch. It now has to go into the refrigerator to chill out until it firms up.

While waiting on the curd, I went ahead with the cupcake portion. The original recipe called for regular "pastry flour", but I used a combination of all-purpose flour and cake flour as I didn't have the former on hand. This is just a basic plain cupcake recipe spiked with a healthy dose of lemon zest. I did use the technique that I first gathered from those Lemon Poppy Seed Muffins and rubbed the lemon zest into the sugar before creaming the butter.

Once baked and completely cooled, we cut out little "plugs" from the center of each cupcake so we could stuff them with the homemade lemon curd. Since we want these cupcakes to fit in with the pie theme, they are topped with swirls of light meringue and then placed in the oven for a few minutes to achieve those classic brown peaks. If you have one of those handy kitchen torches, this would be a great time to bust it out!

You may want to think about doing this recipe in stages over a day or two, but at least there is some downtime when you need to wait for things to cool. Was it worth the effort? Absolutely - especially if you are a lemon fan! The lemon-scented cupcakes, with a tart surprise in the center, were bright, refreshing and moist - the meringue added some pizazz and was the perfect replacement to a heavier buttercream frosting. My only complaint is that they are kind of small - I should have probably just made these into 16 or 18 cupcakes instead of 24. While the muffins did rise up nicely, they only come up to the rim of the paper cup.

Since we are working on a spring theme, one vegetable that we have really grown to love this time of the year is fresh snappy asparagus. Asparagus and lemon go quite well together we think and because I had to zest and juice a bunch of lemons for the cupcakes above, I wanted to make sure tonight's dinner included them. This Creamy Asparagus Pasta dish was quick to come together (especially after those tedious cupcakes!), fresh tasting and quite satisfying from using whole wheat penne pasta. While you wait for the pasta to cook, the creamy sauce begins with browning a bit of garlic in olive oil with milk, grainy mustard, flour and seasonings being whisked in once the garlic starts to turn a light brown. After a few minutes the sauce has thickened and it is given a fresh boost with the addition of tarragon, lemon zest and lemon juice. The tangy sauce is then tossed with the tender asparagus and pasta and a shower of nutty Parmesan is stirred in before serving to add another sharp creamy layer. Finished with a light sprinkling of Parmesan, this light meal will have to be made at least a couple more times while we still have access to decent asparagus!

If you're on the prowl for other pasta recipes, be sure to check out Ruth's round-up of Presto Pasta Night this Friday!

Recipes
Lemon Meringue Pie Cupcakes
Creamy Asparagus Pasta

Fantastic cake and delicious dinner

The last time I made a large angel food cake was back in January of '06... I love them and really don't know why we have not made another one since! I decided to rectify the situation today with this recipe for a Black and White Angel Food Cake.

I've been wanting to make this cake since I came across the recipe a couple weeks ago - now, while angel food from scratch does take a bit of effort, with rewards like this it is certainly worth the time involved. This melt-in-your-mouth cake has two distinct layers in taste and color - the white layer has a light vanilla flavor with a subtle lemon hint to it. For the dark layer, Dutch-process cocoa powder is sifted into half of the vanilla batter and gently folded in. The original recipe called for 2 tablespoons, but I added another as the batter didn't seem dark enough to me. The 3 tablespoons added just enough chocolate flavor into the cake - I wouldn't be tempted to add much more as we really liked the gentle change from vanilla to chocolate.

This striking cake has that classic airy and light texture with just enough moisture that it does not come across as being dry. You don't want to coat this delicate cake in a thick heavy frosting, so two-toned lines of a quick vanilla and chocolate cream cheese frosting are drizzled on top. The listed recipe made way more glaze than I felt comfortable with pouring over the cake, so I reserved quite a bit of it. I will serve some of it on the side and use the rest for dunking the first of the season strawberries that we ended up having leftover after topping the cake.

*Tip - Cold eggs will separate better, but do let the whites come to room temperature as you will get the best volume that way. You will have lots of leftover yolks now - use them for a zabaglione, creme brulees, or how about a tiramisu? You can refrigerate the leftover yolks for a couple days or you can even freeze them if so inclined.

Jeff about fell over when he saw this 2 pound pile of baby spinach tonight when I said we were having it for dinner... thankfully we bought it at Costco, otherwise it would have cost an arm and a leg!

I needed all the spinach to fill up the inside of this Spinach-Feta Calzone Casserole I made. Think a spanakopita filling hugged with a white whole wheat crust instead of phyllo dough. The dough is kept very simple with just flour, salt, yeast, water and oil - it was a pleasure to work with and came together pretty quick. I used half white whole wheat flour instead of a full two cups of all-purpose and it worked very well. Instead of doing a free-formed shape, the dough is pressed into an 8" baking dish to give the calzone some shape and to catch any leaks if they happen - mine did not leak at all though! Before you fill the calzone, the dough is brushed with olive oil that has been marinating with a couple of garlic cloves that have been thinly sliced. This helped to create a seal so any liquid from the filling does not make the bottom soggy.

Inside this golden crusted package is the giant mound of spinach that we wilted down and tossed with chopped softened onions and thinly sliced garlic cloves. Also included with the mixture is a healthy dose of feta cheese and crushed red pepper. Before this baked, we also smeared on another layer of that garlic oil - you can see the lovely browned garlic chips that crisped up on top. With a crisp outer shell, the filling was surprisingly delicious (Jeff's words!) - it had a salty edge from the feta, a bite from the chopped onions and a very garlicky finish.

I think my garlic cloves were pretty big as I was not expecting such a garlic rush, but it worked so well here. Thankfully we have two pieces left for lunch tomorrow... one for each of us - there might have been a fight if there wasn't enough!

Recipes

Black and White Angel Food Cake
Spinach-Feta Calzone Casserole

Chewy ginger cookies...

Another week has flown by and we are slowly working into springtime... that means it is almost time for the farmer's market to open! We made 12 new recipes this week - our favorites this time were the Vermont Cheddar Mashed Yukon Golds, Broccoli, Asiago and Chicken Sausage Frittata and the Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting.

I really didn't need to make cookies today, especially since we had the spur of the moment cupcakes yesterday, but I had already planned on making these Double Ginger Crackles. Since cookies usually freeze well, I forged ahead and decided to make them anyway! These cookies have a racy bite from a doubly whammy of ginger - ground and crystallized. Once the dough has been made and shaped, the balls are rolled in granulated sugar to give some shine to the crackly crust. Using a tablespoon cookie scoop, I got around 40 decent sized cookies - I think these would be good as giant cookies if you want to use a 1/4 cup measure though! We quite enjoyed these as the texture of them was dense and very chewy - I used part brown sugar in the dough to add to the chew factor. Leaving them to cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes also helps lend to their chewiness.

With just enough molasses to darken the dough, the cookies don't seem to have that overwhelming flavor molasses can sometimes add. Jeff did remark that these will have to make the Holiday baking bonanza that we do every year! The only thing that I would have liked was for these to have a bit more crispness to them - I'm not sure if baking them longer would do that, without ruining that fantastic chewy texture.

Recipes
Double Ginger Crackles

Unexpected carrot cupcake spree...

I did not have any plans to bake today, but while I was trying to organize the monster stacks of to-try recipes, I came across a cupcake that I kept meaning to make. Since this recipe, Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting, didn't have ingredients that needed to come to room temperature (well besides the cream cheese, but that had plenty of time to soften) I decided to put off the organizing for another day and get the oven warmed up!

This recipe uses a combination of whole wheat pastry flour and all-purpose, which I've been using a lot lately. I like using the duo as it lends nutrition from the whole wheat, but using some all-purpose helps to keep them light with a decent texture. Most carrot cakes or cupcakes are laden with oil, but while in this version we did use some canola oil, some of that has been replaced by natural applesauce which makes them a little more acceptable for us. The applesauce ensures the cupcakes will be very moist, but still adding a bit of oil gives them structure and you won't end up with that rubbery texture. Spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla, the cupcakes also have a good amount of crunchy toasted walnuts lurking inside. A sweet creamy frosting adorns the top made from softened cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and fresh grated lemon zest for a light zing.

You could leave these plain, top them off with a few colorful sprinkles or even a scattering of nutty toasted walnuts would be great way finish these off with a layer of crunch against the soft frosting.

Recipes
Carrot Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

A couple of fresh and light dishes...

We made a fresh, tangy and a little unusual slaw to have with dinner tonight. In this Fruit Slaw, there are four kinds of diced fruit that make this a vibrant and colorful dish. Perfect for a festive spring or summer-time party, pineapple, pears, mango and red grapes are tossed together with broccoli slaw for a crunchy texture against the juicy fruit. While you will find your normal suspects in the dressing, there are a few key ingredients to transform this recipe by adding an unusual, but delicious, twist. Whisked into the creamy mayonnaise and sour cream combination is cilantro, lime zest, fresh lime juice, sugar and curry powder! We liked how the lime brought a refreshing tang - but we found the curry powder almost seductive with its sweetness lingering on each piece of fruit. You can prepare the dressing ahead of time, but wait until you are ready to serve to toss it with the fruit.

I had a bunch of bits and pieces of different ingredients in the refrigerator that I needed to use up, so on nights like this I love to make frittatas. They are easy to make and are usually pretty flexible as to what you can throw in them. Tonight's Broccoli, Asiago and Chicken Sausage Frittata starts off by cooking chopped broccoli, green onions, garlic and diced chicken sausage. Once the broccoli has become crisp-tender, whole eggs and egg whites seasoned with Italian herbs, salt, fresh ground pepper and crushed red pepper are added into the pan and the skillet goes into the oven to cook. Just when the eggs are set, grated Asiago cheese is scattered on top and the skillet is left in the oven for just a couple more minutes to melt the cheese. We added some chunky diced fresh tomatoes after cooking for a pop of color with some more thinly sliced green onions.

Stuffed with broccoli and sausage, this was quite the hearty and filling dinner while still being somewhat light. If I had a jar already opened, I thought some diced roasted red peppers would have been another great addition to this frittata.

Recipes
Fruit Slaw
Broccoli, Asiago and Chicken Sausage Frittata

A new spin on chicken and rice...

One of our favorite staples to have in the freezer is edamame - simply boiled and seasoned with salt, the beans by themselves make for a quick nutritious snack. Since I'm always looking for new ways to match edamame with other ingredients, I thought this recipe for Brown Rice and Edamame would be an excellent choice for a side tonight.

You can use any long grain brown rice that you want, but we opted to use the more pungent brown Jasmine in this dish. Whenever possible, we like to layer in as much flavor as we can - so instead of using water to cook the rice, we tend to use either vegetable or chicken broth. After the rice has cooked for about half an hour, the frozen green soybeans are tossed in to warm up while the rice finishes. Now, you could stop here and just season with salt and pepper, but tossing this with a tangy dressing adds a whole new dimension. This mixture of lime juice, rice vinegar, toasted sesame oil, a dash of sugar and thinly sliced green onions was devoured by the grains of rice adding a zesty bright essence that kept it light and fresh.

To go with the rice, I needed to marinate a couple chicken breasts to get this recipe for Maple-Glazed Chicken Breasts started. The marinade consisted of sticky pure maple syrup, soy sauce, lemon juice, garlic and ginger - the chicken breasts are added to this mixture and they both sit in the refrigerator to chill out for a couple hours. As you grill the chicken breasts, the marinade is brought to a simmer in a separate pan and reduced down instead of throwing it out - this is where the glaze/sauce comes in. While infusing the chicken with a sweet and salty combo, the marinade kept them extremely tender and moist throughout. The only thing I would do next time is add a little spice, be it a few dashes of hot sauce or crushed red pepper, to add just a note of heat to contrast the sweetness.

Recipes
Brown Rice and Edamame
Maple-Glazed Chicken Breasts

Chili and cornbread night...

Just a few days ago, we made a quite sweet version of cornbread in some Sweet Corn Muffins that were more suitable for breakfast or a mid-morning snack. Jeff asked if I would make some cornbread to go along with dinner tonight, so this time we made a more savory version.

In these Jalapeño and Corn Cornbread Muffins, buttermilk is the main liquid ingredient, which allows them to stay tender and moist. Unlike the sweet version linked above, this recipe only has 2 tablespoons of sugar - which is just enough to give them their golden exterior and adds a hint of sweetness. Minced garlic, jalapeño and green onions add color and lend a definite savory element to these beautiful crowned muffins. For another layer of corn flavor, corn kernels are added into the batter and bring little juicy nuggets into each bite - a nice change from a plain cornmeal-only recipe.

I made these into 10 muffins so they would be a little bigger, but you could probably stretch this into 12 and still have them be acceptable. If you do only make 10, be sure to add a little bit of water into the empty wells of the muffin tin so they don't scorch.

What better to go with this spicy cornbread than a hearty chili? Even though we tend to gravitate to chili more in the colder months, we still enjoy it and will make new (to us) versions of it all throughout the year. This recipe, Three Bean and Beef Chili, has a smoky and slightly spicy edge to it from fire-roasted crushed tomatoes along with a diced chipotle chili in adobo sauce. If you want that deep flavor, but not so much the heat, you could remove the seeds before adding the chilies or even forgo them and just add the adobo sauce. Lean ground sirloin is added to onions, red bell peppers and carrots that have gently softened in olive oil and then seasoned with cumin. When the sirloin has crumbled and cooked, the crushed tomatoes, vegetable broth, oregano and the chipotles are stirred in and left to simmer, partially covered, until the mixture begins to thicken. To help the beans retain their integrity, the black, kidney and pinto beans are now added and then the chili will continue simmering to allow the flavors to develop. If you want to take this all veggie, we have had pretty good success using soy crumbles - we both thought this chili had plenty of flavor to go around so this substitute would be a fine fit.

Recipes
Three Bean and Beef Chili
Jalapeño and Corn Cornbread Muffins

Hmm... well they may not look right, but the cookies still taste good!

We've had pretty good success with the treats that I've been making for the Weekly Wednesday Treat Day. I don't know if today's round of baking would fit into that category though... while these cookies taste good, they don't have near the appearance that we were expecting.

I'm not certain if it was my error (though I did double check everything), an omission in the ingredient list or even a step lost in the directions, but these Pistachio Butter Cookies were not supposed to bake into these flatter disks. Once the dough has been made, it is placed in a pastry bag (be sure to use a heavy duty one as the dough is quite thick) and the recipe calls to pipe them out into rosettes with a star tip. I thought the texture of the dough was similar to a spritz-type recipe, but it was a bit more soft and sticky. Even though I was able to pipe them out fairly well, they completely lost their shape while baking as you can see (yes I was working with cold baking sheets too). Maybe a rest in the refrigerator for a couple hours would have made a difference before baking, but it was not called for.

With a generous amount of ground raw pistachios in the dough, the golden baked cookies have the slightest green tinge and do have a rich nutty flavor. They are delicate, buttery and soft, but not cake-like - these cookies like to slowly melt in your mouth as you nibble on them. So while mine could use some help in the visual department, at least they still had good flavor.

*Tip - When you go to grind the pistachios, add a tablespoon or so of the sugar from the recipe to help absorb any of the oils released so it doesn't begin to turn into a nut butter.

Fresh, glossy and slightly sweet, the sauce for tonight's dinner totally made this recipe for Hoisin Pork and Snow Pea Stir-Fry a hit. Thinly sliced pork tenderloin is tossed with salty soy sauce while you wait for the skillet to heat up. To begin cooking, the pork is quickly sautéed in robust toasted sesame oil - I would split this up and do this in two batches if we made this again. Even though I used a fairly large skillet, I thought the pan was too full to cook the strips evenly. To not over-cook the tender pork, the strips are removed to a plate while a few more drops of oil, crunchy snow peas, sweet red bell peppers, fresh ginger and minced garlic are added to the skillet. The delicious sauce made from broth, hoisin sauce, cornstarch and honey is added to the skillet, along with the pork and its juices, to thicken up and thoroughly coat the pork and vegetables. To serve, we portioned the mixture over floral and nutty brown jasmine rice since there was a generous amount of sauce to soak up. Even if I don't make this exact recipe again, this sauce will be repeated - I'll even admit to licking up the few remaining drops on the plate!

Recipes
Pistachio Butter Cookies
Hoisin Pork and Snow Pea Stir-Fry

Waking up the tastebuds...

Sometimes nothing can satisfy a craving like a simple dinner of meat and potatoes - Jeff was asking for this pair as I was doing the menu planning for the week and I eagerly accepted. While a plain grilled steak and mashed potatoes would have certainly fit the bill, we opted to heighten the flavors in a few different ways.

While there is no new earth shattering technique in these mashers, Vermont Cheddar Mashed Yukon Golds, I did use a brilliantly sharp Cheddar to pack the most punch. Our favorite everyday brand of cheese over the past few years has been Cabot, so we decided to use their "seriously sharp" version. I thought I made a mistake using such a strong cheese when I took my first bite, but it became quickly addicting with the twang from the buttermilk. I served this with a couple pats of butter on the side, but neither of us felt the need to add them - the Yukon golds had enough richness to them where we didn't even think about it. If you want to make this recipe and felt that you might not have enough time to prepare the taters, you could prepare these ahead of time and gently re-heat them in a double boiler right before serving - but you may want to add a couple tablespoons more of buttermilk to keep them creamy.

For the meaty portion of tonight's dinner, I made a recipe for Sesame-Crusted Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Pineapple, Mango, and Red Pepper Relish. A zesty, sweet and spicy relish is served along side that is composed of diced golden pineapples, mangoes, red bell peppers, cilantro, fresh orange juice, orange zest and a big pinch of crushed red pepper to finish for a bit of heat. The thick steaks are simply seasoned with just salt, pepper and black sesame seeds. I've never worked with this dark version before, so I was anxious to taste them - they have that same great crunch as their lighter counterpart, but their flavor is more earthy and a touch more nutty. We like our steaks somewhat rare, so I grilled them until they were still quite pink in the center (it looks more rare in the picture than they actually were) - it took just about 3 minutes per side.

While we were busy eating the potatoes, my eye was attracted to the other plate as I spied how the the succulent juices slowly leaked from the sliced steak into the chunky savory relish on the side. Even though I was enjoying the potatoes, I had to stop and plunge my fork through the relish and into the tender steak as I just couldn't stand watching that devilish tease anymore. Yes, I'm proud to be a member of the clean plate club tonight!

Recipes
Vermont Cheddar Mashed Yukon Golds
Sesame-Crusted Beef Tenderloin Steaks with Pineapple, Mango, and Red Pepper Relish

Easy chicken dish on a beautiful spring day...

10 new recipes made this week - our favorites were the Spinach Ricotta Rotini, Chocolate Waffle Cookies and the Cinnamon-Apple Bars with Peanut Butter Glaze. I've been a little lax in keeping the recipe sections to the left updated, but I finally got them current - I did a tally and we have posted at least 768 recipes now! Dang!

I finally have something nice to say about the weather! It was a beautiful spring day today!

It was sunny and finally started to warm up, so we wanted to spend as much time soaking up the rays and getting some outside work done. The only downside? That means the evil mowing season is right around the corner! Boo!

I didn't want to have to worry about a long prep for dinner tonight, so we chose this recipe, Sesame Noodles with Chicken, as it could be done in a snap without much effort. As we waited for some long linguine pasta to cook, we whipped up a saucy concoction of vegetable broth, natural peanut butter, rice vinegar, soy sauce, fresh ginger and a bit of Sriracha for a spicy kick. So you don't need to dirty another dish, thin strips of carrots are added to the pasta when there is about 3 minutes left to go. The hot pasta and carrots are tossed with the creamy sauce, shredded cooked chicken breast and sliced green onions with a smattering of toasted sesame seeds on top for a second nutty element to the dish. With a half cup of peanut butter in the sauce, we thought it might overwhelm the dish, but it added a little decadence while still coming across as being fairly light. I would suggest breaking the noodles in half before you add them to the water as it was a little hard make sure each portion would get a fairly even amount.

Recipes
Sesame Noodles with Chicken

Cinnamon-Apple Bars with Peanut Butter Glaze...

I was on a mission to bake this morning and it had been a couple weeks since we cracked open the King Arthur Flour Whole Grain Baking book. One of my favorite and frequent snacks is apples with a side of peanut butter for dipping - after browsing through a few recipes, I spotted one that that used the two in a new way.

Filled with fall-ish spices, these Cinnamon-Apple Bars with Peanut Butter Glaze sure made for a sweet way to start off the weekend. We used whole wheat pastry flour, white whole wheat flour and ground rolled oats to make these whole grain bars - but with the spices, butter and rich brown sugar they don't have that mildly bitter "wheat-y" taste to them. Using applesauce in the bars keeps them extremely moist - but since you're not using it to replace the fat in the recipe, they don't have a rubbery texture to them. While they are soft and dense, they are not cake-like - but they also don't have that chewy quality like a bar cookie would; it is somewhere in between those two if that makes any sense! You could use chocolate chips if you prefer, but we quite liked the engaging burst the melted pockets of cinnamon chips added. Spread on top is a generous thick glaze made simply from peanut butter melted in the microwave with sticky honey. The two spread easily when warm, but the mixture does start to firm up after a few minutes... so don't dwadle when your frosting the bars.

Recipes
Cinnamon-Apple Bars with Peanut Butter Glaze

Taking a step out of baked pasta...

Typically when we make a baked pasta dish, you need to haul out the big pot, wait for it to boil and then allow for the time it takes to cook so you can continue making the recipe. What attracted me to try tonight's recipe, Spinach Ricotta Rotini, is that you do not pre-cook the pasta - it is added dry to the wet ingredients and they bake together. This makes for a no-fuss recipe with minimal dishes - great for those frazzled weeknights.

The dry rotini pasta swims in a mixture of ricotta cheese, evaporated milk, water, italian herbs, Dijon mustard, a dash of fresh nutmeg, spinach and chopped ham in a large baking dish. This is placed in the oven to bake for about a half hour - the only work you need to do is to stir it twice during that time. As it gets closer to the 30 minute mark, you will notice how thick the liquid turned and how the pasta has gotten tender without turning to mush. For a fantastic finish, fresh bread crumbs and asiago cheese are scattered on top of the hot pasta and it goes back into the oven until it turns crispy and golden. This dish has a creamy, but not soggy or wet consistency to it and after a 10 minute rest, could easily be cut into and held its shape well - much like a lasagna. Using evaporated milk gave a nice rich mouth feel to the dish, but kept it a little lighter than if you used heavy cream. The diced ham gave a nice salty counterpoint, but you could keep this an all-veggie dish by replacing the ham with chickpeas or maybe even some meaty sautéed portobellos.

Recipes
Spinach Ricotta Rotini

Biscotti's endless variations...

I know, I know... yes I made yet another biscotti recipe today! Soon we will have to open up a recipe section just for them - I can't help it though, we both quite like the crunchy cookies! In this version of Cappuccino Biscotti, we added a little of this and a little of that to try to mimic the flavor found in the drink. Toasted chopped walnuts, mini chocolate chips and cinnamon chips were the add-ins of choice with the coffee flavor coming from instant espresso powder dissolved in an equal amount of hot water. Natural cocoa powder darkens the dough and adds a mild chocolate background to the crisp cookie strips. Unlike some past recipes, this dough was not nearly as wet and even took a few kneads on the counter-top for it to completely come together. While I'm used to working with more sticky doughs, I have to comment that this one was a complete breeze to roll and shape without having to wet my fingers at all.

When I went to slice the baked loaves, I used the same trick from one of the last recipes for biscotti that we made. Once they have cooled for a few minutes, the tops of the biscotti are lightly spritzed with water - this gently softens the outer crust and makes for extra clean slices without worrying about them crumbling. The mini chocolate chips make for good distribution through the biscotti, but I would probably chop up some good dark chocolate next time for a bigger bite of flavor.

We went breakfast-style for dinner tonight with a recipe for Oatmeal-Chai Buttermilk Pancakes. When I typically go to make pancakes, it is not something I need to think too much about or do much work as they are usually so quick to throw together. This recipe is the opposite as it takes some pre-planning to allow for the extra time needed. First, the chai flavors need to be infused into the milk for the recipe - this process of using a spicy combination of whole cloves, cardamom, a cinnamon stick, chunks of fresh ginger and black tea leaves takes around 20-25 minutes. When you begin to heat the milk, be sure to keep an eye on it - when it neared the 10 minute mark, I found I had to keep sliding the pot off the heat so it would not boil over. When the dry mixture is combined with the wet ingredients, it needs to sit for at least 15 minutes as the bulk of the dry is composed of rolled oats. This allows the oats to begin absorbing the delicately imbued liquid and soften. These golden circles are tender from the addition of buttermilk and have a hearty presence from the oats - however, they don't have that "light as air" quality to them. We actually enjoyed that as it made them considerably filling.

With a wallop of flavor in them, we just showered the stacks of pancakes with sweet confectioners' sugar as we felt no need to saturate them in heavy maple syrup.

Recipes
Cappuccino Biscotti
Oatmeal-Chai Buttermilk Pancakes

Roasted cauliflower and creamy bowties...

When I was at the market Sunday picking out the produce we needed for the recipes this week, I noticed that the orange "variety" of cauliflower was priced the same as the regular, so we decided to snatch it up for the novelty factor. We needed it for tonight's side dish of Roasted Cauliflower with Brown Butter.

Seasoned lightly with salt and pepper, the cauliflower roasts in a moderately hot oven until tender and it begins to have a golden hue as the edges begin to caramelize. Meanwhile, a single tablespoon of butter is left to melt in a small skillet until a nutty aroma fills the kitchen and the liquid gold begins to darken. It may not seem like a lot, but there is enough butter to add a glistening coat to the cauliflower to make it even more tempting. If you've never roasted a vegetable like this before, you will be excited by the deep flavor it has - but I thought that the sharpness from a few fresh grates of Parmesan cheese would have brought this recipe to a new height as in previous recipes. While this colored cauliflower really had no difference in taste, it certainly creates conversation at the dinner table!

To go with the cauliflower tonight, we made a filling pasta dish that has a uniquely flavored sauce. In this recipe, Farfalle with Creamy Leek Sauce, the sauce is reminiscent of pesto, except it has no nuts and the cheese is added later on. A slew of thinly sliced leeks are sautéed in a good amount of olive oil until they begin to get a tinge of brown on them to start off the sauce. Chicken broth along with lemon juice, lemon zest and parsley are added to the leeks to freshen and zap the sauce with a bright flavor - the mixture is then pureed until smooth. If you know your time will be limited, you could even do this part the day before and just keep it stored, covered, in the refrigerator overnight. When you boil the pasta, be sure to under-cook it by about 3 minutes or so - once you drain the water away, the pasta and the creamy sauce are added back into the pot to finish cooking.

To thin out the sauce, you will need about a half a cup of the pasta water. I've started taking this out before I drain the pasta - I've one too many times drained the pasta to instantly realize I needed a portion of that starchy water as it dwindled down the drain! The reason you don't want to fully cook the pasta in the beginning is so the pasta and sauce can thoroughly marry and become one with each other - the pasta will more readily absorb the sauce and still have a bite to it. At the end, a couple ounces of Parmigiano-Reggiano is added before serving to lend a creamy edge to the sauce - be sure to pass around a generous mound of the sharp cheese so your guests can add more if desired.

Recipes
Roasted Cauliflower with Brown Butter
Farfalle with Creamy Leek Sauce

Dust off those waffle irons!

Tuesday brings us yet another round of baking for the Weekly Wednesday Treat Day that we've started at Jeff's office! I've been wanting to make this fun recipe for quite some time and it caught my eye again when I was sifting through my stacks of untried sweet recipes.

And the fun part about these Chocolate Waffle Cookies? There is no need for an oven as they are made on a waffle iron! For this batter, chocolate is added in the form of unsweetened and Dutch-process cocoa powder to give these cookies a rich depth. To give a spicy contrast to the sweetness, cinnamon is added with the dry ingredients to perk up the flavor. The batter is quite thick, so I found a tablespoon cookie scoop was the best way to get the batter onto the waffle iron - alternatively, you could fill up a piping bag and use that to quickly portion it out. I used the "light color" setting on my iron and it took just 1 1/2 minutes for the cookies to be set - just try out one or two cookies until you get the hang of how long it takes. They will be soft and a little flimsy when they are fully cooked, but they will firm up well as they cool.

Because there isn't enough chocolate already, a simple combination of melted butter, confectioners' sugar, cocoa powder and milk are combined to form a shiny glaze on top of the dense brownie-like treasures. This light glaze is meant to be on just the raised lines and not fill into the pockets of the cookies. Once set, a shower of confectioners' sugar is sifted over the cookies to show off their beautiful dark facade.

So, tonight's dinner brings us a little out of our comfort zone with a recipe for Saag Tofu. This is based off an Indian classic that would typically be made with spinach and paneer, which is a firm yet bland cow's milk cheese. In this recipe, which tries to make the original dish a little lighter, firm tofu replaces the cheese and the spinach mixture is not pureed - instead, the spinach is coated in a creamy mixture of yogurt, curry powder and smoky cumin. Also flavoring the spinach is grated ginger, fresh garlic, thin sliced onions and mustard seeds which bring a pungent heat. The tofu is cut into thick chunky pieces and pan-fried until the sides are golden to bring out a chewy texture. To serve, we decided to plate this over a nutty brown basmati rice as it was a pretty saucy dish. While we cannot compare it to an authentic recipe, as we have never prepared or had this type of recipe before, we both enjoyed the results and decided that the enthralling spinach and sauce mixture was the key component to keep this from being too bland with the tofu.

Recipes
Chocolate Waffle Cookies
Saag Tofu

Filling up with a Hearty Peasant Soup

The first (and last) time we tried broccoli rabe, we found it a bit flavorless and too bitter for our tastes - however, we decided to give it another go after learning that blanching it before you use it in a recipe helps to mellow the bitterness and pull out its earthy flavor. So in an effort to give broccoli rabe another chance, we decided to give this recipe, Hearty Peasant Soup, a go for dinner tonight!

When you go to prepare the broccoli rabe, cut about 1/4" off the bottom thick stems as they can be pretty tough. Once chopped and well washed, dunk the vegetable in boiling salted water for just a minute or two - quickly drain them in a colander and then plunk them in ice cold water to finish the blanching process. The base for the soup begins by sautéing onions and garlic until they become tender; then thick tomato paste with a couple splashes of balsamic vinegar is added and allowed to cook down for a couple minutes. Vegetable broth, water, chunky fire-roasted tomatoes, chickpeas and the blanched broccoli rabe are stirred in and this mixture simmers until the the greens are tender. Be sure to check for seasonings before you serve it - stir in salt and fresh ground pepper if needed and you could even add a dash or two more of balsamic to give it more bite if you like.

The tomato paste gives this soup gusto with a good mouth feel - the paste freezes well, so I throw blobs (about 1 tablespoons worth) on a baking sheet and freeze them. When firm, I pluck them off and store them in a zip-loc bag until needed - this way you don't have to worry about the opened can in the refrigerator going moldy. You could also splurge and buy the paste in a tube for easy storage! If you don't care for garbanzo beans, you could use the same amount of cannellini beans instead. For a hearty finish, we served thick toasted slices of a rustic bread inside the bowl to truly make this an extremely filling and delicious meal.

Recipes
Hearty Peasant Soup

Crunchy barbeque biscuits for the pups...

Since we were gone last week, we were really just playing catch-up on recipes we made the week before - but, over the last weeks worth of posting, a couple of favorites did stand out for us.. They were the Anise-Scented Fig and Date Swirls and Pork Pot Stickers! Now that we're home for a few weeks (hmm... where to next you might ask? Stay tuned...!) I have lots of ideas and plans going through my head for the upcoming week.

After we picked up the pups on Friday from the boarding place, Jeff went to the freezer in the garage to get them some treats... except he came back with an empty bowl! Apparently we forgot that we were out of homemade treats and didn't think to buy them any! Oops! So after a day of getting constant sad puppy dog eyes, I went to work today when we got back from the market to come up with some treats.

When I looked over some past recipes we've done, I noticed that we have not made any flavored in a barbeque style... So I grabbed my notebook and started pulling out some ingredients to create some! I added whole wheat flour, rye flour and wheat germ to create the healthy base for the dry ingredients, with rolled oats and yellow cornmeal in addition to give the treats a hearty crunchy texture. The wet ingredients came next with chicken broth and canola oil whisk together with natural barbeque sauce from Trader Joe's to give them their barbeque flavor. It only took a couple minutes of kneading until the dough came together and was quite smooth. The dough easily rolled out without much resistance and the bones, hearts and circles we cut out went into the oven. Jeff was downstairs while I was putting this together and within a few minutes of them going into the oven, I heard him sniffing as he wandered upstairs - he immediately started asking what time the barbeque would be ready for dinner!! I think he was sorely disappointed to find out it was only treats for the dogs and not for him... ha!

I thought about giving them either an egg glaze or basting them in some of the sauce midway through baking, but I figured we would keep them clean to see how if the pups would like them. They stood by the island wagging their tails the entire time these golden biscuits were on the racks cooling - I think they liked them too... Max even started dancing so he could guilt us out of another one!

Recipes
Crunchy BBQ Biscuits