Gnocchi in Tomato Broth

I'm sure you've heard me talk and blog about Annie's Eats.  When I first started cooking, most of my recipes came from her blog.  She tries out all sorts of things and has great how-to pictures for trickier recipes (hence she got me to to try out bagels and croissants!).  However, I have also been able to find lots of new bloggers - some through Annie's recommendations, and others through my own browsing - that I love just as much if not more than Annie's blog.  For example, I am really obsessed with A Couple Cooks.  They are what they call "flexitarians" who are flexible enough to eat whatever is fresh and seasonal and local, but most of the time they eat - and cook - vegetarian.  They have awesome recipes like vegetable sushi bowls and roasted tomato almond dip.

But let me introduce you to Smitten Kitchen - or Deb Perelman.  I've liked her for a while - she brings great recipes like the jacked up banana bread and potato knish.  Of all the blogs I follow, I think I like her pictures the best simply because she shares so many of them.  She lives in New York City in a tiny kitchen, so she says if she can manage all these recipes, so can anyone.  She used to be a vegetarian - although she isn't anymore - but she still has lots of good veggie recipes.  Anyway, the reason I am gushing about her is that Mark bought me her new cookbook.  We went to the North End in Mom's birthday back in October, and we stopped in a cute little bookstore that had lots of great cookbooks.  I totally wanted The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook but was too cheap to buy it for myself; little did I realize that Mark secretly bought it for me! (Luckily I also secretly bought him a pair of sneakers so we surprised each other that day!)  I really recommend this book; I've made a number of recipes from it and love them all, along with the pictures and the clear instructions.   She has some recipes that are on her blog as well, but most are brand new.

But this recipe is possibly the most exciting one I've made in a while, because let's face it: gnocchi is amazing, but who the heck knows how to make their own!?  One time I tried to make ricotta gnocchi with disastrous results, but I've always wanted to try out my own potato gnocchi.  I went though about 5 years of ordering gnocchi any time I saw them on a menu; they are so light and pillowy, so soft and comforting, and so. Damn. Good.  I'd always thought you'd need a potato ricer to make your own, but Deb wrote, "I learned that if you didn't have a potato ricer, you could use the large holes of a box grater to a similar effect."  I felt great when I read that.  To make it even better, Deb assures her readers that gnocchi do not have to have those cute little ridges in them, although if you really want to add them, you can use a fork.  When I read all that, and saw her cute little pictures of gnocchi resting in a thin homemade tomato broth, I immediately set out to make them for dinner.

Here's the best part: these are so easy!!!  What took the longest was baking the potatoes, so I have already said any time we have extra baked potatoes I plan to make gnocchi immediately.  Once the potatoes are baked and peeled, you grate them on box grater, which worked perfectly, and add an egg, salt, and gradually add flour until you have a sticky but workable dough.  Roll it out into a rope, cut into little pillows, and boil.  Voila: you have gnocchi.  That's it!   So simple.  And rather fun.

The broth is just as amazing.  It's made from carrots, celery, onion, garlic, and even some white wine, chicken broth, and a can of tomatoes.  The recipe calls for it to be strained at the end so you only have broth, but I usually ignore that kind of instruction: why get rid of the vegetables!?   I kept them, and the sauce was so amazing that I ended up eating it with other recipes that I will share later this week.

So, delicious gnocchi and equally-as-delicious tomato broth: you basically have no reason not to make this recipe this week.  Maybe you even have leftover baked potatoes!?  If not, just get up right now and toss some potatoes into the oven; you'll be eating gnocchi in no time at all.  I'm so relieved and excited to tell you that potato gnocchi is easy to make.

Recipe:

gnocchi in tomato broth
from The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook by Deb Perelman

Ingredients:

tomato broth:
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 medium stalk celery, chopped
1 small yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, peeled and smashed
1/2 cup white wine
1 28-ounce can whole or chopped tomatoes with juices
small handful of fresh basil leaves, plus more for garnish
2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste

gnocchi:
2 pounds Russet potatoes (3 or 4)
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon table salt
1 1/4 to 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting surface

Instructions:

1) Bake the potatoes: preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Bake potatoes for 45 minutes to 1 hour, depending on size, until a thin knife can easily pierce through them.  Meanwhile, prepare the tomato broth.

2) Make the tomato broth: Heat the oil in a heavy pot over medium-high heat.  Once it's hot, add the carrot, celery, and onion, and cook together for 5 minutes, reducing the heat to medium if they begin to brown.  Add the garlic and cook for 1 minute more.  Pour in the wine, and use it to scrape up and browned bits stuck to the bottom of the pan, then cook the wine until it is reduced by half, for several minutes.  Stir in the tomatoes, mashing them a bit with a spoon if whole, and the basil and stock, and simmer until the tomato broth thickens slightly, for about 45 minutes.  Strain out the vegetables in a fine-mesh colander (I chose to skip this step) and season with salt and pepper to taste.  Set aside until needed.

3) Make gnocchi: let the potatoes cool for 10 minutes after baking, then peel them with a knife or peeler.  Run the potatoes through a potato ricer, or grate them on the large holes of a box grater.  Cool them to lukewarm, about another 10 minutes.  Add the egg and salt, mixing to combine.  Add 1/2 cup flour, and mix to combine.  Add next 1/2 cup flour, mixing again.  Add 1/4 cup flour, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough is a good consistency - soft and a little sticky, but able to hold its shape enough to be rolled into a rope.  Knead the dough together briefly on the counter - just for a minute.

4)  Divide the dough into quarters.  Roll each piece into a long rope, about 3/4 inch thick.  Cut each rope into 3/4-inch lengths.  At this point, you can use a floured fork or a gnocchi board to give it the traditional ridges, but I never bother.  Place the gnocchi in a single layer on a parchment-lined tray.  If you'd like to freeze them for later use, do so on this tray; once they are frozen, drop them into a freezer bag.

5) Cook the gnocchi: place the gnocchi, a quarter batch at a time, into a pot of boiling, well-salted water.  Cook the gnocchi until they float - about 2 minutes - then drain.  Frozen gnocchi will take a minute longer.

6) Assemble the dish: meanwhile, reheat broth to a  simmer.  Add drained gnocchi and reheat through.  Serve gnocchi and broth together, garnished with extra slivers of basil and/or a dollop of fresh ricotta or some parmesan shavings to taste.

Turkey-Apple Swedish Meatballs

First, sorry for the delay in posting: Thanksgiving craziness has been in full swing here!  Lots of good recipes to come soon.  I am excited to share them!  But first..... meatballs.

There was a week or so this month where I went on strike.  I was sick of the complaints from my family every time I went to cook some sort of vegetarian delight.  I do the planning, the shopping, the cooking, and the cleaning, and sometimes I feel underappreciated.  I know I probably sound like 80% of women around the world, but this was my first time that the whining seriously ticked me off (rough week at work), so I went on strike.  My family had to fend for themselves, and thus had a night of meatloaf, some chili, and basically went out to eat every other night.  I finally started feeling bad for them (not to mention hungry) and ended my strike with this dish: meatballs.  With actual meat.  Very unusual for me, I know, but I actually had bribed Nick to go get groceries for me if I promised to make him Swedish meatballs.  These ones intrigued me - they were in my October issue of Food Network Magazine - because they also included apple and were made of ground turkey rather than beef; ground beef just horrifies me.  So, away we go with actual meat meatballs.  No lentils, no quinoa.  Truce?

The things that make these meatballs different from your average Swedish meatballs (besides the grated apple and turkey) are the fact that the breadcrumbs you use are from pumpernickel bread.  They get blended with Worcestershire sauce and milk to make a paste that then gets combined with some sautéed shallots, apples, garlic, and cinnamon.  The meat and egg get added in last (don't worry; I wore gloves) and then you make the meatballs.  I tried to make mine extra small so there would be more of them, and who wants a giant bite of meat anyway?!

The meatballs get baked for 15-20 minutes, while you work on the gravy.  What got a bit dicy was that after the balls bake, you pop them into the gravy and cook them the rest of the way there.  I felt like there wasn't enough gravy to cook 36 meatballs in (and I think I even had more than 36!) and they started falling apart a little.  I told everyone to enjoy their meat sauce since many of the meatballs had disappeared!  I think if I made these again, I would use a much bigger saucepan and maybe double the gravy.

I decided to serve them over egg noodles due to the fact that we had about 4 bags of them in the cabinet for reasons unknown.  The end result was a lot of very family members.  I was kind of hoping they'd hate them and beg for eggplant meatballs, or vegetarian meatballs, but unfortunately it didn't happen and everyone was raving about them.  Nick said they were the best meatballs he ever had.  I tried the gravy over the noodles and even I had to admit that it had a really great flavor.  All traces of them were gone by the next day.  Ugh.  Carnivores: can't live with them, can't live without them.

Recipe:

turkey-apple Swedish meatballs
from the October issue of Food Network Magazine
serves 6 (about 36 small meatballs)

Ingredients:
for the meatballs:
3 cups packed torn pumpernickel bread
1 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
6 small shallots, chopped (about 1/2 cup)
1 Granny Smith apple, peeled and grated
2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch of ground cinnamon
kosher salt and freshly ground pepper
1 3/4 pounds lean ground turkey
1 large egg
cooking spray

for the gravy:
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
mashed potatoes or egg noodles for serving
chopped fresh parsley and/or chives, for serving

Instructions:

1) Make the meatballs: pulse the bread in a food processor to make fine crumbs.  Add the milk and Worcestershire sauce and pulse to make a paste.  Set aside.

2) Heat the butter and vegetable oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat; add the shallots and cook, stirring, until golden brown, about 8 minutes.  Add the apple, garlic, cinnamon, 1 teaspoon salt and a few grinds of pepper and cook until the apple is tender, about 3 minutes.  Stir in the breadcrumb mixture and cook, stirring, until thickened, about 4 minutes.  Transfer to a large bowl and let cool completely.

3)  Add the turkey and egg to the bowl and beat with a mixer on low speed until well combined, about 4 minutes.  Cover and refrigerate at least 30 minutes.

4) Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.  Dampen your hands and form the meat mixture into 36 balls (about 1 inch each).  Arrange on the prepared baking sheet and bake until lightly browned, 15 to 20 minutes.

5) Meanwhile, make the gravy: melt the butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Add the flour and whisk to make a smooth paste, about 3 minutes.  Gradually whisk in the chicken broth, then add the Worcestershire sauce.  Cook, whisking, until slightly thickened, about 5 minutes.  Add the meatballs and simmer until firm and cooked through, about 10 minutes.  Serve over mashed potatoes or egg noodles and top with parsley and/or chives.

Glazed Chocolate Donut Holes

The picture of this recipe has been intriguing me since I first saw it on Pinterest last summer: chocolate donut holes, dark and round, coated in a thick, white, sugary glaze.  I'm not a big chocolate person... or a big donut person... but for some reason, I kept trying to find excuses to make these little glazed donut holes.  I finally had the time, the ingredients, and the excuse over Veteran's Day weekend when I was headed to my friend's house for a little work party.  There were going to be kids there, and what kid can resist a glazed donut?

Now, when I said that I had the time, it wasn't exactly true.  Mark was over and had spent the day trimming our bushes and trees, so he needed to head back home and change and shower before the party, and we were trying to consolidate our driving into one car.  Good lord, I cannot wait until we actually have a house and live in the same place (will that ever happen!?!?!?).  So by the time I was ready to bake after a long walk with my mom, Mark was ready to head home.  I decided to make the donut batter here and bring whatever I needed to bake them to Mark's house, and bake them there while she got ready.  I am not totally sure if this caused the donut holes to be a bit more dense and dry  than I expected, or if baked-not-fried donuts are always going to be a little less ooh-la-la than the norm.  But they were a bit dry, and the recipe claims that they are moist.  The more I think about it, the more I think that letting the batter sit for the 25-minute drive to Mark's could have been the cause of the dryness; I can imagine the wet ingredients totally sopping up all the dry and over mixing... maybe.

Either way, I thought they had great flavor, and the glaze was awesome (I dunked them once but you can triple or double dunk if you're feeling wild).  I think they are worth making again to see if I can get them to be a bit more moist.  But I can say that the kids at the party were big fans anyway!

Recipe:

glazed chocolate donut holes
from Sally's Baking Addiction
makes about 45 donut holes

Ingredients:
2 cups flour (you can use white whole wheat, all-purpose, or a mixture)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs, beaten
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup Greek yogurt (regular is fine too)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

for glaze:
1 3/4 cups confectioner's sugar
1/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spray 24-count mini muffin pan with nonstick spray.  Set aside.

2) Make the donuts: sift the flour, sugar, and cocoa powder together in a large bowl.  Sifting is important; you want to remove any lumps of cocoa.  Mix in the baking powder, baking soda, and salt.  Set aside.

3) In a medium bowl, whisk the beaten eggs, milk, yogurt, and vanilla together until completely smooth.  Whisk in the melted butter until combined.  Slowly fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.  Careful not to over mix. Mix the two together only until no flour pockets remain.  Over-handling this batter will make your donuts holes dense and tough.

4) Spoon batter into the mini muffin tins, only about 3/4 of the way full.  Bake for 10 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.  Do not over bake them; they burn easily.  Allow the donuts to cool for 5 minutes in the pan and then transfer to a wire rack to cool for 5 more minutes before glazing.

5) Make the glaze: while the donuts are slightly cooling, make the glaze by sifting the confectioners sugar into a medium bowl.  Stir in the milk, vanilla, and lemon juice until smooth and combined.  Add more confectioners sugar to make it thicker if desired; add more cream to make it thinner if desired.  Dunk each slightly warm donut hole into the glaze using a fork or your fingers.  Place on a wire rack on top of a large baking sheet to let the glaze drip down.  Repeat dunking two to three more times if you want a thick glaze coating.  Make more glaze if necessary.

6) Donut holes taste best served on the same day.  Store extras in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Kisir

As a good little future Armenian housewife, part of me cringes to make a Turkish dish.  But, since Mark's family says they aren't still mad about the genocide, I guess that I, as an Irish-Italian, really have no beef with the Turks.  Luckily it is still acceptable for me to make Turkish foods, particularly vegetarian Turkish foods, specifically: this kisir.

Yes, I had to Google how to say it.  It's kind of a mix between cusser and kisser, if that makes sense.  But what is it?  Basically it is a salad made from vegetables, bulgur, and spices - it's rather similar to tabbouleh (bulgur is in that too).  But this kisir has way more flavor than any tabbouleh you've ever tasted.

Onions are sautéed with tomato paste and chopped tomatoes.  Bulgur is added once it's removed from the heat (weird, I know) and then you add pomegranate molasses (if you have it, which I didn't unfortunately), lemon juice, lots of fresh parsley, scallions, garlic (yes it stays raw, so I think I would cut the amount in half next time), cumin, mint, and - my personal favorite part - pomegranate seeds.  You end up with this salad that has so many flavor combinations going on that it seems illegal.  It's salty and spicy and with those pops of sweet pomegranate juice, it's pretty much irresistible.

The recipe says to serve this salad with lettuce leaves; I wasn't feeling lettuce-y though, so I would totally eat it in pita bread (if I had pita bread... which I did not).  I ended up putting it in sandwiches for me and Mark.  Nothing special - just ham and cheese, with the kisir as a condiment.  It was absolutely amazing.  Mark even asked for a second sandwich.  We both agreed it was the best sandwich on earth because of the greatness of the kisir.

For some reason, my family did not embrace the kisir.  This recipe claims to serve 4 but really it makes a lot, and unfortunately I tossed a lot of it a week or so after I had eaten so many kisir sandwiches I was starting to worry that I may be turning into a Turk.  I don't know why no one tried it, because I really do think it wasn't possible not to like it.  Give kisir a chance, okay?!

Recipe:

kisir
from Plenty: Vibrant Vegetable Recipes from London's Ottolenghi
serves 4

Ingredients:
2 large onions, finely chopped
6 tablespoons olive oil, plus extra to finish
2 tablespoons tomato paste
4 medium tomatoes, peeled and chopped (I didn't peel mine)
1/2 cup water
1 cup medium bulgur wheat
1 1/2 teaspoons pomegranate molasses (I used regular but I definitely want to find this!)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
6 tablespoons chopped parsley
3 green onions, finely shredded, plus extra to finish
2 fresh green chiles, seeded and finely chopped (I skipped it)
2 garlic cloves,  crushed (I recommend using only one, minced)
1 teaspoon ground cumin
salt and black pepper
seeds from 1 medium pomegranate
handful of mint leaves, some whole and some roughly shredded

Instructions:

1) Place the onions and olive oil in a large pan and sauté on medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until translucent.  Add the tomato paste and stir with a wooden spoon for 2 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and simmer on low heat for a further 4 minutes.  Now add the water and bring to a boil.  Remove immediately from the heat and stir in the bulgur.

2) Next, add the molasses, lemon juice, parsley, green onions, chiles, garlic, cumin, and some salt and pepper.  Stir well, then leave aside until the dish reaches room temperature or is just lukewarm(you have to wait or the bulgur isn't soft enough to eat!  Found this out from experience).  Taste it and adjust seasoning; it will need plenty of salt.

3) Spoon the kisir onto serving dishes and flatten our roughly with a spoon, creating a wave-like pattern on the surface.  Scatter pomegranate seeds all over, drizzle with olive oil, and finish with mint and green onion.

Mock Chicken Salad

I somehow managed to bribe Nick into doing my grocery shopping a couple week's back (mainly with a promise to make Swedish meatballs... that recipe is still to come).  I gave him a list of groceries as well as the meals I planned on making.  I should have known that he would have his doubts when I said I was making chicken salad, but never asked him to pick up chicken.  Thus we have the mock chicken salad.  No, it has no chicken, and it doesn't even have any mayonnaise for that matter, but I can promise you it is a delicious salad nonetheless!

What's the best part of a chicken salad sandwich?  If you're like me (and okay you probably aren't but just go with it), the best part is the Craisins.  Craisins make a chicken salad sandwich.  And celery doesn't hurt either.  Add some chickpeas and walnuts (or pecans - that's what I had and it was amazing), and you have plenty of protein - no chicken necessary.  Sage, Old Bay seasoning, and a splash of lime juice add to the miraculously complex flavorings in this humble mock chicken salad.  The recipe calls for both mayo liquid smoke, both of which I find horrendous, so I left out the liquid smoke and used Greek yogurt.  When I was done (in about 3 minute's time!!!), I had a lovely "mocken salad" as I was calling it.  My family groaned and moaned while I made it, but Mom said she'd like to try a half of my sandwich.  So did Kenzie.  Let's just say both of them ending up eating their halves and then making themselves another entire one!  Both chickpea haters were able to set aside their negative chickpea feelings and fully embrace the mock chicken salad.  So if they can do it, can't you give it a try? :)

Recipe:

mock chicken salad
adapted from Watching What I Eat
makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
2 cups chickpeas, drained and slightly smashed
1/3 cup Greek yogurt
1/3 cup finely diced celery
1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans, toasted
1 teaspoon dried crumbles sage
1/2 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning
splash lime juice
few drops liquid smoke (optional)
dash smoked paprika
salt and pepper, to taste
tortillas or rolls for serving
veggies for serving (lettuce, tomatoes, avocado, cucumber, baby spinach, etc.)

Instructions:

1) Mix first 11 ingredients (chickpeas through salt and pepper) in a small bowl.

2) Scoop the mock chicken salad into a line down the middle of your tortilla or into a sliced roll, then layer the veggies of choice on top.  Fold tortilla and enjoy.

Curried Butternut Squash and Apple Soup

There is just something about butternut squash and apple together that I like.  It's the sweet, creamy, fall-ness of the combination that makes me pin anything that has both words in it.  I've made a butternut squash and apple soup before, and it was good but not earth shattering.  I was intrigued by this soup and the fact that it has curry powder in it as well, so when Kenzie brought home one of her work friend's surplus squashes, I decided to give it a try.

It was pretty quick and easy to make, and in the end you get a soup that is perfect for a cool day in the fall.  There is a touch of tart sweetness from the apples (and cider as well) and a creaminess from the pureed squash - no cream needed!  The curry powder makes it a tiny bit spicy, but not too spicy for me and I am a big baby when it comes to that.  Warming, filling and healthy at only 130 calories per serving, it's a pretty good soup for this time of year.  With that said, don't think for a second that I am changing my mind on my hatred towards fall.  I still hate it and miss the summer.  But I do enjoy butternut squash.

Recipe:

curried butternut squash and apple soup
from Sharp.com
Serving size: 1/6 of recipe.  130 calories, 4 grams fat, 1 gram saturated dat, 55 milligrams sodium, 0 milligrams cholesterol, 26 grams carbohydrates, 4 grams fiber, 2 grams protein, 11 grams sugar

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
2 cups chopped onion
1 rib celery
4 teaspoons curry powder
2 medium butternut squash (about 2 1/2 - 3 pounds), peeled, seeded and cut into cubes
3 medium apples, peeled, cored and chopped
3 cups water (can substitute with chicken stock or vegetable broth... I used half water, half veggie broth)
1 cup cider

Instructions:

1) In a heavy saucepan or Dutch oven, combine onions, celery, butter and curry powder.  Cover and cook over low heat until vegetables are tender (10 - 15 minutes), stirring often.

2) Add cubed squash, chopped apples, and liquid (water, stock or broth) and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer 20 to 30 minutes or until squash and apples are cooked thoroughly.  Strain liquid and set aside.

3) Puree the apple-squash mixture with one cup of the strained liquid.  Add cider and remaining liquid to reach desired consistency. Garnish with grated apple, yogurt, or low-fat sour cream.

Jacked Up Banana Bread

I am a bit disorganized when it comes to this blog.  I try to keep track of my recipes my leaving them open on my iPad (I mostly use the Internet to find new recipes), but occasionally I will pick up my tablet and open Safari only to find Craig's List advertisements for four-wheelers or unidentifiable car parts, or Yahoo Fantasy Sports.  Grrrrrr.

To combat this problem, I also take pictures of all my food (terrible ones on my phone but don't judge me), and to see what I need to blog next, I flip through my photo album.  Once I find the next food photo, I track down my recipe and blog it.

The problem with this strategy is that, if by chance I ever forget to take a picture, I may or may not forget to blog about it.  There's a chance I'll stumble upon the recipe on my iPad and remember, but as I said, sometimes the recipe goes MIA and then I am screwed.

Well guess what happened to this poor banana bread?  It got forgotten.  I don't even remember when I made it but I have a bad feeling that it was a long, long time ago.  I guess I didn't take a picture, but luckily a long lost tab on Safari brought up this recipe when I was on my iPad earlier this week, and it all came rushing back to me: the spotty brown bananas languishing on the counter, my mother begging me for a banana bread, and I, wanting to try something new rather than your average bland old banana bread.  Thus I stumbled upon the jacked up banana bread.  The name had me at hello.

The "jacked up" part of the recipe comes from a tablespoon of bourbon, but it's not your average bread from there either.  White sugar is replaced by brown, salted butter is mashed into the bananas, and cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg add spice.  Oh and you can make it all in one bowl, and in about 5 minutes.  Doesn't this recipe sound absolutely amazing? That's because it is.

I believe that I was unable to take a picture because we devoured it so immediately.  It's moist, flavorful, and just tastes different from your average banana bread.  This is not your grandma's quick brad, my friends.  This is the jacked up banana bread.  I hope my vivid descriptions and drawn-out explanations make up for the lack of photos.

Recipe:

jacked up banana bread
from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:
3 to 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup melted salted butter
3/4 - 1 cup light brown sugar (depending on the level of sweetness you want; I used the smaller amount)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon bourbon
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
up to 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
pinch of ground cloves
1 1/2 cups flour

Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  With a wooden spoon, mix butter into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl.  Mix in the sugar, egg, vanilla, and bourbon, then the spices.  Sprinkle the baking soda and the salt over the mixture and mix in.  Add the flour last and mix.

2) Pour mixture into a buttered 4x8-inch loaf pan.  Bake for 50 minutes to one hour, or until a tester comes out clean.  Cool on a rack.  Remove from pan and slice to serve.

Witch's Finger Cookies

These are a little late... okay, about 12 days late, to be exact... but now you will be super ready next Halloween when you have a party to attend and need some sort of creepy but still delicious treat to bring with you.  I had such a scenario when I was heading to Dani's annual Halloween fiesta.  Due to this year's party not being on the same day as a wedding, a blizzard, or a hurricane, this was the first time I could actually attend, so I was excited and definitely wanted to make something.  Knowing Dani's love for all things creepy and Halloweeny, when I saw these super gross witch's finger cookies, I knew I had to try them out.  Looking back, I realize that bringing almond-flavored cookies topped with an almond was probably not the nicest thing to bring to a nut-allergic friend's house, but I was just excited to make a cookie that looked like a finger.

The dough is a basic sugar cookie, but with almond extract (which I love).  You do need to refrigerate the dough for an hour, so plan ahead accordingly!  I will also say that I suggest adding the green food coloring to make the fingers even creepier.  For whatever reason, my food coloring would not blend in.  It stayed speckled no matter how much I stirred.  I didn't want tough cookies (ha), so I gave up after a while and said my fingers were moldy (even grosser if you ask me)

Then you form the dough into fingers.  My mom was a big help with that since mine just looked like rolls.  Then she used a knife to cut knuckles into the fingers, and we topped each with an almond painted with food coloring.  I didn't used blanched ones as it suggested so they didn't look as red as I'd liked... also Rachael, Mom and I repainted them at the last second to get them darker, and thus the food coloring spread when we painted the cookies with the egg wash.  Ah well; it just made the cookies "bloodier."  I recommend painting a little extra food coloring on the "stumps" of the fingers for added macabre fun.

To compound the grotesqueness, I served the cookies in a bowl of crushed chocolate cookies (I used Oreos and chocolate Teddy Grahams simply because that's what Mark picked up for me) so it looked like fingers hanging out in a bowl of dirt.  I will tell you that I saw quite a few people snacking on both the fingers and handfuls of "dirt!"

Besides looking awesome, everyone loved these cookies.  I brought the leftovers home from the party and my family was happy to finish them off (and much of the dirt) over the next few days.  Happy belated Halloween!

Recipe:

witch's finger cookies
from Annie's Eats
yield about 32 cookies

Ingredients:
1-2 tablespoons liquid red food coloring
32 blanches or roasted whole almonds
8 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
pinch of salt
2 cups of all-purpose flour
green food coloring (optional)
egg wash: 1 egg, lightly beaten

Instructions:

1) Place the red food coloring in a small bowl.  Use a clean paintbrush to paint the food coloring onto one half of each almond.  Set aside and let dry.

2) In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the butter and sugars and beat together on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 1-2 minutes.  Stir in the egg, egg yolk, almond extract and salt, and mix until incorporated.  Mix in the flour on low speed just until combined.  If desired, tint the dough with green food coloring.  Form the dough into a ball, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate until firm, at least 1 hour.

3) When you are ready to bake, preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line baking sheets with silicone baking mats or parchment paper.  Working with one half of the dough and keeping the other half chilled, divide into 16 equal pieces.  On a lightly floured work surface, roll each piece into a finger shape about 4 - 4 1/2 inches long.  Pinch each piece of dough in two places to create knuckle shapes.  Use the back of a small paring knife to lightly score the surface on the knuckles.  Transfer the shaped fingers to the prepared baking sheets.  Repeat with the second half of the dough.

4) When all of the cookies are formed, lightly brush with egg white and place an almond nail at the end of each finger pressing lightly to attach.  Bake until set, about 12 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool.  If the cookies have spread or lost shape at all, reform them gently while they are still warm but cool enough to handle.

Soba Noodle Salad with Edamame

This is a recipe that I have wanted to try for a long time now.  The only issue was finding soba noodles!  They are noodles made from buckwheat flour, and apparently most supermarkets around here are against carrying them.  When I ran into them at Market Basket, I bought a few packages of them and then grabbed the other ingredients I hadn't already stockpiled to make this soba noodle salad with edamame.

I actually made the sauce for this salad the day before, though not because I am some excellent meal planner or anything; I know for a fact that I had bought a cabbage, but it was MIA and I was too tired to run out and grab one.  So the next night, I stopped on the way home and grabbed a cabbage, and thus began phase 2 of soba noodle salad.  Not that the sauce took that long to make, but just as an FYI, it was totally acceptable to make it the night before and be eating dinner the next night with about 10 minute's work!  The sauce, by the way, is made of a wonderful mixture of thinks like soy sauce, orange juice, sesame oil, ginger, and garlic.

Basically on day 2, all I had to do was shred the carrots and cabbage, cook the noodles, and throw it all together, topped with sesame seeds and scallions.

How was it?  Let me put it to you this way.  My mom is always a bit nervous around anything other than "normal" pasta so she grabbed a tiny bowl to try a bite of it just to be polite.  That tiny bowl was discarded almost immediately upon her first bite, and she grabbed a real bowl and filled it right up :)  She and Kenzie both admitted they loved it way more than they thought they would.  Rachael and Mark loved it as well, and it was all eaten up between lunches and dinners over the next day or two.  Quick, easy, healthy, and delicious!


Recipe:

soba noodle salad with edamame
from Flourishing Foodie
makes 4 servings

Ingredients:
1/2 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons canola oil
1 teaspoon sesame oil
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon Sriracha hot chile sauce
1 tablespoon ginger
1 clove garlic
2 cups frozen edamame beans, thawed
1/2 pound (8 ounces) dry soba noodles
4 cups napa cabbage, shredded
1 cup carrots, shredded
2 green onion stalks, thinly sliced
2-3 tablespoons sesame seeds

Instructions:

1) In a food processor, add the soy sauce, brown sugar, rice vinegar, canola oil, sesame oil, orange juice, Sriracha, ginger, and garlic.  Pulse until the ginger and garlic have become minced.  Set to the side.

2) Thaw the edamame beans in a bowl of cold water.

3) Shred the cabbage and carrots together.  Slice the green onions.  Set to the side.

4) Bring a large pot of water to boil.  Add the soba noodles and boil following the directions on the back of the package.  Once cooked, rinse under cold water and then let sit for 2 minutes in a bowl of cold water.  Rinse again.

5) In 4 medium sized bowls, place 1 1/4 cup cups of the cabbage/carrot mixture on the bottom.  Layer with the soba noodles and edamame.  Drizzle the sauce on top and then finish with sliced green onions and sesame seeds.

Brown Butter Spaghetti with Baby Kale and Roasted Butternut Squash

I make lots of recipes, and oftentimes they are new ones.  Such is the life of a food blogger.  So I have a lot of experience trying out new foods, turning the light on in the oven to make sure things are rising, peeking at pots and pans and wondering what their contents will be like when they're done.  But sometimes while I am still cooking, I just get this feeling that this recipe is going to end up as some of my best work.  This is the feeling I got as I prepared the brown butter spaghetti with baby kale and roasted butternut squash.  Part of the hunch came from the absolutely scrumptious scents wafting out of the various pans I used (such as the browned butter with onions and garlic.... and the butternut squash roasting slowly in the oven with olive oil, salt and pepper); I just knew it was going to be good, and I kept announcing it to my mother, who happened to be the only other person home.  By the time it was ready to eat, we were both excited to try something that made our house smell so darn delicious.

I am happy to say that this dinner was just as good as we expected it to be.  The bites with squash in it were definitely my favorite; they are so sweet from being roasted, but they complement perfectly the slightly bitter baby kale that gets wilted in the sauce last thing.  And then there is that brown butter sauce (it was my second time browning butter!  I still get worried that I am about to burn it, but it turned out perfectly).  It adds a nutty flavor to the sauce, and is a great addition to both pecorino and parmesan cheeses.  Basically, Mom and I were very happy with eating this for dinner and for lunch over the next few days.

browning the butter!

onions and garlic... mmmm...

I will confess that I think I must be getting old, because I used to be able to eat anything I wanted without feeling sick, but the night before we ate this, we went out to dinner and I got a pasta primavera in a butter sauce and got such a stomach ache.  Then I had this the next night and the same thing happened... I think it was just too much butter sauce two days in a row!  This is definitely a very rich meal, but totally worth a stomach ache :)

Recipe:

brown butter spaghetti with baby kale and roasted butternut squash
from The Little Epicurean

Ingredients:
6 ounces spaghetti
2 cups butternut squash, cut into cubes
1 or 2 tablespoons olive oil
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
3 cloves of garlic, smashed or minced
2 small onions, sliced, about 2 cups
4 packed cups baby kale
1/4 cup pecorino romano
1/4 cup parmesan
salt and pepper, to taste
finely sliced chives, for serving

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  On a parchment-lined baking sheet, spread out butternut squash.  Drizzle with 1-2 tablespoons of olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.  Toss to combine.  Bake for 30-40 minutes until squash is soft and can easily be pierced with a fork or knife.  Set aside.

2)  Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Cook spaghetti to al dente according to package details.  When draining pasta, reserve a cup of pasta water.

3) In a large nonstick skillet, melt butter over medium heat.  Once butter is melted, continue to cook over medium low heat until butter has browned and is fragrant (should smell nutty).  Add minced garlic and sliced onions.  Cook until onions are almost translucent.  Add baby kale in 2 additions.  Cook until kale begins to wilt.  Remove from heat.  Add pecorino romano, parmesan cheese, and roasted butternut squash.  Toss to combine.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Add cooked spaghetti and toss to coat pasta.  Add 1/4 cup of reserved pasta water at a time until pasta is well coated with sauce.

4) Serve immediately with sliced chives and/or more cheese if desired.

Orange Chiffon Cake

Behold: the orange chiffon cake.  The cake that was devoured by my family.  The cake that we actually finished, namely due to the fact that my mother ate multiple pieces of it every day.  This, my friends, is the cake that you should make the next time you have to make a cake because of how simply amazing it is.

If you like angel food cake, chances are, chiffon cakes are for you.  The biggest difference from what I can see is that angel food cakes call for a shocking 12 egg whites, and chiffon cakes require 7 eggs, yolks included.  I always feel better when the whole egg is used and not wasted!  The process was similar to the cake part of a baked Alaska; you make a cake batter with all sorts of good stuff like orange juice and zest, and then whip up some egg whites and fold the two together.  You end up with a super light and airy batter that gets poured into a tube pan and baked.  It always makes me nervous to hang a cake upside down while it cools, but it's just the nature of angel food and chiffon cakes, I suppose.  When it was ready, I took it out of the pan and dribbled the glaze all over it - which by the way has even more orange juice and zest in it.  In case you couldn't guess, this is a very orange-y cake.

The end result, as I've said, is possibly my most popular baked good of all time.  Everyone who tasted it raved about it, especially Mom; after all, I've told you she ate multiple pieces every day, and ever since we ran out, she has been asking me daily to bake her a new one.  It's really not that difficult to make either, so I will be caving in very soon and making her another light, fluffy, citrusy orange chiffon cake.

One note: do not grease your pan!  You only have to make sure there aren't any drops of batter on the sides of it; the cake will "creep"up the clean sides of the pan and have something to cling to :)

Recipe:

orange chiffon cake
from Treats

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 1/3 cups cake flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon table salt
7 large eggs, 2 left whole, 5 separated
2 medium oranges, zested to yield 2 tablespoons zest
3/4 cup orange juice (from oranges above)
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
orange glaze recipe (see below)

Instructions:

1) Adjust rack to lower-middle position and heat oven to 325 degrees.  Whisk sugar, flour, baking powder, and salt together in a large bowl (at  least 4 quart size).  Whisk in 2 whole eggs, five egg yolks (reserve whites), orange juice and zest, oil, and vanilla extract until batter is just smooth.

2) Pour reserved egg whites into large bowl; beat at medium speed with electric mire until foamy, about 1 minute.  Add cream of tartar, increase speed to medium-high, then beat whites until very thick and stiff, just short of dry, 9 to 10 minutes with handheld mixer and 5 to 7 minutes in KitchenAid or any other standing mixer.  With large rubber spatula, fold whites into batter, smearing in any blobs of white that resist blending with flat side of spatula.

3) Pour batter into large tube pan (9 inch diameter, 16 cup capacity).  Rap pan against countertop five times to rupture any large air pockets.  If using two-piece pan, grasp on both sides with your hands while firmly pressing down on the tube with thumbs to keep batter from seeping underneath pan during this rapping process.  Wipe off any batter that may have dripped or splashed onto inside walls of pan with paper towel.

4) Bake cake until wire cake tester inserted in center comes out clean, 55 to 65 minutes.  Immediately turn cake upside down to cool.  If pan does not have prongs around rim for elevating cake, invert pan over bottle or funnel, inserted through tube.  Let cake hang until completely cool, about 2 hours.

5) To unmold, turn pan upright.  Run frosting spatula or thin knife around pan's circumference between cake and pan wall, always pressing it against the pan.  Use cake tester to loosen cake from tube.  For one-piece pan, bang it on the counter several times, then invert over serving plate.  For two-piece pan, grasp the tube and lift it out of the cake pan.  If glazing the cake, use a fork or paring knife to gently scrape all the crust off the cake (I didn't do this part).  Loosen cake from pan bottom with spatula or knife, then invert cake onto plate.  It can be wrapped in plastic and stored at room temperature 2 days or refrigerated 4 days.

Orange glaze:

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
4 - 5 tablespoons orange juice
2 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1 tablespoon orange zest

Beat butter, 4 tablespoon of orange juice, sugar and zest in a medium bowl until smooth.  Let glaze stand 1 minute, then try spreading a little on the cake.  If cake threatens to tear, thin glaze with up to 1 tablespoon more liquid.  A little at a time, spread glaze over cake top, letting excess dribble down sides.  If you like, speed dribbles to make a thin, smooth coat.

Date Nut Bread

You may remember my mother's obsession with dates.  She loves date nut pudding, date nut bread, dates themselves... and I think that anything with the word "date" in it sounds like old people food.  But regardless, sometimes I just have to give in and bake the woman what she wants ("please just make the things I ask for, normal things!!!!" is her usual shout).  So when I found a bag of dates at the grocery store, I bought them with the idea of baking her a date nut bread.  I had made her one before, last fall, and she was so excited about it.  I thought it was just okay.  I decided to try out a different recipe this time; the one I had tried was from a woman at church and I was kind of weirded out at the lack of flavorings.  Not that this one is much different; it has 1 egg rather than 2, and butter instead of shortening, with a little less flour and nuts.  But I think that this bread was superior to the old recipe.

Proof?

I have made it 3 times in the last 3 weeks and we have devoured every single one.

By "we," I mostly mean Mom and Rachael, who are totally obsessed with it.  But Mark and Kenzie have also professed their love for it as well, and Linny loved it when she came to visit (she took half of a loaf home with her!).  I still think it's not my favorite thing on earth, but even I have to admit that even though the only flavoring is it in the dates, it's a pretty good bread.  And it's also rather gorgeous, coming out all dark brown, shiny and studded with dates and nuts.  The best news is that it is really easy to make, too.  So I think it is safe to say that this is a very good date nut bread recipe.  We are currently out of dates but something tells me that my mom will be bringing me more very soon.

Recipe:

date nut bread
from Liz the Chef

Ingredients:
1 cup pitted dates, chopped
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup boiling water
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus 1 teaspoon for greasing pan
1 pinch kosher salt
1 3/4 cups unbleached flour
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped

Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a loaf pan with butter.

2) Place the dates in a small bowl and sprinkle with the baking soda.  Add the boiling water and let stand for 30 minutes.

3) Using an electric mixer, beat the sugar, egg and butter until smooth.

4) Add the salt, flour, and nuts and mix on low until just blended.

5) Stir in the dates-soda-water mixture.  Pour batter into greased loaf pan.  Bake for 45 - 50 minutes until tester inserted in bread's center comes out clean.  Allow to cool for 10 minutes before turning out on a rack.  Slice when cooled.

Perfect Apple Muffins

I am still trying to use up some of the many apples in this house.  I went apple picking with Mark, Kenzie went apple picking with Nick, and then Mark and I also bought a bag at the Westminster Farmer's Market.  We've eaten tons and I've baked with as many of them as I can, but there was still need to use up some more.  So I decided to browse through my Pinterest account for some apple ideas, and I came up with these: perfect apple muffins.  You can't have a better name than that, so I peeled and chopped three apples and off we went.

Are these the perfect apple muffins?  Yes, most likely they are.  And they are the best right out of the oven.  Everyone here really liked them.  The problem was, this was the same day that I made the cake I will be blogging about next.  And my family was 100% obsessed with the cake, so the muffins kind of got forgotten (out of 2 dozen, we ended up tossing 5... that's not too bad for my family, but to be fair, Tuck and Linda took home 6 because Linny really loved them!) .  But on that day, warm with a cup of coffee or tea, they really were good: moist, apple-y, not too sweet (one and a half cups of sugar are plenty).  The cinnamon and brown sugar in it really complement the apples.  They were, in short, a lovely fall apple treat!

Recipe:

perfect apple muffins
from Grey House Green Door
makes 18-24 muffins

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cup oil
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
3 cups peeled, cored, diced apples (about 3 apples)
brown sugar for topping (around 1/2 cup)

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and lightly spray muffin pan with non-stick cooking spray or line with cupcake liners.

2) Cream together sugar, eggs, oil and vanilla.

3) Sift flour, baking soda, salt, and ground cinnamon.

4) Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and mix until combined.  The batter will be very thick.  Add the diced apples.

5) Fill the paper liners almost to the top, about 3/4 of the way full.  Sprinkle with brown sugar.

6) Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes.