Pesto Christmas Tree Pizzas

Okay so these are about a week late... but better late than never.  You will forgive me, because these pesto Christmas trees are not only delicious, but also incredibly adorable.  The idea is simple: roll pizza dough out into a triangle, cover with pesto to make it green, and "decorate" using vegetable ornaments!  In this case, it suggests thin slices of half a red onion, and diced red pepper, but you could go crazy and decorate with the prettiest veggies you have. I could see kids getting a kick out of decorating their own little pizza tree, and it could be a good way to get them to eat their vegetables (or, you know, adults who hate veggies, too!).

This meal could easily be streamlined.  You could use ready-made dough and store-bought pesto.  Just chop your veggies, roll the dough, decorate, and bake!  Dinner is ready in no time and it looks like you're Martha Stewart.  Of course, knowing me, you will not be surprised to hear that I made my own dough and pesto.  Have you made pesto before?  It was so simple.  I used Food Network's recipe, but basically all you have to do is blend together basil, garlic, pine nuts, and olive oil.  It suggested adding cheese but I thought it was good enough without it.

Obviously I struggled a bit with the rolling... have you ever tried to make pizza dough triangles?  It's a tough job!  By my second tree, I gave up making trunks!  They were adorable just the same, and soon good with the pesto, a little mozzarella, and plenty of "ornaments."  If you're missing Christmas already, whip these up - or pin it for next Christmas.  They'd actually be pretty cute if you wanted to bring a couple to your New Year's Party.

Speaking of New Year's... whoa.  2015 was pretty terrible.  But it's ending on a high note.

Recipe:

pesto Christmas tree pizzas
from A Couple Cooks
makes 4 large trees or 8 small

Ingredients:
1 pizza dough
1 red pepper
1/2 red onion
1/2 cup basil pesto
2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
kosher salt

Instructions:

1) Place a pizza stone in the oven and preheat to 550 degrees.

2) Prepare the toppings: dice the red pepper.  Thinly slice the red onion, then rinse it under cool water and pat it dry to remove some of the bite (I never knew this!)

3) When the oven is ready, roll out the dough into a triangle shape, adding a small rectangle for a trunk.  Place the dough on a floured pizza peel.  Quickly assemble the pizza.  Spread a thin layer of pesto, then sprinkle with cheese.  Add decorations of red onions and peppers, and sprinkle with kosher salt.

4) Transfer the pizza to the oven on the pizza peel, and bake until cheese is melted, about 5 minutes.  Allow to cool slightly, then serve.

Lentil, Tempeh, and Sweet Potato Chili

I love tempeh.  I know I have said this before, but it's just the best meat substitute a vegetarian can ask for.  In fact, just today I bought tempeh bacon, which I am super excited about.  Fakin' bacon!  I honestly cannot wait for breakfast tomorrow.  I'll keep you posted.

Anyway, this tempeh was not bacon-ified, but was used as the main protein in a super tasty chili.  It's flavored with garlic, chili powder, cumin, turmeric, and coriander, which is not your average chili spice mix.  Not to mention the red pepper, sweet potatoes, and red lentils (which thicken it beautifully). You end up with a colorful, delicious, thick, hearty chili.  I like to eat chili over rice, with a little sour cream.  I often add cheese, but I thought it didn't necessarily match the flavor profile here, although if you were feeling cheesy, I say go for it.

This recipe makes a lot of chili.  I ate it for well over a week, and even brought some to my friends (who happily ate it and did not think tempeh chili was too weird!).  That reminds me - my mom said today that she knows this is one of my secrets to living on a small budget.  She said I cook something and then eat it for a week.  It's true!  Luckily I am the kind of person who can eat the same thing for lunch for a week.  I also hate throwing food away, so it works out well.  Chili for days.

Recipe:

lentil, tempeh and sweet potato chili
from Produce on Parade
serves 8 - 10

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
5 garlic cloves, minced
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground paprika
1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
1/4 teaspoon liquid smoke (optional; I left it out)
dash of black pepper
7-ounce package tempeh, diced
1 medium red bell pepper, diced
1 medium sweet potato, diced
2 15-ounce cans diced tomatoes
8 cups vegetable broth
2 cups dry red lentils

Instructions:

1) In a very large soup pot, heat the olive oil over medium-low heat.  Add the next 9 ingredients (up to the black pepper)  and saute for about 5 minutes, until fragrant and the onions begin to soften.

2) Add the tempeh, red bell pepper, and sweet potato.  Saute for a few minutes, then deglaze the pan with the canned diced tomatoes.

3) Add the broth and lentils.  Stir well and bring to a boil over high heat, then cover partially and reduce to a simmer.  Simmer for about 30 minutes.  Next, remove the lid and continue to simmer for about 10 minutes while stirring occasionally.

Leftovers Remade: Thanksgiving Dinner Crescent Ring

Are you sick of Leftovers Remade recipes?  Don't feel too bad - my family was getting super sick of eating leftovers, no matter how much I fancied them up!  I promise this is the end of it!

Crescent rings are sort of one of my favorite things, even though I rarely eat them myself.  I just like to make them because they are so pretty!  I made an Italian grinder ring, and one stuffed with scrambled eggs, bacon and cheese .  This one - surprise surprise! - was stuffed with Thanksgiving leftovers!  Turkey, stuffing, cranberry sauce, veggies, gravy - whatever you want to use up.  It's pretty quick - you're eating dinner in 30 minutes, tops.  And then throwing out the remnants of your Thanksgiving dinner because it's been days and your family is begging you to stop forcing turkey and mashed potatoes on them :)  On to new recipes tomorrow!

Recipe:

Thanksgiving dinner crescent ring
from Tablespoon
serves 10

Ingredients:
2 tubes crescent dinner rolls
2 cups mashed potatoes
2 cups cooked turkey, chopped
1 cup vegetables of your choice (I used squash, peas, and carrots)
1 cup stuffing
1/2 cup cranberry sauce

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Unroll crescents and spray a large pizza pan with nonstick baking spray.  Place the longer end of the crescents in a circle onto the edge of the pan.  Leave a circle in the center with all the crescent points laying over the outside edge of the pan, all the way around the pizza pan, to create a sun-like ring of crescents.

2) Spoon mashed potatoes, turkey, vegetables, stuffing and cranberry sauce on top of the large ends of the crescents. Pull the pointed edges of the crescents up and over the filling.  Gently tuck each crescent lip underneath the inside end of the crescent ring to secure.

3) Bake for 18 - 22 minutes, to until the crescents are golden brown.  Cool slightly before slicing and serving.

Leftovers Remade: Leftover Muffins

Do you always watch the recipe videos that have taken over Facebook this year?  I do.  Even when it's something I have zero intention of making - for instance, I just watched someone making teriyaki chicken tacos.  I don't know why, but I guess it's similar to watching Food Network, which I love, except it's sped up to be done in under a minute, and I like that the directions appear as text on the screen.  I've never shared one of these videos myself, but I am glad that the rest of you do.

This recipe, as you may have guessed, came from a recipe video on Facebook!  My aunt Regenia shared it the week before Thanksgiving, and I thought it was genius.  You basically just stuff whatever you have left inside a ball of canned crescent dough, bake it, and voila: leftover muffins!  I immediately added crescent rolls to the grocery list.

And how cute are these?  You can stuff them with whatever you want: stuffing, vegetables, turkey, cranberry sauce - use up those leftovers!  Cutting open each one became a surprise at my Leftovers Remade party.  Will this one have brussels sprouts?  Is this the one where I ran out of turkey?  Will this one be mostly squash?  It was kind of fun :)

I hope you are enjoying your Christmas break.  I am in total shock that it's already Monday and I've been off for 4 days.  I'd like this to last forever, please.

Recipe:

leftover muffins

from Foodbeast on Facebook (click for the video!)

yield 8 muffins

Ingredients:

1 can refrigerated crescent roll dough

1 cup chopped turkey

1 cup stuffing

1 cup vegetables of choice (i.e. mashed potatoes, peas, carrots, squash, etc.)

1/2 cup cranberry sauce

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350.  Spray a muffin pan with oil and set aside.

2) Open crescent roll dough.  Each rectangle will become one muffin.  Lay out a rectangle on a lightly floured work surface and top with 1 tablespoon each stuffing, turkey and vegetable.  Add 1 teaspoon cranberry sauce.  

3) Carefully fold up edges and roll dough into a ball around the fillings.  Place completed muffin into muffin tin, and repeat with remaining dough and filling.

4) Bake 14 - 18 minutes or until golden brown.

Leftovers Remade: Leftover Hand Pies

This was another dish I made for my post-Thanksgiving Leftovers Remade party.  I think that this was the one I was most excited about, because they took the most work (after all, yesterday's casserole was much-loved but really didn't take a ton of work; I almost felt guilty accepting compliments when all I did was take the vegetables, turkey and gravy that other people had brought to Thanksgiving, and threw them into a baking dish!).

These little gems are hand pies.  They're made from homemade herbed pie dough and stuffed with whatever you feel like stuffing them with!  Use up those leftovers stuffing and veggies and turkey (or leave out the turkey for the vegetarians!).  Instead of gravy, these guys stay moist from leftover cranberry sauce, which adds a little tart sweetness to the rich savory little pies.  I think these were so much fun to put together, but even more fun for my Leftovers Remade partygoers to eat!  If I am remembering correctly, these pies were the first things to go; I'd say they were the most successful out of the three recipes I made.  If you have an overfull refrigerator, you might want to try these little pies today!

Recipe:

leftover hand pies
adapted from leftover Pop-Tarts from Parsley Sage Sweet
makes 9 - 12 hand pies

Ingredients:
for pie dough:
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 tablespoon chopped fresh thyme
1 tablespoon chopped fresh sage (I had to use 1/2 teaspoon dried)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
12 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
about 6 tablespoons ice water
for filling:
1 cup chopped turkey
9 heaping tablespoons stuffing
9 tablespoons cranberry sauce
9 tablespoons of each leftover veggie you want to use (I used peas, squash, mashed potatoes, etc.)
1 egg, beaten

Instructions:

1) Make the pie crust first: Blend the first 6 ingredients in a food processor until herbs are very finely chopped  Add butter.  Pulse processor until mixture resembles coarse meal.  Transfer to a large bowl.

2) Using a fork, mix in enough ice water to form moist clumps.  You want it to look raggedy with lumps of butter.  Gather dough into a piece of plastic wrap and gently flatten it into a rectangle.  Wrap tightly and chill 30 minutes.

3) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Remove dough from the refrigerator and let sit for a few minutes until workable.  Place chilled dough on a lightly floured work surface.  Cut out as many small circles or rectangles as you can.  Wrap and refrigerate dough scraps, taking them out and reworking as you go until you run out of dough.

4) Brush half of your circles with lightly beaten egg.  Let sit until egg is tacky instead of wet and slippery, about 5 minutes.

5) Spread 1 tablespoon stuffing over each of the egg-brushed circles, leaving about 1/2-inch or a bit more clean along each edge so you will be able to seal them.  Top the stuffing with 1 to 2 tablespoons chopped turkey, and 1 tablespoon of cranberry sauce.  Feel free to add around 1 tablespoon of any other leftover vegetable you have.  Spread each layer so it covers up to the clean borders.  Repeat with the rest of the egg-washed dough halves.

6) Top each filled circle of dough with another circle, not brushed with egg.  Press down the edges to seal it well, then press the tines of a fork all around the edges to seal.  Repeat with remaining pies.

7) At this point, you may freeze them on a baking sheet and then place in a bag and freeze up to 3 months.  Or, to eat now, gently lift pies and place on a parchment-lined baking sheet.  Brush each pie with remaining beaten egg.  Pole three rows of holes with a fork to vent the pies.  Place baking sheet n the refrigerator for 30 minutes.

8) Remove baking sheet from refrigerator and place in oven.  Bake for 25 - 30 minutes, until light golden brown.  You can freeze them at this point as well.

Leftovers Remade: Leftover Casserole

I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas.  Mine was about 700 times better than last year, so that's great!  I am still wearing my robe, drinking coffee and trying to wake up from all the excitement from the past couple days.

Did you have a big fancy Christmas dinner?  We had planned on it, but ended up just reheating some leftover soup!  But I know that lots of people have a repeat of Thanksgiving.  The good news is that I am about to start a 3-post special called Leftovers Remade!  After I hosted Thanksgiving, this is what my refrigerator looked like:

All that good for one person!  So I knew I had to do something fancy to use up lots of the leftover food.  I decided to host a Leftovers Remade party on the Saturday after Thanksgiving, and invited lots of my family back to the house to eat more!  I made three different dishes using leftover things like turkey, gravy and mashed potatoes.  First up is the leftover casserole.

What's great about this casserole is that it's ridiculously easy, easily customizable based on what you happen to have left in our refrigerator, and yet it looks fancy and people are impressed.  Leftover stuffing forms a "crust" of sorts; it gets pressed down into the bottom of a baking dish.  Leftover veggies get put on top; I used brussels sprouts, carrots, peas and corn, but you could use green bean casserole, succotash, broccoli, whatever you have (I left out beets just because I didn't want everything turned red!).  Chopped turkey goes on top (but it would be easy to make this without meat!), followed by some gravy to keep things moist.  Mashed potatoes form the top crust, dotted with some butter if you're feeling decadent.  Bake until everything is bubbly and hot.

I'm happy to say that this casserole got everyone excited to eat the same things they had just eaten two days earlier.  That is pretty spectacular.  Plus it used up a lot of leftovers!  Most of the casserole got eaten, but I delivered the rest to my uncle Scott, who was obsessed with it.

I hope you have lots of leftovers in your fridge today, and that you need some ideas on how to recreate them into something your family wants to eat.  Stay tuned for more :)

Recipe:

leftover casserole
from Stepable
serves 6

Ingredients:
2 cups prepared stuffing
3 cups diced turkey
1 cup cooked vegetables
1 cup prepared turkey gravy
2 cups mashed potatoes
4 tablespoons butter

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Press the prepared stuffing into the bottom of a 9x13" baking dish.

2) Sprinkle vegetables on top of stuffing.  Add turkey, and pour on gravy.

3) Spread the mashed potatoes over the top, and dot with butter.

4) Bake until hot and bubbly, about 20 minutes, and serve.

Salted Pecan Bourbon Pumpkin Pie

It's my first day of Christmas vacation.  It's early in the morning for me to be up and showered - it's 9:30 AM on Christmas Eve.  But how can I sleep when there is so much going on in my head?!  I was awoken earlier by texts from my friend Cathleen - she had her beautiful baby girl!  I had been waiting for these messages, so even though texts don;t usually wake me up, I sprang up immediately.  I got too excited to fall back to sleep.  I showered because I am meeting two wonderful friends for breakfast in an hour. Then I couldn't stop thinking about Christmas Eve, and how it has always been my favorite day of the year.  Last year though?  It was tough.  This Christmas, while definitely not where I expected my life to be, is so much better.  The people in my life want to be here with me.  My friends and my family love me and I love them.  And don't get me started on how much I love my dogs.  I've had a rough year, but I am content with where I am right now.

Tonight I will be heading to Jeff and Heidi's for the annual Haley family Christmas Eve party.  Then I will be spending the night at my mom's house like the good old days :)  The pups and I are kind of excited to have a sleepover and make a nice breakfast to eat with my mom and sisters tomorrow.

One thing on my to do list still: what the heck am I bringing to the party tonight!?  Did today sneak up on anyone else?  I am leaning towards a dip of some sort, or maybe some kind of cake... as you can see, I am all over the place.  But I'm here to give you some help if you're still trying to figure out to what to bring.  Enter, salted pecan bourbon pumpkin pie.  This was my dessert for Thanksgiving, chosen out of a magazine by Kenzie.  The name is a mouthful, but there is a lot going on in this pie.  It starts off like any of pumpkin pie (with the addition of a little bourbon), but then it gets topped with a crunchy layer of pecans cooked in molasses and brown sugar until they are sticky and incredible.  Top the whole thing with some flaked sea salt and, if you're feeling decadent, add some bourbon whipped cream (I never got around to that part).

To be honest, desserts did not really go at my Thanksgiving, so I can't tell you that this pie was devoured by happy family members.  The only dessert that really got eaten was Rice Krispie treats.  Everything else was barely touched!  Bizarre.  But it's still a pretty great recipe if you want to make a pie that's not-your-average - and if you're still sitting there staring at recipes trying to figure out what to bring to your Christmas party!

Recipe:

salted pecan bourbon pumpkin pie
from a magazine... not sure which one because Kenzie sent me the recipe!
serves 8

Ingredients:
1 baked pie crust
1 15-ounce can pumpkin
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 eggs, lightly beaten
3/4 cup half and half or light cream
2 tablespoons bourbon
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons molasses
1 tablespoon butter
1 cup pecan halves
1/2 teaspoon flaked sea salt
1 recipe bourbon whipped cream, below

Instructions:

1) Prepare baked pie crust and set aside.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a large bowl, combine pumpkin, 1/2 cup of the brown sugar, cinnamon, ginger, and 1/4 teaspoon salt.  Stir in eggs until combined.  Stir in half and half, bourbon and vanilla until combined.  Pour pumpkin mixture into pie crust.  Cover edges with foil and bake 40 minutes or until edges begin to puff and center is almost set.

2) Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, combine molasses, butter, and the remaining 1 tablespoon brown sugar.  Cook and stir until sugar is dissolved and butter is melted.  Stir in pecans.  Spoon pecan mixture over the top of the pie.  Place a foil-lined baking sheet on the rack below the pie.  Bake 15 minutes more until center is set.  Sprinkle with sea salt.  Cool completely.  Chill within 2 hours.  Serve with bourbon whipped cream.

3) For bourbon whipped cream, in a chilled bowl, beat 1 cup whipping cream, 1 tablespoon bourbon, and 2 teaspoons sugar until soft peaks form.

Moroccan Roasted Beets with Pomegranate Seeds

It's the week of Christmas.  Insanity, right?!  I have barely started my shopping (and I sort of can't afford to anyway).  I have, however, been making candies for gifts like it's my job; get ready for lots of recipes... then again, I am weeks behind on recipes, so you can expect the candy recipes maybe by Valentine's Day!  Because here we are at almost Christmas, and I am about to share my Thanksgiving recipes with you.

As you may already know, I hosted Thanksgiving this year.  35 beautiful, wonderful family and friends packed into my house, and every one of them helped make it possible.  For example, I somehow managed to not have to roast either the turkeys or the ham!  I got to focus on desserts and side dishes, which are my true loves anyway.

So, on to the beets.  In case my sweet aunt Tracy reads this - and I know she does! - I will not tell you that I have always disliked her pickled beets.  Shhhh, it's a secret.  But I really do love beets.  I think they have such a subtle, slightly sweet, earthy flavor that can be totally overwhelmed by vinegar.  I'm a fan of pickles and beets, but not pickled beets.  Please!  So I took over the beets this year.  I wanted to try out something new that could maybe turn the beet haters into beet lovers (or at least beet try-ers).  I was intrigued by this recipe.  The beets are roasted with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper until they are tender and sweet.  Then the fun starts.  There's a balsamic maple glaze that goes on after they roast, and right before you serve, you add in pomegranate seeds, crushed roasted pistachios, and orange zest.  There's so much flavor and color and texture in such a healthy, humble dish that it makes me smily just thinking about it.  OMG sometimes I am such a kitchen nerd.  But really.  And I was totally kitchen nerd-ing out when I heard people complimenting the beets at dinner.  In fact they were even featured in Gram's annual stream of consciousness speech!  Trust me, beet haters. Give this recipe a try and you may change your mind.

No offense, Tracy.  I love you and your bread pudding ;)

One important note: this is totally a perfect make-ahead dish.  I roasted the beets and made the glaze the day before; I just reheated and put everything together on Thanksgiving.  I think beets are best freshly roasted, but microwaving them and warming them in the oven worked just fine too.

Recipe:

Moroccan roasted beets with pomegranate seeds

from Feasting at Home

serves 4 - 6

Ingredients:

3 pounds beets, scrubbed, peeled, and cut into 3/4-inch wedges or slices

2/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar

for glaze:

1/2 cup balsamic vinegar

1 teaspoon maple syrup

for topping:

1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

1/4 cup crushed roasted pistachios

1 tablespoon orange zest

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Toss beets, olive oil, vinegar, salt, and pepper in a bowl.  Place on a parchment-lined baking sheet and roast until fork tender, stirring every 15 minutes, for about 45 minutes.

2) While beets roast, make the glaze.  Combine vinegar and maple syrup in a small pot on low heat and reduce for 20 minutes until you have about 3 tablespoons.

3) When beets are done, place in a serving dish and toss with balsamic glaze, pomegranate seeds, and pistachios.  Garnish with orange zest.

Apple Cinnamon Slab Pie

It's sort of an inside joke with Jesse that I am not a pie master.  I made him an apple pie for his birthday and burned the crust.  Subsequent pies have been not burned but I have yet to master the art of the beautiful crimped pie crust.  And yet, he loves apple pie.  So I either don't make his favorite dessert, or I do but he teases me!  Quite the quandary.

Enter the slab pie.  It's the easiest dessert known to mankind, calling for puff pastry in lieu of homemade pie dough.  The apples get cooked on the stove with brown sugar, butter and cinnamon, which caramelizes and sweetens them as they cook.  Then they get spooned over some of the puff pastry while the rest of it covers them up in a slab shape (hence the name).  Some egg wash and a sprinkle of sugar, and it's time to bake.  Quick, easy and, as you can see, pretty!  No teasing about burnt crust or lack of finesse on crimping here.  Just a great option when you're not feeling up to an apple pie!

Recipe:

apple cinnamon slab pie
from Natasha's Kitchen
serves 4

Ingredients:
1 pound (2 large appples), peeled, cored and cut into 1/3" slices
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar, lightly packed
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 sheet frozen puff pastry, thawed
all purpose flour for dusting
1 egg, lightly beaten
coarse sugar for sprinkling

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  In a large skillet melt butter over medium heat.  Add sliced apples and cook, stirring occasionally until lightly browned, 6 -8 minutes.  Reduce heat to low and stir in brown sugar and cinnamon.  Continue to simmer until apples are soft and caramelized, about 5 minutes.

2) Lightly dust a sheet of parchment paper with flour.  Place your thawed puff pastry dough over it and roll it out slightly to flatten to top.  Roll out to a rectangle about 9 1/2 x 10 1/2 inches.  Cut puff pastry dough in half down the center to make 2 pieces, each about 4 3/4 x 10 /12 inches.

3) Arrange apples in a tight row lengthwise down the middle of one puff pastry sheet, leaving a 1-inch border on all sides.  Pour remaining syrup from the apples over the top of the apples.  Brush beaten egg around the edges of pastry.  Top with the second pastry sheet and press down on edges to seal.

4) Cut 6 1-inch wide slits down the center of the pastry to create vents.

5) Brush the pastry with egg wash and sprinkle the top generously with coarse sugar.  Bake for 15 - 17 minutes or until top is golden brown.

Beets and Greens Quesadillas

This is the quesadilla that I made with the roasted red pepper soup.  I think they go together like peanut butter and jelly.  Pepper soup and beet quesadillas.  Totally.

Okay now I know this sounds weird but it was so good!  The beets have lots of flavor on their own and from the spices, and the caramelized onions and melted cheese perfect the deal.  Plus, you get to use both the beet and the greens, so you're really getting your money's worth out of them.  They're super quick to throw together, too, so it's a good weeknight meal idea.  They kind of freaked Jesse out a bit (he now knows he doesn't like beets), but I ate every leftover quesadilla until they were gone.

beets and greens quesadillas
from The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook by Kim O'Donnel
serves 6

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 medium-sized onion, sliced thinly
1 unpeeled beet, sliced very thinly
1 bunch (4 to 5 cups) beet greens and/or chard, chopped finely
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/2 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons water
cooking spray
6 8-inch whole wheat tortillas
1 heaping cup grated monterey jack cheese

Instructions:

1) Heat the oil in a large skillet.  Add the onion and beet, and cook over medium-high heat for about 6 minutes, stirring often

2) Add the greens, chili powder, cumin, oregano, salt and water, and stir until the spices and salt are well distributed.  Cook over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes, or until the vegetables are soft and all the water has evaporated.

3) Transfer the cooked vegetables to a bowl, then wash and dry the skillet.  Heat the clean skillet over medium-low heat and grease lightly with cooking spray.

4) Lay tortilla in the pan, and spread about 2 tablespoons of cheese over half of the tortilla.  Cover the cheese with 2 to 3 heaping tablespoons of the cooked vegetables.  Spread another tablespoon of cheese over the vegetables, and then fold the tortilla in half and flip it with a spatula.  Cook for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, until the tortilla is nicely browned and the cheese is melted through.

5) Repeat with remaining tortillas, cheese, and vegetables.  Cut each quesadilla into four wedges with a knife or pizza cutter.

Roasted Red Pepper Soup

I have said this before, but roasting vegetables is life changing.  Okay, maybe I have never said that, but I swear, if there is a vegetable you think you don't like, try roasting it.  I guarantee you will change your mind.  I never liked broccoli, but we always ate it boiled into a green mush.  I roasted some just last night with some salt, pepper, lemon juice and a sprinkling of parmesan, and it's glorious.  Roasting vegetables makes them a little sweeter, and can make any little old veggie the star of a dish.

Take, for example, the red pepper.  Sure, it's okay, but does anyone ever rave about red peppers?  Well, be prepared to.  These peppers get roasted until their skins are blistery and their insides are tender and smoky and sweet.  They then become the star of this soup, helped along by onions and garlic, and flavored with fresh thyme and smoked paprika.  It's super velvety and thick - so thick that it feels like a chowder, except it's totally dairy-free and gluten-free because it is thickened with potatoes!  I can't say enough great things about this soup, except please make it with some quesadillas to dip into it.  That was the suggestion in my Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook, and it was such a great idea.  I made beet quesadillas... stay tuned for that recipe next post!

Even if that sounds too weird for you, this soup is great for dipping but it's also great by itself.  I happily ate every last drop of it, and didn't even start to get sick of it when I was eating it for lunch and dinner.  So that's saying something!

Recipe:

roasted red pepper soup
from The Meat Lover's Meatless Cookbook by Kim O'Donnel
serves 4

Ingredients:
3 medium-sized bell peppers
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 medium-sized onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, smashed
1 pound potatoes (about 3 medium-sized), peeled and quartered
1 - 2 sprigs fresh thyme
3 cups water
1 teaspoon salt
2 ounces bourbon (optional)
1/4 teaspoon cayenne
1/4 teaspoon smoked paprika
lemon wedges (optional)

Instructions:

1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Remove and discard the stems and tops of the peppers and place on a baking sheet.  Roast until blistered and charred, 30 - 40 minutes.

2) Remove the peppers from the oven and place in a sealed bag or cover with a towel.  This helps remove the skins.  Wait 15 minutes.  With your hands or with the help of a paring knife, remove the seeds, veins, and skins, but do not rinse the peppers.  Chop coarsely and set aside.

3) In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the oil, then add the onion and garlic.  Cook until the onion is slightly softened, about 5 minutes.  Add the potatoes, thyme, water, and salt.  Bring to a lively simmer, then lower the heat, cover, and cook until the potatoes are fork tender, about 15 - 20 minutes.

4) Remove the thyme, add the peppers and bourbon (if using), and stir in the cayenne and smoked paprika.  Puree until smooth and free of lumps.  Taste for salt and adjust as needed.

5) Return soup to saucepan and reheat.  Serve hot, with lemon wedges if desired.

Garlic Mushroom Quinoa

I love quinoa and I love mushrooms.  I can honestly say I don't know another person who joins me in loving both of these foods.  My sisters hate mushrooms.  My mom likes them, but isn't a fan of quinoa.  This is one of those meals that I get to make in peace now that I live alone.  No one complains.  No one begs me to leave out a main ingredient.  I can happily eat mushrooms and quinoa for dinner, and bring all the leftovers for lunch all week long.  Yes, folks, I am living the dream.  I mean, not the dream I always dreamed of, but it's got its perks.

Back to this meal.  It's super garlicky.  If you join me in loving quinoa and mushrooms, just make sure you also love garlic.  There are a whopping 5 cloves in there.  There's also some parmesan and dried thyme for flavor.  For such a simple dish, there's a lot of flavor.  You can call it a main dish like I did, but it would also be a great side.

I ended up using red quinoa this time.  I think it's a but nuttier than regular quinoa, but it's what I found at the store.  By the way, have you noticed quinoa going up in price?  What's up with that?  Cut a poor vegetarian girl some slack!

In other news, it's the last full week of school before vacation.  I'm pumped.  We just have to get through 7 more school days, including a full moon.  Yeeeesh.  Let's just say I was ready for bed two hours ago before I looked at the clock and noticed it wasn't even 7:00.

Recipe:

garlic mushroom quinoa
from Damn Delicious
serves 6

Ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 pound crimini mushrooms, thinly sliced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
2 tablespoons grated parmesan

Instructions:

1) In a large saucepan with 2 cups of water, cook quinoa according to package instructions.  Set aside.

2) Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat.  Add mushrooms, garlic, and thyme.  Cook, stirring occasionally, until tender, about 3- 4 minutes.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Stir in quinoa until well combined.

3) Serve immediately, garnished with parmesan.

Roasted Cauliflower and Aged White Cheddar Soup

Laura has been talking about this soup forever and for some reason, I didn't get around to making it until last month.  I don't know what took me so long, because it's delicious and right up my alley.  It's a creamy, decadent, velvety soup flavored with aged white cheddar and fresh thyme.  The cauliflower is not just a backseat passenger either; its roasted, so it's a tiny bit sweet and more complex than you usually give cauliflower credit for.

If you're feeling rushed this week (is anyone not feeling rushed mid-December?) this soup should probably make it on your meal plan, because it's pretty simple.   You do need to roast the cauliflower, which adds an extra step, but I see no reason why you couldn't roast it today on the weekend and then make it into a soup in 30 minutes tomorrow. Plus - and I don't know how I didn't notice this earlier - there is an option to make this in the slow cooker.  Even simpler.  So you have no excuses.

When I made this, I accidentally only had regular orange cheddar, not aged white.  It was a totally acceptable substitute.  However, Laura has brought me some of her soup made properly with the correct cheese, and it's incredible.  Basically you can't go wrong with any cheese, but the aged cheddar gives it an extra zing and keeps the creamy white color (the orange cheese gave it a little color, obviously).  I'll be making this again real soon.  There's currently a cauliflower in my refrigerator just waiting for its chance to be roasted and soup-ified!

Recipe:

roasted cauliflower and aged white cheddar soup
from Closet Cooking
serves 4

Ingredients:
1 small head cauliflower, cut into florets
3 tablespoons oil, divided
salt and pepper to taste
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 teaspoon thyme, chopped
3 cups vegetable broth or chicken broth/stock
1 1/2 cups aged white cheddar, shredded
1 cup milk or cream

Instructions:

1) Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Toss the cauliflower florets in 2 tablespoons of the oil, along with salt and pepper.  Arrange them in a single layer on a large baking sheet and roast in oven until lightly golden brown, about 20 - 30 minutes.

2) Heat the oil in a large sauce plan over medium heat.  Add the onion and saute until tender, about 5 - 7 minutes.

3) Add the garlic and thyme and saute until fragrant, about a minute.

4) Add the broth and deglaze the pan.  Add the cauliflower and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer, covered for 20 minutes.

5) Remove from heat.  Puree the soup until it reaches your desired consistency with a stick blender.  Back on the heat, mix in the cheese, letting it melt without bringing it to a boil again.  Mix in the milk, season with salt and pepper, and remove from heat.  Serve.

To use a slow cooker: implement step 1, 2 and 3; place everything except the cheese and milk in the slow cooker and cook on low for 6 - 10 hours or high for 2 - 4 hours.  Add the cheese and milk and cook until cheese has melted.

Slider Buns

What's a girl to do when she is tasked with making food that's sort of against her way of life?  When the chicken she is making calls for a packet or ranch dressing mix and a bottle of buffalo sauce?  Well of course she can complain bitterly, and lament about the state of food in America.  And then she can suck it up, shred some chicken, and make her own slider rolls, so that at least something feels whole and real!

Look, I went to McDonald's for dinner the other night, so I am not a health nut or anything and I won't post pictures on Facebook of my homemade almond milk and gasp if you eat Ramen noodles (who the hell doesn't?).  We all know people like that, and it's annoying.  But I like to eat healthy, and I feel better when I do; I legitimately was in the fetal position after an Egg McMuffin and a hash brown.  Okay fine it was two hash browns.  Jeez.

But seriously, I do try to make most of the foods that I eat, and I mostly "shop the perimeter" of the grocery store.  And it does pain me to use anything like a box mix (not allowed in my home) or a flavor packet - and yet I was ripping open a ranch dressing packet for the buffalo chicken sliders.  It made me feel uncomfortable but, as I said in my last post, it was a big hit.  I made myself feel a bit better by making these slider rolls from scratch.  That was my plan all along ever since I decided to make the chicken!

As far as breads go, these guys are simple, and really delicious.  They're soft and a tiny bit sweet, and a little denser than regular rolls to hold up to whatever glorious filling you are putting inside them.  However, they can certainly double as a dinner roll for a vegetarian who is refusing to touch buffalo chicken!

Recipe:

slider buns
from Your Home Based Mom
makes 18 slider buns

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cup milk
6 tablespoons vegetable shortening
3 cups flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast

Instructions:

1) Place dry ingredients in the mixer bowl.  Combine.

2) Heat milk in a pan over medium heat.  When it begins to simmer, add in shortening until melted.  Set aside to cool slightly.

3) Add warm milk to remaining ingredients in a stand mixer with a dough hook.  Mix on low until dough comes away from sides of the bowl and forms a ball, about 1 minute.

4) Increase speed to medium and mix until dough is smooth and springy, about 4 minutes.

5) Place in a greased bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and let rise for about one hour.

6) Punch down and form dough into 18 pieces.  Shape each piece into a round bun.  Slightly flatten each bun and place on an engrossed baking sheet.  Allow buns to rise about 30 - 40 minutes.  Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

7) Bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown.  Cool and serve.

Slow Cooker Buffalo Chicken Sliders

This recipe freaks me out on a lot of levels, but with that said, it was a huge hit, so I suppose I have to share it.

First of all, it's chicken.  Enough said there.

Second of all, it uses lots of not-so-fresh foods, like a packet of ranch dressing mix, and a bottle of buffalo sauce.  Nothing homemade in there whatsoever.

Third of all, it makes your house smell like meal.  I like to use my slow cooker, but the smell of slowly-cooking meat is really my worst thing.

Okay I've done enough complaining (right, Laura?).  These slow cooker buffalo chicken sliders made Jesse and my family very, very happy.  Sometimes you just have to give the people what they want, and if they want meat without any trace of a vegetable, fine.  To appease my on misgivings, I made slider rolls from scratch.  They were absolutely delicious and easily doubled as dinner rolls (for me especially, since I wasn't eating the chicken!).  More on those in the next post.  But the chicken was flavorful, and... chickeny... and everyone loved it.  And it was super simple to make.  So, there's that!

Recipe:

slow cooker buffalo chicken sliders
from Plain Chicken
serves 8

Ingredients:
2 pounds boneless chicken
1 12-ounce bottle Frank's Wing Sauce
1 1-ounce package ranch dressing mix
12 slider buns
2 cups cheddar cheese (optional; I left it out)
1/4 cup prepared ranch dressing

Instructions:

1) Place chicken, wing saue, and ranch dressing mix in slow cooker.

2) Cook on low for 4 - 6 hours.  Remove chicken from slow cooker and shred.  Return to slow cooker and cook on low for an additional 30 minutes.

3) When ready to be served, top slider buns with chicken and top with cheese and/or ranch dressing.  Place under oven broiler and broil until cheese is melted.

Cranberry Apple Upside Down Cake

Cranberry apple upside down cake: your holiday version of a pineapple upside down cake!  It's a spice cake that is baked upside down (obviously) with apples and cranberries on the bottom, that then become the top!

I think this cake is just so pretty.  I just love the bright red cranberries with the thin slices of apple that caramelize as they bake - not to mention the butter brown sugar glaze.  Oh yes.

This cake is a winner. I've made it twice now, including for Thanksgiving.  It has the beautiful fruit topping, but the cake itself is something special too: super moist thanks to buttermilk, and flavored with cinnamon, ginger, cloves, and nutmeg.  It has wow factor, and you know how I feel about that.

Now in full disclosure, only one piece was eaten on Thanksgiving.  It was weird - this was not a big dessert year.  People just stayed too full all night.  No one ate a single sandwich after lunch, either!  I don't know what it was, but most desserts were barely touched.  The only thing that went completely were Jess' rice krispie treats.  Who knew?!  Don't judge the cake based on its Thanksgiving dessert consumption!

Recipe:

cranberry apple upside down cake
from Sally's Baking Addiction
serves 8 - 10

Ingredients:
for topping:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/2 cup packed dark brown sugar
1 medium apple, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
1 heaping cup fresh or frozen cranberries
for cake:
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
1 cup packed dark brown sugar
2 large eggs, room temperature and separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/3 cup buttermilk

Instructions:

1) Lightly spray a 9-inch pie dish with nonstick cooking spray.  Set aside.  Make sure your apples are sliced and ready to go.

2) For the topping: in a small saucepan, melt butter on low heat.  When it begins to bubble, whisk in the brown sugar.  Continue to stir until smooth.  Then leave on heat for about 2 minutes until it begins to bubble.  Stir, then remove from heat and allow to briefly cook for a couple minutes.  Layer the sliced apples and cranberries into the dish and and pour the butter/sugar over the top.  Set aside.

3) Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

4) Make the cake: In a medium bowl, toss the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and ginger together until combined.  Set aside.

5) Using a handheld or stand mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter on high until creamy, about 1 minute.  Add the brown sugar and beat on medium-high speed until creamed together, about 2 - 3 minutes.  Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed.

6) With the mixer on low speed, add the dry ingredients in three additions alternating with the buttermilk, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, and mixing each addition just until incorporated.  Do not overmix.  Whisk or beat the 2 egg whites until thick and foamy, about 3 minutes.  Fold into cake batter.  The batter will be smooth, velvety and thick.

7) Spoon or pour batter over the apples and cranberries and bake for 40 - 44 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the very middle comes out clean.  Allow to cool for exactly 10 minutes before inverting onto a large serving dish or cake stand.  Serve warm or at room temperature.  Leftovers keep well covered at room temperature or in the refrigerator for 2 days.

Appledoodles

Last month I inherited a giant basket full of apples from my mom after she went apple picking a couple times.  I made a giant batch of applesauce, and some of my family's favorite apple donuts, but still had plenty of apples left over.  One night, I was stress baking, and I decided to use up some more apples in these appledoodles.

Apple doodles are basically the softest snickerdoodles, with that cinnamon sugar flavor, that you can imagine, thanks to a secret ingredient (okay, fine I'll tell you: it's a box of pudding mix.)  Plus, these have the added extras of diced apple and, if you feel like it, white chocolate chips.  My mom was not a fan of the chocolate chips, as I expected, and I had only added 1/2 a cup compared to the whole cup the recipe suggested, but hey, you can't please them all.

I'm usually not one to add boxes of anything to a recipe, but I have to admit that the pudding in the cookies keeps them super soft for days.  They were still soft a week later, when they were still sitting in my cake dish and Kelsey sampled one when she came up to visit.  I should never keep any baked goods in my house because they just go to waste. I'm a freak.

Recipe:

appledoodles
from The Girl Who Ate Everything
makes 2 dozen

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
2 cups flour
1 small (3.5-ounce) box instant cheesecake or vanilla pudding, not prepared
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
pinch nutmeg
1 cup apples, peeled and diced small
1 cup white chocolate chips (optional; I only used 1/2 cup)
for cinnamon sugar coating:
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Instructions:

1) In a large bowl, cream together butter and sugars.  Mix in vanilla and egg until smooth.

2) In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, pudding mix, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg.  Add dry mixture to wet ingredients and mix until combined well.  Stir in apples and white chocolate chips.  Chill in the fridge for one hour.

3) For the cinnamon sugar coating, combine cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.

4) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper.  Take around 2 tablespoons of dough and roll into a ball. then roll generously in the cinnamon sugar.  Place on prepared baking sheet.

5) Bake for 10 - 12 minutes.  Allow cookies to cool completely on baking sheet; they will continue to bake as they cool.  Store in airtight container at room temperature.

Potluck Banana Cake

I love buying bananas with very little intention of eating them.  I might throw one or two into my lunchbox, but mostly I let them sit on my table until they turn mottled and spotty and I can bake them into something fun.  Fun fact - did you know that you can freeze your brown bananas before they go totally bad on you?  I currently have three bananas in my freezer and I am pretty pumped about it.

Here's something else to be pumped about: this is a banana cake that is far more amazing than it sounds.  Let's be honest, the term "banana cake" might not send shivers of excitement down your spine.  But I made this cake one Sunday to bring up to a little gathering at my grandmother's house, and everyone was blown away by it.  I think what helps is that the cake is super soft and moist (hate that word) thanks to sour cream, and tastes just the right amount of banana.  The frosting is nothing you would expect: it's coffee-flavored.  There are instant coffee granules in there.  I thought it was a really weird combination, but this cake got rave reviews at Gram's.  Just look at Kenzie's blissful face!

This is an easy cake (I love anything I can bake in my covered Pyrex) that is portable, sweet, and surprisingly delightful for a humble old banana cake!

Recipe:

potluck banana cake
from Taste of Home
makes 12 - 15 servings

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups mashed ripe bananas (about 3 medium)
1 cup sour cream
for coffee frosting:
1/3 cup butter, softened
2 1/2 cups confectionary sugar
2 teaspoons instant coffee granules
2 - 3 tablespoons milk

Instructions:

1) Grease a 13x9-inch baking dish.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

 2) In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Stir in vanilla.  Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt.  Add to creamed mixture alternately with bananas and sour cream, beating well after each addition.

3) Pour into prepared baking dish and bake for 35 - 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean.  Cool completely on a wire rack.

4) For frosting, beat butter and confectionary sugar until smooth.  Dissolve coffee granules in milk; add to butter mixture and beat until smooth.  Spread over cake.