Recipe: Couscous with chickpeas and fresh vegetables

Now that my summer classes are over, I have a lot of free time on my hands. This can only mean one thing as far as I'm concerned...more time to cook for myself! I decided to put my box of whole wheat couscous to work. The original recipe calls for cucumber, but mine went bad so I just omitted it. I'll still include it in the recipe, though, since I'm sure it's good with the addition.

Ingredients:
1 cup water
1 cup uncooked couscous
1 (15 ounce) can garbanzo beans, drained
2 roma tomatoes, thinly sliced
1 cucumber, peeled and sliced
1/4 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
garlic powder to taste
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Bring water to boil in a medium saucepan. Stir in couscous, and remove from heat. Cover, and let stand about 5 minutes, until liquid has been absorbed. Fluff with a fork.
2. In a large bowl, mix couscous and garbanzo beans. Toss in tomatoes and cucumbers. Stir olive oil and vinegar into the mixture. Season with garlic powder, salt, and pepper

Recipe: Sun-dried Tomato and Basil Hummus

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaack!

After a month long hiatus, which was spent being ridiculously stressed out over school and three part-time jobs, I have finally found the time to cook something that didn't include sugar and flour as ingredients.

I had some friends over last night for a movie night and decided that I wanted to serve something different than popcorn. I had already made mint chocolate cookies, so I wanted something more on the savory side.

That something turned out to be hummus.

picture to come soon-I promise!

Ingredients:
2 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp tahini
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup sundried tomatoes, drained
1/4 cup shredded fresh basil

Directions:
in a blender, combine garlic, salt, tahini, and lemon juice
add chickpeas and olive oil and blend until smooth, scraping the sides of the blender occasionally.
add sundried tomatoes and basil, blend until fully mixed
refrigerate for at least an hour before serving

Recipe: Whole Wheat Strawberry Banana Muffins

Unfortunately, I didn't have a chance to snap a picture of these before my coworkers ate them all. I plan to make them again in the future, so next time I'll try to take a picture!

My inspiration to bake these was pretty simple: I had an excess of strawberries and bananas in my kitchen! I also still have a lot of whole wheat flour left over from my thanksgiving pumpkin dinner rolls.

The original recipe called for frozen strawberries, but I opted to use fresh strawberries, instead.

ingredients:
2 eggs
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 bananas, mashed
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
1 cup sliced strawberries

directions:
1.Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease 16 regular muffin cups, or line with paper liners.
2.In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, applesauce, oil, brown sugar, vanilla and bananas. Combine the flour, baking soda and cinnamon; Stir into the banana mixture until moistened. Stir in the strawberries until evenly distributed. Spoon batter into muffin cups until completely filled.
3.Bake for 20-30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the tops of the muffins spring back when pressed lightly. Cool before removing from the muffin tins.

Recipe and Reflections

This is probably old news to my friends beyond the world of blogging, but my father passed away four weeks ago. It was very sudden and took us all by surprise. Though his memorial service happened in late December, we just had his burial service a little less than a week ago, on what would have been his 65th birthday. In early December I had asked him what cake he wanted me to bake for his birthday, and he had requested a coconut cake (my dad was a coconut fiend). We planned to have lunch at my aunt's house after the burial, so I decided to bake the cake to bring to lunch.




this was definitely one of the hardest recipes I've attempted-even harder than cheesecake. However, the end result was delicious.

ingredients:

2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
1 cup canned sweetened cream of coconut (such as Coco Lépez)*
4 large eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup buttermilk
4 cups sweetened shredded coconut

2 (8-ounce) packages Philadelphia-brand cream cheese, room temperature
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, room temperature
2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup canned sweetened cream of coconut (such as Coco López)*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour two 9-inch-diameter cake pans with 2-inch-high sides. Whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda and 1/2 teaspoon salt in medium bowl to blend. Using electric mixer, beat sugar, butter and sweetened cream of coconut in large bowl until fluffy. Beat in egg yolks and vanilla extract. On low speed, beat in dry ingredients and then buttermilk, each just until blended.

Using clean dry beaters, beat egg whites with pinch of salt in another large bowl until stiff but not dry. Fold beaten egg whites into batter.

Divide cake batter between prepared pans. Bake cakes until tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 45 minutes. Cool cakes in pans on rack 10 minutes. Run small sharp knife around pan sides to loosen cakes. Turn cakes out onto racks and cool completely.

Place 1 cake layer on cake plate. Spread 1 cup Cream Cheese Frosting over cake layer. Sprinkle 1 cup sweetened shredded coconut over. Top with second cake layer. Spread remaining frosting over top and sides of cake. Sprinkle remaining coconut over cake, gently pressing into sides to adhere.

for frosting:

Beat cream cheese in medium bowl until fluffy. Add butter and beat to blend. Add sugar, sweetened cream of coconut and vanilla extract and beat until well blended.

Recipe: Baked Macaroni and Cheese

Today's Thanksgiving recipe comes from an old issue of vegetarian times. The concept of baked macaroni and cheese is not new to me, but this recipe is!

ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat penne pasta
1/2 lb spinach leaves
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup olive oil
2 cups fat-free milk
1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp grated parmesan cheese

directions:
preheat oven to 350 degrees. spray a 9x11 baking dish with nonstick spray
cook penne according to directions on package. drain and set aside.
in a large pot, cook spinach over medium heat until wilted. drain and chop coarsely
in a large saucepan, whisk together olive oil and flour for two minutes over medium-low heat. gradually add milk and continue to whisk for five minutes, or until mixture begins to thicken.
remove saucepan from heat. add penne, spinach, and 1/2 cup parmesan cheese. stir until evenly coated, then transfer to baking dish. sprinkle remaining 2 tbsp of parmesan cheese on top.
bake 45-60 minutes, or until the top begins to brown.

serves 6

Recipe: Winter Squash, Leek, & Apple Soup

today marked the start of my marathon of thanksgiving cooking with this soup. I won't lie...it was an all-day event making this soup. it wasn't difficult, it just took a long time to roast the squash. in the end, though, my taste test proved that this soup is worth the time.

ingredients:
4.5 lb of winter squash, halved with the seeds removed (I used acorn squash)
1 tart apple, peeled, cored, and quartered (I chose a pink lady apple)
1 Tbs olive oil
2 medium leeks, white parts only, sliced
1/2 tsp salt
2 pinches ground black pepper
2 cloves garlic, minced
6 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
1 bay leaf

directions:
1. preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place squash cut-side down and apple quarters in large baking dish. Add one cup water, cover, and roast 35-40 minutes, or until squash is tender. Allow the squash to cool then scoop the flesh out from the skin.
2. heat oil in large Dutch oven over medium heat. Add leeks, 1/4 tsp salt, and 1 pinch of pepper. cook 3 minutes or until leeks begin to soften. stir in garlic and wine, then cook another 3 minutes, or until pot is nearly dry. add squash, apple, vegetable broth, remaining salt and pepper, and bay leaf. bring to a boil, then simmer over medium-low heat uncovered for 20 minutes. remove bay leaf, then puree with immersion blender until smooth and creamy. cook over low heat for 15 minutes.

as I type this post, I am roasting two sugar pumpkins for various thanksgiving recipes to appear in the future.

Recipe: Sweet Potato Soup

Yes, I am back in action! And just in time for fall, I've come up with this recipe. I was inspired by a recipe for spicy sweet potato soup, but because I was unable to find my stash of spices, I decided to do away with the spicy part and just make a sweet potato soup.

ingredients:
1/2 cup sour cream
1 tsp grated lime zest
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed
1 tbsp butter
1 onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, sliced
4 cups vegetable broth
2 tbsp grated ginger root
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 lime, juiced
salt and pepper to taste

directions:
1.In a small bowl, stir together the sour cream and lime zest. Set aside in the refrigerator to allow the flavors to blend.
2.Melt butter in a large pot over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and cook for about 5 minutes, until softened. Add sweet potatoes, and vegetable stock. Season with ginger. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover, and simmer for 15 minutes, until potatoes are tender.
3.Puree the soup using an immersion blender or regular blender. If using a counter top blender, puree in small batches, filling the blender just a bit past half way to avoid spillage. Whisk peanut butter into the soup, and heat through. Stir in lime juice, and salt/pepper.
4.Ladle into warm bowls, and top with a dollop of the reserved sour cream

this soup was incredible! I actually licked my bowl clean. For me, the best part of soup as a dish is how easy it is to store. Leftovers can be frozen, which means that I have enough soup stored in my fridge so I dont have to think about cooking when I get home from my night classes this week.

I'll try to remember to post a picture later.

Recipe: Red Lentil Curry

yup, I'm still working on that same bag of red lentils, but I got bored with the recipe I've been using since my junior year of college. This recipe was a welcome breath of fresh air!

ingredients:
2 cups red lentils
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
2 tablespoons curry paste
1 tablespoon curry powder
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon white sugar
1 teaspoon minced garlic
1 teaspoon ginger root, minced
1 (14.25 ounce) can tomato puree

directions:
1. Wash the lentils in cold water until the water runs clear (this is very important or the lentils will get "scummy"), put the lentils in a pot with water to cover and simmer covered until lentils tender (add more water if necessary).
2. combine the curry paste, curry powder, turmeric, cumin, chili powder, salt, sugar, garlic, and ginger in a mixing bowl. Mix well. cook over a high heat stirring constantly for 1 to 2 minutes in a frying pan with oil.
4. Stir in the tomato puree and reduce heat, allow the curry base to simmer until the lentils are ready.
5. When the lentils are tender drain them briefly (they should have absorbed most of the water but you don't want the curry to be too sloppy). Mix the curry base into the lentils and serve immediately.

serves 8

this recipe originally called for an onion, but my dislike for onions was reason enough for me to omit the ingredient. Regardless, this was delicious! I thought it was a little on the mild side.

Recipe: Risotto with Sun-Dried Tomatoes and Mozzarella

(photo to come soon)

this is easily my favorite risotto recipe that I've made to date. no, it is not the healthiest, but all that melty cheese over the tangy taste of sun-dried tomatoes makes up for it. plus, i got to put my basil plant to use for something besides pesto!

ingredients:
5 1/2 cups vegetable broth
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained with oil reserved
2 cups Arborio rice
1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

directions:
1. In a large saucepan, bring the vegetable stock to a simmer. While the stock is heating, drain the sun-dried tomatoes and reserve the oil. Chop the tomatoes coarsely and set them aside.
2. In a large frying pan, warm 2 tablespoons of oil from the tomatoes, add rice to the frying pan and stir until white spots appear in the center of the grains; about 1 minute. Spoon a ladleful of vegetable stock into the frying pan and cook the mixture on low until all the stock is absorbed; about 2 minutes. Continue adding the stock, a ladleful at a time until the rice is tender and the mixture is creamy, approximately 20 to 25 minutes.
3. Add the mozzarella cheese, Parmesan cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, 2 tablespoons of the remaining oil from the tomatoes, chopped basil, and salt and pepper. Mix well and serve

to make this recipe a little on the healthier side, I used low sodium vegetable broth (my brand of choice is Imagine). I also used Trader Joe's light mozzarella cheese. This cheese is a world apart from the low-fat cheese from Kraft and generic grocery store brands in that it actually tastes like cheese (I often find that other brands taste like plastic).

Recipe: Vegetarian Pad Thai

I'll admit it, I'm a little anxious about posting a photo of this dish. I adapted it from a recipe on allrecipes.com to make it veg-friendly and work with what I already have in my pantry, and in the process of doing so this dish became a total disaster.

In retrospect, I probably went wrong when I used different noodles than originally called for. the original recipe called for rice noodles, which I think is what I used. My mom had bought me some japanese noodles at a japanese grocery store during a visit last december, but the label is in japanese so I'm not sure what kind of noodles they are. In the future, I would use udon noodles.

ingredients:
1 (12 ounce) package rice noodles
2 tablespoons butter
1 package extra firm tofu, drained
1/4 cup vegetable oil
4 eggs
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
3 tablespoons white sugar
2 cups bean sprout
3 green onions, chopped

directions:
1. Soak rice noodles in cold water 30 to 50 minutes, or until soft. Drain, and set aside.
2. Heat butter in a wok or large heavy skillet. Saute tofu until browned. Remove, and set aside. Heat oil in wok over medium-high heat. Crack eggs into hot oil, and cook until firm. Stir in tofu, and cook for 5 minutes. Add softened noodles, and vinegar, sugar and red pepper. Adjust seasonings to taste. Mix while cooking, until noodles are tender. Add bean sprouts, and mix for 3 minutes. top with green onions.

serves 6

Recipe: Spinach, Red Lentil, and Bean Curry

I found this recipe when I was searching allrecipes for new ways to use my giant bag of red lentils in my pantry. I was sold on this recipe by the title alone. With a few alterations, this recipe was delicious!

ingredients:
1 cup red lentils
1/4 cup tomato puree
1/2 (8 ounce) container plain yogurt
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 teaspoon ground dried turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 cloves garlic, chopped
1 (1 inch) piece fresh ginger root, grated
4 cups loosely packed fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
2 tomatoes, chopped
4 sprigs fresh cilantro, chopped
1 (15.5 ounce) can garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained

directions:
1. Rinse lentils and place in a saucepan with enough water to cover. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low, cover pot, and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. Drain.
2. In a bowl, stir together tomato puree and yogurt. Season with garam masala, turmeric, cumin, and chili powder. Stir until creamy.
3. Heat oil in a skillet over medium heat. Stir in garlic and ginger. Stir in spinach; cook until dark green and wilted. Gradually stir in yogurt mixture. Then mix in tomatoes and cilantro.
4. Stir lentils and garbanzo beans into mixture until well combined. Heat through, about 5 minutes.

serves 4

Recipe: Pasta with Spinach and Sun-Dried Tomatoes

(picture to come soon)

I don't know what it is, but lately I've been eating a lot of spinach. At least I won't have an iron deficiency any time soon:) In my continued quest to work through all the grains in my pantry, I've moved on to pasta this week (I finished off my quinoa and basmati rice already). This recipe looked too good not to try, anyway!

ingredients:
1 cup vegetable broth
12 dehydrated sun-dried tomatoes
1 (8 ounce) package uncooked pasta
2 tablespoons pine nuts
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bunch fresh spinach, rinsed and torn into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

directions:
1. In a small saucepan, bring the broth to a boil. Remove from heat. Place the sun-dried tomatoes in the broth 15 minutes, or until softened. Drain, reserving broth, and coarsely chop.
2. Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Place penne pasta in the pot, cook 9 to 12 minutes, until al dente, and drain.
3. Place the pine nuts in a skillet over medium heat. Cook and stir until lightly toasted.
4. Heat the olive oil and red pepper flakes in a skillet over medium heat, and saute the garlic 1 minute, until tender. Mix in the spinach, and cook until almost wilted. Pour in the reserved broth, and stir in the chopped sun-dried tomatoes. Continue cooking 2 minutes, or until heated through.
5. In a large bowl, toss the cooked pasta with the spinach and tomato mixture and pine nuts. Serve with Parmesan cheese.

This recipe was good, though not what I originally expected before reading the directions. I assumed it would be a cold pasta dish. That being said, the end result was a pleasant suprise!

Recipe: Baba Ghanouj

In my continuing quest to finish off the food in my kitchen, I am trying to make the most of the large jar of tahini sitting in my fridge. I finished off my black bean hummus over the weekend and was going to make some more, but then decided to try something different when I went to whole foods to buy some beans. I ended up buying an eggplant and making baba ghanouj, instead.

ingredients:
1 large eggplant, cut in half lengthwise
1/4 cup tahini
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 tbsp sesame seeds
1.5 tbsp olive oil

directions:
preheat oven to 350 degrees. pierce skin of eggplant all over with a fork and place eggplant cut-side down on a baking sheet lined with foil and bake in oven for 20 minutes.
once the eggplant has cooled off, scoop the inside of it into a blender and discard skin. add the tahini, lemon juice, and sesame seeds to blender and puree until smooth. add olive oil and continue to puree until well blended.

yields 1.5 cups

Recipe: Yellow Curried Tofu with Veggies

This was more of an experiment than anything else. I bought a relatively large container of yellow curry paste during my trip to Jungle Jim's and decided it was time to put it to use. There were directions on the back for a typical curry dish, but I altered it to make it vegetarian friendly and cut it down so it only made two servings instead of five. Below is the ingredients and directions for my version of the recipe.

ingredients:
4 tsp yellow curry paste
1/2 tbsp peanut oil
9 tbsp coconut milk, divided
3 tbsp water
2/5 block extra-firm tofu, drained
2 cups broccoli florets
1.5 cups sugar snap peas

directions:
in a wok or large frying pan, stir-fry yellow curry paste, peanut oil, and 6 tbsp coconut milk. add tofu, water, and remaining 3 tbsp coconut milk and bring to a low boil. add broccoli and sugar snap peas, continuing to stir-fry until the vegetables have softened.

I ate this over brown rice, though in hindsight I should have considered using my soba noodles, instead.

today's lunch: whole wheat sweet potato gnocchi

i was not as ambitious as i hoped to be when i returned last night from my hoosier weekend, so i didn't make it to the grocery store. i didn't think this would be an issue until I opened my fridge to make my lunch this morning. I stared at the empty fridge for about 30 seconds, then quickly put a plan in action, aka put a pot of water on the stovetop to boil. I boiled 3/4 cup of the gnocchi from Jungle Jim's, then tossed it with 1 Tbsp of my homemade basil pesto, 1 tbsp of grated parmigiano reggiano cheese, and a couple of sundried tomatoes.

This turned out to be a great combination! The pesto is a little on the garlicky side, so the added cheese helps to sweeten it, while the tartness of the sundried tomatoes adds a little punch to it.

Reinventing the Personal Pizza

Last night I went to a bikram yoga class for the first time. I was told not to eat anything 2 hours before the class, which would have been ok if the class wasn't from 7:30-9:00pm. Needless to say, I was starving when I got home.

Here's the thing, though: when I opened my fridge, I realized I had nothing leftover that I could heat up easily. I don't know what caused the next few actions, but the next thing I knew, I had created my own personal pizza from scratch.

using whole wheat pita bread as the base, I smothered a Tbsp of my homemade roasted red pepper pesto on top as the sauce. My cheeses of choice this time were reduced sodium mozzarella cheese and parmigiano reggiano, topped with fresh basil, yellow bell pepper, and zucchini. I then popped it in the oven at 400 degrees for 12 minutes, and voila! homemade pizza.

Recipe: White Bean Tabbouleh

(photo to come soon)

In my continued effort to work through to food I already have my pantry, I decided to start using more recipes that include bulgur. I bought some in the bulk section at whole foods a while back when I was on a mission to make my own version of the vegetarian chili at beans and barley and still have a fair amount left over.

ingredients:
1 cup bulgur wheat, uncooked
1 1/2 cups boiling water
1 cup chopped baby spinach
1 tomato, diced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans, drained and rinsed
1/4 cup olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt
freshly ground black pepper to taste

directions:
1. Place the bulgur wheat in a large bowl, stir the boiling water into it, cover, and let stand until the water is absorbed and the wheat is fluffy, about 30 minutes.
2. In a large salad bowl, lightly stir together the parsley, spinach, tomato, yellow bell pepper, onion, garlic, cannellini beans, olive oil, lemon juice, sea salt, and black pepper. Add the bulgur, lightly stir to thoroughly combine the salad, and refrigerate until chilled, about 1 hour.

serves 6

This recipe is incredible. I wouldn't change a thing about it. I actually halved the recipe and decided to eat the leftover cannelini beans as an afternoon snack.

Recipe: Black Bean Hummus

I decided I needed something different for today's bagel sandwich. The change needed to come from what I was spreading on it, so I made this to put on it instead of neufchatel cheese. This recipe is fantastic because it's easy and I had all of the ingredients on hand already.

ingredients:
1 garlic clove
1 15 oz can black beans
2 tbsp lemon juice
1 1/2 tbsp tahini
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp chili powder

directions:
1. drain liquid from can of black beans into a bowl and set aside.
2. mince garlic in a blender or food processor.
3. add beans, 2 tbsp of reserved liquid, lemon juice, tahini, salt, cumin, and chili powder to blender. Blend until smooth. Add liquid and seasoning as needed.

Warning: This will be spicy if you follow my measurements.

Quasi-Recipe: Bagel Sandwich

I visited my parents this past weekend in NJ. Every time I visit them, I always make a stop at my favorite bagel shop before leaving, and this visit was no exception. Granted, I'm hoping to give away some of these to various friends, but for now my freezer has been overtaken by bagels.

I decided to get a little creative with a whole wheat bagel for today's lunch. I spread some neuchatel cheese on each half (I use this instead of cream cheese, since it has less saturated fat) and topped one half with a slice of Soy Deli Savory baked tofu and some fresh basil leaves, then place the other half on top. Voila! It tasted pretty good, but it could've used a tomato. I think I'm going to pick one up today.

Recipe: Pesto Quinoa

Quinoa recipes are famous for being simple, yet delicious. This is no exception. I actually made the pesto myself, but even that required minimal effort beyond mincing garlic and measuring things.

ingredients:
1 cup quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth
2 tbsp pesto
1 tomato, diced
salt and pepper to taste

directions:
Bring the quinoa and broth to a boil in a saucepan; cover, reduce heat to low, and simmer until the moisture is completely absorbed, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat; stir the pesto through the quinoa. Fold the tomato into the mixture. Season with salt and pepper to serve.

serves 4