Creamy Garlic Mashed Cauliflower

I hate instant mashed potatoes.  Some people will hear that and scream, "Blasphemy!"  To me they always tasted dry and paste-like.  More often than not I'd run into clumps of unmixed potato flakes that would make the whole thing even less appetizing.  You may say, "Well they weren't fixed right, that's why you didn't like them!"  No, even when fixed right they still had an off taste and texture to me.  I grew up eating the real deal, and I always missed that when I had to eat instant.

Mr. Monkey, on the other hand, loves instant mashed potatoes.  Why?  Because homemade ones either were lumpy or runny and tasteless in his experience.  I thought this was a shame that he had never experienced wonderfully made mashed potatoes.

Of course mashed potatoes aren't considered to be the most healthy things on the planet no matter how many warm fuzzies they give you.  A friend of mine swore up and down that you could make a dish with cauliflower that was just as good as mashed potatoes.  I thought this was humorous.  Cauliflower always seemed to be the bland and weirdly textured friend of broccoli.  When I found this recipe I figured I'd finally give it a shot.  The problem was getting Mr. Monkey on board.  That's when I decided to load them up with a garlicy good taste which I knew he would love.  My friend was right; the taste and texture were very similar to mashed potatoes!  This is a great substitute if you're looking to eat healthier.

Creamy Garlic Mashed Cauliflower

Ingredients:

• 1 lb bag of frozen cauliflower
• 1 tbsp unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup (or less) of milk - I used buttermilk
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• Garlic Powder to taste
• Garlic Herb Blend - optional

Directions:

1. Add the cauliflower to a large pot of water.  Bring the water to a boil, and reduce the heat to a simmer.  Cover and cook for 10 minutes.
2. Cauliflower is done when you can easily mash it with a fork.
3. Place the cauliflower, butter, and milk in either a blender or a food processor.  Puree until smooth.  I recommend trying about half the milk at first, and then increase it if you want to thin out the mash.
4. Add salt and pepper to your tastes.  With the garlic powder I ended up using approximately a tablespoon, but not everyone wants that much.  Start with a teaspoon and work your way up.  Blend the seasonings in with the food processor (or blender) after adding so they are well incorporated.
5. At this point they are technically done, but you can also put them in the oven for a little bit to help them set and warm them up more if they cooled off while pureeing.
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
7. Put the mashed cauliflower into a small casserole dish and top with a garlic herb blend (either Kitchen Secrets or Mrs. Dash is what I use). 
8. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes or until the mash is slightly bubbly.

Serves 3 to 4

Pulled Pork BBQ Pizza

Pizza is great for getting rid of leftovers.  I've started buying whole chickens, and the leftover meat lasts for days.  A couple of weeks ago I bought a huge pork butt.  It was over 8 pounds!  I popped it into the oven early in the morning, and I cooked it on low heat until supper time.  It was quite good and very tender, and I still have a bag of meat in the freezer.  I decided to use some of that meat to make a pizza, and I did not regret this decision!

The BBQ pizza uses the sauce I posted yesterday as a base and the crust I posted before that.  You'll want to have some leftover pulled pork for this, but you can also use leftover grilled or roasted chicken in a pinch.  I also mixed some crushed red pepper into the crust to add a bit of spice.  This recipe will make two pizzas, so if you only want one be sure to save the extra sauce and dough in the refrigerator.

Pulled Pork BBQ Pizza:


 Homemade Pizza Crust

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast 
• 3 1/2 cups flour (bread flour or all purpose flour)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp crushed red pepper (optional) 

Homemade BBQ Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ketchup (I prefer the non-HFCS kind)
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard 
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp Sriacha (rooster sauce)

Pizza Toppings

Ingredients:

• Approximately 2 cups of pulled pork - cooked and cut/pulled into smaller pieces
• 1 to 1 1/2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese 
• 2 stalks celery - chopped fine
• 2 cloves garlic - sliced
• 2 green onions - sliced (green and white parts)

Directions:

1. Mix yeast and warm water in a large bowl.  Let sit for 5 minutes until the yeast is dissolved.  Stir the remaining yeast if not fully dissolved after 5 minutes.
2. Stir together the flour, olive oil, salt, and sugar until the dough is smooth and elastic.  If the dough seems too wet, then add flour.  If you're going to use the crushed red pepper, then make sure to add it with the other ingredients.
3. Coat a bowl lightly with olive oil and place the ball of dough in the bowl.  Roll it around to get covered in the oil, and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
4. Let the bowl sit in a warm place for at least 2 hours.  Allowing it to sit longer will improve the taste.
5. While the dough is rising, lightly dust a large cookie sheet (round or rectangular) with flour or corn meal.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  It should be allowed to heat up for at least 30 minutes to an hour before you bake the pizza.
6. Remove the plastic wrap from the bowl, and punch the dough down to deflate it.  Remove it from the bowl and divide in half. 
7. Take one ball of dough and flatten it with your hands on a lightly floured workspace.  Starting from the center, press the dough to 1/2 inch thickness.  Turn and stretch the dough until will not stretch any further.  Let the dough rest about 5 minutes.
8. Repeat step 7 until the dough is the desired size.  If you are worried about the dough tearing, then you can press it out once, and then place it in the pan to further press and stretch it.
9. Move the dough from the workspace to the pan.  Brush the top with a little bit of olive oil before you add your sauce and toppings.
10. Mix the sauce ingredients together and carefully spoon over the dough once combined.  You may have a little more than what you need for both pizzas.
11. Add the celery, garlic, and green onions.  Cover these with the pork.  If you have a bit of extra sauce, then drizzle a bit of it over the meat.  Spread the cheese over both pizzas.
12. After adding your toppings, bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese is golden and the crust is browned.

Makes 2 12" pizzas

Homemade BBQ Sauce

Job hunting seems a lot different now than it was more than a decade ago.  Most of this week was me job hunting and having an interview which didn't pan out into anything.  It was pretty tiring, which is why I didn't get to post any recipes. :(  I have a backlog of things, and I'm going to get them posted to get caught up!

First on our list is a simple item that will tie the previous post and the next post together.  Homemade barbeque sauce!  This is a very simple recipe that you can make as you need it, or keep handy in case you don't use mass quantities of it.  You can adjust a few things here and there if you prefer a specific taste.  Simmering this with bourbon in place of the honey or vinegar might be an idea!

I've had this on sandwiches, roasted chicken, and pizza.  Tomorrow I'll post the Pulled Pork BBQ Pizza recipe!

Homemade BBQ Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 cup ketchup (I prefer the non-HFCS kind)
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 1/2 tsp liquid smoke
• 2 tsp Dijon mustard 
• 2 tbsp + 1 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tsp Sriacha (rooster sauce)

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together until blended smooth and well incorporated. 
2. Store refrigerated in a lidded jar if not using immediately. 

Makes a little over 1 cup of sauce

Homemade Pizza Crust

Mr. Monkey thinks I'm crazy that I love cold pizza.  He wants his pizza leftovers warmed up and doesn't get the hype.  Maybe it's a throwback to when I was a teenager or even when I was in college, but I think a good pizza should taste great hot and cold.  Some pizza tastes fine hot, but as soon as it gets cold it's nasty.  Cold pizza makes a great breakfast, and if Mr. Monkey doesn't finish off his portion of the leftovers, then I'm going to have them for breakfast tomorrow! Hah!

You may wonder with all of this pizza talk why I'm including the recipe for the crust, but not the pizza itself.  Mainly it's because I was just giving this a trial run and didn't really pay any mind to quantities.  I also plan on making this again, so when I do I'll pay attention and post the recipe for the pizza as a whole.  I've got some ideas including redoing the roasted chicken pizza that you see above, a BBQ pork pizza, and maybe a cajun seafood pizza.  If you want a full recipe right away, then click here.

Homemade Pizza Crust

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast 
• 3 1/2 cups flour (bread flour or all purpose flour)
• 2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp sugar
• 2 tsp dried rosemary (optional)

Directions:

1. Mix yeast and warm water in a large bowl.  Let sit for 5 minutes until the yeast is dissolved.  Stir the remaining yeast if not fully dissolved after 5 minutes.
2. Stir together the flour, olive oil, salt, and sugar until the dough is smooth and elastic.  If the dough seems too wet, then add flour.  If you're going to use the rosemary for extra flavor, then make sure to add it with the other ingredients.
3. Coat a bowl lightly with olive oil and place the ball of dough in the bowl.  Roll it around to get covered in the oil, and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
4. Let the bowl sit in a warm place for at least 2 hours.  Allowing it to sit longer will improve the taste.
5. While the dough is rising, lightly dust a large cookie sheet (round or rectangular) with flour or corn meal.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.  It should be allowed to heat up for at least 30 minutes to an hour before you bake the pizza.
6. Remove the plastic wrap from the bowl, and punch the dough down to deflate it.  Remove it from the bowl and divide in half. 
7. Take one ball of dough and flatten it with your hands on a lightly floured workspace.  Starting from the center, press the dough to 1/2 inch thickness.  Turn and stretch the dough until will not stretch any further.  Let the dough rest about 5 minutes.
8. Repeat step 7 until the dough is the desired size.  If you are worried about the dough tearing, then you can press it out once, and then place it in the pan to further press and stretch it.
9. Move the dough from the workspace to the pan.  Brush the top with a little bit of olive oil before you add your sauce and toppings.
10. After adding your toppings, bake for 15 minutes or until the cheese (if you added it) is golden and the crust is browned.

Makes 2 12 inch pizzas.

Inner Warmth Peanut Stew

Goons With Spoons poster EVG posted this recipe last week, and as soon as I saw it I wanted to try it.  It is a dish served at the Great Dan Pub in Madison, WI.  They posted the recipe here which is where EVG got it prior to sharing it with us.  This is an excellent fall stew, and because it has peanut butter you may find that kids will give it a shot out of curiosity.  The stew is delicious!

The squash doesn't have an overbearing flavor here, which is good if you aren't a big fan of squash or are sharing a meal with someone that doesn't normally eat it.  You can use ground ginger in place of ginger root, but the flavor won't be as potent.  Be sure not to use 1/2 a cup though!  The original calls for white rice, but brown rice has a really nice flavor that goes well with this stew.  I would also recommend trying wild rice or forbidden (black) rice.  I've mostly kept the recipe intact aside from my usual subbing green onion for onion (Mr. Monkey isn't a fan of onion) and using less diced tomato (Mr. Monkey likes the flavor, hates the texture).

You will need either an immersion blender (which I did not have) or a food processor.  If you have an immersion blender, then you will be able to get the stew to a much smoother consistency than pictures above.  Otherwise, use the food processor to get the squash cut up as finely as possible without pureeing it.

Inner Warmth Peanut Stew

Ingredients: 

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 3 to 4 green onions - chopped
• 1/2 cup garlic - minced
• 1/2 cup ginger - peeled and minced OR 2 Tbsp ground ginger
• 1/2 tbsp black pepper
• 2 to 3 pounds winter squash (butternut or acorn) - peeled and cubed
• 1 quart tomato juice
• 1 15 oz can diced tomato
• 1/2 tbsp salt
• 1 medium bunch fresh cilantro - stems removed, chopped
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter (I recommend using natural for the taste and less sugar)
• Cooked brown rice

1. If you do not have an immersion blender, then use a food processor to cut the squash up as finely as possible.
2. Warm the olive oil in a large pot over medium heat.  Add the onion, garlic, pepper, and squash.  Cook until the ingredients start to soften, about 10 minutes.
3. Add tomato juice, tomatoes, and salt.
4. Simmer until squash is tender (a knife easily slips out when you stab one of the cubes).  If you used the food processor in step 1, then this won't take very long.  The recipe says 5 minutes, but I recommend about 15.
5. Add cilantro and peanut butter.  Stir well and allow to simmer longer to thicken.
6. If you have the immersion blender, then use it to get the consistency smoother, otherwise you are done.
7. Serve over the cooked brown rice.

Serves 5 to 6

Sausage & Lentil Soup

I love soups and stews when the weather is cold and gloomy.  This fall here in Kentucky has been gloomy on and off, and nicely cool most every day.  I'm still getting my feel for lentils, and I ran into this recipe that promised it was a healthy soup.  I ended up tweaking it a bit which moves it a bit from the soup family to the stew family, but it's still nice all the same.  It's a very filling meal, and you'll end up with leftovers if you're making it for two.

I highly recommend using your own homemade chicken stock to pump up the health factor as well as the deliciousness.  Using your own broth also means you'll save money on the recipe.  You can potentially use less cook time here, but I like a longer simmer to get the flavors really married well to the other ingredients.

Sausage & Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 green onions - chopped
• 2 celery ribs - diced
• 1 pound lean smoked sausage (I used turkey)
• 2 medium carrots - chopped
• 3 garlic cloves - minced
• 24 to 28 oz of chicken broth - reduced sodium
• 1/3 cup water
• 1 cup lentils - rinsed
• 1/2 tsp dried rosemary
• 1/2 tsp dried thyme
• 1/4 tsp cumin
• 1/4 tsp ground pepper
• Salt to taste
• 1 15 oz can of diced tomatoes
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce 
• 1 cup frozen cut spinach

Directions:

1. Lightly spray a large pot with cooking oil (you can also add a touch of rendered bacon fat if you want to up the flavor and aren't worried as much about the health side of things).  Add the green onions, celery, garlic, and sausage to the pot.  Cook on medium heat for about 2 to 3 minutes.
2. Add the carrots and cook about 3 minutes longer until the celery is tender and the garlic golden.
3. Stir in the broth, water, lentils, and dry seasonings.  Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat to a simmer.  Allow to cook 30 to 35 minutes, or until carrots and lentils are tender.
4. Stir in tomatoes, spinach, and Worcestershire sauce.  Cook for another 10 minutes.

Serves 4 to 6

No Knead Bread - Easy to Make!

I love bread.  I don't think I could go on one of those diets where you give up all pastas, breads, and the like.  My grandpa would bake bread, and I remember how it smelled in the house.  I always wanted to bake my own bread, but had convinced myself it was difficult and therefore I had to either settle for a bread machine or just buy some from the store.  I did have a bread machine for a while, and it was neat... but HUGE.  I didn't even have the largest one you could get, and it took up so much space!  I opted to not keep it a few years back when I needed to move.  I was stuck buying bread from the store, convinced that making a nice crusty loaf of bread was far too difficult for a mere mortal.

And then I heard word of a no knead bread via this recipe.  "There has to be a catch," I speculated.  There is a slight catch, and that is time.  Since you're not kneading the dough you let it rise for several hours.  We're talking around 18 hours here.  At least 20 if you include the 2 hour rest before baking.  This may seem overwhelming, but it's not.  Simply mix everything up, cover it, and leave it alone.  Do whatever you would normally do during the day.

This bread has a nice crusty outside with a soft inside.  The outside part will lose some of that crustiness as it sits, but you can pop it back in the oven to crisp it up.  I also highly recommend mixing rosemary and/or whole garlic cloves into the dough, as it makes a wonderful side to any Italian dish.

No Knead Bread - Basic Recipe

Ingredients:

• 3 cups flour (bread flour or unbleached all purpose flour)
• 1/4 tsp instant yeast
• 1 tsp fine table salt
• 1 1/2 cups warm water 

You will also need:

• A pot or dutch oven with lid that is oven safe to 450 degrees
• Parchment paper or silicone mat (oven safe to 450 degrees required) if not using a well seasoned cast iron pot 
• Plastic wrap
• Large bowl 

Directions:

1. Mix the flour, yeast, salt, and warm water together in a large bowl until combined.  The dough will be very shaggy looking.
2. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and allow to rest for at least 18 hours.  Make sure that it is in a warm (but not hot) location!
3. When you come back to the dough it will have increased in size and be all bubbly and sticky.  Lightly flour a small sheet of parchment paper or a silicone mat, and turn the dough out of the bowl onto it using either a wet spatula or wet hands.  If you're using a well seasoned cast iron pan, then simply lightly flour your counter top.
4. Fold the dough end to end a few times and form a ball.  Place this ball, still on the paper or mat, back into the bowl it rose in, and cover the bowl loosely with a towel.  Allow to rest for at least 2 hours.
5. An hour into the rest period, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.  Place the covered pot you will be using into the oven while it is preheating.
6. Once the 2 hours is up, carefully remove the pot and add the dough being careful to make sure the paper or mat goes into the pot first so it rests on the bottom.
7. Bake covered for 30 minutes.  Bake uncovered for 15 to 20 minutes, or until the crust is nicely golden.  The bread will make a low, hollow type sound if you tap it.

Makes great open faced sandwiches and french toast too!

Curried Lentil Soup

I decided to give lentils a try because they are inexpensive, high in fiber, and everyone keeps raving about them.  Mr. Monkey was a bit concerned.  The last time he tried them, he wasn't a big fan.  He wasn't sure exactly what it was he didn't like, he just knew he didn't like them.  I had just bought curry, however, and I was wanting to get a little crazy with it.  I found this recipe at Epicurious, but a lot of the comments were concerning.  Many people reported the soup lacked flavor and body.  Most everyone agreed that the amount of seasonings and garlic had to be doubled.  At least.  I decided to take their advise and give it a shot. 

Mr. Monkey ended up liking the soup, though his initial reaction was a bit meh.  In the course of making the soup, you make a very basic hummus to stir into it.  I couldn't quite get the texture of the hummus as smooth as I wanted, and that's what was bothering him.  However, after eating a bit of it he warmed up to it.  Pairing it with the rice was a very good idea as it made the dish more filling.  I also didn't add extra water to thin it out since I was cooking it longer than recommended.

Another note about this recipe.  It's technically done after cooking 30 minutes, but I highly recommend you let it simmer at least an hour or two.  This will also make the soup thicker.  You will need a food processor for the hummus!

Curried Lentil Soup

Ingredients:

• 3 tbsp olive oil - divided
• 2 to 3 green onions - sliced
• 1 medium carrot - finely chopped
• 6 to 8  garlic cloves - minced, divided
• 4 tbsp curry
• 1 tbsp garam masala
• salt & pepper to taste
• 1 cup lentils
• 4 1/4 cups water - divided
• 1 15 to 16 oz can of chick peas (garbanzo beans) - drained, rinsed
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1 tbsp hot chili oil
• 2 tbsp (1/4 stick) of butter

Directions:

1. Heat 1 tbsp olive oil in large pot over medium heat.
2. Add green onion and carrot; sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Cook until onion is tender and turning a little translucent on the white parts.
3. Add about half of the minced garlic, and stir until the vegetables are getting tender, but not brown.
4. Add the curry and garam masala, and stir until fragrant - about one minute.
5. Add lentils and 4 cups of water.  Increase heat and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and allow to simmer for 30 minutes.
6. Once 30 minutes is done, taste the soup.  Add a little salt or pepper as needed, but sparingly as we still are going to be adding stuff!
7. Puree the chick peas, 1/4 cup of water, lemon juice, hot chili oil, 2 tbsp olive oil, and remaining garlic in a food processor.  Process until smooth.
8. Add the butter and hummus to the lentil soup.  Stir well, and allow to simmer for another hour to hour and a half.  Stir every 15 to 20 minutes so the soup does not stick to the bottom of the pot.
9. If you want to have thinner soup, then add more water, but be sure to taste the soup after doing so to see if you need to add more curry or other seasonings.
10. Serve on its own, or with rice.

Serves 4 to 6

Pumpkin Pie Purse

Sometimes I find myself with odd amounts of ingredients.  I had leftover pumpkin puree from a pasta dish I had made previously, but it wasn't enough to make a whole pie.  I also had some puff pastry from a dinner that was supposed to be a Guinness steak and cheese pie, but ended up being stew due to me forgetting to take the puff pastry out of the freezer. -_-  I wanted to make a dessert with the pumpkin, and I wasn't sure what to do with the puff pastry.  I decided to try to make a pumpkin purse of sorts.

I like the idea of fruit purse type desserts, but the last time I had one it was quite disappointing.  The taste was good, but there wasn't much apple at all for the amount of pastry present.  Considering I paid $4 for it, I was pretty annoyed.  With this, I wanted to make sure there was a decent amount of pumpkin in the center.  I have a very small casserole dish that my mom gave me.  It must be 4 inches wide and about 3 inches or so deep.  It was perfect for this, and I ended up with a dessert that could make 4 moderately sized portions or two larger sized portions.

The bake time is approximate.  I set it for 25 minutes originally, and then kept incrementing the time up as I checked it to see if it was done.  The total bake time was probably close to 40 minutes, but I advise you keep a close eye on it past 30 to make sure all is going well.

Pumpkin Pie Purse

Ingredients:

• 1 cup pumpkin puree
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 1 egg - lightly beaten
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie seasoning
• 1 tbsp buttermilk (heavy cream or regular milk will also work)
• 1 sheet of puff pastry- thawed if frozen
• Flour for rolling the puff pastry out
• Honey for brushing the top - optional

Directions:

1. Lightly flour the surface of a board or counter.  Spread puff pastry sheet out on the floured surface, and sprinkle a little flour on the sheet itself.
2. Using a floured rolling pin, large bottle, or large glass roll the pastry sheet out slightly so it will be thinner.
3. Cut the pastry sheet in half.
4. Lightly flour a small (approximately 4 inches) casserole dish or baking pan.
5. Carefully place one half of the pastry sheet in the casserole dish with the extra part hanging over the sides.  Carefully place the other half perpendicular to the other pastry sheet (think of a plus sign +).  Keep the sides of both sheets hanging out, and lightly press them together and make sure no part of the inside of the dish is exposed (no pumpkin leaks!).
6. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
7. Mix the pumpkin with both of the sugars, the egg, cinnamon, and seasoning.  Stir until well combined.  The mixture will be visibly lighter in color than the original puree.
8. Spoon the mixture into puff pastry.
9. Fold one end of the pastry over the mixture.  Use a little water on the end of the next fold to make them stick together.  Repeat until the folds cover the pastry.  Use a little water to make sure the purse is sealed.
10. Brush surface with a little honey if desired.
11. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, checking at the 35 minute mark to make sure the pastry is puffing and turning golden.  The purse will be done when the pastry is puffed, flaky looking, and lightly browned/golden.

Serves 2 to 4

Homemade Mayo!

I like mayo on occasion, but not enough to buy a big tub of it.  Unfortunately the smaller jars are generally expensive, especially when you compare the price per ounce with the larger jars.  I'm making chicken salad sandwiches tonight with no knead bread and leftover roast chicken, and I didn't want to go buy a whole jar of mayonnaise just for the one meal.  After a bit of looking around, I found this post on Beantown Baker with a recipe instructions for making mayo!  The recipe is super simple, but it does require that you have either a blender or a food processor.  I also slightly reduced the amount of sugar in the recipe, but really the sugar is optional.  I recommend making it without the sugar, and then tasting the mayo to see if you really want to add the sugar or not.

The taste is really awesome!  I don't think I'll ever buy mayo again after making this.  Most of the ingredients should be things that you have in your fridge or pantry.  Please note that you can use Dijon mustard in place of dry mustard if you are lacking the latter.

Homemade Mayonnaise

Ingredients:

• 1 egg
• 1 tsp dry mustard or Dijon mustard
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 Tbsp lemon juice or vinegar
• 1 cup canola oil
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/2 tsp sugar

You will also need:

• A food processor or blender
• A container for the mayo (jar, tupperware bowl, ziploc bag) 

Directions:

1. Add egg, mustard, salt, and lemon juice to the food processor and turn it on.  Blend on low until everything is well mixed, generally around 30 seconds or so.  The color will be a happy yellow or orange depending on your yolks.
2. Slowly pour in the oils with the food processor running.  Let it run for 30 seconds to a minute.  As it runs the color will change from orange yellow to the creamy white you're familiar with.
3. Stop the food processor and taste the mayo.  If you are happy with the taste, then you are done!  If not, then add the sugar and run the food processor again.  Add another 1/2 tsp if needed.
4. Spoon into covered container, and store in the refrigerator.

Makes approximately 1 1/4 cups of mayo

Chicken & Spinach Curry

Last week I roasted a whole chicken.  I decided to do it because of how inexpensive a whole chicken is vs getting boneless, skinless chicken breasts.  I don't think I did exceptionally well carving it, but I do have the carcass in the freezer for stock making purposes.  The leftovers provided at least 6 or 7 individual meals (counting myself and Mr. Monkey as separate meals), and that was with my lackluster carving skills on a 4 1/2 pound bird.  This was one of the meals that came out of it one day when I realized I had baby spinach that could go bad if I didn't use it, and thus decided to whip up a quick curry.  I remade this dish last night for the two of us, and served it over cous cous.  It's a light meal on it's own, so you may want to add rice, quinoa, or cous cous to make it a bit heartier.

I have a quick confession to make before we get to the recipe... I love curry.  I've had it a few times and was OK with it, but I finally broke down and bought some.  It's so good!  I can't wait to try adding it to other dishes. :3  Hopefully Mr. Monkey doesn't get tired of me using it!

The measurements for this recipe are for a small, single serving.  You can scale everything up slightly to make it for two or more people.

Chicken & Spinach Curry

Ingredients:

• 1 to 2 cups baby spinach
• 1/2 cup roast chicken
• 1 1/2 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 Tbsp hot chili oil
• 2 Tbsp milk
• 1 tsp curry
• 1 tsp sea salt 

Directions:

1. Warm the olive oil and hot chili oil in a large pan over medium low heat.
2. Add spinach to the warmed oil a little bit at a time and stir to cover in the oil.
3. Stir the spinach until wilted and add the chicken, salt, curry, and milk.
4. Continue stirring until the seasoning is well mixed into the spinach and chicken and no large clumps are built up on either.  Add a touch more milk if necessary.
5. Continue to cook until spinach and chicken are heated thoroughly. 
6. Serve on it's own or with rice, cous cous, or quinoa.

Serves 1

Smoked Sausage & Corn Chowder Redux

In August I posted a recipe for Smoked Sausage & Corn Chowder.  It was the third recipe I posted here, and it was put up with no picture!  I finally got back to remaking the dish, and decided to update the recipe slightly too.  Go ahead and check it out!  I decided less bacon isn't necessarily a bad thing, and crisping the sausage with the bacon brings out more flavor over all.  I also added a picture!  Huzzah!

As I can, I will be updating the older recipes to add photos and to tweak the formatting and recipes themselves a bit.  I want to make sure everything has a yummy photograph to make you interested in what I'm cooking. :)

Golden Rum Cake

Today's my anniversary with Mr. Monkey!  It's been three years since we've been together, and I'm looking forward to several more.  I wanted to make something special for the occasion, but I haven't built up a lot of my baking supplies from when we moved.  I hunted around and found this recipe over at Food Blogga.  It's taken from the Booze Cakes cookbook, which I've now determined that I must get my hands on.  This cake is seriously simple to make, and it tastes so good!  A warning about the glaze... you put the rum in AFTER the main part of the glaze has cooked on the stove!  This means the glaze will be very strong tasting (which is awesome), and it will have alcohol in it.

The cake was a big hint with Mr. Monkey, and I sent him to work today with a slice that I made sure to get a good bit of glaze on.  I had a piece this morning for breakfast (don't judge me), and it was nice, moist, and delicious.

Honestly, I just love any excuse to use my bundt pan.  It's purple, it's Nordic Ware, and it's awesome.  Plus it has it's own cake carrier that it came with.

Happy anniversary Mr. Monkey! <3

Golden Rum Cake!


Cake Ingredients:

• 2 sticks ( 1 cup) unsalted butter - room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 3 cups All Purpose Flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp salt
• 1 cup milk
• 3/4 cup dark rum
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Glaze Ingredients:

• 1/2 stick (4 Tbsp) of butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup dark rum 
• 1/4 cup water

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Grease and flour a 9 to 10 inch Bundt or tube cake pan.
3. Cream butter and sugar in a mixing bowl until light and fluffy.
4. Add eggs one at a time, beating after adding each egg.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
6. In another bowl (or in the measuring cup you use for the milk if it's big enough), stir together the milk, rum, and vanilla extract.
7. Beat the flour mixture and milk mixture into the mixing bowl with the butter. 
8. Pour batter into pan, and bake for an hour (or until golden brown).
9. Cool cake on rack, and then place on serving platter (or carrier platter).
10. For the glaze: In a small pot melt the butter over low heat, and then stir in the sugar and water.   Raise heat slightly and bring to a boil while stirring constantly.  Cook for 5 minutes.  Remove from heat and stir in the rum.
11. Slowly pour the glaze over the top and sides of cake until completely absorbed.  You can also dust with confectioner's sugar (I forgot to!) before serving.

Makes 10 servings (in theory...).

Alive and well (and in another state!)

It has been quite the adventure recently!  Mr. Monkey got a new job which meant we got to move back to Kentucky from North Carolina.  As much as I love the Bluegrass State I hate the stress associated with moving too, so it was mixed emotions for me.  Thankfully I love the new apartment, and now that I have internet I love it even more!  I figured I would post a regular recipe blog post later, but for now I wanted to share a few pictures that show what I've been up to. 

Just a portion of the packing from the old apartment!

As you see with the above picture, we had to pack everything up, and the place was quite the disaster.  Which made this feel even odder right at first:

My dining area! So much gorgeous light!

 Of course it didn't take long to fix all of that empty space...

Eeep!

 

 

I managed to slay the evil box pile with the help of my trusty box cutter!

Take that!

Before we made the long (11 hours) drive from NC to KY, we visited with family in SC to say good bye.  While we were there, I got to check out the Charleston Baked shop.  It has different owners now, and the name is slightly different (The Bake House I believe), but the food is the same!  The brownies were just so.... mmmmmmmmmm!

You know you want one!

We also had this while we were there:

Pumpkin Cheesecake. Yes.

Speaking of pumpkin, you must go find this now:

Yes, it tastes like pumpkin pie.

I was toying around with French Toast this week and made two items, one horrifying and one silly.  I'll let you decide which is which.

Zombie French Toast - it's green!

 

 

I turned these donut holes...

... into this French "Toast".

I'll leave you now with a picture of my mantle... which still is lacking a few items, but I'm pleased with nonetheless!

Geekery at it's finest.

Garlic and Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

I commend those whom have the willpower to be vegan.  I do try to have my meatless days, but I love meat too much to totally give it up.  I'll be moving back to Kentucky soon, and one of the things I'm going to miss is the Farmer's Market.  In addition to the various produce, baked goods, and plants there are also a few vendors that sell meat.  We managed to snag a couple of amazing looking pork tenderloins for a really nice price, so I had to come up with something good.  Luckily I had bookmarked this recipe from a site that's devoted to recipes for pork tenderloins.

This recipe may seem like a bit of a piggy overload for some people, but it doesn't come across as such in the taste.  The meat was super tender, juicy, and the flavor was so good.

Garlic and Bacon-Wrapped Pork Tenderloin

Ingredients:

• 1 Pork Tenderloin - I used a one pound tenderloin, but you can use a two pounder
• 4 cloves garlic - minced
• 1 tsp ground thyme
• 1 tsp Greek Herb Blend seasoning
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp liquid smoke
• 4 to 8 slices of bacon (enough to completely wrap the tenderloin)
• 2 tbsp honey
• 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar 

 Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Place pork tenderloin in a roasting pan and set to the side.
2. Combine garlic, thyme, herb blend, sugar, pepper, and liquid smoke in a small bowl.
3. Mix the honey and vinegar in a separate bowl and set aside.
4. Rub the mixed seasonings all over the pork tenderloin coating it well.
5. Wrap the tenderloin completely in bacon.  I laid one slice of bacon down the length of the tenderloin, and then wrapped the others around it in a slightly diagonal wrap.
6. Roast in the oven for 30 minutes.  Remove from the oven and brush the surface with the honey vinegar mixture.  Continue roasting another 30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 160 degrees F.
7. Remove from the oven and let rest for about 10 minutes.  Slice and serve.

Servings vary according to tenderloin size and weight.

Flaming Bacon Mac & Cheese

I love macaroni and cheese.  I always have.  I can eat it plain, or I can mix things up in it.  I'll eat the boxed stuff if I have to, but what I have been craving for a while was the homemade stuff that you bake in the oven.  I had that as a child, and usually liked it.  I say usually because sometimes I had that weird little kid thing going on where you want the boxed stuff because you don't get it as much.  It seems like it's special, even though it really isn't.  Thankfully growing up made me appreciate a good baked mac and cheese.  Unfortunately I wasn't quite sure how to make one, and was a bit worried it would taste like flour and grossness.  I didn't want to use a processed cheese "food", but I had always been told that real cheese doesn't work well.  Thankfully I found this recipe at Eat More Heat that would pique my curiosity enough to give it a whirl.

It's really not hard at all!  I'm not sure why  I was worried about it now that I've made it.

I didn't have some of the stuff the original recipe called for, but I substituted where I needed to and it worked.  This mac and cheese is VERY hot!  You can cut back on the peppers or the seasoning if you must, but this stuff tastes good.

 

This song is appropriate.

Flaming Bacon Mac & Cheese

 

Ingredients: 

• 1 lb of bacon 
• 3 to 4 cloves of garlic - minced
• 3 green onions - chopped finely
• 1 1/2 sticks butter
• 3 cups milk
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1 tsp cajun seasoning
• 2 tsp chile powder
• 2 tsp cayenne pepper
• 3 cups monterey jack cheese
• 3 cups sharp cheddar cheese
• 3 cayenne peppers - diced
• 2 jalapeno peppers - diced
• 1 Hungarian wax pepper - diced
• 1 lb box macaroni 
• Plain breadcrumbs - for topping
• Parmesan cheese - grated for topping

Directions:

1. Cook bacon and reserve fat.  Note: you can still oven cook the bacon if you so choose, just make sure to pour the fat into the pan you'll be using to make the sauce.
2. Saute onion, garlic, and peppers in a large pan with the bacon fat over medium heat until peppers are tender and garlic is lightly browned.
3. While onion, garlic, and peppers are sauteing, warm milk over medium heat. While milk is heating, add butter and flour to the garlic and onions.
4. Pour warm (not boiling) milk into the butter and onions mixture. Stir until thick.
5. Reduce heat to medium low and add seasonings and crumbled bacon.  Simmer for 5 minutes to allow the seasonings to do their thing.
6. While sauce is simmering, boil macaroni until al dente.  Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
7. Add cheese to sauce and stir until well blended and cheese is melted.
8. Spray 9x13 pan with cooking spray.  Place drained pasta in pan, and pour sauce over pasta.  Stir pasta and sauce until well mixed.
9. Cover mac and cheese in bread crumbs and Parmesan cheese.
10. Bake until brown and bubbling, approximately 30 to 35 minutes.

Serves 6 to 8

Sloppy Joes sans Canwich

Sometimes I make something and am horribly disappointed in it, yet Mr. Monkey will insist that it's not as bad as I think it is.  This recipe started out as something else all together.  I made the original, and thought the whole thing tasted too sweet and was disgusting.  Mr. Monkey said it was fine if you didn't eat the cornbread part.  Indeed, the Jiffy cornbread was too cake-like, and the recipe wanted way too much of it.  The meat part wasn't bad though, and thus we decided to try it again as a sloppy joe sandwich.

It was awesome... though I did put a bit too much spice in.  I'll put the recipe up as I made it, but be aware that it will be spicy, and you might want to make adjustments.  I would recommend cutting out the cayenne and/or jalapeno peppers.

The "sans Canwich" part of the name is a play on the name of a certain canned sloppy joe mix.  You don't need that stuff to make a great sandwich!

Sloppy Joes sans Canwich

Ingredients:

• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 22 oz ground turkey (or 1 lb of your favorite ground meat)
• 3 cloves garlic - minced
• 2 green onions - sliced
• 1 medium red or orange bell pepper - chopped
• 1 jalapeno pepper - chopped 
• 1 cayenne pepper - chopped 
• Salt and pepper to taste
• 1 tbsp chili powder
• 1 1/2 ground cumin
• 3/4 tbsp sriracha (Rooster) sauce
• 1/2 tbsp chipotle Tabasco sauce 
• 1 cup tomato sauce
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 3 tbsp brown sugar
• 2 tsp liquid smoke (optional)

Directions:

1. Add olive oil to a large pan and warm over medium heat.  Add ground turkey and brown.
2. When turkey is brown and broken up into smaller pieces, add the garlic, peppers, green onion, salt, pepper, chili powder, cumin, hot sauces, and liquid smoke.
3. Simmer until peppers are tender.
4. Stir in the Worcestershire sauce, brown sugar, and tomato sauce until combined.  Lower the heat and allow to simmer until it's hot all the way through and is thickened.
5. Serve over your favorite bread or buns!

Serves 4

Acorn Squash for Breakfast!

That wee little sock monkey is encouraging you to try something new!  What is that?  Acorn Squash for breakfast, that's what!  Acorn squash has a slightly sweet taste on it's own, and the texture can be pretty smooth (especially if you puree it).  It takes a little bit to bake it, but when it's done you can either eat it all on its own, or mix with something else.  You could even make muffins and bread as you would with pumpkin!

Steel-cut Oatmeal with Acorn Squash mixed in!

Basic Acorn Squash

Ingredients:

• 1 large acorn squash - should feel heavy and firm to the touch 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil.
3. Place acorn squash in center of the pan, and place pan in the oven.
4. Bake for 45 minutes, turning the squash at least twice during baking time to ensure even cooking.
5. Squash will be done when you can easily slide a paring knife into the side.
6. Remove squash from oven and allow to cool for about 10 minutes before attempting to handle it.
7. When squash is cool enough to handle (but not cold), slice in half.  Scoop out the seeds and stringy pulp.
8. Remove the meat from the skin.  There will be harder woody parts inside where the ridges of the squash were, so be sure to remove those too.
9. Either puree the squash or mash with a large spoon. 

From here you can add honey, brown sugar, butter, or cinnamon if you so desire and eat it on its own.  You can also mix it with oatmeal, or use it in place of pumpkin in a pumpkin recipe.

Serves 2 to 4 depending on serving size.

Zucchini Mediterranean Style with Jasmine Rice

I try to have at least one dish each week that is meatless.  It doesn't have to be vegan, but it does have to be vegetarian.  I do this mainly to make sure I'm eating well, but also to save a touch of money.  Meat can sometimes be expensive, so not having to buy as much helps out.  I'd like to think a dish like this balances out the whoopie pies and chocolate pancakes I love to make.

Zucchini is in season, so I can find it easily at the Farmer's Market and it's pretty cheap.  This dish was very flavorful and pairs nicely with the Jasmine rice.  I didn't make it too spicy, and decided to rinse the canned beans first to improve the flavor.  The recipe comes from All Recipes; and while it calls for cannellini beans, you can use navy beans like I did.

Zucchini Mediterranean Style with Jasmine Rice

 Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups water
• 1 cup Jasmine rice
• 3 tbsp olive oil
• 2 green onions - chopped finely
• 1 large bell pepper - chopped  (I used orange)
• 4 cloves garlic - minced
• 1 (14.5 oz) can of whole peeled tomatoes - quartered
• 3 cups chopped zucchini
• 1 tbsp Greek Herb Blend seasoning
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 1 (15 oz) can of navy beans - drained and rinsed 

Directions:

1. Bring water to boil in a large pot.  Add salt and rice to water. Reduce heat to medium low and cover.  Allow to cook for 15 minutes.  Remove from heat, stir once, and cover again for 5 more minutes.  Fluff with fork when ready to serve.  While this is going on...
2. Heat oil in a separate pan over medium heat.  Add the onion, bell pepper, garlic, and zucchini.  Cook until zucchini is tender.
3. Add tomatoes and seasoning.   Reduce heat to medium low to low, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes.  Stir occasionally.
4. Add navy beans, stir, and allow to cook for 5 to 10 minutes uncovered.
5. Serve over cooked Jasmine rice.

Serves 3 to 4

Pepperoni Pizza Pasta Bake

Bakingdom had this really great pizza pasta bake recipe that I knew I just had to make as soon as I saw it pinned on Pinterest.  Not only did it look delish, but I knew I'd have quite a few leftovers and it was simple too.  I was so stoked about making this that I made sure I had everything I needed... but the pasta.  I thought I had enough rotini, but it turns out I only had half a box.  Luckily I also had half a box of spaghetti which I just broke in half and used.  I also stuffed a couple of lasagna noodles in for good measure.

The meat can be ground chicken, turkey, beef, pork, or even an Italian sausage.  I used ground turkey and also used a turkey pepperoni.  This along with the whole wheat pasta, made it slightly more healthy.  At least as healthy as a dish full of pasta and covered in cheese can be. :)  I also left out the sugar that the original recipe calls for.  I'm just not a big fan of sweet sauce, and if I'm making it myself then the sugar is going to be left out.

You'll want to have a rather large pot ready to mix all of this up.  I recommend starting out with it for the pasta, rinsing it out, using it for the sauce, and then dumping the pasta and meat in it to mix it up.  I tried using a 4 quart pot, and it was simply too small.


Pepperoni Pizza Pasta Bake

Ingredients: 

• 1 13 oz box of whole wheat pasta
• 1 lb ground turkey
• 2 cups turkey pepperoni - quartered
• 2 15 oz cans of tomato sauce
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• Salt to taste
• 2 tbsp garlic herb blend Italian type seasoning
• Pepper to taste
• 4 cloves garlic - minced
• 2 tbsp crushed red pepper
• 2 tbsp garlic powder
• 2 cups mozzarella cheese

Directions:

1. Prepare pasta until al dente (about 10 minutes) in a large pot. Drain and rinse pot.
2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray, and set aside.
3. Brown ground turkey in large skillet.  Add salt, pepper, and garlic powder to turkey.  Stir in pepperoni when almost browned.
4. Add olive oil to the large pot and warm over medium low heat.  Stir in garlic and let it get golden brown.
5. Stir in tomato sauce, crushed red pepper, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper.  Simmer for about 10 minutes to let the seasonings release their flavors.
6. Remove sauce from heat.  Add pasta and meat and mix well.
7. Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Cover in mozzarella.
8. Bake for 25 minutes, or until cheese is bubbling and just turning brown on top.
9. Allow to sit for about 5 to 10 minutes before serving.

Serves 6

Simple Sesame Noodles

This lovely recipe comes from The Pioneer Woman, and let me tell you it is so simple and delicious!  The beautiful thing about these noodles is that you can fix them as is and eat them alone, pair them with another dish, stir in additional ingredients (shrimp and almonds come to mind), and I'm pretty sure they even taste good cold, straight out of the refrigerator.

A note on a few of the ingredients.  You should be able to find most of these in the Asian food section of your local grocery store.  The hot chili oil was the one for me that was tough to find, and I ended up having to go to a specialty market for it.  Also keep an eye out for the rice vinegar.  It was in both the vinegar section as well as the Asian food section, but the ones that were in the vinegar section cost more.  I also doubled the amount of hot chili oil used in the original recipe.

Simple Sesame Noodles

Ingredients:

• 12 oz of thin noodles (spaghetti, Japanese noodles, etc) -  cooked, drained, and warm
• 1/4 cup of low sodium soy sauce
• 2 Tbsp sugar
• 4 cloves of garlic - minced
• 2 Tbsp rice vinegar
• 3 Tbsp pure sesame oil
• 1 tsp hot chili oil
• 4 Tbsp canola oil
• 4 whole green onions -  sliced thin
• 2 Tbsp hot water

Directions:

1. Whisk all ingredients (except the noodles and green onions) together in a large bowl.
2. Add warm noodles and toss to cover the noodles with the sauce.
3. Add green onion and toss.
4. Serve as a side or main dish!

Servings: 4 to 8 depending on serving size

"Squashed" Egg Scramble

Remember how I mentioned saving the pulpy part of the squash we scooped out when making the Stuffed One & Eight Ball Squash?  Well this is where we get to use it!  This can be a lunch or dinner meal, but I recommend it for breakfast.  I sometimes find that I want more of a savory breakfast than the traditional sweet breakfast.  This was hot and filling, and it used up the extra squash and spinach I had from making last night's dinner.  I use crushed red pepper and cajun seasoning for a good spicy heat, but you can substitute those for flavorful herbs if you prefer.

"Squashed" Egg Scramble

Ingredients:

• The left over squash pulp from 2 one or eight ball squashes
• About a cup of fresh baby spinach
• 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream
• 2 tbsp unsalted butter (1 tbsp may be sufficient) 
• 1 tbsp crushed red pepper
• 2 tsp cajun seasoning
• Salt and Pepper to taste
• 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese 

Directions:

1. Melt the butter in a skillet over medium-low to medium heat. 
2. Add squash to melted butter and saute until tender. Use a spatula to break apart the larger chunks if you didn't chop them before this point.
3. Add the spinach and stir until wilted.
4. Season with salt and pepper to your taste.
5. Whisk eggs, cream, cheese, red pepper, and cajun seasoning together until well beaten.
6. Push the squash and spinach mixture more towards the center of the pan, and pour in the egg mixture.
7. Lift, push, and scramble the mixture in the pan to get it all cooked. 
8. This will be ready when eggs are cooked to your liking and everything is hot.

Serves 1 to 2 depending on how hungry you are and if you want to share!

Stuffed One & Eight Ball Squash

She Cooks, He Cleans posted this excellent recipe for stuffed squash that they got from Sara at Culinerapy.  Like SCHC, I had to link to the touching tribute to Uncle Bob.  Please take a moment and go read it.  I don't know Sara or her uncle, but after that post I felt like I was right there with her growing up with him.  I teared up because her post made me think of the special people in my life that I have lost whom have influenced my cooking.  While did alter the recipe slightly from what was posted by SCHC and Sara, I thought about Uncle Bob's tribute while making it.  I hope he would find this variation of his dish acceptable.

Stuffed One & Eight Ball Squash

Ingredients:

• 2 One and Eight Ball Squash, medium to medium large size (a large zucchini can also be used)
• 2 stalks (green and white) green onion - chopped
• 3 cloves garlic - minced
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp butter
• 8 oz fresh baby spinach 
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup Parmesan cheese (plus some for the topping) 
• 3 tbsp Mexican Crema (sour cream can be used, but the crema has a richer flavor)
• 1 egg - well beaten
• Salt and pepper to taste
• A few tablespoons of bread crumbs for topping
• 1 tbsp garam masala (optional, but gives it a great flavor and smell)

Directions:

1. Pre-heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Spray a small baking dish (a 8x8 casserole works fine) with oil and put to the side.
3. Wash and dry squash, then slice in half horizontally. Cut the stem area off, and also cut a bit of the bottom off on the other half.  This will make sure both are able to stand up without falling over.
4. Scoop out the pulpy parts and store them in a covered container in the refrigerator. Do not throw these away! We will use this in a recipe tomorrow! :)
5. Lightly coat the insides and rim of the hollowed out squash halves with olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper.
6. Place the squash in the oiled dish, and bake for 20 minutes or until the squash is starting to get tender.
7. While the squash is in the oven, warm a pan on medium low heat with the oil and butter. 
8. When the butter is melted, add the green onion and garlic.  Saute until garlic starts to turn golden and onion is soft.
9. Slowly add handfuls of spinach and stir until the spinach is wilted.
10. Add salt, pepper, and garam masala.
11. When all spinach is wilted, add the cranberries and walnuts. Stir until mixed, remove the pan from the heat, and allow the cranberries to plump slightly.
12. The squash is probably done by now, and probably was done before we got to this step. Be sure to remove it from the oven when the time is up, and let it cool for a bit.  Using tongs, empty out any excess liquid that may have accumulated in the squash cups.
13. Empty the filling into a bowl and add the Parmesan cheese, egg, and crema.  "Stir it all madly."
14. Carefully spoon the mixture into the squash cups, and add a bit more Parmesan cheese and bread crumbs as topping.
15. Bake for 15 minutes or until tops are browned slightly and squash is tender without being mushy.
16. Serve warm or at room temperature.  It will be great either way!

Serves 2 (two squash halves each if using the ball squash)

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies with Buckwheat Honey Buttercream Filling

Last week I was trying to think of what I wanted to bake.  I had some pumpkin to use, and was debating on making a bundt cake or something else.  I grabbed my Whoopie Pies cookbook by Sarah Billingsley and Amy Treadwell and found just what I wanted to make.  The pumpkin whoopie pie recipe was easy, but then came the hard part... what kind of filling should I use?  I wanted something that would make me think of fall and complement the pumpkin flavor.  I almost made a regular buttercream filling and subbed the vanilla with a pumpkin pie coffee syrup I just bought.  Instead I found the honey buttercream filling and opted for that.

The buckwheat honey isn't a requirement, but I chose it because of it's strong flavor.  I wanted a honey that was rich tasting and that wouldn't be overpowered by the rest of the filling.  Buckwheat honey is a very dark brownish amber color that reminds me a lot of molasses.  I got my honey from a local vendor at the Farmer's Market.  If you can't get this kind of honey, then any type you have on hand will do just fine.

I subbed 2 teaspoons of pumpkin pie seasoning for the allspice and nutmeg since the pie seasoning contained both, and I had it on hand.  I also used a roasted ground ginger.

Pumpkin Whoopie Pies

Ingredients:

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 tsp roasted ground ginger
• 2 tsp pumpkin pie seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/2 cups solid pack pumpkin (do not use pre-seasoned!)
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F, and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. Sift (or whisk) together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, pumpkin pie seasoning, and salt in a separate bowl.
3. Either using a mixer with a paddle attachment or by hand, beat the brown sugar and butter together in a bowl until just combined.  Add the pumpkin and egg, beating well.  Add the vanilla and mix until combined.
4. Add the flour mixture and mix until incorporated.  Be sure to scrape the sides and under the batter mixture to make sure that all the dry ingredients are combined with the wet.
5. Using either a small ice cream scoop or a cookie scoop, drop scoops of batter onto the prepared baking sheets spacing them about 2 inches apart.  Be sure to have an even amount of scoops so each pie half has a "buddy" for filling!
6. Bake one sheet at a time for about 15 minutes each, or until the cakes are firm to the touch.
7. Cool on the sheet for at least 5 minutes before transferring them to a rack to cool completely. 

Yield: I ended up with 30 total halves, enough for 15 whoopies.  This was using a cookie scoop.

Note: You can reuse the parchment paper, so if you have more whoopie pies to scoop than pans to fill, then you can remove the pies from the paper when they are cooled, and then add more dough to the sheets. 

Buckwheat Honey Buttercream Filling

Ingredients:

• 3 cups confectioners' sugar (icing sugar)
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 4 tbsp heavy whipping cream
• 2 tsp buckwheat honey
• 1 tsp lemon juice
• Pinch of salt

Directions:

1.  Beat together the confectioners' sugar and the butter until the mixture is crumbly.
2. Add the heavy cream, honey, lemon juice, and salt.  Mix until smooth. 

Now if you're like me, your kitchen will still be pretty stinking warm from cooking the whoopie pies.  If you're also like me, then you're wanting to taste these really bad and will dump all the filling into a pastry bag and start filling whoopie pies as soon as they are cool.  The filling will get oozy!  Still delicious, but an oozy mess.  If you have the patience, then I would recommend covering the filling and putting it in the fridge for about 30 minutes before using it to fill the whoopie pies.  This gives the kitchen a chance to cool off, and will help the filling not get oozy while you're working with it.  Feel free to use a pastry bag or just grab a spoon, knife, or spatula and fill away!

Fluffernutter Cookies - Only Three Ingredients!

There was a time I didn't know what Fluffernuters were.  In fact that time was as recently as last week.  I kept seeing people talk about it, and I would scratch my head and shrug.  Traditionally, a fluffernutter is a sandwich that is made with peanut butter and marshmallow fluff (or marshmallow cream if you don't have the specific brand).  It sounded wonderful, and I nearly made one for myself with some leftover marshmallow cream that I had, but then I saw this recipe over at Picky Palate.

I was skeptical. Only three ingredients?  How will that even work?  What if they are just an oozy mess?  Maybe I should try adding something else?  In the end, I decided to give it a shot.  I didn't have QUITE a full cup of the marshmallow cream, but even so they turned out delicious.

Fluffernutter Cookies!

Ingredients:

• 1 cup marshmallow cream
• 1 cup peanut butter 
• 1 large egg, lightly beaten

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper and put to the side.
3. Mix the egg, marshmallow cream, and peanut butter  until just combined.  You want to have a nice marbling in the marshmallow cream.
4. Scoop the dough onto the pan with a cookie scoop leaving about an inch or two between the cookies.
5. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes. Watch out for the browning of the peaks to prevent burning.  The cookies may be fairly gooey when you take them out, but they will set as they cool.
6. Allow to cool in pan for 5 minutes before you transfer them to a cooling rack (and try not to eat them all while moving them to the rack!).

Yields 15 to 18 cookies depending on scoop size.

Meatballs and Squash Spaghetti Sauce

I must confess, I'm not always the best at getting a food photograph together.  Take the meatballs from this post.  It would look so much better on a plate, carefully arranged, better lighting, etc.  Unfortunately when it was done I was quickly trying to serve it because we were pretty hungry.  So we have a picture of the leftovers instead.  Mind you, I'm really looking forward to these leftovers!

The main part of the recipe will be the meatballs themselves.  The sauce you use is flexible, but I figured I would post it anyway.  Yes, I also realize that isn't technically spaghetti pasta; I used what we had.  It worked.

As a side note on the meatballs, I may try cooking them in the oven next time.  It would remove the element of having the meat fats to use for sauteing the squash, but it would make it easier to prepare everything at once without the meatballs getting cold.

Meatballs

Ingredients:

• 1/2 lb ground turkey
• 1/2 lb hot pork sausage (I used a hot breakfast sausage, but hot Italian would work too)
• 1/2 cup plain bread crumbs
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 tsp Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp garlic herb blend (either Mrs. Dash or Kitchen Secrets)
• 2 tsp ground pepper
• 2 tsp sea salt
• 2 tsp crushed red pepper
• 1 tbsp Parmesan cheese, grated

Directions:

1. Mix all ingredients in a large bowl either with clean hands or by fork until very well combined.  Scrape sides and bottom to ensure the breadcrumbs are fully incorporated into the meat mixture.  Make sure that the two meats are well mixed so you don't have large clumps of a certain meat type in a single meat ball. 
2. Warm about 2 tbsp of olive oil in a large pan using medium low heat.
3. Form the meat into balls either by hand or using a 4" ice cream scoop.  Using the scoop should mean you have around 8 meatballs total.
4. Cook the meatballs in the pan until all the pink is gone.  You may want to turn the heat up to medium, but I would advise against going much higher as you want to cook them all the way through without burning the outside.
5. Move meatballs from the pan to a plate. Do not drain all of the fat out of the pan as we're going to make...

Squash Spaghetti Sauce

Ingredients:

• 1 lb of sliced squash - I recommend using different types of squash to add an interesting flavor.  I used One Ball squash and Mediterranean squash  
• 2 8oz cans of unsalted all natural tomato sauce
• 1 6oz can of tomato paste
• Sea salt to taste
• 2 tbsp black pepper
• 1 tbsp garlic powder
• 1 tbsp Kitchen Secrets Greek Seasoning (optional)
• 1 tbsp Garlic Herb Blend (Mrs. Dash or Kitchen Secrets)
• 3 tsp crushed red pepper
• 2 tsp Sriracha "Rooster" sauce
• 1/2 cup pitted Kalamata olives
• The meat fat from previously

Directions:

1. Saute the sliced squash over medium heat in the fat from the meatballs.  Add the olives when the squash starts to become tender.
2. Add the tomato sauce and tomato paste, and stir well to ensure the consistency is even throughout the sauce.
3. Add the seasonings and sriracha sace. Mix well and simmer until sauce is bubbly and hot.
4. Serve over pasta of your choice with the meatballs.

Serves 4 (two meatballs per plate).

Cure for a Bad Day: Chocolate Waffles

This recipe was originally posted at Paris Pastry and is a wonderful way to fight off a bad day.  Honestly there's nothing for me to really change up here, the recipe is awesome all on its own.  If you are skeptical about this because you don't like super sweet breakfast fare, then you'll be pleasantly surprised that these waffles aren't super sugary.  Whipping the egg whites makes them light and fluffy, and even though I didn't have anything with them I still was full after eating a couple.

Chocolate Waffles

Ingredients:

• 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• ¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 large egg yolks
• 1 ¼ cups whole milk
• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 2 large egg whites
• 2 tablespoons light brown sugar

Directions:

1. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. In another bowl combine the melted butter, whole milk and egg yolks, whisk to combine. Pour the wet mixture into the dry and mix until smooth.
2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip egg whites until stiff peaks form (or if you're like me, whip them by hand). Add the brown sugar and continue whopping until stiff. Lightly fold the whipped egg whites into the batter.  The batter will be bubbly and thick looking.
3. Heat waffle iron and spray with nonstick cooking spray. For each waffle, pour the amount recommended by the manufacturer and bake as directed. (around 4 tablespoons per waffle, baked for 3 minutes). 

Yielded 8 1/2 waffle squares on my waffle iron

Bowtie Sausage Soup

I bookmarked a similar recipe a while back because a certain sausage brand shouted out the link since it mentioned using their brand sausage.  I forgot about it, and stumbled across it again when planning out this week's meals.  A quick Google search showed that the recipe is fairly common, but it just doesn't have the brand name sausage mentioned.  I didn't mention that brand here either because, as much as I like it, it tends to be expensive.  Not only that, but I wanted to vary the dish up a bit.

The recipe is very basic, but I decided to amp it up slightly to get more servings out of it, and to make it heartier.  I also like having multiple sausage types in a dish like this so you can get different flavors and textures.  It is rather inexpensive to make, and you can freeze the leftovers for a nice meal later on.  Even with the "rooster" sauce, the soup is not very spicy, and people that don't like spicy foods should still enjoy this.

Bowtie Sausage Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 lb smoked turkey sausage, sliced
• 1 lb (approximately 3 links) pork bratwurst sausage, chopped or sliced
• 1 slice of lean bacon, chopped
• 8 cups (64 oz) low sodium chicken broth
• 1 15oz can of tomato sauce
• 1 lb bowtie pasta
• 2 cloves of garlic, minced
• 2 green onion stalks (green and white parts), chopped
• 2 bay leaves
• 1 tbsp dried thyme
• 1 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
• 2 tbsp "rooster" (Sriracha) sauce (optional)
• 1 tsp liquid smoke (optional)
• salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

1. Brown smoked turkey sausage, bratwurst, and bacon in a large stock pot with the stove set to medium heat.
1. Optional step: get impatient and jack the heat up to medium high and walk away. Come back a minute or so later when the bacon and sausage fats are scorching the bottom of the pot. Turn heat back down to medium and pretend you totally meant to do that. It will taste awesome either way (it did).
2. Add green onion and garlic to pot. Heat until the onion is soft and the garlic is slightly browned.
3. Pour the chicken broth into the pot.  Stir it around well, and scrape the bottom of the pot well if you did the optional step 1.
4. Stir in the tomato sauce, pasta, thyme, bay leaves, Worcestershire, sriracha, liquid smoke, salt and pepper.  Raise heat to medium-high to high in order to bring the soup to a boil.  Reduce the heat to medium-low to medium, cover, and simmer for 20 minutes stirring occasionally. 

Serves 6 to 7 

Chocolate Cinnamon Muffins

 My boyfriend and I are doing what we can to save money due to job situations.  Saturdays used to involve us going out for breakfast before we got groceries, but we've since decided to have breakfast in house.  I still wanted Saturday breakfast to be somewhat special, so I decided to bake something simple using whatever I had.  I found this recipe for a chocolate chocolate chip muffin, but I didn't have nearly enough chocolate chips.  Undaunted, I used cinnamon instead which resulted in a warm, spicy chocolate muffin that went over well for breakfast.

As a side note, I did this both with and without cupcake wrappers.  The muffins without seemed be a bit more moist, but this may just be my imagination.  Either way, if you do not have any wrappers you'll be perfectly fine.

Chocolate Cinnamon Muffins

Ingredients:

• 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
• 2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 tbsp cinnamon
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips (optional)
• 1 cup milk
• 1/3 cup + 2 tsp vegetable oil
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract 

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
2. Line 12 cup muffin pan with cupcake wrappers, or lightly spray the cups with cooking spray.
3. Put the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cocoa powder, sugar, and cinnamon into a large bowl. 
4. Whisk the dry goods together until well incorporated, and then add the chocolate chips. 
5. Whisk the milk, oil, egg, and vanilla extract together in a separate bowl or large measuring cup.
6. Pour the liquid into the bowl with the dry goods and stir until mixed.  Be sure to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl to make sure the dry ingredients get fully combined with the liquid.  The batter may be lumpy which is OK.
7. Spoon the batter into the cups filling each around 2/3rds of the way full.  If you have any leftover batter, then use it to top off the cups until they are all even.
8. Bake for 20 minutes or until the muffins are dark, full, and springy.  You can also put a toothpick in the center of each to test to see if they are done.  If the toothpick comes out clean, then they are cooked all the way.
9. Allow to cool for 2 to 3 minutes prior to serving.

Yields 12 muffins.  I'll leave it up to you to determine how many is a serving. ;)