Roasted Squash and Kale Orzo

I am a real big fan of dishes like this. You know, those that utilize only seasonal ingredients, requiring little or no meat, and that fulfill this criteria: filling, healthy, and fresh. This, this, and this are all good examples of what I'm alluding to. This one today is inspired from the latest edition of Everyday Food magazine, which I highly recommend reading by the way.... and it lasted several days as well as being a quick warm-me-up dish for a last minute lunch after scrambling to feed the two kiddies.

Alternatively, you could swap the squash for chunks of roasted red bell pepper and the Parmesan cheese for goat cheese. Hmm. I like the sound of that already. OR, acorn squash instead of butternut. Roasted eggplant with fresh mozzarella. Spinach for the kale. You get the idea: whatever creativity sets upon you while you meander through the produce and cheese sections of the grocery store.

Okie. Here you go. Cheers for a great week!

Autumn Orzo with Roasted Squash and Kale

{Inspired by Everyday Food, November 2010}

1 cup orzo, cooked until al dente

2 tsp kosher salt, divided

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and chopped into 1/2 inch squares

3 Tbsp olive oil (approx), divided

2 bunches of kale, stems removed, chopped into smaller pieces

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 yellow onion, chopped

1/2 cup Parm. cheese
Black pepper

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. On a large baking sheet, place cubed butternut squash on top and drizzle with 2 Tbsp of olive oil. Sprinkle 1 tsp of kosher salt all over. Roast for about 25 minutes or until the squash is just tender (may not take quite 25 minutes). Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly. Meanwhile, cook orzo in a large pot of boiling water, salted with 1 tsp kosher salt, and let it boil until it's tender, but not soggy. Drain and set aside.

In a large saucepan over medium heat, drizzle 1 Tbsp olive oil and place onion and garlic in, stirring often. Sprinkle onion and garlic with a little salt, add the chopped kale, and allow to cook until kale is just wilted and onion is tender. Remove from heat.

Combine the squash, cooked orzo, and kale mixture in a serving bowl. Season with black pepper, and garnish with Parm. cheese and add more salt if necessary.

Serve warm.

Buttermilk Oatmeal Pancakes

The sad truth of the matter is that until I married my husband four years ago, you couldn't really get me to eat a pancake and even then, it was initially more of a gentle acquiesce of compromises (i.e. I'll do pancakes if you do goat cheese.. or whatever).. but but but.. as more and more pancake recipes have surfaced in the world of breakfast baking, my favor towards them continues to skyrocket to the point where I almost prefer some hyped- up or hyped- down concoction of homemade or pre-packaged pancakes over any Italian fancy pants or slow-roasted chicken and potatoes.

Really.

And once I discovered the fun in adding chocolate chips, banana chunks, blueberries, white chocolate chips, fresh strawberries, PB, etc etc.. to my pancake mixes while still pouring waterfalls of syrup and sprinklings of chopped nuts over them, well, it's been total fidelity to the world of flapjacks since.

This recipe has a great texture to it; thank you, buttermilk, thank you, oatmeal, though I must confess and am sorry to say that the actual flavor may not knock your socks off in reality. It's all in the fluff, it's all in the toppings which I highly recommend, and it's all in the acute attention to flipping them when they're getting just golden brown around the edges. Those 3 biggies, makes these pancakes what they are.

Enough with my ramblings. They set the scene for a solid day- pancakes just beg for greatness.

Buttermilk Oatmeal Pancakes

{slightly adapted from Williams Sonoma Entertaining, pg 251}

1 cup all purpose flour (we used 1/2 whole wheat, 1/2 white)

1/2 cup cake flour

1/2 cup quick-cooking rolled oats

3 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

2 large eggs

2 1/2 cups buttermilk

5 Tbsp unsalted butter, melted, plus more for cooking

Toppings

1 cup chopped, raw almonds (or walnuts)

1 cup dried blueberries (or currants)

Pure Maple Syrup

2 bananas, thinly sliced

In a large bowl, combine the flours, oats, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In a seperate bowl, combine the buttermilk, eggs, and melted butter. Slowly add this wet mixture into the dry and stir until everything is JUST combined. Set aside and allow to sit at room temperature for ten minutes.

Meanwhile, heat up the griddle with BUTTER- a Tbsp or so should suffice and preheat your oven to 200 degrees F (this will keep the first batch of pancakes warm).

To make the pancakes, fill a measuring pitcher with a 1/3 cup of batter and pour it onto the heated surface. Do not crowd the pan-- allow each pancake room to grow. Once bubbles appear and outer edges begin to color, flip them and cook for an additional minute or so on that other side. Place finished pancakes on a cookie sheet and place in warm oven until ready to serve.

For serving, stack pancakes high with choice of toppings.

Cheers.

Black Bean Guacaioli Burgers

I was in the mood last night to create a black bean burger concoction. Why I'm not sure, but the sound of it was like music to my tongue, so I proceeded.

The guacaioli is inspired by, yes you're right, a guacamole and aioli combination. Guacamole because it contains avocado, cilantro, and jalapeno, but aioli because of the mayo and garlic components, hence my made-up word of GUACAIOLI. Maybe the term itself needs some tweeking, but the actual stuff was tasty-- the mayo gave it some volume and the cilantro, jalapeno, and garlic pumped up the flavor by notches.

We've all got zucchini growing out of our ears right now, so why not throw some lightly sauteed zucchini slices on top in place of lettuce??

And, speaking of growing out of our ears, tomatoes are in abundance right now too.. throw some on your burg' if you wish.

It was a surprisingly tasty and filling meal. Both hubs and I loved it and will come back to it again!

The black bean burger recipe yielded about 5 substantial patties, but the guacaioli yielded maybe a bit less.

Ta ta!

Black Bean Burgers with Guacaioli and Sauteed Zucchini

1 can (15 ounces) black beans, drained

1/2 green pepper, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

2-3 garlic cloves

1 tsp cumin

1/2 tsp chili powder

Salt

1 egg

1 zucchini, sliced thinly on diagonal, and sauteed in olive oil and salt until browned and tender

Favorite Hamburger Buns

Guacaioli

1/2 cup mayo

1 ripe avocado

1/4 cup minced fresh cilantro

2 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 jalapeno, minced

salt (season to taste)

Squeeze of lime juice

In a food processor, grind the black beans, pepper, onion, garlic, and seasonings all together until it's a nutty consistency (you don't want it all the way smooth, nor do you want it huge chunky- just medium chunky:)). Remove from food processor, season with salt, and add egg. Form into patties and either bake in a 375 degree oven on a greased cookie sheet OR fry on stove top in olive oil (baking takes about 10-15 minutes)

Meanwhile, make the guacaioli by combining all the ingredients together. Set aside.

To assemble, place baked bean burger on bun, and then zucchini slices on top. Spread guacaioli on the other side of the bun.

Get your mouth around it and enjoy!

Oh La La, Peanut Butter Flapjacks

These are abundantly tasty and satisfying. I think fate brought us close together when I randomly (err... "randomly" might be debatable:)) turned on the food network a few days back for a much needed 10 minute mental break. There was Sunny Anderson on "Cooking for Real" whipping these out. Oh dear. PB WHAT?? I was glued to the teley.

You bet the next morn I strapped my apron on and had my elbows up in PB and flour heaven. My cute tot stood by and watched his mommy not even mess around with these. It was serious breakfast business.

A caveat: perhaps it was the griddle I was using, but man these pancakes seemed to have a quick burning point and too embarrassed to reveal exactly the number, let's just say that there were more pancakes thrown away than eaten. Pitiful shame. Then halfway into cooking these off, I realized why so many were overcooking: you see, most pancakes exhibit the common "bubbles" sign, indicating a readiness to be flipped onto the other side. This recipe lacks that. The edges will curl up a bit and a few bubbles here and there will form, so just keep the heat down to medium low and have your spatula armed in hand. They cook up fast!!

And, you note we're missing syrup in the photo. Very tasty with or without. Yummy with jam. Yummy with powdered sugar. Knock your teeth dead.

Peanut Butter Pancakes

{Barely adapted from Sunny Anderson, Food Network}

1 cup all-purpose flour (we used whole wheat)

1 tablespoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons sugar

1 egg

1 cup plus 2 tablespoons milk, plus extra if needed to thin

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter, melted

2 tablespoons canola oil

4 tablespoons butter

Preheat a griddle. In a large bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Slowly mix in egg, milk, peanut butter and oil until combined. Add a little extra milk if batter feels too thick. Let mixture sit 5 minutes. Melt 1 tablespoon butter on griddle and move around to coat entire griddle. Pour about 1/4 cup of batter per pancake on griddle to form 5-inch pancakes. The batter spreads as it cooks. Fill griddle without crowding pancakes. Flip when air pockets start to pop on the top and a quick peak on the underside reveals a golden pancake. Repeat with remaining butter and batter. Serve pancakes with syrup.

Black Bean Monsoon Salad

I love me a good summer salad.

I made this on a night last week when my brother, his wifey, and two kids came into town after an ambitiously long drive. They arrived just in time for the sun to oscillate between shining and hiding with intermittent rains and gusts of canyon winds. By the way, I must've missed the newsflash within these last few years of being a Utah absentee: when was it decided that Utah had "monsoon season"? I've heard that term related to Utah late-summer weather more in the last few weeks than ever in my entire life. Well, whaddya know? Utah has quasi-monsoon weather. Hm!

Anyway.. monsoon season or not, I'd eat this easy and healthy salad all the way through November. It's one of the easiest salads ever, with a real bang for your buck as it stretches through many leftover-meals AND, it's tasty with lots of reminders in every bite that summer is awesome.

Summer... it's all about fresh, easy, and tasty meals..

It's also about children squishing each other with love on lush lawns with grass stains a plenty on their white-white shorts (mild sigh).

Summer Black Bean "Monsoon" Salad

1 can black beans, drained

1 cup frozen white corn, thawed and drained

1 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

1/2 red pepper, finely diced

1/2 red onion, finely diced

1 semi-ripe avocado, diced ("semi" because you don't want to TOO soft in this salad)

3 stalks celery, finely diced

1 pint cherry tomatoes, sliced

3 limes

~1/2 cup olive oil

1 tsp Italian seasoning

~1/2 tsp cumin

Salt

Pepper

Combine the first 8 ingredients in a large bowl. In a volume measuring cup, combine the olive oil, lime juice, and seasonings- whisk well. Season with lots of salt and pepper. Pour all over salad and allow all the flavors to marinate with one another in the fridge for an hour. Or less- if you're starving:).

{Henry and Finn August 2010}

Squash Pizza with Thyme and Goat Cheese

Yesh, it looks like Philadelphia out there when I peep through our blinds, yet it feels like the heart of the Sahara desert. Turning on the oven amplifies this mega-heat problem significantly and had we not suffered a crock pot causality early last week, well, you bet that appliance would've been knocking out dinner left and right. Oh well. RIP, crocky.

Pizza sounded like the next best thing. Reason number 112 why I hate to say goodbye to Philly? My neighborhood grocer, Trader Joes. We've had some good times with that place. Their pizza dough is fantastic tasting, might I insert, and fantastically priced. It makes it into my grocery cart nine times out of ten.

Tonight with semi-questionable but still edible goat cheese lurking about in our fridge, squash, zucchini, and some few sprigs of thyme, we had dinner. Really good. Really versatile. Here's how it went.

A Summer Pizza

1 recipe, or 1 Trader Joes bag, pizza dough

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

1 zucchini squash, thinly sliced

1 yellow summer squash, thinly sliced

1/4 medium red onion, thinly sliced

2 Tbsp fresh thyme, chopped

olive oil

salt

3 ounces goat cheese

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place sliced squash in a colander with lots of salt over it and place on top of plate. Allow to sit for 15-30 minutes (this step helps get some of the residual moisture out of the squash).

Roll out pizza dough to desired size (we baked ours in a rectangular jelly roll pan). Place in pan and brush the surface with olive oil. Scatter the dough with minced garlic. Place squash, onion, and cheese all over. Season with thyme, salt and pepper, if desired.

Bake until crust is golden brown and cheese is melted.

Feta, Caramelized Onion, and Mushroom Pizza

I'll fain admit right now that some of my most favorite dishes include a strong cheese and some hefty garlic. I really like caramelized onion too.

But, no real story or creative words to dish out on this one. Fetus was in the mood simply for a "sauceless" pizza of sorts with sharp flavors. So we picked up some ingredients at the store I thought might marry well together.

Come to find out, it's a very likable dish with a very versatile nature to it: include the mushroom, exclude it, use portabello instead or a normal white button, exchange the feta for blue cheese, dare I say. Swap the caramelized onion for caramelized pear.

It's yours to play with.

My husband really liked it too. Henry didn't try it which means I'm two for three on this dish in the family:).

Toodles!

Pizza with Caramelized Onion, Crimini Mushroom, and Feta

1 recipe pizza dough (or store bought dough), rolled out to fit pan

2-3 garlic cloves, minced

2-3 medium onions, sliced in half moons

1 package crimini mushrooms, sliced

1 Tbsp olive oil

1 tsp butter

Salt and pepper

4-6 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

1-2 Tbsp fresh Italian parsley, chopped

Spread out pizza dough to fit the desired pan. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

Meanwhile, place olive oil, butter, onions, and mushrooms in a large saute pan over medium heat. Season with salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the onions are very tender and caramelized (mushrooms will cook quickly). Remove from heat, drain any excess liquid.

Place dough in oven for about 5-7 minutes, until it's halfway baked- just barely light.

Assemble other ingredients during this time: mince garlic, chop parsley, and crumble feta. Once dough is removed from oven, scatter minced garlic all over the dough. Spread the onion and mushroom mixture over the garlic (tasting to make sure they are well seasoned), and then sprinkle feta cheese all over that.

Bake for another 10 minutes or so, until cheese is melted soft and crust is golden brown. Remove from oven, sprinkle with fresh parsley, cut, and serve warm.

Dinners: Easy, Satisfying, and Nice to Wallet

I've been trying to find meals for our little family that aren't so costly but are healthy and fill the tummy. We're students right? I suppose because of it, my weekly trips to the grocery store are usually centered around finding economical dishes. I do have my weak moments though.... like when we brush by the fancy cheese section and there sits a log of goat cheese beckoning for consumption. Gotta take care of that!

Anyways... these are all very tasty and will provide leftovers for at least one-two subsequent nights. I like it for the money saving aspect, I like it more because it means at least 2-3 nights in the week that my sink is semi-free of piled-up dishes.

My first dish is a sweet-and sour chicken, which I'll be completely upfront: I do not like Chinese-American food all that much. Nor do I ever prepare it, but per my husband's request, I acquiesced to attempting it. It was successful. I think.

I have to warn you- the sauce is super tangy. For us, that's good. For others, not good. Presenting dinner number 1:

Sweet and Sour Chinese Chicken

{The Gathering of Friends, Vol. 11, 82)

8 chicken breasts, boneless, skinless

4 eggs

1 cup corn starch

1 cup flour

1 cup vinegar

1/2 cup sugar (we used a bit more)

1/2 cup ketchup

1 1/2 cup chicken broth

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1 tsp salt

1 tsp black pepper

Oil

Cut chicken breasts into 1" pieces. Beat eggs in a shallow bowl, set aside. Combine the corn starch, flour, and S & P in a Ziplock bag. Dip chicken pieces in egg, place in Ziplock and coat in flour mixture. In a large skillet lightly fry chicken in oil (I think I used about 1/2-1 cup), until just semi-done (you finish cooking it in the oven). Drain oil and place chicken in a 9 x 13 glass baking dish.

In a medium saucepan, combine soy sauce, ketchup, sugar, chicken broth, and vinegar; bring to a boil. Pour over chicken and bake for about an hour (more or less), carefully turning chicken pieces over and around every 15 minutes (very important!). While chicken is baking, prepare Jasmine rice for the side, as well as some vegetables (whatever you have on hand)

We took sugar snap peas, green onion, and carrots and sauteed them in a wok with sesame seed oil, served along side the chicken with extra sauce... YUM!

Dinner #2 comes from the February issue of good ol' MS Living. I was surprised by how flavorful rice and beans are when seasoned and garnished correctly. This is a dish I'll eat 5 nights a week. You can just feel the healthiness of it running through your body with each spoonful. Sour cream included.

Brown Rice and Black Beans

Beans:

8 cups water

1 lb dried black beans, picked over, rinsed, and drained

1 jalapeno chilie, halved and seeded

2 medium onions, quartered

5 garlic cloves, smashed

2 Tbsp red-wine vinegar

Salt and pepper

Rice:

¼ cup olive oil

1 medium onion, finely chopped

1 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups brown rice

3 ½ cups water

Salt and pepper

Making the beans: Bring water, beans, jalapeno, onion, garlic and red-wine vinegar to a simmer in a medium pot, not forgetting to season it with salt and pepper!:)

Cook, stirring occasionally, until beans are tender, at least 1 ½ hours, adding more water in ¼ cupfuls at a time, if needed.

Meanwhile, make the rice. Heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium high heat and cook onion and garlic until tender. Add 2 tsp salt, ¼ tsp of pepper, and rice. Cook until rice is slightly toasted, about 3 minutes. Add water and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to low and gently simmer with a cover until rice absorbs water, another 30 minutes. Remove from heat, let the rice stand and fluff with fork. Serve with beans.

Garnish: fresh cilantro, chopped avocado, cheese, sour cream, chopped tomato, and fresh lime wedges.

Dinner #3. Requires very little effort, except for some on-hand brown rice, which you can use from dinner #2 with leftovers.

If you have that, the remainder of the dish takes about 5 minutes to whip up. Plus baking time. Snap.

Red Enchilada Casserole

1 can black beans

1 package whole wheat tortillas

1 bottle Trader Joe's Red Enchilada sauce (or, any red enchilada sauce you find)

2 cups brown rice

1 cup corn

1-2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

In a large bowl, combine black beans, rice, corn and sauce. Mix all together, tasting to see if it needs salt or pepper. In a circular casserole dish, layer as follows: bean mixture, then tortilla, then a little cheese, then bean mixture, tortilla, cheese, and finish by ending with cheese on top.

Bake at 350 for about 20-30 minutes until heated through and cheese is bubbly!

Serve with lime and sour cream.

The end.

PS Apologies for the odd and inconsistent spacing of this post- blogger is not cooperating.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes From Heaven

My other half and I are big breakfast-for-dinner type- people. A good stack of homemade pancakes, accompanied by some eggs, hash browns, sausage, applesauce tucked in there somewhere... anytime, anywhere. Yes mam. I suppose that's where Henry gets his meat-cheese-bean food strike vs his I-only-want-to-eat-anything-that-resembles-waffles-pancakes-muffins-applesauce-hashbrowns-or-scrambled-eggs thing...

And so with the need to get some more protein sources in my child, I've really been itching to find me some good ricotta-pancake recipes and nailed down the exact one that tickled my taste buds to teasers this week! Lemon zest and all. Oh dear me dear me dear me.. my stomach is growling just thinking about 'em.

I mean, everyone needs a good and hearty, reliable pancake recipe---pancakes/waffles are my heros for an unplanned dinner.... and this recipe in particular, add or subtract in the lemon zest, is now my go-to. It works. It's easy. And the results are worth the dirty dishes still sitting in my sink.

Personally speaking, the sauteed apples were a most lovely touch. Not needed, but certainly a major bonus feature. While my fingers became sore with charlie-horses from peeling 4 green apples, I thought of "Sleepless in Seattle" where he (Tom Hanks) talks of his wife having that talent of peeling an apple in just one single strip. You better believe that every time I peel myself some apples, that line from the movie reels through my head and has ever since I saw that blessed movie in 1991. I was 10. I'm 27 now. Still in my mind, that peeling apples in one peel segment. Gesh.


In case you are wondering, this recipe comes from this beautifully put-together website- I just have a cyber crush on this gal. I do. Her photos and creations are beyond my culinary reach sometimes and the charm of it all sucks me in. She's a mind-boggling recipe maniac blogger-extraordinaire.

I think that's all my mind had to say about this one. Excusez moi for the two pancake recipes in a row.

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes with Sauteed Apples

For the sauteed apples:
4 large Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
2 tablespoons unsalted butter
3 tablespoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
fresh lemon juice to taste

For the pancakes:
4 large eggs, separated
1 1/3 cups ricotta
1 1/2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 tablespoons freshly grated lemon zest
1/2 cup all-purpose flour (we used whole wheat- worked great)
Melted butter for brushing the griddle

Maple syrup, as an accompaniment

Prepare the sauteed apples:
In a large heavy skillet saute the apples in the butter over moderately high heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 minutes, or until they are softened, sprinkle them with the sugar and the cinnamon, and cook them over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, for 5 to 10 minutes, or until they are tender. Stir in the lemon juice and keep the mixture warm.

Make the pancakes:
In a bowl whisk together the egg yolks, the ricotta, the sugar, and the zest, add the flour, and stir the mixture until it is just combined. In a bowl with an electric mixer beat the egg whites with a pinch of salt until they hold stiff peaks, whisk about one fourth of them into the ricotta mixture, and fold in the remaining whites gently but thoroughly. Heat a griddle until butter rubbed on the surface starts to sizzle. Working in batches, pour the batter onto the griddle by 1/4-cup measures and cook the pancakes for 1 to 2 minutes on each side, or until they are golden, brushing the griddle with some of the melted butter as necessary. Serve at once, with sauteed apples and the maple syrup.

Casserole with Sausage and Eggs

Before heading off to SLC for our winter recess, Chris, Henry and I had our own Christmas morning here in Philly with a breakfast spread, few gifts, and Christmas festivities. My husband grew up eating this dish each Christmas morning whereas it wasn't a staple in our Christmas morning household. This year however, I am converted and we have officially incoporated it into our xmas morning gaiety. It is a slam dunk casserole if you haven't yet had the pleasure of eating it.

Here you go. It'll turn even a vegan's head!

Sausage Breakfast Holiday Casserole

1 pkg pork sausage links (we used Morning Star brand- still good)
10-12 slices of white bread, cut and cubed
2 cups grated sharp cheddar cheese
4 eggs
3/4 tsp dry mustard
3 cups milk, divided
1 can cream of mushroom soup (low fat works)

Brown and drain sausage. Cut links into chunks. Spread cubed bread into a buttered 9 x 13 glass pan. Top with sausage chunks and cover that with cheese. Mix eggs, dry mustard, 2 1/2 cups milk, and pour over the other layers. Refrigerate over night or at least ~ 3 hours. When ready to bake, mix mushroom soup and remaining 1/2 cup milk and pour over top of casserole. Cover with foil and bake it in a preheated oven for 1 1/2 hours. Remove foil the last 10 minutes or so.
oooohhhhh it's sooooo goood!