Broccoli-Basil Mac & Cheese

Ever since this recipe for Broccoli-Basil Mac and Cheese was posted, I was looking forward to it.  I love broccoli and I love mac and cheese.  Unfortunately, I was pretty disappointed in the outcome.  I used manchego as called for in the original recipe, and I don't think I like it very much.  The basil flavor didn't come through at all, nor did the out-of-season yellow cherry tomatoes.  The broccoli wasn't pronounced.  The squash seemed out of place.  I probably should have used a half-and-half pasta instead of whole wheat.

I want to go through this recipe and rewrite it to be more appealing to me.  I know I can use it as a starting point to make something great.  I'll likely keep the broccoli bread crumbs, but I'm considering trying a cauliflower bread crumb, maybe sauteed to crisp it up a little.

Baked Pasta with Cabbage and Potatoes

I was skeptical about this recipe.  Baked pasta... good.  With cabbage... a little weird.  And potatoes... with pasta?  The cabbage mixture has mustard in it... and there's cheese.  But I needed a recipe that would use up a decent amount of Napa cabbage, so I gave it a shot.  Well, it was really surprisingly good.  I actually plan to make it again, though it won't be for me (more on that at a later date).

There are a few layers in this recipe.  You repeat each layer twice, in the same order.  First, a whole grain pasta - I used a whole wheat fusilli.  Next, the potatoes, followed by grated Parmesan and cubes of fontina.  The final layer is a mixture of Napa cabbage and leeks, flavored with garlic and whole-grain mustard.  I added extra mustard until I found the cabbage mixture absolutely delicious on its own.  After being baked in the oven, the cheese melted and the mustard flavor developed a new dimension.  We gladly ate the leftovers for a few days.

Roasted Tomato Soup

I was attracted to this recipe by the "roasted" part.  And the "tomato" part.  And the "soup" part.  It came out a lot different than I expected, but it was delicious.  It was simple to roast all the tomatoes, pepper, onion, and garlic.  I didn't even set the timer.  I think since I used plum tomatoes, it was not as tomato-y as it should be, so I added a bit of tomato paste to amp up the tomato flavor.  I left tiny chunks in the soup, so it had a bit of chew, and added some cooked brown rice, which complemented the texture of the soup.  I also had to add an extra sprinkle of the smoked paprika... very tasty.  This was a small pot of soup, so it's already all gone!  You can see the recipe here, but it's also in Super Natural Cooking.  I think the lack of photo in the book is probably the reason I haven't thought to make it before.

Oat Soda Bread

Heidi's Oat Soda Bread is a spinoff of her Rye Soda Bread from Super Natural Every Day.  I loved the rye version and I was actually a bit skeptical about the oat version since I liked the rye so much.  Fortunately, this is some of the best bread I have ever had and probably the best bread I have ever made myself.  I love the whole soda bread technique because it's so much quicker and easier than making a yeasted bread.  This bread makes a great sandwich bread as long as you like it by itself.  I tried it with some tomato, arugula, and whole grain mustard (also homemade, recipe from Super Natural Every Day).  I topped this bread with oat bran, since I have a whole bunch of it hanging around.  I'm really looking forward to experimenting a little more.  This bread has a lot of all-purpose flour in it, which I'm sure really helps the texture, but I would like to find a way to make it more whole-grain.  I'm looking forward to trying a spelt version too, now that I've got the basic technique down.  For someone who never makes bread because of the time commitment, this is a great option.

Indian Spiced Cucumber Salad

I made this cucumber salad to use up some of the cucumbers in the fridge.  It consists of diced cucumbers, lemon juice, two diced serrano chiles, peanuts and large-flake coconut, cumin and mustard seeds, and a handful of cilantro thrown in at the end.  As I was making it I couldn't help but doubt myself.  I really had no idea what it would taste like and it was not a combination of things I would have ever thought to try.  I didn't think it could possibly taste good.  But it did.  We ate it with some store-bought whole wheat naan bread.  It would be a great side salad to surprise people with at a picnic.

I'm not ready to do my CSA post for this week yet so I figured I would post this instead and work on that tomorrow.  Cheers!

Raw Tuscan Kale Salad

This one comes from the pages of In the Kitchen with a Good Appetite, by Melissa Clark of the New York Times.  I know her from the XYZ series.  Fortunately for you (and for me, since I didn't feel like digging through the book when I made this) Heidi has featured the recipe on her site.

I, too, was skeptical.  Raw Tuscan Kale Salad.  Raw kale.  Kale is thick and sturdy and the opposite of delicate spinach.  Somehow it works and I love it.  Lemony, garlicky, and of course cheese makes everything better, doesn't it?  The red pepper flakes add a kick, and I forgot the black pepper and didn't miss it at all.

I wanted this to sit and absorb the dressing (and what a coincidence, that's a step in the directions...) so I tossed it together right away when I got back from my workout and let it sit while I took a shower.  By the time dinner was ready it was pretty good.  By lunch the next day it was even better.  I'll make this again and again with all the cavolo nero I can get my hands on.

Oatmeal Muffins

I was eating muesli every day for a while, so for a few months, I was buying the 32 oz containers of yogurt.  I bought one a few weeks ago and never got around to opening it - I guess that's around when I started eating omelets for breakfast.  So I need to use up this yogurt over the next few days, and I went searching for some easy recipes.  I decided to adapt Heidi's Oatmeal Muffins.  Instead of the all-purpose flour, I used 100 g Multigrain Flour Mix (from Good to the Grain).  Besides that, I used 100 g unsalted butter instead of 200 g, plus 1/2 cup (one individual package) of unsweetened applesauce.  I sprinkled a bit of cinnamon sugar on top because I didn't feel like making the crumble.  It came out pretty good - definitely moist - but very dense.  If you like eating oatmeal, though, you'll probably like it.  I'm interested to find out how the original version tastes, but it was fun to kind of wing it and use up some of the miscellaneous ingredients I have lying around.  It could easily be adapted many different ways so I will probably use this recipe as a base again in the future.

Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie

Last week I was craving sweets.  I thought about making the Mesquite Chocolate Chip Cookies, but I didn't feel like doing all that work.  Immediately I remembered Heidi posting a whole wheat cookie recipe that she baked in a skillet.  I looked up the recipe, saw that I had all the ingredients, and got to work.

I used (obviously) my Le Creuset cast iron skillet, which was not as deep as Heidi recommended.  I used less of the dough to compensate, but I'm not exactly sure how much, since I ate bits of it while I worked.  For future reference, though, my cookie did not puff up beyond the edges of the pan or even close, and I think I could have included most, if not all, of the dough when I baked it.  I used a few tablespoons less butter than the recipe called for and I did not notice any difference - it's always nice to shave off a few calories from any recipe.

This was a big hit with my coworkers, and Ken's coworkers loved them too.  My mom hid the leftovers to keep for herself.  Some of the comments that I got were that the whole wheat changed the texture in a good way, making it more dense and satisfying, and that the cookies were not too sweet like many cookies can be.

Spiced Coconut Spinach

It's time to start eating more vegetables.  Spinach is in season - so is asparagus - so you can start with this Spiced Coconut Spinach recipe.  You can find the recipe on 101 Cookbooks.  It really is as delicious as it sounds.  We only had half the amount of spinach called for, so we nearly doubled the asparagus.  I didn't chop the spinach (truthfully, I was only taking quick glances at the recipe as I went, so I didn't even know that was a step), I omitted the shallot (used 2 cloves of garlic instead) because they were literally rotting in the basket at the store, and everything worked out just fine.  In fact, I just bought some more spinach and asparagus - we're going to make this again and again.

Breakfast Grains: Part 1

Ken and I like steel-cut oats or other hot breakfast cereals as a filling morning meal.  I sometimes get bored of them, so I make some similar options for variety.  I thought I'd make notes about some here.  Look for a follow-up post containing more ideas, mostly grains besides oats made into less traditional breakfast cereals.


Quaker Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats I like some plain oatmeal sometimes.  I make it with half water, half soymilk to make it creamy and vanilla-y.  Sometimes I like to jazz it up and make a fancy oatmeal, like Apple Pie Oatmeal or Banana Bread Oatmeal.  I've also been using it to make a ton of granola.

Nature's Promise Organic Steel Cut Oats (Stop & Shop's organic brand) This is the cereal that started it all (the advance cooking of breakfasts, and this post).  The oat groats (funny name, isn't it?) are cut fairly small so it doesn't take all that long to cook, maybe half an hour, but I still make it the night before.  One batch makes 4 servings, which are fairly small servings but quite filling, although I then have to find something for the 5th weekday.  This is a classic breakfast, so not many fun surprises, but it is very versatile.  You could top it with a variety of things, but I particularly like it with the hazelnut topping from the hazelnut muffins.

Bob's Red Mill Scottish Oatmeal This reminded me of cream of wheat, but with oats.  It's basically ground-up steel cut oats.  Definitely whisk it in or it will clump up and the middles of the clumps won't cook.  I made this with half 1% milk, half water.  As with the above, you could top it with quite a few things, but I liked it plain just as well.

Bob's Red Mill 5-Grain Rolled Cereal I decided to make this for myself one day, and since it makes two servings, I figured I'd give Ken the other half for the next day's breakfast.  Not thinking about that last part, I made it with half water and half soymilk.  Once I remembered the other half was for him I decided not to tell him and instead to see how he thought it was.  He LOVED it and I'm just never going to tell him it's made with soymilk.  (I want to try this trick with some other cereals too.)  At first I didn't want to tell him, but I let it slip after a while and he liked it so much that he was fine with it.  This one is used the most in my kitchen (after regular rolled oats), and as a plus, the rolled grains are great in granola, granola bars or oatmeal cookies instead of just plain rolled oats.

Bob's Red Mill 10-Grain Hot Cereal I first bought this cracked grain cereal for the Banana Cereal Muffins in Good to the Grain (it's the cereal, of course) but I've also had it as a breakfast cereal.  I mixed in a dollop of honey, that's it.  Very tasty.

"Grandma's Grain" This is a recipe I've been meaning to try for a while, and I'm glad I finally got to it.  I followed the directions, using red rice (from the last-ingredient options).  I found it was just a bit too salty, though I can understand why the salt was added in the first place.  This recipe made 9 cups, which is just a little too much breakfast for us, as I don't like to eat the same thing every day.  I suppose it could be frozen, but I didn't try it.  I'm not sure it would be too good to eat as breakfast when it came out, but might be a neat mix-in for pancakes or something.

Giant Chipotle White Beans

I have been trying to eat more beans lately, but so far I have limited myself to chili and soup.  In an effort to try something new, I decided to make the Giant Chipotle White Beans from 101 Cookbooks, which are large white beans baked in a chipotle tomato sauce with flecks of kale, topped with feta and drizzled with a cilantro pesto.  I skipped the bread crumbs that are in the original recipe - I didn't feel that they would really add anything to the dish, so I just left them out.

I have to say, I made these a while ago.  At least two weeks ago.  I've been really, really busy with school and I have barely been cooking, let alone writing about it.  But I remember that they tasted good.  Specifically, the sauce was delicious.  I'm not big enough on beans yet to really love a dish that consists only of beans.  (I'll get back to you after I try some of my Rancho Gordo beans, which have not been sitting in a silo for 10 years like the giant limas I used for this recipe.  I have a feeling it will make a difference.)  So I think it would be interesting to try half beans, half something else.  I'm not yet sure what exactly, but pasta comes to mind.  So kind of like a baked ziti with beans and Mexican flavors.  I don't know, it works in my brain.

Anyway, this was tasty, it was.  But I wish I hadn't made so much, because we threw most of it away.  :(  I'm not sure how it would have held up in the freezer, but maybe next time I'll try that.

Adzuki Butternut Squash Stew

I have been cooking a lot more with beans lately, and of course I turn to 101 Cookbooks for some ideas.  I was surprised to find that there weren't too many recipes on the bean page, but I found quite a few of them to be very appealing.  The first one I decided to make was the Adzuki Butternut Squash Stew.  I haven't made any soup-y recipes in a while, and I had a butternut squash that was begging to be turned into a meal, so I got the ingredients and whipped this up on a Tuesday morning.  I made half a batch because, as we all know by now, my freezer is filled to capacity.  (I did sneak a 12-oz container of this stew in there, of course.)  It turned out to be very delicious.  I especially liked the cinnamon.  One thing I would do differently next time is to add more diced chipotles, because it didn't have much of a kick to it.  We had some as-is, and some with a bit of leftover cooked brown rice (basmati, maybe?) - both were good.  I'd be interested in adding a grain directly into the recipe and see what happens.  Barley sounds like a good idea right now.

Orzo Soup

We've been participating in Meatless Mondays with Georgie at AskGeorgie.com.  For Ken, it's a challenge not to eat meat all day - he'll eat whatever I make (or tell him to make!) for dinner, so that part's not hard, but lunch seems to be the big challenge for him.  For me, it's hard because I can't eat Sunday's leftovers, and because it's the beginning of the week - I start off strong with my meal planning, but then get sidetracked when I realize I have to plan meatless for Monday.

Choosing a meatless meal, however, is not a challenge at all.  I cook mostly vegetarian anyway (I don't like touching meat, ew) and most of the recipes I want to try are vegetarian.  My favorite site for vegetarian recipes is 101cookbooks.com.  I've been procrastinating on my studying for finals by going through the archives of the site, starting with the very first post back in 2003.  (I'm somewhere in 2009 now.)  I've come across some recipes I've never even seen before, and others I had forgotten about.

This Orzo Soup was one I had seen in my pre-soup days, and the pretty picture appealed to me.  When I scanned the recipe I realized it would be super quick and easy, which is necessary for my Monday night meals, especially at this time in the semester when I don't have time during the day to get started on dinner before class.  So on my way home from work I stopped at the grocery store, where I picked up a can of fire-roasted tomatoes and a bunch of spinach.  When I got home, I got started right away, and dinner was on the table in 20 minutes.  (I find that I can pressure myself into making meals quickly by starting the cooking process before I'm ready - I try to time it so that it doesn't backfire and end up overcooked, but you can't win them all...)

I decided to try to make my bowl look just like the one in the picture on 101 Cookbooks, and I think I got pretty close.  You can cut the calories here by excluding all mentions of olive oil and using just a tiny dusting of Parmesan (it's a bit boring if you exclude it altogether).  I also recommend starting off with half the red pepper flakes and working your way up - it's got quite a kick to it.  I'm sure I'll make this again since it was so easy - with whole wheat orzo or another whole grain pastina, if I can find it, because I've grown to prefer the flavor of whole grain pastas.  You can use any green you've got sitting around, though cook the heartier ones a bit longer.  In the future I might try the fire-roasted tomatoes with garlic - I picked up that can first (without realizing) but opted for the plain ones this time.  The "egg drop" was a great protein option, I might add one more egg white next time (I halved the recipe, so I used only one).

I'm hoping to be posting more often starting a week from yesterday - my finals will be over and I will finally be able to do something I like to do (COOK!!!) so there should be some fun stuff coming up.  I still haven't picked my cookie for the annual cookie exchange, which is also a week from yesterday, so stay tuned for that.

Roast Banana-Pumpkin Breakfast Bread

I've been making a list of possible edible gifts for Christmas, and I came across a recipe for Roast Banana-Pumpkin Breakfast Bread.  The picture looked amazing.  At first I thought it had pumpkin in it, but it turns out to be only pumpkin SEEDS.  (I'm considering a variation for the future already!)  I figured I'd try making it in mini-loaves to see if it might be a nice Christmas gift for some of my family members.

The recipe calls for 2 cups of cake flour, so I made some adjustments.  I wanted at least half whole grains here, so I used half all-purpose flour and half white whole wheat flour.  A substitute for cake flour, which I found online, is to add two tablespoons of cornstarch to the bottom of the measuring cup, and fill the remainder of the one-cup measure with flour, so I did this for both cups.  Since I was baking mini-loaves, I baked them for 40 minutes.

I started making this around 8AM, so just the smell of the rum-soaked raisins nearly knocked me over.  I was nervous about how they'd turn out in the bread.  One of the four mini-loaves fell apart, so of course I had to eat the piece that broke off.  At first, I thought my concerns were warranted and I thought to myself that I would use less raisins next time or cook a bit of the alcohol out of the rum.  But as I took a few more bites, I decided that wouldn't be necessary.  This is DELICIOUS.  I love banana bread as it is, but I think roasting the bananas gave an extra dimension to the flavor, plus the plentiful add-ins made it more interesting.  My cake flour substitution seems to have worked, and I may try all white whole wheat flour next time.

Rustic Cabbage Soup

I must be making up for my dislike of soup all these years.  The parade of soup continues with a Rustic Cabbage Soup.  After a few weeks in the fridge I brought out a cabbage and it was cut into bite-size pieces.  A pound of Great Northern beans, thanks to my pressure cooker, split perfectly between this soup and the next day's batch of Ribollita.  I used the recommended 1/2 cube of Rapunzel w/ herbs, which is growing on me (I usually use the plain veg one).  A few very old but viable potatoes were made into matchsticks and tossed in.  Of course, there's always an onion, and garlic too.  As I'm looking at the original recipe again I'm noticing that I missed the grated cheese on top, but oh well, less calories right?

While I'm loving the soups I do occasionally crave solid food, so this week we revisited those delicious scallops we had a few weeks ago, and I'm counting on some lemon pepper shrimp soon too :)

As of right now I'm all caught up on my posting.  I'll be eating from the freezer a lot this month thanks to school/finals, but expect some fun things soon: my cookie exchange pick (still trying to decide between several whole-grain options), a few health-food experiments, probably some holiday-themed nonsense, and (surprise!) more soup.

Butternut Squash Muffins

I wanted to make a particular Butternut Squash Muffin recipe last year, but never managed to carve out the time to do so.  This year I made it a priority.  I still have plenty of squash from the CSA, so I cut up the right amount of butternut squash and put the remaining cubes in the freezer for another use.

This recipe is complicated.  After making it, I think I can say it is unnecessarily so.  I boiled the spiced apple cider syrup down for HOURS and I'm not sure I can say that those spice flavors really came through.  Beating the eggs separately seemed like an unnecessary step as well.  My muffins came out looking much more dense than those in the original photo, and not so cake-like.  They tasted good, though.

The recipe yielded me 12 regular-size muffins plus 12 mini-muffins as well.  I baked the mini muffins for about 20 minutes and the full-size for about 25, but I think both could have used 2-3 minutes less in the oven.

I can't say I'll be making this again, as it was quite complicated and there are many other butternut squash muffin recipes out there, but I'm glad I finally gave it a shot.

Mixed Mushroom Chowder

I'm waiting on a few pictures for my Thanksgiving post, so in the meantime, here's a recipe for mushroom soup.  I think many of the mushroom soup recipes I've seen are creamy.  This is a chunky recipe.  I used a mixed bag of local mushrooms from the market for this one, which I made last weekend.  The major departure I made from the recipe was to add 1 1/2 cups finely chopped spinach.  I added it in the last 5 minutes of (intended) cooking, but then I added another 3-5 minutes onto that time, so maybe I should have put it in a bit later.  The flavor wasn't too strong but it added a huge nutritional boost.  I liked the soy sauce and sesame oil flavor combinations.  This made maybe a bit less than 2 quarts.  I froze two 2-cup portions, I think, and had not quite a quart left to eat the next day.  I don't think I'll make this again, since it wasn't my favorite, but next time I'm craving mushrooms I will be glad to have some frozen on hand.

Ribollita

My soup making streak is far from over.  I can't get enough.  It also gives me a great deal of satisfaction to have so many soup options in my freezer, although every time I find a new favorite, like Ribollita, I know I would reach for that first.

This is my first chunky soup.  It's also my first soup with beans.  I found it while trying to figure out what to do with my lacinato kale.  And it's my new favorite.  The slightly spicy tomato flavor, creamy white beans (and here I thought that beans were always grainy - now I know you need to cook your own! forget cans!), and a great change in texture from the kale.  The torn up bread made little pockets of liquid that squish in your mouth.  The celery, carrots and onions were tiny nourishing bites.  I even liked the chopped oily black olives on top - I bought just a few at the olive bar, next time I need to see if they come already pitted, but they added a great saltiness and a contrasting flavor.  Are you hungry yet?

This recipe gave me 8 cups frozen, plus a full quart for the fridge, and that's not including the bowl I ate for dinner.  And I'm going to make it again.  :)

Winter Pasta

I'm always happy to find an easy, healthy weeknight recipe.  When this Winter Pasta recipe was posted over on 101 Cookbooks, it reminded me of pesto and the pictures made me hungry!  In fact, I was so hungry that I couldn't even make this for myself.  :)

I love the flavor of kale.  I also love garlic.  And feta.  You can use any kind of cheese here - feta, Parmesan or Pecorino Romano, Asiago could be great, or even ricotta.  It's simple enough for a weeknight dinner, but fancier than tomato sauce from a jar, or pesto from a packet (ick).  You could probably even make the pesto the day before if you want.  And while I love the flavor of kale, this would be great with spinach or maybe another leafy green - or maybe a mix of greens.

Roasted Delicata Squash Salad

I waited forever to be able to make this Roasted Delicata Squash Salad.  Seriously!  I got the delicata squash from the CSA a few weeks ago and then I picked up the other ingredients - potatoes, radishes.  I had the miso already, I always have almonds on hand, and I totally forgot about the kale.  When I went to Whole Foods to pick up harissa, the missing link... they didn't have it.  After about half an hour of searching I asked customer service and they informed me that it was discontinued due to low sales, just like the muscovado sugar I was looking for a few weeks earlier.  People don't know what they're missing by not buying this stuff.  Unbelievable!

So anyway, I had to turn to Amazon for my harissa, which cost me more to ship than the actual tube.  Luckily, it's a condiment you don't need to use much of, and the handy tube means you don't have to use it all right away.  (I buy tomato paste in a tube too - unless you have a recipe that actually calls for a whole can, it's much more cost-efficient and convenient.)

Since I got some kale in my CSA share this week and picked up some more radishes at the market, I decided today would be the day.  It turned out great!  I should have cut the potatoes smaller, but otherwise I thought it was delicious.  The one change I made was to roast the radishes instead of slicing them and adding them raw to the salad.  The potatoes were my favorite part, but Ken liked the squash and radishes better.  It would be a great side for a harissa-marinated chicken!  The marinade could be used for a variety of vegetables, too.