Quinoa Asian Stir Fry

So I'm to slowly phasing out cheese and most grains as well as am significantly limiting meat consumption.  In order to not starve, I have to find other sources of protein and carbs, 1 great one being, Quinoa.  Yes it is  often considered a grain, but is technically a grass and is a good one at that.  Here it is!

Time
Prep Time: 10 min
Cook Time: 10 min
Ready in: 10 min


Servings
Dos 


Ingredients
1 handful of mushrooms
1/3 a red bell pepper
1/4 of an onion
2 handfuls of spinach leaves
1 chopped tomato
1 teaspoon of crushed red pepper
2 sheets of Nori (the one's used for sushi)
1/2 cup of Quinoa
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 cup Orange Ginger sauce

Procedures
1. Put Quinoa in 1 cup of water and bring to a boil.  Follow directions on package for standard cooking.
2. Saute mushrooms, pepper, onion, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper.
3. After a few add the spinach and Nori.
4. After a minute add tomato.
5. Add Quinoa to mix.

6. Add sauce and mix around then eat!

Mmmm.

Mushroom Goat Cheese Pizza

A little more of the traditional type, this pizza has no red or white sauce, simply olive oil and toppings.  Very delicious and on the lighter side.

Time
Prep Time: 15 min
Bake Time: 10 min
Ready in: 25 min


Servings
1 small pizza.  About 2-3 people.


Ingredients
1 roll of pizza dough
Your favorite spices
1 handful of mushrooms
1/4 of an onion
Couple handfuls of spinach leaves, about 8-10 leaves
6 cloves of garlic roughly minced
1/4 cup crumbled goat cheese

Procedures
1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Knead spices of choice into dough.
3. Cover dough and let rise for 10 min.
4. Stretch out dough on flat surface and slide onto heated pizza stone covered in cornmeal or greased pan.
5. Bake dough for 10 min.
6. While dough is baking saute onions, mushrooms, and spinach (add spinach towards end.

My beautiful helpers!

7. Remove dough from oven with pizza peel.
8. Brush dough with Olive Oil.

Oh yeah. Brush that dough. Brush it!

9. Lay out sauteed vegetables and sprinkle cheese on dough.

10. Slide pizza back onto stone or pan and bake for 10 more minutes.

11. Be gluttonous.

Food time face: The face of ecstasy 

Winter Pasta

Why do I call this winter pasta? -Good question.  Does it use winter ingredients? -No, not really.  Is it because it's white? -Do you call all white people winter people? -No you don't you racist.  Well then WHY THE %$^# IS IT CALLED WINTER PASTA!!? 

Don't hold your breath.  I'll tell you.

It's because this pasta will fortify you like no other.  What does fortify mean?  Well in this case I equate fortify to extra packing and added heartiness.  So basically this pasta is crazy thick and creamy and if you eat too much you will be well insulated that is for sure, but wonderful for a cold winter ;-)

Time
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 15 minutes
Ready in: 35 minutes

Servings
6-8 servings, but you might want to make this last a lil further than normal

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups pumpkin puree (I sweat this is the last of it!)
2 cups heavy cream
1 cup chopped parsley
12 large sage leaves chopped
2 tablespoons of butter
1 cup freshly grated parmesan
7 cloves of garlic
1/2 large sweet onion
1 red pepper
1 green pepper
5 crimini mushrooms
4 stalks of Bok Choy
1 Tablespoon of cumin
1/2 tablespoon crushed red pepper
1/2 tablespoon cajun seasoning
salt and pepper to taste
However many noodles you want.  For this I did about 12 oz of garlic parsley noodles

*The cream makes this dish good, but super heavy.  If that is not your style I would advise just using 2%-whole milk with a McCormick four cheese alfredo packet.  If you use this keep everything the same, except use however much milk the packet says and don't add the cheese.*

Procedures
Get ready to be fortified.
1. Chop all ingredients  For this recipe, I prefer the peppers and onions to be cut into long slivers as opposed to diced.  Make sure to get the water boiling as well.
2. Saute onions, peppers, and 4 cloves of garlic together for a few minutes. Add some salt and pepper.

See long slivers

3. Add the mushrooms and Bok Choy.  Saute until desired tenderness.

This is the healthy part of the recipe

4.  Let be.  Turn heat to low and start working on the sauce.

*Before you start the sauce, make sure the pasta has just begun cooking*

For the sauce

1. Mix heavy cream and pumpkin puree.  Slowly heat to medium low heat. 

2. Add 3 cloves of garlic and butter.

3. Lightly, LIGHTLY saute parsley and sage leaves, then add to sauce.  

4. Add cumin, crushed red pepper, and cajun seasoning.  

Look at all that lovin right there

5. Pour sauce immediately over vegetables, and then pour immediately over pasta!

Yummy calories

You fortified now. Are you ready for winter? Are you prepared? CAN YOU TAKE IT? 

*Goes well with more carbs (bread) and a good wine*

Pumpkin Seed Pine Nut Pesto

This pesto is very good and full of health benefits from the pumpkin seeds.  Two key minerals and compounds in pumpkin seeds are magnesium and phytosterols.  1/2 a cup of pumpkin seeds (what is used in this recipe) contains roughly 90% of your daily magnesium.  Phytosterols have been linked to lowered LDL cholesterol and may even prevent prostate cancer for all you men looking to protect your junk out there.  This recipe uses half pumpkin seeds, half pine nuts, but if you have it, just use all pumpkin seeds.

Time
Prep Time: 10 min
Blend Time: A few minutes
Ready In: 15ish minutes


Servings
Approximately 1 1/2- 2 cups

Ingredients
1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup pine nuts
3 tablespoons grated Romano cheese
1 cup fresh basil
3/4 cup fresh parsley
4 garlic cloves
3 tablespoons of lemon juice
1/4 cup of extra virgin olive oil

Procedures 
1. Combine nuts, garlic and cheese in food processor.  Pulse for about 30 seconds.  If you have a crappy processor like I do, I would advice pre-mashing the nuts with a mortar and pestle.

2. Add basil, parsley, and lemon.  Pulse for about 30 seconds.

3. Add 1/4 cup of oil and lightly pulse.  

4. And then make a monster sandwich or something crazy good.

My delightful sandwich! 

Pumpkin Ice Cream

Well this seems to be following the pumpkin trend!  If you have a large pumpkin still to use and want to opt for the non-healthy option, this recipe is for you.

Time
Prep Time: 5 min
Freeze Time: Until frozen, depends, on ice cream maker, but roughly 25min


Servings
Roughly 1 quart of ice cream

Ingredients
2 cups heavy whipping cream
2 cups half and half
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 Tbs ground cinnamon
1/2 Tbs ground allspice

Procedures
1. In medium bowl, mix pumpkin puree, cinnamon, and allspice.
2. In larger bowl, mix half and half, heavy whipping cream, sugar, and vanilla extract.
3. Pour liquid mixture into puree mixture and whisk.
4. After majority of bumps disappear, pour into ice cream mixture and follow manufacture instructions.

*Goes well with a white wine and over gingerbread cookies*

Squash Medley Sage Soup

If you guys haven't noticed, there seems to be a bit of a Thanksgiving theme here.  Yes, I know it's not the holidays anymore and, sigh, I can't relive the past.  I just have a lot of pumpkin and squash that need to be used to make something delicious.  I also need something to distract me from impending academic doom.  This recipe will not only teach you something about squash, but also about psychology.  Ever heard of the phenomenon "The Snowball effect?" also known as the "What the hell effect?"  Essentially this phenomena is when people face a set back/fail to adhere to guidelines laid out by the self and instead of striving to make it back to baseline, just say what the hell.  Prime example: Binge eating.  You are on a diet and impulsively eat 1/2 bag of potato chips during the super bowl.  After you finally notice the atrocity that you have committed, you decide "what the hell" and, instead of giving the bag to your friend to eat, you impulsively eat the whole thing.  I've decided to indulge in the what the hell effect and instead of thinking about my overcommitting, underachieving academic habits, I'm just not think about it, and instead, make delicious food with the aid of my lovely sous chef, Pegasus. This soup is a spicy savory soup with a rich blend of squashes.

Time
If you need to cook the squashes add an hr and a half to this time and cook squashes in a little bit of chicken broth at 375 for an hr and a half.

Prep Time: 20min
Cook Time: 25min
Ready In: 40min


Servings
8-10 servings

Ingredients
1/2 a medium onion
2 medium carrots
4 diced garlic cloves
1 tablespoon of fresh shopped parsley 
3 tablespoons fresh chopped sage
2 bay leaves
1 butternut squash
1 acorn squash
1 cup hubbard squash puree 
1 cup pumpkin puree 
1 tbs of butter
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/4 teaspoon red pepper 
1/4 cumin
1 carton of 32 oz of beef broth
2 cups of water
1/2 cup of half and half

Procedures 
1. Chop ingredients.
2. Mash/puree squashes together with butter and spices.

Last of the Hubbard!

3. Saute onions, garlic, carrots with 1 bay leaf.
4. Add chopped parsley and sage.

Team America f*#% yeah!

5. After a few minutes, remove from heat.
6. In a different pot mix broth, water and squash.  Add second bay leaf. Slowly bring to a boil.

The beginning of the end

Action shot

MMM!

7. Add skillet mixture and turn to low.

8. Mix in half and half.  Remove from heat.

10.  Remove bay leaves and puree soup in blender.

11.  Enjoy! 

Pumpkin Pomegranate Risotto

This Risotto is a lovely balance between sweet and savory.  Sweet enough to be interesting but savory enough to  serve as an entire meal.  Is delicious served over or in a pumpernickel  bowl.  Definitely use a short grain rice: see previous risotto recipes.  For this recipe I actually used a white short grained rice used to make sushi.  Remember the basic principle is to make a very saturated rice that sticks together.  This is done by continually adding liquids to the rice as it cooks for about 40-45min.

Time
Prep Time: 10min
Cook Time: 40 min
Ready In: 50 min


Servings
The recipe that I did makes A LOT.  I would recommend cutting it down.  But roughly the recipe below will make about 8-10 large servings.

Ingredients 
1/2 medium sweet onion
2 handfuls of cramini mushrooms (roughly 8 mushrooms)
3 cups of rice
2 cups pumpkin puree
1 red pear
Seeds from half a pomegranate
2 large handfuls of cherries (15 cherries) halved
1/2 of 32oz carton of chicken broth
2 cups sweet white cooking wine
1 cup lemonade
water as necessary
2 tablespoons of cinnamon
1 tablespoon allspice
2 Tbs of butter
kosher salt and pepper to taste
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1 cup grated Romano cheese
1/2 grated Piave cheese

Procedures
1. Chop all ingredients.
2. Saute onions and mushrooms.
3. Add 3 cups of rice and lightly brown.
4. Add 2 cups of warmed wine.  You want it to be warm rather than straight out of the fridge because if it's cold, it kinda shocks the rice and makes it more flaky, not turning out as well.

5. Add pumpkin puree and butter and mix around.
6. Continually add small increments (roughly 1 cup) of chicken broth and/or water as needed throughout the process as the rice absorbs liquid and as all other ingredients are added.
7. Add spices, chopped pear and pomegranate.
8. Add cherries.
9. Add cup of lemonade.
10. Add cheeses and remove from heat.

11.  Serve with bread and enjoy!

The lovely meal I had with my wonderful sous chef/photographer  Pegasus Moser

*Goes well with a full bodied red wine like Pinot Noir as well as pumpernickel bread*

Pineapple Upside-Down Cake

This cake has always been one of my family favorites, actually it's always been one of my dad's favorites but I 've never made a cast-iron skillet cake before until now and I must say, it's amazing.  This recipe, although I wish it were mine, is not.  But rather, this recipe is ripped entirely off Alton Brown, well not exactly I kinda made a few modifications it and didn't have pecans.  But here is the recipe with my adventure!

Time
Prep Time: 35 min
Bake Time: 40-45min
Ready In: 1 hr 15-20min


Servings
A cake the size of a....cake.


Ingredients
1 cup stone-ground cornmeal
3/4 cup whole milk (boiling)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup dark brown sugar
6 slices or so of pineapple
Same number of maraschino cherries
1/3 cup pecans
3 tablespoons pineapple syrup from can
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
3 large eggs
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup canola oil

Procedures 
1. Heat oven to 350.
2. Boil milk.  Once boing add cornmeal and mix around.  Remove from heat and let sit.

This I think is what it should look like!

3. Use a 10'' cast-iron skillet.  And my view is if you're going to use one, use Lodge.  They are the only American made cast-iron cookware and pretty awesome and not any more expensive than anything else. Gently heat pan to medium heat and melt butter.  Make sure to coat entire pan, especially the sides so the cake doesn't stick.

4. After butter is melted, add brown sugar and mix around.  Cook for about 5 min.

Butter and sugar after 5 min

5. Remove from heat and add pineapple slices.  Start with one in the center and work your way around the pan.

6. Add cherries, one in the middle of each pretty pineapple!

7. Drizzle pineapple syrup over pan.

8. Sprinkle pecans around if you have them!

I thought about making a smilie face for this pic

9. Start working on the batter.  In a big bowl whisk flour, baking powder, and salt together.

10. In another bowl, whisk eggs, then add sugar, then add oil.

11. Add Cornmeal mush to egg and sugar mixture.

12. Add wet mixture (eggs, sugar, cornmeal, etc) to dry flour mixture.

13. Gently mix, but do not over mix.  It's ok if it's a bit lumpy.

See lumps. I ain't no perfectionist!! 

14. Pour batter over skillet mixture.  Do your best to get one clean pour that covers it all, because the more you fuss one the batter is in the pan, the more you're going to mess everything up.

Ready to throw in oven!

15. Place bun in the oven and cook that sucker for approximately 40-45 min.

16. Take out and let cool for 30 min.  Place plate over skillet and quickly flip.  Remove pan and viola!

The cherries got a lil buried, but I promise they're there and taste great!

Curry Mania

Amazing dish if you like spicy and you like curry!  Not too much work if you do it like a normal person and not make enough food to feed a small army, like I did.  My theme for this meal is: Go big or go home.  This time I had the help of my lovely assistant, Rochelle Hudson!

The Wonderful Sous Chef

Time
Honestly I really have no idea for chopping but takes about 45 min for curry sauce and about the same (depending on kind of rice) for the rice
Cook Time: 45 min


Servings
A lot.  About 6.


Ingredients
Lots!
 2 cans curry paste: 1 yellow, 1 red or Massaman (cans work much better than packets)
4 cans of coconut milk
2 medium potatoes
1/2 a medium sized pumpkin roughly 4-5 cups
1 cup carrots
1 cup green pepper
1 cup onion
1 carton mushrooms of choice (I used Crimini) roughly 2 cups 
1 cup Bok Choy
2 cups Broccoli 
2 cups uncooked shrimp
3 tablespoons crushed red pepper
Desired serving size of rice and according amounts of water
Pine nuts or pumpkin seeds if you have them


Procedures
1. Chop everything first!  Potatoes and Pumpkin into 1 in squares, peel and dice carrots, slice mushrooms, chop onions into thin long strips, use tops of Broccoli and discard stems.  

2. Follow directions on back of curry pastes!!  Roughly the directions should be: heat up milk, then add paste and mix.  Approximately 2 cans of coconut milk to one can of curry paste.  Keep heat on medium-high throughout the entire process.  
3. Add potatoes and carrots first, they take the longest to cook.
4. After a few minutes, add pumpkin chunks.

Yeah, add that pumpkin! 

Mmm...Pumpkin

5. After a few minutes add onions, green pepper, mushrooms, and crushed red pepper.

Always check taste as you go!

  

6. Wait about 15 minutes, then add broccoli Bok Choy, and shrimp.

Add Broccoli!

  

7. Cover, wait 5 min and remove from heat.  Add pumpkin seeds or pine nuts to taste.

8.  Set the table

9. And serve!

*Goes well with white wine and awesome friends*

Simple Spin on Grilled Cheese

This sandwich is one of my staples and just so delicious that I had to share it.

Time
5 min!!

Servings
Do I really even need to put this.  One sandwich.

Ingredients
2 slices of whole wheat bread or whatever kind you like.
2 slices of sharp cheddar cheese, one for each slice
1/2 an apple, cut into half inch slices (fiji or Granny Smith are good here)
1 small handful of golden raisons
1 spoonful of honey if you desire!

Procedures 
1. Place slice of cheese on each side of bread.
2. Place apples and raisons in between slices of bread.
3.  Put sandwich together and butter 1 side on the outside.
4. Place on skillet-medium heat-butter side down.  As that side is cooking butter the other side.
5.  After a few minutes, flip and cook other side.
6. Enjoy!

Squash Attack!

Honestly, this was probably my most treacherous adventure so far.  There were a few points when I actually thought that it was feasible that I would impale myself or chop off a finger, maybe even a limb.  But where there's a will, there's a way.  That squash had no chance.  My foe of choice was a hubbard squash that my parents so thoughtfully gave me from their CSA.  If you know anything about a hubbard squash, you know it's a monster.  Many people simply use this type of squash for decoration.  Now I know why.  The skin is very, very tough and the squash weighs about 20 lbs.  You cannot cut these with a knife or meat cleaver.  You cannot simply crack them open by whacking them repeatedly with a hammer or knife.  However, using the pronged end of a hammer does work wonders.  To initially break through the skin, I starting swinging away with hammer prongs, mumbling a mantra, "Momentum is on you side", while closing my eyes and hoping for the best.  After making my way around the circumference of the squash I jammed a chef's knife into the belly of the beast and started pretty much just sawing away until the squash finally split into two halves.  My kitchen was utterly soiled and I had enough squash in my hair to snack on for days.  I highly recommend using any other squash, even a pumpkin, rather than a hubbard.  Just alter amount of ingredients accordingly. The principles are still the same.  The following recipe will be what I used for one half of the hubbard, which should be roughly equivalent to one large squash or a pumpkin.

Time
Prep Time: 30 min
Bake Time: 1 hr 30 min
Ready In: 2 hr


Servings
Roughly 6 people


Ingredients 
1 large squash.  Take your pick.
1 box of chicken or vegetable broth if you prefer to be vegetarian
1 box of stuffing, pepperidge farm and stove top whole wheat is what I use
2 large apples, diced
1 large red onion, diced
4 garlic cloves, diced
1/2 package of fresh cranberries if you find it, if not no worries, is still great without it.  Roughly 3 cups
1 cup of chopped walnuts
1 tablespoon of ground cinnamon
1/2 tablespoon ground allspice
1/4 tablespoon crushed red pepper
Salt and Pepper to taste

Procedures 
1. Preheat oven to 375.
2. Attack squash.  After splitting, scoop out insides and discard or save seeds to bake at later time.
3.  Season both halves of squash with cinnamon, allspice, crushed red pepper, little bit of salt and pepper.  Vary cinnamon, allspice, and red pepper according to taste.
4. Get out 2 baking dishes, one for each half of squash, pour roughly 1-1/2 cups of broth into dish then place squash face-down in dish.
5. Bake for approximately one hour.
*While Squash is baking, make the stuffing*
6.  Saute onion, garlic, apple, and walnuts together (add walnuts a few minutes after adding the rest).
7.  Add cranberries and stuffing.
8.  Add rest of broth, approximately 2-2 1/2 cups.  Add a little bit of water if needed.
9.  Season as desired.  Saute only for a few minutes and remove from heat.
10.  Place stuffing in baked squash and re-bake for 20-30 min or until slightly browned.
11.  Serve and enjoy!

Peppermint Brownies!!!

These brownies are a perfect cute winter treat! :-)  I'm still fiddling with the recipe but this one is really quite delicious so far!

Time
Prep time: 10 min
Cook Time: 30-35 min
Ready In: 40 min

Servings
Whatever you count as fitting in a 13 x 9'' pan.  Personally I say the serving size is one ;-)

Ingredients

1 stick of unsalted butter

8 oz of Baker's semisweet chocolate

2 cups sugar

1 tsp salt

3 eggs (pre-whisk)

1 tsp baking powder
1 cup cocoa powder, I a mix between sweetened and non sweetened is pretty good
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
A bunch of crushed candy canes, roughly 1/2 a cup

Procedures 
1. Heat oven to 375.
2. Crush up peppermints.  What I did for this was unwrap all candies, put them in a plastic bag and went to town with a hammer.
3. Heat up chocolate and butter together in a pan resting over another pan filled with boiling water.  This allows the butter and chocolate to melt together without burning the chocolate.  Make sure is entirely melted and mixed before removing from heat.
4. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar and salt.
5. Whisk in eggs
6. Whisk in baking powder, flour, cocoa powder, vanilla and peppermint extract.
7. Pour is greased 13 x 9'' baking pan.
8. Sprinkle on crushed peppermint
9. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 375, check after 30 min.
10.  Let cool for 5 min and enjoy!

Goes well with something warm and happy!

The Man Stew

This stew could also be called "Man Stew with a Woman's Touch" because it has a lot of vegetables but as a whole is a spicy stew for a man's man.  So ladies, if your guy is working on the cars, maybe changing the oil for you, or swinging up some drywall, and you don't want to get involved but still show appreciation of his manly talents, then this is the recipe for you.  Also if your man has a little bit too much man to handle and you can't take it anymore, I will give you a few tricks for making this hearty stew a little healthier or as my brother calls it, "making the gay man stew" (he's really just joking).  Either way you choose, every guy and most girls seem to like this stew, especially to fortify on those cold winter days!

This stew is also pretty easy and can be done simmering on the stove top, in a slow cooker, or in the oven.

Time
*Varies with method of cooking*
Prep Time: 20 min
Cook Time: 2 hours
Ready In: 2 hr 30 min

Servings 
Enough for 6 manly men or pregnant women!

Ingredients
1 1/4- 1/2 pounds ground beef *healthy option: use ground turkey though be warned ground turkey is made in a much scarier way than beef most of the time*
2 chopped onions
4 peeled carrots
3 largish potatoes (I like to somewhat but not totally peel them for taste and health benefits of the skin)
1 package (9 oz) of frozen green beens *if you have fresh ones-great! Cut off the ends and grab a few handfuls*
1 bunch of spinach leaves *or if you like to play out the Popeye & Olive fantasy: a can or 1 package of frozen spinach*
2 heads of chopped fresh broccoli
7 garlic cloves
1 can tomato bisque soup *healthy: use regular tomato or low sodium soup*
1 can diced tomatoes *healthy: use no sodium added one*
1 1/4 cups water *doesn't really matter too much here, depends on how liquidly you want soup*
3 teaspoons cumin seeds *if you have them, if not use more ground cumin*
1 tablespoon ground cumin
2 teaspoons Adobo seasoning
3 teaspoons crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
*salt and pepper to taste*

Procedures 
There are 3 ways to cook this: stove top, oven, slow cooker.
Oven: 9 x 13'' dish will be very tight but as always the bigger the better ;-)  Bake covered at 375 for 2 hours, mixing once.
Stove Top: Use at least a 2 gallon (8 quart) pot. Simmer roughly 1 1/2 hr.
Slow Cooker: Turn up to high for 20-25 min, then to low for about 3 hours. The longer it simmers, the better it tastes.

Same for all methods:
1.  Chop everything up and have it laid out.
2. Just BARELY brown meet and LIGHTLY saute onions & garlic.  Is purely for taste here. Set aside.
3. Put Beef, onions, carrots, potatoes, green beans, tomato bisque, water, and spices together is dish of choice.  In other words, put everything except the spinach & broccoli together.
*No need to de-thaw the spinach or green beens, the stew will take care of that*
4.  Cook according to methods described above.
5. FOR ALL METHODS: 20 minutes before the dish should be done, check potatoes to see if almost done, then mix the spinach into the stew. Then just lay broccoli on top of stew and recover.  *Broccoli is the most finicky here so just lay on top so will essentially just be steamed and not gross, then mix in with rest of stew just after removing from heat*
6. Remove from heat and enjoy!

*Some mozzarella cheese on top tastes great*
*As always goes well with beer.  This time pick a manly one ;-)*