food

Eggy Rice Bowl

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away….. or a least a place that seems galaxies away from where I live now, there was an asian-fusion restaurant that served delicious, spicy rice bowls. Sigh, how I miss that crowded little eatery. But I do have a solution! My own creation, although not exact, will conquer any spicy, rice bowl craving. The masses have spoken! They demand more eggy rice bowls! How could I possibly deny the masses something so delicious? It’s merely my civic duty. Enjoy.

Ingredients:

3 Garlic Cloves
1/2 Yellow Onion
1/2 c. Dry Rice
6 Bacon Strips
3 Handfuls of Spinach
2 Eggs
Ground pepper
Garlic Powder
Salt
Cayenne Pepper
Sour Cream

First thing’s first, rice must be made! Using your favorite rice, cook half a cup of dry rice following the instructions found on the package. Once the rice is cooked, set it aside.

On a baking sheet place six bacon strips, and cook at 400 degrees for sixteen minutes, or until they are brown and crispy.

Chop the onion and garlic cloves and place them in a sauce pan. Using olive oil, sauté them until the onion becomes translucent. Season with a pinch of salt and some ground pepper and add the spinach. Cook until the leaves are ready and the onions begin to brown on the edges.

Next, add the reserved rice and two pats of butter to the pan. Mix on medium heat. Crumble in four strips of bacon and finish mixing the rice mixture. Remove the pan from the heat and spoon the rice into two bowls.

Now, we’re in the home stretch. Fry two eggs using butter and season both with pepper, garlic powder, and cayenne pepper. When both eggs are cooked, place one on top of each rice bowl. Garnish with the remaining bacon strips and a dollop of sour cream.

White Meringue Squirrels

I haven’t always been a fan of squirrels. In fact, they have always scared me! You see, when you go to a college where squirrels feel like it’s their birthright to sneak attack you and steal your food, you might be too! After years of restless nights, the tides have changed and believe it or not, those little fur babies have grown on me. Now, I find myself living in a town that celebrates their white squirrel population. And I am about to part take in my first White Squirrel Festival. Yep, a whole three days to bask in the glow of their squirrely goodness. So, in anticipation I’ve made meringue white squirrels. It’s time to join in on the fun and make your own!

Ingredients:

3 Eggs Whites
Pinch of Salt
3/4 c. Confectioners Sugar
1 tsp. Fresh Lemon Juice
1/2 tsp. Almond Extract
Chocolate for decorations

Preheat the oven 250 degrees.
First step in making these meringue squirrels is to separate the eggs. Make sure not to get any yokes in the whites. Place the egg whites in a stand mixer with a whisk attachment. Whisk the eggs at medium speed until the eggs begin to bubble. Add the salt and continue to whisk. Next, pour in the lemon juice and mix.

Increase the speed and slowly add the sugar. Once all the sugar is incorporated add the extract. Allow the eggs to whisk on high until they begin to form stiff, glossy peaks.

Using a piping bag, pipe the meringue out onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Pipe one small circle, then another larger one under the first but slightly to the side. Finish by adding the “S” shaped tail.

Bake for about thirty minutes or until the sides begin to get color. Once the meringue starts to tan turn the oven off. Leave the baking sheet in the oven until the meringue’s are hardened. When all the squirrels are cooled add a chocolate nose and eye.

Apple Coffee Cake

Apple Crumb Cake

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times, coffee and coffee cake were made for one another. I imagine that their original story is stuff that rom coms are made of. After crossing each other’s paths for years, they finally became friends. “How could coffee and coffee cake just be friends?!” everyone asked. Then one fateful day, coffee realized that coffee cake was his cake mate. Of course, coffee was her soul beverage, and the rest is history. Or something like that… and like any good rom com I will gladly binge on that pair until someone drags me away.

Apples:
3 Apples
3 tbl. Brown Sugar
2 tbl. Flour
2 tbl. Butter
1 1/2 tsp. Cinnamon

Crumbles:
1 1/2 c. Softened Butter
1 1/2 c. Flour
1 c. Brown Sugar

Cake:
2 c. Cake Flour
1 tsp. Baking Powder
1 tsp. Baking Soda
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 c. White Sugar
1 Stick Butter
2 Eggs
1 c. Buttermilk
1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

The best thing to do for this recipe is to first get the apples and crumbles ready and on standby. Dice and peel three apples. In a frying pan melt the butter, add apples, brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon. Sauté till the apples become soft, then remove from the heat and set aside.

In a medium bowl place the butter for the crumbles, as well as flour and brown sugar. Mix the dry ingredients into the butter until they start forming little balls. Once the crumble mixture is finished set it aside.

Put all the dry ingredients, for the cake, into a large bowl and use a whisk to thoroughly mix the ingredients. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar, then add the eggs. Once the butter mixture is finished, stir it into the dry ingredients. When the two mixtures are blended pour a cup of buttermilk in and add vanilla.

In a lined muffin tin, begin by filling the cups a third of the way up with apples, pushing it slightly down.

Next, pour a layer of cake batter, about half of a spoonful (just so the batter covers the apples). Final step, add the crumbles to the top (be generous with the crumbles, more the merrier!).

Bake for about eighteen minutes, until the coffee cakes start to brown. Make sure to allow the cakes to cool before eating.

Naan Pockets

Being from an Italian family, it’s probably pretty obvious that we ate a lot of Italian food. Then one day I discovered Indian food and my mind was blown! New spices and aromas out the ying yang! It has since become one of my favorite foods. I love the curry, I love the Naan, and I love the spice! I wanted my two delicious worlds to collide. So voila, Indian Calzones! Maybe its more of a Hot Pocket… either way, they are amazing and spicy! I’m about to go eat another.

Ingredients:

1 Sweet Potato
1 Can Chickpeas
1/2 Onion
2 c. Kale
1 c. Water
2 Garlic Cloves
2 tbs. Flour
1/2 tsp. Pepper
1/2 tsp. Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp. Cayenne Pepper
1 tsp. Curry Powder
Pinch of Salt

Below is a naan recipe I’ve been using for years. If it ain’t broke don’t fix it, am I right? Double this naan recipe to have enough dough for all the filling.

http://thekitchenpaper.com/quick-naan-without-yeast/

Begin by chopping the onions and garlic and sautéing them untill they are golden brown. Just before they are about to be done, add the diced sweet potatoes and slightly brown them. Once the potatoes begin to brown, throw in the two cups of kale and one cup of water. Add the seasoning (garlic powder, salt, pepper, cayenne pepper) and cover the pan. Allow it to simmer for fifteen minutes.

After everything has cooked down, add the can of chickpeas and two tablespoons of flour. Continue to stir until the mixture begins to thicken (Add more water or flour depending on what is needed).

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the dough. Once the mixture forms a ball, roll out on a floured surface and cut the dough into rectangles. Place a spoon full of potato mixture on one side of the rectangle. Fold the other side over and pinch close. Make sure not to over fill. Place the pockets on a parchment paper covered baking sheet and bake for twenty
minutes.

Brussels Sprout Skewers

Stuck in a vegetable rut? Not sure what to feed those picky vegetable eaters? I have the cure! BACON!!!!! Yes, bacon nature’s cure to the mundane. Brussels sprouts were as foreign to me as the Chinese language, or Wham!, but on one fateful night, those beautiful mini cabbages rolled into my life. I’ve been obsessed ever since. Believe it or not, there are people out there who aren’t too excited about the idea of brussels sprouts. After these skewers they’ll be begging for more.

Ingredients:
1 16 oz Bag of Fresh Brussels Sprouts
8 Skewers
8 Strips of Turkey Bacon (or pork bacon, if you’re into that sort of thing)
Olive Oil
Salt
Pepper
Garlic
Cayenne Pepper (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. The first step in making Brussels Sprout Skewers is to prep the brussels sprouts. Begin by cutting the hard bottoms off the vegetable and then quartering them (if the brussels sprouts are small you can simply half them).

Place the quartered brussels spouts in a medium size bowl and dress them with olive oil, pepper, salt, and garlic, season them to taste. Toss the brussels sprouts until every quarter has been coated.

Now, it’s time to make the skewers! Pierce the bacon, at the end the strip, with a skewer. Next, push one of the pieces of brussels sprouts onto the skewer, to meet the bacon. Loop the bacon strip around the veggie and thread it back on the skewer. Continue three more times until there are four brussels sprouts on the skewer and the bacon is at the end. When the sequence is finished, push the items to the top of the skewer and begin the next bacon and brussels sequence at the bottom.

Put the skewers on a pan and into the oven for about fifteen minutes or until the bacon is crispy and the brussels sprouts are tender. Once the skewers have slightly cooled, cut the skewer in half, so that you have two mini vegetable skewers.

These are great as appetizers or for a side. Honestly, these skewers have turned brussels sprout haters into lovers… The bacon sure doesn’t hurt ;-).

Biscuit Bread Pudding

Like Bert and Ernie, Harold and Maude, Marge and Homer, Bread and Pudding were meant for each other. I love bread! If it was nutritionally and socially acceptable to just eat bread, I would! So, when I was a kid and learned that one could eat various forms of bread for breakfast, lunch, dinner and now dessert, I was in! You can’t go wrong with bread pudding, especially when it’s made with Southern biscuits. So, get your fork ready and grab a napkin because I know you’re already drooling.

Ingredients:

3 Southern Biscuits
1/2 tsp. Almond extract
1/2 c. Heavy whipping cream
1/2 c. Brown sugar
1/3 c. Maple syrup
2 tbl. Butter
1 Egg

Biscuits:

2 c. Flour
1 tbl. Baking powder
1/2 tsp. Salt
1/2 c. Butter
3/4 c. Buttermilk

Enough for 4

Begin by making the biscuits. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Mix the dry ingredients together and cut in the butter until it resembles crumbles. Add the buttermilk and mix until the dough begins to form. Dust the surface with flour and roll out the dough so that it is 1/2 in. thick. Using a circle cutter (a drinking glass will work too) cut out biscuits and place them on a baking sheet. Bake for about 10 minutes or until the biscuits begin to brown.

After the biscuits have been cooled, tear apart 3 biscuits into a baking dish and set aside until you are ready to use them.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl cream the butter and sugar. Next, add the almond extract, cream, maple syrup and egg. Once the cream mixture is smooth, pour over the biscuits chunks and place them in the oven. Bake for about 35 minutes
(If the mixture seems runny, bake a little longer).

While the bread pudding bakes, it’s time to prepare the whipped cream. Using the leftover heavy whipping cream, use a hand blender and whip. After taking the bread pudding out of the oven, let it cool for five minutes and top with whipped cream.

*This recipe can be made with leftover frozen biscuits.

Egg and Polenta

Stop yoking around! This recipe is egg-straordinary. I wasn’t at the wall when Humpty Dumpty fell but I heard his last words were “Put me in some boiling water and place me on a bed of polenta.” I may be paraphrasing…. but who are you to go against a dying egg’s wish?! Not I, thats for sure. Humpty Dumpty you were one good egg. Now, we don’t know why you were on the wall that fateful day but we all do wish you hadn’t fallen….I’m sure you made one delicious breakfast for someone though. RIP Humpty.

Makes enough for 4

avocado cream:
1/4 c. greek yogurt
1/2 an avocado
1/2 tsp. lime juice
1/8 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp. garlic
pinch of salt

4 eggs
4 pieces of bacon

Spinach:
1 bag of spinach
1/2 onion
2 cloves of garlic
1/8 tsp. pepper
Olive oil

Polenta:
1 c. polenta (corn grits)
3 c. water
1/2 tsp. salt

Start by making the polenta. Put 3 cups of water and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Once the water begins to boil, stir in the cup of polenta. Remember to stir the polenta frequently otherwise it will stick to the bottom of the pan, cook until it is very thick (about 20 minutes). Add two tablespoons of butter to the polenta and stir. Now, put the thick polenta onto some plastic wrap and roll it up like you would with sugar cookie dough. Put the log of polenta in the fridge to firm up (10-15 minutes).

Meanwhile, place 1/4 cup greek yogurt and half an avocado in a bowl. Add the lime juice, salt, pepper, and garlic. Using a hand blender whip up the avocado mixture until its smooth. Place a piece of plastic wrap on the surface of the avocado so that it doesn’t turn brown while in the fridge. Keep the avocado cream in the fridge until you are ready to use it.

Heat up olive oil in a frying pan, when the oil is hot place the bacon in the pan and fry them up. Once the bacon is crisp, remove it from the pan and keep aside till later. Add the onion and garlic to the pan. Just before they are finished cooking add the spinach (For four people I used almost a whole bag of spinach). When the spinach, garlic, and onion is fully cooked put the mixture in a bowl. Crumble three of the bacon strips into the spinach mixture and set aside.

Get the polenta out of the fridge and unwrap the log. Make slices about 3/4 of an inch thick. In the same pan the bacon and spinach was cooked, place the polenta (you’ll want to add a little more olive oil at this point). Begin frying the polenta. Once it is slightly brown on one side flip it over and do the other side.

Once the polenta is finished browning remove from heat and begin boiling your water for the eggs. While you are waiting on the water to boil you can assemble the plates. First, place the spinach mixture and then the polenta on top.

When the water begins to boil place the egg in the water and then lower the heat (poached eggs take about 3 minutes). Using a slotted spoon, take the eggs out of the water one at a time. Place the poached egg on top of the polenta and top with avocado cream. For decoration break the remaining bacon strip into four parts and place them on top of the avocado cream.

*The polenta recipe will make more than four plates.

Buffalo Style Cauliflower

It’s the most wonderful time of the year. No, not the holidays, but the Superbowl! Trust me I am no sports fan, I took PE online just so I didn’t have to play them. However, the Superbowl is always one of my favorite times of the year because of one thing, food and lots of it. Every Superbowl is like an hors d’oeuvre-a-palooza, mini food for as far as the eye can see. What more can a girl ask for?! My all time favorite sports viewing food has always been buffalo chicken wings. Am I right? I thought you’d agree. Well, make way for buffalo style cauliflower. It’s the cauliflower for vegetable lovers and non- veggie lovers a like.

Ingredients:

1 Bag of frozen cauliflower
2 Eggs
about two cups of flour
Pinch of salt
Pinch of pepper
Pinch of garlic powder

For sauce:
1/2 Stick butter
1/2 c Sriracha
1/4 c. Honey
1/4 tsp. Pepper
1/4 tsp. Salt

Blue cheese crumbles for garnish

Begin by defrosting the frozen bag of cauliflower. When fully defrosted take a clean towel and dry off moisture. Now, preheat your oven at 450 degrees and line your baking sheet with parchment paper. Crack two eggs in a bowl and beat. In a separate bowl place one cup of flour and add a pinch of pepper, salt and garlic powder and mix.

Begin by coating the dry cauliflower with egg. Remove the cauliflower from the eggs, making sure to let the excess egg drip off before placing it in the flour mixture. Thoroughly coat the cauliflower in the flour (add the remaining flour to bowl when you begin to run out). Before placing on the baking sheet make sure to shake off any extra flour. Place baking sheet in oven and bake for about 20 minutes.

While the Cauliflower bakes, prepare the hot sauce. Melt half the stick of butter and place in a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients (sriracha, honey, pepper, and salt) and whisk.

Once the Cauliflower is browned remove from the oven and let cool for a few minutes. When the cauliflower is cool enough to handle, place in the hot sauce mixture and gently tossed them in the sauce. Remove the cauliflower with a slotted spoon and place on serving plate. Sprinkle the buffalo cauliflower with blue cheese crumbles and enjoy!

Warning: These babies are spicy and delicious! You might want a beer or two to wash them down 😉