Baked Pasta

Another weekend, and here I come with one more pasta dish... however, this was actually the recipe I made a couple Sundays ago. Yeah, I know, I have been a little slow with my postings, but I had so much going on this past week that among helping friends and taking my son to the doctor (winter is hard on the poor children… I hate cold weather!) I barely had time to get all my things done. But finally it seems that this week things will be better, and I sure have accumulated a few nice recipes to post.
Today it is Three Cheese Baked Pasta. Good, yummy, and if you like pasta as my husband does, then it is pure comfort food. He liked it a lot, and Matheus did too!
It is quite simple to make, and the flavors are the basic Italian ones, with the addition of cubes of provolone cheese that melt into little pockets of goodness throughout the cheesy baked dish. The ingredients blended together really well into an ooey gooey baked pasta concoction, which was easy to make and delicious to eat!
I love ricotta, and it makes for a good part of this dish, so I used my favorite, the homemade one. Make sure you use a good ricotta cheese here, as I am pretty sure it does make a difference.
The one ingredient that I don't actually think added much flavor wise to the dish were the sun-dried tomatoes. They kind of got lost into the sauce and you couldn't taste its flavor unless you bite into one. I guess I would prefer to have used my sun-dried tomatoes in another recipe where they could impart more of their great flavor and be more noticeable to my palate.
A basic baked pasta recipe, that brought happy smiles to the table in both my "boys" faces!
Ana

Three Cheese Baked Pasta (Adapted from Cooking Light, December 2006)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 1/4 cups diced onion
1/3 cup diced carrot
4 garlic cloves
1/4 cup chopped sun-dried tomatoes (without oil)
1 1/4 teaspoons chopped fresh or 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
2 (28-ounce) cans diced tomatoes, undrained
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) grated fresh Romano cheese, divided
1 cup part-skim ricotta cheese
1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
1 large egg white, lightly beaten
1 pound uncooked penne
1 cup (4 ounces) diced provolone cheese
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 400°.
Heat olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add onion, carrot, cook 10 minutes or until onion is tender, stirring frequently. Add garlic; cook for 1 minute, stirring constantly. Add sun-dried tomatoes, thyme, and diced tomatoes; cook 25 minutes or until thickened, stirring occasionally.
Combine 1 cup Romano, ricotta, parsley, and egg white in a bowl.
Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain; return pasta to pan. Add ricotta mixture to pan, stirring to coat. Add tomato mixture and provolone, tossing just until combined (do not over stir). Spoon pasta mixture into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup Romano. Bake at 400° for 25 minutes or until bubbly and top is browned.
Yield: 8 servings

Carrot Cake

Since I was in a row with the cake recipes, I will maintain the sequence and post another recipes I tried from Valentina's blog. Last post was the cookie recipe, and today is her Carrot Cake!
As the name states, it is really a moist cake, and very flavorful too! I liked the orange zest added to the batter; it gave the cake a subtle but yet delicious essence that complemented the carrots very well.
Another simple and easy recipe I made that was a success. With each day of cooking it is more and more obvious that simple foods and simple flavors are for sure the best ones!
Next I want to post here about the “Brazilian way” of making a carrot cake. It is even simpler but just as good! But this is another post yet to come. (Stay tuned, ‘cause I will have more cakes posted here!)
For today’s recipe, I have to admit that I didn’t make the frosting stated in the recipe. Although it sounded very good with the ricotta cheese being part of it, I opted for skiping this part as we were having the cake for breakfast, and particularly I do prefer my cake in the simplest form possible. However, I am pretty sure the frosting is delicious and will certainly make the cake taste even better.
Also, the cake asks for golden raisins, but I used dark ones, as it was the only kind I had at home.
For the picture I whipped a little bit of buttermilk glaze, just as the one I used for the pumpkin cake. And it was also good with this one!
So, for this cake you decide: there is the ricotta topping that came with the recipe, the delicious buttermilk glaze, and the more traditional cream cheese frosting. Well, it is clear that there is no need to have a “frostlees” cake with so many options to choose from, right?!
Great recipe, saved with the winners ones, because it will be repeated in a near future for sure!
Enjoy!!
Ana

By the way, you can take a look at Valentina’s picture and recipe here.

Moist Carrot Cake
(Adapted from a recipe from Delia Smith)

175grams brown sugar
2 eggs
120 ml oil
200 grams whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 ½ teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg (I omitted this one)
1 teaspoon grated ginger (I omitted this too)
Zest of an orange
200 grams grated carrots
175 grams golden raisins

Frosting
250 grams ricotta cheese
20 grams sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 tablespoon cinnamon, to sprinkle over the cake after it has been frosted

Syrup
Juice of ½ orange
1 teaspoon lemon juice
40 grams brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F (180C).
Cream the sugar, eggs, and oil for 2 minutes, until creamy. Add the flour, baking soda, baking powder, nutmeg, cinnamon, and ginger, beating just until incorporated. With a spoon, fold in the carrots, orange zest and raisins. Put mixture in a greased rectangular pan and bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
To make the frosting, mix all ingredients until fluffy. Keep refrigerated until ready to use.
To make the syrup, mix all ingredients until sugar dissolves completely. Pour the syrup over the top of the cake while still warm (you can poke some holes on top so the syrup can penetrate the cake). Let cake cool, frost and sprinkle with cinnamon.

One of the Best Oatmeal Cookies Ever!

I mentioned cake recipes being posted this week, and there is still a couple more to come. But first I had to come here and post about these cookies I tried today. They were the absolutely BEST!
So, before I keep going I need to thank my friend Valentina, because this recipe was an adaptation of a recipe she posted on her blog, Trem Bom. Thanks Valentina!!
The recipe is for Oatmeal Cookies with Almonds and Apricots, and really, these were one of the best cookies I tried lately; they hit the spot for a nice afternoon treat and at the same time are filled with healthy and wholesome ingredients.
Oatmeal and whole-wheat flour are paired with some butter and brown sugar; deliciously chewy chopped apricots and slivered almonds are added to the batter finishing up the goodness with the yummiest combination of all! I guess other dried fruits and nuts could be used in many different combinations here, but these were ingredients I had on hand and to be true, it was so good that I am not even thinking about modifying this recipe any longer.
The base of the cookie was just perfect, simple but yet flavorful, and held it together nicely without being dry. The cookies came out nicely browned and crispy on the outside, with a consistent inside, making, in my opinion, for the perfect healthy cookie!
And if you have kids around you too might be wondering if this would work with chocolate chips inside… well, being the chocoholic I am this is definitely what I am going to try next, and I bet they are going to be great!
I loved the texture, the crisp and crunchy outside, and was really surprised with how nice and soft the apricots got during baking; it was truly delicious. I used sliced almonds and really liked that they became crispy and toasty in the oven, giving the cookies a slight crunch without interfering with the cookie as whole, as some big chunks of almonds sometimes do.
These cookies were not only delicious but also super easy to make; a great recipe that will certainly be repeated here many and many times to come!
By the way, Valentina’s original recipe is posted in Portuguese at her blog. I made a few adaptations myself, and that is what I am translating and posting in my kitchen space, but you can certainly take a peek at the original recipe here. And even if you don’t understand the language, it is still worth to take a look over the great collection of recipes and pictures that she has posted there!
Ana

Oatmeal Cookies with Almonds and Apricots

1 ¼ cups oatmeal
1 ½ cups whole-wheat flour
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ cup brown sugar
½ cup chopped dried apricots
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ cup toasted sliced almonds
1 stick of butter (113 grams / 8 tablespoons), melted
1 egg, slightly beaten

Preheat oven to 325F.
Add dry ingredients in a bowl, including almonds and apricots. Add melted butter and egg and mix well until everything is well incorporated.
Shape dough into balls and place on a cookie sheet. Bake for about 18 minutes or until golden and delicious!

Even Matheus' army guys agreed that these cookies were worth fighting for!

Banana Cake

It seems every time I want to make some healthy cake for breakfast we all agree to make it a banana cake! If it is not cake, then it is muffin, and which one is the favorite around here? Oh yes, banana muffins!!
I had three very ripe bananas sitting on the counter last week and decided to make a cake on an afternoon. What a great idea it was. We had cake for snack and on the next couple days for breakfast, and the cake was not just very moist but deliciously tasty too!
I sort of created the recipe based on what I had on hand and on previous cake recipes I made. And since it came out so good I wrote down the recipe later on so that I could post it here and share with you all!
The picture is definitely not the prettiest one, but I have to say that the cake was one of the best I have made!
Simple, easy and so good! Perfect when you have excess of bananas, or just when that little cake craving hits on the afternoon but you just want some comforting flavors without ruining the healthy eating habits you are so hardly trying to conquer.
The boys here raved about this one, I hope you like it too! Oh, and I used raisins (per Matheus request), but chocolate chips would be just as good here!!
Ana

Simple Banana Cake

About ½ cup raisins soaked in some warm water or apple juice (just to make them plump!)
1 ½ cups whole wheat flour
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons butter (1/4 cup), at room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs
3 very ripe bananas
½ cup buttermilk

Preheat oven 350F.
With a mixer, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add vanilla, eggs, bananas, and buttermilk and beat until well mixed. Add flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon. Mix until everything is incorporated. Add raisins and mix with a wooden spoon.
Pour batter into a greased bundt pan and bake for about 30 to 35 minutes, or until it is golden and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Cake recipes to come…

First of all, a little late Happy Thanksgiving to everyone! And Thanks for those who stopped by to wish us a happy holyday as well, you all are the reason I love this blogsphere!
It’s been a while since my last post, however I haven’t abandoned the kitchen, especially with the Thanksgiving and all the cooking and yummy food it involves.
This year we went to one of our best friends house, and we did have a great time there! I wish I had taken pictures of everybody and the delicious feast we had, but surely enough I did the favor of forgetting my camera… oh well, it happens to all of us!
We contributed with three dishes, a simple mixed leaf salad topped with apple slices and dried cranberries, cranberry compote, and a sweet potato casserole! All were very good and got me many compliments. The one my friend likes the most is the cranberry compote, and although I cannot show you pictures, I can certainly share the recipe here, just let me know!
Well, enough of that Thanksgiving talk, as I believe most people here in the US had its share of it, right?!
So, moving forward to the nice cake picture above. Well, I think it looks nice, but I have to tell you that it tasted even better than it looked!
Really, it was a very nice cake. Extremely moist and not as dense as I was expecting it to be, especially with the “pound cake” presented in the recipe title.
As I said, the cake part was delicious, full of yummy fall flavors and as moist as it could be, good, really good! And lets not forget the glaze, which as a great exception, I loved too!
I am not a fan of glazes, frostings, powdered sugar stuff on top of my cake, and you know, this cake might not even need a glaze at all, but this one was so good that I was glad I included it too, plus it did made the cake look prettier!
The glaze was simply made with buttermilk, sugar, cornstarch, and a tad of butter, which definitely made it taste smooth. It was sweet for my taste, but that is how glazes are supposed to be, right?
I really liked the tang provided by the buttermilk and it complemented the cake flavors really well, even more so because the cake was not overly sweet, so it was a very happy combination in between the two. And as a fellow baker who tried this recipe mentioned in the CLBB, this glaze was almost drinkable by itself! Yes, I found it to be that good, and will certainly use it in other recipes as well!
All in all, we had a nice week and a happy Thanksgiving!
And for the title of the post, it is just as it says; be prepared to see a few more cake recipes posted around here in the days to come. Our microwave broke and while we don’t replace it the husband doesn’t have a quick way to reheat his beloved muffins, so I have been baking muffins and cakes almost daily for breakfast, and we are eating it as snack too. They are healthy cakes, of course, and I have a couple recipes and pictures that accumulated to share here with you!
So, please come back, and in the meantime try this pumpkin cake, it was a delicious surprise to all of us, and to some friends that I took the cake to share with on a breakfast gathering. Everyone really enjoyed this one!
Ana

Pumpkin Pound Cake with Buttermilk Glaze (Adapted from Cooking Light, Dec. 2006)
15 ounces pureed pumpkin
¾ cup white sugar
¾ cup brown sugar
½ cup butter, softened
4 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour (13 ½ ounces)
1 ½ teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (I used 1 teaspoon cinnamon and ¼ teaspoon cloves)
1 teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon salt
¾ cup buttermilk

Glaze:
1/3 cup buttermilk
¼ cup sugar
2 tablespoons butter
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1/8 teaspoon baking soda

Preheat oven to 350F (180C). Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.
While you get your ingredients ready, put pumpkin puree in a fine sieve and lay it on top of a bowl to drain excess liquid.
With a mixer cream butter and sugars. Add eggs, one at a time, beating until well blended. Add the drained pumpkin and vanilla and mix well. Add baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices, incorporate those ingredients and then alternately add the flour and the buttermilk, mix well until well blended.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for about 50 minutes. Cool in pan for about 10 minutes, remove and let cool over a rack.
For the glaze, combine all ingredients in a saucepan and cook it over medium heat until thickened, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and drizzle over cake.

Editing to add: for the pumpkin pie spice, according to foodsubs you can make your own by combining "4 parts cinnamon + 2 parts ginger + 1 part allspice + 1 part nutmeg, all ground OR equal parts cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, mace, and cloves, all ground."

Penne Al Forno

The recipe I am posting today is a very nice one, with restaurant flavors! Well, and it should be, because I got the recipe from our local newspaper, and it actually came from a local restaurant, which coming to think about it, it may even be a chain, it is called Biaggi’s.
We went to this restaurant twice already and, coincidentally, my husband had this very same dish. He liked it a lot and, fortunately enough, the recipe was featured in a section of the newspaper where people ask for recipe of dishes they have had at restaurant and eatery places around the town.
The husband was really happy to see the recipe; he even clipped it out and saved it for us to try on the weekend. So, under his commandment, I prepared it for our Sunday’s Pasta Lunch!
The original recipe actually called for ziti, but I used penne pasta, which was what I had on hand.
The dish is full of flavors, imparted mainly from the prosciutto that is initially sautéed and the white wine later added to the sauce. It is a rich and creamy, deliciously tasty sauce that I believe most people would enjoy!
I actually would have liked it more without the prosciutto in it, as it is not my favorite flavor, but the sauce would certainly suffer from the lack of it, as it does give some nice sort of “smoky” undertone to the whole dish.
I made half recipe and used half-half instead of the cream asked for in the recipe, just because that was what I had on hand. To be quite true, I don’t think the sauce was less good because of it… and it was probably a nice change for our hips!
The chicken and shrimp are very delicious together with the sauce. This is not your everyday pasta; it is more of a special dish, to be made on weekends and even when you might have company around, but certainly one that is worth trying at least once!
Hope you all enjoy too!
Ana

Note: I just want to say that I am sorry for the picture being presented inside the pan… I should actually have baked it in a casserole-type dish, but just for the sake of my “dishwasher husband”, I decided to bake it in the same pan I made it and save my loved one a few minutes in the sink.
And as it was done everyone was so eager to try the dish that I ended up not plating it nicely enough for a decent picture… Hope you still enjoy it as it was!

Penne Al Forno
(adapted from the News and Observer newspaper)

1 pound penne pasta
1 tablespoon butter
½ cup chopped onion
4 ounces diced prosciutto
2 cloves garlic, minced
4 boneless skinless chicken breasts, diced
8 ounces shrimp
½ cup white wine
3 cups heavy cream (I used half-half)
2 ounces (1/2 cup) Parmesan cheese, grated
6 tablespoons chopped scallions (green onions)
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese

Preheat oven to 400 F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
Cook pasta according to package instructions, drain and reserve.
In a pan melt butter, add onions and prosciutto and sauté for about 5 minutes. Add garlic and chicken, sauté for 3 minutes. Add shrimp and continue to cook for 3 minutes more.
Add wine and cook until liquid is reduced by half, 3 minutes. Add cream and cook for 5 more minutes. Stir in the Parmesan and scallions, season with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the cooked pasta and simmer for 3 minutes. Pour pasta into prepared dish, top with mozzarella and bake for about 15 to 20 minutes, until lightly browned. (I baked 10 minutes and them put it under the broiler for 2 more minutes to brown the top!)

My Grandma’s Banana Cake

Today’s recipe is one that a lot of Brazilians like; especially those grew up around my family and got to know my grandma’s yummy foods. This was one of her cakes that everyone loved, and after being together for a while, I learned that my husband liked this cake very much too!
So, when I have a few extra bananas hanging around, if I don’t make muffins, into Banana Torte they turn!
It is basically caramel and bananas layered in the bottom of the pan with a cake batter poured on top. When you cut the cake the bananas are deliciously cooked and ooey gooey due to the caramel, lending the yummiest and sweetest taste to the cake base, really, really good!
A super simple and easy recipes, that uses basic ingredients we all have at our homes, but that to me couldn’t exemplify better the flavors and aromas that I used to sense in my grandma’s house.
This cake does bring great memories to me, and a lot of smiles on the faces of my loved ones!
Oh, and the name of the recipe was my idea here… my grandmother used to call it simply Banana Torte (Torta de Bananas), but doesn’t the caramelized bananas look like jewels on top?!
Ana










Grandma’s Anna “Jeweled” Banana Torte

Bananas to cover the bottom of the pan
Sugar to caramelize the pan
3 egg whites
3 egg yolks
1 cup warm milk
1 ½ cups sugar
2 ½ cups flour
1 tablespoon baking powder

Melt enough sugar to cover the bottom of a cake pan (rectangular or round). Slice bananas and put on top of caramel, covering the entire bottom of the pan.
Beat egg whites into stiff peaks and reserve. In a blender mix egg yolks, sugar, and milk. Pour batter on a bowl and with a wooden spoon mix in the flour and baking powder. Using a spatula, gently fold in the egg whites.
Pour batter into prepared pan and bake at 350F for about 40 minutes. We like it served warm!

Chocolate Syrup

Kids must talk about a lot of stuff when they are at preschool. Even though Matheus only stays at school for 3 hours, he sometimes come home with the greatest ideas, and sometimes not all that good…
Lately he has been asking me to take him to a specific fast-food chain, just because a couple of his friends said it is their favorite place to eat. Oh my, and here I go, planning on a day to take my kid to have some greasy chicken nuggets… yuck! At least I hope that all my teaching about healthy foods will help him make good choices when eating out as he grows up.
Another of his requests lately was that he wanted to try chocolate milk make with chocolate syrup, instead of the chocolate powder we normally use. Well, this one was easy, as I had a recipe on my to try pile just waiting for an excuse to be tested.
Besides being super easy, it is a healthier choice for chocolate syrup, made with natural and simple ingredients, as opposed to the “corn syrup and artificial flavorings’ filled” commercial variety.
I made the syrup yesterday, and at night the three of us enjoyed yummy cups of chocolate milk! Fun, and delicious! It does taste really good, plus it is great to use in ice cream and all kinds of desserts, and to make your plates look pretty too!
Enjoy!
Ana

Note: I made 1/3 of the recipe and it yielded me one squeeze bottle! Oh, and there was a couple tablespoons of corn syrup on the original recipe, which I omitted, as I don’t have that stuff in the house.

Cocoa Syrup
(Adapted from foodtv.com – Recipe from Alton Brown)

1 1/2 cups water
3 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups Dutch-processed cocoa
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

In a small pot, bring water and sugar to a boil and whisk in cocoa, vanilla, salt, and corn syrup. Whisk until all of the solids have dissolved. Reduce sauce until slightly thickened. Strain and cool to room temperature. Pour into squeeze bottles.

Apple-Date Bars

I made this recipe yesterday and it was so good that I had to come here and share with my blog friends! The recipe comes from Cooking Light magazine, and it is another one that will certainly be repeated, as I already got requests to make it again.
These apple-date bars were a nice treat for a cold afternoon, something sweet and warm that will definitely make you feel good. What can be better than warm apples with the sweet taste of cinnamon to it? Add some nuts and a few flavorings more and what you get is a tasty and moist bar, with juicy and yummy apple pieces inside, divine! I love baked apples; apple cake and muffins are my favorite, so this was for sure one of the best treats for me.
And for those of you that like dates, then you will probably like it even more! The combination is good, however, I have tried and just can’t get myself to like dates. I have tried dates by itself, wrapped in proscciutto, in baked goods, and nope, they are definitely not for me. So many good reviews on this recipe made me want to try them again, but I assure you, this was it for me. I don’t know why, but their texture and taste are just difficult to swallow, plus I can barely eat ¼ of it, as I find them to be sickly sweet.
Yeah, I know, most people enjoy them, and so did my husband and my son (they really liked them in the cake!), unfortunately they are not for me; but I am proud that I gave them another try.
I halved the recipe when I made it yesterday, baking it on a square baking dish; but I have to say that I should have made the whole thing as the bars were literally devoured (mainly by me!) on the same day. Most reviewers of this recipe mentioned the bars being great on the next day, but I didn’t get a chance to try. There was indeed one piece left, and Matheus asked me to save it for him to have for breakfast today. I warmed it slightly for him today and he loved it even more! He was sad to eat the last piece, and already requested that I make it again soon, “This apple cake is very delicious Mommy”!
I have a ton of bananas ripening on the counter right now, and when I mentioned making something with bananas today he looked at me and said: “but that apple cake was so good, I wanted more apples, not bananas in my cake!” Cute, huh!?!!
Here is the original recipe from Cooking Light, but I made mine with half all-purpose and half whole-wheat flour, added a little more apples than asked for (my apples were big!), used walnuts instead of pecans (what I had on hand), and also reduced the sugar by half, and believe me, they were plenty sweet for us, even more with the super sweet date pieces around (which I will leave out next time…).
Hope you all like it too, they were very moist and delicious, we really enjoyed them here at home! And with less sugar and some whole-wheat flour, they sure are suitable for a yummy breakfast treat!
Ana

A picture of them right out of the oven!

Apple-Date Bars
(Adapted from Cooking Light, Oct. 2006)

2 cups all-purpose flour (about 9 ounces)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 cups sugar
7 tablespoons butter, softened
1 large egg
2 large egg whites
1/4 cup applesauce
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup chopped pitted dates
1 teaspoon all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups chopped peeled Granny Smith apple (about 1 large)
1 1/2 cups chopped peeled Red Delicious apple (about 1 large)
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
2/3 cup chopped pecans
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 325°.
Lightly spoon 2 cups flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 2 cups flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl; stir with a whisk. Set aside.
Place sugar and butter in a large bowl, and beat with a mixer at high speed for 2 minutes or until light and fluffy. Add egg and egg whites, beating well after each addition. Stir in applesauce and vanilla. Gradually add flour mixture to sugar mixture; stir just until combined to form a stiff batter. Toss dates with 1 teaspoon flour. Toss apples with juice. Add dates, apples, and nuts to flour mixture, stirring just until combined. Pour batter into a 13 x 9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 325° for 1 hour and 5 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Tilapia Baked in Couscous

I have been posting so many sweets and baked goods that it doesn’t even look like I cook anymore. It is definitely not it, since I do cook our meals everyday, but I have mostly been making easy and simple things, and haven’t had many new recipes or pretty pictures to post here.
Last weekend though I tried a savory recipe that was worth mentioning here. I will begin saying that I really liked the method of preparation here, since it was easy, simple, and quite practical, as you basically have only one dish to clean. But I have to say that the flavors can definitely be improved.
We liked the combo of tilapia and couscous, plus the cooking method kept the fish really moist, which we all enjoyed a lot.
You basically lay the fish fillets on a baking dish and scatter the seasoned couscous on top of them, add a bit of water to the dish, cover up with foil, bake for 20 minutes, and voila! A nice and easy meal for those busy days that we all have, quite often I might say.
As I said, the fish was very moist, and the couscous perfectly cooked, nice and fluffy! However, the fish here absorbs some of the flavors that are sitting on top of it, so I think that the couscous could have been better seasoned. Cumin and lemon do go together well, as do fish and lemon too, but I still don’t think it was the best combination for my palate on that day. In a certain way it did complemented each other, and the dish was tasty too, but I guess I would like something different for the couscous. I was thinking about something like a “parmesan-type” flavoring, but am not sure it would go well with the fish.
Actually the flavors I have in mind seems to go better with chicken than with fish, so I am considering trying this method with chicken breasts… it might work, don’t you think?
Also, I think that the flavors would have benefited by the use of vegetable broth (or fish broth, it does exist, doesn’t it?) instead of water in the bottom of the dish. It would have added some seasoning to both the fish and the couscous.
See, I did like the method and the idea of this dish, and will certainly try it with the variations I have in mind. Meanwhile I will leave here the recipe for those who would like to try, as it was a very easy to make dish!
Oh, I just wanted to say that I found the quantity of the couscous to be a lot more than necessary for 4 people. I adapted the recipe for 3 fish fillets and used about 6 ounces of couscous, which did increased in volume quite a bit and basically took up a lot of space in the dish. You can barely see the fish in the picture, as it was literally covered up with the couscous. We had quite a bit of it leftover (and wasted, as it had the fish smell/taste to it, both which I don’t care much when reheated…) so you may feel free to adjust the amounts to suit your tastes and appetite!
Another thing is, I forgot to add the parsley to my finished dish, and only realized that after we were already eating the fish… so, my picture looks a lot paler than the one in the magazine, which was so bright and vibrant-looking. I was a little disappointed with that, but the dish tasted good, so I decided to let it go. But in case you want to see the major inspiration for me trying this dish, there is a nice picture here, and the original recipe, as I did change a few things on mine... mostly reducing the fat)
I served ours with stuffed squash and some baby roasted potatoes (the potatoes were not necessary here, but I had it in the pantry for a while and needed to use them up….), all of which I baked while preheating the oven/baking the fish, definitely a happy meal to us all!
Enjoy!
Ana

Tilapia Baked in Couscous
(Adapted from Rachel Ray Magazine)

10 ounces couscous
½ cup slivered almonds
¼ cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped
½ tablespoon ground cumin
Salt and pepper
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1 lemon thin sliced
4 (8oz) tilapia fillets
3 tablespoons chopped parsley

Preheat the oven to 375°. In a large bowl, combine the couscous, almonds, sun-dried tomatoes and cumin and season to taste with salt and pepper. Stir in the olive oil and the lemon juice.
Arrange the tilapia fillets in a single layer in a 9-by-13-inch baking dish, season with salt and pepper. Cover the fish with the couscous mixture and arrange the lemon slices on top. Pour 2 ½ cups water around the fish, cover with foil and bake until tender, about 25 minutes. Top with the parsley.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!
May all the kids have lots of fun, get lots of candy, and have a safe and happy halloween!!
Ana

Pumpkin Bread

I roasted another small pumpkin today and got about 6 cups of pumpkin puree from it. Yumm!
Matheus asked for pumpkin soup, which we happily had for lunch and used about 2 cups of puree. Another cup was used in the recipe below, and the rest are already in the freezer, although they won’t stay there too long, as we are definitely in a pumpkin mood and I already have plans for them!
The recipe I am posting today and so easy, but very yummy! I adapted a recipe for Pumpkin Bread and came out with this one. Simple ingredients, and it is basically the same recipe I use for banana bread, just using pumpkin in its place.
I still want to get it a little bit spicier, but it is just a matter of adjusting the amounts and maybe even adding something else in there the next time I make it. I will probably be making this recipe one more time soon, so if I get better results I will certainly report back!
You can add chocolate chips, dried fruits, and even nuts to this bread. Chocolate goes surprisingly well with the pumpkin flavors, and another great combination are dried cranberries and walnuts; I think they really add another dimension of flavors and textures to the finished product!
Today I actually baked my cake (yes, I do think it had a cake texture, and still don’t see this or the banana breads as being actual breads… they are really cake to me!) into some mini panettone molds that I recently got from the Internet. Aren’t they cute??
I bought them to make panettone for the holidays (for ourselves and to give out to the dearest friends!), and couldn’t wait longer to see how something baked in them would look like. And I have to say that I really liked the looks of the pumpkin bread in it, and the molds do have a certain “holidayish” feel, don’t they?!
Enjoy!
Ana

Pumpkin Bread

3/4-cup brown sugar
1-cup pumpkin puree
1/4 cup canola oil
1/4 cup plain yogurt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
A pinch of ground cloves
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°.
In a bowl combine sugar, pumpkin, oil, yogurt, vanilla, and egg. Add flours, cinnamon baking soda, and salt to the bowl, and mix just until moist.
Pour batter into 1 greased loaf pan (8x4inches). Bake at 350° for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Remove from pan after about 10 minutes and let cool on a wire rack.

Espresso Cake

The recipe I am posting today if for a cake that really impressed me last week. It is a super simple and easy cake to make; however the flavor is intense and extremely pleasant.
Espresso Cake first called my attention because the recipe had another recipe that came with it where the leftover cake could be used to make truffles (more on this latter). Second I liked the idea of trying a new Chocolate Cake recipe!
And what a chocolate cake that was! Delicious, moist, and with a great flavor distributed all over it. I would say it is sort of a “grown up chocolate cake”, but have to add that Matheus just loved it too! He said it was one of the best chocolate cakes, which by the way is his favorite cake!
The husband liked it too, but being the “coffee hater” he is, he really pointed out that the coffee flavor was rather strong. I on the other hand really loved this cake, it was not too sweet, and ultra moist, which is a plus for me, and chocolate cakes in general. I have tried a few simple chocolate cake recipes and this one was by far the best one I made.
I will certainly make this cake again, even more because Matheus already asked for it and I also want to try the alternative recipe that came with it. And next time I make it I will probably use half coffee and half water, or maybe even substitute milk for the coffee, just to please my lovely hubby!
I got this recipe from a book called “Conscious Cuisine” by Cary Neff. The author is a spa chef and the book is full of delicious and nutritious recipes. I borrowed the book from the library and am now considering buying it for myself, as I liked and still want to try a few more recipes from it (and I already renewed it once, so I am running out of time with the library here!).
As I mentioned earlier, there is another recipe in the same book that uses this cake to make truffles! I loved the idea, but unfortunately didn’t have the time to make it sooner and when I went to take a look at the leftover cake, other than not having much left, it was also sort of smelling weird, with a pronounced prune smell and flavor. So I decided to toss it (oh no!) and will definitely make the truffles the next time I make the cake (which I am planning to do pretty soon). And I promise to post the recipe and reviews for that here, of course!
I used prune puree when I made my cake but you can also use applesauce, which I plan to try next (I opted for the prunes since it was a chocolate cake, and I do believe it contributed to the cake rich dark color too). You can easily make your own prune puree, but I saved time by using the baby food little jars, which for my surprise came in little plastic containers, with lids and all. I though they were really nice (usually when I was young there were only the glass jars…), and the prune puree was also very good!
Right now I will leave the cake recipe and some pictures here. It is a very nice cake, really really easy, super moist and incredibly tasty! Plus, another light recipe, each slice has only 80 calories, can you believe that? See why I loved the book? Yummy and healthy recipes, what else can you ask for?!
Ana

Espresso Cake
(Conscious Cuisine, by chef Cary Neff)

2/3 cup whole-wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup sugar
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup pureed prunes or unsweetened applesauce
3 large egg whites
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup coffee

Preheat the oven 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch cake pan with cooking spray and dust with additional cocoa powder, set aside.
In a medium bowl, combine the flours, sugar, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; set aside. In another bowl, combine the prune puree, egg whites, vanilla, and coffee. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and pour into the prepared cake pan.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean. Cool the cake in the pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Run a knife around the edge of the cake and invert onto a wire rack to cool completely.

A picture of a cake slice...

And the prune puree I used.

Graham Crackers

I have seen recipes, pictures, and more about homemade graham crackers, but every time I needed it I would run to the store and buy a box of them, and always trying to make sure I would get a reasonably healthy cracker, without much fat or sugars in it (that meant a lot of experimentation with healthy brands of the stuff – some were good, some not so great).
Last weekend though, I decided to try making my own Graham Crackers, and boy was it worth it!
Did it look like the boxed stuff? Not much, and I actually didn’t try to make it look like that in appearance either. Did it taste like the store bough ones? No…. it was MUCH BETTER and superior in taste than the boxed stuff. It was easy to make, used simple ingredients, but the end result was amazingly good. Definitely and for sure the best Graham Crackers I have had! And I do like graham crackers a lot, so that is where my enthusiasm about it comes from.
I actually tried two different recipes on that weekend, and it was a consensus that this one was the best. The other recipe I made used oil, as opposed to this one, which has butter in it, and the end result was simply “not a graham cracker” at all.
This recipe in the other hand was just right, it tasted great, and the texture was perfect, plus the dough really easy to work with. It did score a perfect 10 with Matheus and I, the official cracker’s consumers of the house!
If I have the time, I will certainly make these over and over again, when I need them for a recipe, or simply to eat with milk, which is how we ate almost our entire batch in two days… Really, I loved the crackers, and knowing it doesn’t have any of the HFCS, colorings, and added stuff of the commercial variety, is the best thing ever. I now can enjoy my crackers and feed them to my son without feeling guilty about it.
It is worth a try! And I am making more today, as both Matheus and I are already craving them again!!
Ana

Note: I changed the recipe slightly (with more than good results!), but you can find the original recipe here.

Homemade Graham Crackers

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup (1 stick) cold butter, cut into pea-size bits
2 tablespoons honey
1/4 cup cold water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a large bowl mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add the cold butter and with a pastry blender, two knifes, or your fingers (as I did) work the butter into the flour until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Add the honey, water, and vanilla. Mix until the dough comes together in a ball.
Between 2 sheets of waxed paper or plastic wrap, roll the dough 1/2-inch thick. Chill for 1 hour, until firm. Set a rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Lightly flour the dough and roll 1/8-inch thick. With a sharp knife or cookie cutter, cut into 2-inch squares. Arrange the crackers on nonstick or parchment lined cookie sheets. With a fork, prick several holes in each cracker. Bake for 15 minutes, until lightly browned at the edges. Remove from the oven and let cool in the pan.
Yield: 48 crackers

Peanut Butter Brownies

Matheus has a thing with the peanut butter grinder of our local natural store. He think is the coolest think to turn it on and see zillions roasted peanuts inside become peanut butter! Does he like peanut butter? Well, not really… but the always begs for me to buy some for him when we go to this particular store, just because of the machine. Most of the time I won’t buy it, but there are some days I end up giving in.
He is always hearing about peanut butter and pb&J sandwiches from his friends; he has tried it several times, but definitely doesn’t care for it at all. Neither my husband nor me grew up eating the stuff ourselves, so we are not crazy for it either (although we all like to eat salted peanuts!). I don’t even buy peanut butter, unless I am making one of my husband’s favorite ice creams, which by the way I should post here, in another post, of course.
The other day Matheus went to the grocery store with me and he had to have his little peanut butter/grinding machine fix, so I bought the smallest amount for him, and we all came home happy.
However, after one week, the thing was still sitting there, at the corner of the refrigerator shelf, completely isolated and ignored. So I decided to use it up in come sort of recipe, and hope that at least someone would eat my baked good.
I then found a recipe for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Brownies, and decided to give it a go, as Matheus declared that he would eat a cake with the peanut butter in it, and oh yes: “I love chocolate chips mommy”!
He indeed ate the brownies, and said he liked it, but nothing major as some other cakes and stuff I make that he really likes (one piece and then it was the brownie’s turn to be forgotten and left in the corner by itself…)
I have to say that this is not my favorite recipe. First of all, because to me brownies should be chocolate! It was actually interesting trying this recipe, as the texture of the finished cake (yes, to me this should be called cake, but anyways…) was exactly like that of a chocolate brownie: was moist and sort of fudgy in the middle. The peanut flavor however was very subtle, so I believe that the amount of PB could be increased here, or maybe adding some crushed peanuts to the batter might help too.
It is super easy and quick to make, so I will post the recipe and the improvement options for you all, in case someone would like to try it! ‘Cause for me… if I want brownies, I will make brownies, and by that I mean chocolate brownies, of course!
Oh, and before I go, I just wanted to say that the chocolate chips were a good complement here, and just as Matheus, I liked them too!
Ana

Peanut Butter-Chocolate Chip Brownies (Adapted from Cooking Light – Jun/00)
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate minichips
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 large egg white

Preheat oven to 350°.
Coat bottom of an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray (do not coat sides of pan).
Lightly spoon flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine flour, chocolate chips, soda, and salt in a bowl.
Combine sugars and remaining ingredients in a bowl; stir until well-blended. Add flour mixture, stirring just until blended. Spread batter in bottom of prepared pan. Bake at 350° for 25 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out almost clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Apple Season, Yay!!

Every year during fall season, I can’t wait to go to the farmer’s market and come home with a basket full of apples! To eat, to make pie, muffins, and especially to make applesauce!
It is super simple, the easiest thing to make. You can use applesauce in many recipes, and I keep thinking I am going to use some in my baked goods (in my favorite apple muffins, for example), but we always end up eating most of it warm, right after it is ready and pureed, and the aroma of apples and cinnamon is still wonderfully infusing the kitchen!
As Matheus says, “This is the best applesauce, ever!” And, I have to agree!
Ana

Homemade Applesauce

4 apples of your choice
¾ cup apple cider - or unfiltered apple juice, or regular apple juice
1 tablespoon honey (or maple syrup)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Peel apples and cut them into chunks. Put apples and rest of ingredients in a big plastic container that can be microwaved. Cover with a lid, but open up one of the corners, so steam can escape.
Microwave the apples for 10 minutes, until they are very soft. Remove from microwave and puree to your desired consistency.

My Notes: the sweetest apples are the best for making this, as they break down easily and produce the moistest and sweetest applesauce. I always use a mix of apples for making applesauce, as I think the variety of flavors makes up for a tastier end product. But really, you can use whatever apples you like!
I use an immersion blender for pureeing the apples, and if I think there is too much liquid in the container, I will drain part of it into a cup and reserve. Then I puree the apples and if needed I can add more of the yummy liquid (and in case there is liquid leftover, well, then I drink it, it is delicious, just as hot mulled cider!)
Also, you can use the peels in here if you want to, and I usually do. If I opt for not using them in the applesauce, them I put them in a small Ziploc container, keep in the fridge, and eat them as a snack! The peels have a lot of goodies in them, vitamins, fiber, and I think they are just as tasty as the apples themselves! Galas and Golden Delicious are good apples for applesauce and have soft skins, great for pureeing everything. And even if I am not going to puree the skins from the reddest apples (which in my opinion have the toughest skins), I still add them to the container to be microwaved, and then fish them out with a fork at the end – they may not be pureed, but will lend flavor and a nice color to the applesauce at the end!

Pumpkin Oat Bran Muffins

Just a quick post… since we are still on the pumpkin subject, I decided to come here and report that I have tried the previously posted “Apple Oat Bran Muffins” with Pumpkin, and it is absolutely delicious too!!
I tried a couple of pumpkin recipes already and I think this might be my favorite so far! (besides the pumpkin muffin I posted last year) Matheus and my husband liked it too! Here is the Pumpkin version. Enjoy!!
Ana

Pumpkin-Oat Bran Muffins
1 1/2 cups oat bran
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
A pinch of ground cloves
¼ teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed pumpkin, cooked
1/2 cup milk (I used buttermilk)
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl (oat bran through salt) and stir well. In another bowl, mix together pumpkin and next three ingredients; stir well. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Spoon into greased muffin pans. Bake at 375 degrees for about 20 minutes.
Note: I got 9 muffins out of this batter.

Pumpkin Soup!

Matheus and I have been in a “pumpkin kick” lately, we made pumpkin pie, pumpkin muffins (twice already!), and yesterday was Pumpkin Soup!
I usually make winter squash soup using either butternut or acorn squashes during the winter, not just because it is my absolutely favorite soup, but also because it is really easy to make, and Matheus like it too.
However, I have seen a couple soup recipes with the combination of either pumpkin or butternut squash and leeks, and both sounded so good that got me curious enough to go ahead and try it. And I am glad I did!
I don’t cook much with leeks, as it is not that affordable here where I live. However, I do love the flavor that the leeks impart to food, it is a mellow and sweet onion flavor, not strong, not overpowering, it is a smooth flavor that I truly enjoy, especially on soup bases. So, once in a while I splurge and buy some leeks to make recipes that really sound good.
In this soup I was amazed with how much the leeks went well with the pumpkin flavor, it was so good! And the combination of white pepper and nutmeg were just perfect with this soup, I really loved those flavors here! Thyme is an herb that goes really well with winter squashes in general, but you have to be cautious because it can sometimes be overpowering (I actually used half the amount asked in the recipe, because I have a strong thyme growing in my backyard).
This soup is super simple to make and the end result was really delicious! Smooth and creamy, tasty and rich, what else could you ask in a warm bowl of soup?
I have to say that I didn’t even added the half-and-half, and it was so great this way that I will probably not use it when I make it again. I used a little more pumpkin than the recipe stated (I wasn’t going to keep a tiny amount of pumpkin puree leftover, right?!), and I guess that the extra pumpkin made up for the richness lost with the omitted half-half. Oh, and I used olive oil instead of butter, and maybe not even 2 tablespoons of it.
I had the leftovers today for lunch and am already looking forward to making some more of this soup! And I don’t know if it is because he really likes the fall season, and pumpkins, and Halloween, but Matheus simply loved the soup too! When you hear a “Thank you mommy for making this yummy pumpkin soup”, then you know it is a keeper recipe and that it will certainly be made again, soon!
Ana

Cucina's Pumpkin Leek Soup (CLBB, posted by Darla - Dgeevanson)

4 Tablespoons butter
2 large leeks, white part only, cleaned and thinly sliced
2 teaspoons dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon white pepper
2 cups pumpkin puree
4 cups vegetable broth (or chicken broth - not vegetarian then)
2 Tablespoons brown sugar
1 1/2 cups half and half
Garnish - dollops of sour cream, grated Monterey jack cheese, chives

In a large saucepan, heat burner and sauté the leeks for 8-10 minutes on low heat, stirring often. Leeks should be soft and lightly golden. Add the thyme, nutmeg, salt, white peper, pumpkin puree, chicken broth and brown sugar. Stir, cover and simmer for 15 minutes. Taste for seasoning. Add half and half and simmer another 10 minutes.

Frozen Raspberry Mousse

This is a super delicious recipe that I have made before and didn’t even get a chance to take a picture (yes, it was that good!).
I made it when it first appeared in the magazine, last year, and just had to make it this year again. Besides being so good, this one also presents very well when you have company, especially if you remember to save a few extra berries to garnish the plate (which of course I forgot…). It is not too hard, and you can make it in advance. I made it once when my mom and sister were visiting and they loved it as well!
It is a little more laborious to make than the recipes I usually make, but it is well worth the extra effort, as the end result is a cold, creamy and delectable dessert. Really yummy this one!
The recipe calls for dried egg whites, which I happen to keep in my pantry, but if you don’t have and don’t mind, you may substitute real whites here. Or, use those pasteurized egg whites, but make sure they are the whipping kind, as some of them will not whip up into a meringue.
You can make it with raspberries or with a combination of berries, as I have made before (using both strawberries and raspberries). And I believe blackberries would not only make for a pretty looking mousse but also a very tasty one. Even blueberries might work, which I want to try sometime, as they are my favorite berries.
This time I made half recipe and it worked very well. Oh, and I also divided mine into individual molds, instead of a big one.
Yummy, creamy, cold and satisfying, plus it is light too! I normally don’t put nutritional stats on my recipes, but this one is worth mentioning, as each serving has only 168 calories, with 3 grams protein and 6 grams fiber, nice, huh?!?!
Ana

Frozen Raspberry Mousse (Adapted from Eating Well)

6 cups fresh raspberries or two 12-ounce packages unsweetened frozen raspberries, thawed
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar or Splenda Granular (see Ingredient note)
2 tablespoons orange juice
1 teaspoon unflavored gelatin
8 teaspoons dried egg whites (see Ingredient notes), reconstituted in 1/2 cup warm water according to package directions (equivalent to 4 egg whites)
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup whipping cream
2 cups fresh raspberries, blueberries, blackberries and/or strawberries for garnish
Mint sprigs for garnish

Place a small mixing bowl in the freezer to chill for Step 5.
Puree raspberries in a food processor until smooth. Pass through a fine sieve set over a large bowl; discard seeds. Measure out 1 cup raspberry puree, whisk in confectioners' sugar (or Splenda), cover and set aside in the refrigerator for sauce.
Place orange juice in a small saucepan. Sprinkle in gelatin. Let soften for 1 minute. Place over low heat and stir until the gelatin has completely dissolved. Let stand for 5 minutes.
Meanwhile, beat reconstituted egg whites in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beating until the meringue is stiff and glossy.
Beat cream in the chilled bowl until soft peaks form.
Add the melted gelatin to the remaining raspberry puree and whisk until blended. Set the bowl over a bowl of ice water and stir just until the mixture starts to thicken slightly, 5 to 10 minutes. Add one-fourth of the meringue to the raspberry puree and whisk until blended. Using a whisk, fold in the remaining meringue. With a rubber spatula, fold in the whipped cream. Scrape the mousse into a 6-cup metal bowl (or other decorative mold) or a 9-by-5-inch metal loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap and foil and freeze until firm, at least 6 hours.
To serve, fill a bowl or basin (large enough to hold the mold comfortably) with very hot water. Run a knife around the edges of the mold. Quickly dip the mold in hot water, and then invert a serving platter over the top. Grasping the mold and platter, jerk downward several times. If the mousse does not release, dip in hot water again and repeat. Cut the mousse into wedges or slices. Serve with the reserved raspberry sauce and garnish each serving with a scattering of berries and a mint sprig.
Yield: 8 servings

Shrimp and Orzo Pasta

This was another dish I tried for our Sunday’s Pasta that was a success at our home!
My husband said he would like to eat some sort of shrimp dish last weekend. And since he usually grills meat on Saturdays, I decided to make a shrimp pasta dish for our Sunday lunch. Both the husband and Matheus really like shrimp; it is amazing how many of these little sea creatures those two are able to gobble up in one sitting. Needless to say they both enjoyed this dish!
It was simple to make and very tasty, which is a huge bonus for me! I actually didn’t have Romano cheese, so I used Parmesan, and it worked quite well. Although I guess the saltier Romano would be even better here. The only thing is I didn’t measure my basil and I believe I ended up using less than I should, so next time I will pay more attention to that.
I omitted the crushed red pepper and added about ½ cup of white wine to my tomato mixture, letting it reduce a bit (cooked a little longer than the recipe stated, so it wouldn’t be watery at the end). I like the taste of white wine with shrimp sauces; I think it adds a lot of flavor to it.
Anyways, it was a really good and simple dish. If you like shrimp, odds are you might enjoy this one too!
Ana

Shrimp and Orzo with Cherry Tomatoes and Romano Cheese
(Adapted from Cooking Light – April/05)

1 cup uncooked orzo (rice-shaped pasta)
2 tablespoons olive oil, divided
3/4 teaspoon salt, divided
1/4 teaspoon black pepper, divided
1 pound medium shrimp, peeled and deveined
1 cup chopped onion
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved
1/3 cup (about 1 1/2 ounces) grated fresh pecorino Romano cheese
1/3 cup chopped fresh basil

Cook the pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat.
While pasta cooks, heat 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Sprinkle 1/2 teaspoon of salt and 1/8 teaspoon of black pepper evenly over shrimp. Add shrimp to pan; cook 1 1/2 minutes on each side or until done. Remove from pan.
Add remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil to pan. Add onion, garlic, and red pepper; cook 2 minutes, stirring frequently. Add tomatoes, and cook 3 minutes or until tomatoes begin to soften, stirring occasionally. Stir in pasta and shrimp; cook 1 minute or until thoroughly heated. Remove from heat, and stir in 1/4 teaspoon salt, 1/8 teaspoon black pepper, cheese, and basil.
Yield: 4 servings (serving size: 1 1/4 cups)

Stuffed Zucchini ala Ana’s mode!

Following Karen’s idea for stuffed zucchini, today I created my own concoction!
I had a zucchini in the fridge and didn’t know what to do with it, so I remembered Karen’s advice and made it a stuffed veggie thing!
It turned out super delicious and I will definitely make it again, even more because this was a great way to get Matheus to eat zucchini and be really happy about it too!
I guess he is growing up on his food tastes too. Before he didn’t care much for stuffed veggies, and I love it, tried many times to make it for us (love stuffed eggplant and bell peppers!) without much success of him eating it. But today he really enjoyed it!
At first he asked “Mommy, how do I eat this?”, then I chopped it up for him and he loved the flavors and the idea of eating a “Zucchini Boat”, yes, that’s how I got him to eating and liking it, boats are fun!
He ate his whole half and said “Mmmmmm” through the process, really devoured his piece and I was very proud of my creation, and of feeding healthy meals to my kiddo too, of course!
I made mine a little different though. First I cut the zucchini in half, slathered it with olive oil and put, cut side down, in a baking sheet. Put it in the oven at 400 for about 10 minutes so it would soften and roast a bit.
Then I scooped out the pulp and sautéed it in olive oil with some chopped onions and garlic. Added a few cherry tomatoes I had from the garden sitting in my counter, some oregano and fresh parsley. Seasoned it with salt and pepper and back to the “boats” it went. Oh, I also added some brown rice to the mixture too, as the filling wasn’t enough by itself to fill both halves, and it actually turned out great with the rice in it!
I then sprinkled with a mixture of bread crumbs and grated parmesan cheese, and to complete it all, added some crumbles of goat cheese on top. Back to the oven for a few minutes at 350 (about 5 minutes, just to warm it up), a couple minutes under the broiler and there you have it, my “Stuffed Zucchini Boats”, great stuff!! Yummm!!
We had ours with some mini turkey loafs that I made, soo good! Check out the recipe here, it is awesome!
Ana

One recipe lead to another, which lead to another, and…

Don’t you hate when you start to make something just to find out that you are out of an ingredient? And it is most probably an important one? I guess it happens to all of us, right? Or at least it does to me…
I was pretty sure I had condensed milk at the house when I settled on a recipe on Saturday. However, I could not find a can in the pantry, not a small tiny can of the stuff. And since I decided for that recipe just because I didn’t have another ingredient for a different recipe, I had to figure out how I would finish what I had already started.
And that’s when the Internet comes in handy! By simply typing a few words into a search engine and voila, all the solutions for your (culinary) problems are right there in front of you. Great!
So here I go to make my Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk, which by the way I tried before with a different recipe and didn’t get much success. Well, I believe the other recipe was out of proportions then, because this one was PERFECT!! I could not believe how much this tasted and had the same texture as the canned milk. No wait, it actually tasted BETTER than the canned stuff!
Really, I was surprised and more than happy with my results for both the condensed milk and the recipe I used it for. It tasted so good, and worked so well in my recipe that I can’t wait to make more and try in other recipes too.
Now, all that said, I have to mention that my homemade condensed milk had a slight milk powder taste to it, which is why I loved it so much, because I really love milk powder. Is this too weird??
I do, it is so good, sweet and milky! I love making hot chocolate in the winter (milk, cocoa, sugar), and then adding a couple tablespoons of milk powder to my milk, just to get that yummy taste and make my cocoa even more rich and creamy, yum!
All in all, the homemade condensed milk was great, and Matheus though so too! Hehe!
Now you must be asking, what did you use it for?
Before I forget, I used it to make ice cream! A super simple and easy No-Cook Vanilla Ice Cream recipe that turned out "yummylicious"!
Really, it was a success, both recipes I tried that day worked out really well! Yay! (And to think that I did have a couple disasters during the week… but that's another post).
The ice cream was very tasty, a perfect soft serve consistency right out of the machine, and I opted for this recipe because I didn’t have any cream in the house to make the more traditional recipe. I had to use skim milk because it was what I had on hand (and by now you could tell I wasn’t in the mood to go to the grocery store, right?), but I am sure it would have been much better with whole milk, which I am planning to try next. (skim milk makes more of an "ice milk" rather than ice cream, and it gets too icy after being completely frozen)
Oh, and the original recipe of the day was in reality a Peach Crisp, which is one of my favorite desserts, but the Husband and Matheus enjoy it much more when accompanied by a nice scoop of ice cream. And that is why I decided to make vanilla ice cream, and that’s how I ended up making homemade sweetened condensed milk. Ufff…
I did go all the way with the trouble just for my boys, so they could be happy, and ate my crisp plain, but only because because that is how I like it… Am I a sweet girl or what??
Now, wish me luck, because it will probably be a couple days until I get to post again, as I am having an endoscopy procedure done tomorrow. Ouch, another day of soup and crackers to come…
Ana

Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk (posted on Cooking Light BB)
1 cup skim milk powder
2/3 cup sugar
3 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup boiling water

In bowl, combine milk powder with sugar. Stir butter into boiling water until melted; pour into sugar mixture. Using electric mixer, beat for about 2 minutes or until smooth and creamy. Cover and refrigerate for 8 hours or until thickened.
Yield:"1 1/4 cups"

Here is a Picture of the Peach Crisp with the Vanilla Ice Cream!









And Here goes the Ice Cream recipe, with a few variations too!

No-Cook Vanilla Ice Cream
(Adapted from Southern Living, AUGUST 2004)

1 can sweetened condensed milk -- (14-ounce)
1 can evaporated milk -- (5-ounce)
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups whole milk

Whisk all ingredients in a 2-quart pitcher or large bowl until blended. Cover and chill 30 minutes.
Pour milk mixture into freezer container of a 1-quart electric ice-cream maker, and freeze according to manufacturer's instructions. (Instructions and times will vary.)
Remove container with ice cream from ice-cream maker, and place in freezer 15 minutes. Transfer to an airtight container; freeze until firm, about 1 to 1 1/2 hours.

No-Cook Chocolate Ice Cream: Omit sugar, vanilla, and whole milk. Add 2 cups whole chocolate milk and 2/3 cup chocolate syrup. Proceed as directed.
No-Cook Peach Ice Cream: Omit vanilla and sugar, and reduce whole milk to 1 1/4 cups. Process 4 peeled, sliced medium-size fresh ripe peaches or 1 (15.25-ounce) can peaches in light syrup, drained, with 2 tablespoons sugar; 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice; and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a blender or food processor until smooth. Stir into milk mixture with 3/4 cup peach nectar. Proceed as directed.
No-Cook Strawberry Ice Cream: Omit vanilla, and reduce whole milk to 1 1/2 cups. Process 1 (16-ounce) container fresh strawberries or 1 (16-ounce) package thawed frozen strawberries, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a blender or food processor until smooth. Stir into milk mixture. Proceed as directed.
No-Cook Coconut Ice Cream: Omit vanilla and sugar, and reduce whole milk to 1/2 cup. Whisk 1 (13.5-ounce) can coconut milk, 2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, and 1/4 teaspoon salt into milk mixture. Proceed as directed. Serve ice cream with toasted coconut, shaved chocolate, or chopped macadamia nuts.