Hummus

I got the inspiration for this hummus from Katie over at Good Things Catered. I will link her recipe here, but type my slightly different version below. I have been wanting to try my hand at some homemade hummus for a long time, and since I finally own a food processor, I decided that would be a great way to use it for the first time. I used 2 cloves of garlic, which worked out fine for me since I love the stuff. But if you're not a fan of lots of garlic, I'd cut it back to maybe just 1 clove. This is such an easy recipe, even for a first timer and I can't wait to dive into it with some pita chips!

Hummus

1 15 oz can of chick peas, drained (reserve the liquid)
1-2 cloves of garlic
2 tbsp+ extra virgin olive oil
2 tsp+ tahini
1/4 tsp salt
juice of 1 lemon (I didn't happen to have any lemons today, so I left this out. Don't know how big of a deal it is. It tastes fine to me without it!)

In a blender or food processor, combine chick peas, garlic, olive oil, 1 tsp tahini, salt and half the lemon juice. Process for about 1-2 minutes and check the flavor and consistency. Add more tahini, lemon juice and reserved liquid from the chick peas as needed. Refrigerate for about 30 minutes before serving.

I found that I ended up needing more olive oil than just 2 tbsp. But that could be because I didn't use the lemon juice? I'm not really sure. I will definitely be playing with this recipe a little and maybe trying some adaptations like adding roasted red peppers or roasted garlic in place of the raw garlic I used today.

First Time's a Charm

So, until today, I had never tried to make chili. As a matter of fact, for a large part of my life I didn't even like chili. I had a huge aversion to beans growing up and avoided eating anything that contained them. Well, as with pretty much everything else I thought I didn't like (don't worry, there wasn't much. I've never been super picky) I've learned after trying them again, that I do, in fact, like beans. My biggest problem with chili is that I love to put cheese and sour cream on mine, but since we keep kosher at home I wouldn't be able to have ground beef in my chili if I wanted to add sour cream and cheese. And I worried that I'd miss the beef. I considered adding fake beef, like the Morningstar Farms crumbles I've used before. But I've never really been a huge fan. They're alright, but I didn't want them in my chili.

I decided that I'd go ahead and look for a vegetarian chili recipe and atleast give it a shot. I don't have a whole lot of patience for searching through recipes and recipe reviews looking for the perfect recipe. Actually, it probably has less to do with patience and more to do with the fact that my 9 year old can be a bit demanding. So I don't always have a ton of time to sit at the computer searching through websites. Anyway, it all worked out perfectly because within about 2 minutes I found what looked to me like the perfect recipe on allrecipes.com. I really wanted a chili recipe that didn't include any seasoning packets and that also looked like it would be easy to adapt to my own liking. The recipe I found turned out to be perfect and I honestly don't think I would change a single thing from the way I made it. The recipe on allrecipes called for tofu, but i decided not to add it. Instead, I added just a little more beans and some frozen corn. It turned out amazing and colorful and I absolutley loved it. I am so happy that I have found my go-to chili recipe on the first try.

I think the one thing that really made me choose this recipe in the first place was the picture on the website. It looked exactly like what I wanted my chili to look like. And although mine came out looking a bit different, it ended up tasting exactly like I wanted my chili to taste. Which is what's really important, right? But it just proves the statement that we eat with our eyes :-) I'll link here to the original recipe here, but will type my adapted version below.



Vegetarian Black Bean Chili

~1/4 cup olive oil
~2 onions, chopped
~1 green pepper and one red pepper, chopped (I happened to have a bag of frozen red, green and yellow pepper slices in my freezer so i chopped those up and used them instead)
~2 cloves garlic, minced
~8 oz frozen corn
~1 29 oz can black beans, drained and rinsed (I also added a little bit more from some I had leftover from another black bean dish i made last week. not sure how much more I added though)
~1 28 ounce can of crushed tomatoes (I didn't actually add the whole can because I was afraid if I added too much it would water down the chili. It would probably be ok to use the whole can though)
~1 tsp salt
~1/4 tsp black pepper
~1 tsp ground cumin
~2 tbsp chili powder (the original recipe called for 6 tbsp, but I did half the recipe and decided not to add 3 tbsp of chili powder. I don't like my chili super spicy)
~1 tbsp oregano
~1 tbsp cider vinegar

Heat oil in a large pot over medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft. Add peppers, garlic and corn and cook, stirring occasionally, until tender.

Pour beans, crushed tomatoes and seasonings into pot, lower heat to low and simmer on stove top approximately 4 hours. Makes about 6 servings (This is a total guess. The original recipe says it makes 8 servings, but even just making half the recipe made a ton of chili).

Oh, and before I forget, I had an awesome helper in the kitchen today. Maura helped with everything from stirring the chili to baking the cookies. Thanks Maura!

Apple Spice Cookie Bars

Fall is my favorite time of year. I love when the temperature drops and I can start wearing my sweatshirts and jackets again. There is something about the air that I just love this time of year. But another reason I love this season so much is because of all the fall baking I get to do. Luckily, I have lots of friends and family and coworkers to share my goodies with so I don't have to worry about eating them all :-)

We started a new tradition last year of going to the apple orchard and picking apples. We went to a different orchard this year. It was much bigger and they had things besides apples for us to pick. We got a bunch of heads of broccoli and some bunches of fresh spinach. So exciting! I definitely see a quiche in my future...

But we came home with about 15 pounds of apples, and aside from having plenty of apples to snack on, I knew I'd want to bake something new and yummy. So I went blog surfing last night and came up with these tasty looking treats on Katie's blog. They looked amazing so I decided they would be the first thing I made with my apples.

I am so glad that I stumbled across this recipe. It is relatively simple and the taste screams fall. If you're like me and love fall baking, you must try these!

Katie's Apple Spice Cookie Bars (source: Good Things Catered)

2 c. plus 2 Tbsp all purpose flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/8 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp allspice
small pinch ground cloves
1/2 c. butter, melted
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. white sugar
2 eggs
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 apples, peeled and diced
cinnamon sugar for sprinkling


Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line 9x13 pan with foil and baking spray. In medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. Whisk to combine well and set aside.

In bowl of stand mixer, combine sugars and butter and beat on medium high until light and fluffy, about 1 minute. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well to combine. Add vanilla extract and beat to combine. Turn mixer on slow and fold in flour mixture a little at a time until just combined. Fold in apples. Spread mixture evenly into prepared pan and sprinkle top generously with cinnamon sugar.

Place in oven and bake until cooked through, when top slightly bounces back to the touch, about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool completely before removing from pan, cutting and serving.

World Day of Bread - Cornbread

I'm back in business! After months of not posting in my beloved blog, I'm back in the blogging world. I have to give some of the credit for getting me back into it to my good friend Chelle. If she hadn't told me about the World Day of Bread, I would have probably gone weeks or months without posting anything. So thanks for being the extra little motivation I needed Chelle! I am so excited to be participating in World Day of Bread. I love the smell of fresh bread baking in my home. And I have, sadly, not had a whole lot of time to do much bread baking lately. So I am going to use this event to help motivate me to make more time for trying different bread recipes in the near future.

My one and only issue was that I was afraid I wouldn't have time to make something and blog it before the deadline. I knew I definitely wouldn't have time to do a yeast bread. And I couldn't come up with any quick breads that I either hadn't tried yet or was interested in making. So I consulted my other good friend, Martha Stewart. Now I'm sure I've mentioned this before, but the Martha Stewart Baking Handbook is a must have if you're as in love with baking as I am. Some of the recipes seem a little intimidating or daunting, but there's really something for everyone in here. And there are pictures for every recipe, which I love. But my favorite thing about this book is the detail. Martha has taken so much time to explain how things work and what tools you'll really need to do what. There is so much attention to detail in this book, that even a novice baker, like myself, would feel comfortable tackling even the most intimidating recipe.

So I went to my Martha Stewart Baking Handbook in search of a relatively simple, no yeast, bread recipe. There were so many options, but I decided on the cornbread. Cornbread is something that I have not mastered yet, so I thought this would be a great opportunity to try another recipe. The flavor of this cornbread is amazing. The only thing I may do next time is not use skim milk. I think a little milk fat would add some flavor and moisture. Outside of that, this cornbread recipe is very yummy and I will definitely be making it again.

Cornbread (source: Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook pg 51-52)

1/3 cup vegetable shortening, plus more for pan
1 tbsp unsalted butter
1 cup corn kernels, fresh or frozen
1 cup all purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup stone-ground yellow cornmeal
1 cup milk
1 large egg, lightly beaten

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with vegetable shortening; set aside. Melt butter in a medium saute pan over medium-high heat; add corn. Cook, stirring occasionally, until corn has softened and some of the kernels have begun to turn light golden brown, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat, and set aside to cool slightly.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt. Stir in the cornmeal. Using a pastry blender, cut shortening into mixture until it resembles coarse meal. Add milk, egg and reserved corn; stir to combine. Do not overmix.

Transfer batter to the prepared pan and bake until the top begins to turn golden and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 18 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.

Martha's Notes: Sauteed corn moistens this cornbread, but you can moit it if you are using the bread in a traditional stuffing. For a spicy variation, add two medium jlapenos, seeded and finely chopped, to the corn before sauteeing. Cornbread is best served the day it is bakes, but it can be kept at room temperature, wrapped well in plastic, for up to 1 day.

I've been a bad blogger...

I can't believe how long it has been since I've blogged.  I have about 3 posts that i've been meaning to get up.  But I just haven't been able to find enough time to devote to them.  I have pictures and stories of my trip to Japan, some cookies, and some other dishes I've made.  The pictures are sitting in my memory card in my camera waiting to be uploaded.  I am going to try to make some time to just sit down and do it.  Hopefully soon!  I miss my blog and I wish I had more time for it.  Hopefully now that Fall is just around the corner I'll have lots of inspiration to get back into blogging.

Pasta in a Tomato Cream Sauce

I have been making this dish for a while now. I invented it on a whim about 5 or 6 months ago, but was never able to get a decent picture. And it seemed so simple that I never considered it blogworthy. Well, I made it again tonight after not having it for a while, and I decided that it's totally blogworthy. Mostly because of it's simplicity. But also because it tastes wonderful.

This is the kind of meal that can be thrown together in less than 30 minutes, is cost effective and sure to be something everyone will like. Any short pasta will work fine with this recipe, but I find that Rotini/Fusili works best. They just tend to hold the sauce better. I haven't tried it with spaghetti or linguini or any other long pasta noodles, so if anyone decides to give that a shot, I'd love to hear how it turned out.

I'd also like to say that I've made this sauce without the cream/half and half and cheese and it's really good that way too. So if you're looking to cut back on fat and calories, just leave out the cream/half and half and cheese. It will still be very yummy! I also like to mix it up with the herbs I use. Tonight I used dried oregano and fresh sage. I loved the sage in it and I think next time I'll just use sage.

And Mom, if you're reading this, you HAVE to try it. I think of you every time I make it because I know how much you'd love it.

Pasta in a Tomato Cream Sauce (source: my brain)

olive oil
1 (14.5 ounce) can Diced tomatoes
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tso dried basil
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/4 cup heavy cream or half and half
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
about 6-8 ounces pasta (like I said, I prefer Rotini)

Heat medium skillet over medium high heat and drizzle about a tsp or 2 of olive oil into the skillet. Add the garlic and cook until fragrant. Meanwhile, start cooking the pasta in boiling, salted water. Add the tomatoes to the skillet and simmer over medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until the tomato chunks start to soften. With a spatula, lightly mash the tomato chunks to release the juices and soften the chunks. Continue to simmer until the sauce thickens slightly, approximately 5 more minutes. Add the cream and cheese and cook 1 more minute, or until cheese has melted. After the sauce has thickened to your liking, add the pasta to the skillet and toss to coat the pasta with the sauce.

Serves 2-3

Chocolate Ice Cream

Although the Vanilla Ice Cream recipe I posted below is easy and yummy, I have to admit that I am really not a huge fan of vanilla ice cream. I can usually only eat it with pie or brownies or some other kind of dessert. Or if it is drowned in caramel or fudge sauce. Chocolate Ice Cream, on the other hand, I could eat just the way it is every day of my life and never get tired of it.

This particular Chocolate Ice Cream recipe is not hard to throw together at all and results in a rich and creamy ice cream. It is perfect and I can't wait to make it again. Once again, this recipe comes from the user's manual of my ice cream maker :-)

Basic Chocolate Ice Cream (source: Cuisinart ICE 20 User's Manual)

1 cup whole milk
1/2 cup granulated sugar
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, broken into 1/2 inch pieces (I used semisweet)
2 cups heavy cream, well chilled
1 tsp vanilla extract

Heat the whole milk until it is just bubbling around the edges (this may
be done on the stovetop or in a microwave). In a blender or food processor
fitted with the metal blade, pulse to process the sugar with the
chocolate until the chocolate is very finely chopped. Add the hot milk,
process until well blended and smooth. Transfer to a medium bowl and
let the chocolate mixture cool completely. Stir in the heavy cream and
vanilla to taste. Chill for 30 minutes or longer.
Turn the machine ON, pour chilled mixture into freezer bowl through
ingredient spout and let mix until thickened, about 25 – 30 minutes.