Wednesday, July 24, 2013

Tofu Meatballs and Beef Meatballs

This is taken verbatim from this recipe. It was so good; there wasn't a need to change it at all!

This is a beef one.
This is a tofu one.



"I Think We're Alone Now" Tommy James and the Shondells
Heard this while driving late at night, and it's still pretty catchy.

Curried Vegetables


 So this is basically sauted veges with curry power and chili powdet
 I didn't like it that well, but my grandma did. So here it is.
And here is my grandma's amazing presentation skills: 
(choclate almond icecream with blueberries)



"Leaving On A Jet Plane" John Denver

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium green pepper, chopped and seeded
  • 1 large carrot, juliennd 
  • 1 medium summer squash
  • 1 small onion
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 3/4 cup halved green beans 
  • curry powder and chili powder to taste 

Directions:

Heat olive oil in frying pan. Saute garlic, curry powder, and chili powder and onion until fragrant. Add carrot and green beans. Cook for 3-4 minutes. Add squash and green pepper. Cook until tender. Serve over rice.

Guest Cook: My Dad Cooks Pasta with Peppers, Tomatoes, and Greenbeans

 While in Rhode Island visiting my grandma, my dad actually cooked something different!

He usually can cook two things: spaghetti or fried noodles with cayenne pepper that isn't edible.

So for him, this was a serious improvement.
 Plus it was actually really good for anybody.

Especially since he made it while I was showering seaweed and sand.
So here it is: the miracle meal.












Breathe (2 AM) by Anna Nalick

Ingredients:

  • 1 medium green pepper, chopped and seeded
  • 2 tomatoes, chopped
  • 1 medium sized carrot, chopped
  • 2 cups cooked pasta
  • 1 small onion
  • olive oil for sauteing
  • 1/2 cup of shredded cheese

Directions:

Heat oil in large fry pan. Add carrots cook for 3-4 minutes. Add pepper, tomato, and onion. Cook until veges are tender. Add pasta, mix with vegetables for 1-2 minutes. Add cheese and stir around pasta until melted. Serve immediately.

Sunday, July 14, 2013

Blueberry Cheesecake

 Yes, more blueberries!

This cheese cake actually turned out.

Normally my cheesecakes are not quite as smooth as they should be...

 But this came out with relatively few ingredients.
Simple and delicious. My kind of cheesecake.

Here is the original recipe. On the one hand, She didn't put the blueberries in the cake and I wanted to. On the other hand, she made the crust using ginger snaps...












"Benny and the Jets" by Elton John 
(Yeah, watched 27 Dresses yesterday, slow film but this scene is really funny)

Ingredients:

  • Graham cracker crust
  • 1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, room temperature
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup of blueberries (more as desired)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix cream cheese, sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and eggs. Once combined, add blueberries. Pour into prepared crust. Place in oven for 25 minutes.

Microwave Blueberry Lemon Bars

 I know, I know, microwave lemon bars?!?

What will they think of next?

But they actually came out! (Shocking, right? I'm amazed by what you can microwave)
 I won't claim these are the best lemon bars ever (I'll leave that to these)

However, they are perfect for summer when its 90 degrees and the last thing you want to do is turn on your oven.
 And we now have 60 dollars worth of blueberries, picked from Rouster's Apple House.

I see: blueberry lemon bars, blueberry cheesecake, blueberry frozen yogurt, blueberry shakes, blueberry, blueberry, blueberry.

Yeah, it's July, and you can tell.
So here you have July blueberry lemon bars. I (well, my mom) found this recipe in the Costco magazine.













"Build Me Up Buttercup" preformed by the Temptations

Ingredients:

Base:

  • 1 cup all-purpose flour
  • 2 TB confectioner's sugar
  • 1 tablespoon lemon zest
  • 1/2 cup butter 

Filling:

  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1 TB lemon zest 
  • 3 large effs
  • 1 TB flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  •  1/3 cup lemon juice
  • 3/4 cup blueberries

Directions:

Grease 9 by 9 inch microwaveable pan.
To make the base: Mix the flour, confectioner's sugar and lemon zest. Melt the butter and combine with flour mixture. The mixture will be crumbly. Pat it into the greased pan. Microwave for 3 minutes at power level 8 until the base is firm (depending on the strength of iyr microwave, it may need an additional minute).

To make filling: Combine the sugar, lemon zest, eggs, flour, baking powder, salt and lemon juice in a medium-sized bowl. Beat for 2 minutes. Pour over base. Return pan to microwave and cook at power level 8 for 3 minutes until the filling is set but has a slight wiggle (like prepared Jell-O). Depending on the strength of your microwave, it may need another minute. Cool completely. Refrigerate a minimum of 4 hours or over night.

Homemade Spinach Pasta with Spinach, Walnuts, and Herbs

 For those hesitant about making homemade pasta, let me say that it is so easy that I'm amazed pre-made pasta exists.
 This was my first non-ravioli pasta, and while the pieces were thick (since we don't have a pasta cutter, I cut them with a knife), it was the most delicious pasta dish I've ever had (and have you tried Asparagus Linguine with Almond Crisp?)
 The pasta itself takes 20 minutes including cooking time, and the last 10 minutes of the pasta cooking you can cook the spinach-walnut mixture.
 
I took the pasta recipe from Vegetarian Recipes for Everyone by Deborah Madison, and I got the sauce recipes from Turkey: More Than 100 Recipes With Tales From the Road by Leanne Kitchen. Kitchen includes a pasta recipe, but I wanted to try a flavored pasta.








"The Best Things in Life Are Free" preformed by the Ink Spots

Ingredients:

Pasta:

  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 extra large eggs
  • 2 teaspoons olive oil or water if needed
  • 1/4 teaspoon of salt 
  • 2 cups of fresh spinach

Spinach/Arugula, Walnut and Herb:

  • olive oil
  • 3 garlic cloves
  • 1 cup chopped walnuts
  • 1 bunch arugula or spinach, rinsed and coarsely chopped
  • 1 bunch Italian parsley, chopped
  • 1 bunch fresh dill, chopped
  • 1 1/3 cups crumbled feta cheese

Direcitons:

Puree spinach and eggs. Mix with rest of ingredients. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin until the dough is 1/16 of an inch thin (the thinner the better). Cut out the dough into whatever type of pasta you desire (linguine is easiest). Bring a pot of water to boil and add pasta. Cook until pasta is al dente (8-10 minutes). 

Meanwhile, heat the olive oil in a large, deep frying pan or saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic and walnuts and cook for 3 minutes, or until the garlic is fragrant. Add the arugula, parsley and dill and stir for 1-2 minutes, or until wilted. dd the cooked pasta and enough of the reserved cooking liquid to moisten the pasta. Add the feta and toss gently to combine. Divide the pasta among serving plates and serve immediately.  

Sunday, July 7, 2013

Mushroom and Red Pepper Ravioli



 I've made spinach ravioli several times, but this was my first time making anything else.
 To put the record straight this was so much easier. No wringing out the spinach. No worries.
 So simple. So good. I got this from My Recipes.
 This is Herbie, our new rabbit. 
"Save Tonight" by Eagle-Eye Cherry


Ingredients:

     Basic Egg Noodle Pasta:

  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon water
  • 3 1/2 cups sifted all-purpose flour 

      Red Pepper & Mushroom Ravioli Filling:

  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 1/2 cups finely chopped fresh mushrooms
  • 1-2 cloves garlic, minced
  • 1 medium red pepper finely chopped
  • 1 cup shredded ricotta 
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

Basic Egg Noodle Pasta
1. Place eggs, water and flour in the bowl. Mix for 30 seconds.


2.  Mix with paddle for 2 minutes.

3. Hand-knead the dough for 30 seconds and cover with a towel for 15 minutes. 


Red Pepper & Mushroom Ravioli Filling
1. In medium skillet over medium-high heat, heat oil. Add mushrooms and garlic; saute until mushrooms are soft. Cool slightly.

2. Finely chop spinach. In medium bowl, combine spinach, cheese, salt and pepper; stir in mushroom mixture.

3. Refrigerate until ready to fill ravioli.


Red, White, and Blue Layer Cake

 This cake was so good. Every part. Even though we left it to dry out for two days before eating!
 So this is a pretty amazing (not to mention delicious!)
 "I'm Leaving On a Jet Plane" (I wish!)

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cup(s) cake flour
  • 1 1/4 teaspoon(s) baking powder
  • 3/4 teaspoon(s) salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon(s) baking soda
  • 3/4 cup(s) butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cup(s) sugar
  • 2 tablespoon(s) sugar
  • 1 cup(s) strawberry preserves
  • 4 eggs
  • 3/4 teaspoon(s) vanilla extract
  • Directions 

    Bake the cake: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line two 9-inch cake pans with parchment paper. Lightly coat the pan with butter, dust with flour, and tap out excess. Set aside. Sift the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda together and set aside. Cream the butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy in a large bowl using a mixer set at medium-high speed. Add the eggs one at a time. Separate the batter, putting half into another bowl. Add 3/4 cup preserves. Scrape down sides of bowl and beat in vanilla extract and the food coloring. Reduce mixer speed to low and add the flour mixture by thirds, alternating with the buttermilk and ending with a final addition of the dry ingredients. Divide the batter equally between the pans and spread evenly. Bake on the middle rack of oven until a tester inserted in the center of each cake layer comes out clean -- about 20 to 30 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.  Slice both cakes in half. Alternate spreading extra preserves and frosting on cake. Frost cake.

    Ingredients

    2 cups powdered sugar
    2 tablespoons butter or 2 tablespoons margarine, softened
    2 tablespoons milk
    1/2 teaspoon vanilla

    Directions

    Combine until fluffy.