recipe: sundried tomato & parsley pesto

I love cooking with fresh herbs, especially basil and cilantro. I hate how quickly my herbs go bad in the fridge.  When I grow up, I want to have an herb garden - or maybe two. One in my glass-walled reading room (because that will exist), and one outside.  Anyway, I had leftover tortellini from a soup I made last week, as well as some broccoli that was on sale, and some leftover basil. We always have 10% cream hanging around, so I figured I'd do a basil cream sauce. Alas, not to be. By the time I got around to making the pasta, my basil had gone bad. SO, now what?

I asked Facebook, and the winning suggestion was sundried tomato pesto.  I've never heard of this before.  I decided to use up some of my parsley as well, and I added walnuts and sunflower seeds to fill the pine nut role.  However, I forgot a very important lesson from kindergarten: red + green = brown. Especially when you add balsamic vinegar, walnuts, and sunflower seeds.  It's definitely the ugliest pesto I've ever seen.

However, it's really tasty so I'm posting anyway.  The recipe only made enough pesto for 3 meals (whereas the tortellini package serves 4), so keep that in mind.

Sundried Tomato & Parsley Pesto
Ease: 1 very easy
Time: 1 very quick
Ingredients: 2 easy
Source: My facebook friends and some crazy imagination!

Ingredients:

• One package of cheese tortellini
• 1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
• 3 Tbsp sundried tomatoes (I used the kind in oil)
• 1-2 medium cloves of garlic
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 cup walnuts (or less)
• 1.5 Tbsp sunflower seeds (or less)
• 1 cup curly leaf parsley
• 1 Tbsp olive oil (note: my pesto was more of a paste, so more oil could be useful)
• Parmesan cheese

Directions:

1. Cook tortellini and broccoli together in same pot. Drain and set aside. 
2. Meanwhile, make the pesto.  Combine remaining ingredients except Parmesan cheese in a food processor for a few seconds until everything is a bit chopped and pasty.  I didn't want to blend it too much or it would have been a uniform brown paste.  At least this way I can see chunks of green and red. 
3. Mix pasta/broccoli with pesto and serve!
4. Top with Parmesan cheese. I only used a tiny sprinkle - it didn't need the extra flavour.

recipe: mushroom stroganoff

I make weekly meal plans to avoid throwing food in the garbage (I abhor waste). I knew I wanted to eat "Mexican Night" this week, so I needed something else that would use a lot of sour cream. Stroganoff just seemed logical.  I've never actually eaten homemade stroganoff; I usually just stick with Lipton Sidekicks. Sooo... this was uncharted territory for me!

As usual, I grabbed inspiration from a few different recipes.  I'm very happy with how it turned out. If I needed to make one modification, it would be to reduce the broth for LESS time, since my sauce ended up a bit thick (hah, upon reading my notes more carefully, I accidentally used 1/3 of the amount of water requested so that would be my error.  The recipe below is how it should probably be made). Otherwise, it was very tasty.

The actual type or ratio of mushrooms is up to you.

Mushroom Stroganoff
Ease: 1 very easy
Time: 3 somewhat quick
Ingredients: 2 easy
Source: Primarily All Recipes Portabello Mushroom Stroganoff (and details in comments), although I also looked at the Food Network and Rachael Ray's version.


Ingredients:

• Egg noodles, pasta, or rice 
• 2-3 Tbsp margarine (or olive oil)
• 1 large onion (I used 3 smallish onions because that's what I had on hand), chopped
• 2 shallots, thinly sliced 
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 1 large portabello, sliced
• 5 large cremini mushrooms (or equivalent)
• 8 largeish shitake mushrooms (or equivalent)
• 1  1/2 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tsp mushroom soy sauce (or normal soy sauce, but mushroom sauce is very strong and tasty)
• 3/4 - 1 cup sour cream
• 2 Tbsp flour
• 1/2 cup chopped parsley (or less; I really like parsley)
• splash white wine (i actually didn't include it, but I wish I had some to try it out)
• black pepper

Directions:

1. Cook your starch (egg noodles, pasta, or rice) while following the rest of the recipe.
2. Heat margarine/oil in large frying pan on medium heat. Add onions, shallots, and garlic. Sauté until tender. 
3. Turn heat up to med-high. Add mushrooms and saute until they've released their liquid and are cooked. Transfer mushrooms from pan to plate and set aside.
4. Add broth and soy sauce (and wine, if using) to same pan and simmer until reduced to 1/3 volume. 
5. Mix sour cream and flour in measuring cup. Add to frying pan and mix with broth until smooth. 
6. Add mushrooms and mix well. 
7. Serve over starch. Top with fresh parsley and ground black pepper. 

WIP recipe: sweet 'n salty cookies

Here's another recipe in progress. I saw these peanut butter, chocolate, and pretzel cookies on Pinterest a while back, pinned them, and forgot about them. But I've been having domestic urges lately and I decided to try these during one of my bouts of baking. However, I didn't have the required ingredients, so I made some... substitutions. Enter google and my first attempt at improvising a recipe for baked goods...

This recipe is a Work In Progress because I'm still working on:

• the base cookie recipe.
  
• amount of peanut butter: I'm not a huge fan of peanut butter cookies, and I found these a bit too peanut buttery, so I'll probably reduce the amount in the future
  
• hot chocolate powder vs. cocoa powder: i like the idea of having them more chocolatey, so I'll do more cocoa powder next time (not hot chocolate).
  
• how much mix-in to use and what type: i like the idea of having more chocolate or Reese Pieces, but I was limited with what I had on hand. I think the pretzel amount is probably good, and might consider smashing them up a bit (I used whole alphabet pieces this time)
  

Notes about the recipe:

I used Carnation brand hot chocolate powder and President's Choice alphabet pretzels.

Sweet 'N Salty Cookies
Ease: 1 very easy
Time: 2 quick (plus cooking time)
Ingredients: 1 easy
Source: Based on Reese Peanut Butter Cookies, Reese's Pieces Cookies, and these Pretzel & PB Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cup white flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 T hot chocolate powder
  
• 1/4 + 1.5 T butter
• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup pretzel pieces
• 1/2 cup mixed mini Reese peanut butter cups and Reese's Pieces

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
   
2. Mix butter, peanut butter, sugar, egg, and vanilla in one bowl.
   
3. Mix flour, baking soda, salt, and hot chocolate powder in another.
   
4. Mix wet into dry.
5. Add pretzels and other mix-ins.
   
6. Make into golf ball-sized balls and put on ungreased cookie sheet.
   
7. Cook 10-12 minutes.
   

WIP recipe: crock pot lemon chicken / tofu

NEW BLOG FEATURE: Work In Progress (WIP).

Thus far, I've opted to post a recipe either immediately after the first time I try it (regardless of whether I am going to make additional changes) or I put it on hold until I perfect it. Sometimes these on-hold recipes don't get posted, and when every new recipe I try isn't good enough to post, I end up not posting anything.

So my new blog feature should solve this problem. I post a recipe in progress, with my thoughts on how I might change it for next time. I want you, my readers, to post suggestions on how you would change it, and let me know whether you tried it or not and what you liked or didn't like.

Excited? I am.

Ok, now back to your regularly scheduled programming...

I think I've turned into (to quote one of my friends) "what the trendy kids are calling" a flexitarian. Philosophically, I'd prefer to be vegetarian for all my scads of personal reasons. But I do eat meat occasionally for various other personal reasons. One of those reasons is that Kyle enjoys chicken. And he has compromised his eating in a big way for several years to adapt to what I like, so I don't mind compromising the other way every once in a while.

Which is why I tried a crockpot chicken meal a few weeks ago. Pinterest has made me very intrigued about crockpot meals... the idea of throwing a bunch of food in a pot, leaving it alone for a while, and having a dinner made when you're ready is kind of awesome. So I tried it out with this lemon chicken recipe.

The first one I looked at was overly simple. Just butter and italian seasoning mix. The second one was trying to imitate Chinese style lemon chicken, so I didn't copy that one exactly either. I took inspiration from both and came up with my own version. The first version was pretty tasty to Kyle, but I didn't like the chicken taste (go figure). Kyle suggested I could add tofu to the crockpot and solve the taste + vegetarian problem. So that's what I did the second time I tried the recipe. And you know what, I LOVE lemon tofu.

This recipe is a Work In Progress because I'm still working on:

• Amount of oil/liquid to use. The first time was nice and moist, and I used 2T oil & 2T margarine, for just chicken. The second time was kind of dry, and I used 1T oil & 1T margarine, for chicken and tofu. Suggested changes: I am thinking of adding water/broth next time I cook chicken and tofu together to keep the chicken moist. Also, for tofu alone I would need to add extra liquid because there would be no chicken fat.
• How to arrange the chicken and tofu. Four pieces fit nicely in my crockpot, but once I added tofu I didn't know what to do. I put the tofu on the bottom and laid the chicken on top, but I think this contributed to the chicken being dry because it was out in the air instead of in liquid. Suggested changes: I'll probably pile the tofu on top of the chicken instead of the other way around. And I'll rearrange/flip them periodically to ensure proper flavour coatage. Lastly, the addition of water/broth should further fix this problem.
  
• I'm considering further additions. A clove or two of garlic makes a lot of sense. And it would be nice if I could cook a side dish in the crockpot at the same time. I could pile some chopped potatoes, onions, carrots and other veggies on top after a couple of hours of cooking and then it would all be ready at the same time.

Side dishes:

The recipe goes well served over rice or quinoa (or a mixture of the two), where the sauce flavours the rice. For greens, I like greek salad, which goes really well with the lemon flavour. I used this salad dressing, but with 3 T white vinegar and 1 T balsamic because we don't have red wine vinegar. We forgot to add the oil for dinner but it was surprisingly tasty (and strong!). But it was even tastier the next day for lunch when I actually remembered the oil.
The second time we made the recipe, I was pressed for time and ingredients, so tossed a potato and two carrots in some olive oil, salt, and pepper, and threw them in the toaster oven at 400 F for 45 minutes.

Notes about the recipe:

We used pre-seasoned breasts from costco. I find them really salty, so I don't add any salt to the crockpot. You might want to adjust if you're using non-seasoned chicken.

Also, I'm writing up the recipe how I made it for both chicken & tofu, but I tried to make it clear how you would modify for one or the other. Let me know if something is unclear.

The nutritional information is based on 1T oil and 1T margarine. The tofu one is calculated without chicken fat, so it's an underestimate if you cook them together like I did.

Eat Your Greens - Crockpot Lemon Chicken

1. Servings: 1 breast

Calories	175	Sodium	449 mg
Total Fat	8 g	Potassium	70 mg
Saturated	1 g	Total Carbs	9 g
Polyunsaturated	0 g	Dietary Fiber	1 g
Monounsaturated	0 g	Sugars	7 g
Trans	0 g	Protein	19 g
Cholesterol	85 mg
Vitamin A	8%	Calcium	4%
Vitamin C	22%	Iron	5%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Eat Your Greens - Crockpot Lemon Tofu

1. Servings: 1 slice

Calories	170	Sodium	83 mg
Total Fat	11 g	Potassium	238 mg
Saturated	2 g	Total Carbs	11 g
Polyunsaturated	0 g	Dietary Fiber	1 g
Monounsaturated	0 g	Sugars	7 g
Trans	0 g	Protein	9 g
Cholesterol	0 mg
Vitamin A	6%	Calcium	25%
Vitamin C	21%	Iron	13%

*Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.

Crock Pot Lemon Chicken and/or Tofu
Ease: 1 very easy
Time: 2 quick (plus cooking time)
Ingredients: 1 easy
Source: modified from Stephanie O'Dea A Year of Slow Cooking and The Queen Bee's Hive

Ingredients:

• 1-2 Tbsp margarine
• 1-2 Tbsp olive oil
• 2-4 boneless, skinless chicken breast pieces (but any chicken pieces should work, really)
• 1 brick of tofu, sliced long-wise into 1/2" slices
• 1 tsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 Tbsp ketchup
• juice of two lemons
• 1 tsp lemon zest, very finely chopped
• 2 tsp dried basil
• 1 tsp dried oregano
• 1 tsp dried parsley
  
• 1/2 tsp dried poultry seasoning
• 1/2-1 tsp red pepper flakes
• 1.5 Tbsp brown sugar
• salt (optional)

Directions:

1. Add margarine and olive oil to the crockpot.
   
2. Add chicken breasts on top.
   
3. Mix together liquid seasonings in a separate bowl. Add zest, spices, brown sugar. Pour over chicken.
4. If you're cooking tofu and chicken (like I do), add the tofu after an hour or two of cooking the chicken, once the chicken is starting to look a bit more cooked. (It weirded me out to put tofu on top of raw chicken).
5. Cook in crockpot: 3-4 hours on high, and 4-6 hours on low. (less time for tofu)
6. See Side-dishes, above, for serving suggestions.

Recipe: fancy vegetarian shepherd's pie

One benefit of learning French is that I now have more recipes available to me. And man, this recipe is SO GOOD. It's not something I would ordinarily make, but I tried it around this time last year and was impressed. It was way tastier than I expected, but I knew I wanted to make some adjustments for next time. I finally got around to making it, and I'm impressed with my adjustments too.

First, you have to forget that it's shepherd's pie. If you're expecting a ground beef, pea/carrot/corn, and potato dish that's all mushy and homogenous, don't even bother. I grew up loving the M&M Meat shepherd's pie and have been trying to replicate it with ground round or lentils since giving up beef. It doesn't work. This recipe doesn't try to be that kind of shepherd's pie, and it's better for it.

Second, the recipe has a lot of ingredients, ranging from eggplant to oats to nuts to squash to fresh herbs. And it takes forever to make, since there's chopping, baking, slicing, grating, mashing, scraping, and two phases of sautéing. But it's totally worth it. Just make sure you set aside an afternoon.

As for my adjustments. The original recipe calls for pine nuts. Pine nuts are expensive, and I'm cheap, so I decided to substitute walnuts. Close enough. Also, having the middle layer composed of just spaghetti squash (as per the original recipe) was somewhat disappointing. It was very bland, and almost watery. So I figured a different kind of squash (acorn, butternut, or pepper) would work, or maybe sweet potato. I opted for a mixture of spaghetti squash and sweet potato, and it was pretty tasty, although still the blandest of the layers. Suggestions on this point are welcome. So far I've considered adding margarine, but that's probably not the healthiest option... For the cheese layer, I supplemented the old cheddar with marble because I'm selfish and wanted to save some of the old cheddar just for snacking. :)

Some other notes: The recipe makes a lot of food, so I decided to freeze most of it. I baked all of it at the same time and then put some of the dishes in the freezer (after letting it cool a bit, of course). I figured if I'm running the oven for 50 minutes anyway, I might as well bake all of them at the same time. We'll see how it goes when I thaw and reheat one of them in a few weeks. Also, I used a small spaghetti squash, so my middle layer was pretty thin, which you can see in the photos. I was OK with this since it is the blandest layer, but it could probably have been thicker to improve the healthiness of this meal (i.e. increase the ratio of veggies to bread/potato).

Fancy Vegetarian Shepherd's Pie
Ease: 2 easy
Time: 5 time consuming
Ingredients: easy
Source: modified from Recettes du Québec

Ingredients:

• 1 cup oat flakes
• 2 cups bread chunks
• 1 cup milk
• 1 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped (original recipe used pine nuts)
  
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1 Tbsp fresh basil, chopped
• 1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped (original recipe uses fresh thyme)
  
• 1 sweet potato (original recipe didn't have sweet potato)
  
• 1 spaghetti squash
• 1/4 cup butter or margarine
• 1 medium eggplant, cut into 1/2" pieces
• 1 onion, diced
• 6 potatoes, thinly sliced (original recipe used Yukon gold; I used baking potatoes)
  
• 2 cups old cheddar cheese, grated (I supplemented with marble)
  
• Salt & pepper to taste
  

Directions:

1. In a bowl, mix the oats, bread, and milk. When the milk is absorbed, add the sunflower seeds, nuts, eggs, and herbs. Set aside.
2. Cook the sweet potato in whichever way you like. I chopped mine into large chunks (skin on) and cooked in the microwave for 10 minutes. Peel and mash.
3. Cook the spaghetti squash: Cut the squash in half, clean out the seeds and guts (reserve the seeds to roast like pumpkin seeds!), then cook the squash in a shallow baking dish for 35 minutes at 375 F. Using a fork, remove the flesh into the bowl containing the sweet potato. Add salt and pepper. Mix well.
4. In a large frying pan, melt half of the butter and then sauté the eggplant and onions until cooked. Remove and set aside.
   
5. In the same frying pan, melt the rest of the butter and brown the oat/bread/nut mixture. Add the eggplant mixture back, mix and cook 4 more minutes.
6. In whatever sized baking dish(es) you like, layer: the oat/bread/eggplant mixture, then the squash/sweet potato mixture, then the sliced potatoes, and top with the cheese.




7. Cook in a 350 F oven for 50 minutes until the potatoes are cooked and the cheese is bubbly and a bit browned.
   

Recipe: two-ingredient carrot-pumpkin cupcakes

I've never really been a dessert person, but Pinterest has introduced me to all sorts of tantalizing baked goods, like these no-bake sinful Cookies & Cream bars. I've never made fudge in my life, but this Orange Creamsicle fudge is enough to make me want to try! And then I remember that I'm sometimes a lazy cook, and 7 ingredients is really way too much. :)

A recipe that's gotten a lot of air time on Pinterest, and also among my online friends, is the two-ingredient pumpkin cake with apple cider glaze. I had actually tried this months ago with chocolate cake mix, but I was using it as a vegan cake, so was trying to hide the pumpkin. This recipe makes the pumpkin the centre stage, which makes it a much more autumny recipe. I have been itching to try it again with a different cake mix, and decided carrot might work. But you could use anything really. Yellow seems to be most popular.

I, as usual, prefer to put my own spin on the recipe. I find glazes too sweet (and unnecessary sugar/calories), but the cake would be probably a bit too simple on its own without the glaze. A friend of mine said she added pumpkin spice to the mix, so I opted in that direction by adding a few spices. The cardamom was a flash of inspiration because I used cardamom in an indian-flavoured creamed spinach recipe last night. That said, I'm still calling it two-ingredient because the spices really are optional. The cake would be quite simple/subtle-tasting on its own, but it would still be decent. And if you're a glaze/icing fan, you could do the apple cider glaze from the original recipe, or some cream-cheese icing if that's your bag.

The original recipe is for a sheet cake, but I went with cupcakes. One could also do those oh-so-trendy mason jar cakes, and apparently one commenter made cake cookies. The cookies made me curious so I tried those with the mix that didn't fit in my 12 cupcake pan + 3 mini-cake pans.

How did they turn out? Well.... they weren't the best cupcakes I've ever tasted. They were more like muffins, they definitely had a lot of spice to them, and they were VERY MOIST. Almost like they were undercooked, but since there's no egg to cook I didn't worry about it too much. I double-checked the recipe and apparently I used nearly DOUBLE the amount of pumpkin that you're supposed to use. I thought it was easier to mix than my previous chocolate attempt. Le sigh. In any case, I probably won't make these exactly like this again even if I do adjust the pumpkin amount, but I think it's useful to share my failures too. Next time, I'll use yellow cake mix, less pumpkin, and probably only make the cake cookies - I like my dessert in bite-sized pieces. The recipe I've provided below is how I should have made it; not how I did make it.

Two-ingredient Carrot-Pumpkin Cupcakes (and Cake Cookies)
Ease: 1 very easy
Time: 1 very quick
Ingredients: very easy
Source: Big Red Kitchen


Ingredients:

• 1 box carrot cake mix (other cakes can be used, see notes above)
• 1 15oz / 443mL can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling! and not a 796 mL can of pumpkin!)
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon (optional)
  
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg (optional)
• 1/8 tsp ground allspice (optional)
• 1/8 tsp ground cardamom (optional)

Directions:

1. Add cake mix (and spices) to a bowl.
   
2. Add pumpkin.
   
3. Mix well (dry cake mix tends to hide at the bottom). Note that the mixing can take a long time and is quite tiring. But it does mix, so do not add extra liquid!
4. Preheat oven to 350 F.
5. Grease cupcake pan / cookie sheet.
   
6. Spoon mix into pan / sheet.
7. Cook for cupcakes for ~20 minutes, cookies for less. (I don't know the exact time since my recipe was wonky).
   

Recipe: toaster oven mini zucchini pizzas

This is the time of year for "too much zucchini", so I've been on the search for zucchini recipes. Pinterest has been particularly useful in this search. So far I've tried dill zucchini chips (not good at all), zucchini fries (meh), and zucchini pizzas (finally, a win!), and a vegetable soup (also meh, but I think that was my fault and not the recipe's). I think that I might just not like zucchini all that much... Perhaps I should have opted for baked goods that hide it better...

In any case, I've decided to post my version of the zucchini pizzas, since I seem to have a problem following recipes without modifying them. In this case I had a good excuse: I don't pepperoni, and I don't have a grill!

Toaster Oven Mini Zucchini Pizzas
Ease: 1 very easy
Time: 1 very quick
Ingredients: very easy
Source: Kalyn's Kitchen


Ingredients:

• Zucchini, the fatter the better
• Olive oil
  
• Sauce of your choice: alfredo, BBQ, pizza, thai, etc.
• Cheese of your choice: mozza, cheddar, parm, etc.
  
• Veggie toppings of your choice: bell peppers, onion, mushrooms, fresh basil, etc

Directions:

1. Slice zucchini into 3/4" slices. I had a fat zucchini so I did my slices widthwise, but you could also make long and skinny pizzas with lengthwise slices.
   
2. Place the slices on a cooking sheet, and brush the tops with olive oil. Broil in a toaster oven for 8-10 minutes.
   
3. Flip the slices over and top them with the sauce, toppings, and cheese.
4. Broil again for 5-7 minutes, or until the cheese has started to bubble and brown.
5. I suggest eating these with a fork and knife, and carefully... No one likes the hot-cheese & roof-of-mouth combination.