Parmesan-Roasted Cauliflower

I love cauliflower.  I would almost go as far to say that it is my favorite vegetable.  Any time I see a cauliflower dish on a menu, I am immediately drawn to it.  Cauliflower soup. Sign me up.  Steamed cauliflower. Yes, please! Parmesan roasted cauliflower. Give me a large portion of that dish.

In the February 2013 edition of BonAppetit, they have a recipe called Parmesan-Roasted Cauliflower.  As I was looking over the magazine, this recipe immediately stood out to me as a "must-make."  Here's the link to the recipe:  Parmesan-Roasted Cauliflower  Of course, as we have discussed, the recipe was based around cauliflower so I am immediately biased.  However, the addition of the parmesan cheese just solidified the possibility of deliciousness.  Normally I don't love cheese added to my vegetables but parmesan is a different story.  The sharp taste of just-shredded parmesan cheese causes any dish to sing. In my mind, adding it to cauliflower would only enhance the flavor.

As the cauliflower was roasting, my stomach began to rumble at the wonderful smells.  The recipe calls for an onion but I didn't have an extra onion lying around. I just used a shallot in the onion's place.  I also left out the garlic and thyme because I didn't have either of those ingredients.  I was not disappointed by this recipe.  The parmesan and cauliflower combination was spectacular.  The roasted vegetables with the sharpness of the cheese created this amazingly rich and flavorful dish. This could easily be added as a very classy, simple side dish to many types of meals.  I hope you enjoy!

Weekend of Stillness

This past weekend I was sick.  It was one of those annoying illnesses that can sometimes creep up on you.  My symptoms were strange. I felt only a little worn out and exhausted most of the time but I wanted to sleep all the time. My nose was periodically on the fritz and I would have a chill every three to four hours but not any more frequently than that.  It was like my body was having commitment issues with a cold.  I couldn't decide if I really wanted to commit to the cold-like illness or just be healthy like normal.  When I described these confusing symptoms to the symptom checker on WebMD.com (warning: this website can scare the crazy out of anyone), some of my possible diagnoses were 1) a cold, 2) an allergic reaction, or 3) the plague.  Yes, watch out.  I MIGHT have the plague according to the internet.

During one small spurt of energy over the weekend, I decided I wanted to go walk-jogging around my neighborhood.  I am still not sure where this urge came from but I didn't fight it.  When I got back from my slight exercise, my sweet husband was outside smoking his pipe.  The lighting was so perfect that I couldn't help but snap a few pictures.  I haven't been cooking the last couple days due to the illness, so hopefully this will fill some blog space until I am back at it.  I hope you enjoy!

10 Minute Asparagus and Chickpea Dish

This Ten Minute Asaparagus recipe is one that I have been eyeing for quite a while.  It has brown rice, almonds, chickpeas, asparagus.  Clearly all very delicious ingredients.  My only issue was that it called for tahini.  I have never bought tahini and can't seem to find it in the stores for less than $8.00.  While I was home for Christmas, my sweet mother gave me a jar of tahini she had for while but wasn't using.  When she just casually offered me this jar of awesomeness, my world of recipes opened up!

Here's the link to an asparagus, brown rice, chickpea, and tahini recipe I recently tried from 101cookbooks.com:  http://www.101cookbooks.com/archives/ten-minute-tasty-asparagus-and-brown-rice-recipe.html

On Monday nights we often need quick dinners.  Once we get home, get to sit and relax for a minute, do the dishes, and chat, we often only have about an hour before we get to head out again for the evening.  So this quick meal was perfect for a Monday (or really any day of the week).

I had done some of the prep work the night before by cooking the brown rice.  Brown rice is just so great because it tastes just as wonderful reheated as if it was cooked right then.  Sometimes I find with white rice it gets kind of hard and tasteless the next day.  Brown rice does exactly the opposite.  It only gets better with time.  This asparagus and chickpea recipe is also one that only gets better.  It was delicious the night we had it and even better the next two days for lunch.  The tahini dressing just takes it over the top.  If you try this recipe, I hope you enjoy it!

An Apple Crisp for A Friend's Birthday!

Two Mondays ago, my wonderful friend Sarah celebrated her birthday.  In honor of her entering another year of life, we decided to have a little birthday dessert celebration for her at our church small group.  Because I love to experiment with dessert recipes, I volunteered to take on this aspect of the celebration.  Sarah said she wanted an apple or peach crisp.  I said let's do it.

Because I was cooking for other people and because it was a birthday celebration, I didn't feel comfortable just improvising with the dessert like I normally do while baking.  I knew I needed a solid apple crisp recipe that would not disappoint.  After doing some research on my favorite cooking websites, I came across an apple crisp on allrecipes.com that looked out of this world.  Here's the link to the original website's recipe: Apple Crisp II.  At the time approximately 3,150 people had reviewed this dessert and had given it a whopping 4.5 out of 5 stars.  As I studied the reviews and recipe, I decided if that many people can review a dessert and it is still ranked so high, it has got to be amazingly good!

And this recipe was so good!  Everyone at small group just ate it up and seemed to really enjoy it.  We topped the apple crisp with a dollop of cool whip but that could have easily been replaced with some type of ice cream.  If you could find a cinnamon ice cream and put that on top of this dessert, this dessert would be over the top in deliciousness.

Below is my journey in recreating this birthday apple crisp.  I added a little cinnamon here and there but overall left the recipe just about the same as the original.  I just remembered that I also halved both sugars.  So to clarify, other than halving the amounts of white and brown sugars called for in the original recipe and adding a little cinnamon to the crumble crust, I did not change anything else.  Maybe one day I will stop making improvisations and actually follow the ingredients and directions a recipe calls for...

Until then (which in all honesty probably won't be happening any time soon), I hope you enjoy this recipe!

Arugula Butter: A Zesty Butter Addition

This past weekend has been a creative and cooking filled weekend for me.  I have loved it!  On two separate occasions I have pulled out my food processor to help in the cooking preparation.  My food processor and I have a love/hate relationship.  I hate cleaning this monster of a cooking device after using it, however, I always love the end result of whatever food item I am trying to create.  As I am thinking and writing at this moment, I am quickly realizing that my love for this magical machine quickly outweighs my disliking of washing dishes.  The way my food processor can chop, mince, and complete obliterate any item placed in it always blows my mind.  It is seriously magical to watch.  (If you don't have a food processor, I highly recommend you get one.  Your life will be changed forever.)

I have used arugula butter in previous recipes but have only made it in small batches at a time.  While trying to see what leftovers we had in the refrigerator, I found a huge bag of arugula I had bought last Sunday at the Farmer's Market.  I had completely forgotten about it!  As I inspected the bag, I noticed only a couple of the leaves were slightly wilted and looking on the older side.  I was actually quite impressed with this because sometimes those bags of salad only seem to last four or five days before going bad.  This arugula had made it an entire week hidden in a corner of the fridge.

In hopes of not loosing the entire bag of delicious arugula to wilted grossness in the next couple days, I decided I was going to use it to make a large batch of arugula butter to keep in my fridge for later use.  I love to throw a spoonful of this butter on hot couscous or even whole wheat pasta.  It adds such a zest and peppery taste to a possibly plain pasta or grain dish.  Sprinkle these dishes with some parmesan cheese and you got yourself simply a masterpiece.  I hope you enjoy!
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Arugula Butter

1 stick unsalted butter, chopped into tablespoon blocks
7-8 cups of arugula
1 tablespoon and 1 1/2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt

Place blocks of butter in food processor along with two cups of arugula.  Pulse for about 10 seconds or until most of the arugula is mixed with the butter.  Add two more cups of arugula.  Pulse until mixed.  Continue adding and pulsing until all the arugula has been added.  Pour in the lemon juice.  Pulse.  Add salt.  Pulse for about 10-15 more seconds or until desired consistency has been reached.  Taste and add more salt if needed.  Store in a sealed container.

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Five out of Five: The Chicken Wing Rating System

The other day Matt suggested I do a post on what a "Five out of Five Chicken Wings" review actually means.  I have been using this rating system since the beginning of this blog and have given very little explanation of it.  So, here we go...

It all began when Matt discovered this restaurant called Curley's.  It is a fried chicken place pretty close to our house.  They specialize in chicken wings dipped in the "special" Curley's sauce and state every chicken they serve is hormone-free.  Matt swears they are the best dipped chicken wings in the entire world.

I, on the other hand, don't really enjoy this place.  (I am putting this lightly for the sake of slandering this restaurant.) I have nothing at all against their food but have everything against their unpredictably long wait times and their inability to hear when you call in an order.  ("Yes, that's Matt, M-A-T-T. No, not Nathaniel. Matt. M-A-T-T")  Unfortunately, that five out of five chicken wings rating system has come from Matt's love of this place.  You should see his face when I suggest he picks up Curley's on a Friday night when I don't feel like cooking.   It is like I am the best wife in the world times one hundred.

With that explanation, you now know where the chicken wings rating system has come from.  Matt originally wanted me to rate recipes by saying "This is three-fourths of a Curley's" or "This recipe is one-fifth of a Curley's" but I told him that I didn't think people would understand that rating system.  We came to a compromise with the chicken wings.  The beauty of marriage=compromise.

Here is a picture of this "five out of five chicken wings" meal and (strangely) the cooking glory I aim to reach in each dinner or recipe I try.

Gnocchi with Squash and Kale

Squash.  What a wonderfully diverse food!  There are so many varieties of squash with each having such unique and different flavors.  My one main gripe about squash (particularly butternut squash) is it takes so long to prep.  If you are wanting to use a butternut squash you first have to peel it's hard skin, then seed it, and then chop it.  And the actual chopping can be really hard to do.  Those butternut squashes are tough!

But once all the work is done, having fresh cut squash is one of the best things around.  You can roast it, boil it, mash it, or cook it with just about anything.  Yesterday I made Gnocchi with Squash and Kale from the Food Network website.  Here is the link to a recipe:  http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/food-network-kitchens/gnocchi-with-squash-and-kale-recipe/index.html

I found this recipe while looking for a pasta-type dish to go along with a bottle of Merlot.  Matt and I have decided to expand our wine repertoire throughout 2013.  We know nothing about wine so we are seriously starting from the beginning.  We know we like red wines and that is about it.  This week we chose the Merlot because it was red and because it was on sale at Publix.  (Any wine suggestions you might have are clearly welcome.)

Back to the recipe.  This dish was quite tasty.  The gnocchi was a nice change from a normal pasta or rice type dish.  When I made it, I doubled the butternut squash and kale amounts that the original recipe called for.  I found that doubling those two ingredients was ideal in the end.  I didn't double the cheese or butter and it still turned out creamy and delicious.  Matt gave this recipe a four out of five chicken wings overall.  He said the butternut squash was a little soft for his liking.  I gave it a five out of five because it was so rich, warm, and filling but only about 10 Weight Watcher points per serving according to my calculations. I had it again today for lunch and relished every bite.   Enjoy!

Super Easy Baked Potato Wedges

This past week, I had high hopes for creating a vegetarian pinto bean burger that would blow my socks off.  Although I made the attempt, no socks were blown off with the end burger that was created.  However, I had also decided to make and bake some simple potato wedges to go along with the burger  These potato wedges quickly became the highlight of the meal.  Therefore, in the mindset of sharing good recipes, today I am going to post about the unexpectedly delightful potato wedges.

This recipe is as simple as can be.  I began by preheating the oven at 400 degrees.  I took four large baking potatoes and cut each potato in half. 

Then I took each of those potato halves and cut the halves into four wedges.  I threw all the wedges into a big bowl of cold water and let them sit in the water for about 15 minutes.  (This helps get rid of some of the extra starch on the potato and allows for optimal crispiness.)  I drained the water off the potatoes and put them back in the original big bowl.  Then I poured about 2 tablespoons of olive oil and a good-sized sprinkling of Kosher salt on the wedges. I mixed them thoroughly with my hands until they were well coated with the oil and salt.  

Using my largest non-stick cooking sheet, I laid out each wedge flat on the sheet.  I baked them for 30 minutes, took them out, flipped each wedge over, and then baked them for another 15 minutes.  Then I took them out of the oven again, flipped them, and baked them from for an additional 15 minutes.  There was a total of 45 minutes of bake time when everything was said and done.  

These turned out so great! I totally thought these potato wedges were just going to be a good side note to the burger.  I was pleasantly surprised when they were delicious, crispy, and just salty enough.  Next time I make these, I might add some Italian seasoning to them or chili powder or garlic salt or rosemary.  The possibilities are endless! I hope you enjoy.

Bibimbap: A Signature Korean Masterpiece

A new food love has just been planted in my heart and is quickly taking root. One word: Bibimbap.  

What in the world is a "bibimbap" you might ask?  Well, let me attempt to tackle that question. If I were giving a very rough definition, I would say it is Korean dish consisting of rice, vegetables, and a fried egg which will make your heart soar and your taste buds sing.  (Here is the slightly more official Wikipedia definition http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bibimbap just in case you are interested.)

I recently started receiving the magazine 'Bon Appetit.'  If you have never explored this magazine or the website, I would highly encourage you to give it a gander.  Not only does it discuss food, recipes, and the best ingredients around, it also gives information on restaurants you should visit while traveling in cities throughout the world.  It is kind of like a food magazine with a side of travel.  It is just wonderful altogether!

Anyway, the idea of making bibimbap for dinner was inspired by this most recent Bon Appetit issue.  They did a fabulous job photographing the bibimbap recipe which always increases my desire to actual cook it. Here is the link to Bon Appetit's Bibimbap Party. This link contains the magazine's original recipe which is the one I used while making our meal. However, I didn't make all of the vegetable recipes they mention in the article.  I made the zucchini, carrot, mushroom, spinach, and beef dishes.  They were amazing! I cannot say this enough.  I had no idea that rice, vegetables, and a fried egg could change my life but I think this meal just did.  It was cheap, pretty fast, and delicious. Please try this recipe. (Is it okay to plead with people on a blog?)  I know you will enjoy it.

Almond Scones: A Sweet Morning Treat

I love scones.  If I could eat them every day for breakfast, I swear I would do it.  Give me a scone, banana, and a cup of coffee and you've got yourself a happy woman.

A couple weeks ago I got to make this scone recipe for our church hospitality table.  The original recipe I was trying to replicate called for about half the amount of ingredients and a lot of orange flavoring. While I love all scones, including orange ones, I much prefer an almond or chocolate chip scone to a fruit flavored one.  I also had almonds left over from the Almond Layer Cake so I decided to change the original orange scone recipe around, add some whole wheat flour, take out all the orange flavoring, and add in a touch of almond. With those changes, I found myself with an almond scone spectacular!

This recipe is awesome because it is so easy to make 40 small scones in a really short amount of time.  It takes about 5-10 minutes to mix all the ingredients together, separate the scones into sections, and put them on baking sheets. I would like to say I do not strive for a the typical scone shape.  If you are looking to make a perfectly shaped scone, it might take you a little longer in the preparation phase.  Whatever shape you choose, these scones are really good.  They aren't too sweet and have a nice light texture to them even with the whole wheat flour.  If you have a reason to try them, I hope you enjoy!

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Almond Scones

(makes approximately 40 small scones in about 40-45 minutes)

2 cups white flour

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 tablespoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon nutmeg

1 cup milk

3/4 cup almonds, chopped

2 teaspoons almond extract

2 sticks of butter, soften

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  

In a large bowl, mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.  Make a well in the center of the flour mixture.  Add the milk, almonds, and almond extract to the flour mixture. Mix together.  Next, add the butter and mix until combined. 

Once dough is mixed thoroughly, take and pat into a ball shape.  Using your hands, separate dough into eight even sections.  Take each of the individual sections and separate that dough into five additional sections.  (This will allow about 40 small scones to be made by the end.)  Shape the small sections into scones and place on a cookie sheet.  Leave about 1.5 inches between each scone to allow for rising.  Bake for 12-15 minutes or until lightly browned on the bottom.  Serve warm or cool.  Enjoy!

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