Showing posts with label Vegetarian. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Vegetarian. Show all posts
Mediterranean Salad
NextGen Cars Manis
I saw this recipe in a Sunset magazine a few months ago and thought it looked delicious. I had all the ingredients on hand so I decided to make it for lunch. I adapted it a bit by adding red onion, grape tomatoes, and low fat feta cheese. It was a quick and simple recipe that was hearty and tasty. My son loved it too (except the red onions). Simple ingredients make the best recipes.

Mediterranean Salad:
Adapted recipe and photos by For the Love of Cooking.net
Original Recipe from Sunset Magazine, August 2009
  • 1/4 cup of cooked orzo
  • 2 handfuls of baby spinach leaves
  • 1 handful of grape tomatoes
  • 1 tbsp toasted pine nuts
  • 7-8 kalamata olives, halved
  • 3-4 fresh basil leaves, chiffonade
  • 1 tbsp low fat feta cheese
  • 1 tbsp good balsamic vinegar
  • 1/2 tbsp olive oil
  • Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
Cook orzo per instructions; drain and set aside. In a small skillet over medium heat, toast the pine nuts (dry - no oil) for 2-3 minutes or until lightly golden brown; set aside.

In a large bowl, combine spinach, tomatoes, pine nuts, olives, basil, feta cheese, orzo, balsamic vinegar, olive oil, sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste. Toss until evenly coated and serve immediately. Enjoy.
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Extra Mushroom, Garlic and Fresh Tomato Pizza
NextGen Cars Manis
We are huge pizza fans in our house and we make homemade pizza often. I try to change the flavors so we won't get bored plus it's a great way to use up extra ingredients we have in the refrigerator. I love the Trader Joe's whole wheat pizza dough as well as their pizza sauce, so they have become staples in our home. I had a huge container of mushrooms and a bunch of fresh tomatoes to use up so I decided to make a pizza using those ingredients. I added fresh minced garlic to the top of the mushrooms before baking. This pizza turned out terrific - we all LOVED it. Make sure you slice the mushrooms very thin so they don't make the pizza soggy.

Extra Mushroom, Garlic and Fresh Tomato Pizza:

  • Cooking spray
  • Corn meal
  • Whole wheat pizza dough
  • Pizza sauce
  • Mozzarella cheese
  • 8 oz button mushrooms, sliced very thin
  • Fresh garlic, minced
  • Fresh tomatoes, sliced thickly
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees. Spread dough on a pizza sheet that has been coated with cooking spray and a sprinkle of corn meal. Spoon the sauce on the dough and spread evenly. Sprinkle the mozzarella cheese all over followed by the mushrooms. Next, carefully sprinkle the garlic all over the pizza being careful not to drop in large clumps.

Place pizza into the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes or until cheese is bubbling and the crust is golden brown. Remove from the oven, add the fresh tomato slices on top. Slice and serve. Enjoy.





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Maple and Brown Sugar Acorn Squash
NextGen Cars Manis
I had an acorn squash in the refrigerator that I needed to use up. I usually cook them with butter, cinnamon and nutmeg but this time I decided to try maple syrup and brown sugar. It was so delicious! I love the flavor of the maple syrup with the creamy and delicious squash. It not only looks really pretty but it tastes wonderful too. I was shocked that my kids didn't care for this dish since they love maple syrup, I think it may be the texture. My husband and I both really loved it.

Maple and Brown Sugar Acorn Squash:
Recipe and photos by For the Love of Cooking.net
  • 1 acorn squash
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1-2 tbsp brown sugar
  • 1 tbsp maple syrup
  • Sea salt and freshly cracked pepper, to taste
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Slice each squash lengthwise in half. Scrape out the seeds and rinse.
Spread the butter all over each half of the squash. Sprinkle with brown sugar then drizzle with maple syrup. In a deep baking dish, add enough water to cover the bottom of the dish. Place the squash facing up in the dish.
Cover with tin foil and bake for 45 minutes or until fork tender. Take off the tin foil and turn the oven to broil so you can brown the tops of each squash - watch carefully so it doesn't burn. You can slice into chunks or scoop out the flesh and eat it like mashed potatoes - whatever suits your fancy. Enjoy.




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Christmas Fruit Cake
NextGen Cars Manis
Christmas Fruit Cake

Though I am sure that I have had Christmas fruit cake before I did not really remember it. Given that and the controversy around fruit cake when I saw some posts about Christmas cake I knew that I would have to try making one to find out. All of the recipes that I saw called for making the cake a few weeks ahead of time to let it mature. Many of the recipes called for "feeding" the cake brandy on a regular basis while it matured. I did not want my cake to end up being too heavy with brandy so I decided to just soak the fruits in some brandy and then I wrapped the cake in cheese cloth that was soaked in brandy while it matured. Some of the recipes that I came across called for adding a layer of marzipan and a layer of icing but I wanted to keep my fruit cake nice and simple so I skipped the frosting layers. After waiting for over a month I finally unwrapped the fruit cake to try today. I am not really sure why fruit cakes have such a bad wrap as this fruit cake was really good. It was nice and moist and full flavor! The cake had a hint of booze without being overwhelmed by it. I think that I will be making a Christmas fruit cake again next year.

Ingredients:
1 cup currants
1 cup mixed candied peel
3/4 cup candied pineapple (chopped)
3/4 cup red candied cherries (halved)
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup brandy
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon ground allspice
1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 pinch of salt
6 tablespoons butter (softened)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 tablespoons strawberry jam
1 tablespoon molasses
3 eggs
3/4 cups walnuts (chopped)

Directions:
1. Mix the currants, mixed peel, pineapple, cherries, raisins and the brandy in a bowl, cover and let sit for 24 hours, stirring occasionally.
2. Mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, allspice, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt in a bowl.
3. Mix 1/4 cup of the dry mixture into the wet mixture.
4. Mix the butter, sugar, jam and molasses in a bowl.
5. Mix the eggs into the butter mixture one at a time.
6. Mix the remaining flour mixture into the butter and egg mixture.
7. Mix in the fruit mixture along with the nuts.
8. Pour the mixture into baking pans lined with double parchment paper.
9. Place a baking pan with water on the lower rack of the oven.
10. Cover the cake pans with foil and bake on the middle racks of a preheated 300F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about 45-60 minutes.
11. Let cool.
12. Soak some cheese cloth in some brandy and wrap it around the cake.
13. Wrap the cake in foil and refrigerate for 30 days.

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Lemon Yogurt Cake with Blueberries
NextGen Cars Manis
Lemon Yogurt Cake with Blueberries

I had been seeing a few lemon yogurt cakes around that looked good and I was thinking that the rest of my meyer lemons would go well in one. Recently I have been trying to clear some space in my freezer and I came across some blueberries that I had frozen in the summer. I really like the lemon and blueberry flavor combo and I could not resist adding the blueberries to the lemon yogurt cake. With he cake down the only thing that was left was the topping. I was thinking about going with a simple lemon glaze when I came across a bookmark for a lemon blueberry cake with a limoncello glaze on Dragon's Kitchen that sounded great! The lemon yogurt cake with blueberries was really easy to make, though it took a bit longer than I expected. (I think that was because I used still frozen blueberries.) The toothpick test worked and the cake came out perfectly baked even though it took a little longer. The cake was nice and light fluffy and moist and infused with blueberry and lemony goodness! The limoncello added a really nice zing to the lemon glaze that finished the cake off nicely. I think that I will be having this cake for breakfasts for the rest of the week and I am certainly looking forward to them.

Lemon Yogurt Cake with Blueberries

(makes 6+ servings)


Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 cup yogurt
1 cup white sugar
3 large eggs
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup blueberries
1 cup confectioners sugar
1 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon limoncello (or more lemon juice)
lemon zest to garnish

Directions:
1. Mix the flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a bowl.
2. Mix the lemon zest, yogurt, sugar, eggs, oil, vanilla extract in another bowl.
3. Mix the wet and dry ingredients.
4. Mix in the blueberries.
5. Pour the batter into a greased 9 inch by 5 inch loaf pan.
6. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about an hour.
7. Mix the confectioners sugar, lemon juice and limoncello and pour over the cake after it has cooled.

Lemon Yogurt Cake with Blueberries
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Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake Turtle Bread
NextGen Cars Manis
Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake Turtle Bread

Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake Turtle Bread

 Pumpkins are in season and really cheap right now so I have a few of them on hand just waiting to be used. When I recently came across this recipe for a pumpkin caramel cheesecake bread on Culinary Concoctions by Peabody I knew exactly what I would be using one of those pumpkins for. How could I resist making this? With pumpkin, caramel and cheesecake all rolled up into one there was no way that I could. I pretty much just used the recipe as it was, though I cut back on some of the sugar and replaced half of the flour with whole wheat flour. One of the things that I really like about quick breads is that they are so easy to make. You pretty much just mix all of the ingredients ahttp://world-supper-recipes.blogspot.com/nd then bake it. This quick bread had the added step of mixing the cheesecake filling but it was still really easy to make. While the bread was baking my apartment was filled with an amazing pumpkin and caramel aroma and by the time that it was done I could barley wait for it to cool to try it. The pumpkin caramel cheesecake turtle bread was so good! The cheesecake layer helped keep the bread nice and moist and it went really well in the bread. The caramel and pumpkin flavor combo was simply amazing and of course it never hurts to add chocolate and pecans. I certainly am looking forward to having this for breakfasts this week!

Pumpkin Caramel Cheesecake Turtle Bread

(makes 1 loaf)

Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup oil
2 large eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
8 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoon golden syrup
2 tablespoon caramel sauce
1 large egg
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 cup caramel sauce
1/2 cup chocolate sauce
1 cup pecans (toasted and chopped)

Directions:
1. Mix the flours, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a bowl.
2. Mix the pumpkin, vanilla, oil, eggs and sugars in another bowl.
3. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
4. Beat the cream cheese, sugar, syrup, caramel, egg and flour in a bowl.
5. Pour half of the pumpkin bread mixture into a loaf pan followed by the caramel cheesecake mixture and the remaining pumpkin bread mixture.
6. Bake in a preheated 350F oven until a toothpick pushed into the center comes out clean, about 60 minutes.
7. Let cool and then pour on the caramel sauce, chocolate sauce and pecans.
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Maple Pecan Ice Cream
NextGen Cars Manis
Maple Pecan Ice Cream

Maple Pecan Ice Cream

I served a sweet potato pecan pie to finish off my Thanksgiving dinner this year. The fact that the pie was already composed of two already great pies was not enough and I tried to make dessert even better by topping it off with some ice cream. At first I was thinking just some simple vanilla ice cream would do and then I thought; Why stop there? I could make it a maple ice cream and it would be including some of the flavors from the pie that it would be topping. Thinking of working similar flavors into the ice cream my next thought was to add some pecans because nuts always go well in ice cream. I had finally arrived at a maple pecan ice cream which sounded really good.

There was just one last thing to add to the ice cream, a splash of bourbon. I like to add a touch of alcohol to my homemade ice creams as it helps to keep the ice cream from freezing into a solid brick. The consistency of the ice cream straight from the freezer is always nice with the alcohol and there is no need to wait for the ice cream to start to thaw out before eating it. Since I was also including a splash of bourbon in the pie it was the natural choice for the ice cream in this case.

For the base of the ice cream I used a pretty standard combo of milk, cream and eggs and the maple syrup provided all of the sweetness without the need for extra sugar. I toasted the pecans in some butter and brown sugar to 'candy' them before adding them to the ice cream. Other than candying the pecans this ice cream was a pretty standard ice cream and thus really easy to make. You pretty much just make the custard, chill it and then throw it into your ice cream maker. The maple pecan ice cream turned out so well! If you like maple then this ice cream will be the perfect treat! The maple flavor came through nice an strong and the candied pecans provided a great texture and flavor. One of the things that I liked most about the ice cream was that I could make it the day before and not add to the load on the day of the big meal. I will definitely be making this ice cream again and again.

Maple Pecan Ice Cream

(makes 4 servings)


Ingredients:
3/4 cup pecans (roughly chopped)
2 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3/4 cup maple syrup
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup milk
4 egg yolks
1 splash bourbon (optional)

Directions:
1. Melt the butter in a pan.
2. Add the pecans, toss to coat, sprinkle on the sugar and heat until the pecans are nice and toasted, about 3-4 minutes.
3. Remove the pecans from the heat and let cool completely.
4. Heat the maple syrup, cream and milk in a sauce pan until it almost boils, about 5 minutes.
5. Reduce the heat to low.
6. Temper the eggs and stir them into the cream.
7. Cook at low heat until it thickens and can coat the back of a spoon.
8. Remove from heat and stir in the bourbon.
9. You may want to strain the mixture at this point to remove any bits that may have formed while warming.
10. Chill the mixture in the fridge.
11. Freeze the maple custard and toasted pecans according to the instructions for your ice cream machine.

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Sweet Potato Pecan Pie
NextGen Cars Manis
Sweet Potato Pecan Pie

Sweet Potato Pecan Pie

Although I tend to spend a long time thinking about and planning the side dishes for holiday dinners you just can't forget about the dessert! When I recently discovered the sweet potato casserole I was amazed at how well sweet potatoes work in sweet dessert like dishes and I have been wanting to try using them to make a sweet potato pie since. I was set to make a sweet potato pie for my Thanksgiving meal this year but just before I came across the concept of a sweet potato pecan pie which sounded so good that I had to quickly change my plans. A sweet potato pecan pie is essentially a pie with a layer of sweet potato pie topped with a layer of pecan pie. How can you go wrong rolling up two great pies into one? I just had to try it!

Most of the recipes that I found for sweet potato pies and pecan pies called for golden syrup but I decided to go with a maple twist and I used maple syrup instead. The pie was surprisingly easy to make; you simply mix the two different filling, pour them into the pie shell and bake. The sweet potato pecan pie turned out so amazingly well! The sweet potato pie filling spiked with pumpkin pie spices and bourbon with the hint of maple was so good! The maple pecan pie was of course just as good as the last time that I made it and it went really well with the sweet potato pie. This of one of those cases where the sum of the parts is better than the individual components. Even thought the sweet potato pie was really good by itself and the pecan pie was really good by itself, together they were even better! I could not stop there and I topped the sweet potato pecan pie off with some maple pecan ice cream with a hit of bourbon.

Sweet Potato Pecan Pie

(makes 6+ servings)


Ingredients:
1 pie crust
2 cups sweet potato (roasted, scooped and mashed)
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup (or golden syrup)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
2 tablespoons bourbon (optional)
1 1/2 cups pecan halves
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup (or golden syrup)
2 eggs (lightly beaten)
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon bourbon (optional)

Directions:
1. Place the pie crust into a pie plate.
2. Mix the sweet potatoes, eggs, sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and bourbon in a large bowl and pour it into the pie crust.
3. Place the pecans on top of the sweet potato filling.
4. Mix the sugar, maple syrup, eggs, butter, vanilla and bourbon and pour it on top of the pecans.
5. Bake in a preheated 375F oven until the pastry id golden brown and the pecan layer is set, about 40-60 minutes.

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Creamy Dilled Cucumber Salad
NextGen Cars Manis
Creamy Dilled Cucumber Salad

Creamy Dilled Cucumber Salad

Cucumbers are another of summers fresh bounty that I have been enjoying a lot lately. I normally bring home two or more of them from the farmers market every week and I tend to use them in salads or just snack on them as they are. I really like cucumbers on warm summer days as they are nice and juicy and perfect still cool from the fridge. I have however noticed that cucumbers rarely get the attention that they deserve! Every once in a while it is nice to let the humble cucumber shine and to be the star of the show and this cool and creamy cucumber salad is a great way to do so. This is one of those salads where it is nice to make it ahead of time so that you can let the flavors mingle a bit while it chills out in the fridge. The crisp and juicy cucumbers go so well with a creamy coating made slightly tangy by the lemon and the red peppers provide a bit of sweet pungency and of course the dill finishes the salad off perfectly. This salad is best served straight from the fridge while it is still cool which makes it a great way to beat the heat.

Creamy Dilled Cucumber Salad

(makes 4 servings)


Ingredients:
1 large cucumber (sliced)
1/4 cup red onion (sliced)
1/4 cup sour cream
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar (optional)
1 handful dill (chopped)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Mix everything and chill in the fridge for 20+ minutes.

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Tomato Tart
NextGen Cars Manis
Tomato Tart

Tomato Tart

This tomato tart made its way around the food blogging sphere not too long ago and while I did not get the chance to make it I did bookmark it. Now that the locally grown field tomatoes are looking nice and ripe it was the perfect time to make it. This tart is made with layered phyllo dough though you could easily use puff pastry dough. The tart is topped with some onions, mozzarella cheese and of course fresh tomatoes. Parmigiano reggiano is spread between the layers of phyllo dough for even more cheesy goodness. The tart is finished with a fresh herb and I went with some fresh thyme. I cut the size of the recipe down to half by folding or cutting the phyllo sheets in half. The phyllo tomato tarts were pretty easy to make. The phyllo dough came out nice and golden brown and crispy and buttery and good. The thinly sliced tomatoes on top roasted a bit concentrating their amazing flavour. The thyme added a really nice aroma to each bite of the tart.

Ingredients:
3 sheets phyllo dough (thawed and cut in half lengthwise)
3 tablespoons butter (melted)
3 tablespoon parmigiano reggiano (grated)
1/2 cup red onion (thinly sliced)
1/2 cup mozzarella (grated)
2 tomatoes (thinly sliced)
1 tablespoon thyme (chopped)
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and grease the parchment paper.
2. Lay a sheet of phyllo dough on the parchment paper and brush the top with butter.
3. Sprinkle 1/2 tablespoon of the parmigiana reggiano on top.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 with the rest of the phyllo dough.
5. Spread the onions slices on top followed by the mozzarella.
6. Place the sliced tomatoes on in a single layer.
7. Sprinkle the thyme on top along with the salt and pepper.
8. Bake in a preheated 375F oven until the phyllo dough is golden brown, about 20-30 minutes.
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Cranberry Chutney
NextGen Cars Manis
Cranberry Chutney

Cranberry Chutney



You just can't have a Thanksgiving turkey dinner without cranberry sauce and this year I wanted to change things up a bit. Last year I tried a jalapeno cranberry sauce and I really enjoyed it and I was thinking that this year I would take it one step further. I was thinking about a cranberry chutney. I generally start my chutneys off with some onion, garlic, ginger, jalapeno peppers, turmeric, sugar and vinegar. From there I add the main flavoring, in this case the cranberries and then some some spices and extras to try to round things off. Because the cranberries are tart I decided to add some sweet raisins to balance things out rather than increasing the amount of sugar. Cranberry sauce is more of a holiday dish so I swapped out the turmeric for some pumpkin/apple pie type of spices to give it that holiday feel. The cranberry chutney turned out really well. It was a nice balance of tart, sweet, spicy and hot and it did a great job filling in for the cranberry sauce in the Thanksgiving meal. I am now looking forward to seeing how I can enjoy using the leftover cranberry chutney.

Cranberry Chutney

(makes 2+ cups)


Ingredients:
1 (12 ounce) package fresh cranberries
1 apple (peeled, cored and diced)
1 onion (diced)
1 jalapeno pepper (finely diced)
1 tablespoon garlic (grated)
1 tablespoon ginger (grated)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup cider vinegar

Directions:
1. Place everything in a large pot and boil until it thickens, about 10-20 minutes.
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Maple Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake
NextGen Cars Manis
Pumpkin Cheesecake with Maple Mascarpone Cream



I have been seeing a lot of tasty looking pumpkin recipes on food blogs lately so I wanted to do a pumpkin dish for my thanksgiving dinner dessert. While searching I came across a recipe for mini pumpkin cheesecakes on Pinch My Salt. The pumpkin cheesecake recipe also happened to have maple syrup, falling into the maple theme that I had going for my thanksgiving dinner. The original recipe called for 14 minutes of cooking time which I though was little light but I guess it would be fine for mini cheesecakes. My cheesecakes were a bit bigger and I ended up cooking them for closer to 40 minutes before they looked done. I topped the cheesecake with a maple mascarpone cream. The pumpkin cheesecakes were a great finish to a tasty thanksgiving dinner. I really liked the pumpkin flavour in the cheesecake. Luckily I still have a lot of pumpkin puree to use in other recipes.

Maple Pumpkin Pie Cheesecake

(makes 2 servings)
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 tablespoon maple syrup
1 tablespoon butter (melted)
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1 8 ounce package cream cheese (softened)
1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg (slightly beaten)
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tablespoons maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
1/8 teaspoon ginger

Directions:
1. Mix the graham cracker, brown sugar, butter, maple syrup, cinnamon and nutmeg.
2. Press the mixture into the bottom of two 4 inch spring form pans.
3. Mix the remaining ingredients in a large bowl until smooth.
4. Pour the mixture into the spring form pans.
5. Bake in a preheated 325F oven until it is set, about 45-60 minutes.

Note: This recipe makes enough for 2 4 inch spring form pans. Triple the recipe for an 8 inch spring form pan and quadruple the recipe for a 10 inch spring form pan.
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