Baked Eggs in a Tomato-Parmesan Sauce

I have a confession to make. I tend to avoid doling out personal information on this website, keeping as much anonymity as possible. For a while, it was because I hadn't really told anyone about this, and was still somewhat embarrassed of the fact that I was pouring the culinary chamber of my heart out to the vast black hole that is the internet. It's not exactly a common pastime for many 21-year-olds. I think, though, that a little personal divulgence is, if not necessary, beneficial. A lot of the things I make, I have chosen to make simply because they sound like they'd be good; but then, there are others that have a little bit more of a thought process behind them, a little bit more of a story. So, rather than just rambling on a little bit about the flavors and what I'd do differently next time, and then regurgitating a recipe that you can likely find elsewhere (although I am pretty proud of the many Floptimism Originals I've been coming up with lately), I'd like to start making more of a connection to my food. From time to time, at least.

This, if you hadn't already gathered, is to be one of those times. You see, here's where my confession comes in: I have high cholesterol. Now, I know most of you have never seen me before, but I'm not exactly the walking image of high cholesterol: young, active, an aspiring nutritionist who steps on a scale and just barely hits the low end of her IBW - I mean, I haven't had fast food in almost 2 years, darn it! Most people thought I was crazy for even wanting labs done at all, but, being the preventative-oriented kinda gal that I am, I wanted to know my baselines. You know, just in case. So, with my last physical, I had Daddy Floptimism sit in a room and give me words of encouragement while a nurse drew way too many viles of my blood. And, lo and behold, I have high cholesterol. High triglycerides, to be more precise.

High triglycerides, though they are a measure of fat in the body, tend to come more from a diet high in carbohydrates than one that's high in fat. When asked by Daddy Floptimism if I ate a high-carb diet, I immediately got defensive and said, "No! Of course not!" How could my diet be anything but perfect? I mean, really! But then, I thought about it. Breakfast - dairy + fruit + grain = all carbs. Midmorning snack: fruit or granola bar = all carbs. Lunch - sandwich, a salad with dried/fresh fruit, an omelet and half a bagel...carbs. Dinner - grain and, more importantly, beans when I so often at school opted for a meat-free meal = carbs. Dessert - cake, brownies, cookies, ice cream...yup, carbs. Yes, I ate veggies, too. Yes, I ate protein, too. Yes, fruits and dairy have things other than carbohydrates in them. My diet wasn't nutritionally devoid, but was it high carb? Yes, yes it was.

This news came very conveniently at the start of the New Year, so I decided, being young and active and whatnot, I would make a couple of small changes to my diet, repeat the lab work at my next physical, and see if there were improvements. I'm not high-risk; my cholesterol is not through the roof and I'm not at an age or a weight where it's an immediate concern. So, I would move little by little. I made goals for myself: (1) Eat a non-carb breakfast (ie eggs + veggies) for breakfast 1x / week (2) Eat a non/low-carb lunch 2x/week (3) Eat a non/low-carb dinner 1x/week, and (4) choose a low carb snack between lunch and dinner at least 4x/week.

What all of this labwork and goal-setting means to you is, well, you're going to be getting some delicious, filling low- and non-carb dishes from me every now and then! Now, I'm no proponent of the atkins diet - carbs are super important. I am in no way cutting out carbohydrates from my diet or advocating that anyone else should. I also should probably ethically include a disclaimer that, since I am not yet an actual dietician, if you're in a situation similar to mine, you should see a health care professional before jumping on board with me. I'm merely going to be adding to this blog an array of options for people who try to control the amount of carbohydrates they consume - whether it be for weight loss, cholesterol, diabetes, or even celiac disease, since a non-carbohydrate meal will be inherently gluten-free.

Phew! All of that, and I still haven't started telling you about this delicious recipe for eggs that I made last week. So let's get to the good stuff, shall we? When planning my low/non-carb dinner for the week, I have often been looking into my breakfast folder of saved recipes; specifically, the eggs. My egg exposure so far has been fairly limited. I like omelettes and scrambled eggs, and I'll even eat a hard boiled one, though I couldn't really be bothered to make them myself. Anything where the yolk is still really in-tact and not all mixed up with the white, and you've lost me. But, Martha Stewart knows her stuff, and I'm all about trying new things, so I decided to take the plunge and make a baked egg, separate yolk and white and all. And you know what? I am so glad that I did.

Now, for anyone who has read more than, oh I don't know, two of my blog entries, you should have noticed a trend in what makes a good recipe for me: ease of preparation, complex flavors/colors/textures, and not too much salt. This recipe has all three of those things! First, it came together in a snap. I didn't even make a huge mess that night in the kitchen, which is a double bonus. Second, the flavor was spot-on and the textures were wonderful: a sweet tomato base with rosemary mixed in so that it comes through perfectly, creamy (and fully cooked!) yolks with smooth, almost hard-boiled-like whites...really delicious, but also really simple. It would be such a perfect recipe for a big family breakfast, maybe if the in-laws or the cousins or aunts and uncles are over for a holiday and you want them to wake up to something special. But, I have to say, I thought it was pretty awesome as a dinner entree on a cold, January night. For a version that includes carbohydrates, a warm, hearty piece of crusty bread to scoop it all up with would be excellent, but even though that thought was on my mind while making this, I did not feel deprived eating it as it was.

Apparently, I enjoyed it so much that I never even considered taking a picture of it! C'est la vie. There has been a lot going on here in the Floptimism Kitchen and the Floptimism Apartment, so you will have to forgive me. Martha Stewart has some very lovely photos, however, so you can follow the link to her site and oogle at those. I promise, mine looked every bit as professional and appetizing as hers. In fact, I think I will let you head on over there for the recipe, too, seeing as how I've already written a near-novel and the only changes I made were to make an individual portion of it (very easy to do, by the way) and I used whole, peeled tomatoes and crushed them myself.

Baked Eggs in a Tomato-Parmesan Sauce, courtesy of Martha Stewart

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Easy Chicken Fajitas


For some reason, I feel like all the recipes I have been looking at lately have been for fajitas. I know this isn't actually true, but I have been faced with a great many of them. So, in case I'm not so crazy and you, too, have noticed several enticing fajita recipes out there, I figured I would tack one more onto your list. Now, I made this recipe a long time ago - as in, before I got the wacky idea to actually write detailed notes on the procedure and end result. I have a list of ingredients that I am basing this post on, and not a very intricately described one, either. But we'll go with it, because fajitas aren't really the kind of recipes that need to be rigid, which is exactly what makes them so perfect in my book.

This recipe produces a fresh, creamy wrap full of chicken, veggies, and spices that will make you feel like you're indulging...when you only kind of are. Yes, you could take the recipe I am about to share with you and add guacamole, cheese, and full-fat versions of things like sour cream. And you know what, it would probably be out of this world. I chose to scale this back a little bit, simplifying the ingredient list and trimming down the recipe to make it a little bit less decadent. That's the kind of versatility I'm talking about when I say that fajitas don't need to be rigid, or when I tell you about all of those other Mexican-themed meals I have become so enthralled with lately. They're ideal mid-week slump meals, when you have ingredients on hand and need some help piecing them all together, and yet they're equally nice when you go out of your way to the grocery store to find your inspiration.

Oh, and one more thing - don't forget your napkins for this one. You're gonna need them!

Easy Chicken Fajitas
Yield: 2 servings

The Ingredients*
6-8oz. chicken (approximately 1 large breast)
1/4 - 1/2 onion, sliced into rings and then halved
1/3 - 1/2 large green bell pepper, cut into strips
1 jalapeno pepper, diced (optional, seed for less heat)
2 teaspoons garlic, minced
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon paprika
black pepper, to taste
1/4 cup chopped tomatoes
3 tablespoons salsa
1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons sour cream
olive oil, for sauteeing
pita or tortillas, for serving

The Method
If using raw chicken, place a little bit of oil in a medium-large saucepan over medium heat. Slice the chicken breast into strips and add to the pan, cooking until done all the way through, approximately 6-8 minutes. Remove the chicken from the pan and set aside. If using leftover chicken, simply skip this step.

Add the onions to the pan and, if there isn't much oil left from the chicken, also add a little bit more oil. Saute the onions for 10 minutes, until tender. Add in the pepper, garlic, and spices, reduce the heat to medium-low, and cook vegetable mixture for an additional 10 minutes, or until onions have caramelized.

Optionally, heat a skillet just large enough for the pitas or tortillas or preheat the oven to no more than 300 degrees Fahrenheit, and warm the pitas/tortillas while you finish up the rest of the recipe.

Return the chicken to the pan along with the fresh tomatoes, and allow the new additions to be warmed thoroughly. Stir in the salsa and sour cream, heat gently for 1-2 minutes, and then remove from the heat and finish incorporating. Divide the mixture evenly between two pitas or tortillas, and serve hot.

Notes: *Feel free to adapt this. Other spices and flavorings (chili powder, hot sauce, enchilada sauce), vegetables (corn, guacamole), and toppings (beans, cheddar or monterey jack cheese) would all be fantastic. I even added some spicy, toasted squash seeds I had on hand for a nice, satisfying crunch.

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Chicken & Pear Paninis with Roasted Pear & Sweet Potato "Fries"


Anyone with Diabetes, high triglycerides, or an affinity for Dr. Atkins should just stop reading now. Even I find myself looking back on this indulgently carb-loaded meal and ask myself what I could have been thinking, throwing all of these ingredients together. I actually do remember my thought process and rationale, but I don't think that I would repeat the combination. Would I eat these two dishes again, separately? Absolutely! They were both delicious, different, and decadent - three words I love to hear associated with food. So, if my introduction to this meal did not yet scare you away, I ask you to hear me out for just a little bit longer, because it very well may be worth it.

One of my Everyday with Rachael Ray magazines presented me with a recipe for a Chicken & Pear Panini that I had to try. Chicken, sauteed onions, gooey cheese and sweet pears: it just sounded like an awesome and intriguingly original combination. This sandwich, I do not jest, delivered. The flavors were rich and worked extremely well together, with the pear bringing out the sweetness in the onion, the chicken and cheese playing off of that sweetness with their savory notes, and the chewy, nutty whole grain bread factor really rounding out this panini's arsenal of sensory explosives. There was only one of my five senses that was disappointed in this meal, and that was my sense of sight. Think about it: chicken breast, bread, pears, onions, cheese. Where's the color? The magazine said to pair it with an escarole salad which certainly would have helped, but I would still like to see more color in the actual panini - maybe some spinach? Aside from that, the only other complaint I had was the amount of oil, which I successfully (I think, anyway) halved.

But other than those two things, this is a must-make sandwich - again, if you feel that you can brave the carbohydrate-laden ingredient list (but here's a tip - use whole grain bread and the fiber will help slow those rambunctious sugar molecules down, and then it's really not so bad! Oh, and maybe don't pear it with starchy fries like I did).

Speaking of those fries, even if you don't make them as a side dish for this sandwich, I still have to tell you about them - first of all, because they're included in the picture of this meal and second of all, because they were pretty good. They didn't get as crisp as I would have liked, but keeping them in the oven for a little longer should do the trick. I actually don't know that pears have the ability to become crispy in an oven, but sweet potatoes do, and even they should have had a little longer to cook. You could try roasting them and then broiling them at the end to see if that helps the process any, too. Just some suggestions.

Chicken & Pear Paninis, just barely tweaked from Everyday with Rachael Ray
Yield: 4 sandwiches

The Ingredients
2 1/2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 pound boneless, skinless chicken
salt and pepper, to taste
2 onions (about 3/4 pound), thinly sliced
1 pear, cored and thinly sliced
1 cup shredded monterey jack cheese
4 dinner rolls, split, or 8 slices of bread

The Method
Season the chicken with salt and pepper* and then place in a large skillet, along with 1 tablespoon olive oil, over medium-high heat. Cook the chicken until golden, 6-8 minutes, turning once halfway through. Transfer the chicken to a plate to cool, and then shred or thinly slice.

Return the skillet to the heat and add 3/4 tablespoon of oil, again over medium-high heat. Add the onions, season with salt and pepper, and cook until golden, around 7 minutes. Stir the pear into the pan and cook 3-5 minutes more, or until tender. Remove the skillet from the heat and toss the onion mixture together with the chicken and cheese.

Evenly divide the filling mixture among the rolls or bread. If you own a panini press, cook the sandwiches according to the manufacturer's instructions. If you don't own a panini press, you can make these as you would grilled cheese, filling the rolls/bread and cooking in a large pan in a scant amount of oil, flipping once one side is golden brown. I never have much luck flipping things in a pan, though, so I opted to toast the bread lightly, fill it with the filling (which is still warm and melty from cooking), and press firmly down on the sandwich to seal it a little better.

Notes:
*I never salt my meat. I never quite understood the chemistry behind wanting to - anything I learned in science class always said that water follows salt, meaning salting the outside of your meat should dry out the inside of it. I do, however, season it with pepper and sometimes other spices.


Pear & Sweet Potato Oven "Fries"
Yield: 1 serving (adjust as needed)

The Ingredients
1/4 large pear, sliced fairly thin
1/2 - 1 small sweet potato, sliced into rounds slightly thicker than the pear
paprika, pepper, and garlic powder, to taste
canola oil (or a higher-heat oil)

The Method
Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and line and/or grease a baking sheet. Arrange the pear and sweet potato slices on the sheet, drizzle with oil, season with spices, and toss to coat. Roast in the oven for 30-40 minutes, flipping halfway through.*

Notes:
*I roasted mine for 20 minutes, with the pears going in at about the halfway mark, and neither piece of produce was done enough.

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Chickpea Pasta Casserole


The first semester of my Freshman year of college, I went to school in New York - Ithaca, to be exact. It took me a grand total of I think 2.5 months to realize I wasn't even going to make it to January there, much less through the entire second semester. It rained or snowed every day after late September, and the gusts of wind were enough to freeze your lungs and knock you out cold. Sunny days in Ithaca are beautiful, but too few and far between to outweigh every other rotten weather day hovering atop that small mountain. So, I transferred. Now, of course, the winter here is beginning to feel much too akin to that of Ithaca than I would like, and although the sun is out today, I still find myself dreading the lab I need to walk to in just under an hour from now.

This winter calls for heavy dishes - and I don't necessarily mean calorically dense. I mean, rib-sticking recipes: soup, casseroles, stews, chili. Homemade bread to get the rib stickage factor up another ten notches. Although this recipe for chickpea casserole doesn't have a homemade bread component, it does throw some hearty pasta into it, so carb lovers should have no fear. I'm sure that true carb lovers would still add a loaf of homemade dough to this menu, but I can assure you that it certainly doesn't need it.

As it is, exactly as it is, this casserole is everything you need to forget about the harsh winter raging outside your kitchen. There's no heavy cream involved, just sour cream and some parmesan, so you can play around with the literal heaviness of it; but either way, it's thick and creamy, and doesn't have to be too sinful. Instead, it's savory and a little salty, creamy and indulgent, and warm and filling.

I've made this twice now, and the first time could not get it to thicken up. It wound up being a soup that still tasted incredible, but lacked a little bit of the heartiness that a thicker consistency brings. The second time around I was able to get it to thicken better, partially by pureeing the chickpeas first and also by allowing for more reducing time. I've come to find that the canned parmesan is much saltier and stronger than the Real Deal, so if you're using that you might want to decrease the amount by a little bit. I'd also encourage throwing in some spinach or pureed or chopped veggies (cauliflower, pepper, asparagus...), and maybe even slightly increasing the amount of chickpeas and pasta (though not by too much). I made a few adjustments, some out of laziness, some just to try to use up similar products that I had in my pantry.

Chickpea Pasta Casserole, courtesy of Gourmet Fury
Yield: 4 main dish servings

The Ingredients
1/2 pound dry pasta
1 large can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 head roasted garlic (I used un-roasted minced instead, maybe 3-4 tablespoons)
1 small onion, chopped fine
3 cups chicken stock (use vegetable stock to make it vegetarian)
1/2 cup sour cream, any fat
3 cups grated parmesan*
1/2 cup fresh Italian parsley, chopped (I used 1.5 tablespoons dried basil)
salt and pepper, to taste
good olive oil, for sauteeing

The Method
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and cook the pasta al dente in a medium pot. Once finished, drain and set aside.

Meanwhile, heat the onions in a large sauce pan coated in olive oil until caramelized - this can take a decent amount of time. Season, optionally, with salt once caramelization is reached. If you do not have an immersion blender, while you are waiting for the onions to finish, puree the chickpeas.** You may need to add some olive oil to the food processor to help the chickpeas along. Add the chickpeas and the garlic to the pan and cook over medium heat until the chickpeas are warmed through. Pour in the chicken stock, and allow the mixture to come to a simmer.

If you own an immersion blender, blend the mixture to reach a smooth consistency, all the while drizzling about 1/3 cup of olive oil into the mixture (though I have my doubts that this is really necessary). Once this is done, stir in the sour cream. Finally, add in the pasta, half of the cheese, and the parsley.

Transfer the mixture to either one 9x13" oven-safe pan or several individual ramekins and spread the remaining cheese on top. Place into the preheated oven and bake until the cheese has turned golden, approximately 10 minutes. Serve hot.***

Notes:
*If you're using the cheap, canned parmesan cheese, I wouldn't use more than 1/2 cup. I used 2/3 cup and still found it to be too overpowering.
**Alternatively, you can wait until after adding the chickpeas and chicken stock to the pan, and then transfer the warmed mixture to a food processor to puree the entire thing in batches. This may lead to a product more similar to the original, but is a big pain in the neck to do.
***Here, the directions state to drizzle with even more olive oil. I say, enough already! It was plenty delicious without all of that.

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Taco Pasta Toss


There are always a couple of nights each week where I don't get back to my apartment until after 6:00, and no matter how much I love to cook and how much I hate those frozen, microwavable dinners...I'm hungry. I don't want to wait an hour to eat. I want to eat, digest, and still have time to eat a nice little sinful dessert before bedtime - scratch that, before 2 hours before bedtime, since I try to be good even with my sinful dessert and give my belly time to digest before it switches into sleep mode. Sometimes, I do pop a meal into the microwave, and sometimes, that meal is not one I had prepared earlier on in the week and frozen myself. However, what's even better than that is finding a recipe that you can make, fresh, in no time at all.

This recipe for Taco Pasta is by far one of the easiest, simplest, and most delicious recipes I've devised. It takes no more than five minutes to throw together once the pasta has cooked, which means you're looking at, what? A 20-30 minute meal, tops? It may not solve the dinner situation for someone coming home at 8pm, but it's perfect for those 6:30-7 nights. Plus, it's pretty healthy, heavy enough to fill you up but not so much that you feel gross about eating it so late at night, and it has tons of flavor. I wouldn't have it any other way, come on! Have you noticed my opinion on bland food? It doesn't fly in the Floptimism Kitchen. Period.

I tend to do a lot of "Mexican" themed dishes. Really, they're all some form of variation on each other: burritos, fajitas, taco salad, taco pasta, my Mexican Fiesta Omelet. I do enjoy many other cuisines, but this is a set of ingredients that I tend to keep in my kitchen more than others (except, maybe, Italian), and most of the ingredients pack a big flavor punch with limited extraneous calories and prep time. Plus, I'm a one-person household, basically, so when I buy a jar of something like salsa, it gets used for many meals until it's gone. But beyond that, I've found Mexican foods in general really great for home cooking. You can also easily do vegetarian with them, throwing in some black beans, or scrap that and include any kind of meat your heart desires. It's flexible that way. Plus, it's a safe choice, despite having that creative element in your ability to mess around with some ingredients based on what you have on hand. And if you're walking in at 6:30 and want dinner a-sap, it might not be the best night to toy around with flavors. This will give you something reliable and fast, no questions asked.

Taco Pasta Toss
Yield: 1 serving

The Ingredients*
1/3 - 1/2 cup dry pasta**
1/4 cup frozen corn
3/4 - 1 cup loosely packed spinach
1/2 cup black beans
lemon juice, to taste
1/3 cup salsa
2-3 tablespoons sour cream

The Method
Cook the pasta to desired consistency, and then drain and return to the pot. Add in the remaining ingredients, except for the salsa sour cream, and heat until the spinach has wilted. Add in the salsa and warm thoroughly. Remove from the heat and top with the sour cream, optionally mixing it in or leaving it as a garnish.

Notes:
*Because I was adding the salsa, I didn't throw in too many veggies like tomatoes and onions, because I knew those flavors would already be there. It's also the reason why I didn't use too many actual spices, like cumin or chili powder. However, don't let that stop you! Peppers - especially some hotter ones - onion, tomato, tomatillo, avocado, a little cheese...all of these would be incredible. Use what your refrigerator and pantry have in stock; that's what quick meals are all about, anyway.
**I liked the orecchiette here, since the black beans and corn tucked themselves cutely inside of them and the salsa seemed to hold on a bit better. But really, use whatever you have. Rice would even be fine, but just be wary of the less instant varieties, if you are trying to use this as a quick meal.

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Miniature Fresh Lasagna Casseroles


A while ago, I made fresh pasta for the first time. So far, it has also been the only time, but after seeing how easy (and fun!) it is, I not only plan to do it more often - getting a little more creative, perhaps - but encourage you to give it a shot, too. Now, I made the pasta as part of a cooking class that I assist at. Now, forget, for a moment, the irony that the assistant had never made the recipe before as well as the irony of what I'm about to confess to you: I didn't know what to do with the pasta once I had flattened it out. Being bold and humble, for once, I did not just trudge on with my gut instinct; no, I asked my instructor what to do if I wanted to make lasagna the following night. She explained that when she makes lasagna from fresh pasta, she likes to layer the pasta with vegetables, sauce, and cheese in little, personalized ramekins for each guest. She said nothing about preboiling.

Perhaps it was something that was meant to be inferred. I, of course, took her word straight. I layered the pasta in beautiful folds with vegetables, meatballs, sauce, and cheese, and I popped them in the oven to bake as though I didn't have a care in the world. Alright, I was a little hesitant, with the no pre-boiling step, but I forged on. The little ramekins cooked up wonderfully, too! I even tied one particularly long strand of pasta into a bow at the top. I mean really, when I say that I had a good time, I wasn't kidding. These ramekins were little jewels, mini works of art.

The lasagna, however - for those of you who are at my level of cooking and still don't know how it must have turned out - was not what you would call traditional. The noodles never softened as they would have during a little dip in a pool of boiling water. But do I throw in the towel and hide my face from you, pretending it never happened? Mais non! I excitedly bit into one and actually enjoyed it. The casseroles were crisp at the tops and doughy in the centers, piping hot from the sauce and the cheese and beyond savory from all of the vegetables and chopped meatballs I had thrown in. I loved it! Much like my little uh-oh back in an earlier post with my curved-edged tortillas, I can't say that I was too disappointed in the end. The recipe is, of course, less than perfected because of the faux-pas, and I can't guarantee that anyone else would like it. Maybe "doughy" is not appealing to most folks. But, because I don't know this and can only base my posts on what I know I enjoyed, I have to share this with you. At the very least, try it out with boiled pasta and get a very rich, flavorful and fresh lasagna that can feel more comfortable cozying up to those tried-and-true type lasagnas.

I do have to warn you that there aren't really quantities for these ingredients. Unless my blog is on my mind while cooking, I tend to throw things together in a ratio that I know I'll enjoy (heavy on the vegetables, for instance). I encourage you to do the same, since a recipe like this really can't be "ruined" by too much or too little of any one ingredient.

Fresh Lasagna Mini Casseroles
Yield: 4 servings

The Ingredients
1 batch of fresh pasta (I used one from the Joy of Cooking)
pasta Sauce, jarred or homemade
chopped vegetables of your choice (I used broccoli, but anything from peppers and mushrooms to cauliflower and squash would be great)
provolone cheese
parmesan cheese
meatballs, finely chopped (optional)

The Method
Prepare your fresh pasta. If not using right away, separate sheets with wax paper and store in an air-tight container, in the refrigerator, for no more than 24 hours. When ready to use, slice into strips no wider than the ramekins you'll be baking the lasagna in (make sure there are at least 4 strips)*.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spoon a small amount of sauce into the bottom of each ramekin, and place the end of a strip on top, one per ramekin. Here, you can either combine all of the filling ingredients except the cheese and just have to worry about spooning one mixture in at a time, or you can keep them separate. Either way, place a spoonful of the filling ingredients, except the cheese, on top of the pasta, layer it with a small spoonful of parmesan, and fold the pasta strip over the cheese. Continue this process until you run out of pasta; when the pasta has been folded over for the last time, place the provolone cheese on top and sprinkle with the remainder of the parmesan. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes, keeping an eye on it for signs of doneness: crisp, browning edges, sizzling, and bubbling cheese. Allow to sit for a minute or two before serving, as the center should be piping hot.

Notes:
*If you have enough to cut into 8 strips, simply place the ends of 2 of the strips at the bottom on top of the first layer of sauce. Then, when folding the pasta over the filling, alternate which strip you fold to make a criss-cross pattern.

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Almond Biscotti with a touch of citrus


I don't know what Mother Nature has against the East Coast, or really a whole lot of the United States as of late, but today is a downright miserable day. Maybe She is lamenting my return to academia as well - after all, Her antics have resulted in my 8am class being canceled, which is nothing to complain about - but outside is still this mish-mosh of ice, snow, and rain. I am not looking forward to the trek to my class in just a little bit. I would much rather be sitting inside with a book, some comfy pants, a cup of tea and these almond biscotti. In that context, I enjoy these days.

You see, these almond biscotti are kind of perfect. Crunchy around the outside, with a burst of almond and orange on the inside. The house smells wonderful when you bake them, and you can't help but smile when you try one. At least, I couldn't. I did have to make some adjustments to the original recipe, notably exchanging orange liqueur for orange juice, but I don't think that would make an extraordinary difference. The batter was unbelievably sweet, to the point that I considered writing in a decrease in sugar for the next time I made them, but the actual, baked biscottis are wonderful. I encourage you to make these, especially if you happen to be stuck inside, as I wish I were, in this awful weather.

Almond Biscotti, courtesy of Smitten Kitchen
Yield: 3 dozen (mine, when halved, only came out to 1 dozen, though)

The Ingredients
3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/3 teaspoon salt (omitted, salted butter)
1 1/2 cups sugar
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
3 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon orange liqueur (I used orange juice)
1 tablespoon orange zest
1 cup whole almonds, toasted, coarsely chopped or sliced almonds
1 large egg white, for washing (forgotten, so omitted)

The Method
Preheat oven to 350 degrees with a rack in the center of the oven, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt, if using, and set aside. In a larger bowl, combine the butter, eggs, extract, liqueur, and zest. Finally, mix the flour into the egg and butter bowl, stirring with a wooden spoon until fully incorporated. Mix in the almonds.

Divide the dough in half (when halving the recipe, I just left it as one mound of dough), and shape each half into a log measuring approximately 13 1/2" by 2 1/2". Place both logs on the same, prepared baking sheet, with space between them (although my one log took up the majority of one sheet, so you might need two). Before baking, take the egg white, whisk it until foamy, and then brush it over the logs. Place in the oven and bake for about 30 minutes, until golden. Without removing the logs from the sheet, allow them to cool completely, for about 25 minutes. Maintain the oven temperature, or at the very least, make sure it's back up at 350 degrees by the time you're ready to bake again.

Once cool, transfer each log to a working surface and remove the parchment paper. Diagonally cut the logs into 1/2-inch slices, using a serrated knife. Place the biscotti cut-side down on the bare baking sheet, and return to the oven for 12 minutes. Rotate the biscotti to the other side, and bake another 8 or so minutes, looking for the biscotti to just turn color. Transfer to a rack and cool, again, completely.

Can be stored in an airtight container, or enjoyed immediately with a warm beverage of your choice.

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Roasted Turbot in a Tomato-Masala Curry


This is it, my last day at home before venturing off to the Big Bad University for another semester's worth of adventures. I'm in a very mixed-emotion mood as I put off packing the rest of my things, essentially permitting a state of mild denial to settle over me. If I can just get through this semester, I keep saying to myself, because this one is going to be a killer as I reach the pinnacle of my academic career's challenging science courses. So, today, I'm in much need of the kind of recipe that I'm about to share with you: something I don't get to eat much at school, something that I can associate with home as I gear up for the apartment life again. There are really only two things that truly fit this bill: grass-fed beef, and fish.

The fish recipe I have for you today is not so rigid. I mean, it doesn't have to be a turbot recipe. It doesn't even have to be a fish recipe. You see, the spices and the curry play the starring roles here, and I don't care what you slather it onto - tofu, chicken, fish, veggies - it will be nothing short of awesome. I chose turbot because the wonderful workers at Whole Foods informed me that although their Halibut - what the original recipe used - was still in the freezer, Turbot was among the types of white fish that were pretty similar. I had never had Turbot before, it was wild caught, and it was a couple bucks cheaper than the other suggestions they made (not that a couple bucks is any true bargain when you're talking about fresh fish), so I went for it.

I was a little nervous making this, since my family does not worship Indian cuisine and although some members enjoy spice, others shy away from it. However, everyone loved it. It's not spicy; it's smoky. And while I would have enjoyed a little bit more of a kick (okay, a lot more of a kick), it was delicious in its own right. I mean, talk about flavor complexity! Roasting the Turbot in a masala rub just lets the fish pop with savory-ness, and the whole house smells like garam masala - which, I may not buy a candle in that scent, but I certainly enjoyed in conjunction with my cooking. And then you get this curry to serve alongside of it that has sweetness from the tomatoes, a tart-sweet oomph from some ginger, creaminess from the addition of some milk and a wonderful, deep smokiness from all of the other spices. If you like heat, though, throw in some extra chili peppers or sneak in a little dash of hot sauce. I don't know how authentic that is (something tells me at least the hot sauce thing would be a bit untraditional), but it sure would be something.

Roasted Turbot in a Tomato-Masala Curry, courtesy of Closet Cooking
Yield: 4-5 servings

The Ingredients - The Spice Rub
1 tablespoon oil
1 tablespoon garam masala
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
20-24 ounces turbot

The Ingredients - The Curry
1 tablespoon oil
1 small onion, finely diced
1 tablespoon garlic, chopped (I used minced)
1 tablespoon ginger, grated
2 small green chilies, finely diced (I seeded mine; for extra heat leave some or all of the seeds in)
28oz. crushed tomatoes
1/2 cup coconut milk*
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
salt and pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon garam masala
1 handful cilantro, chopped, plus more for presentation purposes

The Method
Clean the fish and place into a baking dish; I used a 9x13. Combine the oil, masala, and turmeric in a small bowl and brush over the fish to coat. Cover the dish and allow it to marinate for at least twenty minutes. Preheat the oven to 450 degrees.

Add the oil and onions to a medium-large saute pan over medium heat, and saute until tender, about 5-7 minutes. Add in the garlic, ginger, and chilies for another minute or so, until fragrant. Finally, add in the tomatoes, milk, cumin, coriander, turmeric, and pepper and allow the mixture to simmer. Continue simmering for 15 or so minutes, allowing it to reduce down and thicken. While the sauce is thickening, cook the fish in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, looking for the juices on the fish to be white.

Just before serving, remove the sauce from the heat and stir in the cilantro and garam masala. Spoon the curry onto individual plates or a serving platter and top with the fish. Sprinkle extra cilantro over the top and optionally serve along with rice.

Notes:
*A lot of people swear by coconut milk, and since that's a discussion for a whole other time, let's leave it at I substituted in soy milk. I would imagine it was a little thinner, which just means a little bit of extra time should be allotted for reducing and thickening. Other milks and creams should also work without issue.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a lot of packing football watching, restaurant frequenting, and award show oogling to do. See you on the other side.

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Mexican Fiesta Omelet


My breakfast trifecta is almost always made of whole grains, low fat dairy, and fresh fruit. A little high carb (I'm workin' on it), perhaps, but it proves itself to be otherwise healthy, versatile, and flat out tasty. However, at least once a week, I break out of my robotic routine and make myself not a breakfast trifecta, but a breakfast duo: eggs and veggies. This is nearly as quick and versatile, and perhaps even healthier. One of my favorite combinations I've thrown together so far is what I like to call a Mexican Fiesta Omelet. Now, this is, of course, "Mexican" in what I would imagine is the most American of terms, and while I hope that it's somewhat authentic, I'm not claiming to know how to cook Mexican food as Mexicans actually eat it. Regardless, it's delicious, and Mexican Fiesta Omelet has a fun ring to it, si?

The funny thing about this omelet is that it actually takes on a pinkish hue as a result of actually mixing the salsa into the egg "batter," rather than simply topping it. However, taking this extra steps gives it an extra one-two punch of flavor, and since salsa tends to be one of the "smartest" condiment choices on the market, it keeps the calorie and fat count down, too. It's also adaptable - I didn't add any corn, guacamole, cilantro, or spicy peppers, but think that any or all of those would be excellent. Wrapping it up in a tortilla would also be nice, but again, I really think that it's wonderful on its own. It's light but filling as it stands, which is always a welcome description in the morning.

Mexican Fiesta Omelet
Yield: 1 serving


The Ingredients
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons egg whites, or 2 eggs
1 tablespoon low-sodium salsa
1/4 teaspoon cumin
2 tablespoons diced green bell pepper, from approximately 1 segment
2 tablespoons finely diced onion
1/4 cup black beans
2 tablespoons chopped tomato
1 1/2 tablespoons shredded cheddar cheese (I used provolone, but only because it was all I had)
1-2 teaspoons olive oil, for sauteeing

The Method
Combine the egg and salsa in a small dish and set aside. Place the olive oil, cumin, pepper, and onion to a medium sauce pan and sautee until tender and lightly browned, 4-5 minutes. Add in the black beans and tomato, cooking an additional minute or so. Pour the egg mixture into the pan, and cook, allowing the egg to set. Use a spatula to peel set edges away from the pan and tilt to allow liquid from the center to fill in the opened space, speeding up and evening out the cooking process. Once the egg is mostly set, flip the omelet to the other side*, add the cheese to the top, and cook an additional 30 seconds or so. You can fold the omelet in half to encourage the cheese to melt a little more, or you can cover it with a lid (or just let it be).

Notes: *I'm not expert on omelet flipping. If your pan is greasy enough, you can loosen it and then use your wrist to flick it mostly around, guiding it with your spatula; but my pan is never greasy enough, and egg whites seem to be much more prone to falling apart than whole eggs, so I typically accept more of an egg scramble as my finished product (hence why my picture looks particularly well put together and appetizing). I'll work on the technique and get back to you, though. Promise.

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Down Home Chicken 'n Dumpling Pie


The east coast has been hit yet again, but this time with a soft, powdery blanket that makes a snow day all that much more enjoyable. The ordeal of shoveling diminishes into a minor chunk of work taken out of an otherwise peaceful day, where schools are closed and families are home, but we are not all completely stranded by blizzard-level accumulation. As much as I dislike the cold, I love a snowy winter, and what's more, I love the food that it evokes. I haven't had hot chocolate yet and I did just eat a salad for lunch instead of a body-warming soup, but the dish that I have for you today is the epitome of snow day suppers: chicken 'n dumpling pie.

As with most casserole or classic meals that I make, this one is loosely based off of the recommendations of several online recipes I found. I didn't really go out and shop for ingredients, except for the chicken which I didn't have on hand; mostly, I used what was in my kitchen, and I think that's what makes this dish so perfect. It's malleable and forgiving, but no matter what you throw into it, it's a comfort to eat it. There's just something about a snow storm that makes me want to gather around a table with a group of people and eat something tried-and-true, a classic American specialty.

With all of this being said, I'm not a die-hard fan of pot pies. Nowadays, I can't go around eating most of them because of the pie crust ingredients, but even back when I didn't give a hoot about nutrition and what type of fat was in my food, I just didn't go crazy over this meal. I find the filling to be lackluster or, if it does have a flavor, overly salted - neither one of which flies in the Floptimism kitchen. I won't say that this dumpling pie is a complete revolution to this stigma I've attached to chicken pot pie and its relatives; it is not robustly flavorful in the way that an Asian stir-fry or Indian chutney is, but it is richer than most pot pies and chicken casseroles I've encountered. I enjoyed it; it warmed me up and comforted me, and left me very satisfied. And I have to admit, the warm-and-fuzzy emotions the are created by eating this with loved ones on a cold and potentially stormy night trumps complex spices and zesty flavor any day.

Down Home Chicken 'n Dumpling Pie, adapted from Gourmet Mama and A Dash of Flavour
Yield: 6 servings

The Ingredients - The Filling
3 small chicken breasts
500 milliliters (2+ cups) water
1/2 cup dry white wine
2 teaspoons chicken stock powder (no salt added)
1 teaspoon garlic
freshly ground black pepper, to taste
cooking spray, olive oil or butter
2 medium carrots, diced
1 cup frozen peas
1 teaspoon olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 medium-large stalk broccoli, chopped
1 stalk celery, diced
3 tablespoons whole wheat flour
1 cup whole milk (substitute any type of milk - I just had leftover from baking that I was trying to use up)
1 1/2 cups frozen corn
2 teaspoons desired herbs (the original calls for sage; I used parsley and thyme)


The Ingredients - The Dumplings
1+ cup flour
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk


The Method
Bring the chicken, water, wine, stock powder, garlic, and pepper to a boil in a medium sauce pot. Once boiling, reduce the heat and continue simmering for an additional 15 minutes. Remove the chicken to a cutting board or plate to cool, and transfer the stock to a large bowl temporarily. Meanwhile, microwave the carrots, peas, and broccoli until just tender, 2-3 minutes, and then drain. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and grease one 9x13 inch glass baking dish, or six individual ramekins.

Heat the oil in the pot that the stock was just in, and saute the onions until soft, 3-4 minutes. Stir in the flour and then lower the heat slightly to cook gently an additional 2 minutes. Stir the milk and stock in off the heat, and then return the mixture to the heat to bring to a boil. As this begins to reduce, set a water-filled pot with a large diameter on a burner and begin to heat; this will be to boil your dumplings.* Shred the chicken while you're waiting for both pots to boil, and then start on the dumplings.

Place the flour for the dumplings in a medium-large mixing bowl and top with the egg and salt. Mix well, then gradually add in the milk, only adding in enough to reach a slightly sticky consistency. More flour will dry it out and more milk will make it stickier, so adjust the dough accordingly. Once done, set aside.

Keep an eye on the stock, and is it reaches a boil and starts thickening**, add the vegetables, herbs, and chicken. Simmer for 5 more minutes. Also keep an eye on the water for the dumplings, and as soon as that's boiling, spoon the dough into it and begin to cook. When they're done, they will rise to the top.* Pour the filling into the prepared baking dish(es), and bake for 10-15 minutes.

When the dumplings finish, remove the filling from the oven, switch the settings and the rack for broiling, and top with the dumplings. Sprinkle the top with paprika and return to the oven to broil, no more than 5 minutes, keeping a close eye. Remove when golden or lightly browned, and serve!

Notes:
*You want a pot large enough to easily fit all of the dumplings on the bottom, preferably with a little space between each one. My pot was not large enough, although I used the largest one I had. The dumplings stuck to each other at the bottom of the pan, preventing them from individually rising as they finished. If they seem to be taking a long time to cook or look particularly crowded, take a knife and cut between them to try to free them a little.
**Really be patient with this as it thickens. I tried to rush it as dinner was taking longer to prepare than I had anticipated, and I wish the filling's gravy had been more substantial.

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The jury is in on these Gingerbread Cookies!


I have a confession to make: I used a boxed mix. These are not my cookies; they are Trader Joe's. Maybe that makes this a product review more than a typical recipe post from me, but I don't mind. You see, I all-but swore off gingerbread after my last foray with the notoriously unruly dough when my aunt let me in on her gingerbread secret, the secret that I am about to share with you. This secret is that if you go to Trader Joe's and buy their Deep, Dark Gingerbread Cake & Baking Mix, you don't have to deal with any stubborn, sticky, tantrum-inducing dough, and you wind up with some of the best darn cookies you've ever had. Seriously. Now, they apparently only sell this mix around Thanksgiving, but my aunt had an extra box and encouraged me to try making it - after all, she reasoned, L does love gingerbread cookies a whole lot. So, willing to try anything once, and being very interested in this un-taxing method for cookie preparation, I set to work on what would be our indulgent snack over this past weekend's skiing trip.

This dough comes together in one bowl - that's right, and not even the bowl of a stand mixer. Just a regular, glass mixing bowl. I mixed it with a wooden spoon instead of nervously watching the thick dough as it threatens to break even the dough hook of my house's beloved KitchenAid. I rolled it out without an extra pound of flour to remedy the sticking, cut out the shapes with ease, and watched as they baked and actually retained their shape. Well, most of them, anyway. They made the entire house smell like when autumn meets winter, and they tasted even better. There's a strong ginger taste, but they're soft - even though they're thin. Be careful, though, because this makes them really addicting, too.

I'll let you in on another secret: ice them. I don't mean flood them with icing, completely coating them, but decorate them with just a little bit. I initially decided to do this because my only resolution in 2011 is to conquer the Decorated Sugar Cookie, including botch finding a recipe and mastering the art of icing embellishment (as you see from the photos, I still have a long way to go). However, upon tasting them both plain and iced, I have to advocate for the iced ones. That extra sweetness gives the cookie a 1-2 punch that can't be beaten. My icing was sketchy at best, as I didn't have enough confectioner's sugar for the recipe and accidentally added too much milk. I spent a good 15 minutes trying to change it from a goopy, gloppy liquid into a firmer, more controllable substance, but there's only so much flour, cinnamon, and brown sugar you can add to an icing before you compromise its taste (though the cinnamon and brown sugar were nice additions, if I do say so myself, and might even suggest that you try doctoring your own icing recipe to include these two ingredients for this particular cookie - just be careful that you get rid of the chunks of brown sugar, which can back up your pastry bag and wreak goopy icing havoc).


Trader Joe's Miraculous Gingerbread Cookies
Yield: 2 1/2 - 3 dozen, though it will vary according to how large you make each cookie

The Ingredients
1 package Trader Joe's Deep, Dark Gingerbread Cake & Baking Mix
1 stick butter, melted
1 egg

The Method
Melt the butter in a medium-large, microwavable mixing bowl. Add the remaining two ingredients and mix well.

Form the dough into a ball and chill for at least one hour. When ready to start working with the dough, preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Roll out to approximately 1/8" thickness, cut desired shapes, and place on a parchment-lined cookie sheet. These cookies do not spread very much, but still leave at least a 1/2-inch space between them. Bake in the preheated oven for 6-8 minutes (I baked mine for 8, and only a few particularly thin ones were on the overdone side), then remove from the oven and allow to cool on the sheet for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a cooling rack and finish cooling.

Once completely cool, make your icing of choice (I used one that called for 2 cups powdered sugar, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, and 1/4 cup milk; I wound up with something more along the lines of 1 cup powdered sugar, 3 1/2 tablespoons milk, 1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract, 1/4 cup flour, 2 tablespoons loose brown sugar, and as much cinnamon as I dared). Pour into a pastry bag, icing gun, or make-shift tool using a ziplock bag with a small cut made in one corner. Decorate cookies as desired, allow to harden, and then store in an airtight container.

Now, these will not be my go-to gingerbread cookies. As dirt easy and delicious as these gingerbread characters are, I'm still determined to find a successful from-scratch version. The fact that they came out of a cake mix has got me thinking that My Future Gingerbread Recipe will come from a marriage between cookie and cake, rather than pure-bred cookie. But until I find that cookie, these are fabulous, and every bit worth it.
Oh, and L loved them!

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Taste the Unfried Side of Tortilla Bowls


Today I have for you not so much a recipe as I do a method of cooking. Maybe cooking is too strong of a word - preparing? That sounds more like it. You see, I had some tortilla wraps, and was going to make myself a nice little quesadilla-type dish for dinner one night. So, I pulled out my pan, stuck it on the stove, plopped my tortilla on top...and realized that my pan was much, much too small. At that point I had two options: get out a bigger pan, or shove the tortilla in so that it fit. Guess which one went down in the Floptimism kitchen that night? Yes, I shoved that sucker right down into the bottom of the pan, and a revelation occurred.

What I had made was a beautifully fluted, very unfried tortilla bowl. However, would it stay that way? I shrugged, added the rest of my ingredients, popped a lid over it to wilt the spinach and melt the cheese, and left the room. The moment of truth arrived roughly ten minutes later when the filling was heated thoroughly and the cheese was melted to perfection: it was time to transfer it to a plate. And do you know what? That tortilla stayed fluted, it stayed in the shape of a bowl! Now, I admit that this process may be a little tedious if you have to make a dinner for 5 people, all heated in their own 8- or 10-inch pans on the stove top. Perhaps this revelatory method I've discovered and am so proud of has little practical application outside of the bachelor world, but that didn't make me any less excited to share it with you. It's a nice presentation, a completely easy and virtually hands-off process, and no less healthy than a tortilla with your desired toppings/fillings. You don't need to go to a Mexican restaurant and pay 10 bucks for a taco shell still dripping from its dip in the hot oil pool; this "recipe" for a tortilla bowl may not be an exact replica of that experience (re: you won't feel your pores clogging up by the end of the meal), but it's certainly a new spin on the homemade taco night, right?

The only complaint I have is that this method makes it a teensy bit difficult to eat the finished product. I had a tough time (literally) getting a regular knife to cut through it, so I threw the towel in, bundled it as best I could, and ate it more like a burrito. I'm not sure if this defeats the purpose of making the fluted shell in the first place. Perhaps you could try popping the wrap into the oven in the pan before you add the fillings to make it more like a baked chip that can break off more easily. I'd experiment with it, anyway.

Think Outside the Tortilla Bowl
Yield: 1 serving

The Ingredients
1 tortilla wrap
butter, to taste
fillings of your choosing*


The Method
Lightly rub the center of one side of the tortilla with butter, and place butter-side down on a small frying pan. Nestle the tortilla into the bottom so that the edges fold a little and create a fluted bowl-shape. Add in your desired toppings, turn the heat to medium-low, and cook, covered, for approximately 10 minutes. I knew mine was done when the condensation from the lid began to trickle out of the pan and sizzle, but would need to repeat the process before I could tell you that this was a reliable tip.

Notes: *I used 3 slices swiss cheese, 2 tablespoons green bell pepper, about 1/4 cup spinach (shredded), and about 3 ounces of israeli spice chicken (precooked and warmed), with a sprinkling of parmesan over the whole thing.

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Cranberry & Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad


Recently, upon observing me eating a fairly healthy lunch, my grandmother turned to me and asked, essentially, "do you actually like that stuff?" I find myself answering that question more often than I ever expected to, and even more often than that I'm in need of a swift and poignant defense against the all-too-common criticism that I don't eat enough junk food (clearly, these people do not read my blog too diligently, or else they would know better). The answer to that first question, by the way, is yes - I thoroughly enjoy the food that I eat. Food is too important to me to waste my time with meals that I don't enjoy - no matter how healthy a food is, if it makes me cringe, it ain't goin in my mouth. Luckily, I find most healthy foods preferable to the more common American fare, so this is not often an issue.

Which brings me to my next point. With the new year finally here and resolutions being made (and broken) at record speed, many people are targeting the way they eat. Although I don't make resolutions, gravitating instead toward year-round goals that I think up along the way, I know that many people do, and many people wake up on January 1st with a groan and a moan as they think of the terrible, inedible foods their new goals will demand. It doesn't have to be that way, though. Following a healthy diet can taste good, and it's very rare that a person would need to jump to the extreme of never again eating the fatty, sugary junk foods that they love. This recipe is proof of the former. Yes, some salads taste like rabbit food and chicken breast is much less enticing than a perfectly cooked cut of beef, but there are also countless recipes that both taste good and are good for you.

Quinoa on its own is a little bland. Most grains are. However, as chicken breast often operates, quinoa beautifully embodies the flavors you add to it. Roasted butternut squash and cranberries are in a sweet-and-sour civil war, crunchy pecans offset the soft and fluffy quinoa, and the small addition of spices reminds you that there's a whole other level to this dish. This dish is one to be eaten slowly, appreciating how different a bite of onion and squash can be from one with cranberries and pecans. The last fork-full of this cranberry and butternut squash quinoa salad is at least as delicious as the first, if you let it.

I did make a few changes: halving the recipe for 2 but quartering the amount of quinoa because I ran out; adding in dried basil instead of parsley. I would certainly try the parsley some time, but the ratio of quinoa to squash and cranberries was, to me, ideal. I ate this alone as a lighter dinner, but could imagine it making a nice bed for fish or chicken. Adding some beans could make it a little fuller while keeping it vegetarian. Really, though, the recipe flowed well - it didn't just come together quickly. It was easy to make and easy to like, and I needed to share it with you before cranberry and squash season was really, really over. Plus, I had to prove that something good for you doesn't have to taste like cardboard.

Cranberry and Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad, courtesy of Gluten Free Goddess
Yield: 4 servings

The Ingredients
1 cup red quinoa (white is a fine substitution)
1 small butternut squash, peeled and diced
1/2 cup cranberries, fresh or frozen, halved/chopped to taste
1/2 medium red onion, diced finely
1 clove garlic, minced
1-2 teaspoons pure maple syrup
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons fresh (3/4 - 1 tablespoon dried) parsley
cumin, ginger, or curry powder, to taste
sea salt and ground pepper, to taste
olive oil, to taste


The Method
Cook the quinoa according to the package directions and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Meanwhile, in a medium roasting pan (I lined mine with foil), combine the squash, cranberries, red onion, and garlic. Drizzle the squash mixture with a little bit of olive oil and the maple syrup, sprinkle with sea salt, and toss to coat. Place in the top half of the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until the squash is tender. Remove from the oven and set aside.

Add the chopped pecans to a large, dry skillet and toast just until lightly fragrant. Add in the quinoa and butternut squash mixture, stirring to combine. Finally, sprinkle all of the desired spices and stir to incorporate before drizzling with the final touch of olive oil (preferably a higher quality, fruity one, though I'm sure what I keep in my pantry does not qualify) and tossing to coat all over. Heat the salad all the way through, gently, before removing from the heat and serving.

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Decadently Bittersweet Cake Brownies


As much as my fingers are itching to type novels about all of the more savory dishes I've been enjoying over the past several months, and as sick as many of you probably are of sweets (c'est possible??), I promised you brownies, and brownies you shall get. So to speak, that is - The Goods will remain in my freezer, waiting patiently for the perfect night to arrive for their date with vanilla ice cream. I even marched down to my freezer, pulled a few out and had a photo shoot session with them on my kitchen table when I realized this morning I had, once again, forgotten to snap their beautiful little mugs before devouring the majority of them - that is how determined I was to give all of you your just desserts: chocolately, gratifying squares of decadence, just shy of sheer perfection.

You see, I'm very particular about my brownies. Brownies and chocolate cake need to be done very well. It isn't that I find no pleasure in even the sorriest of brownies and other chocolate confections because, let's be real, I am female; however, chocolate makes me weak in the knees, and so I refuse to stop until the God of Brownie Recipes is unearthed. This recipe, it's no Lord Almighty, but it's still good. Satisfying. Rich and delicate, with an extremely subtle and downplayed sweetness cutting into it in perfect harmony with the occasional crunch from a lingering chocolate chip. Really, this recipe is spot-on...if you like cakey brownies, that is. Which, as I mentioned before about the whole loving all things chocolate, I do, but they're not what really does it for me. What really does it for me is the dense, fudgey, barely-uses-any-flour-at-all recipe that, when eaten chilled, is more akin to a softer form of pure chocolate than to the baked goods family. You see, I know what I want in a brownie, and while these may be the be-all-and-end-all for someone else - and many, many people who tried these could not stop raving - I will continue on in my search for The One.

All of that being said, there happens to be vanilla ice cream in my freezer right now and dinner is the only thing standing between me and an a la mode dessert that is enough to make a girl very, very happy.

Decadently Bittersweet Cake Brownies, courtesy of Healthy and Gourmet
Yield: 15 - 20 (I 1.5x the recipe and got 28 decently sized squares)

The Ingredients
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup low fat evaporated milk
1 1/2 cups dark chocolate chips (I only had semi-sweet, so I used those)
1/2 cup chopped pecans (omitted*)


The Method
Preheat your oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit. Grease a 9x9 inch square pan; in 1.5x the recipe, I used one 9x9 and one 8x8 and am pretty happy with the results.

Combine the flour, cocoa, and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside. In another medium bowl, stir together the oil, sugar, eggs, and vanilla; set this aside, too. Meanwhile, in a medium sauce pan over medium-low heat, gently melt 2/3 of the chocolate chips (1 cup) into the evaporated milk. Once all of the chips have melted, remove the pan from the heat and allow to cool.

Once cool, whisk in first the sugar mixture, then the flour mixture, until just incorporated. Fold in the remaining 1/2 cup chocolate as well as the nuts, if using. Pour the batter into the prepared pans, place in the oven, and bake for approximately 30 minutes. In contrast to how you would test a cake for doneness, a toothpick inserted into these brownies after 30 minutes will, apparently, not come out clean. After reading this, I didn't bother wasting a toothpick, and just trusted my oven, the recipe, and the notion that slightly undercooked desserts are not nearly as disasterous as slightly overcooked ones. I mean, that batter is the best part anyway, right? So, pull them out at 30 minutes with all the faith in the world, cool them for at least 10 minutes, and then slice 'em into squares and serve them warm, cool, or - if you're completely normal like me - just a tad bit frozen (okay, maybe save that for the fudgier ones). Vanilla ice cream, whipped cream, and hot fudge are totally optional, but highly recommended.


Notes:
*One day, I will make desserts with nuts in them, but it makes it much more complicated for sharing. Although, being forced to eat a couple of extra brownies or a slightly larger piece of cake is not the biggest grievance I've had to undertake.


Enjoy!

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Heavenly Pear Streusel Muffins


I apologize right from the start, but those brownies that I mentioned last time are just going to have to wait. They have been shoved from the lime light by these little gems - these gorgeous, delicious, adorable little muffins filled with juicy pear and topped with sweet and crunchy oat streusel. This, my last minute procrastination recipe for New Year's Eve, could not have been a better decision. Although these pear muffins are far from traditional celebration fare, they worked beautifully with the early dinner I had with L's family (and as my light lunch to hold me over to said early dinner, ahem...).


It should come as no surprise that I found these over at the Smitten Kitchen, since these days I find almost all of my rave-worthy recipes there. I was planning last week to make a pear crisp for Christmas, but logistically couldn't figure out how to make it in advance so that it could travel to its destination. So I ditched that idea, replaced it with the fudge and some mysterious chocolatey caramel surprises (soon to be revealed, I promise), and have four pears sitting on my counter threatening to rot there before too long. So, I did what any frugal baker would do - I used it as an excuse to bake something! I delved into my pot of recipes and pulled out one for a pear bread, told myself it would be excellent in mini-muffin form, found an oat streusel topping to sprinkle over it, and got to work. What came out of my kitchen yesterday is nothing short of saintly (coming from the baker in me, not the nutritionist, mind you). No, I exaggerate. These are not the worst muffins, either - in fact, I would even file them away in the "muffin" category, while some of my so-called muffin recipes-to-make are kept very judiciously in the "cupcake" folder.


Yes, I really am that particular. But that is neither here nor there, as this recipe is too good to dilly-dally. I very barely changed it from Deb's recommendations, aside from to halve it (and I still got 4 dozen minis), adjust the baking time, add the topping and play with the amount of pear - again, minimally. One discovery I did make, however, was that if you zest a juicy pear, you get pear sauce. You know, like apple sauce, but from a pear. Therefore, I have every intention of swapping out some of the oil for some pear sauce next time. just for kicks. I might also tone down the brown sugar in the streusel and make a bit more of it for topping in general. If I really want to go crazy with the healthification of these muffins (and I'm not so sure I do, since they really are fantastic as they are), I might tinker with the sugar in the muffins, too. But for right now, this recipe is a knock out, and I don't know why you're still reading this instead of skipping to the good stuff and heading into your kitchen faster than the speed of light.

Pear Streusel Muffins, barely/hardly/almost-not-at-all adapted from Smitten Kitchen
Yield: 4 dozen mini-muffins or 1 9x5" loaf pan

The Ingredients - The Muffins
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (though I have every intention of trying it with whole wheat next time)
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped walnuts, optional (omitted)
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons vegetable oil (or, alternatively, the same amount of softened butter)
1 1/2 eggs, lightly beaten** (I have found that 1/2 an egg is roughly 1 1/2 - 2 tablespoons)
1 cup sugar
1-2 firm, ripe pears - enough to make 1 cup grated*
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

The Ingredients - The Streusel Topping
3 tablespoons old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 + 1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, cold


The Method
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and lightly grease and flour the loaf pan or muffin tins; alternatively, I used muffin liners, but in the future will likely stick to the grease-and-flour method.

Start by preparing the oat streusel topping***: mix together the oats, brown sugar, flour, and ground cinnamon in a small bowl. Cut in the cold butter until the streusel resembles cornmeal, and set aside. I don't have a pastry blender and found the two knives to be fairly ineffective, so it was easiest for me to cut the butter in with my fingers.

Stir together the flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt and cinnamon in a medium-large bowl until fully blended. If using nuts in the recipe, take 1/4 cup of the flour mixture and add it to the nuts in a small bowl to coat them. Set aside both the flour and, if using, the nut mixtures.

Place the butter or oil, eggs, sugar, and vanilla into a medium bowl and mix well; set aside. Peel, core, and grate the pears. I found that one bosc pear easily gave me 1 cup's worth of grated fruit, but added another couple tablespoons (no more than 4, or 1/4 cup) of finely zested "pear sauce," too. Add the pears and the nuts to the egg mixture until incorporated completely, then pour this mixture into the flour mixture; stir until just incorporated - the flour should not be visible anymore and the batter should be "evenly moistened."

Moving quickly, pour the batter into the prepared pans and top with the streusel, if using. Place the pans in the oven for 60-70 minutes (loaf) or 15-20 minutes (mini muffins), looking for a golden-brown and firm top and a clean center (tested with a toothpick or other wooden skewer). Once finished, cool the bread in the pan on a wire break for approximately 10 minutes before transferring it out of the pan to finish cooling, top side up; the muffins can be removed from their pans as soon as you can easily handle them. Alternatives to the streusel topping are a sprinkling of confectioner's sugar or a drizzling of a simple glaze (ratios for which can be found in the original blogger's post).


There, I had to get that out of the way. I had to start 2011 out right, and although chocolate and brownies are never bad ways to get things started in terms of food, these muffins are just too good. I mean, chocolate is my achilles heel, and even I pushed a chocolate recipe aside to tell you about these right away. What more incentive could you possibly need to give these a try?

Happy 2011, everyone! May it be a happy and healthy one for all of you.

*Note: You really don't want to grate these in advance; that's why I have it written after everything is set and ready to go. Pears, like apples, brown very quickly, so you want to put off exposing the flesh for as long as possible.
**Note: If 1/2 an egg annoys you or makes you wary, I would recommend doubling this recipe, which is how it was intended to be made in the first place. If it's too much food, as I found even 4 dozen mini muffins to be, this is the kind of recipe that can easily be frozen, so extras aren't really so bad. And once you taste these bad boys, you might find yourself wishing you had a whole other batch waiting for you in the freezer, too!
***Note: I forgot to do this, so my muffins baked for around 10 minutes while I made the topping, and then sprinkled it over for the remaining 10 minutes. I found this to be adequate, but recommend getting the topping done and out of the way in time to bake for the full 20 minutes.

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