Week 4 (Mel): Pumpkin Muffins

This recipe comes to you courtesy of Betty Crocker. It's so easy and delicious that I made it once on Thursday and then twice on Sunday. I was going to a friend's house for brunch on Sunday and wanted to try this recipe out before-hand. That was why I made them on Thursday. After trying them, I decided what changes I wanted to make and made a fresh batch for my friends on Sunday morning. Well I left my friend with the extras of course so I had to make an additional batch on Sunday afternoon to have for myself this week! So here's the recipe, as written. I'll indicate my changes below it.

Pumpkin Muffins

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1/2 cup milk
1/2 cup canned pumpkin
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 egg
1/2 cup raisins

Heat oven to 400 degrees. Grease bottoms of 12 medium muffin cups. Mix all ingredients just until flour is moistened. Batter should be lumpy. Fill muffin cups 2/3 full. Sprinkle 1/4 teaspoon sugar over batter in each cup. Bake 18 to 20 minutes. Immediately remove from pan.

Mel's Variation: I used 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1/2 cup whole wheat flour. I didn't like the taste of the nutmeg and didn't think there should be equal amounts of nutmeg and cinnamon, so I kept the nutmeg amount the same and did more like 3/4 teaspoon of cinnamon. The first time I made these, they only made 11 muffins. I also thought the taste of the pumpkin could be stronger, so the second and third times, I used more pumpkin puree. . . maybe an extra tablespoon and a half. It was a rounded 1/2 cup anyway. Lastly, I think it was more like 1/8 teaspoon of sugar that I sprinkled on top of each muffin before baking. I looked at 1/4 teaspoon and it just looked like too much.

For the future, I'm thinking of experimenting more and maybe using half the amount of butter and adding 2 tablespoons of canola oil or applesauce.

Week 3 (Jenni): Veggie Burgers and Sweet Potato Fries

This week's new recipe comes from a book my mom bought for me as a house warming present. Well, and part came from Sandra Lee.

I used my roommates grater for the carrots and zucchini, it was super easy and lots of fun. I'm realizing how much easier a food processor would make things. The recipe indicates that the food processor would have done the job in ~25 seconds. It took me nearly 25 minutes to get everything through my make-shift processor. When I was done though, it looked so yummy. My mixture was a little sticky, I feared stacking the patties on the plate, so I wrapped them each individually. I'm likely going to freeze most of them, to eat later! I cooked up a burger, and topped it with some blue cheese, it was amazing! The sweet potato fries were quick and easy, and very tasty. I used my favorite season-all seasoning to flavor them, and just let them bake for about 30 minutes.

All in all, a totally delicious Sunday evening meal.

Veggie Burgers
4 Tbsp evoo
1 medium onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
2 large carrots, grated
2 medium zucchini, grated
1 16-ounce can of garbanzo beans, drained
1 Tbsp crunchy natural peanut butter
1 1/2 cups whole-wheat bread crumbs
1 Tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1 tsp curry powder*
1 tsp mixed herbs*
1 egg, beaten


Heat 2 Tbsp of oil in a large skillet. Add the onion, garlic, carrot, and zucchini, and saute about 5 minutes, until softened. Take off heat, and set aside.

Place garbanzo beans, peanut butter, breadcrumbs, parsley, curry powder, mixed herbs, and egg in a food processor.*** Process for about 20 seconds, or until garbanzo beans are broken up and all ingredients combined. Add the onion mixture and process for another 5 seconds - do not overprocess.

Form 8 patties, and place them in the fridge for 30 minutes. To cook, heat 2 Tbsp of evoo in a skillet, and cook about 4 minutes on each side.


*I did not have curry powder, I used some mixture of creole seasoning instead.
**I did not have mixed herbs, persay, so I used a dash each of oregano, dill weed, rosemary, thyme
***I do not have a food processor, so I cycled everything through my immersion blender/chopped apparatus. It was tedious and long. A food processor would have been easier.

Week 3 (Mel): Roasted Tomato Caprese Salad

This is definitely a plan-ahead kind of meal. With a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, garlic, salt, pepper, and sugar to caramelize, these tomatoes roasted up quite nicely! They did take two hours in the oven, but let me tell you, it was totally worth it. I'm eager to try this recipe again with maybe other vegetables too. Mmmmmm!!! I don't think I've ever tasted tomatoes like this before. It was just delicious!

So as you can see in the recipe, all you do after the tomatoes are done is let them cool, add the cheese and basil, drizzle with olive oil, shake on a little salt and pepper, and you're all set to dig in and enjoy! I had it for dinner with some left-over mashed potatoes with peas. Oh Ina, you almost never disappoint me! Yes, ALMOST never. . . I wasn't too impressed with her Roasted Potato Leek Soup but hey, no one's perfect. I've forgiven her.

Enjoy the salad! I sure did!

Week 2 (Mel): Tortilla and Butternut Squash Soup

I SO happily received a copy of New England Soup Factory's cookbook for Christmas last year but (probably because I have too many cookbooks) hadn't made anything from it until this week. Scott and I both thought this particular recipe looked delicious so I gave it a try.

I had some time Monday morning so I decided to go all out, Rachael Ray style. I bought my groceries AND prepped the vegetables when I got home from the market. When I got home from work, I opened the fridge, grabbed everything I needed in one trip without dropping anything (just kidding), and started cooking it up. It smelled *really* good. I loved that there was cheese, cilantro, and lime juice in the soup. And scallions!!! Mmmm!!! In the end, I liked it, and even had two bowls. There's so much left over though and it was also just so different that it's not something I'm craving more of. Scott didn't like it at all, so now neither of us are going to eat the left-overs. I'm still glad I tried it. As you'll see below, it calls for 8oz of tortilla chips. I bought baked tortilla chips, feeling guilty about the calories, and 7oz ended up being a whole bag! I guess I wasn't expecting that. So maybe if I had used a better-tasting chip the overall soup would've been better, but I still don't know. Also, I don't think the flavor of the butternut squash was at pungent as I thought it would be, given it's in the title and all. Maybe make half the recipe yourself if you want to give it a try (though you probably don't if you're reading any of this!) because I'd be interesting in getting someone else's opinion on it. It stinks though, because it's a recipe from one of my favorite restaurants. Their soups never disappoint me! Eh, anyway, here you go:

Tortilla and Butternut Squash Soup
Makes 12 to 14 servings

3 Tbs. salted butter
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups diced onion
3 carrots, sliced
3 ribs celery, sliced
1 lb butternut squash, peeled and diced
12 cups chicken stock (I used veg. of course)
1 cup sherry
8 oz. salted tortilla chips
1/2 cup fresh cilantro leaves
2 cups shredded Montery Jack cheese
1 can (4oz) diced green chilies
1 bunch scallions, sliced
2 Tbs. freshly squeezed lime juice
8 dashes green Tabasco sauce (I used red)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste

In a large stockpot melt the butter over medium-high heat. Add the garlic, onions, carrots, celery, and butternut squash. Saute for 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the stock and sherry. Bring to a boil. Reduce the heat to medium and simmer until the squash is soft and tender, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the heat and stir in the tortilla chips until wilted. Add the cilantro and cheese and let the cheese melt into the soup. Puree the soup in the pot using a hand blender or working in batches with a regular blender until completely smooth. Add the chilies and scallions. Stir to combine. Season with lime juice, Tabasco sauce, and black pepper. Return to the stove and summer an additional 5 minutes.

Week 2 (Jenni): Spiced Lentil Tacos

Week Two of this challenge was much better than Week One! This recipe is great, and I have been excited about it since it arrived in my inbox two weeks ago. Yes, I got this recipe in my inbox, from SELF magazine.

After a full day of playing housewife - no seriously, I sat and waited for the plumber to fix our hot water, I re-potted some plants, did the dishes, made 2 dozen cupcakes - I cooked dinner and had it ready mostly in time for my hungry family to return from a hard day at work. I also re-wrote a section of my grant application. Spread the word - I'm quite a catch!

But, back to the Recipe Challenge. This was relatively easy, and also my first time cooking with lentils. I think I should have simmered them longer, but I forgot to set a timer (the cupcakes needed attention and the plumber needed to be paid at the same time the lentils began simmering, and I became momentarily overwhelmed!) I was unable to mash them as described in the recipe, so we just left them whole. Rave reviews from the whole lot of us as we had our "family dinner" on the couch in front of Grey's Anatomy. Somehow I think Ryan and Chelsea might be enjoying this challenge more than anyone!

Ingredients

• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 cup finely chopped onion
• 1 clove garlic, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup dried brown lentils, rinsed
• 1 package (2.25 oz) taco seasoning
• 2 1/2 cups vegetable broth
• 1/2 cup fat-free sour cream
• 1 chipotle chile in adobo sauce, finely chopped (use half for less heat)**
• 2 teaspoons adobo sauce**
• 8 taco shells
• 1 1/4 cups shredded lettuce
• 1 cup chopped tomato
• 1/2 cup shredded reduced-fat (2 percent) cheddar

Preparation

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Cook onion, garlic and salt until onion begins to soften, 3 to 4 minutes. Add lentils and taco seasoning. Cook until spices are fragrant and lentils are dry, about 1 minute. Add broth; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, cover and simmer until lentils are tender, 25 to 30 minutes. Mix sour cream, chile and adobo sauce in a bowl. Uncover lentils and cook until mixture thickens, 6 to 8 minutes. Mash with a rubber spatula. Spoon 1/4 cup lentil mixture into each taco shell. Top with 2 heaping tsp sour cream mixture, lettuce, tomato and cheese.

**I did not use a chipotle chile and adobo sauce, instead I used regular salsa and mixed that with the sour cream. It was an ingredient we had, and pretty darn tasty if you ask me!

Week 1 (Jenni): Farfalle with Zucchini, Yellow Squash, and Mint

I got this recipe from a book that I found on our shelf. I thought it was my roommates cookbook, but she says it's mine. I'm not sure. I decided on a pasta dish, as I needed to "carbo-load" in preparation for the 12 mile run I did on Saturday. I found this recipe and it sounded interesting. It wasn't actually as good as I thought it would be, I think the ratio of pasta-to-vegetables was too heavily weighted toward the pasta. Also, there wasn't much flavor infused into much of the dish. That said, I had leftovers the following day, and they were much better. The mint flavors were much more noticeable. So, perhaps this is a much better prepare-ahead meal.

12 ounces of Farfalle (I used elbows)
1 Tablespoon EVOO
1 Scallion, trimmed (I used about 3 or 4!)
1/2 garlic clove, finely chopped
2 small zucchinis, very thinnly sliced
1 small yellow squash, very thinnly sliced
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil leaves
1 Tablespoon minced fresh mint leaves (I used 2 tbsp)
1 Tablespoon grated Parmigiano-Reggiano or Pecorino Romano, plus more for topping. (I used more!)

1. Cook pasta, save 1 cup of boiling pasta water before straining.
2. heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add scallion and garlic, cook for 2 minutes. Add zucchini and Squash and cook until just wilted, about 3 minutes.
3. toss pasta with vegetables and stir in basil, mint, cooking water, and cheese.

Week 1 (Mel): Sour Cream Coffee Cake

This recipe came from my favorite chef, Ina. Now it's not every Monday evening that I decide to whip up a cake (though I SHOULD. . . wouldn't that make Mondays so much better???) but I had a special occasion coming up Tuesday morning. I was getting together with two old friends from high school -- one who I haven't seen SINCE high school and the other since our five-year reunion. So this was like our eleventh year reunion, which wouldn't have happened if it wasn't for the magic of everyone's favorite, F*cebook. Well back to the cake, it's certainly not low-fat, but it IS indeed absolutely delicious! The only snafu I came across was not having a tube pan. I didn't think it would make a difference since I DID have a bundt pan. So after the cake was in the oven, I was thinking about it, and it dawned on me that the "top" of the cake (which was really going to be the bottom because of the design of the pan) is where I was suppose to sprinkle most of the streusel -- and I did. Except after it's cooled, you invert the cake of course when you take it out of the pan, and then drizzle the TOP with a galze. . . the TOP being ON top of the streusel. So now I had the streusel on the bottom and the glaze on the top. I decided to just go with it, slice it up, and not actually serve it as a whole cake but rather in pre-cut pieces to distract the eye. I think it worked.

But now I ask you, does this really mean I have to buy a tube pan or could I next time put the top layer of streusel on the bottom of the pan? Will that make it less crunchy since it will have cake batter on top of it while baking? What would you do?

Recipe Challenge 2009

By the looks of this blog, we need a shake up around here. Sadly, it's not just my blog-posting that's been lacking, but my kitchen is growing cobwebs as well.* So here it is, a blog challenge. I pledge to try a new recipe once a week, and write about it here, from now until Thanksgiving. It feels like a big undertaking - but I think I'm ready for it. I challenge you to do the same.

I plan to start next week, October 18th. Stay tuned....


* There are, in fact, no cobwebs in my kitchen - it is very clean. I was merely trying to make a point that I haven't done much cooking lately.