Almond Poppy Seed Bread Pudding

For our wedding we had two kinds of cake.  My husband picked out a spice cake while I picked out an almond poppy seed cake.  Unfortunately, I never got to have any of the almond poppy seed cake, so I wanted to try to make my own.  I found this recipe for almond poppy seed cupcakes and almond buttercream frosting.  When I was already in the process of making these cupcakes, I realized that I didn't have any paper baking cups for my muffin pan, but I figured I could just grease the muffin cups, and they would turn out fine.  Wrong conclusion.  The cupcakes were very tasty, but they came out in at least 3 or 4 pieces, if not more.  So they were no longer cupcakes, and I decided to make them into break pudding instead.  Here's what I did:

Ingredients for cupcakes

• 2.25 cups flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 sticks butter, softened
• 1 cup sour cream
• 3 eggs
• 1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Ingredients for bread pudding:

• 2 cups heavy whipping cream
• 2 cups milk
• 2 eggs, whipped

Ingredients for frosting:

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 3.75 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon almond extract
• 3 tablespoons milk

To make the cupcakes:  Preheat the oven 325 degrees.  Cream the sugar and the butter.  Add the sour cream, eggs, almond extract and dry ingredients.  Stir in the poppy seeds.  Spoon the smooth batter into lined cupcake pans.  Bake the cupcakes for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let the cupcakes cool in the pan for 5 minutes and then let them cool completely on a wire rack.

To make the bread pudding:  Crumble the cupcakes in a greased 9 X 12 baking dish.  Mix the cream, milk, and eggs together and pour over the crumbled cupcakes.  Let sit in the refrigerator overnight.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and bake for about 20 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.  Let cool completely.

To make the frosting:  Mix the butter, powdered sugar, almond extract, and milk and beat them for several minutes until a smooth, creamy frosting forms.  Adjust the consistency by adding more milk or powdered sugar, as needed.  Once the bread pudding is completely cooled, spread the frosting on the top. 


Although I didn't get the cupcakes I wanted, this bread pudding was quite yummy!  I especially enjoyed the frosting.  I will probably make this again, even if I do the paper baking cups and am actually able to make the cupcakes as directed.  

Mother's Day Chocolate Pie

Edited on 10/11/16

For Mother's Day this year, I told my mom that I'd make her dinner, anything she wanted.  The first thing out of her mouth was "chocolate pie."  (It took her longer to decide what she wanted for dinner, but she finally said that she wanted chicken tikka masala.)  I inwardly groaned when she asked for chocolate pie, because I have been trying to make my famous Aunt Meredith's chocolate pie for the past few years, and it has NEVER come out right.  It's either been burned, lumpy, or soupy.  I once ruined one of my mom's pots by trying to make this pie.  I made this pie for Easter this year, and when I pulled the plastic wrap off it when we were ready to serve dessert, half the pie came off with the plastic wrap.  (I also made a strawberry pie, just in case, and thank goodness for my foresight!)  I swear, this recipe is cursed for me!  When my aunt makes it, the pie comes out perfect, Every. Single. Time.  I just don't understand!  So I'm passing along this recipe, even though it doesn't exactly meet criteria for being cooking "therapy."  However, once it's done, and (if it turns out right) it is simply HEAVENLY to eat! 

Ingredients:

• 2 baked 9 inch pie crusts
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 4.5 tablespoons cocoa powder (this should be unsweetened, 100% cocoa powder; not hot chocolate mix)
• 6 tablespoons flour
• pinch of salt
• 3 cups (2 12-oz cans) evaporated milk (not sweetened evaporated milk, just regular)
• 3 eggs, beaten
• 1 stick butter
• 1.5 teaspoons vanilla

Start heating water in a double boiler on medium heat.  Mix the evaporated milk, eggs, butter, vanilla, and sugar until the butter is melted.  Sift in the cocoa, flour, and salt into the double boiler.  Stir CONSTANTLY with a wire whisk, scraping the bottom of the pot, until it reaches the consistency of pudding, about 20 minutes.  Pour into the pie shells and let cool uncovered in fridge overnight.

This is about what it will look like when it is ready to go into the pie shell.















I cannot reiterate it enough--you MUST stir constantly, otherwise it will burn.  Also, you MUST use a double boiler, because it will burn if you don't (and as I have learned from experience, burned chocolate tastes terrible!).  I also highly recommend that you sift all the dry ingredients to help reduce lumping.  In addition, if you need to cover it, use aluminum foil rather than plastic wrap (remember what happened to me at Easter?).  I always have trouble with letting it cook long enough, so that it gets thick enough to set up properly.  My rule of thumb is that when I think it's ready (usually it's about the consistency of melted chocolate at this point), I let it cook for another 5 minutes so that it can reach that pudding consistency. 

I hope to goodness that you have more luck with this recipe than I have had!

Aunt Meredith's Chicken Spaghetti

 My Aunt Meredith shared this recipe, and oh my goodness...it is SO good!  I also love this recipe because it makes a ton of leftovers that we can eat throughout the week during those weeks we don't have time to cook.  So without further ado, here's what we did:

Ingredients:

• 1 whole chicken, cooked (I like to boil the chicken the day before and let it refrigerate overnight)
• 1 lb. thin spaghetti
• a couple tablespoons oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 2 cups celery, chopped
• 8-oz. fresh mushrooms, sliced (1 small package)
•  2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 cans Rotel, drained and rinsed
• 1 can cream of chicken soup
• 1 lb. Velveeta
• 2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Cook the chicken earlier in the day or the day before so that it has time to cool.  Discard all the skin and bones and cut the chicken meat into bite size pieces.   Boil the spaghetti according to the package directions, drain, and set aside.  In a dutch oven, saute the onion, bell pepper, celery, mushrooms, and garlic in the oil on medium heat.  Add the cream of chicken soup and Rotel.  Cut up the Velveeta into pieces so that it will melt more quickly and add it to the onion mixture.  When the Velveeta has melted, add the chicken and mix well.  Then add the cooked spaghetti and mix thoroughly.  Pour the chicken mixture into a greased lasagna pan (or a deep 9 X 13 baking dish).  Sprinkle the shredded cheddar cheese on top.  Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and golden. 

We have added quite a bit more veggies than the original recipe called for, but we've kept the Velveeta the same, so if you think there is too much spaghetti and not enough Velveeta, go ahead and add a bit more!  We also talked about using real cheese instead of Velveeta (my husband, who is from Wisconsin, was horrified the first time I made this for him; apparently Velveeta isn't "real" cheese).  But this recipe is already pretty involved and requires a lot of pans and time, so we haven't gotten around to trying that yet. 

Mexican Chocolate Cookies

It's been a while since I posted a dessert, so now is the time!  I found these Mexican chocolate cookies on pinterest (let me tell you, if you're not on pinterest, you should be; I've found some great recipes there!).  You can find the original recipe here.  Here's what I did:

Ingredients:

• 1 stick butter, softened
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup white flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1.5 teaspoons ground coffee (I used decaf)
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 cup chocolate chips

 Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  In a Kitchenaide mixer combine the butter, sugar, and brown sugar.  Add the eggs and vanilla and mix until combined.  Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, coffee, and spices and mix until the dry ingredients are fully incorporated.  Fold in the chocolate chips.  Drop the batter by the spoonful onto a baking sheet.  Bake for 10-12 minutes.  Let cool slightly before eating.

I wanted a bit of heat in these cookies, so I increased the amount of cayenne.  My husband thought it was kind of strange for a dessert to be spicy, so he didn't care for the increase.  If you are a bit wary of spicy cookies, drop the cayenne down to a pinch. 

How to Pick a Winning Recipe

Final are now over, and I (thankfully!) passed all my classes.  I have several recipes I'd like to share with you that I haven't had time to post since I've been studying, but I thought we could take a break from recipes to talk about how to pick a good recipe.  I was recently listening to The Splendid Table on NPR, and they were talking about what makes up a great recipe.  I thought this was especially appropriate because I get very frustrated when a recipe isn't clear, and since I like to cook to relax (hence the name "Cooking Therapy"), I think discussing the qualifications for a good recipe is necessary.  Here's what Lynne Rossetto Kasper says makes up a good recipe (which I stole from here):

• Does the recipe tell you what you can prepare ahead?
• Does it tell you how to store the food and for how long?
• Are the ingredients specific -- not "1 pound beef," but "1 pound well-marbled beef chuck"?
• Do the instructions tell you ...
• What kind of pot and utensils to use?
• The level of heat and/or the timing needed for each step?
• What the food should look like, sound like, and/or smell like?
• How to know if it's done?
• How to serve?

I must admit that many of the recipes I've been posting have not been this specific, so I'm going to try to be better about writing good recipes.  I think that knowing the size of pot to use, the level of heat and timing, and what the food should look like, sound like, and/or smell like are the most important for me.  Several of our old family recipes are pretty basic and don't include a lot detail since they were meant to be learned by demonstration rather than a written recipe.  So I'm trying to make those recipes especially a little clearer for future generations. 

If you see that one of my recipes isn't clear, please let me know!  I poorly written recipe is a stressful recipe!  And stress is not a good seasoning! 

Garlic Cheese Biscuits

 Do you like seafood?  I don't because of that fishy taste it always seems to have.  Do you like going to Red Lobster?  I do!  Because of their yummy cheese biscuits.  Now I have a recipe for garlic cheese biscuits, so I don't have to endure fish to have them!  Here's the original recipe, and here's what I did:

Ingredients:

• 2 cups white flour
• 2 teaspoons garlic powder, plus 1 teaspoon garlic powder for topping
• 2.5 teaspoons baking powder
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 1 stick butter, plus 3 tablespoons butter for topping
• 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1 cup buttermilk (or regular milk if you don’t have buttermilk, which I didn't)

Preheat oven to 450 degrees.  In a medium bowl, combine the flour, garlic powder, baking powder, and baking soda.  Cut in the butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs (I combine all this in my Kitchenaide mixer and let it do all the work).  Add the cheese.  Stir in the buttermilk until moistened.  Drop heaping tablespoonfuls about 1 inch apart onto a greased baking sheet.  Bake for 10 minutes.  While biscuits are baking, melt the 3 tablespoons of butter with the teaspoon of garlic powder.  Brush over the biscuits and bake for 4 minutes longer or until golden brown.

Slow Cooker Lasagna Soup

My friend Ami recommended this soup recipe.   It was very tasty, and we had a lot of leftovers for lunch.  Here's what we did (and here's where we got it):

Ingredients:

• 1 lb. Italian sausage, cut into bite size pieces
• 2 onions, diced
• 5 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon dried basil
• ¼ teaspoon red pepper flakes
• 1 6-oz. can tomato paste
• 1 28-oz. can diced tomatoes
• 2 bay leaves
• 6 cups chicken broth (about 2 cartons)
• 10 oz. curly pasta of your choice
• Ricotta and mozzarella cheeses for topping

In a large slow cooker, combine all the ingredients, except the pasta and cheeses.  Cook on low for 8-9 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.  In the last 30 minutes of cooking, add the pasta.  When ready to serve, spoon the soup into microwave safe bowls.  Dollop some ricotta and sprinkle some mozzarella on top of the soup.  Microwave for about 30 seconds, or until the cheese is melted.

Thank you, Ami, for this great slow cooker recipe.  I need more recipes for our crock pot, so if you have any, feel free to pass them on.

Chicken Tikka Masala

Do you like Indian food?  I L.O.V.E. Indian food, and I've had a very hard time finding good recipes.  I found this recipe for chicken tikka masala on pinterest, and it is as good as the tikka masala we get at our favorite Indian restaurant.  You can find the original recipe here.  We had to improvise since we didn't have all the ingredients, so I'm going to give you the instructions on how we will make it next time, rather than what we did this time:

Ingredients for chicken kabobs:

• 1 1/2 lbs. chicken, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
• 4 tablespoons oil
• 1 tablespoon garlic powder
• 2 tablespoons lime juice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground coriander
• 3/4 teaspoon paprika
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground white pepper (I don't like black pepper, but if you do, use it instead)
• 2 tablespoons plain yogurt (I like Greek yogurt for extra flavor)

Ingredients for sauce:

•  several tablespoons oil
• 2 onions, diced
• 6 cloves of garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 2 large tomatoes, chopped
• 1 teaspoon cumin seeds (you can use ground cumin if you don't have cumin seeds)
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 2 teaspoons paprika
• 1/2 teaspoon cayenne
• 1 teaspoon ground white pepper (again, use black if you prefer)
• 3 teaspoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 4 tablespoons butter (half a stick)
• 3 tablespoons lime juice
• 1/2 cup heavy whipping cream
• 6 tablespoons water

To make the kabobs:

Mix the oil, lime juice, spices, and yogurt in a medium bowl.  Add the chicken and mix well to ensure even coating.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour to 1 day.  When done marinating, remove the chicken from the refrigerator.  Preheat the oven to 450 degrees and spread the chicken over a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil.  Cook for 8 minutes, or until no longer pink in the middle. 

To make the masala:

In a large saucepan, heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Add the onions and garlic.  Saute until the onions are soft and transparent.  Reduce the heat to medium-low and add the tomato.  Simmer for a few minutes until the tomato softens, stirring occasionally.  Mash the tomatoes and onion mixture until it becomes a mushy paste.  Stir in the cumin seeds, coriander, paprika, cayenne, cinnamon, white pepper, and sugar.  Let the masala simmer uncovered for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently.  Pour the sauce into a blender and puree until smooth (you may need to do it in batches depending on the size and strength of your blender).  Return the masala to the saucepan and stir in the butter, lime juice, cream, and water.  Set on high heat.  Let it come to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low.  Add the chicken and let simmer 5 minutes, stirring every minute or so.  Serve over rice and with naan.  Makes about 6 servings.

I must reinterate: this is the best Indian food recipe I've found!  It is extremely tasty!  If you're vegetarian, I think you could easily make this recipe with chickpeas instead of chicken.  The original recipe called for twice the amount of cayenne, but we thought it was too spicy, so I would recommend cutting it in half.  My husband likes spicy food, but he thought that the cayenne overpowered all the other flavors, and I must admit, it was a little overwhelming.  If you don't like spicy food, you might want to half it again.  Also, the original recipe called for 1 lb. of chicken, but we didn't think that the sauce to chicken ratio was ideal, so I'd recommend using more chicken.  However, the amount of marinade that I included here is for the original 1 lb., so you might also want to make some more marinade if you don't think that will be enough.  Other than those two minor changes, I wouldn't change a thing!  This is the best recipe we've made since the stuffed portobello mushrooms, and we will definitely be making this again soon!

Beef Stuffed Tomatoes

Have you noticed that when you can't have a food, you crave it all the more?  During Lent when my husband and I gave up meat, I just CRAVED these beef stuffed tomatoes, which I found here.  And (gasp!) this is one of the very few recipes that doesn't require any alterations!  Here's what we did:

 Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup brown rice
• a couple tablespoons oil
• 1 lb. ground beef (I used 96% lean)
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/3 cup fresh mint leaves, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon white pepper (I don't like black pepper, but if you do, use it instead!)
• 6 large tomatoes
• 1/2 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 1/4 cup panko bread crumbs (these are a bit more crunchy than the traditional bread crumb)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.  Cook the rice according to package directions.  In a large skillet heat the oil on medium heat.  Stir in the beef and cook until barely pink.  Add the onion, cinnamon, salt, pepper, and half of the mint until the onion is soft and transparent.  While the beef is cooking, cut the tomatoes in half and scoop out the pulp with a grapefruit spoon (or melon baller) and put in a large bowl.  Remove 1 cup of the pulp and cut up any big chunks.  Discard the remaining pulp or save it for another recipe (tomato soup maybe?).  Add the beef mixture, feta, rice, and the rest of the mint to the tomato pulp.  On a large cookie sheet place the tomato halves, cut side up.  Fill the tomatoes with about 1/2 cup of the beef mixture and sprinkle with the panko.  Bake for about 20 minutes or until the bread crumbs are browned.

Who would have thought that beef, cinnamon, and mint would go well together, but let me tell you, this combination is heavenly!  In the future I might try using a goat cheese instead of feta to add a little extra punch, but frankly, it's pretty darn good with feta!  Also, one thing to be aware of is the cooking time.  The original recipe had you bake it for 25-30 minutes, but when I cooked it that long the first time I made this recipe, the tomatoes started to disintegrate, spilling the beef mixture all over the place, so I reduced the cooking time for this attempt.

Baked Spaghetti with Cream Cheese and French Fried Onions

I'm getting behind on my blog posts! Carl and I have been cooking up a storm lately, and so I have a few recipes I'm dying to share with you, but with all these tornadoes we've been having, I haven't gotten the chance! However, I have a bit of time while supper is in the oven, so I'm going to share what we made last night for dinner. I found this recipe here, but of course we made some changes. Here's what we did:

Ingredients:

• 8-oz whole wheat spaghetti
• a couple tablespoons oil
• 1 lb. ground beef
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1 bell pepper, chopped
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
• 2 tablespoons pasta sprinkle
• 1 24-oz jar spaghetti sauce (I used Ragu's Sweet Tomato Basil because it was on sale)
• 1 cup shredded mozzarella cheese
• 1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
• 1 tomato, diced
  
• 1 2.8-oz can French fried onions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Cook the spaghetti according to the package directions, drain, and set aside. In a large skillet heat the oil and add the beef. Cook until no longer pink. Add the onion, bell pepper, and garlic. Add the cream cheese, pasta sprinkle, and spaghetti sauce, and stir until the cream cheese is melted. Stir in spaghetti and mix completely. Pour the spaghetti into a greased 2.5 quart baking dish. Sprinkle the mozzarella and Parmesan cheeses on top and then top with the diced tomato. Bake uncovered for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and top with the French fried onions. Bake for no more than 5 additional minutes.

This was pretty tasty. I think next time we make it, I'd want to make some additional changes. I had some spaghetti in an opened box, so I really didn't know how much would have been 8-oz, so I included the whole thing, and it was way too much spaghetti. The noodles kind of took over everything else. I originally only included 1 tablespoon of pasta sprinkle, but it needed more spice, so next time I'd include 2. I'd consider adding a couple more diced tomatoes and mixing them in with the spaghetti to make it more chunky. I really liked the tomatoes on top, though, and I will definitely keep doing that! I also would include a pound of sliced mushrooms and maybe some fresh basil next time and possibly increase the amount of veggies in general.

Another thing I might want to consider is using a 9 X 13 baking dish instead of my 2.5 quart one. Our's was filled with date bars, so I had to substitute. I think I'd use the 9 X 13 because the amount of cheese and French fried onions with each serving made this dish very salty, so I think I'd either want to use less cheese and French fried onions or a 9 X 13 to spread them out a bit more and reduce the amount per serving.

Grandmama's Strawberry Pie

First and foremost, Lent is over so we can now eat meat again! Carl and I had bacon on Easter morning, and it was so good! But I'm not going to share a recipe with meat quite yet. For Easter the past few years I have made my grandmother's strawberry pie. This is the best strawberry pie I have ever had, and I think it's great for Easter. So this year, I'm going to share this wonderful strawberry pie with you!

Ingredients:

• 3 lbs. fresh strawberries (this would be 3 of the small packages)
• 1 8-oz package cream cheese, softened
  
• 1 baked 9 inch pie shell (I know the crust in the picture doesn't look that great; I don't know why, but it just crumbled, and it took all I had to try to keep it together for the photo shoot!)
  
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 1 cup sugar
• whipped cream (optional)
  

Spread the cream cheese on the bottom of the pie shell. Pick out the smallest strawberries, and after you chop the stems off, place them upside down in the cream cheese until the pie shell is full. Juice the remaining strawberries until you have 2 cups of strawberry juice. The easiest way to do this is to puree the strawberries in the blender and then put the mashed strawberries in a strainer and stir them in order to get all the juice out. Discard the remaining strawberry pulp (I personally like to add a couple tablespoons of sugar to the pulp and then put it on my waffles or bagels in the morning for breakfast). Once you have 2 cups of juice, put the juice in a medium saucepan and sift the cornstarch into the juice, stirring continuously (you MUST stir in the cornstarch slowly because otherwise it will clump in the juice and it's a huge pain to un-clump it; if it does clump, you may need to strain it). On medium-low heat gradually stir in the sugar. Stir continuously until the juice thickens and changes from a light, opaque pink to a dark clearer red, about 20 minutes. Pour the juice into a pie shell and chill for at least two hours, preferably over night. Can decorate with whipped cream if desired (I never put whipped cream on it; I think 8-oz of cream cheese is plenty of dairy!).

I love this recipe, not only because it's the best strawberry pie out there, but also because it's like having a piece of my grandmother, who passed away 12 year ago, with us during the holidays. Do you have any great family recipes you'd like to share? Send them along! I'd love to try them out!

Spring Recipe Contest: Black Bean Burgers

Another wonderful friend, Ashlee, recommended these black bean burgers. Going into it, I didn't think they would be anything to write home about, but I must say that they were extremely tasty. We made a few substitutions (as always!), so without further ado, here's what we did:

Ingredients:

• 4 cups black beans, rinsed
• 1 green bell pepper cut into 2 inch pieces
• 1 onion cut into wedges
• 6 cloves of garlic, peeled
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 tablespoon cumin
• 1 tablespoon curry powder
  
• 2 teaspoons hot sauce (we used chipotle Tabasco sauce)
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 3/4 cup bread crumbs
• 3/4 cup oatmeal

Preheat grill to medium heat. In a large bowl mash the black beans with a potato masher until thick and pasty. In a food processor finely chop the bell pepper, onion, and garlic. Mix into the beans. In a small bowl mix together the egg, chili powder, cumin, curry, hot sauce, and Worcestershire sauce. Stir the egg mixture into the bean mixture. Mix in the bread crumbs and oatmeal so that the mixture is sticky and holds together. Shape the mixture into 8 or 9 patties and place on a greased piece of aluminum foil. Grill on medium heat for about 5 minutes per side.

With this recipe, we were supposed to have 2 tablespoons of cumin, but we ran out of cumin, so we substituted curry for our second tablespoon. With the curry and the Tabasco sauce, these burgers had a little edge to them, which made them quite tasty. Also, the original recipe just used bread crumbs and didn't include oatmeal. However, when my mom makes meat loaf, she uses oatmeal instead of bread crumbs to make it a little healthier, so I thought I'd give that a try in this recipe too, and I think it turned out well. To be perfectly honest, neither my husband nor I even noticed the oatmeal when we were eating them. I think next time I'd make it solely with oatmeal and not include any bread crumbs. One thing that I need to make very clear is that you HAVE to grease the aluminum foil!! We forgot that step, and they stuck terribly. Overall, this was a very yummy recipe and one that we'll definitely make again! Thanks for the recommendation, Ashlee!

Spring Recipe Contest: Vegetarian Enchilada Pie

My wonderful friend Whitney gave this recipe to me, which I, of course, made a few minor changes. But I must say, great recommendation!!

Ingredients:

• a couple tablespoons oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 summer squash, sliced
• 1 large tomato, chopped
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
  
• 2.5 cups chickpeas, mashed
• 1 7-oz can chopped green chiles, drained
  
• 1 10-oz can enchilada sauce
• about 7 corn tortillas
• 1.5 cups grated pepper jack cheese

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Heat oil in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the onion and squash and saute for about 15, stirring occasionally to keep from burning. When the onion and squash are transparent, add the tomato, salt, cumin, oregano, and garlic powder. Mix together thoroughly and take off the heat. In a separate bowl combine the chickpeas, green chiles, and half of the enchilada sauce; this should be a spreadable consistency. In a greased 9 X 13 baking dish, layer about 3.5 tortillas along the bottom. Spread the chickpea mixture over the tortillas and then spread the squash mixture over the chickpeas. Layer the other 3.5 tortillas over the squash mixture. Pour the rest of the enchilada sauce over the tortillas. Layer the cheese on top. Bake uncovered for about 25 minutes.

Next time, I think I might use 1 tablespoon of taco seasoning instead of the cumin and oregano, and I might include a cup of frozen corn as well. I might also consider using whole wheat flour tortillas, just because I like the taste and texture of them a little more than corn tortillas. Another change I think I would make would be to use black beans instead of chickpeas. I was planning on using black beans, but all we had were dried beans, and I didn't cook them up in time, so I had to make do with chickpeas. Thanks, Whitney, for this great recipe! I think it's a keeper!

Lenten Series: Mushroom Pot Pie

When I was in Seattle a few weeks ago, I had a mushroom pot pie for dinner one night, and it was quite delicious. So I've been wanting to try to make it myself, so this was my attempt! We modified our pot pie from this recipe. This is the way we made it, but I will let you know all the changes we plan to do next time we make it:

Ingredients:

• 4 tablespoons oil
• 1.5 lbs. (3 small cartons) portobello mushrooms, sliced
  
• 1 cup frozen carrots
  
• 3 stalks of celery, chopped
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 bell pepper, chopped
• 1 cup frozen peas
  
• 1 teaspoon dried thyme (in the future I would probably substitute 1 tablespoon pasta sprinkle instead of the thyme)
• (in the future I would also add about 1 teaspoon salt; we didn't add any, and it definitely needed some!)
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1.5 cups vegetable broth
• 2 sheets (1 17.3-oz package) puff pastry, thawed (you can find this by the frozen pies)

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Heat the oil in a large skillet on medium heat. Add the mushrooms, carrots, celery, onion, peas, bell pepper, thyme, and salt. Saute, stirring occasionally, until the vegetables are tender, or about 15 minutes. Add the flour and cook, stirring, for 30 seconds. Add the broth and bring to a boil. In a greased 8 X 8 baking dish lay one sheet of the puff pastry across the bottom of the baking dish. Pour the mushroom mixture on top of the puff pastry. Lay the second layer of pastry on top and cut several vents in it. Bake until the crust is golden, about 20-25 minutes. Let cool about 15 minutes before serving.

Lenten Series: Sloppy Lentils

As Lent is beginning to get closer to Easter, we have begun to realize that we need some other options besides stir fry and pasta! After searching for vegetarian recipes, I found this recipe, which we tried out, adjusting as necessary. Here's what we did:

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups brown lentils
• about 5 cups of water
  
• a couple tablespoons oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 1/2 green bell pepper
• 1/2 red bell pepper
• 1/4 lb. mushrooms (half of a small container)
• 1 15-oz can tomato sauce
• 2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tablespoon prepared mustard (this would be your French's that you put on hotdogs)
• 1 tablespoon brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup barbeque sauce (we used Sweet Baby Ray's Honey Barbeque Sauce)

In a saucepan combine the water and lentils until boiling. Let simmer for about 20 minutes or until tender. Dump the lentils into a colander and let sit in the sink. In a dutch oven heat the oil on medium heat and saute the onion, bell peppers, and mushrooms until tender. Add the tomato sauce, chili powder, Worcestershire sauce, mustard, brown sugar, salt, and barbeque sauce. Mix thoroughly then add the lentils. Reduce until it's a consistency that will stay on a bun and not drip off, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally so it doesn't stick. Serve on warm buns.

I realized around 5:00pm that the original recipe was a slow cooker recipe, which required 8 hours to cook. Obviously that was not going to work for dinner that night! So I just cooked up the lentils on the stove instead. I needed to reduce the mixture afterwards, but that wasn't too big a deal since I was able to make up a salad and some french fries while it was reducing.

Carl said that this has been his favorite thing we've made in quite a while. Also, my in-laws were in town this week, and they really enjoyed this recipe too! The taste was quite similar to what you'd expect from a sloppy joe, but the texture was not quite right if you're expecting meat--it was a bit mushier. This is one of those recipes that improves with age; we made this about a week ago, and it was better today at lunch than it was the first time we ate them. Overall, I'd recommend these sloppy lentils!

Spring Recipe Contest

Okay, this is not a contest exactly, but more of a chance to share great recipes! I know you have great recipes out there that you love to cook, and I want to try them out. Here are my requirements:

Recipes must:

• Be vegetarian, as in no meat, including fish (this is for purely selfish reasons--I can't eat meat until Easter, so I don't want to be tempted!)
• Have be a taste of spring--I think we're all getting tired of all the heavy winter food
• Include a protein
  
• Be fun to cook--this is a blog on cooking "therapy" after all
• Be relatively inexpensive to make (I'm a graduate student, I'm not rich!)
  

You can send me your recipes by adding a comment to this post, or you can email them to me at lab11198@gmail.com. All the recipes that I get by the end of March and that meet my requirements I'll make and post on this blog. I'm ready to start cooking!

Lenten Series: Goat Cheese, Tomato, and Basil Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

This evening my husband and I made these stuffed mushrooms for supper. This is my favorite recipe that we've made in a long time!!! Carl found this recipe here, and of course, we altered it slightly.

Ingredients:

• 2 portobello mushrooms
• a couple tablespoons balsamic vinegar
• a couple tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
• half an onion, chopped
• half a bell pepper, chopped
  
• 1 large tomato, chopped
  
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 tablespoons fresh basil, chopped
• a couple tablespoons goat cheese
  

Prepare the grill. Using a spoon, scrape the gills out of the mushroom caps. Discard the gills; remove and discard the stems. Place mushroom caps on a plate and drizzle with the balsamic vinegar and olive oil. In a skillet saute the onion and bell pepper in a tablespoon of olive oil. In a small bowl toss the tomato, garlic, basil, onion, and bell pepper with a splash of olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Place mushroom caps stem-side down on the grill and grill for five minutes on each side or until soft. Fill the mushrooms with a couple spoonfuls of goat cheese and spread it so it covers the mushroom evenly. Spoon a couple spoonfuls of the tomato mixture on top of the goat cheese. Grill for about 3 minutes.

If you're not a huge fan of garlic, you might want to reduce that amount of garlic and you might want to saute it with the onion and bell pepper. The way we made it, the garlic is very potent. We also used goat cheese seasoned with garlic and oregano, which was a very good choice. I can't stress it enough, this recipe is absolutely delicious!! I know it doesn't look to appetizing from my pictures, but I would highly recommend that the next time you cook, you need to make these mushrooms!

Buttermilk Brownies

I. Love. Sweets. I love cookies, cake, brownies, pie, candy, ice cream, cobbler, pudding, and any other type of dessert you can possibly imagine! Let's just say that I can understand Hansel and Gretel's obsession with the witch's gingerbread house. Like a lot of other people, I use food as a way to cope with stress, and this is doubly true with sweets. Chocolate helps to melt my cares away! But, as I mentioned in an earlier post, the process of cooking and baking is itself a stress reliever too, so I get a double dose of stress reduction when I bake! Who says you can't have your cake and eat it too?

Today I'm going to share a recipe for buttermilk brownies. This is the first time I've made this recipe, which I got out of my Better Homes and Gardens Cook Book. You can also access the recipe on the Better Homes and Gardens website by clicking here. I've never made brownies from scratch before; I've always used the Duncan Hinds or Betty Crocker mixes that you get at the grocery store, but I think this recipe turned out really well. My cook book says that this recipe is also known as Texas sheet cake and used to be found in the cake section, but because it is so rich, it fits better as a brownie. I would agree that this is either a cakey brownie or a rich cake, but either way, it's delicious!


Ingredients for Brownies:

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup (two sticks) butter
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 cup water
  
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Ingredients for Chocolate-Buttermilk Frosting:

• 1/4 cup (half a stick) butter
• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 3 tablespoons buttermilk
  
• 2 1/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 X 13 baking pan. In a medium bowl stir together the flour, sugar, baking soda, and salt. In a medium saucepan combine the butter, cocoa powder, and 1 cup water. Bring mixture just to boiling (I used medium heat), stirring constantly to prevent it from sticking and burning. (Mine never came to a boil; after about 20 minutes it got very thick and was beginning to stick to the bottom of the pan; I was afraid it was going to burn, so I took it off the heat right before it started boiling). Add the cocoa mixture to the flour mixture and beat with an electric (or stand) mixer on medium speed until thoroughly combined (the original recipe says you can use high speed, but when I tried that, the flour spewed all over the kitchen). Add eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Beat for 1 minute; batter will be thin. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake about 30 minutes, or until a wooden toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.

While the brownies are baking, combine the butter, cocoa powder, and buttermilk in a medium saucepan on medium heat to make the frosting. Bring to boiling (I didn't bring to boiling; I was standing there for about 20 minutes, and it never boiled, so don't worry too much about it; just make sure everything is thoroughly combined and it's very hot). Remove from heat and place in a mixing bowl. Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat on medium speed until smooth. When brownies are done baking, immediately pour the warm frosting over the brownies, spreading evenly (my frosting was no where close to the consistency of being able to pour it; it was more along the lines of play dough--maybe that's why you need to let it reach boiling! After I was done mixing up my frosting, I heated it up in the oven, which was still hot from baking the brownies, for about 5 minutes, and then I was able to spread it over the brownies; I still wasn't able to "pour" it, but it was spreadable). Let cool for about an hour before cutting (naturally I did not wait the full hour, but since my frosting was already set up, I didn't need to!).

Of course I made some changes to this recipe, as I always do!! I used 1 cup white flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour, and the texture is not at all gritty. I think next time I'll try using solely whole wheat flour. I also used 1/2 cup white sugar and 1 1/2 cups brown sugar because we ran out of white sugar, and my husband didn't notice a difference in taste until I told him. In addition, I added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the flour mixture. I thought the chocolate, brown sugar, and cinnamon would taste really good together, and I think it turned out really well.

Lenten Series: Macaroni and Cheese--The Ultimate Comfort Food

I am currently in Seattle for grad school interviews, and after being away from home for four days now, I am ready to eat homemade food again! I really commend all those vegetarians out there who manage to not eat any meat while they travel. Let me tell you, I am getting so sick and tired of eating pizza and Mexican food; apparently, those are the two types of foods that you're guaranteed to get vegetarian! So now I'm craving fruits and veggies, but I'm especially craving my number one comfort food: macaroni and cheese. This is my go-to dish when I'm stressed, like when I'm interviewing for doctoral programs! So today, I'm going to share my recipe for spicy macaroni and cheese, which is by far the best mac and cheese out there!

Ingredients:

• 1 onion, chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 2 jalapenos, seeded and chopped
• 1 teaspoon ground coriander
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 cup (8-oz) heavy whipping cream
• 3 cups skim milk
• 2 cans Rotel, drained and rinsed
• cayenne to taste
• 1 lb. elbow macaroni (or any noodle of your choice--I like shells personally)
• 2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese
• 4 cups grated extra sharp cheddar cheese
• 2 cups grated Parmesan cheese

In a heavy saucepan saute the onion, garlic, jalapenos, coriander, and cumin in the oil over medium heat until the onion is softened. Stir in the flour and cook for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Mix in the cream and milk and bring to a boil, stirring constantly so it doesn't burn. Stir in Rotel. Simmer and add cayenne. In a separate pot, cook noodles for about 6-7 minutes, or until barely al dente. Drain and mix macaroni and tomato mixture into a greased baking dish. Stir in the Monterey Jack cheese and half of the cheddar cheese. Spread the Parmesan and remaining cheddar cheese on top of the macaroni mixture. Broil uncovered for about 5 minutes or until the cheese is golden.
Tips for this recipe: be sure to wear rubber gloves when chopping the jalapenos. I've chopped them a couple of times without gloves, and they will burn my hands for the next day. Also, don't use the 2% fat cheese because it doesn't melt properly; it looks rubbery and doesn't turn golden when you broil it. I know the 2% cheese has less fat, but it just doesn't work with this recipe; save calories in another dish!