Quinoa for the first time

Friday night a friend had a potluck Shabbat dinner so it was another great opportunity to make a new recipe. I decided to bring a side dish and opted for something in the rice or potato family. After looking through alllllll my bookmarked recipes I decided to try my hand at quinoa (pronounced keenwah) and boy am I glad I did! It was super easy and super healthy. This recipe is from Weight Watchers, but I altered it a little. The original recipe said it served 8 and our dinner was going to have 14 people so I made it bigger and also added in mushrooms.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tbsp olive oil
1 large onion, minced
1 medium garlic clove, minced
1 1/4 cup quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
4 cups spinach, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
salt and pepper

Directions:
- Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium-high heat.
- Add onion and garlic; cook, stirring frequently, until onion is tender, about 3-5 minutes.
- Add quinoa to skillet; cook, stirring frequently, until quinoa starts to turn golden brown, about 2 minutes.
- Add broth, black pepper, and red pepper flakes to pot; bring to a boil.
- Cover skillet and reduce heat to low, simmer for about 15-17 minutes.
- Stir in spinach and mushrooms, cover skillet and cook until spinach and quinoa are tender and liquid is absorbed, about 5 minutes.
- Season with salt.

The final product was great! The red pepper flakes gave it a little kick, which I enjoyed though I may have gone a little overboard on them. Everyone at dinner seemed to enjoy the dish too! And it is super healthy! The original recipe yields about 1/2 cup a serving and is about 1 pt/serving. This tasted great hot, warm, and cold and I think quinoa may be one of my new go-to meals.

Pumpkin Mania!

You know it's Fall when Starbucks starts rolling out it's Pumpkin Spice Latte and every food blog out there starts posting pumpkin inspired recipes. I must admit, that's okay with me. I love pumpkin flavor and the other spices that go along with it - nutmeg, ginger, cinnamon, etc. Over the past couple weeks I've probably bookmarked at least a dozen pumpkin recipes, everything from soups to pastas, cookies, breads, etc. Then I came across this recipe for Pumpkin Muffins from one of my favorite blogs ever (BitchBuzz.com) and immediately had to make it! It didn't hurt that I happened to have all the ingredients already in my cabinets (now that is the TRUE sign of someone who has become more of a cook). The only thing I needed was a muffin pan... so I bought one on the cheap and now own my very first muffin pan :)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup vegetable oil (I used Canola oil, my baker roommate told me it was okay to sub)

1 cup canned solid-pack pumpkin

2 large eggs

1 tsp nutmeg

1/2 tsp ginger

1 1/4 cups PLUS 1 tbsp of sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and put liners in muffin cups.

- In a large bowl, whisk together the pumpkin, oil, eggs, 1 1/4 cups sugar, nutmeg, ginger, baking powder and soda, and salt until smooth. Then stir in the flour until well blended.

- In another bowl mix together the cinnamon and extra tbsp of sugar.

- Divide batter among muffin cups, no more than half full, and sprinkle the cinnamon-sugar mixture on top.

- Bake approx 25-30 minutes until puffed and slightly golden brown or until a toothpick comes out clean.

- Let the muffins cool in the pan for 5 minutes before removing. Let cool completely until room temperature.

These were omg-good! I probably could've gotten more than 12 muffins out of the recipe, maybe 15, but alas I only had a 12 cup pan. I brought them to work too and everybody loved them! They are perfectly moist and sweet and delicious and even dairy free! Plus so easy! About 5 pts/muffin and worth every bit!

Bon Appetit!

A More Gourmet Mac n Cheese

Working my way through my long catalog of Mac 'n Cheese recipes, this weekend I decided to check another off the list, one that is actually quite different from all the others. This was probably one of the first recipes (not just for Mac n Cheese, but ever) that I bookmarked. It's from Picky Palate and the blogger titles her post Famous Gourmet Mac and Cheese, Artisanal Style and the specific recipe is "Chef Terrance Brennan's Gourmet Mac and Cheese," quite the mouthful indeed.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups elbow macaroni (I used whole wheat)

7 1/2 tbsp butter, divided

1/4 cup PLUS 2 tbsp flour

3 cups milk (I used fat-free)

2 1/4 cups Gruyere cheese, shredded

1/2 cup Mascarpone cheese

3/4 cup bread crumbs

1/4 cup Parmesan, grated

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

- Bring 2 quarts of salted water to a boil and add the macaroni. Cook until it's al dente, approximately 6-8 minutes.

- While the macaroni is boiling, slowly melt 5 1/2 tbsp butter over medium high heat in a medium sauce pan.

- Add the flour, stirring, cook together for a minute or so. Do not brown the mixture. Add the milk, whisking to avoid lumps. Bring mixture to a boil and continue whisking. Lower heat and simmer for about 5 minutes until it thickens.

- While the milk is simmering, in a separate pan combine 2 tbsp butter and the bread crumbs.

- Add the Parmesan and cook just until the butter is melted. Remove from heat.

- When the milk is ready, add the Mascarpone cheese. Then add the Gruyere and whisk it all together. As soon as it's melted, remove from heat.

- Season with salt and pepper and whisk to combine. Add the macaroni to the mixture, mix well, and when it's nicely incorporated spoon it out into a cooking dish. I used 8x8, but would recommend 9x13.

-Sprinkle the bread crumbs on top, using your hands to pat it down and to evenly distribute all over the surface. Cook for about 35-40 minutes at 350 degree until golden brown and bubbly.

A couple things about the final product before the verdict. The 8x8 baking dish was not big enough, it started overflowing and I had to put another dish underneath it. As a newbie cook I had no clue what size dish to use and the recipe didn't specify. Also, the recipe said the breadcrumbs would become burnt and crunchy, mine never really did.


So the final verdict? It was good, but not my favorite. The flavors were good and definitely more gourmet than traditional macaroni and cheese, but my final product was ehh. It came out more soupy than casseroley (maybe I needed to cook it longer). Plus it is extremely high in WW world. If you get 10 servings out of this, which would be a lot, that would be 10 pts/serving. Definitely not worth it in my book. But that's what this whole resolution is for... trial and error. Plus I have enough AMAZING Mac n Cheese recipes in my repertoire that it's really okay this one wasn't that amazing. I mean don't get me wrong, it still tasted delicious, but again not worth it to me.

Holy Candy Cookie Bars!

Yesterday I made one of the most chocolaty, most fattening recipes I have ever made. The recipe just sounded so good and had been bookmarked for months so I decided to give in and make it for a friend's birthday. What was this recipe? Basically a candy bar in a cookie bar form, otherwise known as Crunchy Caramel Reeses Cookie Bars from Picky Palate.

Ingredients:
1 roll refrigerated sugar cookie dough
1 cup crushed pretzels
3 cups mini Reeses Peanut Butter Cups
10 Kraft caramels
1 tbsp fat-free milk
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Directions:
Unwrap peanut butter cups and caramels, set aside. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8x8 baking dish with foil (I used a disposable foil baking dish so skipped this part) and spray with cooking spray. Cut cookie dough roll in half and press half into bottom of baking dish. Layer with pretzels. Cut PB cups in half and layer over pretzels. Melt caramels and milk in a microwave safe bowl until melted, about 1-2 minutes in microwave. Pour caramel over PB cups.
Crumble (or spread) remaining cookie dough evenly over top the PB cups. Bake for approximately 22 minutes or until golden brown and cooked through. Let cool completely. Melt chocolate chips in microwave until smooth, drizzle over top of bars.

The original recipe said it made 9 bars, but I cut this into 12 and that still ends up being about 8 pts/bar. Obviously though, this isn't a WW friendly dessert, but that's ok because it was a huge success! My friend really liked it as did the other dozen of guys sitting around watching football. It was quite cliche, me walking in with baked goods at a football watch party, but it was a winner!

Shortly after this they were completely gone!

My Very First Kugel

A couple of posts away my lovely sister, Franny, posted her kugel recipe from Yom Kippur break-fast. This recipe is courtesy of the Food Network. I contemplated making my sister's recipe, since that would be a new recipe for ME to make, but then I couldn't really blog about it. So I found this recipe, which is extremely similar.

One of my book club friends had noodle kugel for the first time a couple months ago and absolutely loved it! So for this month's book club I said I would bring kugel, which I did last night.

Ingredients:
1/2 pounds (12 oz. bag) wide egg noodles
1/2 stick butter, melted
1 pound cottage cheese (I used low-fat)
2 cups sour cream (again reduced fat)
1/2 cup sugar
6 eggs
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 cup raisins

Directions:
Boil the noodles in salted water for about 4 minutes. Strain and set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, combine noodles with the remaining ingredients and pour into a greased 9x13 inch baking dish.
Bake at 375 degrees F until custard is set and top is golden brown, about 30-45 minutes. I baked mine I think for about 38 minutes.

I actually made everything the day before and baked it the day of. Before I baked I sprinkled the top with some cinnamon and sugar. The end result? Success! For many people at book club it was their very first noodle kugel and they were all impressed. A bunch them were surprised it was a sweet dish, they had no idea.


As someone who has grown up with a lot of noodle kugel I would say this was good, not great. Maybe I should've baked it for longer or maybe it was just too traditional. You can't really go wrong with noodle kugel so I definitely enjoyed it, but next time maybe I'll stick with Franny's recipe.

Super Stuffed Mushrooms

The final recipe that I made for break-fast was Stuffed Mushrooms from Annie's Eats. I don't think I need to say much more to introduce them because they were a huge hit!

Ingredients:
24 whole fresh button mushrooms

4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped

2 tsp. vegetable oil

8 oz. cream cheese, softened (I used reduced fat)

1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/4 tsp pepper

1/4 tsp onion powder

1/4 tsp cayenne pepper

Fresh rosemary, for garnish

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a baking sheet with cooking spray. Clean mushrooms with a damp paper towel. Carefully remove the stems from the mushroom caps, setting the caps aside for later.

Add the stems to the bowl of a food processor (I actually used a blender). Add the garlic to the food processor as well, and pulse in brief bursts until the mushroom stems and garlic are finely chopped.

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the chopped mushroom stems and garlic and cook until all the moisture has disappeared, about 5-7 minutes. Lower the heat to medium-low. Stir in the cream cheese, Parmesan cheese, and spices.

Using a small spoon, fill each mushroom cap with a generous amount of filling. Arrange the mushroom caps on the prepared baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes or until the mushrooms are hot and liquid starts to form under the caps. Transfer to a serving platter, garnish with rosemary, and serve immediately.

Couple things... I didn't use bread crumbs so to keep this recipe gluten free. I also didn't serve these immediately. Due to timing, I baked them through, then reheated them just for a couple minutes at 350F before serving them. They were at room temperature, but still delicious! These got gobbled down really fast and ended up being way easier than I anticipated. I actually made 25 mushrooms and they really aren't so bad for you! Only about 1 pt/mushroom. This ended up being a much easier recipe than I was expecting and I would definitely make it again!

A Kugel by any other Name (Guest Post)

The day after our sister time in Brooklyn, I flew to Florida and visited with our grandmother.
We sat together as I pulled up pictures on my phone of her other grandchildren, of my new apartment and of our break-fast spread.
The first thing she said when she saw the picture of the spread:
“Did you make a noodle-pudding?”
She said it almost like a threat, like one of us better have made a “noodle pudding” or else…

“You mean a kugel?! Of course! I made it.”

A kugel by any other name is a kugel, and if you ask me, noodle kugel is the only kugel worthy of kugeldom.

I offer my kugel as the sweeter, yid version of mac & cheese.

I blended this recipe over the years from a few online versions and make it at least once a year for organized Jewish cultural face-stuffing.

I bet Laura could figure out the point value, but my estimation is that this is just enough points to taste awesome.

Ingredients:

12 oz. wide egg noodles

16 oz. cottage cheese (I usually use lowfat or fat-free)

16 oz. sour cream (I usually use lowfat or fat-free)

1 cup sugar (I use turbinado sugar)

5 eggs – beaten

1 tbsp real vanilla extract

1 cup golden raisins

1 tbsp cinnamon sugar (I don’t measure and I probably use more that a Tbsp…)

Directions:

-Cook, rinse and drain the noodles according to the directions

-Preheat the oven to 350F

-Beat the eggs and mix in the cottage cheese, sour cream, sugar, vanilla, and raisins. Mix well. (I do this while the water is boiling and the noodles are cooking)

-Pour cooked, rinsed noodles into a greased 9x13 pan

-Pour the mixed topping over the noodles and distribute evenly covering all noodles. (Many recipes suggest stirring the noodles into the mixture first and then pouring that into the pan, but I always find it messier and not any tastier)

-Add cinnamon sugar evenly as topping

-Bake for 50-60 minutes (I usually do 50, but if you like your noodles on top crunchy, go for 60)

-Cool

NOTE: I often will prepare the Kugel the day before, cover and refrigerate overnight. If you’re doing that, be sure to remove it with at least a half hour to reach room temperature before baking it.