me and chris

My boyfriend and I have a tradition of staying in and cooking a meal together for Valentine’s Day.  We decided to celebrate the Saturday night before Valentine’s Day this year.  I had a great menu planned.  I was going to splurge–seared salmon with green lentils and mashed potatoes.  For dessert?  Molten chocolate lava cakes.  Let’s just say things did not go as planned.  After following the recipe for cooking the lentils to a tee, they were very undercooked.  The mashed potatoes were fine, but how do you really mess those up anyway?  Then, just as I was starting to make the salmon, I burned my hand pretty bad.  I had to sit the rest of the meal out.  Luckily Chris salvaged the salmon and finished cooking our dinner and I managed to scarf it down with only the use of my left hand.  But it was missing lentils and I was in no condition to make the molten lava cakes.  So on actual Valentine’s Day, I was determined to make these cakes.  They are good and simple, but certainly not healthy.  But I figure Valentine’s Day is all about the love and I loved eating this dessert with my love, Chris.

Molten Lava Cakes

Adapted from Paula Deen

8oz chocolate (I used half dark and half milk)

10 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

3 large eggs

3 egg yolks

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 425° F

Spray 4-6 ramekins (I only had 4 so that’s how many I used).

Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler.  Add the flour and sugar to the chocolate and butter mixture.

Thanks again to Chris for taking photos

Stir in the eggs and egg yolks until smooth.  Stir in the vanilla.  Divide the batter evenly among the ramekins.

Place on a baking sheet and put in the oven for approximately 14 minutes.  I had to cook mine a little longer because there was more batter in each of my 4 ramekins.  Just look for the edges to be firm and shrinking away from the sides of the ramekins (but the center will be runny).

Run a knife around the edges and invert onto a plate.  Serve with ice cream, sprinkled with powdered sugar, with fresh berries or with whatever you want!

the aftermath

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Wow, it has been a long time since I last posted.  But finding the extra time to take photos of what you’re cooking and then write a post about it kinda takes a while!  Nevertheless, my apologies for the delay.  I’m back with an amazing recipe though!  This dish is served at a restaurant in Chicago that I’ve been to a couple of times and both times I’ve had this.  It’s Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad from the Southport Grocery and Café.

It’s incredibly simple, healthy, and light—yet satisfying.  Also, this is my first recipe since getting a set of amazing new mixing bowls (thanks, Mom!).

Butternut Squash Quinoa Salad

Adapted from the Southport Grocery and Café

1 cup quinoa

2 cups water

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

1 cup butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and diced

1 1/2 tablespoons butter

1/4 cup dried cranberries

1/4 cup almond slices, toasted

salt & pepper to taste

1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil

2 tablespoons white balsamic vinegar

2 tablespoons shallots, finely diced and sautéed in a little olive oil until soft

Toast quinoa in sauté pan with the 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat for approximately 3 minutes or until fragrant.  In medium pot, mix together the toasted quinoa and water; bring to a boil.  Reduce heat; cover and cook for 15 minutes.  Drain (if necessary) and then spread out on a baking sheet to cool.  Meanwhile, sauté the butternut squash in butter until soft.

Whisk together 1/4 cup olive oil, white balsamic vinegar and shallots.

In a large bowl mix together quinoa, butternut squash, cranberries, almonds, and vinaigrette.  Salt and pepper to taste.  This is typically served cold as a side salad, but I fully intend on eating it as an entree and I think it could certainly be good served warm.

I know they aren’t in season, but I spotted the most delicious looking raspberries at Trader Joe’s and had to get them.  I normally just put raspberries on top of my cereal, in my yogurt, or in a smoothie, but I wanted to do something special with these.  I perused all of the raspberry recipes on Tastespotting.com and found this one.  I made a few changes with this recipe.  First, I omitted the banana (because someone I know does not like bananas).  Second, I didn’t have any vanilla yogurt around, so I used blueberry yogurt instead. Third, I used frozen blueberries instead of fresh.  The muffins turned out great—perfectly moist and fruity.  They can certainly be eaten for breakfast or any time of day, really.  Thanks to my cousin, Grace, for helping me put the berries into the muffin batter!

Raspberry Blueberry Muffins

Adapted from For the love of cooking

1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup low fat yogurt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup blueberries

1 cup fresh raspberries

Preheat the over to 350°F.  Coat a muffin tray with cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda until well combined.  Set aside.

In a separate bowl, mix the egg, oil, yogurt, vanilla, white sugar, and brown sugar.  Slowly add the dry ingredients to the wet being careful not to over-mix.

Add half of the blueberries and fold them into the batter.

Spoon the batter into the muffin tins and then top each muffin with the raspberries and remaining blueberries–really push them inside the batter so they are stuffed.

Bake for 18-20 minutes or until a tester inserted in the muffin comes out clean and muffins are golden brown.

Cook muffins a bit and then serve (if you can wait that long).

My most recent post was for a polenta dish that was topped with an arugula salad.  Well, I had a bit of arugula leftover and very quickly started brainstorming ways I could use it.  I really love arugula and have only started seeking it out in the past couple of years.  First, some quick information about arugula.  It is an annual plant and the leaves are usually what are eaten (although apparently the fruit is edible).  The leaves are characterized by their peppery taste and they are rich in vitamin C and potassium.

What a chose to make with my leftover arugula was an arugula pesto based off of how I usually make basil pesto.  I then took my arugula pesto and combined it with pasta and roasted cherry tomatoes for a quick and satisfying Sunday night dinner.

I was thrilled to share this dish with two of my favorite people:  my boyfriend, Chris and my cousin (and Loyola University freshman), Grace.

Arugula Pesto Pasta with Oven-Roasted Cherry Tomatoes

2 garlic cloves

1 tablespoon almonds, toasted (or any other toasted nut you like—pine nuts are pretty standard or you could use shelled walnuts)

2 cups arugula leaves, tightly packed

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 to 1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

1/3 to 1/2 cup grated Parmesan, to taste

1-2 tablespoons goat cheese (optional)

1 pint cherry tomatoes

3/4 pound pasta of choice

First, start cooking your pasta (according to package) and reserve 1/4 cup of the pasta water.

Arugula Pesto:

Toast the almonds in a skillet until fragrant.  Place garlic cloves in a food processor, turn on and run until garlic is chopped and adhering to the sides of the bowl.  Stop the machine, scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the almonds.  Turn on the machine and process until they are finely ground.  Scrape down the bowl again and add the arugula and salt.  Pulse until the arugula is finely chopped.  Turn on the machine and run while you slowly drizzle in the olive oil from the top.  Stop the machine and make sure you scrape down the sides one more time before adding the Parmesan and running the machine until the cheese is well incorporated.

Roasted Tomatoes:

Preheat the oven to 400°F

Place the tomatoes on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  Roast until the tomatoes collapse, about 15 minutes.

When the pasta is cooked, add as much of the pesto as you would like, the goat cheese (optional), and the roasted tomatoes.  Add the reserved pasta water 1 tablespoon at a time just to thin things out a little bit.  Add as much as you would like.

Wow, it has been a while since I last posted.  There are a couple of reasons for that.  The first is that my computer’s hard drive crashed and it was in the shop (thankfully it’s fixed now).  Second, work was insanely busy (but things are currently much calmer now that a large event I was helping organize is over).  So I was pretty eager to post a new recipe and I have one to share that is really really good.

I often visit a website called Tastespotting.com and that’s where I found this gem of a recipe.  It is filling, comforting, pretty healthy, and perfect on a chilly evening.  The recipe?  Roasted Delicata squash, Arugula and Parmesan Polenta.  What I love about polenta is that, not only is it delicious, it is so so so fool proof–you really can’t mess it up.  With this recipe, the polenta serves as the perfect backdrop for the combination of the peppery arugula and sweet squash.  The lentils give this dish a little punch of protein as well.

The original recipe calls for what I thought was entirely too much salt, so I’ve altered it accordingly.  Also important to note is that this recipe could probably serve about 6 people as an entree, so plan accordingly.

Roasted Delicata, Arugula and Parmesan Polenta Adapted from Delementals

1 Delacata squash; halved, seeds removed and sliced into 1/4 inch slices
1 bunch arugula; torn into bite-sized pieces
4 cups vegetable broth
1 cup yellow polenta
1 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
1 cup cooked lentils (Trader Joe’s sells them already cooked)
1/2 cup milk
3 tablespoons olive oil (use a good one for this)
1 tablespoon cooking olive oil
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
Kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350℉

Toss the squash slices with olive oil and sprinkle lightly with Kosher salt.  Spread into a single layer on a baking pan.  Bake for 20 minutes, or until tender and beginning to brown.

While the squash is roasting, cook the polenta:

Bring the stock to a boil.  Pour the polenta into the broth in a steady stream, whisking constantly.

Reduce heat and continue to simmer until polenta is nearly tender.  Add the milk to the polenta and continue to simmer until polenta is cooked through and has thickened up.

Stir in the Parmesan.  Cover and remove from heat until ready to serve.

Whisk together the mustard, vinegar and good olive oil.  Toss the vinaigrette with the arugula.

To serve; spread the polenta on a plate, top with lentils and the roasted squash.

I forgot to add the squash until after I had started eating...

I have been sick for more than a week.  That’s the main thing that led me to make this next recipe in the Apple Series:  Whole Wheat Apple Muffins.  I don’t think I need to say anything more than these are moist, comforting and cinnamon-loaded.  Oh, and they are super easy to make even when you’re not feeling your best.

Whole Wheat Apple Muffins
Adapted from smittenkitchen

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1 large egg
1 cup buttermilk
2 large apples, peeled, cored, and coarsely chopped

Preheat the oven to 450°F.  Use cooking spray to coat 12-18 muffin cups and set aside (I got 16 muffins out of this recipe).

Mix together the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon, and set aside.  In a separate bowl, beat the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar until fluffy.  Add the egg and mix well.  Gently mix in the buttermilk (as the original recipe states: if you over-mix, the buttermilk will cause the mixture to curdle).  Stir in the dry ingredients and fold in the apple chunks.

Divide the batter evenly among the prepared muffin cups and sprinkle the remaining brown sugar on top.  Bake for 10 minutes, turn the heat down to 400°F and bake for an additional 5-10 minutes (or until a cake tester inserted into the center of the muffin comes out clean).  Cool the muffins for 5 minutes in the tin, then remove them to cool some more.

A quick note about the original recipe—the original calls for the inclusion of  1/2 cup wild rice.  When I made the recipe for the first time, I made the wild rice but did not put it in the main batch of soup.  Instead, when I had my own bowl, I mixed a little of the wild rice with the soup.  I found that this soup is really amazing on its own and perhaps too thick with the addition of the wild rice.  So do what you wish and include the wild rice or not.

Either way, this recipe is straightforward, simple, delicious, and healthy.  It is a little time-consuming, so if you’re short on time and feel like it, go ahead and make this soup on the weekend.  It should keep in your refrigerator for several days.

Butternut Squash Soup with Apples
Adapted from SippitySup

1 butternut squash, 1 1/2-2 pounds
4 tablespoons whole almonds
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 onion, coarsely chopped
2 stalks celery, coarsely chopped
2 carrots, coarsely chopped
1 potato, peeled and diced (or several small potatoes in my case)
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
black pepper, to taste
2 sprigs thyme
1 cup wild rice
2 apples, cored and coarsely chopped into 1/2 inch dice
4-5 cups vegetable broth

Preheat the oven to 400°F.  Cut the squash in half lengthwise and remove the seeds and strings.  Place cut side down on a parchment lined baking sheet and roast until soft and fragrant, approximately 30-40 minutes (depending on the size of the squash).

Remove from oven and cool a bit before scooping out the flesh into a bowl.  Set bowl aside and discard skins.

Using a large soup pot, heat 2 tablespoons butter over medium heat, add the onion, celery, and carrot.  Cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.  Add the squash, potato, 1 1/2 teaspoons salt and pepper to taste.  Cook, stirring until the vegetables are well coated.

Add about 3 1/2 cups of the vegetable broth to the pot along with the thyme.  Bring to a boil.  Lower the heat, cover the pot, and continue to simmer, stirring occasionally, for approximately 30 minutes, or until the vegetables have softened.

Remove the soup from the heat and let it cool a little.  Use an immersion blender or food processor to puree the mixture.  After you do this, add the remaining 1/2 cup vegetable stock (or more if you prefer a thinner texture) and re-heat the soup over medium heat.

To make apple and almond garnish:
Set the oven temp to 350°F.  Place the almonds on a baking sheet; toast until fragrant, shaking the pan once or twice, for about 10 minutes.  Transfer to a cutting board and coarsely chop.

Melt the remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a sauté pan.  Add the apple and cook without disturbing until slightly brown and soft, approximately 3 minutes.

Ladle the soup into individual bowls and garnish with apples and almonds.

I picked up some mascarpone cheese on a whim and with no particular recipe in mind.  I just really like mascarpone and it’s something I rarely have.  For those who don’t know, mascarpone is often referred to as Italian cream cheese.  It is smooth, creamy, and very subtly flavored.  Most have probably had it in tiramisu.  However, what’s so great about it is that it can be used in sweet or savory dishes.  So I started to peruse the internet for a way to use this silky delight and came across a recipe for chocolate mascarpone brownies.  The search ended there as I instantly began to imagine how rich and delicious this recipe could be.  It took me about a week to finally gather the few ingredients I needed to whip this recipe together and for every single day of that week, I was craving mascarpone brownies (that I had never even tried).  This recipe is not the healthiest (calling for 1 cup of butter).  But it’s a nice indulgence.  Thanks again to Chris for taking photos!

Chocolate Mascarpone Brownies
Adapted from RecipeZaar

Brownies
1 cup unsalted butter
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup white sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup mascarpone cheese, softened
3 large eggs, at room-temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Ganache
6 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
6 tablespoons whipping cream
3 tablespoons unsalted butter

Preheat oven to 325° F.  Butter your pan.  I used a 9 X 13 pan for this because it was all I had, but the original recipe calls for an 8-inch square glass cake pan.

To make the brownies:

Place the chopped chocolate in a mixing bowl. In a small saucepan, melt the butter and bring it to just below a boil.  Pout the hot butter over the chocolate and stir until chocolate is completely melted.

Sift in the sugar and cocoa power.

In a separate bowl, use a wooden spoon to beat the mascarpone, eggs, and vanilla until smooth.

Gently fold the flour and salt into the batter.

Combine the chocolate-butter mixture and mascarpone-flour mixture.

Pour batter into pan and spread evenly.

Place into preheated oven and bake for 30-35 minutes, or until tester comes out clean.  Because I used a 9 X 13 pan, this is how long they needed to bake.  I’d imagine using the type of pan recommended in the original recipe would require a longer baking time because of the size difference.

Let the brownies cool in the pan for 10-15 minutes while you make the ganache.

To make the ganache:

Place the chopped chocolate in a mixing bowl.  In a small saucepan, bring the cream and butter to just below the boiling point.

Pour this hot cream and butter mixture over the chocolate and stir until smooth.

Spread over the brownies.

Once the ganache is firm, you can cut the brownies.

This tomato sauce is seriously easy to make and only takes about 20 minutes.  Plus, it has goat cheese in it.  I absolutely love goat cheese and have been making variations of this recipe for a couple of years now.  Since it is my own, measurements are approximate and I encourage everyone to make this sauce their own.  Add what you want, leave out what you don’t.  Either way, you won’t be disappointed.  I made this sauce for dinner tonight, served it over a bowl of whole wheat penne pasta with a chunk of warm, crusty bread.  My idea of a perfect meal!

Tomato Sauce
Serves about 4

3/4 lb pasta
1 28oz can of whole tomatoes
2-3 tablespoons olive oil
3 cloves garlic
1 small onion, diced
3oz spinach (I used baby for this recipe, but you can use regular)
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1.5 oz goat cheese (I used half of a 3oz mini log)
salt and pepper, to taste

Start by heating your water to cook the pasta.  Cook pasta according to directions on the package.

Heat olive oil in skillet over medium-low heat.  Add onion, a pinch of salt, and red pepper flakes.  Sauté for about 3 minutes.  Add garlic and continue cooking for 2 minutes.  Be careful not to raise the heat too high or the garlic will burn.  This gives garlic a bitter taste.

Add spinach and cook until it is wilted, approximately 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, remove tomatoes from the can, reserving the juice.  I get canned tomatoes from Trader Joe’s that are already slightly salted and are canned with basil as well.  Coarsely chop them and add to skillet along with the juice from the can.

Cook on medium to medium-low heat for about 10 minutes.   As tomatoes soften, smash them with the back of your spoon for a slightly smoother sauce.

Add goat cheese to sauce and mix it in well.  Continue to heat sauce for 2 minutes.

Serve over pasta.