Double Broccoli Quinoa Recipe

Easter Cupcakes Baked in Real Egg Shells I watched my Grandmother’s face when she realized that I hadn’t handed her a hard boiled egg but rather a cake baked inside a real egg shell. Her eyes were filled with wonder and I could envision what she must have looked like as a tyke the very first time she saw a red balloon float across the sky or the the trunk of a giant elephant spewing a stream of water. “Crack it on the table,” I told her. Eggs were cracked, cupcakes were eaten, and I was perceived as a cupcake Houdini. Update 3/19/2012: For the basic instructions on these Easter cupcakes, keep reading. I modeled my cupcakes in egg shells after Nicky’s egg shell cupcakes from Delicious Days. Yield: 10 large egg cupcakes What you’ll need: 9 large eggs (Only one will get used in the cake. To prepare the eggs: Carefully poke a small hole in the top of each egg. Once you have poked a tiny hole, peel back the edges of the hole to expand it a bit. Turn the egg upside-down and dump out the contents. Bake the eggs at 350 F for 23 minutes.

pan-seared brussels sprouts with cranberries & pecans Without realizing, you may have already laid your peepers on this flavorful side as it is pictured here with my world’s best chicken recipe. So many of you asked for the how-to of these brussels! And I’m happy to indulge. You’ll love this dish because it is versatile with many entrees AND the ingredients are available year-round, especially in winter (bonus!). PAN-SEARED BRUSSELS SPROUTS WITH CRANBERRIES & PECANSServes 3-4 1 pound brussels sprouts, de-stemed and halved 1/2 cup dried cranberries 1/3 cup gorgonzola cheese, crumbled 1/3 cup pecans 1/2 cup barley 1 tablespoon maple syrup 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 2 tablespoons olive oil Salt & pepper Prepare barley according to package instructions. 1 pound brussels sprouts, de-stemed and halved ½ cup dried cranberries ⅓ cup gorgonzola cheese, crumbled ⅓ cup pecans ½ cup barley 1 tablespoon maple syrup 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar 2 tablespoons olive oil Salt & pepper Prepare barley according to package instructions.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups Soooooo… you know that episode of Sex and the City where Miranda has to dump dish soap on top of chocolate cake just so she will stop eating it?? Uh. Yeeeeeah. These are like… of that caliber. And that totally almost happened to me. I ate what felt like a million, then had a plate of 5-day old green bean fries from the fridge and called it lunch. I definitely recommend those. For lunch. Face? Inhale. Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Peanut Butter Cups [cookie dough adapted from cookie dough dip] makes 24 cups 2 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips 1/2 cup unsalted butter 1/3 cup packed brown sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter 3/4 cup powdered sugar 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips In a small saucepan, heat butter until melted. Line a mini muffin with with liners. Remove muffin tin and cookie dough, then place 1 teaspoon of cookie dough (I somewhat rolled mine) into the chocolate cups. Sigh.

Black Bean and Tomato Quinoa Recipe at Epicurious photo by Romulo Yanes yield Makes 4 (side dish) servings active time 20 minutes total time 45 minutes Quinoa is a fast-cooking, protein-packed whole grain. Preparation Whisk together lime zest and juice, butter, oil, sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4teaspoon pepper in a large bowl. Wash quinoa in 3 changes of cold water in a bowl, draining in a sieve each time. Cook quinoa in a medium pot of boiling salted water (1 tablespoon salt for 2 quarts water), uncovered, until almost tender, about 10 minutes. Add quinoa to dressing and toss until dressing is absorbed, then stir in remaining ingredients and salt and pepper to taste. A Tasty Recipe: Stuffed French Toast – Tasty Kitchen Blog Since Ree is somewhere in D.C. right now with her gushing armpits (sorry for that visual on a cooking blog), we’ve invited a very special guest to host the Tasty Recipe post this week. Quite coincidentally, this lovely lady was also our very first member featured here in the Tasty Kitchen blog. She’s fabulous in so many ways, and we’re so glad to have her here. And boy, has she picked a great recipe to share with us today. Take it away, Alice! French toast is one of my most favorite foods to eat any time of the day. Here’s a list of everything you need: a loaf of French or Italian bread, eggs, milk, butter, cream cheese, cinnamon, and jam or fresh fruit (if you’re like me, you’ll use both). Before you can invite me over for breakfast, you’ll need to know how to make this. I decided to go with strawberries for the filling. Wash the strawberries, remove the stems, and cut slices in each one. Next, macerate the strawberries, which is fancy way of saying add a little sugar and mix it in.

The Best Broccoli of Your Life You know you’ve done something right with broccoli when the person you made it for describes it to someone else the next day as “better than biting into a steak.” Those were Craig’s words and they were a marked change from the first words he uttered about the broccoli, before he bit in: “You made broccoli for dinner? Broccoli and sweet potatoes?” Then he did bite in and his eyes lit up. So what did I do to the broccoli to make it taste so good? I can’t take any credit. I’m going to have a hard time this week not posting all of the recipes from her new book, Back To Basics. Specifically, she loves roasting vegetables at a high temperature until they caramelize. Normally, broccoli gets squishy when you cook it. Seriously, this recipe is so easy I can recite it without looking at the book. You preheat the oven to 425. Take 4 to 5 pounds of broccoli (I just got two large bunches), cut into florets (but relatively big ones.) Now, it’s easy. Related Posts: Roasted Shrimp and Broccoli Save Save

Death By Oreo Cupcakes They are probably the best Oreo cakes I have ever tried. A lot of cake's that I have experimented with before are like a vanilla cake with bits of Oreo in them, which didn't really give them enough Oreo flavor. But these were a lot better. Ingredients 1 package Oreo Cookies, regular size 1 package Mini Oreo Cookies, for decoration (optional) 1 package chocolate cake mix (mix according to directions on box) 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature 1/2 cup butter (1 stick), room temperature 3 3/4 cups powdered sugar 1 teaspoon vanilla extract cupcake liners Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream together butter and cream cheese. foodsnots.com

Broccoli Cheese Soup *Update (10/2011): We continue to love this soup (and eat it often)! I’ve edited the recipe just a bit to enhance with a bit of salt and flesh out some of the details. Enjoy! I could sum up this post by the following statement from my husband while devouring this meal: “This is the ultimate perfect dinner.” Of course it could have been atmosphere since it had snowed all day and was the perfect night for soup, but still, when we were fighting over the last scoops in the pot, I knew this had to be a winner. Note: To make my life easier, while the soup is coming together, I put the chopped broccoli in a large glass bowl, cover with saran wrap and microwave for about 3-4 minutes. Ingredients Directions Simmer chicken broth and chopped onion for 15-20 minutes in a covered small saucepan, until onions are soft. Printed from Mel's Kitchen Cafe (www.melskitchencafe.com) Recipe Source: adapted very slightly from my friend, Liz K.

Warm Salad Month: Wild Rice, Butter Bean, and Garlic Roasted Carrot Salad Well, I suppose this is the last post in the warm winter salad month. February flew by, filled up with seasonal fare at its best. It can sometimes be a challenge to find my creative side when the ground has been frozen for 5 months, but I am always amazed at what I can pull off with a few vegetables from the cold storage and some dried goods from the pantry. This next warm salad is probably my most beloved because it features 3 of my all-time favorite foods: wild rice, butter beans, and garlic roasted carrots. Into the Wild RiceI think that wild rice is one of the most delicious whole foods available. Contrary to popular belief wild rice is in fact, not rice at all, but the seed of a wild grass that grows in the Great Lakes region of North America. As a bonus, wild rice is wildly nutritious. This recipe was an “accident” at work – I was using up seemingly disparate ingredients that were available that day, and this delightful salad was the end result. Directions:1. Hold tight, friends.

Leprechaun Trap Cake This may look like a perfectly innocent cake meant to lure a leprechaun to the top but it has a few secrets. Secret #1: Beneath the pile of gold coins are fragile bars, when the leprechaun approaches to grab the coins he’ll fall into the pit and be trapped. Secret #2: There is a rainbow hiding inside the cake. Have you heard of Leprechaun traps? I decided that my angel food cake pan, with the hole in the middles, would make an excellent shape for a leprechaun trap. To read the complete how-to for this cake please click on MORE. To form the rainbow in this cake I used the method shown here at Omnomicon which is very simple — separate your cake batter, color each section, then pour it into your cake pan one color on top of the next. The trouble: Usually when one makes a cake like this you divide the batter into equal parts but that results in the color that went in first spreading out more as it cups around the colors that come on top. So this is what I did. This makes for pretty dishes.

Crispy Cornmeal Sweet Potato Fries You know those conversations you have with friends where you discuss, in all seriousness, that if you were animals which one you would be? Well, my buddies and I do this, but with vegetables. “You are so totally an artichoke!” “No, she’s a cucumber.” Well, it has been widely agreed upon that I am a sweet potato. For anyone who is as wild about this tuber as I am, you’ve undoubtedly tried making sweet potato fries. The secret to this recipe is not just about the ingredients, but the process. One, size matters. The last little element that really makes these fries special, is of course cornmeal. I did go the arrowroot road (or as some of you may have tried, the cornstarch coating) but I think it’s better when you are deep-frying case, not baking. Passing on the Healing VibesI recently found out something really cool about sweet potatoes, and that is the amazing properties of their “storage proteins”. I paired the sweet potato fries with a tangy chermoula and yogurt dip. Directions: 1.

Peanut Butter Mousse in Tuile Cookie Spoons Recently a friend asked me to bake for an upcoming party she's having, so I've been researching all kinds of bite-sized dessert canapés. One recipe that caught my attention is from BHG; a rich mousse that is served in the bowl of a teaspoon. The mousse sounds inviting, but I'm not sure I want to commit a good portion of flatware to the project (32 spoons!). Do they exist? I've wanted to try stencil paste (or tuile batter) for some time, and now I had the perfect opportunity! The tuile batter recipe comes from my new favorite cookbook, Le Cordon Bleu Complete Cooking Techniques. I'm happy to say that the stencil paste is very uncomplicated. These bake for only a short time. ...and onto the curve of a rolling pin. The hardened spoons will have a crisp texture. As for the mousse, it is very simple and quite good by itself. It is very rich and a little heavier than expected. My one complaint? Perhaps you are just plain crazy about incredibly rich and decadent peanut butter mousse. With love,