Pearl Couscous Salad » Foodiddy I had a package of Bob’s Red Mill Pearled Couscous in my pantry for months and thought a family gathering would be the perfect place to try out a new recipe. I searched the Internet for options and thumbed through a bunch of cookbooks. I ended up using a Giada De Laurentiis recipe as my base – but changed it up with substitutions and deletions – especially after reading some of the review feedback on the Food Network website. The Ingredients: 2 Cups Pearl Couscous (Also known as Israeli Couscous) 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil 4 Cups Vegetable Broth 1 Cup Dried Cranberries 1.5 – 2 Medium Granny Smith Apples – diced 1/2 Cup Pine Nuts – toasted 1/4 Cup Red Onion – finely chopped 1/4 Cup Flat Leaf Parsley – finely chopped 1 Tablespoon Fresh Rosemary – finely chopped 2 Heaping Teaspoons Fresh Thyme – finely chopped Vinaigrette Ingredients: Directions: The salad can be served warm or cold – I really liked it either way. A photo of the couscous after cooking it in the olive oil.
The Best Chocolate Mousse of Your Life Under 5 Minutes : Cafe Fernando – Food Blog - best chocolate mousse - best chocolate mousse recipe - chocolate chantilly - chocolate mousse recipe - herve this - Chocolate December 22nd, 2010 | Category: Chocolate Two ingredients (seriously, only chocolate and water) and five minutes later, you will be eating The Best Chocolate Mousse of Your Life. I promise. And you don’t even need any fancy kitchen gadgets. Patience and a bit of elbow grease are required, but we always need those in the kitchen, right? This amazing discovery was made by the famous French chemist, Hervé This, who is also known as the man who unboiled an egg. Since the recipe has only two ingredients, it all comes down to the quality of the chocolate you use. Don’t take this as a mousse recipe only. You can also flavor it with spices like cinnamon or cayenne pepper or add a tablespoon of liquor like Grand Marnier, Chartreuse or Tia Maria. Or boil the water first, take off heat, place a couple of Earl Grey tea bags, let infuse and then use it as your liquid. The most important part of the recipe is achieving the right consistency. Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Chocolate Breakfast Rolls (A Morning Hack) I don't believe in breakfasts that take more than 20 minutes to make. When I wake up in the morning, I am HANGRY. I need a tall glass of water and some calories ASAP, or the rest of my day goes to hell. Which is why these chocolate rolls are absolutely perfect. Nope, I didn't spend the morning folding croissant dough together, no, no, no. Instead, all I needed was all-butter puff pastry, dark chocolate chips, and a sprinkle of sea salt. Frozen puff pastry is a wonderful, wonderful product. Feel free to experiment with different flavors and combinations. Personally, I'm not that creative in the mornings. Chocolate Breakfast Rolls (A Morning Hack in 30 Minutes or Less) Ingredients Makes 6 rolls: 1 (14 oz.) package frozen all-butter puff pastry, defrosted overnight in the fridge 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips (at least 60 or 70% -- I used Ghirardelli's)1 egg1 tablespoon watera sprinkle of sea salt Recipe
Honey garlic slow cooker chicken It’s probably weird that I pulled out the slow cooker in the middle of May and I’m sure this recipe would have much more appeal in the winter months, but sometimes a craving just has to be addressed. You know that nasty honey bourbon chicken with the suspect brown sauce that the Chinese places in the mall hand out on sample platters as you walk by? Which, btw, I really hope you don’t eat. Ew. I can’t even remember the last time I ate at a mall Chinese place or any mall restaurant for that matter. The roach sighting on the Sbarro countertop a few years ago kind of turned me off. I know the slow cooker is supposed to be a convenience but honestly, I find it hard to plan far enough in advance to be able to spend 6-8 hours cooking something. The result was a sticky, sweet, spicy sauce that coated every piece of chicken. So comfortingly delicious and no msg. Honey Garlic Ginger Chicken Cook time Total time Slow cooker chicken with a sweet honey garlic sauce. Author: Gina Matsoukas Serves: 3-4
Lasagna Stuffed Shells Recipe Whenever I go to an Italian restaurant I order one of two things, lasagna or some sort of alfredo. It is something I could eat everyday but am too lazy to make it at home… ever… it just takes too damn long. So, in an attempt to decrease the time it takes to make lasagna (and because I stumbled across a post somewhere) I was going to do some sort of lasagna spin-off. Well, I couldn’t find what I was looking for in the store, and these giant shells were on sale so I decided to stuff them with everything that is in lasagna. This did not save me anytime at all. I can’t really call a post mine without there being some disgusting looking mixture of ingredients. The meat mix was half ground beef half sweet sausage. Next up, I got the sauce rolling and started cooking the shells according to their box. The sauce was stole from “The Worlds Best Lasagna” on allrecipes: onions, garlic, crushed tomatoes, tomato paste, tomato sauce, and sugar. Bored of regular lasagna? Ingredients 1/2 pound Ground Beef
Joy the Baker Brown Butter Banana Bread I’ve unpacked the moving boxes of the essentials: sock slippers, gin, loaf pan, spatula, and mixing bowl. I’ve managed to find the fancy candles I love, a few pictures of my family, and the face wash. The cookbooks are lined up on the book shelf, color-coded just like Shutterbean taught me. I’m just far enough in the whole moving process to miss home. What I do know is that I’m mostly responsible for feeling at home where I’m home. We’re not looking to reinvent the wheel here. I love that banana bread comes together rather effortlessly. Good news for all of us, right? Mashed bananas are stirred together with granulated sugar and molasses. Butter is melted until it’s golden brown and smells juuuuust nutty. Oh! Eggs and butter into the banana mash. No nuts. The smell that fills the kitchen is home exactly. I thought about sharing this loaf with my neighbors, but there’s plenty of future for that. Brown Butter Banana Bread makes 1 9×5-inch loaf Print this Recipe! 2 cups all-purpose flour
Lasagna Cupcake Recipe Guest post: Andy Sermonia is a Filipino food and lifestyle blogger based in San Francisco. More than anything, she loves taking her baby daughter to long strolls in the park and spending the day experimenting in her kitchen. She blogs over at Andy & Belle. The post includes her photos and recipe. Since moving to California from Manila, I’ve had to adjust to a few things that I didn’t normally do—the laundry, cooking, cleaning, grocery shopping and paying the bills. So far, it’s been quite overwhelming with our new baby and all; but the good thing is, my husband now does the laundry and the bills. I do try my best to conquer each challenge and right now, it’s all about taking over our kitchen. With that said, here’s one of my favorite recipes that I modified from one that I got from Can You Stay for Dinner. It’s really quick (no need to boil pasta), fun and great for parties and small gatherings. Yield: 12 lasagna cups Ingredients Procedure
Matt Damon's Beef Satay Skewers Makes 20 appetizers 'It has lots of flavor with a little kick!' says Damon of the dish he cooked with chef Ming Tsai at a benefit for the Family Reach Foundation. Ingredients 1 tbsp. cracked black peppercorns Kosher salt 1/4 cup red wine 6 tbsp. Steps 1Stir peppercorns in a small skillet over medium-high heat 2 to 4 minutes until fragrant and smoking; transfer to a large glass bowl. Bonus News Joy the Baker Savory Cheddar and Cranberry Soda Bread - Joy the Baker I usually enter the colder months with a hint of bitterness. It has everything to do with wearing uncomfortable tights and missing fresh strawberries in the market. And I live in California so surely a real winter would send me into a tailspin. Thank goodness for cranberries. I’m so thankful for these little ruby-red gems! Don’t even get me started on how many sweet cranberry scented candles I sold when I worked at The Body Shop. Original photography shot with the Canon EOS 5D Mark III digital SLR. I usually pair fresh cranberries with sweets. Last year I made this Cranberry Orange and Pecan Coffee Cake and I can honestly say it’s one of the best things the cold months have to offer. This year I’ve swapped orange fruit for sharp orange cheddar cheese. Now… can I sell you a candle? This bread incorporates cheddar in two ways. We grate a generous two cups of cheddar and fold it right into the batter. We’re also using a cheddar powder! This is a super simple dough. Living on the savory side.
Pizza with Hoisin Sauce We eat pizza often so sometimes it’s nice to make one that’s different from a traditional, Italian-style pizza. And this ain’t no traditional pizza. Now…of course a traditional red sauce, mozzarella cheese pizza can not be beat in my book. But this one is good too, they’re totally different from one another. As we started to make this pizza we realized that this sauce tasted a whole lot like the sauce in Kara’s famous dip. Yield: 1 13-inch pizza Ingredients 1 chicken breast, grilled and shredded ½ pound pizza dough (store bought or try our favorite dough recipe) 4-5 tablespoons hoisin sauce 2 medium carrots, julienned 2 scallions, thinly sliced 2 cups mozzarella cheese, shredded ¼ cup crushed peanuts Directions Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. On a floured surface, roll out the dough to one 13-inch round. Bake until the dough has crisped and browned slightly around the edges, about 10-12 minutes. Source: adapted from Bev Cooks
Portabella Lasagna I love lasagna despite all the work and I’m not talking about taking a frozen one out of a box and baking it in the oven for 45 minutes! And for the record, this is not just another lasagna recipe with mushrooms inside. I’ve actually taken the classic lasagna dish and evolved it into two vegetable versions where I completely omitted the lasagna noodles and used spaghetti squash in one version and more recently, zucchini. Both were outstanding and were a big hit with the family! But recently, I wanted to go a different direction and use lasagna as an inspiration and create something lighter and less time consuming! Danny’s Portabella Lasagna While I love lasagna, it’s really a heavy meal. And now that I’m back to working out on a regular basis, I wanted to create something that was lighter but still full of that lasagna goodness! And no sauce is complete without fresh herbs, so if you have them, use them – it makes the flavor that much more amazing! I hope you give this a try. Ingredients
Joy the Baker Homemade Hot Dog Buns We are officially in ‘Last Meal’ territory. You know that weird question people ask you… ‘What would you choose to eat as your last meal?’. Geeeez what a daunting question! People ask it so frivolously. You know that’s actually going to happen right!? It’s complicated in this brain. Aaaaaaannnyyway. Hot dogs would totally be my last meal. All-natural. I’ve been meaning to make Homemade Hot Dog Buns for exactly one year. Let’s get this show on the road! Hot dog buns are made from a yeasted dough. This dough comes together in a large bowl with a wooden spoon. That also means that we have no excuses. This dough is brought together a little at a time. It’s soupy but we’re on our way. Flour is added a half cup at a time. We’re getting there. This is cup six of six and one half. Hashtag: math. My dough was shaggy and lax. A moist dough will result in tender buns. Our mellow dough can be kneaded with a bench scraper. The dough should come together into a big ol’ loose dough. Big body dough. Baked!
Grilled Pesto and Mozzarella Sandwich for a Garage Painter The other day my son was painting the garage. It was hot, muggy and he was starving. I thought I had nothing in the house. Then I remembered my homemade pesto, oven roasted tomatoes and some leftover fresh mozzarella cheese.I had some yummy Arthur Avenue Casa Bread from the Bronx and I gave it a quick toasting. All text and picuters are property of The Gypsy Chef
Crash Hot Potatoes | The Pioneer Woman Cooks Man, do I love Australia. First, my oldest daughter was conceived there on our honeymoon…and while we’re on the subject, have I ever shared with you that we almost named her “Sydney” as a nod to her point of origin? In the end, I chickened out, though—I thought that might be a little corny, and truth be told, I think she was actually conceived in Brisbane. But I’ll stop there. This is a family-friendly website. Anyway, I just love Australia. They’re so simple, it’s terrifying. For now, though, let’s take a chill pill and make Crash Hot Potatoes! The Cast of Characters: New Potatoes (or other small, round potato), Olive Oil, Kosher Salt, Black Pepper, and whatever herb you like. Begin by bringing a pot of salted water to a boil. Add in as many potatoes as you wish to make, and cook them until they’re fork-tender. Oh! Next, generously drizzle olive oil on a sheet pan. This will mean the difference between the potatoes sticking and not sticking, so don’t be shy here. Or something. That’s it!