Cake, Batter, and Bowl

Truly Outrageous Baked Sweet Potatoes

November 4, 2009

I love Halloween and have gone as the rocker Jem of the 80s hit cartoon Jem and the Holograms three years in a row now. I have no shame, I loved Jem growing up and adore the costume so much that I may even use it again at some point! I have very fond memories of watching the cartoon, and based on the reaction my costume always gets, most little girls growing up in the 80s did too! Who wouldn’t want to be able to transform into the lead singer of a band with pink hair just by pressing her earring?

You know what else I think about when I look back on the 80s? Baked potatoes! 1983 was a good year for my family, my brother was born, and Wendy’s put baked potatoes on their menu. My whole family always ordered baked potatoes over French fries at Wendy’s since their fries were sort of subpar. A few years later, my very favorite thing to do at the mall was hit the baked potato stand in the food court (which sadly, seem to have disappeared). I think they actually had some pretty decent toppings, like cheese and broccoli, but I was a picky eater and only had eyes for the huge tub of fake butter. I think the butter weighed more than the potato itself, making it oh so good. So, in honor of the 80s, I decided we had to have baked potatoes for dinner tonight!

I actually just nuked my sweet potatoes in the microwave in order to speed things up and then mixed the flesh with shredded chicken and some spices. I was thinking about how I always like having a perfect bite of both stuffing and mashed potatoes at Thanksgiving and was inspired to top the potatoes with crumbled cornbread. Then I added a bit of goat cheese because it just makes everything better!

Truly Outrageous Baked Sweet Potatoes
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 large sweet potatoes, scrubbed
2 cooked boneless chicken breasts (I poached mine), shredded
Juice of one lime
1/4 teaspoon ground thyme
1/4 teaspoon chili powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups crumbled cornbread
3 ounces crumbled goat cheese

Directions:
Heat olive oil in a skillet over medium high heat and saute onions for 5 to 7 minutes or until soft; add garlic and saute one additional minute.

Poke sweet potatoes several times with a fork and microwave on high for 15 to 20 minutes or until cooked. Cut potatoes in half lengthwise and scoop out flesh with a spoon. Place flesh in a large bowl with the onion mixture, shredded chicken, lime juice, thyme, chili powder, and salt, and mix until well combined.

Preheat broiler. Place sweet potato mix evenly in the potato shells on a large cookie sheet. Top evenly with crumbled cornbread and goat cheese. Broil for 2 to 5 minutes or until warmed through. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition: 296 calories, 7.9g fat, 3.5g fiber, 24.4g protein per serving
Cost: $1.19 per serving

46 Comments - Leave a comment!

Caramelized Shallot and Crispy Sage Macaroni and Cheese

October 31, 2009

Happy Halloween! We’re currently putting the final touches on Apolinaras’ costume and I’m hoping I can convince him to let me post a few pictures, but I don’t want to push my luck too much. I’m very excited that I even convinced him to dress up – this is only his second time doing so in our 8 years together! It rained several days this week and I couldn’t help but think back to the year my brother was a green stegosaurus. Our grandma, who was very passionate about sewing, always made our Halloween costumes, so we were in the fortunate position to be anything that we could dream up. Richard went through a period of wanting to work at a museum and decided to be a dinosaur one year. His costume was adorable, but he had a long tail that was filled with stuffing like a pillow and it rained that Halloween. His entire tail got completely soaked and became so heavy that the poor little guy had a lot of trouble lugging it around behind him, so we didn’t haul in very much candy that year. I’m happy the weather is supposed to be clear tomorrow so all the little trick or treaters can enjoy themselves!

Whenever it’s gloomy and rainy out, I always start craving mac & cheese. I’m a tiny bit embarrassed to admit that I usually just make the stuff from the blue box (in my defense, it’s actually pretty tasty with a few modifications – I use half the amount of butter, add buttermilk, and tons of cheddar cheese). But, I recently made the real deal for the first time and it was definitely worth the extra effort. The caramelized shallots, crispy sage, and buttermilk make this version extra delicious and indulgent, and I love the cute orecchiette pasta.

p.s. I’m submitting this to Natasha’s 5 Star Mac & Cheese Makeover! Be sure to check out her blog soon for the round up!

Caramelized Shallot and Crispy Sage Macaroni and Cheese
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 pound orecchiette pasta
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 cups chopped shallots
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 cup heavy cream
2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
2 cups shredded gruyere cheese
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup chopped fresh sage

Directions:
Prepare pasta according to package directions. Briefly, bring a large pot of water to a boil over high heat. Add pasta and cook 10 to 15 minutes, or until tender and drain.

Heat olive oil over medium heat in a large pan. Add shallots and cook 15 to 17 minutes, stirring frequently, or until caramelized. Add garlic and sauté one additional minute.

Meanwhile, melt 4 tablespoons butter in a saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in flour until smooth and cook one minute or until mixture starts to brown. Whisk in buttermilk and cream, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and mix in cheddar cheese, gruyere cheese, and salt. Cook 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and mixture is smooth.

Melt remaining 1 tablespoon butter in a small pan over medium heat. Add sage and turn off heat.

Mix orecchiette pasta, caramelized shallots, cheese sauce, and crispy sage in a large bowl until well combined. Makes 8 servings.

Nutrition: 685 calories, 41.2g fat, 2.2g fiber, 24.8g protein per serving
Cost: $1.85 per serving

57 Comments - Leave a comment!

Pumpkin Pie Truffles

October 27, 2009

Hmm, this is my third post in a row featuring pumpkin and I have a couple more pumpkin recipes all ready to go! Sorry for the lack of variety – I’ll try to mix it up and refrain from posting the others for awhile, but I have to get this one in before Halloween!

For my sweet Halloween treat, I wanted to make truffles that tasted like pumpkin pie and looked like cute little mini pumpkins. I think I’m at 90% of the way there with this recipe. The taste is right on (pumpkin pie and white chocolate – yum!), but my pumpkin shaping skills need a bit of work…these are supposed to be pumpkins, not basketballs! Anyway, this was actually my third attempt at getting the truffle filling right, so I was glad to have finally nailed it! Canned pumpkin puree is a tad watery, so I was having consistency issues, until I realized that the best solution was to simmer the puree for awhile to remove some of the water. I also colored white chocolate for the first time with my gel food coloring kit, which worked surprisingly well. If I can successfully cover truffles in chocolate, anyone can! I was planning on cutting up chocolate for the pumpkin stumps, but then I saw pecans and decided that was the way to go. These little guys are RICH, so you only need one to satisfy your sweet tooth craving!

Pumpkin Pie Truffles
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup pure pumpkin puree
1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups white chocolate chips
Several drops of orange gel food coloring
15 small pecan pieces

Directions:
Mix butter, pumpkin, and pumpkin pie spice in a small nonstick pan and heat over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until mixture is reduced to 1/2 cup.

Mix cooked pumpkin, brown sugar, flour, and salt in medium bowl until well combined. Chill dough for 30 minutes in the refrigerator. Shape chilled dough into 15 1-inch balls. Place on waxed paper on a cookie sheet and chill in the refrigerator while preparing chocolate.

Melt white chocolate chips in a shallow bowl on High 1 minute, stirring after 30 seconds; stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Mix orange gel food coloring with the melted chocolate until smooth. Using 2 spoons, dip pumpkin balls into melted chocolate and cover evenly. Place on waxed paper and top each truffle with a pecan piece “stump”. Serve after chocolate sets, about 5 minutes. Makes 15 truffles.

Nutrition: 141 calories, 7.5g fat, 1.2g fiber, 1.2g protein per truffle
Cost: $0.19 per truffle

46 Comments - Leave a comment!

Halloween Pumpkin Quesadillas

October 23, 2009

I apparently have a bit more Martha in me than I’ve previously appreciated because when I stumbled upon some habanero lime flour tortillas at Trader Joe’s the other night, my eyes got wide with excitement and I squealed, “they’re orange, they have bright orange tortillas!!” Before Apolinaras could ask why I was causing a commotion over tortillas, I had already dashed away in search of black beans and canned pumpkin. You see, I’d been mulling over savory Halloween treat ideas and when I saw the tortillas I was immediately inspired to make Halloween pumpkin quesadillas!!

On the ride home I brainstormed a bit and decided that I’d use a cookie cutter to cut little pumpkins out of the tortillas and then carve jack-o-lantern faces into them using a sharp knife. I already knew I wanted to stuff them with the pumpkin and black beans I had picked up, along with some shredded chicken, lime juice, and adobo sauce. But what really make me grin was when I came up with the idea to top the filling with cheese so that the cheese would cause the eye, nose, and mouth holes to “glow”! I got home and immediately went to work “carving” my pumpkins. I had so much fun making these and they’re super cute, if I do say so myself! They are the perfect treat to serve at a Halloween party and I’m already thinking it will be a fun Halloween tradition to make these every year with our (future!) kids too! Oh, and they taste great! Enjoy!

Halloween Pumpkin Quesadillas
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 package Trader Joe’s Habarnero Lime Flour Bright Orange Tortillas
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 15-ounce can pure pumpkin
1 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed
2 cooked boneless chicken breasts (I poached mine), shredded
Juice of one lime
1 teaspoon adobo sauce from a can of chipotle peppers (or to taste)
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups shredded cheddar cheese

Directions:
Use a pumpkin shaped cookie cutter to cut tortillas into small pumpkin shapes (I got 3 pumpkins per tortilla). Carve faces into half the pumpkins.

Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large nonstick skillet. Add onion and sauté for 5 to 7 minutes or until tender; add garlic and cook one additional minute. Add pumpkin, black beans, shredded chicken, lime juice, adobo sauce, and salt to the pan and stir until smooth and heated through.

Preheat broiler. Place non-carved pumpkin shaped tortillas on a large greased cookie sheet. Spread filling evenly on top of the pumpkins, and top evenly with cheese. Place carved pumpkin tortillas on top and broil for 2 to 5 minutes or until cheese is melted and quesadillas are heated through. Makes 5 servings (of 3 pumpkin quesadillas each).

Nutrition: 667 calories, 24.7g fat, 6.7, 10.7g fiber, 46.4g protein per serving
Cost: $1.87 per serving

47 Comments - Leave a comment!

Pumpkin Martinis

October 19, 2009

I’m not much of a mixologist, but I was inspired to tend bar after seeing Erin’s recipe for pumpkin spice latte martinis – what a great idea, I didn’t even know pumpkin liqueur existed! When POM Wonderful recently offered to send samples of their new iced coffees, I immediately thought about Erin’s creation and knew I wanted to try their iced coffee in a pumpkin martini of my own! We received samples of Café au Lait and Chocolate flavors, and the Chocolate flavor was ok, but the Café au Lait was delicious. I mixed the iced coffee with pumpkin liqueur, vodka, and butterscotch schnapps this weekend and was pleasantly surprised about well the drinks turned out! They were so yummy, in fact, that I couldn’t stop at just one… Thanks to Erin for the inspiration and to POM Wonderful for the Café au Lait Iced Coffee!

Pumpkin Martinis
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 part POM Café au Lait Iced Coffee
1 part spiced pumpkin liqueur
1/2 part vodka
1/2 part butterscotch schnapps

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in a martini shaker filled with ice. Shake well and strain into martini glasses.

Nutrition: 275 calories, 0.6g fat, 0.0g fiber, 0.1g protein per martini (based on each part being 1.5 fl oz, measured in a standard jigger)
Cost: $1.50 per martini

36 Comments - Leave a comment!

Apple Spiral Chai Coffee Cake

October 16, 2009

I was super excited when my friend Shannon organized an apple picking field trip the other weekend to Smolak Farms! Not only would I get to check out a local orchard for the first time, I also would get to meet several of my favorite fellow Boston food bloggers, including Nicole, Kelly, Elina, and Lauren. We all had a great time chatting and discussing which apple varieties to use in our future apple concoctions (check out their sites from some great pictures!), and to top it all off I picked up a pack of spiced apple cider and donuts to enjoy after we got home!

So what exactly do you do with 10 pounds of apples? I’m actually not a huge fan of raw apples. I had one daily for years and then suddenly one day I couldn’t bring myself to even take one more bite, so I guess I just overdid it, but my hubby polished off quite a few and I helped by doing a bit of baking! Apolinaras requested a low fat and sugar apple crisp and I also made my favorite apple coffee cake, which is always on our table when we have weekend guests. Since it’s an upside down cake, there ends up being a lovely spiral of apples sitting atop a moist cake layer spiced with cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, and cloves. The walnuts add an extra crunch! SO good.

Apple Spiral Chai Coffee Cake
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

Apple Layer:
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 tart baking apples, peeled, cored, and thinly sliced

Cake Layer:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1 cup sour cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Grease a 9-inch round cake pan.

Prepare the apple layer. In a small bowl, mix butter and brown sugar. Spread sugar mixture evenly in greased cake pan. Fan apple slices in two concentric circles on top of the sugar mixture.

Prepare the cake layer. In a medium bowl, mix the flour, cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, cloves, baking soda, and salt. Mix thoroughly with a fork and set aside. In another large bowl, mix the butter, sugar, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth. Slowly mix in the flour mixture and then the walnuts.

Bake at 350˚F for 35-40 minutes or a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes or until the cake comes away from the edges of the pan, then run a knife around the outside of the pan, and immediately invert on a serving platter, and cut into wedges. Makes 12 servings.

Nutrition: 330 calories, 25.1g fat, 2.0g fiber, 4.7g protein per serving
Cost: $0.55 per serving

44 Comments - Leave a comment!

Sun Dried Tomato Turkey Meatloaf

October 13, 2009

Poor meatloaf. I think meatloaf tends to get a bad rap, but I will always have a soft spot for it because it was the first dish I ever made for Apolinaras. I was a baby of 22 and just starting to get comfortable in the kitchen when I invited him over for dinner. We’d only been dating for a few weeks, but he had actually already cooked for me and made a lovely bacon wrapped chicken, which only made me a bit more nervous about my own culinary skills. I decided on meatloaf and roasted potatoes with green beans because it was cold out and I was craving something comforting. Even though I was living in grad student housing and had a very small kitchen with maybe 3 feet of counter space, I managed to get the meatloaf in the oven in plenty of time, only to make a frantic phone call to my mom half an hour later because I thought I had burned the onions (don’t worry, they were actually just caramelized!). Much to my relief, everything somehow came out perfectly and Apolinaras was hooked – he still requests meatloaf often to this day!

I’ve experimented with various versions over the years and this is my favorite. It’s very moist and flavorful because it’s packed with cooked veggies and sun dried tomatoes. No sauce is needed – it is absolutely perfect on its own!

Sun Dried Tomato Turkey Meatloaf
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 carrots, chopped
4 shallots, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
3/4 cup sun dried tomatoes, chopped
1 1/2 pounds ground turkey
1 large egg
1/4 cup crushed croutons
1/4 cup shredded parmesan cheese
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Heat olive oil over medium high heat in a large skillet and sauté carrots for 5 minutes. Add shallots and pepper and sauté 5 more minutes or until veggies are soft. Add garlic and sauté one additional minute.

Mix cooked veggies, sun-dried tomatoes, ground turkey, egg, crushed croutons, parmesan cheese, oregano, basil, and salt in a large bowl with hands until well combined. Form meat into a loaf and place in a greased pan. Bake meatloaf at 350˚F for 40 to 45 minutes or until cooked through. Makes 6 servings.

Nutrition: 262 calories, 4.0g fat, 2.0g fiber, 27.7g protein per serving
Cost: $1.30 per serving

40 Comments - Leave a comment!

M&M Cashew Pretzel Bars

October 9, 2009

Our whirlwind NYC tour would not have been complete without visiting a few famous bakeries! The two at the top of my list were Bouchon and Levain, so the first thing we did after checking into our hotel was head up to Bouchon Bakery in the Time Warner Center right next to Central Park. I will probably never make it to The French Laundry or Per Se, so I was excited to sample a bit of Thomas Keller’s genius at Bouchon. We had a light lunch (I highly recommend the rich dark meat chicken veggie and herb dumpling soup!), so we still had room for double chocolate and Nutter Butter cookies, which were incredible! Bouchon was our favorite bakery and my mom actually kept suggesting we head back there for another meal during the remainder of our trip!

After lunch we headed up to the Upper West Side so we could sample the famous cookies at Levain. We got a chocolate chip walnut and dark chocolate peanut butter chip cookie and enjoyed them outside on a bench in front of the bakery. Both cookies were still warm with a crispy outside and gooey middle. They were really really good, but were they the best I’ve ever had? Probably not. But, I still think Levain is a bakery everyone should visit at least once!

Next up was Amy’s Bread, a cute bakery in Chelsea Market that features both breads and desserts. I had a butterscotch cashew bar, which was delicious, but the real highlight was meeting Emily (which I know you’re all super jealous about!), the gorgeous superstar blogger of Sugar Plum! I’ve been a huge fan of Emily’s blog for a long time now. In fact, her blog was one of the ones that inspired me to start my own! She was also the first person to ever comment on my little blog. She’s just as sweet and funny as she comes across on her blog and I think we could have chatted all day!

I was also very excited that to meet up with my good friend Annika. She treated me to an amazing spread of sweets at Billy’s Bakery, which is around the corner from her apartment (lucky girl!). We reminisced about causing trouble in college and turning 30 and overdid it on a piece of ice box cake (which tasted like a huge Oreo – yum!), cheesecake, carrot cake cupcakes, and a stack of snickerdoodles!

The last sweet spot of our trip was a visit to M&Ms World in Times Square. My mom is a HUGE M&Ms fan and collects their dispensers. She picked out a couple things for her birthday and we both got cute matching measuring spoon sets (I seriously can never have too many, I swear all my 1/4 teaspoons are hiding out together in some random drawer because I can never find one when I need it!).

So, of course I had to come up with a recipe featuring M&Ms for this post! The cookies were inspired by the butterscotch cashew bars I had at Amy’s. To play with the salty and sweet contrast even more, I mixed chunks of pretzels into the dough. My original plan was to top the cookie bars with a homemade caramel sauce (which I’ve recently discovered is actually pretty easy to make), but I realized our cream had gone bad while I was heating the sugar, and using milk didn’t exactly work out. Anyway, you can never go wrong with chocolate, so I made a quick ganache instead and topped the bars with it and then sprinkled as many M&Ms and beautiful whole cashews on top that I could. The cookies themselves were really crunchy, so I had to be very careful getting them out of the pan. I actually lifted them all the way out (I think lining the pan with parchment paper would work really well) and then cut them on a cutting board with my chef’s knife. They are very tasty though and definitely worth this extra hassle!

M&M Cashew Pretzel Bars
Printable Recipe

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup coarsely chopped pretzels (I used the honey wheat pretzel rods from TJs cut into eighths)
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup whole cashews
1/2 cup M&Ms

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Mix butter, brown sugar, flour and baking powder in a medium bowl until smooth. Mix in chopped pretzels. Spread dough evenly into a greased 8×8-inch pan (or line the pan with parchment paper so the bars can be easily pulled out of the pan) and bake for 15 minutes at 350˚F or until lightly browned and set. Cool for 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, microwave chocolate chips and milk on High 1 minute, stirring after 30 seconds; stir until chips are melted and mixture is smooth. Spread ganache over cooled pretzel bars and top ganache evenly with cashews and M&Ms. Refrigerate for an hour or until ganache is set. Cut into 16 bars. Makes 16 servings.

Nutrition: 194 calories, 10.7g fat, 0.9g fiber, 2.2g protein per serving
Cost: $0.37 per serving

44 Comments - Leave a comment!