Spicy Couscous and Vegetables

I got this recipe from http://www.foodnetwork.com/. This side dish is healthy, quick, and easy to make and the delicious combined flavors gravitate you to a second serving or more. The dish gets cold quick so I would put it together at the last minute to complete your meal. I made a few changes to the recipe that I acknowledged below. Also, the original recipe called for 1 small eggplant, quartered and sliced that I did not include. Even though the title says "spicy," it is not spicy hot, it just has various spices in it. Hope you enjoy it as much as we did!

Ingredients:
- 1 zucchini, quartered and then cut into slices (the original call for 1 small zucchini, halved and cut into slices. i used a regular size zucchini since I was leaving out the eggplant and I cut mine smaller to adapt to my toddler.)
- 1 red bell pepper, diced (original recipe called for 2 small red peppers, large dice)
- Olive oil to drizzle over veggies
- Salt and freshly ground black pepper
- 1 1/2 cups couscous (I used one 10 oz box of Hodgson Mill Whole Wheat Couscous.)
- 2 cups chicken stock (I used 2 chicken bouillion cubes. The original recipe called for 2 cups of vegetable stock, but I didn't have any. The chicken bouillion cubes turned out just fine especially since I served this with Italian baked chicken.)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cumin seeds
- 1/2 tsp ground ginger
- 1/2 tsp paprika
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1 Tbsp roughly chopped parsley (I used dried)
- 2 Tbsp roughly chopped cilantro
- 2 Tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 lemon juice (original recipe calls for grated lemon zest as well. since my lemon was a bit old and hard, I did not use any zest, just more of the juice)

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Place cut vegetables on a baking sheet and drizzle with some olive oil and season with salt and pepper to taste. Place in oven and roast for about 10 minutes. Place uncooked couscous in a heat proof bowl and stir in all the spices and orange juice. Bring the chicken stock to a boil and pour over the couscous making sure it covers the couscous mixture completely. Cover with a plate or plastic wrap and leave for 5 to 10 minutes or until all the stock is absorbed. Stir in herbs, olive oil, lemon juice (and zest if zested). Fluff the couscous with a fork and toss with roasted vegetables. Serve immediately. Serves 4-6.

Cake Balls

A friend told me about cake balls recently so I went online to retrieve a recipe and found this one at http://www.allrecipes.com/. I included tips I found online along with my own in the recipe below to allow for more details and helps along the way. This recipe is very versatile. You can mix and match cake and icing flavors as well as the chocolate coatings. If you want to go the extra mile, cake balls can be rolled in nuts, sprinkles, coconut, etc. or double dipped in white and dark chocolates. I chose strawberry cake mix for Valentine's Day as I wanted the pink center. These were very pretty (pic doesn't do justice), but I'd like to try my favorite cake/frosting flavors in the future. These were yummy desserts/candy and a hit with others, but know they are very sweet! Cake balls are great for parties, showers, bagged for gifts, etc...

Ingredients:

1 package strawberry cake mix (or your choice of flavoring)

1 container prepared vanilla frosting (or your choice of flavoring)

1 11.5 oz package of milk chocolate baking chips (I used Ghirardelli)

1 4 oz bar of white chocolate (I used Ghirardelli)

Instructions:

1. Prepare the cake mix according to package directions using any of the recommended pan sizes. When cake is done, crumble while warm into a large bowl, and stir in the frosting until well blended. [I used a 9x13 pan and broke the cake into pieces (after cooling for 30 mins) to get it into my food processor where I blended the frosting with it. The processor was full, but it blended down quickly (pic below). A handmixer should work well, too.]

2. Put this mixture in the refrigerator, covered, for at least 3 hours. (I let them refrigerate for about 6 hrs.)

3. Use a melon baller, small scoop or your hands to form bite size balls of the cake mixture. Place on cookie sheet(s) covered with wax paper. (I used a melon baller to help shape my balls. After doing half of them with this, I realized I still had tons of mix left so I started almost doubling the ball sizes. I made 58 cake balls of various sizes.)

4. Stick the balls in the freezer for an hour (no need to cover).

5. Melt chocolate coating in a glass or metal bowl over a pot of simmering water, stirring occassionally until smooth (pic below). If you have an official double boiler, use that.

6. Dip the balls in melted milk chocolate using a toothpick or fork to hold them. (For me, this was the hardest step. The frozen balls tended to hold too much chocolate and not spread evenly without my help of a spoon or brush as the chocolate started to harden quickly. However, if your balls fall off the toothpick into the chocolate, they are not frozen enough. So, I found a small window of time when the balls received the chocolate best. I worked amidst all extremes and coated the balls the best I could with the help of a spoon or brush when needed.

7. Place on wax paper and put in refrigerator to set.

8. Melt white chocolate the same way as milk chocolate.

9. Decorate balls with melted white chocolate. (I used a fork to zig zag designs on the balls. You can be more precise and use a bakers bag and tip.)

More Tips:
* I made 58 cake balls, but did not have enough chocolate to cover about 20 of them. Buy more chocolate or use less. I plan to buy more next time. I had some left over white chocolate from decorating that allowed me to cover some balls.

* If you use the microwave to melt your chocolate, check the chocolate every 15-30 seconds as it will burn very quickly! I recommend the double boiler method for best results.

Cooked strawberry cake and vanilla frosting mixed together in food processor

Cake balls without chocolate coating

Homemade double boiler to melt chocolate. I also melted my white chocolate this way.

Some of the completed cake balls

Sorry!

I know some faithful readers to this site are wondering what has happened as no updates have surfaced in a while. Due to my family cycling sicknesses for 2 weeks now and still going, I have been on an internet hiatus. I hope to gain the energy soon to cook and post some of the new recipes that I have stacked to try. Thanks for understanding!

Sauteed Spinach

I saw this dish made on the Food Network on the show Down Home with The Neelys. This may not be the healthiest dish even though it is spinach because you leave the bacon drippings in the recipe. However, it is delicious! Needless to say, I punted my usual turkey bacon for the real thing for this recipe - thick cut hickory smoked bacon. Gotta make one of these every once in a while. :)

Ingredients:

3 slices bacon, roughly chopped

3 garlic cloves, sliced

2 bunches spinach, well washed and tough stems discarded

2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

1. Heat a medium skillet over medium high heat.

2. Add the chopped bacon and cook until almost crisp.

3. Add garlic and cook until fragrant.

4. Add the spinach a little at a time. Toss with tongs until wilted.

5. Add balsamic vinegar.

6. Season with salt and pepper.

White Chocolate Mints

I acquired this candy recipe from a past workmate years ago and had to alter the recipe this year due to a main ingredient being out of stock. The original recipe calls for particular crushed red and green peppermint. I have only ever found it at a specialty store (mainly sells lots of baking items) in Little Rock called Vanness. However, they ran out early this season and were not ordering more. So, I found red and green small candy canes and crushed them for the mint. They worked well. These make great gifts as you can bag a few pieces in small cellophane bags. This batch made about 25+ baggies with about 3 pieces in each. Pic below.

Ingredients:
2 - 12 oz bags of white chocolate morsels
about 38 small candy canes, crushed or 1/2 bag of precrushed red and green peppermint

Instructions:
1. Melt chocolate morsels in a nonstick pan.
2. Take off heat and mix in mint.
3. Pour on cookie sheet. Spread out. Thinning the mix out helps in the breaking process and yields more candy pieces.
4. Sprinkle some mint shavings and cut pieces from candy canes on top to add color as the candy cane does not color the mint like the precrushed red and green peppermints. If you have the colored peppermints, you can opt out of sprinkling any on top as it is quite colorful.
5. Let harden. You can put it in the freezer for a quick harden.
6. Break into desired sizes. I used the tip of a knife and gently put pressure on the candy in the places I wanted it to break. Since this is a very sweet candy, remember not to make the pieces too big.

Small candy canes

Crushed mint

Melted chocolate

Mixed chocolate and mint

Spread out on cookie sheet. Can put wax paper under if want.

Sprinkled mint on top

Broken candy pieces

Bagged for gifts

Gooey Butter Cookies

I retrieved this yummy cookie recipe from Priscilla Bakes. These are delicious and very moist which is my kind of cookie. The powdered sugar somewhat disappeared on mine while cooking, so I added a little more for garnish when they were done. These make

a great gift as well by placing a few in a cellophane bag.

Ingredients:
1 8oz. pkg. cream cheese
1/2 c. butter, softened
1 egg
1/4 tsp. vanilla
1 yellow cake mix
1/2 c. powdered sugar

Instructions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a medium bowl, cream together the cream cheese and butter. Stir in egg and vanilla. Add cake mix; stir until well blended. Powder sugar your hands well. Roll balls into 1" or 2" and roll balls thoroughly in powdered sugar. Place 1" apart on ungreased cookie sheets. Bake for 10 minutes. Leave on cookie sheet for 3 minutes or more before removing to cool on wire racks.

Uber Award

I was very honored and humbled to receive the Uber Amazing Blog Award from Vickie at Uncommon Artistic Endeavors, one of my most favorite blogs. Check out her blog for creative crafts and great recipes!

This award is a blog award given to sites that:
~ inspire you
~ make you smile and laugh
~ or maybe give amazing information
~ are a great read
~ have an amazing design
~ give you any other reason that make make you think they are uber amazing!

The rules of this award are:
~ Put the logo on your blog or post.
~ Nominate at least 5 blogs (can be more) that for you are Uber Amazing!
~ Let them know that they have received this Uber Amazing award by commenting on their blog.
~ Share the love and link to this post and to the person you received your award from.

Since I am so new to this food blog world, I do not follow tons as I have limited time to research food blogs right now. However, a couple of blogs that I love that I would give this award to have already received this award:

Uncommon Artistic Endeavors - Vickie is incredibly creative with her craft ideas and can create a variety of delicious looking recipes. Vickie was also a big help/encouragement to me when I first started my hobby blog.

Priscilla Bakes - Priscilla is a 17 year old talented girl who cooks in her mom's kitchen. Her recipes look delicious and her blog is full of fun.

Other blogs that I think deserve this award are:

Simply Recipes - I love how this blog is designed. The recipe title is your link to the recipe while only a blog blurb rests under the picture of food until you link to the recipe. This might inspire me to change the look of my blog as I like the more organized home page.

The Skinny Gourmet - This food blogger has found a way to make gourmet dishes in a healthy way. She has some interesting recipes that I can't wait to try.

Enlightened Cooking - This blog sports "original recipes for fast, fresh food with a decidedly healthy bent." Camilla has tons of great light dessert recipes as well.

Spinach Frittata

My preggo self was craving a frittata, but went blank on how to make it so I googled "frittatas" and used a recipe from Simply Recipes to refresh my memory and get ideas on ingredients. Of course, I tweaked the recipe. I used to make frittatas after we moved back from Australia in 2001 because we met a girl there who was glucose intolerant. Her diet was so restricted, but just about any style of frittata made her menu. Thus, she taught me how to make them. I should add here, frittatas are so easy to make!!!

So what is a frittata? According to Wikipedia, "a frittata is a type of Italian omelette that frequently features fillings such as meats, cheeses, and vegetables. Like a traditional French omelette, a frittata is prepared in a skillet. However, whereas an omelette is cooked on a stovetop and served folded, a frittata is first partially cooked on a stovetop but then broiled to finish and served open-faced." I chose to bake mine as I do not have the proper skillet to put inside the oven for this.

I am going to post my concoction. However, you can put whatever ingredients you want for your liking. I plan to try some different ingredients next time. However, this one turned out yummy, too. I will say this is somewhat chick food as it doesn't contain much meat. My hubbie liked it, but thought it was more of a breakfast/brunch dish. Ladies, you could eat it as a meal though and not think that probably. :) I served it with garlic French bread.

Ingredients:
1 lb fresh spinach leaves (about 1 bunch), cleaned, chopped
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 red bell pepper, chopped
1 medium onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
1 large clove garlic, minced (or garlic powder)
~2 oz chopped ham
10 large eggs
2 Tbsp milk
1+ cup grated cheddar cheese
~ 10 cherry tomatoes, chopped
Salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

Instructions:
1. Preheat oven to 400°F. I let my casserole dish heat up in the oven as it preheated.
2. Cook spinach in 1/4 cup of water for a couple of minutes in a covered saucepan until just wilted. Drain water and set aside.
3. In a mixing bowl, whisk together eggs, milk, and cheddar cheese. Add in tomatoes and ham. Then, sprinkle with salt and pepper. Set aside.
4. Sauté onions and red bell peppers in olive oil in skillet, until translucent, about 2 minutes on medium high heat. Add garlic and sauté a minute further. Add cooked spinach and mix in with onions, peppers and garlic.
5. Spread out spinach mixture evenly on bottom of large casserole dish. Pour egg mixture over spinach mixture. Use a spatula to lift up the spinach mixture along the sides of the pan to let egg mixture flow underneath.
6. Bake for 20-40 minutes, until frittata is puffy and golden. Remove from oven with oven mitts and let cool for several minutes. Because my dish was deep, it took a while for the middle to cook through. Because it was taking longer than planned, we ended up cutting the sides out to eat and put the middle back in the oven to continue cooking. That is why my pic of the frittata is only a slice on a plate as we started eating it before the middle was done. ha!

Olive Cheese Bread

My friend, Jessica, made this for a play group a long time ago. She directed me to the website where I retrieved it: The Pioneer Woman. This yummy dish definitely satisfies a pregnancy craving, but could be classified as chick food (with a green salad or soup), appetizer (cut into smaller bites) or a side bread item to any dish. It is rich with flavor, but not too overwhelming in my opinion. However, if you don't like olives, you may think it is too strong. If you don't like mayo or butter in things, be encouraged that it is cooked into this and the cheese and olives out flavor it!

Ingredients:

6 oz green olives, cut coarsely
6 oz black olives, cut coarsely
3/4 lb shredded Monterey Jack cheese
2 green onions, cut
1 stick of butter, room temp (can carefully bring to room temp in microwave on "defrost" mode; don't melt)
1/2 cup mayo
1 large loaf French bread

Instructions:

Cut olives and and onions coarsely. Mix butter, mayo and cheese in bowl. Add olives and onions. Mix well. Cut French bread in half long ways. Spread the mixture evenly onto each loaf half. Bake at 325 for 25 minutes. Make sure cheese is melted nicely

To Freeze one half: 2 half loaves is a lot of olive cheese bread if you are not feeding many. To freeze one loaf half, flash freeze it first. To flash freeze, put the uncovered olive cheese bread on a cookie sheet and put directly in the freezer for 20 minutes. This hardens the mixture just a bit so that it will not stick when you put the bread in a freezer bag. After 20 minutes, place it into a freezer bag and return it to the freezer for later use. I had to cut my bread in half to fit into a gallon size freezer ziploc. I always label my freezer bags with name of item, date, and basic cooking instructions for easy access later.

Used as a dip: Can refrigerate mixture up to 2 days and use as a dip with Ritz crackers.

Cut olives and onions coarsely. I used whole olives.
Mix butter, mayo and cheese together.
Add olives and onions and mix well.
Cut a large French bread loaf in half long ways. This spread makes enough to cover both halves. I literally used my hands to smear and smoosh the mixture onto the bread to even it out. It seemed easier and quicker than using a spatula. It may look like too much on top, but it will melt and soak into the bread nicely.

Final product. YUMMY!!! I only cooked one half as I froze the other half.

Pork and Lentil Chili

I got this recipe online in 2003 after watching Chef George Hirsch cook this on tv...I think he was on the Today's Show...don't remember. We love this "chili" as it is hearty, healthy, and yummy. It is very involved as it has several steps and lots of ingredients, but it is worth it. I usually fix it about once a year with garlic bread. It makes a lot so you can freeze some of it.

Ingredients:

1 lb pork tenderloin, cooked and sliced (I bake mine)
1 lb lentils, washed
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 head caramelized garlic (my recipe below)
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
1 each - carrot, celery, red bell pepper, zucchini squash
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp oregano
2 tsp basil
Juice of 1 lime
1/4 cup tomato sauce
8-10 cups vegetable or chicken broth (i usually use 10 c)
2 tsp Tabasco Chipotle Sauce
1 Tbsp fresh cilantro, chopped
1 ounce tequila (optional) (I leave this out)

Caramelized Garlic: (there are many recipes for this, but this is the simplest method I've found)

Cut the bottom/root end of a garlic head off so that the cloves are exposed. Keep the cloves in the tight outer covering. Drizzle olive oil on them. Bake in oven at 350 for 20 minutes. This softens the cloves. Pop the cloves out and they are ready to be used for the recipe.

Instructions:

Rinse lentils in cool water and remove any small stones or twigs.

Heat a large soup pot on medium heat. Add olive oil, onions and garlic; cook for two minutes. Toss in celery, carrot, bell pepper, and zucchini and cook 2-3 minutes, stirring once or twice. Add cumin, oregano, basil followed by tequila, lime juice, tomato sauce, and 8 cups of broth, Tabasco, and cilantro; bring to a boil. Add lentils and pork tenderloin; lower heat and simmer for 45 minutes or until the lentils are tender. Add extra broth if too dry.

Can serve with any or all of the following: (I've never served with any of this as I forget after preparing all the other ingredients)
Chopped green onions, grated cheddar cheese, sour cream, tortilla chips, strips of flour tortillas, chopped tomatos, guacamole, and pita triangles

For a veggie version: omit the pork tenderloin
For a spicy zesty version: top with sliced hot chorizo sausage
For a seafood version: top with cooked shrimp