recipe: spinach & cheese manicotti

this was part 2 of my freezer cooking day, and surprisingly enough, the first time i've ever made manicotti. since these are still in the freezer, not sure what the final verdict is, but the prep was actually easier than i expected it to be. i used the recipe from allrecipes.com.

photo from seriouseats.com

ingredients list:

- 1 (15 oz) container ricotta cheese

- 1 (10 oz) package frozen chopped spinach, thawed & squeezed dry

- 1/2 cup minced onion

- 1 egg

- 2 tsp minced fresh parsley

- 1/2 tsp pepper 

- 1/4 tsp garlic powder

- seasoned salt to taste

- 1  & 1/2 cups shredded mozzerella cheese, divided

- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese, divided

- 2 (26 oz) jars spaghetti sauce, or an equivalent amount of homemade sauce

- 1 (8 oz) package manicotti shells

- 1 cup water

recipe: baked ziti

photo from thepioneerwoman.com/

i needed some good freezer-friendly meals, so i took a Sunday and whipped up a mass amount of marinara sauce, then doled in out in a few small trays of baked ziti and manicotti. i'm usually not a huge baked ziti fan (i feel like it often has no flavor due to weak sauce or not enough sauce... it's just boring pasta), but i had a REALLY good batch of it a ways back by a gal who made it super-creamy, cheesy. that landed me at the Pioneer Woman's recipe, which was drowning in creamy cheese. 

i followed her recipe mostly verbatim, just cutting the amount of meat in half (1 lb instead of 2) and using turkey instead of beef + sausage. i also added a bit of sour cream to increase the cheese factor. 

i saved it a few small trays -- the tray i cooked up that night was pretty delicious, next test will be trying the freezer tray to see if it holds up.

ingredients list:
- 2 tbsp olive oil
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1 small onion, diced
- 1 lb ground turkey
- 1 can (28 oz size) whole tomatoes, with juice
- 2 cans (14.5 oz) tomato sauce or marinara sauce (or an equivalent amount of homemade sauce)
- 2 tsp Italian seasoning
- 1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 lb ziti, cooked until not quite al dente 
- 1 tub (15 oz) whole milk ricotta cheese
- 1 & 1/2 lb mozzerella cheese, grated
- 1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
- 1 egg 
- 1 (8 oz) container sour cream (optional)
- fresh minced parsley (optional)

recipe: parmesan-roasted cauliflower

after having some surprisingly yummy buffalo cauliflower at a restaurant, we decided to buy a head of it and give it a go. we used half for a buffaloey recipe, the other half for this parmesan-roasted cauliflower recipe from BonAppetit.com during a quick week night meal. my cauliflower didn't come out as beautifully charey as the BA pic, but it came out surprisingly good (especially considering it's... cauliflower, which i'm still on the fence on), and something i'd make again. 

i followed the recipe mostly verbatim (after cutting it in half), tossing on some breadcrumbs for a lil extra crunch. 

photo from bonappetit.com

ingredients list:
- 1/2 head cauliflower, cut into florets
- 1/2 medium onion, sliced
- 2 sprigs thyme
- 2 garlic cloves, unpeeled
- 1.5 tbsp tbsp olive oil
- Kosher salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan
- 2 tbsp breadcrumbs

to make: 
preheat oven to 425 degrees F. toss cauliflower florets on a large rimmed baking sheet with onion, thyme, garlic, and oil; season with salt and pepper. roast, tossing occassionally, until almost tender, 35-40 minutes. sprinkle with Parmesan & breadcrumbs, toss to combine, and roast until cauliflower is tender, 10-12 minutes longer. 

• 
  

recipe: london broil marinade

picture from Food.com

made this for a quick-prep din last week -- for a very easy thing to assemble (and inexpensive meat), this came out damn good. it was one of the better London broil's i've ever made -- not sure if that's attributed to this recipe, or a just-right cooking temp/time, but it's one i would definitely make again.

i used the "Ant" Kelly's London Broil Marinade from Food.com -- followed it to a tee.

ingredients list: 
- 1/4 c balsamic vinegar
- 1/4 c soy sauce
- 2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
- 1/4 c olive oil
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- 1 tsp rosemary
- 1/4 tsp ground black pepper
- 2 tbsp London broil beef

recipe: spicy roasted pumpkin seeds

after the carving up & roasting a pumpkin for my pumpkin muffin puree, i had a little treasure trove of seeds left. i went with the spicy roasted pumpkin seeds recipe from Natasha Sanz Caballero -- they came out crispy and spicy, exactly what you'd hope for. considering they were almost zero effort, they were a great lil snack. 

photo from Natasha Sanz Caballero

ingredient list:
- 2 cups pumpkin seeds
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/2 tsp cumin
- 1/2 tsp cayenne pepper (decrease this if you don't love spicy)
- 1/2 tsp Spanish paprika
- 1/2 tsp salt  

to make: 
preheat oven to 350 degrees F. heat olive oil in small pan, and add the spices. mix well. add the pumpkin seeds and stir to coat, cooking over medium heat for 4-5 minutes. 

transfer the seeds to a baking dish or cookie sheet, spread out in a thin layer, and roast for about 15 minutes. serve at room temp.

recipe: pumpkin muffins

i had picked up an organic pumpkin pie muffin without a plan... then after careful thought (cravings) landed on the classic old pumpkin muffin.

i followed The Pioneer Woman's instructions for turning the pumpkin shell into pumpkin puree, and used Lovely Little Kitchen's recipe for the muffins. they were SO good -- really moist (for lack of a better word), awesome flavor. they were sweet enough that i could probably get away with halving the sugar and not miss it. 

i followed the recipe verbatim from LLK, just subbing in fresh pumpkin puree for the canned puree it called for. (one small pumpkin pie pumpkin was enough for the 15 oz of puree this recipe called for, plus about 1/3 cup extra that i threw into some overnight oats with cinnamon and coconut sugar... mmm)

photo from Lovely Little Kitchen

ingredients list:
- 1 & 3/4 c flour
- 1 c sugar
- 1/2 c dark brown sugar
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp ground cloves
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg 
- 2 eggs
- 15 oz pumpkin puree (canned for fresh)
- 1/2 c coconut oil, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla extract 

recipe: caramelized onion pretzel rolls with caraway sea salt

this was part of our deliciouso Oktoberfest din. i always wanted to make pretzels or pretzel nuggets, but never did assuming they were really difficult or had this crazy trick that was some how impossible to master... turns out they are just a fun little bready science experiment that is pretty fun and damn delicious. the Cooking Channel TV recipe is what inspired me, because damn the name of them alone sounded so good. 

the onion taste wasn't very prevalent, just the slightest hint, but they came out better than i expected. would definitely make again, just using a larger pot to boil them in... i underestimated the power of baking soda reacting with boiling water :) now that the pretzel secret is out, it's all on.

ingredients list:

- 2 tbsp butter

- 2 sm yellow onions, cut into 1/4- inch dice (about 2 cups)

- 1 tsp kosher salt

- 1 cup warm water (105-115 degrees F)

- 1 package active dry yeast

- 2 & 3/4 cups bread flour, + extra for dusting (i used all-purp flour and it worked just fine)

- 1 tsp granulated sugar

- 2 tsp vegetable oil, + extra for greasing

- 1/4 cup pretzel salt, or other coase salt (i used kosher)

- 1 tbsp caraway seeds, lightly crushed

recipe: pork schnitzel with lemon caper cream sauce

inspired by the Oktoberfest menu i read on the back of a brewery bathroom door, i cooked up a small in-house German feast. everything seemed really good reading the recipes, but my god it call came out even better than expected, even if a little more time consuming than i was planning. i'd remake all of it again, wouldn't make any alterations second time around. recipe was taken from Food.com. 

ingredients list - schnitzel: 
- 1 12-oz pork tenderloin, cut into 1/2 inch circles (*cut when partially frozen to make slicing thin a lil easier)
- juice from 1 lemon, divided 
- 1/3 c flour
- 1/4 tsp poultry seasoning
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 1 c Italian breadcrumbs 
- 2-3 tbsp canola or vegetable oil

ingredients list - lemon-caper cream sauce:
- 2 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp minced shallots
- 1/3 c dry white wine
- 1/3 c chicken broth
- 1/4 c heavy cream
- 1/4 c jarred lemon curd
- 1/4 c small capers, drained

PDX burgers: Killer Burger

i haven't been slacking on going out to eat, but somehow my eating adventures haven't led me by way of burgers recently. i finally was able to check one of the old list @ Killer Burger this past weekend. against all instincts i went with the peanut butter/bacon/pickle burger after hearing killer reviews about it. and it was exactly as described...something that shouldn't taste good, but tastes shockingly delicious. the PB & bacon were a perfect sweet pairing (who knew?), and the pickle was the perfect counter balance to that. 

K & I split that and the Jose Mendoza, which was bacon, roasted green chilies, monte jack, smokey house sauce, grilled onion, and pickle. this was also divine, although toward the end it tasted a little bit yellow mustardy to me (not sure if it was just the pickle or the sauce) so i didn't finish it. that's no knock on the burger though, just a personal preference against evil, evil yellow mustard.


all in all, the burgers were great, but definitely more of a toppings place than a "purist" place... burgers are not cooked to order, rolls are not homemade, but it's still all good. if you're in the mood for a mouth party burger, this is a solid go-to. 

recipe: artichoke chicken in white wine sauce

dinner last week -- i didn't follow the recipe exactly and might have made this an extra lemony and briny, so it had a little extra zing than i think it was supposed to, but regardless was really, really good. not to mention quite easy! the recipe was taken from thekitchn.com -- i ended up adding in extra liquid from the artichokes b/c there was not enough liquid in the pan (part of my extra zing), but i've re-scaled the recipe below which should avoid that issue.

ingredients list: 
- 2 cups (1 can) canned artichoke hearts, quartered
- 2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (about 1 lb), cut into 1-inch pieces
- 1 cup flour
- salt and black pepper
- 3 tbsp butter, divided
- 3-4 tbsp olive oil, divided
- 2 cups dry, light white wine (s/a chardonnay or sav blanc)
- 1/2 lemon
- fresh parsley for garnish (optional)

recipe: rosemary and red wine braised lamb shanks

we spent xmas in wine country, so it only seemed appropriate that we found a dinner that was entirely based around wine. and nothing says holidays like putting it on an adorable, tender little lamb. we had to improvise a little bit since we didn't have all of the cooking equipment / ingredients on hand in our tiny cabin, but even still this came out damn good. i used the Rosemary Braised Lamb Shanks recipe from allrecipes.com as a base, and scaled it back a bit since we were cooking for two. 

the flavors were fantastic, although the meat was slightly tough as we overcooked it a smidge. next time i'll make this either in a slow cooker, or roast it low & slow in the oven after searing the meat.  

ingredients list:

- 2 cups red wine

- 1 (12 oz) can diced tomatoes with juice

- 2 cups beef broth

- 2 lamb shanks

- salt and pepper to taste

- 1 tbsp olive oil

- 1 shallot, diced

- 2 tsp chopped fresh rosemary

- 1 tsp chopped fresh thyme

- 5 cloves garlic, minced

recipe: spinach & artichoke dip, or stuffed mushrooms (T-day 5 of 5)

my last recipe & appetizer from Thanksgiving... which is only timely that i'm finally able post it up on Xmas. i was looking for quick & easy but delish artichoke dip as a filling for stuffed mushrooms. the Hot Artichoke & Spinach Dip II recipe from allrecipes.com was well-reviewed and fit the bill, and actually turned out surprisingly good. spinach dip oftentimes is kinda blah when you get it as an app at restaurants, or it's served at random parties... good, but kind of... eeeeh. this one actually had a TON of flavor... it make the mushrooms pop, and the leftover dip i had as  post-t-day appetizer was fantastic. 

photo from allrecipes.com

ingredients list: 
- 1 (8 oz) package cream cheese
- 1/4 cup mayonnaise
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 cup grated Romano cheese
- 3 cloves garlic, peeled & minced
- 1/2 tsp dried basil
- 1 & 1/4 tsp garlic salt
- salt and pepper to taste
- 1 (14 oz) can artichoke hearts, drained & chopped
- 1/2 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed & drained
- 1/4 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

recipe: pecan pie blondies (T-day 4 of 5)

this was one of the better Thanksgiving desserts i've ever made. they

photo courtesy of Bakerita

were insanely unhealthy, but worth it. there really isn't anything better than brown butter... especially when it's mixed up with brown sugar and other fatty, sugary goodnesses. i used the recipe from Bakerita, following it to a T. 

ingredients list - blondie layer:

- 1/2 cup unsalted butter

- 1 cup dark brown sugar

- 1 large egg

- 1 tbsp vanilla 

- 1 cup all-purpose flour

- 1/4 tsp kosher salt

ingredients list - pecan layer:

- 1/4 (4 tbsp) unsalted butter

- 1/2 cup brown sugar

- 1/4 cup pure maple syrup

- 1/4 cup heavy cream

- 1 & 1/2 cups roughly chopped pecans