Recent Eats

Its been a good couple of weeks in trying to get the changes going in my eating habits. Though I am not noticing any changes, its been good to be working out on a regular basis and watching my diet. It is not easy to cook at home in the weekends with really long days out at art festivals. We did indulge in sushi & tempura last weekend, but most week days I finish making dinner by the time S gets home and we go for long walks after eating.

Last week, I made chapathis using some of the leftover cauliflower soup (instead of water / oil) and they came out very soft. Side dish is a mushroom & bell pepper curry adapted from 1000 Indian Recipes. Another dinner was Dal with rice and plantains.

When I don't want to eat rice, we are using quinoa for carbs, and it was served with a crustless quiche with mushrooms & peppers, and roasted brussel sprouts, sweet potatoes & onions in a harissa sauce. Last night, it was comfort food with mixed veggies sambhar, yard-long beans with rice.

Tonight I made a minty chapathi with chole & yogurt. I am hoping to make rotis at home at least twice a week. It is interesting that though I have cut down my portion sizes by less than half, it is not really affecting my hunger frequency or energy levels. May be my motivations levels have changed a lot in the last year. I am finally able to focus & commit on my physical health since most of last year was trying to stay emotionally healthy after the loss of my dad. 

Dessert Planning

I am having guests again this year for thanksgiving and I have been so happy the last couple of weeks since finding out! And of course, trying to figure out what to make for the big dinner. So many different dishes are being considered and finally I decided on the dessert today! Yay!

I made this Coconut - Orange -Caramel flan in 2012 April for a party. Version 1 was made in small ramekins in the microwave. It was slightly dense as I forgot to add the milk, but still very delicious.

 

The bigger piece was made in a quiche plate in the oven and was perfect. Almost everyone had at least 2 pieces and one friend had 5 :) Hopefully it will turn out as well when I try it the week after next! Now I have just got the soup and a couple more dishes to decide...

 

Spicy Baked Falafels

These days, one of the utensils in the house that gets used a lot seems to be the mini-muffin pan. Snacks and finger food are a lot easier to bake in these and saves me a lot of time and effort of deep-frying. I have baked falafels before, and now I adapted the recipe some more. Loved how they turned out! 

Ingredients (For 24 falafels):  Chickpeas - cooked 2 cups; Egg - 1; Tahini - 1 tbsp; Onion - 1/2 diced finely; Cilantro - minced 1 tbsp; Garlc - 2 cloves minced; cayenne pepper - 1tsp; Cumin - 1/2 tsp powdered; Salt & pepper - to taste; olive oil - 1 tsp;  Water - as needed.

• Pre-heat the oven to 375F
• Coarsely blend the cooked chickpeas in a food processor. Transfer to a mixing bowl
•  Add all the rest of the ingredients with the chickpea and mix them thoroughly
• Take about 1- 1.5 tbsp of this mixture and add to each well of the muffin pan. Pat down a little
• Bake for about 20 minutes till they are golden
• Serve hot with a sauce on the side

I am sending this recipe to What's with my cuppa? hosted by Nandoo's kitchen and to Bake Fest hosted by Manjula, an event started by Vardhini.

Chocolate Mini-Cupcakes with Peanut Butter Frosting

I had the opening reception for my biggest show of the year last night. The Gallery at Yahara Bay Distillers was a wonderful venue with gracious hosts and we all had a great time. The best part was when three of my paintings found a new home and I hit the big 100 (# of paintings sold/donated since I started showing in Feb 2012). 

As usual, I made the hors d'oeuvres for the evening. I spent a good chunk of time on Wednesday in the kitchen and all four items were baked (three of them in mini muffin pans)! At least the weather was a little cooler to manage having the oven on for a good 2-3 hours.

One of the dishes I made was chocolate cupcakes with a peanut butter frosting. The batter was adapted from a cake recipe and improvised quite a bit.

Ingredients (For 48 cupcakes):  All-purpose Flour - 1 1/2 cups; Cocoa Powder (I used Dagoba drinking chocolate with spices) - 1 cup; Sugar - 3/4 cup; Butter - 2 tbsp; Vanilla - 1 tsp; Salt - dash; Baking soda - 2 tsp; Baking Powder - 1 tsp;  Eggs - 2; Yogurt - 1/2 cup;  Water - 1/2 cup.

• Pre-heat the oven to 350F
• Line muffin pans with baking cups
• In the mixing bowl add all the dry ingredients, mix them quickly
• Add the wet ingredients and mix well with an electric mixer
• Pour the batter into the baking cups, about 3/4th full (about a tbsp)
• Bake for about 20 minutes! 

For the peanut butter frosting, I whipped together 1 cup of creamy peanut butter, 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1 tsp vanilla, milk  2-3 tsp - as needed. Once mixed to the desired consistency, I used a ziplock bag to pipe some on the cupcakes!

I am sending this to Cupcake Fest, hosted by Sreevalli.

Cherry Almond Pie

Last weekend S and I were in Oshkosh, for the Paine Art Center's Faire on the Green. We had a good time with friends and a good day with our little booth at the fair. One of our friends has a cheery tree - and a couple of our other friends were gracious enough to share some of their pickings with us. So I spent a good chunk of time today pitting them and the first batch I pitted were used for a cherry pie.

I just mixed 3 cups of pitted tart cherries with 1 cup sugar, 2 tsp cornstarch, 1/2 tsp Almond extract and 1/2 cup chopped almonds for the filling. Poured the filling in a pre-made crust from Trader Joe's and baked for 40 minutes. Now I am ready for an early dinner and dessert.

Mtedza - Peanut puffs from Malawi

Tonight was African Night at home. I made a peanut - calabaza squash stew and mbatata (Sweet potato cookies) and mtedza - these delicious & nutritious cookies made with peanuts. I adapted the recipe from here and used almond meal in addition to the peanuts and also some candied ginger! I used very less butter and added a little milk to bring the dough together. Checking Malawi off my list and Snacks for the rest of the week :)

Ingredients (For 16 cookies):  Whole Wheat Flour - 1/2 cups; Peanuts - roasted, 1 cup; Almond Meal - 1/4 cup; Sugar - 1/4 cup; Butter - 2 tbsp; Vanilla - 1/4 tsp; Salt - dash; Candied ginger - chopped, 1/4 cup; Milk - 1 tbsp. 

• Pre-heat the oven to 350F
• In a pan, I roasted the peanuts, as I had raw ones at home.
• In the food processor add the roasted peanuts with the sugar and pulse till peanuts are chopped. 
• Add the rest of the ingredients except milk and pulse.
• Add the milk and mix a little till the dough comes together.
• Shape into small ball, flatten a little, and put them evenly spaced on a cookie sheet
• Bake till golden (15 - 20 minutes)! 
• These can be dusted with icing sugar if needed. 

Jalapeño Cheddar Quiche

Quiche has become a standard breakfast fare over the weekends here, especially since I love to bake in the winter. I either make them crustless or use a store-bought pie shell for the crust (we like the one from Trader Joe's after a friend's recommendation). Most of the time, it doesn't take a lot of planning, as long as I have eggs, some cheese and veggies at home. When we had friends over for a break last year, I made this Jalapeño & Cheddar Quiche. 

 

Ingredients: Pie Crust -1; Cheddar cheese - 8oz, grated; Eggs - 3; Parmesan Cheese - 4 tbsp; Mushrooms - 1/2 cup chopped; Jalapeños - 5 count minced; Red / Green Bell peppers - 1/2 cup chopped.

• Set oven to bake at 400F.
• Follow the instructions for the pie crust and pre-bake it for 15 minutes.
• In a mixing bowl add the eggs, cheddar cheese (hold back 2 tbsps), season with salt, pepper  and  mix well with an electric mixer.
• On a saute pan, cook the peppers and mushrooms till a little tender and season with salt, pepper. I also use a dried herb mix from my garden for seasoning. 
• Add the veggies to the egg mixture.
• Pull the pre-baked crust from the oven, mix the parmesan and cheddar cheese, add 2 tbsp on the bottom.
• Add the egg/ veggie mixture and bake for 30 minutes.
• Pull out from the oven, add the rest of the cheese on top, garnish with jalapeños and bake for another 10 minutes. 
• Let cool slightly, slice and enjoy!

Mini Mango Tartlets

I made these for my last Art Show reception. It was an easy recipe and the tartlets tasted great!

Ingredients: Pie Crust -1 (I used one from Trader Joe's); Cream Cheese - 8oz; Mango pulp - 1/2 cup sweetened; Sugar - 4 tbsp; Cardamom - 1/4 tsp powdered; Corn Starch - 1 tsp.

• Set oven to bake at 400F.
• Cut the pie crust to lay inside a regular or mini-muffin pan. I made the mistake of pre-baking them inside the pan and the sides kind of collapsed. To avoid this, invert the muffin pan and bake the shells on the outside. Bake for 8 minutes till slightly brown.
• Mix the rest of the ingredients well with an electric mixer.
• Now put the shells inside the pan, add a table spoon of the cream cheese mixture and bake again for another 15 minutes or till the cheese is set. 
• Let cool for at least 10 minutes and move to a cooling rack.
• Enjoy :)

Baking Cheesy Jalapeño Garlic Bread

November is a crazy busy in a good way month for us. Last year, I wanted to work on a novel during NaNoWriMo, but had to postpone it due to more than two weeks of travel. This month, I signed up for Art Every Day Month. I have been doing art almost every day, but has been unable to keep up the posting / blogging. We were traveling for a little more than a week and when we got back, it was already thanksgiving week with guests arriving from out of town. Things have been, needless to say, hectic. But having guests also meant I got to cook a lot of delicious dishes - even a whole bunch of experiments in my kitchen. I am so thankful for such wonderful friends who enthusiastically encourage my culinary experiments.

This bread has been making the rounds on Pinterest for a while and I decided to give it a try. I mostly followed this recipe and added diced jalapeño peppers to the dough, used garlic in the melted butter and grated some on top of the bread and used white cheddar to fill. The bread turned out really good and I will be playing a lot more with this recipe with various flavors. Next on my list is the cranberry-walnut bread that I crave from Trader Joe's. 

Mexican Baked Eggs

I made this for brunch on Sunday before we watched the Packers Game. And actually I cooked it in the microwave and took much less time and energy than baking. Actually more like put together. I put two corn tortillas in the boat dish, topped them with a mixture of black beans (from a can) + my homemade salsa + shredded cheese, then broke an egg on top and cooked in the microwave till the eggs were medium done. For a side, I cooked some quinoa and tossed it with my homemade pesto and a little goat cheese for garnish. 

 

Maple, Dates & Pecan Scones

One of the first thing I do when I go to work is to throw scones in the oven for 13 minutes and ice them. Yesterday was my day off and what do I do first thing in the morning? Bake a batch of delish scones and glaze them! I love my work :)

I have a standard scone dough recipe - the most simplest - I think it was adapted from the Joy of Baking. I then add whatever flavors I think of to this basic recipe. I use my food processor in making the dough, and add the buttermilk or cream as I keep mixing and hence no standard measure for this ingredient. 

Ingredients (for 8 scones): Flour - 2 cups (I use a mixture of all-purpose, whole wheat and whatever else I find appealing); Sugar - 1/2 cup (brown, white, fine); Butter - 5 or 6 tbsp; Baking powder - 1 tsp; Baking soda - 1 tsp; Salt - 1/4 tsp; Dates & Pecans - 1 cup (chopped); Maple syrup - 2 tbsp; Buttermilk or Cream - as needed.

• Pre-heat the oven to 375F
• In the food processor add all the dry ingredients (except the dates and pecans) and pulse a few times 
• Add the butter, sliced into small pieces and pulse till the dough is crumbly
• Add maple syrup, run the processor and slowly add the buttermilk till the dough is soft, but not wet
• Add the dates / pecans, pulse once of twice and transfer the dough to cutting board
• Shape into a large round and slice into 8 pieces or use a mold. Sprinkle some sugar on top
• Bake till golden (15 - 20 minutes)!
• For the maple glaze, I mixed powdered sugar with maple syrup and a little water - heated for 30 seconds in the microwave and brushed on top of the scones.

Now there is healthy breakfast to go for the rest of the week!