oreo brownies (cookies and cream!)

i don't often post about desserts because, well, i don't often make desserts. but we were invited over to friends' for dinner and i was put in charge of sweets.

our hosts told us they'd be making mexican for dinner and i'll be honest: my first inkling was to make some margarita cupcakes. ESPECIALLY because i had just seen them featured on katie's blog and they looked delicious. the problem as you might expect was the tequila. many recipes have you brush on tequila to the baked cupcakes, leaving all that boozy goodness full-strength. what's more is that the reviews often say that you're left with a lime cupcake when you leave the tequila out. being six months pregnant, i figured i should go with an alternative. 

so then i thought, who doesn't love brownies and oreos? and who doesn't love a cheater recipe?!

first up, the ingredients:

1 box packaged brownie mix
all the stuff the brownie mix says you'll need (generally egg, water, oil)
a package of oreos
buttercream frosting (you can make your own, but this is a cheater recipe so i bought mine)

i went with good ol' betty crocker (she's always been a winner in my book)

next, mix up all the brownie ingredients.

put about half the package of oreos into a ziplock back and crush 'em up. then, add them to your brownie mix.

spread into a non-stick pan (i used 9x9) and bake according to the directions on the box.

once the brownies have cooled, you can do lots of things with them. i used a cup to cut circular brownies and topped them with icing, some oreo crumbs and a full oreo, but you can really do whatever you'd like. i think the finished product is cute, but the best part is that it's TASTY!

ENJOY!

california chicken

you'd think since i've been away from this blog for so long that i'd come up with a truly fantastic feast to serve as my "I'M BACK" post. alas, i have only this easy (but yummy!) chicken recipe. it has avocado, therefore it MUST be californian.

so here we go. the ingredients:

2 chicken breasts
1/2 teaspoon olive oil
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
salt and pepper, to taste
1/2 avocado - peeled, pitted, sliced
1 ripe tomato
monterey jack cheese, for topping

what you do: preheat the oven to it's broil setting on high. heat the oil on a grill pan and add the onion powder. a skillet will work also, but here's what i use:

add the chicken and cook about 7 minutes per side until chicken is browned and almost done. remove chicken and place on a cookie sheet. top each chicken breast with a few slices of tomato and a few slices of the cheese. place under the broiler until cheese is bubbly and browning. top with slices of avocado. 

i served this with fine green beans (just steamed) and a baked sweet potato. 

chicken spinach rice gratin

i go to class on wednesday evenings. the class is from 6:30 to 8:30pm and more wednesdays than not, dave walks in the door from work right as i'm running out of it. on tuesdays i plan ahead so that he doesn't have to fend for himself for dinner. leftovers are key - for both of us. i usually end up grabbing a bite at 9 when i get home.

i tried my second recipe from 101cookbooks yesterday, and again i was thrilled with the results.  the original recipe is vegetarian and is called just spinach rice gratin. it's a nice name, i think: spinach rice gratin. it makes it sound glamorous to my ears and better than what it could be called: spinach rice casserole.

there are several things about this dish that i love. for one, it's really very easy and i imagine difficult to mess up. two, it has a ton of spinach in it so it feels like you're eating naughty starches but you're getting leafy greens, too. and three, despite its name it doesn't actually have all that much cheese in it (while still tasting cheesy).

here's how to make it (my way):

ingredients:
2 chicken breasts
3/4 cup white rice
3/4 cup brown rice
2 cups finely chopped fresh spinach
1/2 cup shredded parmesan
1 small red onion, diced
1/3 cup sliced almonds or pine nuts (or a combination of both)
2 tablespoons olive oil

3 large eggs

1/2 teaspoon salt
a sprinkling of shredded mozzarella (optional - for the topping)

what to do:

preheat the oven to 400F or 200C. lightly grease a baking dish with olive oil.

combine the white and brown rice and rinse thoroughly. put into a medium pan and add 3 cups of water. bring to a boil, then simmer for approximately 15 minutes until water is absorbed. let sit, uncovered to bring the temperature down. stir occasionally to let out steam.

meanwhile, saute chicken breasts (or boil, use leftovers, whatever you have) until they're cooked through and chop into small pieces.

in a large bowl, combine the rice, spinach, and chicken. next, stir in the red onion, almonds/pine nuts and olive oil (leave a bit of the onion and pine nuts for garnish). stir in a bit more than half of the cheese you have (saving a bit for the top). in a separate small bowl, whisk together the eggs and salt. fold the egg mixture into the rice mixture, transfer everything into a baking dish and sprinkle with the remaining cheese.

bake for 30 minutes or until the casserole is set. enjoy!

grilled veggie gnocchi

i'm trying to be much better with leftovers. i don't often make enough at one meal to last another, but sometimes i have pieces of a meal left over that get stuck in the fridge. wasting less food is at the top of my kitchen priority list right now. for one, it's expensive to throw away all that yummiess and two, why would we throw away yumminess?!

after our meal the other night of grilled chicken and vegetables, we had a fair amount of veggies left over (by design, this time). i find that leftover grilled vegetables are fabulous. sometimes we put them over pasta, in quesadillas, on sandwiches, on a pizza, on their own - they're very versatile.

i decided to try something new this time.  dave's had this thing for gnocchi recently, so i decided to give it a whirl. i didn't even make my own - this was the easiest dinner ever. i boiled the gnocchi* per the instructions on the package, added just enough roasted vegetable tomato sauce (store-bought!) to coat, and piled veggies on top. we topped everything with some freshly grated parmesan cheese and let me tell you - DELISH!

*the gnocchi we get at one of our grocery stores is gluten-free. the gnocchi that is available at the other two supermarkets is most definitely NOT gluten-free to be sure to check your packaging!

hello, spring! let's grill!

in honor of the beautiful weather we've been having, we broke out the grill the other night for the first time this season. you could argue, of course, that you could use the grill year-round, but there's something about leaving the door to the backyard open as we wander in and out to check on things. i also love that since it's finally light out for more than 5 hours a day, we don't need to grill our food by artificial light.

one of our favorite things to grill up is a whole bunch of veggies that we then cut up and make a 'salad' out of. we usually add onions, peppers, zucchini, corn on the cob, and often asparagus and eggplant.  we had all but the last two this time.

we also grilled up some chicken breasts and we marinated everything in the same stuff: a combination of olive oil, honey, lemon juice, tabasco sauce, red pepper flakes, cayenne pepper and of course salt and pepper. YUM.

leftovers!

i had some leftover broccoli pesto and fire chili from the double broccoli quinoa i made and i wanted to use it up. i wanted to throw together something quick so i sauteed up a bunch of veggies (onions, peppers, zucchini, snow and sugar snap peas - anything would have worked), boiled some gluten-free pasta, and mixed everything together with some of the pesto. we topped it with fresh mozzarella cheese and fire oil. delish! i also think this would be really good with some grilled chicken on top!

double broccoli quinoa

i've been on the facebook bandwagon for quite some time now. i see its usefulness in reconnecting with old friends and staying in touch with people you might otherwise not. twitter, however, is something that i just really haven't understood. i don't understand why i should care about what someone else can say in 140 characters or less.

i've been reading up on what successful etsy shop owners do, however, and twitter is one of them. so, i signed up. i've been tweeting and i figured i better follow some other tweeters. i started following allrecipes. then the food network. then i figured i should follow the gluten-free girl, too. and then i started following a few other people who were featured often on any of those tweet feeds. and so it began. i've discovered some great new (to me) food bloggers.

one such blogger is from 101Cookbooks. i'm really loving this blog - everyone should definitely check it out. i made my first recipe from here last night and it was GREAT. it's a quinoa and broccoli dish with a broccoli pesto - hence the "double broccoli" part of the name. yum.

first up, the ingredients:

1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
5 cups raw broccoli, cut into small florets
3 medium garlic cloves
2/3 cup sliced or slivered almonds, toasted
1/3 cup freshly grated Parmesan
2 big pinches of salt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup heavy cream (this is really optional)

some optional toppings:
fresh chopped basil
fire oil*
chopped avocado
crumbed feta or goat cheese


next up, prepare the quinoa. rinse the quinoa in a mesh strainer. add it to a saucepan with your broth. bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for about 15 minutes, covered. the quinoa should be fluffed. (it's a lot like making rice.) set aside the cooked quinoa covered to retain the heat.

up next, the broccoli. put a few inches of water into a large bot and bring it to a simmer. add the broccoli and cover. cook for just about two minutes. we want the broccoli to still have a bit of a crunch to it, but not taste raw. strain the cooked broccoli and run under cool water briefly to stop the cooking.

take a little less than half of the broccoli and put it into your food processor. add the garlic, about 1/2 cup of almonds (i added a bit of toasted pine nuts as well), the parmesan, lemon juice, a pinch of salt and a bit of fresh basil if you have it. drizzle in some of the olive oil and cream (if you're adding it) and pulse until your broccoli pesto is smooth.

combine the quinoa and remaining broccoli florets in a big serving dish. you'll end up adding about half of the pesto, but do this slowly. garnish with the rest of the sliced almonds, avocado, fire oil, cheese, or anything else you think would be yummy.  (we did almonds, avocado, fire oil, and crumbled feta.)

ENJOY!


*for the fire oil, heat up 1/2 cup of olive oil in a small pan until it's hot but not smoking. then remove from heat and add 1 1/2 teaspoons of red pepper flakes. stir, then set aside and let cool. you store this in the fridge, but it should be room temperature when you use it.

spicy vegetable stir-fry with coconut rice

we've been traveling a lot this year and it's been wonderful. the only real downside (besides being tired, of course) is that while we love eating out, i love healthy food IN, too.

last night i put together a veggie stir fry on coconut rice and it was tasty.

first, the rice:

1 cup uncooked rice, rinsed
1 cup light coconut milk
1 cup water
1 tsp sugar
1 pinch of salt

combine all of these as you would regular rice and simmer, covered. when almost all the liquid has been absorbed, take the pan off the heat and set aside (still covered) until you're ready to eat. the rice will absorb the rest of the liquid.

for the stir-fry:

i really just threw together two pre-packaged stir-fry packs that they sell at our local grocer. i started collecting all my own veggies, but it was MUCH cheaper to buy the pre-packaged stuff so that i got lots of ingredients.

certainly add whatever tickles your fancy. our stir-fry had: peppers, onions, bean sprouts, cabbage, carrots, edamame soya beans and broccoli. i also chopped up two hot peppers and threw them in (seeds and all).  feel free to leave this out if you'd rather have your stir-fry be kick-free.

i threw the onions, broccoli and peppers in a wok with a small drizzle of sesame oil for three or four minutes and then added the rest for another three or four minutes. in the last minute or so, i added sauce.

for the sauce, i combined just about equal parts low-sodium gluten-free soy sauce (yes, most soy sauce has WHEAT in it!) and thai sweet chili sauce. i added the sauce directly to the stir fry and didn't measure particularly well.


i really liked the way the coconut rice complimented the veggies on this one. someone tweeted about coconut rice yesterday and i wanted to try it. it's something i'll do again and again. hope you enjoy!

italian sausage soup with tortellini

if you make only one soup before spring fully takes hold, this is the one to make. seriously, make it.

i was looking for a recipe for a hearty meal kind of soup, and i've got to say that this one hits the mark. i've made it several times without posting because to be honest, i couldn't get a decent picture of it. with the new camera we got for christmas, food photos are much easier! (thank you, pat and tom!)

this soup is a bit time more time consuming than some dinners, but it's that easy kind of time consuming when you get to walk away for 20-30 minutes at a time and get something else done. (which is, of course, my favorite type of time consumption - being able to do lots at once.)

first up, the ingredients:

1 lb sweet italian sausage, casings removed (over here, i just use the ultra lean local sausage...and i can highly recommend going LEAN - it's still delicious!)
1 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced
5 cups beef broth
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup red wine
4 large tomatoes - peeled, seeded and chopped (tip: slice a cross-corss on the top of each tomato and drop them into boiling water for a couple seconds. when you take them out, the skins will come right off)
1 cup thinly sliced carrots
1/2 T packed fresh basil leaves
1/2 T dried oregano
8 oz tomato sauce
1 1/2 cups sliced zucchini
8 ounces fresh tortellini pasta (i usually use a ricotta-spinach version)
3 T fresh chopped parsley

now your to-do list:

brown sausage in a 5 quart dutch oven. remove the sausage and drain. if there are drippings, save a little bit and then saute the onion and garlic in them in the dutch oven. if you don't have any drippings, use the smallest amount of olive oil possible instead.

stir in the beef broth, water, wine, tomatoes, carrots, basil, oregano, tomato sauce, and sausage. bring to a boil then simmer uncovered for 30 minutes.

skim any fat from the soup (i don't get any with my lean sausage), then add in the zucchini and parsley. simmer covered for 30 minutes, adding tortellini in the last ten minutes or so.

depending on your beef broth, you may need a little salt.

and TIP: only add as much tortellini as you think you will consume in your first sitting. add any remaining tortellini the next night when you reheat it on the stove. (otherwise, the tortellini sucks up all the liquid!)

ENJOY!

spinach and sun-dried tomato pasta

if you ever need to whip something up quick, this is the recipe to use. the flavor to time ratio is working in your favor here. it's all about the sun-dried tomatoes so if you're a sucker for them (like i am) then jot this down:

ingredients:
1 8oz package of uncooked penne pasta (gluten-free if you're into that sort of thing)
3/4 cup chicken or vegetable broth
12 sun-dried tomatoes (the kind that are soaked in oil), drained and chopped
2 T pine nuts
1 T olive oil
1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 clove garlic, minced
1 bunch fresh spinach, rinse and torn into bite-sized pieces (or i just used a bag of baby spinach)
1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

directions:
cook penne according to its instructions and set aside. (make it al dente - don't overcook it!) in a skillet over medium heat, lightly toast the pine nuts and set aside. heat the olive oil with the red pepper flakes and saute the garlic for about a minute, until tender. mix in the spinach and cook until just about wilted. pour in the chicken or vegetable broth and stir in the sun dried tomatoes and pine nuts. cook until heated through, about 2 minutes. toss with the cooked pasta. serve with parmesan cheese.

as usual, i found this recipe on allrecipes.com. you can see the original here. (i modified it slightly based on the ingredients i had on hand.)

sweet and spicy chicken, asian style

i'm a sucker for meals like this in a restaurant. i know they're not the best for you when you're out and about, but relatively speaking, this recipe isn't too bad for you.  oh yeah, and it's delicious!!

ingredients:

1 T brown sugar
2 T honey
1/4 cup soy sauce (gluten-free of course!)
2 tsp chopped fresh ginger
2 tsp chopped garlic
2 T hot sauce
salt & pepper to taste
2-3 chicken breasts, cut into bite-sized pieces
~1T olive or vegetable oil

directions: mix together brown sugar, honey, soy sauce, ginger, garlic and hot sauce in a small bowl. lightly salt & pepper the chicken. heat oil in a large skillet over medium heat. brown chicken on both sides and cook until *almost* cooked through. set aside. add sauce to the hot pan and stir constantly until reduced and thick (but not quite sticky). add chicken and further cook until chicken is cooked through and sauce is sticky and thick.

serve with steamed rice and a green vegetable like snap peas. enjoy!

braised balsamic chicken

one year ago today was the last day i was a united states resident. lots of wonderful things have happened since then and one of them is that i've cooked more in the last year than in the last five before that combined. during that time, i've learned to appreciate things like my global knives more than ever before. 

the christmas of 2006 was the first that i was a homeowner. i was hot to trot to rid myself hand-me-down kitchen gadgets so i asked me parents for the essentials: knives, pots and pans, mixing bowls, stuff to fill my kitchen gadget drawer. by december 26th, the knives were the clear winner. at the time (and against my dad's protests) i figured the "kitchen essentials" calphalon-for-target pots and pans were winners, too.  they were exactly what i had asked for, after all.  and they were winners.  for about a year or two.  since then, i've been cursing myself for selling my parents' hand-me-down revere ware pots and pans set. (for only $20 on craigslist - ouch! what i would give now for a copper-bottomed set.)

i started paying attention to what people really liked in the kitchen and i kept hearing le creuset over and over again. with a gift certificate we got for our wedding, we bought our first piece last month.  a second is being shipped as a christmas gift from my dad. i have to say that everyone was right. i really really really like this stuff. 

the first recipe made in our beautiful new pan is a new one and based on braised balsamic chicken. 

it takes: 

4 chicken breasts, give or take

ground black pepper to taste

1 clove garlic, chopped finely

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

1/3 cup good quality balsamic vinegar

1/3 cup chicken stock or white wine or water

1 can diced tomatoes

1 teaspoon dried basil

1 teaspoon dried oregano

1 teaspoon dried rosemary

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme 

(i estimated on all the spices, used fresh basil, and added in anything else that i thought would be tasty)

directions: season the chicken breasts with pepper. heat olive oil in a skilled and brown the chicken and onions. add the rest of the ingredients and simmer until chicken is cooked through and no longer pink (~10-15 minutes). take care not to overcook the chicken.  goes well with rice or roasted potatoes and broccoli.

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taco salad

okay, brace yourselves. i'm going to post a photograph that is so terrible that it's going to make you not want to make (or eat) a taco salad ever again. now that i've warned you, let me also say that the bad photo is just that - it's a bad photo. the salad itself is actually quite delicious.

usually when i make chili dave and i are content to eat it for a couple of days. but by the time there's about one meal left in that crock pot we're ready to move on to something else. that's when i decided to make a "taco" salad.

really, it's pretty easy. i threw together lots of what you would expect to see in a taco salad:

-iceburg lettuce
-chopped tomatoes
-corn
-black beans
-chopped avocado
-chopped sweet onion
-shredded cheese
-jalapenos

then i spooned out some of that leftover chili (warmed), sprinkled some broken tortilla chips on top, and served a bit of french dressing on the side. i made the french dressing by throwing the following ingredients into a food processor:

-3/4 cup olive oil
-1/2 cup ketchup
-about 1/2 cup sugar (i added this last and added it slowly, tasting as i went)
-1/4 cup vinegar
-1/2 small onion, chopped
-1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
-1/2 teaspoon paprika
-1/4 teaspoon salt

told you it was bad!

holiday breakfasts: eggs florentine and delicious crepes

let's face it - we all overindulge over the holidays. (okay, maybe YOU don't, but I do!) as if there was any doubt, my last couple of posts over the holidays proved it. usually, when i think of that overindulging i think of appetizers, desserts, and eggnog.

this year, we took indulgence to the next level by adding breakfast! i have to say that it was totally worth it.

first up is a modified version of eggs florentine. this one doesn't have any hollandaise sauce, but it does have cheese mixed into the steamed spinach. a gluten-free english muffin was topped with the cheesy spinach mixture and poached egg for a truly delicious combination. and yes, that's salt and pepper that i added with a side of perfectly ripe avocado.

for christmas, my brother-in-law and sister-in-law got me a fabulous cast iron crepe pan. i've always been a little afraid of crepes (making them, that is, not eating them), but new years day morning seemed the perfect time to try out the new pan and the new recipe(s). we substituted gluten-free flour (a blend of rice and corn) for the standard wheat flour and filled our crepes with three different fillings: cheese, banana and honey, and cinnamon and sugar. YUM. seriously. this was breakfast perfection on a plate.

there's one little problem with justifying indulgent breakfasts over the holidays: when they're so good you make them again and again all year, you can't really claim the holiday excuse. oh well - these day-starters are so delicious that it's worth it.

christmas yumminess

there was yumminess to be had on christmas in cheltenham this year. to start the morning out right, we had my grandfather's christmas morning casserole. it has the perfect balance of egginess, cheesiness and sausage and is enhanced by a secret ingredient. i think my grandparents might kill me if i posted the recipe on the internet, so you just get a picture:

christmas dinner was a fabulous stuffed beef tenderloin (uk speak: beef fillet). dave and i have often complained that there's no good beef in england, but i have to say that this proved our theory wrong. if you pay an arm and a leg for a butcher to cut you a good cut of meat and then you cook it at home (so as to avoid a restaurant cooking all the flavor out of it), you CAN have a great steak in the uk!

this is another recipe i'm not allowed to share on the internet, but here are some pictures:

the goods

thank goodness for cooking twine

ready to go!

the final product!

as an aside, this stuff makes just about the best leftover beef sandwich you can imagine: