It's pretty easy cooking green...

I must've been in a green mood today.  Maybe I'm finally ready for Spring?  I'm craving bright tastes, bright colors, and warmth.  Therefore, tonight's menu consisted of: tarragon-pistachio pesto on whole-wheat pizza dough, pasta with spinach and a creamy bechamel sauce, and roasted broccoli.  Here is what was left on my plate when I stopped eating long enough to take a picture:

 

 So, let's get started, shall we?  First I made the pesto because it could easily be refrigerated while everything else was cooking.  If you want the pizza crust recipe, I think I have posted about it before...you can always email me!  For the pesto you will need:  tarragon (2 tbsp fresh or 1 tbsp dried), 1/2 cup chopped, fresh parsley, 1 clove garlic, 2 tbsp shelled pistachios, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 tbsp lemon juice, salt and pepper.  Blend everything except the olive oil in the food processor.  Then add in the olive oil and blend some more.  Add 2 tbsp water.  Blend again.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  That's it!  That simple.  It's a great pasta sauce, a great topping for breads...yummy.

Next I worked on the spinach.  I used about 1 lb. fresh spinach.  First, wash it all, obviously.  DON'T dry it.  Put the majority (all but like 2 handfuls) in a large deep pot and cook over medium heat, with the lid on, until it all wilts down.  Then drain it and keep the liquid.  I did this by draining it in a strainer over a bowl.  I left it there for a bit to cool while I did some other prep work and then squeezed all the water out.  All the spinach (the raw and the cooked) needs to be finely chopped.  Once you've done this, put it aside.  

In the mean time, cook 1 lb. pasta.  Whatever shape you like, but not long spaghetti noodles.

The spinach gets added to a Bechamel sauce.  This really isn't difficult.  Melt 4 tbsp butter in that same large pot you cooked the spinach in.  Once the butter melts (medium heat...) add 1/4 cup of flour.  Whisk these together and keep whisking for a full minute or so, so that the flour cooks.  Add 2 cups milk.  When it begins to bubble, (about 5 min later) whisk more and add salt and pepper to taste.  Then add a sprinkle of nutmeg.  Taste.  If you don't taste any difference, add a little more.  At the most, add 1/4 tsp nutmeg.  Trust me, it'll make a difference!  Add in the reserved spinach liquid (about 1/4-1/2 cup) and whisk.  Take it off the heat.  It should be thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, but not so thick the spoon will stand up in it.  Mix in both kinds of spinach (raw and cooked) and add in 1 lb. cooked pasta.  

Ah, the broccoli.  While all that other stuff is going on,  sort of slice 1 head or 2 of broccoli.  Keep all the florets and stems sort of nice and long.  Spread everything out on a sheet pan, add 2 tbsp oil and shuffle everything around to make sure oil gets on all the broccoli.  Roast at 425 for 10-12 minutes, then kick it up to 475 for another 5-10 until it starts to get brown and crispy around the edges.  

Ta-da!  You're all done!  What a healthy and green meal.  I hope you have someone else to wash the dishes ;)

Rainy Day Soup

Yesterday for dinner I made enchiladas with homemade enchilada sauce.  If you're interested in that recipe, and I suggest you try it, it's here.  Today turned out to be rainy and gross and I really was in the mood for soup.  We still had 4 enchiladas left over, so I wanted something that would go well with that.  I pulled down my gigantic The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking and found a recipe for corn soup (the original is at the end of this blog).   Not having the total amount of corn that I needed, I looked further and found a recipe for avocado soup...what's below is some sort of bizarre combination with some other things thrown in.  It isn't as pretty as I'd like, but it tastes great!

1.  Start by chopping 2 red bell peppers, sprinkling them with salt and 1 tbsp oil, and roasting them at 475 for 15 minutes.

2.  While the peppers are roasting, finely chop 1 onion and 2 cloves garlic.  Heat 2 tbsp oil in a large pot over medium heat, and add the onions and garlic.  Saute for 10 minutes.
3.  Add 1 1/2 cups thawed corn (I used frozen and just microwaved it for 2 minutes first) and about 1/2 cup of roasted green chilis or a 4 oz can of canned green chilis.  Add 1 avocado, chopped. Saute this for a few minutes.  When the peppers are done, add those and mix together.

4.  In small batches, add the soup ingredients to your food processor.  You'll need to use 3 cups of chicken broth TOTAL.  I added 1 cup into the soup mix in the saucepan, then used 2 others while blending everything in the food processor.  Process the soup until smooth (or mostly smooth).  I left a little bit unprocessed just for texture.  Pour everything back in the soup pan. 

5.  Add 2/3 cup 2% milk or light cream.  Add salt and pepper and let everything come back to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes.  Grate 1/2 cup pepper jack cheese and stir in until melted. 

Garnish with sour cream and hot sauce.  Like I said, it may not be the prettiest, but it sure is good!

Original Corn Soup Recipe
Milton, Jane.  "Corn Soup" The Complete Book of Mexican Cooking.  London: Hermes House, 2000. 

2 red peppers
2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3-4 cups corn niblets, thawed if frozen
3 cups chicken stock
2/3 cup light cream
salt and ground black pepper

1. Dry-fry the peppers in a griddle over medium heaet, turning them frequently until the skins are blistered all over.  Place them in a strong plastic bag and tie the top to keep the steam in.  Set aside for 20 minutes, then remove the peppers from the bag and peel off the skin.
2.  Cut the peppers in half and scoop out the seeds and cores. Set one aside.  Cut the other into 1/2 inch dice.
3.  Heat the oil in a large saucepan.  Add the onion and saute over low heat for about 10 minutes, until it is translucent and soft. . Stir in the diced pepper and corn and cook for 5 minutes over medium heat.
4.  Spoon the contents of the pan into a food processor, pour in the chicken stock and process until almost smooth.  This processing can be done in batches if necessary.
5.  Return the soup to the pan and reheat it.  Stir in the cream, with salt and pepper to taste.  Core, seed and cut the reserved pepper into thin strips and add half of these to the pan.  Serve the soup in heated bowls, garnished with the remaining pepper strips.

*Cook's Tip: Look for roasted red peppers in jars.  These come ready-skinned and are useful in all sorts of recipes.  Used here, they make a quick soup even speedier.

By Veggie-tation only

Veggie night tonight:  no meat allowed!  What was allowed?  A blue cheese dipping sauce for my roasted potatoes:  combination of ricotta cheese, blue cheese, sour cream, mayo, capers, garlic salt and pepper.  Also allowed?  A spinach salad and sauteed veggies.  YUM O.

One heckuva deep dish pizza

I've discovered a new homemade pizza dough:  whole wheat pizza dough.  My breadmaker has an awesome recipe for it.  This past weekend I threw all the ingredients into the breadmaker and decided to recreate a pizza similar to one at my favorite pizza place:  Pablo's Pizza.  The pizza is called the Delta Blues and has spinach, blue cheese, bacon and mushrooms.  I made mine with spinach, blue cheese, bacon, mozzarella cheese and broccoli because it was there and I wanted to throw it on the pizza.  The sauce was a mix of tomato sauce and pesto sauce.  The pizza was amazing!  Here's the recipe for the curst:

1 cup water (lukewarm)
2 tbsp oil
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups bread flour
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast

Bread maker program 5 (dough)

I put the wet ingredients (water, oil, sugar) in first, then the flours, then the salt and yeast. 

Once the dough is done, (if you are using it for 1 deep dish pizza) press into a 9x13 metal pan that you have sprayed with oil spray (or a misto if you have one) and sprinkled with cornmeal.  Prick the dough several times with a fork once you have it pressed into the pan.   

Bake at 400 for 10-12 minutes.  Remove, add all of your toppings, and return to the oven for another 15-20 minutes or until the edges are brown and all cheeses are bubbly. 

This crust is amazing!

Cheesecake Cupcakes for the Birthday Guy!

My co-worker's birthday was today and in honor of him and all the fabulous graphic work he does for us in the online advertising department at GJSentinel.com I made him cheesecake cupcakes.  His wife had told me that cheesecake was his favorite, and I figured cupcakes were more self-serve than a whole cake.
I found a recipe on this great new site, Foodily.com.   It was originally published on food.com and the person who published it goes by the username moonpoodle.  I'm not sure I want an explanation for that.

Anyway, here's how my counter looked as I started out on this project:  Yes, that's a beer.  It could be part of the reason I crushed up a LOT of graham cracker crumbs and then forgot to actually measure 1 1/2 cups.  Oh well, the crust was fine.

Here's the next step, me mixing the cream cheese, ricotta cheese, and powdered sugar:




Finally I got everything into little cupcake baking cups.  The recipe doesn't tell how much of the crumb mixture to put in each cupcake cup or how much batter to put, so I guestimated.  I filled the cupcake cups 2/3 way full with batter.  The crust (before the batter obviously) I gently spooned in and just made sure to have enough to form a nice layer across the bottom of the cup.

Next, while the cupcakes were baking, I made the mixed berry sauce.

So, here are the finished cupcakes, without sauce and then with sauce and berries.

These were a pretty big hit at the office.  They were not overly sweet but had a great texture and flavor.  Click here for the original recipe.

My Semi-Homemade Valentine's Dinner

     When the BF and I have a day off together, be it Valentine's Day, the day before, or any other day, we are most likely heading outdoors for some sort of adventure.  Sunday (the day we were celebrating Valentine's) was no different.  After some yummy French toast we packed up all of our backcountry ski gear and headed up to Old Powderhorn (Mesa Creek) for some fun in the sun.  Our reasoning was that the snow wasn't going to be great at the ski resort OR in the backcountry, so we'd just have more fun exploring by ourselves than riding the lift and skiing groomed runs all day.  We're strange like that.
     Because this is what we'd planned to do on Sunday, I decided to find a way to make my extra-special-Valentine's Dinner "semi" homemade.  Let's get one thing straight:  I think Sandra Lee is an abomination.  Still, sometimes you have to make sacrifices and coming up with a fabulous but not all from scratch dinner this year was one of those.  So, after our awesome day of skinning up hill and skiing down through some heavy but still awesome snow, we got home and I got started on dinner.
     I make us a special dinner because I feel like it shows extra thought and love.  We can go out to dinner anytime.  This is our day to spend together and we like being able to eat an awesome meal and drink great wine in our sweats ;)

Up first:  A roasted vegetable and prosciutto antipasto platter.  Here are the veggies getting ready for the oven.

     This post will have very few actual measurements in it...but here's what I can tell you about the Roasted Vegetables:  I used red peppers, asparagus, and artichokes.  Coat with a few tbsp olive oil, sprinkle with salt, and roast at between 450-475 for about 15 minutes or until they are browning.  With the artichokes:  You can use canned ones (not marinated) but make sure to drain them and then gently squeeze them over the sink to get all the water out.  Here's the finished product with a caper viniagrette:

For the viniagrette:  1 tbsp capers, 1/2 tbsp olive oil, 1 tsp red wine or white wine vinegar, sprinkle of red pepper flakes.  Mix and pour over.

Next on the menu was five cheese ravioli (the store-bought frozen kind) with a creamy mushroom sauce.  I will admit that with the sauce I was flying by the seat of my pants.  First I started the mushrooms browning in a small skillet.

 

 

 

Don't crowd the mushrooms!

Then I combined 1 tbsp butter and a clove of garlic in a saucepan and let the butter melt.  I added 2 spoonfuls (like a regular old spoon) of flour and started a roux.  Once the flour and butter had cooked together for a few minutes I added about (I am approximating) 1/4 - 1/2 cup lowfat milk and 1/2 cup chicken broth.  I tossed in some salt and pepper and let this come to a boil, while stirring.  Once it came to a boil and started to thicken slightly, I threw in the mushrooms and 2 spoonfuls of parmesan cheese.  I tossed in a little (maybe a tsp) oregano and just let everything simmer for a few minutes.

Mmm...simmer away mushroom cream sauce...

Finally, I decided that since I did have Five cheese ravioli, this sauce might be a little heavy...so I added in about 1 tbsp tomato sauce, just to add a tiny kick. 

Ta-da!

For dessert I went for the BF's favorite:  caramel.  We had Mexican Caramel sundaes.  I got the idea from Rachel Ray.  Basically, I took these ingredients, plus whipped cream and glazed pecans...

...and created these wonderful sundaes!  Sorry the pic is a little washed out.

I'll say this.  The BF is extremely private and that's why I haven't posted a whole lot of reasons why he's fabulous or anything.  That being said, the last 3+ years have been the absolute best years of my life and I am SO lucky to have him.

Split Pea Soup is good--I don't care what you say!

     I was 30 before I had split pea soup.  I think it must be more of a northern dish than a southern one because my mom never made it.  Not once.  Ever.  It was one of those things I heard about in a book once in a while, but it wasn't something I ever thought I would eat.
     A few years ago, after a yummy Christmas breakfast of ham, eggs, hash browns, etc., the BF said to me, "Now we have the ham hock to make split pea soup!"  I thought to myself, "I"m not sure how good that sounds..."  But being the loving girlfriend that I am, I decided to make it.  Did you know you can buy a bag of dried, split green peas?  Yep.  Right over by the rice and other dried beans.  Did you know that on the back of that bag there is a recipe for split pea soup?  Yep.
    I don't have my recipe right here in front of me, but I did find this one from the Food Network that is pretty close.  What's in split pea soup?  Onions, carrots, celery, peas, ham, and chicken broth or water.  It's that simple.  The peas get soft and creamy and the ham gives off a wonderful smokiness.  Yes the soup is green, but the flavor is so deep and comforting that soon you're longing for Christmas, not for presents, but for the presence of a ham hock.
     I have leftover ham in the freezer.  No hock, but the leftover ham will do.  I'm making split pea soup tonight and will add some photos and my own recipe to this.  I think I'll make some foccaccia bread too!
*Update*
      What I ended up making was Split Pea soup and cornbread muffins.  They seemed easier than getting out the bread maker for the Foccaccia bread.  Here is the recipe from the back of the bag of split peas:
     1/3 cup EACH of: chopped onion, celery, carrot.
     1 ham hock (or about 1 cup of ham, chopped)
     1 bay leaf
     1/2 bag of green split peas
     4 cups of water, chicken broth, or a combination of the two
     salt, pepper

Basically you combine all of those ingredients in a big pot, bring it to a boil, cover it and let it simmer for 1 hour.  Everything should be mostly creamy and soft by then.  You can top your's with a dollop of sour cream if you like.  Hot sauce is good too!

Just getting started with peas, onion, carrots, celery, water and broth.

The addition of ham...you can see a bay leaf peeking out too.

Corn muffins.  You can't tell, but that egg is blue.  From my friend Lauren's chickens.

Cornbread muffins topped with coarse ground black pepper

About half-way through the simmering

YUM O.  I know it doesn't look beautiful with the big dollop of sour cream, but it's awesome!

I took pictures but i haven't added them yet.  I will.  I promise!