I had a bunch of new potatoes left over from the 4th, and I thought it might be fun to bake them and serve as mini baked potatoes along side a steak.  After they came out of the oven, my friend had an idea to improve on my plan.  We ended up making this, its essentially a deconstructed baked potato type thing, and man is it good.  Its got bacon, sour cream, and everything else that makes a baked potato great, but its in a group friendly configuration.  Put this in the middle of your table and watch it disappear.

ingredients:

10 new potatoes
1 cup diced heirloom tomato
2 strips thick cut bacon
5 large basil leaves, chiffonade
sour cream, to taste
1 t rosemary
salt
pepper

method:

This one is pretty easy.  Start by stabing each potato once with a fork.  This puncture will allow water to escape during baking which will cause the skins to crisp up nicely.  Place the potatoes in a 400 degree oven and set the timer for 45 minutes.  When the timer dings, grab the spuds from the oven and cut them into quarters.  Toss the wedges into a hot skillet with the bacon and cook until the bacon is done.  While that’s going, start dicing the tomato.  When thats done, prepare the basil.  When the bacon is ready, spread the skillet contents on a plate and mash them ever so slightly with a fork.  Cover with the tomato and add salt and pepper to taste.  Add dollops of sour cream across the top and then sprinkle on the basil and the herb mixture.  And that’s it, you’re ready to serve.  I highly recommend tossing a few forks on the plate and making it a group affair.

Enjoy :)
-E

Tags: potatoes, salad, Vegetarian

Signs of summer in Kansas are popping up all over the place.  The days are getting longer, the trees are blooming, and we had 4 inches of snow last saturday (I think you have to live in KS to get that joke).  The best part though, is that summer foods are starting to show up in the market.  This week I noticed peaches for the first time, and right next to them a mountain of fresh berries.  I have a serious soft spot for these natural candies and I couldn’t resist buying some blueberries, raspberries, strawberries, and kiwi.  After I got home with my prize, I thought about what to do with them. Strawberry shortcake?  Perhaps a cobbler?  Oh, what about cheesecake!?  Then it hit me: ice cream.  What’s more summery than that?  After a few more moments of thought, I concocted this recipe and started putting it together.  Its insanely easy, really cheap, and crazy delicious.  Whip this out at your first summer gathering and I promise, you will not be disappointed.

Ingredients:

12 ounces blueberries
6 ounces raspberries
6 ounces strawberries, sliced and halved
3 kiwifruit, diced
2 T red wine vinegar
2 T olive oil
1 T sugar

Method:

Combine the vinegar, oil, and sugar in a small non-reactive container and stir until the sugar is disolved.  Cover and put the mixture aside.  Next, put all the fruit into a large bowl and gently toss them to mix evenly.  After letting the fruit mix sit for about 5 minutes, spoon the liquid mixture evenly over the surface.  Be sure to stop and gently mix every 4 spoonfuls or so.  Once the mix is all in, its ready to serve.  Seriously, that’s it.  If you do not plan to serve immediately, place uncovered in a fridge for up to 5 hours.  When ready to serve, just get a bowl, put a few scoops of vanilla ice cream in it and spoon the fruit mix over the ice cream.

Enjoy :)
-E

Tags: berries, fruit, ice cream, summer

I can’t take too much credit for this one, its really the creation of a friend.  We decided to make lasagna tonight, he decided to show us what was up.  This one is really something special.

ingredients:

marinara sauce

1 green bell pepper, diced
1/3 C celery, diced
1/3 C carrot, diced
1/2 C white onion
4 cloves garlic
16 ounces tomato sauce
2 T tomato paste
1 C vegetable stock

filler

1 zucchini, diced
8 ounces portabella mushrooms, rough chopped
2 1/2 C eggplant diced

bechamel sauce

3/4 C shredded parmasean
4 C milk
4 T flour
4 T butter
1/2 C ricotta

other

8 ounces fresh mozzarella, cut into strips
1 lb lasagna noodles

method:

Start by building the marinara sauce, that way it has plenty of time to come together.  Add the carrots, onion, and celery to a skillet along with 2 T olive oil.  Saute the mix on medium-low heat for about 15 minutes, then put it into a food processor.  Start the processor and slowly add the stock.  Keep going until its fully pureed.  Pour into a sauce pan and add any remaining stock along with the tomato sauce, the tomato paste, and the bell pepper.  Place over medium-low heat and cover.

Next, we’ll build the filler.  Add the zucchini, mushrooms, and eggplant to a skillet along with 2 T olive oil, salt, and pepper.  Cook until the mushrooms have given up most of their moisture and the zucchini starts to become tender.  Feel free to add some fresh herbs to this step.  Rosemary, basil, and celery seed are all good choices.  That’s pretty much it on the filler.

Fill a large pot with water and place over high heat.  Once the water boils, turn the heat off and place the lasagna noodles into the water.  Once they are soaking, start building the final element to our lasagna, the bechamel sauce.  Put the milk into a saucepan and put on a burner over medium-low heat.  Once it begins to get warm, add the butter.  When the butter is all melted in, add the flour and stir well for at least a minute.

Ok, time to build.  Put a thin layer of the marinara sauce on the bottom of a 9×13 lasagna pan.  Next is a layer of lasagna noodles (remember which way you orient them), followed by a thin layer of the filler.  Pour half the bechamel in next, then put on another layer of lasagna noodles (make sure they are opposite orientation of the first layer), then another layer of marinara sauce.  Next, another layer of filler, then another of noodles.  For the top, pour on the rest of the bechamel, any remaining filler, and any remaining marinara sauce.  Finish your new creation off by placing all the cheese on it.

Cover with foil, bake in a 350 degree oven for 45 minutes, then remove the cover and bake for another 15 minutes.  For an optional finihsing touch, broil for 4-5 minutes at the very end of the baking cycle.  This last step will slightly crunchify the edges of the cheese and add a lot of flavor and texture.

enjoy :)
-E

Mushrooms are great, aren’t they?  They’re good in salads, on sandwiches, in soups, and casseroles.  They’re good hot or cold, raw or cooked, pretty much any way you want to use them.  This recipe, though, is perhaps my favorite way to prepare them.  Its a quick and easy recipe, but it never fails to impress.  Whip a batch of these out as an appetizer next time you have guests for dinner and watch them fly off the plate.

Ingredients:

baby portabella mushrooms
goat cheese, 1/2 T per mushroom
basil, chiffonade
olive oil, 1/2 T per mushroom
garlic, 1 clove per 2 mushrooms, minced
salt, 1/2 t per 4 mushrooms
pepper, 1/2 t per 4 mushrooms

Method:

For this recipe you want to choose small mushrooms to work with.  Try to keep the diameter of the cap right around an inch.  If you go too much larger, they start venturing out of finger food land.  Also, you dont want to end up adding so much goat cheese that it overpowers the mushroom.  Once you choose your mushrooms, gently remove the stem, leaving the cap in tact and looking like a small bowl.  Wash the caps by rubbing them with a damp paper towel.  Don’t put them under running water to clean them.  Soggy mushrooms will result in a mushy mess here.

Set the stemmed and cleaned mushrooms aside and find yourself small mixing bowl.  Add the goat cheese, garlic, salt, and pepper to the bowl and whip together with a fork.  This whipping should both mix the ingredients together and add some air which will make the cheese much easier to manipulate.  Once its all mixed, we’re ready to start stuffing.

The stuffing process is pretty straight forward.  Start by lightly coating each mushroom wit the olive oil.  I find the easiest way to do this is to pour the oil directly into the palm of my hand put a few mushrooms in that same hand and move them around a bit until the are evenly coated.  You just want a light sheen here, not to much oil.   Once that’s done, use a fork to scopp up the cheese mixture from the bowl and fill each mushroom.  Arrange the stuffed caps on a non-stick cookie sheet (I use one of those silicon mats), ad a touch more fresh cracked on top, and place under the broiler for 3-4 minutes, or until the cheese just starts to brown on top.  Remove from the broiler and sprinkle some basil on top of each one.  Its important to let these cool after removing from the broiler as the melted cheese inside is approximately the temperature of the sun.  3 minutes or so and you should be safe.  I like them best when they are warm, but they are still tasty even at room temperature.

Enjoy,
-E

Tags: Appetizers, Goat Cheese, Mushroom, Vegetarian

Stuffed peppers are a long time favorite of mine.  Warm, hearty, and filling, they are one of my most treasured comfort foods.  They’re also cheap!  And did I mention versatile?  You can stuff them with anything from meats, cheese, pastas, even other peppers.  With so much variety, choosing what to use as stuffing can almost be overwhelming.  My advice is to just pick stuff that sounds good together.  Choose another food you’re familiar with and replicate it via stuffed pepper.  You like sausage and onion pizza?  Stuff your pepper with sausage, onions, cheese and tomato sauce.  See?  Easy :)  This particular recipe produces a rich vegetarian stuffed pepper sure to please even the  meat eaters in the crowd.

Ingredients:

2 Large Bell peppers
1/2 C Jasmine Rice
1 C Fucili Pasta
1/2 C Almond milk (leave out if using the curry option)
1 Can Black Beans
2 T slivered almonds
1 t ground cayenne
Pinch of fresh lavender
Salt and Pepper to taste

optional:
8 oz Coconut Milk
1 T Red curry paste

Method:

note: If you are using the curry, then start by  thoroughly combining the coconut milk and curry paste in a small sauce pan and placing it over medium heat.   Stir occasionally throughout the rest of the process.

First, lets start the rice.  I like to use a rice cooker as it prevents any mistakes and doesn’t have to be watched over.  If you don’t have one, that’s fine, just follow the instructions on your rice.  Once that gets going, get some water in a pot and place it over high heat.  Once it boils, we will add the pasta to this.  While the water is heating, go ahead and open the can of beans.  Strain the beans and add to a large bowl.  Also go ahead and add the almonds and cayenne.  Go check on the water…is it boiling?  Good.  Add the pasta and cook for about 5 mins or until al dente.  When done, strain pasta in a colander and add it to the large bowl with beans.  When the rice is ready, go ahead and add it to the bowl as well.  Now that everything is in the bowl, mix it together really well and add salt and pepper to your taste.  Let this sit while you you remove the tops and cores from the bell peppers.  Be sure to rinse the peppers to remove any seeds that may be inside.  Using a large spoon, stuff the mixture from the bowl into the peppers.  Go ahead and pack it in there pretty good.

If you are using the almod milk, pour half into each stuffed pepper.

If you are using the curry,use a ladle toadd the curry mixture to each pepper.  Keep filling until the liquid just reaches the top of the pepper.

Place the peppers into a 350 degree oven for about 30 mins to cook the pepper and bring the stuffing together.  Its a good diea to place them in a baking dish first to catch any spillover.

Once the peppers are cooked, remove them from the oven and serve while still hot.

Enjoy,
-E

Tags: Curry, Pasta, pepper, rice, Vegetarian