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

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

Yummy rhubarb pie I made by piecing together various other recipes, with help from my mom.

• 2 pie crusts (1 box of the roll out kind, or make your own)
• ~5 sticks of rhubarb (enough for about 4 cups)
• 1.5 cups sugar
• 6 tbs all purpose flour
• 1 tbs butter

1. Chop the rhubarb into 1/2 inch pieces.
2. Mix the sugar and flour together, and then mix it with the rhubarb.
3. Roll out the pie crust into a pie pan (9.5 inch, glass works best)
4. Add the rhubarb mix into the pan.
5. Dot butter all over the top.
6. Roll out the other pie crust over the top, fold the edges under the bottom crust so it doesn’t leak all over.
7. Cut vents in the top crust. I like to sprinkle sugar on the top too.
8. Cook at 450 degrees F for 15 minutes, then 350 degrees F for about a half hour, or until crust is golden brown and rhubarb is tender.

Tags: pie, rhubarb, Vegetarian

Long day?  Want something refreshing yet filling?  Yeah, I thought so.  This is one of my favorite recipes for just such a moment.  Its fast, easy, and pretty good.  It fills you up, but doesn’t leave you feeling bloated and heavy.  So go wash your hands, we’re getting ready to cook.

ingredients (per person):
Capellini pasta
1 lemon
2 roma tomatoes
1 clove garlic
1 T butter
2 T olive oil
salt
pepper

Start by boiling the pasta.  While that’s going, place a skillet over low heat and add the butter and olive oil.  Next, give the tomatoes a rough chop and mince the garlic.  Cut each lemon in half then cut each half into paper thin rounds.  You can either leave the rind on or take it off.  I prefer to leave it on and just not eat the lemon.  There’s plenty of flavor from the lemon in the dish, and I don’t find eating the fruit necessary.  However, if you want to eat it, then peel the lemon before you slice it.  Try to save the peel though and add it to the skillet while cooking.  Just remember not to eat it.

Once the pasta is ready, strain it, rinse it and toss it into the warm skillet and raise the heat to medium-high.  Stir it around a bit to get the oil mixed in and add the lemon,  garlic, tomatoes, salt and pepper.  Cook for 3-4 minutes tossing nearly constantly.  Once its all nice and hot and mixed thoroughly, plate it then top with a few turns of fresh cracked pepper and some fresh basil.  As I said before, this is a filling dish, but fear not.  Put the leftovers in some tupperware and take it to work tomorrow, its good cold too.

Enjoy,
-E

Tags: easy, lemon, Pasta, tomatoes, Vegetarian