Broccoli quinoa casserole

Recently I discovered quinoa ( a bit late I know). I knew it existed, but had never tried it, until recently. So lately I've been on a quest for dishes that use it. I came across a recipe, where else but Pinterest, for broccoli and cheese quinoa casserole. However, when I looked at the recipe it includes ingredients like mayonnaise, low fat cheese, and cream of something soup. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't do low fat anything or cream of anything! And mayonnaise I just didn't think would taste good. So in my usual fashion I decided to try to revamp this recipe and make it my own. I immediately decided to take some cues from baked macaroni and cheese. By adding 1 egg and a little bit of milk I'm able to give it that creamy, cheesy consistency without mayonnaise or canned soup.  the quinoa is an excellent source of protein so I serve this just as a vegetarian main dish but you can easily serve it as a side with any protein of your choosing, especially fish or chicken!!

Broccoli quinoa casserole

1 TBSP butter
1 shallot, minced
1 red, orange, or yellow pepper, diced small
1/2 head broccoli, chopped
8 ounces of sharp cheddar cheese (or whatever cheese you like! Swiss or pepper jack would be delicious!)
1 egg
Enough milk to make 1/2 cup, when mixed with the egg
1 cup dry quinoa, cooked according to package

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Cook quinoa according to package directions. Set aside to cool.
Sautee shallot, peppers, and broccoli in butter until soft. Season with salt and pepper, to taste. Mix together egg with enough milk to total 1/2 cup. Combine the quinoa, veggies, and cheese then add the egg/ milk mixture. Pour into a buttered 8x8 Pyrex dish and bake for 45-50 minutes.

Baked french toast

I've been seeing a lot of recipes for "baked french toast" on Pinterest lately. Upon further examination of these recipes I've concluded that they're nothing more than bread pudding. More dessert than something you'd serve for breakfast! Usually an overly sweet custard poured over torn hunks of bread. My idea of french toast is not sweet until you add maple syrup to it. So, in my usual fashion, I've decided to try to come up with a recipe that tastes true to actual french toast. I do see the need to add some sugar to the custard mix for browning, but most recipes I saw called for anywhere between 3/4 and 1cup of sugar. I decided to significantly decrease this to 1/4 of a cup of sugar. Other recipes called for a crumb topping, which i thought was unnecessary and, again, is more like dessert. I like the idea of adding some nuts, and ultimately decided on pecans. I just mixed them right in with the cut up bread. Overall I'm pretty happy with how this came out!!! I served it with maple syrup and bacon on the side. Enjoy!!!

Baked french toast

About 12-16 ounces of any bread you've got lying around (I used 3 croissants and 2 pieces of hearty white bread), diced into about 1inch pieces
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cup milk (I used whole)

1/4 cup sugar
Pinch of salt
1 Tsp. Vanilla extract
2 tsp. Cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans

Pre heat the oven to 350°F
Cut up your bread and place in a greased 8x8 Pyrex dish. Toss the nuts with the bread. Beat your eggs and add the milk to the eggs. Mix thoroughly then add your pinch of salt, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon. Pour the custard mixture over the bread and press down. Cover and let sit overnight or at least 4 hours before baking. Bake at 350°F for 45 minutes- 1 hour, until a butter knife inserted comes out clean. The nutritional infoif it serves 6 (you could easily serve 9!):

Per Serving:

294 calories,

37g carbs,

12g fat,

10g protien

before...

after!

The BEST pecan pie!!! This is no joke!

With the official holiday season among us, I've been seeing pecan pie recipes EVERYWHERE! I was always very intimidated by the thought of making pecan pie at home (though I'm not sure why) but a few Thanksgivings ago I decided to conquer my fear and give it a shot. My go to cookbook is the New Best Recipe by America's test kitchen. It's, by far, the greatest cookbook I've ever used! They test every recipe until it's perfect. I get requests for this pecan pie from all my husband's friends. I wanted to post the recipe here because you do have to either buy the book (which you should! It's seriously the best cook book out there!!!) or pay for a subscription to Cooks Illustrated to get the recipe from their website.

1  9" pie shell, par baked to golden brown
6 tbsp butter
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3/4 cup light corn syrup
3 eggs
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups coarsely chopped pecans

Par bake the pie shell according to the instructions (I do mine at 400°F for about 12 minutes, until golden). As soon as the shell is done, reduce oven temp to 275°F.

Melt butter in a double boiler or a heat proof bowl over a pot of barely simmering water. Add brown sugar, salt, and vanilla. Stir until butter is absorbed. Off the heat, add the corn syrup and eggs. Return to heat and stir constantly, until it reaches a temperature of 130°F on an instant read thermometer. Stir in pecans. Remove from heat and pour into still warm pie shell. Bake at 275° until just set, approximately 55-60 minutes. Cool completely and serve!!!

P.s. if anyone does make it, please let me know what you thought!! :)

Roasted cauliflower soup... dairy and gluten free!

Now that the weather has been getting cooler, I've been trying to find ways to incorporate more soups into our weekly menu. Cauliflower happened to be on sale this past week at the grocery store, so I figured I'd give it a go! Part of the point of trying to incorporate more soup is having hearty meals that tend to be low calorie and low fat. I like creamy soups that are smooth but adding all that flour and/or cream to make a soup thick and creamy defeats the purpose. This is my attempt at a nice, thick, hearty soup made with no flour, no butter, and no cream. This recipe will serve about 4-5 and comes in at 138 calories and only 7 grams of fat! I wish I had some nice, fresh thyme sprigs for garnish :( I did, however make a loaf if this delicious rosemary bread to serve along side!

Roasted cauliflower and garlic soup 

Serves 4

1 large head of cauliflower
8 cloves of garlic, unpeeled
2 tbsp olive oil
Juice of 1 small lemon
1/2 tsp. Dijon mustard
1.5 quarts chicken or vegetable stock (just enough to cover the cauliflower)

1 tsp thyme
Salt and pepper, to taste

Pre heat oven to 400°F. Cut the cauliflower off the stem and into relatively equal sized pieces. Toss the cauliflower and unpeeled garlic in the olive oil and add a generous amount of salt and pepper. Roast, in a single layer for approximately 40 minutes, or until tender and starting to brown. Peel garlic! Transfer roasted delicious-ness to a pot and add chicken stock. Bring to a simmer until cauliflower is very tender. Puree soup using an immersion blender (or regular blender, taking caution not to scald yourself with exploding soup!!) Once smooth, add lemon juice and mustard. Serve and enjoy!!

The best Swedish meatballs

This recipe makes about 4 dozen and will serve about 8 people but I freeze half in the sauce and it reheats amazingly well!!!

Ingredients

• 2 lbs ground sirloin (85/15)
• 1 medium onion, coarsely chopped in a food processor
• 1 cup sour cream
• 2 large egg, lightly beaten
• 1 cup plain, dry breadcrumbs
• 1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons dry red wine
• 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 2 cups beef stock
• 8oz. sliced mushrooms (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon dried thyme

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 275 degrees. Combine beef, onion, sour cream, egg, breadcrumbs, salt, pepper, and spices with hands. Shape into 1 3/4-inch balls (I use a small ice cream scoop).
2. Heat oil in a 12-inch nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Cook meatballs, shaking skillet, until browned and cooked through, about 6 minutes. Keep warm in oven on a clean rimmed baking sheet.
3. Pour off all but approximately 3 TBSP of fat, adding more to make 3 TBSP, if necessary. Add mushrooms, if using; cook over medium heat, stirring, until liquid is released and they start to caramelize a bit. stir in flour; add thyme,wine and stock. Raise heat to medium-high. Simmer, stirring, until thick, 8 to 10 minutes. Add the meatballs back to the pan and serve with mashed potatoes or egg noodles and veggie of your choice!

Chocolate chip banana bars!!!

Here's a recipe a friend saw on the Chew (on ABC) and immediately tried and sent to me. They are AMAZING! I've had banana bread with chocolate in it before but there's just something about these.... perfection comes to mind! Probably because it's a Mario Batali recipe (I LOVE Mario Batali!!) I used a slightly smaller sheet pan than what is called for, mine is 15.5x11x1, and the amount of batter was perfect! I cut them into 1x1 squares.

Bacon, brie, and corn pizza (I know, it sounds odd, but trust me!)

Ready for the oven!!!

Tonight I made one of my husbands favorite meals, a pizza with brie, bacon, spinach, and sweet corn. The first time I came across the original recipe, I was desperately trying to find things to do with brie. We bought some from Costco and it was far too much to be eaten alone with french bread and fruit!!! A quick search on foodnetwork.com for recipes gave me this one and I'll admit, I was skeptical! Once we tried it though, there was no coming back! I think the hubby could eat this, at least, once a week! As usual, I made a few changes here and there but my version is not fundamentally different so I wont bother posting my version of the recipe. I will, however, say that I add a bit more brie than what is called for, a bit more corn (usually frozen, straight out of the freezer!), spinach instead of the parsley, a small diced shallot, and I skip the olive oil and grated Pecorino Romano. And, after many years of trying to concoct the perfect pizza dough recipe, I've got it!! That, I have included below. It is truly delicious!!! 

My Perfect Pizza Dough

1 1/2 cups 105 degree water
4 1/2-5 cups all purpose flour (whole wheat flour can just as easily be substituted)
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 1/2 teaspoons granulated sugar

The finished product :) YUM!!!

2 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon active dry yeast

Dissolve sugar, yeast, and salt in the water, add the oil and 4 cups of flour. Preferably using a standing mixer, kneed approximately 12 minutes, adding more flour as needed, until you can stretch to window pane. Proof in an oiled bowl, covered with plastic wrap, 1 to 2 hours. Makes enough for 2 pizzas that should serve between 4-6 people (depending on your serving size preference :)