Category Archives: vegetarian

a toast by any other name

Posted on by

2

bruschetta red pepper 9786

Apparently the next logical obsession, after strawberries, is bruschetta.  Or “crostini” depending on your preference.  It appears, according to Wikipedia, that the difference is that the former is rubbed with garlic, possibly?  So I guess technically these would be crostini?

Whatever, any way you slice it (bread pun!), it’s toasted bread topped with stuff.

Let’s just agree that we can call it any of the above, as a piece of toast by any other name is still equally as delicious.

So far we’ve had toast topped with strawberries and with prosciutto and fig, and now I bring you toast topped with red peppers.

Roasted red peppers.  And feta.

Because they were made for each other.  True story.

But then there was this

pepper jelly

It’s so good I was spreading it on crackers, bread, and would be lying if I said that I didn’t think about trying it with a PB&J…

Hey, I said THINKING.  Don’t judge.  Then I thought about the fig jam and mascarpone… and how well goat cheese and red peppers get along…

And then my brain made me do this…

bruschetta red pepper jelly 9829

A crostini smeared with goat cheese and topped with red pepper jelly.  Simple, sweet, tangy.

If you’re not a fan of tangy goat cheese, red pepper jelly also gets along great with mascarpone or cream cheese… Then again, what doesn’t?

 

Roasted Red Pepper and Feta Bruschetta

Printable Recipe

  • 1 french baguette
  • 1 jar roasted red peppers
  • 6 ounces feta, crumbled
  • 2 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
  • ¼ to ½ teaspoon red pepper flakes
  • Olive oil, to taste
  • Salt, to taste

1.  Slice the baguette on the bias into ¼-inch slices.  Drizzle or brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Toast on both under the broiler until just golden, flip and toast other side.  Once toasted, remove from oven and set aside to cool.

2.  Chop red peppers and set aside.  In the jar of a food processor, process the feta, cream cheese, and red pepper flakes until smooth.  Stream in olive oil until the feta reaches desired consistency, it should be light and fluffy, but not runny.  Taste and add salt as needed.

3.  Spread whipped feta on the baguette, top with chopped red peppers, eat.

* Soft goat cheese would also be delicious with the chopped, roasted red peppers as a topping

Pepper Jelly and Goat Cheese Bruschetta

Printable Recipe

  • 1 french baguette
  • 1 jar red pepper jelly
  • 6 ounces goat cheese, room temperature

1.  Slice the baguette on the bias into ¼-inch slices.  Drizzle or brush with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.  Toast on both under the broiler until just golden, flip and toast other side.  Once toasted, remove from oven and set aside to cool.

2.  Spread baguette with goat cheese, then top with red pepper jelly.  Eat and enjoy!

* If you don’t like the tang of goat cheese, try cream cheese or mascarpone instead

 

strawberry bruschetta

Posted on by

4

Sick of strawberries yet?

bruschetta strawberry 9804

No?  Good.  Neither am I.

Continuing on with my strawberry obsession, I finally had to cave and give strawberry bruschetta a try.  The mix of sweet strawberries and fresh basil make this a sweet-savory snack that is hard to resist.  I added a drizzle of balsamic glaze to bump up the sweetness a bit, and even a smear of mascarpone which really made it about as close to perfect as it could get.  I mean, we already know that strawberries and mascarpone make a good team.

bruschetta strawberry 9816

I’ve also seen recipes that call for a smear of goat cheese, which would give it a nice tang to contrast the sweet strawberries, but that’s not really what I was looking for (goat cheese is not my favorite cheese).  If you’re really into goat cheese, go ahead and give it a shot, but I personally love the flavor of this with creamy mascarpone.

Strawberry Bruschetta

Printable Recipe

  • 1 baguette
  • 1 pint strawberries, washed, hulled, and diced
  • 2 teaspoons balsamic vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • 1 Tablespoon minced fresh basil
  • 2 – 4 ounces mascarpone or goat cheese (optional)
  • Balsamic glaze, for drizzling

1.  Mix strawberries, 2 teaspoons of balsamic vinegar, lemon zest, and basil in a medium bowl.  Toss to combine and set aside.

2.  Slice baguette into 1/4-inch thick slices.  Toast under the broiler until lightly golden on each side.

3.  Spread desired amount of cheese onto each slice of toasted baguette, and top with strawberry mixture.  Drizzle each slice with balsamic glaze.  Eat and enjoy.

 bruschetta-strawberry-pin

 

chocolate cashew butter

Posted on by

2

cashew 3 - 2

Whatever you do, don’t make this.

Sure, it seems harmless enough.  It’s just some cashew butter… What’s the harm in that?

cashew butter april

With the first bite you’ll be impressed by the texture, second bite, “ooh, that chocolate is a really good addition,” third bite “ooh, I can taste a little salt in there too…”

Using it to dip some banana or apple in, smearing a bit on some toast.  Maybe dunking a graham cracker or two…

cashew butter 8319

Next thing you know it’s gone and you’re torn between the shock of, “Did I just eat a whole container of cashew butter?” followed by the panic of realizing, “MY GOD, THERE IS NO MORE CASHEW BUTTER!”

You’ll know you’re in real trouble, though, when you’re standing at the counter eating the second batch straight out of the jar with a spoon… totally not speaking from experience.

Like I said, this is serious stuff.

choco graham 8328

Well, I put those graham crackers in there for the picture… it’d be a real shame to waste them.  Might as well eat the rest of them too, since they’re already on the plate.

 

Chocolate Cashew Butter

Makes about 8 ounces cashew butter (mine fit into my 8 ounce mason jar)

Printable Recipe

  • 2 cups (about 8 ounces) cashews*
  • 1 ounce chocolate, milk or dark, chopped (or a tablespoon or two of mini chocolate chips)
  • 1 teaspoon virgin coconut oil
  • salt, to taste (I added about a 1/2 teaspoon of sea salt)

1.  Place 2 cups cashews (or nut of your choice) into the food processor.  Blend continuously until they break down into a butter form.  This will take awhile and you will need to scrape down the sides a few times.  They will go from nuts, to chopped nuts, to something resembling almond meal, then to the consistency of chunky peanut butter, then to a smoother consistency.

cashew butter Collage

2.  Once smooth, add the chopped chocolate and coconut oil and continue blending and scraping until it is completely blended.

3.  Taste and add salt as desired, blend and scrape down the sides one last time to incorporate the salt.

Can be stored at room temperature up to 3 days, or refrigerated for about a month (I’ve seen other sites say up to 3 months).

* You can use any nut you like, roasted or raw, but roasted nuts will give a more pronounced nut flavor (raw cashews basically just hold onto the chocolate and stay pretty neutral in flavor) – Just make sure to use unsalted so that you can control how much salt goes into the butter. (If you’re feeling adventurous, give honey-roasted peanuts a try, you might not even need  want to add the chocolate with that one.)

* Use more or less chocolate, milk or dark, to your taste, or omit the chocolate all together.  Other things that mix well – honey, maple, cinnamon, etc.

 

[ Adapted from How Sweet Eats ]

 

 

green juice

Posted on by

7

green juice 1

After a weekend spent at the brim of uncomfortable fullness, the last thing I can think about today is the last piece of birthday cake sitting in the refrigerator.  Actually, it’s one of the only things I can think about, but I can’t imagine eating it.  Not even one bite.

The last thing I need in my life right now is another piece of cake.

My body is craving one thing: green.

I know, you totally think I’m crazy, but I promise you I’m not.  Not completely, at least.

green juice 2

So, before you turn your nose up at the thought of a green juice, listen to this.  This is not bitter, or sour, or savory, nor does it taste like “green” (think: wheatgrass. yuck!)

This juice does not taste like green.  There is a tiny bit of pineapple in there, and that’s the magical ingredient with juice.  Whatever you are putting in your juice, I promise that if you put just like a cup of pineapple in there it will magically taste like fruity deliciousness.

True story.

I’m not an organic food snob, but when it comes to juicing I use organic whenever possible.  I don’t chop my fruit or veggies (unless they don’t fit into the opening in my juicer).  If you don’t have a juicer, I have also included directions for making the juice in your blender.

This isn’t baking, so you don’t need to be exact, and while I don’t think I’ve made this “recipe” the same way twice (for example, I’m out of spinach so yesterday I used only kale), it’s kinda a franken-juice from all of the green juice recipes I’ve perused online…  it goes a little something like this…

Green Juice

Makes about 16 ounces* of juice

*Your actual yield will vary depending on how juicy your produce is

Printable Recipe

  • 1 to 2 handfuls baby spinach (about 2 cups loosely packed)
  • 1 to 2 handfuls chopped tuscan kale ( 2 – 3 kale leaves, stems removed)
  • 2 stalks celery (Sometimes I leave the celery out if it smells salty.  That’s totally a thing.  Remember that thing I said about how I’m not crazy?)
  • 1/2 english cucumber
  • 3 medium (3-inch) green apples
  • 1/2 to 1 cup pineapple (about 1/4 to 1/3 of a pineapple, cored with skin removed)
  • 1 Tablespoon lemon juice

 

Since I’m not peeling them, I start with fresh, organic produce, wash it thoroughly, and cut it just so it’s small enough to fit into the mouth of my juicer.

Add ingredients to juicer in order listed.  Done! (That was easy right?)

If you’re using a blender instead of a juicer, go ahead and chop everything into roughly equal-sized pieces.  Add about a half of water to the ingredients (just enough to get everything moving around in there, add more if needed)  in your blender and whirring away until completely blended.  From there you can drink it as a smoothie, or strain out the solids and enjoy it as a juice.

 *A lot of green juice recipes tell you to use parsley, it has magical cleansing and anti-inflammatory properties.  I, however, despise the taste of parsley with the strength of 1,000 suns.  Don’t ask why, I just do.  And even though I’m sure a couple of sprigs wouldn’t kill me, for the sake of flavor (re: delicious vs herby), I left it out.  Feel free to add some if you like, it’s up to you. 

thursday things

Posted on by

0

wonton ravioli main

It’s Thursday!

Not quite Friday, but so close I can taste it.

We’ve had a lot going on at work, this is the time of year that we get super busy, so work like crazy all day long, go home, and crash super hard. It makes it hard to do things like, I don’t know, import all those food photos I’ve taken and type up a post. So hard.

As my time becomes more limited I turn to easier recipes, shorter posts, and less pictures. I made these surprisingly good raviolis with wonton wrappers of all things. I had just enough time for BF to snap a pic with his iPad before we devoured them for dinner… I know, I’m pitiful. I wasn’t really even planning on liking/posting the recipe so, whatever. Don’t judge.

Now, they aren’t like regular ravioli. The wonton wrapper is much thinner and more delicate than typical ravioli dough, but I actually enjoyed that. It was like a much lighter pasta that allowed the flavor of the filling to really shine through. I dunno, I liked them. A lot more than I expected to. Especially since I’m not a huge ravioli fan. Boyfriend enjoyed them too, and he is a fan of ravioli, so there must be something good going on there…

Oh, and Thursday’s Serious Eats Sweets lineup also featured my croissants – woot! A picture, by the way, that wasn’t good enough for stupid Tastespotting’s 100×100 pixels. If you have a lot of free time this weekend, you should probably make them. And by probably, I mean definitely. Definitely make them. So good.

Don’t they just look scrumptious?

I’m also dreaming about this cake recipe I saw on Food & Wine, but BFF told me I should probably give the chocolate cakes a rest and make something light and fruity… which I was totally considering until I saw that cake… I mean, it’s just so bizarre… a crunchy almond filling (that when I read, I realized was awful close to a macaron recipe) PLUS peanut butter PLUS rice krispies… I think I have to make it. At this point, I don’t think it’s even my choice anymore. It just has to be done. This is F&W’s picture, not mine. (Obviously, since I haven’t made it yet).

Without further ado, here is a quick ravioli recipe to make while your croissant dough is resting…. I filled mine with a plethora of cheese, only because I went on a recent cheese binge at Trader Joes and we have enough cheese to feed a small country for several weeks… feel free to fill yours with whatever you like. Boyfriend even recommended I fill them with my bolognese sauce or meatballs, but by then they were already closed up and ready to go so maybe next time, love.

My recipe only uses half the wonton wrappers, partly because I wanted to experiment with the rest, and partly because I got tired of making them. Feel free to double the recipe (but stick with one egg) if you want more ravioli. These are estimates, just shove whatever you want in there, it’ll be fine 🙂

Wonton Raviolis

[ Printable Recipe ]

  • 1/2 package wonton wrappers
  • 1/2 lb ricotta (use full fat, it has SO MUCH MORE flavor)
  • 1/4 cup each parmesan, pecorino, fontina… whatever else you like.
  • 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning
  • generous sprinkle of salt
  • any other additions you want to add (cooked italian sausage, prosciutto, whatever)
  • 1 egg, lightly beaten + additional egg for egg wash

1. Mix together ricotta, cheeses, herbs, salt, 1 egg, and any other fillings you may want to add.

2. Lay out wonton wrappers and place about 1 teaspoon of filling in each.

3. Make egg wash by beating your additional egg with one tablespoon of water. Rub egg wash around the outside of each wonton wrapper, folding each wrapper in half as you go. Make sure you press around the filling first, and then press the edges together. Get as much air out of the filling as possible to ensure your ravioli don’t burst while cooking.

4. Store in refrigerator up to one day or freeze** until you feel like having ravioli.

5. When ready to cook, bring a pot of salted water to a boil and reduce heat so that the water isn’t at a violent rolling boil, but more of a gentle simmer-y boil. Drop ravioli in a few at a time and cook for about 3 minutes each, until they float to the surface. Remove with a slotted spoon into a separate pan with your warmed sauce as they finish, adding more as necessary until they are all cooked. Remember to be gentle, since the “shells” for these ravioli are so thin that they will tear or burst more easily than regular ravioli. 

I boiled my ravioli, transferred them to a wide bottomed pan with warm sauce and spooned the sauce over them, then drizzled them with a tiny bit of oil, and garnished with fresh basil. It was delicious. 

**To freeze ravioli, line a large plate or baking sheet with parchment and place sealed ravioli in a single layer. Freeze until firm and then transfer frozen ravioli into a freezer safe bag. To cook, bring water to a gently boil cook ravioli until they float to the surface.