Irish Vegetable Stew

Happy Saint Patrick's Day!

My sister and I made an Irish dinner tonight to celebrate. However, with a mother who eats little meat, and my sister who has to eat gluten-free, it was a bit difficult to come up with a dish to make. The traditional corned beef and cabbage and cottage pie was out, so some investigating online was necessary.

I was happy with the Irish stew recipe I found on vegsource.com, but I don't think was quite as "Irish" a meal as we had hoped. So, we went to our local Trader Joe's and added Irish sausages and soda bread to the side.

The stew itself was very good, healthy, with lots of cabbage, potatoes and carrots in a broth, and we served it over rice to help soak up the extra broth. I would make this again, it didn't take long, a lot of chopping and simmering mostly.

I'd say this meal worked well for St. Pat's Day, but would be perfect for a cold winter night.

Vanilla Cupcakes

I apologize for not updating my blog as much, but I have started graduate school, moved back to Park Ridge temporarily, and am not able to cook as much. However, when I get the chance, I will try to post new things.

This cupcake recipe was used for a "Fat Tuesday" party my husband and I hosted for some church members. I have been in a cupcake mood lately, and as soon as the idea of a party came up, I knew exactly what to make for dessert.

This recipe comes from a cookbook that was given to me by my Aunt years ago, and while I flipped through it often, I had never used it until now. The cookbook, Cupcakes!, by Elinor Klivans, is an excellent guide to cupcake baking. It begins with the necessities for baking cupcakes, and the author gives a lot of advice on how to bake, store, and frost your cakes. There are basic recipes for vanilla (which I made) cupcakes, sour cream chocolate cupcakes (which I also made but do not have a picture of), and simple frostings. Being pressed for time, I have to admit I used store-brought frosting.

The author also includes many unique cupcakes, such as upside down pecan cupcakes, peanut butter and chocolate cupcakes, and a poppyseed cupcake.

You can find the recipe for her vanilla cupcakes here.

What I loved about these cupcakes was that with the addition of sour cream, they were very moist and stayed like that for a few days after baking. Do be sure you cool your cupcakes completely before frosting though- and have some fun and add sprinkles or sugar for an extra sparkle!

Vegetable Kabobs

Kabobs are a fun way to eat dinner- fun to make too! You can choose any vegetables you like, even add meat or seafood if you wish, and have fun threading them on the skewers.

What I love about this recipe is that it can be made year-round, either on a grill or baked in the oven. To serve, simply place the kabobs over rice, couscous, or orzo.

Ingredients:

olive oil
salt and pepper
garlic powder
oregano
half an onion (any kind), cut in pieces
grape tomatoes
small white mushrooms
1/2 a green pepper, cut in pieces
1/2 a red pepper, cut in pieces
soy meatballs- 3 per skewer

1.) Preheat your oven to 450.

2.) Grease a baking dish.

3.) Thread cut vegetables and soy meatballs onto the skewers, putting a mushroom at both ends to hold everything in place.

4.) Once the skewers are complete, place in the baking dish, then sprinkle with olive oil, salt, pepper, garlic powder, and oregano.

5.) Bake for 25 minutes, turning the skewers once, or until vegetables are tender. Serve immediately.

Balsamic Chicken with Baby Spinach

This was a very tasty and unique way to cook chicken. I wasn't sure how balsamic vinegar would taste with all the ingredients, but it added a nice sweetness to this dish. This is a great weeknight meal as it's quick and easy, and healthy too!

I used Israeli couscous, which I found helped soak up the extra liquid nicely and tasted delicious.

You can find this recipe here.

Peanut Chicken with Cabbage Slaw

One of my favorite magazines is Everyday Food. I have a bunch of them as I inherited my grandma's copies, and had my own subscription for a year while I was in college. It's a fun foodie magazine- lots of colorful pictures, meal plans, shopping lists, and basic information, such as how to cook a basic meatloaf.

In many of these magazines, there is a section called Cooking for One. Now, while I cook for two, if I want to eat meat, it is cooking for one. Hence, today's recipe. It's a fresh take on Chinese/Asian, and I loved the cabbage slaw- the perfect accompaniment to the chicken.

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 boneless, skinless chicken breast half (about 6 ounces)
coarse salt and ground pepper
4 teaspoons rice vinegar
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon toasted sesame oil
1 cup shredded cabbage
2 scallions, thinly sliced on the diagonal
1 small carrot, shredded
1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger
1 tablespoon smooth peanut butter
1 teaspoon reduced-sodium soy sauce

1.) In a small skillet, heat vegetable oil over medium. Season chicken with salt and pepper; cook until browned and opaque throughout, about 6 minutes per side.

2.) Meanwhile, make slaw: In a medium bowl, whisk 3 teaspoons vinegar, sugar, and sesame oil. Add cabbage, scallions, carrot, and ginger; toss to combine. Set aside.

3.) Make sauce: In a small bowl, stir together peanut butter, soy sauce, and remaining teaspoon vinegar; if necessary, thin with water.

4.) Mound slaw on a serving plate. Thinly slice chicken crosswise on the diagonal. Place alongside slaw; spoon a little sauce on the plate, and serve remaining sauce on the side.

*I add some cut up peanuts to my sauce for an extra crunch.

Hoisin Tofu and Almonds

Another tofu recipe! This one is similar to ones I've made before, but uses lots of hoisin (as the title indicates) and has the crunchy addition of almonds. I found this recipe on a vegetarian blog, which I will now be frequenting quite often, veggienumnum.com

This was a good dish, but I would bake the tofu first. Normally that is what I do, but I thought I'd try it again in a pan, and it just proves to be too soft and mushy, often breaking apart and not staying in chunks. It also didn't get as crispy as I had hoped. So from now on- bake that tofu!

Ingredients:

10 1/2 oz. firm tofu
1 1/2 cups chicken or vegetable stock
1 red and 1 green bell pepper, sliced
5 shallots, sliced
5 1/4 oz. button mushrooms, sliced
1 garlic clove, diced
2 1/2 oz. almonds

Sauce-

1 T cornstarch
1 T soy sauce
1 T hoisin sauce

Batter-

1 egg white
1 teaspoon salt
1 T cornstarch
1 T hoisin sauce


1.) Cut the tofu into chunks and soak in the stock for 30 minutes. Strain, reserving the stock, and drain the tofu well on paper towels.

2.) To make the sauce, blend the cornstarch with the reserved stock, hoisin sauce, and soy sauce in a medium pot. Bring the sauce to a boil, stir, until it turns dark in color and has thickened; 4-5 minutes. Remove from heat and set aside.

3.) To make the batter, lightly whisk the egg white, then mix in the cornstarch, salt and hoisin sauce to form a light batter. Toss the drained tofu in the batter to coat well.

4.) In a large frying pan, add oil and fry tofu til crisp and golden. Drain the tofu. Add the veggies and fry. Add the tofu and toss til heated through. Add the sauce and combine well. Finally, add almonds.

*You can serve this as is, or over rice or noodles.

Glazed Lemon Bundt Cake

One of my very first blog posts was sharing the recipe for a delicious lemon tart, a tart that I made for dinner guests who ended up getting sick and canceling.

This beautiful bundt cake was made for those same dinner guests- who months later, after lots of scheduling for both of us, finally made it to our apartment for a meal. I didn't want to make the exact same dessert, but went with the same flavor: lemon!

This recipe comes from allrecipes.com, and is absolutely delicious. I just cannot get enough of lemon, and this cake not only has the lemon zest (which you can see beautifully speckled in each slice), but also uses the juice to create a sweet glaze that oozes over the top, and spills down the sides.

Ingredients:

Cake-

1 cup butter or margarine, softened
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons lemon extract
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup milk
1 T grated lemon peel

Glaze-

1/4 cup lemon juice
1 T water
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract
3/4 cup sugar


1.) In a mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the extracts.

2.) Combine the flour, baking powder, and salt, and add this to the creamed mixture, alternately with milk. Stir in the lemon peel.

3.) Pour the batter into a greased and floured bundt pan. Bake at 350 degrees F for 60-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then invert the cake onto a wire rack and cool for 10 minutes longer.

4.) Place the rack on waxed paper. Combine the glaze ingredients and drizzle over the warm cake. Cool completely before serving.

*Serves 12.