Asian Tofu with Asparagus and Edamame

Tofu is often looked upon as a bland and tasteless food, but if using the right ingredients and cooking properly, tofu becomes a delicious and healthy meal.

This recipe uses a flavorful Asian sauce to coat the crispy pieces of tofu, and tastes wonderful atop brown rice with some asparagus and edamame.

Easter Cupcakes

Cupcakes are quite the craze lately, so I wanted to make them for Easter, with my own special twist.

I had made this particular chocolate cupcakes before, for a party, but this time I made my own buttercream frosting, dyed it yellow for Easter, topped it with sprinkles, and then made bunny molds out of milk chocolate.

They were a lot of fun- everyone enjoyed them!
Chocolate Sour Cream Cupcakes

(recipe from Elinor Klivans)

3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped

1 c. unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. salt

1/2 c. unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 1/4 c. sugar

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 c. sour cream

1/2 c. water

Put chocolate in a heatproof bowl or the top of a double boiler placed over, but not touching, barely simmering water. Stir until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from the water and set aside to cool slightly.

Sift the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a medium bowl and set aside.

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and sugar until smoothly blended and creamy, about 2 minutes. Stop the mixer and scrape the sides of the bowl as needed during mixing. On low speed, mix in the melted chocolate. On medium speed, add the eggs one at a time, mixing until each is blended into the batter. Add the vanilla and beat until the mixture looks creamy and the color has lightened slightly, about 1 minute. Mix in the sour cream until no white streaks remain. On low speed, add half of hte flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate it. Mix in the water. Mix in the remaining flour mixture until it is incorporated and the batter looks smooth.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Fill muffin cups with cupcake liners with about 1/3 c. batter. Bake about 15 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes on wire rack and turn out to cool completely. Yields 18 cupcakes.

Butter Cream Frosting

1/2 cup vegetable shortening

1 stick butter

1 vanilla extract

4 cups confectioners sugar

2 tablespoons milk

-Cream shortening and butter with a hand mixer or stand mixer. Add the vanilla, and then a cup of sugar at a time. Add the milk and beat until light and fluffy.

-For the bunny molds, melt any type of chocolate you like and carefully pour into the molds. Let sit until hard, then pop out and place on top of the cupcakes.

Chicken Cacciatore

I am a big fan of Ellie Krieger. I love to watch her show on the Food Network, and have recently been using her cookbook, The Food You Crave. I have made four recipes from it now, and every one has been delicious and healthy. Her chicken chop suey and balsamic chicken with spinach and tomatoes can be found on my blog. I still have a couple recipes from this cookbook I'm eager to try, but first I wanted to make this classic chicken dish.

A fair warning: while easy to make, this recipe takes time. It involves a lot of chopping, and cook time. Also be sure to buy a good white wine, as you will taste it in the final product. This is the kind of dish that fills your house with delicious scents and is well worth the wait. You can serve it as is, over rice, or over pasta. I chose to serve it over some whole grain rotini.

This makes a large amount, and Krieger notes that a serving is one piece of chicken along with the broth and vegetables. So this is definitely a two dinner meal- great for during a busy week!

You can find the recipe here.

Pasta with Leeks, Sage, and White Beans

Martha Stewart recipes almost never fail- this one was excellent. The flavors of the sage, leeks and chicken broth pair together nicely with the white beans, and create a sauce that coats the pasta. I omitted the heavy cream to make it healthier, and didn't miss it at all.

This is a great dish for a rainy spring night.


Ingredients:

2 T olive oil
1 pound leeks (1 bunch), sliced
coarse salt and pepper
2 cans (15 1/2 oz.) cannellini beans
2 cans (14 1/2 oz.) chicken broth
1/2 t. sage
12 oz. fettuccine
2 T lemon juice
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/2 cup Parmesan
parsley

1.) Heat a tablespoon of oil in a skillet. Add the leeks, 3/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon of pepper. Cook until the leeks are softened, about 10 minutes.
2.) Add the beans, chicken broth and sage; with a potato masher (or fork), mash 1/3 of the beans.
3.) Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook until the sauce thickens, but is still soupy, about 10 minutes.
4.) Cook the pasta, drain, and toss with a tablespoon of olive oil.
5.) Add lemon juice to the sauce, and stir in the parmesan. Add your pasta, and toss to combine.
6.) Serve with parsley.

*6 servings

Vegetarian Chili with Cornbread Topping

I'm always looking for new and interesting chili recipes, and this one sounded different as it had the cornbread baked right on top, instead of serving it alongside the chili.

This is a Nigella Lawson recipe, the first recipe of hers I have tried. Overall, the chili was very good- though very spicy, which is when the cornbread came in handy for toning down the heat. The only thing I didn't like about this dish was that she had you put cinnamon in the cornbread. This made it far too sweet for my liking, so I would omit this next time. Otherwise, this was a tasty and satisfying meal.

Find the recipe here.

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!