Baked-Potato Eggs

I always forget that any kind of twice baked potato recipe is, like, 20 times harder than it sounds. When I read this recipe, I was tricked into thinking it would be easy because the recipe did not bill the potatoes as the twice baked kind (even though they totally are). So when I originally read the recipe I was like, "Oh, bake a potato, mix it with some other stuff, pop it back in the oven, and voila, delicious!" However, it did not work out like that...at least not for me. I ended up getting sweaty and cussing a lot as I broke my potato shells and ended up with more filler than potato shells. Despite all this, these were quite tasty, so if you have some time I still recommend them (and hopefully you won't make the same mistakes nor have the same easy baking expectations that I did).

Ingredients
-2 baking potatoes
-1/3 C milk
-3 T butter or margarine
-1/2 C grated Parmesan
-2 chicken sausages, casings removed
-4 eggs
-1 T EVOO
-salt and pepper to taste
-chives (optional)

Steps
(preheat oven to 400)
1. Wash your potatoes and then poke several holes in them with a fork. Rub your potatoes with EVOO and sprinkle with sea salt. Cook in oven for about 1 hour or until tender. (Flip your potatoes half way through).
2. While your potatoes are cooking, cook your sausages for about 7 minutes (or until browned) breaking it up into small pieces with the back of a wooden spoon as you go.
3. Once potatoes are done, carefully cut them in half and scoop out the insides into a large bowl. I did not do this carefully (and I also didn't cook my potatoes long enough) and ripped most of my shells :(

4. Mash your potato insides with a masher. Add butter, milk, Parm, sausage, and salt & pepper to bowl and mix. Once mixed, fill your shells back up with the mixture.

5. Once you've filled your potato shells, make an indentation (with your finger) in the middle of the filled potatoes. Then crack an egg into each hole.

6. Bake your potatoes again for about another 20 minutes or until eggs are set.
7. Top with chives if you like.

(Note: I actually made 3 potatoes when I made this, and just added a little more of all the ingredients. However, I ended up with more filler than could fit in the potato skins, so I put some of the potato filler in small oven proof dishes and carried on from there.)

Brussels Sprouts

I always thought these were tasteless, stinky, nasties that only my grandparents and patrons of Luby's Cafeteria ate until I recently had them at my friend Lauren's house. The way she prepared them they were slightly crisp and very flavorful, and I fully agree with her that these are like tasty little cabbages. I even got my fiance to eat several after he had sworn he wouldn't be trying them. I will definitely be making more of these as they were super easy and still good heated up in the microwave the next day.

Ingredients:
-1 package Brussels sprouts (probably about 30 Brussels), with the brown bottoms trimmed off
-2.5 T EVOO
-salt and pepper to taste

Steps:
(preheat oven to 400)
1. Toss all ingredients together in a bowl. Place in a baking pan, and cook for 15-20 minutes or until sprouts are browned on the outside, tender on the inside, but still slightly crisp. Remove pan from oven 2-3 times while cooking and shake sprouts so that all sides get browned.
2. Add more salt at the end if you'd like...I made mine nice and salty like French fries.

Will be posting tomorrow!

I promise.

Spring Rolls

First, I have to thank my friend, David, for help with this recipe. His spring rolls are much better, but for my first attempt I thought these were pretty good. You can put pretty much whatever you want in them, but I'll list what I used below.

Ingredients
-Rice papers
-Rice sticks/noodles
-Avacado
-1 orange pepper
-3 carrots, grated
-1 bunch green onions, diced
-1 cup cilantro
-1 cup Thai basil (may need to buy this at an Asian grocery store/market)
-2 T lime juice
-2 T soy sauce
-dipping sauce (I bought premade kinds)

Steps.
1. Chop all your veggies into thin slices (i.e., julienne or grate). 

2. Cook your rice noodles as directed and drain. Cut rice noodles into smaller lengths with a scissors. Toss rice noodles with about 2 T each of lime juice and soy sauce.
3. Put a kettle on to boil. Once it's boiling, fill a frying pan about half way with hot water. Add one rice paper to hot water, let soak for about 15 seconds. Pull rice paper out once it's pliable (add a new one to frying pan so it can soften while you're assembling the roll).

4. Assemble roll by doing the best you can. My spring rolls turned out to be more like burritos due to my lack of rolling technique, but they still tasted good.

5. Repeat until out of ingredients.
6. Serve with whatever tasty sauce you like. I suggest peanut and sweet and sour sauces.

Note: You can keep rolls fresh for a day or two by placing a wet paper towel on top of them in a closed container.

Giant Cheese Raviolis with Sweet Potato Sauce

This was my first time making raviolis and they were actually really easy (although I did cheat by using wonton wrappers). I was a bit nervous about the sauce, but I thought it turned out great. Overall, this recipe is pretty easy, it just takes some forethought because you need to make the raviolis at least several hours before you cook them so that you can freeze them. (I made mine over the weekend and then cooked them last night.)

Ingredients
Raviolis
-15oz part skim ricotta
-2 T minced garlic
-1/3 C shredded Parmesan
-2 T fresh, chopped basil
-pepper to taste
-package of 48 wonton wrappers 
Sauce
-1 sweet potato
~10 T white wine (I used Pinot Grigio, but you could probably sub veggie broth)
-2 T scallion
-2 T minced garlic
-1.5 T EVOO
-pepper and oregano (optional)

Steps
1. Mix ricotta, garlic, parm, basil, and pepper together in a bowl.
2. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or something like Glad cling wrap.
3. Place 2 tsp of cheese mixture on center of one wonton. Dip your finger in a shallow bowl filled with water and brush your finger along the outside edge of the wonton (think of the water as your ravioli glue). Top with another wonton and press the sides firmly together.

4. Place ravioli on baking sheet and repeat until your cheese mixture runs out. I made about 20 raviolis (though I experimented a bit with the triangle shaped ones). Once my baking sheet was full, I just put some Glad cling wrap over the raviolis I had already made and put the new ones stacked on top.

5. Cover your raviolis with saran or whatever and freeze.

To make the raviolis and sauce:
1. Cook your sweet potato (I just poked holes in mine and nuked it for 10 minutes).
2. Remove skin, cut into pieces and place in a food processor or blender. Add about 8 or so T of white wine and blend.

3. Place a large pot on to boil. I suggest adding some EVOO to water to keep raviolis from sticking to each other (I only had one casualty).
4. Saute scallion with 1.5 T EVOO for 2 minutes, add garlic, and saute for another 30 seconds. Stir in sweet potato mixture, adding in another 2 T of wine, and the pepper and oregano. Heat on low for a couple of minutes.

5. Once water is boiling, add ravioli and boil for 3 minutes or until ravioli float to the top. While they're cooking, stir ravioli lightly, but often, to keep from sticking together.

6. Once ravioli are done, dish them out onto a plate with a slotted spoon. Top each ravioli with a T of sweet potato sauce. Finish with grated Parmesan if you like.

Spaghetti Squash with Pomodoro Sauce

This was my first time cooking spaghetti squash, and I have to say it was much easier than I though (thanks, Kelly, for the tips!). The squash itself isn't very flavorful, so you'll want to make sure and serve it with a lot of sauce or some other flavorful ingredients. I made a kind of Pomodoro sauce to go on top.

Ingredients
-2 spaghetti squash (2 squash will make four servings)
-1.5 T EVOO
-1 large onion
-3 T minced garlic
-1 T balsamic vinegar
-1.5 T brown sugar
-1 big can of Italian seasoned diced tomatoes (the size up from 15 oz)
-5 T fresh basil, chopped
-1 C shredded Parmesan
(Note: I've also labeled this recipe as vegan b/c it would be w/o the cheese)

Steps
(preheat oven to 350)
1. Cut your spaghetti squash in half and remove seeds and pulp. Place rind side up on a greased baking sheet and cook for about 45 minutes, or until squash is tender.

2. While squash are cooking, saute your onion with EVOO for about 4 minutes. Add in whole can of tomatoes (including the packing water). Stir in garlic, vinegar, and brown sugar. Bring to a light boil; let simmer for 40 minutes (or until squash is done). Taste sauce periodically to see if you want to add more of anything. (Red pepper flakes would probably be good.)

3. Once squash is done, take a fork and scrape the insides of one half, and then scoop it out into a bowl. The squash will automatically "spaghettify" itself as you scrape it with a fork. Repeat with other halves.

4. Pour a generous helping of sauce onto squash and top with mozzarella and lots of fresh basil.

Pita Pizzas

I got the idea for this recipe from a menu item I recently ordered. These were really simple and the cold leftovers tasted great the next day.

Ingredients
-1 package of flatbreads (containing ~5 flatbreads)
-7 oz hummus (I used the Sabra brand, garlic flavor)
-1 large zucchini and squash, diced
-1 small onion, diced
-4 oz feta, crumbled
~10 T shredded mozeralla
~5 T sun dried tomatoes
~2 T balsamic vinegar
~1 T EVOO
-couple dashes ground pepper
Note: This made 5 flatbread pita pizzas

Steps
(Preheat oven to 375)
1. Heat pan over medium, add EVOO, and saute onion for about 3-4 minutes.
2. Add squash, zucchini, balsamic vinegar, and pepper, and saute for about 10 minutes or until veggies are still slightly crunchy. Once veggies are done, remove from heat.

3. Spoon 1/5 of hummus out on to each of your flatbreads like you would tomato sauce onto a pizza.
4. Top each pita with 1/5 of veggies, 1 T sun dried tomatoes, and 2 T of shredded mozeralla.
5. Put pizzas on a baking sheet and toast for about 5-7 minutes or until cheese is melted.
6. Top each pizza with crumbled feta cheese.

Blue Cheese-Stuffed Chicken with Buffalo Sauce

This recipe is from the March Cooking Light. Although I am not a big chicken fan (I think chicken is pretty tasteless), the addition of the blue cheese and sauce made for a really tasty dish. (Thanks, Julia, for reminding me to add panko to the ingredients!)

Ingredients:
Chicken
-1 cup Panko
-1/2 C crumbled blue cheese
-1.5 T reduced-fat sour cream
-1 T fresh lemon juice
-several dashes pepper
-4 chicken breast halves (I actually only made 2)
-1/4 C flour
-2 T milk
-1 beaten egg
-1T butter
Sauce 
-1.5 tsp butter
-6 T finely chopped drained bottled roasted red bell peppers
-2 T water
-1 T Worcestershire
-1 tsp mince garlic
-1 tsp hot sauce
Garlic Mashed Potatoes
-2 large potatoes, cubed
-2 T reduced fat sour cream
-2 T milk
-2 T butter
-2 tsp mined garlic
-salt and pepper to taste

Steps:

(Preheat oven to 350°)
1. Boil potatoes for about 25 minutes, or until soft.
2. Combine first 4 ingredients in a small bowl. Cut a horizontal slit through thickest portion of each chicken breast half to form a pocket. Stuff cheese mixture evenly into pockets.

3. Place flour in a shallow dish. Combine milk and egg in a shallow dish, stirring well with a whisk. Place panko in a shallow dish. Working with 1 chicken breast half at a time, dredge chicken in flour, then dip in egg mixture; dredge in panko. Repeat procedure with remaining chicken breast.
4. Heat a large ovenproof skillet over medium-high heat. Add 1 tablespoon butter to pan; swirl until butter melts. Arrange chicken in pan; cook 4 minutes or until browned. Turn chicken over; place skillet in oven (I wasn't sure if my skillet was oven proof, so I transferred the chicken to a pan). Bake at 350° for 20 minutes or until done.

5. While chicken bakes, combine remaining 1.5 tsp butter, bell peppers, water, Worcestershire, and garlic in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer; cook until butter melts. Remove from heat, and stir in hot sauce. Serve sauce with chicken.

6. Mash up potatoes and add butter, sour cream, milk, s&p.