Black Bean & Edamame Salad

Food is my friend and enemy at the same time.  I love food with bold flavors.  My biggest downfall is baked goods and sweets.  I love to bake and I love to eat it.  Oh and let's not forget the processed foods that most of us eat out of laziness or convenience. Face it fast food in all forms is bad for us and easiest to prepare or just simply pick up at the drive-thru, not to mention how cheap it is.  Eating healthy is expensive!

This little meal is not only tasty and healthy but it won't break the bank to prepare!  It's packed with protein and flavor!

Black Bean & Edamame Salad

Adapted from Clean Eating March 2012 

1 15oz can black beans

1 cup grape tomatoes cut in half

1 cup fresh or frozen shelled edamame thawed

1/2 cup red onion

2oz fresh mozzarella cut into 1/4 inch cubes (note fresh mozzarella is sold in the deli section in tubs)

1/2 cup fresh cilantro or 1 teaspoon dried

I am not a big fan of cilantro so I picked up some dried at Penzeys. I was very excited to find this because a bunch of cilantro always goes bad.  I use much less then what the recipe calls for because I just don't like it!!

Dressing

1 1/2 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice

2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

*1/2 teaspoon ancho chili powder (I got mine at Penzeys Spices, I have one down the street)

In a medium bowl, combine beans, tomatoes, edamame, cilantro, mozzarella, and onion.

In a small bowl whisk together the dressing. Drizzle over the bean mixture and toss. Serve immediately.

  This salad is light and tastes amazing.  You could easily use the dressing for other salads as well!

Get your yum on!

Just a note

* The recipe called for an Anaheim chili pepper to be added to the salad I did not have one so I used the Ancho Chili Powder in the dressing it was wonderful. If you want to add the chili pepper feel free. Just cut, seed and dice!  If you don't want something so hot try a green, red or yellow bell pepper.  You may want to throw in a bell pepper anyway.  Sounds good to me!

Chirstmas Biscotti For St. Patricks Day???

Strange title you say?  Well, I had planned to write this post during the Christmas season.  God had different plans for me and on Christmas Eve I had a baking day planned with my BFF Carrie and fell down my stairs and dislocated/fractured my right ankle and severely sprained my left.  All my plans for the Holiday season became secondary.  

I was in the hospital for 4 days and in a nursing home for two weeks for rehab. The nursing home experience was awful! Except for the rehab part that was fun! I have been at my sister Brenda's house for the past 6 weeks and for that I am grateful! I am doing much better now, walking now and  going home this weekend.

Now back to the Biscotti!  I have always wanted to make it and King Arthur Flour has an awesome recipe in their baking book.

Traditional Biscotti

1/4 cup (12 stick, 2 ounces)unsalted butter
1/4 cup (1 3/4 oun/ces) vegetable shortening
3/4 cup (5 1/4 ounces) granulated sugar
3 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 to 2 teaspoons anise extract or 1 to 2 tablespoons aniseed, to taste (I left this out not a fan)
1/8 teaspoon lemon oil or 1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 cups (12 3/4 ounces) King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
1 1/2 cups (6 ounces) blanched almonds or blanched hazelnuts (filberts), toasted* and coarsely chopped

*Toast almonds or hazelnuts by placing them in a single layer on an ungreased pan and baking them in a preheated 350°F oven for 7 to 10 minutes, or until they smell "toasty" and are beginning to brown.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter, shortening and sugar, then add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down the bowl midway through. Beat in the vanilla, anise, lemon, baking powder and salt. Mix in the flour, 1 cup at a time, till you have a cohesive, well-blended dough. Add the nuts, mixing till they're well-distributed throughout the dough.

Transfer the dough to a work surface (we don't bother to flour the surface; the dough is sticky, but is easily scraped up with a bench knife or dough scraper). Divide it into three fairly equal pieces, and shape each piece into a rough 10-inch log. Transfer each log to a parchment-lined or lightly greased baking sheet, leaving about 3 inches between each log; you may need to use two baking sheets. Wet your fingers, and pat the logs into smooth-topped rectangles 10 inches long x 2 1/2 inches wide x 7/8 inch thick.

Bake the logs in a preheated 375°F oven for 20 to 25 minutes, or until they're beginning to brown around the edges. Remove them from the oven, and allow them to cool for 30 minutes. Lower the oven temperature to 300°F.

Gently transfer the logs to a cutting surface, and use a serrated knife to cut them on the diagonal into 1/2-inch wide slices. Because of the nuts and the nature of the dough, the biscotti at this point are prone to crumbling; just be sure to use a slow, gentle sawing motion, and accept the fact that some bits and pieces will break off. (It's the privilege of the cook to eat these warm, tasty bits and pieces as they're created.) Carefully transfer the slices, cut sides up (and down) to a parchment-lined (makes cleanup easier) or ungreased baking sheet. You can crowd them together, as they won't expand further; about 1/4-inch breathing space is all that's required.

Return the biscotti to the 300°F oven, and bake them for 20 minutes. Remove them from the oven, quickly turn them over, and bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until they're very dry and beginning to brown. Remove them from the oven, cool completely, and store in an airtight container. Yield: about 60 biscotti.

  Now for a little fun and flavor I used the Willton Melting Candy
First I dipped one end of the biscotti into melted milk chocolate 

Next I drizzled red and green melted melts onto the biscotti to make a fun festive coffee treat!

I put them on a large platter and served them at work.  The platter was gone by 10am :)

This was so fun!  Be creative roll in some nuts or change up the colors for any holiday!


Time to get your yum on!!!  

Had a bad day, so what's for dinner anyway?

It was one of those days when I wish I had stayed in bed.  Things went wrong, from the kids in my classroom to trying to register for school nothing was going my way.  One thing I do to de-stress is to cook.  When I am in my kitchen all is well and nothing else matters!  I just love this little recipe and I hope that you will to.  It has very mild flavors and is perfect with a nice salad topped with a bit of lemon juice.

Baked Manicotti Bundles Stuffed with Tilapia & Mozzarella
Adapted from Clean Eating Magazine March 2011

Ingredients:
olive oil cooking spray
3 or 4 green onions enough to make 10 layers
10 whole wheat lasagna noodles
1 carrot peeled
1tsp EVOO
12oz fresh tilapia fillets
4oz light cream cheese
1/2 cup skim milk
1/2 tsp dried dill (I used much more)
1/2 tsp sea salt
2oz reduced-fat mozzarella

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Lightly mist an 8x8 glass pan with olive oil spray

 Rinse oions well and trim off the white tops. With the tip of a paring knife score the upper end of the connected layers to form single onion strips like my picture. Set aside

prepare noodles according to package directions

during the final 90 seconds add the onions then lift out with tongs and set aside before draining pasta.

grate carrot into a small bowl and set aside

heat a large skillet add oil and heat for a bit more. add fish and shake pan so they won't stick. cover and cook for a good 3 minutes. carefully flip them over and cook for about 1 minute more.  break up into pieces if it still is opaque/not cooked, cook for a bit more. remove from heat and set aside.

Add cream cheese, milk and dried dill to a medium saucepan. break up the cream cheese, add salt  and stir with a wire whisk over low heat until melted. add half of the mozzarella and continue heating and whisking until all the cheese has melted.

Scoop out 1/2 cup of the cheese sauce mixture and, you guessed it, set aside.

stir in carrots and tilapia into the pan with the cheese mixture (not the one that you just set aside)

lay out noodles on a cutting board and put some of the fish mixture on each noodle.

carefully role each noodle up but don't let any of the fish mixture escape out the ends.

tie with an onion strip and place the bundle in the pan.

Spread the reserved cheese mixture over the top

sprinkle the rest of the mozzarella and bake for 25 minutes until cheese is bubbly and browned a bit.

and now it's time to...

GET YOUR YUM ON!!!

A Tagine of My Own Making

I love my Tagine.  It is an amazing cooking vessel.  Meats come out incredibly moist and tender and vegetables are cooked to perfection.  Because of this clay pot I have become fascinated with Moroccan Cooking.  I have been reading much and looking at Moroccan Food Blogs.  I like most things.  There are, however, a few things that I do not like.  I am not a big fan of cloves or cinnamon in my savory foods.  Save them for my pie, thanks.  I also am not a big fan of fruit in my savory food.  Many recipes call for grapes or apricots.  These are just not flavors that I enjoy together.  I am sure many people love this flavor combination but  it's just not for me. 

I was looking in some cookbooks and I came across a Tagine recipe that called for most of the ingredients that I do not care for.  I gave up and decided to go out on a limb and create a recipe that I knew that I would love.  I hope you enjoy it as well.

Chicken and Quinoa Tagine

2 large chicken breast cut into pieces

1 onion cut in half then sliced thin

2 tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil

1 cup Quinoa rinsed

1 can garbanzo beans drained, rinsed and peeled

1 1/2 cups water

3 large carrots cut into pennies

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon turmeric

1 generous pinch of saffron

salt and fresh ground pepper to taste

Heat Tagine or Dutch Oven over medium heat.

 

Add Olive Oil and Chicken.  Cook until chicken starts to brown on both sides.

 

When chicken is brown add onion and cook until translucent

When onions are done remove them along with the chicken and set aside.

Add Quinoa, water and spices.

Return chicken to the tagine, add garbanzo beans and carrots and cover.  Cook for 20 minutes or until quinoa is translucent and has little tiny strings attached to each.

Add one of your favorite flat breads (I made pita's)

and...

Get your yum on!

PS Don't miss my special Yeast Spoon give-a-way just click to join in.

These are a Few of my Favorite Things & a give-a-way

When I was a child the night Sound of Music came on TV was a huge deal.  We would pop up the popcorn pour the coke and get in our pj's and snuggle in for the evening.  Remember when you had to wait for a special program or movie to come on TV.  There were no VHS, DVD's or Streaming Videos we had to anticipate the evening and plan.  We even had to watch commercials.  Special traditions were born.  Equally special was the TV showing of Wizard of Oz and Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.  I remember singing the songs for Sound of Music for days after we watched it.


My favorite things have change over the years as everyone's have.  Now my favorite things have to do with hiking, camping, kayaking and the most important to me kitchen gadgets. Here is my little disclaimer.  I am not being paid by the companies to review products I do not represent any of the companies.  I am just a girl who loves to be in the kitchen and these things work best for me.  Some of the products do have a link that you may click on to purchase the items. If it is an Amazon link I will make a small, really small amount of money for anything purchased.  If you want to use the link to buy things that's fine.  You may be able to find things at a better price on your own. Let's get started.

Oxo 12-by-16-Inch Bamboo Cutting Board

This cutting board is a nice size for a small kitchen like mine.  It is bamboo a renewable resource and made very well.  I have not been disappointed with any OXO product.  I have used several bamboo cutting boards and had to toss them out because they began to crack and split. This one has not given me that trouble. I have found for all wood in my kitchen mineral oil rubbed on once a month makes a huge difference  I only use wood cutting boards for fruit, veggies and bread making. I use plastic for all meat because I can toss plastic cutting boards into the dishwasher to help get every bit of the germs off! Okay here is an unsolicited tip: do not put any wood into the dishwasher.  The water, heat and dishwasher soap cause wood to dry out and split.  Also, don't put your knives into the dishwasher.  I am not sure what the science is but when I remove my knives they are dull and pitted. I assume this happens from the abrasive dishwasher soap.

Misto Olive Oil Sprayer

This is an awesome tool for your kitchen.  I love it because it keeps oil sprayer cans out of our landfills.  It is wonderful for coating everything.  I use one for Olive Oil and one for Canola Oil.  If you don't have one yet you are truly missing out.  At about ten bucks it is a great value and it will save you money on the long run because you will not have to spend money on Pam cans anymore.

WeightWatchers Serving Spoons

Once upon a time I was on WW.  These spoons were worth the membership.  They come in two sizes 1 Cup and 1/2 cup.  They truly help with portion control have a long handle and can go from pot to table.  I have not seen anything like them in stores.  I think you have to join WW to purchase them.  eBay might be your only hope.  (or your friendly garage sail/thrift store)

Silicone Scrapers and Pastry Brush

I have both 100% silicone scrapers and ones from le creuset with wooden handles.  I prefer the all silicone ones I just feel that I can get them clean and the handles do not wear out.  A silicone pastry brush is a must have for your kitchen.  Much more sanitary and easier to clean than the bristle ones.

Sur La Table has a wonderful selection but you may be able to save money at Home Goods, Ross, Marshall's or TJMAX.  (These are great kitchen gadget places)

Bag Clips

These are a life saver.  So handy!  I purchased mine at World Market  not sure if you can get them online at their website.  It's more fun to go to the store anyway.

Immersion Blender with attachments

This by far is my most used tool in the kitchen.  The mini chopper saves my eyes from onions and the immersion blender is so helpful for soups.

Vintage Pyrex

This is way more than a favorite thing.  It is an obsession!  To say that I love these little gems would be the biggest understatement.  I began collecting Vintage Pyrex about 4 years ago after I learned that all of my grandmother's collection was lost because a storage bill was not paid. (I was not happy about this fact)  Not only do they provide nostalgia they also the quality cannot be outdone.  They have fun ugly patterns that make them a collectors dream.  I use my collection almost daily.  They are fun to shop for because the price varies from thrift stores antique shops and yard sales.  It is like a hunt!    

Right now I am on a hunt for this:

I really want the black ones!  They are highly collectible and expensive. Oh and also hard to find at my favorite thrift stores or yard sales.  I got the picture from eBay. The bid on them right now is $360. ACK!

Chicago Metallic French Bread Pan

This is a must for crusty French Bread. I also use an old cookie sheet in the bottom of my oven. I let it heat up while I am preheating the oven then put the loaves in the oven and pour water on the cookie sheet.  This makes the steam you need for crusty bread.

Yeast Spoon

This handy tool measures exactly the amount in a package of yeast.  This lets you buy yeast in the big bag at Cosco for 5 bucks and measure it precisely.  

Wouldn't you just love one for your kitchen?

Well here is your chance.  I am giving one of these beauties away to one lucky reader.  

Here's how to do it.

1. Follow my blog on Blogger (one entry)
2. Like me on Facebook  (one entry)
   
3. Follow me on Twitter (one entry)
4. Share this post on Facebook 
5. Share this contest on your blog (one entry)

Please post one comment on this post for each entry.  I will be using one of those web contest random winner picker things to decide the winner on March 31, 2011

Good Luck & Get your yum on!