Blog — "recipe"

I must have jinxed us because right after I wrote about it feeling like spring in the middle of January, a cold snap arrived and it was a lovely 21 degrees today with a wind chill of 8. Brrrrrrrr. I don't know about you, but you'd think I could handle this weather after spending five years of my life in snowy, cold Syracuse, New York. However, I've acclimated to balmier temperatures of the south (ok, more like mid-Atlantic) here in Baltimore and I, quite frankly, don't have time to mess around with weather like this!

Last night, we wanted a meal that would warm us up and stick to our ribs. Being in full swing of Valentine season and the shop being busier than ever, I also needed something that I could throw together quickly for dinner. Having bought a ton of green peppers at the grocery store the other day, we decided to go with stuffed peppers. They definitely hit the spot!

Ingredients

• 4 large green bell peppers, cored and hallowed out
• 1/2 pound ground beef
• 1 1/2 cups cooked white rice
• one small onion, diced
• one clove of garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon cumin
• a few dashes of cayenne
• 1/2 cup of shredded cheddar cheese

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Hallow out green peppers and set aside. Prepare your rice (about 3/4 cup dry rice will make 1 1/2 cups cooked). While rice is cooking, brown the ground beef along with the onion and garlic. Add spices to ground beef mixture. When rice is cooked, stir rice into ground beef mixture. Using a large spoon, fill green peppers with filling. Top off green peppers with cheddar cheese and place peppers upright in a baking dish. Bake for 25-35 minutes at 350. Peppers should be soft and tender and cheese should just be browning when the are finished. Serve with a dollop of sour cream (and a decent glass of red wine if you're like me!).

What recipes have you been enjoying lately?

I struggle with winter. Definitely struggle. I don't want to get out of bed because it is cold and dark. And I don't want to leave the house because I know my hands and toes won't be warm again for the rest of the day as soon as that cold air hits. As much as I would love to be a lazy homebody and stay in all day in these chilly months, we all know that's not realistic. Instead I opt for cooking to warm me up, and thankfully there are a few recipes that let me be a little lazy as well.

One of my favorites is a quick to prepare beef stew that is perfect for a hearty evening meal. I'm not a big fan of using the crock pot for everything as I think it tends to make things a little mushy. However, stew is one of those things that I definitely like to use it for. The end result is super moist beef and tender vegetables.

Ingredients

• 1 pound of beef (I get the pre-cut stewing beef at the grocery)
• 3 potatoes, peeled and cut into large chunks
• 2 carrots, cut into large chunks
• 2 stalks of celery, sliced
• 1 onion, cut into wedges
• 1 large can of whole cooked tomatoes, cut into chunks (I also pour the remaining tomato juice into the stew)
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1 12 oz. bottle of stout
• 2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 bay leaf

Directions

Wash and prepare vegetables. In a crock pot, mix beef cubes with flour, salt, and pepper until beef is fully coated. Add remaining ingredients to the crock pot and stir ingredients until well mixed. Cover and cook on low for 10-12 hours or on high for 4-6 hours.

What winter weather recipes have you been cooking lately?

Some weekends I can feel the chill that surrounds me outside of the covers. I don't want to move or get out of bed and would prefer that a cup of coffee magically appears in front of me. And if I try hard enough, I can almost smell the cinnamon wafting up the stairs from the oven like it did when I was a kid and my mom was making coffeecake for breakfast. Then reality hits.

1) I am going to have to get out of bed at some point and face the treacherous task of putting bare feet to cold wood floor planks, all while cursing the fact that I left my slippers just a tad bit too far away from the bed the night before.

2) My mom is 10 hours away in Indiana and the coffeecake isn't going to bake by itself. That cinnamon smell was only a dream I was waking from as the cat was punching me in the mouth with his paw, begging for his breakfast.

Thankfully, there is hope. It just so happens that the cinnamon coffeecake that I'm talking about takes literally five minutes to whip up and get into the oven. And when all is said and done, it tastes just like I remember as a kid. Maybe I had to trade getting out of bed for a tasty morsel for breakfast, but it is most definitely worth it and makes for the perfect start of my day.

Cinnamon Coffeecake

Batter:
1 1/2 cups of flour
3 teaspoons of baking powder
1/4 teaspoon of salt
3/4 cup of sugar
1/4 cup melted butter
1 egg
3/4 cup of milk

Topping:
2 Tablespoons melted butter
2 Tablespoons flour
1/2 cup of brown sugar
2 teaspoons of cinnamon

Preheat oven to 375. Mix the topping ingredients in a small bowl and set aside. In a large bowl, mix dry ingredients to make the batter. Add melted butter. Mix in the egg and milk. Grease a square baking pan with butter or cooking spray. Using a spatula, layer half of the batter on the bottom of the baking pan. Sprinkle half of the topping over the batter. Repeat with the other half of the batter and topping. Bake at 375 for about 25-30 minutes, until golden brown on top and a toothpick comes out clean in the center.
 

As the autumn air becomes chillier, it has become entirely necessary to add more soups to the weekly menu. Some night you want nothing more than a warm bowl of soup accompanied by bread and butter. I had one of those nights recently and had run the gamut of soups that are my usual go to's and needed something new. Thanks to Erika and her suggestion that I check out her amazing Pinterest board chock full of delicious soups, I stumbled across a recipe for a Sweet Spiced Pumpkin Soup. While the soup sounded quite tasty, I wasn't sure that I was in the mood for sweet-- I was thinking more earthy spices and stick to your ribs kind of soup. So I started with some of the main ingredients and adapted as I went. The final outcome was just what I had hoped for-- a hearty soup that warmed me up and tasted absolutely fantastic. I amped up the curry powder just a bit to give it a little extra kick and it turned out perfectly! This will definitely be a recipe that I will come back to.


Spiced Pumpkin Soup

2 tablespoons butter
1 cup chopped carrot
1 cup chopped celery
half of an onion, diced
1 clove of garlic, minced
4 cups chicken broth
1 can of pumpkin
1 can of coconut milk
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
2 teaspoons yellow curry powder

In a large soup pot, melt butter. Add the carrots, celery, onion, and garlic and saute until the onions are transparent. Add the remaining ingredients and simmer until the carrots and celery are tender. Use a hand-held blender to blend the soup in the pot until smooth. If you don't have a hand-held blender, you can transfer small amounts of the soup at a time to a standard blender or food processor.

With the recent never ending heat wave, I needed to find a snack that was refreshing and light. I resorted to one of my favorites that I've been making for quite some time now-- hummus. It is the perfect compliment to some refreshing carrots, peppers, or celery. Munch on the veggies, throw in a few pita chips, and add some hummus and I've got the perfect light lunch or afternoon snack.

These pita chips are super quick and easy to make and are just a bit spicy. And the hummus is fresh, light, and fluffy. I like to make a big batch of pita chips and then store them in a tupperware container. They usually last about a week and a half without starting to get a bit stale. In addition to being a great snack, it is also a favorite that I like to make for parties and other gatherings.

Garlic Hummus

• 2 cans of garbanzo beans, rinsed and drained
• 4 minced garlic cloves
• 1/2 cup of water
• 1/4 cup of tahini
• 3 Tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 Tablespoons of olive oil
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Put all of the ingredients in a food processor and chop. Stir as needed. Once ingredients have been incorporated, use the puree setting (or the fastest setting) on your food processor to bring the hummus to a smooth and fluffy consistency, blending for about a minute or two. Store in the refrigerator up to a week.

Spicy Pita Chips

• 6 pitas (six inch in size)
• cooking spray
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
• 1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cut each pita into 8 wedges, separating the layers from each wedge. Place the wedges evenly in one layer on two baking sheets that have been sprayed with cooking spray. Lightly spray the pita wedges with cooking spray. In a small bowl, mix the spices. Sprinkle the spices over the pita wedges. Bake at 350 degrees for about 12 minutes. I usually check the pita chips every few minutes to make sure they aren't baked too long. They will be done when they are a nice, crispy, golden brown.

Hope you enjoy this quick and easy recipe and that you all are finding ways to stay cool!