"I Don't Like Vegetables" Veggie Sandwich

Dino told me he DOESN'T like vegetables the other day. Oh! So that's why I have to hide the meat and cheese under layers of vegetables when I make food for him!

Here's the sandwich that he keeps stealing from me - even though he doesn't like vegetables...not ONE!

Italian Bread slices

Cheddar Cheese

3 drops Soy Sauce

6 drops Balsamic Vinegar

Olive Oil (enough to double soy sauce and vinegar)

Dijon Mustard (course) 1 tspn

Tomato -sliced

Roasted Red Peppers - strips

1/2 Avocado - sliced

Toast one side of the italian bread slices under the broiler so that one side is crunchy and one side is nice and soft. In the meantime whisk soy sauce, vinegar and mustard together. Pull the toast out of the oven and brush soft side of both pieces with mustard dressing that you just made - kind of thick. Top with cheese and return to broiler until the cheese is melted. (I only put cheese on one slice but I put them both back in the broiler and that was yummy). Layer cheese side with veggies (those aren't veggies!!) and top with the other slice. Then eat it fast or someone else will take it!

Peanut Butter Cup Hot Cocoa

Hi! Just thought I'd pop in and tell you about something so incredibly yummy I can't believe I haven't made it before! I'm taking credit for it even though I just know people must have tried this before. It's so good!

Tablespoon of peanut butter - I just leave it on my metal spoon so I can stir it in
Hot cocoa

Scoop the peanut butter onto your metal spoon. Stir it into your hot cocoa. YUM!

If you have a Keurig or other one cup coffee maker you can just put the peanut butter spoon in the mug and use a hot cocoa k-cup. Let it brew over the spoon and the peanut butter will already be melted when it is done.

Now go try it before it gets too hot out!

Lets start with the Bad news first...tonights dinner was a TOTAL and COMPLETE FLOP, but it was fun none the less

ugh....it was one of those night where I had high hopes for dinner...a good, somewhat fancy dinner...where everything just came together perfectly, I got dinner on the table, which had already been set by the kids, at a reasonable time....ian didn't scream at one or both of them, the food was delicious, the kids were well behaved, we had wonderful conversation....yeah, well take all that and play "opposite day" and that was our dinner tonight...not sure if it was the super awesome Cupcake Vineyard "Red Velvet" that made this disastrous dinner so much fun or what??  But in the end we all had a fun (not good) dinner so I guess that's all that mattered?  Many laughs were had, liv "wood-chucked" her angel hair pasta....Trevor ate all his spinach gnocchi in two bites....i forced myself to have a few bites of everything, in between sips of wine that is...and ian had three bites bc 'his stomach was upset" LOL.  After all was said and done there were pots/pans/utensils/plates all over the kitchen, spinach covering part of the kitchen floor...flour all over the kitchen and ME....but if I HAD to pick "flop or success" I would pick OVERWHELMING success bc we all laughed and joked and were happy when the night was done.  So I guess that goes to show that not all "good" dinners have to include "good food."  

I won't name recipes for this tonight's experience bc I'm sure they are/can be delicious...maybe all the rain we had today contributed to the overwhelming soggy-ness that plagued each part of tonight's meal??  Really who the heck cares bc we are all going to bed with smiles on our face.

Enjoy!
xo
Andrea

Tuesday Thai Red Curry w. Tofu & The Family Dinner Book Review (two big thumbs up!!)

Let's start out with the book review portion of this post, partly bc the Thai Red Curry w/ Tofu recipe came from it but mainly bc I really just cannot say enough about this book...I love it.  I can't even remember where I first saw/heard of it...a magazine maybe?  I looked it up on Amazon and with 56 customer reviews all with 5 Stars I knew it had to be good so I read further...Essentially it's an entire book devoted to how important it is for a family to sit down and have dinner together.  Something that we are lucky enough to do, and have always done since we got married 8 and a half blissful years ago.  It has never occurred to me not to sit down together and eat dinner.  But this book has given me ideas on how to make the time we take to sit down together better. Simple ideas like having the kids "make" more of their dinner at the table rather than Ian and I assembling/cutting/plating for them, serving the food more family style from the table, having a pitcher of water on the table which everyone drinks from, having rules for the dinner table, no phones, not getting up, not even mom!!!  not leaving the table until after a reasonable amount spent...everyone eating the same meal, etc.  Throughout the books there are "Let's Play" boxes that give discussion ideas such as "Lets Play!  The laughing game: everyone laugh like mom, everyone laugh like dad, etc." or "Lets Play!  Where will you go? Where would you like to travel with your family? Where would you like to travel with your friends?  Where would you like to travel alone." or "Lets Play! Who are you? Describe yourself in three adjectives?  Assign three adjectives to everyone at the table."  There are so many more of these little boxes throughout the book, other random boxes are "cooks tips,"  "leftover tips," "Recite Tonight's" which are little poems/blessings...There are interviews with famous men and women (Maya Angelou, Sheryl Crow, Nora Ephron, Judge Judy" along with famous Chefs (Mario Batali, Alice Waters) all telling stories of their family dinners growing up and how they conducted family dinners in their adult lives...sprinkled throughout the these pages chock-filled with information, and stories, and beautiful colorful photos are really tasty looking recipes!  Seriously, there is just soooo much wonderful things going on in this book I find something new each time I browse through it.   

So...enough drooling over the book bc really I could go on and on and on....one of the ideas the book suggests is having dinnertime family rituals..one was something along the lines of "Taco Tuesdays."  One week we did Taco Tuesdays, which was really fun and the kids seemed to really react well to us letting the build their own at the table.  I had all of the toppings on the table in little bowls they built their own...and gobbled everything up!  Coincidence?  I will tell myself it wasn't in the fashion of wishful thinking!  

The following Tuesday for whatever reason I needed to make the Thai Red Curry w/ tofu rather than tacos (I think I had bought the veggies a few days before meaning to make it then but never did and didn't want the veggies to go bad.)  So Taco Tuesday turned into Thai Red Curry with Tofu Tuesday instead!  Hey...they both start with a "T" right?? but me some slack!  I think we will go back to the Taco Tuesday from now on bc really there are endless versions of tacos we can make, everyone in the family loves them and best of all it's nice just knowing what we will be eating on Tuesdays without having to put too much though into it.

Now...onto the recipe portion, the book technically calls it "Red Thai Curry with Shrimp"  being as I don't eat shrimp I figured tofu would be just as delicious.  One thing the author does in the recipes is has a section called "kids can" where she lists out the parts of the preparation that kids can participate in, granted if you thought about any recipe you could probably figure these step out, but I thought it was a nice touch continuing the theme of "family dinner" meaning everyone pitches in to prepare, eat, then clean up!  Which is music to my ears.

This dish was really really tasty, everyone ate it, no complaints- the only thing I would have done differently next time (and there absolutely will be a next time) is that I would add more Thai red curry paste.  I was afraid it would be too spicy for the kids if I added the full 2Tbs the recipe suggested.  Other than that I wouldn't change a thing!  This dish also accomplished another one of my goals which is to create more vegan meals...meat eaters have "Meatless Mondays" so as a vegetarian family I would like to take that move one step further...and have vegan days...yet there are no weekdays that start with a V!  So I'll just toss them in through the week the best I can.

Thai Red Curry w. Tofu 

Ingredients
vegetable oil
1 block extra firm tofu
1 red onion sliced into wedges
3 cloves garlic sliced
1tbs grated fresh ginger
2 tbs red Thai curry paste (more or less depending on how spicy you like it)
1 14ozcan unsweetened or lite coconut milk
1c low sodium chicken/vegetable (I used water bc we were out of veggie broth)
2 tbs Asian fish sauce (i omitted bc the whole vegetarian thing)
1 1/2 tbs brown sugar
1c diced tomatoes
1c snap peas, tips and tails removed
1c asparagus tips

salt and pepper to taste

chopped fresh cilantro


Directions


To prepare tofu I sliced the block of tofu into strips and sauteed in batches on med/high heat with a bit of veggie oil.  Once nice and crispy lay on a paper towel to soak up any extra oil.  Add to curry once it's finished cooking.


To prepare the red curry-
Heat a large skillet over medium heat and drizzle enough oil to film the bottom.  Add the onion and saute until soft and beginning to brown, about 4min.  Add the garlic and ginger and saute until the garlic is golden.


Reduce the heat to medium.  Add the curry paste; stir until fragrant, about 1min.


Add the coconut milk, broth, fish sauce (if using) and sugar; bring to a low simmer.


Add the remaining veggies and simmer for 2min.


Add shrimp at this point, if using, stirring often for about 3min, or until the shrimp are pink and curled.  Taste for seasonings.


Transfer the curry to a large shallow bowl.  Garnish with cilantro and lime wedges.  Serve w. rice.


Source: The Family Dinner by Laurie David
I also just realized that the book has a website that looks pretty cool too- http://thefamilydinnerbook.com  off to check it out!


Enjoy!
xo
Andrea

Dino's Latest Recipe

While we were making french toast this morning Dino created his own recipe that I think is pretty brilliant!

Here are the ingredients:

1 slice white bread

crunchy peanut butter

5 chocolate chips

Take a bite of the corner of the bread. Spread peanut butter on 1/2 white bread. Smoosh chocolate chips into the peanut butter. Fold the plain side of the bread onto the peanut butter chocolate chip side and VOILA!

Crunchy PB Stuffed French Toast

French toast is my go-to super easy breakfast food. It's so easy to mix it up and make it different each time and we never get tired of it. Plus...when I have to go grocery shopping because we're running low on just about everything I know that bread/eggs/milk/butter will always be there for me. The new favorite at our house is French Toast stuffed with Crunchy Peanut Butter! Here it is for 1 toast. Double it to make 2 or three. (Hey Andrea - how good would this be with Nutella!!???)

1 tablespoon butter
2 pieces white bread
Crunchy peanut butter
1 Egg
3 tablespoons milk or half & half (I usually just eyeball it)
1 tablespoon honey
2-3 teaspoons cinnamon (I eyeball this too. I just add what seems to be like too much and then add a little bit more)
Your favorite toppings

Now put it together. I'll give you the order that Dino and I used this morning but it's pretty flexible.

Put the egg, milk, honey and cinnamon in a dish wide enough to sink a piece of bread.

Turn your stove on medium and melt the butter in a frying pan.

Spread peanut butter on one piece of bread and top with the other piece making a sandwich.

Scramble the egg mixture and dip the peanut butter sandwich in and then flip it over so that both sides are covered.

Toss it in the pan and watch carefully. Turn it over when it turns a nice brown color and brown the other side as well. PS - it will be kind of dark because of the cinnamon.

That's it. Then you can top it with all kinds of things like syrup, butter, berries, whipped cream brown sugar.

We're butter and syrup guys here:

Greek Night! Spanakopita & Greek Salad

I loooove Greek food...cannot get enough.  I love it so much I have not one, but TWO favorite restaurants...one local, right here in Highland Park, NJ, Pithari Taverna the other in Marlton, NJ, Kuzina by Sofia.  The reason for the two restaurants in two different areas of NJ you wonder??  Well as luck would have it, my bestest friend also looooves greek food just as much as I do..so we have a favorite by my house and a favorite by her house...that way we can eat it no matter who is visiting who.  convenient, eh??  We order the same dishes at both restaurants, a greek salad, hummus, spanakopita, fried eggplant and zucchini w/ tzatziki, we sit with our bottle of red wine and talk and eat and talk and eat and talk and eat...sometimes for hours.  

So, when I can't make it to one of the two lovely greek establishments I attempt to re-create at home...not nearly as wonderful as their dishes, but better than nothing.  So, the night of our Greek Feast we had spanakopita, tiropita, greek salad, warm pita and hummus...all except the pita and tiropita were made by me, liv (the best sous chef ever!) and my mom.  The pita and tiropita were purchased at our local middle eastern grocer.  Hopefully this will hold me over until my next visit to Pithari Terverna...must go soon!

Spanakopita 

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup olive oil
• 2 pounds spinach, washed and drained
• 1 bunch scallions, white and green parts, chopped
• 1/4 cup finely chopped parsley
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 pound feta cheese, crumbled
• 1 to 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
• 1 pound filo pastry sheets

Directions:

Heat 1 tablespoon of the oil in a large saute pan, add half of the spinach and saute until spinach wilts, tossing with tongs, about 2 minutes. Remove spinach and squeeze out excess liquid, then chop roughly. Repeat with remaining spinach, using 1 more tablespoon of olive oil. Pour off any liquid from the pan, and add remaining olive oil.

Add scallions and saute until soft, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the spinach to the scallions, along with the parsley, salt and pepper. Cook over low heat for 1 to 2 minutes, then remove from heat to cool. (This part can be done ahead and kept refrigerated).
 

Stir the feta and as much beaten egg to moisten the cooled spinach mixture.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Brush a baking sheet with some of the melted butter.

Unroll the filo dough on a flat surface and keep it covered with waxed paper and a damp towel so it doesn't dry out and become brittle. Using a sharp knife, cut the filo into 3 by 11 inch strips, and recover with the towel. Use a pastry brush to brush a strip of filo with melted butter. Place a small spoonful of spinach filling 1 inch from the end of the pastry. Fold the end over the filling to form a triangle, then continue to fold up the strip in triangles, like folding up a flag. Continue with remaining strips of dough, placing filled triangles on the baking sheet and keeping them covered with a towel until all are ready to bake.

Brush the triangles lightly with butter, then bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until golden and crisp. Serve hot. (These may be frozen before baking, layering waxed paper between layers of triangles to keep them from sticking. Bake frozen triangles an extra 10 minutes.)

Source: The Food Network


Greek Salad

Ingredients

• 2 large tomatoes, cubed
• 2 Lebanese cucumbers, cubed
• 1 red onion, thinly sliced
• 1 cup kalamata olives, pitted and halved
•  1/2 cup finely chopped fresh dill
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
• Juice of 1 lemon

Directions
Mix the tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, olives, avocado in a large bowl with the dill, olive oil, red wine vinegar, and lemon juice.  (can it get any easier than that??)

The recipe this was based off of included fried cheese, as well as an avacado...I left both out, but may add next time I make this salad.

Source: Chuck Hughs- Greek Salad

 



Hummus

It's so hard for me to write out a recipe for hummus...bc really when we make it, which we always do...it's so cheap and easy to make!  we use the same ingredients but never measure, just add, blend, taste and adjust.  

1 can Chickpeas (reserve some bean liquid to use to thin the hummus if needed while blending)
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Tahini
fresh garlic chopped
lemon juice
salt

Blend chickpeas, add other ingredients until the hummus reaches your desired taste and consistency.

Enjoy!
xo
Andrea

i make a lot of soup- kale and white bean soup

so in doing this "quick and dirty"  haha, I wrote it twice now in less than an hour!  re-cap I realized I make a lot of soup...at least once a week.  Why?  Because they are delicious, they make good leftovers, and it's cold...so until it warms up I most likely will continue to be making at least one type a week- you are warned.

Look at how pretty the rainbow kale is!

This is one of my favorite soups, the flavors in it are so warm (the curry) and deep, it's packed with nutrient dense vegetables (kale and sweet potatoes) with some protein (white beans) thrown in for good measure-  





Ingredients:

• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• 1 small onion, halved and thinly sliced (1 cup)
• 3 cups chopped kale
• 1 small garnet yam, peeled and diced (1 cup)
• 1 Tbs. smoked sweet paprika, plus more for garnish
• 1 Tbs. curry powder
• 1 bay leaf
• 4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth
• 2 15.5-oz. cans great Northern beans, drained and rinsed, divided
• 2 Tbs. red wine vinegar 

Directions

1. Heat oil in saucepan over medium heat. Add onion, and cook 8 minutes, or until lightly caramelized, stirring often.
2. Add kale, and cook 4 to 5 minutes, or until wilted. Stir in yam, paprika, curry powder, and bay leaf; cook 1 minute more, or until fragrant.
3. Add broth, and bring to a simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low, and cook 30 minutes, or until kale and yam are tender. Purée 1 cup beans with 3/4 cup water in blender or food processor. Add purée and remaining beans to soup. Simmer 10 minutes, then stir in vinegar. Season with salt and pepper. Sprinkle each serving with paprika.

Source: VegetarianTimes

Enjoy!
xo
Andrea 

Tortollini Soup!

Go ahead...I dare you, take a guess what kind of day it was when I made this soup...warm and sunny??? ahh...I wish...if you guessed cold and grey...BING BING BING!!! you win!!  This soup was surprisingly really good considering how simple it was to prepare.  My husband who barely offers compliments without prompting even said it was delicious- the leftovers are gone...both sure signs that this is worth repeating.

Ingredients

1 tbsp. olive oil
½ cup onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
½ tsp. dried oregano
1 (15 oz.) can diced tomatoes, with juices
4 cups low-sodium vegetable broth 

9 oz. tortellini, any variety, fresh or frozen, shhh! i used Trader Joes Pesto Filled, sorry Whole Foods who employs my husband
3-5 cups fresh baby spinach, loosely packed, I used closer to 5
Salt and pepper
Grated Parmesan, for serving

Directions:
--In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat the olive oil over medium-high heat.  Add the onions to the pan and cook until beginning to soften, about 5 minutes.  Add in the garlic and cook, stirring frequently, just until fragrant, about 1 minute. 

-- Mix in the oregano and diced tomatoes.  Add the broth to the pot.  Bring the mixture to a boil.  

--Add the tortellini to the pot and cook according to the package directions.  One minute before the tortellini is fully cooked, stir in the spinach.  Remove from the heat.  Season with salt and pepper to taste.  

--Serve warm with grated Parmesan as desired. 

Since the tortellini I was using was leftover from earlier in the week and therefor already cooked, I made the soup as indicated above however, right before serving added the tortellini and spinach, while still simmering until the tortellini was heated through and spinach was wilted.

Source: Annie Eats- Tortellini Soup 

Enjoy!

xo

Andrea

Veggie-Full Pot Pie

It has been a cold and snowy and bleak winter so-far here in NJ....I'm hoping that now, almost March we are on an upswing...at least we have seen the sun more than twice in the past week...which is a record.  *crossing fingers*  One cold and grey day I decided a vegetable pot pie would be the perfect dinner to warm our cold bellies.  I swear this was DELICIOUS...sooooooo good....I probably could have eaten the entire 8 x 8 dish myself.  And while I am not a nutritionist, this dish was healthy...the only ingredient I can think of that is not so great for you is the puff pastry topping...but really, that's just like a 1/8th  layer of the entire dish- so it's healthy!  

I based it very loosely on a recipe I found on allrecipes.com.  I used entirely different vegetables, their recipe called for more spring season veggies, while I used more winter veggies....so use what is in season, and looks good.  I'm positive any combo of veggies would work perfectly-

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 onion, chopped
• 8 ounces mushrooms
• 1 clove garlic, minced
• 2 large carrots, diced
• 1-2 potato, peeled and diced
• 1-2 sweet potato, peeled and diced
• 2 stalks celery, sliced 1/4 inch wide
• 1-2 cups broccoli florets
• 1-2 turnips, peeled and diced
• 1-2 bulb(s) fennel chopped
• 3 cups vegetable broth
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 teaspoon ground black pepper
• 2 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 sheet puff pastry

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. Heat oil in a large skillet or saucepan. Cook onions, mushrooms, and garlic in oil for 3 to 5 minutes, stirring frequently. Stir in carrots, potatoes, and celery. Stir in broccoli, fennel, turnips and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to a simmer. Cook until vegetables are barely tender, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.
3. In a small bowl, mix the cornstarch, soy sauce, and 1/4 cup water until cornstarch is completely dissolved. Stir into vegetables, and cook until sauce thickens, about 3 minutes.
4. Pour the filling into a dish that you think will fit all of your veggie filling, mine was heaping over an 8x8" baking dish...top with sheet of puff pastry, seal and flute the edges.  Add a few slices in the crust as "vents." 
5. Bake in preheated oven for 30 minutes, or until the crust is brown. 

Source: All Recipes- Veggie Pot Pie
 Enjoy!

xo

Andrea

quick and dirty catch up post

I won't waste your time (or mine...less talking, more posting andrea) on why it's been what? a month since I last posted anything???  So this is going to be a quick and dirty (a new catch phrase I stole from recently, trying to incorporate it in some form every single day from now on) re-cap of some yummy things I've made in the past month.....

enjoy!
xo
Andrea

Lulu Cookies

I think we made these up so I don't want to forget the recipe. I obviously liked them because I ate three of them! Argh!


I didn't bake all weekend and I think it started to confuse everyone! So Dino and I whipped these up super fast before the Super Bowl. We don't have a name for them so we're calling them Lulu cookies in honor of the pink rhino on Ni Hao Kai Lan because that is what we were watching when the idea hit us.


They're really easy and take no time at all. Use parchment paper and there's pretty much zero cleanup!

1 bag Betty Crocker Oatmeal Cookie Mix
1/4 cup butter (soft not melted)
1/4 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1 tablespoons water
4 teaspoons Ghirardelli Unsweetened Cocoa
1/2 bag semi sweet chocolate chips


Preheat oven to 375. Line two pans with parchment paper for easy cleanup. Mix all ingredients except chocolate chips until all is blended. Add chocolate chips. Shape into balls - about 1 tablespoon each (made 21 cookies for me). Press down a little bit but leave them chunky. Bake for 12 minutes and remove to cooling rack 2 minutes after they come out of the oven.

Greek Vegetarian Pizza

This is one of our family's all time favorite pizzas...and we eat a lot of different varieties of pizza!!  I have been making this for close to five years now- so long that I don't even have the recipe anymore...it took me a while to search it out online so I could properly source it here!  It's so simple and so adaptable that as long as you have the few main ingredients you can add whatever else looks/sounds good at the moment. Fresh tomatoes, olives, capers, etc. etc etc....

taken w. phone camera again!! even w. the low budge photography doesn't it look absolutely delicious?!?

Feel free to use a store bought pizza dough- however it's sooooo easy to make your very own, and honestly it's sooo much tastier!!  So please do try! I will post the recipe I swear by (and I have tried many) below along with a link to making a perfect homemade pizza crust every time-

Ingredients

• pizza dough (recipe below or store bought)
• 1/2 cup prepared basil pesto
• 3/4 cup sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil, drained and chopped
• 3 cups torn spinach leaves
• 1/2 red onion, quartered and thinly sliced
• 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
• 2 teaspoons dried oregano
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 2 tablespoons grated Parmesan cheese

Directions

1. Adjust oven rack to center position and heat oven to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C). Keep pizza stone in pizza as it pre-heats.
2. Roll out pizza dough, spread with pesto leaving a thin rim around the circumfrence .   Top pizza in the following order: tomatoes, spinach, red onion, feta, and oregano. Bake until spinach wilts and cheese starts to brown, about 15 minutes.
3. Remove pizza from oven and drizzle with oil, sprinkle with Parmesan cheese, slice and serve. 

Source: Allrecipes.com- Greek Vegetarian Pizza

If I did not make myself very clear in the paragraph above I implore you to please at least try to make your own dough...usethe tips/tricks included in this link  and you too will never buy a boboli again!!

Basic Pizza Dough

Yield: enough dough for 2 medium pizzas or 4 calzones

Ingredients:
½ cup warm water
2¼ tsp. instant yeast
4 cups (22 oz.) bread flour, plus more for dusting
1½ tsp. salt
1¼ cup water, at room temperature
2 tbsp. extra-virgin olive oil

Directions:
--Measure the warm water into a 2-cup liquid measuring cup.  Sprinkle the yeast over the top.  

--In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the bread flour and salt, mixing briefly to blend.  

--Measure the room temperature water into the measuring cup with the yeast-water mixture.  

--With the mixer on low speed, pour in the yeast-water mixture as well as the olive oil.  Mix until a cohesive dough is formed.  Switch to the dough hook.  Knead on low speed until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes.  

--Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, turning once to coat.  Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in size, 1½-2 hours.

--Press down the dough to deflate it.  Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface.  Divide the dough into two equal pieces.  Form each piece of dough into a smooth, round ball.  (If freezing the dough, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze at this point.)  Cover with a damp cloth.  Let the dough relax for at least 10 minutes but no longer than 30 minutes.

Source:  Annie Eats

Now go make some pizza!!!

Enjoy!

xo

Andrea 

Super Yummy VEGAN oatmeal cookies

I have to admit, I was skeptical about wasting my ingredients on this recipe but thought it was worth a shot, and I sure was surprised at how yummy these are! I found the recipe from Alicia Silverstone's KIND DIET cookbook. I tweaked the ingredients a bit to make use of what was in my pantry. Believe me, you will not miss the butter or eggs in these!

RECIPE:

1 cup quick-cooking rolled oats 1/2 cup canola oil
3/4 cup white-whole wheat flour 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons date sugar 1/2 teaspoon molasses
2 teaspoons baking powder 1/4 cup dried plums(prunes)or any dried fruit
1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 cup chopped walnuts(optional) i did not use
1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
1/3 cup maple syrup

Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

combine oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. In a separate bowl, combine syrup, oil, vanilla, and molasses. mix wet and dry ingredients and fold in dried fruit/and or nuts.
roll tablespoon size scoops of dough into balls and place on sheet. press down to flatten the tops . bake for 10 minutes and transfer to baking rack to cool. cookies will be soft so be careful when transfering. they will firm up once they are cooled. recipe makes about 12 to 15 depending on the size of the balls.
they don't last long in my house - I have made them twice this week already! try them on someone and don't tell they are vegan- I don't think anyone will notice!

Our First Guest Blogger.....Super Yummy VEGAN oatmeal cookies!!

Kenyson and I are pretty smart girls....we were talking (i.e. emailing) saying how we needed to get our butt in gear and start posting some more...we just need to carve out a chunk of time to sit down and actually do it....and then- LIGHTBULB MOMENT!!  Guest Blogger!!!  That will buy us some time to post ourselves....yet there will be a new delicious recipe up on the blog to share with the world....so with that I introduce my friend- Dana- a senior member of the momtourage- and fellow foodie friend.

Check out her take on Alicia Silverstone's Vegan Oatmeal Cookies!!  I know I am definitely going to whip up a batch of these for the kids this week-

xo
Andrea 

Straight up Brownies

Another Brownie Recipe! Can you tell what we like? Mmmmmmmm!



Last night we had a weather advisory so we didn't plan a thing for the weekend. That lack of planning left me intensely stir crazy! So today was play, bake, shop, laundry, bake, eat, clean day. I made some pretty epic brownies today so I think I'll share those. What made them so cool was adding peanut butter cups right before baking but I'll share the Betty Crocker recipe as well. I wish I would have remembered Andrea's recipe on this site because I had all of the ingredients and would not have had to venture out to the store today. But I forgot and so I had to go out and get baking chocolate. I bought Ghirardelli 70% Cacao Extra Bittersweet Baking Chocolate instead of using Unsweetened and then added two tablespoons Ghirardelli cocoa powder to make it super chocolatey!

Here's the recipe: Betty Crocker Ultimate Brownie Recipe

Here's what else: I didn't put nuts in it - we don't eat them in anything at our house so I pretty much always omit them. Instead I chopped up a bunch of (6-7) mini peanut butter cups and sprinkled those on top before I baked. I think marshmallows, m&ms, chopped up caramels, chocolate chips, oreos, coconut or any mixture of them would be awesome too!

Word to the wise - don't count on your non-stick pans for these (I had to throw away a whole pan of mini brownies because of lazy greasing).

"S" is for Soup!!!

Over the two weeks I also made two types of soups...one delicous and one that was eh' just okay.  I'll post it anyways bc I'm sure someone out there would like it.  It wasn't a bad soup it's just that me and my family are pretty particular when it comes to tomato soup...basically we like this one- and that's about it:

I have tried all different types of store bought versons, made a few myself, like last summer when we had so many tomatoes from our garden I didn't know what to do with them!!  And yup, that soup was not anywhere close to being as tastey as this boxed version.  Last week I saw this recipe Creamy Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup  and figured, "what the heck, let's try it....maybe this will be one that works for our family!"  What is the definition of insanity again?  Doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result?  or something like that?  Well yeah, this one didn't work for us either, but maybe it will work for you.

Creamy Roasted Garlic Tomato Soup 

Ingredients for the soup:
1 quart chicken stock
1 can of crushed Italian tomatoes
1 cup light cream
1 can cannellini beans (white kidney beans)
6-8 large basil leaves
1/2 cup olive oil
1 bulb roasted garlic
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
sea salt, black pepper to taste

Directions:
Place all soup ingredients except cream into a large pot over medium-high heat until it boils.
Once it boils, reduce heat and simmer, uncovered for about 15-20 min, stirring every few min to prevent burning of tomatoes.
Add cream, then use a submersion hand blender to blend ingredients into a creamy texture.
Let come to a simmer again, being careful not to boil cream.  Just reheat all ingredients together, about another 5 minutes, while whisking cream into soup.

We had this soup along with the pesto, roasted red pepper, spinach panini noted below so luckily our dinner was not a total bust!

Source: Food Buzz 

 

 

Pasta e Fagioli

 

The second of the two soups was quite the opposite of the first- for me anyways.  This is one of my all time favorite soups in the world...and I am a soup lover...this recipe was delicious and filling and nutritious, and warm!! everything you could ever ask for in a soup! 

Ingredients

1 tbsp olive oil
3 celery ribs, chopped
3 carrots, in medium dice
1/2 large red onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 tsp dried oregano
kosher salt and fresh ground pepper
2 (14.5 oz) cans or 1 (28 oz) can of diced tomatoes
3 cups low sodium vegetable broth
2Tbs Sugar
1 Parmesan rind, plus additional freshly grated Parmesan for serving
1 cup whole grain shells, or other small pasta
1 (15.5 oz) can of cannellini beans, rinsed and drained **I used two cans***
I cup coarsely chopped fresh baby spinach, stems removed

Directions

In a good sized heavy pot, such as a Dutch Oven or casserole, heat oil over medium. Add celery, carrots, onion and garlic. Season with oregano, a few pinches of salt and several grinds of pepper. Cook stirring occasionally until vegetables are soft, about 10 minutes.

Add tomatoes, broth, sugar and Parmesan rind. Increase heat to high and simmer rapidly until liquid thickens slightly, 5 minutes. Stir in pasta and cook, partially covered, until pasta is just shy of al dente (for my pasta, this took about 10 minutes).  ***note- I cooked my pasta separately, and added with the beans below**Add beans and continue to cook for a few minutes, until they are warmed through and pasta is al dente. Remove from heat and stir in chopped spinach. Serve topped with grated parmesan. 

 Enjoy!

Andrea 

"P" is for Panini!!

As the executive chef of a vegetarian family I often get asked "what do you feed your family for dinner????"  you know....bc there is nothing else on the planet to feed your family besides meat and potatoes??? Don't worry...I won't get all PETA on your a$$...however I will share these two cute little buttons..bc well they are cute and if somehow posting these two cute buttons in this one little post encourages just one person to go meat free for even one day that will make me happy. 

Now aren't they cute??? 










I'm done, I promise!!  Now...where were we??  Oh, Paninis!  So over the past two weeks I've made two versions of a panini.  I'll start with last weeks- please bare with me...as both of these masterpieces on a plate are my own "creations" and I use that word in quotes bc I am positive I am not the first or only person to make this sandwich...I just didn't lift these off a cooking blog, or even use a recipe when making them.  Therefore, I don't have real measurements....but they are so easy you really do not need measurements...just ingredients and assemble and voila'!  You have yourself a Panini!!

Spinach, Pesto, Mozzarella & Roasted Red Pepper Panini

Ingredients
bread (ciabatta, Focaccia, sandwich rolls, Everyday Bread, etc)
basil pesto
mozzarella (fresh I find is the best!) but regular works too
baby spinach
sliced roasted red peppers
whatever else you think would taste yummy, some versions I have made in the past included broiled eggplant, zucchini, mushrooms, roasted broccoli, caramelized onions, etc, etc.)

Directions

1. Slice bread/rolls/ etc.
2. Smear pesto on one (or both) sides of sandwich
3. layer a handful of baby spinach, sliced roasted red peppers and a few slices of cheese, top with top half of roll/bread etc.
4. Cook in fancy panini press...or if you are like me, place on grill pan over med/high heat.  This is where it starts to get tricky...so pay attention...place a tea kettle filled with water on top of sandwiches...see illustration below as this is an extremely advanced technique but works wonderfully!  Smushes the sandwhich down nice and thin while making those panini lines that add so much flavor (haha!)  Check after a few minutes, flip sandwich which should be decently pressed at this point and place tea kettle back on top.
5. Once both sides are grilled and insides are nice and ooey gooey take off grill pan, slice and enjoy!

taken w/  cell phone camera- fancy...as fancy as this panini press-don't be jealous

Grilled Pepper & Onion Panini w. Garlic Aioli and Feta

I have been making this sandwich for so long...I know I got it from somewhere but I cannot for the life of me remember where, possibly allrecipes.com but I don't know the name of the sandwich and at this point I'm pretty sure I'm not following the original recipe anyways :)

Ingredients
bread (ciabatta, Focaccia, sandwich rolls, Everyday Bread, etc)
red bell pepper
yellow bell pepper
orange bell pepper
green bell pepper
red or yellow onion
crumbled feta
garlic, minced
lemon juice
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Salt/Pepper

Directions

1. Slice bell peppers and onions, sprinkle with a little EVOO (hellooooo Rachel Ray!) salt and pepper, mix to cover all the veggies
2. Grill onions and peppers on grill pan over med/high heat until they are at your desired done-ness, like black and charred? great!  like them barely cooked nice and crispy?  fantastic!!  Get distracted and forget about them so they end up black and charred?? no biggie...you meant to do that.
3. While veggies are grilling time to make the garlic aioli... put a few spoonfulls of mayo in a small bowl.  Mix in lemon juice and garlic.  Taste it, add more of whatever you think will make it better, I tend to like it more garlicy then lemony but whatever floats your boat.
4. Spread garlic aioli on one or both sides of bread, top with mounds of grilled veggies, sprinkle on crumbled feta...top with the other half of bread and smush down a bit so it stays in place.
5.  Place sandwich on fancy panini press or grill pan over med/high heat (I use the same pan as I used for grilling the veggies)  and top sandwich's with tea kettle filled with water. 
6. Flip panini- place tea kettle on again.
7. Once both sides are grilled and panini is pressed nice and thin take off pan, slice and serve!



Enjoy!
xoxo
Andrea

crack in cake form....Nutella Goey Butter Cake

I should be contacting Nutella at this point asking for my pay-check with the amount of advertising I do for this product....if you follow me on facebook you know I go through phases where every single status update is about me dipping something in nutella.  I cannot count how many people have contacted me saying "I ate nutella on a _____ and thought of you!"  or "I was in the store and saw Nutella and had to buy it bc of you!"  or some variation of those two statements....put it this way, I had to perform a Nutella intervention on myself at the end of the summer due to the 5lbs I gained due to my addiction.  So...since then I have been doing okay...I slip up every now and then, allow an indulgence and move on...until Christmas when my Uncle, after seeing my multitude of Facebook posts gave me a nice big jar of crackNutella all wrapped up in a pretty bow. 

A while back during one of my "clean" periods I came across this recipe for Nutella Gooey Butter Cake.  I knew I could NOT make this just for us unless I wanted to crumble into a full relapse...if I was going to make this I needed a purpose...somewhere to bring it...or else I would be a goner.  Fast forward to last week...One of my dear friends (or as I refer to her, one of my "breast friends"  you'll see why in a second) was preparing for major surgery..you guessed it, breast surgery, and not the elective kind.  This friend is also super super tiny in need of a little more meat on her bones....she asked that if anyone wanted to visit her before/during/after the surgery to please bring a fattening snack....and then...that magic moment happened where the light bulb went off in my head...."I could make this cake and bring it to her!!!!" 

So last Sunday, Liv and I baked our cracke.  And to be honest I was a little disappointed...but ONLY bc of me...don't get me wrong, this cake was super...but it would have been extra-super-duper if I just followed directions!!!  As you can see in the recipe below, it clearly states "Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to over bake as the center should be a little gooey."  Well 40min came and the center of the cake was JIGGLY!!  Not anywhere close to being set....50min came and the same thing, maybe a little firmer but still very very very jiggly.  I should have just trusted the recipe and taken it out...but nooooo...I had to keep it in for a few more 10min intervals until the middle was still gooey but not resembling a bowl full of jelly.  Bad move.  Should have taken it out at the 45min mark.  If you decide to bake this, and really you should...trust me, trust the recipe...take it out between 40-50min.  You will thank me for making this mistake for you so you don't have to!

Ingredients

Cake:
1 package devil's food cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons butter, melted
Filling:
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
1 cup Nutella
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
8 tablespoons butter, melted
1 (16 oz.) box powdered sugar
DirectionsPreheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter and mix well with an electric mixer. Pat the mixture into the bottom of a lightly greased 9x13 baking pan.  To make the filling: In a large bowl, beat the cream cheese and Nutella until smooth. Mix in the eggs, vanilla, and butter. Add the powdered sugar and mix until well combined. Spread the Nutella mixture over the cake batter.  Bake for 40 to 50 minutes. Make sure not to overbake as the center should be a little gooey.

Recipe and Photo taken from: Let's Dish

I did take a photo of this masterpeice, however, that photo is on my digital camera....with no laptop to upload it to...so here's a photo from the blog lifted the recipe from-

Enjoy!
xoxo
Andrea

playing catch-up

You guessed it...it's been another "event-filled" (again, another word I use in place of "crazy") week here.  Let's see...we've had numerous snow-days; some justified, some not-so-much...a still-broken car, a laptop out being repaired another laptop which decided this week was the week to FRY and DIE....a finger (mine) that was slammed in the non-broken car door....etc. etc. etc.) So while I had quite a few recipes I wanted to share one thing or another came up and stole the few free minutes I have to post away.  So today...what is it? the 8th school snow-day we've had since January?? I will be playing catch up with our little baby blog.  Some posts will be just that....a post, no picture, bc even though we now have a digital camera and glorious beautiful, pictures were taken we no longer have a computer to upload them to...Agghhh...this is my life :)  I think I'm long over-due for a nice tropical vacation, no??

So throughout the day I plan to post everything I wanted to post since my last entry...I'm filled with wish-ful thinking today!

xo
Andrea

Pumpkin Fluff

Hi! I have a great idea (totally not mine) for a low calorie treat. Everyone was talking about it at a Weight Watchers meeting a while back and I finally tried it out. It's good! And it's made with pumpkin and dairy and it's sugar free and Dino likes it too! Bonus!

Here's how easy it is:

1 small package sugar free pudding - cheesecake flavor but I want to try vanilla or chocolate too.

1 cup milk - I used 2%

1 can pumpkin puree

1 container cool whip free

In a medium bowl whisk together the pudding and milk until combined. Add pumpkin and whisk again. Put away the whisk. With a spatula fold in cool whip. Put in the fridge for at least 2 hours but it's even more awesome overnight. It should come out to about 2 WW points per serving and it makes 4 giant servings. I prefer lots of smaller servings so you could probably plan on 8 servings.

We ate it plain and then dipped vanilla wafers in it. I think I want to try dipping green apples in it - seriously, they're on my list for today! I also thought that gingersnaps, graham crackers, grapes and pineapple would be a hit.

Oh! And most importantly. It cured my craving for sweets! Win!

not quite a success- yet not a failure: Nana's Italian Knot Cookies

It's been another fun-filled (that's the word I use in place of "crazy" to make myself feel better) week here at the Venittelli House.  I had such grand intentions to post more frequently but with everything going on I just haven't made anything post-worthy!  ayiah!  And this one thing I did make didn't come out that great....boo!

Monday Ian took Trevor and Liv down to visit his Nana for the afternoon.  I think one of the main reasons Ian likes visiting his Nana is these cookies...Nana knows this and never disappoints.  Ian came home with an entire tray full of these Italian Knot Cookies...probably over two dozen.  We all nibbled on them Monday night...Tuesday came and Ian went back to work...but the rest of us were home- Snowday (#6 of the winter!)  Around 11am I realized the tray was looking a little sparse...so I looked closer and sure enough, there were about three left!  The kids must have been sneaking into the kitchen, taking cookies more often then I realized...sneaky little monsters!  

I felt a bit bad that there were so few left of Ian's favorite cookies for when he got home...and then it dawned on me...."Ian's Nana gave me this recipe back when we first got married!  I can make more!!"  Now I have never made these before...which is why I am not completely heart-broken that they did not turn out perfectly.  

Ingredients:

(cookies)

3 3/4c flour

3/4c sugar

5 tsp baking powder

3 eggs

1/4c vegetable oil

1/4c milk

1tsp vanilla extract

1 stick butter melted

(Butter Icing) 
1/4lb butter softened
1tsp vanilla
1 box (~3-4c) confectioners sugar

Directions

1. Sift flour, sugar and baking powder into a large bowl.  Make a well in the middle of this flour mixture. 

we used a bowl big enough to fit over Liv's head...don't worry- we washed it.

  2-in a separate bowl lightly beat eggs.  Add the eggs to the well of the dry ingredients.  Add melted butter, milk and the rest of the wet ingredients to the eggs in the well.  Mix well.

3. take the dough  out of the bowl and knead until it's smooth.  Add more flour if the dough is too sticky, you should be able to handle the dough without it sticking to your fingers.

4. Take a small amt of dough and roll in the palms of your hand like you are making a rope.  This was my first mistake.  I used a cookie scooper...waaaay too big!!  Next time I will use the cookie scoop, one scoop per 2 cookies.. once the rope is formed twist or tie into a knot and place on a cookie sheet.

5-Bake for 10-15min (I avg about 11-12) @ 350.  Tops should be light golden, bottoms may be a bit darker.  Once done take out and let cool on cooling rack.

these were about double the size they *should* be..now I know!

Now to make the butter icing-

Mix the three ingredients using an electric mixer, add more powdered sugar if too wet, add a little milk if too dry.  Icing should be spreadable but not too thin that's it's dripping from a spoon.  Once the right consistancy is reached either dip cookies in or spread icing on cookie to coat.

 So even though they did not come out aesthetically perfect, they were still tasty...tasty enough that they are completely gone in less than 24hrs.  Oh my god...now that I just typed that out I realized my kids and husband ate a lot of cookies the past two days!!!  okay, I had a few too.

source- Nana Rose

Enjoy!
xoxo
Andrea