Quinoa and Lentils

 

I set out to make the old family standard Rice and Lentils, but discovered (slightly too late) that there was no usable rice in the house. I did have a package of quinoa that had been waiting for me to muster some courage, so I just subbed it in for the rice. 

It goes like this:

1c.quinoa

1/2c. lentils

1 can cream of mushroom soup (287mL)

1 1/2 cups water

a few green onions

salt and pepper

Empty soup into a medium pot. Add quinoa and lentils, then water. Cover and bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes (ish) or until the liquid is pretty much absorbed. Add chopped green onion, salt and pepper to taste, and let sit covered for 5-10 minutes. Fluff and serve. 

4 Cheese Lasagna with Fake Beef and Spinach

As part of the very slow-moving campaign to become a functioning human, I'm trying to use the things in my home more. I have a coffee maker in full working order, but I never use it and buy my coffee every day instead. No more! It's not hard, and I like using my own mugs. In that spirit, I'm hoping to save some money and be healthier by bringing lunches, making dinners, and all that jazz.

So I made a lasagna. It should last through the week, and as a bonus, I think it'll be something I can bring to a pot luck.




I used 12 no-cook noodles, a big can of pasta sauce, a package of frozen whole leaf spinach, a 475g tub of low-fat ricotta, a 250g thing of cottage cheese, 3/4 of a big brick of mozzarella, grated, a cup or something of parmesan, and about half a package of fake ground beef. Also, some salt and pepper and a little ground basil.
It was in a 9x11 pan.
Just layer, starting with a little sauce and 4 noodles. Then 1/2 of the ricotta, cottage cheese, spinach, and spices (all mixed in advance), then sauce, then mozzarella, then noodles. Repeat! End with: noodles, sauce, parmesan, and top with mozzarella.

Bake at 375 for 45 minutes covered with aluminum foil, then 15 more minutes uncovered. Let sit for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Appetizer

These appetizers were for Thanksgiving too. My aunt makes something like this for family dinners so I tried it, but it took a few attempts to get it right and by the end there weren't enough ingredients! So now I know, and can re-create them for some other event.

You take a big tortilla, slather it in cream cheese, cover it in basil leaves, then put a big stripe of pepper slices at the end closest to you. Then roll it away from you, wrapping super tightly. Once you have a tube, cut it into little pinwheel circles and you're set.

Chocolate Gingerbread Squares

We had the most lovely thanksgiving this weekend...

I made these squares and then had to make another batch because their numbers were dwindling before we had even left. They are amazing. It's the best of all worlds... ginger.. allspice... chocolate chips... I'm never going to stop making them.



The recipe is from Martha Stewart, who is clearly some kind of genius.

• 4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, plus more for pan
• 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, plus more for pan
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon allspice
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 cup packed dark-brown sugar
• 1/4 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
• confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. Line bottom with a strip of parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides; butter paper. Dust paper and sides of pan with cocoa; set aside.
In a medium bowl, whisk together cocoa, flour, ginger, allspice, and baking soda; set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together butter, brown sugar, molasses, egg, and sour cream until smooth. Add flour mixture; stir just until moistened (do not overmix). Stir in chocolate chips. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely. Using paper overhang, lift gingerbread from pan. Transfer to a cutting board, and cut into 16 squares. Before serving, dust bars with confectioners sugar, if desired.

I went way heavy on the spices because I have a bit of a problem with loving them.
So anyway, please make these. They're life changing.

Mmm.. Homey

I didn't actually make any of this... but it was so great, I had to show it off. I've got a fake chicken breast, some steamed asparagus and gorgeous mashed potatoes courtesy of Jeremy, and hot mushroom gravy to top it off. Delicious! It tasted like Thanksgiving.

Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

I've never actually made banana bread before, so this was an adventure. It turned out pretty well, but I'm not completely satisfied. The bananas weren't over-ripe like they should have been because I didn't want to wait any longer to make this - but I think that would have definitely improved the bread. Next time, I'm going to force myself to be patient and I think I'd like to try a different recipe as well. Not that there were any major problems with this one, but experimenting couldn't hurt. I used a recipe from Gracious Rain, but used mostly whole wheat flour, and added 1/2 tsp. vanilla and cinnamon.

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

I'm on a roll, so I baked some more goods.

This time I kept it simple, with a recipe from A Dash of Sass. This version is only slightly different - I used half AP flour and half whole wheat, substituted allspice for nutmeg, and used a whole cup of chocolate chips instead of 3/4.


Here's a flock in their natural habitat:



But I captured one (...three) to be devoured with milk.


They were delicious, and I'll definitely use this recipe again. Perhaps my most successful cookies to date!

Brownies

I'm feeling bakey, apparently.

Suddenly, this evening, I had the urge to make brownies, so I did! I slightly varied a recipe from Cooking Stuff and added icing too.

Brownies:
3/4 c. flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3c. butter
3/4 c. sugar
2 tbsp. water
9 oz. semi-sweet baking chocolate, finely chopped
1 tsp. vanilla
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 325F
In a small bowl, mix the flour, soda, and salt. In a saucepan, bring butter, water and sugar to a boil then remove from heat. Stir in vanilla and 1 1/2 c. of chocolate until melted. Add the eggs and mix well. Stir in dry ingredients. Pour into buttered pan and sprinkle the rest of the chips on top. Bake for 35 -40 minutes until a toothpick comes out almost (but not quite) clean. Allow to cool on a rack.

I hear you get better results if your eggs are at room temperature. I don't know if that's true or not, so whatever. It couldn't hurt. This is what they looked like fresh out of the oven:




I had some filling left over in the freezer from yesterday's baking adventure, so I heated it in the microwave and added 2 1/2 tablespoons of cocoa. Then I put it back in the freezer to set up a little while the brownies were baking and cooling. I'm not sure if it was exactly half that I was left with, but I think it was pretty close so the recipe below should be accurate. You could just add more or less cocoa as needed.

Icing:
1/3c. butter
1 1/4 tbsp. boiling water
1 1/4 c. icing sugar
1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
2 1/2 tbsp. cocoa