Cook with Altitude

Farm Fresh Raspberry Scones

2012-08-18T15:24:00.001-06:00

I went on a fun adventure with my two boys, some of my friends, and their kids. We went raspberry picking at the Hoot n Howl Farm in Boulder, CO. It was a great farm with a wonderful concept. You pick your own berries! We all went out with our containers from home in hand, and went out to their raspberry bushes and got to pick our own fruit. It was a wonderful experience to go out to the field in the hot sun and pick our own berries, instead of just picking the best looking container from the store. They also have farm fresh eggs, but we didn't get to the farm before they sold out. I will definitely have to make another trip to try farm fresh eggs!

While picking the raspberries, my mind kept wandering to all the yummy recipes I could make. My first thought was raspberry scones. Not sure why, I don't think I have ever had raspberry scones before, but I decided to give it a try. These scones are moist and absolutely delectable. I hope you enjoy them as much as my family!

Farm Fresh Raspberry Scones

1/3 cup Honey
1/2 cup Milk
2 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
3/4 cup Oats
1 1/2 Tbs Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Salt
1/2 cup of Butter, cut into small cubes
1 Egg
1 cup Fresh Raspberries

Place wire rack in the top 1/3 of oven and preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
In a small bowl, mix the honey and milk together.
In a food processor, combine the flour, oats, baking powder and salt. Pulse until mixed well.
Add the butter into the food processor and cut it into the flour mixture until well blended (it will look like pebbles/sand).
Add the honey milk and the egg. Mix until well blended and dough forms.
Knead out onto a flour surface a few times until combined. But don't over mix.
Gently fold in fresh raspberries.
Make a flattened circle with the dough about 10 inches in diameter. Cut into eight pieces. Cut each piece in half. Gently form into circles or triangles and place on the baking sheets.
Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.
Cool on wire rack.

Note : Using the fresh berries made this a very messy endeavor. If you don't mind getting your hands a bit gooey and sticky use the fresh ones. If you want to contain the mess a bit, use frozen berries. Also, if you want to make these out of raspberry season and don't want to pay an arm and leg for fresh berries, the frozen berries will do just fine. I don't think there is much of a difference in taste.

Going to the farm and picking my own berries made me wish I had my own garden that way I could enjoy fresh fruits and vegetables. Maybe that will be my goal for next summer. Although I have to say, I am a bit intimidated by growing plants. Maybe be I'll start with herbs and work up from there.

Have you ever gone to a farm and picked your own fruits or vegetables? What were your thoughts about picking your own food?

Low-Fat Banana Bread Muffins

2012-07-05T16:25:00.001-06:00

More often than not, my fruit bowl ends up with one mushy banana. This is not enough bananas to make banana bread. It must be one of Murphy's Laws to only have one banana that is overly ripe and ready for banana bread. I have tried freezing them to save until I have enough bananas to make banana bread. I have tried freezing with the peel still intact and with it unpeeled, but I always end up just tossing them. There something really unappealing about frozen mushy bananas.

One day I was at my local grocery store; I made an amazing discovery. They sell over ripened bananas at a discount. This means I can make banana bread whenever I want, which is usually all the time.

Low-fat Banana Bread Muffins

1 1/3 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1/3 cup Oats
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup canned pumpkin or apple sauce
2-3 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 Tbs Plain Yogurt or Sour Cream
1 tsp Vanilla
2/3 cup Walnuts or Pecans, chopped (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and place papers in muffin tins.
Mix flour, oats, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and the eggs until light and fluffy.
Mix bananas, yogurt, and vanilla into the large bowl, until well blended.
Fold in flour mixture and nuts (if using).
Spoon into the papers in the muffin tins. Use a large spoonful but don't fill all the way to the top as these will rise while baking.
Bake for 15-20 minutes or until all the way cooked through (use the toothpick test).
Let cool in muffin tins for about 5 minutes prior to removing.

Since banana bread is one of my favorite recipes to make, I wanted to make these muffins a bit different than I had made in the past. I am also getting more comfortable trying experiments on recipes. One that I make all seemed like a safe place to try some different ingredients. I wondered if adding the oats would change the consistency of the muffins, it did not.

I had read in a bunch of different places to use pumpkin instead of apple sauce for a different flavor. It ended up being a great substitue, it is mild in flavor and adds more nutrients than apple sauce. Usually when I make my banana bread I do half apple sauce and half canola oil to make it low-fat. I wondered if I just used pumpkin puree and no oil how it would turn out. These muffins were light and fluffy and very moist.

I was glad that I tried different ingredients in these banana bread muffins. It is refreshing to change up old recipes so they seem new and fresh.

Am I the only one who didn't know about the "Banana Bread" banana's that the grocery store sells?

What recipes do you make all the time that you have tried switching up a bit?

Whole Wheat Tortillas

2012-06-15T14:44:00.000-06:00

When we are short on time or just don't want to cook dinners, I usually bring in the tortillas. Burritos night is usually my husband gives me a break in the kitchen. I also tend to make quesadillas when we don't have any turkey meat and need to use the rest of the tortillas we have bought.

So when we came home from a week vacation in Seattle and needed to make a meal with what we had in our house, I instantly thought about making some quesadillas. The only problem was that there were no tortillas in my house. I had all the other ingredients, just no tortillas. It got me thinking about making tortillas and I wondered if I could do it.

I couldn't believe how easy it was to make tortillas! I had thought about making tortillas before, but was a bit intimidated to try. I found a straight forward recipe on 100 Days of Real Food and decided to give it a shot. After making these for our dinner last week, I made a double recipe over the weekend and froze them. Not only were these tortillas easy to make they were delicious. They have a light buttery taste, but are super healthy with whole wheat flour and no butter, shortening or lard.

Whole Wheat Tortillas

2 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1/2 cup Oil
1 cup Warm Water

Place the whole wheat flour and the salt in a Food Processor with a dough blade. Pulse a few times to mix. Note: You can also use a KitchenAid or hand mixer as long as you have a dough hook.
Drizzle in the oil while the Food Processor is running. Mix well until the crumbly, it takes about 3-5 minutes. Scrape down the sides as needed.
While the Food Processor is still running, drizzle in the water until a large dough ball forms. The dough should be a bit sticky. If parts are stickier than others, lightly knead the dough with your hands.
On a clean surface, shape the dough into a log that is between 8-12 inches long. Divide into equal parts (this will yield between 8-16 tortillas, depending on how big you want to make them).
Roll each piece into a ball, using your hands slightly flatten each ball into a disc. Lay out on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Cover and let sit for 15 min-1 hr.
Heat a cast iron skillet, griddle, or 12 in round pan on medium-high heat. The pan should already be hot prior to cooking.
On a very lightly floured surface (make sure not to over do it), roll out each disk int a thin tortilla, should be between 8-10 inches in diameter.
Put a little oil in the preheated pan. Place one of the tortillas in the pan, let cook between 45 sec-1 min until puffy and slightly browned, flip, repeat on the other side.
Continue this process until all your tortillas are made.
Store in the refrigerator or freezer if not being served right away.

Time saving tips: To save some time I used three skillets, so I could cook more than one at a time. I also had six rolled out to start with and while I had tortillas cooking, I rolled out the rest. I did this in between flipping and rotating the ones I had made on the pan. As I said above, I made two batches (my Food Processor isn't big enough to make a double recipe), and froze what we didn't need. That way we I just pull them out of the freezer to defrost.

This yielded 32, 6-7 inch tortillas. I made the log 12 inches long and cut 16 pieces. If you want bigger tortillas, don't stretch out longer than 10 inches and don't divide too many times. They are really filling because of the whole wheat, so I was glad I made them smaller. They were taco size instead of burrito size.

When the dough forms a large ball, it is ready.

Dough formed into a log and divided into even pieces.

Rolled and flattened and waiting to be rolled into tortillas.

Roll out a few to start, then roll the rest while cooking to save time.

Cook on each side until it looks like this, about a minute.

This was a fun recipe to make, and if you are new to making bread recipes, it is a great confidence builder. I recommend giving it a go, you might surprise yourself. I know I did!

What are your go to recipes when you need to serve something quick and healthy? I am always looking for other ideas on what to make my family.

Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns

2012-05-27T09:15:00.000-06:00

It seems whenever we decide to maker burgers, I forget to get hamburger buns when at the grocery store. Then burger night comes around and we are deciding between using regular bread slices or a naked burger, until now.

A few months ago, I made a hamburger bun recipe from Heavenly Homemakers. They turned out okay, I was still learning how to make different bread recipes. I hadn't quite figured out how the dough should feel, how to roll it out, etc.. I decided to try these again since I had more practice making bread.

I started by preparing the yeast the way I normally do for all the other bread recipes I make, then went upstairs to put my little guy down for a nap. When I pulled up the recipe on my computer realized I had already started the yeast and was not following the directions. Instead of starting over I just used the other recipe as a guide. I used less flour, less water, reduced the amount of salt, and added wheat gluten. These hamburger buns were light and fluffy, not what you usually find using whole wheat.

Whole Wheat Hamburger Buns

1 1/4 cups Warm Water, divided
1 pkg Active Dry Yeast
2 tsp Olive Oil, divided
2 Tbs Honey, divided
4 cups Whole Wheat Flour
2 Tbs Vital Wheat Gluten
1 tsp Kosher Salt
1/2 cup Milk
2 Tbs Butter
All-purpose flour, for your surface.

In a small bowl mix one cup of warm water with one teaspoon of olive oil and one tablespoon of honey. Sprinkle yeast on top and let sit for 10 minutes or until yeast is foamy.
Put the flour, vital wheat gluten, and salt into the bread maker and set aside.
In a small saucepan warm the milk and the butter, until the butter is melted, make sure the temperature does not exceed 120 degrees.
Turn on the bread mixer, on dough setting, prior to pouring in the liquids. First pour in the milk mixture, next the remaining tablespoon of honey, followed by the yeast mixture.
Mix dough for a bit, if it is too dry add in the remaining 1/4 cup of water or more depending on how dry the dough is. You don't want it to be too sticky either so add a little water at a time.
After mixing dough in the bread mixer for about 5 minutes, remove and knead on a floured surface for a couple of minutes, until dough is no longer sticky. Add extra flour if needed.
Put the remaining tsp of olive oil in a large bowl, roll dough around in the bowl until the whole thing is covered in the oil.
Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let sit for 1 hour, or until dough has doubled in size.
Punch down the dough until all the air bubbles are gone. Roll out on a floured surface to approx 1/2 in thick. Use a glass or cup or a small bowl to cut out the circles. Just make sure it is between 3-4 inches, depending on how big you want the hamburger buns. Knead and repeat until all the dough is gone
Place the circles on a baking sheets covered with parchment paper. Loosely cover with the plastic wrap and let sit for 30 minutes and preheat oven to 350.
Uncover and bake for 15-20 minutes. They should feel a bit soft on the sides and not too brown on the bottom.
Let them sit on the baking sheet until cool. Cut open and serve with the burger and dressings of your choice.

Storing the Hamburger Buns: These will keep for a few days in a storage container or plastic bag at room temperature. You can freeze up to a month. Cut the buns in half prior to freezing so they are easier to serve when you remove them from the freezer. We just take them out and put them in the toaster on defrost and voila.

Memorial Day weekend always reminds me of grilling out. These Hamburger Buns are the perfect compliment to any type of burger you are serving.

Flourless Decadent Chocolate Cake

2012-05-23T10:52:00.000-06:00

I seem to have hit a patch of writers block. I have been working on a banana bread muffin recipe for more than two weeks and can't seem to get it finished. It's too bad because it is a delicious recipe. So I have decided to move on, and go back to it and hopefully the right words will come to me so I can share it with you.

I am always looking for new recipe ideas. Pinterest always seems to have a great collection of fun dishes to try. I came across a recipe for a flourless cake that used black beans. I slightly modified this recipe from Feast on Cheap. This is a great way to sneak healthy ingredients into dessert.

This cake was beyond decadent. I felt that I was enjoying dessert at a fancy restaurant, the type of dessert that I will splurge and pay $6-$8 for on a special occasion. This tastes like a combination between a chocolate souffle and a molten cake. This dessert was my Mother's Day present to myself and it didn't disappoint. That is actually only half true, my husband was disappointed because I ate almost the whole thing.

Flourless Decadent Chocolate Cake

6oz Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips
15 oz can Black Beans, drained and rinsed
2 Eggs
1/3 cup Unsweetened Peanut Butter
1 tsp Pure Vanilla Extract
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1/2 tsp Baking Powder
1/4 tsp Salt

Preheat oven to 350 and place rack in center of oven. Prepare a loaf pan by buttering it and then coating with a mixture of flour and cocoa, tap out all the excess.
In a double boiler (I heat 1 1/2 inches of water in a large pan almost to a simmer and then place a heat proof metal bowl in the water and place the chocolate chips in the bowl) melt the chocolate. You can also melt the chocolate in a microwave-safe bowl check at 20 sec intervals until completely melted. Set aside.
In a food processor mix the beans, eggs and peanut butter until smooth and well combined.
Next add in the vanilla, brown sugar, baking powder and salt. Pulse a few times until combined.
Add the chocolate into the batter mixture, blend until well combined.
Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 30-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Invert on serving tray.
Serve dusted with powdered sugar, drizzled with chocolate syrup, or dolloped with whipped cream. Or all of the above. You can also serve with a heap of berries, they pair really nicely with this decadent cake.

Here are a couple of observations I had while making this dessert. I was surprised how thin cake batter looked when I poured it in the pan, it rises a bit and actually makes the perfect amount. When it is baking it puffs up a bit and cracks, but when it cools it shrinks back down flat and the cracks disappear. This cake is really inexpensive to make but feels like you are enjoying an extravagant treat.

Any suggestions on how to break through a writers block? Since this is still new to me, I am looking how to work through it and not get frustrated.

Broccoli and Corn Calzones

2012-05-01T15:01:00.001-06:00

Pizza is one of my go to recipes. If I am not in the mood to put together recipes for when I go shopping, it is almost a guarantee that pizza will be on the menu for the week. I always make pizza the pizza dough from scratch. Pizza dough is easy to make, and it doesn't require much active time in the kitchen. It is important though to make sure it is made far enough in advance so dinner is not served at 8 o'clock at night (unless that is your preferred dinner time).

Every once in a while I like to mix it up and use my Whole Wheat Pizza Dough recipe for calzones instead of pizza. I really like this calzone recipe from Eating Well Magazine. I slightly modified it from one of the recipes I cut out of on of the magazines from 2007. This is a really easy recipe and if you don't have time or desire make your own pizza dough, you can definitely use store bought. Just try to look for whole wheat pizza dough.

Broccoli and Corn Calzones

1 1/2 cups Chopped Broccoli Florets
1 1/2 cups Corn Kernels (fresh or frozen)
1 cup Shredded Part-Skim Mozzarella
2/3 cup Reduced-Fat Ricotta Cheese
4 Scallions, thinly sliced
1/4 cup Cilantro, chopped
1/2 tsp Garlic Powder
1/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Ground Pepper
All Purpose Flour, for dusting
Pizza Dough Recipe or 20 oz Prepared Pizza Dough
2 tsp of Canola Oil
Prepared pizza or marinara sauce

Preheat oven to 475. Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven. Spray two baking sheets with oil or cooking spray.
In a large bowl, combine broccoli, corn mozzarella, ricotta, scallions, cilantro, garlic powder, salt, pepper.
On a lightly floured surface, divide dough into six pieces.
Roll out each piece into an 8-in circle.
Place 3/4 cup of the mixture on half of each circle, leaving a 1-in border of dough.
Fold the top half over the filling, and crimp the edges using a fork to seal.
Make three slits in the top to vent the steam.
Brush each calzone with oil and transfer to the prepared baking sheets.
Bake for 15 minutes or until browned on top, switch baking sheets from top to bottom half way through to make sure the calzones are evenly cooked.
Serve with your favorite marinara or pizza sauce.

The first time I made this recipe, I was a bit skeptical about how the all ingredients would work together. I was pleasantly surprised on how well it all came together. It has definitely become one of our family favorites. One suggestion I would make, which I always forget to do myself, is put the filling on all the calzones before closing them up. I tend to either have too much or too little filling by the time I get to the final two calzones so they end up being either too full or too skimpy.

Look at all those veggies!

Calzones made an ready to be put into the oven.


Serve with your favorite sauce. Careful they come out of the oven really HOT!

Have you made calzones before? What are your favorite fillings? I am always looking for new ideas.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes

2012-04-22T21:26:00.002-06:00

With as many cheesecake recipes as I have been making lately, it would seem that cheesecake is my favorite dessert. Until I made these heavenly cupcakes, I would have told you otherwise. These may be my new favorite dessert. The combination of the peanut butter and chocolate in a cheesecake is heavenly. It is like a creamy peanut butter cup but better.

I have been dreaming of making a peanut butter and chocolate cheesecake for about a month. I hosted a baby shower for one of my closest friends and thought this was the perfect opportunity to try them out. She is as big of a peanut butter and chocolate fan as I am. This time I wanted to try a different cheesecake batter than my Chocolate Cherry Swirl and Blueberry Swirl Cheesecake Cupcakes. I got this recipe from Simply In Season, it is a "lower-fat" recipe because it uses low-fat cottage cheese as a bulk of the batter. It may seem a bit strange to use cottage cheese but you won't be disappointed. It makes a lighter creamier flavor, unlike cheesecake that just uses cream cheese.

Peanut Butter and Chocolate Cheesecake Cupcakes

Makes Approx 27 Cupcakes

2 1/2 cups of Graham Crackers
3 Tbs Brown Sugar
3 Tbs Canola Oil
3 cups Low-Fat Cottage Cheese, at room temperature
12 oz Cream Cheese, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups Sugar
1/4 cup Corn Starch
2 Eggs, beaten
2 tsp Vanilla
1/4 tsp Salt
1 cup Peanut Butter, preferably unsweetened
3/4 cup Chocolate Chips, melted
1 Tbs Baking Cocoa

To Make the Crust

Preheat the oven to 325, set water bath on bottom rack in the oven, and line muffin tin with papers.
In a food processor, blend the Graham crackers until they are crumbs.
Add in brown sugar and oil.
Drizzle in a little bit of water. (The mixture should be wet, but crumbly).
Scoop 1 Tbs of the Graham Cracker Crust in each paper and evenly press down into each paper.
Set aside.

To Make the Filling

In a food processor, puree the cottage cheese.
Add in the cream cheese, sugar, and corn starch, beat until smooth.
Pour into a large bowl and add in eggs and vanilla, stir until well mixed.
Remove 1 cup of the filling, set aside.
In a medium bowl, using electric mixer on low, beat the peanut butter until light and smooth.
Stir into the large bowl of the filling until well combined.
Dollop a large spoonful of peanut butter filling into each of the prepared cups.

To Make the Chocolate Swirl

Mix the remaining batter with the melted chocolate chips and the cocoa powder.

To Make the Cupcakes

Using a large spoon dollop the peanut butter batter into each cupcake paper. Don't do it all the way to the top since you will be adding more with the chocolate.
Drop about a tsp full of the chocolate batter into each cupcake. (I used a syringe to make 4-5 drops of the chocolate batter). If the chocolate batter starts to thicken (or starts out too thick), add some water to it. Use a couple drops at a time as to not make it too runny. The more the batter sits, the harder it will become since the chocolate starts hardening.
Use a toothpick to swirl together.

To Bake

Put the cupcakes in the oven on the rack above the water. Bake for 22 minutes, rotating tray half way through.
Turn off the oven and open the oven door and leave the cupcakes in for another 15 minutes.
Remove and set on a cooling rack for another 15 minutes.
Refrigerate for 4 hours prior to serving.

I have been blogging now for five months! I can't believe how fast the time has past. My cooking has grown leaps and bounds since my first post, hopefully my writing and my pictures taking skills have developed also. I have been cooking for my family now for about seven years, but I feel I have grown more over the last few months then the previous years (not counting the very beginning). I am more comfortable taking risks and coming up with different ideas. I can't wait to see what the next five months and beyond will bring!

I hope you have enjoyed my blog so far. If this recipe or any other looks tasty to you, I'd love to hear your feedback.

Garlic Rosemary Potatoes

2012-04-19T11:57:00.002-06:00

I am a little late posting these potatoes, since they are one of my signature dishes for Passover. Because this is just a recipe for roasted potatoes, it can be eaten during Passover or any other time of the year. I really like these potatoes, you really can't go wrong when you mix garlic and rosemary together.

Garlic Rosemary Potatoes

2 lbs Fingerling Potatoes
1/4 cup Garlic, minced
1 1/2 Tbs Fresh Rosemary, chopped
1/4 tsp Kosher Salt
1/2 tsp Pepper
1/4 cup Olive Oil

Preheat oven to 375.
Place rinsed potatoes in a large bowl.
In a small bowl, mix the remaining ingredients.
Pour the garlic-rosemary mixture over the potatoes until the potatoes are completely coated.
Spread the potatoes on a baking sheet.
Cook from 25-45 minutes (depending on the size of the potatoes).
Serve warm.

The fingerling potatoes I used were mixed colors. My son really liked the purple ones! If you don't have fingerling potatoes at your grocery store you can use the baby bliss red potatoes. Those are what I had always used in the past, but I thought I would try something different.

Potatoes washed and ready.

Look at all that garlic. Yum!

Make sure to spread the potatoes out on the baking sheet.

Ready to serve!

I appreciate all your comments and feedback. Also, if you have any questions I would love those as well.

Potato Chips-In Your Microwave!

2012-04-11T21:34:00.000-06:00

Passover seems to be the holiday of matzoh, eggs and potatoes in my house. We always get a bag of potato chips to eat, which we have in the house one time a year. It usually goes really fast since it is a once a year treat. So we ran out of potato chips today and my son and I were both wanting to eat more. I remembered I had cut out a recipe for microwave potato chips from an old Eating Well magazine. I had some left over baby bliss potatoes, they were a bit smaller than the potatoes suggested, but they worked out fine with the recipe.

Potato Chips

1 1/3 lb Potatoes (Yukon Gold or Red Potatoes)
2 tsp Olive Oil
1/4 tsp Salt

Slice Potatoes to about 1/8-1/16 in thick
In a medium bowl, toss potato slices with the oil and salt.
Arrange slices on a microwave safe plate. Be careful to have not have any of the slices over lapping.
Microwave 2-7 minutes, when some of the potatoes start to get bubbled and brown spots flip over and microwave from 2-5 minutes.
Some of the potatoes will get crispy in the microwave, some will get crispy after being out of the microwave for a couple minutes. If neither happens, put back in the microwave for 1-2 minutes.
Repeat with all the potatoes until they are all done. 3-4 batches.

Notes: I used my food processor with an attachment to make my potato slices. It was 4mm or 1/16 inches. The recipe said between 2-3 minutes on each side. I found that it took a lot longer than the recipe said. Make sure you check often, the time depends on your microwave, how many potatoes you have on the plate, and how thin you get the potatoes. This should yield 3-4 servings.

Potatoes tossed with olive oil and salt.

Potatoes arranged on a microwave safe plate.

This is how they should look before you flip them over.

Ready to enjoy!

I was amazed, these looked and tasted like potato chips you buy at the store. The bonus is that they are healthier because they are not fried in oil. My favorite type of potato chips are salt and vinegar, I can't wait to try those next.

What are your favorite type potato chip?

I was surprised I could use my microwave to make potato chips. Do you have any microwave tricks?

Chocolate Macaroons

2012-04-08T21:42:00.000-06:00

It has been a crazy week! On top of getting everything ready for Passover, I decided to purchase my blog address. It was the right move and a very exciting step in my blogging, but it has created headache after headache. For three days I couldn't figure out how to get access to my blog. It sent me into a bit of a funk, so I didn't even take pictures of most of the dishes I prepared for my Passover Seder. I did however take picture of these macaroons that I made. I am glad I did, because they disappeared so fast that they were definitely worth posting.

For those of you who are not familiar with Passover, there are many traditions and customs involved, lots of food and wine. The difference about Passover food, is other that special Passover Matzoh, Matzoh Meal and Matzoh Cake Flour, you can't use any other wheat or grain for cooking. So no barley, spelt, rice, and corn. You also can't use any leavening agents, so no yeast, baking soda, baking powder or cream of tartar. That is for eight days so you have to get creative with cooking.

Macaroons are one of the traditional cookies that are made during passover, there are a variety of different flavors that come in round tins and are very tasty. I always buy a couple of cans every year. By the time I got to the store to do my passover shopping the shelves were a bit cleared out and the only flavor available was almond. I love the chocolate macaroons and I thought I could make them myself. I stumbled upon a recipe on Oh! You Cook!'s blog for plain coconut macaroons, it seemed easy enough to use this as a base to make chocolate macaroons.

Chocolate Macaroons

1 1/3 cup Shredded Unsweetened Coconut
1/3 cup Sugar
2 Tbs Potato Starch
2 Tbs Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1/8 tsp Kosher Salt
2 Egg Whites
1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/3 cup Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 325 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl mix all the dry ingredients (except the chocolate chips).
Add in egg whites and vanilla. Stir until well combined.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Drop rounded spoonfuls (enough for about two bites per macaroon) of the mixture on the prepared baking sheet.
Bake between 15-20 minutes, macaroons should be firm on the outside but squishy to the touch at the same time.
Cool on baking sheet for about 5 minutes.

This was the first time I had ever eaten/made fresh macaroons. I don't think I will ever buy another can of them again. I made one batch while I waiting for something to set on another recipe. They were half gone before dinner had even started, so I made another batch. They were all gone today. These little morsels disappeared faster than any other cookie I have made so far. These are really easy and also Gluten-Free.

I am happy that I am now able to post again. It was only a few days but it felt like forever. I still need to figure out how to mesh my blogspot with my new site cookwithaltitude.com. I will save that frustration for another day.

For me, Passover is not complete without macaroons and chocolate covered ring gels. What foods remind you of the holidays?

Tuna Stuffed Peppers

2012-04-02T12:12:00.000-06:00

March was a busy month! Full of birthdays and parties. It was a ton of fun, but I am ready for things to slow down a bit in April. With all the excitement, I have become back logged on recipes. I can't wait to share them all, I found some tasty ones! This recipe comes from EatingWell's website. For my little guy's first birthday we had a family brunch at my house. I was looking for some easy appetizers to make to include with the rest of the dishes I made. These stuffed peppers fit the bill. I've never tried cherry peppers before and I have been missing out! They had really great flavor on their own, but combined with the tuna and the balsamic vinegar they were even better. These are also about 45 calories for two peppers, so you can eat as many as you like without feeling guilty.

Tuna Stuffed Peppers

24 Whole Jarred Mild or Sweet Cherry Peppers, (2 16 oz jars)
6-12 oz can Light Tuna Packed in Water, drained well (1-2 cans)
1 Tbs Lemon Juice
1 Tbs Olive Oil
1 Tbs Capers, rinsed and finely chopped
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
1/4 cup Balsamic Vinegar

Select 24 peppers from the jars. Cut tops off the peppers and scoop out the seeds with a small spoon. Rinse well to remove any seeds that remain in the peppers. Set on the serving tray/dish.
In a small bowl mix tuna, lemon juice, olive oil, capers, salt and pepper.
Fill each pepper with approx 1 tsp of the tuna mixture.
In a small sauce pan, bring vinegar to a boil and then simmer until reduced to about 2 tsp, it takes about 3-5 minutes. Drizzle over stuffed peppers.

This was a very easy and straight forward recipe. Although the recipe called for one can of tuna and I ended up using 2 cans. I will definitely make this again and also try to stuff these tasty little peppers with other fillings as well. The jar suggested to stuff with some goat cheese like chevre and my mom had suggested cream cheese. These both sound amazing, but not as low calorie as the tuna.

Have you ever made stuffed peppers? What have you used as filling?

I love comments! If you are just stopping by and a recipe looks tasty or you have any suggestions, let me know I would love to hear your thoughts!

Blueberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

2012-03-27T16:32:00.001-06:00

I was having little get together at my house and needed to make a dessert. I wanted to make something that was easy and I wanted to do a variation of a recipe I had made before. One of the advantages of having a blog is I have an arsenal of recipes. Another bonus is that I now feel more comfortable experimenting with recipes I have tried before. I loved the Cherry Cheesecake Mini-Cupcakes that I had made but wanted to change it up a bit. Since I had all the ingredients to make some more cheesecake cupcakes and I had blueberries, I decided to go for it! I was nice twist from the original recipe and was a hit at the party.

Blueberry Cheesecake Cupcakes

Makes: 24 Cupcakes

Crust
2 cups Graham Crackers
5 Tbs Butter, melted
1 Tbs Brown Sugar

Blueberry Swirl
1/2 cup Frozen Blueberries, thawed
1 Tbs Sugar

Filling
16 oz Cream Cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup Sugar
Pinch of Salt
1/2 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs, at room temperature

To Make Crust:

Preheat oven to 325, line mini pan with paper.
In a food processor, blend together Graham crackers, melted butter and sugar until it starts to stick together but is still crumbly.
Scoop 1 Tbs of the crust into each cupcake liner. Evenly press down into the bottom of the paper. I just used the back of the Tbs.
Bake for 5-7 minutes until the crust is set. Set aside on a cooling rack.

To make Blueberry Swirl:

Blend Blueberries and Sugar together in food processor.

To Make Filling:

Using an electric mixer, mix cream cheese on medium-high until light and fluffy.
Add in sugar and mix until well blended.
Add in salt and vanilla and mix in.
Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix well after each egg.

To Make Cupcakes:

Take a spoon and dollop the filling on top of each crust (Don't fill all the way to the top as they will rise in the oven, if they are too full they will spill over the top).
Dot a 1/4 tsp of the blueberry swirl on top of each cupcake.
Take a toothpick and swirl together.

To bake:

Bake for 22 minutes, rotating tray half way through.
Turn off the oven and open the oven door and leave the cupcakes in for another 10 minutes.
Remove and set on a cooling rack for another 15 minutes.
Refrigerate for 4 hours prior to serving.

This time I forgot the water bath that I used when I made the Cherry Cheesecake Mini-Cupcakes, these turned out fine with out it. I am glad these turned out looking beautiful without the water bath, because I didn't have any time to make anything else prior to having my friends over. I guess the key to cheesecake cupcakes, is just time and not necessarily the extra moisture from the water bath. It's nice when you forget a major step in a recipe and it still turns out!

Have you ever found a recipe where you missed a step and it was a successful recipe? I actually seem to do this all the time. :)

Spinach Cannelloni

2012-03-20T07:12:00.000-06:00

I tend to go all out for birthdays. Most of my favorite memories from my childhood revolve around birthdays. My mom always made our day special, which was probably quite a task since there were four of us girls. To this day I still love my birthday. It is fun now to get to pass that on to my children.

One of the ways my mom made our day special was that we always got to pick our birthday meal. I always picked my mom's meat lasagna. I wanted to do something similar for my son's third birthday, but without meat. When I found this recipe I knew I found his special birthday meal. This was a fun and different way to eat a lasagna type meal.

Spinach Canneloni

1 Tbs Olive Oil
1/2 cups Onion, minced
1 Tbs Garlic, minced
1 tsp Dried Thyme
1 Tbs Fresh Basil, chopped
1 1/4 tsp Salt, divided
1 lb Baby Spinach, coarse
15 oz Part-Skim Ricotta Cheese
1 Egg
Pinch of Ground Nutmeg
1/2 tsp Black Pepper
1 1/2 cups Parmesan Cheese, divided
1/4 cup Flat-Leaf Parsley, minced
10-12 lasagna noodles, 10 inch length
3 cups Store Bought Pasta Sauce

Heat the oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add onions and cook until soft, about 5 minutes.
Add the garlic, thyme, basil and 1/4 tsp salt and cook for 1 minute, stirring frequently.
Add about a quarter of the spinach to the skillet and cook, stirring frequently, until wilted, about 2-5 minutes. Continue adding spinach until all the spinach is cooked.
Drain the spinach mixture in a strainer, press down using the back of a spoon to extract liquid. Transfer spinach to a small bowl and set aside to cool.
In a medium bowl, mix the ricotta cheese, egg, nutmeg, pepper and remaining 1 tsp of salt, Parmesan cheese, and parsley. Mix well.
Mix the spinach and cheese mixture together.
Bring a large pot of water to boil, add in lasagna noodles and cook according to pasta directions. Do not under cook. Cook a few extra noodles, just in case they don't all cook or if you have extra spinach mixture.
Place rack in the center of oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Spread 1 cup of the prepared pasta sauce in the bottom of a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
Cut each pasta noodle in half crosswise to make 20 pieces that are each about 4-5 inches long.
Place a piece of the lasagna noodle on a work surface. Scoop some of the spinach mixture and place it on one end of the noodle (between 1/4 and 1/8 cup). Roll the noodle to enclose the filling. Place in the pan with the seam side down in baking dish. Continue this process until all the spinach mixture is gone. Fit the noodles in the baking dish closely together.
Cover the noodles with the remaining 2 cups of sauce and 1 cup of Parmesan.
Bake for 25-35 minutes. The sauce should be bubbling around the edges and the Parmesan should look a bit melted.
Serve hot.

It seems like a lot of spinach, but once it's cooked it really isn't.

All rolled up.

Ready to bake.


Ready to eat!

This was really easy and a lot of fun to make. It took a little longer to make than making lasagna, since you have to cook everything before it goes into the oven instead of just putting it all in a pan and cooking it all at the same time. It has less sauce then lasagna so it is a lighter meal. Maybe this will become the birthday tradition in my house.

What are your favorite birthday memories? Do you remember the food of your childhood birthdays?

Huevos Rancheros Verdes

2012-03-16T19:13:00.000-06:00

During the week I rely on quick and easy meals for dinner. I try to stay away from too many processed meals. This is a great meal to make for either dinner or breakfast and is inexpensive. I pulled this recipe out of one of my Eating Well Magazines and they say this meal costs about $1.50 per person. You would probably pay around $8 or $9 for the same meal at a restaurant. At home, I just serve this as a meal but you can also add a side of brown rice or more veggies. I love this recipe and since eggs are my favorite food, I get excited for any meal that I can incorporate them.

Huevos Rancheros Verdes

Serves: 4

1 1/2 cup Lettuce, thinly sliced
1 Scallion, sliced
1/4 cup Cilantro, chopped
1-3 tsp Canola Oil, divided (or use butter for eggs)
2 tsp Lime Juice
Salt and Pepper to taste
1 15 oz can of Black Beans, rinsed
1/2 cup Salsa Verde
8 6-in Corn Tortillas
Canola Oil Cooking Spray
3/4 cup Cheddar Cheese, shredded
4-8 Large Eggs
1 Avocado sliced

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
In a bowl mix the lettuce, scallion, cilantro, canola oil, lime juice and salt and pepper. Toss together until well mixed and set aside.
In another bowl combine the beans and salsa.
Coat each side of all the tortillas with cooking spray. Place on a large baking sheet in four overlapping pairs.
Scoop 1/3 cup of the bean mixture on each pair of tortillas. Then sprinkle cheddar cheese on top, evenly divide between the four corn tortillas. Approx 3 Tbs.
Cook for 10 minutes, or until the cheese is melted and the beans are cooked.
Meanwhile heat oil or butter in a pan. Crack each egg into a small bowl and slip them one at a time in the pan, taking care not to break the yolks. Season the eggs a dash of salt and pepper. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook undisturbed for 5-7 minutes for soft set yolks. For hard set yolks, cover the pan after 5 minutes and continue cooking until the yolks are cooked all the way through, about 4-6 minutes. See below for more info.
To assemble: place egg on top of the tortillas and serve with the lettuce mixture, approx 1/4 cup per tortilla, and avocado slices.

Listed above is how Eating Well Magazine says to cook the eggs. I cook my eggs differently. The way I cook eggs is I heat butter in a small pan on medium heat. I crack the eggs into a bowl and then place into the pan. Once the whites are cooked almost all the way through about 5 minutes, I flip the eggs carefully and cook on the other side for about 30 seconds and then slide them onto the tortillas. Not a fan of fried eggs, this also tastes good with scrambled eggs. That is how I make it for my little guy.

I can eat breakfast any meal of the day! Are there any meals that are considered breakfast meals that you serve for dinner?

Red Velvet Cake

2012-03-13T09:56:00.000-06:00

I am always looking for healthier ways to make desserts. About a month ago, I found recipe for an Un-Red Velvet Cake on skinnyfatgirls.com. Instead of using red food coloring for the red velvet, she used beets but didn't get the dark red color that usually is associated with red velvet cake. I was intrigued, but a bit timid about trying about trying a dessert with beets in it. But when it came to making a birthday cake for my little guys third birthday, I immediately thought about making that cake.

I spent time thinking about this cake for a little while and wondered how to maybe make it a red color. I thought about the beets baby food that I make for my baby and seemed to think that the beets had a darker color red after cooked, which stains everything. I wondered if I cooked the beets prior to mixing them if that would give the un-red velvet cake more of a red color. So while I was planning the ingredients for the cake, and other foods. I came across a recipe for a "Secret Chocolate Cake" in a book that I had almost forgot I owned. The book is called Simply in Season by Mery Beth Lind and Cathleen Hockman-Wert. This had cooked beets in it. It also had chocolate chips, which I can't resist putting in just about everything I make. There were no pictures in the book, but in my mind I envisioned this cake being a red color.

Red Velvet Cake

2 cups Beets, cooked, peeled and chopped
1/2 cup Apple Sauce
2 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
1 tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 1/2 cups Sugar
1/2 cup Oil
1/2 cup Plain Yogurt
3 Eggs
1/2 cup Baking Cocoa, sifted
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla
1/2 cup Chocolate Chips

Preheat oven to 375. Grease and flour a 24 inch round pan.
In a blender, puree the beets and apple sauce. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, sift together the the flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon. Set aside.
In a large bowl mix together sugar, oil, yogurt and eggs, using an electric mixer on medium speed for 2 minutes.
Mix in beets, cocoa and vanilla for 90 seconds.
Gradually stir in the dry ingredients. Use a spoon and mix until just stirred.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Pour into your prepared pan, use spatula to smooth batter.
Bake for 45-60 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.
After cake has cooled, run a knife around the edge and remove cake, frost with a cream cheese frosting. If the top of the cake is not flat you can cut it off and flip the cake to have a nice presentation.

High Altitude Changes: At higher elevations you need to decrease the dry ingredients and increase the liquids. Here are the changes I made: 1 1/4 tsp Baking Soda, removed 3 Tbs of Sugar once put into the mixing bowl, finally I added 4 Tbs of oil. If I would do anything different the next time, I would add more apple sauce. I would add anywhere from 1/4-1/2 cup depending on the consistency of the batter.

For the Beets: To get 2 cups of beets, I used two large and one small beet. I cut off the greens right when I bought them so they wouldn't pull out the moisture, or you can buy them pre-cut. Then I preheat the oven to 400 degrees, cleaned the beets really good, wrapped them together in tin foil and cooked for 90 minutes. Depending on the size of the beets it can take anywhere from 1-2 hours to cook the beets.

I was really worried how this cake would turn out. I was first worried about the flavor of the beets. I really don't like beets, I try them almost daily when testing my son's baby food, but I wanted to do a healthier cake for his birthday. I was also worried about making a cake at altitude, but then I found a website that had all the changes that you need to make for high altitude baking. The cake was delicious and I think the beets gave the cake a really nice flavor. Most importantly my birthday boy loved it and so did all my guests. My husband even commented multiple times that it was really good, and I was worried he wasn't even going to eat it because of the beets. This was a successful dessert, one I would make again.

Hamantaschen

2012-03-06T22:21:00.001-07:00

The Jewish holiday of Purim, isn't as well known as other Jewish holidays, but it is one of the most fun. It involves dressing up in costumes, carnivals, drinking until you "can't tell the difference between good and evil" and then reading of the Book of Esther with lots of cheering, booing and loud noises. Other important customs of Purim include giving to charity and making baskets of goodies for friends.

Hamantaschen cookies are part of the traditions of Purim, traditionally given in gift baskets. These delicious cookies have an unusual shape, they are shaped into triangles. I had always heard that Haman, the villain of the Book of Esther, wore a three cornered hat and that is why the cookies are shaped that way. It seems a bit strange to eat a cookie shaped as the hat of the bad guy. I looked to see if there were any other explanations I could find for myself and to share here as well. The best answer I could find was the cookies came from Germany and used to be called mohen-tacshen, which is German for poppy seed pockets (traditionally the hamentaschen have a poppy seed filling). Since these cookies are enjoyed during Purim, the name was changed to hamantaschen

Hamantaschen

Makes: 2-3 dozen

Dough

1 cup (2 sticks) Unsalted Butter, softened
3/4 cup Sugar
1 Egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 1/4 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1/2 tsp Kosher Salt
2 tsp Baking Powder
1 Egg White

Fillings

Chocolate Ganache:

1/4 cup Heavy Cream
4 oz Semi-Sweet or Bitter-Sweet Chocolate

Note: The amounts listed above for the chocolate ganache filling, is for half the batch of cookies. If you want to do a full batch of chocolate filling, just double the amounts.

Other Fillings Options: Any good quality fruit flavored jam, I used strawberry in this recipe.

How to make the dough:

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, mix together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
Add the egg and vanilla and beat until smooth.
In a medium bowl, sift together the flour, salt and baking powder.
Slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture and mix until combined.
Make 4-5 disks about an inch thick wrap individually in plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

How to make the chocolate filling:

In a small sauce pan, heat the heavy cream just until it starts to boil.
Stir in chocolate until it is all melted and mixed well.
Refrigerate until stiff, about 45 minutes.

How to assemble the Hamantaschen:

Preheat oven to 350 and place parchment paper on metal baking sheets.
Take each disk out of the fridge one at a time (the dough is easier to work with when it is colder).
Roll out dough in between 2 sheets of wax paper to 1/8 inch thick and cut into 3 inch circles.
Repeat until all the dough is used.
Take a tsp of the filling and place in the middle of the circles of dough.
Fold up the sides to make a triangle.
Use your fingers with some water to smooth the corners and any cracks that show up in the dough. Brush with egg white.
Bake for 12-16 minutes until golden brown.

I modified this recipe from "Jewish Holiday Style" written by Rita Milos Brownstein. This is the most amazing hamantaschen recipe I have ever had, maybe even one of the best cookie recipes. It takes some work and elbow grease to get these cookies put together, but it is well worth it. Four days after I made these cookies, they were still soft and just melted in my mouth. My husband also couldn't get enough of them, so I will have to make a second batch to give to friends.

The recipe said to refrigerate in a ball, too bad it was rock solid and wouldn't roll.

This is my version of the 1 inch thick disks, I had to learn the hard way.

Roll between wax paper. Replace wax paper often.

Put a teaspoon of the filling in the middle of the circles.

Fold up the corners and smooth with either water or the egg white.

Fresh out of the oven.

Chag Sameach! Happy Holiday!

What are your favorite flavors of hamentaschen?

UPDATE: I made another batch of these because they were so delicious! I found it was easier if the butter was softened first and I forgot to add salt to the ingredient list. I have updated the recipe to reflect these changes.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2012-03-02T21:26:00.000-07:00

Chocolate chip cookies are like a time machine to my past, biting into one takes me back to when I was a kid. Because of that, I am constantly trying new recipes in a way I am looking to recapture a bit of my childhood. When I was growing up my mom owned a couple of cookie stores, both franchises. The cookies that she sold were amazing, they just melted in your mouth. The cookies had Swiss chocolate chunks and the chocolate stayed melted days if not weeks after they were baked. I have yet to find a recipe that tastes like the cookies I ate growing up and since her cookie store was a franchise there is no way to get the recipe. So when I found a chocolate chip cookie recipe on Kitchen Confidante that had cream cheese as one of the ingredients, I was intrigued and I was excited to try it.

These are really delicious cookies, the cream cheese made these cookies really moist and rich. Also, using the whole wheat pastry flour makes me feel better about having cookies in my house. If my mom didn't have a cookie store, this would be one of the best recipes I ever had. The closest I have gotten to the cookies of my childhood. Trying to compete with memories of the past is kinda like chasing a ghost. Maybe one day I will catch it, if not I will try a lot of delicious chocolate chip cookie recipes along the way.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 cup (1 stick) Butter, at room temp
4 oz Cream Cheese, at room temp
1/2 cup Sugar
3/4 cup Brown Sugar
1 Egg
1 tsp Vanilla Extract
2 cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/2 tsp Salt
8 oz Chocolate Chips

In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, mix together the butter and cream cheese until creamy.
Mix in sugar and brown sugar until well mixed.
Beat in the egg and vanilla until blended.
In a medium bowl sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Slowly incorporate this into the large bowl while mixing. Mix until just incorporated, don't over mix.
Fold in chocolate chips.
Tightly cover bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (overnight if you can wait that long).
Preheat oven to 350, place racks in middle of oven, and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Take a medium ice cream scoop and scoop out dough into a ball (approx 2 Tbs) and place on baking sheet, about 8 per sheet.
Bake cookies for 12-16 minutes, rotate tray half way through to assure the cookies bake evenly.
Remove from oven and let sit on tray for a couple minutes.
Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Serve with a tall glass of milk. Mmmmm...

Make sure that cookies are a light brown on top and a golden brown on the bottom. I let them cook a couple minutes too long (I cooked them for 18 minutes), they were initially soft but the next day were not so soft. Cooking for less time would have kept them softer for longer. The best part of these cookies was they stayed thick and didn't run out like other batches that I have made. The trick is refrigerating the dough and bringing the butter back to a solid state. I like thicker cookies, so I am glad I learned how to keep them thicker.

Better than cookie dough ice cream!

Dough is ready to be baked.

Ready to eat.

Enjoy!

I will definitely be making this recipe again! My next batch will include my secret tip for making cookies that stay soft for days, if you can keep them around that long.

What tips/tricks to you have to keep your cookies moist?

Vegetarian Baked Ziti

2012-02-25T20:47:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I had an unusual dream. I had visions of a baked ziti with a medley of vegetables. What made this so strange was I have never made baked ziti before, the only time I have ever had baked ziti was when one of my friends brought me dinner after my second little guy was born. It was delicious, but it was almost a year ago.

So when we were planning our meals for this week, I had just to get all the ingredients I had in my dream to make this dish. There were a few vegetables that I had I wanted to put in this dish, but once I started making it they didn't seem to go. But what I added made for a delicious combination of flavors. My sister actually suggested the butternut squash and I am glad she did, because it really compliments the rest of the flavors. Thanks Sister!

Vegetarian Baked Ziti

1 Tbs Olive Oil
3 cloves Garlic, minced
1/2 Onion, chopped (approx 1 cup)
2-3 cups Butternut Squash, cubed
1 small box of Mushrooms, chopped
3 cups Spinach, chopped
16 oz Cottage Cheese
28 oz Smashed Tomatoes with Basil
1/2 cup Parmesan Cheese
16 oz box of Ziti Noodles
2 cups Part-Skim Mozzarella, shredded

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and lightly spray a casserole dish with cooking spray.
Heat oil in large pan over medium heat. Put garlic and onion in pan, cook for 3-5 minutes until onions are translucent. Add in butternut squash and cook for another 10 minutes, until the squash is tender, stirring frequently.
Meanwhile cook mushrooms in a separate pan until cooked all the way through, about 5 minutes.
Cook pasta noodles according to package directions, set aside.
Add in spinach and cook another 2 minutes until it is slightly wilted.
Next add in the cottage cheese and stir until well combined.
Mix in the smashed tomatoes and the Parmesan cheese.
Combine tomato mixture to the noodles and stir until well mixed.
Put half of the mixture in the prepared casserole dish. Then layer with half the mozzarella.
Put the remaining pasta mixture in the dish and then the remaining mozzarella.
Cook covered for 20 minutes, then take off cover and cook for an additional 10-15 minutes or until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbling around the edges.

This made a ton of food, we had enough for dinner for the three of us, left overs last night and still more for left overs tonight. I cooked the mushrooms in a separate pan because I have had bad luck with the juicy nature of the mushrooms making it take longer to saute, but honestly with this dish you could cook them in the same pan as the rest of the vegetables. Mushrooms cook quickly, so I would put them in after the squash is soft but before putting in the spinach. I had luck with using cottage cheese in the Baked Mac n' Cheese dish and I thought I would try it here as well because I liked the flavor it added.

Hopefully I have more visions of delicious dinners. It was fun to work on my own creation. I used a recipe from Health for the Whole Self to help guide me, but this recipe was mostly my creation.

Are there any recipes that you have had in your dreams? How did they turn out?

I love your comments. Any feedback is welcome and appreciated.

Hummus and Pita Chips

2012-02-20T21:31:00.001-07:00

One of the reasons I like doing my own cooking is that I know what is going into my meals. I can control how much salt, oil, veggies, etc... are in my food. Recently I have realized that I can make many food other items (besides meals) I buy at the store, for relatively less money and not much extra work. It started with my apple chip experiment and has grown from there. I have been gaining on confidence since I started buying dried beans and cooking them, instead of buying canned. Most of my little experiments have been successful, others not so much. For example homemade tortilla chips taste stale and nothing like the ones bought at the store. Another example that I have been working on is homemade marshmallows, but I will get that one to work and post shortly.

I always thought that hummus was one of those things that you just had to buy from the store. But after my successful go at making pita chips, I though that I couldn't have homemade pita chips without homemade hummus also. My first attempt at hummus had the right consistency but had too much of bite to it. I love garlic, but the raw garlic in the hummus was a bit much. For my second attempt I sauteed the garlic and made a wonderful batch to go with my pita chips. Now I feel confident to try all sorts of different hummus combinations.

Hummus

1/2 cup dried Garbanzo beans
2 Tbs Tahini
2 Tbs Lemon Juice
3 Tbs Olive Oil plus 1 tsp divided
3 Garlic cloves, minced
Salt to taste
Cumin for dusting

Soak beans in water overnight, discard any that float to the top.
Simmer beans for 2 hours and drain. Reserve some of the water to mix in hummus.
In a small pan, saute the garlic in the 1 tsp of olive oil. Cook just until the garlic starts to get brown about 2 minutes. Set aside.
Put beans in a food processor until beans are well ground.
Add in tahini, lemon juice, the 3 Tbs olive oil, and garlic and turn on food processor.
Drizzle in reserved water until the hummus is the right consistency.
Add in salt to taste (and any other additional ingredients) and pulse a couple times.
Place hummus in serving dish and lightly dust with cumin.

Pita Chips

1 bag of Whole Wheat Pitas
Olive Oil Cooking spray
Salt to taste

Pre-heat oven to 375 and lightly oil a baking sheet.
Spray both sides of pitas with oil spray and cut into chips (I used a pizza cutter).
Lightly sprinkle with salt.
Put in oven and cook for 5 minutes. Turn once and set timer for 2 minutes. Depending on how thick your pitas are it will take from 2-5 minutes to cook on the second side.
Once chips are crispy they are ready to serve with your hummus.

Pitas are cut, oiled and seasoned and ready to put into the oven.

Ready to serve with hummus.

For the hummus: If you don't have the time or don't feel like cooking your own beans, you can use a can of garbanzo beans. A 16 oz can of beans looks to be about the same as a half cup of dried once cooked. Just make sure you save the liquid from the can to mix into your hummus for the consistency. Also you can add all sorts of different ingredients to the hummus. You can add roasted red peppers, green chilis, red onions, artichoke hearts the list goes on from there.

For the pita chips: You can also add different seasonings to these to give them different flavor. You can do spicy and add chili powder or a bit of cayenne, or you can add garlic salt or paprika to give a different flavor. If you want to go sweet you can do cinnamon and sugar, I would do a canola or lighter oil for spray if you are going sweet.

Are there any items that you make at home instead of buying at the store? I am always looking for new things to try.

Disappearing Banana Bread

2012-02-16T22:23:00.000-07:00

Ever since I discovered my love of cooking, the kitchen has been a place for me to escape. Some reason this week has seemed a bit hectic. What a relief it was today when, my older son was at preschool and the little guy was napping. I decided I needed some kitchen therapy. I wanted to make something easy and mindless that I have made before. I have a banana bread recipe that is absolutely amazing, it usually disappears the same day I make it. I had a couple bananas that I was saving to make this later in the week. They weren't completely over ripe, but they were close enough to make banana bread.

Usually I make the batter and then proceed to make muffins or mini-muffins. But this time I decided to make a loaf. One of the reasons why I started making muffins was the sunken center in my banana bread. I loved to make the bread, but I would have this gorgeous loaf inside the oven and once I pulled it out the center would sink, it was always such a bummer. That has never happened with muffins. Since starting my blog, I have done a lot more investigating different recipes online. I decided to try hand mixing instead of using an electric mixer to see if that would make any difference. I also wondered if I added baking powder (the original recipe only had baking soda) if that would make a difference. It did! My first perfect loaf at altitude, actually ever.

Disappearing Banana Bread

See below for changes if you are at sea-level

1 2/3 cup Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
1/2 tsp Baking Soda
1/4 tsp Baking Powder
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Salt
1 cup Sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup canola oil
2-3 very ripe bananas, mashed
2 Tbs Plain Yogurt or Sour Cream
1 tsp Vanilla
2/3 cup Chocolate Chips (optional)
2/3 cup Walnuts or Pecans, chopped (optional)

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees and butter a 9x4 loaf pan (see below for tip).
Mix flour, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon and salt in a medium bowl.
In a large bowl, whisk the sugar and the eggs until light and fluffy.
Drizzle in canola oil, mix until well blended.
Mix bananas, yogurt, and vanilla until well blended.
Fold in flour mixture and chocolate chips and nuts (if using).
Pour into loaf pan and bake for 55 minutes or until cooked all the way through (use the toothpick test).

Lower Elevation Changes: Instead of using both baking soda and baking powder, just use 1 tsp of baking soda. Also bake for 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when inserted. So far this is the only recipe I have had to make major modifications to make work at higher elevation.

Buttering Pan tip: When ever I need something I am making to pop out of what I am baking it in, I grease the pan with butter and then take about an 1/8 cup of all-purpose flour and put it in the pan. I then coat the buttered part with the all purpose flour by sifting and hitting the side of the pan with my hands and then discard the remaining flour.

This has been modified from an article from Runner's World Magazine in 2007. At the time I made this recipe I didn't have any pastry flour, so I substituted 1 1/3 cup whole wheat flour and 1/3 cup of all purpose. It was still light, fluffy and didn't have too heavy of a texture. I also usually make it low fat by replacing half of the oil with applesauce, but I was out of that as well. It was nice that I was still able to make this recipe with substitutions. Another bonus, I am getting better at taking pictures of my process, I can't believe they all turned out!

First five ingredients ready to be mixed together.

Sugar and eggs whisked until light and fluffy.

Oil drizzled.

Bananas mashed and ready to be mixed with rest of batter.

Folding in flour in batches.

Bake me!

My first perfect loaf!

Ready to disappear.

I have some big plans for some banana bread mini-muffins, stay tuned...

Chicken Taquitos in a Tomatillo Sauce

2012-02-13T21:53:00.000-07:00

I love just about anything I can put hot sauce on, which is why I seem to really enjoy food with Latin flare. I was inspired by The Galley Gourmet's Chicken Flauta's in a Roasted Tomatillo Sauce. I planned on following this recipe for everything including the tomatillo sauce. When I was getting ready to roast the vegetables for the sauce, I remembered that my broiler doesn't work. So I had to modify a bit, I used the tomatillo sauce from my Roasted Vegetable Enchiladas instead. I also decided to make this recipe a bit healthier by baking instead frying these in oil.

Chicken Taquitos in a Tomatillo Sauce

Tomatillo Sauce

1 cup reduced-sodium chicken or vegetable broth
8 oz fresh tomatillos, husked, rinsed and halved.
1/2 medium white onion, quartered
3/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves
2 jalapenos, quartered (for a milder taste remove the seeds and membrane)
3 garlic cloves
1/2 tsp salt
1/8 tsp ground cumin

Taquitos

1 Tbs Canola Oil
1 medium Yellow Onion, finely chopped
2 Boneless Skinless Chicken Breasts, cooked and shredded
1-15 oz can of Refried Black Beans
2 cups shredded Cheddar Cheese
1/4 tsp Cumin
Kosher Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
12 Corn Tortillas
Cooking spray

Tomatillo Sauce

Combine all ingredients into a medium sauce pan on high.
Cover once boiling and reduce to a simmer, medium-low heat, until all the vegetables are very tender, stirring occasionally, about 25 minutes.
Put into a blender or food processor and puree.
Set sauce aside.

Taquitos

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Coat a baking sheet with cooking spray.
Saute onion in oil for 5 minutes, until translucent. Remove from heat and put in a large bowl to cool.
Add chicken, beans, cheese, cumin, salt and pepper to the onions. Stir until well mixed.
In small batches (I did three at a time), microwave tortillas for 15 seconds. Then fill the middle tortilla with a strip of the bean and chicken mixture, roll into a cigar like shape. Then place seam down on the tray.
Continue above step until all tortillas are filled and rolled.
Lightly spray cooking oil over the top of the taquitos.
Place in oven for 20-25 minutes, depending on how crispy you want them.
Serve with Tomatillo Sauce. You can also garnish with lettuce, tomatoes, avocados, guacamole, hot sauce and/or sour cream.

Not sure to how to cook the chicken? I lightly sprinkle salt and pepper on both sides of the raw chicken breasts and then put on a lightly oiled frying pan on medium heat. Every three minutes rotate from one side to the other until cooked all the way through. Then I take two forks and shred the chicken. You could also put it on the grill it or broil in the oven.

I have tried making taquitos before and while I loved the pairing of flavors, I usually ended up with a big mess of chicken and beans and unrolled corn tortillas. I had never thought to use refried beans. The ingredients for the filling in these taquitos make a paste that kept the taquitos folded together. These were really easy to make and I will definitely make them again. If you are short on time or don't want to make the tomatillo sauce, any tomatillo salsa will work. I would warm it up a little as to not chill your taquitos.

I love comments! Let me know what you think about this dish or any other recipes I have on my blog.

Cherry Cheesecake Mini-Cupcakes

2012-02-09T09:15:00.000-07:00

Cheesecake is a great dessert to make from scratch. It is a short list of ingredients, but it is very rich and decadent. The key to making a beautiful cheesecake is patience. So when I was thinking about what to make for a Valentine's Day dessert, a raspberry cheesecake cupcake recipe that I had made once before came to mind. However this time, I was inspired to try cherries and chocolate. It turned out amazing! I also decided to make mini-cupcakes, since I have an obsession with shrinking muffins and cupcakes. They are the perfect bite-sized treat, so you don't have to feel guilty about eating them. And one mini-cupcake is enough to satisfy a sweets craving.

The first time I made this recipe was for a bridal shower last June. I made the cupcakes according to the directions on AnnieEats. It didn't work according to plan. I am not sure if it was the altitude but they puffed up like gigantic cupcakes and then when I took them out of the oven they sunk and I had Grand Canyon size craters in the middle of the cupcakes. I obviously couldn't pass them off as a dessert at the shower, so I decided to try again using the tactics I have used other times making cheesecake. It worked like a charm. The two keys to cheesecake starting with your ingredients at room temperature and then after baking slowly bringing the temperature down to chilled. If you don't it can sink or crack.

Cherry Cheesecake Mini-Cupcakes

Crust
2 cups Chocolate Graham Crackers
5 Tbs Butter, melted
1 Tbs Sugar

Cherry Swirl
1/2 cup Frozen Cherries, thawed
1 Tbs Sugar

Filling
16 oz Cream Cheese, at room temperature
3/4 cup Sugar
Pinch of Salt
1/2 tsp Vanilla
2 Eggs, at room temperature

To Make Crust:

Preheat oven to 325, line mini pan with paper.
In a food processor, blend together Graham crackers, melted butter and sugar until it starts to stick together but is still crumbly.
Scoop 3/4 tsp of the crust into each cupcake liner. Evenly press down into the bottom of the paper. I just used the back of a tsp.
Bake for 5-7 minutes until the crust is set. Set aside on a cooling rack.

To make Cherry Swirl:

Blend Cherries and Sugar together in food processor then strain.

To Make Filling:

Using an electric mixer, mix cream cheese on medium-high until light and fluffy.
Add in sugar and mix until well blended.
Add in salt and vanilla and mix in.
Beat in eggs one at a time. Mix well after each egg.

To Make Cupcakes:

Take a spoon and dollop the filling on top of each crust (Don't fill all the way to the top as they will rise in the oven, if they are too full they will spill over the top).
Dot a 1/4 tsp of the cherry swirl on top of each cupcake.
Take a toothpick and swirl together.

To bake:

Prior to putting the cupcakes in the oven, set up a water bath. That is a baking sheet of water on the lower rack in the oven.
Put the cupcakes in the oven on the rack above the water. Bake for 15 minutes, rotating tray half way through.
Turn off the oven and open the oven door and leave the cupcakes in for another 15 minutes.
Remove and set on a cooling rack for another 15 minutes.
Refrigerate for 4 hours prior to serving.

This recipe made 24 mini-cupcakes and 12 regular size cupcakes. So it would probably make 48 or more mini-cupcakes. If you want to make less you can cut the recipe in half, or you can just freeze the rest to enjoy later. If you want to make regular cupcakes, just change the baking time to 22 minutes and keep everything else the same.

I have made cheesecake at high-elevation and at sea-level and have used the above tactics at both altitudes, so even if you make this recipe and you don't live in high altitude you can use my process for beautiful cheesecake cupcakes. If you haven't make cheesecake before, you should try it. This is a no-fail method will create a romantic dessert to share on Valentine's Day or any day!

Have you ever made cheesecake? What tricks do you use to keep it from sinking or cracking?

Graham crackers crust is mixed and ready for cupcakes.


Baked crust ready for cheesecake topping.

Make sure your cheesecake dollops are below the top of the cupcake liners.

Swirl using toothpick.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Crunchy Kale Chips

2012-02-07T10:04:00.000-07:00

I was short on ideas on what to do for dinner the other night. It was just me and my toddler so I wanted something quick and easy. He is not big on dinner so I didn't want to spend too much time on our meal. I remembered that I had a bunch of kale in my fridge that needed to be used and I thought I could make some crunchy kale. I made this once before and it was a huge hit. My son and I ate a whole bowl together. This is great as a snack or to serve on the side.

Crunchy Kale

4-6 stems of Kale
1-2 Tbs Olive Oil
Salt to taste

Preheat oven to 350 and cover a baking sheet with parchment paper.
Rinse kale in and then dry in a salad spinner.
Take a paper towel and dry any wet spots (the kale has to be really dry to get crunchy).
Remove thick center stems. Use scissors to cut or use fingers to tear kale into 'chip' size pieces.
Arrange kale on the baking sheet, make sure not to crowd them together too close.
Lightly drizzle oil on kale. Lightly sprinkle with salt.
Put in the oven for 5-10 minutes. After 5 minutes check every 1-2 minutes, as it can go from crispy to over cooked really fast.

Kale is ready to go into the oven.

Kale is crispy and ready to eat.

Not only did he clear his plate, he ate off the tray and then we made a second batch.

This is the second time we have made crunchy kale in our house and both times it disappeared faster than the time it took to make it. Not only did my son eat all the Kale chips I put on his plate, he then climbed up on his step stool in the kitchen and ate what was left on the tray. After that he asked me to make more, so I made a second batch and he ate half of that too! I wasn't worried about him eating too many like I am with other types of chips.

Make sure you lightly drizzle the oil on top of the kale, too much and it will burn really fast. The first time I made this I put too much oil and they were over cooked in 5 minutes. This time I put less oil and they cooked for 7 minutes. If you would like to add different seasonings you can add Parmesan cheese or other seasonings once you take it out of the oven.

I would love to hear what you think about this recipe. What healthy snacks you like to eat or feed your family?

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

2012-02-04T10:28:00.000-07:00

One of my newly found kitchen tools is my crock pot. I have had my crock pot for over six years, it was a wedding gift, and until this month had only used it one time. I wish I had known how useful it was a long time ago. My mom had a crock pot when I was little, and growing up the only dish I can remember her cooking was beef stew. Because of that I had it in my head that Crock Pots were only used for cooking beef and I choose not to eat beef. I am so glad I learned that wasn't true, it makes dinner so easy!

This recipe is so easy, this is the second time I have made it in two weeks. The best part about this recipe is it makes a lot of left overs. I ate it almost every day for lunch or dinner or both for a week. I couldn't get enough of it. After it was gone, I was craving more so I had to make a second batch.

Crock Pot Chicken Tortilla Soup

2 tsp Olive Oil
1/2 cup Onion, chopped
3 cloves Garlic, minced
4 cups Low Sodium Fat-free Chicken Broth
8 oz Tomato Sauce
1-2 tsp Chipotle Chili in Adobo Sauce, chopped
1/4 cup Chopped Cilantro
15 oz can Black Beans, rinsed and drained
14.5 oz can Diced Tomatoes
2 cups Frozen Corn
1 tsp Cumin
1/2 tsp Dried Oregano
16 oz Skinless Boneless Chicken Breasts, whole
1/4 cup Chopped Scallions, for topping
3/4 cup Shredded Cheddar Cheese
Sour Cream or Greek Yogurt, for topping
Tortilla Chips or Strips (see below how to make strips)

Heat oil in sauce pan over medium heat. Add onions and garlic, stir until saute until soft. Onion will start to look clear and garlic will be fragrant, about 5 minutes.
Slowly add the chicken broth, tomato sauce and chipotle chili in adobo sauce.
Bring to a boil, then add cilantro. Remove from stove and pour into crock pot.
In the crock pot, add black beans, tomatoes, corn, cumin, oregano and chicken breasts (whole).
Cook for 4-6 hours. Prior to serving remove chicken breasts, shred the chicken using two forks and then put back into the soup.
Serve with scallions, cheese, sour cream or yogurt and tortilla strips, if desired.

I slightly modified this recipe from amybites.com. Be advised that the chipotle chili in adobo sauce adds a kick to the soup, so if you don't like it too spicy add less. I added a little more than 2 tsp and had to cool it off a bit with Greek Yogurt, but I like spicy.

How to make your own tortilla strips: preheat oven to 375, take two corn tortillas and lightly coat with canola oil, cut into little strips (I used a pizza cutter and cut them about 2 inches long and 1/4 inch wide), bake for 5 minutes or until crispy.

Saute garlic and onions.

Bringing onions, garlic, broth, tomato sauce and cilantro to a boil.

All ingredients in Crock Pot, ready to cook.

Soup prior to fixing with cheese, yogurt and tortilla strips.

Flourless Sun Butter Cookies

2012-01-31T20:55:00.000-07:00

One of my new favorite foods is Sun Butter. If you've never heard of it, Sun Butter is like Peanut Butter but uses sunflower seeds instead of peanuts. My boys love it also! I put it on toast for my 10 month old and my 2 1/2 year old asks for Sun Butter and jelly sandwiches almost everyday.

I was first introduced to Sun Butter, in Sun Butter Cups. They are like Peanut Butter cups but very different! I actually prefer these to peanut butter cups, which says a lot because I love peanut butter also. I found a Flourless Peanut Butter cookie recipe and wondered if I could use Sun Butter instead. These turned out wonderful! The Sun Butter gives these cookies a rich flavor and they aren't too heavy, because there is no flour. You also can't beat a cookie with only 4 ingredients!

Flourless Sun Butter Cookies

1 cup Sugar
1 cup Sun Butter
1 Egg
1 tsp Baking Soda

Preheat oven to 350 and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, put the sugar and the Sun Butter. Mix together on high speed with an electric mixer until well blended.
In a small bowl, lightly beat the egg.
Add egg and baking soda. Use mixer on high and mix until well blended.
Form 1 inch balls with the dough and put on the baking sheet. Use a fork to push down dough making an 'X' in the dough.
Bake in oven for about 10 minutes, cookies should puff up and be golden.
Remove from oven, let sit on baking sheet for 5 minutes.
Finish cooling on a wire rack.
Enjoy!

Here is what the cookies looked like before they went into the oven.


As you can see I put the cookies too close together.

These cookies look crumbly, but surprisingly they aren't.

I modified this recipe from completelydelicious.com. If you don't have Sun Butter, you can also use peanut butter. I am sure you could use almond butter or any other type of nut butter as well. These cookies are also great for anyone that has peanut allergies or is on a gluten free diet.

On another note, I didn't realize how big these cookies would get, I will definitely be making these again and will spread them out a little more on the baking sheet. These cookies are moist, yet they hold together really well. It was a last minute decision to make these cookies tonight, since there were only 4 ingredients to mix they were super fast and easy to make. I am glad I did!

I would love to hear how these cookies turn out for you! Let me know if you try using the Sun Butter or if you use a different type of 'butter.'