Nowadays, I’ve been trying to gradually incorporate more vegetarian dishes into our diet.  Maybe one day I can be a full-time vegetarian or perhaps a vegan.

I bumped into this recipe by pure accident… you see, I was actually looking for quinoa burger recipe and found this beautiful recipe instead.

This is a light veggie burger that you can eat with spicy mayo and a brioche bun or just by itself.  Enjoy!

Green Pea Burgers

Ingredients:

• 1 cup frozen peas, thawed
• 1/2 cup canned chickpeas, rinsed and drained
• 1 medium shallot, chopped
• 2 tablespoons fresh flat-leaf parsley, chopped
• 1 teaspoon Kosher salt
• 1 garlic clove
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 to 2/3 cup breadcrumbs
• 2 tablespoons olive oil

In a food processor pulse peas, chickpeas, shallot, parsley, garlic and salt until coarsely chopped.  Transfer mixture to a bowl and add the egg and 1/2 cup breadcrumbs (if the mixture is too wet you can add the rest of the breadcrumbs).

Form into 4 patties.  Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium .  Cook burgers until gold and crisp.  Approximately 4 minutes a side.

Adapted from marthastewart.com.

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I think about the waste in paper, ink and postage  Not to mention the clutter.  And then there are the catalogs you really want to open and

look through.  The ones that make you want to buy something and the ones that make you really hungry.

One of my favorite is the King Arthur Flour catalog … It makes you want to bake and make a bunch of people happy.

This recipe came in the mail via the King Arthur Flour catalog.

We love this recipe for many reasons…one of which is because our son is allergic to nuts.  But if you ask me, I think that the best

cookies have nuts.  So what this recipe does is it gives nuttiness from oats.  One cup of all fashioned oats and just like that when

baked, these cookies give you the crunchy nutty texture you will love, but without any nuts.

The other genius thing about this recipe is that instead of just one cup of chocolate chips, it has three.  Now, that is my kind of cookie.  Enjoy!

Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 large egg + 1 egg yolk,  at room temperature
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt or 3/4 teaspoon regular table salt
• 3 cups semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325° F.  Line baking sheets with parchment.

Beat the butter and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Add egg, egg yolk and vanilla.

In a separate bowl whisk flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add to the butter mixture.  Beat until everything is incorporated.  Don’t forget to scrape down the sides of the mixing bowl.  Stir in the chocolate chips.

Make small, medium or large cookies.  This recipe makes about 100 small cookies.  Bake 12 to 15 minutes or until lightly golden on the edges.  The center of the cookies may still look a bit shiny.  That’s okay, you don’t want to overcook them.  Remove from oven, wait a little bit and then transfer to a wire rack to cool.

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You can’t go wrong with zucchini, cheese and a little pancake mix.

Zucchini is for sure an ingredient that has been featured here a lot. Maybe because it’s easy to find, inexpensive and allows us to forget about them in the fridge for a few days. It’s also great to cook. I think of it as the forgiving vegetable. Or maybe it’s just because we love zucchinis.

We love anything that we can warm up in minutes for a delicious dinner or lunch. Anyone can make this with very little effort and time. Enjoy!

Cheddar Zucchini Pie

Ingredients:

• 2 cups shredded zucchini
• 2 eggs, lightly beaten
• 1 small onion, thinly chopped
• 3/4 cup all purpose baking mix or pancake mix
• 3/4 cup shredded sharp Cheddar cheese
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne
• 1/4 teaspoon paprika

Preheat oven to 350° F.  Grease a 9-inch baking dish.  Set aside.

Squeeze out the excess juice from the zucchini.  In a mixing bowl combine all ingredients, blend well.  Transfer to prepared baking dish.  Bake 45 minutes.   Remove from oven and cool 10 minutes on a wire rack before slicing.

Adapted from Oprah Magazine,  April 2012

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If you love sausage and think that most sausage recipes are time consuming and way too hard to do I think you will love this recipe.  It’s incredibly easy to make, great with rice, over white beans, perfect on a sandwich with ciabatta bread or whole wheat pita.   Enjoy!

Homemade Chicken Chorizo Recipe

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 lb. ground dark meat chicken
• 1 1/2 tablespoons sweet paprika
• 1 teaspoon garlic powder
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons fennel seeds
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• Freshly ground black pepper
• Olive oil, for frying

Heat the olive oil in a large sauce pan.

In a large bowl, using your hands combine all the ingredients making sure all the seasoning is distributed evenly.

Shape sausage into desired size.  Fry the sausage for three minutes to brown well.  Turn and cook for another 3 minutes until cooked.

Adapted from Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall via Leite’s Culinaria

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Sugar Free Vanilla Pecans

Ingredients:

• 1/3 cup granulated Swerve Sweetener
• 1 tablespoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 egg white
• 8 ounces (2 cups) raw pecans halves

Preheat oven to 300°F. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl combine the Swerve, vanilla paste, egg white, salt and cinnamon. Add the pecans to the Swerve mixture, toss to coat. Place on prepared baking sheet. Make sure to spread in a single layer. Bake 25 minutes. Stir a few times during baking.

Let cool completely and store in a lidded container at room temperature.

Adapted from Carolyn Ketchum

The post Sugar Free Vanilla Pecans appeared first on Made In Our Kitchen.

Enjoy!

Shrimp Scampi

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup olive oil
• 1 pound peeled and deveined large shrimp
• 8 garlic cloves, left unpeeled and forced through a garlic press
• 1/2 teaspoon dried hot red-pepper flakes
• 1 cup dry white wine
• 2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon black pepper
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 pound uncooked fettuccine
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley

Cook pasta according to package directions.

While pasta is cooking, heat oil in a heavy skillet over moderately
high heat until just hot and but not smoking, add shrimp, turning
over once, until just cooked through, about 2 minutes, using a
slotted spoon remove shrimp and place in a bowl.

Add garlic, red pepper flakes, pepper to oil remaining in skillet
along with wine, salt, and and cook for 1 minute over high heat,
stirring occasionally. Add butter to skillet, stirring until
melted, and stir in shrimp. Remove skillet from heat.

Reserve 1 cup pasta-cooking water, then drain pasta in a
colander. Toss pasta well with shrimp mixture and parsley in large
bowl, adding some of reserved cooking water if necessary to
keep moist.

Serves 4

Adapted from epicurious.com

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When I was growing up, coconut trees were everywhere. We never had to travel far to find coconuts or a street-corner coconut vendor.

In fact, we had a coconut tree in our own backyard. So cool.

I love all the things we can do with coconut, but my all-time favorite is coconut cream pie.

Please don’t shake your head or roll your eyes when you read what I’m about to tell you, but my favorite coconut cream pie is from a huge supermarket chain. Yes, I said it.

The crust and filling complement each other in a beautiful way. There’s nothing fancy about the pie. It’s just a simple, but very tasty, pie that I wish I could eat every day.

Unfortunately, this year our favorite store-bought pie was nowhere to be found. When we asked the baker, she said they no longer bake it because no one was buying it. I couldn’t believe it. This tragic news led me to search for a delicious homemade coconut cream pie recipe. After a few failed attempts, I came up with this scrumptious tart.

If you are a coconut cream pie lover like me, you must try this. Enjoy!

Coconut Sweet Pastry Crust

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, slightly softened
• 3/4 cup confectioners’ sugar
• 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
•  1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

• You’ll also need a 14 x4 Rectangular Tart Pan with Removable bottom

In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix the butter and sugar until pale, about 2 to 3 minutes. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix on medium speed until just combined.

Form into 2 small flattened rounds. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm, about 1 hour.

For this recipe you’ll be using only one of the pastry crust rounds.  You can use this pastry crust recipe for lemon bars, raspberry tarts or fruit tarts.

Preheat oven to 375° F.

Remove one round from refrigerator and Let stand at room temperature for 10 minutes

Using your fingers press the dough firmly against bottom and side of the tart pan and spread evenly.  Prick the bottom with a fork and place a piece of parchment paper into pan leaving a 1-inch overhang. Fill with dried beans or ceramic pie weights and bake until the edges are just beginning to turn light golden about 10 minutes. Remove parchment paper and weights; continue baking until golden, 5 to 10 minutes.  The tart should be firm and light golden brown.

Remove from oven and let cool completely before filling.

Pastry Cream

You’ll have about 2 1/2 cups of pastry cream

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups whole milk
• 4 large egg yolks
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a medium saucepan combine sugar, cornstarch and salt.  In a small bowl whisk milk and egg yolks.  Add milk mixture and butter to the saucepan.  Place saucepan on medium heat and bring to a low boil.  Cook for about 1 minute once the mixture has thickened.  Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Strain the mixture if you see any signs of lumps.  Cover with plastic wrap.  Make sure the plastic wrap is against the surface of the cream to prevent a skin from forming.  Refrigerate about 2 hours or until chilled.

Toasted Coconut

Ingredient:

1 cup sweetened shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 325° F.  Spread the coconut evenly onto a baking sheet and toast until lightly golden, stirring once, 5 to 10 minutes.

To Assemble

Spread pastry cream evenly in cooled crust.   Top with toasted coconut

and chill until firm, at least 2 hours and up to 1 day.

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It’s possible these two cookie stamps came from a broken package, or maybe someone really made a mistake pricing them. I don’t know. But I do know that I felt like this lady .

I made sugar cookies with this recipe, but I wasn’t quite pleased with the look of them. So I tried the following recipe, and the cookies turned out great.

A few things to keep in mind when using these stamps:

Use an aluminum cookie sheet without parchment paper. Yes, you heard right. This allows the cookie dough to stick slightly to the cookie sheet, and when you wiggle the stamp away from the cookie dough, the dough doesn’t come up with the stamp. You’ll see what I mean if you try making this.

Practice patience. The first couple of cookies may be a little rough-looking, but you can call them rustic cookies, and no one will know. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Ingredients:

• 1 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 1/2 cups peanut  butter
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups all purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

You’ll also need:

• Two ungreased baking sheets and cookie stamps

Preheat oven to 350° F.

Beat butter, sugars and peanut butter with an electric mixer until creamy.  Add eggs, vanilla, flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Beat well, scraping down the side of the bowl. Beat for about 1 minute.

Roll tablespoonfuls of dough into balls onto ungreased baking sheets and use the cookie stamp to press each ball once.  Don’t forget to wiggle the stamp away from the cookie dough.  Bake 12 minutes or until light brown.  Remove from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies

Adapted from Nordic Ware All Season Cookies

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That made me think about how a simple recipe or dish can be so perfect that we have to have it again. In fact, it reminded me of a dish my husband loved from a restaurant near his office back in New Jersey when we first met. This restaurant made the best Chicken Francese. We have lived in Arizona fifteen years, and he still talks about that Chicken Francese.

After that email from a reader, my husband and I decided to make it a personal project to find a recipe that produces the same perfect Chicken Francese. Some of our efforts came close but weren’t quite right, while others were too lemony.

Then we found this one. It appears that Chef Tyler Florence is a Chicken Francese lover, too. He even produced an online video showing how to make this scrumptious and tasty chicken dish.

If you are running out of ideas for cooking chicken breast for dinner or for a special occasion, I think you will love this. Enjoy!

Chicken Francese

Ingredients:

• 4 boneless, skinless, chicken breasts (about 1 1/2 pounds)
• 1 cup all-purpose flour, for dredging
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 4 large eggs
• 3 tablespoons water
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/2 lemon, with rind, cut in thin slices
• 1/2 cup dry white wine
• 1 cup chicken broth
• 1 tablespoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup chopped flat-leaf parsley

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I think of the people who use social media and the Internet to bully and harass others. These are the people who hide behind their computer screens, but there are other mean people who don’t hide at all. They get right in your face without any shame and show their darkest side no matter whom they hurt. A good example of this is the grumpy and ugly man who once stopped me right in the grocery store parking lot to rant about why I didn’t deserve a handicap license plate.

What this person didn’t know was that I live with Lupus and Sjorgren’s diseases. The night before, I hadn’t been able to sleep because the pain in my body was too unbearable. Not every disability is visible.

I’ve written a few posts about this before but only once briefly mentioned my condition because I know you don’t come here to hear about illness, pain, or suffering.

But I believe this post is quite appropriate because I have come to the conclusion that mean people would be happier if they ate some cake and received a nice hug. I really believe that mean man in the parking lot was hungry for some cake. Enjoy!

Chocolate Cake

Ingredients:

• 1 cup boiling water
• 4 ounces Dutch-process cocoa
• 10 1/2 ounces brown sugar
• 5 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour
• 4 ounces cake flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 4 1/2 ounces sour cream, at room temperature
• 2 large whole eggs, at room temperature
• 2 large egg yolks, at room temperature

Chocolate Frosting:

Ingredients:

• 5 1/2 ounces unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1 ounce mayonnaise
• 3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
• 8 ounces confectioners’ sugar
• Pinch salt

Preheat to 325°F. Grease a 13 by 9-inch metal pan and line with parchment paper so it hangs over the sides of the pan.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl mix well the boiling water and cocoa powder together and set aside.

Whisk together the sugar, flours, baking soda and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. In a separate bowl whisk the oil, sour cream, eggs and egg yolks and add to the cocoa and water mixture, beat well to combine.  With the mixer on low speed, add the liquid mixture to the dry mixture. Beat on low speed for another 30 seconds. Stop and scrape down the sides of the bowl. Continue to beat on until fully combined and smooth, about 30 seconds. Pour into the prepared pan.  Bake in the center of the oven for 30 to 35 minutes or until the cake springs back when pressed and reaches an internal temperature of 205° F.    Let cool completely in the pan on a cooling rack before frosting.

To make the chocolate frosting beat the butter and mayonnaise in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mixing on high, about 3 to 4 minutes or until fluffy. Reduce the mixer speed and slowly add the melted chocolate. Continue mixing until all of the chocolate is incorporated, don’t forget to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed.

Turn off the mixer and add the confectioners’ sugar. Mix on low to combine, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl. Add the salt and continue to beat until the frosting is smooth and lightens slightly in color, 2 to 3 minutes.

you can make this ahead and store in an airtight container at room temperature up to 4 hours or you can refrigerate for up to a week.  Just  bring to room temperature before using it.

This beautiful cake recipe was created by Alton Brown

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