Published by mel on October 24, 2008 in breakfast, recipe and sides & bites.
I love granola bars of all varieties and flavors. Chewy, crunchy, nutty and fruity. I used to stock up at the grocery store weekly, but then I looked at the list of ingredients. Far too many processed food-like substances for my taste, so I decided to make my own. I posted a recipe for Banana Chocolate bars over the summer and haven’t bought a box of granola bars since. The recipe was a huge success and I’ve been meaning to post follow-up varieties, but haven’t been all that inspired. Now that it’s fall and everything is cranberries, cinnamon and nutmeg, I’ve finally found the inspiration I was looking for.
These Cranberry Spice granola bars taste just like the Autumn. Tom thinks they taste like Pumpkin Pie, but he thinks that about everything made with nutmeg. While the recipe and method are almost identical to the summer’s granola bars, the mix-ins give them a unique flavor all their own. Instead of chocolate, cashews and banana chips, I used dried cranberries, pecans and a blend of warming spices, including cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom and ginger.
I encourage you to give these granola bars a try. They come together in under 20 minutes, everyone loves them and you can experiment with a huge variety of nuts and mix-ins to make them your own. They also make a filling and nutritious portable snack. Since most airlines don’t even give you a tiny bag of pretzels, I made these for Tom’s business trip and I think they just might be the perfect carry-on plane food.
Related: Banana Chocolate Granola Bars
Continue reading ‘Homemade Cranberry Spice Granola Bars’
Published by mel on October 22, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
I appear to be on a soup kick recently. This may be due to the fact that I haven’t really been grocery shopping in two weeks and I’ve been having to dig deeply into the pantry. So deep, in fact, that the pantry is actually starting to look a little bare. It hasn’t been this bare since the week we moved in. But, I’m not knocking pantry meals. They’re usually quick, inexpensive and surprisingly delicious.
This morning I found myself in need of lunch. I take lunch pretty seriously, and have some requirements for my mid-day meal. It needs to be filling, nutritious, easy to eat at a desk (or meeting, or standing) and must be tasty. So I grabbed a couple cans of black beans, a huge jar of roasted red peppers, fire-roasted tomatoes and bulgur. Into the pot for 30 minutes with some garlic and spices and out came a surprisingly delicious soup. I actually wanted to eat some for breakfast, but held out.
Black beans and roasted red peppers compliment each other perfectly. A little cumin, cayenne, sweet paprika and sherry vinegar make this soup a little spicy, a little tangy, a little earthy. It just goes to show that you’ll always have a great tasting and healthy meal on hand if your pantry is well stocked.
On a side note, I promise this will be the last bean/soup recipe for a little while. I’ll post a fun one on Friday so stay tuned!
Other pantry meals:
Quinoa & Red Lentils
Sausage Bean & Barley Soup
Three Bean Vegetarian Chili
Green Rice & Beans
Sausage & Red Lentil Soup
Tomato Almond Soup
Double Curry Lentils
Continue reading ‘Black Bean & Roasted Red Pepper Soup’
Published by mel on October 20, 2008 in entree and recipe.
A couple of years ago I found and made a recipe for Turkey Pumpkin Stroganoff that was absolutely delicious. Since then, I’ve moved twice and lost the recipe along the way. Yesterday was the first almost-cool day of the year in Miami. It was overcast and breezy and I wanted to make something a little spicy, beefy and noodly. Stroganoff was just the thing.
Although I’m loving pumpkin and turkey right now, I decided against trying to recreate the lost recipe, and used butternut squash and lean ground beef instead. Mostly, because I was too lazy to drive out to the good grocery store and the one nearby doesn’t carry organic ground turkey. This happens a lot. Anyway, I spiced it up with sweet and smoked paprika, nutmeg and caraway seeds for a warming fall dish.
This Stroganoff would be equally delicious with your favorite winter squash or pumpkin, and you can add chunky cubes of it, or creamy pureed squash. Go ahead and use ground turkey or beef, or even thinly sliced steak in the traditional method for Stroganoff. I would also add some portabello mushrooms next time to give it more of an earthly flavor and I might even bake it with some breadcrumbs scattered on top. I love baked pasta (who doesn’t?) and this just might be the best way to reheat the leftovers!
Continue reading ‘Butternut Squash Beef Stroganoff’
Published by mel on October 17, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
I wasn’t going to post this recipe. This was supposed to be a super simple, healthy weeknight dinner. Not interesting enough to deserve a whole post. But then I tasted it and knew I had to share. These beans are deceptively easy and mind-blowingly delicious. There’s something hearty and earthy about the combination of beans and smoky, salty, crisp-like-bacon prosciutto. Add a little fresh sage, Pecorino and fancy olive oil and you’ve got a quick and tasty dinner.
I used Rancho Gordo’s Black Calypso beans and grabbed the recipe idea from their site. You can substitute dried Anasazi beans, or even canned great northern beans if you’re not up to cooking dried beans. Either way, these beans are definitely worth a try.
And now it’s time for some shameless self-promotion. As you know, the Ile de France cheese company, sent me some goat cheese to blog about awhile back and I submitted my tartlets to their recipe contest. Well, it’s time to vote! Help a girl out and head on over to the contest page.
Continue reading ‘Beans with Crispy Prosciutto, Sage, Pecorino & Olive Oil’
Published by mel on October 15, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
I really love a good soup. A good soup is one that I can throw together in under 10 minutes and let bubble on the stove for as long as I please. A good soup will fill me up for the whole day. A good soup is healthy and makes me feel good all day. This corn chowder is definitely a good soup.
Instead of loading the chowder up with cream and flour and other heavy chowder staples, I used fingerling potatoes to give the chowder its rich creaminess. I also added some slow-cooking polenta to thicken it up and add another layer of corn-y-ness. Some stock, frozen corn, lemon, crushed red pepper and a little bit of cream finish up this super simple chowder.
I topped it all off with cheese, herbs and dollop of plain yogurt for one of the best soups I’ve made in awhile. I could probably eat this every day and be a happy woman. Next time, I might add some crumbled bacon or sausage, or maybe even a poached or fried egg to top it off. It’s a simple, affordable and delicious lunch or weeknight dinner. In fact, I wish I had some in my lunchbox right now, but I suppose I’ll settle for Turkey & Pumpkin Lasagna.
Continue reading ‘A Simply Delicious Corn Chowder’
Published by mel on October 13, 2008 in recipe.
Fall is my favorite season. The leaves change, the weather starts to cool, you catch the first whiff of fireplace and warming Fall foods fill the kitchen. Since I moved to Miami, I’ve had to give up most of the above, but I get to keep my favorite Fall foods. I just love the sweet/salty/spicy flavors of cranberries, dried apricots, chestnuts, turkey, sage and pumpkin. So, I combined all of these favorite Autumnal ingredients into one delicious Autumn Turkey & Pumpkin Lasagna.
Instead of ground beef, sausage and marinara, this lasagna is full of ground turkey sauteed with dried cranberries, dried apricots, green onions, smoked paprika, sage and roasted chestnuts. Pumpkin and ricotta spiked with cardamom add a nice creamy layer in between the flavor-packed ground turkey. The lasagna is topped with the traditional mozzarella cheese and baked until brown and bubbly.
And it tastes just like Thanksgiving. Just like Autumn. If I close my eyes and jack the A/C way up, I can almost imagine the cool weather and changing leaves. But if I look outside, it’s still bright and balmy, palm trees and sandy beaches. I’ll just have to get my Fall fix from more lasagna.
Continue reading ‘Autumn Turkey & Pumpkin Lasagna’
Published by mel on October 8, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
Photo Credit: Agustin Sanchez
It’s been 2 months since our big trip out to the Pacific Northwest and I’m still trying to recreate some of the dishes we had out there. One of my favorite meals was at Higgins in Portland. We weren’t really in the mood for a fancy place, so we sat at the bar and ordered from the “bistro” menu. Of course, the Mussels with chorizo and polenta caught our eye right away. So did the house-cured charcuterie plate, the local beers and the shortbread cookie with basil ice cream and nectarine syrup (which reminds me…I have to make this!).
So, back to the mussels. I finally made them over the weekend and they were every bit as magical as I remember them from Portland. The broth was bright and flavorful and spicy from the chorizo, the polenta added a nice heft to the broth, and the mussels were the perfect briny contrast to the chorizo. I ate until I was too full and washed it all down with a cold, bitter beer.
Honestly, this might just be the perfect recipe for mussels. But if mussels aren’t your thing, this “broth” would be perfect for shrimp, lobster or even chunks of fresh fish. In fact, you can even skip the seafood and substitute chicken or omit the extra protein altogether and think of it as a thin chorizo polenta soup. Just delicious!
Continue reading ‘Mussels in Chorizo Polenta Broth’
Published by mel on October 7, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
Photo Credit: Agustin Sanchez
Vote for this recipe!
Awhile back, the Ile de France cheese company sent me a free wheel of Camembert cheese to blog about. Since one would be insane to turn down free cheese, I accepted and made roasted fig, prosciutto and camembert “sushi” drizzled with honey. Nothing better than creamy cheese, fruit, cured meat and honey. Nothing.
I guess it was a success because Ile de France sent me some more free cheese. This time, a large piece of goat cheese and the chance to submit my recipe for a chance to win $1,000! Free cheese and a chance to win some cash? Yes please. So, I invited my photographer friend and co-worker Augi and his wife Meli (one of my homeys from high school) over for goat cheese tartlets.
Photo Credit: Agustin Sanchez
I made a simple tart crust, which I stuffed into mini-muffin tins for appetizer-sized tartlets. Because I couldn’t decide on just one filling, I made five. And it can’t hurt my chances in this contest, right? Here were the 5 finalists:
- Cracked Pepper Smoked Salmon & Dill (my favorite, I think) - #4 in photo above
- Dried Apricot, Almond and Honey (Tom’s favorite) - #1 in photo above
- Roasted Fig - #3 in photo above
- Cardamom and Mustard Seed-spiked Butternut Squash - sadly, not pictured
- Caramelized Onion & Pear (my second favorite) - #2 & #5 in photo above
Photo Credit: Agustin Sanchez
The point here is that you can have fun with the fillings and the possibilities are endless. Each were tasty little bites and my guest photographer snapped away while I cooked and sipped from a Red Hook ESB. A perfectly relaxing Sunday afternoon.
Continue reading ‘Goat Cheese Tartlets, 5 Ways’
Published by mel on October 3, 2008 in entree and recipe.
Ropa Vieja can always make you feel better. Especially if you scoop it straight from the pot with a crisp soda cracker or crusty piece of Cuban bread while no one is looking. It’s warm and meaty and you can sop it up with bread, which places it firmly in the Comfort Food category. Just like her Arroz con Pollo, my mom’s Ropa Vieja is the best I’ve ever tasted. It’s still the dish she makes for my brother when he’s home, and the dish for which I’ll forever steal the leftovers.
Ropa Vieja literally translates out to “Old Clothes”. Doesn’t sound very appetizing, does it? But nothing is better than shredded flank steak stewed with peppers, garlic, tomato, tons of onions and ladled over white rice. Some people add all kinds of spices and seasonings, but I like to err on the side of simplicity. The result is bold, tangy, beefy and super delicious.
Ropa Vieja is perfect for a homey Sunday Supper during the Fall or Winter. But be warned that post-meal naps are pretty much required.
Continue reading ‘Cuban Comfort Food: Ropa Vieja’
Published by mel on October 2, 2008 in entree, recipe and sides & bites.
Lately, I’m loving big, delicious sandwiches full of meats, cheeses and “slaws”. I tried looking up the definition of a slaw, but all I got was “sliced cabbage”, which isn’t really what I had in mind. Here’s my definition. Slaw (n.): A crunchy mix of thinly sliced vegetables and herbs, dressed with mayonnaise or vinaigrette, and usually served as a side or topping with a sandwich. There. I feel better. Now I can use the term slaw as loosely as I have been and we can get back to talking about the sandwich.
I like to think of this sandwich as a transition meal between Summer and Fall. The fennel and basil make it taste Summer-fresh, but the green apple definitely says Fall. The rest of the sandwich is a neat little stack of prosciutto, Saint Albray Cheese — a creamy, Brie-like, spicy cheese — and the slaw. It was perfectly simple, a nice balance between meat and cheese and vegetables, and absolutely delicious!
Continue reading ‘Prosciutto Sandwich w/Basil Apple Fennel Slaw’
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