War and Peas

This is a simple and light vegetable lasagna recipe. I used frozen spinach and jarred basil marinara sauce, but retained its made-from-scratch taste with fresh squash and carrots. It can be easily substituted with more frozen vegetables, such as broccoli.

Light and Simple Vegetable Lasagna

Serves 2 to 4

Ingredients

1 clove garlic, minced

1 squash, chopped

3 carrots, shredded

1 box frozen spinach, thawed and squeezed dry

Salt, pepper, oregano, thyme, rosemary, nutmeg

8 oz fat free ricotta cheese

1 egg

2 cups low-fat mozzarella or Italian cheeses

Jar of marina sauce, any flavor

9 lasagna sheets

8×8 square pan

Preparation

Boil a pot of water for the lasagna noodles, cook noodles until al dente. Defrost spinach in microwave.

Sauté garlic over medium-high heat for 1 minute, add squash, carrots, seasonings and spices, cook for 5 minutes until done, but not soft. Season liberally. Set aside.

Squeeze all the liquid out of the spinach and add to pot of cooked vegetables. Add ricotta cheese and egg to the pot and mix until everything is combined well.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

Cut lasagna noodles to fit the 8×8 pan. Pour and spread 2 heaping spoonfuls of marinara sauce into bottom of the pan. Layer three noodles, sprinkle a handful of cheese, spread ½ the vegetable/ricotta mixture, spread 3 heaping spoonfuls of marinara. Repeat the process once again, starting with the layering of three noodles. Then, layer the final three noodles, spread a generous amount of marinara and sprinkle cheese on the top.  Cover the pan with aluminum foil and bake for 45 minutes.  Remove from oven and let rest for half an hour before serving.

I’ve made this cake before and it turned out too flat and too dense for my tastes. I thought it was due to my miscalculation of the amount of baking powder needed, since I didn’t have measuring spoons at the time; but this attempt was no better and it seems that I made no mistake. This is a flat, dense cake. Needless to say, it’s not my favorite, so I’m not going to post the recipe. The strawberry puree that was left over from the day before was delicious though. So, here’s the recipe:

Strawberry Puree

Ingredients

1 bag frozen strawberries

1/4 cup of sugar

Preparation

Puree the mixture in a bender.  If you want, strain out the seeds.  I kept them in mine.

I’ve become quite adept at making lentil soup. But, I decided to change it up this time by adding different spices and only using red lentils. My original version from Epicurious has puy (french green) and red lentils and spices like rosemary, bay leaf, and thyme. This is a spicy version of the original with curry, cumin and coriander. Since, red lentils are quicker to cook than other varieties, I shortened the cooking time. It also seemed that red lentils soak up more liquid than the puy variety because this soup ended up being a bit too thick for my tastes.  So, for the recipe I decreased the amount of lentils from 1 ¼ cups to 1 cup.

Spicy Red Lentil Soup

Makes 6 servings

Ingredients

2 Tbsp extra–virgin olive oil
2 medium chopped onion (red or yellow)
1 cup chopped celery stalks
1 cup chopped carrots
2 garlic cloves, chopped

1 tsp ginger, finely chopped or ground ginger
3 ½ cups to 4 ½ cups vegetable broth (I like homemade or Trader Joe’s vegetable broth)
1 cup red lentils, rinsed, drained
1 can (14 oz) of diced tomatoes in juice (or 2 tomatoes, chopped)

1 ½ tsp madras curry powder

½ tsp cumin, coriander

Zest of half a lemon

Preparation

Either hand chop veggies or use food processor. Heat oil in heavy large saucepan over medium–high heat. Add onions, celery, carrots, garlic, ginger; sauté until vegetables for about 15 minutes. Add curry powder, cumin and coriander and sauté for an additional 5 minutes. Add 3 ½ cups broth, lentils, tomatoes with juice and bring to boil. Reduce heat to medium–low, cover, and simmer until lentils are tender, about 25 to 30 minutes. While the soup is simmering, add more broth to thin soup, if needed. After the soup is done, sprinkle in the zest of half a lemon and stir.

Serve with lemon slices.

I found this recipe from Epicurious and have made it a few times and each time its garnered rave reviews.  This time it was for a charity fundraiser my roommate was involved with. This is a decadently rich flourless cake, only for serious chocolate lovers, and best served with fruit and whipped cream to balance the flavors. It requires the springform pan to be submerged in a waterbath, so wrapping it tightly and securely in aluminum foil is critical to prevent water seepage into the batter while it’s baking.  Use extra-large aluminum foil and wrap the pan in at least 3 layers.  With this cake, I had water seep into two of the aluminum foil layers, but luckily not the last.

La Bete Noire (adapted from Epicurious)

Ingredients

Cake
3/4 cup water
2/3 cup sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, diced
14 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped finely

5 large eggs (brought to room temperature)

Ganache
3/4 cup heavy whipping cream
61/2 ounces bittersweet, chopped finely

Serve with whipped cream and Strawberry or Raspberry Puree

Preparation

For cake:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Start boiling a pot of water for a waterbath. Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Line bottom of pan with parchment round and butter the parchment. Wrap 3 layers of extra large heavy-duty foil tightly around outside of pan, bringing foil to top of rim.

Combine water and sugar in a small saucepan. Bring to boil over medium heat, stirring until sugar dissolves. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove from heat.

Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Remove from heat. Whisk sugar syrup into chocolate; let it cool slightly (or else eggs will curdle when you add it to the mixture).

Add eggs to chocolate mixture and whisk until well blended.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Place cake pan in a large roasting pan. Add enough hot water to roasting pan to come halfway up sides of cake pan.

Bake cake for 40 minutes until center no longer moves when pan is gently shaken. Remove from water bath. Cool completely in pan for two hours.

For ganache:
Over medium heat, bring heavy cream to simmer in a small saucepan. Remove from heat. Add chocolate and whisk until smooth. Pour over top of cooled cake still in the pan. Gently shake the pan to distribute evenly over the top of the cake. Leave the cake at room temperature for the next hour or two. Refrigerate the cake in the pan until ganache is set, about 2 hours. Cover and keep refrigerated.

Take out ½ hour to an hour before serving, Cut between the cake and pan with a knife before releasing the sides of the cake from the pan. To release the bottom of the cake from the pan, take a hot clean knife and cut carefully to release the edges of the pan. When you see that the parchment can be lifted without damage to the cake, flip the top of the cake onto one plate, remove the parchment, then flip it back onto the other plate. Slice the cake into 16 or 32 slices with hot, clean knife for each slice.

I made this last night for Andy. It was delicious and really simple!

Pasta with Clams and Wine Sauce

Ingredients

½ box whole-wheat thin spaghetti

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 cloves garlic, minced
1 shallot, chopped

2 tomatoes, chopped

1 can whole or chopped clams
½ cup white wine

1 tablespoon butter

Preparation

Cook pasta according to directions minus two minutes. Drain pasta.  Heat pan over medium heat, add oil.Saute garlic and shallot for a minute. Add wine and simmer for a minute. Then add tomatoes and clams with juice and simmer for 5 to 6 minutes. Add butter. Add cornstarch to thicken the sauce. Add the slightly undercooked pasta to sauce.  Cover and lower heat to med-low for five minutes. Add parsley and take off stove.

I found the recipe from Elise’s SimplyRecipes.com and modified it to suit my tastes. It has less bananas, less sugar and less butter than the original recipe. While making the bread, I accidentally added baking powder instead of baking soda, so after realizing my mistake, I scooped out as much as I could from the batter.About ¼ tsp of the powder was left but it didn’t effect the results so I’ve decided to keep the addition of baking powder in the recipe to ensure that the bread rises, since the rising and leavening process tends to be my greatest challenge with baking. This recipe is quite simple and makes a very moist bread with a crispy dark crust. It’s my favorite of all the banana breads I’ve made in the past.

Banana Bread Recipe

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas

4 Tbsp of butter
½ cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1 tsp baking soda

¼ tsp baking powder

Pinch of salt

1 ½ cups flour

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Melt butter in a small bowl on defrost setting in the microwave.  Beat an egg in a small bowl.

With a wooden spoon, mash the bananas in a large bowl. Pour the melted butter in with the bananas and mash again.

Mix sugar, beaten egg, and vanilla into large bowl. Then mix in the salt, baking soda, and baking powder.Then add the flour and mix until combined and no large lumps. Pour into an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan.

Bake for 45 minutes on 350 degrees, then lower the temperature to 325 degrees and bake for another 15 minutes.

(If the bread is getting too dark in the oven or if you want a lighter color and softer crust, put aluminum foil lightly over the top of the loaf for the remainder of the cooking time or bake the bread at 325 degrees from start to finish)

This was my first attempt at making cupcakes from scratch.  All in all, I was happy with the way the cupcakes turned out.  I used half a cup of diced strawberries in the batter, but next time I’ll add a quarter cup more.  I couldn’t find liners in the kitchen and I was too lazy to go out to the store again, so I just baked them in a greased pan.  The frosting ended up being a bit too soft and grainy, but I’m not a big fan of really sugary sweets, so I usually leave my frosting on my plate anyway.

I didn’t want to go grocery shopping, so I tried to make dinner with only what I had in my fridge and pantry at home. I made pasta with button and shitake mushrooms in a cream sauce, but as I was finished preparing the dish, my boyfriend asked me out to have dinner with him, so I’ll be having this dish for lunch at work tomorrow. We went over to Ray’s Hell Burgers and he had the New Jack Zing, which had pepperjack, grilled onions, roasted peppers and roasted garlic.  I had a burger with gruyere, roasted peppers and sauteed mushrooms.  As always, Ray’s served an amazing burger.

I had sour cream and yogurt in the fridge that I didn’t want to waste, so I made this cake.  It’s from a recipe book in my bookcase that I’ve never used before.  The cake has cinnamon, walnuts, cocoa, yogurt and sour cream.  The recipe was difficult to follow.  I prefer my recipes to be very detailed in instructions, but this book had no pictures and only half a page dedicated to each recipe.  I don’t think I’ll be making this cake again and this is one book that will either be recycled or given to goodwill.

I made a lemon and ginger cheesecake a few days ago. It’s an awesome recipe from Epicurious, which uses fresh lemon juice and chopped ginger, as well as crystallized candied ginger, ground ginger, and lemon peel. Because of the lemon, ginger, and sour cream, the cheesecake tastes light and refreshing with a little tart and spice rather than feeling heavy and decadent like many other cheesecakes.  The recipe called for a 10-inch springform pan, but since most of my friends are health-conscious and my boyfriend is lactose-intolerent, I chose to cut the recipe into about a third and bake it in my regular 6-inch round cake pan. Since, I couldn’t easily release the cake from the pan like in the springform version, I generously greased the bottom of the pan and applied two strips of parchment paper in a cross shape, pressing the strips onto the bottom and the sides of the pan, and allowed the ends of the strips to overhang just slightly above the pan. I cut a parchment round and placed it over the strips and then pressed the crust into the bottom of the pan. I baked the crust for about 10 minutes. Then, I poured my batter into the pan, placed it in a waterbath, and baked the cheesecake for over an hour and a half. After allowing the cake to cool, I used a knife to release the sides and bottom edges of the cake from the pan. Then, I pulled on two opposite ends of the parchment strips and, then the other two ends and when I was pretty sure that the cake wouldn’t stick to the bottom, I lifted it out and…success! The cheesecake came out of the pan with ease.