Macaroni and Cheese, Irish-Style

I.
Love.
Dubliner.

That is the background. Then recently I came across this recipe on the blog, Food for My Family. Dubliner cheese in the recipe? OMG.

I kept putting off making the recipe because I wanted to get the Dubliner at Costco where you can buy a giant brick of it for less than $10. Alas, I never got around to begging my dad to meet me there so I could take advantage of his membership so I gave up and bought a tiny brick for $5 at Target. Oh well.

Anyway, on to the recipe. Because I can't just make things exactly as prescribed, here is my version, which differs only slightly from the original .

16 oz package of brown rice pasta*
2-3 Tb butter
1 Tb flour
1.5 cups milk (I used soy milk)
6 ounces cream cheese
1 tsp dijon mustard
black pepper
salt
1 cup-ish cheddar cheese (I just used generic sharp cheddar. Eh)
1/2 cup Dubliner cheese
1 cup chickpeas
spinach, torn into small pieces
asparagus, cut into bite-sized pieces
 1 piece of whole wheat bread

Cook your pasta and set aside.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Melt the butter in a medium sized saucepan. (in the end it would need to hold about 2.5 cups or so of liquid) Add in the flour and whisk until the flour begins to brown (just a few minutes). Add in the milk and then the cream cheese and whisk until it melts into the liquid. Add the mustard and black pepper and salt to taste. Cook for another 5 minutes or so until the liquid is thick and creamy.

Add in the cheddar and Dubliner cheeses a handful at a time. I cut mine into 1-inch cubes and mixed them in until melted and then added the next bunch, repeat. Once all the cheese has melted transfer the noodles and cheese sauce into a greased baking dish. Add any proteins or vegetables at this point.

Use a food processor to break down the bread into crumbs. Lightly sprinkle the crumbs evenly over the surface of the noodles.

Cook in the oven for 15-20 minutes and then bring it up to the top shelf of the oven and put it under the broiler for 5 minutes or until the bread crumbs have browned.



*I only bought this because I couldn't find whole wheat pasta in tube form. The closest I could find was whole wheat penne but I knew from past experiences that stuff is like chewing on cardboard and was just way too big to use for macaroni and cheese. The brown rice pasta instructions said to cook it for 16 minutes (waaaah???) which I probably did but it ended up quite mushy. Next time I will try harder to find whole wheat tubes or elbow macaroni shape...

Cheesy goodness with crunchy bread crumbs...

Egg Bake! Frittata! Whatever!

Just about every weekend morning Tom and I make some variation on eggs and soysage. Oh, what's soysage, you ask? It's this and it is awesome. In "fancy" grocery stores you can find it for upwards of $5. Puh-shaw, I say. You can get it at Trader Joe's for $2.69, if memory serves. Even Whole Foods charges a price similar to that. Don't go elsewhere.

Anyway, we've done just about everything under the sun: scrambled, omelette, fried, egg sandwich, etc. We love them all and it's nice to have a few options to keep it interesting.

Recently, I've been exploring the baked or more "solid" version of eggs. (sidenote: I'm not a huge fan of slimy things. I absolutely refuse to consider eggs in any other condition than no-doubt-in-my-mind-that-this-has-been-cooked-long-enough. Becoming someone who actually eats eggs was a slow transition. More on this below)

Example One: The frittata. Given our recent purchase of skillets that can actually go in the oven (whoa!) I was inspired to attempt the frittata. Here's a version I made the other week:

Blurry, yes. Maybe not the prettiest dish you've ever seen, either. But good!

Recipe:
4 eggs
1/3 of a tube of soysage (aka Gimme Lean breakfast sausage)
1/4 cup or so of milk (we use soy milk)
handful of spinach, chopped
goat cheese
salt
pepper
hot pepper flakes

Cook soysage until browned. Combine soysage with the rest of the ingredients in an oven-safe skillet. Give the ingredients an initial shake to spread things out but otherwise you don't need to mess with it. Cover and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes until the egg is mostly set. Put under the broiler until the top of the eggs are browned and slightly crispy.


Up next: Egg bake!

Now, one of the ways I was able to transition into egg-eating was because of bread. The texture of eggs freaked me out but if I put them on bread, it was like a sandwich! Yum! So the egg bake allows me to incorporate bread in much smaller portions and makes consumption less messy and cumbersome.

Here's my version:

Sweet new casserole dish. It even makes eggs look pretty.

 

Close-up of egg bake. Cheesy and bready, just the way God intended.

5 eggs
Soysage
spinach
asparagus
goat cheese
salt
pepper
hot pepper flakes
Bread, torn into crouton-sized pieces


Cook soysage until browned and then combine all ingredients except for the bread in oven-safe dish. Add the bread last so that it touches the eggs but is not fully dunked in. Bake at 375 until the middle of the bake is solidified. For this size of dish, it took about 40 minutes.

Carob Cake and my wonderful husband

In honor of the 6-month anniversary of the day Tom and I married, I bring you carob cake!

Recently, while trying to be healthy Tom and I had a long discussion about all the foods we would eat if calories and full-ness were of no concern. On the list were things like buffalo wings (Tom), mac & cheese (me) and various other horrible foods. But Tom reiterated that he would probably never love any food as much as he loves carob cake.

So, as a gift to my wonderful husband, I made carob cake and carob cupcakes!

Batter:
2 cups sugar
2.5 cups flour
1/2 cup carob powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 Tb vinegar (yes, vinegar)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups cold water
2/3 cup oil

Frosting:
4 Tb melted butter
1/4 cup milk (I used soy milk)
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 cups confectioner's sugar

Mix all the batter ingredients together. The batter will be runny and will BUBBLE! Vinegar, baking soda -- it's a science experiment which is probably why Tom likes this cake so much...



Once all ingredients are mixed, bake in the oven at 350 degrees. Depending on which type of pan you use (or cupcakes) cooking time can vary. The cupcakes took about 25 minutes while the round pan took about 40 minutes. Since this batter is so runny, it's very easy to tell if it's done simply by looking at the center of each cupcake or the center of a big pan. Still wet? Not done. You can also use a toothpick to make sure the center is cooked all the way through. Once done, take out of the oven and cool.

To make the buttercream frosting, first cream together the melted butter, milk and vanilla. Add in powdered sugar 1 cup at a time checking the consistency as you go. When the frosting first comes together it will be pretty thin but should thicken up if cooled in the fridge for a few minutes or just let to rest.

Eggplant Manicotti

Taking a 180-degree turn away from creamy pasta dishes...

I'm usually against "diet" meals because they are made with weird processed foods and contain a lot of chemicals to make up for missing fats. That being said, this South Beach diet-inspired dish turned out way better than I thought it would. It's manicotti but instead of noodles the "manicotti" part is made with eggplant. Awesome! I've had eggplant lasagna before but because of the excess moisture from the eggplant, I wasn't a fan.

In this version, you roast the eggplant by itself and I think that eliminates the goopiness you'd get from cooking it in a dish with all the sauce and cheese.



Ingredients:
1 eggplant (whatever size or quantity dependent on how many people you are serving.), cut into strips lengthwise. (I also peeled the outer layers of skin off the end pieces to avoid the toughness you get with cooked eggplant skin. Yuck)
2 Tb extra virgin olive oil or spray olive oil
1 cup low-fat ricotta
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup part skim mozzarella, shredded
1 egg
salt
pepper
2 handfuls spinach (optional)
mushrooms (optional)
fresh tomatoes or tomato sauce (optional)

Preheat oven to 350'.

Mix ricotta, parmesan and egg in a small baking dish. You can add spices here. The original recipe called for thyme, oregano, etc. I'd recommend garlic and basil... Once mixed, cook in the oven for 15 minutes or until set and slightly browned on top.

While this is cooking you can saute the additional vegetables you'll add. Cook until soft and then take off the heat until the egg/cheese mixture is ready.

Once cheese dish is ready, stir in the sauteed vegetables (or, if not adding veggies, just stir the mixture itself to break it up).

Turn the oven up to 400' and brush the eggplant slices with the olive oil. Sprinkle salt and whatever additional seasoning you'd like. Roast the eggplant for about 10 minutes or until softened.

Once the eggplant has cooled enough to handle, start spreading the ricotta/egg/veggies mixture onto the slices. Depending on how much you want you can either roll up the slice or just fold it over once. Or just leave it as is. Any arrangement will work.



I folded the slices in half.












Arrange the eggplant pieces in a baking dish and top with more mozzarella cheese, parmesan and more toppings, if desired. The original recipe suggested tomato sauce. I happened to have some fresh tomatoes so I chopped those up and put them on top.



Ready to go in the oven!







Turn the oven up to broil and place under the broiler for 5-10 minutes or until the cheese on top has melted and begins to brown.

Obsession of the Month: Salad

Variety is not the spice of my life. I am prone to eating the exact same meal for extended periods of time. Tom loves this.

Following the gluttony of our Mexico trip, my arteries and brain needed something wholesome, light and uh, cleansing. Thus, my salad obsession.

At least once a week, sometimes twice, I hit up the Byerly's salad bar. Oddly enough, the East St. Paul location has a wicked good selection (better than Roseville). And I spend around $4.50 for a filling salad. Not awesome, not terrible.

In the "I'm feeling rich today" category, I have never loved a salad more than I love Erte's Applause Salad. Here's how they describe it on their menu: crisp apple slices, shredded carrots, natural Stickney Hill goat cheese curry crusted croutons, nuts, golden raisins, on top a bed of spring mixed greens dressed with a chutney vinaigrette

Oy. At $14 a pop, though, not exactly the kind of meal you can swing on a regular basis.

Thus, I've been working on my homemade salads and may have finally come up with one I could see myself obsessing over (making for dinner every single night for a month until I move on to the next obsession). Here's what I've got:

Fixins:
spinach
mixed baby greens
sunflower seeds
dried cranberries
goat cheese
Morningstar Farms chik'n strips

Dressing:
olive oil
red wine vinegar
garlic powder
salt
pepper
basil
oregano
dijon mustard
(I don't really measure amounts. Maybe equal parts oil/vinegar? Meh?)

These ingredients are all dependent on what I actually have in the kitchen at the time of creation. If I don't have the fake chicken strips, I'd likely substitute more vegetables and/or edamame or chickpeas to give it some protein.

Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Stew

1/2 small to medium pumpkin
3-4 sweet potatoes
onion
garlic
carrots
2 cups vegetable stock
white wine
red pepper flakes
salt
pepper
spinach
1 can chickpeas
1 can whole peeled tomatoes

Heat a few tablespoons of oil in a stock pot. Add onions and garlic until soft. Add pumpkin, sweet potatoes and carrots and saute for a minute or two. Once all the vegetables are steaming and/or a glaze is starting to form in the bottom of the pot, pour in a little white wine to de-glaze. Scrape the bottom of the pot to get everything mixed in.

Pour vegetable stock into pan and add more water if needed to cover all the vegetables in liquid. Let simmer until pumpkin and potatoes are soft.

Add chickpeas (drained and rinsed) and tomatoes (cut into bite-sized pieces) to the pot.

Chop fresh spinach into smaller pieces and add to pot.

Season with salt and pepper.

Can be eaten as a stew or put over rice or cous cous. A fresh dry cheese (like parmesan) is good on top.

Sweet Potato and Pumpkin Curry

1/2 small to medium sized pumpkin, chopped up into cubes, 1 inch or so
3-4 Sweet potatoes, chopped into 1-inch cubes
cup or so of carrots
1 cup cauliflower
1 28 oz can whole peeled tomatoes
1 14.5 oz can of chickpeas
1 14.5 oz can coconut milk
onion (I don't use a whole one but it's your onion preference)
curry powder
garam masala
garlic (3-4 cloves?)
salt
hot pepper
olive oil (can use red pepper-infused oil*)
cayenne pepper
cumin seeds
turmeric?
Flour
Basmati Rice

Heat a few tablespoons of olive oil (add red pepper flakes if not using infused oil) in large pot. Add onions and garlic, cook until soft. Toss in pumpkin, potatoes, carrots and cauliflower and coat in oil.

Pour coconut milk into the pot. Then pour in whatever amount of water is needed to cover the vegetables. Add spices here. I used maybe 1-2 teaspoons of curry powder, 1 teaspoon of cumin seeds, 1 teaspoon garam masala. I don't remember if I used turmeric but that is another common spice in this dish. I put in a dash of cayenne pepper and also added maybe another teaspoon of hot pepper flakes.

Let everything simmer for about 15 minutes or however long it takes for the pumpkin and potatoes to soften. While it was simmering, I poured in the chickpeas (drained and rinsed) and then cut the tomatoes into the pot in bite sized pieces using kitchen shears.

Use flour to thicken up the broth. If you like it more soup-like, you might not need any flour. If you want it thicker, just throw in flour 1-2 tablespoons at a time, it doesn't take much. Stir it around and let it simmer to thicken up. If it's still too thin, add more flour.

Serve over basmati rice. (Trader Joe's sells brown basmati rice which is what I use)

*Hot Pepper-infused oil recipe taken from THIS recipe on 101Cookbooks.com. Super easy, looks great on the counter in a clear glass pourer...