Last night's menu...

Last night we had good friends over for dinner, so I tied on my apron and tested my culinary skills. The menu: Mediterranean chicken and orzo salad stuffed inside red peppers, cucumbers with tomatoes, chives, and parsley, quinoa skillet bread, and red wine. I wish I had thought to snap a photo of this meal as it was incredibly bright and aesthetically pleasing!

The main recipes were amazingly delicious and relatively easy to make. The quinoa made the bread incredibly moist and the cream on top gave it a nice custard-like consistency. And the main course was a nice summer meal---cool orzo, feta, olives, tomatoes, and chicken drenched in a homemade vinaigrette dressing and stuffed inside gutted red peppers.

If you're looking to mix up your summer menu, check out both recipes...you won't be disappointed!

One of my loves...

I love baking. Seriously. I don't do it very often because....well, because there's only two of us, and I typically don't have any occasions to bake for. Nonetheless, I love scouring the internet for recipes (I have a huge cooking folder in my Evernote account!), I love tweaking the ingredient lists to make recipes healthier, and I love eating what I bake.

Today I pulled out one of my aprons (I have three beautiful aprons that were either my grandmother's or great-grandmother's) and whipped up a dozen rhubarb streusel muffins while I listened to NPR's All Things Considered. I had leftover streusel in the freezer from the batch of oatmeal muffins I made last month, so it saved me quite a bit of time. These little dears are delightful---a perfect blend of sweet and tart. So far this summer I've baked German pancakes, oatmeal muffins, homemade brown sugar and cinnamon poptarts as well as Nutella poptarts (both were whole wheat!), and rhubarb muffins. I'm surprised I haven't gained weight this summer!

In case you love baking too and want to try out new recipes, here are my go-to websites:

• 101 Cookbooks
• Smitten Kitchen (I found this one through my friend Liz Peters...thanks for sharing this Liz!)
  

New Recipes

So....in honor of our musical's conclusion, I'm trying out new recipes. I LOVE cooking, but more importantly, I love cooking with fresh, wholesome ingredients. Last night I rifled through my cookbooks and the internet looking for a variety of new recipes to try out. Here's what's on the menu for the coming days in the Helzer home:

• Rice noodles with peanut sauce---the recipe features fresh ginger, red peppers, carrots, green onions, natural peanut butter, rice noodles, broth and soy sauce.
  
• Fettuccine with ricotta, tomato and basil---'nuff said!
  
• Pita pizzas--this is cheating a bit because we used to eat these a lot in Kearney when we were poor newlyweds! Pitas are topped with hummus, spinach, peppers, olives, feta and whatever else we can throw on 'em.
  
• Garbanzo bean sandwiches--the title sounds disgusting. Actually, it's a homemade hummus spread---garbanzo beans, walnuts, parsley, garlic, etc. Stuffed in pita pockets with red onions, cucumbers, tomatoes and LOTS of feta.
  
• Chicken posole--a soup with hominy, rotisserie chicken, broth and tomatoes.
• Quinoa primavera---I love quinoa and am always looking for good recipes to feature it! This particular one includes veggies, cream cheese, Romano cheese and broth.
• Spaghetti Torte--spaghetti, ricotta, tomatoes and eggs to make a sort of pasta pie.

Tonight were trying the rice noodles with peanut sauce--the kitchen smells so good!

Simple Banana Bread

I love bananas. I love eating them after running, I love eating them on tortillas spread with Nutella, and I love them in smoothies. But I never seem to eat them fast enough; I always end up with 2-3 over ripe bananas sitting on my counter. We had no school today due to parent-teacher conferences this week, so I decided to use some of my time to bake. I absolutely love cooking and baking but hardly ever make the time to do it. When I get time, I relish it! Today I used up those over ripe bananas to make a tasty batch of banana bread using this simple, nutritious recipe:

• 1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour (I threw in about 1/4 c. flax seed with the flour for an extra boost of fiber!)
  
• 1/2 cup splenda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 egg whites
  
• 3-4 bananas (1 1/2 cups banana, mashed)
• 1/3 cup applesauce (I cut up a small apple and pureed it to make my own applesauce)
  
• 1/2 cup walnuts (cranberries or chocolate chips might also be tasty if you don't have walnuts)
  

Recipes of the week: July 12-18

One of the reasons why I love summer so much is all of the extra time I have find and make new recipes. I love digging through internet sites and magazines to find recipes that are unique, accessible, and wholesome. Here are a few new recipes I made this week (sorry for the lack of images to accompany this post!):

Wednesday: Egg Salad Sandwiches...a wholesome, tasty, and easy recipe.
Thursday: Pasta Fagioli
Friday: Blueberry-Raspberry Crisp
Saturday: Coconut Macaroon Pancakes...a nice twist to traditional pancakes!
Sunday: "Skinny" Omelettes (I know it's not Sunday yet, but I am planning on making them for breakfast tomorrow!)

Each recipe was DELICIOUS and passed the husband test. I've saved each of them on my Evernote account AND have them on my iPod for future use!

Blueberry-Raspberry Crisp (great for breakfast and dessert!)*
Makes 8 servings
Prep. 15 minutes, bake at 350 for 55 min.

Berry mixture
4 c. blueberries
1/2 c. light brown sugar
3/4 c. flour (I used whole wheat pastry flour--it gave it a nice, earthy taste)
Juice and zest from 1 large orange
2 c. raspberries

Topping
3/4 c. flour (again--I used whole wheat pastry flour)
2/3 c. light brown sugar
1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1/2 c. (1 stick) cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/2 c. rolled oats
1/4 c. chopped pecans

1. Heat oven to 350
2. Berry mixture: In large bowl, mix together blueberries, 1/2 c. light brown sugar, flour, and orange juice. Place into a 6-8 cup baking dish. Evenly scatter raspberries over the top.
3. Topping: In another large bowl, whisk together flour, brown sugar and cinnamon. Cut in butter until crumbly. Stir in oats and pecans.
4. Sprinkle topping evenly over berry filling. Bake at 350 for 55 minutes, until bubbly. Allow to cool 15 minutes before serving.

What I like about this recipe: I LOVE berries! The sweetness of the blueberries and the tartness of the raspberries blended perfectly together. We ate this for dessert after lunch and then I had it again for breakfast the next day. The recipe could be easily cut in half and "healthed up"--instead of using enriched, white flour, I opted for whole wheat, all-natural pastry flour (packed full of fiber and not enriched). I didn't feel bad eating any of it either because I used all-natural ingredients!

Pasta Fagioli*
Makes 8 servings
Prep. 10 minutes, cook 13 minutes

2 Tbs. extra-virgin olive oil
3 Garlic cloves
2 cans of chicken or veggie broth
1 28 oz. can of crushed tomatoes
1 Tsp. Italian seasoning
1/4 Tsp. salt
1/4 Tsp. pepper
8 oz. Whole wheat pasta (I used the bowtie kind)
2 Cans of cannellini beans (white kidney beans), drained and rinsed
Shredded Parmesan (optional)

In large saucepan, heat extra-virgin olive oil over medium-high heat. Add diced cloves of garlic; cook for 1 minute. Stir in broth, tomatoes, Italian seasoning, salt, and pepper. Bring to a boil over high heat. Stir in pasta. Reduce heat; simmer, stirring occasionally, for 10-11 minutes, until pasta is tender. Stir in beans (don't forget to drain and rinse them!). Cook 1 minute or until beans are heated through. Top with Parmesan cheese.

What I like about this recipe: It's EASY! This was a "dump and pour" recipe made with common ingredients that didn't take a whole lot of thought or time. I used all natural, 99% fat free chicken broth and whole wheat pasta to give it a healthier edge. And, I cut this recipe in half since it's just two of us, and we still had leftovers for the next day. Plus, it's a filling meal--we each had a serving along with steamed broccoli and fresh bread and we were stuffed!

*From August 2010 issue of "Family Circle" magazine

Chocolate Puddle Cookies

I had some free time on my hands tonight, so I decided to bake. I may not seem like the baking type--but I have a secret obsession with it. I love finding and trying out new recipes. I found this great blog, 101 Cookbooks, a few months back that has a great collection of wholesome recipes and also features quality writing and photography.

Tonight I tried out a not so healthy recipe from here :) for a type of chocolate cookie. What I like about this recipe is its simplicity--with just six ingredients, its a quick and easy way to get that chocolate fix we all have. The cookies end up looking and tasting a little like brownies but in cookie form.

Just an FYI: don't forget the parchment paper! I tried to go without it tonight and my cookies stuck to the pan--it took some serious spatula work to get those bad boys free!

Chocolate Puddle Cookies

I've used both 365 organic powdered sugar from Whole Foods, and Hain organic powdered sugar with success. I prefer to use non-alkalized cocoa powder (Scharrfen Berger or Dagoba) but also tested with Droste, which is a Dutch-process cocoa powder. All with success. On the nut front, be mindful of how you toast your walnuts - it's the single factor that impacts the personality of these cookies most. Using deeply toasted walnuts makes for a much more intense, nutty cookie. Lightly toasted walnuts can sometimes be mistaken for chocolate chips, and make for a much more mild cookie. Both good! Also, cooking time - you don't want to over or under bake here - over bake, and your cookies will cool too a crisp, under bake, and they are too floppy and crumbly. Also, underbaking makes it more difficult to remove the cookies from the parchment paper after baking - you get the swing of it after a batch or two. Use large eggs, I suspect if you use extra-large, the batter will run, and you'll have to compensate with more powdered sugar.

3 cups / 11 oz / 310 g walnut halves, toasted & cooled
4 cups / 1 lb / 453 g confectioner's (powdered) sugar

1/2 cup plus 3 tablespoons / 2 oz / 60 g unsweetened cocoa powder

scant 1/2 teaspoon fine grain sea salt
4 large egg whites, room temperature
1 tablespoon real, good-quality vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 320F / 160C degrees and position racks in the top and bottom third. Line three (preferably rimmed) baking sheets with parchment paper. Or you can bake in batches with fewer pans.

Make sure your walnuts have cooled a bit, then chop coarsely and set aside. Sift together the confectioner's sugar, cocoa powder, and sea salt. Stir in the walnuts, then add the egg whites and vanilla. Stir until well combined.

Spoon the batter onto the prepared sheets in mounds of about 2 tablespoons each, allowing for PLENTY of room between cookies. These cookies are like reverse Shrinky Dinks - they really expand. Don't try to get more than 6 cookies on each sheet, and try to avoid placing the batter too close to the edge of the pan.

Bake until they puff up. The tops should get glossy, and then crack a bit - about 12 -15 minutes. Have faith, they look sad at first, then really blossom. You may want to rotate the pans top/bottom/back/front.

Slide the cookies still on parchment onto a cooling rack, and let them cool completely. They will keep in an airtight for a couple days.