Daniel Fast: Portuguese White Bean Soup

This recipe I followed exactly and of course it follows the running theme of this fast: I found it on pinterest. So good even my picky and carnivorous bf had a bowl!

Ingredients

1⁄2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 1⁄2 cups chopped onions
2 garlic cloves coarsely chopped
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground fennel seeds
1 small fennel bulb, diced (about 2 cups)
1 cup diced carrots
1 1⁄2 cups diced potatoes
2 teaspoons dried thyme or 1 tablespoon fresh
1⁄4 teaspoon ground black pepper
3 cups chopped fresh tomatoes or one 15-ounce can diced tomatoes
3 cups cooked white beans (two 15-ounce cans drained)
4 cups water or vegetable stock
5 or 6 cups loosely packed chopped kale
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

Preparation

In a covered soup pot on medium-low heat, warm the olive oil. Add the onions, garlic, and salt and cook for about 5 minutes.

Add the ground fennel and diced fennel bulb and cook for about 3 minutes. Stir in the carrots, potatoes, thyme, and black pepper and cook for 3 minutes.

Add the tomatoes, beans, and water or stock and bring to a boil.

Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, until the potatoes are just tender. If the soup is too thick, add another cup of water.

Add the kale and sun- dried tomatoes to the pot. Simmer for about 10 minutes, until the kale is tender. Stir in the lemon juice. Season with more salt and black pepper to taste.

Daniel Fast: Mexican Red Lentil Soup

Fast is still going quite well although I have a craving for breads and pastries. I don't usually want bagels, croissants, or garlic Texas toast, and I don't keep them in the house, but suddenly that's all I want. A cheesy bread from Papa John's would be heaven right now. Or a meat lovers pizza . . . Mmmmm (in my Homer voice). Okay I digress. My willpower is strong.

I will say that this soup was extremely hard to photograph, but delicious. The fresh cilantro and lime made it pop for my Daniel fast lunches. Oh and its another pinterest find!

Ingredients

1 c red lentils, rinsed
1 T oil
1 small red onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 celery stalk, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 roasted red pepper, diced
2 t chili powder
1/4 t chipotle powder
1 t cumin
1 t Adobo
1 t black pepper
1 28oz can of fire-roasted diced tomatoes
1 quart vegetable stock
1 c chopped cilantro

Directions

Add rinsed lentils to a small pot and cover with water. Cover pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat leaving cover on pot. Set aside.

In a large pot, heat oil over medium-high heat and saute onions celery, and carrots.

When the veggies soften a bit add garlic, spices, and roasted red pepper. Cook another 1-2 minutes.

Dump in the whole pot of lentils along with the vegetable stock and tomatoes. Stir everything well, cover and let simmer for 15-20 minutes. Stir in cilantro and serve with fresh lime wedges.

Makes 4-6 servings.

Daniel Fast: One Pot Pasta

Week one of my fast is over. So far no outrageous cravings. I found another awesome  recipe on Pinterest. It was quick and easy for a weeknight meal and very tasty. You can basically add anything you want to it. Enjoy!

Ingredients

12 oz. whole wheat or brown rice spaghetti (I used Trader Joe's)

1 (14-oz.) jar artichoke hearts, chopped

1 large white or yellow onion, sliced or diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 pint can cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
1 (8-oz.) can basil, garlic, oregano tomato sauce

1 tsp. dried oregano

4-6 leaves fresh basil, chopped
1/2 cup sun dried tomatoes

1/2 tsp. dried thyme

1/2 tsp. red pepper flakes 

1/4 tsp. ground black pepper

1 quart vegetable broth, low sodium or no salt added

Instructions

Add the pasta to a large, deep pot or skillet

Add the rest of the ingredients, minus the broth, to the pan on top of the pasta

Pour the vegetable broth over everything.

Cover the pan and bring to a boil. Reduce to a steady simmer (medium to medium-low heat) and, keeping covered & stirring occasionally, cook for 8-10 more minutes, or until pasta is done through.

Daniel Fast: Curried Vegetable Stew

Another Pinterest find. I can't reiterate enough how much I love curry. I mean it might be the best seasoning in the world. It goes with everything curry chicken, curry goat, curry shrimp. . . ok let me stop before I go into Bubba mode. Anyway I already decided (with this recipe) that chickpeas, curry, and kale belong together, so without further ado: 

Curried Vegetable Stew

Serves 8 - 10

1 teaspoon olive oil

1 large onion, dice

2 all-purpose potatoes, diced

1 tablespoon salt

1 tablespoon curry powder

1-inch piece ginger, peeled and grated (about 1 tablespoon)

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 cups vegetable broth

2 (16-ounce) cans chickpeas, drained and rinsed

1 green bell pepper, sliced

1 yellow pepper, sliced

1 medium head of cauliflower, cut into bite-sized florets

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

4-5 large kale leave, torn into bite size pieces

6 cups water

Heat the oil in a large pot over medium heat. Sauté the onion and bell peppers with one teaspoon of salt until translucent, about 5 minutes. Add the garlic, ginger, and remaining spices and sauté until fragrant. 

Pour in water and chickpeas. Bring to a boil. Season to taste.*

Add potatoes and cauliflower. Lower heat, cover, and simmer for 30-45 minutes.

Stir in the kale just before you think the potatoes are done. Cover with lid for 1 minute to allow the kale to wilt. 

I meal prepped this stew for lunch. The original recipe calls for coconut milk which I didn't have, but will definitely add next time for that creamy effect and bit of sweetness.

*Note: This step is important because your potatoes and cauliflower will not be able to absorb the flavors after they are cooked. 

Daniel Fast: Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili

Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili

I scoured Pinterest for my Daniel Fast recipes. I searched vegetarian and vegan as well as sugar-free recipes. I love chili so this one was a no brainer. Plus I happened to have all the ingredients already on the house. For this recipe just make sure your canned tomatoes do not have added sugar.

Ingredients

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 small red bell pepper, diced

1 small green bell pepper, diced

1 medium yellow onion, diced

3 cloves garlic, minced

1½ teaspoons Mexican chili powder

1 teaspoon ground cumin

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon onion powder

½ teaspoon dried oregano

½ teaspoon smoked paprika

1 jalapeno pepper, sliced

2 medium sweet potato, diced

2 15-ounce can black beans, drained and rinsed

1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes 

1 quart vegetable stock

Salt

Directions:

Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a dutch oven or large pot. Add the diced bell peppers and onions. Sauté for about 5 minutes until the peppers soften and the onions become translucent. Add garlic and saute another minute.

Stir in the chili powder, cumin, oregano, paprika, garlic and onion powder and cook for about 2 minutes until fragrant.

Add the diced tomatoes and vegetable stock and bring your chili to a boil over medium-high heat. Add sweet potatoes, black beans, and jalapeno. Add salt to taste (I didn't need to add salt because the broth I used was not low sodium and was supper flavorful, from Trader Joe's) and return chili to a boil.

Lower to a simmer and cook, covered, for about 30 minutes until the sweet potatoes are tender. 

Remove the lid and simmer for 10 more minutes or until the chili has thickened slightly.

Ladle chili into bowls and serve with toppings of your choice.

Suggested toppings:

Scallions or green onions

Avocado

Radishes

Cilantro

This chili came out absolutely delicious. All the flavors worked so well together. I love beans so next time I'll probably add another can and some cilantro. Feel free to jazz it up anyway you like. Add some cocoa powder, substitute poblano peppers for green bell pepper, or different beans perhaps? That's the great thing about chili, the possibilities are endless; it doesn't really matter what you add, it will still taste good. Enjoy!

Picadillo

This recipe is excellent. I've made it several times and it tastes better every time. I found the recipe on allrecipes.com a few years ago. Its the ultimate comfort food and we all know how I feel about comfort foods. It can be served over rice or used as filling for empanadas. The cinnamon and bay leaf make the recipe so don't leave them out! I leave out the tomatoes and just add tomato sauce, cayenne, and sofrito.

Ingredients

2 tablespoons olive oil

7 cloves garlic, chopped

1 medium-large onion

1 medium-large green bell pepper, chopped

2 pounds ground beef or chuck

5 ounces pitted olives, halved

5 ounces capers, rinsed and drained

1/4 cup white vinegar

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon ground cloves

2 dried bay leaves

1/4 teaspoon cayenne

1 can tomato sauce

1/2 cup cilantro sofrito

1. In a large stock pot, heat 1 tablespoon of olive oil over medium heat. Saute onion and green pepper until onions are transparent. Add sofrito and garlic, saute another a minute or so. Remove from heat. In a separate saucepan, brown the ground beef.
2. Add the olives, capers, vinegar, salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves, cayenne, bay leaves and tomato sauce to the onion-sofrito mixture. Return to heat and let simmer over low heat for 45-60 minutes, stirring occasionally.

*Note: You can do this in one pan/pot. Start by browning the ground beef in the pan. Remove it and set aside. Then use the beef drippings in place of olive oil and follow the recipe from there.

Albondigas

A delicious Mexican comfort food. 

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey (beef is used traditionally)

1 lb Mexican chorizo (uncased)

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon peppercorns, crushed

1 cup onions, diced and divided

¼ cup long grained rice, divided

7 cups water

32 ounces chicken broth

4 garlic cloves, minced

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 roma tomatoes, diced

3 large tomatoes, roasted and blended

2 small russet potatoes, cubed

1 large carrot, peeled and diced

2 celery stalks, chopped

¼ teaspoon coriander, crushed

1 handful of cilantro, chopped

¼ teaspoon whole safflower

Directions

In a large mixing bowl combine turkey and chorizo with garlic powder, salt, crushed peppercorns, 2 tablespoons of onions, and 1/8 cup of rice. Mix all ingredients together and roll out 1-inch meatballs.

Arrange three tomatoes on a baking sheet. Place your oven rack as close to the broiler as possible. Broil the tomatoes for about 20 minutes until softened, turning over after 10 minutes. If the skin has blackened remove it. In a blender or food processor, puree the tomatoes until smooth. Set aside.

In a large pot boil water, chicken broth, and minced garlic. Lower heat to medium and carefully add meatballs to the liquid. Cook meatballs for about 10-15 minutes or until the meatballs float to the surface and lower heat to simmer.

In a medium skillet sauté the remaining onions and diced roma tomatoes in olive oil.

To the pot of broth add the sautéed onions, tomatoes, fresh tomato sauce, remaining rice, potatoes, carrots, celery, coriander, cilantro, and safflower.

Cook over medium heat for an additional 30 minutes. Ladle soup with about 5 albondigas per bowl. Garnish with cilantro sprigs, lime wedges, and serve with warn corn tortillas. If you would like your soup spicy add a spoonful of your favorite homemade salsa.

Pumpkin Bread

Ingredients

1 3/4 cups Flour
1 1/2 cup Sugar
1/2 can Pumpkin

3/4 tsp Salt
1/4 tsp Ground cloves
1/8 tsp Ground ginger
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/2 tsp Nutmeg
1 tsp Baking soda
4 oz Applesauce
1/4 cup Oil
1/3 cup Water
2 Eggs

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease one 5x9 inch loaf pans.

2. In a large bowl, mix together pumpkin puree, eggs, oil, water and sugar until well blended. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and ginger. Stir the dry ingredients into the pumpkin mixture until just blended. Pour into the prepared pans.

3. Bake for about 50 minutes in the preheated oven. Loaf is done when toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Italian Inspired Soup

I found this lovely recipe on Pinterest a good while ago and decided to finally try it. I had all the ingredients and it came together so quickly. I didn't have Italian sausage so I seasoned my turkey like I was making meatballs with salt, pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, and oregano. It came out great and made wonderful lunch leftovers!

Ingredients:

1 15-ounce can cannelini beans, drained
1 15-ounce can diced tomatoes, garlic, oregano, & basil seasoned
1 8-ounce can of tomato sauce, garlic, oregano & basil seasoned
1 pound ground sausage or turkey
1 small onion, diced
1 medium carrot, diced
1 celery stalk
1 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
6 cups chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1 bay leaf
1 cup ditalini pasta

Instructions:

In a large pot, season and brown the ground turkey. Remove from pot. Add onion, carrot and olive oil and saute for 5 minutes until soft. Add celery and garlic, saute about a minute more. Add the tomatoes, tomato sauce, chicken broth, thyme, bay leaf, the drained beans, and the sausage and cover the pot. Cook for about 30 to 45 minutes over low heat, at a gentle simmer.

Southern Comfort: Biscuits and Gravy

Lately I have indulging in what I like to call struggle meals, Now I know what you,re thinking, biscuits and gravy is quite decadent, but I assure you it is. A struggle meal is when you create something from seemingly nothing because you haven't been able to go to the store.

For this meal the milk and flour were both past their expiration dates. I had butter from making desserts at Thanksgiving and sausage that had been in my freezer. Thus, biscuits and gravy were born and it came out delicious, especially for my first time making either. Both recipes were adapted from ones I found on foodnetwork.com. 

Biscuit Ingredients

4 cups self-rising flour, plus more for dusting
1 stick good butter, plus 3 tablespoons melted
2 to 3 cups cold buttermilk
1 tablespoon vegetable oil

Biscuit Preparation

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Add the flour to a mixing bowl. Working quickly, cut 1 stick of the butter into the flour using the pastry cutter (or your fingers).

In batches, add in the buttermilk until the dough is cohesive yet still moist. 

Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and lightly press into a 1-inch-thick round. 

Using a 2 1/2-inch biscuit cutter or a dry measuring cup, cut out 10 biscuits. 

Place the dough rounds into a heated, round cake pan, right up against each other, and brush with the melted butter. Bake until golden brown, 15 to 25 minutes.

Gravy Ingredients

1/2 lb roll sausage
1 Tb flour
1 cup milk
Salt and pepper to taste

Gravy Preparation

Heat a large cast-iron skillet over medium-high heat. Add the sausage, break it up with a wooden spoon, and cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned and cooked through, about 7 minutes.

Using a slotted spoon, transfer the sausage to a bowl, leaving the rendered fat in the skillet. Whisk the flour into the fat and cook, stirring, for about 1 minute. While whisking, pour the milk into the skillet and bring the gravy to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer gently for 2 minutes. Stir in the sausage and season with pepper. Split the biscuits in half and divide them among plates. Top each biscuit with some of the gravy and serve immediately.

Holiday Ham!

Usually I make my holiday ham (I'm calling it "holiday" because I've made it for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter) with brown sugar and pineapple. I pierce it with cloves, sprinkle it with brown sugar, pour pineapple juice over it and pop a couple pineapple slices on for decorative effect. Today I only had ground cloves and brown sugar, but I had recently received an email from Food & Wine that had a recipe for bourbon glazed ham. Bourbon and whiskey not that different, right? So I used Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey I had stashed away since this time last year, mixed it with the brown sugar and cloves, poured it on the ham, and baked it for 90 minutes at 400 degrees. Delicious!

Family Favorite

Ingredients

1 lb ground turkey

1 can of cream of mushroom soup

Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste

Prep

Season turkey with salt, pepper, and garlic powder. You can add bread crumbs to keep your patties together better. Mix and form into 8 or 9 small burger patties. Pan sear the patties until brown and cooked through. While the meat is cooking, whisk together the soup with 3/4 can of water until smooth. Pour over patties in the pan and stir. Simmer until heated through. Serve with mashed potatoes or rice. 

Dessert: Peach Cobbler

Peach cobbler is one of my favorite desserts. You can get the recipe for my other favorite, pound cake, here. Something about warm peaches seasoned with cinnamon and nutmeg, topped with vanilla bean ice cream makes me feel so at home. Its a comfort dessert! Here's mom's recipe

Ingredients

3 large cans (29oz) peaches in heavy syrup
2 boxes of pie crust (2 per box-4 total)
1-2 sticks of margarine or butter
1-cup of sugar
1-tsp nutmeg
1-tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup flour
2-3 tsp vanilla flavor

Preparation

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F

Crust

Pie crust needs to be at room temp. Spread a heaping tablespoon of flour on a cutting board (or wax paper on a counter). Unroll pie crust onto flour and press out with a rolling pin or glass with shape of rolling pin. Place 2 crusts in bottom of 9x13 glass pan.

Filling

Reserve about 1/3 cup of peach juice to mix with the flour for thickening. Place the peaches with juice, sugar, nutmeg and cinnamon in a large pot, heat on medium until peaches are soft. Mix juice into flour a little at a time so flour does not have lumps. Add to peach pot a little at a time stirring frequently until juices are thick (you may have to add more flour until its as thick as you like it). **Be sure to add juice into the flour or you will get lumps of dough.** Add butter or margarine after juice is thickened. Stir in vanilla flavor (taste and add additional ingredients as needed). Pour peach filling into pan. Unroll and press out 2 other pie crusts and place on top (it's ok to over lap crusts). Crimp together edges.

*Make sure you have foil in bottom of oven to catch drippings*

Bake 45-50 minutes until crust is brown, spread butter on crust and sprinkle sugar just before removing. Check to make sure pie crust has not burned.

Salads

I made this loaded potato salad for the first time on Thanksgiving; something different to go with our spare ribs. It's my own recipe just the usual ingredients for a loaded baked potato. I also made a spinach salad that I forgot to photograph, but was pretty tasty for our Thanksgiving feast. The recipes follow:

Loaded Potato Salad

Ingredients

6 red potatoes
1/2 cup mayo
3/4 sour cream
1/2 stalk celery, chopped
1/2 cheddar cheese, shredded
5-6 stalks of green onion, sliced
1-2 strips of bacon, crisp and chopped
Salt and pepper to taste

Preparation

In salted water boil the potatoes until fork tender. Poke a few holes in them before cooking so they absorb the salt. (I usually do this the night before, allow them to cool, and refrigerate.)

Chop the celery, green onion, and potatoes, add them to a bowl along with the cheese, mayo and sour cream; Salt and pepper to taste and stir to combine.

Sprinkle with bacon and serve.

Simple Spinach Salad

Combine fresh spinach, dried cranberries, and sunflower seeds or slivered almonds with your favorite vinaigrette. That's it! Enjoy!

Thanksgiving Feasting

Ahhhh! I've missed blogging so! I've been busy with school: three classes and a thesis to write (I graduate next semester) on top of two jobs, I barely found time to cook let alone blog about it. At any rate the semester  is over (straight A's) and since my day job is at a university I'm on break til 2014 so here I am. In all the madness that is/was my life I did get a chance to try a few new recipes for Thanksgiving.

My sister came to town and we decided on a non-traditional meal of ribs, mac & cheese, brussell sprouts, loaded potato salad, and spinach salad. As well as peach cobbler and pound cake for dessert. I tried a new rub for my ribs and winged it on the brussell sprouts. The rib rub was taken from Bobby Flay on the Food Network website, here. It's a dry rub but I find that mustard makes the meat extra juicy and quite tender. Next time I'm going to leave out the cumin. The mac & cheese I make pretty much every Thanksgiving, but I don't think I've ever shared the recipe.

Ribs

Ingredients
1 rack of pork ribs
1-2 Tb of mustard
Rib Rub (recipe to follow)

Prep
1. Slather the ribs in mustard (I like whole grain, but spicy brown would be great too)
2. Pack on the rub (as little or as much as you like)
3. Rest the rack for at least an hour
4. Bake (unless you live in a climate conducive to grilling outside in November or you don't mind braving the cold for grilled meats) for 90-120 minutes at 350 degrees.

Rub

Ingredients
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon paprika
1 tablespoon granulated garlic
1 tablespoon granulated onion
1 tablespoon chili powder
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon white pepper

Prep
1. Combine all ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Store in an airtight container.

Mac & Cheese

Ingredients
1 Box of elbow macaroni (I use Barilla because it has the ridges)
4-6 Cups of shredded cheese, sharp and mild cheddar, separated (The sharp cheddar is for mixing in and the mild is for on top. I've used colby jack or the Kraft triple cheddar mixture as well, but there is no substitute for the sharp)
1 Can Cream of Chicken soup ( I use Campbell's)
1 Can of milk (fill the soup can after removing the soup)
2 Tb of butter (not margarine or you can leave it out altogether)
Salt and pepper to taste

Prep
1. In a large pot, salt and bring 2-3 quarts of water to boil.
2. Empty entire box of macaroni into the pot and stir so the noodles do not stick.
3. In a smaller pot bring the can of soup and milk to a low simmer, whisking until smooth.
4. When the pasta is al dente, drain and place in a large bowl. Add the butter.
5. Pour a quarter of the soup over the noodles and add a cup of sharp cheese (here you can use up to 4 cups). Stir. Repeat until the soup and cheese are a ooey gooey mixture.
6. Season with salt and pepper to taste.
7. Pour into a 9x13 glass, baking pan and top with the remaining 2 cups of mild cheddar.
8. Bake at 350 degrees until bubbly and golden brown on top, about 35 minutes.

Indian Spiced Chicken with Chickpeas and Kale

This recipe was adapted from a Bon Appetit magazine recipe. It came out a-maz-ing!!! It was so delicious! And not like, this-is-so-good-because-I-haven't-eaten-since-8AM-good, but truly delectable. I'm on a no carb kick so no side dishes for me, but I was filled. I'll probably buy some cauliflower for roasting as a side dish for the leftovers; seems fitting. If you'd like something else try rice, white or brown, or quinoa. Lentils would be an excellent substitute for chickpeas, as well. So here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

4-6 chicken quarter legs
Kosher salt
Coarse ground pepper
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
2 large onions, thinly sliced
4 garlic cloves, chopped
1 1/2 tablespoons grated peeled ginger
2 teaspoons ground curry powder
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed
2 cups low-sodium chicken broth
2-3 cups of kale, washed and torn
1/4 cup Greek yogurt or sour cream
1/4 cup fresh cilantro leaves with tender stems

PREPARATION

Place a rack in lower third of oven; preheat to 325°. Heat oil in a large heavy pot over medium-high heat. Season chicken with salt and pepper. Working in batches, sear the chicken, reducing heat as needed to prevent over-browning, until golden brown on all sides, 8-10 minutes per batch. Transfer to a plate.

Add butter and onions to drippings in pot. Cook, stirring often, until onions are soft and golden brown, 10-15 minutes.

Stir in garlic, ginger, curry powder, cumin, and cayenne. Cook, stirring constantly, until spices are fragrant, about 1 minute. Stir in chickpeas and 2 cups broth. Return chicken and any accumulated juices to pot. Bring to a simmer. Cover pot and transfer to oven. Braise chicken until fork-tender, 45-60 minutes.

Using tongs and a slotted spoon, transfer chicken to a platter and cover with foil to keep warm. Add kale to pot, cover, and remove from heat. Let stand until kale is tender.

Stir yogurt or sour cream into cooking liquid. Return chicken to pot. Simmer over low heat (do not boil).

Plate and serve with cilantro.

Blueberry Cheesecake Muffins

I found this recipe on Pinterest and adapted it only slightly to make muffins. It's pretty labor intensive but the muffins came out so fluffy and delicious it's worth it. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Batter:

½ cups Butter
½ cups Sugar
¼ teaspoons Salt
1 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
2 whole Egg Yolks
1-½ cup All-pupose Flour
1 teaspoon Baking Powder
⅓ cups Milk
2 cups Blueberries
1 Tablespoon All-purpose Flour
2 whole Egg Whites
¼ cups White Sugar

Filling:

8 ounces, weight Cream Cheese
½ cups Sugar
1 Tablespoon Flour
1 whole Egg
1 Tablespoon Orange Zest

Preparation

Filling:

In a medium bowl, combine cream cheese, sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, egg and orange zest; beat until smooth. (Be sure to use the measurements found under filling for these.) Set aside.

Batter:

Cream butter and sugar (1/2 cup) until fluffy. Add salt and vanilla. Add egg yolks (save the egg whites as you’ll need them later) to the sugar mixture; beat until creamy. Set aside.
In another bowl, combine flour (1 1/2 cups) and baking powder. Add this mixture, alternately with milk to egg yolk mixture.

Coat berries with 1 tablespoon flour and add them to the batter.

In a separate bowl, beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add sugar (1/4 cup), 1 tablespoon at a time, and beat until stiff peaks form. Fold egg whites into batter.

Spoon batter into muffin tins; fill them half way. Layer the filling over the batter and then top with more batter. This will create a layer of “cheesecake” between the blueberry batter.

Bake at 350F for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown.

Starters: Maryland Crab Dip

Maryland Crab Dip

Ingredients:

1 lb. backfin crabmeat

8 oz. cream cheese

1/2 cup mayonnaise

1 Tbsp. Old Bay seasoning

1 Tbsp. Worcestershire

8 oz. grated sharp cheese

3 green onions, sliced very thin

Instructions: 

Clean crabmeat.

Mix together all ingredients.

Place in individual ramekins or in large glass baking dish for serving.

Bake at 350 for 15 to 20 minutes until hot and bubbly. 

Top with additional green onion and a dash of Old Bay.

Serve with crackers, sliced french bread, pita or tortilla chips.

Snacking: Garlic Kale Chips

Wash and dry a bunch of kale.

Cut into chip size pieces.

Line a cookie sheet with parchment.

Arrange kale on sheet and drizzle or spray with oil.

Sprinkle with garlic salt.

Bake for 10 minutes or until crispy but not brown.

Enjoy!

Vegetarian Tamale Pie

I haven't had tamale pie in years. My mom used to make it when I was a kid. When I started this vegetarian kick I didn't want to just eat vegetables, especially salad. I always enjoyed this dish and I'm not sure why I didn't think to make it until now, but it turned out great. Mom used Fritos but I went for blue corn tortilla chips instead. Next time I think I'll stick with the corn chips because the baked chips I used got soggy. Feel free to add anything you like to the pie. I added poblano pepper which mom never did and I wanted to add zucchini but it went bad before I got to it. Anywho, without further ado, here's the recipe:

Ingredients

1 12oz package Trader Joe's Beef-less Ground Beef (or any brand you choose)
1 15oz can black beans, drained and rinsed
1 15oz can petite diced, undrained
2 cups frozen corn
1 medium poblano
1 medium red onion
5 oz blue corn tortilla chips or corn chips
2 cups shredded cheese

Toppings

Sour cream
Salsa
Green onion, sliced

Directions

1. Sauté the onions
2. Add the beans, tomatoes, poblano, and corn
3. Cook until corn is done, then remove from heat
4. Layer the chips in a baking dish
5. Pour mixture over chips
6. Top with cheese
7. Bake til golden and bubbly
8. Add your favorite toppings