I'm back! And I have a friend!

Oh, hello world. Every once and a while people ask me about this blog and I kept meaning to bring it back. But blogging can be so hard and lonely sometimes. Meanwhile, I've also been jealous of my friend Heidi's cooking forays as posted on Facebook. So, I've invited her to contribute here. Because we are both full time students with jobs and have tons of free time and all.

My goal is to post my soup of the week here. Heidi is also going to post once a week if she can. PLUS -- we want you! We've added a fun new feature that will allow you to contribute to this blog! Click here if you want to submit a post and then pass it on. Think about how many recipes and fun stories we could accumulate if you share this with a friend. Join our little experiment in cooking. GO.

Chicken with Cranberry Mustard sauce and Roasted Cauliflower

I've taken a little bit of a hiatus from writing in this blog. If you didn't know, my adventures in a tiny kitchen have recently turned into adventures in a big kitchen. And instead of cooking for just the one and only me, I've been cooking for my mom and dad as well. So, it didn't seem so pertinent to post things here.

However, last night I made a really tasty recipe that could easily be made for just one. The heading is pretty self explanatory but I will describe it for you anyway. It's basically a chicken breast, sauteed. Then you make a quick pan sauce using cranberry juice, butter, mustard, and chicken stock. The cauliflower is roasted in the oven and then you toss it with a butter mustard and lemon sauce and roast a little longer. The lemon in the dressing adds a bright kick to the otherwise boring cauliflower and the mustard brings out the flavors in the chicken dish. Serve with salad on the side.

Here's how to do it:

First, prepare the cauliflower. If you want to make the whole head, that's fine. This will keep well as leftovers. Cut it up into indivual florets. I know some people would say to make them evenly sized pieces, but I am not one of those people. I say, make them around the same size, but variety is the spice of life so if some little pieces happen or some big clunkers, you will just have some crispy bits and some softer bits. All will be delicious. Spray a baking dish with a Pam-like substance and the throw your cauli in there and sprinkle with salt. Roast in a 400 degree oven for 10 minutes.

Meanwhile, season your chicken breast (s) with salt, pepper, and dried thyme. Heat up a teeny bit of oil in a medium sized sautee pan (larger if you are doing more than one serving) and brown the chicken on both sides. Really get the chicken nice and brown. My version wasn't browned as much as I would have liked in the end. You don't need to cook the chicken all the way through at this stage. Remove from pan.

While you are browning the chicken, in a seperate pan or in the microwave, melt 2 tablespoons of butter. Cut a lemon in half and then zest one half of the peel into the butter. Then squeeze the juice from that lemon into the butter/zest mixture. Last, add a tablespoon or two of whole grain dijon mustard. Stir the ingrediants all together. By the time your chicken is browned, your cauliflower should have roasted for at least 10 minutes. Remove from oven and toss the dressing you've prepared over the cauliflower. If you feel like you made too much dressing, save it, you can throw it into the pan sauce for the chicken. Put the cauliflower back in the oven, and roast for about 15 more minutes.

Back to the chicken dish: In the pan that you browned the chicken, melt 1 or 2 tablespoons of butter. Then add 1 or 2 tablespoons of flour (the same amount of each). Then add 1 or 2 tablespoons of mustard to that (or the leftovers from your cauliflower dressing). The butter, mustard, flour combo should bubble and cook up. Then, slowly add a 1/4 - 1/2 cup cranberry juice to this. Once that bubbles, add up to another cup of chicken stock (I'd buy stock in a resealable container). If you are only doing one chicken breast, I'd only use a quarter of a cup of cranberry juice and a 1/2 cup of stock. If you have dried cranberries, you can add them to the sauce at this stage.

Once this is boiling, add the chicken back into the pan. If you are nervous about cooking this all the way through, you can cover the pan for about 5 minutes to steam cook the remainder of the chicken. Once the chicken is cooked through, make sure to let the sauce simmer in the pan for at least 5 more minutes uncovered to thicken up. Once the sauce is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon, it is done.

At this stage, your cauliflower should be done as well. Take the chicken out of the pan, and spoon the sauce over it. Serve with cauliflower and salad on the side for a healthy meal.

Both of these recipes were inspired by recipes from the Fast, Easy, Fresh cookbook by the editors of Bon Appetit Magazine.

Bananas for Bread Pudding (But all alone, as per usual)

I am a huge fan of dessert and I love bread pudding, but too often I make it in enormous batches and then eat a whole 9 x 13 pan by myself, which is never a good thing. So, I came up with a little trick to make bread pudding for one by using leftover muffins instead of regular bread pieces.

I can't remember if I posted a recipe for banana muffins, but if I didn't, you can use whichever muffin recipe suits you (I have a vision of pumpkin muffins in the recipe in the future), although I don't think I would do blueberry. That might be weird. Or, it might be delicious, who am I to judge? On the topic of muffins-- even if you are like me and all alone in your apartment/ house/ mansion/ Tuscan villa, feel free to make a full batch of 6 or 12 or 24, because muffins freeze splendidly and defrost within minutes in either a toaster oven or microwave (or regular oven, of course). Then, when you have a craving for a muffin or the bread pudding dessert I am going to explain below, you just have to defrost one and enjoy.

Once you have the muffins made, prepping for the bread pudding is exceptionally easy.

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees as per usual for baked goods (aren't you glad I told you to do this at the start of the instructions instead of waiting to the end like normal?). Then, take 1 egg, 1/2 cup of milk, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla and whisk together. If it seems to eggy, add more milk. If you like lots of cinnamon, you can add more as well.

Then, take the muffin, and break it into lots of pieces. If you are like me and take out muffins to defrost them but forget about them let them get stale, you can use a stale muffins for this recipe as well. Put this broken up muffin into the bowl with the egg mixture. Let the egg get absorbed into the muffin pieces and once thoroughly coated, scoop the dredged muffin bits and put them in a greased ramekin, coffee mug, teacup, or any small single serving oven proof container.* If there is any leftover egg mixture you can pour it on top, but don't over do it. You will know what I mean.

Last, bake this for about 15 minutes, until it is cooked through (knife inserted will not be coated with eggy-ness), puffy, and golden brown. Top with whipped cream or ice cream or nothing and enjoy.

*One muffin might be too much for one ramekin (depending on the size of it) so if you are overflowing, you might need to make 2 mini bread puddings. But think about it this way--- it is still a single serving because it is only 1 muffin. Am I right or am I right? I'm right. Don't feel guilty eating a muffin's worth of bread pudding, that'd be silly and then we couldn't be friends.



Post Script: you can substitute the muffin with a slice or two of your favorite kind or bread.

Final Note: Having trouble loading photos (again) so you will have to wait to see the end result! My apologies!

Link Alert!

So, there are tons of more amazing food blogs and blogs that write about food than mine, and when I stumble upon a recipe that I find delicious looking or just written in a fun and interesting way, I like to share.

Here's a recipe to a Blueberry Crostata that I think you will all enjoy-- reading and making.

Spanish Tortilla My Way

OR Omelet with Sweet Potatoes, Red Pepper, Artichoke hearts & Farmer's Cheese

I saw a recipe for a Spanish Tortilla with fancy ingredients on Smitten Kitchen and thought I'd try my own version. "Tortilla" in spain is basically an omelet type dish that is chock full of potatoes. Mine has Sweet potatoes, roasted red peppers, artichoke hearts and farmer's cheese for good measure (was going to make pierogies and bailed so needed to use the soft creamy cheese in something else).

To make this, peel one sweet potato and cube (small cubes). In a pot of boiling water, parboil these potatoes so they are tender to the fork but not mushy. Then, throw them into a small, single serving frying/sautee pan with oil. Let them brown up so they are cooked through and season with salt and pepper. Then, add the artichoke hearts and roasted red peppers (these I got from the olives and antipasto bar at WholeFoods, but you could get them jarred). Stir those up so they are warm. Then, sprinkle the farmers cheese (or any cheese or choice or no cheese) over the top.

Whisk 1 egg and 1/2 cup of egg beaters/egg white. Season with salt and pepper. Pour egg mixture over potatoes. As it cooks, roll the pan and lift the sides so the uncooked egg flows underneath and then press down. You want this to be packed up pretty tight. Once it solidifies, flip the omelet over and press down some more. Keep flipping and pressing until you have a heavy egg and potato omelete. Invert the pan and slice into pie pieces. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve with a side of salad or top with a pepper and onion salsa.

"Flat Bread Pizzas"

Unfortunately for you, my camera didn't do the best job capturing these lovely pizza-type concoctions. However, I will still share the recipe here. The title is in quotes because if you are in the mood for ooey gooey cheesy pizza, this is not for you. But, if you are in the mood for a piece of flatbread topped with anything and everything, then get cooking.

At the place I currently work, there is a cafe, and they serve up individual flatbread pizzas daily. I adjusted this recipe by using store-bought lavash wraps (you can experiment with other unleavened bread of your choice) and whatever was in my fridge.

To start, take one lavash wrap and cut it in half so you have two long strips. In an oven pre-heated to 375 degrees (don't you hate when I tell you to pre-heat during the recipe. Ha ha.), bake the un-topped lavash for 5-10 minutes so they get brown and crisp (but not crispy).

Remove from oven and top with anything you like. For this recipe, I used tomatoes, corn, black beans, and cheddar jack cheese. Put the topped flat breads back in the oven and bake until cheese is melty and bubbly and brown on top.

Since I love avocados and this was definitely a very southwest dish... I topped my pizza with fresh avocado. Enjoy.

Thai-style Mango Curry

So.... I have been having computer memory issues that prevented me from blogging. Normally when that happens, I would use my work computer after hours to post and upload photos. My schedule these past few months was a little busy so I just never got around it. My apologies.

Moving on, I have become a vegetarian for the past few months and have some recipes to prove it. I am going to keep these short and simple so I can post them rapid fire while I have a second.

This first recipe is one of my favorite things to make. For starters, it is incredibly easy. Anyone can make this if you have the right ingredients and the ingrediants vary depending on what you like and what you don't like. For those of you who eat meat, you can easily add cooked chicken to this dish.

This is a Thai-style curry because it uses coconut milk and fresh veggies, however I used Indian Red Curry paste for the flavoring. When making curries, you can use curry powders or pastes. I prefer the ready-made paste you can buy in the international aisle of your grocery store. If you opt for the powder, you might need to put a few tablespoons extra in, as well as other spices. Play around with it.

The prep for this dish is really easy. Slice up onions and the red/yellow/orange peppers (your choice which colors you use). In a shallow saucepan or sautee pan, add some veggie oil and cook the onions. I like to leave the onions in big pieces for this dish, that way if your friends don't like onions they can pick them out. While the onions are cooking, cut up your mango (or if you are using frozen mango cubes, remove from freezer), and get the rest of your veggies ready to go (cut up broccoli, rinse snow or snap peas, half the cherry tomatoes).

Once the onions are starting to get translucent, add in the peppers and a tablespoon or two of the curry paste. Mix it all up so the curry paste is coating all of the peppers and onions and cooks. Add more curry paste if your veggies aren't coated. .

Then, pour in a 14oz can of coconut milk (lite coconut milk works fine, too). If you are going to add chicken, now would be the time to add cubed, browned chicken (it doesn't need to be fully cooked because it will cook up the rest of the way in the curry sauce) .

Let the coconut milk come to a boil and then add in the rest of your veggies and the mango (if frozen). If using fresh mango, wait a minute or two before adding it in. Let the veggies cook up so they are tender, but the green veggies should still be green. Serve over rice.