Posts from the ‘Non Sweets’ Category

May 17

Roasted Chickpeas

In the health/natural foods section of our local grocery store while we were in Sydney, there was a jar of roasted chickpeas that we liked to buy and snack on once in a while. I’ve seen a few recipes on how to make your own roasted chickpeas, so I decided to try it out for myself.

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I used garam masala and olive oil to coat the chickpeas. The jar of roasted chickpeas we bought at the store were really crunchy, like we were biting into a peanut. The ones I roasted myself were crunchy on the outside, but still a bit soft inside.

They were very nice though and make a great snack. My husband thought they tasted like chicken skin (that means that he liked them!)! Both of my chidren liked them as well, which was quite surprising.

Garam Masala Roasted Chickpeas

Ingredients
1 16-ounce can chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans)
1 tablespoon olive oil
1/2-1 tablespoon garam masala (totally depends your taste)

Method
Drain chickpeas and thoroughly rinse in a colander under cold water. Pat dry with paper towels and place into a bowl. Add olive oil and garam masala and toss to completely coat chickpeas.

Arrange chickpeas in a single layer on a baking sheet; bake at 350F for 35-50 minutes, depending on your desired level of crunchiness.

I’d like to note that these are best enjoyed on the same day as roasting; the chickpeas lose their crunchiness by the next day.

May 11

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Panko-Encrusted Tofu With Fried Rice

I went grocery shopping yesterday and had on my list the ingredients to make vegetarian sushi. I’m not a vegetarian, but since I am pregnant I want to avoid raw fish and also ready-made sushi due to the risk of listeria. So I set out to make my own. However, my store didn’t have nori (I know I’ve seen it there before!)! I kept all the fresh ingredients already in my cart anyway and decided to do something else with them.

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I made up this recipe completely on my own, and while it could probably use a few tweaks, I thought it was quite nice! What I came up with were tofu “fingers” (fingers, meaning that I cut the tofu into long slices) marinated in soy sauce, ginger and garlic, then coated in panko bread crumbs and baked in the oven. The fried rice is long grain white rice (of the instant variety!), garlic, onion, fried egg, carrots, peas, broccoli, cauliflower and green onion.

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I’ll go ahead and post the recipe, but I don’t have exact amounts. This is pretty much close to how I made it, though.

Panko-Encrusted Tofu With Fried Rice
Serves approximately 3

Ingredients

Tofu:
1/4 cup reduced-sodium soy sauce
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1 clove garlic, minced
7 ounces extra firm tofu, drained and cut into 6 fingers
1/2 cup panko bread crumbs

Fried Rice:
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1/2 medium onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 1/2 cups cooked rice
1/3 cup frozen peas and carrots (purchased in the same bag)
1/3 cup frozen chopped broccoli and cauliflower (purchased in the same bag)
1 scrambled egg
2 green onions, sliced
dash reduced-sodium soy sauce

Method
For marinade, mix soy sauce, ginger and garlic in a ziploc bag and gently toss in the tofu fingers to coat. Let sit in the bag in refrigerator at least 30 minutes.

Using a clean ziploc bag, pour in panko bread crumbs. Remove tofu fingers from marinade and gently toss them in the bread crumbs to evenly coat.

Place tofu fingers on a baking sheet and bake at 400F for 20 minutes or until crunchy and golden brown.

For fried rice, heat oil in a frying pan over medium heat; add onion. Cook until onion turns transparent. Add garlic and cook one minute longer.

Add cooked rice, scrambled egg, peas and carrots, and broccoli and cauliflower. Heat through – I think I cooked this about 10 minutes.

Pour in a tiny dash of soy sauce and stir to evenly distribute. Add green onions. Serve with tofu fingers.

And there you have, I believe, a nice very vegetarian dinner! :)

May 5

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Pizza With Mozzarella, Mushrooms & Spinach

I really like making my own pizzas because I can add as much or as little of any ingredient that I like. I really like mushrooms and cheese, so you’ll see a lot of those on any pizza that I make!

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I used a store-bought refrigerated pizza dough as the base for this pizza, and a simple tomato sauce. I sprinkled two minced cloves of garlic on top of the sauce and a sprinkling of dried thyme. Then, I added a good layer of shredded mozzarella cheese, chopped fresh baby spinach and sliced cremini mushrooms. On top of that I added a sprinkling of dried oregano and a little bit more cheese. I baked the pizza for 12 minutes at 400F.

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I don’t have exact measurements of each ingredient that I used, like I said, that’s the great thing about making pizzas – you don’t really need a recipe. My pizza was a little too herby because I went a little crazy with the oregano, but it’s a nice change from frozen store-bought pizzas. :)

May 4

Gingered Beef Stir-Fry

Over the weekend I received my first issue of Taste of Home magazine – the April/May 2009 issue. The first recipe I decided to try from this issue is the gingered beef stir-fry. I really love stir-fry dishes, especially if they include ginger. I’ve only recently became a fan of asparagus, so I was excited to try this particular recipe.

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It was quite quick and simple to prepare and tasted very nice. I used ground ginger instead of fresh ginger and did not notice much of a ginger taste; next time I’ll use fresh ginger. Also, I thought the two pounds of asparagus was a little excessive, so I just used one pound.

As far as stir-fry dishes go, this was an average one, but definitely well worth preparing.

Gingered Beef Stir-Fry
Adapted from April/May 2009 Taste of Home magazine
Makes: 4 servings

Ingredients
3 tablespoons reduced-sodium soy sauce, divided
1 tablespoon sherry
1/4 teaspoon minced fresh gingerroot or dash ground ginger
1/2 pound beef flank steak, cut into thin strips
1 teaspoon cornstarch
1/2 cup beef broth
1 1/2 teaspoons hoisin sauce
1/8 teaspoon sugar
2 tablespoons canola oil, divided
2 pounds fresh asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
1 garlic clove, minced
3 cups hot cooked rice

Method
In a large resealable plastic bag, combine 2 tablespoons soy sauce, sherry and ginger; add the beef. Seal bag and turn to coat; refrigerate for 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, combine the cornstarch, broth, hoisin sauce, sugar and remaining soy sauce until smooth; set aside.

In a large skillet or wok, stir-fry beef in 1 tablespoon oil until no longer pink. Remove and set aside. Stir-fry asparagus in remaining oil until crisp-tender. Add garlic; cook 1 minute longer.

Stir cornstarch mixture and add to the pan. Bring to a boil; cook and stir for 2 minutes or until thickened. Return beef to the pan; heat through. Serve with rice.

Apr 29

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Healthy Eating & Morel Mushrooms

My mom is staying a few days with me this week and is doing some cooking for me. That’s great because I’m not the best cook; I much prefer to bake! I just wanted to share the meal she made for me last night, and later in the post I’d like to share a photo of a bag full of morel mushrooms that my dad found in the woods behind his and mom’s house.

But first, last night’s dinner. My mom has turned to a diet of organic and healthy foods, so she decided to cook up some samples of what she’s been eating for me.

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We had organic sweet potato soup (swirled with cinnamon and dotted with mini marshmallows), steamed broccoli and cauliflower and a lightly seasoned salmon fillet. It was really yummy!

And now the morel mushrooms. As everyone knows, it’s morel season now and my dad found quite a few good-sized morels in the woods behind my parents’ house in the country.

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The one lying in the very front is approximately six inches long! While my mom has been here with me, my dad has been at home feasting on these morels!

Apr 21

Greek Pasta Bake

This is a recipe from The Taste Of Home cookbook that I received for winning December’s Iron Cupcake: Earth challenge. It’s called Greek Pasta Bake, and I was tempted into making it because 1) I like pasta bakes, and 2) it had a nice list of ingredients. The description also tempted me into making this:

“Lemon and herbs are complemented by the subtle taste of cinnamon in this pasta bake.”

While cooking on the stove, the meat sauce (the meat called for was a mix of beef and lamb, but my store only had beef, so I used all beef) for this recipe smelled fabulous. Interestingly, after adding the cinnamon to the sauce, it definitely took on a different scent and it filled the house with the pleasing aroma.

After taking the dish out of the oven, I thought perhaps that the baking time might have been a little too long, at least for my tastes, as the rigatoni pasta on top became hard and chewy, as well as the crumbled feta cheese.

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The taste of the finished product was just so-so. I could definitely taste a subtle hint of cinnamon, as the description noted. But I just wasn’t too pleased with the overall taste of the pasta bake and I will probably not be making this again.

Greek Pasta Bake
Adapted from The Taste Of Home Cookbook

Ingredients
1/2 pound ground beef
1/2 pound ground lamb
1 large onion, chopped
4 garlic cloves, minced
3 teaspoons dried oregano
1 teaspoon dried basil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1/4 teaspoon dried thyme
1 can (15 ounces) tomato sauce
1 can (14.5 ounces) diced tomatoes, undrained
1 tablespoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups uncooked rigatoni or large tube pasta
4 ounces feta cheese, crumbled

Method
In a large skillet, cook beef and lamb over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in onion, garlic, oregano, basil, salt, pepper and thyme; mix well. Add the tomato sauce, tomatoes and lemon juice.

Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; simmer, uncovered, for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Stir in the sugar and cinnamon. Simmer, uncovered, 15 minutes longer.

Meanwhile, cook the pasta according to package directions; drain. Stir into meat mixture. Transfer to a greased 2-quart baking dish. Sprinkle with feta cheese.

Cover and bake at 325F for 45 minutes. Uncover; bake 15 minutes longer or until heated through.

Apr 21

Pasta Salad

I really love pasta, and besides spaghetti, cold pasta salads are one of my favorite pasta dishes. I’ve recently found two cold pasta salad recipes on the back of Ronzoni Healthy Harvest boxes, one of which I altered slightly and posted at the Mixing Bowl recipe website.

I have to admit that these aren’t the best cold pasta salad recipes out there, but they’re quick, healthy (or at least a bit healthy) and make a great side dish or even a light meal.

The recipe I’m posting here uses whole wheat spiral pasta, roasted red peppers, fresh baby spinach, creamy Parmesan Romano dressing and grated Parmesan cheese.

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Actually, I have no real recipe for you, as this is such a simple recipe, you can really just throw in the amounts that suit your taste. I used about 1 cup of spiral pasta, 1 roasted red pepper (from a jar), a couple of small handfuls of fresh baby spinach and about 1 tablespoon of the creamy Parmesan Romano dressing (you could even creamy Caesar dressing). Toss those ingredients together to mix, and once on your plate, sprinkle with either fresh shredded Parmesan cheese or grated Parmesan cheese.

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I accidentally sprinkled a bit too much grated Parmesan cheese on my serving!, but it was still quite tasty. Both of these pasta salad recipes (the one from Mixing Bowl I posted, and this one I’m posting here) taste better very cold, so I recommend refrigerating the pasta salads for at least one hour before eating.

Apr 3

3 Comments

Chili Spaghetti

For years, the only way I knew how to eat spaghetti was with a tomato-based sauce. Spaghetti is one of my favorite foods, and when I realized that it didn’t have to have that tomato-based sauce, I was ready to branch out and try new things with my spaghetti.

I haven’t made this recipe for a while, but when I saw the picture I took of it way back when in my Flickr photo set I was reminded of how much I enjoyed this particular spaghetti.

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This is chili spaghetti and the recipe comes from a Jamie Oliver cookbook. I no longer have the book (it’s stored away with my other possessions in Sydney for now), but I think it was the book titled Jamie’s Kitchen.

Chili Spaghetti
Adapted from Jamie Oliver

Ingredients
1 pound dried spaghetti
1 large clove of garlic, finely chopped
olive oil
1-2 fresh red chilies, seeded and finely chopped
1 good handful of flat-leaf parsley, finely chopped (I toss in the leaves whole, for that rustic appearance)
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Preparation
While cooking the spaghetti in salted boiling water until al dente, fry the garlic in a couple of good glugs of olive oil until softened. Add the chilies, drained pasta and parsley. Toss to coat, season and serve.

Just a reminder on the chilies – try to wear rubber gloves if possible while chopping chilies, and if not possible, then wash your hands thoroughly immediately after chopping (i.e., do not touch your eyes or other parts of your skin). Also, if you’re looking for more mild chilies, choose larger ones; if you want a hotter chili, choose smaller ones.

Mar 31

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Spaghetti & Meatballs

This isn’t the most exciting recipe you’ll find here at The Sweetest Kitchen, but I do like to blog about the yummy stuff I’ve made in the kitchen. Spaghetti is just one of my many favorite dinners, but I usually just cook spaghetti and throw a jarred sauce onto it, sometimes with grated parmesan cheese. I haven’t had spaghetti and meatballs in years, and decided that this is what I’d do with the pound of frozen ground beef in the freezer.

I just used what I had on hand, it was a totally made up recipe! And I still used a jarred sauce!

Meatballs
Adapted from myself
Makes 2 dozen meatballs, depending on how big you roll them

Ingredients
1 pound ground beef
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 cup fresh basil, chopped
2 tablespoons Italian breadcrumbs
1 egg

Method
Preheat oven to 400 F.

Mix all ingredients in a bowl until well combined, hands are usually best to mix this. Roll into 1-1 1/2 inch balls and place on a baking/cookie sheet. Bake at 400 F for 15 minutes. Serve with freshly cooked spaghetti and your favorite spaghetti sauce.

There are better meatball recipes out there, but mine tasted just fine and I’m looking forward to the leftovers for dinner tonight!

Mar 28

Indian Butter Chicken

Having came from and grown up for the first 20 years of my life in a small country town, I was totally oblivious to all the different foods that are out there, namely foods from different countries. When I moved to Sydney in 2001 I was overwhelmed with the variety of food choices and fell in love with so many different ethnic foods. One of my favorites is Indian butter chicken.

I’ve had a craving for butter chicken for the past week and since there are no Indian restaurants nearby in this suburb of Indianapolis that I’m now in, I had to make it myself. I searched for a recipe and found on that had received heaps of great reviews and had a 5-star rating on FoodNetwork.com.

While it isn’t the best recreation of my favorite butter chicken from the restaurant in Sydney that I used to visit, this is a fantastic Indian dish. Despite the long ingredient list, it actually is quite easy to prepare, as well. I was very pleased with my version of butter chicken, and I will definitely be making this again.

My notes:

Now, I say “my version” because I realized that garam masala isn’t the easiest spice to find in the grocery store. After a big search of the aisles, I ended up using curry powder instead of garam masala. So technically, perhaps you could call this a red curry rather than butter chicken!?

I also used fresh garlic instead of preminced garlic from a jar; I minced two fresh garlic cloves.

I bought a fresh already-made rotisserie chicken from the deli in our grocery store, so I didn’t even have to worry about cooking my own chicken. I tore the whole chicken into shreds and added it to the sauce.

The recipe says it serves 4, but the servings they are talking about must be huge – this recipe made heaps of butter chicken. I think we’ll be eating it for the next three dinners!

Mar 27

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Portobello Mushroom Burgers & Baked Onion Rings

Our dinner last night was exceptionally tasty. I just have to blog about it! The pictures were taken in late evening natual light so they’re not that great, but it’s better than what our artificial kitchen lighting would have been.

Anyway, these two recipes are ones that I have recently found on Land O’ Lakes recipe index and TasteSpotting.com. Grilled portobello mushroom burgers and oven-baked onion rings.

The recipe for grilled portobello mushrooms is posted here (they spelled portobello as “portabella”, but I’m pretty sure I’ve spelled the correct way?). The mushrooms are coated with melted butter, chopped garlic and chopped fresh basil, then grilled. They are then accompanied by romaine lettuce and a sliced tomato on a whole wheat bun. The recipe also called for onion slices, but I forgot about them!

We don’t have a real grill, so I used our little George Foreman grill that my cousin gave us for Christmas in 2006.

This is a delicious, meaty and juicy alternative to hamburger. We’re not vegetarians here, but this mushroom burger is good enough to make us turn into vegetarians!

Next on the menu, oven-baked onion rings, which I originally found on TasteSpotting.com; the recipe is posted here, at Le Petit Pierogi. The neat thing about these onion rings is that they are baked, not fried. Their coating of panko bread crumbs ensures that you’ll get a nice crunch from these onion rings.

They weren’t exceptional, but I loved that they were homemade and oven-baked, and they were a nice pairing for the mushroom burgers.