Stuffed Roasted Red Peppers

I’ve always been a fan of stuffed peppers. When I decide to make them, I always try and think of something complimentary to serve them with – For some reason, it seems the stuffed pepper won’t be enough for a meal. Let me tell you, these peppers are stuffed to the brim with hearty and healthy goodness that really need nothing else. You’ve got protein, grain, and vegetables all encased on one beautiful cherry-colored vessel. Oh and the best part? The vessel is edible too!

I really love the seasoning and flavors in this recipe. The cumin and cinnamon, tomatoes and golden raisins all work really well together. You will probably have quite a bit of stuffing leftover, so I would suggest using it to make empanada’s, arancini, or just freezing it to use the next time you make stuffed peppers.

Stuffed Bell Peppers

Recipe from Disney Family.com

Ingredients

• 6 medium-sized bell peppers any color you prefer
• 2 tablespoon olive oil plus more for drizzling
• 1 large yellow onion diced
• 3 clove garlic minced
• 1 1/4 pound ground turkey
• 2 cup cooked brown rice
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon kosher or sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
• 1 14 ounce can Italian stewed tomatoes chopped
• 1/2 cup golden raisins

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the garlic and onion and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, 5 minutes. While the onions are cooking, wash the bell peppers and slice off a bit of the bottom so they sit flat, taking care not to cut into the interior. Cut off the tops about one half inch down from the stem and carefully remove the seeds and white membrane. Set aside.

Add the turkey to the pan and break apart with a spatula. When fully cooked through, add cooked rice, cumin, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Stir well to combine. Add the canned tomatoes and the raisins and stir well. Remove from heat.

Place the peppers in a 9 x 13 inch baking dish and stuff with the meat mixture, mounding slightly. Drizzle tops and sides of each pepper with olive oil. Return the peppers’ tops and cover tightly with foil.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until peppers are tender.

Enjoy! 

Sweet Potato Fries

I’m going to go ahead declare this the easiest recipe in the whole wide world. This ‘recipe’ will serve 2 people and it only takes 1 potato!

Here a few tricks though to ensure you get great crispy fries:

1. Cut the potato as thin as you can. Slightly thicker slices are good for soft fries though, so I like to vary my slices.

2. Use parchment paper when baking your fries, otherwise the brown sugar will stick to the pan and you won’t be able to flip the fries to ensure well-rounded crispness.

2. After your oven pre-heats to 450°, allow it stay at that temperature for about 10 minutes before putting the fries in.

Baked Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients

• 1 sweet potato
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 1 tbsp brown sugar, or to taste
• 1/2 tsp paprika, or to taste
• Salt and pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 450° and allow to remain at that heat for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, slice your sweet potato into thin slices – all about the same size to ensure even baking.

Gather your slices into a bowl and toss with olive oil, brown sugar, paprika, salt and pepper. Lay them out on a parchment lined cookie sheet and bake at 450° for 20 minutes. Remove pan from oven, flip fries and return to oven until desired crispiness is achieved. Only 5-10 minutes more for me.

Enjoy your fries with any dipping sauce you prefer. I preferred no such sauce for mine. They’re perfectly sweet, salty, and crispy as is.

Greatest Cooking Tips!

Food Network compiled a list of 100 of the best cooking tips from some of the best chefs, restaurant owners and food experts in the world!

Here are my top 25 favorites from that list:

1. Store spices in a cool, dark place, not above your stove. Humidity, light and heat will cause herbs and spices to lose their flavor. - Rick Tramonto Tramonto’s Steak & Seafood, Osteria di Tramonto and RT Lounge, Wheeling, IL

2. For rich, creamy dressings made healthy, substitute half the mayo with Greek-style yogurt. - Ellie Krieger Healthy Appetite with Ellie Krieger

3. When chopping herbs, toss a little salt onto the cutting board; it will keep the herbs from flying around. - Joanne Chang Flour Bakery & Cafe, Boston

4. If you keep it simple and buy ingredients at farmers’ markets, the food can pretty much take care of itself. Do as little as possible to the food; consider leaving out an ingredient and relying on instinct. - Tony Mantuano Spiaggia, Chicago

5. Homemade vinaigrettes have fewer ingredients and taste better than bottled ones. No need to whisk them: Just put all the ingredients in a sealed container and shake. - Bill Telepan Telepan, New York City

6. For best results when you’re baking, leave butter and eggs at room temperature overnight. - Ina Garten Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics

7. Take the time to actually read recipes through before you begin. - John Besh Author of My New Orleans

8. Recipes are only a guideline, not the Bible. Feel comfortable replacing ingredients with similar ingredients that you like. If you like oregano but not thyme, use oregano. - Alex Seidel Fruition, Denver

9. Invest in a bottle of high-quality olive oil. Just a small drizzle can really bring out the flavor of pizza, mozzarella, pasta, fish and meat. - Nancy Silverton Osteria Mozza, Los Angeles

10. Rest, rest, rest! Always let your meat rest — especially off a hot grill! - Melissa d’Arabian Ten Dollar Dinners

11. Plunge vegetables in ice water after blanching (boiling) them so they maintain a bright color. - Maria Hines Tilth, Seattle

12. My grandfather taught me this tip: After you drain pasta, while it’s still hot, grate some fresh Parmesan on top before tossing it with your sauce. This way, the sauce has something to stick to. - Giada De Laurentiis Giada at Home

13. Fresh basil keeps much better and longer at room temperature with the stems in water. - Elisabeth Prueitt Tartine Bakery, San Francisco

14. To cook a steak, I always start by cooking it on its side, where there is a rim of fat on its narrow edge. I render it down so there’s good, flavorful fat in the pan for the rest of the cooking. - Alain Ducasse Adour and Benoit, New York City

15. Don’t go to the store with a shopping list. Go to the store, see what ingredients look good and then make your list. - Alex Guarnaschelli Alex’s Day Off

16. To optimize the juice you get from a lemon or lime, roll it hard under your palm for a minute before juicing. (Or — never say I told you this — microwave it for 10 to 15 seconds.) - Patricia Yeo Lucky Duck, Boston

17. Clean as you go. (Dorky, but I swear it really helps.) - Rick Bayless Frontera Grill, XOCO and Topolobampo, Chicago

18. Shoes off, music on, favorite beverage in hand — enjoy your time in the kitchen. - Claire Robinson 5 Ingredient Fix

19. Keep flavored vinegars near the stove so you won’t always reach for the salt. Acid enhances flavor. - Art Smith Table Fifty-Two, Chicago; Art and Soul, Washington, D.C.

20. Prolong the lifespan of greens by wrapping them loosely in a damp paper towel and placing in a resealable plastic bag. That local arugula will last about four days longer. - Hugh Acheson Five & Ten, Athens, GA

21. Cook more often. Don’t study; just cook. - Masaharu Morimoto Iron Chef America

22. Whenever you cook pasta, remove some of the pasta-cooking water (about 1/4 or 1/3 cup) just before draining. When you add the sauce of your choice to the pasta, add a little of the cooking liquid. This helps sauce to amalgamate; the starch in the water adds body and a kind of creaminess. An old Italian friend of mine instructed me in this finishing touch early on, and I would never, ever leave it out. It makes all the difference. - Nigella Lawson Nigella Kitchen

23. When baking cookies, be sure your dough is thoroughly chilled when it goes on your baking pan. This will allow the leavening ingredients to work before the butter flattens out and your cookies lose their textural distinctions. - Norman Van Aken Norman’s, Orlando, FL

24. Season all of your food from start to finish. Seasoning in stages brings the most out of your ingredients and gives you the most flavor. - Jose Garces Iron Chef America

25. Taste as you go! - Anne Burrell Secrets of a Restaurant Chef 

Meringues with Sweet Strawberries

This is an Ina recipe, and that means, you really can’t go wrong. How easy is that?

Light, sweet, and fruity – this dessert is sensational and really perfect with Spring’s fresh fruit. I used only strawberries, which I macerated with sugar and lemon for an hour or so before serving, but I would suggest doing Ina’s full out method I outlined below which will give you some gorgeously roasted berries to top your baked meringues with.

Also, this is sort of nit-picky, but Ina’s original recipe is called ‘Meringue Chantilly’, but from what I understand, chantilly is a dessert which includes sweetened whipped cream, and this does not (although that would be a great addition). This is why I left the word out of my recipe below. I’d love to be contradicted though if I’m wrong, so please let me know!

Enjoy!

Meringues with Sweet Strawberries

Recipe adapted from The Barefoot Contessa 

Ingredients 

• 4 extra – large egg whites, at room temperature
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• Pinch kosher salt
• 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• Roasted Berries, recipe follows

Directions

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Using a small glass and a pencil, draw 4 (3 1/2-inch) circles on each piece of paper. Turn the paper face down on the baking sheets.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat the egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt on high speed until frothy.

Add 2/3 cup of the sugar and continue beating on high speed until the egg whites form very stiff peaks. Whisk in the vanilla. Carefully fold the remaining 1/3 cup sugar into the meringue. With a large star – shaped pastry tip, pipe a disk of meringue inside each circle. Pipe another layer around the edge to form the sides of the shells.

Bake for 2 hours, or until the meringues are dry and crisp but not browned. Turn off the heat and allow the meringues to sit in the oven for 4 hours or overnight.

For serving, place each meringue on a separate plate and top the shell with berries.

Roasted Berries:

• 1 pint fresh strawberries
• 2 half-pints fresh raspberries
• 2 half-pints fresh blueberries
• 2 half-pints fresh blackberries
• 1/4 cup sugar
• Vanilla bean, split and seeds removed

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Place the strawberries, raspberries, blueberries and blackberries on a sheet pan and toss with the sugar and vanilla bean seeds. Roast in the oven for 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature before serving.

Spiced Carrot Bread (Guilt-Free!)

The recipe I adapted this bread from was originally meant to be a cake. Let me give you a little back story to tell you why I changed it…

I went to the gym yesterday (yay #1!) and discovered from a personal trainer assessment that my BMI and muscle weight is actually pretty good. (yay #2!) This really encouraged and motivated me to lose those last pounds that have been driving me crazy for awhile now. So while I really and truly CANNOT tame my passion to bake, I CAN lighten everything up and give away to co-workers and friends what I don’t need to help meet my goal.

This cake-turned-bread was actually pretty guilt-free to begin with, but with the couple of tweaks I made, it turned into something really pretty healthy. I eliminated about 1/2 the sugar, swapped out the vegetable oil for applesauce, and added more shredded carrot. This made the cake heartier and more savory, prompting me to now call it a bread!

Spiced Carrot Bread

Recipe adapted from Martha Stewart

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
• 1 cup whole-wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cardamom
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 large eggs
• Scant 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• Scant 1/4 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1/3 cup low-fat plain yogurt
• 1 – 1 1/2 (your preference) cups finely shredded carrots, packed (about 2 medium)
• Cinnamon glaze*, or confectioners’ sugar

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a bread pan or 8-inch square pan with nonstick spray. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking soda, cardamom, cinnamon, and salt; set aside.

In a small bowl, whisk eggs, sugars, yogurt, and applesauce until smooth. Gently mix egg mixture into dry ingredients until moistened; mix in carrots.

Transfer batter to prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes (if browning too quickly, tent cake with aluminum foil).

Cool in pan, 15 minutes. Turn out of pan onto a rack and cool completely, right side up. Apply glaze, or dust with confectioners’ sugar.

Don’t do what I did and pour the glaze on after it’s cool. Pour it on – using a cookie sheet under the rack to catch any drips – while it’s still hot. That way you’ll have a consistent glaze over the whole thing.

*Cinnamon Glaze

• 1/2 powder sugar
• 2 tsp. water
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon

Whisk all ingredients together and pour over cake while still warm.

WARNING: Jalapeños Will Burn You!

I had to post about this traumatic experience of mine to try and warn others about the potential dangers of messing with jalapeños!

Yesterday I decided that I wanted a grilled cheese sandwich in the coming days. But not just any grilled cheese sandwich. A jalapeño popper grilled cheese sandwich. Sounds good doesn’t it? Not only that, but I had a few leftover peppers from taco’s last weekend that I didn’t want to go to waste. Darn you Trader Joe’s for only selling jalapeños in a box of 10!

To make a sandwich like this, you don’t just use raw peppers, so I broiled mine until they were blackened and then let them chill out in a zipped up baggie until they were cool enough to handle. I think this is where I went wrong.

I was supposed to slice each pepper in half and remove the seeds BEFORE it went into the oven, because once it came out, the inside was extra juicy and the seeds were harder to remove. There was a lot of jalapeño juice on my hands while I was removing the skins and seeds from these peppers. I finished all of that, placed the peppers in a bag, and that was that. Until an hour later…

I started noticing my hands, specifically the ends of my fingers had a slight burning sensation and it seemed to be increasing. The burning continued to get worse, until it got to the point where it was practically unbearable. My fingers literally felt as if they were on FIRE. With my burning fire fingers, I managed to type my problem into Google and came across a forum on Chowhound with remedy suggestions. I tried almost all of them – sour cream, yogurt, lime juice, aloe vera, cold water, hot water. All of them helped at the moment of contact, but relief did not last. Some burn relief spray with aloe vera and Lidocaine that I got from CVS seemed to help a little. But I had to reapply every 5 minutes, despite the 3-4 times daily label instructions.

This lasted for about 5 hours, until I finally took some Tylenol which allowed me to fall asleep. The burning was too intense to even sleep with, but the medicine helped. Or maybe I just passed out from the pain, I can’t remember. Luckily, when I woke up in the morning, nothing was left of the pain save for a little soreness in my fingers. What a crazy night.

I have handled peppers before and never had a reaction like this. My suggestion to myself and others, is to please WEAR GLOVES!

Crispy Potato Rosettes

I discovered my new favorite way to cook potatoes, and surprisingly enough, it utilizes a muffin tray!

The recipe is super simple and unbelievably delicious. The potato rosettes come out crispy on top and around the edges, and soft and buttery in the middle. My favorite part though, is the last slice at the bottom. It soaks up all the butter and olive oil and is just sinfully decadent. Think of the bottom of a piece of baklava – super saturated in honey and butter. That’s what it’s like, only, in potato form.

Crispy Potato Rosebuds

Recipe adapted from Souvlaki for the Soul 

Ingredients:

• 3 medium russet potatoes (any will do though), scrubbed and peeled
• Scant 1/4 cup olive oil
• Salt, pepper, and garlic powder to taste
• 4 tablespoons butter

Preparation:

Thinly slice potatoes, or if you’re fancy, use a mandoline for even and very thin slices. Toss potato slices in olive oil and sprinkle with salt, pepper, garlic, powder, and any other spice you might be using.

Stack potatoes into muffin tin holes until you reach the top. Try to make a neat stack so you can fit pretty many, also being sure to slide some around the sides (those will get extra crispy!). They top each stack with a little knob of butter.

Place muffin tin in a 350° oven and cook for 45-50 minutes. Potatoes will be finished when they are brown on top and have shrunken slightly. Allow them to rest a few minutes, then remove from tin carefully and enjoy.

You will LOVE to make potatoes this way I promise. It’s sort of similar to Scalloped Potatoes, except half the work and no heavy cream. I also am fond of individual potato servings, because you get crispy pieces in every stack. On the YUM meter, this is about a 9.

Restaurant Review – Maggie’s Dream Cafe

Anything with the name Maggie HAS to be good. That is a fact.

I happened upon Maggie’s Dream Cafe, located in Queens, last weekend. Not expecting much from the look of its surrounding venues (a laundromat and liquor store), I strolled in for lunch because I felt it my due diligence. We Maggie’s have to stick together.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that this place is really a diamond in the rough! Their decorations weren’t as dreamy as the shop seems to lead on (though the 3-D butterfly napkin holders were kind of cute), but the food was really quite good.

This cafe is family owned and casual, serving Mediterranean and Bulgarian style dishes, primarily: gyro’s, panini’s, wraps, and salads. They also have some enticing sounding cakes, crepes, and other desserts, although (SPOILER ALERT) I didn’t order one this visit. Everything is made fresh daily and you can really tell.

The boyf ordered the Chicken Kebab with Fries and Pita Bread.

Holy cannoli were those fries AMAZING! Those white shreds you see on top are bulgarian feta cheese – much creamier and tangier and richer than the feta I’m used to. It was really the shining star of the plate in my book. Also, that ketchup-looking sauce on the side is actually ‘lutenitza’ sauce, which is made with sweet peppers and tomatoes. Overall, everything on this plate was really good.

I ordered The Grilled Chicken Gyro.

The chicken was thinly sliced and very flavorful, the pita was slightly sweet, and the yogurt sauce it came with was on point. I was very satisfied with my plate, though I did steal more than a few fries off the boyf’s too…

In addition to the great fare, the wait staff at Maggie’s is also very prompt and friendly. I was also pleased to see that the actual cafe was very clean and maintained well. I’d go back to Maggie’s Dream Cafe in a heartbeat.

Monday Night Antipasto Platter

Yesterday in NYC the weather was gorgeous. You could really feel Spring in the air! I wanted to remix my Monday night a bit to match my good feelings from the day, so I put together a fun platter with a bunch of my favorites for dinner.

I’m the type of person who likes to try all sorts of things at a meal, not just one big item. So an antipasto style platter like this is just perfect for me to nibble around at. I know the boyf enjoyed it too, seeing as the platter was practically licked clean by the end!

On the platter: Kalamata olives, grapes, spanakopita, an assortment of cheeses, fried ham, and garlic-butter crostini topped with sea salt. And yes, that is Trader Joe’s $2.99 house wine in the back. Good eye.

This was absolutely divine and just what I wanted. Paired with my TJ’s wine, I was in heaven.

I would suggest putting together a platter like this with YOUR favorites, for a fun and out-of-the-box meal. It’s also great as an appetizer platter when entertaining, which is really what it’s meant for. ‘Antipasto’ literally means ‘before the meal’ in Italian.

Traditionally, antipasto platters consisted of: olives, cured meats, cheese, artichoke hearts, marinated peppers, etc., but I’m a strong proponent of taking what’s great about a traditional dish and kicking it up a notch with modern touches. Whether those touches be vegetables and fruit, deviled eggs and nuts, breadsticks and anchovies… use what you love and make it your own. You’ll be proud of the food you’re putting forth and it will be that much more enjoyable!

Buttermilk Cheddar and Thyme Biscuits… Without the Buttermilk!

There isn’t much that can take the place of a warm, flaky biscuit – especially when you’ve been dreaming about one for going on 2 weeks now. Yes, that’s right, I daydream in food.

I used a trusty Ina Garten recipe (all of hers are), but halved it so I wouldn’t have a major surplus (ahem, or scarf 1/2 a dozen at once). If you’d like the full recipe which makes 8 biscuits, click on the ‘recipe’ link below. I didn’t have buttermilk on-hand for this recipe, and wasn’t about to run out to the store for one of those giant cartons (why is it that you can only find buttermilk in huge portions?) for the 1/4 cup’s worth I needed for this, so I subbed out yogurt and a splash of milk. It worked swimmingly!

Buttermilk Cheddar and Thyme Biscuits

Recipe adapted from The Barefoot Contessa

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole-wheat flour, plus more as needed
• 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, diced
• 1/4 cup cold buttermilk, shaken (I used yogurt and a splash of milk and it worked great)
• 1 cold extra-large egg
• 1/2 cup grated extra-sharp Cheddar
• 1 tablespoon fresh Thyme, chopped
• 1 egg, beaten with 1 tablespoon water or milk
• Maldon sea salt, optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Place 1 cup of flour, the baking powder, and salt in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. With the mixer on low, add the butter and mix until the butter is the size of peas.

I think I’ve mentioned before that I don’t yet have a mixer, so using your (clean!) hands as a kitchen tool is just fine. Just combine the cold butter with the flour mix until everything is slightly moistened and the mixture appears homogeneous. TIP: I would suggest popping this mixture into the fridge while you’re combining your egg mix and chopping your thyme and cheddar, because cold butter is extremely important in creating flaky biscuits, or really any recipe that you want to come out flaky!

Combine the buttermilk (or yogurt) and egg in a small measuring cup and beat lightly with a fork. With the mixer still on low (or your hands at the ready), quickly add the buttermilk mixture to the flour mixture and mix only until moistened. Add the cheese and thyme to the dough. Mix only until roughly combined.

Dump out onto a well-floured board and knead lightly about 6 times. Roll the dough out to a rectangle 10 by 5 inches. With a sharp, floured knife, cut the dough lengthwise in half and then half again going the other way, making 4 rounded biscuits (sort of scone-looking).

Can you see the cheddar and thyme and bits of cold butter peeking through the dough? How beautiful

Transfer to a lightly greased sheet pan or one lined with parchment paper. Brush the tops with the egg wash, sprinkle with salt, if using. I didn’t want to waste a whole egg for about a tablespoon of wash, so I just used milk.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until the tops are browned and the biscuits are cooked through. Serve hot or warm.

These biscuits are beautiful to look at, with their cheddar and thyme peeking through, and incredibly flaky and delicious. They are great on their own, or with little additions like honey or jam. Don’t be afraid to try mixing savory and sweet – I ate these cheddar biscuits with strawberry jam and while it might sound crazy, they worked really well together! OR…

If you’re feeling like really kicking it up a notch, slice a biscuit in half and throw on some beef bacon and hot sauce or salsa verde. Unreal.

Enjoy!

-M-