BBQ Baked Tofu

 

As soon as the weather gets even remotely warm in Ohio, everybody puts on shorts and flip flops and fires up the grill. As the smell of barbeque wafted down the street, I found myself thinking about making some barbeque tofu. While grilling tofu is not advised, you can most certainly bake it. This recipe is quick, easy, and is great by itself or in a sandwich.

What you need:

One block of extra firm tofu, pressed and drained

¾ Barbeque sauce. KC Masterpiece is fabulous but whatever trips your trigger is fine.

½ small onion, sliced

1 tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

1 tbs olive oil

 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (f). Slice tofu into whatever shape is most convenient to your needs. The foodiecall kitchen cut the tofu into neat little squares, most conducive to sandwich making.

 

Line a Pyrex pan with foil (trust me you want to do this. Saves tons of time in clean up). Lightly oil the bottom with 1 tbs olive oil.

 

Place tofu in pan and pour sauce over the top. Toss the tofu a few times to coat evenly.  Lay sliced onions on top and sprinkle salt and pepper on top.

Bake uncovered for 45 minutes or until done.

Honey Balsamic Chicken

            I don’t eat chicken. In fact, I don’t eat meat at all. That’s probably the reason that the majority of the recipes on here are vegan and vegetarian. However, I am asbolutly in love with chicken based entirely on the fact that it is such a blank canvas. Much like tofu is to vegans, you can pretty much flavor chicken anyway you want.

            Needless to say, I live with a bunch of carnivores and, as much as they like my “rabbit food”, they occasionally want something…..meatier. Here’s a honey balsamic chicken recipe which I’m told is delicious. You don’t have to serve it with the “smashed” potatoes and onions but I’ve always thought potatoes go pretty well with chicken.

 

For the Maraniade:

2/3 cup balsamic vinegar

4 tbs olive oil

¼ cup honey

1 tsp sea salt

a couple cranks of black pepper.

Whisk together and pour over three boneless skinless chicken breasts in a pyrex dish. Cover with saran wrap and place in fridge for about 1 hour, flipping over at the half way point.

Then:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees (f)

Whisk together 1 ½ cup chicken stock, ¼ cup Balsamic Vinagar, 5 tbs honey, and set aside. After your chicken is done marinating, Place chicken in a roasting pan with a rack. If you don’t have a fancy roasting pan with a rack, like me, you just place a cooling rack over the pyrex dish and lay the chicken on top. Pour the marinade over the top as well as the stock mixture.

When your chicken is, as Emeril would say, “happy”, make a little aluminum foil tent over the top of the pan.

 

Let bake for 25 minutes and then flip and baste. Bake for another 25 minutes. I would recommend checking for doneness since your chicken make take more or less time.

 

Serve immediately with smashed potatoes.

Smashed Potatoes and Onions:

5 tbs olive oil

3 to 4 baking potatoes, boiled

½ medium onion

1 tsp sea salt

½ tsp cracked black pepper

In a large skillett, heat oil and add onions. Let brown and add potatoes and seasoning. Smash with fork or potato masher and lightly brown. Serve immediately.

Cheddar Beer Bread

I once had a magnet that said something to the effect of “I love cooking with wine. Sometimes I even add it to the food”. I feel like everything tastes better with a splash of red wine. In lieu of my normal wine, I had a hankering for a beer yesterday and set my sights on Cheddar Beer bread. The process is enhanced by the consumption of the remaining beer.

There are an awful lot of beers out there that you can use in this bread. Being a Cleveland girl, it was almost a given that I would use something from Great Lakes Brewing Company. My favorite is the Dortmunder Gold.

Ingredients:

3 Cups all purpose flour

1 Tbs baking powder

1 tsp salt

2 tbs sugar

¾ tsp dried thyme

2 garlic cloves, minced

2 ¼ cups grated cheddar cheese

12oz Beer (1 bottle).

Mix all ingredients together, mixing in beer last. Batter should be the consistency of bisquick.

Spoon into a well greased bread pan and bake at 350 degrees (f) for about 50 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.

Ideally, you should let it cool for at least 25 minutes before you slice it. But I think everybody knows that it fairly unlikely you will.

 

Ina Gartens Sticky Buns

            I love Ina Garten. I’ve have watched her show since it’s inception and I have all the books. Ina Garten is fantastic. When her Back to Basics came out I was beyond excited. This recipe is the first I have made from the book and I think it is wonderful.

Ingredients:

1 ½ sticks unsalted butter at room temp.

1/3 Cup light brown sugar

½ cup pecans

1 Package frozen puff pastry. 2 sheets

 Filling:

2 tbs unsalted butter

2/3 cup light brown sugar

3 tsp ground cinnamon

1 cup raisins

 Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place 12 cup muffin pan on a parchment lined cookie sheet

Beat with mixer 1 ½ sticks butter and brown sugar. Put about 1 tablespoon of mixture in bottom of muffin tins. Sprinkle on pecans.

On a floured counter top or board unfold puff pastry and brush with about half of the melted butter. Sprinkle half of sugar, cinnamon, and raisin mixture on puff pastery, leaving about 1 inch around the edges.

 

Roll the pastry tightly as though you were making a jellyroll. Trim ends and cut roll into six even pieces.

Place pieces into muffin tin as illustrated. Repeat process with second sheet of puff pastry.

Ina says to bake for 30 minutes but my buns took about 25. Cool buns for 5 minutes and then flip into parchment. The best way to do this is to flip onto the parchment paper and sort of hold the inverted muffin tin in place until all the sticky goodness comes out of the bottom and drips onto the rolls.

 

It’s important to let the rolls cool for about 20 minutes or so to prevent a burnt tongue as I did since I have no self control when it comes to things like this.

Easy Stuffed Shells with Roasted Garlic Marinara

One of the best things about cooking is that there is so much you can prepare ahead of time without cooking the entire meal. This is one of those meals. You can roast the garlic and make the marinara a few days before hand. Stuffing the shells is a whole bunch of fun and little kids (and lets admit it- adults too) get a big kick out of it. This recipe makes about 14 shells- about enough for 3 people.

 

Marinara Sauce:

2 tbs olive oil

Half of a large white onion- chopped

1 Stalk of celery

1 6oz Can of Tomato paste

1 Cup vegetable broth

1 15 oz can of crushed tomatoes or puree

7 oz or diced tomatoes

8 or 9 cloves of roasted garlic, crushed

½ tsp Thyme

½ tsp oregano

½ tsp pepper

1 tsp sea salt

 

Sauté onion and celery in olive oil until soft. Add tomato paste and vegetable broth and cook for about 4 to 5 minutes. Add crushed tomatoes and diced tomatoes and cook for another 5 minutes or so. Add roasted garlic and herbs. Take off heat and let cool.

 

Cook your shells per package instructions. You want them to be ‘almost’ cooked. Don’t cook all the way- not even al dente. They will finish cooking in the oven with the marinara sauce.

 

For the filling:

¾ cup ricotta cheese

½ shredded Parmesan cheese

1 cup mozzarella cheese

1 egg

1 tbs olive oil

1 tsp salt

1 tsp pepper

½ tsp garlic powder

plus any other seasonings you’d like (thyme, oregano, basil, ect)

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Pour enough marinara sauce to cover the bottom of a Pyrex dish.

 

Stuff shells with about 2 tbs cheese mixture and place in dish with marinara. Pour remaining marinara over the shells and sprinkle with cheese and/ or any left over stuffing you have.

 

 

Cover dish with foil and bake for 20 minutes or so. Remove foil and bake for 15 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool for five of ten minutes before serving.

Roasting Garlic:

Roasting Garlic is a piece of cake. What you need to do first is preheat your oven to about 375. Then peel your garlic. You can do this yourself or you can generally purchase peeled garlic at the grocery store but it will be more expensive than doing it yourself. Regardless, after you peel the garlic put it in some foil and toss with a little olive oil and a little salt. It generally takes about 15 to 20 minutes to get the garlic nice and soft. You should be able to smoosh it with a fork. Use can use it right away or you can store it in a tupperware container or solo cup ( steal one from a salad bar or something) for up to a week.

Spinach and Feta Frittata

Making frittata has never come easy for me. Anytime I’ve tried, it has come out either burnt or runny. I could never find a happy medium. This morning however, I woke up with an out of character (for me at least) desire to make a badass frittata. So out I went, without a plan, in the snow and yuck to Cleveland’s famed Westside Market. It was in the parking lot that it hit me: Spinach and feta.

 

Ingredients:

8 to 10 medium eggs (depending on the size of your skillet)

¾ cup of whole milk or half and half

2 ½ cups fresh chopped spinach

½ cup diced red onions (more or less to taste)

1 clove garlic, minced

2/3 cup crumbled feta cheese.

4 tbs butter

2 tsp sea salt

½ tsp ground black pepper

 

Preheat your over to 350 degrees (f). In a large bowl whisk eggs and milk together. Set aside for the moment.

 

Sauté spinach, onions, and garlic in skillet with about 1 ½ tbs of butter. Set aside.

 

In an oven safe cast iron skillet melt remaining butter over medium-low heat. Add egg mixture and cook for about 8 minutes or so. Stir occasionally so that cooked eggs around the middle are brought to the center, like you were making an omelet. You want it to be almost set on the bottom. Add spinach mixture and spread evenly. Add salt and pepper.

 

Stick the skillet into the oven and cook until the top is no longer jiggles. It took the foodiecall kitchen about 17 minutes but may take more or less time so keep an eye on it.

Let cool for about 4 minutes and garnish with diced tomatoes.

Curry Egg Salad

I must admit that I don’t really even like egg salad. But, I felt an urge to make something with curry and the surplus of eggs in my refrigerator inspired me to make egg salad. To make a long story short, I now love egg salad.

 

Ingredients:

6 Hard boiled eggs, chopped

¼ cup chopped red onion

1 stalk of celery chopped

1/3 to ½ cup of mayonnaise- depending on how dry or wet you prefer

2 tsp curry powder

1 tsp sea salt

Sprinkle of celery seed

 

First, boil your eggs. Apparently, the proper way to do this is to put your water and eggs into a pot and bring to a boil. Once you see it is starting to boil, turn off the heat and let the eggs sit in the water for about 15 minutes. To cool eggs run under cold water until the eggs are cold to the touch. Refrigerate for an hour or so.

 

Mix together all ingredients and serve in pita pockets.

 

 

Butternut Squash Risotto

When I bought the squash for the Butternut Squash Apple Soup below I went a little crazy and bought 2 of them knowing full well that I wouldn’t use both of them. So for the past week or so that stupid squash has just been sitting there. Perhaps it’s just mocking me for being stupid enough to buy two of them. Anyway, I had a bag of risotto just sitting in the pantry and I figured that I might as well use it. So Butternut Squash Risotto was clearly the way to go.  Traditional risotto uses white wine and Parmesan cheese. In this recipe I opted to use red wine based entirely on the fact that it was the only thing I had and I was not about to go out in a blizzard to get a bottle of white. Also, I left the cheese out, which is typically added at the very end of cooking, and replaced it with goat cheese, which I sprinkled on top.

            All in all, I was impressed with the outcome based on the fact that 1) I had never made risotto before and 2) I didn’t quite follow any specific recipe. Don’t worry if you don’t either. I promise that the risotto police will not come after you.

 

Ingredients:

For the roasted squash-

1 butternut squash, peeled and chopped

2 to 3 cloves of garlic, peeled and cut into quarters

1/8 cup olive oil

Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees (f). Place squash, garlic, oil, and salt/pepper into glass Pyrex dish or roasting pan and toss to coat all pieces. Cover with foil and bake for about 45 minutes or until squash is easily pierced with fork.

Allow to cool slightly. Then, lightly smash pieces with fork or potato masher.

For the risotto-

4 tbs butter

½ medium onion

2 ½ cups risotto (aberro rice)

4 cups vegetable broth

1 ½ cups water

½ cup wine (red or white)

2 tsp salt

Combine all liquids and salt in a mixing bowl.

Melt butter in medium saucepan. Add onions and sauté for 3 to 4 minutes. Add risotto and stir for another 5 or 6 minutes. Make sure the risotto is coated evenly in the butter and onion mixture.

Add liquids to risotto and onion mixture using ladle. Add slowly making sure all liquid is absorbed before adding another ladle. Cook on medium low maintaining a low simmer. Stir constantly.

After about 20 to 25 minutes all liquids should be absorbed. At this point, you should remove the risotto from the heat and mix in the mashed squash and garlic mixture.

Serve immediately with goat cheese sprinkled on top.

 

Polenta and Goat Cheese Salad

Giant Eagle (A grocery store in these parts) had a giant box of Cornmeal on sale for 89 cents. I stood in the asile thinking of all the fantastic things I could do and I realized that I could make an awful lot of polenta. And so I did. Cypress Grove makes the best goat cheese and there is just something so right about polenta and goat cheese. Really though, any Chevre will work.

For the Polenta:

3 Tbs Butter

1 tbs olive oil

2 Cups of water

1 Cup of Milk or Half and Half

1 tsp sea salt

1 tsp Black pepper

Rosemary, chopped, as much (or little) as you’d like

1 Cup or Cornmeal

Melt butter and olive oil in medium saucepan. Add water, milk, salt, pepper, and rosemary. Heat on medium low stirring constantly for about 10 minutes. Do not boil.

Add polenta and stir with a whisk until thick and stirring becomes difficult.

Pour into *very* lightly greased cake pan. Allow to cool and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Cut cold polenta with a cookie cutter or biscuit cutter and fry until golden brown on both sides.

 

For the salad:

Any kind of lettuce you would like. We used a Mediterranean blend

Goat cheese. Purple Haze Chevre is pretty much the best and is what we used here.

Balsamic Dressing or Balsamic Reduction. We made a balsamic reduction with a smidge of brown sugar.

Apple and Butternut Squash Soup

Once, while I was traveling, I had the most exquisite apple pumpkin soup. It was perfect in every way. It was sweet as well as a little tangy and the combination of flavors was nothing short of incredible. I came across a recipe for a similar soup a few days ago in an old cookbook (circa 1930) and I was inspired to create my own recipe. Pumpkins are awfully hard to come by after Thanksgiving and butternut squash is a fantastic substitute.

Ingredients:

1 Medium sized butternut squash. Seeded, peeled, and cut into one-inch pieces

3 apples peeled, cored, and chopped

1 large yellow onion

6 tbs butter

¾ tbs thyme (We used dried but you can use fresh)

2 tbs brown sugar

2 cups vegetable broth

1.5 cups water

½ cup half and half

Melt butter in bottom of medium pot. Add apples and onions and cook until golden brown, about 15 minutes. Add squash and thyme and cook another 5 minutes. Then, add brown sugar and stir.

Add vegetable broth and ½ cup of water. Cook on medium until soft, about 25 minutes.

Remove from heat and let cool for 20 minutes or so. Puree in food processor or blender and return to pot. Add other cup of water and cook on low for 5 minutes or so. Remove from heat and let cool slightly before adding the half and half.