Roasted Red Pepper & Feta Hummus

Roasted Red Pepper & Feta Hummus is one of my favorite things to make because it is so good on everything.

First start by roasting 1 red pepper. Since I have a gas stove I do it over the open flame. I take a metal tongs and wedge it into the top of the pepper around the stem. Unlike roasting a marshmallow, hold the pepper right on the flame. It will pop as the skins begins to blacken. Continue rotating the pepper until it is entirely black.

OR

If you do not have the pleasure of the a gas stove, you can roast them in the oven. Place on a cookie sheet in an oven heated to 450 degrees. Turn after 15 minutes and let cook for another 15 minutes. If Pepper is black remove, otherwise turn and cook for 5 more minutes. Let cool.

After the pepper is black, place it on a plate with clear wrap covering it. Let the pepper s








Next remove all of the black skin from the pepper with either a knife like the picture or with your fingers.




Cut the stem out of the pepper and remove the seeds. Then cut into pieces that will fit in the food processor







Now that the pepper is ready, gather the following ingredients:

1/2 of the Roasted Red Pepper
1 Can of Chickpeas - drained & rinsed
3/4 C Feta
1/4 of Water
1 clove of garlic
2 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp Sea Salt
3/4 tsp onion
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
1/2 tsp black pepper

First and foremost, take the chickpeas and one by one remove the skins. To do this take them between your thumb and for finger and give it a slight squeeze and it should come right out. Discard the shell and toss the shell-less chickpea into the food processor. I know this seems like unnecessary work, but removing the shells makes the hummus super smooth!

Blend all ingredients together until mixture is completely uniform.
Taste it, let it sit for 10 minutes and try it again. If you think it could use more red pepper add 1/2 of the remaining roasted red pepper and re-blend.

This is great on sandwiches, with fresh veggies, on chicken and with pita, what's not to love!

Fall Days

At the sign of fall whether I start craving soup to warm me up. This year I thought I would make my own, turns out its pretty easy.
At our house we crock-pot a turkey fairly often leading to leftover turkey. So I used left over turkey, but chicken breasts would work equally as well.  The one benefit to the crock-pot turkey is the au jus.

Whatever you choose add the following:

6 Cups of water
    If you have au jus use 1-2 cups au jus and the remainder water
2 Cups of cooked- chopped up Turkey/Chicken
3/4 Carrot
3/4 Celery
3/4 Brown Rice (no quick- cooking or minute)
1/4 Onion
2 TB Butter
2 TB Chicken Base
2 tsp Pepper
2 tsp Oregano
2 tsp Basil
1 tsp Sea Salt

In a small bowl combine
1/2 C Milk
2 TB Flour

In a large sauce pan on medium- high heat add the butter and onions, let cook for 5-7 minutes till tender. To the pot add the turkey, veggies, water, rice, seasonings and chicken base. I strongly recommend using a base v. bullion cubes or broth. Bases are available at the grocery store and provide a much, much better flavor. Let the soup come to a soft boil and cook for 15-20 minutes.

Next add the milk and flour mixture, this will thicken the soup and give the illusion of a creamy soup without all the cream. If your not into the creamy soup,  mix the flour with water for the thickening effect.


Continue to let the soup cook for another 25-30 minutes. The soup will start to thicken and the rice will be fully cooked.

The perfect fall warm up!

All in a Days Work

There are times that you bake for yourself and there are times that bake for others and this, this is one of them. No matter what I bake: heart shaped mini cheese cakes for Valentines Day, dark chocolate bacon cupcakes, cookies, banana bread, etc. my boss just looks at it and asked when I'm going to being these delightful, tiny, "guilt free,"pop in your mouth, mini cupcakes of wonder. At least that how she sees them.

What kills me is that they seem so much less special. At last here is what you need to be your bosses favorite too.

1 Box of Cake Mix - I chose dark chocolate
1 Bag of White Chocolate chips - any flavor works
1 Container of Frosting- Yup store bought variety
Mini Cupcake Tins/ Mini Quiche Tins

A few things to note:
a). While you can use regular sized cupcake tins, it's the guilt free nature of something so small that really makes them feel good.

b). The real charm people seem to find in these is the "surprise" in the middle.

How to get the surprise in side.  Spray tins, fill half way, then add in several, 4-6, chocolate chips into the center of the tins. Keep them away from the edges.

You probably guessed it, next add batter to cover the chocolate chips  See picture off to the right ---------------->

Since I make mine in mini-cupcake tins I only bake them for 9 minutes. If you are choosing to ignore the magical guilt free powers of the mini cupcake just follow cooking directs on the box.

The picture below is in fact not how I serve them at work, but it is how I serve them at home. Mmmm Ice cream.

I prefer to frost at work since transporting frosted items can be well sticky. Then serve in the afternoon somewhere between 2-2:30 when post-lunch food coma is at its hight.

Hopefully these will serve you as well as that have served me in my short career so far.

Chicken Parmesan

Chicken Parmesan w. mozzarella, cheese tortellini & goat cheese ravioli  

I was really craving pasta for dinner and we had that awkward amount of both cheese tortellini and sundried tomato and goat cheese ravioli. The kind of left overs that have been sitting in your freezer since neither is enough to constitute a meal on their own. Even together, I knew someone else wouldn't appreciate another meatless meal as I am not someone who needs meat for dinner. So I decided to pair my two pastas with chicken parmesan topped with fresh mozzarella, paired with a traditional red sauce.

Personally I think a knowing how to make a good red sauce is imperative to cooking. Below is a rough recipe for mine, looks a lot like my pizza sauce from Homemade Pizza...., but I encourage you to experiment by adding ingredients for you preference and really make it your own.

Traditional Red Sauce

Tasty Thoughts Traditional Red Sauce: ---------------------------->

1 Tb Olive Oil

2-4 Cloves of Garlic, minced

1 can of Trader Joes Organic Tomato Sauce

1TB Italian seasonings

2 tsp Penzy's Pizza Seasoning

1 tsp Onion powder (or use real onion)

1 tsp Sea Salt

1 tsp Brown Sugar

1 tsp tomato paste

1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Bring medium sized saucepan to medium heat, add the olive oil and garlic, cook till golden. Add remaining ingredients and let cook for 10 minutes let the sauce bubble but don't let it boil. Test the sauce- see what you think of it- add more garlic, onion or italian seasoning as needed. Continue to let the sauce come together until ready to serve.

As the red sauce is continuing to cook, start on the chicken. I took one large chicken breast and cut it in half for two filets. 

In a bowl beat 1 egg. Cover each chicken filet in the egg mixture let it sit as you prepare the coating.

Coating for the Chicken Parmesan:

In a gallon sized bag place:

1 package of saltine crackers

1 TB Italian seasoning

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

1/2 tsp pepper

Crush everything together, I find a rolling pin works nicely. Make sure that it is finely crush as it will stick better to the chicken.

               

Remove the chicken from the egg mixture and into the gallon bag with the coating mixture. Shake chicken till fully covered. 

Before cooking the chicken, fill another sauce pan with water and start to bring it to a boil. Add salt as desired. 

Back to the chicken, bring a skillet to medium heat, thrown in a splash of olive oil or a cooking spray. Place the coated chicken filets in pan and let cook for 5 -7 minutes on each side. You may need to add more oil/spray to the pan when you flip. Finally add mozzarella while they are finishing up.

In to the boiling water add the tortellini/ravioli and let cook till they are all floating, right around 3-4 minutes.

Place the crispy chicken on plate along with the pastas and top with the red sauce. 

Homemade Pizza

You know when people ask you if you could only eat ONE food for the rest of your life, what would it be? For me pizza is always a strong competitor. I can eat pizza for breakfast, lunch and dinner, in fact last Sunday I did. Like most americans I grew up eating pizza pretty regularly as my father feels similar sort of love for pizza.
While I do venture out and make untraditional pizza when it comes do to it, I really just crave pepperoni and cheese with a lot of sauce on a crispy or crust.

I do a form of a semi-home made pizza. I buy a crust mix, instead of just adding water I add olive oil and Penzy's Pizza seasoning. Penzy's is a spice store that has 2 locations in the Twin Cities. They have pretty good prices and fantastic spices including several pre-mixed ones like the Pizza. Next I Mix the dough, let it sit, roll it out and pre-bake it for about 10 minutes. I prefer to pre-bake the crust that way its never flimsy or undercooked.

So I skimp on the crust a little, but I do make my sauce from scratch, starting with Trader Joe's Organic Tomato Sauce (ok, so I don't use fresh tomatoes either because I'm not a fan but feel free to add them to yours). As canned tomato sauces go their's is my favorite, its flavorful and it actually has texture to it.

To the sauce I add:
2 Cloves of Garlic
2 tsp Onion
2 tsp Penzy's Pizza seasoning
1 1/2 tsp Italian seasoning

1 tsp Sea Salt
1/2 tsp pepper

1/2 tsp Oregano
1/2 tsp Basil
1/4 red pepper flakes
2 tsp tomato paste
1 Tb olive oil
1 1/2 tsp brown sugar.

My mother always said "a recipe is just a guideline," this is one of the few pieces of advice that I took to the first time I heard it. Thus I am not much for strict recipes I tend to rely on taste preference, so those are estimates but I encourage you if you are attempting this to let it cook for 5-7 minutes before adding more seasoning. Also feel free to add more of any ingredient you are particularly fond of, but do not skip the sugar it cuts the acidity.

I like to let my sauce "come together" as long as possible, this makes for a flavor that is rich and deep and this also gives time for the water to cook out for a thicker sauce. For this reason I like to get my sauce going then start working on the crust.

Crust. Check. Sauce. Check. Now it s time to build the pizza. Like a said before I am a pizza traditionalist with mozzarella and pepperoni AND feta cheese. Feta is my new favorite must have pizza topping it really bring it all together! You can also see the canadian bacon on the other-half of this one.

I love making pizza from "scratch" and it is a really great activity to do with others.

Deep Fried

There is nothing, I mean nothing quite like the Great Minnesota Get Together. For 12 glorious days Minnesotans flock to find the latest in deep fried goodness, that for whatever reason is also served on a stick.

There are a few things I feel one must do to maximize the experience. It is important to gather a minimum of 5 adults. This way you can try many things without getting too full before you get to the finale. No proper experience, in my opinion, can occur without a little research (The 6 P's - Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance). Having found out that the fair is 320 Acres it is important to have an idea of what kind sticked food you are hunting down.

People. Check. Plan. Check. Spontaneity is overrated and for those who miss out of some of the best things the fair has to offer.

Thus I will start with my hands down, most favorite new dish at the fair. Deep Fried Cookie Dough. What isn't to like, chocolate chip cookie dough, battered, deep fried and of course its on a stick.

Seriously gooey, oozy, rich, dedicate, deliciousness. So fantastic that for 8 of us we bought 4 sticks each with 3 large deep fried cookie balls and it was totally worth it.

While one might regularly feel ashamed of this sort of excessive behavior, but at the State Fair there is little shame to be had. It is an accepting sort of place where one can finally channel their inner fat kid which they have been suppressing since age 14.

They referred to these as the "Gourmet Deep Fried Pickle" up until this point I was unaware that cream cheese was considered gourmet. Surrounding the delicate cream cheese was two pickles- battered and fried. Adding to the gourmet dish was the rare and lustrous ranch dressing, difficult to find however our fair experience with it did not end at this stand.

However un-gourmet it really was, it was good, not good enough to take some precious stomach space for my old favorites, but good.

In the past I have not considered vegetables or fruit to be apart of my fair experience. On a suggestion from a co-worker we tried the Deep Fried Vegetables. A blend of broccoli, carrots, cauliflower, onion and potato (the last two are cheating since its really a french frie and onion ring). The batter on these were excellent which is really what made it so good. Thats another thing about the fair, you really learn your batter types. As you can see, the ranch dressing made its return here, in case the vegetables were too healthy.

Then there are the fair favorites, these are what one must have at the fair every year, its like the foundation or in some cases the life raft. Even if you try something new and it doesn't live up the the hype, the favorites are there to save you. My standbys include a Pronto Pup (the far, far superior cousin to the corn dog) a bucket of french fries and gelato which pretty much tops out my fair experience. We also stopped by the Leinie Lodge for a few beers, picked up 2 helpings of cheese curds and a chocolate malt to close the night.

As usual I left the fair feeling quite satisfied. Excellent food, wonderful company, full stomach, no guilt, after all I did have to walk to get all this food.

Winter in August? Yes please.

Thanks to the wonders of Groupon I went to Tiger Sushi this week. I tend to be a creature of habit but with half off the meal we went crazy and it just so happened they had the perfect roll for me to go crazy for.

The Winter Roll, all of my favorite fishes, tuna, salmon and yellowtail, plus it matched the name. So we went for it. Somewhere between the avocado, unagi sauce w/a hint of mango topped off with toasted tempura & sesame seeds we officially fell in love.

After that I nearly forgot we also ordered edamame, spicy tuna and a salmon roll. The quality of fish and execution of our rolls were both fantastic, the paper napkins not so much.