Spaghetti Pie

When I first saw this post come up, I knew I had to try it. It seemed like a nice change from regular old pasta. I had to find a way to make it dairy free, so aside from using tofu instead of ricotta, I omitted the cheeses, and adapted it with ingredients we had on hand. Her original recipe was meatless, but since Gary was already defrosting the ground turkey, I decided to add that in.

It turned out very well. A little runny because I didn’t have tomato paste. I started reading the recipe and saw that she mentioned marinara sauce, and I took out both the can of tomatoes and the marinara, not realizing she was making her own sauce. I ended up using the can of tomatoes minus the tomato paste. I will try using marinara sauce next time since I usually don’t have tomato paste on hand.

Dairy Free Spaghetti Pie
Loosely adapted from: REC(ession)IPES

Ingredients:
8 ounces thin spaghetti
salt
1/2 lb ground turkey
olive oil
1 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 28 oz can whole stewed tomatoes, broken up
1 tsp oregano
1 medium zucchini, shredded
1 package extra firm Mori-nu tofu
splash of lemon juice
salt and pepper
2 large eggs
1/4 cup nutritional yeast

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a pot of water to a boil. Add salt to water, boil the pasta until al dente per package instructions. Lightly grease a 9x9 glass pan with olive oil or cooking spray and set aside.

Meanwhile, brown the ground turkey in a pan. Set aside. Dice onion and mince garlic. Cook in 1 tbsp olive oil until onions are just translucent, approx. 5-8 minutes. Add ground turkey back in, add tomatoes with their juice, along with oregano. Simmer on stovetop for 10 minutes.

Using the s-blade on your food processor, pulse the tofu and lemon juice a few times until the consistency of ricotta cheese. Swap out the blade for the shredding attachment, shred zucchini in a food processor (or use your grater). Place tofu mixture in bowl and mix thoroughly with salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the pasta and toss in large bowl with one tsp olive oil. Whisk eggs with a fork in a small bowl with nutritional yeast. Toss with spaghetti. Add spaghetti to prepared pan. Shape into crust shape by using fingers to flatten center and press up the sides of the plate.

Add tofu mixture to indentation in center. Top with tomato sauce and bake, uncovered, 25-30 minutes.

Remove from oven, let cool 10 minutes, then cut into 9 even squares and serve.

Gary loved this. He thought the tofu tasted a lot like cheese!

Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting

So, after I made the Red Velvet Twilight Cake, I decided to turn it into cupcakes. What a better opportunity than another holiday (father’s day) to try it! Since everybody would be gathering together, it’s a great way to share with others. I made it slightly different from the previous recipe though.

I still didn’t have cake flour or buttermilk. So for the cake flour, I substituted AP flour and cornstarch, whereas I didn’t add cornstarch before. I recommend adding the cornstarch though, because the batter ended up thicker than before, and easier to work with.


Red Velvet Cupcakes with Cream Cheese Frosting 
cake adapted from: Cake Man Raven
makes 24 cupcakes

Cake dry ingredients:
2 1/2 cups of cake flour (I used AP flour replacing 5 TBSP with cornstarch)
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of fine salt
1 teaspoon of cocoa powder

Cake wet ingredients:
1 cup of buttermilk (I used buttermilk powder and 3/4 cup water)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vinegar (white distilled)
1 1/2 cups of vegetable oil
1 oz. of red food coloring
1 tsp. of vanilla extract

Cake Directions:
Sift together all dry ingredients. Add liquid in an electric mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until well incorporated. Slowly add dry ingredients to bowl, until all ingredients are combined.

Since I used buttermilk powder, I added the powder in with the dry ingredients and added 1 cup water with the wet ingredients.

Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Fill cups 3/4 full (about 1/4 cup of batter). Bake @ 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes.

Remove from pans and allow to cool thoroughly before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting


Ingredients:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar

Directions:
Place the cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until combined, 30 seconds. Add extract, blend to combine.

Gradually add the confectioners' sugar and blend with the mixer on low speed until the ingredients are moistened, 30 seconds. Add enough sugar to desired sweetness. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the frosting is fluffy, 2 minutes more.

Chill for half hour to thicken. Scoop frosting into a piping bag or a heavy duty zip top bag and snip the end. Frost by swirling from the outside in.

Orange Soy Chicken with Herb Roasted Vegetables

A few years ago, I tried making something along the lines of orange-peanut-soy chicken in the crockpot. I don’t remember where I got it from, and of course, I don’t remember where the recipe is, or if I even saved at all. I had a couple of oranges to use up, so I decided to make something that was similar to what we had probably 3 years ago.

The chicken was nice and tender, but it didn’t really taste like orange at all. It was good, but I might add something extra next time, but don’t know what yet. I also recommend cutting the veggies smaller than I did, because some of it was still quite hard. I had to put the veggies back in the oven for an extra 10 minutes.

Orange Soy Chicken with Herb Roasted Vegetables

Ingredients:
1 cup fresh squeezed orange juice (about 3 large oranges)
1/2 cup soy sauce
2 chicken quarters (leg and thigh) split at joints
4 stalks celery
1 lb carrots, peeled and cut into pieces
5 potatoes peeled and cut into pieces 
olive oil
1 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp dried rosemary
1 tsp garlic powder
1 TBSP parsley
salt to taste

Directions:

Pour juice and soy sauce into a zip top bag. Clean and pat dry the chicken. Place in bag, squeeze out excess air, seal, and refrigerate for an hour to marinate, rotating halfway to coat evenly.

Meanwhile, place cut up veggies in a large bowl, drizzle with olive oil. Add seasonings and toss to . Pour veggies in a 9x13 baking pan (I used glass). Place chicken pieces on top of veggies. Discard extra marinade.

Bake in oven at 350° for 50-60 minutes or until internal temperature of chicken is 180° and veggies are tender.

Red Velvet Twilight Cake

Have you heard of Cake Man Raven(CMR)? If you watch Throwdown with Bobby Flay, you might have heard of him. CMR has this bakery in Brooklyn where he makes and sells his infamous red velvet cake. This is the only place where my coworker gets red velvet cakes. I’ve tried it…it’s good!

So, Bobby Flay challenges CMR in his red velvet cake throwdown. Unfortunately, CMR didn’t win, but I don’t know why! I haven’t tried Bobby’s recipe, but just looking at CMR’s cake is just impressive.

I’ve seen imitation CMR recipes out there, and of course, I tried to find one. To my surprise, he actually has his recipe on his website, so I didn’t have to look any further! That’s a shock to me, I would think he would want to keep it a secret…but that’s just me.

After I got invited to a “Twilight” party (I use the term loosely because it was all an inside joke). I wanted to take the opportunity to make this red velvet cake. Of course, I made some adaptations to it to suit it for my needs. I searched for inspiration ideas and saw what Ashlee did for her twilight party. I didn’t want to be too hands on for the cake, so I used ganache instead of fondant.

I wanted a dark base for the design, so I made a chocolate cream cheese frosting and layered chocolate ganache over that. I used chocolate chips and candy melts for the design. I think it turned out pretty good for an amateur cake decorator!

Red Velvet Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting and Chocolate Ganache
cake adapted from: Cake Man Raven
frosting adapted from: recipelink.com
ganache from: allrecipes.com

Cake dry ingredients:
2-1/2 cups of cake flour (I used AP flour minus 2 TBSP per cup) I recommend replacing the 5 TBSPs with cornstarch, otherwise the batter will be thin
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon of fine salt
1 teaspoon of cocoa powder

Cake wet ingredients:
1 cup of buttermilk (I used buttermilk powder and 1 cup water)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon of vinegar (white distilled)
1-1/2 cups of vegetable oil
1 oz. of red food coloring
1 tsp. of vanilla extract

Cake Directions:
Sift together all dry ingredients. Add liquid in an electric mixing bowl and beat on medium speed until well incorporated. Slowly add dry ingredients to bowl, until all ingredients are combined.

Since I used buttermilk powder, I added the powder in with the dry ingredients and added 1 cup water with the wet ingredients.

Pour evenly into three 9” cake pans (about 1.75c batter per pan). I only had two, so I poured the batter into a measuring cup, and it measured about 5 cups of batter. Bake @ 350 degrees for 20-30 minutes. Rotate 180 degrees halfway though. I did that because my oven is tilted forward and bakes unevenly.

Remove from pans and allow to cool thoroughly before frosting.

Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting

Ingredients:
1 package (8 ounces) cream cheese, at room temperature
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon pure almond extract or pure vanilla extract
4 cups confectioners' sugar, sifted (I used 2.5 cups)

Directions:
Place the cream cheese and butter in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed until combined, 30 seconds. Add the cocoa powder, extract, blend to combine.

Gradually add the confectioners' sugar and blend with the mixer on low speed until the ingredients are moistened, 30 seconds. Add enough sugar to desired sweetness. Increase the speed to medium and beat until the frosting is fluffy, 2 minutes more.

Frost the cake layers, more in the middle, but a thin layer outside. Refrigerate to allow the frosting to set.

Chocolate Ganache

Ingredients:
2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
2 cups heavy cream
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Directions:

Place chocolate chips in a large bowl, or in the bowl of a stand mixer. Pour the cream into a saucepan, and bring to a boil. As soon as the cream boils up to the top of the pan, quickly remove it from the heat, and pour it over the chips.

Let stand for a minute or two, then stir with a whisk, or use the paddle attachment for the mixer, to mix until smooth. Be sure to scrape the bottom of the bowl occasionally. Stir in the vanilla until well blended. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface, and allow to cool at room temperature, or in the refrigerator.

Place the cake on a cooling rack over a baking sheet and pour the warm ganache slowly over the top middle of the cake. Allow the ganache to flow down the cake naturally. Allow to cool and harden. I did this in the fridge.

Chocolate Design:

Ingredients:
semi sweet chocolate chips
white candy melts
red candy melts

I first traced the image from the book cover with tracing paper.

Then place the image over a white sheet of paper, tape as necessary to avoid movement. Place wax paper over the image (this will be your drawing surface). Tape as necessary. Place everything in a baking sheet.

Melt chocolate chips in a microwave. Place in a decorating bag. Using a writing tip (I used #5), trace the outline of the image. Melt white candy melts in the chocolate and fill the hands with chocolate. Tap the pan on the table to allow the chocolate to spread. Repeat with red candy melts and the apple.

They coloring bled a little into the outline, so re-outline as necessary. Place in fridge to harden.

Before the ganache fully sets, place the image on top, and allow it to melt a little at room temperature for the image to stick.

This turned out very well. I wasn’t able to get a clear picture of the cut cake, since the restaurant had dim lighting, so this was the best I could do.

Veggie Stir-fry and Linguine

So when I went to the market, there were various vegetables on sale that were too good a deal to pass up. Towards the middle of the week, we still had a few things left over, so why not mix everything together and create a stir fry. I love this because it’s pretty light and filling at the same time. This is also very versatile because you can pretty much add any vegetables you want.

Ingredients:
olive oil
8 oz linguine
2 cloves garlic, sliced
3 stalks celery, chopped
1 red bell pepper, seeds removed and sliced
half bunch asparagus spears, cut into 2 inch pieces
1 cup baby portabella mushrooms, sliced
1/2 cup dry white wine
salt to taste
oregano
basil

Directions:
1. Prepare pasta as directed on the package.

2. Meanwhile, in a pan, add enough oil to coat the bottom of the pan. Sauté garlic in pan for a minute. Add celery, bell pepper, and asparagus and sauté until celery tender. Add mushrooms and cook for 2-3 more minutes.

3. Add seasonings to taste. Add wine and allow it to cook off.

4. Drain the pasta. Drizzle with olive oil and toss in the veggies to combine. Plate and serve.

Crab Cakes

The question I ask pretty much every day is, “What’s for dinner?” Most of the time, Gary will say Krabby patties (SpongeBob anyone?). I’ve never made it before, no matter how many times he’s said it. This time, I actually had canned crab in the pantry, so I finally agreed!

It was the end of the week, I hadn’t gone grocery shopping yet, so I didn’t have too much fresh ingredients on hand. I found this recipe on allrecipes.com and I pretty much had most of the ingredients that were needed. I modified it based on what I had of course.

Crab Cakes
adapted from: allrecipes.com

Ingredients:
2 tablespoons olive oil (I used vegetable oil…eyeballed)
6 green onions, chopped (I used half a medium sized onion)
3/8 cup olive oil (I used enough vegetable oil to coat the pan)
1 (6 ounce) can canned crabmeat, drained
1 egg
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1 teaspoon dry mustard (I ground up some mustard seed)
8 ounces buttery round crackers, crushed (I used 1/4 cup panko)
1/2 teaspoon ground cayenne pepper
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon Old Bay Seasoning (I used homemade)
salt to taste
ground black pepper to taste
1 cup dry bread crumbs (I omitted and skipped this step)

Directions:
1. Heat 2 tablespoons oil in a skillet over high heat. Sauté green onions briefly until tender; cool slightly.

2. Combine crabmeat, sautéed green onions, egg, mayonnaise, dry mustard, crushed crackers, cayenne pepper, garlic powder, Old Bay seasoning, salt and pepper. Form into 1/2 inch thick patties. Coat the patties with bread crumbs.

3. Heat 1/2 cup oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Cook cakes until golden brown on each side. Drain briefly on paper towels and serve hot.

This definitely had a kick to it. I might have added a little too much black pepper. We ate this on hamburger buns. We didn’t have tartar sauce or anything else so we added some fries. This would be great served with tartar sauce, lettuce, and tomato.

Homemade Old Bay Seasoning

Let me start off by saying sorry that I’ve been MIA for almost a month. We went on vacation and ended up sick at the very end. I also didn’t cook anything because I didn’t want to spread my germs everywhere. But, now I’m back and the posts continue!

I purchased Old Bay seasoning a while ago, used it maybe a handful of times, then forgot about it. I never found a use for it really. It ended up expiring in my pantry after being hardly used. A few months ago, I stumbled upon a site that had various recipes for different spices mixes with ingredients I actually had in my pantry. I was originally looking for something else (I forget what now), and saw this recipe for bay seafood seasoning. I think it’s supposed to be similar to Old Bay Seasoning. I could be wrong. It could be something all together. I think this is a better bet for me than buying a jar of it. I can actually make small batches at a time instead of letting an entire jar go to waste again.

Now, I normally don’t have most of these spices on hand. I usually don’t have a use for celery salt and dry mustard. However, when I purchased my spice rack, there were some of those spices included. This was the perfect way to use up some of these (otherwise, it will end up going to waste in my pantry).

Bay Seafood Seasoning
adapted from: recipe-recipes.net

1 tablespoon ground bay leaves
2 1/2 teaspoons celery salt
1 1/2 teaspoons dry mustard (I ground up some mustard seed for this)
1 1/2 teaspoons black pepper
3/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon red pepper (I didn’t have, so I used crushed red pepper flakes…I know it’s not the same)
1/4 teaspoon ground mace (optional) (I omitted)
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom (optional) (I omitted)

Combine all ingredients; store in an airtight container. Use with seafood or chicken.

Yields 1/4 cup.

Since I didn’t have dry mustard, but I did have mustard seed, I ground it up with my mortar and pestle. I should have ground it up BEFORE adding it to the mix. At first, I thought my mini food chopper would grind everything up, but the seed were too small and slippery for the grinder to do anything to it. If you have a spice grinder or a coffee grinder, giving it a good whiz would be fine.