Stuffed Mexi-Shells with Veggies

Okay, we've been neglecting our vegetarian blogging but not much to report. We feasted on some pesto pasta, steamed artichokes with mayo, avocado salad, eh. One night I made a large salad for the sweet husband [which he throughly enjoyed] but resorted to cereal for myself. It's been a long week of Spring cleaning and all things related. Nothing really blew my socks off this past week. Until! Mexi Shells recipe from my BC Cookbook. It called for ground beef but I used chopped red, orange and yellow peppers. This recipe called for 2 jars of salsa, but the one on my cookbook called for 32oz of tomato sauce, 2 tbsp of flour, 1 tbsp of chili powder all mixed together. Go with your gut, but the tomato sauce was excellent.

So delicious! Really inexpensive as well, considering I made a 13x9 and a 8x8 from all the ingredients. I also added vegetarian refried beans in the bottom of each jumbo shell before I piled in the veggies.

I also used slices of deli mozzarella cheese because it was on sale this week! It really covered the whole dish, but if you want to minimize the amount of cheese, simply use the shredded and sprinkle over each shell. 

This dish was a big hit at home and with my friend who recently moved into a new apartment. Not to mention the next day leftovers were just as delicious! Enjoy!

Tonight: Pesto-Parm Grilled Cheese with Salad

Cupcakes

Cupcakes can put a smile on even the most grumpy-gusses, don't you think? Thankfully I was serving my most recent little cakes of love to happy recipients! Recently, I made Elmo cupcakes and Irish Whiskey Cupcakes for a loved birthday niece and my big brother. 

I ran into some trouble with the Elmo cupcakes regarding the over-soft frosting. Still, the two year old new it was Elmo right away - success! 
I visited a great cake/party store and got some advice regarding better icing coloring and will be sure to try it next time. I just couldn't throw away perfectly good frosting and start over.

I found the inspiration for the Elmo cupcakes here. I did use mini-marshmallows for the eyes,  and gel icing for the eye-balls. Instead of gum-balls, I used peanut-butter M&Ms for Elmo's nose - much more delicious! Devils food chocolate cake and homemade creamy buttercream frosting. Yum! 
Next were specially requested Chocolate Whiskey and Beer Cupcakes - really it was a cake request, but cupcakes are my thing! Completely made from scratch and completely delicious!! I made several and shared the wealth with other friends and I think I'll be making several more batches, thanks to SmittenKitchen and TheBiscuitPusher!

I would suggest that you make slightly smaller CWB Cupcakes because they are insanely rich and decadent. I used 2.5" cupcake foils and as you can see, left the ganache centers exposed to minimize the amount of frosting on top - it's still plenty of frosting for this size cupcake and it really allows all the flavors to combine and then explode with every bite! Enjoy :)

French Onion Soup

Definitely a family favorite, made it last fall [where the photos in this post come from] as I was working through our Betty Crocker Cookbook Bridal Edition. I was so surprised at how easy of a recipe it was in the first place...little butter, lots of onions, some broth, thyme, bada-bing! Of course, it's a perfect Lent meal - just switch out the beef broth for veggie - and considering the plunge into cold weather again, perfect pre-spring, New England hasn't gotten the groundhog's message yet, soup.
As I always stress, go with unsalted butter and low sodium or no salt added broth. That or leave out adding extra salt to the already salt bath. By all means, go with the Gruyere cheese, but we prefer the super stringy mozzarella, topped with parmesan of course, served in our favorite soup bowls. That's it! Simple, comforting soup. Perk: It'll make your house smell amazing. If you're the type that enjoys the aroma of cooking onions floating about. MmmMmm.
Enjoy!

Quiche Tarts with Salad

Simple, light and a hit! I've been meaning to use the tart pans I bought a few months back, my plan is to make some killer blueberry tarts this summer. For now I decided that I would try using them for quiche. I've made this recipe before and left out the parsley and added chopped baby spinach instead.  I've also made this recipe with different kinds of cheese. Last time I went for it with the Gruyere and this time we chose Kerrygold Dubliner cheese. It was on sale this week because it's an Irish cheese. For all my cheese lovers out there, this is an absolute treat. Nutty like parmesan but has a real cheddar quality, very yummy! Because I had one roma tomato left I also seeded and diced it up to add to the mix. 
If you are interested in adding the spinach, simply roll the leaves and cut to get thin strips and throw in with the onions for the last minute of cooking. 
Preheat your oven to 375deg. Again, I used the store bought crust that I had leftover from the Shepherd's Pie recipe, but you can certainly make your own. Roll out the dough on your counter and simple place the tart pans face down and trace the size and press into the pan. As always, bake for about 10 minutes on a cookie sheet to start the cooking process and to keep the crust from becoming soggy. 
Layer the veggies and shredded cheese in the tart pans and pour in enough egg to cover the other ingredients. It took another 15 minutes for the egg mixture and crust to cook. 

Now for the salad! We like to buy the spring mix because of the added flavors of the different kinds of lettuce. Just a small handful on the opposite side of the plate will do. Add some sliced cucumbers, dried cherries and Betty Crocker's lemon Dressing. Then, get some plan goat cheese and doctor it up with s/p, garlic powder, olive oil and crushed rosemary. Mix it all together and serve in a nice heaping pile over your salad. The tart cherries and lemon with the creamy goat cheese make an excellent pair. It's a simple salad packed with flavor. Enjoy!

Busy Weekend = Quick Meals

Well, we never did have the salad with goat cheese and lemon-mustard vinaigrette on Friday night. Instead, we went out and enjoyed the beautiful weather at a park with the dog. It was windy, but gorgeous. We decided to stop at Khaophums for some tea and an appetizer. It is a delicious restaurant for thai food and extremely reasonable in price. We enjoyed some jasmine green tea, lemonade, steamed veggie dumplings with a ginger sauce and the best crab rangoons I have ever tasted. I quite honestly eat here for the rangoons alone. We came home and a few hours later decided to have some homemade bruschetta, neither one of us was interested in slaving over chopping up the newly purchased veggies. Chopping the basil and tomatoes took all of 2 minutes, broiled the bread with some garlic and butter and we had a very lite Friday night meal. 
Saturday: Out and about! We enjoyed lunch at La Carreta, complete with delicious sauces and ice tea. The sweet husband and I shared a vegetarian dish with an enchilada, tostada and burrito. Oh and with a side of guacamole, of course. For our dinner we did make the Portobello White Pizza I had planned for the evening:


Ingredients:
1 bag of pizza dough
1 ball of mozzarella cheese
8oz baby portobello slices
6-7 basil leaves
part-skim ricotta cheese
salt, pepper
parmesan cheese


Either make the dough yourself or purchase bagged dough from your supermarket. We prefer whole wheat but had to deal with white instead. Preheat the oven to about 375deg. You want to make sure your dough is about at room temperature in order to stretch out to the desired size. Spread some olive oil on a cookie sheet and carefully push and pull the dough to the desired thickness and size. Dice the portobello mushrooms, and slice the mozzarella cheese.

Brush the stretched out dough with some olive oil and sprinkle some garlic, s/p and parmesan cheese. Bake for about 10-12 minutes, or until light brown. Layer the pizza with the mushrooms, basil, mozzarella cheese, spoonfuls of ricotta and top with parmesan cheese, pepper and garlic powder. 

Place back in the oven for another 10-12 minutes or until the cheese is melted and the ingredients bubbly. Let stand for about 3-4 minutes then slice and Enjoy!

*Note: the mushrooms have a some liquid, don't worry about this just handle with care when enjoying :) 
Tonight: Our long awaited Corned Beef and Cabbage dinner!
Monday night: Quiche tarts with the Goat cheese and lemon-mustard dressing over salad. Phew!

Shepherd's Pie, kinda-sorta

Happy post-St. Patrick's Day! How's that headache treating you my fine non-Irish friends? Let's just get this out of the way, not everyone is Irish on St. Patrick's Day...and we all know it the moment you reached for the Advil this morning. I'm just saying...
On another note, it was so hard not to make Corned Beef and Cabbage with Mashed Potatoes last night! Still, I decided to come up with a solution to our Corned Beef Blues...Veggie Shepherd's Pie. What a terrible thing to do to Shepherd's Pie I know, but it was actually quite yummy! 
Considering the lack of meaty-goodness in the pie I decided to have a crust for this recipe. Simple, store brand pie crust will do. 
Mold crust to a pie plate - the size of your choice but I went with a 9". Bake at 375deg. for about 12 minutes, just to get the crust to start to brown - this will prevent your crust from becoming a soggy mess under your veggies and taters. 
First, steam up some bite-size veggies of your choice although I recommend broccoli, carrots, water chestnuts and peas. Cook until al dente - meaning, still crunchy but not rock hard.
Chop up one large yellow onion and crush 3-4 cloves of garlic and saute in some butter until translucent.
Meanwhile, don't [and I meant don't] purchase any other potatoes besides red-skin. The flavor is absolutely necessary for this dish and leaving the skins on provides you with some good vitamins! Rinse about 6-7 medium sized taters, remove any unwanted blemishes and cut up into decent sizes before boiling in a large pot - cutting up potatoes will help them to cook faster in the boiling water. Boil until you can easily stick a knife or fork into a large piece. Drain and get ready to mash!
Add your al-dente veggies to the onion and garlic mixture and pour in a Shepherd's Pie Mix. Sometimes you can find Lipton/Knorr's brand in your grocery store in the International aisle, but don't count on it [If you can't find it, or don't want to order it, try using some mushroom gravy to get the same effect]. Only mix with about 250ml of water and pour over veggies and simmer until thickened. Add a squirt or two of ketchup, mix and pour into the crust.

It tastes better than it looks...

Mash your potatoes with a variety of combinations: butter, milk, cream cheese, sour cream, more garlic, parmesan, s/p, etc. Or, with just some butter and milk. However you like your mashed potatoes. Cover the veggie mixture and place in the oven for about 10-12 minutes. Let stand for a few minutes and Enjoy! 

Tonight: Mixed greens with goat cheese, cherries and lemon-mustard vinaigrette

Broiled Vegetables w.Bleu Cheese on Focaccia

Okay, this was ridiculously delicious. This recipe is the inspiration for the veggie version I made last night. A few months ago we made these same sandwiches with grilled chicken instead of steak, it was delicious. I made sure to keep the recipe in mind for Lent and used portobello caps as the main "meaty" ingredient. 

Slice up the veggies nice and thin and place under a broiler with all the s/p, vinegar & olive oil.  At the same time, slice the portobello caps in half and place in a small amount of olive oil and saute until tender. 

Place the focaccia bread on an oven safe pan, pile on the veggies, portobello caps, bleu cheese and drizzle with a little extra balsamic vinegar [or some balsamic glaze]. Place under the broiler to melt the bleu cheese and brown the focaccia.
The flavors are wonderful! Enjoy!

The [Forgotten] Veggie Burritos

How dramatic! Last night I made the Veggie Burritos that were meant for Saturday night. Good thing too because the avocados weren't going to hold out any longer. 
Simply, it's like making regular tacos/burritos just without ground meat of some kind: 


2 peppers [orange & yellow] and slice them into strips. 
Next I take half of an onion [either vidalia or yellow] and slice into thin rings. 
taco seasoning
taco sauce - old el paso is a good one [we use medium]
no salt added sweet corn
vegetarian refried beans (yes there is a difference, traditional ref. beans are made with lard which is animal fat, a no-no if you're a veggie-monster)
pepper jack cheese, shredded
avocado(s), one tomato, s/p, hot sauce, lime or lemon juice & garlic - mash and mix
flour tortillas

1. Next! Saute the onions for a good 3-4 minutes in some olive oil and add your sliced peppers. Cook another 2-3 minutes until slightly tender but not mushy. 
2. Sprinkle with taco seasoning and cover. The peppers have a decent amount of water in them already, if you cover they will release a lot of the moisture and begin to work on the seasoning. Stir to coat the veggies. 
3. After you have some liquid in the pan, pour over the taco sauce to taste and uncover to let it simmer down. Cook to desired consistency [see above] and place in a covered bowl.
4. Return the refried beans to the pan and heat on low until a smooth consistency.
5. Drain the corn and put aside
6. Mix the line of avocado ingredients to taste
7. Heat the flour tortillas, wrapped in a moist paper towel, for 10-15 seconds in the microwave. They'll come out all moist and ready to wrap
8. Build your taco/burrito with the above ingredients, top with cheese and lite sour cream
9. Enjoy!

Tonight: Broiled portobello mushroom caps with red onion, tomato and bleu cheese crumbles on focaccia bread. mmMmmm!

Making a focal wall, but taking the time

Recently, it was time to update the color of paint in our living room. We had gone for a lighter green the first time and didn't really like it the minute we finished. "Oh it only needs one more coat" I would say. Not the answer. Really, I didn't take enough time the first time to test my options. Conveniently, Home Depot just came out with small containers of test paint for a reasonable price! As you might recall, I used these for the post on a new color for our wild and wacky office. The office is nearly finished but I painted the living room at the same time and managed to get a focal wall in place.
I found the necessity of taking your time in order to get the results you want! Here it goes:
 First step, plan out your attack in the same space your art, photos or shelving will reside. For us, it was still going to be a photography wall but with a different flair. Here's what it looked like before:

I chose to mix and match frames to create a less "put together" or "matchy-matchy" feel. We're cool people, let's think outside the box. I didn't hate it, but because I didn't think it through first I felt there was something missing to the wall. I think I found out it was organization of the original idea. So, next I decided to expand on the current idea and add more to make a bold statement:

Notice that I laid out the frames in the same measured space as the wall. This allows you to visualize how it will look up on the wall - without turning your drywall into swiss cheese. I wasn't crazy about this arrangement and tried it a few different ways. The bottom line, the room just isn't big enough to have a wall with this much going on in one space. It looks artistic but completely chaotic in a smaller room. So, alright Martha Stewart, let's try being "boring" and stick to frames of the same color instead:

Hey there, that's not so bad. Actually, I loved it. The 'S' added a bit of art without over-doing it. The frames fill up the wall but don't overtake it. Also, each of the photos I plan to put in the frames will be all black and white. The wall itself is a statement in a bright kelly green, therefore making it appropriate to keep similarity in frame color, photo color and theme. It'll tie everything together without scaring/overwhelming your guests as soon as they enter your space.

Right now, I'm carefully choosing photos for the frames but we decided to go travel and architecture, clean lines but still interesting and a story of where we've been - and can't wait to go back. [3] of the photos are staying and the rest need to be filled in. Here's what it looks like for right now:

Here, the wall is nicely centered and uniform. However, the photos we chose to put in the frames will spice it up. The wall color is exactly two shades darker than the original and in person, it's just lovely. Very happy and less "in your face" green. 

Another thing, don't feel pressured to immediately finish your projects all in one tiny moment, let it stew, make a plan and move on. Not everything is an HGTV show with a finish product in 72 hours or less. But, go ahead and invite some over for dinner in two weeks, you'll be more likely to finish and not place it on the back-burner :) I know, I would also rather sit and watch episodes of Cake Boss on Saturday morning than measure, measure, measure! It takes work to make a home a home, do the work, then catch up on Netflix later. 

Oh and on that note, do yourself a favor and when you measure the length and width of your picture frames, plus the location of the hanging apparatus on the back. Jot it down! Write in pencil on the back of the frame and when you decide you need a change, you don't have to do that part all over again! What am I here for except to make your life easier? You can thank me the next time you move or change your next focal wall. It's the little things people.

Coming soon, the extremely improved office space! Still wondering what color we chose? Oh alright, we went yellow! See it soon :)

Last minute in Newburyport

Well folks, I'm sorry to disappoint but no post on Veggie Burritos - at least the homemade kind. Some friends of ours hand a brilliant idea to meet in Newburyport for a stroll and some dinner - considering the beautiful weather today we were all in. We have been meaning to visit the area but never had the open opportunity.  We had a lovely time! The weather was just right and the massive amounts of wandering warranted some gelato before dinner. They were speaking Italian behind the counter...

"Life's uncertain, eat dessert first." - Ernestine Ulmer

Source: personal library Taken by: alice.RICHES.snow

We ate at Agave Mexican Bistro and for this visit, enjoyed their full menu at the bar on the 1st floor.  We started with table-side guacamole stuffed with lime juice, jalapeno and tomato with house made corn chips, folks, this is guacamole you only dream about.  I thought my guac was good, this was incredible. Needless to say, I found it rather easy to be Veggie-Monster while out to eat, without forfeiting flavor or pizzaz. It was a little difficult with a pork stuffed chimichanga screaming my name...but the Classic Burrito was packed full of flavor and hey! it was a favorite dish in a new way. The vegetables were still crunchy but not raw and there was a medley of veggies (onion, pepper, zucchini, etc.) all packed inside a moist tortilla topped with salsa verde. I am very excited for my leftovers for lunch on tomorrow.  

Source: personal library
Taken by: alice.RICHES.snow

As for our Veggie Fajitas, we're going to make those for dinner on Monday night!  Tomorrow is Sunday so we're going to treat ourselves to some marinated beef tips from The Meat House with a large salad and re-stuffed baked potatoes for dinner. Bring it on daylight savings!

Parmesan Encrusted Grilled Cheese with Tomato-Basil Soup

Alright! So far so good. This meal was just as delicious as my TMB Bagels! We had a icky, cold and rainy day here on the Seacoast and I couldn't have planned this meal for a better day. Once again, this is an easy homemade meal with a good jolt of nutrition!
You might think we're tired of tomatoes and basil after last night's meal but I'm afraid not. For two super BritishIrishScottish muts, we have some serious Mediterranean tendencies. Also, for the sake of grocery shopping on a budget, it does the wallet strings well to group together recipes were you use the same ingredients in a different way. 
Okay! Tomato-Basil Soup:
This is taken from one of my favorite cookbooks: The Betty Crocker Cookbook: Bridal Edition. This was a gift from my dear Auntie Arlene for our Engagement party and we use it all the time! My notes are in orange.
Ingredients

2tablespoons olive or vegetable oil

2medium carrots, finely chopped (1/2 cup)-don't bother to peel your carrots when adding to a soup, just lightly rinse and cut off a small portion of either end.

1small onion, finely chopped (1/2 cup) - here I used one of my favorite kitchen tools: Kitchen Aid Chopper

1-3clove garlic, finely chopped crushed

6large tomatoes, peeled, seeded and chopped (6 cups)* 3 cans of diced tomatoes (14.5 oz each)

1can (8 oz) tomato sauce

1/4cup thinly sliced fresh basil leaves or 2 teaspoons dried basil leaves

1/21teaspoon sugar

1/4teaspoon salt - purchase "no salt added" canned tomatoes, and you can add the salt, if not, put the salt down.

Dash of fresh cracked pepper
Directions

1. In 3-quart saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Cook carrots, onion and garlic in oil about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until tender but not browned.
2. Stir in tomatoes & tomato sauce. Cook uncovered about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until heated through.
3. Use a hand blender or blend soup in batches in your blender. Just pulse to break up the large chunks of tomatoes, if you prefer. We do! Too many chunks in this soup and then you can't dink your grilled cheese in!
4. Stir in remaining ingredients. Cook uncovered about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until hot.

Alright now for the Parmesan Encrusted Grilled Cheese:

Ingredients:

1 Tbsp of Butter

1 Tbsp Grated parmesan cheese - you can use either Kraft or freshly shredded here.

Garlic powder

salt/pepper to taste

4 slices of white, wheat or mutli-grain bread

6 slices of white american cheese, thinly sliced

Directions:

1. Slightly warm the butter in the mircowave for 11 seconds (if straight out of the fridge). Use a small spatula and mix the butter, parm cheese, garlic powder, s/p until well blended.
2. Spread the mixture over one side of each slice of bread.
3. Heat a frying plan or skillet on medium heat - make sure to use one of your pans that has a cover. Place two slices of bread butter side down
4. Layer [3] slices of cheese on each piece of bread and cover. Heat for 1-2 minutes or until slices begin to brown
5. Uncover and place remaining buttered slices on the cheese, butter-side up. Flip
6. Heat another 1-2 minutes for second side to brown.
7. Enjoy!

The parmesan with the butter adds a nutty, crsipy shell to the grilled cheese while giving it the brown (but not burned) look that we all love. We dipped our sandwiches into our soup and enjoyed a cozy evening on the couch.  I really recommend this meal for a rainy day, it's homemade comfort. Oh and for my Stone Soup Supper friends, we'll be bringing this soup next week!

Tomorrow: Veggie Burritos with Guacamole

Tomato, Mozzarella, Basil = Heaven

Oh alright, not heaven, but considering the vague descriptions I'm going to hope for some TMB Bagels for the senses.  It was grocery night so it was a good night to do a recipe this simple but delicious! 
We stopped at Panera to pick up a few bagels for this recipe and a focaccia loaf for later this week. We chose an everything and asiago cheese bagels but you are more than welcome to figure out your own preference. If you're unsure, go plain, there are plenty of other flavors in this recipe.
Second, 2 Roma aka: Italian Plum tomatoes are essential for this simple recipe. I love the flavor and the size after slicing makes it an easy choice (this is also the tomato I use for my homemade bruschetta). 
Next up, fresh and large basil leaves. At Hannaford supermarkets I LOVE using Olivia's Garden Basil. Because it's a plant not just the leaves, I found it lasts quite a long time. Follow the directions and don't put it in the fridge - usually I place some ocean rocks in the bottom of one of my vases, fill with water and place the basil plant in just so it retains the moisture into the roots. Don't oversoak the basil, it'll mold!

Source: alice.RICHES.snow

Next, Mmmm, Balsamic glaze. This stuff is yummy in a bottle. My lovely mother-in-law bought this for us last summer and we're addicted. 


Next up, mozzarella. What can I say about this wonderful cheese. Milky, stringy, melty, ooey, gooey goodness. You can choose your perference here: whether it be shredded, deli sliced or in ball form. I prefer the large ball form packed in little brine. 


Preheat your toaster's oven broiler or the oven - if you can adjust the heat for this I chose around 425deg. I prefer to use the toaster oven here because it's more manageable for only 1 bagel. If you want a whole bagel per person, simply repeat this recipe per whole bagel.

We used the asiago cheese bagels because they don't have a hole in the middle aaaand they're delicious. Slice the bagels in half and lay cheese side down.
Slice the tomato thinly, break off 2-4 pieces of basil per slice of bagel and layer. 

Layer the basil down first, then the tomato, drizzle with balsamic glaze.

Top with the mozzarella and finish off with some salt, pepper and garlic powder (I don't use crushed garlic here because you don't want to overpower all the other flavors, but it's nice to have a little garlic in this Italian inspired dish).

Place on a rack second down from the broiler to allow for everything to get warm and the cheese to start melting. 
For the last 2-3 minutes place the bagels closer to the broiler to get the layer of cheese nice and crispy-brown for some extra flavor! 

Enjoy! 

These bagels were delicious. They were ready in a jiffy and wonderfully filling. We both only had one half of a bagel and didn't need anything else! Good thing, because grocery shopping kicks the stuffing out of me at the end of the day. 

Tomorrow: Parmesan crusted grilled cheese with Tomato-Basil Soup