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Archive for the ‘Vegetarian’ Category

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries

Posted in Appetizers, Side Dishes, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , , on September 21, 2011 | 4 Comments »

The two things I can’t live without are cheese and bread. Trailing not very behind are French fries.  I love ALL French fries. I am an equal opportunity French fry lover.  I will eat steak fries, curly fries, shoestring fries, crinkle fries and of course sweet potato fries. Tonight I decided to make homemade sloppy joes. I found the recipe in Guy Fieri’s new cookbook.  I will post that recipe shortly! I usually eat tater tots with my sloppy joes, but I didn’t have any, I only had a bag of sweet potato fries in the freezer.  I decided to spice up the fries.  I thought by adding a bit of a kick to the fries they would be a great compliment to the spicy sloppy joes. I can’t tell you how good these fries are. The brown sugar gives the fries a nice coating and a bit of sweetness. It is a nice balance of flavors.

What is your favorite kind of French fries and how do you dress up frozen French fries?

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries
Recipe and photo by The Comforting Cook

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries


Ingredients:

  • Bag of your favorite sweet potato fries
  • 2 tablespoons of olive oil
  • 1 teaspoon of brown sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon of cumin
  • ¼ teaspoon chili powder
  • Pinch of cayenne pepper

Directions:

Pre-heat the oven to 400 degrees.

Toss the bag of French fries and all the above ingredients in a bag. Make sure all the fries are evenly coated.

Place the fries on a baking sheet.  I like to line the baking sheet with aluminum foil and spray the foil with cooking spray.
Bake the fries according to the directions on the back of the package.

Enjoy!

Disclosure: As part of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program I received a free bag of Ore Ida Sweet Potato Fries.

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Lemon Sherbet

Posted in Desserts, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , on September 17, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

It is September in Florida and it is still so hot.  I just have to remember the reason I live here is for the winter months.  Only three more months to go!!! This month my cooking club met and the theme was light and healthy.  I was in charge of desserts. Kind of hard to make a healthy dessert.  I know I could do fruit with yogurt and parfaits.  I wanted to challenge myself and really do something different.  Plus, with the heat I really didn’t want to use the oven.  I found a recipe for Lemon Sherbet.  My inspiration was my favorite restaurant Antonio’s that serves a mean Lemon Sorbet dessert.  The way Antonio’s presents this dessert is spectacular.  They put the sorbet inside a real lemon.  I know that has been done before, but these are the largest lemons I have ever seen.  They must inject them with steroids!  So I made it my mission to find a recipe that mirrors that great dessert.  I know it is not the most healthy recipe, but it was light and didn’t heat up my kitchen!

I was surprised how easy it was to make Lemon sherbet without an ice cream maker.  This recipe takes some time to make since you have to mix it up every 30 minutes, but it was worth it.  The girls really enjoyed the dessert.  I will say the original recipe I followed did not make nearly enough for four ladies.  So I tripled the recipe and it was plenty, plus I had enough to put in a container and have until this heat wave goes away! Great way to stay cool on these hot nights. The original recipe just had you plate them in a bowl.  I thought it would be fun and festive to try and put them in lemons like Antonio’s.  I had to make do with my small lemons and not steroid injected lemons, but overall I still think it was a great light summery dessert.

I have to tell you that this recipe reminded me of my childhood.  With the real pieces of lemon in the sherbet it reminded me of my favorite place on back home in New York called “Ralph’s Italian Ices”.  Best place ever.  They are only open from Memorial Day to Labor Day.  I remember hot summer days of waiting over an hour in line for an Italian ice.  But man was it worth it.  I always got the lemon ice.   It always had real pieces of lemon zest in it.  So good.  I am writing this blog sitting at the kitchen table of my Dad’s house in New York. I think I just talked myself into making a trip in the middle of the afternoon to get me some Lemon Italian ice!!! Hope this recipe reminds you of one of your favorite summer desserts.

Lemon Sherbet

Lemon Sherbet
Servings: 4
Recipe and Photo by The Comforting Cook
Adapted recipe from Joy of Baking

Ingredients:

  • 6 lemons (use these six lemons for the lemon juice and lemon zest)
  • 4 lemons (scoop the middle of the lemons out so it is hollow.  You will use the shell of the lemons as a cup that holds the sherbet)
  • Zest of 2 lemons
  • 1 cup of whipping cream
  • 1 cup of milk
  • 2/3 cup of superfine sugar (A good trick is to use regular granulated sugar and mix in a food processor for 30 seconds)

Directions:

In a measuring cup, stir together the lemon juice of four lemons, lemon zest (use two of the four lemons you are getting the juice from), cream, milk, and sugar. Taste and add more sugar if needed. Cover and place in the refrigerator to chill for several hours.
Once the mixture is thoroughly chilled, place in your ice cream machine and process according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Once made, transfer to a chilled container and store in the freezer.

If you do not have an ice cream machine you can ‘still’ freeze the sherbet. Pour the mixture into an 8 inch stainless steel pan (will freeze faster in stainless steel), cover with plastic wrap, and place in the freezer for about four hours. Stir the mixture every half hour, to break up any large ice crystals that have formed. When the sherbet is firm (will not be rock hard) with a consistency somewhere between an ice cream and a sorbet, transfer the sherbet to the lemons you are using as the cup for this sherbet.

What is your favorite summer dessert? Share your recipes, I would love to add to my collection has I battle another summer in Florida!

Stay cool and enjoy!

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Apple Turnovers

Posted in Desserts, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , , , , on September 9, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

I love lazy weekends.  My husband and I don’t get enough of them! I went to the farmers market this weekend and they had wonderful looking granny smith apples.  The apples were a great reminder that fall is right around the corner.  I love fall and that means it is really spring like weather in Florida!  I bought a basket full of apples not knowing what I was going to do with them, but I knew I would think of something!  While sitting in front of the computer catching up on emails I decided I wanted a cup of tea and something sweet to go with them.  I remembered I had some puff pastry in the fridge leftover from another meal from earlier in the week.  So I decided to make apple turnovers.  I was so happy I had everything on hand to make them.  What a bummer it would have been to get my heart set on apple turnovers and not have everything in the house to make them! I was in no mood to go to the store at that point either!

What is your favorite sweet item to eat with a cup of tea or coffee on a lazy Sunday?

Apple Turnovers
Recipe and photo: by The Comforting Cook
Serves: 8

Apple Turnovers, The Comforting Cook

Apple Turnovers

Ingredients:
•    1 sheet of puff pastry
•    2 granny smith apples, peeled, cored and chopped in ¼ inch pieces
•    1 tbsp cinnamon ( use less if you like)
•    ½ cup brown sugar
•    6 tbsp of butter divided
•    ½ cup of crushed shortbread cookies
•    ½ cup chopped pecans
•    1 tbsp sugar
•    Flour

Directions:

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees

Melt 2 tablespoons of butter in a pan on medium heat and add pecans.  Toast in pan for 5 minutes.

In a bowl combine apples, cinnamon, brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of butter, shortbread cookies and pecans with any leftover melted butter from pan.

Melt the final 2 tablespoons of butter.

Roll puff pastry out on floured surface.  Cut into 8 equal squares.  Places a few spoon fulls of the apple mixture into each square.  Pull one end of the dough over to the other to make a triangle. Use a fork to pinch the sides closed.

Brush melted butter on top of each turnover. Sprinkle each turnover with a little bit of sugar.

Cook for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

Enjoy with your favorite cup of tea or coffee!

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Monkey Bread

Posted in Desserts, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , on September 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

My monthly cooking club is still going strong.  The girls and I meet the first Friday of the month and share lots of great food and stories.  It is a nice to share the love of food with this great group of ladies.  I couldn’t wait to share this wonderful recipe that one of the ladies recently made.  It is for “Monkey Bread”.  Not sure where Monkey Bread is from,  if it is a Southern , mid-west or northern thing, but I know I never heard of it before I had it at our monthly cooking club.  Let me tell you, I have really been missing out.  In case you are a Monkey Bread virgin like I was, it is basically a pan full of cinnamon sugar munchkins layered and cooked on top of each other in a bundt pan.  I can assure you there was no Monkey Bread left that night at our cooking club.  We try to save some extra food so everyone can take home some leftovers.  Not that night!!! It is pure Heaven!!!  I am addicted to Monkey Bread.  I think I need help!!!!

Monkey Bread

Monkey Bread

Not like I needed an excuse to make Monkey Bread, but my husband’s step-sister was in town with her two boys recently and we were all meeting at my mother-n-laws for dinner.  I said I would bring dessert.  The best part of the meal if you ask me.  I decided on Monkey Bread because I thought it was kid-friendly and who doesn’t like eating food with their hands!  Well, again, another night where there was no Monkey Bread left.  Not sure who ate more the kids or the adults.  I will warn you that this recipe is a bit involved and time consuming to make.  But I promise you that it is definitely worth it.  I don’t have children, but I think this is a great recipe for your little ones to help you make.  It is does take a bit of time to roll all the balls of dough and layer them.  Great job for the little ones to do!

What kind of desserts do you like to make that are kid-friendly? I am always looking for new desserts to bring to my friend’s houses that have kids.  I welcome all ideas!!!

Monkey Bread
Recipe by: Lisa from my cooking club
Photo by: The Comforting Cook
Serves 10

Ingredients:

  • 1/4 cup water, warm (100-110F)
  • 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (.25-oz)
  • 3 – 3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 3 tbsp sugar
  • 1 large egg
  • 2 tbsp butter, melted
  • 3/4 cup milk, warm (100-110F)
  • 2 cups brown sugar
  • 1 1/2 tbsp ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted

 

Lightly grease a standard 10-in bundt pan with cooking spray. Set aside.

 
In the bowl of a stand mixer (all mixing can be done by hand, as well), combine warm water and yeast. Let stand for 2 minutes, until yeast is slightly foamy.

 
Stir in 1 cup of the flour, along with the salt, sugar, vanilla, egg, 2 tbsp melted butter and warm milk. Mix well, until dough is fairly smooth. Put the dough hook attachment onto your mixer and gradually add in the remaining flour, mixing at medium speed until dough comes easily away from the sides of the bowl. Knead for 3-4 minutes on medium speed. Remove dough hook and cover the bowl with plastic wrap. Let dough rest for 30 minutes.

 
In a small bowl, whisk together brown sugar and cinnamon. Place melted butter in a nearby bowl and get a fork out, as well.

 
Turn dough out onto a very lightly floured surface and gently deflate so that dough is relatively flat (maybe 1/2-3/4 inch thick) Using a knife or a bench scraper, cut off small pieces of dough to form 1/2 to 1-inch balls. As you cut each piece of dough, roll it into a ball in the palms of your hands. Dunk each ball in butter, use the fork to remove it and transfer it to the sugar mixture to be thoroughly coated. Place all coated dough balls into prepared bundt pan.

 
Once all balls have been coated and places in the pan, cover the pan lightly with plastic wrap and let bread rise for 60 minutes, until almost doubled in size.

 
Preheat the oven to 350F while the bread rises.
Bake for 30-35 minutes. Bread will spring back when lightly pressed.

 
Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a serving platter.

 
Bread is best served warm and gooey.

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Mini Caprese Bites

Posted in Appetizers, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , , , on January 7, 2011 | Leave a Comment »

For New Year’s Day we had some family over.  I wanted to start the New Year off right with some healthy appetizers. I had a house full of picky eaters, me included.  The only thing I could think of that most of us actually all liked were tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.  I remember seeing in a magazine a fun way of assembling a caprese salad by putting it on a skewer. I thought that was a fun way to showcase this appetizer to my picky guests! Well it must have looked good enough to eat since there were none left by the end of the night.  I will definitely use this recipe again the next time I have a party! Happy New Year!

Mini Caprese Bite
Photo by The Comforting Cook
Yield:  Makes about 20 skewers (depends on how many tomatoes are in the pint)

Mini Caprese Bites

Ingredients:
1 pt. grape tomatoes, halved
1 8 oz package of fresh mozzarella (cut into 1/2 inch pieces)
20 (4-inch) wooden skewers or wooden sticks
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons balsamic vinegar
1 tablespoon of Dijon mustard
1 tablespoon of maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Directions:
Thread 1 tomato half, 1 piece of cheese, and another tomato half onto each skewer. Place skewers in a shallow serving dish.

Whisk together oil and next 5 ingredients. Keep tasting the mixture as you go. You may want to add a little more mustard, balsamic or syrup depending on your taste. I would definite experiment with this recipe and get the measurements of the oil mixture to your liking.  Drizzle oil mixture over skewers.

Place skewers in a nice cocktail glass or on a serving platter. Enjoy!

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Baked Brie with Raspberry Jam

Posted in Appetizers, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , , on November 13, 2010 | 2 Comments »

As much as I love food, I can be a very picky eater.  I am really bad about not trying food if it has ingredients in it I know I don’t like or think I don’t like, even though I haven’t tried them.  But I have to admit as I am getting older I am getting much better about trying foods even though they may have ingredients that I wouldn’t normally eat or pair with each other.

On to the Baked Brie with Raspberry Jam. I really haven’t met a cheese I didn’t like.  And Brie cheese is no exception.  This recipe is inspired by a Baked Brie my cousin Gina served one Thanksgiving.  I believe it was the first Thanksgiving after my mother passed away and my cousin invited my family over for Thanksgiving dinner.  One of the wonderful appetizers served was a Baked Brie.  But little did I know until after I tried it that there were nuts and black currants in it.  If I knew that before I ate it, I wouldn’t have tried it.  Glad I didn’t ask what was in it before I ate it, because I would have missed out on a great appetizer!

This past weekend a couple of my friends and I decided to form a “Cooking Club”.  There are six of us in the group and two of them I only loosely know from husband, he went to high school with them.  The other is a gal I work with and the other two women are friends of my husband’s high school friends, that I have never met before. We decided on an Appetizers and Desserts theme for the first official meeting.  Since we are only a few weeks away from Thanksgiving, I decided to make my own version of my cousin’s Baked Brie recipe.  I used raspberry jam instead of black currants.  I omitted the nuts because I wasn’t sure if any of the ladies were allergic to nuts.  This appetizer is very comforting to me because it reminds me of that Thanksgiving where my cousin and her family opened up their home to me and my family.  We had a lot to be thankful for that year!

I can’t tell you how much fun the Cooking Club was. We had a great time meeting each other, trying each other’s food and learning what inspired each person to make their dish.  At the bottom there are photos of some of the wonderful dishes from the cooking club meeting.  Again, I ate food that I normally don’t eat, like pumpkin.  I worked in a bakery for 5 years and I am sick of pumpkin.  Two of the women made pumpkin spiced desserts.  They were excellent.  Again, I told them not to tell me what is in it until after I have tried it! Glad I ventured out of my comfort zone and ate the wonderful food. I am sure you will be hearing more about my cooking club in my blogs.  We meet once a month and I can’t wait to share all the wonderful recipes my new friends are so kind to share with me.  See how comforting food can be! It really does bring people together.  Now I am happy to call all of them my friends!

Baked Brie with Raspberry Jam

Baked Brie with Raspberry Jam
Adapted recipe and photo by The Comforting Cook
Original recipe from Paula Deen

Ingredients
•    1 sheet frozen puff pastry (package comes with 2 sheets)
•    1 small (8-ounce) wheel Brie
•    raspberry jam
•    2 eggs, beaten
•    Kitchen string

Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
Defrost 1 sheet of puff pastry for approximately 15 to 20 minutes and unfold (place remaining sheet in freezer for later use). Spread jam on Brie, use as much as you like. Gently roll pastry with a rolling pin to increase the size of the sheet 1 to 2 inches in each direction. Brush both sides of the sheet with beaten eggs. Center the wheel of Brie on top of the pastry sheet. Bring all four corners of the sheet together above Brie and twist slightly to form a “bundle.” Tie gathered pastry with kitchen/cooking string (tie string in the form of a bow), arranging pastry until you are satisfied with the “bundle” shape. Place “bundle” on an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for 20 to 25 minutes until pastry is golden brown. Enjoy!

Photos of the food from the Cooking Club:

Lots of Wonderful Food Made by Wonderful Ladies

Cheese Ball... Looks Gorgeous Doesn't It?

Pumpkin Spiced Cookies.. YUM!!

Pumpkin Cream Cheese Rolls

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Muffin Tin Potatoes

Posted in Side Dishes, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , on November 3, 2010 | 2 Comments »

I could eat potatoes and cheese all day long.  So when I found this recipe on the Food Network website, I knew I had to make it.  Nothing says comfort food like potatoes, cheese and heavy cream.  Can’t get better than that right? I can’t believe how easy and versatile these potatoes really are.  I made a few tweaks to the original recipe. I try hard to follow Paula Deen’s rule of thinking, the first time you make a recipe, follow the directions exactly as written. I did that the first time, but I noticed I needed to make a few tweaks to the temperature and the amount of cream as well as the type of cheese. This is a great week night side dish, but it is also fancy enough for company.  This is definitely one of my go to side dishes! Hope you enjoy! Happy eating!!

Muffin Tin Potatoes
Adapted from FoodNetwork.com

Muffin Tin Potatoes

Ingredients:
•    Vegetable spray
•    2 large russet potatoes, thinly sliced ( I like to leave the skins on the potatoes, you can also use red potatoes as well. You will just need more red potatoes depending on their size)
•    1 cup grated Cheese (use whatever cheese you like. I like to change it up and use cheddar,  Mexican cheese or even mozzarella)
•    2 green onions, finely chopped
•    Garlic Powder
•    Salt and freshly ground black pepper
•    1 pint cup heavy cream

Directions:
•    Preheat oven to 400 degrees .
•    Spray 12 muffin tins with vegetable spray. Layer potato slices, cheese, and onions and garlic powder (to taste) into each muffin cup. Season with salt and pepper on top. Pour enough heavy cream into each tin till it almost hits the top of the tin. Layer with a little more cheese. Cover with foil(spray foil with vegetable spray so the cheese doesn’t stick to the foil) and bake for 30 to 40 minutes, removing the foil halfway through cooking time.
•    Remove potatoes from tin and serve! I find it pretty easy to use a plastic spatula you mix cakes with to remove from tin.

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Maple Glazed Carrots

Posted in Side Dishes, Vegetarian, tagged , , , , , , on October 23, 2010 | Leave a Comment »

I am a very picky vegetable eater.  My mom used to make me sit next to my cousin, Vincent at family gatherings because all either of us would eat was meat, potatoes and carrots.  Eating those two vegetables were a LOT for us.  But I always loved carrots, especially my mom’s carrots.  My mom always just added chopped onions to the cooking process and that was it.  But they tasted so good.  As I got older I would make them for my friends and they would love them.  I was so surprised because the only thing I added was carrots.  As I try to expand my palate and cooking techniques, my new favorite ingredient is maple syrup. I seem to add it to everything.  So I took a recipe I found that called for the Mrs.  Dash Garlic and Herb seasoning and brown sugar and kicked it up a notch with the onions, butter (of course butter) and my new favorite ingredient, maple syrup.  What a great side dish this turned out to be.  I just served these to my Dad a few months ago and the man who hates change actually loved them.   He is the type of man that if it isn’t broken don’t fix it.  He is not very adventurous with food, so I asked him to please try these carrots and he did.  He actually complimented me on them and then asked for more! So this dish is sure to please us picky eaters!!! Let me know your thoughts on this dish and how your family likes it.  I would love to hear your feedback.  Also, if you would like to get updates sent to your email address every time I make a new post, be sure to click on the email subscription button on the right hand side of the screen.  Happy cooking!

Maple Glazed Carrots:
Recipe and Photo by The Comforting Cook

Ingredients:

1 Ib of carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch pieces

1 teaspoon Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb Seasoning (May need a little more, depending on taste)

2-3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

2 Tablespoons brown sugar

2 Tablespoons of maple syrup

¼ cup chopped onion

Directions:

Put carrots and onions in a pot, cover with water and bring to a boil.  Then reduce heat to medium and cook until tender.  I put the cover on the pot to speed up the cooking process.  This should probably take about 20-25 minutes.

Drain carrots and set aside.

Melt butter in a pan.  Add the Mrs. Dash Garlic and Herb Seasoning, brown sugar and maple syrup.  Stir and then add the carrots.

Put carrots in a bowl and serve to your hungry family!

Maple Glazed Carrots

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