Vegetable Egg Bake

This is a super easy recipe that you can prepare the day ahead.  Just throw your favorite vegetables together with some hash browns, eggs and cheese and you have a delicious meal!  I made this last weekend up at my cabin and it was perfect to just throw in the oven the next morning, accompanied by a french toast casserole of course :).

Vegetable Egg Bake

Ingredients
8 eggs
2 cups milk (I use 1% milk)
2 cups chopped and sautéed vegetables (I recommend peppers, broccoli, onions and jalapeño)
4 cloves garlic, diced
1 cup shredded cheese
1 32 ounce package of frozen hash browns
2 tablespoons olive oil
cracked pepper
1 teaspoon paprika
1/2 teaspoon salt

1. Chop vegetables and garlic and lightly sauté them with olive oil.
2. Place frozen hash browns in a greased 9x13 pan.  

 
3. Sprinkle vegetables and 1/2 cup cheese on top of hash browns and lightly mix them into hash browns.
4. Mix eggs, salt, pepper to taste and milk until thoroughly combined.  Then pour over potato vegetable mixture.  

 
5. Sprinkle with remaining cheese, paprika and additional cracked pepper.
6. Cover and sit overnight or until ready to serve.
7. Preheat oven to 350 and bake for 40 minutes or until middle is set.
8. Enjoy!

Marinated Tofu Stir Fry

This is a really easy, tasty way to cook tofu and infuse it with flavor.  If you want to make it even faster, just use your favorite teriyaki sauce and add the garlic, jalapeno and ginger.

Marinated Tofu Stir Fry

1/4 cup soy sauce
1 tablespoon brown sugar
2 tablespoons olive oil or sesame oil
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeño, mined
1 teaspoon fresh grated ginger
1/2 block tofu, cubed
Chopped vegetables (your choice)

1. Remove the tofu from the wrapper and drain.  Press the tofu with a paper towel or towel until you've absorbed most of the moisture from it.  This will help the marinade absorb better, and make you tofu less likely to fall apart when you cook it.

2.  Combine all ingredients above and toss the tofu in it.  Let sit for at least 2 hours.
3.  Chop up whatever vegetables you prefer (I like red peppers and broccoli).

4. Sauté tofu, vegetables and any remaining sauce until vegetables are tender and tofu is browning.
5. Serve with your favorite rice and hot sauce and enjoy!  

Crockpot Veggie Meatballs

My friends Lara and Jordan introduced me to Trader Joe's veggie meatballs recently at a new year's party.  And let me tell you, they are amazing!  I've made them about 6 times already and I foresee many more times in the near future.  This recipe below is my favorite way to cook them if I am going to be serving them to a group.  If I'm making just a few, I'll scale the recipe down and microwave them.

Spicy Crockpot Veggie Meatballs

1 package Trader Joe's veggie meatballs
1 cup BBQ sauce
1/2 cup ketchup
2-3 diced Chipotle peppers in adobe sauce, plus a 2 tablespoons of the sauce

1) Place meatballs in Crockpot.

 

 

2) Coat meatballs in BBQ sauce, ketchup and peppers and stir until combined.

3) Turn Crockpot on high for 2 hours or low for 4.
4) Enjoy!

Cream Cheese Jalapeno Wontons

This recipe I made up because I love cream cheese puffs/wontons, but hate all the fat they contain.  This recipe uses low-fat cream cheese and you bake the wontons instead of fry them.  So go ahead and indulge! 

Jalapeno Cream Cheese Wontons

8 ounces cream cheese
1 roasted jalapeno*
1 clove roasted garlic
1 package wonton wraps (contains about 50)

 *You can also make these without the jalapenos for those who can't handle the heat

1) Allow cream cheese to come to room temperature.

2) Roast a jalapeno and garlic clove in a pan, until lightly browned on all sides.   Give them a rough chop and throw them in the food processor. 

3) Add cream cheese to food processor and pulse until jalapeno and garlic and well mixed.
4) To make the wonton, put half a teaspoon of the filling in the middle of the skin and wet the edges of the wonton wrapper.

5) Pick up one corner and fold it to the diagonal corner. Pick up the 2 ends that have 45 degrees angle (the ones where the fold is) and wet them with a dab of water on your finger. Pinch the two corners together (see photos above).

6) Spray the cooking pan and the wontons with olive oil and bake at 400 for about 6-8 minutes or until golden brown.

7) Serve with chili sauce for dipping.

Chocolate Cake with Cream Filling and Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Need a great idea for valentines day?  Make some chocolate cake, yum!  I made this for a birthday last weekend, but it would be a great way to show someone you love them. :)

Chocolate Cake with Cream Filling and Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients
 Butter, for greasing the pans
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for pans
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups good cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt 1 cup buttermilk, shaken
 1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup freshly brewed hot coffee
Cream filling, recipes follows
Chocolate Buttercream, recipe follows

Directions
1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter two 8-inch x 2-inch round cake pans. Line with parchment paper, then butter and flour the pans.

2) Sift the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking soda, baking powder, and salt into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a paddle attachment and mix on low speed until combined.
3) In another bowl, combine the buttermilk, oil, eggs, and vanilla.
4) With the mixer on low speed, slowly add the wet ingredients to the dry. With mixer still on low, add the coffee and stir just to combine, scraping the bottom of the bowl with a rubber spatula. 

5) Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s) and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.
6) Cool in the pans for 30 minutes, then turn them out onto a cooling rack and cool completely.

7) Place 1 layer, flat side up, on a flat plate or cake pedestal. With a knife or offset spatula, spread the top with frosting. Place the second layer on top, rounded side up, and spread the frosting evenly on the top and sides of the cake.

 

Cream Filling
1 pint heavy whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup powdered sugar

1) Pour chilled cream and vanilla into a bowl and beat until cream is forming stiff peaks.
2) Slowly mix in powdered sugar until just mixed.
3) Spread immediately and refrigerator any remaining cream.

Chocolate Buttercream frosting
6 ounces semisweet chocolate   
1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar

1) Chop or break the chocolate and place it in a heat-proof bowl set over a pan of simmering water (or microwave if you want to go faster). Stir until just melted and set aside until cooled to room temperature.

2) In the bowl of an electric mixer beat the butter and melted chocolate on medium-high speed until mixed. Turn the mixer to low, gradually add the confectioners' sugar, then beat at medium speed, scraping down the bowl as necessary, until smooth and creamy. Spread immediately on the cooled cake.

 

Baked Stuffed Shells

This recipe come from my friend Sara Rolle.  She taught the basics to me back in college and I've recreated it using whatever ingredients I have on hand ever since.  This time I had a huge jar of pesto, so I incorporated that and it tasted great.  Sometime I add an egg to the cheese mixture, but I didn't have any today and it actually turned out exactly the same without it, so I didn't list it below.

Baked Stuffed Shells

1 box uncooked jumbo size shells
32 ounces ricotta cheese
1 cup mozzarella cheese, divided in half
1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
2 cups spinach (you can add more if you like)
4 garlic cloves, minced
Cracked pepper
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning
1/4 cup, plus 2 tablespoons pesto
1 jar of spaghetti sauce (about 48 ounces)

1. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
2. Boil water and cook the shells until just slightly al dente.

3. While the shells are cooking, sauté the spinach and garlic until the spinach has wilted.

4. Mix the ricotta, 1/2 cup mozzarella, Parmesan cheese, cracked pepper to taste, Italian seasoning and the 2 tablespoons of pesto together.  Add the wilted spinach and garlic and mix until combined.
5. Run cold water over the shells after cooking so they are cool enough to touch.

6. Mix your spaghetti sauce and 1/4 cup pesto together.  Place enough sauce to coat the bottom of your baking dish.

7. Set up an assembly line with your shells, stuffing and baking dish.

8. Take each shell and place about 1 tablespoon of stuffing in.  Place it in the dish and continue until all shells are filled.  You can place them atop each other if you run out of room.
9. Cover the shells with the sauce and then sprinkle with the remaining mozzarella cheese.

10. Bake at 375 for 30 minutes.
11. Enjoy!