Roasted Cabbage Wedges

Okay, don't recoil.  Stick with me here.  This isn't stinky, or sulfuric, or boiled to death.  Roasted cabbage might be a revelation for you.  If you are making Corned Beef and Cabbage or Colcannon this weekend for St. Patrick's Day, you might have some extra cabbage that you don't know what to do with.  Try this.  I bet you might like it!

You don't have to use the fennel or anise seeds, but I like the little crunch and burst of flavor it adds.  Also, the lemon squeeze at the end is optional, but if you've read this blog for a while, you know I try to put lemon on everything.  And you know what?  I never regret it!

So go ahead, take a chance, and try the Roasted Cabbage Wedges.  I eat several at a time, for lunch, when I can.  See the recipe at GCH ... scroll past the Colcannon, it's at the bottom.

Vegetable Pancakes

Most people know these as latkes, but Koreans make something similar, called "jeon".  Whatever you call them - haystacks, vegetable hash browns, tasty crispy circles of love - these are easy and delicious.  Check out my recipe as I guest-blog over at GCH!

Wellseley Fudge Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream (Solar System Cake)

Solar System Cake!

Every year I try to make my older daughter's birthday cake better than the year before.  I knew that wouldn't be too hard this year, since I was not impressed with the princess castle cake I made last year.  I didn't have a good design plan, and was left winging it when guests arrived.  This year, I knew I wanted to celebrate and encourage my daughter's love of the Solar System, and I wanted her cake to be awesome, since she's turned five, and might actually remember this stuff!

I searched around Pinterest for ideas, and found some good ones, but I still decided to design my own instead of copy someone else's.  When dealing with the planets, it seemed people either made cake pop versions of the planets, or suggested them as mounds of raised frosting on the surface of the cake.  I've never made cake pops, and didn't want to start now - too much pressure! - and besides, I wanted the planets to be different sizes.  So I went to Michael's and found the non-edible version in Styrofoam balls, and had them orbit on lollipop sticks.  This made it easier all around, as I didn't have to worry about dyeing frosting, and just used my kids' tempera paint.  I did go dramatic with the cake frosting color, with violet gel coloring.  I think navy or black would look sharp too, or you could make it really easy on yourself and make a dark chocolate frosting!  I used white chocolate chips for stars, but you can pipe those if you are so inclined.

Jupiter, Mars and Earth

As for the cake, I found a wonderful recipe using Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate.  You know, those big blocks of either bittersweet or unsweetened chocolate in the baking aisle?  Fantastic!  The secret to this cake's rich and incredibly moist texture is using a stand mixer.  I whipped the heck out of this batter, and it was amazing.  I really doubt you'd be able to get the same results with a whisk or fork, so if you don't have a stand mixer, maybe an electric hand mixer would do the trick.

The cream cheese buttercream is my own recipe.  It's simple and holds up well in the fridge and on the counter. It's firm enough to frost with and pipe, but not so stiff you'll drag the crumbs off your cake.  It took the dye really well too.

If you need to celebrate a birthday for your favorite future space explorer, try this one.  It's beautiful inside and out!

White Chocolate Chip stars between the layers too!

Wellseley Fudge Cake with Cream Cheese Buttercream
(Recipe Courtesy Baker's Chocolate)

Ingredients:

• 4 squares Baker's Unsweetened Chocolate
• 1 3/4 cups sugar, divided
• 1/2 cup water (I used cold coffee instead - you should too!)
• 1 2/3 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 3 eggs
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*F.  Grease and flour two 9-inch round pans.  (You can use cocoa instead of flour if you have it!)
2. In a medium bowl, microwave 1/2 cup sugar, coffee (or water) and Baker's Chocolate for 30-second intervals, stirring between each interval, until melted.  (Mine took 2 minutes.)  Set aside and let cool.
3. In a small bowl, mix flour, baking soda, and salt.  
4. In the bowl of your stand mixer, cream together remaining sugar and the softened butter until light and fluffy.  Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing well with each addition.  Then alternate adding milk and flour mixture, beating well with each addition.  Finally, beat in the chocolate mixture.  Divide evenly between the two prepared pans.
5. Bake for 35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool for ten minutes in the pans, then remove cakes from the pans and let cool on a wire rack.  Frost when totally cool.

She loved it!  Blowing out the candles

Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

Ingredients:

• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 1 stick butter, slightly softened
• 1 box confectioner's sugar (one pound)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 cup whole milk or whipping cream

Directions:

1. In a large bowl using an electric hand mixer, or a stand mixer, beat together the cream cheese and butter.  Gradually mix in the powdered sugar, and add the vanilla.  Add in the milk or cream a tablespoon at a time until you achieve your desired consistency (you may not need to add it all.)  Mix in any coloring.  This recipe makes enough to frost a sheet cake, or to fill and frost a 2-layer round cake.

Chinese Tofu Stir Fry

I have successfully reverse-engineered my favorite take-out dish from a nationally-known Chinese take-out restaurant.  Schmanda Express, you have been put on notice!  It's an easy recipe, it's infinitely customizable,  and it's healthy too.  Make some rice, crack open a fortune cookie, and check out my recipe at GCH tonight!

Spaghetti Carbonara

I love poached eggs.  They are nature's Sauce Bombs!  So I decided to see if I could replace the whipped egg sauce of Spaghetti Carbonara with a more-cooked, healthier helping of poached eggs.  Did I succeed?  In a word, YES!  Check out the recipe I posted at GCH:  Spaghetti Carbonara.

Stuffed Mushrooms

My friend Christi issued a challenge to her Facebook friends:  Take stock of what's in your freezer, and use only ingredients you find in there to make your dinners - for a month!  Wow, I would be impressed if someone could do that!  My freezer is mostly filled with bread and chicken breasts.  But I did move things around, look in the back for items that needs to be used soon - and I found a tube of faux sausage meat.  You know what I mean - the soy stuff vegetarians eat instead of animal flesh.  I do try to eat lower on the food chain and will occasionally give a new brand of meat substitute a try.  I guess this one didn't inspire me right away so I tossed it in the freezer.  Time to use my resources!

I ate half of it - sautéed with onions and butter - in breakfast burritos.  Not bad!  Now I had another 6 or so ounces to use.  Inspiration struck - stuffed mushrooms!  I love one-bite appetizers, so I decided to take this recipe for a spin.I imagine it would be better with real sausage meat, removed from its casing and browned, but for non-animal-based protein, this was a keeper.  Next time you have a vegetarian coming over for dinner, whip some of these babies up!

Cute, neat, and tasty - the best kind of appetizer!

Stuffed Mushrooms

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces button (white) or cremini (brown) mushrooms
• 1 teaspoon butter or oil
• 4 - 6 ounces vegetarian sausage "meat", or use real sausage, removed from its casing
• 4 ounces cream cheese
• 4 green onions, minced
• salt and pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 375F.  Line a baking sheet with tin foil and spray or brush lightly with oil.
2. In a saute pan over medium heat, cook the sausage in the butter, breaking it up into small chunks.  Cook for 5 to 8 minutes until hot and brown.  Let cool for a few minutes.
3. In a bowl, mix together the cream cheese and green onion, and season with salt and pepper.  Add the sausage and stir well to combine.
4. Clean the mushrooms by brushing off any dirt with a damp paper towel.  Remove the stems.  Spoon a teaspoon or more of the sausage mix into the mushroom cavity, mounding it up as necessary.  Place stuffed mushrooms on baking tray and bake for 15-20 minutes, until the mushrooms are hot and cooked through and the stuffing is browned.

That's it!  These little bites went fast (even the kids liked them) and would fare well at a buffet or cocktail party.

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries with Chipotle Sauce

I don't really care about football, but I do like the Super Bowl (tm) (please don't sue me, NFL!)  We usually invite friends or family over to the house, just a few people, and enjoy snacks and beer.  My favorite thing to eat during the game is Ruffles potato chips and sour cream and onion dip - you know, the kind that is comprised of a tub of sour cream and a packet of French Onion soup?  LOVE!  I only make it once a year, and it's my special, no-carbs-barred day with salty treats.  Only this year, I abstained.  It was hard, seeing all those shiny, brightly-colored bags in the store, but I made a commitment to treat my body better and lose weight, so I took a stand and passed.

Instead, I made these sweet potato fries.  They were incredibly tasty and easy to make, so I had to share the recipe.  The basic recipe, of course, is just sweet potatoes, oil, and salt.  And feel free to make them like that, they are wonderful!  But I found a jar of garam masala, a relative of curry powder, at my local Target last week, and I thought the two tastes would go well together.  I was right!  Garam masala ingredients vary by neighborhood in India, so there's no one "authentic" composition.  This one has black pepper, cardamom, anise, and other spices.  If you were to add sugar, it would remind you of chai.  If you add it to a savory dish, it is a fragrant, warm spice mixture that hints at sweetness and heat - perfect for sweet potatoes!

Eat these as-is, or make the chipotle dipping sauce recipe below.  I think these would be great with just a bowl of plain yogurt to dip into, too.

Spicy Sweet Potato Fries

Ingredients:

• 3 small sweet potatoes, peeled
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• 1 tablespoon coconut oil (if you don't have it, use all olive oil)
• 1 teaspoon garam masala (OR 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin and 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice or cinnamon)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400F.  Peel the sweet potatoes and slice into wedges.  Mine were pretty thin - they will crisp up quicker if you cut them thinly lengthwise, and as evenly as possible.  
2. In a large bowl, mix together all ingredients.  Pour onto a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil and bake.
3. Flip sweet potatoes every ten minutes until they are crisp.  Mine were unevenly cut, so some were done after 30 minutes and the rest at 40 minutes.  When crisp, remove from pan to a cooling rack or a plate lined with paper towels.  Serve plain or with sauce of choice.

And if your sauce of choice is the Chipotle Sauce...

In a food processor, add 1/4 cup mayonnaise, 1 tablespoon plain yogurt or sour cream, one chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, 1/2 lemon (juiced), and 1/4 cup cilantro stems and leaves.  Blend, taste, add salt, maybe some more adobo sauce from the can, or a little orange juice or more lemon.  Oh, ground cumin would be nice in here too!  Or, if you are lucky and recently made my recipe for Fajitas Salad, skip all this and use the leftover dressing!