Semi-home-made Ravioli

In the interest of total disclosure: I originally set out to make this ravioli recipe. I mean look at the pictures – doesn’t that runny egg yolk look amazing? Seriously – runny egg yolk + ricotta + pasta = love in my world. I wanted it in my mouth immediately. However, I failed miserably. Since I don’t have either a pasta machine or rolling pin, there was no way I was going to take on the task of making homemade pasta dough. So I decided to use premade wonton skins as a short cut.

It was a short cut that took me into raw egg hell. Seriously, my cutting board looked like a scene from a henhouse massacre. I couldn’t fit the egg yolk into the mound of filling, and the one time I managed to, I couldn’t fit the second wonton skin over without breaking the yolk and having it ooze out the side. After my third attempt went horribly wrong once again, I decided to cut my losses and simply carry on sans egg yolk. It’s not my Great-Aunt Joyce’s ravioli by any means (because that is simply divine), but it’s a tender, relatively easy, and tastes good. All’s well that ends well I suppose.

But one day I will master this recipe. One day.

Spinach with Shallots, Almonds, and Feta with Poached Egg

I tend to like savory and sweet breakfasts equally well; while pancakes are divine, give me a bowl of pad-thai or spinach for breakfast and I’ll be pretty happy. After an attempt at my first dinner party meal of Stuffed Chicken Breast, I wondered how the filling would taste with a poached egg on top.

In short, awesome.

As you know, I loved poached eggs. My approach to cooking new foods tends to stem from a recipe or ingredient that I like and moving on from there. This doesn’t always work out (peanut butter and yogurt anyone?), but as I’ve realized which tastes I like together, I’m finding fewer big misses. This recipe will make Popeye jealous with the amount of iron it pumps into you.

Pork Potstickers

Whenever my family ordered Chinese food, I always insisted on potstickers. Our local place made them perfectly – thick, chewy dumpling with perfectly seasoned pork filling. I hated sharing them. It got to the point where other family members would look at me cautiously asking for permission to have a single potsticker with the same tones you ask a crazy person if they can give you the knife. You don't know how badly I always wanted to say no.

I’ve been curious how to make them for years, but once I realized you had to pleat dough I bailed. I can’t hang a picture straight (and there’s plenty of evidence of that in my living room), there was no way I was going to be able to make so many perfectly folded pleats in a baked good.

So this isn’t a perfect potsticker recipe. It’s a starter recipe. For when I feel ready to tackle the scary world of making my own potsticker skin dough and trying pleats. This one uses pre-made skins that I found at my grocery store and a modified seal. Directions below!

Stuffed Shells

I’ve been wanted to make a stuffed shells recipe for a while now, but two things held me up: 1) it was a bit warm for the abundance of cheese and carbs and 2) I couldn’t find jumbo shells anywhere. So finding a box of jumbo shells the same weekend DC had a freak October snow (it wasn’t a storm here, don’t let anyone tell you differently) seemed to be a sign from the cooking gods that this dish needed to be made. I like to rationalize that the equal ratio of spinach to ricotta almost makes this dish healthy.

Almost.

Still, they are tasty and fairly easy to make. Also, don't they look cute in that ramekin? My friend Amber gave me four last time she came to visit and I've tried to think of recipes that make small enough quantities I can use them for photos since. Luckily, two stuffed shells fit perfectly! Thanks again Amber. 

Chicken Stuffed with Almonds, Spinach, and Feta

I made plans with my friend Alisha to meet for dinner a few weeks ago. The plan was for her to come over to my apartment and I’d cook us dinner. I started to panic the Saturday before because I realized two important facts: 1) because of things such as this blog, people think I actually eat well every day, and 2) dinner parties suffer dramatically when the host serves Kraft mac ‘n cheese. Clearly some advanced planning was required.

I started searching for a recipe that would convey the image of sophistication and skill while also being relatively cheap and easy to make. This fit the bill perfectly. It looks impressive – stuffed chicken breasts with fancy sounding ingredients! – while actually taking under 20 minutes to prepare. It’s pretty healthy to boot. Served with some couscous, an apple-spinach salad, and a few black bottom cupcakes, the meal tasted and looked impressive.

Of course, our mini-dinner party never actually occurred due to illness, so I ended up with some very fancy leftovers to enjoy for a week. Still, worth it to know I have this in my back pocket next time I have a guest over for dinner!

Fauxmosas

Sometime I get into trouble with my approach to cooking. I tend to make a big dish on Sunday and eat it throughout the week for lunch. It makes it easy in the mornings to get ready to go, saves me money, and ensures that I eat a balanced meal at least once a day. However, sometimes I misjudge portions.

Take the recipe for Moroccan Stew I posted recently. When I originally made it, I thought it would last me about 4 meals – pretty typical. However, I misjudged badly. After six days, I still had some in the fridge. But I couldn’t bear to eat it as it was one more day. So I did what any sane person would do – wrapped it in puff pastry and baked it.

Fantastic decision.

Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I love raisins. I may be one of the few people on earth who loves a good chewy oatmeal raisin cookie. It’s almost healthy; you’ve got oats (and everyone knows oatmeal is a good breakfast, right?), fruit, and an egg! Whatever your justification, these cookies really hit the mark when you’re craving a more subtle cookie. The cinnamon smells amazing when these are baking and plays really nicely with the raisins.

Moroccan Chickpea Stew

I made this stew the same weekend as the Cauliflower Soup. I started looking for a chickpea soup recipe because one lonely can of chickpeas had been sitting in my cupboard for a couple months and I had no idea what to do with it. It isn’t quite cold enough for one of my favorite chickpea recipes and I can buy hummus easily. Luckily, I stumbled upon two Chickpea Soup recipes that I thought could be combined to make one great recipe. I loved the spices in the first, but the addition of lentils and rice (and turmeric!) made the second one pretty appealing as well.

This one takes quite a bit of time, but makes enough to last you and some friends the week. If you’re like me, however, and tend to make a couple big dishes to bring as lunch and as a few last-minute dinners, than I think you’ll enjoy this one. 

Peanut Butter Crispy Bars

This blog is almost three months old and it’s pretty apparent that I love peanut butter and chocolate. It would be embarrassing if it weren’t so delicious.

I’d been eying making these bars from SmittenKitchen for a while and finally couldn’t stand it any longer. I wasn’t going to let little things like a lack of candy thermometer, the insane amounts of calories they contain, or incoming hordes of visitor stop me. I would blame visitors or lack of time for the few photographs I managed to take, but really it was because I was too busy stuffing my face to bother with the camera.

The layers in this dish are a pain to make, but a joy to eat. Of course, the entire time I kept flashing back to this commercial, am I the only one who remembers that?