Simple Summer Spaghetti

This is a simple recipe using fresh ingredients.  It's a great summer time dish, especially if you have garden with most of the ingredients readily available to you.  Any type of pasta can be used to make this dish, but Spaghetti is my personal favorite and I feel it works the best here.   Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1/2 lb pasta of your choice

2 tbsp olive oil

2 garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp red pepper flakes

2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, cut in half length wise

1/2 cup fresh basil, chopped

diced fresh mozzarella

grated cheese (I use Pecorino Romano)

Directions:

• Cook pasta according to package directions, drain and set aside

• Heat oil on high in a large skillet

• Add garlic and cook until slightly golden

• Add red pepper flakes and tomatoes, cover with foil and lower heat to simmer for about 15 mins.

• Add the fresh basil and cooked pasta to the skillet and toss until combined 

• Top with some fresh mozzarella and grated cheese

• Enjoy!

No Rise Margherita Pizza

Normally when making pizza, there must be time allotted for the dough to rise so, I was happy to come across this recipe for a no rise dough.  I was skeptical at first since, but had to give it a try.  I decided to make it Margherita style using fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil.  I also wanted to have a crustier pizza, so I opted for a 9x13" pan rather than using a pizza pan like I normally would.  The final product was just delicious!  I made a few changes to the original recipe, by incorporating whole wheat flour and garlic powder into the dough.  It took about 35mins from start to finish to make this pizza when it normally takes a few hours!  If you like pizza, and especially if you're short on time, I highly recommend giving this recipe a try!  Enjoy!


Adapted from allrecipes.com


Ingredients:


1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tbsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 tbsp white sugar
1 package active dry yeast
2 tbsps vegetable oil
1 cup warm water (110 degrees Fahrenheit)


Directions:


Heat oven to 375 degrees.

• Combine flour, garlic powder, salt, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. Mix in oil and warm water. Spread out dough onto the pizza pan by patting into an even circle. (if using a 9x13" pan like I did, ensure the dough is spread even and goes up the sides a bit to make a deeper crust.)

• Top as desired and bake for 20-25 mins.  I made mine Margherita style with fresh mozzarella, tomato and basil.  I also drizzled olive oil on top right before baking.  Enjoy!

Club: Baked-Sunday Night Cake

This time from Club: Baked the chosen recipe was Sunday Night Cake.  Since Friday, 8/12 was my birthday, I decided to put the recipe to good use and make it my birthday cake.  I doubled the cinnamon quantity and used greek yogurt in place of the sour cream.  I have to mention that I love using plain greek yogurt in place of sour cream because I feel like it almost guarantees a moist cake…I don't know how true that is, but I seem to get similar consistencies in my cakes each time I use it and the result was no different with this cake either!!  I followed the recipe and baked the cake in a 9x9 square pan then cut out the hello kitty shape, free hand, using a small, sharp knife.  After I carved out the face, I obviously had to taste the scrap pieces and they were deliciousss…kind of reminded me of coffee cake..which I thought would go fabulously with Nutella!  I wanted to frost the cake white though, obviously for the sake of it being Hello Kitty, so I didn't use the chocolate frosting recipe from the book, instead I went with a classic buttercream using vanilla, butter, powdered sugar and milk.  I made a double batch of the buttercream and whipped in 2 heaping tablespoons of Nutella to half of it, to give it a delicious hazelnut flavor that I assumed would go perfect with the cake (and it did!!)!  The cake was small and the top came out of the oven pretty smooth to begin with, so I skipped the part where I would normally trim it off and just went ahead with the frosting.  I started with a layer of Nutella buttercream and then stuck it in the fridge for about a 1/2 hour to set.  I then added a layer of the white buttercream on top of the set Nutella and put it back in the fridge for about the same amount of time as before.  After the second layer of buttercream was set, I drew the face on with the tip of a knife then filled everything in with buttercream that I tinted black, yellow and red and used piping bags with a small amount of the tips cut off to do so.

This cake is simple and delicious.  I believe that consumed frosted or not you receive the same satisfaction. I definitely see myself making this again in the future and recommend to everyone that they try it!  Our host this time was Julie of A little bit of everything so be sure to visit her blog for the recipe and the Club: Baked page to see how all of the members did! Enjoy!

Birthday!

Today is my birthday yayyy! Although I really don't enjoy getting older, I do enjoy the celebrating!  Some years I make my own cake and when I don't, it usually comes from Carvel! Nothing like vanilla & chocolate ice cream with little crunchies in the middle! Last year I made myself a homemade yellow cake with sprinkles (funfetti style) with chocolate ganache..it was delicious.  This year I used a cake recipe that will be posted in a few days for the Club: Baked blogging group from the Baked Explorations cookbook and cut it into the shape of hello kitty's face…i'm slightly obsessed with her..(even got a tattoo of her face today..which ive been wanting for a looong time!!…ok maybe more than slightly obsessed lol.). I can't wait to eat a piece of cake tonight after a yummy dinner with my lovey at a fabulous vegetarian restaurant close to our home :)

2010 Birthday cake

Some birthday devil's food cupcakes …...

…aaand this years birthday cake 

Crispy Tofu with Black Bean Sauce

We have a restaurant near us that makes the BEST crispy tofu.  They give you the option of black bean or orange sauce but I always go with the black bean…I'm pretty much obsessed with it.  Because of my obsession, I wanted to try and make this at home.  I have made this a few times now and my version isn't too bad..actually, it's good.  It doesn't taste identical to the original, but it's very close and the crispiness of the tofu is there too.  Enjoy!

Ingredients:

1 package extra firm tofu
1/4 cup corn starch
4 tbsps canola oil
2 tbsps kikomon garlic black bean sauce
1 small yellow onion chopped
1 cup sliced carrots
2 cups chopped broccoli
2 cups button mushrooms


Directions:

Drain excess water from the tofu.  You can do this by putting multiple layers of paper towels on the tofu with something heavy on top, such as a can.  Let it sit this way for at least 20mins.  While tofu is draining, heat 2 tbps of oil in a pan.

Once tofu is drained, cut into 2" cubes then lightly coat with corn starch.

Fry tofu in oil until lightly golden, about 3mins on each side and place on a plate lined with paper towels to drain excess oil.

The vegetables can be made at the same time as the tofu:

For the vegetables, heat 2 tbsps of oil in a large skillet, once heated add onion and cook until soft and they become translucent, then add all of the vegetables and cook until just tender.

Once vegetables become tender, add in the 2 tbsps of black bean sauce and stir to coat all ingredients.  Add the tofu and heat through ensuring they all become coated with sauce.

Serve over white or brown rice.

Serves 4.

Club: Baked-Chocolate Mint Thumbprint Cookies

I have to start this post by saying that I DO NOT like anything with the combination of chocolate and mint.  I'm not sure why but I have always felt this way.  When I was younger, I remember my mom often having Andes mints on the coffee table in a bowl and my grandma keeping Peppermint Patties in the fridge at all times!  I never understood the chocolate-mint/peppermint obsession, but just knew it was sooo not for me!  That being said, today's post is for Club-Baked and this time we followed the recipe from the Baked Explorations cookbook for Chocolate Mint Thumbprint Cookies.  Luckily, my boyfriend's favorite type of sweet is anything containing the combination of chocolate and mint!  Go figure!  I made these the day before he left for a work related trip, packed them up and stuck them in his carry on so he had something to snack on while flying and while in his hotel room too.  Anyway.. he, of course, l o v e d these!  I did try a tiny bite of one cookie, but could not like it at all….but pleaseee don't take my word for it!  The texture of the cookie was perfect, the ganache center was creamy and the chocolate-mint lover loved these!  While making these lovely treats, I did make use of the side note from the author and actually used the handle of a mini-rolling pin to make the thumbprints in the cookie which allowed for the round center to be consistent in shape and size.  I had an assortment of sanding sugar colors, but not enough of just one color for all of the cookies, so I combined the colors I had into a bowl and rolled away…not exactly how I would have liked them to look, but I don't think they looked bad either, just colorful haha.  My bff Jamie of Random Acts of Food is hosting the recipe for us this time so check out her blog for the recipe and her interpretation!  I'm sure she actually liked them haha!  Also, stop by the Club-Baked blog page and take a look at how everyone in the club did with this one!  If you're a chocolate-mint lover, definitely give this one a try!!  Enjoy!

dark chocolate and mint chocolate melting

dry ingredients

chilled dough

rainbow of sanding sugar

thumbprints

ganache filling