Zucchini and Rustic Bread Lasagna

 

Zucchini and Bread Lasagna

Summer is here! Time for me to make things a lot simpler in the kitchen and be outdoor as much as possible. Found a recipe that represents simplicity and deliciousness: layers of zucchini, tomato sauce, cheese, and rustic bread. I mean, who doesn’t like bread and cheese together? Add some summer produce like tomatoes and zucchini and develop a fantastic lasagna. Here’s my adapted version:

Ingredient list:

• 3 medium zucchini (place in boiling water until they are tender and then slice thinly lengthwise)
• 1 can of tomato sauce
• 4 small tomatoes (sliced)
• 3 garlic (chopped)
• A teaspoon of olive oil
• 2 cups of shredded mozzarella
• 1/2 loaf of rustic bread (sliced)

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, cook the slices of tomatoes and garlic together until they dissolve into watery sauce. Add a can of tomato sauce (add herbs that you like here: oregano, basil, etc.) and a little bit of salt and pepper. Set aside.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
• Start layering the lasagna in a medium deep pan: spread the tomato sauce on the bottom of the pan, cover with slices of bread, more tomato sauce, top with slices of zucchini, more tomato sauce and sprinkle with cheese. Repeat until everything is used up.
• Bake in the oven for 10 to 15 minutes.

Enjoy!

 

Original recipe: Lydia’s Italy Zucchini and Country Bread Lasagna

Gouda Cheese Butter Cookies (a la Jeff)

The snow-covered streets looked beautiful this morning. Snow clump plopped down quietly from the tall evergreen right in front of my apartment window. Peaceful, calm, bright, and sunny. (“Just like on the cover of Christmas cards I saw when I was little,” my mother would always say whenever she’d visit.) Such a different scene from the past two gloomy, windy, and snowy days. When I wrote this post, the AM temperature still read three degrees Fahrenheit tough… It sure has been a cold December in Michigan.

Distractions to take the mind off the bitter cold and to stay cheerful are necessary. Mine include: Netflix, good books, movies. Jeff and I also take up my friend Lindsay’s suggestion: baking! Jeff likes the idea very much that this blog post is actually about these delicious and savory cookies he made last night.

Here’s Jeff’s creation, inspired by the Dutch-influenced Indonesian holidays cookie: Kaastengels and Nutella butter cookies that we made last week:

Yield: about 100 mini cookies

Ingredients:

• 2 sticks of unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 3 egg yolks (2 for the cookie batter and 1 for the wash to brush on top of the cookies)
• 2 cups of flour
• 1 cup of Gouda cheese (shredded)
• 1 teaspoon of pure vanilla extract
• A pinch of salt

Steps:

• Beat butter and two egg yolks with a mixer. Add vanilla extract.
• Slowly, add flour, beat
• Add cheese and salt, fold. Use both hands to mix.
• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
• Pick up a handful of dough and, on a clean cutting board, roll and shape into a super long and a rather skinny finger (as long as the cutting board). Then cut the long finger dough into one-inch pieces. Repeat and use up all of the dough.
• Transfer the mini pieces to two large baking sheets (layered with parchment paper)
• Brush the top of each mini finger with egg yolk wash
• Bake for 20—25 minutes

Have a great day, folks!

Nutella Butter Cookies Covered in Powdered Sugar

A conversation with a friend about Christmas season and baking:

Me: “So Lindsay, we always have good conversations about history, tradition, and culture. Question for you. Do you think there’s a traditional connection between Christmas season and baking, cookies especially? Seems like many people get into this intensified baking mode this time of year.”

Lindsay: “I have no idea if the two are traditionally linked, but they were in my family. My mother would often make sugar cookies and almond sugar cookies. Plus, I’ve always lived in a cold climate, so baking gives an excuse to turn on the oven! It’s also a cheerful, indoor activity that can lift your spirits when it gets dark so early. So those are my reasons.”

Hmm, makes sense to me. Linked or not linked, holiday or any day, baked treats sound good. But like Lindsay said, these short, cold, winter days do create a perfect and inviting atmosphere for fresh-from-the-oven cookies, or pastries, along with steaming hot coffee or hot chocolate, don’t they? That and for bundling up!

All these talks about baking cookies with Lindsay made me want to do it too! Jeff nodded enthusiastically when I asked if he’d helped last night. I leafed through a cookbook and found a truly very easy cookie recipe: Chocolate Hazelnut Drop Cookies. The recipe called for: butter, flour, powdered sugar, pure vanilla extract, and Nutella. That’s it! All we had to do: beat butter and some sugar with a mixer, added the flour and vanilla extract, formed the dough into tiny balls, dropped them on baking sheets, baked for 12 minutes, and rolled the cookies (after cooling down for a few minutes) in the rest of the powdered sugar. Not too sweet or chocolaty and perfect with coffee! 

Click here to see the full recipe

Happy baking and have a nice weekend to all!

Warm thoughts to all of us in winter wonderland.

Stuffing Bell Peppers with Leftover Chicken Cutlets and Stir-Fry Tofu and Vegetables

I wonder if more people cook at home these days. With a plethora of cooking blogs, books, and TV channel and programs that we have, do you think they attract more people to cooking? Convert cooking non-believers into aficionados? Raise an interest in trying different recipes, maybe?

I won’t lie, cooking takes a lot of time and energy. We all know that it starts WAY before the actual cooking itself, right? Planning a meal, coming up with an idea for a menu, (in my case, it just means asking myself, “What should I cook tonight?”) is the hard part for me. Once I figure it out though, things just seem to happen— almost like moving on an automated-pilot mode. So in my situation, inspiration matters. Hence the collection of cook books, the email subscription to cooking blogs, the food talks with friends and family, and the occasional tune in to cooking programs on TV. I am thankful for the existence of this recipe universe that I have.

Speaking of recipe idea, I came across a good one the other day: Stuffed Bell Pepper by Giada De Laurentiis. In this recipe, she stuffed the peppers with eggplants, olives, capers, and tofu. Tofu! Ha! An idea appeared. I happened to have made stir-fry tofu with broccoli and green peas the previous day. Got some baked chicken cutlets too. (At this point, the tofu and vegetables have absorbed all of the flavors: garlic, soy sauce, fish sauce, and sesame oil). So I decided to combine the two leftovers, pulse slightly in a food processor, add a little bit of a good salsa sauce, stuff it into roasted bell peppers, and add some breadcrumbs on top. Yum! Such a nice way to use up all of my leftovers.

Here’s how I did my Chicken, Tofu, and Vegetables Stuffed Bell Pepper:

For the Stir-Fry Tofu and Vegetables:

• 1 extra firm tofu (pressed to drain and then cut into squares with ½ inch thickness). I found out later that the tofu bound the stuffing together nicely. It’s pretty great!
• 2 cups of broccoli (cut into bite size)
• 1 cup of green peas
• 1 tablespoon of sesame oil
• ¼ cup of soy sauce
• ½ cup of water
• 1 tablespoon of fish sauce (optional)
• 1 tablespoon of sweet soy sauce (optional)
• 4 garlic (chopped)
• 4 Thai peppers (chopped)
• Salt
• Pepper

I cooked the garlic and peppers in sesame oil for two minutes. Then I added soy sauce, fish sauce, peas, broccoli, water, salt, and pepper. Covered the pan with a lid for three to five minutes. Once the sauce started to simmer, I arranged my tofu slices in the pan to make sure that they could absorb the sauce on the bottom of the pan. Covered the pan again and let it cook for another five minutes.

For the chicken cutlet: see Mark Bittman’s recipe here. (I used chicken breast, olive oil, a little bit of dijon mustard, breadcrumbs, and baked for 15 minutes.)

Stuffing the Bell Peppers:

• 3 red bell peppers (halved and cored)
• Drizzled with olive oil
• Roasted for 30 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees Fahrenheit
• Combined chicken cutlets and tofu with vegetables, pulsed very slightly in a food processor, added a good salsa sauce (optional, I wanted to add a little bit of spicy tomato and pepper taste in the stuffing), scooped into the bell peppers, sprinkled breadcrumbs, and broil for 2 minutes. (Might want to move the oven rack down, further from the broiler before starting. My topping was a bit burnt there, oops…Still very good though!).

Hope you like it and thanks for stopping by!

Giada’s Blueberry Banana Bread

 

Ah, the good old banana bread: rustic, classic, and reliable. A fantastic company for coffee over breakfast or snack time. I simply love it. Not to mention the aroma it creates in the apartment when I bake it.

When I started learning how to bake, I picked beginner-friendly recipes. One of them was this wonderful Dark Chocolate Banana Bread  recipe by Baker Bettie. It became a favorite. This summer, I found another hit: Banana Blueberry Bread by Giada De Laurentiis. It has made a few appearances since then. I love how the spicy nutmeg and cinnamon reveal their wonderful presence in every bite.

I follow the recipe with a couple of minor adjustments:

• Place a sheet of parchment paper to line my oven loaf pan
• Bake the bread for 55 minutes instead of 60 minutes (my apartment’s oven tends to get really hot I think)

To see the highly recommended recipe, please click here: Banana-Blueberry Bread

Thanks for reading and I wish you a wonderful weekend!

Peace

Grilled Plum on Warm Bread with Cheese

When people find out that I cook, some would ask, “Wow, you don’t mind the effort that cooking involves?” or say, “Good for you. I am way too lazy to cook.” or “Oh, you’re such a good wife.” (I usually roll my eyes, in my mind, for the latter comment :D.) Feels like there’s this impression that a person who cooks is industrious, taking on such an onerous task, or domestic. Well, contrary to that assumption, I cook because I get bored with food a lot. I seek wonderful colors, a burst of great flavors, and pleasing tastes in food. They bring me joy, while bland food just makes me feel sad.

My curiosity of tastes and appreciation for creativity takes me on an ongoing search for things to try. Just like this recipe I adapted and simplified from a genius food blogger at Dash and Bella: Grilled Plum and Lemon Ricotta Toast. Grilled sweet plum over warm bread with mild cheese spread. Delicious. I’d like to try using apples, nectarine, or peach next time. What a great way to enjoy more fruits! Thanks, Dash and Bella.

In my version, I used:

• 4 black plums (each sliced into four cuts)
• Bread
• Ricotta cheese

Steps:

• I grilled the slices of plums and bread for about 1-2 minutes each side over medium heat (I didn’t mix the plums with olive oil, balsamic, and herbs as the original recipe suggested and still they tasted wonderful).
• Spread ricotta cheese on the warm bread and place the juicy plum on top (I used the ricotta plain without the lemon juice)
• Enjoy! Great for breakfast and snack

Have a great day!

Parsley and Feta on Pita Bread

I love the scent of parsley, especially right after picking. One of the things I like to do with the herb is to mix it with feta cheese, fold it in filo dough sheets, and bake them—just like in the Turkish baked borek. This time, I wanted to try something different with the mixture. So, I spread it on a few pita bread, topped the bread with cherry tomatoes, and baked them. Oh, what a fantastic aroma they created as they cooked in the oven! They tasted delicious too. The fresh herb and tomato definitely added more complexity to the salty white cheese melted on the warm bread.

Here’s how I did mine:

(serve 2)

I used:

• A handful of parsley (just the leaves)
• About 4 oz. of feta cheese (I bought one of those 8 oz. plain regular chunk)
• Olive oil
• 3 pita bread
• Cherry tomatoes

Then I heated the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit, mixed/chopped the parsley and feta in a food processor, brushed the pita bread with olive oil, spread the cheese mixture on it, topped with cherry tomatoes, and baked for 6-7 minutes.

Thank you for visiting!

Baked Potato Patties

Inspired by the Indonesian perkedel daging (potato ground beef patties) and Puerto Rican pastelón, I created these baked potato patties with ground turkey, bell pepper, chili pepper, cilantro and onion. Ha! Yes, I got a little creative 🙂 The result? Savory little goodness that made a wonderful appetizer!

Hope you like it!

We need:

• 3 Russet potatoes (peeled and diced)
• 1/2 pound of ground turkey meat
• 1 bell pepper (chopped)
• 3-4 garlic
• 3 hot finger peppers
• 1/2 of sweet onion
• 1/2 cup of cilantro (chopped). If you’re not a fan of cilantro, you could substitute with either parsley or green onions.
• One tablespoon of vegetable oil
• One egg
• Salt
• Pepper

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
• In a medium pot, cover the potatoes with water, add a little salt, and boil until fork tender (for me it took about 30-40 minutes)
• Mix and chop the bell pepper, garlic, hot fingers, and sweet onion in a food processor
• Heat up a medium pan and add one tablespoon of vegetable oil
• Cook the peppers-garlic-onion mixture for a little bit until the moisture evaporates
• Add the ground turkey and cook until it is well done. Set aside.
• After the potatoes are done cooking, remove from water, and mash them well
• Add the egg into the mashed potatoes and mix them together
• Mix the mashed potatoes with the meat, chopped cilantro, and using both hands create 15-18 patties
• Spray a baking tray with either olive oil or vegetable oil
• Place the patties on the tray, brush the top of the patties with a little bit of vegetable or olive oil, and bake for 15-20 minutes until they turn golden light brown in color

Going Puerto Rican with Pastelón: Plantain, Ground Turkey, and Cheese

Pastelón

Plantain topped with ground turkey and mozzarella

One of the perks of having friends from different cultures is the exposure to many delicious dishes. Zulma, a dear friend of mine, has successfully introduced me to Puerto Rican’s mofongo, tostones, and pastelón. (Mofongo and tostones are my must-eat whenever I visit the island.) A few days ago, over the phone, Zulma told me that she was making pastelón for dinner. Feeling intrigued, I used her recipe as guidance in making one myself. Usually described as “plantain lasagna”, the dish offers a good combination of sweet and savory. The plantain gives out a sweet taste while the ground turkey, cooked with onion, garlic, peppers, and cilantro, makes a fantastic meaty topping. And of course, the melted mozzarella sealed everything nicely. Buen Provecho!

Here’s my version, with a little twist 😉
We’ll need:

• 4 ripe plantains (Per Zulma’s recommendation, I got the yellow ones with black patches all over the skin and with sweet aroma.)
• ½ pound of ground turkey (Usually made with ground pork or beef)
• ½ of sweet onions (chopped)
• 3 garlic (chopped)
• ½ cup of chopped cilantro (Zulma’s recipe calls for long coriander leaves but I couldn’t find them so I went with cilantro)
• 1 red bell pepper (chopped)
• 3-4 hot finger peppers (chopped). This is totally optional. (I made mine spicy, of course :))
• 1 or 2 cups of shredded mozzarella cheese

Steps:

• Fill a medium pot with water and bring to boil
• Cut the peeled plantains in the middle
• Boil the plantains for 15-20 minutes
• Once cooked, remove, and let them cool down before slicing them lengthwise
• Preheat oven to 375 degrees F
• Place the sliced plantains on a baking dish that has been sprayed with vegetable or olive oil
• On the stove top, heat a medium pan with a tablespoon with vegetable oil. Cook the onion, garlic, and bell and hot peppers for two minutes. Add ground turkey, salt, and black pepper. Combine and cook well.
• Cover the sliced plantain with the meat, top with shredded cheese, and place it in the oven for 10-12 minutes until the cheese is melted.
• Remove from the oven and let it cool down for a bit before serving

My special thanks to Zulma

Savory Pastry with Turkey and Vegetables

Inspired by Indonesian’s pastel goreng, a savory treat similar to empanadas, I made this easy pastry recently. The wonderful smell of ground turkey, peas, carrots, garlic, and onions baking inside of a pie crust in the oven filled the apartment. Hmm…delicious!  This flaky and savory pastry makes a great appetizer.

Here’s a list of things we’ll need:

• 2 sheets of pie crust
• 1 tablespoon of canola or vegetable oil
• 1 pound of ground turkey (or beef)
• 1 bag of thawed frozen (mix) peas and carrots
• 4 garlic (chopped)
• 1 sweet onion (chopped)
• Salt
• Pepper
• A dash of curry powder

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Heat up a medium pan and add the oil.
• Add garlic and onion. Cook for two minutes.
• Add ground beef and let it brown.
• Mix in the peas and carrots, salt, pepper, and curry powder.
• Following Paula Dean’s direction on her empanada recipe: I cut out rounds from the pie crust using a small cookie cutter (3-inch), place a bit of cooked turkey and veggies in the middle of the crust, brush the edges with water, fold, and repeat. Place the pastries on a baking tray and bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes until they turn golden brown.