Mac & Cheese Cupcakes

One of my favorite comfort foods is Mac & Cheese.  I'm not too picky on the ingredients unless the recipes start getting into stinky cheese territory.  The downside is the calories but I recently found the perfect solution - Mac & Cheese baked in cupcake tins.  Portion control is key.  I found this recipe on Epicurious.com and it was originally published in Cookie magazine. 

Enjoy!

Mac & Cheese Cupcakes Cookie | May 2007
Rebecca Miller Ffrench
Yield: Makes 24 cupcakes

8 ounces small elbow macaroni
Olive oil
1 1/2 cups whole milk
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
Salt to taste
2 cups sharp cheddar
Butter
Seasoned bread crumbs
2 tablespoons chives, snipped

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Cook the macaroni until tender. Drain, toss with a little bit of the oil, and set aside.
3. In a medium nonstick saucepan, whisk together the milk and cornstarch until well blended. Stirring often, bring to a boil over medium heat.
4. Stir in the mustard, pepper, and salt. Reduce heat to low and simmer until thickened.
5. Stir in the cheddar until it melts, then fold in the macaroni.
6. Butter two cupcake pans and coat with the bread crumbs. (Be sure to shake off the excess.)
7. Fold the chives into the macaroni mixture. Spoon the mixture into the pans and top with bread crumbs to taste.
8. Bake until golden on top, 15 to 25 minutes.

Raising the Bar

 

The other week I had a hankering for a good granola bar but all the one's in the shops taste really artificial so I decided to make my own recipe.  Feel free to use any combination of dried fruit.  I added blueberries and cranberries because that's what I happened to have in my cupboard.  Enjoy!

Healthier Granola Bars

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup sliced almonds
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 1/2 sunflower seeds, raw
• 6 1/2 ounces dried fruit
• 1 T. brown sugar
• 1 t. vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• dash of salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Spray 13 x 9 inch pan with cooking spray.  Mix dry ingredients in bowl.  Add wet ingredients and combine until mixed.  Spread into pan and bake about 20-25 minutes or until mixture is set and golden brown.  Let cool.  Cut into bars or break into chunks.

Spaghetti Squash w/ Pomodoro Sauce

Happy Thursday!  I'm back to posting with a minute to spare.  In the spirit of keeping things short and sweet, here's an easy recipe below for Spaghetti Squash.  Enjoy!

-1 medium-sized spaghetti squash
-2 cans of crushed tomatoes
-1 clove garlic, minced
-1 T. fresh basil, chopped
-1 t. olive oil
-salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste.


Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.  Split one spaghetti squash in half and place on sheet or pan that includes a small raised edge - you need this bit of height so that you can pour in a bit of water so the squash doesn't dry out.  Place squash open side down and pour water into pan.  Roast for about 1/2 hour or until soft.  While squash is cooling, take 2 jars of crushed tomatoes and pour into saucepan.  Add 1 clove of minced garlic and chopped basil.  Add 1 t. olive oil, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes to taste.  Let simmer until it thickens.  Once squash has cooled a bit, scoop out and place in bowls, top with sauce and shredded parmesan.  Yum.

Zucchini Bake

Apologies again for my absence.  Duty calls and it's been a busy week at work once again.  I have been shooting on the weekends and have a few recipes that I'll FINALLY have a chance to post.

Next up is my recipe for Zucchini Bake.

Zucchini Bake

3 zucchini, shredded
1/2 onion, chopped
1 t. basil
1/4 t. garlic/parsley blend seasoning
5 egg whites
1/2 shredded parmesan, shredded
1/4 cup panko bread crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.  Lightly coat 13 x 9 pan with cooking spray/oil.  Shred zucchini with vegetable grater.  Chop onion.  Put vegetables in bowl, mix in herbs and parmesan.  Spread mixture in pan and pour egg whites over vegetables.  Sprinkle with break crumbs, salt and pepper.  Bake for 20-25 minutes or until top is set and golden brown.  Cut into squares.

Chocoholic

It's always a sad day when you finish the last piece of boxed chocolates.  On the bright side, it means all the more reason to buy a new box.  :-)  Yes, I'm a chocoholic.  My boyfriend gave me a box from Trader Joe's and it was delish (he helped me out with it).  It had the perfect assortment of nuts vs. caramels, milk vs. dark, toffees, etc.  So many brands, so little time before it hits your waistline but other brands I enjoy are La Maison Du Chocolat, Jacques Torres, Vosges, Cadbury Fruit & Nut, Ghirardhelli peppermint bark, Lindt dark chocolate, Cadbury mini-eggs, M&Ms w/ pretzels inside and the list goes on...

What are your favorites?

Millet w/ Toasted Pecans and Currants

Happy Friday, Everyone!

Even though it was a short work week for me, I'm glad it's nearly done!  It's been crazy in office prepping for an upcoming photo shoot. 

Anyway, I'm finally posting a couple photos of my millet recipe.  If you're bored of couscous, quinoa or brown rice, give it a shot.  It's probably closer to the texture and bite of couscous or brown rice with a slightly nutty flavor.  The pecans add a nice crunch and the currants give it a hint of sweetness.

Millet with Toasted Pecans and Currants

-1 cup millet
-4 chopped scallions
-a large handful of toasted pecans
-a large handful of dried currants
-1 1/2  t. olive oil
-1 T. red wine vinegar
-3-4 basil leaves, chopped
-salt and pepper to taste

Pre-heat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Boil 2 cups salted water.  Add millet to boiling water and bring to simmer.  Millet is done when it's soaked up by water.  While millet is cooking, toast pecans on cookie sheet in the middle rack for 7-8 minutes depending on your oven.  Let cool and chop into small pieces.  Chop scallions and basil leaves.  Once millet is done, add pecans, scallions, basil, currants and mix in olive oil and red wine vinegar.  Finish off with salt and pepper to taste.  Serve cold.  Serves about 4-6.

Get Your Veg On

I've been on a soup kick lately.  To feed my addiction, I created a variation to my soba noodle soup.  This soup is a bit heartier but it's just as fast and equally as satisfying. 

Here's the recipe:

Kale & Pasta Soup

-3 cartons of low-sodium vegetable stock
-1 small bunch of kale, chopped
-3/4 of a can of chick peas, rinsed
-2 carrots, peeled and chopped
-2 celery stalks, chopped
-1/2 yellow onion, chopped
-1 clove garlic, chopped
-1-2 T. olive oil
-1 cup of pasta
-1-2 bay leaves
-salt and pepper to taste

Sauté carrots, celery, onion, and garlic in olive oil until slightly soft.  Add stock, bay leaves and bring to boil.  Once boiling, bring back down to a simmer and add chick peas and kale once the veggies are soft.  Add pasta that you've cooked separately.  Serve with crusty french bread/rolls.  Serves 4-6

Soba Noodle Soup

 

At long last, I'm posting a recipe for my ridiculously easy soba noodle soup.  

Ridiculously Easy Soba Noodle Soup

-3 containers of vegetable stock (the large size)

-a handful of soba noodles (no exact measurement, it's just how you like it)

-1 cup of shelled edamamme

-2 carrots, peeled and diced

-2 celery stalks, diced

-1/2 onion

-1 clove garlic, minced

-1 T. minced fresh ginger

-2 T. olive oil

-1-2 bay leaves

-salt and pepper to taste

Sauté diced vegetables, garlic and fresh ginger with olive oil.  Once softened, add vegetable stock.  I usually add one carton of low-sodium stock.  Let boil and then bring to simmer until vegetables are softened.  Add soba noodles and edamamme (I buy them frozen and toss them in the pot to defrost).  Done!  Makes about 4-6 servings.

Garden of Plenty

Even in the middle of winter, the vegetables are ready for picking in Los Angeles.

Here are some photos from the vegetable garden in the South Coast Botanical Garden in Palos Verdes, CA.

 

Planning Ahead

Here's what I'll be cooking this weekend.  Of course not all of it in one recipe but I plan to experiment with millet, soba noodles and red lentils.  Will be posting recipes next week.  In the meantime, I'll be posting some new photos from the South Coast Botanical Garden.

Recipes I Made Up And Liked

So my boyfriend Wendel (who is quite possibly the cutest guy on the planet) greatly appreciates my cooking - even when I try to make stuff up.  After pouring through piles of Gourmet, Bon Appetit and Donna Hay magazines over the years, I think I've gotten pretty darn good at it.

Well, he actually bought me a cool notebook for when I feel like playing "mad scientist" in the kitchen. 

So this weekend I made a delicious flatbread pizza.  And might I add, it was much healthier and tastier than Domino's or Pizza Hut.

VEGETARIAN FLATBREAD PIZZA
-1 or 2 rectangles of Trader Joe's flatbread or lavash bread (plenty of grocery stores now stock this.  I just like their brand).
-2 sliced plum tomatoes
-Trader Joe's meatless meatballs
-Shredded mozzarella cheese
-Arugula
-Olive oil
-Salt and pepper

Preheat oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.  Place 1 or 2 rectangles on large cookie sheet (depending on level of hunger).  Drizzle with olive oil.  Slice up tomatoes and place on top of flatbread.  Rinse arugula, pat dry and add to bread.  Garnish with cheese - I didn't measure it.  Just eyeballed how much I wanted.  Slice meatballs and place on top of bread.  These typically require 10 minutes of baking time at 375 degrees and if they're too difficult to chop when frozen, defrost them for a couple minutes before placing on flatbread.  Garnish with salt and pepper.  Bake in middle rack of oven for about 10-12 minutes.  Serve by itself or with a side of mixed greens. 

If you're feeling fancy, I sometimes serve the flatbread with a little bowl of tomato sauce on the side.  That way you can either drizzle it over the bread or rip off a slice and dunk it in the bowl.  Both methods work perfectly fine.  :-)

 

 

Veg Out

Having a 9-6ish job (not factoring in LA commute time) leaves me with little time for cooking extravagant dishes on the weekdays.  But I do believe in cooking healthy, eating seasonally and limiting the amount of processed food.  I don't think dishes need to be overly complicated to taste good.  All you really need are fresh ingredients, good olive oil, your favorite kosher/sea salt (I prefer Maldons) and cracked pepper. 

And there you have it, I just gave you the recipe for roasted brussel sprouts.  If you want to dress them up a bit more, I sometimes toss them in a little aged balsamic vinegar or a drizzle of maple syrup.  Roasted them on a lightly-sprayed sheet at 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

 

Busy Bee

 

As mentioned yesterday, I participated in a food blogging workshop this past Saturday.  It was a lot of fun and inspiring learning from Christina Peters and Amy Paliwoda.  We learned about lighting, lensing, composition, and food styling/propping tricks.  Not to mention, Christina gave us some helpful PhotoShop tricks on color correction, optimizing images for the web and my new favorite filter - the unsharpen tool.  I sort of forgot about this tool but it really helps to add some crispness to your images.  

Christina and Amy provided us with a selection of food items and props to choose from which was great - I think it helped me focus a lot more on the photography aspect instead of worrying about where to find my next recipe!  So many cookbooks, so little time.  :-)  The products ranged from lovely French macaroons, rustic breads, jams, vegetables, cheese, etc. 

My love for peanut butter and honey sandwiches rivals that of Elvis (I like it with bananas too but didn't include them in the shot) and thought it would be a fun challenge - especially since I wanted to capture the honey pouring onto the bread. 

Thanks again to Christina and Amy for making this such a wonderful class.  I'm hoping to sign up for another one and highly recommend it for anyone looking to gain more experience shooting food.

Here's another link to the class information:  http://www.mdrphotographyclasses.com/

MDR Photography Food Blogging Class!

Hope you all had a great weekend!  On Saturday, I participated in a food blogging class in Marina Del Rey, CA hosted by commercial photographer Christina Peters.  It was amazing and I'm super excited to show you some pictures and share what I learned. 

I'll be posting images tomorrow but in the meantime, if you want to check out any of her upcoming classes, you can do so here.

Happy Monday!