Denise's Gnocchi

Living with friends for the month of September was great for my cooking! It not only gave me a break from the routine of having to get something on the table every night, it exposed me to many new dishes that I would never have thought to make. Gnocchi was one of them.

I've only had gnocchi a couple of times at restaurants. I guess I assumed you'd have to find some kind of specialty potato flour and exotic spices to make it taste authentic and that there was a lot of skill involved, probably passed down generation after generation.

I'm pretty fearless in the kitchen, but I don't think it ever would have occurred to me to try this dish had I not seen my lovely friend Denise make it. That would have been a shame because it turned out to be simple and delicious! She's given me permission to share it here with you. Thanks, D!

Ingredients:

6 baking potatoes
3 egg yolks
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1 cup flour

Directions:

Bake or microwave potatoes w/skins on until soft. Halve and mash the insides while still warm. Discard skins.
Make a mound on a clean surface with the mashed potatoes and make an indentation in the center (think volcano).
Place the next 5 ingredients into the indentation of your potato mound as shown in the photo below - she's making a double batch, fyi.

Use your hands to squish everything together, working the eggs and spices thoroughly through the potatoes.
Add the flour and continue to work until you have a workable dough. Add more flour if it sticks too your hands too badly.
On a floured surface, roll the dough into 1/2 inch thick "ropes" a little at a time, and cut each rope into 1 inch sections. Take each dumpling and roll it along the backside of a fork as shown in the photo below if you want it to have that signature ridged shell shape, then put it in a bowl to "rest" while you cut more.

Boil dumplings in a saucepot of water a small batch at a time until they rise to the surface and have been floating for about a minute. Drain well.

Serve plain, with cheese, tomato sauce, etc. The dish above is topped with mushrooms and pine nuts sauteed in butter. It was amazing!!

Guest Post: Popcorn and Smoky Roasted Black-Eyed Peas

I'm so thankful for bloggy friends during this busy time! Please enjoy the first of many great guest posts EFYP will be blessed with over the next few months.

Micaela Vega is a working mother of 2, who writes about her experience with incorporating healthier food options into her family's meals at Striving Bean. Sometimes her kids like it, sometimes they don’t – she'll let you know about both.

***********

It’s not often that “Black-eyed peas” and “snack” go together, but they go together surprisingly well.

I made some popcorn for the kids the other night, and thought….hmm…how could I add beans to the mix?

Voilà:  Popcorn & Smoky Roasted Black-Eyed Peas. A quick and easy snack that the kids really liked.

Another great discovery this weekend?  My daughter loves smoked paprika.  There’s a difference between smoked paprika and regular paprika.   The smoked has a deeper and smokier flavor. Makes sense, doesn’t it?

So break out the movies, cozy up on the couch, and grab yourself a big bowl of Popcorn & Smoky Roasted Black-Eyed Peas!

Dried Black-Eyed Peas (before cooking)

Popcorn & Smoky Roasted Black-Eyed Peas
Recipe by Striving Bean

Ingredients

• 1 2/3 cup (1.66 cup) cooked Black-Eyed Peas (or try 15 oz. can)
• 1 Tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1 – 3 teaspoons smoked paprika (depending on your taste)
• several cups air-popped popcorn
• small amount melted butter & sea salt (to taste)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 450° F
2. If using canned beans, rinse and drain.  Blot beans dry with clean towel.
3. Mix together beans, olive oil, sea salt, and smoked paprika.
4. Spread beans evenly onto a baking sheet.
5. Roast beans for 18 – 22 minutes. (depending on your oven)
6. Check every so often. Goal is to dry them (not burn them) so they’re crunchy.
7. Mix black-eyed peas with popcorn, small amount of melted butter, and additional sea salt (to taste)

Another option is to roast them at a lower heat (425° F) for longer.

Our family weighs in:

• We all liked them.  Daughter said the black-eyed peas reminded her of “black olives”.  They reminded me of soy nuts.

Store left-overs in the refrigerator.  The black-eyed peas also make a great salad topping.

Make it Yourself Monday: Pesto

My favorite farmer at the market gave me a giant bag of basil for $5 last week because I came near the end of the day and it needed to be used. I froze some for later (basil loses some of its flavor when dried) and used the rest to make up three big batches of pesto (I'm freezing two in glass jars - leave an inch or so). Pesto is a great way to use up extra herbs from the garden and is an impressive addition to dinner when entertaining. There are endless possibilities to tweaking this recipe, but here are the basics:

Ingredients
2 cups fresh basil leaves
3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled (or 2 tsp pre-minced garlic)
1/2 cup pine nuts
1/2 cup olive oil
juice from 1/2 a lemon
1 tsp sea salt
black pepper to taste


Directions
Rinse and dry your basil leaves (if you are picking your own, I hear its best to pick them in the cool of the morning as they lose flavor throughout the day). I'm lazy, so I combine all of the ingredients in a food processor and process until almost smooth. Taste, and add more of whatever you think it needs. Since the word pesto comes from "pestle," you could also do this by hand if you don't have a food processor. Or, you could try your blender. 

Substitutions
We rarely eat cheese, so we exclude parmesan from our pesto, though traditionally you'd cut back on the salt in the above recipe and add a 1/2 cup or more of grated parmesan or even feta cheese. You can also substitute pine nuts for walnuts or hazelnuts (if you experiment further, let me know!!) and you can replace all or part of your basil with fresh parsley or spinach. You can also omit the lemon juice if you don't have it, or replace it with lime juice. The citric acid helps it maintain it's green color and the lemon flavor adds a nice touch.

Serving suggestions
We ate chicken sandwiches with pesto on a ciabatta roll last night. Would have been heavenly with a slice of tomato. Pesto is most commonly used as a pasta sauce, but it can be used as a garnish on any meat (especially chicken breast and pork chops), an ad-in for soups, a dip for veggies, or my favorite - a spread on crusty italian bread. Pesto will stay fresh in the refrigerator for a week or longer, and will freeze for a few months.

How do you use pesto? What else do you usually make from scratch instead of buying pre-made? Link up below!

Easy Roasted Red Pepper Dip

We don't always feel like eating big heavy meals in the summertime, but we are always hungry! I found some pita chips on sale for .89 and whipped this dip up to go with them this week. Parsley was straight from our garden pot. :D It's easy to halve or double according to your needs.

Easy Roasted Red Pepper Dip

Ingredients

2 med. red bell peppers
4 cloves of garlic, peeled & minced
8oz. cream cheese (make your own)
small bunch of parsley
1/2 tsp salt

Directions

Wrap your (whole) red peppers in foil and roast at 350 degrees for about half an hour in either the oven - or to avoid heating the house - a toaster oven.
Peppers should be starting to soften and be easy to peel.
Peel the peppers, remove seeds and stem, and cut them into at least 4 pieces each (to make them easier to process).
Combine peppers and the rest of the ingredients in your food processor and process until consistency is smooth.
Serve with raw veggies or pita chips.

This post is linked to Tempt My Tummy Tuesday and Tuesday Twister.

"Sloppy Lentils" or "Lentil Joes?"

My husband objected to calling these "sloppy lentils" for some reason - he said it made them sound gross. Since they were most definitely not gross, he wants me to call them "lentil joes." Sounds like a coffee shop to me. *shrug*

Pantry-friendly and frugal, what else could you want? "MEAT!" Yells the husband. Don't mind him. :) These really are great for stretching the budget, and it really IS ok to go a meal without meat. :)

Lentil Joes - serves 5-6

Ingredients:

2 cups cooked lentils

1 med. onion, diced

6 oz. tomato paste

3 cloves garlic, minced

1 tbsp chili powder

2 tbsp sugar

1 tbsp vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

Sauté onion until translucent in medium sized pot. Turn heat to low and add lentils, then the rest of the ingredients and stir until well mixed. Serve on buns.

Extra info:

• I just cooked a whole pound of lentils and froze the remainder, but 1 cup dry = roughly 3 cups cooked.
• If you don't have cooked lentils on hand already, soak them overnight with a tbsp or two of apple cider vinegar (reduces phytic acid) and cook them until tender the next day - give yourself an hour or two (the older they are, the longer they take to cook) before dinner needs to be served so you don't run out of time.
• Need ideas for leftover lentils? Try a Lentil Loaf or Honey Baked Lentils.

This post is linked to Meatless Mondays, Tuesday Twister, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday, Tuesdays at the Table, What's on Your Plate?, and Real Food Wednesday.

Quiche, Oh My!

For some reason, I've always been intimidated by the idea of making a quiche. Maybe I've had one too many frozen dinner versions that didn't set well. I was worried that it would be soupy if I undercooked it, etc. I LOVE making frittatas and have blogged before about how they are the perfect dinner to use up leftovers, so when I saw Cara at Health, Home, and Happiness post about using up leftovers in a quiche, I knew it was time to get over my fears for the sake of my dear readers. ;)

I received an email from mothering.com with a quiche recipe last week and decided to try it, substituting broccoli for the spinach the recipe calls for, and using a bit of raw sharp cheddar instead of swiss. WOW! I had no idea! It was 1) EASY, and 2) so yummy!!! My husband said that he prefers it to frittata hands down, and my 2 year old ate a generous portion! Don't be afraid! Give it a try!!!

This post is linked up to Twister Tuesday at GNOWFGLINS.

Fruity Brown Rice Salad

Loved this great recipe from Mothering.com! Super easy and perfect for a light meal, picnic, or potluck - will be especially good with seasonal fruit this Summer!

2 cups cooked brown rice
2 apples, peeled, cored and chopped
3/4 cup chopped pecans
3/4 cup dried cranberries
1 cup vanilla or lemon yogurt
3/4 cup of honey
2 Tbsp lemon juice
Toss all ingredients in a bowl and serve.

Since our yogurt was vanilla-honey flavored, we left out the honey, and we only used one apple. Pleased the whole family!

This post is linked to Tuesday Twister, Tasty Tuesday, and Real Food Wednesday.

Pumpkin Hummus

When I saw (this post) on Appetite for China, I knew I *needed* to try pumpkin hummus. I *love* hummus and I *love* pumpkin. Her recipe sounds amazing, as does the alternate version that I found (here) on La Fuji Mama. Both are pretty darn pantry friendly, but I didn't have any tahini on hand because I had purchased a few boxes of the Fantastic World Foods Hummus mix when they were on sale.

So, I wondered to myself, could I really pull off just adding a can of pumpkin to the mix and calling it pumpkin hummus??? I started with the hummus mixed as directed and added half a can on pumpkin. The texture didn't change and the taste was barely descernable. I added a little more, and then some more, and ended up adding the whole can. What the heck? You could taste the pumpkin, but it was very mild! I added a few generous dashes of pumpkin spice to bring out the pumpkin flavor and had it on a whole wheat bagel from Panera. *yum*

So, not really a genuine recipe, and I'm sure not nearly as good as making it from scratch (especially if you used pureed fresh pumpkin), but just so you all know - You CAN mix canned pumpkin and a box of hummus mix and STILL EAT IT! :) We ate it with all of the things we usually eat hummus with, and got in a good dose of Vitamin A! :)


I'm sure I'll end up posting more pumpkin recipes throughout the season, as it seriously is one of my favorite foods, but in the meantime, check out this awesome list at Sugared Ellipses.

Praise the Lord for Peanut Butter Balls

Yummy, high in protein, and so satiating! How I love every variation of thee!! And I've just discovered two more!!! I wanted to wait until the first of the two was available online before posting about them and Wondertime has updated it's recipes, so here we go!

Powerball Cookies - SOoooooo good!!

Makes 40-48 cookies

Mix together 1 cup peanut butter and 1 cup honey until smooth. Gradually add in 3 cups old fashioned oats and 1/2 cup ground flaxseed. Add 1 cup chocolate chips and 1 cup any

combination of nuts and soft dried fruit(try 1/2 cup coarsely chopped peanuts and 1/4 cup each of raisins and dried cranberries) and mix gently in your stand mixer or smush together by hand.

Roll into Ping-Pong-size balls and, for maximum presentation value, put in paper mini muffin cups. You can eat them right away, but they'll be less sticky after a night in the fridge. They freeze well too, layered on wax

I used Schmuckers Natural PB and lemme tell you... wow! Thanks Wondertime and thanks to my sister for recommending this recipe!

Peanut Butter and Honey "Truffles"

This recipe from Hold the Gluten tied for second place over at Peanut Butter Boy's PB Exhibition #4 and it's easy to see why!

1 cup DRY milk (I used non-fat)
1/2 cup peanut butter (Crazy Richards Chunky)
1/3 cup honey (local)
1/4 cup ground flax seed (Bob’s Red Mill)

Mix all ingredients together. Form into small balls. Roll balls in coconut, cinnamon & sugar, or cocoa mix. Refrigerate for 15 minutes and enjoy!


So simple! I love it (and loved eating it)!

Pantry Plus - Marshall's Tomato Pie

We hoped to have tomatoes this Summer but unfortunately the birds ate the plants early in the Spring. Thankfully we've got plenty of local farmers to purchase from and support.

I've titled this "Pantry Plus" because the only "from the pantry" items are the ingredients for the crust, but it is still an extremely frugal Summer meal with relatively few ingredients. I think I'll try to post "Pantry Plus" meals regularly, what do you think?

We had this pie for the first time at the home of our good friends, the Marshalls. They couldn't believe we'd never heard of Tomatoe pie, and now I can't imagine a Summer without it. I immedietly committed the basic recipe to memory and thought I'd share it with you. You may like your veggies more well done that I do - modify to please. :)



Ingredients:

Pie Crust (mine was made from scratch with a recipe from the book pictured above - From Pantry to Table by Marlene Spieler. You could use a store bought pastry shell.
1 onion
3 medium-large tomatoes
1/2 cup mayo
handful of grated cheese - any kind.

Directions:

Spread pie crust out in pie pan.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Slice Tomatoes and lay out in crust.
Slice onion into rings and spread out over tomatoes - I use 1/2 an onion since my husband isn't a fan.
Spread thick layer of mayo over onions.
Bake for 20 minutes, then sprinkle cheese over top. Place back in oven until cheese is melted and beginning to brown.

Stretch Week

We have recently decided to get serious about our food budget. We have been very blessed to be able to live off of one income since our little one was born, but we still have some student loan debt to pay off so we've made a plan to 1) live off of 1/2 of our income and 2) budget for things like food and gas. July was our first full month of budgeting for food and while I am a pretty frugal shopper in general, setting a limit forced me to get creative near the end of the month. The result was nearly a week of hunting down new recipes online and subjecting my husband to all kind of interesting food combinations. Some of our meals were so fun that even though they don't all fit the pantry theme, I feel I have to share them. :) Along with some staples like fruit, salad, and cereal, this is how our week looked.

Stretch Week: Friday, July 25th -

Roasted a whole chicken

Made a Chicken Crescent Braid

Yummy and pretty! I modified the Pillsbury recipe for Roasted Garlic Turkey Crescent Braid by using chicken instead of turkey and skipping the sun dried tomatoes since I didn't have any on hand. I did have some baby spinach, however, so that got thrown in and was a perfect fit. I also left out the mushrooms.

Saturday, July 26th -

Went to the farmer's market and spent $10 on peaches, apples, 4 eggplants, and 2 "spaceship squash."

Made Peanut Butter Banana Bread (without the chocolate) from Peanut Butter Boy. Didn't get a picture b/c it was gone in a matter of minutes. lol!

Ate chicken sandwiches with mayo from whole chicken cooked Friday.

Sunday, July 27th -

Tuscan White Bean Salad from Elana's Pantry using two kinds of canned white beans with oven-roasted tomatoes from Gluten-free Girl - it was perfect! And the leftovers were even better on Monday!

hamburgers at a dinner party (free! wohoo!)

Monday, July 28th -

More chicken Sandwiches and leftovers. :) Easy-peasy.

Tuesday, July 29th -

Rustic Garlic Onion Pizza from Fun Foods on a Budget, with Beyond Salmon's Honey Garlic Grilled Eggplant on top.

I used way too much salt on the eggplant - but now I know. We picked a few pieces of eggplant off each piece and were good to go! The foccacia bread crust was the best.thing.ever.

Wednesday, July 30th -

Spaceship Squash Fritters from The Leftover Queen and 40 minute hamburger buns from Taste of Home. I didn't get a picture of these unfortunately, but they were GOOD!

And for lunch I whipped up some quinoa with tomatoes, garlic, and baby spinach.

Thursday, July 31st -

Falafel and pita bread from Iron Stef, and Eggplant Caviar from Sam Cooks.

I've gotta say - we ate well this week! I spent a lot more time cooking than usual but now I can log all of these away as having tried them and should I decide to make them again, it will go faster the second time around. Thanks lovely bloggers for the inspiration this week!

White Bean Rigatoni

Ingredients:

1 box (16oz) whole wheat rigatoni noodles
1 jar spaghetti sauce
1 can or frozen box (I used frozen) spinach
1 (8oz) can white beans - any kind (I used great northern)
1 tsp minced garlic

Directions:

Boil noodles as directed. In separate pot, heat sauce, beans, spinach, garlic, and and spices you'd like until just boiling. Remove from heat. Drain noodles and add then to the sauce pot. Mix thoroughly and serve (with cheese sprinkled on top if you'd like).

Easy-peasy! I really didn't even need to write out a recipe - I certainly didn't follow one! This was a successfully thrown together meal - my favorite kind. :)

Good and Hearty Granola

I've tried dozens of different granola recipes: Low fat, with fruit, sugar free, etc. and nothing beats good 'ole hearty granola that leaves you satisfied for hours. I don't use refined sugar in mine and while I use canola oil (no saturated fat unlike veggie oil), you could substitute the oil of your choice. If you add dried fruit to this recipe, add it at the end or after it's done - I find that the fruit ends up getting scalded if you put it in right away.

Ingredients:

4 cups oats
2 cups bran flakes
1/2 cup milled flax seed
1 cup chopped almonds
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 cup dried coconut flakes
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup honey

Directions:

Preheat oven at 220 degrees.
Combine dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl and mix well.
Fold in oil and honey.
Spread on ungreased baking sheet and put in oven for 1-1 1/2 hours.
Stir around on baking sheet every 20 minutes or so to make sure granola browns evenly.
It's done when it's started to get crispy. I sometimes let it sit in the oven with the heat off for a while to let it continue to dry out. It will harden up significantly as it cools.
Enjoy with lots of milk and fresg fruit or over yogurt or ice cream. :)

Lentil Crescents

I don't know how many of you have crescent rolls in your pantry... so this might be a stretch, but it's simple and can be modified in a number of ways. In fact, the recipe below is modified from the Greek Lentil Crescents recipe from the October 2006 issue of Home Cooking Magazine. The original recipe had just lentils, dried onions, and feta cheese it.

Ingredients:

1 (8oz) package refridgerated crescent roll dough
1 (15oz) can lentils or about 1 1/2 cup fresh cooked dry lentils, drained
1 can spinach (or 1 box frozen spinach)
2 tsp dried minced onion
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp soy sauce or temari

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
In bowl, combine all ingredients except dough and mix well.
Separate crescent roll dough into 4 rectangles.
Firmly press perferations to seal.
Cut each rectangle into 2 squares. 8 squares in all.
Place 1/4 cup lentil mixture in center of each square.
Bring 4 corners together over filling and twist.
Place on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 14-18 minutes or until golden brown.

Pumpkin Raisin Muffins

It's never too warm for pumpkin!

You can imagine the sort of things that are most commonly donated to our food pantry - canned green beans, corn, and peas as well as mac 'n cheese and ramen noodles. The single most common item donated however, is canned cranberry sauce. My only guess is that people buy more than one can around Thanksgiving/Christmas and then remember that no one in their family enjoys it but them and they can't eat more than one can. I have yet to work up the bravery to try to make anything out of congealed cranberries, but this week I cracked open the other Thanksgiving/Christmas season donations and showed our residents how to use them.

We ended up this year with a whole shelf full of pureed pumpkin. Pumpkin is fantastic! It can be sweet or not. It can be used in baked goods or soups or stews or as a spread. I love pumpkin. So, even though it is June, we've been revelling in the Fall fruits this week.

The recipe came from this site and was delicious:

Pumpkin Raisin Muffins

Number of Servings: Two dozen

Ingredients:
1 cup Fresh or Canned Pumpkin
3 1/2 cups Flour
1 cup Sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/4 cup 2% Milk
1/4 cup Soft Butter or margarine
1 cup Raisins
4 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Directions: Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Put muffin cups into muffin tins or grease the tins. Cream butter(or margarine) and sugar until fluffy. Beat in pumpkin and eggs. Dredge raisins in 1/2 cup of flour. Sift remaining flour and spices together. Pour milk into a mixing bowl. Mix in dry ingredients by hand until just mixed. Stir in raisins. Spoon mix into paper cups in muffin tin. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 - 25 minutes. Serve pumpkin raisin muffins warm or cool. Spread on butter or margarine, if desired.

Notes: I mentioned in the last post that I am terrible at baking. This is what happens when you forget the baking powder:

They don't rise! Who knew! I salvaged the second half of the batch, but I guaruntee they would have been yummier if I would have followed the directions from the start.

I used canned evaporated milk instead of fresh milk and then used the leftover milk and pumpkin to make a Pumpkin Latte. Delicious!

Rachael Ray's Vegetarian Chickpea Burgers

From the November 2006 Everyday Menu Planner. Also online here.


Thank you Rachael for this delicious treat!!! I followed the recipe almost exactly and although mine didn't look quite as photo-perfect as the ones in the magazine, they tasted heavenly.

4 servings
prep time: 5 minutes
cook time: 8 minutes

Ingredients:
15oz can chickpeas, rinsed and drained
4oz can diced green chiles
2/3 cup packed flat-leaf parsley leaves
2/3 cup bread crumbs
salt and pepper
1 large egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp vegetable oil
4 thin slices cheddar cheese
4 hamburger buns
dijon mustard, ketchup, or mayo for serving

1. In a food processor, pulse the chickpeas, green chiles, and parsley until finely chopped. Transfer the mixture to a medium bowl and stir in the bread crumbs and salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the egg and form the mixture into 4 patties, each about 2/3 inch thick.

2. In a large skillet or grill pan (or George Foreman!!), heat the oil over medium-low heat. Cook the burgers for 4 minutes, then flip and cook for 3 minutes more. Top the patties with the cheese slices for the last minute of cooking. Serve the cheeseburgers on the hamburger buns with mustard, ketchup, or mayo.

My notes: I didn't have cheese, so we didn't use any. We also didn't have fresh parsley so we use about a tbsp of dried parsley instead. I used Panko for bread crumbs b/c it's my favorite, but you could use any kind you'd like - including a piece of stale bread! And we had ours with mayo on a toasted bun. I've gotta tell you, this is my favorite dish in a long time! Go Rachael!