Monthly Archives: July 2012

Stuffed prosperosa eggplant.

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I purchased these lovely prosperosa eggplant at our farmer’s market on Tuesday.  I couldn’t wait to use them & with a crazy week – tonight was finally it.  This recipe can be adjusted to fit your likes or what you have on hand.  Also, easily transition to a vegetarian dish by omitting the ground turkey.  I just need to boost my protein intake so I opted for the lean ground turkey for dinner.

Ingredients:

5 prosperosa eggplants (you can use regular eggplant)
1 cup of quinoa (cooked)
1 red bell pepper, chopped
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tablespoon of ground cumin
Salt and pepper to taste
1 lb of lean ground turkey
1 teaspoon of basil, chopped
1 teaspoon of parsley, chopped
Vegetable broth (you can use chicken broth as well)
Cheese for topping (your choice – I used Piacentinu but mozzarella, cheddar, parmesan would all work).

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Cut the tops off of your eggplant and scoop out the interior.  I cooked this on the stovetop and set it aside.

In a saute pan over medium heat, add some olive oil.  Let that heat up and then add your ground turkey.  Cook for 4 minutes and then add the pepper, garlic, cumin, salt and pepper and parsley.  Cook until no longer pink and then add the basil. Add the quinoa to the mixture and blend.  Then add to each eggplant.   Top with some shaved cheese.  Then I added about a tablespoon of broth to the top of each eggplant.  Bake for 25-30 minutes.

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Tomato salad.

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This salad just screams summer.  Fresh tomatoes and basil from our garden.  Not much more needs to be said about this salad but perfection :)

Ingredients for the balsamic vinaigrette:

1/4 cup or so of balsamic vinegar
1 teaspoon of dijon mustard (I used Maille)
Salt & pepper
Dash of red pepper flakes
1 garlic cloves, smashed and finely chopped

Directions:

Whisk together and top your tomatoes and basil with the vinaigrette.  Also perfect for a dipping sauce for your crusty bread.

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Zebra Bundt Cake.

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I wanted to make a fun cake for my cocktail party that I hosted last evening.  I found a wonderful picture of this cake on line and knew I had to make it.  Attached is step-by-step directions and the recipe for making this lovely cake and ganache.  It was very well received and quite fabulous.

http://www.bakersroyale.com/cakes/zebra-bundt-cake/

Ingredients:
Cake

  • 3 cups cake flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 ½ cups granulated sugar, divided
  • ½ cup natural (not Dutch-processed) cocoa powder
  • 6 tablespoons water
  • 1 ½ cups unsalted butter, melted and cooled
  • 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 5 large eggs
  • ½ cup whole milk

Glaze

  • 6 ounces bittersweet chocolate
  • ⅔ cup heavy cream

Instructions:
To make cake

  1. Sift flour baking powder and salt into a bowl; set aside.
  2. In a separate medium size bowl add in ½ cup of sugar, the cocoa powder, and water then whisk until mixture is smooth; set aside.
  3. Place melted butter and sugar in a stand mixer bowl fitted with a paddle attachment. Beat on medium high until mixture is blended, about 1 minute. Add in vanilla and beat until combined. Add and beat eggs one at time, mixing well after each addition. Once all eggs are added, beat mixture until it becomes light and fluffy (it will resemble pancake batter, but slightly thinner).
  4. Turn mixer speed down to low and add the flour in three additions, alternating with the milk in two additions and mixing just until blended.
    Add 2 cups of the batter to the cocoa mixture and stir until blended.
  5. Using an ice cream scoop, pour two scoops of vanilla mixture into pan. Now alternate and pour one scoop of chocolate mixture on top of vanilla mixture. Continue to alternate between vanilla and chocolate layers until bundt pan is filled.
  6. Bake zebra pound cake for 50-60 minutes at 350 degrees F or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool cake in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. Invert the cake onto the rack and cool completely.

To make glaze

  1. Place chocolate and cream in a pan over low heat and stir until chocolate is melted. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes before using.

Assembly

  1. Pour the glaze on top and let glaze set, about 30 minutes. Slice and serve.
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Chobani Blueberry Muffins.

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I cannot enough of all this season’s blueberries.  Pancakes, muffins, smoothies or just straight up!  I wanted to create a fun new recipe today for muffins, of course using my favorite Chobani yogurt, and these are perfect!  You gotta try these!

Ingredients:

3/4 cup of sugar
3/4 cups + 2 tablespoons of all-purpose flour
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 egg
1/2 cup of vanilla or plain non fat Chobani yogurt
1/4 cup of vegetable or canola oil
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2 cups of fresh blueberries, washed and tossed with a tablespoon of all purpose flour

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  Line your muffin pan with paper cups or spray with non stick floured spray and set aside.

In your stand mixer, paddle attached, blend sugar, flour, baking powder, soda and salt.  Then add the egg.  Blend well.  Add the Chobani, oil and vanilla.  Blend just to combine.  By hand stir in the blueberries (that have been freshly washed & tossed with some flour to help prevent them sinking in the batter) gently.  Scoop out the batter into each muffin tin.  Fill 3/4 fill.  Bake for 15-18 minute or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted comes out clean.  Let cool and enjoy!

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Virtual Cocktail Party Giveways.

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I’ve been very blessed in my life with friends who support me & my dreams.  About a year ago I got the crazy idea that I wanted to start a food blog sharing my recipes, ideas etc. with my friends.  I had no idea that my friend circle would become so large with each one of you.  My friends at igourmet.com have always been willing to help me with my success in this endeavor by giving me gift certificates to share with Knead to Cook fans.  They tirelessly support my website.  For all of their support, I’m eternally indebted.

I always feel like if I’m able, I’m happy to reciprocate and support my friends and their endeavors.  My sweet friend Leslie has become a Stella & Dot jewelry rep and we knew instantly that we needed to throw a party and invite all my friends, this includes YOU!

Because all of you can’t physically be at my house for our jewelry and cheese/wine cocktail party Wednesday night – I thought it would be fun to host a virtual party and do some fun giveaways.  Yes, I know, part of this has nothing to do with food but half of it does so bear with me.  Here’s how it’s going to work…

Wednesday, July 18th from 7-9 p.m. EST Knead to Cook will be hosting a virtual cocktail party with cheeses/crackers/sausages from our friends at igourmet.com.  Jewelry will be on display (I’ll be updating pics to my website/twitter/FB) from Stella & Dot.

We will be giving away 2 gift certificates – one for $40 for igourmet.com and one for $40 for Stella & Dot.  How do you enter?  You need to leave a comment or like on the link that I will share with you promptly at 7 pm EST on my FB page Wednesday, July 18th.  That’s it!  A comment or a like.  If you buy something from the link to Stella and Dot (during that two hours) you will receive an extra entry per item purchased.  But again – NO purchase is necessary to be entered – just a like or a comment on the link that I post to my party.

igourmet.com is sending me wonderful cheeses/crackers/sausages to share with my friends who attend the party.  They aren’t leaving my virtual friends out in the cold (well, scratch that – I mean heat).  They are giving me a discount code for the products & shipping on every item that we have at our cocktail party just for you attending the virtual party.

Again, all you need to do is leave a comment on the FB posting I share at 7 pm EST on Wednesday, July 18th.  Two gift certificates will be given out, each $40, to two lucky winners.  Random.org will select the winners.  Winners will be announced at 9:30 pm EST on July 18th.  The winners must email me at [email protected] within 48 hours to claim your prize or a new winner will be selected.   

The discount code for igourmet is RR78 for 15% off your entire order.  This code is good for one week till July 25th.

The link to view the Stella and Dot jewelry that is featured tonight is below – please click Stella and Dot party!

Stella and Dot party! 

Pictures will shared throughout the evening of both the food and the jewelry so you feel like you’re right here with us partying.  Can’t wait for Wednesday night!!

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Cherry & Peach Baked Oatmeal.

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Yesterday I purchased the most beautiful peaches and cherries.  I knew these would be perfect in a batch of my healthy baked oatmeal.  It was the perfect breakfast to have post run today.  It will also be a fantastic way to send my girls off to a hard swim practice this morning.  Fiber-packed and so incredibly tasty.  This will surely get everyone out of bed and running for breakfast in the morning.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of rolled oats
1/4 cup of oat bran
1/4 wheat bran
1 tablespoon flax seed meal
2 teaspoons of baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups of milk (almond or regular)
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup of unsweetened applesauce
1/4 cup of oil
1/4 cup of brown sugar
1 1/2 cup of pitted cherries
1 1/2 cup of peaches, pitted and chopped
Lemon juice
Honey and nuts for topping.

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees.  Spray a 2 quart casserole dish with non stick flour spray and set aside.

Sprinkle some lemon juice on the chopped peaches to keep them from turning.

In a large mixing bowl add the oats, brans, flax seed meal, powder and cinnamon.  In your stand mixer with the paddle attachment, blend milk, egg, applesauce, oil and sugar.  Blend well.  Add the dry ingredients to the stand mixer and blend well.  Blend the fruit by hand and then pour into your casserole dish.  Bake for 40-45 minutes or until set up and golden brown on the top.

Serve hot and top with milk, honey, nuts etc.  Enjoy!

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Grilled peaches topped with vanilla yogurt & smoked honey.

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Many things make me appreciate summer… this is definitely one of them.  Grilled peaches topped with frozen vanilla yogurt and smoked honey.  It’s heavenly.

This recipe is super easy.  Cut the peaches in half and remove the stone.  Place on a hot outdoor or indoor grill (face down) for about 5-7 minutes.  Remove and top with your favorite frozen vanilla yogurt, ice cream or creme fraiche.  Chobani would also be delightful!  Then drizzle with honey (I used smoked) and enjoy!

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Gorgonzola Rosemary Cheese Dip.

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Craving gorgonzola cheese tonight with my Skinny girl margarita.  Whipped this up in a snap and it’s perfect with some crackers or crudités. I have a huge Rosemary bush in my garden and this was a lovely way to use it.

Ingredients:

4 ounces of light cream cheese
1 cup of low fat gorgonzola crumbled cheese
3 tablespoons of chopped fresh Rosemary
Salt and Pepper
1 clove of garlic
3 tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

Directions:

Place all of the ingredients (up to the lemon juice) into your food processor.  Blend for about 2 minutes.  Through the spout, add the lemon juice (you may need more to make creamier) until if has a creamier texture.  Spoon the cheese mixture out into a bowl and serve with crackers or fresh vegetables.

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Chobani tubs giveaway ❤

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Okay you guys all know that I have a serious addiction, love, fascination, stalker-like craziness for all things Chobani.  Today I got an email from my favorite Chobani girl and she let me know that they are sending me all six of these new tubs and that they want to share all six with one lucky fan of my page.  Eeeeeekkkkkkkk!  I’m so happy!  So next week I’m working on a virtual cocktail party with a giveaway so I thought I would do this awesome giveaway through next  Monday night, July 16th.  The winner will be announced at 9 pm EST.

How to do I get entered?

1.  Like my Facebook page here.
2.  Leave a comment on this post or on my FB giveaway post telling me how you would use your 6 tubs of Chobani if you won.
3.  If you are chosen, email me at [email protected] within 48 hours of the announcement that you won.
4.  You must be a U.S. resident.

That’s it kids.  Have fun!

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Oreo Chocolate Chip Cookies.

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Sleepover tonight and I thought I would make a special treat for the girls when we all get home from our swim meet.  Oreos… chocolate chip cookies meet & make a lovely baby :)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of butter, room temperature
5 tablespoons of sugar
5 tablespoons of brown sugar
1 egg, room temperature
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
10 Oreo cookies, chopped (I used the chocolate cream filled version but the original version is acceptable.)

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  In your stand mixer with the paddle attachment on, cream the butter and sugars for 5 minutes.  Then add the egg and vanilla.  In a separate bowl, blend the flour, soda and salt.  Add gently to the butter mixture.  Blend.  By hand, blend the Oreos into the cookie batter.  Scoop the dough onto your cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.  Bake for 10-12 minutes or so until just turning lightly brown.  Let cool and enjoy!

 

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