If you’ve never heard of these lovelies, you are not alone. Rainbow cookies are made of almond cake dyed fun bright colors with apricot preserves all sandwiched in between two thin layers of chocolate.
They really aren’t cookies at all, more like thinly packed cake. But whatever the heck they are, they are delicious!
I don’t really recall these cookies growing up, but my boyfriend (who is from Long Island) absolutely loves them. In fact, he was kind of taken aback when I mentioned I didn’t really know what they were. One of his friends was absolutely horrified; he basically forced me to eat one right then and there which I didn’t complain about. I love them now!
So I wanted to try to make these little guys… I’m not sure why. They are awfully difficult (well, more time consuming than difficult). But I was so darn proud of myself when they were done, I don’t even care about the effort I had to put in! The cookies go by a ton of names… Rainbow, Seven Layer, Neapolitan, Tricolor… but I’m pretty sure they tend to be a Christmas staple in Italian households. I found this recipe on Epicurious.
Ingredients:
1 (12 oz) jar apricot preserves, heated and strained
I need more sides in my life. Couscous is a great weekday choice because it’s so quick to make, maybe 20 minutes in total. This recipe is from the Fresh & Healthy DASH Diet Cooking Cookbook which I absolutely love. The DASH (Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension) diet was developed by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute a encourages increasing whole grains, nuts, fruits, vegetables, low-fat dairy and lean proteins and minimizing processed gains, high-fat meats and dairy, sugars and sodium… which is basically more just eating healthy versus a diet.
This couscous recipe is made with vegetable broth to give it some flavor with bites of pine nuts, dried cranberries, and scallions.
Oh pasta, how I love you. Pasta, or any Italian food for that matter, is my ultimate comfort food choice. I was sent Lidia Bastianich’s newest cookbook: Lidia’s Favorite Recipes– 100 Foolproof Italian Dishes, from Basic Sauces to Irresistible Entrees, which after my first page through, I already knew would be one of my favorite cookbooks. Lidia Bastianich obviously knows her Italian dishes, she’s been in the cooking industry for most of her life; she has a number of best-selling cookbooks, owns 6 restaurants, and is basically the face of Italian cooking on PBS. I’m also happy to let you all know that I will be giving away one copy of this awesome cookbook! More on that after the recipe…
The cookbook makes Italian recipes approachable. A lot of the recipes include childhood favorites of mine, Chicken Parmigiana, Spaghetti and Meatballs, and Italian Wedding Soup. There are recipes that the photos look so fantastic I can’t wait to try them (I’m specifically talking about the rice balls. Oh. My. Goodness.)
But I had to test out the cookbook with my favorite Italian staple: a pasta dish. The Tagliatelle with Wild Mushroom Sauce sounded just wonderful. But something didn’t want me to make this recipe. My supermarket didn’t have wild mushrooms or tagliatelle! Well, the show must go on. This is my somewhat adapted version of the recipe, Pasta with Wild Mushroom Sauce.
“The secret of good cooking is, first, having a love of it. … If you’re convinced that cooking is drudgery, you’re never going to be good at it, and you might as well warm up something frozen.”
– James Beard
James Beard is basically the father of American cooking as we know it today. He, along with the beloved Julia Child, is basically the “foodie” community’s version of The Beatles. As Julia Child put it, “in the beginning, there was James Beard.” So when I was offered to review a new compilation of some of his best recipes, I couldn’t wait to dig in. The cookbook, The Essential James Beard Cookbook: 450 Recipes That Shaped the Tradition of American Cooking is in stores beginning today.
The cookbook is filled with what we think of today as quintessential recipes: coleslaw, potato salad, pot roast, chicken pot pie. But James Beard’s travels through France as well as inspiration from the Chinese cooks who worked at the hotel his mother owned. Each page is filled with both new and different recipes as well as classic approaches to everyday food (ex. roasting a chicken). The editors did a great job of going through and adding notes to help enhance the recipes as well, including insight into what an ingredient is and what can be substituted.
I really had a tough time choosing a recipe to do this post. It’s really tough to pinpoint what James Beard is known for, because, well, he’s known for everything! I finally settled on his Cream of Tomato Soup recipe.
This recipe, passed down from his mother, is a classic comfort food choice. I loved the idea of making a family recipe and was intrigued by the process. (The onset of Hurricane Sandy may also have had some input into my decision.)
Ingredients:
2 28-oz cans of Italian plum tomatoes, undrained
1 cup Beef Stock
1 small yellow onion, roughly chopped
2 whole cloves, smashed
1 teaspoon dried basil
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoon all purpose flour
1 tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons unsalted butter, melted
2 cups heavy cream
Chopped fresh basil or fresh flat-leaf parsley, for garnish
This recipe is adapted from James Beard’s The Essential James Beard Cookbook
This past weekend was one of my favorite September events: the Kennett Square Mushroom Festival. That’s right, an entire festival dedicated to fungi. And it’s amazing. Kennett Square’s main street (State Street) shuts down to accommodate blocks of vendors, there are cooking demonstrations, soup contests, and mushroom eating contests. There is even pumpkin mushroom ice cream. All in celebration of the mushroom. (Fun fact: Kennett Square is considered the Mushroom Capital of the world).
Naturally, I picked up a bunch of mushrooms which I will now be using to cook all week. mmm. Because today was the first “fall” feeling day, I decided to use some of the mushrooms to make a soup. I wanted to stay away from a creamy soup so I used potatoes to thicken it up. I found the inspiration for this soup in The Flavor Thesaurus by Niki Segnit (one of my favorite books for food pairings).
As I hear rumblings of all things pumpkin just around the corner (yay!), I realized that my days of beautiful, fresh vegetables are numbered (boo). Which means I needed a recipe that used some of summer’s best. This risotto recipe from Cooking Light fit the bill: Asparagus, Sugar Snap Peas, Zucchini, Yellow Squash.. mmm.
Ingredients:
8 ounces asparagus, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
8 ounces sugar snap peas, trimmed and cut in half
5 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
1 (8-ounce) zucchini, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
1 (8-ounce) yellow squash, halved lengthwise and cut into 1/2-inch-thick slices
Brunch appeals to my indecisive side: I love not having to choose between breakfast or lunch. Philadelphia is a huge brunch town so almost every weekend I have the opportunity to have an awesome brunch at a local coffee shop or restaurant. This weekend, I decided to stay home for brunch and try out this delicious sounding recipe from Cooking Light. The recipe includes mushrooms, a fried egg, tomatoes, and pesto … did they make this recipe especially for me?!
Ingredients (this makes 4 servings):
4 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided (I used basil olive oil)
1 cup thinly sliced shallots, divided
3 portobello mushrooms, roughly chopped
2 tablespoons dry white wine
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper, divided
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
8 teaspoons refrigerated pesto (or fresh, check out my recipe here)
The wonderful people at Nudo sent me a new product on their site: the Squadra Italiana Set which includes cold press olive oil, olive oil with Sicilian chillies, and a free tin of extra virgin olive oil stone ground with fresh basil. These olive oils are absolutely wonderful on their own, to just dip breads in. But I wanted to add that extra punch of basil to this dish so I used the basil olive oil to add a little bit more flavor. Expect these tasty olive oils to show up in quite a few posts in the coming weeks. (You can get your own Squadra Italiana Set here)
If you’re making your own pesto, do that first. It takes maybe 5 minutes and tastes considerably better (at least I think so).
Heat a large saute pan over medium heat. Add 2 teaspoons olive oil to the pan and swirl to coat. Add 2/3 cup shallots and cook for 3 minutes.
Add the chopped mushrooms and cook for 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add the wine, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Bring to a boil, scraping the pan to loosen up the brown bits. Cook for 2 minutes or until liquid almost evaporates, stirring occasionally. Remove the mushroom mixture from the pan and keep warm. Preheat your broiler.
Return the pan to medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon oil to the pan, swirling to coat. Add the remaining 1/3 cup shallots and saute for 5 minutes or until lightly browned. Remove from pan and keep warm.
Spread 2 teaspoons pesto over one side of each bread slice. Top each slice with 2 tablespoons cheese.
Broil for 2 minutes and set aside.
Return the pan to medium heat. Add 1 teaspoon olive oil to the pan and swirl to coat. Crack the eggs into the pan and cook until whites set, about 4 minutes.
Boy did I botch this egg. Oh well, it will still taste good!
Top each bread slice with 2 tomato slices.
Divide the mushroom mixture evenly among the bread slices. Top each serving with 1 egg. Sprinkle with 1/4 teaspoon pepper, shallots and basil.
This is quite the meal!
I loved the meatiness of the mushrooms which went so well with the egg. Tomatoes are in season right now so they were absolutely perfect in this dish. And my pesto was pretty darn good if I do say so myself 🙂 This meal, although it’s called a “sandwich” definitely required a fork and knife, and even then got a bit messy. But that’s part of the fun!
This week is my favorite week of the summer: I received my first batch of tomatoes from my CSA. I love tomatoes oh so much (if you haven’t figured that out with all my posts including tomatoes as an ingredient). As a kid, I used to eat them whole, dipping them in ranch dressing. Not much has changed, except now I choose to dip them in hummus instead. Although I do love a good fresh, juicy tomato, there is something wonderful about a cooked tomato. Cooking Light‘s latest issue was (as usual) on point with a lovely, simple pasta recipe that includes tomatoes, garlic, basil … and not much else.
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon kosher salt
8 ounces uncooked fettuccine
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided
2 pints multicolored tomatoes (I used cherry/grape tomatoes)
Have you ever heard of Meatless Monday? It’s a campaign that began in 2003 encouraging people to cut out meat from their Monday meals. Monday was chosen as a way to start your week off more healthy. I am a big fan of Meatless Monday in general but I find it difficult to reserve one day a week specifically to go meatless. I prefer a much more flexible approach, where I try to cut meat out of three meals within my week.
The point of Meatless Monday is to eat a healthy meal as a substitute, adding a little more vegetables or whole grains to your diet instead of always making protein the star of the meal. I am by no means a vegetarian, and honestly never will be. But Americans in general tend to consume way too much protein. According to meatlessmonday.com, “going meatless once a week may reduce your risk of chronic preventable conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes and obesity.”
It’s honestly pretty darn easy to do once you make a mental note to try it out. I have plenty of meatless options on my blog to help get you started. Some of my favorites include (in no particular order):
If you are in need of more inspiration, one of my favorite vegetarian cookbooks is Herbivoracious. (Michael Natkin, the author, also has a pretty snazzy blog. Check it out here.) Michael’s recipes are truly wonderful (the black bean soup above is one of his) so be sure to pop over to see them.
Do you already participate in Meatless Monday? What is your favorite meatless meal to prepare?
I love the taste of beets, but preparing them is so time consuming that I tend to avoid buying them. Most recipes involving beets require you to roast the beets and then peel them. I came across a recipe for beet risotto in Food and Wine that just cooked the beets on the stove top in significantly less time. This risotto recipe is supposed to turn a beautiful red color from the beets. I didn’t get the same bright red color but I still love how it looks!
Ingredients:
3 cups chicken stock or water
1 tablespoon unsalted butter
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 large shallot, finely chopped
2 large beets peeled and finely chopped, plus thinly sliced beets for garnish
What is it about nuts that go so wonderfully with pumpkin and butternut squash dishes? Walnuts, pecans, and hazelnuts just pair so nicely with the flavors of squash. When I first received Buitoni’s Butternut Squash Agnolotti, I knew I wanted to make a hazelnut cream sauce with it. Hazelnuts, like most nuts, taste significantly better when toasted. I have no idea why this is, but I feel the need to always heat nuts for a little while to increase the flavor.
Ingredients:
1 package of Buitoni’s Butternut Squash Agnolotti
1/2 cup hazelnuts, blanched
1 stick of butter
1/4 cup sweet vermouth
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
a pinch each of ginger, allspice, and nutmeg (1/8 teaspoon or less)
If you’ve been following my blog for a while, you might have picked up on my obsession with pumpkin and butternut squash. I attempt to limit my gourd intake to the September and October months, but every now and then I still need my fix outside of those months. Butternut squash seems to be more socially acceptable, especially in pasta form. Buitoni’s Butternut Squash Agnolotti is the perfect way for me to have this delicious ingredient year-round.
Agnolotti is just a type of ravioli. This specific agnolotti is a “half-moon pasta filled with oven-roasted butternut squash, Impastata Ricotta, aged Parmesan and Grana Padano cheeses, accented with amoretti cookie crumbs. I traditionally use a brown butter sage sauce with butternut squash ravioli because they are a perfect pair. I wanted to try something a little different with this agnolotti, so I instead made a cold pasta salad. It has been so unbearably hot in Philadelphia that I thought this would be a perfect (and timely) twist.Also, don’t forget to enter my giveaway to win a bunch of Buitoni goodies and free Buitoni pasta!
Ingredients:
1 package of Buitoni’s Butternut Squash Agnolotti
½ cup butter
1 shallot, chopped
1 tablespoon fresh sage leaves, roughly chopped
½ cup walnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
A handful of golden raisins, or to taste
Cucumbers are everywhere right now, and as much as I love just eating them raw, I thought it might be a nice change to try to use them cooked. Cucumber soup, chilled, sounds oh so refreshing doesn’t it? I found this recipe for Chilled Creamy Cucumber Soup from Eating Well. It uses an avocado and some plain yogurt, making a really creamy delicious soup. Plus, it only takes 35 minutes to make (it is additional time to chill).
Ingredients:
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4 cups peeled, seeded and thinly sliced cucumbers, divided
1 1/2 cups vegetable broth, or reduced-sodium chicken broth
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
Pinch of cayenne pepper
1 avocado, diced
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley, plus more for garnish
1/2 cup low-fat plain Greek yogurt
Begin by prepping all your ingredients. Mince the garlic, dice the onion, peel, seed, and slice the cucumber, and dice your avocado. (I added a squeeze of lemon juice over the avocado to keep it from browning).
Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add your onion and garlic to the pot, stirring occasionally. Cook for 4 minutes.
Add the lemon juice and cook for another minute. Add the cucumber, broth, salt, pepper, and cayenne (optional) and bring to a simmer.
Reduce heat and simmer for 6 to 8 minutes, or until the cucumbers are soft.
Add thesoupto a blender (be careful), removing the center of the top of the blender. Add the avocado and parsley.
Place a paper towel over the open hole before blending. Blend on low until smooth. (I just do all of this in the pot using an immersion blender, I find it less hazardous hehe).
If you want to eat the soup hot, pour into a serving bowl and stir in the yogurt. Top with cucumber slices and garnish with parsley. If chilling the soup, refrigerate for at least one hour, then stir in the yogurt and garnish before serving.
The soup is smooth, a little tangy from the Greek yogurt, and ends with a slight hint of spice. I like mixing in the parsley and chopped cucumbers into the soup to give it some texture.
I love what I call “after work recipes.” I can make this when I get home and can eat before 8 pm. For an even more refreshing soup, try substituting mint or dill for the parsley.
One of my favorite parts of the CSA share is having a plethora of zucchini and summer squash at my disposal. I love these ingredients with a simple pasta, so I was happy to come across a Martha Stewart recipe fthat incorporated these ingredients. I thought I still had some snap peas left over and was going to throw those in, but I unfortunately was all out. Plus, I didn’t have any frozen peas in my freezer. If you have those, be sure to include them. I threw in a zucchini also because I had one on hand.
Ingredients:
Coarse salt and ground pepper
8 ounces gemelli or other short pasta
3 medium yellow squash, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
1 medium zucchini, quartered lengthwise and thinly sliced
4 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 cup shredded Parmesan
Torn fresh basil leaves, as garnish
Cook pasta in a pot of boiling salted water. Cook 2 minutes less than required for al dente (my pasta had to cook for 6 minutes).
While waiting for the pasta to cook, slice your squash and zucchini.
Add the squash and zucchini to the pasta and water, and cook for 2 minutes.
Drain the pasta, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water. Return the pasta to the pot.
Add the butter, lemon juice, 1/4 cup Parmesan, and 1/2 cup pasta water. Season with salt and pepper and toss to combine.
Spoon into individual bowls and top with basil and sprinkle with Parmesan.
At first bite, I thought this might be missing something. But all it really needed was another seasoning of pepper and an extra squeeze of lemon. After that, it was quite yummy.
To really up the flavor, a few red pepper flakes would go a long way.
The flavor of this was nice and fresh. It was a solid vegetarian dish, but I think it works best as a base. I feel like you could really turn this into something special with some additional flavors included.
With the influx of vegetables in my life from my CSA, I am swimming in quite a large amount of highly perishable produce. So to preserve (and use) a bunch of my CSA veggies, I decided to try my first hand at Ratatouille. I looked at a bunch of recipes online and they can get really quite complex! There are some that cook each vegetable separately to bring out the flavor of each, some that layer the ingredients into a beautiful casserole. Well, I’m making this on a weeknight after work. So this is one of the easier versions, a one pot wonder if you will. One day, I will make the other version, but tonight, I just want a delicious meal that I can freeze for later.
So what is ratatouille, besides a really cute kids movie? It’s basically a stewed vegetable dish, usually served with bread, or maybe egg noodles or polenta (something to sop up all the deliciousness). There are many different recipes for the dish, but most include eggplant, zucchini, peppers, and onions. The spices can range from thyme or marjoram to herbes de Provence.
I found this recipe on MarthaStewart.com and kind of messed with the ratio of ingredients, so be sure to check out the original recipe to see if that is more to your liking.
Ingredients:
1/4 cup olive oil (or enough to cover the bottom of your pot)
1 medium onion, chopped (I used a sweet onion)
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 small eggplants, cubed
2 large zucchini, cubed
Salt and ground pepper, to taste
2 yellow or bell peppers, ribs and seeds removed, cubed (use any color pepper you want)
1 can (28 ounces) diced tomatoes
2 teaspoons fresh thyme
Chopped fresh basil, for garnish
To make, add the olive oil to a Dutch oven or other large pot that has a lid. Heat over medium heat. While waiting to heat, chop your onions, garlic, eggplant, and zucchini.
I want to take a minute to discuss a method of cutting eggplant. I googled this just as I was about to make the recipe so it was new to me too and it worked quite well. I found the method on recipetips.com.
To cut the zucchini, remove the skin using a knife by cutting the zucchini into a square shape (or close to a square.)
Slice the zucchini into smaller square disks.
Stack a few of them, and cut into fours to make smaller squares. This doesn’t have to be uniform, you just want them to be the same general shape so they cook evenly.
Add the onions to the pot and stir occasionally. Cook for 5 minutes.
Add the garlic and cook for another minute. Stir in the eggplant and zucchini and season with salt and pepper. Add 3/4 cup of water, cover, and simmer for about 5 minutes, stirring once half way through. While waiting for the 5 minutes to pass, chop your peppers.
Add the peppers to the pot and simmer, covered, for another 5 minutes.
Add the tomatoes and thyme and bring to a boil.
Reduce heat to medium-low, partially cover, and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. The recipe said to stir often. I didn’t. I got distracted and walked away. Oh well.
Remove from heat and serve. Top with a few slices of basil.
If freezing, leave the basil out and freeze.
For being vegetarian, doesn’t this look fabulously hearty?
I paired mine with day old bread which was a perfect amount of crispiness to go with the veggies. It may not be terribly pretty, but it was comforting and really flavorful.
I ate one serving and froze the rest for nights when I don’t have time to cook. I’m glad I did or I’d still be sitting here eating it!
