Pictures of Food: Asian Shrimp Glass Noodle Salad

I don't remember this one at all. It looks like my typical Asian salad with shrimp and glass noodles.

Pictures of Food: Calzone

I've been slowly cleaning out my picture files and ran across really old pictures of food that I never wrote the recipes.

These are for a calzone. I don't remember what is in it, but it pretty much anything I would put on a veggie pizza, add a little ricotta cheese, and fold the dough over. Pinch corners to seal.

Black Bean and Sweet Potato Burritos

I had an idea to make veggie tacos, but wanted sweet potato. I decided to try black bean and sweet potato burritos instead. I looked online, and most of the recipes I found had you make a mush of the beans and sweet potatoes (like refried bean consistency), but I wanted chunky. A lot of recipes had you roasting the sweet potato, but that would take too long. Here's what I did:

1 Sweet Potato, chopped into little chunks (about 1/2 inch cubes)

2/3 cup chopped onion

1/2 cup chopped bell pepper

Olive Oil

1 can black beans, drained

Cumin to taste (about 1 teaspoon or more)

Granulated garlic to taste

salt and pepper to taste

Whole wheat tortillas

Feta cheese, spinach, chopped avocado, sour cream for topping

Saute sweet potato in a tablespoon of olive oil. When it starts to soften, add onion and bell pepper. Add more oil if needed.

Once everything is evenly cooked and starting to brown, add can of drained black beans (I didn't rinse, just drained off excess liquid) and seasonings. Stir to combine and cook another 2 minutes or so, until beans are warmed.

Serve in tortilla and top with Feta cheese, spinach, chopped avocado, and sour cream.

I added a little too much cumin (probably over 2 teaspoons), but it was still pretty good. Maybe a little bit of fresh chopped jalapeno would be a nice addition. And I should have added some nutmeg!

Okay, now I know this photo isn't going to make you want to try it - it's not very food stylish, but it was hard to take a picture to get the full effect. Maybe next time I'll revise it a bit, and try to get a pretty shot.

I chopped up the spinach on Brian's, but I got lazy on mine.

Pumpkin Pancakes

I was ready to make a super easy Halloween brunch with my Pumpkin Waffle recipe. My plans were thwarted when I looked in the cupboard and realized we had no Krusteaz! A couple weeks ago, made pumpkin pancakes from a recipe I found on the internet and they were good, but I couldn't remember the site. I found a recipe on AllRecipes and gave it a shot. I altered it just slightly.

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons vinegar
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons brown sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a bowl, mix together the milk, pumpkin, egg, oil and vinegar. Combine the flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, spices and salt in a separate bowl. Stir into the pumpkin mixture just enough to combine. Allow batter to rest for a few minutes before cooking.
2. Heat a lightly oiled griddle or frying pan over medium high heat. Pour or scoop the batter onto the griddle, using approximately 1/4 cup for each pancake. Brown on both sides and serve hot.

They were dense, not light and fluffy. Still pretty delicious - but don't really be tempted to cook them until brown, just make sure the batter is set on the inside and that is how they are best (otherwise, they get a little tough on the bottom).

Rosemary Almonds

When we lived in the apartment, my mother snipped a bit off her rosemary plant and put it in a pot for me. We had it on the balcony of apartment, but it always looked like the sad little dried out sprig. When we moved into the house, i planted it in the front bed. It just exploded into this massive thing, happily living alongside prickly pear, yucca, red sage, and blue agave. Any time of of the year you can go and snip a little and have wonderful fragrant fish, potatoes, or almonds.

• Heat a skillet to medium heat.
• Add a teaspoon of olive oil - swirl around.
• Dump in about 3/4 a cup almonds. Stir around to coat with olive oil. Keep stirring for a minute or so.
• Add 1 tablespoon chopped rosemary.
• Stir, stir stir, a couple minutes until it begins to brown. Watch it very closely so it doesn't burn.
• Transfer to a bowl.
• Add salt (in this case it was Pink Himalayan salt).
• Allow to cool for a few minutes.

These are super easy and addictive. I make them when we have a cheese board or fondue for dinner, or they are great with cocktails.

Peanut Butter Truffle Brownies

I made these brownies for Brian's birthday this year, and then again for Father's day. Cut these very small - they are incredibly rich.

For the Brownies:

1. 1 cup butter
2. 2 cups sugar
3. 3 eggs
4. 3 teaspoons vanilla
5. 2/3 cup cocoa powder
6. 1 cup all purpose flour
7. 1/2 teaspoon salt
8. 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

For the Peanut Butter Filling:

1. 1/2 cup butter, softened
2. 1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
3. 2 cup powdered sugar
4. 2-3 teaspoons milk

For the Ganache Topping:

1. 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
2. 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
3. 1/4 cup butter
4. 2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Butter the bottom and sides of a 9 by 13 inch metal baking pan. Put a long piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the pan, letting the parchment extend up two sides of the pan and overhang slightly on both ends. (This will make it easy to remove the bars from the pan after they have baked.) Butter the parchment.
2. In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Remove from heat and add the sugar; stir to combine. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Mix in cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add flour and stir until just combined and no streaks of dry ingredients remain. Pour into prepared pan and spread into an even layer. Bake for bake 25-30 minutes. Let cool completely in pan on a cooling rack.
3. While the brownies are cooling, make the peanut butter filling. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the ingredients and beat until smooth. Add more milk if necessary to make it spreadable. Spread in an even layer over the brownies. Place in the refrigerator until filling is set, about 30 minutes.
4. While the filling is setting, make the ganache, combine the ingredients in a double boiler or in a microwave safe bowl. Melt together and combine. Pour the ganache over the top and spread gently. Return to the fridge until set.

Yields: 24 brownies

Printed From: www.sweetpeaskitchen.com

Avocado, Pesto and Goat Cheese Pizza

I made this whole-wheat pizza back in April. It has the following toppings:

-Pesto
-Mozzarella
-goat cheese
-yellow baby bell peppers
-Sun-dried tomatoes
-Kalamata olives

After baking, I topped it with freshly chopped avocado and sprinkled with smoked salt and parm-reg.