Stuffed Peppers

I borrowed this recipe from Smitten Kitchen. I think these are some of the better stuffed peppers I've had. I like the salty creaminess of the feta. I didn't put chick peas in it because I don't have any today. I also had a large green zucchini and no yellow squash so I used the zucchini. And I added Greek olives. That adds to the Mediterranean flavor. Very good. I had a lot of the stuffing left so probably could have had one or two more peppers.

Couscous and Feta-Stuffed Peppers
Adapted from Epicurious
Vegetable-oil cooking spray
1 1/4 cups fat-free chicken or vegetable broth
2/3 cup couscous
4 large bell peppers, mixed colors
2 tsp olive oil
1/2 cup chopped onion
6 oz zucchini, quartered lengthwise then sliced across thinly
6 oz yellow squash, quartered lengthwise then sliced across thinly
1/2 tsp fennel seeds
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut in half
15 oz canned chickpeas, drained and rinsed
4 oz crumbled feta cheese (about 1 cup)
3 tablespoons tomato paste

Preheat oven to 350°F F. Coat a small baking dish with cooking spray. Bring the broth to a boil in a saucepan, add the couscous, cover the pan and remove it from the heat. Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Cut the stems and top half inch off the bell peppers and scoop out the seeds and membranes. Boil trimmed peppers for 5 minutes*, then drain them upside down. Heat oil in a nonstick skillet. Add onion, zucchini, yellow squash, fennel seeds, oregano, and salt. Cook, stirring frequently, for 5 minutes or until vegetables are softened. Remove from heat and stir in the tomatoes, chickpeas and [updated] tomato paste. Using a fork, scrape the couscous into the skillet and toss with the vegetables. Stir in the crumbled feta. Place peppers upright in the baking dish and fill them with couscous. Bake 15 minutes. Serve immediately.

Daring Bakers

This month's Daring Baker challenge was hosted by Marce over at Pip in the City. Cinnamon buns! Talk about yummy in the tummy. I am especially excited about this month's challenge because if you have read any of my other challenges they didn't go so well. I hope I didn't break too many rules but last time I tried carmel it didn't work, so I didn't want to do that but I like raisins and nuts so I added those to my rolls. And I thought that 4 cups of powdered surgar for the glaze sounded like WAY too much so I halved it and still think there could have been less. These will be good for breakfast. I tried to make them small so that I am not eating a huge amount but the yeast did a really good job of rising. When I was in college the dorm I lived in had a bakery where they made these MASSIVE cinnamon rolls. Make you about sick to eat the whole thing but they were sure good. This was a fun challenge this month and fairly easy just took time to wait for it to rise.

Tomatoes and Mozzarella

I love this European dish of fresh tomatoes, straight from the garden, mozzarella and balsamic vinegar. It's good for a whole meal!

I'm Late, I'm Late, for a very important date...

Ok, I consider myself a descent cook...but ick! The Carmel didn't turn out at ALL. I think part of the problem is that I don't have enough patience.

Let me start at the beginning. I was all set to make this the first week it was posted. So I made the crust and put it in the fridge. Alas, as life often does...I didn't get back to it for a week and a half. I decided it would not be any good anymore. So I threw it away. So now we start all over. I thought we had until Friday, the last day of the month to post, but my friend, Heather said no, it was yesterday! YIKES!!!! So I better get busy. Made the crust without any trouble. But I have never done a Carmel like the instructions call. I think I didn't cook the sugar long enough. So now it's nine thirty and I don't want to make another one. For this month I give up. I will try again next time.

Pizza

I usually don't do this but I bought a pre-made crust at the grocery story for this pizza. It was cornmeal. EXCELLENT. I used fresh tomatoes from my garden. I made a pesto from basil and pine nuts with a drop or two of olive oil and three cloves of garlic. (I like garlic.) Spread that on the crust then layered sliced tomatoes all over. Next I sprinkled feta cheese over it and added a few Greek olives! YUM!!

Daring Bakers Strawberry Mirror Challenge

Well, my first attempt at Daring Bakers challenge wasn't all that great. It took me a week to make this cake. I had to make the cake part twice as I did not get the spongy "angel food" look the first time around. It was FLAT and rubbery.

And then I think I overcooked the cream just a tad. I thought it tasted eggy. And I put too much cream in my pan so the mirror overflowed. I took the cake to my book club and everybody liked it. They thought it tasted light and fluffy, like it might be DIET cake. HA!!! I had to set them straight on that. And I forgot to decorate my cake. Oh, well, I think I was so glad to be done with it and didn't have any strawberries left.

I have also found the the strawberry liqueur is VERY good in 7-up! Since I had to buy a huge bottle to get my two tablespoons, I have to use it up some how.

I enjoyed making it but was disappointed with my results. I am looking forward to next month's challenge. If you want to see everybody else's great cakes, look here!

The recipe

Strawberry Mirror Cake
3 eggs
3 egg yolks
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg whites
1/8 tsp cream of tartar
2 TBSP sugar
2/3 cup sifted cake flour
½ cup water
1/3 cups sugar
2 TBSP kirsch or strawberry liqueur
Strawberry Bavarian Cream2 ½ TBSP unflavored gelatin
1 ½ cups strained strawberry puree(1 ½ baskets)
5 egg yolks
2/3 cup sugar
1 ½ cups milk
1 TBSP lemon juice
several drops of red food coloring
1 ¾ cups whipping cream
Strawberry Mirror
1 tsp lemon juice
1 TBSP kirsch
1 TBSP water
1 TBSP unflavored gelatin
Few drops of red food coloring
Strawberry Juice
1 ½ pints of strawberries(18 oz)
¾ cup sugar
¾ cup water
1.Preheat oven to 450F. Butter and flour the sides of an 11-by-17 inch jelly roll pan(rimmed baking sheet). Line bottom of pan with a sheet of parchment paper cut to fit bottom pan exactly.
2.Beat eggs, egg yolks and ¾ cup sugar together in a medium bowl until thick and light. Beat in the vanilla.
3.In a separate bowl, beat the egg whites until foamy, ad cream of tartar and beat until whites begin to form peaks. Add the 2 TBSP sugar and beat until the whites hold stiff, glossy peaks(do not over beat).
4.Sift flour over the egg yolk mixture and fold in . Stir in one fourth of the whites. Then carefully fold in the remaining whites.
5.Spread batter evenly in pan. Bake until light brown and springy to touch(7 to 10 minutes). Cool in pan 5 minutes. Run a knife along edge to loosen. Invert cake tin to cut out 8 ¼ inch circles of cake. Wrap the cake layers, separated with waxed paper, and set aside. Cake may be frozen at this point.
6.To make soaking syrup: Combine water and the 1/3 cup sugar in saucepan; bring to a boil to dissolve sugar. Cool to room temperature; flavor with liqueur. Set aside or refrigerate in glass jar until ready to use.
7.To assemble cake: Brush sides of 10-inch springform pan lightly with flavorless salad oil or almond oil. Cut out a cardboard circle that is exactly the same size as the bottom inside of the pan; cover cardboard with aluminum foil and fit into bottom of pan. Center one layer of the cake bottom of pan. Brush the cake with some of the soaking syrup to just moisten(not drench) the cake; set aside.
8.Prepare Strawberry Bavarian Cream. Immediately pour about half of the Bavarian Cream over the first layer of cake in the pan. Set the next layer of cake on top of the cream. Pour remaining Bavarian Cream over cake and smooth top of the cream with spatula. Refrigerate until the cream sets(1 to 2 hours).
9.Prepare the Strawberry Mirror.
10.To serve: Wrap a hot towel around the outside of springform pan for a few minutes. Run a small sharp knife tip around the edge of the Strawberry Mirror to separate it form the sides of pan. Mirror will tear when sides are unlatched if it is stuck at ANY point. Slowly unlatch the pan and slide it off the cake. Slice cake in wedges and serve in upright slices.

Strawberry Mirror
1.Prepare strawberry juice.
2.Place lemon juice, kirsch, and water in a small bowl. Sprinkle gelatin over this mixture; set aside until spongy and soft.
3.Measure 1 ½ cups Strawberry juice into a small saucepan and bring to a simmer; pour over gelatin mixture and stir to dissolve gelatin. Tint to desired color with red food coloring. Place bowl over bowl of ice water and stir occasionally until the mixture is syrupy and just beings to thicken(do not let jell); remove from ice water.
4.When mixture is syrupy, pour a 1/16-inch layer over the top of cake. Refrigerate until set.
Strawberry Juice
Wash and hull strawberries; coarsely chop. Place strawberries in saucepan; crush to start juices flowing. Place over low heat; add sugar and water; simmer slowly 10 minutes. Pour juice and pulp through damp jelly bag or cheesecloth-lined colander and drain into a bowl for 15 minutes(Do not press down on fruit).
Adapted from Cakes and Pastries At The Academy by the California Culinary Academy 1993

Stuffed eight ball zucchini

When I saw these on Fat Free Vegan I thought I wanted to try some but I have never seen them anywhere around here. Low and behold, my aunt gave two to my mom and mom didn't know what to do with them. So I got them!
I decided to try stuffing them with quinoa instead of brown rice as Susan's recipe calls for.
So here's my version.

2 8-ball zucchini
3 cloves garlic
1/3 cup sun-dried tomatoes (not oil-packed)
2 cups cooked quinoa
2 tablespoons slivered almonds
1/2 cup basil leaves, chopped
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, pitted and chopped

Cut zucchini tops off about 3/4 inch from the top. Scoop out the insides, being careful to leave a wall about 1/4 inch thick on all sides. Steam zucchini and tops for about 8 minutes, until slightly softened. Rehydrate the sun-dried tomatoes by soaking them in hot water until softened. Remove from water and chop. Reserve soaking water. Chop the zucchini pulp. Spray a non-stick skillet lightly with olive oil. Over medium-high heat, sauté the garlic for about 1 minute. Add the zucchini pulp and sauté for 2 more minutes. Add the tomatoes, brown rice and almonds, and if the mixture seems dry, add a splash of the tomato liquid. Add the basil leaves, Kalamata olives, and black pepper to taste. Cook until warm, about 3 minutes. Preheat the oven to 400 F. Using a spoon, carefully stuff the rice mixture into the zucchini, mounding slightly on top. Place in an uncovered baking dish and bake for 20 minutes. Serve hot, covered with tops if desired.