Mushrooom & Black Bean Burritos

Recipe from epicurious.com

Looking for something easy, quick and delicious? Look no further. You can have this on the table in under an hour. Even quicker if you use the pre-washed and sliced mushrooms found in the produce section of your supermaket.

This time I went with whole grain tortillas, for my grocery did not have the tortillas I normally buy. I prefer to make them with the green chili corn tortillas if you can find them - they're small so you may need to eat these taco style, depending on how full you fill them. Me, I have a tendency to over-fill..

Don't shy away from these because they're meatless; they are just as filling and satisfying as any meat filled burrito. You won't miss it - I assure you. And don't pass on the goat cheese! It really adds an unexpected wonderful flavor to the filling.

Success meter (1-3): 3

I serve the salsa on the side rather

than adding it to the filling.

TWD: Buttermilk Crumb Muffins

Tuesdays with Dorie baking through Baking with Julia
by Dorie Greenspan
Contributing Baker: Marion Cunningham




These certainly were easy though prosaic - made for a fun photoshoot but nothing more, sorry to say.

Hopefully our next recipe of "Best-Ever Brownies" will be better. How can they not be?

Success meter (1-3): 1 (UPDATE: The boys tell me they love them - especially the blueberry!)

Warning: Went a little crazy with the pics - new camera :)

The recipe calls for vegetable shortening.

I substituted butter.

Marion instructs you to mix in the shortening [butter] with

your hands. I used a pastry blender so the warmth from

my hands would not melt the butter.

I cut the sugar by half and felt these were sweet enough.

I also used allspice in place of the cinnamon and nutmeg

called for in the recipe. I was a 1/4 cup short of AP flour

so I added whole wheat flour to make up the difference.

As you can see my batter is not nearly

as liquid as in the BWJ video.

If only these turned out as tasty as

they looked like they were going to.

I added blueberries to half of the batter.

No I did not eat the whole thing...

In my opinion these are not worth

the fat and calories.

If you would like to attempt this recipe yourself you can find it on Alisa's blog Easier Than Pie.

Please don't judge this recipe on my opinion only - check out my fellow blogger's results on the TWD website. Look for the Buttermilk Crumb Muffins LYL link.

Roasted Butternut Squash Salad with Warm Cider Vinaigrette

Recipe from Barefoot Contessa - Back to Basics
by Ina Garten




Let me start off by saying I would definitely use arugula in this salad as called for in the recipe; I used spinach that I had in the fridge that I wanted to use up. The peppery flavor of arugula would be a nice contrast to the sweet butternut squash. To me the spinach came across rather "flat" in taste and texture.

As for the dressing I did not have cider vinegar - used champagne vinegar, apple juice in place of apple cider, and I would cut the oil by half - all I could really taste is the olive oil. Not sure how much of an apple presence there would be if I had the correct vinegar and cider.

Monica of A Beautiful Mess raved about this salad; so maybe if I had the correct ingredients for the dressing it would have turned out better. This is definitely worth a second try and would look beautiful on the Thanksgiving table!

Success meter (1-3): 2

Make sure your squash is almost ready before

adding the cranberries. They turn out quite

chewy and hard if cooked too long.

The beginning of what I thought would be a great dressing.

Arugula makes for a prettier presentation. 

You can find the recipe at Barefoot Contessa and on Monica's blog.

Minestra di Pasta e Verdure alla Romana

The title translates to Roman Soup with Pasta and Vegetables. We here at home refer to it as minestrone soup; easier to remember.

This is one of my all-time favorite soups to make for winter. Though it is only fall, beautiful pleasant afternoons have lead to cool evenings once the sun goes down,  and I could not wait. This soup always satisfys and I have been craving something healthy, after not so healthy eating this week.

I usually make this with salad macaroni rather than the elbow shaped pasta - it makes for a prettier presentation.

The recipe comes from the book The Classic Pasta Cookbook by Giuliano Hazan. His recipes are easy to prepare and so far have not disappointed.


Success meter (1-3): 3+

Wholesome goodness.

Look at all those leafy greens.

Chard, kale, butter lettuce, and cabbage.

I have always bought pancetta from the deli in the past.

I did not know I had a choice of cured or uncured.

Not sure what I have bought previously.

This is "salad macaroni" which I prefer to use in this soup,

and realized only as I was writing this that I had it in

the pantry.

The aromatics: onion, celery, carrot, rosemary, (and pancetta).

Throw your greens in after sautéing your aromatics.

Cook down..

Add broth.

Voila!

The best soup ever!

Dinner for One (or more!)

This is a real quick and short post!

I want to share with you two tasty dishes I made for myself this past weekend while flying solo.

Both of these serve more than one, but I scaled the recipes down and still had enough for lunches as well.

Success meter (1-3): 3

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Shaved Brussels Sprouts Salad

I found the delicious squash recipe via Let's Eat!, where Ashley (our daughter) credits the recipe to Emily of The Daily Garnish. I am so proud of our daughter who is becoming quite the cook. She is the one who inspired me to start this blog and where I learned my photography skills from (I still have a long was to go). Thanks Ash! Love you!

The recipe calls for orange champagne vinegar which I do not have, so I added a bit of orange zest to regular champagne vinegar. I had a fair amount of stuffing leftover (I cooked only one squash - but the full amount of filling) and had it for lunch two days later. Still it had wonderful flavor.

The Brussels sprouts salad I found on Liz's blog at That Skinny Chick Can Bake and boy can she! If this recipe does not appeal to you, I'm sure you will find something that will.

The salad is garnished with grated hard-boiled egg (Liz omitted) and Parmesan cheese. The next time I make this I will add about 1/4 cup of cheese and a couple of grated eggs to toss in the salad itself for I thought it added a lot of character to this dish. 

As Julia Child would say - Bon Appetit!

WW: Spicy Orange Chicken

Wok Wednesdays Wokking thru Stir-Frying to the Sky's Edge
by Grace Young

Wow! This dish had me on cloud nine. Grace, you are amazing! Thank you time and time again for your wonderful recipes; any chance you will do a vegetarian stir-fry book in the future?

I made a couple of deviations. I used ground black pepper instead of white, and I used Hunan Chili Sauce in place of the chili bean sauce, for this is what I had on hand and my local chain grocery did not carry the chili bean sauce. The recipe calls for the zest of one orange; so I thought why not add sectioned orange slices - this was a good call on my part.

Not sure why my tomatoes disintegrated. I did not seed them like I did for the Stir-Fried Eggs with Tomatoes and the picture in the book shows them mostly intact. Maybe it was due to that I used an heirloom tomato? Also I had a lot of sauce (partially due to the disintegrated tomatoes?) which makes me wish I had made rice or served bread to soak up all that tasty goodness!

This stir-fry was fabulous!

Success meter (1-3): 3

Oh the aroma...

(and it's not even cooking yet!)

The recipe calls for shredded ginger.

First you slice paper-thin slices, then

cut the slices into 1/8-inch fine shreds.

I placed a dime to show scale - my pieces

were not quite paper-thin, but did the job.

Just look at those beautiful tomatoes!

So gratifying...

This weekend was our daughter's birthday. We celebrated with a trip to San Francisco to buy her a cast iron (her choice) wok from the fabulous Tane Chan of the Wok Shop. We spoke with Tane Chan and she is a treat to say the least! Not only does she praise Grace Young to the fullest, she also gives great pointers and wonderful lunch recommendations. Thank you Tane! 

When in San Francisco..

Yum!

Abutilon "Tiger Eye"

A comparison:

My four month old wok compared to the

wok I puchased for my nephew while

we were at the Wok Shop.

You will not find the recipe here on my blog or within the Wok Wednesdays community. We encourage readers to go and purchase this book at their local independent bookstore or on-line.

Make sure to visit my co-wokkers to see their results on this stir-fry.

Look for the LYL link on the Wok Wednesdays page.