Friday, September 30, 2011

Egg Cups To Go

Somewhere between a crustless quiche and a Spanish tortilla, Breakfast Egg Cups are a simple make-ahead meal for the morning.  They even freeze well so you can make a double batch for the week.

A lot of us who need to use our brains for anything during the day agree that breakfast must include a lean protein and some tasty low-carb ingredients.  Because you can make them ahead, reheat them in a microwave or pack them for a commute, Breakfast Egg Cups are a pure solution and really nice if portion size or calorie conscious eating is on the menu. 

There are as many filling variations as there are omelette ideas.  If you are really determined about calories this fall, you can substitute all or part of the whole eggs in this recipe with egg whites and stick with vegetables like spinach, zucchini, mushrooms and asparagus and meats like Canadian bacon rather then the higher carb/fat options.  You can use low fat cheeses or cottage/ricotta cheese as well. 

At other times, you might like combinations like potato-chorizo-manchego cheese, asparagus-blue cheese-bacon or smoked gouda-mushroom-sausage. It almost sounds like party fare.  In fact, if you bake a batch in mini-muffin tins rather than the regular muffin pans here, you have a very nice hot hors d’oeuvre for last minutes guests.

Breakfast Egg Cups
Makes 6 cups, one serving equals 2 egg cups
Ingredients
3 eggs
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese
3/4 cup cooked chopped vegetables (zucchini, spinach, asparagus, potatoes)
optional: up to 2 tablespoons extra cheese (blue, cheddar, swiss, havarti, smoked gouda, goat cheese) and/or 2 tablespoons cooked diced bacon, chorizo sausage, Canadian bacon

Method
  1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.  Lightly spray muffin tins with oil. (You may use lightly sprayed paper liners.) 
  2. Break eggs into a small mixing bowl and mix well.  
  3. Add remaining ingredients and spoon into 6 muffin tins.  Fill any empty cups 1/4 full with water to prevent burning.)
  4. Bake 15 minutes, until eggs are set.  As with quiche, you can remove them to cook when the centers are still a little loose.
These are easy to take along as is or packed in a warm roll.  

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Spinach Artichoke Dip Pasta

This is just about everyone’s favorite cheesey-vegetable dip and combining it with pasta seemed like a natural.  When I could not find a version online, I created my own with fettucini, mushrooms and chicken. Omit the chicken to make this a vegetarian entrée or serve chicken on the side for a mixed crowd. The dip heritage makes this appealing comfort food for early fall when there’s homework to be done and a cool night ahead.

Spinach-Artichoke Dip Pasta with Chicken
Ingredients
1 bag fresh spinach (not baby spinach) or 1 package frozen
1 can quartered artichoke hearts
1/3 cup mayonnaise*
1/3 cup sour cream*
2 ounces cream cheese*
1/2 cup shredded cheese: havarti or cheddar*
1/4 cup freshly grated  parmesan cheese
1/3 cup slivered almonds
8 ounces dried fettucini, cooked
1 cup sautéed mushrooms
2 boneless skinless chicken breasts (cooked and cubed)

Method
  1. Preheat oven to 350˚F.  
  2. Remove tough stems from mature spinach leaves and steam until just wilted.  Drain and roughly chop.  If using frozen spinach, defrost and drain thoroughly before chopping.  Placed spinach in a large mixing bowl.  
  3. Drain artichokes and chop any very large pieces.  Add to bowl with spinach.  
  4. Stir in mayonnaise, sour cream, cream cheese and shredded cheddar or havarti.  Add sautéed mushrooms, hot pasta and chicken.  
  5. Mix with a gentle hand and transfer mixture to a large casserole dish lightly sprayed with oil to prevent pasta from sticking.  Sprinkle grated parmesan, then almonds over the top.  
  6. Bake 20-30 minutes at 350˚F until casserole is piping hot and almonds are lightly toasted.  (If topping is browning too fast, loosely cover dish with aluminum foil until center of casserole is heated through. 
This casserole freezes well.  Bake as directed before cooling and freezing.  To reheat, bake loosely covered at 325˚F for 45 minutes until internal temperature of 160˚F.  Remove cover and bake another 10-15 minutes to crisp top.

*You may use light or reduced calorie versions of these ingredients.

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Chipotle Potato Salad

Say good-bye to summer with a potato salad that carries a hint of fall.  To the white potatoes that are abundant at farmers markets now, add sweet potatoes (and purple Peruvian ones if you see them).  In fact, you can make this with all sweet potatoes, which were the inspriration for this recipe.  A simple mayonnaise-based dressing gets fall color from sweet, smoky and spicy chipotle chili peppers.

Chipotle Potato Salad
Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds potatoes—white, sweet and/or purple
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1/4 cup sour cream
8-10 chipotle chili peppers in adobo sauce, seeded and minced
Juice of 1/2 lime
1 tablespoon red wine vinegar
1/4 teaspoon salt
dash coriander

Method
  1. Boil the potatoes whole until cooked through.  Cool. When cool, peel and cube.  Place in a large mixing bowl.  
  2. In a small bowl, combine remaining ingredients and taste.  Add more chipotle peppers if you’d like the potato salad extra spicy.  Cool things off with an additional squeeze of lime.  
  3. Add dressing to potatoes and gently toss to enrobe all the potatoes.  
  4. Refrigerate at least an hour to allow flavors to permeate.

Friday, September 9, 2011

No Fuss Granola; Pure & Simple

Even though granola sounds healthy some store bought versions include some iffy ingredients or need some processing to be shelf stable. Homemade granola can be so simple and this no fuss version uses just a few pantry items. Fewer ingredients not only gives you a pure flavor, its saves time so you will make your own granola more often.  Here’s our honed down version with our favorite flavors.  It used to have twice the number of ingredients and we think it tastes better pared back.

No Fuss Granola
Ingredients
3 cups rolled oats (not instant)
1/3 cup each wheat germ, coconut, sliced almonds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup each vegetable oil, maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
post-bake add ins: 1 cup dried fruits including raisins, cherries, chopped apricots or figs, etc

Method
  1. Preheat oven to 300˚F.
  2. In a large bowl, combine dry ingredients (oats through salt) and stir to combine thoroughly.  
  3. Add liquid ingredients: oil, maple syrup and vanilla.  Stir to coat all dry ingredients.  (You may use your very clean hands).  
  4. Pour granola mixture onto a rimmed baking sheet and spread out evenly.  Bake a total of 25-30 minutes until oats are crisp and lightly browned.  Check and stir mixture halfway through cooking to gauge progress.  
  5. Cool cooked granola and, once cool, add dried fruit.  Store in an airtight container for up to two weeks. (It won’t last that long.) 

Your No Fuss Granola
Toasted coconut and almonds spiked with vanilla and cinnamon flavor our favorite granola.  Make substitutions for these ingredients slowly to find your favorite yet still pure flavor profile.  Oat flakes aren’t the only grain – try wheat or rye flakes or a five-grain flakes mixture as your base.  If you don’t like coconut, skip it and add sunflower or sesame seeds.  Try replacing the almonds with other nuts like walnuts, chopped hazelnuts, peanuts or even pepitas (hulled pumpkin seeds).  Almond extract is an alternative to vanilla and nutmeg, ginger or cardamon can stand in for cinnamon.  After baking add tropical dried fruits from mangoes and pineapple to banana chips and papaya.  Some households I know will try a chocolate chip version.  :)  And others will experiment with cayenne or chai spices.  Let me know how that goes.