The Best Pumpkin Bars

I made these a few weeks ago... these are hands down one of the best bar recipes I have used. I have been craving pumpkin and chocolate left and right this fall, and this definitely hit the spot!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Squares from Martha Stewart

What yummy fall treats (or eats) have you been cooking up?

The Best Black Beans

This weekend, in celebration of Cinco de Mayo, I made a handful of Tex-Mex dishes that came out really great. The black bean dish featured below was an absolute hit and now is my go to bean recipe when I make Mexican Food. It really is that good.

It uses a pressure cooker, which I know seems a little scary. I was pretty skeptical when I first tried out my pressure cooker recipe, and now my pressure cooker is my BFF! You can essentially get the same results of slow cooking something for hours with only 20 minutes or so in a pressure cooker. I do this for roasts and stews, as well as any kind of beans I make. Also -- typically pressure cookers  come with a big price tag -- so check out a local thrift store before making the plunge. I got mine for about $7 at the Kiwanis club in Ann Arbor.


And now -- to the deliciousness.


The Best Black Beans
Ingredients: 

• 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium onion diced
• 2 cloves garlic minced
• 1/4 cup bell pepper chopped
• 1 jalapeno diced
• 1 bay leaf
• 2 cups (about 1 pound) dried black beans picked over and rinsed
• 5 cups chicken broth
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions:

In a 6-quart pressure cooker over medium-high heat, pour in 3 tablespoons oil. Add bell pepper, jalapeno and onions and cook about 5 minutes, until all are "sweaty". Throw in the garlic and bay leaf and cook for 1 minute more. Add the beans and give a good stir. Pour in the chicken broth; add the remaining tablespoon of oil, 1 tablespoon of salt, and a couple of grindings of pepper. Following the manufacturer's instructions, cover, lock the lid, and bring to high pressure. Lower heat to maintain pressure and start timing. Cook at high pressure for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and let rest for 5 minutes. Release the steam, again following the manufacturer's directions. If the beans are underdone, simmer them with the lid off until tender. Remove bay leaf and discard.Taste and adjust seasoning.

Cook's note: The oil prevents the beans from foaming and clogging the steam vent of the pressure cooker

I hope you enjoy!

p.s. Of course this is stored in my wonderful Plan to Eat recipe manager. I am on week 7 of using it and I am as addicted as ever.

Menu Monday + My New Found Love

It is the revival of the Menu Monday! And this week I am excited to share with you my new and improved method for meal planning.

For me meal planning is a kind of necessary evil that I have to do each week to ensure I eat good, real food and not take out every day. When I don't meal plan effectively I go to the grocery store and shop pretty aimlessly, often resulting in large grocery bills and a really weird assortment of food (who put those honey dew ice pops in there? dang I was craving cheese curds again? What is this odd rice puff thingy? what do I cook with this again?)

My recent method to meal plan has been using a  website called Plan to Eat. It lets you drag and drop your recipes into a schedule, and then neatly generates your shopping list by grocery store section. It also makes adding your recipes super simple -- I added most of mine in a few hours. You can enter them in or "pin" them from websites sort of like pinterest.  It also syncs with my google calendar, lets me share recipes with friends, and lets me manage what is in my "pantry". I usually plan on my laptop then use it on my iphone when in the grocery store to check off items and while cooking to reference recipes.

Anyway, if you can't tell... I am in LOVE with this new tool and recommend anyone who is about "optimizing" house tasks to check it out. They let you do a free 30 day trial, so you should check it out!

 Here is a screen shot of my plans and you can see this week and next week.

We have pretty much already spent our grocery budget for the month (why does this always happen?) so we are mostly eating from our freezer supply and pantry for the next two weeks. We also have pretty busy schedules so most of our meals are "easy" meals (did I mention you can tag your recipes too in PTE? Way convenient!)

Anyway - Happy eating this week. Are you making anything good? Do you meal plan? If so, what is your "method"?

Chicken Shawarma 3 Ways

I have developed a love for Mediterranean food since living in southeast Michigan, near the country's largest middle eastern population. One of my favorite treats is chicken shawarma. We used to eat all the time at a restaurant in town, now we make it at home pretty often. Hope you enjoy as much as I do.

1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
Kosher salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground black pepper
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
6 skinless, boneless chicken thighs

1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup plain low-fat yogurt
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

In a large bowl, combine the spices with 2 tablespoons of the olive oil. Rub the spice paste all over the chicken and season with salt. Arrange the chicken on a baking dish. Broil the chicken in the oven for 15 minutes, until the chicken is nearly cooked through. Turn off the broiler and turn down the oven to 425, bake the chicken for another10 minutes, or until done. Cut into strips or shred.

Heat the 1/4 cup of olive oil in a saucepan. Add the garlic and cook over moderate heat until lightly browned, about 30 seconds. Remove from the heat and whisk in the yogurt and lemon juice; season with salt. (When I make this into a salad I skip this step and just eat the yummy chicken sans sauce)





Serve it classic wrap style!
Wrap it up in a pita with cucumber, tzatziki sauce (I do a bit of sour cream, drop of vinegar + dill to make this), feta or goat cheese, and if you are on the wild side add pomegranate molasses.

Make it into a salad!
Add:
- Chickpeas
- Lemon Vinaigrette (apple cider vinegar, lemon juice, olive oil + salt & pepper)
- Goat or Feta Cheese
- Cucumber
- Romaine Lettuce

(I like putting everything together and then adding the chicken hot (melts the goat cheese and makes it generally very yummy!)


Make it into a salad wrap!
Take the salad from above and load into a pita.


Bon Appetit!

Menu Monday

Here are a few of the items we have eaten recently:

Turkey + Veggie Thai Soup. Taking some leftover turkey, chicken broth, classic chicken soup veggies (celery, onion, carrott), spaghetti noodles + Srirachi Sauce.

Spicy Pork Lettuce Wraps. YUM. Just fry up some ground pork, add a tad of sriarchi sauce and pair with lettuce. We added generous portions of mushrooms and zuchhini after cooking the meat and it was delicious. John made these.

Shawarma Salad This was a miraculous discovery of deliciousness, and a healthier twist on a recipe I already love (Chicken Shawarma Wraps). Posted the recipe here.


Beef & Barley Stew I make this in my dutch oven and slowly cook beef chunks with all of the classic veggies (carrot, celery, onion, garlic) and rosemary. I add barley towards the end to thicken it up. Is a yummy dish for when it is cold.

Tacos & Taco Salads Mexican food is pretty much a staple in our diet. Frequently we make it with veggies only (bell peppers, onions sauteed a bit) and add black beans or refried beans with lettuce for a salad (+salsa & cilantro). We also have been experimenting with whole wheat tortillas as well as cutting the cheese and sour cream to make it a bit healthier. We have found that as long as you have a flavorful enough salsa-- it is just delish!

We have also done a lot of entertaining lately to celebrate the holidays, I am planning on sharing some of our party recipes in another post. Yumminess includes meatballs, a jalapeno cheese ball, baked brie and a number of sweet tooth experiments.

What are you eating this week? Any recommendations on something yummy you have had lately?

Salad Dressing Recipes

Lately one of my many interests has been experimenting in the kitchen. I never really cooked growing up, so in the last year and a half I have really exploring. We didnt often make food from scratch at my home. So the idea that I can make bread, cakes, sauces, dressings or really anything else from scratch has been fairly new. I guess I always knew people did those things... I just didn't know I would enjoy it so much. Anyway, I thought I might start sharing some of my cooking adventures. Hope you enjoy!

Pesto Salad Dressing (made this tonight, so tasty!!)
Ingredients
2 cups packed fresh basil leaves or fresh parsley leaves
1 tablespoon dried basil leaves, lightly crushed
3 cloves garlic, chopped
2/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
1/3 cup red wine vinegar
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
1 tablespoon freshly grated parmesan cheese

Directions
1. In bowl of food processor, pulse the dried basil with the fresh basil (preferred) or parley.
2. Add garlic, vinegar, salt, pepper and Parmesan cheese, snd pulse 4-5 times.
3. Add olive oil and and process for about 10 seconds, until mixture is finely chopped but not pureed.





Blackberry Vinaigrette

Ingredients:
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup balsmaic vinegar
2 TBSP Blackberry Preserves
Salt and Black Pepper to Taste

This can be mixed in a sealed plastic container, or done in a food processor. Mix the vinegar and preserves first for a smoother mixture. This is also a great marinade, and feel free to subsitute with other preserves of your choice! (I can't wait to try raspberry...)