Pumpkin Spice Cookies

The Cookie Batter 

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 tsp. cloves

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup butter

1 1/2 cups white sugar

1/2 cup pumpkin purée

1 egg

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Mix all ingredients into a bowl. The batter should be very thick, but note that the baking soda will allow it to rise quite a bit and be fluffy once baked. Preheat oven at 350 degrees and bake for around 20 minutes. 

The ingredients

The batter

Pre-baking

The Icing

2 cups confectioner's sugar

3 tbsp. milk

1 tbsp. melted butter

1 tsp. vanilla extract

Once the cookies have been baked and cooled, mix all ingredients into a bowl. Lightly pour the mixture over your cookies to taste. The icing will harden and add a nice touch of sweetness, but this is optional since the cookies are already delicious without it!

Post-baking

Final touch: the icing! 

My New Apple Crisp Recipe

Ingredients

2 honey crisp apples, sliced

1 cup organic, raw oats

3 ginger snap cookies

6 tbsp melted butter

1/2 cup crushed walnuts 

1 cup flour

2 tbsp sugar

1 1/2 cups apple cider

cinnamon

cloves

nutmeg

Place sliced apples, flour, walnuts, and apple cider in a bowl and mix. It should look like this: 

Mix oats, melted butter, crushed ginger snaps, cinnamon, nutmeg, sugar, and cloves in another bowl:

Place the apple mixture into a baking pan. Generously pour the oat mixture on top. Bake for 30 minutes at 350 degree heat. 

This is what it should look like in the end: 

Pumpkin Cheesecake

The Crust

1 box all-natural ginger snaps (40 ct.)

6 tbsp melted butter

2 tbsp organic brown sugar

Crush ginger snaps with a food processor. Add to the rest of the ingredients and mix in a bowl, then flatten into a pie pan. 

It should look like this:

The Filling

16 oz. organic cream cheese

1 can (15 oz.) organic pumpkin purée

1 tbsp vanilla extract

ground cinnamon

ground cloves

ground nutmeg

3 eggs

4 tbsp sugar

1/4 cup milk

Preheat oven at 350 degrees. 

Mix all ingredients but the eggs in a mixer or blender. Slowly add in one egg at a time. The consistency will be nice, thick, and creamy. Fill the pie crust and bake for 45 minutes at 350 degrees. Turn off the oven and let sit in the oven for one hour. Take it out and let cool at room temperature. Then, refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours or overnight. FYI this makes two pies, but only one is featured. Enjoy! 

The final product

Turkey Chili

Delicious Turkey Chili

1 container ground turkey meat (lean)

1 can crushed tomatoes

1 can organic black beans

1 yellow onion

8 cloves of garlic

4 campari tomatoes

1 organic red pepper

1 organic green pepper

2 vegetable bouillon cubes

1/3 packet of Cin-chili Texas seasoning

Chili pepper/garlic flake mix (from NM)

Not featured: tomatoes and peppers

Oil a frying pan and on med-high heat, brown the turkey meat. Make sure you break it up into chunks while it's cooking. Strain the excess oil.

Use a clay baker for 4 cloves of garlic. Bake for 40 minutes in oven until soft. The remaining four cloves will be added raw into the mixture- minced. 

Chop the onion, tomatoes, and peppers. Place aside. Add the can of crushed tomatoes (I used ones with basil added in) and vegetable bouillon. Then, add 4 cups of water. 

Rinse the black beans, then add to the mixture. 

Add the browned turkey and then the water. Keep on low for 8 hours in a crock pot. Add some salt and spicy seasoning to taste. The great thing about this is it will be ready when you get home from work! 

In the crock pot- ready to get started!

The finished product 

Non-dairy strawberry shake

3 ingredients, 1 amazing shake:

1/2 package organic strawberries

4 ice cubes

1 cup organic vanilla soy milk

Great way of getting some protein and fruit into your breakfast! 

Italian Coffee with foam sans-coffee machine

Before

After

All you need to do is fill the bottom of the percolator with water. Place coffee in the top part. Screw on the top and wait a few minutes. 

In a separate cup, prepare 2-3 tbsp of white sugar. Check your coffee frequently and wait until the first dark bit of the coffee comes out. Add 1 tbsp or so to the sugar and mix quickly so that it gets a nice caramelized color. It should be thick and creamy. This is what gives Italian coffee the Napoletano-style foam without using an espresso machine. Enjoy! 

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

The Ingredients

2 tbsp olive oil 

3 tbsp sesame tahini 

1 roasted red pepper

1 can organic garbanzo beans

1/2 lemon for lemon juice

1/4 cup roasted red pepper brine

3 roasted garlic cloves 

2/3 cup water

cayenne pepper

pinch of sea salt

Before

I start with the garbanzo beans- even though they're organic, I don't like using their brine since it can be high in sodium. Drain the garbanzo beans and put into a blender. Bake your garlic in a clay baker for 30 minutes (until soft) and add to the mix. I also chop my roasted red pepper prior to throwing it into the mix, but it depends on the quality of your blender. Add everything into the mix and add your water a little bit at a time so as to not water down the hummus too much. Cayenne pepper and a pinch of sea salt can be added at the end to taste. Nice and thick, just how a homemade hummus should be! 

After

Bacon-Cheese-Scallion Savory Muffins

1 tbsp baking powder

2 cups multi grain flour (I prefer Trader Joe's)

1 organic scallion stalk

Etorki cheese (Basque)

1 cup milk

2 strips of organic bacon

1 large organic egg

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 stick of unsalted butter

1 pinch of salt

Mix all baking ingredients together in a bowl. Wash one organic scallion stalk and use scissors to cut small rings. In a pan, fry your two strips of bacon. Pat down the grease and once cooled, cut into small pieces. Add chives and bacon into the baking mix. Then, cube some Etorki cheese and add to the mix. Please note that if it's cubed, it will melt nicely into the muffins! Preheat oven at 400 degrees and bake for 10-15 minutes. (In a buttered muffin tin). These are for my landlord's mother who lives below me...she's only getting 11, though...

Thickest batter I have ever laid my eyes on

Pre-baking

Edible delights

Nutella Peanut Butter Brownies

2 cups nutella

1 cup flour

2 tbsp butter

4 tbsp organic peanut butter

3/4 cup of sugar

2 large eggs

Mix all ingredients into a bowl. Butter a baking dish and bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes. They are dense, moist, and chewy.

P.S. This was my first time making brownies and I only started baking last month. In the words of Borat, "Great success!" My brother and his friend pretty much ate all of them. 

Thick batter 

Pre-cooking

Taste the amazingness.

The best risotto I have ever made

Mushroom Risotto

Featured ingredients:

10 organic cremini mushrooms

1/2 cup dried porcini mushrooms

1 cup organic arborio rice

1/2 cup white wine

1 small yellow onion

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

2 cups free range chicken broth

2 tbsp unsalted natural butter

organic truffle oil

1 organic scallion stalk

organic raw, crushed walnuts

WARNING: This recipe requires lots of multi-tasking! 

Place dried porcini mushrooms in a bowl and soak in water at room temperature. You will get back to these in a few minutes.

Add 1 cup of chicken stock and 1 cup of water into a sauce pan and add rice. Keep on medium heat for about 20 minutes and keep adding a little bit of chicken stock as the rice cooks. Cover it halfway to increase cooking time but without the rice coming out of the sauce pan. Add wine a every few minutes. Stir occasionally. 

Risotto myth: You need to add cream. You actually don't. The type of rice affects the texture of the risotto tremendously. Arborio rice is the BEST to use for this, and you will see how creamy it gets as you cook it. 

While this is going on, put 1 tbsp of butter in a frying pan. Dice your onion and add to the butter. Cook at medium heat for 5-10 minutes. Then, chop cremini mushrooms. Add second tbsp of butter to the pan and when melted, add mushrooms. The mushrooms should decrease in size quite a bit and the onions should be caramelized. 

Add this mixture to the rice. Now, come back to the dried porcini mushrooms. Squeeze the water out of them and add them to the rice as well. 

Mix in some parmesan cheese. 

Finished product: Topped with additional parmesan cheese, truffle oil, crushed walnuts, and scallions. 

Homemade Toasted Almonds

Toasted Almonds

2 cups raw almonds

1/4 cup organic brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg white

cinnamon

Mix egg white until frothy. Then add all other ingredients. Spread almonds onto a baking pan and evenly spread out the mixture (adding cinnamon to taste). It should be quite thick and syrupy. Toast almonds at 350 degree heat for 15 minutes, taking almonds out every 7-8 minutes to make sure they are being evenly toasted. They should be crunchy after about 15-20 minutes. Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Pre-toasting

Post-toasting

Shrimp stir-fry

Saucey goodness

Final product! 

The bulk of it all

1 doz. 31-40 ct. deveined shrimp

1/2 can baby corn

8 oz. frozen broccoli florets

The rice

1 cup organic brown rice

2 cups water

Vegetable oil

Shrimp stir fry sauce

Organic ginger paste or fresh ginger

Sriracha sauce

Low-sodium soy sauce

1/2 yellow onion

Sunflower seed oil

Put rice and vegetable oil in a pot on medium heat. Mix so that the rice is gently coated in oil. Then, add 2 cups of water and bring to a boil. Add salt to taste. The rice I used is from Trader Joe's and takes about 15 minutes to cook. Not all rices are the same so they may have different cooking times.

Boil shrimp and peel them. Move to the side- you will get to these soon. Wash out the pot and boil the broccoli. Then, add this to your bowl with shrimp in it. Rinse your baby corn and add them into the mix.

For the sauce, sautée your diced onion in sunflower seed oil. Add ginger paste or fresh ginger to taste. Then, add soy sauce and sriracha sauce. These can be salty, so make sure to add some water to loosen up the sauce.

Add the shrimp and vegetables to the sauce. Serve over rice. Enjoy!

Peanut Butter Cookies

Thick, yummy batter

Pre-baking with a plethora of toppings- nutella, raspberry jam, and dark chocolate squares

Ready for your mouth cookies

Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 egg

4 tbsp. butter at room temperature

1/2 cup organic, unsalted peanut butter

1/2 cup organic brown sugar

pinch of salt

pinch of baking soda

Mix all ingredients in a large, plastic bowl. The batter should be nice and thick. I love soft and chewy cookies, and the salt and baking soda definitely help with that texture. Bake for 12 minutes at 350 degrees. Feel free to add your own toppings to the cookies, either pre or post-baking. My personal favorite is the plain, but I think everything tastes better with nutella! 

Asian-inspired Popcorn

Asian-inspired Popcorn

Organic popcorn kernels

Chili powder

Garlic salt (or adobo)

Red pepper flakes

Sesame seeds

Vegetable oil

Coat the bottom of a deep frying pan with oil. Once the popcorn is popped, add all ingredients to taste. I'm typically a huge truffle oil popcorn fan, but this is so flavorful and with a good kick to it that I am in love! 

Crêpes

 

                         

                                                   Butter and sugar crêpe

                                     

Plain crêpe

Pre-rolled nutella crêpe

Folded nutella crêpe

Crêpes

1/2 cup milk
1 pinch of salt
1 pinch of sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tbsp. melted butter
1 egg

Put all contents into a bowl and mix. The batter is somewhat runny, but that's OK because it helps create a nice, thin, crêpe. My brother-in-law would say that the trick is in your wrist, because it helps spread the batter evenly in your pan. Make sure the pan is sprayed with Pam or has a layer of butter on the bottom to coat the crêpe batter for it to cook evenly. I show some examples of different toppings you can add, but it's totally up to you. You can make a thicker batter increasing the amount of flour and eggs (namely, the yolk), which is ideal for a thicker, savory crêpe, or "galette" which you can fold and fill with various meats, veggies, sauces, and cheeses. Bon appétit! 

Vegan Coconut Vanilla Cookies

Vegan Coconut Vanilla Cookies

2 Tbsp coconut oil

1 Cup vanilla soymilk

1 Cup flour

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp granulated sugar

Use coconut oil or non-dairy substitute to grease your baking sheet. In a mixing bowl, add all ingredients and mix well- make sure you get the flour chunks out of the batter! Pour batter onto a pre-greased baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes at 350 degree heat. The cookies are delicious- very buttery without the dairy. I like my batter sort of thin so that the cookies have a nice, crunchy, buttery bottom but they are still chewy. 

Mozzarella di Bufala

THIS is what real mozzarella looks like. If it isn't oozing with milk, it isn't good. End of story. This was dinner tonight. 

Nutella Soufflés

Pre-nutella

With nutella icing! 

Nutella Soufflés

1 Cup flour

2 Eggs

2 Tbsp melted butter

4 Tbsp nutella

3/4 Cup milk

This is super easy to make, and absolutely delicious. First, mix all ingredients in a bowl. The batter should be nice and thick, but thin enough that it can easily be poured into a greased/buttered muffin tin. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and let them cook for 15 minutes. They should rise a lot because of the eggs- if you want them a little fluffier, add egg white or use only one egg with one egg white instead. Add nutella as an icing when the soufflés are fully cooked. 

Apple Crisp

Apple Crisp

1 Cup crushed, organic walnut pieces and halves

1 1/4 Cup apple cider

3 Apples (courtland)

1/4 Cup cream of wheat

1/2 Stick of melted butter

1 Cup all-purpose flour (1/2 in the apple mixture, half on top)

1/4 Cup wheat germ

2 Tbsp. organic brown sugar

Slice your apples and put into a bowl with the apple cider. Trust me, the apple cider makes it gooey and adds a lot of natural flavor. Crush your walnuts by putting them in a plastic bag and using a jar. Add the walnuts to the apples and then put 1/4 cup of flour into the mix. Sprinkle some cinnamon and mix.

The crisp part: Add the remaining flour, melted butter, wheat germ, cream of wheat, and brown sugar. It should be a sticky texture. You can use oats instead of the wheat germ, but the wheat germ has a nice, nutty flavor to it. Fold all ingredients and add cinnamon.

Make sure the oven is preheated at 350 degrees. Butter a baking pan and add the apple mixture, then drop the blobs of the crisp batter on top. If you want it to be less doughy, add less flour and a little more butter.

Once the crisp comes out of the oven, drizzle some honey on top. It's nice served with vanilla soy milk, but the unhealthy, obvious vanilla ice cream also works!

Shrimp Scampi

Shrimp Scampi

12 Deveined shrimp (31-40 ct. bag)

Whole wheat spaghetti

1 Lemon

1 Cup organic spinach

1/4 Cup extra virgin olive oil

1/4 Cup Italian-seasoned bread crumbs

Red pepper flakes

3 Cloves of garlic

I actually put down my fork to write this recipe because I just couldn't wait to share this!

Bring shrimp to a boil- when pink, remove from water and leave aside- you'll get to this in a minute! 

In a pan, sautée extra virgin olive oil with minced garlic. I used a garlic press to make sure the pieces aren't too big- this way it almost melts into the sauce mixture you will make. When the garlic is golden, add your spinach into the mix. Then, squeeze your lemon to make juice. Pour this into the pan and top with bread crumbs. I used Italian-flavored Progresso bread crumbs because they have parsley, which adds a lot of flavor. 

The bread crumbs also thicken the sauce to ensure it coats every bit of your pasta. Keep this mixture on low heat and move onto your pasta next. While the pasta cooks, take the tail off your (cooled) shrimp. Add them to the mixture in your pan. Then, add to your pasta when cooked. I love Barilla for obvious reasons, but it also cooks relatively fast. Top off your dinner with some red pepper flakes and enjoy! 

It's really easy to make this dish vegetarian or to substitute the shrimp with chicken. Oh, and don't, by any circumstances, add cheese to this if you've made it with shrimp!!!!!! Seafood and cheese typically don't mix, especially when lemon is added to the dish! 

Tom Yum Soup with Shrimp

Thai Spicy Coconut Soup with Shrimp

12-15 shrimp (31-40 ct. bag)

1/2 green pepper

Red pepper flakes or sriracha hot sauce

2 Tbsp fish sauce

2 cans coconut milk

2 cloves of garlic

Fresh ginger

Lemongrass

Cilantro

I love Thai food. And I love seafood. Tom Yum soup is among one of my favorite soups that I get when I go out to eat Thai food, and I was fortunate enough to have aced it the first time I made it (two years ago). 

For the shrimp: I like using 31-40 ct. frozen shrimp because the size is perfect. I like them with the tail on because they are easy to peel off once cooked thoroughly. Boil them separately and bring to room temperature. Once at room temperature, you can easily take the tail off. Get them deveined- it will save you a ton of trouble!

The soup base: In a pot, add 1.5-2 cans of coconut milk and 1-2 cups of water and simmer. I don't like mine too sweet, so I tend to go for 2 cups of water. Add 2 Tbsp. of Asian fish sauce. Please take into consideration that it's quite salty, so you may need to add more water after this. Chop your garlic and add to the mixture. Then add some freshly grated ginger- and add this to taste. I love ginger, so I can never get too much of it. The most important part comes next- lemongrass. Yes, lemongrass. It gives it a tangy, citrus flavor that makes the soup really come together. I use almost an entire tube of organic lemongrass paste that you can find in the produce section of most supermarkets. Keep stirring and make sure all is mixed well. Add 1/2 diced green pepper- I prefer organic ones, of course. Bring to a boil, then lower the heat- this ensures all flavors have been mixed well but that it isn't too hot to add the shrimp. 

Add the shrimp. You can add sriracha sauce to flavor, but since fish sauce is already salty, I prefer red pepper flakes. Top off with fresh cilantro, but once soup is no longer boiling- you don't want brown, mushy cilantro. Enjoy! 

Broiled Salmon and Cilantro-Lime Rice

Cilantro-Lime Rice

1 cup long grain rice

1/2 cup vegetable or canola oil

1/2 organic green pepper

4 scallions

2 fresh cloves of garlic

cilantro

1/2 lime

Vegetable bouillon

In a pot, add uncooked rice to heated vegetable oil. Stir to cover rice and made sure it does not burn. Add chopped garlic. Then add two cups of water, vegetable bouillon, and bring to a boil. Remove the seeds from the green pepper and dice into cubes. Add to rice. Depending on the type of rice, the cooking times may vary. When rice is thoroughly cooked, add some cilantro and scallions to garnish. They are quite flavorful and add a lot to the dish. Squeeze lime juice on at the end. I always save some rice without lime juice so that it keeps longer in the fridge. 

Broiled Salmon

1 salmon filet

fish sauce

oyster sauce

1 clove of garlic

Chop garlic and combine fish and oyster sauces to taste. I've used oyster sauce that was the basis for sautéeing shitake mushrooms to add a little flavor. Marinate salmon overnight- and add sauces to taste. They do darken the filet. The trick to cooking salmon tenderly is to cook it for 7 minutes on 350 degree heat and then turning off the oven, where it rests for another 5 minutes. Enjoy!