Rachael Ray Redo aka Spinach-Artichoke Ravioli-Lasagna

From what I've gleaned, the general consensus on Rachael Ray is that people either love her or they hate her. My brother is one of the latter. He won't even knowingly stand in the same room as a Rachael Ray recipe. I, on the other hand, tend more towards the former. Although, I tend to think I like her more in principle than in practice. I like the idea of 30 minute meals and her food tends to be easy to make, with few ingredients. And with a little augmenting here and there, it can even be healthy as well. I definitely think someone should remind her, though, that even though olive oil is full of good fat, you CAN have too much of a good thing.

Given the success of the last pasta dish of hers that I tried, I decided to tempt fate again with her spinach-artichoke ravioli-lasagna. The idea behind this dish is that it is the lazy-man's lasagna; ravioli are technically made up of layers of pasta and ricotta and so if you throw them in a casserole dish and bake them, maybe they're kind-of/sort-of the same thing? No matter your opinion on the subject, ravioli is a total comfort food for me, stemming from the fact that my grandparents used to live in Little Italy in the Bronx and so we would get seriously AMAZING homemade ravioli whenever we went to visit. I used to have this ritual for eating them where I would bite off all of the edges first, saving the cheesy center for last. Need I say, it was predetermined that I would love this dish, merely because of the fact that it had ravioli in it.

Spinach-Artichoke Ravioli-Lasagna

Adapted from Rachael Ray, serves 4

2 (8 oz) containers of Rising Moon Organics spinach and cheese ravioli (it was my first time trying this brand and it was GOOD...they have so many other flavors, some of which are vegan so check them out!!)

1 1/2 cups part-skim ricotta

2 bags of Trader Joe's frozen artichoke hearts

2 (10 oz) packages of frozen spinach

1 1/2 cups almond milk

2 tbsp light butter

salt and pepper to taste

1/8 tsp nutmeg

1/4 cup parmesan cheese

2 tbsp flour

1) Thaw the frozen spinach and the artichoke hearts in the microwave according to the package directions. Squeeze out liquid from the spinach and drain the artichokes well. Set aside.

2) Preheat the oven to 425. Start to heat up your water for the pasta. Melt the butter in a non-stick skillet and whisk in the flour for a minute. Add the milk. Lower the heat when it starts to thicken and add nutmeg, salt, and pepper to taste.

3) Cook the ravioli according to package directions. Mix the ricotta, spinach and artichoke hearts together. Season with salt and pepper.

4) Cover the bottom of a 9x13 casserole dish with the bechamel sauce (about half the sauce). Spread the ravioli over the bottom. Spread the ricotta/artichoke/spinach mixture over the ravioli. Pour the rest of the bechamel over the top and then sprinkle with parmesan cheese. (Rachel's recipe actually has you do multiple layers of the ravioli but I halved her recipe while still putting it in the same sized pan, so this wasn't practical. Honestly, it tasted really good to me anyway and saved time. C'est la vie.)

5) Bake for ten minute. Put the oven on broil (high) and cook until parmesan cheese starts to brown and sauce starts bubbling.

I am submitting this dish to Presto Pasta Nights, which is being hosted this coming week by it's founder - Ruth of Once Upon A Feast - so stay tuned for the round-up!

Sandwich of the Week#2 and A Book Review

I have been having a pretty busy week between tutoring, baby-sitting, and The Mystery of Edwin Drood (a musical that I'm playing the piano for). The show opens tonight and we have had rehearsal every night for four hours for the past week. It's looking like all of the work will have paid off, though, so if you're in the Boston area either this weekend or next, feel free to come check it out. We're performing it on the MIT campus with the Musical Theatre Guild and you can go to web.mit.edu/mtg for details! There tends to be some downtime at rehearsals, however, and so I have been reading up a storm.

Diary of A Bad Year by J.M. Coetzee is the first book I have finished from the NYTimes Notable Book List of 2008! I have read another work by Coetzee before - Slow Man - which I liked and so was expecting good things from this work as well. This novel is interesting in the way that it is not exactly a standard fictional work with a beginning, middle, and end. There is no real outright plot, and yet even as I'm writing that, I know that it's not entirely true. The novel is about a South African writer living in Australia, Senor C, as he is called by one of the two other characters, who is contributing to a book which is to be published in German that consists only of "strong opinions". Each page in the book is broken up into three segments, each of which follows a different storyline. The first section is the strong opinions themselves. The second is told from the point of view of Senor C who tells of his interactions with his much younger upstairs neighbor, Anya, a woman with whom he is entirely infatuated. He hires Anya to type up his strong opinions as he dictates them to her, and finds that as he gets older he is more and more contented with the idea of sex and romance with the actual carrying out of them. The third storyline tells of Anya's interactions with her boyfriend, Alan, with whom she discusses Senor C's strong opinions. I really like the way in which this book blurs the lines between fiction and non-fiction. In his strong opinions, Senor C discusses a wide range of topics that are relevant to today's world, such as terrorism, music, and even the authority of the author. In doing so, one can't help but wonder how close they lie to Coetzee's own feelings about the state of the world, and as such can't help but feel that they are thought-provoking. In all, it was a good read and I would highly recommend it.

And NOW, ladies and gentlemen, the moment you've all been waiting for...the sandwich of the week! Except I feel like I've build it up so much, that you won't be able to help but be disappointed. Oh well. Looking at this picture makes me realize how much I need to get more attractive dishes. The green just doesn't seem to make any of my food look that appealing.

Tuna Pesto Sandwich with Provolone and Tomatoes

2 slices of whole wheat bread (still on a Trader Joe's bread kick)

1 can tuna (about 4 oz)

1 tbsp Classico sun-dried tomato pesto

1 small roma tomato

1 slice provolone

1) Construct your sandwich. Grill/panini press it until the cheese melts.

2) Eat!!

Mixing Metaphors

I am a bulk eater, meaning that it's easier for me to be satiated when eating larger volumes of food. That being said, high calorie density foods just don't really do it for me. I mean, they DO and I eat them a lot (i.e. peanut butter and dark chocolate and cheese) but they need to be accompanied by really voluminous side dishes. Greens tend to be really great options for that and so when looking for something to go with my calzone, I thought spinach would be a great option. I have a container of pine nuts sitting on my shelf and so I thought, great, I will saute some spinach with some pine nuts and parmesan cheese. Then, I got to the grocery store and noticed that kale and collard greens were on sale. Never one to pass up a good deal, I figured that I would just substitute either kale or collards for the spinach. There was no kale to be found, so I went with the collard greens. Now, I KNOW that collard greens are traditionally served with bacon or ham hocks. And I KNOW that there may be some die-hard southerners out there who are cringing at my seeming disregard for southern tradition. But, I mean there are worse culinary heresies that I could have committed, such as serving the collards with garbanzo beans, pine nuts, and parmesan cheese on New Year's Eve. I really liked the combination of flavors in this dish. The pine nuts really added a lot to it, I thought, cutting the saltiness of the cheese. All in all, a good go-to side dish for busy nights. I am submitting this dish to Weekend Herb Blogging, which is being hosted this week by Marija of Palachinka, so check in with her for the round-up on Monday!

Collard Greens with Pine Nuts and Parmesan
Serves 2

1 lb collard greens
1 tsp olive oil
2 tbsp parmesan cheese
2 tbsp pine nuts

1) Heat a non-stick pan. Heat the olive oil and saute the collard greens until wilted.
2) Mix with the parmesan cheese and pine nuts.

Broccoli and Cheese Calzone

I am an impulse buyer at the grocery store. I am also a sucker for "deals" meaning that I will buy something if it is on sale if I think I will maybe possibly potentially use it at some point in the near future. Most of the time, the aforesaid items end up in my freezer until I feel guilty enough that I end up using them. I am especially bad about this with items from Trader Joe's because it is not in walking distance of my dorm and so on the rare occasions that I get to go, I like to stock up as much as possible (cough every variety of chicken sausage cough). That being said, I have had packages of their pizza dough in my freezer since October when I convinced myself that I was going to make pizza or calzones at least once a week and therefore needed four pounds of the stuff. Inevitably, life got in the way and I forgot they was there. Until this week when I went down to the freezer to put in some cranberries that I wanted to freeze (that is another thing that was an impulse buy that seemed like a great idea at the time..we'll see if I use them before I graduate), when they jumped out at me and screamed EAT ME. Ladies and gentlemen, it was like a scene out of Alice in Wonderland, and so I decided to make calzones. Broccoli and cheese calzones to be precise. I based my combo off Robin Miller's recipe, although I DID make a few changes. Following the advice on the food network website, I halved the cheese. I also used part-skim ricotta and reduced fat provolone (instead of mozzerella...that's what I had and cheese is too expensive for me to go out and buy more when what I have works just fine), and I incorporated the parmesan into ricotta/broccoli/provolone mixture instead of sprinkling it on the top. AND I used Trader Joe's garlic and herb pizza dough. It was fabulous. Let me tell you. I am submitting this to Weekend Cookbook Challenge #36, an event hosted and created by Sara of I Like To Cook. The theme for this month's event is 5 ingredients or less. You still have time to submit something before the event closes on January 30, but even if you don't be sure to check out the round-up then, which I'm sure will be GREAT.

Broccoli and Cheese Calzones

Serves 2, adapted from Robin Miller

6 oz broccoli florets

1/2 cup part-skim ricotta

4 slices reduced fat provolone, shredded

1/2 lb Trader Joe's garlic and herb dough

1 tbsp parmesan cheese

salt and pepper, to taste

1) Preheat the oven to 400.

2) Microwave the broccoli for 2 minutes. Mix it with the ricotta, provolone, parmesan cheese, salt and pepper. This is what it will look like:

3) Split the 1/2 lb of pizza dough into two equal portions. On a well floured surface, roll out the dough into a circle of desired size. My circles were as large as my cutting board.

4) Put half the filling onto each circle and fold half of the dough circle over it so that it forms a half moon shaped pouch. Cut slits into the top of each calzone and bake in a PAM-ed baking pan until crisp, about 15-20 minutes.

Spaghetti with A Creamy Tomato and Sausage Sauce

Coming from a 100% Italian background, pasta was always a staple in my house. It has become less so now that my mother has given up cooking, but throughout my entire childhood we had pasta with meat sauce at least once a week. I was craving something homemade this week and considered going for an alfredo-y sauce. Instead, since I had some canned diced tomatoes sitting on my shelf, I decided to make a creamy tomato/red pepper sauce (don't you just love tomato sauce infused with sweet red pepper flavor) with chicken sausage. Luckily for me, the local supermarket here in Boston (Shaw's) sells sweet Italian chicken sausage. Now, maybe it's just because I haven't had pork sausage in a while, but I thought the flavoring in the chicken sausage was spot on (kind of like how vegetarians claim that tofurkey tastes like the real thing), allowing me to have the illusion of a rich pasta sauce without all the calories. I also made the sauce with half creamer and half almond milk to try to make it a bit lighter. It was a really good dish and may even be something that I dare to cook for my parents the next time I'm home. I am going to submit this dish to Presto Pasta Nights, which is being hosted by Erin of The Skinny Gourmet this week. Be sure to check back with her on Friday for the round-up!

As some may know, I spent the first few months of this year applying to MD/PhD programs. Basically what that means is that after graduating college, I will spend another 7-8 years in school working to obtain both my MD and a PhD. These programs are pretty tough to get into with each school only offering 10 positions per incoming class. I have known for a long time that I want to be a doctor, and then while in college I got really involved in research (I worked on calorie restriction and its effects on aging), so it seemed like a career that married the two would be the best for me. In early December I found out that I got into the Cornell/Rockefeller/Sloan-Kettering Program and so I was really psyched and ready to go there. A few days ago, I found out that I also got into NYU, which I am also amazingly glad about. However, now I have to make decisions about where I want to spend the next ten years. I really am happy, though, and am still in a state of shock about it all. It's one of those things where you spend so much time thinking and worrying about it, that once it works out it's just kind of hard to believe!

I hope everyone had a good weekend!

Spaghetti with Creamy Tomato and Sausage Sauce

Serves 4

1 box whole wheat spaghetti

3 links sweet Italian chicken sausage, casings removed

1 red bell pepper

2 (14 oz) cans diced tomatoes

1/2 cup half and half

1/2 cup almond milk

4 cloves garlic

3 shallots

2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper

1) Start boiling the water for the pasta and cook as directed.

2) Heat 2T of EVOO in a non-stick skillet. Add the garlic and the shallots and cook until fragrant, about 2-3 minutes. Add the chicken sausage, breaking it up into pieces and crumbling it with a spatula as it cooks.

3) Once the chicken sausage is browned, add the half and half and almond milk to the pan. Boil and then simmer for 5 minutes. Add the tomatoes, red pepper, and salt/pepper to taste. Bring to a boil and then simmer for fifteen minutes, stirring every so often.

4) Mix with the cooked pasta and then serve with parmesan cheese and some good bread to mop up the sauce.

Sandwich of the Week #1

I love sandwiches of all shapes, sizes, and forms, from burgers and paninis to pitas and wraps. There are just so many options for sandwiches, and all of them taste so good. While I enjoy staples like PB&J, I am always looking for new and interesting combinations for sandwich fillings. For a LONG time, I was on a grilled eggplant/cilantro hummus kick and before that it was turkey, cheese, avocado, and tomato. My sandwich obsession has grown even more now that I have a George Foreman Grill...there is something that is so appealing to me about toasted bread and melted cheese. Speaking of which, my new sandwich this week was a grilled cheese with tomato and black olives. The cheesy inside brought back memories of the childhood pan-butter-fried version my mom used to make, although mine was made healthier by virtue of the fact that I grilled it, used reduced fat cheese, and added tomatoes and black olives. Let me tell you, it was definitely something to write home about.

Today was my first day off from rehearsals in a week, which allowed me to relax a little. I actually had time tonight to eat dinner at a normal hour (7pm instead of 5pm!) and catch up on the The Office. I also cleaned up my room a bit, which was not fun but was DEFINITELY necessary. My roommate is coming back in a week and I need to give this place a serious once-over before she gets back. My side of the room just looks so...lived in...and its kind of getting to the point where its agitating me. Oh well, there's always this weekend.

Happy almost Friday everyone!

Grilled Cheese with Tomatoes and Black Olives

Serves 1

2 slices whole wheat bread (my favorite is Trader Joe's High Fiber Whole Wheat -- it has the texture and flavor of white bread with all of the benefits of whole grain..AND its only $2.50 a loaf!)

2 slices reduced fat cheddar cheese

1 medium tomato

4 black olives, sliced

Construct sandwich by layering a bread slice, a cheese slice, a tomato layer, an olive layer, another tomato layer, another cheese slice, and the final bread slice. Grill on the George Foreman grill, on a non-stick pan, or on a panini press until cheese is melted.

Cauliflower and A Book Review

Every year, I make it a personal goal to try to read all of the fiction books on the New York Times 100 Notable Books List. Seeing as how this is 50+ books, I always fail. But occasionally, I come close. I was in the middle of The Ministry of Special Cases by Nathan Englander when the year turned, and I figured that reviewing it and anything else I read on my blog would be a good way of keeping track of all of the books I'd read and what they were about, since very often I look back at titles of the works I've completed and have little to no recollection of their content.

The Ministry of Special Cases is a novel about a Jewish family living in Argentina during the late 1970's. At this point in time, Argentina is undergoing a period of political upheaval and strife such that individuals, especially Jewish ones, are being "disappeared" by the government for no apparent reason at all. The novel centers around a family of three - Kaddish, the father, Lillian, the mother, and Pato, the son. Lillian is the breadmaker of the family and her job as an insurance saleswoman is what keeps the family afloat. Kaddish is best described a schmuck (isn't Yiddish so useful sometimes). Nothing he does ever turns out right and the little monetary contribution he has to his family's welfare comes from a job he has undertaken in effacing Jewish graves; essentially, he hires himself out to those who wish to have their ancestry erased. Pato is a typical college student who, for the most part is a good kid, although he does get mixed up in drugs and rock and roll every once in a while. About midway through the story, Pato is disappeared by the Argentinean junta for no apparent reason other than that he is a student and owns books that could to some minds be viewed as controversial. The remainder of the novel details Lillian's and Kaddish's attempts to get their son back.

Although the book was entertaining, I found that I could not immerse myself in it as much as I wanted to. I think the problem lay in the character development. Lillian and Kaddish, although entertaining, were just not complex enough. They seemed very one-sided and always acted in a stereotypical manner. The book did have its moments, though, and so while I would not advise anyone to run to Borders and buy a copy, I would also not discourage anyone from taking it out of their local library on a whim.

On a completely unrelated note, things around here have been pretty hectic lately. I have rehearsal every night from 6-10 until the show opens (Jan 28). That has left me in need of some quick and easy food. I made roasted cauliflower the other night as a side dish and it was FANTASTIC. Broccoli and cauliflower are two vegetables that take really well to roasting. Although the cauliflower I made wasn't very complex, it had that good basic home-cooking feel to it. It will definitely be a staple weeknight recipe in my kitchen.

Roasted Cauliflower with Red Pepper Flakes

Serves 2

1 large head cauliflower

salt and pepper

1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

PAM

Spray the cauliflower with PAM and mix it with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes to taste. Roast it in a 400 degree oven for 30 minutes, stirring once midway through.

Comfort Food Times Two

Yesterday morning I woke up to snow. Lots of it. There were a few inches already on the ground and it was still going strong when I left my room to go to the gym (which, thankfully is right across the street). Normally I am not such a huge fan of snow mainly because it gets slushy and dirty really quickly, but seeing as how it brought the temperatures from being in the teens to being in the thirties, I was grateful that it made an appearance. I think the warmth - isn't it great how I consider the thirties to be warm - gave me the strength and stamina to run at the gym for 5.5 miles! This was especially great because I brought my running speed up to 7.6, a number that I haven't seen in MONTHS. For those of you who don't know, which is anyone reading this, I hurt my knee a few months back by doing two 6-mile runs outside in the span of a week. For some reason, running outside really messes with my knees in a way that the treadmill never has...I think it has something to do with the fact that the ground doesn't bounce back the way that the treadmill does. Anyway, that was in early November, and since then I've barely been able to run at all, let alone reach my previous high of 8.5 mph. I've slowly been incorporating running back into my routine and yesterday was the first day I really felt good again so yay me!

In order to celebrate, I decided to make sweet potatoes which are one of my favorite vegetables (and also THE most nutrient dense vegetable known to man). In addition, I had some pork tenderloin in my fridge that was on salt this week which I thought I would make with a chimichurri sauce, since I had some leftover cilantro. Chimichurri sauce has also been on my list of things to try so I thought, why not kill two birds with one stone. Since I had two four hour piano rehearsals yesterday for a show I'm playing for, I did a LOT of prep work in the morning, which included making the chimichurri sauce and cutting the sweet potatoes. Then, during the hour and a half I had in-between rehearsals, I managed to cook the meal AND eat...it was quite an evening of multi-tasking. The two recipes I chose to make - sweet potatoes with honey butter and pork tenderloin with chimichurri sauce - were both adapted from Tyler Florence recipes, and so I will be submitting these to Tyler Florence Fridays. In addition, since the chimichurri sauce is cilantro-based I will also be submitting it to Weekend Herb Blogging, which is being hosted this week by Chris of Mele Cotte. For those of you who don't know, cilantro is an herb that is native to southwestern Asia and north Africa. It has often been used as a folk medicine to cure anxiety and insomnia. It also has an extremely high amount of vitamin A and lutein. These two recipes were DELICIOUS and are being put on a list of dishes that I would serve to other people.

Sweet Potatoes with Honey Butter
Serves 4, adapted from Tyler Florence

3 lb sweet potato

2 tbsp honey

2 tsp cinnamon

salt and pepper

1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. (The original recipe said 375, but I was short on time).

2) Dice the sweet potatoes into cubes. Toss with honey, cinnamon, salt and pepper. Spray with PAM and bake for 30 minutes, tossing once halfway through.

Pork Tenderloin with Chimichurri Sauce

Serves 4, adapted from Tyler Florence

1 1/2 lb pork tenderloin

3 tbsp lime juice

1/4 cup olive oil

salt and pepper

1 bunch cilantro

1/2 bunch parsley

2 cloves garlic

1) Puree the lime juice, olive oil, salt, pepper, cilantro, and parsley in a food processor. (The original recipe just chopped all of the ingredients and mixed them together, but I figured this would be faster). Let mix in fridge for a few hours so flavors can meld.

2) Season the pork with salt and pepper. Cook on a grill until reaches desired doneness. For this, I used my George Foreman grill and it took about 15 minutes.

Brown Rice with Lime, Cilantro, and Jalapeno

Cilantro is my all-around most favorite herb of all times. It just makes everything taste so fresh and it is featured heavily in some of my favorite types of food...mexican, indian, thai. I, personally, would like to find a way to weave it into every dish I make, but unfortunately that's not always practical.

Tonight I was originally supposed to go out to eat with one of my friends to a Mexican joint here in Boston called Sol Azteca. Unfortunately, our plans fell through as he remembered at the last minute that he had already promised his girlfriend that he would go to a salsa class with him. So, I had to get my cilantro fix somewhere else. Thankfully, I had this leftover rice dish in the fridge along with some leftover salmon that I could heat up. The flavors in this rice melded very well together, although I think next time I may cook the rice in half broth/half water to give it a tinge more flavor.

Brown Rice with Lime, Cilantro, and Jalapeno
Serves 2

3/4 cup brown rice
1/8-1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 jalapeno pepper
2 tbsp lime juice
salt

1) Put the rice and 2 cups of water in a pan. Salt the water and bring it to a boil. Once it has boiled, simmer until all of the water has evaporated, 40-50 minutes.

2) While the rice is cooking, chop the jalapeno and the cilantro. After the rice is done, mix in all of the ingredients and serve.

I served this rice with salmon, but I think it would be great with any citrus-marinated chicken or pork.

Superfood Friday!

Up until VERY recently, the only seafood I would eat was sushi. I told myself it was a textural thing...that I didn't like the flaky nature of cooked fish. However, over time I began to realize that by not eating fish, I was depriving myself of some of the world's healthiest and tastiest foods. Little by little, I began ordering seafood dishes at restaurants, and as I did, I realized that I really did like all of the flavors that the fish world had to offer. Today as I was food shopping, I noticed that salmon fillets were on sale this week and so I decided that I would pick some up and try my hand at cooking them. I diligently searched through my recipe collection and came across a recipe by giada delaurentis that involved grilling salmon in a tin foil packet with lemon, capers, rosemary and white wine. Since I don't have a grill here in Boston, I decided I would roast the fillets rather than grill them. Let me tell you, not only was this dish easy to prepare, it was the creamiest, most melt-in-your-mouth meal I have ever tasted. I should also remind you that it was healthy as well, seeing as how salmon and capers are two of the worlds superfoods. Salmon is known for being an incredible source of Omega-3 fatty acids while capers have been shown to have cancer-fighting abilities. They are especially good at protecting against anti-oxidants produced by eating red meat. Since the capers made this dish for me, I am submitting this to Weekend Herb Blogging, an event that was created by Kalyn of Kalyn's Kitchen and is now being run by Haalo of Cook(Almost) Anything At Least Once. WHB is being hosted this week by Rachel of The Crispy Cook, so check in with her on Monday for the round-up!

Salmon With Lemon, Rosemary, and Capers

Serves 2, adapted from Giada Delaurentis

3/4 lb salmon fillet

2 tsp olive oil

2 tsp capers

2 tbsp lemon juice

4 tbsp dry white wine

1/8 tsp salt

1/8 tsp black pepper

1/4 tsp rosemary

1) Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Cut the salmon into two equal size pieces and season with salt, pepper, and rosemary. Place each fillet onto a piece of aluminum foil big enough to cover it.

2) Coat each fillet in 1 tsp of olive oil, 1 tbsp lemon juice, 2 tbsp white wine, and 1 tsp capers. Wrap with aluminum foil and bake for 15-20 minutes.

Roasted Butternut Squash with Shallots

I first discovered winter squash about a year ago when I randomly decided that I was going to try a new veggie every week. I got through butternut squash, kale, and turnips before I threw in the towel...more because I had to run from store to store trying to find the produce in question than because of any lack of enthusiasm on my part. This little introduction, however, was all I needed to realize that winter squash and I were meant for each other. Since that fateful first recipe of butternut squash mashed with thyme and parmesan cheese, I have gone on to include this root vegetable, along with its sisters, the acorn and buttercup varieties, in as many of my meals as possible. The recipe that I've made tonight, roasted butternut squash with shallots, combines the sweetness of the squash and brown sugar with the tartness of balsamic vinegar in a way that really pleases the palate. Balsamic and brown sugar are one of my favorite flavor combos and so this hit the spot after the achiness that set in after my baby-sitting gig today (who knew that holding an 8 lb 1 month old for 2 hours could be so tiring).

On a completely unrelated side note...if anyone is reading this who lives in the Boston area, this month is Oreo month at JP Licks (a homemade ice cream shop that features new flavors every month). I went there last night with my friends to find the menu is currently studded with flavors such as Strawberry Oreo, Fresh Banana Oreo, Mint Oreo, Negative Oreo, Cheesecake Oreo, and Peanut Butter Oreo. I highly recommend stopping in if you get a chance. I had the strawberry oreo and it was GOOD. Strawberry and pistachio were my favorite flavors as a kid, and now that I'm older I tend to veer more towards vanilla-based flavors, but I felt like I couldn't pass up the opportunity to revisit a childhood memory. After all, they do say that memory is strongly linked to taste (as well as smell and hearing, in my case)!

Roasted Butternut Squash with Shallots

Serves 2, adapted from Seasonal Ontario

20 oz butternut squash, peeled and diced

4 shallots

1 tbsp brown sugar

1 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1/2 tsp salt

1 tbsp olive oil

pepper

First, I preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Next, in a bowl, I mixed the butternut squash, shallots (cut into long-ish pieces), brown sugar, balsamic vinegar, EVOO, salt, and pepper. I then poured this mixture into a 9x13 baking pan. When the oven was heated, I roasted the squash for 40 minutes while mixing it halfway.

I served this dish with braised chicken with black olives, a simple entree that mixed sauteed chicken cutlets with white wine and black olives. However, it would probably be good with any warm wintry dish, such as pork chops or steak.

For The Love of Eggplant (and Chickpeas)

I am kind of an organization freak and have an especial fondness for making lists, whether they consist of things I want to do during the day, books I want to read or, of course, recipes I want to make. I also like to make my weekly menus in advance, partially because its so cold in Boston that I only want to trek over to the grocery store once, but also because I enjoy the process of parsing through the various recipes that I have bookmarked. Sometimes, however, I can get a little out of hand, occasionally taking hours to plan only a week of meals. In order to try to harness this, I've organized the month of January so that I've allotted myself certain types of recipes for certain weeks during the month. This week was a Rachael Ray week, meaning that I had to cook at least one meal either from her show on the Food Network, her magazine, her cookbooks, or her daytime talk show. Although this was a task in itself since she has been a very prolific chef, I remembered this recipe for babganoush-hummus pasta that struck my eye when I first saw it on 30 Minute Meals. Hummus and eggplant just happen to be two of my favorite things in the world, so I figured that the combination of the two, along with pasta (another favorite of mine) had be amazing. And I was right. This pasta dish, although so unconventional, was really tasty. The spices were really well-proportioned, the sauce was just the right amount of chunky and smooth...all in all I would highly recommend it. While making it, I also went with a different kind of whole wheat pasta than I normally use...I have traditionally been a die-hard Ronzoni Healthy Harvest fan but this week my supermarket was out! Instead I went with De Cecco. The texture and flavor were much more similar to that of regular white pasta and so this might be a better option for those who are whole wheat resistant (cough my parents cough). For those of you who are whole wheat pasta eaters out there, what is your favorite brand?





I am going to submit this to Presto Pasta Nights , a food blogging event that I have been watching for a long time. It is being hosted this week by Ivy of Kopiaste so check in with her on Friday for the round-up! I apologize in advance for the fact that this dish is so un-aesthetically pleasing...I obviously didn't consider the fact that hummus and babaganoush are two of the least photogenic foods when deciding to make this pasta dish tonight. And while I realize that the homogeneous brown blob above is probably not making you want to try out this recipe, I promise that it tasted TONS better than it looks.

Babganoush-Hummus Pasta

Serves 4, adapted from Rachael Ray

1 lb whole wheat penne

1 lb eggplant
1 can chickpeas
1 tsp cumin
1 tsp coriander
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
salt
2 tbsp EVOO
2 tbsp tahini
1 cup vegetable broth
4 cloves garlic
4 tbsp lemon juice

First, I peeled and diced the eggplant into small cubes. Then, I started boiling water for the pasta. While the water was heating, I sauteed the garlic in the EVOO until it just started to brown. I added in the chickpeas and eggplant, as well as the spices, and cooked the mixture covered for 10 minutes. After the ten minutes was up, I threw in the lemon juice, covered the pot again and let it cook for another 5 minutes. At this point the eggplant was very mushy and definitely ready to be pureed! That being said, I combined the eggplant/chickpea mix, the tahini and the broth in a food processor and pulse processed until smooth-ish with some small chunks. I put the sauce back in the pan over low heat. At this point, the water was just about boiled, so I added in the pasta. When it was done, took some of the cooking water and added it to the sauce until it reached the desired consistency. Finally, I mixed the pasta with the babganoush-hummus.

To all of you northeasterners reading this, good luck with the storm thats supposed to hit tonight!

There's No Place Like Home

Normally when I cook for myself, I try to make one vegetarian and one carnivore dinner a week. I do this not only because it's cheaper but also because I really love vegetarian options like tofu, beans, seitan, and tempeh. After cooking for my parents for a little over two weeks while I was "home" for the holidays and having to figure out ways to incorporate meat into every meal, I figured that for my first meal back at school, I should get back into the swing of things with some tofu. I also wanted something that would be quick and easy since I was exhausted from all of the anxiety that flying on a bad weather day induces (my flight was delayed three times!!). After perusing my list of potential recipes, I decided to go with something Thai, as I've never cooked anything in this style before. Specifically, I decided to make a red curry coconut sauce based on a recipe I found a while ago on The Spiced Life. I made it with brown rice and broccoli. The sauce was a really good balance of sweet and spicy, although for my taste buds I think it could have been a tad bit spicier. Also, there's nothing that I love more than perfectly fried tofu and this definitely satisfied that craving. Now I get to sit back, relax, watch some tv and, of course, unpack - possibly one of the things that I like to do least.

Tofu in a Thai Red Curry Sauce
Serves 2

1/2 cup lite coconut milk
1/4 cup vegetable broth
1 tsp red curry paste (I used Taste of Thai brand)
1 tbsp lime juice
1 tbsp sugar
1 package of lite firm tofu
3/4 cup brown rice
4 cups broccoli florets
1 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp EVOO
2 tbsp peanuts

Before I did anything else, I got the brown rice cooking since it takes FOREVER (I guess that's the price you pay for choosing a whole grain over its refined counterpart). Next, I mixed together the coconut milk, broth, red curry paste, lime juice, sugar, and soy sauce, and set the mixture aside.

I heated up the EVOO in a non-stick pan (two turns of the pan), pressed my tofu, cut it into 8 slices, and placed it on the pan. I cooked one side of the tofu for 6 minutes, then flipped it and cooked it for another 5 minutes. When this was done, I poured the milk mixture into the pan, brought it to a boil, and then let it simmer until the rice was done, turning the tofu every few minutes. In the meantime, I microwaved the broccoli until it was crisp-tender. When all the components were done, I mixed the broccoli and rice together and poured the sauce from the tofu pan on top.

Finally, I sprinkled the whole mixture with the peanuts and sat down to eat.

Dinner and A Movie

So right now I am home for the winter holidays, and since I am somewhat picky about what I eat (i.e. if it doesn't have any nutritional value, I won't put it in my mouth), I have been allotted the task of cooking for my family. Seeing as how I love to cook and rarely get the opportunity to do so for others, one would think that I would be thrilled about this, right? Wrong. You see, my family is filled with a bunch of picky eaters: my sister won't eat any meat other than chicken, my brother won't eat any dish that doesn't have meat in it, and my father won't eat most vegetables and hates any and all herbs and spices. I, on the other hand, eat all meats (although cooking with beef is a rare occasion in my life), often eat vegetarian and/or vegan meals, eat all vegetables (except for beets and celery, ICK), and have a spice collection to rival that of any professional chef. Needless to say, cooking for my family is often more trouble than it's worth. So last night, when I found out that only my mother and I were going to be eating dinner, I was thrilled because she will usually eat anything I put in front of her (although she is still wary of tofu and cumin). Since we had some part-skim ricotta in the fridge that I knew no one would eat after I went back to school (they are a whole milk all the way family, thanks to my brother who can eat whatever he wants and not gain weight) and since I could eat pasta basically every day of my life, I decided to make some penne with spinach and ricotta. I adapted the recipe from one I found on delish.com. The picture above, alas, is not mine as my camera is currently in Boston, but one that I borrowed from Martha Stewart. It comes close though. The pasta was good, although the sauce wasn't quick thick enough. I think next time I'll add less pasta water to the ricotta. I DID manage to make it in a half hour though, so it gets bonus points for being fast. My mom and I gulped this down, then picked up my sister and her friend to go see The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which was quite an unusual movie. It at least had an innovative concept which is more than I can say for most films these days.

Penne with Spinach and Ricotta

Serves 4, adapted from Good Housekeeping

1 box whole wheat penne rigate (about 14 oz)

1 lb spinach

1 tbsp olive oil

5 cloves garlic

1 1/2 cups part-skim ricotta

1/3 cup parmesan cheese, grated

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp salt

In a large saucepot, boil salted water to cook the pasta. Once its boiling, throw the pasta in and cook until desired consistency is obtained.

Meanwhile, in a nonstick pan, heat the olive oil. Cook the garlic for a minute or until it starts to brown. Add 2 tbsp of water to the pan and cook the spinach until wilted. Once the spinach is done, remove the pan from the heat.

Once pasta is done, reserve 1 cup of cooking water (I might make this 1/2 or 3/4 of a cup) and drain the pasta. To the pasta, add the spinach, salt, pepper, ricotta, parmesan cheese, and reserved water. Stir in. If it's a little watery, heat it so that some of the water evaporates. Serve with some crusty Italian bread and bon appetit!

A New Year, A New Blog

I am a self-confessed food-blogaholic. Call me crazy, but I have this whole morning routine where I sit eating my daily breakfast of an egg, an english muffin, a cup of coffee, and a bowl of oatmeal, while parsing through some of my favorite blogs, jotting down recipes that I plan on making in the near future. My to-make-soon list is now bordering on 100 pages...but that's another story for another day. And so after being obsessed with bloggers for a year, I have decided to become one myself.

But who am I, you might ask (and this is something I ask myself pretty frequently, actually). At the time of writing this, I am a 21-year-old college senior (soon to be 22!!) who loves to cook and eat healthy meals. I became interested in cooking about a year ago, which was the same time I became interested in nutrition (a coincidence - I think not). I was sick of eating dining hall food that, not only didn't taste good, but was pretty darn bad for me to boot. So, never one to back away from a challenge (after all, I didn't get into MIT by sitting back and letting the world pass me by) I went to Macy's, bought a set of cookware, and jumped in. This past year in cooking has been one of the most delicious of my life, mostly thanks to all of the blogs that I've frequented and borrowed recipes and ideas from along the way. My motto in cooking is that I can "healthify" basically any recipe, and thus can eat whatever I want, in some kind of moderation. So join me on my cooking adventures as I try to prove to the world that even college students can cook good (dare I even say great) food that is healthy, affordable, quick and - MOST IMPORTANTLY - delicious.