Apple pies and hurricane Sandy

I haven't posted in a while, there's been a lot going on around here weatherwise - Hurricane Sandy hit a few weeks ago, and then we had a little snowstorm.  There was some electricity out in our neighborhood and we just stayed holed in for a few days.  We had some felled trees and had to be careful about power lines, but that was the extent of it in our little neighborhood.
As we were cocooned in the apartment, I was texting with my Mom, and we both had the ingredients and working stoves to make apple pies - so we did!  And I always think of apple pie as a go-to, cozy dessert - I think a lot of people do. 
I had a 1/2 peck of apples I got before Sandy, as a stock fruit to have that didn't need refrigeration.  I had a recipe for a whole wheat crust using canola oil as the fat, so it was a little more heart-healthy than the store bought crusts I usually use (have to give a shout-out to Pillsbury, that doughboy is still my main man!).
This crust, while easy to make, is extremely crumbly and you have to handle it gingerly - I had a time of it flipping it onto the pan and repairing all the breaks, but it is moldable.  I used apple pie spice and on the advice of my sister, sprinkled agave nectar on it instead of sugar; it worked out nicely - didn't alter the taste from my usual apple pie with sugar and cinnamon.

Just wanted to put in a photo from our neighborhood - my husband and I took walks on the nights after the storm - we came across this and several others.

Penne pasta with red peppers and capers

This is one of me and my sister's favorite dishes, which also happens to be vegetarian and I think would qualify as vegan as well.  But, anyway, we first saw this recipe on tv on the Bravo channel, as part of the "Aria and Pasta" series; and this episode featured our favorite countertenor of all time, Derek Lee Ragin.  Derek made this dish along with the show's host, Beverley Bergen.  Might I add that my sister and I have met Derek twice in person; what a lovely man; we are hoping he will have more engagements in the NY area soon.
After seeing this episode, my sister and I would get together and cook up this dish; it usually happened over two days, as one of us would usually bake the peppers a day before to begin the process of removing the skins.
But the recipe is fairly straightforward:
Ingredients:
5 large red peppers
2 cloves garlic
4 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 tablespoons capers (preferably those preserved in salt & washed well)
500 grams (about 1 pound) penne pasta
Chopped parsley
Take 5 red peppers and remove the skins; you can do this by baking them for about an hour on a pan in the oven, letting them cool a bit, then removing the skins - you can of course leave the skins on if you wish.  Then you chop the peppers into strips.  Place 4 tablespoons of olive oil into a heavy saute pan , heat it up a bit, and then add 2 cloves of garlic.  Cook gently, but do not let the garlic take on too much color. (I am copying directly from the recipe from here on). Add the pepppers and cook, stirring until they soften and taken on a very glossy color.  Let this simmer gently until the peppers are very soft and lightly brown at the edges.  Add the capers and when you are ready to serve, add chopped parsley.
Cook the pasta in boiling water until "al dente". Drain and serve with the pepper sauce over the pasta.  Accompany with parmesan cheese (or romano, which we prefer!).

I made this a couple of nights ago and I have a new fan; my adventurous husband!  He turned down a nice meal in a restaurant to stay home and try this dish, I had raved about it so; and he was not disappointed.

Tomato and asparagus carbonara

This recipe comes to you from "Cooking Light" magazine; it is called carbonara, but there is no bacon or ham products in it - it is indeed a vegetarian dish.  I just made this tonight - sautee up some olive oil and asparagus, then add the garlic; then add in halved grape tomatoes.  Meanwhile, boil a pot of water, and when it comes to the boil, add macaroni (the recipe called for penne, I put in whole wheat shells).
Turn off the tomatoes and asparagus; let the macaroni cook, and in a separate bowl, beat 1 egg, 1/2 cup grated cheese and salt and pepper (about 1/4 teaspoon each).  Once the macaroni is cooked to your liking, drain it, and working quickly, return it to the pot and add the egg mixture and mix it around thoroughly. The heat from the pasta will cook that egg.
Add in the tomato and asparagus mixture, and voila!  Your carbonara is ready!!

Easiest - and healthiest carbonara I ever made!

A couple of luscious dishes from eating out

Okay, admittedly, none of these foodstuffs did I make; but I sure did admire them and enjoy consuming them!

This is the strata cake I had in the Olive Garden in Jackson Mississippi a few weeks ago.  My family cheered me on as I attacked it (alas I could not finish it all in one sitting).

This is a duck pancake - simply scrumptious - juicy, sweet and filling all at once.  At "The Grand" in Flushing, Queens, New York.

A cornucopia of dishes ordered at the 50% lunch special at Balucchi's on Queens Blvd, with my Mom in May.  I see kashmiri pulao, palak paneer and raita; I think there was also boatman's shrimp curry and vegetable handy.  How I love Indian food!

Another shot of that torte. 

My open faced egg and mushroom sandwiches

I got this "recipe" - I hesitate to say "recipe", because an egg sandwich seems like it would be an almost intuitive, commonplace thing for anyone who likes to eat to make, but I have to admit I like reading variations on it, of which this is one; this came from the magazine "Cooking Light" - it involved white wine, fried shallots, beefsteak tomatoes and baby portabella mushrooms.  The two round patties at 12 o'clock are vegetarian sausage patties - but oh my do they taste like meat; my husband raves about them.  That's his plate - a satisifying, meat-like breakfast.

Another view of the sandwich - I used organic Omega 3 eggs; just trying to keep the health-ball rolling.

Sherry Trifle

This is a trifle my sister and I created in 2008, for a dinner party in Brooklyn at the house of the Waterfront Alehouse chef.

It had amontillado sherry in it and homemade shortbread.

Some interesting dishes from down sowth

We had to travel down to Mississippi earlier in June for a family emergency.  While there, we made the most of it, food wise; I had some extraordinary meals there, here is a montage of them.

 Abeba - Ethiopian restaurant in Jackson, MS - I got the vegetarian sampler plate, seen here.  Had never had Ethiopian before - I found it akin to Indian food in its spice and scope.  I would like to try it again.

Steak and potato at the Lone Star, with my in-laws; fantastic people, fantastic dinner.  I don't eat steaks very often, but sometimes, you know the time is right.

At Bravo's in Jackson, MS - I had a pizza with goat cheese, prosciutto and arugula on top - this was for Father's Day with my father-in-law; we had such a lovely time.  This scrumptious pizza was top notch - and they made it for me with whole wheat pizza dough.

This frothy margarita was at El Potrillo in Flowood, MS.  I wanted to just dive right in.  It was apertif, refreshment and dessert all in one.

My veggie sandwich with caesar salad at the outstanding Broad Street Bakery in Jackson, MS.  Just the perfect sized lunch, and everything was fresh.  Outstanding.

My father-in-law's cappuccino brownie dessert for Father's Day.  I should've gotten that.  He kindly let me mooch a few spoons of this; next time I will insist on a special trip to Bravo's JUST for this rich fudgey treat. 

My Chez B's omelette at Another Broken Egg in Ridgeland, MS.  This is how to do a big brunch.  We are trying to make this place a goal every time we're in the area now.  This had feta cheese and a basil chiffonade; the waiter didn't know how to describe it, but it was basically chopped basil strewn over and within the omelette; it was one of those meals where you say, "I'm going to do this when I get home".

I have more pictures to post, will do so soon.

Just some delicious dishes I've had recently...

Rigatoni with butternut squash, capers, olives, scallions, and ricotta....couldn't believe how great this was!!!  At Shawnee Inn in Marshalls Creek, PA.

 Chocolate chocolate cake for my Mother-in-law's birthday, created at a Publix, in Nashville, TN. Just decadent.  And we almost finished the whole cake!!!

Grits and toast and eggs at a Waffle House, Nashville, TN.  I am now a big fan of Waffle House.

My step-father-in-law ordered this at a wonderful Japanese restaurant in Nashville.  He had a lot of fun eating it.  All cooked on a hot rock.

Chocolate easter bunny, at Milleridge Inn, Jericho, NY.

Exquisite popover at Milleridge Inn, Jericho, NY. (Thanks Mom!)

Baked Alaska at Oceannaire, Washington, D.C....hubby and I couldn't speak for several minutes as we devoured this like wolverines (or pick an animal that eats like a wolverine).

Creamed corn - at Oceannaire - was real cream - and nutmeg I think.  And I was happy with the stuff out of a can!  But this is the real deal.

Cauliflower mac-n-cheese

I got the recipe for this out of Sunday's newspaper.  It combined two things I like, cheese and cauliflower, and in a unique but insanely obvious way - through the medium of mac -n-cheese!  I've had cauliflower smothered in cheese in England, and my friend Pete had said that it is a regular dish over there - in fact he was aghast that me and my sister had never had it at home!  We had it and LOVED it! 
Here is my take on the dish - it involves swiss cheese, white sharp cheddar cheese, and ricotta cheese.

Yes Virginia, there is a low sugar healthy guiltless chocolate cake

My sister helped me find the recipes for a chocolate cake that uses canola oil and agave syrup - the "natural" sugar that doesn't cause a spike in insulin, as well as a very rich chocolate icing that also uses agave. We served these up to my Mom and Aunt on Saturday; they are usually suspicious of what healthy alternative tricks we have pulled on them in our cooking; we joke that they don't eat anything unless it has at LEAST a stick of butter in it.  We held our breaths; and wham-o, they gobbled this up!!!! 

I had some strawberries at the ready, and they added nicely to the deep chocolate taste of the cake.

French toast the healthy way

I've been trying to find ways to reduce sugar in my life, and I've learned that agave syrup or nectar is a natural sugar product, that does not cause the insulin to spike in your blood the way that table sugar and other sweetners will.  So I've been trying to cook more with that.  Last weekend, we had french toast, and the syrup I put on my toasts was agave.  Loved it!  Wasn't much different (in fact I didn't taste a difference at all) than maple on the french toast.

These are whole wheat bread slices, dredged in 2 eggs and a dollop of milk and sprinklings of cinnamon.

Eggplant meatballs....or ....polpettine di melanzane

A couple of days ago, I wanted spaghetti and meatballs...but I wanted to go vegetarian.  So, I went through my recipe file, and pulled out one of my old favorites - eggplant meatballs!  I happened to have all the main ingredients in my house - eggplant, fresh parsley, breadcrumbs and garlic!  So I went to work!
These take about an hour to make total; you can either fry them or bake them, I chose to bake them this time (I usually fry them - trying to be healthy). 
These are dense and have substance to them; my husband normally doesn't like eggplant, but he gobbled these up! 
My sister and I love eggplant; I think it is one of those unfairly maligned vegetables, possibly because of its unfortunate name in American English; I think it might get better press if we called it by its Brit term, "aubergine", or by the Italian "melanzane". 

I used whole wheat fettucine with these; I think next time I will go with half-wheat fettucine, the 100% whole wheat made the pasta taste a tiny bit cardboardy.

The green you see there is some broccoli florets I added to the sauce to veggie it up!  There's a whole wheat roll there on the side - Stop N Shop has these wonderful frozen whole wheat rolls - you bake them for about 10 minutes - warm and crispy and perfect!

Mom in law's meatballs

We are about to go on a trip, and I had some vegetables and fresh bread, and I was wondering what to make...and I thought, meatball heroes!!!!  My Mother -in-law recently told me about her luscious meatball recipe, and I thought, THAT'S what I'll make!!!!!
I ran to the supermarket and got some ground sirloin, an onion, and some Italian dressing; then I came back and worked the magic!  I would tell you more of the ingredients, but then that would be giving away the secret!!!
I had some bake-at-home bread from Trader Joe's and threw that in the oven when I could tell the meatballs were almost ready. 
When the bread was done, I cut it open, steaming, and scooped the meatballs -in-sauce into them; pure sweet heaven!

I will be making these again!

Eggs Benedict - Part Deux

I promised to reveal what I learned about the poaching process for eggs; I read in my Taste of the South magazine, that you should pour 3 tablespoons of vinegar in the water that you boil the eggs in.  We did this, and I think it adds a saltiness to the eggs.
We had another breakfast of eggs benedict; but my husband proposed we have three each, and I did not need to be begged.

By the way - that's parsley and cayenne pepper sprinkled on top to provide some extra color.

New England Clam Chowda

This is another recipe from Good Housekeeping; I wasn't crazy about this, it was a little thin, so I only took one photo.