Baked Eggplant with Red Peppers, Onions and Feta

I'm not usually a fan of eggplant, but I do like this recipe.  It makes a delicious meatless meal.

Baked Eggplant with Red Peppers, Onions and Feta

1 eggplant, cut in 1/2-inch slices
1 large sweet onion, sliced thinly
1 or 2 large red bell peppers, cut in thin strips and halved
1  6oz. package of reduced fat feta cheese, crumbled
1/4 cup bread crumbs
salt
pepper
oregano (optional)
vegetable cooking spray
vegetable or olive oil

Preheat oven to 350.  Heat skillet and spray both sides of each eggplant slice with a little cooking spray before placing in the skillet.  Brown a little on each side; set slices aside.  In same skillet, add about 1 tablespoon of vegetable or olive oil.  Cook onion slices until softened; remove from skillet and set aside.  In the same skillet, saute red bell pepper strips.

Spray square baking dish with cooking spray.  Add a layer of half of the eggplant slices and sprinkle with a little salt, pepper, and oregano (if desired).  Add half of the onions, red peppers, and crumbled feta cheese. Repeat the layers with the remaining vegetables and cheese.  Sprinkle the top with the bread crumbs.

Bake for about 30 minutes. Makes 4 servings.

Birthday Cake Batter Popcorn

This is something different and fun.  My batch is still hardening on the baking sheet...although it doesn't seem like it's really going to harden (too much cake mix?). Well, that doesn't matter to me tonight because I've been eating it ever since I mixed it up!  

When I make this again (and I will make this again), I will make less of the coating and use less cake mix in the coating.  I added more popcorn this time because the coating, for me, was a bit thick for the amount of popcorn in the recipe. 

I used the recipe from Tasty Kitchen.



Birthday Cake Batter Popcorn


1-1/2 cup melted almond bark or white chocolate (I used white chocolate chips)

1/4 cup vegetable shortening

1-1/2 cup white or yellow cake mix (I will reduce this amount next time)

6 cups popped popcorn

1/4 cup sprinkles (didn't measure mine - I just sprinkled until it looked colorful enought for me)


Melt bark/chocolate in microwave in 30 second intervals until smooth.  Add shortening to thin and stir. (Put in microwave a few more seconds if needed to melt down the shortening).  Stir in cake mix.  Pour over popcorn in large bowl and toss to coat.  Spread popcorn out onto a baking sheet. Sprinkle with choice of decorative cake sprinkles. Let harden on baking sheet.

Blue Cheese Potato Salad

Here's an alternative to traditional potato salad that includes my favorite dressing. If you like, add crumbled bacon for an additional layer of flavor.

Blue Cheese Potato Salad

5-6 large red skin potatoes unpeeled, sliced in 1/4" slices and then halved

4 scallions, chopped including green tops

5 large radishes, thinly sliced

1 cup blue cheese dressing (I use Marzetti Light Chunky Blue Cheese)

salt and pepper to taste

cooked, crumbled bacon (optional)


Wash potatoes and slice as directed. Boil potato slices in large pot with a pinch of salt until fork tender. Drain and cool.  Add all other ingredients and coat the potatoes. Chill in refrigerator at least 2 hours. 6 servings.

Sopapilla Cheesecake Squares

You won't believe how easy this is to make!

A sopapilla is a fried dough pastry that is often covered with sugar and cinnamon and drizzled with honey.  This dessert is believed to have originated in New Mexico.  When I saw this quick and easy recipe for a cheesecake based on the sopapilla, I decided it was something new I had to try.  Your family and friends will think you spent a lot of time making this delicious and different treat.

It's a very sweet dessert, and I reduced the amount of sugar (slightly) from the recipe I found.  (Honestly, for my taste, I could reduce the sugar a bit more from what I have written below).  The dessert is sprinkled with cinnamon-sugar and drizzled with the optional honey, so that's a lot of sweetness. The recipe I followed didn't specify the amount of cinnamon-sugar, so I included a suggested amount.  Honey was not in the original recipe I had, but the honey adds a nice plating presentation and really makes it like a sopapilla.

I adapted this recipe from Chef in Training. 


Sopapilla Cheesecake Squares

2 cans refrigerated crescent rolls
2 (8 oz.) packages cream cheese, softened
3/4 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 cup melted butter
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 Tbsp. sugar
honey (optional)

Preheat of to 350.  Spray 13x9 baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.  Mix together softened cream cheese, sugar and vanilla.  Set aside.  On parchment or wax paper, unroll one can of roll dough, lightly pressing dough and making sure pieces are together.  Flip the dough into the pan.  Spread cream cheese mixture evenly over dough.  Follow same above instructions for the second can of dough and place on top of cream cheese layer.

Brush top dough layer with melted butter.  Mix cinnamon and sugar together and sprinkle on top of melted butter.  Bake for about 20-30 minutes.  Cool and cut into squares. Drizzle individual squares with honey if desired. Store in refigerator.

Oatmeal Cottage Cheese Pancakes

These pancakes have no sugar, flour, or egg yolks.  The recipe only calls for mixing cottage cheese, oatmeal, egg whites, and vanilla in a blender.  Cook and serve.  Simple and tasty.  I found this recipe at Food.com.

Oatmeal Cottage Cheese Pancakes

1/2 cup oatmeal

1/2 cup cottage cheese

1 tsp vanilla

4 egg whites

Mix ingredients in blender.  Spray griddle or pan with cooking spray.  Cook a few small pancakes at a time.  Serve with your favorite pancake topping. 

Try them with a little orange or lemon zest added to the batter.

Cornbread Salad

"Cornbread Salad?  That's...um...interesting."  That's the first reaction when I first take this layered salad into a dinner party.  "Can I have the recipe?" is the question I get several times by the end of the event. 

When I make this salad, I change the ingredients a little.  I omit the bacon, beans, and tomatoes and add two cans of chopped green chilies.  So, you can certainly add or omit ingredients to suit your taste.

This recipe was adapted from All Recipes.  My changes are noted.


Cornbread Salad

 1 (16 oz) or 2 (8.5 oz) corn bread mix

 10 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled (I omit)

 1 (1 oz) package ranch dressing mix

 1 1/2 cups sour cream (I use lite)

 1 1/2 cups mayonnaise (I use lite)

 2 (15 ounce) cans pinto beans, rinsed and drained (I omit)

 3 tomatoes, chopped (I omit)

 6 chopped green onions

1 (15 oz) can whole kernel corn, drained

2 (4.25 oz) cans diced green chilies (my addition)

1 cup chopped green bell pepper (I like two bell peppers -one green and one red)

2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese

Directions:

Prepare corn bread according to package directions. Cool, crumble, and set aside.

Mix together the dressing mix, sour cream, and mayonnaise.

Crumble half the corn bread in the bottom of a large serving dish. Top with half of each ingredient: the beans, tomatoes, green onions, corn, green chilies, bacon, and cheese.  Spread with half of the salad dressing mixture. Repeat the layers.

Cover and chill at least 2 hours before serving.

10 to 12 servings

Easy Coconut Cake

This cake is one of my sister's crowd-pleasers.  Whenever she takes it to an event, she gets raves and requests for the recipe.  The original recipe calls for frosting the cake with whipped topping, but my sister always makes it without the whipped topping.  Cream of coconut can be found in the grocery either with sweetened condensed milk or near the mixed drinks in the wine and spirits section.  This recipe was adapted from Mommy's Kitchen.

Easy Coconut Cake

1   white or yellow cake mix

 

1   (8 oz) tub whipped topping (optional)

1   (8 oz) package sweetened coconut

1   (15 oz) cream of coconut

1   (14 oz) can sweetened condensed milk

Bake the cake as directed on the box using a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.  Mix together one can of sweetened condensed milk and one can of cream of coconut and set aside.  Poke holes in hot cake with a fork or skewer, and pour the milk on top a little at a time, letting some soak in before pouring more on top.  Cool completely. Frost with whipped topping if desired. Sprinkle coconut over the top.  Store in the refrigerator. 

Falafel Pie

For this trial, I used canned chickpeas for the falafel crust.  For the few times I have made falafel, I have always used dried chickpeas that had been soaked over night.   I was afraid that the texture would be too mushy with the canned peas, but I wanted to see how it would work out.  They worked out fine, and the dish was delicious.  I'll make this again.  However, I prefer dried chickpeas over canned for falafel.

Since I decided to use a roasted garlic hummus, I reduced the number of garlic cloves in the falafel by half.  I also  used a bit more parsley and cilantro than called for in the recipe.  I didn't have white pepper or cayenne, so I seasoned the sauce simply with ground black pepper. 

*If you double the sauce recipe (as I did because I love the sauce), be sure not to drizzle all of it on the pie or it will make the falafel soggy.  I doubled the sauce recipe, strained the yogurt in cheesecloth, spread it all on the pie, and topped it with extra chopped cucumbers.  The center did get a bit soggy, so keep the moisture factor for the yogurt and cucumbers in mind.

I used the Falafel Pie recipe posted on the blog Heat Oven to 350.  

Falafel Pie

1 cup dried chickpeas (or about 2 cans of chickpeas, drained and rinsed)

1/2 large onion, roughly chopped

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley

2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh cilantro

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon dried hot red pepper

4 cloves of garlic

1 teaspoon cumin

1 teaspoon baking powder

4 - 6  tablespoons flour

vegetable oil

Topping

1/2 cup chopped  tomato

1 large chopped cucumber, peeled and seeds removed

1/2 cup Kalamata or black olives

3/4 cup hummus

Cucumber Sauce (see recipe below)

Directions:

Put the chickpeas in a large bowl and add enough cold water to cover them by at least 2 inches. Let soak overnight, then drain. (Skip this step if using canned chickpeas)

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

Place the drained, uncooked chickpeas and the onion half in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade. Add the parsley, cilantro, salt, hot pepper, garlic, and cumin. Process until blended but not pureed. (Watch for over-processing with canned chickpeas)

Sprinkle in the baking powder and 4 tablespoons of the flour, and pulse. You want to add enough flour so that the dough can form a small ball. Add extra flour if necessary.

Liberally oil the bottom of 1 or 2  9" pie pans. (If you want an extra thick layer of falafel, use just a single pie pan.  Add the falafel mix into the pie pan(s) and pat it down until it is uniformly flat.   Brush the top of the falafel with more oil. Bake just until the top appears dry and  the falafel is firm to the touch, about 15-17 min if using 2 pie pans and  20-23 min if using one.

Top falafel with hummus, cucumbers and tomatoes. Drizzle with cucumber sauce and sprinkle with chopped olives. Serve.

Cucumber Sauce

1 cup plain yogurt 

1/4 cucumber, peeled with seeds scooped out

1 clove garlic, crushed

1/2 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Salt and pepper, to taste

Pinch ground cayenne pepper (optional)

Directions:

Grate cucumber with a box grater set over several layers of paper towels. Using the paper towels, squeeze out excess water from the cucumber.

Add cucumber to the rest of the ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Refrigerate if not using immediately.

Red Velvet Cake Whoopie Pies

My sister and I wanted to try these immediately after seeing the recipe on Six Sisters' Stuff, and she gets the credit for making them.

Red Velvet Cake is always a crowd pleaser.  For me, anything topped with cream cheese frosting is a winner. Now, take those two wonderful things and put them in cookie form....BRILLIANT!  I actually like these better than the traditional cake.

Unlike whoopie pies I've had from the grocery bakery, these cookies are flatter and less cake-like, which is what I prefer.  We also made these a littler bigger.  (Why wouldn't you?)

.
Red Velvet Cake Whoopie Pie/Sandwich Cookies

1 (18.25 oz) box of red velvet cake mix

2 eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup vegetable oil

Frosting:

1 (8 oz) package cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 teaspoons milk

1 teaspoon vanilla

3-4 cups powdered sugar (depending on the consistency you like)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.  Mix together the cake mix, eggs, and oil in a large bowl. Roll the dough into balls the size of walnuts. Place 2 inches apart on ungreased baking sheets.

Bake in the preheated oven until the tops start to crack, about 8 minutes. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.

In a large bowl combine cream cheese, butter, milk, and vanilla. Add the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, mixing well with each addition. If consistency is too stiff, add more milk.

Spread a generous amount of icing on the bottom of a cookie, sandwich it with another cookie, pressing firmly so that the icing comes all the way out to the edge. Repeat with the remaining cookies.  We like to place them, two at a time, in freezer bags and store in the icebox. We eat them right out of the freezer.

Makes about 15-20 sandwich cookies (depending on how big you make your cookies).

Cafe Rio Chicken

I had never heard of Cafe Rio, but I knew that I wanted to make this after I saw the recipe online.  The chicken is cooked in a slow cooker and shredded.  The mildly flavored meat can be used in salads, enchiladas, tacos, and anything else where you want to use this seasoned shredded chicken. 

As you can see, I used some of it for tacos.  I added extra seasoning to the meat in my tacos to suit my taste for more spice.  I regret that I forgot to purchase garlic for this dish (every dish is better with fresh garlic in my opinion), but the chicken still had a good flavor. 

This recipe is from Mandy's Recipe Box.

Cafe Rio Chicken

2 lbs chicken breasts

1 C. zesty Italian dressing

1/2 Tbsp. minced garlic

1 pkt ranch dressing mix (mixed with 1/2 cup of water)

1/2 Tbsp. chili powder

1/2 Tbsp. ground cumin

Place all ingredients in a crock pot. Cook on High 5-6 hours OR on Low 8 hours.  Shred with fork and serve.  You can also double or triple this to make extras for freezing. Then simply thaw and reheat.

Coffee Cake in a Mug

Here's a great recipe for those who want a little taste of cake in a few minutes without having to make a lot.  I was surprised; it is really good! 

While I improve my photo for posting, you can see photos on the Prudent Baby site, which is where this recipe is from. 


In the cup:

Add a tablespoon of butter  and soften it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. Don’t melt, just soften.

(I used I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter which is already soft).

Stir in 2 tablespoons of sugar until it’s fluffy and creamy, maybe 30 seconds.

Add ½ beaten egg (For me, half of an egg works better than a whole egg; you can divide the whole beaten egg for two coffee cakes)

Stir in 2 tablespoons of sour cream and a few drops of vanilla.

Stir in 1/4 cup of flour and 1/8 teaspoon baking powder

Mix

 For topping:

In a separate ramekin or bowl add 1 tablespoon butter

2 tablespoons flour

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Mix topping together with your fingers.  Top mixed cup batter with crumb topping.

Place cup in microwave. Start with 1 minute then do 10 seconds more until it’s done to your liking. One minute and 20 seconds worked out just right in my microwave.  Careful! It will be very hot when you take it out of the microwave. Let it cool for a few seconds or more.  I think it tastes even better when it is cooled for more than a few seconds. Maybe a minute or two.

Cereal Bars

I couldn't wait to try these. They are delicious!  I found the recipe at Snack Girl.  No flour, no eggs, and no additional sugar beyond what may already be in your nut butter or dried fruit. 

I chose to use crunchy peanut butter, pistachios, and dried apricots.  I did use the vanilla and cinnamon that are optional in the recipe, but I did not use the sunflower or pumpkin seeds. www.snack-girl.com


Cereal Bar Recipe
(makes 12 or 24)

1/2 cup peanut butter or other nut butter (I used a crunchy natural peanut butter)

2 bananas, mashed

1/2 cup whole nuts (choose your favorite - I used pistachios)

1 ½ cup total of dried fruits (I only used apricots but you can use cherries, cranberries, raisins,  coconut, etc.)

1 cup rolled oats

1 tsp. vanilla (optional)

Pinch of cinnamon (optional)

1/4 cup pumpkin or sunflower seeds (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F. In a food processor, coarsely chop nuts and dried fruits. Mix nut butter and bananas until a paste forms. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix. Spoon into lightly greased muffin cups and bake for 15 minutes (I baked them in foil baking cups). Can be stored in refrigerator for 5 days.

For one granola bite (12 in recipe) = 190 calories, 8.4 g fat, 26.7 g carbohydrates, 5.4 g protein, 3.1 g fiber, 52 mg sodium, 5 PointsPlus

Spinach and Mozzarella Egg Bake

This recipe comes from Kalyn's Kitchen.  I made half of this recipe and shortened the cooking time in this trial.  I also like to use half whole eggs and half egg whites when I make egg dishes.

Spinach and Mozzarella Egg Bake
(Makes 6 servings; recipe created by Kalyn.)

5 oz. organic fresh spinach (4 cups packed)

1-2 tsp. olive oil (depending on your pan)

1 1/2 cups low-fat mozzarella (Kalyn used a low-fat

mozzarella blend from Costco with 6 grams of fat in 1/4 cup.)

1/3 cup thinly sliced green onions

8 eggs, beaten

1 tsp. Spike seasoning or any all purpose seasoning mix that's good with eggs (I use Goya Adobo)

salt and fresh ground black pepper to taste

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 375F/190C. Spray an 8 1/2 inch by 12 inch glass or crockery casserole dish with olive oil or nonstick spray.

Heat the oil in a large frying pan, add spinach all at once, and stir just until the spinach is wilted, about 2 minutes. Transfer spinach to the casserole dish, spreading it around so all the bottom of the dish is covered. Layer the grated cheese and sliced onions on top of the spinach.

Beat the eggs with Spike Seasoning (or other seasoning mix) and salt and fresh ground pepper to taste. ( Pour the egg mixture over the spinach/cheese combination, and then use a fork to gently "stir" so the eggs, spinach, and cheese are evenly combined.

Bake about 35 minutes or until the mixture is completely set and starting to lightly brown. Let cool about 5 minutes before cutting. (The egg bake will settle down some as it cools.) Serve hot. This is good with light sour cream or Green Tabasco Sauce

This can be cut into individual servings to keep in the fridge and microwaved for a quick breakfast during the week. Don't microwave longer than 1-2 minutes or the eggs can get slightly rubbery.

Blueberry Baked Oatmeal

This is a recipe that I found on Becky Bakes. My changes are noted. www.beckybakes.net

  Blueberry Baked Oatmeal

1 1/4 cups blueberries

3/4 cup soy milk (I used 2% milk)

1/2 cup honey (I used  a little less)

2 large eggs

1 tsp. vanilla

¾ cups butter, divided (I used I can’t Believe It’s Not Butter)

2 cups rolled oats

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

¼ teaspoons baking soda

½ teaspoons salt

4 tbsp. brown sugar

Preheat oven to 350° F. Melt butter; pour 1/4 cup into the bottom of a 9-inch square baking dish. Sprinkle blueberries and 2 tbsp of brown sugar on top of the butter. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, mix together the milk, honey, eggs, remaining butter and vanilla.

In a large bowl, whisk together oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix well. Pour over the fruit and smooth the top. Sprinkle with remaining 2 tbsp. of brown sugar.

Bake at 350°F for 40 to 50 minutes, or until browned on top and fruit is bubbly. Allow to cool slightly. Serve with milk or cream.