Author Archives: paigehc

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I Spy Quinoa Burgers

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As we sat down to eat these delicious veggie burgers, I started laughing. I have a knack for turning all things vegetarian into some form of non-vegetarian dish.  This dish can (and probably should) be made into a vegetarian dish. However, I choose to cook the quinoa in chicken broth. You know, for the sake of deliciousness.

While I was making these burgers, I was also planning my grubHub order just in case this dinner was an epic fail. It actually turned into one of the most amazing dishes I’ve cooked in a long time. The most plesant surprise, it saves well for lunch the next day too!

I found this recipe on Pintrest a while back, but I amended it based on the ingredients of my kitchen. As long as you keep the “base” ratio the same you can adjust how to spice up your burger.  This recipe will make four burgers.

Quinoa Sweet Potato Burgers

Quinoa sweet potato burgerBurger ingredients:

  • 1/3 cup quinoa
  • 3/4 cup liquid (I used chicken broth)
  • 1 cup cooked sweet potato
  • 1/2 cup canned white kidney beans (or kind of white bean will work, I think chickpeas would be delicious)
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 2 TBS of seasoning (I used my Napa Valley Rub I purchased at the most beautifully displayed spice market in Napa. It is a blended seasoning that consists of: sun dried tomatoes, rosemary, lemon peel, fennel, black pepper, chili, garlic, citric acid and sea salt).
  • 1/2 cup bread crumbs
  • olive oil
  • whole wheat hamburger buns

Toppings:

For the toppings, I whipped up some guacamole and fried shallots

Guacamole

  • 1 ripe avocado cut into chunks
  • 1 tbs of salsa
  • small handful of ripe cherry tomato cut in half

Crispy Shallots

  • 1 shallot
  • 1 Tbs olive oil

How to:

  1. Start by boiling water for the sweet potatoes
    1. Meanwhile, peel the potatoes and cut into chunks
    2. place into boiling water and cook until soft (10 minutes depending on size of the potatoes)
  2. Start the shallots: Thinly slice up shallots and place in non-stick pan over medium heat w/ oil. Stir every so often until you notice the onions turning golden brown. As you are preparing the rest of the meal, keep an eye on shallots, stirring more frequently as they brown. Remove from heat when they are all dark golden brown (this takes about 15 minutes under low heat) — set aside
  3. In a small sauce pan, cook quinoa for 10-5 minutes (1/3 grain + liquid, bring to a boil, then cover and reduce to a simmer)
  4. While the Quinoa, shallots and potatoes are cooking, in your food processor (or by using a potato masher by hand) roughly chop 1/2 cup white beans and garlic. You do not want this to look like baby food.
  5. Once the potatoes are soft, gently pulse through food processor and mix into bean mixture
  6. Add seasoning and quinoa
  7. Shape into patties and coat with breadcrumbs
  8. Cook patties in a little bit of oil for 4-5 minutes on each side. They should look crispy and golden brown on each side.
  9. Start the Guacamole: While the patties are cooking, gently combine the avocado, salsa and tomatoes.
  10. Assemble and serve
Quinoa Burger!

Quinoa Burger!

 

 

I Spy Mini Cheddar Bacon Quiche

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Every morning before work I walk into my favorite cafe and grab a cup of coffee. This cafe is actually a chain, but it is run by locals. They have yummy coffee and delicious pastries.  One of my favorite quick-fix breakfast grabs is their mini quiches. For only four bucks, you can get a cup of coffee and a mini-quiche. With the intention of saving some for the weekdays, I set off to whip up my own mini-quiche for Sunday breakfast.

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Mini Cheddar Bacon Quiche (makes 12)

What you will need:

  • 6 eggs
  • 1/3 cup milk
  • Bacon (cooked)
  • 4 slices Cheddar cheese (I used sliced cheddar cheese and cut each slide into 12 squares)
  • 1 small onion (roughly cut into 4 pieces)
  • 1 small handful of shredded carrots

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Preparing the ingredients:

  • Preheat oven to 350 degrees and throughly grease the muffin tin 
  • Using a food processer, chop onion and carrots for about 5 seconds
  • Whip eggs and milk for about 30-45 seconds until frothy

Assembly:

Use the following measurements to distribute ingredients between the muffin tins:

  • 1 tsp of carrot/onion mix
  • 1/4 cup egg mixture
  • 4 squares of cheddar cheese
  • a large pinch of crumbled bacon Image

Baking:

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes. Use a small spatula to remove the quiches.

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I Spy Taco Bowls

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When I am stumped about what to have for dinner, I usually result to one of the following: quinoa, grilled cheese, pasta, or tacos.  A while back, I wanted to spice up my mundane tacos, into a taco salad.

Taco Bowl Salad:

  • Lettuce
  • Tomatoes (chopped)
  • Avocado (make into guacomoli quickly my mushing up with a little garlic powder, salsa and onion powder)
  • Sour cream
  • shredded cheese
  • black beans (heat up in microwave or over stove top)
  • Tortilla
  • Olive oil spray

Heat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray one side of a tortilla with olive oil or cooking spray (you can probably use butter too). Arrange tortilla inside the bowl so it takes on the shape. Bake for about 5 minutes or until golden brown. Then throw the salad toppings inside!

So. simple. so. easy.Image

I Spy Get Healthy NOW Chicken Noodle Soup

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Last February, I battled a round of sickness. The only thing that sounded remotely edible was chicken noodle soup. Of course, at the time I was too under the weather to make a proper chicken noodle. So shortly after I recovered, I decided to redeem myself and whip up a batch of real chicken noodle and freeze the leftovers for next time illness strikes. I even went as far to retrieve some beautiful vegetables from our lovely farmer’s market.

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Chicken Noodle Soup

veggies copy 2

Ingredients: 

  • 1 whole chicken
  • 2 cartons of chicken broth + water 
  • 1 stalk celery
  • 3 large red potatoes 
  • 1 bunch of carrons
  • 1 large onion 
  • 3 cloves of garlic
  • 2 bay leaves 
  • salt and pepper to taste 
  • 2 handfulls of pasta

How to:

  1. In a large soup pot, saute chopped onion, garlic and celery on low for about 15-20 minutes until translucent. 
  2. Meanwhile, wash off whole chicken and remove guts etc.
  3. Place chicken in the pot and cover with chicken broth + water so the chicken is fully submerged. Add bay leaves, salt pepper and any additional seasoning
  4. bring to a simmer and let simmer for about 3 hours. Before you put any additional ingredients in, remove all chicken bones. Shred chicken with fork.
  5. Prepare the potatoes and carrots. About 30 minutes before you are ready to add them to the soup.
  6. 15 minutes before you are ready to eat, add a couple handfulls of noodles. Figure in a few extra minutes of cooking time for the noodles.

Enjoy!

I Spy Tangerine Cranberry Muffins with Almond Streusel Topping

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Muffins are so great. As long as you stick to the proper ratios, you can literally use anything in your house. Well not literally, but mostly…

For example, this morning I wanted muffins, but I only had tangerines and some odds and ends in my pantry.

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Tangerine Cranberry Muffins with almond streusel topping

I always use the recipe abridged from Food & Wine Magazine.

Dry Ingredients: Mix together in smaller bowl

  • 1 1/2 heaping cups Flour
  • 2 tsp baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp baking soda

Wet Ingredients: First froth egg, then add sour cream, sugar, orange zest and juice. Beat for 1 minute

  • 1 egg
  • 1 tbs melted butter
  • 3/4 cup sugar (if you like sweeter muffins, use 1/2 C sugar, 1/4 C brown sugar)
  • 1 and 1/2 juiced tangerine (remember to zest before!)
  • zest from 2 tangerines (1 for the muffin batter, 1 for the strussel)
  • 1 C sour cream
  • 1/2 cup roughly chopped orange infused cranberries

Mix dry ingredients, then fold in cranberries.

Almond streusel topping: Mix to a crumble and sprinkled on top of muffins before they go in the oven

  • 3-4 tbs of flour
  • 3 tbs of white sugar
  • zest from 1 tangerine
  • 1/4 cup finely chopped almonds (I used my food processor for this)
  • 3 tbs of room temp butter

Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes.

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I Spy French Toast Sticks

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I.love.Sunday.mornings. My Sundays usually consist of delicious coffee, breakfast, my cat and real time with Bill Maher.

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Today, I decided to try a new spin on french toast. I broiled it in the oven. Here is the recipe.

French Toast Sticks
  • 4 slices of bread
  • 4 eggs
  • 2 Tbs milk
  • French vanilla coffee syrup (2 Tbs) or vanilla (1 tsp)
  • Cinnamon sugar mix (I use a cinnamon sugar grinder from trader joes)
  • Extra Saigon cinnamon

How to:

1) Turn the oven to broil (high). While the oven is heating up, slice the bread to make sticks and butter the cookie sheet

2) Whisk together eggs, milk and vanilla

3) Dip each side in the egg mixture and arrange the sticks on the cookie sheet. Once on the cookie sheet, sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture and top with a little extra cinnamon on the french toast.

4) Cook each side for 3 minutes. When you flip, apply cinnamon/sugar to the other side of the toast.

Serve! So simple, so easy, and everything come out piping hot together!

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I Spy Candy Cane Blossom Cookies

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Every December I bake a several types of holiday cookies.  My favorite holiday cookie is the candy came blossom. I actually discovered this recipe on the back of the hershey kiss package.  I’ve been hooked ever since.

Hershey's Peppermint Blossoms

Hershey’s Peppermint Blossoms

This will make about 20 cookies

Ingredients:

20 Hershey’s kisses Candy Cane Mint Candies
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine , softened
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons milk
Red or green sugar crystals, granulated sugar or powdered sugar

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Directions

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Remove wrappers from candies.

2 Beat butter and sugar granulated sugar, add egg and vanilla in large bowl until blended.  In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt; add alternately with milk to butter mixture, beating until well blended.

3 Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Roll in red sugar, granulated sugar, powdered sugar or a combination of any of the sugars. Place on cookie sheet.

4 Bake 8 to 10 minutes . While cookies are baking, remove foil wrappers from the candies.  Remove from oven and immediately press a candy piece into center of each cookie. Remove from cookie sheet to cool
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I Spy Glitter Pumpkins

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Happy Halloween! Since it is Halloween, I am going to break my edible-blog rule. For people who don’t scan pintrest, there are a lot of fun ideas about glitter pumpkins. Last week I decided to take my own spin on the glitter pumpkin. Folks, this is not a Halloween exclusive project, I am going to keep my pumpkin display up until Thanksgiving!

My seasonal kitchen display

 

How to make Glitter pumpkins:

Supplies!

 

What you will need:

Mod podge (and paint brush)

nice iridescent glitter

small pumpkins

Applying the first layer of mod podge

 

Directions:
1) Paint the pumpkin with a layer of mod podge
2) Sprinkle glitter over pumpkin so it is covered entirely in glitter
3) Wait until the first coat dries and paint an additional coat of mod podge on pumpkin, let dry. I painted the second coat to prevent the pumpkins from glittering my hands.

The end result

I Spy Pumpkin Coffee Cake

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I have so much produce, including some much adored sugar pumpkins. As we know, I’m a fan of the sugar pumpkin (see my pumpkin bread and pumpkin cookies). Tonight, I decided to take a stab at my first pumpkin coffee cake.

This recipe has been adapted from the blog,  Not So Humble Pie. I adjusted the recipe primarily so I could use fresh pumpkin and less ginger (I am not a big ginger fan). I realize a lot of people are afraid to mess with a baking recipe, but really it is all about the ratio. Reading the book Ratio has been extremely enlightening when it comes to baking. This book is all about the ratios of cooking and baking. Essentially for baking there is a ratio between liquid, fat and dry. Once you understand the ratio, it allows you to play in the kitchen.  Now, because my pumpkin did not produce 15 whole ounces of pumpkin (that is a lot of pumpkin, by the way!), I substituted some of the pumpkin (liquid) with sour cream.

Cake Batter

1/2 cup butter, softened
1  cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar
12-13 oz fresh pumpkin (see my post of how to cook with real pumpkin)
3 large eggs

3 tablespoons sour cream
2 1/2 cups flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon cinnamon
1 teaspoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon pumpkin spice
1/2 teaspoon salt

Streusel Topping:
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1/3 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter/flour a quiche pan (the kind with a removable bottom), set aside.

1) In a large mixing bowl, beat butter, sugar and brown sugar. Beat in pumpkin puree and eggs and sour cream until blended.
2) In a medium size bowl mix flour, salt, baking powder and spices.
3) Slowly blend the flour mixture into the mixture. If the mixture looks too thick, add a tablespoon of sour cream.
4) Pour mixtures into the pan and make streusel topping (just mix everything together then pour over the cake batter.
5) Bake for about 55 minutes, let cook then add frosting.
6) Add brown butter frosting (optional, but recommended…)

Brown butter frosting:

1 1/2 tablespoon unsalted butter

1 1/2 cups of powder sugar
whole milk

In small sauce pan, heat the butter over low heat until golden brown. Pour butter into sugar. Add 1 Tbs of whole milk until the icing is pourable.

I Spy Vegetable Corn Chowder

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During my domesticity bake-off a month ago I made a huge batch of vegetable corn chowder soup to freeze. This chowder was so delicious, it has turned me on to a flurry of other potato chowder based recipes.

My corn vegetable chowder pre-freezer

One thing I really appreciate about this chowder is how the ratio is just right. You can substitute veggies for what is already in the fridge and it will still turn out (as long as you include the potatoes and corn).

These are the sweet peppers I used, straight from my local produce box

Ingredients:

3 tbs butter

1 large onion (diced)

2 medium bell peppers

1/2 tsp thyme

4 medium baking potatoes (pealed and cut)

8 ears of corn

3 cups milk

5 cups liquid (I used 4 cups chicken broth, 1/2 cup white wine and 1/2 cup water)

Directions:

1) In a soup pot, melt butter of medium heat. Add onion, bell peppers, carrots and thyme. Cook until soft (about 5 min)

2) add in 1/2 cup white wine and stir into the veggies. Slowly pour in milk and liquid/broth then add the potatoes. Bring to a boil and let simmer for about 10 minutes until the potatoes are soft

3) While the soup is simmering, cut the corn . After 10 minutes, stir in corn, salt and pepper, let simmer about 3 minutes.

4) Using an immersion blender, blend the mixture together so that it creates a creamy chowder.  (optional)

Before I froze the whole batch of soup, I set aside a bowl for lunch…

Serve soup immediately or keep in freezer for about 3 months. One last comment, it is surprisingly hard to find vegetarian freezer meals. As long as you substitute the chicken broth for vegetable broth, this is a great vegetarian option!