Happy Insides

During Rosh Hashanah celebrants of the Jewish New Year typically eat lots of sweet foods.  This is to start out a new year on the right track hoping that the year to come will be a sweet one.  A very traditional combination is apples and honey. Dipping apple slices in honey has been a tradition that Cassie has enjoyed as far back as she can remember.  This year when her family decided to have a belated Rosh Hashanah celebration Cassie offered to make dessert.  She wanted something different and delicious, but still with a bit of tradition.  What she found was a recipe for apple cinnamon cupcakes.  The cupcakes called for mead frosting, but instead Cassie decided to experiment with a normal buttercream frosting with the addition of honey to it.  We used a good alfalfa honey because it typically has a stronger flavor than normal clover honey.  It provided a really rich honey flavor to the frosting.  We doubled the cupcake recipe and had enough batter for ~36 cupcakes.

Apple Cinnamon Cupcakes
adapted from the blog  Cupcake Project

2 sticks of butter softened
1 c. + 2 T. evaporated cane juice
2 c. whole wheat pastry flour
4 eggs
1 1/2 c. applesauce (unsweetened)
1 1/2 t. cinnamon
1 large apple, cored, peeled and chopped

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  

2)  With a mixer cream the butter and sugar on medium.  Add the eggs 1 at a time until incorporated.  Slowly add the flour.

3) Once the flour is incorporated add the applesauce and the cinnamon and mix well.  Stir in the apples.

4) Measure about 1/3 cup of batter into paper lined muffin cups and bake for 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  Let cupcakes cool fully before frosting.   

Honey Buttercream Frosting
adapted from this recipe found on the Food Network website

3 c.  organic confectioners' sugar
1 c. butter softened
1 t. vanilla extract
1-2 T. milk
honey to taste (we probably used close to a 1/4 c. of honey)

1) In a standing mixer fitted with a whisk, mix together sugar and butter.  Mix on low speed until well blended and then increase speed to medium and beat for another 3 minutes.

2) Add vanilla and the milk and beat on medium for 1 minute.  Add more milk as necessary for the desired consistency.

3) Slowly start adding honey to the frosting while the mixer is still going.  It will give the frosting a nice honey hue.  Add the honey till you have the desired potency of flavor.  Frost cupcakes and enjoy.

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Our Soup came about one evening when both of us came home from grad school classes.  We were hungry and had no clue what to have for dinner.  We didn't want to order out but our cupboards were also nearly bare.  We noticed a few key ingredients and decided to make a tomato soup to at least fill our bellies.  What resulted was a very tasty and satisfying soup that we have made countless times since and for some reason we always just called it "our soup".  It is broth based tomato soup with a hint of lime and plenty of kick.  It is really simple too and perfect for a quick weeknight meal.

Spicy Tomato Soup
A Jason and Cassie Original
1 T. olive oil
2 cloves of garlic minced
1/4-1/2 t. red pepper flakes
1 28 oz. can crushed tomatoes
5 c. low sodium vegetable broth
1 t. basil
1 t. oregano
1/4 t. cayenne pepper
1-2 bay leaves
1 can quartered artichoke hearts
5-8 oz. whole wheat pasta (preferably small noodles like macaroni)
juice of 1/2 a lime
salt and pepper to taste

1) heat oil in a large sauce pan over medium heat.  Add the garlic and the red pepper flakes and let them cook for a minute.

2) Add the rest of the ingredients and let simmer until pasta is fully cooked.

3) Remove the bay leaves and serve warm with a crust bread.

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Challah is an amazing bread.  It is such a comfort food for Cassie that we have been searching for a good whole wheat recipe ever since we started eating clean.  This is the second recipe we tried and we think we found a winner.  It is fairly easy, but takes some time for all the various rises and steps.  It is well worth the effort.  We used stone ground whole wheat flour to make the bread because that is what we had.  It was very good, but definitely made a heavier bread.  A finer ground would give a more light and fluffy texture that is characteristic of challah, but the stone ground loaf was definitely still a winner.  We made this to break our Yom Kippur fast with.  It was SO satisfying after a long day without food.  Also it made great challah French toast the next morning. 

Whole Wheat Challah
 Recipe from Peter Reinhart's "Whole Grain Breads" Found via The Way the Cookie Crumbles

Soaker:
1 3/4 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 t. salt
3/4 c. water

Biga:
1 3/4 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 t. yeast
1/4 t. evaporated cane juice or agave nectar
1/2 c. water
2 T. vegetable oil
1 large egg
4 large egg yolks

For Final Dough:
the soaker
the biga
7 T. whole wheat flour, plus more for adjustments
3/4 t. salt
2 1/4 t. yeast
1 1/2 T. agave nectar or honey
2 T. vegetable oil

Toppings:
1 egg
1 T. water
pinch salt
poppy seeds or sesame seeds (optional)

1) For the soaker: In a medium mixing bowl, mix all of the ingredients together.  Cover and leave at room temperature for 12 to 24 hours, or refridgerate for up to 3 days.  If the dough is refrigerated, leave it at room temperature for 2 hours before mixing the final dough.

2) For the biga: In a medium bowl, mix all of the ingredients together.  Knead for 2 minutes; the dough will feel very tacky.  Let the dough rest for 5 minutes, then knead for 1 minute.  Cover and refrigerate for at least 8 hours and up to 3 days.  Leave it at room temperature for 2 hours before mixing the final dough.

3) For the final dough:  Cut the soaker and the biga into 12 smaller pieces.  Put the pieces in a mixing bowl along with 7 T. of flour, the salt, the yeast, sugar, and oil.  You can mix these in a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook or by hand.  Mix on slow for about 1 minute, until the dough comes together and then increase speed to medium-high and continue mixing and kneading for 6 minutes.  Add flour if necessary (we had to add quite a bit more to get it to the right consistency).  The dough should be soft and tacky, but not sticky.  Let the dough rest for 5 minutes then resume kneading for 1 minute.  Form the dough into a ball and place it in a greased bowl.  Cover and let rise at room temperature for 45 to 60 minutes until it is about 1 1/2 times its original size.

4) Gently transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface.  Divide the dough into 6 evenly sized pieces for 2 small loaves or 3 evenly sized pieces for 1 large loaf.  Roll each portion of dough into a rope about 10-14 inches long and about 1-2 inches thick.  Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.  Braid the ropes.

5) Place the braid(s) on a sheet pan lined with parchment paper or a silicone mat.  To make the egg wash, whisk the egg, water and salt together.  Brush the braids with the egg wash, cover and let rise at room temperature for 30 minutes.

6) Brush the dough with the egg wash again, then top with poppy seeds or sesame seeds, if using.  Leave the dough uncovered and let rise for 15 more minutes.  Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

7) Place the challah on the middle shelf.  Reduce the heat to 325 degrees, and bake for 20 minutes.  Rotate the loaf 180 degrees and bake another 20 minutes.  Check the bread and rotate again if it is baking unevenly.  Continue to bake for an additional 10-15 minutes, until the bread is a rich brown all around and sounds hollow when thumped on the bottom.

8) Transfer the bread to a cooling rack and let it cool for at least 1 hour before serving.

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This dish is so delicious.  Now most people would read that the chicken is cooked in bacon grease and automatically put this dish in the "better not eat" category.  Now normally we would agree, but this uses only 1 slice of bacon.  That is only about 45 calories and that 1 slice packs a serious flavor punch!  Not only is this dish tasty, but it is relatively easy too.  We frequently make this dish on Thursday nights.  Why Thursdays?  Well Thursday nights seem to be the nights that we are most likely to not want to cook and just order pizza.  That always leaves us feeling gross and wishing we hadn't  This is so good that we look forward to cooking and eating.  The thought of pizza never enters out mind.  We served this with some steamed summer squash and brown rice.  

Caraway Chicken Breasts with Sweet-and-Sour Cabbage
 Adapted from February 2010 Bon Appetit Magazine
Makes 2 servings 
1 t. caraway seeds
1/2 t. ground allspice, divided
2 skinless boneless chicken breast halves
1 slice thick cut applewood-smoked bacon
3 c. thinly sliced red cabbage
1/2 c. sliced shallots
1/2 c. low-sodium chicken broth
2 1/2 T. balsamic vinegar
1 T. sucanat

1) Sprinkle caraway and 1/4 t. allspice on both sides of chicken breasts and then sprinkle with salt and pepper

2) Cook bacon until crisp in a skillet over medium heat.  Transfer to a plate.   Chop bacon.

3) Add chicken to drippings in skilled.  Sautee until cooked through, about 5 minutes per side.  Transfer to a plate and tent with foil to keep warm.

4) Add the cabbage, shallots, broth, vinegar, sucanat, and 1/4 t. allspice to the skillet.  Cook over medium high heat until the liquid is reduced to glaze and the cabbage is crisp-tender.  Mix in the bacon and season with salt and pepper.  Serve.

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Well it is that time of year again...Rosh Hashannah.  One of Cassie's favorite New Year's treats is kugel.  For those who have never had kugel it is a dish made with either egg noodles or matzoh (during passover) with cottage cheese, sour cream and eggs.  Kugel can take many forms, but Cassie mainly grew up with her grandmother's sweet kugel.  When she found this savory individual kugel recipe on epicurious.com she knew we would be making these for Rosh Hashannah.  When Jason tried them he decided that these kugel may need to make semi-regular appearances through-out the year.  They are made in regular muffin tins for an individual kugel for each person.  This recipe makes 12 kugels.    Sorry for the less than perfect photo on these.  The weather was gloomy and they didn't stick around for an extra day to try again.

Browned Onion Kugel
Recipe from Gourmet February 2005 found through  Epicurious

6 oz. egg noodles
1 stick unsalted butter
3 c. chopped onions
1 1/4 c. sour cream
1 1/4 c. cottage cheese
1 T. poppy seeds
4 large eggs
1 t. salt
1/4 t. black pepper

1) preheat oven to 425 degrees.

2) Cook noodles until aldente, drain in colander and then rinse with cool water and drain well.

3) Melt the butter in a skillet over moderate heat.  Brush the muffin cups with butter.  Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until well browned (~20 minutes).  Transfer to a large bowl and sir in noodles, sour cream, cottage cheese and poppy seeds.  Lightly beat the eggs with salt and pepper and then mix in to the rest of the ingredients until well combined.

4) Divide the mixture evenly between the 12 cups of the muffin tin and bake until puffed and golden, about 20-25 minutes.  Let cool 5 minutes before serving.

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It is gardening season. Unfortunately we weren't able to plant a garden this year, but we do know plenty of people who did. So many people seem to plant zucchini in their home gardens and if you have ever had a zucchini plant in your garden you know that those little buggers can easily and quickly go from a small zucchini to a monster in the span of 2 or 3 days. That is how this zucchini bread came to be. Cassie's co-worker brought in a giant zucchini from her garden that had to be at least 10 lbs. The thing was so big that there was really only 1 thing to do with it and that was to make zucchini bread. We made 3 loaves and froze enough shredded zucchini that we still probably have enough to make another 3-4 loaves. Good thing we like zucchini bread.

We made two types of bread. A sweet and a savory. They were both super good. The sweet recipe was your classic zucchini bread, but we used whole wheat flour and some oats in it. The savory we made a cheddar loaf. We added some jalapenos to it and it was wonderful. I think the loaf probably could have been cheesier so I changed the recipe to show that.



Zucchini Cheddar Bread
adapted from Honey and Jam
Makes 1 loaf

3 cups whole wheat pastry flour
4 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/2 t. baking soda
1 c. shredded zucchini
2 c. shredded cheddar cheese
1/4 c. scallions
3 T. cilantro
1/4 c. pickled jalapeno slices
2 large eggs
1 c. buttermilk
4 t. unsalted butter melted

1) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.

2) whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and baking soda. Add the zucchini, cheddar, scallions, cilantro, and jalapenos tossing them to coat them in the flour mixture.

3) In a separate bowl whisk together the eggs, buttermilk and butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry and mix until just incorporated. Do not overmix. The batter will not be smooth.

4) bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Will take about 55-60 minutes. Let it cook completely before slicing.



For the sweeter version of the zucchini bread we used a recipe from Eating Well. We unfortunately did not get a photo of this loaf because one loaf got eaten too quickly and Cassie took the other loaf to work to share with co-workers.

Zucchini Bread
adapted from Eating Well
makes 2 loaves

1 1/2 c. rolled oats
3 3/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour
1 1/2 T. baking powder
2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. nutmeg
1/4 t. cloves
1 1/2 t. salt
2 c. sucanat
2 large eggs
2 large egg whites
3/4 c. apple sauce
1/3 c. canola oil
3 c. shredded zucchini

1) preheat oven to 350 degrees. Coat 2 9x5 inch loaf pans with cooking spray. Spread the oats on a separate baking sheet and bake until lightly toasts, about 5-10 minutes.

2)Stir together all but 2 T. of the toasted oats, flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves and salt in a mixing bowl.

3) In a separate bowl, whisk together sucanat, eggs, egg whites, apple sauce and oil. Stir in zucchini. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients until just combined.

4) Divide batter between the loaf pans and sprinkle 1 T. of the reserved oats on to each loaf. Bake until a skewer inserted in the center comes out clean, about 45-55 minutes. Let the loaves cool completely before serving.

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Both of us are huge fans of burritos. Especially breakfast burritos. We love experimenting and playing around. We also love to eat breakfast for dinner. We came up with these burritos on the fly one day while trying to create our meal plan for the week. Jason came up with the overarching idea and then we fleshed it out together. These are really hearty and filling and would make an excellent breakfast, lunch or dinner. Best part is that they come together pretty quickly. We added some vegetable to our home fries to make the dish a little more complete. Our tortillas were a little small for all the filling so we ended up eating these more taco style than like a burrito. That seems to happen to us a lot.



Egg and Potato Burritos
1-2 T. canola oil
1 potato baked to 3/4 of the way done and finely diced
3 cloves garlic minced
1/2 medium onion finely chopped
2 jalapenos minced (with or without seeds depending on your preference)
1 small zucchini or summer squash diced
8 kale large leaves washed and torn into small pieces
1 t. season-all salt
1 t. cumin
1 t. chili powder
6 eggs
2 oz. colby jack cheese grated
your favorite prepared salsa
4 whole wheat tortillas

1) Heat oil in a large skillet. Add the potatoes, garlic, onion and jalapeno. Sautee for about 5 minutes.

2) In a 300 degree preheated oven place tortillas, wrapped in foil, in to the oven to warm for about 5 minutes.

3) Add the zucchini and kale. Add the season-all salt, cumin and chili powder. Toss to coat. Cook another 5-10 minutes until the kale is wilted and the rest of the vegetables start to get a bit of some charring on them.

5) While the potato mixture is cooking scramble the eggs in a non-stick skillet

5) To assemble place some potato mixture on a tortilla, add a layer of eggs and then top with cheese and a few spoonfuls of your favorite salsa. Wrap up the tortilla and enjoy.

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