Stuffed Peppers

This is an excellent, super cheap, super easy recipe. The peppers are stuffed with quinoa, feta, spinach, scallions, and corn. They are fragrant and mildly spicy, but the feta tames a lot of that spice. They rest on a bed of white wine deglazed red onions which adds to the appeal and fragrance. I've had them for lunch or dinner for the past 5 days now and have not grown sick of them, so that says something, right?

Heres what you'll need;

1 cup Quinoa, rinsed
3 tbsp Olive Oil
1 bunch Scallions
2 Jalapenos diced (keep the seeds for spice)
1 Garlic Clove (I always triple what the recipe calls for, so 3 is better to me)
1 tsp ground Cumin
2 cups fresh or frozen Corn
1 bunch Spinach
1/2 cup chopped Cilantro
1/4 lb Feta (diced into cubes)
2 large Red Onions
1/2 cup White Wine
4 Bell Peppers (recipe calls for yellow and orange, but I like to mix it up)

1. Cook quinoa in a rice cooker or add to 2 cups boiling water and then let simmer covered for 15 minutes.
2. Heat 1/2 of the oil in a skillet. Cooke scallions and jalapenos for 2 minutes then add the garlic, cumin, corn, and spinach with 2 tbsps of water. When spinach wilts add cilantro, quinoa, and feta. Toss together and season with pepper. (I don't use salt, but you can here).
3. Heat 1 tbsp of oil in skillet. Saute onions until colored at the edges after several minutes. Pour in wine, and deglaze the pan, stirring the onions. Season with pepper (and salt if you wish). Distribute in the bottom of your baking pan.
4. Slice peppers in half keeping the stems. Deseed. Simmer in water until slightly soft. 4-5 minutes. Fill the peppers with the quinoa mix. Drizzle a little olive oil over the peppers.
5. Bake in oven preheated to 400 degrees 20-30 minutes or until heated throughout. Switch to broil and brown the tops a little.

Then feast!

Easy Vegetarian Breakfast Burrito

This is great for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. It tastes incredibly fresh, and it is filling without being too heavy. I made this for some brownie points from my boyfriend whom was angry with me at the time. Needless to say, I am out of the dog house for the time being.

You'll need:

3-4 Eggs

2-3 Yukon Gold Potatoes, cut into 1/2" half moon slices

1/4 Cup Black Beans

1/2 of a Small Red Pepper

1/4 Chopped Red onions

1 Tbsp Cheddar Cheese

2 Tbsp. Pico de Gallo (or other delicious salsa of your choice)

1/2 Tsp. Turmeric

1/2 Tsp. Paprika

1/2 Tsp. Cayenne

1 Tbsp. Fresh Parsley

1 Tbsp. Fresh Cilantro

2 Tbsp. Olive Oil

2 Large Flour Tortillas

1 Avocado

Optional Salt to taste

Boil the potatoes for about 7 minutes. Strain, then coat with olive oil, dried spices, and parsley. Have a heated frying pan ready, and fry the potatoes until the skins are crispy. Meanwhile heat the beans in a small pan. Saute the onions and red pepper. Scramble the eggs and cheese, adding the peppers and onions in at the end. Once all of the ingredients are cooked you can assemble your burrito. Heat the tortilla on the open flame of your stove top then add a layer beans, then the eggs, potatoes, and avocado. Top with avocado, cilantro, and the pico. Roll, then perfecto!!

Please note that the photo in this one does not do it justice. It was quite yummy though my camera could not capture that.

Raspberry-Filled Ebelskiver

This Swedish filled pancake is a delicious winter treat. It can be served like a dessert for breakfast or brunch or just as a dessert. The dough itself is not incredibly sweet, so the sweetness comes from the filling inside or from the powdered sugar if you decide to sprinkle some on. This one is not so easy on your arteries though. It's coated in butter.

This was my first attempt at this one. My uncle bought me every thing I needed to make the ebelskiver Christmas of '08, but I was daunted his instructions and the look of them. Although I haven't perfected them by any means, they were not as difficult to make as I thought they'd be. Just like cooking a real pancake, they take a little practice to know when to flip them and to get the heat just right.

I've already come up with a savory version I would like to make. Instead of a jam or cream cheese filling, I would mix black beans, cilantro, corn, and Mexican spices, and instead of the pancake mix, I'd use a corn bread mix. This could be paired with a tomatillo salsa.

Share these with friends for a brunch. They will be impressed!!

Gnocchi with Butternut Squash and Seared Raddichio

This dish combines freshly made gnocchi with seared radicchio and butternut squash, flavored with parsley, sage, garlic, parmesan, and gorgonzola.

This was my first ever attempt at making gnocchi, and definitely made some mistakes. First, I cut the pieces way to large when I rolled out the dough. Second, because they were so large I couldn't make them look as nice as I wanted to when I was shaping them with the fork.

That being said, this dish was really nice. The flavors played very well off of each other. The squash and the nutmeg in the gnocchi were sweet balanced by the salt from the gorgonzola. The gorgonzola also served to tame the bitterness of the radicchio. The aroma of this dish is warm and sweet but with a small crisp bite that comes from the parsley.

This dish would pair nicely with a pinot grigio.