It’s been so hot and humid recently, so I have avoided using the oven. But today, I wanted to make some biscotti. I decided to add lemon and rosemary thinking these would be some nice summery flavors.
The biscotti were nice, light, a little crunchy, but not too crunchy – just the way I like them.
What You’ll Need
Directions
1) Preheat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
2) In a medium bowl, whisk together sugar and oil until well combined.
3) Add eggs, vanilla, lemon juice, and rosemary to sugar and oil mixture and whisk until combined.
4) In another medium-sized bowl, mix together flour and baking powder.
5) Slowly add dry ingredients to wet ingredients and stir.
6) Once batter is formed, mix in chopped walnuts.
7) Divide batter in half and put on a parchment-lined sheet pan forming two long logs.
8) Bake in oven for 30 minutes or until logs are golden brown.
9) Remove from oven and set sheet pan on a cooling rack. Cool for 10 minutes.
10) Cut logs into smaller pieces (roughly 1/2 inch) to form biscotti.
11) Lay cookies on side and bake in oven for another 10 minutes.
12) Cool and then enjoy with coffee, tea, or on their own!
My mom wanted to eat Mediterranean food a couple of nights ago, so I made this thinking it was something I would order in a Mediterranean restaurant.
Very light, refreshing, and tasty, this dish made me feel like I was somewhere in Greece with the sisters of the traveling pants.
What You’ll Need
Directions
1) Brush eggplant with olive oil and season with salt and pepper.
2) Grill eggplant. I unfortunately did not time how long I grilled the eggplant for, but I have two tips:
a) Make sure your grill pan is hot, so that your eggplant gets nice grill marks.
b) Cut the eggplant into thin slices to make the dish more delicate.
3) Meanwhile, in a saucepan under low heat, cook tomatoes for 3 minutes.
4) Combine grilled eggplant with cooked tomato and finished the dish off with the lemon juice and chopped basil.
I discovered an awesome three seed baguette from Fairway a couple of days ago, and I’ve been buying it pretty much every day now. The seeds give the bread a great texture and flavor. I don’t know how only three ingredients on baguette plus a little olive oil and pepper could taste so good. I guess simple is the way to go.
This pea and mint pesto is the epitome of summer – light, fresh, and healthy. It’s a nice change from regular pesto, and this one is nut free! One of my best friends is allergic to nuts, so maybe she will try this one.
What You’ll Need
Directions
Put all ingredients in a blender, and blend until combined. The pesto will be on the thick side (I like it this way). You can always add more olive oil to thin it out. Serve on pasta, sandwiches, or however you like it.
I made a sandwich with my pesto, avocado, and tomato on whole wheat bread.
Enjoy!
These crispy crackers are perfect for a healthy snack. Add a little brie cheese, hummus, guacamole, or eat them plain!
What You’ll Need
1 1/4 cup buckwheat flour
1 cup all-purpose flour, plus additional for rolling
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1 sprig rosemary, chopped finely
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tbsp olive oil
3/4 cup water
Directions
1) In a medium bowl, mix together both flours, sesame seeds, rosemary, garlic powder, salt, and baking powder.
2) Add the oil and stir until combined. Then add the water and stir until combined, forming a dough.
3) Put dough on a floured surface and knead 5 times. Place a dampened paper towel on top of the dough. Let the dough rest for 15 minutes.
4) Preheat the oven to 450 degrees fahrenheit for 15 minutes.
5) On a floured surface, roll a small piece of the dough (roughly 1/10 of it) into a thin strip. Trim sides and end to make a rectangle. If desired, cut into smaller strips for desired width.
6) Put the rolled out dough strips onto a sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for 4 minutes on one side. Flip and bake for another 2 minutes. (Cooking time can vary depending on the oven).
7) Once baked, put crackers on a cooling rack.
8) Repeat baking process for the rest of your crackers.
(Recipe inspired by Alton Brown’s seedy crisps)
Enjoy!
This cake turned out amazingly well, and the buckwheat added an almost nutty flavor. I hate to brag, but my grandmother who normally doesn’t like desserts loved my cake. The only problem was I couldn’t stop eating it! Let me cut to the chase – click here for the recipe from Smitten Kitchen.
I was experimenting in the kitchen this afternoon and wanted to make some tomato soup. I roasted some tomatoes with shallots and garlic, and I have to say, roasting the vegetables gave this soup a slightly sweet and overall amazing taste.
What You’ll Need
Directions
1) Preheat your oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit for 15 minutes.
2) Meanwhile, cut the tomatoes into quarters, and squeeze the juices from the tomatoes into a bowl. Strain the seeds out using a sieve. (The tomato juice has a lot of flavor, so why waste it?)
3) Put tomatoes, shallots, and garlic onto a sheet pan and toss with olive oil, salt and pepper.
4) Place sheet pan with vegetables in the oven and roast for 35 minutes checking occasionally to make sure they don’t burn. (Flip tomatoes and shallots halfway through cooking process).
5) Once the vegetables are roasted, put them in a blender with basil. Blend until you get a chunky mixture. (I like my soups with a little texture). This should take roughly 20-30 seconds.
6) Pour tomato mixture in a medium sauce pan with chicken stock and squeezed tomato juice. Heat until hot.
Yield: 4 servings
Enjoy!
Today was a day about me and food. I didn’t have a plan, but when I went outside, I saw how beautiful it was and thus decided to go to the park. I came across Le Pain Quotidien in Central Park, so I bought a curry chicken salad sandwich with a mint lemonade.
With my food, I sat down on the grass in the shade. I did a lot of people watching whilst I munched on my deliciously sweet and slightly savory sandwich. The sandwich had cranberry chutney which reminded me of Thanksgiving. My mint lemonade was refreshing but not too sweet (just the way I like it).
After lunch, I walked to Columbus Circle and purchased two macarons from Bouchon Bakery. (How could I skip dessert?) Both my pistachio and peanut butter and jelly macarons were very good, but my favorite was the pb and j. It was almost like eating a sandwich but so much better!
I hope everyone is having a great weekend.
The macarons got a little bit cracked, but they still tasted awesome!
I realize my food blog is pretty much becoming a dessert blog since so many of my posts are about sweets. I just can’t help it that my favorite meal is dessert.
For snack today, I made a healthy “banana split.” Healthy because there is no ice cream. It’s a sliced banana with warm melted dark chocolate (anti-oxidants!) and toasted pecans.
For each banana, melt a handful of semisweet chocolate chips with a couple of tablespoons of low fat milk. Toast a handful of chopped pecans in a pan under low heat for 5 minutes. Drizzle the melted chocolate over the sliced banana and sprinkle toasted pecans on top.
Dessert is ready in under 10 minutes!
I saw one of my good friends for lunch today, and she brought me these delicious cupcakes from Sprinkles Cupcakes. The one on the left is a black and white cupcake with a chocolate cake, vanilla frosting, and chocolate sprinkles. As I ate this scrumptious cupcake, I thought of a black and white cookie. The dark chocolate cake was light and fluffy and the vanilla frosting was not too rich (exactly how I like frosting).
The cupcake on the right is a chocolate coconut cupcake with a chocolate cake and coconut cream cheese frosting. The frosting and cake were top-knotch, but I will confess, I don’t really like coconut. However, for some reason, the coconut just worked on this cupcake.
I give two thumbs up for these cupcakes. Oh, and did I say that I finished these two rascals within 30 minutes? Good thing I went to the gym already.
Look at the cute box!
The two treasures
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