Mediterranean Roasted Sweat Potatoes

This is a humble and quick meal bursting with flavors. Better yet it's vegan, vegetarian, and gluten free! This meal can be assembled in only 30 minutes, and is extremely filling. No need to follow the recipe exactly, just whatever you have on hand will be delicious!

Mediterranean Roasted Sweat Potatoes

Adapted from: Minimalist Baker’s Mediterranean Baked Sweet Potatoes

Potatoes

4 medium sweet potatoes

1 15-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and drained

½ Tbsp. olive oil

½ tsp. cumin, coriander, cinnamon, paprika

Pinch of sea salt or squeeze of lemon juice

Garlic Herb Sauce

¼ cup hummus

Juice of ½ lemon

1tsp-dried dill

2 cloves of garlic minced

1 tbsp. water

Toppings

¼ cup cherry tomatoes, diced

¼ cup cucumber, diced

2 cups of greens (arugula or whatever you have on hand)

¼ cup fresh parsley, minced

2 tbsp. lemon juice

To Make:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line a large baking sheet with foil.

Rinse and scrub potatoes and cut in half length-wise. Toss rinsed and drained chickpeas with olive oil and spices and place on a foil-lined baking sheet. Rub the sweet potatoes with a bit of olive oil and place face down on the same baking sheet (or another baking sheet depending on size).

While the sweet potatoes and chickpeas are roasting, prepare your sauce by adding all ingredients to a mixing bowl and whisking to combine, only adding enough water to thin so it’s pourable. Taste and adjust seasonings as needed. Add more garlic for more zing, salt for savoriness, lemon juice for freshness, and dill for a more intense herb flavor. I found mine didn’t need anything else.

Also prepare the toppings by tossing tomato, cumber and parsley with lemon juice and setting aside to marinate. Leave the greens by themselves

Once sweet potatoes are fork tender and the chickpeas are golden brown - roughly 25 minutes - remove from oven.

To Plate:

For serving, put a bed of greens down and flip potatoes flesh-side up and smash down the insides a little bit. Then top with chickpeas, sauce and garnish with toppings. Serve immediately.

Simple Curried Lentils with Sweet Potatoes and Chickpeas

I have been working like crazy lately so I haven’t had very much time to properly plan and shop for my meals.  Instead I dream up delicious things to make while at work, rush home to try to throw it together with what I have before I am off to my next job. It is that hour and half in-between that allows me to create what I want without any rules, and reap the rewards at the end, walking away with a full belly and a happy heart. So for most of my dishes, the ingredients are easily substituted to your taste and to what you have in your pantry. There is no exact science to it, just a lot of tasting along the way. 

Simple Curried lentils with Sweet Potatoes and Chickpeas

Yields 5-6 side-dish servings and 3-4 main dish servings

Inspiration:

Smitten’s Kitchen curried lentils and sweet potatoes

2 tbsp. olive oil

1 medium onion, chopped

1 garlic clove, minced

1-inch piece of fresh ginger root, peeled and grated (or 1tsp. of ground ginger)

1 tsp. garam masala

1 tsp. curry powder

4 cups vegetable broth

2 sweet potatoes, peeled and cubed

1 cup dried lentils

1 15-ounce can of chickpeas, rinsed

½ tsp. black paper

1 sprig of fresh rosemary, chopped

3 cups of greens (arugula, or preferred green)

To Make: In large saucepan, heat oil over medium heat. Add onions, sauté until translucent, about 5-7 minutes. Add garlic, ginger, garam masala, and curry powder. Stir for minute.

Add 4 cups of broth, sweet potatoes, and lentils. Increase heat to high and bring to boil; reduce heat to medium, partially cover, and simmer for 25 minutes. Adding broth if the lentils seem dry. After 25 minutes, start tasting, add in chickpeas, black pepper and rosemary, and add any extra seasonings that you find necessary. Keep cooking until lentils are tender (5-10 minutes).

To plate: put down a bed of greens on each plate, add a heaping scoop of curry and garnish with fresh rosemary. Then enjoy!

Guinness Chocolate Cake

My first experience with the lovely dark Guinness beer was at the Guinness Storehouse in Ireland. I probably should have done a bit more prep work, but after learning all about the process of brewing this unique beer I was quickly thrown into learning the art of pouring the perfect pint. It’s all about the angles and giving it enough time to rise. From the very first sip I loved it. It was like a dessert in beer form! Ever since the first taste in Ireland, Guinness has had a very special place in my heart. During the holiday season while reuniting with the family and the kitchen, I set out to capture the essence of Guinness in cake form. I would personally recommend drinking Guinness right along side the cake but a cool glass of milk will do just fine too.

Guinness Chocolate Cake

*Adapted from Bon Appétit Chocolate Stout Layer Cake With Chocolate Frosting

serves 12

Dark Chocolate Raspberry Gâteau

I have been visiting the library a lot recently, trying to get my hands on all books food related. My new obsession with library books began because a few weeks ago I finished probably one of the best books I’ve ever read. The memoir, titled Blood, Bones, and Butter, recounts chef Gabrielle Hamilton’s memories from childhood up through the birth of her restaurant Prune and her rise to becoming one of the most celebrated chefs in New York City. I can’t help but be inspired from Gabrielle’s stories and from other cookbooks that I can’t seem to get my nose out of. Last Wednesday, I crafted an idea for a cake far too lavish to create in a dorm kitchen, but with the company of a few friends, I was able to create this beauty that far exceeded my expectations. Whipped cream, chocolate, and raspberries is a combination no one can deny, and the cake combines all three into an absolutely delicious three-tiered piece of perfection. The vanilla sponge dotted with chocolate and raspberries is moist and soft but dense enough to hold layers of chocolate ganache, roasted hazelnuts, and fluffy whipped cream. The cake, topped with handfuls of raspberries, a drizzle of ganache, and delicate chocolate shavings stays together beautifully even after cutting out the first slice.  

Raspberry Chocolate Swirl Gâteau with Chantilly cream

Espresso Burnt Sugar Shortbread

I always get inspired and want to write a blog post whenever I have breakfast at this wonderful little cafe/restaurant called the Mud House. I don’t know why the place feels so special to me--maybe it’s the cozy atmosphere and good coffee. Maybe it’s the fact that I always have eggs there and eggs are just one of the best things ever.  Perhaps the food reminds me of food I would make myself at home. Anyway, this morning I had pork confit and chorizo hash with chickpeas, cauliflower, and peppers. And poached eggs. You can’t forget the poached eggs. I swear I could write a whole book about my love of eggs.

Regardless, the last time I was home I went on a baking spree and made these delicious espresso shortbread’s from the book Ovenly by Agatha Kulaga and Erin Patinkin. These treats are perfect with a hot cup of coffee as a little mid-afternoon pick-me-up. A note on Ovenly--this book is wonderful, definitely recommend it to inspire some spontaneous baking!

Espresso Burt Sugar Shortbread or

“The Sumptown Shorty”

from Ovenly 

yield 24 bars

Ingredients

Melissa Clark’s Cornmeal Waffles with Banana Bourbon Syrup

 I love love love breakfast. Eggs, pancakes, hash--breakfast in general, is just comprised of delicious food. Thanksgiving break at home was great because I could just wake up and make whatever I wanted for breakfast. The first morning home I made Melissa Clark’s Cornmeal Waffles with a maple, walnut bourbon syrup.  Melissa is so great. I am totally in love with her. If you don’t know who she is, here is the link to her videos. 

(shh. I’ve definitely watched every single one)

Melissa Clark’s Cornmeal Waffles with Banana Bourbon Syrup:

Winter Spaghetti with Marinara and Chorizo Meatballs

It’s frustrating to make pasta in the winter when bunches of fresh basil aren’t readily available. I crafted a delicious, hearty sauce with dried herbs to help satisfy your pasta cravings on cold, wintery nights. Parsnip (my fav!) and carrot in the sauce add some natural sweetness, which goes wonderfully with the almost nutty dried herb flavor. The meatballs that I paired with this sauce are very easy as well, just be warned that they take some time to cool in the fridge. If you can, I recommend using fresh herbs for the meatballs--they will add brightness to the dish, and lighten everything up.

Winter Spaghetti with Marinara and Chorizo Meatballs

Lavender Cinnamon Buttermilk Wheat Biscuits

It’s fall. Sigh. A lot of me hates the fact that it is cold outside, but I guess that the cold gives me an excuse to drink lots of tea and bake delicious things. I’m also going home soon and am so incredibly excited to finally have a kitchen and make things all day. My mom and I have discussed our extensive Thanksgiving feast menu and hopefully I’ll get to share some of our creations on here!

Apple Pastry Pockets & Pinwheels

Pumpkin Bread Muffins with Chocolate and Walnuts

 I’m finally writing my first post from the lovely confines of my dorm. Unfortunately being in college means crappy kitchen and no time, so I’ve barely been able to bake. Since the beginning of October though, everyone has been jumping on the pumpkin bandwagon and every blog post I read is about something pumpkin . I thought I’d join in and share these pumpkin bread muffins I made with some pumpkin puree that was left over in my fridge. The muffin’s turned out absolutely lovely, and  they’ll make a great breakfast for the rest of the week.

Pumpkin Bread Muffins with Chocolate and Walnuts

Classic Brownies

One of my favorite recipes for a perfect classic brownie comes from none other than Cook's Illustrated.  Tomorrow I am headed off to France to study abroad for a semester, so I decided my last baking endeavor before I leave would be this homey treat. I stumbled across this recipe when Sachi and I first became friends and have loved it ever since. It is truly the perfect brownie, not too cakey or too fudgy; it is just right! Feel free to add your favorite goodies to this recipe, such as peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, nuts, candies…..

Classic Brownies

Lavender-Honey Iced Latte

Way way back at the beginning of the summer, Sachi and I went to The Mud House in St. Louis. We sipped on our honey lavender latte’s and fell in love with the little café.  A while back I found this pin from Off Beat and Inspired and it looked lovely but I did not have any fresh lavender...so I put it on the long list of “Someday I’ll Make This.”  That someday finally turned into today after visiting my aunt and discovering that she had fresh lavender in her lush gardens! After making this, I realized how simple it is to make barista-worthy drinks at home. All you need is your own simple syrups flavored according to your current inspiration.

Lavender-Honey Iced Latte


Berry Burst Flower Cookies

I had a picture in my mind of cute, playful, flower shaped sugar cookies. But I didn’t want those rock hard sugar cookies with a million types of sprinkles, that lacked taste but had frosting carefully piped upon them. I wanted some delicious soft whimsical summer cookies. In my quest to find a basic sugar cookie to build upon, I first went to my favorite cooking site bon appetite. I was scrolling through recipes and wasn’t finding what I wanted. It wasn’t the recipes that were the problem; it was the absence of a story that went along with the cookies. I missed feeling the excitement and love from other blogger about the creations they had made. So I stumbled across a recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction and went with it. I made a few altercations to it and ended up with a delicious, easy, and fun sugar cookie.

Simple Vanilla Maple Granola

This is the first recipe that I have produced upon request, so a big thank you to Alison who requested it! I was more than happy to make this granola because it meant that I could use up all of the random assorted nuts and seeds that we have lying around the kitchen. The great thing about granola is that you really can put whatever you want in it to suite your own taste—nuts, seeds, coconut, chocolate—whatever your little heart desires!

I used olive oil in this recipe because I think it accentuates the nutty flavors. Pure Grade A maple syrup is my go to sweetener for granola because it is all natural, subtler than honey, and I just think it tastes better.

I wanted the flavor of the nuts and oats to shine on their own, so I didn’t use any spices. If you’d like, a teaspoon or two of cinnamon and a pinch of freshly grated nutmeg would surely be delightful.

 I didn’t add any chocolate chips or dried fruit, but like I said, throw it in if you’d like!

A side note--after I made this granola, I was eating it up by the handful…oops. All I’m saying is that this recipe is so delicious and easy you cannot help but stuff your face. I can’t wait to have this on top of some yogurt tomorrow morning!

Simple Vanilla Maple Granola:

Berry Pavlova!

I can’t believe it is already August! I haven’t posted in a while, because I’ve been so busy. Sara and I just got back from Lollapalooza in Chicago and we pretty much had the best time of our lives. (Side note if you’re reading this go look up the song Bone Digger by Bear Hands—it has been on repeat for the past 72 hours.)  Anyway I baked for the first time in a while last night, and the result was a berry pavlova. I’ve never made a pavlova before, let alone ate one, but goodness me this probably is one of my favorite desserts. (It might have to do with my abnormal obsession over whipped cream, I don’t know.) But you should try it! This dessert is so easy and so delicious. I say use all the summer berries you can while they are still in season!

Berry Pavlova!

Recipe adapted from Summer Berry Layered Pavlova by Donal Skehan

Lemon Poppy Seed Cupcakes

My friend Shannon doesn’t like cupcakes. She thinks they are too sweet, too icing-y, and too hyped up. Really though, I bet you have at least one bakery where you live dedicated to selling only cupcakes--cupcakes, where the frosting is taller than the cake itself. And although I do love baked goods, I kind of agree that the cupcake obsession that is taking over TV shows and bakeries is a little much. Cupcakes are great, but there are so many other baked goods to be obsessed about. Anyway, just as I am sitting here bashing cupcakes, Sara came to my house the other day and said that all she was craving was a fluffy delicious cupcake. That got me thinking, and seeing as all of Sara’s cravings/food ideas inspire me, I had to make the perfect cupcake, to my standards. This meant a fluffy moist cake, with just enough frosting to make it slightly sweeter than it should be. As far as flavors, this cake was my initial inspiration for these cupcakes because it looks simple but elegant.

Homemade Rye Boule

Right now I’m reading the book French Women Don’t Get Fat by Mireille Guiliano. I’m not really looking to lose weight or anything; I’m just obsessed with food (obviously) and very intrigued by the obesity epidemic plaguing America. It’s astonishing and just plain sad how so many people struggle with their weight here in the United States. I can’t speak for everyone, but to me it seems that some just don’t realize what they are doing to themselves (my hypothesis come from working summer jobs in the food industry). It makes me so sad to see people gorging on processed sweets and candy, when food really is so much more.

I’m only about halfway through the book, but it has made me laugh and cry and think about my own interactions with food. The French way is quite simple: quality over quantity.

Lemon Macarons

HOORAY HOORAY HOORAY!!! Can we please all jump up and down for joy?! I am getting closer and closer to mastering the French Macaron. We are jumping for joy because tonight, in this very batch of lemon macarons, I figured out the exact time I need to bake these pesky little treats in my oven! Since day one, under-baking my macarons has been a SERIOUS PROBLEM. They always came out with the bottoms slightly stuck to the parchment. On my second tray, however, (I like to bake each tray one at a time)  I stopped my macs between the 20 and 21 minute mark and they were perfect! No opening the oven, and no checking on them until then, and woohoo they turned out great. My tip for mac makers out there would be to not hesitate to bake them for longer than the recipe calls for if they keep coming out under-baked. My recipe said they would take 18 minutes tops, but that time never worked for me. It will take a few batches to learn the habits of your oven, but I have faith in you, you will figure out how to make the perfect macarons!!

One more tidbit…the second tray ended up being a lot more beautiful because the macarons rested for longer…I would say at least 40 minutes…definitely doing that for next time!!

For these macarons, I used the basic french macaron recipe that I used for the Macarons with Blueberry Mascarpone Filling . I just added 1 Tablespoon of lemon zest and a small bit of yellow gel food coloring to the meringue before mixing in the powdered sugar/almond flour mixture.

I filled them with my 5 Yolk Lemon Curd , and yum yum yum, were these beauties delicious.

Peach Crumble Pie

Summer = pie season. Enough said. I know fall season is associated with pies, and no one can argue with a tasty pumpkin pie, but equally important are the tart cherry and peach pies that are at their finest in the heat of summer. A few weeks ago we made a small cherry pie (different from the one that Sara posted), but because it was so small we had leftover crust that I froze. Next on the list of summer pies was peach pie, so using the leftover crust I made a peach crumble pie. This is a great recipe if you have leftover pie crust, and don’t have enough for the top crust!

Remy's Ratatouille

I have always loved the Disney Pixar film Ratatouille.  For those who have seen the film, you can probably see why I love it so much. For those that haven’t, it’s about this tiny little rat with a keen sense of smell that has a secret dream of becoming a chef. When Remy is separated from his rat family at the beginning of the story, he finds himself at a famous restaurant in Paris. He ends up helping a young boy, Linguini, who has absolutely no idea how to cook, work his way to the spot as top chef at the restaurant. 

The part in the movie that always resonates with me is when Remy tries to get his rat brother Emile to taste the magic of food.