Culinary Goods

This recipe came from Fine Cooking, and these quesadillas were great. I followed the recipe pretty close, but I did add black beans and frozen corn. Without the protein from the beans, I don’t think you’d fill up. I also served it with guacamole—yumm. I give these an 8.   2 small fresh poblano chiles 1/2 cup loosely packed fresh cilantro 1 Tbs. plus 2 tsp. vegetable oil 1/2 large white onion, thinly sliced lengthwise (about 1-1/2 cups) Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper Four 8-inch flour tortillas 2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese (about 8 oz.) 1/2 cup sour cream Roast the peppers: Turn a gas burner to high and char the poblanos directly over the flame, turning them with tongs as soon as each side becomes fully blackened, about 6 to 8 minutes per pepper. (If you don't have a gas stove, you can char poblanos similarly over a hot grill fire or lay them on a foil-lined baking sheet and char them under a hot broiler, turning them with tongs). Immediately after roasting,

I altered this recipe that I blogged last week and made it better by adding peanut butter. Here is the original, and here are my alterations in bold: Larabars makes 6 large bars. adapted from http://floridahillbilly.com 1 1/4 cup medjool dates, pitted (2 cups) 1/2 cup raisins – leave these out 1 cup almonds (50% peanuts) 1/4 cup walnuts 1/4 cup cashews 1/2 tsp of vanilla 1 TBSP Cinnamon (I left this out) huge scoop of peanut butter 3/4 cup chocolate chips Add all ingredients to your food processor and pulse until fulling incorporated. Spread into an baking dish lined with parchment and freeze for 1 hour before cutting.  Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 weeks, or in the freezer for up to 6 months. Mine made a full 9x9 pan this time, and I had to process it in 2 separate batches because it was so thick. Altered slightly from the original, Retrieved from http://whatsfordinner-momwhatsfordinner.blogspot.com/2013/05/raw-vegan-cinnamon-roll-l

  Yep, I put balls in the title, Stef. Bite me. I used your original recipe for Chocolate Coconutty Clusters and changed it up a slight bit. Here is what I did differently listed in bold. I give them the same rating. Chocolate Coconutty Clusters Ingredients {Makes a small batch, about 6-8 small balls} 1/4 cup honey ( I reduced this slightly) 1/4 cup peanut butter 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (or dark) 1/2 cup rolled oats 1/4 cup almonds, crushed (I used pecans) 1/8 cup ground flax seed 1/8 cup sunflower seeds (like you, I added coconut) Mine weren’t chocolaty enough, so I might add a Tbs. or so of cocoa powder next time. Directions Melt peanut butter and honey in a pan over medium heat. Add remaining ingredients. (To crush whole almonds, I place them in a ziploc bag on a cutting board and crush with rolling pin.) Stir with spatula for a couple minutes to combine until chocolate thoroughly melts. Remove from heat and let sit in pan at least 10 minutes to cool. W

  Maple Bars 1 ½ cups milk 1/3 cup shortening 4 T. sugar 2 tsp salt ¼ cup lukewarm water 2 tsp. cinnamon 2 (1/4 oz.) envelopes yeast (2 tsp. yeast) 2 large eggs, beaten 4 ¾ cups flour (Rebecca added way more—1 cup or more) Icing 1/3 cup butter 1 cup packed brown sugar ¼ cup milk 1 ½ cups powdered sugar 2 tsp mapleine In saucepan, scald milk, add shortening, 3 T. sugar, salt, and cinnamon. Stir to combine and cool. In mixing bowl, add water, yeast, and remaining 1 T. sugar. Let sit for 5 min. After yeast is foamy and milk mixture is lukewarm, add eggs to yeast mixture. Then add milk mixture to yeast and gradually add flour. Let mixer knead dough for 3-5 minutes. Let raise for an hour or until double in size. Punch down and roll out into a large rectangle about 1” thick. Cut the rectangle in half, and then into 6 pieces for a total of 12. Put on a jelly roll pan and let raise for about 20 minutes. While they are raising, preheat oven to 425. Bake bars for about 7-8

Yep, this is what the sauce looks like after it’s so good that you eat it all up, by the heaping spoonful, which is what we did. So, this recipe is from Rebecca. I give it an 8, and my only complaint is that it tasted like cocoa, which makes complete sense. The sauce will taste like the chocolate you use, so it was like the frosting from a Texas sheet cake in a runny form. It was still great, but I think that I might experiment with using actual chocolate, think Callebaut, and vary the flavor that way. For a fast, tasty sauce though, this was fantastic.   1/2 cup cocoa 3 cups sugar 1/2 tsp. salt. 1 cube butter 1 can evaporated milk vanilla   Melt butter with can of milk over stove, then add the powdered ingredients. Boil for 3 minutes, then add 2 tsp. vanilla. I added a handful of Callebaut callets, and I think that made it even better than if I had left them out.

Recipe: skinnytaste.com. Picture: skinnytaste.com So an in online instructor, I feel the compulsive need to cite things so I can give credit where credit is due. These did come from skinnytaste.com, which is a website I want to explore even more now that I have discovered it. I made these a few weeks ago and really liked them, but it could be because I added sugar to it. This recipe calls for Frank's hot sauce, and if you mix that with brown sugar, it becomes scarily close to the Winger's sauce that they use on their wings. So this recipe would be a lot healthier if you made it as is, but I had to change that up a bit. I'll label it as "healthy" and "low-carb", but again, that's only if you leave the sugar out of it. The dressing I used for this was the leftover dressing I had from when I made the southwest chopped salad dressing with cilantro dressing back in June. I thought it went great with this and the Greek yogurt complimented the meat p

This recipe was fast, easy, relatively healthy, and pretty tasty. It came from Annie’s Eats, which is usually a sure bet. I give it an 8. I cut the vanilla in half for some unknown reason, and it was still great. Peanut Butter Smoothie Yield: about 2 servings Ingredients 1 cup low-fat greek yogurt 6 tbsp. creamy peanut butter ½ peeled banana, frozen* ½ cup old-fashioned oats 1 cup ice 2 tsp. vanilla extract 1 tbsp. honey Chocolate syrup , for serving (optional) Directions Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor.  Blend until completely smooth and well mixed.  Serve with a drizzle of chocolate syrup, if desired. *Add up to 1 whole frozen banana if you like.  We felt this made the banana flavor too prominent when we were hoping for a more pure peanut butter taste. retrieved from http://www.annies-eats.com/2013/06/19/peanut-butter-smoothie/

This is an older recipe that we have tried and loved, but Stef can never find it, so here it is on our blog. I give these a 9.5. This came from ourbestbites.com, and I have only made a couple of changes that I have put in bold behind the original recipe.   Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos Posted By sara On 04.30.2009 @ 11:01 pm Baked Creamy Chicken Taquitos 1/3 C (3 oz) cream cheese (I use light cream cheese) 1/4 C green salsa 1T fresh lime juice 1/2 t cumin 1 t chili powder 1/2 t onion powder 1/4 t granulated garlic, or garlic powder 3 T chopped cilantro (I increase this by about 1-2 T.) 2 T sliced green onions 2 C shredded cooked chicken (for extra yumminess, use grilled taco chicken! ) (I just boil chicken and shred it in the food processor) 1 C grated pepperjack cheese (I use plain Monterey jack) small corn tortillas (and actually, flour ones are really good as well) (I use flour) kosher salt cooking sprayHeat oven to 425. Line a baking sheet with foil and lightly coat with cook

I found this recipe online, and I tried it out. They are super easy to make, although mine did not look this dark. These were good, and I’ve give them a 7. I like granola bars better, but these are faster, easier, and are very dense. They are perfect to eat before a run. I did decrease the cinnamon a bit (by almost half), and I added coconut. Next time, I think I’ll add a few chocolate chips as well. Oh, and it doesn’t specify what size of pan. I used my largest rectangular glass Tupperware, so it’s probably about 80% of the size of a 9x9. Raw, Vegan, Gluten-Free Cinnamon Roll Larabars makes 6 large bars. adapted from http://floridahillbilly.com 1 1/4 cup medjool dates, pitted 1/2 cup raisins 1 cup almonds 1/4 cup walnuts 1/4 cup cashews 1/2 tsp of vanilla 1 TBSP Cinnamon Add all ingredients to your food processor and pulse until fulling incorporated. Spread into an baking dish lined with parchment and freeze for 1 hour before cutting.  Store in an airtight container in

I made this recipe up last night (because, honestly, how hard is it to come up with a marinade for chicken?) and really loved the flavors. I didn't take a picture, but pulled a random one off Google which looked fairly similar. Here is what I used: Chicken Zucchini Onion Red Pepper Seasoning for the veggies: Juice from 1 lemon garlic powder rosemary pepper Marinade for the chicken: 1/3 C. soy sauce Juice from 1 lime 2 cloves garlic, minced 2 Tbs. tequila I let the chicken soak in the sauce in the fridge for about 1 1/2 hours before grilling it and sprinkled the seasoning on the veggies right before grilling. I put the veggies on the same skewers and put the chicken on their own skewers so that they would cook at the right temperature and time. Jared grilled it all and we served it with brown rice flavored with soy sauce and garlic powder. I would give this an 8.5 for flavor and loved it because it was healthy, light, and low-carb. I was also going to serve t

So, my cookies didn’t look quite like these. But, mine did taste good. But, probably not as good as these because I altered the recipe. This came from peasandthankyou.com, and it’s a vegan website. I have included the original recipe, and then I put my alterations in bold. So, if I am comparing this to a normal, full-fat chocolate chip cookie, these would get about a 7 whereas a normal cookie would be at a 9. However, considering that they are healthier, I would give them a 7.5. I’ll make them again. Zucchini Chocolate Chip Cookies Makes 15-20 cookies Print this recipe! 1/2 c. vegan margarine (i.e. Earth Balance), organic butter or coconut oil (I used half canola oil, they would be best with 100% butter) 1 organic or flax egg (1 T. ground flax + 3 T. water, whisked and allowed to sit until thickened) a normal egg is just fine for me 1 c. stevia baking blend or sucanat   (I cut the sugar down significantly, I used 50% brown and 50% white sugar—next time I will keep it at 3/4 cu

If there is one thing to know about me, it is first that I rarely brag because I suck at most things, but the second thing to know is that I’m excellent at creating recipes (I really do make them up) for fantastic pumpkin desserts. I made up a recipe for the best pumpkin bread ever. I’m not joking here—ask Stefani. I also make great pumpkin cake and pumpkin muffins. Here’s another one to add to the list, and if you have any improvements for me, send them over. This was my first try, but they were pretty awesome. If they had some spiced apples and whipped cream, they would have been a 9.5, but even with maple syrup, they are almost a 9. Don’t judge them by their looks. They don’t look impressive, but they were good. Pumpkin Pancakes   2 1/4 cups flour 4 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp.salt 1 tsp. soda 1/4 cup brown sugar 1/3 cup white sugar dash allspice 1 tsp. cinnamon 3/4 tsp. ginger (I might increase this a tad) 1/4 tsp. nutmeg scant 1/4 tsp. cloves generous 1 cup pumpkin,

  This comes from Annie’s Eats, and I highly recommend that you use her pizza crust recipe as well. Just link to the recipe at the bottom of the page and pull it up. This was really, really good. It’s a 9. I also made a margherita pizza with basil and marinara pizza sauce, and they were both excellent. I think the key is the pizza stone. And good ingredients.   However, one warning is that this dough stuck to the parchment. You have to form it first so the stone can be hot and then you “slide” it onto the stone. There was no sliding. Just much frustration and a few choice words. I would make sure beforehand that it slides easily before you try to put it in the oven. Coarse cornmeal could do the trick, but you might need more than you think.   Chicken Ranch Pizza   Chicken Ranch Pizza Yield: 1 12 to 14-inch pizza Ingredients ½ batch of perfect pizza crust ¼ cup Ranch dressing ¾ cup shredded mozzarella cheese ½-1 grilled chicken breast, chopped into bite-sized pieces 1 tomato, see

First, I need to start by admitting I’m a pastry snob. My order of preference for fruit desserts is pie, then fresh fruit on homemade shortbread, and finally cobbler. That being said, I think this recipe is a keeper. This particular combination was only about a 6.5, but that is because my cherries were extremely tart and kind of ruined the whole thing. And, cherries just need almond paired with them. I say cherries stay by themselves in pie. Once I picked those out and just ate the blackberries, it was an 8.5. If you did a peach/blackberry or peach/raspberry cobbler, it would be a solid 9. I combined a few recipes, and here is what I came up with Blackberry Cherry Cobbler Filling 3 cups cherries (but don’t really use cherries) 3 cups blackberries 1 T. fresh lemon juice 4 T. sugar (I used partial brown sugar) 1-2 Tbs. sure gel or ultragel pinch salt dash cinnamon teensy bit butter Sprinkle fruit with lemon juice, add other ingredients. Cobbler topping 1 cup flour 1/4 cup

That name sucks, but once again, I made up the recipe (I should say I combined a few recipes) and the name. I give this an 8, and it’s super healthy. I spooned this onto lettuce for a salad, and used an amazing cilantro dressing from Trader Joe’s. Yum.     Tomato Cucumber Salad with Avocado   1/2 large avocado, cut into squares 1/4 cup corn kernels (I used frozen) 1/3 cucumber, diced 1/2 cup sliced grape tomatoes 1 Tbs. diced red onion juice of 1/2 lime salt and pepper I’m sure cilantro would be good in this, and I am definitely adding black beans next time. Essentially, I just mixed it up, put it on lettuce, and used this awesomeness as dressing:  

This is my final recipe from my 30 days of new food. These were great, and of course, they also came from Fine Cooking magazine. My blog review follows. Lemon Cheesecake Squares 9 graham crackers (about 5 oz.) 2 oz. (4 Tbs.) unsalted butter, melted 1 lb. cream cheese or Neufchatel (1/3-less-fat cream cheese), at room temperature and cut into approximately 1-inch pieces 3/4 cup granulated sugar 3 Tbs. fresh lemon juice (from 1 or 2 lemons) 1 Tbs. finely grated lemon zest (from 1 or 2 lemons, preferably using a rasp-style grater) 2 large eggs 1 recipe Lemon Curd , warm or at room temperature For the crust: Cut two 8x16-inch pieces of parchment. Put the strips in an 8x8 baking pan (preferably straight-sided) so that they cross each other and the excess hangs over the pan’s sides. Push the parchment into the bottom and corners of the pan. Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 325°F. Break the graham crackers into a food processor and process until finely grou

Yet another one of my 30 meals worth remembering from my 2009 cooking marathon. This also came from Fine Cooking magazine—it’s the best. Baked Rigatoni with Cauliflower in a Spicy Pink Sauce 3 Tbs. olive oil 2 (28-oz.) cans whole tomatoes 1 lb. yellow onions, halved and thinly sliced (about 3 medium) 1-1/4 tsp. kosher salt 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 cup heavy cream 1/4 cup chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley 1/2 tsp. crushed red pepper flakes 1 lb. rigatoni 1 lb. 1- to 1-1/2-inch cauliflower florets (about 4 cups) 10 oz. shredded Fontina (about 2-1/2 cups) 2 oz. freshly grated Parmigiano- Reggiano (about 3/4 cup) Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 450°F. Bring a pot of well-salted water to boil in a large pot with a pasta insert. Grease a 9x13-inch baking dish with 1 Tbs. olive oil. Pour off 1 cup of juice from one of the cans of tomatoes and discard it. In a blender or food processor, purée both cans of tomatoes with their remaining juice and set aside. H

This is yet another of the recipes from my 30 days of new foods. This was a definite keeper, and again, came from Fine Cooking magazine. You can link to the recipe below, and underneath this post, I included my original review. 1 Tbs. softened unsalted butter For the Streusel Topping 2 oz. (4 Tbs.) unsalted butter 3 oz. (2/3 cup) all-purpose flour 1/4 cup toasted pecans, coarsely chopped 2 Tbs. granulated sugar 2 Tbs. light brown sugar 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1/4 tsp. baking powder 1/4 tsp. table salt For the Filling 1 cup toasted pecans 3 Tbs. granulated sugar 3 Tbs. light brown sugar 1-1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon 1 tsp. Dutch-processed or natural cocoa powder For the Cake 11-1/4 oz. (3 cups) sifted cake flour 1-1/2 tsp. baking powder 1 tsp. baking soda 3/4 tsp. table salt 10 oz. (1-1/4 cups) unsalted butter, slightly softened 11-1/2 oz. (1-2/3 cups) superfine sugar 4 large eggs 2 tsp. pure vanilla extract 16 oz. (2 cups) sour cream Tip: Check out Carole's article for

  Continuing with my 30 days of new food from 2009 recipes worth keeping . . . this one also came from Fine Cooking magazine. My own blog review follows.   7 oz. (14 Tbs.) unsalted butter at room temperature; more for the pan 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs. packed light or dark brown sugar Six to eight 1/4-inch-thick fresh pineapple rings 1/4 to 1/3 cup pecan halves 1/2 cup lightly toasted pecan pieces 5-1/2 oz. (1-1/4 cups) cake flour 1 tsp. baking powder 1/2 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg 1/4 tsp. baking soda 1/4 tsp. kosher salt 1 cup granulated sugar 2 large eggs, at room temperature 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract 1/2 cup plus 2 Tbs. buttermilk Tip: Pineapple Rings? Check out our technique for making picture-perfect rings. Position a rack in the center of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 10x2-inch round cake pan or 10-inch cast-iron skillet. Combine 6 Tbs. of the butter with the brown sugar in a small saucepan and cook over medium heat, whisking until the butter is melted, the suga

Here is another one of my 30 days of meals from back in 2009 that we like.   SPICED PANCAKES earn an 8 So, this wasn't too much of a stretch because I always make pancakes from scratch. There are few things that seem as dumb as paying $4.50 for $.25 worth of flour, salt and baking powder. Unless of course you do this, in which case I'm sure it's fine and saves a lot of time. But, my point is that nothing beats real buttermilk pancakes, and I've been experimenting with them for a while. I started making them with whole wheat flour, which is healthy, but adding spices was a lot more fun. I just added 1 tsp. cinnamon and 1/4 tsp. ginger, cloves, and nutmeg. These were really good, and would have been even better with a little bit of chopped apple in them. Or, they would probably be awesome with some canned pumpkin in them. The only problem is that they didn't rise as well because the spices must have weighed them down a bit. But, they tasted fine, so we'll def

So, a long time ago, I tried 30 days straight of new meals. I blogged these meals, but failed to include the recipes, so now I can never find the recipes again. I really am just that smart. So, I’m going to copy and paste my blog posts here, and add the recipes, and since I haven’t really tried these since, they’ll be like new meals and I’ll always have a copy of the recipe. First up, parmesan broccoli. This is really, really good, and we’ve made it multiple times since I discovered it. It came from Leslie Revsin in Fine Cooking magazine, and I give this a 9. 6 Tbs. olive oil, preferably fruity and full flavored 1-1/2 large heads of broccoli (1-3/4 lb. total), cut into 1-1/2- to 2-inch florets to yield 6-1/2 cups (discard the thicker parts of the stems or save for another use) Salt and freshly ground black pepper 3 Tbs. freshly grated Parmesan, preferably parmigiano reggiano Set a heavy 9- to 10-inch skillet over medium heat with the olive oil. When the oil is hot, add the broccol

All right, so this recipe came from ourbestbites, and I tried it last week. I give it an 8. So, here is what I would do differently. I will take out the almond extract next time. Quinoa is not sweet enough to have almond in it, because it tastes too bitter. In my opinion, of course. I also added about 1/2 cup of water to get the quinoa to a good consistency, and I added cinnamon, which was good. Even my kids ate this. Coconut-Almond Breakfast Quinoa Recipe by Our Best Bites 1/2 cup quinoa, rinsed well and drained 1 cup light coconut milk (from a carton, such as Silk brand) 2 teaspoons brown sugar 1/4 teaspoon almond extract For serving: fresh berries toasted coconut additional coconut milk honey or agave syrup additional brown sugar if desired Place rinsed and drained quinoa, coconut milk, brown sugar, and almond extract in a medium-sized pot. Stir ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to a low simmer and cover pot, preferably with a clear lid (so you can see through it and k

Yes, the name sucks because I made it up. The recipe does not suck, even though I made it up. What a paradox. And, I have no picture because my camera’s battery was dead . . . you’ll just have to use your imagination. Recipe 1 1/2 cups dry brown rice 3 1/2 –4 cups chicken broth 2-4 cups frozen broccoli 2-4 cups of baby carrots 1/4 cup chopped onion 1-  1 1/2 cups sour cream (I used light) 1 cup cheddar cheese shake garlic powder salt and pepper a chicken breast cut into chunks, optional So, here’s what you do. I use the dutch oven that is the size known as chicken fryer. It’s deep, but not as deep as the big old dutch ovens. I pour in dry rice, added the vegetables, stirred in the sour cream mixed with the cheese, and mixed it all together. I cut up a chicken breast and mixed it in, and then dumped chicken broth on top. I like this because if you don’t like chicken you can pick it out easily, but it’s versatile and it tasted great. And, there’s no cream of anything soup, wh

I made these the other night and got the recipe from ourbtesbites.com. I added a bit of cumin and lime juice and thought they had good flavor. I would give them a 7.5. Southwest Stuffed Bell Peppers Slightly adapted from America’s Test Kitchen 4 very large or 6 medium sweet peppers (red, yellow, or orange) 1 Tbs salt 1/2 C white rice (or  brown if you want to take the time to cook it), quinoa also works 2 Tbs olive oil 1 onion, diced 3 garlic cloves, minced 1/2 – 1 jalapeno, minced (or you could sub a small 3oz can of mild green chilies) 1 14oz can black beans, drained and rinsed 1 cup frozen corn kernels 2 green onions, sliced 1/2-1 tsp chipotle chili powder (you can start with 1/2 and add more to taste) 1 tsp kosher salt, plus more to taste 1/4 black pepper, plus more to taste 1 14.5 ounce can diced tomatoes, preferably fire roasted 1 1/4 C jack or pepperjack cheese, divided 3-4 Tbs chopped fresh cilantro tortilla chips, just a handful and more for s

So this (and the following 3 recipes) was part of my Greek pita pizza night. I used hummus, tzatziki sauce, and homemade pitas, and while it was good, I definitely want to play around with it the next time I make it. Everyone gave them a 7, and I do want to increase that score.i got these recipes off of annies-eats.com. Yields: 4 servings Ingredients 2 tbsp. olive oil, plus more for brushing 4 (8-inch) pita 1 tbsp. red wine vinegar Salt and pepper 1 tsp. chopped fresh oregano (or ½ tsp. dried) ½ small red onion, halved and sliced thin ½ cup pitted kalamata olives, chopped (or sliced black olives) ¾ cup grape tomatoes, halved ½ cup hummus ½ cup shredded mozzarella cheese ½ cup crumbled feta Tzatziki sauce, for serving Preheat the oven to 475˚ F.  Lightly brush both sides of the pita with olive oil.  Arrange the pita on a baking sheet and bake 5 minutes or until light golden. Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, combine the vinegar with 2 tablespoons of the oil and the

This was also part of my Greek pizza night. I'd made this sauce before when I made Greek quesadillas and have liked it both times I made it. I would give it a 7.5. I also got this off of annies-eats.com. For the tzatziki: 16 oz. plain yogurt (not nonfat, if possible) 1/2 hothouse cucumber or 1 regular cucumber, peeled and seeded 2-3 cloves garlic, pressed through a garlic press (or finely minced) 1 tsp. white wine vinegar Salt and pepper Squeeze of fresh lemon juice Extra virgin olive oil To make the tzatziki sauce, strain the yogurt using cheesecloth over a bowl. Let strain for several hours or overnight, if possible, to remove as much moisture as possible. Shred the cucumber. Wrap in a towel a squeeze to remove as much water as possible. Mix together the strained yogurt, shredded cucumber, garlic, white wine vinegar, salt and pepper to taste, and lemon juice. Drizzle lightly with olive oil. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before serving to allow the flavor

This was also part of my Greek pizza night and I thought it was fabulous. I couldn't believe how easy it was to make fresh hummus. You can also experiment with this to get different types of hummus. I would give it an 8. Restaurant-Style Hummus Ingredients: 3 tbsp. juice from 1-2 lemons ¼ cup water 6 tbsp. tahini, stirred well 2 tbsp. extra virgin olive oil, plus extra for drizzling 1 (14 oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed 1 small garlic clove, minced or pressed through garlic press (about ½ tsp.) ½ tsp. table salt ¼ tsp. ground cumin pinch of cayenne pepper 1 tbsp. minced fresh cilantro or parsley Directions: Combine lemon juice and water in a small bowl or measuring cup.  Whisk together tahini and 2 tablespoons oil in second small bowl or measuring cup.  Set aside 2 tablespoons chickpeas for garnish. Process remaining chickpeas, garlic, salt, cumin and cayenne in food processor until almost fully ground, about 15 seconds.  Scrap

I made these pitas as part of my Greek pizza night. They didn't turn out as light as I'd hoped, but I might have been expecting too much from a pita (I had baked bread in mind). I got the recipe off annies-eats.com and would give them a 6.  Whole Wheat Pita Bread Yi eld: 8 pita Ingredients 2¼ tsp. instant yeast 1 tbsp. honey 1¼ cups warm water (105˚-115˚ F), divided 1½ cups bread flour, divided 1½ cups whole wheat flour, divided ¼ cup extra-virgin olive oil 1 tsp. salt Cornmeal, for sprinkling Directions In the bowl of a stand mixer*, combine the yeast, honey and ½ cup of the water.  Stir gently to blend.  Whisk ¼ cup of the bread flour and ¼ cup of the whole wheat flour into the yeast mixture until smooth.  Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and set aside until doubled in bulk and bubbly, about 45 minutes. Remove the plastic wrap and return the bowl to the mixer stand, fitted with the dough hook.  Add in the remaining ¾ cup of warm water, 1¼ cups

This pasta is light, healthy and has good flavor. The only thing I did differently than the recipe was added fresh Parmesan on top. Other than that, I didn't think it needed anything extra. Jared gave this a 7 and I gave it an 8. I got it from ourbestbites.com. Zucchini Ribbon Pasta with Creamy Lemon-Basil Sauce Recipe by Our Best Bites Ingredients ½ lb (or 8 oz) fettuccine 1 medium zucchini 2 tsp olive oil, divided 10 ounces grape tomatoes (about 2 cups) kosher salt black pepper 3-4 cloves finely minced garlic 1 cup low sodium chicken broth 3 ounces fat-free cream cheese 1 cup very loosely packed basil, chopped 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice, more if desired Instructions Prepare a pot of water and cook pasta according to package instructions.  Cut ends off zucchini and slice along the long direction, cutting the zucchini into about ⅛ inch slices.  Cut each of those slices into long pieces, about the same size as the fettuccine (see photos abo