Cauliflower Biscuts

Cauliflower Biscuits

#SmilingKiddo is napping so I'm posting this sooner than later. I'm still experimenting with this recipe so this is by no means the last variation. However, since many of you have asked, here it is. My toddler doesn't eat veggies. This is heartbreaking since his mama loves particular ones. Cauliflower is one vegetable I could have all the time in just about anyway. Knowing my kid eats all things bread and carb, I started playing with this biscuit idea. 

In a food processor, mince:

• 1 head of cauliflower
• 4 garlic gloves
• 1 handful of fresh parsley
• A few sprigs of dill

In a bowl, mix:

• 2 cups of flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt

Mix cauliflower and dry ingredients with:

• 2 beaten eggs
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1/3 cup oil

Bake at 375F for about 30 min in muffin baking sheet. Please keep in mind these measurements are estimations. I eyeball everything in the kitchen.

Clatitie

Clatitie 

Clatitie are Romanian crepes. This is my weakness. It takes will power for me to stop eating these.

3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
2 tbs vanilla
2 cups flour
1 3/4 cups milk
1/4 cup orange juice

Whisk eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Add coffee and juice. You want the consistency to be smooth and soupy, not as thick as pancake batter.

Spray a round skillet with PAM and heat over medium for a minute. Using a ladle, pour the batter so it thinly covers the bottom. It takes about a minute or two for each side to cook.  Flip when you can easily move the clatite by moving the skillet.  Repeat until the batter is gone.

I spread jam and then roll. Some people eat these with a cream cheese. 

3 Bean Ham Soup

We've been getting rain on and off here in Atlanta. And with a good thunderstorm, all I want to do is cuddle up on the couch with a bowl of soup and relax. I may not get to relax, but a girl has to eat. I made ham earlier this year and froze some. I got it out to make this soup.

Ingredients

2 stalks of celery

3 cloves of garlic

1 onion

2 carrots

4 cups of ham

2 beers 

1 cup peas

1 cup green beans

1 small of baked beans

1 can pinto beans

1 can garbanzo beans

3 TBS fresh basil

1 TBS fresh parsley

Saute onions, garlic, and celery. Add chopped carrots and fresh herbs. Chop ham into one inch chunks and add. You can lightly fry the ham. I had some ham drippings I froze with the ham and added that. Add beans and two cans of beer.

I always make soups and stews with beer. I had local beer on hand and used Red Hare. Keep in mind that the beer will impact the taste. Bring to a boil. Add paprika and black pepper to taste. You don't need to add salt. The ham is plenty salty.  Simmer for a little bit. It's best on the second day. The boyfriend and I will be having it for dinner tomorrow. 

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Bacon Stuffed Roasted Chicken

It's been a while, I know. But I've been busy with this PhD business and #SmilingBaby. But I was inspired by some split chicken breasts and bacon. So loves, here it is. It was pretty good.

Ingredients
5 cloves garlic
1/2 lb bacon, chopped
1 Tbs coconut oil
3 Tbs fresh thyme
2 Tbs fresh sage
2 split chicken breasts

This is pretty simple. Mix all these ingredients. Loosen the skin from the chicken breasts and stuff with bacon mixture. I baked it at 350 for about 45 minutes with potatoes and carrots, rubbed the chicken with grape seed oil, and added salt and paprika to taste on the skin.

French Toast Breakfast Casserole

I made french toast earlier this week using cinnamon and raisin bread. It was good that I didn't want to waste the left overs. I decided to incorporate french toast in a breakfast casserole this morning. It was so good.

Ingredients

6 pieces of cinnamon raisin french toast

1 lb browned mild sausage

6 eggs

1/2 cup shredded cheese

1 onion, diced

1 yellow pepper

1 cup nonfat milk

Preheat oven to 350. Lay the pieces of french toast on a greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Mix eggs, sausage, onion,pepper, and milk. Pour over french toast and add shredded cheese. Bake for  30 min. 

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

Did you know today was National Bacon Day? Here's a tasty bacon treat that is super easy to make.

Bacon Wrapped Asparagus

Preheat oven to 400. Spread about 1 cup of light brown sugar on a plate. Pat one side of bacon on the brown sugar. Roll the asparagus and bake until crisp, about 30 minutes.

Garlic & Eggplant Dip

I made a garlic and eggplant dip for a small gathering I'm having tomorrow and could have sworn I had the recipe on here. But since I don't and since friends are asking for the recipe, here it is. I've made so many variations of this, but here is this one.

Garlic and Eggplant Dip

Ingredients
1 large eggplant
5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1/2 grape seed oil
1 tbs of ground mustard

Preheat your oven to 350. Cut the eggplant into quarters. Stab with a fork. Lightly coat the eggplant with oil and roast for about an hour or until it's super soft. After it cools, remove the skin from the eggplant, and cut into big chunks. In your blender, blend the eggplant oil, mustard seed, and garlic.

Now, I have made variations of this. I normally use EVOO, but I had grape seed oil on hand. I've also added two hard boiled egg yolks to the mix. Sometimes, I'll add a splash of lemon juice. If I want it more creamy, I add about 1/4 cup light mayo and 1/4 tsp mustard.

It's great with crackers and veggie. Enjoy!

Cornmeal BBQ Breakfast Sausage Patties

It's a mouthful, but I was doing some reading for my ORG711 class for my doctoral program at #UOPX when I had an idea for breakfast sausage. My "ideas" come to me at weird times. And of course it happens when I'm studying. So I tried. it.

You'll need...

1 lb mild pork sausage

1 small onion--works better finely chopped

1 egg

1/4 cup honey BBQ--I use Sweet Baby Ray's

1/2 cup corn meal

2 TBS maple syrup

Mix, make patties, and fry. 

BBQ Bacon Meat Loaf

I was playing with stuffed mushroom recipe and had extra meat left over. So I made a meat loaf.

Ingredients
1 lb spicy sausage
1/2 lb bacon, chopped and fried
1 medium onion, chopped
6 garlic gloves, minced
1/2 cup ketchup
1/2 BBQ sauce (I use Sweet Baby Ray's)
1 egg
1 cup bread crumbs

Fry bacon until crisp. Add onions and garlic and saute. Let bacon cool and mix with the rest of the ingredients leaving 1/4 cup ketchup and 1/4 BBQ sauce for topping.  Bake at 350 for 1 hour.

This is by no means healthy, but the bacon is really good. The BBQ sauce and sausage give it an extra kick.

Vegetarian Sarmale

My friend Jamie and her boyfriend came to Atlanta for a visit and I just had to make them something Romanian to snack on. I instantly knew that I wanted to make sarmale, but they're vegetarian. So I made vegetarian sarmale. Here's what I did.

3 grated carrots

1 large onion finely chopped
1 cup finely chopped kalamata olives
1 lb finely chopped mushrooms
1 cup uncooked rice
V8 or vegetable juice
1 cup lemon juice
3 tbs dill
1 tbs vegeta
1 jar grape leaves
1/4 cup olive oil

All the ingredients together with the exception of grape leaves, vegetable juice, and lemon juice. Put the grape leaf in one palm and scoop about 2 tbs of the mixture and roll  into the grape leaf. Place in a crock pot. Repeat until you use all the of them mixture. Add the bottle of vegetable juice and lemon juice. Cook on low for 6 hours.

Garlic and Dill Chicken

I love garlic, dill, and when I'm in the mood to eat meat, I usually always go for chicken. So I combined  all those in a pretty simple recipe.

Garlic and Dill Chicken

Ingredients:

2 TBS Vegeta

1/2 cup EVOO

10 cloves of garlic

2 TBS fresh dill

1 lb chicken breasts

2 slices mozzarella cheese

Start by finely chopping garlic and dill. In a bowl, smash in a mortar and pestle. Mix in EVOO and Vegeta. 

Cut the mozzarella in quarters. 

Grease a class baking pan. Cut slits in the middle of the chicken breasts. Fill with a quarter slice of mozzerella and 1 tsp of garlic oil. Pour left over garlic oil over chicken.

Bake at 350 for 30 min. 

Placinta Cu Mere si Branza: Yummy Romanian Apple and Cheese Dessert

It's been a while since I shared a recipe on here. I wasn't in the mood to cook for a while. I moved to Atlanta and now that I'm settled, I feel like cooking again. So last night, I had a girlfriend over. Her and I went to high school together. It's nice to have someone like her close by in a new city. She isn't much for sweets, but she liked this.

Placinta Cu Mere si Branza

This is actually pretty easy, but I never made it until now. Think of this like an apple lasagna. 

What You Need

1 bag of apples. I recommend Jonathans.

2 cups sugar

2 eggs

Cinnamon (to taste)

Cloves (to taste)

2 TBS vanilla

24 oz low fat cottage cheese 

1 package philo dough

Brown sugar

Peel and slice applies thinly and sauté in 1 cup sugar until soft. 

In a large bowl, mix cottage cheese, 2 eggs, 1 cup sugar, cinnamon and cloves to taste. 1 tsp would suffice.  

Grease a 13x9 pan. Add 1 layer of 8 sheets of philo dough. Spray with Pam and add sprinkle with brown sugar. 

Add another layer of philo dough. Spread half the apples over the dough. 

Add another layer of philo dough. Spread half the cottage cheese mixture over the dough. 

Repeat until apples and cottage cheese are gone. My top layer was cottage cheese, but you can top with philo dough, sprayed with Pam and sprinkled with brown sugar.

Bake at 350 for 1 hour. Serve warm. 

BBQ Ranch Drumsticks

I wanted BBQ and ranch today so why combine them. I figured it was worth experimenting. So I thawed drumsticks and had some fun in the kitchen. :) 

BBQ Ranch Drumsticks

Preheat your oven to 350. Whisk together 1 cup BBQ sauce and 3/4 cup Kraft Light Ranch dressing. I used Maul's KC BBQ sauce.  Roll drumsticks in the BBQ ranch mix and bake for 40 minutes. Super easy and pretty delicious. Sweet and tangy but not over powering. 

No Bake Chocolate Clatite Cake

  

A coworker has a birthday next week, and I asked him what he wanted. He said anything chocolate. So  I had this brilliant idea for a no bake cake made from clatite. He wanted chocolate, so I made chocolate clatite. I made it and had it yesterday with when some of my dearest friends came over for dinner. It was delicious! It's not nearly as sweet as it looks.

Chocolate Clatite
Whisk 2 eggs, 1/4 cup sugar, 1 cup flour, 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, and 2 cups skim milk until smooth.


Over medium heat pour about 1/4 cup batter into a greased (Pam works fine) 9 inch skillet. Cook both sides (usually about 2 min).

Cheesecake Filling

This is my standard recipe. Whisk 8 oz lite cool whip, 8 oz lite cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar.  Add 1/4 cup Hershey's chocolate syrup.

No Bake Chocolat Clatite Cake

Place 1 clatite in a 9 inch pie pan. Spread a thick layer of cream cheese filling and repeat until all the clatite are gone, ending with the cream cheese layer. Refrigerate to set. 

No Bake Chocolate Clatite Cake

Semi Romanian Lunch

In the midst of studying, I was craving some mamaliga (aka corn meal mush, polenta) with feta cheese. So I put down my laptop and started cooking. I made mamaliga with broccoli cole slaw fry. It was yummy.

I started by frying three pieces of bacon. Once done, I removed the bacon and sautéed one onion and 2 cups thinly sliced mushrooms. Add a bag of broccoli cole slaw. The bacon grease should be absorbed by this point so add 1 tbs EVOO. Sauté a few minutes.

You can now start on the mamaliga. Follow the directions for corn meal mush. I added 1 tbs of garlic salt too.

Add 1 tbs apple vinegar and 1/2 tsp soy sauce to the broccoli cole claw. Continue cooking on medium heat, stirring often for about 5 min.

I chopped up a tomato and added a little salt as a side. I plated the mamaliga over feta too. Crumble the bacon over the mamaliga. That is my semi Romanian lunch. :)

Figs and Pudding Summer Cake

I am a fan of using what I have on hand to create new recipes. I did just that for a BBQ. I had a few packages of Fig Newtons so I came up with a dessert,

Lay fig newtons at the bottom of a 13x9 pan.

Make 1 package of vanilla pudding and pour over the figs. Then mix together 8 oz Lite Cool Whip, 8 oz low fat cream cheese, 1 tbs vanilla, 1/4 cup Splenda. Pour over vanilla pudding. 

Cover and refrigerate a couple of hours until set. I made this late the night before. A couple of hours will do just fine. It's good as is, or you can cut up fruit and decorate. 

Road Trip Chicken Salad

I made this a few weeks ago for my road trip to Atlanta. It was yummy! I grilled 2 chicken breasts instead of using canned chicken. I get funny about meat out of a can and prefer the real thing instead.  ;)

Road Trip Chicken Salad


Start by cubing 2 grilled chicken breasts and chopping 1 small onion. In a large bowl, mix with 1/4 cup low fat Marzetti cole slaw dressing, 1/2 cup lite Hellman's mayo, 2 tbs mustard, 1 tbs honey, 1/4 cup raisins or dried cranberries, 1/4 cup chopped almonds.

I wrapped them in whole wheat tortillas. Super easy to make and delicious.

Clatite din Cafea

I love Clatite (Romanian crepes). They are super yummy combined with fond memories of Bunica (grandmother) teaching me how to make them. They're not too terribly difficult to make.  I also love coffee. I buy my coffee from Laughing Man. And since I do love to experiment in the kitchen, I decided to combine two of my favorite things.  Introducing Clatite din Cafea.

Clatite din Cafea

3 eggs

1/4 cup sugar

2 tbs vanilla

2 cups flour

2 cups Laughing Man Java Reserve

1 cup skim milk

Whisk eggs, sugar, and vanilla. Add the 2 cups coffee and flour followed by milk. You want the consistency to be smooth and soupy, not as thick as pancake batter. 

Spray a round skillet with PAM and heat over medium for a minute. Using a ladle, pour the batter so it thinly covers the bottom. It takes about a minute or two for each side to cook.  Flip when you can easily move the clatite by moving the skillet.  Repeat until the batter is gone. 

Add your favorite jam or preserves, even cream cheese with cinnamon and roll. Some people eat these with a fork. Romanians eat them with their fingers. Enjoy!

Raspberry Sheet Cake Goodness

It's time for yet another office birthday, plus we had a new employee start this week. I usually bake for both. This time around, I made a Raspberry Sheet Cake. I knew it was good when the birthday came to my office and stated, "This cake is amazing!" God Bless him! Comments like that will keep me baking.

Raspberry Sheet Cake
1 box white cake mix
Sub 1/4 cup applesauce for oil
Sub skim milk for water
1 box raspberry jello
1/4 cup raspberry jam (I made this from scratch a week ago, but you can use store-bought)

So I do things a little differently. I beat the eggs first and then add the milk, applesauce, and raspberry jam. You want it nice and frothy because the cake will be fluffier. Add the cake mix and raspberry jello powder. Then follow the baking instructions on the box.

It's super easy and oh so yummy. The applesauce sub makes it healthier. I use milk instead of water because it adds calcium and it makes it taste richer. Water doesn't add any nutritional value.  Enjoy!

Moscato Sweet Chicken and Green Beans

I was playing in the kitchen while drinking a glass of wine when I got inspired. I made a chicken and rice concoction and green beans. I like to be creative and cook with my heart instead of always following a recipe, and that's what I did when I made this. I followed a whim. And I just so happened to be enjoying a glass of Moscato.

Moscato Sweet Chicken
I sautéed a small onion with 5 garlic cloves in EVOO in an oven friendly pan. I removed the onions and garlic once the onions were translucent. Then I slightly browned 4-6 chicken breasts in that same pan.

Mix 1/2 cup low sodium chicken broth, 1/4 Moscato, and 2 Tbs dijon mustard. Add it to chicken along with 1/2 cup brown rice. Cover and cook in the oven at 325 for 1 hour, uncovered for the last 10 minutes. Serve with the garlic and sautéed onions on top of te chicken and rice.

Sweet Green Beans
Sauté 1 small onions and 4 garlic gloves in 2 TBS EVOO. Add 1lb fresh green beans and sauté for 5 min. Add 1/4 cup Moscato and simmer for another 5 min.

These dishes don't require salt. I didn't think it was needed, but you are welcome to add to taste.