Peach Cobbler Wontons

Sometimes you just want a bite of something. It's really hard to control myself when I have an entire cobbler sitting in front of me. Especially if it was my grandma's blackberry cobbler. She made the best. I can still smell it baking in her oven, all bubbly and golden. I don't know how she did it but her cobbler was amazing. I haven't been able to recreate it. I think it's better as a memory.

I really wanted peaches the other day. Someone made peach cobbler in the international lab at my culinary school and I managed to swipe a big ol' plate full. It was pretty tasty. Not really how I think a cobbler should be, however, I'm basing all my cobbler experience on only ever having my grandma's. I wanted to make peach cobbler at home. I knew though, if I did, I would do 1 of 2 things:

1) Eat the entire thing by myself
2) Eat one serving and never touch it again

So, I decided to be a little creative.

Mix together brown sugar and white sugar.

Start melting some butter.

Add some cinnamon and freshly grated nutmeg (it's always better like that).

Stir in the melted butter

Add some flour. 

I added oatmeal too. You know, for extra health benefits. 

Dice 2 peaches and toss them with a tablespoon of sugar.

Add 1/2 pint of blueberries.

Also here for health reasons. 

Get your crumb topping ready! 

It should be moist but crumbly. 

Fill your muffin tin with wontons

Fill the wontons with the fruit.

About 1/8 cup per wonton.

Sprinkle on the delicious (& good for you - it's the oatmeal) crumb topping.

Bake.

 

They should come out golden and your kitchen should smell like cinnamon and sugar. 

SO GOOD!

Remember my predicament from above? Well I think I handled it pretty well. I ate two and took the rest to work. 

I may have had a third one once I got there... But it has fruit so it has to be healthy right??

I used Ina Garten's crumb topping. It's really easy. The only thing I did differently was add 1/2 cup Quaker Instant Oatmeal. 

For the filling:

2 peaches, diced - skin on

1/2 pint fresh blueberries

1 tablespoon sugar. 

Toss all ingredients together. 

Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown and bubbling. 

You can also make this dessert sugar free by omitting the brown sugar and replacing all white sugar with Splenda. 

Cheesy Southwestern Chili Enchiladas

Happy New Year dear followers! Hope your new year is off to a great start and everyone is making good on their resolutions. They are not the easiest things to stick to. I know that first hand. This year I've decided to make mine a little more attainable, if you will. Budgeting has never been my thing, ever. But I've tried and tried and I always say this time I'm going to make it work. Well then comes along the cutest pair of wedges you ever did see... Story of my life. Shoes are one of my weaknesses. 

Food however, is my downfall. So I've decided this is where I need to make necessary cuts. I go to the store, stock up on what I think I need (think being the key word here) and as many people out there experience, half of it goes to waste. Produce mostly. It's costly and if not used within a few days it goes bad. Compost bucket full of dollars. Dollars I don't have to spend on compost. 

What to do? Recycle the ingredients I buy. Why didn't I think of that before? There's a whole time slot on Food Network devoted it stretching your dollars by using the same ingredients in several different recipes. And, now that I'm being more frugal and really paying attention to my food budget I can eat for days on just a few things from the store. 

I was craving my summer veggie casserole so I went and bought all the stuff to make it. I made a small one for dinner and had a lot of vegetables left over so I combined it all in a container and saved it for the next day. I used some for vegetable and cheese quesadillas, a quick and easy lunch or dinner option, and used the rest to make a vegetarian chili.

2 cups diced mixed veggies: squash, zucchini, red/orange peppers, onion

1 can petit diced tomatoes w/ juice

1/2 can black beans

1/2 can red kidney beans

2 cups water

1 packet low sodium chili seasoning

Super easy, and healthy. It was a cold day so it was perfect. But I didn't eat it all. I was craving enchiladas but didn't have everything to make it so I improvised. This is what I came up with. And I have pictures! So you can see just how easy this was. It only took about 5 minutes to throw together and I had another delicious and healthy meal. 

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. And grease your baking dish.

The first thing I did was make some rice. Any kind you like will do. I had some basmati on hand. Just follow the directions on the package. Then strain off the liquid that's in the chili into a sauté pan. Reduce by half over medium heat. While that's reducing mix the rice into the veggie/bean mixture.

Add some cheese to your tortilla shells.

I used some pepper jack cheese leftover from my veggie casserole but feel free to use whatever you like or have on hand.

Add the rice mixture.

Roll it up! 

Fold in the sides.

Then pull over the end closest to you. 

Then finish rolling it up. 

This is how our sauce should look. 

You're really just evaporating water and chili seasoning but the starch in the beans will also help it to thicken. YUM!

Spoon that over each tortilla roll. 

Sprinkle with a little more cheese.

Bake to perfection. 

About 10-15 minutes. Just until it's bubbly and golden. 

Cheesy Southwestern Chili Enchiladas (because they're made from chili - the soup, not the pepper)

Roughly:

1/2 cup prepared rice

1 cup veggie mix

3 flour tortillas

3/4 cup pepper jack cheese

1/2 cup chili sauce reduction. 

Heat over to 350. Grease baking dish. 

Combine rice and veggies. Add cheese and veggie mix to tortilla shells and roll up. 

Heat wide, shallow sauté pan over medium high heat. Add liquid from chili and reduce by half. Spoon over tortillas and top with extra cheese. Bake for 10-15 minutes or until bubbly and cheese is melted and golden brown. 

Pistachio Blueberry Muffins and A New Found Like For Vegan Food?

My sister came back from Peru this past summer with an entirely new appetite. I'm not sure what they eat down in the Amazon but I do know it's a drastic contrast from our plant produced and processed American food. Most of the food she had been eating came from her back yard, the Amazon Jungle. All grown right in front of her. They kill their own chickens. We haven't had to kill our own chickens for about a century. Unless we plant a garden in our 4x4 backyards the food we eat here is mostly genetically modified for mass consumption, grown in a warehouse, or raised in a confined space so small I'm surprised chickens don't need to see a therapist for claustrophobia or social anxiety.

My sister says she is "95% vegan". She's having a hard time giving up staples like cheese. While vegan cheese is available, it's just not the same. Personally I just love cheeseburgers and could NOT imagine a life without them. Pizza, grilled cheese sandwiches, cheese and crackers, chili cheese fries, mac n cheese! I mean how could you not want to have cheese! It's essential. But whatever floats your boat. I'm all for healthy living. Even tho I'm convinced some of the vegan products out on the shelves are not "natural" and therefore are probably worse for you than non-vegan foods eaten in moderation. But my research on the subject is... limited. So I indulge her for her 95% vegan-ism. And I have to admit, some of the things, just some, are actually pretty tasty. They're not much different from their carnivorous cousins. Just a few minor changes.

The other day she was craving blueberry muffins. I usually just buy the box mix from Betty Crocker to save time. She went to a work event and they said their muffins were freshly baked but she said they were more like fresh bricks. So I baked her some myself to keep her love of blueberry muffins alive. And since blueberry muffins can be so... blue, I decided is add a little pistachio pizazz.  She's been going around the house all week saying, "I love having a chef for a sister". Like I'm adopted or something. She should say she likes have a sister who is a chef. Regardless, even my mom liked these muffins and she's skeptical on all things vegan.

(Pistachio) Blueberry Muffins

Adapted from Sweet Vegan by Emily Mainquist

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

3/4 cup all purpose flour

3/4 cup sugar in the raw

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/3 cup coconut milk

1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon all natural applesauce

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 cup frozen blueberries. 

2 tablespoons chopped pistachios

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Line 12 standard-size muffin cavities with paper liners.

In a large bowl, mix the flour, sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt. Add the oil, milk, applesauce, and vanilla extract and mix until well combined. Fold in the blueberries and pistachios.* The batter will be very thick.

Scoop 1/4 cup of the batter into each muffin liner. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center of a muffin comes out clean.

*I kept the blueberries frozen until I was ready to use them. Blueberries can be fragile and when putting them in fresh or thawed I find they usually break. 

Chocolate Chip Kahlúa Cupcakes

It's been a while since my last post. I know. I've been starting my journey into culinary school and have been so utterly consumed with contribution margins and sauce making I haven't had hardly any time to devote to my first love, this blog. Classes started June 25 and it's already time for midterms! I can't believe it. How time flies when you're actually doing what you were meant to do all along. I've really been enjoying learning the basics of cooking. There's so much to know, I'm not sure how my brain has managed to retain it all. But it's been a great challenge and I couldn't ask for a better opportunity and a better time in my life to seize it. It's a real blessing. I just can't wait to get into baking!

I've been in a rather big baking funk lately. Mostly due to the fact that my theory class is shoving so much non-baking info into my head, I don't have time to think about anything else except grand cuisine and the 4 components of a stock. However, I've been browsing Pinterest in my very, very, very limited spare time, when I'm not sleeping, and I found a little cupcake recipe I just had to try. It only makes 2 cupcakes! Perfect for me, right? I think so. It's just me and my roommate, we don't need a whole dozen. 

Want, yes. Need, no. Want... 

So I thought I'd try it, see what happens. Doesn't hurt and I'm only out a few ingredients if it fails. The blog featuring this wonderful petite recipe is, How Sweet It Is. It's a vanilla cake that looks terrific in the pictures she post but I found it to be rather dry. Maybe I made in error in the assembly process, or baked them to long. Regardless, I didn't care for them. I did however, care to add my own twist to the recipe. I thought that worked out fabulously. But then again I used a lot of chocolate and that can never really go wrong. 

It's a really simple recipe and I am definitely going to keep it on file. It's a good base recipe, perfect for testing new recipes. I'm so glad it worked out with the chocolate. I always say chocolate makes everything better. Way, way better in this case. 

Chocolate Chip Kahlúa Cupcakes w/ Chocolate Kahlúa Buttercream 

Cupcake recipe adapted from: One Bowl Vanilla Cupcakes For Two, How Sweet It Is

Yields 4 cupcakes

For the cupcakes:

1 whole egg

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 tablespoons melted butter

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 heaping teaspoon baking powder

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

pinch of salt

1 1/2 tablespoon Kahlúa Coffee Liqueur

1/4 cup Ghirardelli 60% cocoa dark chocolate chips

For the buttercream:

3 tablespoons room temperature unsalted butter

1 - 1 1/4 cup confectioners sugar

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 1/2 teaspoons Kahlúa Coffee Liqueur or until desired consistency 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. 

In a small mixing bowl beat together egg and sugar until just incorporated. Stir in the vanilla and butter. Add the flour, baking powder, cocoa and salt stirring until it’s just combined. Lastly, add the Kahlúa and the chocolate chips. 

Fill cupcake liners 1/2 - 3/4 full. 

Bake 7-9 minutes. 

Cool in pan for 2-3 minutes then transfer to a wire rack to finish. Let cool completely before frosting. 

Buttercream:

Beat the butter in a small mixing bowl until creamy. Slowly add confectioners sugar and cocoa.  Add Kahlúa gradually to achieve desired consistency. 

Oatmeal Banana Bread

Bad banana = yummy bread

Keeping up with the theme of things that go bad before I can use them I'd like to talk about this banana bread recipe I came across. I buy bananas mostly so I can make things with them. On their own I don't really like them. Therefore, I don't buy them often. My roommate had gotten some and I was in the kitchen making dinner one night and there they were sitting on the counter turning brown.

Usually, I wouldn't think anything of it and just toss them out but I was feeling crafty that day. I have a pretty good banana bread recipe I've used for years but I wanted something different. I've been thinking of ways to make recipes a little healthier. Lately healthier has been just to add a tablespoon of ground flaxseed into everything but that wasn't going to cut it this time. So I started googling recipes for banana bread that gave it a little power punch of better for you. There were all sorts of recipes out there and more so than not they called for oatmeal. I'd never thought to do that so I decided to give it a whirl.

That loaf of bread weighed like 5 pounds. But it was really good!

Mix your dry ingredients together and make a whole in the center of it all. 

Like a little well.

Next for the wet ingredients.

Mix those all together. 

Pour the wet ingredients into the center of the dry.

Mix it all up! 

Magic! 

It's all ready. 

Oatmeal Banana Bread

(Recipe courtesy of: www.food.com )

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup oats (I used old-fashioned)

1 cup mashed banana

1/3 buttermilk (I didn't have any, I used 2%)

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs, beaten

cooking spray or butter (I used butter)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray or butter an 8 x 4 inch loaf pan

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl

Combine banana, oil, milk, vanilla, and eggs in a small bowl or measuring cup

Pour wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and gently mix just until the dry ingredients are moistened

Spoon batter into prepared pan and bake for 55 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean

Cool on a wire rack, in the pan, for about 15 minutes

Remove bread from the pan and cool thoroughly on the rack

Or cut into it and slab some butter on it. That's what I did. I mean who wants to eat cold banana bread? Not me. I want it nice and hot with all kinds of melty butter. And again, my apologies for not having any after pictures but I ate a slice then ate it all... There would have been only crumbs. 

Also, for those of you truly health conscious people out there, if you click on the link above to go to the website you get all sorts of fun nutritional facts. So you can pretend to calorie count as you cut yourself another slice.