Ali Cooks Quinoa with Pesto, Tomatoes, & Corn

It's 2016.  This is my first official post of the new year.  Also, I started this blog in 2013.  So I've been a 'home cook' for a little while now, and that's kinda cool.

Below is my first dinner of 2016.  It's reminiscent of other delicious quinoa experiments I've made before, but I'm not sure I've done the pesto/broth combination (quite a tasty concoction).

Resolutions, you ask?  Eh.  I ultimately want to be more positive.  2015 was a hard year.  Despite the unquestionable 'downs' of the past year, I'd like my attitude to reflect a whole lot of 'ups.'  Sure, 2016 has the same potential to be rough overall.  But my attitude determines my contentment, and I'm ready to turn things around.  There is so much for me to be thankful for from the past year--Bailey, new job, a new apartment, officially living with Brian permanently, a new car...  So I'll take all of that good fortune and complain a lot less this year.

Oh--but Brian, if you're reading this, I'm still totally going to complain about things when I'm tired.  So don't get any ideas!  ;)

Quinoa with Pesto, Tomatoes, & Corn

*Adapted from AvocadoPesto.com

Ingredients:

3/4 cup uncooked quinoa

1 1/4 cups vegetable broth

3 Tbs pesto

1 bunch of green onion, diced

1 1/2 cups frozen corn

1/2 pint cherry tomatoes, halved or quartered

2 Tbs olive oil

Splash of cooking wine

1/2 tsp paprika

Pepper

Instructions:

In a pot heat the olive oil and add the quinoa.  Cook, stirring frequently until the quinoa is lightly toasted, approximately 3-4 minutes. Add the broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat and simmer, covered, for 15-20 minutes or until quinoa is cooked through.  Pour into a mixing bowl and add 1 1/2 tablespoons of the pesto to the quinoa.  Mix well and set aside, covered.

In a saucepan heat the corn with some cooking wine.  Cook 2-3 minutes and then add the tomatoes and green onion,  Continue to cook 3-4 minutes and then add the remaining pesto.  Reduce the heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally. Add the paprika and pepper.

Spoon the quinoa mixture back into the pan and stir to warm everything together.  Serve hot or cold.

Ali Bakes: Peanut Butter S'mores Bars

These little demons are DELICIOUS.  And yes, the 'demons' are the s'mores bars.

They're demons.  Because I want to eat them all.  They're demons.  Because eating them all would give me a stomachache.  (I have been able to control the demonic urges thus far, but it has been downright difficult.)

And I must say that these s'mores bars were EASY.  Yes, very truly.  And way easier than I thought.  (Don't ask me why I thought they'd be challenging...I just did!)

Now, I could up my game and make them a little more difficult by making homemade marshmallows (which I've never done before, but I know it's possible because Brian has done it before).  I'm wondering this:  would it be hard to pull off MINI homemade marshmallows?  Not really ever having worked with homemade mallows before, I may need to find out some time...

But for now, I bought mini marshmallows.  Speaking of which, I have a ton leftover and need to find a use for them...hmmm....

*Side note:  I'm just now realizing that I was supposed to use A LOT more marshmallows than I did...whoops.  I think I was supposed to use somewhere around 5 CUPS instead of the 1 cup I used.  Again...whoops.

Peanut Butter S'mores Bars

*Adapted from IdleWife.Blogspot.com

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs

3 Tbs sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup butter, melted + 1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup peanut butter

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup (or more) mini marshmallows

Instructions:

Grease an 8x8 or 9x9 rectangular baking dish and set aside.  In a bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and salt together.  Add the melted butter and stir until the graham cracker crumbs are thoroughly moistened.  Press the mixture evenly into the prepared baking dish and set aside.

In a medium sized pot, melt the margarine and peanut butter together.  Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate chips until they've completely melted into the peanut butter mixture.  Allow the mixture to cool to the point where you can comfortably place your hand on the bottom of the pot (be careful not to touch it too soon).  Add the marshmallows and stir to coat.  Spread the masrhmallow mixture evenly over the graham cracker crust and put the whole thing in the fridge until fully set. Cut into squares, and enjoy!  It's best to keep these refrigerated.

Ali Cooks: Jalapeno & Cheese Taquitos

What an upside-down week.

The strange thing:  I can't exactly pinpoint WHY my week is so all-around out of the ordinary.  It's probably because of a lot of little things that are adding up and making my head hurt.

Not completely in a bad way.  A lot of the things are just regular reminders that I'm an adult.

When I was being an adult this weekend, I thoroughly enjoyed it.  I mean, when do I NOT enjoy cooking/baking in my kitchen?!  (Except for kitchen injuries...which have been happening more frequently than I'd like lately!)

Sunday's kitchen ventures produced taquitos.  I was actually quite proud of myself because they crisped up nicely when frying--something I've never been able to achieve before.  The only issue was that I did not wait for the tortillas to heat up enough for the first one I attempted and it fell apart when I rolled it.  Other than that, the rest were great!  (Although I totally didn't use enough cheese.  HOW COULD I?!)

My challenge to any readers out there:  come up with or suggest a yummy sauce for these taquitos!  They could use a little something else...

Jalapeno & Cheese Taquitos

*Adapted from CouponClippingCook.com

Ingredients:

12 corn tortillas

2+ cups of grated cheese (you choose the variety!)

2 jalapeno peppers, seeded and thinly sliced lengthwise (about 12 slices per jalapeno)

½ cup vegetable oil (amount may vary depending on the size of the pan)

Green onion, chopped

Instructions:

Arrange the tortillas on a baking sheet and heat in a preheated oven just enough for them to become soft and flexible. Sprinkle a handful of cheese horizontally on the tortilla about a 1/4 of the way from the edge that is closest to you.  Add a strip of jalapeno on each side of the cheese, along with a sprinkling of green onion and fold the left and right sides of the tortilla in toward the cheese and jalapenos.  As tightly as possible, roll the tortilla to form a taquito.

Heat a medium size skillet on medium heat and add the canola oil.

 Let the oil heat for a couple
minutes and then add the taquitos to the pan with the fold side down.  When the bottom sides of the taquitos turn a golden color, turn them over to the other side.  Continue to turn them over until all sides are a golden color. Transfer the taquitos to a plate with a cloth to drain of any excess oil.  Serve while hot.

Ali Cooks: Spinach & Spaghetti Frittata

Brian's in trouble.  (Kinda but not really.)  Yesterday I really wanted pasta.  And let me tell you, the guy can make a YUMMY dish of buttery, parmesan-y, spiced pasta.  However, Brian worked during dinnertime yesterday.

My solution:  "Brian, leave me a recipe for how you make the pasta dish, and I'll give it a shot myself."

What really happened:  He forgot.

So...I was forced to dig up my own dinner recipe--which was still fun and quite delicious.  And actually, I would recommend anyone making this to consider adding a little milk/cream and some more spices/herbs.  The sky's the limit!

Spinach & Spaghetti Frittata

*Adapted from TheKitchn.com

Ingredients:

Butter (to grease pan)

Olive oil (to saute)

Green onion

2 large handfuls of spinach

Red pepper flakes

5 large eggs

Salt

Pepper

3/4 cup grated cheese

1 cup cooked spaghetti

Instructions:

Grease a square baking pan and preheat the oven to 400°F.

Warm some olive oil in a skillet over medium heat.  Add the spinach and chopped green onion, followed by some salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes.  Cook until the spinach starts to wilt and then cover and turn off the heat.

Beat the eggs until well-mixed and frothy.  Add some salt, a few cracks of pepper, and the cheese to the beaten eggs.  Arrange the spaghetti evenly on the bottom of the buttered baking dish and top with the spinach mixture.  Pour the egg mixture over everything.

Bake for 15 minutes, until the eggs are set, the casserole is beginning to turn golden around the edges, and a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean.

Ali Cooks: Whiskey Spiked Cranberry Sauce

Thanksgiving (yesterday) was an all-around good day.  Except there are two foods that are pretty important for me to feel like Thanksgiving is 'complete.'  One is squash.  Ideally, butternut squash, but really any squash works as long as it's not yams/sweet potatoes.  (I don't really like those.)  I was a happy Ali yesterday when Brian's dad brought roasted root veggies (to include squash!!!) to the Thanksgiving meal yesterday.  I was halfway to my happy place.

What's the other half?  You got it--cranberry sauce!  I've never actually made it from scratch before, but I've always been told it's super-easy.  However, I wasn't going to bust out my frozen cranberries until I first checked that Brian's relatives didn't have cranberry sauce.  I was actually kinda excited that they weren't served because that meant that it was experimentation time once I got home!

And experiment I did...except I considered the fact that Brian does NOT like cranberries, so I offered that I make the cranberry sauce with whiskey or red wine (both recipes of which I had discovered earlier that day).  He of course chose whiskey, and even bought a fresh bottle!  (But of course the remaining is not his to enjoy.)

Brian did taste the cranberry sauce but is still not a fan of cranberries.  I will happily indulge in the rest of the delicious relish, but I'm kinda sad he doesn't share my love of the tart little berry.

Ah well!  Take a little time out of your day and spike your cranberries so that you can join me in my cranberry delight!

Whiskey Spiked Cranberry Sauce

*Adapted from MeAndTheClams.com

Ingredients:

12oz fresh or thawed cranberries

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup whiskey

cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, & allspice to taste

Instructions:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, then add the cranberry mix to a small casserole dish or pan.  Bake for at least 60 minutes, until the berries barely hold their form. Enjoy warm or allow to firm up in the fridge.  Easy and delicious!

Ali Bakes: Reese's Crunch Cookies

Would you believe I had an opportunity to bake with Nutella and I chose NOT to?!

Yes, tis true.  See, I really truly do love Nutella.  BUT I have come to realize that there are plenty of other emerging spreads at the grocery store that could provide some variety to my typical Nutella go-to.  So I left the choice up to Brian--and he chose the Reese's peanut butter chocolate spread.

Yes, it was a good choice as it is DELICIOUS.  I restrained myself from actually digging into the jar, but I have the below cookies to allow me to indulge in the deliciousness.

Brian's my taste-tester, and he's at work til late tonight...so I guess I'll get the official evaluation tomorrow!

Reese's Crunch Cookies

*Adapted from RockRecipes.com

Ingredients:

½ cup butter

½ cup Reese's spread or Nutella

½ cup white sugar

½ cup brown sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

1⅓ cups flour

⅓ cup cocoa

1 tsp baking soda

½ tsp salt

1 cup chopped nuts

Instructions:

Cream together the sugars, Reese's spread, and butter until light and fluffy.

Add the egg and vanilla and continue to beat well.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt in a separate bowl.  Add to the butter/sugar mixture and fold until a dough forms.

Roll the dough into one inch balls and dunk one half of the ball into the chopped nuts.

Place the dough balls onto a greased baking sheet about three inches apart.  

Bake the cookies for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. Do not over bake or the cookies will be brittle (and nobody wants that!!!).

Want one?  ;)

Ali Cooks: Veggie Lasagna

This dish was a labor of LOVE!  Holy moly, I've been in the kitchen for hours making homemade bread, brownie bites, AND a lasagna.  Delicious lasagna was the final product of the day and made a yummy, vegetarian dinner for me to start off my week and to eat all week for dinner.

Now...if only I could get Brian to take a bite...  ;)

Veggie Lasagna

*Adapted from CollectingMemories.blogspot.com

Ingredients:

10 lasagna no boil noodles
1 cup ricotta cheese
1 1/2 cup gouda cheese, grated
1 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, grated
2 eggs
6 stalks green onion
1 1/2 cups mushrooms
1 bell pepper
2 small/medium carrots
1 can diced tomatoes
1/3 cup ketchup
1 tsp mustard 
1/4 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp salt
Dried thyme, paprika, & oregano to taste
1 Tbs olive oil
~1/2 cup water

Instructions:

In a bowl, mix together the ricotta cheese, 3/4 of the mozzarella and 3/4 of the gouda cheese (leave some for sprinkling the top).  Add in the lightly beaten eggs and seasonings and set the mixture aside.

Chop the green onion, mushrooms, carrots, and bell pepper.

Heat the oil in a saucepan and saute the carrots for 5 minutes. Add the bell pepper,mustard, salt/pepper, and as much water as needed.  Stew until the carrots become softer but not too soft (the vegetables shouldn't be dry but there also shouldn't be too much liquid)!  Add the ketchup, diced tomatoes, and mushrooms.  Mix everything well.



In a greased baking dish, add a little sauce and place lasagna noodles evenly on top.  Put some cheese mixture on top, spreading it out.  Repeat this 3 or 4 times (it depends on your dish size).  Sprinkle the top with cheese.


Bake in 350 degree preheated oven for an hour.  Let sit for a few minutes, then EAT!