Caramelized Onion and Jalapeño Waffles with Radish Salad

This recipe comes from a kind of odd cookbook Justin picked up that we haven't really cooked much out of yet.  It's a lot of ingredients, and involves a lot more prep work than I'd normally choose for a recipe, but I was intrigued by the concept of onions and herbs in waffles.  It is amazingly tasty and very filling- though the kids wouldn't touch the strange looking green-speckled waffles   I did most of the prep work of chopping onions, zesting and juicing the lemon, mincing herbs, etc. beforehand, which actually made it a lot easier to throw it all together later that day.  My toddler has a higher spice tolerance than I do, so we only used 1/2 the jalapeño the first time we made it, since I was afraid of the heat, but these waffles weren't really spicy at all, so when we made them another time around, we put in the the whole one and it worked just fine.  We also originally served the salad next to the waffles rather than on top of them, since I was uncertain about putting a salad on top of a waffle.

It turns out that they go together very well, and the salad actually isn't weird on top as you might think.  I actually prefer it that way now, but if you're uncertain, you can certainly feel free to put it on the side.  The flavor of the lemon cream went perfectly with both the salad and the waffles. This was a very rich recipe- Justin and I could only eat one waffle plus a serving of salad each.

Ingredients:
For Waffles:
3 Tbsp unsalted butter
2 yellow onions, finely diced
1 jalapeño chille, seeded and minced
3 Tbsp champagne or sparkling wine or preferred non-alcoholic substitute
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup mixed minced fresh herbs (we used parsley, thyme, and cilantro)
1-1/2 Tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1-1/2 cups milk
2 eggs
1/3 cup melted ghee (clarified butter)

For Lemon Cream Sauce:
1 cup sour cream
1/4 cup milk
grated zest of 1 lemon
5 Tbsp lemon juice
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar

For Radish Salad
8 oz mixed salad greens
2 bunches radishes, trimmed and thinly sliced
3 green onions, including light green parts, finely chopped
5 Tbsp lemon juice
2 Tbsp olive oil
1-1/2 tsp dijon mustard
salt and pepper to taste

Garnish (optional):  4 oz smoked salmon, chopped (we didn't use this the first time around, given that smoked salmon is pretty expensive.  The waffles and salad were definitely very tasty even without it... but we decided to splurge and buy the smoked salmon the next time around... it was amazing).

Instructions:
To caramelize onions, melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat.  Add onions and jalapeño and cook until onions are caramelized, about 8-10 minutes.  Add wine substitute and simmer until thoroughly reduced and set aside.

Meanwhile, for lemon cream sauce, mix all ingredients together in a medium mixing bowl, cover and refrigerate.

For salad, toss together greens, radishes and onions in a largish mixing bowl.  In a small nonmetal bowl, mix together lemon juice, olive oil, mustard and salt and pepper.  Whisk to blend.  Cover and refrigerate until just before serving salad.

To make waffles, combine flour, herbs, baking powder, pepper and salt.  Stir to blend.  In a separate bowl, combine milk, eggs, and melted ghee and whisk thoroughly.  Fold wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until just moistened and rather lumpy.  Fold in caramelized onions.  This will be a <i>very</i> lumpy batter.

Cook as per your waffle iron instructions.

To serve, mix salad with dressing.  Place a small amount of salad on top of waffle (or next to the waffle, if you're not sure about putting the greens on top) and drizzle everything with lemon cream.  Garnish with the chopped up smoked salmon, if using- which I highly recommend doing. :)

Creamy Cauliflower Cashew Pasta

Cauliflower is all the rage on Pinterest these days, and since Alfredo is not exactly healthy, Justin and I had actually tried a cauliflower pasta sauce some months back.  While it was decent, it wasn't really amazing, and I wasn't really motivated to revisit the concept anytime soon.  Still, when I saw this Cauliflower Cashew Bake from Eat Within Your Means show up in my Pinterest feed, I was intrigued by the addition of cashews to the sauce, and I figured I'd give cauliflower sauce another shot.  I'm glad I did!  This recipe was incredibly easy to throw together, and when served with some potatoes and frozen mixed vegetables, was actually really satisfying as a dinner entree, which some meatless dishes we've tried haven't always succeeded at.  When Justin first tasted it, he didn't even realize it was cauliflower instead of regular Alfredo.  Also, it made a ton of leftovers, which is always a useful thing.

Ingredients:
1 head of cauliflower
6 cloves of garlic
1/2 cup raw cashews
1-1/2 teaspoons salt
1-1/2 cups milk (the original recipe actually calls for using non-dairy milk or water)
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
A pinch of freshly ground nutmeg, optional
16 oz. macaroni noodles or other pasta shape
1 cup crunchy casserole topping of your choice (I used Italian seasoned bread crumbs)

Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350º and put a large stock pot of water on to boil.  While this is heating up, wash off the cauliflower, and break the cauliflower into large florets.  Put the cauliflower, cashews, and garlic cloves into the boiling water and cook for 5-6 minutes.  Using a slotted spoon, take the cauliflower pieces, cashews and garlic out and put it in a blender.  Add the macaroni to the boiling water, and cook according to the directions on the box.  Add the salt, milk, pepper, and nutmeg to the blender and puree until creamy.  Start with 1-1/2 cups of milk, and add more (up to 1/2 cup more) if it seems too thick- mine was just fine at 1-1/2 cups, but I like a thicker sauce.  Once the pasta has finished cooking, drain and add to a 9x13 baking dish and stir in the cauliflower sauce.  Sprinkle your casserole topping on top and bake at 350º for 15 minutes (If the topping is not browned on top, you can place it under the broiler for a minute or two, but mine was just fine).

Italian Turkey Sausage and Portobello Mushroom Crepes

Back when I was in college, I really liked to make crepes.  They're cheap, you can fill them with all kinds of things, and it's easy to make a ton all at once and store them- kind of like tortillas, except cheaper- and probably less healthy.  At one point, I even actually compiled a list of links to crepe filling recipes on my written blog, but I never actually got around to trying most of them.  I was going through some of my old LiveJournal entries a while back, looking for something else entirely, when I ran into the crepe filling recipes and was intrigued by the sausage-portobello filling, and decided to give it a try.  The recipe linked in that post is rather muddled, with the instruction telling you to add things that aren't not in the ingredients list, so I ended up basing my recipe only loosely on that one, but the end result was fantastic.  Justin and I both loved it.  If you want to start out with actual Italian sausage, you can feel free to do so and save yourself a little bit of work- I just used turkey sausage and added spices, since Walmart was sold out of most brands of Italian sausage, making the turkey sausage cheaper at the time that I bought it.

For the Crepes:
4 eggs
3 cups milk
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar

In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs with a whisk.  Add milk, flour, oil and sugar; beat until well mixed.  Heat a lightly greased very small skillet, and add 2-4 Tbsp of batter; lift and tilt the skillet to spread the batter all across the bottom.  Return skillet to heat; brown, flip over, and briefly cook the other side (kind of like pancakes, except much thinner).  You'll be spending a goodly amount of time at the stove cooking the crepes- if you've got 2 small skillets you can actually get 2 pans going at once.  Meanwhile, while the crepes are cooking, work on making up the filling as follows:

To turn Turkey Sausage into Italian Sausage:
1 lb turkey sausage
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp dried parsley
1 tsp dried Italian seasoning
1/2 tsp garlic powder
Dash dried red pepper flakes
1 tsp fennel, crushed (I used Justin's mortar and pestle to just crush it up a bit- not ground too fine)
1/4 tsp paprika
1/2 tsp minced dried onion
1 tsp salt

Put the sausage and all the spices into a medium sized saucepan and cook for 10-12 minutes or until the sausage is well browned.  

For the Filling:
2 Tbsp butter
2 Portobello mushroom caps, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 green onions, chopped
1/4 cup flour
1/2 cup heavy cream
browned Italian sausage

In a medium-large saucepan, melt the butter and add the mushrooms, garlic, and onions.  Cook until the mushrooms release their liquid, around 5 minutes.  Add the browned sausage and cook until heated through.  Add the flour, and mix thoroughly, then add the cream, and cook until thickened and bubbly.

Easy Roasted Potatoes

This potato recipe is quick and easy to toss in the oven while I cook something on the stove top.  I adapted it slightly from one in our awesome Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook.

Ingredients:
2 lb potatoes (about 6), scrubbed and quartered (you could also peel them, but they end up slightly crispier with the peels on)
1/4 cup olive oil
onion powder
garlic salt
pepper
paprika
Chinese 5 spice mix

Directions:
Preheat oven to 450º.  Place quartered potatoes in a 7.5 x 11" baking pan and drizzle olive oil over the top.  Sprinkle heavily with spices to taste.  Stir up the potatoes to coat them all over with oil and spices.  Bake at 450º for 15 minutes, stir, and bake 15 minutes more, or until potatoes are tender and brown on the edges.

Fettuccine with Creamy Pesto Sauce

Creamy Pesto Pasta is something that Justin and I have been making for quite a long time- we originally came across it as a way to use up all the basil we were getting from our little flower pot garden.  Most recently we've made it using beet pasta, but it still works as a fantastic recipe with regular fettuccine as well.  Also, it works even better as leftovers than it does the first day, as the flavor of the herbs gets a chance to really work its way into the pasta.  One of our favorite homemade pasta sauces for sure.

Ingredients:
16 oz dried penne, rotini, or fettuccini
1/2 cup chopped fresh basil or 8 tsp dried (but trust me- it tastes better with the fresh)
8 cloves garlic, minced
2 Tbsp olive oil
8 oz pkg cream cheese or Neufchâtel
1 cup cottage cheese
2/3 cup grated parmesan cheese
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 Tbsp white grape juice concentrate
2 Tbsp white wine vinegar (If you feel like following the recipe more directly, you can use 1/4 cup white wine instead of the vinegar and grape juice concentrate, but it still turns out very well with the alcohol substitute)
1/2 cup water

Directions:
Cook pasta according to package directions until al dente.  Drain and keep warm.
Meanwhile, for sauce, cook basil and garlic in hot oil for about 30 seconds.  Reduce heat.  Add cream cheese, cottage cheese, and parmesan cheese.  heat and stir until nearly smooth.  Stir in parsley, wine or juice concentrate and vinegar, and water.  Cook, uncovered, for 3 minutes.  Add milk or water if necessary to reach desired consistency (we've never added it).  Serve sauce over pasta.

Broiled Corn (aka Crispy Kernels of Glee)

Some time back, I was browsing Pinterest and came upon instructions for how to broil frozen corn and turn it into "perfectly roasted little corn kernel babies of crispy glee."  The original link actually went to a recipe for Shrimp Minestrone, which is not really my thing, but I was intrigued enough by the concept of roasting corn in the oven that I figured I'd try it as a side dish, and it actually turned out really well.  It's a quick vegetable side that I can whip up as I'm setting the table for dinner, and my 2-year-old loves it.  I usually make this with canned corn, since we can get the corn for cheaper at a case lot sale than buying frozen corn, but I'll admit that the frozen corn does end up a tad crispier, and doesn't have the mild "from a can" undertone to the flavor that always seems to be there whenever you use canned vegetables in a recipe.

Ingredients:
1 can corn, well drained, or 1 cup frozen corn (no need to thaw beforehand)
1 Tbsp olive oil
Spices to taste: We usually do salt (not much with the canned corn!), pepper, onion powder, garlic powder, paprika and Chinese 5 spice mix- but you can feel free to experiment and find a combination you like!

Place the corn on a broiler-safe baking sheet.  Drizzle olive oil on top and sprinkle with spices, then mix together until corn is coated, and spread it out on the sheet.  Broil in your oven, stirring occasionally, until corn is golden and starting to become crispy- 5-10 minutes for frozen corn or for 15 or so for canned corn. 

Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables

With school starting back up earlier this month (one last semester to go!), we've been trying to get into a brand new schedule.  I really like recipes like this Baked Penne with Roasted Vegetables for busy times like this.  Not only is it fairly healthy and really tasty, it also makes a TON of leftovers for our little family- the very full 9x13 pan lasts us 3 meals- so I have a couple days after making it that I don't have to worry about getting dinner on the table. 

Ingredients:

2 red peppers, cut into 1-inch strips
2 zucchini, quartered and sliced
2 yellow squash, quartered and sliced
4 mushrooms (the recipe calls for cremini mushrooms, but we can't always find those- plain white button mushrooms work fine)

1 yellow onion, peeled and sliced into 1-inch strips
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt, divided

1 teaspoon ground black pepper, divided
1 tablespoon Italian seasoning

1 pound penne pasta
3 cups marinara sauce

1 cup grated fontina cheese
1/2 cup grated mozzarella cheese
1 1/2 cups frozen peas, thawed
1/4 cup grated Parmesan, plus 1/3 cup for on top
2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces

Note:  The original recipe actually calls for smoked mozzarella.  I'm sure that would would be absolutely amazing in this recipe, but I've never managed to find any.  Additionally, fontina can be very hit and miss in our ability to find.  When we can't find fontina for the recipe, we just use 1-1/2 cups regular mozzarella, and it's still a really tasty dish.

Preheat oven to 450º

Place the peppers, zucchini, squash, mushrooms, onion on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, 1/2 tsp of the salt, 1/2 tsp of the pepper, and Italian seasoning.  Mix until the veggies are coated and bake for 15 minutes.

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil.  Cook the penne in the water for about 6 minutes- since you'll be cooking the pasta further in the oven, you'll want to be sure that it's not fully cooked, or your pasta will end up mushy.  Drain the penne in a colander.  

In a large bowl (or in the same stock pot you used to boil the penne), gently mix together the vegetables, pasta, marinara, 1/2 tsp salt, 1/2 tsp pepper, cheeses, and peas.  Pour into a greased 9 x 13 pan and top with remaining 1/3 cup Parmesan and butter pieces.  Bake at 450º for about 25 minutes, or until top is golden.