Broccoli and Mushroom Roll-ups

Any buttery flaky pastry gets infinitely better with a creamy filling in the center - be it something sweet like nutella, pastry cream; or savory like spinach & ricotta cheese. With pre-made pastry dough, delicious appetizer roll-ups can be whipped up in a snap! This time I used broccoli and mushrooms for the filling, and gave it a creamy component by mixing in some cream cheese. While broccoli and mushrooms are some of my favorite ingredients, you can follow the same steps with any other vegetables of your choice, ensuring that you’ve cooked out most of the moisture so it won’t leave the pastry soggy.

Ingredients: (Makes 8 pieces)

1 cup chopped broccoli florets

4 oz chopped mushrooms (~1.5 cups)

½ small onion - chopped

2 cloves of garlic - minced

1 tsp oil

Salt, black pepper to taste

2 oz cream cheese - can use low fat

1 tube of Crescent rolls (8 pieces) - can use reduced fat

Filling:

Heat oil over medium-high, add onions and garlic and saute for a minute. Add mushrooms and reduce them to about half, stirring occasionally. Add broccoli, season with salt & pepper, and saute for another minute. Turn the heat to low, add cream cheese and mix well. Take the pan off the heat once completely combined.

Assembly:

Preheat oven to 375 F (or as per package directions for the pastry).

Roll out the Crescent dough and gently tear apart each triangle. Add about a Tbsp of the filling at the wide edge and roll towards the other end. Press down on the seam to seal it.

Place the roll-ups on a greased baking sheet (or lined with parchment paper), and bake in preheated oven for ~12-15 minutes until golden brown. Serve warm.

~Gayatri

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Portobello Mushroom Strudel

I’m always looking for quick weeknight dinners, but throwing salads together, making sandwiches or an omelette quickly gets boring. However, with some time spent prepping on the weekend (and store bought pie crusts!) weeknight dinners can be a breeze. One such dish is a simple strudel. Here’s one of our recipes for a chicken strudel, and if you’d like a vegetarian version, follow along for a crispy but moist and cheesy strudel recipe using Portobello mushrooms, asparagus and spinach. The veggies can be cooked ahead of time and refrigerated to speed up the process. You could even assemble the strudel, cover it with plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge until ready to bake.

Ingredients:

1 small onion - chopped

8-10 asparagus stalks - chopped

2 cups packed fresh spinach - chopped

3 large portobello mushroom caps - sliced about ½ inch thick

4 tsp oil

Red wine vinegar or lemon juice (optional)

Salt, black pepper

1 pie crust

3 provolone cheese slices

Egg wash (optional)

Mix 1:1 parts water and beaten egg

Mushroom Sauce (optional)

~⅓ cup dehydrated wild mushrooms- soaked in hot water for half hour

1 tsp oil/ butter

2 tsp flour

¼ tsp thyme leaves

1.5 cups water/vegetable stock/milk

Salt, black pepper to taste

Spinach, asparagus mixture

Heat 1 tsp oil over medium high heat. Add the onions and garlic, cook until onions are translucent. Add the asparagus and spinach, season with salt and pepper and cook until spinach is wilted (1-2 min). Add lemon juice or vinegar, take off the heat and set aside.

Portobello mushroom slices

Slice the mushroom caps about ½ inch thick. Heat the remaining oil over medium heat. Place the mushroom slices in a single layer. Once they are browned on the bottom, turn them over. Add some lemon juice or vinegar if using, and let the mushroom cook until the other side is browned.

Assembling and baking the strudel

Preheat oven to 425 F.

Roll out the pie crust on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Using the back of a knife, gently mark vertical lines on the pie crust approximately dividing it in thirds. Using a sharp knife, make horizontal cuts on the outer sections as shown.

Place the cheese slices slightly overlapping each other in the middle third of the pie crust. Top it with the spinach asparagus mixture. Lay the portobello slices on top of the mixture.

Fold over the sides and press them together to seal. Seal the ends of the strudel, and brush the top with egg wash (optional).

Bake for 30-40 minutes until the top is browned.

Mushroom sauce

While the strudel is baking, prepare the mushroom sauce. Roughly chop the rehydrated mushrooms. Heat oil/butter over medium-low heat and add the mushrooms. Sauté for a minute, then add flour and cook, stirring continuously, for a couple minutes. Add the water that the mushrooms were soaked in (and/or vegetable stock or milk). Season with salt and pepper and let the sauce reduce to the consistency of your liking.

Slice the strudel and serve it topped with the mushroom sauce for extra deliciousness!

~Gayatri

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Portobellow mushroom, spinach and asparagus strudel with a creamy mushroom saucehttp://cooksofcakeandkindness.blogspot.com/2016/04/portobello-mushroom-strudel.html

Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Monday, April 11, 2016

Asian-style Noodle Bowl

I love steaming hot aromatic and delicious Asian broth bowls. However typically they come with a heavy dose of sodium. Not wanting to give up on a favorite and an otherwise healthy meal, I decided to take matters in my own hand and spend some time assembling all the ingredients for a delicious and low sodium Asian bowl. Turns out it wasn’t all that time consuming, and I was slurping my wonderful Asian meal in just about a half hour.

Fixings

Noodles: 1 packet brown rice noodles (or your favorite kind) - cooked

Garlic Mushrooms: Saute 6-8 oz mixed variety of mushrooms with 1 clove of garlic (minced). You don’t necessarily need to use any oil. I started by heating up the mushrooms and garlic with a pinch of salt in a covered non-stick pan. Let the mushrooms sweat for a minute, stir and continue to cook the same way for about 5 minutes. Use a little bit of orange juice or rice wine vinegar to deglaze the pan if required.

Broccoli with Cashews: Saute 1 cup of chopped broccoli with 6-8 roughly chopped cashews and a pinch of salt. I cooked this similar to the mushrooms without any oil and using vinegar to deglaze the pan.

Tofu: Cut 7 oz extra firm tofu into 1” slices. Squeeze out the liquid using paper towels and cut into cubes. Make a marinade with ¼ cup hot water, 1 tsp soy sauce, 1 tsp rice wine vinegar, 1 tsp honey, 2-3 tsp peanut butter. Soak the tofu in marinade and microwave on high for 6-8 minutes. With a nonstick pan on medium-high heat, cook the tofu in a single layer until browned on one side. Flip and cook the opposite side until browned.

Chopped carrots

Chopped green onions

2 Boiled eggs: Hard boil the eggs and cut them in half.

Lemon wedges

Broth: Heat 1.5-2 cups of low sodium vegetable broth (preferably homemade) over high heat. Add a thinly sliced clove of garlic, ½ tsp of grated ginger, 1-2 tsp soy sauce, 1-2 tsp rice wine vinegar, ¼ tsp crushed red pepper, salt to taste. Let the broth come to a boil and take it off the heat.

Assembly: Divide all the fixings into 2-4 bowls. Squeeze lemon juice on top. Add ⅓ - ¾ cup of hot broth to each bowl, and enjoy your flavorful steaming Asian bowl!

~Gayatri

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A healthy noodle bowl with a refreshingly aromatic Asian broth - easy to assemble with the fixings of your choice!http://cooksofcakeandkindness.blogspot.com/2016/01/asian-style-noodle-bowl.html

Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Wednesday, January 20, 2016

Pesto Cavatappi

My family and I frequent the restaurant Noodles & Co., and I always get their pesto cavatappi dish. The pasta is always cooked just right and the pesto so flavorful, I always leave feeling satisfied, and usually wanting more (since a good portion of my noodles always goes to my 2-year-old!). The dish is pretty simple - noodles covered in pesto with some mushroom and tomato chunks thrown in - so I decided to try recreating it myself. This way I could personalize it with my own pesto and by increasing the amount of tomatoes and mushrooms, making it a bit more nutritious. There’s also the added benefit of homemade being a little easier on the wallet :)

Ingredients: (makes 6-8 servings)

~1 cup basil pesto (recipe here)

½ lb mushrooms (I used baby portobello, but any will do)

3-4 tomatoes (I’m partial to Roma tomatoes)

½ lb cavatappi pasta (may also be referred to as cellentani or fusilli rigati) - of course, any other pasta will work as well

1-2 TBSP canola or olive oil

Black pepper, garlic (ground or minced) to taste

Slice the mushrooms and roughly chop the tomatoes. Heat oil in a large pan over medium heat. Sauté mushrooms and tomatoes, seasoning with pepper and garlic.

In a large pot, cook pasta per instructions. Once pasta is al dente, drain the water. Mix in the sautéed tomatoes and mushrooms. Stir in pesto a little at a time until desired flavor is reached.

Serve up as-is or as a complement to your favorite protein, such as Parmesan-crusted chicken, pictured above.

~Karla

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Spirally pesto pasta goodness!http://cooksofcakeandkindness.blogspot.com/2015/11/pesto-cavatappi.html

Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Monday, November 9, 2015

Asian Lasagna

A few years ago, we cooked a ‘mostly vegetarian’ Thanksgiving meal, with the star of our dinner being a zucchini lasagna. The Parmesan-vegetable sauce blanketing layers of zucchini, topped with mozzarella cheese was just what we needed for a scrumptious Thanksgiving meal. If prepped properly, the vegetables don’t get soggy, and form beautiful layers. Its a great substitute for pasta if you want a lighter, healthier lasagna.

This recipe is a similar preparation, but with an Asian twist! I used extra firm tofu along with vegetables - its the best thing to soak up all the amazing flavors from the marinade and the vegetables, and it firms up as it bakes making the texture quite delectable.

Ingredients (For a 9x13 baking pan: ~10 servings)

For the layers

1 large eggplant

3 small-medium zucchini squash (I used 2 green + 1 yellow)

1 medium carrot

3-4 radishes

14 oz (or more) extra firm tofu

For the sauce

16 oz mushrooms (finely chopped - I used food processor)

5-6 green onions (separate the onion bulb from the shoots and slice the onion part for the sauce, reserving the shoots for marinade and/or garnish; Can also use regular onion chopped)

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 tsp grated ginger (or ginger powder)

1 tsp sesame oil (or olive oil)

2 Tbsp soy sauce

1-2 tsp balsamic vinegar

1 tsp honey

For marinade (Adjust ingredients to taste if required)

1/4 cup soy sauce

1/4 cup water

1/2 tbsp balsamic vinegar

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 tsp grated ginger

1 tsp honey

sliced green onions (optional)

Prepping the veggies for layering:

This step is required to remove excess water from the vegetables so that they don’t get soggy while baking. It can be done in a pan on the stovetop, or in the oven. Since the volume was quite high, I decided to use the oven for this.

Slice the eggplant about ⅛ - ¼ inch thick. Sprinkle with some salt and lay them on paper towels. Put some weight on eggplant slices to let some of the moisture drain out.

Slice the zucchini ⅛ - ¼ inch thick. I decided not to slice them lengthwise, but that would also work. Sprinkle with just a little bit of salt.

Spread out the eggplant and zucchini in a single layer on a baking sheet if possible (it’s okay if it overlaps though). Preheat oven to 400 F and roast the eggplant and zucchini for ~20 minutes until they are a little tender (they will cook more later, so don’t keep them in too long).

Thinly slice the carrots and radishes.

Prepping the tofu:

While the veggies are roasting, drain and squeeze the block of tofu; cut it into ¼ inch slices. I like to squeeze out water one more time after slicing. Mix all the marinade ingredients, and let the tofu soak in the marinade for ~20-30 minutes.

Making the sauce:

Heat sesame oil on medium heat, add the onions, ginger, garlic. Saute for a minute, then add the mushrooms and cook uncovered stirring frequently till the moisture from the mushrooms is reduced. Add soy sauce, vinegar, and honey, adjusting to taste. The sauce shouldn’t be very liquidy.

Assembling:

Line a baking dish (I used a 9x13 pan) with aluminum foil (it’s okay not to, just makes cleanup easier). Spread a thin layer of the mushroom sauce on the bottom. Lay down marinated tofu in a single layer, followed by a layer of eggplant slices. Top that with a layer of zucchini, another thin layer of mushroom sauce, and then the carrots and radishes. Repeat layering the eggplant-zucchini-sauce-carrots-radishes until you run out (I got 2 layers). Top with the remaining tofu (I was just short of a complete layer). Spoon over about ¼-⅓ cup of the leftover marinade evenly on top.

Baking!

Bake in preheated oven (400 F) for 25-30 min until all the vegetables are cooked through and there aren’t any noticeable pools of liquid.

Remove from the oven, let it stand for a few minutes, then slice and serve topped with more marinade if desired.

Serving suggestion:

I served this Asian lasagna with a simple coleslaw salad tossed with a lemon-ginger dressing. However, it would go very well with rice or noodles. The marinade is quick and easy to make, and can be used as a sauce for the noodles or rice.

~Gayatri

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Asian Lasagna - layers of goodness!http://cooksofcakeandkindness.blogspot.com/2015/08/asian-lasagna.html

Posted by The Cooks of Cake and Kindness on Thursday, August 6, 2015

Spinach Mushroom Lasagna

Lasagna is one of those deliciously cheesy, belly-filling Italian meals that I crave every so often, but don’t necessarily want to take time to make - it can be a lengthy process! However, if you prepare ingredients in stages, making a lasagna can be a piece of (layered) cake :-)

Ingredients: (makes 9-12 servings)

1 lb mushrooms, sliced

3 chicken breasts

~1½-2 cups milk (I used skim)

~1 cup Parmesan cheese, shredded or grated

~½ lb spinach (I used fresh, but you can use frozen - make sure it is thawed and drained)

~¼-½ cup flour (I used whole wheat)

~¼-½ cup finely chopped onions (I used dried - adjust according to preference)

~3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

~12oz lasagna noodles

minced garlic or garlic powder, paprika, salt and black pepper to taste

canola oil for cooking

The chicken, and even the sauce, can be prepared a day or two ahead of time.

To make the sauce:

Saute mushrooms, onion, and garlic in oil over medium heat. Add flour and roast for a few minutes, then slowly stir in milk, breaking lumps if they’re formed. Add parmesan cheese and spinach and let cook for a few minutes to thicken. Adjust milk/flour/cheese quantities as desired for preferred thickness.

To cook chicken on stove-top:

Using 1-2 TBSP oil, pan-fry chicken breast over medium heat for 5-6 minutes on each side. Once cooked, shred chicken, then return to pan and season with paprika, garlic powder, and ground pepper to taste.

To cook chicken in the oven:

Place chicken breast in a lined, greased baking pan. Season with paprika, garlic powder, and ground pepper. Grease one side of a sheet of parchment paper, then place parchment paper greased-side-down over the chicken. Tuck the edges down into the pan so that it is snug around the chicken and the chicken is completely covered with parchment paper. Bake at 400F for 35-40 minutes. Let cool for a few minutes, then slice or chop.

Assembly:

Prepare lasagna noodles according to package.

In a deep baking pan, spread a thin layer of sauce. Put down a layer of noodles, then a layer of shredded/chopped chicken followed by sauce, then sprinkle mozzarella cheese. Repeat until the chicken is used up, making sure to reserve some sauce. You should have a final top layer of noodles. Cover with remaining sauce, and top with remaining mozzarella cheese.

Bake finished lasagna for 35-45 minutes at 375 F until heated through and the cheese on top has melted.

Let cool for a few minutes, then slice and enjoy!

~Karla

Italian One-derpot

This one-pot wonder is inspired by this lovely post on budget recipes. As you can see, I’ve slightly modified the name :-). I’ve also made some other adjustments (addition of mushrooms, whole grain noodles, different cheese, etc.) and this has turned into a fabulously versatile pasta dish!

Ingredients: (about 14-16 servings)

4 cups vegetable stock (I used store-bought, but you can make your own or substitute water, adjusting seasoning accordingly)

~1 cup water

~2 TBSP canola oil

12 oz. fettuccini noodles (or whole grain linguini noodles) - uncooked

~8 oz. fresh or frozen spinach

28 oz. diced tomatoes (I typically use one each of a 14oz can diced tomatoes and a 14oz can petite diced tomatoes, with no salt added)

1 medium onion, roughly chopped

~8 oz. mushrooms, sliced

4 cloves garlic (adjust amount to your liking)

Italian spices to taste (use as many or as few as you wish), ~1 tsp each: dried basil, dried oregano, rosemary, thyme, sage, marjoram (adjust amount per your preference)

ground black pepper

freshly grated Parmesan cheese

Pour the vegetable stock + 1 cup water into a large pot and add the canola oil. Add uncooked noodles to the pot, breaking them in half for easier mixing. Add tomatoes, onion, mushroom, garlic, and other seasonings. (Note: if you prefer less crunchy onions, you can saute them for about 5 minutes first, then add the rest of the ingredients.)

Make sure the ingredients are mostly submerged and cover the pot with a lid before bringing to a boil on high. Once a full, rolling boil has been achieved, remove lid and turn the heat down to medium.

Add the frozen spinach and return to a boil. Continue to boil over medium heat, sans lid, for about 10-15 minutes, until the pasta is cooked. Stir occasionally to prevent the pasta from sticking to the bottom or sides.

When ready to serve, top with the freshly grated Parmesan cheese if desired.

This pasta marvel can be served up as-is, or along with Parmesan-crusted chicken:

~Karla

Note: I usually underestimate just how much food this recipe makes, so even after a couple of dinners and sharing with friends, I’ve been able repurpose the leftovers in a delicious chicken-pasta bake (put pasta into a lined baking pan, add cooked chopped chicken breast, top with shredded mozzarella cheese and bake at 350F for ½ hour):