Vegetarian Enchiladas with Sour Cream Sauce

What do you do when you’re stressed out from school/work or having a really bad day? Well, I generally bake :-)… shopping helps too, but baking is always better! So yesterday, after arguing with my apartment management folks to no avail (didn’t know carpet cleaning could be so complicated!), I came home and decided to bake. I was thinking of making a simple chocolate cake, but didn’t have all the ingredients (that rarely happens!). I realized that I had not baked anything savory in a while, so I figured I’d experiment with a tomatillo and sour cream sauce for enchiladas… it turned out pretty delicious! The recipe might seem long, but it is very simple and quick. The sauce can be modified as per taste and desired consistency. Also, the filling for the enchiladas is completely customizable to your taste, or ingredients available in your pantry :-). Here’s what I used:

Ingredients:

For sauce

6-8 tomatillos (can use canned)

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp flour

1 ½ cup vegetable stock (or water)

1 – 1 ½ cup fat free sour cream (depending on how thick you want the sauce to be)

Diced Serrano pepper (to taste)

½ cup chopped cilantro

Salt

Cumin powder

For enchiladas

1 tbsp olive oil

Salt

Paprika (to taste)

Pepper (to taste)

1 tsp cumin powder

(You can use fajita seasoning or other spices of your choice)

2 cloves of garlic - chopped

1 small onion sliced/diced

½ red bell pepper sliced

1 zucchini chopped
1 cup cooked black/kidney beans (or 1 can)

Any other vegetables/meat of your choice

Shredded cheese (I used the Sargento 4 Cheese Mexican blend)

6-8 corn/wheat tortillas

To make the sauce:

Cut tomatillos in half and broil on both sides until soft (Took me about 5 minutes per side). Heat butter in a saucepan. Add chopped Serrano peppers, flour. Add vegetable stock once the flour is golden brown. Whisk to avoid lumps. Let the mixture boil and reduce till the vegetable stock is thickened. Add sour cream and cilantro, mix well and take off the heat.  Puree the mixture with tomatillos in a blender. Season with salt as required.

Making the filling:

For the filling, heat oil and add onions, garlic. On medium-high heat, sauté onions and garlic for a minute, then add peppers. After the peppers have softened a little, add zucchini, beans, salt and spices. Sauté for a couple minutes and turn off the heat.

To assemble:

Pour about ¾ cup of sauce in a baking dish. Lay the filling in the middle of a tortilla, sprinkle cheese (optional), and roll. Lay it seam side down in the baking dish. Repeat for all the tortillas. Pour rest of the sauce evenly and top with more shredded cheese if desired.

Bake in the oven at 350 deg F for 20 min followed by broiling until top is golden brown (only about a minute). Let it cool for a few minutes before serving.

~Gayatri

Stuffed Peppers

Sadly, there isn’t a particularly noteworthy back-story for posting this recipe. I simply wanted to try my hand at stuffed peppers. I’ve had lots of stuffed vegetables before – stuffed zucchini in Italy that was to die for, stuffed baby eggplants that I still need to learn from Gayatri how to make, stuffed tomatoes, etc. Peppers seemed like a good place to start – mix a bunch of stuff together, put inside peppers, and bake. Easy, right? Right! :-)

Ingredients

6-8 bell peppers (red, yellow, and orange all taste better than green, in my opinion)

~2 lbs ground turkey

~ ½ - ¾ cup chopped spinach (fresh or frozen)

~2 cups cooked brown rice (I used 2 bags of the 10-minute boil-in-a-bag kind)

~ ½ cup chopped onion (I usually use dried)

Black pepper to taste

Ground red pepper to taste

Garlic powder to taste

~ ¾ - 1 cup low-fat ricotta cheese

~2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

Small jar pimientos (optional)

Low-fat or fat-free Feta cheese (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°F. Slice the peppers in half and clean out the insides. Place them cut-side-up on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes.

While the peppers are baking, cook the ground turkey in a pan or skillet over med-hi heat. Add in the spinach, chopped onions and spices. The brown rice can also be cooked at the same time according to the boil-in-a-bag directions (bring water to a boil in a pot, add the rice – still in the bag – and let boil for 10 minutes). When the rice is done, drain the water. In a large bowl, mix the turkey and rice, and stir in the ricotta cheese. Add pimientos and Feta cheese if desired.

After the un-stuffed peppers have baked for 30 minutes, remove from oven and let cool before stuffing. Stuff each pepper – be sure to get filling into every nook and cranny! You will more than likely have a bunch of extra filling that can be used to make delicious wraps, sandwiches and pasta.

Top the stuffed peppers with shredded mozzarella cheese. Bake the stuffed peppers for another 15-20 minutes. Let cool before serving…then enjoy!

~Karla

(Seriously!) Healthy Oat Chocolate Muffins

Our good friends Mike and Erika gifted a beautiful teapot for Karla’s wedding last fall, and we had been planning to have a tea party for a while so we could use it. So a couple weekends ago we got together to have refreshing tea with cookies and muffins. That was my first attempt at baking oat muffins, which turned out okay, but not quite how I wanted. They were not as moist as I thought they would be, and the texture was a bit dense. So after making some modifications to the recipe (and a few spills and burns later), I am pretty happy with the result – a light and moist chocolate muffin, which really is healthy!

Ingredients (Makes ~12 regular or ~36 mini muffins)

1 ¾ cup old fashioned oats

¾ cup unsweetened cocoa

½ tsp cream of tartar (or 2 tsp. vinegar)

1 ½ tsp baking powder

1 ½ tsp baking soda

¼ tsp salt

2/3 cup agave nectar (or 1 cup granulated sugar)

½ cup unsweetened applesauce

½ cup yogurt (I used low fat)

3 egg whites

1 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup hot water (1 cup water if using granulated sugar instead of agave nectar)

Chocolate chips (optional)

Heat oven to 350 F. Line a muffin pan with muffin liners (or prepare any other baking pan by lightly greasing).

In a food processor, grind all the dry ingredients together (except chocolate chips). Add the wet ingredients and blend. The hot water should be added in the end, just before you start blending, or you might lose all the fizz from the baking soda which helps with the airy texture.

Fold in the chocolate chips in the batter. Fill the muffin cups ¾ full, and bake for 10 min. After 10 min, sprinkle chocolate chips on top of the muffins, and bake for another 3-4 min, or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with some cooked batter stuck to it (not liquid!). Do not wait for the toothpick to come out clean, or the muffins might be too dry.

~Gayatri

Tea and crumpets! Well, just the crumpets.

One day, several years ago, I had a near-insatiable craving for oatmeal raisin cookies. Fortunately, I had a container of Quaker Oats, which always has a recipe for their “Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies”. Unfortunately, I didn’t have half the ingredients, and didn’t really want to run to the store just to indulge my sweet tooth. So I started researching substitutions for ingredients – oil or margarine for butter, Splenda instead of sugar (since I had neither granulated nor brown), wheat for all-purpose flour, cranberries for raisins, etc. The end result? Instead of oatmeal raisin cookies, I got miniature cranberry oatmeal scones! Thankfully I took note of all the substitutions, and over the years have refined the recipe – relatively easy to whip up and not all that unhealthy!

Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) butter/margarine (I use ¼ cup all-natural, no sugar added apple sauce, and just under ¾ cup canola oil)
1.5 cups sugar (Splenda)
2 eggs (EggBeaters)
1.5 cups flour (super fine whole wheat flour)
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp ground cinnamon
Dash of salt
~2 cups Quaker Oats (quick 1-minute or old fashioned)
~1/2 cup dried cranberries

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, beat together butter/margarine (or apple sauce/oil) and sugar until creamy. Add eggs and beat well. Add the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Mix well. Stir in the oats and cranberries. Drop rounded tablespoons onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake roughly 15 minutes or until the tops and edges start to brown. Cool for a minute or two before serving. Makes a great snack or after-dinner-with-coffee-or-tea treat!

~Karla

Glass Noodles

Well, it’s been forever and a day since we’ve posted a recipe! We are both now working at Cummins Inc., in the same group, with the same boss. While we don’t live together anymore (a point of continued negotiation), we still get together to have dinner and frivolously shop and, yes, cook and bake.

My husband (I got married!) and I recently bought a new house (with plenty of basement space for a roommate =P) close to my work, and so I wanted to make something special the first time I used our new kitchen. One of my family traditions is to have a Filipino noodle dish called “pancit” (pronounced pahn-seat) for special occasions and holidays (New Year’s, birthdays, etc) for good luck and longevity, so I thought it fitting to have pancit be the first thing I cooked in our new house.

This recipe is only slightly different than how my mom prepares it. It turns out a bit similar to a lo mein style dish, though the noodles are quite different. We use something we like to call “glass noodles” – they are actually made out of bean thread and you can find them at an Asian specialty store, or sometimes even at a Walmart. The brand I like best comes in a pink mesh bag (other brands are available, but the prep is more involved):

Ingredients:
"Glass" (bean thread) noodles
~1 lb chicken breast (for a vegetarian option, you can use extra firm tofu or a wheat protein called seitan)
1 bag cole slaw mix
Chopped onion (I usually use dried)
Pepper
Garlic powder
Ginger
Soy sauce
Lemon juice
Canola oil

First, soak about half the package of glass noodles in water. While the noodles are soaking, cook the chicken in a pan or skillet over med-hi heat for roughly 7-10 minutes on each side. When the chicken is just done, pull it apart with a fork so you have shredded chicken. Place the chicken back in the pan and season with onion, pepper, garlic, ginger, and a little soy sauce. Let it simmer.

In a larger pot, use canola oil to stir-fry the cole slaw mix for maybe 10-15 minutes – it really depends on how crunchy you want your vegetables! When it’s just about done, season with pepper, garlic, ginger, and maybe ¼ - ½ cup soy sauce. Add a few tablespoons of lemon juice. Add the chicken to the mix and stir it all up.

At this point, the noodles should be ready (the package will direct you to soak for 10 minutes before use, so I just stick them in water before starting on the chicken). Drain the water, and mix the noodles into the chicken and vegetables a handful at a time.

Once everything is mixed up, you can season it further with more soy sauce, lemon juice, pepper, garlic, and ginger to taste. Usually I add ingredients until it smells just noticeably soy-sauce-y but the garlic and pepper also come through. Then, dish up and enjoy!

~Karla

Mini Whoopie Pies

The past few months have gone by really fast. Karla and I finished grad school…Yay! We had so much fun being roommates for three years. Lots of baking, shopping and traveling :) …. and since we will be working together in a few months, hopefully we’ll get to do more of that!!

After defending my dissertation this spring, I spent a couple months in California, where I had another baking buddy! My sister and I baked some goodies for her baby shower. Since we had to make a lot of food, I chose mini whoopie pies as one of the desserts since it bakes and cools down very fast, and is super easy to assemble.

Ingredients: (Recipe source: http://www.projectwedding.com/blog/)

2 cups flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp baking soda

1 egg

1/4 cup oil (I used canola oil)

3/4 cup milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

For the filling:

1/2 cup butter/margarine
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
1 cup Marshmallow Fluff
1 tsp vanilla extract

Food coloring (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Beat egg, oil and sugar. Add vanilla extract. Mix flour and baking soda in another bowl. Add the flour mixture and milk alternately to the egg, oil and sugar mixture.

Cover a cookie sheet with parchment paper and drop teaspoonfuls of dough on the sheet, leaving about 2 inches between drops.

Bake 6-7 minutes (times may vary for different ovens, the original recipe says 5 minutes). Gently touch the top of the cakes to check. If baked well, the top should spring back. Let the cakes cool completely before spreading the filling.

To make the filling, mix all ingredients and beat well. Spread the filling on the flat side of one cake and top it with another cake. We used a couple drops of red food coloring to make the pink filling and added colorful sprinkles to pretty up the whoopie pies for the party!

~Gayatri

Malai Burfi (Milk Fudge)

Most celebrations in India aren't complete without some kind of burfi or pedha. Both are different kinds of fudge, generally flavored with fruits, nuts, chocolate etc. - burfi in the form of cubes, while pedha as little balls. One of my favorites is malai burfi, especially the one we used to get from a store near our home called ‘Jagruti Sweets’. The fresh burfi used to be so soft that we couldn't cut it into pieces, and had to eat with a spoon….yummm. I've experimented a lot to get the same taste and texture using ricotta cheese and milk powder, but the best result I've got is using paneer! Paneer is a type of curd cheese very common in Indian cuisine. It is easily available at any Indian grocery store or can be made at home by curdling hot milk using lemon juice, yogurt or vinegar. Here's the quick and easy recipe for this delicious dessert.

Ingredients

~400g. sweetened condensed milk (1 can)

1/3 cup milk

250g. finely grated paneer (Fresh homemade paneer works best since its super soft, but I’ve used store bought frozen paneer as well and got good results)

1 tsp ghee or clarified butter (optional) – can be found in Indian grocery stores.

1 tsp cardamom powder

saffron strands, chopped almonds and pistachios for garnishing (optional)

1. Combine the sweetened condensed milk, grated paneer and milk in a non-stick pan. 

2. Bring to a boil while stirring continuously on medium-high heat.

3. Once the mixture starts to thicken (~10 minutes), add ghee (if using) along the sides of the pan.

4. Add cardamom powder, saffron strands and chopped nuts.

5. Keep stirring until the mixture starts to move as one mass.

6. Take the pan off the heat and transfer the mixture to a tray/container. Press lightly to flatten. Garnish with more saffron strands and nuts.

 

No refrigeration is required for the burfi to set, however let it cool for a half hour if you’re trying to cut a piece. I usually just dig in with a spoon :). If you have leftover burfi for the next day, store it in the refrigerator.

-Gayatri