Sweet potato and carrot soup

Sometimes on a lazy weekend afternoon, I just want a quick and easy lunch, which doesn’t require a lot of cooking or cleaning. Soups generally fall in that category, and given how cold its been lately, that didn’t seem like a bad idea. I had a sweet potato on hand and typically have some carrots too for making salads, so I threw them all together along with some yogurt for a little tanginess. It took me only 10 minutes to put together this scrumptious meal.

 

Ingredients:

1 small sweet potato cooked (~½ cup)

¼ cup chopped carrots

½ cup water/stock

1 tbsp yogurt

1 tsp flour

¼ tsp ground nutmeg

lemon juice (optional)

salt

pepper

chopped parsley (optional - for garnish)

1 tbsp chia+flaxseed powder (optional)

 

 

In a blender/food processor, make a puree with the sweet potato, carrots, water/stock, yogurt, flour, nutmeg, salt, pepper. Transfer to a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat until thickened to your liking and heated through. Add chia+flaxseed powder if using. Adjust water/stock if required. Adding lemon juice and lots of freshly ground pepper helps cut the sweetness of sweet potato and carrots. Add a dollop of sour cream or yogurt on top and garnish with fresh parsley. The soup makes for a perfect guilt free (aka oil/cream free) lunch on a cold winter day.

~Gayatri
 

Spinach Avocado Pasta

Avocado is an incredibly nutritious fruit – its good for your heart, has lots of fiber as well as vitamins and minerals. However, it is also quite expensive. So when I saw it on sale a few weeks ago, I jumped on the opportunity and bought a few avocados. I generally eat it with salads or spread it on toast sprinkled with some salt and pepper, but I had to get more creative to use them all up before they would go bad. I had some spinach on hand, so I decided to make pasta sauce with spinach and avocado. Its flavored with basil and garlic which pairs well with the creaminess of the avocado. Like everything else made using avocado, this is best eaten fresh. I made it for lunch and had leftovers for dinner. The color got darker due to the avocado, but it still tasted the same!



Ingredients:

1.5 cups dry pasta of your choice (I used Farfalle/bowtie)

½ avocado

¾ cup fresh spinach (reduce quantity if using frozen)

½ tsp chopped garlic (~1 clove)

1 tsp chopped basil

2 tsp lemon juice (or to taste)

½ tsp oil/butter

Salt

Pepper

Parmesan cheese (optional) 

Cook pasta as per package instructions. While pasta is cooking, heat oil/butter on medium heat and saute garlic for a few seconds before adding spinach and basil. Cook only until spinach is slightly wilted (30-60 seconds), and take it off the heat. Transfer the spinach mixture to a food processor along with avocado and lemon juice. Process until you get a smooth paste. Add water or olive oil if it is too thick. Add salt, pepper to taste. Mix the sauce with the cooked pasta, top it with any vegetables you like. I only had tomatoes at home, but sautéed mushroom, broccoli, asparagus would taste great with this sauce. Sprinkle parmesan cheese (optional – I didn’t use any), squeeze more lemon juice on top if you like, and enjoy the delicious creamy pasta without any cream!

~Gayatri

Orange-glazed Sweet Potato Bread (Or: You Can Never Have Too Many Desserts)

This past holiday season, my husband and I hosted a Christmas Day potluck at our house. Everyone brought all sorts of amazing food, from ChristmasTree Pastries to green bean casserole to corn pudding and more! My mom was in charge of candied sweet potatoes, and, since my parents were driving 5ish hours to come stay with us over the holidays, I figured she would make the dish once they got to our place. To my surprise, they showed up with coolers overflowing with pre-made food – including candied sweet potatoes! I then had a serious dilemma on my hands – what should I do with the extra sweet potatoes I had already bought? In true Cooks of Cake and Kindness fashion, I made another dessert!

This recipe was originally for cookies (see recipe here), but I soon got tired of waiting for each batch of cookies to bake (I had a lot of batter!). Solution: mini bread loaves!

Ingredients
2 cups well-mashed or pureed sweet potato (roughly 3 medium-sized sweet potatoes)
2.5 cups flour (I used about half all-purpose, half whole wheat)
2.5 tsp baking soda
2.5 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt (optional - I added only a dash)
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup unsalted butter or margarine (or substitute 1/4 cup applesauce + 3/4 cup canola oil)
1.5 cups packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp finely grated orange rind (optional - I did not add orange rind)
1 cup chopped pecans (optional - I did not add nuts)

Glaze: 1 cup confectioner's sugar + 2 TBSP orange juice (adjust amount of liquid for desired consistency)

Heat oven to 400°F. Grease a baking sheet.

Sift flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and sugar. Beat in the eggs, sweet potato, vanilla, and (optional) orange rind. Gradually mix dry ingredients into wet ingredients. (Optional: stir in pecans.)

To make cookies, drop the batter by heaping teaspoons onto a baking sheet, leaving about 2 inches between – they will spread! Bake 12-15 minutes or until lightly brown and firm. This amount of batter should make about 6 dozen cookies.

If you get tired of too many cookie batches, as I did after 2 rounds of making cookies, grease 6 mini-loaf pans. Divide batter evenly among the pans and bake about 20 minutes (you should be able to bake all the loaves together at the same time) until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean. In all, I made 2 dozen cookies and 4 mini-loaves.

For the glaze, mix the confectioner’s sugar and orange juice to desired consistency (you may need to increase the amount of both depending on how many cookies/mini-loaves are made). Glaze is best when applied to cookies or loaves when they are still warm. Note: I didn’t actually have confectioner’s sugar, and I didn’t really want to break out the food processor just for this step, so I used regular granulated sugar in the glaze. It wasn’t as smooth as it would have been, but it turned out okay and still tasted delicious!

~Karla

Chocolate on chocolate on chocolate!!! (...and sprinkles)

 

Not only do Karla and I still work together (we also went to school together and were roommates for three years) and write this blog together, we also share a love for chocolate - which is apparent from the candy stocked at our desks and the “chocolate breaks” we take at work. So, when I asked Karla what kind of birthday cake she wanted, her answer was obvious. To make it as chocolate-y as possible, I made a chocolate cake frosted with chocolate buttercream and topped with dark chocolate ganache - and then added sprinkles. The birthday girl liked it and it surely was well received by our colleagues based on how quickly it was gone.

 

Chocolate cake: Recipe

Chocolate buttercream: Recipe

Once the cake is completely cooled, frost the top and sides with the buttercream.

Chocolate ganache:

On low-medium heat on the stove top, heat ½ cup of heavy cream and 4 oz dark chocolate chips. Keep stirring until chocolate is completely melted to form a smooth mixture. Take it off the heat and let it cool down to room temperature (otherwise it can melt the buttercream).

Once cooled, carefully pour the ganache starting at the center of the cake and spread it outward with a spatula if required. Use a clean knife or spatula (wipe it off often during the process) to smoothen out the ganache.

Just a few colorful sprinkles to add a trim-like decoration and the cake was ready for the birthday celebration :-)

~Gayatri

 

Note:

If using ganache directly on the cake, you can pour it over when it is still warm.

The consistency of ganache can be adjusted to your liking by changing the ratio of cream and chocolate.

The ganache can be cooled and whipped to make a nice thick frosting to pipe on the cake as well.

Baked Tofu

Being a vegetarian, I am always looking for different proteins that can add taste and variety to a dish. One of my favorites is tofu. I know a lot of people don't like tofu either for its taste (or lack thereof) or its texture. Personally, I feel that the taste part is actually an advantage because it can soak up a lot of flavor and you can make it taste good! As for the texture, I am also not a fan of the soft texture of tofu; even extra firm tofu is not dense or firm enough for me - hence the baking!

This baked tofu has a texture similar to Indian paneer (firm farmers cheese made from cow/buffalo milk which can easily be cut into cubes). I like to make a big batch and use it in different recipes but it is great to just snack on as well. Additional bonus – it requires absolutely no oil or butter unlike fried tofu!

Ingredients:
Extra firm tofu - 1 pack (14 oz)
For the marinade: 
3 tbsp Soy sauce
1 tbsp rice vinegar (other vinegar will work too)
1 tsp mustard (I used honey mustard)
1 tsp honey (optional)
2 cloves crushed garlic
3 tbsp water (adjust so that there is enough marinade to coat the tofu and have about half of it still left in pan).

You can use any other marinade of your choice, just make sure it has enough liquid for the tofu to soak up.

Heat oven to 400 deg F.

Use a microwave safe and oven proof dish if possible (I generally use an 8x8 glass baking pan) to mix all the marinade ingredients in.

Drain the block of tofu and slice it at least 1/2 inch thick (~5-6 slices for a block of tofu). Using a paper towel gently press each slice between your palms to drain more liquid. Don't squish the tofu too much - you don't want it to crumble. Wring out the paper towel after every slice.

Cut each slice in half (optional), and place the tofu in the baking dish with the marinade. Let it sit for a few seconds and turn all the pieces over. Repeat a couple times to let the tofu soak the marinade.

Microwave on high, 2 minutes at a time, turning the pieces over each time until the marinade is almost completely soaked - but not all dry. I needed 4 minutes on each side.

At this point transfer to oven proof baking pan if you were not using one to begin with. Place in preheated oven for 15-20 minutes before flipping the tofu over. Let it bake for another 10 minutes. Check the texture of the tofu. If it is still too soft for your liking continue to bake a little longer. To finish it off, broil each side on the Low setting for about 2-3 minutes. You can let it crisp up if you like it that way.

Remove from oven and let it cool down a little before slicing further if required (otherwise it will fall apart easily). This goes really well with Asian flavored stir fries or even on top of a simple salad.

Notes: If you are not a fan of using microwave for cooking, you could skip that step and increase baking time. Another option is to reduce the liquid on stovetop on low heat, turning the tofu pieces every few minutes – then finish it off in the oven.

If you have leftovers, store them in the refrigerator. You could eat it cold or at room temperature, but if you want to reheat, microwave only for a few seconds - it can get chewy if you microwave for too long.

~Gayatri

Christmas Tree Pastries

Holidays this year have been relaxing thanks to no travel plans – got a chance to catch up on some reading, chores, paper reviews (I know that sounds like work) as well as a good dose of cooking and baking! For Christmas this year, I wanted to try something that I had not made before – but couldn’t decide between a sweet or savory dish. So I ended up making both.

These puff pastry Christmas trees are not only pretty to look at and delicious in taste, they are also extremely easy to make. You could make the puff pastry and filling from scratch, but I have used store bought frozen pastry sheets, pesto sauce and Nutella for the fillings.

Ingredients:

4 Puff pastry sheets – I used 2 packs of Pilsbury brand pastry sheets from the frozen section at grocery stores. Each pack has two sheets. You could certainly make your own pastry dough.

Pesto sauce (Or other savory sauce of choice)

Nutella or other chocolate spread (Fruit preserves and pastry cream would work well too)

Optional toppings:

Savory – Butter, Parmesan cheese

Sweet – Sugar glaze (confectioners sugar, milk, vanilla essence)

Thaw the pastry sheets overnight in the refrigerator. Spread pesto sauce on one sheet. Place another sheet on top. Cut out the Christmas tree shape (you could make a stencil on paper first). How wide you want to make the tree is up to you – I used the maximum width of the pastry sheets, with the stem being about an inch tall. Repeat the same procedure with the remaining two sheets using Nutella spread for a sweet version.

Make symmetric cuts leaving about an inch in the middle. My pesto tree had wider strips but I decided to make the cuts closer for the sweet one. Starting from the bottom-right, twist each strip in the clockwise direction. Repeat the same on the other side making sure it is symmetric (anti-clockwise twists on the left side).

 

The pastry puffs up a lot as it bakes, so press on the edges (especially at the tree top and the bottom). Also, pushing the lower “branches” upwards works best as they tend to move apart as they bake.

Bake for about 20 min or until golden brown. Add toppings while the pastry is warm.

Toppings:

For the pesto tree, brush the warm baked pastry with melted butter and sprinkle Parmesan cheese (it looks like snow!).

 

For the sweet pastry, prepare the sugar glaze by mixing ¼ cup of confectioners sugar with just enough milk to form a thin paste (add milk by teaspoons). Add a few drops of vanilla essence. Drizzle glaze on warm pastry.

Tip: If the edges (top, bottom, or even branch tips) start to brown a lot while the pastry is still uncooked in the middle, you can use pieces of aluminum foil to cover these areas to slow down the browning.

~Gayatri

Cookie-Dough Brownies

Are they cookies that look like brownies? Or are they brownies that look like cookies? It's the best of both worlds in one awesome dessert!
 
This recipe has been on our to-post list for almost four years - oh, the golden grad-school years! In those days, we typically celebrated our colleagues' birthdays by baking something for the whole research team. We had done cookies, and we had done brownies...it was time to try something different! We thought - why not combine the two? Consequently, our fellow researchers unknowingly became our research subjects (aka guinea pigs). Fear not - we taste-tested our "prototype" before releasing it to the hungry masses!
 

 
Ingredients for cookie dough:
1 cup flour (I'll typically do half all-purpose, half whole wheat)
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt (optional)
1/2 cup butter (softened)
5 TBSP granulated sugar
5 TBSP brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/2 cup chocolate chips (I prefer dark chocolate)
1/4 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
 
Ingredients for brownie:
4 oz. (1/2 cup) chocolate chips (again, I prefer dark chocolate)
2/3 cup butter
2 cups sugar (I typically do half regular sugar, half brown sugar)
4 eggs
1 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
 
Chocolate glaze:
1 cup chocolate chips
1 TBSP butter or canola oil 
 
Mixing the batters
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 13x9 pan.
 
For the brownie batter: melt the chocolate and butter together in a microwave-safe dish for 2-3 minutes on 40% power. Beat in the sugar and eggs. Stir in flour and baking powder. Spread into the greased baking pan.
 
For the cookie dough: Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk butter, sugar, and vanilla together until creamy, then add the egg and mix. Pour dry ingredients into the wet mixture and stir to combine. Mix in chocolate chips and nuts. Drop by rounded tablespoons into the brownie batter, pressing down slightly so it sets in the batter.
 

 
Bake for 30-40 minutes until brownies set and the edges look a little dry. Let cool 10-15 minutes.
 

 
Glazing the goodness
Melt the chocolate and butter or oil together in the microwave as described above for the brownie batter. A second round of heating may be necessary to melt all the chocolate chips. Once all the chocolate is melted, pour over the cooled brownies and spread evenly. Refrigerate for a few hours so the chocolate glaze will set.
 

 
When it's time for a dessert or snack, slice and enjoy!

~Karla