Quinoa Cakes

Serve on a bed of sauted spinach

1/2 cup quinoa

1 large zucchini

1 large carrot

1 large egg

Cook quinoa with 1 cup water

While quinoa is cooking shred the zucchini and carrot with a cheese grater

When quinoa is done let cool then mix with shredded veggies and egg. Add a little salt and pepper then form into palm-sized cakes.

Fry in a pan with olive oil latke style.

Hot Cocoa Cookies

So delicious that Professor Kropp ate the left-overs for breakfast!

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
12 ounces (2 cups) semi-sweet chocolate chips,
1 cup brown sugar, packed
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (about 2 packets) hot cocoa mix
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
18 large marshmallows, cut in half

In a small saucepan, melt together butter and chocolate chips over low heat. Stir until smooth and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together brown sugar and eggs. Add vanilla extract. Slowly incorporate flour, hot cocoa mix, baking powder, and salt. Mix in melted chocolate. Refrigerate cookie dough for 1 hour to solidify.

Bake for 12 minutes at 325

Pull cookies out from oven and press one marshmallow half down on top of each cookie. Bake cookies for an additional 4-5 minutes, or until marshmallows are softened.

Famous Hallah

A staple at college potlucks and Fringe exec meetings, this hallah is delicious, chewy, and a great stress relief. Next time instead of beating away at a kickboxing class when you're stressed just knead some dough.

makes 3 medium sized loafs:

3 tbsp yeast (4 packets)

4 cups warm water

1 cup oil

6 eggs

14 cups flour

3/4 cup sugar

1 1/2 tbsp salt

In a small bowl combine yeast, water, 1 tbsp sugar, set aside until it has risen and bubbled (yeast will start to smell, well, gross and yeasty)

Combine all ingredients except flour in a really big bowl, mix well

Add yeast mixture and mix again

Slowly add in flour until dough is no longer sticky

Cover with a damp cloth/paper towel and let rise for 1 1/2 hours

Braid (I'll post pictures of the braiding eventually)

Bake at 350 for 30-40 min

Sumi Salad

1 package green cabbage

1 package red cabbage

2 packages ramen noodles, discard flavor packets

1 cup peanuts and slivered almonds

Dressing:

1/3 cup sugar

6 tbsp rice vinegar

3/4 cup olive oil

1 bunch chopped scallions

3 tbsp sesame oil

1 tsp salt and pepper

Mix dressing and pour on cabbage/nut mixture, top with broken ramen noodles

Peanut Chicken Curry

2 chicken breasts cut into bite-size chunks

3 garlic cloves, thinly sliced

2 heaped tbsp peanut butter

2.5 tbsp soy sauce

1.5 tsp crushed ginger (I buy the toothpaste tube looking pre-crushed ginger)

1 tsp brown sugar

1 tbsp thai red curry paste

1 tin coconut milk

1 tin chicken stock or water (measured in the empty coconut milk tin)

few handfuls of snap peas, rinsed and cut in half

Saute chicken with a bit of olive oil in a large pan until brown, remove from pan and set aside

Fry the ginger and garlic for a minute or two alone before adding back the chicken

Fry together for a minute or two before adding the peanut butter, brown sugar, and curry paste (If you're not on a food network show and don't have those tiny bowls to pre-measure all your junk in this might take more than 1 minute, that's OK)

Add coconut milk and water/stock and stir to combine

Lower heat slightly and let simmer and thicken for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally

Layer jasmine rice, then raw snap peas, then curry on top - the hot curry with cook the peas a little bit, but I like them to still be mostly raw and crunchy

Lemon Thyme Chicken

After weeks of seasoning my chicken dinners with pre-packaged seasoning mixes, the fresh squeezed lemon and thyme in this recipe was like a breath of fresh and delicious air.

2 chicken breasts cut into bite-size chunks

2 glugs olive oil

1 onion diced (if it's a big onion I'll do 3/4 of it, depends on your onion preference)

1-2 small zucchinis cut in half length-wise then slice

4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 lemon, cut 3 slices out of the middle and juice the two end pieces

6-8 branches of time OR a bunch of shakes of thyme from the shaker

2 cups chicken or vegetable stock

bit of salt and pepper

Warm olive oil in a high-sided pan over medium heat

Brown chicken, cook most of the way through, place chicken on a clean plate on the side

Saute the onion, garlic, zucchini, thyme and lemon slices for about 5 min until the veggies start to soften

Add in the chicken, stock, and lemon juice

Turn down the heat, cover, summer for 20-ish minutes

Serve over your grain of choice, I usually go for it over wild rice.

Red Velvet Cheesecake Cookies

Made these for the first time for Valentine's Day 2012. More involved and time consuming then a simpler or un-stuffed cookie recipe so save these for someone special.

Cookies:

1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 extra large egg
1 Tablespoon liquid red food color
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Cheesecake filling:

4 oz cream cheese at room temp (take out of fridge 10-15 minutes ahead of time)

2 cups powdered sugar

a few shakes of vanilla extract

Whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda, and salt. Set on the side.

Combine the oil, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until no brown sugar lumps remain

Add the egg and mix until creamy

Mix in the food color and vanilla

Add the flour mixture and mix until completely combined

Put the bowl of the dough in the fridge so it can harden a bit

Combine cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla until smooth (if you use granulated sugar instead the cookies will still be delicious, but the inside will be grainy-er)

Place teaspoon size balls of cheesecake on a cookie sheet and place in the freezer for 2 hours

Take a chunk of dough and wrap it around each cheesecake ball - this takes some finagling, but try to cover the cheesecake completely with no cracks.

These cookies are pretty big, I baked 3 or 4 at a time on a medium size cookie sheet

Bake each batch at 350 for 11-16 minutes