Coconut Lime White Chocolate Macaroons

I decided this year to host Passover at my apartment.  I invited most of my good friends (some Jewish, some not) and figured most of them would say no and maybe a few would come for dinner.  I was totally wrong and ended up having 22 people over!

Being my mother's daughter, I was so afraid I wouldn't have enough food.  I made this recipe before I realized how many people were coming over - I doubled it but I probably would have made 4 times this many had I realized.  Fortunately, a friend brought more macaroons over.

Keep in mind, when making macaroons for Passover, that some brands have HFCS in them.  I don't like to buy HFCS anyways, but corn isn't kosher for Passover if you're Ashkenazi so you really need to pay attention this time of year.  Fortunately, this brand (which you can usually find in the Latino section of the market) has all natural ingredients, and no corn!

The minute I saw this recipe, I was drawn to it.  Coconut? Lime? WHITE CHOCOLATE? Some of my favorite ingredients.  Of course, I missed a step (it wasn't a good baking day) and so the picture above and below are missing the egg whites.  I added them back in at the end, which I don't recommend but it did work.

Overall, really easy to make!  You basically just combine all of the ingredient and make little mounds of the coconut mixture.  1 bowl for easy clean up!

I would make the mounds a little smaller than I did.  The recipe says 2 tbsp, but I think you can go smaller than that.  Also, I just drizzled them with white chocolate at the end instead of dipping.  However, the recipe below is just as it was written on two peas and their pod.  Lots more Passover recipes to come in the next week!

Coconut Lime White Chocolate Macaroons
from two peas and their pod


Ingredients
2/3 cup sweetened condensed milk

2 tablespoons fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon lime zest
1 large egg white
1½ teaspoons vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt
3½ cups sweetened coconut
10 ounces white chocolate, chopped

Instructions
1. Preheat the oven to 325°F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.

2. In a large bowl, stir together the sweetened condensed milk, lime juice, lime zest, egg white, vanilla extract, and salt. Stir until combined. Add in the coconut and mix well.

3. With a spoon, scoop up about 2 Tablespoons of the coconut mixture and form into mounds that have a slight peak at the top. Place on lined baking sheets, about two inches apart. Bake cookies one sheet at a time for 15 to 2o minutes, or until cookies are set and slightly golden brown.

4. Cool the cookies on the baking sheets for about 5 minutes. Remove with a spatula onto a cooling rack.

5. Melt chocolate in a microwave safe bowl. Make sure you keep stirring the chocolate every 20 seconds or so until chocolate is melted and smooth.

6. Lay out a large piece of wax paper. Dip the cookies into the chocolate-just so the bottoms are covered in chocolate. Set dipped cookies on the paper to dry. Drizzle macaroons with white chocolate and let dry completely.

Makes 18 macaroons

Chicken Pad Thai

This weekend, my coworker took me and another coworker shopping up on the Rockville Pike.  My family sold my car when I moved to DC, so my coworker took me to all of the stores I can't access on public transportation.  It was a wonderful day! My absolute favorite of these stops was an Asian market called H-Mart.

H-Mart is AMAZING. It has every ingredient I couldn't find anywhere else, and with great prices! One of the hardest things to find in average grocery stores was tamarind paste - but they had it at H-Mart! And it was only about $2.  And Squid fish sauce is the best kind.  A huge bottle was about $2 as well - a tiny bottle of a much less authentic brand costs me twice as much at my local grocery store.

H-Mart also had the most gorgeous produce I've seen in a long time.  And again, AMAZING prices.  These gorgeous scallions were wide and bright and crisp and only $0.25/bunch.  This is only HALF a bunch. Unbelievable.

The tamarind paste is an absolute necessity in this recipe.  It give it the "pad thai flavor" from the takeout version.  Look for it in your local Asian market, or order it online. (and if you do take a trip to the Asian market, pick up some gochujang too; you just might need it for one of my next recipes! hint hint)

I did adapt the recipe a little to make it chicken instead of shrimp pad thai.  I picked up this Thai Spice Blend on my spice shopping spree at World Market and used it to season the chicken.

I'm obsessed with this spice.  It's warm from the cinnamon but also has an interesting Thai flavor from dried shrimp, along with several other spices.  Even though it has cilantro (ick!) in it, I can't wait to keep using this spice.  If you have a World Market near you, you should pick this up - totally worth $2.99!

The rest of the recipe comes together pretty easily.  Like with other Thai noodle recipes, there are a couple scrambled eggs and some scallions, and of course garlic.

Also, I had green cabbage in the fridge from my cabbage, potato, and leek soup, so I used that instead of Nappa cabbage. It wilted down a lot and worked out great!  Still, if you were going to make this and didn't happen to have green cabbage lying around, Nappa would be the right cabbage to use.

The hardest part of this recipe was stirring all the ingredients together.  It made a total mess of my stove.  I used a spaghetti fork and tongs to get the job done, but it definitely took some careful maneuvering and some time. And some Lysol wipes when all was said and done.

The final product was delicious! I thought it tasted the closest to restaurant pad thai of any homemade recipe I've ever used.  Plus I used barely any oil, so I feel like it was way healthier than getting takeout. I topped it with lots of lime juice and peanuts, which added the extra zing to put it over the top.  It definitely isn't a simple one pot meal, but I think it was worth doing the dishes for!

Chicken Pad Thai
Slightly adapted from the New York Times

Ingredients:

4 ounces medium-width rice stick noodles
2-4 tablespoons peanut oil

2 to 4 tablespoons tamarind paste

1/4 cup fish sauce (nam pla)

1/3 cup honey

2 tablespoons rice vinegar

1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes, or to taste

1/2 pound boneless, skinless chicken breast or tenders

1 tablespoon Thai Spice Blend (from World Market)

1/4 cup chopped scallions

1 garlic clove, minced

2 eggs

1 small head Napa cabbage, shredded (about 4 cups) (or half a large head of green cabbage)

1 cup mung bean sprouts

1/2 cup roasted peanuts, chopped

2 limes, quartered.

Instructions:
1. Put noodles in a large bowl and add boiling water to cover. Let sit until noodles are just tender; check every 5 minutes or so to make sure they do not get too soft. Drain, drizzle with one tablespoon peanut oil to keep from sticking and set aside. Meanwhile, put tamarind paste, fish sauce, honey and vinegar in a small saucepan over medium-low heat and bring just to a simmer. Stir in red pepper flakes and set aside.
2. Season chicken with Thai Spice Blend. Put remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat; when oil shimmers, add the chicken and cook over medium high heat until no longer pink in the center.  Remove the chicken to a plate, but leave the oil in the pan.
3. Add scallions and garlic to the pan and cook for about a minute. Add eggs to pan; once they begin to set, scramble them until just done. Add cabbage and bean sprouts and continue to cook until cabbage begins to wilt, then add the chicken and any juices on the plate.
4. Add drained noodles to pan along with sauce. Toss everything together to coat with tamarind sauce and combine well. When noodles are warmed through, serve, sprinkling each dish with peanuts and garnishing with lime wedges.

Southern Seafood and Rice

Today I want to welcome a new guest author to yelleBELLYboo.  Jeff is one of my very best friends and former roommates from college, and is now living much too far away in Minneapolis.  While I attribute my basic cooking skills to my mom, some of my more fine-tuned skills I perfected with my college roommates, including Jeff.  When we lived together, he always had to make a little more dinner than he planned to eat, because he knew I was bound to smell his cooking and sit on the other side of our counter until he put a little bit on my plate. I am so excited to have him sharing his talent on yelleBELLYboo with this amazing Southern Seafood and Rice recipe!

Inspired by my dear friend Dani, I tried a new recipe from my 1 and only cookbook. It's called "Simple Meals" and it has so far lived up to its promise...


I was flipping through the pages today when I saw this recipe. I already had most of the items needed, so I thought why not? Not only was it easy prep, but it was a one pot, one dish meal. Easy to serve, easy to clean, very tasty.

You start by thawing your shrimp or scallops. I'm sure fresh seafood would make this dish even more delicious, but there is no butcher shop in downtown Minneapolis, so I did what I could. After chopping up my green onions and garlic, I dumped everything into a big pot and started bringing it to a boil. Then you add the tomatoes and rice. It's really that simple. You add all the ingredients into the pot and let it cook.

Meanwhile, since I wanted a bit more protein in this meal, I started pan-cooking 1 chicken breast. I seasoned it with Tony Chachere's spicy creole seasoning to complement the rest of the dish. It went very well!

I don't really have too many "in-process" photos since everything goes into the pot at one time. But, the results photos (I think) do this dish justice. Paired with some nice cornbread, this was a delicious Sunday meal.

Southern Seafood and Rice (with chicken)

Adapted from Simple Meals
Makes 4 Servings

Ingredients:

3/4 pound fresh or frozen shrimp or scallops

2 1/3 cups chicken broth

4 green onions, sliced (1/2 cup)

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme, crushed

1/2 teaspoon bottled minced garlic or 1 clove garlic, minced

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

1 14.5 ounce can stewed tomatoes or cajun-style stewed tomatoes

1 cup long grain rice

1/2 lb boneless, skinless chicken breast
1 tablespoon Tony Chachere's creole seasoning

Fresh Parsley
Frank's Red hot sauce
(the original recipe also called for frozen okra, which I omitted)

Instructions

1. Thaw shrimp or scallops, if frozen. Rinse, pat dry, set aside.

2. In a 3-quart saucepan combine the broth, green onions, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, garlic and ground red pepper. Bring to a boil. Once boiling, stir in stewed tomatoes, and rice. Return to a boil; reduce heat.

3. Cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes or until rice is just tender, stirring once or twice.
4. Meanwhile, season chicken with creole seasoning and sear in a separate pan until cooked through.

5. Stir in shrimp or scallops and chicken. Cover and simmer for 3-5 more minutes more or until shrimp turn pink or scallops turn opaque and rice is tender.

6. Transfer to serving dish and sprinkle with parsley and a few dashes of hot sauce to taste.

Lemon Poppy Seed and Lavender Muffins

It has been a while since I last made muffins.  Please don't think that's because I don't love them.  They are one of my favorite breakfast foods. It just can be difficult to make a healthy muffin and not feel like I'm eating cupcakes for breakfast.

In fact, when my coworker bought me poppy seeds, all I could think of was lemon poppy seed muffins.  I've been talking about them for weeks. But typical me, I procrastinated making them.

And then, when I was at World Market, I was inspired! I found lavender for $0.99 for a small baggie and I knew it would put these muffins over the top.

Dorie Greenspan is a kitchen great - and who am I to adapt her recipes? Yet, of course I did. I didn't stray too far from the original, but I did make it whole wheat and add the lavender.  Plus, I didn't have any sour cream in the house, but I did get a good deal last week on greek yogurt (close to free with store discount and coupons) so I made that substitution.

And of course, because my mother's good friend, also known as "the Oops-a-Baker", taught me how to bake, I forgot an ingredient while making these muffins.  Let's just say they were very low-sodium. Next time I'll remember the dash of salt.

Still, I have to admit, they came out pretty darn tasty.  They're super lemony and the poppy seeds give them a nice pop. The lavender give them a subtle flowery note, but isn't at all overpowering.  I'm sure Dorie's original is the best lemon poppy seed muffin ever, but for a little something different - these were perfect.

Lemon Poppy Seed and Lavender Muffins

Adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s Baking From My Home to Yours via Brown Eyed Baker

Yield: 12 muffins

Ingredients:

2/3 cup sugar

Grated zest and juice of 1 lemon

2 cups whole wheat pastry flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons lavender

¼ teaspoon salt

¾ cup greek yogurt (1 6-oz container)

2 eggs

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

½ cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Instructions

1. Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Butter or spray the 12 molds in a regular-size muffin pan or fit the molds with paper muffin cups.

2. In a large bowl, rub the sugar and lemon zest together with your fingertips until the sugar is moist and the fragrance of lemon strong. Whisk in the flour, baking powder, baking soda, lavender, and salt. In a large glass measuring cup or another bowl, whisk the greek yogurt, eggs, vanilla, lemon juice and melted butter together until well blended. Pour the liquid ingredients over the dry ingredients and, with the whisk or a rubber spatula, gently but quickly stir to blend. Don’t worry about being thorough – a few lumps are better than over mixing the batter. Fold in the poppy seeds. Divide the batter evenly among the muffins cups.

3. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until the tops are golden and a toothpick inserted into the center of the muffins comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and cool for 5 minutes before carefully removing each muffin from its mold. Store leftovers in an airtight container at room temperature.

Blueberry Oat Crumbles

I have to admit, the only way to make a good meal a great meal is to finish it with dessert.  When I made the delicious Turkey and Artichoke Stuffed Peppers, I wanted to have a dessert that I could finish preparing right after work and let cool while I made dinner.

When Jessica posted this blueberry oat crumble recipe, I was sold.  It's like a blueberry cobbler with mostly the top part.  And everyone knows, the top part is the best part!!

I had been having trouble finding whole wheat pastry flour in my local supermarket (and when I did it was like $8/lb), so I ordered it from Nuts Online, the same site where my coworker ordered my poppy seeds. The prices are reasonable and the quality was high!

I have to admit, for the weight conscious, that despite the fruit component, this is not a healthy dish.  It has over half a stick of butter in it!  

And for the less-weight conscious/believers in exercising only to allow you to eat whatever you want, I have to admit, this recipe is absolutely scrumptious.  It has over half a stick of butter in it! 

It's sweet, but not too sweet, especially since Chilean blueberries are a bit tart this time of year.  It does come out really crumbly, and not like a bar which is what I had expected.  It would be perfection sprinkled over vanilla bean ice cream.  Man, I miss living in New England and having such great homemade ice cream all the time.  I'll definitely make this again by the lake this summer!

Blueberry Oat Crumbles
from How Sweet Eats

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup whole wheat pastry flour

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup butter + 2 tablespoons

1 cup blueberries

Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, oats, cinnamon and salt and mix until combined. Melt the 1/2 cup of butter and add it, along with the vanilla, to the oat mixture. Stir until moistened. This may take a minute or two! Fold in the blueberries – it’s okay if they pop a little bit.

Butter and flour an 8×8 baking pan. Press batter into the pan. Melt remaining butter and drizzle it over the bars. Bake for 20 minutes, the let cool completely – this can take up to 45 minutes! Cut and serve. Can be kept in the fridge or at room temperature in a sealed container.

Turkey and Artichoke Stuffed Peppers

Here is something Mom never made growing up - stuffed peppers.  My dad detests them.  Apparently my grandmother used to make them, but I have little memory of hers.

I tried to make them once last year and failed. Miserably.  The recipe didn't tell you to pre-cook brown rice, claiming it would cook inside the pepper.  It didn't.

This recipe originally called for bulgur (cooked first!), but I used quinoa instead since I already had it. And I love quinoa!

I also kicked up the spice a lot - per usual. I doubled the amount of red pepper flakes and added cayenne pepper.  I loved the extra spice but if you can't handle the heat, feel free to tone it down or omit all together.

The kicker in these peppers were the artichokes.  Artichokes just might be my favorite veggie (are they a veggie?) - I love them fresh but I also love canned hearts.  I could eat them straight out of the can.  And they are a wonderful addition to this recipe.

Yes, I did bake them in a heart shaped pan.  But only because my 8 x 8 inch pan was used for dessert.  I'll let you know what I made soon!

Overall, this was a really great recipe.  The quinoa is nutty, while the cottage cheese and turkey are hardy, and the peppers are sweet. The dish was very filling! And it really isn't that difficult to put together - although it did make a lot more dirty dishes than I would have liked. The hardest part was finding a side dish, since almost every food group - meat, dairy, grain, veg - were all covered by the stuffed pepper.  We ended up eating it with greek salad, which was a great complement.  I recommend you make these. For dinner. Tonight.

Turkey and Artichoke Stuffed Peppers
Adapted slightly from Cara's Cravings


Ingredients:
1/4 cup quinoa
4 large red bell peppers
1/2 pound ground turkey
1/2 cup chopped onion
4 large cloves of garlic, minced
salt and freshly ground pepper
2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1 15oz can artichoke hearts, drained, rinsed, and chopped
1 cup lowfat cottage cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh basil
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
2 oz grated pecorino romano cheese, divided
1/2 cup spaghetti sauce (I used Newman's Own Sockarooni) 


Instructions:
In a small saucepan, cook quinoa according to package instructions.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil. Carefully cut the stems from the peppers and remove the seeds and inner ribs. Cook the peppers in boiling water for about 5 minutes; drain and let cool.

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Cook the ground turkey, onion, and garlic in a skillet over medium heat, stirring to break up the ground turkey, until browned. Season with salt, pepper, cayenne, and crushed red pepper. Add the chopped artichoke hearts and cook for 1-2 more minutes. Remove from heat.

In a bowl, combine the ground turkey mixture, cooked quinoa, cottage cheese, basil, parsley, and 3/4 of the pecorino romano cheese; mix well.

Spray an 8x8" baking dish or small casserole. Fill the peppers with the turkey mixture, packing the stuffing in well. Place the peppers in the baking dish and spoon the spaghetti sauce over. Sprinkle with remaining pecorino romano.

Bake, uncovered, for about 25 minutes.

German Chocolate Brownies

When I'm feeling a little down, my first instinct is to bake.  More importantly, to bake chocolate.

I'm not a huge chocoholic, but chocolate definitely has it's time and place in my diet.  Especially brownies.  I love making different types of brownies from scratch.  This week definitely called for some homemade brownies.  This recipe was great because I just so happened to have everything I needed in the house... almost.  I was a little short on cocoa so I micro-planed in some unsweetened chocolate to top it off.

These did not let me down.  Even my coconut-hating coworker enjoyed them.  I left the rest in the kitchen of office when I left to go back to New Hampshire for a week and there definitely weren't any left when I got back!  This recipe is a KEEPER!

German Chocolate Brownies

from Confessions of a Cookbook Queen on Bluebonnets and Brownies

Ingredients

Brownies:

1/2 cup salted butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Topping: (adapted from Good Housekeeping Brownies)

2 egg whites

1 cup sweetened flaked coconut

1/2 cup pecans

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons milk

1/4 teaspoon vanilla

dash of salt

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350. Line an 8×8 pan with foil and spray the foil thoroughly with nonstick spray.

In a medium bowl, combine melted butter and cocoa powder, stirring until the cocoa powder is dissolved. Add the sugar and mix well. Add eggs one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Stir in vanilla. Add flour and stir only until you can no longer see flour in the batter. Gently fold in chocolate chips. Pour batter in prepared 8×8 pan and smooth the top with a spatula.

In a medium bowl, beat egg whites with a wire whisk until foamy. Stir in coconut, pecans, brown sugar, milk, vanilla and salt until well combined. Spread topping evenly over batter.

Bake brownies for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with moist crumbs stuck to it.

Cool brownies on a wire rack to room temperature, then peel off the foil, cut and serve.