recipe

Spinach Artichoke Lasagna

/ Shane / Leave a comment

The Reason:

Lasagna has long been one of my favorite meals, and something I often picked for my “birthday dinner” when I was a kid. As an adult, I learned that lasagna tastes pretty much the same with or without meat (actually, I learned that was true about a lot of recipes, such as chili, but I digress). This led me down a long road of veggie lasagna recipes, which ultimately diverged quite a bit from a traditional lasagna. And a good thing too, or else I probably never would have tried this recipe. Needless to say, Spinach Artichoke Lasagna is quite a bit different than traditional lasagna.

The Journey:

This is pretty straightforward to make. We buy frozen spinach and artichokes, so you don’t really have that much chopping to do. The hardest part is chopping the rosemary, because it’s so tiny. But it’s only a tablespoon, so I’ll guess we’ll all survive it. You don’t even have to boil the noodles! How easy can it get?


In the past, I’ve stuck strictly to the script on this one. However, I’m sure you could add other things as well, such as carrots or mushrooms, or whatever else you like in your veggie lasagna.

The Verdict:

This is the best veggie lasagna I’ve ever had. On the other hand, Evie doesn’t like the rosemary for some reason. She might just have lit on that as an excuse, but it does have rosemary in it, so I can’t say she’s wrong. I suppose there could be a (non-)hypothetical person out there who doesn’t like rosemary.

The artichokes in particular are what makes this for me. They provide both a texture and a sort of sour twang that really just set it off. I haven’t seen a lot of veggie lasagnas with artichokes in it, so I guess that is the secret ace in the hole here.

I’m also a big fan of throwing a little feta on things.

The Recipe:

Adapted from AllRecipes.com.

  • 1 package whole wheat lasagna noodles
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • 4 cloves garlic, chopped
  • 1 3/4 cup vegetable broth
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
  • 1 bag (1 pound) frozen artichoke hearts (or 1 can), drained and chopped
  • 16 ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dry
  • 1  jar marinara sauce (22 – 26 oz)
  • 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
  • 1/4 pound of  feta, crumbled
  • Italian spices (parsley, oregano) to taste
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with oil.
  3. Do not boil the noodles! Even if they’re not “no-boil”, there is enough moisture that they will soften while baking.
  4. Saute onion until translucent. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute.
  5. Stir in broth and rosemary; bring to a boil.
  6. Stir in artichoke hearts and spinach; reduce heat, cover and simmer 5 minutes.
  7. Stir in pasta sauce.
  8. Spread 1/4 of the artichoke mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish; top with 1 layer of noodles. Sprinkle 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese over noodles. Repeat layers 2 more times, ending with artichoke mixture and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle crumbled feta on top.
  9. Bake, covered, for 40 minutes. Uncover, and bake 15 minutes more, or until hot and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Sweet Potato Tacos

/ Shane / Leave a comment

The Reason:

We had some ground turkey and we were looking for a recipe to use it up. It’s funny that this is the recipe we found because, although we did use up our ground turkey, this is clearly a sweet potato recipe, not a ground turkey recipe. (I guess technically the original recipe is a yam recipe, but we have only made it with sweet potatoes)

Anyway, this is sooo good, it might just turn you off regular tacos forever. Even if it doesn’t, it makes an excellent change of pace, and is a lot healthier than regular (ground beef) tacos to boot.

The Journey:

I know some of you will be tempted to leave out the jalapenos, but I assure you that it is not spicy, even with four jalapenos. “Yeah, but I don’t like spicy food,” you will say. “He likes spicy food, so he doesn’t understand how tender my palate is. I’m a delicate flower,” you will say. I know that there is nothing I could say to convince you poor folks, other than to physically trick you into eating it with four jalapenos and getting you to admit it wasn’t spicy before I reveal that fact. However, I can’t do that over the Internet, so you’ll have to take my word for it. Or not, I just realized, I really don’t care.

The thing you’ll notice about the filling is that it is orange. Very orange. Startlingly orange. Do not be startled, you’re doing it right.

The ground turkey is nice because it is so lean, but you can really use any kind of ground meat (i.e. beef). You’re mostly going to taste the sweet potatoes anyway.

Another thing I should mention here, is that all tortillas in our house are grilled over the open flame of the stove (we have a gas stove obviously). Just light the burner and set the tortilla directly on it. Flip it after about 10 seconds and do the other side for another 10 or so. It will seem like you are going to set the tortilla on fire. It will get little black burn marks on it. Do not be startled, you are doing it right. You can thank me later.

The Verdict:

Magically delicious.

The sweet potatoes make the filling sweet, which to me seems like it would be a bad thing, but it’s totally not.  (I do NOT like salty and sweet mixed together. It is almost pathological with me.) Also, the texture is a lot softer than ground beef, and it kind of mashes up around all of your toppings keeping everything in better.

The Recipe:

Adapted from AllRecipes.com

  • 3 sweet potatoes peeled and diced
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 pound ground turkey
  • 1 medium-large chopped sweet onion
  • 3 cloves garlic, minced
  • 4 jalapeno peppers, minced (you can reduce this to 2 if you are nervous about the heat, but it’s really not very spicy!)
  • 2 tablespoon chili powder
  • 2 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup tomatillo salsa
  • 1/2-1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
  • warm flour tortillas
  1. Put the diced sweet potato in a microwave-safe bowl; cook in the microwave until cooked through and fork-tender, stirring every 5 minutes, 10 to 15 minutes.
  2. Coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil and place over medium heat;
  3. Cook and stir the turkey until crumbled and evenly brown, 5 to 7 minutes.
  4. Stir the onion, garlic, and jalapeno pepper into the turkey and continue cooking until the onions begin to caramelize, 7 to 10 minutes.
  5. Season with the chili powder, cumin, Cajun seasoning, and salt.
  6. Mash the sweet potatoes with a potato masher
  7. Pour the salsa over everything; fold the sweet potatoes into the mixture.
  8. Allow the mixture to cook until the excess moisture evaporates.
  9. Garnish with the cilantro.
  10. Heat your tortillas in the microwave if you’re a barbarian, or on the stove if you’re fancy pants like me.
  11. Serve with the warm tortillas and whatever else you put on tacos. I recommend fresh salsa (pico de gallo).

Cowboy Candy (A.K.A. Candied Jalapenos)

/ Shane / 1 Comment

The Reason:

Well, the main reason is that we had a lot of extra jalapenos from our garden last year, and we had to find something to do with them. We stumbled on this recipe and it sounded just weird enough to try.

The Journey:

They’re not too difficult to make, at least, not compared to other things you might can (in other words, the canning is the hard part, and that’s the same no matter what you’re canning).

The Verdict:

I don’t know. They’re strange. They’re very sweet, but also very spicy. I don’t like to eat them by themselves very much, but they are killer on a barbecue pork sandwich!

They’re also great for getting people to try them and watching their faces, so I’ll let some of the reaction shots speak for themselves:

Let’s See…                          Sort of unpleasant                      Thats…very spicy
Here we go                              ::gulp!::                            Hey, I survived!
I’ll try it if you try it                         Do not like!                       Rinse it out with milk
Yummy!                                     Uh oh…                                    Spicy!

Don’t let him fool you though, he was soon gobbling them by the handful.

The Recipe:

Recipe from Tasty Kitchen.

  • 3 pounds Firm, Fresh Jalapeno Peppers, Washed
  • 2 cups Cider Vinegar
  • 6 cups White Granulated Sugar
  • ½ teaspoons Turmeric
  • ½ teaspoons Celery Seed
  • 3 teaspoons Granulated Garlic
  • 1 teaspoon Ground Cayenne Pepper
  1. Wearing gloves, remove the stems from all of the jalapeno peppers. The easiest way to do this is to slice a small disc off of the stem-end along with the stem. Discard the stems.
  2. Slice the peppers into uniform 1/8-1/4 inch rounds. Set aside.
  3. In a large pot, bring cider vinegar, white sugar, turmeric, celery seed, granulated garlic and cayenne pepper to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the pepper slices and simmer for exactly 4 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the peppers, loading into clean, sterile canning jars to within 1/4 inch of the upper rim of the jar. Turn heat up under the pot with the syrup and bring to a full rolling boil. Boil hard for 6 minutes.
  4. Use a ladle to pour the boiling syrup into the jars over the jalapeno slices. Insert a cooking chopstick to the bottom of the jar two or three times to release any trapped pockets of air. Adjust the level of the syrup if necessary. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean, damp paper towel and fix on new, two-piece lids to finger-tip tightness.
  5. If you do not want to can these to the point of shelf stable, you can simply put the jars in your refrigerator and store them there. I prefer to keep the fridge space free so I can them. If you wish to can them, follow the instructions below.
  6. Note: If you have leftover syrup, and it is likely that you will, you may can it in half-pint or pint jars, too. It’s wonderful brushed on meat on the grill or added to potato salad or, or, or … in short, don’t toss it out!
  7. To can, place jars in a canner and cover with water by 2-inches. Bring the water to a full rolling boil. When it reaches a full rolling boil, set the timer for 10 minutes for half-pints or 15 minutes for pints. When timer goes off, use canning tongs to transfer the jars to a cooling rack. Leave them to cool, undisturbed, for 24 hours. When fully cooled, wipe them with a clean, damp washcloth, then label.
  8. Allow to mellow for at least two weeks, but preferably a month before eating. Or don’t. I won’t tell!

Rich Almond Cake

/ Shane / Leave a comment

The Reason:

The reason is that this cake is easy to make and tastes like heaven. However, the original source mentions this as something that even an un-skilled chef could make for Valentines Day, so this is also timely. On one hand, the girl of your dreams will be very impressed with your mad cooking skillz. On the other hand, she will probably marry you on the spot, and then you’ll have to explain that you don’t actually have mad cooking skillz, unless of course she wants to eat Rich Almond Cake every day for the rest of her life, which she probably will.

The Journey:

Eating this cake reminds me of eating my mom’s almond sugar cookie dough raw (this is a good thing). If you like almonds, you will love this cake. Even if you don’t, you will love this cake. And it’s so easy to make, it really only takes a few minutes.

Sara happens to love this cake so much, that she literally finds it irresistible. I offer the following photo as proof:

“So good it makes me want to lick a listeria filled beater.”

The Verdict:

What more can I say about it? Serve it with real, home-made whipped cream. If you use cool whip Sara will hunt you down and kill you. Her words, not mine.

The Recipe:

Recipe by way of Get Rich Slowly.

  • 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
  • 3/4 cup real butter, melted
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3 Tablespoons sliced almonds (for garnish)
  • 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar (for garnish)
  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Use butter wrappers to generously grease a 9″ round cake pan.
  3. With a mixer, blend together the sugar and melted butter.
  4. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat in.
  5. Stir in extracts.
  6. Add salt and flour and mix until everything is incorporated.
  7. Spread batter in the pan and sprinkle the top with sliced almonds and sugar.
  8. Bake 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown.
  9. Cool completely on a wire rack before removing from pan.
  10. Serve with homemade whipped cream (or prepare to die)

Bûche de Noël

/ Shane / Leave a comment

And not just any Bûche de Noël, but one with Nutella mousse filling, chocolate ganache frosting, and meringue mushrooms!

The Reason:

Bûche de Noël is a traditional French Christmas desert, also known as a “Yule Log”. It’s part of the tradition that it is supposed to look like an actual log, one that you might throw in the hearth to warm your toes on Christmas morning.

Barb made one for me last Christmas as the grand finale to my fabulous dessert-of-the-month present, and it was absolutely amazing. So she agreed to make one for us again this Christmas. It is so rich and chocolatey, it will blow your socks off. If you remember, this was the dessert that had Evie fighting a massive chocolate coma as hard as she could, just to eat one. more. delicious. bite.

The Journey:

The cake part is pretty much the same as making a pumpkin or jelly roll: bake the cake, roll it in a towel to cool it, un-roll and put the filling on like frosting, then re-roll it.

Although the cake part is the amazing part, I don’t think the mushrooms can be beaten for visual awesomeness. It really puts the whole thing over from “good dessert” to “masterpiece”.

Pipe out the caps and stems and let them dry.

Attach the stems to the caps with a little melted chocolate so it looks like that dark underside of a mushroom.

Dust on a little cocoa for the final effect! Again, remember that the tradition is to make it look like a real log. What could be more appropriate than a couple of mushrooms growing up on the side?

The Verdict:

Oooooh, to die for! It’s a lot of work, but well worth it (especially when someone else makes it!) You technically could skip the meringue mushrooms, but who would do that?? They’re probably my favorite part. They look so awesome and realistic, and they don’t taste half bad either (although it’s hardly fair to compare them to chocolate-chocolate-chocolate cake!).

The Recipe:

There are four major parts to the recipe: the cake, the filling, the frosting and the meringue mushrooms. The ingredients are listed each in their own sub-section.

Sponge Cake:

(From Betty Crocker Cookbook, circa 1973)

  • 1 cup cake flour
  • 1/4 cup cocoa
  • 1 tsp. baking powder
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 1/3 cup water
  • 1 tsp. vanilla
  • powdered sugar for dusting
  1. Heat oven to 375⁰.
  2. Line jelly roll pan (15 1/2 x 10 1/2×1) with foil or waxed paper; grease.
  3. Stir together cake flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
  4. In small mixer bowl beat eggs about 5 min., until very thick and lemon colored.
  5. Pour eggs into larger bowl, gradually beat in sugar.
  6. On low, blend in water and vanilla.
  7. Gradually add dry ingredients, beat just until smooth.
  8. Pour into prepared pan, bake 12-15 min.
  9. Loosen edges; invert on towel dusted with powdered sugar.  Remove foil, roll cake and towel. Cool.

Nutella Mousse:

(combination of some Internet recipes)

  • 1/2 cup Nutella
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  1. Microwave Nutella just to soften, not warm.
  2. Beat heavy cream until peaks form, beat in Nutella.
  3. Unroll cake, spread mousse, reroll.  Place seam side down, chill.

Chocolate Ganache:

(combination of several recipes)

  • 6 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
  • 1 cup heavy cream
  1. Place chocolate in bowl.
  2. Heat cream just to scald, pour over chocolate.
  3. Let stand for 5 min.
  4. Stir until smooth. Refrigerate until cold but not solid, stirring occasionally.
  5. Whip until consistency of soft butter.
  6. Spread on chilled cake.

Meringue Mushrooms:

(don’t remember, but not Martha Stewart)

  • 1 egg white
  • 1/4 cup superfine sugar
  • 1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
  • 1/8 tsp. vanilla
  • 1/4 cup dark chocolate
  • cocoa powder to dust
  1. Bring the egg white to room temperature.
  2. Beat until soft peaks begin to form.
  3. Slowly add sugar and cream of tartar.
  4. Whip until stiff peaks form and sugar is dissolved.
  5. Add vanilla, beat briefly to mix.
  6. With round nozzle on pastry/icing bag, pipe stems, standing straight up, and caps, round blobs, on parchment paper lined baking sheet.
  7. Bake in oven at 250⁰ until dry, about 1 hr.
  8. Melt chocolate.
  9. Spread chocolate on bottom of cap, stick top of stem in center of chocolate, leave upside down to dry.
  10. Before arranging on or around cake, dust with cocoa powder.