Sides Recipes

Stuffed Jalapenos

August 14th, 2009  |  by Zahra  |  in Sides  |  2 Comments

This was a fun little experiment since I’ve never bought jalapenos before. But you really can’t go wrong and you can stuff them with whatever you like!

Unrelated, the day that I bought the jalapenos from Wal Marty, I got into a fight with another lady… over a bunch of bananas. It was the perfect bunch, no blemishes, no bruises, eight in the bunch. Beautiful. The lady and I reached out for the bunch at the same time, but I touched it first. And as playground rules clearly state: whoever touches it first, owns it. Therefore, that bunch was mine. After a really awkward exchange/argument, I dropped my bananas into my cart and ran off. I’m a winner.

Woo baby

Anyways, stuffed jalapenos. Here’s how I made ‘em:

Stuffed Jalapenos

6 jalapenos
1/4 cup steamed or sauteed chopped spinach
1/2 package cream cheese
1 scallion
1/2 tsp garlic, minced
Salt and pepper to taste
Optional: Parmesan cheese for sprinkling

uno jalapeno

Take your lovely washed jalapeno…

Off with his head

and off with his head!

Split down the middle

Slice it down the middle.

de-seeded

Scrape out the seeds with a spoon. I’m not big into spiciness, so I took out all the seeds. You can leave some if you like little fireworks in your mouth. I won’t judge you.

Onion and garlic

1. Chop up the scallion and mince the garlic.

Add in some spinach

2. Add in the 1/4 cup steamed or sauteed spinach. I sauteed mine with about a tablespoon of canola oil.

Mix in cream cheese

3. Add in the cream cheese and mix it. Mix it good.

Stuff

4. Take your mixture and stuff each half of your jalapenos.

Extra filling and tomatoes

5. I used 5 jalapenos instead of the 6 that would have been appropriate for this recipe, so I split a tomato in half and scraped out the inside and stuffed it as well. Then, sprinkle everything with some Parmesan cheese.

Beautimous

Look how purdy it is!

6. Bake for about 25-30 minutes in a 375 degree oven or until the jalapenos are soft but not shrively.

Oh the delicoiusness

And that’s it! I made some broccoli cheddar rice that night to serve it with and it went perfectly!

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Potato Cakes

August 2nd, 2009  |  by Zahra  |  in Potatoes  |  1 Comment

First, I promise there’s no sweet potatoes in this dish!

I wanted something fried and delicious the other day and these babies were born. We were also super hungry and these were super yummy so I don’t have any “done” pictures of these. You’ll have to make them and see for yourself.

You can make them like so:

Potato Cakes
adapted from Ryan Detzel

1/2 medium onion, diced
2 scallions
2 medium to large potatoes, grated
1 carrot
2 eggs
1/2 cup bread crumbs
Salt and Pepper to taste
Optional: 1/4 of an 8oz package of cream cheese

Diced onion

1. Start by dicing your onion. Dice it well so you don’t have huge chunks in your final cakes. Don’t know how to dice an onion without crying all over everything? Here’s how you do it!

Two scallions

2. Chop up two scallions.

Potatoes and carrot

3. Take your two potatoes and peel and grate them.

Grated potatoes on towel

4. Place the grated potatoes onto a clean towel.

Add grated carrots

5. Grate the carrots and add them to the potatoes as they hang out on the towel.

Squeeze out moisture

6. Over the sink, squeeeeeeze out all the juices. It was gross so I didn’t take an “after” picture. Just trust me on this one.

Combine in a bowl

7. Add the potatoes and carrots to the onions and scallions in a bowl. Squeezing the juices out ensures that you’ll have crispy cakes and not smooshy patties.

Add eggs and breadcrumbs

8. Add the eggs and breadcrumbs. Salt and pepper to your liking. I added some cream cheese to my mixture because it just seemed like such a good idea. All creamy and potato-y and wonderful.

Fry

9. Add some canola oil to the bottom of a saucepan and turn on the heat to medium-high. Drop in the cakes a spoonful at a time and flip when it’s nice and browned on the bottom.

10. Set the cakes on a paper towel-lined plate and enjoy!

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Sweet Potato Bread

July 27th, 2009  |  by Zahra  |  in Breads  |  No Comments

Have you ever had sweet potatoes laying around and wanted something more than just the oh so yummy sweet potato casserole? Well, I generally have odd desires like that, so after baking and cooling a whole bunch of sweet potatoes, I opted to change up a tried and true banana bread recipe to fit with my mood.

Here’s what you need:

4 tbsp (1/2 stick) salted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tbsp packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 cup mashed sweet potatoes
1 tbsp milk
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp EACH baking powder and baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
Optional: handful of walnuts

1. Start by breaking up the 4 tablespoons of butter into a bowl. The butter should be soft but not runny.

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2. Add both types of sugar and cream together.

Now, dear reader, I have a confession to make:

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I do not own a KitchenAid or any other type of stand mixer. Nor do I own a regular electric mixer. Yes, this would make my cooking and baking life much easier, but it goes against everything in me to pay full price for a KitchenAid. So I wait. And in the meantime, I wear out my hands beating my sugar and butter together until I get a creamy consistency. Okay, back to the recipe.

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3. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

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4. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

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5. Measure out 1 cup of the mashed sweet potatoes. This isn’t a super exact recipe so don’t feel bad if you have less than that. Use as much as you have! Add to the butter/sugar mixture.

6. Add the milk and egg.

(*Unrelated: I own a very old point and shoot digital camera. One day, one day soon I hope, I will have a nicer camera to take super sexy food pictures!)

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7. Add the dry ingredients to the wet incredients and add cinnamon. Mix until just combined. Don’t overmix them!

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8. Optional: add about a handful of chopped walnuts. I love the crunchyness it adds, so this is a must for me.

9. Mix until the walnuts are well-distributed and pour into loaf pan.

10. Now this step, this one right here, explains why Neil puts up with my experimentations:

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Oh yes, shake on the granulated sugar on top. It makes my heart sing.

11. Place in oven and bake for 45 minutes-1 hour, depending on your oven. Test with a toothpick and remove when it comes out clean.

Let cool for a bit and enjoy! Or, if you’re like me, break off a big piece and eat it straight out of the oven to “test” it.

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