Maple Bundt Cake

3 1/2 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups pure maple syrup
2/3 cup canola oil
2 Tbs vanilla extract
1 Tbs apple cider vinegar
2 tsp maple extract
1 1/3 cups water
confectioner's sugar, for dusting

1) Preheat oven to 325F.  Lightly coat 10-inch Bundt pan with cooking spray.
2) Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt in bowl.
3) Whisk maple syrup, oil, vanilla extract, apple cider vinegar, maple extract and water in large separate bowl.  Stir in flour mixture until just blended.
4) Pour batter into prepared pan.  Bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean and cake begins to pull away from sides of pan.  Cool in pan on rack 20 minutes.  Unmold onto rack, and cool completely.  Dust with confectioners' sugar before serving.

Review:  Mike was so touched by a professor making him a birthday cake, that he felt the need to reciprocate the gesture.  Which actually meant me making a cake.  :)  I presented him with a few recipes from recent magazines and he chose this one.  I figured it was a good choice, as it seemed like a nice, Fall flavor.  What I didn't realize until I started making it, was how odd the recipe is.  There's no egg, butter or sugar - all typical ingredients for a cake.  Despite this, it rose just fine and tasted great (a little piece got stuck to the pan and I fortunately got to sample that!).  It's easy to make, and I got to use the trick of shaking powdered sugar through a tea ball to sprinkle evenly.  Do note, it's hard to find maple extract.  All I could find locally was artificial maple flavoring.  It seemed to do the trick, but I hate artificial flavors and regret that it's all I could find.  Luckily, I'm able to get big bottles of really great maple syrup at Costco (and I also recently bought the big bottle of vanilla extract, which is the exact same price as small bottles at the normal grocery store!).  Ah, a bargain, a great cake and hopefully a happy professor tomorrow. 

Happy Birthday Dr. Harrawood!!!!

Squash Enchiladas With Tomatillo Sauce

2 small butternut squash (about 2 1/2 lbs total), halved

2 tablespoons olive oil

1/4 cup chopped onion

1 Tbs minced garlic

1/2 cup frozen corn 

12 6-inch-diameter corn tortillas 

2 cups grated Monterey Jack cheese (about 8 ounces)

2 cups grated mozzarella cheese (about 8 ounces)  

Tomatillo Sauce 

sour cream

1/3 cup chopped pitted black olives

1) Preheat oven to 400°F. Pour enough water into roasting pan to come 1/2 inch up sides of pan. Place squash halves, cut side up, in pan. Bake until tender, adding more water as necessary, about 1 hour 45 minutes. Cool squash completely. Remove seeds from squash; spoon squash into bowl. Discard squash skin.

2) Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic; sauté 3 minutes. Mix in squash and corn. Season with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tortilla over direct flame until soft and heated through, turning with tongs, about 10 seconds per side. Repeat with remaining tortillas.

3) Place 1 heaping tablespoon squash mixture down center of each tortilla. Top with 1 tablespoon of each cheese. Roll up tortillas. Arrange seam side down in 13 x 9 x 2-inch glass baking dish. (Can be prepared 6 hours ahead; cover and chill.)

4) Preheat oven to 350°F. Spoon Tomatillo Sauce and remaining cheese over enchiladas. Bake until enchiladas are heated through, about 20 minutes. Place 2 enchiladas on each of 6 plates. Top with sour cream. Sprinkle with olives.

Review:  Well, as I transferred this recipe from it's original website, I discovered that Tomatillo Sauce was a hyperlink and had it's very own recipe (which I included as a hyperlink on this entry).  I did not previously know that and simply bought a large can of green enchilada sauce.  I also bought the prediced butternut squash from Costco and simply boiled it until tender (7 to 9 minutes).  And, I don't believe their method of softening the tortillas is safe.  I wrapped mine in aluminum foil and stuck them in the oven (350F) for 10 minutes.

So, this was amazingly delicious.  I love enchiladas and butternut squash, but never thought of combining the two.  Now, I have a new favorite.  Yum!!!

And, Mike made sure to get Mexican sour cream, which is our new favorite.  It's so much creamier than the regular stuff!

Roasted Pear Salad With Chevre & Fig Vinaigrette

4 Bosc, Comice, Concorde or Bartlett pears, halved and cored
8 tsp, plus 2 Tbs fig jam, divided
5 oz soft goat cheese, cut into 8 slices
1 Tbs olive oil, plus more for drizzling, divided
2 Tbs lemon juice
1/2 tsp Dijon mustard
4 cups watercress or baby arugula
1/2 small red onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup chopped toasted walnuts or pecans

1) Preheat oven to 375F.  Place pear halves cut-side up in 2 large baking dishes.
2) Spoon 1 tsp jam in center of each pear half.  Top with goat cheese rounds, and lightly drizzle with oil.  Bake pears 30 minutes, or until cheese begins to brown.
3) Whisk together remaining 2 Tbs fig jam, lemon juice and mustard in bowl.  Whisk in 1 Tbs olive oil.
4) Divide watercress among 8 serving plates.  Sprinkle with onion and nuts.  Top each with pear half, and drizzle with dressing.

Review:  A co-worker of Mike's gifted us fruit from her trees, as she had more than she could handle.  I had the most amazing plums and truly wish I had more.  She also gave us pears, which was fortunate because I'd been dying to make this recipe!  I'm not sure what type of pears they are, but they're smaller than the recipe called for, so I just adjusted things accordingly.  I made this using the baby spring mix from Costco, and used walnuts.  I was lucky to find fig preserves at TJ Maxx, and in the brand I like (the jar is a reusable glass).  This recipe was pretty tasty, but no matter what I did, my dressing would not "drizzle."  It plopped.  Oh well, it was still tasty.  It had a wonderful sweetness, combined with toasted nut, tangy cheese and bitter greens.  What a combination!!

New Feature!

Recently I've been revisiting some favorites, while incorporating a few new recipes each week.  I thought it might be nice to start each week with the planned menu.  The highlighted recipe titles will feature a link to the old recipe.  This also allows me to update my blog with pictures, for the old recipes that didn't feature pictures.  Hope this works well.  Here is the menu this week:

Sunday:
Roasted Pear Salad With Chevre & Fig Vinaigrette
New Potato Gratin With Chard, Bell Peppers & Kalamata Olives

Monday:
Squash Enchiladas With Tomatillo Sauce

Tuesday:
Spaghetti With Sweet Potatoes & Ricotta

Wednesday:
Lasagna Stroganoff Skillet
Maple Bundt Cake - for a professor's birthday

Thursday:
Bulgur, Broccoli & Feta Cheese Pilaf

Friday:
Grilled Goat Cheese With Fig Preserves

Sugar Pumpkin, Feta & Cilantro Quesadillas

1 lb seeded sugar pumpkin, peeled and cut into 1 1/2-inch cubes

1 finely chopped seeded jalapeño (about 2 Tbs)

12 8-inch-diameter flour tortillas

10oz feta cheese, crumbled

1 1/2 cups coarsely chopped fresh cilantro

2 limes, each cut into 6 wedges

1) Cook pumpkin in large saucepan of boiling salted water until tender but not falling apart, about 10 minutes. Drain and cool 10 minutes. While pumpkin is still warm, transfer to processor; puree until smooth. Stir in jalapeño; season with salt and pepper.

2) Divide pumpkin mixture equally among 6 tortillas (about 1/4 cup per tortilla) and spread evenly.  Sprinkle feta over each. Top each with 1/4 cup cilantro and sprinkle with black pepper. Top with second tortilla.

3) Heat heavy large skillet over medium high heat. Cook quesadillas until golden and dark char marks appear, about 1 minute per side. Serve with lime wedges.

Review:  After pureeing the pumpkin, I tossed in the jalapeño and cilantro and ran the food processor a little longer.  After seeing it fly around the food processor, Mike decided he wasn't going to like this.  Granted, he does not like cilantro.  So, I made the first quesadilla and tried it, but it wasn't his cup of tea.  Therefore, I made the second quesadilla with twice as much of the pumpkin mixture and finished off the batch.  I was disappointed it only made two quesadillas, but I did use larger tortillas and made them fairly thick.  Mike pulled out some cheddar and made regular quesadillas for himself.  That meant I got all of these for myself, which I was ok with.  I really loved these.  I only wish pumpkins weren't so difficult to clean up.  Also, I couldn't find 'sugar pumpkins' and used 'pie pumpkins.'

Ziti With Pumpkin: Ziti Alla Zucca

2 Tbs extra virgin olive oil
1 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
1 lb pumpkin, cut into julienne
1 cup water
salt and black pepper
pinch crushed red pepper
2 Tbs chopped fresh parsley
1 lb uncooked ziti
1/4 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano

1) In a large pan, heat the olive oil over high heat and add the onion, garlic, and pumpkin and cook 1 minute. Add the water, salt and pepper, lower heat to medium and cover, cooking until the pumpkin is soft, about 8 minutes. Add the red pepper flakes and parsley and keep warm.
2) Bring 6 quarts of water to a boil and add 2 tablespoons salt. Cook the ziti according to the package directions, until tender yet al dente. Toss the pasta with the cooked pumpkin 1 minute over high heat. Divide evenly among 4 warmed pasta bowls, topped with freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano.

Review:  I've desperately wanted to make fall dishes lately.  Mostly, I've wanted to make butternut squash recipes, but Costco did not yet have the diced squash that I love to buy (I hate cutting up squash!).  So, I decided pumpking would do in the meantime, though I would have to clean it up.  Somehow, buying an itty bitty pumpkin makes it easier to deal with.  So, I got my pumpkins, had the recipes lined up, and I found Costco had the butternut squash today.  I felt so defeated.  But, I have two pumpkin recipes this week and next week I'll get my beloved butternut squash!!!!

To make matters worse, this dish didn't wow me.  It didn't have a strong flavor, though it might have done well with a cream sauce.  It was filling and made plenty of food, but I expected more after having to julienne pumpkin!

Cajun Cauliflower Hash

1 1/2 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp ground black pepper
1 Tbs olive oil
3/4 cup chopped onion
2 cloves garlic, minced 
2 cups diced cauliflower florets 
1 celery stalk, diced 
1 cup frozen hash brown potatoes (not patties)
3/4 cup diced green bell pepper
1 Tbs chopped parsley

1) Combine chili powder, thyme, salt, and pepper in small dish. Set aside.
2) Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and garlic, and sauté 3 to 4 minutes, or until onion is translucent. Add chili powder mixture, and cook 30 seconds.
3) Add cauliflower, celery, and 1/3 cup water. Cover, and cook 4 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4) Add potatoes and bell pepper. Cover, and cook 3 to 4 minutes, or until cauliflower is crisp-tender. Add 2 to 3 Tbs water during cooking if mixture becomes dry. Remove from heat. Stir in parsley, and serve.

Review:   I made this for breakfast, and then had it again for lunch!  I doubled the amount of potatoes, in order to make more food.  I also let it brown, which took longer to cook.  After eating this for breakfast, I thought it was silly that this Cajun dish didn't use Cajun seasoning.  Therefore, at lunch I sprinkled Cajun seasoning on it.  Yum!  The dish improved, though it was already yummy.  And, very filling!