Garlic-Roasted Cauliflower

Alternate title: The Best Cauliflower I Ever Ate

I got this recipe from a new cookbook (yea for Christmas gifts that keep on giving!), Ina Garten's "How Easy Is That?" -- this is actually the first thing I've made from the book. When I read it, I immediately knew it would be good. I was wrong -- it was amazing.

1 whole head of garlic, cloves separated but not peeled
1 large head of cauliflower, trimmed and cut into large florets (or two small heads)
4 1/2 T good olive oil, divided
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 minced fresh parsley
3 T pine nuts, toasted
2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 450F.

Bring a small pot of water to a boil and add the garlic cloves. Boil for 15 seconds, then drain, peel and cut off any brown parts. Cut the largest cloves in half lengthwise.

On a sheet pan, toss the cauliflower with the garlic, 3 T olive oil, 2 t salt and 1 t pepper. Spread the mixture out in a single layer (I line a jelly roll pan or large rimmed baking sheet with foil for easy clean-up). Roast for 20-25 minutes, tossing twice, until the cauliflower is tender and the garlic is lightly browned.

Scrape the caulfilower into a large bowl with the garlic and any juices. Add the remaining 1 1/2 T olive oil, parsley, pine nuts and lemon juice. Sprinkle with another 1/2 t salt, toss well, and serve hot or warm.

Note -- I used less salt, preferring to add more at the table if necessary. I hate oversalted food! I can't show you the picture from the book, but my dish came out looking exactly like the photo...to me, that means the recipe was well-written and I was able to follow directions. Will definitely make this one again! While the kids would not touch it, Art and I almost ate a whole head of cauliflower ourselves...

Cookbook Review/Recommendation!

I've got loads of cookbooks -- I read them like other people read novels -- and they've all got their own personalities. Many of them stay on my shelf because of one or two favorite recipes. I'll admit that some haven't been off the shelf in a while! Occasionally I find one that I keep right on the counter for whenever there's an opportunity to use it. My newest one is that "I-can't-wait-to-try-another-recipe" kind, and I recommend it if you enjoy baking cookies.

Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies by Alice Medrich is filled with delicious recipes, all with precise, easy to follow instructions. Plus, there is valuable information at the front and back of the book regarding technique, ingredients, and helpful tips. Alice is the "real deal" when it comes to baking -- she has credientials and experience to back that up. I attended her class at Central Market in December, and was fascinated by all I learned. I've been baking for over 40 years myself, and still picked up some great tips--like why some cookies bake better on foil while others are best on parchment paper. Who knew there was science in that?

She makes some of her cookies with melted (rather than softened) butter; much easier! Her coconut meringues are incredibly beautiful and tasty too. Peanut butter meringues? Yum. There are a bunch of gluten-free recipes and other special types. It's all arranged by texture, which is an interesting way to organize recipes.

This book is a great gift for the cookie-baker in your family or for yourself. You can't have mine -- it's autographed to me! :)

Wonderful Zucchini-Carrot Bread

I've been trying a lot of new recipes this year, but this is an old favorite I keep going back to. It started out as a Paula Deen recipe but I've added a couple of my own touches to it. Give it a try -- if you didn't put them in yourself, you would never know there were vegetables in this! Definitely not a diet recipe, but so good. I'd call it kid-friendly, except my own kids won't touch it...they heard me call it zucchini bread and that was the end of that. Maybe someday...

The original recipe makes two large loaves. I often just want to make one, so I've included the half-recipe amounts in parentheses for convenience. [The best thing to do, really, is make two loaves and give one away...the recipient will be delighted!]

If I have it, I'll substitute whole wheat pastry flour for half of the flour used. It's best with all the "optional" items but if you don't have them, or don't like them, it's fine to leave them out.

3 1/4 C all-purpose flour (1 5/8 C)
1 1/2 t salt (3/4 t)
1 t ground nutmeg (1/2 t)
2 t baking soda (1 t)
1 t ground cinnamon (1/2 t)
3 C granulated sugar (1 1/2 C)
1/2 C wheat germ (1/4 C) -- optional
1 C vegetable oil (1/2 C)
4 eggs, beaten (2)
1/3 C water (scant 1/4 C)
2 C grated zucchini (1 C)
1 1/2 C grated carrots (3/4 C) -- optional
1 t lemon juice (1/2 t)
1 C chopped walnuts or pecans (1/2 C) -- optional

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, nutmeg, baking soda, cinnamon, sugar and wheat germ.

In a separate bowl, combine oil, eggs, water, zucchini, carrots and lemon juice.

Mix wet ingredients into dry--by hand is fine--then add nuts and stir in.

Bake in two (one for half recipe) standard loaf pans, sprayed with nonstick spray and the bottoms lined with parchment. Bake one hour or until a tester comes out clean. Can also be baked in 5 mini loaf pans for about 45 minutes.

Breakfast Cookies

This one is a slightly modified version of the Breakfast Cookies recipe in "The Sneaky Chef" cookbook. If you get 20 cookies out of the recipe (which I do with a medium cookie scoop) then there are just over 100 calories in each.

3 C whole grain cereal flakes (I use Total)
1/4 C all-purpose flour
1/4 C whole wheat flour
1/4 C wheat germ
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1 t ground cinnamon
1 large egg
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C canola oil
2 t pure vanilla extract
3/4 C lowfat ricotta cheese
3/8 C cinnamon mini-chips (optional)
cinnamon sugar for dusting

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line two baking sheets with parchment, or spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Gently crush the cereal -- use a rolling pin with the cereal in a zip-top bag, or a few pulses in the food processor, or (my favorite) a whisk in a 2-cup glass measuring cup In any event you should have about 1 1/2 C coarsely crushed cereal.
3. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flours, wheat germ, cereal, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
4. In another bowl, whisk together egg, sugar, oil, vanilla and ricotta.
5. Combine wet and dry ingredients. mixing just enough to moisten the dry ingredients. Stir in the cinnamon chips, if using.
6. Using a 2-tablespoon cookie scoop (or something else to get that much dough) drop onto prepared cookie sheets, leaving about 1 1/2 inches between cookies.
7. Flatten cookies with the back of a fork (I find a plastic one works best -- the dough is sticky). Sprinkle tops generously with cinnamon sugar.
8. Bake 12-13 minutes, until lightly browned.
9. Cool. Cookies should remain slightly soft. Great in lunchboxes or as a snack too!

MIL's Red Beans & Rice

My husband got this recipe from his mother and brought it along when we got married. It's on a stained index card that we just keep hanging on to. It takes several hours to make, but there's enough for a party...or to freeze for another day when you only have time to make rice and cornbread!

1 pound dried red beans, rinsed
1 large ham hock
2 quarts water
3 cups green onion, chopped
1 cup fresh parsley, chopped
1 cup green bell pepper, chopped
2 large cloves garlic, crushed
1 T salt
1 t red pepper
1 t black pepper
1/4 t dried oregano
1/4 t dried thyme
1 T Worcestershire
3 dashes tabasco (optional)
4 oz. tomato sauce
1 pound any smoked sausage, cut into 3/4" pieces

hot cooked rice

1. Place rinsed ham hock in soup pot with the beans and the water. Salt the water if desired and bring to a boil. Lower heat to a simmer, cover, and cook about an hour.
2. Remove ham hock to cutting board. Set aside.
3. Add vegetables, seasonings and tomato sauce to pot. Cook slowly for another hour.
4. Add sausage and cook another 45 minutes. Remove bits of ham from the ham bone and return to pan; cook another 10 minutes and serve over hot rice with tabasco to taste.

Too-Easy Lasagna

I'd always made lasagna "the long way" until I found this recipe in Food & Family magazine, Winter 2008. While not quite as authentically Italian, perhaps, as my old recipe, this one is so much faster...takes so many fewer pans...and is eaten just as enthusiastically by the whole family!

1 pound ground beef
1 egg, beaten
2 1/2 C shredded part-skim mozzarella, divided
1 15-oz container part-skim ricotta
1/2 C grated or shredded parmesan, divided
1/4 C fresh parsley, chopped
1 26-oz jar spaghetti sauce (I like Newman's Own marinara)
1 1/4 C water
12 lasagna noodles, uncooked (regular noodles, not the "no-boil" kind...whole grain works fine!)

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray lasagna pan with non-stick spray.
2. Brown meat over medium-high heat; drain.Add spaghetti sauce to meat; put water in jar, cover and shake well. Add water to pan. Stir well.
3. Mix egg, 1 1/4 C mozzarella, ricotta, 1/4 C parmesan and parsley until well blended.
4. Spread 1 C of sauce in bottom of pan. Top with 3 lasagna noodles, 1/3 of the ricotta mixture and 1 C of sauce. Repeat two more times. Top with remaining 3 noodles and the rest of the sauce. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella and then parmesan cheeses. Cover pan with greased foil.
5. Bake 45 minutes. Remove foil; bake another 15 minutes. Let stand 15 minutes before cutting.

Makes 12 servings.

Refrigerator Bran Muffins

"Bran muffins" may not sound appealing, but just wait until you taste these! Our whole family loves them and there are endless variations and combinations of add-ins. Best of all, this batter keeps in the refrigerator up to two weeks, so you can always have freshly baked muffins in a flash. This recipe came from Relish magazine (a newspaper insert) and is just one of several excellent recipes I've found there.

Ingredients:

• 2 C All-Bran cereal
• 2/3 C wheat bran
• 1 1/3 C boiling water
• 2 2/3 C all-purpose flour
• 1 T baking soda
• 1 t ground cinnamon
• 1/2 t salt
• 1/4 t grated or ground nutmeg
• vegetable cooking spray
• 2 C lowfat buttermilk
• 1/2 C pasteurized egg substitute (I always substitute whole eggs here and lightly beat enough to make 1/2 cup)
• 1 C granulated sugar
• 1/2 C firmly packed brown sugar
• 1/2 C vegetable oil
• 1 t vanilla extract
• optional add-ins: shredded carrot, raisins, dried cranberries, pineapple, shredded zucchini, chopped dried apricots, blueberries, bananas, nuts...

1. Mix cereal and wheat bran in a large bowl (I use the large covered batter bowl from Pampered Chef so I can store batter in this container). Add boiling water; stir well and set aside for 1 hour.
2. Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, salt and nutmeg in a medium bowl.
3. Preheat oven to 375F. Coat muffin cups with cooking spray.
4. Add 1 C buttermilk to bran mixture; stir well with a whisk. Add remaining buttermilk, egg, granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil and vanilla, stirring until smooth.
5. Add flour mixture; stir until a thick batter forms.
6. If baking just a portion of the batter, measure out what you're using and set aside. Cover remaining batter and refrigerate.
7. Stir in optional fruits, vegetables, or nuts (I use about 1-1.5 cups per dozen muffins) and scoop into prepared pan, filling each muffin about 2/3 full.
8. Bake 20-25 minutes, until puffed and lightly browned. Entire recipe makes 24-30 muffins depending on amount of add-ins.

Favorite combinations for us include shredded carrots with some crushed pineapple (shred your own carrots for this combo--pre-shredded ones turn green for some reason and it's icky)...and shredded zucchini with golden raisins. Fun to play with!

Mom's Warm Potato Salad

I searched online for a warm potato salad recipe (no time to cool the potatoes) and found this one on SimplyRecipes.com. So it's not from my mom, although I'm pretty sure she would like it! The adults in our house loved it with the Weeknight Baby Back Ribs.

Ingredients:

• 2 lbs Yukon Gold potatoes, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 C chopped celery
• 1/2 C chopped red onion
• 1/3 C chopped flavorful olives -- green or Kalamata
• 1/4 C chopped fresh parsley
• 1/4 C seasoned rice vinegar
• 1/4 C olive oil
• kosher salt and freshly ground pepper to taste

1. Put potatoes into a saucepan and cover with an inch of cold water. Add salt (about 1 1/2 teaspoons to 2 quarts of water).
2. Bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cover.
3. Simmer for 10 minutes or until potatoes are tender when pierced with a fork. Drain well.
4. Put warm potatoes in serving bowl with the celery, red onion, olives and parsley. Add the rice vinegar and olive oil while potatoes are still warm so that they absorb the dressing.
5. Salt and pepper to taste.

Note--I used 1 pound of red potatoes instead of the 2 pounds Yukon Gold. We liked the extra vegetables and flavor, but our version wasn't exactly like the recipe called for!

Weeknight Baby Back Ribs

We've always avoided cooking ribs unless we had a lot of time. Well, no more! This recipe--if you can actually call it a recipe!--came in a recent issue of Kraft's Food & Family magazine. They are so fast, easy and delicious that we make them frequently.

Ingredients:

• Pork baby back ribs (as many as you need to feed your group)
• Bottle of your favorite barbecue sauce

1. Cut the ribs into two-rib portions.
2. Place in a large pan or stock pot and add water to cover by 1 inch (the pot needs to be large enough to leave 2-3 inches of space at the top).
3. Bring the pot to a boil. Turn down heat slightly and boil for 20 minutes.
4. Place the ribs on a preheated grill and brush generously and frequently with the barbecue sauce, 10-15 minutes.
5. Cut the ribs apart and serve!