Sweet Potato Casserole with Marshmallows

Our family has a pretty traditional thanksgiving dinner, yet somehow (I blame our mom and her health food obsession), we never had a sweet potato and marshmallow casserole. Lola finally had one last year and she's been talking about how amazing it was ever since. So there was a lot of build up to my first sweet potato marshmallow casserole (which we had for dinner a couple days before thanksgiving), but it lived up to the hype. It was all I had dreamed of and more.

Sweet Potato and Marshmallow Casserole recipe from cooks.com
Serves 8

*8 sweet potatoes

*1/2 cup hot milk

*1/2 teaspoon salt

*1 cup chopped pecans or walnuts

*1/2 pound marshmallows

mash potatoes, add spices, butter, and milk, mix. Fold in nuts and put the mixture in a buttered baking dish. Put the marshmallows on top. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown.

-Rita

Cheddar Squash Muffins/Bread

Me and Lola are both huge fans of muffins. And rightly so; they are amazing. The only bad thing about muffins is that you can't eat them for dinner. Well, no more!
we don't have a muffin tin so we made these as bread. They were delicious, although I suspect they would be even better if made as muffins (true fact: everything is better if it's muffin-shaped). we ate them with some tomato soup and they were great crumbled on top of the soup.

Chedder Squash Muffins
recipe from Glamour, makes 12 muffins (or one 8x8 pan of bread)
*2 eggs
*1/2 cup water
*1 cup roasted squash, mashed (we used acorn squash)
*1 one-lb box oatmeal muffin mix
*1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
*1/4 cup chopped scallions
in a bowl, add eggs, water, and roasted squash. whisk in muffin mix. cheese, and scallions. spoon batter inot baking cups of two 6-cup muffin tins or an 8x8 baking dish and bake in oven at 400 degrees farenheit for 15 to 20 minutes

-Rita

berry brioche bread pudding

so, we're heading off to the east coast tomorrow, then back to school! we're finally all packed (ok, not all done. but 95% packed). i think we deserve some bread pudding!

we used a recipe from food and wine magazine but subbed blackberries (fresh from a park down the street!) for the blueberries and raspberries. we also added more sugar. we'll say it was to account for the fact that blackberries are less sweet, and not because we weren't paying attention when we halved the recipe. it worked, and was not overly sweet. also, although half the recipe should have been four servings, i was able to cut it into 6 big slices.
i think everybody liked it.
original recipe, with my notes in brackets:
berry brioche bread pudding from food and wine magazine
serves 8 [to 12]

Ingredients

• 1. Unsalted butter, for greasing the dish
  2. 1/4 cup turbinado sugar
  3. 2 cups heavy cream
  4. 2 cups whole milk [we used 2%]
     
  5. 2/3 cup plus 1/4 cup granulated sugar
  6. 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  7. 4 large eggs
  8. 4 large egg yolks
  9. 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  10. 2 cups blueberries and raspberries, plus more for serving [or blackberries, and if using blackberries add 1/3 cup more sugar to the cream mixture and 1-2 T more sugar to your berries]
      
  11. One 1-pound loaf of brioche, cut into 1/2-inch dice
      
  12. Whipped cream for serving

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Butter an 8-by-11-inch baking dish and coat the dish with the turbinado sugar.
2. In a large saucepan, bring the cream, milk, 2/3 cup of the granulated sugar and the salt to a simmer over moderately high heat, then remove from the heat.
3. In a bowl, whisk the whole eggs, egg yolks and vanilla. Gradually whisk in the hot cream until blended. Strain the custard through a fine strainer into a large bowl.
4. In a small bowl, toss the blueberries and raspberries with 2 tablespoons of the granulated sugar. Using a fork, coarsely mash the berries. Let stand until juicy, about 5 minutes.
5. Mix the brioche into the custard. Fold in the mashed berries. Transfer the pudding to the prepared baking dish and sprinkle the top with the remaining 2 tablespoons of granulated sugar. Cover with foil and bake for 45 minutes, until set in the center. Remove the foil and bake in the top third of the oven for 20 minutes longer, until lightly golden.
6. Preheat the broiler. Broil the pudding for 1 minute, until golden brown [be careful! we burnt the top of ours]. Transfer to a rack [we just let stand in the pan on a counter, not a rack] and let stand for 30 minutes, until cooled slightly. Cut the bread pudding into squares and serve with blueberries, raspberries and whipped cream.

-lola

jalapeno corn bread

And now, the thrilling conclusion of the corn bread and chili saga!We used a recipe from Bon Appetit and added whole corn kernels and diced jalapenos. It would probably be great with shredded cheese too. We had a ton left over, although with four people in the house it goes pretty fast. Definitely not as excessive as the time me and Lola made cornbread back in NY and had to eat it with breakfast, lunch, and dinner for days afterwards.





Buttermilk cornbread. Recipe from Bon Appitit via Epicurious.com. Serves 12
2 cups white cornmeal
1 cup all purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted, cooled


Preheat oven to 450°F. Butter 9x9x2-inch baking pan. Mix first 4 ingredients in large bowl. Whisk buttermilk, eggs and butter in medium bowl to blend. Stir buttermilk mixture into dry ingredients to blend (do not overmix). Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake until tester inserted into center comes out clean and top is golden brown, about 25 minutes. Cool in pan. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover and let stand at room temperature.)
-Rita

peanut butter granola

a few weeks ago, rita and i may have made our internet video ad debut. we were walking down the street when we were randomly asked if we'd like to participate in the filming of a "viral marketing campaign" for galaxy granola's new fruit not fat granola. anticipating free granola samples, we agreed. unfortunately for galaxy, neither me nor rita (especially not rita) are natural performers (we are shy twins). i did my best, offering "that's a lot of fat!" to describe galaxy's rival granola and "that sounds good!" in reference to replacing oil with applesauce. rita was not so helpful, mumbling, "i don't know...how much fat does granola usually have?" in response to the rival granola's fat content. luckily, the galaxy granola spokesman was a pro and we ended our film debut with an enthusiastic "fruit, not fat!!!" for the camera.
unbeknown to galaxy, however, rita and i have been making our own "fruit not fat" granola for years. and, having tasted my well earned galaxy sample, i have to say that ours is better.
this particular recipe obviously adds (good, healthy) fat back in with the peanut butter. if you want plain granola, replace the peanut butter with 1/4 cup liquid sweetener (honey, brown rice syrup, or agave) and add a few generous sprinkles of cinnamon and ground cloves to the wet ingredients mixture.
peanut butter granola
*1 cup applesauce
*1/4 cup liquid sweetener (honey, brown rice syrup, or agave)
*1/2 cup peanut butter
*5 cups oats (old fashioned or quick cooking)
*1 cup chopped peanuts (optional)

1. preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. put peanut butter in microwave safe bowl and microwave for 30 seconds.
3. stir peanut butter and mix with applesauce and sweetener in a small bowl.
4. mix together oats and peanuts, if using, in a large bowl.
5. add applesauce mixture to oats. stir until oats are evenly coated.
6. spread granola on baking sheet. bake for 30-45 minutes (check every 15 minutes) until granola is golden brown. you can also stir every 10 or 15 minutes if you'd like even baking, but i prefer to have a mix of crunchy and soft granola.
-lola

mini banana muffins

There's this guy at my mom's work that we both love, despite having only met him once or twice, because he has an awesome name. I wish I could tell you his name, but I don't think he would appreciate having it told to the entire internet (because obviously everyone on the entire internet reads this blog). Just trust me, it's an awesome name. Anyway, we decided to make him some baked goods since he is allergic to eggs and therefore doesn't get to have them much. Apparently, according to our mom, everyone in his life is just constantly eating baked goods with eggs in them in front of him, and he is tortured knowing he can't have any. I imagine them laughing maniacally as they do it, but they probably don't.
It was hard for us to find an eggless recipe that doesn't rely on any odd ingredients that can only be got at the health food store, but eventually we found this one and modified it slightly because we didn't have any soy milk. We replaced the soy milk and vinegar combo with regular milk and the margarine with butter, and put the batter into a mini muffin tin instead of a bread pan. They turned out great and the awesomely-monikered person who we made them for loved them too.
-Rita
p.s. My dear twin forgot to post the recipe. Here it is:
*1/2 cup brown sugar
*1/2 cup white sugar
*1/2 cup butter
*3 bananas, mashed
*2 cups flour
*1/2 teaspoon baking soda
*1/4 cup milk
*1 teaspoon vanilla
*1 teaspoon cinnamon
*1/4 teaspoon allspice
*1/2 teaspoon salt
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
Mix baking soda, flour, salt, and spices in a medium bowl.
Mix butter and sugar with an electric mixer in a large bowl. Add banana, milk, and vanilla, and stir with a spoon. Add dry ingredients, stir until well mixed. Bake in a greased (with cooking spray) mini-muffin twin for 25 minutes, or until light-medium brown on top. Makes 48 mini-muffins.
-Lola

pecan and sunflower seed biscotti

i'm not sure exactly what to call these. they're kind of like biscotti, but not as sweet, and not quite the same texture. they'd be a great dessert crumbled over vanilla ice cream, but they're also good in milk with your cereal, or plain as an afternoon snack. mine came out more like granola bars, but we'll go with biscotti, since they were adapted from 101 cookbook's nut and seed biscotti recipe.
pecan and sunflower seed biscotti makes about 20 cookies, although mine were crumbly, so it was more like 15 nicely shaped cookies plus lots of misshapen bits and crumbs. still delicious!
*1 1/3 cups whole wheat flour
*1 1/3 cup pecan pieces
*2/3 cup sunflower seeds
*1/2 teaspoon salt
*2 eggs
*2/3 cup honey
*1/4 cup olive oil
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Grease a bread pan with butter or oil (the original recipe said to line with parchment paper as well, but i didn't have any and it worked fine, although it was a little hard to get the dough out of the pan after baking).
2. Combine flour, nuts, seeds, and salt in a bowl. stir.
3. Whisk together eggs and honey in another bowl. add to dry ingredients and mix well.
4. Put dough in pan and press down with your fingers until its nice and compact. bake for about 45 minutes.
5. remove loaf from pan (you'll need to run your knife around the edges of the loaf) and cut into thin slices. place slices on a baking sheet and brush with about half of the oil.
6. bake at 425 degrees F for 3-4 minutes. remove from oven, flip each slice, brush with the rest of the oil, and bake for 5 more minutes, or until crisp.
-Lola

baked french toast

have i ever told you how much i LOVE french toast? despite this, i almost never make it, and the few times I have, its never been as good as what you get at most diners (although i also love diners, and the atmosphere can make sub-par french toast delicious. my favorite french toast was when rita and i went to the java house for lunch one day, and made friends with the old man who worked there, who came over and chided us for not putting enough syrup on our toast, then proceeded to douse the toast in about 5 pounds of syrup).

so for our belated mother's day brunch, after much debate, we decided on french toast, but knew we had to step it up.
not only is this recipe super simple and delicious, its baked so you can all enjoy brunch together instead of making each slice of toast to order.

baked french toast serves 6 adapted from smitten kitchen
*1 loaf challah
*3 cups milk (we used fat free)
*3 eggs
*3 Tablespoons sugar, plus about 1 teaspoon extra for sprinkling on top
*1/2 teaspoon salt
* about 2 teaspoons cinnamon
*pecans (about 1 large handful)
*raisins (about 1 large handful)
*1 banana, sliced (optional)
1. grease a baking dish.
2. slice challah into 1 inch pieces. arrange in baking dish, packing tightly. you can also layer if necessary.
3. sprinkle pecans and raisins on top. you can also put the pecans and raisins between layers if you want. i recommend squishing them between the slices of bread.
3. whisk together milk, eggs, sugar and salt in a large bowl. pour over bread.
4. sprinkle cinnamon and sugar over everything.
5. cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
6. bake at 425 degrees F for 20 minutes. add slices of banana on top and bake for 10 more minutes.
7. cut, serve, and enjoy! we served ours with more sliced banana, strawberries, pecans, powdered sugar, and syrup.
-Lola

stuffed cuttlefish + herbed biscuits

our first week of classes is done and all is well so far. i'm particularly excited about my irish (as in gaelic language) class. because who wouldn't love to learn a language where "bhfuil" is pronounced "well"? (another favorite-"mhargadh" is said like "wada". also, i hope my approximations of how to say these are correct. if you speak irish, fell free to correct me). anyway, on to some food!

another meal from way back in the day. these are from the book Savoring Provence and for my dad's birthday meal. dessert was poached pears, but the picture wasn't particularly interesting (imagine a peeled pear in a bowl. that's what it was pretty much. not to say that it wasn't delicious).
so we have some biscuits, which are basically frozen pastry shells brushed with butter and some herbs before being baked, and a cuttlefish stuffed with ground meat and some veggies. everything was great. if only we could cook like this in our dorm!

indian spiced granola

i guess its a cliche that we californians are all crunchy granola types who like our health food and tie dye. for some reason, this seemed very prevalent in children's books. i remember reading baby sitter's club books where, in the second chapter, Ann M. Martin would always explain that Dawn liked health food because she was from california, and in many of my other favorite books, there was always a weird kid from california who surfed and wore tye die all the time.
its strange that granola is part of the image, because most granola on the shelves these days is not particularly healthy or natural. i'm not a hippy at all (ok, i used to wear tie dye. but that was one i was 5 and my mom dressed me, so it wasn't my fault), but i've also never been a fan of sugary cereals. so when i saw this recipe on orangette, i was intrigued by the idea of making my own granola.
best breakfast ever! a big bowl of grape-nuts (i gotta rep the grape-nuts! such an under-appreciated cereal), homemade granola, golden raisins, strawberries, and milk.
i think the first time rita and i made granola was about 2 years ago now. in those years, with the help of our dad, we've changed the original recipe enough to make it our own, and we've come up with some delicious variations. this one is our "indian granola". its a little bit savory, but the spices are not too strong, and its great with yogurt, fruit, milk, or just as a snack by itself.
indian spiced granola
dry mix
*5 cups old fashioned or quick cooking oats
*1 cup slivered almonds or pistachio meats
*1 cup shelled sunflower seeds
wet mix
*1 cup unsweetened applesauce
*1/4 cup brown rice syrup (available at health food or natural food stores)
*1/4 cup honey
*2 Tablespoons cinnamon
*1 Tablespoon sweet curry powder
*1 teaspoon ground ginger
*2 teaspoons cardamom powder
1. preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. stir dry mix in a large bowl.
3. stir wet mix in a medium sized bowl (it will make about 2 cups all together. we like to mix it in a glass measuring cup, which makes it easy to pour into the dry bowl).
4. add wet mix to dry mix bowl. stir well, until all dry ingredients are coated with the wet mix.
5. pour granola onto one or two baking pans, making sure granola is in a single layer.
6. bake in oven for 30 minutes, or until golden brown (time varies slightly depending on your oven. the granola is still good if the bottom is a little burnt, in fact sometimes we prefer it that way).

healthier banana bread

i know i said before that i don't like bananas, but i absolutely love banana bread. for a few days, we had some bananas sitting around slowly growing older, so i kept a careful eye on them, ready to pounce with my masher as soon as they were ready. and when they were, i happened to stumble upon this recipe from the talented Christina Kim.
the recipe not only promised a banana bread that was delicious and nutritious, we also happened to have all the ingredients at home. ok, so we had fat free plain yogurt instead of greek and we had no vanilla, but besides that we followed the recipe. it turned out great, although some people (my mom) said it was not moist enough. true, it was drier than your traditional banana bread, but it was still tasty in its own way.

brownies!

Back in high school, my friend Onjira would sometimes bring in home-made brownies for all of us. We all loved them, especially Eva, who would always take at least 5. So a few days ago, a friend from high school came over and we decided to bake brownies to bring to Onjira's birthday party the next night. We put almonds in them to deter Eva (she hates nuts), but it turned out that was unnecessary, since they were so good we ended up eating them all ourselves. Here's the recipe we used: best ever cocoa brownies from epicurious.