Posts Tagged ‘whole grain’

While cooking a romantic dinner at home of spinach lasagna and Caesar salad paired with a delicious Chilean chardonnay, I made bruchetta as a quick appetizer. Whether you need to hold guests over at your next dinner party or offer to bring a dish to your next potluck, this flawless bruchetta is always a hit! Bruchetta is my favorite appetizer to make, its super easy and the ingredients are commonly on-hand in my fridge.

Ingredients: I don’t list any specific amounts for the ingredients; there is no right or wrong answer. Use your best judgment based on the amount of bruchetta you plan to make!

• whole wheat baguette, sliced
• tomatoes, diced
• garlic, minced
• mozzarella cheese, shredded
• basil, chopped
• olive oil

Preheat oven too 400*F. Arrange sliced bread on baking sheet. Brush each slice with olive oil. In a large bowl, combine tomatoes and garlic. Spoon tomato mixture on bread. Top with basil and mozzarella cheese. Bake for about 10 minutes or until bread starts to turn golden brown. Serve and enjoy!

What’s your favorite appetizer?

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As you all know, I am obsessed with the bulk bins at any grocery store. Buying in bulk reduced unnecessary packaging, ensures that you pay for what you get, saves resources, and gives you the choice of buying as little or as much as you want! Here is a quick peak of the items in my pantry that I buy in bulk:

Oatmeal, Granola (this is my new local Milk & Honey Granola), and Rice

Whole Wheat Flour, White Flour (clearly I need more of that, I’ve been baking a lot of bread lately!), Trail Mix, Quinoa, Coffee, Wild Rice, and Chia Seeds

If you haven’t noticed I have a love for Oxo Good Grips Food Storage Pop containers (the clear containers with the white lids). They have a fun pop-top, air-tight lid that I totally adore. I bought mine at Bed Bath and Beyond; they are kind of pricey so I only buy one every now and then to add to my collection!

Do you buy in bulk? Do you have a favorite way to store things like me?

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Dinner tonight was a quick and easy soup. As winter comes to an end, it’s almost too warm in the house to make soup! But with homemade garlic breadsticks, I couldn’t resist.

Italian Tortellini Soup

Ingredients:

• 1 yellow onion, chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• 15 oz low-sodium chicken broth
• 2 cups water
• 1 can diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 package (9 oz) refrigerated cheese tortellini
• 6 oz frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1 tsp dried basil
• 1/4 tsp pepper
• 1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Cook onion in 1 Tbsp olive oil until soft. Add garlic and sauté another 2 minutes. Add broth, water, and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Stir in tortellini and return to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer and cook, uncovered, for about 8 minutes until tortellini are tender. Add spinach, basil, pepper, and pepper flakes. Cook 2-3 minutes longer. Serve with garlic breadsticks (recipe below) and enjoy!

Whole Wheat Garlic Breadsticks

I revised this recipe from one I found on For the Love of Cooking; thanks for the great recipe Pam!

• 1 1/2 cup warm water
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1 Tbsp fast acting yeast
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 2 Tbsp butter (I used Earth Balance)
• 1/2 tsp garlic powder

In a large bowl combine water, sugar, and yeast. Let sit for 10 minutes until yeast starts to bubble. Mix in salt and gradually add flour until a ball of dough is formed. Spray bowl with cooking spray, place dough ball in bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise for 45 minutes until it doubles in size.

Preheat oven to 425*F. Roll dough out on lightly floured countertop. Using a pizza cutter, cut dough into 20 strips. Roll each strip in hands to form a long breadstick, twist ends together and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 10 minutes. Melt butter in microwave and mix with garlic powder. Brush tops of breadsticks with mixture and bake for another minute. Serve immediately of freeze for later meals.

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After all of my exams this week I finally have time to cook! Tonight I made stuffed squash for dinner!

Ingredients:

• 2 acorn squash
• 4 cups cubed whole wheat bread
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup raisins
• 1 Tbsp olive oil
• 1/2 cup chopped onion
• 1/2 cup chopped celery
• 1/2 cup chopped carrot
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 cup vegetable broth
• 1 tsp dried sage
• 1/4 cup pecans (plain of candied)
• 1 Tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
• 1/4 tsp black pepper

Toast 4 cups of bread cubes in the oven at 400 degrees for about 20-30 minutes or until brown.

Instead of 2 Acorn squash, I used one Carnival squash (left) and one Acorn squash (left) for fun!

Cut, remove, and discard the seeds from the squash. Place squash face down on a pan with about 1/2 inch of water on the bottom. Cover and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes.

While waiting for the squash to bake, combine cranberries and raisins in a bowl with 1 cup of boiling water. Cover and let stand for 30 minutes.

Meanwhile, sauté the onion, carrots, celery, and garlic in olive oil for about 5 minutes.

Combine onion mixture, bread. cranberries, raisins, parsley, sage, pecans, pepper and broth in a large bowl.

Spoon mixture into squash halves and place face up on a baking sheet. Cover and back for 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

This meal was delicious! It was like a mini vegetarian Thanksgiving dinner stuffed in a squash!

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I had a request for the recipe for this bread, so here you have it!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups water
• 1/3 cup cracked wheat or cracked rye (I used a mixture of the two)
• 2 Tbsp canola oil
• 2 Tbsp molasses
• 1 package active dry yeast
• 1 cup rolled oats
• 1/4 cup nonfat dry milk powder
• 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 3/4 – 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 Tbsp rolled oats

1. In small saucepan, boil the water. Add cracked wheat and reduce the heat. Cover and allow to simmer for 5 minutes. Transfer it to a large bowl and stir in molasses and oil. Cool to lukewarm temperature. Whisk in yeast until nearly dissolved with a few lumps of yeast remaining. Add 1 cup oats, milk powder, wheat germ, and salt.

2. Using a wooden spoon, stir in whole wheat flour. Stir in as much all-purpose flour as you can. Turn dough onto lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining all-purpose flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6-8 minutes). Shape into a ball. Place dough in lightly oiled bowl, turning to grease all surfaces. Cover and let rise in a warm place until dough doubles in size (about 1 hour).

3. Punch down the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Cover and let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, grease a baking sheet. Shape the dough into an 8-inch round loaf. Place on baking sheet, cover, and let rise in a warm place until it doubles in size (30-40 minutes).

4. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Make 3 diagonal slashes across the top of the loaf. Brush with water and sprinkle with 1 Tbsp oats. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when lightly tapped. Remove and cook on wire rack.

Enjoy! Good luck baking everyone!

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