Vanilla Mint Fruit Salad

Already on a cooking kick and resigned to a grueling night of homework (though clearly, there is some distraction going on...), we thought a dessert was in order. Nothing fattening, just something light and refreshing.

What we ended up creating was an unbelievably yummy mojit0-daquirish fruit salad. Though the recipe instructed to let it sit for an hour, we kept sneaking to the kitchen to taste pieces. Everyone, including my pickiest-eater roommate, wanted seconds. We almost felt guilty that it tasted so good, because it required pretty much no work at all. On the other hand, what we missed in chopping and baking will surely be made up in essays and problem sets. Lord.

Check it here on Epicurious or below:

Ingredients:
2 cups grapes
24 oz. or so strawberries, hulled and halved
1/4 cup sugar
2 tsp mint, finely chopped
1/4 tsp vanilla extract
whipped cream (optional)

Instructions:
Combine all of the ingredients in a large bowl and toss. Refridgerate 1-4 hours and serve. Garnish, if you desire, with whipped cream and a mint sprig.

Chopped Salad with Balsamic Tofu

We invented a dish tonight! Inspired in part by the grilled tofu salad at Magic Carpet, the vegetarian food cart from which we order lunch almost daily, our creation features an attempt to create MC's amazing grilled tofu, plus a ton of other crunchy veggies that we love.

Basically, anything works in a chopped salad. We wanted tofu for some protein, and decided to marinate it in a balsamic vineagrette with some oregano for a few minutes before searing it up and throwing it on top of everything else. The warmth of the tofu softened the dish, and made definitely made it filling enough to work as a main course. Hardly any cooking was involved, and we absolutely loved this.

Ingredients: (makes slightly more than enough for two people)
1 1/2 heads romaine lettuce, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
1 tomato, chopped
1 cup mushrooms, chopped
1 avocado, chopped
1 bell pepper, chopped
1/2 can chick peas
1 package extra firm tofu
2/3 cup balsamic vinegar
1/3 olive oil
2 tbsp oregano
salt and pepper

Instructions:
Combine all of the chopped vegetables except the tofu in a large bowl. Drain the tofu, pat dry and cut into one inch cubes. In a bowl, combine vinegar, olive oil, oregano and some salt and pepper. Pour over the tofu and let it sit (we left it about 10 minutes). In a pan, sear the tofu for about 6 to 7 minutes, or until it becomes slightly crispy. Put tofu over the salad, and serve. We recommend a balsamic vineagrette for dressing as well.

Hannah's Vietnamese Chicken and Mint Salad

Our friend, Hannah, made this dish for our group of friends the other night. Though she was working in a true dorm kitchenette (two burners and zero counter space), Alex and I were floored. It was so crunchy and tangy and perfect for an all-in-one meal. She credits her mother with the recipe, but Hannah definitely deserves recognition for her excellent execution.

We begged her for the recipe to post here, and reproduced it ourselves with local cabbage from Penn's farmer's market. No actual cooking is required, and like cole slaw, it tastes best after marinating for a while.

Ingredients:
1 chili (hot red Thai or red Serrano)
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 tbsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp rice wine vinegar (unseasoned)
1 1/2 tbsp lime juice
1 1/2 tbsp fish sauce
1 1/2 tbsp vegetable oil
1/5 medium onion, finely sliced
black pepper to taste
7-8 oz white cabbage shredded
1 medium carrot, julienned
7 oz cooked chicken breast cut into fine strips or shredded
bunch of mint, plus more for garnish

Instructions:
In a bowl, combine chili, garlic, sugar, vinegar, lime juice, fish sauce, oil, onion and black pepper. Set aside for about half an hour. In a big bowl, mix cabbage, carrot, chicken and mint. Pour dressing and onions over the mixture and toss well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Hannah says she usually doubles the dressing, as it often isn't enough, and sometimes doubles or triples the chili.

Peanut Butter Brownies

We've been dreaming about these brownies ever since we first saw them on Smitten Kitchen last week. Never thought we'd actually make them -- too delectable and fattening and creamy and perfect to be real. But Alex had to prepare something for a charity bake sale, and we couldn't resist.

The apartment now smells the way I imagine the Wonka factory might, and we're literally swooning over a tray of brownies. I keep wandering into the kitchen to admire them. I think it's love.

http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/10/peanut-butter-brownies/



Note: Since we were cooking for others, we actually used real butter. In the ganache, however, we substituted Smart Balance light. And, we burned them slightly. Still delectable.

Bittman's Best Banana Bread

The market we visited today was selling old, brown bananas for 19 cents per pound, which we interpreted as a sign that we were destined to bake banana bread. We took the recipe from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything, a recent and wonderful purchase that has only enhanced our Bittman bug. The batter itself was so delicious that we were tempted to eat it all raw, but the finished product was so worth it. Ever trying to to cut calories, we nixed the butter and used "I Can't Believe It's Not Butter" instead, and sprayed the pan with fake oil stuff instead of greasing it. Also, the recipe in the book calls for 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, but we reversed the ratio. And for all the bananas we bought for 40 cents, we doubled it.

It turns out, banana bread = heaven fluff.

Ingredients:
3 ripe bananas
8 tbsp butter (or in our case, butter substitute)
1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/2 cup coconut flakes

Instructions:
Preheat the oven to 350. Peel the bananas and mash them. Cream the butter, and mix the butter and eggs into the bananas. Mix together the dry ingredients, and pour the banana mixture into it. Stir in the vanilla, coconut, and walnuts. Pour the batter into a greased/sprayed baking pan and bake for 45-60 minutes (ours took a while), until a knife comes out clean.

Moroccan Chicken Stew

Every once in a while we just have to make a huge batch of something to so that we can freeze it and reheat for a week's worth of dinners. Tonight's meal cost a miraculous $20 at our favorite food market downtown, and we were blown away! It was sweetly aromatic and though the curry gives it a kick, it's not overwhelming. We served it over tri-colored couscous, which we'd never tried, but now highly recommend. Alex's roommate Ryan, who tastes literally everything we make, even said that this stew was one of our best creations yet.

The recipe is on Epicurious, so check it out here. The chopping takes some time, but other than that it cooks pretty quickly and is not at all difficult. Also, we forgot to buy parsnips so just added extra yams and threw in a few carrots instead. And as per the recommendations from Epicurious reviewers, we added extra cumin, a dash of cayenne and some lemon zest. Perfectly autmunly.

The theme is... (and caramel!) apples

So many things to say in one post!

1) The results are in; the theme is apples! Alex's dad insisted, and we obliged.
2) Top Chef Season 3 Finale. We're watching it.
2) Caramel apples!

I'm not huge on traditions, but there is no such thing as Autumn without caramel apples. This year, we took it to the next level with pie-flavored caramel apples. The best thing about this recipe is that it is so much fun to make. It's messy and sticky and smells unbelievably good. And they taste even better than they look. We tried to pick some tart apples at Penn's farmer's market today to balance the sweetness of the caramel.



Trust us, you want to make these.

Ingredients:
1 bag of kraft caramels (comes with popsicle sticks)
1 tsp vanilla
5 apples
1 bag white chocolate chips
cinnamon
brown sugar

Instructions:
Wash the apples and stick the popsicle sticks in them. Unwrap the individual caramels and put them in a microwave safe bowl. Add 2 tbsp water, a 1/2 tsp vanilla and 1 tsp cinnamon. Melt the caramels in the microwave for about 2 1/2 minutes, stirring every minute. Dip the apples in the caramel and let them cool on a buttered surface (or waxpaper) in the fridge. After about 30 minutes, melt the white chocolate and drizzle it over the apples. Sprinkle a combo of cinnamon sugar over the apples. Stick them in the fridge again for about 30 minutes and serve.

Apple Cider Chicken

Finally, apple season! Loves the apples. In fact, apples are in the running for ... theme of fall! Other candidates include the color orange, cinnamon, and locally-grown gourds. Election results expected by early next week.

Tonight, apple chicken. Sort of in honor of Rosh Hashanah, but mostly because we found some beautifully fresh apples at the farmer's market on campus.

We started looking for apple-stuffed chicken recipes online, but most of them looked really cheesy and unappetizing. When in doubt, Google, so we looked up "healthy apple chicken," and found this recipe for apple cider chicken on Eat Well. It looked sort of grandmothery, but we took the risk.

In only 30 minutes, we created a really wonderful and comforting meal. It definitely tasted old-fashioned, but it wasn't heavy or fattening. The recipe was designed to be light, and we cut even more calories by nixing the sour cream and searing the chicken in a light cooking spray instead of oil. Try it on a cool fall evening, we certainly will be doing it again.

http://www.eatingwell.com/recipes/apple_cider_chicken.html

Last Tomato Salad

September.

New classes, new activities, new harvest produce. No more homeworkless evenings, no more grilled vegetable salads (mostly because no more grill), no more lazy mint limeade.

Of course, I can't wait for fall foods -- caramel apples particularly. But walking through the farmer's market this morning, nostalgia struck for the days of summer vegetables. Thus, we have the season's last tomato salad, an homage to all of the tomato salads of the past few months. You tasted really, really good.

Ingredients:
2 large yellow tomatoes, chopped into bite-size pieces
6 Roma tomatoes, chopped into bite-size pieces
1/4 tbsp olive oil
3 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup basil, chopped
1/2 tsp oregano
1 tsp salt
lettuce

Instructions:
Mix the chopped tomatoes together, add the olive oil, balsamic, and basil, then add the seasonings to taste. Toss together and serve over lettuce.

Healthiest Lasagna

Yesterday, Alex was craving lasagna. We'd been talking about making one, but I've dropped red meat, and neither of were drawn to the idea of consuming pounds of ricotta cheese. (Correction: Reading this over my shoulder, Alex says: I was drawn to the idea of eating pounds of ricotta, I love ricotta). Regardless, it was going to be healthy. Enter vegan lasagna.

We'd each had vegetable lasagna before, but a recipe we found on Healthy Living NYC called for a tofu pesto instead of cheese, and replaced regular pasta with whole wheat pasta. We were intrigued, and decided to take up the challenge.

Admittedly, it was more of a challenge than we expected. This meal took over three hours to prepare. There are a lot of steps, and a lot of components. Yet the results were completely worth it. The tofu pesto tasted so good! We kept eating it plain, and it definitely provided the same texture as the cheese would have. And even though the recipe is already low-calories, we cut some more oil by steaming the spinach instead of sauteeing it. Even Alex, lasagna snob and vegan skeptic, admitted that it tasted not only like real lasagna, but delicious in its own right. Phew.

Check out the recipe here: http://www.healthylivingnyc.com/food/recipe/16