Sweet Potato Gnocchi, In White

Sweet potatoes are so good just as they are, simply cooked, with a bit of salt. But they're also awesome as gnocchi.



We had them with just melted butter and sage. Simple yet delicious!

Pumpkin Soup

What could be better than a nice, warm, flavorful pumpkin soup on a cold winter night? Especially when it's so easy to make!



I took the recipe from here, but modified it somewhat, so here are the ingredients:

• 1 c pumpkin puree
• 1 1/3 cup vegetable broth
• 1 T peanut butter
• onion powder
• garlic powder
• ginger powder
• thyme
• parsley
• salt & pepper
  
• 1/4 c evaporated milk or cream

Combine everything but the in a sauce pan over medium-low heat, reduce to simmer when it starts to jump out (I mostly covered it, but not completely), and add the milk when it's hot enough for you (for me it was within about 15 minutes). Cook on low a few minutes more, then serve.
I sprinkled some crushed roasted peanuts on top and ate it with some bread sticks that Mark made a few weeks ago. YUM!

A Pineapple Upside-Down Cake In A Tea Cup

That's right!
Inspired by the chocolate cake in a mug that bakes in under 3 minutes and doesn't leave too many dirty dishes, I wanted to make use of the few pineapple slices I had from the last time we made some pina-colada smoothie. I couldn't find any recipe for a quick, individual-serving pineapple upside down cake, so I decided to make it up myself.



So that's what I did:
I put a slice of pineapple in a tea cup (wide and short with non curving sides), and a cherry inside the hole and sprinkled some brown sugar on top of that (1 t). In a little bowl, I combined:

• 2.5 T soymilk

• 0.3 t apple cider vinegar

and let it sit for a minute or two until it curdles
(can substitute with 2.5 T buttermilk)
Then I added:

• 1.5 T sugar

• 1/4 t vanilla

• salt

• 3/4 T oil

and mixed it well

Then I added - without mixing at first:

• 4 T flour

• a little less than 1/4 t baking powder

• a sprinkle of baking soda

I Made sure the baking powders are equally spread within the flour by mixing it slightly with a teaspoon, and then started mixing a little more vigorously (but not too much) with the wet ingredients. The mixture then went on top of the pineapple and into the microwave. About 1 minute later it started to rise, and I took it out 40 seconds later.

It was good. Not very delicate - I think taking it out of the microwave a few seconds earlier might have been better. I will continue to experiment and see if it can be improved somehow. Also, if you have any suggestions for making it more light and fluffy, I'll be glad to hear them. All said, it was fairly good, especially for something that take so little time and effort!

(The batter recipe is taken from here and roughly divided by 10).

Jicamagic

Jicama is such a wonderful root! Peeling it is so much fun! It's worth eating it just for that, but it's also quite tasty, especially in this delectable salad.



This recipe is really good, and it's the best I've ever tried (admittedly, I only tried two). For this recipe I am willing to forgo my winter-summer foods rule, and have salad in winter. It's so easy to make and can make a great left-over lunch.
I altered the recipe a little bit: regular mustard instead of dijon, 1/2 can of beans instead of 1, more corn kernels, green onion instead of regular onion, jalapenos instead of green chilies, and no lemon peel. Those adjustments were mostly made due to inavailability of ingredients, convenience, or sheer laziness, but the result was still VERY good.
I can't recommend this salad enough. Try it!!

Squashy Spaghetti

Squash season is here, but with the temperatures still pretty high, stews are not the best option. Spaghetti squash is an excellent solution!



This is the best way we know to eat spaghetti squash. You will need:

1 spaghetti squash
1 onion
2 medium sized tomatoes (or 1.5 cups)
fresh basil
a bunch of black olives (12 or so)
1/2 lb or so Panela (or less than 1/2 lb Feta) cheese


Cook squash according to your preferred method (I like to half it, seed and place the half in a pan with 1/3 c water, cover with a plastic bag and microwave for 7 minutes. Repeat for the other half).
In the meantime, chop onion and saute in a bit of olive oil. When golden brown add tomatoes and cook until they're slightly warm. Don't overcook.
Scape the spaghetti out of the squash, add onion-tomato mix, chopped basil, coarsely chopped olives and cheese, and mix it all together. Don't forget salt!

It's very delicious and light (you might want to have some nice dessert later, like a pumpkin roll).

Mushroom Polenta

This is a case where the food doesn't look very pretty, but it's tasty, quick and easy to make, so thought it would be good to share with all of you busy people.


The polenta is made as previously instructed. The mushrooms go like that:
Slice them, saute them in some olive oil, add salt and parsley flakes, maybe some freshly crushed black pepper, and keep sauteing until they're cooked (takes about 5-10 minutes). Toward the end you can add some heavy cream for extra richness (highly recommended, even if I didn't here).
Pour the mushrooms on top the polenta and sprinkle with shaved Parmesan or Romano.

Cupcake Ant

In celebration of Rebecca's passing her comps, Dani and I made a little cupcake ant for her.



Dani made the cupcakes. They turned out really moist and tasty. She said she followed this recipe exactly. We assembled it together in the Fewell lab, and it went much better than I had anticipated.
Congrats, candidate Rebecca!