Shakshuka

Hello everyone!

It has been forever since I last wrote a post, but we have had a bit of a fiasco with moving and renovating our new apartment... Not to mention school starting up...

I don't think there will be much time for blogging this year, period, but I'm going to try to do my best to continue documenting our lives together  =)

For our first post from our new apartment, I have a Shakshuka recipe for you guys!  

I first encountered Shakshuka when David and I went to Stephanie's for brunch with Ted and Pamela. For someone who doesn't like eggs, brunch is never a fun experience, but this miraculous dish is what changed my opinion of eggs, so I knew we had to try to recreate it at home!

It was actually pretty easy to recreate at home as well  =)  

For this, you will need

1 onion, diced

2 cloves garlic, minced

1 green pepper, diced

28 oz can diced tomatoes

2 tbs tomato paste

half can vegetarian baked beans

1 tsp cayenne pepper

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp paprika

4-5 eggs

In a cast iron skillet, sautee the onions until the onions are translucent. 

Then, add some garlic,

and finally, the green peppers.

Once the vegetables have cooked a little, pour in your tomatoes, tomato paste, and the beans and mix it about.  At this point, turn up the heat a little until the sauce starts boiling, then turn it down to  a simmer.

Add your spices (paprika, cumin, and cayenne), and wait until the sauce thickens.  Make sure to keep stirring!

Once the sauce is your desired thickness, crack in your eggs (you can do as many, or as little as you want. I only did 4 -- I'm now at the point of tolerance with eggs, but not quite to the liking point yet haha)

Put a lid on it, and let it simmer away for a few minutes while you prepare your bread!

Cut it up, throw it in an oiled/buttered pan, and toast away!

Once the whites of the eggs are about cooked, take it off the heat, crack some black pepper over it, and serve!

The eggs will continue cooking as you mix it about and begin to eat  =)

Perfect for a quick brunch for just you and your love, or for a few guests!  =)  This recipe makes more than enough for 2.  we definitely had enough leftovers for another meal  =)

Quick, easy, and filling.  Can't ask for much more on a lazy weekend morning, right?

I hope you enjoy the recipe, and please let me know if you like it!

Thanks for stopping by!

--Janny

Busy Week Life Saver :: Overnight Oats

Hello everyone!

wow, this week has been..  really crazy.

Don't get me wrong, I am loving every moment of it, and I feel so blessed to be able to play with the Boston Phil, but adding their rehearsals and concerts to my schedule has completely... swamped my schedule.  

I will have to do another post later when I have more time about what I've been doing exactly during the absence from the blog, but today, I just wanted to stop by and let you guys know about something that has been really saving my life during this week.  It has single handedy prevented sooo many fast food runs when I haven't had time to go home to make lunch or dinner.

So the star of the post?  

the Overnight Oats!!

There are many different kinds and variations of overnight oats, but Shawn, my roommate, introduced this particular way of making them to me, and I am forever grateful.

All you need to make this filling and super quick meal-to-go is!!
-a mason jar
-1/2 cup oats
-1 cup almond milk (or any other milk)
-and toppings!
This time, I chose 1 tsp cinnamon, 1 Tbsp peanut butter, and some fresh dates.

You can make this meal in literally 1 minute.

I'm not kidding.

all you do is, dump in your oats (1/2 cup if you are hungry, 1/3 if you aren't), pour in your milk of choice (double however much you put in for oats), and add your choice of toppings!

and shake it off, shake it off~ shake, shake~

couldn't be easier right?  

I know it doesn't look all that appealing, but I promise it's delicious.

You just have to let it sit for a couple of hours and it will be ready to go!

Pack your cute little mason jar and a spoon, and you will be saved from running to the fast food restaurant for every meal during your hell week!

Have a wonderful weekend, and I will talk to you all soon if I survive this weekend (actually, add monday and tuesday to that...)

thanks for stopping by!

--Janny

4 Ingredient Chocolate Chip Cookie

Hello everyone!

The thing about moving out is that it takes more than 1 day to pack everything you own and move out of your house. But while you are packing stuff away, you still have to live...  so it's the art of balancing what needs to be packed away first, and what needs to be packed away last, and etc.  However, there comes a point where the interests clash, like yesterday when I wanted to bake cookies.

I don't have butter, I don't have eggs, I don't have flour (they've all been given away last week because I didn't think I would need them anymore.. I should have known better!), but I still wanted cookies.  I suppose I could have just gone to the store to buy those ingredients, but it seemed wasteful to me to go and get new boxes of all of the ingredients when I knew I would only have time to make 1 batch of cookies!  So I just had to make do with what I had (plus a new bag of chocolate chip cookies, but I know I'll go through that before I leave.  I mean, it's chocolate.  haha)

And thus, this 4 ingredient chocolate chip cookie was born.

I really wasn't sure how it would turn out, but I'm happy to say that it's actually surprisingly good! and the best part?  it's pretty darn healthy!  =)

So this is what you are going to need.

• 3 ripe bananas
• 2 cups of oats, blended in the food processor
• 1/2 cup of almond butter (could also use peanut butter)
• 1 cup of chocolate chips!

yup, that's it.  could not be simpler, right?

so let's begin by preheating the oven to 350.

then, pulse those 2 cups of oats in your food processor.  You don't have to do this step if you don't want to, but this kind of makes a substitute 'flour'.

Mash the 3 bananas with 1/2 cup nut butter of your choice, then mix in the oats.

Lastly, stir in the chocolate chips!

I must say, it looks pretty legit, doesn't it?

After that, all you have to do is shape the dough into a cookie shape.  Remember, the dough isn't going to expand or flatten out, so really make it into the final shape you want

Pop it in the oven for 12-14 minutes, and voila!

I've tried my hand at 'healthy' cookies before, but this is the best one so far!  AND I got my cookie fix without having to go buy a whole lot of ingredients before I left town  ;)

I hope you enjoy the recipe as much as we did!

Thanks for stopping by!
--Janny

Easy Peasy Spinach Artichoke Dip!

Hello everyone!

Here is the promised Spinach Artichoke Dip that we whipped up for our Easter potluck!
It turned out so well--perfectly browned on the outside, but so creamy and gooey in the middle. Everyone loved it at the party, and we can't wait to make it again soon!

To make this easy dip, you're going to need:
1 cup chopped spinach (frozen, no need to thaw)
3/4 cup chopped artichoke hearts
1/2 cup mayo
1 cup cheese (Monterey Jack, Pepper Jack, etc)
1/4 cup mozzarella cheese
3 cloves of chopped garlic
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes

Before you begin, preheat your oven to 350 degrees, and butter up a small loaf pan.
Then, chop everything that needs to be chopped, and then start throwing everything into a mixing bowl, like this!

and then, all you have to do is,,,, MIX!

And then, and transfer over your concoction into the loaf pan, sprinkle some more cheese on top if you want, and then pop it into the oven for 25-30 min! 

 It may take longer depending on your oven, but keep an eye on it to see when the cheese on top gets golden brown!

It was such an easy thing to make for the party, and was such a hit!  I hope you enjoy the dip as much as we did, and thanks for stopping by!

--Janny

Cream Puff recipe!

Hello everyone!

Once upon a time, I went to a french cafe with a friend, and there I saw the most delicious looking eclairs ever!  When I got home, I mentioned how amazing looking they were to David, and that is how we ended up baking eclairs and cream puffs a grand total of 4 times in the next 3 weeks.
It all began with David saying, "let's make it!  it's not that hard I've made it once before", so that night, we had a little midnight baking session thinking that it would be a breeze.

Sadly, our midnight baking session didn't turn out so well... and here is the breakdown of our cream puff adventures:
the first attempt?  failure. on both the outer shell and the filling  (we used cream cheese frosting.  don't do it)
the second attempt?  failure. on both accounts again (used pudding mixture packet. don't do it)
the third attempt?  with the addition of the stand mixer from our anniversary presents, the shell dough was a success, but the lack of piping skill on my part made them look rather interesting.  Annie, one of my friends who is also very into baking gave us a cream filling recipe, and it was exactly what we were looking for!
the fourth attempt?  success!

The eclairs are harder to pipe than the puffs for me, and while some of them did turn out, we like the bite-sized-ness of the puffs anyway, so we're just going to stick with those..  haha
The recipe for the shell has been adapted from Alton Brown's show 'Good Eats', and the recipe for the cream is adapted from the recipe my friend Annie gave us!

So for these cream puffs, you'll need...
Shell
1 cup water
6 tbs butter
pinch of salt
1 tbs sugar
5 3/4 oz flour
3 whole eggs + 3 egg whites

Filling

350 ml whole milk
150 ml double cream
75 g sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg + 3 egg yolks
40 g flour

I would recommend making the filling first because it has to cool, so let's start with that!

Cream Filling Recipe
1.  Pour milk and cream into a saucepan with 1 tbs of sugar and the vanilla extract.  slowly bring to boil then turn off the heat.

2.  In a big bowl (or in your mixer) beat 1 egg, 3 egg yolks, and remaining sugar until pale and creamy.

3.  Sift a third of the flour into the bowl and whisk until well incorporated, and then do the same (twice more) with rest of the flour.

4.  Take the milk/cream mixture and pour a third onto the egg mixture, beating well.  gradually pour rest of the milk and whisk continuously.  We were afraid that we would have cooked egg happening because the milk/cream mixture was so hot, but I guess if you whisk furiously, they don't have a chance to become cooked?  anyway, this worked, and we did not have cooked eggs in our cream!

5.  Return mixture to pan, whisking.  simmer for 3-4 min, continuously whisking (we used a stick blender) until smooth and thick.

6.  Pour into a bowl, then refrigerate until the shells are ready to be filled!

Now, onto making the shell portion of the cream puff!
Shell Recipe

1.  Preheat your oven to 375.
 
2.  Boil 1 cup of water and 6 tbs of butter.  Add a pinch of salt, sugar, and 5 3/4 oz of flour to the boiling water/butter and mix.  Lower the heat, and keep working the dough until it is dry to the touch.

3. Move the dough to mixer and leave it until you can touch comfortably.  With the mixer on, add 3 eggs and 3 whites slowly one at a time.

4.  You'll know the dough is ready to be piped when it makes a nice 'v' shape off of the mixer attachment.  This picture was taken the first time we used the mixer, and David's face really conveys our excitement at having gotten an actual 'v' from the dough. haha.  Before we had the mixer, the best we ever got was a sad looking 'w'..

5.  Now it's time to pipe the dough!  you can be all fancy and use a piping bag, or if you're like us and do not own one of those, just use a ziploc bag!  Just pipe a little Hershey Kiss looking blobs on your baking sheet, and then with a wet finger, flatten out the little tips so you get a nice rounded puff in the end  =)

6.  Once your oven has preheated to 375, put the puffs in the oven and increase the temperature to 425.  Bake for 15 min, then turn heat down to 350 and bake for another 10 min.

7.  Once the 25 minutes is up, take them out, and pierce each of them with a knife.  This lets out the steam and keeps them crisp and puffy!

8. Once the puffs have cooled (the cream should also be cool by now) fill the puffs and you're done!

It's a bit labor intensive, but was a huge hit at the reception, so I'm sure we'll be making it again.. perhaps for our Thanksgiving party?  ;)
I hope you give this little puffy delight a go, and let me know how you like them!
Thanks for stopping by!
--Janny