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unwritrecipes · 4 years

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Chocolate Pudding Hamantaschen

Guess what’s coming this week? That’s right, it’s that Purim time of the year again! And that means hamantaschen, everyone’s favorite triangular-shaped cookie! (If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, click here and all will be made clear).

This year I’m doing a little riff on tradition and filling them with a luscious chocolate pudding that stays sort of creamy even when baked! It’s so, so good!

Hamantaschen are an annual treat I always look forward to but too often the ones you find in the bakeries and delis that carry them consist of a rather bland, leaden pastry. Not these! The pastry for these cookies is divine! Flaky and flavorful with an amazing mouth feel—every bite crumbles in your mouth in a lovely, buttery, slightly lemony way!

And while the dough is just the teensiest bit more persnickety to work with than my traditional hamantaschen dough and requires a bit more chilling, I felt the results far outweighed the extra time and efforts!

So much fun to make…

And eat!

Happy Purim!

Not feeling the chocolate pudding vibe? How about these traditional jam filled ones, this Raspberry Chocolate version, Brownie-filled Hamataschen, Vanilla-Bean Cheesecake or, Chocolate Peanut Butter kind?

Chocolate Pudding Hamantaschen

Makes about 30 cookies

You will need a food processor for this.

Prep Time for dough: 10 minutes, plus at least 1 hour to chill and up to 24; Prep Time for Filling: 15 minutes, plus at least 30 minutes chilling time; Assembly time for cookies: 20 minutes; Bake Time: 13-18 minutes

Ingredients

For the dough

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

2 large egg yolks

16 tablespoons unsalted butter (2 sticks), room temperature, cut into small pieces

The zest of 1 lemon

2 ¼ cups unbleached, all-purpose flour

Pinch of salt

1 large egg, beaten, for the glaze

For the filling

3 large egg yolks

¼ cup sugar

1 ¼ tablespoons cornstarch

2 teaspoons unsweetened cocoa powder

¾ cup milk

½ vanilla bean, cut lengthwise (if you don’t have sub in 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract)

2 ounces bittersweet chocolate, roughly chopped

The Recipe

1. To make the dough: Place the confectioners sugar and egg yolks in the bowl of the food processor and blend them together. Add the butter and lemon and blend again, scraping down the bowl. Slowly add the flour and salt and pulse until a dough ball forms. Divide it in two, flatten each into a disk and wrap both tightly in plastic wrap. Chill for at least 1 hour and up to overnight.

2. To make the filling: In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, sugar, cornstarch and cocoa until the mixture is smooth.

3. Pour the milk into a medium saucepan and scrape the vanilla bean seeds into it, adding the pod as well. Bring to a simmer over medium heat, then remove from the heat and remover and discard the vanilla bean pod. Whisking constantly, pour about ⅓ of the milk into the egg mixture and then pour the entire egg mixture back into the saucepan. Place the pan over low heat and continue to whisk constantly until it simmers and thickens into a pudding-like consistency.

4. Remove from the heat, add the chopped chocolate and whisk until the chocolate has fully melted and the mixture is smooth. Pour into a bowl, press a piece of plastic wrap directly against the pudding surface (to prevent a skin from forming) and place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes, until the mixture is completely cold. You can definitely do this a day in advance.

5. When you’re ready to bake the cookies, preheat the oven to 350ºF and line 2 large rimmed baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.

6. Remove the dough from the fridge and let it soften until you can work with it. If you’ve made this the day before and the dough is very hard, take it out about 20 minutes before you are ready to begin. Sprinkle a little flour on a pastry board or clean counter as well as your rolling pin and roll out one dough half until the dough is about ¼ inch thick. This dough is a little sticky so as you roll, loosen it from the board and sprinkle a little flour underneath it to keep it from sticking. Flour a 3-inch round cookie cutter or the rim of a wide-mouthed glass to cut out as many circles as possible, re-flouring the glass or cutter as needed and carefully transfer the circles to the prepared baking sheet. Gather together the scraps, re-roll out the dough and cut as many circles out as possible. Place the baking sheet in the fridge to keep the dough from getting too warm while you roll out the other half of dough.

7. Remove the chilled dough from the fridge and place the second sheet in to keep cool. Place a heaping teaspoon of the chocolate filling in the center of each circle and press up the sides to form triangles, pinching the edges well to seal and spacing cookies about 1-inch apart. If the dough feels too firm to maneuver, let it stand for a few minutes to soften up. Brush the tops with the beaten egg.

8. Bake the first sheet until cookies are golden brown, rotating the sheet at the halfway mark, 15-17 minutes. Meanwhile, fill and assemble second tray and pop into the oven after the first sheet comes out. Cool cookies on the tray on a wire rack for 10 minutes, then transfer to rack to finish cooling completely. Store cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for a few days.

Enjoy!

Note: Recipe adapted from King Solomon’s Table by Joan Nathan via Schmaltz by Shmil Holland. I followed this recipe pretty closely but made some without the chocolate chips and that’s what I would do in the future. We all liked the smooth filling better but feel free to add some chocolate chips to the pudding after you’ve refrigerated it. Also, the original recipe has you roll out the dough between parchment paper—I didn’t feel it was necessary—always looking for ways to use less paper!

#Confectioners' Sugar #Egg Yolks #Butter #Lemon Zest #Flour #Salt #Egg #Sugar #Cornstarch #Unsweetened Cocoa Powder #Milk #Vanilla Bean #Bittersweet Chocolate

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agnesfwest90 · 4 years

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Healthy Dinner Ideas Shared By 25 Food Bloggers

You love cooking for your family but lately, you’ve been running out of healthy dinner ideas? Unfortunately, this happens more often than we would like to admit. Many people are too tired in the evening to have any more energy to cook so they choose to eat junk food. But as the name says “junk food” or “fast food” has many negative effects on your health and on the way you look.

Despite what you may think there are tons of dishes that you can prepare that are nutritious and don’t require a lot of time and effort. To help you with this challenge we reached out to 25 food bloggers and asked them the following question:

What are your favorite easy healthy dinner ideas?

We received some amazing recipes that you can read in the post below. Enjoy!

Melissa Eboli – Via Melissa

As a nutritional chef, I have a lot of favorite easy and healthy dinner ideas. One that comes to mind is a basil-turkey stir fry. It takes less than 10 minutes to prepare, and then quickly and then it easily cooks on the stovetop in 15-20 minutes. It can be served over rice, quinoa or cooked with cauliflower rice for an even lighter version.

Another super easy dinner idea is salmon w/ asparagus. You can prep them in under 5 minutes, and then bake them simultaneously in the oven for 10-12 minutes.

One additional suggestion I will give is a plant-based dinner idea, jackfruit stew with chipotle aoli. This dish also takes less than 10 minutes to prepare and cooks on the stovetop in 15 minutes. The one great thing about all items I mentioned above is that you can always have the ingredients on hand to make them in your pantry or freezer.

If you’d like the recipe for these or very similar dishes, please check out my cookbook Let’s Dine In: Healthy Recipes & Tips To Minimize Your Shopping Trips on my website ViasKitchen.com or Amazon.

Jim Mumford – Jim Cooks Food Good

My favorite easy, healthy, and comforting dinner ideas must have these things to be as amazing as possible; minimal effort, maximum versatility and is interesting.

To me, an easy meal is one that doesn’t take a lot of effort or ingredients. Sure, chopping veggies or rolling out dough isn’t *hard*, but it can be taxing, especially if you’re trying to also parent! So, a recipe like my Pizza Soup, which uses the blender as a time-saver, is a great weeknight meal.

Versatility is also crucial to an easy healthy meal. We’ve all been there; an ingredient goes bad, you’re out of something, etc. Having a recipe that can give and take with ingredients is a must for weeknight success. Consider my Pork Bibimbap, which can accept a wide array of ingredients and toppings! This is also super important if you need to cook with dietary restrictions in mind!

Finally, your weeknight winning meal needs to taste amazing and be interesting! Fun, interesting meals keep you going back for more, and make dinner fun. A tip would be to mash up foods to make something new and exciting, like my General Tso’s Tacos!

So, in conclusion, my favorite weeknight meals are easy to make, versatile to meet all demands, and are fun and interesting to make!

Katy Malkin – Learner Vegan

My absolute favourite easy dinner is loaded with baked sweet potato. Sweet potatoes are so nutritious, packed with fibre, and easy on digestion too! Plus, did you know that they stabilise your blood sugar levels, and keep you full for longer?

I choose the biggest one I can find and bake it for around 30 mins. I often have it with chickpea ‘tuna’ for a real protein-packed meal. Simply put, that’s a tin of chickpeas drained and rinsed. You roughly mash them with the back of a fork and mix in garlic, nori, vinegar, and houmous. You could also add salt, mayo, or sweetcorn to taste.

After that, I just add a side salad or steamed veggies. Perfect!

The best thing about this meal is that you can switch it up so easily by changing the toppings. It never gets boring! I love a sweet potato with bean chili, tarka dahl, roasted chickpeas, and scrambled tofu. You can batch make all of these in advance, too.

Top tip: if health is your goal, switch out the butter in your jacket potato for a smear of houmous.

Niki Campbell – The Flourish Group

I often tell my clients to start with their family favorites and then look for ways to upgrade the health quotient.

For example, a favorite recipe might be a rigatoni casserole with ground beef sauce and lots of mozzarella cheese on top.

Take that recipe, upgrade to a high fiber noodle like whole wheat pasta or a high protein pasta like lentil or chickpea. Then, use a leaner ground beef or ground turkey, and cut the cheese in half. Still get the same flavors and comfort with less fat and more fiber.

Another one is sheet pan recipes. These are protein and veggie-focused with some starch mixed in. Start with a healthy protein and surround it with your choice of potato or starchy veg like carrots and then add something green that roasts well – Brussels, broccoli, asparagus.

Luke Jones – Hero Movement

I like eating and I enjoy cooking, but like most people, I’m not always a fan of spending hours in the kitchen prepping meals or deliberating over what I’m going to have for dinner. So if in doubt, I typically refer back to a tried and tested formula:

Half a plateful of veggies: typically some roasted veg, greens, salad, or a mixture of all the above.

A few handfuls of a protein-dense food: tofu or tempeh is our go-to, but we’ll also sometimes include good quality fish and occasional meat.

A carb-dense food: often buckwheat, quinoa, rice or potatoes – typically a cupped handful if I’ve not been super active, but 2-3 if I’ve been training.

A fat-dense food: olive oil, nuts, seeds, or avocado, varying from 1-3 thumb-sized portions depending on activity levels.

Condiments and sauces: hot sauce and light mayo are the go-to if we’re after something quick, or we’ll make a homemade curry, stir-fry or traybake if we have more time on our hands.

Alina Z

My latest creation and obsession recipe is this Truffle Pasta:

1 package of ground Beyond Meat

1 package of gluten-free fresh pasta by Taste Republic (or try Mung Bean pasta by 365 Brand for extra protein)

1 bag of mushrooms medley from Trader Joes

Follow Your Heart Provolone dairy-free cheese

Follow Your Heart Parmesan dairy-free cheese

Extra Virgin Olive Oil

Sabatino Truffle Zest

Saute ground Beyond Meat beef in a pan while cooking the pasta (this fresh kind only takes 2-3 mins), then add mushrooms and let them defrost and heat up in a pan. Cover with Provolone, then add cooked pasta and truffle zest. Mix all together.

Serve in a bowl sprinkled with parmesan and olive oil. It’s sooo good!

3 MINUTE Chili

⁣ ⁣

Ingredients: ⁣ 1 Bag of Beyond Meat beefy crumbles⁣ 1 12-Ounce jar your favorite salsa⁣ 1 10-Ounce box of unflavored kidney beans 1/2 Cup Daiya cheddar cheese⁣

⁣Combine beans, salsa and beefy crumbles together in pan and sauté for 3 minutes.⁣ ⁣ Drizzle with Daiya cheese, cover for 1 minute to melt the cheese, then serve.⁣

Alex Johnson – Med Munch

Curries are perfect healthy dinners you can whip up quickly when you’re struggling for time. They allow so much variety, allowing you can easily get your veggies into your diet or add some lean meat in for extra protein.

Some of my favorite types of curry include veggie chickpea curries for when I’m on a health drive and sweet potato and lentil curries, which are perfect for those lazy evenings when you want to throw in some extra carbs without overindulging.

Chicken curries are excellent for when you need to lose weight, keeping protein levels high and calories low without making you feel dissatisfied after.

Eggplant or aubergine is also a great alternative to base your curries around. No matter what you go with, you can often cook them within 30 minutes.

Simply serve with a healthy carb like whole grain rice and you’ve got yourself an easy evening dinner you don’t need to feel guilty about.

Gita Kshatriya – Warrior In The Kitchen

My idea of easy and healthy dinner ideas consists of including plant-forward ingredients that are packed with flavors and can be made in minimal time and with minimal mess!

I typically make a batch of quinoa and/or brown rice that I can use throughout the week. I pair that with vegetables and seasonings to create flavors from various cuisines around the world.

To make an Indian meal, you can combine the batch-cooked quinoa or brown rice with vegetables like broccoli, onions, and zucchini in tempered oil with whole spices like whole cumin seeds, mustard seeds, and whole dry chili peppers and ground spices like turmeric, ground cumin, and red chili powder.

To make a Mediterranean meal, you can combine the batch-cooked quinoa or brown rice with sauteed vegetables like cauliflower, zucchini, and eggplant. You can add a simple lemon juice, salt, and black pepper dressing, and top with olives, red onions, and feta cheese.

Those are just a couple of examples of how you can take batch-cooked quinoa and brown rice to a whole new level with each weeknight meal you prepare. Batch-cooked quinoa and brown rice provide simplicity, versatility, and variety when creating healthy weeknight meals.

Lisa Goodwin – 2 Share My Joy

You can save so much time and money while also eating much healthier if you choose to cook your own dinner at home. The best way I stay motivated to cook my own dinners is by choosing recipes that take 20 minutes or less and have easy ingredients.

One of my go-to dinner meals is this 20-Minute Black Bean Quinoa Chili. It is also oil-free, gluten-free, and vegan. One serving contains 450 calories and over 22 g of protein. The beans and the quinoa give this meal a high protein and fiber content which keeps you full for a long time. I love to top this meal with avocado as it adds a source of healthy fat.

During the summer, I enjoy making Italian Asparagus Spinach Gnocchi that also takes only 20 minutes to prepare. This light meal is packed with healthy greens like asparagus, spinach, and peas. I add chickpeas as my lean protein source

Another great way to add more vitamins to a meal is by blending your vegetables into a sauce. In this One Pot Creamy Coconut Potato Curry I blend bell peppers with coconut milk to make a creamy stew. This meal also contains potatoes, chickpeas, and spinach.

You can make it in an instant pot for a super quick and healthy dinner. One serving contains more than your daily need in vitamin C, which makes it a great immunity booster.

Jenny Zhang – Organically Blissful

When I have limited time to spare but want to whip up a delicious and healthy meal for my family, I like to turn Vitamix, Instant Pot, or air fryer for help. With a Vitamix, you can whip up a delicious meal in minutes.

Some of my favorite recipe to make from Vitamix includes hummus, squash soup, and even curry. With an instant pot, you can put your favorite ingredients in, and within an hour, you will have a delicious and healthy meal that is ready to be served while it feels like you spend hours on making it.

Some of my favorite meals to make in an instant pot includes chicken noodle soup, risotto, and fajita.

And lastly, with an air fryer, you can make your favorite comfort fried food healthier. Creating crispy food through circulating hot air, you can save fewer calories and contains less fat—all without sacrificing the taste.

Some of my favorite air fryer meals include chicken tenders, falafel, and salmon.

Sarah Cull – Life In Full Flavour

Whenever I’m feeling that I need a boost of energy or vitamins, I’ll aim for a nutrient-rich salad with a healthy protein. If I’m having meat or fish – chicken, salmon, and squid are my main choices – I’ll marinate it for 24 hours before cooking. It’s a great way to add flavours with herbs, spices, and seasonings that taste delicious but don’t add on too many extra calories.

For the salad, the more colourful the better. Beetroot, red cabbage, olives, mixed leaves, carrot, and peppers are some of my favourites. I’ll try not to dress the salad if possible, adding seeds instead to boost the flavour and add extra bite.

If I’m short on time or know I’ll be running late to get dinner started, I’ll buy a pre-made salad as a base and then add extras to bulk it up. Supermarket salads are convenient but can often lack a bit of inspiration, but as a base, they can be really helpful and a great time-saver.

Lisa Mitchell – Sacred & Delicious

Like most working folks, I’m interested in cooking easy meals Monday through Friday because I often work until 6 or 6:30 p.m. Simplicity and ease are my watchwords during the work week. Vegetarian and gluten-free are essential for my health.

Most meals in our household are vegan, although I do still cook with ghee (clarified butter). According to Ayurveda, the ancient medical and wellness system of India, ghee is considered the healthiest fat for its medicinal qualities.

Here are some of my favorite American-style weeknight meals:

1. Red lentil soup with vegetables. I usually make a homemade soup stock over the weekend, and then it’s ready for this soup. Sauté an onion in the soup pot or better yet, leeks, which are faster. Then cook the lentils for about 20 minutes with vegetables and seasonings in homemade stock, when available.

For an Italian flavored soup, try carrots, zucchini, and spinach with lots of fresh basil and a little bit of oregano. Sundried tomatoes are another tasty addition. You can make the dish Indian-style with cumin, coriander, and turmeric, and a hint of curry powder, it you like. All done in about 30 minutes.

2. A black bean soup is a winner during this cold weather. It can cook all day in a slow cooker with a bay leaf and an onion. Or cook it with a pressure cooker or Instant pot and add seasonings later. Be sure to soak the beans overnight or they will never get tender. Serve over a little basmati rice. Make plenty of that black-bean soup and strain the leftovers.

3. Next day, bake some sweet potatoes and top them with warmed up black beans, avocado, and or guacamole. Maybe a little fresh salsa, too. Yum!

4. With some leftover stock, enjoy a carrot soup with fresh ginger and basil, made creamy with a little almond milk—another 30-minute dish. When the weather warms up, I switch up the seasoning to cilantro and mint with cooling coconut milk. Serve it with some grilled tofu and some sautéed greens or a salad in the summer.

5. Try a gluten-free pasta or pasta of your choice! While the pasta is cooking, sauté one or two quick-cooking vegetables, such as asparagus, broccoli, or red pepper, in olive oil, liquid aminos, and garlic. Place the cooked and rinsed pasta on a bed of fresh arugula or spinach.

Add the veggies and toss with lots of fresh basil and salt. Sprinkle with nuts of choice. A delicious 30- or 40-minute meal!

Elizabeth Girouard – Pure Simple Wellness

The best way to make easy healthy dinners is to use whole food ingredients, prepared simply. Frozen veggies are great to have on hand for easy dinners. They are flash-frozen when picked, so often they have more nutrients than fresh ones.

Shortcuts can save time and energy, like purchasing pre-cut vegetables or mini-versions, like baby carrots or baby potatoes. Sheet pan meals, where all the ingredients are cooked together on one sheet pan, make clean-up easier too.

A client favorite is organic chicken thighs with roasted baby potatoes and baby carrots. Season with salt, pepper, and garlic powder, drizzle some olive oil, and cook at 400 F for 30 minutes.

Another no-cook option is an organic rotisserie chicken over a precut salad, with olive oil, lemon, salt, pepper and garlic. The dressings in the prepacked oils usually have less healthy oils, so it’s best to avoid them. Or, a bag of steamed frozen vegetables, with rotisserie chicken, drizzled with olive oil and hot sauce.

Here are a few other favorite simple, healthy dinner ideas:

Organic Chicken Sausage with onions and peppers

sauté onion and pepper strips in avocado or olive oil with garlic, salt and pepper for 3-5 minutes; add cut up pre-cooked sausage and cook until heated through

Veggie stir-fry

sauté chopped peppers, onions, zucchini, green beans, carrots (fresh or frozen) olive oil; add gluten-free Tamari sauce or coconut aminos, and serve over cauliflower rice or brown rice

Ground beef and mushrooms over zoodles

sauté grass-fed ground beef, once meat is cooked through, add thinly sliced mushrooms and organic tomato sauce until mushrooms are cooked through. Add zucchini noodles for 2 minutes at the end to heat.

Candice Walker – Proportional Plate

If I’m trying to keep dinner under 30 minutes but still keep it healthy and packed with flavor, one of my go-to recipes is a salmon dish, Citrus Thyme Salmon with Pesto Pasta. Salmon is most people’s go-to fish because it’s healthy, delicious, and extremely versatile.

It takes no time at all to cook in the oven, and I serve with simple pesto pasta and steamed veggies. The key to making a healthy, easy meal is combining elements that you can cook all at the same time – for example steaming veggies while the salmon cooks.

Another quick dinner I love is Ginger Scallion Noodles with Broccoli & Carrots – it’s an amazing substitute for takeout when you’re craving it. It helps to have an easy recipe on hand if you want to resist the temptation of ordering in.

Then, if I need something quick and warm, I always make Vegetarian Egg Drop Soup with Mixed Veggies – I use arrowroot powder to thicken it so it’s just the right texture.

It’s a hearty, simple soup that works with frozen veggies like corn and peas, and I use homemade vegetable stock to make sure it’s not loaded with salt and other additives.

Jessica Braider – The Scramble

One of my favorite easy healthy dinners is build-a-bowl nights because they are so easy, flexible, and fun.

Start with a grain base such as rice, quinoa, or couscous, and then you can add any proteins, vegetables, and condiments you like to make the flavor fit your mood.

For example, you could go a southwestern route with black beans, roasted vegetables, shredded Cheddar cheese, and salsa.

Or, you could go middle eastern with chickpeas, chopped raw vegetables, crumbled feta, and hummus.

The possibilities are endless and if you make the base grain and some proteins or vegetables ahead of time, dinner can be ready in mere minutes!

Stephanie Mantilla – Plant Prosperous

My favorite healthy meal is lentil chili.

You can dump the lentils, salsa, spices, and vegetables all into one pot and let them cook.

This even works in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker.

The lentils provide a good amount of protein and you can add whatever veggies you have on hand.

You can serve the chili over a bed of rice, quinoa, or greens for a healthy meal your entire family will like.

Katrina Love Senn

My favourite easy healthy dinner ideas are tasty, quick, and easy. I am inspired by the seasons and like to eat real food.

In Winter, my favourite dinner ideas are delicious, warming, and nourishing. They include thick hearty winter soups (made from home-made broths), Asian stir fry’s, and spicy curries served with Basmati rice, cauliflower rice, or quinoa.

In Summer, as the weather gets warmer and the days are longer, my meals change also.

They are generally lighter using fresh salad greens, herbs, and microgreens. To serve interesting salads, presentation is key. Choose colourful ingredients, served on a long white ceramic plate.

Top the plate with interesting salad leaves. Then, add generous amounts of fresh vegetables (such as sliced avocado, grated carrot, grated beetroot, pomegranate seeds, walnuts etc or roast vegetables) and fresh parsley, basil, and mint, cracked black pepper, and sea salt. In Summer months, I also like miso, sushi, sashimi fish, and Vietnamese spring rolls (fresh).

Antonia Korcheva – Escape Waste

I love making zucchini boats. They are easy to prepare and the filling options are endless. This is a personal original recipe! Here are the steps:

You’ll need one or two zucchinis per person for one serving.

Cut the zucchini crosswise.

Carve each half with a spoon to create the boats.

Drizzle the boats with olive oil and a pinch of salt.

Bake them for 10 minutes on medium heat.

In the meantime, prepare the filling.

Put the filling in the boats and cook for 20 more minutes.

Filling ideas:

Mushrooms with onion and herbs;

Sauteed seasonal vegetables;

Quinoa.

Additional tip: Use the leftover carvings for the filling of the boats or prepare other meals such as salads, zucchini balls, or even cakes.

Cheryl McColgan – Heal Nourish Grow

People love to overcomplicate dinner time, especially when they’re trying to switch to a new, healthy way of eating. One of the first things to determine is what is really a healthy meal…which is not so easy nowadays with the pervasive old ways of thinking still dominating nutrition. Eating healthy can be simple.

After hundreds of hours of research, I’ve determined that a low carb diet free of processed food and added sugar is the healthiest option.

Based on this paradigm, my favorite easy and healthy dinner ideas basically include two ingredients. Combine your favorite protein (bonus points if it’s grass-fed or pastured) with a low starch vegetable. Add some healthy fat or sauce and you’re done!

If you’re really pressed for time or creativity, you can even skip the vegetable, GASP! This would be unheard of in the past but you can make a good case that vegetables aren’t necessary to a healthy diet.

Some specific examples of this type of meal are a perfectly cooked grass-fed ribeye with some asparagus roasted in olive oil. Another great choice would be a one-pan meal of pastured chicken thighs and brussels sprouts cooked in butter. Particularly if you’re trying to lose weight, this dinner method will keep you on track and simplify healthy eating.

Youmna Rab – Sustainably Yours

My favourite, easy healthy dinner ideas are ones that can be made in less than 20 minutes and create very few dirty dishes. When it comes to cooking, having to wash tons of dirty dishes automatically makes an easy dinner much harder. Dishes that can be made in one pan are the best way to go.

The easiest one-pan dinner I make is pesto ravioli. All you have to do is heat up frozen ravioli, cut some veggies and mix it all together on the stove with pesto! Most frozen food isn’t considered healthy, but ravioli can be if you add pesto and lots of vegetables.

Another great easy vegan option is a barbecue chickpea wrap. All you have to do is heat up canned chickpeas in barbeque sauce and wrap it in a tortilla with your favourite vegetables. Lettuce, tomatoes, and onions are great options that pair deliciously with chickpeas. Spread some hummus on the tortilla as well to add some more flavour.

These two healthy dishes are favorites that can be made in less than 20 minutes. To spend less time in the kitchen, cut up vegetables while everything else cooks.

Stephanie Harris-Uyidi – Posh Pescatarian

Soups, Chowders, and Stews

I love turning to soups, chowders, and stews as quick and healthy dinner options. This way, you can easily combine a medley of veggies, legumes, and spices to create a healthy but flavorful meal.

Soups, stews, and chowders provide home cooks the opportunity to experiment with flavor combinations. From a Mireproix mix (sauteed celery, carrots, and onions) to coconut milk to kale to lentils to lemons, the options are endless!

Some of my favorite recipes include Cauliflower, Coconut & Orange Lentil Soup, Wild Salmon & Tuscan Kale Chowder, and One Pot North African Fish & Chickpea Pescatarian Stew.

Salads

Salads are another great healthy dinner option, and it doesn’t have to be limited to Caesar! You can add veggies, fruits, protein, cheese, and nuts to your dish for added flavor and variety.

I love going back to many of my recipes that are now staples in my diet, including Elote Grilled Mexican Street Corn Salad, Salmon Bacon Salad, Spicy Yucatan Fruit Salad, and Wild Tuna Salad.

Laura Poe Mathes

When putting together quick and healthy dinners, I like to use a basic template to make sure my family gets the nutrition they need while also keeping it simple: every dinner has a protein (usually meat), a vegetable and a whole grain or root vegetable. Fill in these blanks with whatever is on hand and you are on your way to a healthy dinner.

For example, some of my favorite nutrient-rich and delicious dinners are: tacos with ground beef and beans on corn or whole wheat tortillas with plenty of veggie toppings; Thai laab, a dish of ground pork, seasonings and vegetables served in lettuce wraps, with brown rice; curry or stir fry with whatever meat and vegetables need to be used up in the fridge, on a bed of sweet potatoes or brown rice.

Finally, breakfast-for-dinner, the ultimate dinner-saver–I will typically make a cheese and veggie frittata or omelette and serve with whole grain sourdough bread when we are really short on time to throw dinner together.

Don’t be afraid to experiment and try to do as much meal planning as you can ahead of time so your healthy dinners come together quickly and easily.

Shruthi Baskaran – Urban Farmie

My favorite healthy dinners are plant-forward, vegan or vegetarian versions of simple African stews.

Say, for instance, Efo Riro, a hearty Nigerian spinach stew cooked using a red pepper and tomato puree, as well as umami-rich elements like mushrooms and tahini.

Or a warm bowl of Ethiopian Atakilt Wat, a cabbage stew made with pantry staples like potatoes and carrots, and oil infused with simple spices.

These dinners are hearty, comforting and nutritious, and easy to make at home even when I’m busy!

Jenna Passaro – Sip Bite Go

As a parent, I know how important it can be to throw a quick and easy dinner together. Make a delicious 30 minute or less chicken dinner with inspiration from this recipe.

Here these perfectly cooked chicken breasts are served with an easy avocado and vegetable salad. You can make a simple chicken dinner like a restaurant would make – right at home.

Need a vegetarian option? These easy baked buffalo cauliflower bites are an addictive meatless buffalo wings alternative. This vegetarian chicken wing alternative is a favorite in my house for game day and using up leftover cauliflower.

If you’ve heard of cauliflower buffalo bites, you’ll find this recipe is a little different. The addition of red onion makes these buffalo cauliflower bites taste more gourmet. Find the recipe here.

Marissa Schaumloffel – Over The Spoon For

My favorite easy and healthy dinners are any options that I can use whatever I have on hand.

I either turn leftover vegetables and potatoes into a baked frittata or create a Buddha Bowl with a rice or quinoa base.

These allow me to fill up on protein, fiber, and healthy fats and use what I already have rather than going to the store after work.

I cook rice or quinoa in the rice cooker in about 20 minutes while I cut up any vegetables.

I love to add different sauces to make the meals different and flavorful.

Thank you so much to all the experts that have contributed to this expert roundup! If you want to help more people improve their health and their diet then please share this post with your friends and followers so we can spread these healthy dinner ideas.

source https://nutritiondietnews.com/healthy-dinner-ideas/ source https://nutritiondietnews.blogspot.com/2021/02/healthy-dinner-ideas-shared-by-25-food.html

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recipes-for-dinner-easy · 5 years

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Sheet Pan Teriyaki Chicken with Vegetables

New Post has been published on https://recipesfordinnereasy.site/2019/04/30/sheet-pan-teriyaki-chicken-with-vegetables/

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Chicken with Vegetables

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Chicken with Vegetables is made with tender chicken, crispy veggies with a flavorful sweet and tangy Asian sauce. A delicious dinner recipe that is super easy to throw together.

This sweet and tangy Teriyaki glaze is a favorite in our home. It goes well with several different recipes too. Try these Teriyaki Beef Skewers, Grilled Hawaiian Teriyaki Chicken Skewers or Easy 20 Minutes Beef Teriyaki.

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Chicken and Vegetables

Hey everybody! It’s Kelly from Life Made Sweeter! I am so excited to share some fun new recipes with all of you on The Recipe Critic! I’m a mom of two young kiddos so I’m all about family friendly recipes that don’t require too much effort!

Sheet pan meals are the ones I turn to the most when I don’t have a ton of time to prep before dinner starts. They’re perfect for busy weeknights and you can toss in any veggies you like or have on hand. This Sheet Pan Chicken Teriyaki is one our favorites and shows up regularly at our house. My family absolutely loves anything with a sweet, tangy and savory combination and you get all of those amazing flavors with this simple homemade teriyaki glaze.

Everything cooks up on a sheet pan while soaking in the flavor-packed sweet and sticky glaze. The chicken stays nice and tender while the broccoli and carrots roast up caramelized and crispy. The best part about this dish is how little effort it takes, plus you’ve got one amazing meal your entire family will love!

Enjoy it alone or serve it over your favorite rice or quinoa. Either way you choose, it will be so much easier and healthier than takeout!

How Do You Make Sheet Pan Teriyaki Chicken and Vegetables?

For the glaze:

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, whisk together soy sauce, honey, vinegar, sesame oil, garlic, ginger, cornstarch and water until combined. Bring to a simmer, stirring frequently, until sauce thickens and bubbles. Remove from heat and set aside.

For the chicken and vegetables

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper or foil coated with cooking spray and set aside.

Season each side of the chicken with salt and black pepper then drizzle spoonfuls of glaze over the chicken coating well on both sides. Reserve at least half of the glaze for later.

Cook in preheated oven for 20 minutes then remove the pan. Top chicken with additional glaze, flip chicken and glaze again.

Arrange the broccoli florets, carrots, edamame and pineapples in a single layer around the chicken. Season with black pepper and drizzle with 1/4 teaspoon of sesame oil and teriyaki glaze and toss to coat. Return to the oven and bake for another 15-20 minutes, or until the chicken is cooked through and juices run clear.**

Remove pan from oven, slice chicken into strips and drizzle with remaining sauce. Serve over rice or quinoa and garnish with green onions and sesame seeds, if desired.

Can I Prepare Teriyaki Chicken Ahead of Time?

Yes! This is a great recipe to even marinade the ingredients in the sauce for that added flavor. After preparing it ahead of time you will want to leave it in the refrigerator over night. I would recommend baking it within 24-48 hours of preparing it.

How Do You Make This into a Meal Plan for the Week?

This is a great way to have a healthy meal each day! I love meal pans and being able to enjoy them just by microwaving them up for a few minutes and have a delicious meal each day that is healthy and filling. On Sunday I love to prepare this sheet pan meal and divide it into 4 to 6 air tight containers that I will store in the refrigerator. Each day I will open on up and microwave for about 3 to 4 minutes. Stir it up, then about 2 more minutes in the microwave. You do not want to overheat the chicken or it is too firm. If that chicken already feels warm after the first 3 to 4 minutes adjust the time so it is not overheated in the microwave.

What Other Vegetables Can be Baked with this recipe?

Asparagus

Cauliflower

Green Beans

Green, Red and Yellow Peppers

Mushrooms

Onions

Snap Peas

Water Chestnuts

What Do You Serve with Teriyaki Chicken?

I love a good rice to mix in with the vegetables and Teriyaki chicken. White rice, jasmine rice, brown rice or even wild rice work really well for this meal.

Looking For More Sheet Pan Recipes? Here You Go!

Sheet PAn Crispy Parmesan Garlic Chicken

Sheet Pan Garlic Lime Salmon Fajitas

Sheet Pan Garlic Paprika Chicken and Veggies

Sheet Pan Crispy Cheddar Pork Chops

Sheet Pan Roasted Garlic Butter Herb Chicken with Potatoes and Brussels Sprouts

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Chicken and Vegetables

Sheet Pan Teriyaki Chicken is an easy one pan meal made with tender chicken, crispy veggies with the most flavorful sweet and tangy Asian sauce.

Teriyaki Glaze

1 cup low sodium soy sauce

4-5 tablespoons honey (depending on how sweet you like it)

3 1/2 tablespoons rice wine vinegar

1 1/2 teaspoons sesame oil (plus more for drizzling on vegetables)

3 garlic cloves (minced)

3/4 teaspoon grated ginger

1 tablespoon cornstarch

1/4 cup water

Salt and black pepper (to taste)

3 boneless skinless chicken breasts (cut in half lengthwise (about 1 1/2 pounds))

3 cups broccoli florets (about 2 bunches)

1 cup sliced carrots

Additional vegetables (optional)

1/4 cup edamame beans (1/4 cup pineapple chunks)

Green onions and sesame seeds for garnish

For the glaze:

For the chicken and vegetables

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a large sheet pan with parchment paper or foil coated with cooking spray and set aside.

Season each side of the chicken with salt and black pepper then drizzle spoonfuls of glaze over the chicken coating well on both sides. Reserve at least half of the glaze for later.

Cook in preheated oven for 20 minutes then remove the pan. Top chicken with additional glaze, flip chicken and glaze again.

Remove pan from oven, slice chicken into strips and drizzle with remaining sauce. Serve over rice or quinoa and garnish with green onions and sesame seeds, if desired.

**If chicken is not done after 20 minutes, remove vegetables from pan first then return the chicken back to the oven until cooked through. Cooking time may vary slightly depending on how thick your chicken pieces are.

More easy dinner ideas from Life Made Sweeter:

One Pot Teriyaki Rice with Chicken

Chicken Pad Thai

Teriyaki Chicken Zoodles

Slow Cooker Teriyaki Chicken

Slow Cooker Chicken Lo Mein

Source link

#recipes

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foursprouthealth-blog · 6 years

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23 Moroccan-Inspired Meals That Are Everything Your Spice Rack Has Been Waiting For

New Post has been published on http://foursprout.com/health/23-moroccan-inspired-meals-that-are-everything-your-spice-rack-has-been-waiting-for/

23 Moroccan-Inspired Meals That Are Everything Your Spice Rack Has Been Waiting For

You’ve probably heard some version of this refrain over and over: To make food taste better without compromising nutrition, spices are key. But if you’re not quite sure how to use them, navigating those endless rows of seasonings at the store can seem pretty intimidating.

One delicious way to get it right? Make more of your dishes Moroccan! From cumin-heavy couscous and saffron-infused rice to harissa-spiked salads and cardamom meatballs, these 23 Moroccan recipes prove that North African cuisine knows its way around a spice rack.

Salads and Soups

1. Moroccan Raw Carrot Salad

Photo: Savory Tooth

Salads don’t always have to start with a pile of greens! Using shredded carrots instead of the usual kale/spinach/lettuce, this salad is brimming with eyesight-boosting beta-carotene, but you don’t need 20/20 vision to see that it’s also packed with tons of other nutrients from the chopped pecans, sunflower seeds, and fresh parsley that are tossed alongside the veggie.

2. Instant Pot Moroccan Sweet Potato Soup

Photo: Vintage Kitty

Loaded with root veggies and chickpeas, seasoned with spicy harissa, and garnished with yogurt swirls and fresh herbs, this plant-based purée manages to be rustic and elegant all at once. Thanks to its filling, wholesome ingredients, and its easy Instant Pot prep method, it’s a no-brainer for busy weeknights.

3. Moroccan Roasted Acorn Squash Soup

Photo: Food Faith Fitness

Wondering how a soup that’s free of meat, dairy, gluten, and grains can still taste good? Two words: Moroccan seasonings. Dashes of cinnamon, cumin, allspice, and paprika add spicy, warming depth to this naturally sweet acorn squash and date blend. Whether you’re vegan, Paleo, or on the Whole30, you need this on your menu.

4. Moroccan Watermelon Salad With Pistachio

Photo: Feasting at Home

Combining watermelon, feta, and cucumbers with olive oil, parsley, and red onion, this salad is a tasty marriage of everyday Mediterranean and Moroccan ingredients. The flavors take the whole fusion thing a step further, since the fruit, herbs, and salty cheese make for the perfect balance of sweet and savory.

5. Zaalouk (Moroccan Aubergine and Tomato Salad)

Photo: My Moorish Plate

This eggplant-based dish is the Moroccan answer to both French ratatouille and Middle Eastern baba ghanoush, keeping the garlic and olive oil, but swapping out creamy tahini for lots of tangy tomato action. And like any good salad, it’s best served with bread on the side.

6. Super Hearty Moroccan Lentil Soup

Photo: Find My Mojyo

It isn’t a Moroccan meal without legumes. Using red lentils makes this soup especially authentic, but don’t worry if you have to use another kind. The garlic, cumin, and paprika will still give it plenty of North African flavor.

7. Moroccan Spiced Pomegranate Salad With Creamy Tahini Dressing

Photo: The Cool York

Don’t let ingredients like pomegranate seeds, tahini, and the classic Moroccan Ras el Hanout spice blend make you dismiss this salad as too “out there:” Not only is it incredibly easy, taking only about 10 minutes to put together, but every crunchy, creamy bite is well worth any extra effort it might take to find some of the items called for.

8. Slow-Cooker Moroccan Chicken Soup

Photo: Dash of Herbs

Soups that can double as main meals are a busy cook’s dream come true. This one, full of nourishing goodies like shredded chicken, quinoa, and squash, scores even more points for being extra delicious due to the cinnamon and cumin, and extra easy with the slow cooker’s help.

Side Dishes

9. Moroccan-Spiced Vegetable Couscous

Photo: Erren’s Kitchen

Morocco’s flagship grain is traditionally meant to be eaten only on Fridays, but when there are delicious recipes like this to be had, why limit your consumption of it to just one day? With plenty of chickpeas, veggies, and spices, this dish will have you going back for more multiple days this week.

10. Moroccan Saffron Rice Pilaf

Photo: Salted Mint

A Moroccan rice dish isn’t complete without saffron, but just a few of these magenta strands go a long way to making this simple side really fragrant. Packed with dried fruits and nuts, kicked up with coriander and cardamom, and ready in 30 minutes, the final product is as exotic as it is easy.

11. Moroccan Roasted Cauliflower With Tahini Dressing, Pistachios, and Dates

Photo: Kneading at Home

We’re doing all sorts of things to cauliflower these days: ricing it, puréeing it into sauce, sticking it in smoothies. This recipe, however, reminds us that simply roasted florets are just as tasty, especially when topped with a creamy tahini drizzle and lightly toasted pistachios.

12. Moroccan Quinoa With Blood Oranges, Olives, Almond, and Mint

Photo: Feasting at Home

This gluten-free recipe is a delicious example of Moroccan cuisine’s ability to expertly incorporate fruit into savory dishes. With orange segments scattered into the pile of quinoa and almonds, each crunchy, nutty spoonful also comes with just enough juicy fruit flavor.

13. Moroccan Potato Salad

Photo: The Iron You

Next time you’re bringing the potato salad to a potluck or picnic, take a break from the often bland, mayo-drenched classic. This version, opting for healthier Greek yogurt plus olives, herbs, and Ras el Hanout for some much-needed zing, is much more interesting.

14. Moroccan White Beans and Greens in Tomato Sauce

Photo: Ruby Josephine

When chickpeas, black beans, and kidney beans often take the spotlight, white beans get left in the lurch a bit. Moroccan cuisine does right by them here with the traditional loubia, where the protein-rich legumes are stewed in a richly spiced tomato sauce and sopped up with big hunks of bread.

15. Moroccan Freekeh Pilaf

Photo: Rachel Cooks

Popular throughout Africa, this wheat variety is particularly tasty served up Moroccan-style with golden raisins, dried apricots, and orange zest. If you’ve never had the grain before, this is a freekeh’n delicious way to get acquainted.

16. Chermoula Roasted Eggplant

Photo: Nerds With Knives

Proving that eggplant doesn’t always have to be puréed or fried, this fun-to-eat side leaves the roasted halves intact. The dish looks fancy, but all it takes is a sheet pan and an oven for it to come together—even the spiced chermoula “sauce” on top is a no-cook recipe.

Main Dishes

17. Sweet Potato Noodles and Moroccan Turkey Winter Bowl

Photo: Two Lucky Spoons

This may look like a Paleo spin on Italian pasta, but all the flavors couldn’t be more Moroccan. The sweet potato noodles are seasoned with cumin; the ground turkey is sautéed with chili powder and fennel; and instead of a marinara, there’s a parsley-studded yogurt sauce tying it all together.

18. Lemon Cardamom Meatballs With Pine Nuts and Garlic Tahini Sauce

Photo: Heart Beet Kitchen

These meatballs get their North African twist from the lamb at their base along with cinnamon, cardamom, and cilantro in the mix, and a tahini sauce on top. To round out the authentic effect, serve them on rice or couscous instead of pasta.

19. Moroccan Chicken Burgers With Feta and Carrot

Photo: Curry Trail

Chicken and a refreshing carrot slaw make these burgers lighter than your usual beef-and-cheese-filled buns, but that doesn’t mean they skimp on flavor. In fact, with paprika, harissa, plenty of garlic, and fresh mint, these give the standard Big Mac a serious run for its money.

20. Moroccan Potato and Lentil Tacos With Harissa

Photo: Warm Vanilla Sugar

You’re probably unlikely to find tacos anywhere in North Africa, but that’s exactly why fusion food is so much fun! As it turns out, stuffing tortillas with harissa-spiced potatoes and lentils, and topping ’em off with avocado, is a pretty killer way to marry Mexico with Morocco.

21. Skillet Beef Tagine With Spiralized Butternut Squash

Photo: Mindy’s Cooking Obsession

Tagine actually refers to the funkily shaped clay pot in which stew is slow-cooked, but let’s be real—not everyone has one of those. Still, get all the taste of the traditional dish in this skillet version: Butternut squash spirals provide a slightly sweet contrast from the bold, paprika-spiced tomato sauce, and succulent chunks of beef make it a complete meal.

22. Easy Moroccan Chicken

Photo: Mommy’s Home Cooking

Dried fruit, olives, and cumin instantly give any dish some Moroccan-inspired magic. Here, those ingredients (and a few others) join chickpeas and chicken for an easy 30-minute skillet meal, giving you a welcome alternative from your usual grilled chicken breast dinner.

23. Moroccan Lamb Stuffed Sweet Potato

Photo: Sarah Bell Nutrition

Lamb is basically the chicken of Moroccan cuisine—it’s that frequently used. While you’ll traditionally find it in a stew, this recipe finds another use for it, turning the ground meat into a savory stuffing for baked sweet potatoes. With peas and spinach also in the mix, each serving of this dish is a perfect balance of protein, carbs, veggies, and fiber.

#Health

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foursprout-blog · 6 years

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23 Moroccan-Inspired Meals That Are Everything Your Spice Rack Has Been Waiting For

New Post has been published on http://foursprout.com/health/23-moroccan-inspired-meals-that-are-everything-your-spice-rack-has-been-waiting-for/

23 Moroccan-Inspired Meals That Are Everything Your Spice Rack Has Been Waiting For

Salads and Soups

1. Moroccan Raw Carrot Salad

Photo: Savory Tooth

2. Instant Pot Moroccan Sweet Potato Soup

Photo: Vintage Kitty

3. Moroccan Roasted Acorn Squash Soup

Photo: Food Faith Fitness

4. Moroccan Watermelon Salad With Pistachio

Photo: Feasting at Home

5. Zaalouk (Moroccan Aubergine and Tomato Salad)

Photo: My Moorish Plate

6. Super Hearty Moroccan Lentil Soup

Photo: Find My Mojyo

7. Moroccan Spiced Pomegranate Salad With Creamy Tahini Dressing

Photo: The Cool York

8. Slow-Cooker Moroccan Chicken Soup

Photo: Dash of Herbs

Side Dishes

9. Moroccan-Spiced Vegetable Couscous

Photo: Erren’s Kitchen

10. Moroccan Saffron Rice Pilaf

Photo: Salted Mint

11. Moroccan Roasted Cauliflower With Tahini Dressing, Pistachios, and Dates

Photo: Kneading at Home

12. Moroccan Quinoa With Blood Oranges, Olives, Almond, and Mint

Photo: Feasting at Home

13. Moroccan Potato Salad

Photo: The Iron You

14. Moroccan White Beans and Greens in Tomato Sauce

Photo: Ruby Josephine

15. Moroccan Freekeh Pilaf

Photo: Rachel Cooks

16. Chermoula Roasted Eggplant

Photo: Nerds With Knives

Main Dishes

17. Sweet Potato Noodles and Moroccan Turkey Winter Bowl

Photo: Two Lucky Spoons

18. Lemon Cardamom Meatballs With Pine Nuts and Garlic Tahini Sauce

Photo: Heart Beet Kitchen

19. Moroccan Chicken Burgers With Feta and Carrot

Photo: Curry Trail

20. Moroccan Potato and Lentil Tacos With Harissa

Photo: Warm Vanilla Sugar

21. Skillet Beef Tagine With Spiralized Butternut Squash

Photo: Mindy’s Cooking Obsession

22. Easy Moroccan Chicken

Photo: Mommy’s Home Cooking

23. Moroccan Lamb Stuffed Sweet Potato

Photo: Sarah Bell Nutrition

#Health

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gardencityvegans · 7 years

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Emilie Raffa’s Everyday Sourdough & Spicy White Bean Arugula Dip

https://www.thefullhelping.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/10/Emilie-Raffa-white-bean-arugula-dip-3.jpg

I haven’t consciously marked many milestones in my life as a home cook. My learning curve has unfurled slowly and gradually: a day comes when something I used to struggle with suddenly feels like habit, or I realize that a process I used to dread is no longer a big deal. Many of these moments have had to do with baking, simply because it’s more technical and less intuitive (for me) than cooking always has been.

2017 has been the year of bread. I started making my own bread regularly for the first time in my life, inspired by Alexandra Stafford’s amazing Bread, Toast, Crumbs, and then spurred on by The New Laurel’s Kitchen (which is full of good instruction). I’d feared homemade bread-baking for years, intimidated by overly technical advice and anxieties about whether I’d have the right sense of timing and intuition.

This year, I’ve learned that, to quote Julia Turshen, “yeast is just an ingredient,” and there’s nothing so scary about kneading or shaping dough. I’ve come to love the feel of dough in my hands. I love sitting back and watching it do its thing: resting, rising, and turning a deep golden shade in the oven.

Bread baking found me at the right time. I started cooking from Ali’s book just as I was processing the loss of a long-term relationship. I was bereft, and baking kept me company. It gave me something to do, and it presented me with a constant series of new challenges, each satisfying yet incremental enough enough to be manageable.

Most of all, it gave me bread. Loaf after tender, fragrant loaf. I can’t think of too many things that I cam as consistently happy to eat than bread or toast, and all of the things you can serve with them (dip, soup, etc.).

Through all of this, I’ve told myself that yeasted breads are within my reach, but sourdough isn’t for me. Sourdough is for serious bread bakers, those who know the ins and outs of autolysing and levains and scoring and hydration. I follow countless sourdough Instagrammers, but to some extent that has only made me more intimidated, rather than less.

Still, I haven’t been able to shake the itch to give sourdough a whirl, and the work of many women—Cheri Litchfield and Sarah C. Owens among them—has given me the ongoing encouragement I need. It was Cheri who reminded me that, no matter how technical sourdough-making can be, it’s also a time-honored method that home cooks have been practicing for hundreds of years.

I’ve known this for a while, but I needed someone to walk me through it—a warm, friendly, accessible guide. Enter Emilie Raffa.

You might know Emilie as the author of the Clever Carrot blog, where she shares wholesome and hearty comfort food recipes. She’s also an accomplished bread maker, and her new book, Artisan Sourdough Made Simple, is a loving tribute to the ins and outs of bread making. It is the most accessible, down-to-earth resource I’ve ever seen about sourdough (having purchased and left dormant a number of much more technical books).

I have Emilie to thank for the fact that, as of last week, I’ve been baking fresh sourdough every other morning, tearing it into hunks and dipping it in soup, using it for toast, slicing it up for sandwiches, and sharing gleefully it with my neighbors and friends.

It’s hard for me to say how gratifying it has been—not just the amazement I felt when I realized that I could do it, but also the sensation of empowerment that baking one��s own bread can bestow. It’s so gratifying to create a staple food from nothing but flour, water, and salt. I see more than ever why the process becomes so intoxicating over time. And I see that sourdough isn’t a project for master bakers. It really can be simple, intuitive, and fun.

I’ll be sharing Emilie’s foundational recipe for everyday sourdough in this post, along with a tasty dip to dunk your slices into. But I want to emphasize that the whole book is invaluable, especially if you’re new to sourdough. Emilie walks you through every step of the process, including creation of a starter, with simple instructions and useful cues. If you want to start baking regularly, you’ll want to read everything she has to say.

And reading it won’t overwhelm you. This book is neither dense nor dry. Emilie is happy to leave out certain techniques or terms, assuring readers that they don’t need to know everything about sourdough in order to get started. She gives you exactly as much information as is necessary for beginners. I don’t doubt that I’ll keep wanting to learn about this process, but as a novice I felt so grateful that Emilie was able to help me separate the essentials from the graduate level stuff.

Along with the book, Emilie shared with me a package of her dried starter, which is named Dylan, after her son. Dylan is the offspring of Priscilla, a robust starter that Emilie’s friend Celia shipped to her all the way from Australia years ago. Starter, she says, is meant to be shared. Using Emilie’s dried starter means that I didn’t need to grow my own from scratch; within 3 days, I had a jar that was well-fed, bubbly and ready to go.

At the end of today’s post, after the recipe, I’ll be offering a chance for a US or Canadian reader to win a copy of the book and a package of Emilie’s dried starter. Together, they’re everything you need to get started with your own loaves. For now, though, I want to share Emilie’s incredible, practically no-knead everyday sourdough recipe, along with her zippy, garlicky, oh-so-simple recipe for white bean arugula dip!

Emilie Raffa's Everyday Sourdough

Recipe type: side

Cuisine: vegan, no oil, soy free, tree nut free

Author: Emilie Raffa

Serves: 1 loaf

Every baker needs an all-purpose, go-to loaf in their repertoire. And if you’re new to sourdough, this is the perfect place to start. Simply make the dough, let it rise overnight, and bake in the morning. It requires very little effort with big reward. The crust is golden and crunchy, and the velvety crumb is perfect for sandwiches and toast. Try a few thick-cut slices with creamy avocado and tomato or the most delicious grilled cheese sandwich you will ever sink your teeth into. This is my family’s favorite loaf.

Ingredients

Baker’s Schedule:

Thursday–Saturday: Feed your starter until bubbly and active.

Saturday Evening: Make the dough, and let rise overnight.

Sunday Morning: Shape the dough, let rise again, score, and bake.

Ingredients

50 g (1⁄4 cup) bubbly, active starter

350 g (11⁄3 cups plus 2 tbsp) warm water

500 g (4 cups plus 2 tbsp) bread flour 9 g (11⁄2 tsp) fine sea salt

Instructions

Make the Dough: In the evening, whisk the starter and water together in a large bowl with a fork. Add the flour and salt. Combine until a stiff dough forms, then finish mixing by hand to fully incorporate the flour. The dough will feel dense and shaggy, and it will stick to your fingers as you go. Scrape off as much as you can. Cover with a damp towel and let rest for 30 minutes. Replenish your starter with fresh flour and water, and store according to preference.

After the dough has rested, work the mass into a fairly smooth ball. To do this, grab a portion of the dough and fold it over, pressing your fingertips into the center. Repeat, working your way around the dough until it begins to tighten, about 15 seconds.

Bulk rise: Cover the bowl with a damp towel and let rise overnight at room temperature. This will take about 8 to 10 hours at 70°F (21°C). The dough is ready when it no longer looks dense and has doubled in size.

Shape: In the morning, coax the dough onto a lightly floured work surface. To shape it into a round, start at the top and fold the dough over toward the center. Turn the dough slightly and fold over the next section of dough. Repeat until you have come full circle. Flip the dough over and let rest for 5 to 10 minutes. Meanwhile, line an 8-inch (20-cm) bowl with a towel and dust with flour. With floured hands, gently cup the dough and pull it toward you in a circular motion to tighten its shape. Using a bench scraper, place the dough into the bowl, seam side up.

Second rise: Cover the bowl and let rest for 30 minutes to 1 hour. The dough is ready when it looks puffy and has risen slightly but has not yet doubled in size.

Preheat your oven to 450°F (230°C). Cut a sheet of parchment paper to fit the size of your baking pot, leaving enough excess around the sides to remove the bread.

Score: Place the parchment over the dough and invert the bowl to release. Sprinkle the dough with flour and gently rub the surface with your hands. Using the tip of a small, serrated knife or a razor blade, score the dough with the cross-cut pattern on page 195, or any way you’d like. Use the parchment to transfer the dough to the baking pot.

Bake: Bake the dough on the center rack for 20 minutes, covered. Remove the lid, and continue to bake for 30 minutes. Then, carefully remove the loaf from the pot and bake directly on the oven rack for the last 10 minutes to crisp the crust. When finished, transfer to a wire rack. Cool for 1 hour before slicing.

Sourdough is best consumed on the same day it is baked. To maximize freshness, cool completely and store at room temperature in a plastic bag for up to 1 day.

Notes

About the Dough: Because this dough rises while you’re asleep, you won’t be tempted to rush the process or check on it every five seconds to see if it’s ready. Have a look at the baker’s schedule, then make adjustments to suit your own schedule. The overnight method can be applied to most of the recipes in this book.

3.5.3226

Emilie Raffa's Spicy White Bean Arugula Dip

Recipe type: dip, spread, starter

Cuisine: vegan, gluten free, soy free, tree nut free

Author: Emilie Raffa

Prep time: 5 mins

Cook time: 5 mins

Total time: 10 mins

Serves: 2 cups

This creamy white bean dip with baby arugula is the perfect destination for a slice of artisan sourdough. It’s not only healthy, but it’s incredibly simple to make—just pulse a few times in the blender and you’re done.

Ingredients

11⁄2 cups (375 g) cannellini beans, rinsed and drained

1 small handful of baby arugula

1⁄4 cup (60 ml) olive oil, plus more for drizzling

1⁄2 garlic clove, chopped

Pinch of red pepper flakes

Zest of 1 lemon, juice reserved

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Instructions

Add the beans, arugula, olive oil, garlic, red pepper, zest, and juice of half the lemon to a blender. Season generously with salt and pepper. Pulse a few times to combine. The texture should be creamy and rustic. Taste the dip and adjust with more lemon juice or salt and pepper if needed.

Transfer the dip to a small bowl and drizzle with extra olive oil and red pepper flakes. Arrange your sourdough slices on the side, to serve for dipping.

Notes

You can also use fresh parsley or cilantro leaves in place of the arugula.

3.5.3226

Clearly, I’m over the moon about Emilie’s bread—not just the signature Everyday Sourdough, but the many other incredible loaves in this book, including Seeded Pumpkin Cranberry, Roasted Garlic and Rosemary, and Danish Rye Bread.

But it’s worth saying how awesome this dip is, too. It’s the kind of thing you can whip up in mere minutes if you’ve got a can of beans and a handful of bitter greens or herbs, certain that your friends or whoever’s coming over will polish it off. The creaminess of the beans and olive oil are offset by the bite of garlic and pepper, and the dip is so much more complex than its simple preparation would suggest.

If you’ve thought about sourdough but haven’t known where to begin, this is the book for you. And even if you’ve never made bread before, it’ll give you all the tools you need to understand the process. What Emilie teaches you will serve you with any type of bread-making, and her assortment of recipes (which span not only breads, but also crackers, rolls, desserts, and savory meals) will give you plenty of ideas about what to do with all of the marvelous loaves you’re making.

Enter below to win a copy for yourself. I’ll pick a winner two weeks from today!

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As I said, bread making has found me at the right time, and I’m so excited to continue learning and sharing about the process. Perhaps Emilie’s work will inspire you to consider making sourdough at home, as it has inspired me—and if not, I hope it’ll encourage you to pick up a loaf of bread from your local baker and slathering it with some creamy white bean dip.

Enjoy the recipes, and see you this weekend for the roundup!

[Read More ...] https://www.thefullhelping.com/emilie-raffas-everyday-sourdough-white-bean-arugula-spread/

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