currently cooking: goan style shrimp curry

Now that chilly temps are here to stay, I've found my self craving hearty, comfort foods. Since S and I are fans of spicy, we decided to whip up one of KJB's favorite one pot meals, Goan Style Shrimp Curry.

We have been craving Indian flavors lately and we were excited to use them in our own kitchen. Curry powder, turmeric, fresh grated ginger and coconut milk are a few of the ingredients that make this vibrant dish so delicious.

Measuring the ingredients...

currently cooking: avocado toasts

S is back in NYC for business this week and (until my mother arrives at least!) I have been left to my own devices.

It's been busy and it's been hot. Due to these very reasons cooking a meal for myself has not been high on my priority list. Still, a girl has got to eat!

Answer? Avocado toast.

I got this idea after thumbing through Goop's new cookbook It's All Good. I wouldn't really call it a recipe because toast, mayo, a freshly sliced avocado and salt and pepper isn't too difficult an idea to grasp.

Still, I love the combo so much, I'm tempted to try different variations. The adorable cooking blog Annie's Hungry offers 3 delicious ideas:

-smoked salmon, cream cheese and avocado
- chicken, spicy salsa and avocado
-"naked avocado" served with a poached egg

Visit Annie's blog (here) for the full recipes. Deliciousness.

(original images by annie's hungry blog)

currently cooking: crustless mini quiche

Back in my college days, I relied on diet instead of exercise to keep it fit. Now, it's a healthier combo of both, but there was a time when I was hardcore believer in the South Beach Diet.

There's nothing wrong with low carb, but completely giving them up as Phase 1 of the diet requires doesn't really set you up for long term success. Still, one of the recipes I loved and still enjoy making are the Diet's Egg and Spinach Cups.

Basically, these tiny, individual quiches (made in a muffin pan) combine everything I love about the brunch staple minus the crust. They are delicious, super light and even tasty enough to be man friendly.

currently cooking: eggs in purgatory

The fastest way to S's heart is to serve him Eggs in Purgatory as a part of a surprise Sunday brunch.

A favorite brunch dish from our college restaurant, we've sorted out a way to replicate the delicious, briny taste of the Italian inspired egg dish.

We based our recipe on Mario Batali's Uova in Purgatorio recipe (click here to access it), but made a few tiny tweaks to keep it true to the taste we missed from our college days.

our "first" thanksgiving

S and I have been married for five whole years, but never in that time were we not with one of our sets of parents for Thanksgiving.

This year, thanks to strange work schedules and family health concerns, we found ourselves for the first time in Nashville for Thanksgiving and charged with the task of preparing our own feast. No pressure!

Well, despite a few stressful moments and missing our families tremendously, our first Thanksgiving turned out beautifully. Sam's sis E and her fella C even joined us after the afternoon meal for wine and dessert.

We used our china for the first time EVER and settled in to making a few family traditions of our very own. For example, Billie Holiday makes one heck of a Turkey Day soundtrack, brining the bird really does make a difference and pecans and sausage will forever appear in our chosen dressing recipe.

Here are a few snaps of our spread and the holiday weekend. Hope your holiday was both love-filled and delicious.

1-pan roasting brussel sprouts with Benton's bacon/2-sausage, pecan and sweet cornbread dressing/3-KJB's au gratin potatoes and Papa's deviled eggs/4-a peek at the spread (and the bird!)/5-glazed apple tart/6-THE TURKEY PLATE

currently cooking: classic roast chicken

This time of year begs for comfort food and there are few things more cozy on a chilly fall evening than the scent of a bird roasting in the oven.

Lately, we can't seem to get enough roasted chicken. Our favorite recipe includes lemon, rosemary, fingerling potatoes and is super easy to make.

The recipe comes courtesy of Miss Goop herself, Gwyneth Paltrow. Haters are going to hate, but I love GP. Her cookbook My Father's Daughter is worth purchasing for the salad dressing recipes alone!

currently cooking: olive oil, lemon and poppy seed cake

When I first came across the recipe for olive oil, lemon and poppy seed cake, I could hardly wait to whip up a little loaf cake of my very own.

Don't let looks deceive you. Though this might look like a cake you've seen a million times, the olive oil really sets the flavor apart. Instead of being a heavy, dense pound cake, this cake was light and fluffy with a bright taste. In short, it was crazy delicious.

Here's the deal:

Whisk the sugar, lemon zest, lemon juice and milk together before...

adding in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt).

Mix well to create the batter before...

adding in the poppy seeds.

currently cooking: smoky chicken meatballs

Ever since stumbling across Deb's recipe for Baked Chicken Meatballs on Smitten Kitchen a few years ago I was desperate to whip up a batch of my own. The problem? Our old NYC apartment lacked an oven. How sad is that?

When it came time to make dinner on a recent weeknight, I was pretty pumped to discover ground chicken in our freezer. A light bulb went off as the choice became clear. Meatballs for everyone!

Since we didn't have all the makings for Deb's version, we needed to improvise a bit with the ingredients. Instead of pancetta (which we coincidentally did not have lying around the fridge...who do you think we are? Mario Batali?), we used diced Benton's bacon. It was quite the combo.

The meatballs were plenty moist (disgusting word alert) and crazy flavorful. I highly recommend the combination.

S couldn't keep his hands off of them. Note the missing meatball in the below pics.

After some searching, I came across this similar recipe which also calls for serving your meatballs "naked" (which only means without pasta, pervs).

currently cooking: grilled flank steak with tomato salad

Something about the summery temps (90 degrees can not be considered spring I'm afraid...) of late had us craving something fresh and grilled for dinner.

We rarely prepare or even eat beef, but found the sound of this recipe too yummy to deny.

First, we picked up a lovely flank steak and the vegetable ingredients for the tomato salad. The salad recipe suggests a variety of fresh herbs that can be used to add another level of flavor to the tomato mixture. We went with oregano!

After chopping and mixing up the tomato, onion, olive oil, balsamic vinegar and oregano, we popped the salad into the refrigerator to chill. Next, we marinated the steak while we dashed over to the gym.

After about an hour, the flavors of tomato salad had set nicely. We grilled up the steak and then let it rest for about 5 minutes before slicing up and serving. One note? I'd cook the steak for a little less time than the recipe suggests to make sure this cut of meat stays super tender.

Verdict? A great warm weather meal that was both fresh and delicious.

 

(original top two images via skinnytaste)

currently cooking: tuna toasts

Ever since spotting this recipe, I developed a craving for these light and tasty tuna melts.

After scoring a whole wheat baguette, we wasted no time whipping these guys up. These toasts are similar to open faced sandwiches.

We started off by slicing the baguette, brushing it with a bit of olive oil and a sprinkling of sea salt.

Next, we grated a bit of Swiss cheese and divided among our toasts. Under the broiler they went!

After only a few minutes, these toasty bits were ready to be topped the the tangy, chilled goodness of the tuna mixture. Composed of tomato, avocado and flaked tuna, the salad was dressed in a mixture of lemon juice, shallot, dijon mustard, olive oil and lots of salt and pepper.

The warm cheesy toast combined with the almost sparkling flavors of the tuna salad made for quite a tasty meal. We topped each toast off with a twist of fresh ground pepper and a fresh squeeze of lemon juice.

Paired with a spring salad, this meal received two giant thumbs up from S.

currently cooking: turkey stuffed peppers

To say our household likes bell peppers would be an understatement. From salads to pastas, they tend to make their way into almost every meal!

After craving stuffed peppers for the past few weeks, S and I decided to whip up a batch of our own this week.

Following Gina's (aka the Skinnytaste guru) recipe, we loaded our bell peppers up with brown rice, fat free turkey and spices.

They were delicious. The perfect meal to come home to after a long day of work and a run at the gym.

Click here for the full recipe.

(original recipe and top photo via skinnytaste)

P.S. S and I pumped up the flavor a bit by adding a few more spoonfuls of tomato sauce to the rice mixture. We also baked these with a bit more tomato sauce, fresh cilantro and shredded cheddar cheese on top.

currently cooking: chicken sausage and spinach pasta

When it comes to cooking on school nights, we usually go for a dish that we can eat for two dinners. Since it's just the two of us (and there are almost always leftovers), we opted for the chicken sausage and spinach pasta you see above. We had a feeling this would taste even better the second night!

I know, I know. The name of our dinner of choice is misleading. Way to pig out, right? Nope! The recipe for this pasta calls for substitutions that keep the calorie count low without sacrificing any flavor.

The secret is using specific ingredients. For the penne, we went for Ronzoni's Smart Taste pasta. Super low cal and low carb. We kept our sausage simple by avoiding any of the cheese filled combos and went with a spicy, organic chicken option.

Check out the original recipe here. For roughly 400 calories per serving, eat and be happy!

P.S. S surprised me with a few tasty treats for dessert from vegan bakery Babycakes on LES. Frosted cupcake tops! Aren't they cute?

P.P.S. Remember Babycakes's adorable videos?

currently cooking: mini zucchini pancakes

Thanks to a renewed commitment to eating light and working out, the hubs and I have been enjoying cooking in a lot more recently.

Last night we decided to whip up a delicious batch of mini zucchini pancakes to compliment our dinner and all I can say is WOW, BOB, WOW. We are in love.

Served with tzatziki, these pancakes really hit the spot. In addition to the many scrumptious flavors contained in these little fellas, the freshness of the grated zucchini came through strong.

Serving these with a black vinegar dipping sauce or even just plain soy sauce would also be tasty.

These pancakes were warm and fluffy. They also reminded us that spring is just around the corner.

Click here for Skinnytaste's recipe.

By the by, we added a dash of red pepper flakes to the pancake batter for a little bit of spice.

(original image courtesy alexandra cooks)

currently cooking: chicken tortilla soup

After a crazy few weeks, the hubs and I decided to take it a bit easy this weekend. We decided to stay in on Saturday and cook up something really tasty...like chicken tortilla soup!

The recipe (via Vogue) we used was meatless and called for a ton of fresh veggies. The chicken flavor comes from chicken broth.

Over wine and some solid tunes, we chopped (and chopped and chopped) the ingredients-bell pepper, onion, garlic and last, but not least, the jalapeno.

I had no idea that jalapeno juice could actually burn your skin. You can imagine the unfortunate scene that occurred after I absentmindedly touched my nose while admiring my mad knife skills. Let's just say, it wasn't pretty.

After everything went into the pot, our place smelled deliciously of cumin, garlic and peppers.
Next, we toasted and cut the whole wheat tortillas and proceeded to feast.

Overall, I give this recipe two thumbs up. It's filling, warm and not heavy-a perfect soup for a mild, blue-skied weekend.

currently cooking: magnolia bakery's icebox cake

When my Mom came to visit for her birthday a few years ago, we spent several minutes ogling the icebox cake in Magnolia Bakery's case. While we "settled" for cupcakes that day, I secretly spent months after the encounter trying to rationalize a reason to buy the whole $26 cake!

That is until now.

This week I received Magnolia Bakery's cookbook thanks to a special giveaway at my office (hooray for working for the publisher). I immediately set my sights on creating that scallop-edged beauty of a cake at home.

First note? This cake is no bake and requires very few ingredients. In short? Score!

The first order of business is to create the whipped cream.

Since this was my first foray into whipping cream, I relied on my handy mixer to take the mixture of heavy cream, sugar and vanilla extract from liquid

to thicker liquid

to (finally) whipped cream!

The next step is simply assembly.

Place six chocolate wafers on a flat cake or cake stand (5 in a circle with the sixth placed in the middle) and add 3/4 of a cup of your freshly whipped cream between each layer.

Keep arranging the wafers in the same formation and adding your whipped cream until you've gone through one and a half packages of the wafers....and almost all of your cream.

The last bit of whipped cream goes on top. Add thinly sliced strawberries for a summery touch.


Refrigerate for at least five hours before serving and brace yourself for mad love from all that sample ...or eat half the cake (you know who you are)!

Check out a more detailed recipe here.