easy

Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower

Roasted vegetables are fall perfection.  Anytime of the year perfection for me, really.  But fall and winter seem to be better for the rich and warm flavors and the delicious caramelization of the veggies that takes place in the oven.  One of my favorite things about them is their versatility.  You can use your favorite vegetables.  My favorite combination includes brussels sprouts, sweet potato, onion and cauliflower.  I can’t think of a better side dish, can you?  If you’re still planning your Thanksgiving menu, consider roasting a big tray of vegetables.  You can do all of your prep, including tossing with the oil and salt, the night before.  Refrigerate and roast right before dinner.

After starting this lovely dish in the crock pot I started thinking about what we would eat with it.  I decided on brown rice and salad.  But then I remembered that we had broccoli and cauliflower already cut up and just waiting to be transformed into something magical.  I was honestly pretty worried about roasting the broccoli with my normal method.  I’ve done it before and felt like the ends got too blackened and crunchy, even for me.  So I looked up a recipe for roasted broccoli and found this from Ellie Krieger.  As luck would have it, this particular recipe uses broccoli and cauliflower.  Perfect.

We loved these.  I ate the remainder of them for lunch the next day straight from the fridge.  One of the reasons they were so good is the garlic.  I smashed whole cloves and mixed them in with the vegetables.  If you cut the garlic too small, it burns.  I learned that lesson the hard way!  The garlic mellows enough through the cooking process to not be an unwelcome addition to your bite.  Cooking the vegetables covered allows them to steam before roasting, which keeps the broccoli from burning on the tips and cooking unevenly.  I will probably try this method with my normal line up of vegetables the next time I roast them.  However, I think you could get by with less covered steam cooking, maybe 20 minutes covered and 30-40 uncovered?  I’ll mess with that and see how it goes.

Roasted Broccoli and Cauliflower

From Ellie Krieger

Ingredients

  • 1 small head cauliflower (2 pounds), cut into florets
  • 2 large stalks broccoli (1 pound), cut into florets
  • 1 head garlic, broken into cloves, peeled and smashed but still intact
  • 2 to 3 tablespoons olive oil
  • 1/2 to 1 teaspoon salt

Directions

  1. Preheat the oven to 375°F.
  2. Place cauliflower and broccoli into a 9 by 13 inch baking dish, toss with the olive oil, and sprinkle with salt.
  3. Cover the dish with foil and bake for 1/2 hour.
  4. Remove the foil, stir and cook for 30 to 40 minutes more, until vegetables are tender and nicely browned, stirring occasionally.

Cinnamon Sugar Peach Cake

When I came across this recipe I practically ran to the kitchen to begin making it.  I took out a stick of butter, 2 eggs and buttermilk to bring them to room temperature.  Since my little guy was asleep, I couldn’t make it to the store to get the one ingredient I lacked…fresh peaches.  So I used…canned peaches.  Did you just cringe?  I’m embarrassed, especially when there are fresh, juicy peaches available about a mile from my house.  While I am sure fresh peaches would have been better, the cake still turned out wonderfully.  That means you can make this in the dead of winter, when peaches aren’t so abundant.

Thanks to Ina Garten, one of my favorite Food Network people, for this recipe.  Her recipe calls for sour cream, which I did not have.  I substituted 3/4 cup of buttermilk and 1/3 cup softened butter.  I think it would have been fine to use 1 cup of buttermilk without the additional butter.

This cake can be eaten for dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, or for breakfast.  Enjoy!

Cinnamon Sugar Peach Cake

Courtesy of Ina Garten, foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup + 1/3 cup of softened butter
  • 1 cup + 1/2 cup sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/4 cup buttermilk
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1 large can of peaches, drained and rinsed
  • 1/2 cup pecans
Directions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Grease a 9-inch-square baking pan.
  2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the all the butter and 1 cup of the sugar for 3 to 5 minutes on medium-high speed, until light and fluffy. With the mixer on low, add the eggs, one at a time, then the buttermilk and vanilla, and mix until the batter is smooth.
  3. In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients to the batter and mix just until combined.
  4. In a small bowl, combine the remaining 1/2 cup sugar and the cinnamon.
  5. Spread half of the batter evenly in the pan. Top with half of the peaches, then sprinkle with two-thirds of the sugar mixture.
  6. Spread the remaining batter on top, arrange the remaining peaches on top and sprinkle with the remaining sugar mixture and the pecans.
  7. Bake the cake for 45 to 55 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Coconut Macaroon Pie

I found this cookbook in a box of books I’ve inherited from various people’s discarded books in the last year or so.  I can’t even remember now who I got this cookbook from.  Anyway, it caught my eye this week and I decided to find something in it to make.  I wanted to make something that I’d never seen or tried before, and that I had all the ingredients for already on hand.  I chose this crust-less, coconut macaroon pie.

This budget cookbook has some good tips on freezing cookies and cakes.  There are also some great recipes for meals that use some very budget friendly ingredients.  I cannot wait to try them!

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Here is the recipe from the cookbook.  I omitted the dates and added about 1/2 cup sweetened shredded coconut to the pie.  I topped the cooled pie with whipped cream, toasted coconut and almonds.

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This is a rich and sweet pie.  I loved the flavor and texture.  The coconut makes the pie more like a macaroon in flavor.  The texture is already very macaroon-like with a crunchy exterior and almost gooey interior.  This a great use for your broken saltine crackers, leftover nuts and egg whites.

Any nut would work.  I think pecans would be great, but would probably use vanilla extract instead of almond.  I saw another recipe similar to this one on allrecipes.com that uses this pie as a crust and then tops the pie with a fruit filling.  Here is the recipe if you are interested.