Pinterest.

Oh hey, look!  A blog!  Hmmm...I should probably cross out "daily" from my header, huh?

Pinterest.  My favorite thing to use it for is food pictures, of course, which I pin to a board with the claims that I will make these things.  Amazingly, I did make a few pinned recipes, so I thought I'd share them all in one spot.

Bean and Kale Soup

This was really good!  I could eat this every day.

Here's the pinned recipe: Tuscan Style Bean and Kale Soup

I didn't have fresh tomatoes, so I used a can of tomatoes w/ green chiles (Rotel), which gave a Mexican flair to the Italian-ish dish.  I also used chicken stock instead of vegetable.

Yummy for the Tummy.

Sweet Potato Skewers with Cilantro Sauce

This recipe made me realize that I do NOT have the patience it takes to make one's own mayonnaise.  I am a mustard girl, so I don't usually keep mayo or miracle whip or anything of the sort in my fridge, so when this recipe for a jalapeño/cilantro aioli caught my eye, I decided it must be done with homemade mayonnaise.  I was so almost there, but after dripping 90% of the oil into the egg mixture drop by drop, I got a little impatient and rushed it....and promptly ruined it.  Ooooh colloids, why must you be so difficult?  So, after momentarily losing my will to cook (and a few choice cuss words), I decided to wing it and create a yogurt sauce instead.  It was good, but thinner than I would have liked.

Here's the recipe I pinned: Roasted Sweet Potato Skewers with Jalapeño-Cilantro Aioli

Mac & Cheese-style Cauliflower

Cauliflower = Potentially Boring OR a way to make me eat too much ranch dressing.

Homestyle Mac and Cheese Style Cauliflower = solution to the above.  

Cause eating too much cheese is so much better than ranch dressing.

I used a local Chipotle Cheddar Cheese for this.  It really was pretty good, but yes, it is still Cauliflower.  But it's Cauliflower covered with CHEESE.

Here's the original: Mac & Cheese Style Cauliflower

Snack Bars.

Homemade Snack Bars

Since Mark doesn't always feel like eating breakfast at 5 something in the morning before work, he likes to stick a Fiber One bar in his pocket so that he doesn't totally fizzle out before getting to eat lunch.  So after buying a couple of boxes of them at Sam's the other day (we now have 40something bars in our cabinet), I started to wonder if it would be easy to make something like them at home.  Without all of those weird additives and such.

I figured if I found a good recipe for the stuff that makes it all stick together, then we already had some decent ingredients in our kitchen that would make for a pretty good snack bar.

I used this Homemade Granola Bar recipe for reference.

I think you could pretty much use whatever crunchy or chewy nutty/fruity/cereal-ish goodness tickles your fancy; just make the total amt. of dry ingredients add up to about 4.5 - 5 cups

Here's what I used in mine:

• Organic Cheerio-like cereal (This particular brand I had bought tasted like cardboard, so I thought this would be a perfect way to get rid of it!)
• Chopped Pecans
• Pumpkin Seeds
• Oatmeal
• I added 1/2 cup of Flax Seed after toasting

Pecans, Pumpkin Seeds, Oatmeal, Cereal, Flax Seed

And for the "glue that holds it all together" I followed the recipe directions except....

• I left out the vanilla extract
• I used 1/3 cup honey and 1/3 cup peanut butter
• I used half the amt. of Brown sugar  (it was already very sweet!)

And then, because my original idea was to make them Peanut Butter and Chocolate Flavored, I dipped the bottoms in a thin layer of melted chocolate

Mark likes 'em!  These were so simple, and I think it will be fun to make various flavors with whatever kinds of ingredients we like!

Crispy Polenta and Mushrooms.

Crispy Polenta with Mushroom Ragout

Mark = greatness.

Yesterday, I had planned for us to have crispy polenta with sautéed mushrooms on top as part of a meatless meal (Fridays in Lent, baby).  I was going to be at work until 6pm, so I asked Mark if he'd be willing to make the Polenta so it was set and ready for the skillet when I got home.  He was a bit nervous about it, but I assured him it was as easy as making grits and to just look up a recipe online and he'd be fine.

I expected to come home to need to fry the polenta pieces and sauté the mushrooms...and in a hurry too, because we were going to the Opera at 7:30.

I came home to this:

Appetizer Plate

And this:

Salad with Dates, Grapefruit, Pine nuts, and homemade Red Wine Vinaigrette

And Mark, upon looking up a recipe to see how to make the polenta, saw that it was paired with a yummy sounding Mushroom Ragout, and realized we actually had everything for it in the kitchen, and so I actually came home to him dredging the polenta pieces, ready to fry them himself.

Polenta ready for the skillet

And the Mushroom Ragout he made....fantastic.  It rivaled the crispy polenta with shiitakes made at our favorite Italian place in Little Rock, AR: Vesuvio Bistro.

10 million points for Mark.

Crispy Polenta with Mushroom Ragout
(Mark used milk instead of cream in the sauce.  And you could use vegetable stock instead of chicken to make it totally vegetarian.  And you can also grill polenta instead of frying!)

Cucumber Sandwiches.

Pitas with Cucumber, Hummus, Honey, Salt and Pepper

 I saw a little article in our local paper that had a suggestion for these sandwiches, and for some reason, even though I'm not a major fan of cucumbers, and I thought the combination of hummus and honey sounded weird, I decided to make them.  Served alongside Carrot Ginger Soup, they ranked in Mark's "Top 5" meals.  They are just refreshing...and yummy.

So now, months later, I had a cucumber in fridge, we needed lunch-y type food, and the kitchen was already a complete disaster, so why not make some pitas and hummus?

Cucumber Hummus Pita Sandwiches

• Sliced Cucumber
• Hummus
• Honey
• Salt and Pepper
• Pita Bread

Hummus

I think I use a different recipe every time I make it.  Here's a very basic one with which to start, but I would definitely say this is one of those things that requires you to "taste and adjust."  You can also mix in Cumin (I usually do), or sprinkle Paprika on top when you serve it for dipping.

Pita Bread

Pitas

I've used This Pita Recipe twice, and was perfectly happy, but today I went with the Joy of Cooking recipe.  Most Pita recipes I've seen are very similar ingredient-wise, so it's really just about the method of the actual cooking part.  Here's a great post on one of my favorite food blogs: Smitten Kitchen.  She pretty much explains the method outlined in the Joy of Cooking, so bonus...I don't have to type it out for you!  I also think she really captures my feelings about making Pitas in her post.  While I mostly had success,  I did have a few end up as flatbread.  I admit, though...I was lazy and didn't do the water spritzing.  ...Perhaps that is the key!

Blueberry Pancakes.

Blueberry Pancakes

I had a little 1/2 pint of fresh blueberries in my fridge just begging to be made into pancakes this morning.  I was determined to make them from scratch, but before pulling out my copy of "Joy of Cooking," I perused a couple of my favorite food blogs to see what they said about pancakes.  I was about to use the recipe from Smitten Kitchen (which was a Martha Stewart one), but when I glanced at the comments on the post, I was intrigued by someone's mention of a pancake recipe that used cornmeal.  I decided to go for it and we were not disappointed.  

So good!  Great texture, not too sweet, fluffy...yum.   I served them with a dollop of plain yogurt and maple syrup.

Also, I halved the recipe and got about 12 or 14 pancakes (4").

Cranberry Cornmeal Pancakes  (Or Blueberry!)

Sprinkle the Blueberries on the Batter

Time to Flip!

Black Bean Enchiladas.

Black Bean Enchiladas with Sweet Potato Sauce

For some reason, black beans, blue cheese, and sweet potatoes make an excellent combination.

For these bad boys:

1. Add a thin layer of the sauce to the bottom of a Pyrex
2. Roll up the black bean mixture with a few blue cheese crumbles in flour tortillas and add them on top of the sauce

3. Add a layer of the sauce on top
4. Crumble a little bit more Blue Cheese on top (a little goes a long way)

5. Bake at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until all is heated through

Filling

• Black Beans (I used two cans; drained one)
• Rotel (1 can)
• 1/4 - 1/2 Onion, chopped
• 3 - 4 cloves Garlic, chopped

1. Saute Onion and Garlic until tender in a saucepan
2. Add Black Beans and Rotel to saucepan and heat to let flavors combine

Sweet Potato Sauce

• Sweet Potatoes, peeled and cubed
• Chili Powder
• Cayenne Pepper
• Salt
• Butter
• Dairy (Milk, Cream, or Yogurt)
• Water (for thinning)

1. Cook Sweet Potatoes until tender (I boiled and drained mine, but I bet roasted would rock)
2. Puree the potatoes in a food processor, or use an immersion blender (or just mash up really well with a fork)
3. Season with Chili Powder, Cayenne Pepper, Salt (just keep tasting!)
4. Add a little Butter (a few Tablespoons)
5. Add some dairy to begin to thin it while adding a little richness
6. Thin it the rest of the way down with water (at least as thin as applesauce)

Flour Tortillas

• 2 cups Flour
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 1/4 cup Oil
• 2/3 cup Warm Water

1. Mix all the ingredients into a soft dough
2. Divide into 15 - 20 small balls of dough
3. Roll very thin (as thin as you can), then peel off and put in hot, dry skillet
4. Heat on each side until golden brown spots appear

Tomato Soup.

Tomato Soup

• Onion (I used about 1/4 of a medium sized red onion)
• Garlic (I was always taught at least 1 clove per person)
• Grape Tomatoes (About 1/2 pint)
• Salt and Pepper
• Chicken or Vegetable Broth (1 cup)
• Milk (3/4 cup)
• Butter (a couple of Tablespoons)
• Sugar (a pinch, only if needed)

1. Saute the onion and garlic until in butter or olive oil until the onions begin to get translucent 
2. Add the Grape tomatoes whole
3. Continue to heat until the tomatoes burst and wither (if you get impatient you can help them along with a little smashing)
4. Add salt and pepper
5. Add the chicken stock, and then blend with an immersion blender
6. Taste it - adjust the salt and pepper; if needed add a pinch of sugar
7. Stir in the milk (or cream!)
8. If it tastes a little flat, add a teeny bit of butter...it works wonders

Grilled Chipotle Cheddar Sandwiches

I served it with Grilled Cheese, but to spice things up, I spread on a thin layer of Chipotle yumminess.
I just blended the contents of a can of Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce and added it inside with thick chunks of local cheddar.

Twice Baked.

Twice-Baked Chipotle Sweet Potatoes

Because of some Jerky and Chili Making we have done lately, Chipotle Peppers in Adobo Sauce has become a pantry staple for us.  This is a good thing, because when we got our produce from naturalfarms this past week, one of the recipes that came with it was for Twice-Baked Chipotle Sweet Potatoes.

I thought this would make a great addition to our Valentine's Day Brie Burgers.  Oh yeah...it was.

I even forgot to add the chopped onion to the potato/pepper mixture.  But it didn't matter.  They were SO good.  I highly recommend.

Twice-Baked Chipotle Sweet Potatoes

Eggplant.

Eggplant Parmesan

Yum.  Eggplant Parmesan (Sort of).

I cut my eggplant into 3/4" slices and salted them for about 30 minutes to remove the excess water.  After brushing off the salt and giving them a good squeeze (that part was therapeutic, somehow), I dredged the slices in flour, then egg, then grated parmesan (actually it was Romano), and then flour (with salt and pepper).  Then pan fried them in olive oil until golden brown.  We served it on fresh pasta with a simple tomato sauce and topped it with more parmesan (I mean Romano.)