Party Planning + Black and White Baby Shower Cupcakes

A few months ago, I hosted my sister's baby shower. Alexander (born in March) is the first grandchild in both my family and her husband's family. Naturally, we had to have a party. Since I love cooking, I offered to make the food for lunch rather than have it catered.

Cooking and entertaining can be stressful, but planning makes all the difference. Here are some tips to help you get everything done:

1. No Surprises: The most important thing to do is make something (a) that you already know how to make and (b) that you won't have to spend a ton of time putting together on the day of the party. Never made a bleu cheese souffle? Your sister's baby shower is not the time to try it. Ideally, you want to pick a recipe that you've tested and that's been well-received. The meal doesn't have to be fancy; it just has to taste good. Particularly for baby showers, people get hung up on making food that's delicate and intricate like fancy hors d'oeuvres. I understand why: they look impressive. But you're creating WAY more work for yourself if the whole menu is like that. Fancy hors d'oeuvres are labor and time-intensive. Plus, people like real food. Have you ever actually felt full from eating finger sandwiches? Unlikely. People will be happy with something tasty, so go with what you know and what works.

2. Plan ahead: For my sister's baby shower, I had a four-page printed list of everything I would need, including things like cutlery and napkins. It was sorted by menu item (i.e., main dish, salad, dessert). I finalized the list weeks in advance. When I went to the store to do the shopping, I walked around with the list and a pen, crossing things off and making notes. You can't expect yourself to just remember and think of everything a day or two before. Start your list early, revise it, add to it slowly, and remember to take it with you to the store!

3. Prep ahead: One of the reasons I picked the menu I picked for my sister's shower was because I knew there were lots of things I could do in advance. I made lasagna (one meat, one veggie). The whole day before the shower, I spent cooking and doing prep work. For example, I browned the ground beef, seasoned the ricotta cheese, and sliced the mozzarella. I used plastic food storage containers with screw-top lids (for safe transport) to hold all the prepped ingredients. The rule goes like this: The less you have to do on party day, the better! You want to enjoy the party you're hosting, not spend the whole day stuck in the kitchen. Anything you can prep ahead of time, do it!

4. Get help: Nobody says that you have to do absolutely everything yourself. A friend of mine who was coming to the shower called me up and asked if she could bring something. I said, sure, how about an appetizer? That's one less thing I have to do. Another friend asked how she could help the day of. I asked her to put one of the salads together. If someone offers to help you, take them up on it. Also, if you're making the main dish, why not get a store-bought dessert or appetizer? There's no rule that says you can't let people help you or take some help from the store. Party planning can be stressful, there's no need to make it harder for yourself than it has to be.

Enough advice! How about some cupcakes? I followed this recipe, but changed a few things.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups flour
1 cup raw sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup prepared coffee (just use some leftover from that morning)
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup olive oil
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla
Nutella (frosting)
White chocolate chips (decoration)

Directions: Heat the oven to 350. Line your muffin tin with cupcake liner or spray with cooking spray.

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large bowl. Make a well in the center and add all the wet ingredients to it. Blend until smooth. Spoon the batter into the muffin tin and bake for 18-20 minutes.

When the cupcakes are cooled completely, spread Nutella on top as frosting (NOTE: don't refrigerate these. The Nutella will harden). Sprinkle with white chocolate chips. If you're making these for a party, make them the day before!

Enjoy your party!

Deconstructed Boudin Risotto with Spinach

I've mentioned before that we miss Cajun food. One of the things we miss most is boudin (pronounced boo-dan) balls. Take boudin sausage, roll it in bread crumbs, and deep fry it. Simply amazing. They are a staple at many Cajun restaurants and Louisiana cocktail parties.

I wouldn't dare disrespect the myriad Cajun cooks out there by attempting to make my own, but I thought a risotto dish that was at least reminiscent of them would be acceptable.

Notes: The Cajun version of boudin includes rice mixed with the pork, hence the risotto. I used brown rice, which is not traditional, but I couldn't find Arborio rice in the store that day. I liked the brown rice; it has a chewier texture.

Normal boudin balls would never contain spinach, but--come on--you need SOMEthing healthy in this dish. I figured chopping it up would hide it a little better.

If I had thought about it, I would have toasted up some bread crumbs and sprinkled them on top.

Risotto isn't hard, but it does take patience and observation. Just be sure to keep and eye on it.

Cajun food is, of course, on the hotter side, but you can adjust the hot sauce to your taste.

Ingredients:
1 pound ground sweet/mild Italian sausage
1 1/2 cup short grained rice (Arborio, white, or brown)
1 small bunch parsley
2-3 cups of baby spinach
4-5 cloves garlic
4-6 cups of stock or water
Hot sauce
Salt
Pepper

Directions: Heat a large skillet on medium-high. Pour the stock in a sauce pan and heat on medium-low. Mince the garlic.

When the skillet is hot, add the sausage and brown until just done. Transfer to a plate lined with a paper towel and set aside.

Add the garlic to the skillet cook for just a minute. Add the rice and toast with the garlic for another minute. Add four ladles of stock. Stir occasionally. When the rice starts to look dry and the stock is almost fully absorbed, add two more ladles of stock. Continue this process until the rice is almost cooked (approximately 45 minutes). Season with salt and pepper once the first round of stock is absorbed.

While the rice is cooking, chop the spinach and parsley. When the rice is nearly done, add the spinach, parsley, and sausage to the skillet. Douse it with as much hot sauce as you like. Heat everything together. Enjoy!

Snack Dinner with Homemade Salsa and Guacamole

Scott and I have developed a new fun and easy weeknight meal: we call it snack dinner.

Snack dinner came about because of a long-standing guilty pleasure of mine. Occasionally when we go out to a pub, I order nachos as my meal. I love nachos, but I never order them as an appetizer because I can't ever finish them and my main dish. So, I eat them as my main dish.

When I make soups and stews, I sometimes end up with more carrots or celery than I can use. We had some extra one night and I was thinking about a way to use them up. Scott suggested we make some guacamole and dip the leftover veggies in it. And snack dinner was born.

Snack dinner has many advantages, not the least of which is its flexibility. Here is basically all you need:
1. Some grouping of cut raw veggies (carrots, celery, green beans, zucchini, bell peppers, broccoli)
2. Some form of dip (salsa, guacamole, hummus, bean dip)
3. Some kind of chips or crackers (baked pita chips, tortilla chips, wheat crackers, regular ol' potato chips)
4. Some kind of fruit (orange slices, apple slices, grapes, a mixed fruit bowl)

Viola! Snack dinner. It's fun, it requires minimal preparation, it's pretty healthy (veggies, fruit, small portions), and it helps you to accommodate all the eaters in your house because it's so customizable.

Best of all you can eat it from the comfort of your couch!

Notes: Both my guacamole and salsa are pepper-free because Scott doesn't like peppers. So I get the heat from hot sauce. You can add whatever peppers you like.

Snack dinner can easily be made in advance. If you're using carrots and celery for another dish earlier in the week, go ahead and cut up the rest for snack dinner later. I think the salsa is better if you let it sit in the fridge for a couple of days so the flavors have time to meld.

For snack dinner, you can use as much store-bought stuff as you want to make things easier.

Homemade Guacamole Ingredients:
2 ripe avocados
2 limes
1 small bunch of cilantro
Hot sauce
Salt
Pepper

Directions: Slice the avocados open and remove the pit. Scoop the innards into a bowl and mash with a fork. Mince the cilantro and add it to the avocado. Cut the limes in half and squeeze the juice over the mixture. Season to taste with salt, pepper, and hot sauce. Stir to combine.

Homemade Salsa Ingredients:
4 roma tomatoes
1 small bunch of cilantro
1/2 a shallot
2-3 garlic cloves
Salt
Hot sauce

Directions: Cut the tomatoes and the shallot into a small dice. Mince the garlic and cilantro. Mix together. If you have the time, let this mixture sit for 24 hours in the fridge. Before you serve, add in salt and hot sauce to taste.

Enjoy a snacking good time!

Cheese-less Broccoli and Mushroom Rice Casserole

Although I am an ardent cheese lover, there are some things with cheese that don't even appeal to me. One of those things is a cheese-heavy casserole. Don't get me wrong: I could eat most of a pan of baked mac 'n cheese by myself if you let me. But there's something about the combination of mixed vegetables and cheese that doesn't sound appealing.

I was thinking about casseroles earlier this week and I decided to make one without cheese. Chicken pot pie was my inspiration: it has a nice creamy texture without any cheese. So I made a pot pie base and combined it with the traditional ingredients for broccoli and rice casserole. Viola! Cheese-less perfection.

Notes: This dish is flexible: add in whatever combination of veggies and ingredients you like. You could easily use brown rice if you prefer it or add some cooked chicken for a meaty version. You could switch out the broccoli for peas or zucchini. Casseroles are all about using what you have.

Feel free to take some help from the store on a busy weeknight. Use pre-sliced mushrooms and steam-in-the-microwave frozen broccoli to minimize your chopping and sauteeing time.

I wrote the recipe so that you make the bechamel in a separate sauce pan, but you can just make it in the same skillet that you cook your veggies in if you want to save dishes. Just push the veggies to the edges of the skillet so that you have an empty circle in the middle for the sauce.

This is a great way to use up leftover rice, but if you don't have any, no worries. Just make 4 servings of minute rice while you're prepping your other ingredients. It only takes 5 minutes!

Ingredients:
2 broccoli crowns
1/2 a shallot or small onion
2-3 garlic cloves
1 pint of fresh mushrooms (I used shitake, but use whatever you like)
4 cups of cooked rice
1/3 cup of butter (about 6 tablespoons) plus 2 tablespoons
1/3 cup of all purpose flour
1 can of chicken, veggie, mushroom, or beef stock
3/4 cup of milk
2 tablespoons of soy sauce or worcestershire sauce
Salt
Pepper

Directions: Heat the oven to 350.

Cut the broccoli into small florets and slice the mushrooms. Dice the shallot (or onion) and mince the garlic.

Using a large skillet, melt 2 tablespoons of butter on medium-high and sautee the garlic, onion, and mushroom for about a minute. Add in the broccoli and sautee until just fork tender. Season the veggies with salt and pepper.

In a small sauce pan (see note), melt the rest of the butter on medium-high. Whisk in the flour until a smooth paste forms. Whisk in the stock and then whisk in the milk. Add the soy sauce or worcestershire sauce. Let the sauce thicken (about 5 minutes).

Add the cooked rice and sauce to the skillet of veggies. Stir to combine. Add everything to a buttered baking dish and bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes until bubbly and just a little dry on top. Serve as is or with a sprinkle of parmesan if you just have to have some cheese! Enjoy!

Q.E.D.: Vegetable Curry with Couscous

Spring produce is appearing in our local grocery store, which makes me so happy. Spring and summer are the best seasons for cooking because you have such an amazing selection of produce to choose from. It might also be the case that because winter was so hard this year, any sign of spring brings me joy!

Notes: I used to make vegetable curry a lot and for some reason it's fallen out of the rotation. I'm not really sure why.

This one is on the cusp of Q.E.D. because it's right at 30 minutes. But you can do it!

I bought a box of couscous that was on sale a few weeks ago. When I planned to make curry, I thought: why not use couscous instead of rice? Better yet, since couscous absorbs liquid so easily, this dish can become a one-pot wonder.

Ingredients:
1 box of couscous
1/2 a medium-sized zucchini
1 small broccoli crown
1 small yam or sweet potato, peeled
3 tablespoons curry powder
1 13-15 oz. can of unsweetened coconut milk
2-3 garlic cloves
1 inch piece of fresh ginger
1 small bunch of fresh basil
Salt
3 tablespoons butter or coconut oil

Directions:

Dice the zucchini and the yam, and cut the broccoli into florets. Mince the garlic and ginger and slice the basil.

Heat the butter or oil on medium-high until it melts. Add the basil, garlic, ginger, salt, and curry powder and stir until fragrant. Add in the yam and cook for about a minute. Add in the coconut milk. Let the mixture cook for about 3 minutes.

Add in the broccoli florets and cook for about 5 more minutes. Then add the zucchini and cook for about 3 more minutes.

Bring the mixture to a boil and stir in the couscous. Cover, remove from heat, and let stand for 5 minutes. When 5 minutes is up, stir to make sure the couscous is cooked. If it's not, let it sit for another 2 minutes. Enjoy!

Zucchini Pesto Pizza

Well, spring is starting to show up here in Philly, so it's time for me to come out of hibernation!

Some friends of ours were in town last weekend, so I decided to do some cooking. Pizza makes for great casual entertaining food, so I made two: one traditional pepperoni (Scott's favorite) and a vegetarian option. It was delicious, if I do say so myself!

Notes: I neglected to take a photo of this one since we had guests!

The crust for the zucchini pizza was a mostly whole wheat crust because I happened to have some white/wheat flour to use up. I don't really prefer it for pizza crust because I think it comes out too dry, but the flavor paired nicely with the homemade pesto.

I used havarti instead of the traditional mozzarella for this pizza. Havarti melts beautifully and you don't get the excess liquid that you can occasionally get with fresh mozzarella.

If you have a mandolin, you can make quick work of the zucchini. I have one, but mine is such a pain to clean and store, I just used a knife.

You can slice the zucchini and make the pesto ahead of time if you're using this recipe to entertain.

Ingredients:
1 ball of homemade pizza dough
Some homemade pesto
1/2 a medium-sized zucchini
Approximately 5 oz of havarti cheese

Directions: Position the oven racks in the top third and bottom third of the oven. Heat the oven to 500. While you're waiting for the oven to heat, shred the cheese and thinly slice the zucchini.

Roll out your pizza dough to your desired size and shape (I used a regular round pizza pan).

Spread the pesto on the pizza (reserve some for garnish). Cover the pizza evenly with a layer of cheese. Lay the zucchini slices on top of the pizza.

Bake the pizza on the bottom rack for 8-9 minutes and then move the pizza to the top rack for 8-9 more minutes until the cheese is bubbly and starting to brown just slightly. Top the pizza with the reserved pesto. Slice and enjoy!

Slow Cooker Ham and Bean Soup with Kale

Well, the snow just keeps piling up and I am OVER IT. I'm officially going on record as anti-snow. It may be pretty when it's falling, but once you've dealt with it for weeks on end, it loses its charm.

Since winter won't quit, neither will my winter comfort recipes. It was time to break out the slow cooker again for some soup.

Notes: The slow cooker is a winner again! This soup is hearty and exactly what you need on a cold winter night.

I used canned beans, but you could used dried beans as long as you soak them the night before. You can add those to the slow cooker with the other ingredients. Canned beans will fall apart if you cook them for 8 hours.

On ham hocks: you'll find them in the meat section of grocery store with the large hams and ham steaks. I would have liked a smoked one, but I couldn't find one. The one I got was a "country" ham hock, so it was salted. If you get one of these, DON'T add more salt to the soup. I used 1 tablespoon of cajun seasoning and my soup was a bit on the salty side. I'd err on the side of caution and use your favorite salt-free seasoning. A nice mix of cumin, paprika, and garlic powder would be a good. Use some red pepper flakes if you want some spice. You can always add salt if you need to.

Ingredients:
2 15 oz. cans of cranberry beans or pinto beans
1 ham hock
5-6 celery stalks
5-6 carrots
3-4 cups of unsalted chicken stock
1 onion
1 small bunch of kale (I used Lacinato)
Seasonings of choice (easy on the salt, see note)

Directions:

Peel and slice the carrots. Slice the celery. Dice the onion. Put the onion in the bottom of the slow cooker and place the ham hock on top of them. Add in carrots, celery, and stock. Season to taste. Set the slow cooker for 8-10 hours on low.

When there is an hour left of cooking time, rinse and drain the beans and add them to the slow cooker. Remove the bones from the ham hock and break up the pieces of meat, discarding the fat and skin. Once the time is up, thinly slice the kale and stir it in. Let sit for 5 minutes and serve.

The slow cooker: the number one chill killer! Enjoy!