Linguine with Asparagus and Egg

I can't tell you how many times I have attempted to poach an egg and ended up basically making egg soup. Defeated, I would watch as the egg would burst into a thousand little feathery pieces, swirling around in a murky cloud before sinking down into the depths of the pan. I was a poor cook but a fantastic egg murderer. But when I came across this recipe and saw that it called for a poached egg, I knew I had to give it another try. The recipe sounded too good to pass up. So I rolled up my sleeves, put on my big-girl apron, and set to work on attempting once again to make a poached egg.

Well, I don't know if the stars just so happened to align perfectly that night, but for the first time ever I successfully poached, not just one, but three eggs! And boy oh boy was I glad that I did. The poached egg really brought this dish together. Unlike a lot of pasta dishes with heavy sauces, this sauce is surprisingly light and creamy, comprised primarily of the egg yolk itself. So if you're like me and enjoy a good pasta dish and love the buttery creamy taste of eggs, then you'll really get a kick out of this recipe.

Linguine with Asparagus and Egg

Ingredients:
3/4 lb linguine or fettuccine
1 large bunch thin asparagus, ends trimmed, halved lengthwise
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup grated Parmesan, plus more for serving
4 large eggs
salt and pepper
garlic salt

In a large pot of boiling salted water, cook pasta according to package instructions, adding the asparagus in the last minute of cooking. Reserve 1 cup of the leftover pasta water, drain pasta and asparagus and return to pot along with butter and Parmesan. Toss until butter is melted, adding enough pasta water to create a thing sauce that coats pasta.

While pasta is cooking, in a large straight-sided skillet, heat 2 inches water over medium heat until a few bubbles rise to the top. Crack each egg into a small bowl and gently pour into skillet. Cook until whites are set and yolks are runny, 4 minutes. With a slotted spoon, transfer eggs to parchment-lined baking sheet.

To serve, divide pasta among four bowls, top each serving with an egg, and season to taste with salt, pepper, and garlic salt. Sprinkle with extra Parmesan if desired.

Just say "no" to egg murder!

Honey Avocado Ice Cream

You are going to hate me for coming up with this recipe. It is stupidly easy to make and you will soon realize that you can have rich and creamy homemade ice cream without even needing an ice cream maker. The worst part is, it only takes four ingredients, so basically you can make this dessert any time you want with hardly any effort. It has a smooth, thick texture that will win you over in one bite. And with the savory avocado twist mingling with the sweet taste of honey, you will find this dessert to be wonderfully unique and cruelly addicting.

You will want to eat it all the time.

You're welcome.

Honey Avocado Ice Cream

Ingredients:
1 3/4 cups cold heavy cream
2/3 cup honey
4 large egg yolks
1 large avocado


In a medium bowl, using an electric mixer, beat heavy cream to stiff peaks, then refrigerate.

In a small pot, bring honey to a boil over medium-high heat and cook 2 minutes.

In another medium bowl, using mixer, beat egg yolks and avocado until smooth. With mixer running, add hot honey in a slow steady stream. Beat on high until mixture has cooled to room temperature, about 5 minutes. With a rubber spatula, fold in whipped cream. Transfer mixture to a 5-by-10-inch loaf pan. Cover with plastic wrap. Freeze until set, 2-4 hours.

Beef Taco Skillet

At the end of a long and tiring day, who in the heck wants to make dinner? I sure don't. But I can't exactly afford to eat out every night for dinner either. Consequently, I love it when I can make a dinner that is not only delicious, but requires as little time possible to prepare.

Most evenings, as it nears my son's bedtime hour, my son does not like my attention being diverted away from him. Too often I find myself shuffling around the kitchen with a very opinionated little guy prancing around at my feet, unpacking my entire kitchen as I go. Needless to say, a quick dinner is the only thing that can keep my family fed without completely destroying my kitchen or my sanity.

Now for my commercial bit...

When it comes to a quick dinner, I find that Campbell's condensed soups often work wonders as a base for a meal. Cream of Chicken and Cream of Mushroom were my two all time favorites for making gravies, sauces, you name it. But now I have a new one to add to the group: tomato soup. Of course you don't have to use Campbell's brand soups. But I have found that, out of other condensed soup brands I have tried, it's one that I favor over others.

So yes, today's recipe was brought to you by Campbell's tomato soup. The original Campbell's recipe for this dish was alright, however, it was seriously lacking in flavor. It kind of tasted like a watered down version of sloppy joes or like Chef Boyardee which is...yuck...we don't even need to go there. But after a little alteration here and there, I was able to create a flavor packed dinner that was, above all else, super easy and quick to make. In fact, reading this post will probably take you longer than it will to make the dish. So I'm going to shut up now and let you go enjoy this quick delicious meal.

Beef Taco Skillet

Ingredients:
1/2 lb. ground beef
1 can (10 3/4 oz.) condensed tomato soup
1/2  cup chunky salsa
1/2 cup water
5 large flour tortillas cut into 1" pieces
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1-2 Tbs spicy taco seasoning (I actually used a spicy chipotle dip mix that worked great!)

Cook beef in skillet over medium-high heat until well browned, stirring often to separate meat. Pour off fat.

Stir in soup, salsa, water, taco seasoning, and tortillas in skillet and heat to a boil. Reduce heat to low. Cook 5 minutes. Stir. Top with cheese.

Vegan Lemon Bundt Cake

Sugar. My sweet, sweet, oh-so unhealthy but sinfully delicious friend. When I am stressed, you offer me a moist warm cookie to get lost in. When I feel moody and frumpy, there you are with rich chocolate kisses. When I have suffered a heart ache, you serve me up a pint of creamy cold ice cream. When my friends and family are over, you entertain their taste buds with dazzling cakes and pies. For every birthday, holiday, winning little league team, broken heart, romantic date, and countless other memorable times in our lives; sugar has been there.

For years, I must admit, chocolate was my go-to sweet treat. But as I have ran into my adult years, I find myself gravitating more and more towards desserts that feature lemon, lime, and other tart flavors as their main attraction. Key-lime pie, lemon meringue pie, lemon cookies, lemon drops, lime sorbet, and lemon cake. With the tangy, mouth-watering citrus to balance out the sweet sugar base of the dessert, it is a flavor that brings my taste buds to life.

The recipe I am posting today is one for vegan lemon bundt cake. When I first came across the recipe in the book "The Joy of Vegan Baking" I found that the cake seriously lacked enough lemon flavor and, because of it's use of maple syrup in the recipe, made it taste oddly of lemon pancakes. So I altered the recipe to my liking and the recipe below is what I came up with. I found it to be moist, dense, and yet surprisingly light in flavor. I hope you enjoy!

Lemon Sauce

Ingredients:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon cornstarch
1 cup boiling water
zest and juice from 2 lemons

In a large saucepan, stir together the sugar and cornstarch. Gradually stir in the boiling water, and simmer over low heat until thick, stirring occasionally. Stir in the lemon zest and juice, and remove from the heat. Serve warm or at room temperature over cake.

Vegan Lemon Bundt Cake

Ingredients:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
zest of 2 lemons
6 teaspoons Ener-G Egg replacer (equivalent of 4 eggs)
1/4 cup water
1/3 cup fresh lemon juice
3/4 cup lemon sauce*
1/2 cup canola (or vegetable) oil
1/2 cup nondairy milk
1 tablespoon lemon extract
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 recipe lemon sauce*

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil a Bundt pan.

In a large bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, making soda, salt, and lemon zest until well combined.

In a medium bowl mix the egg replacement powder with the water until frothy (about 2 minutes). Add the lemon juice, lemon sauce, canola (or vegetable) oil, milk, and lemon and vanilla extracts, and blend again for another minute.

Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and whisk until combined. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the cake is golden brown and pulls away from the edges of the pan. Let cool completely before unmolding. Serve with lemon sauce.

Holiday Rewind: Pumpkin Dip

This is the last post of the holiday rewind! I have to admit, this recipe was a Pintrest find. It was extremely easy to make (seriously, less than ten minutes), and it basically tasted like softened pumpkin pie ice cream. It's great for parties, and it's dangerously snackable. I made this as part of some pre-Thanksgiving dinner snacks and the family seemed to really enjoy it, especially my son. Since the holidays are packed with tons of sweet treats as it is, it was nice to have a lighter alternative dessert for my son. He still got a sweet treat without the major sugar crash so it was a win win for all of us!

Pumpkin Dip

Ingredients:
1 can of pumpkin (15oz)
1 box of instant vanilla pudding (5oz. Just the powder. Don't make the pudding!)
1 container of cool whip (16oz)
1/2 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
1/2 tablespoon cinnamon

Mix pumpkin, pudding mix, cool whip, and pumpkin pie spice together in a large bowl.

Chill for 2-3 hours before serving.

Sprinkle with cinnamon just before serving. Serve with fresh fruit slices, vanilla wafers, and/or ginger snaps.

Holiday Rewind: Pumpkin Pie

The last two recipes I have to post for the holiday rewind are both pumpkin based desserts: pumpkin pie and pumpkin dip. I know it seems a bit funny to do a post on pumpkin pie considering that nearly every can of pumpkin comes with a printed recipe for pie on its label. But the recipe I am posting today has a very minor but noteworthy alteration.

Every year I have followed the recipe for pumpkin pie off of the can label and I never had any complaints. The pie was good and tasted like classic store-bought pumpkin pie. But this year, since I was hosting Thanksgiving for the first time, I wanted to give my pie that little extra sparkle. So I went on a recipe hunt, looking through dozens of variations of pumpkin pie to find any tips that could give my classic recipe a small face-lift. I didn't want anything to be drastically different since I still wanted it to taste like a traditional pumpkin pie. But I was hoping to find a way to give the flavor more depth. Finally, I came across a suggestion for creating a more rich-tasting custard. And you know what the grand old secret for a better tasting pumpkin pie was? Adding more eggs. With the addition of a couple extra eggs, the pumpkin pie filling was noticeably more rich in flavor and it gave it a moist, thick custard texture that really did make a difference. I honestly wasn't expecting that the addition of a couple more eggs would make any difference at all. But it really did. And the best part was, it didn't change the overall classic taste or look of pumpkin pie.

This recipe yields two pies.

Pumpkin Pie

Ingredients:
two 9 inch pie crusts
6 eggs
1 can (29 oz) solid-packed pumpkin
2 cups packed brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoons ground cloves
1/2 teaspoons nutmeg
1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
2 cups evaporated milk

Beat eggs in a mixing bowl. Add pumpkin, sugar, cinnamon, salt, cloves, nutmeg, and ginger; beat just until smooth. Gradually stir in milk. Pour into pastry shells.

Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees; bake 40-45 minutes longer or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cool on wire racks.

Holiday Rewind: Sweet and Spicy Cranberry Sauce

Okay. Post two of the holiday rewind. Today's post is about cranberry sauce. It's sad that, more often than not, cranberry sauce is depicted by this can-shaped gelatinous blob that you cut into slices and mash onto a piece of turkey during Thanksgiving dinner. There is nothing saucy about it. So this year, I was set on making an actual cranberry SAUCE that could reinvent the expectation of this holiday classic.

The great twist to this sauce is that it has a bit of a spicy kick to it. But of course, if you're not a spicy fan, you can follow the recipe the same way but omit the cayenne pepper. I made both versions (spicy and non) for Thanksgiving and they were both a hit!

Since the holidays are long gone, please don't feel like you have to use this sauce in the traditional Thanksgiving way. You can also use this sauce as a glaze for chicken or a pork roast. Or you can use it like jelly in a sandwich. Really, the possibilities are endless! After the holiday, I mixed some of the cranberry sauce with some cream cheese and plain yogurt to make a sweet and tart crepe filling. It was delicious! So please, don't restrict this recipe to your holiday dinners only. Enjoy this recipe for the whole season.

Sweet and Spicy Cranberry Sauce

Ingredients:
3/4 pound fresh or frozen cranberries
1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
2 whole cloves
1/3 cup water
1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
2 tablespoons lemon juice
a dash of salt

In a medium saucepan, bring cranberries, brown sugar, cloves, and water to a rapid simmer over medium heat. Cook until berries burst and mixture becomes syrupy--about 10 minutes. Stir in cayenne pepper and lemon juice. Season with salt. Serve at room temperature.