Popil's Rice Pudding

Nadya is a huge fan of rice pudding and to be honest I don't know if I ever had it before. I vaguely remember my mother liking my grandfather's rice pudding but I was probably too stubborn to try it. Now I'm really wishing I had as I find myself really liking the sweet flavor of rice pudding.

Nadya had a family recipe that I'd try out. After having her mother walk me through the steps over the phone I found it really is an easy process once you know what you're doing.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup of rice
1 cup of water
6 cups of milk
3 eggs
3/4 cup of sugar
1 tablespoon of vanilla
cinnamon

In a medium sauce pan add rice and water. Cook until water is absorbed. Add milk while stirring. Let cook until rice is soft, about 25 mins. In a separate bowl beat eggs and sugar. Add to pot and let cook another 1-2 mins. Add vanilla. Transfer to a dish sprinkle with cinnamon. Let sit at room temperature and cool in refrigerator. Enjoy!

Lasagna Roll Ups

This is a great alternative to traditional lasagna and in my opinion somewhat easier. I usually make a sauce in the morning and let it simmer all day to get great flavor from my turkey meatballs but I didn't have a lot of time on my hands today so I made this easy tomato sauce (the same sauce from my eggplant parm post). This meal is vegetarian friendly.

Super Easy Tomato Sauce:
2 28 ounce cans of whole, peeled tomatoes
2 tablespoons of high quality extra virgin olive oil
salt & pepper

Puree tomatoes and transfer to a medium size pot. Stir in olive oil and let simmer for 30 mins. Add salt and pepper to taste. I also added in some red pepper flakes for a little spice.

Lasagna Filling:
1/2 cup of Parmesan cheese, finely grated
15 ounce container of ricotta cheese
2 cups of mozzarella cheese, plus some for the top
2 eggs, lightly beaten
1, 10 ounce box frozen spinach, thawed and drained
salt & pepper

Combine all ingredients. Roll into cooked lasagna noodles. Place rolled noodles seam side down in a 9 x 13 baking dish. Cover with 1 cup of tomato sauce and sprinkle with mozzarella cheese. Bake covered for 30 mins and uncovered for an additional 10 mins. Serve with remaining sauce.

Cinnamon Nut Buns

Aunt Terri also known as Aunt "T" is the QUEEN of cinnamon buns. My sister and cousin, Timmy (her son), beg her every Christmas to make them. She'll spend countless hours making her cinnamon buns. She wakes up all throughout the night to knead the dough and let it rise...needless to say she's nuts BUT she does make an awesome cinnamon bun. So whenever I think about making cinnamon buns I think of the long process that Aunt "T" goes through and I never think I can top hers. So instead of making the recipe that she makes I decided to make these cinnamon nut buns. I'm not really sure why they're called cinnamon buns because the whole recipe only has 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon in it. So I'll have to think of another name for them. Maybe sticky buns? or The non cinnamon bun? I don't know it will come to me.

This recipe really interested me because it's a really clever spin on the traditional cinnamon bun. The filling is a combination of dark brown sugar, walnuts (or pecans), semi sweet chocolate chips, & cinnamon all mixed together in the food processor. The glaze is also different from traditional cinnamon buns. It's dark brown sugar & butter!

I was very satisfied by the way these turned out. It was a lengthy process but well worth it.

Of course this clever recipe came from Martha. You can find the recipe here

Pizza! Pizza!

We tend to turn to Pizza a lot during the week for a quick meal. I find it hard to find a good pizza sauce at the store so I thought I'd try to make one. It's much easier than I thought. Although I don't have a food mill so the sauce was a little bit chunkier than I prefer but the flavor was very good.

Ingredients:
2 28oz cans of whole peeled tomatoes
2 tablespoons of olive oil
salt, pepper, oregano, red pepper flakes

In a medium skillet heat olive oil. Crush tomatoes using a wooden spoon (your clean hands work just as well) add salt, pepper, oregano, & red pepper flakes to your liking. I added more red pepper flakes since I like a little spice in my sauce. You can omit them if you're not a fan of heat. Cook until thick, about 30-4o mins. Let cool and pass through a food mill unless you're in the mood for a chunky sauce.

A Soupy Kind of Day: Cream of Broccolli

Another great day for soup. I especially love winter cooking. This was a very simple soup to make and a bit healthier than the broccoli cheddar soup I usually make. You can substitute cauliflower, mushrooms, or asparagus. I'm sure I'll be making it with asparagus in the near future.

The recipe came from Martha's Cooking School Cookbook but can also be found here

Cauliflower and Roasted Garlic Soup

This is by far one of my favorite soups! I made it a while ago and have been meaning to do a post about it but just got to it now.

You need to try this soup!!! I know many people don't like garlic but roasted garlic has such a sweet flavor and adds great taste to this soup.

This is a time consuming recipe and does make A LOT of soup but I promise you'll be so happy you made it! YUM! It's great if you're having a get together and need to serve a lot of people or if you're looking for a meal that provides for a couple days.

You can find the recipe here

Turkey & Bean Chili

As you know or can probably tell from this blog, I'm a fan of chili. I usually turn to Rachael Ray for chili recipes but wanted to try this recipe out for a while. There are a lot of flavors that I was surprised for a chili recipe (i.e., cocoa powder) but I was very pleased with the hearty meal.

The chili simmers for a while allowing the cocoa powder and spices to really give the meat flavor. I was pleased with this recipe and will turn to it in the future. The only thing I did differently from the recipe is substituting the bacon for turkey bacon and the pinto beans for black beans.

You can find the recipe here