Couscous Salad with Chickpeas, Cinnamon, and Dates

3 green onions
1/2 T. olive oil
1 14.5-ounce can chicken broth
1 t. cinnamon
3/4 t. pepper
1 10-ounce package couscous
3 T. white wine vinegar
3/4 T. olive oil
1 19-ounce can chickpeas, rinsed and rained
2 c. shredded carrots (3-4 carrots)
1 c. dates, pitted and roughly chopped
1/4 c. pine nuts, toasted (can toast by putting in a skillet over warm heat until browned

Finely dice white end of green onions. Slice green parts of green onions and reserve for salad. Gently cook (over low low heat) white onion pieces in olive oil for 5-7 minutes in a medium sauce pan. Stir in chicken broth, cinnamon, and 1/2 t. pepper. Bring to a boil; add couscous. Cover and remove pan from heat. Let stand 5 minutes.

Whisk together vinegar, 1/2 t. salt, and olive oil in a small bowl.

Fluff couscous with a fork; put in a large bowl. Toss in sliced green onions, chickpeas, carrots, dates, pine nuts, remaining ¼ t. salt, and remaining 1/4 t. pepper; add vinaigrette and toss again. Serve right away or chill.

NOTES: I know this sounds crazy, but I really like it! The surprise of how good green onions can be with cinnamon was shocking, but in a good way.

Cheesey Manicotti

INGREDIENTS
1 (8 ounce) package manicotti shells
4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
2 cups ricotta cheese
1 cup grated Parmesan cheese, divided
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1 egg
2 tablespoons dried basil
1 jar pasta sauce

DIRECTIONS
Bring a large pot of lightly salted water to a boil. Add manicotti and cook for 8 minutes or until al dente; drain.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
In a bowl, mix 3 cups mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, 1/2 cup Parmesan cheese, garlic, egg, and basil. Stuff cooked manicotti with the mixture.
Spread about 1/2 the pasta sauce over the bottom of the baking dish. Arrange stuffed manicotti in the dish, and cover with remaining sauce. Sprinkle with remaining mozzarella cheese.
Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven. Sprinkle with remaining Parmesan, and continue baking 10 minutes, until mozzarella is melted and bubbly.

Garlic Chicken Rolls

This is one of our recent family favorites. I am a HUGE fan of recipes with less than 10 ingredients where 90% of them are on hand with little to no planning ahead. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS
4-6 skinless, boneless chicken breasts
1 cup dried bread crumbs
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 container garlic cream cheese
salt
pepper
dried garlic seasoning


DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Pound chicken breasts until thinned out. (I do this in a Gallon Ziploc Bag, so there is little mess to clean up) Salt, pepper and sprinkle with dried garlic seasoning. In a shallow dish or bowl mix together bread crumbs and cheese. Dip one side of each breast into melted butter, then into crumb/cheese mixture. Place a few dollops of cream cheese in the middle of each chicken breast, on the side of the breast not dipped in the mixture. Roll up each breast
Place roll ups in a lightly greased 9x13 inch baking dish. Bake in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until cooked through.

Admin Update

In response to Megan's recent fabulous request, I added a new side bar widget. This one can tell you where the seven most recent comments were made. This way, as you daily (so what if I'm hopeful?!) check the blog, you can see if people have questions for something you posted, suggestions, or any other comments. Please let me know what you think about it. Should we show fewer comments? More comments? No comments at all? Is the location good or bad? Anything else that would make the Foodees more helpful to you? Thanks for all you do! You posters are great!

Carrot Cake

Cake:

2 c. flour
2 t. cinnamon
½ t. salt
2 t. soda
1 c. coconut
1 c. raisins
1 c. chopped pecans
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
¾ c. oil
¾ c. buttermilk
2 t. vanilla
2 c. grated carrots (from about 4 carrots)
1 c. crushed pineapple, well drained (8 oz. can works fine)

Icing:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature (can use low-fat)
½ c. butter, at room temperature
1 t. vanilla
2 ½ - 3 ½ c. powdered sugar
Cream the cream cheese and butter. Add sugar, vanilla, and enough milk to make right consistency.

Cake -
Beat eggs. Add sugar and oil. Add liquid and dry ingredients alternately. Add fruits last. Batter will be pretty wet. Bake at 350º in a greased 9x13 pan for 45 minutes. Frost.

p.s. i did some things differently and will post that under comments

Parmesan Corn

We took this to a potluck dinner tonight to rave reviews. And it's so easy. 8-10 side servings.

1/2 c whipping cream
2 T Parmesan
sprinkle of nutmeg
salt and pepper to taste
16 oz. fresh or frozen corn

Heat corn according to package directions. We wouldn't want to substitute canned corn (the texture is all wrong), but let us know. If you do, probably omit the salt.

In a small saucepan, boil cream for two minutes, stirring constantly. Stir in Parmesan (we recommend grated Parmesan, not the bland powdered stuff sold in a canister) and nutmeg. Pour over hot corn. Season to taste with salt and pepper. Serve hot.

For vegetarians, not vegans.

A Request

I remember a while back Emily suggesting we put helpful tips up about cooking, so I guess this goes along with that. I was wondering if after you make a recipe from the blog, you would be willing to comment on how it turned out for you. The reason I say this is because I will sometimes change a recipe slightly and those tips might be helpful for others. An example of this is when I made the yummy peanut butter cheese cake. I was 1/2 cup short of peanut butter, so I used the remaining 1/2 of the cream cheese (it calls for 12 oz.). It turned out fine, but I was debating if it would. I just think helpful variations might help people as well as give the original contributor feedback on their recipe.

Thanks!

Banana Nut Waffles

With the recent posting of the waffle recipe, I thought I would share this as an addendum. Last Friday, Chuck and I were stuck with a soon-to-be over-ripened banana. And given a recent trip to the Waffle House, we created our own version of banana nut waffles. We like the additions as they (1) tasted GREAT and (2) gave the waffles a little more substance and healthiness than plain waffles.

One batch regular waffle recipe (whatever you use...overnight waffles, Bisquick, something from scratch)
Two overly-ripe bananas (we used only one because that's all we had, but think two would be perfect)
1/4 c. chopped walnuts

Mash the banana. Add to waffle batter. (You may want to use slightly less milk than your recipe calls for.) Stir in chopped walnuts. Cook as normal.

Jen's Teriyaki Grilled Chicken

I love this grilled and charred! Yum, yum!

2-3 boneless chicken thighs or breasts

1/2 c white sugar

1/2 c brown sugar

1 c soy sauce

4 green onions chopped

1 large chunk fresh ginger, crushed

3 crushed garlic cloves

Marinate chicken for up to 6 hours..throw on BBQ (or George Foreman grill) until cooked through. Serve over rice with veggies.

Monkey Bread

1 pkg frozen roll dough (18-20)
1 (4 oz) pkg cook n' serve butterscotch pudding (not instant)
1/4 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup melted butter
2 TBS cinnamon
1 cup chopped nuts (pecans or walnuts)

1. Before going to bed, place nuts in the bottom of a bundt pan. Place the frozen dough balls evenly on top of the nuts. Do not grease the pan.
2. Mix the pudding, sugar, brown sugar and cinnamon and then sprinkle over the rolls. Melt the butter and pour butter as evenly as possible over the top.
3. Cover the pan with a towel and leave it on the counter overnight to raise.
4. In the morning bake it at 350 degrees for 20-30 min or until light brown on top.
5. Invert the pan on a serving dish. Lift carefully because the sauce runs out.

Egg Tips

Separating egg yolks from the whites (or glair) is easier if the eggs are cold.

Whites are easier to beat (that is, they incorporate more air more quickly) if at room temperature.

So what ya gonna do?

Overnight Waffles

Today is the twins' birthday, and this was their breakfast request. As some of us are wont to fast at this time of the month, it was torture. These are the best-possible waffles, if you can remember to start them the night before. This recipe makes 6-8 servings or about 16 8-inch waffles.

3/4 t yeast
3 c flour
1 1/2 T sugar
3/4 t salt
3 c milk
12 T melted and cooled butter (yes, 1.5 sticks of butter)
3/4 t vanilla
3 eggs, separated

Before going to bed, combine dry ingredients in a large bowl and stir in the milk until mostly smooth. Add the butter and vanilla. Cover with plastic wrap and set aside at room temperature. In regard to the eggs, see this Tip.
In the morning preheat your waffle iron. Stir the yolks into the now bubbly batter. Beat the whites in a clean bowl until they hold soft peaks. Fold the beaten whites into the batter. Bake per your waffle iron's idiosyncrasies. (Our waffle iron takes 1.5 cups of batter per batch and the waffles turn out in 4-5 minutes, but we have an awesome old-school waffle iron made before kitchen safety was invented. While the waffles are cooking inside, I could no doubt fry some eggs on top.) Serve immediately with hot maple syrup (no buttering needed).

Thanks to _How To Cook Everything_ by Mark Bittman