Guess who’s back after a long hiatus!

I apologize to readers for not posting in a very long time. I was studying abroad in Florence, Italy, for the past four months, and my free time was limited. Now I plan on getting back into the swing of thing with new recipes and tips as usual! Hopefully some of them will be inspirations from my semester abroad—like this one. You may be thinking, “Um, stir-fry was inspired by a semester in Italy?” Yes. Chinese food inspired from the country of Italy. In an attempt to recreate amazing spicy fried rice from my favorite Chinese restaurant in Florence, I created this homemade Chinese-food dish with a little help from my friends at Food Network Magazine—Spicy Chicken & Broccoli Stir-Fry with Fried Rice!

Believe it or not, Chinese food is really popular in Italy. There’s a ton of rosticcerie (take-out restaurants with hot and cold foods) specifically for Chinese food. My friends and discovered the BEST rosticceria near our campus called Il Panda (Via Fra’ Bartolomeo, before the intersection with Via Masaccio), and I specifically fell in love with their Hot Spicy Rice with Five Vegetables. I vowed to recreate it, or at least try, once I returned to the States, and this is my attempt. I paired it with a Food Network Magazine recipe for Chicken & Broccolini Stir-Fry which I put my own spin on as well.

The rice turned out good, but plain. The chicken dish, actually, turned out spicier than the rice! Mixed all together, both make for a great Chinese food dinner. Thanks to the oyster sauce and cornstarch, the chicken and veggies have that great, thick sauce you typically imagine when picturing Chinese food, and the arbol chilies, red pepper flakes, and chili garlic paste give the entire dish a really nice kick of heat. Just be warned—the prep for this dish takes longer than the dish itself does to cook! Make sure you get all of your veggies chopped and prepped early, and you’ll be all set!

Spicy Chicken & Broccoli Stir-Fry

Adapted from Food Network Magazine—Serves 3-6

Ingredients:

1 egg white

1 tablespoon mirin or dry sherry

3 tablespoons cornstarch

2 boneless, skinless chicken breasts, cut into cubes

1/4 cup oyster sauce

2 tablespoons peanut oil

3 cloves garlic, sliced thin

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 bunch scallions, chopped

4 small dried arbol chilies

1 tablespoon chili garlic paste

1 teaspoon Chinese five spice

2 bell peppers (any color), cut into strips

2 small jalapenos, chopped

2 bunches broccoli, cleaned and cut into florets

1/2 cup edamame

1/4 cup cashews

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Preparation:

1. Whisk egg white, mirin, and 1 tablespoon of the cornstarch in a bowl. Add chicken cubes and mix to coat the chicken. Whisk the remaining 2 tablespoons of cornstarch with oyster sauce and 1/2 cup water in a separate bowl.

2. Heat 1 tablespoon of the peanut oil in a large skillet or wok on medium heat. Add garlic and ginger and stir-fry until fragrant. Add chicken and stir-fry until no longer pink, about 4-7 minutes. Remove chicken to a plate.

3. Increase temperature to high and heat remaining tablespoon of peanut oil in the skillet. Add onion, scallions, and chilies and stir-fry. Add chili paste and Chinese five spice and stir. Add peppers and cook for another 2-3 minutes.

4. Add chicken back into the skillet with broccoli, edamame, and cashews, and let cook for another 5 minutes. Cover if needed; if you want the veggies a little bit softer, covering the skillet will allow this to happen faster. Add oyster sauce mixture and reduce heat to medium, allowing the mixture to thicken with the chicken and veggies, about 3-4 minutes. Add sesame oil right before serving, mixing it all the way through; serve hot.

Fried Rice with Five Veggies

Adapted from Il Panda restaurant in Florence, Italy—Serves 3-6

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon peanut oil

3 cloves garlic, sliced thin

1 tablespoon red pepper flakes

1/2 medium onion, chopped

1 small bunch scallion, chopped

1 small carrot, chopped

1 celery stalk, chopped

2 bell peppers (any color), chopped into small pieces

1 teaspoon Sichuan spicy sauce

1 egg

2-3 cups cooked white or brown rice

1 teaspoon sesame oil

Preparations:

1. Heat peanut oil on high in a wok. Add garlic and red pepper flakes and stir-fry until fragrant.

2. Add onions, scallions, and carrots and stir-fry until just softened, about 2-3 minutes.

3. Add celery and peppers. Add Sichuan sauce and stir. After 2-3 minutes, move veggies to one side of the wok. Add egg beside veggies and quickly break up the yolk and mix into veggies. Cook and make sure all of the egg is completely done.

4. Add rice and stir-fry for 4-5 minutes. Add sesame oil right before serving, mixing it all the way through the rice. Serve warm.

Autumn is my favorite time of year, especially when it comes to baking. I get a weird kind of high when pumpkins are in season and the aroma of cinnamon, apples, nutmeg, and cloves fill my house. For me, autumn is the season of warmth, crisp weather, and love, and since I’m going to be away all autumn long on an adventure in Italy, I had to get in some fall-inspired baking before I left. With help from Martha, I made these scrumptious cupcakes that taste and smell just like my favorite season… Date-Nut Cupcakes!

I love cooking with dates, probably because I love eating them by themselves. As cliche as it sounds, they really are some of the best candy nature has to offer; sweet, chewy, and really satisfying. Putting them into cupcake batter may make some people raise their eyebrows, but it makes perfect sense to me. The dates in this recipe help break up the cupcake batter, so when you bite into it, you get the soft cake and then that chew from the dates as added texture. The toasted walnuts provide the true bite and crunch for the cupcake, and help to flavor the batter with a hint of nuttiness. Combined with the warmth from the cinnamon and nutmeg, the dates and walnuts give these cupcakes a wonderful autumn feel. And topped with classic cream cheese icing, how can you go wrong?!

Date-Nut Cupcakes

Adapted from Martha Stewart’s Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cupcakes

1 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

10 ounces plump, dried dates, pitted and coarsely chopped

1 1/2 cups boiling water

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1/2 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/3 cup walnuts, toasted and coarsely chopped

Icing

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons nonfat milk

7 ounces cream cheese

2 tablespoons unsalted butter

4 cups confectioners’ sugar

cinnamon sugar (optional)

chocolate sprinkles (optional)

Preparations:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line muffin tin with paper liners. Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and spices in a bowl.

2. In another bowl, combine dates with boiling water and applesauce. Stir until dates are soft, about 2 minutes. Stir in sugars, egg, and vanilla until well incorporated. Add flour mixture and stir with a spatula until combined. Fold in walnuts.

3. Divide batter evenly among lined cups, filling each about three-quarters full. Bake until testers come out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer muffin tins to wire rack and let sit for five minutes. Remove cupcakes from muffin tin and let cool completely on wire racks before decorating with icing.

4. Make icing: Combine vanilla extract and milk into a small bowl. Cream the butter and cream cheese in the bowl of an electric mixer, about 4-5 minutes until completely incorporated. Alternate adding confectioners’ sugar and vanilla-milk mixture* while mixer continues to run until a thick icing forms.

5. Pipe icing onto icing with a plastic bag or icing bag. Decorate with cinnamon sugar and/or chocolate sprinkles, if desired.

*Don’t worry if you don’t use all the vanilla-milk mixture, I didn’t! You want to be left with more of the vanilla-milk mixture and use all sugar, this will ensure a thicker icing.

courtesy of gastronomersguide.com

Store fava beans in their pods for up to five days in a plastic bag the crisper section of your refrigerator. When ready to cook, remove beans from pods, blanch beans to ensure easy removal of their outer shells, and then cook as desired.

Check out this recipe for Brown Risotto with Summer Squash, Favas, and Mint from Serious Eats!

This recipe came from a Bob’s Red Mill mix that has been sitting in my pantry, neglected, and a few dashes of my own spiced love. And it will be the perfect treat for me to bring in to the office for my last week of interning at The Pohly Company… Chocolate ‘n Spice Cookies!

Of course, these cookies were super quick to make—ah the joys of baking mix! It’s literally mix wet, mix dry into wet, shape, bake, done. My friend from college gave me this bag of Bob’s Red Mill Gluten Free Cookie Mix because she knew she wasn’t going to use it, so I finally dug it out of the pantry and put it to the test. I’m always a little skeptical about baking mixes, just because I like to make my recipes from scratch. But there’s nothing wrong with cheating on time a little, right?

And it was worth it. The cookies are unique in texture and flavor, but don’t skip on tastiness just because they’re gluten free or from a mix. In fact, I think the flours the mix uses—a mix of garbanzo flour, fava bean flour, potato starch, among others—give the cookies a texture similar to oatmeal raisin cookies; soft, chewy, with a little bit of grit, yet very airy and almost fluffy in the middle. I added a mix of spices because I wanted to create a spiced chocolate chip cookie, something you don’t see very often. I think the combination of the spices and the cocoa sweetness from the chocolate chips gives the cookies a nice balance of flavors and aromas.

Chocolate ‘n Spice Cookies

Yields about 2 dozen cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 egg

2 tablespoons water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 package Bob’s Red Mill GF Chocolate Chip Cookies Mix

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon ground cloves

Preparations:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheet(s) with parchment paper.

2. Whisk applesauce, egg, water, and vanilla in a large bowl.

3. Add cookie mix, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves to the wet mixture and mix with a spatula. Dough may be hard to mix once well incorporated.

4. Using a spoon or a melon-baller, place cookies on prepared baking sheets, leaving an inch or two between each. Bake for 15-17 minutes, or until edges of cookies are lightly browned. Remove and let sit on wire racks for 5 minutes. Take cookies off sheet and let cool completely on wire racks. Store in an air-tight container.

One of our favorite things to get when we go to Italy is a box (or multiple boxes, ndb) of Guido Nannini Ricciarelli. I remember them from when I was little as these funnily-textured almond cookies covered in powdered sugar. Needless to say, at their most basic level, that’s exactly what they are. I’ve grown to appreciate them even more as an adult, especially since I am a fanatic of almonds and almond-flavored anything, and really love the “funny” texture these cookies have. After finishing the box my dad brought home from his last business trip to Siena, my mom and I went on a quest to find a recipe to recreate these cookies so we wouldn’t have to wait for an Italy trip to get them. We seemed to have hit the jackpot.

Two words—”Om Nom”… Ricciarelli!

The first thing I love about these cookies is their texture. They’re slightly crunchy on the outside from the light, harder shell that is created from the baked almonds and sugar. But right above the crunchy exterior is warmed powdered sugar, which takes on this pasty texture after it’s been cooked, and boy is it good! I love how it sticks to your fingers when you eat the cookies, so these cookies are (literally) finger-lickin’ good! The ground almonds and almond meal make the cookies slightly gritty, but nice and chewy in the middle. After you break through the crunchy top, the middle literally comes close to melting in your mouth. Perfection.

The second thing I love is the taste of these cookies. Like I said, I’m becoming somewhat of an almond fiend, and these cookies are the perfect balance of almond flavor and sugary sweetness. Next time we make these, I’d love to add some amaretto to bring out the almond flavor even more. I’m very happy with the taste because I bit into my first cookie and said in my mind, “Yep, just like Nannini’s.” Mission accomplished.

Ricciarelli

Adapted from Traveler’s Lunch Box’s recipe for Ricciarelli

Yields between 24 to 32 cookies

Ingredients:

2 cups almond meal/flour

1 cup ground almonds

1 1/3 cups granulated sugar

1 1/4 cups confectioner’s sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

2 egg whites

2 teaspoons almond extract

Preparations:

1. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

2. Mix together almond flour, ground almonds, granulated sugar, two-thirds of the powdered sugar, and baking powder in a bowl. In another bowl, beat the egg whites to soft peaks with the whisk attachment of an electric mixer.

3. Stir/fold egg whites into the almond mixture using a spatula. Batter should be sticky and slightly wet, and look almost crumbly. Stir in the almond extract.

4. Form oval or torpedo shapes for the cookies. I found it was easiest to take a medium sized spoon, scoop some batter into the palm of your hand, and form the cookies initially by pressing the batter down into your palm while its in the scoop of the spoon. Then, use your two palms together to form the cookie completely. Roll the cookies in the remaining powdered sugar. Put cookies onto the parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving some room between each. Leave the cookies at room temperature for about 2-3 hours to dry out a little before baking.

5. Preheat the oven to 275 degrees F. Bake the cookies for 30 minutes, or until lightly golden on top and a little firm on the outside (insides should still be soft). Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

With ever-ripening bananas in the kitchen and my urge to bake something that could recreate one of my favorite instant oatmeal packets (strange urge, I know), I fiddled with a recipe from Family Fresh Cooking to make a new kind of bread… Banana Walnut Snack Bread!

This bread is wicked moist! Even with all of my changes to the original recipe, I wasn’t expecting this bread to be any more moist than normal. The bananas add so much moisture, and since mine were larger bananas and super ripe, the moisture content was through the roof. Personally, I like moist bread, but if you can always downgrade the amount of banana you use. Use your own judgement depending on the size of the bananas and their ripeness.

Nevertheless, I’m happy with the taste and smell of the bread! As it was cooking, and even before when I was making the batter, the aroma was exactly the same as a prepared bowl of one of my favorite instant oatmeal breakfasts—Quaker Instant Oatmeal Banana Walnut. As a college student, I began eating oatmeal as one of many quick breakfasts I could make in my dorm room, and I still love it. There’s something oddly comforting about the oatmeal I eat, and this bread has the same flavor as my beloved breakfast bowl—just with a great, homemade touch. It’s not super sweet, but it has a mild, natural sweetness from the bananas and from the tiny bit of sugar in the batter. I love the crunch and texture of the walnuts, too. It’s a great bread to pair with coffee in the morning, or as a snack in the afternoon with a glass of milk!

Banana Walnut Snack Bread

Adapted from Family Fresh Cooking’s Banana Almond Snack Cake

Ingredients:

1 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup whole wheat graham flour

2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon light brown sugar

4 medium very ripe bananas, separated

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 egg

1/2 cup nonfat milk

1/2 cup 1% low fat milk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup walnuts, chopped and separated

Preparations:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 x 5 x 3″ loaf pan with nonstick spray.

2. Mash 3 bananas in a bowl until there are very few chunks visible (you want these bananas smooth because the remaining banana will add chucks). Add applesauce, egg, milks, and vanilla and whisk well.

3. To the wet ingredients, add all dry ingredients (flours, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, sugar) and mix well with a spatula.

4. Chop remaining banana into medium-sized chunks and fold into batter. Add 1/4 cup of walnuts to the batter and fold to incorporate.

5. Pour batter into prepared loaf pan and smooth out the top with a spatula. Sprinkle top of loaf with remaining walnuts.

6. Bake for 45-50 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the loaf comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack until at room temperature. Flip cake out of the pan and slice to serve.

When I saw this unique recipe mixing two of my favorite flavors—mango and chocolate—I knew I had to try it. Especially since we just bought a very tasty mango a few days ago; it was like a sign from the food gods. I’m very glad I tried combining these two unconventional flavors—Spiced Mango Chocolate Chip Muffins!

I never really thought of combining mango and chocolate in a recipe, let alone a muffin recipe. They don’t seem like they’d work together, but trust me, they do. Very well, actually. The sweet, refreshing flavor of the mango complements the deep cocoa flavor that the semi sweet chocolate chips get after baking in the oven. The addition of some comforting spices, including cinnamon and ginger, give these muffins a special twist. The mangoes and the chocolate chips are refreshing and almost summery together, but the spices give the batter a autumn-holiday feel. Imagine mixing the fresh feelings of a bright summer day with the excitement and the smells of the holidays—best of both worlds, right?

Spiced Mango Chocolate Chip Muffins

adapted from fat girl trapped in a skinny body

yields about 2 dozen muffins

Ingredients:

2 eggs

1/4 cup vegetable oil

3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

2 1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 1/4 teaspoons baking soda

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

1 1.2 teaspoons ground ginger

1 cup fresh mango, chopped (could use frozen, too)

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Preparations:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray muffin pans with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Whisk eggs, oil, and applesauce in a small bowl and set aside.

3. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, sugars, baking power, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Pour wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix with a spatula until well combined. Add ginger, mango, and chocolate chips. Fold into batter.

4. Scoop batter into prepared muffin tins (I used a melon-baller, a small ice cream scoop would work well, too). Make sure each muffin has the same amount of batter.

5. Bake muffins for 22-25 minutes, or until tops are golden brown and a tester stuck in the middle of a muffin comes out clean. Remove pans and let rest on wire rack for 5-10 minutes. Remove muffins from pan and transfer to wire rack to cool completely. Store in an air-tight container.

I’ve been slacking on my baking, and of course the first thing my father asks me when he got back from Siena was if I baked anything while he was gone (one-track mind, I swear). So, I took advantage of my day off and deserted kitchen today to make these little tasties — Almond Butter, Oats and Chocolate Chip Cookies!

The recipe is simple enough, just a basic chocolate chip cookie recipe with a few kinks. I cooked them for 10 minutes and they came out super soft. I’m perfectly fine with this, even if the cookies break a little along the way, it’s cool. If you prefer a more solid cookie, maybe try cooking them another 2-5 minutes. The texture is nice though—chewy and soft, with some crunchy bits around the edges.

The cookies also taste great, too! The almond butter adds a nice touch, a subtle nuttiness and definitely not overpowering, which is good. It pairs well with the sweetness of the chocolate chips, and the oats add bite, chew, and texture. I think the rich molasses-ness (hah) of the brown sugar helps bring out the almond butter flavor, and makes the entire cookie have a nice level of overall sweetness. At the end of each bite, you get a teeny tiny hint of the cinnamon coming through, too—one of mt favorite parts!

Almond Butter, Oats and Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from Lindsey Yeo’s recipe

Ingredients:

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

2/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup almond butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 egg

3/4 cup whole wheat flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1 cup oats

3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preparations:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray two cookie sheets with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Combine flour, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon in a bowl.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk applesauce, almond butter, sugars, and vanilla until smooth. Add egg and whisk until well combined.

4. Stir flour mixture into wet ingredients with a spatula. Add oats and chocolate chips; stir until just incorporated.

5. Roll cookies into balls and place onto baking sheet (I used a melon-baller sized scoop, so I was able to get about 32 cookies). Give them some room on the sheets, because they will spread out.

6. Bake for 10 minutes or until lightly brown around the edges. Remove from oven and let rest on sheet for 5 minutes. Remove cookies from sheet and let cool completely on a wire rack. Store in an air-tight container.

courtesy of warriorcatsstarclanfanclub.webs.com

Poppy seeds are a popular ingredient to use in baked goods for added texture and a subtle nutty flavor and aroma. You can also grind poppy seeds use them to thicken sauces and sweet dips.

Check out this recipe for Passion Fruit Poppy Seed Pound Cake from Technicolor Kitchen!

So it shall be a bitter-sweet weekend for me. It’s sweet because my bbff (“best black friend forever”) Imani will be coming to visit from DC! Our plan that we’ve had for at least a year will be a reality: to see the final Harry Potter movie together in Boston. That’s why the weekend will be bitter — childhood as we know it is coming to an end. Like all good things, I suppose. I wanted to make something for Imani, even though she’s not a picky eater by any means, but I wanted to have something home-baked for her to have for breakfast if she wants, and thus here’s my creation — Oat and Dried Cherry Muffins!

Like most of the recipes I make, this muffin recipe was quite simple. It was interesting because it calls for oats soaked in buttermilk. This initially confuzzled me, because I’ve never done something like that before, especially not for a muffin. I was wary about what it would do to the batter, and how it would change the texture of the muffin.

To my pleasant surprise, the buttermilk-soaked oats were wonderful. Sure, they didn’t look pretty as I poured them into the batter with the flour, but the soaked oats gave the muffins a very unique, fun texture — moist in the middle and slightly chewy. It’s not your typical muffin texture, which is what I love about it. The dark brown sugar gives the muffins a subtle sweetness, and the dried cherries really add a pop of flavor when you bite into them. I think I could have added some vanilla extract to make the batter somewhat less plain, but the recipes is good nonetheless. I also love how the edges of the muffins have a slight crisp; combined with their chewy centers, both textures make for a wonderful, simple anytime muffin!

Oat and Dried Cherry Muffins

yields 12 regular sized muffins

Ingredients:

1/2 cup rolled oats

1 cup buttermilk*

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 egg

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking power

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup dried cherries

* I made a cup of buttermilk by using a cup of skim milk and adding one teaspoon of lemon juice.

Preparations:

1. In a bowl, combine oats and buttermilk and let sit for one hour.

2. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with nonstick cooking spray.

3. In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add in the egg and mix.

4. In another bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir the dry ingredients into the butter mixture, alternating with the oat mixture. Fold in dried cherries. Do no overmix.

5. Fill the prepared cups two-thirds of the way full with batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove and let muffins sit in pan on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from tin and let rest on wire rack until completely cooled. Store in an air-tight container.