Tag: easyrecipes

Recipe: Maple Glazed Brussel Sprouts

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maple

Photo courtesy of hotdinnerhappyhome.blogspot.com

Happy Thanksgiving, Peeps!

Are you one of those people who never know what to bring to a Thanksgiving gathering? This year, bring something that is both a crowd pleaser and doesn’t pack on the calories. I actually made this dish for a Friendsgiving gathering and it wasn’t long before it was all gone! This recipe is super easy as it doesn’t have that many ingredients and once it’s put together, the oven does the rest of the work!

Ingredients:

1 – pound Brussels Sprouts, trimmed and cut in half

¼ cup extra virgin olive oil

3 Tablespoons Pure Maple Syrup

4 Slices bacon, cut into ½ inch pieces

½ Teaspoon Salt

¼ Teaspoon freshly ground Black Pepper

Prep Time: 10-minutes

Cook Time: 35-minutes

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (200 degrees C)

Place the Brussels Sprouts in a single layer into a baking dish (preferably glass).

Drizzle with olive oil and maple syrup, toss the sprouts to coat.

Sprinkle with bacon and season with salt and black pepper.

Roast in the preheated oven for about 35-minutes, or until the bacon is crispy and the sprouts are caramelized. Every so often, stir so they don’t get stuck or burned.

Calories:175 per 1-cup serving

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Recipe: Pumpkin Pie Parfait

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pumpkin

Photo courtesy of weelicious.com

October is the month where we all put our summer clothes away and eagerly take out our sweaters, boots, and apply earth-toned lipstick to our lips, holding an infamous pumpkin spice latte in our hands. Nothing says Autumn like pumpkin and pumpkin spice. To celebrate Autumn’s arrival why not try out this super easy no-bake dessert? It’s one of my favourites and a total crowd pleaser.

Makes 6-cups

Ingredients:

1 ¾ Cups Cold Milk (you can substitute it with lactose-free milk or coconut milk if you prefer)

1 Box (4-serving size) Vanilla Instant Pudding

1 Cup Canned Pumpkin

½ teaspoon Pumpkin Spice

1 Package (8-oz.) cream cheese, softened

¾ Cup Powdered Sugar

1 ½ Cups Whipping Cream

1 Box of Keebler’s Sandies

½/ stick of butter (melted)

Directions:

In a medium bowl, stir milk and pudding mix with whisk for 2 minutes. Stir in pumpkin and pumpkin spice. Refrigerate until ready to assemble parfaits.

In a blender put in the Sandies till they’re blended to crumbs. Then take a medium bowl and mix the crumbs with the melted butter. Once the two ingredients are assembled, place these at the bottom of the cups.

Now take another medium bowl, beat cream cheese and powdered sugar with an electric mixer on low speed until blended smooth. In a chilled large bowl, beat heavy cream on high till the whipping cream stiff peaks form. Fold whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture.

In each of the 6 parfait glasses, spoon ¼ cup pumpkin pudding, top each with 6 tablespoons cream cheese mousse mixture. Repeat layers. Refrigerate for 2 hours or until serving time. Just before serving, top each parfait with a Sandies’ cookie.

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Make Tiramisu like a True Italian! Easy Recipe to Enjoy & Wow Dinner Guests!

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Tiramisu is one of Italy’s most famous desserts. The literal translation of the word, “tiramisu” is “pick me up,” which is what the cake is intended to do having both coffee and alcohol in it. This dessert originated in Northern Italy, more specifically the Veneto-Treviso area. There are various recipes floating around the internet, but nothing comes close to giving you the authentic taste than this one.

This dessert isn’t a quick one to make, despite the fact that it doesn’t require baking. So plan to make this when you have time to spare. But let me assure you, it’s worth every moment spent when you take the first taste of this mouth-watering cake.

tiramisu2

Prep time: 1 hr. 30 mins.

Refrigeration time: 3-4 hours for best results

Servings: 8-10

Calories: 500 per serving

Ingredients:

6 Large Eggs

1 ½ Cup Sugar

1 pound Mascarpone cheese – room temperature

1 ¾ heaving whipping cream

2 packages of Savoiardi (Italian Lady Fingers)

2 cups espresso

1 cup Amaretto Di Saronno Liquor

2 ounces cocoa for dusting

Directions:

Take a glass baking tray (about 9 inches in length) that’s got a rectangular shape and begin placing the Savoiardi biscuits upon the tray in a row till the whole tray is covered.

Combine the 1 cup espresso with the 1 cup Amaretto in a bowl and mix the two together using a table spoon.

Slowly take small spoonfuls and let it fall on the Savoiardi. The biscuits need to be slightly soaked, not drenched! So it’s soft but not mushy! Set this aside.

Be sure to wash eggs thoroughly before cracking them open and separating the yolk from the white. Combine the six egg yolks with one cup sugar in the top of a double boiler, over boiling water. Stir constantly for five minutes. Once you are done, remove the yolks from the heat and whip them until they become thick like a custard cream.

Add the Mascarpone to the whipped yolks. The cheese may be thick, so beat for a few minutes till it becomes seamless with the whipped yolks leaving no chunks.

Take a separate bowl and add heavy cream with half cup sugar and whip till it peaks. (You can test out if the whipped cream is good to go by placing a fork in the center. If it remains standing up, it is ready).

Add a layer of Mascarpone with the whipped yolks over the Savoiardi.

Add another layer of Savoiardi on top and soak these with the espresso and Amaretto mixture as you did before.

Fold the remaining Mascarpone with whipped yolks with the whipped cream. Add this layer on top till you use it all.

Dust cocoa powder on top.

Refrigerate for 3-4 hours or overnight for best results.

Enjoy!

By: Azzurra Nox

Make Pesto Like A True Italian! Easy Recipe!

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Many of you may not know, but I’m half Italian and grew up living in various Italian cities. For this reason, I’m always hesitant to dine out at Italian restaurants in America, because it’s rarely anything remotely close to what the original recipe really is. I always feel bad having to break the news to Americans that their most coveted Italian dish (Chicken Alfredo) is merely an American concoction that doesn’t exist in Italy.

When it comes to pesto, the secret is in the preparation. If you’ve ever actually been to Italy and had a chance to taste the pesto there, you will notice right away that it’s vastly different from the Americanized counterpart you find here in the U.S. at restaurants or sold in jars at stores. First of all, the real meaning of “pesto” in Italian is to “grind/smash.” That means in the original Italian recipe you DO NOT use a food processor or hand blender to get the ingredients to become a paste. Rather, you place all the ingredients in a mortar bowl and grind them using a pestle (see photo for example). This method requires you to manually grind all the ingredients together till it becomes a texturized paste.

pestogrinder

This may take you between 20-25 mins. I know many of us lead very busy lives and may find this takes too long and wish to skip this step and use a food processor, but if you truly want to experience an authentic Italian pesto, you must take the long way! The beauty of this though is, that you can make extra and freeze what you won’t be using, to be consumed at a later date. So pretty much it’s a far more invigorating and delicious meal prep trick!

Ingredients:

1 Large bunch of basil leaves (about 30 leaves washed & dried)

1-2 Tablespoons of Raw Pine Nuts (I love pine nuts so usually go with 2)

3 Medium cloves of garlic

2 Tablespoon of freshly grated Parmigiano Reggiano cheese

2 Tablespoon of freshly grated Peccorino Romano cheese

3 Tablespoons of extra-virgin olive oil

A pinch of salt

Directions:

Begin by chopping up the garlic cloves in four squares and cutting the basil leaves in half (if they’re too large). Once you’re done with this, place both of them in a mortar dish and using the pestle begin to grind and smash them. Do this until they’re completely minced. At this point, add the pine nuts (you may wish to chop the pine nuts if you want to speed up the process first) and using the pestle, mince them along with the first two ingredients. Now you add half of the Parmigiano Reggiano cheese to the mortar and grind and then add the other half. Repeat these steps for the Peccorino Romano cheese as well. Using the pestle, grind till all the ingredients are minced in a paste-like manner. Once you’re satisfied with the consistency, then you add the olive oil and salt to the mortar and using a teaspoon stir all the ingredients together. And you’re done!

Depending on how much pesto you use, this amount can be used for up to 3 dishes of pasta.

This is a very nutritious and delicious recipe that it’s hard not to love!

You can use any kind of pasta for pesto, below I chose to make it with orecchiette pasta because they’re one of my faves, but you can also use spaghetti or zitti if you prefer!

pesto

Buon Appetito!

By: Azzurra Nox