Mini Calzones and Italian Roasted Green Beans & Yellow Squash

I am assuming that everyone's family loves pizza as much as my family does. It is the one thing my kids are always asking for! I had quite a bit of leftover spinach-ricotta mixture from last weeks Portobello Roll-ups, since I halved the recipe, so I decided that calzones were in our future. Everything mini is easier for kids, so I made 6 mini calzones and 2 large ones. I used 24 oz. of pizza dough to get that many. So if you just use a lb of dough, you might have some leftover filling ingredients.
I cooked up a little bit of turkey sausage, added a bell pepper and onion, and of course Italian seasoning. I also added turkey pepperoni and we dipped ours in pizza sauce. On the side I roasted some veggies, tossed in Italian seasoning again. I have one of those grinders, so I never measure my Italian seasoning, I just churn it on, until it looks like enough. You could really sub any veggies here, this is just what I had. Enjoy- we sure did!

Mini Calzones by Mary Ann

1 lb. pizza dough (your favorite recipe or refrigerated pizza dough)

pizza sauce (your favorite or try out mine-here, also a great dough recipe)

2 links sweet Italian turkey sausage, casings removed (about 8-9 oz)

1 orange (or green) bell pepper, chopped

1/2 onion, chopped

turkey pepperoni

1 15-oz container skim milk ricotta cheese

1 egg, lightly beaten

1 10-oz pkg. frozen spinach, thawed and drained

Italian seasoning

shredded cheese

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

In an electric skillet, season the sausage, bell pepper, and onion, with Italian seasoning, and saute until sausage is cooked through and veggies are tender. Set aside.

Combine the ricotta cheese, egg,thawed spinach, and season with Italian seasoning. Set aside.

Roll out your pizza dough and cut it into squares. (I made 6)

Spread about 1 Tbls of pizza sauce on one half of your dough square, leaving room around the edges. Spread 1 Tbls or so of the ricotta cheese mixture on top of the pizza sauce. Place 1 piece of turkey pepperoni on top of the ricotta mixture. Next pile some of the sausage, pepper, onion, mixture on top of the pepperoni. Sprinkle with cheese and close the calzone by bringing one half of the dough, up and over, and sealing the sides, by crimping the dough together.

Repeat with remaining dough and filling ingredients.

You can also make this into larger calzones, just cut the dough into larger pieces and put more of the fillings inside. Also bake time would increase. Little ones are easier for the kids.

Place the calzones on a lightly greased baking sheet and bake for 13-16 minutes, until lightly browned on top. Serve with warmed pizza sauce, for dipping, if desired.

Italian Roasted Green Beans and Yellow Squash by Mary Ann

1 lb. fresh green beans, washed and trimmed

1 medium yellow squash, cut in quarters and thinly sliced

Italian seasoning

1 Tbls olive oil

cooking spray

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray the sheet with cooking spray. Combine green beans and squash on the foil and season liberally with Italian Seasoning. Drizzle with 1 Tbls of olive oil and mix with your hands. Roast in the oven for 15-20 minutes, until veggies are tender.

Tomorrow- Craving Ellie in my Belly- Oven Fried Chicken

TWD- Arborio Rice Pudding- White, Black, and Pumpkin Pie

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, Arborio Rice Pudding, White, Black (or both), was chosen by Isabelle of Les Gourmandises d'Isa. If you are interested in the recipe, which you should be, go visit her blog. In the recipe, Dorie suggests that you can make vanilla, chocolate, or both flavors of this rice pudding. Since I haven't ever made rice pudding and I don't really remember ever eating it, I decided to try both and why not throw another flavor combo in there as well. A couple of weeks ago over at Picky Palate, Jenny made Spiced Pumpkin Pie Rice Pudding. Since I love pumpkin anything, I decided to use her idea for 1/3 of this rice pudding. I followed Dorie's directions and luckily read after she commented on the TWD P&Q page, so I knew the book had a typo. You have to keep this bubbling on the stove for 55 minutes, not the 30 mentioned in the book. After it had done it's time, I divided it into 3 as equal as possible portions and stirred 1 oz. finely chopped bittersweet chocoate in 1 bowl, 1 tsp pure vanilla extract into another bowl, and 2-3 Tbls. pumpkin puree, a large dash of cinnamon, a small dash of ground ginger, ground nutmeg, and ground allspice, into the third bowl. I divided the contents of each bowl in half and put the pudding into little dessert dishes, covered them carefully with plastic wrap, and put them in the fridge to wait the 6 hours.

The pudding thickened a bit, I don't know if it was enough? Maybe it was a little soupy- I think it appears soupier than it was?, but it still tasted good. All of the flavors were wonderful, although I think the pumpkin flavor was my favorite. I don't know if it ended up being as thick as it is supposed to be, but my mom approved and she used to have rice pudding alot growing up. She said her mom always baked it in the oven- hmm? Anyway, she preferred the vanilla flavor. My daughter loved all the flavors, so basically you can't lose with whatever combination you decide to go with!

Go to the TWD Blogroll to see what other flavor combinations the rest of the TWD crew came up with!

Up Next- Mini Calzones and Italian Seasoned Roasted Veggies!

Cooking Light Night-Cornflake Crusted Halibut, Toasted Millet-Confetti Vegetable Salad and Orange Mini Bundt Cakes

It's Cooking Light Night again! This time I decided to do a main dish, a side, and a dessert. Since my family loves fish, I decided to try the Cornflake Crusted Halibut that got rave reviews from the staffers at Cooking Light. I picked a spicy serrano to add to the aioli and it was perfect with this fish. The halibut was a little pricey, but I figure it is ok to splurge once in awhile. I had some millet that wanted to be used, so I found a fun salad that had a yummy dressing to use that up.

Then there were the Mini Orange Bundt cakes that I remember from the cover 2 years ago. I have been wanting to make them and finally got the chance. I must have a mini- mini bundt pan, because I got 24 mini bundts and 12 mini muffins from the recipe. These are chock full of yummy stuff, like toasted pecans, coconut, chopped orange slice candy, and chopped dates, and I had a ton of them, so I took them to a little get-together and everyone loved them. They would be a good holiday food gift!

Cornflake-Crusted Halibut with Chile-Cilantro Aioli

The test kitchen loved this halibut dish with herbed garlic aioli so much that they gave it their highest rating. You'll love that it takes only 25 minutes to make.

Aioli:

2 tablespoons minced fresh cilantro

3 tablespoons fat-free mayonnaise

1 serrano chile, seeded and minced

1 garlic clove, minced

Fish:

1 cup fat-free milk

1 large egg white, lightly beaten

2 cups cornflakes, finely crushed

1/4 cup all-purpose flour (about 1 ounce)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

2 tablespoons olive oil

4 (6-ounce) halibut fillets

4 lemon wedges

To prepare aioli, combine cilantro, mayonnaise, serrano, and minced garlic, stirring well.To prepare fish, combine milk and egg white in a shallow dish, stirring well with a whisk. Combine cornflakes, flour, salt, and black pepper in another shallow dish.Heat 2 tablespoons olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Dip fish in milk mixture, and dredge in cornflake mixture. Add fish to pan, and cook 4 minutes on each side or until fish flakes easily when tested with a fork or until desired degree of doneness. Serve fish with aioli and lemon wedges.

Toasted Millet and Confetti Vegetable Salad with Sesame and Soy Dressing

Dressing:

3 tablespoons rice vinegar

1 tablespoon cold water

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

1 teaspoon canola oil

1/2 teaspoon dark sesame oil

1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 garlic clove, minced

Salad:

1 cup uncooked millet

2 cups water

3 tablespoons chopped walnuts (I omitted these and used sprinkled toasted sesame seeds on the finished salad)

1 tablespoon low-sodium soy sauce

1 cup diced carrot

1 cup chopped fresh cilantro

1/2 cup finely chopped red bell pepper

1/2 cup finely chopped green bell pepper

1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions

1 tablespoon finely chopped seeded jalapeño pepper

To prepare dressing, combine the first 8 ingredients in a small bowl.To prepare salad, heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat. Add millet to pan; cook 5 minutes or until golden, stirring often. Add 2 cups water; bring to a boil. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 20 minutes. Remove from heat; let stand, covered, 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Cool completely.Heat a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Add nuts; cook 3 minutes or until lightly toasted, stirring occasionally. Add 1 tablespoon soy sauce; cook 30 seconds, stirring constantly.Cook carrot in boiling water 3 minutes or until tender. Drain; rinse with cold water. Drain. Combine millet, carrot, cilantro, bell peppers, onions, and jalapeño in a large bowl. Drizzle dressing over the millet mixture; toss well. Top with walnuts.

Orange Mini Bundt Cakes Baked in mini Bundt pans (about $30 at most kitchen specialty stores and home emporiums), these cakes make delicious holiday gifts. The decorative Garland Bundtlette pan used to bake our cover cakes is available at Williams-Sonoma (www.williams-sonoma.com). You can bake the cake in a standard 12-cup Bundt pan for one hour or until a wooden pick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Cake:

Cooking spray

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

10 tablespoon butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup egg substitute

2 large eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour (about 13 1/2 ounces)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup chopped orange slice candy (about 10 pieces)

1 cup pitted dates, diced

1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut

1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted

1 cup fat-free buttermilk

Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons fresh orange juice

Additional ingredient:1 tablespoon powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350°.
To prepare cake, heavily coat mini Bundt pans with cooking spray; turn pan upside down to drain excess. Place granulated sugar, butter, and vanilla in a large bowl; beat with a heavy-duty mixer at medium speed 2 minutes or until well blended. Add egg substitute and eggs to sugar mixture; beat well. Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flour, baking soda, and salt in a bowl, stirring well. Sprinkle candy, dates, coconut, and nuts over flour; stir well to disperse and coat candies. Add flour mixture to sugar mixture alternately with buttermilk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
To prepare glaze, combine 1 cup powdered sugar and juice in a bowl, stirring until smooth.
Spoon 1/3 cup batter into each mini Bundt cup. Bake at 350° for 16 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in the center of 1 cake comes out clean. Cool in pans 5 minutes. Remove cakes from pans; brush the top of each warm cake with about 2 teaspoons glaze. Cool completely on a wire rack. Garnish cakes with 1 tablespoon powdered sugar, if desired.

Tuesday Morning- Tuesday's with Dorie- Arborio Rice Pudding- what flavor will it be? come back tomorrow and see!

Operation Baking GALS Round 4 --Team Meet Me in the Kitchen-Lt. Hopper Round-up

I found out that one of my friend's husbands was shipping out to Iraq, for the second time, and that his birthday was in November, so I decided to host the 4th round of Operation Baking GALS. Note- if you haven't checked out the new site, go and see it! I first met the Hopper's back in 2000 when I moved to Athens, Georgia. They only had 1 child then, (now they have 5) but, we hit it off and spent alot of time together. Lia helped me graduate from college by babysitting my newborn, even though she had 2 kids of her own and was pregnant. The payment was simply that we took them out to dinner a couple times a month. Pretty nice arrangement.
Carl re-enlisted in the army and the Hopper's ended up moving. We have kept in touch, mostly due to Lia being good at that sort of thing, and they are now in Alaska.
It is fun to be able to get this sort of event organized because there are so many people who are willing to share their time, talents, and baked goods, to get a homemade package out to our troops. Here is a round-up of what Carl will be receiving in the mail! Maybe he will receive one of the packages on his birthday-Nov. 24th. Thank you so much to my team for being willing to be a part of this great service- I appreciate your time, effort, and money spent. Thank you!!! Round 5 is going to be just in time for Christmas, so give of yourself and sign up for a team.

Pamela of Cookies with Boys sent those yummy Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal Cookies, Triple Play Peanut Butter Cookies, and Dorie Greenspan's Chewy Chunky Blondies. Read her POST to find out more about these and to get the recipes. Note- Carl already received this package already and was so appreciative- Thanks, Pamela- for getting your package out so early!

Shelby over at The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honeybunch sent this Nutella Biscotti and Peanut Butter Cookies. I jokingly told her she should send the Biscotti to me instead- doesn't it look great? Go the her POST to get the full story and recipes!

Dona England, who informed me that she was not a blogger, but a great cookie baker, sent Pat's Chocolate Chip Bars ( pictured above, recipe below) and Peanut Candy Bar Squares that she found over at Bake or Break. Yummy!

Kelly over at Baking with the Boys sent Chocolate Coma Cookies, Mini Apple Cinnamon Muffins, and Oatmeal Scotchies. Great variety!

Audrey, (my older sister), of Bella&Piekna sent Mini Chocolate Chippers and Oatmeal Scotchies. thanks Aud!

UPDATE- Beth Rizzo sent Peanut Butter Chocolate Chunk Cookies and Field&Stream and Outdoor Life magazines! Thanks, Beth!

I made Dorie's World Peace Cookies, below, and Prudy's Peanut Butter Cookies with Reese's Pieces- my son asked who made the World Peace Cookie recipe and I told him Dorie. He wanted me to pass on that those cookies got a double thumbs up!

Pat’s Chocolate Chip Bars (15×10 inch pan)

8 oz butter (regular)

1 1/4 cup of white sugar

1 cup of brown sugar, packed

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon of pure vanilla

3 1/2 cups all purpose flour (Spoon and level)

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

2 (12 oz) packages of semi-sweet chocolate chips (don’t cut back)

2 cups chopped pecans (optional)

Cream the butter and sugars, beat in the eggs and vanilla.. Combine the dry ingredients and blend in. Add chips and nuts. Spread in a greased 15x 10 inch baking pan. Bake at 350′ for 15-20 minutes. Cool and cut into bars.

Peanut Butter Cookies with Reese's Pieces from Prudence Pennywise

(from Joy of Cooking)

1 and 1/2 cups flour (Prudy used half whole wheat)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1 large egg

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup miniature Reese's Pieces Baking Bits

Preheat oven to 375. In a small bowl, combine flour and soda. In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar until creamy. Add the egg, peanut butter, and vanilla, stirring until well combined. Mix in the flour mixture. Add the Reese's pieces. Form into 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheets. Bake for 10-12 minutes

World Peace/Korova Cookies from Paris Sweets and Baking: from my home to yours-Dorie Greenspan

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1 stick plus 3 tablespoons (11 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar

1/4 cup sugar

1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or 1/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

5 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped into chips, or a generous 3/4 cup store-bought mini chocolate chips

Makes about 36 cookies

Sift the flour, cocoa and baking soda together.Working with a stand mixer, preferably fitted with a paddle attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the butter on medium speed until soft and creamy. Add both sugars, the salt and vanilla extract and beat for 2 minutes more.Turn off the mixer. Pour in the flour, drape a kitchen towel over the stand mixer to protect yourself and your kitchen from flying flour and pulse the mixer at low speed about 5 times, a second or two each time. Take a peek — if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of times more; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, mix for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough — for the best texture, work the dough as little as possible once the flour is added, and don’t be concerned if the dough looks a little crumbly. Toss in the chocolate pieces and mix only to incorporate.Turn the dough out onto a work surface, gather it together and divide it in half. Working with one half at a time, shape the dough into logs that are 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Wrap the logs in plastic wrap and refrigerate them for at least 3 hours. (The dough can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months. If you’ve frozen the dough, you needn’t defrost it before baking — just slice the logs into cookies and bake the cookies 1 minute longer.)

GETTING READY TO BAKE: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment or silicone mats. Working with a sharp thin knife, slice the logs into rounds that are 1/2 inch thick. (The rounds are likely to crack as you’re cutting them — don’t be concerned, just squeeze the bits back onto each cookie.) Arrange the rounds on the baking sheets, leaving about 1 inch between them. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time for 12 minutes — they won’t look done, nor will they be firm, but that’s just the way they should be. Transfer the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let the cookies rest until they are only just warm, at which point you can serve them or let them reach room temperature.

SERVING: The cookies can be eaten when they are warm or at room temperature — I prefer them at room temperature, when the textural difference between the crumbly cookie and the chocolate bits is greatest — and are best suited to cold milk or hot coffee.

STORING: Packed airtight, cookies will keep at room temperature for up to 3 days they can be frozen for up to 2 months

Tomorrow- Cooking Light Night- Cornflake Crusted Halibut, Toasted Millet and Vegetable Confetti Salad, and Orange Mini Bundt Cakes

Fried Green Tomatoes and Green Tomato Bread

My dad loves tomatoes. He grows a ton of them in his garden, so when this time of year comes along he is stuck with enough green tomatoes to feed an army. He asked me to help him figure out what to do with them and I remembered a Green Tomato Bread that I made last year about this same time. If you think it sounds wierd, don't. It is a quick bread, like banana bread and is quite delicious. It has no tomato flavor. I just used a recipe I found on line and changed out some of the flour with whole wheat, used half of the oil called for and changed it to canola, used applesauce, and halved the amount of pecans. It was good!

Then I thought Fried Green Tomatoes would be fun. I went with Southern Living's recipe because some things just shouldn't be lightened :) So, if you eat just one, you don't have to worry. The recipe yield 10 fried green tomatoes.

If you have any green tomatoes you need to try and use, give these recipes a try!

Fried Green Tomatoes from Southern Living

1 large egg, lightly beaten

1/2 cup buttermilk

1/2 cup all-purpose flour, divided

1/2 cup cornmeal

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon pepper

3 medium-size green tomatoes, cut into 1/3-inch slices

Vegetable oil

Salt to taste

Combine egg and buttermilk; set aside.Combine 1/4 cup all-purpose flour, cornmeal, 1 teaspoon salt, and pepper in a shallow bowl or pan.Dredge tomato slices in remaining 1/4 cup flour; dip in egg mixture, and dredge in cornmeal mixture.Pour oil to a depth of 1/4 to 1/2 inch in a large cast-iron skillet; heat to 375°. Drop tomatoes, in batches, into hot oil, and cook 2 minutes on each side or until golden. Drain on paper towels or a rack. Sprinkle hot tomatoes with salt.

Green Tomato Bread adapted from Recipe Goldmine

3 cups all-purpose flour ( I used 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour)

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon salt

2 cups granulated sugar

1 tablespoon cinnamon

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups finely chopped or ground green tomatoes- about 2 medium

1 cup chopped pecans

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour two 8 x 4-inch loaf pans.Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture.Combine eggs, oil and vanilla extract; stir well. Add to dry ingredients, stirring just until moistened. Fold in tomato and pecans. Spoon batter into prepared loaf pans. Bake for 1 hour or until a wooden pick inserted in center of bread comes out clean. Cool in pans on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Remove from pans, and let cool completely on wire rack.

Coming Tomorrow- Operation Baking GALS Roundup- For real this time!

Vanilla-Nutella Swirl Cupcakes with Nutella Buttercream

I saw this recipe on Clara's blog- I heart cuppycakes and knew this cupcake would be making an appearance in my future. My family loves Nutella and cupcakes are always fun for everyone. They start out with a vanilla cupcake and you swirl Nutella into the batter. They bake up beautifully and then comes the Nutella Buttercream.
Be warned- these cupcakes are not for the faint- they are intense and might require a little sophistication on your palate. They are dense and wonderful. I doubled the recipe because I thought it would be nice to share these with others and it was. The buttercream recipe makes alot, but the leftovers will be coming in handy soon, I guarantee you that. Besides, aren't they pretty?

Vanilla-Nutella Swirl Cupcakes from I heart cuppycakes who adapted them from Amber's Delectable Delights

For cupcakes:

10 tbsp butter, softened

3/4 cup white sugar

3 eggs

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 3/4 cups sifted flour

1/4 tsp salt

2 tsp baking powder

12 tsp Nutella

For nutella buttercream:

1 stick (1/2 cup) of unsalted butter, softened

4 cups confectioners sugar (or more to taste)

1/4 cup whole milk or half-and-half

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 cup of Nutella (or more to taste), softened

Preheat oven to 325F.

Prepare cupcake pan with liners.

To make cupcake—Cream together butter and sugar until light, about 2 minutes. Add in eggs on at a time, until fully incorporated. The batter may not look smooth, this is fine. Add vanilla. Stir in flour, salt, and baking powder until batter is smooth and all flour is blended. Using an ice cream scoop, fill each muffin liner with batter. Cups should be 3/4 full if you’re not using a scoop. Top each cake with about 1 tsp Nutella. Swirl Nutella in with a toothpick, folding a little batter up and over the Nutella as well. Bake for 20 minutes. Remove to wire rack and allow to cool before frosting.

To make buttercream—In your stand mixer with flat beater, cream butter. Add 3 cups of the confectioners sugar, then milk and vanilla and beat until the mixture is smooth, about 3-4 minutes.Add the remaining confectioners sugar, beating about 1-2 minutes. (You can add more sugar to get a thicker consistency if you want.)In a microwave safe bowl, soften the Nutella until it has a spreadable consistency, about 15-20 secs.Add the softened Nutella to your buttercream and fold into the frosting until well blended.

Up Next- Fried Green Tomatoes and Green Tomato Bread

Barefoot Bloggers- Herb Roasted Onions and Craving Ellie in my Belly- Portobello Lasagna Roll-ups

I know what you must be thinking. Did I really need to join another group? Probably not, but I loved Elllie Krieger's Book The Food You Crave when I borrowed it from the library this summer, so when I saw a group dedicated to the recipes in that book- Craving Ellie in My Belly- I went ahead and joined up. I just waited until this week to start. So for my first week we made Portobello Lasagna Roll-ups. This recipe was picked by Marthe of Culinary Delights- go to her blog for the recipe. I halved the recipe because I had exactly 6 whole wheat lasagna noodles left in a box and it was really yummy! Besides, now I have a great excuse to make calzones, since I have half of the ricotta mixture leftover.

The Barefoot Bloggers recipe this week was Herb Roasted Onions and it was chosen by Kelly of Baking with the Boys. Now this really got the whole house smelling good. I had really potent onions, they made me cry lots of tears. The dressing was delicious and I love fresh thyme, so I didn't chop mine up, I left it whole. I liked this, but next time I think I will add other veggies as well.
Go check out what everyone else thought of these 2 recipes!

Herb Roasted Onions from The Barefoot Contessa

2 red onions

1 yellow onion

2 tablespoons freshly squeezed lemon juice

1 teaspoon Dijon mustard

1 teaspoon minced garlic

1/2 tablespoon minced fresh thyme leaves

3/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup good olive oil

1/2 tablespoon minced fresh parsley leaves

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Remove the stem end of each onion and carefully slice off the brown part of the root end, leaving the root intact. Peel the onion. Stand each onion root end up on a cutting board and cut the onion in wedges through the root. Place the wedges in a bowl.For the dressing, combine the lemon juice, mustard, garlic, thyme, salt, and pepper in a large bowl. Slowly whisk in the olive oil. Pour the dressing over the onions and toss well.With a slotted spoon, transfer the onions to a sheet pan, reserving the vinaigrette that remains in the bowl. Bake the onions for 30 to 45 minutes, until tender and browned. Toss the onions once during cooking. Remove from the oven, and drizzle with the reserved dressing. Sprinkle with parsley, season to taste and serve warm or at room temperature

You do not want to miss tomorrow's post- Vanilla-Nutella Swirl Cupcakes with Nutella Buttercream!

Cranberry Quick Bread with Dried Blueberries and Hazelnuts

Something about fall makes me want to bake quick bread. I don't know what it is, but it seems to be seasonal for me. Since I had fresh cranberries, roasted hazelnuts and dried blueberries (thanks to Oh Nuts!), I decided to try this bread. I swapped out the golden raisins that were originally called for and used dried blueberries instead. I thought it was really pretty to look at and it tasted wonderful. I love how cranberries look when they bake up, so beautiful and red. I also love how you can see the orange zest. This came in handy when I was taking dinner to someone the other night, I just sliced a few pieces and sent them over on a pretty plate. Yum!

Cranberry Quick Bread with Dried Blueberries and Hazelnuts from Cooking Light

1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

2/3 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup apple juice

3 tablespoons canola oil

1 teaspoon grated orange rind

1 large egg

1 1/3 cups chopped fresh cranberries

1/3 cup dried blueberries

1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts

Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 350°. Lightly spoon flours into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours and next 4 ingredients (flours through salt) in a large bowl; make a well in center of mixture. Combine juice, oil, rind, and egg; add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Fold in cranberries, raisins, and hazelnuts.Spoon batter into a 9 x 5-inch loaf pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 350° for 50 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes in pan on a wire rack; remove from pan. Cool completely on wire rack.

Up Tomorrow- Barefoot Bloggers-Herb-Roasted Onions and Craving Ellie in my Belly- Portobello Lasagna Roll-ups

Late Start Breakfast- Cranberry-Hazelnut Coffeecake and Oatmeal with Apples, Hazelnuts, and Flaxseed

Since I haven't heard from most of my team yet, I will get to the Baking GALS post tomorrow.
This year our school district started having one late start monday a month. I won't go into too much detail about it, but on one monday, we have an extra hour and a half before school starts. I decided this would be a good monday to make a yummy breakfast.
Not too long ago I was contacted by Sam over at Oh! Nuts, asking if he could send me some free nuts and dried fruit to use in some recipes. I said yes, of course. A few days later, I received a pound of roasted hazelnuts, a pound of dried blueberries and a pound of dried kiwi. I have been putting them to work!
Both of these recipes use hazelnuts and since they were already roasted that took out some of the work for me. Both of the recipes are from my favorite, Cooking Light.
The oatmeal was really good, but the coffeecake was delicious. The cranberries were perfect in it and I am thinking it is going to come in handy over the holidays- so go buy some fresh cranberries and try this on a weekend!

Oatmeal with Apples, Hazelnuts, and Flaxseed

If your market sells hazelnuts with the skins removed, you can skip Steps 1 and 2, and just finely chop the nuts.

1/4 cup hazelnuts

3 cups fat-free milk

1 1/2 cups regular oats

1 1/2 cups diced Granny Smith apple (about 1 medium)

1/3 cup ground flaxseed

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 tablespoons brown sugar

3 tablespoons slivered almonds ( I used sliced almonds)

Preheat oven to 350°.Place hazelnuts on a baking sheet. Bake at 350° for 15 minutes, stirring once. Turn nuts out onto a towel. Roll up towel; rub off skins. Finely chop nuts, and set aside.Combine milk and next 5 ingredients (through salt) in a medium saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat. Stir in vanilla. Cover, reduce heat, and simmer 5 minutes or until thick. Sprinkle with hazelnuts, brown sugar, and almonds.

Cranberry-Hazelnut Coffeecake

Streusel:1/4 cup sifted cake flour

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup chopped hazelnuts

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon butter, melted

Cake:1 2/3 cups sifted cake flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 (8-ounce) carton fat-free sour cream, divided (I used greek yogurt)

1 large egg

1 large egg white

5 tablespoons butter, softened

Remaining ingredients:

Cooking spray

2 cups fresh cranberries, chopped

Preheat oven to 350°. To prepare streusel, lightly spoon 1/4 cup flour into a dry measuring cup; level with a knife. Combine 1/4 cup flour and next 4 ingredients (1/4 cup flour through 1 tablespoon butter) in a bowl; toss well. Set aside.

To prepare cake, lightly spoon 1 2/3 cups flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine 1 2/3 cups flour and next 4 ingredients (1 2/3 cups flour through salt), stirring well with a whisk. Combine vanilla, 1/4 cup sour cream, egg, and egg white in a small bowl; stir with a whisk. Place remaining sour cream and 5 tablespoons butter in a large bowl; beat with a mixer at medium speed until well-blended (about 2 minutes). Add flour mixture to butter mixture alternately with egg mixture, beginning and ending with flour mixture. Spread half of batter into a 9-inch springform pan coated with cooking spray. Sprinkle cranberries over batter. Spread remaining batter over cranberries. Sprinkle streusel mixture over batter. Bake at 350° for 45 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.