Pasta with Chicken, Peas and Peppers

Based on this recipe. This turns out colorful (or at least xmas colorful) and tasty. Pretty easy to prepare as well. My frozen chicken package had 3 breasts in it - which was a bit much, so next time only 1 or 2 breasts, or increase the pea-broth ratio. Recipe is adjusted below.

• 2-3 chicken breasts, cut into 1/2" pieces
  
• 2 c peas, frozen
  
• 1 red bell pepper, diced
• 1 c hot water
• chicken bouillon cube
  
• 2 cloves garlic, chopped
  
• 2 T oil
• black pepper
• freshly grated cheese and/or parmesan
• pasta (1/2 package...4 big servings)
  

1. Cook pasta. Drain.
2. In a blender, combine hot water, chicken cube and 1 cup of peas. Blend until smooth.
   
3. Heat oil in pan. Add garlic and cook for 30 seconds.
4. Add bell pepper and chicken. Cook over medium-high heat until chicken is cooked through.
5. Add pea mixture, remaining 1 cup of peas, and black pepper.
6. Bring to boil. Let cook until peas are done and mixture thickens.
7. Stir in cooked pasta.
8. Optional: Serve with cheese sprinkled on top.

Mini Ginger Sweet Potato Custard

Found some ramekins on sale the other day so am going to try my hand at some custards, mini lava cakes and other individual sized souffle type things. My first go was with some more leftover sweet potato. Cut a regular recipe for 6 into a third so I could make 2 servings in the mini oven.

• 3/5 cup milk, scant
• 1 egg
• 1/3 c sweet potato, mashed
  
• 5 t sugar
• pinch of salt
• 1/6 t cinnamon
• dash of nutmeg
• dash of cloves
• sprinkle of vanilla
• 1/6" fresh ginger root

1. Grease 2 1-cup ramekins. Place in 8x8 baking dish. Preheat oven to 180C/350F.
   
2. Heat milk in small pan until very hot, but not boiling. When it starts to steam transfer to bowl.
3. Rinse out pot and fill with water. Heat to very, very hot.
4. Meanwhile, in a medium size bowl, beat egg with fork.
   
5. Add sweet potato, sugar, salt, spices, vanilla and the JUICE from the ginger root.
   
6. Whisk in the hot milk.
7. Pour hot water in 8x8 dish, halfway up the ramekins. Pour batter evenly into ramekins.
8. Bake for 40 min or until edges are firm and center is jiggly. If overbaked, they will crack and should be plunged in an ice bath to stop the cooking.
9. Place ramekins on wire rack to cool.
10. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least one hour before serving. Store for up to 3 days.

Variations

• Original recipe comes with a wine poached pear topping.
• Sprinkle with nutmeg or cinnamon before/after baking.
  

Sweet Potato Biscuits

Another portion of the sweet potatoes went towards making biscuits. Most biscuit recipes don't have an egg in them, but there are a handful that do. I tried the egg-less version with a smidgen of milk.

• 2 c flour
• 1 T powder
• 1 t salt
• 2 t sugar
• 4-6 T butter, cold
  
• 1 c sweet potatoes, mashed
• milk

1. Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl.
2. Cut the butter into the bowl. Use hands to mix until butter is in pea size pieces.
3. Add potatoes and enough milk to hold the dough together. Do not overmix!
4. Put on lightly floured surface and spread to about half-inch thickness. Use 2"-2.5" cup to cut biscuits.
5. Place on ungreased sheet. [Note: you can freeze them at this point, covered tightly in plastic wrap.]
   
6. Bake 230C for 15-20 min or until golden brown.
   
7. Let cool 15 min before eating.

Variations

• Use brown sugar instead of white.
• Add cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg for a twist.

Notes

• Made 13 biscuits.
• Cook in mini-oven above center.
  

Thai Sweet Potato Custard

We harvested sweet potatoes from the garden a few weeks ago and they've just been sitting around. I finally boiled half of them and mashed them up for some sweet potato recipes. I needed to prepare something for a group, so I decided on this Thai Sweet Potato Custard recipe. However, I should have known looking at the ingredient ratios that it would be WAY too sweet for my taste. So I'm declaring this one a disaster. I also read the recipe wrong and put in 1 1/4 c of everything...which means 1/4 c too much coconut milk.

• 3 eggs
• 1 1/4 c coconut milk
• 1 1/4 c sugar
• 1 1/4 c sweet potato, cooked and mashed

1. Grease an 8" square pan. Preheat oven to 205C/400F.
2. In a medium saucepan beat the eggs with a fork.
   
3. Stir in the coconut milk.
   
4. Mix in the sugar.
5. Add the sweet potatoes and stir well.
6. Cook over med heat and bring to a gentle boil. Cook for 4 minutes, until sugar is dissolved and mixture thickens slightly.
7. Pour the custard through a sieve into the greased pan (to get rid of the stringy bits).
   
8. Bake for 40 min or until golden brown and puffed.
9. Cool to room temperature.

Notes

• This was way too sweet. The sugar overpowered the taste of the sweet potatoes and the coconut. In the future, cut it to half or less.
• I boiled the sweet potatoes but to retain better flavor, they should be roasted.
  

Molasses Bread

What to do with molasses besides gingerbread? I tried some in a yeast bread in place of sugar. Based on this recipe. The dough came out quite dark and fragrant. It makes for a very large loaf. After baking, it rose even more - I would reduce the yeast and/or molasses. The bread came out too soft (maybe switch the milk and water amounts) though the molasses flavor was definitely there.

• 4 c bread flour
• 1 T yeast
• 1/2 c hot water
• 1 c milk, scant
• 2 t salt
• 1/3 c molasses
• 2 T butter

1. Throw the ingredients in the bread machine and use the dough cycle.
2. Punch down the dough and braid. Place in greased 9x5 bread pan. Let rise until nearly doubled (about 1 hour).
   
3. Bake until browned and sounds hollow.
   

Other Ideas
Whole Wheat Molasses Bread
Molasses Whole Wheat Raisin Bread

Belgian Jwaffles

What makes a waffle Belgian? Well, from a brief survey of recipes out there, it's either the yeast, the beaten egg whites, or a combination of both. I tried a recipe using yeast and it is MUCH airier than the previous ones I tried with either powder or beaten egg whites. I used this one from King Arthur Flour as a basis, which was very easy to put together. I waited an hour and made a batch and then put the rest of the batter in the fridge. I'll see how tomorrow morning's goes.

• 1.5 c milk
• 2-5 T butter
• 2 T brown sugar
• 1/2 T sugar
• 3/4 t salt
• 1 t vanilla
• 1.5 t yeast
• 2 eggs
• 2 c flour

1. Heat the milk in a small pan until very hot. Transfer to large bowl.
2. Add butter, sugars, salt and vanilla. Stir until butter is melted. Let cool until lukewarm.
3. Add the yeast and let dissolve.
4. Stir in eggs and flour. OK to leave lumpy.
5. Cover in plastic wrap and let sit for one hour.
6. Either cook right away in a jaffle iron (or a waffle iron) until steam ceases or refrigerate over night.
7. Serve with fresh fruit or freeze for later consumption.

Variations

• Instead of sugar, use maple syrup, honey, molasses or a combination thereof.
• Stuff with fruit.
• amount of butter: the less you have the more it will stick to the pan. 5 T means the jwaffles slip out easily. 2 T means you may need to pry them out a bit.

Notes
I chose the King Arthur recipe for its use of yeast, minimal flour (2 c) and number of eggs. These other recipes also looked interesting:
Creative Kitchen
- Classic Belgian (top) - 3 eggs, 3 c flour
- Good Night Waffle (bottom) - 2 eggs, 2 c flour, baking soda, overnight
All Recipes - Belgian Waffle - 3 eggs, 4 c flour

Quote
A watched jwaffle never browns.

Miscellaneous
The whole waffle in a jaffle iron thing started with the question, Will it Jaffle? I was afraid I'd ruin my boyfriend's newly purchased machine, as a search of the internet ONLY has recipes for sandwiches and sandwich like things. However, our jaffle iron seems very robust and very much like a waffle iron, albeit with a different shape. And now I've discovered another site answering the question, Will it Waffle? I think some of those recipes can be tweaked for the jaffle iron. I'm looking forward to trying!

Pasta with Peas, Basil and Onion

Just whipped this up using one small pan. Simple, quick and delicious. Made in a small pot to make 2 servings.

• pasta
• peas, frozen
• butter
  
• leftover onion, chopped
• pepper
• fresh basil, chopped
  
• mozzarella

1. Boil pasta in water.
   
2. In strainer, boil peas over pasta water.
3. Lightly drain pasta and transfer to bowl.
4. Over low heat, melt butter and lightly fry onions until softened.
5. Add peas and some leftover liquid. Season with pepper.
6. Add pasta back to pan.
7. Toss in fresh basil.
   
8. Grate cheese over top.

Variations

• Sprinkle with parmesan.
• Add red pepper flakes with onion.