On The Table Archives - Authentic Simplicity

Roasted Broccoli with Parmesan and Stuff {Secret Recipe Club}

May 6, 2013 By Anne Simpson

I love broccoli. I mean, I looooovvvveee broccoli. Steam it, drown it in butter, sprinkle it with salt and pepper, and MMMMmmmmMMMM! That’s pretty much as close to heavenly as a vegetable can get.

So I was super excited (probably more than one should be regarding cruciferous vegetables) to see that my Secret Recipe Club assignment for the month, Life of a Modern Housewife, had a delicious recipe for broccoli! Um, yes, please! Heavenly vegetables? How could I resist!

If you, too, like roasted vegetables, The Modern Housewife has a great roasted carrots recipe as well. I absolutely love Chinese dumplings, so I’m definitely going to be trying her Steamed Chinese Dumplings recipe because she makes it look awfully easy (and way cute). If you’re more into desserts, try her Lemon Meringue Cupcake!

But back to the broccoli. What I love about this recipe is that it’s a sprinkle-this-and-drizzle-that kind of recipe. Totally my favorite way to cook! Honestly, there are so many recipes I come up with at home that I never blog about because I never take the time to sit down and measure them, and I know you all get tired of my ambiguous directions. But really, this recipe is so simple, and you can start with a whole pile of broccoli, or just a handful, and go from there with a sprinkle and a drizzle. I will say – for the inquiring minds that want to know – that I had a little less than a pound of broccoli florets, and I used 2 cloves of garlic. Other than that it was seriously just drizzling and sprinkling.

Roasted Broccoli with Parmesan and Stuff

Ingredients

Broccoli Florets
Garlic Cloves, Sliced
Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Sea Salt
Black Pepper
Lemon Juice and Zest
Grated Parmesan
Pine Nuts (or Sunflower Seeds, or Sliced Almonds)

Instructions

Place the broccoli florets on a rimmed baking sheet. (I used my cast iron pizza pan.)
Sprinkle them with the sliced garlic cloves (as many or as few as you want!)
Drizzle with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.
Roast for about 20 minutes in a 425F oven. Remove from the pan into a bowl, and drizzle with a little bit more olive oil and a splash of lemon juice. Stir in some lemon zest and pine nuts, and top with Parmesan cheese before serving.

If you’d like to give the Secret Recipe Club a try, you can apply to join here.

Find more inspiring and informative posts at Make Your Own Monday, Motivational Monday, Homestead Barn Hop, The Bulletin Board, Better Mom Monday, Natural Living Monday, Trivium Tuesday, Titus 2sday, Teach Me Tuesday, Hip Homeschool Hop, Titus 2 Tuesday, Delicious Dishes, Open Call Tuesday, Tiny Tip Tuesday, Healthy 2Day Wednesday, Frugal Days Sustainable Ways, Works For Me Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Whole Food Wednesday, Allergy-Free Wednesday, The Mommy Club, Encourage One Another, Thought Provoking Thursday, Simple Lives Thursday, Homemaking Link Up, Keep it Real Thursday, Frugal Thursday Rewind, Your Green Resource, Homeschooling on the Cheap, Thrifty Thursday, Fellowship Friday, Fight Back Friday, I'm Lovin' It, Weekend Bloggy Reading, Weekend Whatever, Snacktime Saturday

17 Comments Filed Under: On The Table, Sides Tagged With: broccoli, secret recipe club, vegetables

Learn How to Make a Simple Sourdough Bread

April 14, 2013 By Anne Simpson

Sourdough is not as complicated as it seems. Once you learn the basic procedure, it’s actually – in my humble opinion - a super simple way to make a delicious and healthy loaf of whole-grain bread.

And today, I’m over at Baking Whole Grains with a super-simple method for baking delicious and healthy loaves of sourdough bread. This is the recipe I use every week (in fact, I have one in the process now!) to bake our bread, and it honestly could not be any more simple. Click here to find out how to make Super Simple Sourdough Bread.

Leave a Comment Filed Under: Bread, On The Table Tagged With: bread, sourdough

Strawberry Quinoa Muffins {Secret Recipe Club}

April 8, 2013 By Anne Simpson

This month’s Secret Recipe Club entry comes from the beautiful blog Delishhh, written by Ewa (pronounced “Eva”), who has a decidedly international flair which is probably the result of being born Swedish and raised in Asia (now residing in the United States in case you’re curious). She also, like me, loves to eat healthy, whole foods, and is an advocate of GMO labeling and enjoying organic foods. I definitely recommend you browse through her blog and check out her gorgeous photos and delicious recipes.

I’ve had her Pumpkin Energy Bar pinned for ages, and still fully intend to make it, but I never seem to have all the ingredients at the same time. I’m working on it, though: I’ve got everything except the pumpkin and I plan to get that this week so I can give her recipe a whirl, and after that, I’ll try some variations using the same framework she used.

I also want to try her White Bean Puree to use as a dip or spread – me and The Boys enjoy our beans, so this will be a nice addition to the bean recipe repertoire!

But what I made this time around was her Blueberry Pecan Quinoa Muffins. I love that Ewa increased the health factor of a not-super-healthy breakfast favorite by filling it with high-protein quinoa and fruits and nuts. Score! I didn’t, however, have any blueberries, and we don’t eat tree nuts around here, so my version turned into Strawberry Quinoa Muffins. We heartily enjoyed it for breakfast, and I have a few more in the freezer to pull out later this week. Can’t beat fast and healthy on a crazy school morning!

Strawberry Quinoa Muffins

Ingredients

1 cup white whole-wheat flour
1/2 cup quinoa flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
1/4 cup maple syrup
3/4 cup buttermilk
1/4 cup oil (I used coconut)
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup cooked quinoa
1 cup chopped strawberries

Instructions

Sift dry ingredients together.
Beat together the eggs, syrup, buttermilk, oil and vanilla.
Stir the egg mixture into the flour just until flour is moistened.
Gently fold in the cooked quinoa and strawberries.
Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes.

A note about the quinoa flour: It’s super easy to grind whole quinoa into flour using a grain mill like the one I have below (Wonder Mill) – just remember to pour in the grains a little bit at a time (maybe a tablespoon or two). You can hear when the grains have gone through the mill and then you can add more. Once you have the feel of it, you can keep a constant stream of grains heading down the hopper into the mill to make your flour. You can also buy a small grain attachment that will feed the quinoa for you.

Alternatively, as Ewa suggests, you can grind the quinoa in small amounts in a spice mill or perhaps a coffee grinder.

Intrigued by the Secret Recipe Club? Find out more and join here.

9 Comments Filed Under: Breakfast, On The Table Tagged With: muffins, quinoa

Mango Coconut Muffins {Secret Recipe Club}

March 4, 2013 By Anne Simpson

This month’s Secret Recipe Club finds me in the middle of a move. As in, the kind where you pack up every blessed thing you own into a box and drag it across the country only to unpack it all moments later. Only in my case, we’re not quite moving across the country – just about an hour south of where we are now. So no big deal, right?!

Ha! I wish it was no big deal! I kept telling myself all month long, “You’d better make your SRC recipe and write up the blog post before you’re so crazy busy you don’t have time to do it!”. Wise words, yes? Sadly, I did not listen to my own wise words, and so ended up searching for a recipe on Edesia’s Notebook with only a few moments to spare… and not a lot in my pantry.

I found it humorous that the recipe I chose to make from Edesia’s Notebook was one that Lisa, the blogger, had found when she was searching for a fruity muffin recipe… but only had mangos to work with. Oddly enough, I, too, had a mango in my fridge despite the fact that my kitchen cupboards were getting rather bare due to our impending move. So Mango Muffins it was!

(If I’d had the ingredients on hand, I would have gone for one of her delicious sounding egg dishes – Butternut Garlic Quiche, Eggs Benedict Casserole, or Summer Vegetable Frittata. Or maybe her Breakfast Meatballs, which sound fan-tab-u-lous!)

I did not change the recipe significantly, but since I had some coconut ingredients on hand, and since coconut and mango were born for each other, I added a little coconut to the mix. Plus, I didn’t have any ginger, so I experimented with cinnamon and cardamom. Tropical deliciousness!

Recipe: Mango Coconut Muffins

Ingredients

1 3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/4 tsp. cardamom
1/2 cup coconut oil
1/2 cup raw sugar
1 egg
2 cups mango puree*
1/2 cup dried flaked coconut
1 tsp. vanilla

Instructions

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a bowl.
In a separate bowl, stir together the remaining ingredients.
Combine the dry and wet ingredients and stir just until moist; do not overstir.
Spoon the batter into a greased muffin tin and bake at 375F for 15-28 minutes.

*To Make Mango Puree: Wash and peel a mango. Slice the flesh off as close to the pit as you can. Blend or process until smooth. One large mango will probably be sufficient; I had a medium-sized mango and it wasn’t *quite* enough.

Find out how you can join the Secret Recipe Club here.

12 Comments Filed Under: Breakfast, On The Table Tagged With: muffins

Maple Cream Scones {Secret Recipe Club}

February 4, 2013 By Anne Simpson

Can you believe I have never made scones before? (Oh, wait. I take that back. I did make them once, about 5 or 6 years ago. As I recall, they were really quite good, but for some reason I have never made them since.)

Until just recently. I was inspired to give them a try again after browsing through PheMOMenon, my assignment for the Secret Recipe Club this month (If you’re a food blogger, find out how to join here – it’s so much fun to cook and bake from other blogs!). Holly, PheMOMenon herself, writes about her family and her kitchen adventures as she “conquers the world one recipe at a time”.

I had some trouble figuring out which of her recipes I wanted to conquer myself, so I pinned a few recipes to try later. Her Super Almond Granola is at the top of that to-try list, and I promise will be made in the very near future. Since I’ve been on a bit of a mug cake kick lately, I also want to try her Chocolate Mousse Mug Cake, which sounds divine and has only four ingredients! And these Cinnamon Roll Waffles look like they’d be great for a decadent weekend or day-off breakfast, don’t you think?

But what I actually made was her Maple Pecan Scones - I love the maple flavor, and I was interested in trying my hand at scones for the first time in years.

Unfortunately, my scones did not turn out very scone-like, but that was 100% completely my fault. Although I did fiddle with the ingredients, my biggest mistake was cramming the triangles into too small of a pan so that they smooshed together, making them look more like a coffee cake or something than actual scones. Next time, I’ll know, and will use a bigger pan! But otherwise, they turned out quite delicious in my opinion, and I’m going to be adding scones to my regular breakfast repertoire.

I used freshly ground white wheat flour, made in my WonderMill grain mill from soft white wheat berries, and you would never know these scones were made with whole grains. Delicious with a tender crumb… yum!

Recipe: Maple Cream Scones

Ingredients

2 cups freshly ground soft white wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 tsp cinnamon
3/4 cup cold butter
1 egg
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla
Cream (optional)
Raw sugar (optional)

Instructions

Whisk the dry ingredients together in a large bowl.
Chop the butter into small pieces, and cut it into the flour mixture using a pastry blender or a couple forks.
Combine the liquid ingredients into a smaller bowl or measuring cup and whisk together until the egg is blended. Pour into the dry ingredients and stir just until combined.
Dump the dough onto a lightly floured counter-top, and pat it into a circle about 8 inches across. Use a pizza cutter to cut it into 8 triangles.
Place the scones on a baking sheet, leaving plenty of room between each one to give room for rising and spreading (a couple inches).
Brush the scones with the cream, if desired, and sprinkle the raw sugar (if desired).
Bake at 350F for about 25 minutes, or until scones are golden on top.

6 Comments Filed Under: Bread, Breakfast, On The Table Tagged With: scones, secret recipe club

Quick & Easy Fish Fingers

January 27, 2013 By Anne Simpson

I don’t have a lot of fish recipes on this blog because, frankly, I didn’t really cook fish until about a year ago or so: Canned tuna and salmon were pretty much the extent of my fish-cooking repertoire. Also, since I didn’t really grow up eating a lot of fish, I hadn’t really developed a taste for it and honestly knew nothing about it.

But for the past year or more, I’ve been slowly learning more and more about fish and how to prepare it, and I’ve realized it’s a busy mama’s secret weapon for quick and easy – but healthy – meals. Fish fillets cook up so quickly no matter which method you choose and offer a lot of great nutritional benefits to boot. Currently, we eat fish once a week, and I’ve enjoyed trying many different recipes and experimenting with different cooking methods.

Typically, I buy the individually quick frozen wild-caught fish fillets because they are the most reasonably priced. I can typically get them for around $4 a pound, and many types of fish are available in this manner (tilapia, cod, whiting and perch, to name a few).

This particular recipe is one of my early experiments, and one that turned out perfectly. It was so simple and so yummy; my kind of recipe! I recommend using stone-ground non-GMO cornmeal for optimum nutrition.

Recipe: Cornmeal Crusted Fish Fingers

Ingredients

1 pound fish fillets (I used perch; probably cod or other fish would work just as well)
1/2 cup milk (any kind)
1/4 cup cornmeal
1 TBSP Old Bay seasoning
1 TBSP olive oil

Instructions

If the fillets are large, cut them into pieces about 1 1/2″ wide.
Pour the milk into a shallow bowl. Stir together the cornmeal and Old Bay in another shallow bowl. Heat the olive oil in a heavy pan (like cast iron) over medium heat on the stovetop.
Dip the fish fillets into the milk and then into the cornmeal.
Pan-fry the fillets in the pan over medium heat until the crust is lightly browned and crisped, about 5 minutes on each side (the timing varies with the thickness of the fillets; make sure your fish reaches 140F internally).

How do you like to cook fish?

Leave a Comment Filed Under: Dinner, Lunch, On The Table Tagged With: fish

Gluten-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free (And Delicious!) Bread

January 20, 2013 By Anne Simpson

I am so thankful I no longer need to fuss with these kinds of recipes unless I really want to. My Certain Little Someone is no longer allergic to wheat, and can tolerate eggs and milk when they’re baked into something. This doesn’t mean I’m going to completely abstain from using all those other grains in my baking and cooking … oh no! I learned a lot during those years and intend to continue including a variety of grains in our diet.

One recipe I came to rely on heavily when I could not use wheat, eggs, or dairy, was this fabulous bread recipe from Paula at Whole Intentions. Over the course of time, I adapted it slightly with a few changes of my own and my ~~lazy~~ simplified method of rising and baking. I’m sharing my adapted version today over at Baking Whole Grains. Enjoy!

5 Comments Filed Under: Bread, On The Table Tagged With: allergen-free

Super Fast and Simple Football Cake

January 14, 2013 By Anne Simpson

I think it’s kinda funny that I am writing a Super Bowl post, because I have absolutely no interest in the Super Bowl. Not even this year, when the local team actually has a shot at the big game. The honest to goodness truth is that I could care less about football.

In fact, this cake has nothing to do with the Super Bowl. I actually made it for Tiger Cub’s second birthday a couple weeks ago, and am just now getting around to posting it, but I figured that was pretty good timing with the Super Bowl only a few weeks away. Around here, football fever is reaching an all-time high as the local fans get their hopes up, so it seems very fitting all around.

If, like me, the Super Bowl is not your thing, then perhaps you could find another use for this fun and simple cake. Maybe a child’s birthday? Father’s day? Little boy baby shower? Whatever the case, football is a fun theme and a super easy cake to make.

Trust me. I don’t do hard cakes. This is pretty much as easy as they come.

The Cake

My standard birthday cake recipe hitherto has been one variation or another of the Wacky Cake because it doesn’t require eggs or butter. Up until recently, The Boys were allergic to those things, so I avoided them. My favorite version is the Mocha Wacky Cake - just double the baking time for this cake. If you prefer not to have a mocha flavor, just use water instead of the coffee.

But really, you can use whatever chocolate cake recipe you want. The more important thing is how you bake it.

To make the football shape:

Bake your cake recipe in 2 round pans.
When the cakes are removed from the pans and completely cooled, cut a 1″ wide strip out of the middle of each layer so that you have 4 half circles.
Slide two half circles together until they meet to form the bottom layer.
Frost the bottom layer liberally, then top with the remaining two half circles.
Voila! You have just made a football-shaped cake!

Told ya it was easy.

The Frosting

The frosting is also easy because you do not have to fool with food coloring. Because, as Matthew McConaughey said so eloquently in The Wedding Planner, “Chocolate’s already brown.” Simply add a tablespoon of cocoa powder to the frosting recipe found here (or use your own favorite chocolate frosting) after you reserve about 1/4 cup of frosting for the laces.

Cover the cake in a thin layer of frosting to seal in the crumbs. Allow it to set until it’s firm to the touch. Then fill a decorator’s bag with your frosting, fitted with a star tip. If you’ve never piped stars before, here’s a video I found that illustrates the process:

Pipe stars to cover the top of the cake. If you’re not into stars (although I think they give a nice professional finished look to the cake), just swirl the frosting on with a knife. You can frost the sides, too, if you want. I only didn’t because I was running out of time, but next time I probably would.

Once the football is covered with chocolate frosting, take the reserved plain frosting and place it in a decorator’s bag with the round tip. Pipe the lacing onto the top of the football.

The Cake Balls

Now you know I can’t bear for any food to go to waste. Remember those strips of cake cut out of the middle of the circles? There was no way I was going to throw away that deliciousness. Nope! I turned it into cake balls.

You can do the same: all you need is a little bit extra frosting and some chocolate chips to melt. Here’s the process.

Simply crumble the strips of cake into a bowl, then stir in frosting until you have a mixture that can be formed into balls. (You should get about a dozen.)
Place the balls on a cookie sheet and freeze until firm.
Melt 1 cup of chocolate chips with 1 TBSP of palm shortening (or other oil) over low heat until smooth.
Dip the frozen balls into the melted chocolate and then place on a sheet of wax paper to set.

If I’d had time, I would have experimented with piping helmet details onto the balls with white chocolate or frosting to turn them into little mini football helmets, but I ran out of time. If you give that a try, let me know! And take a picture so I can see. I think it would be super cute!

So there you have it… a super simple football cake for the Super Bowl, or your next birthday party. Fun and easy – I love it!

How do you feel about the Super Bowl?

3 Comments Filed Under: Celebrations, Dessert, On The Table Tagged With: birthday, super bowl

Toasty Salmon Melts

January 13, 2013 By Anne Simpson

I’m always looking for great recipes that make use of canned salmon because it’s an inexpensive way to incorporate more of that healthy wild-caught fish into our diets. I don’t really love canned salmon, to be honest, but along the way I’ve discovered some great ways to cook it that are truly delicious. Our whole family enjoys eating fish, which I love!

I stumbled across this recipe for grilled salmon and cheese when searching for more canned salmon inspiration. I changed it up a little bit and turned it into these hot and toasty open-faced sandwiches that are great for lunch or dinner, served with a green salad and/or some fresh fruit. Easy, quick, and healthy. (There’s a reason my blog used to be called Quick and Easy Cheap and Healthy!)

Toasty Salmon Melts

Ingredients

8 slices whole grain sourdough bread
1 14.5oz can salmon, drained
1 D’Anjou pear, grated or finely chopped
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 tsp. dried dill weed
salt & pepper to taste

Instructions

Set the slices of bread on a stone or cookie sheet.
Remove the skin and bones from the salmon, if desired. Stir in remaining ingredients.
Scoop a generous spoonful of the mixture onto each slice of bread, and spread it to the edges in an even layer.
Bake at 400F for 5-10 minutes, or until bread is toasty and cheese is melty.

You could also eat this fresh and raw, without baking, but please don’t tell me if you do. Blech.

What’s your favorite way to prepare canned salmon?

13 Comments Filed Under: Dinner, Lunch, On The Table Tagged With: fish, salmon, sandwiches

An Easy Pasta Side Dish {Secret Recipe Club}

January 7, 2013 By Anne Simpson

“Grumpy’s Honeybunch” , aka Shelby, writes about her life and the people she loves, and those subjects often revolve around food. Her extensive collection of recipes includes quite a few that caught my eye, including Sour Cream & Chive Potato Bites, Baked Pumpkin Doughnuts, and her Mom’s Cheese Ball (I love family recipes!).

I was in need of a simple side dish for dinner and was thinking that pasta would work nicely, so I decided to make her Pasta with Garlic and Oil, originally by Mark Bittman, one of my faves. Whenever I typically make a simple pasta side dish, I just drizzle it with olive oil and add a few herbs, but adding the garlic takes it to a new level of deliciousness that’s elegant enough for guests yet retains its simplicity. I took out the chili peppers because we don’t eat those around here, but I kept with her idea of basil because I love basil! I wish I hadmore fresh basil on hand, because nothing beats fresh basil, but I supplemented my little bit of (frozen) fresh basil with some dried. It was still delicious, but the fresh basil would take it over the top!

Pasta with Garlic, Herbs and Olive Oil

Ingredients

1 pound pasta, cooked
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
pinch of salt
1/3 cup fresh basil, or 1 TBSP dried basil

Instructions

Heat the oil and garlic with a pinch of salt in a pan over medium-low heat until the garlic is golden, shaking the pan gently to stir as necessary.
Pour the garlic sauce over the noodles, adding extra oil or reserved water from cooking the pasta if it’s dry. Add basil, salt and pepper to taste, and serve.

The Secret Recipe Club is a great way to find new blogs and bloggy friends… and of course, some pretty awesome recipes! Find out how to join here.

7 Comments Filed Under: On The Table, Sides Tagged With: pasta, secret recipe club

Roasted Broccoli with Parmesan and Stuff {Secret Recipe Club}

Roasted Broccoli with Parmesan and Stuff

Ingredients

Instructions

Learn How to Make a Simple Sourdough Bread

Strawberry Quinoa Muffins {Secret Recipe Club}

Strawberry Quinoa Muffins

Ingredients

Instructions

Mango Coconut Muffins {Secret Recipe Club}

Recipe: Mango Coconut Muffins

Ingredients

Instructions

Maple Cream Scones {Secret Recipe Club}

Recipe: Maple Cream Scones

Ingredients

Instructions

Quick & Easy Fish Fingers

Recipe: Cornmeal Crusted Fish Fingers

Ingredients

Instructions

Gluten-Free, Egg-Free, Dairy-Free (And Delicious!) Bread

Super Fast and Simple Football Cake

The Cake

The Frosting

The Cake Balls

Toasty Salmon Melts

Toasty Salmon Melts

Ingredients

Instructions

An Easy Pasta Side Dish {Secret Recipe Club}

Pasta with Garlic, Herbs and Olive Oil

Ingredients

Instructions

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