What a week it’s been! I hope you had a wonderful and relaxing holiday weekend, like we did.

It’s time to get back to blogging about one of my most favorite adventures: cooking.

I grew up watching my parents cook and sneaking tastes here and there but never really had much opportunity to cook for myself. During college I lived in a sorority and when my meals weren’t cooked by our chef, they were provided by Pizza Ragazzi. Everyone was so worried about me cooking for myself that my college boyfriend even got me a cookbook when I graduated: “Help! My apartment has a kitchen!”  Thankfully I was able to soak up a lot more than everyone thought while I was watching cooking happen and fared pretty well for myself. Since then I’ve become quite the chef and married quite the chef, making dinner at our house a delicious production.

Over the years I’ve had some fun with my cooking. In 2011, I took a photo of my dinner each night and posted it to Facebook. This was two-fold. My day job deals with social media and this helped me familiarize myself with their ongoing changes, and it helped me eat more well-balanced dinners. I was amazed how critical my friends are of my meals and by how much pizza we ate over the year.

In 2012, we chose an ingredient each week to ‘feature’ in our meals. It was surprisingly fun and challenging and I discovered some great recipe databases. What is my most favorite database? Williams-Sonoma, hands down. We had at least one Williams-Sonoma-inspired meal each week and only came across two so-so recipes. I highly recommend you check it out! Our other favorites include: Cooking Light, Smitten Kitchen, Whole Foods and PCC.

Our most adventurous meals seem to involve pasta. We received the Kitchen Aid pasta attachments for the wedding and we love making pasta from scratch. (We recently even made some gluten free pasta that I’ll share soon…) We’ve made black-pepper fettuccine, beet lasagna (with pink noodles!) and our most favorite: pear, prosciutto and pecorino ravioli.  Since it is our favorite, here are instructions on how to make it.  If this is your first time making ravioli, be sure to give yourself all afternoon to complete.

Here is our Pear, Prosciutto and Pecorino ravioli recipe: (adapted from Williams-Sonoma)

Filling

• 1 lb. Bartlett pears chunks (slightly under-ripe, we kept the skins on)
• 8 oz. Pecorino Toscano cheese
• 10 slices of prosciutto
• 1/2 c. rosemary pecorino
• Salt and freshly ground pepper, to taste

Put all ingredients in the blender and blend into small chopped chunks. Strain this mix to remove any excess water.

Pasta (also from Williams-Sonoma! Who would’ve guessed!?)

• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup semolina flour
• 1 tsp. salt
• 1 Tbs. olive oil
• 4 eggs
• 2 Tbs. water, plus more as needed

Follow the Williams-Sonoma recipe. We simplify it a bit: mix them all together and then let them sit for 20 minutes. Add extra water if necessary. Then run it through the Kitchen Aid roller attachment, getting it down to 4 or 5, thin, but not too thin.

Raviolis

Take the rolled out pasta and plunk down a spoonful of the filling. Each ravioli will be about two inches across. We put down about four plunks of filling across the pasta sheet and then folded the other side over on to the filling (example in above photo). We then wetted the edges (like glue) and used a fork to crimp them together. Continue until all of the filling and pasta are used up.

Put on a pot of water to boil. Also brown 3 tablespoons of butter in a little fry pan. Simmer this until while the raviolis cook.

Once the raviolis are done, throw them in a pot of boiling water for three minutes — just long enough to melt the cheese and cook the pasta. Coat the raviolis in the browned butter and serve! Keep doing this in batches until the raviolis are complete. Add delicious optional toppings of toasted hazelnuts or parsley to add to it! And enjoy!!

Check back here often for more recipes!

Our first special meal of the week included quinoa pasta in a homemade red meat sauce with my favorite vegetable, brussel sprouts.

The quinoa pasta is available at most healthy food stores, we got this box at Whole Foods. I have several friends who are gluten intolerant and quinoa pasta is one of their favorite alternatives to semolina pastas.

For the tomato sauce, I stuck with my typical recipe which includes: diced tomatoes, onions, Italian seasonings, lots of garlic, salt and pepper, and Italian sausage flavored ground turkey.  Want the secret ingredient? I also throw in some balsamic vinegar.

Here is the outcome:

Quinoa pasta, red sauce and brussel sprouts

Up this week: quinoa!

A little information about quinoa from Wikipedia:

Raw quinoa

Quinoa has a light, fluffy texture when cooked, and its mild, slightly nutty flavor makes it an alternative to white rice or couscous.

Most boxed/pre-packaged quinoa has already been pre-rinsed for convenience, and cooking instructions therefore suggest only a brief rinse before cooking, if at all. If quinoa has not been pre-rinsed, the first step is to remove the saponins, a process that requires either soaking the grain in water for a few hours, then changing the water and resoaking, or rinsing the quinoa in ample running water for several minutes in either a fine strainer or a cheesecloth. Removal of the saponin helps with digestion; the soapy nature of the compound makes it act as a laxative.

One cooking method is to treat quinoa much like rice, bringing two cups (or less) of water to a boil with one cup of grain, covering at a low simmer and cooking for 10–15 minutes or until the germ separates from the seed. The cooked germ looks like a tiny curl and should have a slight bite to it (like al dente pasta). As an alternative, one can use a rice cooker to prepare quinoa, treating it just like white rice (for both cooking cycle and water amounts).

Vegetables and seasonings can also be added to make a wide range of dishes. Chicken or vegetable stock can be substituted for water during cooking, adding flavor. It is also suited to vegetable pilafs, complementing bitter greens like kale.

Quinoa can serve as a high-protein breakfast food mixed with honey, almonds, or berries; it is also sold as a dry product, much like corn flakes. Quinoa flour can be used in wheat-free and gluten-free baking.

Quinoa may be germinated in its raw form to boost its nutritional value. Germination activates its natural enzymes and multiplies its vitamin content.[22] In fact, quinoa has a notably short germination period: Only 2–4 hours resting in a glass of clean water is enough to make it sprout and release gases, as opposed to, e.g., 12 hours with wheat.[citation needed] This process, besides its nutritional enhancements, softens the grains, making them suitable to be added to salads and other cold foods.

We have some great recipes planned! Check back soon!

We did it. We found a recipe that incorporated cookies into dinner.  (Brandon was in heaven!)

First, we bought a box of Do-Si-Do peanut butter creme cookies.  I wasn’t familiar with Do-Si-Dos, but they were very good. (Typically I don’t deviate from Thin Mints and Tagalongs.)

First you take the cookies…

Next, we smashed the whole box of cookies into little pieces to make them reminiscent of crushed peanuts:

Is that peanuts? Nope! It’s cookies!!

We cooked the chicken per the recipe along with some rice noodles and broccoli.  All in all, very delicious and the perfect excuse for eating cookies with your dinner!

For the full recipe, visit here. Little Brownie Bakers have lots of great Girl Scout Cookie recipes here. Enjoy and get ready for next year’s Girl Scout cookies!

Finished product

Our second “meal” was an original and very basic concoction.  I just love pre-made cake mix, so I bought another box and made some delicious cupcakes.

Thin Mint Cupcakes

I made the mix per the instructions, BUT, I added nearly the whole box of crushed Thin Mint cookies and baked some over-sized cupcakes.  (My new favorite size of cupcake.)

Mallet + Box of Thin Mints =

= Lots of Thin Mint bits!

The frosting was pretty basic– I was lazy and bought a pre-made container of vanilla frosting.  To pretend like I’m not as lazy as I really am, I added some green gel frosting (I love gel frosting) and my easy frosting suddenly looked “mint” and so well-planned. (I could have added a mint extract, but again with the laziness.)

Jug of frosting + amazing gel frosting = pretend mint frosting

Once the cupcakes cooled, I frosted them with the “mint” frosting and then sprinkled the remaining Thin Mint bits on top.

My friend Krissie taught me the perfect way to "sprinkle" toppings on cupcakes.

The end result: Amazing!  Enjoy.

Thin Mint Cupcakes

Man oh man were these good!  I discovered new favorite bloggers Kevin & Amanda who had this wonderfully delicious and oh-so-bad for you Tagalong Cake Bar recipe.

Oooey, gooey deliciousness!

First, gather your ingredients: 1 box of cake mix, 1 stick of butter, 1 egg, 1 can of condensed milk, 1 bag of milk chocolate chips, peanut butter and 1 box of Tagalong Girl Scout cookies.

Mix the cake mix, egg and butter and pat into a foiled pan.  Cover the “crust” with nearly the entire bag of milk chocolate chips.  Next, mix the condensed milk and peanut butter and spread it out evenly on the crust and chocolate chips.  At this point the cake bars are deliciously gooey, but you’re not done yet! Chop up the box of Girl Scout Tagalongs and add them to top of the crust.  Throw them in the oven and VOILA! the most delicious dessert you’ve ever had in your life.

A sure-fire way to make friends during Girl Scout Cookie season

While there isn’t a calorie count on Kevin & Amanda’s recipe, this has got to be so, so bad for you, so eat sparingly and get them out of the house or you’ll eat them all.  Your co-workers will LOVE you!

Week 12: Girl Scout cookies!!

I bet I know what you’re thinking: Girl Scout cookies for an ingredient?! Aren’t they just a delicious dessert on their own? Indeed they are.  BUT they also make desserts even more delicious and it turns out they have some other uses too!  We had a great time experimenting with cookies as an ingredient and I’m looking forward to sharing our experiences and recipes!

Two thousand twelve is “the year of the girl” and here is some history about the Girl Scout cookie:

Girl Scout Cookies are a familiar part of American culture. For more than 80 years, Girl Scouts, with the enthusiastic support of their families, have helped ensure the success of local Girl Scout Cookie activities. From its earliest beginnings to its current popularity, the sale of cookies has helped Girl Scouts have fun, develop valuable life skills and make the world a better place by helping to support Girl Scouting in their communities. 

There are many different kinds of cookies and this week we’ll be “cooking” with Tagalongs, Thin mints and Do-si-dos.  Hopefully you have some leftover cookies to try these for yourself!

It’s been a really, really long time since I’ve posted and I’m very sorry!

Times have been pretty busy around Megan’s Island and we have been eating our special ingredients, although sometimes not as many featured meals as we had hoped. So, without further ado, here is our first and only tofu meal of the week.  (Not to worry, Brandon was out of town, so I ate this meal for lunch over the entire week.)

Fried tofu. Delicious, delicious fried tofu.

Brandon claims that my fried tofu is the best he’s ever had, which is quite the compliment.  The key is patience — and lots of garlic salt and olive oil.  Pan fry over medium/medium-high heat, stirring regularly until they get a slightly firm fried shell.  I’d say it takes about 20-30 minutes total.  When the tofu is to your desired crispiness, pour it out over a paper towel-covered plate and let the tofu cool and extra oil drain.

I added some sauces and veggies and ended up with this deliciousness:

Tofu stir fry