Monthly Archives: April 2012

Cheesy Garlic Bread Dunkers + Video

Pardon my grammar, but it don’t get no better than buttery, garlicky bread covered in gooey cheese. That kind of food is out to steal your heart. Often times, you’ll pop into your favorite pizza place with the full intention of eating pizza, only to see cheesy garlic bread on the menu and wind up eating a gazillion slices of that. Then the pizza comes and you’re like, “Oh right…pizza.”

I’ve got good news for you: it is crazy easy to indulge in delicious cheesy garlic bread at home. In fact, my Cheesy Garlic Bread Dunkers need only 5 ingredients. They come together in minutes, and they taste just like the ones from the pizzeria.

Actually, that’s a lie. Mine taste way better. There’s no skimping on toppings or using poor-quality ingredients here. I’ve got these babies covered in garlic, 2 kinds of cheese, and butter. The bread is crusty and buttery; the cheese is perfectly stringy. Restaurants just can’t compare.

These dunkers are so much fun to eat. They’re sliced into perfectly sized strips so you can dunk ‘em in marinara sauce. It’s like a cheesy-pizza-garlic bread party, and you do not want to pass up this invite.

You probably have most of the ingredients on hand right now! Don’t wait a second longer. It’s time to get dunking!

A Few Tips Before You Get Cooking:

  1. See just how quick and easy this bread is to make in my video above. My furry friend Reese joins us in the kitchen today to do some taste-testing. Even she loves this stuff!
  2. Don’t like oregano? Try parsley or basil instead.
  3. I found my pizza crust in the refrigerated section of my grocery store. It’s made by a local pizza company, Spano’s. You want to find something similar, which I’m sure your grocery store will have as well. The crust should be thick and fluffy, like all good garlic bread is. If all else fails, gets some good focaccia or another thick bread.
  4. Store bought marinara sauce is just fine for dipping. But feel free to make some homemade if you like!
  5. You can use all mozzarella instead of the mozzarella-cheddar mix.

Cheesy Garlic Bread Dunkers
By The Smart Cookie Cook

Ingredients:

  • 1 thick rectangular pizza crust, store-bought or homemade (if you can’t find this, use store-bought dough and roll it thick, or you can use focaccia)
  • 3/4 stick of butter (6 tablespoons), melted
  • 1 1/2 tsp. minced garlic
  • 2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 2 tsp. chopped fresh oregano
  • marinara sauce, for dunking

Directions:

  1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Place the crust on a baking sheet and bake for 5-8 minutes, or until hot and set but not yet browned.
  2. Remove the crust from the oven, but leave the oven on. Use a pastry brush to evenly spread the butter over the crust. Do the same with the garlic. Sprinkle cheese evenly over top and bake for 10-15 minutes, or until cheese is melted and bubbly and the crust is golden brown.
  3. Top with fresh oregano and cut into sticks. Serve with marinara sauce.

Eggplant Romesco Bake

Pasta pasta pasta pasta.

That’s my brain talking. Obnoxious right? Yeah, just try and block that out, I dare you. Sometimes, when my brain starts craving something, the best thing to do is to just give in.

“Okay,” I say. “You win.”

I can’t really blame my body for craving pasta, I mean, it’s starchy and comforting. This time around, my cravings targeted a specific recipe, one I had seen on Serious Eats a few days ago: Eggplant Romesco. I had never heard of Romesco before, a sauce traditionally made with tomatoes, nuts, olive oil, onions, and pepper. I was intrigued by all the pureed veggies in the sauce. It wasn’t just bland tomatoes, but a fresh assortment of veggies, with eggplant included. My only issue with the recipe was the lack of cheese, a problem I could easily resolve. Hence how the original recipe got morphed into an Eggplant Romesco Bake.

This is a wonderful pasta dish if you’re looking to try something besides the same old boring marinara. The sauce is a symphonic collaboration of eggplant, red peppers, san marzano tomatoes, garlic, and onions. But that’s not all, my friends. This sauce also has toasted almonds and sourdough bread pureed in as well, adding this wonderfully rich and unique texture, as well as great flavor. It tastes like nothing you’ve had before, with a thick and hearty consistency that will fill you up good. There is such abundant flavor and depth that you’ll never want plain old marinara again.

Did I mention I topped the whole thing with fresh mozzarella cheese and bake it until gooey and bubbly? Now that takes this pasta over the top. It’s total delicious starchy decadence, comfort food at its finest. However, it’s also bursting with nutrients from all those veggies and almonds. It’s a great way to get picky eaters to eat their veggies!

A Few Tips Before You Get Cooking:

  1. Don’t like peppers? Substitute more tomatoes instead.
  2. If you have a tiny food processor, you’ll have to make the sauce in batches. However, I imagine an immersion blender might do the trick instead.
  3. You can easily skip baking it and serve it as is with some grated parmesan instead of the mozzarella. Or, if you still want it warm, just let it sit over medium heat on the stove for a few minutes.
  4. Fresh herbs. Fresh garlic. No substitutions!

Eggplant Romesco Bake
Adapted from Serious Eats

Ingredients

  • 1 large eggplant, unpeeled, cut in large dice
  • 1 medium red bell pepper, cut in large dice
  • 1/2 medium onion, quartered
  • 3 garlic cloves, peeled
  • 2 tbsp. + 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil, divided, plus additional for drizzling
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • ½ tsp. red pepper flakes
  • 1 (28-ounce) can San Marzano Tomatoes
  • ½ cup tomato sauce (from a can)
  • 1/3 cup whole almonds
  • 1 slice sourdough bread
  • 1 pound multigrain penne
  • 8 oz. fresh mozzarella cheese, sliced
  • 1 tbsp. minced fresh Italian parsley
  • grated parmesan cheese, for serving

Procedures

  1. Bring a large pot of salted water to boil over high heat. Cook the penne until al dente. Drain and return to pot. Set aside.
  2. Preheat the oven to 400°F. Spray a 3-quart casserole dish with nonstick spray. Set aside.
  3. Place the eggplant, bell pepper, onion, and garlic on a rimmed baking sheet. Drizzle with 2 tablespoons of the oil, 1 teaspoon salt, and 1/2 teaspoon black pepper. Rub the seasonings in with your fingers. Spread the vegetables in a single layer.
  4. Dump the tomatoes and their juices in a medium baking dish. Set both the baking sheet and the baking dish on separate oven racks and roast until the eggplant and peppers have browned, about 30 minutes, stirring everything twice. Remove everything from the oven and reduce the temperature to 350°F.
  5. Allow the eggplant mixture to cool for 5 minutes, then scrape into the bowl of a food processor fitted with the metal blade. Place the almonds and the bread on the same baking sheet and brush the bread on both sides with the remaining olive oil. Toast in the oven, flipping the bread halfway through, about 8 minutes total. Break the bread into pieces.
  6. Let the bread and nuts cool for five minutes. Then add the nuts, bread, and tomatoes with any residual juices to the food processor. Add the tomato sauce and purée until almost smooth. Pour in olive oil, a tablespoon at a time, and continue pureeing until you reach desired consistency. Add the sauce to the pot with the pasta and stir until well-combined. Pour into the casserole dish and cover with cheese slices (you may use more or less depending on your preference). Sprinkle with parsley and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until cheese is melted and sauce is bubbly. Serve with parmesan cheese.

Pizza Burger Pita

Pizza is my lifeline.

I need it; I crave it. I inhale that sliced stuff at least once a week. I don’t know what is about pizza, but it calls to me. Pizza, I love you.

…Except for when pizza “calls to me” on days when I’m eating healthy. Then we’re not friends, Pizza. You see, Friday nights are typically reserved for pizza in the Smart Cookie household. So when it’s only Tuesday, and the thought of pizza starts wafting through my impressionable brain, I lose my cookies.

One of my favorite ways to show those cravings who’s boss is with my Light English Muffin Pizzas for under 200 calories. SO GOOD. However, I often forget to buy English muffins at the grocery store, and then I’m up the creek without a paddle.

Luckily, I stumbled upon a new, possibly even more delicious way to satisfy those nasty pre-pizza night cravings: The Pizza Burger Pita. I must credit this brilliant meal to my mother, who dreamed it up. I guess I should pass a little credit to my sister as well, since it was seeing her actually make my mother’s creation that prompted me to try one as well. Thank who you want to thank for this Pizza Burger Pita. All I know is, it’s delicious.

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Chocolate-Covered Pretzel Peanut Butter Brownie Parfaits

It’s a mouthful, I know.

Let me break this down for you.

Chocolate-covered pretzels + peanut butter mousse + brownie chunks = parfait paradise.

And while we’re at it, let’s top it with some fresh whipped cream, just because we can.

There are so many delicious aspects at work here that it’s almost too much for your taste buds to handle. Almost. It’s like that crazy insane party that was so mind-blowing you barely survived, but in the aftermath you’re just like, “…whoa.”

All the flavors come together in a way that equates to sweet and salty wonderment. Salty pretzels, meet sweet chocolate. Salty peanut butter, meet sweet brownies. Oh, preztels, have you met brownies? Chocolate, have you met peanut butter? The flavors are mingling like socialites at a cocktail party, and everybody is friends tonight.

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Fudgy Cocoa Brownies + The Great Brownie Debate

Where do you stand in The Great Brownie Debate? Are you Pro-Fudgy or Pro-Cakey?

Much like chocolate chip cookies, everyone has their own idea on what makes a perfect brownie. There are all kinds of characteristics that come into play, but Fudgy and Cakey are the two major headings that everything else falls under. A brownie can be dense, rich, and fudge-like or it can be light and cake-like. In some instances, a brownie may even fall somewhere in between.

Fudgy has many followers, but there are those who remain true to Cakey as well. People are passionate about their brownie texture. Trying to convert a Fudgy fan to Cakey would be like trying to change a Democrat to a Republican or vise versa.

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SC Chatter: Healthy Eating & How Not to Hate Your Life (Video)

Last week, on my Facebook Page, I asked what you wanted to chat about in the next Smart Cookie Chatter Video. The votes came in, and you were pining for some healthy eating tips. Who would I be to deny my little cookies? This week’s video features a good chat about healthy eating, but more importantly, we’re talking about how not to hate your life while eating healthy. Let’s be honest, it can be hard sometimes.

Join me for the chat session below. I’ve got tips, favorite healthy products, advice, and more!

Recipes in this video:

Zesty Black Bean Tacos
Kale & Feta Veggie Burger Wrap
Kickin’ Veggie Burger Wrap

Find more healthy recipes over at the Healthy Cookie Page!

Easy Pesto Garlic Knots

You know what’s a sign of a good pizzeria? Good garlic knots. What’s that? You don’t sell garlic knots? Please excuse me while I take my business elsewhere.

In case you’re unfamiliar with garlic knots, imagine the love child of breadsticks and garlic bread. Now imagine that tied up in a cute little ball, and you’ve got yourself a garlic knot. When done right, they are chewy, tender, and bursting with garlic flavor. It’s just about impossible to stop at one. What’s really fun is unwinding the knot as you eat. I just love deconstructing my food!

Now, when you look at these whimsical twisted bites, you might assume they’d be a pain in the you-know-what to make at home. On the contrary, I’ve got a super simple version that you can make in a matter of minutes, but tastes fresh from the pizzeria. My Pesto Garlic Knots are the easiest Italian treat you can make. So before you pick up the phone and call the pizzeria, give these a try instead!

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Tropical Fruit Smoothie + Light Whipped Cream (Double Recipe Alert!)

Spring/Summer is slinking in slowly to Central New York. Here and there, we get a burst of beautiful days where we can *gasp* actually see the sun and I don’t need a coat to go outside. Just the other day, it reached 90 degrees. When those days come along and I step outside for the first time that day, I feel like a vampire, cringing away from the sun like, “SUN?? What is that thing?” Then I hiss, bearing my fangs and pulling my cloak over my head as I retreat inside.

Wait…scratch that last part.

The problem is, when we get just a handful of these days, the weather then reverts to rain and 40 degrees for the next 2 weeks. Stop teasing me, Spring. Let’s get the ball rolling for real here!

Now, the arrival of warmth and sunlight is the signal for all the restaurants to break out their arsenal of frozen drinks: iced coffee, iced tea, lemonade, smoothies, slushies, frozen hot chocolate…the list goes on and on. I love a good cool concoction, but there are two major flaws when it comes to buying them from a restaurant or fast food chain: one, they’re vastly overpriced and two, they’re packed with unnatural, disturbing ingredients (not to mention gobs of calories).

Never fear. When your body is asking for something cool and thirsty quenching, there’s an easy solution: make your own frozen drink!

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For the Picky Eaters: Brussels Sprout Gratin

I don’t care how much you hate brussels sprouts.

I don’t care if you cringe with repulsion at the mention of the leafy little spheres.

You WILL love this gratin. Period. End of story.

Now, I have no beef with brussels sprouts. In fact, I was one of those kids who liked them. But that doesn’t make me biased because I know why people don’t like them. They have a distinct flavor that doesn’t always vibe with people (not to mention some people just don’t like vegetables). However, the sprouts in this gratin are not merely disguised like in some dishes. On the contrary, they are completely transformed, morphed into something better. In fact, don’t even tell a sprout hater that they’re eating brussel sprouts. They’ll never know, sprout’s honor (Get it? Like scout’s honor!).

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Personal Spinach-Bean Pesto Pizza

Beans don’t get the credit they deserve. They’re underdogs, often forgotten and underestimated. People think beans are boring, failing to see them as the blank canvases they truly are. But contrary to popular believe, beans are a super food. They’re delicious, nutritious, and incredibly versatile. No matter how you make ‘em, beans are delicious.

So what do you do with the little guys? The better question is what don’t you do with them? There are so many delicious beanibilities (bean possibilities) from Ultimate Vegetarian Tacos to Kale & Bean Soup to Cheddar Jack Bean Dip. Beans are also great for veggie burgers, salad toppers, nachos, and more. Did you know you can even use ‘em in pesto?

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