Torianna's Corner

In this, my second “Tasty Tuesdays Twofer” post ever, I am going to focus on recipes suitable for a celebration of St. Patrick’s Day, which just happens to be TODAY! Since I’ve already featured one of the things that shout “St. Patrick’s Day!” to me (Shamrock Shakes) and an Irish dessert in previous “Tasty Tuesdays” recipes, I am going to feature a (portable) Irish main course recipe along with a side dish that uses a main ingredient that I almost always have on hand. Without further ado, here’s this month’s “twofer” of recipes…

Irish Beef Hand Pies

This St. Patrick’s Day, tuck the makings of traditional beef-and-potato stew into flaky hand pies you can bake straight from the freezer.

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon vegetable oil
• 1/4 head green cabbage, shredded
• 1/2 pound red potatoes, scrubbed and diced
• 1 pound ground beef sirloin
• 3 Tablespoons tomato paste
• 1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
• coarse salt and ground pepper
• all-purpose flour, for rolling
• 2 pie crusts (9 inches each), homemade or store-bought

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. In a medium saucepan, heat oil over medium heat; add cabbage and potatoes. Cook until beginning to brown, 7 to 9 minutes. Add beef; cook, breaking up meat with a spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Stir in tomato paste, Worcestershire sauce, thyme, and 1 cup water. Cover, and cook until potatoes are tender, about 15 minutes. Lightly mash mixture with a fork. Season with salt and pepper. Let cool completely.
2. On a lightly floured work surface, roll each crust into a 14-inch square; cut each into 4 equal squares. Place 1/2 cup filling on one half of each square, leaving a 1/2-inch border around the filling. Brush borders with water; fold dough over filling to enclose. Crimp edges with a fork to seal. With a paring knife or scissors, cut 3 small vents in each.
3. Transfer pies to 2 foil-lined rimmed baking sheets; bake until golden brown, 10 to 12 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through.
4. To Bake From Frozen: Proceed with step 3, increasing baking time to 28 to 30 minutes.

Notes

• Some of the reviewers of this recipe mentioned that they added such things as onion, corn, garlic, carrots, smoked paprika, and celery seed, so I think I’ll probably add most of these, excluding the smoked paprika since I don’t have any of that.
• While I was composing this post, I remembered that I’ve got a round crimping tool that I purchased decades ago from somebody’s “Pampered Chef” party (Have any memories of these that you’d like to share?), thinking that I’d be making LOTS of “hand pies” in the future. So… Instead of making these Irish Beef Hand Pies as directed, I think I’m going to start playing with my “newly remembered” crimper instead. Heck, I might even attempt to make some “apple pie” hand pies for dessert — using the same crimper tool. Only time will tell…

The second recipe in this month’s “Tasty Tuesdays Twofers” uses, as I mentioned earlier, and ingredient that I always seem to have on hand (since it tends to last a LONG time in the fridge): CABBAGE. I know that cabbage is another of those “love it or hate it” ingredients, but I suspect that this recipe might change your mind if you’r a “cabbage hater”.

Roasted Cabbage Wedges

This easy recipe is our favorite way to cook cabbage. Quick to prepare and easy to love these baked cabbage rounds will surely become a regular at your dinner table. It’s a dish that tempts vegetable haters and converts them into cabbage fans, and it’s nothing like the boiled or sauteed cabbage they might have tried before. And these roasted cabbage wedges won’t create the cabbage smells that can permeate your kitchen and turn off picky eaters.

Each piece has a crispy exterior and a tender interior. A healthy and easy side dish, our simple preparation is vegan, made with just four ingredients: green cabbage, olive oil, salt and either caraway or fennel seeds.

Why We Love Cabbage

Cabbage is one of the most versatile vegetables around. Raw, cabbage is earthy and crisp with a subtle pepperiness. Braised, it becomes tender, supple, and deliciously sweet. And when roasted — our favorite preparation of all — it’s crispy and golden on the outside, and tender inside, with a mild flavor that pairs with just about anything.

The key is to use a very hot oven, which helps the leaves to soften and brown before the natural sulfuric compounds in the cabbage break down. Those compounds, present in over-cooked cabbage, are responsible for the often pungent smell that gives this brassica its bad rap, so keep an eye on the clock and pull the cabbage out when it’s tender and golden but not mush and overly soft.

How to Buy, Store, and Prep Cabbage

Cabbage is available in grocery stores year round. Its peak season starts in the fall and runs through the winter — that’s when you’ll find it at farm stands and farmers markets. When buying cabbage, look for a shiny head with tightly packed, but not wilted leaves. The cabbage should feel heavy for its size.

Storing

Cabbage is a hardy vegetable and keeps well. Do not cut or wash the cabbage until you are ready to use it — doing so will prolong the life of your cabbage. A whole head stored in a reusable produce bag or plastic bag in the crisper drawer of your refrigerator will last for as long as two months. A partial head of cabbage should be tightly wrapped in plastic wrap and will last about three days in the crisper.

Prep

To prep, remove the loose outer leaves and rinse the head of cabbage with water. Use a sharp chef’s knife to cut the cabbage into rounds.

What to Serve With Roasted Cabbage

Our roasted cabbage rounds are a versatile side dish and pair well with lots of different entrees. Try pairing them with: pork chops, baked fish, grilled chicken, brisket, and pierogi. They could also be served as a main course for a vegan dinner with rice and a couple of hearty sides.

And now, after all of this useful information, here’s the actual recipe for Roasted Cabbage Rolls:

Ingredients

• 1 Tablespoon plus 2 more Tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1 medium head green cabbage, cut into 1-inch-thick rounds
• coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 teaspoon caraway or fennel seeds

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Brush a rimmed baking sheet with 1 Tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil. Place 1 medium head green cabbage, cut into 1-inch-thick rounds, in a single layer on sheet and brush with 2 Tablespoons oil.
2. Season with coarse salt and ground pepper and sprinkle with 1 teaspoon caraway or fennel seeds. Roast until cabbage is tender and edges are golden, 40 to 45 minutes.

It’s really as simple as that! The earlier comment about “watching the clock” is actually important! I set the timer to 40 minutes as stated, and let it cook — without checking — until the timer went off. By that time, an adage attributed to my mom came to mind: “Brown, it’s cooking; Black, it’s done!”. In the case of my roasted cabbage wedges, some of the edges were a bit black instead of golden brown. At least I don’t think my kitchen had the afore-mentioned pungent smell of cabbage when they were done. I didn’t mind it, though, the edges were still crispy and delicious.

Here’s some more useful information related to this recipe:

How to Store and Reheat Roasted Cabbage

If you have leftover cabbage wedges, store them in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat them in a 400-degree oven for about 10 minutes or in a 350-degree air-fryer for 5 minutes. You can also enjoy them at room temperature.

So, there you have ’em: the two featured recipes — Irish Beef Hand Pies and Roasted Cabbage Wedges — for this month’s “Tasty Tuesdays Twofers”. I hope you’ll give one or both of them a try and then let me know what you thought of ’em. Personally, I’m going to substitute some corned beef I have on hand for the beef in the Irish Beef Hand Pies. For this American (unlike many residents of the Emerald Isle), St. Patrick’s Day just isn’t the same without corned beef — possibly because this holiday is about the only time I have corned beef. One of these days, this might change — after I learn how to corn my own beef. In the meantime, it shall remain a St. Patrick’s Day treat — along with a (copycat) Shamrock Shake (see a previous “Tasty Tuesdays” post for this recipe), another St. Patrick’s Day tradition.

After looking through “Torianna’s Corner”, I noticed something, and it was that “something” which helped me decide to make a change here at “the Corner”.

If you’ve been a reader here at “Torianna’s Corner” for a while, I’m sure you know that I began my “Tasty Tuesdays” series of posts back in February 2023, and that I’ve featured a variety of recipes: some favorites from my cookbooks, some that featured Dutch food, others that featured recipes from a collection that my Auntie Pat graciously gave me, and still others that I gleaned from various sites online.

In the beginning, my goal was to feature a “Tasty Tuesdays” recipe every Tuesday of each month. Well… I’m sad to say that I haven’t able to accomplish that goal very often throughout the years. Sure there were months when I WAS able to publish “Tasty Tuesdays” posts every single week, but those months started to become few and far between — often going months between such posts. So… I have decided to cut back on my goal of weekly “Tasty Tuesdays” posts and change to a single “Tasty Tuesdays” post each month — possibly on the third Tuesday of each month.

While perusing “Torianna’s Corner”, I noticed something else that I have been doing (on a not-too-regular basis) since my third “Tasty Tuesdays” post ever: sharing not one, but TWO recipes in a post and calling those posts “twofers”. As a way to make up (sort of) for not publishing my “Tasty Tuesdays” posts every week, all of my once-a-month “Tasty Tuesdays” posts will now be “twofers” — TWO recipes instead of just one!

In this — the first official — “twofer”, we are going to be delving into the delicious world of CINNAMON ROLLS. If you’ve ever savored a Cinnabon cinnamon roll, you’ll know that they are yummy confections with sugar and spices (namely cinnamon) rolled into a yeast dough, sliced, baked, and generously slathered with frosting!

When I was looking for a couple of recipes for our first official “twofer” post, I perused the “national days” Web site, where I discovered that February 3rd was “National Carrot Cake Day”, so I went in search of a carrot cake recipe to feature. I found one at www.katiebirdbakes.com (I just LOVE the name of this Web site!), but I also found one that intrigued me: “Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls”. Now, I wasn’t always a fan of carrot cake, but I have to say that Sweet Thing’s mama baked a wickedly good carrot cake. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get her recipe before she passed away, but enjoying her carrot cake made me want to give carrot cake another try — AND feature my attempt at making one in a “Tasty Tuesdays” post.

However, on this same Web site, I discovered something that REALLY intrigued me: Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls, which, as KatieBird says, “combine the pillowy softness of cinnamon rolls with the spiced flavors of carrot cake, and the result is the most perfect spring pastry. So… Since carrot cake was on my mind, I thought I’d give this recipe a try.

At some point in my search for recipes to feature in these “Tasty Tuesdays Twofers”, I happened upon a cinnamon roll recipe that also intrigued me: No Knead 1 Hour Cinnamon Rolls (from: www.cravinghomecooked.com). I love making homemade breads (and other things that contain yeast), but I’m never sure if my kneading skills are up to par. So… When I saw this “no knead” recipe, I knew I had to feature it as part of this cinnamon roll “twofer”.

And now, without further ado, here are the two recipes I’m featuring in this first official “Tasty Tuesdays Twofers” post, beginning with Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls, in honor of this month’s (early) “National Carrot Cake Day”:

“Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls

These Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls combine the pillowy softness of cinnamon rolls with the warm spiced flavors of carrot cake, and the result is the most perfect spring pastry.

Ingredients

For the Carrot Cake Cinnamon Rolls:

• 2 cups milk (I used whole milk, but full fat coconut milk works too)

• 1/2 cup canola oil (or other neutral oil)

• 1/2 cup granulated sugar

• 1 packet active dry yeast (2 1/4 teaspoons)

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

• 1 1/2 cups finely grated carrots (from about 3 medium carrots — I use my food processor to grate them)

• 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

• 1/2 teaspoon allspice

• 1/2 teaspoon ginger

• 4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, divided (see below)

• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt

For the Filling:

• 1/2 cup unsalted butter (1 stick), melted

• 1 cup brown sugar, not packed

• 1 teaspoon cinnamon

• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg

• 1/4 teaspoon ginger

• 1/4 teaspoon allspice

For the Cream Cheese Icing:

• 4 ounces cream cheese (room temperature)

• 4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick), softened

• 1 cup powdered (confectioner’s) sugar

• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

• pinch of salt

Directions

For the Cinnamon rolls:

1. Combine the milk, oil, and sugar in a large pot and place over medium heat until just before boiling. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool until just warm to the touch, about 105-110 degrees F. (This is called scalding the milk, and we do this to denature the whey proteins and allow for better gluten development. Can you skip it and just use warm milk? Yes, but your dough may be stickier and you’ll have to chill it before rolling.)
2. Sprinkle the yeast over the top of the milk mixture and let sit for 1-2 minutes. Add the vanilla, grated carrot, spices, and 4 cups of flour and stir with a wooded spoon until an evenly combined dough has formed.
3. Cover and let sit on the stove (with the oven on if your kitchen is cold) to rise for about 1 hour. Check after 30 minutes to make sure it is rising. By the end of the hour, it should have doubled in size and smell yeasty.
4. Add the remaining 1/2 cup flour along with the baking powder, baking soda, and salt; stir until completely combined. It should be a well-formed, stiff, non-sticky dough. If your dough seems too sticky to roll out, see the recipe notes below.
5. Divide the dough in half and roll one half out on a floured surface to about a 12×18-inch rectangle. In a small bowl, stir together brown sugar and spices.
6. Spread half the melted butter evenly over the dough (you may not need it all), then sprinkle half the brown sugar mixture over top.
7. Starting with the long edge farthest from you, roll the dough towards you, moving your fingers evenly back and forth along the dough, until it is tightly coiled with seam down. Cut into 8 even rolls with a sharp knife or unflavored dental floss, and place in a greased pie plate or 9-inch round cake pan.
8. Repeat steps 5 and 6 with the second half of the dough.
9. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. While it is preheating, let the rolls rest on top of the oven for 15-20 minutes, until slightly risen. Bake for 20-22 minutes, until golden brown. Make the cream cheese icing while the rolls are baking.

For the Cream Cheese Icing:

1. Whisk together cream cheese and butter in a medium bowl until completely combined and smooth. Add vanilla and salt and whisk again. Whisk in powdered sugar until fully blended. Add milk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until the mixture reaches a pour-able, but still thick, consistency.
2. Pour and spread the icing evenly over the warm cinnamon rolls in the pan, making sure the tops of the rolls are completely covered. Serve warm with coffee and watch people’s eyes light up with unadulterated joy!

Notes

Store any leftovers (not likely) in the fridge for up to 5 days, and simply microwave for 20-30 seconds to reheat.

IF YOUR DOUGH IS STICKY: Put it in the fridge for at least an hour, up to overnight before rolling it out. Make sure the surface you roll it on is WELL floured, and sprinkle some flour on top of the dough before rolling. Add flour to your rolling pin if it starts sticking to the dough.

MAKE AHEAD OVERNIGHT INSTRUCTIONS: These carrot cake cinnamon rolls can be prepared the night before through step 7 (shaping the rolls and placing in the pans). Cover pans with plastic wrap and place in the fridge overnight. In the morning, set pans out on the counter while the oven is preheating to allow rolls to come to room temperature, then bake as directed.

FREEZE THE BAKED ROLLS: Bake and iced rolls can be frozen, wrapped individually in plastic wrap and stored in a freezer bag, for up to 3 months. Simply microwave for 30 seconds or warm in a 250 degree F oven for 15 minutes to reheat.

FREEZE THE DOUGH: Shaped cinnamon roll dough can be frozen, well-wrapped in the pan or another container, for up to 3 months. Set out on counter for 2 hours before baking to allow to come to room temperature and complete their second rise. Bake as directed.

If you like, top with some toasted coconut. You can do this by toasting shredded unsweetened coconut on a parchment-lined baking sheet in the oven at 350 degrees F for about 5 minutes, until browned.

And there you have it, the first recipe in this month’s “Tasty Tuesdays Twofer”. Onto the second!

No Knead 1 Hour Cinnamon Rolls

These incredibly delicious Cinnamon Rolls can be in your hands in only 1 hour with NO KNEADING required! Topped with my fabulous cream cheese icing, these might be the best cinnamon rolls you’ll ever have!

Ingredients

Dough:

• 1/2 cup warm water
• 2 1/4 teaspoons instant yeast (or 1 package)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup milk, lukewarm
• 1/2 cup sugar, granulated
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted (margarine can be used as well)
• 4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt

Filling:

• 1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
• 3 tablespoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (margarine can be used as well)

Cream Cheese Icing:

• 8 ounces cream cheese at room temperature (I recommend Philadelphia)
• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened (margarine can be used as well)
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the water with the instant yeast and 1 teaspoon of sugar. Let it rest for 5 minutes.
2. Add the eggs, milk, sugar, and melted butter to the yeast mixture and whisk until well combined.
3. In a large bowl, combine the flour with the salt. Pour the yeast mixture and, using a wooden spoon, stir until well combined. You should have a thick, sticky dough. Cover with plastic wrap and let it rest for 10 minutes. See notes for tips.
4. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9×13-inch baking pan with parchment paper. Spray some cooking spray over the bottom, this will help the parchment paper stick to the baking pan.
5. Roll the dough out onto a well-floured surface, until it’s approximately 16 inches long by 12 inches wide and about 1/4-inch in thickness.
6. In a small bowl, whisk together the brown sugar with the cinnamon.
7. Spread the 1/2 cup of butter over the entire surface of the dough, then sprinkle the cinnamon sugar mixture evenly over the surface of the dough.
8. Starting at the long edge away from you, roll the dough down to the bottom edge. Cut the dough into 2-inch slices ore use floss. Place the rolls into the prepared baking pan, 3 x 4.
9. Let the rolls rest for another 10 minutes, and you will notice that they will rise until there’s no more space between them.
10. Place the baking ban in the oven and bake for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
11. While the rolls are baking, make the cream cheese icing. Add the cream cheese and butter to a mixing bowl and mix until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and, again, mix until smooth. If the icing is a bit too stiff, add 1 tablespoon of milk.
12. Ice the rolls immediately when they come out of the oven with the cream cheese icing.

NOTES:

1. Always check the expiration date on your yeast and make sure it hasn’t expired. All your yeast products, whether its in a jar or a package, should be stamped with a “Best if Used by” date. Always make sure you check this date, even when you purchase the yeast — who knows if it could have been on the shelf past its expiry date.
2. Active dry yeast can also be used in this recipe, but you may need more time to let the yeast activate and for the dough to rise. Please note that normally if you’re using instant yeast, you do not need to activate it in warm water with sugar, but I usually do this just to test out my yeast and make sure it’s still good.
3. TIP: To speed up the dough rising process, heat your oven to 200 degrees F. Turn off the oven and place your dough as specified in step 4 in the oven with the door closed. This will ensure a warm environment for your dough and the dough will rise fairly quickly, assuming the yeast was good.
4. To freeze unbaked rolls, complete everything up to and including step 8, then wrap the pan in two layers of plastic wrap. Freeze for 8 hours up to 6 weeks. The night before you want to bake the rolls, thaw them out in the refrigerator, still wrapped. They will thaw overnight. Finish the rest of the steps to bake them.

And that is the second of this month’s “Tasty Tuesdays Twofers” recipe. Hope you give one — or both — of these cinnamon roll recipes a try and let me know what you think of ’em. By the way, if you have a different recipe for these yummy pastries, please share. I’d love to see your favorite recipe for cinnamon rolls. In the meantime…

Take care!

Hello, and Happy New Year! Welcome to the first “Tasty Tuesdays” post of 2026!!

As the title of this post suggests, we’re going to celebrate SOUP in this “Tasty Tuesdays” post — something that’s sure to keep us warm on these cold, winter evenings. In preparation for the writing of this post, I perused my author Web site (this site) to find out what kinds of soups I’ve already featured, and I discovered that one of the recipes I featured in January 2025 was “Vegetable Soup” from “The Essential Amish Cookbook: Everyday Recipes From Farm and Pantry” by Lovina Eicher.

So… For this first “Tasty Tuesdays” post for 2026, I am going to feature a similar recipe from my beloved “Betty Crocker’s Cookbook”: Hearty Vegetable Soup. WIthout further ado, here’s this week’s featured SOUP recipe:

Hearty Vegetable Soup

2 cans (12 ounces each) vegetable juice cocktail

2 cups water

1 small head green cabbage (about 1 pound), finely chopped

1 medium onion, sliced

3 small or 2 medium carrots, sliced (about 1 cup)

1 medium stalk celery, chopped (about 1/2 cup)

2 tablespoons instant beef or chicken bouillon

Directions

Heat all ingredients to boiling; reduce heat. Cover and simmer 1 hour.

8 servings (about 1 cup each)

Note: To chop cabbage (and onion) in blender container; add enough water to cover. Cover and blend on high speed until desired size; drain completely.

So, there you have it: the recipe for Hearty Vegetable Soup. Even though the directions sound very easy, I think putting all of the ingredients into a Crockpot slow cooker would make it even easier to enjoy a steaming bowl of soup on a cold, winter’s evening! Since I’ve got all of the ingredients on hand, I foresee a Crockpot full of this soup in my future!!

In last week’s “Tasty Tuesdays” post, I mentioned that there would be TWO featured recipes in honor of “National Pear and Pineapple Month”. In that post, I presented a recipe which featured the first of these tasty fruits: PEARS. So… This means that today’s “Tasty Tuesdays” post will feature the other one: PINEAPPLE! Here goes…

Pineapple-Bulgur Wheat Salad

“This fresh and sweetly satisfying salad makes a friendly lunch all by itself. If you need to prepare it ahead, try to leave at least the avocado and the pineapple till the last moment; this one doesn’t keep.”

Ingredients

1 cup water

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup raw bulgur wheat

1 medium avocado

1 cup fresh pineapple chunks

1/2 cup chopped red bell pepperr

2 inside stalks celery, chopped, OR 1/2 cup cucumber, chopped

3-4 scallions, thinly sliced

chopped chives

1 Tablespoon oil

3 Tablespoons lemon juice OR 2 Tablespoons cider vinegar

Directions

Bring water to boil with salt. Add bulgur and return to a boil. Remove from heat, cover pot tightly, and set aside for 15 minutes or until water is absorbed. Cool to room temperature.

Peel and cube avocado and stir into pineapple chunks so that the juice from the pineapple will keep the avocado from discoloring. Combine with bell pepper, celery, scallions, oil and lemon juice or vinegar. Stir in bulgur wheat and serve.

Makes 6 generous servings.

So, there you have it: Pineapple-Bulgur Wheat Salas — a vegetarian recipe in honor of both “Vegetarian Month” AND “National Pear and Pineapple Month”!

I don’t know about you, but I don’t happen to have any “bulgur wheat” in my pantry. Consequently, I did a quick online search: “substitutions for bulgur wheat”, and I got quite a number of search results, including an article (from alsothecrumbsplease.com) entitled “10 Best Bulgur Substitutes for Making Tasty Dishes”. So… I’m going to try this dish using one of the following 10 substitutes for bulgur wheat:

1. Cracked wheat
2. Wheat berries
3. Farro
4. Whole wheat couscous
5. Barley
6. Quinoa
7. Buckwheat
8. Shelled hemp seeds
9. Millet
10. Amaranth

At this point, I think I’ll be trying either barley or quinoa since I happen to have both of them in the pantry. One important thing to note is that the last five options (6-10) are the “5 best gluten-free bulgur substitues”, according to the article’s author. So… If you have a sensitivity to gluten (which, thankfully, I don’t), please use one of the last five options. In any case, I hope you give this recipe a try — either as originally written OR using one of the ten substitutes for the the bulgur wheat.

As always, I’d love to hear what you think about this week’s featured recipe and/or about your favorite recipes that feature PINEAPPLE, so please take a moment to leave a comment below. In the meantime…

Take care.

As I mentioned in the first “Tasty Tuesdays” post of October last week, October is “Vegetarian Month”, so all of the recipes featured in this month’s “Tasty Tuesdays” posts will feature recipes from one of my long-time favorite vegetarian cookbooks: “Laurel’s Kitchen Recipes”. In addition to October being “Vegetarian Month”, this month is also “National Pear and Pineapple Month”, so the next couple of “Tasty Tuesdays” posts will feature… You guessed it… pears and pineapples, beginning with PEARS! So read on for a simple recipe which features this tasty fruit.

In the above-mentioned cookbook, there was a section called (intriguingly enough) “Innocent Sweets”, and here’s what Laurel Robertson (and her co-authors Carol Flinders and Brian Ruppenthal) had to say about PEARS:

“In winter, Bosc pears and Winter Nelis are often available at bargain prices. Even if they are rock-hard, bake them like yams, for the sweetest, most delicious, and easiest dessert imaginable. They don’t want stuffing like apples; you just stand them on their bottom in a pan (line it with brown paper if you want to save scrubbing later) and bake at about 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or so, until the syrupy juice had broken out and the pear is soft. We usually serve them as is, but you might want to make a gingery sauce or pass toasted nuts or feta cheese to nibble alongside.”

Well… That wasn’t much of a recipe, was it? However, it sounds like an excellent way to enjoy “rock-hard” pears! I don’t know about you, but I can’t even count the number of “rock-hard” pears that I’ve brought home and hoped that they would ripen quickly. Had I read — and remembered — Laurel’s “recipe for Baked Pears back then, I could have been enjoying this “innocent sweets” treat much sooner!

However, my first thought for serving them wasn’t what Laurel et al suggested — serving ’em “as is” or with “toasted nuts or feta cheese” (a cheese I still need to try, actually). Instead, I thought about serving them with a scoop of vanilla ice cream — though I guess that really isn’t a vegetarian option since “ice cream” isn’t even mentioned in Laurel’s cookbook! So… I guess I’ll toast some almonds and/or give feta cheese a try. I’ll certainly let y’all know what I decide to have as an accompaniment to my Baked Pears.

As always, I’d love to hear your thoughts about Baked Pears, this week’s featured recipe, so please take a moment to leave a comment below. Oh, and if you have any favorite recipes that feature pears, I’d love it if you would share them with me, too! In the meantime…

Take care!

As I’m sure y’all know, I enjoy featuring recipes that can be used to celebrate both “national days” (National Chocolate Chip Cookie Day, for example) and “national months” (July’s National Hot Dog Month). Well… This month is no different. According to my trusted source, October happens to be, among other things:

• National Chili Month;
• Spinach Lovers Month; and
• Pear and Pineapple Month.

In addition, October is also “Vegetarian Month”! So… I thought I would explore vegetarian cooking in this month’s “Tasty Tuesdays” recipes. Through the years, I’ve known a few people who consider themselves to be be vegetarians, and because of this, I’ve purchased (or was given) a couple of books about vegetarian cooking, including one titled, “Laurel’s Kitchen” which gives readers an overview of vegetarian cooking, and another one titled “Laurel’s Kitchen Recipes”. It is this last book that will be the inspiration — and source — for all of this month’s featured “Tasty Tuesdays” recipes.

By the way, I hope you didn’t just freak out when I mentioned that all of this month’s featured recipes will be vegetarian. To be honest, I probably would’ve had I not read “Laurel’s Kitchen Recipes” myself. I say this because my very first experience with vegetarian cooking was way back during my early college days when a deaf friend of mine introduced me to TOFU, a typical ingredient in vegetarian cooking. Back then, I was REALLY turned off by the taste of tofu, and to this day, I absolutely REFUSE to eat TOFU — even though I’ve heard that it can be quite tasty if prepared properly. So… You will NOT find any recipes that list TOFU as an ingredient NOR will you find any recipes that include plant-based protein — like “fake bacon”. In addition, you can rest assured that this month’s featured recipes won’t have any “exotic” ingredients that you may not be able to find in your local grocery store.

With that confession out of the way, the first recipe that I’ll be featuring for “Vegetarian Month” will be one that can also be used to celebrate “National Chili Month”, and it is…

Chili con Elote

Basic and classic. The corn adds a lot, but when it isn’t in season we make the dish without and it’s just great.

The chili powder here is just enough for flavor without fierceness. If chili without tears isn’t chili to you, use more, or add cayenne.

Ingredients

1 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic

2 Tablespoons oil

1 green pepper, diced

1 teaspoon chili powder

1 teaspoon cumin powder

1 cup chopped tomato, or 2 Tablespoons tomato paste

1 cup fresh corn

4 cups cooked kidney, black, or pinto beans

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 teaspoon oregano

Directions

Saute onion and garlic clove in oil until onion is soft. Crush garlic clove. Add green pepper and spices. Saute another 2 or 3 minutes. Add tomatoes and corn if you have it. Mash 2 cups of the beans and add to pot along with whole beans and salt and oregano. Simmer 30 minutes.

Serves 6

So, there you have it: “Chili con Elote”, the first featured recipe of “Vegetarian Month” as well as “National Chili Month”. And did you notice that there was NO TOFU in it? Just wholesome foods like onions, garlic, green peppers, tomatoes, corn, beans, and spices. Nothing “exotic”! This is one of the things I look for in recipes for vegetarian cooking! If a recipe has TOFU or anything else that wouldn’t be in my pantry, then I’ll usually pass on that recipe.

This month, it is my hope that you’ll give vegetarian cooking a try. (“Meatless Mondays”, anyone?) If you do join me in celebrating “Vegetarian Month”, I’d love to hear about your experience. Looking forward to reading your comments!

In honor of today being “National Cherry Popsicle Day” and tomorrow being “National Peach Day), this “Tasty Tuesdays” post is going to be another “twofer” — with not one, but TWO featured recipes! The first of these will be “Homemade Cherry Ice Pops With Only 3 Ingredients”, and the second one will be a recipe for peach cobbler. Both of these recipes are definitely going to be TASTY ways to celebrate these two “national days” — whether you celebrate them on the actual day or at some point this month! Without further ado, here are this week’s featured recipes:

Read more: In honor of not one, but TWO “national days” — Another “twofer” of recipes! Continue reading “In honor of not one, but TWO “national days” — Another “twofer” of recipes!”

Had I noticed that August 23rd was “National Cuban Sandwich Day” last year, I probably wouldn’t have given it a second thought. However, that changed when I took a ROAD TRIP down to “Flordida” to attend my daughter’s college graduation! During the time we spent in the Clearwater/Tampa area of the state, we tried to avoid “national chain restaurants” as much as we could, and in doing so, we found a restaurant called “The Cuban Sandwich Restaurant”. Since I’d never had a “Cuban sandwich” before, I decided to order the restaurant’s namesake, and I was VERY pleasantly surprised! While there, I learned quite a bit about this kind of sandwich, and by the time I returned home, I knew I wanted to feature this YUMMY sandwich in a “Tasty Tuesdays” post!

Continue reading “In honor of “National Cuban Sandwich Day”: A “twofer” of recipes!”