Brussel Sprouts and Butternut Squash

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Ingredients

  • 1 pound butternut squash, peeled and cut into 3/4 inch chunks
  • 1 pound brussel sprouts
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • pepper
  • 2 teaspoons dijon mustard
  • 1 tablespoon rice wine vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons olive oil
  • 2 pinches kosher salt
  • pepper

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place veggies on large baking sheet. Drizzle with olive oil and stir. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. Stir.
  2. Arrange brussel sprouts cut side down. Roast 20-30 minutes. Toss gently a couple of times during cooking.
  3. Whisk mustard and vinegar. Slowly pour olive oil and whisk. Season to taste.
  4. Toss veggies with vinaigrette. Serve warm, luke warm, or cold.

If you like your veggies very soft you can cook them in the pressure cooker with a cup of chicken stock, 1/2 teaspoon salt and pepper. You can also add about 4 cloves of minced garlic.

Buffalo Chicken/Jackfruit Stuffed Peppers

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In these pictures I used jackfruit.

Ingredients

  • 4 medium multicolored peppers, halved lengthwise and seeded
  • 1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
  • 2 1/2 cups shredded chicken, or jackfruit
  • 1/2 cup plain whole milk greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup shredded low moisture part-skim mozzarella
  • 1/4 cup hot sauce
  • 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1/4 cup chopped scallions
  • 3 tablespoons blue cheese dressing or ranch dressing

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Line a rimmed baking sheet with foil. Brush all sides of bell peppers with oil. Arrange cut sides down. Bake until slightly softened, about 10 minutes.
  2. Stir chicken or jackfruit, yogurt, mozzarella, hot sauce, onion powder, garlic powder, cayenne and 2 tablespoons scallions in a large bowl.
  3. Remove peppers from oven, pour off remaining juices. Flip peppers. Spoon chicken/jackfruit mixture evenly into peppers (about 1/3 cup each). Bake until tender and heated through, about 15 minutes. Drizzle with dressing and scallions.

Amish White Bread

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Ingredients

  • 2 cups warm water (between 100 and 110 degrees)
  • 2/3 cup white sugar
  • 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 6 cups bread flour

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, dissolve the sugar in warm water, and then stir in yeast. Allow to proof until yeast resembles a creamy foam.
  2. Mix salt and oil into the yeast. Mix in flour one cup at a time. Knead dough on a lightly floured surface until smooth. Place in a well oiled bowl, and turn to coat. Cover with a damp towel. Allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour.
  3. Punch dough down. Knead for a few minutes and divide in half. Shape into loaves and place into 2 well oiled 9×5 loaf pans. Allow to rise for 30 minutes, or until dough has risen 1 inch above pans.
  4. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

My husband says that this bread tastes overly yeasty, but I think it is supposed to. I like it and it is a little bit sweet. The second loaf I wrap and put in the freezer until I am ready for it. I read somewhere that if you turn the oven on for 20 seconds and then place the dough inside the oven it will rise faster.

Tangerine Muffins

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Ingredients

  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • orange zest of 2 tangerines
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 1/2 cup greek yogurt
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 2 1/5 cups flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 6 tangerines
  • powdered sugar

Directions

  1. In a bowl mix eggs and sugar. Add zest, oil, milk and yogurt. Mix well. Sift in the flour and baking powder and mix.
  2. Cut tangerines into halves. Sprinkle the bottom of muffin tins with sugar. Place the tangerines, cut side down, into muffin tins. Pour mixture over each tangerine.
  3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake for 30 minutes. Sprinkle with powdered sugar.

I was surprised that these turned out pretty good. I used the little, seedless halo tangerines. These muffins are not very sweet at all. Great as a breakfast muffin. I also made a gluten free version for my gluten intolerant co-worker. I used Bob’s Red Mill gluten free flour.

My mom said these taste like Christmas. hehe

Chocolate Chip Ricotta Cookies

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Ingredients

  • 1 stick unsalted butter at room temperature
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 8 oz. ricotta cheese
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking powder
  • kosher salt
  • 1 cup mini chocolate chips, or more to taste
  • confectioner’s sugar for dusting
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment.
  2. Cream butter and sugar in a large bowl with a handheld mixer on high until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Reduce speed to medium and add eggs. Beat until smooth. Add ricotta and vanilla and beat to combine.
  3. Sift flour and baking powder into bowl. Add a pinch of salt. Mix on low speed until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips by hand.
  4. Drop cookies in heaping tablespoons onto baking sheets. Leave about 2 inches between cookies. Bake, rotating the trays from top to bottom halfway through, until cookies are puffed and golden at the edges, about 18 minutes. Remove to a wire rack to cool.
  5. Dust cookies with confectioner’s sugar before serving if desired.

I got this recipe from the newspaper! A lady named Lidia Bastianich.

I had to take these out right at 18 minutes. Any longer and the bottoms started browning. I also thought the suggested amount of mini chocolate chips was perfect.

Molasses Cookies

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Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup molasses
  • 2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
  • 1 1/2 cups white sugar
  • 3/4 cup butter, melted
  • 1 egg

Directions

  1. In a medium bowl, mix together melted butter, 1 cup sugar and egg until smooth. Stir in molasses. In another bowl, combine flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves and ginger. Blend the flour mixture into the molasses mixture. Cover and chill dough for 1 hour.
  2. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Roll dough into walnut sized balls and roll in the remaining 1/2 cup sugar. Place cookies 2 inches apart onto greased baking sheets.
  3. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes until tops are cracked. Cool on wire racks.

These are great and I personally don’t think they are overly sweet. They are always a hit at my job.

I use a cookie scoop to make the balls the same size. Mine started cracking right at 8 minutes and I took them out. I cooked some a couple minutes longer and they were overdone.

Sweet Potato and Coconut Stew

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Ingredients

  • 4 tablespoons coconut oil
  • 2 medium sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1 inch cubes
  • salt and pepper
  • 2 small yellow onions, diced
  • 2 garlic cloves, minced
  • 2 jalapenos, seeded and finely chopped
  • 4 one inch pieces fresh ginger, peeled and grated, or 2 two inch pieces
  • 2 teaspoons ground coriander
  • 1 cup vegetable stock
  • 1 cup unsweetened coconut milk
  • 1 cup chickpeas, drained and rinsed
  • 2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
  • lime wedges

Directions

  1. Set sauce pan over medium heat. Add coconut oil, sweet potato, 2 pinches of salt and 2 twists of black pepper. Cook until potatoes begin to soften and brown, about 12 minutes. Reduce heat to medium low.
  2. Add onion, garlic, jalapeno, ginger and coriander and cook until onion softens and the mixture is fragrant, about 4 minutes.
  3. Add vegetable stock, coconut milk and chickpeas and bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring occasionally, until sweet potatoes are very tender and the liquid has reduced and thickened, about 30 minutes.
  4. Remove from heat, stir in cilantro and spoon into bowls. Serve with a squeeze of lime.

I got this recipe from my best friend, Jessica. Very tasty! I doubled the original recipe to get more out of it. I noticed the cook times vary depending on your stove and what you are using to cook. Everything goes faster in my dutch oven. I also noticed when I used my stove and dutch oven I always have to set the heat a little lower than what the recipe calls for, otherwise it cooks too fast and I can’t keep up and before I know it stuff starts burning.

I like a lot of lime juice with mine!

ALSO! Don’t cut jalapenos with your bare hands. Even if you wash your hands several times, touching your eyes will burn really bad. I discovered this as I was taking out my contacts the night I made this. Ha!

Carrot Apple Soup

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Ingredients:

  • 1 1/2 pounds carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 3 granny smith apples or mcintosh apples, peeled and chopped
  • 1 large yellow onion, chopped
  • 2 cups cream
  • 1 1/2 cups chicken stock
  • 1 1/4 cups apple cider
  • 3 fresh thyme sprigs
  • 1 teaspoon kosher salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
  • Garnishes – sour cream and diced apples

Directions:

  1. Bring all ingredients to a boil in a Dutch Oven over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring occasionally, 50-60 minutes or until carrots are tender. Remove from heat and cool 15 minutes.
  2. Remove thyme sprigs. Process in batches in food processor or blender. For a thinner soup, add more broth a tablespoon at a time. Spoon into bowls and serve immediately. Garnish with sour cream and diced apples.

I use my blender for this. A lot of soup recipes say to leave the pour spout open to vent the heat and cover with a damp towel, but I end up making a mess this way. I just keep it closed and use the smoothie option on my blender and it seems to do just fine.

Also, if you don’t want to use sour cream you can use plain greek yogurt instead. If you want it smoother add a little water to it and mix.

Greek yogurt is also good for dogs so they always get a little dallop when I am using it. Apple and carrot are also great for doggos. Onion, not so much, but a tiny amount is not going to hurt, so Kano gets to lick the bottom of my bowl when I’m done.  🙂

I got this recipe from a Southern Living magazine that was all about fall recipes. The rest of the fall recipes I will post next year.

Greetings!

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Hello!

My name is Kristin. I live in Elyria, Ohio – about 35 minutes from Cleveland and about 40 minutes from Sandusky (Yay Cedar Point!). I am in my 30’s and live with my husband, Scott, and our dogs: Reno, Kano and Achilles.

I’ve dabbled in blogging before, but it was always kind of all over the place and I wasn’t super consistent with it. I decided if I wanted it to be more organized and more consistent I needed to pick something I enjoy doing every single day and something that is important to me. So that is how Food & Faith was born. I am always cooking and baking and trying new recipes. My faith is very important to me and is something I strive to include more often in my everyday life.

The faith portion of this blog includes new things I have learned, scripture, devotionals, struggles, studies and prayer requests.

The food portion will be slightly different from most food blogs I’ve seen. I’ve never liked having to scroll and scroll and scroll through a bunch of text before getting to the recipe. This blog will be set up with pictures and the recipe AND THEN any helpful hints or tips or whatever else.

I am not a chef and most of these recipes are not my own. This blog is to share the great recipes I have found throughout the years. I was vegetarian for some time and then pescatarian for a couple years so there will also be some plant based recipes included.

Thanks for reading! Talk to you soon!