Overnight cinnamon buns

Making homemade cinnamon buns from scratch is way easier than I thought it would be, although it does take a lot of passive time for the dough to rise, etc. Prepping these buns the night before so you can have them in the morning is genius.

Here is the recipe:

https://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/overnight-cinnamon-rolls-recipe-2014250

A few notes:

-- Make sure to dissolve the yeast in a little water before adding to the dough.
-- I didn't use the final 3/4 cup of flour at all.
-- I added 1/2 cup (maybe 3/4 cup?) of chopped walnuts to the brown sugar mixture and it was great! 
-- Don't dump all the frosting on the buns, just drizzle a little and serve the rest on the side since they are quite sweet!
-- Make sure the buns are in the middle of the oven when you cook them, mine were too close to the top and the top of the buns got a little too brown

I gave this interesting-sounding pasta a shot, and it was a surprise hit, especially considering the sauce is mostly cauliflower! The kids liked it too. I will definitely make again, with a few adjustments.

From Food 52/Andy Bennett

Creamy Cauliflower Pasta Carbonara

Ingredients:

Pasta Carbonara

• 1 tablespoon (12g) olive oil
• 1 cup (100g) sliced spring onions or green onions
• 2 tablespoons (20g) roughly chopped garlic
• 1 cup (200g) Creamy Cauliflower Sauce (from below)
• 2 cups dried pasta, (250g) cooked al dente pasta (from about 125g dry pasta—for the rigatoni we used, this was about 2 cups dry pasta)
• ²/₃ cup (90g) fresh or frozen green peas, cooked in salted water
• ¹/₂ cup Scant, (10g) chopped flat-leaf parsley
• 6 tablespoons (12g) finely grated Parmesan
• Smoked sea salt, to taste (optional)
• Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 tablespoon (4g) toasted breadcrumbs, or more to taste

Creamy Cauliflower Sauce

• 2 cups (200g) cauliflower florets (in roughly 1/2-inch pieces)
• 2 ¹/₄ cups (500g) vegetable stock or broth
• ¹/₂ cup (100g) neutral oil such as canola
• Salt to taste

Directions:

Pasta Carbonara:

1. Heat the olive oil in a large sauté pan over medium heat. Add the spring onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until softened, about 2 minutes. Add the garlic and cook until the onions and garlic are turning light golden. Add the sauce, pasta, and peas and heat everything through, stirring occasionally, about 2 minutes.
2. Once hot, stir in the cheese and parsley, season with smoked salt and black pepper to taste and place in a serving bowl. Sprinkle with bread crumbs and serve immediately. 

 Creamy Cauliflower Sauce:

1. In a medium saucepan, cover the cauliflower with vegetable stock and simmer, partially covered, until really tender, about 20 minutes. Blend the cauliflower and stock till smooth with a blender or hand blender. While the blender is running, slowly pour in olive oil to emulsify.
2. Store any leftovers airtight in the refrigerator and use as a creamy sauce, warm or cold.

 

Minestrone Soup

I have been looking for a good Minestrone recipe. Finally I tried this knockoff of Olive Garden soup and it turned out great even though I did a lot of substitutions. The kids liked it!

From this blog

Olive Garden Minestrone Soup

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3/4 cup onion diced
• 1/2 cup celery sliced
• 1/2 cup carrots peeled, quartered and sliced
• 1 zucchini halved and sliced (I didn't have this so omitted)
• 2 teaspoons minced garlic
• salt and pepper to taste
• 1 14 ounce can diced tomatoes (my kid asked for smaller chunks, maybe try cut up tomatoes or crushed next time)
• 4 cups vegetable broth (I would up this to 6 cups next time)
• 1/4 cup tomato paste (I used 2 T. concentrate, would increase with more water)
• 2 teaspoons Italian seasoning
• 1 15 ounce can small white beans drained and rinsed (Instead of this I used an equivalent amount of fresh cooked garbanzo beans because we had some on hand)
• 1 15 ounce can kidney beans drained and rinsed
• 1/2 cup frozen cut green beans
• 1/2 cup small shell pasta (if soup is to be eaten later, it would be better to cook pasta seperately and add as it is served)
• 2 cups baby spinach leaves (I substituted 1 cup cut up cabbage for this, earlier in the cooking)
• 2 tablespoons chopped parsley

Instructions

• Heat the olive oil in a large pot over medium high heat. Add the onion, celery, carrots and zucchini to the pot.
• Cook until the vegetables are tender, 3-5 minutes. Add the garlic and cook for 30 seconds. Season the vegetables with salt and pepper to taste.
• Add the tomatoes, vegetable broth, tomato paste and Italian seasoning to the pot. Bring to a simmer.
• Add the white beans, kidney beans, green beans and pasta to the pot. Simmer for 10-15 minutes or until pasta and vegetables are tender.
• Season the soup with salt and pepper to taste. Stir in the spinach leaves and cook for 2-3 minutes or until wilted.
• Sprinkle the parsley over the soup and serve.