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Friday, March 20, 2020
Deep Dish Cookie Bowls for Two
Truly, honestly, from the bottom of my chocolate chip cookie heart… it does not get better than this.
Buttery, crisped cookie ridges with a melty chocolate and slightly underdone center is going to give you the best of both cookie worlds, all in the couch-friendly format of individual deep dish cookie bowls.
The path to a lot of the recipes on Pinch of Yum starts with me trying to solve a problem for myself. And my problem was: end of night, end of week, tired and lazy but… I wanted cookies. I’m saying it like it’s past tense but it’s just kind of my life, indefinitely.
But I didn’t want REGULAR cookies (already have those and yes they are the best ever). I was more looking for something in a warm little bowl that I could cozy up with, kind of like these raspberry crumbles – but the more wintery, deep dish cookie version of that.
I’ve been actually making these for several months now in all kinds of iterations and yes, that was a little mean of me to hold out on you for all that time.
What I landed on after eating A LOT of cookie bowls was the stuff of my lazy, weeknight, TV-watching, cooking-loving dreams.
These deep dish chocolate chip cookies are:
- Gooey and underbaked
- But also nice and crispy on the edges
- Loaded with melty chocolate chips
- Easy
- So cozy
- Begging for some couch time
Call someone. Cue up a show. Get your cookie bowl on.
Deep Dish Cookie Bowls for Two
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Yield: 2 servings
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1/3 cup brown sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons flour
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 cup chocolate chips
Video
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Mix butter and brown sugar. Whisk in egg yolk and vanilla.
- Stir in flour, salt, and baking soda. Stir in chocolate chips. Divide between two 8-ounce ramekins and press gently to fill the bottom of each.
- Bake for 18-22 minutes (18 for underbaked, 20 for semi-baked, 22 for almost fully baked). Allow to cool for a few minutes so they firm up a bit, but definitely, obviously, of course, eat while warm, ideally with some vanilla ice cream. YUM!
Category: Dessert
Method: Bake
Cuisine: American
Keywords: deep dish cookie, dessert for two, ramekin dessert, cookies and ice cream, easy dessert
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Wednesday, March 18, 2020
Amazing Mushroom Bowls with Kale Pesto
I can honestly say I never thought I’d write the words “Amazing Mushroom Bowls” as a title for a recipe, but here we are.
If you get nothing else out of this post, please hear me say this: these are my favorite mushrooms of all time.
You don’t like mushrooms? Okay, that’s okay. I don’t know if I can change your mind. Those opinions run deep. But also… maybe I can. If any recipe can, it might be this one.
These mushrooms are smokey, sweet, and salty all at once. When they are marinated and roasted, they turn into these caramelized golden crispy-and-juicy little nibblers, and I swear I could eat an entire 8-ounce package of them.
Here they are pre-roasting, soaking up all that glorious sauce:
So naturally, let’s build some bowls with them, right? Roasty mushroom nibblers (can we just call them that now?), caramelized pineapple, peppers, and a dollop of kale pesto over some rice or cauliflower rice or honestly over nothing at all.
This combination is fresh and springy and giving me life.
If I can throw one other idea your way, it would be this: TEMPEH.
Here it is, also marinating in the same sauce, about to be roasted the same way as the mushrooms. If you don’t like mushrooms, this is your backup plan!
When I made this in our studio kitchen this week, we all just stood around the fresh-out-the-oven pan and snacked on roasted mushrooms and tempeh.
What is life right now, really.
THESE MUSHROOMS ARE AMAZING.
Smoky Mushroom Bowls with Kale Pesto
Description
Amazing Mushroom Bowls with Kale Pesto! Smoky, sweet, salt mushrooms (or tempeh!), caramelized pineapple, peppers, and dollop of kale pesto, all served over rice. SO GOOD.
Ingredients
Smoky-Sweet Marinade
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup soy sauce
- 1 teaspoon smoked paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and black pepper (to taste)
Bowls
- 16 ounces fresh mushrooms, washed and cut into thick-ish slices
- 2 cups fresh pineapple chunks
- 2–3 bell peppers
- rice or cauliflower rice
- kale pesto, magic green sauce, or any other yummy sauce
Instructions
- Whisk or shake the marinate in a jar until combined.
- Place mushrooms in a shallow bowl. Cover with enough marinade to get some flavor on each of the mushroom pieces (you might have some marinade left – that’s okay, you can use it later in this recipe, or save for next week’s bowls).
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Let the mushrooms rest for 20-30 minutes while you prep other ingredients, including your sauce!
- Place peppers, pineapple, and mushrooms with marinade each on their own sheet pans. Bake for 20-or-so minutes, rotating pans as needed, until you get some nice browning on everything (peppers will roast a few minutes faster). You can use the broiler to help with the browning as needed.
- Serve in a bowl over rice or cauli rice. Top with your sauce (yeah kale pesto)! You can also put all this yumminess in a wrap or on a salad. Poof! Look at healthy, delicious you.
Notes
Tips for Roasting: don’t overcrowd the pans because the pineapple, peppers, and mushrooms might start to steam instead of roast / caramelize / brown. I would recommend draining off excess juice from your pineapple if it seems to have a lot of moisture. If your mushrooms look like they have a lot of liquid, that’s okay – keep roasting a bit longer and the sauce will kind of turn into a gooey crust and the mushrooms will get even deeper in color and flavor. YUM.
Alternative to Mushrooms: Tempeh is also really delicious here. If you use tempeh, let it marinate for at least 2-3 hours if possible because it takes a bit longer to absorb the flavor. You can pan-fry it or roast it in the same way as directed for the mushrooms.
Keywords: mushroom bowls, mushroom recipe, vegan recipe, vegetarian recipe, kale pesto
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Monday, March 16, 2020
A Covid-19 Coffee Date (All About Food)
Life feels a little wobbly right now, doesn’t it? Holy smokes.
The news is changing every day with updates on the novel coronavirus, and now that it’s reached us here in the United States, and here in Minnesota, everything that used to be far away now feels a whole lot more real and uncertain.
School closures, job losses, and economic instability are all a lot to handle on top of the main event of a very real public health crisis.
One thing that remains predictable in all of this?
You need to eat. ♡
Your kids need to eat. My dog needs to eat. We all need to eat.
People need food, for their physical bodies, and I think also for nourishing their souls. And in a time where so much feels like it’s just hanging on by a thread, making and eating food can be centering. A small way to focus, provide, create joy.
It puts our feet back on the ground. It takes us out of the hypotheticals and brings us back to caring for ourselves and others in real-time. It is not rooted in the future but in the now. It is very present and fully human.
As is obvious, I’m not a doctor or an infectious disease specialist, so anything I say – it’s just me, okay? Just Regular Person Me, sharing my ideas and experiences. Read, absorb, and let me know what foods and plans are working for you in the comments. I am writing this post in hopes that it gives us a place to talk and connect and be there for each other.
Our Approach, Generally Speaking
We are not in full blown quarantine mode exactly, but I would say Bjork and I have been in pretty serious social distancing mode by choice since last Thursday, March 15th.
We have been, well, just staying home. Not eating out, not going to events, not hanging out with groups of people. Is that completely necessary right now? Maybe not. Does it feel a little weird? Yes. But will it make an impact for us and others? Oh man, we sure hope so.
Instead of our normal out-and-abouts, we’ve been going for walks, baking, reading, watching TV, and playing with Solvi.
For the foreseeable future, this is our plan. This is in an effort to do the MOST GOOD for our family, for our health care system, and for those most vulnerable in our community.
Bjork and I have been labeling normal life activities as green, yellow, or red in terms of what we’re comfortable with and what we’re not. Travel is red, for example. Going to crowded places is red. Having our full team in the office is red. We normally do a weekly date night, but that is now in the yellow category as we try to avoid restaurants. Quick grocery store runs are still green, but to be honest, all of this changes almost daily depending on what the CDC and the state of Minnesota is recommending.
Here is a detailed look at what’s happening in our kitchen as it relates to COVID-19 and food for the near future.
What’s in our Fridge
This more or less looks how my fridge always looks, but the noteworthy things that I wanted to make sure I had extra to last us at least a few weeks are:
- Milk (not pictured, it’s in the door)
- Orange juice (also not pictured, also in the door)
- Yogurt
- Butter
- Eggs
- Cheese
There’s also some sturdy produce I bought that I knew would last well:
- Kale
- Oranges
- Grapefruit
- Potatoes and sweet potatoes
- Pineapple
- Onions and garlic
What’s in our Freezer
(It’s impossible to see in the freezer itself so I pulled a few sample items out. Also, I keep a little chalkboard inventory of what’s in our freezer so I don’t forget.)
These are the essentials that do really well in the freezer that will help me build some meals.
- Mango
- Blueberries
- Broccoli
- Peas
- Mushrooms
- Chicken
- Bread
- Tortillas
But also, with not eating out as much, I wanted to have some fun, different, pre-made things to try that could FEEL like an eating-out adventure without actually going out to a restaurant. For example:
- Orange chicken
- Mozzarella sticks
- Pizza
- Potstickers
- Pretzels
- Gnocchi
I’ve been so grateful to have a few random, wouldn’t-usually-buy, fun things to munch on when we’re not going out during the weekend. It makes weekend eating feel a little more exciting than… like, lentils.
What’s in our Pantry
My pantry is just a cabinet in my laundry room, so really, it’s not a pantry and it makes for a bad picture. But here’s what we’ve got (mostly overflow from the normal Costco trips we’ve done over the last few months).
- Peanut butter
- Flour
- Nut milk
- Nuts and seeds
- Pasta
- Canned tomatoes
- Canned beans
- Canned coconut milk
- Canned or jarred “flavor extras” – roasted red peppers, chipotles, capers, curry paste, etc.
- Rice / quinoa / oats / other grains
- Mac and cheese “for Solvi”
I also have some baskets with random grains and beans – mostly half-opened bags that are probably a little too old, but it’s what we’ve got.
What We’re Going to Cook with All This
It’s time to get really creative and flexible with recipes.
I’m viewing this season of cooking as heavy on the reverse recipe building, where rather than starting with the actual recipe, I’ll start with the ingredient I have to work with. Example: we have sweet potatoes and cashews. I’ll roast them and put them in tacos, with a cashew queso sauce.
Which is exactly how I like to cook and I’m excited to be stretched to get really resourceful with our food.
Here’s my game plan – it is LOOSE and that is the whole point.
- Tacos: most everything can be rolled into a tortilla and made into a taco. For this I am grateful. Examples: buffalo chicken tacos, or brussels sprouts tacos.
- Curries: We are well-stocked on curry paste and coconut milk. Again, most anything you can find in a freezer or pantry can somehow get converted into a curry. We also have A LOT OF RICE. Bless it. Examples: sweet potato curry, or red curry lentils.
- Soup and Stew: Onions, garlic, vegetables, and go. Add some grains, add some beans, and voila. Examples: detox lentil soup, or golden soup, or wild rice soup.
- Pasta: We have a Costco-sized package of spaghetti, so bring it on. While I have several jars of spaghetti sauce, I also plan to make spaghetti that is… not regular spaghetti. Examples: Garlic herb spaghetti, or pumpkin spaghetti.
- Baking: Bread, yes, but also muffins, cookies, and other things that just help to lighten the mood a bit. Examples: no knead bread, or 5-ingredient banana muffins, or the best of all time chocolate chip cookies (also, 2-person deep dish cookie bowls! which will be posted very soon).
Flexibility is key. The whole point here is making do with what we have so as to avoid unnecessary trips out. And the only way that works is by being a little bold and a little scrappy with some of the ingredients we have. Luckily, scrappy is my middle name. Let’s do this.
As we think about our own Covid-19 situation and food, my encouragement to all of us food lovers (including myself) is also think about our friends and neighbors who might need a little extra support to keep themselves and their kids well-fed, either due to health or financial stresses. This is a really good time to be watching out for others – those more vulnerable to the virus, those who work in healthcare, those who run small businesses.
Idea list, and things I’ve been working on myself:
- Contacting teachers to see what food needs their students might have during remote learning, as many of them rely on school lunches
- Buying gift cards to your favorite local restaurants or small businesses as you’re staying home more often
- Taking five minutes to leave a review for your favorite restaurant or small business on Google or Yelp
- Checking in with your neighbors who are elderly or have compromised immune systems to see if they need help getting groceries
- Making a donation to your local food shelf
Alright. How we doing, team?
What is happening in your life as it relates to Covid-19?
What changes are you making, whether by choice or not?
What does your pantry look like, and of course, what are you eating?
Take care out there! ♡ Things might be up and down and different day to to day, but we’re here, we’re in this with you, we’re not going anywhere, and I look forward to seeing you around here whether that’s in good times or weird times. And right now it’s weird times. Time to be our best selves.
We can do this. xo
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Thursday, March 12, 2020
Instant Pot Mac and Cheese
MAC-AND-CHEESE! MAC-AND-CHEESE! (that’s me chanting)
This is exciting. On so many cheesy and delicious levels, this is exciting.
I’ve had my Instant Pot (affiliate) for a few years now, and let’s be real – I’m definitely not the ultimate Instant Pot expert, but I use it regularly enough to have a few recipes that are worthy of YOU, my favorite internet people.
Friends, this Mac and Cheese is at the top of the list. Top spot, position one, gold medal winner. It could not be easier or cheesier. I love this recipe so much.
And yes, I love our other Instant Pot recipes, too, and you can find them here.
But today it’s all about the cheese. Nostalgic, creamy, simple elbow macaroni and melted cheese is just a golden meal that makes life better.
The Magic of Instant Pot Mac and Cheese
We need to identify the brand of mac that is Instant Pot mac and cheese.
This is: you’ve graduated from mac and cheese in a box, but you are not interested in the commitment required for a big fancy baked deal. You want something that falls somewhere in the middle of the tastes-like-Velveeta to truffle-baked-mac spectrum. Friends, you are in luck. This is the perfect in between. This is your mac and cheese for when you want REAL FOOD mac and cheese that has a velvety, creamy, sauce with 5 ingredients in 15 minutes.
It is hangry mac and cheese.
It is I-have-no-other-groceries mac and cheese.
It is even-if-I-did-I-would-still-make-this mac and cheese.
It is FEED ME NOW AND LOVE ME FOREVER mac and cheese.
Obviously Instant Pot Mac and Cheese is pretty straightforward and simple and that’s kind of the point, in my opinion? I creep around on the internets and lately I’ve seen people chatting about how frustrating it is when people just use the Instant Pot for “basic recipes like Mac and Cheese.”
Excuse me but I’d like to respectfully disagree. There’s a reason why people use the Instant Pot for basic recipes like mac and cheese, and it’s because, especially in this case, the mac and cheese your Instant Pot can give you is NEXT LEVEL GOOD. I am not food-sciencey enough to tell you how or why this works, but the texture of the creamy sauce that you get a little melted butter, and cheese, and milk?
It just works differently in the Instant Pot! You cannot replicate this on the stovetop with the same ingredients and I do not know why. Starch? Pressure? Does it matter? The IP holds the magic.
The Instant Pot is so good to us.
How to Make Yummy Mac and Cheese
Step 1: Put noodles, water, and salt into the Instant Pot and push a few buttons.
Step 2: Stir in butter, cheese, and milk.
Step 3: That’s it. There is no step 3.
But seriously: my number one goal with Pinch of Yum is to connect with you and share recipes that you’ll actually make and actually love, and THIS! I am confident that this is one that you can and will actually make.
And absolutely one that you will love, assuming you’re into cheese?
Also: my specific Instant Pot is the Instant Pot DUO60 but I have made this in several types (“the old ones” and “the new ones” both) and it’s great all around.
Check Out Our Video for How to Make Instant Pot Mac and Cheese:
Instant Pot Mac and Cheese
Description
Instant Pot Mac and Cheese – made with just 5 real food ingredients. This is SO MUCH BETTER (and easier) than any mac and cheese I’ve ever had! Unreal.
Ingredients
- 1 pound uncooked elbow pasta
- 4 cups water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 3 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
- 2 1/2 cups shredded cheese
- up to 1/2 cup whole milk
Video
Instructions
- Noodles: Put the pasta, water, and salt into the Instant Pot (affiliate link). Cook for 4 minutes using the manual function. Quick release the steam so your noodles don’t get overcooked.
- Cheese: Gently stir in the butter until melted. Add the cheese and milk (use 2-3 tablespoons of milk at a time, as needed, up to 1/2 cup). Add more seasoning or liquid as necessary. MWAH! Enjoy. It’s so, so good.
Equipment
Buy Now →Notes
Cheese: My favorite cheese combo is 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese and 1/2 cup Italian blend shredded cheese. Really, any kind of cheese you like will be good here. I lean towards smooth-melting cheeses such as cheddar, gouda, gruyere, Monterrey jack, etc. Stringy cheeses (i.e. Mozzarella or Provolone) might be tricky to work with (think ooey gooey cheese bomb) but would obvi still taste awesome.
Gluten Free: I tried this with gluten free noodles and did not have great results – they just turned to mush.
Extra Seasoning: I often add a pinch of garlic salt or a swish of hot sauce when serving. I can’t not.
Keywords: instant pot mac and cheese, mac and cheese, easy mac and cheese, instant mac and cheese
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One more thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of easy pasta recipes. Check it out!
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