My Favorite Recipe: Sweet Potato Hummus

As most of you know I have taken my love for cooking to another level here in Amsterdam.  Before I started working (3 weeks ago) I had all day to plan and prepare a meal for Jim to come home to.  I have not yet made the same thing twice.... except for this recipe!

I love Pinterest, but not to pick out my future $10 million home, my dream wardrobe that will never fit in my European closet, or planning my wedding that may not happen for the next 10 years.  I use it strictly for recipes.  This has become an organized recipe book for me and I have found some amazing recipes.  Sweet potato hummus is so far my favorite AND I use it as one of my "reusable recipes".

About a month ago I went to a party and brought an appetizer.  I knew one girl in the group was vegan and one was lactose intolerant and gluten sensitive so I chose to try something a little different.  This Sweet Potato Hummus Recipe was so good I decided to use the leftovers to stuff manicotti noodles and I used a cream sauce to top it.  Since I knew this would be so rich I also made a traditional manicotti with ricotta and spinach topped with a red meat sauce (also a reusable recipe).  Below are the recipes, and some pictures of this amazing find!

Sweet Potato Hummus

inspired by The Novice Chef Blog

1 extra large or 2 small sweet potatoes
3-4 cloves of garlic
1 can chickpeas
1/4 cup tahini
1 lemon juiced
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 Tbsp cumin
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

Bake sweet potatoes in the oven at 400 F for 1 hour, rotate half way through.  Let sweet potato cool for 10 minutes then cut into cubes.  A food processor works best but I only have a blender which worked fine.  Add all ingredients into the blender and blend until desired consistency.  Voila! That's all there is to it, serve with pita chips or veggies.

Sweet Potato Hummus Stuffed Manicotti 

1- 1 1/2 cups sweet potato hummus

1 cup shredded chicken (optional)

6-8 manicotti noodles or shells

1 pre-made cream sauce

1 cup mozerella shredded or sliced

2 Tbsp rosemary

Bring pot of water to boil and cook manicotti according to directions.  Spray cooking dish with non stick spray and add a small layer of sauce.  Mix hummus and shredded chicken in small bowl, then stuff the inside of the manicotti gently and place in pan.  (some pictures below with traditional manicotti)  Cover with sauce and mozerella, sprinkle rosemary on top.  Bake at 400 F for 20 minutes covered, then remove foil for final 15 minutes.

Serving both a traditional manicotti and the sweet potato is the perfect combination.

Dutch Royalty

(Sorry for the delay... I wrote this post 2 weeks ago but we have been so busy I haven't had time to post!)

Last week was a monumental moment in Dutch history that I was so proud to be part of. The Netherlands crowned a new King and Queen. This is the first Dutch King since 1890 and the reign of the Orange-Nassau family dates back to the 1500's. Queen's day has been a big Dutch holiday for a long time. It is a celebration of the former (2 queens ago) Queens birthday which was April 30. This year they crowned the new king on Queen's Day and it was the last Queen's Day because next year will be King's Day (his birthday) on April 27th.

So as you can imagine all of these things happening on one day was a huge party for The Netherlands. The morning started with the Queen turning over the throne to the King at the Royal Palace in Dam square. Crowds waited outside the palace for the new King and Queen to come to the balcony as everyone sang the national anthem. Jim and I did not make it to Dam square since Queen's Night (the night before) is also a he party, but we did watch it on tv. Below is a picture from Instagram during this celebration, and a picture of our friend Jarno at the celebration.

 

photo by: Instagram

photo by: Jarno Van Veldhuisen

Later in the day there was a religious ceremony in the church. Royalty from all over the world attended, including Prince Charles and Camilla. We got stuck in a procession of buses and limos full of royalty dressed in very elegant attire, think the royal wedding of Will and Kate. Below is King Willem-Alexander and Queen Maxima as they entered the church.

 

Meanwhile, the streets and canals of Amsterdam are a party. Queen's Day is the one day of the year that people can sell anything they want and not charge tax, so a lot of neighborhoods turn into a giant garage sale. People start marking their sale spots on the sidewalk weeks in advance. The canals are completely packed with boats filled with people dressed in all orange and sound systems make each boat seem like it is it's own floating club. Below is a picture of Jim and our friend Tommy as we watched all of the boats. I also added a picture of a boat filled with all men dressed in orange tutus. And the last picture is a guy that fell off of the boat into the canal, I'm surprised more people didn't fall in.

 

 

We roamed the streets of the city for about 8 hours, we met up with friends and made some new friends. There was live music and dj's on every street corner and canal bridge. This really was the biggest celebration we've ever experienced. I woke up on May 1st already excited for the first King's day April 27 2014.  This last picture is of  Jim, (our CO friend who now lives here) Tommy, (Emily's first friend in Amsterdam) Bram, and Ryan.

Buffalo Sauce

Buffalo Sauce

Before we left America we tried to get all we could of our favorite "American" things.  We ate at Chipotle a couple times a week, we went to every Happy Hour spot in Denver, we watched every football game that was ever on tv.  But one of the things neither Jim or I got enough of was Buffalo Sauce.  One of the first cravings we had here was for delicious buffalo sauce.  About a month in I knew where to get almost EVERY "American" food item we were missing .  I even found Sweet Baby Ray's BBQ Sauce at a garden store and I have to make my own Ranch Dressing.   so it felt just like home.  But I was never able to find Buffalo Sauce.  We have been lucky to have friends smuggle it into the country for us, but as you can imagine every drop of Buffalo Sauce is very precious in this household.  I only put it in recipes once a month, trying to savor every bit.

Well... this week I decided to make our favorite Buffalo Chicken Dip which Erica introduced to us at a Texas tailgate a few years ago.  My friend Julie and I have decided this recipe is definitely a Texas Super Food.  I made this dip with some homemade soft pretzels for a party this week and when we had leftovers I had to make it into another recipe.  As most of you know, I love cooking and I experiment in the kitchen on a daily basis, coming up with new concoctions and twists on recipes.  I take it upon myself to try to make Jim feel like a King by putting all of my love into cooking gourmet feasts for him.  He see's it more as me breaking the bank to have every ingredient in the grocery store.  So, I was excited about testing myself to eat the leftovers without eating the same thing twice.  We aren't a fan of leftovers in this house.

I share with you my creation of the week..... (Red Robin should hire me for their creative team)

Gourmet Buffalo Chicken Stuffed Burgers

• 1 lb ground beef
• 1/2 cup Buffalo Chicken Dip (recipe below)
• Homemade Lo-Fat Ranch Dressing (recipe below)
• 4 Buns of your choice/ I used bagels (another cost saver Jim!)
• Arugala
• Bleu cheese crumbles
• Extra Buffalo Sauce (optional)

I split my ground beef into 4 thin flat burgers.  I seasoned with a little Famous Daves Steak Seasoning, got that tip from my cousin Brinton and a little Worcestershire sauce. I added 2 tablespoons of the refrigerated Buffalo Chicken Dip to top of each burger (see below)

Add some extra Buffalo Sauce on top if you want, then wrap the meat around the stuffing.  Mine ended up looking somewhat like volcanoes.  I used a George Foreman but I could also use a grill pan since we can't have a grill here.  Grill for 8 minutes then add bleu cheese crumbles on top and grill another 2 minutes.  Toast bagel and add Homemade ranch and Arugula.  Enjoy!

Healthier Buffalo Chicken Dip

• 2 chicken breasts
• 1/2 cup Buffalo Sauce
• bleu cheese crumbles
• 1/2 cup cheddar cheese
• 8 oz. low fat cream cheese
• 1/2 cup Homemade Ranch

Boil the chicken breasts for 15-20 minutes then set aside to let cool, with 2 forks shred chicken.  Add chicken to a skillet on low heat with cream cheese buffalo sauce and cheese.  Stir occasionally, once cheese is melted add ranch dressing and mix well.  Put in serving dish and top with bleu cheese crumbles, you can also add some green onions for color.  Dip can be reheated in the oven at 350 for 15-20 minutes or until bubbly.

Homemade Ranch Dressing

• 2 tbsp Ranch Dressing packet
• 1/2 cup lowfat or nonfat Greek yogurt

I whip up a little Ranch dressing as needed for every recipe.  I only make small amounts at a time so the dressing doesn't go bad.  Add 1-2 tbsp Ranch Dressing packet to Greek yogurt.  Mix and taste, add more or less seasoning to your taste.  You can also add Siracha to make this a spicy Ranch dip.

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting!

First thing's first.... A few months ago I made some cupcakes that were pure perfection!  I have never had so many requests for a recipe in my life so I knew these weren't just good in my opinion.  These are easy to whip up last minute and all of these recipes were in our pantry already.  I wanted to share this spin I created based on a few recipes. (Please excuse the picture I will have better in the future)

Peanut Butter Cupcakes with Nutella Frosting Recipe 

inspired by: Cupcakes, Frosting

Cupcake:

• 1/3 cup soft butter

• 1/2 cup natural peanut butter

• 1 1/4 cup brown sugar

• 1 large egg

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1/2 tsp baking powder

• 1/3 tsp baking soda

• 1/4 tsp cinnamon

• 3/4 cup 2% milk

Frosting:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) butter at room temperature

• 2 cups powdered sugar

• 2/3 cup Nutella

• 1 tsp vanilla

• 1/2 tsp salt

• 2 tbsp 2% milk

Instructions:
- Set oven to 350 degrees and line muffin tin with muffin cups
- In a large bowl cream the butter, peanut butter, and sugar until smooth
- In smaller bowl combine flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cinnamon
- Add dry ingredients alternating with milk to the peanut butter mixture and mix well
- Fill muffin cups 2/3 of way up with mixture (depending on peanut butter used mixture may be thick more like a bread)
- Bake for 18-22 minutes at 350, insert toothpick at 18 minutes- once it comes out clean they're finished
- While baking begin frosting, mix butter and powdered sugar in a medium bowl until well blended
- Add Nutella and beat at medium speed for about 2 minutes
- Add vanilla and salt and beat on low until well blended
- Add milk and beat for about 1 minute and stick in refrigerator
- Cool cupcakes for 2 minutes and remove from pan to wire rack and let sit 10 minutes then frost and serve
Enjoy!  And let me know what you think.

Buckle Up!

Today is a big day!  I have finally created the blog I have been promising myself I would do for the past 6 months.  We are so excited for all of you to join us in the ride of our lives!  Here's a brief summary of how this all came about...

In August 2012 Jim and I decided we were going to take a giant step in our relationship and lives and move to Europe.  Both of us were raised most of our lives in Colorado; Denver had become our home with a great group of friends and family nearby.  We both had good jobs, a huge network, and were happy to call Denver our home.  For 2 years we had been discussing a possible move to Amsterdam through Jim's job at KPMG, and we decided to make this huge change in our lives, and it has been the best decision we have ever made.

A little bit about us...

Jim and I met in Denver 4 years ago this month.  We quickly became attached at the hip and 2 pretty much became 1... hence the name Jimily... Jim + Emily.  This nickname started about 2 years ago and has stuck ever since.  I like to consider myself the housekeeper, chef, crafting extroidanaire, caretaker of our 3 year old dog Koda, and most importantly EVENT COORDINATOR of our lives.  Jim is the hardworking, business oriented, supporter of everything I do, and probably most importantly the money provider of our life.

As we encountered our 6 month mark of living in Amsterdam yesterday I realized it is time to stop talking about making a blog and actually start documenting the adventures we encounter on a daily basis.  Even if we are the only ones who ever read this blog, we will have our memories (whether triumphant or a failure) in writing.  I hope we obtain a few followers along the way who can enjoy our experiences and adventures along with us.  So it is time to buckle up and get ready for the blog of our ever-changing lives to BEGIN!