Happy Solstice!

Sunday morning and Solstice Day, 2014; what to have for breakfast??

I sauteed some chopped onion, garlic, and bell peppers, added some small red beans from the frozen bean stash and a can of petite diced tomatoes, and seasoned with a little ground mustard, turmeric, cumin, chilli powder, chopped dried chili pepper, bay leaf, salt and black pepper.  We served this over fried polenta (aka corn meal mush) made with dark roasted corn meal.  Following Jo's advice, I dropped a poached egg on mine.

We had this with a breakfast salad of baby spinach, sliced white mushrooms, sliced black olives, clementine slices and craisins with a tarragon vinaigrette dressing.

It was excellent!  Happy Solstice Day, Everyone!

Miso soup

Several weeks ago in the midst of the two and a half months of feeling constantly exhausted, nauseous and just generally like crap that is the first trimester of pregnancy, I was walking down an aisle at the grocery store when all the individual serving pre-packaged Asian noodle soups caught my eye.  To be clear, I haven't bought any of these things, umm, maybe ever.  I think we had a few packets of ramen noodles that Aleks's mom sent us one year back in Tucson that I ended up throwing away because the bugs ate them before we did.  But, on this day, they caught my eye and then some, and I loaded up the cart a bit with some of the Thai Kitchen brand packets and an instant miso soup pack.  And boy did they taste amazing!  I ate three different kinds for lunch that day.  Maybe it was the salt...

Anyway, it got me thinking that I could probably make miso soup from scratch for a lot cheaper, so the next time I went to the store, I bought a tub of miso, some tofu, and some dried seaweed.  I haven't had luck figuring out how to incorporate the seaweed yet - I always just end up with a slimy mess of it.  But, other than that, I've been enjoying making miso soup. It takes about 2 seconds to make, so it's a nice option on a cold day when you want a bowl of soup but don't have time to cook, really.

Miso is fermented and if you avoid boiling it, comes with all the great gastrointestinal benefits of other fermented foods (think probiotics).

I bought red miso, because that's all the store had.  It's a bit of a darker, fuller flavor than the light miso you normally get in a sushi restaurant.  It's great for winter. I think I would be inclined to try a lighter miso in the summer.

I just boil a bunch of water, then turn off the pot and stir in the miso paste until it tastes good.  I usually add some chopped tofu then too.  Like I said, I've tried adding dried seaweed without any much luck.

I would love to know some more tips if anyone has any.  I think next time I make it I'm going to try to add some pre-cooked noodles.  I'm also inclined to try adding swiss chard.  Any other suggestions?  I like that this soup is so quick and easy to make, but I'm also open to ways to dress it up and make it more interesting.

Thanks!

Maggie

To follow up on Molly's post - Broccoli cheese soup

Hi fam, 

I haven't made cauliflower soup, though I should try.  But Joy of Cooking uses the same recipe for Cream of Cauliflower as they do for Cream of Broccoli, so I always associate the two.  And tonight I made broccoli soup and thought I'd post a recent innovation that has made a nice change in our basic soup.

I don't have a super set recipe.  Here's the general idea of what I do:

- Cut a carrot and an onion and saute in some oil or butter.

- If you've got an open bottle of cheap white wine, add 1/4-1/2 cup.  The drink a glass of it.

- Roughly chop 1-2 heads of broccoli and add to pot.

- Add water to just cover the broccoli, with the realization that some of the broccoli will float.

- Add chicken base/boullion to make about 1/2 - 3/4 strength broth relative to how much water you added (ie, most chicken base says to add 1 t or 1 square/cup of water.  So, add 1/2 - 3/4 t / cup of water.

- Boil for a while until the broccoli is really tender.

- Here's my new addition:  Add some chopped kale.  It gives a GREAT flavor.  Boil until the kale is tender.

- Turn the heat way down or off.  Puree the soup

- Grate 1-2 cups of sharp cheddar cheese.  Add gradually, sprinkling some on top and stirring until melted before adding more (otherwise, you'll get a big clump of cheese and/or the cheese will separate giving you rubbery curds. - ick)

- Enjoy!

*I always used to serve this soup with fresh bread, but in an effort to up the protein content of our meal, I started serving it with popovers instead.  I've been following Kate's recipe that involves adding diced, sauteed carrots and onions to the popovers.  I found tonight that I could shorten the prep time of the whole meal by doing carrots and onions for the soup and popovers together in the food processor and then sauteing them together too.  I just separated some out for the popovers before adding the broccoli.  Since the food processor was already out, I employed the rule of not dirtying dishes unnecessarily, and just used that to chop the broccoli too.  This made for a finer chop of the broccoli than I normally used which also decreased the cooking time.

Cauliflower Soup

Hey all!

I'm not posting this because it's a new, superb, or life changing recipe.  Nope.  Just posting it in case you've been stuck making the same few meals lately.  I find that I forget that certain foods exist and so I never make them.

I was reminded of cauliflower soup the other day for some reason, so I decided to whip up a simple batch.  It hit the spot on these chilly 68 degree days we've been having.

So anyway, while nothing special, I decided to post it in case you forgot how good and easy cauliflower soup is.

1 onion
2 celery stalks
2 carrots
garlic, some
1 head of cauliflower
4 cups of broth
1 cup of milk
bay leaves
S & P

I just chopped up my onion, celery, carrots, and garlic and threw them in a pot with some butter til they softened.  Then I threw in the chopped up cauliflower and bay leaves.  Once it looked good, I threw in my liquids and simmered until the cauliflower was tender.  Then I used an immersion blender to make it a "cream of" soup.

I'll tell ya, it really hits the spot.  You could be FAR more creative than I was and maybe throw some cayenne in with the bay leaves to give it some kick.  There's a lot more you could do with spices and seasonings.

Simple, healthy (if milk doesn't offend you), and lends itself VERY well to dipping bread!

P.S.  Dad, if you read this, can you add mollyschad23@gmail.com to this blog so that I don't have to sign into my old email account to update.

Not My Mother's Chicken Liver Not Pate

Growing up, whenever we had roast chicken for dinner or whenever there was a holiday meal festive enough to call for hors d'oeures, my mother would make what she called "chicken liver pate", basically a spread made from cooked chicken livers eaten on crackers.

Our local supermarket offers a 20 oz. container for chicken livers for $1.58.  Seems cheap at the price so I recently tried to duplicate my mothers recipe from what I remembered seeing her do (I thought) and what I remembered as the outcome.

I took some of the product over to Mom's to share before dinner one night and in the ensuing discussion found out that what I thought I remembered her doing was not what she remembered and what I had made was not really what she had made.  So, this is Not My Mother's.  Then, before sitting down to write this I looked up the definition of pate in a couple of cookbooks and discovered that it is very different from this so it's not pate either.  Hence the name.  In any event, I think this is pretty good and like to keep some on hand to spread on a cracker whenever hunger strikes.

I take a 20 oz container of chicken livers and rinse well (they tend to be pretty bloody as received), then boil them in water for 8-10 minutes or until done (brown color inside).  Transfer the cooked livers to a stainless steel bowl and mash with fork, adding ~1 t. of mayo and, to taste, a splash of Worchestshire Sauce, a splash of Marsala, salt, pepper ground mustard and dried thyme.  The thyme works very well and is my contribution to this flavor ensemble.  There is obviously a huge opportunity for experimentation and further seasoning development in this basic recipe.

Lentils and Hominy

Someone in the family - and I ain't namin' names - got a little over exuberant in the hominy buying department, so I was looking for a way to use up an extra can of white hominy.  I decided to try making lentils and hominy, basically lentil soup with a can of hominy added.  So:

2 cup concentrated chicken broth
2 cup water
1/2 medium onion
3 cloves garlic
2 stalks celery
1 carrot
1 medium potato
1/2 cup dry lentils
1 20 oz can of white hominy
seasoned with salt, black pepper, red pepper, bay leaf, ground mustard - suit yourself

Veg all chopped or diced into the broth, lentils in when it comes to boil, cook 55 minutes or until the lentils are done (you all know how to make lentil soup, right?).

Because there are only 2 of us these days, I made just 1/2 cup of lentils resulting in a low lentil to hominy ratio.  Would be better with everything doubled but still use just one can of hominy, or else buy a smaller can.

Anyway, this turns out to be a really good flavor combination leaving itself open to future exploration of seasonings.  Plus, turns out lentils and hominy are complimentary proteins, so it's very nutritious.

Zucchini scrapple - sort of

Hard as it is to believe, we're still looking for ways to use up zucchini.  Last night I decided to make polenta and to used pureed zucchini in place of the water.  The results we delicious - it was creamy and had more flavor than plain polenta, but didn't taste overwhelmingly of zucchini.  I'll make it this way any time I've got zucchini on hand from now on.  I was going to call it zucchini polenta, but Aleks, have just enjoyed the two pounds of scrapple that Mom and Dad brought us, dubbed it zucchini scrapple, and I liked it.

Shred a large zucchini (about 2 pounds), then puree to yield about 3.5 cups of puree.
Add 1 cup milk and 1 t salt
Heat to a boil (careful it doesn't boil over), then gradually add 1 cup polenta or cornmeal, whisking to prevent lumps.  Cook over low heat until thick and the rest of your dinner is ready.

I think if you spooned it into a loaf pan and cooled it, you could make a block which you could then slice and fry, but we didn't bother with that step.

I served it with fish cooked in a quick white sauce and broccoli on the side, but it would also be good with pork or whatever else you like to eat with polenta.  Might not work quite as well fried up in an egg sandwich for breakfast, which is how I've been enjoying my scrapple :)

Maggie

Coconut Milk

Is it just me or can you put anything in a saute pan, throw in some spices, pour in some coconut milk and end up with a delicious meal?

Man!  I love the stuff!

Last night I threw some red onion, ginger, garlic in a pan to saute for bit.  Then I put in a spice mixture of tumeric, garam marsala, cinnamon, red pepper flakes, salt, and pepper.  Then threw in some chunks of chicken til they were cooked almost through.  Add some diced tomatoes and let it simmer for a bit to really build the flavas.  At the end, I added some coconut milk.

Served it up over rice and was in love.  Simple, easy, delicious.  Next time I'll probably throw in some more veggies since coconut milk makes everything tasty!

Yum!

Molly

Chili, Again

This spring we bought some Biggie Chili plants at Glick's with the idea in mind that come September we could try making chili with home grown.  Today's the day!  I worked with Biggie Chilies from the garden, mostly red at this time of year but with some green mixed in, yellow onions from the garden, diced Opalka tomatoes from the garden in place of canned, and a whole bulb of home grown garlic.   Based on the last batch, I reduced the cumin and cocoa this time around. 
 
For the chili:
300g red and green Biggie Chili peppers, sliced into strips about 2 inches long
389 g yellow onions, sliced into strips
35 g garlic (a whole bulb)
1/2 t ground cumin
1 t ground yellow mustard
1 t paprika
3 T oregano
1 T unsweetened cocoa
1 bay leaf
4 cloves, whole
1/2 t ground cinnamon
1 stick cinnamon
1/2 t ground nutmeg
12 oz Vitamin Y
1152 g diced tomatoes
543 g cooked small red beans
47 g lime juice
1/2 t salt or to taste (added at least another 1/2 t "to taste")
1/4 t whole black peppercorns
1/4 t (heaping) whole cardamom seeds
1/4 t whole black mustard seeds
1 juniper berry


I heated the whole seeds, cinnamon stick, whole cloves, and bay leaf  in oil until the mustard popped (the cinnamon stick also uncurled), then added the dry spices and some beer to make a paste, cooked for a while, then added to the cooking peppers and onions. Diced tomatoes and cooked red beans were added last.  Did not use chicken or beef broth this time but added the rest of the beer for liquid then cooked down some. Flavors are blending really well but after sitting for 4 hours or so the heat has faded away, so this is a very flavorful but very mild batch.  Next time, better include some hotter peppers, like the Garden Salsa, or supplement with dried or ground red pepper. 

Pickled Peppers

From Facebook last year (2013):

Take 3 on the pickled pepper front today:  All of my reading says that if you want to store pickled peppers at room temp, you have to boil-can them or you risk botulism poisoning.

Take 1, I tried boil-canning and they came out with good flavor but bad texture - pure mush; I threw them out.

Take 2, I used cold brine and after a day refrigerated. These were good enough that I ate nearly a whole jar in one day yesterday but taste a little bit "raw".

So today, Take 3: I put the peppers in the jars then filled the jars with boiling brine, put on lids, and let them cool. These, too, I will refrigerate.  The yellow and orange rings on the right are Hungarian wax peppers - not too hot but a little zip due to the orange and red peppers in the mix (they get hotter as the yellow peppers progress through orange to red). The red and green on the left are pepperocini, hotter than the Hungarians but still eatable and a great addition to a sandwich. I still have salsa peppers, a long bright red, much hotter pepper, and Thai peppers, small red and green, very hot to do something with. For brine I used 50/50 white distilled vinegar and water with 1/2 cup per gallon Kosher salt.

Today's Update (September 2014):
The Take 3 peppers from last year worked really well.  We enjoyed them all year.  The Hungarian Wax Pepper rings were probably our faves; some bite but not too hot; nearest to the hot pepper rings from the store (or the Wawa breakfast hoagie!); very pretty with yellow, orange and red mixed colors.  Pepperocini rings were OK; hotter than the Hungarian Wax but thinner walled.  We are just about through our last jar from last year after putting these on sandwiches all winter.

This year we planted more Hungarian Wax and fewer Pepperocini.  But bad news!:  the "Hungarian Wax" we planted must have been mislabeled at the nursery because we got a large, elongated sweet red pepper from the plants.  Not a bad pepper (not as good as the Lady Bells for a sweet pepper, tho') but definitely not going to make pickled hot pepper rings.  We also planted Biggie Chillis and Garden Salsa peppers, so the other day I tried picking and pickling the red Biggie Chillis and

got three quarts.  They are GREAT!!!  Hotter than the Hungarian Wax but not too hot, bright red, and beautiful in the jar or on the sandwich, perfect size rings with a nice firm wall.   Will definitely do some more of these this year.

So, the recap on the method:
Cut the peppers into rings and remove seeds from the center of each ring.
Pack into jars; jiggle and press to get them really full.
Make a brine of 50/50 vinegar (I used white distilled) and water with 1/2 cup salt (I used Kosher) per gallon and bring to a boil.
Pour the boiling brine over the peppers in the jar; fill them all the way.
Put lids on and let the jars cool, then refrigerate.

These are not canned, per se, so your MUST REFRIGERATE to keep them. 

By the way, I did not wear gloves while cutting the peppers.  I was very careful not to touch my face or eyes until I had washed my hands.  Even so, TWO DAYS LATER I could still feel every part of my hands and the spots on my face which I had inadvertently touched when exposed to the warm water in the shower.  You could really hurt yourself with these peppers if you don't wear gloves!!!

Carrot/beet/veggie fritters

I discovered this recipe the first time I had about 15 pounds of carrots sitting in my fridge.  It fits Kate's requirements for being a full meal in one dish (protein, veggies, and a bit of carb), simple, quick, and  tasty to the point that the kids will eat them.  I've made them several times for dinner, lunch, or as a side dish.  Each time I've varied the veggies a bit.  The link to the original recipe is below.

http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/2014/03/17/recipe-carrot-fritters-yogurt-sauce/
It calls for cilantro, which for some reasons I've never had on hand (mainly because I've been skipping the veggie section of the store for the past couple months!).  It also calls for whole wheat flour, but I found the patties to be a bit heavy when I used only whole wheat, so now I do half white, half whole wheat.  Also, I was not a fan of the yogurt sauce, so I don't make that.

For the fritters

• 1 1/2 cups grated carrots or other veggies 
• My favorite combination so far was 4 small beets with the remaining volume made up by carrots, it was probably about 1/2 and 1/2 each.  
• I use the grating disc of my food processor to make short work of the carrots.  That disc has gotten more use this summer than all the years I've used a food processor combined.
• 1/2 c finely chopped raw kale (optional, but oh so good!)
• 1/4 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/4 c white flour
• ¼ cup diced onion (I just throw this through the food processor grater as well)
• ½ teaspoon ground cumin
• 1/4 t ground coriander
• ½ teaspoon salt
• Pinch cayenne (or black) pepper (optional)
• 2 eggs
• 2 tablespoons water

Combine all the ingredients.  I like to mix the veggies together first, then toss with the dries, then stir the egg in at the end, but it's completely possible to just throw it all in to one bowl and mix once.  Cook in a little bit of oil on whatever you use to cook patties (I used our non-stick grill pan), using ~1/2 c per patty.  I find that they cook through a bit better if you press them to about 3/8 - 1/2" thick.  After the first side is browned a bit, flip over to cook the other side.  

We like to eat these plain, or with a bit of cream cheese and pickled jalepenos on top.  Will will put apple butter on them, but I think I would have to leave out the cumin and coriander to enjoy that.

I usually make a double recipe to feed all of us.  It fills us up, but we don't usually have much left over (though partly that's because I like them enough and they're healthy enough that I always eat too many of them).

I like the versatility of this recipe.  I've made it with all carrots; carrots, beets, and kale; and tonight I made it with zucchini and carrots.  I salted the zucchini, let it drain, and then squeezed it to get out a bunch of water first, then I omitted the addition of the water in the mixture.  They still turned out great.  I've never once had one of these fall apart on my griddle.  

-Maggie

One more zucchini note - bread!

One more note on zucchini:  in my never ending attempts to use up zucchini, I discovered that you can use pureed zucchini in place of water in bread and pizza dough recipes.  I usually shred mine in the food processor, then put the regular blade in to puree it, but I think a blender would work just as well.  I substitute about a pound of zucchini per pound of water (2 c water), maybe just a little extra zucchini.  It doesn't really change the flavor of the bread, but it adds all the nutrition of a zucchini.

Dad, I see you have drafts related to pickled peppers!  I can't wait to see them.  I just made a jar this past weekend, and went searching on the blog of a good recipe.  I've been eating them non-stop since Monday - mmmmm!

Zucchini butter

Hi Fam,
Our zucchini is coming to an end, a fact that I'm somewhat oddly sad about.  I guess I do love having an almost infinite supply of veggies without having to go to the store.  This recipe has helped us work through our zucchini this year.  It's super simple, and makes a tasty and healthy snack.

The link to the original recipe and the recipe itself are below.  I use a bunch of onion and garlic in place of the shallot and to add some more flavor.  I also discovered that if you're using a baseball bat-sized zucchini, you might want to peel it first.  If the peel is too thick, makes hard little pieces in your otherwise creamy butter.  he grater disc on a food processor is a great tool for grating the zucchini, but a good old box grater works just fine.

food52.com/recipes/23071-jennie-cook-s-zucchini-butter

Makes about 2 cups

• 2pounds zucchini or assorted summer squash (feel free to use less or add extra -- cooking times will vary)
• 1/4cup olive oil or butter
• 2minced shallots, garlic, or combination of both
• Salt and pepper

1. Coarsely grate the zucchini. Let it drain in a colander for 3 to 4 minutes or until you are ready to begin cooking. To hasten cooking time, squeeze the water out of the zucchini by wringing it in a clean cloth towel.
2. In a deep skillet, heat the olive oil/butter. Sauté the shallots or garlic briefly. Add the zucchini and toss. Cook and stir over medium to medium-high heat until the zucchini reaches a spreadable consistency, about 15 minutes. If you scorch the bottom, turn the flame down! (And scrape those delicious bits into the butter for added flavor -- you can splash in a little water to help deglaze the pan.) The zucchini will hold its bright green color and slowly caramelize into a nice vegetable jam.
3. Enjoy on toast, or as a side dish all summer long!

New posts - aka zucchini

Hi Family,
I just posted three new recipes, but thought I would provide a quick summary here, since sometimes only one or two entries shows up on my screen, such that I would miss multiple new entries.

We've had a lot of zucchini from our garden lately, so I've been trying to include it in just about everything.  I posted recipes for zucchini bread muffins and some zucchini almond butter bars.  I didn't post this, but we've also been using a bunch of zucchini in smoothies.  It has very little flavor, but a good amount of water.  I'll grate 1/2-1 zucchini, the add a banana or two, a peach if I have it, some frozen berries, a little lime juice, and some coconut water, blend it up and yum!  Kids like it to, and there's nothing unhealthy about it.  I made some with beet greens the other night, too.  That was, well...more interesting?  I ended up adding some cinnamon and pretending the beet flavor was ginger and then they were okay.  I think if you like the flavor of beets, it's worth a try.  I like smoothies in part just because they are another, different to get fruits and veggies, and I like that you can get a wide variety of fruits and veggies all at once.  Plus, they're quick to make and refreshing.

I got Kanga's recipe for kolache recently, and posted that as well.  I think especially with the anniversary of Grandpa's death this week, it was comforting to share that experience with the kids.  The kolache tasted just like I remember.  Suzie ate all the filling out of hers then handed me the dough, which isn't as sweet.  I remember wanting to do the same thing - and I probably did that when I was too young to remember.  Will was extra excited that he was allowed to have more than one in a day.  I remember that same feeling.  But they are never as good the next day, so why not for a special treat?

Finally, I planted tarragon this year specifically so I could make Dad's tarragon vinegar.  I added the tarragon to a bottle of red wine vinegar a few weeks ago, and used it for the first time this week.  We had our first cucumber out of the garden, and I chopped it then put some tarragon vinegar on it.  Sooooo good!  So much better than using plain vinegar.  Also, how is it that even a cucumber, which I generally consider to be rather tasteless and or bitter, can taste so much better out of the garden?  It simultaneously has more flavor and less bitterness.  I don't know...such a treat to have a garden after all these years.

Alright, hope you're all doing well and eating good food!

Maggie

Kanga's kolache!

I recently asked Kanga for her kolache recipe, and Uncle Tim helped her find a copy and sent it to me.  I made them last week and they were just like I remembered.  I thought I might not be the only one who would want this recipe, so I thought I would share.

The recipe below is a scanned copy of what Kanga had at home.  I confess that I broke the rules and modified the recipe the first time I made it.  I substituted honey for some of the sugar (about half).  I think honey helps keep bread products from going stale as quickly, and I remembered kolache going stale pretty quickly.  I kept mine in tupperware, and while they definitely were best the first day, they did keep pretty well for a few days.  I would use the honey again next time.  I also didn't use the Jiska, just because I didn't want the extra sugar and didn't feel like taking the time.  I didn't miss it.

The dough is extremely wet and soft.  I did add more flour than called for in the end, but I tried to not handle the dough much and to let it stay pretty wet.  I did not ever get a round loaf that I could let rise outside a bowl.  In the end, the kolache were very light and tender, so I think I would do the same again.

For fillings:
1) I made an apricot-peach filling by chopping some dried apricots then cooking them with a chopped peach and some grand marnier (I would have used OJ, but didn't have any on hand.)  The natural pectin of the apricots thickened it enough.
2) I did a prune filling by mixing chopped prunes with a little sugar, cinnamon, and some lemon juice.  This tasted just like I remember.
3) I made a cream cheese filling by mixing cream cheese, some sugar, an egg yolk, and a little flour together.

I made a half recipe, and cut out 24 kolache from my first roll of the dough.  At that point, I ran out of space on my pans, so I didn't re-roll the dough.  I estimate that I could have gotten anough 8-12 from what remained, but figured we didn't need them (and I didn't have space anyway).

I've been thinking about Grandpa and thus also Kanga a lot the past couple weeks, and it was really nice to taste these and have that connection to memories from growing up.

-Maggie

Mother’s Kolache (Kolach is singular, Kolache is plural. Ed.)

Take a dish that will hold at least 1 gallon

Warm 1 quart milk comfortably, put into dish with 1 compressed yeast cake (crumbled) or 1 package dry yeast.

Sprinkle 2 Tbsp. sugar on top, let sit until yeast comes to the top.

Add 3 cups warm flour and stir with a spoon until it is smooth.

Put in a warm place until it rises to the top of the dish.

Stir down and let rise again, then add 1 cup oil, ½ cup sugar, 2 Tbsp salt, 2 eggs and about 4 more cups warm flour; enough to make the dough easy to hbdle but not stiff.

Work on a bread board until it stands in a nice round loaf.

DO NOT ADD TOO MUCH FLOUR

Cover and put in a warm place to rise double.

Now grease your pans, pit your prunes, add to them a little sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice (the prunes, I assume, not the pans. Ed.)

When the dough has risen, flatten it and cut into rounds.

Place 1 inch apart on cookie sheets.

Let rise until when you poke it, it leaves a dent.

Grease the dough rounds and make center dents.

Fill with prunes and sprinkle with jiska.

Bake at 450F until desired color, 8-10 minutes.

Jiska

2 spoons flour

2 spoons sugar

a little grease

mix until crumbly

Almond butter zucchini bars

I've had a lot of zucchini in the kitchen lately, so I've been trying to use it in all my normal endeavors, which mainly include trying to get everyone to eat more protein and more veggies.  I've specifically been trying to come up with snacks that Aleks can take to work to keep him going through the afternoon so he doesn't come home crabby with low blood sugar.  My criteria are that they have to have a good amount of protein, and they have to keep, unrefrigerated for most of the week.  I came across this recipe for bars made with almond butter and zucchini and they fit the bill.  They are also delicious!

3/4 c almond butter
1 c + grated zucchini
1 egg
1/4 c maple syrup
1 t vanilla
2 t cinnamon
3/4 t baking soda
1/2 t nutmeg
1/4 t salt
1/4-1/2 c chocolate chips, optional

Mix all the ingredients together.  Bake in a greased 8X8" brownie pan a 350 for 30 min until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  A note about the chocolate chips:  I found them superfluous.  I think if I were compelled by the kids or Aleks to use them again, I would cut the maple syrup by at least half.

-Maggie

Zucchini bread?

Does anyone have a zucchini bread recipe they like?  I tried one the other day that I thought was going to be a winner, but it ended up kinda bland.

Thanks!

Maggie


Alright, since no one posted a zucchini bread recipe, I'm going to go ahead and assume you all don't have one.  And then I'll also assume that means you need one - at least if you live anywhere where zucchini grows as fast as mine is.  I modified a recipe I found on-line and liked the results pretty well.  I significantly decreased the sugar, replaced oil with mostly butter, made muffins/cupcakes instead of a loaf, and used the mixing method that Joy of Cooking gives for banana bread.  It's different than a typical recipe's mixing method, but my banana bread always gets rave reviews and I don't think it's only due to the extra butter and chocolate chips I add (ie, I think it has good texture, too)!  :)  Here's my zucchini muffin recipe:

1 c pecans (or walnuts) - toasted, then chopped
2 c flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
Spices: ~1 T cinnamon, 1 t ground giner, 1/2-3/4 t nutmeg, 1/8-1/4 t cloves
1/2 c brown sugar
6 T butter
2T vegetable oil
1/2 c yogurt (plain)
1 c grated zucchini (I packed it in pretty well, and probably used a bit more than 1 c).

Mix together the dry ingredients.  Cream butter and oil with sugar.  Mix in the dry ingredients just until combined and mixture is the consistency of brown sugar.  Add eggs and yogurt and mix just until combined.  Fold in zucchini.  Spoon into muffin tin, and bake at 325-350 for 25-30 min.  Makes 12 muffins.

Nut butter blueberry...ummm cakes, bars, cupcakes...snacks

Today was Will's last day of school, and I wanted to make a special after school snack for him to celebrate.  At the same time, I knew he would already be wound up, and I didn't want to abandon my principles of low sugar/high protein snacks.  I decided I wanted to use almond butter and blueberries in some way, since that's what we had in the house.  I wasn't able to find exactly what I was looking for on the internet, but I used a few recipes as inspiration and made something up.  They turned out pretty well - Will said "they're awesome!" and ate 3 or 4 of them.  

Here's what I did:

1/2 c. almond butter

1/4 c. pecan butter (really, you could use 3/4 c of any nut butter or combinations you want)

1/2 c. rolled oats

1 c. coconut (I had sweetened, flaked coconut on hand, so that's what I used)

3/4 t. baking soda

1/2 - 1 t. cinnamon (optional)

1 egg

Berry sauce (see below)

Mix the first 7 ingredients together.  Press about half or a little more than half of the dough into the bottom of 8-10 muffin cups.  Dough should be about 3/8" thick in the bottom of the cups.  Fill the muffin cups most of the rest of the way with berry sauce.  Pat the remaining dough into circles and place on top of the berries.  Bake at 350 for ~25 min.  Let cool to set, then remove from pan.  

Berry sauce:  I used Mom's/Kanga's technique to make my sauce.  I always have frozen mixed berries (blue, red razz, and blackberries) on hand, so I put probably about 1 c. of these into the pan with a bit of water, then when it got hot and liquidy, thickened it to pretty thick with cornstarch.  I then added about 1 1/2 c. or so of fresh blueberries to the sauce and spooned that directly into the muffin tins.  The result, was a thick, softly solid berry layer with almost whole blueberries in it.

These ended up a little bit crumbly, but if handled carefully they held their shape.  As I mentioned above, I used the sweetened coconut, because that's what I had.  There was no other additional sugar, and these didn't end up tasting sweet.  I think when I make them again, I would be inclined to try to start with unsweetened coconut.  I think they may not need any sugar, but you could always add sugar to taste.  

I'm sure this could also be baked in a baking dish, though I like the muffin tin because it provides easy portion control.  

I'll be adding this one to my repertoire of health snacks that the kiddos like.

-Maggie

Reduced sugar baking

Since we cut back on sugar, most baked good recipes taste too sweet.  Much as my mother did with fat for most of my childhood, I have gotten in the habit of routinely reducing the sugar by half to a third even for cakes and cookies.  Additionally I started noticing that things tasted too salty--was it because we eat such a low salt diet?  Finally, it dawned on me that when you cut back on sugar you also need to cut back on the salt by the same amount.  I'm sort of surprised by this; maybe it's obvious to those who know more about baking.  With this tweak, we find that the missing sugar does not harm the texture and improves the flavor of scones, cakes, and cookies.

Bruschetta Chicken

I realize I definitely didn't invent this recipe, but it's just what I threw together tonight.  It was super duper quick and pretty darned tasty.

I made a simple bruschetta by chopping up a tomato, garlic, and basil.  Drizzle that with a little olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and salt and set aside.

The I brushed a little balsamic vinegar and oil on a chicken breast, which I later cut in half when I realized that would speed up my time.  I put that in the grill pan since it was just me for dinner.  I always think things are better on the real grill, but sometimes the grill pan is just more convenient.

As it was grilling I steamed some broccoli and asparagus.  You could also put the asparagus on the grill which, again, would be better.  I also did a little tap dancing in front of the mirror in the hallway it was cooking, but you can go ahead and skip that step.

When the chicken was about done, I put some sliced mozzarella on top and let it get all melty.  When it was done, I put it on my plate and then topped it with a very healthy portion of the bruschetta and served it up with the broccoli and asparagus.

Start to finish, it was about 15 minutes I bet.  It tasted like balsamic-y, basil-y goodness.  The sweetness of the balsamic vinegar caramalized on the grill pan a bit.  Yum!  Summa time!

Molly

Bamboo Shoots

When I planted bamboo at the top end of the property to form a visual barrier from the road and the neighbors' house a couple of years ago a certain environmental restorationist in the family warned me about the horrors of planting such an invasive species noting that it would spread uncontrollably and take over southeastern Pennsylvania.  I have been egging it on year by year, trying to get my visual screen established.  Up until today, when I found one long invasive root sending a line of shoots up from the perennial flower garden in front of the fence. Well, I wanted it to spread, but not to there...

I dug up the offending rhizome and found it covered with bamboo shoots, which I harvested:

My total culinary knowledge of bamboo shoots consists of "they come in a Chung King can" and "I think the catalog said the shoots from this variety were edible" so I proceeded to stumble forward in the dark.  I found that the tough outer leaves peel off in layers leaving a soft, edible core.  It reminded my of artichokes:  tough stringy leaves which break off of a soft core where the edible part starts.  Here's what I wound up with after cleaning:

So, I gathered some last-of-the-season asparagus from the garden, cut up a little broccoli, minced a shallot, some garlic, and some fresh ginger and started stir frying using sesame oil and soy sauce, extra water to steam the vegetables, etc.   I added in some left over white rice:

At the end, I cooked off the excess moisture and added two scrambled eggs to make a sort of egg fu yung, I guess.  It was good.  It was a hoot getting fresh bamboo sprouts from the bamboo stand.  A few of the pieces still had some tough woody parts which had to be spit out so I need to work on how best to clean them.

Pickles again!

Hey all,

While it's basically always summer here, it is heating up and starting to feel even more like "summer."  It got me thinking about homemade pickles.

Now I somehow went and married someone who doesn't like pickles.  Fine by me...now I don't have to share :-).

But that means I don't want to make up a big old crock of pickles.  So I just went back and read the pickle entries we already have on this blog.  Am I correct to assume I can make pickles right in a mason jar?  Do I just have to make sure it's full to the brim?

Not sure if I'll be able to find grape leaves here, but I'll do some looking.  I know I can find banana leaves...in my backyard.  We always wrap pigs in banana leaves when we cook em in the ground.  I wonder if those would work?  Might be worth an experiment?

Anyway, any tips on making pickles in a mason jar?  Is it easy enough?

Molly

hypo-allergenic dinner party

OK family, here's the challenge:  My old friend Jeremy, his wife Lauren, and their 8-mo old son Caelen are coming for a visit on Wed evening, will stay until Fri morning.  On Thursday, there is a good chance that a bunch of other old friends will come over.  Dinner party time!  Here's the tricky bit, the other old friends have challenging dietary restrictions.  One of them is vegetarian (easy!) and one of them is attempting to eliminate all food that may cause allergies from her life at the recommendation of her naturopath.  Here's the list: NO soy, meat, sugar, gluten, peanuts, alcohol, or dairy.  As this eliminates virtually 100% of my go-to dinner party recipes, I'm looking for suggestions.  Also, Jeremy and Lauren are foodies, but very nice about it, and Patrick is allergic to spinach, walnuts, moldy cheeses, and hazelnuts.  Sarah and Jasper may be here, too.  Thankfully Sarah is done with her paleo diet, which also excluded legumes, grains, and potatoes [the answer is sweet potatoes, avocados, and eggs if you're wondering what is left to eat on that diet].  But Jasper is allergic to shellfish.  Samara and Patrick will not consume anything with a hint of spice in it.  I'm looking for complete menu suggestions, no need to include a dessert.  Something a little fancier than homestyle comfort food is OK, because I am planning to leave work early on Thursday and have a few days lead time.  Suggestion for Wed dinner for a family just in from a long drive would be good, too though. It is great to have foodies in the family!  Thanks in advance.  PS Jo, we have been enjoying tomatillos lately--thanks for the good suggestion.

Roasted corn and poblano soup with avocado

I was craving the taste of roasted corn and poblanos the other day, so I decided to make some soup today.  I borrowed heavily from this recipe, which is excellent:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cold-Avocado-Corn-Soup-with-Cilantro-Oil-231993

I didn't actually follow the recipe, so I'll write what I did.

4 ears of corn
2-3 poblanos/pasilla chilis (fresh, not dried)- to taste
1 med or 1/2 very large onion - chopped for soup
~6 cloves of garlic
2 medium carrots - chopped for soup
2-3 stalks celery - chopped for soup
a left over grilled chicken leg or two (you know, if you have them lying around and need to use them for something)
some chicken base/stock/boullion
1-2 avocados
~3/4 t ground cumin
~1/2 t ground coriander
1 small bunch cilantro
a little cream if you want it extra rich
a dash of lime juice

Roast and/or broil 3 ears of corn and poblanos.  I roasted at 425 for 17 min, then 450 for 7 min, then finished off in the broiler, because I was baking bread at the same time.  Cut the kernels off all the cobs (3 roasted + 1 raw, then chop the cobs into 3-4 pieces each.  Start your soup (as far as I can tell, the pretty much always means saute your carrots, onions, and celery in olive oil with a bit of salt until soft, adding the garlic in at some point).  Thow in your chicken pieces if using (these aren't necessary, but I did enjoy the slight smokiness they gave the broth) and about half the corn kernels.  Add water to cover - I used 6 cups, and about 2-3 teaspoons of chicken base (about half the ratio you would want for full strength boullion broth).  Simmer briskly until your bulbs that didn't do much this spring are dug out of the garden and your new flowers are planted - about 35 minutes.  Remove the corn cobs and any chicken bones.  I also removed most of the meat to eat another day.  If you like a chunky soup, Briefly chop the cilantro, then blend cilantro, cumin, and coriander with some of the soup, then stir into the pot.  Peel and seed the poblanos, and chop and puree them with some of the soup.  Finally, do the same with 1 of the avocados.  If you like smooth soups, just dump everything into the same blender.   Add the remaining corn kernels.  I also added a little cream, but I wouldn't next time.  It just wasn't necessary.  I didn't add lime juice, but I will add a bit tomorrow for lunch.

I made our soup with about 1 - 1 1/2 poblanos, but then put the remaining poblanos, pureed with some of the soup on the table for those of us who wanted more of that flavor and spice to stir into our soup.  How many to use really depends on your taste and how spicy your poblanos are.  I also cut up the second avocado and put it on the table.  Aleks added some cherry tomatoes to his.  We served it with plain cheese quesadillas.  They went well and the cheese added some protein.

This was delicious.  And healthy!  I'm sure I'll be making various versions of this many times to come.

-Maggie

Hey Fam,
Finally getting around to contributing to this blog!
So yesterday I went to the grocery store for my $30 worth of yogurt and fruit (Working at a restaurant keeps the grocery budget down, but the waistline up) and I was walking around trying to decide if I wanted kale, spinach, or broccoli for my greens of the week, when I saw that tofu was on sale. So I bought some, and found some mango/jalapenio dressing (with minimal sugar added) to marinate it in. Then, since it was a sunny day and my Saturday, I decided to just make a full on tropical themed dinner. So I bought a pineapple, a plantain, some jalapenos, and some coconut milk. I got home and put the tofu on to marinate. For those of you into the meatier sides of things, my roommate is a veg, so we usually go for the pan-fried tofu, but chicken would obviously work. I then cut up the pineapple pretty fine (small dice), threw it in a bowl with some minced ginger and cilantro, and a little bit of coconut milk, maybe about a third or a half cup? I took a potato masher to it to get a saucierish texture, so it was still chunky, but slightly pureed. I then texted my friends telling them dinner was on me, and cleaned up my apt a little bit. When they were on their way, I cooked up some white rice, and pan fried the tofu, and set to work on the greens. I loved that salad that Andy posted a while back with the kale and canellini beans (or something like that), and also Kate's idea of cooking kale in milk (years ago from a trip to Portland) so I put some butter in the saute pan with more ginger, garlic, and a jalapeno. Added the beans, and the rest of my can of coconut milk. Right before serving I tossed in the kale with some fresh lemon juice and a bit of salt and sauteed it up. The result was a killer dinner of pan fried tofu, white rice with the pineapple cilantro coconut salsa, and some truly kickass kale.
I know Dad won't go for this because he JUST LIKES PLAIN SHORT GRAIN WHITE RICE but I highly recommend the cool pineapple salsa topping the hot rice. I really surprised myself with how much I liked it, and I don't think I'm too biased, but it got good reviews from my friends as well.
All in all, it was really damn good, if i do say so myself, and perfect to celebrate the oncoming summer. Happy eating!

Cauliflower mashed potatoes

Let me say from the start that these are definitely not Dad's World's Best Mashed Potatoes, and they aren't pretending to be.

I've been trying to get more veggies into our diets lately, but have been feeling uninspired by what's available (hoping to change that by going to the farmers market this weekend) and by my usual standbys.  So, I looked around the internets a bit and found a recipe for mock mashed potatoes made from cauliflower.  I tend to like cauliflower, and I've enjoyed mashing in other veggies with potatoes before (I really like a mix of potatoes and celery root/celeriac) so I thought I'd give it a try.  I modified the recipe to include some potatoes.  They turned out really well!  The kids didn't like them, but Aleks and I did.  They are lighter than regular mashed potatoes in texture and flavor, and the flavor of the butter came through really nicely. You can serve them either as a healthier version of mashed potatoes, or a less healthy version of cauliflower as a vegetable.  I would recommend them to sub in place of mashed potatoes as for a regular weeknight dinner, but not for a weekend grilled steak dinner.  You could also play with the ratio of potatoes to cauliflower depending on preference.

I used:

4 small-med russet potatoes
1 large, dense head of cauliflower
~2 T butter
3 cloves of garlic
~2 T cream cheese
salt and pepper (not as much salt as you would need if using 100% potatoes)

Cut the potatoes into 1/2" dice, cover with cold water and bring to a boil.  Boil until cooked as normal for mashed potatoes.  (Note, potatoes really, really do cook much better if you start them in cold water.  I resisted this instruction for years before finally trying it, and now it's what I always do.  Somehow it prevents the outside from cooking too much and falling apart in the water while the inside is still hard.)  Cut the cauliflower into florets and steam until tender.  (The potatoes and cauliflower took about the same time to cook for me, so you could put the potatoes in the bottom of a pan and cover with water, then pile the cauliflower on top to steam.  One less dish!).  When everything is cooked, drain the water.  Meanwhile, cut the cold butter into cubes.  Press the garlic through a press into the bowl with the butter.  Microware the butter and garlic together until the butter is melted (30 s in my microwave).  This cooks the garlic just enough that it doesn't taste like chunks of raw garlic, but you still get a good strong flavor.  Put it all together in a pot and mash it with a mixer.

Like I said, this has a pretty strong butter flavor and wasn't at all dry, so you could definitely get away with using less butter or cream cheese if you want to cut down on the fat.