Spicy Green Lentils

Went to Echo Hill today and picked up, among other things, a new bag of green lentils so I kinda had a hankerin' but was looking for a new way to prepare them.  I found a recipe for Warm Spiced Lentils on MyRecipes.com to use as a starting point but, as usual, took some liberties.  The result was good enough to post so I will have it for future reference, though maybe with further modifications:

~3/4 cup green lentils (original called for 1 c. petite green lentils)
1 small onion peeled
4 whole cloves
2 bay leaves
1 strip lime rind and 1 strip orange rind (original called for one 2" strip lemon rind; I used what I had on hand)
Coconut oil for sauteing (original called for 1 T. extra virgin olive oil)
1 med yellow onion, chopped (original called for 3/4 cup red onion)
1 can petite dice tomatoes w/Jalapenos (original called for 1 c. chopped seeded tomatoes)
~1 inch fresh ginger, minced (original called for 3/4 t. ground ginger)
1 t. ground cumin (original called for 3/4 t.)
1/2+ t. ground turmeric (original called for 1/2 t.)
1/2+ t. ground paprika (original called for 1/2 t.)
3 cloves garlic, minced
Juice of 1 lime (original called for 1 1/2 T. fresh lemon juice)
Salt, ground black pepper, ground chili pepper to taste.
(Original also called for fresh cilantro and fresh parsley which never made the scene tonight)

Lentils placed in sauce pan, covered with 2+ inches of water.  Small onion studded with whole cloves added to lentil water with bay leaves and citrus rinds.  I started this cooking with the intent to give it about 55 minutes.

Heat oil in skillet, add chopped onion, and saute.  Add ginger, garlic, spices, tomatoes and start cooking.  When lentils are soft, discard onion, bay leaves, and rinds, drain lentils and add to skillet.  Squeeze in the lime juice.  Salt, pepper, and chili pepper to taste.  Cook ~5 minutes until everything is blended and hot.  I served it with white rice and curried fish tonight.  Pretty darned good and a good place to start for a "throw together" spicy lentil and tomato dish any time.  Modify the seasonings to suit your mood!

Corn Meal Mush - Variation

I was making corn meal mush this morning for breakfast.  I use the roasted yellow corn meal from Echo Hill and usually like it with maple syrup, a really good combination with a long history.  Typically, I make extra to pour into a loaf pan to solidify for fried mush (now called polenta, if you please) at a later meal.

As we were dishing up, Mom said, "I wonder how this would taste with a little Parmesan cheese sprinkled on it."

Me:  "I don't know, but I know how to find out."

In not too long, we were trying mush with parm as an aside to our conventional bowl of mush with maple syrup.  Gotta tell you, it was surprisingly good.

Mom:  "Well, that's something else to put pickled hot peppers on."  Had to try it, of course, so out came a jar of pickled Hungarian wax pepper rings to try.

If you had told me this morning that I would be eating corn meal mush with Parmesan cheese and pickled hot peppers today I would have figured you for nuts.  Turns out its really good, worth sharing here on the blog.  I'm not sure what meal context it might best fit - probably not breakfast - but it is definitely worth a taste and worth thinking about how to fit it into a menu.  Try it and let us know what you think.

Cranberry Lime Chutney

It took a couple of tries starting from scratch on this idea but the latest effort is worth reporting, I think.  Ingredients are pretty straightforward:

1/2 Onion, diced fine
3 Limes
2 1/2 cups whole Cranberries
1 cup Tarragon Vinegar
1 cup Honey
1 t. dried Tarragon

Limes are sliced thin, then slices quartered.  Everything mixed together and cooked with constant stirring.  I actually added the vinegar and honey a bit at a time working to taste, cranberries too, for that matter.  Add water as needed to prevent it getting too thick and burning.  Cook until cranberries and lime rinds are thoroughly cooked, then evaporate extra water, stirring constantly to avoid burning as it thickens.

I will spend some time tasting this then give some consideration to what else might be added.  In particular, I think it may be interesting to make some of it hot with dried red chili pepper.  We'll see...

Cheese Souffle

 

 

6 slices white bread buttered with the crust removed

 

1 teaspoon salt

 

1 teaspoon mustard powder

 

1/2 pound sharp cheddar cheese

 

4 eggs

 

2 cups milk

 

1 tablespoon dried sage

 

Corn flakes and butter (optional)

 

 

 

Cube the bread and put into a buttered casserole dish...grate cheese and sprinkle over the bread...beat eggs with milk and seasonings and pour over the bread and cheese without mixing...spread a layer of crushed buttered corn flakes if desired over the top...allow to stand refrigerated for several hours and better overnight...place the casserole dish in a pan of hot water and bake at 350 degrees for an hour or more.

Veggie Bagel

After going nuts about the veggie bagel at a little breakfast place called Grandma's here in upcountry Maui...I decided it was time to recreate this simple sandwich at home.

I order it every time I go to Grandma's and have now made it at home multiple times.  I like that I can start my day out with something so fresh.  Not a bad way to jump start your daily veggie intake too.

Here's what you need..

Bagel
Cream cheese
Lettuce (or sprouts would be delish!)
Tomato (we still get them this time of year)
Onion
Cucumber
Avocado (I added this when making it at home.  Grandma doesn't use it)

Toast your bagel.  Slather on some cream cheese (I'm kind of heavy handed) and then load up your sliced veggies and attempt to maintain the structural integrity of the sandwich.

This is nothing mind blowing and certainly nothing new..but I love it.  Don't know how it took me this long to catch on.  I love the warm bagel and the cold veggies..weird but true.

Enjoy!
Molly

Turkey Pie

We recently found ourselves with a large quantity of leftover turkey meat and broth with Thanksgiving fast approaching and threatening an expansion of inventory.  I've done a great job with turkey noodle soup and turkey rice soup (IMHO) but our newfound riches led me to think about trying turkey pie.  My first attempt using broth, turkey meat, a few veg, and a Bisquick top crust was OK but not great and not quite what I had in mind - kinda runny and not quite the veg mix I had imagined.  Brunch at the Standard Tap with Jo provided an opportunity to sample their chicken pie and get an idea from Jo how they make it.   Theirs - puff pastry crust and mostly meat with limited veg - is not quite what I had in mind for mine but it gave me some ideas on how to proceed.  So today I tried Round 2:

1 cup concentrated (2/1) turkey broth
1/2 cup water
2 T. lemon juice
1/2 onion minced pretty fine
1 sm + 1 med clove garlic, minced
2 smallish carrots in chunks ~1/2 inch
1 medium potato in small cubes, 3/8 - 1/2 inch
12 oz turkey meat, shredded for soup
2 oz frozen yellow beans
2 oz frozen corn (~1/2 c.)
2 oz frozen peas (~1/2 c.)
2 oz mushrooms, chopped course (~1/2 inch)
1/4 t. ground mustard
1 bay leaf
1 T. dried basil
1/2 t. dill seed
1/2 t. celery seed
Celery leaves form the garden, chopped
Parsley from the garden, one handfull chopped
Lovage from the garden, leaves from one sprig, chopped
Salt to taste
Ground black pepper, some
Dried chili pepper, a smidge (not enough to taste, just enough to add interest)

Put this all together and cook it like making soup until the carrots and potatoes are cooked through.  Add water as needed to maintain minimal broth but over the top of the turkey and veg.  At the end, reduce to minimal broth.

In a separate pan, I made a roux using coconut oil and flour, removed the filling from the heat, poured off the remaining broth into the roux, and whisked into a gravy which I added back to the filling.  After mixing, I turned this out into a 10" glass pie dish.

Last time I thought the Bisquick crust was a little sweet, and sure enough, they list sugar in the ingredients list, so I decided it was time to try biscuits from scratch without the sugar.  I followed the recipe from the New York Times Cookbook:
2 cup flour
2 1/2 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1/3 cup shortening ( I used 2/1 coconut oil/butter)
~2/3 c. milk ( I needed a little more to fully wet my whole batch)
I added 1 T. dried Thyme to the dry ingredients after cutting in the shortening

Dries mixed, shortening cut in, milk added with stirring, turned out on floured board, kneaded a little bit, then rolled out thin (<1/2 inch) to cover pie dish with thin biscuit crust.

Preheat oven to 425 F, bake crust/heat pie 12-15 min, until crust is brown.

I had a little extra biscuit dough which I baked up as biscuits just to see how they turned out; it was my first attempt at biscuits from scratch.  They rose and browned nicely.  The addition of thyme was excellent.  As biscuits they were a little salty; World of Baking uses 1/2 t. salt for 2 c. flour in the biscuit recipe.  As a savory pie crust, the extra salt was not a problem.

This pie turned out very well.  It cut and served in slices which held together and did not run, which was one of my objectives.  I liked the meat/veg ratio but it would also work with a little less meat, I think; I will probably try this next time.  Seasonings as listed worked out very well, but this is obviously a place to add variety in the future.

I am happy to say that this experiment was a great success.  I am particularly pleased to be launched into the world of "from scratch" biscuits and no longer tied to the Bisquick box!  This is good start on biscuits but I will have to look into variations/improvements for future sausage gravy and biscuit breakfasts.

Lime Pickled Chili Pepper Idea

Visiting with Mom's relative in MN this summer, Uncle Dan commented on a seasoning called Tajin which he liked.  None of us knew what it was but a quick post-visit Google search reveals that it is a Mexican season comprising chili peppers, lime and salt which is good on melons, among other things.

I had a garden full of chili peppers at the time, so a took a smallish one, cut it into thin strips which would fit into the opening of the lime juice bottle, stuffed the pepper strips into the lime juice, added 1 teaspoon of salt, and put it in the 'fridge.

A couple of days later, I put a few drops of this on a slice of cantaloupe - interesting and very good, worth trying.  As summer waned and melon season ended, I started using a squirt of this in my glass of V8 juice each morning.  It adds some zing and is a lot easier than adding lime juice, hot sauce, salt and pepper individually each time.

The other day I was setting up for "Japanese" breakfast of rice and sardines (see previous post).  I put the last squirt of lime/chili juice into my morning V8 and was shaking the pepper strips out of the bottle so I could put it in the recycling when I realized I had some beautiful, bright red, chili pepper strips which might be interesting.  And me with a plate of rice and fish looking for interesting condiments.

Basically, I has accidentally made lime pickled chili pepper strips,  They were beautiful and delicious.  Gonna have to work on a purposeful recipe for these in the future.  I'm thinking maybe a variation on the normal pickled pepper recipe with lime juice substituted for some or all of the vinegar.  I would be interested in any ideas you may have or comments on experience with a similar concept.

"Japanese" Breakfast

The last time I went to the eye doctor she told me that I (like everyone else) need to get more Omega-3 essential fatty acids in my diet and the best way to get them was to eat oily fish (better than fish oil capsule), preferably small ones to avoid mercury concentration in the food chain.  Basically, this was a prescription to eat two cans of sardines a week for my eye health.  I like sardines, so I was easily persuaded.  Plus, there's the option of mixing it up with kippers and canned mackerel now again, all of which are good (if you like canned, small oily fish).  Kind of fun to have a reason to browse this section of the store isle, also.

When I traveled to Japan on business, one hotel I frequently stayed at offered buffet breakfast, occidental on one side of the table, traditional Japanese on the other.  The Japanese side always included white rice, an array of Japanese pickles, often with fish as an option.  I came to like the rice-and-fish-with Japanese-pickles option.

One day not long ago these two thoughts came together:  hey, rice and sardines for breakfast; why not?  I made about 1/4 cup of rice for myself (not much chance of finding anyone else in the house who wanted in on this one; Mom opted for oatmeal), opened a can of sardines, and got out every Japanese and Indian pickle, chutney, or condiment we had.  I had wasabi paste, pickled ginger, mango chutney, hot mango chutney tamarind date chutney, and hot Indian lime pickle.  A bite was a bit of sardine, a bit of rice, and a small dab of one of the condiments.  I really enjoyed it and I recommend it, though it may be an acquired taste.  When Kate et al. came to visit last month she and I shared this while everyone else remained more American mainstream.  We both loved it.  Gonna have to look for a Japanese grocery in the city to see about getting some other appropriate pickles.

Autumn wheat berry salad

Hey fam!
I've been enjoying making wheat berry salads this fall and have an ingredient combo that I think is worth sharing.  It's great for late fall veggies.  I also think it could also be fun at Christmas, since it ends up being red and green.

Here's from my lunch today

1) Cook up some wheat berries.  If you've never done this - just cook them at a low boil in salted water for about 1 hour, until they are tender but chewy.  Drain in a colander. Wheat berries don't expand a ton when cooking, but they are very filling.  I usually make about 2 cups for a family dinner salad plus a couple of lunches.  (Alright, actually I make 3 cups, but that's just because we want them left over for lunch all week long.)

2) Make a vinegar dressing of your choosing.  I like 1/2 sherry vinegar + 1/2 balsamic vinegar, and then I shake a little olive oil on top.  I don't use a lot of oil.  I don't find that the wheat berries taste dry at all, and I just don't find the oil very necessary.  I'm generally not a big salad dressing person, so I probably used maybe 1/2 cup of dressing total for 2 cups of raw wheat berries.  Start with a smaller amount, and then add more to taste if you need it.  The dressing ends up pulling the ingredients together, but not really being a flavor itself (ie, the salad doesn't taste like vinegar).  Toss the wheat berries with the dressing while they are still warm, and they'll absorb the vinegar a bit, so your salad isn't wet from dressing.

3) Roast some beets.  Maybe 4-5 smallish ones.  Double wrap small whole beets or 2-3" pieces of larger beets in aluminum foil.  Place on a pan you don't care too much about (or triple wrap your beets), and roast at 375-400 degrees F for 1 hour or so, until beets are tender.  If you like some more caramelization, roast at a higher temp at the end, or for longer.  When the beets have cooled a bit, peel them, cut off any dried out previously-cut edges, and chop into ~1/2" cubes (or whatever size you want).  Add them to the wheat berries.

4) Caramelize some onions - 1-4 of them depending on how big they are and how much you like onions.  Cut onions in half lengthwise, then slide cross-wise to get half-rings.  Cook them in a pan with some olive oil and salt, low and slow, with the lid on, stirring occasionally, until they are sweet and browning.  Or forget about them and cook them until they are pretty darned brown.  It doesn't matter too much - they're onions and by definition will be good!  Add them to the wheat berries and beets.

5) Saute some kale, probably about one bunch or whatever you can take from your garden that day.  Cut out the stems of the kale, and chop the leaves roughly into 1/2 - 1" pieces.  I usually cook the kale in the same pan I use for the onions, after I take the onions out.  Add a little more olive oil, throw in your cut kale and sprinkle with salt.  Turn and stir a few times to distribute the oil.  Put on a lid to steam the kale a little  Turn kale every minute or two.  Don't let it burn!  Cook until the kale is brighter green and a bit more tender, but not mushy.  Add the kale to the wheat berries, beets, and onions.

6) Toast walnuts - probably about 3/4-1 c of walnuts.  However you like to toast nuts.  I do mine in the toaster oven.  Add them to the wheat berries, beets, onions, and kale.

7) Cube some smoked gouda.  To taste.   I like cheese, and rely on its flavor in place of dressing a lot with salads, so I use a lot.  Probably about 3/4 - 1 c. of 1/2" cubed smoked gouda.  Add that to the wheat berries, beets, onions, kale, and walnuts. Mmm, now doesn't that sound good!

Let everything sit for a bit to blend the flavors together, and then enjoy.

- The cheese and onions turn pink from the beets, but whatever.

- You can get wheat berries at pretty much any grocery store that sells whole grains.  Or I suggest making sure you have some extra space in your suitcase the next time you go to PA and then buying wheat berries at Echo Hill, where they are $0.47/lb.

Aleks was skeptical the first time I described my idea for this salad to him, but now he describes it as "amazing" and "money."  I had some for lunch today along with a bowl of sweet potato and butternut squash soup out on the deck enjoying our El Nino November.  Absolutely perfect fall lunch.

Enjoy!
-Maggie

Sunflower Seed Cookies

 

 

1 cup butter

 

1/2 cup sugar

 

3/4 cup packed brown sugar

 

2 eggs, beaten

 

2 teaspoons vanilla

 

1 1/2 cup flour

 

1 teaspoon salt

 

1 teaspoon baking soda

 

3 cups rolled oats

 

3/4 cup sunflower seeds

 

1/2 cup wheat germ

 

 

Mix the above ingredients together and place on an ungreased cookie sheet 2 inches apart...bake at 375 degrees for 10-12 minutes...makes five dozen.



Cornbread

 

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

 

1 cup cornmeal

 

2 2/3 teaspoon baking powder

 

2/3 teaspoon salt

 

1 small egg

 

2/3 cup  milk

 

 

Mix all of the above ingredients together and bake in an 8x8 baking dish at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.



Choo Choo Chicken

Canadian Railroad Recipe

 

 

Boneless chicken breasts (as many as needed)

 

Flour and vegetable oil

 

1/4 cup milk

 

2 tablespoons chopped sundried tomatoes

 

1 tablespoon of port wine

 

1 tablespoon cream cheese

 

 

 

Dredge each breast in flour and saute in oil until cooked and golden ...remove.  Make sauce in the same pan until bubbly...add the chicken and keep warm.

Chicken Mulligatawny Soup

I ran across THIS recipe the other day and was immediately intrigued.  Chicken, apples, curry powder?  Hmm..sounded interesting.

Tom and I cooked up a full recipe of this on Sunday evening exactly as written.  It was really good!  Tom really describes it the best...

"It's as if a bunch of cooks were sitting around making chicken pot pie and they let the Indian guy spice it.  Then they all tried it and decided it'd be best to use apples instead of potatoes to off set the curry powder."

It really is this weird chicken pot pie/comfort food type dish.  I thought the addition of plain yogurt when serving was key.  Next time we'd add more rice.  There was barely enough rice to notice it in the dish.

Anyhow, check it out if you want something different on a fall evening.

Molly

Jo's First Law

This morning I was testing the limits of Jo's First Law:  Everything tastes better with a poached egg on it.  Today's substrate:  left over mac and cheese.  Mom opted for oatmeal after disparaging my breakfast choice but that's OK; there was only enough left over mac for one so I wasn't planning to share anyway.  To further test the bounds of the Laws of Good Eating, I also opted to test the Second Law:  Everything tastes better with pickled hot peppers on it.  To be thorough I should mention that the mac and cheese was a six-cheese version with diced tomatoes and basil.

So, breakfast this morning was a small portion of warmed up, left over, six cheese gourmet mac and cheese topped with a near perfect poached egg complimented with multicolored pickled Hungarian Wax hot pepper rings.  And. It. Was. GREAT!

Miss Small's Eggplant Casserole

 

 

1 large purple eggplant (cubed)

 

1 cup diced onion

 

1 clove of garlic (chrushed)

 

1 cup sliced mushrooms            

 

1 cup small white bread cubes

 

1/2 pound small lamb cubes (optional)

 

1/2 teaspoon dried rosemary

 

Salt

 

 

Saute eggplant adding garlic and onion to the skillet...add the mushrooms and lamb...add salt and rosemary.  Place in to a greased casserole...mix in the bread cubes and one well beaten egg.  Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.



Coconut Slap Jacks

 

 

4 cups of flour

 

1 pound light brown sugar

 

6 ounces butter

 

1 pint dark karo

 

1/2 teaspoon of salt

 

1 coconut freshly grated

 

 

Mix all ingredients together, spoon and bake on cookie sheets at 350 degrees for 8 to 10 minutes...WATCH CAREFULLY.

The cookies should be lacy and brittle in texture.

Crock Dills

 

 

Basic brine

 

   1 gallon of water

 

   1/2 cup salt

 

   1 cup cider vinegar

 

 

Wash cucumbers...sterilize the inside of the crock with boiling water.

 

Put a layer of grape leaves (or cherry) than a layer of cukes...than three stalks of dill (seeds and all).  Repeat with cukes and dill until you are near to the top of the crock.  Finish with dill and more grape leaves.  Pour the brine in to crock.  Weigh cukes down until submerged (a bag of the brine as a weight would be good).

 

**Grape leaves supply alum to make the pickles crisp.

 

 



Chicken Breasts Piquant

 

 

3/4 cup red wine

 

1/4 cup soy sauce

 

1/4 cup canola oil

 

2 tablespoons water

 

1 clove of garlic

 

1 teaspoon ginger

 

3 teaspoons oregano

 

1 tablespoon of brown sugar

 

3 split chicken breasts

 

 

 

Combine the first eight ingredients and pour over the chicken breasts in a casserole dish.  Cover and cook at 375 degrees for 1 1/2 hours.  Serve with rice.

Cole Slaw Dressing

 

 

1/3 cup white vinegar

 

1 teaspoon mustard powder

 

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

 

salt

 

1/3 cup sugar

 

1/2 cup mayonnaise

 

 

 

Mix all of the above ingredients together and serve with shredded cabbage.

Corn Bread

 

3/4 cup flour

 

1 1/2 cup cornmeal

 

4 teaspoons baking powder

 

1 teaspoon salt

 

2 eggs beaten

 

1 1/4 cup milk

 

1/4 cup salad oil

 

 

Mix all of the ingredients together...bake at 400 degrees for 30 minutes in an 8x12 pan.

 



Grapefruit Marmalade

 

 

1 1/2 cup thinly sliced grapefruit peel

 

1/2 cup thinly sliced orange peel

 

1 1/2 cup chopped grapefruit pulp

 

3/4 cup chopped orange pulp

 

1/2 cup thinly sliced lemon

 

1 1/2 quarts water (3 different times)

 

6 1/2 cup sugar (about)

 

 

 

Add 1 1/2 quarts of water to peel (except lemon)...boil 5 minutes...drain.

 

To the drained peel add the pulp and lemon and 1 1/2 quarts water...boil 5 minutes...let stand for 12-18 hours.  Bring the mixture to a boil and boil until peel is tender (30+ minutes).

 

Measure fruit and liquid...add cup for cup sugar and boil until thick enough to spread (222 degrees).

 



Hot Cream Biscuits

 

3 to 4 tablespoon butter (melted)

 

2 cups sifted flour

 

4 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

 

1 teaspoon salt

 

1 tablespoon sugar

 

2/3 cup heavy cream

 

 

Mix all of the ingredients together except for the butter...pat 3/4" thick...cut...dip into melted butter and place close together on a cookie sheet.  Bake at 425 degrees for 12-15 minutes.

Noodles

 

 

2/3 cup all-purpose flour

 

1 egg

 

1 tablespoon water

 

1 teaspoon oil

 

 

Knead and let rest for 1 hour...roll them out and let dry slightly...cut in to noodles.

 

**Other variations: Instead of all-purpose flour you could use semolina or half flour and half semolina

 



Mayo Cake

 

2 cup all purpose flour

 

1 cup sugar

 

1 1/2 teaspoon baking soda

 

5 tablespoons cocoa

 

1 cup mayonnaise

 

1 cup cold water

 

 

 

Mix all of the above ingredients together a bake in two 8 inch round pans for 35 minutes at 350 degrees.

 

 

 



Sauerkraut Soup

 

3 pounds potatoes peeled and cubed

 

1 large can sauerkraut

 

1 tablespoon flour

 

1 large can evaporated milk

 

 

Boil the cubed potatoes in a pot with a little water with salt.  Add the can of sauerkraut and heat...add the tablespoon of flour to help thicken it.  Add the can of evaporated milk and heat.

 

The soup should be thick...if it is thin than it is wrong.

Creamed New Potatoes with Dill

 

Scrape and boil the new potatoes until soft...add approximately 3 tablespoons of vinegar to the potato water and pour about a 1/2 cup of evaporated milk in also-stir so that it does curdle.  Once the milk is in add a little flour to thicken the liquid and right before serving add a stalk of dill to the potatoes.  It is very important the you do NOT boil the dill along with the milk and vinegar as this will destroy the dill flavor...ENJOY!

Dinner Rolls

 

1/2 cup warm milk

 

1 tablespoon yeast

 

1 tablespoon sugar

 

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

1 tablespoon oil

 

1 tablespoon honey

 

1 1/2 cup flour

 

1 small egg

 

 

Mix the above ingredients together...knead for several minutes...let rise...punch down...cut in to 6 pieces...flatten in to a rectangle...roll in to the shape of a bun...let rise again before placing on a baking sheet and bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 350 degrees.

 

 

 

*A different variation would be to sprinkle the rectangle with herbs before rolling in to the shape of a bun

Buckwheat Cornmeal Pancakes

 

1/2 cup buckwheat flour

 

1/2 cup cornmeal

 

1 teaspoon baking powder

 

1 teaspoon baking soda

 

2 tablespoon sugar

 

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

1 egg

 

1 cup buttermilk

 

2 tablespoon oil

Mother's Boiled Dumplings

 

 

1 cup all-purpose flour

 

1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder

 

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

1 egg

 

1/2 cup milk

 

 

Mix all of the above ingredients together and drop with either a small or large spoon on top of boiling water or stew for 10 minutes either covered or uncovered.

 



Grandmother Orpha Keck's Butterscotch Pie

 

 

1 cup dark brown sugar

 

3 tablespoon flour

 

3 tablespoon butter

 

2 eggs (separated)

 

< 1/8 teaspoon salt

 

1 teaspoon vanilla

 

1 cup evaporated milk

 

1/2 cup water

 

 

2 egg whites for meringue

 

 

Cook all of the above ingredients except for the egg whites in top of a double boiler until thick.  Pour into a prebaked pie shell.

 

Beat the egg whites and add 2 tablespoon sugar and beat until stiff.  Cover the pie with meringue.

 

Bake for 15 to 20 minutes at 300 degrees.

 

 

 

 

 



Popovers

 

 

1/2 cup milk

 

2 tablespoons oil

 

1/2 cup sifted flour

 

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

2  well beaten eggs

 

 

Mix all of the above ingredients well and pour in to the greased muffin tins.  Placed in a cold oven and bring the oven to 450 degrees and bake for 30 minutes.



Aunt Teresa's Spinach Dip

 

 

1 cup sour cream

 

1 cup mayonnaise

 

1 package Hidden Valley Ranch dressing

 

1 package frozen spinach chopped and drained

 

1 can water chestnuts drained and quartered

 

1 green onion diced

 

 

Mix all of the above ingredients together and serve with crackers.

 

 



Pesto

 

1 1/2 cup fresh basil

 

2 cloves garlic

 

1/4 cup sunflower or other type of seed

 

3/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese

 

 

Blend to a thick paste and slowly add 3/4 cup canola oil and blend until very creamy.

 

To serve with pasta mix about 1/2 cup pesto with about 1/2 cup water...heat and mix well to make a sauce.

 

Another variation that is delicious would be with the pesto add a can of chopped clams (including liquid) along with the water...heat and mix well.

 



Kale Chips

Okay so you hear all about how kale is going to solve all the world's problems and all this, right?  I generally don't buy into it but I've been trying to have more veggie related snacks around the house.  Things like carrots and hummus, beets, etc.  Enter kale chips.

People go nuts about these things so I figured it was time to give them a try.  All you do is rip your kale into pieces and let it dry.  I don't have a salad spinner so I just let it sit on the counter for an hour.  Then you toss it with olive oil and stick it in the 375 degree oven for ~10 minutes or so.  When it comes out, sprinkle with salt.

That's the basic idea, you can do whatever you want.  At first when I tried it I thought, "I don't get what the big fuss is about.  It's pretty average tasting."  But then...I couldn't stop eating them!  They are addictive.  It's weird.

As I eat them on day 2, however, they are a little weird.  The crispness has turned into a more styrofoam texture.  I suppose it's best to make and eat them in the same day.  But honestly, I probably ate a half pound of kale yesterday, which may explain why my stomach felt like it was tied up in a knot..hmm.

Anywho, if you're trying to get more veggies in your diet, it's worth a shot!

Stir Fry Sauce

 

1/3 cup dry sherry

 

3 1/2 tablespoon of dark brown sugar

 

2/3 cup soy sauce

 

2 tablespoon cornstarch

 

 

Mix all of the ingredients in with simmered vegetables and stir until thickened and glossy.



 



West African Peanut Soup

 

 

2 cups chopped onion

 

1 tablespoon canola oil

 

1/2 teaspoon cayenne

 

1 teaspoon grated peeled fresh gingerroot

 

1 cup chopped carrot

 

2 cups chopped baked sweet potatoes

 

4 cups vegetable stock

 

2 cups tomato juice

 

1 cup smooth peanut butter

 

1 tablespoon honey (optional)

 

1 cup chopped chives (optional)

 

 

Saute the onions in oil until translucent.  Stir in the cayenne and ginger.  Add the carrots and

saute a couple more minutes.  Mix in the potatoes and stock.  Bring the soup to a boil and then simmer for about 15 minutes until the vegetables are tender.  In a blender or food processor puree the vegetables with the cooking liquid and the tomato juice.  Return the puree to the soup pot.  Stir in the peanut butter and honey until smooth (NO lumps).  Sprinkle on top the chopped chives (optional) and serve hot or cold.

Mrs. Parker's BBQ Sauce

 

 

2 cans of tomato sauce (8 ounce)

 

1 stalk of celery diced

 

2 teaspoons sugar

 

1 teaspoon vinegar

 

1/2 teaspoon mustard powder

 

1 teaspoon Worchester sauce

 

3 drops Tabasco sauce

 

Salt, pepper, and diced gherkin to taste

 

1/4 teaspoon celery seed

 

 

Combine the above ingredients in to a sauce pan and simmer until sauce is thickened...perfect with ground beef for a "bunwich."

 

 

Aunt Boo's Rhubarb Pudding

 

 

3/4 cup sugar

 

1/2 cup shortening

 

1 egg

 

1/2 cup milk

 

1/2 teaspoon salt

 

1 1/2 cup flour

 

1 1/2 teaspoon combination baking powder

 

1 1/2 cup raw rhubarb cut or any other tart fruit

 

 

Combine all of the above ingredients and place in a rectangular pan...bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes...enjoy

Mrs. Karabinus's Sausage and Sauerkraut

 

 

1 to 1 1/2 pounds of loose sausage

 

1 large onion chopped

 

1 cup raw rice

 

1 egg

 

2 pounds of sauerkraut

 

 

 

Mix the sausage, onion, rice, and egg together and form into large egg-shaped meatballs.

 

In a large pot start with a layer of sauerkraut, a layer of meatballs not too close together, another layer of sauerkraut, a layer of meatballs, and a final layer of sauerkraut.  Add water to an inch above the sauerkraut...cover with a tight lid and simmer on top of the stove for 1 1/2 hours...serve with rye bread and enjoy.



Cheese and Onion Pie

 

1 cup sliced onion

 

1/2 pound coarsely grated swiss cheese and tossed with 1 tablespoon of flour

 

3 eggs beaten with 1 1/2 teaspoon of salt and fresh ground black pepper

 

1 pastry pie shell

 

 

 

Layer the cup of sliced raw onion in to the bottom of the pastry pie shell...add on top of the onion the grated swiss cheese mixed with the flour...pour the eggs on top and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes reducing the heat to 350 degrees for an additional 25 minutes...serve hot.

 

 

 

 



 



Mrs. Brewer's Pickle Brine

 

 

1  1/2 cups vinegar

 

1 1/2 cups sugar

 

2 1/2 cups water

 

1 tablespoon salt (optional)

 

 

Mix the above ingredients together in a jar adding checker sized slices of cucumbers or zucchini...refrigerate and serve.

Kale, beet, and onion salad

Aleks and I came home from a couple hours of work in our plots at the community garden the other day with a bin full of fresh veggies, including some beautiful swiss chard, kale, a head of broccoli, two beets that needed to be thinned, and two small white onions that had also been planted a little too close to their neighbors.  I turned this all (minus the broccoli) into lunch salads for Aleks and me (the big kids were at the zoo with Grandma and the little kid just gets it all second hand).  It was delish, with Aleks saying I could totally charge $8.95 for it in a restaurant (though he didn't mention if he thought anyone would actually pay that much for it!).  I made this salad again last night adding beet greens to the mix, and confirmed that this is an excellent way to use these ingredients.

Here's a pic of my plate before I dug in

It's pretty straight forward to make:
1) Cook your beets, then slice them.  The first time I made this, I boiled the beets.  The second time I roasted them, since I already had the oven on to make scalloped potatoes.  I didn't taste much difference, and given how hot an oven can make a kitchen at this time of year, I would vote for boiling the beets unless your oven is already on for something else.

2) Thinly slice the onion into rings.  Saute in some olive oil with some salt until cooked and slightly charred to your liking.

3) Coursely chop your greens.  I like the majority to be kale, since kale holds it's crunch better than most other greens.  I've also added in swiss chard and beet greens.  Heat a bit of olive oil in a skillet, then add the greens and sprinkle with some salt.  Turn the greens a few times, then throw a lid on top for a min.  Don't let them burn!  Also don't over-wilt them - the kale should still have some substance to it.

4) Put the greens on a plate and top with the onions, beets, and some crumbled blue cheese.  The cheese goes really nicely with the sweetness of the beets and onions.

5) Enjoy!

Cousin Martha's Blueberry Pie

This is a recipe that Cousin Martha would love to make during berry season...any berry can be used with this recipe

4 cups of berries divided: 1 cup for the sauce and 3 cups to add upon the sauce's thickening

1 cup water

1 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

Baked pie shell

Put together 1 cup of berries, water, sugar, and cornstarch in a pan and bring to a boil stirring until thickened.


Add the remaining 3 cups of the berries to the hot mixture and pour in to the already baked pie shell.

Cool and serve.

Tahini

So Tom is traveling a bunch right now and I usually try to find the silver lining of being home alone by eating/making the foods he doesn't love.  This trip I was set to make some hummus.  I went to the store in search of tahini, which I know is expensive.  However, on Maui it's $10 expensive.  I wasn't about to spend $10 on something I would rarely use.

Enter making homemade tahini.  Turns out all you need to do is throw some toasted sesame seeds into the food processor for a bit and then add oil until you like the texture.  You can throw a little salt in as well.  That's it!

I spent 53 cents on sesame seeds from the bulk bin at the hippie store.  And BOOM!  Tahini.  It made more than I needed for my hummus.

I think it's tahini anyway.  I actually don't make a great hummus and I usually thought it was because of the tahini.  This batch of hummus is better but I attribute that to letting it sit in the fridge for a bit before truly digging in.

Anyway, long story short, don't spend tons of money on tahini!  Make your own.  If you look it up you can find more specific info than what I just gave you.

Now off to try Dad's potato idea!  Time to marinade them.

Molly

Vinegar-and-Salt Potatoes

 The lower end of our asparagus bed is sporting a beautiful stand of volunteer dill which just cries out to be used for something good.  Mom suggested using some to make dill vinegar, so I picked a bunch, stuffed it in bottles and added distilled white vinegar.  Within one day the dill flavor had diffused into the vinegar giving it a very nice flavor. 

What to do with it? 

The other day I picked up an old issue of Bon Appetite in a waiting room and read a description for potatoes parboiled in vinegar and salt, then cut into quarters and browned in butter which sounded interesting.  I didn't really want to do the butter thing.  We have found that slicing potatoes about 1/4" to 3/8" thick and cooking and browning them in the toaster oven is a great way to cook them without adding a lot of oil or fat, so I tried a vinegar and salt variation on that.

I peeled and sliced the potatoes and placed them in a dish with 1 cup of dill vinegar with 1 teaspoon of kosher salt dissolved in it and let them marinate for the afternoon, then spread out on a tray and baked in the toaster oven (375ish) for 20ish minutes (I really wasn't paying attention, cook until done, you know?) finished with a quick run under the broiler to brown them.  They have a really nice salt-and-vinegar flavor (like salt-and-vinegar potato chips without all the grease) with dill overtones.  Really good, highly recommended.  Could also try this with other types of vinegar with or without the dill  for different flavors (think malt vinegar for that fish-and-chips flavor, for example),

Cooked Spring Greens

The asparagus plants are finally starting to frond up in the garden after nearly a month of fresh asparagus every day.  The over-wintered fall spinach that has been providing fresh greens every day since late March is nearing the end of its run as the weather warms and it thinks about bolting.  Meanwhile the beets are up and need thinning, so we are now getting fresh baby beet greens.  The other day we added beet greens to the spinach and mushroom salad and last night I made cooked greens:

Put a little bit of olive oil in the large SS skillet and use it to saute one glove of finally minced garlic, add baby beet greens (some, as much as I picked tonight) and enough spinach greens to fill the skillet to way over-full.  Add some salt and cook over a highish heat with occasional stirring until the greens are all wilted.  Don't over do it; you don't want to make mush!  Remove from heat; top dress with tarragon vinegar.

OK, it's not really much of a recipe, but it was really delicious, a great way to eat a bunch of greens as an alternative to just having salad (also a great idea).

Birthday dinner mixed greens from Comment 2, below:

Crusty chewy sourdough bread

Molly recently posted a recipe for a no-knead bread that's cooked in a dutch oven.  She mentioned that I've been playing around with sourdough, and I finally feel ready to post about it.  I started with the basic recipe that Molly posted and played around with how much sourdough starter to use, how much water, flour, salt (which inhibits the growth of yeast, so it's not just a matter of taste in bread) etc. The dough needs to be much wetter than normal bread dough to create the humid conditions necessary to achieve the right texture and crust.  That makes it more difficult to handle, so figuring out the right balance of moisture vs. tractability is necessary.  There's also the added variable of the moisture content of the sourdough starter, which, it turns out, affects how sour the starter is (I think it affects the kinds of bacteria that grow).  But, I've got a process that has resulted in the best bread I've ever made three times in a row now.  There are only two problems with this recipe:  1) It requires the oven to be at a hot temp for quite a while, so I'm not sure how much I'll be using it in the summer, though it's not really that different from regular bread recipes, and 2) It only makes one loaf, which seems to disappear in a matter just a day or three in our house.  Luckily, it's really, really easy to make and requires very little active time commitment.

I start with the bread recipe.  The directions for the sourdough starter are below.

12 oz sourdough starter
10 oz bread flour + whole wheat flour.  I confess I like all white bread, but Aleks likes it with some whole wheat flour.  Today I used 2 oz whole wheat and 8 oz white bread flour, and it was pretty good.)
8 oz water
2 t salt
1/8 t. bakers yeast (I'm playing around to see how little of this I can use and still get the kind of rise I like in my bread)

Mix everything together in a bowl, cover the bowl with some plastic wrap, and then ignore it for anywhere from 5-12+ hours.  If it's warm in your kitchen and you want to let the dough rise overnight, just put it in your fridge after you've given it a few hours to get working, then take it out again the next morning.  To speed up the rewarming process the next day, you can put the bowl of dough in a larger bowl with warm water in it.

When you're ready to set the dough for it's second rise spread a good handful of flour on the counter, then scrape the dough out of the bowl onto the flour.  Sprinkle a bit more flour on top of the dough, then lift one end of the dough, stretch it out a bit, then fold it over the rest of the dough.  Do this a few times, slightly stretching andfolding back over the dough.  You should end up with a ball of dough.  Find a bowl whose top is about the same size as the bottom of your dutch oven.  Line it with plastic wrap and give it a good coat of oil (I like to use a spray oil, like PAM).  Put the dough in, with the seam side up.  Let it rise for a while, until is 2-3 times the original size.

Put your dutch oven (I think mine is an 8" dutch oven), with the lid on, in the oven and preheat to 425-450.  Once it's preheated, remove the dutch oven, sprinkle a little cornmeal or flour on the bottom, then gently dump your dough in, trying not to deflate it very much.  Put the lid back on the dutch oven and return to the oven.  Bake for 30 min.  Remove the lid of the dutch oven and bake for another 20 min.  The internal temp of the bread should be about 110 degrees, and the top should be nice and golden brown.  Let the bread cool for a while.  I've found this is more important with this recipe than normal.  Enjoy!

Sourdough starter - I took my recipe directly from The Bread Baker's Apprentice.  Mine took an extra day or two to really get going, which isn't unusual at this time of year.  

Day 1: Mix together 1 c (4.5 oz) dark rye flour + 1/2 c. unsweetened pineapple juice (the pineapple juice on the first two days is supposed to help suppress the growth of a bad bacteria that apparently ruins about 40% of homemade starters.  Put in a plastic, glass, or ceramic bowl/measuring cup, cover with plastic wrap, and let sit out for 24 hr.

Day 2: To your day 1 ingredients, add 1/2 c (2.25 oz) bread flour + 1/4 unsweetened pineapple juice.  Mix, then cover with plastic wrap and let sit out for 24 hr.

Day 3: Discard half the starter, then mix in with the remainder 1 c (4.5 oz) bread flour + 1/2 c. water.  Cover and let sit out for 24 hr.

Day 4: The sponge should have doubled in size.  If not, let it sit for another day.  When it's ready, discard half, then mix in 1 c flour + 1/2 c water.  Cover and let ferment until it doubles in size and is spongy (4-24 hours, depending on the room temp and how "started" your starter is".  

Next day:  Prepare the Starter, by adding 1 c of the seed starter from day 4 + 16 oz bread flour + 2 c (16 oz) water.  Cover, and let ferment at room temp until bubbly and doubled in size, then transfer to the refrigerator.  

Feeding the starter:  Every 3-4 days you need to at least double the starter by adding equal amounts by weight of flour and water.  So, if you have 7 oz of starter, add 3.5 oz water and 3.5 oz flour.  Mix together, let sit at room temp for 4-6 hours until bubbly, then store in the refrigerator.  In general, feed the starter one day before making bread.  

I don't like the idea of throwing away a lot of starter, so I try to keep just a small amount going.  Since I usually use about 12 oz to make bread, I'll have about 15 oz of starter.  When I remove the 12 oz for bread, I then add maybe 2 oz flour + 2 oz water.  Then the day before I make bread again, I'll feed it again, adding 4 oz flour + 4 oz water to get me back up to 15 oz, from which I'll use 12 for bread dough the next day.  This is a nice cycle that has me making bread every 4-5 days.  

Tips: 1) you can triple or quadruple the starter when you feed it if you're going to need more of it.

2) Yeast make the starter and your bread bubbly.  Byproducts of bacterial growth make it sour.  Yeast grows better at room temp or warmer.  Bacteria will grow at cooler temps like in the fridge, but they compete with the yeast for resources to grow.  So, leaving the starter in the fridge will allow more bacteria to grow, letting your starter get more sour.

3) I was disappointed at first with the lack of sour flavor in my bread.  I googled it and read that outside of San Francisco, a lot of bakeries add acids directly to their doughs to mimic the flavor of sourdough, and the result is dough that is much more sour than occurs naturally.  

4) You can change the proportions of flour to water that you use to feed your starter to make a less-wet starter.  I tried this at first, thinking it would be easier to substitute the starter into other bread recipes.  I went back to the wetter version when I was disappointed at how un-sour my bread was turning out.  The water content of the starter affects what bacteria grow, and so affects the flavor.  I've been getting better results with the wetter starter.

5) I think starters also become more sour with time, which could also explain my better results recently.  I've been running my starter for about 2 months now, and the flavor of the bread I've been getting has been great!  No super sour, but definitely more sour than regular bread, and just a ton of flavor in general.