Vanilla Red Velvet Cupcakes (now with beet puree!)

Ingredients:


2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups vegetable oil
1 cup buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/2 cup beet puree
1 teaspoon vanilla extract


Method:


Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line 2 (12-cup) muffin pans with cupcake papers.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, and cocoa powder. In a large bowl gently beat together the oil, buttermilk, eggs, beet puree and vanilla with an electric mixer. Add the sifted dry ingredients to the wet and mix until smooth and thoroughly combined.

Divide the batter evenly among the cupcake tins about 2/3 filled. (An ice cream scoop is perfect for this.) Bake in oven for about 20 to 22 minutes, turning the pans once, half way through. Test the cupcakes with a toothpick for doneness. Remove from oven and cool completely before frosting.  I like to use a simple, vanilla frosting on these.

Master Cleanse Sake-Tini

Again from Sarma Meilngailis' "Living Raw Food"

Ingredients:

3/4 cup sake

3/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1/3 cup maple syrup (maybe not even this much as it's VERY sweet)

Pinch cayenne pepper

Method:

Blend in a shaker. Pour into martini glasses. Drink. Repeat until the sake bottle is empty.

Lamb with Cardamom and Orange

Recipe: Yogurt-Marinated Leg of Lamb With Cardamom and Orange
Time: 1 1/2 to 3 hours, largely unattended.

(Stolen in its entirety from the New York Times, April 13, 2011)

Ingredients:

1 5-to-7-pound leg of lamb, preferably at room temperature, shank removed if necessary

1/2 cup whole-milk yogurt

1/4 cup chopped fresh mint, plus more for garnish

2 tablespoons orange zest

2 teaspoons ground cardamom

1 teaspoon salt, or to taste

2 teaspoons freshly ground black pepper.

Method:

1. Heat the oven to 425º. Remove as much of the surface fat as is practical from the lamb. Mix together the yogurt, mint, orange zest, cardamom, salt and pepper; rub the meat all over with the yogurt mixture. If you have time, let the lamb sit for an hour or more (refrigerate if it will be much longer).

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Yunhee Kim for The New York Times; Food stylist: Anne Disrude. Prop Stylist: Deborah Williams.

Leg of lamb with moroccan spices.

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How to Carve a Lamb in Three Cuts

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2. Put the lamb on a rack in a roasting pan. (You might line the pan first with aluminum foil to make cleanup easier.) Roast for 30 minutes, then check; if the lamb threatens to burn, turn the heat down to 350º; otherwise leave it at 425º.

3. After about 1 hour (total) of roasting, check the internal temperature of the lamb with an instant-read thermometer. Continue to check every 10 minutes; when it reaches 130 for medium rare (125 for very rare) in its thickest part (check it in several places), it’s done. Total cooking time will be less than 11/2 hours. Let it rest for a few minutes before carving. Serve garnished with more chopped mint.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Wakame Hemp Power Slaw

From "Ani's Raw Food Kitchen" by Ani Phyo

This is incredibly filling and good for you!

Ingredients

for slaw:

1/2 head kale. ribs removed and leaves torn into little pieces

1/4 head red cabbage, cored and thinly sliced

2 scallions, chopped

1/2 dry wakame

1/2 cup hemp nuts

for dressing:

3/4 cup Brazil nuts

2 cloves garlic

1 tablespoon ginger, grated

1 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 cup olive oil (she says hemp, but I'm not spending $29 for 8 oz!)

Lime juice to taste (1 - 2 tablespoons)

1/4 cup water

Method:

1. Mix torn kale leaves, thinly sliced cabbage, wakame and scallions in a big bowl.

2. Process nuts, garlic, ginger, salt, oil, lime juice and water in a blender until smooth.

3. Toss well with slaw. Top with hemp nuts.

Serves 4 (if they like a LOT of salad)

430 calories per serving

8g protein

11g carbohydrate

22g fat

2g sugar

Veggie Pot Pie

Adapted from FamilyFun Magazine

Ingredients:

for the filling

1 large baking potato, peeled and cut into 1/2" dice

3 cups of frozen peas and carrots

1/2 cup each broccoli and cauliflower florets, diced butternut squash, frozen corn (or whatever else you have in your freezer/crisper)

3 1/2 tablespoons unsalter butter

1 large onion, quartered and thinly sliced

3 tablespoons of flour

1 1/2 cups warmed vegetable broth (can use bouillon)

1 cup milk

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon celery seed

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 teaspoon thyme

1/3 cup grated parmesan and romano

For the topping:

3/4 cup yellow cornmeal

1 tablespoon sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 cup milk

1 large egg, beaten

1 tablespoon oil

1/2 teaspoon salt

Instructions:

1. Heat the oven to 400º. Place the potato, carrots, peas, broccoli, corn, and squash in

a medium-size pot and fill it with enough water to cover the vegetables plus one

inch. Lightly salt the water, bring it to a boil, then allow the vegetables to continue

boiling for 4 minutes. Drain and rinse the vegetables with cold water and set them

2. Melt the butter over medium heat in a large, deep skillet or Dutch oven. Add the

onion and mushrooms and sauté them, stirring often, until they're soft, about 4

minutes. Stir in the flour and cook the mixture, stirring nonstop, another 30 seconds.

Add the vegetable broth, milk, salt, pepper, thyme, and celery seed and continue to

stir until the sauce thickens, about 4 minutes.

3. Add the vegetables to the sauce and stir well. Add more salt and pepper, if desired,

then stir in the Parmesan and bring the filling to a simmer. Thin it with water if its

consistency is thicker than potato soup. Transfer the filling to a casserole dish.

4. Make the corn bread topping. In a medium-size bowl, whisk together the cornmeal,

sugar, baking powder, and salt. Add the milk, egg, and oil and stir until evenly

blended. Spread the batter over the filling. Bake the cobbler until the top is golden

brown and the sides are bubbly, about 25 minutes. Allow it to cool slightly before

serving.

Serves 8.

Waste not, want not French Toast

I'm becoming a martinet about wasted food. Did you know that according to the USDA, Americans throw out about 20% of the food we buy? I know we throw out way too much food in my house. Part of it is that I simply have no sense of portion sizes and always put too much food on my son's plates in the hope that they'll eat it. I don't know why more is better in these obese times, but there you have it. The other part of it is that after 10+ years living in the suburbs, I still can't manage this once a week shopping efficiently. I always buy too much of one thing and run out of another. By the end of the week, for example, I have various heels of stale bread sitting in my bread drawer. Usually, I end up chucking them, but today I was on a mission to reduce food waste in this house. So, here's what I cobbled together from the internet and my head. We'll be enjoying this for pre-church breakfast tomorrow, so I'll let you know how it is!

Ingredients:

Enough cubed, stale bread to fill an 11 x 13 pan

1/4 cup butter, melted

1 cup brown sugar w/

1 tsp cinnamon

1/4 tsp nutmeg

2 cups milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

5 eggs

Method:

1. Pour butter into bottom of pan

2. Place half of the cubed bread in the pan, sprinkle with half of the brown sugar/spice mixture.

3. Place the rest of the bread on top.

4. Beat eggs, milk and vanilla together, pour over all the bread.

5. Cover with tin foil, let sit in refrigerator overnight.

6. In the morning, bake, covered, for 30 minutes @ 350. (No need to pre-heat oven.) Uncover pan and bake for another 10 minutes until browned and set.

Vegetable Korma

From "Cooking Light" March 2011

Ingredients:

1 tbsp butter

1 tbsp olive oil

1 cup onion, chopped

1 tbsp ginger, minced and peeled

3 garlic cloves, minced

1 tbsp tomato paste

1 1/2 tsp cumin, ground

1/2 tsp red pepper, ground

1/4 tsp turmeric, ground

1/8 tsp cinnamon, ground

1 cup frozen edamame

1 large baking potato, peeled and diced

1 cup vegetable broth

1 tsp all-purpose flour

13.5 oz can light coconut milk

3 cups cauliflower florets

Method:

1. Melt butter in saucepan with olive oil. Add onion, saute for 2 minutes. Add ginger and garlic, saute for 30 seconds stirring constantly. Stir in tomato paste and spices, saute for about a minute, stirring frequently.

2. Combine vegetable broth, flour and coconut milk -- whisk until smooth. Add mixture to pan and bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for about 8 minutes, stirring frequently.

3. Stir in cauliflower and edamame, simmer until the vegetables are tender.

Serve over white rice.

Simple, lovely Valentine's Day cookies

CHOCOLATE HEART COOKIES (from James Latus via Taste of Home Magazine)

Ingredients:

1 cup butter softened
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all purpose flour
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1 cup vanilla or white chips
2 Tablespoons shortening
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

2. In a bowl cream butter and sugar, beat in vanilla. Combine flour and cocoa, gradually add creamed mixture.

3. On lightly floured surface roll out dough to 1/4 inch thickness. Cut with heart cookie cutter. Place on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 8-10 minutes.

4. For icing melt vanilla chips and 1 Tablespoon shortening stirring frequently. Dip both end of cookies into melted mixture. Heat semi-sweet chips and remaining shortening and drizzle over dipped cookies. Or, just drizzle the chocolate artfully over the cookies. Either way, people always think I've bought these and not made them!

OMG Awesomely Easy Onion Rings

I am not a deep frying kind of person. First of all, I grew up in a family where fat was the enemy and most meals featured steamed or boiled items, with the meat pan fried in the most miniscule amount of fat. Can't complain, I guess, I'm pretty healthy today.

But I found this recipe in the December 2010 issue of Every Day with Rachael Ray. I've actually just let my subscription lapse because I generally find her recipes too fatty and unhealthy, but you really can't be snooty when it comes to onion rings. And these are so easy that even Sean can make them (well, as long as I act as sous-chef!)

Ingredients:

Canola oil, for frying

1 cup pancake mix

1 tsp chili powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup cold seltzer

1 large onion, sliced and separated into rings.

Method:

1. Pour about 1" of oil into a 10" skillet. Heat to 380* (I used my candy thermometer.)

2. While the oil is heating, mix up pancake mix, chili powder and salt. Whisk in seltzer. Coat onion rings with batter, letting excess drip off. Add to oil and fry for about 2 minutes per side, or until golden and crisp. Drain on paper towels. Sprinkle with salt if desired (but these are plenty tasty!)

Mmmmmm . . .

Mushroom Bolognese

from Cooking Light, 2010

Ingredients:

1/2 oz. dried porcini mushrooms

1 cup boiling water

1 tbsp olive oil

2 1/2 cups chopped onion

3/4 tsp kosher salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

8 cups finely chopped mushrooms (about 1.5 lbs)

1 tbsp minced garlic

2 tbsp tomato paste

1/2 cup white wine

14 oz can whole, peeled tomatoes (undrained)

1/4 cup whole milk

Fresh parsley, minced

Method:

1. Combine porcini and boiling water; cover and let stand 20 minutes. Drain, but reserve liquid. Rinse and chop porcini, set aside.

2. Heat olive oil in dutch oven. Add onion, 1/4 teaspoon pepper and cook until onion is translucent. Add chopped cremini mushrooms, garlic, salt & pepper. Cook until liquid almost evaporates, stirring occasionally. Add porcini, then tomato paste. Add reserved porcini liquid and white wine. Add tomatoes, bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Stir in milk right at end (otherwise it will curdle.)

3. Toss sauce with cooked pasta, top with parmesan cheese and fresh, minced parsley.