Hammy Pot Pie

Using up those Nigella Cherry-Coke Soaked Ham leftovers . . .

Ingredients:

1/3 cup butter

1/3 cup flour

1 onion, chopped

1 cup carrots, chopped

1 cup peas

1 cup corn

1 1/2 cups vegetable broth

1 cup milk

1 - 2 cups cooked ham, chopped

Mashed Potatoes

Method:

Preheat oven to 350*

1. Melt butter in Le Creuset Dutch oven.

2. Add onions, carrots, cook until soft.

3. Add flour, then peas and corn.

4. Stir in vegetable broth and milk. When everything is a gravy-like consistency, add ham.

5. Top with mashed potatoes

6. Cook for approximately 30 minutes, or until potatoes are suitably browned.

All-Natural All-Purpose Cleaners -- NOT FOOD!

The boys have pneumonia, so I am going way off the deep end with vegan, natural, organic, blah blah blah living. Today was the third day I visited an organic grocery store (Whole Foods) and dropped serious coin on organic, vegan, healthy foods (rice syrup and daikon radish, anyone?)

Now, regarding the recipes below -- obviously they are not a food products, I'm just including them so I don't have to google the recipes each time. But lately I've been thinking about trying to switch to homemade, non-toxic cleaners (if only to save money to spend at Whole Foods . . .) Because seriously, borax, white vinegar, baking soda, lemon juice, olive oil and Dr. Bronner's are really all you need to clean your house. Even when you've got the pneumoccal virus floating around!

Amazing All Purpose Cleaner

1 teaspoon borax (you can get this in the detergent aisle in any supermarket)
2 tablespoons vinegar or lemon juice
1/2 teaspoon Dr. Bronner's soap
2 cups very hot water

Combine all ingredients in a plastic spray bottle.Shake your new homemade all purpose cleaner to mix. Use anywhere as needed. Strong enough to wipe out germs and viruses. Use daily on door knobs and toilet handles, especially when a family member is sick.

Homemade Soft Scrub-like Cleaner

1/2 cup baking soda

Enough Dr. Bronner's to mix into a frosting-like goop

1 tsp glycerin

Mix together and store in a sealed container (I like to use a Soft Scrub bottle . . .)

Window Cleaner

1/4 tsp Dr. Bronner's

3 tbsp white vinegar

2 cups warm water

Mix together in spray bottle. Use like you would, oh, say, Windex?

Baked Kale Chips

Okay, this is NOT cribbed from Alicia Silverstone's book, but still counts as vegan (I think.)

This is also one of those rather annoying recipes with no amounts specified -- if we could cook like chefs who don't need recipes, then we wouldn't need to keep a blog like this! (I enjoy using the royal 'we' on occasion.) But use as much kale as you feel like you can eat. How's that for vague?

Ingredients:

Kale (washed and with the tough center ribs and stems removed)

Olive oil ( try to use the least amount while making sure the kale is entirely coated)

Salt

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 300*. Tear kale into potato chip sized pieces. Arrange on a rimmed cookie sheet. Bake for 10 - 15 minutes, checking that they don't burn.

2. I turn them out onto a paper towel to absorb any extra oil, then serve.

Barley Casserole with Tahini Dressing

Day 4 of being cooped up indoors (mostly) with sick boys. I think I can be forgiven this foray into the wilds of veganism. At the very least, the leftovers of dish will be great as a grain-y breakfast this week!

Again, this recipe is from Alicia Silverstone's "The Kind Diet"

Ingredients:

2 cups hulled barley (I used pearl; Alicia said that was okay.)

2 tbsp olive oil

1 large onion, minced

3 garlic cloves, minced

2 carrots, grated

2 celery stalks, finely diced

5 tbsp shoyu (I only used 3 tbsp because I ran out; seemed tasty enough.)

1/4 tsp fine sea salt (I used regular iodized salt; Alicia says this is a no no.)

1/4 tsp dried basil

1/4 tsp dried oregano

1/4 tsp garlic powder

3/4 cup tahini dressing (see recipe below)

Method:

1. Bring 3 cups of water to a boil; add barley and simmer for approximately 50 minutes, or until water is absorbed and barley is tender.

2. Heat oil in a skillet. Chop onions and garlic in food processor and add to skillet; saute until onion is translucent.

3. Add carrots, celery, shoyu, salt and spices. Cook for about 5 minutes, or until vegetables are tender.

4. Add barley and mix well over medium-high heat for approximately 3 minutes.

5. Transfer half of the barley mixture to a baking dish (I used one that was 9" x 9"); drizzle half of tahini dressing on top. Add a second layer of barley mixture and top with remainder of dressing.

6. Bake at 350*, uncovered, until heated through -- about 35 minutes.

Serves 6 - 8.

Tahini dressing:

1/4 small onion, diced (I skipped this)

1/2 cup of tahini

1 tbsp shoyu

Pinch garlic powder

Pinch paprika

Pinch dried oregano

1/8 tsp dried basil

Vegan Sweet-Potato Lentil Stew

from "The Kind Diet" by Alicia Silverstone

Ingredients:

3 tbsp safflower oil (I used olive)

1 medium onion, diced

2 small tomatoes diced (I used 1/2 cup canned, diced tomato because I had some leftover)

1 tsp fresh ginger, minced

1 1/2 tsp turmeric

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp coriander

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1/8 tsp cayenne

1 ginormous yam (didn't have any sweet potatoes)

5 cups vegetable broth

1 cup lentils (I used green, she suggests brown, I say whatever)

Method:

I used my slowcooker and did everything in the one pot.

1. Turn slowcooker to High and put oil in pot.

2. When it seems hot enough, put onions in and cook until they look translucent. (Took a while)

3. Add spices and tomatoes; cook for a few minutes.

4. Add remaining ingredients, mix well and cook on High for 2 hours. Reduce heat to Low and keep cooking until ready to serve.

I served this over couscous, but brown rice would be nice too. Even my boys ate more than a "No thank you" bit (not MUCH more, but more.)

Vegan Pumpkin Bread

from Alicia Silverstone's "The Kind Diet"

This is shockingly good!

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups pureed pumpkin

1 cup brown sugar (Alicia suggests maple sugar, but that cost $27.99 at my health food store.)

1 "egg" (1 tbsp flax seeds pureed with 3 tbsp water)

1/2 cup almond milk

3/8 cup safflower oil (I used canola because it was what I had)

2 cups spelt flower

1 1/2 tsp baking powder

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/4 tsp cardamom

1/8 tsp mace

1/2 cup vegan carob chips

Method:

I made this in my breadmaker.

1. Put all wet ingredients in breadmaker, set on "cake" setting. Let it mix for approximately 12 minutes (when it starts to beep), then add the dry ingredients (I put them all in a sifter and sifted them into the breadmaker pan.) Add chips when all flour is mixed in.

2. Wait until breadmaker is done.

If you want to make this the old fashioned mixing bowl - oven way, make sure to oil your 9"x 5" loaf pan and bake at 350* for 45 to 60 minutes.

Orange Sables

Another recipe lifted in its entirety from my friend Miranda Levenstein's excellent recipe blog -- http://insweettreatment.blogspot.com. (Doesn't she present the recipes beautifully??) I think these will be a lovely teacher gift packaged with the Lemon Poppy Seed cookies below. Sometimes you need a break from chocolate!

(Note: I used 3 egg yolks because my eggs were on the small side.)

Ignorance Is Bliss Orange Sables
Adapted from Baking: From My Home to Yours, Dorie Greenspan 2006
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Ingredients
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter (preferably high-fat, European style), softened at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Zest of one orange
1/4 cup confectioners' sugar, sifted before measuring
1/2 teaspoon salt, preferably sea salt
2 large egg yolks, preferably at room temperature
2 cups all-purpose flour.

For the decoration (optional):
1 egg yolk
Crystal or dazzle sugar.

Directions
In a small bowl combine granulated sugar and orange zest. Rub zest and sugar together with your fingers to incorporate.
Working in a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter at medium speed until it is smooth and very creamy. Add the sugars and salt and continue to beat until smooth and velvety, not fluffy and airy, about 1 minute. Reduce the mixer speed to low and beat in 2 egg yolks, again beating until well blended.
Turn off the mixer, pour in the flour, drape a kitchen towel over the mixer and pulse the mixer about 5 times at low speed for 1 or 2 seconds each time. Take a peek; if there is still a lot of flour on the surface of the dough, pulse a couple of more times; if not, remove the towel. Continuing at low speed, stir for about 30 seconds more, just until the flour disappears into the dough and the dough looks uniformly moist. If you still have some flour on the bottom of the bowl, stop mixing and use a rubber spatula to work the rest of it into the dough. (The dough will not come together in a ball -- and it shouldn't. You want to work the dough as little as possible. What you're aiming for is a soft, moist, clumpy dough. When pinched, it should feel a little like Play-Doh.)
Scrape the dough onto a work surface, gather it into a ball and divide it in half. Shape each piece into a smooth log about 9 inches long (it's easiest to work on a piece of plastic wrap and use the plastic to help form the log). Wrap the logs well and chill them for at least 2 hours. The dough may be kept in the refrigerator for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.
Hint: To prevent your logs from flattening on one side, cut the empty cardboard tubes from two rolls of paper towels down the middle. Then rest your dough inside the cardboard cradle and put them in the fridge.
When ready to bake, center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking sheet with a silicone baking mat or parchment paper and keep it at the ready.

To decorate the edges of the sables, whisk the egg yolk until smooth. Place one log of chilled dough on a piece of waxed paper and brush it with yolk (the glue), and then sprinkle the entire surface of the log with sugar. Trim the ends of the roll if they are ragged and slice the log into 1/3-inch-thick cookies.


Place the rounds on the baking sheet, leaving an inch of space between each cookie, and bake for 17 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet at the halfway point. When properly baked, the cookies will be light brown on the bottom, lightly golden around the edges and pale on top. Let the cookies rest 1 or 2 minutes before carefully lifting them onto a cooling rack with a wide metal spatula. Repeat with the remaining log of dough. (Make sure the sheet is cool before baking each batch.)

Yield: 48-50 cookies

Lemon Poppy Cookies

When you're tired of chocolate, nuts and cherries, these make a refreshing palate cleansing biscuit!

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons lemon zest

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar

1 1/2 sticks butter

1/4 cup fresh lemon juice

1 to 2 tablespoons poppy seeds

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Whisk together dry ingredients, set aside.

2. Beat lemon zest and sugar. Add butter, cream until light and fluffy. Mix in lemon juice, add flour.

3. Roll into equal-sized balls, press tops into poppy seeds, flattening cookies slightly when placing on cookie sheet.

4. Bake 10 - 12 minutes.

(Can also try making refrigerator cookies with this dough -- roll into a log, wrap in Saran wrap and refrigerate until ready to slice cookies. Sprinkle with poppy seeds if using this method.)