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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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.

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
Printer Friendly Version
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.)

Bread Machine Cornbread

Cornbread

1 cup cornmeal
1 – 1/4 cup flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 eggs – lightly beaten
1 cup milk
1/4 cup melted butter or oil

Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of which ingredients to put in the machine first. Then select the cake setting with a light crust.

Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings

Mountain Dew Apple Dumplings

Ingredients

2 cans crescent rolls
3-4 tart apples
1 c. sugar
1/2 c. butter
1 tsp cinnamon
1 can Mountain Dew soda

Directions

Spray a 13 x 9 baking dish or pan.
Peel and slice apples into 16 pieces. Roll each apple slice in 1 section of crescent roll.
Place rolled slices in pan in two rows, put extra along side.
Melt butter, add sugar and cinnamon and pour over apples.
Pour can of Mountain Dew over all.
Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes.
Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.