Beck's Recipes

Gluten-Free Graham-esque Crackers

2009-10-06T04:54:00.000-07:00

Even if you don't like buckwheat, these are totally worth checking out - I've given out this recipe many times and everyone who has tried it has LOVED it.

I don't remember where I got this recipe from. I've made it about fifty million times, and it's always been good.

1/3 cup olive or vegetable oil
1/3 cup molasses and 1/3 cup honey, mixed together
2 1/4 cups buckwheat flour
1 1/2 tsp. cinnamon (sometimes I also throw caution to the wind and toss a bit of nutmeg in, too.)
1/4 tsp salt
a few tsp of water, if needed.

Preheat oven to 350.

Combine all ingredients, adding extra water if needed until the dough holds together. Take a cookie sheet and flip it over - the side your normally bake cookies on will be underneath. Grease with veg. or olive oil. Flatten dough over the greased surface of the cookie sheet, and use an oiled rolling pin to smooth it out - you'll want to make the crackers fairly thin. Use a knife to score into cracker-sized crackers ("scoring" means to mark the dough but not cut all the way through it. And Now You Know.), and poke each cracker with a fork several times.

Bake for ten minutes.

Let cool and then break the cookies into crackers. Store in an airtight container or they'll get soft and gross.

Crispy Chicken Fingers

2009-07-03T07:48:00.000-07:00

1/2 cup plain yogurt. Low fat is fine.
1/2 tsp tarragon. Skip it if you like.
a dash of salt
a dash of pepper
1 1/2 cups finely crushed Corn Flakes. Put them in a ziplock bag and let your kid pound them to atom-sized molecules.
1/4 cup grated Parmesan
1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breasts

Preheat the oven to 400. Grease a cookie sheet OR cover it with Parchment paper.

In a bowl, mix together yogurt, tarragon, salt and pepper and mix. In another bowl, mix together the cornflakes and Parmesan.

Cut the chicken breasts into fingers or nuggets. Dip each piece into the yogurt mixture and then roll it around in the cornflake mixture. Once coated, lay each piece on the cookie sheet.

Bake for ten minutes and then turn the cookie sheet around and bake for another 10 minutes.

Asian Pasta Salad

2009-03-14T16:00:00.000-07:00

This recipe came with my kid's lunchbox. It's nice and easy enough to set aside things like cooked pasta and chopped broccoli the night before.

You'll need:
cooked pasta. I generally use some sort of small, kid-friendly shape. (and you'll want about a cup...)
some chopped veggies: red or green peppers, sugar snap peas (those are nicer left whole), thinly chopped cabbage...
a bit of broccoli, cut into bite-sized pieces
some grated or chopped raw carrot
a handful of bean sprouts

The dressing is:
1 clove minced garlic
2 tbsp sesame oil
2 tbsp soy sauce
2 tbsp sesame seeds (I normally use flax seeds instead, since I am No Fun.)
and some chopped cilantro. (just a tablespoon or so.)
Mix the dressing ingredients together and then toss it with the salad ingredients. Ta da.

Mashed Sweet Potatoes

2009-03-14T15:55:00.000-07:00

This is not really a recipe. I bake sweet potatoes - and at what temperature? I dunno, I generally just throw them in the oven while I'm making something else and let them stay there until they're done - and once they're squishy AND WHILE I AM WEARING OVEN MITTS (this is important. Believe me), I cut them in half and squash them out of their skins into a heatproof bowl. Then I mash them and add some butter and nutmeg. Ta da!

Maybe your kids wouldn't love these, but my kids, God bless 'em, actually get EXCITED. I obviously am a wonderful mother or my poor kids are just really deprived. One or the other.

Pumpkin Bread

2009-03-14T15:42:00.000-07:00

This is a lower-fat recipe and still tastes REALLY good. I make it FREQUENTLY. It's from Healthy Cooking magazine, which is a dandy publication. It makes 2 loaves - I generally halve the recipe and freeze the other half of the canned pumpkin for the next time, but maybe you need a LOT of pumpkin bread. I dunno.

2 1/4 cups sugar
2 cups flour (you can use all-purpose, although I've subbed half of it with whole wheat and it's still been tasty)
1 1/3 cups cake flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
4 eggs
1 can (15 oz) pumpkin. NOT pumpkin pie filling!
1 cup buttermilk
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
1/3 cup canola oil

Combine the first nine ingredients in a large bowl. In yet another bowl, mix together the eggs, pumpkin, buttermilk, applesauce and oil. Stir into dry ingredients until just mixed.

Transfer to two oiled loaf pans. Bake at 350 for 45-55 minutes or until golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with moist crumbs. Cool in the pans for 10 minutes.

Makes 2 loaves.

This is what we're gonna eat

2009-03-14T15:29:00.000-07:00

Last week turned out to be uninspiring - two meals were so markedly horrible that I've actually crossed them out below, thus erasing them from the official record. And this week we're sick AND the kids are home for March Break, which means that I'm trying to strike the right note of foods that are comforting and also fun for the ungrateful monsters.

Sunday
Supper - Pasta with Rainbow Veggies. And an alfredo sauce, just to balance things out.

Monday
Breakfast.... Oooh! I forgot to plan something for breakfast. Perhaps someone else will make it. That would be lovely.

Lunch - This marshmallow fluff/strawberry fruit dip and a fruit tray.

Supper - Beef and Bean Burrito Bake (which obviously has a thuddingly prosaic name, but is quite nice AND really high in iron.) and a coleslaw made with lots of different vegetables, so we don't get scurvy on top of what we already have.

Tuesday - St. Patrick's Day
Breakfast - Irish Oatmeal and some baked breakfast fruits.

Lunch - Zucchini Pancakes with sour cream and applesauce.

Supper - Corned Beef and Cabbage with mashed potatoes, Irish Soda Bread and a key lime pie for dessert.

Wednesday
Breakfast - French Toast
Lunch - Stuffed Tuna Buns, raw veggie tray
Supper - Pasta Puttancesca

Thursday
Breakfast - Heavenly Hots
Lunch - Egg Salad Sandwiches and once again, the raw veggie tray of virtue.
Supper - Pork Satay, Vaguely Chinese Veggies and Brown Rice

Friday
Breakfast - Cheese Omelets
Lunch - Baked Beans and Peppers on Toast
Supper - Pizza Rustica

This Week In Food At My House

2009-03-07T06:15:00.000-08:00

Good GRIEF, I haven't posted here in four MONTHS. I am so lazy.

So here's what we're eating this week, and let me know if you're interested in anything - I'll post the recipes IF they turn out.

Sunday:
Supper
We WILL be eating before supper on Sunday, but not at home. When we are, we're having a lemon roast chicken, mashed sweet potatoes and some cauliflower and cheese, along with a green salad with a homemade buttermilk dressing.

Monday- The 40 Martyrs of Sebaste
On my actual worksheet, you can see my scrawled notes to myself. Apparently, on Monday I'll be getting up early to make banana bread. Oh, hooRAY.
Breakfast

Scrambled Eggs and Toast, Berries

Snack (my kids have that horrible "balanced school day" thing)
Banana bread with cream cheese, orange wedges and juice.

Lunch
Pasta Salad with Veggies and Chicken, an applesauce cup, milk.

Supper
~~Meatballs Stroganoff,~~ broccoli.
It isn't until you start writing down everything that you plan on making that you realize how often you eat the same things. LIKE PASTA. But that's okay. We like pasta.

Tuesday and Purim
Breakfast
Oatmeal and Frozen Berries

Snack
Bagel with Cream Cheese, Grapes

Lunch
Soup in thermos, Banana bread and cream cheese

Note to myself: Bake Hamentashen after school with the kids.

Supper
~~Orange Chicken and Veggie Stir-Fry~~ , Brown Rice (note to self: double rice for tomorrow morning.)

Wednesday and Johnny Appleseed Day
Breakfast
Brown Rice Pudding (hence the doubling last night. I'm so fancy.)

Snack
Yogurt with Granola for Sprinkling, Apple, Hamentashen

Lunch
Pizza for The Boy, Egg Salad Sandwich for The Girl because she HATES PIZZA, the weirdo. Fruit Salad cups.

Supper
Crispy Herb-Coated Pork Chops, Mashed Potatoes (which I'm making double of, so we can have some tomorrow), Broccoli with an Orange Glaze, Apple Crisp.

Thursday
Note to self: get up early to make pumpkin bread. I DO THIS TO MYSELF.
Breakfast
Whole Grain Pancakes with Chocolate Chip Smiley Faces and Berries

Snack
Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese, Orange Wedges, Applesauce Cup

Lunch
Whole Grain Macaroni and Cheese in Thermos, Cucumber Slices and Cauliflower Trees

Supper
Cabbage Rolls, Peas, Mashed Potatoes

Friday

Breakfast
French Toast with Orange Wedges

Snack
Pumpkin Bread with Cream Cheese, Grapes

Lunch
Tomato Soup, Whole Grain Crackers and Cheese, Pepper Strips

And that's it. My husband makes supper on Fridays.
Supper

Sally Lunn

2008-10-09T05:35:00.000-07:00

This was apparently named for a bread-seller in the 18th century, which just goes to show you how very nice the bread is, I think.

One important thing to note is that while this bread is pretty much effortless, it takes a LONG time to make (although you'll only be fussing with it in small spurts). If you want to have it with supper tonight, start making it right after lunch. Okay? Okay.

1 cup milk or cream or evaporated milk or a mix of any of the three
8 tbsp butter, cubed
1 package active dry yeast
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
3 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

In a small saucepan, add the milk and the butter. Stir over low heat until the butter is melted, and then pour into a large bowl. Let it cool until it's lukewarm and add the yeast, sugar and salt - stir and then leave it be for five minutes. The yeast should be all dissolved.

Add the eggs, one by one, stirring briskly after each. Add the flour - a cup at a time - and stir briskly again until the batter is lovely and very smooth. Cover the bowl and leave your dough alone someplace warm for about three hours - it should double in size.

Now you have a decision to make - do you want to make an impressive loaf of bread or smaller, muffin-sized buns? Butter a tube pan (a 10" one) or 24 muffin cups. Beat the dough again to deflate it, then pour it into the tube pan or spoon into the muffin cups (about half full). Butter your hands and smooth the dough down evenly and smoothly. Cover loosely with a towel and let rise for another hour.

Preheat your oven to 375.

If you're using the tube pan, you should bake your bread for about 50 minutes. If you're making the small buns, you should bake your bread for about 20 minutes, turning your pan mid-way. When they're baked, let them cool on a rack.

Butternut Squash Soup

2008-09-01T09:21:00.000-07:00

This is a slow-cooker recipe, which makes it doubly lovely.
Brown one chopped onion in some butter.
Into your slow cooker, add:
- the browned onion
1 butternut squash (a 2 pounder, about), peeled and cubed and good luck with that part.
2 cups chicken broth. Or vegetable broth. Your call.
1/2 tsp dried marjoram
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp ground red pepper

Cover and cook on the low setting for 6 to 8 hours.
About 40 minutes before serving, puree 1/3 of the soup in your blender until it's smooth and goopy and return it to the slow cooker. BE CAREFUL DOING THIS PART - you don't want to get hit in the face by wet squash whipping around in a blender. Not that I've done that.
Now add a cubed 8 oz. package of cream cheese.
Let it cook for another 25-30 minutes until the cheese is melted and stir it with a wire whisk until it's smooth.
(and I am throwing in a chopped peeled apple and a sprinkle of ground ginger, but this is the basic recipe.)

Banana Chocolate Chip Mini Muffins

2008-08-30T08:36:00.000-07:00

.... or "What To Do With Those Brown Bananas."

1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour. You can also be sneaky and make 1/2 cup of that whole wheat flour, if you like.
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup mashed very ripe bananas (that's two big ones or three small ones, and mashing bananas is a swell job for an energetic three year old)
1 large egg
1/4 cup butter, melted
1/4 cup light sour cream (don't use fat free sour cream - it doesn't bake well)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Heat the oven to 350. Line your mini muffin pans with wee adorable muffin papers, or grease the cups.
In a bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and mix together.
In ANOTHER mixing bowl, combine the mashed bananas, egg, melted butter, sour cream, vanilla, and milk. Beat with an electric mixer on medium speed until well blended. Now turn the speed to looooooow and stir in the flour ingredients until JUST BLENDED. (mixing muffins too much makes them tough.) Stir in the chocolate chips with a wooden spoon. (Why wood? I do not know.)
Fill each muffin cup with a tablespoon of batter, and bake for 20 minutes or until they're golden and a toothpick comes out with no crumbs. Transfer to a rack to cool, and this should make about 36 mini muffins.

Coughing from All the Dust

2008-08-30T07:11:00.001-07:00

This week's menu.
Sunday And My Birthday:
Breakfast - Zeppelin Pancakes and berries
Lunch - out for lunch with a friend
Supper - Southwestern Backyard Burgers, potato salad, tortellini salad, red pepper dip with corn chips AND a chocolate sour cream cake, all of which will be cooked by my husband. hahahaah.

Monday And My Husband Is Home, Hence The Nice Breakfast:
Breakfast - A really tasty cream-filled yeast raised bun with an inexplicably lewd-sounding name or maybe it's just me ("Dewey Buns"), Fruit Salad
Lunch - Brown Rice Lentil Salad
Supper - Shredded Pork Tacos, Avocado Salad and coleslaw

Tuesday And The Kids Are Back To School Tomorrow:
Breakfast - Oatmeal with Berries
Lunch - Leftover Tacos
Supper, Which Will Be A Picnic - Veggie Chicken Wraps, Raw Veggie Sticks, Pasta Salad with a vinaigrette dressing, and an ice cream sundae party at home.

Wednesday and The First Day of School!
Breakfast - Plain Pancakes with Syrup and butter, as requested
First Nutrition Break (ah, the poets of the Ontario school boards!) - Homemade hummus with raw veggies, juice
Second Nutrition Break - Zucchini Bread with Cream Cheese, Pasta Salad (which I made last night), Orange Wedges, 2 Oreos and milk
Supper - Pasta with Sausage and Peppers, Festive Tossed Salad, Birthday cake - likely - because it's my youngest brother's birthday.

Thursday:
Breakfast - Oatmeal with bananas and honey
1st Nutrition Break - Zucchini Bread with Cream Cheese, Juice
2nd Nutrition Break - Hummus and Veggie Wrap, Oreos, Orange Wedges (guess what was on sale this week?), milk
Supper - Slow Cooker Rosemary Chicken with White Beans, Coleslaw

Friday:
Breakfast - Carrot-Pineapple Muffins, applesauce
1st Nutrition Break - Cucumber Chains, Juice, Mini Muffins
2nd Nutrition Break - Little wholewheat lady bug pizzas, Oreos, milk
Supper - Butternut Squash Soup with Apples and Ginger, Honey-Oat Casserole Bread

Sour Cream Pancakes

2008-06-30T06:37:00.000-07:00

2 eggs, separated
1 1/2 cups buttermilk (should you not have buttermilk in the fridge - although if you like to bake at all, you really should - you can sour some regular milk with a Tbsp of vinegar.)
1/2 cup sour cream. We've also used plain yogurt in a pinch, and it worked fine.
1/4 cup butter, melted
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt

In a large bowl, mix together the yolks, milk and sour cream until well blended. Add the butter and just stir until it's combined.
In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking soda and salt. Add it to the yolk/milk mixture and beat until smooth.
Beat the egg whites until they're stiff but still moist. Gently fold the yolks into the batter.

Get your griddle moderately hot and give it a light coating of non-stick spray. We make our pancakes rather small, but you can make them however big you like. Flip them over when little bubbles appear on the top, and when the bottom is a nice golden brown. It will only need to cook briefly on the other side.

Now go get your maple syrup and eat some pancakes.

Vaguely Chinese Veggies

2008-06-17T10:03:00.000-07:00

These are great - they're flavourful, but not in a child-repelling sort of way. And you get to use a wok (if you have one), which is always fun.

Heat up - on high heat - 1 tablespoon of vegetable oil in a wok or a big skillet.
Add:
1 bunch of broccoli, all chopped up. (do you eat the stems? Just peel the stems a bit and chop them - my kids actually like the stems raw, cut into long sticks!)
1 onion, diced
1 tablespoon minced ginger root
Stir-fry for a minute.
Now add:
3 baby bok choy, or 2 stems of the bigger kind, chopped up.
4 ounces snow peas
3 celery stalks, sliced really thin
5 green onions, all chopped up
And pour
3/4 cup chicken stock on it. You could use vegetable broth, if you'd rather.
Toss vegetables until everything is coated. Bring to a boil, cover and cook for 2 to 3 minutes or until the vegetables are slightly tender but still crisp.

Serves about six.

Broccoli Salad

2008-06-17T06:09:00.000-07:00

I sort of feel like the bacon - which is totally optional - and the mayonnaise - which is totally mandatory - negate any health-giving properties this salad may possibly have. But it's handy because most kids - and big sucky adults - will eat it, and then later on you can say "but you ate the broccoli SALAD" when you want them to eat just plain ol' broccoli. Also, it is good.

You will need:
1 bunch broccoli, just the florets, chopped up attractively.

And some of the following things:
- 1 cup raisins or craisins - this is totally optional, especially if you have kids who are going to shriek "EWWWW! SHE PUT RAISINS IN THE SAAAALAD!". Not to name any names, GIRL.
- 1 cup sunflower seeds. Again, optional. The raisins are there for sweet and the sunflower seeds are there for crunch, but neither of these are going to make or break the salad.
- some crispy, crumbled bacon strips. My recipe calls for ten. TEN! We generally use about two. You don't need to use any.
- cubed (or grated) cheddar cheese. I'm going to guess and say 1/4 cup to 1/2 cup, but however much looks good for you. Again, skip it if you wanna.
- 1/4 cup diced red onion. Totally skippable.

Here's the dressing, once you have your salad bowl brimming over or not:
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 tablespoon vinegar
3 tablespoons sugar. So healthy!
Mix the salad dressing together in a bowl, then toss all the ingredients together. You're going to want the salad to sit in the fridge for at LEAST two hours before you eat it.
Serves six, more or less.

Slightly Fancy Asparagus

2008-06-16T06:59:00.000-07:00

Steam your asparagus (about enough for four people). Now drain it.
Toss the drained asparagus with two tablespoons of vinegar - balsamic, apple cider (hi, mom!), or whatever you want. Throw in a tablespoon of butter, a bit of salt and pepper and a clove of minced garlic. Serve with modest pride.

Roasted Asparagus

2008-06-16T06:38:00.000-07:00

Preheat your oven to 450.
Get your asparagus ready - trim the ends, peel if they're fat - and lay them on a roasting pan. Drizzle them with some extra-virgin olive oil and sprinkle a bit of salt on top. Now roast them for 10 to 15 minutes.
Serve with lemon wedges.

Steamed Asparagus

2008-06-16T06:35:00.000-07:00

Take your asparagus and trim the gnarly ends off (not the tip!). If your asparagus is thick, they'll be better if you peel the stalks, too. Find a frying pan that can hold the amount of asparagus that you want to cook without crushing them together. Cover them with water and add a pinch of salt. Now cook them on high until they're JUST fork tender - you don't want them mushy and you don't want them crispy.

Now drain them and toss them with some butter and eat.

This week's recipes

2008-06-01T05:26:00.000-07:00

Sunday -
Texas Chicken Salad
Veggie Tray
Sweet Cherry Pie

Monday
Honey Soy Grilled Pork Chops
Japanese Noodle Salad
Snow Peas

Tuesday
Chipolte Chicken Fajitas

Wedneday
Tunsian Vegetable Stew
Sharp Cheddar Biscuits

Thursday
Tuna Cheese Melts
Coleslaw

Friday
Spinach Feta Pizza

Tunsian Vegetable Stew

2008-05-29T07:44:00.000-07:00

Sherri Edman sent this to me, with this note:
This is on heavy rotation at our house. We had it tonight, as a matter of fact. If you have to go out and buy the spices, it isn't cheap anymore, but if you have them all on hand, it's great on the budget. It is - and this is me talking - from Moosewood Cooks At Home, which is one of the all-time best home cookbooks I know of, even if you're not a vegetarian!

1 1/2 c. thinly sliced onion
2 T. olive oil
3 c. thinly sliced cabbage
dash salt
1 large green bell pepper, cut into thin strips
2 t. ground coriander
1/2 t. turmeric
1/4 t. cinnamon
1/8 t. cayenne (or to taste)
3 c. undrained tomatoes, chopped (28 oz. can)
1 1/2 c. drained cooked chickpeas (16 oz. can)
1/3 c. currants or raisins (optional, says the recipe, but I can't imagine the dish without them)
1 T. lemon juice
salt to taste

In a large skillet, saute the onions in the oil for 5 minutes, or until softened. Add the cabbage, sprinkle with salt, and continue to saute for at least 5 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add the bell pepper, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon and cayenne to the skillet and saute for another minute or so. Stir in the tomatoes, chickpeas, and optional currants or raisins, and simmer, covered, for about 15 minutes, until the vegetables are just tender. Add the lemon juice and salt to taste. Serve over couscous or the grain of your choice.

Really easy peanut butter cookies

2008-05-05T05:19:00.000-07:00

These are, obviously, REALLY easy. They're not sturdy and they don't keep - being what my children call "eating cookies" - and yet they have many, many things in their favour. We always, always have all of the ingredients, for one, and they're also gluten-free. You can also really dress them up - put a mini peanut butter cup in the center of each, or a few Smarties or M&Ms - and any half-way alert child can make them pretty much on their own.

one cup of peanut butter
1/2 cup of sugar (some recipes call for as much as one cup of sugar here, which I find painfully sweet. However, your taste buds may be different than mine, so I thought I'd mention it.)
one egg

Preheat the oven to 350. Mix together the sugar and egg and then mix in the peanut butter. You can either roll the dough in tablespoon-sized amounts into balls or just drop it by the tbsp on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake them for 6 to 9 minutes - you'll want to keep a close eye on them.

Buttercream Frosting For Lazy Cheaters

2008-04-28T05:25:00.000-07:00

... like me, of course.
You'll need:
- one 7 1/2 ounce jar of Marshmallow Fluff, and I realize that I've posted a lot of recipes using it, which is embarrassing, in a way.
- one cup softened butter.
- one cup of icing sugar. So obviously we're talking about a VERY HEALTHY recipe, right?
- some vanilla - about 1/2 tsp. - and food colouring, if you don't want ivory icing.

Using an electric mixer, beat the butter until it's fluffy and creamy and then add the whole jar of Marshmallow Fluff, which will be a sticky pain in the butt. Reduce speed and add the icing sugar, vanilla and food colouring and mix it all together. Now turn your mixer back up (and why do you do it this way? So you don't send icing sugar flying all over your kitchen. Learn from my mistakes.) and beat everything briskly until it's fluffy and gorgeous. There you go.

The Carrot Cake recipe...

2008-04-10T07:23:00.000-07:00

.... is right here. Remember that icing sugar in Ontario is not gluten-free - my icing was made from regular white sugar, vanilla and cream cheese and it was GOOD.
I have a few more gluten-free recipes up here.

This Week's Menu Plan

2008-04-05T06:51:00.000-07:00

Apparently this blog has just turned into a place where I keep my menu plans for the week. So be it, I guess - I have some big plans for posting recipes soon, having recently come out of a prolonged time where I was unenthusiastic about everything I was cooking, winter and its stodgy foods lasting for just a bit too long. Now, however, the sandhill cranes are back and the snow is melting and I feel like cooking again, spring's foods lasting for just a moment.

(so if you HAVE been asking me for recipes and I haven't been posting them, you can expect them this week. Likely.)

Saturday - It's always hard to strike the right note on Saturday nights, since we've generally a) eaten junk food for lunch and b) are exhausted from running errands all day.
Supper - Tex-Mex Turkey Wraps. This recipe came from a VERY frequently used book - Better Food For Kids. I've had it for years and still refer to it all the time, since it's such a handy collection of kid-friendly, healthy recipes.

Sunday - I like making a special breakfast on Sunday morning, but we also go to church before lunchtime, so it's a bit of a rush as I get up early to make breakfast AND gussy up. And then I like to make a nice, Grandma+Grandpa style dinner for Sunday night, which means that I spend Sunday cooking. But that's okay - I like cooking.

Breakfast - Brown Sugar French Toast. I'll be putting this together tonight and then throwing it into the oven as I head off to do my eye makeup, probably. And a fruit salad made of grapes (because I have grapes that need using up), banana and orange wedges. "Don't think that you need to have a different kinds (of fruit) in one salad, either," wrote Peg Bracken. "This isn't the Waldorf-Astoria. Three is quite all right." I've wanted to use that quote for AGES and NOW I HAVE.

Lunch - Tuscan Bean Soup, from the same Better Food For Kids book that I mentioned earlier. My kids, for the record, cheerfully eat all sorts of things that apparently other people's children refuse, even though I think of my kids as being monstrously picky. They've eaten lentils and beans from the time they were wee babies shoving handfuls of glop into their mouths, and so they just aren't weird to them. Don't ask me about mushrooms, though.

Supper - Oven Barbecued Chicken and Roasted Potatoes with Bacon and Cheese - both recipes from that free magazine that Kraft puts out, and a very handy magazine it is, too.
Deluxe Coleslaw and Glazed Carrot Coins, from that Better Food cookbook AGAIN. Handy!
A Chocolate Meringue Pie from April's copy of Everyday Food magazine, which I go through phases of really enjoying.

Monday.
Breakfast - Mango Slices, Scrambled Eggs and Bacon and some toast and then off to school with most of my kids.

Snack - My kids have that annoying, divided-in-half school day, which means that I have to pack two small meals instead of one jumbo lunch. Gosh, that's fun. Thank you SO MUCH, school board. And their snack will be, thrillingly enough, red grapes, Mini Oreos (since they have demanded them for weeks, poor bubs, and The Girl finally thought to write them down on the shopping list.) and cheese strings.

Lunch - Chicken Wraps - using last night's chicken - and coleslaw.

Supper - Ratatouille, homemade French bread, fruit salad and a Glazed Lemon Cake. These recipes come from the Silver Palate cookbook.

Tuesday.
Breakfast - Individual Baked Custards, Orange Slices.
Let me put in a good word for baked custards, a largely - and unfairly - forgotten breakfast food. They're very easy and nutritionally dense, which makes them nice for scrawny children or people recovering from an illness, and they're nicely gentle to eat. My recipe comes from The Breakfast Book, which I LOVE.

Snack - Glazed Lemon Cake, Apple Slices (dipped in lemon so they don't brown)

Lunch - Ratatouille Calzones, using last night's leftover ratatouille and packaged pizza dough.

Supper - Honey-Garlic Baked Salmon (the Better Food cookbook AGAIN!), Brown Rice and Chinese Vegetables.

Wednesday.
Breakfast - Baked Apples and Toast.

Snack - Baby Carrots and Green Beans with Ranch Dip, and a banana.

Lunch - Pizza from the pizza people. I will probably throw in a few mini Oreos, too.

Supper - Pasta Primavera Gregory - a nice, spring-y sounding recipe from the Silver Palate cookbook - and a Minty Cucumber Salad. I'm making Lemon Squares from the new Martha Stewart Cookie book, too. Mmm, lemon squares.

Thursday.
Breakfast - Muesli, which just requires me remembering to put it together before bed on Wednesday night.

Snack - A Lemon Square and a sliced kiwi. They're FULL of vitamin C!

Lunch -Rice and Lentil Salad, which I'll assemble on Tuesday night, a cheese string, and some whole grain crackers.

Supper - Tangy Pork Ribs in the crockpot - from the February/March issue of Taste of Home - mashed potatoes, oven-roasted asparagus, a spinach-strawberry salad with homemade poppyseed dressing, and a jello dessert that The Girl wants to make.

Friday.
Breakfast - Boxed Cereal. We have it on hand, but it's a bedtime snack most days. I'll throw some frozen blueberries in it to assuage my guilt.

Snack/Lunch - Green Sliced Veggie Salad, Refried Bean and Salsa Roll-Up, and Chocolate pudding with sliced banana.

And Friday night's supper can take care of itself.

Weekly Menu Plan

2008-03-29T05:51:00.000-07:00

This is more for internal management then anything else, but if you're interested in anything let me know and I'll email you the recipe or post it.

Saturday

Supper - Sausages with Peppers and Onions in my new pressure cooker, which I'll be writing about on Monday.

Sunday
Breakfast - Berry Buttermilk Pancakes
Lunch - Turkey BBQ Sandwiches, Veggie Tray with Dip
Supper - Lemon Rosemary Roast Chicken, Roast Asparagus, Mashed Potatoes, Candied Carrots, Broccoli Salad, Surprise Cookies - one of our VERY favorites. (from the new Martha Cookie book!)

Monday
Breakfast - Cheese Omelettes, Fruit Smoothies
Snack - Orange Wedges, Surprise Cookies
Lunch - Leftover Roast Chicken, Polenta Squares (The Baby LOVES these!), Carrot Sticks
Supper - Spinach Salad with Marinated Mushrooms and Ricotta Fritters (with gf Macaroni and Cheese for the kids as well)

Tuesday - APRIL FOOL'S DAY!
Breakfast - Oatmeal, which isn't very silly.
Snack - Half Bagel with Cream Cheese, Mock Sushi, Red Grapes
Lunch - At School.
Supper - Fauxberry Pie, Blueberry Fool

Wednesday
Breakfast - Whole Wheat Banana Waffles
Snack - Red Grapes, Whole Grain Crackers and Hummus
Lunch - At School - Pizza
Supper - Salmon Cakes, Baked Potato Skins, Green Salad, Purple Cauliflower, Baked Nectarines

Thursday
Breakfast - Poached Eggs and Toast, Fruit Smoothies
Snack - Applesauce, Pineapple/Carrot Muffins
Lunch - Hummus/Veggie Wraps, Grapes
Supper - Pasta with Rainbow Veggies

Friday
Breakfast - Cereal and Toast
Snack - Carrot Oatmeal Muffins
Lunch - Egg Salad Sandwiches, Starwberries, Baby Carrots with Ranch Dressing

A Carrot Cake For My Baby

2008-03-24T07:00:00.000-07:00

2 cups gluten-free flour blend (one cup rice flour, 3/4 cup teff flour, 1/4 cup potato starch)
2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp cinnamon (doesn't that sound like a TON of cinnamon? It really wasn't over-powering, though.)
1 tsp ground allspice
1 tsp nutmeg
1/2 cup drained crushed pineapple (the kind without any added sugar)
1/2 cup raisins
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup packed brown sugar
1 1/4 cups vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 tsp vanilla
2 cups grated carrots

Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly oil a 9x13 pan and set it aside.
Sift the flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and spices into a bowl. Set it aside.
In a food processor, combine the pineapple, raisins, and 1/4 of the white sugar. Pulse for a little while - you don't want the ingredients pureed, but just sort of mushed together a bit. Set that aside, too.
With an electric mixer, combine the remaining white sugar, the eggs, brown sugar, vegetable oil, applesauce, vanilla and the pineapple-raisin glop. Beat until everything is well combined. Lower the speed and add the flour mixture, then add the carrots and beat just until everything is combined. Spread into the prepared pan.
Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a butter knife comes out clean. Let cool and frost with a cream cheese icing (I used four ounces of softened cream cheese with 3 tbsp soft butter and 1/2 cup white sugar, well-blended.).

Califlower Soup

2008-03-23T10:33:00.001-07:00

My kids are really very cheerful about eating vegetables, it must be said. There was no magic trick that we performed, aside from a) serving them a wide variety of vegetables all through their lives and b) eating a wide variety of vegetables ourselves. So all three of my kids were very enthusiastic about this soup, while your kids might not be. It's a VERY yummy soup - flavourful and creamy and good - so perhaps your munchkins will love it, too.

Heat up some olive oil in a largish saucepan. Chop up an onion and cook until soft in the oil. Add:
1 head of chopped cauliflower
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
2 cups milk (I used a bit of cream as well that I had in the fridge and it was very nice)

And that's it! Let it simmer until it's tender, which should take about 15 minutes. Now you're going to pureer it in batches in your blender or with an immersion blender. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve. You can grate some Cheddar on top if you like.

This week's menu...

2008-03-08T05:41:00.000-08:00

.... a study in over-reach. Lunches are easier when the kids are home and I tend to become verrrry relaxed about breakfasts, too. They're lucky there's still fifteen feet of snow on the ground and I can't send them outside to forage.

Tonight:
Three homemade pizzas (and a mini gluten-free one, too)- right now, I'm thinking one with Sweet Thai Chili Sauce (we eat too much of that stuff), goat cheese, chicken and broccoli, one vegetarian with feta, and one VERY STANDARD PIZZA with turkey pepperoni and green peppers. Guess who eats that one. Anyhow, those pizzas are likely going to be mentioned in this week's Kitchen Party post, complete with lovely pictures, so stay tuned.
And then we're making homemade Twinkies, which I'll write about later this week.

Sunday
Breakfast - These mini maple cinnamon rolls. Lordy. I'll have to get up at 6 to get them ready before church, which is sort of sad. Oh, and some fruit salad, so we don't get scurvy.
Lunch - A big Greek salad.
Supper - Cabbage Rolls, scalloped potatoes, peas.... and some pink fluffy mini cupcakes because it's Barbie's birthday and we're celebrating.

Monday
Breakfast - A bowl of cereal. I like making hot breakfasts for the kids when they're off to school and I don't get to see how much else they eat during the day, but it's March Break and I'm probably going to have a headache AND a certain cereal company has watches in its cereal right now, which my kids have decided they need more than ANYTHING. So cereal it is!
Lunch - Open-faced egg salad sandwiches with goofy vegetable faces.
Supper - Vegetarian 3 Bean Chili and a Yeast Corn Bread Loaf

Tuesday
Breakfast -Poached Eggs on Toast and some orange slices. My kids love poached eggs, which is kind of odd, since poached eggs are the grossest member of the egg family.
Lunch - Quesadillas and some sliced mango
Supper - Pork Tenderloin with Garlic-Orange Vinaigrette and Sauteed Spinach, Brown Rice, and Roasted Tomatoes

Wednesday
Breakfast - Cereal again! Or oatmeal.
Lunch - Spinach Pasta Salad with Feta, The Girl's specific request. When I'm doing menu planning for the week, she sits right alongside me making her own list of things I should cook. Very helpful.
Supper - Black Bean Burritos, since it's a busy night.

Thursday
Breakfast - Oh, guess. I might make french toast if anyone balks at cereal.
Lunch - Almond Butter and honey sandwiches, carrot sticks and baked apples.
Supper - Chicken Spinach Manicotti, Tomato, Zucchini and Red Onion Salad

Friday and Celebrating Saint Patrick's Day.
No, it's not actually St. Patrick's Day, but the actual day falls within Holy Week NEXT week and so we're celebrating early.
Breakfast - Lucky Charms, the official cereal of St. Patrick's Day at OUR house. And green smoothies.
Lunch - I haven't thought of anything amusingly theme-y yet. Ideas? (I'm thinking I might just make potato soup.)
Supper - Glazed Corned Beef Dinner (from the slow cooker, my dear friend), something cabbage-y, Irish Soda Bread and I THINK this country rhubarb cake.

Really standard brownies

2008-03-04T07:47:00.001-08:00

These aren't decadent, over-the-top brownies, but do we need to have those all the time? These are sweet and tasty and moderate, all nice things.

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat the oven to 300. Butter an 8" square pan.
In a saucepan over very, very low heat, melt together the butter and chocolate. Remove from the heat and stir in other ingredients. Spread in the prepared pan and bake for 30 minutes.

A springish menu plan for this week

2008-02-25T07:36:00.000-08:00

(the lunch plans are for my kids' school lunches. I normally have either leftovers or I make some soup.)

Tonight's supper: Chicken Sandwiches, Steamed Broccoli, Oven Fries

Tuesday
Breakfast - Steel-cut oatmeal with maple syrup and bananas
Lunch - They don't need to pack a lunch that day. I'm probably just going to send them in grapes and some cheese and whole grain crackers.
Supper - Chicken Marbella, Jasmine Rice (save extra for Thursday's lunch), Carrots in a honey glaze, spinach salad with red onions and a poppy seed dressing.

Wednesday
Breakfast - Fruit Smoothies, French Toast
Lunch - Homemade Wholewheat Mini-Pizzas, Orange Wedges, Cookie
Supper - Breaded Fish Fingers with Sweet Potato Oven Fries, Raw Veggie Tray with Dip. Homemade gingerbread with lemon sauce for dessert.

Thursday
Breakfast -Poached Eggs on Toast, Orange Wedges
Lunch - Gingerbread with Lemon Sauce, Rice and Veggie Salad, Apple Slices
Supper -Enchilada Stuffed Shells, Mixed Pepper Salad. Make Triple-Chocolate Cookies with The Girl.

Friday
Breakfast - Buckwheat crepes with strawberries
Lunch- Salmon Sandwiches on English Muffins, Cucumber Chain, Corn Chips and Salsa, Red Grapes, Triple Chocolate Cookie
Supper - Homemade Pizzas (what, again? Apparently.) - one Tex-Mex, one Jerk Chicken.

Saturday
Breakfast - Yeast-raised waffles with fruit salad

Hamburger Vegetable Soup

2008-02-11T05:38:00.000-08:00

A friend who was from Down South (aka Toronto) was over one time and another friend brought over some hamburger soup for lunch - and my southern friend had NEVER had any! Hamburger soup, apparently, is a rare thing down there. I don't know why - it's pretty yummy AND it's cheap.

Brown a package of ground beef in a Dutch oven and drain off all of the goop.
Add 28 ounces of beef broth (two cans), 2 cups of water, 1 can of diced tomatoes, 3 chopped celery ribs, 2 large peeled and chopped carrots, 2 sliced onions, one peeled and cubed potato, 2 tsp. dried tarragon, 1 tbsp garlic powder, and 1/8 tsp pepper. If you want to add a sprinkle of salt, you can.

Bring to a boil, and then reduce heat, cover and simmer for half an hour or until the vegetables are tender, stirring occasionally. Cook 3/4 cup of mararoni until tender, strain, and stir into the soup, heating for a few minutes.
Makes 8 servings.

Sour Cream Sugar Cookies

2008-02-10T05:48:00.000-08:00

Valentine's Day is coming up and you probably need a good sugar cookie recipe to make heart-shaped cookies, right? Here's a dandy one.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening (the butter is for flavour; the shortening helps the cookies hold their shape)
1 1/2 cups white sugar
2 eggs
3 tablespoons sour cream
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
3 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt

Cream butter, shortening and sugar. Add eggs and beat well.
In another bowl, mix sour cream and baking soda together and add to egg mixture. Add the flour and salt and make sure everything is well combined.
Put the dough in the fridge for a few hours. This helps the cookies become stiff enough to roll out - and when you're baking with little kids, it makes it into two easy sessions.
Preheat your oven to 325.
Roll out the dough. Cut into shapes with your cookie cutters. If you need to reroll the dough, it's a good idea to refridgerate the dough again. Bake the cookies for 5-7 minutes (this will depend on how thick they are.).

Hot Fudge Cake Pudding Thing

2008-02-10T05:39:00.000-08:00

I have no idea what this should be called. I've heard it called "Chocolate Cobbler", but that makes me think of a guy who makes shoes, made inexplicably out of chocolate. My kids call it "Chocolate Stuff" and we make it A LOT. This is probably are most-served dessert, and The Girl can make it entirely on her own, with an adult handling the oven stuff. She IS only 8, after all.

Anyway. This is one of those desserts that magically forms two layers while it's baking - one semi-solid cake layer and a sauce to serve with it. It's yummy, too, and it's not a tremendous splurge calorie-wise. You should probably start making this frequently at YOUR house, too.

Preheat your oven to 350. Find a 9" square baking pan. Don't grease it.

In a bowl, mix together:
1 cup flour
3/4 cup white sugar
2 tablespoons cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Stir in
1/2 cup milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla.
Spread in the ungreased baking pan.

In a small bowl, combine
1 cup PACKED brown sugar
4 tablespoons cocoa powder.
Sprinkle this on top of your cakey stuff in the pan. DO NOT STIR IT IN.

Carefully pour 1 3/4 cup VERY hot water over everything. DO NOT STIR!
Put it in the oven and let it bake for 35-40 minutes. Serve warm, and if you're feeling generous, with big scoops of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Makes 9 servings.

(later on, when you want to mix it up a bit, you can add 1/2 cup of white chocolate chips to the cake-y batter. That's pretty nice, too)

Chocolate Buttermilk Cupcakes

2008-02-07T04:54:00.000-08:00

These are so good that it's a bit ridiculous. They are deeeeelicious. I am thinking - yearningly - of the one lone cupcake left in the kitchen, the one intended for my son. Bad mama.

They're also really easy, unlike convincing your son that he should let you eat his last cupcake. If you don't bake much, this is a nice recipe to try. Just read through the recipe first and make sure you have everything you need before you get started.

Preheat your oven to 375.
Line 2 cupcake trays - so 24 cupcakes altogether - with paper cupcake liners.
Get out a big (reasonably big. Don't go crazy looking for a giant vat) bowl and your electric mixer. If you have a stand mixer, you can use that. If you don't have either, you can just stir everything together with a spoon.
Mix together:
1/2 cup softened butter
and
1 1/2 cups sugar.
Add:
2 eggs, one at a time, beating well after each.
Now mix in - in THIS ORDER:
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup buttermilk.

Stir it together first so flour doesn't fly everywhere, and then mix it all together. Fill the paper-lined muffin cups until they're 2/3 of the way full. Bake for 15-20 minutes. (you can tell they're cooked when you can stick a toothpick into one of the center cupcakes and it comes out clean, not covered in batter.) Let them cool down and decorate.

Spanish Lentil and Sausage Soup

2008-02-07T04:31:00.000-08:00

This recipe came from Sacramental Magic in a Small-Town Cafe by Peter Reinhart, who is best known for his breadmaking books. It's out of print now, but there are lots of copies for sale on Amazon. It came out in the early 1990s and was responsible for me learning how to make certain now-essential recipes in my repetoire - my black bean chili AND my carnivore's chili, my tabbouleh, my chicken salad recipe AND my favorite brownies all came from this cookbook. But like many things that were very important to us when we were younger, this cookbook doesn't see the light of day much now.

There are lots of notes attached to my copy of this recipe - I always use one drained can of lentils, but you certainly could add lentils that you cooked yourself. 2 cups of cooked lentils should be just about perfect.

And if you're wanting a vegetarian version of the soup, that's easy too - just add paprika, cayenne, black pepper and a little bit of vinegar to get the right spice balance.

2 pounds spicy sausage - not the pre-cooked kind - cut up into small pieces.
2 onions, diced
8 cloves of garlic, minced
8 cups packed fresh spinach or 2 of those little boxes of frozen chopped spinach
1 can diced tomatoes (the 28 oz size)
1 can lentils or 2 cups cooked lentils
cilantro for garnish, if you like.

In a heavy soup pot, saute the sausage until brown. Take out the sausage and add the onions and garlic - cook those until the onion is transclucent. Stir the sausages back in and add the spinach , lentils and tomatoes and let the soup simmer for ten minutes or so. Garnish each serving with cilantro, if you like.

Some useful advice and a recipe from the Girl

2008-02-05T05:24:00.001-08:00

This is the Girl's very own advice for sneaking some higher food value baby spinach into your kid's sandwich - hide the spinach between the lettuce. Of course, all three of my children adore spinach, but that's just because they're weird little mites.

Here's The Girl's Sub recipe that she wanted me to share:
- one whole wheat hamburger or hot dog bun
- one slice of pickle
- a few slices of cucumber
- baby spinach leaves
- a few circles of red onion
- some sub sauce or Italian dressing.

Her favorite!

Sour Cream Silver Dollar Pancakes

2008-02-01T07:19:00.000-08:00

This is from my Kitchen Party post. I really must emphasize again how GOOD these are and how enchantingly weightless - I really urge you to try them.

Sour Cream Silver Dollar Pancakes
4 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/4 cup cake flour (you CAN use the regular sort of flour, but your pancakes won't be as ethereally weightless. They'll still be GOOD, though.)
2 cups sour cream
3 tablespoons sugar
Stir the eggs in a mixing bowl until they're light and fluffy. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix well - and if you'd rather, you can even do this in a blender, for even FLUFFIER results.
Heat a frying pan or griddle until it's hot, and add a light layer of vegetable oil. Drop a tablespoon of batter on the griddle, enough to make pancakes about as long as your thumb (unless you have freaky long thumbs. If so, aim for a bit smaller.). When there are a few bubbles on top of your mini pancakes, gently flip them over and cook briefly.
This makes about a zillion tiny little pancakes. Enjoy.

Chocolate Oat Squares.

2008-01-25T11:38:00.000-08:00

Isn't that a thrilling name? If they were just "oat squares", I'd never even look twice at them. But they're really yummy - delicious, buttery oat squares, filled with a creamy chocolate goop.

1 cup + 2 tbsp butter, divided
2 cups brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
4 tsp vanilla extract, divided
3 cups quick cooking oats (THIS DOES NOT MEAN INSTANT OATS. YOU CANNOT COOK WITH THOSE.)
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 tsp salt, divided
1 tsp baking soda
1 can sweetened condensed milk (the 14 oz size can, in case you live on the moon or something and they come in other sizes)
2 cups of semisweet chocolate chips

Grease a 15x10 inch baking pan. Upon looking at that instruction, I realize that I have never actually seen a pan that size, so I use my regular rectangular pan. Ahem.

In a mixing bowl, cream one cup of butter and the brown sugar. Beat in the eggs and two teaspoons of vanilla. In another bowl, mix together the oats, flour, 1 tsp salt and baking soda and then mix into the creamed mixture.

Press two thirds of the oat mixture into your prepared pan. In a saucepan, combine the milk, chocolate chips, the 1/2 tsp of salt and the 2 tbsp of butter. Cook and stir over LOW heat until the chocolate chips are melted. Remove from the heat and add the vanilla. Spread over the crust, gently.

Sprinkle the remaining oat mixture. Bake at 350 for 25 minutes or until nicely browned. Cool adn cut into squares. This makes about 4 dozen tasty little squares, which is handy if you're going to a potluck or something and WAY too much if you're not. I've been known to halve this recipe and make it in an 8" square pan. Your call.

Black Beans and Rice Burgers

2008-01-25T05:49:00.000-08:00

I generally liven these up by throwing some diced jalapenos and a few drops of hot sauce in 'em. They're a big hit, even with my spoiled, spoiled children.

1 can of black beans, drained and mashed beyond recognition
1 cup cooked brown rice
1 small onion, really finely chopped
1 egg, lightly beaten
2 tbsp + 1 cup salsa, divided
1/4 cup sour cream (low fat is fine)

In a large bowl, mix your mashed beans, rice, onion, and the 2 tbsp of salsa. Mix it together and rop by 1/2 cups onto a well-greased skillet. Flatten each burger until they're 1/2" thick. Cook over medium heat for 4 or 5 minutes per side or until it looks cooked.
In a bowl, mix together the rest of the sour cream and the salsa. Serve the burgers on buns with the sour-cream/salsa stuff, some lettuce and a slice of cheese, if you like.
Makes 4 burgers.

Gluten Free Chocolate Chip Cookies

2008-01-22T06:30:00.000-08:00

These are very, very good - I can cheerfully serve them to unsuspecting guests, for example, and they even taste good after they've cooled, which is frequently a problem with traditional chcoolate chip cookies.
That is not to say that they are without problems. They're fragile, for one, and wouldn't travel well in a lunchbox - but they have a lovely taste and would really cheer up a recently diagnosed kid. Or adult.

1/4 cup white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon of vanilla
1 egg
3/4 cup white or brown rice flour
1/4 cup potato flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 oz. package of chocolate chips

Cream the butter in a large mixing bowl until very soft.
Add the sugars, salt and vanilla and mix well. Add the egg and mix well.
Preheat oven to 350F.
Mix in the dry ingredients.
Stir in the chocolate chips.
Drop by SMALL teaspoons on lightly greased cookie sheets and bake 8 - 10 minutes (watch carefully). Cool on pan briefly and carefully remove to a cooling rack.

Cheesey Meatloaf

2008-01-18T16:59:00.001-08:00

3 pounds lean ground beef
1 cup fresh bread crumbs
1 8 ounce can tomato sauce
8 ounces Swiss cheese or extra-sharp cheddar, grated
1/4 cup milk or beef broth
2 large eggs, slightly beaten
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
2 tablespoons minced onion
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp dried oregano
1 tsp salt
1 tsp pepper
3 tablespoons ketchup

Preheat the oven to 350.
Line a 9x13 baking dish with a couple of thicknesses of foil.
Mush all of the ingredients except the ketchup together in a large bowl until well mixed. Mold the meat loaf mixture into a large flattish mound in the center of the prepared pan. Squirt a bunch of ketchup on top. This is a very gourmet food.
Bake the meat loaf for 1 1/2 hours or until it is browned and cooked through.

2008-01-12T08:00:00.000-08:00

Barb's Jalapeno Garlic Tilapia
The Pioneer Woman's Favorite Sandwich and now Mine, Too.
Butterscotch Apple Crisp that you make in the slow cooker. I've made this dozens of times and it makes your house smell AMAZING.
Susanne's Taco Meatloaf. This is darn tasty, and it is gwooten-fwee and good for babies, as The Baby would tell you.
Suzanne's beautiful Hearth Bread
Megan's delicious San Francisco Salad

Brown Sugar Baked French Toast

2007-12-30T09:26:00.000-08:00

This is a company breakfast. I don't know why you wouldn't make this without company being over, but I know I wouldn't.
In a small bowl, combine 2/3 cup packed brown sugar,
1/2 cup melted butter and 2 tsp. ground cinnamon
(if you like cinnamon)
Cut a loaf of French bread into 1 inch slices.
In a large shallow bowl, whisk together 6 eggs and
1 1/2 cups milk.

Place bread slices in bowl - and you know how to make french toast, right? Turn them over once... take them out of the milk bath and sprinkle the brown sugar mixture on one side of the bread.

Place bread slices, brown sugar side down, in a lightly greased 9x13 pan.

Bake uncovered at 350 for 25 to 30 minutes or until golden brown. Serve brown sugar side up.

Chakchouka

2007-12-12T12:30:00.000-08:00

From Moosewood Restaurant Cooks At Home - I gave my copy to one of my cousins many years ago. Sigh.

2 tbsp olive oil (although I use canola and am fine)
1 cup chopped onions (I like to use a mix of regular and red)
2 red peppers (or whatever colour you have)
2 or 3 garlic cloves
1 tsp. ground cumin
1/2 tsp ground coriander
pinch of cayenne or a dash of hot pepper sauce
a can of diced tomatoes
salt and pepper
4 large eggs

In a large skillet, heat the oil and saute the onions for 5 minutes or so. Add the peppers and garlic to the frying pan and add the spices and hot sauce. Continue to cook for another five minutes, until the peppers soften. While the stuff in the frying pan cooks, drain the tomatoes, reserving the juice. Stir the tomatoes and 1/2 cup of the reserved juice into the frying pan. Add salt and pepper.
When the vegetables are hot and simmering, make four even holes in the goop and carefully crack an egg into each hole. Lower the heat, cover the skillet and cook for several minutes until the eggs are set and the yolks are soft cooked.
Makes 2 servings

Six Layer Dinner

2007-12-11T09:20:00.001-08:00

6 small potatoes, peeled and thinly sliced
3 small onions, peeled and thinly sliced
4 small carrots, peeled and - guess what! - thinly sliced
2 large green peppers, cored, peeled and thinly sliced
salt and pepper
2 large cloves of garlic, peeled and diced
1 tsp dried rosemary
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 tsp honey
1 can diced tomatoes

Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly oil a 10x12 baking dish.
Layer the vegetables in the dish: a layer of potatoes, a layer of
onions, then carrots and green peppers. Sprinkle the layers evenly
with salt and pepper, garlic and herbs. Repeat until all the
vegetabels and herbs are used, ending with the peppers.
Mix the honey with the tomatoes and pour over the vegetables. Cover
the dish and bake until the vegetables are tender and blended
together, about 2 1/2 hours.
Makes 8-10 servings.

Everyday Food - The Christmas Issues

2007-11-29T11:04:00.000-08:00

I LOVE Everyday Food - it's always chockful of elegant yet simple little recipes and they're always doable while not being full of cans of soup. At the same time, they're also not needlessly elaborate - so often the recipes in Martha Stewart Living are beyond frilly and goofy. They're a nice medium.

So this is what I do: I get a new food magazine, make a ton of things out of it over the following weeks and then put it away, never to be read again. Then, a while later, I'm wondering where that certain fantastic recipe went, and der, I don't know. Hence this little index, which has links to my favorite recipes from all of my past Christmas (right now - I'm going to gradually add all of them) issues of Everyday Food. Handy!

Everyday Food December 2003
Bolognese Sauce
Cranberry Scones
Cranberry Avocado Salsa
Grand Raspberry Trifle

Everyday Food December 2005
Mushroom Tart
The kids' favorite - Ricotta Manicotti with Tomato Sauce
Cream Puffs with Ice Cream and Hot Fudge Sauce
Ginger Sesame Bok Choy
Peppermint Bark

Everyday Food December 2006
Warm Chocolate Puddings
The famous Mint Chocolate Brownies

A really good cookie

2007-11-27T13:58:00.001-08:00

... with a really stupid name. "Snickerdoodles." They sound like one of those horrible poodle hybrids that dog breeders are always making. Half poodle and half horrible teenage girl. But nope, they're actually a tasty cookie and REALLY easy.

I hesitate to say that they're a good Christmas cookie - I think of them as one, but I'm lazy. They're not decorative and you can't freeze them but they have a singularily pleasant buttery tenderness and a gentle cinnamon taste - just the thing with a cup of coffee.

To make the cookies:
2 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs

Preheat the oven to 350. Line your cookie sheets with parchment paper. Sift together the flour, baking powder and salt and then set it all aside. Cream together the butter and sugar (you'll need an electric mixer) until it's pale and fluffy and then add the eggs. Mix that all together and then add the flour mixture, GENTLY mixing together with the electric mixer on a nice sedate speed.

Now mix together 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon and 2 tablespoons sugar in a little bowl. Shape the dough into 20 balls and roll in the cinnamon-sugar. Place them on the cookie sheets, giving them enough space to spread out quite a bit.

Bake cookies, turning your sheets around half way. They're done when they have golden edges - about 12 to 15 minutes. Let cool on the sheets and then remove. They don't KEEP well, so just eat them. (but if you have to, you can keep them in airtight containers for up to 3 days.)

Cubana Sandwich

2007-11-25T10:06:00.000-08:00

This is from Sheila Lukins' All Around The World Cookbook, which was a HUGE favorite of mine when I was in my early 20s. My copy has lost its cover, its spine is broken and many pages are falling out and stained, which is always the sign of a much-loved cookbook.
But the truth is that I haven't cooked out of it for probably a decade and it's hard to say WHY. Looking through it, the recipes are still fresh and interesting and I can see lots of things that I cooked back in 1995 and loved. There's the problem, I guess - the food is too much the food of THAT period in time, when I was so unhappy.

Still a good cookbook, and when my son wanted a grilled Cuban sandwich for lunch, I knew just where to find one.

Vinaigrette:
1 teaspoon orange juice (the recipe calls for "fresh" orange juice, which makes my eyes roll RIGHT into the back of my head.)
1 teaspoon vinegar (again, the recipe calls for red wine vinegar. Use it if you have it - I never do.)
1 teaspoon olive oil
Mix the ingredients together and lightly brush on the inside on two slices of a soft baguette.

For the sandwich:
1 thin slice of Monterey Jack Cheese
thin slices of sweet gherkins
2 thin slices of baked ham
2 or 3 thin slices roast pork
Dijon mustard.

And you know how to make a sandwich, right? Either grill in a frying pan with a heavy lid squishing the sandwich flat, or use a sandwich press. It's a spiffy sandwich.

Cornmeal-crusted pizza

2007-11-22T09:09:00.001-08:00

This is what I'm making for supper tonight!

(from the original Moosewood Cookbook)
Butter a 9 inch pie pan
1 1/2 cups cornmeal
1 cup cold water
1 cup boiling water
1/4 tsp. salt
1/3 cup grated parmesan

Place the cornmeal in a small bowl and add cold water. Stir until well mixed. Add cornmeal mixture to a pot with one cup full of boiling water. Cook, stirring constantly, over low heat until thick. This should take about five minutes.
Remove from heat, and add the salt and parmesan. Form a crust in the buttered pan (make sure your hands are wet) and bake uncovered at 375 for 30 minutes.

Filling:
Saute a large clove of crushed garlic, a cup of minced onion and 1/2 diced green or red pepper in olive oil. You can also throw in a few sliced mushrooms if they don't make your kids throw up.
Add 1/2 tsp. oregano, 1/2 tsp basil, salt and pepper. Spread the vegetables on top of the cooked crust and arrange slices of tomato and mozzarella on top. Sprinkle on some parmesan and bake for 20 more minutes at 350.

Some Recipe Links

2007-11-22T08:57:00.000-08:00

Surprise Cookies - these are a fudgy cookie bottom covered by a marshmallow and a layer of gooey chocolate frosting and they're just over-the-top good.

Mint Chocolate Brownies. These are SO on my Christmas to-make list! (and they're easy....)

Fresh Ginger Cake - flat out the best thing in the world. Apparently, I like ginger A LOT. Make this cake IMMIDIATELY while it's still autumnal and seasonal.

Chicken Marbella

2007-11-22T06:16:00.000-08:00

I got the revised edition of the Silver Palate Cookbook for my birthday and while some of the recipes have me chortling - so very fancy!, SOME of them have me drooling. Like this one, which I made last night and which made the kitchen smell just CRAZY delicious. A friend dropped by while the chicken was baking and asked, wide-eyed, what smelled SO wonderful?

This is a big recipe, by the way - it makes 10 portions. I only made half that.
1/2 cup olive oil
1/2 cup red wine vinegar
1 cup pitted prunes
1/2 cup pitted Spanish olives
1/2 cup capers with a bit of juice
6 bay leaves
1 head of garlic, peeled and finely chopped
1/4 cup dried oregano
coarse salt and freshly ground black pepper
4 chickens (2 1/2 pounds each), quartered. (okay - I just used a family-sized package of chicken pieces.)
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup dry white wine
1/4 cup fresh Italian parsley (or, the recipes says, cilantro. But I do NOT think so.)

Combine the oil, vinegar, prunes, olives, capers and juice, bay leaves, garlic, oregano and salt and pepper in a large bowl. Add the chicken and stir to coat. Cover the bowl and refrigereate overnight.
Preheat the oven to 350.
Arrange the chicken in a single layer on a shallow baking pan and spoon the marinade over it evenly. Sprinkle the chicken with the brown sugar and pour the white whine around them.
Bake, basting frequently with the pan juices until the thigh pieces yield clear yellow juice when pricked. This should take 50 minutes to an hour.
With a slotted spoon, transfer the chicken, prunes, olives, and capers to a serving platter. Moisten with a few spoonfuls of the pan juices and sprinkle generously with the parsley (NOT CILANTRO!). Pass the remaining pan juices "in a sauceboat", the recipe says, should you have one.

Banana Oatmeal Cookies

2007-11-17T13:42:00.000-08:00

for Jaymi

3/4 cup butter, margerine or shortening
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups flour (I use 1/2 whole wheat, half white or a combination of gluten-free flours)
1/2 tsp. soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1 cup mashed banana
1 3/4 cups oatmeal, uncooked (this means regular or quick cooking oats, not the instant kind)

Cream butter with sugar and then add the egg and mix well.
Mix flour, cinnamon and nutmeg together and add to creamed mixture and blend till smooth. Add mashed banana and oatmeal next. Blend. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto a greased sheet and bake at 400 for 12-15 minutes.

(You could also throw in some raisins, if you like.)

Johnny Cake

2007-11-12T06:26:00.000-08:00

From the old Red Rose Flour cookbook, that Canadian classic.

1 cup cornmeal
½ cup milk
1 ¼ cups flour
2 ½ tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/3 cup butter
½ cup sugar
1 egg
1 cup milk.
Combine cornmeal and ½ cup milk. Set aside. Mix together flour, baking powder and salt. Cream butter and sugar. Add sifted dry ingredients alternately with the blended egg and milk. Turn into greased 8 inch square pan. Bake in preheated 350 oven for 40 to 45 minutes or until cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool 5 minutes than remove from pan.

Tuna-Noodle Casserole

2007-11-12T06:21:00.000-08:00

This is a dandy budget stretcher and a great recipe for a kid to make, so long as you chop up the brocolli, cook the pasta, open all those cans and handle all of the oven parts first. Oh, what a relaxing evening you will have, with your handy child cooking supper for you like that.
½ lb. Small pasta shells
1 small bunch broccoli, chopped
2 cans water-packed tuna, drained
1 can condensed cream of broccoli soup
1 cup 2% milk
1 ½ cups shredded Cheddar cheese
pepper
¾ cup chrushed corn flakes (I use smashed up potato chips, which are AWESOME.)
2 T. grated Parmesan
Preheat the oven to 350. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch glass baking dish. Cook pasta, adding broccoli for the last 2 minutes of cooking. Drain and place in the baking dish. IN same saucepan, blend together the tuna, soup, milk, cheese, and pepper; pour over pasta and gently combine. Sprinkle with cornflakes (I’d prefer chips..) and parmesan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until bubbling.Makes 6 servings.

Hot Tuna Buns

2007-11-12T06:17:00.000-08:00

Or "Barf On Buns", as they are called within my extended family. They are delicious, despite their name, and a really nice light supper or Sunday lunch. Also, "Barf on Buns." Heh.

4 oz. Cheddar cheese
1 can tuna, drained and flaked
3 hard-cooked eggs, chopped
1/3 cup mayo
3 tbl sweet pickle relish
2 tbl finely chopped onions
¼ tsp salt
6 hot dog buns, split
In a medium bowl, combine the first seven ingredients. Spread about 1/3 cup on bottoms of buns, replace tops. Wrap in foil. Bake at 400 for 10 minutes or until cheese is melted.Makes six servings.

Really, really good spaghetti and meatballs

2007-11-12T06:01:00.000-08:00

This is REALLY yummy. I sent the recipe to a friend once and she balked a bit because of the fennel and it's black licorice-y taste. You don't really TASTE the fennel, and you could leave it out if you hate it, but I REALLY recommend trying this recipe at least once with it - it's really good.

2 tbsp extra virgin olive-oil
2 onions, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 egg
½ cup ricotta
2 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed
1 ¼ tsp salt
¾ tsp pepper
¼ tsp each cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg
1 cup coarse fresh bread crumbs
¼ cup minced fresh parsley
¼ cup grated Romano or Parmesan cheese
8 oz lean ground beef
8 oz lean ground pork
½ cup dry red wine or white wine or chicken stock
1 can diced tomatoes
1 ½ cups crushed canned tomatoes
½ cups coarsely chopped fresh basil
¼ tsp sugar
1 ½ lbs spaghetti

In large nonstick skillet, heat half of the oil over medium heat; fry onions and garlic, stirring occasionally, until onions are golden – 10-12 minutes. Scrape into bowl. In bowl, whisk together egg, ricotta, fennel, ¾ tsp of the salt, pepper, cinnamon, cloves and nutmeg. Stir in bread crumbs, parsley, romano cheese and half of the onion mixture. Add beef and pork; combine. Refrigerate for 30 minutes. Wetting hands if necessary, form met mixture by rounded tablespoonful into balls. Add remaining oil to pan. Brown meatballs over medium-high heat, in 2 batches, with slotted spoon, transfer to plate. Pour off fat. Add wine to pan; bring to boil, stirring and scraping up brown bits. Transfer to Dutch oven. Stir in remaining onion mixture, diced and crushed tomatoes, half of the basil, the sugar and remaining salt. Add meatballs. Cover and simmer over low heat, stirring occasionally, for 25 minutes. Top with pasta with sauce, garnish with remaining basil. Makes 6 servings.

Enchilada Stuffed Shells

2007-11-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

This is very, very good.

15 uncooked jumbo pasta shells
1 pound lean ground turkey
1 can enchilada sauce
½ tsp dried minced onion
¼ tsp dried basil
¼ tsp dried oregano
¼ tsp ground cumin
½ cup fat-free refried beans
1 cup shredded Cheddar

Cook pasta; drain. In a nonstick skillet, cook turkey over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Stir in enchilada sauce and seasonings; set aside. Place a rounded teaspoonful of refried beans in each pasta shell; then fill with turkey mixture. Place in an 11x7 inch baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Cover and bake 350 for 25 minutes. Uncover and sprinkle with cheese. Bake 5 minutes longer or until cheese is melted. Makes 5 servings.

Black Bean Burritos

2007-11-12T05:51:00.000-08:00

Another family favorite! This is really fast and easy, the kids love it and it's vegetarian, so it's a good candidate for those nights when you want to plan a meatless supper (or if you're a vegetarian all the time, hey.).

2 tbsp vegetable oil
1 clove garlic, mined
half medium red onion, chopped
1 green pepper, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped
1 cup canned black beans, rinsed and drained
3 carrots, shredded
½ cup chopped broccoli
2 tbsp chili powder
1 tbsp ground cumin
¼ cup water
¼ cup red wine vinegar
1 tbsp brown sugar
8 soft tortillas, medium

In a large saucepan, heat oil over medium-high heat. Add garlic, onion and peppers; saute for about 5 minutes or until softened. Stir in beans, carrots, broccoli, chili powder, cumin, vinegar, water and brown sugar. Increase heat to high and cook for 5 minutes or until vegetables are tender. Place ½ cup bean mixture into middle of tortilla and fold all sides over to enclose. Serves 4.

Beef And Bean Burrito Bake

2007-11-12T05:50:00.003-08:00

This is a great and easy supper dish that is SUPER high in iron - always a good thing around here - and the kids like it.

1 tsp vegetable oil
12 oz lean ground beef
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 sweet green pepper, chopped
1 tsp paprika
½ tsp each ground cumin and dried oregano
¼ tsp pepper
1 can pinto or red kidney beans
1 cup salsa
8 8-inch flour tortillas
½ cup shredded Monterey Jack or Cheddar

In nonstick skillet, heat oil over medium-high heat; cook beef, breaking up with spoon, until no longer pink, about 5 minutes. Drain off fat. Add onion, garlic, green pepper, paprika, cumin, oregano, and pepper; cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is tender, about 5 minutes. Drain and rinse beans; mash half and stir into skillet along with remaining whole beans and salsa. Bring to boil; remove from heat. Spoon about ¾ cup of the beef mixture over bottom two-thirds of each tortilla; roll up. Place in lightly greased 13x9 inch glass baking dish. Sprinkle with cheese. Cover with foil and bake in 400 degree oven until steaming, about 20 minutes. Makes 4 servings. 49% iron, 60% Vit c, 37% folate.

Our Favorite Meat Loaf

2007-11-12T05:49:00.000-08:00

This is SO yummy. It's also AMAZING in sandwiches the next day. I think it originally came from Family Fun Magazine, which always has GREAT recipes.

1 ½ lbs lean ground beef
½ lb sweet pork sausage, casings removed
1 cup Cheddar, cut into cubes
2 large eggs
1 medium size onion, finely chopped
½ green pepper, seeded and finely chopped
1 tsp salt
½ tsp pepper
1 tsp celery salt
½ tsp paprika
1 cup milk
1 cup fine dry bread crumbs
Heat the oven to 350. Line a large baking pan with oiled aluminum foil and set it aside. Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Using your hands, blend everything together until it is evenly mixed. Transfer the meat to the lined baking pan and form it into a long fat loaf, about 10 by 5 inches. Bake the loaf for 60-70 minutes, until the center is cooked. (internal temperature of 160). Serve hot, warm or cold. Makes 8 servings.

Muriel's Peanut Butter Fudge

2007-11-12T05:26:00.000-08:00

Mad sent me this recipe and it sounds GOOD. I've never made peanut butter fudge before so now I have something new to look forward to for Christmas.
Mix in a saucepan:
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup Carnation Evaporated Milk
1/4 cup butter
Boil together until it's at the crackling point (roughtly five minutes.). If you have never made candy before, I am too faint-hearted to instruct you in how, but it IS doable. But tricky - as Mad warned in her email: "It's all about seeing and hearing the right moment. If you take the pot off the stove too soon you have runny fudge. If you leave it a minute too late, your fudge is too hard to work with."
Let cool for a minute and then beat with an electric mixer.
After about a minute, stir in 3/4 cup peanut butter and a tsp. of vanilla. Spread into a greased 8" pan. Let it cool and then cut into squares.
(Mad also added that you could add walnuts or coconut. Well, you could. Stir them in at the same time as the peanut butter and vanilla, if you must.

Gluten Free Brownies

2007-11-12T05:22:00.000-08:00

Okay, so this is more desserty type things. No wonder I'm fat.
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup potato flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a medium saucepan, melt butter and chocolate squares over low heat. Stir in sugar, remove from heat and let stand for 5 minutes. Beat in eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Stir together potato flour, baking powder, salt and 1/2 cup of nuts, if you're the kind of person who likes putting loathesome nuts in innocent baked goods. Add to the chocolate mixture and stir until smooth. Mix well.
Pour into a greased 8" square baking pan. Sprinkle with chocolate chips, if desired. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. Cool, then chill. Cut into squares and store in the fridge. Makes 2 dozen brownies, if you cut 'em small.

Carnation Five Minute Fudge

2007-11-11T18:30:00.000-08:00

2/3 cup undiluted Carnation Evaporated Milk
1 2/3 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups diced marshmallows
1/2 cup diced nuts
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. Put Carnation, sugar and salt in large saucepan and put on stove. Turn burner to low. Heat to boiling; stir often.
2. Cook five minutes, stirring all the time so that milk and sugar do not scorch.
3. Remove saucepan from heat. Add marshmallows, chopped nuts, chocolate and vanilla.
4. Stir fudge with a wooden spoon until marshmallows and chocolate are melted. (About one minute.)
5. Pour fudge into a buttered 8" square pan. When the fudge is cool, cut into squares.

Colourful Mixed Salad

2007-11-06T12:09:00.000-08:00

All right! This salad is good because... it is colourful! And mixed! It's a nice "company" salad that doesn't take too much time - and it's also good for a nice Sunday night supper kind of thing, too.
1/2 cup orange juice
1/3 cup cider or white wine vinegar
4 tsp sugar
6 cups torn mixed salad greens
1 can mandarin oranges, drained
1 small red onion, thinly sliced
4 radishes, thinly sliced
4 green onions, thinly sliced
1/3 cup dried cranberries
1/3 cup sunflower kernels
3/4 cup crumbled feta or blue cheese
3/4 cup cherry tomatoes, halved

In a jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the orange juice, vinegar, oil and sugar; shake well. Cover, refrigerate for 1 hour. Just before serving, combine remaining ingredients in a large serving bowl. Drizzle with dressing; toss gently. Makes 6 servings.

Cockeyed Cake

2007-11-06T12:07:00.001-08:00

This is the easiest cake in the world. Really. And it's vegan, should you care about that. And a responsible child can do the whole thing on her own (or his, whatever), so long as you handle the oven bits. It's also tasty. You CAN frost it - it's certainly nice frosted - although I'm prone to just devouring the whole thing hot straight from the oven.

Get out your square 9" cake pan. Don't grease it.
1 1/2 cups flour
3 tablespoons cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 tablespoons cooking oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup cold water (or cold coffee, if you want a mocha cake)
Mix your flour, soda, sugar, cocoa and salt right in the pan. Make three little wells in the mixture. Into one, pour the oil; into the next, the vinegar; into the next, the vanilla. Now pour the cold water over it all and stir it together - you'll see greyish swoops as the soda and vinegar react! Bake it at 350 for half an hour.

Really good brownies

2007-11-06T12:03:00.000-08:00

This is a very good recipe for brownies AND it doesn't call for baking chocolate which I'm nearly almost always out of. I also LOVE cake recipes where you pour the icing on the hot cake, which always looks shiny and glossy and much more satisfactory than my usual terrifying icing jobs.

Batter:
1 cup butter (seriously, butter. Brownies are dependent on the butter-chocolate combo for their taste.)
2 cups sugar
4 heaping Tbsp. cocoa
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup flour
1 cup walnuts, chopped (I leave these out)
1 tsp. vanilla

Icing:
2 cups icing sugar
2 Tbsp. butter
2 Tbsp. cocoa
2 Tbsp. boiling water
2 tsp. vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Grease a 9x13 inch baking pan.
Cream butter, sugar, and cocoa into a large bowl. Add beaten eggs and vanilla. Then add flour and fold in walnuts. Spread batter in the greased baking pan and bake for 30 minutes.
The top will appear to be underdone (falls in the middle), but don't overcook. These brownies should be moist and chewy.
While the brownies are baking, mix all the icing ingredients together in a medium bowl with an electric mixer. Ice the brownies immediately after removing from the oven so the icing will melt in a shiny glaze.

Chocolate Zucchini Cake

2007-11-06T12:01:00.000-08:00

This is the best cake recipe in the world, probably. My mom used to bring this to potlucks all the time (remember potlucks? Does anyone still have those?) and people would just devour it and then beg for the recipe and then THEY WOULD BRING IT TO THE POTLUCK NEXT WEEK. Isn't that CHEATING?
Anyhow. There IS zucchini in this, but it magically becomes deeelicious!

1/4 cup butter
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 cup buttermilk
2 1/2 cups flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
2 cups grated zucchini
1/4 cup chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate and added more than that, since I like chocolate, and like the contrast between the dark chocolate of the cake and the sweet milk chocolate. But you can use whatever you like.)

Cream together butter, oil, sugar, eggs, vanilla and buttermilk. Sift dry ingredients and add to creamed mixture. Mix in zucchini and chocolate chips. Bake in a greased and floured bundt pan or a 9-by-13 greased pan at 325 for 45 minutes.

Crazy Easy Biscuits

2007-11-06T11:58:00.000-08:00

Self-rising flour is an excellent thing to have on hand and these are dandy little biscuits, just the thing to make a rather spartan soup supper feel more soulful and satisfactory.

2 cups self-rising flour
4 tbl butter, veg shortening, or lard
2/3 to 3/4 cup milk

Put oven rack in middle of oven and preheat to 500 degrees.

Place the flour in a mixing bowl and using your fingertips, rub the fat in quickly, leaving the mixture cool and powdery. Add a minimum amount of milk and stir in briskly with a fork. If dry particles of flour remain visible in the dough, gradually stir in the remaining milk.
Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and fold the dough over on itself several times. Pat the dough to a 1/2 inch thickness. Cut with a floured cutter. Press any scraps together; repeat.
Bake the biscuits for 10-12 minutes until well-risen and golden brown. Eat IMMIDATELY.

Brown Sugar Christmas Cookies

2007-11-06T11:49:00.000-08:00

This is a nice recipe for VERY Christmasy cookies, and they're also simple - a good cookie for people who don't normally make cookies.

1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup shortening (I know - nasty. But cookies hold their shape much better when part of the fat is shortening. Use Crisco vegetable shortening.)
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
3/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup red, green and white Christmas M&Ms (or Christmas Smarties, if you want to avoid nut products. M&Ms bake better.)
(1 cup chopped pecans. Add them if you like - I always skip nuts because I hate them.)

Preheat your oven to 375.
In a large mixing bowl beat butter and shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add brown sugar, baking soda and salt. Beat until combined, scraping sides of the bowl occasionally. Beat in eggs and vanilla until combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with mixer. Stir in any remaining flour, the chocolate bits and the pecans with the wooden spoon.

Drop dough by teaspoons 2 inches apart onto an ungreased cookies sheet. If desired, you can flatten them slightly with fingers. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Transfer cookies to a wire rack (or you can do like my mom and transfer them to a clean dish towel on the kitchen table, which is easier and they don't fall through) and let cool. This recipe makes 60 cookies. I've never tried doubling it, but it shouldn't be a problem. Store them in an airtight container, with the layers separated by waxed paper.

Chocolate Sour Cream Cake

2007-11-06T11:46:00.000-08:00

I'm going to be honest - I don't remember ever making this cake. But apparently I did last year and brought it to something and then EVERY PERSON THERE emailed me for the recipe. You were really good, apparently, forgotten cake!

CAKE:
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
2 sticks butter, cut up (that's a cup.)
1 cup water
1/3 cup cocoa
3/4 cup sour cream
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla

Frosting:
8 tbl butter, cup up
1/3 cup plus 1 tbl milk
1/4 cup cocoa
abt 4 1/2 cups confectioner sugar
1 tsp vanilla

To make the cake, preheat oven to 350.
Butter and flour a 13x9 inch baking pan.
Combine the flour, sugar, soda and salt.
In a medium saucepan, bring the butter, water and cocoa to boil over high heat, stirring to dissolve the butter. Pour into the flour mixture and whisk well. Add the sour cream, then the eggs and vanilla and beat well. Spread evenly in the pan.
Bake until the cake springs back when pressed in the center, about 35 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, make the frosting. Bring the butter, milk, and cocoa to boil in a large saucepan over medium heat, stirring to dissolve the butter. Gradually stir in the confectioner's sugar, then the vanilla. Pour over the warm cake. Cool the cake in the pan on the rack. Cut into pieces and serve directly from the pan.

Ginger Cake

2007-11-06T11:45:00.000-08:00

A cheap and good gingerbread recipe. I do LOVE gingerbread - it's cheap (did I mention that?) and feels soul-healing on hard days and is the perfect thing to come home to after a cold winter's day.

2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp salt
dash ground cloves
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2/3 cup molasses
1 egg
1 cup boiling water

Combine flour, soda, salt and spices. Set aside. In a mixing bowl, cream the sugar and butter; beat in the molasses and egg. Stir in the dry ingredients alternately with water; mix well. Pour into a greased 9" square baking pan. Bake at 350 for 35-40 minutes.
Cool completely. Leftovers will keep several days in an airtight container. Makes 9 servings.

Dutch Breakfast Cake

2007-11-06T11:42:00.000-08:00

A traditional Dutch breakfast bread. Do NOT serve this to Great-Grandma. She DOES not like it. "This is why I was happy to move away from Holland!" she said.

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole-wheat flour
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted

Sift together all the dry ingredients. Add buttermilk and beaten eggs to the melted butter and mix well. Add buttermilk to the dry ingredients and mix to a sticky dough. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes in a 350 oven, in a buttered 9 inch square pan.

Rosemary Chicken with White Beans

2007-11-06T11:40:00.000-08:00

This is a nice slow cooker recipe and everyone liked it, which pretty much NEVER happens.

6 boneless skinless chicken breast halves
1 tbsp vegetable oil
2 cans great northern or white kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1 cup sliced fresh carrots
½ cup sliced celery
2/3 cup Italian salad dressing
2 tsp dried rosemary, crushed
½ tsp salt
1 tsp pepper

In a skillet, brown chicken in oil in batches on both sides. Place the beans, carrots and celery in slow cooker; top with chicken.Combine the salad dressing, rosemary, salt and pepper; pour over the chicken. Cover and cook on low for 3-4 hours or until the chicken juices run clear.
Makes 6 servings.`

Easy Cabbage Roll Casserole

2007-11-06T11:37:00.000-08:00

Important note: my husband hates this. I love it, though, so I make it a couple of times a winter.

1 ½ lbs lean ground beef or turkey
2 medium onions, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 tsp salt
¼ tsp black pepper
1 can diced tomatoes
1 can condensed tomato soup
½ cup long grain rice
4 cups shredded cabbage
1/3 cup tomato juice or water
sour cream

Lightly grease the inside of the slowcooker’s stoneware insert.
In a large skillet, combine ground beef, onions, garlic and pepper; cook, breaking up meat with a spoon until browned. Drain off any excess fat. Return to heat and add tomatoes, water and half the can of tomato soup, mixing well. Add rice, stirring to combine.
Into prepared slow cooker, place half of meat mixture, then half of cabbage. Top with remaining meat mixture and remaining cabbage.
In a bowl, combine remaining tomato soup with tomato juice and mix well. Pour into slow cooker. Cover and cook on LOW for 8 to 10 hours or on HIGH for 4 to 6 hours, until bubbling and heated through.
Serve with sour cream.(the recipe suggests mashed potatoes and peas as ideal accompaniments, and I’ve never seen any reason to disagree.)

Chocolate Surprise Cake

2007-11-05T12:16:00.003-08:00

Surprise! There are beets hidden in this cake! And you will actually like it! It's a very surprising cake. It does have an odd but pleasant aftertaste and a HUGE amount of your daily iron, but no one would ever suspect it of containing beets.

1 ¾ cup all-purpose flour
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 ½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1 can (19 oz) beets, drained and pureed
1 cup granulated sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
¾ cup vegetable oil
¼ butter, softened
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

In a bowl sift together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. In a bowl with an electric mixer, combine beets, granulated sugar, brown sugar, oil, butter, eggs and vanilla. Beat slowly until blended, then on high for 1 to 2 minutes or until thoroughly mixed. Gradually blend in flour-cocoa mixture.Transfer batter to prepared baking pan and bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack before serving.

Hot Artichoke Dip

2007-11-05T12:16:00.001-08:00

This is the best food in the world. Unfortunately, it is also the most fattening. Still, it is a worthy sacrifice.

2/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/3 cup half and half cream
2/3 cup mayonnaise
1/2 green pepper, chopped
1 tablespoon pimento pepper, chopped
1 (6 1/2 oz.) jar marinated artichoke hearts
1 (4 oz.) can diced green chilis
Tortilla chips
Drain jar of artichoke hearts. Chop coarsely.
Combine Parmesan cheese, cream, and mayonnaise in a medium mixing bowl. Add peppers, artichoke hearts and green chilis. Serve with tortilla chips.

Gingerbread Pancakes

2007-11-05T12:08:00.000-08:00

This is for those fall weekends when you want to make something special but don't want to actually go to much trouble - so pretty much any weekend, at our house.

1 cup plus 2 tbsp flour
1/3 cup fine yellow cornmeal
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ginger
1/2 teaspoon each: nutmeg, cinnamon and ground cloves
1/4 tsp salt
2 large eggs
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil plus more for the pan
1 1/2 tbsp molasses
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Sift the flour, cornmeal, baking powder and soda, spices and salt into a large bowl. Set it aside. In a separate bowl, whisk the eggs until frothy.

Then whisk in the sour cream, milk, oil, molasses and vanilla extract. Make a well in the dry ingredients and add the liquid, whisking the batter until just smooth. Set it aside for 5 minutes.
Heat a large, heavy skillet, then coat the surface with a thin layer of vegetable oil. Lade the batter (1/3 cup per pancake) into the pan and cook for about 2 minutes or until golden, on the first side. Flip the pancake and cook until golden on the other side, about 1 1/2 minutes.
Serve immediately with soft butter, warm maple syrup and applesauce.

Sweet Potato Soup

2007-11-05T12:05:00.000-08:00

I make this about 3 times a month - it's very standard lunch fare at the Beck house.

1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 small onion, chopped
6 cups chicken stock
2 large sweet potatoes, peeled and chopped
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1/4 tsp black pepper

In a large saucepan, warm oil over medium-heat. Add onions and saute for 2 to 3 minutes or until onions are soft and translucent. Add chicken stock, sweet potatoes, nutmeg and pepper.
Cover and bring to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 25 minutes or until potatoes are tender.
Remove soup from heat and, in batches, puree soup in a blender or food processor until smooth. Return soup to saucepan and heat to serving temperature.

Honey Tangerine Pudding

2007-11-02T15:33:00.001-07:00

I invented this recipe! I am a genius!
This is one of those excellent little cake-puddings, where there is a layer of sponge-y cake and a layer of creamy sauce and it tastes just like Christmas. It's REALLY good.

3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp potato flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp grated Honey Tangerine Rind
1/4 cup Honey Tangerine Juice
2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 eggs, separated
1 cup milk

Combine sugar, potato flour and salt. Stir in tangerine rind, tangerine juice and vegetable oil.
In a separate bowl, beat egg yolk and add milk. Add to tangerine mixture and mix well.

Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Fold into the tangerine mixture. Pour into 1 quart baking dish.
Place baking dish in a larger pan containing 1 inch hot water.
Bake at 350 for about 45 minutes or until cake is tender. Two layers will form - cake and pudding. Serve warm or cooled.Makes 4 to 6 servings.

Gluten Free Gingerbread Men

2007-11-02T14:22:00.000-07:00

These were VERY satisfying and had a lovely flavour AND texture - a hard combo to find in gluten-free baking. They weren't as sturdy as regular gingerbread men so you can't hang them on your Christmas tree, but they made The Baby VERY happy.

(adapted from this recipe.)
Ingredients
3/4 cup rice flour
1/4 cup potato flour
2 tablespoons cornstarch
pinch of baking soda
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum
3 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons light brown sugar
2 tablespoons light corn syrup

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Mix all the dry ingredients (except for the brown sugar) together into a large bowl. Put the butter, brown sugar and corn syrup in a small pan and melt over medium heat. Add to the dry ingredients and stir thouroughly.

Place the dough onto a surface dusted lightly with rice flour and roll it out to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Cut out 6 gingerbread men and decorate with raisins (if you want) then place on a baking sheet and place in the preheated oven for 8-10 minutes, until golden brown. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Makes 6 cookies

Slow-Cooked Tex-Mex Chicken and Black Beans

2007-11-02T09:51:00.000-07:00

We did this earlier this week and it was REALLY good - and completely simple, a nice combination.

(adapted from Everyday Food November 2007)
1 can black beans, drained
1 jar mild or medium salsa
2 tablespoons chopped canned chipolte chiles in adobo sauce
1 1/2 pounds boneless, skinless chicken thighs (about 8)
salt and pepper
1 medium red onion, chopped
1 red pepper, chopped

In the slow cooker, stir together beans, salsa, chiles and 1 cup of water. Season chicken with salt and pepper; arrange on top of bean mixture. Toss the onion and pepper on top of the chicken.
Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. Do not open or stir.
Remove chicken from stew and shred into large pieces and return to stew. Serve topped with sour cream and cilantro, if desired.

Gypsy Soup ala Me

2007-11-02T09:38:00.000-07:00

I came up with this one day when my fridge was out of everything the Moosewood recipe called for. I actually went back a while later and did the real recipe and didn't like it as much...

- cook 2 cups chopped onions, 2 cloves minced garlic and 2 cups sweet potatoes (ALSO: I FORGOT: one chopped red pepper!) in vegetable oil for five minutes or so.
Add 2 tsp paprika, 1 tsp basil, 1 tsp salt, a dash of cinnamon, a dash of cayenne, one bay leaf and 3 cups chicken stock (the recipe calls for water, vegetarian readers!).

Throw in a couple of handfulls of red lentils (unless your hands are the size of baseball gloves, in which case you might only want to throw in one handful. But they're probably not.) Simmer for half an hour or so, stirring occasionally. When your lentils are cooked and your sweet potatoes are mushy, voila, you have lunch!
(adapted from a Moosewood Recipe)

The Best Raspberry Yogurt Muffins in The World

2007-11-02T07:21:00.000-07:00

I used to go to a coffee shop every day when The Girl was a baby and I would get one of these muffins. They were SO good.
Then we moved and I missed my delicious muffins, until one day I magically figured out the recipe and lived happily ever after.

2 cups all-purpose flour
3/4 cup sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 egg
1 cup raspberry yogurt (which I make by mixing raspberry jam and yogurt together, but whatever)
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract
Rasberry jam
Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a large bowl.
In another bowl, whisk the egg, yogurt, vanilla and butter; stir into the dry ingredients.
Fill each muffin tin with a tablespoon or two of batter - then put 1/2 tablespoon of jam in each cup; cover with batter. Bake in a 350 degree oven for 30-35 minutes.Yum.

Zesty Salsa

2007-11-02T07:20:00.001-07:00

This is just improbably delicious, really.

2 large tomatoes, diced
6 green onions, chopped
1 cup finely shredded Monterey Jack cheese
1 can (4 ounces) chopped green chillies
1 can (2 ¼ ounces) sliced ripe olives, diced
¼ cup prepared zesty Italian salad dressing

In a bowl, combine the first six ingredients; mix well. Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Serve with tortilla chips. Makes 4 cups.

S'more Drops

2007-11-02T07:19:00.000-07:00

This is the ideal food if you're 8 and your BFF is sleeping over and you want to cook something fun.

4 cups Golden Grahams
1 1/2 cups miniature marshmallows
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup light corn syrup
1 tablespoon butter and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
(I'm counting these as one ingredient, mainly because I'm a cheater.)

In a large bowl, combine cereal and marshmallows; set aside. Place the chocolate chips, corn syrup and butter in a 1-qt. microwave-safe dish. Microwave, uncovered, on high for 1-2 minutes or until smooth, stirring every 30 seconds. (okay, I'm just writing down the recipe straight from the book, but in all honesty I don't even OWN a microwave - I just put the chocolate, corn syrup and butter in a pot and melt it over low heat on the stove.)
Stir in vanilla. Pour over cereal mixture and mix well. Drop by tablespoons onto waxed paper-lined baking sheets. Cool. Makes 2 1/2 dozen.

Little Kid Fruit Salad

2007-11-02T07:18:00.000-07:00

Set out:
- a bowl of canned pineapple chunks with the juice (and/or canned peaches or pears)
- a banana (peeled, unless your little kid can do that)
- a butter knife and a cutting board
- a small bowl of mini marshmallows

Your little kid carefully slices the banana, and dumps that and the pineapple and juice into a plastic bowl and then adds the marshmallows. This is best served immidiately, and I'm not actually claiming that it's something that adults want to eat but your kid will be SO proud.

Orange-Carrot Salad

2007-11-02T07:14:00.000-07:00

(from the I Hate To Cook Book, of course.)
6 small servings
Prepare one package of orange jello, using one and a half cups of liquid.
Pare and shred a large carrot. When the jello is semi-firm, avert your eyes and stir in the carrot shreds - also a small can of (drained!) pineapple chunks, if you have some. Let it jell the rest of the way in the refrigerator.
And yes, your small child will likely eat this - the orange of the jello masks the carrots a bit.

Boston Cream Pie

2007-11-02T07:13:00.001-07:00

yes, it's a long recipe, but it's not a hard one AND you do it in three steps that can be HOURS apart - one very simple little cake, the ever-so-slightly fussy pastry cream and the final filling of the cake and making the chocolate glaze. Easy!

The recipe that I use is really, really long, so I won't post it, but Boston Cream Pie is an eggy yellow cake (one layer) that's split down the middle and filled with vanilla custard. You then cover the whole deal in chocolate glaze. It's VERY good and is really helping with the whole fat problem I've been having.

Okay, here's the recipe, which comes from my beloved copy of Richard Sax's Classic Home Desserts:
I make the base from a single layer of hot water spongecake. I LOVE single-layer recipes for cakes - it makes a nice amount of cake for Sunday night supper (sprinkled with icing sugar and served with berries, perhaps), and this recipe is nicely frugal (it's made from nearly nothing) and easy.
Preheat your oven to 350. Grease the bottom of a round 9" cake pan.
Sift together:
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt, or even slightly less.
And set them aside for now.
In a bowl with an electric mixer, beat:
2 eggs
until they're light.
Add 1 cup sugar
Beat until light, fluffy and lemony yellow.
Beat in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.
Fold the flour mixture into the egg mixture. Pour VERY GENTLY
1/3 cup of boiling water
down the side of the bowl and fold in gently, deflating the batter as little as possible. Quickly but gently pour the batter into the prepared cake pan. "Swirl the pan to smooth the top without deflating the batter" my recipe says, and good luck with that.
Bake until the top is golden and springs back lightly when touched, about 30-35 minutes. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 15 minutes. COOL THE CAKE COMPLETELY on the wire rack before doing anything with it, because it will fall apart if it's still warm.
It's an easy little cake, honest.

Okay, so onto the vanilla pastry cream.
Get a heavy saucepan and rinse it with cold water. Bring to a boil over medium heat:
3/4 cup milk
1 tablespoon sugar.
Meanwhile, in a bowl, whisk together:
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup sugar
pinch salt
2 tablespoons cornstarch
2 large egg yolks
and mix for 1 1/2 minutes or until everything is pale and light and the cornstarch isn't lumpy.
Remove the saucepan from theat heat and whisk some of the hot milk into the egg mixture. (you're doing that so you don't end up with scrambled eggs in milk) Scrape the warmed egg yolk mixture into the saucepan and return to medium heat. Bring to a boil, whisking CONSTANTLY. Boil for one minute and do NOT STOP WHISKING. This sounds really dire, but I find it meditative and almost zen-like, really. It's going to thicken astoundingly at the end of that minute, and you're going to remove it from the heat and whisk in
2 teaspoons cold unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pour the pastry cream into a clean bowl (and my recipe says to strain it, but for the record I have never done that and it's been fine). Press some waxed paper directly on the top to keep a skin from forming and cool it in the fridge for two hours.
You're done the hard part!

So. Now you have a cool cake and cool pastry cream. Carefully brush off the excess crumbs from your cake, and split it in half with a serrated knife. (horizontally. Do I need to say that?) Place the bottom layer of your cake on your loveliest cake plate and spread the pastry cream evenly over the cake, reaching nearly to the edges. Replace the top cake layer and press gently into place.

All you have to do now is to make a chocolate glaze and chocolate glazes are the easiest things in the world. Melt together over low heat:
3 ounces semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
(and my recipe also calls for 1 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup but I ALWAYS skip that. You can add it if you like.)
Remove from the heat and set aside to cool and thicken until you can spread it. Or you can do what I do and pour it over the cake right away and eat it while it's molten. Either way, let the glaze set for 10 minutes or so on your cake, and save any leftovers in the fridge.

My Friend E's Cookies

2007-11-02T07:10:00.000-07:00

These are the best cookies in the world.

Cream 3/4 cup butter with 3/4 cup white sugar and 3/4 cup of brown sugar
Add 2 eggs and 1 tsp vanilla
Blend this all well and then put together:1 1/4 cup flour, 1 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 1/2 tsp salt

Mix that all in and then add 3 cups of quick-cook oats, 1 cup of raisins (presoaked in warm water for 20 minutes and drained), 1 cup of chocolate chips or butterscotch chips, or heck, a little of both

Bake 8 to 10 minutes at 375 F
They're good. Quick-cook oatmeal is NOT the same thing as instant oatmeal, but I'm certain that you already know that.

A really good recipe for steel-cut oats

2007-11-02T07:08:00.000-07:00

Here's how to cook steel-cut oatmeal:
3 1/2 cups water
1 teaspoon butter
a pinch of salt
1 cup of heavy cream
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup steel cup Irish oatmeal
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 tablespoon sugar
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg

Bring the water, butter and salt to a rolling boil in a small saucepan.

Meanwhile, whisk together the cream, maple syrup, and brown sugar in a small bowl until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is smooth. Set aside.

Add the oats gradually to the boiling water. Reduce the heat to low and let the mixture simmer for 1/2 hour, stirring frequently. After the first 20 minutes, stir in the cranberries, sugar and spices.

Serve the oatmeal immediately with the sweetened cream.Makes 3 to 4 servings.(Recipe from the immensely useful "One Bite Won't Kill You" by Ann Hodgman")

Gingerbread Hearts

2007-11-02T07:06:00.000-07:00

You do NEED a good gingerbread cookie recipe, right?

In a large mixing bowl, beat together:
3/4 cup butter, softened with an electric mixer for 30 seconds.
Add:3/4 cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground ginger (or 2 tablespoons fresh, if you have it)
1 1/2 teaspoons finely ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon and
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg.
Beat until combined, scraping down the sides of the bowl once in a while.
Beat in: 1 eggand 1/3 cup molasses (that's where the iron comes from).
Beat in as much of 2 3/4 cups flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in any remaining flour with a wooden spoon. Divide dough in half, cover and chill for 4 to 24 hours.

Grease a large cookie sheet OR line with parchment paper. On a lightly floured surface, roll half the dough at a time until it's 1/4 inch thick. Flour your cookie cutters and cut our dough.
Bake in a 350 oven for 10 minutes or until the cookies look dry. Transfer to a wire rack (or a clean tea towel on your table, whatever) and let them cool down before stuffing them into your mouth.

My Butter Tart Recipe!

2007-11-02T07:04:00.000-07:00

That I mentioned in my Kitchen Party post. (go read it! Leave me a comment!)
Preheat the oven to 375.

Prepare pie pastry for a two-crust pie and roll it out on a floured surface.
Using a big round cookie cutter (or a big round cup), cut out 12 circles and line 12 medium-sized muffin cups with them. Do NOT prick.

Pour boiling water over 1/2 cup raisins and let them sit around until they're fat. Drain. And yes, you can skip the raisins if you hate them, although the tarts ARE good with raisins, really. Arrange your drained raisins in the tart shells.

Mix together:1/4 cup softened butter
1/2 cup lightly packed brown sugar
Stir in 1 cup corn syrup, 2 eggs, slightly beaten, 1/4 tsp salt and 1 tsp vanilla.
Combine just until blended. Spoon into unbaked tart shells, filling each until about 2/3 full.

Bake in preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes. DO NOT allow filling to bubble over. And let them cool down before taking them out of the tin, too, as I found out last night to my dismay. Eat while singing O Canada.