I Love Food

om nom nom: scones!

2010-03-28T12:15:00.001-04:00

I tried this super easy recipe this morning and was thrilled. By my calculations, each one is about 150 calories if you follow her recipe. I am still searching for a good butter substitute, as her suggestion of Brummel/Brown is not in line with my eating habits (partiallly hydrogenated YUK)...but low sugar is great, and simple recipe that's easy to accomplish is right in line with a busy lifestyle.

Ingredients:
- 2 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 cup dried apple/cranberry (publix has a great organic package of this), or dried berries of your choice...try to go low sugar!
- 1 tbsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp table salt
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup egg whites
- 1 cup low-fat buttermilk*
- 1/4 cup low calorie butter, melted (still seeking a good product, I went with her rec. of Brummel/Brown in the meantime :(

Directions
Preheat oven to 400ºF.
Coat a baking sheet with non-fat cooking spray
In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and sugar; mix well and set aside.
In another bowl, whisk together egg, buttermilk and melted butter.
Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients until just combined; fold in dried berries. Don't overstir or you risk a less than optimal texture.
Drop 12 equal two-inch mounds of batter on prepared baking sheet about 1-inch apart. Bake until tops just start to turn golden, about 15 minutes—oven temps vary.
Entire recipe makes 12 scones.

Skip the butter, and serve these with a tablespoon of low-sugar preserves. Trader Joes has a great cranberry "butter" or there are a number of healthy choices out there. Yummmmm.

* She has a recipe for making your own low-fat or fat-free buttermilk on her site.

bison burgers

2010-03-14T19:11:00.004-04:00

Mr.Mister and I are both on a pretty big health kick/fitness challenge lately which has greatly squashed my cupcake indulgences and given me new challenges to make food tasty and interesting without breaking my own (very small) caloric bank. Still, we've both been craving big burgers for a few days now, and I finally had a chance to make bison burgers at home to satisfy the craving without going 1000+ calories each by eating out.

No pictures, because I simply didn't take any before all was inhaled. But here's your own moan-and-groan recipe, pulled from here with some explanations and modifications:

Bison Burgers

1 pound freshly ground bison meat
1.5 teaspoons "Ted's Special Mixture" (see below)
1 tablespoon EarthBalance margarine (1TB = 100 calories)

Use your hands to mix up the bison, seasoning, and margarine so all is nicely blended. Divide into 3, fire up the grill, sqash those balls of meat into flattened burgers so they fill the bun nicely when cooked. Grill and serve up on a 100-calorie deli thin Earth Grains whole wheat bun with lettuce and mustard. If you follow the above and divide evenly into 3, you should be looking at about 300 calories per patty, but read your own labels and do your own math to be sure...

If you're like me and you LOVE ketchup, grab a handful of cherry tomatoes and pop one into your mouth right before you take a bite of burger. Ketchup is crazy high in sugar (or HFCS boooo) so fresh cherry tomatoes hit the lycopene and tomato taste in a much healthier way.

Ted's Mixture

1 1/2 teaspoons coarse salt
1 teaspoon seasoned salt (see below for scratch on that too)
1 teaspoon onion salt
1 1/2 teaspoons garlic salt
1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Seasoned Salt (thanks Recipezaar)

2 tablespoons salt
2 teaspoons sugar
1/2 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon turmeric
1/4 teaspoon onion powder
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon cornstarch

I ended up making double of each of the above spices and will just keep in jars in the cupboard for the next time I need them. A little seasoned salt was *fantastic* on sliced up, baked sweet potato "fries."

tastes like summer

2010-03-04T19:41:00.002-05:00

I threw this together for dinner tonight, and it was so delicious I have to share. Preheat the oven to 350.

Combine in a baking dish
• Small zucchini, sliced
• Small yellow squash, sliced
• One can peeled, diced tomatoes
• 2 teaspoons olive oil

Stir it around to get everything coated with the oil. Sprinkle with garlic salt, powdered onion, and a little bit of shredded low-fat mozzarella. Bake until everything is tender, about 30-45 minutes.

So good, so good for you.

firecracker shrimp ala the pioneer woman

2010-02-08T07:41:00.001-05:00

More than one person asked about this at a superbowl party I attended last night, so here are the details:

I used The Pioneer Woman's firecracker shrimp recipe with just a couple of tweaks for ease and deliciousness.

Here is part 1 of her recipe, and here is part 2.

Here it is with my tweaks:
1. Buy about 1 lb peeled and deveined shrimp. Your fingers will thank you. Trust me on this. It's worth the extra $, says the girl who spent a LOT of time on Edisto Island growing up.

2. Make the marinade:

2 TB Sriracha rooster sauce (available at Dekalb Farmers Market and many Asian markets)
2 TB olive oil
5 cloves of crushed garlic OR 5 teaspoons of pre-diced garlic that you've beat on a little bit in a ziplock bag to crush it down
2 teaspoons plain sugar, 1/4 teaspoon salt

3. Marinade for oohhh... 4 hours or so. She says 1 hour. I did 4 because my friends like it spicy, and I had other things to do.

4. Skip the skewers, grill those suckers on your George Foreman grill (or a grill pan) that you've sprayed/wiped with a little olive oil.

5. Put in a dish, add more Sriracha sauce (not too much, just a sprinkling will do), shake it up for good coverage.

Voila!

mmmmm zucchini

2010-01-26T21:03:00.001-05:00

This recipe is so easy I almost feel guilty posting it. An old roommate of mine, who happened to be vegan, taught it to me one Thanksgiving and I've made it a few times since then.

Ingredients

1 zucchini

1 small handful sundried tomatoes

1 small to medium onion

Olive Oil, Salt, Pepper

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Slice zucchini thinly; chop up sundried tomatoes so you have slivers instead of chunks; thinly slice the onion (I cut the ends off, then chop it in half, then make half-moon slivers).

Mix up in a baking dish, generously douse with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper (don't go overboard, you can always add more later).

Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes, until it's nice and tender and the edges are starting to look a little crispy.

You can also make this in a pan on the stovetop if you desire, just be sure to stir frequently.

Delish, and healthy!

pie.

2010-01-24T19:15:00.000-05:00

my friend lori shares her apple pie recipe. there's no way it's bad :-)

easy lasagna

2010-01-17T16:32:00.002-05:00

I had never attempted to make lasagna before last week, having always opted for the cheater "lasagna" from Real Simple. With food allergies to consider, however, I took on the challenge of veggie lasagna from scratch. I modified this recipe and was pretty pleased (with the exception of an important omission that I've added back in here).

Ingredients:

1 8 ounce package oven-ready lasagna noodles
1 9 ounce package frozen raw spinach
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
3 eggs
3 cups low-fat cottage cheese
3+ cups pre-made tomato sauce (see below: 28oz diced tomatoes, 2TB tomato paste, Italian seasonings, garlic, onion and a little water) or jarred pasta sauce
3 cups grated low-moisture part skim mozzarella cheese

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees.

Make your tomato sauce:
Sauté a few cloves of garlic (to taste) and one small onion with olive oil in a medium sized pot. Add large can (28oz) diced tomatoes (don't drain), 2TB tomato paste, about 2TB Italian seasonings (marjoram, thyme, rosemary, savory, sage, oregano and basil), and a little water to match up with the tomato paste. Mash everything down to crush the tomatoes farther than they already are (I used a potato masher), and let it all simmer a little bit so the spices distribute and soak up nicely. Next time I'd like a little more than 3 cups, but I like lots of tomato sauce.

Make the rest of the lasagna:
In medium mixing bowl, beat eggs; add cottage cheese and Parmesan cheese.
Spray a 13 x 9-inch glass baking dish with non-stick cooking spray.
Put one layer of slightly cooked lasagna noodles flat across the bottom of the baking dish.
Add a thin layer of the tomato sauce and 1/2 the leaf spinach, pressing down lightly and evenly over noodles.
Top with another layer of lasagna noodles.
Top this layer of noodles with another thin layer of tomato sauce and the cottage cheese mixture; add the remaining spinach.
Then add the last of the lasagna noodles laid evenly on top of spinach.
Spread the remaining pasta sauce evenly over the top; sprinkle with a little more Italian seasoning and the mozzarella cheese.
Press down lightly.

In a nutshell:
You're layering noodles, spinach, the cottage cheese mixture, and pasta sauce throughout then topping with tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese. I like my ingredients evenly spaced, but you may want to mix it up a little.

Other things you might consider adding: mushrooms, shredded chicken, tofu, ground beef (or the fake version of it)...As always, think about what you'd like to be eating later ;-)

Finally:
Cover baking dish with foil, using foil sprayed with cooking spray and keeping foil off the center of the lasagna. Secure sides tightly over baking dish.
Bake about 1 hour 15 minutes in oven. To lightly brown the top, remove foil for a few minutes at the end of baking time.

Peppermint buttercream icing

2010-01-11T09:26:00.001-05:00

I took this buttercream icing and modified it to go with my cinnamon mocha cakecones, and thought it was enough of a raving success I should share. Not my recipe, and apparently not Annie's, so many thanks to Cook’s Illustrated for this stroke of easy brilliance. (thx to kah for pointing me to annie's page :-)

As you can see, best served with red sprinkles and a maraschino cherry!

Easy Peppermint Buttercream
Ingredients:
20 tbsp. (2 ½ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
2 ½ cups confectioners’ sugar, sifted
1/8 tsp. salt
2 tsp. peppermint
2 tbsp. heavy cream

Directions:
In a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat butter at medium-high speed until smooth, about 20 seconds. Add confectioners’ sugar and salt; beat at medium-low speed until most of the sugar is moistened, about 45 seconds. Scrape down the bowl and beat at medium speed until mixture is fully combined, about 15 seconds. Scrape bowl, add vanilla and heavy cream, and beat at medium speed until incorporated, about 10 seconds. Then increase the speed to medium-high and beat until light and fluffy, about 4 minutes, scraping down bowl once or twice.

Source: The Way the Cookie Crumbles, originally from Cook’s Illustrated, April 2007

cinnamon mocha cupcakes

2010-01-08T16:04:00.003-05:00

I make no secret of the fact that I am a fan of cupcakes. Well, really, baked goods in general. But I really, really like cupcakes. They appeal to my designer self, they appeal to my kid self, they're simply appealing in general for the multitude of options they offer.

I thank Denise for the reminder that cupcakes can be baked in ice cream cones (they're even callllllled cake cones) to take these from tasty to quite joyous.

The original recipe lies here but I've modified as per usual. I plan to ice these with peppermint buttercream icing, or a basic chocolate icing. They're pretty awesome without icing, too, if that's your thing.

Ingredients

1/4 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup sugar plus a couple of spillovers so it's not quite 2/3 but more than 1/2
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
14 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup baking cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon: Next time I may add even more
1/4 cup brewed espresso: I use one of these Bialetti stovetop espresso makers
3 tablespoons buttermilk

Directions

In a small mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar. Beat in egg and vanilla. Combine the flour, cocoa, baking soda, salt, baking powder and cinnamon; add to creamed mixture alternately with coffee and buttermilk.
Put cake cones one each in a muffin tin to keep them steady, then fill them to just shy of the top. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20-22 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 5 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

beet and cabbage soup, aka borscht

2010-01-05T07:27:00.002-05:00

The original recipe is pulled from Epicurious, but I've modified it for a few reasons: I read the reviews carefully and agreed with a lot of what I read based on my own borscht experience; I knew I wouldn't use the rest of the cabbage later in the week; and I experienced the Great Beet Disaster of 2010 somewhere mid-recipe. There's nothing quite like the hot pink carnage of beets on the white tiles of your black/white kitchen floor...

Ingredients:

3–5 tablespoons (TB) olive oil (more or less...i add until it looks appropriate, so i probably hit closer to 5TB)
3/4 pound russet potato, chopped: this equaled one 3/4 pound potato for me
1 small to medium head of cabbage, chopped (peel off the outer layers where it's been exposed to nasty in the store, and don't use the core)
2 medium onions, chopped
8 cups (or more) vegetable or beef broth: I keep Better than Bouillon in my cabinet for just such an occasion
6 2-inch-diameter beets, peeled, chopped: Or 3, if you splatter half of your goods all over your kitchen
2 TB tomato paste, if desired: I skipped this, and it did not suffer

1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Low-fat sour cream: vegan or original
Chopped fresh dill, or dried dill if that's what you have and you're tired of buying stuff

Directions:
Heat oil in heavy large pot over medium-high heat.
Add potatoes, cabbage and onion and sauté until cabbage softens, about 5–10 minutes.
Add 8 cups broth, beets and tomato paste (if you're using it).
Bring soup to boil.
Reduce heat and simmer until vegetables are tender, about 30 minutes to an hour.

Add lemon juice; season with salt and pepper.

Top with spoonful of sour cream; sprinkle with dill (makes it yummy!)

PS. Borscht rocks for good healthy stuff. See here for beet information and here for cabbage information.

confections of a master baker

2010-01-04T07:11:00.006-05:00

You may notice a new link over there, Confections of a Master Baker. I just devoured (no pun intended) her book last night on our trip home from Denver, and can't wait to dive into her recipes. Fantastic book. FANTASTIC book. Well written, and for anyone who loves pastries, breads, sweets....it's a dream to read. It's probably a good thing I was trapped on a plane as I read it: I wanted to try the recipes she's scattered throughout the chapters immediately.

chocolate truffles with sea salt

2009-12-24T10:58:00.004-05:00

I make no secret of the fact that I'm a huge fan of The Pioneer Woman (and especially her recipes). When we were discussing extra Christmas presents for family, I thought a great idea would be to try PW's Chocolate Truffles with Sea Salt recipe.

This really couldn't have been easier to make something pretty sophisticated. I'll warn you that we got a lot more truffle "cores" out of the 16oz of base chocolate, and that didn't match up to the amount of coating we got from the (12oz) bag of milk chocolate chips I chose.

We easily could have used 2 bags of chips, and probably less core chocolate, but I don't want to mess with the core recipe because of the other ingredients involved. Suffice to say, you'll get a lot of it if you go with a teaspoon of chocolate for the core; do be sure to buy an extra bag of the chips for the coating. I melted the chips in the double boiler method, too, instead of microwaving. I don't always trust my microwave :-)

To dust the tops, I bought goooooood sea salt: Fleur de Sel Tresor from a bulk bin at one of our local gourmet food shops....Nice and fluffy, NOT MORTONS. If you can't find any, even kosher salt would be better than regular ol' table salt.

Overall, the hands-on process was longer than 15 minutes (but not obnoxiously so), and SUPER easy.

To package, I bought tiny little "cupcake" papers (one per "cupcake"); we then put 4–6 chocolates in little gift boxes. Tie up with a bow, and voila! a lovely little hostess gift or bonus holiday treat.

We met the Pioneer Woman!

2009-12-08T08:08:00.001-05:00

We met The Pioneer Woman last night after waiting for eeeeeeever. She was super nice, it was SUPER quick, and I think she was super surprised that I'm an adult woman with a "pet" cow *laugh* She asked how long I'd had Maddie, and didn't quite know what to say when I say about a year and a half. Ah well. Very, very nice. I'm a huge fan of her blog, and she's a lot of why I've started cooking again.

Thanks for coming to Atlanta, Ree! You have quite the fan base here.

do-it-yourself cliff bars

2009-12-07T07:31:00.000-05:00

I found this recipe awhile ago, and have been meaning to post it (really I have!). Another allrecipes.com gem, this one is technically called Bird Seed Energy Bars but for us backpackers, it's really just Cliff Bars At Home.

I modified in my making of it, so have copied here with notes:

Ingredients

4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats : Not the quick cook kind!
1 cup brown sugar, packed: I mixed dark and light because that's what I had
1 cup wheat germ : Use the toasted or raw kind, though I hear toasted tastes better
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 eggs, beaten
1 cup honey
1 cup canola oil: I was actually low on oil, so I upped the honey content. You might also try substituting apple sauce for oil to make it lower fat (though proceed at your own risk, I haven't done this yet)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt

Goodies to mix in:

1/2 cup flax seeds: I didn't have any handy so I skipped this, but they're really good for you and worth trying
1/2 cup sesame seeds: I didn't have any handy so I skipped this
1/2 cup sunflower seeds: I didn't have any handy so I skipped this
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips: Oh heck yes
1/2 cup chopped nuts: Because I like them and they're good for you
1/2 cup chopped cherry-flavoured Craisins: Trust me on the cherry-flavoured, and take the bars to a whole new level

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x14 inch ovenproof baking dish.
Mix the rolled oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, and flour together in a large bowl. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, canola oil, vanilla, and salt until evenly blended., and stir into the oat mixture. Stir in the goodies. Use your hands to mix the ingredients, and press the mixture into the prepared pan.
Bake in preheated oven until the edges are golden brown, 20 to 25 minutes. Cool completely in the baking dish before cutting into 2 inch bars.Took me a little longer to bake them since I was going for the golden brown.

We have LOVED these. Cut them into squares, store in the fridge in tupperware, and pull out as needed for hikes, snacks, trips, whatever. Mr. Man loves them so much he got fussy when he thought I was withholding one from him on a recent backpacking trip :-)

Shepherd's Pie

2009-11-22T22:42:00.005-05:00

I just made the Simply Recipes version of Shepherd's Pie and it's blowing both of us out of the water. WOW. This is going into regular rotation for its ease of preparation and absolute deliciousness.

I modified by making it with those Morningstar Crumbles instead of meat. The veggies I added to the mix of meat and onions were chopped carrots, corn, and Le Sueur Early Peas (straight from the can, rinsed, to keep things easy). I also added just a tiny bit of garlic powder to the browning meat, and used kosher salt for my salt.

I put J on mashed potato duty. To make the mashed potatoes, he used the recommended amount of butter, a tiny dash of powdered onion, a tiny dash of garlic powder, and a tiny dash of milk.

Don't skimp on the butter, this stuff is amazing. I always love her recipes anyway, but WOW. Easy, and mind-blowingly delicious. And totally vegetarian if you want it to be. Bookmark her site!

exciting discovery

2009-11-19T09:02:00.000-05:00

I've just discovered this site wherein you can customize a cookbook. Found it, by the way, in a search for enchiladas recipes that utilize bacon. Found that too.

Banana Bread

2009-11-17T10:27:00.006-05:00

If ever there was a ringing endorsement of food, it would be the disappearance of my banana bread in the office. Not technically myyyy banana bread, since it's another AllRecipes gem. Still. Time to disappear: one hour flat.

Super easy (made it this morning so I could bring it in warm). Super super easy.

Ingredients

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter: I use real, honest to goodness butter. Tastes better.
3/4 cup brown sugar: I had less sugar in the cabinet this morning, so that's what I went with
2 eggs, beaten: I dumped these on the butter/sugar mixture and "beat" them in there.
2 1/3 cups mashed overripe bananas: I go for as rotten and overripe as I possibly can. I am in the habit of freezing overripe bananas for smoothies, so when I don't have enough "fresh" overripe bananas I nuke some of my frozen banana.

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x5 inch loaf pan.
In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda and salt. In a separate bowl, cream together butter and brown sugar. Stir in eggs and beat that together, then add mashed bananas until well blended. Stir banana mixture into flour mixture; stir just to moisten (over stirring makes it rubbery and that just sucks!). Pour batter into prepared loaf pan.
Bake in preheated oven for 60 to 65 minutes (63 minutes for me), until a toothpick inserted into center of the loaf comes out clean. Let bread cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack.

Please note:

This recipe rocks for its simplicity, and its flexibility. You can add chopped nuts, chocolate chips, or whatever you think might taste good. You can also make it into muffins (more like cupcakes if you go the chocolate chip route ehehe), just adjust the bake time to about 25-30 minutes (for a dozen).

Pear "Crisp"

2009-11-15T16:47:00.003-05:00

I had pears about to go bad, so I quickly grabbed this recipe from Allrecipes to bake them up. I'm having a hard time not eating the entire thing Right. Now.

Ingredients

1 cup rolled oats: I used old fashioned (not quick cook)
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon finely chopped crystallized ginger: I used 1TB
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon: I used slightly less
1/4 cup butter: I melted mine entirely
2 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons finely chopped crystallized ginger: I used 2TB
8 cups peeled and sliced pears: I chopped what I had, and added an apple that needed baking, and didn't sweat the small stuff of figuring out if it was 8c exactly.
1 pint vanilla ice cream: I skipped this for calories (and I didn't want to go get ice cream; I know, shocking ;-)

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Grease a 2 quart casserole dish or 9 inch square baking dish
In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, brown sugar, 1/2 cup flour, 1 Tablespoon crystallized ginger, and cinnamon. Stir in the (melted) butter until the mixture is crumbly with pea sized lumps. Set aside.
In a separate bowl, stir together the white sugar, 2 tablespoons flour and 2 Tablespoons of crystallized ginger. Add the sliced pears/apple, and toss to blend. Transfer to the prepared baking dish. Spread with the oat topping.
Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, then switch that to broil/high for 3 minutes, until pears are soft and topping is golden brown. Serve, lick bowl clean.

Working Lunch

2009-11-15T14:11:00.004-05:00

What to do when you have an abundance of potatoes and you're busy trying to make deadlines on various and sundry over the weekend? Amazing baked potatoes, of course.

Take baking (or otherwise) potatoes, clean and scrub. Stab a few times with your fork so you don't get any 'sploded potatoes.
Douse with olive oil (nice and wet), generously coat with lemon pepper (Lawry's and Trader Joe's have a great one with salt, garlic, onion, lemon, and pepper).
Bake in oven at 400F for about an hour (until they're pretty squishy with the fork and the skin seems kinda crusty). Flip them over in the middle of baking if you're concerned about evenness, and add extra time if you have a monster potato.
Tear up in a bowl, douse with butter, sour cream, and any leftover pieces of bacon/smart bacon (fake'n) from breakfast. Douse with a very generous helping of salsa (I used Muir Glen cilantro salsa).
Groan with delight.

Easy, super yum, lets you attend to other stuff with very minimal involvement. Way, way better than microwave.

EBChiladas

2009-11-09T21:41:00.009-05:00

Ok, Jason loved these so much he calls them EBChiladas now. I'll take it ;-) Super easy, and can be meaty or vegetarian. Sorry, no picture. It's just not the prettiest. But things that taste awesome often aren't. It's not really low-fat, but it's not designed to be. Use your brain to make modifications to cut fat/calories. And hey, go for a smaller serving size.

I used the Easy Chicken Enchiladas recipe from Allrecipes (my usual M.O.) with some modifications (my other usual M.O.):

Core Ingredients

1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese or American Neufchâtel cheese: lower fat! but don't go fat free! doesn't melt right! And don't do the French version of Neufchâtel...very different product
1 cup salsa: think about what's going to taste best "flavour wise" since there are so many salsa choices these days; I used Pace "3 Peppers" salsa found on the clearance rack at Target; a chipotle salsa would be amazing with this.
2 cups chopped cooked chicken breast meat or tofu: I used Adobo, dried parsley, chili powder, and olive oil to cook it on the stove top.
1 (15.5 ounce) can pinto beans, drained: I used half red beans and half black beans
6 (6 inch) corn tortillas: corn tortillas have lower calories; I used more like 8-10. DO NOT buy the TraderJoe's corn tortillas. Big disaster. Get the "cheap Mexican" ones at the grocery store.
2 cups shredded "Mexican blend" cheese (Monterey jack, cheddar, asadero, & quesadilla cheeses)

Topping

One small can black olives, sliced
One small can sliced green chiles (or slice them yourself)
One more cup of salsa; I used Muir Glen organic cilantro salsa for this part
Shredded lettuce, sour cream

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.
In a medium saucepan over medium heat, combine the cream cheese and 1 cup salsa. Cook, stirring until melted and well blended. Stir in chicken/tofu and beans. Fill tortillas with the mixture, roll and place into the prepared baking dish. Spread cilantro salsa then cheese over top. Top with black olives and green chiles. Cover with aluminum foil.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until heated through. Garnish with your favorite toppings such as lettuce and tomatoes, or sour cream.
Prepare to moan. No, seriously.

Peasant Bread, or A Slacker's Attempt at French Bread

2009-11-03T22:55:00.005-05:00

This is my second attempt to make "French" bread in the oven, and while not overwhelming it's pretty passable and especially easy. Bonus points for having very few (simple) ingredients, and for being vegan.

I love my bread machine for the fact that it will knead/rise dough for me while I do more important things like Facebook and feeding my cats catnip. If you don't have a bread machine, there are inevitably reviews giving you instruction for doing it all by hand.

I used the Peasant Bread recipe over at AllRecipes then modified:

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups water
1 tablespoon white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
3 1/2 cups bread flour
2 1/2 teaspoons active dry yeast

Directions

Place ingredients in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select dough cycle.
When dough cycle is close to completion, start the oven on 350 preheat. When dough cycle is complete, throw onto a floured surface to mold into a reasonable "peasant bread"-shaped ball. Slice the top a couple of times with a sharp knife. (Honestly I don't know why, but there has to be a reason you always see that.)
Bake at 350 on a *pizza stone* (or bread stone) that's been lightly dusted with cornmeal. Apparently, the baking stone makes a huge difference.
At the same time, you want a pan of hot water below the stone to generate steam in the baking process. I put one of my Le Creuset pieces in there and poured boiling water from my kettle into it.
Bake for approximately 40 minutes, but eyeball it until the crust looks about right (golden brown).

I've been reading that they key to French Bread is a steam injection oven, which I obviously don't have and am assuming you don't either. So, that pan of water makes a difference. I've made the peasant bread recipe before in the bread machine and this turned out totally differently, and I'd say better. Maybe I'm partial to round bread.

Another option is to fill a fine mister/spray bottle with water and spray it every 15 minutes. I don't have an open spray bottle at the moment, but maybe I'll try that next time.

Pumpkin Gingerbread

2009-10-31T18:39:00.003-04:00

I will admit, I wanted very much to make Pumpkin Ginger cupcakes, but the recipe called for butterscotch instant pudding and J was unable to find anything but sugar free. Boo aspartame!

So, Plan B. WOW. Slight modifications to the recipe per some reviews, so I've shown it here with commentary. The original recipe is here of course.

Ingredients

3 cups sugar: I used 1 1/2 cups regular sugar, and 1 1/2 cups light brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil: I used 1 cup unsweetened applesauce
4 eggs
2/3 cup water
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
2 teaspoons ground ginger: I use a more liquid version that looks like this and NOT the powdered variety. I think this makes a huge difference!
1 teaspoon ground allspice
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground cloves: I left this out b/c I forgot. It did not suffer. I'll do it next time :-)
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Directions

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly grease two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
In a large mixing, combine sugar, oil and eggs; beat until smooth. Add water and beat until well blended. Stir in pumpkin and ginger.
In medium bowl, combine flour, soda, salt, baking powder, cloves, allspice and cinnamon. Add dry ingredients to pumpkin mixture and blend just until all ingredients are mixed. Divide batter between prepared pans.
Bake in preheated oven until toothpick comes out clean, about 1 hour 15 minutes.

applesauce oatmeal muffins

2009-10-28T09:14:00.006-04:00

I'll admit I didn't take my own photo before we'd devoured all of these (so you know the recipe is good!). Another AllRecipes gem, these applesauce oatmeal muffins are to die for.

I didn't have any quick-cook oats in the house, so I went for the packets of instant oatmeal that we take on our backpacking trips (low-sugar variety) and upped the cinnamon for my own taste. I was liberal with the topping, making sure to use every last bit.

J was nomming happily and gave this one two thumbs up. I especially like that it's low-fat (and surprisingly low-sugar).

Fresh, Raw, Homemade Almond Milk

2009-10-26T09:46:00.003-04:00

My friend Nadia directed me to this set of instructions for How to Milk and Almond. Can't wait to try it!

Apple & Kraut Pork Chops

2009-10-24T10:34:00.002-04:00

My dear friend Rhonda made pork chops for dinner. Sounds pretty darned delicious, so check it out!

If you're doubtful about the sauerkraut part of this equation, go here to see that sauerkraut is quite wonderful for you. It bolsters the immune system much like kefir and yoghurt do.

Of special note from that site:
Flu Fighter
With the spread of Avian Flu spreading across the globe, one enterprising Korean scientist, Kang Sa-Ouk of Seoul National University, took 13 chickens infected with avian flu virus and a couple of other diseases, fed them Kim chi extract and found that 11 of the birds recovered. Experts think the vital bacteria are created during the fermenting process and this gives the dish its health-boosting qualities.

Pile it on!

what's in your smoothie?

2009-10-24T07:13:00.001-04:00

I usually like to make smoothies in the morning when I have time, especially when I'm feeling the need for a boost. This morning's smoothie contains some pretty awesome stuff:

Strawberries: Heart protective, anti-cancer, anti-inflammatory, great source of Vitamin C

Mango: one of the best sources of betacarotene, quercetin and astragalin, another great source of vitamin C, and vitamin A

Pineapple: Manganese, Vitamin C and Thiamin (again with the anti-cancer)

Peaches: Tons of Vitamin A, which is good for your eyes!

Ginger: Digestive aid which also helps to clear out mucus

Wheat Germ: Vitamin E, Folic Acid, Fiber, Omega-3, Vitamin B, iron, calcium, zinc

Bee Pollen: vitamins, minerals, proteins and amino acids, enzymes and coenzymes, as well as antibiotic, antihistamine, and antioxidant properties; great source of energy

Local Honey: builds immunity against local pollen allergies, and tastes good :-)

Apple Juice: Good for your heart, good for the fight against bad cholesterol

Budgeting and Menus

2009-10-23T15:33:00.000-04:00

One of the benefits of the All Recipes site, like many other websites these days, is the community they've built around the recipes and food in general. I rarely fail to check reviews before starting on a new recipe, as often other readers have made beneficial corrections or suggestions for improvement. Sometimes folks go overboard and basically rewrite the recipe (annoying) while others correct things like the amount of water needed for a bread machine recipe (totally necessary).

They also link to blogs, and I clicked on this particular entry because I am always looking for ways to save money without eating total crap. I also love that it's a menu plan, laid out for grabbing by busy folks (like me).

It looks tasty and well thought out, so I do believe I'll be copying some of it. Convert to vegetarian items where you see fit/necessary.

Albert Heijn's Avocado Raspberry Walnut Salad

2009-10-23T14:07:00.000-04:00

Albert Heijn is the standard grocery store in the Netherlands, much like Publix in the South, only shinier and more visually tantalizing (for me). I love Dutch design anyway, but Dutch design combined with Food puts me in ecstasy. Or at least like a kid in a candy shop :-)

I found this recipe on their website awhile back, and have translated to the best of my minimal Nederlands knowledge. I welcome corrections, though obviously you can wing a lot of it and still come out tasty.

Avocado-Raspberry Walnut Salad

Ingredients
* 12 walnuts broken up
* 1 dash/sprinkle sugar
* 125 g raspberries (fresh, or thawed from frozen)
* 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
* 1 dash white wine vinegar
* 4 dashes walnut oil
* 2 chunks of lettuce (enough for your preference)
* 2 ripe avocados
* 2 dashes lime juice
* a few sprigs of mint, shredded

Caramelize the rapsberries with the sugar on low heat. Take two raspberries, crush and add the mustard, vinegar and oil... until it tastes right/good. Salt/pepper to the dressing for taste.

Tear up the lettuce in large pieces, cut up the avocado and sprinkle with the lime juice. Sprinkle dressing and ingredients.

Serves 4.

Note: Avocado and Raspberries
Avocados are amazing and tasty. Check out the World's Healthiest Foods website for details on avocados and raspberries. They pack nutritional punch that hits a gamut of health concerns.

southern biscuits from scratch

2009-10-23T13:43:00.000-04:00

I make no secret of the fact that I am a huge fan of AllRecipes.com and found this particular goodie there as well. They turned out well, though nothing will ever be as good as Bojangles :-)

JP's Big Daddy Biscuits

INGREDIENTS
* 2 cups all-purpose flour
* 1 tablespoon baking powder
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1 tablespoon white sugar
* 1/3 cup shortening*
* 1 cup milk (see note in direx)

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, salt, and sugar. Cut in the shortening until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually stir in milk until dough pulls away from the side of the bowl---only add as much milk as you need, you may not always need the whole cup!
3. Turn out onto a floured surface, and knead 15 to 20 times. Pat or roll dough out to 1 inch thick. Cut biscuits with a large cutter or juice glass dipped in flour. Repeat until all dough is used. Brush off the excess flour, and place biscuits onto an ungreased baking sheet.
4. Bake for 13 to 15 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges begin to brown.

* Whole Foods has a *great* non-hydrogenated, organic shortening option in their baking section. Don't go Crisco!

soup for the sickies

2009-10-23T12:51:00.000-04:00

I found this recipe in the Washington Post, and have tried to keep it fresh in my mind as well as share with others. This is the perfect "sickie" medicine, bolstering your immune system with a flavourful punch.

Daphne Miller's Mushroom Ginger Soup for Health
1 ¼ cup shiitake, white button, maitake, cremini, or oyster mushrooms cut in ¼ inch slices
1/2 inch cube of fresh ginger (you can add a bit more if you really love ginger)
2 cups cold water
1 tablespoon white or red miso paste
1 tsp Mirin, sake or rice vinegar
1 tbsp finely chopped scallion

Put mushrooms, ginger and water in a pot with a lid and bring to a boil, immediately turn down heat and simmer for 30 minutes. Remove from heat and take out ginger. Put ¼ up of broth in a bowl and stir in miso paste and Mirin.

Stir this mixture into the pot. Serve topped with scallions.

Serving size: 1 dose

Note: Ginger
Ginger is *great* for clearing out mucus and sinuses. It naturally warms the body, provides a quick energy boost, and is awesome for your digestive tract (soothing for both upset stomach and nausea). I've taken to adding it to my morning smoothies for extra goodness.

Note: Mushrooms
Mushrooms are fantastic for your immune system. See this page for more info. I had a farmer tell me he makes a dose of them when he feels illness coming on; he pours boiling water over dried mushrooms (however much he needs for what he's cooking) and lets it sit for 30 minutes. The juice from that goes into a shot glass and voila, you've got an immune boosting shot. We do this every time we reconstitute mushrooms now.