ann loves food

biscuit-y goodness

2010-10-01T22:38:00.000-07:00

When I think 'biscuit', I think of Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen, of light, fluffy, buttery, flaky, salty, warm, stupefyingly good, ode-worthy biscuits in the finest Southern tradition. Their biscuits are the epitome of biscuity goodness, in my opinion. I've tried for years to come anywhere near that level of unbelieveable yumminess and textural delight, but alas, to no avail. I mean, I've made some decent biscuits over the years, but they were disappointingly unlike the Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen's signature product.

So when I recently revisited my ongoing obsession, I searched the interwebs high and low for the SBK recipe, and finally found something in a Daily Tar Heel article. 5 pounds of flour, 24 oz of butter (that's SIX sticks, in case you were wondering) and a gallon of buttermilk. Mix ingredients, bake at 400 for 15 minutes. Makes 45 biscuits. And that, literally, is all they wrote for the recipe.

It was almost worse than having no recipe; I was so close, I could almost taste it. (Ha!) So I did what any obsessive baker would do; I experimented. First I broke the recipe down into quantities a normal person would use. This required math, but I stuck with it. Then I did several test runs. I realized during those test runs that they'd most definitely left a titschy little detail some call a leavening agent (eye roll) out of the recipe, so I did a little research, chose a reasonable amount of leavening and tried again.

They also, I am convinced, left out the egg wash for the tops of the biscuits. And I am quite sure they must be using salted butter, so I added some salt. I also adjusted for the fact that I now live in an inferally dry climate several thousand feet above the altitude of North Carolina (in fact, I currently live several thousand feet above the highest point in North Carolina, let alone Chapel Thrill). I want to keep experimenting a bit with the amount of leavening, because I think these could be lighter still, but it could just be that I'm being too heavy-handed with my dough technique.

It eventually occurred to me that they were probably using self-rising flour, and probably one of the traditional southern varieties, at that. This explains the lack of leavening agent; one cup of self-rising flour equates to one cup of all-purpose flour plus 1 1/4 tsp baking powder and 1/8 tsp salt. So the next time I use this recipe, I'm going to use 4 1/2 or 5 teaspoons of baking powder (at high altitude, you're supposed to reduce the baking powder by about 1/4 tsp per tsp).

Not content with my dough technique, I turned again to the magical interwebs for biscuit-making tips. One that surprised me was to press straight down when cutting the biscuits out of the dough; twisting the cutter/glass evidently compresses the edges and hamper the biscuit's fluffiness. And the good lord knows we definitely do not want that to happen.

You probably already know to keep the butter as cold as possible when baking. Another useful-sounding tip was to keep your flour cold. One food blogger went so far as to always keep flour in the freezer. I think I'll just put the dough in the fridge when it's resting or if I need to step away for a few to take care of the kiddo.

If you want to increase the biscuit's flakiness, try forming a rectangle with the dough, then folding it in on itself in thirds before you roll it out and cut it.

One more tip: a professional baker once told me, "Never bake angry." That also goes for stressed out or otherwise upset. Your emotions will come out in your dough. I've had this tip confirmed by other pro baker friends over the years. So get happy, then get baking, friends.

At the risk of stating the painfully obvious, I'm just going to say right now that these are still not even remotely as good as Sunrise Biscuit Kitchen's. I hope that in 35 years I will have developed as deft a biscuit technique as they have. But for we mere mortals, this recipe takes a pretty good shot at bringing biscuity goodness into your home. Enjoy.

Wanna-Be Sunrise Biscuits

4 c flour

1/2 tsp salt

4 tsp baking powder (4 1/2 tsp if high altitude)

1 tsp baking soda

10 T cold butter (unsalted, or omit the additional salt)

1 3/4 c buttermilk

1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees (425 at high altitude). Briefly whisk together flour, salt, baking powder and baking soda. Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut the butter into the flour mixture. Make a well in the middle and pour in the buttermilk. Use your hands to gently, lightly mix together; handle the dough as little as possible. Form into a ball and let rest a few minutes.

Roll out on a lightly floured surface to 3/4 or 1 inch thickness. Use a 3 inch glass to cut rounds from the dough. Place the rounds on a buttered baking sheet (or freeze them in layers of wax paper to bake later). Brush the tops and sides with egg wash. Bake for 15 minutes (add three or so minutes if baking frozen dough). Eat immediately. Makes about 9 biscuits.

Desperate times call for a delicious lunch.

2010-06-08T11:18:00.000-07:00

Wow. I'm typing this as I savor the results of an insane kitchen experiment turned successful, and watching the world's cutest baby insert her foot into her mouth with joy and aplomb. (If only foot-in-mouth stayed cute; I also lament the fact that chubby thighs fall out of favor after early childhood.)

Anyway. We have nothing but total randomness in our cupboards, I have a day off and three days' worth of stuff to get done, and I somehow managed to throw together something I'd never even dreamed of before, but that turned out tasty, fast and easy to make. It's also pretty heart-healthy.

I haven't posted on here in a while; with a baby around, it's hard to find the time to cook elaborate meals, let alone blog about them. Honestly, I don't know how Deb does it, and does it so darn well. I've mostly been falling back on old standbys, recipes I've either blogged about or don't have the time or energy to blog about. So I'm trying to write this down quickly (ha! you can tell, right? with all the awesome exposition?) so I can get back to getting eight billion things done. Also, so I don't forget what I did and can make it again. :)

Sorry no photos. Camera's dead and again, no time except for rambling frantically. Ahem. To the recipe!

Tuna Couscous Salad

1 can tuna (6 oz)
1/3 c couscous (I use organic whole wheat)
1 and 2/3 c water (divided)
~1/4 c frozen peas
~1 tsp lemon juice, or more to taste
~1/8 tsp oregano
~1/8 tsp dill
~1/8 tsp smoked paprika
~2 1/2 T olive oil, divided (I use organic extra virgin)
~1/2 tsp minced garlic (probably 1 clove, I use the jarred stuff)
fresh ground black pepper to taste

Put 2/3 c water, about 1/2 T olive oil, and couscous in a pot with a tight-fitting lid. Cover, bring to a boil, remove from heat, let sit while you assemble the rest of the stuff (5 minutes).

While that's boiling/sitting, rinse the tuna, put it in a medium-sized bowl with the olive oil, lemon juice, oregano, dill, smoked paprika, and garlic. Use a fork to stir it all together. Taste and adjust seasonings as desired.

By now your couscous should be ready. Use the fork to fluff it (just stir it up a little in the pot) before you scrape it all into the bowl. Rinse out the pot and put the other 1 c water and the 1/4 c peas in there. Cover, bring to a boil, remove from heat and let sit for 3-5 minutes. Drain and stir into the tuna couscous salad. Add fresh ground pepper, taste once more, make any last minute adjustments, and enjoy.

Serves 2, or one very hungry nursing mother. :)

Brunchy Joy

2010-04-23T15:05:00.000-07:00

Ever have an ingredient that you love so much, you just want to use it every day til it runs out? Me, too. Especially when it comes to fresh produce; we had asparagus in our meals four nights in a row last week. This week, I picked up two 2-pound bags of Klamath Pearl baby potatoes on sale at the health food store, and now when I'm not eating them, I'm dreaming up recipes for them.

This morning I was in a brunchy sort of mood. This happens to me fairly often, but today is grey and chilly and the baby and I snoozed much of the morning away together. It was 1:30 before I got around to eating my first meal, but I saw no reason to miss breakfast just because I'd had a lazy morning. Okay, really, I just wanted eggs. And potatoes. And hollandaise sauce, which I'd only tried to make once before and was a spectacular failure at the time.

The thing that's so scary about hollandaise sauce, to me, is that there are about 813 billion ways of making it, and everyone claims theirs is the classic, perfect, awesomest method. Even the ingredients, which I thought were pretty much de rigeur, vary from recipe to recipe; some use vinegar, others lemon juice, some use both. Some use water, some don't. Some use cayenne, others use paprika. How is a hollandaise novice supposed to know which is the right path?

So when I actually succeeded in making something that both looked and tasted like hollandaise sauce this afternoon, I was ridiculously pleased with myself. I'm not saying it's the only perfect no-substitutes way to do it, but hey, it worked. And it wasn't nearly as hard as my first failed attempt; it also used a completely different method, thanks to http://pinoycook.net/hollandaise-sauce/.

I also made a slightly fancier version of my normal homefries recipe, topped the homefries with two eggs, and then freakin' slathered the whole thing in hollandaise for a pile of brunchy joy. Here's how it all worked:

Ann's Homefries (the marvelous expanding recipe)

~ 1 lb potatoes per person; either russet potatoes, diced largish, or baby potatoes sliced into 1/4 inch rounds.

2 cloves garlic per person, minced
1 small shallot per person (fancy!), minced, or 1/3 white or yellow onion, diced
1 Tbs butter per person
salt, pepper, oregano and cayenne to taste; I use about 1/4 tsp salt, 1/8 tsp fresh ground pepper, 1/2 tsp oregano and 1/8 tsp cayenne per serving

Heat a large saucepan or cast-iron skillet over medium and melt the butter. Add the garlic & onions/shallots and let cook ~3 minutes, until you can smell the garlic. Add potatoes, stir to coat, add spices and stir again. Cover with a tight-fitting lid and set a timer for 20 minutes. Stir about every 5 minutes; reduce the heat to medium-low halfway through.

Test with a fork when the timer goes off; depending on how thick the potatoes are, you may need to cook them a bit longer. Turn off the heat and leave the cover on while you fry your eggs & make the hollandaise sauce, to keep the homefries warm.

I'm just going to assume you know how to fry an egg. I put mine in a frying pan over medium heat just before starting the hollandaise sauce so they were ready at about the same time, although I turned the heat off on the eggs (left-handed, so I wouldn't stop whisking the sauce) after about 7 minutes.

So, moving on to the piece de resistance...

Hollandaise Sauce

The tricks to not screwing up hollandaise sauce, in my opinion, are to get all your ingredients assembled, measured and ready at hand, and read through the recipe a few times so you know what you're doing before you start. Pausing in the middle of the process is not conducive to a happy hollandaise sauce. Make this as the very last step of your meal, because it should be served immediately. Also, this recipe is not recommended if you're prone to carpal tunnel, because you need to whisk constantly for about 10 minutes.

1/3 c butter, cut into 3 chunks
2 egg yolks
1 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs warm water
~1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (or more to taste)
~1/8 tsp salt (ditto)

Put about 2 inches of water in a pot; make sure it's low enough that your double boiler isn't touching the water. (If you don't have a double boiler, just put a heatproof bowl on top of the pot.) Heat on high, covered with the double boiler, until the water's about to boil, then reduce to low so it's just simmering.

Put one chunk of butter in the double boiler. When half of it's melted, add the two egg yolks and begin whisking nonstop. Once the butter's fully melted, add the second chunk of butter, still whisking nonstop. Once that butter has melted, add the third, and keep whisking til it melts.

Slowly pour in the lemon juice, whisking away, until it's all blended in. Slowly pour in the water, still whisking, and finally whisk in the cayenne and salt. Remove from heat and serve nownownow.

I've heard of hollandaise being served over broccoli, asparagus, artichokes, poached eggs, crabcakes topped with poached eggs, potatoes... I think your only limit is your imagination. Anything that would benefit from a creamy lemony sauce is a go. I bet it would be awesome on grilled salmon. I, for one, quite enjoyed the potatoes-eggs-hollandaise combo. If I could have added anything to my brunchy joy, it would have been some smoked salmon layered underneath the eggs and fresh dill to top it all off. But it was still quite tasty as pictured.

Two-Tone Couscous

2010-03-19T13:17:00.000-07:00

Since we had a baby, time's been at a premium. I am given yet another reason to love couscous; it's definitely new-parent friendly with its quick cooking time. Lately, I've been eating whole wheat couscous, which I was delighted to find doesn't taste very different at all from regular couscous. More whole grains are always a good thing.

This recipe is really simple and fast, I'm guessing under 20 minutes although I wasn't watching the clock. Sadly, I don't have a picture of the finished product, largely because my camera ran out of juice after I took my 8 billionth baby photo. But this dish is pretty much all red and tan, which is why I called it two-tone couscous; you could throw spinach in there and have a nice thematically-colored holiday meal, if you wanted (Christmas couscous! wouldn't that make your season merry and bright?).

Okay, anyway, speaking of lack of sleep (we were, weren't we?), I'd better get this recipe written down before the baby wakes up again.

Two-Tone Couscous

1/2 c whole wheat couscous
3/4 c water
2 T olive oil, divided
~ 3/4 tsp oregano
~ 1/2 tsp smoked paprika
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
1 large roasted red pepper, diced
1 can garbanzo beans
1 14 oz can diced tomatoes
~ 1 tsp lemon juice
~ 1/4 c fresh cilantro, chopped
fresh ground black pepper & salt to taste

Put the couscous, water and 1 T olive oil in a small pot, cover, and turn on high. As soon as steam starts coming out, remove from heat, stir once, and cover again. Let sit for at least 5 minutes.

In a medium saucepan, heat 1 T olive oil over medium heat. Add garlic and let cook for 3-5 minutes, until the garlic smells awesome. Add the roasted red pepper and oregano, stir, and let cook for another 2-3 minutes. Add the tomatoes, garbanzo beans, lemon juice, and smoked paprika, stir and cover. Let simmer for ~10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Taste, add pepper & salt, and adjust the other seasonings as desired.

Fluff the couscous with a fork and put in a serving bowl. Pour the sauce over the couscous. Top with cilantro.

Serves 2, unless one of you is breastfeeding, in which case it's all you.

The bread o' the Irish

2010-03-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite holidays of the year is fast approaching. Really, who doesn't love St. Patrick's Day? Let's drink some tasty stouts and listen to Celtic music. Sounds like a great plan to me.

In addition to some great beers and fast fiddlin', the rest of the world is lucky the Irish have shared another part of their culture: soda bread. I absolutely love Irish soda bread, especially when it's just out of the oven and you have some honey butter (or, separately, butter and honey) to put on it. So... tasty... *swoon*

I first posted this recipe way back in the summer of 2007, but thought I'd repost it in honor of the holiday. This recipe is adapted from the Moosewood Restaurant's Low-Fat Favorites cookbook and Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Breads.

Slainte!

Irish Soda Bread

1 1/2 c unbleached white flour
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 T packed brown sugar
4 T cold butter
1 egg
1 c buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 deg. F. Lightly oil baking sheet. Mix dry ingredients. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or using two knives.

In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, and pour the wet mixture into the well. Stir until evenly moist.

Turn onto lightly floured surface, kneading just a little. Mound on baking sheet into ~ 9" domed loaf. Lightly cut an X in the top with a sharp knife. Bake ~ 45 minutes.

Wintertime Classics: Chowder & Bread

2009-10-29T21:24:00.000-07:00

Technically, autumn lasts for nearly two more months. But since it's been snowy and below freezing here for the last two days, I'm going right ahead with the winter comfort foods.

The corn chowder is adapted from the world's greatest slow-cooker cookbook, Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow-Cooker. I cannot recommend this book highly enough. Go buy it. Now. But if you'd rather go ahead & make some dinner, you can use this recipe.

This is the second time I've used the French bread recipe, which is adapted from one I found on allrecipes.com. You've gotta love that site, because any recipe that's four and a half stars after nearly 400 ratings is probably going to work out pretty well for you.

Unfortunately, the bread I baked last night turned out to be a little, how you say... dense. Excessively solid, if you will, especially for French bread. That's what I get for trying to bake while dealing with stress; a professional baker once told me your emotions always come out in your bread, and over the years he's been proved right every time. Kids, don't bake angry. Or sad and stressed, as in my case. Or if you do, expect the result to be less than perfect.

But, y'know, it still looked pretty, and it was still good to dip in the soup and eat. It just wasn't the awesome I was hoping for. Anyway. Enough of my bread woes.

I'm also going to include my oft-requested recipe for seafood chowder, which I made up using a a few keys from a base recipe on cooks.com, and can say with no modesty meets unanimously with rave reviews. This is a Carolina-style chowder, which is to say it's broth-based. It's still nice and creamy, while being lactose-free. The secret is to stir mashed potatoes into your broth. Oh yes. Mashed potatoes make everything better; what, you doubted? You don't really need bread with the seafood chowder; it's extremely hearty and filling. It has that key seafood chowder quality, so wisely noted by my brother, of a high seafood-to-chowder ratio.

A similar technique is used in the corn chowder, which is also lactose-free but still nice and chowdery. I like this recipe because it's simple and satisfying. Enjoy, and stay warm.

Slow-Cooked Corn Chowder

1 Tbs olive oil
1 medium yellow onion, diced
4 c vegetable broth
1 large russet potato, peeled & diced
1/2 yellow bell pepper, diced
3 c frozen (or canned) corn
1/8 - 1/4 c flour
salt & pepper to taste

Heat the olive oil in a saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion, stir to coat with oil, cover and cook for about five minutes. Put the broth, potato, bell pepper, corn, salt and pepper in the slow cooker. When the onions are done, add those to the soup. Cook 6-8 hours on low or 3-4 hours on high.

Ladle most of the solids into a food processor, blender or food mill and puree; stir back into the soup. Add flour as needed to thicken the soup - start with less and keep stirring it in until the soup reaches your desired consistency. Taste and adjust the salt & pepper; garnish with fresh herbs like chives, if you want. Serve immediately, ideally with fresh-baked French bread. Serves 4.

Easy French Bread

Makes two loaves; if you don't want that much, it's easy to halve the recipe. You can make this with a hand mixer using dough hooks, if you don't have a stand mixer, but I think it'd be kind of a pain to make with any less equipment than that.

If you're trying to time this so it's fresh from the oven when the soup's ready, the bread takes about 3 hours.

~6 c flour (I recommend unbleached organic flour)
5 tsp (2 packets) yeast
2 tsp salt
2 c warm water (110-115 degrees F)
1 Tbs cornmeal
1 egg white, mixed with 1 Tbs water

Put 2 cups of the flour, the yeast and the salt into the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the 2 cups of warm water (make sure it's pretty darn close to hot, if you don't have a kitchen thermometer) and stir with a wooden spoon. Put on the stand mixer with a dough hook and mix on low until well blended, about 2-3 minutes. Let rest for 5-10 minutes. Remove from the stand mixer and stir as much of the rest of the flour in as you can, using the wooden spoon. Your dough should be smooth and elastic.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead with your hands for a few minutes, adding in a little more flour as needed to deal with any sticky spots. Don't knead more than 5-7 minutes. Form into a ball and put in a large, oiled bowl (I use olive oil), turning once to coat. Cover the bowl with a thin kitchen towel and - if you're a fellow high-altitude dweller - place in the fridge to rise until doubled, about 30-45 minutes. If you live below high altitude, place in a warm place to rise.

Turn the dough back out onto the lightly floured counter and divide it in half. Cover with a towel and let it rest for 10 minutes. (Dough is easily upset, okay? Give it a break.) If each half is not already roughly a 3D oval, make it so, and then roll it out til it's about 10-12 inches wide. You don't want the oval shape to be too pronounced, once it's rolled out, but you want tapered ends. (Now realizing I should have taken some pictures of the process, sorry.) Start with one of the long sides and roll it up, sealing the seam with water and by rolling it back and forth a few times. Tuck the ends under a little and make it look pretty, y'know, like a loaf of French bread is shaped. Grease a large baking sheet with a coating of butter and sprinkle the cornmeal over the sheet. Place your loaves on the sheet, mix up the egg white and water, and brush the mixture onto the loaves. Place the thin kitchen towel over the loaves and put it back in the fridge (or warm place, whatever your altitude) and let rise, about another 30-45 minutes or until roughly double.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Take a sharp knife and make 3-4 diagonal cuts in the tops of the loaves, about 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep. Bake the loaves for 20 minutes, then pull from the oven and brush again with the egg-white mixture. When you put the loaves back in the oven, turn the pan around 180 degrees so they bake more evenly (unless you're blessed with a perfectly-heated oven, which I sincerely hope you appreciate and I totally don't even want to hear about). Bake for another 15-20 minutes until they test done (they'll sound hollow when you flick them on the underside of the loaf). If they're browning too quickly, just put a loose sheet of aluminum foil over them. Remove from oven & cool on a wire rack.

Voila les baguettes!

Ann's Fabulous Seafood Chowder

This makes a ton of chowder. Have a party of, say, 6-8 friends over. Everyone will love you.

4 c vegetable broth
2 8 oz bottles clam juice
4 Tbs olive oil
4-6 cloves garlic, minced
1 large yellow onion, diced
between half and a whole bottle of Bac-o's (or the equivalent of another form of fake bacon or real bacon. I like Bac-o's, what can I say.)
2 medium-large russet potatoes, peeled and diced
1-2 large carrots, diced
34-40+ oz seafood. I like to use 2 cans of baby clams, 2 cans of premium crab, 2 tins of smoked or regular oysters and a jar of lobster in water that I think is 12-16 oz (this latter is pricey, but oh, sooooo good). You could also throw in some canned salmon if you wanted. You can vary this up according to your preference & make it all about the clams, clams & crab, whatever floats your boat. (Ha! Boats! Chowder! ...Sigh.) The key is to make sure you have a whole lot of seafood, in whatever combination.
salt, pepper & cayenne to taste

Stovetop:
Using a medium pot, set the potatoes to steam or boil for 15-20 minutes. Heat the olive oil in a large soup pot over medium. Add the garlic, onion and carrots, stir to coat, cover and let cook for 5-10 minutes, until the onions are translucent. Add the broth, clam juice, bacos, and seafood. Add salt, pepper & cayenne to taste. Bring to a low boil, then reduce to simmer and cover. When the potatoes are ready, mash them with about 1/2 T butter and stir them into the soup. Cover again; simmer for an hour total, until the carrots are soft and all the flavors are nicely blended. Taste and adjust salt & pepper as needed.

Slow-Cooker:
Using a medium pot, set the potatoes to steam or boil for 15-20 minutes. Heat the olive oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Add the garlic, onion and carrots, stir to coat, cover and let cook for 5-10 minutes, until the onions are translucent and the carrots are fairly tender.
In the meantime, put the broth, clam juice, bacos and seafood in the slow cooker. Add the garlic, onion & carrots when they're ready. Stir in the mashed potatoes. Add salt, pepper & cayenne to taste. Cover and cook on low for 6-8 hours or on high for 3-4 hours.

Irished up, or my divine kitchen comedy

2009-09-28T09:22:00.001-07:00

Some of my favorite times from childhood were spent listening to my grandpa sing Irish and American folksongs. Grandpa had the true Irish tenor, and a seemingly endless repertoire. Naturally we had our family favorites, one of which was a song we knew as "Clancy Lowered the Boom". It starts like this:

Oh, Clancy was a peaceful man, and you know what I mean -
the cops picked up the pieces, when Clancy left the scene...

Or in modern parlance, he opened a big ol' can o' whup-ass. The refrain began, "Whenever they got his Irish up, Clancy lowered the boom!" My family has always related well to this song. We're a pretty peaceable sort, but if you get our Irish up, you'd best be getting out of the way shortly thereafter or else prepare to feel the wrath.

In addition to our temper - and probably closely linked - we tend to have a generous (by which I mean excessive) streak of good old Irish stubbornness. I have often found, when taking on grand new baking or cooking experiments, that said stubbornness is possibly as valuable a kitchen amenity as, say, the fridge. Similarly taken for granted, and yet indispensable, it's always there when I need it. This was never more true than on a recent Sunday, when it seemed like a good idea to spend the day making apple butter and cinnamon swirl bread. I had no idea that I was embarking on a journey that would make Dante Alighieri's Divine Comedy look like a day in the park.

I got up at 8 a.m., knowing that the slow-cooker apple butter recipe called for 10 hours of cooking time, followed by straining the concoction. "No problem!" I ~~naively~~ optimistically thought. "I can probably still be done by 7:30." On Saturday afternoon, I'd picked a bunch of apples from the two trees in our yard, feeling rather domestic-pioneer-y as I did so. I noticed there weren't many apples without souvenirs from bugs or birds, but figured it wouldn't be that hard to cut around them.

And no, it's not that hard to cut around yucky bits in apples, but the volume can be just a tad daunting - especially when your goal is to end up with three pounds of usable apple bits. An hour later, my shoulders already were killing me from hunching over the cutting board, I'd gone through all the best-looking apples, and I still only had two-thirds of the amount that I needed. My husband heard me groaning in dismay, and came to see what was wrong. I immediately sent him out to the apple trees to pick the apples I couldn't reach the day before. He returned with another bagful, wished me luck and left the house as quickly as possible, before he could be pressed into further labor.

It was 10:30 a.m. by the time I had my three pounds of apples, and I mixed them up with the other necessary ingredients, turned the slow cooker on, and went to lie on the couch with a good mystery novel and my thoughts of deep, deep hatred for prepping apples. "Well, that's fine," I told myself. "I can probably still be done by 9:30. That's not so bad."

Strategically placed denial is another key tool in the cook's arsenal, in my opinion. No sense getting discouraged an eighth of the way into your project. Disgruntled, fine, that just taps into both the Irish temper and stubbornness, quickly resulting in a staunch determination to Not Let the Recipe Win. Discouragement? Avoid it at all costs; recipes, like wild animals, can smell fear.

Thankfully, how quickly we forget: three hours later, the apples were smelling really good, and I was even backing off my earlier vow to never make anything apple-related ever again. I'd done some chores and was feeling like a good person, a successful person, the kind of person who can work a full-time job, take on lengthy cooking projects over the weekend, and still keep her house relatively clean.

It was around 4:30 when I decided I should get started on the cinnamon swirl bread. The apples, now smelling absolutely divine, still had two hours to go before phase 2 of their cooking process. When I'd found the recipe for the cinnamon swirl bread, I somehow translated the fact that it came from Martha Stewart to mean "ooh, this will taste yummy" instead of (or including) "oh, this will be a royal pain in the ass". Again, I think this was my brain rather mercifully dispensing some well-placed denial, much as it doles out endorphins to block pain, and for a similar reason.

So, away I went. I should note here that I love baking. It's like alchemy, except you get to eat the resulting gold. I love getting out all the necessary ingredients and measuring cups and equipment, and arranging them on the counter so I can dive into the recipe and have everything I need at hand. I love the smell of yeast yeasting, or whatever you call it when it starts to bubble. I love the precision of it, and the mess, putting the dough in the refrigerator to rise (we're at high altitude, so you have to let dough rise in the fridge) and only then noticing that half the kitchen and much of myself are covered in flour.

And in the early stages of Martha's recipe, everything seemed to go swimmingly. The yeast yeasted, the dough mixed perfectly, I kneaded in cinnamon as instructed and savored the smell. I lightly oiled the mixing bowl where the dough would rise, covered it with a thin kitchen towel, put it in the fridge to rise for an hour and noticed that the second phases of the apple butter and bread were due to coincide within five minutes of each other. This meant I had an hour to make and eat dinner before getting back into the apple-butter-and-cinnamon-bread process.

It was as I made dinner (falafel and couscous with a roasted tomato sauce) that I noiced my feet were starting to hurt. As I've mentioned, I'm Irish, not Spartan. I'm not one to suffer in silence. (No, really?!) My mood correspondingly began to sour a bit, and when the first few falafel fell apart in the frying pan, I swore at them with all my Celtic inventiveness. At this point we were 10 hours into the cooking process, and I was starting to wish I'd picked something easier to bring to the book club "locavore" feast (we read Barbara Kingsolver's 'Animal, Vegetable, Miracle' this month, hence the importance of using bug-savored apples from our trees and making homemade bread instead of buying nice un-bug-touched apples and cinnamon bread at the grocery store).

But just as dinner was ready, my husband came home, exclaiming (wisely) how great it smelled in the house, and taste-testing the apples with hearty appreciation. Mollified, I ate my dinner and mentally gathered myself for the next round of cooking and baking.

The apples were easy; add the rest of the spices, stir, and cook on high uncovered for two more hours. The hard part was keeping my husband from eating them all while they were still cooking, especially now that they were uncovered. The bread wasn't difficult, either - just needed to pat it out and roll it up again, then put it back in the fridge to rise for another 40 minutes. I tried not to dwell on the fact that my neck, shoulders, back and feet all hurt by this point, and that there was a hell of a lot of kitchen clean-up to do when I'd really rather be on the couch with my book and a movie in the background. Fortunately, sufficient groaning at the sink prompted my hubby to come do the rest of the dishes for me. I took a break.

Then came the fun part with the bread (which was now three and a half hours into its own process - instant gratification, baking is not). I mixed cinnamon, sugar and water; beat an egg; divided and rolled out the dough; brushed the dough with the egg; and then covered it in the cinnamon-sugar mixture using a method remarkably similar to finger-painting. It looked picture-perfect, and I thought with more than a touch of smugness, "Yeah, you think you're so badass, Martha. What's so hard about this?"

*droll chuckle* Oh, what fools we mortals be. Here's a little tip: never, never, never think you have out-domestic-goddessed Martha. She has a vicious suckerpunch hidden in nearly every recipe.

Anyway. The filling was slathered on the dough, the dough was rolled up and put into the greased loaf pans, the pans were covered again with the towel and put back in the fridge to "rest" for 30 minutes. I stifled my resentment ("Oh, sure, the dough gets to rest. It must be exhausted. I'll just keep going here, shall I? No, don't mind me, I'll just be over here slaving away... of my own idiotic volition...") and tackled the next step in the apple butter, and the one that would nearly break me: straining it.

See, my apple butter recipe dictated leaving the skin on while the apples cook, because the pectin helps the apple butter thicken, supposedly. Then, it blithely instructs, just strain it through a fine mesh strainer or use a food mill to remove the skins from the apples.

I wonder, sometimes, if the authors of cookbooks have themselves a good laugh over these innocuous little sentences sprinkled throughout their books. You know, the sentences that take it for granted you have the appropriate equipment to prevent one sentence of instruction from turning into a two-and-a-half hour nightmare.

See, I'd just sort of glossed over that sentence originally, figuring that a food mill couldn't be much different from a food processor. But eleven and a half hours later, when it came to the point of action, a nagging doubt arose in my mind. I googled "difference between food mill and food processor," and learned to my dismay that a food mill has a key difference from a food processor, somehow involving a strainer in its mechanics.

The other problem was that the only fine-mesh strainer I have is about four inches in diameter; I'd thrown away the larger ones years ago and never replaced them, because I almost never used them. "Who," I blithely thought then, "needs a strainer when you have a colander? Big deal!" Oh, yes, I was young and foolish then; and I felt old and foolish now.

So I got out my comically small strainer, shooting dark, dubious glances at the three pounds of apple butter mush waiting to be strained of its bits of peel. I got out a couple different sizes of mixing bowls into which I could strain the mixture. And I figured out in about a minute and a half that the four-inch strainer was seriously, utterly, emphatically not going to do the trick.

So I turned to ye olde trusty colander, the one I forsook the strainers to use, all those years ago. Now I was using the stupid little fine-mesh strainer (which, even if it had been of a useful size, still would have been ridiculously hard to strain the apple butter through, since apple butter is really rather thick and fine mesh is, well, rather fine) to push the apple butter through the holes in the colander. It took maybe five minutes to give up on this method, so it was perhaps an improvement on effort #1, but still possessed a sort of Charlie Chaplin/Keystone Kops element. Unfortunately, more than twelve hours into the apple butter process, my sense of humor was not one of the kitchen tools still at my disposal. The Irish temper and stubbornness were about all I had left to me.

The problem was that the strainer ladle thingy had a long, straight handle on it that didn't work with the shape of the colander. 'What I really need is something flat-bottomed that I can press straight down on,' I thought, dredging my bleary mind for an idea. And through the fog emerged a thought: my trusty potato masher. It's an oval with holes in the bottom, rather than one of those condensed-wavelength looking ones, and came closer to fitting the bill than any other utensil in my kitchen.

It was around this time that I realized my cinnamon swirl bread dough must be fully rested and needed to go in the preheated oven. I shoved it in there, set the timer for 45 minutes, and turned back to the apple butter problem with a grim determination. There was no way on earth I was going to let this recipe win.

And so for about an hour, I used my potato masher and every expletive in my vocabulary to strain the apple butter through the colander. The masher kept getting covered with the bits of peel, and I'd have to stop about every five minutes to pull them off and toss them in the 'discard' bowl, marvelling at just how sticky and glue-like apple butter could be. I was making progress, albeit weary, messy, frustratingly slow and inefficient progress, and strained about half the apple butter this way.

It was at some point during this process that I realized black smoke was pouring forth from the oven. As you might imagine, this was pretty much the absolute last thing I wanted to see at this point. Also, my husband had fallen asleep by this time, and if there's one thing that embarrasses a cook, it's waking people up with the smoke alarm after you've been cooking and baking for nigh on 12 hours. I ran to the oven to find that the filling of Martha's effing bread (note that this is all Martha Stewart's fault, not mine) had somehow expanded and overflowed from the loaf pans and was dripping cinnamon-sugar onto the bottom of the oven, where it was burning to an icky, oozy, foul-smelling crisp.

Well, I wasn't about to stop baking the bread, not after coming this far. I snagged my hot pads, yanked the bottom rack out, grabbed a metal spatula, scraped as much of the crap off the bottom of the oven as I could - maneuvering around the 425-degree heating thingy, and miraculously avoiding burning myself, an event notable for its rarity - threw the loaf pans on a large baking sheet to catch the rest of the dripping crap before it hit the oven floor, and added a few minutes onto the timer to make up for the oven door being open for so long.

I may or may not have invented a few new expletives during this process. The point is, my Irish was well and fully up, and I turned back to the apple butter process with the fury of a woman who has just about reached her breaking point. Now, remember: you cannot let the recipe break you; that constitutes it winning. That's why it's important to temper the Irish fury with stubbornness, so you don't lose it to the point of being unconstructive. I found myself almost lethally calm, instead, and looked at the bizarre assortment of kitchen tools and bowls that had accumulated on the table during the straining process.

'What I really need,' I thought, my mind more awake now that I'd had a near-kitchen-fire to get my adrenaline going, 'is something flat-bottomed, without holes in it, that I can push straight down on.' And as if an invisible hand had smacked me upside the head, I looked at the cabinet across the room so fast I almost got whiplash.

The cabinet I was looking at is full of pint glasses. Flat-bottomed pint glasses. Flat-bottomed pint glasses without holes in them, that you can push straight down on.

A small - okay, a large - part of me wanted to sit down at the kitchen table, put my head in my hands, and laugh, or cry, or possibly both. I was just the tiniest bit frustrated that this idea had not occurred to me about two hours prior. But endless optimism is also an essential cook's tool, right up there with a semi-violent temper and bullheaded stubbornness, and I tried to focus what energy I had left on being glad that I had finally thought of this solution.

Sure enough, pint glass in hand, I strained the rest of the apple butter in less than half an hour. Let's not dwell on the fact that if I'd only been smart enough to start with this method, it would have taken perhaps 45 minutes to an hour, instead of three times that long. The point is, I finished the apple butter at almost exactly the same time as the cinnamon swirl bread, the oven timer woke up my husband instead of the smoke alarm, and together we ate an entire loaf of bread slathered in apple butter at eleven o'clock at night.

And it was absolutely delicious.

Fourteen hours. Two jars of apple butter, three loaves of cinnamon swirl bread. I'd like to think we ate another jar's worth of apple butter during the cooking process and immediately after finishing. Was it worth it? Yes. If only because I won.

If, after reading this, you actually want to try this yourself - and if so, I hope that reading my mistakes will save you several hours of agony - here are the recipes I used. Having a food mill (or a pint glass) handy will save you about two hours; buying locally grown, non-bug-appropriated apples at the farmer's market or grocery store will save you at least another hour in prep time. I sincerely wish you the best of luck, and may the Force (or the Irish) be with you.

Literally All-Day Apple Butter (Adapted from 'Fresh from the Vegetarian Slow Cooker')

3 lbs cooking apples (I used Jonathan apples), cored, left unpeeled, and cut into eighths

1 c firmly packed light brown sugar

3/4 c apple cider vinegar

~ 2 tsp honey

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1 whole cinnamon stick

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

Combine apples, brown sugar, apple cider vinegar and honey in your slow cooker. Cover and cook on low for 8 hours, until apples are very soft.

Remove the lid, stir in the spices, set heat to high. Cook uncovered for 2 hours, stirring halfway through.

Strain the apples, removing the cinnamon stick and the apple peels. Use whatever method works for you... allow me to recommend a food mill, preferably, or a colander and pint glass in a pinch.

Once the apple butter's cooled to room temperature, you can store it in the fridge in tightly-lidded clean jars without having to actually go through the canning process. It should keep for several weeks.

Cinnamon Swirl Bread (from http://www.honeyandjam.com/, which evidently got it from a Martha Stewart cookbook)

1 envelope (2 1/4 tsp) active dry yeast

2 cups warm milk (~ 110 degrees)

6 - 6 ½ cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting

1 stick butter at room temperature, cut into pieces

½ cup sugar

2 eggs, plus 1 egg, lightly beaten

2 ½ tsp coarse salt

1 Tbs ground cinnamon

1 ½ cups sugar

2 Tbs ground cinnamon

In the bowl of an electric mixer, sprinkle the yeast over the warm milk and whisk to combine. Let sit for 5-10 minutes to bubble. Add the flour, butter, 1/2 c sugar, 2 eggs, and salt. Attach bowl to mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix on low until all the ingredients are well combined, about 3 minutes. Increase speed to medium-low, and continue to mix until the dough is completely smooth and pulls away from the sides of the bowl, about 3 minutes more.

Turn out the dough on a lightly floured surface and pat into a big round. Sprinkle with 1 Tbs cinnamon and knead and fold until just incorporated. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with a thin kitchen towel. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 hour (if at high altitude, let rise in refrigerator; may take slightly longer to rise, but rising in the fridge is important for maintaining the gluten structure at altitude).

Return the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and pat into a round again. Fold the bottom third of the dough up, the top third down and the right and left sizes over, pressing down the seal; rolling the dough seal-side down on the counter a bit can help also. Return the dough into the bowl and let rise in the fridge again until doubled in bulk, about 40 minutes.

Make the filling by combining 1 1/2 c sugar and 2 Tbs cinnamon with 2 Tbs water in a small bowl. Generously butter two 9 by 5 inch loaf pans (or one 9 x 5 loaf pan and two mini-loaf pans, as I did) and set aside.

Return the dough to a lightly floured work surface, and divide in half (if making one large and two mini-loaves, divide in half, then divide one of the halves in half again). Roll each portion out into a rectangle, a bit bigger than your loaf pans. Brush with the beaten egg and smooth a uniform layer of the filling over the dough.

With the short end of the rectangle facing you, fold in both of the long sides of the dough. Roll the dough towards you, gently pressing to form a log. Roll back and forth to seal the seam. Place loaves in the prepared pans. Cover loosely with thin kitchen towel, and let rest in a warm place (or fridge, at altitude), about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425°F.

Brush the tops of the loaves with the rest of the beaten egg, and transfer pans to the oven (for god's sake, place them on a baking sheet!!!). Bake on rack in the middle of the oven, rotating pans halfway through, until loaves are golden brown, about 45 minutes. Check about halfway through - if the tops are browning too quickly, tent with aluminium foil. Turn out the bread onto a wire rack to cool completely before slicing. The bread can be kept wrapped in aluminum foil up to 4 days.

I Heart Artichoke Hearts

2009-09-12T17:16:00.000-07:00

Ain't nothin' low-fat about it... but somehow I don't think you'll regret making this recipe. And aside from the fat content (about six tablespoons of olive oil and two tablespoons of butter), it's really quite nutritious. This honestly might be one of the tastiest recipes I've ever invented, which is why I'm writing it down while still eating it, so I can remake it for future joy.

And yes, it's another couscous recipe. What can I say - I'm into couscous. It would probably be pretty good over rice or pasta, but using couscous does make it a lot easier to focus on concocting this delectable sauce.

As always, most measurements are approximate and to taste.

Couscous with Artichoke Heart Melange

1/2 c water

1/2 c couscous

~ 6 T extra virgin olive oil

2 T butter

~ 2 1/2 t lemon juice

~ 1 t white wine vinegar

3-4 cloves garlic, minced

1/2 medium white onion, diced

~ 1 T diced shallot

~ 1 T dried oregano

~ 1/2 t powdered ginger

~ 1 t fresh basil, chopped

1 can artichoke hearts (unmarinated)

1 can garbanzo beans

~ 2-3 T fresh cilantro, chopped

~ 1/2 c grape or cherry tomatoes, halved

~ 3 T pine nuts

fresh ground black pepper to taste

Prep the garlic, onion, shallot, artichoke hearts, tomatoes and cilantro. Lightly toast the pine nuts.

Bring the water to a boil with a dash of olive oil. Stir in the couscous, cover, remove from heat and let sit while you make the sauce.

Put the tomatoes, cilantro, and pine nuts in a small bowl and douse with a healthy squirt of lemon juice, about 1 tsp. Stir up and set aside while you make the rest of the sauce.

In a cast iron saucepan (preferably cast iron, anyway), heat about 2 Tbs olive oil over medium to medium low heat. Add the garlic, onion, and shallot, and stir to coat with oil. Cook about five minutes until translucent. Add the butter and let it melt.

Add the artichoke hearts, oregano, ginger, basil, and pepper, about 1/2 to 1 tsp lemon juice (start smaller and adjust to taste), and the white wine vinegar, and stir it up. Taste and adjust your spices. Let it simmer for about ten minutes.

Add the garbanzo beans, pour about 2 more Tbs olive oil on there, and do another round of black pepper over top, then stir it up. Taste again and adjust whatever needs adjusting. Reduce heat to low, cover, and let simmer for about five more minutes.

Get out your favorite serving bowl. Fluff the couscous with a fork and put it in the bowl as your bottom layer. Take the artichoke heart-garbanzo bean sauce and add that as your middle layer. Use the tomato-cilantro-pine nuts as your top layer.

Makes a hearty dinner for two.

Couscous with garbanzo beans & roasted red pepper vinaigrette

2009-08-24T17:41:00.000-07:00

Oh, for crying out loud. This was so easy to make and tastes so yummy, it feels like cheating. Once again I must proclaim my love for couscous and my love for this recently discovered roasted red pepper vinaigrette.

You know what else would be really good in this recipe? Duh: ARTICHOKE HEARTS. Unfortunately, I didn't have any on hand. Pine nuts would also be a nice stir-in, if you have those handy. It's still pretty darn good just plain and simple, though. The fresh garlic gives it quite a punch; I definitely would not use more than 1 clove's worth.

I was really tired when I got home from work, and I'm glad this recipe occurred to me, because I think it took all of 20 minutes to make - and 10 of that was boiling water. Seriously.

Couscous with garbanzo beans & roasted red pepper vinaigrette

1 cup couscous
1 cup water
dash olive oil
1 can garbanzo beans
1 clove of garlic, minced
roasted red pepper vinaigrette (see this post)

Boil the water with the olive oil and a dash of sea salt, also, if desired. Stir the couscous into the water, cover and remove from heat. Let sit covered while you make the rest of the recipe.

Rinse the garbanzo beans and put them in a large bowl. Stir the minced garlic in with the beans. Make the red pepper vinaigrette. When that's done, check on your couscous; it should be good to go (it's ready when it's absorbed all the water). Fluff it with a fork before you top the bean mixture with it, then pour the vinaigrette all over the top and mix it up. Can serve warm or cold.

Makes 4 servings.

Summery pasta salad with roasted red pepper vinaigrette

2009-08-17T20:07:00.001-07:00

Am I the only one for whom making a vinaigrette provides an inordinate sense of accomplishment? No? Oh, good.

My best friend and I agreed today that the best recipes are Frankensteined recipes, patched together from a bevy of sources. I will admit quite frankly that the only reason this pasta salad is so tasty is because of this recipe from http://www.smittenkitchen.com/, which is basically the greatest food blog on the face of the planet, and you should immediately desert this particular blog and go over there and lose yourself in a multitude of witty writing, gorgeous photography and incredible recipes.

But when you come back, you might enjoy considering my own pasta salad recipe, which as I say is based on the recipe linked above, but with fewer pretty photos and more shortcuts and artichoke hearts involved. For example, I am, if nothing else, lazy, so rather than buying peas in the pod and shelling them, I bought (organic) frozen peas and threw them in the pot of boiling water when the pasta was almost done cooking.

Anyway, I'm getting ahead of myself. The real genius of this recipe (which again I entirely credit to the phenomenally talented Deb) is the roasted red pepper vinaigrette. Smittenkitchen has taught me that it's not necessarily that hard to make a vinaigrette, and that it is almost ridiculously fulfilling. Seriously, I was quoting "Ozymandias" to my dogs, who gave me looks of appropriate confusion and skeptical good-humored tolerance.

Enough with my foodie freakout, though. Have a recipe. Or two, technically. As Deb points out, the vinaigrette would be fabulous on other foods, including salad, and I'm betting crab cakes as well. And you know how I feel about crab cakes.

Summery Pasta Salad with Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette

1 lb pasta shells

1 c organic frozen peas

1/2 c chopped artichoke hearts (marinated or non-marinated, take your pick; I sort of like the non-marinated with this recipe, because it lets the vinaigrette's flavor come through better)

~1 Tbs fresh chives, chopped

Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette, recipe follows

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the pasta, cooking according to the directions on the package. When the pasta has about three minutes left, add the frozen peas to the boiling water. Drain, rinse with cold water, and put into a large serving bowl. Add the chopped artichoke hearts and chives, pour the vinaigrette over all, and stir it up, little darlin'. Devour.

Roasted Red Pepper Vinaigrette

1 roasted red bell pepper (you can roast a red bell pepper yourself, which takes a really long time, or you can buy red bell peppers already roasted in handy-dandy jars at the supermarket. What a country! Just pull enough roasted pepper out of the jar until it looks like approximately a full bell pepper, maybe a little more.)

1-2 Tbs chopped shallot (one small shallot) (my small shallot turned out to be 2 Tbs, Deb's was 1)

2-4 Tbs red wine vinegar, depending on how much you like red wine vinegar (I used 4 Tbs)

1/4 c olive oil

salt & fresh ground pepper to taste

Use a food processor or blender to puree the bell pepper. Add the rest of the ingredients and puree until smooth. Taste & add more of various ingredients as preferred. : )

I've been missing out!

2009-07-26T12:22:00.000-07:00

So this morning, I had a few friends over for brunch, and my friend Sara brought over a hash brown casserole that completely rocked my world. How have I missed the joy that is hash brown casserole for all these years? I feel deprived.

Thus, while I haven't made it yet, I feel compelled to share the recipe just in case there are others who also have not yet discovered this culinary phenomenon. (Judging by the number of hash brown casserole recipes already out there on the interwebs, I apparently am the last to know, but hey.)

This is a vegetarian version, obviously; Sara was incredibly thoughtful and made a portion for me without cheese, which rocked.

I'm hoping this is close to what Sara made, because she told me the ingredients and, like a fool, I didn't write them down til later. I'm also guessing at quantities based on the other recipes I found online.

Hash Brown Casserole

1 bag frozen hash browns (2 lbs, thawed)
1 can cream of mushroom soup
2 c sour cream (1 16 oz container)
1/2 to 1 c chopped onion
1 1/2 c vegetarian sausage
1 c cheddar cheese (optional for me...)
1-2 c crushed cornflakes
salt & pepper to taste

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Mix all the ingredients except the cornflakes together in a bowl. Grease a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Pour the mixture in, then top with the cornflakes. Bake for one hour. Try not to faint from happiness.

Note: I saw another recipe that included chopped fresh chives, which sounded like a good idea to me. I'd guess 2-4 T. I'd probably also throw some cayenne in there with the salt and pepper, because I pretty much put cayenne, salt & pepper in about 80% of the dishes I cook. But that's just me. : )

This one's for Neela : )

2009-07-22T17:51:00.000-07:00

So my friend Neela and I went to school together from 5th through 12th grade. Today, she informed me that my mom makes the best tuna casserole ever, and that she's been trying to recreate it for the last 10 years to no avail. Did I have the recipe?

I am slightly embarrassed to say that I don't even remember eating this casserole - shocking to say the least, especially since it involves tater tots, which normally struck a resonating chord in my young life. But having gotten the recipe from Mom, I have to say, it does sound delicious. I'm going to have to make up for the startling gap in my childhood memory by making it in the near future.

Thanks, Neela, for reuniting me with this long-lost culinary delight!

Mom notes, "These can sizes are probably not exactly what's sold today--I first made this recipe in 1974!"

Update: I just made this for the first time and made several changes to it, basically just updating it from 1974 to 2010 food culture, and increasing the overall quantity a bit. It is soooo tasty. Go Mom!

Skipper's Casserole

1/4 cup butter or margarine
1/4 cup chopped onions
3 Tablespoons flour
1.5 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon dill
1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 can (13 oz. ) evaporated milk
1 can (4 oz.) mushrooms
2-3 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
2 cans (6.5 oz. each) chunk light tuna, drained and flaked
1 package (10 oz.) frozen peas, partially defrosted and broken apart
1 package (16 oz.) tater tots

~ Updated ingredients ~
1/4 cup butter
1/2 yellow onion, diced
3 Tablespoons flour
2 teaspoons salt
1/4 teaspoon dill (I substitute marjoram when out of dill)
1 teaspoon pepper

1 can (13 oz. ) evaporated milk
1 8-oz carton button mushrooms, sliced
I Tablespoon Worcestershire sauce
1 teaspoon lemon juice
2 Tablespoons white wine vinegar
2 Tablespoons water
2 12-oz cans chunk light tuna, drained and flaked
~1/2 of a 16-oz package frozen peas, partially defrosted and broken apart
up to 2 packages (32 oz. total) tater tots (I used about 1 and 2/3rds pkgs, enough to cover with a single layer)

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Grease a 2-quart oblong casserole.
2. In a 2-quart saucepan over medium-low heat, melt butter and cook onion until tender but not brown.
3. Stir in flour, salt, pepper, and dill until blended. Gradually stir in evaporated milk, Worcestershire sauce, lemon juice, white wine vinegar and water. Cook, stirring constantly, until smooth and thickened.
4. Add the tuna, peas, and mushrooms. Simmer for 5-10 minutes. Spoon mixture into casserole dish.
5. Arrange frozen tater tots in a single layer on top. Bake for 30 minutes or until hot and bubbly in the center.

Makes 6-8 servings. (Consistently a big hit at potlucks, too.)

Experimentation pays off.

2009-03-01T20:08:00.000-08:00

Tonight I attempted something entirely new, with decent success, if I do say so. I made red lentil & rice cakes, with a curried salsa topping. I was pretty pleased with it, and my hubby proclaimed it one of my better inventions, so I'm posting the recipe.

The base recipe I adapted this from - combined from a couple of random blogs - was for 6 people, so there are some really small quantities in here because I pared it down for 2. Trust me, it made ample for two people. The sauce could involve infinite variations; have fun. It sounds complicated, but it's really not that hard.

The recipe as it stands is non-dairy and low-fat.

Ann's Red Lentils & Rice Cakes

1 1/2 c water
1/3 c red lentils
1/4 c jasmati rice
1 bay leaf
pinch of saffron
~1 1/2 tsp curry powder (I used a combination of red & madras curry, not all at once)
3 egg whites, lightly beaten
1 slice of bread, shredded into crumbs & dried out/toasted

1 Tbs olive oil
1/2 bell pepper, red, orange, or yellow; diced
1 medium tomato, diced
1/2 red onion, minced
1-2 tsp honey
2-3 cloves minced garlic
black pepper
salt
1/2 tsp ground ginger, or 1 tsp fresh
~1/4 tsp vindaloo powder
~1/4 tsp tumeric
~1/8 fennel seed
small pinch of fenugreek seed

Put the water, lentils, 1 tsp curry powder and the bay leaf in a saucepan to boil over high heat with a tight-fitting lid. Reduce heat as soon as it starts boiling, and after two minutes add the rice, then set the timer to 20 minutes. Meanwhile, soak the saffron in about 2 teaspoons of water for 10 minutes, then add to the lentils/rice mixture. Toast the breadcrumbs. Lightly beat the eggs in a small bowl.

Prep the tomato, red onion & bell pepper for the sauce. Stir up about a teaspoon of olive oil and all the tomato, onion, honey, ginger, salt, and black pepper, and let it sit while you make the rest of the dinner.

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, heat the rest of the olive oil, then add the fennel and fenugreek seed, the minced garlic, bell pepper, rest of the curry powder, vindaloo powder, and tumeric, stirring frequently. Cook for 3-5 minutes, then remove from heat.

Once the timer's gone off for the lentils & rice, if it's still pretty wet, let it cook down a little. Once it's sufficiently dry - which is still pretty wet, but thick - add to a food processor with the bell pepper sauce, eggs, and breadcrumbs. Pulse for about 30 seconds, stir down, pulse again.

Heat a cast-iron skillet over medium heat. Add the lentil mixture in about quarter-cup scoops and spread out into a cake about 1/4 inch thick. Cook about 5-ish minutes per side, until golden brown on each. Serve topped with the tomato-red onion mixture. Makes 4 cakes per person.

Breakfast hors d'oeuvres, anyone?

2009-02-22T21:27:00.001-08:00

I threw a brunch party and was surprised, when creating the menu, at the lack of breakfast hors d'oeuvres out there. In addition to serving french toast fingers and silver dollar pancakes, I invented a couple bagel-based treats that were pretty easy & tasty. Next time, I want to experiment with mini quiches.

Smoked Salmon Breakfast Tapas

everything bagels
salmon cream cheese
smoked salmon
red onion, minced/food processed
capers
fresh dill, chopped
lemon juice

Toast an everything bagel, spread cream cheese on both sides, then assemble all the rest of the ingredients like a sandwich. I like to layer it by first putting the capers, red onion, & dill, then covering that with the smoked salmon and sprinkling the lemon juice on top of that. Cut into fourths with a serrated knife and serve.

Sweet Breakfast Tapas

plain bagels
honey nut cream cheese
dried cranberries
crushed walnuts
honey

Mix up your cranberries & walnuts together so you can just grab handfuls. Toast a plain bagel, spread the cream cheese on both halves, top one half with the cranberries & walnuts & drizzle a little honey on top. Top with the other bagel half & cut into fourths with a serrated knife.

(Silver Dollar) Pancakes

We also had silver dollar pancakes & french toast sticks. My french toast recipe's already on this blog, here, but here's a good pancake recipe, adapted from the mother of American cooking, Betty Crocker:

1 c flour
1 egg
1 tbs granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c half and half or milk
1/4 c water (once you've mixed it up, add more milk/water as needed to reach your preferred consistency - I like it, say, medium runny)

Get all the ingredients & your baking equipment out, starting with the egg so it can get closer to room temperature. Crack the egg in a small bowl and whisk it til it's light yellow & foamy. In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients and make a little well in the middle. Pour the egg into the well & whisk it up just til mixed. Add the milk & water & mix just til it's mostly smooth - you don't want to overmix.

For silver dollar pancakes, use a quarter-cup measure and a light hand; it's really more like an eighth of a cup per pancake. I like to make pancakes on a cast iron griddle over medium heat.

Man, some people!! ; )

2009-02-18T11:40:00.000-08:00

My dear friend Pam has been after me to update this blog for some time. I admit, I hadn't realized a full six weeks had flitted by - probably because I mentally write this blog all the time, since I am obsessed with good food.

SO, dearest Pammie, and other foodie friends, here's a new post for you. I'm thinking seafood is always a good topic. Actually, Pam and I made some crabcakes and this absolutely divine sauce last week, so let's talk about that.

For my crabcakes recipe, click here. There are also other sauce recipes on this post.

For the sauce, I was fortunate to have on hand some gorgeous, organic, local, vine-ripened yellow and red tomatoes. You can pretty much do anything if you have plenty of butter and dill on hand, and we basically added various produce from the fridge. Hopefully I'm not forgetting anything... I think the actual conglomeration went something like this:

Ann & Pam's Fabulous Sauce

1 to 1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
2-3 Tbs fresh dill, chopped
2-3 Tbs dill seeds
~1 Tbs paprika
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/8 tsp crushed red pepper

2-3 each small yellow & red tomatoes, sliced, then quarter the slices
1/2 jar marinated artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
1 large scallion, minced
2-3 cloves garlic, minced
fresh ground sea salt
fresh ground black pepper

Prep all your veggies, and put the tomatoes and artichoke hearts in a medium bowl. Melt the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat. Turn the heat down a bit and add the dill seed, scallion, garlic, paprika, cayenne and crushed red pepper. Saute for just a minute or two, stirring often, then add the fresh dill and saute another minute or two. Remove from heat and pour the sauce over the veggies so that they marinate in it while you're frying the crabcakes. Add salt & pepper to taste. Serve in a ramekin next to the crabcakes, or else use a slotted spoon when you're topping the crabcakes with it.

Frittata Fusion

2008-12-30T20:27:00.000-08:00

Once again, kudos to Deborah Madison's 'Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone' for serving as a field guide to the recipe I just invented. I took her process for a basic potato 'straw cake' and went a little crazy with it. It turned out well. It's one of those nights where all we had in the fridge was two potatoes, three eggs, and a few random other veggies; but a dish like this makes it look like you did it on purpose. ;)

I created a little semi-roasted topping for these fusion-frittatas which I'll also post here, but one of the great things about potatoes & eggs is that they're so easy to pair with other stuff; feel free to invent your own topping out of whatever leftover veggies you have in your fridge.

By the way, I impressed the hell out of my hubby just by serving the topping in these cool ramekins instead of on the straw cakes or next to them. Presentation is half the battle. (The other half is an easily impressed significant other... ha ha ha...) The ramekins also ensured that just in case the topping failed, it wouldn't taint the frittata, which you really could eat on its own if you felt like it.

Fusion Frittatas

~ 1 lb potatoes, washed & peeled
3 eggs
2 Tbs butter
garlic powder
cayenne
fresh ground sea salt
fresh ground pepper

Grate the potatoes on the large holes of a grater; if they're high starch, rinse them in cold water and towel-dry. Heat a small cast-iron skillet that's a couple inches deep over medium heat. Once it's hot, melt 1 Tbs butter in it, then add half the potatoes, patting down into a circle. Add garlic powder, cayenne, salt & pepper to taste, then add the other half of the potatoes. Cover, reduce the heat to low, and cook 10-15 minutes until the bottom is golden brown.

Meanwhile, whisk the eggs in a small bowl and add salt, pepper and cayenne to taste. Once your eggs are prepped and the potatoes are cooking, it's a good time to prep & make the topping (recipe below).

When it's time to flip your frittata, put a plate over the skillet and flip the whole thing upside down, so that the potatoes are on the plate. Add the other tablespoon of butter and slide the potatoes back into the skillet. Cover again, but turn up the heat a little, to medium-low-ish. After 10 or so minutes (when the bottom is becoming golden), pour the eggs on top and cover again for 3-5 minutes. Uncover and do the plate-flipping thing again, but without adding any more butter, and let the eggs cook on the bottom (without the lid) for another 3-5 minutes to your desired doneness. Slide back onto the plate so that the eggs are still on the bottom, and do one last round of sea salt and a little pepper. Cut into wedges as you would pie, and serve immediately with the topping on the side.

Serves 2.

Red Pepper, Garlic & Tomato Topping

1-2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 - 1/2 red pepper (about 2 tablespoons), diced
1 roma tomato, finely diced
1/2 Tbs butter
fresh ground salt & pepper to taste
~1/4 tsp smoky seasoning (we love Penzey's Northwoods Fire Seasoning)

Heat a small, thick saucepan over medium heat. Once hot, add the minced garlic & red pepper and cook 3-4 minutes, stirring frequently and removing from the heat as necessary - you are basically using the hot pan to roast the veggies. Reduce heat to medium-low, add the butter, salt, pepper, and smoky seasoning, and continue stirring frequently for 2-3 minutes. Remove from heat and let sit for about 2 minutes before stirring in the diced tomato. This topping doesn't need to be hot when served with the straw cakes.

Also serves 2.

My Most Favorite Food Ever

2008-11-24T15:15:00.000-08:00

Thanksgiving is one of my favorite times of year. Why? Because nothing, and I mean nothing, beats Mom's mashed potato casserole.

So delicious! It's like mashed potatoes on wonder-drugs. You'll love it. Trust me. You'll be collapsing with joy over every bite. Well, I do anyway.

Mom's Mashed Potato Casserole

~ 4 lbs baking potatoes (about 12 med. or 4-5 large)
1 8 oz package cream cheese (don't you dare use low-fat, come on, it's the holidays!)
1 8 oz carton sour cream
2 tsp salt
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 to 1/4 c chopped chives (fresh is best, but dried's okay too)
2-3 Tbs cold butter
paprika to garnish.

Peel & rinse potatoes, and cut into eighths. Boil potatoes in a large pan of salted water, ~ 20 minutes. Drain water & mash potatoes. Add cream cheese, sour cream, salt, pepper & garlic. Beat at high speed until light & fluffy. Stir in chives. Spoon into lightly buttered 9 x 13 glass dish or 2.5-3 quart casserole. Lightly garnish with paprika. Generously dot with chunks of butter.

If making ahead, refrigerate here & let sit on counter about 30 minutes before baking.

Bake at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes.

The Pie-tastrophe Story

2008-11-23T11:05:00.000-08:00

In honor of Thanksgiving, and all you cooks who are stressing out right about now, I thought I'd resurrect this email to a friend from late November 2005...

So here’s a story for your entertainment: after doing a bunch of cleaning last night, I finally got around to making a ‘test pie’ for the Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. Understand that my stepmother and her mom are incredible bakers, and that my grandma has taught me to make a pie crust from scratch. The problem is that I only do this once a year or every couple of years, so every time, it’s like starting from square 1, except I don’t have my grandma or Janet there as I did the first time.

So at 10 o’clock last night I call up Janet – fortunately, only 9 p.m. there. I’m covered in flour, the entire kitchen is covered in flour, and I can’t decipher my notes from when I learned the recipe with Grandma. So I call Janet, who has Grandma visiting, but of course is a darn good baker herself. Janet proceeds to talk me through the entire process, but only when I’m rolling the dough on the counter and it’s cracking all over the place – in fact, it looked like a map of Ireland rather than the circle it was meant to be – do we figure out that because the climate here is so freakishly dry, I need a lot more water.

So I put it back in the bowl, add more water mixed with flour, and try working it again. At this point, what is supposed to be adhering to itself in a ball is flaking like freaking Paris Hilton. It’s all over the place. So I add still more water. Now, it strongly resembles play-dough. I roll it out again, and this time manage to achieve something that basically looks like a pig, which is at least rounder than a map of Ireland. I put it in the pie pan, cut off the ragged edges, and pinch the rim into shape. I preheat the oven and make my pumpkin pie filling.

So you’re supposed to bake a pumpkin pie for 10 minutes at 450 degrees and then reduce heat to 325 and bake for 35 minutes. And this works great if you are in Owensboro, Kentucky. But in Colorado, at 6700 feet, this does not work so well. An hour and twenty minutes later, it was close enough to being fully cooked that I just turned the oven off, left the pie in there and went to bed at 1 in the morning.

This morning, Ben and I tried the pie for breakfast. We each had about two bites and threw the rest of the pie out. The crust was hard as a rock, and the filling was still too mushy. At least the flavor was good. Thank god I made a test pie, because I think now I know what to do (and not do) on the next go-round.

And yes, I am buying a ‘back-up pie’ on the pretext of having two flavors!!

Victory Apple Crisp

2008-11-05T17:49:00.000-08:00

We had a few friends over to watch the election last night, and celebrate Obama's win. I wanted to have something patriotically apple-y, but didn't feel like making pie crust. So I made my apple crisp recipe that I first posted here in June '07 - except I added a few things to enhance the yumminess.

Note - the instructions given here have you make this in a baking dish, but this last time I used eight ramekins at the same temp & time, and it worked fine. Hopefully this is common sense, but do not torture yourself trying to split the recipe into eighths - mix it up in a bowl and divvy it out. Riiiight.

Victory Apple Crisp!

Topping:
6 T cold butter, cut into half-inch pieces
2/3 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c packed brown sugar
1/4 c chopped pecans (could also try chopped walnuts)
1/4 c oatmeal
~1/8 c toffee bits
1/4 t salt
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/2 t ground cinnamon

Whisk all ingredients except the butter together in a large bowl. Add the butter and use a mixer with a paddle attachment, pastry blender or your fingers to work it into the remaining ingredients, until the butter pieces are thoroughly coated and the rest of the mixture is coarse and crumbly.

Filling:
5-6 large apples, peeled, cored, and diced
2 T packed brown sugar
1 T lemon juice
1 t ground cinnamon

Make the topping and set aside. Preheat the oven to 375F. Put the apples into a 2-inch tall, about 2-2 1/2 quart gratin dish and gently toss with the filling's remaining ingredients, evenly coating the apples. Cover the filling with the topping. Place the dish on a baking sheet to catch any dripping juices and place in the middle rack of the oven for 30-45 minutes, until apples are tender, juices are bubbling and the top is golden brown.

Once cooled, it can be covered and stored at room temperature up to two days. Reheat in a 250F oven for 15 minutes (also good cold or microwaved). Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, but also tastes awesome on its own.

Peace, Love, and Winter Vegetables

2008-10-15T08:11:00.000-07:00

I'm so happy it finally feels like autumn outside. I love the chilly weather, and I especially love to cook during chilly weather. It's so homey and fun to get the kitchen all warm and smelling good while the grey skies outside make everything feel cosy. Plus, winter vegetables are so delicious!

I spent the entire chilly, grey day yesterday dreaming of using acorn squash and sweet potatoes in my dinner. The nice thing about dreams like that is that it's pretty easy to make them come true. Last night I invented a pretty darn tasty stuffed acorn squash, if I do say so myself, and the basis for it was these absolutely delicious mashers made of a combination of sweet potato and roasted acorn squash. You could easily just serve the mashers as a flavorful, yummy side dish (perfect for Thanksgiving) or use them as the basis of the stuffed squash.

This made two generous servings. If you were using the mashers as a side dish, it would easily serve 4-6. Do yourself a favor and get organic veggies.

Sweet Potato & Acorn Squash Mashers

2 medium sweet potatoes, scrubbed, peeled and diced in medium/small pieces
1 largish acorn squash, halved and deseeded
2-3 Tbs. olive oil
2 heaping Tbs. brown sugar
2 Tbs. unsalted butter
~2 tsp. rosemary
salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Coat the cut sides of the acorn squash with olive oil and place them face down on a nonstick cookie sheet. Put the sheet in the oven.

To prepare the sweet potatoes, I recommend a good steamer that sits above your pan of water, not the kind that you insert in the bottom of the saucepan. Bring several inches of water to boil and steam the sweet potatoes for about 25 minutes or until tender. This is also about how long it'll take your acorn squash to roast.

If your sweet potatoes are done before the squash, go ahead and mash them with half the brown sugar, butter & spices while they're hot, then scoop out the squash (try to leave about an inch or so of flesh in the shell, if you're making stuffed squash) and mash it in with the sweet potatoes and the rest of the sugar, butter & spices. Taste & add more salt & pepper as needed.

Stuffed Acorn Squash

Additional Ingredients:
2-3 Tbs. olive oil
1/2 cup diced walnuts
2-3 cloves minced garlic
~ 1 Tbs. fresh minced ginger
1/2 medium white onion, diced
1 large or 2 medium white mushrooms, halved and sliced
1 - 1 1/2 c broccoli, chopped into tiny florets
~ 1 tsp. crushed red pepper
~ 1 tsp. smoked paprika (or regular paprika)
pinch of fenugreek seed (about 1/4 tsp) (if you don't have it, don't stress; the recipe will still taste good)
~ 1 tsp. oregano
salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste

Follow the instructions for the sweet potato & acorn squash mashers above, but when you've got about 17 minutes left on the timer for the steaming/roasting veggies, heat the olive oil in a heavy saucepan over medium heat (or a little less than medium). Add the garlic and ginger and cook for 2-3 minutes, stirring frequently. Add the onion, crushed red pepper, paprika, and fenugreek seed and cook another 3-5 minutes, stirring frequently. Lightly toast the walnuts for about four minutes in the toaster oven, then add those to the saucepan. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook for another 3-5 minutes, stirring often. When there are about 5 minutes left on the timer, add the mushrooms, oregano, salt & pepper; mix thoroughly and let sit, making sure your pan isn't too hot, and stirring occasionally.

As soon as your timer's gone off and you've mashed up the sweet potatoes, put the broccoli in the steamer and let steam for 3-5 minutes, depending on your texture preference. While it's steaming, finish the mashers and spoon the mashed potato/squash mixture back into the squash shells as the bottom layer of the stuffed squash. The mashers should fill up the squash shells to about half an inch from the top, and you should have some left over. Next, spoon the steamed broccoli on top of the mashers in a mound, then pour the walnut-mushroom mixture over top. You should have some of the walnut-mushroom mixture left over too (and/or spillage onto the plate seems inevitable); spoon the rest of the mashers onto the plate too, and top with any remaining walnut-mushroom mixture. It makes for a pretty presentation, and like I said, it's a nice hearty winter meal.

Odds & Ends Cookies

2008-09-28T19:35:00.000-07:00

I wanted to make cookies, so I pulled out my trusty 'Chocolate On the Brain' cookbook. But when I went to the cupboard, I found I didn't have the right ingredients for traditional chocolate chip cookies. Instead of two cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips, I ended up raiding my cabinets and using large bittersweet chocolate chips, some semi-sweet chocolate chips, toffee bits, and semi-sweet baking cocoa to achieve the necessary level of chocolatiness. :) The result was delightfully gooey and chocolicious.

Beneath my impromptu recipe is my paraphrase of the original chocolate chip cookie recipe from 'Chocolate On the Brain'.

Odds & Ends Cookies

2 sticks of butter, softened to room temperature, plus more for greasing pan
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 c semi-sweet baking cocoa
1 c bittersweet chocolate chips
1/4 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 c toffee bits

Preheat oven to 350F (high altitude 375F) and grease two cookie sheets. In a large bowl, mix together butter and sugars, either with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer. Add egg and vanilla and mix again. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cocoa and mix until thoroughly blended. Add chocolate chips & toffee bits and mix again.

Pinch small portions of dough and roll in your hands to make balls about 1 inch across. Place in 5 rows of 3 cookies each on a cookie sheet. Bake one sheet at a time, about 7 minutes each. Remove from oven and let sit for about 3 minutes, then move to rack. Let the cookie sheet sit another minute or two so it's not too hot for the dough.

Traditional Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks of butter, softened to room temperature, plus more for greasing pan
1 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
1 large egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 c semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350F (high altitude 375F) and grease two cookie sheets. In a large bowl, mix together butter and sugars, either with a wooden spoon or an electric mixer. Add egg and vanilla and mix again. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt and mix until thoroughly blended. Add chocolate chips and mix again.

Pinch small portions of dough and roll in your hands to make balls about 1 inch across. Place in 5 rows of 3 cookies each on a cookie sheet. Bake one sheet at a time, about 7 minutes each. Remove from oven and let sit for about 3 minutes, then move to rack. Let the cookie sheet sit another minute or two so it's not too hot for the dough.

Mmm, sweet potatoes...

2008-09-24T19:18:00.000-07:00

I just invented these sort of sweet potato chips. They turned out to be so yummy that we ate them all out of the pan while the rest of dinner cooked. So, I guess I'd recommend these as an appetizer. :) I was originally going for a side dish. Either way, it serves 2.

Sweet Potato Chips

1 good-sized sweet potato, sliced into thin rounds
~4 tbs olive oil
~1/8 tsp smoked paprika (or regular paprika)
~1/8 tsp cayenne pepper (depending on how hot you like it)
~1/4 tsp rosemary
1 tbs brown sugar

Heat the olive oil in a heavy pan over medium heat. Add the sweet potato slices and stir to coat with oil. Stir every 2-3 minutes. After about 10 minutes, add the remaining ingredients and stir to coat. Cook another 5-10 minutes, stirring often, until tender. Serve hot (or eat right out of the pan).

Mixed Straw Cakes

The inspiration for this recipe begins with that vegetarian bible, Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone, but I took it in a completely different direction. In fact, this recipe is still in evolution, so I may come back and update it later. The idea was to make potato pancakes, but they ended up not sticking together very well, so turned out more like yummy, bizarre hash browns. I only used one egg, so I'm thinking two eggs will give it more cohesiveness.

This serves two.

1 sweet potato - peeled, and grated on the large holes of the grater
1 large potato - same as above; rinse high-starch potatoes in water, then blot dry with a paper towel.
2 eggs
1 tbs fresh dill
1 tsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp mustard powder
1/4 tsp cayenne powder
1 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp sage
fresh ground sea salt & black pepper to taste
4 tbs butter

Set a heavy 10-inch skillet over medium heat and melt half the butter. While it's melting, mix the shredded sweet potato and potato together in a medium bowl, then stir in the eggs. Next add all the spices except the salt & pepper, and mix thoroughly.

Take half the mixture and flatten it in the skillet, neatening the edges of the cake. Salt & pepper the top of this layer, then do the same with the other half of the mixture. (If you wish to include a sauteed vegetable filling, spread it on top of the bottom layer and cover with the top layer.) Cook over medium to medium low for 15 to 20 minutes, then slide onto a plate (good luck - this is according to the cookbook, but I've never really managed to accomplish it). Add the rest of the butter to the skillet and flip the cake so it cooks on its other side, another 10 or so minutes. Serve hot. Top with a sauce or just eat straight, with a side of some steamed or sauteed veggies.

Couscous makes life so easy...

2008-07-06T17:00:00.000-07:00

I swear, couscous is the lazy vegetarian foodie's best friend. Five minutes to cook - you've gotta love it. The other night, I invented a recipe involving couscous, artichoke hearts and butter beans that turned out rather well. Now let's see if I can get through this post without my beloved cat somehow making me exit the Internet, which is what he did the last time I tried to post this recipe.

One note - I am not so scientific in my spice measurements, tending to do a dash of this, a couple pinches of that, and once or twice around the pot with the salt or pepper grinders. So I've attempted to put approximate teaspoon or tablespoon measurements, but you'll have to judge according to your own taste. Also, we tend to like things a little spicy, so of course a bit of adjustment is a good thing for your own preferences anyway.

Couscous with Artichoke Hearts, Butter Beans and Pine Nuts

1/2 c couscous
1/2 c water
2 t olive oil
1/4 tsp dry mustard powder, if desired

1 can butter beans, rinsed and drained
1 can artichoke hearts in water, drained
1/4 c pine nuts, lightly toasted
2-3 cloves garlic
2 Tbs olive oil
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
fresh ground black pepper to taste
fresh ground sea salt to taste
dash of cayenne pepper (~ 1/8 tsp)
pinch of marjoram (~ 1/8 tsp)
healthy pinch of sage (~ 1/4 tsp)
a couple dashes dill weed (~ 1/4 tsp)
lot of basil (~ 1 tsp dried)
whole lot of oregano (~ 2 tsp dried)
1-2 spring onions, sliced (optional)

Mix couscous, water, olive oil and mustard powder (or whatever other spice you prefer) together and put on to boil. As soon as steam starts escaping the pot, remove from heat and let sit at least five minutes. (Fluff the couscous with a fork before serving.)

Heat olive oil several minutes over medium heat, then reduce heat to medium low. Add garlic and crushed red pepper flakes and let simmer til the garlic is golden and smells delicious. Either lightly toast pine nuts in a toaster oven or add to the olive oil to toast. Once you've pulled the couscous off the heat, add the butter beans and artichoke hearts to the olive oil and garlic. Add all the remaining spices, except the salt, and stir it up. Taste the sauce and add salt to taste. Wait until the very end to mix in the spring onions, they are most flavorful uncooked.

Serves two.

Black Bean Burgers

2008-05-14T17:44:00.001-07:00

So my friend Leigh sent me this recipe after checking out this-here blog, and I have to say, I haven't even tried it yet but it sounds so yummy I just had to post it. Also, Leigh's a really good cook, so if it passes her approval I'm pretty darn sure it's blog-worthy. ;) She noted that she modified the recipe from Cooking Light. Sounds perfect for a good old summertime cookout. Thanks, Leelee!

Black Bean Burger

1 small onion, chopped
1 carrot, grated - food processor works great to do this
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and minced
2 teaspoons olive oil
2 (15-ounce) can black beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup salsa - I like green tomatilla salsa, but could use any kind
2 tablespoons self-rising cornmeal mix
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano (or 1 teaspoon fresh oregano or parsley if you have any growing out back)
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

8 whole-grain buns
Whole grain mustard
Sliced cheese
Lettuce
Tomato slices

Sauté first 4 ingredients in hot olive oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat 8 minutes or until onion is tender. Mash black beans in a large bowl; stir in onion mixture, salsa, and next 4 ingredients. Cover and chill 30 minutes. Shape mixture into 8 patties. Place on an aluminum foil-lined baking sheet with a little olive oil smeared on it. Chill 30 minutes.

Bake at 400° for 10 minutes, flip and cook another 5 minutes, then put slices of cheese on top for another 5 minutes.Toast buns if you like them that way. Fix up to your liking. :)

Adventures in Spinach Dip

2008-04-30T09:59:00.001-07:00

This weekend I was reminded of the cook's most invaluable tool: flexibility. It's very hard to be OCD and enjoy cooking; there are just too many variables beyond your control. If you're a novice cook and intimidated by forays into the kitchen, figuring that you're going to mess something up or do it wrong somehow, let me just say now that 1. it happens to the best of us sometimes, and 2. really, no cooking mistake is so serious that you can't just throw it in the trash and order some pizza. Oh, and also, cooking misadventures can make for highly entertaining experiences - as long as you can keep your sense of humor about you.

For example, this weekend I flew to DC to throw my dear friend a baby shower. We decided to make several easy recipes, including the spinach-artichoke dip mentioned in the previous post. I chose to include the dip because it requires so little thought and effort; you can make it in about 30 minutes or less.

Assuming you have a working food processor, that is.

Can you see the writing on the wall? First I made a couple other dishes, saving the spinach dip for last because - say it with me - it was so easy. And quick, did I mention quick? Yah. So I prep all the ingredients, throw them into my friend's combo blender/food processor, and hit the button. ...Not much happens. A lot of noise, but not a lot of results. I decide there must be too many ingredients in there, and dump half of it into a bowl. I hit puree again. ...Not much happens. Then I experiment with every button the processor possesses. Still not much. So I dump the rest of the ingredients out, including - at the very, very bottom - a puree that looks a lot like baby food, and look at the machine.

'Those look a lot like blender blades,' I think to myself. I ask my friend if there are other blades that come with this thing, and she replies that she did indeed notice other parts in the box. At this point, she also says they received this thing as a wedding gift and have used it all of twice, but it worked fine those times. We retrieve the other parts, which turns out to be the food processor bowl and blades, all of which still have the original packaging on them. Now I'm figuring we have resolved the problem. I remove the packaging, wash off the stuff and attach it to the base. I dump half the ingredients into the processor. I hit the button. ...Not much happens. Still making a lot of noise, but to no avail.

I'll spare you the rest of the painful details, but eventually, we figure out that the food processor blades aren't even turning, reattach the blender, puree it in small batches as best we can, and finally take a hand-held electric beater to it in a final attempt to achieve dip. Finally, a scant TWO HOURS after beginning this recipe, I say while laughing not-quite-hysterically, "It's just going to be a chunky dip," and carry it to the table. I was gratified to see that despite the chunkiness, it was very well received.

So remember, when you're beset on all sides by uncooperative kitchen equipment, just keep your chin up and keep laughing!

Artichoke hearts make everything better.

2008-04-25T07:20:00.000-07:00

Seriously. The other day I was going through the index of a cookbook I like pretty well, and discovered that there were no entries under artichokes. Now that just ain't right. I officially think less of that cookbook.

But anyway. Wanted to post two yummy recipes for easy potluck/cookout salads that involve artichoke hearts. One's a spinach dip sure to delight all you vegans and fellow lactose-intolerants out there; it uses pureed beans as creamy goodness instead of cheese or sour cream. The other is pretty much your classic three-bean salad, which I looked at and decided it needed artichoke hearts to really make people happy. Or at least to make ME happy.

The spinach artichoke heart dip comes from the great vegetarian cookbook, "Moosewood Restaurant Low-Fat Favorites". The three-bean salad one I just kinda made up after reading a few different online recipes & deciding what I wanted; I made it with red wine vinegar, whereas they're often made with cider vinegar, and it was pretty darn tasty.

Spinach Artichoke Heart Dip

5 oz fresh organic spinach, rinsed & stemmed
2 garlic cloves, pressed or minced
1 1/2 c cooked cannellini beans (or butter beans) (this equals one 15-oz can, drained and rinsed)
1 c chopped scallions
2 T chopped fresh basil
2-3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, to taste (or seriously, just use reaLemon if you're in a hurry)
5-6 artichoke hearts or bottoms, minced (15-oz can)
salt and ground black pepper to taste

Using only the water that's on the leaves after rinsing, steam the spinach just until wilted, 2-3 minutes. Drain.
In a food processor, puree the spinach, garlic, beans, scallions, basil and 2T of lemon juice until very smooth. Fold in the minced artichoke hearts; add more lemon juice, and the salt and pepper to taste.
Serve chilled or at room temp.

Ann's Super-Easy Deluxe Three-Bean Salad

15 oz can organic kidney beans, rinsed & drained
15 oz can organic green beans, rinsed & drained
15 oz can organic garbanzo beans, rinsed & drained
15 oz can artichoke hearts, chopped
1/2 medium red onion, minced
1/3 c cider or red wine vinegar
1/3 c olive oil
1/3 c sugar
2 T oregano
salt and fresh-ground black pepper to taste

Combine beans, artichoke hearts and onion in a large bowl. In a small separate bowl, whisk together the vinegar, oil, sugar, and oregano. Drizzle over the beans, add salt and pepper to taste, toss gently and taste again, adding more salt & pepper if needed. Recommended to let chill several hours before serving, so the salad can marinate.

Potato Salad

2008-04-18T08:36:00.001-07:00

Summertime's a-comin... time for some cook-outs! My mom just sent me a potato salad recipe that looks absolutely delish. I haven't even tried it yet, but it looks so tasty that I wanted to share it. I love potato salad... of course, almost anything involving potatoes is a pretty easy sell for me. Mom got this from the Silver Palate Good Times Cookbook. Why it's patriotic, I'm not totally sure... but we don't question good food.

Patriotic Potato Salad

14 small new red potatoes, scrubbed clean
6 hard-boiled eggs, peeled and halved
1 medium carrot, peeled and grated
2 medium scallions, sliced
3 Tablespoons chopped fresh dill
2 Tablespoons chopped fresh parsley
1 Tablespoon caraway seeds
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground pepper
3/4 cup sour cream
3/4 cup mayonniase

Heat a medium-sized saucepan of water to boiling. Add the potatoes and cook just until tender, about 20 minutes. Drain, cool, and cut in half (or quarters). Combine the eggs, potatoes, carrot, and scallions in a large bowl. Add the dill, parsley, caraway, salt & pepper, and gently toss to combine. Mix the sour cream and mayo; gently fold into the potato mixture.
Refrigerate for several hours before serving, to allow flavors to blend.

Serves 8

Emerging from Hibernation

2008-03-16T16:50:00.000-07:00

The snow's falling fast and thick outside, but the time has come for my blogs to emerge - however briefly - from hibernation. Even though I'm in the midst of special event hell, planning for the biggest event of the year at work, it's time for a little blogging. Actually, maybe now is a better time than ever for my blogs; I don't really have the time to cook, but I can throw something in the toaster oven or microwave and spend a little time on the old blog instead (while scattering crumbs all over the couch - eating while typing is never easy).

Credit goes to my dear friend Pam, foodie extraordinaire, who faithfully checks this blog even though it's been more than three months since I updated it. This one's for you, Pam. :)

Ironically, I've had a recipe in mind to share ever since Christmas, when we went for our usual Outer Banks family retreat and celebrated the season of giving with a veritable orgy of fresh seafood. I freaking live for that week all year. While we were stuffing ourselves with a variety of mercury-laden yumminess, I managed to perfect my recipe for crab cakes, which has been evolving for lo these many years.

There's no doubt that crab cakes are best made with fresh crab, but regardless of whether you live on the coast, I firmly believe the secret to great crab cakes is for the crab to bread ratio to weigh far more heavily on the crab side. You might be scoffing, "Thank you, Captain Obvious," but I've eaten at plenty of restaurants where people actually paid to cook have got the wrong end of the stick, crabcake-wise.

The quantities on this might be a little screwy, because I was cooking for five instead of my usual two, and ended up making way too much food, so I'm going to try and scale this to sensible proportions for four people. Still, common sense warning; adjust as you see fit.

Ann's Super-Fantastic Crab Cakes

~2 lbs fresh or canned crab
2-3 slices day-old bread, torn into breadcrumbs (can also tear up & lightly toast crumbs)
3 eggs
1 T horseradish
2 t minced garlic
1 T lemon juice
1 T minced shallots
~ 1 t dry mustard
1 t cayenne pepper
1 t fresh ground black pepper
1-2 T fresh chives or spring onions

1-2 T butter or olive oil

Blend all ingredients together except chives/spring onions; stir those in after the other ingredients are well blended. Form into cakes ~2 inches in diameter. Place on plate or wax paper and let sit in fridge for several hours, if desired (this can help the cakes hold their shape better, and is nice if you have afternoon plans but know you'll come back hungry).

Heat a flat skillet or cast iron pan over medium heat. Once heated, add butter or olive oil one tablespoon at a time, and swirl around the pan. Cook crab cakes at least 4-5 minutes a side, to desired brownness (that is now a word, if it wasn't before).

Good with all sorts of dressings; honey-mustard, sesame-ginger, a homemade pico de gallo, etc. Cocktail sauce works too. :)

Update - November 24, 2008
Last night I made mini-crabcakes for a Thanksgiving potluck using this recipe. I've updated the recipe a little, and it definitely makes a ton of crabcakes - it made 24 mini-crabcakes, so regardless of the occasion, you could easily serve 6 people or more. If you're just cooking for two or one, cut it by half (use two eggs) or a third and you should have enough to stuff yourself happy.

I'm experimenting with baking crabcakes, too, at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes, flipping once. We'll see how those turn out.

I made a pretty tasty butter-dill sauce to top the cakes with. I've tried to scale this for the full recipe, since I just made the sauce for the four we ate for dinner last night (using a half-stick of butter, a heaping t of garlic and about 1/8 c fresh dill):

Butter-Dill Sauce

3 sticks unsalted butter
2 generous T minced garlic
3/4 c fresh dill, chopped/snipped
fresh ground black pepper to taste
dash sea salt

Melt butter & saute garlic for a minute over medium heat. Stir in dill, pepper & salt til thoroughly mixed, then serve immediately. You can top the crabcakes with it and then serve them, or serve the sauce in a little ramekin on the side. Garnish the crabcakes with a little fresh dill if desired.

P.S. The butter-dill sauce is also good with some cayenne or smoked paprika thrown in - I'd probably start with 2 t and rachet it up according to taste.

All Things Pumpkin

2007-12-08T06:30:00.000-08:00

There's just something about pumpkin-centric baked treats. I think they're one of the main reasons I enjoy the holidays so much. That smell of fresh-baked pumpkiny goodness wafting through the house... mmmm.

Two nights ago, I made an awesome recipe that my mom gave me, for pumpkin bars with cream cheese frosting. Haven't made a pumpkin pie yet this year, but that's really what got me into baking in the first place, learning from my grandmother how to make a pie-crust for a pumpkin pie. And some of my fondest holiday food memories involve my mom's awesome pumpkin bread recipe. I decided it was time to share these three favorite recipes.

So here you go, fellow pumpkin-dessert lover. Indulge and enjoy.

Pumpkin Bars with Cream-Cheese Frosting

2 c flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp powdered ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
4 eggs
1 c vegetable oil
2 c sugar
15 oz can pumpkin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Sift together the dry ingredients (except sugar). In a separate, large mixing bowl, mix the oil, eggs, sugar and pumpkin. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well.

Pour batter into ungreased jelly roll pan (17 x 21 x 1) or a 9 x 13 cake pan. If using jelly roll pan, bake 15-20 minutes; if using cake pan, bake 25-30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean. Let cool in pan before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting

8 oz softened cream cheese
1/2 c softened butter
1 tsp vanilla
4 c powdered sugar

Combine butter, cream cheese and vanilla; add sugar while mixing; stir until frosting is smooth.

(I know, isn't it awful how easy it is to make? You gained 2 pounds just by reading the recipe. But it's sooooo good.)

Mom's Pumpkin Bread

3 c sugar - 1 1/2 c white, 1 1/2 c brown
1 c vegetable or canola oil
4 eggs
1/3 c water
2 c pumpkin (16 oz can)
3 1/3 c all-purpose flour
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp cloves
1 1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 t ground ginger
1 Tbs cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix sugar, oil, eggs & water; beat well. Add pumpkin. Add dry ingredients and mix well.

Pour batter into 3 small greased loaf pans (not glass), 8.5 x 4.25 x 3". Bake for ~ 1 hour, until a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. If using Pyrex, bake 30-35 minutes. Turn loaf out of pan and let cool on wire rack.

Grandma's Pie Crust

2 crust pie:
2 c flour
1/4 c water
1 tsp salt
3/4 c shortening
1/3 c flour/salt to mix with water

1 crust pie:
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 c shortening
1/2 tsp salt
3-5 Tbs water

Sift flour & salt together. Take 1/4 c of flour/salt mixture and mix with 3 Tbs water (dry/high altitude climates, 4 Tbs). Add shortening to the dry flour-salt mixture and mix with a pastry blender; add in the wet flour-salt mixture and mix. (Use a light hand with delicate pastries like this, don't overmix.) Add a little more water as needed.

Roll out on a pastry cloth to a circle 9 inches, depending on the pie pan. To transfer to the pan, gently roll the pie-crust around the rolling-pin and quickly lift it over the pan, then pat down the crust, trim the edges and flute by pinching the edges.

Pumpkin Pie

1/8 tsp salt
2/3 c sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1/2 tsp ground/powdered ginger
1/8 tsp cloves
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 2/3 c milk
1 1/2 c pumpkin (1 can)

Beat eggs. Sift dry ingredients together and add to eggs.
Add milk & pumpkin.
Line piepan with crust and pour in filling. Bake at 450 degrees for 10 minutes (high altitude: 20 minutes). Reduce heat to 325 degrees (high altitude can do 350 degrees) and bake for 35+ minutes (high altitude: 45-60 minutes) until knife in center comes out clean. Let cool.

Makes one 9-inch pie.

Homemade Whipped Cream

Chill mixer paddles and mixing bowl in fridge for at least half an hour. Pour heavy whipping cream in bowl and beat with handheld mixer until growing stiff (forms soft peaks). Fold in white sugar and mix to taste, about 1/4 - 1/3 cup.

Dilly Potato Rolls

2007-10-17T11:29:00.004-07:00

I just wanted to use up some leftover mashed potatoes, but when my BB pronounced these the best rolls I've ever made, I figured I should probably add the recipe to my blog. These are very buttery, soft and light. They walk a fine line between biscuits and rolls, depending on how you shape them, and make killer egg-biscuits for breakfast.

NOTE: If you're at high altitude, let the dough rise in the fridge so the gluten structure doesn't weaken. You may have to extend the rising time a little, but trust me, it's well worth it.

The recipe was adapted from the awesome cookbook, "One Potato, Two Potato" by Roy Fenimore.

Dilly Potato Rolls

~ 1 c leftover mashed potatoes, or 1 russet potato about 3/4 lb.
1 c warm water (~ 120 degrees), or 1 1/2 c water if using uncooked potato
1/4 c sugar
1 packet yeast (2 1/2 teaspoons)
3/4 t sugar (only if using an uncooked potato, instead of leftovers)
4 eggs
1/2 lb unsalted butter, melted
~ 5 1/2 c all-purpose flour
1 T coarse sea salt
~ 1/2 t dill weed
1 beaten egg, for glazing

If using the leftover mashed potatoes, add the yeast to 1/2 c warm water and let sit until bubbly, about 5 minutes. In a stand mixer bowl, add the potato, 1/4 c sugar, remaining 1/2 c water, and 1 c of the flour to the yeast mixture, stir until smooth, cover with plastic wrap, and let stand in warm place for about 30 minutes, until doubled.

If using uncooked potato, peel and dice the potato, cover with the 1 1/2 c water and boil for at least 15 minutes, until potato is quite soft. Measure 1/2 c of the potato water and add the yeast to it with the 3/4 tsp of sugar; follow the instructions above, using another 1/2 c of potato water.

Once the sponge has risen, punch it down with your hands or a baker's spatula, put the dough hook on your mixer, and add in the eggs, butter, remaining 4 1/2 c flour, 1 1/2 tsp of salt, and the dill. Mix until it forms a smooth dough, cover with plastic wrap, and let stand in a warm place until doubled, about 2 to 2 1/2 hours.

Flour a work surface and your hands, and turn the dough out onto the surface.

For biscuits, punch the dough down again briefly, and pat it out to a circle about 3/4 inch thick. Use a three-inch cutter to cut out the rolls and put them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a Silpat, spaced a couple inches apart. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until double, about an hour.

For rolls, divide the dough in half, then divide each half into 10 - 12 equal pieces. Generously butter two 10-inch cake pans. Shape the dough pieces into spheres and line the cake pan with them, putting one or two in the center. This creates pull-apart rolls. Loosely cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until double, about an hour.

About 20 minutes before they're done rising, preheat your oven to 425 degrees F. Brush the tops of the rolls with the beaten egg, and sprinkle with the remaining sea salt. Put the tray/cake pans on the middle rack for 15 - 20 minutes, and rotate after 8 - 10 minutes for even baking. Once the tops are a lovely golden brown, lay a sheet of aluminum foil loosely over the top so they don't burn while the insides keep baking.

Eat immediately, or can be stored at room temperature for several days. Makes about 20 rolls. They can also be frozen for several months.

Pasta with Artichoke Hearts and Broccoli

2007-10-04T19:28:00.000-07:00

Dinner turned out well tonight. This is a variation on a basic tomato sauce recipe I use semi-regularly. It's fast, healthy, and more importantly, delicious. The sauce is also nice and colorful, and we all know things are better when they look pretty... okay, food is, at least.

Psst... use organic veggies!

Pasta with Artichoke Hearts and Broccoli

1/2 lb chunky pasta, like farfalle

~ 2 T olive oil
1 head broccoli
1 can (14 oz) quartered artichoke hearts (not marinated), drained
2-3 cloves garlic, diced
1/2 med white onion, diced
2 Roma tomatoes, thickly sliced crossways
~ 3 T pinenuts (optional)

(spice measurements are approximate, modify to taste)
1/2 t basil
1/2 t oregano
1/8 t ground mustard
healthy pinch of marjoram
small pinch of thyme
1/8 t cayenne
1/4 t crushed red pepper
1/8 t fresh-ground black pepper

Start the pasta water to boil and put the olive oil in a saucepan over medium-low-ish heat while you prep your veggies. Add the garlic, onion, and spices except black pepper to the olive oil and saute, stirring occasionally, until the onion starts getting translucent around the edges.

Around now, your water should be boiling. Add the pasta, stir, put a steam basket on top, reduce the heat under the pasta to med. low and steam the broccoli about 5 minutes. Rinse the broccoli after you've steamed it and turn the heat back up to med. high on the pasta.

Add the tomatoes to the sauce and use a wooden spoon to crush them as you stir the sauce, to release the juices. Let cook, stirring occasionally, until your pasta's about 3 minutes from being ready. Add the artichoke hearts and broccoli and stir it up. If you're using pinenuts, now's the time to put them in the oven or toaster oven; once toasted, mix with the sauce.

Drain the pasta, top with sauce, serve immediately - with garlic bread, if you have it.

Serves 2

I'm Baaack...

2007-09-30T09:10:00.001-07:00

Wow, I can't believe it's been so long since I posted. It's been a busy summer, and admittedly, one involving a lot of quick and easy veggie burgers and oven fries. (Mmm, french fries - try loading them up with sea salt and garlic powder and dipping them in honey.)

Anyway, a couple days ago I picked two acorn squash from our garden, and proceeded to prepare the four halves two different ways for last night's dinner. It was fun, tasty, and easy.

Sweet Acorn Squash

1 small acorn squash per person, halved; or half a large squash
~ 2 T butter
Brown sugar to taste, 1/4 to 1/3 cup
Honey (optional)

Preheat the oven to 375. Cut the squash in half lengthwise and scoop out the seeds. Prick the flesh a few times with a fork. Butter the inside of the squash all over, then sprinkle a generous, even coating of brown sugar. If you have honey, drizzle some on top of the brown sugar. (We didn't have honey, but it was still quite tasty.)

Place the squash halves face down on a baking tray lined with aluminum foil. Bake until the flesh is tender, ~ 30 minutes.

Serve immediately with a nicely contrasting side of greens or veggies - I used steamed baby red potatoes seasoned with dill, sage, and rosemary. I like to put the herbs on the potatoes while they're steaming, and just toss with a little butter before serving.

Serves 2

Ginger-Mushroom Stuffed Acorn Squash

1 small acorn squash per person, halved; or half a large squash
~ 3 1/2 T butter
1 T fresh chopped ginger
4 - 6 crimini mushrooms, wiped clean and sliced
1 - 2 slices of bread, shredded into crumbs
salt and pepper to taste

Scoop out the seeds from the squash, prick the insides with a fork, spread a layer of butter on them (roughly 1 T per half or less), and place the squash face down on a baking tray lined with aluminim foil. Bake until the flesh is tender, ~ 30 minutes.

When your timer's down to about 5 minutes, put 1 T of butter in a small saucepan over medium to medium-low heat. Saute the ginger for just a couple minutes. Put the breadcrumbs in your toaster oven (or on another tray in your oven, should you be toaster-oven-deprived) and set them to toast them medium well. Add the sliced mushrooms to the saucepan, lower the heat slightly and cook for 3-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

In the meantime, around about when you've added the mushrooms and given them a stir, your squash should be ready. Retrieve the squash from the oven, scoop out the flesh (preserving the shell), season with salt and pepper to taste, and mash it up quickly with 1/2 T butter or less. Now your mushrooms should be ready; add the contents of the saucepan to your mashed squash, stir it all up, and by the time you've refilled the squash shells with your mixture, your breadcrumbs should be ready to sprinkle on top. Serve immediately.

Serves 2

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

2007-07-28T06:53:00.000-07:00

Prepare to succumb to total bliss. I adapted this recipe from several that I found on the Internet. If you're growing zucchini in your garden, this is the perfect recipe to use for those zucchinis you don't notice until they're ridiculously big.

Although this might look complicated to a novice baker, it's really quite an easy recipe; it just has a lot of ingredients to combine. Grating the zucchini can be a little time consuming, but the result is so well worth it.

I've also added a way to make this TRIPLE chocolate zucchini bread. Mmm... no no, you don't have to thank me. ;)

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread

~ 1/2 lb or 2 c grated zucchini
4 c all-purpose flour
1/2 c cocoa
1 1/2 c sugar (1 c white, 1/2 c brown)
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 c oil
3 eggs
1 1/2 c milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 c semisweet chocolate chips

For half of batter:
1/4 c toffee bits
1/4 c walnut pieces
1/2 c bittersweet chocolate chips (if you want triple chocolate zucchini bread - and who doesn't?!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (375 for high altitude). Butter two 8 x 4" loaf pans.

Grate zucchini. In large bowl, combine dry ingreedients.

In another bowl, combine zucchini with remaining ingredients except chocolate chips and optional stir-ins. Stir zucchini mixture into dry ingredients just until blended. Stir in chocolate chips, toffee and walnuts.

Pour batter into pans; bake until toothpick in center comes out clean, ~ 1 hour 15 minutes. Cool on rack 10 minutes, then remove from pan. Devour.

Mmmm... bread.

2007-07-27T08:09:00.000-07:00

I just read this in an "On This Day" email, from May 29th:

Bread is a basic food made from a flour-and-water dough, normally with yeast, baked in an oven. No other food is as redolent of myth, rite, and tradition as bread. Central to meals until almost the end of the second millennium (more so than meat), it is indeed the 'staff of life.' Breadmaking dates back to at least 9000 BC; the first breads were cooked on heated bakestones, many of which survive. The invention of leavened bread (around 5000 BC) is attributed to the Egyptians, who made bread from millet and barley and may have discovered fermentation by chance when a piece of dough became sour. In the Middle Ages, the bakery trade developed in diversity and complexity. Part of the baker's art is the careful choice of ingredients and the manipulation of factors such as oven temperature, length of baking time, and humidity, all of which affect the crumb, thickness, and quality of bread crust.

I hadn't realized that bread dated back quite so far. I love bread, and it's so much fun to bake. The feeling of accomplishment when you pull out a yummy-smelling loaf of bread or some delectable-looking biscuits is tremendous... at least, for me - I suppose because baking always seemed so difficult to me before I started learning from Janet and Grandma.

Here's one of my favorite bread recipes - Irish soda bread. This recipe is adapted from the Moosewood Restaurant's Low-Fat Favorites cookbook and Bernard Clayton's Complete Book of Breads.

Irish Soda Bread

1 1/2 c unbleached white flour
1 1/2 c whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 T packed brown sugar
4 T cold butter
1 egg
1 c buttermilk

Preheat oven to 375 deg. F. Lightly oil baking sheet. Mix dry ingredients. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or using two knives.

In a separate bowl, mix wet ingredients. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients, and pour the wet mixture into the well. Stir until evenly moist.

Turn onto lightly floured surface, kneading just a little. Mound on baking sheet into ~ 9" domed loaf. Lightly cut an X in the top with a sharp knife. Bake ~ 45 minutes.

Apple Crisp

2007-06-27T21:07:00.000-07:00

My grandmother gave me a fruit of the month club membership as a Christmas gift, and I've used the resulting goodies for baking recipes several months. This month it was these gorgeous looking apples. As soon as my bb (best beloved) saw them, he suggested exactly what I'd been thinking: apple crisp!

I concocted this recipe with input from, primarily, Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone", as well as Williams & Sonoma's "Essentials of Baking" and of course, my good old Betty Crocker cookbook. As always, I recommend using organic ingredients whenever possible.

Mmm... it's baking right now and it smells SO good...

Apple Crisp

Topping:
6 T butter, cut into half-inch pieces
2/3 c all-purpose flour
3/4 c packed brown sugar
1/4 c chopped pecans (could also try chopped walnuts)
1/4 t salt
1/2 t ground nutmeg
1/2 t ground cinnamon

Whisk all ingredients except the butter together in a large bowl. Add the butter and use a mixer with a paddle attachment or your fingers to work it into the remaining ingredients, until the butter pieces are thoroughly coated and the rest of the mixture is coarse and crumbly.

Filling:
5-6 large apples, peeled, cored, and diced
2 T packed brown sugar
1 T lemon juice
1 t ground cinnamon

Make the topping and set aside. Preheat the oven to 375F.

Put the apples into a 2-inch tall, about 2-2 1/2 quart gratin dish and gently toss with the filling's remaining ingredients, evenly coating the apples. Cover the filling with the topping.

Place the dish on a baking sheet to catch any dripping juices and place in the middle rack of the oven for 30-45 minutes, until apples are tender, juices are bubbling and the top is golden brown. Once cooled, can be covered and stored at room temperature up to two days. Reheat in a 250F oven for 15 minutes (also good cold or microwaved). Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, but also tastes incredible just on its own.

Cowboy Eggs

2007-06-23T15:41:00.000-07:00

Every family seems to call this recipe a different name, but in ours, it's cowboy eggs. The name comes from my grandma. It is one of my favorite breakfast recipes. Using a nice big slice of bread is key to making this especially good.

Cowboy Eggs

2-3 T butter
2 eggs
2 slices of bread
garlic powder
black pepper
salt

Turn a glass over and use it to cut a hole in the middle of the slices of bread. Put a heavy frying pan (cast iron, if you have it) on the stove over medium heat. Melt 1 T of the butter in the pan. Use pats from the rest of the butter to dot one side of the bread slices, also buttering the cut-out round. Place the bread in the pan, butter side down, and crack the egg into the hole in the bread. Season the egg to taste. You may need to reduce the heat slightly. Butter the other side of the bread. Place the cut-out toast in the frying pan and butter its other side.

Flip the cowboy egg when the white is almost set, flipping the cut-out round as well. Only cook the egg on its other side for a couple minutes, if you like a runny yolk, which is great to sop up with the cut-out toast. Serve immediately.

Cookies!

2007-06-23T15:22:00.000-07:00

Last night, I made one of my favorite cookie recipes, and it's so good I have to share. It's quick and easy, and the cookies stay nice and soft the next day - perhaps even longer, but we wouldn't know. If your cookies last more than two days, you have a ridiculous amount of willpower and should allow yourself to relax more. :)

Anyhoo, all credit goes to the excellent dessert cookbook, "Chocolate on the Brain", by Kevin and Nancy Mills. If you're a chocoholic like me, I highly recommend this book. It has everything from varied cookies and brownies to impressive-sounding tortes and mousses and so forth. Whatever your mood, you're bound to find a chocolate dessert to fit your needs. And happily, these "Lava Cookies" will suit just about any mood.

Supposedly, this makes 36 cookies. I've never gotten more than 24 out of them, whether from batter-testing or making them a little larger than the book indicates. If using self-rising flour, omit the baking powder and salt.

Lava Cookies

3 squares (3 oz) unsweetened baking chocolate
6 T butter plus enough to grease two cookie sheets
1 c sugar (not a typo)
2 large eggs
1 t vanilla extract
1 c flour
1 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1/2 c powdered sugar

Melt the chocolate and butter together in a heavy saucepan over very low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and set aside when the chocolate has almost fully melted; the heat of the pan will melt the remaining chocolate.

Mix the sugar, eggs and vanilla together in a large bowl until pale yellow and frothy. Add the chocolate mixture and mix on low just until blended, about 15 seconds. Add the flour, baking powder and salt and mix on low about 10 seconds more, or just until blended. Cover and put in the freezer for at least 15 minutes. (Note: you can freeze the batter overnight if you're preparing ahead. Why you would do this, I don't know, but that's what the book says.)

Place an oven rack in the middle slot and preheat the oven to 350 degrees (375 high altitude). Grease two cookie sheets with butter. Remove the batter from the freezer and use a teaspoon to shape the dough into one-inch balls. Roll the balls in the powdered sugar and place on the cookie sheet, four to a row, in three rows. Bake the cookies one sheet at a time, 10-12 minutes. They will spread out and have mottled brown-and-white surfaces vaguely resembling a lava field (hence the name). Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for three minutes bef0re transferring them to a cooling rack. Try to not eat them all the first night...

Recent Recipes

2007-06-15T15:04:00.001-07:00

At last, some time to blog! I've made a few things lately that I wanted to post. Since I last wrote, the aforementioned crab salad turned out pretty well; so did a spicy pasta sauce, and on another day, I finally invented the potato salad recipe I've always wanted and never been able to quite hit. So without further ado...

(The Cajun crab salad recipe will have to wait until I find the original recipe, as it had a great spice combination that I can't quite recall.)

Chicken Little's Revenge (Pasta with Spicy Vegetarian Chicken Sauce)
Serves 2

1 1/2 T olive oil
~ 1 cup Quorn vegetarian chicken bits
1 can organic diced tomatoes
2 large cloves minced garlic
1 chopped green onion
1/2 lb spaghetti
Spices:
1/2 t cayenne
1/2 t ginger
1/4 t basil
1/4 t oregano
1/4 t chile chimayo (or regular chili powder)
1/2 t smoky seasoning (we like Northwoods Fire, by Penzey's)
1/2 t crushed red pepper
fresh ground black pepper
salt

Fill a pot with water two inches from the brim, cover, and set to boil. Pour the olive oil into a large saucepan over medium heat. Let the oil heat for a couple minutes, then add the garlic, basil and oregano. Saute for another couple minutes, then add the chicken and all the other spices except the black pepper and salt. Saute, stirring frequently, for about 10 minutes or until the chicken has browned a little; reduce the heat to medium-low if the garlic and chicken start sticking to the pan.

Once the water has come to a rolling boil, break the spaghetti in half and add it to the water; stir the pasta with the sauce spoon to help it not stick together. Reduce the pasta's heat to medium-high and boil about 5 to 7 minutes.

After you've added the spaghetti to the water, add the canned tomatoes to the saucepan. Stir well; if you reduced the heat, bring it back up to medium. Let the sauce simmer, stirring often. After a couple of minutes, grind a round of black pepper over the pan and add a little salt, to taste.

Once your pasta's done, drain it and divide between two bowls. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the chopped green onion. Pour the sauce over the pasta immediately and serve.

Ann's Favorite Potato Salad
Serves 4

1 - 1 1/2 lb russet potatoes
1/4 c light Ranch (or mayonnaise)
2 T horseradish mustard
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
2 hardboiled eggs (optional)
1 chopped green onion
Spices:
1/2 t powdered garlic
1/4 t cayenne
1/4 t ginger
1/2 t black pepper
1/4 t salt
1/4 t rosemary
1/4 t marjoram

Peel and dice potatoes. Steam or boil for 15-20 minutes, until tender but still a tad firm. Hardboil eggs for 12 minutes, then let sit in cold water for at least five minutes. Dice eggs.

Stir all the ingredients together. Adjust spices to taste. It's even tastier the next day.

To Cake, Or Not to Cake...

2007-06-02T10:34:00.000-07:00

Crab is the question. I have a yummy-sounding recipe for a crabmeat, egg and artichoke heart salad that I could serve with jasmine rice; or I could make some crabcakes. Considering how much I love crabcakes, it's difficult to break out of the routine. But I'm also quite partial to egg and artichoke hearts, so it's kind of a draw.

Fortunately, I have several hours to decide. Whichever I go with, if it turns out well, I'll post the recipe.

Mmm, potatoes...

2007-05-21T06:41:00.001-07:00

Breakfast food is such a delightful type of cuisine. One of the essentials, of course, is potatoes. Potatoes make an excellent base for a veggie breakfast burrito (using this recipe, in fact, with some scrambled eggs and a little salsa or pico de gallo), or you can cut right to the chase with some hash browns or homefries. I don't usually feel like grating up potatoes first thing in the morning, so I go with homefries instead.

Now, homefries are like snowflakes: no two people make theirs quite the same. I like mine with a little kick to them, and made in a cast-iron skillet. Pepper aficionados could add diced red and green bell peppers or even a jalepeno. Serve with plenty of salt, pepper and ketchup. Mmm...

Homefries
serves 2 generously, 3-4 as a smaller side

2 T canola or vegetable oil, or butter
3-4 cloves garlic, minced
1 small onion, diced
4-5 medium potatoes, diced

cayenne
crushed red pepper
fresh ground black pepper
fresh ground sea salt
oregano
rosemary

Heat the oil/butter in a skillet over medium heat. Saute the garlic and onion about 3-5 minutes, until onions are turning pearlescent. Add the potatoes and stir to coat.

Spice according to taste; I use ~ 1/2 to 3/4 tsp. cayenne, ~ 1 tsp. red pepper, ~ 1/4 tsp. black pepper, ~ 1/2 tsp. salt, ~ 1/2 tsp. oregano and ~ 1/4 tsp. rosemary. Mix up thoroughly with the potatoes to evenly spice.

Fry, stirring occasionally, until potatoes are done, about 15-20 minutes. Serve immediately.

Let's Hear It For Down Home Cookin'

2007-05-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

On a recent trip to Dallas, I had the best oyster po'boy of my life. And considering that we spend time every year on the Outer Banks of NC, that's really saying something. It was just the right amount of oysters, the breading was tasty but didn't try too hard, and they had a sort of spicy French dressing on it. Yum. Dallas has some great restaurants, to be sure. My foodie friend Pam asked me how my trip was (I was at a conference) and I ecstatically described every meal.

There's still plenty of down home cooking available to vegetarians, especially those of us steeped in North Carolina tradition. Breakfast, of course, is an all-essential meal when you're talking good home cookin'. I'm still trying to perfect my recipe for pancakes, but will definitely post my recipe for angel biscuits soon. They're fluffy and buttery, just like a good biscuit should be. (Actually, our hotel in Dallas had great biscuits on the continental breakfast buffet.) In the meantime, since I have to look up those recipes and I remember the following one, here's a never-fail, super-easy recipe for French toast.

French toast was actually the first thing I ever learned how to cook, with my mom on weekend mornings. This recipe is adapted from the one she taught me, to include less lactose - and more powdered sugar!

Ann's Favorite French Toast
serves 2

2-4 slices bread per person
1 egg (buy free-range and organic!)
3/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 T brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla
powdered sugar (~1/3 cup)
2 T butter

Start 1 T butter in a skillet or frying pan over medium heat. Stir the egg with a fork, in a bowl wide enough to hold the bread (flattish works best). Add the cinnamon, brown sugar and vanilla and stir until thoroughly mixed. Soak both sides of the bread in the mixture for several seconds, then place on the skillet. Cook until golden brown and smelling delicious. Repeat with each slice of bread; cut toast in half, arrange on the plates and sift powdered sugar to your preference over the slices. Fresh strawberries are great on the side; and of course butter and maple syrup as desired.

Blackened Fish Seasonings

2007-05-07T12:34:00.000-07:00

One of the great things about Colorado is that even though it's a land-locked state, you can find some tasty, fresh trout fillets at your local grocery store. Over the weekend, we made some awesome blackened Steelhead trout that turned out well enough to be post-worthy! This recipe is fast, easy and yummy. I paired it with baked potatoes and some steamed broccoli; nothing fancy, but very satisfying.

Notes on the recipe:
It was rainy and cold, so instead of putting the fillets on the grill, we "grilled" on the stovetop using this cool, cast iron griddle/grill piece that's flat on one side and has ridges on the other.
This would be a good marinade/seasoning for any red fish - trout, salmon etc. Could also work for catfish or probably any blackened fish.
If you can't find Smoked Tomato dressing, French would work as well.
Spices should be used according to taste; the quantities listed below are an approximation only.

Smokey Blackened Trout

Trout fillets for two people

1-2 Tablespoons Smoked Tomato dressing

3/4 tsp garlic powder
3/4 tsp cayenne
1/4 tsp basil
1/2 tsp smoked Spanish paprika (can substitute regular paprika)
1/4 tsp thyme
1/4 tsp marjoram
1/2 tsp Northwoods Fire seasoning (if you haven't discovered Penzey's Spices yet, check them out!; you can substitute any smoky-flavored grill seasoning mix)
1/4 tsp fresh ground black pepper

Heat grill to medium/medium-high. Wash fish and pat dry.

Brush smoked tomato dressing on top of each fillet. Combine spices thoroughly in small bowl, then brush on top of the fillet.

Place fillet skin side down on grill. Let cook for about 6 - 10 minutes, depending on thickness. Flip fillet and grill another 5-8 minutes or until it's blackened to your satisfaction. Flip fillet again, test for doneness by flaking with a fork, and if it's not done yet, let it cook longer on the skin side.

Fluffy Cranberry Almond Scones

2007-05-04T22:28:00.000-07:00

I just baked the lightest, fluffiest scones of my life. I've been searching for the perfect scone recipe for a long time, and I think I've finally gotten it by crossing recipes from two of my favorite cookbooks. At last!

"Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone", by Deborah Madison, is an absolute must for every vegetarian kitchen, and can be greatly enjoyed by foodies of any diet. Williams-Sonoma's "Essentials of Baking" is likewise the one key reference for anyone who wants to hone their baking skills. It offers challenge for the intermediate/advanced baker and easy to follow, step-by-step instructions with pictures that are actually helpful for beginners.

A few notes on the recipe:

If you're using sweeter ingredients, you'll want to reduce the amount of sugar in your dough, using a minimum of one tablespoon.
I actually used about 2 3/4 teaspoons baking powder. You could vary this more, down to 2 teaspoons, depending on how dense you like your scones. This recipe is certainly lighter than traditional scones.
One of the original recipes was a currant cream scone recipe, and the other was a ginger cream scone recipe (with crystallized ginger). There are a million other add-ins you could try. Dream up various combinations of your favorite dried fruit, chocolate, and nuts.
Both original recipes called for cream rather than whole milk, but I decreased the dairy intensity and they still taste great.
It's generally helpful to have your eggs at about room temperature when baking.
If you aren't using almonds in the recipe, replace the almond extract with the same amount of vanilla extract... or mint, if you wanted to make double-chocolate mint scones (mmmm).

Fluffy Cranberry Almond Scones

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 cup sugar, plus 1 tablespoon for the topping
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup sliced almonds
2 eggs
1/2 cup whole milk plus 1 tablespoon for the topping
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat the oven to 425° F (high altitude 450°). Line a half-sheet pan or rimless baking sheet with parchment paper or a Silpat.

Lightly mix together the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or two knives, until the mixture looks like meal. Mix in the cranberries and almonds.

In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, milk and almond extract. Stir into the flour mixture just until evenly moistened. (I used a stand mixer with the paddle attachment.) If the mixture is sticky, add a little more flour just until the dough doesn't stick to your fingers.

Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently form it into a ball. Pat the ball into a circle about 1/2 inch thick. Cut the dough into 8 wedges with a sharp knife (floured if needed). Place the wedges 1 inch apart on the baking pan. Brush with the tablespoon of milk, and sprinkle the tablespoon of sugar on top.

Bake until golden brown, about 15 minutes. If you're not sure how golden brown to go, just wait until it smells irresistible, remove from oven and let cool slightly. Serve warm, with butter if desired.

My Weird Diet

2007-05-02T23:23:00.000-07:00

No, no, vegetarianism isn't weird. My diet is, though. Allow me to explain.

My weird diet is largely the result of being lactose-intolerant and somewhat selective about observing this restriction. In brief, I eat the dairy products that I enjoy, while my allergic aversion to items like milk, yogurt, sour cream and cheese makes me literally want to barf at the very smell. I will cook using the blacklisted items (except cheese), albeit sparingly, since the finished meal doesn't smell icky. I will also cheerfully go to town on some ice cream, butter or eggs, none of which smell nauseating.

This discrepancy makes my brother absolutely nuts. It makes my husband only slightly nuts, but my brother, who is nicknamed Cheese-Boy, is probably going to be frustrated by my diet for the rest of his life. In vain do I point out that this leaves more cheese in the world for him to consume. It does no good to suggest that he got all the cheese-loving genes for both of us. I think sometimes big brothers just need to be driven nuts by their little sisters.

So, because of my partial dairy aversion, when I announced to my mom at the tender age of 14 that I was now a vegetarian, she did what moms do best: she worried about me. She consulted a nutritionist who agreed that most vegetarians get important nutrients from cheese. And Mom did what moms are entitled to do: she put her foot down, saying I could be a vegetarian if I chose, but that I needed to keep eating fish so I could get enough protein. I acceded.

So I'm a fish-eating vegetarian who hates cheese. Nice, eh? If you're not a vegetarian, you're probably wondering what's left, what with the whole mercury-fish thing. I think it can be difficult for people to conceptualize other diets. I think that because of the number of friends that have invited me to their home with the caveat, "Although I don't know what you're gonna eat. What do you eat?"

Thankfully, there are lots and lots and lots of other vegetarians out there, some of whom eat fish, some of whom even dislike cheese. Once, while working as a cashier at the awesome health food co-op Weaver Street Market, in Carrboro NC, I actually met someone who had the exact same diet I do. I practically fell over, I was so astonished.

The important thing to remember is - not by sheer coincidence - also one of my favorite things about cooking. Every recipe can be adapted to your tastes. So even if you disagree with my diet, I hope you'll find some yummy tidbits on this blog to enrich your own culinary life.