Archive for the ‘Recipes’ Category

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Church “soupluck”

Monday, March 1st, 2010

The first time we held one of these, my friend introduced it as a “depression era potluck dinner”. People bring a pot of soup or bread, we drink water, and we have an amazing time.

My contribution was a loaf of bread. When I got the Cooking Light for March, I was inspired by this recipe. Irish Soda Bread has always been a bit of a curiosity for me. I was interested to try it myself. It took a bit of hunting in the grocery store to find all of the ingredients, but the work was well worth it. Besides, it took me all of 5 minutes to actually mix the ingredients.

Three reasons you should make Irish Soda Bread:

  1. It’s super easy
  2. It’s super hearty
  3. Perfect for soup (and pot roast, as we discovered last night ;) )
Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Ingredients:

  • 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup all purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup steel cut oats
  • 2 Tablespoons brown sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon wheat germ
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups buttermilk
  • 1 large egg, beaten

Procedures:

Mix ingredients until combined.  Pour into greased loaf pan*.  Bake in preheated oven at 325 for approximately an hour, until golden brown and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  You should probably let it cool just a bit.  Good luck with that.

*Note: the first time I made this, it overflowed just a bit.  The second time, I made it in two loaf pans which I baked for only 50 minutes.

Posted in Breads, Recipes | No Comments »

Success!

Saturday, February 20th, 2010

I chatted with a coworker who follows a strict gluten free diet about what kind of cookies to make for my brother’s birthday, and he recommended flourless peanut butter cookies. The idea intrigued me.  After all, the best gluten free recipes are those that are naturally so, not those that have all sorts of gluten substitutes in them. Food Blog Search helped me find this recipe, which not only matched the ingredients I had on hand, but also addressed the many doubts I had about making cookies without flour.

Mad props to Joy the Baker. The cookies were AMAZING! Don’t believe me? See the text my I got from my brother just a couple days later:

Do you even need to read the rest of it?

Do you even need to read the rest of it?

I must confess that I did get lazy. On two counts. So my recipe is a little different than the original, though I cannot claim that mine were better.

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup peanut butter
  • 1 cup sugar (I skimped on the brown sugar; it’s true)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda

Procedures:

Cream all ingredients together.  Place by rounded teaspoons onto greased baking sheet.  Use your thumb to press the cookie down a bit in the middle.  (I just wasn’t going to worry about dirty-ing forks for a silly little criss-cross pattern.)  Bake for 10-ish minutes.  Let cool on baking sheet for a bit, then transfer to wire racks.

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Photo by Nathan Clendenin

Do you really miss the criss-cross pattern?

Posted in Cookies, Desserts, Gluten Free, Recipes | 1 Comment »

Fish Made Tasty

Friday, February 19th, 2010

I’m not usually a fan of fish. My mom, who is an awesome cook, always fixed it the same way. I never thought of it as something I’d want to experiment with. However, this week when I ran low on food again (this is a theme with me since I try not to spend too much on groceries), I decided to try using some tilapia fillets we had in our freezer. We had a roommate move out in the summer who left behind all sorts of food, particularly fish and shrimp. She moved to Wilmington, where I guess she’ll get better seafood.

Anyway, this is what I made:

  • 3 small tilapia fillets
  • 1 onion
  • 1 cup fresh mushrooms, chopped
  • 2-3 T pesto
  • 1 T olive oil
  • Lemon juice
  • Spaghetti noodles
  • Mozzarella cheese
Tilapia Pasta

Tilapia Pasta

I sautéed the onion and mushrooms in olive oil, then added in the fillets.  I was amazed at how fast fish cooks!  I’m used to working with chicken or ground beef. Next I mixed in pesto and squeezed lemon juice over everything. Meanwhile I boiled the spaghetti, which I added to the frying pan so it could cook with the sauté for a while (I learned this trick from The Splendid Table).  Wow, it was good!  I served it with mozzarella cheese melted on top.

Posted in Italian, Recipes, Seafood | No Comments »

Pink Peppermint Pie – A story of unrequited love

Saturday, February 13th, 2010

I made a beautiful pie for Valentine’s Day. In order to make it, I scraped the cream off half a box of Oreos, whipped up cream by hand (this took a loooong time), and invented my own recipe for chocolate drizzle. It turned out splendidly – a work of art that made me proud. I’m sorry to say it didn’t receive the love I hoped it would.

See, I made this pie for a party. And this party had a ton of sweets. Everyone was handed a little molten chocolate cake (which tasted awesome, by the way) at the beginning of the party. After molten chocolate cake, how could anyone have room for peppermint pie? Sadly, only two or three pieces of my pie got eaten. It was disappointing to see my beautiful pie cut up and melting (it needs to be refrigerated) and not even being eaten.  This may seem silly, but it really was an unfortunate situation.

Pink Peppermint Pie

Pink Peppermint Pie

Anyway, the recipe is awesome, and I hope your experience with this pie will be better fated than mine. I found this recipe in Betty Crocker (the copy from the 70’s that my parents gave me for my 15th birthday). Here it is:

  • Oreo crust (I made my own)
  • 24 large marshmallows
  • 1/2 c milk
  • 1 t vanilla
  • 1/8 t salt
  • 6 drops peppermint extract
  • 6 drops red food color
  • 1 c chilled whipping cream
  • 2 T crushed peppermint candy

Bake pie crust.  Heat marshmallows and milk in saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, just until marshmallows are melted.  Remove from heat; stir in vanilla, salt, peppermint extract, and food color.  Refrigerate, stirring occasionally, until mixture mounds slightly when dropped from a spoon.

Beat whipping cream in chilled bowl until stiff.  Stir marshmallow mixture until blended; fold into whipping cream.  Pour into crust.  Refrigerate at least 12 hours.

In order to decorate this, I melted chocolate chips (about 1/3 cup) with shortening (about a tablespoon) in a saucepan. I dipped a heart-shaped cookie cutter in the melted chocolate, then made heart-shaped impressions on the pie. Then I used the cookie cutter again to sprinkle peppermint candy inside the hearts. I had so much melted chocolate left over, I covered the whole edge of the crust too.

Posted in Desserts, Recipes | 1 Comment »

Slow Cooking on-the-fly

Saturday, February 6th, 2010

(Valerie here again) Over Christmas I got a slow cooker, rice cooker, and food processor. Of course, I immediately went to work finding recipes that used them. I started by making my first-ever Spaghetti and Meatballs which required the food processor (for making breadcrumbs) and the slow cooker.

A couple of weeks ago I was scraping the bottom of the barrel with my food. I wanted to see what I could do without taking a trip to the grocery store. This is what I found in my house:

  • 1/2 pound pinto beans
  • 1/2 pound black eyed peas
  • Several carrots
  • Onions
  • 1 white potato
  • 1 sweet potato
Before I started the cooker

Before I started the cooker

I figured, here’s my chance to use my slow cooker for what it’s best at – throwing food together and letting it do its thing. I soaked the beans, chopped up the veggies, then threw them in the slow cooker with water, thyme, bayleaves, and oregano. I turned the cooker on low and let it cook overnight.

It turned out pretty good. I wasn’t so sure when I first smelled the soup in the morning (sometimes beans smell funny). It tasted good though, especially when I mixed in some half & half to make it creamy.

Posted in Recipes, Soups and Stews, Veggies | No Comments »

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