Cranberry Salsa

How?  How have I not posted my recipe for cranberry salsa yet?  It's so, so good.  The original came from a friend's sister about 8 years ago, but I have tinkered with it substantially over the years to make it just right.  I make it almost every Thanksgiving/Christmas. 
 

This salsa is really good, and rather unique.  It's sweet and tart, but also a little spicy and on the savory side.  It's actually kind of hard to describe, but I love it, and most of the women who have tried it love it as well.  For some reason most guys don't like it, but I did bring it to a potluck the other day and one guy came up to me to tell me that he loved it, so there are obviously exceptions!

 

I always serve this salsa with tortilla chips, but think it would also be great served over cream cheese with crackers, in the style of the traditional low effort but mind blowingly tasty cream cheese and jalapeno jelly appetizer.  It would also be an interesting alternative to cranberry sauce at Thanksgiving or on turkey sandwiches.  It would also be a good appetizer recipe to make if you expect vegan guests and want something different from regular salsa.

 

Quick Note:  The onion can get very overwhelming in this salsa, you really do not want very much.  A quarter of a small onion doesn't sound like a lot, but stick with that amount, at least the first time you make it!  Also, don't just dump everything into the food processor at once or you risk over processing the cilantro and cranberries.

 

Cranberry Salsa

 

leafy parts of 1 bunch of cilantro

12 oz cranberries, rinsed and any icky ones picked out

1 granny smith apple

1/4 small red onion (take the "small" part to heart!)

1 jalapeno, veins and seeds removed

3 Tbsp lime juice

2/3 C sugar

 

Pulse cilantro in a food processor and then dump it into a large bowl.  Add cranberries to food processor and pulse until they're finely chopped.  Add to the bowl with the cilantro.  Cut apple, onion, and jalapeno into large chunks and place in food processor with lime juice.  Pulse until as chopped up as you'd like.  Add to bowl with the cilantro and cranberries, then stir in sugar.

 

Let salsa sit in the fridge for a few hours before serving so the flavors can marry, then serve with tortilla chips.

 

Yield: about 3 cups of salsa

Secret Recipe Club: Lemon Vanilla Salad Dressing

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned the blog Shockingly Delicious.  Shockingly Delicious is written by a woman named Dorothy who is a writer, long time cook, and mom.  Dorothy has so many amazing looking recipes on her blog!  I had such a hard time choosing one because the recipes look so interesting.  I considered Vegetarian Chard Soup, Slow Cooker Hawaiian Kalua Pork, Hot Gooey Caramel Pie, and Rustic Herbed Stuffing with Greens.  I'll probably make the stuffing recipe for Thanksgiving because it looks so good.  We don't even normally have stuffing at Thanksgiving because my family can take it or leave it, but that one looks too interesting not to try.

 

Anyway, I chose Lemon Vanilla Salad Dressing.  What unique ingredients, I've never seen vanilla in dressing before.  Though I was a little suspicious of how it would turn out, I'm happy to say it's quite good.  Unique and tasty, the flavors totally work!  My husband liked it, too, and he has pretty traditional tastes when it comes to salad and dressings.  I'm having flashbacks to his horror when I served a kale salad with chopped apples, walnuts, and dried cranberries topped with an avocado lemon dressing.  Usually he loves what I make, but he still talks about how bad that was.  I liked it...  Point is, even he enjoyed this dressing, unique and dare I say "girly" as it may be.

I served the dressing over plain bagged salad from the grocery store, but added some of the last of my baby tomatoes and peppers from my garden.  I meant to give the salad a sprinkle of dried cranberries, too, but forgot.  Oops!  What I can say for sure is that I'll definitely make this dressing again.  It would be great in the summer since the flavors are so light, or in the dead of winter to perk things up a bit.  Thanks for the awesomeness, Dorothy!

 

One last thing: I received a sad e-mail saying that November would be the last month of Secret Recipe Club because they're closing up shop.  I remember how excited I was to join 2 1/2 years ago.  The rules were that you had to have 100 recipe posts WITH pictures, and a recipe index, so I spent quite a while building up my collection of recipes with photos (it isn't second nature of me to take a picture of what I cook!) and making the index before I applied.  How disappointing for it to be over.  

  

I'll still lurk around some of my favorite blogs that I found through SRC, like Making Memories with your Kids, Chef in Disguise, Mother Would Know, The Pajama Chef, and BCMom's Kitchen, but it won't be the same.  All of the blogs I've been assigned to have been great though.  Many of the SRC recipes I've made are ones I still make, and I've tried a lot of recipes that I never would have tried. and I've thoroughly enjoyed the past two and a half years of Secret Recipe Club.  Does anyone know of other cooking blog groups like this?

   

  

  Lemon Vanilla Salad Dressing

 

4 Tbsp olive oil

3 Tbsp lemon juice

2 tsp brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla bean paste (I used Nielsen-Massey brand, yum!)

pinch salt

 

Place all ingredients in a bowl and blend with an immersion blender for about 30 seconds or until all ingredients are combined and the dressing has thickened slightly.  Alternatively, you can mix it up in a blender.

 

Yield: 1/2 C dressing
   

An InLinkz Link-up

Crazy Cake

This cake is so good that I made it twice in less than a month!  First to bring it to a dinner with friends, then for a potluck that actually featured most of the same people, but I didn't hear any complaints.  The recipe is from the Ben and Birdy blog, and it's one I've been intrigued with for years and am so glad I finally made it.  You know it's good if I make it twice in such a short time period!  The first time I topped it with sweetened whipped cream and sprinkles like in the pictures over on that blog.  It was really, really good that way, but I decided to try a double batch of this frosting this time.  Either way is delightful.

This recipe apparently has its roots in the Great Depression because it was a reliable way to get a fantastic cake without eggs or butter.  It's often called Crazy Cake or Wacky Cake.  Whatever you call it, it's awesome!  The first time I used all whole wheat flour (just wanted to try it out) and Hershey's Special Dark cocoa.  The cake was basically black from the cocoa and everyone loved it.  The second time, I tried white flour and normal cocoa.  Also fantastic!

Note that this cake is vegan if you serve it with a vegan icing, vegan iced cream, sprinkle it with powdered sugar, or just serve it plain.

Crazy Cake

2 1/4 C flour (white, whole wheat, or a mixture)
2 C white sugar
1 C cocoa powder (regular or dark)
2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 tsp vinegar
2/3 C canola oil
2 C cold water

Preheat an oven to 350 and grease a 9 by 13 baking dish.  Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.  Make 3 wells in the dry ingredients and pour the vanilla extract into one well, vinegar into another, and oil into the third.  Pour the cold water over top and whisk thoroughly until the batter is smooth.  Pour batter into prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30-35 minutes.  Let cake cool completely before frosting, or you can just let it cool for half an hour or so and serve warm cake topped with ice cream or sweetened whipped cream and sprinkles.

To make sweetened whipped cream, just beat 2 C cream until soft peaks form, then beat in vanilla extract and powdered sugar to taste.  Continue beating it until stiff peaks form, then stop immediately because you don't want to accidentally start turning your whipped cream into butter!

Brown Rice, Tomato, & Basil Salad

This is my somewhat loose interpretation of an Ina Garten recipe.  I used tomatoes from my own garden and just used as many as were currently ripe, and I used less of a different type of vinegar.  Regardless, the salad was really good!  My husband loved it and ate most of it.  Definitely a repeat around here!

Brown Rice, Tomato, & Basil Salad

1 C brown rice, cooked and lightly salted and then partly cooled
tomatoes, chopped into large chunks, however many you want (I used 2 large ones)
about 1/2 C roughly chopped basil
3 Tbsp seasoned rice vinegar (you can use less or more, according to your tastes)
1 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

In a medium bowl, stir together all the ingredients.  Serve slightly warm, room temperature, or cold. 

Grilled Corn & Tomato Salad

I have made this salad 4 times in the past month or so.  We love grilled corn on the cob, and so far every time I have grilled this summer, I've grilled corn for us to eat immediately as well as corn to use the next day in this salad.  It's nothing fancy, but very good!

 

Grilled Corn & Tomato Salad

 
2 cobs fresh corn

olive oil

salt and pepper

10 oz (by weight) cherry tomatoes, halved

3 Tbsp sliced green onions

2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar, plus more to taste

1 tsp dried basil

1/8 tsp garlic powder

salt to taste

Remove the corn husks and corn silk from cobs.  Rinse corn and pat dry.  Brush all over with olive oil, then sprinkle with salt and pepper.  Grill on an outdoor grill over medium heat, rotating every couple of minutes and with grill cover shut in between, until there are grill marks all over the corn and it's cooked through, about 15 minutes.  Remove corn from grill and let it sit until cool enough to handle, or wrap it in foil and refrigerate over night.

When you're ready to make the salad, cut the corn off the cobs with a serrated knife.  Place in a medium mixing bowl with the halved tomatoes and green onions, then add the rest of the ingredients.  Toss until everything's well mixed, taste, and add a little more vinegar, salt, garlic powder, or basil if you think it's needed.

I always serve half of the salad immediately, then cover the rest and serve it the next day.  It's good both ways!

Salt & Pepper Tofu Triangles

This is an incredibly simple recipe for tofu that has turned into one of our favorites!  It's peppery with a smidge of sweetness from maple syrup.  Doesn't sound like much, but trust me when I say it's delicious!  The edges get all crispy and yummy and it's just an all around solid, reliable recipe.  Nice how such easy recipes with minimal ingredients often turn out really well.  I've made this 5 or 6 times since I stumbled upon the recipe about a year ago at Healthy Happy Life.  I always serve it with some type of salad and sometimes steamed rice or noodles.

Quick Note:  I don't bother drying my tofu with paper towels or pressing out the excess water or anything, I just dump out the water in the refrigerated package.  It's always turned out just fine!

 Salt & Pepper Tofu Triangles
 
14 oz package extra firm tofu, drained
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
pepper to taste (use more than you normally would!)
salt to taste
1 Tbsp maple syrup

Cut tofu into thick slices, then cut them into triangles.  Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high.  Add tofu and sprinkle generously with pepper, then salt.  Let tofu cook without moving them until they begin to turn a little golden on the bottom, which will take about 3 minutes.  Drizzle the maple syrup into the pan and move the tofu around with tongs so the syrup gets evenly distributed.  When bottom of tofu is golden, flip the slices and cook until they turn a deep golden color. 

Yield: 2-3 servings

Ginger Apricot Cranberry Sauce

My Secret Recipe Club assignment for December was The Pajama Chef and this is one of the three recipes I made from that blog.  I made my official post for SRC a couple of days ago, but really wanted to share her Ginger Apricot Cranberry Sauce, too!

A bit of background: My husband loves homemade cranberry sauce, so I make it every Thanksgiving.  It's usually the very first Thanksgiving dish I make and I do it the night before.  I like cranberry sauce okay, and in the past have always just used the recipe on the bag of cranberries (cranberries, sugar, water).  It's good, but regardless of how much my husband likes it, we always end up throwing some of it away after a couple of weeks in the fridge.
 
Well, when I made this, we actually finished the entire bowl in a few days.  A first!  If that doesn't speak to how good it is, I don't know what would.  It's such a perfect combination of tart-sweet-spicy (from the ginger) and the apricot actually does manage to hold its own against the cranberry flavor.  I may experiment with other cranberry sauce recipes in the future- found one with crushed pineapple that appeals to my pineapple loving heart!- but this is definitely our default cranberry sauce recipe from now on.

Note: The recipe says to cut the halved apricots into thirds.  I thought that seemed really big and cut them into 6ths.  The apricots kind of fell apart during the cooking process and disappeared into the cranberries.  It still tasted amazing, but I think bigger pieces may be the way to go and will do it this way next year.

Ginger Apricot Cranberry Sauce

12 oz bag fresh cranberries, rinsed and drained

3/4 C sugar
1 t ground ginger

15 oz can halved apricots

 

Place cranberries in a pot and add sugar and ginger.  Drain the apricot juice into a measuring cup and add enough water to make 1 cup liquid.  Add to pot.  Cut apricots into quarters and add to pot.  Stir to mix.  Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries have popped and are softened, and the sauce cooks down and thickens.  This will take about 15-20 minutes.  Refrigerate sauce until ready to serve.

Secret Recipe Club: The Mothership Tomato Salad

For this month's Secret Recipe Club, I was assigned the awesome blog, Chit Chat Chomp!  Isn't that the best blog name?  Chit Chat Chomp is run by an Australian lady named Leigh, and she has a ton of very intriguing, tasty looking recipes of all kinds on her blog. 

I ended up choosing a recipe called The Mothership Tomato Salad.  It's from the chef Jamie Oliver, and I was drawn to it because I LOVE tomatoes!  We have tomato salad very frequently, usually just using tomatoes, a pinch of salt, and balsamic vinegar.  Simple and delicious.  The Mothership Tomato Salad is like a fancier version of that.  It's still super fast and easy to make, but has things like oregano, garlic, and red pepper flakes.  So good, and definitely a repeat!  Best of all is there aren't even really any measurements, you just sprinkle in the ingredients to your heart's content.

In a few days I plan to make Leigh's wonderful looking Chickpea Falafels.  I actually made the tomato salad a few days ago just because the recipe looked irresistible, and planned to make the falafels for this post, but then I got sick.  I'm still recovering, so the falafels will have to wait a couple of more days!

The Mothership Tomato Salad

tomatoes (recipe calls for heirloom, I used grape), cut into bite size chunks

small amount of minced garlic

pinch of salt
pinch of pepper

pinch of oregano
pinch of red pepper flakes

splash of extra virgin olive oil
splash of balsamic vinegar (about 1/4 the amount of olive oil)

Just toss everything together in a bowl, taste, and add a bit more of anything if it needs more!  Enjoy.

An InLinkz Link-up

Copycat Frito Lay Bean Dip

This is just a really tasty, easy, and CHEAP recipe for bean dip.  We think it's better than the canned stuff from Frito Lay.  It has more flavor, as well as a definite spicy kick.  You could also make two batches of this for the price of one tiny can of bean dip!  I found the recipe over at Food.com and it's basically perfect exactly as written.

Copycat Frito Lay Bean Dip

1 can refried beans (check the ingredients if you want to make your dip vegetarian or vegan!)
2-5 jarred jalapeno slices (depending on how spicy you want it)
1 Tbsp brine from the jar of jalapeno slices
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp onion powder
1/4 tsp paprika
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/8 tsp cayenne pepper

Blend all ingredients in a food processor, or alternatively, place everything in a smallish bowl and blend it with an immersion blender until smooth.  Serve with corn chips or tortilla chips, or you can make a quick lunch by spreading some on a flour tortilla, sprinkling with a bit of shredded cheddar, and rolling it up.

Yield: About 8 servings

Slow Cooker Split Pea and Barley Soup

Okay, I realize that July is the wrong time of year to be sharing a soup recipe.  But the latter half of June was SO HOT here in Interior Alaska (as in, mid 90s- fun when you don't have air conditioning) and so far July has been so very mild by comparison, with temperatures in the 60s-70s.

I like soup in general, but split pea is among my favorites and always has been.  Peas are my favorite veggie, maybe that's why.  It's also a major comfort food for me, maybe because my mom made it just for me for holidays when I was vegan as a teenager.  Usually I make mine the same way- split peas, broth of some variety (can be chicken or veggie), onion, garlic, carrots, potato, rosemary, and bay leaf.  I don't use a specific amount of anything, just start tossing things into the crock pot and it always turns out perfectly.

This time though I wanted to try split pea and barley soup.  We were in Washington visiting family last month and I tried this soup at the California Pizza Kitchen and loved it.  Found a copycat recipe last night, fiddled with it a bit, and was able to toss all the ingredients together in 10 minutes this morning before leaving for work.  Came home 5 hours later to the best lunch you could hope for!  To my delight, it needed no further tweaking at all.  Just split pea and barley perfection.  The lemon seemed like a rather odd ingredient, but brightens the flavors just a bit and was very nice.  Can't say for sure whether it tastes just like the restaurant version, but I loved it.

The original recipe is here, I streamlined the recipe so it could go in the crock pot and also adjusted it according to my tastes and what I had.  Feel free to add diced carrots, the only reason I didn't do this was because I wanted it to be different from my regular recipe and I didn't want to mess with chopping things up this morning.  Since I use frozen diced onion (can't stand cutting them up myself!) and jarred minced garlic, I didn't have to chop or peel anything!

Split Pea and Barley Soup

8 C veggie or chicken broth

3 C water

1 lb dried split peas

1 C barley

about 1 1/2 C diced onion (I used half of a 12 oz bag of frozen diced onions)

3 cloves minced garlic

1/2 t black pepper

1 1/2 t dried summer savory

1 T sugar

salt to taste (I used a full tablespoon)

2 T lemon juice

Stir everything together in a 6 quart slow cooker.  Cook on low until peas and barley are tender, which took 5 hours in my slow cooker.

Yield: about 10 servings

Olive and Caper Tomato Sauce

As much as I love tomato based sauces and pasta (as evidenced by the large number of this kind of recipe on my blog!), I am kind of particular about tomato sauce.  In my experience, usually they have to cook for a long time to be very good.  Over the years I have tried many quick recipes and they nearly always end up kind of blah.  Not bad by any means, but lacking character and any level of deep or complex flavor.  What I usually do is make up a great big batch of bolognese sauce or meatless marinara and freeze it since they take quite a while to make and it's easy to make big batches.

This recipe, however, is a sauce that only takes about half an hour to make (chopping time included) and is really, really good!  How can it not be when it's full of olives and capers, then simmered until thick?  I got this recipe from Giada de Laurentiis' book Everyday Italian and have made it several times over the past couple of years.  The recipe is called "Spicy Tomato Sauce" in her book and is apparently her version of arrabbiata sauce, but it honestly does not seem spicy to us at all with just a big pinch of red pepper flakes for heat.  It's really good though without being hot and you can add as much pepper flakes as you want.  Even olive haters may be alright with this one.  My husband only likes plain black olives you buy in a can, but he enjoys the salty, briny flavor of kalamata olives and capers in this recipe.  This sauce is astonishingly good, as good as any sauce I've had that was simmered all day.  As another bonus, you can keep the ingredients on hand and whip it up really quickly!

Quick note: This is a great choice for a vegan meal if you use eggless pasta and don't add any parmesan.

Olive and Caper Tomato Sauce

3 T olive oil
1 small onion, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 C pitted kalamata olives, chopped coarsely
2 T drained capers
large pinch of red pepper flakes (or more if you like it spicy!)
salt to taste (recipe calls for 1/2 t but canned tomatoes, olives, and capers are already salty)
28 oz can crushed tomatoes

Heat olive oil over medium high and saute onion until it begins to brown, then add everything but the crushed tomatoes.  Saute for a minute or two, then stir in the tomatoes.  Reduce the heat and simmer, stirring occasionally, until thickened, about 20 minutes.  Serve over your favorite pasta, we like linguine.  A sprinkle of parmesan on top does not hurt!

Yield: 4 to 6 servings

Black Bean, Corn, and Potato Burritos

This burrito filling is something I just tossed together for dinner using ingredients in the fridge and pantry that I'm trying to use up in preparation for all the Thanksgiving leftovers.  It's very simple and may sound boring, but it's surprisingly good!  My husband declared them to be magical because the ingredients on their own are kind of plain, but they combine to make something really tasty.  This is also a VERY cheap vegetarian or vegan meal, especially if you serve them with homemade tortillas and go easy on the array of burrito toppings.  I think it would also actually be good served as a sort of hash by leaving the mixture in the skillet, pressing in some indentations, cracking eggs into the indentations, replacing the lid, and cooking until the egg is set.  Yummy!

Quick note: You can easily use diced onion and garlic instead of the powders, I just didn't have any.  Add the onion about halfway through the cooking time of the potatoes and add the garlic when the potatoes only have a couple of minutes left.  Also, don't add any cheese if you want the burritos to be vegan!

Behold, my burrito with monterey jack cheese and salsa verde:

Black Bean, Corn, and Potato Burritos

2 medium-large baking potatoes (each about 12 oz)
2-3 T butter (can use olive oil to make it vegan)
16 oz can black beans, drained
2 C frozen corn
salt and pepper to taste
1/2 t chili powder
1/4 t cumin
1/2 t onion powder
1/4 t garlic powder
tortillas and your favorite burrito toppings

Wash potatoes and cut into small cubes, each about 1/3 inches wide.  Melt butter in a large skillet over medium, add the potatoes, and toss to coat.  Cover pan and cook, tossing every couple of minutes, for about 10 minutes or until the potatoes begin to soften.  Remove lid and cook about 5 minutes more or until cooked through and nicely golden.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Add drained beans, corn, and spices, and cook through.  Taste and add more salt if necessary.  Serve in tortillas with your favorite toppings.

Yield: about 6 servings

Cucumber Dill Salad

This recipe comes from an old cookbook of my grandmother's called The Magnolia Collection and is by Gene Westbrook (it's autographed, too!).  Let me give a bit of backstory:  My grandmother was born and raised in Kentucky and was a wonderful cook.  For every big family gathering, she would cook food for 40 or 50 people as if it were nothing.  Everything she made was delicious, too!  I honestly don't know her history with this particular cookbook.  Not even sure why I ended up with it after she died, but on one of my visits to my father in Louisiana, this book was waiting for my and my dad said one of his siblings had sent it to him to give to me.  The book itself is quite beat up and there are a few notes from her in margins so I think she used it a lot!  Although I've had the book for several years now, I'm sad to say I've only made 2 recipes from it even though so many of them look delicious.  However, both recipes- this one and a chicken salad recipe- are incredible and I make them a lot!

In the book, this recipe is listed in the Appetizers section and is called "Eloise's Cocktail Cucumbers."  Not sure who Eloise was or how exactly you're supposed to serve the cucumbers, but we just have them as a side dish.  I have altered the recipe so it has much less sugar than the original and it works out just great for a sweet, vinegary, dilly cucumber salad.  You can even make a big bowl of it and serve it 2 nights. 

Cucumber Dill Salad

1/4 C sugar
1/2 C white vinegar
1/4 C water
1 t salt
1 t dried dill
2 cucumbers, sliced thinly

Place everything but cucumbers in a small saucepan and bring to a boil.  Cook until sugar has dissolved, which should only take a minute or so.  Pour over sliced cucumbers and toss to coat.  Refrigerate for a couple of hours or overnight.  The recipe says to make 1 day ahead but they're actually still good warm, too!

Yield: About 4 servings

Simple Grilled Portobello Mushroom Burger

Prepare for more less than mediocre photos, my friends!  I recently found out about yet another cooking group that I really want to join.  It's called, you can read about it at that link.  They only let you join if your blog has 100 recipes with photos.  I have more than 100 recipes, but not all of them have photos.  Added 'em up and about 75 have photos.  That means everything I post for the next while will be accompanied by a photograph unless I absolutely cannot stand to post one.  I'll also go back and add photos to some posts that don't have one.  You may want to shield your eyes, don't let my pictures deter you from trying the recipes :)  Oh and of COURSE I will not just be posting random recipes to get a photo up.  My standards are always that I only post recipes that I love, turn out great, and are ready for you to successfully whip up in your own kitchen!

On to the recipe!  I actually have a backlog of recipes (AND photos) to post, but for some reason I prefer waiting a couple days between posts.  Don't want to bury my recipes too quickly, you know?  I will probably pick up the pace though as I have like 10 recipes waiting in the wings and the pile will only keep growing. 

I am still loving my new grill and today's recipe is for grilled portobello mushroom burgers.  You may look at the ingredients and not be very impressed, since the actual burger is just a big ol' mushroom, olive oil, salt, and pepper, then it's topped with a bit of garlic aioli.  But sometimes simpler is better, and this burger is for people who really love mushrooms.  I have tried other portobello burgers where the mushroom flavor was completely covered up with a marinade or glaze or something.  They were good, but we LIKE the flavor of mushrooms and do not feel it needs to be covered up.  Cooked this way, they still taste like mushrooms, and the garlic aioli accentuates the flavor instead of obliterates it.  Plus, if you're paying $6.99 a pound for these overgrown button mushrooms (really) like we are, where's the sense in making it taste like something else?  In any case, we really, really liked these burgers and will definitely make them again!  Next time I am thinking of adding a slice of swiss cheese and making the mother of all mushroom swiss burgers.

Simple Grilled Portobello Mushroom Burger

portobello mushrooms, 1 for each person
olive oil
salt
pepper
buns (make sure they are vegan if you're serving someone who is vegan)
garlic aioli (leave off if you want the burgers vegan!)
any other toppings you want, like lettuce, tomato, or grilled red onion slices (yum!)

Let your grill preheat.  While that happens, wash and thoroughly dry your mushrooms, then cut off the stems of all the mushrooms so the stems are flush with the rest of the cap.   Brush olive oil all over the mushrooms (I used oil on a paper towel), then sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste.  When grill is ready, stick the mushrooms on the grill, gill side up, and grill for 5 minutes over medium-high heat with the cover down.  You may want to check to make sure they aren't burning (though a little bit of black is tasty).  Before flipping them, one at a time pick the mushrooms up with tongs and pour out any accumulated oil and juices in the gills.  They will cause flare ups if you don't.  Cook the burgers on the other side for the same amount of time.  Flip again and cook a couple minutes on the first side, then flip once more.  By this time, the mushroom should feel soft when you poke it with your tongs.  Lower the heat and toss your buns, cut side down, on the grill and grill until toasted.  Drain the mushrooms briefly on paper towels, then serve on the buns with the garlic aioli and any vegetabley toppings you want.

Sauteed Spinach and Mushrooms

There is a distinct lack of veggie side dish recipes on my blog.  It's not because I don't serve vegetables with meals- I definitely do- it' s just that I tend to go really simple.  We like most vegetables as they are and of course the less stuff (butter, cheese, etc) added to them, the healthier they stay.  So the majority of veggies at my house just get steamed, roasted, or eaten raw.  No recipe required.  Keeping with that trend, this is hardly a recipe and pretty much anyone can figure it out, but I've decided to post it anyway in case you haven't made it before.  In spite of its simplicity, I had never actually prepared sauteed spinach as a side dish until recently.  Of course I had sauteed spinach to go in other recipes, but never served it on its own.  It's really good though and a great way to get your greens!  My husband has actually mentioned it a couple of times since I first made it because he wants it again.

The recipe is very easy, quick, and flexible.  You can use chopped onion instead of (or in addition to) the mushroom, or just cook the garlic and spinach.  Willing to bet some toasted sliced almonds would be a great addition, too- just cook them in the skillet over medium-low heat for a few minutes, stirring frequently until toasty brown, then set them aside to cool while you proceed with the recipe and add 'em back in at the end.  Yummy!

Sauteed Spinach and Mushrooms

2 t olive oil
2 large button mushrooms, halved and sliced thinly
2 cloves garlic, minced
10 oz bag baby spinach
salt and pepper to taste

Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high.  Add mushrooms and saute for a couple of minutes, until they begin to turn translucent.  Add garlic and saute for 30 seconds or so.  Add the spinach to the skillet, a large handful at a time.  Cook and stir until it wilts (tongs are a great tool for this!), then add another handful of spinach.  Continue in this fashion until all of the spinach has been added to the pot.  Saute until the spinach is as tender as you would like, another minute or so.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  Serve the spinach in bowls if you don't want spinach juice on the rest of your food!

Yield: 2 servings

Tuesdays with Dorie: Oasis Naan

Hooray, finally a new Tuesdays with Dorie post!  Each month the group makes two recipes and participants are supposed to make at least one of them.  I didn't get to make EITHER recipe last month.  For the first recipe, Hungarian Shortbread which is filled with rhubarb jam, I got the date mixed up and anyway it was too early in the season here for the rhubarb the recipe required.  I do plan to make it soon though because it sounds delicious and the people who did make it seemed to really like it!  The second recipe was Pecan Sticky Buns.  Sounds good, but very complicated, and an awful lot of sticky buns for two people to eat since apparently they don't reheat well.  Also neither of us likes pecans in our baked goods.

So I was very happy to join the fun this time around with a recipe called Oasis Naan.  To check out the recipe, visit the blog Always Add More Butter or Of Cabbages and King Cake.  There's also a very helpful two part video that shows the creators of the recipe baking it with Julia Child, as well as a great article with lots of information.  If you've never had it before (I hadn't until tonight!), naan is a type of leavened flat bread served with all kinds of Middle Eastern dishes.  Many types of naan are quite long and skinny, but Oasis Naan is round and puffy around the edges, with coarse salt, green onion, and cumin seed sprinkled on top before baking.  It's baked in a very hot oven until crisp and golden on the bottom with some golden spots on top.  Like I said, this was my first time eating naan, but I thought it was amazing!  The bread itself had outstanding flavor, a wonderfully chewy texture, and the salt and green onion on top was delightful.  I'd imagine the cumin would have been great too if I had remembered to buy it.  Oops!  I love cumin and was a little sad that my naan had to go without, but there's always next time.  Weird as this may sound, I think the dough would make a dreamy pizza crust and plan to try it.  (Update:  I have used this as pizza dough and it is indeed delicious!)

As for the recipe itself, I followed it very closely.  Ended up using an extra half cup of flour in the dough and kneading it in my stand mixer on low for 5 minutes.  The recipe said to let the dough rise at room temperature for 2 hours, but because of timing issues, mine rose for 3 hours and got a little bigger than it was supposed to, though the recipe said it was okay if that happened.  My bread may have been a bit chewier because of this, but it was really, really good anyway and the dough developed a wonderful flavor while it rose.  I did form and bake mine a little differently.  My dough was wonderful to work with and although I started rolling the pieces out with a rolling pin like the recipe said, it ended up working better when I just patted it out with my hands.  As for baking, the recipe said to transfer the naan to a pizza stone or a cookie sheet that had preheated for 20 minutes in a 500 degree oven.  I did preheat my oven and cookie sheet properly, but I don't have a pizza peel or anything so I put my naan on a piece of parchment paper, picked up the paper, and put it on the baking sheet.  It worked out really well this way, though the parchment paper hanging over the edge of the baking sheet got VERY dark!  The cookie sheet also melted my favorite oven mitt when I took it out after the last batch of naan, so watch out for that if you do it this way!

All in all, I really liked this recipe.  It was super easy to make, fun to bake, and tasted great.  If you've never used yeast before, this would be a wonderful recipe to start with because the dough is easy to work with, the rising time isn't too important and it's all the more charming if the finished naan isn't perfectly round!  I served my naan with Indian Butter Chicken and steamed rice and we had a very enjoyable dinner.

Fresh Spring Rolls with Tofu and Nuoc Mam Cham

We first had these spring rolls at a friend's house several years ago, shortly after my husband and I started dating.  He wasn't a huge fan of the rolls, but I really liked them.  Today I got it into my head that I wanted fresh spring rolls for dinner and I had a hunch my husband would like them better now since he's much more of an adventurous eater than he used to be after several years of eating my cooking (not sure if that's a compliment to me or not!).  I was right, too!  He enjoyed the spring rolls and I loved them.  Don't know why it took me so long to make them myself because this was a truly stellar meal and healthy to boot.  If you've never had them, they're assorted veggies and usually a protein of some sort (tofu in this case) wrapped up in a softened rice wrapper.  Might not sound all that special, but I promise the combination of crunchy veggies, crisp but soft, but sweet and sweet and sour tofu, chewy rice wrapper, and nuoc mam cham is divine.  Don't be intimidated by the multiple steps, they're quite easy to make.  Assembling the spring rolls can be a tad bit tricky because the wrapper likes to stick to itself, but it's really not a big deal.  They're actually a lot of fun, making them is kind of like a very different twist on taco night because each person can put whatever they want in their rolls!

The spring rolls are served with nuoc mam cham, which is a delicious Vietnamese dipping sauce with a perfect blend of sweet, salty, and sour flavors that really add to the spring rolls.  According to what I have read, there are countless variations on nuoc mam cham and you can pretty much use whatever proportions of the ingredients you'd like.  I got the base recipe from one of my favorite blogs, White on Rice Couple (read the comments for an interesting discussion), and there's some more great info about it on The Ravenous Couple.  You could use soy sauce instead of fish sauce if you want the spring rolls to be vegan, but I implore you to try it with the fish sauce if you are not opposed to eating fish!  Don't be scared off by the smell of the fish sauce if you've never used it before, I promise it's good in the nuoc mam cham (among other things).

 My selection of veggies: green onion, cucumber, carrots, and lettuce

For the filling, I used lots of veggies and tofu.  You can use just veggies, or add meat like cooked shrimp or chicken, or really any number of things.  I just slightly adapted my Baked Tofu Bites recipe to be cooked on the stove, and it was wonderful in the spring rolls.

Spring roll wrappers

Here are the wrappers.  They are very thin and translucent.  You can find them in the Asian section at the grocery store.  This package was less than half an inch thick but had 16 wrappers in it!  Another brand I have seen a lot is these Banh Trang ones.  If I can find them without any trouble here in Alaska, I'm sure you can find them, too!

 Nuoc mam cham, ready for dipping

Nuoc Mam Cham

2 cloves minced garlic
1 Thai chili or Sriracha sauce to taste (I used 1/4 t which is quite mild)
1 T sugar
1 T lime juice
1 t rice vinegar
1/4 to 1/2 C fish sauce according to taste (I used 1/4 C) *you can use soy sauce to make it vegetarian*
1/2 C water

Place minced garlic and Thai chili in the bowl of a mortar and pestle and crush thoroughly.  If you don't have a chili, add the sugar to the mortar and pestle with the garlic to help break it down.  Place in a glass jar with a lid along with all the other ingredients and shake well to combine.  Taste and add more of anything if you think it needs it.  The nuoc mam cham will keep well in the refrigerator and you can use it to dip other things in or as a marinade.

 

 Tofu and extra sauce, ready to go in the rolls

Sauteed Tofu

16 oz block extra firm tofu, cut into 3/4 inch cubes
about 2 T vegetable oil
2 T ketchup
2 T honey *you can use maple syrup to make it vegetarian*
1 T rice vinegar
4 T soy sauce
1 clove minced garlic
1/2 t Sriracha sauce

Heat oil in a large skillet over medium.  Add tofu cubes and cook, tossing tofu occasionally with a spatula, until lightly golden.  This will take about 20 minutes.  While tofu cooks, stir together remaining ingredients.  When tofu is finished, add sauce to skillet and cook, stirring frequently, until sauce has thickened slightly, about 2 minutes.  Scoop tofu cubes into a bowl and pour the extra sauce into another small bowl to serve along with the spring rolls.

 Assembled spring rolls, ready to be devoured

Spring Rolls

spring roll wrappers
prepared tofu and extra sauce
nuoc mam cham
veggies of choice, such as:
torn lettuce
thinly sliced carrot (I used a vegetable peeler to make ribbons)
thinly sliced cucumber
thinly sliced green onion
thinly sliced zucchini
sliced bell pepper
bean sprouts
cilantro
Thai basil
mint

Follow directions on spring roll wrapper package to soften wrappers.  Basically, fill a large bowl with hot water and submerge the wrappers in the water one at a time until softened.  Remove to a plate, gently dab dry with a paper towel if necessary, and fill with tofu and veggies.  Fold in the sides, then roll up like a burrito.  Serve with nuoc mam cham and the extra sauce from the tofu.

Rosemary Wheat Bread

 I am very fond of this bread recipe.  It was the very first recipe I ever made that used yeast and I made it for the first time when I was 13 years old.  I was very new to cooking and baking and I did it all by myself without help from my mom (who as far as I know has never baked bread) or a stand mixer.  The bread turned out very well for a first try, my family loved it and when I took it to school for lunch I ended up giving most of it away to friends who wanted to try it.  Over the next couple of years I made it 3 or 4 times, but sadly have not made it since.  This morning though I was thinking about the bread I used to make, googled the name, and found it on this blog!  I practically rushed into the kitchen to get started and am happy to say that the bread is just as yummy as I remember.

The original recipe is named "Ocean's Bombs of Love Bread" and is completely vegan.  It calls for vegetable oil rather than olive oil, no rosemary, and no oil or salt on top.  You could easily use vegetable oil and leave out the rosemary and salt to get a very tasty whole wheat bread.  The huge majority of wheat bread recipes only call for a little bit of whole wheat flour because whole wheat flour just doesn't work as well for bread, but I think the multiple rises and kneadings help with that because the resulting bread is tender and delicious.

The original recipe description encourages the baker to incorporate whatever dried fruit, seeds, nuts, or spices they wanted, and that first time I made it I remember sniffing through all of my mom's bottles of dried herbs and deciding on rosemary.  My passionate love of rosemary was kindled that day!  I think the bread could also be very good with roughly chopped kalamata olives or sun dried tomatoes kneaded in during the last kneading, and if the loaves were formed into rounds instead of baked in bread pans since you'd get more surface area for the olive oil and kosher salt topping.  I'll update the recipe if I ever get around to trying those things, been wanting to try them ever since I first made the recipe but for this first revisit I wanted to make it the old way.  I can say with confidence that I will definitely make this bread again many times and I wish I hadn't stopped making it!

Quick note: To make a warm spot for my dough to rise, turn the oven to 300 degrees for 45 seconds, then turn it off. With my oven at least, this makes the perfect place for bread to proof.  When you let the sponge rise, I suggest turning the oven on again for 20 seconds 45 minutes in to warm things up again.  Also, here is a good video that shows how to knead dough if you aren't familiar with it.

 Rosemary Wheat Bread

1 C lukewarm water
1 packet yeast (2 1/4 t)
4 T maple syrup, divided
4 T extra virgin olive oil, plus a bit more
2 C lukewarm water
2 t salt
7+ C whole wheat flour, divided
2-3 t crushed dried rosemary (I use 3 b/c I love rosemary!)
Optional: kosher salt or crushed sea salt

In a large bowl, stir together 1 C lukewarm water, the yeast, and 1 T of the maple syrup.  Cover with a dish towel and let proof 10 minutes.  Mixture should look creamy.  Stir in remaining maple syrup, water, salt, and 4 C of the flour until smooth.  It will look like a thick batter.  Cover again with the dish towel and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. 

Add dried rosemary, then 3 C flour, one cup at a time.  Stir at first, then use your hands (or a stand mixer with a dough hook if you have one) when it becomes too hard to stir.  Add more flour 1/4 C at a time if necessary to make a smooth, very slightly tacky dough (I ended up adding 1 C extra).  Knead by hand (don't use your stand mixer, it's too hard on the motor) until dough is smooth and elastic, about 5 to 10 minutes depending on how good you are at kneading!  Place dough ball into the bowl you were using earlier and coat lightly with oil, then cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes.

Punch dough down, divide into two balls, and knead each ball of dough for about 5 minutes (you can use your stand mixer for this, if you do only knead 2 to 3 minutes).  Shape each ball into a log and place in lightly greased 9 by 5 bread pans, pressing dough into corners.  Cover with greased plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until dough has risen half an inch above the edge of the pans, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and bake loaves until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 30 to 45 minutes.  Cover the loaves with aluminum foil, shiny side up, if they start to get too browned.  Remove loaves from oven and brush them with a bit of olive oil.  If you're planning to serve the bread that day, sprinkle on some kosher salt or crushed sea salt but leave it off otherwise or the salt will draw moisture from the bread and form little water droplets on top.  Let loaves cool 10 minutes in the pans, then turn them out onto a cooling rack.  The bread is delicious served warm, but be sure to let it cool completely before wrapping it up to store on the counter for a couple of days or in the freezer wrapped in a double layer of aluminum foil.

Yield: 2 loaves

Easy Horchata

We loooove horchata, my husband in particular.  If you've never had it, here's an article with more info.  Basically, the horchata we are used to is sweetened rice milk with vanilla and cinnamon.  It has a rather unique flavor and is very good!  There are recipes out there to make it completely from scratch and I fully intend to give it a try sometime soon, but this "cheater's" horchata made with packaged vanilla rice milk is good, too!  I suggest you make it several hours ahead of time (or even the day before) so the sugar has time to dissolve and the cinnamon has time to soften and disperse through the milk.  The cinnamon will never blend in completely, but it will still be good!

Easy Horchata

1/2 gallon vanilla flavored rice milk
1/3 C sugar
1 t cinnamon

Place everything in a pitcher and stir to combine.  Refrigerate for several hours and stir again before serving.

Yield: 8 1 cup servings

Strawberry Lemonade

I hope everyone is having a great Easter! We aren't religious, but enjoy Easter anyway because it seems like the kick off for spring. Plus we have pet bunnies and they get extra spoiled on Easter :) I love holidays in general and see them as an excuse to make lots of yummy food, but I didn't make a lot today, or cook much in general this past week for a variety of reasons. Last Saturday one of our bunnies died, which is always heartbreaking because we (okay, mostly me) love them and they're part of our family. She died very unexpectedly and this past week was very tense and sad as we waited on lab results that would tell us what exactly she died of and whether our other rabbits were at risk of getting sick as well. Our thermostat also freaked out so it was 92 degrees in our house, and I had a test at school as well as a hugely important interview for my student teaching next year.

Thankfully the lab results came in yesterday and our other bunnies should be fine, it's less hot in here (though the thermostat still isn't fixed), and the test and interview went well, so I'm feeling much more chipper now even though I still miss my bunny a lot.

Saturday night I finally started thinking about what I'd like to make for Easter, and this strawberry lemonade was the first thing I thought of. The recipe is from Southern Plate and I've made it countless times now. It's so fast to make, tastes good, has less sugar than many drinks, and is so incredibly cheery with the strawberries and bright pink-red color. Perfect for Easter and the coming of spring, or the 4th of July, or any other not snowy occasion!

Quick note: This lemonade DOES have strawberry seeds that float on top. Once I tried to strain them out with a fine mesh strainer and even added lots of water to the puree to make it thinner, but it took forever and was totally not worth it. Just consider the seeds to be part of the charm and proof that the lemonade uses real strawberries!

Strawberry Lemonade

1 lb strawberries, fresh or frozen (rinse and hull if fresh, thaw if frozen)
1 packet Pink Lemonade Crystal Light (the packet that makes half a gallon)
cold water

Fill a 1/2 gallon pitcher half full with cold water and stir in Crystal Light packet. Place strawberries in a blender and blend until smooth. You can add some cold water to help blend them. Pour pureed strawberries into pitcher and fill to the top with water. Stir to combine. Done!

Yield: 8 one cup servings