Yams and Apples

This recipe is stolen from my friend Christine's private blog.  It's so good that I will be making it on Thanksgiving.  It's not particularly healthy.  Sorry.

Yams and Apples

6 medium yams

5 golden delicious apples

1 cup sugar

2 cups water

3 Tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon salt

Juice of 1/2 lemon

1 cube of butter

Boil yams and cool.  Place peeled, sliced yams and peeled, sliced apples alternating in casserole dish starting with apples.  Combine remaining ingredients.  Cook until thickened then pour over yams and apples.  Sprinkle with cinnamon.  Bake at 350 degrees for one hour.  *I cut the yams in half and boil them with the skin on.  Allow them to cool for an hour or so, then with a small knife remove the skins and slice. 

Blueberry Corn Pancakes

This recipe is awesome. MY friend has been trying new recipes and this recipe is from a cookbook call Veganomican. I'm definitely getting the book. I think the recipe calls for too much liquid. I reduced the milk to just 1 cup.

3/4 cup all purpose flour (I use whole wheat)

1/2 cup cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons canola oil (I used coconut oil and not that much. I used 2 tablespoons and tripled the recipe.)
1 1/4 cup soy milk
1/3 cup water
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 teaspoons grated lemon zest (I used lemon extract because I didn't have lemon zest at the moment and it worked well.)
1 cup fresh blueberries
cooking spray or a little oil for greasing the pan

Preheat a large non-stick pan on medium high heat.
Sift together flour, cornmeal, bakig powder and salt. In a separate bowl, combine all other ingredients. Add wet to dry, mix until just combined, then fold in the blueberries. Do not over mix or pancakes will be tough.
Spray pan with cooking spray. Use a 1/4 cup measuring cup or an ice cream scoop to pour ot batter into pan. Cook pancakes until brown on bottom and bubbles form on top, about 4 minutes. Flip pancakes over with a thin spatula and cook until bottoms are brown and pancakes are barely firm to touch. Transfer to plates. Repeat with remaining batter, adding more oil to the pan as needed.

Fresh Tomato Soup Mmmmm Yummmmm

This soup recipe taught Silas to say yummmmm.  It sounds more like mmmmum when he says it but I think it counts.

I called mom for this recipe and maybe it has been posted before either on this blog or moms, but I figured I needed to put it somewhere I could find it!

1/2 C. chopped onion
1/4 C. butter or margarine
1/4 C. all purpose flour
combine over medium burn to make a paste
2 C. water
gradually add water while mixing with a wire wisk.
6 med. tomatoes peeled and diced
1 T. parsley
1 1/2 t. salt
1 t. sugar
1/2 t. Thyme
1 bay leaf
1/4 t. pepper
add the rest of the ingredients and simmer for 20 minutes or until tender.

Pickles

This is the recipe I got from mom and she received it from someone else.  I am not sure who deserves the original credit.

Rinse and wash pickling cucumbers thoroughly.

Combine 3.5 c. vinegar, 6.5 c. water and 1/2 c. pickling salt and boil for 15 minutes

Sanitize jars

Pack jars with dill at the bottom, then cucumbers, more dill at the top, garlic clove (peeled) and 1 Tbsp. sugar. - all of this should be 1 inch below the top of the jar.

Cap with sterile lids.

Bring your canner water to a boil and then turn it off 15 minutes prior to immersing jars.  Let the jars sit in the water overnight, preferably outside.

The next morning remove you sealed pickle jars from the canner.

Choke-Cherry Syrup

First for this recipe you need to live in an area where you can find the berries because you have to pick them yourself.

Rinse 12 lbs of choke-cherries run them through a food grinder so that the pit breaks and you can smell a nutty smell. A hand meat grinder works perfect.  Add 3 oz. tartaric acid and 2 qts water.
Let it sit for 48 hours.

Next strain the mixture through a cheese cloth or in my case the corner of a clean pillow case.

For every one cup of juice add 1.5 cups sugar.

Stir until the sugar dissolves.

Pour into jars and can in a hot-water bath canner for 20 minutes.

Enjoy!

This is my favorite syrup, EVER!

Solely Delicious - Cream Carmel Popcorn

Last summer Mom and I attended a class on how to make snowflakes out of stiffened fabric. They were really pretty, but an awful lot of work...if I were ever to make them again, I'd just use paper. What we really got out of the class, however, was an AMAZING Carmel Popcorn recipe. I tried it today, and it is WAY too tasty not to share...in fact I'm sharing it with my church class today :).

2 Cups sugar
1 Cup real butter
1 3/4 Cup corn syrup
2 Cups cream - divided

10 Cups popped corn (I used more like 15, and it probably would have been easier to manage if I'd used 20)
1 Cup sliced almonds
2 cups ribbon coconut (the big flakes that you can get in the bins at the Real Food Store)

Combine the sugar, butter, corn syrup, and 1 cup cream. Bring to a rolling boil. SLOWLY add remaining cup of cream so boiling doesn't stop. Cook to soft ball stage. Pour half over 10 cups of popcorn, ribbon coconut and sliced almonds. Mix well, then add the remaining popcorn and Carmel and mix again (this last bit, wasn't in the original instructions, but it's the way Mom and Dad always do it, and it's much more successful than trying to manipulate all of the Carmel and all of the popcorn all at once). Stir well and spread to cool. I spread mine out on waxed paper to cool, and that was a mistake (it stuck to the waxed paper), next time I'll just spray the counter with some cooking no stick spray and I think that will be more successful. Enjoy!

Chipotle Black Bean-Barley Soup

I've tried several of the Green Smoothie Girl's recipes, and I have not yet been disappointed in any of her salads, but I haven't been as big of a fan of her other recipes. This one, however, was really tasty. I forgot to soak beans the night before, and I didn't feel like waiting an hour to eat (it was already time to eat when I started cooking) so I just used canned beans and added them towards the end. I also used pearled barley, because I couldn't find hulled barley in the tiny store in my town, but in the end it was probably a good thing because it cooked much more quickly than I anticipated. I also couldn't find dry chipotle peppers or chipotle sauce, so I used canned chipotle peppers, and took a couple out, added water, blended them up and used that as the chipotle sauce. Also, I pureed the peppers with some of the soup as she says you can, and this made it pretty hot, but it wasn't so unbearable that I couldn't eat it. I rather enjoyed the kick it had to it; but I'll admit that I wished I'd made corn bread to go with it because it kicked hard!

2 C dry black beans, rinsed well
2 Tbsp. coconut oil
2 small yellow onions, chopped
2 carrots, diced
2 medium green bell peppers, seeded and chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 Tbsp dried oregano
1 Tbsp ground cumin
3 dried chipotle chilies
2 tsp hot chipotle sauce
8 C water
2 bay leaves
1/2 C barley (hulled, not pearled - pearling partially refines the grain)
1 Tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1 C fresh orange juice
1/2 C chopped fresh cilantro
2 tsp sea salt
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar

Soak the black beans overnight, then drain and rinse well. Heat coconut oil in large pot over medium-high heat. Add the onions, peppers, carrots, and garlic and saute 5 minutes. Reduce heat and add the oregano, cumin, chilies, and sauce and saute for 1 minute. Add the water, bay leaves, beans, and barley. Bring the soup to a boil, then lower it to a simmer and cook uncovered for 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until the beans are tender. Stir in the cocoa powder, cinnamon, orange juice, cilantro, vinegar, and salt and simmer for 5 minutes uncovered. Remove the dried chipotle peppers before serving (either throw them away or puree them with a bit of soup and add them back in). Optionally serve with Cornbread or Whole Wheat Biscuits.

Spinach-Orzo Ensalata

Oh this is so tasty! I think I could eat it every day for every meal and never grow tired of it.
1 C uncooked whole-wheat orzo pasta (boil it approx 6-7 minutes and rinse well to keep grains separate, then cool)
10+ C spinach (about 2 10-oz. bags, chopped)
1 pkg. fresh basil, cut into ribbons
2 tomatoes, diced small
1 can black olives sliced
2 oz. capers (half a 4-oz. jar), drained
1/2 C raw pine nuts
optional: shaved Parmesan to taste

Tangy Dill Dressing
1/4 C fresh lemon juice
1/4 C fresh orange juice
2 Tbsp. Bragg Liquid Aminos
1/4 C apple cider vinegar
2 Tbsp. honey
2 garlic cloves
1 Tbsp. dried (or 1/4 C fresh) dill weed

Toss all salad ingredients except optional Parmesan. Blend dressing ingredients. Add dressing to taste and toss. Top each plate with saved Parmesan if desired.

So, that's the original recipe. Because I'm cheap and lazy and there's only one of me, I do things a little differently. I half the recipe, substitute pumpkin seeds for pine nuts (since they cost an arm and a leg right now), I add more tomatoes than it originally calls for, and I use frozen orange juice from concentrate in my dressing and it all turns out just fine. Oh yeah, and when Mom and I made the dill dressing from the fresh dill weed she has in her garden it turned the most beautiful green color! I eat the Tangy Dill Dressing on everything. It is delicious!

Pesto Sauce

Lisa asked for this recipe, so I thought, why not make it easily accessible to all. Our dear Silly Witch did an excellent preparing it while we were at home, didn't she?

2 cups fresh basil leaves*
2 medium cloves of garlic - peeled and minced
1/8 cup lemon juice
1 cup slivered almonds
3/4 cup olive oil
1/2 tsp oregano
1/4 cup fresh parsley
1/2 cup grated Parmesan cheese
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper

*May substitute cilantro

Directions: Blend on high speed in blender, or, if you have a Blendtec just hit hte Sauces/Dips button.

Chilled Blueberry Pie with Lemon Crust

We went blueberry picking. It was fun.

When I got home, I had just enough blueberries to make a pie. It was hard, but I sent my perfect blueberries through the blender to make the blueberry "cream." The color was gorgeous. I should have taken a picture. Here's the recipe I used:

Lemon Crust

2 cups cashews, ground to flour
1/3 cup agave
2 tablespoons lemon zest
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Pinch of sea salt

Grind the cashews to flour in a coffee grinder. Add the cashew flour to a food processor along with the remaining ingredients and process until well incorporated. The mixture should turn into a ball like paste. Place the piecrust in a bowl and transfer to a refrigerator for an hour or two, or freeze for a half-hour. This helps the piecrust firm up and makes it less sticky and easier to handle.

Shaping the crust

Grease the pie dish with a about ½ tablespoon coconut oil; set the pie dish aside. Remove the dough from the refrigerator/freezer and place it on a cutting board or working surface. Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough enough to make it 9-inches round in diameter. Lift the dough from the cutting board with a spatula and place it into the pie dish. Mold and shape the dough to the pie dish. Refrigerate until ready to use.

Blueberry Cream

3 cups fresh organic blueberries, rinsed and drained
1/3 cup agave
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/3 cup coconut oil
¼ teaspoon sea salt

Blend the blueberries, agave, lemon juice, coconut oil and sea salt together in a high-speed blender. Strain the blueberry cream through a mesh strainer into a large bowl, pressing and stirring with a rubber spatula, to remove most of the blueberry skin particles.

Yields 2 ¼ cups

Assemble the pie

Pour the blueberry cream into the prepared piecrust spreading it evenly using with a rubber spatula or spoon. Place in the refrigerator or freezer to allow the blueberry cream to firm up.

Remove from the refrigerator/freezer and garnish with fresh whole blueberries.

Makes one 9-inch pie: about 8 servings

This is posted on Natural Living Cuisine by Ingrid. We all agree that this pie was delicious, but maybe a little too sweet. Next time I make it I'll use much less agave in the "cream" and make a cashew-date crust.

Veggie Fajita Marinade

Here's a yummy marinade I put on my vegetables for fajitas. After you mix the marinade with veggies, put the veggies on a cookie sheet and bake them until they are as cooked as you want! My family loves this! I use zucchini, mushrooms, assorted peppers, onions and carrots.

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon grainy mustard
1 tablespoon honey
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tablespoon fresh thyme
1 tablespoon fresh oregano
1 tablespoon lemon juice
dash salt & pepper, to taste

Peanut Butter Fudge Pie

1 (10 inch) pie crust
1 1/3 cups water
3 tablespoons agar flakes or 2 tsp. agar powder
3/4 cup mashed firm silken tofu
1 1/4 cups pure maple syrup
1/2 cup peanut butter (or almond)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)

Bake pie crust as directed unless using a raw nut crust. I used a crust that used 1 cup almonds, 1 cup walnuts, 3/4 cups dates, 1/4 tsp. cinnamon. Yummy!

For filling, combine water and agar flakes in a small saucepan and bring to a boil stirring constantly.  Reduce heat and simmer until completely dissolved about 5-10 minutes, stirring often. Pour into a blender along with remaining ingredients.  Process several minutes until completely smooth.  Pour into prepared pie crust.  Refrigerate several hours or overnight before serving (best served thoroughly chilled.)

I didn't have agar flakes so I tried tapioca. It thickened but not even so I froze it a little and it still turned out and tasted awesome.

From the Uncheese Cookbook by Jo Stepaniak

Vanilla-Yogurt Pound Cake

Another one from my friend  . . . . . . . We had this on Easter. It was amazing!

1/2 cup vanilla soy yogurt

1/2 cup blended silken tofu (blend first, then measure)

3/4 cup vanilla or plain soy milk 

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup oil

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp lemon extract or grated lemon zest

1/2 tsp orange extract or grated orange zest

2 cups all purpose flour

3 tablespoons arrowroot powder

1 1/2 tsp. baking powder

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

For the sugar I put in a little less (1 cup) and I used date sugar. For the oil, I used half oil and half applesauce. For the flour I used whole wheat pastry flour. I didn't have arrowroot powder, so I did some combination of cornstarch and additional flour. To make those two bunnies, I  1 1/2 the recipe. So, this will make a little less. 

Preheat oven to 325. Lightly grease and flour a 9x5 loaf pan. A metal pan with dark finish is best. 

In a large bowl combine soy yogurt, blended tofu, soy milk, sugar, oil, and extracts. Use an electric mixer to beat until smooth, about 2 min.

Sift in the flour, arrowroot, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Stir with a rubber spatula to combine, then beat with mixer for 1.5-2 minutes until a very thick batter forms. Don't overmix

Pour batter into prepared loaf pan. Bake 60-65 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean (a little moisture is ok). Don't open the oven to peek for at least the first 45 minutes of baking. (my bunnies only took about 45min to bake because they were thinner).

Cookbook tip: This cake has a very thick batter and requires a well-preheated oven at just the right temp to rise properly. Allow oven to heat for at least 20 minutes.

Lower-fat deep chocolate Bundt Cake

This recipe is from my friend. These are her alterations and directions for this cake. I'm going to try it for my hubby's birthday.

1 3/4 cup soy milk (in the original this was brewed coffee, I used the milk)
2/3 cup cocoa powder
1/3 cup oil
1/3 cup applesauce
1/2-3/4 jar of black cherry jam
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup date or palm sugar (original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of sugar. Between the jam, maple syrup, and "healthier sugar" I feel that was covered. You could also use sweetened soy milk.)
1/4 cup cornstarch
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon almond extract (I would use less, as this is a pretty strong flavor, or leave it out all together if you don't like that flavor)
2 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
Frozen cherries, 1 bag

The cherries was my addition to add moisture and sweetener with the jam. If the commissary does not have frozen cherries, try a different fruit flavor. Raspberry or strawberry? Raspberries are tarter, though. For Julie's shower, the cake was drier. I used a little less soy milk because i was adding moisture with the jam, maple syrup, and frozen cherries, so I thought I should cut back on the milk. When I made it for my birthday, I  used the full amount of milk and a whole bag of cherries and the cake was significantly moister. So, you can decide how you might like it and adjust accordingly.

Preheat oven to 325 F. Lightly grease an 8 or 10 inch bundt pan. Heat the milk in a saucepan over medium heat stirring so it does not burn. Just before it reaches boiling, turn off heat and whisk in the cocoa. Then mix in the jam and maple syrup. Set aside and allow to cool a little.

In a mixing bowl whisk together the sugar, oil, applesauce and cornstarch until the sugar and cornstarch are dissolved, about 2 minutes. (I could never tell if they actually dissolved, I just mixed it well).Mix in the vanilla and almond extract. Add the soy milk mixture from the stove.

Sift in the flour, baking powder, soda, and salt. Beat until relatively smooth. Add frozen cherries and mix in. Pour batter into prepared bundt pan and bake for 45 minutes (or a little less if you want it moister) until toothpick inserted through its center comes out clean. If your pan is on the smaller side it could take longer. Remove from oven and let cool for about 20 minutes, then invert onto a serving plate to cool completely.

Another variation I thought of instead of baking fruit into it, is to make a fruit topping to serve with it. Like if you did strawberries, use jam in the cake, but then serve it with fresh cut up strawberries instead of baking frozen ones into it. Sorry, a lot of experimentation when you have to adapt these vegan, yet not so healthy recipes.

Mushroom Pecan Burger

 

This comes from epicurious.com and they are outstanding!!!
1 1/2 pounds (685 g) cremini mushrooms (I think that any kind would be fine)
1/2 cup (30 g) fresh parsley (or dried, just use 1/3 the amount…so 3 TBSP)
2 tablespoons (30 ml) olive oil, divided (I did not use this much)
2 large-size yellow onions, finely chopped
3 large-size garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 to 2 cups (165 to 220 g) bread crumbs or cracker meal
3 tablespoons (45 g) tahini
2 tablespoons (30 g) hoisin sauce
3/4 cup (85 g) toasted pecans or walnuts, chopped
3 tablespoons (45 ml) tamari soy sauce
1 teaspoon (2 g) dried oregano
1/2 teaspoon dried sage
salt and ground pepper, to taste
Preparation
In a food processor, mince mushrooms and parsley. Remove and set aside.
In a sauté pan over medium heat, warm 1 tablespoon (15 ml) olive oil and cook onions and garlic for 5 to 6 minutes. Transfer onion mixture to a large-size bowl, and combine with minced mushrooms and parsley, bread crumbs, tahini, hoisin sauce, chopped nuts, tamari, oregano, sage, salt, and pepper.
Place mixture in refrigerator for at least half an hour. Mixture will be soft, but you should be able to form patties. Add additional bread crumbs or tahini, if needed.
Create patties using your hands. In a sauté pan, warm remaining 1 tablespoon (15 ml) oil, and fry patties over medium heat for 3 to 5 minutes on each side, until lightly browned and crispy. Be careful to keep patties intact.
Serving Suggestions and Variations Instead of making patties, put mixture into 5 x 9 x 2-inch (13 x 23 x 5 cm) loaf pan and bake at 350°F (180°C, or gas mark 4) for 20 to 25 minutes.

Rainy Day Lentil Soup

(serves 6) .
 
2 cups lentil, uncooked
8 cups water or vegetable stock (I usually do 6 stock, 2 water)
1 med. onion, chopped
2 carrots, thickly sliced (I do more)
1 rib celery, chopped ( I do more)
1 large potato, cut in to cubes
2 bay leaves
1 tsp. crushed coriander
1/2 tsp. cumin
freshly ground pepper to taste
 
2 cloves garlic, minced
2-4 ounces spinach chopped (I probably use more and I have used kale as well)
2 tsp. red wine vinegar (I love this flavor in the soup)
 
Start stock and lentils heating in a pot while you chop vegetables. Add all ingredients except garlic, potatoes, spinach, and vinegar. Bring to a boil and simmer for about 20 minutes. Add the potatoes (and kale if you are doing kale) and simmer for another 10 minutes or so. Check to make sure lentils, potatoes, and vegetables are tender. If yes, add garlic and spinach and cook for just a couple of minutes to allow spinach to wilt. Stir in vinegar at the end and serve.