Dancing Raisins

The Evolving Wheat Bread

2009-08-16T19:03:00.000-07:00

I have a sensitivity to wheat products. When I eat wheat it gives me a stuffy nose, so I've been working on a new bread recipe. I started with the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book recipe for Whole Wheat Bread. I made that once by the book just to see what it was like. Then today, I tried something new. I cut the recipe back so I could just make one small loaf at a time. I introduced some alternative flour as well to see what it did.

In a large bowl, sift or stir tigether:
1 c whole wheat flour
1/2 c rye flour
1/2 c rice flour
1 1/2 t yeast
3/4 t salt

In a saucepan, heat to 130 degrees:
1 c water
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1/8 c oil

Pour warmed liquid into dry mixture and beat with electric mixer until well combined. Into another bowl, measure out:
1 1/4 c all purpose flour

With a wooden spoon, stir as much of the all purpose flour into the dough as possible. Then remove the dough ball from the bowl and knead in as much of the remaining flour as possible.

Place the dough ball in a bowl, cover with a towel, and let it rise until it doubles in size. A sunny window sill works well.

Punch the dough down and remove it from the bowl. Press it flat and let it rest for a few minutes. Then roll the dough like a jelly roll, press it into a greased, 8-inch loaf pan, and let it rise until it is ready to bake.

Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes.

"Caramel" Brownies

2009-02-26T20:33:00.000-08:00

When I was a wee child...my mom sometimes made these miracle caramel brownies that were just to die for. Before this week, I thought she slaved over a hot stove all day doing this. Come to find out...it's a freaking cake mix. The hardest part of the whole thing is peeling the caramels.

Well, as usual, I didn't stick to the recipe...once on purpose and once by accident. The caramel got replaced by Andes Mints (that was the deliberate part). My reading skills seem to have been lacking that day since I also made some inadvertent changes to the liquid ingredients. I remade the brownies today with only intentional modifications and they seem to have turned out much better.

Here's what I did today:

Mix together:
1 German chocolate cake mix
3/4 c butter, melted
1/3 c evaporated milk

Yes...count them...3 ingredients. Jeez...they were simple enough I could have made them myself at age 5. Spread half the batter evenly over the bottom of an ungreased 9 x 13 pan. Bake this for 6 minutes at 350 degrees.

In the meantime...take the wrappers off of
30 Andes Mints

Side note: Since one box of mints consists of 28, the number 30 deserves an explanation. I did this because I wanted my brownies to come out approximately square, so I needed a 6 x 5 grid and thus required 30 mints rather than 28. Had I used 28 mints, resulting in a 4 x 7 grid, my brownies would have turned out more oblong and I just couldn't take it. Thus I purchased an entire additional box of mints just to get the extra 2.

When the bottom layer comes out of the oven, carefully place on top of it the 30 mints in a 5 x 6 grid. Then crumble the rest of the batter over the top as evenly as possible. It thickens up and gets crumblable during the 6 minute waiting period. Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 minutes. To me that means approximately 19 minutes and that seems to have worked great.

If you want to make them the caramel way, melt 14 oz. Kraft caramels in a pan with the other 1/3 c of evaporated milk from a 5 oz can. In place of the mints, sprinkle 6 oz. chocolate chips and drizzle the caramel. Then crumble on the rest of the batter and bake. One could definitely get pretty adventurous with this thing. I'm sure there are tons of candy options for what to put in the middle.

The original recipe also calls for 1 c chopped nuts mixed into the batter, but I left that out since I'm baking for other people.

Chile Relleno Egg Souffle (or something)

2009-02-22T20:27:00.000-08:00

A friend gave me this recipe after I had the opportunity to taste it at her house one fine Saturday. I decided that I would make it for the UU congregation to enjoy the next time I provided hospitality goodies. So here's how that actually went down..

I never actually read the photocopied recipe after I brought it home. On another fine Saturday, the one before my big day, I found myself, rather unexpectedly, at the grocery store with a different friend (I know...wild...I have two). I decided that it would be best to shop for my ingredients then so I didn't have to ride my bike out again later that day. At this point, I realized that I would just have to make guesses about ingredients based on my memory of the flavors. I was close...and I'd say close enough.

What I ended up making goes like this...

Prepare
1 28-ounce can of whole green chiles, seeds removed
6 corn tortillas, cut into wide strips
8 ounces cheddar cheese, grated

In a greased pan, perhaps upwards of 100 square inches, layer half the green chiles, half the tortilla strips, and half the cheese...then do it again. Based on the fascinating properties of fractions, you should have none left at this point.

Next, whisk together
12 eggs
3/4 c milk
1 rounded teaspoon each of salt, pepper, cumin, and garlic powder

Pour the egg mixture evenly over the layers of delicious other stuff. Bake at 350 for 40-60 minutes. I actually made a recipe and a half, so I wasn't so sure of the cook time. I sort of timed and checked, timed and checked, and eventually lost track of how much time I had accumulated. When it's done, the middle will be puffed up and set...you know...like a quiche.

This turned out wonderfully, but there are a couple of differences between this and the original recipe. First, it calls for jack cheese, not cheddar, but I think it's a matter of personal preference. it also calls for three times as much cheese as I used. That's bogus...this is plenty cheesy. No need to give yourself heart disease. The final difference is that it calls for one large tomato, sliced and deseeded, sandwiched between the first cheese and the second chiles. The tomato was not included in the recipe that I tasted originally and I didn't put one in because I didn't have one, but I think next time I will include it so that I can see what it adds.

Almost Fat Free Cream of Asparagus Soup

2009-02-16T13:15:00.000-08:00

Asparagus was SUPER cheap last week and I bought three pounds. I steamed one pound and then I decided to make cream of asparagus soup. Never done this before, but I was up for an adventure this afternoon. It turned out so good I'm struggling not to eat the entire pot. Hence this internet distraction.

In a saucepan, boil until dissolved:
1 cube Rapunzel vegan vegetable bouillon (This is what I had...you can use whatever brand you want.)
2 cups water

In a stockpot, cook in a small amount of oil until onion is tender:
1 lb asparagus, chopped into 1/4 to 1/2 inch lengths
1/2 large yellow onion, chopped
4 large stalks celery, chopped
4 cloves garlic, minced

Season to taste with:
salt
garlic pepper
(or pepper and garlic salt...whichever you have handy)

Add the prepared broth and simmer vegetables until tender (about 10-15 minutes).

In
1/2 c cold water,
dissolve
4 T corn starch (otherwise known as a kwata cup)

In
1-1/2 c water,
dissolve
1 c instant nonfat milk powder (the 1:3 kind)

(The basic idea with the milk is use 1-1/2 cups of water and twice the usual amount of milk powder...double strength...got it??)

When vegetables are tender, use a food processor to puree about 1 cup and return it to the stockpot. Combine the milk and corn starch mixture together and slowly pour the liquid into the stockpot while stirring continuously. Add a little more water if the amount of liquid seems low. Heat until thickened.

Enjoy!!! Yummy yummy yummy yummy yummy...

Now...what to do with the last pound of asparagus...

Wheat-free Cornbread

2009-01-25T05:28:00.001-08:00

Crash gave me the original recipe. He found it somewhere online. I modified it a little to make it slightly sweet and a little moister.

In a small bowl, mix together:
1/2 c corn meal
1/2 c boiling water

Set aside the corn mush and in a large bowl, sift (or whisk) together:
1-1/2 c corn meal
3 T sugar
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda

One at a time whisk into the cooled corn meal mush:
1 egg
3 T cooking oil
1-1/8 c buttermilk

Pour this thin batter into the sifted dry ingredients and stir together just until smooth. Immediately pour into a greased 9 in. round or an 8 in. square pan. Bake at 375 deg. for 25-30 min. or until toothpick comes out clean.

The result is a little crumbly, but that is to be expected for any wheat-free quick bread. Crumbly is no problem for me since I usually eat cornbread with chili or bean stew over the top.

The original recipe had only 1 T sugar and 2 T oil. When adding a little more sugar and oil, I decreased the buttermilk from 1-1/4 c to 1-1/8 c. The moisture content seemed just about right.

The original recipe also calls for white or yellow corn meal, but blue works great too. Mixing half yellow and half blue results in an interesting greenish tinted cornbread. Ugly, but very tasty.

Wheat-free Brownies

2008-11-24T16:32:00.000-08:00

A friend gave me a tip on wheat free, gluten free, all natural brownies. She uses Pamela's Products. When she makes them, they are delicious. I hope they are cooperative for me too.

Stir together:
1 Chocolate Brownie Mix
1 egg
1/4 c oil
1/4 c applesauce
1/4 c water (this may vary a bit)

Place in an 8 inch or 9 inch pan and bake at 350 deg for about 20 minutes.

"Quick" Beans

2008-11-12T21:54:00.001-08:00

Cooking with a pressure cooker is not common practice among my generation. I didn't learn to do it at all until I was 22. I'm a big fan for two reasons. First, a pressure cooker does the same amount of cooking with less energy input. Second, it saves time.

You can cook almost anything in a pressure cooker, though my main use is for beans. I eat a lot of beans and rice because it's cheap and easy to cook and I really like it.

Sort and rinse thoroughly:
3 c dry beans

To "presoak," cover the beans with water so that the water depth is about 3 times the bean depth. Bring the cooker up to pressure and immediately remove from heat. Let stand for about 45-60 minutes so that the beans have a chance to hydrate fully. Open the cooker and check that the beans are plump (no wrinkly skin) and that the water level is still about an inch above the beans. And I do not discard the presoak water as long as I washed the beans before cooking.

You have a few options at this point.

To cook plain beans, just close it up, bring it up to pressure, cook at pressure for 6 minutes and cool down naturally. (For smaller beans, shorter cook times may be appropriate.) You can also use the same cook time for the following modifications.

To cook seasoned beans, use anything but salt. I hear salt can cause a firm center in beans, but I've never tested that. Of all the things I've ever seasoned with, I like the original Mrs. Dash best for beans. I like all in one seasonings because I'm lazy, and Mrs. Dash is one of the few that is salt-free.

To cook a more balanced meal, add

1/2 c wild rice (or more if you want)
vegetables of your choice

If you add rice, increase the water a bit. As for veggies, I like to add kale to my beans. It is a hearty winter green that doesn't disintegrate when cooked and adds great flavor. A mix of kale and celery greens makes for a flavorful addition as well. I also add broccoli and/or carrots sometimes.

I prefer wild rice to other types of rice because it doesn't turn to mush when overcooked...and it will be a bit overcooked. Another option is a hearty grain like whole barley or rye.

When you add leafy greens, it's OK to fill the cooker over the max as long as the water level is not over the max fill line.

This makes a lot of beans, but in my experience, they normally keep for 2 weeks.

A warning about lentils. Split lentils tend to disintegrate when cooked. In a pressure cooker, they will settle to the bottom and burn easily, so be careful. Whole lentils may be better, but I'm not sure about that.

Simple Stirfry

2008-11-11T19:14:00.000-08:00

To make stirfry, you don't need a fancy recipe in my opinion. You just need a random selection of vegetables, some soy sauce, and toasted sesame oil. Always stirfry on high heat to prevent the buildup of water in the bottom of the pan. Here's the general process.

Heat the wok.
Add oil. Grapeseed is my favorite.
Add vegetables and stirfry until they are cooked to the desired tenderness.
Pour some soy sauce over the top and toss things around a little.
Remove to a bowl and drizzle with toasted sesame oil.

The length of time vegetables need to cook usually varies based on the size of the pieces, but if we assume things are chunked to be chopstick convenient, then here's a general breakdown of some of the vegetables according to my own experience.

Longer cook time:
onion
broccoli
cauliflower
carrot
zucchini
mushroom

Shorter cook time:
bell pepper
celery
cabbage
bean sprouts
snow peas

Curried Anything But Couscous

2008-10-25T21:35:00.000-07:00

This salad was originally Curried Couscous, from the Barefoot Contessa cookbook. There are some awesome recipes in there. I have changed it so it's a little more hearty and higher in protein. Note the lack of couscous.

To make the dressing, combine:
1/4 c yogurt
1/4 c olive oil
1 t white wine vinegar
1 t curry powder
1/4 t turmeric
1 t salt
1 t fresh ground black pepper

To make the salad, first cook separately and mix together:
1 c long grain wild rice
1/2 c long grain brown rice

Stir into the rice:
1 block tempeh, diced
1/2 c grated carrot
1/2 c minced flat-leaf parsley
1/2 c snipped raisins, dried currants, or craisins
1/4 c sliced almonds
2 scallions, thinly sliced (white and green parts)
1/4 c diced red onion

Pour in the dressing and mix well.

This is a great protein dish for vegetarians and it can easily be made vegan by replacing the yogurt with a soy-based product like Silken tofu. The main change that I made was replacing the couscous with rice and tempeh. I'm sure there are a great number of possibilities there. I also cut the salt by a third.

Bugs on a Log

2008-10-16T19:57:00.000-07:00

When I was in pre-school, my favorite snack was bugs on a log. It's celery, filled with peanut butter, and raisins stuck on top. It's still one of my very favorites...and I still call it bugs on a log.

Mom's Lasagne...sort of

2008-10-13T20:40:00.001-07:00

My mom makes this amazing lasagne that does not require precooking of the pasta. The first time I heard about precooking the pasta, I was quite surprised. Anyway, Mom's recipe is pretty different than this one, but I still don't precook the pasta. In all honesty, I have no idea how common it is to precook the pasta, but I have seen it done at least once. As with the sauce, I admit that I follow recipes loosely (if you could even call them recipes). Tonight I think my cooking qualified as "throwin' shit together," but it turned out yummy and I think the following is a reasonably good approximation of what I did.

Grate:
1 lb mozzarella (plus a little extra for on top if you LOVE cheese)

Combine in a bowl:
16 oz ricotta
1 egg
1/3 c of cottage cheese

Heat on the stove top:
48 oz spaghetti sauce

Layer 3 times in the following order:
whole wheat lasagne noodles
spaghetti sauce
ricotta mixture
mozzarella

Cover with foil and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove the foil and bake an additional 25-30 minutes or until cheese begins to brown.

I use just a little mozzarella in the first two layers and then really pile it on top. A sprinkling of fresh ground Parmesan on top is also good.

Mom browns 1 lb ground turkey with some mild Italian sausage and simmers the sauce with that. Her recipe also calls for only 32 oz of sauce, all cottage cheese rather than ricotta, and plain noodles rather than whole wheat.

I have also thrown in a a layer of zucchini, eggplant, spinach, basil leaves, tofu, or whatever suits me that day. It's never turned out bad.

I grew up with Prego sauce and I prefer that to other store bought brands, but I now make my own sauce (see previous entry) and use that instead.

Spaghetti Sauce

2008-10-13T20:12:00.000-07:00

My wonderful, amazingly awesome, and intelligent friend Dee-Dee taught me that spaghetti sauce doesn't have to come from a jar. Once I watched her a few times, I jumped right in and tried it myself. She never had a recipe and I have to admit that I have never measured anything that goes into this sauce, but here's my best guess.

Heat in a large sauce pan:
2-3 T olive oil

Sizzle on high until onion is translucent:
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1/2 medium yellow onion, diced
1 med green bell pepper, diced
8 oz sliced mushrooms
bunches of dried basil, parsley, and oregano in approximately the ratio 4:2:1 (FYI...this is the part I'm completely unsure of.)
1 t caraway seeds slightly crunched up
some fresh ground pepper (though I completely forgot this time and it was still good)

Add and simmer on low heat for 1 hour:
2 29 oz cans tomato sauce
1 29 oz can crushed tomatoes
1 29 oz can diced tomatoes
1/2 t salt
1 t sugar

The main thing to remember about seasoning is that when you add more herbs, let them settle in for 5 minutes before tasting to see if it's right. Too much oregano can make for a really crappy sauce in my opinion, so watch out. I have also used fresh herbs, or canned mushrooms and it's still fantastic. If you like chunky sauce, then by all means, use 4 cans of diced tomatoes rather than the sauce and crushed tomatoes.

This recipe makes a lot, but it freezes exquisitely, so I always try to have a couple of 32 ounce containers of it in the freezer just in case.

Like I said, I really have never measured anything for this recipe, so I propose that either it isn't very sensitive to variation or I'm not very picky.

Fruity Crunch Cookies

2008-10-11T13:24:00.000-07:00

The basic recipe for this cookie dough came from Joy of Cooking. Here's the recipe after I fiddled with it a little.

Beat until smooth:
1/2 c unsalted butter

Add and beat until combined:
1/4 c packed brown sugar
1/4 c sugar or sugar substitute (I use fructose, and sometimes xylitol)

Add and beat until combined:
1 egg
a splash of vanilla

Combine in a separate bowl and beat mixture in gradually:
1 c + 2 T whole wheat flour
1/2 t salt
1/2 t baking soda

Stir in:
unsweetened coconut flakes (not sure how much...maybe 1 c)
raisins (not sure on this one either...maybe 1/3 or 1/2 c)

Drop small globs on a cookie sheet and bake at 375 for 10 minutes.

Pucks thinks almonds would be good in there too, but he puts almonds in everything, so it's possible that's just autopilot talking.

Dance, Raisins! Dance!

2008-10-09T07:35:00.000-07:00

Oatmeal is a great breakfast food. This recipe is adapted from that of my step dad, Chris. I'll detail his original recipe at the end of this entry. My "oatmeal" is only a small part actual rolled oats. I use approximately the following mix of grains.

2 parts rolled oats (NOT QUICK OATS!!!)
2 parts rolled rye
1 part rolled kamut
1 part rolled soy (This is actually used primarily as a livestock feed, but I think it's tasty. And it's complete protein to boot.)
1 part rolled quinoa (Quinoa has a strong and distinctive flavor, so try it out on your palate before adding a bunch.)

Microwave until the raisins dance (you'll know what I mean when it happens) about 1 min 40 sec:
3/4 c water
1/8 c raisins

Add and microwave 30 sec on high and then 2 min on power 2:
some crunched walnuts and/or pecans
1/4 c (heaped) grain mix

Let the cereal cool and then scarf it down! Yummmmm.

Chris uses 1 c water and 1/2 c rolled grains because he likes a bigger breakfast than me. He also uses a slightly different mix of grains, I think. Due to the large size of his cereal, he microwaves for 3 min 45 sec on power 2. He likes this amount of time because the digits are sequential. I, personally would pick 3 min 43 sec because the digits are palindromic. To each his own. Chris also uses ice to cool it down at the end, so he can eat it right away.

When I first found out about this, I thought dancing raisins were about the coolest thing ever...and I still do. Thanks for introducing me to them, Chris.

Sunflower Flax Bread

2008-10-04T20:37:00.000-07:00

This recipe was adapted from book called Fantastic Flax. It was completely unusable in its original form. W, my ex-husband, massaged this recipe into a low carb wonder. I then worked with it some more to get it rising better, but now it's not so low carb. It's actually not that low carb in general, the main thing is that it is high in protein and fiber, and the carbs it does contain tend to be low GI. So here's the recipe.

Microwave on High until separated (about 2 min), stirring intermittently to prevent boiling over, and chill:
1 c buttermilk

Stir together:
1/2 c ground flax seeds
1/2 c whole flax seeds
1/2 c + 1/3 c vital wheat gluten

In some contraption that is designed to knead bread, combine the chilled buttermilk and the dry ingredients. Knead for 15 minutes and then let rest for 15 minutes.

While the dough is resting, stir together:
1/2 c quinoa flour
1/2 c oat flour
1/4 c plain whey protein powder
1/4 c plain soy protein isolate
1/4 c soy flour
1 t salt
2 t sugar
1/4 c raw sunflower seeds

After the 15 minute rest, add to the dough ball the dry mixture from above along with:
1/2 c water (adjust this to get the consistency right)
1 T oil
1 T molasses

Knead for 30 minutes more. Fifteen minutes into this kneading (half way through), add:

2 t active dry yeast

Rise for 30 minutes (@ 84 deg F), remove from machine, reshape into a bread pan, and rise (@ 88 deg F) until ready to bake. Generally the last rise will be around 40 minutes. Bake at 300 deg F for 45 minutes. This bread will usually contract a bit after it comes out of the oven.

I've fiddled with the flour a lot over the years. I like the texture and flavor that the quinoa. I don't prefer to use the soy and whey protein powder only because I have to travel 200 miles to acquire them...and I don't have a car. The wheat gluten bothers me because it's not a whole food, but I like my bread to rise, so I just use it anyway. The bread has been made with garbanzo bean flour in place of the quinoa as well and it produces a slightly more dense bread with a milder flavor. I've also added things like cinnamon, raisins, nuts, etc.

The bread machine I use is a Zojirushi X-20. It has made hundreds of loaves of bread and is still turning them out weekly without complaint, but I do have to help it out on the kneading to make sure the second phase of ingredients gets incorporated evenly.

Chocolate Scrambled Eggs

2008-10-03T12:33:00.001-07:00

Turns out, scrambled eggs cook really well in the microwave, and you can add flour stuff to them to make a quick bread. My favorite is the microwave chocolate cake for one. This recipe originally came from Pi-Alpha in Albuquerque, NM. It was later modified to create corn bread and other things.

In a glass or ceramic cereal bowl, mix together:
1/4 c almond flour
1 T unsweetened cocoa powder
1/8 t baking powder
1-2 T sugar or sweetener (to taste)

Add and combine thoroughly:
1 egg
1 T water
1 t oil

Microwave on High for 1 min 30 sec. I like it topped with strawberries.

What IS that!

2008-10-03T12:21:00.000-07:00

I won't take credit for the photograph in the heading. That was Pucks, my roommate. He's much more adventurous than I in the kitchen. This particular concoction is pinto beans, corn tortillas, eggs, and pickles...yes, pickles. There may have been some cheese on top too. Nice one, Pucks. That'll be hard to beat.