Israeli “Couscous” August 19, 2008

So I spend a lot fo time in the international isle of the supermarket and found this thinking it was just big cous cous…I was very excited;p…and wrong, it’s actually a type of Israeli pasta made with wheat flour. It says that it is toasted it over and “open fire” to retain it’s al-dente texture after cooking. I have a theory that sometimes more toasting is a good idea and seeing as I don’t have an open fire I used a dry skillet and man does it smell good as it toasts.It takes only about 5 mins over medium high heat but I think the extra step will work well for this recipe I am going to try today. You can also serve this as an alternative to rice or pasta, I imagine it would be good tossed into veggie soups the last 5-8 minutes of cooking time, and might make an interesting “risotto”.

Israeli Couscous Salad(s)

1 (250g) pkg of Israeli Couscous

2 1/2 cups of water

enough of your favorite veggie boullion to flavor 2 1/2 cups of water

Toast or don’t toast couscous, bring veggie stockto a boil. Add couscous and return to a simmer, let cook cover for about 8 minutes. Stirring occasionally.

Tomato Basil

2 spring onions chopped

1 large clove of garlic grated

1/2 pint of cherry tomatoes chopped

Dressing

2-3 tbspn olive oil

6-8 leaves of fresh basil washed and torn (I’m using basil because I am currently growing it but cilantro and mint would work very well in this)

salt and pepper to taste although the broth gives it a lot of flavor so easy on the salt

juice of a lime

cucumber would be good especially if you are using mint and cilantro.

Mix and add dressing and chill for at least 30 minutes.

Warm Grilled Salad

BBQ or roast approxiatemly 2-3 cups of any veggies you like, I used zucchini, peppers and mushrooms but eggplant and tomatoes would work as well. If you have it roast garlic to add to the dressing. Roast veggies whole but chop into bite sized pieces when tossed into salad. Olives and sundried tomaotes would be a great addition to this.

Dressing

2-3 tbspn olive oil

1/2 juice of a lemon

1 clove of grated garlic or if you want a more subtle garlic clove roast a bulb of garlic and use about 1/2 of the bulb, place dressing ingredients( with exception of fresh herbs) in a food processor or blender and blend with garlic until smooth.

1/4 cup of fresh herbs like basil, oregeno, cilantro or mint.

salt and pepper to taste.

Mix warm couscous and salad dressing and toss with warm veggies, serve warm or room temperature. You can chill it and it tastes just fine.

Most Amazing Hot Fudge Sauce August 15, 2008

Top ice cream, cheesecake or just eat by the spoonful…

Hot Fudge Sauce

Place 3 tbspn of butter and 1/2 cup of cream in a sauce pan over medium high heat.

Melt butter and bring mixture to a low boil.

Add 1/3 wit sugar and 1/3 cup fo brown sugar and stir until dissolved.

Lower heat and add a pinch of salt and 1/2 cup of cocoa, stirring with a wire whisk until you have desired thickness.

Serve immediately or store in a pourable container, if mix gets too thick add a little bit of milk at a time stirring constantly to combine.

Cornbread August 8, 2008

Mmmmm … in the words of Chris Rock (which Josh quotes every time I even speak of making cornbread) “Cornbread, ain’t nothing wrong with that”. It’s very true and I like my cornbread 2 ways, the old fashion way, not to sweet made with coarse ground cornmeal this one is good made into muffins or small loaves, or add a jalepeno and cheddar cheese to make a spicy savory loaf good served with chili or just eaten on it’s own, but isn’t so good as a muffin. I will give you both options, because when making cornbread everyone should be happy and screw those tittle corn kernals, I m not a fan but if you are go ahead and add them. I should add this is a large recipe, approximately 36 muffins or 2 large loaves, so half it or freeze it, your choice.

Cornbread…ain’t nothing wrong with that

4 cups all purpose flour

3 cups of uncooked polenta (coarse ground cornmeal, I use Bob’s Organic Corn Grits.. in the organic section)
4 1/2 Tablespoons Baking Powder

1 Tablespoon Sea Salt

3/4 cup of sugar, 1 cup if you like it sweeter

3 eggs

1/2 cup butter melted

3 cups milk

Preheta oven for 350.

Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl.

In a separate smaller bowl wisk melted butter with eggs and milk. Add to dry ingredients. Mix until combined.

There are two variations to do with this bread I suggest, if you want sweeter cornbread add about 1 1/2 cups of frozen corn kernels to the dry mix before adding the wet.

If you want spicier/ savory add about 1 1/2 cups of grated cheddar cheese and 1-2 minced jalepenos.

Bake about 15 mins, or until brown and serve warm with butter …yum!

THE COOKIES (Mere’s Fave) August 6, 2008

I am super super sorry for the delay but this has been the most pressured recipe. I have never had a recipe for these cookies, they are the handful of this handful of that , pinch of this, dash of that type of cookies. You can make these into cookies or put them in a square pan and make bars. I used to make these all the time when I had the ingredients and bring them to my lovely ladies at MCS. The theory behind them is I wanted to make cookies but didn’t want to use refined sugars and I wanted to use as little processed things as possible by using natural peanut butter, whole oats, seeds, fruits and grains, but I do through in some chocolate cause there is nothing better than peanut butter and chocolate hehe. Anyways I hope they live up to the haphazard way I usually make them … this is all for Meredith…. now you don’t need me anymore Mere hehe.

The Cookies

1 cup of chocolate chips
3/4 cup of raisins
1/2 cup of unsweetened coconut(optional, I just use it if I have it on hand)
1/4 cup of flax seed
2 1/2 cup of rolled oats
1 tsp of cinnamon
1/4 tsp allspice
1/2 cup of whole wheat flour
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup peanut butter, natural if you have it, but it doesn’t affect the texture
1 tsp vanilla or maple flavoring
1/2 maple syrup, a little more if you need the moisture

Preheat oven to 325

Combine all dry ingredients then add wet to them. I do this just incase u need to add more
maple syrup. It’s a hard mix and can be messy so good luck, but since i have never had
a recipe for this until now this is how I do it.

Once it is all combined and sticking to itself, grease a pan, and start dropping cookies on it.
This recipe does not spread out, so I usually make 2 tsp full cookies, and pat them down a little.
You can also makes these into bars if you would like, it works well. Just press into a 9 by 9 inch square pan
and bake until brown, usually about 20 mins. The cookies bake about 8-10 minute, just until their bottoms are brown.

When you take the cookies out of the oven let them cool on the pan for about 2-3 minutes, be careful transferring them to a wire rack and the smalled the grid on the rack the better, once they cook they are much more sturdy.

Hope this works for you Mere, mine are baking as I speak, let me know how they turned out for you!

Spiced Raisin Bread July 28, 2008

Feel free to cut this recipe in half, this will make a good sized 2 loaves. Add more or less raisins or use dried apricots, cranberries or cherries if you want, You could also add nuts or seeds to make it more like a granola bread. You can substitute margarine for the butter if you are vegan just make sure it’s not the low fat stuff, half of that is water. You can use this to make French toast the next day but I love to toast it and smother in peanut butter.

Spiced Raisin Bread

1 cup of raisins

1/4 butter melted

1 cup of boiling water

1 cup of cold water (not ice cold this is to bring down the temperature)

1 tsp salt

3 tbspn Molasses

2 generous tsp of yeast

1/4 tsp ground ginger

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp Chinese five spice (if you have it) if you don’t just add the same amount of allspice

1 cup of whole wheat flour

4 cups of all purpose flour

Boil water

In a large ceramic or metal bowl add raisins and 1 cup of boiling water (you do this to rehydrate the raisins). Add butter/margarine, molasses, and salt. Test water temperature with finger and add 1 more cup of water. If the water is still very hot add cold water, if it has cooled down to almost body temperature add approximately the same temperature water.

Once mixture is at a good temperature add yeast and stir to dissolve completely.

Add spices to the water.

Mix in one cup of whole wheat flour, until there is no lumps then proceed to add white flour one cup at a time. At about the third cup of white flour you will need to use you hands. Start kneeding the bread as you add the last cup of flour. Dough should be well formed but still a bit sticky, if you add too much flour the raisins start to be pushed out of the dough.

Clean bowl, dose in oil and toss dough in the oil. Cover with plastic wrap and/or a towel and let rest until it has doubled it’s size.

Pre-heat oven to 375F.

Separate dough into 2 loaves, it’s a good idea to use a loaf pans for this recipe but it’s pretty when it’s shaped round too if you don’t have to loaf pans. Let rise in loaf pans, or after being shaped for about 30 mins.

Bake in oven for around 35-60 minutes depending on oven heat, size of loaf pans or shaped bread.

“Tandoori” Paneer or Tofu July 26, 2008

So Saami and I were dreaming of grilling paneer and I was trying to come up with a marinade. I recently brought this over to his house and the intention was to BBQ an onion, green pepper and the slabs of marinaded paneer and make some sort of yummy grilled sandwich. However… it rained so I threw it all in the wok and made a stir fry. This marinade would also be good with tofu if you don’t eat cheese or cannot get paneer. I would suggest freezing and draining the tofu first, if you need more info look at my “Preparing Tofu” post.

Easy Curry Marinade

3 tsp Bryani paste (I use Patak’s)

1 tsp Hot Curry Paste (again…Patak’s)

1 large clove of garlic grated

juice of one lemon

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp good soy sauce ( I used soy for the salt because paneer is relatively tasteless)

fresh ground pepper to taste

Mix Marinade in a small bowl.

Cut up paneer, I made 1/4 inch thick slices (in the shape of cards then cut in half later when I stir fried it) , cubing will work if you use this on skewers on the BBQ.

Marinate for at least an hour, I left it for about 5 that night.

Making Kababs alternating paneer(or tofu) with red onion, mushrooms and peppers would be very good, but because of my constraints, I stir-fried paneer first in about 4 tbspn of oil, removed form pan stir fried veggies until tender, then added in the panner to reheat( about one minute).

Traditional Banana Bread July 24, 2008

Ok, I am still having bananas ripening at lightening speed. There doesn’t seem to be too many good banana bread recipes, esp ones that require only a couple of banana’s. So here is a version I just made today.

Traditonal Banana Bread

1/3 cup of butter melted

3 ripe bananas mashed with a fork

2 eggs

1/2 cup plain yoghurt

2-3 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp all spice

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 tsp baking powder

2 cups of flour

3/4 cup white sugar

Preheat oven to 350

Melt butter and peel and mash bananas. Combine in a medium bowl adding eggs, vanilla, spices, milk and yoghurt. Mix well.\

In a seperate bowl combine dry ingredients and mix well. Combine wet ingredients and dry ingredients until you have an even consistency. It is ok if you have little chunks of banana, most people don’t mind the texture, so unless you have kids or picky texture eaters you don’t have to ensure total smoothness.

Grease a loaf pan or prepare muffin tins with oil/spray/butter or paper.

Bake in oven, loaf usually take 30-60 minutes depending on loaf pan size, muffins take about 25 minutes.

Chocolate Banana Bread July 18, 2008

I keep making banana bread lately even though i can’t eat it cause the bananas are turning so fast. I am thinking you guys might be having this problem too so here is a different take on banana bread. If you wnat a plain one let me know and I’ll post that one too.

Chocolate Banana Bread

4 ripe bananas mashed with fork
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup oil
3 eggs
1/2 cup of yoghurt or sour cream
1/2 milk
1 tsp cinnamon

1 1/2 cups of white sugar
1/2 cup cocoa
3 1/2 cups of flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup of chopped nuts of chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat oven to 350

Mash bananas and add to a medium sized mixing bowl. Add eggs, milk,
sour cream, oil, vanilla, and cinnamon. Mix well

In a separate large mixing bowl add dry ingredients, not including nuts/chips.

Mix Wet ingredients with dry ingredients and mix well, add nuts/chips if wanted.

This recipe make 2 large loaves which will cook for about 1 hours and 15 minutes depending
on your ovens heat, I start checking it after 45 minutes usually. Or it make about 24 muffins.

Chewy Coconut Sqaures July 17, 2008

These are almost like a Mounds bar, but soo yummy if you love coconut and chocolate that is…..

Coconut Squares

Base:

1/3 butter

1-1 1/4 cups of chocolate wafer crumbs

Melt butter and mix in wafer crumbs you can use graham cracker crumbs or a mix of the two if you have left overs. If you use Graham add some spices to it to change the flavor. Press mixture into 8 inch sqaure pan.

Filling:

1+1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup chopped nuts

1 +1/2cup unsweetened shredded coconut

1 2/3 cups sweetened condensed milk (which is about 2 cans, a little less)

Preheat oven to 350

Layer coconut, chocolate chips and nuts over base. Pour condensed milk over top, do not mix.

Bake 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool before cutting into bars.

You can omit the nuts, and add some more coconut or chocolate chips. Some people like the butterscotch chips but I find it a bit too sweet, mixing the semi sweet and dark might be a good idea or trying different kinds of chips or nuts. Store these bars in the fridge after they have cooled.

Focaccia July 17, 2008

This recipe I wear out, it good as a side to soups, pastas, stews or just plain with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. I also use this recipe as my primary pizza crust. You can carmelize onions and bake them on top, add olives, different fresh herbs or cheeses, but anyway you top it or cut it, it’s awesome. You don’t need a loaf pan for this one, but you do need a loaf pan or cookie sheet. The bread is suppose to be flat(ish) mine usually ends up about 2 inches high but some like it thinner.

Focaccia (or Pizza Crust)

1 cup water

2 tablespoons olive oil

1 tablespoon yeast

1 tbspn of honey (raw sugar if vegan)

1 teaspoon salt

2-3 cups all-purpose flour

1 large clove of garlic minced

1 tbsp rosemary

1 tsp oregeno

1 tsp thyme

a couple of twists of fresh ground pepper

2 tbsp s Parmesan (optional)

Pre heat oven to 425.

Using warm to the touch water, a little hotter than body temperature, disslove yeast and honey in a large bowl. Add salt and 1 cup of flour. Add spices, 1 tbsp cheese and fresh garlic once well combines, slowly add flour until you need to knead it by hand. Keep adding flour until dough is well formed and is still SLIGHTY sticky, you don’t want a dry dough. This kneading process should be about 5-8 minutes to get the right consistency.

Remove dough from bowl and wash bowl. Dose bowl with olive oil and coat dough well with it. Cover wiht plastic wrap and towel and place in a warm place to rise.

You should let it rise until it doubles it size, about 40-60 minutes.

Once dough has risen, grease pan and with fingers spread out dough unto pa. It should shrink and pull back, that is a sign you made a good dough. Form it best you can leaving finger dents in it. At this time you can top with remaining cheese, more pepper, carmelized onions, olives of more fresh herbs, or turn it into a pizza.

Cook until golden brown, usually about 30 minutes.