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.

Traditional 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 separate 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.

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.

Lemon Loaf July 9, 2008

I wanted to make this so badly today but I cannot turn the oven on. It’s a simple lemon cake recipe you make in a loaf pan and top with a sour syrup. YUm, you must love citris! This is a old recipe we used to make around Christmas, thanks to Mom for cataloging it.

Lemon Loaf

1 1/2 sifted flour

1 cup of white sugar

1/2 cup of vegetable shortening

2 eggs, beaten

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

rind of 1 lemon

1/2 milk

Pre-heat oven to 350F.

Cream sugar and shortening and add eggs. Sift Flour, adding baking powder and salt. Add half of the milk to the sugar mix, then half of the flour mix to the creamed sugar. Repeat until all milk and flour mix are used and combined. Add lemon rind.

Bake in a loaf pan and about 10 minutes before it’s done increase the oven’s heat to brown the loaf.

Mix the juice of one lemon, and 1/4 cup of white sugar. When the loaf pan comes out of the oven pour the syryp mix directly over the hot cake. Cool for about 5 minutes before removing form the pan.

Peanut Candy(cookies) July 9, 2008

These are suppose to be no bake cookies, but they are definitely a lot more like candy. I found a recipe like this on the internet that had rave reviews and decided to try it using the ingredients I had on hand. The result is below.

Chewy Peanut Candy Cookies

1 cup sugar
1 cup corn syrup
1 jar (18 oz ounce) peanut butter, yes an entire jar about 2 cups, smooth or crunchy or a mix
6 cups corn flakes ( I used organic multi grain flakes and added 1/3 cup of flax seeds for interest)

Chocolate to drizzle, don’t used standard baking chocolate but darker less sweet chocolate works wellbecause these cookies are really sweet.

*Combine sugar and corn syrup in a medium saucepan. Place over medium-high heat and stir until the mixture comes to a full boil. Remove from heat and stir in the whole jar of peanut butter. Mix well.

*Add corn flakes to a large bowl. Pour peanut butter mixture over corn flakes and flax seeds and mix well, taking care to coat all of the corn flakes.

With a tablespoon (or two) scoop out and form into approximately 1 inch balls, and let cool on wax paper.

Put the chocolate in a small bowl and melt in the microwave for about 30 seconds. Stir and drizzle the melted chocolate over the cookies.

Let set until hardened and chocolate has set. You should store these in the fridge as well, especially during the warmer months.

Peanut Butter Balls July 9, 2008

Aw how I love thee peanut butter. This is a good recipe for summer because it’s no baking, only one bowl and I pop them in the freezer. Feel free to mix up the cereal, flaked cereals are actually good in them. I recently used a cinnamon flavored one and everyone wanted to know what I did different. Add dried fruit, more coconut and dip in chocolate if you like but this is the standard recipe.

Peanut Butter Balls

1 cup peanut butter

1 cup of icing sugar

4 tbsp butter or margerine

1/2 cup unsweeteened fine shredded coconut

1 cup of rice crispie(s) type cereal

Mix together in the order given. Roll into balls and roll them into icing sugar then coconut. I like to freeze them, but you should definitely stick them in the fridge to store if you don’t want to freeze them.

Biscuits July 6, 2008

This is my mother’s biscuit recipes which I am sure was also my grandmothers as well. She just used this recently to make strawberry shortcake, but they are just as good plain. You can turn these into cinnamon buns but I also use this recipe as the base for scones.

Biscuits

4 cups of flour

6 tbsp sugar

8 tsp baking powder

1 tsp salt

1 cup of vegetable shortening (when making scones I usually use butter)

2 eggs

1 1/3 cups of milk

Mix dry ingredients together, cut in shortening with 2 butter knives if you don’t have a pastry knife. Add eggs and milk. Combine well kneading slightly on floured board. Roll out and cut into biscuits. I used to be really bad at this part so I would just scoop them out, they definitely were free form but require a lot less effort. The less you handle the dough the better, biscuits can get tough if you knead them too much. Bake at 425 for 10-12 minutes.

Scones

I have made so many different kinds of scones these are my favorites. To make scones make them into a wheel shape, I think you get about 2 out of this recipe. Score the top in eight sections, like you were cutting a pizza, you don’t have to cute all the way through but if you can, do it. Bake these at 375 for about 20 mins or more, they should be golden brown.

Cranberry Lemon make the biscuit recipe, and add 1 cup of roughly chopped cranberries, 2 tbsp of zest of a lemon and 1/2 lemon worth of juice to the dry mix before adding eggs and milk. Shape into a wheel and brush with milk.

Blueberry Cinnamon make biscuit recipe add 1 cup of frozen blueberries and 2 tsp cinnamon, to the dry mix. When you shape this into a wheel I always brush with milk and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.

Dark Chocolate Cherry make biscuit recipe adding 3/4 cup of roughly chopped dried cherries and 1/2 cup of dark chocolate chips to the mix. Shape into a wheel and brush with milk before baking.

Whole Wheat Flax make biscuit recipe adding 1/2 cup of flax seed and replace 1/2 the flour for whole wheat. I usually make these into biscuits not scones.

Cheese and Onion make biscuit recipe but add 2 tsp of thyme, 1 tsp oregano, 2 tbsp Parmesan cheese, 1 cup of grated old cheddar cheese, and one medium onion sauteed with garlic and a little oil. Let onions cool before adding to the mixture to stop the cheese from melting. Brush with milk before cooking, you can top with a little extra cheese if you like.

Ginger make biscuit recipe but add 2 tsp ground ginger and a 2 inch piece of fresh ginger grated or over finely chopped. I also sometimes add 1 cup of chopped cranberries to this mix too. Brush with milk and dust with ginger and sugar.

Mediterranean make biscuit recipe and add 1 tbsp oregano, 1/2 cup of pitted chopped black olives, 3/4 cup of chopped sun dried tomatoes. Brush with milk and bake. You can also roll this out about 1 inch thick and cover with fresh garlic and cheese. Roll back up like you would a cinnamon roll cut them and throw them in greased muffin tins to bake.

Greek Pasta Salad July 2, 2008

Pasta salads are not rocket science, and although I have written this recipe to the best of my capabilities you can substitute just about anything. Add more veggies or more spice. In a pinch I have used bottled greek salad dressing and if you don’t eat cheese omit it and add in sun-dried tomatoes packed in oil and pine nuts. Also if you don’t have oregano make it with fresh basil.

Greek Pasta Salad

1/4 cup olive oil
juice of 1 lemon
2 tsp fresh or dried oregano leaves
1 large garlic clove grated
1 tbsp of Dijon mustard
1 box of tri-coloured fusilli pasta cooked, rinsed and cooled
1 cup of rennet free Feta cheese
2 medium tomatoes diced, or 1 large
Approimately 1/2 a English cucumber cut into slices then quartered
1/2 cup black olives (I usually toss in the ones with the pits cause they tend to have better flavor but use what you have)
1/2-1 pepper of choice (I like red, but orange adds some more colour)
1/2 cup or more of diced red onion, if you are an onion fan like me add more
Salt and pepper

In a bowl add oil, Dijon mustard, lemon juice, oregano and garlic. Whisk well, until a little frothy. You can also use a hand blender or blender to make it more creamy but it’s not necessary.

In large salad bowl, combine cooked pasta, Feta, tomato, cucumber, olives, pepper,and red onions. Pour in dressing and toss well. Add salt and pepper to taste. Garnish with extra oregeno or parsley if you have it. Let chill for about 1 hour. Sometimes after it sits I feel it needs a little more lemon or salt so taste and adjust after chilling/before serving.