Showing posts with label Treat Tuesdays. Show all posts

You'll need

Directions

Ingredients

Directions

Ingredients

• 1 cup whole wheat flour

• 2 tbsp brown sugar

• 2 tbsp baking powder

• 1 tsp salt

• 1 egg

• 1 cup FF milk

• 2 tbsp pure almond extract

• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

• 1 cup diced strawberries 

• 2 tbsp mini dark chocolate chips

Sift together flour, salt, baking powder, and sugar into large bowl.
Add wet ingredients including slightly beaten egg. 
Mix until well combined.
Fold in strawberries and mini chocolate chips.
Cook with cooking spray using griddle or pan over medium heat. 
Cook until bubbles form in center, flip and brown the other side.
 Add sour cream and pure maple syrup and go to pancake heaven. 

Spiced Pumpkin Bread
-1 tsp cinnamon
-1/4 tsp nutmeg
-1/4 tsp ginger
-1 cup water
-2 tbs baking powder

Set oven to 350, grease sides and bottom of 2 loaf pans
Combine sugar, egg, lemon juice,water, and oil in bowl
In another bowl sift all dry ingredients together
Add wet mix to dry mix all at once, combine until lumpy
Fold in pumpkin until mixed completely
Bake for about 1.5 hours, or until toothpick pulls clean
Let bread cool COMPLETELY in loaf pans on rack

I usually wrap both loaves in tin foil once they've cooled and throw them in the freezer. I slice the amount I want off the loaf while still frozen, and either nuke or toast it until warm. This is awesome with coffee in the morning. I'm thinking about soaking one in rum for the holidays, the bread is very very dense.

Ingrediants
2Tbs. Red Curry Paste
2Tbs. Minced Garlic
1/3Tsp. Turmeric
1Tsp. Red Pepper Flakes
1/2Tsp. Cinnamon
1/2Tsp. Ginger
1 Cup Green Lentils
1 Lb Cubed sweet potato
1 red onion diced
1 Small can coconut milk
1/2 cup Osborne Sweet Cream Sherry
1 Can Fire Roasted Crushed Tomatoes
2Tbs. Olive oil
Sour Cream/ Yogurt

Add oil and spiced (including curry paste) into hot cast iron dutch oven. Saute over medium high heat for about a minute. Add onions and sweet potato. Cook until onions are clear/cooked.  Add sherry, cook for another few minutes. Add the remaining ingredients, reduce to medium-low. Cook until lentils are tender.
Serve with sour cream or yogurt.

This is a great recipe to use up all the left over sweet potatoes I have at the end of the week. It's a bit on the spicy side, but really filling and wonderful!

(Use large bar-glass.)

Take 5 or 6 dashes of gum syrup.

Juice of a small lemon.

1 large wine-glass of gin.

2 or 3 lumps of ice;

Shake up well and strain into a large bar-glass. Fill up the glass with plain soda water and drink while it is lively.

I love meringues a lot. Like eat them everyday a lot. These are some of the easiest and quickest cooking meringues I make, plus they have chocolate.

Ingredients
-3 egg whites
-1/4 cream of tartar
-1/4 tablespoon salt
-1 tsp real almond extract
-1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

1) Preheat your oven to 325
2) in your kitchen aid with the whisk attachment combine egg whites, cream of tartar, and salt. Mix on high speed until foamy.
3)Gradually and slowly, beating on high speed, add sugar until throughly combined, scrape sides as needed with spatula. Once all sugar is combined add almond extract.
4) Stop when stiff peaks have formed. You'll want them as stiff as possible. You should be able to flip the mixing bowl upside down without worry of the egg whites falling out or moving.
5)On a baking sheet with parchment paper or Silpat pipe a small amount of egg white mixture. You should have enough to make between 28 or 30.
6)Bake for 30 to 40 minutes or until crisp and and JUST getting golden.
7)Cool completely on baking sheet before carefully removing and storing in ziplock bag.

These come out to just under two weight watchers points per cookie. I round up though to be on the safe side. :)

The recent weather has lead to many things, mostly which have involved cleaning, movies, and the cuddles. By movies, I more specifically mean The Godfather trilogy. Brian, always ready and willing to try anything related to his favorite cinema, mentioned the loose recipe that Clemenza was trying to teach Mikey, in case he needed to feed, "20 guys someday".

"Heh, come over here, kid, learn something. You never know, you might have to cook for 20 guys someday. You see, you start out with a little bit of oil. Then you fry some garlic. Then you throw in some tomatoes, tomato paste, you fry it; ya make sure it doesn't stick. You get it to a boil; you shove in all your sausage and your meatballs; heh…? And a little bit o' wine. An' a little bit o' sugar, and that's my trick."

Brian pulled out the iPhone and searched for the exact recipe for awhile and came up with something fairly precise. It was basically my own Mother's recipe, plus red wine and minus the bay leaf. He was pretty set on making it, because, well Brian is stubborn. We only really had one problem, the one where I don't eat meat. So veggi-izing something that I grew up with, and Brian had highexpectations of might have been a little tricky.
Growing up Italian you learn to love a few certain foods above most others; tomatoes, garlic, olives [and their oils], cheese, sausage, pasta, meatballs, and I'm sorry to say veal. I knew I wanted something that tasted like sausage, something with a kick. I managed to find Light Life's Gimme Lean Ground BeefStyle meat substitute for around 2.50 at Kroger's, which was cheaper than theMorningstar Grill Starters, and already claimed to taste like sausage, so we gave it a go. The rest of the ingredients were already Vegged out so it was pretty easy past that point. We ended up getting;

-1 tube of veggie sausage substitute
-2 large cans of whole tomatoes
-3 small cans of tomato paste
-1/2 carton of sliced white mushrooms
-1 sweet onion
-a generous helping of olive oil
-4-6 cloves of chopped garlic
- oregano
- basil
- salt and pepper
- a decent red wine [Note: I recommend a good Cabernet. We got a double-bottle of Livingston Cabernet Sauvignon for $5.99. It was a pretty decent red wine for that price and it gives the pasta a nice, full-bodied flavor. We went through the whole bottle by the end of the evening. -Brian]
- some sugar

Heat the pot that you want your sauce to be in to a high heat with the olive oil. Once it's hot add your garlic, mushrooms, and chopped onion. Right before your onions are done [they should be clear once they're cooked] start adding your fake meats. I just clipped the end off of the sausage tube, and squeezed the "meat" into the pan. It's a lot sticker than ground beef so you kind of have to chop it up with a wooden spoon and keep it moving around the bottom of the pan so it doesn't stick. If it does start sticking though, add a little bit more oil, or a splash of red wine [from the cup which you should be drinking right now, you know, for the whole experience.]. Now you want to make sure to season the "meat" pretty thoroughly with salt, pepper, basil, and oregano. Continue cooking everything in the pan until the "sausage" is crumbly and crisp. Add both of your cans of whole tomato's, and stir everything together. Add your wine, which is totaste, but I added about a cup and a half to mine [which is what a full wine glass and a splash from the bottle is]. Add more salt and pepper, and 1-2 tablespoons of both your basil and oregano. Mix in your tomato paste, making sure it gets distributed evenly. Then add about a fourth cup sugar. Keep stirring until it looks pretty uniform, turn the heat to low and cover your sauce. I let it sit, occasionally stirring for about ten minutes or longer.
By now you should have already started boiling your noodles, Brian and I like whole wheat penne for this, it's good, and pretty healthy. Make sure to throw some olive oil on the noodles when they're in the strainer so they don't stick together.
Throw together a salad with a vinaigrette, make some garlic bread, and turn on the godfather. Makes for a great snow day, and your house will smell great, like my Moms.

• Block Extra Firm Tofu
• 3 Large Jalapenos, roughly chopped
• 1 tbs. Raspberry preserves, no sugar added
• 1 tbs apple cider vinegar 
• 2 tbs white wine
• 1 tbs honey
• 1/2 tbs paprika
• 1 tsp chili powder
• 1/2 tsp ground red pepper
• olive oil

The following recipe is from a now defunct joint project of both my boyfriend, Brian, and I. It's a good cheap old standby for us though! We may or may not have lived on black beans burgers for a good few months! But if your're looking for a non meat option that is dirt cheap, and tasty, these are awesome. 


We first made these several months ago. In that time, I have made these several times over and continue to enjoy them over and over and over. First, we'll start with the fries.

Easy enough, really. Preheat your oven to 400 degrees and then start slicing up your potatoes however you please. Obviously, we like them a bit thicker. Season them with salt and pepper (or whatever your heart desires) and then pop them in. I don't set a timer on them usually. I just cook them until I'm done with the burgers, flipping them about half through my burger-frying process.

On to the burgers!

Chop up one sweet onion and start frying that up with some olive oil in a frying pan. Cook them until they're nice and clear. Then add that to a mixing bowl with a can of black beans, and two torn up slices of bread of your choosing. Mash them all together until they turn into a paste. You may also want to add some salt, pepper, ponzu, and red pepper flakes as well to flavor them. Also I can see a variety of sauteed veggies tasting wonderful in these burgers. Think mushrooms, zucchini, and even red peppers! As long as everything is diced small you can use just about anything with the flour and beans acting as the binder.

Next start adding flour by the handful until the batter becomes a bit more solid so it'll hold together when you're cooking. Fry them up in olive oil for the best taste results.

Once you fry up all the burgers (there should be 5-6 of them), take the fries out of the oven and serve them up with the burger. And viola!

Now, you'll notice in the picture here that the burger is topped with ketchup and lettuce. If you prefer a classic burger, that's the way to go. If you want to go all out, put some Gorgonzola cheese and slices on raw onion on there for a real treat. As for buns, I recommend the honey flavored ones for a slightly different taste.

And that's pretty much it! It's super easy to make, it makes quite a bit and you'll always be coming back for more!

Pickled Water Melon Rind
Adapted from the Momofuku Cookbook

Cupcakes

• 1/2 Cup Unsalted Butter
• 2/3 Cup White Sugar
• 1 Teaspoon Pure Almond Extract
• 2 Tablespoons Thai Iced Tea, ground in coffee grinder
• 1 1/2 all purpose Flour
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons Baking Soda
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/4 Cup Milk

Frosting

Donut

• 2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 cup non fat milk
• 1/2 cup Eggbeaters egg substitute 
• 1/4 100% real maple syrup 
• 2 tablespoons melted earth balance 
• 1 teaspoon almond extract 
• 1/2 cup drained canned no sugar added cherries  
• 1 Wilton Donut pan

Frosting