Breakfast, The Most Important Meal of the Day...

I found garlic scapes at my farmer's market again this weekend.  Happiness ensued.  Last night we had them steamed with asparagus and the boys had broiled salmon with blueberry mango chutney because hello.  As I was feasting on the garlic scapes, it occurred to me how good they would be with eggs.  Fortunately, I had enough left over this morning to test my theory and oh, how correct I was.

 This breakfast was crazy fast to make, one of my biggest requirements for breakfast.  Ok, maybe the only requirement.  Sometimes I eat a handful of walnuts and an apple for breakfast because that level of speed is necessary.  Sometimes it's a banana and a piping hot lung full of exhaust from the vehicle in front of me.

The other day I was late for the dentist because I was photographing ducks on my carport.

That was a banana and exhaust morning.

Fortunately, I had a few minutes today...

Soft Boiled Egg
1-4 eggs
4-8 C water

Cover eggs with water in a medium sauce pan.  Bring water to a boil, and turn the water off.  Cover the pot with a tight fitting lid and set your timer for 3 minutes (if you want a runnier yolk) 5 minutes (if you want a more cooked yolk, like this one).

Steamed Garlic Scapes
3 Garlic Scape Spears per person
3 C water

Place your steamer insert into a large pot.  Add water until it is just below the surface of the steamer bottom (no water should touch the vegetables).  Break the stems of the scapes as you would asparagus to get rid of any woody parts.  Rise, and place in steamer.  Bring water to a boil and turn down.  Let scapes steam for 5-10 minutes depending on how soft you like your scapes.  These were steamed about 7 minutes.  The more you cook scapes, the less garlic flavor is left.  These had a nice, light garlic flavor without being overpowering and complemented the egg really well.

Review:
This was a perfect light breakfast.  I am basking in the woodnymphian glow of garlic scape season as the garlic-scented cloud that seeps from my pores will attest.  I regret nothing.

2 Years and Counting...

This marks the second anniversary of Crackers on the Couch!  I can't believe it!  Thank you so much for visiting this little place and encouraging me!

 While it's still the 26th, I think I'll go ahead and get this up...

Just in case you've got some Thanksgiving leftovers left, this is what I did with mine.  Basically, you put all your leftovers into ramekins and top it with leftover mashed potatoes.  It helps if you've got gravy made, too.  This really isn't a recipe so much as a technique.

Leftover Thanksgiving Shepherd's Pie

This year's pies had green beans, sweet potatoes, gravy, chicken, apples, celery, and onion.  I left the stuffing out as a side and topped them with mashed potatoes and a dollop of cranberry sauce when they were done cooking.  You can use virtually any side in these.  Last year, leftover roast veggies were perfect for these, for example.  Adding extra herbs like thyme, parsley, or rosemary is a nice touch, too.

Preheat oven to 350°.  Chop one onion, and sauté in olive oil until cooked, add cold veggies and gravy and cook until everything is warm.  Fill ramekins 3/4 full with filling mixture and top with mashed potatoes.  Place ramekins on a cookie sheet and heat in the oven until the mashed potatoes have heated through and begun to brown (about 20-30 minutes).  Remove from oven, serve with stuffing and a drop of cranberry sauce if available.

Review:
The great thing about these is that everything on the Thanksgiving plate usually tastes great together.  My favorite thing as a kid was getting a fork full of everything.  That's exactly what you get with these.  My youngest even eagerly chomped down onions, apples and celery that he totally skipped on during the regular meal. 

Get ready to begin another 12 Days of Christmas next week!  I can't wait to show you what Cara and I have in store!

Thank you all for another wonderful year!

Lazy Days...

OK, so I didn't post last week.  I got locked out of my e-mail account and it took 4 solid days of waiting and phoning to get back in which didn't leave much time for online awesomeness.  Oh, and, minor detail, I was also diagnosed with pneumonia.

Needless to say, I wasn't in the mood for much last week.  But before all the muck hit the fan, I had made it to the farmer's market and picked up some eggplant.  I've been wanting to make this for you guys since last year!  You know how I love moussaka, but it takes soooo long to make.  Last year I invented Lazy Mama's Moussaka but it was with the last of the eggplant of the season, so I had to wait to share with you guys!

The first time I made this, I asked my youngest to tell his Dad dinner was ready.  He said, "What is it?"  I said, "Lazy Mama's Moussaka."  He ran downstairs excitedly and said, "Dad!  We're having LADIES SUPASTA!!"  I don't know what he thought "ladies supasta" was, but he loved Lazy Mama's Moussaka!

At any rate, Lazy Mama's Moussaka was perfect for my energy level/attitude last week.  This method uses the same ingredients as my regular moussaka, but you skip the salting the eggplant step (totally unnecessary), and the sautéing the veggies step.  The resulting dinner has far less fat, but is every bit as flavorful as the original.

Lazy Mama's Moussaka

1 eggplant, thinly sliced
1 T olive oil
1 large zucchini, thinly sliced
2 potatoes, thinly sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 T white vinegar
1 (14.5 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, chopped
7 oz cooked lentils, drained, juice reserved
1 t dried oregano
2 T chopped fresh parsley
1 C crumbled feta
1 1/2 T butter
2 T flour
1 1/4 C milk
black pepper to taste
1 egg
1/4 C Parmesan cheese
Salt and Pepper

1. If you don't have lentils in the fridge, go ahead and cook some lentils.  You can used canned in a pinch if you have some.
2. Preheat oven to 375° F (190° C).
3. Sauté onion and garlic until lightly browned. Pour in vinegar and reduce. Stir in tomatoes, lentils, 1/2 the juice from lentils, oregano and parsley. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15 minutes.
4. In a 9x13 inch casserole dish layer eggplant, zucchini, potatoes, onions and feta, sprinkle with a little salt. Pour tomato mixture over vegetables; repeat layering, finishing with a layer of vegetables, sprinkled with salt.
5. Cover and bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes.
6. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan combine butter, flour and milk. Bring to a slow boil, whisking constantly until thick and smooth. Season with pepper. Remove from heat, cool for 5 minutes, and stir in beaten egg.
7. Pour sauce over vegetables and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, for another 25 to 30 minutes. 

Notes:

• This particular moussaka was made with yellow squash as they were out of zucchini at the store.  There was virtually no difference.
• If you wanted to get really lazy about it, you could substitute all the ingredients in step 3 with jarred tomato sauce.
• I used my handy dandy mandoline slicer to slice the squash, eggplant, and potato.  Huge time savings!
• Though this takes less time than the other recipe, it still does take a fair amount of time in the kitchen.  I do think I shaved off at least an hour of prep time!

Review
My eldest son had an irrational fear of eggplant.  It's borderline phobic, really.  He loves this.  'Nuf said.

Return of My Alter-ego...

Wow!  That was quite a week!  I had no idea how quickly Souperheroes would take off!  Thank all you new readers out there for following me!  I hope I don't disappoint with my boring ol' regular people food.  There will be more Souperheroes coming, though, don't worry!

So this week, after all that superhero food, my boys are still expecting everything to have a superhero theme.  I told them this was "Twisty Man Pasta."  Their minds are still reeling with ideas for his possible abilities.  "Hey Mama, do you think maybe he's really springy?"  "Hey Mama, do you think he is really stretchy?"  "Hey Mama, do you think he farts a lot?"  Yeah.  That's the world I live in.  This morning my eldest told his brother that when "all the kids grow up" superheros will be real.  Sweet Barney on a Horse!  That kid can't wait to grow up!  Until that time, when that most dastardly of all villains "Reality Man" rears his ugly head, there is Twisty Man!

Before this pasta was endowed with super abilities, he was a mild mannered experiment in which I tried combining gluten free corn pasta with toppings more likely found on a Mexican plate. I was hoping to highlight the corn flavor in the pasta.  It worked out pretty well!

Twisty Man Pasta
(4 Servings)
Corn Fusilli Pasta (I used Ritrovo Brand)
1 C cooked black beans
1 C chopped tomato
1/4 C chopped onion
Sour cream
salt and pepper to taste

Cook about half the bag of pasta according to package instructions.  Once the pasta is made and drained, you can either stir the beans into the pasta to heat them up, or if you want it all pretty like the picture, you can heat them separately.  Top with raw tomato and sprinkle with raw onion.  Little sour cream and voila!  A Mexican inspired Twisty Man pasta.

Note:
If you like cilantro (and I do not) you could add a sprinkle for a little something extra.  I will not debate you as to what that "something extra" is...

Review:
The boys love it and I do, too.  It would be good with some olives or maybe even guacamole!  Man, I wish I'd thought of that... Oh well, next time.  I'm sure I'll make this again before "all the kids grow up" and superheroes start flying past my window!

In a World...

...where darkness reigns supreme.  Only one man can save Gotham.  And when he's done?  He's going home for a nice bowl of soup!

     A few months ago, my eldest, just being silly, said, "I wanna bowla BATMAN SOUP!"  And my little brain thought, "Hey!  I could totally make Batman soup!"  And then it thought, "Hey!  I could totally make a whole bunch of Superheroes!"  And this, my friends, is what you are about to witness.  Welcome to Day One of Souperhero Week!

Batman Black Bean Soup
Serves: 4

1 tsp olive oil
1 medium sized portobello mushroom, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 C onion, chopped
2 1/2 C mushroom stock
4 C cooked black beans
salt and pepper to taste
sliced cheese, biscuit cutter, and knife for making the symbol or these cutters
sour cream, optional

I cooked my beans ahead of time in a pressure cooker using this time chart.  You can use canned beans if you want.  Drain beans.  Heat oil in large pot and add mushroom and onions.  Cook until onions begin to soften.  Add garlic and heat until it just begins to cook.  Deglaze the pan with a little of the mushroom stock and then add the rest.  Add beans.  Bring to a boil, then lower heat and simmer for 20-30 minutes; add salt and pepper.  While your soup is cooking, you can:

 (teehee!)

When the soup has reached a flavor you like, using an immersion blender, combine it into a smooth puree.  Pour into bowls and top with your symbol! 

If you're not looking for pure Souperhero Awesomeness, you can mix in a little sour cream.  It tastes yummy, but dilutes the color a little...

Review:
Holy Black Bean Soup, Batman!  The boys LOVE this!  When I was making this tonight for the shoot they both begged, "Are you going to give us a bat?!"  All your little Batman lovers out there will be all over this, I promise!

Bulgur in My Pantry Makes Me Happy...

     Remember when I said I had an ungodly amount of bulgur in my pantry?  This recipe is why.  I haven't always been the biggest fan of tabbouleh.  Usually because in its store-bought form it's simultaneously too strong, too bland, sorta slimy, tastes like preservatives and is basically righteously awful in general.  Also, I think it might move if you looked at it long enough.  Homemade?  Why that's a horse of a different color!  The only movement this stuff makes is the good kind: riding your fork to your mouth repeatedly.

     This week, I actually decided to go back to the roots of this blog and drag out a recipe from the box.  This one came from a booklet hanging on the tag of a ReaLemon juice bottle once upon a time. 

Tabbouleh
Prep time: 15 minutes, Chill time: 4 to 24 hours
Servings: 6
3/4 C uncooked bulger
1 (8 3/4-oz) can red kidney beans, rinsed and drained
1/2 C chopped seeded cucumber
1/2 C chopped fresh parsley
1/4 C finely chopped onion
1/4 C ReaLemon Lemon Juice from Concentrate
1/4 C olive oil or salad oil
1 Tbs chopped fresh mint
1 tsp dried basil, crushed
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
8 cherry tomatoes, quartered

Place bulgur in strainer; rinse with cold water and drain.  Combine bulgur, beans, cucumber, parsley and onion in medium-sized bowl.  For dressing, combine ReaLemon, oil, mint, basil, salt and pepper in screw-top jar.  Cover and shake well.  Pour over bulgur mixture; toss gently to coat.  Chill 4 to 24 hours.  Before serving, stir in tomatoes.

My substitutions/additions:
I use fresh lemon (sorry ReaLemon...) and I cook my own beans.  And if you're using fresh parsley and fresh mint you might as well go ahead and use fresh basil, right?

Review:
I love this.  Four hours marinating is good for me.  I know it seems weird to make this with uncooked bulgur, but during the marinating process, the bulgur absorbs plenty of moisture and become nice and chewy instead of soft and mushy.  The boys are generally underwhelmed.  But if at first you don't succeed, right?  I'll definitely be making this keeper again!

On Valentine's Day Have Cake for Breakfast!

     When Cara over at Fork and Beans announced her vegan gluten-free baking competition, I thought,  "Oh... that's nice..."  Then she requested I enter and behold, I was terrified.  (I love you Cara, seriously, I do, but baking is hard, vegan baking is harder, gluten-free baking is even harder and the "make up your own recipe" thing just totally broke my mind for like a week...)  I suggested heart shaped ice as my recipe.  At one point (while my first trial was baking in the oven) I was still seriously considering it as an option...

     While I was trying to come up with an idea, I ruled out a simple sauté dish right away because, well (besides the fact that it's not baking) it hardly counts as gluten-free unless it would normally have gluten in it, right?  But for a recipe to be truly mine, it needed to be something using local in-season ingredients and it needed to be relatively healthy.  I didn't want to use any chemicals which unfortunately seem to play a large part in commercial gluten-free products.   Xanthan gum in particular is a big one on my "That Just Ain't Natural" list that seems to be in even organic and all natural gluten-free products.

     I live in Washington State.  Things that are local, in-season, and bakeable are precisely: apples (from storage) and Winter squash (from storage).  Ayup.  No sweet little red strawberries, forget about a gorgeous pink raspberry, and watermelon is right out.  So I thought, "Well, what about a butternut squash cake with vegan cream cheese frosting sweetened with maple syrup?"  And that, my friends is what I endeavored to create.  At one point I found a very similar sounding recipe on Gluten-Free Goddess, but hers called for a lot of ingredients I didn't have and it also had eggs in it.  I referenced it a little for ratios, but ultimately came up with a very different recipe.

     The whole "cake" thing didn't really work out.  It ended up as an awesome breakfast bread that we Can't.  Stop.  Eating.  Besides the butternut squash, the hazelnuts are local to us and Bob's Red Mill is technically considered local too I guess, coming from Oregon, though it feels a little like cheating...

Vegan and Gluten-Free Butternut Squash Bread
1/2 C coconut oil (still solid)
1 C Sucanat
1/2 C silken tofu purée
2 T cornstarch combined with 2 T water
1/4 C blackstrap molasses
1 1/4 C butternut squash purée
2 C Bob's Red Mill All Purpose GF Baking Flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 t cinnamon
1/2 C chopped hazelnuts
Optional:  You can substitute 1/4 butternut squash with 1/4 C banana purée.  It makes it taste like banana bread.  My hubby prefers it this way.

If you don't just happen to have a bunch of butternut squash purée laying around, cut one in half, roast each piece, cut side down, at 450° for about an hour.  Then peel when cool and purée.  I did this step a few days ahead.  You can also microwave butternut squash in a similar fashion in about 10-15 minutes.  If you make the squash the same day you bake your bread you can also purée the tofu and banana while the squash is cooking.  The blender worked great for the tofu while I managed to get a great banana purée from my mini food processor.

Once you have your purées, pre-heat oven to 350°.  Grease a loaf pan with coconut oil and dust with BRM flour.  Set aside.   In a large mixing bowl, combine coconut oil and Sucanat using the high speed of your mixer until very well combined.  Add the banana purée (if using), tofu purée and cornstarch mixture and mix everything well.  Mix in molasses and squash purée.   Once you have all the wet ingredients mixed with the sugar, begin combining the dry ingredients in a small bowl.  This will give the Sucanat a little time to dissolve. Slowly begin adding flour mixture to the wet mixture about 1/4 at a time.  Add hazelnuts, and mix until just combined.  Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 60 minutes or until a cake tester comes out clean.

     The result is a warm and comforting moist bread that is perfect just out of the oven for breakfast with a little butter (or whatever substitute you like).  As it cools, it's not as good, but that's nothing a few seconds in the microwave can't cure...  But since this is a Valentine's Day Contest, why not kick it into pretty pink dessert mode with a little pink frosting?

Frosting
2 C powdered sugar
1/2 C Tofutti cream cheese
2 T pure maple syrup
4-5 drops natural food coloring

Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl and beat til combined.

I feel the same way about Tofutti cream cheese as I do about mascarpone cheese: It should never be eaten by any human ever unless it's full of confectioner's sugar and resting on top of a cake.  Then it's happiness on a fork.  The natural food coloring I use has beets in it, which gives the frosting a slightly fruity flavor.  I like it. Technically, the powdered sugar I used isn't vegan.  If you're being really careful,  The Vegan Chef has a recipe for DIY vegan powered sugar.

 Isn't that just pretty like a Valentine Princess?

     I hope you all have a lovely Valentine's Day no matter how you start it out.  February 6th is the deadline so there's still time to enter the contest!  It really is much less complicated than it seems!  And three winners receive $75 gift cards to their favorite store!

12 Days of Christmas Cookies: Afterward...

     And no, I'm not going to talk about how much bigger my "afterward" has gotten after all those Christmas cookies!
     I had me a mishap with the Soft Ginger Cookies with Orange Glaze.  The cookies turned out beautifully.  They froze beautifully.  But instead of separating them with a piece of parchment like the directions said, I thought I'd save myself the step and after freezing them on cookie sheets, stacked them on top of each other inside a gallon baggie.  I checked them periodically by opening the bag and taking one or three out for "quality assurance" purposes and they all separated fine.  So I got the big head.  I thought, "Phsaw!  I got this all figured out right here!"  Well, then defrosting day came.  Instead of taking them all out of the bag and defrosting them separately on a cookie rack like I should have, I left them in the baggie on the counter over night.  And in the morning, this is what I had:

I didn't even try to take an appetizing picture of this here mess.  It was unappetizing to say the least...

So I puzzled and puzzed till my puzzler was sore.  And then I thought of something I hadn't before!  Cheesecake.... Oooooohhh mama...

    I fiddled around online until I found this no-bake cheese cake recipe which I edited to suit the crust.  Yep.  You heard me.  I made a bunch of those lovely cookies into a crust.  They were so moist, all I had to do was crumble them up and cram them into a springform pan! 

Phoenix Cake
15-20 soft ginger cookies crumbled

8 ounces cream cheese

1/3 cup sucanat

1/3 C orange juice

1/2 sour cream
2/3 C powdered sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves

Crumble cookies and press tightly into a greased springform pan.  Mix the rest of the ingredients and pour over crust.  Refrigerate, uncovered at least overnight.  The longer you let it set, the firmer it will get.  You can reduce the juice and powdered sugar down to 2 Tbs of each, but you will lose some of the orange juice flavor.

Top it with a little golden syrup if you like.  I prefer it without.

Review

I love this cheesecake!  It tastes like orange juice with cloves in it.  My favorite Christmas drink.  And I know it's past Christmas, but I thought some of you might have a few cookies laying around... If you like the cookies, you'll like this cake.

Accidentally Vegan Banana-Nut Muffins

When we travel, we're usually leaving in the middle of the night or first thing in the morning.  No matter what, nerves and time constraints usually make it difficult for us (OK, for me) to eat a solid meal before we get to the airport.  Besides having a nosh, I love this recipe for cleaning out my fridge.  There's always a bit of fruit or an errant veggie or two hanging around in my fridge plotting to go bad while we're on vacation.  It's super easy to grate a zucchini, a couple of carrots, an apple, a half eaten salmon (you know, whatever you have lying around) into this thing.  I picked this specific recipe because when I found it online I only had a couple of bananas handy.  Most of the online recipes called for 3 or 4, but this one only needed two.  I have added up to 5 bananas to it and it has only served to make it more moist and yummy, but it's really handy for when I've only got a couple that are going the way of the dodo.

I'm not going to lie.  I made this recipe months ago.  It's been languishing in my "to post folder" forever while I busied myself concocting various and sundry recipes using garlic scapes and Chinese Okra.  It's time these humble, yet satisfying muffins made an appearance!  Since I was using these as a "clean out the fridge dump special," I had assumed some items I normally have yet, when I opened the fridge door not only did I not have any eggs, I was out of milk, too!  Fortunately, I had bought some almond milk that week for my son who has cow milk issues.  (I usually buy him goat milk, which would have been fine, but no quite so appetizing.)  I added an extra banana to sub for the egg.  Here is the original recipe, followed by what I did.

Really Easy Banana Nut Bread
2 Bananas
1 Egg, beaten
1 C Sugar
1/4 C Melted butter or margarine
1 1/2 C Flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
(Optional) walnuts or chocolate chips
Mash bananas.  Add beaten egg, sugar, and melted butter.  Stir in dry ingredients until moist.  Place in greased and floured loaf pan.  Bake at 350° for 1 hour.  Slice and serve warm.  (To double, decrease a little sugar.)

Accidentally Vegan Banana-Nut Muffins:
3 Bananas
1 C Sucanat
1/4 C Vegetable oil
1 1/2 C Whole wheat flour
1 1/2 tsp Baking powder
1/4 C Pecans
1 T Almond milk
1/2 C Oatmeal
1/2 Half apple peeled, chopped or grated
Dash cinnamon

Mix and bake following the original directions.  To make muffins, divide the batter into a lined cupcake tin and reduce cooking time to about 15-20 minutes (another reason I love muffins for travel, they cook so quickly!)  Yields about a dozen.

Review:
Could have used another banana for moisture maybe, but pretty great over all.  All my boys loved them and we had a great vacation.  I'm sure it's because we got a good, yummy start!

Dinner by Chance...

I recently had a serendipitous congruence of leftovers.  (Whew!  Dragged out the $5 words for that one!)  Not long ago, I spent a large portion of a two days putting up tomatoes.  It just so happens to have been the same week I made the quinoa kale wraps.  I ended up with a few large tomatoes that I had broiled for canning, but didn't have enough to make a whole jar.  I wasn't sure what to do with them till I scrounged around and found the leftover lentils and quinoa and I also had some baby bella mushrooms.  A wonder was born.  Can I just say how much I love this?

The tomatoes are barely cooked, paired with fresh basil and roast vegetables.  Mix in a little quinoa and french lentils?  It's just wonderful...

Start with a few demure ingredients...  I used chanterelle mushrooms this time and French lentils.  I will forever be indebted to my friend Matt who introduced me to French lentils...  They hold their shape so much better than regular green or brown lentils.  Also, I really liked the earthiness of the chanterelles in this tonight, though the baby bellas were nice, too.  (P.S. I grew that basil!)

Cut X's in the bottoms of your tomatoes.  Remove stems, and place them on a roasting pan with the X's up.

 

Place vegetables in the center of a roasting pan with a little olive oil drizzled over top.

Roast veggies at 450° for 10-15 minutes until garlic is soft.  Remove herbs after roasting.

Broil tomatoes.  Once tomato skins blacken slightly and crack, remove from oven and let cool until you can handle them enough to remove skins. 

Chop tomatoes, mix with vegetables, warmed quinoa and lentils.  Garnish with chopped basil, and serve!

Roast Vegetables with Quinoa and Lentils
5 medium or 2 large tomatoes
1-2 C leftover quinoa cooked with veggie bullion
1-2 C leftover lentils
5-6 cloves garlic, in skins
1 medium onion, cut into 8 chunks
1 sprig fresh rosemary
4 sprigs fresh thyme
1 C whole baby bella, white, or chantrelle mushrooms
1 stem fresh basil, chopped
olive oil

Place garlic, onion, and mushrooms on pan, drizzle with oil.  Place rosemary and thyme sprigs on top of mound.  Bake at 450° for 10-15 minutes, until garlic is soft.  Remove from oven.  Switch oven to "Broil" and place tomatoes on top rack.  Broil tomatoes until skins begin to crack and blacken, between 5 and 10 minutes.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Meanwhile, reheat quinoa and lentils in a pan or the microwave.  Once roast vegetables have cooled slightly, squeeze garlic from paper shell and discard shell.  Peel tomatoes and chop, roughly.  Combine quinoa, lentils, tomatoes, garlic, and onion blend, top with basil.  Serve warm or cold. 

Salt and pepper as you wish, though I find it unnecessary.

For instructions on cooking the quinoa and lentils from scratch, see my previous post.

Review:

The nearly raw tomatoes and the fresh basil make this very "new" tasting, while the mushrooms and roasted garlic really mellow it out.  Quinoa is my favorite grain so I am always happy to find new uses for it.  The Littles will eat everything but the onions, which is great because there's so much healthy stuff going on here!  It is one of the few dishes that really is good warm, room temp, or cold.  Hope you enjoy this as much as we do!

Purslane Plus Kale Equals Love

I've been trying to put up 40 pounds of tomatoes so please forgive me if this post is a little rangy, disheveled, and rambling.  That's pretty much me at the moment.  (Also, I may be slightly over caffeinated *tremble, tremble*)  Before you ask, no I didn't grow the tomatoes.  My tomatoes are barely larger than an egg and greener than a leprechaun on Sunday.  And there are about 6 of them.  Fried green tomatoes, here we come... =)

 See the tomatoes?  (Pobre tomates.)

Anyway, I am still geeked about finding purslane at the market last week.  I hadn't found any for years and when I saw it, I giggle-snorted like an Urkle and shoved handfuls of it into my shopping bag.  Strange looks from my vendor aside, I've been holding on to this recipe I created a few years ago and was really excited to get to dust if off again.

This is a great recipe for using up leftover quinoa and lentils.

Purslane Stuffed Kale Leaves
Yield: 4-5 servings
1C quinoa
4 C water, divided
1 tsp vegetable bullion
1 C lentils
1/4 medium onion, chopped
2 large garlic cloves, sliced
8-10 leaves kale
1/2 C chopped purslane (stems, too!)
4 sprigs fresh thyme, chopped
1/4 C freshly grated Parmesan (optional)
olive oil
salt and pepper

Bring quinoa to a boil in 1 3/4 C water and stir in the bullion.  (I like Better than Bullion Organic Vegetable or Mushroom.  You could substitute vegetable stock if you like.)  Cover, reduce heat, and simmer on low for 15-20 minutes.  Fluff with fork.

Meanwhile, boil lentils in 2 C water until soft, around 20 minutes.

Sauté garlic and onion in a little olive oil until softened and slightly browned. 

Combine 1 C quinoa, 1 C lentils, onion/garlic sauté, and optional cheese.  Season with salt and pepper as desired and set aside.

In the same hot sauté pan, brown kale leaves slightly, then add remaining 1/4 C of water, stock, or even wine to the pan and cover.  Steam leaves until stems are soft and pliable, around 2-3 minutes.

Remove from heat.  When leaves are cool enough to touch, place one heaping spoonful of quinoa mixture on the leaves, then top with a generous helping of purslane and a little thyme.  Roll the leaf and put it on a plate.  If your leaf is coming unrolled, you can use a toothpick to help hold it together.

Review:
I served this with steamed butternut squash last night and it was fabulous.  This keeper would make a nice side dish for chicken, also.  The hubs and the eldest loved it.  The youngest ate two bites of squash.  *sigh...*

Vegetarian Heaven

Moussaka originated in the Mediterranean region and is one of those dishes that's made by lots of cultures in many different ways.  And almost always with meat.  I found this vegetarian version and made it once, years ago, when my eldest was still a hip hugger.  It takes a lot of work.  I mean a lot.  So I didn't make it again for years.  But the thing about all that work is it's totally worth it.  I could not believe how mind-blowingly good this was the first time I made it.  I was really excited to try it again when I didn't have a tot permanently attached to my extremities.  The day has finally arrived!  This recipe came from All Recipes, and was submitted by Anne Buchanan.  Depending on your skill in the kitchen (I'd say I'm probably slower than average) you're looking at around 1 1/2 to 2 hours prep-time here, so plan a good chunk of the day. 

Moussaka

1 eggplant, thinly sliced
1 T olive oil
1 large zucchini, thinly sliced
2 potatoes, thinly sliced
1 onion, sliced
1 clove garlic, chopped
1 T white vinegar
1 (14.5 ounce) can whole peeled tomatoes, chopped
1/2 (14.5 ounce) can lentils, drained, juice reserved
1 t dried oregano
2 T chopped fresh parsley
1 C crumbled feta
1 1/2 T butter
2 T flour
1 1/4 C milk
black pepper to taste
1 pinch nutmeg
1 egg
1/4 C Parmesan cheese

1. Sprinkle eggplant slices with salt and set aside for 30 minutes. Rinse and pat dry.
2. Preheat oven to 375° F (190° C).
3. Heat oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Lightly brown eggplant and zucchini slices on both sides; drain. Adding more oil if necessary, brown potato slices; drain.
4. Sauté onion and garlic until lightly browned. Pour in vinegar and reduce. Stir in tomatoes, lentils, 1/2 the juice from lentils, oregano and parsley. Cover, reduce heat to medium-low, and simmer 15 minutes.
5. In a 9x13 inch casserole dish layer eggplant, zucchini, potatoes, onions and feta. Pour tomato mixture over vegetables; repeat layering, finishing with a layer of eggplant and zucchini.
6. Cover and bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan combine butter, flour and milk. Bring to a slow boil, whisking constantly until thick and smooth. Season with pepper and add nutmeg. Remove from heat, cool for 5 minutes, and stir in beaten egg.
8. Pour sauce over vegetables and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese. Bake, uncovered, for another 25 to 30 minutes. 

My substitutions/additions:
I have never bought a can of lentils in my life and probably never will.  They are so simple and quick to make from dried I always have some in my pantry.  Because this recipe takes so long anyway, having some lentils made up a day ahead of time is probably the best way to go on this.  If you happen to have some left over, more's the better. 

I also omitted the nutmeg.  I don't like it if it's not in some sort of spice cake at Christmastime.  Otherwise, it just tastes funny to me.  I'm not doing all this work to have it ruined by weirdo nutmeg!  =)  If you like nutmeg, I'm not offended, go for it! 

Review: 
Holy Grecian Gramma!  I could eat this every day.  I mean it.  If I could find some sweet little septuagenarian to come live with me and make me moussaka, I would love her and pet her and call her Georgeina.  As it stands though, since I don't see many Gramma stores opening up any time soon, I reckon I'll keep this recipe.

Education Implementation!

First there were the berries...

And now for the recipe!  I found this sublime cake at Italian Food Forever. I didn't have everything the recipe called for so I made some modifications.  Yummy, yummy modifications.  I was looking for a recipe to use up some left-over ricotta cheese.  A lot of these recipes call for tons of butter and eggs, but this one was just right in that department.  I didn't have any lemon or lemon extract so I made some substitutions.  Here is my version.

Ricotta Cake
3/4 Cup Butter, softened
3/4 Cup Sugar
1/2 tsp almond extract
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Large Eggs, separated
1 Cup Ricotta Cheese
1/2 Cup Plus 2 Tablespoons All-purpose Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Powder
Dash of salt
1 pint mixture of blackberries and black raspberries

Preheat oven to 325°. Grease and flour an 8 inch spring-form pan.  Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.  Add the extracts, egg yolks and ricotta cheese and beat until smooth.  Add the flour, baking powder and salt to the butter mixture and beat until just combined.  Wash your beaters well (if there is any fat from the butter left on them, the whites won't form properly), then beat the egg whites in a separate bowl until stiff (you'll know it's stiff when you can hold the bowl upside down without it pouring out).  Gently fold the egg whites into the batter.   Pour the batter into your prepared pan.  Float the berries on top of the batter (they may sink to the bottom during baking depending on the type).

Bake 30-45 minutes, or until a cake tester stuck into the center comes out clean.  Allow to cool as long as you can stand it before removing form.  Room temp is best, but it's great warm, too!

Variations:

• If you can't get your hands on wild berries, regular raspberries from the market are fabulous, too.
• If you have it, 1 Tbs of lemon zest (about 1 lemon worth) is great in this.

Review:
This is my kind of recipe.  It's a snap to throw together, bakes quickly, everybody loves it.  It's fancy enough to make for a nice occasion yet simple enough to bring to a pot luck.  It's the least fussy cake I've ever made.  It's relatively low in calories, too!  And oh yeah, you're gunna love it!

Shameless Bragging

     OK, can I just say how much I love my farmer's market?  The last time I was there buying eggs, I heard a woman insisting that she get "a rainbow dozen."  Little did she know they're all rainbow dozens.  Beautiful, green, brown, tan, and white eggs dutifully laid by happy chickens who forage in the grass, eat bugs, and do happy, happy chicken things.  Whatever that is.  Roost in the forests of the moon or something... Anyhoo... I also found asparagus, morel mushrooms, and hazelnuts, and garlic...

     Have I mentioned morel mushrooms before?  Allow me to expound.  They're the little brainy looking things on the plate there.  They don't taste like any mushroom you've ever had.  They are drier, meatier, chewier, and they don't taste like a fungus.  I love mushrooms.  Just about all kinds (there's a few Asian ones I'm not too keen on) but the morel is just above and beyond.  They're hard to find, which makes them rare.  And the hiding spots are often a well kept secret.  Like the take it to your grave kind.  Fortunately for me, our farmer's market has a forager who brings fiddle head ferns, morels, sea beans, elder flowers, all kinds of wild edibles.  I love morel season.  If you can find some, buy them.  If you like mushrooms, you won't be disappointed.  If you don't like mushrooms, try them anyway, you might be surprised!

     I put this recipe together to highlight the morels and the asparagus, which I'm also nuts for.  You could also sub garlic scapes or fiddle head ferns earlier in the spring.

Morel and Asparagus Sauté
1/2 bunch asparagus
1/8 lb morel mushrooms
1/4 C chopped hazelnuts
4 cloves garlic
red wine for de-glazing
pre-cooked chicken (optional)
Trader Joe's Harvest Grains Blend

Sauté garlic, asparagus, hazelnuts, and garlic in pan with a little olive oil.  Meanwhile, make grains according to package directions.    As vegetables begin to stick to pan, de-glaze with red wine.  Cook until asparagus is cooked, but still firm.

If using the chicken, re-heat it in microwave or in a frying pan with a little bit of water.  Or, if you eat meat, go ahead and throw it in the pan with the veggies.

Serve!

Notes: 
TJ's Harvest Grains Blend is mostly little cute pastas, so if you can't find it, this would be great with pasta or brown rice.  I cooked mine with a little mushroom stock and a tad of butter.

Review: 
Absolutely fantastic.  Morels are a delicacy for a reason!

Also, just another quick little bit of bragging.  One of my hummus photos was featured yesterday on Finding Vegan!

Chickpea Pocket

This Internet find has been inhabiting the box for a few years now.  I think I may have made it once before.  I'm just going to put this out there:  I don't like cilantro.  In fact you could say that I burn with hatred for cilantro with the white hot intensity of a thousand suns.  I can taste it even if somebody has just waved it over the plate.  I did not put the cilantro in this recipe.  If you decide to do it, I don't want to know about how awesome it was because I will know that you are lying. 

But, there was some dill in the salad mix I used and that was nice.

Chickpea Pocket

1 15 oz can chickpeas
1 stalk celery, finely chopped
1 red bell pepper, diced
1 green bell pepper, diced
1 onion, roughly chopped
8-10 black olives, sliced
2 T red wine vinegar
1 tsp cumin powder
2 C shredded lettuce
1 T cilantro
Salt and pepper to taste
6 small slices of pita bread

Combine ingredients.  Mix well.  Cut pita pockets.  Line pockets with lettuce.  Spoon in filling.

My substitutions/additions:

• I made my own chickpeas in the pressure cooker using this time table.
• Chicken might be good in this.
• Instead of shredded lettuce, I used a spring mix salad with herbs.

Review: 

The flavor got a little lost in the pocket but it's very nice as a salad.  Perhaps yogurt or garlic would kick it up a little.   It needs some tweaking, but it's edible and low calorie.

It's National Pancake Week!

I had no idea, but as it happens, I whipped up these little yummies yesterday just because the boys asked for pancakes.  The boys got faces, but the adults got the awesome trail mix version. I was going to save the faces for a silly post, but pancakes are pancakes and I couldn't pass it up! 

This is a standard pancake batter I got off the Internet years ago, but I have made changes over the years.

Pancakes
2 C flour
3 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1/4 C sugar
2 eggs
2 T oil
1 C milk

Combine the dry ingredients, then add the wet ones.  Mix until well incorporated.  Grease a frying pan with butter or oil and preheat.  Spoon batter into pan.  Cook pancakes until done in the middle, flipping once. 

Yield is entirely dependent on how big you make your pancakes.  It usually yields around 12-14 of my small "silver dollar" size pancakes.

My substitutions/additions:

• I always add another 1/4 C milk.  They're just not pourable with only 1 C.
• I also usually add a healthy dash of cinnamon.
• Pecans, walnuts, and blueberries are nice additions.  I've also added wheat germ and strawberries.
• These were made using 2 C whole wheat flour, 1 Tbs of sweet potato puree (all that was left over from dinner the night before), and a handful of trail mix containing cranberries, almonds, walnuts and cashews.  I just put the trail mix in a piece at a time as the first side was cooking and did the same for the banana slices for the boys'.  They were even cuter before they cooked...

When I was a kid, my Mom used to make our syrup instead of buying the stuff from the store.  She used 1 C water, 1 C sugar, and 1/2 tsp Mapleine.  The result is much more runny than the super thick junk in the plastic bottle.  I love that the pancake sucks it all up so when you bite into it, it's full of yummy maple syrup!  Since we've had kids and I went all crunchy, I buy organic pure maple syrup from a real tree, but I was out so I dredged up Mom's old syrup recipe.  I tried whole cane sugar though, instead of regular white sugar.  It gave the syrup a lovely molasses flavor.  It's not "just like Mom used to make" but it's still great!

Review:
Of course I'm keeping this.  It's a wonderful canvas to paint all my pancake creativity onto!  Happy National Pancake Week everybody!

Edit: Just made some more of these today (June 11, 2011) and had to share!  Try 1/2 tsp lemon zest and 1 pint of fresh blueberries!  You won't be disappointed!