Kale Salad

A fine late-season salad, from my friend Beth. I know kale is über trendy right now, but try this salad. It's super good.

 

 

Kale Salad

 

 

1 bunch of kale - curly is best

1/4 c. dried cranberries

1/4 c. roasted sunflower seeds

salt & pepper to taste

2 T olive oil

1/2 fresh lemon, juiced

2 T honey

 

 

Cut kale away from stalk and chop finely. Toss kale in bowl with cranberries & sunflower seeds. Drizzle olive oil first, then add salt & pepper. Mix well. Then drizzle honey & lemon on salad and again, mix well. The more you mix, the softer the salad.

Beth says, "I sometimes make this salad on Sunday and eat it all week at lunch. It never gets soggy."

 

this image is from here

Rhubarb Crisp

Rhubarb Crisp

Filling

5 cups rhubarb, chopped

¾ cup sugar

Topping

¾ cup flour

1 stick butter, at room temperature

1 tablespoon cinnamon

¾ cup oats

½ cup brown sugar

¾ cup chopped walnuts

Mix rhubarb with sugar and set aside. Let stand.

Mix flour, butter, cinnamon. Add oats, sugar, and walnuts.

In a buttered dish (10 x 10 inches or so), place the filling, then the topping. Bake at 375 for 45-60 minutes.

Serve warm with vanilla ice cream on the side.

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I made this for Mother's Day for my parents. Everyone liked it a lot. The kids had seconds. I like rhubarb because it's so seasonal, easy to grow, and hard to find in stores. At least around here. And it tends to be expensive, so growing it seems smart.

And I know it's too late for Mother's Day, but here are three things I learned from my mom:

• Always go to places early (zoo, grocery store, whatever. It applies everywhere.) before the crowds show up.
• Wool is warmer than fleece.
• Keep some candy in your purse for emergencies.

Carrot cake bake-off results

Note pictured: cake #6, which was a little late to the party.

There was a lot of smack talk leading up to the last book club. As you may recall, we had decided to get a definitive answer to the age-old question: what's the best carrot cake out there?

First, let's meet our contenders.

Are they not all gorgeous? The judges (2 non-participating book club members, one husband, two THRILLED elementary school kids) decided on two winners. The Best Looking and the Best Tasting. As it turns out, the same cake won both. I'll tell you which number in a minute. Go ahead and pick your favorite.

I've posted the recipe I used before. (Hi, Kate! Yes, your friend's!) That cake is a fairly substantial cake, with a lot of personality. I used the buttercream frosting recipe off the back of the powdered sugar box. Frankly, I was going for the looks category, as I think a good, moist carrot cake tastes much like the next. (And after tasting all 6, I'm sticking with that assessment. They were all very tasty.)

The winner looked like someone had just bought it from a fancy bakery. It's a lighter texture and flavor than my cake.

THE WINNING RECIPE

Jean-Marie reports that she found the carrot cake recipe on Allrecipes.com. It is:

INGREDIENTS

4 eggs

1 1/4 cups vegetable oil

2 cups white sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups cake flour

2 tsp baking soda

2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 cups grated carrots

1 cup chopped pecans

DIRECTIONS

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease and flour a 9x13 inch pan.

2.  In a large bowl, beat together eggs, oil, white sugar, and 2 tsp vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon. Stir in carrots. Fold in pecans. Pour into prepared pan.

3.  Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto wire rack and cool completely.

FROSTING

1/2 cup butter, softened

8 ounces cream cheese, softened

4 cups confectioners' sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

To make frosting: In a medium bowl, combine butter, cream cheese, confectioners' sugar and 1 tsp vanilla. Beat until the mixture is smooth and creamy. Frost the cooled cake.

No word on how to make it so pretty, though. Apparently you'll have to figure that out yourself. She did mention having a set of those fancy icing tips, so you'll want to run out and purchase those. I used a ziplock bag with a corner cut off, as is traditional in my household.

THE BIG REVEAL

(Drumroll, etc.) The winner was NUMBER FIVE! Yes, congrats to NUMBER FIVE, made by our own dear Jean-Marie! I did get an honorable mention for my marzipan carrots, lovingly made by me, using bits of pistachio for the green stems. Several people were surprised they weren't real baby carrots. Apparently not everyone wants raw baby carrots on their cake. Who knew!

Bonus shot of my cake. Because, hey. It's my blog. 

So that was a fun evening. We didn't actually talk about the book much. It was Inés of my Soul by Isabel Allende. Next month's is The Fault in our Stars by John Green.

Noodles with Peanut Sauce

An Asian-style pasta dish which was a big hit around here.

• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 4 tablespoons rice vinegar
• 4 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon oriental sesame oil (optional)
• 1 tablespoon minced peeled fresh ginger (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 
• Garlic, as desired
• Water, as needed, to thin

• 1 lb linguine
• 2 cups cabbage, shredded
• 1 large red bell pepper, cut into matchstick-size strips
• 1 cup broccoli, chopped
• ½ cup carrots, diced

• 1 cup tofu, diced
• 1/2 cup chopped green onions
• 4 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro (optional)
• 1/4 cup chopped salted peanuts

 

Combine first 8 ingredients in small bowl; whisk to blend. Set dressing aside.

 

Cook pasta in large pot of boiling salted water until until half cooked. Add cabbage, carrots, broccoli, and bell pepper. Cook until al dente. Drain pasta; rinse and drain again. Transfer pasta to bowl. Add tofu and green onions. Pour dressing over; toss to coat. Season salad with salt and pepper. Sprinkle with cilantro and peanuts.

 

Serves 6.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Salad that my kids will actually eat

A while ago we all went to Stacia's house for dinner. Among other delicious items, she made this salad, and at one point I glanced over at the kiddie table, and the kids were fighting to the death over what was left in the serving bowl. They were fighting to get more salad. No, I swear.



So, not being stupid, I asked for the recipe. Boo said it wasn't nearly as good without the anchovy paste, so we (meaning my husband) went to four stores and finally found it. Also, the big white bag of croutons they sell at Costco are apparently crack.

 Caesar Salad Dressing


¼ cup light mayo
Scant ¼ cup skim milk
½ T lemon juice
½ tsp anchovy paste
½ tsp Worcestershire sauce
¼ tsp pepper
pinch ground mustard
1 garlic clove, minced (or ½ heaping tsp crushed garlic)


Put the above ingredients in a jar and shake vigorously. In a bowl, combine Romaine lettuce and croutons in the correct quantities to satisfy the number of people you expect for dinner. Toss. Then add:


¼ cup parmesan cheese (heaping)*


In other news, this baked marinated tofu was a big hit around the house, too. Give it a whirl. I left out the smoke flavoring, though.





*Buy the good stuff. You deserve it.

Granola and granola bars

There's certain items at the grocery store that irk me. Too expensive for what they are. Top of the list? Granola bars. If you want ones without HFCS, you'll be paying a lot. Cereal is also something I stock up on only when it's on sale. To combat these budget-busters I've started making my own. In fact, I have the bars in the oven right now. And I made the granola on Monday.

This chewy walnut granola bar recipe is especially nice as it is peanut-free. A nice break from the usual, and helpful for people allergic to peanuts but not tree nuts.

And this granola recipe is fabulous, but I must remember to double or triple it next time I make it, or my family will burn right through it in a matter of days. As you can see, it's from my favorite bread book. I'm still making bread regularly, since it's so easy and delicious.

Oatmeal Pumpkin Cookies

At our house, these are called Mama cookies and are a well-received treat. Heh heh. My kids are so snowed. Costco has a new flour they call Ultragrain, which is a whole wheat flour that pretty much resembles white flour in recipes. Try it out.

1.5 sticks butter, softened
2/3 cup white sugar
2/3 cup packed brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup pumpkin puree (or butternut squash)
1 cup rolled oats
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
A little fresh ginger, a little ground clove or nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup raisins (or other dried fruit - apricots are wonderful in this)
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (or Ultragrain)

Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Cream together butter, white sugar and brown sugar until fluffy. Beat in egg, vanilla and pumpkin. 3. In a separate bowl, mix together the oats, baking powder, cinnamon, salt, raisins and flour. Stir into pumpkin mixture.
4. Drop cookies by the heaping teaspoonful onto greased cookie sheets. Flatten slightly and bake 15-18 minutes or until lightly browned around edges. They remain fairly pale even when baked correctly.
5. Remove from oven and place on cooling racks. Dust with powdered sugar or leave plain.

Sprouted Lentil Salad with Garden Veggies

After reading for the billionth time about how healthy sprouts are (the Magick of the Seed is Released!), I finally decided to sprout some lentils, which took only 2 days, and I threw together this really tasty salad. Other sprouts I want to experiment with include alfalfa, buckwheat, onion, radish, quinoa, sunflower, peas, and bok choi. Where’s a good place to buy seeds in bulk?

Sprouted Lentil Salad with Garden Veggies
Dijon vinaigrette (like this, except I used balsamic vinegar)
Fresh chopped herbs (oregano, dill, chives, whatever)
Shredded zucchini
Chopped tomatoes
Sprouted lentils ("how to" directions)

Mix equal parts zucchini, tomatoes, and lentils. Add some herbs. Add vinaigrette to taste.

Muesli

OK, this is a somewhat weak recipe, but the real meaning behind it makes it loom large in my mind. I wrote it down and pasted it into my recipe file twenty years ago. Someone I just reconnected with on Facebook* asked for it, too. Throw in the fact that this stuff is horribly overpriced at Ikea and other fine retailers. So, here it is.

What we ate at Waldsee (German camp in Bemidji, MN) way back when. I bet they still do.

Muesli

Rolled oats
Corn flakes, puffed rice, or other cereal
Sliced almonds or other nuts
Dried cranberries, raisins, apricots, bananas, whatever
Brown sugar to taste

Serve with milk, yogurt, and fresh fruit as desired.


*You might be hearing that phrase from a lot of people these days. Seems like the entire 35-42 demographic just signed up recently. Gen X in the house, man.

Coconut-Oatmeal Cookies

This recipe came to me from Earl’s mom. They are similar to a regular oatmeal cookie, except with an intriguing extra chewy component.

Three people who dislike coconut have been loving these cookies, so don’t rule them out if you are a coconut-hater. I know you’re out there. Lurking. If you come over to my house in the next few days, you can try one! Hurry, though, because N says these are his new favorites, and he’s a cookie fanatic.

Coconut-Oatmeal Cookies
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 cup butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 cups flour
1 cup oatmeal
1 cup coconut

Cream butter and sugars together. Add eggs one at a time and cream. Add vanilla and next 3 ingredients. Cream. Add flour slowly. You may need to hand mix. Add oatmeal and coconut and mix in.

Chill for 1 hour. Roll into 1 inch balls. Bake 375 for 10 minutes. Makes 4-5 dozen.

Yummy meatloaf

Oh, stop with your begging for this recipe. It's embarrassing.


2 eggs
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
¼ tsp ground black pepper (or to taste)
2 tsp minced garlic
½ tsp basil
½ tsp thyme
1 tsp parsley
¼ cup ketchup
2 teaspoons yellow mustard
1 ½ cups bread crumbs
2 beef bouillon cubes
1 cup boiling water
½ cup chopped celery
½ cup chopped carrots
½ cup chopped onions
1 cup shredded cheddar or Swiss cheese
2 pounds lean ground beef
1 pound ground pork or turkey

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Beat egg with all ingredients through bread crumbs.
3. Dissolve bouillon cubes in boiling water and add to bowl. Mix in rest of ingredients.
4. Press the meat mixture into two 9x5 inch loaf pans.
5. Bake in preheated oven for 1 hour.
   

An idea for the hard-to-shop-for

Know someone who eats? Who can sort of cook? On whom you want to spend roughly $20? I’m telling you, I can’t say enough about Cook’s Country magazine. I’ve written about them before, but we had a dinner so sublime on Sunday that I am moved to mention them again.

• Baked sweet potato fries – we’ve been perfecting these for years. Our new top secret tip is to microwave the whole tators for a few minutes before slicing. Makes a big difference.
• Cole slaw – made the Cook’s Country Memphis style ones. Got a little kick to them, with the chili sauce and mustard. Yum. I used red and green cabbage for a very attractive end product.
• Cola-barbequed ribs – Cook’s Country again. Best ribs I’ve ever had. Finally just the right amount of falling off the bone. Tasty.

We could open a restaurant with just those three items, if we wanted to be completely insane in this economy.

Squash and the Great American Tradition

As you all know, I have a thing about butternut squash. I know, I’m weird. Anyway, I keep talking about this recipe, so here it is. You can find it online here, but I’m posting it with a few changes.

MARINATED BUTTERNUT SQUASH

• 2 medium butternut squash, peeled, seeded and cut into 1-inch slices
• Salt and pepper
• 4 tablespoons plus 4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1/2 medium yellow onion, sliced paper thin and briefly sautéed
• 1/2 teaspoon red chili flakes
• 1 tablespoon dried oregano
• 1 clove garlic, sliced paper-thin
• Some chopped fresh rosemary (or mint)

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
2. Season the squash with salt and pepper, drizzle with 4 tablespoons olive oil, and place in a single layer on 1 or 2 cookie sheets.
3. Bake in the oven until just tender, about 18 to 20 minutes.
4. Meanwhile, briefly saute the onion, garlic, and rosemary.
5. Stir together the sauted ingredients and the remaining oil, vinegar, chili flakes, oregano, and season with salt and pepper. Remove the squash from the oven and pour the marinade over.
6. Allow to cool for 20 minutes in the marinade and serve. This dish can be made earlier in the day but should not be refrigerated.
   -------------------------

I’m not planning on making this for our big feast on Thursday, but for people who dislike cloyingly sweet potato recipes (as do I, no marshmallows here), this could be a really nice change. N and I loved it when I made it last week. The kids, not so much.

This year is our second annual “cook side dishes ahead with a friend.” Tish and I are doing corn pudding, mashed sweet potatoes, and the veggie prep for the stuffing on Wednesday. Then she takes her half home and serves it up with tofurkey or something.

So, our menu is:
cheese n crackers, veggies with dip (appetizer)
turkey
stuffing
corn pudding
mashed sweet potatoes
green salad
rolls/cornbread
cranberries
pecan and pumpkin pies

Pretty basic and standard, but oh how I love it all.

Carrot Cake or Zucchini Cake or ...

Some recipes are so versatile. You can use up what you have and not worry about the results. This recipe is one of them. I tried using the convection feature of my New Oven, but it didn’t really seem that different. Today’s double batch featured zucchini and chopped dried apricots. Yumsterilious.

***** Kate’s Friend’s Carrot Cake *****

Mix and let stand:

3 cups grated carrots (or zucchini, or a combo, or add a peach or banana, or …)
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
¾ cup raisins (or other dried fruit, like cranberries, apricots, etc.)

Cream together:
½ cup salad oil
¼ cup applesauce
½ cup white sugar (or slightly more)
½ cup brown sugar (or slightly more)
3 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla

Sift together:
2 tsp. baking soda
2 cups flour
2 tsp. cinnamon (optional)
2 tsp. wheat germ (optional)
2 tsp. powdered milk (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix and beat all ingredients from #2 and #3 together. Fold in mixture #1. Pour into well-greased Bundt pan (and bake 60 minutes) or about 18 lined muffin tins (and bake for 25 minutes).

Baking times are approximate! Check earlier, and if an inserted toothpick comes out clean, it’s done. Do not overbake. May be frozen. Spend entire time while baking thinking thoughts about missing Kate.

Nearly free and organic applesauce

We have an old neglected apple tree in the backyard, and I’ve been making crockpot applesauce this year. A little time with the apple corer, a little water, sugar and cinnamon. Yum yum and only as sweet as you want it to be. So far there are 5 quart jars and 7 pint jars in the freezer, but I have another large batch cooling and lots more apples on the tree.

Imagine zucchini pancakes with homemade applesauce! We had them the other night and the kids went wild!

Crockpot Applesauce

Tools
Fruit picker
Stainless steel apple slicer/corer
Potato masher
Crockpot
Paring knife

Ingredients
4 lbs (or however many as fit into the crockpot) tart apples, cored and cut into eighths
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1 cup water

Directions

1. Locate apple tree. If you don’t have one, there’s a fair chance your neighbor does, and I bet they would be thrilled if you saved them the effort of raking them up and throwing them away.
2. Harvest apples. Then convince husband to climb onto garage roof to harvest more.
3. Use apple corer to slice and core apples. Pick up each piece and examine it critically. Using a paring knife, cut away any suspicious bits. Toss recklessly into crockpot.
4. Throw cinnamon and sugar into crock pot. If feeling ambitious, stir.
5. Pour water over apples.
6. Cook on high for 1 hour and then low for 3 hours.
7. Mash with potato masher.
8. Let cool, then refrigerate or freeze.
   
   
   

Very very popular lemon bars

What makes these better than other lemon bars? Not too sticky sweet!


Lemon Bars (a la Jill J)

1 lemon cake mix
3 eggs
1/3 cup butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp grated lemon peel
1/4 c lemon juice

Mix 1 egg, butter, and lemon cake mix until crumbly. Reserve 1 cup. Pat into 13x9 pan (recipe says ungreased, but I find a little greasing works best). Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes until light brown.

Beat remaining eggs, sugar, baking powder, salt , lemon juice & peel until light and foamy. Pour over hot crust.

Sprinkle with remaining cake mix crumb mixture (sometimes mine gets a little sticky if I let the butter come to room temp. I break it up w/a fork and presto!)

Bake about 15 minutes more until light brown. Sprinkle w/powdered sugar if desired.

Begin eating edge pieces.

Zuke pancakes and veggie/meat marinade

I made this recipe before I realized that this blog is related to the CSA boxes from Angelic Organics, which N and I learned about from watching The Real Dirt on Farmer John. Also, it turns out we are friends with someone who worked there awhile. It's almost like we should sign up for our own share there. These zucchini pancakes were a smash smash hit with the kids, who ate them with sour cream and applesauce, like potato pancakes would be. I barely got any, and I used up 1.5 large zukes.

And this recipe comes to me via Erin, who also gave me some eggplants from her garden! Thanks, Erin.

Tuscan Marinade (for grilling)
1/3 c olive oil
3 T lemon juice
2 tsp garlic powder
1.5 tsp dried basil
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt

Use on mushrooms, eggplant, onion, squash, etc. Also can be used on chicken. Marinate in the fridge for a full 24 hours before grilling!

Too many cucumbers?

Are you feeling overwhelmed by Cucurbitaceae? It's a common affliction this time of year. I’ve got two suggestions, both super easy and tasty.

#1
Peel cuke skin off. Then peel the actual cuke into long strips. Throw out the seeds. Place in a pitcher of water for several hours. Then, drink your fancy spa water! So refreshing.

#2
Fridge Pickles
7 large cukes, sliced
2 cups sugar (I use less)
2 teaspoon salt
1 cup green peppers, chopped (I use a jalapeno, instead)
1 cup onion, chopped
1 cup white wine vinegar (or use red wine vinegar for pink pickles)
1 tsp celery seed

Combine, leave in fridge 3 weeks, eat.

Eingelegte Bohnen (Pickled Green Beans)

Recipe from my Tante Helga (scroll down for German version)

Fresh green beans (or wax beans), cooked but not too soft.
Spices, according to taste:
Summer savory
Dill
Tarragon
Onion
Horseradish
Mustard seeds
1 bayleaf
1 tablespoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup vinegar
4 cups water

Boil the water with the salt, sugar, and vinegar until the sugar dissolves. Pour over the beans.
Let stand a few days. Guten Appetit!

We ate this last summer at my aunt’s house, with just fresh bread and butter. Yum lunch!

Here's the original for you visiting Germans ...

Eingelegte Bohnen (Rezept von Tante Helga)

Bohnen, gruene oder gelbe, nicht zu weich kochen.

Gewuerze, Menge nach Geschmack
Bohnenkraut
Dill
Estragon
Zwiebel
Meerrettich
Senfkoerner
1 Lorbeerblatt
1 Tabl. Salz
1 Tabl. Zucker
1/2 Tasse Essig auf 1 Liter Wasser (ca 4 cups)

Wasser mit Salz, Zucker und Essig aufkochen bis sich der Zucker geloesst hat und ueber die geschichteten Bohnen giessen. Ein paar Tage stehen lassen. Guten Appetit.

Best cooking tip of all time (possibly)

1. Take crockpot. Place on counter. Put in half a stick of butter. Let it melt.
2. Chop up enough onions to completely fill crockpot. Place onions in crockpot.
3. After 4-6 hours, let onions cool. Place them (including yummy liquid) thinly layered on baking pan. Freeze.
4. When fully frozen, break onions into chunks and put into ziplock bag. Return to freezer.
5. Run around and live life. Realize you are hungry. Select recipe that states “chop and sauté onions until golden brown/soft/etc., approximately 15 minutes.”
6. Snort with derision. Take some of your prepared onions out of freezer and use. Voila! You just saved a bunch of time.