Angel Food Cake

Made this as a lower-calorie alternative to strawberry shortcake.  While it tasted good, didn't turn out perfectly due to some miscalculation with the oven rack positions... oh well, you can visit the link for a pretty photo of a better-executed angel food cake!

You will have a dozen egg yolks left over, so visit this post for ideas how to use 'em up! Lemon bars, puddings and other goodies await! 

Method
Bring a dozen eggs up to room temp. Then separate (yolks versus whites-- make sure no yolk in the whites!


Grind 1.75 C granulated sugar in food processor until powdery. Reserve about half in a separate bowl.  Add 1 C + 2 TB cake flour, 1/4 tea salt and 1/2 vanilla bean to the sugar and grind.  (This is not the recipe to use any whole wheat type flour- you need something light that won't weigh down the eggs.)

Check the oven.  You need a rack in the oven that has enough clearance for the pan + 3-4 inches or more before the burner/element at the top. Don't do what I did- slid it in and while it cooked it ran into the top of the oven.... what a mess!

Now preheat to 325 F while you do the next steps:

Beat the 12 egg whites and 1.5 tea cream of tartar  to frothy.

Add the ground up sugar in a slow stream while beating (i.e. half of the 1.75 C you ground in the beginning). Continue beating until you get soft egg peaks - about 3-5 minutes? 

Add 1 tea vanilla extract and mix to combine.

Fold in flour-sugar-salt mixture until just combined. 

Pour into UNGREASED pan (use 9x13" pan or usual angel food cake or bundt cake pan).

Bake at 325 F for 45 minutes. Invert to cool. Slice and enjoy.

Falafel Salad with Tali Sauce and Zatar Seasoning

This is a surprisingly good change of pace from the usual salad (i.e. the ranchy/ceasary/vinegrette-y dressing kind). The carrots and red onion are a little sweet and the whole thing is really refreshing. This is a little different take on this salad with chickpeas and tali sauce.

Use Tali Sauce for the dressing. I make mine in big batches, then freeze in ice cube trays- so I can defrost a couple cubes for this salad.

Salad Ingredients:
Lettuce greens
grated carrot
cubed cucumber
sliced red onion
chopped flat leaf parsley
Falafel (make your own or purchase at costco or a middle eastern store)

Top with zatar seasoning (sumac, thyme, white sesame seeds, salt).  I got my jar from Penzey's and it is quite delicious. I've recently become fond of topping salads with dried herbs- helps add another layer to the salad.

Marinated Tandoori Grilled Chicken Thighs

Tandoori chicken is one of my favorites at the indian restaurants.  And you can recreate it pretty well on a charcoal grill instead of the traditional tandoor oven (although I have not-so-secret dreams of someday building my own clay oven in the backyard!)

Forget chicken breast- boneless skinless chicken thighs look like white meat, taste better than chicken breasts and are cheaper than even sale priced boneless skinless chicken breast!

Marinate over night:
1.5 lb boneless skinless chicken thighs

juice from 1 lemon (approx 3 TB)
2-4 TB rice milk

2 TB ground corriander
2 TB ground cumin
1 tea turmeric
2 tea paprika
1/2 tea chili powder
1 tea salt
1/2 tea garlic powder

After marinating time, grill to perfection.

Serve with mashed potatoes, roasted indian cauliflower, chapati or naan bread or rice.  Make sure to get some cruciferous veggies (like broccoli) to offset the carniogenic effects of bbq-d meat. 

Asparagus Pickles

Surprisingly, these taste more pickle than asparagus! They were prettiest just after packing into jars and prior to canning in boiling water, which diminished their verdant green color.


Method:

Sterilize 2 pint jars (either boil for 10 minutes or use dishwasher on sterilize mode)

Wash 1.5 lbs asparagus. Snap off woody ends. Cut into lengths that will fit into pint canning jars (remember headspace!)
Peel and cut 1 shallot into halves (lengthwise).
Wash 2 sprigs rosemary.

Combine in a small saucepan and bring up to a boil. 
1 C (250mL) white wine vinegar
1.5 C (187.5mL) white vinegar
1/2 C (125mL) water
1/8 C (25mL) granulated sugar
1/2 tea (2.5mL) pickling salt

Pack asparagus into hot sterilized jars along with sprig rosemary, half of shallot and 3 peppercorns.  Pour hot vinegar liquid over up to 0.5" inch headspace.

Process in water bath canner for 15 minutes.

Pickled Garlic

Not sure how I will use these yet... they are pretty easy, the only bad part being peeling the garlic cloves!


Sterilize 4 quarter pint jars (the itty bitty 4 oz onces).

Separate the cloves of 4 heads garlic and peel.

While peeling garlic, combine in a small saucepan and bring up to a boil:
3/4 C rice wine viengar (komezu)
1/2 C white vinegar
1 tea granulated sugar
1/2 tea salt
optional 2 tea pickling spice

Pack peeled garlic into hot jars. Pour hot vinegar liquid over, leaving 1/2 inch headspace.

Process in hot water bath canner for 10 minutes.

Millet Almond Poppyseed Muffins

I must admit, usually muffin experiments (especially a gluten free, trying-to-be-healthy muffin experiment like this one) don't have great texture.  Great flavor- yes but usually not amazing crumbly texture. But this one does!  It rose beautifully and tastes like a "real muffin".  And it is one of the only ways to get my husband to eat millet!

And like all muffins, these freeze beautifully. So they make a good lunchbox snack.

Recipe
Pulse in food processor until nuts are ground up:
1/2 C ground nuts (almonds, sunflower seeds)
1/2 C gluten free flour mix or finely ground oats or oat bran
1/4 C  hemp seeds or golden flaxmeal
1 tea baking powder
1/2 tea baking soda
1/2 tea salt


Add to food processor and pulse until are thoroughly combined:
1/2 C mashed bananas (approx 2 bananas)

1/2 C water (or rice/non dairy milk)

2 eggs
2 TB maple syrup (or substitute honey or coconut/palm sugar)

1/2 tea almond extract
1 tea vanilla extract

Finally, stir in 2 TB poppyseeds and 1.75 C cooked millet (or amaranth) and mix just to combine.

Pour into greased muffin pan.

Cook for 30 minutes in 375 F oven or until done in the middle.

Daikon Salad hits the spot!

Ok this is an old recipe, but I love it!  You never see this in restaurants in the US. 

This time I used a mandolin slices to cut the daikon into thin rounds, instead of using a veggie peeler to get thin strips.  Either way it is yummy!

The basic premise is:
Daikon
Mizuna (or substitute chopped lettuce or spinach)
Katsuobushi (freeze dried fish flakes from a fish called Katsuo I think- see photo at right. This is nothing to be scared of- really tasty! get the more expensive kind that has larger flakes instead of powder. The powdery kinds are meant for making dashi soup stock)

Dressing: mayo, soysauce, ginger powder, mustard powder to taste

Eggplant Sandwich (and how to use up roasted eggplant)

I'm the only eggplant-eater in this house, so I have to get creative finishing off eggplants. 

I like to roast eggplant slices in the oven with a spray of olive oil.  For dinner, topping with hot tomato pasta sauce does the trick! But what about the rest of the eggplant?


Chopped up, it makes a very good sandwich filling. And it is vegan!

Chop in a food processor or cut/mash on a cutting board:

• roasted eggplant
• salt
• pepper
• lemon juice
• balsamic vinegar
• garlic/garlic powder

 Spread the eggplant spread on toasted whole wheat bread. 

Layer sliced roma tomatoes, lettuce and avocado.  Cut in half and enjoy!

Vegan "Cheesey" Broccoli Potato Soup

Tweaked a recipe from "Blissful Bites"- now this is a favorite soup! This is a great way to use up broccoli stalks, whose flavor is deliciously sweet but the texture isn't amazing.  I use mostly stalks and a little bit of the broccoli florets for this soup since it is mostly pureed anyway.

Most broccoli soups are pureed and hubby doesn't like straight up pureed soups.  So reserve some of the cooked potato and broccoli (or steam a little bit on the side) to put back in after pureeing the rest!

The soup itself is vegan (uses nutritional yeast for a slightly cheesey flavor). But I have to admit that I liked it best with a sprinkling of cheddar cheese on top-- for a strictly vegan version omit the cheese or use vegan cheese like Daiya.  Even with the real cheese on top, this recipe is less dairy-ish than a traditional "broccoli cheese soup".



Saute 1 chopped onion in olive oil until golden.

Add 2 C cubed yukon gold potatoes and  2-3 minced cloves garlic and stir. Cook for 2-5 minutes until everything is starting to yellow/brown.

Pour in 5 C water and stir, scraping any bits off the bottom of the pan.

Stir in the following and let simmer for 4-5 minutes until potatoes are half soft.
1/3 C nutritional yeast ("nooch")
1 tea coarse sea salt
2 bay leaves
1/4 tea black pepper
1 TB basil (frozen is fine) 

Add 3 C chopped broccoli (stalks are great for this!) and simmer until the broccoli and potatoes are soft but not too mushy.

For chunky soup- remove some potato chunks and broccoli pieces and reserve. (or alternatively, steam a little bit of potato and broccoli on the side for this purpose).

Puree the soup- I like blending the whole amount to a cut-up consistency, pouring half back into the pan and then pureeing on high the other half of the soup. This gives a good variation in textures and makes the soup have body and a creamy texture.

Pour the soup back in the pan. Add the reserve potato and broccoli chunks. Add up to 1 -1.5 more teaspoons coarse salt, and pepper and garlic powder to taste. Bring up to serving temp. Then serve!

For non-vegan eaters: you can shred white cheddar over the top of the vegan soup to make it even more convincing!

Poker Chip Cucumber Slices

Maybe it is the wannabe-japanese in me, but I'm a little hooked on cutesy cutting of vegetables. I'm sure there is a name in Japanese for this phenomenon.  

Cucumbers have been on special at hte grocery store for 99 cents each so I've been eating these up!

Method
1. Wash cucumber. 
2. Use a vegetable peeler to cut strips of peel off (and discard/compost/feed to dog!).
3. Now slice cross ways. 

I love the poker-chip pattern around the edge.  And it keeps snacking on cukes from feeling like a whole lot of peel-chewing.

These make a pretty and delish snack for work. Or I like them with a sandwich instead of chips!