Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've made many a batch of chocolate chip cookies, never really all that impressed with them until... THIS!

http://www.cookingforengineers.com/recipe/185/Nestle-Toll-House-Chocolate-Chip-Cookies

Now I made adjustments, like adding a drip of almond extract, using a total of 2.5 C flour (1 C of that whole wheat bread flour) and lots of vanilla!

The batch that I baked on a non-nonstick pan turned out best...

Tomato-Mex Millet

Found this in a cool vegan book! Really tasty! I used my pressure cooker, but it burnt on the bottom.... so perhaps regular cooking is good too.

Heat until fragrant:
Oil
2-3 cloves garlic, minced

Add and stir:
1/2 large onion, minced
1 jalapeno pepper, seeds removed, minced

Then add:
2 C veggie broth
3 TB tomato paste
1/2 tea salt
1/4 tea cumin
1 tomato, diced

Cook, bring to boil, cover, cook 25-30 minutes.

No Butter Here! (a new potluck dip)

I tried a new bean dip recipe out of Bon Appetit magazine. I didn't really have high hopes for it, but after tinkering (of course!) it is really good. Like garlic butter, but better, and supposedly healthier too. Really good on baby carrots and bread... my next potluck dish!

Spicy Garlic Bean Dip
Whirl everything in food processor, adding oil gradually, until the beans are pureed like hummus:
1 can cannellini beans, rinsed & drained
3-5 TB olive oil, use enough to make it creamy-ish
1 TB balsamic vinegar
1/4 tea white pepper
1/2 tea paprika
2 dried red chiles
sprinkle of black pepper and salt
1-2 TB lemon juice (go easy, too much lemon ruins the dip)
5 cloves garlic

Brown Butter & Mizithera Pasta

From nowhere, I had a craving for pasta with browned butter and my favorite pasta cheese, mizithera (also spelled with a "y" in some places).

1. Melt and cook on medium 1 stick of butter.
2. Cook it about 6 minutes, you want it to smell amazing and be an "amber" color. Stir while you do this, nobody likes burnt butter.
3. Once butter is browned, take off heat, and zest/grate 1 clove of garlic into the butter, stir.
   
4. While you are fussing with that butter business, cook pasta (spaghetti?), strain and return to pot.
5. Now pour the browned butter over the drained pasta, add a pinch of salt if you used unsalted butter, sprinkle some ground pepper, and add 1/4 C grated parmesan and 1/4 C grated mizithera cheese-- stir to combine.

I served this with a side salad since the butter is a bit heavy. Delicious!

Easy Pasta Sauce Technique- Tomato Pesto

Browsing old recipe magazines, I found a recipe for "Pasta with Arugula, Goat Cheese & Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto". For this recipe, you process sun-dried tomatoes, olive olive, walnuts, garlic, and Parmesan into a red colored pesto. You reconstitute the pesto with pasta water to create a very flavorful sauce for your noodles.

The EASY part is that you can make the pesto anytime, and then whip it out of the fridge-- dinner in as long as you can boil pasta!

Sun-Dried Tomato Pesto
Process:
3/4 C to 1 C sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil
1/4 C walnuts (you can toast them beforehand if you feel fancy)
2 cloves garlic
1/2 C grated parmesan or pecorino romano cheese
1/2 tea salt
1/8 tea pepper

Reconstitute with 3/4 C to 1 C pasta water (will be yellow from the starch), and use as pasta sauce!

Fruity Salad!

While surfing vegan/raw recipes, I came across this recipe for "tropical salad with raspberry poppy seed dressing". Like always I had to tamper with it..... totally delicious!

I made the dressing the night before by throwing all this in a food processor with ninja-star blade:
1/4 C natural sweetener (i.e. mixture of agave syrup, honey...)
1 tea mustard powder
1/2 tea salt
2 TB to 1/4 C apple cider vinegar (1/4 C worked ok, but was a little strong)
2 TB poppy seeds
1/2 C frozen strawberries (warmed a little in the microwave, or you could use fresh)
1 small shallot

After that is all ground up, pour in 1/4 C olive oil with the processor running. Store in the fridge. Yum!

I put this over a mixed salad:
baby greens
arugula
1/2 mango, peeled and chopped
1/2 C blueberries

Citrus Cupcakes with Honey-Ginger Frosting

Feeling adventurous at the grocery store, I decided on a citrus motif for these cupcakes. They are based off "Silver White Cake" from an old Betty Crocker book, which is an easily-adaptable cake recipe, which I used to make the Milk Tea cake and lavender cake. I think they'd be perfect for a Spring tea party!

Citrus Cake
Blend 30 seconds on low speed, scraping down the bowl, then beat on high for 2 minutes.
2.25 C cake flour or 2 C all purpose (but the cake flour has the best texture)
1.25 C sugar
3.5 tea baking powder
1 tea salt
1/2 C shortening
1/4 C orange or citrus juice concentrate 3/4 C milk 1/2 tea vanilla
1 TB orange or tangerine zest
1 tea lemon zest
1 tea grated ginger

Add and beat 2 minutes at high speed:
2 eggs

Pour into a cupcake pan with liners and bake in 350 F degree oven for 20 minutes (cupcakes), or 30-40 minutes for in a big pan.

Honey-Ginger Frosting
I tried so-called honey frosting recipes on the web-- total disaster. I started over with a tried and true basic buttercream.

Blend:
3 TB butter, softened but not melted
2 TB honey
1 tea grated ginger
sprinkle of lemon zest

Gradually add powdered sugar to reach spreadable consistency, I used 1/4 C- 1/2 C.

Lavender Cake

Thought I would post the recipe for one of my first experimental cake recipes, which turned out beautifully! I think it needs a little frosting to balance the lavender flavor, so don't forget to whip up a buttercream!

Lavender Cake
Simmer 1 C milk in a small saucepan with 2 TB culinary lavender until fragrant, probably 5-7 minutes(?). You can strain or leave the lavender buds-- I like the color of the lavender pieces in the cake.

Blend 30 seconds on low speed, scraping down the bowl, then beat on high for 2 minutes.
2.25 C cake flour or 2 C all purpose (but the cake flour has the best texture)
1- 1.25 C sugar (I like a delicate cake, not too sweet, with the lavender)
3.5 tea baking powder
1 tea salt
1/2 C shortening
1/2 tea vanilla
1 C infused milk (from above)

Add and beat 2 minutes at high speed:
4 egg whites (you could use 2 whole eggs, but it will make the cake more yellow)

Pour into a cupcake pan with liners and bake in 350 F degree oven for 20 minutes (cupcakes), or 30-40 minutes for in a big pan.