Green Sauce (Greek-ish Spinach & Yogurt Sauce)

This was better than tzatziki sauce on falafel sandwiches!

Wilt 3/4 C washed spinach (either a quick dip in boiling water, or 30 seconds in the microwave). Squeeze out excess moisture (but don't burn yourself!).

Combine in food processor until uniform sauce:
wilted spinach
2 cloves garlic
handful parsley
1/4 tea salt
sprinkle of turmeric
1/8 tea pepper
2 tea lemon juice
2/3 C plain yogurt (like Nancy's honey yogurt)

Serve with veggies, falafel, pita or drizzle over steamed or raw veggies as a salad dressing.

Flourless Nut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies

I've been baking my super fast 4 ingredient peanut butter chocolate chip cookies quite a bit now, and starting to experiment. Some day I want to try a half batch with tahini and see how they turn out. These would be a good recipe for gluten free folks as the main ingredients are nuts, eggs and sugar.

Mix together:
1 egg
1 C brown sugar
1 C nut butter (peanut butter, almond butter etc.)
2 TB sesame seeds, or sunflower seeds
1/2 C chocolate chips
1 tea vanilla extract

Bake in small cookie shapes in 350 F oven for 8-12 minutes. They will look undone when you take them out of the oven, but leave them on the cookie sheet to finish cooking outside the oven.

Aileen's Tuscany Biscotti

These are delicious anise seed biscotti my mom's coworker makes. She says it takes 2.5 - 3 hours, but it is totally worth it!

Biscotti are great to dunk in coffee or tea, and are also great for parties or potlucks since you can make them ahead of time and they are super easy to serve.

Mix in bowl of standing mixer:
1 C butter, melted and cooled
1/4 C Franjelico (hazelnut liquer), or use 1 TB almond extract
3 tea vanilla extract
6 eggs
2 C sugar
3 C whole wheat pastry flour
2.5 C all purpose flour
3 tea baking powder

This will look pretty strange if you try to cream the butter and sugar, and then eggs first (a lot of liquids), so just dump it all in and mix.

Now add and mix by hand:
1/4 C anise seeds (or use 3/4 C chocolate chips instead)
2 C coarsely chopped toasted almonds

Divide dough into two parts. Spoon batter on two lightly greased baking sheets, forming logs about 3" by 15" by 1.25" high.

Bake one sheet at a time (refrigerate the other sheet) at 350 F for 35-40 minutes or until lightly brown and totally cooked.

After baking, lift off tray carefully (you can cut in half first to facilitate getting it off the pan).

Slice cookie bars with serrated knife into 1/2" slices on a cutting board. Return slices to tray and toast at 375 F for 10 minutes on EACH side.

Cool and store in airtight container. You can also dip in chocolate and crushed almonds for a fancy effect, but these are quite good all by themselves! You can also make a chocolate hazelnut biscotti and serve the two flavors together.

Tammy's Berry Pie

When I was 9 or 10, I made $18 in a day selling home made pie (of course that was big money to a kid back then). I set signs on the sidewalk, cantilevered up on a ladder, and sat out with a phone and a card table. People really do like pie!

Pie Crust
This recipe makes 2 pie bottoms. I use a crumb crust (see below) for the top. You could use this crust for savory pies like quiche as well.

Mix with a fork:
2.5 C all purpose flour
1 C shortening
1/2 tea salt
1 tea baking powder

Now add 1 egg yolk, 2 TB white vinegar, and 1/2 C ice water (it is important that the water is cold).

Mix well and chill. Roll out pie crust with flour and shape in pie pan. Set aside.

Pie Filling
There are all sorts of pie fillings out there, here's one version for berries. Use either flour or tapioca flour, or even tapioca pearls to thicken the filling. Nobody can tell there is tapioca in the pie once it is cooked.

Carefully combine:
4 C fresh berries (blackberries, raspberries are my favorites)
2/3 to 1 C sugar (depends on how sour the berries are, and your taste)
1/4 C all purpose flour or tapioca flour or tapioca pearls
1 TB lemon juice (optional)
1- 2 tea vanilla extract (optional)

Crumb Crust
This is even good as is, but then again I seemed to have a childhood affinity for straight up flour and sugar mixed together. I use this on top of pie, but you can use it as a cobbler topping. You could even try it over a cooked pudding like creme brulee.

Combine in a small bowl, using your hands to mix the crumbs together.
1/2 C sugar
3/4 C all purpose flour
1/3 C butter

Once crumbly and combined, sprinkle half over each pie.

Combine and Bake the Pie
Pour filling into pie crust. Top with crumb crust topping. Bake for 10 minutes at 450F, then lower temp to 350 F and bake additional 30-40 minutes or until brown. Careful not to burn the crust-- you may need to put a little foil over the edges to prevent burning.

Alternative Fillings
For apple pie, peel and slice apples and place them in the pie crust. Sprinkle cinnamon, cloves, allspice, and 1/4 C sugar over apples. You could also make a caramel sauce to pour over the apples.

Gramma's Spice Cookies

These are kind of like molasses cookies or gingerbread, but better. Gramma makes these each Christmas in cute little star shapes, with a delicate icing on top. I make them with less sugar and butter instead of the shortening, see my new recipe.

Method:

Cream 1/2 C shortening in standing mixer. Add 1 C sugar gradually and mix.

Add 1 egg and 1/4 C molasses and beat until smooth.

In separate bowl, sift together:
2 C flour
2 tea baking powder
3/4 tea salt
1 tea cinnamon
1/2 tea cloves
1/2 tea nutmeg

Stir dry ingredients into wet mixture. Chill dough in refrigerator.

Roll out cookie dough and cut with cookie cuters.

Bake at 375 F for about 10 minutes.

While cookies are baking, make an icing of powdered sugar, water, and food coloring. Ice cooled cookies.

Almond Bar Cookies

My mom made these cookies for Christmas many years, and they remind me of Scandinavian festivals from school.

Stir together in mixing bowl:
1.75 C all purpose flour
2 tea baking powder
1/4 tea salt

In standing mixing bowl, beat 1/2 C butter until soft. Add 1 C sugar and beat sugar and butter together until fluffy.

Add 1 egg and 1/2 tea almond extract and stir.

Add flour mixture from above, stir.

Divide dough into 4 rolls on 2 cookie sheets, flatten each to 3-4" wide.

Press sliced almonds into top of bar cookies. Bake for 12-14 minutes at 325F.

Cut on the diagonal into 1.5-2" slices.

Vickie's Caramel Corn

Pop 8 C popcorn (preferably in old-school oil popper). Put popcorn in large grocery size brown paper bag.

Heat in a medium saucepan, mix, and boil for 2 minutes:
1/2 C butter or margarine
1 C brown sugar
1/4 C corn syrup (Karo Syrup)

Then add 1/4 tea baking soda and stir. Take pan off heat.

Pour caramel sauce over popcorn in brown bag, fold down bag and shake until popcorn is coated.

Put bag in microwave for 1 minute. Now shake.

Microwave for 45 seconds, then shake. Microwave another 45 seconds and shake.

Spread caramel corn on a baking sheet and let cool.

Chex Mix

Melt 1 stick butter (1/2 C) in large roasting pan in a preheating 250F oven.

Pull pan out of oven and stir in:
4.5 tea worcestershire sauce
1.25 tea seasoning salt
3/4 tea garlic powder
1/2 tea onion powder

Gradually add and stir:
6 Cups Chex cereal
1 C pretzyl sticks
1 C cheerios

Bake for 1 hr in 250 oven, stirring every 15 minutes.

Vegetable, Barley and Chickpea soup

Prepare veggie stock and cooked barley ahead of time.

Combine in pressure cooker or regular pot with lid:
2 carrots, sliced on diagonal into 1/4 inch slices 3 stalks celery, sliced on diagonal into 1/2 inch slices 1 potato, cut into cubes/dice about 1/2 inch 1 can chickpeas/garbanzos, drained and rinsed 1/4 C onion, sliced
Optional: add other vegetables like mushrooms, garlic

Bring up to pressure and cook for 5 minutes under pressure. If not using a pressure, cook until carrots and celery are soft.

Add to soup and stir to heat through:
1/2 - 1 C cooked barley 1/2 tea salt, or to taste
cracked black pepper

Serve with slices of cheddar cheese, and garnish with parlsey.

Portland Restaurants on my must-try list

Le Pigeon
Gruner
Kenny's Noodle House
Pok Pok
Paley's place
Bravo Toro
The Farm
Rocket
Pho Van
Mingo West
Hiroshi
Tom's 1st Ave Bento
Biwa
Fats
Yakuza Lounge