Curry, damnit all - a plea

I've tried curry twice.  Only in my most recent years with adult taste buds have I developed a taste for it, and even now,  only yellow curry.  There's a reason it's called yellow, I mean besides its color, it is for wusses like me who find candy canes and oranges a bit overwhelming.

Anyway, done right I find yellow curry dishes more soothing than biscuits and gravy.  Not even remotely do I refer to MY yellow curry.

What the hell am I doing wrong?  Many of the recipes online instruct me to use "yellow curry paste" but excuse me for not having that on hand and feeling a little incensed that it is assumed I might not be able to come up with an appetizing curry from the contents of my spice cabinet.

If your answer is in fact "yellow curry paste" please do give me the exact brand name, and I will buy it, because my last two attempts have barely skated by with the generosity of Salt.

Yam Gratin

So you might have thought my love affair with the cuisinart couldn't have possibly run deeper, but I discovered that it has a slicing attachment.  Needless to say we've been eating a lot of gratins lately.  Cause not only is it a belly-warming comfort food, it's really cheap, and now with my slicer it is really fast.

2 yams, sliced thin

put half in shallow baking dish.  pour about a cup of heavy cream over it, salt and pepper, dried minced onion, nutmeg (few pinches), sprinkle layer of shredded Parmesan cheese, add second half of yams, more cream, more salt and pepper, cover in cheese. 

My downfall was that i added pats of butter here and there,  but this melted and pooled and just looked disgusting.  It tasted good, but looked terrible and I don't think the butter really added anything to it.

Chocolate Mousse Pie, tofu all the way

This thing rocked the table all the way, not to be boastful, but sersly.  You'll want a big glass of milk or a nice cup of coffee to cut the richness of this delectable treat.

I got this from the Gourmet Sleuth.

fyi I used store-bought refrigerated crusts for all the pies this year.

Pie Ingredients
1(16-ounce) package Azumaya Silken Tofu (drained)
12 ounces good quality semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate cut into small pieces
2 to 4 tablespoons sifted powdered sugar if desired
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

1 Whipped cream or non-dairy whipped topping Chocolate shavings or curls

Puree tofu in food processor; add melted chocolate and powdered sugar; process until completely blended, scraping sides down. Add vanilla; blend well.

Turn mixture into crust.

Chill 1 hour or until set. Garnish with whipped cream and shavings. Let stand at room temperature for 15 minutes, uncovered, before serving (to enhance the flavor). 

Pumpkin Pie, with a tofu kind of orientation

So, as part of my son's now apparently hallucinated-by-me egg allergy, I felt compelled to provide for him an egg free pumpkin pie option.  He never did touch the thing as far as I know.  But, I liked it.  So fine.

I followed a super easy recipe by Rita on Food.com

*special note - when a recipe says at the end to "chill"  I like to take this to mean, "now calm the hell down and enjoy a glass of white."

 

 

Ingredients

Servings: 10
10 10

• 1 (16 ounce) can pumpkin puree or 1 (16 ounce) canfresh pumpkin puree or 1 (16 ounce) canfresh pureed butternut squash or 1 (16 ounce) canfresh pureed acorn squash or 1 (16 ounce) can fresh pureed sweet potatoes
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 allspice
• 1 (10 ounce) package soft tofu, do not use low fat
• 1 9-inch pie shell, unbaked

Directions

Prep Time: 10 mins
Total Time: 1 1/4 hr

1. Preheat oven to 425°F.
2. Cream the tofu, pumpkin and sugar in a food processor; add salt and spices, and mix thoroughly.
3. Pour mixture into pie shell and bake for 15 minutes.
4. Lower heat to 350 F and bake for another 40 minutes.
5. Chill and serve

Mashed Yam and Potato Casserole

I have yams and russet potatoes uncooked and taking up too much space.

1 yam
2 russet potatoes

cut and boil

with hand mixer, mash the roots and add 2 tbsp butter, a generous handful of shredded cheese (i had colby jack on hand), about a 1/4 cup of heavy cream (still working through the literal GALLON of heavy cream in the fridge).  add garlic salt to taste.

Now I accidentally added some extra cream and it was a bit smoother than I prefer, so I decided to crown the thing a Casserole, topped it with the rest of our left-over stuffing and baked it on high for about 10 minutes to toast up the topping.

yum.

Gnocchi in Pumpkin Cream Sauce

Long time no write.  Serious slump in cooking mojo but I'm climbing out of the spiral of anxiety-produced last-minute crap dinners.  Last night though was one of those rare dinners for me that was delicious, wholesome, well-received by children and husband alike, and was a last minute inspiration.

Whole wheat gnocchi (2 packages for us)

Heat: 1 tbsp EVOO, 3-4 cloves garlic (chopped), 1 small/medium onion (till onion is almost translucent)
Add salt and pepper
Add chopped rosemary (1 tbsp?)
Add 1 cup heavy cream
Add 1 cup broth (I used vegetable broth)

heat to near boil
bring heat down a bit

Add 1 can pumpkin,whisk it in slowly
check seasonings add more salt if needed.

dump over cooked and drained gnocchi.

yum.

Theme Time: Left overs

Not just left-overs from Thanksgiving dinner, I have left-over ingredients that didn't get used last week.

In a fit of pre-thanksgiving psychosis (an inherited quality from the hostess with the most psychosis) I stock-piled ingredients like the Thanksgiving Apocalypse was coming.

This week is focused on using up lots of these things.

Weeping Coleslaw

Husband is deep in the thick of his smoker obsession.  Takes a lot of his free time (which, at this stage of our family life, means about 2 hours a week after 8:30pm), and all of his free brain space.  He can't hear me any more what with the loud buzzing of smoker possibilities taking over his consciousness.

The upside to being ignored?  Super kick-ass pulled pork sandwiches.  Where do I come in here?  COLESLAW topping for the sandwiches.

Never had I even considered making coleslaw, I have little to no interest in the dish.   Add to that, we can't eat anything made with mayo because of kidlet's egg allergy.

so here it is:

In food processor:
2 red onions
1/2 cup slivered almonds
1/2 cup cashews
2 tbsp agave liquid
2 tbsp sour cream
juice from 1 lemon
2 tbsp vinegar
1 tbsp oil
2 tbsp garlic
3 tbsp mustard

Mix into bag of shredded mixed cabbage (we were on a tight schedule)

Banana bread with mystery guest

These days I realize there is almost always a mystery guest.  Don't tell Jessica Seinfeld, we don't have the money for defense lawyers right now.   But seriously, I can't believe there are even TWO cook books out there about sneaking food in to your food.  Give me an endorsement deal, I'm just sayin' -my Cuisinart makes food disappear.  That is all you need to know, what ever you are making chances are a good blend-able veggie has a place in it.  For reals.

So naturally, I'm talking about using some more of my pureed Skabetti Squash.

Mix dry ingredients:

2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp baking powder
salt
2 tbsp flax
2 tbsp wheat germ

mix:
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick soft butter
3 bananas
1 cup squash
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup of oil
splash of milk if it needs to be thinned out

with beater mix in the dry stuff.

bake at 350 for 25 -ish minutes.

mine was really moist and served as a great vessel for "vanilla pudding sauce"  also known as instant vanilla pudding. 

i can't claim the boys ate the bread with abandon, but i think had it been served warm and with a sauce that was a little saucier and with a touch of savory ) i'm thinking if i could have incorporated mascarpone it would have worked better.  the bread itself is quite sweet.

Red Pepper Spread

Perhaps this blog should be called "Hit me with your best food processor" although that sounds really quite deadly as my food processor weighs at least 25 lbs.

anywho, hauled out the big ass cuisinart and made this:

1 jar drained roasted red peppers
1 heaping tablespoon chopped garlic
1 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup raw peeled almonds
1 giant handful of fresh spinach
1/4 cup provolone cheese
salt to taste (2 tsp?)

spread on sandwich bread, serve with french bread for dipping, or as a bruschetta/tapenade deal.

Butterscotch Squash Muffins

These are awesome.  I can't really say it any other way.

I love having *random crap around, it always ends up being the best part of the end product.

So I have an abundance of spaghetti squash as I mentioned before.  I've now cooked two, have two sitting on the counter and I have at least four waiting in the garden.

I baked and then pureed one squash.  (look at baking directions in an earlier post).  In a bowl I combined:

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup pureed squash
1 tbsp vanilla
*1 jell-o butterscotch pudding cup
1/4 - 1/2 cup of milk
2 tbsp vegetable oil

I also mixed in a generous portion of chocolate chips and topped with crumb topping that I happen to always have in a tupperware container in the fridge.

These are incredibly moist and delicious.  True the nasty processed unholy-ness of the pudding cup may sorta cancel the wholesome hippy vibe we were getting from that squash puree, but what can ya do? 

Tomato Tarte Tatin - Bon Appetit

http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2010/08/tomato_tarte_tatin

made this for dessert tonight on a whim.  had no intention, in fact no real desire to do it, just sounded too weird for my still blossoming palate.

a lovely local gardener extraordinaire is under siege with tomatoes growing up to the sky, over her fence, across the street and into the local school baseball fields.  i'm exaggerating, yah?  so, because karen sent me on my way this afternoon with a bag full of beautiful tomatoes, i decided there was no time like tomato time to make a tatin.

mine was over-cooked because it's tricky cooking fancy tarts with a 15 month old sitting on your hip, writhing desperately to get in to the oven and seemingly defying the laws of gravity by managing to climb higher up my person the more i intend to place him firmly on the ground, away from the boiling hot oven, behind a gate, closer to his ever ready-to-pounce brother who is at the moment tenuously distracted by diego.  go diego go!

but i digress, regress, and digest.

the tart was interesting, certainly needed more attention than i could give it, but as we all know by now, a healthy dose of whipped cream certainly made it edible.

Spaghetti Squash Gratin

stole most of this from the chocolateandzucchini.com recipe

first of all - never have i had such a perplexing research phase for a new food.  but i've familiarized myself and ...  i think i've tackled the red-headed step-child of the squash family (i mean that with great love to all my strawberries).

i searched high and low for spaghetti squash information.  mostly people were hatin' on it for not being pasta.   kaaaay.  but then my search led me to chocolateandzucchini.com where the author wrote a bit of an ode to spaghetti squash and she really sold it well.

here's the thing - it is NOT pasta, stop it right now.  it is squashy squash squash and should be treated as such.  so, what do i LOVE to do with squash?  incorporate cheese and cream.

d'uh, i thought, of COURSE i should make this gratin the chocolateandzucchini.com lady is talking about.

so first of all, i took to the squash with a butcher knife a la slasher movie and did my best to make a few stabs (so the squash could breath of course) with out stabbing myself or the counter top.  then put the whole. damn. thing. in a baking dish and left it in oven for an hour.  took it out let it cool and then i attacked it with the knife again thinking i was still dealing with a log.  not really, it sort of erupted and fell apart immediately.  the insides pulled away from the shell (for that's what it is, not peel, not rind, not skin but hard shell).

at this point i realized - this was the easiest damn vegetable i've ever prepared.  so then get the seeds out and scrape out, takes 2 seconds.

Gratin dish, my version:
 
put half the squash in greased baking dish (a big one).
sprinkle salt and pepper (a bit more than you might be thinking because the squash does need some flavor support)
top with thin slices of (cheese i had on hand) queso fresco (salty yet mild yum)
sprinkle bacon pieces on cheese)
pat down second half of the squash
salt and pep
generously heap grated parmesan cheese
top with remaining bacon and candied walnut halves (sounds sketchy but it seriously made the dish)

ok at this point i covered with foil and refrigerated overnight 'cause it was 10:15pm and i might be a late-night secret alone-in-the-kitchen binge eater to an extent but i DO NOT eat family-sized portions of freshly baked squash entrees at 10:45pm.  try chocolate chips and spoonfuls of peanut butter.

so the next evening i took out the dish, poured some half n half in and threw it in the oven for 30 minutes and took the foil of around 15 minutes to crispi-fy the cheese.  delicious.

*one note - if i were to do this again, and judging by the veritable squash jungle going on in the back yard i WILL, i would use heavy cream rather than half and half and i would not use quite as much because there was a bit of excess liquid which pissed me off.

spaghetti or not here i come!

it's time to pick the first few spaghetti squash from the garden.  i'm not really excited, and as i was fairly warned, it has taken over the garden, grown OUT of the fenced in garden and is climbing our play structure several feet away.  i need to pick at least two, perhaps three today - i WILL make them yumy.  but in the mean time, anyone have any suggestions on how?

the pizza sauce

i can never serve store bought again.

you guessed it, get out the cuisinart.

dump in:
1 can diced tomatos, water and all
1 can tomato paste
1 onion
2 tbsp crushed garlic
1 zucchini
1 carrot
1 large fistfull fresh spinach
1 long pour of olive oil
3 tbsp honey
lots o' salt
black pepper
2 tbsp italian seasoning

blend

pour on crust.

blueberry mascarpone coffee cake

this morning's breakfast, easy to make, long to bake

mix:
2 cups flour (i did 1 whole wheat, 1 white)
1.5 cup sugar
1/4 cup blueberry juice
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup greek yogurt
2 tbsp safflower oil
2 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp salt

4 oz mascarpone cheese
1 tbsp honey
1 tbsp lemon zest
(whipped together left over from the stuffed dates last night)

mix all together, pour in to greesed cake pan (i used a 9 inch round)
top with crumble topping

bake at 375 for 30-40 minutes

Gourmet Girl: Mascarpone Stuffed Medjool Dates

had these for dessert tonight, totally delicious

Gourmet Girl: Mascarpone Stuffed Medjool Dates

Chicken Pillows!

you know what they say, "you can relocate the girl out of the midwest twice from coast to coast and quadruple her cost of living, but you can't pry that canned cream of mushroom soup out of her hands."

this recpie comes from my dear fellow cow-girl Liz.

Chicken Pillows, they do a heart good when casserole is just too farm-y but you crave something non-local, non-organic, and with just a hint of transfat.  ENJOY!

2 packages crescent rolls
1 block cream cheese
2/3 c. mushrooms
4 tbsp margarine
2 c. cooked chicken, diced (4 breasts)
1 can condensed cream of mushroom soup
bread crumbs

Roll out dough, divide into rectangles (4 each roll) and seal
perforated lines.  Cream margarine and cream cheese. Add chopped
mushrooms. Put spoonful of cheese mix and few pieces of chicken onto
each crescent roll. Fold the sides of the rectangle together and crimp
edges to make a pillow. Brush each pillow with melted butter then
cover with bread crumbs. Bake at 350 for 30-40 minutes, until golden
brown. Heat soup with a little milk to use as gravy. Makes 8 pillows.

 So as you can see from my comment below, we went from chicken pillows to one big chicken comforter (aka pie).

Queso Fresco

some other time.

was fantasizing about all the wonderful dishes in which queso fresco might work, only tried it once and BAM it went baaaaad, like super stinky shoes bad.  i shall try again and be prepared to use it quickly.

Mint challenge

well same sister who suggested mint watermelon facials (on to-do list for tonight while catching up on master chef) has asked for more mint ideas.

i can start with mint cucumber basil water

half a cucumber, thinly sliced
bunch of mint chopped
bunch of basil chopped

place in pitcher, pour boiling water (fill 2/3), stir in 1/4 cup of sugar or some agave liquid.  then pack with ice cubes the rest of the way.  let sit in fridge for as long as you like.  i had this tasty refreshing drink available for a week.  fun to drink over ice in nice fancy goblets.

blueberry infused whipped cream and in general the ease with which one may riff on whipped cream...

oh whipped cream, how you make my life better

this summer we got a magic bullet.  it has changed my life in one key area - dessert.  i top anything i can with whipped cream now because i can make it in less than one minute.

i veered off the plain white sugar path and added bourbon.  the kids were outraged and asked me to never ever do that again.

then i started using brown sugar and it was ... hawesommmmmme.

tonight i added some of my aforementioned stockpiled blueberry juice plus white sugar.  fabulous lilac pillows atop my vanilla pudding.

oh, i also did cocoa powder with sugar.  that's really all the dessert you need right there.

now i'm thinking stewed strawberry chunks? honey? crushed candied pecans???

blueberry milk

i saw this on another blog but couldn't remember all the steps.

so here is what i did.

oversupply of blueberries:

boil with a bit of water
add some sugar (i did not add enough in the end so i made up for it by adding agave sweetener at the end)
boil/simmer for a while
try to mash all the berries once they are super soft.
strain
i refrigerated half and froze half

mix with milk, add some agave liquid as needed

butternut squash and mushroom brown rice risotto

roast cubed squash, one LARGE onion, salt and evoo in oven for 30 mins

in pot, sautee 2 cups brown rice in evoo
add 1/4 cup of white wine
let that cook off for a minute or two
add 3 - 4 cups of vegetable stock
bring to boil
turn to low heat and cover
 cook on low for ... till it is all soft

sautee mushrooms, onion flakes, mashed garlic in evoo, peas

prepare your food processor mechanism (mine is the beloved cuisinart) to blend the squash and onion. 
fold in to rice

add mushrooms and peas

top with chopped chives and mascarpone dolups.

A challenge for the readers - Watermelon

it's taking over my life.  i had some frozen in cubes, then i inherited a gigantic half a watermelon this weekend.  i cut it all up and froze in more cubes.  what should i do with them?  they are gross thawed.

Zucchini pesto

Cuisinart you stole my heart.

2 zucchini
1 giant bunch of spinach
5 cloves garlic
1 cup raw almonds
2 cups Parmesan cheese
1 tbsp salt
add olive oil till smooth

Green yummy-ness

Cucumber - an epiphany

I have found a way to love cucumber.  most likely this is obvious to everyone else, but it's taken 31 years for me to understand cucumber has a purpose.  It MUST be peeled, and it serves to cut the saltiness in its partnered food.  ok then, bring on the cucumbers.

Squash challenge from sister

to quote sister "can i throw you a challenge? we overgrew two zucchini and no exaggeration, they are each the size of my lower leg. they would work as peg legs, and shapely ones too. [husband] thinks they will be too gross to even bear cutting into, i think i could premake a 14 tier chocolate zucchini cake for [daughter's] bridal shower. what do YOU think?"

i am going to suggest starting with zucchini chocolate chip muffins:

2 cups wheat flour
1 cup sugar
1 cup packed shredded zucchini
2 dollops vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup safflower oil
1/2 cup milk
2 tbsp baking powder
pinch salt
1 cup (at least) chocolate chips

zucchini cakes- let the squashing begin

shred three zucchini and three large carrots
dice a large red onion
toss with 8 oz greek yogurt
2 tbsp wheat germ
2 tbsp flax powder
1/2 cup of bisquick-type concoction
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
season with: corriander, salt, pepper, garlic powder

pan fry in olive oil, coconut oil, safflower oil, etc.

dollup yogurt, sour cream, apple sauce on top.

husband claims these handle hot sauce quite well.  i will never know.

Salmon cakes with mustard yogurt sauce

the husband, the kids (EVERY SINGLE ONE), and the cousin dog loved this:

MIX:
three cans salmon
one shredded zucchini
1 or 2 shredded large carrots
8 oz ground up mushrooms
handful of chives chopped up
2 dollups of greek yogurt
2 tbsp flax powder
2 tbsp wheat germ
garlic


to taste:
cumin
mustard powder
salt
pepper

served on a bed of israeli couscous with sauteed red onion

SAUCE to drizzle (this is the killer component of the dinner):
greek yogurt
mustard (enough to thin out the sauce to enable you to drizzle on cakes)
garlic salt

Turkey Pile

sounds good right?  good food starts with a disgusting name i find.

sautee a red onion with some garlic in olive oil
add ground turkey, beef, chicken, lamb
add to taste:
salt
black pepper
turmeric
paprika
flax powder
more evoo (the intent is to make it kind of thick and gooey and slippery)

having warmed soft pitas in the oven, place one on each plate
put a handful of fresh spinach on pita
pile ground meat on top
cute 5-6 cubes of fresh cucumber on top
top with generous sprinkle of goat cheese (i'm sure feta would be lovely too)

again, the hell is the squash?

Maiden Post - a muffin kind of week

one of the babies can't eat egg.  this has forced me to bake more than i might have otherwise, and it has forced me to sort of get a grip on the science of baking.

muffins i've made this week, takes less than 10 minutes:

yeilds about 12 muffins

2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp flax powder
1/4 cup oil (been using safflower oil)
1 cup vanilla yogurt
1/4 cup milk (more or less, enough to make batter thin out just enough)
add blueberries (fresh is fabulous but this morning i used dried, and frozen works just fine too)

this morning i also did a batch with whole wheat flour, a rogue packet of hot chocolate mix, and added chocolate chips rather than blueberries.  voila, chocolate chocolate chip muffins.

also - the best part of any muffin in my mind is the crumble topping (soft butter, sugar and flour, fork it all together).

i know - where the hell is the squash here?  i'll do that next.