Thanksgiving Lingerings

First, we have what may be my favorite dish of all time:


Sweet potato, kale, and sausage
RECIPE
Mostly, I stayed true to it. Of course, I used a nommy tofurky sausage (polish kielbasa, if i'm not mistaken)
I cannot emphasize enough how best this recipe is. I mean you sizzle in mustard! I can't even handle the memory of this flavor.


And my own little cranberry upside down cake. Yes, Amanda, you may be onto something. There is something off about the phrase, making you feel like you've been smacked around a bit, without knowing exactly what part of you got smacked. It happens. RECIPE



I slaughtered a pumpkin that day, and had lots left over, so I made a sugary puree, and put a layer of that between the cranberries and the cake. Therefore, they stuck to the bottom of the form. Therefore, I got to shape the topping on myself! Mush smoooshy moosh. Yum. I've made the recipe a few times. Lusciously buttery taste. The upside-downity remains quite intact when done correctly.
-Anna

AND BAM WE'RE BACK

So, I don't like the idea of an "upside down" cake. If you're making the cake, whatever side is showing is the right side, kay. So despite Nigella's lovely intentions she named the recipe I made cranberry upside down cake. But that's wrong. So I'm calling what I made cranberry cardamom bomb cake, for obvious reasons. I also mixed it up with the batter recipe, used a little less sugar, subbed half the butter for apple sauce, dialed down the milk to accommodate for the more liquidy apple sauce and added a good douse of cardamom. omomomomom
-Amanda

Twix > Kit Kat

Baking instead of studying for a Hebrew quiz is always a good idea.

It's okay though since I can spell cake in Hebrew, not that these are cake, but close enough.


Take this add 12 ounce bag semi-sweet chocolate chips, king size twix, and king size kit kat. I winged it on the sugar, they were probably too sugar-y.
I'm very okay with that.
-Amanda

Sandwich!

Cheese meets English Muffin meets Onion meets Rosemary meets Pear meets Spinach


My first sandwich here! I remember someone telling me a really bad joke about sandwich in third grade. Something about a witch. Actually I don't think 3rd humor was at this level yet, but I just thought maybe it was about a beach-y witch. Ahah, get it?

Kay, anyhow. I got this idea from here . Except regular onion instead of red. Pear was not ripe, sad story and not grilled, which would have been better. The laughing cow cheese is bomb. I most definitely recommend.

Eat this like this .

-Amanda

The Chard Didn't Char, Wilted Instead!

I couldn't find rainbow, but this chard was red and it worked. Except it wilted quick. I got it on Friday I think, so I probably should have used it sooner than today. It's alright. This smells good and you get to use stems!

It's all from this prettiness.







I left out the thyme and used extra rosemary instead, very good. Maybe one less egg?

This is what you'll be saying to them stems.

-Amanda

Tahini Brownies

Do you ever have dreams of chocolate halvah but fluffy? I do.


Here it is. From here.

They'll be going like ...




The end.

-Amanda

Crack Pie!

I did it! It's good. It should have cooked more but that's okay. Not too hard. Got to pull out food processor. Would have benefited from the addition of some rum or something else fun. Imperfect rhyme?

Thank you L.A. Times, where you slump in theatre reviews, you make up for it in providing me recipes.

This fits .



-Amanda

Return of the Muffin

Apple Bran and Oat Muffins
These are fallish. They have bran, but don't really taste like it. They called for raisins, but I'm not a big raisin fan so I replaced the raisin with a chopped up granny smith. Sadistic?



I went here and adapted.
France would have probably had a muffin deficit. So yay! I like muffins.
-Amanda

Naked Cake: Tres Leches

Tres Leches is supposed to have whipped cream on top.
I'm not supposed to gawk at my RSS feed while making whipped cream, because whipped cream turns into butter, which with sugar and vanilla is really nasty.

Anyhow this cake was kind of bomb anyway so it's okay. Especially since I used kirsch instead of regular brandy (and too much of it).

Also, I put blueberries on top but only to distract from lack of whipped cream. Make this: time consuming, but not too much effort.
Credits to here.



(switched shot)Changeling?

-Amanda

Cupcakes or Beef Stroganoff?

The man at the counter guessed the latter, when confronted with my purchases of a few last ingredients. I understand him--I don't instantly think of cupcakes when I see heavy cream and sour cream, and nothing else.

This is what they were actually for!


I'm so glad I had an urge to make traditional cupcakes. It's fantastic. This blog's photo brought something out of me. I want to use the word nostalgic, because of Mad Men, and I'm close, but I can't. Maybe if my mom made me cupcakes as a child or something. Nostalgic for my food-making childhood? Ok I can buy that! I will! Nostalgic :)

I didn't like buying sour cream, and I hated putting it in my cupcakes. It wasn't yogurt! But I think if I thought about it less, the taste wouldn't have bothered me. These were so moist and delicious. The dough is usually never perfect! It was lightly goldened, up and rounded, delicate, cohesive, filling, scrumptious. The topping was the part that drew fans, but that's the easy part, so it's never the part I focus on.

Oh, and the batter tasted just like cream cheese frosting.

I followed the recipe all the way home, but I did use a bit less cream (237ml) and a few ounces less of chocolate. Oh I also did the chocolate-melting in a double boiler.



I want one more! But it's on to bavarian sugar cookies for me now.

-Anna

Vinaigrettik with a pickle!

Salat Vinaigrette-- something I was very skeptical of as a child. I did not like beets. They were red and squirmy!

But then I grew up, and now, here I am, recreating recipes from memory (and a few google searches just to make sure I had the basics down).

Let me break it down for you:

4 small beets
4 small potatoes (I think I had yukon gold? They were buttery and sweet and delicious.)
1 pickle (I used a persian cucumber I pickled myself. See recipe below)
1/2 med red onion
approx 1 tbsp olive oil
approx 1/2 tbsp chopped dill

Steam your beets and potatoes. Dice them up into semi-small pieces. Usually smaller is better, but it depends on your liking level of laziness.
Toss them into a bowl.
Add in diced pickle.
Dice the onion, and throw that in.
Add the olive oil and chopped dill, and mix everything together gently. It will all be pink! This includes your hands, if that's what you like to mix gently with. Be careful not to mush when you mix.



Pickles! (And pickled tomatoes!)

These were so unbelievably easy. Everything is surprising me so well!

I based my attempt on this

What I used:
6tbsp apple cider vinegar (as per my friend Maddy's recommendation)
3c water
3tbsp salt
many cloves of garlic
lots of fresh dill
tomatoes and cucumbers

Dissolve together the water, vinegar, and salt. Then throw in the dill and garlic. Then lower in your tomatoes. Splish splash. After a few days in the refrigerator, taste one! You will note that the tomatoes have cracks in them. Gorgeous. I can't imagine anything more beautiful, frankly. But beware--they spurt! All over your keyboard, in fact.

Then, when the brine is tomato-free, you can slice up some cucumbers and throw them in to pickle. A few days later, you have perfect Vinaigrette-making material.



I really liked the apple cider vinegar note of the pickles when in the Vinaigrette. The salad is a bit sweet because of the beets, so my sweeter potatoes and pickles seemed to mesh really well. I don't want to toot my own horn, but that may have been my favorite Salat Vinaigrette, of ever. That may also be because I haven't had any in a long time..

Maybe someday soon I'll make Salat Olivier for you too!

Til then, byebye

-Anna

Bananas 4 this frozen treat

Yumumum.

Roast some bananas (I used 4 smallish ones) for thirty minutes in the oven. They should be cut into bananaslices, and placed on parchment paper. The oven should already be 400F by they time they hop on in there.

Then let them cool, pop them in the freezer, and blend them when frozen! Eat them right away. It's a very filling snack, so share with friends.



See here for the origin of this wonder.
-Anna

Underwhelmed

These aren't my favorites. They were supposed to be great. I took the good bran muffin from before and then swapped greek yogurt for the milk and added a bit of ground almonds and peaches instead of raisins.

Maybe pumpkin pie spice would have made it better. Or almond extract.

I used this recipe .



You know I used a bit more greek yogurt and only 1/2 c. of applesauce for the muffins. Maybe that killed it?

Also maybe frozen peaches are just dumb.
-Amanda

Bake Vs. Gratin

I say bake. This seems simple but actually takes quite a bit of leg work. Got it from here.

Swapped the rice for barley, just cause. Didn't feel like buying rosemary, so that go nixed. I must say I do like the idea of using the chard stalks.



Impressive NY Times. I clap for you. Just a little bit.

-Amanda

Boil, Barley, Boom!

This is really simple and made up. Boil water, rinse barley, put barley in water. For about a 1/2 c. of barley in 2 cups of water that took like 35 minutes. Then chop some carrots, de-stem some spinach, chop some scallions, take the leaves off some thyme and sauté with salt and pepper and a little white cooking wine. Add barley and some grated gouda.

And Bam!




-Amanda

A Brownie Comparison

I tried making brownies once. I failed miserably, but that's all right.

The image above is not a picture of my failure, but it is a funny picture. It's of the second type of brownie being compared here today.

So I met this girl, and she's not on good terms with gluten. That was all the impetus I needed for the first brownie.


Gluten-free Almond Chocolate Brownies!

Thoughts: Very VERY moist. Soggy. If you like fudgier brownies, it'll work out well for your mouth. I liked the taste a lot. I could only eat teeny tiny bits though--pretty sweet and filling.

link to recipe

I tried sub'ing agar flakes for xanthan gum (i read it online somewhere, but i think it was a silly attempt.) My friend at trader joe's led me to the gum section near the registers when I asked for xanthan. Maybe next time!

I didn't have--or want to buy--rice flour, so I made some almond meal and used that instead. So much almond! I also used all of the zest of my orange, so it was just jam-packed with flavor.



This second kind has its fair share of flour.

link to recipe I think I used

I remember so little about this. I was in a frenzied state, cramming carboxylic acids and their derivatives into the corners of my brain for the text the following day. Brownies needed to happen. I'm glad they did--they served me well that week. I'm realizing more and more how important it is for me to have something to tea with regularly.



-Anna

I Made a Recipe!

Whole Wheat Penne with Kale, Onion, Thyme
I found a recipe it called for chard. I used kale. It called for feta. I was going to use goat cheese, but then I decided I didn't feel like opening the container. Then I was going to use a combination of ricotta and not fresh Parmesan. The ricotta had expired over a week before, so it was only Parmesan. It called for red onion sauteed in olive oil. I broke our olive oil container last week and only had a white onion, so I sauteed it in vegetable oil. It called for pine nuts. Pine nuts are expensive, so no. It called for oregano, no oregano, so I used thyme. It called for tomato sauce or canned tomatoes, I'm not a fan and didn't feel like opening up a container regardless.



I think this means I made a new recipe(!) So first chop an onion. Sauté it in a tablespoon of oil. It'll cook so fast if it's vegetable and not olive! While this happening heat up a pot of water to cook the pasta. Once the water is ready put in about 4 or 5 handfuls of whole wheat penne. It usually takes like 15 minutes or so to cook fully. While the water is heating/pasta is cooking take a bunch of kale and tear the good leaves off the stalks into bite-size pieces. Gradually add the kale to the onion pan and make sure the heat is pretty low, say simmer. As the vegetables are cooking add some from thyme and salt and pepper. Stir until the kale is nearly soft, but still bright green. Mix together in a bowl with the cooked pasta and add however much Parmesan you like.

It's real.

-Amanda

The First Lemon Bar Post?

Can it be?

I feel like lemon bars are what I crave making/end up making most often, when I don't have a recipe I specifically shop for. It's usually honey lavender, but these here are going to be nice plain ones. With a guest photo by pro photographer Angela Char.

I used less sugar; still too sweet. This is becoming a recurring problem for me!


When you cut into bars while hot.


When you cut into bars once cool.

And for the grand finale:

Angela's magic.

Recipe: Not sure. It was plain! We googled lemon bars! Maybe you remember, Amanda?

I think powdered sugar all over lemon bars is just frivolous. They are brilliant nude.
-Anna

Brown Sugar Cardamom Friends

Nothing makes you feel a rumble in your tummy quite like the sight of a forest creature.



The recipe was quite simple. All you need is butter, flour, brown sugar, and cardamom. What could be simpler?

I would definitely add more cardamom.

I also topped the cookies with turbinado instead of more brown sugar. Shiny!


Farewell, Mr. Moose!

Recipe: here
Forest creatures: Hiding in the forest, and in ikea cookie cutters.

-Anna

Edit: I forgot my favorite photo!


Me and the cookie, drinkin that earl grey.

Because it's my birthday in 1 minute.

Song first: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ONd4qSs5B5k


I'm going to post a post about something that adds limitless happiness to my smile spot.



Red currant.


The best part of dealing with gloomy Berkeley summer is the red currant.



=)
-Anna

Pahsta

Whole Wheat Penne with Caramelized Onions, Cauliflower, and Thyme
Julie Delpy is my favorite person to hear pronounce "pasta." Just watch the first few minutes of Two Days in Paris and you'll understand.


In most cases I hate pasta. Spaghetti is the main offender. But sometimes I make friends. Especially with a non-tomato sauce recipe.

This is a pretty easy recipe. I mean the onions will make you cry and you will burn yourself separating the cauliflower, but it's still worth it. I say use more onion and I doubled both the portions of onion and onion. Also you have to use red onion over white.

The rest is all here.

Oh and no one needs parsley, period.
-Amanda

Soul and Sumac

Mercimak Cabosi. Turkish Red Lentil Soup. The fluffiest, earthiest soup I've ever slurped out of a mug on a gloomy pre-midterm Sunday. The toasty flavoring was brought out really well before any water even hit the lentils.



recipe, :
http://www.ecurry.com/blog/soups-and-salads/turkish-red-lentil-soup-with-sumac/

Changes: I left out hot pepper flakes and mint, didn't add carrots, used water, not stock.
I used a medium-sized tomato, cubed, instead of tomato paste. I recommend it.
I also added juice from half of a little lemon. Mmmm.

I thought I would have a problem with not adding salt or pepper, but this is not the case! I love this soup! I'm going to send my mom the recipe.



Special hint: Make it when you're ready to serve to mouths. Don't hold it for a week, days, or even half a day. It gets goopy and discolored, and loses some roasted flavor.

I'm probably not going to start posting songs with every recipe like Amanda does (I can see myself getting frustrated if I can't find something), but because I'm obsessed with this S. Maharba video, and it fits my mood, I'll post: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BHh76JY9_jA .

-Anna

I like Molasses!

But these aren't my favorite brans. See "muffin in the rough," ça c'est très bien. Cette recette a été au dessous de mes attentes.



Cependant, c'est bon.

I got it from this book from the seventies (like everything else in my parent's kitchen) called Laurel's Kitchen.

Her recipe is for apple bran muffins, but we didn't have apples, so I used strawberries and blueberries instead.

She recommends eating these muffins with cheddar.
I say no.


Recipe: Bran Muffins
2 cups whole wheat flour
1 1/2 cups wheat bran
1/2 tsp. salt
1 1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 TBS grated orange rind
1 cup apple ( I subbed blueberries and strawberries)
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup chopped nuts/seeds ( I left out.)
juice of one orange
scant 2 cups clabbered milk!
1 egg
1/2 cup molasses
2 TBS oil

1. Preheat to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Mix flour, bran, salt, soda, and nutmeg together. Stir in rind, fruit, and nuts if using.
2. Pour juice of orange into a 2 cup measure, fill the rest up with the clabbered milk. Add to egg, molasses, and oil and stir it all together a lot.
3. Combine, but not too much.
Bake for 25 minutes.
Should make about 2 dozen small muffins

This is what I do.

-Amanda

Tofu Tumble

This recipe really endears itself to titles. So that's what this post will be.
Pistachio Flavored Anger Management.
Fennel FT(RAW)W
Good morning Masala
Don't Cry Over thinly chopped onions.
Don't Cry Over spilled mint!
Cilantro is for sissies, try mint instead!



Courtesy of here.

This is dish is to scrambled eggs like this song is to A Milli.
-Amanda

Muffin in the Rough

Muffin went for a hike and found a maze. Actually there were two kinds of muffins. Muffins with just raisins (à la recette) and muffins with goozed banana, blueberry, raspberry, and strawberry.



These are moist and the best bran so far. And they're rugged!


-Amanda

The End of Canned Beans

I used canned. Don't. Skip the walnuts. Obviously.



Oh and I forgot the Parmesan. Silly.
-Amanda

To Start July Off Right

Mushroom Ricotta Orzo !

Baked :)

Bad news: I ate it too quickly to take a photo.


The beauty of going home for the weekend is that I have no choice but to use up goods before I leave.

Boil somewhere from 1/2 to 1 cup of whole wheat orzo for 8ish minutes (al dente). Simultaneously, chop up about 3 cups of mushrooms into little uneven bits, and add them to a frying pan which already has some minced garlic (I used 5-7 cloves) fusing with some olive oil. I let it brown the slightest bit before adding the mushrooms. Oh right! The mushrooms had some fresh thyme in them, and while they were on the frying pan, I added salt, pepper, and half a lemon's-worth of juice. You let that stew in it's juices for a while (10 minutes? Maybe less. Until you get impatient. At that point you scoop half of the mushroom mixture into an oven dish (8 inches by 4 inches, somewhere there). Pile the orzo on top of that. Spread 1/2 pound lowfat ricotta over that (this was VERY difficult. Fingers were involved). Then top it off with the rest of the mushroom. Pop it in the 400F oven, take it out when your house smells good. Gahhhrlic. Have I already recounted my tale of the visit to the Garlic Shoppe? Awful. Don't ever, and I mean EVER, put garlic ice cream in your mouth. Not worth it. The taste will not leave. Noo it's back. Sorry, I have to leave and go ingest antigarlic now. And also check on the oven.


TL;DR put shit in the oven, don't follow my recipes unless you want to get lost.

-Anna

Don't Burn the Nuts!

That's what I did. Not pretty, but still yummy. I left out the green onions and dried cranberries recommended in this recipe. The green onions because ours had gone bad and the cranberries just because I'm not a fan.


Also I would have used less feta. But yummy dressing. I didn't feel like getting my hands garlic-y smelling so I just used a nice dose of garlic salt instead.

I've been waiting so long for this.



-Amanda

Remembering our Fs: Frittata!

We made a pledge in the beginning to make F foods and this is our first frittata! It has eggs, ricotta, mint, garlic, and I added some mushrooms just for texture. I used this guy.

To be honest I think he could have benefited from some Parmesan, but who knows. Also better cold strangely.



-Amanda

Rose Water Madeleines FTW

I did two batches of these so far. Batch 2 was more successful, but I'm holding out for something better. These are from Nigella's How to Be a Domestic Goddess, and I think to be a domestic goddess, one needs to learn how to not overbake his/her madeleines.

The picture she has is so powdery and angelic, she also called them rosebud madeleines. Maybe that has something to do with it.



It's a vase, get it?

And, obviously. Maybe it might improve the way I look at these buds? (I think I just triple entendre-ed myself.)
-Amanda

A Moveable Muffin Part 1

Muffin went for a walk this morning! Almost got hit by a car but successfully dogdged the oncoming traffic.


I think it was the sprinkling of pumpkin pie spice that did it.

I also interchanged greek yogurt for the milk and only 1 tablespoon of oil in this . recipe/

And I added cherries too. These have honey and are a bit kiddish in the bran muffin taste department so this is good for them.



-Amanda

The Manouche is in the Oven!

Manouche manouche manouche manouche


For a Lebanese breakfast pizza, it sure makes my articulators happy.

I wanted to try the 'new' place a block away from my house, so I went with my mom, our friend Richard, and Amanda and her daddy. It was a sort of a goodbye dinner, before I went back up for summer school. I could not settle on a single item, then Amanda pointed to the Manouche, which had a little note next to it: "Brain Booster!"

We laughed.

Then I ordered it.

And was not at all disappointed :)

Theirs was greener though, so I wonder if I did something wrong. I definitely strayed from the recipe.



I like manouche a LOT MORE with yogurt and tomato on top. Moisture is key.



linkity link
-Anna