Itsy Bitsy Teeny Weeny…

Colored Polka Dot Rotini! 

 Yes folks, it’s a recipe!  And I got it out of Reader’s Digest, if you can believe it.  Of course I only used half of their ideas and substituted whatever I wanted for the rest, but that’s pretty normal, right? 

So here it is.  Tricolored Rotini (corkscrew shaped noodles) cooked in coconut milk and spices.  Yum.  I know it looks like a lot of spices, but it still tastes pretty mild so season as desired.  And it really doesn’t take that long to measure out, the hardest part is getting started. 

If you use lentils or chickpeas or another bean, it makes a complete protein with the noodles so that’s a complete meal all in one. 

1 1/2 cups Vegetable/Chicken Broth 

1 cup light coconut milk (as if I ever buy LIGHT anything! use regular, it’s good for you)

1 tsp EACH sugar and ground coriander

1/2 tsp EACH ground cumin and chili powder

1/4 tsp EACH curry powder and ground ginger (I used more curry and less ginger, b/c that’s the way I like it.) 

8 oz (227 g) tricolored rotini pasta, uncooked  (Yes, you can use whatever noodles you have)

1 cup frozen green peas  (or lentils)

1/2 cup red bell pepper, finely chopped

1/4 cup dried currants (I used chickpeas, I don’t know what currents are. )

Combine broth, coconut milk, sugar, coriander, cumin, chili powder and ginger.  Bring to a boil.  Add noodles, reduce heat to med-low, cover and simmer for 6 minutes.  Add red peppers, peas, and chickpeas (or whatever colorful things you like and are using).  Simmer 6-7 minutes more until liquid is absorbed and pasta is tender.  Let stand for 5 minutes before serving. 

Sorry, no pictures, we made it last with white spaghetti noodles, and didn’t think to take a picture.  It looked better the first time with the colored corkscrews, but the second time I doubled the curry powder and Nate couldn’t get enough of it. 

 

I love Summer

Isn’t it beautiful? 

 

 Fun with food! 

 

Paprikash Csirke

The finished product with crepes:   

Red, Red Sauce! 

 

Kitchen Table: Granny Spolumbo’s Skillet

We love this meal.  It’s tasty, sweet, and easy to throw together.

cooked rice
sausages
Granny Smith apples
maple syrup 

Slice sausages diagonally and brown them in a skillet.  Our favourite is locally-made Spolumbo’s Chicken Apple Sausage, but we do something different every time.  Peel (optionally) and slice Granny Smith or other tart apples, and add them to the skillet after the sausages are browned.  Cook until the apple slices are soft.  Add cooked rice.  Drizzle with maple syrup.

Enjoy!

 

Kitchen Table: Tofu Mollie

 

Next in our series of inviting you to our kitchen table is a perrennial favorite, we call it Tofu Mollie.  (Nate calls it Tofu Mali, because he says it tastes African.)  It is from Mollie Katzen’s “Vegetable Heaven” cookbook, titled ‘Green Beans and Tofu in a Crunchy Thai Peanut Sauce.’ You can read the recipe here on Mollie’s cool website.  Below I’ll give you the Helen-ized version. 

2 TBSP minced fresh ginger (or to taste)
1TBSP minced garlic
1/2 tsp lemon zest
1 lb firm tofu, cubed
1 lb fresh green beans, cut into 1/2 inch pieces,
or frozen green beans (fresh is best, when in season!)
red pepper flakes to taste
 

Serve with brown basmati rice, start the rice cooking first. 

Mollie says to roast and then grind up your own peanuts to make the sauce… but I just use almond butter.  I’m into doing things from scratch but really, that does seem to go a bit far!

Saute ginger and garlic in oil for a few minutes.  Add tofu cubes and lemon zest and brown for 10-15 minutes on high heat.

While tofu is browning, make a sauce:

Almond butter, about 2 heaping TBSP
Honey, about 1 heaping TBSP, or to taste
Soy sauce, about 1 tsp or to taste
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
1 TBSP fresh lemon juice

Stir sauce until combined.  When tofu is browned, add sauce to pan and stir to combine.  If using frozen green beans, add them right on top, cover, and let steam until cooked through.

If using fresh green beans, you may want to stir fry them in a bit of oil in their own pan first, then add to the tofu mixture.

Stir the green beans and sauce thoroughly, taste, and adjust salt or honey as necessary.  Voila!

This might be good with beef instead of the tofu.  Someone try it and let me know!

 

Kitchen Table: Palm Tree Gramma Muffins

For our Mother’s Day breakfast, the kids insisted on Palm Tree Gramma Muffins.  This recipe is already in the much-acclaimed At the Kitchen Table cookbook, but it bears repeating because it’s easy, healthy, delicious, and kids can help without making Dad go crazy.  And unlike most (every?) other recipes we share, this one is an original!  Helen’s mother (who we call Palm Tree Gramma because we visit her in Florida) created this recipe from nothing, making numerous variations every day until she had something perfect.

Combine dry ingredients:

1 cup quinoa or soy flour
1 cup white spelt flour
1 TBSP baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Combine wet ingredients:

1 egg (or for an eggless recipe: 1 TBSP ground flax seeds mixed with 2-3 TBSP water; let sit for a few minutes before using)
1/4 cup melted butter or oil
1/4 cup honey, rice syrup, or maple syrup
1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce
3/4 cup soy milk

Combine wet and dry ingredients together, mix lightly, adding a little more milk if necessary.

Add 1/2 cup to 1 cup of raisins, nuts, seeds, chopped fruit, or our favourite: chocolate chips.

Spoon into muffin tin.  Makes 12 muffins.

Bake at 400 F in preheated oven for 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.

 

Kitchen Table: Birthday Pancakes

These delectables put the cake in pancake.  With 1/3 cup of sugar and 3/4 cup sour cream, these aren’t your everyday pancakes, but they make a great special Sunday breakfast.  (We sometimes replace the sugar with 3 T honey + 2 T cane sugar to be a bit healthier, but the consistency isn’t the same.)

Whisk together the dry ingredients:
1 cup spelt flour (or all-purpose flour if you prefer)
1/3 cup sugar
1 – 1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/4 t salt

Whisk together the wet ingredients in another bowl:
3/4 cup tofu sour cream (or regular sour cream)
1/3 cup soy milk (or regular milk)
zest of 1 lemon
juice of 1 lemon (about 1/4 cup)
3 T unsalted butter, melted
1 egg
1 – 1/2 t vanilla

Pour the wet ingredients over the dry and gently whisk them together.  The batter will be thick, like cake batter.

Spoon 1/4 cup or so of batter onto the griddle for each pancake, and cook until bubbles pop and don’t fill themselves up again, then flip and cook until the other side is golden brown.

This is our adaptation of the Lemon Pancake recipe in the Joy of Cooking.  They suggest serving with “sweetened sour cream or crème fraîche”.  We eat them with our staple, maple syrup, and see no reason to try anything else!

 

Kitchen Table: Chocolate Cake

I’m going to try something new:  a series!  I’ve put a reminder in my calendar and every month I want to post a recipe for something our family loves, made from all healthy ingredients.  (I’ve got several recipes I want to share–so maybe it’ll be more than one a month!)  Helen is really the expert here, so I’ll typically be getting the ideas and recipes from her, but I don’t think she’d take the time to actually sit down and type them in on a regular basis, so I’ll do the typing.

To start the series off, something you wouldn’t expect:  chocolate cake.

I made this cake for Helen’s birthday just this week.  It was moist, deliciously chocolate, and vegan!  And it contains no wheat or sugar, two ingredients we avoid in our home.  I got the basic recipe here, but used all unbleached spelt flour instead of wheat flour.

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 F.  Grease and flour a 9″ springform cake pan.

Sift together:
1 – 3/4 cup spelt flour
2 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

In a saucepan on medium-low heat, bring to a simmer:
1 cup soy milk

Whisk in to the soy milk:
3/4 cup cocoa powder

Whisk cocoa and soy milk well until cocoa is dissolved, then remove from heat.

In another bowl combine and whisk well:
1/2 cup canola oil
1 – 1/2 cup pure maple syrup
1 t apple cider vinegar
2 t vanilla

Add the cocoa mixture to the other wet ingredients and combine, then add the wet ingredients to the dry.

Pour batter into prepared pan, bake at 350 F for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean.  Let cool 10 minutes on a cooling rack, slide a knife around the outside, remove the side of the springform pan, turn the whole thing upside down, remove the bottom of the pan, and set the cake rightside up again on the cooling rack.  Let cool completely and frost or dust with powdered sugar.

Tip 1:  To avoid having your cake collapse in the middle, avoid jiggling it until it’s completely done.  That definitely means avoid even opening the oven door to check on it until the full 25 minutes are up.  In our house I also put the kids in the bathtub while it’s baking, partly to clean off the chocolate they got in their hair while “helping”, but also so that they’re not running around the kitchen sending tremors through the oven!

Tip 2:  For our Calgarian readers and others at high altitudes, add 25 degrees F to the oven temperature, so in this case I baked the cake at 375 F.  I forget where I read that, but you’re supposed to add 25 degrees for every km above sea level, and Calgary is at 1048 metres according to wikipedia.