Category: Food

Birthday Beef Stroganoff

Ingredients:

  • flat iron steak
  • 4T butter
  • 3 cloves roasted garlic
  • 16 oz mushrooms
  • 1 large onion
  • 1/4 cup all purpose flour
  • 3 cups beef broth (pressure cooker: beef bones, carrot trimmings, onion trimmings, celery trimmings, potato peels)
  • 1-2T mustard spice blend
  • 2-5T porcini mushroom powder
  • 2T corn starch
  • 3/4 cup sour cream
  • package wide egg noodles cooked for lowest time on package directions

Mustard spice blend: mortar together 1c brown mustard seed, 1T salt, 3 bay leaves, 1t rosemary needles, 1/2t sage

Method:

  1. Slice beef across the grain into strips. Season with salt & pepper. Divide meat into small batches so pieces can be placed in pan with an inch between them. Divide 2T of butter into same number of pieces. Put pan on medium heat (6), melt a piece of butter then sear a batch of meat. Remove from pan and set aside. Repeat with remaining batches.
  2. Slice mushrooms. Divide into 4 batches and sprinkle with salt. Divide the remaining butter into four batches. Melt a piece of butter in pan, saute mushrooms until they become golden brown. Remove from pan and set aside. Repeat with remaining batches.
  3. Slice onion into thin pieces about 1″ long. Sauté for a few minutes.
  4. Add flour to onions & stir to coat them in flour. Remove from pan.
  5. Deglaze pan with 1/2c of beef broth. Add mushroom powder and spice blend. Stir to remove any lumps.
  6. Mush garlic cloves and stir in.
  7. Lower heat to simmer. Add remaining beef broth. Return onions to pan and stir to distribute flour.
  8. Put corn starch in a bowl or glass. Add *just* enough water to turn it into oobleck. Drizzle into pan, while stiring, to form a thick gravy.
  9. Return beef and mushrooms to pan and simmer until beef is cooked.
  10. Stir in sour cream.
  11. Serve over egg noodles.

Anya’s 6th Birthday Cake

This year, I made a really cool apple cake for Anya’s birthday. It’s about 80% apple — very thinly sliced.

It’s called Gateau Invisible

Ingredients

  • 1 pound Fuji apples
  • 2 eggs
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1/2 cup milk
  • 1 tablespoons melted butter
  • 3/4 cup flour

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F
  2. Peel and core apples. Slice into very thin slices. Soak in lemon water.
  3. Wisk eggs until they are frothy and add sugar.
  4. Add milk and melted butter.
  5. Sift the flour into liquid mixture.
  6. Add sliced apples and stir gently to coat apple slices in batter.
  7. Pour the batter into a parchment lined bread loaf pan.
  8. Bake for 40 minutes, cover with foil, then bake for another 10 minutes.
  9. Remove from pan and allow to cool
  10. Pour caramel sauce over cake and serve.

Caramel Sauce

Ingredients:

  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 tbsp butter
  • 1/2 cup heavy cream

Method:

  1. Melt butter in a small pan.
  2. Add sugar and heat until sugar turns a medium brown.
  3. Add heavy cream and wisk to combine.

Peanut butter and carob hummus

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cooked garbanzo beans
  • 1/4 cup peanut butter
  • 1/4 cup carob powder
  • 1/4 cup maple syrup
  • pinch of sea salt

Method

Place everything in the bowl of a food processor and run until you’ve got a smooth paste.

To get really smooth hummus, I cook the garbanzo beans in a pressure cooker for about 35 minutes with at least 20 minute of natural depressurization.

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Anya says these taste like peanut butter / chocolate / oat cookies. And it’s great for dipping anything that goes well with chocolate (strawberries, apples).

Quick and Easy Carrot Slaw

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups shredded carrots (about half a pound)
  • 2T Dijon mustard
  • 2T extra virgin olive oil
  • 1.5T red wine vinegar
  • 1t fresh orange zest (or 1/2 t Penzey’s Mural of Flavor)

Method:

  1. Combine the Dijon and vinegar, whisk to combine
  2. Slowly drizzle olive oil into mixture, whisking constantly
  3. Stir in zest or spice blend
  4. Stir in carrot shreds, making sure to coat the shreds evenly
  5. Cover in clingfilm and place in refrigerator to marinate for at least an hour
This recipe is a version of the Dijon carrot salad I ate during trips to Lyon and Geneva. It’s got a lot of Dijon, so you might want to start with half the amount and taste as you add more.

Cheddary Cheesy Buttermilk Biscuits

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 2 teaspoons Northwoods seasoning
  • 1 cup buttermilk (or put 1 tablespoon of vinegar in measuring cup & fill to 1 cup with milk)
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese
  • Optional add-ins like diced scallions, sautéed onions, diced spicy peppers

Method:

  1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees F.
  2. Mix dry ingredients together in a bowl.
  3. Combine buttermilk and melted butter, mix well.
  4. Pour milk/butter into dry ingredients and stir to form a sticky dough.
  5. Gently stir in cheddar cheese and any optional add-ins
  6. Divide into sixteen equal pieces, roll and flatten to form biscuit
  7. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until golden brown and puffy.

Spinach Hemp Seed Pesto Recipe

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of firmly packed spinach leaves
  • 1/3 cup of hemp seed
  • 1-2 cloves of garlic
  • 1 teaspoon of fresh lemon juice
  • Pinch of sea salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon of freshly ground pepper
  • 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan cheese (not powdery grated, long slivers)
  • 1/4 cup of olive oil

Method:

  1. In a food processor, combine spinach, hemp seeds, garlic, lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Run the processor until the spinach has been chopped into fine pieces.
  2. Add the Parmesan cheese, and run the processor for few seconds to incorporate.
  3. Add the olive oil; run the processor until you’ve got a thick paste.

This was really good. I will probably make a version with 1/2 cup of basil when basil is growing again.

Green Springtime Muffins

Makes 18 muffins in standard sized cupcake liners

DRY INGREDIENTS:

  • 2 cup flour, whole wheat
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

WET INGREDIENTS:

  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup honey (I use a combo of maple syrup and honey)
  • 1 large banana
  • 6 ounce spinach
  • 1/2 cup butter, unsalted
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 F, and line a muffin pan with paper liners (or use silicone muffin cups sprayed with cooking spray).
  2. Combine all dry ingredients in a large mixing bowl.
  3. Melt butter. Blend the wet ingredients in a blender or food processor until completely pureed.
  4. Pour the puree into the dry ingredient bowl, and fold together gently until just combined. (Do not over-mix.)
  5. Spoon the batter into the muffin pan, and bake for 18-22 minutes, or until the muffins are firm to the touch on top, but not quite browning.
  6. Cool most or all of the way before serving.

Cherry Jam

Super simple no-added-sugar jam, cherry today. Take a bunch of frozen cherries and toss ’em into a blender. Add enough water that they purée. Add about a tablespoon of tapioca powder for 2 cups of fruit/water mixture. Transfer to saucepan and simmer until it starts to thicken a bit. Cool and pour into glass container. Add lid & refrigerate overnight. Voila, jam without heaps of sugar.

I used it to make cutout heart not-peanut-butter and not-jelly sandwiches for Anya’s preschool Valentine’s Day party “healthy snack”. We cut 48 large hearts (using a cookie cutter) from bread, then used a smaller heart-shaped cookie cutter to create an opening in the centre of 24 of the hearts. Take a big heart, smear on a little sunflower butter (or some nut butter if you’re making them for home), dollop on some jam and spread it out, then align a cut heart on top.

Anya took the little heart cutouts and made “jam sandwiches” (two hearts with a little of the jam in the middle) and “jam pies” (one heart with jam on top).

Pepperoni Pizza

Anya wants to eat pepperoni pizza, but without the meat. I’ve seen a few vegan pepperoni products for sale, but they all look quite unappetizing, they include all sorts of crazy ingredients, and they’re super expensive. So I set out to find a veggie pepperoni recipe online. Took a lot of searching, but I found a recipe that looked promising. I made it with half the lowest amount of red pepper flakes. It was so hot, the stuff was inedible. Great taste, but a total waste. Also, the recipe didn’t indicate what type of extra-firm tofu to use. I happened to have some of the not silken sort, so I used that. So we had an oddly textured burning hot pepperoni (and I had to add a good bit of liquid to form anything even approaching a paste). I’ve been wanting to make it again without the pepper flakes and try silk tofu instead.

I tried it again tonight, modifying the recipe

  • 10 ounces extra-firm silken tofu
  • 1/2 – 1 tsp sea salt
  • 1 tsp Tellicherry peppercorn
  • 2 tsp yellow mustard seeds
  • 1 tsp fennel seeds, split into two 1/2 teaspoon portions
  • 2 tsp smoked paprika
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 2 star anise seeds

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a stone mortar, crush the garlic cloves. Add the sea salt, peppercorns, mustard seeds, one half teaspoon of fennel seeds, and anise seeds. Grind to form a powder. Add sugar and smoked paprika, and blend together.

In a food processor, blend the tofu until it is creamy. Add the spice mixture, one tablespoon at a time, and blend until combined. Once it has enough flavour for you, store the remaining spice mixture (I used about half of the spice blend).

Spread the tofu on a lined baking sheet. You can spread separate little sections, cut it like the linked recipe, or just make one big chunk that you break up before using. Either way, bake for 10-15 minutes. Mmmmm! This tastes good, the texture is great … we made vegetarian pepperoni!!!

Cheddar Cheese Biscuits

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1 tablespoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
  • 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper
  • 1 cup buttermilk (or 1 cup milk + 1 tablespoon of vinegar)
  • 1/2 cup unsalted butter
  • 2 cloves roasted garlic
  • 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
  • 1/2 cup diced onion greens

Method:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F.

Melt butter and combine with buttermilk. Mash garlic cloves and mix into milk/butter.

Combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and cayenne.

Add cheddar cheese and onion greens, stir to combine.

Add buttermilk and stir until moistened.

Use 1/4 cup measuring cup to form biscuits and place onto silicon baking sheet lined tray.

Bake for 10 minutes. Enjoy!