Holiday Crunch time-Quick Macaroons, Ethiopian Cabbage & Tomato Paste Fish

Sorry for a delay in posting. After getting sick AGAIN after just 3-ish months,  I'm just trying to catch up with holiday and day to day activities...the annual card making, gift brainstorming, decorating the living room/cubicle, shopping for Toys for Tots drive,  practicing for the holiday concert, whipping up food for holiday parties (if you like coconut,  you must try this recipe from Chocolate Covered Katie! A nice soft, chewy, quick vegan macaroon cookie recipe). Cooking for myself I used cabbage from the CSA box in an Ethiopian veggie/dairy-free and gluten free way-just two spices and a few cheap chopped veggies thrown in a pot with water or broth. Excellent busy-times meal.

I was well enough on Friday to go to December Nights at Balboa Park with Danny, Vietca and Dave.We had never seen the San Diego History Center (huge murals from the government sponsored art time and other items from gold mining days, and I learned San Diego had fishing camps for Japanese...had no idea) and the stellar hand bell ensemble was playing there. Dave and I looked at each other both thinking the same thing, Winston on New Girl. It's hard to find gluten-free, vegetarian eats at the event, but I settled with a big cheese papusa with the pickled cabbage and snagged some of Dave's kettle korn. I would have been hungry if I was on my detox.

I wanted to use up some of the tomato paste I had opened for the Ginger Beer baked bean recipe I tried out (he rest I stuck in the freezer and made a note in my Out of Milk App with the date-I reduce what gets forgotten this way and it helps with meal planning. Check out freezer food storage times and defrosting tips from Oprah's interview. ) My go to tomato paste user-upper is an enchilada sauce, but I wasn't in the mood for Mexican last week.

CREAMY TOMATO-COCONUT SAUCE for BAKED FISH
Adapted to be dairy-free from Yummly's database.

2 cups plain, unsweetened Coconut milk (found in refrigerated section, sold in half-gallon cartons or in alternative milk section quart cartons)
1/2 cup nutritional yeast flakes
1/2 small onion, grate/finely chopped
1 garlic clove, finely chopped
salt to taste
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 lb fish fillets (used a firm cod)

Pre-heat the oven to 425F.

Heat all ingredients except fish on stove in a saucepan over low until yeast flakes melt and use a whisk to break up the tomato paste.

Put into an oven-safe casserole dish with fish.

Bake at 425F for 15-20 minutes until fish flakes.

Notes for improvement: I might add one more tablespoon of tomato paste and also pre cook the onions since they were still crunchy. Though...I did not have the will power to get teary over grating, so I only chopped them.I guess not finely enough.

Notes for serving: I ate mine in a bowl and mixed in some squash-potato gratin for extra texture. This saucy dish seems like it would go nicely over quinoa or another grain. Or pasta as I think Yummly uses.

Are you bringing an old favorite or a new dish for any holiday parties? Have you found any wonderful gift ideas you're willing to share?

Potatoes Revenge and mystery squash

Potatoes from the work potluck still sit waiting to be used...and then came Ginormica the Squash at Thanksgiving. One of the aunties who grew her, cut  up pieces for many of the families. Dave's sis, Sarah, said her entire-cake sized slice was going to be more than they could handle. So how could I refuse giving a veggie a loving home?

Upon investigation at home, my plans for making squash bread went piff. The meat of  squash was almost transparent like a cucumber but did not have the cucumber flavor and not quiet as juicy. I have no idea what kind of squash this is-it reminded me a little of the texture of chayote squash ("muppet") which you can eat raw like cucumber or microwave and eat like a baked potato!

I added 1/2" by 1/4" chunks of it to my onion, egg and beet greens fried rice--not soy-free, unfortunately I have not made it a priority to try making a soy-free soy sauce.

The second recipe I went back to trusty Heidi's 101 Cookbooks after Googling watery squash recipes or was it just squash gratin? Anyway this recipe is killer. #1 It heats up your cold house because you use the oven. #2 You use up 1.5 lbs of squash (her's calls for summer squash...which I have learned is more a name for texture/cooking uses rather than when squash are available...I still see zucchini in November at the farmer's markets-anyway it worked great with Ginormica) #3 The citrus zest is adds some special zazzle  #4 the recipe seems easy to make dairy and gluten free. As I move away from dairy, I would love to try this with coconut oil. I tweaked the recipe ingredients just slightly with what I had on hand:

Preheat oven to 400F.

PREPARATION A-put zest in lightly oiled gratin dish or glass baking pan about 7x11, then salt the squash slices in a colander for 15 minutes.
zest of two small limes
1.5 lbs of squash cut into 1/6" slices
1/2 tsp fine grain sea salt

PREPARATION B HERB SAUCE to make while squash sweats; stick everything in blender or food processor.
1/4 cup fresh oregano leaves
1/4 cup another herb (today used 3 self-made ice cube tray dill cubes)
1 large garlic clove, coarsely chopped
1/4 tsp sea salt
pinch red pepper flakes
1/4 cup olive oil and 1/4 cup water


 PREPARATION C:  melt butter over medium in saucepan until it browns, let sit 2 minutes and add crushed chips; Toss Prep A, 2/3 of Prep B and Prep C (leave one cup butter chips to sprinkle on top) together in a large mixing bowl. Put into the baking dish. Sprinkle with remaining chips and bake 40-50 minutes until potatoes are cooked through. Then add the rest 1/3 of Herb sauce on top.
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 cups crushed tortilla chips (one 101 Cookbooks suggestion was to use crushed nuts as a gluten-free option.)
1/2 pound of potatoes cut transparently thin

I split up the preparation one night and baking another night. I called my roomie to let the dish sit on the counter for 2 hours to avoid putting very cold glass into a hot oven and then baked an extra 15 minutes.

What is your favorite new food that you tried this year?

Boil 'em, Mash 'em, put 'em in a stew-Potato Recipes

As much as I love shopping at farmer's markets, I didn't plan far enough ahead to hit one before a mid-week potluck. So, I bought a 10 pound, $3 sack of carb-a-licious-ness at the local grocers and only ended up using half of that for the mashed potatoes and half of what was made had to be brought back home due to the overwhelming amount of food at the party. I got spuds coming out my ears! Luckily potatoes are a blank canvas of endless possibilities. For this past week and into next week I did these 3 recipes: Aloo Gobi (changed to use broccoli and peas), mashed potato patties & baked bean soup.

RECIPE #1

 Vivid little gems! The yellow tomato is a low acid variety I got from one of the vendors at the La Jolla Farmer's market on Sundays.

 I really just eyeballed the amounts, this is all the broccoli I got after splitting the box with my CSA partner. Hence, adding peas for additional vegetable power!

 The finished product. One of my favorite Indian food recipes because the spice list is not overwhelming.

Sort of Aloo Gobi (using broccoli and peas instead of cauliflower) adapted from Indobase.com
makes about 5 side servings

3 small broccoli florets and stems, rinsed and chopped (about 1 cup)
1 cup frozen peas
4 potatoes (chopped into 1/2" pieces, about 2.5 cups)
2 small tomato (about 1.5" diameter), 1 large tomato; coarsely chopped
1 tsp tumeric powder
1/2 tsp red chili flakes
1 tsp ground coriander
salt to taste
2 tsp olive oil

Heat oil in large sauce pan on medium heat. Add broccoli and potatoes to cook for 5 minutes. Stir occasionally. 

Add all other ingredients except frozen peas. Cook 5 more minutes or until potatoes can be easily pierced by a fork. Add frozen peas and cook a couple minutes until heated through.

I ate this as my starch and veggies with turkey loaf patties this week from the Runner's Feed website.

RECIPE #2

 
Leftover Mashed Potato Salmon Patties (can leave out salmon for vegetarian)
 Makes 4 patties

Start by heating up a large frying pan on medium-high heat. Put 2 tsp of oil of your choice in.

In a medium microwavable bowl, I started with 2 cups of my leftover mashed potatoes (dairy-free, made with plain unsweetened carton coconut milk from Costco and seasoned with olive oil blended up with chopped cilantro leaves and garlic) and after I reheated them slightly, added an egg to hold it together. You may be able to use a "flax egg" for this but I haven't tested it yet. Mixed in about 1/2 cup of Daiya brand cheese to add a buttery taste, and if you eat fish, add 1/2 a cup of flaked salmon too for extra flavor. I used canned, but I imagine smoked would be extra dreamy. I made the patties from 1/2 cups of the mix.

Brown your patties for about 3 minutes per side and serve hot.

I ate this for lunch with Jayne's egg drop and fish ball dumpling (gluten free ones at Ranch 99!) soup and then for breakfast the rest of the week.


RECIPE #3

Ginger Beer (the store was all out of bottled rootbeer!) instead of typical brown sugar for a vegetarian protein at the Thanksgiving table. 

 Not surprisingly, I had a lot of beans leftover from Thanksgiving. That crowd isn't too adventurous, though I think the one other vegetarian was pleased to have another option to munch on...or maybe every one was afraid of the bumbling around the family in this case. So I planned to make this soup inspired by my mom's cooking and sister telling me she made a version of it the other week. I planned ahead pulling some frozen home-made stock from the freezer before. Not a photogenic soup, but hearty and comforting for the season.



Ginger Beer Baked Bean Soup 
about 4 servings

3 cups baked beans, I used Baked Bean recipe from Epicurious (slightly modified below)
Homemade or store-bought Veggie stock: 3 cups
333 grams raw potatoes (about 2 med-small potatoes) chopped into 1/2" pieces
163 grams (about 4 stalks/leaves) of celery *

Put 1/2 cup broth in a large saucepan to simmer on medium-high. Separate celery stems and leaves. Chop celery stalk into small 1/4" pieces. Add to simmering broth to cook. Cook 5 minutes.

Chop potatoes and add to pot. Simmer 8 more minutes. Add additional broth if needed. You can pierce the potatoes with a fork but they are still firm.

In a blender add the rest of the broth , celery leaves and 2 cups of baked beans. Blend to desired consistency
.
Add blender ingredients to the pot of potatoes and celery. Bring to a boil and then simmer on med for 25 minutes until celery and potatoes are desired softness.

*Next time I would use less celery or a different root/stalk veggie since I am not a big celery fan. Celery overpowers the sweet bbq flavor.


Ginger Beer Baked Beans from Bon Appetit
Makes 8 servings
 

3 1/2 cups chopped onions

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 15-ounce cans cannellini (white kidney beans), rinsed, drained

1 1/2 cups root beer (preferably artisanal)

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

3 tablespoons mild-flavored (light) molasses

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2010/07/root_beer_baked_beans#ixzz2DIEj9K17

 2 cups chopped onion (2.5 small onions)
2 tsp olive oil
2 cloves minced garlic
4 15 oz cans cannellini beans (white kidney), drained and rinsed
1.5 cups of Ginger Beer (cane sugar preferred)
3 tbsp apple cider vinegar
3 tbsp molasses
2 tbsp tomato paste
2 tbsp dijon mustard
1 tsp kosher salt
1 tsp black pepper

1 1/2 cups root beer (preferably artisanal)

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

3 tablespoons mild-flavored (light) molasses

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2010/07/root_beer_baked_beans#ixzz2DIFRUmkc

Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2010/07/root_beer_baked_beans#ixzz2DIEj9K17

Pre-heat oven to 400F.

In large (oven proof if you have) saucepan heat the oil on medium-high. Add the chopped onions. Stir, cooking until browned. About 8 minutes.

Add garlic and stir, allowing to cook 1 minute.

Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to boil.

Place saucepan into the oven if oven-safe or transfer into a large glass pan (I used 9x 13) and cook for 30 minutes.

Enjoy with BBQ food or use it to make the baked bean soup.

What is your favorite Thanksgiving leftover recipe? Do you have any Thanksgiving traditions?

On a random note, Shades showed me this musical video last night and I can't stop thinking about it. The characters look like bean and vegetable shapes (butternut squash on the right?), adorable! Love the kidney creature's dance..but seroiusly, BE SAFE FOR THE HOLIDAYS! 

3 1/2 cups chopped onions

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 15-ounce cans cannellini (white kidney beans), rinsed, drained

1 1/2 cups root beer (preferably artisanal)

3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

3 tablespoons mild-flavored (light) molasses

2 tablespoons tomato paste

2 tablespoons Dijon mustard

1 1/2 teaspoons chili powder

1 teaspoon coarse kosher salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Read More http://www.bonappetit.com/recipes/2010/07/root_beer_baked_beans#ixzz2DIEj9K17

CSA Planning, how I minimize waste

Steps to saving $$$, a typical food planning week.

I have a good variety of friends, some who eat out very often (for various reasons) and others who are quite seasoned in the kitchen. This entry is dedicated to the folks who tell me they wouldn't be able to do a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) box because they don't feel creative enough OR do have CSA but are bothered when they have to throw some of it away. My box helps me eat out less, not let the cookbooks be dust collectors and stumble upon others' fun, beautiful blogs, and certainly eat more veggies.

1. Make list of what is received in the box:
Lettuce
Beets
Kale
Tomatoes
Escarole
Sunflower Greens
Carrots
Cilantro
Watermelon cucumbers
Broccoli

2. Make notes for ideas next to each item and find a recipe on your CSA's  website, your favorite book or magazine, blog or website or make one up...

• consider what ingredients you already have
•  if you feel daring to make any substitutions so you don't need to buy as much and
•  what you need to pick up at a store

 If you have no idea on recipes just try typing in two or three of your ingredients in Google and see what comes up. You may be surprised at what others have already tried!

Lettuce-salads, tacos, Vietnamese spring rolls (use w/cilantro)
Beets-root for salad, tops for fish soup recipe from Mario or veggie curry?
Kale-steam w/lemon juice and sesame seeds
Tomatoes-salads, tacos, simple bean soup from Oh She Glows
Escarole-Saute with pre-made black bean sauce(not soy free, need to try making one up) and fish
Sunflower greens-salads
Carrots-tops I will try to put in curry; root use in simple bean soup and curry
Cilantro-make sauce for salad or tacos (Woot! New cute blog found called Healthy Blender Recipes -OINK! I cut the oil in half and opted no egg in the Cilantro Mayo recipe); add to mashed potatoes for potluck at work
Watermelon cucumbers-add to salad and/or escarole for black bean sauce fish
Broccoli-steam to have with assumed leftover mashed potatoes with smoked salmon patties OR make aloo gobi substitute for cauliflower OR add to salad

3. Consider which days this week are slow paced or busy, check recipes for prep and baking time. Settle on your meals that fit your schedule and estimate number of servings for each if not known, this gets easier once you have some cooking hours under your belt and determine how much your serving size is (and the other people you may be feeding).

Salad (quick)-4
Tacos (quick, have pre-mixed spice mix)-2
Bean Soup (soak dried beans overnight, boil 45 mins) -4
Curry-4 (soaking dried mushrooms overnight)
Black Bean Fish (quick) -2

4. I use a whiteboard to write the step 3 info down  and then insert into an app on my phone to write out which days I plan to make, then eat or freeze things on before they would go bad. I note if I have made lunch or dinner plans with anyone. If they contain an ALCAT mildly sensitive item that I put on rotation, I try to space things out the recommended four days or plan to freeze it if possible.

5. Enjoy your efforts-fatten your wallet and trim down on sodium, fat, sugar or whatever you need/want to pay attention to.

During rehearsal tonight, a passer-by-er let us know that someone had left their dome light on in their car. What was the last random act of kindness you witnessed or participated in?

Here fishy, fishy! (45 minute-baked whole trout with herbs with 3 sides ideas)

I tend to purchase my fish so that it does not resemble the animal. But the seasonal Idaho trout (fresh, not frozen), already gutted and cleaned from the farmer's market said "take me home" through its bitty pointed teeth. If you can get past the eyeballs and all, this makes a nice low maintenance weekday meal. The vendor suggested that some lemon slices and fresh herbs tucked into the fish would be an easy, healthy meal. Just place in a baking pan, wrapped up in parchment paper at 350 F for 30-35 minutes until the fish flakes easily.

Fresh dill and lime slices flavored my fish. After it was done baking, it got seasoned with salt and pepper to taste. Be careful of the bones...especially trout, such delicate little things.

So, I am not aware of how to serve a whole fish elegantly. (too lazy and hungry to find an instructional video) Some day soon I should make myself an artful dish.

First serving I ate with green beans with a bragg's amino, honey, garlic and olive oil marinade leftover from my london broil earlier in the week.

Second and third serving were eaten with some diced tomatoes that were cooked about 10 minutes with onions, fresh herbs, a bit of salt and sugar to taste and some pan steamed lemon-juice sesame seed chopped frisee.


The last serving, I ate with shredded butternut squash pancakes from Food Wishes' blog  and carrot top pesto (a dairy free concoction in a blender: carrot greens saving stems for another recipe as they are too woody to blend, 1/2 cup toasted pinenuts done at low 300F for 3 minutes in the toaster oven-easy to burn so watch them nuts!, 1/2 cup nutritional yeast, 1/4 cup olive oil and enough water to make pesto to desired thickness, add salt if desired to taste)

s

With the bones, head and tail, I threw in a pot with some onion, carrot and kale stems and herbs to simmer for an hour in a small pot and made 3 cups worth of stock. I should have bundled it all in cheesecloth (which can be really hard to find if it's not near Thanksgiving. I better go stock up now since the only store very convenient to me that I could find it in closed down [Ralph's]) but I just used a mesh strainer for now. Later in the week, I made a corn-beet greens chowder with the trout broth with nutritional yeast and topped with cut up scallops. Added 1 tsp of cumin and 1/2 tsp of tumeric for flavor and cheery color.

The joys/challenges of cooking for 1...trying to keep something interesting when it makes 4 or more servings. Different sauces and the freezer are allies in these efforts.

Speaking of things that swim, my co-worker R recalled the days when Sea World had trainers in the shows in the water, being tossed up by the animals. He said but now the "big ol' fish" can't do anything like that. To which R squared replied, that is a  "lactating fish, brotha!" Gotta love biologists. What live entertainment show has changed/gone away that you miss?

October 2012 Discoveries

October's Discoveries

1. GF/Dairy free Zucchini bread Betty Crocker Adapted (less sugar, no eggs use flax) worked! I could pick up a piece without it crumbling and it baked all the way through (sometimes flax "eggs" don't seem to set). I think summer squash season is still happening in SD-lots of varieties still at farmer's market last Sunday.

2. Zucchini dip is very refreshing- http://bittersweetblog.wordpress.com/2011/08/04/when-food-bites-back/

3. I heard from an online article that you can do microwave popcorn in a brown sack without adding oil-my experiment lead to only 50% yield and cannot repop in same bag (burnt, sorry co-workers! maybe if popping in a new bag?). Will stick to making it at home on the stove in oil. Although I have been messing that up lately too-poor yield and burnt. I used to make it so great. Need to keep a notebook of what temp to use on my stove...3 was no good! Maybe a little hotter?

4. H mart Korean Market is coming to Mira Mesa (sometime, not listed on their website yet as a location)

5. Potluck with Abby in celebration of her being here for an optometry rotation. People were kind and brought lots that I could eat. Goat cheese stuffed mushrooms from Jayne.  Dave cooked up the crowd-pleaser Fresh and Easy happy meat ground beef tacos. Allie picked up a wonderful macadamia nut crust lemony coconut pie from Jimbo's, Fresh and Easy carries Glutino bagel chips, great with their hummus platter which another customer promptly told Shellyn "yes they are!" after the grocery staff said they would have to find out if they were g-free. They also carry no-bake chocolate peanut butter cookies that are g-free (yay, Don! And he even brought my requested Vietnamese tofu spring roll. What a pal!) [Abby: "What's a no bake cookie?" Aw, hump day exhaustion.]

6. Lemon grass tofu with noodles better than with rice at Pho Bahn Mi in Mira Mesa.

7.Not food related but handy to know... Southwest lets you turn a "Wanna Get Away" fare into a voucher good for a year if you cancel before your flight boards. My family visits this month were dashed.

8. Jayne gives the Japanese Garden cafe at Balboa Park 2 thumbs up for an udon noodle bowl on a cool drizzly afternoon before we saw Allegiance at Old Globe. 

9. Marukai puts their deli food at 20% near closing...$6 tuna-avocado roll and $1 something for little fried sesame balls. I get there around 8:30pm sometimes after volunteering. 

10.  Thai curry mussels at Takrhai Thai in Poway still taste good. Glad we went on a weekend for lunch so Peter could try them. The M-F lunch menu doesn't have them.

Indian Culture & Vegan Snack-Lighter Pakora's

Ate at Bawarchi Dosas in Miramar area with Kristina this month. I just love Southern Indian for offering Chinese dishes on the menu as well as having some bread-like items that are often made from lentil, chickpea or rice flour (I will always miss naan but this makes up for it).

 Kristina kept getting distracted by the odd dance videos playing on the TV screen behind me. The man mainly gave Zoo-lander-esque looks as he pauses from his Ricky Martin type dancing the in rain routine at a club. The woman sadly stares at him from across the room and a glistening tear rolls down her cheek. Her hair whips around in the wind.   He steps down and walks ever so slowly towards her while putting on his sunglasses (in the club). The other thing that we noticed is that the man and woman in each video never actually kissed. Cultural value? I did a little reading on BBC.

 Aside from having bouts of laughter, we were adventurous and tried Masala Papad (note: order yummy yogurt based mango lassi drink to go with this mouth numbing crispy lentil-based appetizer.)  I have seen papads at Fresh and Easy (or am sure the Indian market near this restaurant carries them) that you can just fry up at home, or apparently you can microwave them if you are trying to be healthier.

Speaking of trying to be healthier, I tested out a baked pakora recipe I found on Irreverent Vegan's blog over the weekend. I wish I hadn't run out of parchment paper-trying to butter up foil did not cut it...but at least stuck on there is better than having to soak and scrub the cookie sheets.  I chopped up beet greens to use instead of spinach and also just add grated zuchini as that is what I had on hand. Personally, I was a bit put off by the chutney that went with the recipe. I think I am used to/prefer the more vinegar-based chutneys and it was a bit much on the ginger for my liking (and I do like ginger-pickled with sushi, in candy form, for upset tummy as a tea). I've copied the pakora recipe below with my modifications. I think next time I might try decreasing the salt. I would make this again-very tasty even without a sauce. Just be ready to heat up your home-500 F bake temp! Nice winter recipe, no? Save on your heating bill! We're just starting to have drizzly, light jacket weather here.

Baked Pakora (chickpea battered veggies)

• three handfuls of chopped leafy greens (beet greens today)
• one zucchini grated-this one was probably about 1" diameter and 7" long
• 2 cups chickpea (garbanzo bean) flour-I got Bob's Redmill brand, starting to see this available at even regular chain grocery stores now, but again go for Indian market if you want it cheaper. I liked the taste of the Redmill flour though.
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 tsp curry powder
• 1 tsp cumin
• 1/2 tsp turmeric
• 1/2 tsp red pepper (optional)
• 1 1/2 tsp dried coriander (cilantro)
• 1 1/2 cups water

Tools needed: spatula safe for oven flipping, cookie sheets, parchment paper, 1 large bowl

Pre-heat the oven to 500 F.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Add water a bit at a time, until you make it a bit thicker-than-muffin batter type consistency. Add your rinsed, chopped/grated veggies (you can be creative here use what you have on hand) and mix until covered with batter.

 Spoon batter onto parchment paper lined cookie sheets. The lumps should hold their form (not keep spreading) The size lumps I  made yielded about 12 pakora. Make bigger or smaller-just adjust the cooking time (also depends on your oven, I had to take mine out early). 

The original recipe has you bake on one side 8 minutes and then flip the pakora on the other side for 10 to get the crunchy crust. Mine only needed 8 minutes on the second side, luckily I stayed in the kitchen because they brown fast!

 

What recipe have you health-ified and loved? (or hated?)  What's your take on PDA's in public?