Crêpes!
The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.
The Reason:
I’m still trying to burn through some of my stored-up food posts, and that means pancakes! So you’re getting another First Friday Food that is not on a First Friday.
As far as the reason to make crepes, one day it just occurred to me that I could make crepes. With whole wheat flour no less! We’re always looking for good pancake recipes, and crepes are a significantly different form of pancake.
The Journey:
First off, I’d like to specify that I originally learned how to make crepes from an actual frenchman. I don’t have his fancy pan or fancy crepe-scraping tool, but make no mistake, I know how to get the job done.
All that being said, flipping crepes is no joke, even if you don’t flip them in the air. There is certainly a skill to it. Be prepared to have ripped up and shredded crepes, even after making hundreds and hundreds of the things. Making crepes is somewhat stressful, and requires your full attention. But afterwards, you get to eat crepes, and the ripped up ones taste the same as the nice ones!
The recipe calls for the ingredients to be mixed in a blender. Do it! I tried everything I could to avoid it, including mixing with a mixer. It doesn’t work. If you get chunks in your batter, they will stick to the pan, and then you’re not going to get nice looking ones.
Also, use a LOT of butter on the pan, in between each and every crepe. You really can’t over-butter it. Just remind yourself you’re cooking like a French person, and throw an extra pat on there. You’ll thank yourself when you try to flip one.
The Verdict:
Making crepes is not that difficult, but it is a LOT of work. You have to make LOTS of them, because people will eat them way faster than you can make them. It’s a marathon, not a sprint.
But, might I add, they make you look very fancy pants impressive.
Crepes are so versatile. You can basically put anything on a crepe. Even setting aside savory crepes, you have jellies, jams, curds, marmalades, peanut butter, nutella, and just plain sugar. You could have these every day of the week and not get tired of them.
Well, not get tired of *eating* them. But you will definitely get tired of making them.
The Recipe:
Recipe from 100 Days of Real Food.
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup whole-wheat flour
- 1 cup milk
- ¾ cup water
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon butter, melted + extra for cooking
- Put all ingredients in blender and mix well. Let stand about 15 minutes.
- Melt and swirl around a small pat of butter in an 8 or 10-inch frying pan over medium heat.
- Angle pan and pour enough batter on one side to thinly and evenly cover the pan. Very quickly swirl the batter around to cover the pan in one thin layer.
- Immediately use your cooking spatula to push down the thin edges of the crepe around the perimeter.
- After about 1 minute (and once it is golden brown on the bottom) carefully flip it over without tearing the crepe.
- Fry for 1 more minute on the other side (until it is golden brown as well) and then roll up each crepe.
White Bean and Tuna Salad with Radicchio and Parsley Vinaigrette
The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.
The Reason:
Boy, I don’t know where this one came from. I think we just saw it in Bon Appetit and decided to try it. But the real reasons to make it are, 1) it’s delicious, and 2) it’s SUPER quick and easy.
The Journey:
This would work well as a fancy-pants side dish, but we just serve it as a meal, all by itself. I guess it has a lot of oil in it, but other than that it’s about as healthy as a dinner comes, and packs a lot more flavor than your average salad. Plus it’s different and interesting. I’m really having trouble thinking of any downsides.
Radicchio is a little bitter, so normally I’m not a huge fan. But in this case, the bitterness really sets off the vinaigrette perfectly, and the tuna and beans give it texture and some staying power in your tummy.
The Verdict:
I feel like a broken record here, but we have an endless appetite for quick, easy, and healthy recipes. We can never have enough of them. This one is in heavy rotation for nights when Sara and I both work.
The Recipe:
Recipe originally from Bon Appetit:
Parsley Vinaigrette
- 2 cups (packed) flat-leaf parsley (leaves and stems)
- 1/4 cup olive oil
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon Champagne vinegar (we found it at Trader Joes)
- 2 garlic cloves, crushed
- Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
- Pulse parsley, oil, lemon juice, vinegar, and garlic in a food processor until well blended. Season to taste with salt and pepper (~1/4 teaspoon salt and ~1/8 teaspoon pepper).
White Bean and Tuna Salad with Radicchio
- 1 medium head of radicchio, cored, leaves coarsely torn
- 2 15-ounce cans cannellini (white kidney) beans, rinsed, drained
- 2 celery stalks, sliced thinly on an extreme diagonal
- 2 cans drained olive oil–packed tuna
- Place radicchio in a large bowl; drizzle with 3 Tbsp. Parsley Vinaigrette and toss to coat.
- Transfer to a serving platter, spreading out in an even layer.
- Combine 3 Tbsp. Parsley Vinaigrette, cannellini beans, and celery in the large bowl; toss to coat.
- Arrange bean mixture on top of radicchio.
- Top salad with tuna.
- Drizzle some vinaigrette over.
- Add more salt and pepper, to taste.
Russian Yogurt Pancakes
The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.
The Reason:
“Wait a minute,” you’re saying. “This is not the first Friday of the month. Is there something wrong with my calendar?” No, you’re right. But I have so many food posts queuing up that I need to clear out a little inventory.
And it’s been far, FAR too long since we’ve had a pancake recipe on here!
The Journey:
These are yogurt pancakes, and as such, they take a lot of yogurt. I highly recommend making your own, which is cheap and simple. In fact, you can even use old yogurt that is starting to go bad!
These are some of the most amazing, moist pancakes that I’ve ever had. The texture is absolutely perfect. Usually my pancakes are a little on the tough side since I use only whole wheat flour, which tends to be a little denser. The downside is that these are a little hard to work with in the pan; they are very tricky to flip. It’s well worth the effort though, and who cares what they look like anyway!
My advice to offset this is to make very small pancakes. They’re easier to flip, and you can pretend like you’re a giant who needs to eat 80 pancakes for breakfast every morning.
The Verdict:
These are so amazing. They’re moist and the yogurt gives them a buttery flavor, so you don’t need to put extra butter on top. The original recipe says you can top them with something savory instead of sweet, which I could totally see. And you can even use up yogurt that’s going bad! No downsides on this one. This is in our regular pancake rotation.
The Recipe:
Recipe from A Girl’s Guide to Butter.
- 4 cups plain yogurt (going bad OK)
- 3 eggs
- 4 tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- Enough (whole-wheat) flour to make a medium-thick batter (one that holds its shape but is still a liquid rather than a paste). I use a little less than 2 cups.
- oil, for frying (we use coconut oil)
- Mix all the ingredients together except for oil, and beat until smooth.
- Heat the oil in a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat until almost smoking.
- Using a large tablespoon, spoon the batter into the pan in the form of small oval pancakes.
- Fry on one side until golden-brown, then flip, reducing the heat to medium, and cook until the other side is golden-brown as well. Be sure to add more oil if your skillet becomes dry.
- Remove to a platter and top with any of the desired toppings.
Schezuan Pork and Green Beans
The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.
The Reason:
Honestly? I think the reason was that we were looking for a recipe to use up ground pork. But this recipe is so good, you’ll definitely want to buy more ground pork, which leaves you more ground pork left overs…it’s a vicious circle.
The Journey:
Have you ever really smelled white pepper? Go smell it and come back. I’ll wait.
Okay, yes, it smells absolutely odious, but does it smell familiar to you? Because everyone around here agrees that it smells exactly like a hog farm. This is not a positive. I can barely bring myself to put it on my food. And yet, this dish is delicious. Maybe you need a little hog farm for the pork, I don’t know.
Schezuan is Chinese for “melt your face off”, or so I assume, because Schezuan food is spicy! This dish is no exception. I suppose you could try to make it less spicy, but honestly I wouldn’t bother. It would really take away from the dish. Serving it over rice helps with the heat a little bit, but if you have trouble with spicy food though, maybe you should avoid it.
The Verdict:
So yummy and so easy to make.
One word of warning though; do not buy Trader Joe’s soy sauce! I love Trader Joe’s, but we made that mistake and we’re still paying the price. We have to mix it in with Kikkoman a little at a time to get rid of it.
The Recipe:
Recipe from myrecipes.com.
- 1 pound lean ground pork
- 2 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/8 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
- 1 Tablespoon olive oil (+ a few drops of seasame or peanut oil if you have them)
- 5 cups cut green beans
- 2 teaspoons minced fresh garlic
- 4 tablespoons hoisin sauce
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 2 teaspoons crushed red pepper
- 4 teaspoons soy sauce
- 4 cups hot cooked brown rice
- Combine the pork, cornstarch, salt and white pepper in a medium bowl.
- Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add pork mixture, beans, and garlic; cook 3 minutes or until pork loses its pink color, stirring to crumble.
- Combine hoisin, sugar, red pepper and soy sauce in a small bowl, stirring with a whisk.
- Add hoisin mixture to pan. Cook 2 minutes or until thoroughly heated, stirring frequently.
- Serve over rice.
Saffron Zucchini Couscous
The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.
The Reason:
The recipe came from my sister Rachael. I don’t remember when she first made it, but she seemed pretty excited to share it with us, since I don’t think she gets many requests for it.
The Journey:
This is something we make a *lot*. In fact, going out on a limb here, I’m going to guess we make it more than Rachael does.
If you follow along on these First Friday Food posts, you’ll notice the major theme is that this is both healthy and easy to make.
The interesting thing is that it uses saffron. If you’re unfamiliar, saffron looks like tiny red threads and is ridiculously expensive. In fact, by weight, it’s one of the most expensive spices in the world. I’ve heard this is because each flower produces only one thread, and it must be harvested by hand. Luckily, you only need to use very little.
The major change that we made to Rachael’s original recipe was to add chickpeas. I guess you could consider them optional, but I think they’re perfect. They add some good texture and stretch it a little bit, without adding any extra work.
The Verdict:
Scrumdiddlyumptious. You can eat it hot, you can eat it cold (one time I ate it so cold it had icicles in it, but I probably wouldn’t recommend that). You can eat it immediately, or make it in advance. You can take it as a dish to pass and even the kids will eat it. What’s not to love?
The Recipe:
Recipe courtesy my sister.
- 1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon cumin
- 1/2 teaspoon saffron threads
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 zucchini, diced
- 1 can chickpeas
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat couscous
- 1 cup chopped basil leaves
- 1 cup chopped parsley leaves
- Bring stock to boil, and turn off heat.
- Add spices and steep for 15 minutes.
- Heat butter in frying pan. Saute zucchini for 5 mins.
- Bring stock to boil again.
- Place couscous in boil and add zucchini and chickpeas. Pour hot stock over this, and cover tightly.
- Stand for 15 minutes.
- Add basil and parsley, and toss with fork. Serve warm or room temperature.
Cabbage and Cannellini One-Dish Meal
The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.
The Reason:
Okay, I have to admit that a cabbage-based dish didn’t sound all that appealing to me. I mean, cabbage is just…cabbage, you know? Please don’t let that stop you from trying this, because if you do you will be missing out on something that is awesome.
The Journey:
This is so easy to make, which means it’s one that we can keep in our regular rotation. We’re always looking for easy meals for weekday preparation. I’d say we probably eat it at least once every other week.
Even though the cabbage and cannellini are what make this unique, it’s mostly really a fried potato recipe. And come on, who doesn’t like fried potatoes?
The Verdict:
The fried potatoes give it a sort of breakfasty feel, but we eat if for supper. So what, you never heard of brinner?
I’m telling you, when we have this, I can’t shovel it in my mouth fast enough. And the best part? It costs like $3 to feed the four of us!
The Recipe:
Adapted from Super Natural Every Day by Heidi Swanson
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
- 1/2 pound Yukon Gold potatoes, scrubbed and cut into tiny cubes
- 1 shallot, minced
- One 15-ounce can cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 1/2 a head of very finely shredded green cabbage
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup Parmesan cheese
- Dice the potatoes and cut up shallot
- The cabbage has to be shredded. I suppose you could buy shredded cabbage, but we prefer to shred our own in the vitamix.
- Fry the potatoes in oil turning as needed ~10 min (add shallot and salt after about 5) or until golden brown
- Add the cannellini beans and continue to cook ~3 minutes
- Add cabbage and cook until wilted, ~2 – 3 minutes
- Top with parmesan
Simple Potato Soup
The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.
The Reason:
Now that it is starting to be fall, it is starting to be “soup season”. Sara kind of thinks soup season extends year round, so she has quite a lot of soup recipes in her arsenal, but this one is by far my favorite.
The Journey:
Let me start by saying, I am very anti-creamy soups. I like thin soups, like chicken noodle, french onion, etc. And this soup is as thick as it gets. The next day you can practically cut it with a knife. And yet, I love it.
Maybe it is not coincidental that it has bacon in it, which certainly doesn’t hurt.
The Verdict:
Sooo yummy. It’s in the crock pot, so it’s not too difficult to make, but you do have to do a lot of potato chopping first which takes a long time. However, it makes a lot, so you get multiple meals out of it, making the effort more than worth it. It works fine to freeze it.
It is a very hearty soup. I recommend serving it with some fresh baked bread.
The Recipe:
Recipe from Not Your Mother’s Slow Cooker Cookbook
- 5 pounds russet potatoes, peeled and cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 stick of butter
- 1 cup half-and-half (or whole milk)
- 1/2 cup sour cream (we use our homemade plain yogurt instead)
- Salt and pepper to taste
- 8 ounces bacon, cooked, drained, and crumbled
- 6 green onions, sliced
- Put the potatoes in the slow cooker and add water to cover. Cover and cook on high until the potatoes are cooked and falling apart, about 5 hours.
- Turn the cooker to low, add the butter, half-and-half, and sour cream, and season with salt and pepper. Cover and cook until hot, about 20 minutes.
- Stir in the crumbled bacon and green onions. Serve immediately or keep warm on low, adding water or milk to thin if necessary.
Kale with Bacon and Cannellini Beans
The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.
The Reason:
This recipe actually came from Sara’s mom, who made it for dinner one night at our house, but the reason we really picked it up and ran with it was because of all the delicious kale we have growing in our garden this year.
In fact, the best part about this recipe is that we usually have everything we need to make it on hand at any given moment. There have been many a night where we say, “We have nothing to make for supper,” and then we remember this recipe and go from having absolutely nothing to eat, to having a fantastic gourmet meal.
And if you need another reason why you should make this delicious, yet vegetable-filled dish, I present Exhibit A: 
(Stock bacon photo…you’d be surprised at how many of these I have)
The Journey:
It’s hard to say whether this is a hard or easy dish to make. It’s pretty simple, but at the same time it’s sort of a pain to remove all the stems from the kale. Also, we usually make the bacon ahead of time (you’d be amazed at what you can do when you have pre-cooked bacon easily at hand). So if you already have cooked bacon and you have a sous chef to de-stem the kale, it’s a piece of cake!
I should also mention that, while you can eat it by itself, we usually serve it over rice, pasta, or quinoa. It’s plenty flavorful, and the addition lets it stretch far enough to have some leftovers for lunch the next day.
The Verdict:
You know, when I originally put a section for “the verdict” I kind of imagined I would use these First Friday Food posts to try new things. Instead, I usually select from our cadre of favorite recipes. So I always just end up saying, “Yeah, the verdict was it’s awesome!” because otherwise I wouldn’t have put that recipe up there.
So, the verdict is, it’s awesome.
I am well on record saying I do not enjoy the combination of salty and sweet, and yet that is exactly what this is. What can I say, I am a man of many inconsistencies. The sugar combines with the balsamic vinegar, which combines with the saltiness of the bacon and makes something totally new and delicious.
I think this is the best recipe we have for kale, I like it even better than kale chips. If you have kale lying around, like we do, then this is the perfect way to use it (says me — the kids mostly just try to pick out the beans and bacon — oh well, what are you gonna do).
The Recipe:
Recipe from Weight Watchers.
- 3 slices uncooked bacon
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 1/2 tsp crushed red pepper flakes
- 1 cup onion, diced
- 1 pound uncooked kale, stemmed, roughly chopped
- 1 cup canned chicken or beef broth
- 15 oz canned cannellini beans, rinsed and drained
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1 Tbsp balsamic vinegar
- 1 tsp sugar, in the raw
- Set a large, heavy pot or skillet over medium heat; add bacon and cook to desired crispness. Remove bacon from pot and set aside; leave bacon drippings in pot.
- Add onion and red pepper flakes to bacon drippings; cook, stirring occasionally, until soft, about 10 minutes.
- Add garlic; cook, stirring, until garlic becomes fragrant, about 30 seconds to 1 minute.
- Add kale; cook, stirring occasionally, until it starts to wilt, about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Add broth; cover and simmer over low heat until kale is just tender, about 8 to 10 minutes.
- Add beans; simmer, uncovered, until liquid is almost evaporated, about 5 to 7 minutes.
- Stir in salt, vinegar and sugar; sprinkle with crumbled bacon and serve immediately.
Honey Wheat Bread
The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.
The Reason:
I set out on a mission to find a good, spongy, soft, 100% whole wheat bread. We only use white whole wheat flour, but a lot of the bread recipes we try end up very tough or dense. This was creating a bit of a problem, because bread from the store is increasingly disgusting (i.e. high fructose corn syrup flavored foam bricks with ingredients lists that are inexplicably longer than my arm), but I couldn’t find a good substitute. So I began trying various recipes until I finally found one that was everything I ever wanted, and more.
The Journey:
The reason this recipe is “the one” is because it has a lot of sugar in it. That’s both the good and the bad, but it is a necessary evil because it’s what makes the bread light and fluffy. That sugar is yeast food, and it makes the dough rise like crazy. In fact, with a little extra rising time, you can actually split the loaf in half and make two loaves for the price of one. Lately I have been experimenting with cutting out a tablespoon of brown sugar. So far I haven’t noticed a difference.
I make the bread on the dough cycle of our bread machine, but you could conceivably do it by hand. I’ve just found from experience that I don’t mix it it enough when I do it by hand. Besides, why even have a bread machine if you’re not going to use it? (And believe me, we get a lot of use out of ours)
After the bread has been mixing for awhile in the bread maker, I open it up and scrape down the sides with a spatula to make sure everything is mixing well, and also add a tiny bit of water if it seems necessarily. I like wet dough, because it tends to rise better. Basically, every bread recipe I’ve ever tried for whole wheat flour has required me to add water to it. I don’t know if people just consistently underestimate the amount of water they need, if the recipes are really for bread flour and whole wheat needs more water, or if there’s just something about my baking environment that requires more water. But anyway, feel free to play with the recipe if it’s not coming out quite right.
The Verdict:
For artisan breads I rely on Healthy Bread in Five Minutes a Day (perhaps there’ll be a post on that someday), but this recipe cannot be beat for a sandwich loaf. I don’t think it’s out of line to say this is the best whole wheat bread I have ever made. We don’t buy bread anymore, we only make it. In fact, I have even used this recipe to make some very excellent hamburger and even brat buns!
The Recipe:
The original recipe was from the Internet, but I can’t find it anymore.
- 1 1/2 cups water
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 2 tablespoons honey
- sprinkle of ginger (I sprinkle *very* liberally with the ginger, because I like ginger)
- 1/4 cup vital wheat gluten
- 3 cups white whole wheat flour
- 2 teaspoons yeast
- Mix in the dough cycle of the bread machine (or by hand if you want, but I get better results in the bread machine)
- Deflate the dough and put it in a greased loaf pan, or shape into buns
- Cover with a towel and let rise. If you’re in a hurry, let it rise on the oven while it preheats.
- Bake at 365 for 30 minutes
Whole Wheat Bacon-Fig Scones
The first Friday of the month is reserved for recipes. You can see additional First Friday Food posts here.
The Reason:
Baconfest.
The Journey:
Okay, so I haven’t actually made this, which is a first for First Friday Food. So I can’t speak for how difficult it is to make, but I can speak for how awesome it is to eat!
The Verdict:
In a day of a lot of really good recipes, this one stood out to me as the best. The bacon really added something; it was neither extraneous nor overpowering. It is sweet, but not too sweet, and it goes perfect for breakfast. There wasn’t anybody who didn’t like this (even Evie!), in fact, I don’t think there was anybody who didn’t take seconds (or thirds, or in some cases fourths).
The Recipe:
Adapted from Smittenkitchen.com
Scones
- 1 cup Whole wheat flour
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 Tbsp. baking powder
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 6 Tbsp cold unsalted butter
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup dried figs (rehydrated)
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup (10 slices) cooked bacon (apple wood smoked)
- 3/4 cup whole milk ricotta
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
Glaze
- 2 Tbsp. brown sugar
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
Scones:
- Cook bacon until crispy. Chop into small pieces.
- Prepare figs by chopping them into small pieces (roughly the same size as your bacon pieces). Place the pieces into the bottom of a medium bowl . Cover the fig pieces in boiling water and allow to sit for 10 minutes. Strain fig pieces.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In the bottom of a large bowl, whisk the flours, baking powder, sugar, and salt together.
- Cut the butter into small pieces with a knife and work the butter into the flour mixture with your fingertips until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.
- Toss in the figs and bacon and mix.
- Add the ricotta and heavy cream together and stir them in to form a dough with a flexible spatula. Using your hands, gently knead dough into and even mass at the bottom of the bowl.
- Transfer the dough to a slightly floured counter. Lightly flour the top of the dough and pat it into a circle (about 7 in. in diameter) about 1 inch thick. With a large knife, divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. Transfer the scones to the prepared baking sheet with a spatula.
- Bake the scones for 15 mins, until lightly golden at the edges. Cool in a pan for a minute then transfer to a wire rack. Allow them to cool about 5 minutes before glazing.
Maple glaze:
- Combine the maple syrup and brown sugar. Lightly brushed over the baked scones.
Scones are best the day they are baked. However, if you wish to get a lead on them, you can make them, arrange them on the parchment-lined sheet and freeze them. If you are prepping just one day in advance, cover the tray with plastic wrap and bake them the day you need them. If you are prepping them more than one day in advance, once the scones are frozen, transfer the scones to a freezer bag or container. Bring them back to a parchment lined sheet when you are ready to bake them. Do not defrost, just throw the frozen scones in the oven and add 2-3 mins to the baking time.
Spinach Artichoke Lasagna
The Reason:
Lasagna has long been one of my favorite meals, and something I often picked for my “birthday dinner” when I was a kid. As an adult, I learned that lasagna tastes pretty much the same with or without meat (actually, I learned that was true about a lot of recipes, such as chili, but I digress). This led me down a long road of veggie lasagna recipes, which ultimately diverged quite a bit from a traditional lasagna. And a good thing too, or else I probably never would have tried this recipe. Needless to say, Spinach Artichoke Lasagna is quite a bit different than traditional lasagna.
The Journey:
This is pretty straightforward to make. We buy frozen spinach and artichokes, so you don’t really have that much chopping to do. The hardest part is chopping the rosemary, because it’s so tiny. But it’s only a tablespoon, so I’ll guess we’ll all survive it. You don’t even have to boil the noodles! How easy can it get?
In the past, I’ve stuck strictly to the script on this one. However, I’m sure you could add other things as well, such as carrots or mushrooms, or whatever else you like in your veggie lasagna.
The Verdict:
This is the best veggie lasagna I’ve ever had. On the other hand, Evie doesn’t like the rosemary for some reason. She might just have lit on that as an excuse, but it does have rosemary in it, so I can’t say she’s wrong. I suppose there could be a (non-)hypothetical person out there who doesn’t like rosemary.
The artichokes in particular are what makes this for me. They provide both a texture and a sort of sour twang that really just set it off. I haven’t seen a lot of veggie lasagnas with artichokes in it, so I guess that is the secret ace in the hole here.
I’m also a big fan of throwing a little feta on things.
The Recipe:
Adapted from AllRecipes.com.
- 1 package whole wheat lasagna noodles
- 1 onion, chopped
- 4 cloves garlic, chopped
- 1 3/4 cup vegetable broth
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh rosemary
- 1 bag (1 pound) frozen artichoke hearts (or 1 can), drained and chopped
- 16 ounce package frozen chopped spinach, thawed, drained and squeezed dry
- 1 jar marinara sauce (22 – 26 oz)
- 3 cups shredded mozzarella cheese, divided
- 1/4 pound of feta, crumbled
- Italian spices (parsley, oregano) to taste
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray a 9×13 inch baking dish with oil.
- Do not boil the noodles! Even if they’re not “no-boil”, there is enough moisture that they will soften while baking.
- Saute onion until translucent. Add garlic and saute for 1 minute.
- Stir in broth and rosemary; bring to a boil.
- Stir in artichoke hearts and spinach; reduce heat, cover and simmer 5 minutes.
- Stir in pasta sauce.
- Spread 1/4 of the artichoke mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish; top with 1 layer of noodles. Sprinkle 3/4 cup mozzarella cheese over noodles. Repeat layers 2 more times, ending with artichoke mixture and mozzarella cheese. Sprinkle crumbled feta on top.
- Bake, covered, for 40 minutes. Uncover, and bake 15 minutes more, or until hot and bubbly. Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.
Sweet Potato Tacos
The Reason:
We had some ground turkey and we were looking for a recipe to use it up. It’s funny that this is the recipe we found because, although we did use up our ground turkey, this is clearly a sweet potato recipe, not a ground turkey recipe. (I guess technically the original recipe is a yam recipe, but we have only made it with sweet potatoes)
Anyway, this is sooo good, it might just turn you off regular tacos forever. Even if it doesn’t, it makes an excellent change of pace, and is a lot healthier than regular (ground beef) tacos to boot.
The Journey:
I know some of you will be tempted to leave out the jalapenos, but I assure you that it is not spicy, even with four jalapenos. “Yeah, but I don’t like spicy food,” you will say. “He likes spicy food, so he doesn’t understand how tender my palate is. I’m a delicate flower,” you will say. I know that there is nothing I could say to convince you poor folks, other than to physically trick you into eating it with four jalapenos and getting you to admit it wasn’t spicy before I reveal that fact. However, I can’t do that over the Internet, so you’ll have to take my word for it. Or not, I just realized, I really don’t care.
The thing you’ll notice about the filling is that it is orange. Very orange. Startlingly orange. Do not be startled, you’re doing it right.
The ground turkey is nice because it is so lean, but you can really use any kind of ground meat (i.e. beef). You’re mostly going to taste the sweet potatoes anyway.
Another thing I should mention here, is that all tortillas in our house are grilled over the open flame of the stove (we have a gas stove obviously). Just light the burner and set the tortilla directly on it. Flip it after about 10 seconds and do the other side for another 10 or so. It will seem like you are going to set the tortilla on fire. It will get little black burn marks on it. Do not be startled, you are doing it right. You can thank me later.
The Verdict:
Magically delicious.
The sweet potatoes make the filling sweet, which to me seems like it would be a bad thing, but it’s totally not. (I do NOT like salty and sweet mixed together. It is almost pathological with me.) Also, the texture is a lot softer than ground beef, and it kind of mashes up around all of your toppings keeping everything in better.
The Recipe:
Adapted from AllRecipes.com
- 3 sweet potatoes peeled and diced
- 1 tablespoon olive oil
- 1 pound ground turkey
- 1 medium-large chopped sweet onion
- 3 cloves garlic, minced
- 4 jalapeno peppers, minced (you can reduce this to 2 if you are nervous about the heat, but it’s really not very spicy!)
- 2 tablespoon chili powder
- 2 teaspoon ground cumin
- 1 teaspoon Cajun seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup tomatillo salsa
- 1/2-1 cup chopped fresh cilantro
- warm flour tortillas
- Put the diced sweet potato in a microwave-safe bowl; cook in the microwave until cooked through and fork-tender, stirring every 5 minutes, 10 to 15 minutes.
- Coat the bottom of a large skillet with olive oil and place over medium heat;
- Cook and stir the turkey until crumbled and evenly brown, 5 to 7 minutes.
- Stir the onion, garlic, and jalapeno pepper into the turkey and continue cooking until the onions begin to caramelize, 7 to 10 minutes.
- Season with the chili powder, cumin, Cajun seasoning, and salt.
- Mash the sweet potatoes with a potato masher
- Pour the salsa over everything; fold the sweet potatoes into the mixture.
- Allow the mixture to cook until the excess moisture evaporates.
- Garnish with the cilantro.
- Heat your tortillas in the microwave if you’re a barbarian, or on the stove if you’re fancy pants like me.
- Serve with the warm tortillas and whatever else you put on tacos. I recommend fresh salsa (pico de gallo).
Cowboy Candy (A.K.A. Candied Jalapenos)
The Reason:
Well, the main reason is that we had a lot of extra jalapenos from our garden last year, and we had to find something to do with them. We stumbled on this recipe and it sounded just weird enough to try.
The Journey:
They’re not too difficult to make, at least, not compared to other things you might can (in other words, the canning is the hard part, and that’s the same no matter what you’re canning).
The Verdict:
I don’t know. They’re strange. They’re very sweet, but also very spicy. I don’t like to eat them by themselves very much, but they are killer on a barbecue pork sandwich!
They’re also great for getting people to try them and watching their faces, so I’ll let some of the reaction shots speak for themselves:
- Let’s See… Sort of unpleasant Thats…very spicy
- Here we go ::gulp!:: Hey, I survived!
- I’ll try it if you try it Do not like! Rinse it out with milk
- Yummy! Uh oh… Spicy!
Don’t let him fool you though, he was soon gobbling them by the handful.
The Recipe:
Recipe from Tasty Kitchen.
- 3 pounds Firm, Fresh Jalapeno Peppers, Washed
- 2 cups Cider Vinegar
- 6 cups White Granulated Sugar
- ½ teaspoons Turmeric
- ½ teaspoons Celery Seed
- 3 teaspoons Granulated Garlic
- 1 teaspoon Ground Cayenne Pepper
- Wearing gloves, remove the stems from all of the jalapeno peppers. The easiest way to do this is to slice a small disc off of the stem-end along with the stem. Discard the stems.
- Slice the peppers into uniform 1/8-1/4 inch rounds. Set aside.
- In a large pot, bring cider vinegar, white sugar, turmeric, celery seed, granulated garlic and cayenne pepper to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5 minutes. Add the pepper slices and simmer for exactly 4 minutes. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the peppers, loading into clean, sterile canning jars to within 1/4 inch of the upper rim of the jar. Turn heat up under the pot with the syrup and bring to a full rolling boil. Boil hard for 6 minutes.
- Use a ladle to pour the boiling syrup into the jars over the jalapeno slices. Insert a cooking chopstick to the bottom of the jar two or three times to release any trapped pockets of air. Adjust the level of the syrup if necessary. Wipe the rims of the jars with a clean, damp paper towel and fix on new, two-piece lids to finger-tip tightness.
- If you do not want to can these to the point of shelf stable, you can simply put the jars in your refrigerator and store them there. I prefer to keep the fridge space free so I can them. If you wish to can them, follow the instructions below.
- Note: If you have leftover syrup, and it is likely that you will, you may can it in half-pint or pint jars, too. It’s wonderful brushed on meat on the grill or added to potato salad or, or, or … in short, don’t toss it out!
- To can, place jars in a canner and cover with water by 2-inches. Bring the water to a full rolling boil. When it reaches a full rolling boil, set the timer for 10 minutes for half-pints or 15 minutes for pints. When timer goes off, use canning tongs to transfer the jars to a cooling rack. Leave them to cool, undisturbed, for 24 hours. When fully cooled, wipe them with a clean, damp washcloth, then label.
- Allow to mellow for at least two weeks, but preferably a month before eating. Or don’t. I won’t tell!
Rich Almond Cake
The Reason:
The reason is that this cake is easy to make and tastes like heaven. However, the original source mentions this as something that even an un-skilled chef could make for Valentines Day, so this is also timely. On one hand, the girl of your dreams will be very impressed with your mad cooking skillz. On the other hand, she will probably marry you on the spot, and then you’ll have to explain that you don’t actually have mad cooking skillz, unless of course she wants to eat Rich Almond Cake every day for the rest of her life, which she probably will.
The Journey:
Eating this cake reminds me of eating my mom’s almond sugar cookie dough raw (this is a good thing). If you like almonds, you will love this cake. Even if you don’t, you will love this cake. And it’s so easy to make, it really only takes a few minutes.
Sara happens to love this cake so much, that she literally finds it irresistible. I offer the following photo as proof:
- “So good it makes me want to lick a listeria filled beater.”
The Verdict:
What more can I say about it? Serve it with real, home-made whipped cream. If you use cool whip Sara will hunt you down and kill you. Her words, not mine.
The Recipe:
Recipe by way of Get Rich Slowly.
- 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup real butter, melted
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 teaspoons almond extract
- 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 3 Tablespoons sliced almonds (for garnish)
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar (for garnish)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Use butter wrappers to generously grease a 9″ round cake pan.
- With a mixer, blend together the sugar and melted butter.
- Add eggs, one at a time, and beat in.
- Stir in extracts.
- Add salt and flour and mix until everything is incorporated.
- Spread batter in the pan and sprinkle the top with sliced almonds and sugar.
- Bake 30-35 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Cool completely on a wire rack before removing from pan.
- Serve with homemade whipped cream (or prepare to die)
Bûche de Noël
And not just any Bûche de Noël, but one with Nutella mousse filling, chocolate ganache frosting, and meringue mushrooms!
The Reason:
Bûche de Noël is a traditional French Christmas desert, also known as a “Yule Log”. It’s part of the tradition that it is supposed to look like an actual log, one that you might throw in the hearth to warm your toes on Christmas morning.
Barb made one for me last Christmas as the grand finale to my fabulous dessert-of-the-month present, and it was absolutely amazing. So she agreed to make one for us again this Christmas. It is so rich and chocolatey, it will blow your socks off. If you remember, this was the dessert that had Evie fighting a massive chocolate coma as hard as she could, just to eat one. more. delicious. bite.
The Journey:
The cake part is pretty much the same as making a pumpkin or jelly roll: bake the cake, roll it in a towel to cool it, un-roll and put the filling on like frosting, then re-roll it.
Although the cake part is the amazing part, I don’t think the mushrooms can be beaten for visual awesomeness. It really puts the whole thing over from “good dessert” to “masterpiece”.
Pipe out the caps and stems and let them dry.
Attach the stems to the caps with a little melted chocolate so it looks like that dark underside of a mushroom.
Dust on a little cocoa for the final effect! Again, remember that the tradition is to make it look like a real log. What could be more appropriate than a couple of mushrooms growing up on the side?
The Verdict:
Oooooh, to die for! It’s a lot of work, but well worth it (especially when someone else makes it!) You technically could skip the meringue mushrooms, but who would do that?? They’re probably my favorite part. They look so awesome and realistic, and they don’t taste half bad either (although it’s hardly fair to compare them to chocolate-chocolate-chocolate cake!).
The Recipe:
There are four major parts to the recipe: the cake, the filling, the frosting and the meringue mushrooms. The ingredients are listed each in their own sub-section.
Sponge Cake:
(From Betty Crocker Cookbook, circa 1973)
- 1 cup cake flour
- 1/4 cup cocoa
- 1 tsp. baking powder
- 1/4 tsp. salt
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 tsp. vanilla
- powdered sugar for dusting
- Heat oven to 375⁰.
- Line jelly roll pan (15 1/2 x 10 1/2×1) with foil or waxed paper; grease.
- Stir together cake flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; set aside.
- In small mixer bowl beat eggs about 5 min., until very thick and lemon colored.
- Pour eggs into larger bowl, gradually beat in sugar.
- On low, blend in water and vanilla.
- Gradually add dry ingredients, beat just until smooth.
- Pour into prepared pan, bake 12-15 min.
- Loosen edges; invert on towel dusted with powdered sugar. Remove foil, roll cake and towel. Cool.
Nutella Mousse:
(combination of some Internet recipes)
- 1/2 cup Nutella
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Microwave Nutella just to soften, not warm.
- Beat heavy cream until peaks form, beat in Nutella.
- Unroll cake, spread mousse, reroll. Place seam side down, chill.
Chocolate Ganache:
(combination of several recipes)
- 6 oz. bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
- 1 cup heavy cream
- Place chocolate in bowl.
- Heat cream just to scald, pour over chocolate.
- Let stand for 5 min.
- Stir until smooth. Refrigerate until cold but not solid, stirring occasionally.
- Whip until consistency of soft butter.
- Spread on chilled cake.
Meringue Mushrooms:
(don’t remember, but not Martha Stewart)
- 1 egg white
- 1/4 cup superfine sugar
- 1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
- 1/8 tsp. vanilla
- 1/4 cup dark chocolate
- cocoa powder to dust
- Bring the egg white to room temperature.
- Beat until soft peaks begin to form.
- Slowly add sugar and cream of tartar.
- Whip until stiff peaks form and sugar is dissolved.
- Add vanilla, beat briefly to mix.
- With round nozzle on pastry/icing bag, pipe stems, standing straight up, and caps, round blobs, on parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Bake in oven at 250⁰ until dry, about 1 hr.
- Melt chocolate.
- Spread chocolate on bottom of cap, stick top of stem in center of chocolate, leave upside down to dry.
- Before arranging on or around cake, dust with cocoa powder.
Green Bean “Un-casserole”
The Reason:
I must admit, I am not a big fan of traditional green bean casserole. Actually, I am not a fan of cream-of-anything soup, which is what mars the green bean casserole for me. We’ve had this recipe for a long time, so I don’t remember exactly how we got it in the first place, but it is awesome, and I think everybody who tries it likes it. And those who don’t are probably filthy Communists*.
*I don’t actually believe Communists are any filthier than Capitalists. I meant to say filthy hippies**.
**Even though hippies do in fact tend to be filthy, how about we say “earthy” instead of “filthy”? Earthy hippies. Even hippies would be happy with that one. Except for the fact that earthy hippies would probably enjoy Green Bean Un-casserole.
The Journey:
This is just flat out delicious, however, some people see green beans and artichokes, and they won’t even try it. So, in order to prove to you how delicious (and un-healthy) this is going to be, I’m going to show you a picture of Sara drizzling oil over garlic and cheese:
Aw, what the heck, let’s throw some butter on top too.
Are you with me now?
The Verdict:
This is soooo good. I could eat it by the gallon. It was probably the best part about Thanksgiving, which is a holiday entirely centered on delicious food. In fact, it was so good, that we ended up making a second batch the next day!
The other nice thing is that the recipe is easy to scale up. So if you need to serve it in large quantities (such as for Thanksgiving), you can easily just double or triple the recipe. Or quadruple it and eat it all yourself!
The Recipe:
I’m not sure where this originally came from, so I can’t credit the source. Sara changed it a little over the years, so I’m not sure how much it even resembles the original recipe.
- ~1/2 lb. frozen green beans, semi-defrosted
- 1 14 oz. can artichoke hearts, hand-squeezed (you need to remove the water) and chopped
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- 1/4 c parmesan cheese
- 1/4 c bread crumbs
- 1 cloves garlic, pressed
–
- 2 oz French fried onions
- 1 tbsp butter
- Salt & pepper to taste
Combine 1st group of ingredients in casserole dish. Top with dots of butter and salt and pepper. Bake covered for 20 min at 400°F. Top with onions and bake uncovered for 15 min.
Homemade Yogurt and Granola Parfaits
The Reason:
When you tell people you’re making yogurt, you sound like some sort of super-hippie. But why not make your own yogurt? It’s *super* easy (as you will see below), and it’s cheaper than buying it (its about 1/2 to 1/3rd the price of buying yogurt). It’s healthy. It encourages you to eat more yogurt, which is a healthy habit. And if you’re making yogurt, you might as well make some homemade granola to go with it.
The Journey:
The craziest thing about making yogurt is how simple it is. It’s mostly just milk!
You can even save some of the yogurt from the previous batch as the culture to start the next batch, though I’ve heard that eventually the strain won’t be strong enough to continue without mixing in some fresh stuff from the store. I can’t verify that.
I will admit that making the yogurt takes a long time, but it’s not really active time. It’s not like you have to do anything during that time. It’s mostly just a matter of keeping it warm.
The granola could have been a post in its own right. Of course it gives a nice crunch to your parfait, but you can use it for anything you might use granola for. Sara eats bowls of it with milk for breakfast.
The Verdict:
It’s great. The kids love it. The thing about yogurt is that it is so versatile. You can mix in honey, vanilla, or jam. You can have it with blueberries, strawberries, or mango. You can use it to substitute for oil in baking. You can decide how much to sweeten it, and after doing this for awhile, you won’t be able to go back to the super-sweet, store-bought variety. What’s not to love?
And that’s to say nothing of the granola, which has a million uses itself, even above and beyond yogurt parfaits. Make it with almonds, make it with dried fruit. Throw whatever you want in there. Yum!
Plus, you sound impressive when you say you make your own yogurt. Nobody has to know how easy it is. That’s between you, me, and the public Internet.
The Recipe:
Yogurt
This recipe is from Stephanie O’Dae’s A Year of Slow Cooking.
- 8 cups of milk (half-gallon). We generally try for organic whole milk, but I think you could use anything (we have made it with 2% and couldn’t tell the difference).
- 1/2 cup of plain yogurt (live/active culture).
- That’s it. Seriously. Just milk and a little yogurt!
- Add the milk to the crock pot. Cook on low for 2 1/2 hours.
- Turn off the crock pot. Let it sit for 3 hours.
- Scoop out 2 cups of the warm(ish) milk from the crock pot, and mix that with the 1/2 cup of “starter” yogurt. Then put the whole thing back into the crock pot and stir.
- Cover the crock pot with towels and leave it overnight (at least 8 hours)
Maybe it’s because of the towels, which sort of force you to unwrap the thing like a present on Christmas morning, but it’s always something of a surprise / delight when you get up to find yogurt in the crock pot! For some reason, it always seems like it’s not going to work. Maybe because it’s so easy…a little TOO easy!
Granola
This recipe is from Mark Bittman, although any recipe for granola is really more of a suggestion than a recipe. So I’ll give you his recipe, but I’d say we make it a little different every time (as intended!).
- 6 cups rolled oats (not quick-cooking or instant)
- 2 cups mixed nuts (you can probably use anything, but we usually use chopped walnuts or almonds)
- 1 cup shredded coconut (optional)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 /2 to 1 cup honey or maple syrup (we usually do 1/2 cup that is a mix of honey and maple syrup)
- 1 cup chopped dried fruit (such as raisins or dried cranberries)
We usually don’t actually put in the dried fruit, since we are usually using this in yogurt parfaits. You can always throw dried fruit in when you’re going to eat it, if needed. Also, we find that the coconut really adds something. We’ve tried it with and without, but after not having it and then putting it back in, I don’t think we’ll go back to leaving it out!
- Heat the oven to 350°F. Combine everything except the dried fruit. Spread evenly on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or a little longer, stirring occasionally. The mixture should brown evenly; the browner it gets without burning, the crunchier the granola will be.
- Remove the pan from the oven and add the dried fruit (if you want to add dried fruit). Cool on a rack, stirring once in a while until the granola reaches room temperature. Transfer to a sealed container and store in the refrigerator; it will keep indefinitely.
We have also made the Spiced Granola from that page, which is the same as above, with the following additions:
- Another teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon ground anise (we usually leave this out, mostly because we don’t have any anise)
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Coconut Tres Leches Cake
The Reason:
This recipe was specifically requested by Sara. A long time ago, we had a delicious coconut tres leches cake at a restaurant, and I promised to make one for Sara’s birthday. I almost forgot, but she didn’t! So here we are.
For the record, “tres leches” is Spanish for three milks, which will be demonstrated shortly.
The Journey:
The idea here is to make a very light and fluffy cake, which will absorb the milk mixture and turn into a nice, delicious, pudding-y mush. This is all about aerating everything, and in this case it requires separating the egg whites from the yolks. This is something I have always had a lot of trouble with, until Sara showed me the trick of doing it in the actual egg shell.
Basically, you just crack the eggs in half and then dump the yolk back and forth between the shells until all of the white is out. Seriously, I’ve tried all sorts of little tools and things, and they just never work. I can’t really explain why this works better, so you’ll have to take my word on it.
After that, it’s just a lot of mixing to put air in and make it light and fluffy.
After the cake is baked, you poke holes in it and pour the milk mixture on top, to let it soak in. You’re going for that tiramisu-sort-of-texture, where everything is just soft and delicious.
Note that this picture only shows a half recipe’s worth of cake, because we made two halves and froze one. We haven’t gotten out the frozen one yet, so I can’t vouch for it, but it certainly seems like the kind of thing that will do well frozen.
I do believe we made a full batch of the whipped cream and toasted coconut, which we didn’t need since we froze half. But wait a minute, what am I saying? When do you not need more homemade whipped cream and toasted coconut??
The Verdict:
It was awesome, and specifically a nice change of pace from a regular cake.
However, it wasn’t exactly perfect. I blame myself more than the recipe. The cake itself was a little dense, and I’m not sure why. Was it the substitution of whole wheat flour? Maybe I didn’t beat eggs enough? Perhaps the holes I poked with the toothpick were not quite big enough to let the milk soak in?
I don’t know. If anybody gets better results, let me know. But these were really minor issues and didn’t take away from the deliciousness at all. I think I’m just being hard on myself. But hey, I set a certain bar with Sara’s cake last year, and I wanted to do a good job!
The Recipe:
This recipe is adapted from chow.com.
- Butter, for coating the baking dish
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (we substituted whole wheat flour)
- 6 large eggs
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
- 2/3 cup evaporated milk (not nonfat)
- 1/2 cup unsweetened canned coconut milk
- 1 tablespoon dark rum, such as Myers’s, plus more as needed
- 1 cup sweetened flaked coconut
- 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
- 1 tablespoon powdered sugar
- Preheat the oven to 325°. Grease a 13-by-9-inch glass baking dish. Whisk the flour to aerate and break up any lumps (I didn’t do this, but maybe I should have).
- Split the egg whites and yolks into separate bowls. Add the sugar to the yolks and beat on high until pale yellow, about 5 minutes. Whip the egg whites on high speed until medium peaks form, about 1 1/2 minutes.
- Gently fold the egg whites into the yolks. Sprinkle the flour over the egg mixture and gently fold it in, just until there are no more white flour streaks. (Do not overmix.)
- Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake until the cake is puffed and golden and the edges pull away from the sides of the pan, about 20 to 25 minutes.
- Meanwhile, place the three milks and the rum in a large bowl and whisk until combined.
- Remove the cake from the oven and place on a wire cooling rack. Using a toothpick or wooden skewer, poke holes all over the cake and allow to cool for 15 minutes. Pour the milk mixture evenly over the cake and continue cooling, about 45 minutes more. Tightly cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 4 hours or overnight.
- When the cake is ready to serve, spread the coconut in an even layer in a large frying pan. Toast over medium heat, stirring often, until lightly browned and fragrant, about 5 minutes. Immediately remove from the pan.
- Place the heavy cream and powdered sugar in large bowl and whisk until medium peaks form. (If you like, flavor it with a teaspoon of dark rum. We opted to go rum-free on the whipped cream.) Slice the cake and serve topped with a mound of whipped cream and a sprinkle of toasted coconut.
Cold Brewed Coffee: Update
I did a First Friday Food post about cold brewed coffee a while back, but we had an amazing discovery which deserved an update! If you use cheese cloth instead of paper coffee filters, the filtering time goes from about 2 hours to about 1 minute! We still filtered the grounds out once with a mesh strainer, but with the cheese cloth you basically just pour the coffee through, no waiting. We couldn’t tell any difference in the final product.
It’s not very often that you can so easily improve your efficiency by 6000%! In fact, doing it this way seemed easier and faster even than using a Toddy. Plus you can reuse the cheese cloth, so you don’t even have to throw away the paper filters. It certainly changes making cold brewed coffee from, “you better really like it” to “why not?”
Sweet Potato Fries
The Reason:
Sweet potato fries are delicious, not to mention healthier than regular fries. This one is double good, since you’re not actually frying the french fries in oil. Believe me, this is a much better use of sweet potatoes than those gross, marshmallow-topped dessert/vegetable dishes so popular around Thanksgiving.
The Journey:
The hardest part about this is peeling and chopping the potatoes. Sweet potatoes have a much tougher, sort of papery skin than a regular potato does, so you definitely don’t want that in there.
For my money, you want these to be pretty decent size. I guess that’s just personal preference, but they shrink up a little bit in the oven, so you want to start bigger than you want.
Once you have them chopped up, the rest is easy. Mix them in a bowl, put ‘um on a sheet, and bake ‘um.
The Verdict:
They’re great. We make these all the time, so obviously we like them. The kids love them too. It’s sort of a race to get a hold of any, since everybody gobbles them up as fast as possible.
The Recipe:
Modified from Ingrid Hoffmann’s Sweet Potato Oven Fries recipe.
- 3 large sweet potatoes, peeled and cut into strips
- 2 teaspoons olive oil (significantly reduced from original recipe!)
- 1 teaspoon paprika
- 1/2 teaspoon chili powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground coriander
- Coarse ground rock salt and freshly ground black pepper (optional, but we didn’t use any)
Preheat your oven to 450 degrees F.
Place the sweet potatoes in a large bowl and toss with olive oil until the sweet potatoes are coated. Add the paprika, chili powder, coriander, salt, and pepper; toss to distribute evenly.
Arrange the coated fries in a single layer on the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes on the lower rack until the sweet potatoes soften. Transfer the pan to the upper rack of the oven and bake 10 minutes longer, until fries are crispy.
Blue Cheese Bacon Coleslaw
The Reason:
Well, first off, I’m not sure you need a reason for Blue Cheese Bacon Coleslaw. Blue Cheese Bacon Coleslaw IS the reason. But this recipe has always been a hit, including Grandma Butterfly’s birthday, and I might also remind you that this was the #1 recipe at baconfest.
The Journey:
Well, there’s not much of a journey here. I don’t really remember why we made this the first time we made it, but you could see by looking at the recipe it was going to be good. Somehow, though, it’s even better than it looks!
I’m not even that much of a coleslaw fan, but this one I can guarantee.
The Verdict:
Awesome. Even ants love it, based on what happened when I spilled a bowl of it on our back porch and summoned every ant in a 10 block radius. They kept waiting around, hoping I would drop more, so I eventually had to poison them before they carried me back to their underground ant kingdom, to slavishly make Blue Cheese Bacon Coleslaw for the rest of my life.
The Recipe:
Recipe originally from Bon Appetit.
- 8 bacon slices, chopped
- 3/4 cup mayonnaise
- 2 tablespoons red wine vinegar
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 16 ounces purchased coleslaw mix
- 1 cup crumbled blue cheese
Make sure the bacon is nice and crisp, and then dry it on paper towels. Whisk the mayo, vinegar, and honey in a large bowl. Stir in coleslaw, cheese, and bacon. Cover and chill.
Don’t dump the coleslaw in before whisking the other ingredients or Sara will be very mad at you.
Vanilla Coconut Ice Cream
The Reason:
Well, first off, do you really need a reason to make ice cream? I don’t. But I guess if I had to have a reason, just having a nice sunny day seemed reason enough.
The Journey:
Sara heard a rumor that you could make ice cream without any cow’s milk, so we wanted to give it a try. Instead of milk, you use coconut milk, which we happen to have around the house for various reasons.
We have a human-powered “ice cream ball” that can be used to make ice cream without the use of electricity. Basically, instead of having a motor-driven paddle which mixes the ice cream, you have to do the rolling/shaking/what have you yourself. We bought it thinking that we could take it camping with us and make ice cream around the campfire. However, that never actually came to pass, because usually when we are camping we are with a big group, so this little ball doesn’t really make enough ice cream.
For just our family, it makes just the right amount, and kids are a better source of energy than electricity anyway. It gives us an excuse to be outside on a nice day, followed by a nice cold treat.
The Verdict:
Excellent! I don’t think I’d want coconut ice cream every day, but it was a nice treat. The vanilla is an important part of it, since it tones down the coconut a little bit. This would be perfect to make when camping, because it is much easier to transfer canned coconut milk than regular cow’s milk that has to be refrigerated.
The Recipe:
Recipe from Go Dairy Free.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups coconut milk (full fat)
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
Stir the coconut milk and sugar together until the sugar is dissolved. Add the salt and vanilla and freeze in an electric or hand operated ice cream freezer.
Artichoke and Walnut Pesto Pasta
The Reason:
Well, we really just needed something that was as different from pancakes as possible. This is a nice, summer-y sort of pasta salad that we have found extremely useful for potlucks.
The Journey:
I’d say one of the best parts about this recipe is that it has a lot of greens in it. Throw in whole wheat pasta and walnuts, and it’s decently healthy. Just look the other way when you put in the oil and parmesan cheese!
I’m a guy who loves me some pesto, but this pesto is really nothing like what you would traditionally consider pesto. It’s very thick and pasty, and it isn’t a basil-based pesto, so it doesn’t have that distinguishing taste.
We often make it with spinach instead of arugula, but I think the arugula does add a little more flavor. Of course, you might want to chop it up a little bit if it is too big for a bite.
This recipe makes a lot of pasta. Even when it’s gone over pretty well at potlucks, we still have a lot of leftovers afterwards. It works pretty well cold though, so it works well as something a little extra in your lunch.
The Verdict:
To be honest, I think it could use a little something extra. It doesn’t have a lot of flavor, which is maybe surprising considering how many delicious ingredients you put in it. Looking at that list, you’d expect it to be pretty flavorful. On the other hand, you have a lot of healthy ingredients in there too, so it’s a pretty good way to get a lot of greens! (parsley, arugula and artichokes)
The Recipe:
The recipe is originally from the “Rachael Ray 365: No Repeats” cookbook.
1 lb whole wheat spiral or penne pasta
4 oz. walnuts
15 oz. artichokes
1 clove garlic
zest from 1 lemon
1/4 cup parsley
1/2 cup parmesan cheese
black pepper
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
3 cups arugula (or spinach)
Cook the pasta. Combine all the rest of the ingredients except for the arugula into a food processor until a thick paste forms. Combine the warm, drained pasta, pesto and arugula into a large bowl (arugula will wilt slightly). Add pepper to taste.
Coconut Pancakes with Pineapple Sauce
The Reason:
I swear I didn’t intend to do another pancake post. I’m going to have to rename the feature to First Friday Pancakes! I planned to do an item from baconfest, but, sadly, none of the recipes were really phenomenal enough to blog about (plus the pictures didn’t turn out that well).
So here we find ourself with yet another pancake recipe, but I promise you, this is one you don’t want to miss!
The Journey:
Some people are turned off by the fact there is coconut in this recipe.Do not come in expecting super coconut flavor! This isn’t an Almond Joy. The coconut flavor is very mild, although some people don’t like the texture of coconut, so in that case I guess this might not be for you. However, I’ve served these to many self-proclaimed coconut-haters, who ultimately love these pancakes.
The other interesting part is the pineapple sauce, which you use instead of syrup. To me this is the best part. You could really put the sauce on any pancakes, but it does seem to go especially well with the coconut. The whole thing is sort of a tropical, island-y theme.
As to the pancakes themselves, they are very thick, so you have to cook them for a long time. Because of the coconut, they don’t bubble up like regular pancakes. I find it’s best to cook it for a while on one side, flip it and pat it down, cook it on the other side, and then flip it back to the first side again. Otherwise it can be difficult to make sure everything cooks through.
The Verdict:
These are HEAVENLY! I might go so far as to say these are the best pancakes I have ever had. They are also a very nice change of pace, since they are different than any of the other pancake recipes in our stable. They’re also pretty dense, and vegan to boot! What’s not to love?
The Recipe:
The recipe is originally from the “Vegan with a Vengeance” cookbook.
Coconut Pancakes:
1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 t nutmeg
1/3 cup water
1 1/4 cup soy milk
2 T maple syrup
1 t vanilla extract
2 T canola oil
1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
Mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl, followed by the wet ingredients, followed by the coconut.
If you don’t know how to cook pancakes by now, you’re coming to the wrong blog.
Pineapple Sauce:
20-oz can of crushed pineapple
2 T arrowroot powder (we substituted 2 T corn starch)
3 T sugar
1 t vanilla extract
Cook the sauce for ~7 minutes, until it thickens. Make sure you stir this a lot, or it will burn to the bottom of the pan.
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