vegetarian enchiladas

so, i just made this recipe for sweet potato and black bean enchiladas upon the recommendation of a coworker.

first thought – why have i never had an enchilada before?!?

more thoughts:

• the recipe takes more time than a weeknight meal should. if/when i make it again, it’s going to be a sunday evening football dinner. (ok, i’ll make it before next september, but you know what i mean. too much for an ordinary tuesday.)
• for the sauce, they want you to cook it just until hot (“then remove from heat”) but i left it there simmering away gently while i did the rest of the recipe and i think that was good. more cooking time = more flavor

• “season with salt and pepper if desired” should be “season with salt and pepper no choice about it”
• cut your potatoes small if you don’t want to be eating at 10 pm. they want you to mash them anyway, so size doesn’t matter for the final product and the smaller you cube, the faster they cook. also, i didn’t peel them, since the peel is where the good stuff is!

• no need to use a potato masher – the back of a wooden spoon does just fine and it’s one less thing to wash
• you only need eight corn tortillas. in fact, their picture only shows about eight. and i stood there in the grocery store looking at the packages… looking at the recipe… looking at the packages. and i only wanted to buy one, but it said TWO so i DID. maybe the recipe is sponsored by the corn tortilla lobby? in any case, buy only one package of eight tortillas. that’s plenty
• having said that, i didn’t quite use all the filling. i had enough leftover for a lunch-size portion, if you’re okay eating mushy, stew-y things for lunch like i am
• it needed a little longer in the oven than 15 minutes and a broil. use your judgement, but it wants to bubble a little (oven time) and brown on top (broiler time)

but in any case, YUM!

and isn’t it just the prettiest thing you’ve ever seen?

make sure you have array of toppings, like cilantro, green onion, lime, avocado, more peppers in adobo, sour cream (or plain greek yogurt), etc

who could pass up a meal like that??

beet stir fry

as part of my new mind over matter initiative to get over my dislike of certain foods (celery, i’m looking at you), i made this recipe from the new york times for stir fried beet greens with tofu and beets. (we’re not doing this half-assed, for sure.)

it didn’t matter that some were golden and some were regular since everything ended up pink!

i recommend prepping all your ingredients beforehand because the recipe moves fast and you need to be ready.

pretty, no?

like i said, i can’t wait to try this in a wok, since my frying pan was just all wrong (and barely fit all the ingredients!)

i love the color and it was quite delicious. maybe because the beets weren’t super soft the way they are when you roast them, but instead came out with a little crunch. i don’t know, but it was good and now that i have a wok, i’m definitely going to make it again.

rice bowl with tofu and vegetables

this recipe comes from the new york times and it was one of those that sounded so good, i went out and made within a day or two. and it really was quite a success. of course, i had to change a few things…

you make a yummy miso glaze to roast your tofu and peppers, and i added mushroom caps, as well, which were quite delicious. an excellent vehicle for miso glaze.

i used the kimchi as called for, and also added steamed broccoli (florets and steams) to round out this healthiest of dinners.

instead of brown rice, i used buckwheat noodles.

it was a big hit in my house. definitely going to make it again, especially because it’s infinitely adjustable to what you feel like eating and what you have in the house.

breakfast granola bar

if you’re looking for a great homemade granola bar for breakfast, this is one to try.

they’re not too sweet and only have good, healthy ingredients. there’s no white flour, white sugar, butter, oil or eggs.

pure, tasty energy.

1/2 cup pumpkin puree
1 1/2 teaspoons egg replacer and 3 tablespoons water (or one egg, if you want)
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup molasses
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 and 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
1/2 cup dried cranberries

mix together the pumpkin, the egg replacer, vanilla and molasses in one bowl, and the rest of the ingredients in another.

stir together to combine.

press mixture evenly but gently into an 8×8 glass baking dish lined with parchment paper. leave some parchment hanging over the edges so you can use it to pull the squares out.

bake at 350 until they start looking a little dry on top and feeling a little firm in the center – about 20 minutes. don’t overcook.

let cool for 10 minutes and then remove from pan and cut into squares.

recipe modified from sally.

savory oatmeal pan bread

so as you’ve probably noticed, i haven’t been blogging that much recently. my problem is that i’ve been using more actual recipes than i used to, and i felt that by not blogging about my own creations, i wasn’t being true to icf.

but then i decided, heck, it’s my blog! if i want to share and review recipes i’ve found and tested and maybe adapted, why can’t i? well, i can. let me know what you think.

recipe: savory oatmeal pan bread
from: new york times
original source

so the name is what totally grabbed me and i think i might have even exclaimed out loud. i mean, what do i love more than oatmeal? also, i’ve been trying to eat less sugar and looking into healthy savory snack options, so a non-sweet oatmeal baked good struck me as a great idea.

the only thing i didn’t like was that it was described as tasting like “good stuffing” because of the sage. as far as i’m concerned, there’s really no such thing as “good stuffing” (i know), but changing up the flavors and spices is easy to do.

first of all, i was shocked when i started putting the ingredients together and read that i had to mix the dough (batter?) for 30 minutes!? yikes. but that’s what they say, so dust off that stand mixer. and you know what happened? the oatmeal broke down a little. i guess that’s what they were going for.

also on that topic, consider waiting to preheat the oven until halfway through the mixing. especially at this time of year, i don’t need my oven cranking out 400 degrees for any extra time.

i ended up leaving the herbs out all together (on purpose – i was thinking about eating leftovers for breakfast with jam!), and i used buttermilk instead of regular. i also left out the onion because unfortunately, i didn’t have any. (did you read that right? i would have eaten bread with onion in it for breakfast with jam? indeed.) chives or green onions would be good, too.

as far as spices, i did add some freshly ground nutmeg. as i was getting ready to start mixing, i got a good whiff of the batter and decided that some nutmeg would compliment the black pepper really nicely.

as for flour, the recipe calls for whole wheat pastry flour, but let’s be honest, that’s a pretty esoteric ingredient and i wasn’t about to go out and find it just for this recipe. plus i wanted to make it NOW, not when i found the right kind of flour…

i actually have on hand a couple different kinds of flour, but the closest two were 100 percent whole wheat or unbleached cake flour. i ended up with the unbleached cake. i decided it was more important to go with the lighter/finer option over the whole wheat. whole wheat is probably for health purposes, cake flour is a technical consideration.

finally, i’m pretty sure my skillet is eight inches instead of nine, so when i plopped the dough in and it didn’t fill it, i got a little worried.

what a sad little puddle.

but i went ahead and spread it out like the recipe said.

into the oven at 400 degrees for 30 minutes until golden.

still a sad little puddle!

more like a pizza crust than cornbread-texture, which is what i was expecting.

i was so disappointed that it didn’t puff up AT ALL, and honestly, i can’t figure out what went wrong. the first thing you think about is whether your baking powder is old, but i don’t think mine is.

perhaps a flour problem? i did use cake flour instead of pastry flour, but i don’t think that would cause such trouble, either (that affects texture more than lift).

could it have been because i used buttermilk? would it have made that much difference?

maybe there was a mistake in the recipe? (another oddity: it included 3 tablespoons in the ingredient list, but only used two in the directions…)

flavor-wise, it was actually pretty nice. the dominant flavor was pepper, but it had really nice depth, too.

and you know what? the more i ate it (yes, we ate it), the more i actually liked this flat little naan-like bread. i think i’m going to have to try again, though, and stick religiously to the recipe. now it feels like a little mystery.

note! since posting this (and tweeting it at @martharshulman) the times made a correction. you beat for 30 seconds, not 30 minutes.

chippers-style morning glory muffins

when my family used to visit my grandparents in ipswich, massachusetts, breakfast always meant morning glory muffins from chippers river cafe.

you might think of “morning glory muffins” as having carrots, maybe zucchini, pineapple… all sorts of things in them.

but chippers morning glory muffins were super-duper dark bran, and had peaches in them, along with raisins and walnuts.

they were also huge – texas-sized. this was a time before people cared about this sort of thing, but a single one was probably in the high hundreds of calories. sometimes i ate two. i was also 8 and had the metabolism of a young racehorse.

unfortunately, chippers closed several years (a decade?) ago, and then my grandparents moved away. i have searched the entire internet to see if i could track down this recipe, but to no avail. so i’m trying to do my best to recreate them, and maybe even make them a little healthier along the way. (unless you have the recipe! in which case, please send immediately!)

my first try started with a fannie farmer recipe and some adjustments. it was a good start, but it turns out oat bran and wheat bran might not be the same thing… my bad!

here’s my second try, heavily adapted from the all-bran cereal box:

chippers-style morning glory muffins

1 1/4 cups whole wheat flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 cup molasses
1 egg
1 cup canned peaches in fruit juice, drained and chopped
1 cup all-bran cereal
1/3 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup applesauce or 1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 – 1 cup raisins (depending on your taste for raisins)
1/2 – 1 cup walnuts (if your household isn’t allergic to them)

preheat oven to 400 degrees. chop peaches and lightly toast walnuts, if using.

in large mixing bowl, beat egg slightly. stir in peaches, cereal, molasses, milk, vanilla, and applesauce/oil. let stand about 5 minutes while you do the next step and get your muffin pan ready. you want the cereal to soften.

(could that look any less appetizing?! hang in there.)

stir together flour, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon in a smaller bowl.

add flour mixture and rasins to egg-cereal mixture, stirring only until well combined.

(god my pictures are so crappy…)

pour into a muffin tin lined with papers.

since there’s not a lot of sweetening in the muffins, i felt ok adding a pinch of large-grained sugar to the top of each to make a crunchy topping. not traditional chippers, but something i like.

bake for about 18 minutes or until golden brown.

still not perfect. not dense, moist, or dark enough. but definitely tasty! the search goes on…

“clean” raspberry-chocolate chip banana bread

cooks and bakers around the internets use the term “clean” to refer to things that don’t use either white flour, processed sugar, eggs, dairy, some combination of these, or something else entirely.

i’m calling this recipe clean in quotes because although it doesn’t use white flour, white sugar, dairy, or animal products in the batter, i did throw in some chocolate chips. SUE ME (or leave them out).

i should probably also say here that although you might think “clean” sounds like a synonym for awful – i mean, what good can possibly come from no sugar, dairy, or meat? you are asking yourself – you might change your mind when you try this loaf.

“clean” raspberry-chocolate chip banana bread

2 cups whole wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup sugar free applesauce
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
3 mashed bananas
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup small or chopped chocolate chips (i used a mixed of white and dark)
1 cup frozen raspberries

preheat oven to 350.

mix dry ingredients in one bowl, and wet ingredients in another. (mashed bananas are “wets”)

dump wets into dries, add chocolate chips (if using) and raspberries, and mix until well combined.

spoon into a (greased) loaf pan, three small (greased) loaf pans, or muffin tins (with papers). fill each only 3/4 full.

bake about 30 minutes (for the small loaf pans. probably a little less for the muffins, or a little more for a large loaf) until a sticker comes out clean.

inspired by this recipe, and a picture i saw on pinterest.

pad thai

as promised, here is the best pad thai recipe ever.

at our cooking class in thailand, i learned a few key ingredients that really push it over the top. you’ll need to find a good asian grocery:

1. tamarind juice (or tamarind concentrate).

2. those light brown bits that you think are pieces of garlic? sweet pickled daikon radish.

3. tiny dried shrimp.

pad thai
modified from a recipe from oriental cuisine

2 tablespoons oil
1 garlic clove, minced
1 carrot, cut into match sticks
1 tablespoon sweet pickled radish or turnip, minced
1 tablespoon tiny dried shrimp
1 egg, beaten
rice noodles, softened in very warm water
1/2 cup tamarind juice (1/4 cup concentrate plus warm water)
1 teaspoon fish sauce
1 teaspoon soy sauce
2 tablespoons oyster sauce
1/2 teaspoon (or less) white sugar
bean sprouts
bok choy, blanched
firm tofu, cubed, seasoned and baked
green onion

garnish: green onion, bean sprouts, lime, peanuts

get ready, this happens quickly:

heat the oil over low heat, add garlic, carrot, dried shrimp, and radish. add the beaten egg and scramble it. mix everything well.

add the softened noodles and the tamarind juice. combine everything well.

add the soy sauce, fish sauce, oyster sauce, and sugar. mix well.

add bean sprouts, bok choy, baked tofu, and green onion, combining quickly. i also recommend having a little extra tamarind juice ready in case it’s drier than you want.

serve right away with toppings.

it was a monster success. so yummy and he raved about it. couldn’t get enough. it really tasted so authentic. i’m so pleased.

lisa’s festive puttanesca

this is a great recipe if you like sweet and tangy pasta sauce. it comes from my coworker lisa who designed it for our holiday canned-food throw down.

festive puttanesca
yield 8 servings
16 ounces bucatini or vermicelli
4 tablespoons olive oil
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 cup chopped flat-lead parsley
1/2 cup pitted, chopped green spanish or greek olives
1/2 cup pitted, chopped large black olives
4 tablespoons capers
2 teaspoons anchovy paste or one small anchovy
2 tablespoons french oregano leaves or 1 teaspoon dried
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
28 ounces canned diced tomatoes
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 grated parmesan
splash of wine or vodka

sautee garlic in olive oil for about a minute. add half the parsley, half the cranberries, olives, capers, anchovy, oregano, and red pepper.

sautee for two more minutes. add tomatoes and wine. simmer for about 5 minutes.

cook up your pasta while you do the sauce. when the pasta is done, toss with sauce.

serve with the remaining cranberries, parsley, and cheese on top.

i followed the directions… mostly :)

cranberry and walnut wheat bran muffins

as you know, i’m always in search of the perfect bran muffin.

to be honest, this is much more of a whole wheat muffin – there’s wheat bran and whole wheat flour in there, and cranberries and walnuts (at least in mine…) too – and the whole wheat really sings. (if you didn’t think that was possible, try them!)

the recipe is from hodgson mill, my wheat bran supplier, but i made a few changes.

cranberry and walnut wheat bran muffins
3/4 cup wheat bran
1/4 whole wheat flour
1 cup white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup white flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup white sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
3/4 cup milk
1 cup dried cranberries
1 cup walnuts (or maybe more, especially if you happen to be making them for my dad, a well-known walnut fiend. i added a handful to only have the batter. also, i did not toast them in advance, and i liked it better.)

in one bowl, mix flours, baking powder, and salt. in another bowl, cream sugar, butter, vanilla, egg, and milk. (that means mix them together very very well until you can’t tell the difference between all the ingredients. it helps if your butter, egg, and milk are at room temp.)

add dry ingredients and cranberries & walnuts to the wet ingredients, and mix until just combined. the batter is going to be thicker than you’re used to if you are used to making muffins.

spoon into a muffin tin with paper liners, and bake at 375 degrees for about 18-20 minutes, or until a toothpick stuck in comes out clean.

mama cooks tip: measure out your dry ingredients and sugar, and set out the stick of butter and egg the night before. that makes assembly much easier in the morning, and you’ll have hot muffins for breakfast that much sooner!