Food + Foto Week 2 Caramel Apples

The treats are completely nonbake! I used a small teaspoon to scoop out round, bite size bits of Granny Smith apples. I stuck a little skewer in the top and dipped it into the dairy free caramel I made in the blender.

Ella is wearing a shirt and hair hankie from the 60’s! The shirt is hand sewn with a metal zipper closure in the back. The tray on under the caramel apples is vintage as well, though I’m not sure of the time frame. It’s not plastic, not glass. It seems to be a heavy duty cardboard covered in a very sturdy clear varnish. The print is peeling up in a few areas, so I’m really careful with it but I feel it adds to the charm of the tray.

Dairy Free Caramel Sauce

1 cup chopped soft dates
Hot water
1 lemon
Coconut milk (or almond would work as well)
Maple syrup
Scant 1/4 teaspoon cornstarch
Salt to taste

Soak chopped dates in just enough hot water to cover. Add lemon juice. This gives a bit of a zing.

After an hour, drain dates and toss into the blender with a splash of milk of choice and maple syrup. Blend on high speed until mixture is completely smooth — about 4 minutes. You may need to stop and scrape down the sides occasionally.

Add a dash of salt, blend again and retaste. Salt invokes the idea of caramel.

If the sauce is too thin, add a little less than a 1/4 teaspoon of cornstarch to thicken things up!

 

Check out more photos from week two here

Pan-Roasted Cauliflower

This is so so so amazing. The kids went to bed late last night because Aaron stood over the pan and ate it with his fingers after dinner! I was going to take a picture but everything was gone before I got a chance. I did leave out the garlic slices as I was worried the tomato/garlic combo would push Aaron’s heartburn over the edge. It was still fabulous!

I wonder if you could freeze it before you popped the veggies into the oven? You could prep a bunch at once and then have a quick and easy side dish waiting in your freezer. Actually, if I was being honest, this could be my main dish with a small spinach salad on the side!

I suggest you go over to Craving Greens for a photo tutorial on how to prepare this delicious dish.

2 tbsp raisins
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 head cauliflower, cut into florets (4 cups)
1 tsp cane sugar
1 large can diced tomatoes with their juices
Pinch of crushed red pepper
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/4 cup chopped pecans
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
1/4 cup chopped cilantro
1 1/2 tbsp fresh lemon juice

Preheat the oven to 350°. In a small bowl, cover the raisins with water. Let stand until softened, about 10 minutes. Drain.

Meanwhile, in a large ovenproof skillet, heat the oil. Add the cauliflower and cane sugar and cook over moderately low heat, stirring, until the cauliflower starts to soften, about 10 minutes.
Raise the heat to moderate and cook until the cauliflower is lightly browned, about 5 minutes longer. Stir in the tomatoes and crushed red pepper, season with salt and black pepper and cook another 5 minutes.
Add the raisins, the pecans and the chopped garlic to the cauliflower. Transfer the skillet to the oven and bake for about 30 minutes, until the cauliflower is very tender. Stir in the cilantro and lemon juice and let stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. Serve the cauliflower warm.

Serves 6.

Meal Plan Insanity

It was like the children’s book “If You Give A Mouse A Cookie”…

At first, my plan was to list out all the meals we eat regularly so that it would lessen my hate of meal planning. Then I decided to link up to recipes I had online. Before I knew it, it seemed like a fabulous idea to type up all the recipes in the cookbooks so that I could quit splattering them while I cooked.

But why stop there?

I’m now going to turn the master list of meals into as many weeks worth of meal plans as I can. After that, I’ll write up grocery lists for for those weeks on an editable spreadsheet so that I can add or subtract items with ease.

Oh, it’s color coded as well.

Yes, I’m crazy but I really hope that at the end of all this, I’ll have a much easier time of meal planning. I can recycle all the meal plans until the weather turns hot again when soup and baked oven dishes aren’t welcome.

How about you? Do you meal plan?

Amazing Naan

We love love LOVE naan. This fabulous flat bread just melts in the mouth and you’d be hard pressed to come up with a meal it didn’t go well with. We particularly love it with soup or hummus. Yum!

Amazing Naan

* 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
* 1 cup warm water
* 1/4 cup white sugar
* 3 tablespoons milk
* 1 egg, beaten
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 1/2 tsp baking soda
* 4 1/2 cups bread flour
* 1/4 cup butter, melted

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast in warm water. Let stand about 10 minutes, until frothy. Stir in sugar, milk, egg, salt, and enough flour to make a soft dough. Knead for 6 to 8 minutes on a lightly floured surface, or until smooth. Place dough in a well oiled bowl, cover with a damp cloth, and set aside to rise. Let it rise 1 hour, until the dough has doubled in volume.

2. Punch down dough. Pinch off small handfuls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Roll into balls, and place on a tray. Cover with a towel, and allow to rise until doubled in size, about 30 minutes.

3. During the second rising, preheat grill to high heat.

4. At grill side, roll one ball of dough out into a thin circle. Lightly oil grill. Place dough on grill, and cook for 2 to 3 minutes, or until puffy and lightly browned. Brush uncooked side with butter, and turn over. Brush cooked side with butter, and cook until browned, another 2 to 4 minutes. Remove from grill, and continue the process until all the naan has been prepared.

Personal note: I’ve found that I like the bread better if I cook it indoors in a hot skillet. I’m able to keep a lid on it while it cooks, which allows the bread to maintain a more tender texture.

Asian Spaghetti

Tasty and so versatile! It really doesn’t matter what you put in it — I’ve found it’s the sauce that makes all the difference.

1 pound pasta (I used Udon noodles, a Japanese rice noodle, but you could use regular spaghetti)
2 pounds vegetables — cut for stir-fry (I used green beans, carrots, red onion, eggplant)
1 TB ginger root — minced
2 cloves garlic — minced or pressed
4 eggs, scrambled — reconstituted (or use seitan, marinated tofu, chicken, or grilled Portobello mushrooms)
1/2 cup water broth
1/4 cup soy sauce
1/4 cup dry sherry — (or non-alcoholic alternative)
1 tablespoon sugar — (or alternative)
2 teaspoons cornstarch

While the pasta cooks in a large pot of boiling water, steam-fry the stir-fry vegetables, ginger, and garlic in a large, very hot, nonstick wok or skillet. Steam-fry just until the vegetables are crisp-tender, adding the choice of protein at the end.

Mix together the water, soy sauce, sherry, sugar, and cornstarch. Pour into the pan and stir until thickened. Drain the pasta and add to the pan. Toss to mix well and serve.

Summer Feast

Well, it’s a summer feast for me. No one in the family would try the salad and Aaron couldn’t be paid enough to eat watermelon. For me? It was the perfect lunch combination of crisp, salty, and sweet. Ideal for a summer picnic in the early evening.

Asian Inspired Salad
(from Veganomicon)

Dressing:
2 TB toasted sesame oil
1 TB rice vinegar (or another very mellow vinegar)
2 ts soy sauce

Salad:

2 cups frozen, shelled edamame
1 cup fresh corn (I used 2 ears of fresh sweet corn)
2 TB toasted sesame seeds
Generous pinch of salt.

While a large pot of water comes to a boil, combine dressing ingredients in a medium bowl with a whisk.

Boil edamame for 3 minutes then add corn for another 2. Drain in a colander and rinse with cold water until the vegetables are cool enough to handle. Add to the dressing and combine. Add sesame seeds and salt to taste. Cover then chill for at least 15 minutes.

It’s even better the second day!

Homemade Poptarts

Homemade poptarts. AMAZING. Melt in your mouth good. Mouth watering. I filled them with “Fruit of the Forest” preserves, which had whole cherries (om nom nom) and made the recipe with half whole wheat to give it a more nutty texture. Amazing. Delicious. Aaron loves them but wants me to add some sort of glaze or frosting to the next batch. bleck. Not sure if I will. I jokingly asked if he needed sprinkles added, too. lol

The next time I make these, I’m going to do it in a two day stint. I’ll mix up a double batch of of crust since it’s the same amount of work for a single or double batch. It can sit in the fridge overnight and I’ll use the next day’s naptime to roll out two different types. One will be black current preserves for me to enjoy and I think the other will be filled with chocolate peanut butter with bits of marshmallow fluff for the husband.

Recipe and directions can be found here.

Blueberry Muffins

These muffins were simply divine. Light, with a hint of citrus and not too sweet to indulge in for breakfast. Best of all, they are vegan so you can lick the bowl without fear of salmonella!

Blueberry Lime Muffins
created by Dallas Ann Prentice

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar (I used a touch less)
1 cup water
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 tablespoon white distilled vinegar
1 1/2 cups fresh blueberries, picked over to remove stems
Additional flour for coating berries.

Preheat oven to 400. Grease muffin tins.

Combine flour, salt, and baking soda. In another bowl, beat together sugar, water, oil, vanilla and lime juice. Add dry ingredients. Toss blueberries with a bit of additional flour. This prevents the berries from sinking to the bottom of your muffin tins as they bake! Gently fold in floured berries and vinegar.

Scoop batter into prepared tins and bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely in tins before removal. Otherwise they’ll crumble a bit, which I guess is okay if you intend to eat them piping hot like Ella and I did.

Makes 12 muffins which may or may not all be gone within 24 hours of creation.