Borscht Borscht Borscht!

Yep, another soup recipe. It seems I post a lot of them. Why not? I love soup, it's tasty, filling, easy and relatively quick. My default weeknight meal is often soup or stew. Not only that, the recipes are usually fairly straightforward so I can remember what I did when I sit down (usually at work) to post the recipe. I just finished eating a bowl of leftover Borscht and realized that I haven't posted my recipe here. Beets are relatively new to my standard ingredient list. My mother hates them so I didn't have much exposure growing up (apart from the pickled beets found at picnics and parties). A year or so ago I took it upon myself to start experimenting with this funky purple root. I now use them in salads, roast veggies and, most frequently, borscht. The recipe here is based on one found in one of my favourite cookbooks: 'How it All Vegan.'

Borscht

1 Tbs Olive oil
1 med onion, diced
4 cloves garlic, finely chopped
2 large carrots, diced
2 large (4 medium beets), diced
2 cups finely shredded cabbage
1 28oz can chopped tomatoes
2 1/2 cups vegetable broth or water
pepper to taste.

Heat the oil in a large pot. Add the onions, garlic, carrots and beets and saute until the onions are translucent. Add the cabbage, tomatoes and broth and season with pepper. Bring to a boil and simmer on medium heat for about 35 min or until the beets are soft. Serve with a dollop of plain yogurt or sour cream. YUM.

Craving Lentils?

That was me yesterday, all I could think about was eating some yummy, hearty lentil soup. Weird, perhaps, but it did help me get through my flavourless Subway sub at lunch. It baffles me that Subway manages to make both bread (even their supposed whole grain variety) and vegetables absolutely tasteless. I suppose it serves me right for being too lazy to make lunch, but blech. Anyway, lentils. For whatever reason I was craving them yesterday so I went home and made up this lentil soup/stew. It turned out quite well but I think it needs some tweaking with the seasoning - likely a little veggie broth would do the trick. I'm posting it here because it was tasty and I want to remember what I did when I make it again. If you have any thoughts about the seasoning, please let me know.

A Simple Spicy Lentil Soup

1 tbs olive oil
1 large onion, diced
3 cloves garlic, minced - I love garlic, use less if you aren't so keen on it
1 large carrot, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1/2 red pepper, diced
2 tsp ground cumin
1/2 tsp coriander - I didn't have ground so used whole
2 tsp curry powder
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper - less if you don't like spicy soup
1 large potato, cubed
1 cup green lentils, rinsed
6 cups water
2 tbs Braggs - use soy or tamari sauce if you don't have braggs
2 tbs apple cider vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil over medium heat in a large pot. Saute all the veggies (except the potatoes) for 3-5 min, until the onions are soft. Mix in the spices and cook another 2 min or so. Add in the lentils, potatoes, water, Braggs, vinegar, salt and pepper and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about 45 minutes or until the lentils and potatoes are soft. Enjoy!

Gwen's Not-Quite-Vegan Bran Muffins

It's another rainy day here in Sydney so there will be no hiking (sigh). Instead I decided to get a jump on the week and bake some muffins for Scott and I to take to work. I made carrot raisin bran ones last week and they were great. Unfortunately I used up all the carrots last night, so decided to try a carrot-free version. I started in on the recipe with gusto - mixed the dry ingredients then turned to the liquids... Here I ran into a slight (major) snag - no eggs. I wasn't about to let that stop me though. I turned to my vegan cookbooks for ideas. Another snag - it seems all vegan muffin recipes call for apple sauce as an egg replacer. I do not have apple sauce on hand. I do, however, have apples. So I chopped up 2 apples and put them in a saucepan with some water to make my own apple sauce. The end result was an accidentally made up recipe and here it is.

Gwen's not-quite-vegan bran muffins (to make vegan use soy milk and replace honey with more molases)

1 cup Bran
1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 Tbs ground flax seeds
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
1 1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup molases
1/4 cup honey
3Tbs apple sauce
2 Tbs oil - I used non GMO canola
1 tsp vanila

Preheat oven to 350. Combine dry ingredients in one bowl. In a separate bowl (or large measuring cup) combine liquids. Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients and mix well. Grease a muffin tin and pour batter into it. Bake for 25-30 min, until a fork or toothpick comes out clean. Enjoy.

Oatmeal for Dinner? Why not?

I started a new Hatha yoga class after work last night. It was great - much better than the 'yogaerobics' class I tried a few weeks ago. My only complaint is the timing. The class starts at 5:45 and ends at 7:15, which means I get home at 7:30 with a very grumbly tummy. In the future, of course, I will plan ahead and have something ready.... but last night was not the future. I got home, grumbly tummy and all, to realize that there was nothing quick and easy to whip up in the fridge. Scott had prepared himself a nice grass-fed roast that took him out of the 'what to eat' equation, so I thought outside the dinner box and decided to make oatmeal. Why not, I thought, it's healthy, filling and quick. I decided to get a little creative with it to make it more substantial - here is what I did.

Dinner Oatmeal (makes 2 bowls - Scott wanted some in the end)

1 cup Oats - the slow cooking kind
2 cups Milk - soy would work fine
2 Tbs ground Hemp Seed
1 Tbs Maple Syrup
1/2 tsp Cinnamon
1/4 tsp Nutmeg
1/2 Apple, diced - I left the skin on
1/3 cup Raisins
2 Tbs Raw Pumpkin Seeds

Combine the oats, milk, maple syrup, hemp seeds, cinnamon and nutmeg in a saucepan and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 5-10 min, until you get the consistency you like. After about 2 min of simmering, add the apples so that they cook a little too. When your oats look ready to eat, stir in the raisins and pumpkin seeds. Serve and enjoy!

Yummy, Crunchy Granola

So far our favourite thing about living in Cape Breton is the proximity to so many awesome hikes and beaches. Every weekend we pack up my trusty old ugly yellow backpack with peanut butter and jam sandwiches, a baggie of gorp and a couple bottles of water and head to the hills (or the shore). I added a little slide show with some of our pictures of these adventures and will keep adding to it. Unfortunately last weekend's hike lives only in memory as the camera threw a tantrum and decided to stay in the car. Ok, I forgot to take it out of the car, which was really a shame as we did a 3-hour hike along the shore by the lighthouse in Louisbourg. Ah well, we'll go back. There are so many hikes around that we should be busy until long after the snow comes - then we'll just have to pick up some snowshoes and keep going.

Anyway, this is supposed to be a food blog, so I decided to post something hike-friendly. And really, what says outdoorsy hiking like a granola bar? This is a conglomeration/adaptation of a number of recipes I found online and ingredients I found in my kitchen. I borrowed most from the recipe found here http://runningtimes.com/blogs/?p=25. They turned out great - even held as 'bars' while not being too hard to chew.

1 cup rolled oats
1/4 cup bran
1/8 cup ground flax seed
1 cup nuts and seeds (I used hemp seeds, pumpkin seeks, sesame seeds, soy nuts and peanuts)
1/4 butter or margarine
1/4 cup honey (I'm thinking of trying agave next time)
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1/3 cup raisins
1 Tbs goji berries

Preheat Oven to 325

Combine the oats, bran, seeds and nuts in a 9x13 pan and toast for 25 min, stirring occasionally. Remove pan and increase heat to 350.

While the oats and nuts toast, combine the butter, honey and maple syrup in a small saucepan over medium heat. When the butter is melted add the peanut butter and stir until well blended.

Pour the toasted oat mixture into a large bowl. Add the raisins and goji berries. Using a wooden spoon, slowly stir in the butter mixture until evenly coated. Place the mixture into the 9x13 pan and press it firmly to form an even block (I put a piece of wax paper over the mixture so i could really press it down without getting all goopy).

Bake at 350 for 12 min (without the wax paper, of course). Place pan on a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before cutting. Cut into bars and enjoy. mmmmm

Tempeh - it's the new Tofu

Has it really been a month since I posted anything? Oops. I have no real excuse - unless laziness counts. I'll try to be more regular with this... As for your chicken shwarma request Heather, I'm afraid I can't help you out there, what with the chicken and all. I'm sure there are some good recipes online though:)

So today's lesson in vegetarian cookery involves tofu's lesser-known cousin: tempeh. It's basically a cake of fermented soy beans - sounds tasty doesn't it :)- well it is. It can be used in a lot of places you might find tofu or some other soy "meat" replacement; stews, stir fry, sandwich filling, or whatever. I like it a lot and have been experimenting with it over the past few months. I'm going to post two tempeh recipes here today (I made both yesterday, so I think I can remember what I did).

Tempeh "Chicken Salad"
This is another one of Scott's favourites. When I make this, he will actually bring a lunch to work (believe me, that is saying something).

1 cup cubed tempeh
1/2 cup mayo (vegan or not, your choice)
1 tsp mustard
1 stalk of celery, diced
1 dill pickle, diced
1/2 small red onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic
1/4 tsp cayene pepper
2 tsp Braggs* or soy sauce

Steam the tempeh for about 15 minutes. Set aside to cool. Meanwhile mix the other ingredients in a bowl. When the tempeh is cooled to room temperature, mix into other ingredients. Serve in sandwiches, pitas, wraps, or as a stand-alone salad.

*Bragg Liquid Aminos is a soy-based sauce that is often a nice replacement for soy sauce or tamari. I use it a lot.

Roasted Vegetables with Marinated Tempeh

The brussel sprouts were my inspiration for this dish. I was excited to find the mini cabbages at the co-op on Tuesday but was not sure how Scott felt about them (for some reason a lot of people dislike brussel sprouts!). I knew I had a few root veggies lying around and thought that a nice bowl of roasted veggies would be very tasty indeed. I figured Scott could 'work around' the brussel sprouts (turns out he likes them just fine). I like to make sure there is some protein in all of our meals, so decided that I would add tempeh into the mix. It turned out really well.

1 cup cubed tempeh
1 Tbs Braggs (or soy sauce)
2 tsp apple cider vinegar
1 tsp sesame oil
2-3 cups brussel sprouts
1 med sweet potato, cubed
1 med onion, cut in chunks
1/2 yellow squash, cubed
1/2 large beet, cubed
3 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
1 Tbs dried rosemary
1 tsp dried thyme
2-3 Tbs olive oil
salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to 350F. Steam the tempeh for 15 min. Mix Braggs, apple cider vinegar and sesame oil in a bowl. Mix in steamed tempeh and set aside to marinate. Using the same water, steam the brussel sprouts for about 3 min (just enough for them to turn a deeper green). Rinse the brussel sprouts under cold water after steaming them. Toss all the veggies in a large bowl with seasonings and olive oil. Mix in tempeh and remaining marinade. Transfer to a dutch oven or baking dish and cover. Bake at 375 for an hour or so, stirring a couple times.

Monday - Mustard and Muffins

There was little of culinary interest going on over the past weekend. Scott was home and it was warm and nice out, so rather than slave in the kitchen, I played outside, watched movies and played video games (yes, I'm a nerd). We ate stir fry, veggie burgers, leftovers and actually went out to eat yesterday! It is still really nice out and I am fighting the temptation to play outside some more. However, for the moment I am content with the windows open and a random play list of about 60 gigs of mp3s blasting. Oh yes, I am also enjoying an afternoon glass of wine (is that wrong? nah).

I'll start today's recipes with mustard. A couple months ago, as I scraped the last drops out of a jar of dijon, I started thinking that it couldn't really be too difficult to make mustard at home. I did a search for recipes online and found one that looked fairly straightforward and doable. I tried it out and was very happy with the results. I wouldn't really call it 'Dijon', but it is a nice spicy mustard that gets better with age. I finally ran out of my first batch this weekend, and in light of Nancy's request, I figured I would make more today and post the recipe.

Homemade Mustard (the original recipe I used is posted here)

2 Tbs mustard seeds (I used a combination of brown and yellow)
1/4 cup powdered mustard
1/4 dry white wine (use something you like to drink)
2 Tbs red wine vineagar (the original recipe calls for white, but I don't have any on hand)

Roughly grind up the mustard seeds in a spice or coffee grinder ( I use this as an excuse to clean out the coffee grinder. You could probably use a mortar and pestle just as effectively). Mix the powdered mustard and ground seeds together in a small bowl. Add wine and vineagar and mix well. Pour the mixture into a jar and seal. Pour yourself a glass of wine:). Leave the jar on the counter overnight then refrigerate for at least 2 days before using.

My other project today is to make homemade English muffins. This is a work in progress, so I'm not going to post the recipe yet. So much for not making bread the 'old fashioned' way. My counter is covered in flour and my hands are tired from kneeding.... If all goes well, I'll update the blog later (and bring some samples to the co-op tomorrow).

What I'm actually cooking today

Now that I have placated Steph, I'll move on to the business at hand - namely tonight's dinner. We're having falafels tonight. Yum Yum. We often have falafels on Tuesday or Wednesday because I get fresh pitas at the co-op on Tuesday. It will likely become apparent that my menus are largely based around what I pick up at the co-op on any given day. So I have fresh(ish) pita. Step one. Step two involves soaking and boiling chick peas. I could use canned, and to be perfectly honest, I often do, but I also want to make hummus this week, so I started soaking some last night. Step three is the tricky one - tahini. Why is this tricky? Well, mostly because I am fussy about tahini. I don't really like the brand we are carrying at the co-op right now. Had I any foresight, I would have picked some up at the Stop 'n' Shop (yes, this is the name of the major grocery store chain here) on Saturday, but I didn't. So, on a whim yesterday afternoon, I decided that it really can't be hard to make ones own tahini - I bought a big bag of sesame seeds to try it out. I think it turned out well. Granted, I have not yet made the tahini sauce for the falafels, but it tastes right when i dip my finger in it. If it sucks, I will amend this post later.

Ok, to the recipes. I will start with my experimental homemade tahini.

Tahini

2 cups sesame seeds
1 cup canola oil (you could probably play around with different oils for slightly different flavours... but I played it safe my first time around)

Preheat the oven to 340. Spread the sesame seeds on a baking sheet and bake for about 15 min. Stir the seeds every couple minutes so they roast evenly. Remove from oven and allow the seeds to cool for a few minutes. Using an immersion blender or food processor on high speed, blend the seeds with 1/2 cup of oil for a minute or so. Scrape the edges and add the other 1/2 cup of oil. Blend until you have a smooth, even paste. Put into an airtight jar or container and refrigerate.

And now for the main event (I know some of you *Nancy* have been waiting awhile for me to get around to typing this out)..... Thanks to Florence for this recipe!

Falafel

1 can Chick Peas drained and rinsed (about 2 cups cooked)
1 medium onion
2 Tbs parsley
3 Tbs flour
1 Tbs baking powder
1/4 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp corriander
1/4 tsp tumeric
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1 egg
pepper to taste

Whirr all these ingredients in a food processor. Heat a lightly oiled pan to med-high and drop the mixture in by the spoonful. Cook until browned and flip over to brown the other side. Serve in a pita with tahini sauce, lettuce, tomato and sliced dill pickle (or whatever dressings you like).

Tahini Sauce

1/2 cup tahini paste
1/3 cup lemon juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup water
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cayenne pepper
1/4 tsp salt

Whirr all these ingredients in a food processor until smooth. If you wish to thin it down just add a little more water or lemon juice.

Bread you say?

Well Steph, considering you are my first official commentator, I will post my mom's bread recipe. This makes 8 (yes eight) loaves of tasty white bread. It's basically an all-day affair and I have to admit that I haven't made this bread in a couple years. I've become far too accustomed to the ease of my bread maker to make bread the 'old fashioned' way. Plus, what are two people to do with eight loaves and an already full freezer? This bread is tasty, so if you have the time and enough friends and family to share it with, go for it.

Mom's Bread

2/3 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1 pkg yeast
3/4 cup margarine
4 cups boiling water
4 cups cool water
4 tsp salt
20 cups flour (5 lbs)

Mix 1/2 cup water and sugar in a small bowl. Sprinkle the yeast on top of the mixture and set aside. Put the margarine in a large pot and pour the boiling water on top. Add the salt and mix. Add the remaining 4 cups of cool water so that the mixture is lukewarm. Mix in the original yeast mixture. Slowly add the flour and keep mixing (use a wooden spoon). Place the dough on a floured counter and kneed it until it becomes a smooth ball (you may need to add extra flour if it is too sticky). Fill the pot with water to soak - clean the pot out. Grease the pot and put the dough back in it. Cover with a tea towel and let it rise for an hour and a half. Punch the dough in the pot and place back on the counter. Break into 8 loaves - cover with tea towels. Let rise for another 40 minutes. Put the dough into greased loaf pans. Bake at 375 for 10 minutes then turn the oven down to 350 and continue baking another 45-50 minutes. Tap on the loaves - if they sound hollow, they are done.

It begins.... with pea soup on a snowy evening

Ok, so after months of talking about it, I've decided to join the world of bloggers. I'm thinking this will be mostly about cooking and recipes, though I'm sure unrelated rants and observations will also find a home here. I may also end up posting things about knitting, as I seem to be doing a lot of that these days too.

If you are reading this, you probably know me... but I'm going to introduce myself anyway. I am Canadian, currently living in New Jersey because of my husbands work. I'm not able to work here, so I spend my time volunteering at a local health food store, cooking, reading, knitting, learning yoga, and trying to do all the other things I never had time for when I was working full-time. I've been a pescatarian (sometime fish and seafood-eating vegetarian) for 19 years and have always loved cooking and experimenting in the kitchen.

It's snowing here today. The nice fluffy kind that makes the trees look like a postcard. Yoga and choir are cancelled tonight because they can't handle snow down here. So I found myself with a free afternoon and evening. I decided that such weather deserves comfort food and these days comfort food seems to take the form of either a soup, a stew or a casserole. I opened the pantry and the first thing that caught my eye was a jar of mixed green and yellow split peas. Pea soup, I thought, mmmmm. After flipping through a few cookbooks and reading a few recipes online I came up with a general idea for my soup (I rarely stick to just one recipe). The soup was a hit - Scott claims it is the best pea soup he's ever tasted. Here is what I came up with:

Pea Soup
1 cup dried mixed yellow and green split peas
1 yellow onion
1 large carrot
2 stalks celery
1 med-large potato, cut into small cubes
1 Tbs olive oil
5 cups water
1 no-salt vegetarian bouillon cube
2 bay leaves
salt and pepper

Rinse the peas with cold water and set aside. Chop up the onions, carrots and celery and saute in oil with a little salt and pepper until the onions are soft (3-5 min or so). Add the water, bouillon cube, peas and bay leaves and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Add the potato and cover. Allow to cook, stirring frequently (so that the soup doesn't burn to the bottom of the pot) for another 35-40 minutes. When it is ready the peas should be soft and the potatoes mostly dissolved. Remove the bay leaves, season with salt and pepper and enjoy!