shadowspar: Pic of rolling pin and dough w/ caption "That's how I roll" (that's how I roll)
Tuesday, May 12th, 2015 22:20

Welp...one of the few recipes that we use all the time that hadn't been on this blog is this one for chocolate zucchini cake. I originally found it here, and would just link people to it...except that that whole damn site is now dead of linkrot. So....

Recipe... )
shadowspar: Pic of rolling pin and dough w/ caption "That's how I roll" (that's how I roll)
Saturday, March 17th, 2012 22:56

Ok, so, I made this tonight: an interesting crustless cheesecake that doesn't taste anywhere near as much like white chocolate as one might think.

Cheesecake:

  • 2 ea 250g pkg cream cheese, softened
  • ⅓ cup sugar
  • 1 tsp lemon juice
  • 6 sq Baker's white chocolate (total 170g), melted
  • ¾ cup sour cream
  • 2 ea eggs (we used powdered egg replacer; it worked well)
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Topping:

  • 1 cup sour cream
  • 2 tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 450℉.

Beat cream cheese, sugar and lemon juice together until smooth. Add melted white chocolate, sour cream, eggs and vanilla. Beat until well combined.

Pour batter into a lightly greased 8½" springform pan. Bake at 450℉ for 10 minutes, then reduce heat to 250℉ and bake 30-35min more. Beat together topping ingredients, spread over cheesecake, and return to oven for 5 more minutes.

After removing, run a knife around the sides of the cheesecake; let cool completely before removing sides of springform pan.

Refrigerate at least 5 hours and preferably overnight. Optional garnishes: white/chocolate curls, fruit, fruit coulis.


That being said, it was good, but nowhere near as fantabulous as this relatively-easy no-bake chocolate cheesecake we made earlier in the week. I used some leftover oreo crumbs we had on hand in place of the crushed-up digestives, and the result was highly awesome. That's going to be my go-to cheesecake recipe from this point forward.

shadowspar: Pic of rolling pin and dough w/ caption "That's how I roll" (that's how I roll)
Saturday, August 6th, 2011 13:27

(Originally from Health & Wellness magazine.)

  • 1 cup quinoa
  • 2 cups orange or pineapple juice
  • ½ cup carrot, diced
  • ½ cup red onion, diced
  • 1 cup cucumber (~ ⅔ of an english cucumber)
  • 1 ea red or green pepper, diced
  • ½ cup celery, diced
  • ¼ cup fresh coriander, chopped
  • ¼ cup fresh mint
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • salt/pepper to taste
  1. Rinse quinoa, combine with juice, bring to a boil. Reduce heat & simmer, covered, until liquid is absorbed; ~15-20min. Let cool.
  2. Combine everything; adjust seasoning. Chill & serve.
shadowspar: Pic of rolling pin and dough w/ caption "That's how I roll" (that's how I roll)
Saturday, August 6th, 2011 13:09
  • Dressing
    • 2 tablespoons white or red balsamic vinegar
    • 2 tablespoons olive oil
    • ½ teaspoon salt
    • ⅛ teaspoon pepper
    • 1 garlic clove, minced
  • Salad
    • 1 cup dried lentils, sorted, rinsed
    • 2 bell peppers, quartered lengthwise
    • ¼ cup sliced green onions
    • 2 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil
    • 4 leaves of leaf lettuce (optional garnish)
    • 2 oz. (1/2 cup) crumbled feta cheese

Procedure:

  1. In small nonmetal bowl, combine all dressing ingredients; blend well. Refrigerate.
  2. Heat grill. In medium saucepan, combine lentils and 3 cups of water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and simmer 15 to 20 minutes or until lentils are tender but not mushy. Drain; rinse with cold water to cool. Drain well.
  3. Place peppers on gas grill over medium heat or on charcoal grill 4 to 6 inches from medium coals. Cook 4 to 6 minutes or until crisp-tender and grill-marked, turning occasionally. Alternatively, roast peppers in a 400℉ oven. Remove peppers from grill; let stand until cool enough to handle.
  4. Optional: peel skins off of the peppers. This will go more easily if you put them into a sealed container after removing them from the grill or oven; the residual heat & moisture helps "sweat" the skins off.
  5. Cut peppers into 1/2 inch pieces.
  6. In large bowl, combine cooked lentils, bell peppers, onions and basil. Pour dressing over salad; toss gently to coat.
  7. To serve, line individual plates with lettuce. Spoon salad onto lettuce. Top with cheese.

Makes 4 (1 cup) servings.

shadowspar: Pic of rolling pin and dough w/ caption "That's how I roll" (that's how I roll)
Saturday, July 30th, 2011 22:15

When we lived in Victoria, we were part of a CSA called Share Organics. One of the nice things they included along with your weekly box of veggies was a list of recipes for anything that might be unusual or unfamiliar. This was one of the ones we got with our first bunch of kale. Simple but very tasty.

Pasta with Kale and Feta

Sauté over medium heat in a deep skillet:

  • 3 Tbsp. olive oil
  • 2 cups chopped onions
  • 1 large garlic clove minced

Add, cover and cook over low heat for 10 minutes:

  • 1 bunch kale chopped
Meanwhile cook in boiling water until al dente:
  • 1/2 lb short substantial pasta such as penne, shells, fusilli

Add to sauté:

  • 1/4 to 1/2 lb feta cheese, crumbled

Lightly drain pasta and add to sauté. Mix thoroughly and cook on low for a few minutes longer. Serve with black pepper.

shadowspar: An angry anime swordswoman, looking as though about to smash something (Default)
Sunday, February 27th, 2011 22:57

This is a hand-me-down recipe from my Papa (grandfather). Not only it is one of the best damn desserts going, it's hands-down the easiest, too; even easier than boxed pudding mix from the grocery store. Best of all, it lets you make something awesome out of the godawful strawberries we get during winter in the Great White North, bereft as they are of any hint of sweetness after their multi-thousand kilometer journey here.

So easy, it's hardly even a recipe:

  • Wash, clean, and dry strawberries; slice them into a bowl.
  • Dredge them in sugar: generously dust with granulated sugar, toss to mix, and dust again.
  • Set them aside for a half hour or longer. The sugar makes the juices leach out of the strawberries, yielding a sort of strawberry syrup.
  • Throw in a few dollops of sour cream (14% preferably) and stir the whole mess together.
  • Divvy up into bowls & serve.

The timing on this often works well at dinnertime: slice & sugar the strawberries while the main course finishes cooking, and by the time the end of the meal rolls around, you're ready to lob in the sour cream and dish it up. If you want to turn down the fat numbers, better to go with a mild yogurt than some of the nasty reduced-fat "sour cream product" that lurks on supermarket shelves. Here, we just recently got a wonderful 2% yogurt that's almost as good in this recipe as full-fat sour cream, at least in my estimation.

shadowspar: Pic of rolling pin and dough w/ caption "That's how I roll" (that's how I roll)
Thursday, February 10th, 2011 21:57

How have I not posted this yet? I DON'T EVEN KNOW.

This is a great warming recipe for winter. It's thick enough, especially after a night in the fridge, that I like to serve it over rice like curry.

It's from the Rebar Cookbook, the best cookbook in the history of forever. Go buy it, and be sure to go eat at Rebar if you're ever in Victoria, BC, Canada. Trust me, you won't regret either decision.

Greek Red Lentil soup

  • 2 cups red lentils, sorted, rinsed
  • 2 tbsp olive oil
  • 1 ea large yellow onion
  • 2 tsp salt
  • 8 cloves garlic
  • 2 ea carrots, diced
  • 1 tsp cracked black pepper
  • ¼ tsp red chile flakes
  • 1 tbsp minced rosemary
  • 2 tbsp minced oregano
  • 2 ea bay leaves
  • 8 cups vegetable stock
  • zest of ½ lemon
  • juice of 2 lemons
  • 1 cup crumbled feta cheese
  • 2 tsp minced rosemary
  • additional cracked black pepper to taste

Sauté onion with 1tsp salt until translucent. Add garlic, carrot, pepper, chile flakes, herbs, bay leaves & remaining salt. Stir well & sauté until the until the carrots are just tender. Add lentils & stock; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and cook until the lentils are soft and falling apart.

Remove bay leaves. The soup can be puréed or left as is.

Season the soup with lemon zest, lemon juice, salt & pepper to taste. Before serving, stir together the feta cheese + 2tsp rosemary. Sprinkle over hot bowls of soup & serve.

ETA: Two things re this:

  • The herb measures listed up there are for fresh herbs. We usually end up with fresh rosemary, but never fresh oregano -- swapping it out for 2tsp of dried instead seems to give a good result. =)
  • Just a heads-up: how lemon-y the soup gets can be highly variable, depending on how large/sour/juicy the lemons you get are, and how aggressively you zest and juice them. I've ended up giving myself a big lemony punch in the face by dumping all the lemon materiel in without tasting, so, uh, maybe don't do that if that's not the kind of thing you enjoy. ^_^;;
shadowspar: Pic of rolling pin and dough w/ caption "That's how I roll" (that's how I roll)
Monday, February 7th, 2011 19:25

Iridōfu is a homestyle Japanese dish of crumbled tōfu stir-fried with various additions. Maki's recipe has quickly become one of my favourites, but I like to make it quite a bit stronger since I'm generally eating it with a fair deal of rice. Essentially, I double the seasoning components and substitute out the ingredients that I don't often have on hand or can't get easily here in the Sault. This winds up giving a recipe something like this...

Read more... )
shadowspar: Pic of rolling pin and dough w/ caption "That's how I roll" (that's how I roll)
Saturday, January 8th, 2011 11:42

Made a veganized version of these this morning and they turned out very nicely. Subbed Earth Balance out for the butter (first time baking with it; it's neat stuff, eh?) and ¾ cup soymilk + ¾ tbsp cider vinegar for the buttermilk.

Left out the dried fruit because we didn't have any on hand, but even with only ½ cup of chocolate chips, they were still quite busy. I can see these being repeated for a nice breakfast treat at home or work; they're relatively quick to make, and much less sickly than store-bought doughnuts or pastries.

Joy of Baking: Chocolate Chip Scones

shadowspar: Pic of rolling pin and dough w/ caption "That's how I roll" (that's how I roll)
Saturday, October 9th, 2010 09:42

This one's become so much of a ritual that I can pretty much recite it by now.

  • ½ cup unbleached AP flour
  • ¼ cup whole wheat flour
  • ½ cup buckwheat flour
  • 1 tsp baking powder
  • ½ tsp baking soda
  • ½ tsp salt (omittable)
  • 2 eggs (we use Kingsmill powdered egg replacer in lieu)
  • 1½ cups buttermilk (or, using the standard "mock buttermilk" formula, 1½cups milk + 1½tbsp vinegar or lemon juice. soymilk works in this formulation too)
  • 2 tbsp fancy molasses (or, if you never have it either, 2 tbsp of dark brown sugar makes a nice sub)

Standard pastry drill: mix dry, mix wet, wet into dry. These turn out a bit denser than garden variety pancakes, so I like to cook them a bit longer at a bit lower temp. They're a great platform for funky stuff like cranberry butter as well as the more traditional maple syrup.

shadowspar: An angry anime swordswoman, looking as though about to smash something (Default)
Sunday, April 11th, 2010 22:13

We're vegetarian, I'm lactose-intolerant, and my youngest daughter is allergic to eggs, so vegan food makes with the happy for us. Birthdays get interesting, since the requisite centerpiece cake is problematic: most any bog-standard cake contains eggs, and we can't dodge the issue with an ice-cream cake either.

What we do (and we're not the first to have done this) is to take one of the basic cupcake recipes from the excellent Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and turn it into a cake.

Recipes follow... )