I had plans for a cookie recipe using buckwheat flour, but Susan left me a message asking if I tried adding cocoa to the cinnamon cookie recipe, and I have to admit that I became curious. So I've left the buckwheat cookie recipe in draft mode, in favor of posting this cinnamon cocoa cookie.
Years ago, in a Mexican restaurant in Cambridge, MA, I ordered a salad and really wanted some honey mustard dressing to top it off. "No luck" said the waiter. But he did indulge me. He brought me a jar of honey and some mustard. I mixed them together at the table, and to my surprise it came out great.
After success with the red lentil soup, I wanted to see what the French green lentils would taste like. The result is a tasty, hardy soup, with a lot of character.
Happy Valentines Day, almost. And happy birthday to M! If you like cranberries, you'll appreciate this cake. It is very similar to the upside down apple cake, with the added tartness of the cranberries.
Red lentils are beautiful, almost-paper-thin, orange jewels, that turn into a delicious soup in a relatively short amount of time - about 20 minutes. Add about 10 minutes of prep time for a total of about 30 minutes to have a delicious lunch or dinner soup.
Sitting down with a tasty, cool beverage is relaxing and social (in our society). My kids love it. But they're kids and they're marketed to 24/7, so those cool looking containers catch their eye and their mind. We all love eye candy - it's not their fault. Consumers in the making. So I work hard to deflect and educate them.
I didn't realize that tart, dried cherries taste really good in scones. I've been cognizant of a bag of dried, tart cherries sitting in my pantry that I bought at Trader Joe's quite a while ago, occasionally throwing them in salads. But now they are making a play in my scone recipe.
I'm a big fan of stir-fry. There are a couple of techniques I have mastered in order to make a stir-fry in 20 minutes, or less. And that includes prep-time. Of course my definition of what constitutes a stir-fry is broad (meaning, just about anything is game).
Happy New Year! I just bought a bunch of herbs and spices (on sale). I try to use at least one or two of these in cooked and baked food. My resolution this year is to use these a lot more, and work my recipes around anti-inflammatory foods and seasonings.
This was a spur-of-the-moment recipe and it turned out well. I've only made it twice, but it's easy. This recipe is giving me ideas about making other kinds of brittle, like nut brittle, and it could also be another technique for making granola bars. Happy Holidays!
I have memories of eating deep dish pizza at Pizzeria Uno's Pizza on the Upper West Side (of NYC), where I lived for several years. Since it was on my way home while walking up Columbus Avenue, and a few blocks from the Museum of Natural History, it was an easy place to duck into for a meal.
We celebrate a lot of holidays, including Christmas and Hanukkah. And if you like to bake, the holidays are an invitation to go to town making baked goods. I'm not baking oodles of cookies as I've done in the past, but I do have an addiction need for sweet stuff. For the first night of Hanukkah, I made a simple chocolate frosted cake. Here is a quick list of holiday treats from this past year, and some even make great gifts (like the biscotti).
I've been playing around with my fluffy pancake recipe and have come up with a recipe to guarantee fluffiness. The amount of fluffiness is easily controlled and it works with any flour type, gluten-free or not. I prefer buckwheat flour - it has that hardy pancake taste without the weight of a full-on pancake. And I can eat a bunch of these with some real maple syrup and feel satisfied but not overly full and carb-loaded.
There's nothing a like a good pumpkin dog biscuit to sooth the soul.
A whoopie pie is a great treat for anyone who likes cake and frosting, and portability. These are easy to stash in a lunch bag or wrap up for later. They even taste great right out of the refrigerator. Here are two recipes for the whoopie cake, spiced and chocolate, and two frosting recipes as well - marshmallow and creamy.
There are a couple of things I like about this recipe: it can be dairy-free and still taste just the way I expect it to, it can put up with any kind of squash I have on hand, and it uses so many lovely and exotic spices, that also happen to be really fragrant (thereby spreading the most wonderful aroma through the house). One more thing - the crust stays crunchy.
Slowly but surely, I'm building a list of what I want to eat/cook for Thanksgiving. I'm testing some new ideas now, and then I'll have my tried and true recipes around to add on at the last minute. Here is one tried and true recipe, and one new one I just tried a few nights ago that was an instant success.
Happy Halloween! Here are two recipes for toasted pumpkin seeds. One with kosher salt and one with spices. Both are tasty - it just depends on how spicy you like them. And the picture of the masked duo (below) is from Halloween, circa 2002. The Spiderman movie was very popular in our house back then, and rather than have two Spidermen, S opted to balance out the representation. What a guy!
Not to be outdone by a kid, my dog developed gastrointestinal problems a few years ago. I didn't know what to think - except that maybe we were cursed. He had a limp, messy bathroom episodes, etc. So, now, our 8 year old Australian Shepherd is a dog foodie. Here is one of his favorite recipes.
These morning or breakfast sausages are consumed at almost any time of day or night. Breakfast for dinner is a great pass time. These sausages are the star of this plate, but I don't shape them into stars too often - too much work. Most of the time, they're just round and flattened.
I love green food. I always have. I was the kid who liked broccoli, spinach, squash, and brussel sprouts. My perfect quick meal is sauteed spinach with onions, olive oil, cheese, and 2 eggs. Basically the filling for Spanakopita, Greek spinach pie. Here is my version of a spinach pie using an almond flour pie crust.
This recipe serves as a muffin or bread recipe, and it calls for a few fresh oranges, or today, it was clementines. Since I'm a huge fan of clementines, as is the rest of the clan here, as soon as they appear in markets, I buy about two bags of them a week. They disappear rather quickly - about three a day for each of us, but they can be stored in the fridge to last a while longer if you find you have too many.
Out of nowhere I had a request for chicken pot pie. Before Crohn's and food issues hit us, I cannot remember ever making or buying chicken pot pie. I've made shepherd's pie, but that's about it. So, I'm not sure where the initial inspiration came from, but I thought, sure, let's do it. I'm up for the challenge.
Almond flour makes great muffins. Here is a current favorite, based on this banana bread recipe. Protein rich, gluten-free, and naturally sweetened. Geez, I sound like a commercial.
We had a birthday this week! Happy Birthday, S! This post is indulgent for many reasons, and I wanted to add it because I have always wanted to make an ice cream cake, and I finally did it, with some of my current favorite ingredients - ice cream (coconut) and brownies (protein rich, gluten-free).
This is a simple pasta dish I prepare in about 30 minutes. It's great because it can be made ahead of time, reheated, frozen, and it can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Serve with a salad and you're good to go.
This is one of our favorite "smoothies". This is really more of a slushy because I use fruit, some juice, possibly some ice, and blend away. A great cooler to have after varsity tennis practice (in our case), on a hot day, or with a spicy dish. Strawberries are still showing up here, but when they aren't, I use frozen strawberries.
Making a good cracker is no easy task when you are not using flour or other grains. Obtaining a tasty, crunchy cracker using almond flour is the goal I was after and I think I have one. These remind me of Cheez-It crackers.
This is a tasty salad that I make when I have left over salmon - although lately I purposely make salmon to create this salad. Capers, dill, lemon, and some yogurt and/or mayo, and you have the makings of a versatile salad base.
Caramelized onions go great on salads, in tarts, on pizza, crackers, casseroles, and just about anything else. They're very easy to make, and so is this savory tart. I finally broke in my larger, circular tart pan and came up with a pastry shell using almond flour and Parmesan cheese.
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