Bakeday!

The weather people promised a warm Sunday. But it's kinda' poopy outside - cloud cover with the occasional snow flake drifting down. This is baking weather!

Last night I was dreaming of cinnamon raisin toast and stumbled onto this recipe. Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Oatmeal bread? Umm, yes please!

While I was prepping my ingredients and soaking the currants (I prefer dried currants to raisins), and oats I had fond memories of making cinnamon rolls dancing in my head. Mom, my sisters and I would make oodles of cinnamon rolls from wheat berry to sink-your-teeth into these tasty confections. I do miss the assembly-line style of cooking and baking en mass so heaven help me when I start baking for just the two of us! lol.


First rise of the bread - enough for five loaves (don't worry, I freeze and give away a ton of food!)

See?


While waiting between the 3-1/2 hours of rising the bread takes I finally got around to doing something with my bag of Teff. I was up at the Natural Food Exchange a few weeks ago and noticed this grain looked like a good source of iron (something I get pretty excited about as a vegetarian). But I've never made anything with Teff so I consulted our dear Bob's Red Mill website for something creative to do with an obscure grain. Sure enough, there was a recipe I had all of the ingredients for! Carob Teff Cookies. You rock Bob!

I used my store bought Teff and my CSA barley flour in this recipe plus some honey when my molasses came up a little short. The texture of the batter was a little granular with the Teff - sort of like a coarse cornmeal had been added.



Bob says to drop the batter onto the cookie sheet in small spoonfulls. I opted to roll them into small balls instead, and I think they look much nicer out of the oven:


I'm going to sit down with a glass of Thai Tea and a couple of cookies!

Crocktober: Fresh Ham Roast

We're Fall meat shareholders with 8 o'clock Ranch out of New York state, and in this month's box we got a 2-3/4 pound fresh ham roast. I scoured the internet for a recipe for slow cooker ham roast and didn't find anything that really jumped out at me. After reading several recipes ranging from Paula Deen to Chowhound I came across a short and simple recipe involving apples and brown sugar, sounds like a perfect fall dish to me!

Recipe:
1 fresh ham
1/2 cup brown sugar
sliced apples (I used two medium and one small apple)
ceramic slow cooker

Spray the slow cooker lightly with an olive oil or vegetable oil spray. Place the ham in the bottom of the cooker and sprinkle the brown sugar over the top. Wash and slice the fresh apples and arrange around the sides of the ham. Slow cook for 8-10 hours on low or for 4-6 hours on high.

I'll be serving this with homemade mashed potatoes using the potatoes from the farm CSA box and the cooked apples.

Crocktober: Apple Butter

Making Apple Butter
Apple butter was such a delicious treat growing up! We'd spread it on peanut butter sandwiches, in peanut butter quesadillas, add it to hot oatmeal for breakfast and eat it straight out of the jar.

To make apple butter you first need apple sauce:
10-15 pounds of apples, washed, cored and chopped (your choice to peel or not)
large stock pot with 2 inches of filtered water

Bring the apples to a boil then reduce to simmer for about 20 minutes until the apples are mushy. Remove from heat and let cool, lid removed, for about half an hour or so. Using a blender, immersion blender or food processor, puree the apples into desired consistency.

Now to make apple butter:
homemade apple sauce
ceramic slow cooker (large enough to fit your quarts of applesauce)
2 tblsp. cinnamon
honey to taste (maybe a cup)
2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. allspice

Combine ingredients in the slow cooker and set on the low heat setting (8-10 hours). Apple butter needs to be cooked down, slowly, so that the liquid in the sauce evaporates. To accomplish this the lid needs to be left ajar. I used two long bamboo skewers, kabob style, to hold the lid above the seal to let the steam escape but to prevent the bubbling liquid from splattering all over the counter.

Ten hours later you should have a very thick, aromatic sauce ready for consumption! You can freeze some for later in the season, and reserve some for use over the coming week. Enjoy!

Crocktober: October 1st - Purple Rice Pudding

I love using stoneware slow cookers this time of year! Bubbling liquids, wafting aromas and big batches of produce to "put-by" for use later in the season.

Today's recipe is inspired by Judith Finlayson's The Vegetarian Slow Cooker.

What you'll need:
1-1/2 cups Thai Sticky Rice (I'm using purple)
4 cups of water
1/2 cup of sweetener (I'm using vegan cane sugar, but I'll bet honey would be awesome!)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt (optional)
1 can of coconut milk (I like Thai Kitchen's unsweetened coconut milk)
Fresh fruit and nuts for topping

I brought the water and rice to a boil in a saucepan on the stove top, boiling for two full minutes on high. Then removed it from the heat to stir in the sugar and vanilla and a tiny pinch of sea salt.

With the slow cooker setup I gave it a quick spray of cooking oil to prevent sticking and then poured the hot, purple liquid in to cook. You can cook this on either a high setting, or start it at night to cook through to morning! I bet this would make an awesome breakfast dish with a touch less sugar.

Once it has finished cooking in the slow cooker add the coconut milk and stir thoroughly. Serve with pieces of fresh or dried fruit like banana and mango and some toasted almond slivers or a sprinkling of flake/shredded coconut. Yum!

Meal Plan for Week of July 18th

It is hot, who really wants to cook in this weather? ME, ME!!

Saturday (last) night we came home from the water park and were somehow energized to make an amazing dinner that most local restaurants could never compete with. It went like this:
- fresh mango margaritas
- sweet potato fries with cilantro garlic aiello
- plantain-bean veggie burger (the SO had a traditional frozen beef burger)

Here's what is on the menu for this week:

Monday
Breakfast: Mango Yogurt Smoothie
Lunch: Mediterranean Antipasto Salad (tuna for the SO, no tuna for me)
Dinner: Ravioli from the farmers market

Tuesday
Breakfast: Bagel from farmers market
Lunch: Leftover Veggie Burger patty from Saturday night
Dinner: Corn Chowder

Wednesday
Breakfast: Cream of Buckwheat Kasha with shredded cheese
Lunch: Risotto on a bed of salad greens
Dinner: Ravioli from the farmers market

Thursday
Breakfast: Breakfast smoothie
Lunch: Leftover chowder
Dinner: BrokeAss Gourmet's Tomato Tart

Friday I am leaving open to whatever fun things come in Thursday's box of treats, aka the CSA share.

Depending on my workload here are the desserts I am planning to work into this week's cooking:
Watermelon Yogurt Ice
Key Lime Pies

Weekly Meal Plan for June 14th

I'll admit it - I have a severe lazy streak for weekday cooking. Between long days at the office and a zillion other things I like to do with my downtime cooking often gets the short end of the stick. But I love to eat. Hrrm. So this week's meal plan is all about delicious meals that can be made quickly, or can cook while I sleep or while I'm at the office.

Monday, June 12th
Breakfast - Orange-flavored Breakfast Barley with Cranberries & Pecans (from The Vegetarian Slow Cooker pg 31)
Lunch - Mango and Avocado Salad with Cilantro
Dinner - Slow cooker Cabbage Borscht (from The Vegetarian Slow Cooker)

Tuesday, June 14th
Breakfast - Wake Up Smoothie - banana, plain greek yogurt, strawberries
Lunch - Vegetarian Reuben Sandwich
Dinner - Wheat Berry Black Bean Chili (inspired by this recipe)

Wednesday, June 15th
Breakfast - Overnight oatmeal
Lunch - Vegetarian BLT (fake bacon)
Dinner - Leftover Borscht

Thursday, June 16th
Breakfast - Creamy Grits
Lunch - Chickpea Salad Sandwich
Dinner - Leftover chili

Aquapocalypse, or boiling water isn't so bad

A few days with the boil water order brought a surge of memories from the days at Casa de las Rosas on Los Tulipanes street in San Antonio Tlayacapan. 44 kilometers from the metropolis of Guadalajara this sleepy village had a year-round non-potable water issue. But this was life in San Antonio - every morning the village had the water turned on to fill the rooftop tinaco (see the black tank in the upper right at picture above) with non-potable water for bathing and laundry. Once a week we would run out to catch the agua truck and grab a few 5-gallon bottles for drinking and cooking.

With the lobster pot at a rolling boil in Stoneham, my mind was transported to Central Mexico and the daily chore of working with two different kinds of water. But my Stoneham residence is missing an avocado tree, and we don't have Marta's piping hot tortilla service down the street so I'm happy to have the order lifted and potable water running through my faucets again! How did you fair in the great "Aquapocalypse" of 2010?