Apple Upside-Down Cake

This tasty little cake won 2nd place in the 2nd Annual Apple Bake Off at the UVic Geography Department. Yeah.

Caramel-apple topping (bottoming?):
1/2 c brown sugar
2 T margarine, melted
3 c baking apples, very thinly sliced (1-2 large)
1/2 c pecans or walnuts, chopped

Cake:
1 1/2 c unbleached white flour
3/4 c cane sugar
2 1/2 t baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1 c soy milk
1/4 c oil
1 T apple cider vinegar
1 t vanilla

Preheat over to 350F.
Oil the sides of a 9" cake pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.
Mix dry cake ingredients in a medium mixing bowl, set aside.
Mix wet cake ingredients, set aside and let sit for a couple of minutes.
Combine hot melted margarine and brown sugar. Spread this caramel mixture over the bottom of the cake pan.
Arrange apples in a pretty pattern on top of caramel. Top with nuts.
Combine wet and dry cake ingredients, stirring just to mix.
Pour cake batter over apples, use a spatula to gently spread the batter evenly over the apples.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until the cake tests done in the middle.
Let cool on a wire rack for at least 10 minutes before removing from the cake pan.

Notes on a "healthier" version:
This morning I made a somewhat healthier version of this cake for breakfast. I replaced 1 c of the white flour with whole wheat flour and reduced the sugar in the cake batter to 1/2 c. I also added an extra cup of apple slices and tried substituting water for margarine in the caramel sauce. It turned out tasty and still quite sweet, however, the caramel sauce stayed thin and ended up making the cake a little soggy in the middle.

Potato Gnocchi

These are exceedingly simple little pasta-like dumplings. The only hard part is deciding how you want to shape them. Serve them with any sauce you would normally have with pasta: pesto, marinara, oil and balsamic vinegar, etc. We had them with an exciting dandelion-greens sauce that Jennie made.

2 lbs russet potatoes, peeled
Salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 to 1 3/4 c unbleached white flour

Bake, boil or steam the potatoes until they are all soft. Make sure they cook evenly (we had problems with some less-cooked chunks sticking around).
While they are still hot, mash potatoes with salt and pepper.
Gradually add flour, stirring until you have sticky blob (sounds tasty, eh?).
Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
Knead dough for about 3 minutes, adding more flour if the dough is too sticky to handle.
Pat dough into a rectangle, cut into long strips about an inch wide.
Roll strips into thick ropes (like you're playing with clay), cut into 1/2 inch thick cylinders.
Now the really fun part: decide how you want to shape the gnocchi. We followed a cookbook's directions and pressed the dough between a thumb and fork. They turned out a little funny looking, but that didn't stop them from tasting good!
Drop gnocchi into a pot of boiling salted water in batches small enough that the pot won't be too crowded.
Gnocchi are done when they float to the top.
Drain cooked gnocchi in a colander. If you're making a big batch, you may want to pour a little oil over the waiting gnocchi to keep them from sticking.

This recipe served three of us, but should be good for at least four if Branden isn't there.

Blueberry Crumble

A lovely summery crumble. The addition of pecans in the topping makes it even more special.

Filling:
4 c blueberries
2 T lemon juice
2 T flour
2 T cane sugar
1/2 t vanilla

Topping:
1/4 C margarine, melted
1/3 C brown sugar
3/4 C flour
3/4 C quick-cooking oats
1/3 C pecans, finely chopped
1/4 t salt
1/8 t each allspice and cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350F.
Toss blueberries with remaining filling ingredients until coated.
Place blueberry mixture in a pie pan.
Combine margarine and sugar. Add remaining topping ingredients and mix until an even, but still coarse, texture is reached.
Spread topping evenly over blueberries.
Bake for 40 minutes, or until lightly browned on top.

Mushroom-Bean Burgers

These turned out as delectable delicate patties. They don't hold together as well as some patties, but they make a delicious meal nonetheless, soft and almost creamy inside, crispy outside. I ate them all as main courses, with goddess dressing for gravy and some yummy veggie sides, but I'm sure they'd make great sandwiches too. I might try a curried version of these in the future.

5 c cooked black eyed peas
1 med white onion, finely diced
2 c portabella mushrooms, finely diced (3 small mushrooms)
1/2 c celery, finely diced (2 small stalks)
1 c parsley, finely diced
1 med carrot, grated
2 T flour
1/4 c oats
1/4 c sunflower seeds
2-3 T nutritional yeast
Salt, pepper, cayenne, paprika, and braggs, to taste
Mild olive oil

While the beans are cooking, fry onions over medium heat in a little oil until onions begin to soften.
Add mushrooms, cook until mushrooms begins to soften and release their juices.
Add the celery, cook until celery is almost done.
Add parsley and carrots, cook until parsley is wilted and vegetables are all soft.

In a large mixing bowl, mash black eyed peas. Add flour, oats, and seasonings. Adjust seasonings to taste and add extra flour and/or oats if the mixture is too moist.
Gently stir in sunflower seeds and cooked vegetables.

Shape into patties.
Place on a well oiled baking sheet and bake at 450F or fry in an oiled skillet until crispy and brown.

Mango Gazpacho per Cafe Pasquals of Santa Fe

A simple delicious cold soup for summer - blend the fruit from 2 ripe mangos and a peeled cucumber or two, thin with water as needed and reblend, pour into a big bowl, chop finely and add in a cucumber, 1/2 a red onion, a few sprigs of cilantro and a firmer, less ripe mango in cubes ... serve on a hot summer's afternoon or evening. Refreshing!

Las Tres Hermanas Maravillosas – Three Sisters Marvelous Tamales

What a joy to discover how enjoyable it is to make fresh tender tamales. Following the tropical Oaxacan style, they were steamed in banana leaves which seems to create a very moist and succulent tamal. We made three types, and there was definitely a first place winner - surprisingly the one I had the greatest doubts about as it was an instinctive combination of ingredients, not from a given recipe. One of the most enjoyable parts took place before my guests arrived - that was the mixing of the masa. The soft, fine grain of the corn masa must be mixed gently by hand and the texture was so soft and tender and fluffy, like the sand on the beach at Tulum. Adding the water and slowly squeezing the masa to pull the moisture into the ground corn is such a sensual experience, and then later adding the vegetable shortening - both steps were alchemical in nature as the dry corn became a soft and succulent golden pillow of grain. It seemed an ancient Mayan ritual, a woman’s hands bringing life forth from deep down in the earth through love of the corn and in honor of the Earth Goddess. A magical transformation.





The very best of the fillings was a steamed ancho chile blended with red onion, garlic, and a little tofu for a creamy body, and then mixed in a bowl with finely chopped zucchini. As we layered the corn masa on the banana leaf, we added the ancho chilie filling, and then topped it with thinly sliced dried tomato and a slice of jack cheese. With a final dollop of masa on top, we carefully folded the banana leaves up (top and bottom first, then sides) and tied the moist bundles closed with thin strips of banana leaves. I had harvested the banana leaves earlier in the day, cut them to size, microwaved them for 2 and a half minutes, and then stored them in a plastic bag to keep them moist. This flavor combination was the best tamale I have ever tasted, made one quietly hum a little while slowly savoring it.



The second best tamale was the sweet one – shredded coconut was added to the remaining masa, and then fresh local sweet white pineapple chunks (with out the acid of the yellow pineapple, it tastes more like a pear) and raisins were gently pressed into the masa. The third tamale was a canned Anaheim chile with jack cheese and dried tomato, a familiar flavor, but just not as remarkable as those with the fresh and complex ingredients.


Corn Masa
makes 10 - barely

2 cups of masa ( I found Red Mill’s in the natural food
section in a one pound versus five pound bag)
1-1/2 cups of water
1 teaspoon of baking powder
½ teaspoon of salt
All blended together, squeezing slowly, by hand.
(And listening to Santana’s Abraxis certainly didn’t hurt, with a little dancing to Black Magic Woman while squeezing the masa)
In a separate bowl, whip with a fork
2/3 cup of Earth Balance organic vegetable shortening
(probably ½ cup would be enough / less rich)

Fillings

One dried ancho chile with top and seeds removed,
steamed in water, then chile and water are poured into blender with ¼ red onion and a few cloves of garlic. A small piece of firm tofu is added, probably less than 1/4 of a pound / block, for body. In bowl, add finely diced half of a zucchini to the ancho sauce. Assemble with thinly sliced dried tomato (creates great chewy texture and flavor) and a slice of Jack cheese is optional. This made enough filling for a second follow-up batch.

Pineapple was sliced and cubed, raisins and finely shredded coconut added as well. Anaheim chiles were rinsed and patted dry, added with Jack cheese and dried tomato.

Cooking

Layered in the steamer basket in a large pot, we had to steam them for an hour to get a good result. Recipes all said 45 min but they weren’t ready until 60 min. If you serve them immediately, you will see a transformation take place. The first one is a soft pillow of grain that crumbles a little and needs a fork to be eaten. The second one gains a little body and is firmer as it cools. The third one is the cooled into the firmer tamale shape one is more familiar with and can be eaten by hand. All three stages were excellent, but even the third one was still just minutes from the stove, much fresher than any other possible way to enjoy them. Maravilloso!

Rhubarb Crumble

Before this crumble, I had never cooked with rhubarb, although I have ordered many a slice of strawberry-rhubarb pie. Rhubarb is in season on the island right now, so I ordered a couple of pounds and experimented.

Filling:
5 c rhubarb, diced
1 c cane sugar
1 c water
2 T cornstarch
2 T orange juice
1 t vanilla

Crust:
3/4 c flour
3/4 c oats
1/2 c brown sugar
1/4 c margarine, melted
1/4 t salt
1 t cinnamon
pinch of cloves

Preheat oven to 350F.
Arrange rhubarb in a 9" pie plate.
Combine cane sugar and cornstarch in a sauce pan, whisk in water and orange juice. Heat, stirring frequently, until mixture reaches a boil.
Remove from heat and add vanilla.
Pour sauce over rhubarb.

For the crust:
Mix margarine and brown sugar together, combine with remaining crust ingredients. The crust mixture should end up with an even, coarse texture (don't let any of those sneaky little sugar lumps stick around).
Spread crust evenly over rhubarb.

Bake for 50 minutes, or until rhubarb is soft.

Homemade Enchiladas

Intense and delicious!
You will need:

1 dozen corn tortillas
5-6 dried Pasilla Chilies also called Anchos
(often in packaged Mexican food section)
6+cloves of good garlic
A yellow onion
Small can of tomato paste
Spinach leaves, no stems, produce bag full
Mushrooms, at least half a pound
Cream Cheese (Tofutti)
Almonds or pecans
Small bunch of cilantro
Olive oil
Canola oil
Salt
(optional, grated Jack soy-cheese)
Wear an apron!

Begin by slicing open the ancho chilies and removing the seeds and stems (seeds seem to scrape off best with a thumbnail despite trying various tools). Don’t touch your eyes or lips with hands with chilies on them. Put the anchos in a sauce pan with water to cover them, add salt, and simmer on low heat for 20-30 minutes. While they simmer, chop 3 big cloves of garlic and ¼ of an onion and put them in a blender.

Wash and de-stem spinach, dice 3 more garlic cloves and rest of onion. In olive oil in a sauté or sauce pan, sauté the onion and garlic until nearly golden and add spinach and mushrooms and cook until wilted and tender. Set aside spinach. (Grate cheese if using Jack). Set up a saute pan with shallow canola oil to get ready to lightly dip the tortillas in hot oil to soften them.

When anchos are done, add the chilies and water to the blender and blend with garlic and onion. Hold lid on tight when you blend, not too high a setting. To taste, add tablespoons of tomato paste and re-blend to reach desired hot/cool spiciness. I found I ended up using the whole can, but kept adding/blending it 3 tablespoons at a time. Another time I will try roasted tomatoes per original recipe, not the paste. I also added a tablespoon of olive oil to cut the spiciness, but that wasn’t in the original recipe.

Set up a counter adjacent to stove top with the pan of spinach, a bowl larger than the tortillas filled with the sauce from the blender (don’t wash blender out, leave some sauce in down around the blades), any grated cheese, the corn tortillas, and an empty dinner plate. All this needs to be beside the sauté pan with the canola oil. And you need the pan you are going to assemble and serve them in – glass or ceramic pie/casserole type.

Heat up the canola oil and with the type of tongs you may use in making pasta, begin lowering one tortilla at a time into the oil and quickly flipping it over and then lift out, let oil drip off, and drop into the bowl with the sauce. As you do that with one hand, with the other, drop the next tortilla into the hot oil. You will get a production going where you then remove the tortillas from absorbing the sauce on both sides to the empty dinner plate in time to drop another tortilla from the oil into the sauce and another tortilla into the oil.

Once all tortillas have been in the hot oil and dipped in the sauce, and are on the dinner plate, turn off sauté pan with oil and clear space to assemble the enchiladas. Set one sauce covered tortilla in the serving pan and with the same tongs or finger, add the spinach/mushroom filling, cheese if desired, and there will be sauce remaining that can go on top of the spinach before you roll if you desire. Roll them up, and keep on filling them.

I ran out of spinach as didn’t do a full bag’s worth, so I improvised something equally delicious. In the blender that still has the sauce in the bottom, add 4 oz of cream cheese and nuts (almonds or pecans), a small bunch of cilantro, and a little soymilk for moisture and blend. Then use this delicious cream filling instead of the spinach, on another group of tortillas.

They do not need to bake, but you can add any remaining sauce over them and warm them in the oven before serving so they are all the same temperature. I served it with a green salad and watermelon and it was a quintessential Mexican meal!

PS – doesn’t hurt to play some Spanish language music and dance a bit while making these – viva Mexico!

German Chocolate Cake, a saga

Branden requested German Chocolate Cake for his birthday. All I knew about German Chocolate Cake was that it was a) chocolate, and b) covered in some sort of coconut-pecan frosting. So I had to do some research. In searching for a recipe, I uncovered a conspiracy as profound as the sweet potato scandal... German Chocolate Cake is not the least bit German. It is in fact Texan, and is named German after "German's Chocolate", which is made by Baker's (which is all awful pseudo-chocolate, by the way). Furthermore, German's Chocolate is not German; it was called German after this guy named German, but even he wasn't German, he was British.

German Chocolate Cake should have "German's" chocolate and should be made with buttermilk, being Texan. The frosting should indeed involve pecans and coconut, but may also involve caramel, and may share the cake with chocolate frosting.

I couldn't bring myself to use Baker's chocolate, but I did figure out how to make soy buttermilk. I made two frostings, one a lightly caramelized pecan-coconut and one a simple chocolate buttercream-type frosting. Also, I served some of my banana bliss ice cream with the cake.

The birthday-party-goers, all in Viking attire (even if that consisted only of an authentic viking name tag), exclaimed loudly about the cake and then immediately started to fall asleep on our living room floor. So be careful, don't eat german chocolate cake and drive.

Now onto the recipe...

For the cake, I used Morgana's Chocolate Cake recipe. However, I used soy "buttermilk" instead of water. To make the buttermilk, I mixed 2 c of soy milk with the vinegar (I used white vinegar) called for in the original recipe, and let it sit for about ten minutes before adding it to the other ingredients.

Coconut-Pecan Frosting
1/2 c margarine
3/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c soy milk
1 t vanilla
1 1/2 c shredded coconut
1 c pecans, chopped

Melt margarine, add sugar. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture is thick, sticky, and lightly caramelized. Add remaining ingredients, bring to a boil, and cook, stirring frequently, for twelve minutes. Cool for a minute or two, until it is a spreadable consistency, before frosting the cake.

Chocolate Frosting
1/2 c margarine, softened
2 c sugar
1/3 c cocoa powder
2-4 T soy milk
1 T vanilla
pinch salt

Cream all the ingredients together, using only as much soy milk as is needed to make it spreadable. You may want to chill the cake in a refrigerator after frosting to make sure the frosting is totally set before serving.

Pepper Seitan

This is my version of Chinese Pepper Steak. I usually end up browning seitan when I use it, so it's a nice change to eat this recipe, in which the seitan ends up soft and succulent. Serve with brown rice and a side of steamed or stir-fried vegetables.

1 lb seitan, cut into long thin strips
1 large green bell pepper, cut into long thin strips
1 large yellow onion, cut into thin half-moons
1/2 c sliced water chestnuts

Marinade:
1 T reduced sodium soy sauce
1 t sugar
1/2 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
1 T cornstarch
2 T rice vinegar
1 t fresh ginger, grated
2 cloves garlic, minced or grated
1 T sesame oil

Sauce:
Original marinade from seitan, plus enough water to make a total of 3/4 c of liquid
1 T cornstarch
1 T reduced sodium soy sauce

Marinate seitan (in the marinade) for about fifteen minutes; this is the perfect time to chop the veggies. Whisk sauce ingredients to combine.

Stir-fry onions for about five minutes, or until they are just starting to become translucent. Add peppers and water chestnuts, stir-fry for another five minutes, or until they are as cooked as you want them.

Put veggies aside; in the same (now empty) pan, stir-fry seitan for five minutes. Add sauce and reserved veggies, cook until the sauce is thick and everything is warm, probably another (you guessed it) five minutes.

Wild animals at a birthday party

I finally found 6 hole muffin tins to fit in my mini oven
and whipped these up for a little man's birthday celebration 5/4/07...

Chocolate cupcakes with vegan or vegetarian options

1-1/2 C organic whole wheat flour
1 C organic brown sugar
2 teasp baking powder -
1/3 C organic rapunzel cocoa powder
1/2 C organic canola oil
Cap full of pure vanilla
1 C water (or soy/milk)

I tried 6 of each - vegan style would be best with a little more oil for added moisture but both were great. Topping is cream cheese or tofutti cheese with a little sugar, vanilla, and fresh orange peel zest, topped with an organic strawberry. lefts overs were great (sans frosting) with yogurt and fruit for breakfasts. Yum!

Celebrating fresh fruit!

And the tree it came from ...

Dense and Easy Chocolate Torte

1 c butter substitute (try Earth Balance)
1.5 c good chocolate chips (try Guittard)
3 T powdered egg replacer
1 c soy milk
.5 c sugar
1 t vanilla
1 c almond flour (or walnut flour)
.5 c whole wheat flour

Melt butter-substitute and chocolate chips in a mixing bowl. In a smaller bowl, whisk egg replacer with milk. Add sugar and vanilla, then combine with melted stuff. Fold in flours. Bake in an ungreased 9" round pan or springform for 55 minutes at 325F. Let sit for a half hour, then refrigerate. When cooled, frost with vegan ganache:

1 c good chocolate chips
2 T butter substitute
.75 c soy milk

Melt butter and chocolate, add milk, stir until smooth, cool until it slows down a little, then drizzle over torte. Refrigerate frosted torte for at least an hour before serving. It's great with milk or coffee.

A few small but tasty discoveries

First - waffles taste wonderful and are softer if you add cascadian farms organic frozen blueberries that have been heated and cooled. (or fresh I am sure if you are so lucky) Nice to have the little blueberries embedded right in the whole wheat waffle (theirs are tiny, like the size of capers). Also, a new gravy discovery: I had frozen a box of the organic butternut soup and discovered the pulp had sunk to the bottom when it thawed. I mixed the pulp with raw cashews, a little water, and blended it up, and then added a little tamari sauce and blended a bit longer. Exceptional! going to put it on steamed red potatoes and carrots (if I don't nibble it all first ;-) . Try it! (made while watching a very good documentary on woodstock - what an event - mind blowing in many ways, espec. strong outspoken anti-war theme that has great meaning today.)

Easter Bun

An organic vanilla Easter Bunny cake with meyer lemon zest, coconut pudding filling ( that also made a great tail), and frosting with big shreds of coconut. The purple flowers are off the hong kong orchid tree and its the first time I have ever picked them and was delighted they are such an interesting flower up close. Hoping the sun will come out (its a little rain cloudy) for a walk among butterflies down at the shoreline ... the yellow sulphurs show up down there en masse this time of year for some reason ...

BTW - Since the bunny cake recipe / construction has been kept something of a family secret, I wondered why ... and think I may possibly have figured it out. In order to shape his shoulders and get his head to be the right porportion, it requires some carving down ... which leaves left overs! So maybe the master of the bunny cake has been secretly enjoying these samples all of these years and not telling anyone? Hmmmm ?? Possibly .... ;-)

And since we are not all together for Easter, here is what each daughter was sent to enjoy today ... note the serendipity of the individual color themes! Each of the cotton 'eggs' packed inside is what I used to get for Easter and something you each have mentioned missing not getting anymore. When I told this to my mom, she laughed and said I used to 'complain' about getting them for Easter! and now you all want them ... funny how things change yet somehow stay the same, over the generations. Hope you noted that we are new/renewed members of NRCD and Greenpeace, and enjoy the music ... and chocolate (which I think is vegan, as are the jellies). And take your vitamins!
Happy Spring 2007!

Sometimes a centerpiece makes the meal

This is a clear glass hurricane lamp that usually sits here with a candle and has become a beautiful way to put the angel trumpet flowers in water and - at night - to light the candle inside so it glows up through the flowers ... they are night scented so best in the evening ... very beautiful in person ... makes for heady dreams too ...

A Stab at a Scrambler sans package

Now that Fantastic Foods seems to have abandoned my staple, Tofu Scrambler, I am trying to find an alternative - ie a home made recipe - how daring !! I did use the tumeric AQ suggested, also added in garlic powder, fresh parsley / red onion / sweet peppers and it was tasty .. but still not the same. Want to figure out those mysterious flavors that made the packaged one so delicions. Suggestions?



The pictures to left and above are on the newly tiled back deck, and below is the new front deck that is reached by the kitchen door (and is now how we get in the house for the carved Bali doors too). That is a home grown papaya for the breakfast above, with starfruit, from the trees in the picture below, but the blueberries come from Chile (and are amazingly good somehow). Tomatoes are wild harvested from a bush up in the new upper garden - volunteer tastiness!



Speaking of tastiness, Julies Organics makes a light, low carb fudgecicle that I have discovered becomes even more delicious when fresh bluerries and almonds are pressed into one side of a popcicle and enjoyed with the chocolate base. Try it! They don't seem to freeze up real hard so its easy to press things into them. Or of course, some people have their own ice cream makers ...

Chickpea soup with rice is nice

A cheap, easy, yummy, balanced meal in a soup pot.

1 large onion, chopped
1 c celery, sliced thin
1 c carrots, sliced into thin half moons
1 c mushrooms, you guessed it, sliced thin
1/2 head garlic, peeled and diced
3 c water
3 c broth (or water with bullion)
3 c cooked brown rice
4 c cooked chickpeas
2 T braggs
2 T nutritional yeast
1/4 t poultry seasoning
1/4 c fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Sautee onion until soft. Add carrots, celery, mushrooms, and garlic. Sautee for five minutes. Add water and broth. Simmer until veggies are soft. Add braggs, nutritional yeast, and seasonings. Add chickpeas, bring back to a boil. Add rice, cook until heated through.

Waffles Update

We have continued to play around with the Definitive Waffle Recipe, which may mean that it wasn't so definitive after all.

Here are our discoveries so far:
1) The whole tablespoon of baking powder may be too much, I reduced it to 2 t. Too much baking powder can leave a metallic taste.

2) 100% whole wheat flour can be used. It works fine, but is of course slightly less fluffy than half white flour. Still good though.

3) Oat waffles, whoa! Half whole wheat flour, half oat flour makes a great, vary fluffy waffle with an interesting texture. It's easy to make oat flour just by blending oats in your blender.

Fancy-Pants Almond-Mocha Tofu Cheesecake

In one word: impressive. If this still isn't fancy-pants enough for you, try making an almond-graham crust by substituting almond meal for 1/2 c of the graham cracker crumbs in the original graham cracker crust recipe, then decorate the cheesecake with sliced almonds.

1 block firm tofu (not silken)
2/3 c sugar
1/2 c oil (canola or safflower is good)
1/3 c strongly brewed coffee
1 t vanilla
1/3 t almond extract
pinch salt
1 c dark chocolate chips

Press as much water out of the tofu as you can by squeezing it relentlessly between your hands or pressing under something heavy. Blend everything but the chocolate until creamy and smooth (this may be easier in two smaller batches). Melt chocolate on the stove, being careful not to let it burn. Stir chocolate into tofu mixture, combining thoroughly. Pour into a graham cracker crust. Bake at 300F for 55 minutes.

Lemon Tofu Cheesecake

Super-duper lemony good!

Make Tofu Cheesecake, but add an extra 1/4 c sugar, and increase lemon juice to 1/3 c. This is good with kiwi slices on top.

Tofu Cheesecake!

What can I say? It's cheesecake! It's tofu! Fantastico!

1 block (3 cups) firm tofu (not the silken kind)
1/4 c lemon juice
1/2 c oil (canola or safflower is good)
1 c sugar
1 t vanilla
1/8 t almond extract
pinch salt

Press as much water out of the tofu as you can by squeezing it mercilessly between your hands or pressing under something heavy. Blend everything until creamy, with no lumps left at all. I find that blending it in two batches is much easier in my blender.

Pour into a graham cracker crust (see below) and bake at 325F for 50 minutes. Refrigerate for at least six hours before eating (I know, it's torture, but the cheesecake really needs a chance to set).

Graham Cracker Crust:
1 1/2 c graham cracker crumbs (about 22 graham crackers, chopped in blender or crushed in a plastic bag)
1/4 c margarine, melted

Combine ingredients and press into a 9" glass pie dish. Could it be any more simple? Or delicious? No!

Tomato soup with ginger zest

It is February/March soup time in Hawaii. We are having cool, overcast and rainy weather, something like California in late April, which is great for soups to warm the tummy. This made a fantastic hot delight in a single sauce pan: saute red onion and sliced, peeled, chopped fresh ginger in a little olive oil. Add in the sliced and chopped end stump - not head - of a nice organic head of brocolli. While that simmers, slice up a long narrow japanese egglant, salt it and let it release its tanic acid in a plastic colander. Then wash off salt and add to pot. While that begins cooking, cut the broccoli head into individual small flowerettes and then add that. Let it cook until onions get a little carmely and so do the flowerettes. Then add in tomato soup (I watch for the boxed kind to go on sale to get organic at a better price than chem-laden campbells types) and cook on low heat together until soup forms a little bit of a skin. While that is all simmering, heat up some left over brown rice and slice up and toast some multi grain whole wheat bread. Add the rice to the soup as it is served and mix well. Put a non-trans fat spread on the toast. Serve in bowl on plate with toast tucked beside it. Great! It is the ginger that takes it over the top - especially when it sinks to the bottom of the bowl and is a surprise at the end.

PS - adding in tofu cubes that soak up all the yummy flavors adds a nice dimension to this - tried it in the left overs and should have done it from the start ..

Check out the updated Costa Rica recipe cards below- I got the backside instructions posted.

Cream of Celeriac Soup

4 peeled celeriacs
2 small potatoes.
2c soy milk
.25 c butterlike substance
.5 t soup bullion concentrate
.5 medium onion
.5 head garlic
1T olive oil

Boil a pot of water, then put in 3 celeriacs and the potatoes. When forkable, remove and mix with milk, butter, and bullion in a blender.

Meanwhile, sauté onion and garlic in a little oil in a big pot. Add the above mixture, then thin or season as desired. Add the remaining celeriac, diced. Cook for a minute or an hour.

Glazed celery garnish:
2 stalks chopped celery
1c water
2 T butter substitute
1-2 T honey or raw sugar
Sauté for 10-15 minutes.

Serve with these scones or other soup bread.

Costa Rica recipe cards ...

These cards are adorable - and there are recipes on the reverse that I will add in here soon. (I am framing the three for my kitchen ... but wanted to scan them for the blog before they go under glass.)

Platanos in Gloria

2 big ripe plantains
2 cinnamon sticks
1 cup of sugar
1-1/2 cups of water
vegetable oil as needed

Peel the plantains and cut them into three pieces, then cut again lengthwise into two or three slices. Bring the water, sugar and cinnamon to boil, then lower the heat and simmer until the mixture becomes a syrup. In a separate pan, fry the plantains in a little oil until soft; remove them and daub away the oil on a paper towel. Now place the plantains in the simmering syrup, letting them absorb the candied sauce.
Serve this heavely dessert to friends!

{The best version I had were regular bananas and sliced in rounds, not lengthwise and the cinnamon was great - this is a breakfast treat too)

Tortillas Caliente !! Si Si !!!

Tortillas

2 C of flour
1 cup of water
2 pieces of plastic (from supermarket bags)
cut into 7 in. diameter circles

Please the flour in a large bowl. Add the water gradually and stop adding when the dough doesn't stick to your hands. Knead the dough for 10 minutes. Place a small portion of the dough in the center of the plastic circle and start shaping it by simultaneously pressing the dough (gently!) and rotating the plastic circle.

Heat a skillet on the stove. Remove the tortilla from the plastic and place it (same side up) on the skillet; cook it for 3 minutes. Flip it over and cook it for 3 more mintues. Flip the tortilla a third time; the tortilla will rise and cook on the inside. If it doesn't rise, try pressing on the edges with a napkin, so the center can get unstuck.

You can eat tortillas with fresh cheese, fried beans, or ... anything else that suits your fancy.

{Note - all of the tortillas I remember having in CR were corn tho ...}

Tofu Ceviche - Es Possible ? let's find out

Ceviche

1 pound of fresh white tofu
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 bell pepper, chopped
2 shots lime juice
1 shot ginger ale
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Chopped fresh corriander (to taste)

Cut the tofu into small pieces and place in a bowl. Add the onion, bell pepper, lime juice and seasonings. The lime juice 'cooks' the tofu but you need to stop the process adding ginger ale into the preparation. Mix gently and leave it for 1 hour in the refrigerator.

Serve cold with crackers. Some say mermaids can drive sailors to their doom, and so too can the craving for this cool and tangy ceviche.

{Obviously the original recipe says 'fish' everywhere I put tofu so let us know if this works with tofu)

Celeriac Red Beans and Rice with Celeriac Remoulade and Celeriac

I've started this tradition of making something new-to-me each Thursday for dinner. I've been getting tons of celeriac from my work. I'd never heard of the stuff before a couple weeks ago. I did some research and found that it's often used in rémoulade sauces, including Cajun remoulades. Here's my naïve interpretation:

Skin and boil two celeriacs until easily stabbed with a fork (like testing potatoes).

Soak and cook 2 cups (dry) red beans, dump the water and put them back in the pot. Mash about a quarter of them with a potato smasher, add half a celeriac (diced), kale, garlic and seasonings.

In a pan, heat 2 cups uncooked rice and a chopped onion with 1-2 T oil, coating thoroughly. Add broth and seasonings.

In a blender, mix
1 celeriac, boiled and chopped a bit
.5 c walnuts
.5 c Vegenaise
1 green onion
1 fistfull cilantro
.5 lemons' worth of juice
mustard, paprika, salt, pepper, and vinegar to taste
thin with water if desired.

Because two types of celeriac wasn't enough, I grated the remaining half-a-celeriac as a garnish. Serve with a chili-less cornbread for a purple-yellow-brown-green-white meal.

Reading Supplements

Here are the two best nutrition/diet food articles that I've run across in the past 6 months. They're both longish, but enlightening.

Nutrients and nutrition---science, politics and fads: Unhappy Meals by Michael Pollan.

Cow milk: The Milk Letter by Robert M. Kradjian.
(This article made my mom stop drinking cow milk. She's practically vegan now. Who would have thought that milk increases risk of lung cancer?)

Cornbread and Chili

This was eaten faster that a camera could snap a picture, so you'll have to use your imagination. I recently acquired a huge high-walled cast iron pan, big enough to fry up a birthday cake and still fit the lid on. It's from Australia and was made in the 17th century, more or less.

I wanted to make a surprise dinner for my love, one that would fully utilize the great pan's abilities. On a veggie recipe website that I can no longer find, it was revealed to me that one can:
1) Make chili in a cast-iron pan
2) Mix up some cornbread
3) Bake the cornbread on top of the chili, in the oven
My mind expanded, I immediately set forth to forge new chili and cornbread recipes worthy of this.

The chili was made by power-soaking 2 cups of mixed pinto, red, and kidney beans, then pressure-cooking them for 10 minutes. Power-soaking is what you do when you've forgotten to soak the beans for 8 hours. Bring beans to a boil at pressure, remove from heat, then ignore them for an hour or however much time you have left before they need to be food. Change their water, then pressure-cook 'em.

In a little oil, fry up
2 onions, diced large, then add...
2 cups of your favorite broth
a double espresso
about a cup of TVP
a can of tomato paste
a big can of whole tomatoes (fresh tomatoes are rare here, this time of year)
chili powder, pepper, cumin, oregano, and whatever else strikes your fancy
beans, as above
two Portabello mushies roasted in a dry skillet
a head of garlic, or two

My apologies to more authentic chili cooks. See, we live in a horrible deprived place where anything spicier than a bell pepper is dried, ground, and labeled only "chili" (or sometimes "chile").

Cornbread:
1 c soymilk
1 T apple cider vinegar
3 t egg replacer
.25 c water
.33 c butter substitute
.5 c whole wheat flour
1 c fine ground corn flour
.5 c coarse ground corn flour
.25 c brown sugar
1 T baking powder
.5 t salt
.5 t black pepper
1 can corn, or equivalent
1 can green chiles

Whisk milk and vinegar; whisk egg replacer and water; melt butter, mix everything together. Level chili, gently spread batter on top, bake at 350-375F for 15-25 minutes. This works because it's a thin layer of cornbread. If thick cornbread is more your thing, bake in an 8x8 pan.

Spectacular Fruit Salads in Costa Rica

After the butterfly training in the Central Valley and Caribbean side of the country, my trip took me over to the Pacific Coast where there were actually a few vegetarian/vegan restaurant options - even a Thai place with a good yellow curry and tofu! The fruit salads were the highlights though .. this one in the surfer community of Dominical was small diced mango, papaya, pineapple, avocado with rings of onions, sliced tomato, cucumber and a tangy dressing ... Further north, on the Pacific side of the Nicoya Penninsula, in another surfer community, Santa Theresa, my mountainside little BnB suggested a Rasta place on the beach for a vegetarian lunch - theirs was a big bowlful that included watermelon, kiwi, mango, papaya, pineapple and also had shredded coconut and some raisins. All to some godo reggae tunes, many in Espanol... These salads were quite the masterpieces!... Another great meal was a superb cold tomato/cucumber gazpacho in the bohemian young hippie town of Montezuma, served with a side of warm tortillas and avocado. Desert was a chocolate volcano cake - triangular slice with chocolate sauce for lava and vanilla ice cream for the puffs of smoke.

Rural life in a Costa Rica kitchen and restaurant

On the Butterfly Tour we were taken to the home of a family with 5 daughters - all involved in butterfly breeding. They prepared a traditional Costa Rican lunch for us. Rice, beans, and a stew with chayote squash that was excellent. Here they are in their kitchen - notice, it is NOT an electric or even gas stove ... it is wood burning. This family lives on the slopes of the Poas Volcano, just outside of San Jose in the Central Valley, overlooking rolling foothills of endless coffee plants.



We also were taken out to lunch on the Caribbean side of the intercontinental mountains, which is the wetter area with bananas, pineapple, papayas. These gentlemen provided the marimba accompaniment to our lunch and then we went on a nice, sunny, peaceful boat ride along the river and saw monkeys in the trees, giant HUGE iguanas, caiman (small aligators) and different birds. The food reflects a standard meal - staples are rice and beans and plaintains (yes, EVERY meal) and a micture of vegetables. Meat eaters also had chicken, beef or fish optionis at most meals. For someone who loves rice and beans, it was just too much repitition ... but mornings were best as the beans and rice were mixed in a refry with little red sweet peppers.

Mushrooms Mysteries

Who knew they could be so fascinating ?

Incredible Exotic Mushrooms, Honey and Vanilla

The bi-annual ag tour conference took us to the organic raw honey company - Volcano Island Honey (run by proud card carrying old hippie attorney who escaped to Hawaii), the pristine mushroom farm, Hamakua Mushrooms, and the high mountain vanilla cafe at Hawaii Vanilla. Check out how they grow the mushrooms - in clean sterilized wood chip base - not dirt/manure/chemicals (we learned). At the vanilla place they served us lunch and my meal (the only vegetarian I think) was a dish of the incredible Ali'i Mushrooms from the Hamakua Farm. WOW - these are all about eating the stem, not just the cap, and the stems are solid, meaty in texture (dare I say?) and a really tasty - complex flavor.


Everything in the meal had a little bit of vanilla somewhere in it - the raisins in the mushroom stir fry ( with onions garlice kabota squash and parsely), the foccacia appetizer, the ice cream dessert, and even the final coffee.


Much to my surprise, one of the trip highlights was that I ended up at the back of the line at the mushroom farm and scored all of the samples. That is them on the green plate - the lighter big ones are the Ali'i, the strange ruffled red ones are an endemic Hawaiian they are just getting ready to start selling. I've done a few stirfrys with them - one mixed into a re-heated eggplant parmesan that was excellent.





And I am new to the idea that mushrooms are not a 'plant' ! Did you know that ? Certainly not an animal or a mineral, so what ARE they ?

(brings to mind some old children's rhyme about the 'fungus amongus ;)

Polenta Stuffed Peppers

We ate these sliced and fried with black beans, creamed kale, pineapple-ginger salsa, and a garnish of cilantro and green onions.

6 bell peppers (preferably a combination of red, green, and yellow)
1 medium onion, chopped fine
6 cloves garlic, diced
5 c broth
1 t salt
1 1/2 c polenta
1 c soy milk
1/4 c cilantro, chopped
2 T nutritional yeast
2 t paprika

Pre-heat oven to 375F.
Cut the tops off the peppers and remove the seeds and ribs.
Stand peppers upright in a glass baking dish.
Saute onion in a little oil until translucent.
Add garlic, cook for one minute.
Add broth and salt, bring to a boil.
Slowly add polenta, whisking it in as you pour it.
Stir in soy milk, cilantro, and seasonings.
Cook over medium heat, stirring frequently, for 12 minutes. Polenta should become thick.
Pour polenta mixture into peppers.
Bake for 35 minutes, or until peppers are cooked.
Serve hot, whole or sliced into circles. Alternatively, cool, slice into thick circles and fry in olive in oil.

The Definitive Waffle Recipe

This is it! Eureka! We have made the perfect waffle!

We ate these with maple syrup and blueberries this morning, and I hummed the whole time.

3/4 c whole wheat flour
3/4 c white flour
1 T baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 T brown sugar
1 1/2 c soy milk (we used an unsweetened variety)
2 T canola or safflower oil

Combine dry ingredients.
Whisk together soy milk and oil vigorously for about a minute.
Combine wet and dry ingredients, stirring only as much as is necessary. Don't worry if the batter still looks lumpy.
Cook according to your waffle iron's directions.