Vacation

It's the third day in the four day weekend and I've started getting restless. :) We stayed home again, both of us had the blahs and didn't feel like doing anything. I made a pot of lentil chili and am slowly working my way through the stack of recipes that I have to try out. The original recipe didn't taste all that flavorful so I had to doctor it up a bit. Here's the recipe:

Lentil Chili

1 Tbs. canola oil
1 small onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. ground cumin
1 Tbs. chili powder
1 Tbs. paprika (I used half smoked Spanish paprika and half sharp paprika)
½ tsp. dried thyme
2 c. dried lentils
4 c. stock
1 14.5 ounce can petite diced tomatoes
½ c. ketchup or tomato paste
3 small potatoes, chopped

Heat the oil in the bottom of a saucepan. Add onions, garlic and spices and sauté until onions begin to soften. Add lentils and toss to coat. Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until lentils and potatoes are soft, about 20 minutes.

Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving today. We went to our friend's house and had dinner with him and his family. I made some stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy and some gingersnap cookies. The stuffing that I made was a bit different than the same old same old, and I really liked it. I made the recipe from combining elements of several different ones and this is what I came up with:

Black Eyed Pea, Fennel and "Sausage" Cornbread Stuffing
2 Tbs. Canola oil
2 regular or vegetarian sausage patties
1 small onion, chopped
1 c. fennel bulb, chopped
1 carrot, peeled and thinly sliced
1 garlic clove, minced
1 tsp. dried sage
1 tsp. dried thyme
1 tsp. smoked Spanish paprika
Salt and Pepper to taste
3 c. cornbread, crumbled
1 c. black-eyed peas, cooked (or 1 14.5 oz can, drained and rinsed)
2/3 c. broth
1 egg or egg substitute (I used 1 Tbs. ground flax seed whisked with 3 tbs. water)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Heat the canola oil in an iron skillet over medium heat. Fry the sausage patties until browned and then remove from the skillet. Let cool, and then crumble. Set aside. Add the onion, fennel, carrot, clove and spices in the skillet and saute until vegetables are softened. In a large bowl, add cornbread, vegetable mixture, black eyed peas, broth and egg and toss to combine. Return to the skillet and bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until browned.


The cornbread that I made was the maple cornbread from the Vegan Lunchbox site. It gives the stuffing a really deep rich flavor:

2/3 cup maple syrup
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup plain soymilk

Stir above together. In another bowl whisk together:

1 cup flour
1 cup cornmeal
1 TB baking powder
1 tsp. salt

Mix wet and dry together and pour into a greased 9x9 square pan. Bake for 35 minutes at 350 (or in miniloaf or muffin pans for about 25 minutes), until tester comes out clean.

Lunch Lady Scoops

I've been in a baking mood again, and I baked the Pumpkin Muffins from the November Cooking Light tonight. I am still trying to figure out if I put an extra 1/2 cup flour in it, I lost count while I was making them. The batter/dough turned out stiffer than muffins normally are, so I used the first part to make mini-muffins and the second part to make in cookie form. I used coarse sugar on the top of the cookies and flattened them a bit. I have to say that the cookies won hands down over the muffins. I have to say that my favorite kitchen tool at the moment are lunch lady scoops. It makes cookies and muffins so much easier to put in pans.

We went shopping this afternoon and ordered my new reading chair and a bookcase. We weren't able to find any that stores had in stock around here that we liked, so we had a place order us some. Unfortunately it won't be in until January because the factory closes down for the last two weeks of December. But I'd rather wait for what I want to get delivered than to settle for something less because I can get it now.

The weather has been beautiful for the last few days, warm and sunny with just a bit of chill in the air. The nights have been clear and cold. It's perfect sweater wearing weather so I have brought all of mine out of the storage bin. I'm starting to make out plans for what to make for Thanksgiving, paging through all of my cookbooks. We are going to dinner at my friend's house, and I'm going to be bringing sides. Definately mashed potatoes and gravy (his wife likes to make instant), maybe some stuffing and some other veggie sides. A pie of some sort is definately going to be in order, I just haven't decided what kind.

Pearly Whites

I've had to have some pretty major dental work in the last month or so, for some reason about a month after we got here I started getting really bad toothaches. I ended up having to have a root canal and had stress fractures in my teeth so I had to have a crown put on one of them. Since the root canal was on a visible tooth, the dentist suggested to me that I might want to consider bleaching my teeth before they put in the permanent crown, so that they can match it to the new color. I haven't ever been a really vain person, not high maintenance by any stretch of the imagination. But I have been noticing over the last couple of years that I'm starting to see the consequences of that lack of attention, and one of the things was that my teeth were looking pretty dull. Not yellow or green or anything bad like that, just not very bright. So I decided to give it a whirl :)

Today was the big day, and I went in to have the procedure done. I have to say, it's one of the oddest things that I have ever been through. Two hours in the dentist chair with a heat lamp stuck in front of my face wasn't the preferred way to spend the day, but I can't argue with the results. My smile is much brighter, and that's only after the initial office treatment. I still have at home treatments to do to even out the whitening. I'm definately glad that I got it done, but maintaining it will be key. I don't want to have to fork out that kind of money again :)

Lazies

I seem to have a serious case of the lazies lately. Work has slowed down a bit and I'm not having to work as much overtime. It was getting pretty bad for a while and I was about burnt out. Now that it's slow though, I've been getting bored and don't feel like working. Go figure. ;)

I've been trying to have healthier lunches to take with me, so I don't end up hitting the junk machines and such. Today I had Tofu Dill Salad Sammiches which turned out pretty decent. For tomorrow I made some lentil soup tonight - Lentil Soup with a Hint of Fruit. It sounded a bit odd, but it turned out pretty good. The soup was sweet, savory and tart. Definately a change from the usual standby.

http://www.molliekatzen.com/recipes/recipe.php?recipe=lentil_soup

The Perfect Autumn Cookie

Tonight felt like a cookie baking night, and I've been wanting to try these for a bit. They are Pumpkin-Cranberry oatmeal cookies. They turned out really good. I like my new oven because it is very hard to burn things in it. Plus with my new cookie sheets and cookie scoop it makes baking them a snap. I was planning on bringing some in to work with me tomorrow, but the question is...will there be any left? :)

The Bean-Hater

I think that almost anyone should be able to see a trend with my cooking, and it is that I love cooking things with beans. When I was a young girl growing up in Arkansas, we ate beans at almost every meal. There wasn't enough money to go around, and beans are very filling. But not only that, they taste delicious and I could eat them every day. Unfortunately I married someone who does not like...nay, hates beans. To his credit, he likes lentils and black eyed peas but that's about it. So normally I make black eyed pea or lentil soups and stews. But every now and then I have to make something with beans.

One of my favorite things to eat when I was growing up was a stew that my maternal grandmother used to make, one that she called San Francisco Stew. It was similar to baked beans in a way, only it was a stew. I was thinking that she put sauerkraut in it, but my mom doesn't remember that and thinks that I added it myself when I was eating. Regardless, I have been wanting the recipe for a long time but she died a few years back and our family is estranged so no recipe for me. I have a vague recollection of it but it's been at least 16 years since I last had any. So below is my first attempt at recreating her stew. It is a sweet and sour soup, very filling and would be great with cornbread. :)

Wincel's San Francisco Stew

1 (14.5 oz) can Great Northern Beans
1 (14.5 oz) can diced tomatoes
2 Tbs. butter or margarine
1 small onion, chopped
1/2 c. molasses
2 Tbs. smoked Spanish paprika
2 tsp. ground mustard (not prepared)
1/4 tsp. ground ginger
1 c. stock
1 c. sauerkraut

Heat oil in a medium saucepan, and add onions. Saute onions until they become translucent. Add remaining ingredients. Stir to combine, and then simmer for about 15 minutes or until it begins to thicken.

Dal Makhani

It's gotten cold outside, and one of the recipes I've been wanting to try to make for a long time now is Dal Makhani, or Madras Lentils. I'd gotten a pre-packaged version from the supermarket a while ago and liked it but didn't like the butter related saturated fat and cholesterol. So I had been meaning to find a recipe and try to make my own. I searched the internet and found several promising ones, and combined elements of each to make my own. Here's the version that I came up with. If you haven't had it before, it's kind of like a lentil chili. Very flavorful but not hot.

Dal Makhani

1 c. lentils
4 c. stock
1 inch fresh ginger, peeled
2 garlic cloves
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 green chilies, finely chopped
¼ c. butter or margarine (I used Earth Balance margarine)
2 tsp. cumin
1 tsp. turmeric
1 tsp. chili powder
½ tsp. smoked Spanish paprika (optional,not authentic but adds a little depth with the smokiness)
1 (14.5 oz) can petite diced tomatoes, undrained
1 (14.5 oz) can kidney beans, drained and rinsed
Salt to taste
Juice from 1 lemon
1 Tbs. brown sugar (again option, not authentic but cuts some of the acidity from the lemon and tomato)

Combine lentils, ginger and garlic with stock in a small saucepan. Bring to a boil and then reduce to a simmer, cover. While the lentils are cooking, prepare the onions and chilies. Heat butter or margarine in a soup pot over medium heat. Add onions, chilies and spices to oil and sauté 5 minutes. Add kidney beans and tomatoes, stir to combine. When lentils are tender, remove ginger and garlic from pot, and add lentils to the soup pot. Make a paste from the garlic and ginger and return to the soup pot. Stir well to combine, reduce heat to low and simmer for 15 minutes. Add lemon juice and brown sugar, stir well to combine.