banana wheat muffins

threw a recipe together on the fly, and whaddayaknow, it's delicious!

• 1 1/2 cups AP flour
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup oil
• 1/2 cup yogurt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 mashed banana

bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. they come out and taste nice and hearty.

notes for next time:
- if i have 2 bananas, i could omit the egg. (1/2 cup mashed banana = 1 egg, for substitution in vegan cooking.)
- i could add 1/2 cup chopped nuts.
- i could add peanut butter.
- i have those frozen raspberries in the freezer...maybe i could throw some of them in.
- add some rolled oats for texture.

turnips

my obsession with turnips goes back several years to when i decided not to eat some heavily fertilized turnips grown in a field as deer bait and instead decided to grow my own (organically). they grow great in mississippi although the root (the turnip itself) never got big enough to eat due to the high clay content of the soil in the garden.

in cooking with turnips, i have learned that are different from potatoes (despite both being roots). turnips tend to absorb a lot of water when cooked with a wet method. boiling them waterlogs them the most. last night i steamed them (two turnips, about a pound between them, peeled, diced) and they were much better. quite plain and mushy- not like the starchy potato in the same situation- but nice and bitter. i went on to add S&P, a little butter, and a tiny bit of milk to make mashies. really tasty (with pork chop and green beans) but without the creamy and cohesive properties of mashed potatoes. in the future, i will experiment with steaming half potatoes and half turnips and mashing them together.

several days ago i roasted the same amount of turnips. this involved tossing in 1-2 T olive oil with S&P, garlic powder, and some other spices then baking at 350 for about 45 minutes. these were delicious and really good with the ham i had from arkansas.

sushi rolls

ingredients:
sushi rice
fish
cucumber
avocado
seaweed
soy sauce
gochujang (korean spicy paste)


process:
-put seaweed piece on bamboo roller
-smush rice onto seaweed
-add fish
-add vegetables
-add gochujang
-roll

-cut into 6-8 pieces

eat with chopsticks, dipping in soy sauce

sushi rice

ingredients:
1 C rice
1 T rice wine vinegar
1 T white sugar
pinch of salt (~1/8 t(?))

process:
rinse the rice several times.
drain pretty well.
add 1.5 C water.
bring to boil, reduce to low, 20 minutes (don't ever remove top).
remove from heat, let sit 10 minutes covered.

mix vinegar, sugar, and salt.

put rice in large (plastic) bowl, toss around a little to let cool.
add mix to rice, fold in.

this makes enough rice for sushi for 3-4 people and should be used in the sushi.
since it is so wet and sticky, leftover rice is not very good for fried rice.

pink velvet cupcakes

i have been wanting to bake a red velvet cake for a while...so why not do cupcakes instead? i used this red velvet cake recipe and used this recipe for cream cheese frosting. you may notice that my cupcakes are PINK rather than red...this is due to the fact that i did not have enough red food coloring! the pink did not detract from the yummy flavor of these cupcakes though. not one bit.

notes for the cake recipe: this recipe made 24 cupcakes. i eyeballed each cupcake liner to be filled 2/3 high when i put them in the oven, however, when i took them out, they were all different heights! nothing fancy icing tricks couldn't fix though. i baked them at 350 degrees F for about 20 minutes.

notes for the icing recipe: this recipe calls for 1 package of cream cheese and 5 tablespoons butter and vanilla extract and 2 cups + whatever you like powdered sugar. i ended up using about 2.5 cups of powdered sugar and the icing was perfect...i'm not a big fan of super sweet stuff...so this was just sweet enough! an interesting observation...when i beat the cream cheese and butter together, it got very crumbly. i must admit that i got a little concerned that my icing was going to turn into crap. however, once i added all the sugar...BAM! it looked like icing! i don't know what happened, but it turned out just lovely.

and for the icing piping...i have a pastry decorating icing bag that i filled with both colors of icing. (i added a few drops of red food coloring to make it pink.) that's why i was able to do a dual-color icing! but of course you knew that already...haha.

i will DEFINITELY make these again! and once i have more than 1 useable baking pan (i destroyed one of my 9-inch circular baking pans by baking a cobbler in it...so FYI...DON'T BAKE COBBLERS IN NONSTICK BAKING PANS!)...yeah, so once i have more than 1 baking pan i will make a fabulous red velvet CAKE complete with cream cheese frosting and chopped nuts for garnish.

pan-fried breaded tilapia

the recipe for this dish came mostly from a paul prudhomme cookbook though i don't think they used tilapia back when it was published... i fry one fillet at a time.

1. mix some spices together
2. make an egg wash (egg and milk)
3. wash and dry fish
4. start heating skillet with 1/4 inch of vegetable oil
5. rub spices into both sides of fillets
6. dredge in flour
7. coat in egg wash
8. dredge through flour again
9. add to pan when oil is at medium heat
10. cook 3-4 minutes each side

11. place on paper-toweled plate
12. serve

man it is good and crispy and moist and tasty.

beef and vegetable and kale soup/stew experiment

so tonight i made a soup/stew creation from complete scratch, and it turned out GREAT. unfortunately, i did not take a picture, nor is there a recipe, but i'll put down all that i put in it. once i perfect it, then i'll write up an official recipe!

• onion
• garlic
• carrot
• celery
• kale
• can of diced tomatoes and its juice
• chopped beef
• water
• splash of red wine
• salt, pepper, parsley
• rice

basically, i sauteed the beef until just a bit brown and removed it from my dutch oven. then i sauteed the onion, garlic, carrot, and celery, making sure to scrape all the yummy bits of meat brownings. then i added the meat back and deglazed with the wine (basically just splashed wine into the pot). then i added the can of tomatoes + 2 cans full of water. when that simmered, i added the kale and covered the pot and let it simmer on an extremely low heat for a loooong time. i seasoned it to taste and then served it over rice. it was delicious.

thoughts for next time include playing around with sliced jalapeno pepper for spice kick, bay leaves, turnips, parsnips, radishes, tomato paste, starting out with a traditional roux, hmmm...it was pretty good tonight, but since it is my first attempt, i know i can improve upon it until it is perfect. yay.

marbled and mocha vegan cupcakes

just thought i'd tease y'all with some marbled and mocha vegan cupcakes with coffee vegan buttercream icing!

more organization

after looking through this blog to find a recipe, i realized that some post tags needed to be created in order to have a better browsing experience. you'll find them on the right hand side of the blog.

also, since it seems that posts with a picture get more attention, i am going to try and remember to photo document my creations more often...

happy cooking!

blueberry muffins!

these are SO GOOD!!!

• 2 cups flour
• 2 tsps baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup butter, cut in cubes, room temp
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup milk
  
• 2 cups blueberries

preheat oven to 350 degrees. spray or line 1 muffin pan (12 regular sized muffins). add the flour, baking powder and salt to one small bowl and mix. then in another bowl, cream together the butter, then sugar, then eggs, and then vanilla. slowly add the flour mix and milk to the liquid bowl, alternating between the two. finally, fold in the washed and rinsed blueberries. bake for around 26-27 minutes and then it's yum time!

important notes:

FOLDING is important because you don't want to squash the blueberries.

RINSING is important because you don't want to dye your batter purple...unless you want that, but i didn't in this instance.

if you're going to substitute a different fruit for the blueberries, you may want to reduce the sugar amount. for example, strawberries are much sweeter, so you would want to reduce the sugar. also, if the fruit is chopped up and a bit "sticky", mix it with a tablespoon or so of flour before folding it into the batter. the flour will help keep the color of the fruit from bleeding into your batter.

vegan oatmeal raisin muffins

i just whipped these up this morning and they are DELICIOUS! i found a recipe online that i kind of liked, and then swapped and added things as i felt necessary...so i guess you could say that i invented this recipe!

• 3/4 cup rice milk
• 1 cup oats
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 tsp apple cider vinegar
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/4 cup melted margarine (non-dairy, i used earth balance)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• chopped almonds (i think i had somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 cup)
• raisins (again, probably somewhere between 1/3 and 1/2 cup)

to start, preheat oven to 350 degrees. mix the rice milk and vinegar together. (this makes a "buttermilk"...the vinegar "curdles" the rice milk.) add the oats and let them soak for up to 10 minutes. at this time, i also added the sugar, oil, vanilla, and melted margarine. i then mixed all the dry ingredients together: flour, baking soda and powder, salt. i added the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients in 3 installments, mixing after each one. at the end, i added the almonds and raisins. bake for 15-20 minutes. this makes 12 dense and delicious muffins.

things for next time: i may add some cinnamon, add more vanilla, or even substitute out some of the sugar for honey. also, you could swap out the oil for applesauce. and i just had rice milk on hand...you could use any type of "fake milk" you wanted, or you could even create your own using whatever nuts you have on hand. if you wanted to use cow's milk, then you probably wouldn't have to add the vinegar, but don't quote me on that. H and i are partial to the almond, but i bet this recipe would be delicious with walnuts and pecans too.

enjoy!

senegalese chicken peanut soup

this is SO YUMMY and quite easy to make as well...

ingredients

• 1 medium onion, diced
• minced garlic (use however much you like)
• 4-5 tomatoes, coarsely chopped
• chicken, cubed (i used 2 breasts)
• 1.5 cups of chicken broth
• half a can of coconut milk
• good spoonful of smooth peanut butter
• red pepper powder (i used almost 1 tsp, and it was nice and SPICY)
• 1 tbsp of curry powder
• salt
• pepper
• chopped cilantro for garnish
• sour cream (if desired)

how to:

basically, get everything chopped up and ready to go. sauté the onion in some oil (i used sesame) until it gets a little clear, don't brown it. add the garlic and the red pepper powder and let that cook in. then add the curry and stir it around for about 1 minute.

add the chopped up tomatoes and chicken broth. at this time, you might think you haven't added enough liquid, but just wait...those tomatoes will cook down and you'll be fine. let that simmer on low heat for about 10 minutes.

while that is simmering, brown the cubed chicken in a separate pan in some oil. drain the chicken periodically. when that is done, add the chicken to the soup (preferably at around the 10 minute simmer mark) and let that simmer for another 10 minutes or so on LOW heat so the chicken remains tender and doesn't dry out.

close to time of serving, add the half can of coconut milk (i used LITE milk) and let that warm through. it doesn't necessarily need to simmer, just get it warmed up. then add the peanut butter and give it some good stirring so everything is incorporated.

ladle the soup into bowls, garnish with cilantro and sour cream. this makes about 4 generous servings.

buon appetito!

cookies and cream vegan cupcakes

my first batch of vegan cupcakes! i got many great compliments from these, and they don't taste any differently than you would think. you still use a lot of sugar, but, you don't use eggs which add some fat. eh, who cares about all that! they were delicious!

bechamel sauce

i think i heard a white sauce is one of four main sauces a chef should know how to make. the other three, i do not know about but this one turned out good over pasta, chicken, and brocolis:

1 c milk
2 T butter
1.5 T flour
salt
pepper
(oregano, garlic powder, parmesan cheese)

heat the milk in a pot to almost boiling.
melt butter in a skillet.
add the flour and mix in with a wooden spoon.
let this go a few minutes.

spoon about 2 T hot milk in and mix in.
when this is incorporated, another 2 T.
eventually, add a little more milk each time
letting it thicken and heat before adding more.

let it go about 10 minutes.

add spices and the cheese and soon after
remove it from the heat.