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Tropical Fruit Bread

I made this yummy bread today.  It's really nice and moist and has a pineapple-upside-down-cake-like texture.  I added 1/4 cup of sweetened flaked coconut to half the batter (so I had 2 mini loaves with coconut and 2 without) and I loved the bread with the coconut more than without.  If you like coconut, add 1/2 cup to the recipe.  The loaves with the coconut took longer to cook.  Just check for doneness with a toothpick.

Tropical Fruit Bread

2 cups flour
1 tsp, baking soda
2 tsps. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 (8 1/4 oz.) can crushed pineapple, undrained
1 cup mashed banana (about 3 small)
1/3 cup orange juice
1/2 cup butter or margarine (1 stick)
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs, beaten
1 cup chopped macadamia (pecans or walnuts work)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray one 9-inch loaf pan or 4 mini loaf pans with cooking spray and set aside.  In a small bowl mix the dry ingredients together and set aside.  Combine pineapple, banana and orange juice on another small bowl and set aside.  In a large bowl cream butter and sugar together, add eggs and beat well.  Add a small amount of the flour mixture alternately with the fruit mixture, mixing only enough to moisten the flour.  Stir in the nuts and pour batter into pan(s).  Bake for 55 mins to 65 mins (about 35 minutes for mini loaf pans).  Test with toothpick.  Cool on wire rack 10 mins. and remove from pan and continue to cool on rack.

Adapted from a recipe from: A Taste of Aloha by The Junior League of Hawaii

posted by: artichoke72 at 15:49 | link | comments |
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Escarole and White Bean Soup

I made this soup last night and is was absolutely wonderful!  So simple, quick, and easy.  I found the escarole with the other lettuces in the grocery store.  This soup will definitely become a favorite.

Escarole and White Bean Soup

1 head escarole, cleaned and chopped into bite-size pieces
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic
1 tsp. oregano
1/4 tsp. dried red pepper flakes
7 cups vegetable broth
4 cups cooked white beans (I used 2 cans of navy beans, drained and rinsed)
parmesan cheese

Cook the escarole in boiling water for 5 minutes to remove the bitter taste.  Drain.  Meanwhile, heat the
olive oil in a soup pot over medium heat and saute the garlic until fragrant, but not browned.  Add oregano
and red pepper flakes and stir a few seconds.  Add broth, beans, and escarole and bring to a boil.  Turn
off heat and serve soup.  Pass the parmesan cheese for sprinkling on top of the soup.

posted by: artichoke72 at 13:33 | link | comments (2) |
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Tuna Noodle Casserole

I  ran across this classic recipe in the newspaper last week.  I had never had tuna casserole before and was curious why it had been so popular in the 1950's.  I had all the ingredients on hand and decided to try it while my husband was out of town (I didn't think he wouldn't like it).  Thank goodness the culinary world has evolved since the 50's!  The casserole wasn't horrible, but it so lacked flavor and freshness.  Canned tuna, canned soup, frozen peas, and white flour egg noodles are not particularly my idea of good eats.  But, the casserole is quick to put together and it's a classic (nostalgic for some).  I'm glad I tried it.

Tuna Noodle Casserole

1 can (10 3/4 oz.) Campbell's® Condensed Cream of Mushroom Soup OR 98% Fat Free Cream of Mushroom Soup (Cream of Celery can be used instead)
1/2 cup milk
1 cup frozen peas
2 cans (about 6 oz. each) tuna, drained and flaked
2 cups hot cooked medium egg noodles
1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese

Mix soup, milk, peas, tuna and noodles in 1 1/2-qt. casserole. Bake at 400°F. for 20 min. or until hot. Stir.  Sprinkle cheese over casserole and serve.

posted by: artichoke72 at 14:54 | link | comments |
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Chocolate Chip Brickle Cookies

Oh my goodness, these cookies are soooo delicious!  The honey really adds depth of flavor to them.  You get mini chocolate chips and bits of toffee in every bite of these addicting cookies.  Again, I have to thank my friend Donna (check out her vegetarian group)for this recipe.  She has the best recipes.

Chocolate Chip Brickle Cookies

1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
1/4 cup honey or maple sugar
1 large egg
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 pkg (12 ounces) miniature semisweet chocolate chips (2 cups)
1 pkg (7 1/2 ounces) almond brickle chips (1 cup)
   
Heat oven to 350 degrees. Beat brown sugar, butter, shortening, honey, and egg in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed, or mix with spoon. Stir in flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Stir in chocolate chips and brickle chips.  Drop dough by tablespoonfuls about 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheet. Bake 8-11 minutes or until edges are golden brown (these will have soft centers). Cool 3 to 4 minutes. Remove from cookie sheet to wire rack.

posted by: artichoke72 at 12:15 | link | comments |
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Applesauce Nut Bread

This applesauce bread was very quick to make and not too sweet  It was good without nuts too.  I baked this bread in mini loaf pans and the cooking time was about 25 minutes...just check for doneness with a toothpick.  Next time I will sub in some whole wheat flour.  I bet you could make some killer peanut butter and jelly sandwiches with this bread. 

Applesauce Nut Bread

2 C. flour
3/4 C. sugar
3 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 C. chopped nuts
1 egg
1 C. applesauce
2 T. melted butter

Combine all dry ingredients, including nuts. In a separate bowl, beat egg, then combine with applesauce
and melted butter. Add dry ingredients to applesauce mixture and stir until blended. Place in a greased
loaf pan and bake at 350º for one hour. Cool before slicing.

posted by: artichoke72 at 12:57 | link | comments |
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Lentils and Radish Leaves with Chimol (Salvadorian Salsa)

This is a quick mid-week meal.  It was great served on top left-over wild rice (any rice would be good) and topped with the chimol salsa. The lentils can be made with other greens (like spinach or mustard), but the radish leaves are quite nice.  Orginally, the chimol salsa wasn't intened to go with the lentils and radish leaves, but I wanted to use up the radishes, so I prepared it while the lentils were cooking.  I thought  (kind of an afterthought, so the salsa is not in the picture) they might go well together and that the salsa would add crunch and freshness to the dish.  It was great.  For the salsa, I used more radishes than the recipe calls for and of course added a chile.  I loved the crunchiness the radish brings.  These are both recipes I got from my friend Donna.

Lentils and Radish Leaves
   
  1/2 cup brown or green lentils
  2 1/3 cups vegetble broth
  1 large bunch of radish leaves, coarsely chopped
  1 serrano chili, seeded and chopped
  1 tsp. mustard seeds
  1 tsp. cumin
  1 1/2 tsp. coriander
  2 garlic cloves, minced
  1/2 onion coarsely chopped
  salt and pepper to taste
   
Heat the lentils and broth to a boil, add the radish tops and balance of ingredients except salt. 
Continue cooking on simmer,  stirring often until lentils are tender about 35 minutes.  Salt to taste.  
   
Note:  To clean leaves:  rinse in a bath of cold salted water.  The salt will pull off the dirt and grit.  Place in colander and run water over leaves again. Discard bottom portion of leaves before chopping

Chimol  (Salvadoran salsa)
  
  2 large radishes (I used more)
  3 tomatoes, diced
  1 onion, chopped
  1 bunch of cilantro, chopped
  salt to taste
  juice from one lemon or lime
  jalapeno, minced is optional
  
  Mix all together and chill until ready to use.

posted by: artichoke72 at 12:54 | link | comments |
all recipes, vegetarian recipes

Swiss Chard and Goat Cheese Galette

I came across this recipe on film stock, a neat little blog with plenty of vegetarian recipes, and it just so happened that I had just bought the most beautiful bunch of swiss chard.  So, I made this last night.  It was lovely.  The crust turned out amazing  and I loved that it used the whole wheat flour.  I made a couple of changes to the recipe (mostly out of frugality) and they included, decreasing the amount of butter in the dough to 8 tablespoons (1 stick), decreasing the number of onions to 2, and decreasing the amount of goat cheese to 6 ounces.  I also ended up baking the galette for about 45 minutes to make sure the crust was golden.  The Swiss chard and goat cheese galette sliced easily and held together perfectly.  I want to thank Filmstocker for the recipe and for letting me share it here.  I hope I did his recipe justice.

Swiss Chard and Goat Cheese Galette

1 cup whole wheat flour
1 cup white all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
12 tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces
1/3 to 1/2 cup ice water
1-2 bunches Swiss chard, between 1 and 2 pounds
2 Tbsp olive oil
pinch crushed red pepper, or to taste
1/2 cup dry white or red wine
3 medium onions, chopped
1/3 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
8-12 ounces goat cheese or feta cheese
salt, ground pepper
2 eggs

1. Mix the flour, salt and sugar in the bowl of a food processor. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture
resembles coarse corn meal.

2. Add the water in stages (as little as possible) and pulse until the dough begins to hold together. Don't
mix the dough too much. Gather the dough together and press it into a disc. Wrap it in plastic wrap and
place it in the refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.

3. Clean the Swiss chard well. Chop the leaves well and chop the stems onto 1/2 inch pieces. Blanch in
boiling salted water until the leaves are wilted and the stems are tender, about 4 minutes. Drain, rinse,
and press the water out of the chard.

4. In a frying pan, heat the oil with the red pepper. Add the onion and saute until the onion is soft and
picking up some brown spots, 10-15minutes. Add the wine and then the chard. Saute until most of the
liquid is thick or absorbed. Remove from heat and let cool a bit.

5. In a mixing bowl, combine the onion-chard mixture, creme fraiche, goat cheese (broken up into small
pieces), eggs and salt and ground pepper to taste. Set aside.

6. When you're ready to make the gallette, preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

7. Remove the dough from the fridge. With a rolling pin, roll it out on a lightly floured surface until
it's about a 14" circle. Fold it and pick it up and place it on a baking sheet. Unfold it.

8. Put the filling on top of the dough and then fold the dough around it, piece by piece, overlapping to
make your galette. (Don't worry if it looks a little wierd: RUSTIC is the look we're going for.)

9. Bake it in the oven for 25-30 minutes or until it looks and smells done.

posted by: artichoke72 at 12:35 | link | comments (2) |
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Penne Pasta with Spinach and Feta Cheese

I made this quick and easy pasta dish for dinner tonight.  I loved the sunflower seeds in it!  I did things a little bit different than the recipe states.  As soon as the spinach wilted a bit, I added the cooked penne and the feta cheese to the mixture and tossed it all together in the pan.  I used the Barilla Penne Plus which is a great tasting multi-grain pasta, which contains more fiber and protein than regular pasta, and even has omega-3 fatty acids. The next time I make this recipe, I will use chopped fresh rosemary instead of the dried.  Tonight, without thinking, I measured out the dried rosemary and dumped it into the pan without first picking out the woody stems and crushing it a bit in the palm of my hand.  I want to thank PT, list mom of The Feral Vegetarian for sharing this recipe.

Penne Pasta with Spinach and Feta Cheese

1/4 cup sunflower seeds
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 tomatoes, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp. dried rosemary
1 tsp. dried basil
1 tsp. sea salt ~ or to taste
1/2 bunch spinach, washed and chopped
1 pound penne pasta
1 cup feta cheese, crumbled

Saute seeds and garlic in the olive oil for 2 minutes. Add herbs and spices, and stir. Add spinach and
tomatoes, cooking until the greens wilt down a bit, about 2 minutes.  Serve over penne pasta, cooked al
dente. Crumble feta cheese over top before serving.

posted by: artichoke72 at 23:58 | link | comments |
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Jamaican Coat of Arms (Hot Jamaican Rice)

I thought this dish would turn out to be very hot.  I used two habaneros, pierced a few times each with a sharp knife and thought they would produce a heat level on the cusp of "unbearable".  I don't know if my taste buds are just totally fried off, but it didn't have the spicy heat I expected.  I could taste the wonderful habanero flavor in the rice, but not the fire.  I ended up mincing the habaneros and mixing them into the rice once it had finished cooking and that gave me the kick I wanted (although I didn't find it to be unbearable).  I was thinking that I had unknowingly picked up some of those Texas Aggie habaneros that are bred for flavor but have a greatly reduced heat level(and don't get me started on that atrocity!)...but then my hubby ate a spoonful of the Hot Jamaican Rice thinking that the orange bits were carrots.  He screamed at me for 20 minutes about not warning him that he was about to eat the hottest bleepin' thing he had ever had in his entire bleepin' life. Opps!  So, apparently, my taste buds ARE fried.  Anyway, I really enjoyed this dish, it has an amazing flavor.  But be warned....it just may be the hottest thing you ever ate.

Jamaican Coat of Arms (Hot Jamaican Rice) 
   
1 cup dried small red beans (or black-eyed peas)
1 can (15 oz.)unsweetened coconut milk
2 cups long-grain rice
1 medium yellow onion, peeled and finely diced
1 large clove garlic, finely minced
1 whole Scotch bonnet chile, or a 1-inch long whole habanero or any other very hot whole chile pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried thyme
Salt, to taste
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
   
Pour beans into a colander; pick over them and discard any pebbles, debris or malformed beans. Rinse beans thoroughly with cold running water. Place beans in a large pot and soak them overnight in enough water to cover.

Drain beans, return them to the pot, and add 4 cups of water. Bring the beans to a boil, covered, over medium heat. Lower the heat and simmer the beans until they are not quite tender, about 30 minutes. Stir in the coconut milk, rice, diced onions, garlic, chile pepper, thyme, salt and pepper. Simmer the rice and beans, covered, until the rice is tender, about 20 minutes. Discard the chile pepper and serve at once.

posted by: artichoke72 at 16:21 | link | comments |
vegetarian recipes, all recipes

Palmiers

my son and i made these super easy treats the other night and i was really suprised at the results.  they are a delightful cross between a pastry and a cookie.  the sugar carmelizes to form a sweet, crunchy, and shiny coating around the light, flaky puff pastry.  you can prepare these up to the point before baking and put them in the freezer for future use.  then you can bake off a few at a time when needed.

Palmiers

1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
1/8 teaspoon kosher salt
2 sheets puff pastry, defrosted (recommended:
Pepperidge Farm)

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Combine the sugar and kosher salt. Pour 1 cup of the sugar/salt mixture on a flat work surface. Unfold each sheet of puff pastry onto the sugar and pour 1/3 cup of the sugar mixture on top, spreading it evenly on the puff pastry. With a rolling pin, roll the dough until it's 13 by 13-inches square and the sugar is evenly pressed into the puff pastry on both sides. Fold the sides of the square towards the center so they go halfway to the middle. Fold them again so the two folds meet exactly at the middle of the dough. Then fold 1 half over the other half as though closing a book. You will have 6 layers. Slice the dough into 3/8-inch slices. Place the second sheet of pastry on the sugared workspace, sprinkle with the remaining 1/3 cup of sugar mixture, and repeat the process above. (There will be quite a bit of sugar left over on the board).  At this point, you can place the slices into a freezer bag and store in the freezer to be baked at a later date.  Let the slices defrost before baking. 

To bake the palmiers, place the slices, cut side up, on baking sheets (line with parchment paper for easier cleanup).  Bake the cookies for 6 minutes until caramelized and golden brown on the bottom, then turn with a spatula and bake another 3 to 5 minutes, until caramelized on the other side. Transfer to a baking rack to cool.

adapted from a recipe by ina garten.

posted by: artichoke72 at 18:04 | link | comments |
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