Red Lentil Patties with Spicy Tomato Jam and Rhubarb Walnut Loaf—Secret Recipe Club

Betcha anyone coming over here from the Secret Recipe Club that knows me well is shocked that this is my pick for the month and it’s not dessert!  Here’s the deal—I made three recipes from my blog assignment this month and chose the one I liked the most to feature here first.  I liked all three recipes from Isabelle’s blog, Crumb.  I am so happy that I took the time to make these Red Lentil Patties with Spicy Tomato Jam.  I had them in mind the whole month and just kept not getting it done. 

In the meantime, after spending Mother’s Day weekend with my parents in Idaho, I brought home a bunch of rhubarb from their garden.

Mom and I were having loads of fun trying to take a selfie before I left.  Some of them were pretty funny.

My parents just celebrated their 50th wedding anniversary on May 16th!  Anyway, their yard and garden is beautiful and they have 3-4 big rhubarb plants.  I got to bring home a bunch.

How cool is this pvc pipe planter?  They made holes all along the top, filled them with dirt and planted things like lettuce and herbs.  They’ve done that all along fencing in their yard.  No weeding!

I could post more pictures, but I’ll spare you too many more.  I just wish I could be like my parents and have a yard and garden like they do!

Back to the rhubarb—I scoured Isabelle’s blog for any rhubarb recipes and found this Rhubarb Walnut Loaf.  I decided that it wouldn’t be too difficult to make gluten free and made it. 

Here’s how I changed it to be gluten free and with a few other changes.

Gluten Free Rhubarb Walnut Loaf, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

2/3 cup organic brown cane sugar

1/2 cup coconut oil

1 large egg

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup canned coconut milk

zest of 1 lemon

1  1/2 cups diced rhubarb

2  1/2 cups gluten free flour (I used Premium Gold ancient grains blend with xanthan gum)

2 tablespoons ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 tablespoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup organic brown cane sugar

juice of a lemon

1 tablespoon toasted unsweetened coconut.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Whisk together the brown sugar and coconut oil.  Add the egg and mix well.  Stir in the vanilla and coconut milk.  Zest and juice the lemon.  Stir the zest into the wet mixture.  Save the lemon juice for the glaze.

Whisk together the flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking soda, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl.  Add the dry ingredients to the wet and stir just until combined.  Fold in the rhubarb and nuts.    Pour the batter into a 9x5 loaf pan that his brushed with coconut oil.  Bake for 1 hour, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

Whisk together the 1/4 cup of brown sugar and lemon juice and bring to a simmer in a small saucepan until the sugar is dissolved.  Pour the glaze over the loaf as soon as it comes out of the oven.  Sprinkle with coconut.  Cool on a wire rack.

Stay tuned for the red lentil patties and tomato jam, I’ll get to it soon.  It might be the first time in my blog’s history that I didn’t blog for a whole month.  I need to make up for lost time.  A bit more of the month went by and I still kept thinking about the lentil patties with homemade “catsup”.  I looked through Isabelle’s blog again, just for the heck of it and found these Cherry Walnut Oatmeal Breakfast Bars and felt like making them.  I made a few changes, using gluten free oats, brown rice flour, cranberries, sunflower seeds, almond milk, etc.  If you want my version of the recipe, let me know.  They were a good snack throughout the last week. 

Gluten Free Cranberry Walnut Oatmeal Breakfast Bars

I didn’t think I was going to get the lentil patties made.  I knew if I made them they would only be something I would eat and no one else around here, but a couple days ago, I just decided to get it done last Thursday, the boys’ last full day of school.  I started with the Spicy Tomato Jam.  Super easy and very tasty!

Spicy Tomato Jam, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Isabelle at Crumb Blog

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 clove garlic, finely minced

1 small shallot, finely minced

1 tablespoon grated fresh ginger

1/4 teaspoon dry ground mustard

1/4 cup apple cider vinegar

14 ounce can of whole tomatoes, drained and chopped

1/4 cup organic brown cane sugar

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

1/4 teaspoon ground red pepper

Saute the shallot and ginger in olive oil for a couple minutes.  Add the garlic and mustard and saute until fragrant.  Chop the tomatoes, or pulse them in a food processor.  Add all the remaining ingredients and bring to a simmer.  Reduce heat and cook uncovered for about an hour, stirring occasionally, until it has thickened like jam.  Let the jam cool, then spoon into a jar and refrigerate until ready to use. 

This really has great flavor and a nice, perfect kick.  You can add a little more or less red pepper to your taste.  Isabelle used red pepper flakes.  I prefer the ground kind.  This tomato jam would be good on so many things.  After the jam was done, I made the patties.  I had bought some garam masala, which I had never used before, just to make these.  I’m glad I did! 

Since I was the only one eating these, I made just a few of them and have done so a couple times with the patty mixture in the refrigerator ready to make more.   I think I’ll fry off the rest of them, which I’ve done in coconut oil, and freeze them.  I made them gluten free by using rice flour instead of all purpose flour.

Red Lentil Patties, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Isabelle at Crumb Blog

1  1/2 cups red lentils

3 cups water

1 small shallot, finely minced

2 cloves garlic, finely minced

2 teaspoons garam masala

1/2 teaspoon ground cumin

2 large eggs

1/2 cup brown rice flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

1/4 cup finely chopped cilantro

coconut oil, for frying

In a large saucepan, bring the lentils and water to a boil.  Reduce heat to low and simmer until lentils are soft, 15-20 minutes.  Drain lentils well.  In a skillet, saute the shallot in olive oil for a few minutes.  Add the garlic, cumin, and garam masala.  Cook and stir a few more minutes.  Remove from heat.  In a large bowl, combine the lentils, sauteed ingredients, eggs, flour, salt, pepper and cilantro.  Form into balls (or use a cookie scoop).  Lay them in a skillet that is heated with a couple tablespoons of coconut oil and flatten them to about 1/4 inch thick.  Fry the patties for about 5 minutes per side or until golden brown and crisp.

Serve them warm or at room temperature with the spicy tomato jam. 

These really were quite simple to make and I’m so glad I found the time to do so!  You know, a couple years ago, I got the pleasure of filling in for a missing Secret Recipe Club assignment and made some delicious marbled choco banana muffins and granola from Isabelle’s blog.  What I wouldn’t give for one of those muffins now!  I also just realized and had thought I had been assigned Isabelle’s blog before, but knew I’d filled in once, so I didn’t question it until now—I have also already had an actual assignment for Crumb and I made a couple more things--Warm Raspberry Chocolate Pudding Cake and Sweet Potato Falafel!  I knew something seemed off, but didn’t question it.  Oh well, I am super glad I got to find more yummy things on Isabelle’s blog!  We need to have a talk with “the powers that be” who make these assignments. ;  )

 

 

An InLinkz Link-up

Delicious Low Fat Spinach Artichoke Dip

I made a most delicious Low Fat Spinach Artichoke Dip today.  I like it so much, it’s a must-share!  I actually spread some on a flattened whole wheat pita topped with a little extra cheese and broiled for a quite low fat personal pizza for lunch also—but didn’t photograph it.  Trust me—it was so good!

Low Fat Spinach Artichoke Dip, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

9 ounces fresh spinach, stem removed and cut into pieces

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

3 cloves garlic, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

1 can small artichoke hearts, chopped

½ cup nonfat Greek yogurt

¼ cup light sour cream

¼ cup grated low fat mozzarella cheese

¼ cup parmesan cheese, grated (a little extra for sprinkling on top, too)

2-3 dashes of Tobasco sauce (optional)

8 ounces 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened

A few shakes of dried oregano and basil (optional)

Saute the spinach (with a little salt and pepper) for just a minute or two until it starts to wilt in a large nonstick skillet with one tablespoon EVOO. Add the minced garlic for just 30 seconds to a minute. Remove from heat and let cool.

In the meantime, combine the yogurt, sour cream and cream cheese. Add the mozzarella, parmesan cheese, Tobasco and dried oregano and basil (if using). You can also add another shake or two of salt and pepper if desired. Stir in the now cooled spinach and the artichokes. Put the mixture in a glass/Pyrex baking dish (I used one that is 8 ½ x 6 ½ inches). Sprinkle with a little extra mozzarella and parmesan cheese.

Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes, until bubbly. Put the oven on broil and move the dish to the top rack and broil for 3-5 minutes with the oven door open and watching, so it doesn’t burn. Let cool enough to serve with crackers or fresh cut up vegetables.

(Or spread some on a flattened whole wheat pita, sprinkled with a little extra mozzarella and parmesan cheese and broil—so good!)

And then Kevin came home from work and asked about the dip and I told him it’s low fat and so good.  He said, “Someday you can make some that isn’t low fat and just think how good it would really be then,” and I won by telling him, “Yes, and then WE wouldn’t be low fat!”  I like when something is still really good, but you can have more of it rather than “splurge” with a whopping crackerful and that’s it.  Just saying. 

Butternut Squash Soup with Pepitas and Ground Pistachios Recipe

I don’t often post meals or savory dishes here, but it’s not because I never make them.  I just can’t seem to get decent pictures when trying to get dinner on the table and I find photographing savory food is a lot harder than snapping a couple photos of some delicious cookies or a piece of cake.  It’s just me though because there are some beautiful savory pictures out there in food blogging land.  After making this Butternut Squash Soup today though, I was pleased with the pictures and even more happy about how delicious it is, so I decided I had to share it.

I watched The Rachael Ray Show today and she made this soup.  I just happened to have half a butternut squash in the fridge and decided to make the soup.  Even though I knew no one else at my house would eat it.  It worked out well for me to have this soup and make a frozen pizza for the boys.  Kevin is out late helping Scott get caught up on some math at school and they are going to stop and grab something for dinner.  Win win. 

You’ll think win-win, too, if/when you make this soup.  Here’s the link for Rachael Ray's Soup, but I made some changes, so I’ll write up my version for you.  Can you guess what might be different from her soup?  What?  Did you say onions?  Well, then you’re right.  Rachael’s soup has two onions in it.  And while I feel that I’m really branching out now and then when it comes to onions, I do not like when onions take over the whole flavor of something like butternut soup.  I’ve tried a soup once and actually braved it and put the onion in and did not like the soup at all.  It tasted more like onion soup with a little squash in it.  But to each his own.  I do have an aversion to onions and you might feel different.

That said, I did put one medium shallot in my soup—so there! ;) Here’s my recipe.

Butternut Squash Soup with Pepitas and Ground Pistachios, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Rachael Ray

half of a large butternut squash (or a small one)

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

pinch or two of cayenne pepper (optional).

2 tablespoons maple syrup

1 celery stalk, chopped

2 large carrots, peeled and chopped

1 medium shallot, peeled and chopped

2 large cloves of garlic, minced

1 quart (32 ounces) chicken stock

2 pinches saffron threads (optional)

1 teaspoon lemon zest

pepitas, roasted—for garnish

1/2 cup pistachios, ground—for garnish

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Peel and cut squash into chunks (about 2 inches pieces).  Toss the squash with extra virgin olive oil, lay pieces flat on a baking sheet.  Sprinkle with salt, pepper and cayenne.  Roast in oven for 30 minutes, until soft all the way through and the pieces are beginning to brown. 

In the meantime, in a large pot (saucepan or Dutch oven), heat a little more olive oil and add the celery and carrots.  Salt and pepper them and saute for 2-3 minutes.  Add the shallot and cook another 3 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add the garlic and saffron and saute another minute.  Pour in the chicken stock and lemon zest and stir to combine.  Let simmer over medium heat until the squash is finished roasting. 

Add the squash to the soup and put through the blender in increments, you don’t want to fill the blender too full with hot liquid.  You can also use a handheld immersion blender if you have one.  Blend each amount until smooth and return all of it to the pot, simmer on low until ready to serve.  Fill soup bowls with soup and garnish with pepitas and pistachios.  Serves 4-6.

  Rachael Ray mentioned that the pepitas and especially the ground pistachios make all the difference with this soup and I have to agree—it really added something and tastes fantastic.  But if you don’t happen to have the nuts, don’t let that stop you from making the soup!  You could also add a little cream once it’s blended, but it really doesn’t need it.

I can’t wait to have some more of this for my next lunch and/or dinner!

Cracked Wheat Rolls and Homemade Hamburger Buns

I don’t like commercial hamburger buns.  I buy them now and then for the family, but I don’t eat them.  I don’t even care for the ones labeled whole wheat. Lately I’ve been making them homemade whenever we’re having some type of hamburger.  Last night I made some delicious Black Bean Patties (I adapted this recipe from Dara at Cookin’ Canuck and it was so good!).  I decided the guys would have hamburgers, but I was excited to try these vegetarian bean patties!  I saw a bag of cracked wheat in my fridge and thought I’d make some cracked wheat rolls/hamburger buns to go with dinner.  The recipe I chose was found at Allrecipes.  It is a perfect wheaty roll but without too much density that you sometimes get from using a whole wheat flour, though this does have some along with the cracked wheat.

Like all homemade bread, these sure smelled great while they were baking and the wonderful smell perfumed the house all evening!

Cracked Wheat Rolls or Hamburger Buns, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!, adapted from Allrecipes

1  1/4 cups water

1/2 cup cracked wheat

2  1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast (or one .25 ounce packet)

1/4 teaspoon granulated sugar

1/3 cup warm water

2 tablespoons butter substitute (I used Bestlife), regular unsalted butter is fine

1 tablespoon table salt

2 tablespoons molasses

2 tablespoons honey

1 cup warm milk (I used 2%)

1 cup whole wheat flour

4-5 cups all purpose flour

1 egg—for an egg wash

In a small saucepan, bring the 1  1/4 cups water and the cracked wheat to a boil, turn down to medium low and simmer for 10 minutes.  Remove from heat and cool to lukewarm.  (I spread it out on a plate and it cool down while you do the next step, which takes 10 minutes.

Dissolve the yeast in a medium sized bowl with 1/3 cup warm water and the sugar.  Stir together, then let sit 10 minutes. 

Add the cracked wheat mixture, yeast mixture, butter, salt, molasses, honey, and milk to the bowl of an electric mixer and with the paddle attachment, mix together to combine.  Add the one cup of whole wheat flour and two cups of the all purpose flour.  Mix until well combined.  Clean off the paddle attachment, scrape the sides of the bowl and add the dough attachment to the mixer.  With the mixer going on low speed, add the remaining all purpose flour a little at a time until the dough starts coming together.  After two of the remaining cups are added, let the mixer "”knead” the dough for a minute or so.  If it is still sticking to the sides, add about 1/4 cup more flour, let it mix.  Keep adding a little flour at a time until the ball of dough no longer sticks to the sides.  Let it knead for 8-10 minutes on medium-low speed.  Remove the bowl from the mixer. 

Take the dough out of the bowl and spray it with cooking spray.  Return the ball of dough to the bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and let sit in a warm, dry place for an hour until doubled in size.  Punch down the dough and make 3 ounce sized balls of dough—you’ll get about 15 rolls.  Set them on a baking sheet and cover with a damp tea towel.  Let rise for about 45 minutes.  During the last 20 minutes of rise time, preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Brush each roll with egg wash.  Bake the rolls for 20-25 minutes.  Let baking sheet sit on a wire rack a few minutes.  Remove rolls from pan to wire rack and cool completely. 

Slice open to serve as buns for burgers and sandwiches or serve as rolls.

Here’s the Black Bean Patty I made for dinner with the rolls.  Try out this recipe from Cookin' Canuck.

Between this black bean veggie patty and these cracked wheat buns, it was a great, healthy sandwich!

Vegetarian Low Fat Spinach Artichoke Pizza Recipe

This Vegetarian Low Fat Spinach Artichoke Pizza with Light Alfredo Sauce, Asparagus and Tomatoes is my new favorite thing!  (I forgot to take a picture of the whole pizza.)

I made homemade pizza for dinner tonight.  We do often.  The boys each get to make their own individual pizzas and I put out the different toppings.  All four boys have only put cheese on their pizzas.  Yet they will eat pepperoni right out of the package like crazy.  Silly boys!  I usually just make a pizza on the pizza stone for Kevin and I, but he decided to make calzones with all kinds of “things” inside that I wouldn’t eat. ;)  So I made my own pizza.  It will take me days to eat it, but it was so good, I probably could have eaten half the pizza in one sitting!

For the boys, I made a regular pizza dough with bread flour.  Then I made a whole wheat pizza dough, which is one I’ve made quite a few times that I found on Joe’s blog, Culinary In The Country.  I adapted the recipe just a little, instead of one cup whole wheat flour and one cup all purpose flour,  used 1  1/2 cups whole wheat flour and 1/2 cup all purpose.  This pizza dough is so easy as everything is made in the food processor and it makes a nice crisp whole wheat crust after rising for about an hour.

Vegetarian Low Fat Spinach Artichoke Pizza, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 recipe whole wheat pizza dough (or regular dough, enough for a 14 inch pizza)

1/2 cup jarred Light Alfredo Sauce (I used Classico)

3 cloves garlic, finely chopped

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 cups chopped fresh spinach (or more)

about 1/3 lb. fresh asparagus, cut on a diagonal in 1/2 inch size pieces

1  14 oz. can quartered artichoke hearts (I used about 3/4 of the can, add according to taste)

1 medium tomato, chopped

1 cup finely shredded mozzarella

1/4 cup finely shredded parmesan cheese

1-2 tablespoons chopped fresh basil

cornmeal, for sprinkling on the pizza stone

Make pizza dough, let it rise for about an hour .

Preheat oven to 425 degrees.  Preheat a pizza stone. Heat the olive oil in a 12-inch non stick skillet over medium heat.  Add the spinach and asparagus and saute for a minute or two.  Add the garlic and artichokes and saute for another 30 seconds or so.  Remove from heat and let it cool while you roll out the pizza dough.  Remove the stone from the oven and place the rolled out dough on it.  Spread the Alfredo sauce evenly over the dough.  Scatter the spinach mixture evenly over the sauce. 

Sprinkle both cheeses over the vegetables.  Then scatter the chopped tomato over the top.  Bake the pizza for 10-15 minutes (checking it every minute or two after 10 minutes).  Remove the pizza from the oven and sprinkle it with the chopped basil.  Slice with a pizza cutter. 

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I can hardly wait to have another slice of this pizza!

Here’s Kevin’s two calzones he made.  One was full of pepperoni, green peppers, jalapeno, cheese, etc. and the other had some leftover chicken fajita mixture with black beans, cheese, etc.

 

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Sam had his last day of preschool for the year.  We snapped a quick picture with his teacher, Mrs. Clark.

The other boys are counting down, four more days of school next week until they’re done!  Their last day of school will be Scott’s 13th birthday.  Oh boy, are we ready for a teenager?

FFWD—November Round Up—Potato Gratin, Roast Chicken and Caramel-Topped CHOCOLATE Semolina Cake

I decided last month after finding it hard to get French Fridays With Dorie posts up every Friday, that I would just do one post for the month with a quick recap of the things I made.  So while most FFWDers post every Friday, I plan to post on the last Friday of every month. What?  I know, it’s not Friday.  Well, cut me some slack, it was a holiday weekend, but I do want to get this post up before November is gone.

I made three of the four recipes that were chosen this month.  The one recipe I didn’t make was for Pumpkin Gorgonzola Flans, page 146.  I just couldn’t get it done, I wanted to try it, but certainly not with gorgonzola cheese.  I just don’t “do” moldy cheeses.  So I really was going to try it with another cheese and still plan to sometime because I do love pumpkin.  I may even just try a small, scaled down version of this soon because I have some pumpkin in the fridge to use up. 

Weeks ago though, I did make the Pommes Dauphinois (Potato Gratin), page 360.  How cute are these little individual gratin dishes I found months ago?  They are only about 1/2 cup each. 

 

I made about 1/4 of the gratin recipe and three little gratins (one was in a 1/2 cup round ramekin.  What is not to love about potatoes and cream baked with cheese?  The cream is infused with garlic and the potatoes are seasoned with a little thyme in between the layers of potatoes.  Topped with Gruyere cheese and baked, these really are a dinner treat.  I only took a bite of the one I served Kevin.  I just couldn’t do that much fat in my dinner at that time.  But for sure, someday when I’m really going to splurge on dinner, I will surely make the gratin again.

 

I made the Roast Chicken For Les Paresseux a couple weeks ago for a Sunday dinner.  It was pretty easy and the chicken was nice and moist, but neither Kevin nor I really like bone in chicken or dark meat.  So I felt like it was a lot of work and a lot of meat no one really wanted.

I need a Dutch oven.  I’m going to put on one my Christmas wish list.  The only thing I had that would even slightly work to cook the whole chicken in is the ceramic bowl to my Crockpot.  It actually worked fine, but I think it was a little small for the whole chicken and the potatoes and carrots, so I didn’t get as much browning on the chicken as I would have liked.  It also made it so I had A LOT more juice/liquid/stock in the bottom of the bowl underneath the chicken, the piece of bread underneath pretty much disintegrated.

That liquid was probably close to 2 inches deep.  We didn’t use it for anything.  Then, see if you notice anything wrong with this next picture--

Did you figure it out?  Well, I had NO clue until I was carving in to the chicken.  Here, does this help?

Nice chicken butt shot (sorry, Mom).  Well, turns out the whole thing would have looked a lot better AND been much easier to carve if it hadn’t been UPSIDE DOWN.  Maybe the breast side up might have even browned up nicer.  Yep, I cooked the bird upside down, photographed it upside down and had no idea the whole time, until I was carving it and though that chicken had the worst breast meat I’d ever seen.  Ahh, see, we don’t eat much whole chicken around here.  That and I’m just a dork.

We actually did enjoy the nice moist chicken once I figured out where it was.  sigh   Let’s move on.

Today (Sunday) I decided to give the Caramel-Topped Semolina Cake (pages 438-439)  a try.  Since there is Cream of Wheat in the cake, I remembered in the past, I had bought some chocolate Cream of Wheat.  When I went to find it at the store a week or so ago, it was Malt-o-Meal that makes the chocolate one.  Looking at the ingredients of both regular cereals, they were the same, so I went with the chocolate Malt-o-Meal to give this cake flan-like dessert breakfast treat at try.  I knew no one would eat this with plain Cream of Wheat and raisins.  It had to be chocolate.  So not only did I used Chocolate Malt-o-Meal, I also added mini chocolate chips in place of the dried fruit.  Scott loves Chocolate Malt-o-Meal, so I think he’ll eat the cake.  He hasn’t tried it yet.  I taste a few bites of it.  It’s okay, but not something I’d ever make again.

I also had issues with the caramel.  I’ve made Dorie’s caramels on the stove before, but this one was different—it was sugar and water with a splash of lemon juice.  I did everything exactly that the recipe said for the caramel and two times it turned to crystal within minutes.  It never caramelized.  I was quite annoyed.  What was the problem?

 

Kevin thinks its a high altitude—too much water issue.  He didn’t come up with that idea until I decided to make a different caramel—using the method from some of Dorie’s other recipes.   I put 1/3 cup sugar in a dry skillet, let it start to turn amber and smoke a little.  Then I added 3 tablespoons of cream and stirred it over the heat until it smoothed out.  I removed it from the heat and added one teaspoon of butter.  It looked much better and I forgot to take a picture of it.  I poured it in to the hot baking pan, which I only had a nine inch round pan and not an 8 inch.  Then topped it with the “cake” batter and baked it. 

  

I was happy that it came right out of the pan and the caramel looked good.  The cake is thin because I used the bigger pan.  I think it turned out exactly how it was supposed to. 

It really does taste okay.  But I would never consider it a dessert that I’d make for company or anything.  Not sure I’d ever even make it for breakfast, though it has everything you’d eat for breakfast, milk, eggs, Malt-o-Meal—and chocolate. ;)  I’m always glad when I try something new.  Now on to December recipes in between lots and lots of holiday baking!  Stay tuned for all that.  (And make that potato gratin sometime—it’s heavenly!) 

Happy Birthday, Dorie Greenspan! Hummus and Cheez-it-ish Crackers

In Dorie’s honor today, a group of  Tuesday's With Dorie and French Fridays With Dorie bloggers got together and planned a spectacular meal using recipes from Dorie’s new book, Around My French Table.

I chose to make a couple appetizers from Around My French Table and here at our house, we had a healthy veggie feast with Dorie’s recipe for Hummus and her Cheez-it-ish Crackers.  I loved both recipes.  The hummus is great and I was even able to get all my boys to try it (some even ate more than just a “try”).  It’s probably a good thing Kevin was teaching the night we did it, he would not consider the spread we had a dinner, but I fooled the boys and they were fine with it. 

The hummus was super simple to make and had just the right amount of garlic and cumin (I used the full suggested 1/2 teaspoon).  (I’ve been turned off by some hummus I’ve tried that seems to have more garlic than beans!)

Looks like a perfect party spread to me and it made for a perfect light dinner when all the boys wanted to do was eat so they could go back outside and play the new tetherball we got them.  Of course, hummus just wouldn’t do, we had to get out the ranch dressing and salsa to go with the veggies and chips and crackers to please them as well. 

These crackers are addicting and really good.  You can see black specks in them because Dorie suggested using white pepper and I didn’t have any so I used black pepper.  But it didn’t really matter, with the pepper and little bit of cayenne sprinkled in, I thought they had just the right amount of zip and were perfectly crisp, flaky and cheesy.  I only made half a recipe, because if a cracker isn’t shaped like a little goldfish around here, it’s just not going to get eaten by most.  So, I also hate to admit that after a couple days, I think I was the one who ate most of the half recipe. (Shriek.)  Hey, I was celebrating, after all, Dorie’s birthday only comes once a year, right!  I have just about every cookie cutter in the world, it seems, but I suppose I need to find me a goldfish cutter!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DORIE!  IT’S BEEN A REAL TREAT BAKING AND NOW COOKING ALONG WITH THESE TWO GREAT GROUPS AS WE MAKE OUR WAY THROUGH YOUR GREAT BOOKS!  HOPE YOU HAVE A WONDERFUL BIRTHDAY!

(If you don’t yet have Dorie’s books, Baking From My Home to Yours and Around My French Table, they are a great addition to any cookbook collection.)

Be sure to check out Dorie’s Virtual Surprise Party at Phe.MOM.enon!

FFWD—Gerard’s Mustard Tart (And CSN Stores Giveaway Winner!)

Double posting again—be sure to check out the yummy Apple Betty Bars below that I posted for Twelve Weeks of Christmas Cookies.

French Fridays With Dorie is here again.  We are in to the second week of cooking and baking along to Around My French Table.  The recipe Dorie chose for this week looks great in the book.  I was excited to give it a try.  I don’t LOVE mustard.  I would never purposely put it on a sandwich.  But I have been liking it okay when it’s in dressings or certain recipes where it isn’t the key flavor.  Looking through the ingredients in the recipe for this mustard tart, I was a little skeptical that I wouldn’t  like it with as much mustard that is in it.  Besides that being an issues, I just knew that the whole tart wouldn’t get eaten here.  I LOVE crust, but have noticed that Kevin often leaves a lot of the crust uneaten, even with the most delicious of pies.  Scott does the same thing.

So, I decided to halve the recipe, but when making the tart dough, went ahead and made the full recipe.  I plan to use the other half of the tart dough for something else (next week’s TWD recipe!).  I ended up making two 4 inch tarts and having enough filling left over that I made a crustless one in a four inch cake pan.  The egg-y, frittata like tart full of veggies was pretty good.  I could definitely taste the mustard (I used all Dijon, didn’t have grainy mustard).  I would eat a slice of this tart if I was served it somewhere, but not sure I’d make it again.  OR, I’d make it again and cut way back on the mustard, I do like having a little bit of that taste there, but maybe not quite that much. 

Oh, and it’s no surprise that I don’t really like leeks, since they are in the onion family.  So I skipped the leeks and cut up some carrot, red and green peppers and some cremini mushrooms and I browned them up in a skillet with a clove of garlic and some olive oil first.  I used some dried thyme for the herb as I didn’t have any fresh and I don’t care for rosemary.  The tart really did taste good.  I love the idea of putting lots of veggies in and making such a simple lunch with the mini tarts.

 

This is so fun to be cooking some new things here.  Steppin’ out of the comfort zone.  Next week—some Spicy Vietnamese chicken noodle soup!

 

And now for the announcement of the CSN Stores $75 giveaway winner—I chose a winner randomly from the entries received and the winner is---Sarahe!

sarahe said...

looks wonderful!
If i won I would get some new baking pans...mine are kinda sad :(

October 06, 2010 7:17 PM

Congratulations, Sarah, I will be contacting you for the correct information to get the $75 promo code from CSN Stores to you!  Yay!  (Thank you, CSN Stores for allowing me to have this giveaway!)

Usual Easter morning here, the kidlets awoke to Easter baskets and lots of hidden eggs to find.

Wakin’ up.

 

The hunt.

 

The loot.

The bartering and swap.

I’m sure my extended family will be sad they missed out on these “fish roll” Bunny Tails I made for dinner tonight.  Saw this cute idea at Kara's Kitchen Creations (She’s having a giveaway on her blog right now, too, until Tuesday, April 6, check it out--It's for a nice slow cooker).  For the Bunny Tail Rolls, you can use your favorite roll recipe.  It’s all just in how you “roll” the rolls! ;)

Roll about a 6-8 inch piece of dough.  Fold it up so the two ends overlap at the top, for the ears, put another little round piece of dough in the space at the end of the roll—the bunny tail.  Perfect for Easter.

I used my trusty, favorite recipe for 30 Minute Rolls.  Whenever I make that dough, I’m “forced” to make cinnamon rolls or cherry almond rolls.  These are so good.  So I made some of those today, too.  And would you believe, after making the boys eat some cereal for breakfast before breaking in to their candy, I then let them eat candy all morning and have a cinnamon roll for lunch!  Such a health conscience mom!

 

Hey, we did have a good dinner.  Ham, mashed potatoes, asparagus and peas, brussel sprouts, bunny buns, salad and fruit salad.  Hands down my favorite part of the meal was the brussel sprouts.  I saw these a few months ago over at the fabulous Leslie’s blog, The Hungry Housewife and have wanted to try them since then.  Her recipe calls for shallots and I didn’t have any, so I used garlic.  She also uses fresh brussel sprouts and all I had was a bag of frozen ones.  Still, these have bacon, garlic and butter and are roasted in the oven.  What’s not to like about that?  Oh, then there’s a drizzle of a balsamic glaze.  Good stuff.  I made everyone at least try it.  No one really liked it.  But I loved them and am happy there’s some leftover.

Here’s Kevin and Bob playing with their new toys.

 

They are Droids.  No, they weren’t sitting there texting back and forth, but boy, they love their toys.  Look at Bob trying to hide his from the camera.  Gotcha!

Dessert---not even sure what this is called.  Ice Cream Dessert sounds good.  You just take a layer of Oreo Cookie crust, then any ice cream you choose, then some hot fudge (spread on while cold) and whipped cream (yes, I used Cool Whip!) and sprinkled with some more chocolate.  The ice cream I used this time was a peanut butter brownie ice cream.  I’ve made it in a 9x13 inch pan before, but this time I used an 8 inch pan which made for a thicker ice cream layer.  What I really like about this is you can use any cookie crust you want, any ice cream, and any topping and it’s different every time.  Mint chocolate chip is good.  I made it once for my mom (who doesn’t eat chocolate) and used vanilla sandwich cookie crust, a fruity ice cream and topping and it was really good.  The sky is the limit with this one.

Pretty low key day here for Easter.  We didn’t have church, which was a little strange, but our church has what is called General Conference twice a year.  The president of the church, Thomas S. Monson and all the general authorities speak in four meetings that are broadcast on certain tv stations on Saturday and Sunday. Easter just happened to fall on General Conference weekend this year.  So it was actually wonderful to be able to hear some wonderful messages and talks from these great leaders today.  They testified of our Savior, Jesus Christ and about his life, crucifixion, and resurrection and gave great counsel on things we can and should be doing to live better and be happy.  I believe in our Savior, Jesus Christ, too.  I’m so thankful for what he did for each of us and I strive to follow his example each day.

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Don’t miss entering the giveaway I’m having for a great