I was vegetarian for twelve years, and vegan for 5 of those years, though you could probably never tell based on recent 2 cooks entries. Here is a tip o’ the hat to my vegetarian past and still vegetarian-food loving present. It’s also a perfect holiday meal if you are looking for something to serve on any of the remaining winter holidays and great for an easy, and impressive, potluck dish. The baked tofu has become famous among my co-workers.

First, the relish. This is easiest if you have a food processor or blended that can handle chopping solid things. If not, you could, conceivably chop the oranges and cranberries by hand, but it would be very messy. This recipe has been in my family for years and is a welcome accompaniment at any holiday meal (especially those involving Turkey or Tofurkey).

The basics: organges and cranberries

Cranberry Orange Relish

6 ripe oranges

1—2 cups cranberries (more if you like it really tart! I’m from New England, so of course I love cranberries)

1 lemon

Sugar to taste (we prefer natural sugar like Florida Crystals or Sugar in the Raw)

Relish in process

Cut the oranges into wedges and throw half of them in the food processor. Pulse a few times to chop them up.  Add half a cup of cranberries, the juice of one lemon wedge and half a lemon’s worth of zest. Add several tablespoons of sugar. Pulse until coarsely chopped and well mixed. Taste. Add more cranberries or sugar to taste.

Repeat with the other half of the ingredients. Mix them together and store in a glass jar or covered bowl in the fridge overnight to marinate. Serve at room temperature.

The relish on the holiday table

Lemon Baked Tofu

2 Lbs.  (2 blocks) firm tofu

Olive Oil

Juice of 2—4 Lemons

1 TBS. Balsamic vinegar

3—5 cloves of garlic, crushed

Herbs de Provence

Salt and Pepper to taste

The best part of this recipe is its flexibility. If you are thinking ahead you can marinate the tofu in the dressing overnight. If you don’t have time, just mix it and bake it. It’s good either way. I like Herbs de Provence, but if you don’t have them, you can use whatever fresh or dried herbs you like. Tarragon is nice, as is Thyme, Sage and Rosemary.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees f.

Drizzle some olive oil on the bottom of a large glass or metal baking pan

Cut the tofu into large rectangles or squares and place in the pan

In a medium bowl whisk together the olive oil, lemon juice, Balsamic vinegar, garlic, herbs, salt and pepper.

Drizzle over the tofu and turn the slices over so they are well covered.

Bake about 45 minutes covered in tin foil and 15 minutes uncovered or until golden brown and baked looking.

Serve with Cranberry Orange Relish on the side.

Happy holidays, or at least, holiday-style eating all year ‘round!

Potato Coins

http://breadplusbutter.blogspot.com/2009/12/potato-coins-and-noche-buena.html

Cinnamon Sugar Cookies

These smell divine while they are cooking and after you take them out of the oven, and they taste like Christmas in your mouth

Try making these with your kids, your family or your partner and see how much fun you have decorating them! Then, if you can stop yourself from eating them, package them up nicely and give them away to family and friends. Enjoy!

Ingredients:

3 cups all Purpose Flour

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 cup butter

1/2 cup white sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 tbs ground cinnamon

1 tsp salt

1tsp vanilla essence

Icing:

1/2 cup icing sugar

1-2 tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla powder

Food colouring

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 Degrees Celcius.  Place Flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and mix lightly together.

2. In another bowl, place the butter and white/brown sugar together. Cream until light and fluffy.

3. Add the eggs in one by one, making sure to stir through after each addition.

4. Add the vanilla essence and mix well.

5. Slowly add the flour mixture until well combined. Using your hands, work the dough into a smooth round ball.

6. Turn onto a floured surface and roll out with a rolling pin, about 1/2- 1 cm thick.

7. Cut out shapes using cookie cutters.

8. Place on a lightly greased cookie tray, leaving a little bit of room between each cookie shape as they will expand a little while cooking in the oven.

9. Cook in a preheated oven for 15 minutes. Take out and allow to cool before decorating with icing.

Do you like bacon?  I do.  But I hate the mess of frying it.  So I decided to give baking the bacon a try.  It works really well, the bacon is cooked in about the same amount of time as on the stove top, anyway from 15 minutes to 20, depending on thickness; it doesn’t make a mess (although you still have to dispose of the bacon grease, I like to strain mine and keep it in a container in the fridge.  I use it to season green beans; fried potatoes, or even fried eggs).  And baking it is a great technique when you need to make bacon for a large group.

Great results baking bacon

Here’s what you do.  Put the bacon slices on a heavy rimmed cookie sheet.  Place it into a cold oven, turn the heat on to 375 degrees F and then just watch it cook; turn it a couple of times with tongs and when it’s cooked to your liking; remove the pan and drain the bacon on paper towels.  Discard the grease in the pan.  If you don’t care about keeping the grease, you could line the pan with some foil and then once the grease gets cold, roll it up and  just throw it away.

LindySez: Give it a try, baked not fried.

My Distress: 4

His Mess: 1

Overall Success: 9

Find a sweet root vegetable.  My preferences are sweet potatoes and carrots.  Beets are an option, but their messier and a pain to peel.  Parsnips for a more savory snack.  Peel them and slice them thin, being sure to keep them somewhat the same size.  A good knife is a lifesaver for this one, and with my Wusthof 7″ Santoku, I find it kind of therapeutic to tune out my surroundings and chop, chop, chop.

A good knife is a requirement for this one.

Spray a cookie sheet with spray, spread the chips out, spray again and sprinkle with whatever you have.  Cinnamon if you think sweeter will be the trick.  I use Mrs. Dash.  My chef friend suggested ginger or tarragon sweet potatoes and carrots, and rosemary or thyme for parsnips.  Bake them at 400 for 20-40 minutes.  Watch them like a hawk for the desired degree of doneness.  If you want them crispy, you’ll inevitable need to burn some.  Store them in the fridge and they make a great on the go snack – even for us adults!

Watch these like a hawk or they'll burn

Buttered Toast Crisps

http://breadplusbutter.blogspot.com/2009/12/buttered-toast-crisps.html

Apple and Strawberry Cake

Delicious!!

Actually, this is kind of a cross between a cake and pastry.Fairly simple to make and utterly delicious to eat.  I first came across a similar recipe here but wanted to add some kind of fruit mixture in there to make it more filling and take away the overly-sweetness of the original recipe.  Plus,  I like have different textures to play with in my mouth so with this recipe, you have the flaky softness of the pastry/cake, the stickyness of the jam/preserve filling, and the slight crunchiness of the apples.  Vary as much as you want. You could even omit the apples and replace them with another fruit of your choice such as peaches or pears. Or add some nuts if you want.  Just go crazy.

A warning though: You have to watch the juice from the apple and the strawberry preserve while it’s cooking in the oven so that they don’t end up burning. I learnt this the hard way.

Ingredients:

2 cups All Purpose Flour

1 tsp baking powder

a pinch of salt

1/2 cup softened butter

3 tbsp cream cheese

2 medium sized apples (granny smith if available, otherwise any apple will do), peeled and sliced thinly

1 jar of strawberry preserves (or Jam)

For the Syrup:

1/4 cup icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla powder

2 tbs milk

Method:

1. In a saucepan, place a spoonful of the strawberry preserve /jam and the sliced apples over medium heat and cook until apples have softened. Leave to cool.

2. Meanwhile,  preheat oven to 230 degrees Celcius. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking powder and salt. Mix, then add in softened butter and cream cheese.

3. Using your hands, work the butter/cream cheese into the flour until mixture starts to resemble large breadcrumbs.

4.  Mixture should be soft enough to form into a ball. If not, add a tiny bit of milk to soften it up and help bring the mixture together.

5. Knead dough lightly onto floured surface for about a minute.

6. Place dough onto lightly greased baking paper (long enough to cover the baking tray later) and using a floured rolling pin, roll dough out into a rectangular shape.

7. Spread the rest of the strawberry preserve/jam down the middle, making sure to leave the sides of the dough free to cover the top later.

8. Place the softened apple mixture on top of the strawberry preserve/jam.

9. Using a sharp knife, cut the sides of the dough diagonally (about 2-3 cms apart), making sure to stop just before hitting the preserve/apple mixture.

10. Fold strips over the preserver/apple mixture, alternating one side with the other, until all the strips have been folded over.

11. Carefully lift the baking paper that the pastry is on over onto a baking tray.

12. Place the baking tray in the preheated oven and cook for 15-20 minutes until the pastry turns golden brown.

13. Take out, leave to cool before serving. If you like, serve warm with Vanilla ice cream, or drizzle with some White Syrup.

For the syrup: Combine icing sugar, vanilla powder in a small bowl. Slowly add in the milk until mixture is smooth and slightly runny (should not be too thin). Drizzle over the top of the cake.

I won’t say too much about these bars, other than that they are delicious.  You already know that soft, fluffy baked goods drizzled with cream cheese icing are my Kryptonite.  The next time you have a couple of overripe bananas, you know what to do.

Just don’t come knocking.

You can double this recipe and bake it in a 13×9-in. pan.

-2 eggs, room temperature
-1/2 c. granulated sugar
-1/3 c. raw sugar
-1/4 c. vegetable oil
-1/4 c. plain yogurt
-8-oz. bananas (weighed after peeling—about 1 1/2 medium bananas), mashed
-1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
-1 c. all-purpose flour
-1 tsp. baking powder
-1 tsp. ground cinnamon
-1/2 tsp. salt
-1/2 tsp. baking soda

1.  Preheat oven to 350F.  In a medium bowl, mix together eggs, banana, oil, yogurt, and sugars.

2.  In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking power, baking soda, salt, and cinnamon.

3.  Slowly mix dry ingredients into wet until combined.

4.  Bake on the middle rack in a large greased gratin dish or 8×8-in. pan for approx. 35 min. or until a toothpick comes out clean.

5.  Drizzle or spread with cream cheese-sour cream icing when cool.  (Try this recipe with an additional 1 Tbsp. sour cream, 1 tsp. milk, and 1 tsp. fresh lemon juice).

I was looking for a simple and quick dinner for a week night. I had some chicken thighs in the fridge and I was craving lemon. Thankfully, this recipe only called for ingredients I had in my pantry. The chicken came out moist, flavorful, lemony, and delicious. Searing it in a pan before baking it in the oven really locked in the juices and made the skin nice and crisp.  I used bone-in, skin-on thighs, but you can certainly use boneless, skinless. (I just don’t think the chicken will be as moist). For a side dish, I just boiled some egg noodles and broccoli and then drizzled the remaining lemon sauce over the top.

I found that the original recipe called for too much fat, so I reduced it in the one given below. I also increased the amounts of garlic, lemon juice, and chicken broth so I had enough sauce for the noodles. Next time, I’ll use about a teaspoon of lemon zest in the marinade to increase the lemony flavor.

Adapted from Gourmet

Lemon Oregano Chicken

serves 4

3 garlic cloves, minced
3 tablespoons vegetable oil, divided
3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
4 chicken thighs, bone-in, skin-on
1/2 cup reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 teaspoon dried oregano

1. In a medium-sized bowl, combine garlic, 1 tablespoon oil, 2 tablespoons lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Pat chicken dry and add to bowl. Marinate for 15-30 minutes at room temperature.
2. Preheat oven to 450°F with rack in middle.
3. Heat remaining 1 tablespoon oil in a heavy pan on medium heat and brown chicken about 5 minutes on each side. Chicken will still be raw in the middle. Transfer chicken to an oven-proof dish.
4. Pour remaining fat off the pan, then add broth and remaining 1 tablespoon of lemon juice. Allow to simmer and reduce, about 2 minutes. Add oregano and pour sauce over chicken.
5. Bake chicken until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Salt and pepper to taste and serve.
6. For a quick side dish, boil some egg noodles according to package directions. Coordinate timing so they finish cooking the same time as the chicken. Cut some broccoli into florets and throw it in the pot with the noodles in the last 3 minutes of cooking. Drain and put on serving dish. Pour extra sauce from chicken over the noodles and broccoli.

After you brown the chicken in a pan, bake it with the pan sauces until cooked through.

For a quick and easy side dish, I boiled pasta and broccoli florets together in a pot. I just added the broccoli 3 minutes before the pasta finished cooking and it was perfectly cooked through yet crisp.

This is one fast and convenient weeknight meal! I recommend it to anybody who wants to get a healthy dish on the table fast and not go shopping for specialty ingredients

Probably much to the dismay of anyone reading this blog, I actually do not weigh 600 lbs and lay around dreaming of my next meal. In all actuality, I just love to find new recipes and the excitement I feel when what I cook turns out to be edible. {which isn’t always the case}  However, tonight I am dreaming … Dreaming of some potato soup!

We have a restaurant in my home town called California Dreaming. Ah’mazing salads {don’t let the word ’salad’ fool you, there isn’t anything healthy about these salads} and wonderful fantastic Potato Soup!!! For months after my first visit, I would crave the soup like mad!! When I moved, much to my surprise, we didn’t have a California Dreaming – and so my search began – to track down a recipe! About six months ago, I found a recipe online from a person claiming to have worked at the restaurant and to know all the secret ingredients! I made the soup not too long after, and must say it came out really close to the original. I’ve posted it below incase you have the urge! {warning, this recipe may cause large amounts of fat to affix to your rear – but its worth it! ha}

California Dreaming’s Potato Soup {supposedly an authentic recipe}

You’re going to need:

1/4 cup onion, minced
1/4 cup celery, minced
1/3 cup flour
3 cups chicken stock
2-3 large potatoes, cubed
1 teaspoon basil, fresh {sweet}
1/2 teaspoon white pepper
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup sour cream
fresh parsley, chopped
8 strips bacon, crumbled
fresh chives, chopped
cheddar cheese, grated

And, here’s what you do:

• Cook bacon slowly over medium-low heat until crisp, taking care not to brown the fat. Set bacon aside, leaving rendered fat in the pan.
• Add onions and celery and sauté until tender.
• Add Flour and mix well.
• Add chicken stock and stir until all flour is dissolved. Continue to stir and bring to a boil.
• Reduce heat to a simmer. Add potatoes and let soup simmer until potatoes are tender (about 30 minutes).
• Add heavy cream, sour cream, basil, and white pepper. Let simmer for another 10 minutes until soup is hot again.
• Add chopped parsley. Crumble bacon strips and mix with chives and cheese. Garnish each portion of soup with the bacon/chives/cheese mixture.

I found this picture {which looks just like how they serve it in the restaurant} and thought I would put it up as a guide on how it is garnished. I hope you enjoy, and of course – if you make it, I’d love to hear about it!!!

I don’t know what it is about the Christmas season that makes me want to bake batches and batches of cookies. Chocolate. Choc-Chip. Peanut Butter. Vanilla. Gingerbread. Coconut. There’s nothing more welcoming (or relaxing) than coming home to freshly baked cookies, plopping down in front of the television (or computer) with a cup of tea or coffee, and munching through them until your stomach starts to hurt.

Here’s a recipe for tonight’s cookies: Coconut Choc-Chip Cookies

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup softened butter

1 large egg

1 tsp vanilla essence

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/4 cup crushed nuts

1/4 cup dark choc-chips

1/2 cup shredded coconut

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 175 Degrees celcius

2. In a large bowl, cream together the softened butter and sugar (both brown and white). Beat in the egg and vanilla essence until mixture is slightly smooth.

3. In another bowl, mix together the flour, baking powder and baking soda.

4.  Pour the flour mixture in with the butter mixture and mix well.

5. Add the shredded coconut, the crushed nuts and dark chocolate chips and fold into the wet mixture.

6. Drop spoonfuls of the mixture onto an un-greased cookie sheet, leaving room in between each spoonful so that the cookie can spread while cooking inside the oven.

7. Place in the pre-heated oven and bake for about 10-15 minutes until cookies have spread and have turned golden brown and crisp at the edges and bottom.

8. Take out and transfer onto a rack to cool for 5-10 minutes.

9. Serve with a hot cup of tea or creamy coffee. YUM!!

Note: If you would like a more thicker texture to the cookie, add an extra 1/2 cup of flour to the mixture before adding in the coconut/nuts/choc-chips.

Cookies baking on the tray

Cookie Dough

My family, especially my youngest daughter, loves crab and crab rangoon.  We get it from our local chinese restaurant and even better it comes free when you order a certain amount.  Yum.  However, the rangoon that most Chinese places sell are deep fried and although delicious are not the best thing for your diet.  I saw that a website had a baked version which sounded awesome but their version tasted like a rangoon full of mayonnaise.  It was not as good as the ones from the restaurant but with an alteration they were pretty close.  The ones from the restaurant are sweeter but I think it is because they might use imitation crab and I used canned lump crab.  I would definitely be happy if I ordered these somewhere.  Hope you like this healthier version.

• a 6 oz. can of lump crab meat, drained
  

  This is the lump crab meat I used

• 4 oz. of 1/3 less fat cream cheese, softened (microwave about 30-45 seconds, should be of a spreadable consistency so it will mix well)
• 2 TBSP Light Sour Cream
• handful of sliced green onion
• 12 wonton wrappers

Preheat oven to 350º.  Spray muffin tin well with cooking spray and place one wonton in each muffin cup and press down in the middle to make a cup.

wonton cups

Mix softened cream cheese, sour cream, and crab until well combined.  Then stir in green onions.  Place about a tablespoon in each wonton.  Bake for 18 minutes and enjoy.  The wonton will get crispy on the edges.

Crab Rangoon

Kid Approved (Youngest one has to be stopped; I think she could eat all 12 which is what this recipe makes):

Oven-Fried Fries with Sweet Relish Mayo

http://breadplusbutter.blogspot.com/2009/12/oven-fried-cheese-fries-with-sweet.html

Milk Chocolate, Dark Chocolate and Semi Sweet Chocolate married with Peanut Butter!

These cookies are heaven.

I adore Peanut Butter. It is such a comfort and nourishing food. You can combine it with a piece of toast for a delightful breakfast or snack, It is a perfect ingredient to add for a tasty smoothie and of course the favorite is a spoon dipped right in the jar. Oh memories…

But here I have created a Soul Satisfying cookie that is sure to put a smile on your face!

Ingredients:

1 stick Organic Sweet Cream Butter

1/2 C Organic Evaporated Cane Juice

1 T scant Organic Molasses

1 large Organic Egg

1 t Vanilla Extract

1 C Organic Flour

1 t Baking Soda

1/2 t-1 t Coarse Sea Salt

1/3 C Milk Chocolate, chopped

1/3 C Dark Chocolate, chopped

1/3 C Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

1/3 C Organic Peanut Butter

Directions:

Cream together the butter, cane juice and molasses. Then add the egg and vanilla. Then with another bowl combine the flour, ba

king soda, salt and chocolate. Mix together and combine with the dry ingredients. As you put your cookies on the sheet put about 1 teaspoon of the peanut butter inside the cookie dough… Preheat the Oven to 350 degrees and bake cookies for 11 minutes.

They will come out luscious and divine, this I promise you!

Peanut Butter Chocolate LOVE!!

Wed 23rd Dec 2009

We had them for breakfast as a pre Christmas treat. I do believe Durg is the Cross & Blackwell of India, I was amazed to read of their origin, India always a land of surprises.

This 50mm is so sharp, it seems even sharper in this Indian light or is it my imagination?

I have found an interesting charity to go and visit next week, called Ladli, Hindi for loving girl. www.ladli.org was set up to help deal with the massive problem of begging children on the streets here. Ladli is a vocational training centre for abused orphaned and destitute girls in Jaipur where they go to gain self esteem and learn how to make jewelry; all revenues are used to give other girls and now also boys a chance in life.

So, I am looking forward to that and will be able to take some documentary photography as well as make a donation or buy some jewelry.