Barley risotto - style

So I'm too lazy to post the whole recipe, but I made a recipe from the cookbook Suzanne gave me for christmas - Super Natural Cooking. Its a great cookbook. The one complaint I have is that it claims not to be preachy and then proceeds to be totally preachy throughout the entire thing - but whatever, I like it when a book expresses strong opinions.

Anyways, I've made two recipes - veggie burgers and barley risottos. The barley risotto was a big hit and I would definitely recommend it to Robin as a break from regular risotto and a tasty new whole grain to try. You basically cook barley like you would rice in a risotto recipe, gradually adding the wine then stock. It takes about the same amount of time as rice. Then you stir in parmesean, sour cream, orange juice, orange and lemon zest, arugula, and toasted walnuts. Yum!

My other recent culinary success was macaroons. They are *very* easy and delicious. My revelation was to substitute unsweetened coconut for sweetened, so they don't melt the enamel off your teeth. I made them for a lab-mate's birthday and people gobbled them up. 

In a less sophisticated culinary vein, there have been some deadlines around the lab lately, and associated with them has been an abundance of my advisor's power food of choice - peanut M&Ms. A 38 serving bag was consumed in the period of 24 hrs. There are not really that many of us. And then our advisor put out another bag. Seriously, we need an intervention around here. Or we're going to have to switch to diabetes research. Luckily, I am personally pretty immune to the peanut M&M addiction. I'm an M&M purist and much prefer the plain variety.  

 

Suzanne's Christmas baking spree

As described in her earlier post - - here, shown waiting for triumph at the shower Jody gave her.

Decadance, almonst instantaneously

In a teacup in the microwave, melt 1 oz. Sharffenberger 99% cacao chocolate. (Takes about 1 min.) Add maybe 1 T. coffee and whiz. Meanwhile whiz 1/4 c. milk in a coffee cup and micro for 30 sec. Blend in the choco/coffee mix. Mmmmm.

Soft Ginger Molasses Cookies

I really wanted cookies today but had limited ingredients. Sad! I searched the ones below, though, and they turned out nicely. I'd try more molasses next time to give them a little more punch. The ginger flavor is pretty intense.

This recipe is based on the one found here:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1610,150173-248201,00.html

3/4 c. butter
1 c. brown sugar, packed
1 egg
1/4 c. molasses
2 1/4 c. flour
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. cinnamon
1 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp. cloves
1/2 tsp. salt
Granulated sugar

Cream butter and sugar; add egg; mix. Add remaining ingredients and mix well. Make into balls the size of walnuts and roll in granulated sugar. Bake at 375 degrees for 12 minutes.

Faith in humanity restored!

So I came over to Chez Toby thinking about what a failure I was for not posting on it, letting it fall by the wayside, etc.  But my faith in all that is good and kind in the world was restored when I saw that my dear sister and mother had posted three yummy remembrances! Yay! I love you guys.

Anyways, Mom and Dad both informed me that Suzanne was going to make the black bean sweet potato chili recipe I had posted. This was slightly twilight zone, because I have never posted a black bean sweet potato chili recipe. I have posted a black bean sweet potato hash recipe, but with nary a tomato involved, it could not be called chili.

What really pushed this incident into the twilight zone is that fact that I did indeed cook black bean sweet potato chili FOR THE FIRST TIME EVER on friday night (cue twilight zone theme song). I had Liz and Sapna and David over, and served it with blue cornbread. I thought it was very delicious, and I would like to recommend it to Suzanne, if she has not already received the recipe from me telepathically. 

Sweet Potato Black Bean Chili

Ingredients:

Olive oil for the pan

1 large yellow onion, diced

6 cloves of garlic, diced

1 red or green bell pepper, chopped

1 zuchinni, chopped (could use another bell pepper instead)

2 tbsp cumin

2 tbsp chili powder

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp salt 

1 28 oz can diced tomatoes

28 oz water (just fill back up the empty tomato can)

6 - 7 cups black beans (or 2 cans)

2 large or four small sweet potatoes, 1 inch diced (this is a pain, don't cut off your finger)

Juice and zest of one lime

generous dash of chili pepper flakes 

1) In a big soup pot, saute the onion and garlic. Add the pepper and zuchinni and cook until the zuchinni looks soft. Add the spices and cook for 2 minutes to toast the spices.

2) Add everything else. Bring to a boil. Let it softly boil for about 15 minutes, until the sweet potatoes are tender. Then let it simmer, for as long as you can stand to wait for dinner.   

This made 6 good servings, so Suz, you might want to cut it in half. I had it with sour cream, which was a really nice addition.

I got this recipe of my friend Liz Fairclough's blog, and its originally from a cookbook she likes called Simple Vegetarian Pleasures. I made some changes, though, like omitting the tomato paste and adding lime and chili pepper flakes, for less sweetness and more tang. Also, I made the beans up from dried beans for the first time for this recipe. It was definitely an added pain, but 1) bulk beans are better than cans for the earth, 2) bulk beans are better than canned for my wallet, and 3) they really do taste fresher. 

Vegetarian French Onion Soup

This is what happens when you cook alone but still think it's a good idea to purchase 5 lb bags of onions (it's such a bargain!!). Traditional French onion soup has beef stock, but we all know I'm a cow hugger, so I don't do that. Instead, I jazz up some plain ol' veg stock with a whole bunch of herbs. It freezes well and looks pretty.

Heat 2t evoo in a large pot
Cook 4-6 cups thinly sliced onions with a pinch of salt until golden and reduced to ~1/3 vol
Stir frequently & leave pan mostly covered
add 6c veg stock
season with 1 bay leaf, 4 sprigs parley, 2 sprigs thyme, rosemary, coriander, and/or whatever other herbs you have around
cook 30 more mins
ladle into bowls
place enough bread to cover the surface of the bowl on top of the soup (1-2 sandwich slices)
sprinkle 1 clove minced garlic over each bowl
sprinkle significant cheesage (I used mostly Jarlsberg with some Parmesan, Gruyere would be amazing) over top
run under broiler for a couple of minutes (yes, these should be some sturdy bowls)
garnish with pepper, about half a bottle of hot sauce, or parsley, depending on your tastes
speak with French accent during dinner
enjoy!

The Waffle Walk

January 3: Suzanne and Michael set off across the field toward Colvin Mill.
[added by Suzanne: we walked 2 miles through the cold, barren winter woods to get to the mill. flour well earned! the ten dollars we brought to buy admission to the tour were instead frittered away at Ye Olde Country Store on flour, rock candy, sodas, and a designer wallet made in distant China. Yes, all that for $10!]

They returned hours later with a plump bag of whole wheat flour, ground at the mill. The bag bore the politically correct disclaimer: "Produced in a facility that also processes corn, soybeans and wheat." (Some economy there, mentioning the wheat as if the bag wasn't full of it.) The current-day savvy which must have generated the disclaimer is centuries away from the creaking old wood that ground the wheat. It made splendid waffles: Mix 1 cup Colvin Mill whole wheat flour, 3/4 cup cake flour, 2 t. baking powder and 1/2 t. salt. Separately mix 1 1/2 cup milk, 1/2 cup eggbeaters, and 1/4 cup roasted almond oil. Mix the two mixtures together and pour into the waffle iron. Serve with thin apple slices sauteed until lightly browned in roasted almond oil.

Christmas baking

I baked a sickening number of cookies over the holidays. This year, as always, I eagerly anticipated the Washington Post's Christmas cookie special and tried my hand at a few of the most promising. Here are the three I tried:
White Chocolate Apricot-Almond Balls (gluten and cholesterol free):
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2008/12/10/white-chocolate-apricot-almond-balls/
Chocolate-Peppermint Cookies (like thin mints):
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2008/12/10/chocolate-peppermint-cookies/
Savory Pecan, Parmesan and Thyme Shortbread:
http://projects.washingtonpost.com/recipes/2008/12/10/savory-pecan-parmesan-and-thyme-shortbread/

I also made the Joy of Cooking's rich roll cookies to decorate and some Peppermint bark. Mom made her oh-so-famous almond roca and biscotti. All in all, there was quite the spread! Oh, let us not forget the lovely buche de noel. Mother, perhaps you can post some pictures?

My personal favorite were the thin-mint-ish cookies, but everybody else LOVED the gluten free balls. I thought they were a little weird, but eh. They're very easy (though they require a food processor) and no bake, so basically they're winners all around.