Chow Mein

Yum i made this except:

• sauteed everything in a big soup pot instead of a wok, substituted baby arugula for the spinach, used sweet pea sprouts where sprouts are called for, left out the sherry, substituted salt for the soy sauce, forgot to use the cornstarch, substituted agave syrup for the sugar, and threw in about 1 1/2 tsp curry powder at the end -- quite good on the third day (of course i was also very hungry on the third day)!

The veggies came out nice and crunchy :-)  I think i might make this again since i have more of most of everything still but i will make a peanut sauce using tamari, lime juice, peanut butter, and agave syrup & maybe chile and ginger and garlic although that sounds like a lot of work might leave out the ginger & garlic & chile and use cayenne pepper instead :-)

This is the book the recipe came from:

Bon Appetit!

Potato Cauliflower Curry Medley-Mash

The difference between this and a "bowl full of slop" is that the onions and cauliflower here are delineated from the cashews and the raisins

Ingredients
One large potato, cubed
One head cauliflower, roughly chopped into florets
One yellow onion, cubed
1/2 cube vegetable bouillon (enough to make one cup of broth)
a couple of handfuls of raw cashews
a couple of handfuls of raisins
3/4 tsp curry powder
Celtic sea salt to taste

Instructions
Fill a medium saucepan 2/3 of the way with water and bring to a boil.  Add the potato and boil for about 10 minutes until tender.  Throw the  cauliflower, onion, bouillon, cashews, raisins, and 1/4 teaspoon of the curry powder into a big soup pot.   Add about 2 cups water, enough so there is a little less than an inch in the bottom of the pot.  Cover, bring  to a boil, lower the heat, and cook, stirring occasionally, until the cauliflower is just tender.  Drain the potato cubes, add them and the remaining 1/2 teaspoon of curry to the cauliflower mixture, and stir until everything is mixed together.  Add salt to taste.  Note:  even though most of the curry powder is added at the end and things haven't had time to blend it still tastes good -- go figure :-)

Star Cutout Cookies

Yum these are actually eggless cookies -- I can't believe how well they held together they are totally not falling apart! 

  

 These cookies were cut out partly with cookie cutters from the dollar store and partly with the ones below that i made from large index cards and scotch tape -- i thought i would never find a use for all those index cards i have had them for years! used two of them anyway :-) also the circle ones i did with a very strange bottle cap.  also the one i made with my own star cutter i ate already so it's not present in the picture oh well

Also, what i used for a rolling pin is a tall bottle of olive oil -- worked PERFECTLY, rolled out the dough in no time flat i was amazed how little time it took to roll out the dough.  

The great thing about this recipe is there's no muss or fuss since you roll everything between two sheets of parchment paper no mess to clean up!

Here is the recipe except i adapted it -- actually the organic vanilla extract i  used initially made the cookies a bit bitter but the bitterness went away after they sat for an hour or so.   The cookies were quite good i ate a whole bunch, however i am going to try to find better tasting vanilla extract

here is the website i originally got it from :-) http://www.elanaspantry.com/star-cookies/

and here is how i adapted the recipe: 

1. made a half batch since that's all the almond flour I had – this amount filled my whole very large cookie sheet with cookies so if I did do a whole batch I would separate the dough into 2 halves and then roll out one half at a time so it stays cold.
2. left out the cinnamon since I did not have any handy
3. I substituted melted butter for the melted coconut oil
4. left the dough in the freezer instead of the refrigerator for an hour
   
   Okeedoke well i made some icing from the cookies from this recipe, from http://www.sheletthemeatcake.com/2011/02/frosted-sugar-cookies/:   my adaptations are in pink :-)
   

   Refined Sugar-Free Frosting Recipe

   This frosting is awesome.  It works on cupcakes too!
   
   

   • 1 tbsp vanilla (either leave this out or find a better tasting organic vanilla extract)
   • ½ cup coconut oil, liquefied
   • 4 tbsp maple syrup (used agave syrup, start with a lot less since it's very sweet & add til it tastes good)
   • 4 tbsp full fat coconut milk (canned)
   • Pinch of sea salt
   • a teeny bit of fresh lemon juice (about 1/8 tsp)
   • 1 tsp water from a cooked beet or as desired 

   1. Use an immersion blender to combine all of the ingredients.
   -- i added about 2 1/2 teaspoons of beet water 1/2 tsp at a time and it came out a lovely pink! 
   2. Refrigerate to harden, remove after 15 minutes – you want the coconut oil to harden just a little bit, too much and you’ll have to warm it up again!
   3. Blend very well and spread approximately 1 tsp on each cookie.
   4. Refrigerate to harden.  It will set at room temperature, but it’s best to put the frosted cookies in the fridge.
   
   
   
   

Halvah

Immersion blender "Freedom Fighter Suicide" Halvah!!!

This recipe came out AMAZING maybe because i was really hungry when i got home i couldn't believe how good they were :-) :-) :-)

Only thing is i burnt out the motor on my immersion blender making this it was ok through all the making of the tahini but when i tried to plow through the dry raisins i used after the blender was already overheated i think maybe i fried it somehow, which is why i added the part about soaking the raisins first :-)

Halvah balls.  The cilantro garnish is there because it's green.

Ingredients

2 cups raw hulled sesame seeds

7 dates

1/4 cup raisins

Agave Syrup

1/8 tsp vanilla extract or to taste

dash celtic sea salt

pistachios to stick on at the end (optional)

First make the date and raisin paste:
7 dates and 1/4 cup raisins, water to cover dates, small pinch raw, unrefined sea salt (optional)
Soak dates and raisins in water for 15 minutes. Blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Use soaking water as needed for consistency.

I started with 2 cups of raw sesame seeds. Make sure your immersion blender is really dry before you start. If there’s any moisture the sesame seeds aren’t going to grind up so well.  I used a mason jar for this but in the future i would use a small sauce pan which leaves room for the blender to move around in the pan. Pulse them with the blender until the are ground into a fine meal (or actually i turned it into a paste because it still seemed to be quite crunchy as meal) – seems to make about 1 scant cup of homemade tahini. Add a dash of the sea salt to it, not enough to make it salty, but the salt will bring out the other flavors. Then add the date & raisin paste. Mix the sesame & salt mixture together with the date & raisin mixture and the vanilla, add more sweetener either dates or agave or even more raisins if not sweet enough for you. Roll into balls & then if you like roll the balls in the chopped pistachios (i did not do this). Sounds done to me!!!  Good right away and really really really great after it sits in the fridge for awhile. This is AMAZING halvah :-) :-) :-) Next time i make it i think i might double the raisins though and so will probably be able to leave out the agave syrup which would make it taste more interesting when you bite into it although i have to say that once you get to chewing it is pretty incredible as is :-)

Mashed Potatoes and Butternut Squash (feeds 10-20 as a side dish)

 

I just figured out how many jars of food this makes in the fridge which is about 5 quarts -- the truth is i have absolutely no idea how many people this feeds i guess it depends on if you're having it for a snack or a side dish or a meal :-)

Ingredients:
1 5 lb bag potatoes, organic, from the health food store (Sunflower)
1 giant butternut squash, organic, also from the health food store
2 sticks butter
1 bunch cilantro, chopped fine
5 medium cloves garlic, minced
A little cow, almond, soy or rice milk
About 3 tablespoons olive oil -- you can use more if you want, it's not really a big deal
Celtic sea salt

Preparation:
You will need 2 big soup pots for this because it's a fairly large amount of food.

Wash the potatoes and the squash. Using a paring knife, poke holes all over the potatoes and the squash, especially in the bowl-shaped part of the squash, so the steam can get out.
Line a metal baking pan and a large cookie sheet with parchment paper. Put the squash into the baking pan and the potatoes onto the cookie sheet.. Next, at 400 degrees, bake the potatoes for an hour and 15 minutes, and bake the squash for an hour and 45 minutes or until everything's done. I like the skins to be extra done so they're nice and crunchy.

While the squash and potatoes are baking, divide the butter and garlic in half and place into the 2 soup pots. When the potatoes are done, take them out of the oven and when they’re cool enough to handle, use a large knife to cut them into bite-sized pieces to prepare them for mashing. Add the pieces to the soup pots, dividing everything between the two pots. Note: the skins are left on. When the squash is done, take it out of the oven and cut it in half lengthwise, then scoop out the pulp with a large serving spoon, divide it in half and add it to the pots. Now, add the olive oil, some salt and a little milk to the pots, and start mashing. Add more salt if needed, till it tastes good. Finally, add the cilantro and mash just a little bit more, to mix it in, and serve.

To bring it somewhere, you can put it in a 10-lb aluminum roasting pan.

This stuff is delicious and it’s actually pretty good at room temperature.