Recipe Review

I've been in a cooking frenzy! Here is my review of Grain Free Nutty Carrot Breakfast Bread, Pumpkin Gingerbread Protein Bars, and Gingery Shiitake & Cabbage Soup with Edamame.

Grain Free Nutty Carrot Breakfast Bread from Daily Bites

Omm nom nom!! This is so absolutely delicious and it doesn't use any sugar other than that which is naturally stored in dried prunes and carrots. I added a little almond flour I had lying around and a little less stevia than called for. I will definitely be putting this into the rotation, this batter would also make great muffins.

Pumpkin Gingerbread Protein Bars from Cara's Cravings

Yummy! I made one batch of these last night, looked at the half empty can of pumpkin and decided to make another! There are tons of these in my freezer now. I must have eaten four or five when they were cooling and gooey so I have a feeling these will go realll fast. Aside from the pumpkin, I have enough for another future batch so this is another one for the recipe log.

Gingery Shiitake & Cabbage Soup with Edamame from Cara's Cravings

This soup is a great way to use that leftover cabbage from the borscht I made! I didn't add edamame and I cut the amount of tofu in half. Personally I don't like to eat a great deal of soy. I've read a lot of herbalists say it is really only good for you if you eat it in fermented form so that's what I go with normally. But the todu is great in the flavor of this soup which actually gets better int he fridge. The broth feels so great for me because its got so many mushrooms.

Happy cooking!

Three Resolutions Down -- Cabbage Soup and Yucca Fries

In learning how to do anything for the first time there are always things to learn from. Here's my update about my list of cooking projects to try this year.

So I liked my cabbage soup at first. I tried the recipe from Flying Apron's Gluten Free and Vegan Baking Book by Jennifer Katzinger. I made the Quinoa Loaf from that book and thought it was so great in the morning with peanut butter. REALLY filling and really not very complicated being that you only need one kind of flour. Vegan recipes are rather simple in this book, which I was suprised by.

I only used 4 of the recommended 6 beets in the recipe to cut sugar but I probably could have done a little less, beets are so powerfully potent! And to tell the truth, it took me until my last bowlful to make the cashew cream for the soup. And now I need to figure out something else to do with the half cabbage I've got in the fridge...

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I also recently got water kefir grains, and I have made my first batch of apple cider kefir! I have another one brewing and I have a feeling there will be a post about that pretty soon...

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Yucca fries have potential but need some work. The first time I boiled a yucca chopped and peeled for an hour and then fried it up with olive oil and butter. But I think that this is a plant that must be better roasted. It is amazing in soups, because it just melts in your mouth, but fried and eaten in large quantity (because its one big root) makes me feel a little queasy. But I would try it in a roast and in the oven, so we'll see how the next one goes.

National Certification!

Just passed my National Certification Exam! Yay no more studying

photo is - Leonid Afremov BEFORE THE CELEBRATION

Goals for 2012

So things I plan to explore this year are:

Yucca fries and hashbrowns
water kefir-- fermented sodas
real gluten free sourbread
cabbage and sausage soup
kefir ice cream
homemade pasta & ravioli

and much more! but that should keep me busy for a while!

Herbalist Mystery Series!

If you'd like to learn more about herbs, a fun way to do that would be to pick up Susan Wittig Albert's China Bayles Mystery Series. These books are about an ex-lawyer who opened an herbalist shop. The author cites Margarete Grieves' a Modern Herbal and other herbal works at the beginning of each chapter. For a plant lover like me, I can just eat something like this right up! Yummy easy reading. You can follow the linked picture below to the book's Goodreads page.

Super Easy and Delicious Glutenfree Popovers!

This recipe is based on another from King Arthur Flour. Unfortunately I do not eat corn, potato or wheat so I couldn't use their flour mix and needed to come up with my own recipe.

1 cup total flour:
6 tablespoons of brown rice flour
2 tablespoons tapioca starch
1 tablespoon sorgum flour
1-2 tablespoons arrowroot powder


1/4 teaspoon guar (or xanthum) gum
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk room temperature
4 large eggs
3 tablespoons butter, melted may be easier for your blender but not very hot

Mix the dry ingredients together. I would do the flour in a measuring cup first with heaping tablespoons. Make sure you have at least a cup of flour when smoothed on the top. You may need to add some more flour of each kind esp arrowroot or tapioca. Blend all the ingredients in a blender after so it is smooth and fluffy. Put a small slice of butter into each muffin pan. Place that in the oven as it is heating up to 400 F. When the butter is melted and the pan is warm, pour the batter into each of the pans. Fill no higher than two thirds of the way, better yet a little lower. The popovers would grow huge and round in the oven but might fall if you take them out and the tops are too heavy from too much batter.

Bake the popovers for 25 minutes, then turn the oven down to 350 degrees and bake for 10 minutes. Let sit at least five to seven minutes before popping them out. Best right away but they last a few days in the fridge.

These become fluffy moist flakey delicious popovers. Prep is probably about 10-15 minutes aside from keeping an eye on the oven for a total of about 30-45 mins before eating. You can save some batter and make more day two. This recipe makes 9-12 popovers depending on how much batter you put in each tin. So delicious. I wanted to share the mix I figured out, but if I did anything I'd figure out more exact portions of all the flour, perhaps even up to 1 1/2 cups total. (Haven't tested it yet though)

Enjoy!

5 Minute Gourmet Salmon Salad on a budget

This recipe can make 3 salads, and the ingredients keeps for several days. I recommend putting it all together just before serving, but chopping the veggies all at once to make the later salads a supersnap!

1 can Trader Joe's canned wild salmon (can't quite remember, but I think it was $2-3)
1 bottle Brianna's Champagne Caper Dressing, or your preference ($4)
1 bag of spring greens or spinach($2-4)
1 green pepper ($1-2)
1 onion (<$1)
1 table spoon olive oil (negligible)
any other special salad items you would like to add

Cut onion and pepper for salad. Mix with the salad greens on each plate, or a single plateful of greens if this is for one meal. Open the can of salmon.

Warm a pan on high and add the olive oil. Pack everything you are not using away and put it in the fridge. When a drop of water sizzles on the oil, then its hot enough to add the salmon you are going to add today. (In case this is for one, about a third of the can) This is cooked salmon so it can keep for a few days---you will want another one of these salads, don't worry! Flip the salmon with a spatula as you warm it for once minute, and don't stray from the pan because you only need it to warm up.

Move the salmon to the salad greens and top with Champagne Caper dressing, which is very much worth splurging 3.99 on, believe me. Because this salad is amazing.