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The Holidays are for Baking

My friends know that there isn’t much that makes me happier than food, especially making food to give to friends and family, so one of my favorite times of the year is the holiday season when everything seems to revolve around food. Well the holidays are upon us and I have decided to share some of my favorite recipes on my blog. Over the next few weeks I will post recipes, some of my own some i have found over time, that I love. Recipe number one will be for the pomegranate-cranberry oatmeal cookies I made last Sunday for church, and I’ll post it later tonight.

Breakfast Lasagna: the result


I said yesterday that I would try to post a photo and the recipe of what i came up with for a breakfast lasagna. The above picture is the final product.

I looked at several recipes online, but all of them were basically meat and egg dishes, and while I like meat and eggs, a meat and egg dish misses the vegetarian portion of my church family. I spent six months as a vegetarian and understand that most people do not think about vegetarians when they are making food to share, so I try to remember them whenever I cook either by making my main dish a vegetarian dish or by making a side that can be a main dish for the vegetarians in the group. Today I went vegetarian. (Please note I did not go Vegan. The vegetarians in our church eat dairy and eggs and so the recipe includes both.)

I wanted the recipe to actually reflect the things I think of when I eat lasagna: noodles, sauce, cheese filling, and either meat or vegetables layered. I made noodles out of crepes; the sauce was a mixed berry puree; I used fruit in the layers; and for the cheese filling i made a cream cheese and cool whip frosting.

So, on to the recipe:

The noodles:
I used simple crepes for the noodles. The recipe came from allrecipes.com. Here’s the link:Crepes

1 cup of milk
1 cup of AP flour
1 egg
a pinch of salt

Sauce:
I made a mixed berry puree with frozen fruit, apple juice and honey.

1 bag of frozen mixed berries
1 cup Apple juice
2 table spoons of honey

put fruit and 1/2 the juice in a blender and puree (if to thick, add more juice until loose enough to puree.)
taste and add honey to taste

Filling:
I simply sliced strawberries, blackberries, and raspberries, but use whatever fruits you prefer.

Cheese Filling:
I made a cream cheese frosting and piped on each layer

2 pkgs of Cream Cheese, softened
1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
1/2 a tub of cool whip
vanilla to taste (I used about a tsp)

cream the cream cheese and butter
mix with vanilla
add cool whip and whip together

Construction:
In a 9×13 pan, layer noodles, sauce, fruit and frosting dusting the fruit with powdered sugar if the fruit is very tart. Decorate with fruit on the top layer. (I also considered grating white chocolate on top to make it look like grated mozzerella.)

If you try it out let me know the result.

breakfast lasagna

So i’m considering making food for tomorrow morning at church, and after some discussion the idea of breakfast lasagna popped up. When checking the internet for recipes all that came up were layered egg casseroles. While I had considered that at first, that really isn’t what i want. It also isn’t really indicative of what our church is like, so i have another idea. For noodles, i’ll use crepes; layers will be fruit puree, fruit, and cream cheese (which may turn out like cream cheese icing…oops). I’ll post the recipe and pictures later.

Tried something new, a BBQ sauce

So I made BBQ last week for a church gathering and rather than going the normal route and buying my favorite BBQ sauce, Stubbs, I decided to try my hand and making a sauce. I don’t know what my inspiration was other than having half a bottle of apple juice I needed to use, but something clicked and the result was a smoky, spicy, tomato based sauce that everyone seemed to like. It was a two step process, and here are the details:
Ingredients:
Apple Juice
Cider vinegar
1 Onion roughly chopped
1 cazcabel pepper seeded and cut up
peppercorns
2 cloves of garlic crushed or sliced
molasses
honey
1 sm can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce
3 sm cans of tomato sauce
salt
garlic powder
Onion powder
Fresh ground pepper
2 sauce pans

Recipe:
in 1 sauce pan place 32oz of apple juice, the onion, the garlic, the cazcabel pepper, and a tablespoon of peppercorns.

bring to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer.

as the pan is simmering add the cider vinegar (I didn’t measure, I just poured what seemed right. best guess 2 tbsp to a 1/4 cup)

Then a little molasses (again, just drizzled a few tablespoons in)

Let simmer while taking the 2nd pot and adding the 3 cans of tomato sauce, the can of chipotle and the dry spices.

blend this mixture together – i used a stick blender in the pan,but this could be done in a blender-

When well blended, strain the apple juice mixture into a container and ladle in the mixture until the consistency and flavor is what you like (for me it was 2 small ladles full)

taste the sauce and add honey to cut through some of the heat.

when you have reached a flavor you like heat the mixture to help marry the flavors

That was it. It was quick and easy, but most of all it was a hit. As is my custom, I did everything to taste, no real measurements, but as I make it again, I’ll try and pinpoint measurements and make a note here.

So as the new year begins I have, as many have, made resolutions for the up coming year. Truthfully, I have hedged my bets by resolving for progress towards goals instead of concrete goals, but nonetheless, I think they are worthy.

What does a new year’s resolution have to do with a food blog? Everything! My resolutions have to do with my eating and cooking habits. I have resolved to move towards a more sustainable way of living in 2010, especially with regard to food. I have resolved to reduce the amount of meat we eat as a family so that we can buy and consume more local and sustainably raised meats, and I have also resolved to move our family meals towards more health conscious choices.

Tonight’s dinner is a prime example. I love Asian food and have experimented with curry over the past 6 months or so. Generally, I make a curried meat (pork or chicken) and put it over rice. That’s it. Today, I changed my ingredients and my method. I made a curried chicken with vegetables to get some veggies in the family and served it with some Naan bread. It’s not a huge step, but the veggies were at least a recognition of where I’m leading the family diet, and the fact that we only used 2 chicken breasts to feed five people with leftovers shows the move towards reducing our meat consumption. It was a pretty simple dish, I hope you’ll try and enjoy. Here’s the recipe:

CURRIED CHICKEN AND VEGETABLES
2 Chicken breasts (cut in half longitudinally then sliced 1/4″ thick)
3 medium carrots peeled and sliced (again I went about a 1/4″)
1 medium white onion chopped (I went with large rustic pieces)
1 bell pepper seeded and chopped (I cut each side into 6 pieces)
about 2 cups of frozen broccoli florettes
prepared curry powder ( I always add additional spices to the prepared curries; especially extra ginger, onion and garlic)
2 tbsp of butter
1/2 can of coconut milk
1 cup of milk
1/2 cup of chicken stock

-Coat chicken with curry powder and let rest in the refrigerator while you prepare your favorite rice and prep the vegetables

-Heat a pan over medium heat and melt 2 tbsp of butter

-To the pan add the onions, bell pepper, and sliced carrots

-Stir to coat them with the butter then salt and pepper the vegetables

-cook them until the onions begin to turn translucent (you want to keep some of the veggie crunch)

-Add the chicken and cook, stirring or flipping regularly until the chicken is noticeably cooked

-Add the frozen broccoli and cook until the frozen broccoli thaws

-Stir in the Milk, coconut milk, and broth and bring to a simmer (at this point check your seasoning and adjust to your taste)

-Reduce to a low heat (on my oven I go from 5.5/6 to 2) cover and simmer for 5 minutes

-do one last seasoning check then serve over your favorite rice.

Tonight I used a whole grain white rice cooked with 3 parts water to 1 part chicken stock because my kids really like it, but I also like to use a nice brown rice. I made about 6 cups of prepared rice. I also bought naan at HEB and served it with the meal. It was a nice touch.

After serving our family of 5, I had enough left over to make 2 or maybe 3 lunches.

Turkey Enchiladas with Cranberry Enchilada Sauce

This is a recipe I created for a church small group dinner as a twist on Thanksgiving dinner.

Ingredients:

2 cups of chunked turkey ( I mixed dark and white meat)
2 quarts of Cranberry Enchilada Sauce (see Recipe in previous note)
10 flour tortillas (corn will work but the cracking irritates me)
2 cups of Shredded Colby Jack cheese (one 8oz package)
1 cup of stock (I used chicken stock)
Cranberry Enchilada Sauce (Double the recipe below)

2 cups of whole Cranberry crushed
1 Ancho Chili seeded and sliced thinly
1 Cascabel Chili seeded and sliced thinly
2 tsp oliveoil
2 cups water
1 Tbsp Molasses
1 Tbsp Honey
2 1/2 Tbsp chili powder
1 Tbsp each garlic powder, onion powder, and paprika
1/4 TBSP fresh ground pepper
1 tsp smoked paprika and salt
3/4 tsp cumin

Directions:
heat oil in a small saucepan over a medium heat.

add sliced chili peppers and cook for a few minutes stirring to prevent burning

add cranberries and 1/2 of the salt and continue to cook for a minute

Cover with water and increase the temperature to high until boiling

reduce heat to medium low, cover and simmer until cranberries are tender

Once tender, mash the cranberries in the pot

Strain the mixture with a sieve and place the solids back in the pan.

Cover the solids with 1/2 cup of water rinsing the pan and solids.

Strain the solids again into same bowl and mix. (this get all of the seasoning into the mixture and thins out the sauces to a nice consistency)

Add all of the seasonings except the ground pepper and simmer allowing time for the seasonings to meld together

Stir in the molasses and honey (to taste to cut the sharpness of the cumin and cranberries)

Add the fresh ground pepper at the end.

Prep:
1 3qt sauce pan
1 baking dish
tongs or a slotted spoon
Preheat the oven to 350

Directions:

1. Place 2 cups of Turkey in a saute pan over a medium heat.
2. Add 1 cup of stock and enough enchilada sauce to just cover the meat.
3. Simmer meat in the sauce until the meat is heated through and is easily crushed with a fork. (time depends on the size of the turkey chunks. It took me a bit over 5 minutes)
4. When done remove from heat.
5. with a spoon or tongs, fill a tortilla with the cooked meat and roll it placing the rolled tortilla seam side down in a baking pan (continue until the pan is full or you are out of meat)
6. spoon on enchilada sauce until the enchiladas are lightly covered then bake @ 350 for 5-10 minutes (bake until the sauce looks like its baking in tp the tortillas but is not totally dry)
7. remove from the oven and cover with shredded cheese
8. replace in the oven until the cheese has melted

This is my food blog

I had intended to make this a food blog about eating good food cheap, but instead I think this will be the place I store original recipes, good recipes I try, and information on sustainable cooking and my forays into the area of sustainability (which should begin at the beginning of the 2010 growing season when I hope to get produce solely from a local CSA and the local farmers market). My next post will be the first recipe on the blog, and it is an original recipe created for a small group dinner for my church small group.