Zucchini Squares

 I have a confession to make.

...No, it's not that I have trouble spelling zucchini (true, though. Along with broccoli.)

 I used Bisquick in this recipe. For those who don't know me, I have been called a food snob. Fairly often. That means I don't use cake mix, I don't make microwaved baked potatoes, and that at the age of seven I walked into a family friend's kitchen and correctly identified the process being applied to a pan just emptied of food (answer: balsamic reduction). So Bisquick is a no-no. I had to go across the street to the non-gourmet supermarket to even find it. Did you know Bisquick isn't refrigerated? It just sits there in its yellow jug on the shelf next to the cocoa powder (Not organic? Not fair trade?) and the highly processed white sugar.

 But the recipe was intriguing, because it's kind of a focaccia with whole zucchini on top and inside, instead of the traditional loaf with grated zucchini. And I wasn't in the mood to remaster the recipe to fit my level of food snobbery. So, surprising myself, I went to that non-gourmet supermarket and brought back a container of Bisquick.

I added a lot of parsley though. And it was very good. A bit sweet for something savory, but fluffy and lovely cut into squares to munch on ironically with the friends who make the most fun of your food snobbery and would never expect the recipe involved a buttercup yellow plastic jug.

There was some Bisquick left over. I made pancakes. But I added some buckwheat. Even my father, who raised me up to such a level of whole grains and no sulphates, didn't notice the hint of hydrogenated dehydrated vegetable oil.

Zucchini Squares 
adapted from Brown Eyed Baker

note: if you do want to make this and rid yourself of Bisquick madness, I expect you can substitute in 2 cups of flour, 2 tsps baking powder, and 1 tsp salt, fairly adequately. I haven't tried it though, so don't take my word for it.

5 eggs, lightly beaten
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup grated Pecorino Romano cheese
1/4 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 cup diced onion
2 cups Bisquick
3 cups thinly sliced zucchini medallions

coarse sea salt, for topping

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9×13 pan and set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together the eggs, oil, cheese, parsley, salt, oregano and garlic powder. Whisk in the onion, and then the Bisquick. With a rubber spatula, gently stir in the sliced zucchini, being careful not to break up the slices. Turn the mixture into the pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt, to taste.

Bake until puffed and golden brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Let cool to warm room temperature before cutting into squares. Will last 4-5 days in the fridge.

Chai Spiced Granola

I really like tea-flavored things, like those Chinese Tea Eggs. I especially like things that are chai-infused, like the Chai Spiced Pancakes. So why not give it a go with granola, hmm?

 If you're expecting to make these and eat crunchy chai tea, then you're mistaken. It just uses the same spices that chai does: creating a warm, nestling food that's good to eat while wearing orange and knit scarves.

Well, it's good any time of the year. I love granola so much. This summer I went to a program that was at a college and I basically lived off of clif bars and the bag of granola my step mother gave to me. College cafeterias suck. But Chai Granola rocks. And, as with any granola recipe, you ca switch up the nuts/dried/fruit/add-ins as you like. Enjoy!

Chai Spiced Granola
about 8 cups
adapted from Wonderful Joy Ahead

3 cups old fashioned oats
1/3 cup canola or other neutral oil
1/2 cup almonds (preferably slivered)
1/4 cup pumpkin seeds
2 tbsp flax seeds

1/4 tsp salt
1/3 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup sunflower seeds, unsalted
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup turbinado sugar
2 tbsp water
1 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cardamom
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/4 tsp ground ginger
1/8 tsp ground nutmeg
1/8 tsp freshly ground pepper
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
1/3 cup dried cranberries

Preheat your oven to 325 F, and line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper.

In a large skillet over medium heat, lightly toast the almonds and walnuts, stirring every minute or so until you can start to smell them (about 2-3 minutes). Stir in the pumpkin seeds, oats, and oil; continue to toast and stir every minute or so until the oats start to get some color (about 4-6 minutes).

Turn off the heat and add the flax, salt, and wheat germ.

Temporarily empty the oats into a bowl. Add to the skillet the honey, sugar, approximately 2 tablespoons of water, cinnamon, salt, cardamom, cloves, ginger, nutmeg, and pepper. Heat over medium until the sugar is dissolved. Add the honey mixture to the bowl and mix until incorporated.

Spread evenly over the parchment lined baking sheet. Bake for about 15-20 minutes, stirring halfway through. Remove from the oven when the granola is turning golden brown.

Stir in the coconut and dried fruit. Depending on the size of your baking sheet, you'll need to either spread it out or compact it together to form a 1/2 inch thick granola slab. Let it cool completely. Break into pieces and store in an air-tight container for about a week or two, if there's any left by then.

Pecan Pie Truffles

  That's right. Pecan Pie. In a little ball. Covered in chocolate.

 I know that these would be perfect for one of the holidays just celebrated: Thanksgiving, or Christmas, even. But I still haven't gotten the hang of making the food I want to blog about before the date on the calendar it is best to post them [bad grammar what?! Too lazy to fix that sentence]. So consider this an opportunity to spread the influence of pecan pie through the land of january and onwards.

 Truffles are just too easy to ignore making. C'mon now. Create a ball of something and cover it in chocolate. And you feel a lot less bad about eating one, or even two or three, than you do eating a slice of pie. Ugh. Triangles. 

 Truffles are so great that I've made even more since. In fact, I'm planning on making a whole bunch on valentine's day: maybe I'll even post them on time or something civilized like that.

Meanwhile, there are these. Crushed pecans, graham cracker crumbs, maple syrup, dark brown sugar (and I supplemented my meager supply with light brown sugar, as shown three photos above). And bourbon, if you so wish. I did almond milk instead. It was perfect. These are perfect.

Pecan Pie Truffles

makes 24.

adapted from VegNews via NYTimes. 

2 1/2 cups pecans, toasted
1 cup graham cracker crumbs
1 cup dark brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbsps maple syrup
1/4 cup almond milk (or bourbon)
1 tsp vanilla
14 oz dark chocolate

Either crush pecans by hand, or, much easier, in a food processor (pulse but be careful not to process too much, lest you make a meal or butter).
In a medium bowl, stir together pecans, graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar and salt until well combined.

Add maple syrup, almond milk and vanilla, stirring thoroughly. Using your hands is the best method to make sure everything is fully mushed together.

Form mixture into small balls with hands: press and roll gently. From time to time you'll want to wash your hands because otherwise the balls begin to stick to your palms and fall apart. Place on a cookie sheet and freeze for 2 hours.
You may have made more than 24 balls, depending on the size you formed them in. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler or microwave, using more or less than 14 oz as needed. 

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dip the frozen balls into the melted chocolate, then place onto prepared baking sheet. You may want to do this in batches so that the balls stay cold; if they become warm, they will fall apart in the chocolate. Let sit for 15 minutes or until firm. 

Store in the fridge or freezer to avoid melting. 

Carrot Griddlecakes

 These were originally called carrot tortillas, but that seems misleading to one who grew up in a culture that knows tortilla only as a corn or flour pancake. Actually, that's the mexican definition. In Spanish cooking, a tortilla is an omelet stuffed to bursting with vegetables. That's what this is. And, like any good american, I changed the name up a bit. For its own good.

This griddlecake carrot cake, carrot pancake thing needs to be appreciated. So what if it's name is a little hard to choose? It's the most delicious thing to put on your plate for lunch or dinner. And it's easy to make in single servings. It's funny, because cooking carrot into things does not play a big part American cooking, yet it's sweet and crunchy and even crispy and so great with onion. It's kind of like potato latkes, but spanish. This is a fragile, falling apart meal that's best with ketchup unrepentantly slathered over it. No knife needed.

Carrot Griddlecakes
serves 2.
adapted from Recipes from South America


1/2 onion, roughly diced
2 medium carrots, grated
1 egg
1 tbsp milk
2 tbsps olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
4 tbsp chopped parsley

Heat 1 tbsp of oil in a medium nonstick skillet over medium high heat.

Add the onion and sautee for 5-8 minutes. 

Combine the grated carrot and onion in a small bowl.
In a separate bowl mix the eggs with the milk, parsley, salt, and pepper, and beat with a fork for 30 seconds until foamy.

Using the same pan, heat the other tbsp oil over medium heat. 

Squeeze the carrot and onion mixture gently with a paper towel to remove excess moisture that will make the cake soggy, and add to the pan.

Flatten it so as to cover the entire skillet evenly, adding at once the egg mixture and allow to cover the carrots evenly, shaking the pan a little. 

Cook the tortilla over medium heat for about 15 minutes. 

When the center is cooked flip the cake (which can be done with the help of a plate to invert it and place back on the pan) and let it brown on the other side about 3 minutes more.

Serve warm with more parsley as garnish, if desired.

Sweet Pumpkin Challah

)You could make this, for, um, Passover? I'm a bad Jew, when's that? Oops. It's April 16. I should probably delete those last sentences. I could swear passover was coming. Oh, oh right! It's Chanukah. Spellcheck says I spell it wrong. How do I spell Chanukah wrong? There are ten million spellings!

Alright, so I should definitely delete everything and start over. But I'm too lazy, so let's continue on, shall we?

You could make this challah for passover. Or not. You could make it for sunday breakfast. You could make it for french toast. You could make it just to rip into chunks and sink your teeth into.

Challah is a very easy bread to make. You can do it all with a kitchenaid, and it only requires one rising. It's a bit of waiting, but not too much active time. It's good for when you plan to stay in the house all day anyway because you don't have any jeans to wear outside because it's sunday and the one pair of jeans you own without any holes is in the laundry. Is that too specific? It happens to me all the time. Like, every sunday. So this recipe is good for me.

 Very good. It's a sweet eggy bread with pumpkin in it. Mmm.

And the maple glaze can't hurt, can it? No, no it can't.

Sweet Pumpkin Challah
2 small loaves
adapted from Sugar Plum

Dough
1/4 cup warm milk (100°-110°F)
1/8 cup maple syrup
1/2 packet (1 1/8 tsp) active dry yeast
scant 1/2 cup canned pumpkin puree
scant 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs

2 tbsps milk
1 tbsp canola oil
3/4 tsp pie/cake spice
1/2 tsp salt
3 cups unbleached bread flour

Glaze
1/2 tbsp unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup confectioners’ sugar
1 tbsp maple syrup
1/4 tsp vanilla extract

To make the bread dough, in the bowl of a stand mixer, using the dough hook on medium speed, mix together milk, maple syrup and yeast until combined; allow to sit for 10 minutes or until bubbles form and you get that yeasty smell. Add pumpkin, brown sugar, 1 egg, milk, oil, spice and salt to yeast mixture and mix until well combined. Mix in bread flour until combined; continue to mix for an additional 5-8 minutes or until dough is smooth and elastic. Form into a ball and place in a large, mixing bowl; lightly cover with plastic wrap or a damp cloth and allow to rise in a warm area for 1 hour or until doubled in size.

Punch dough down, and divide in half. Divide one half of dough into 3 equal portions. On a lightly floured surface, shape each portion into a rope. Place ropes on a greased baking sheet; shape into a braid and pinch edges to seal. Repeat process with remaining dough. Lightly cover braids with plastic wrap or cloth and allow to rise in a warm area for 30 minutes.

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk remaining 1 egg together with a tablespoon of water; evenly brush on surface of braids (fingertips work fine). Bake 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool before spreading glaze on bread.

To make the glaze, in a medium bowl, whisk together butter, confectioners’ sugar, maple syrup and vanilla until well combined and smooth. Drizzle and spread glaze on top of bread (it hardens after a good 10-20 minutes).

Chewy Chocolate Chip Ginger Cookies

 Hmmm, what shall I say? It's getting wintery out. December 3rd already. And while iced chai tea lattes are splendid in warm weather, you know what's even better? A steaming cup of chai tea in your kitchen in your fluffy socks in december.

And you know what's even better than that? Cookies. Gingery, chewy cookies for dunking and nomming. Sound good? Yes. And like many cookies in the world, pretty easy to make. I may not be a great fan of ginger, but here, a little fresh grated ginger makes the world seem warm again, in that way that you know your toes are a bit cold but your stomach is glowing.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Ginger Cookies

2 dozen.

adapted from Joy the Baker

1 heaping cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
dash salt
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1 tsp freshly grated ginger
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 large egg
1/8 cup molasses
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1/8 cup granulated sugar, for rolling dough balls

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper or spray lightly with cooking spray.

Whisk the flour, baking soda, spices and salt in a medium bowl and set aside. 

 In a large bowl, using an electric mixer on medium speed, beat the butter and brown sugar until smoothly blended, about 2 minutes. 

Add the egg and molasses and mix until blended and an even light color, about 1 minute.

By hand, add the flour mixture, mixing just to incorporate. Fold in the chocolate chips.

Spread the granulated sugar into a small bowl. Roll a heaping tablespoon of dough between the palms of your hands into a ball, toss the ball in sugar to coat and place on the prepared baking sheet. Continue making cookies, spacing them about 2 inches apart.

Bake the cookies one sheet at a time until the tops feel firm but are still soft in the center and there are several large cracks on top, about 12-14 minutes.

Cool the cookies on the baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to a plate for eating or an airtight plastic container to store for up to 4-5 days.

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

Now I don't want to write something silly, along the lines of: "I made this soup and I didn't particularly like it but I think you should make it", but I am. I forgot how little I like soups that have a thin broth and then chunks of things floating in them. If you like that, than this is totally a great soup.

There's broccoli, potatoes, onions, and garlic involved.

And cheddar, lots of cheddar.

 It's a nice, cheesy, garlicky soup for the winter. And the broccoli is just so gosh-darn pretty. I didn't want to say it too often because I didn't want it to blush. Because who wants red broccoli, let me ask you?

 You have to eat this soup with a spoon and a fork. Hows that for crazy? You know, you want to spice things up at dinner. No more boring soup! This one needs a spoon and a fork!

(I'm making a joke.)

(Maybe.)

Broccoli Cheddar Soup

serves 4

adapted from Fresh365

1 medium head broccoli, cut into small florets

2 tbsps olive oil

1 large potato, peeled and cubed

1 medium onion, chopped

2 large garlic cloves, minced

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp salt

1/4 tsp black pepper

1/2 tsp ground mustard

2 tbsp flour

1 cup milk (I used skim)

2 cups coarsely grated sharp Cheddar cheese

6-7oz firm tofu (apx 1/2 block), cut into chunks

Bring a large pot of salted water to a boil. Add broccoli, and cook until just tender, 2-3 minutes. 

Drain, reserving 3 cups water. Rinse broccoli with cold water to stop cooking, and set aside.

In a pot, heat olive oil over medium heat. Add potato, onion, and garlic. 

Cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is softened, 8 to 10 minutes. Add cumin, salt, pepper, mustard and flour, and cook, stirring, 2 minutes. 

Add reserved 3 cups broccoli water, and bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer (partially covered), until potatoes are tender, about 10 minutes. 

Add soy milk and Cheddar, stirring to melt.

Transfer 3 c soup to a blender, and add tofu (this may need to be done in 2 batches). Puree, until smooth. Return to pot. 

Add florets and cook over medium heat, until heated, 2-3 minutes. Season to taste with salt and pepper and serve.