Focaccia

Made some focaccia for the first time tonight... I don't consider myself much of a baker, but my two taste testers said it was the real deal.



So, here is my version based on the ingredients that I had on hand.

1 1/2 cups spelt flour
1 1/2 cups unbleached all-purposed flour
2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoons Italian seasonings
1 1/2 cups warm water
1 packet active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar

For topping
1 teaspoon coconut oil, melted - or olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon Italian seasoning


In a large bowl, mix flour, salt and Italian Seasonings.
Make a well in the center, and add sugar and yeast. Pour water into the well and let it sit for about 10 minutes until the yeast starts foaming up.

Mix all ingredients and knead for about 5 minutes or so, forming a smooth ball.

Lightly oil a bowl and place the dough into the bowl. Cover with plastic and let sit in a warm place for about 1 1/2 hours until dough has doubled in size. Punch the dough down, knead again for about a minute and put plastic back and let dough rise again for another 45 minutes.

Pour dough into a lightly greased pan. Poke several holes in the top of the dough with your fingers, pour oil over the top and sprinkle salt and seasonings.

Bake in the oven preheated to 400 degrees f0r 20 minutes, until golden brown on top.

Enjoy!

Spicy South of the Border Black Bean Burger

-- Avocado-Mango Relish --
1/2 cup(s) avocado, chopped
3 tablespoon(s) mango chutney

-- Burgers --
6 large whole grain bread, slices
15 ounce(s) black beans, canned, rinsed and drained
1 cup(s) salsa, medium hot
1/2 cup(s) green onion, chopped
1 tablespoon(s) lemon juice
2 1/2 teaspoon(s) oregano, dried
2 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoon(s) arrowroot
1/2 teaspoon(s) salt
egg replacer equivalent to 1 egg
1 cup(s) Monterey Jack cheese, shredded (optional)
3 tablespoon(s) olive oil
1 cup(s) flour, for dredging
8 whole grain bread, buns, split
8 lettuce leaves

Directions:

To make relish:
In a bowl, mix avocado and mango chutney together. Set aside.

To make burgers:
Blend bread into crumbs in food processor. Transfer to large bowl. Add shredded cheese to bowl.

Pulse beans, salsa, green onions, lemon juice, oregano, garlic, arrowroot, salt and egg in food processor until blended but chunky. Add bean mixture to cheese and breadcrumbs. Shape into 8 patties, and dredge with flour, shaking off excess flour.

Heat oil in nonstick skillet over medium heat. Cook patties 5 minutes on each side, or until browned.

Place burgers on bottom halves of buns. Add relish, lettuce leaves and top halves of buns, and serve.

Chai Coconut Milk

With Fennel, Cardamom, Cinnamon, Cloves and Ginger, this is the perfect late summer herbal drink. And best of all it's Live, Vegan and Caffeine-Free!

Makes 8 cups

Ingredients

- Chai concentrate

4 cups water
2 cinnamon sticks
4 cardamom pods, crushed
6 cloves, whole
1 Inch ginger root, thinly sliced
8 black peppercorns
1/2 teaspoon fennel seeds
3/4 cup Agave nectar

- Coconut milk

2 cups dried coconut flakes

4 cups water

Directions
- Chai concentrate

Boil water in a sauce pan. Turn off heat and add spices. Simmer for 45 minutes.
Strain tea and add agave nectar.

- Coconut milk

Blend coconut flakes with water for about 2 minutes. Line a colander with cheesecloth and strain the milk into a bowl. Discard coconut pulp or save it for another use.

To serve

Mix 1 cup of the chai concentrate with 1 cup of the coconut milk. Add more agave nectar if desired. Serve warm or cold!

Rasta Chicken

I picked this up from the Rastas in the virgin islands. Now I know that fried food is not healthy, but I am from the south so what can I say! I LOVE this because it really does look and taste like chicken, but it uses cauliflower instead of that mock meat stuff.

1 cauliflower, cut into large pieces

-- batter 1 --
2 cup(s) flour
1 tablespoon(s) parsley flakes
1 tablespoon(s) garlic powder
1 tablespoon(s) onion powder
3 tablespoon(s) nutritional yeast
1/2 tablespoon(s) Tumeric
1 tablespoon(s) curry powder
1 tablespoon(s) Spike seasoning (or any seasoning mix)
1 tablespoon(s) paprika
water
black pepper
salt

-- batter 2 --
1 cup(s) flour
black pepper
salt

oil for deep frying

Mix all of the ingredients for batter 1. It should have a pancake batter consistency.
Then, mix the ingredients for batter 2.

Dip the cauliflower pieces in batter 1, then coat with batter 2.
Deep fry until golden brown!

We eat it with some sides on the first day. The next day, we make sandwiches with "special sauce, lettuce, tomatoes, pickles, onions on a sesame seed bun!!!" OFF THA HOOK!

Mushroom Risotto Stuffed Peppers

I LOVE stuffed peppers. I usually use red peppers because I like the sweetness of it, but they had a sale on green peppers so I am going to try something new.


3 cups cooked brown rice
1 vegetable bullion cube
2 cups crimini mushrooms, sliced
1 large onion, diced
5 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup roasted red peppers, diced
1 10 3/4 oz can cream of mushroom soup
2 cups of water
8 medium bell peppers (any color)
Salt and Pepper to taste
olive oil

Cook the brown rice with the bullion cube.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees

In a large pot, sautee mushrooms until golden brown. Add a little salt and pepper.
Set aside.

In the same pot, sautee the onions for about 1 minute, then add garlic and red peppers. Add a little salt and pepper. Sautee for another minute. Then add the mushrooms to pot. Stir.

Add cream of mushroom soup and water. Mix throughly. Add cooked brown rice and mix throughly again. Taste. Adjust seasoning if needed. Remove from heat.

Cut the tops off of the bell peppers (save them) and remove seeds. Rub olive oil, salt and pepper on the inside and outside of the peppers. Stuff them with the mushroom and rice mixture. Place the tops on the pepper. Sit in a lightly oiled large baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 1 1/2 hours until the peppers become very tender.

Curry Chickpea Crepes

OK, now this was delicious, and I am not just saying that because I made it. I surveyed 10 folks and (well, 1 person I surveyed 6 times, but anyway) it was a BIG hit!

For the crepes:
1 1/2 cup unbleached AP flour
3/4 t salt
1/4 t black pepper
1 T curry powder
1 1/2 cup water (room temp)
1 1/2 t olive oil
2 scallions, sliced on the diagonal

Making the Crepes:
In a large bowl, mix the flour salt pepper and curry.

Add water, oil and scallions and mix until smooth. It should be like a thin runny pancake batter.
Add more water if needed.

Pour about 1/4 cup of the batter into a hot ungreased nonstick pan and swirl around to cover the bottom of the pan. Cook for about 30 seconds (until the edges start to pull away from the pan and it starts to get come color), then flip and cook for 30 more seconds.

This made about 15 crepes.

For the filling:
3 T olive oil (or coconut oil)
1 large onion, rough chop
3 garlic cloves, minced
3 med potatoes, diced
2 med carrots, diced
2 cups cooked chickpeas
2 cups of water
1 14 oz. can of coconut milk
1 large bag of frozen spinach (I forgot what size I used)
4 T curry powder
1 t Green Curry Paste (more if you like it spicy)
1 vegetable bullion cube
1/4 cup Braggs (or you can use salt)
salt and pepper to taste

Making the Filling:
In a large pot, saute the onions for about 2 minutes, add garlic, saute for another minute. Add potatoes and carrots. Add salt and pepper. Cook for about 7 minutes, stirring often. Add water and coconut milk. Then add chickpeas, spinach, curry powder, curry paste and braggs and bullion cube. Stir well to mix every thing. Let it cook for about 20 minutes. Taste and adjust seasonings if needed. Then let it cook for about 30 more minutes until the flavor gets absorbed into the chickpeas and potatoes.

This made enough to feed an army, but it still didn't last long. When we ran out of crepe shells, we ate it with rice!

Hot Mango Sauce:
I cheated and brought some from the store. I don't know how I live with myself.
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Buckwheat Banana Pancakes

OK, so this morning I woke up with a hankering for some banana pancakes (as I sometimes do). I usually use soy milk or rice milk, but I used all my rice milk in some curry chickpea crepes yesterday (the bomb!), but anyhow, I decided to take another route. Here is what I came up with:

3/4 cup unbleached AP flour
3/4 cup buckwheat flour
2 T natural sweetener
2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt
1 1/4 cup WATER (my secret backup ingredient!)
2 ripe bananas


Then it was business as usual.
Sift the flours, sweetener, baking powder and salt together. Mix well

Blend the water and bananas (makes like a banana milk.)

Pour the banana milk into the dry ingredients and mix until just blended.

Then I heated up a large skillet with olive oil and commenced to making pancakes.

To top it off, I added about 1/4 cup of maple syrup to a sauté pan and sliced up another banana and added it until the bananas got a bit translucent. Then I toasted off some pecans.

The finished product? Off the hook!