Bourbon spice rack
1 ounce bourbon whiskey
1 ounce sweet vermouth
2 tablespoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons grade B maple syrup
2 dashes lavender bitters
1 dash cardamom bitters
1. Combine the bourbon, vermouth, lemon juice, maple syrup, lavender bitters, and cardamom bitters in a tumbler. Add ice and shake well until chilled.
2. Double strain into a tumbler with a large piece of ice.
Showing posts with label Recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Recipe. Show all posts
Friday, December 16, 2022
Monday, October 11, 2021
Roasted Butternut Squash and Garlic Soup
Roasting a head of garlic along with the squash rounds out the flavor of this vegan/vegetarian soup.
Ingredients:
- 1 small butternut squash (2-2.5lb)
- 1 head garlic
- olive oil
- vegetable oil
- 1 T curry powder (or to taste)
- 1 medium yellow onion
- 2 carrots
- 2 cups vegetable broth
- 3/4 cups yellow split peas
- (vegan) sour cream
Instructions:
- Preheat oven to 400F.
- Wash the squash. Cut in half and remove seeds. Cut into 1 inch thick half-disks. Arrange in single layer on greased pan. Sprinkle with curry powder.
- Remove most of the outer skins on a head of garlic. Chop off the upper part of the garlic so all the cloves are exposed. Save the garlic tips for the soup. Drizzle the head of garlic with olive oil. Cover loosely with foil.
- Roast squash and garlic for about 40 minutes until garlic and squash start to caramelize and squash is fork tender. Set aside to cool.
- Meanwhile, chop carrots and dice onion. Sauté onion on low heat with vegetable oil in large soup pot. When onion starts to caramelize, add garlic tips. Sauté for another 30-60 sec, then add curry powder. Cook until fragrant. Add carrots. Remove from heat.
- Once squash is cool enough to handle, peel and add to pot. Add half the roasted garlic to the pot. (Serve the remaining roasted garlic with fresh bread & butter, or save for another meal.) Add split peas (rinsed and sorted).
- Add vegetable broth to cover the squash. Simmer for 30 minutes until peas are soft. Blend with hand blender. Add salt & pepper to taste.
- Serve with a dollop of (vegan) sour cream.
Saturday, December 17, 2016
Tofu Paprikash
This recipe is based off of the Chicken Paprikash recipe Mark Chu-Carol's posted on his Good Math, Bad Math blog.
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onions, quartered and then sliced thin
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1 tablespoons Sweet hungarian paprika
1 tablespoons Hot hungarian paprika
1 bay leaves
2.5 cups vegetable stock
1 pound frozen and thawed firm tofu
1 bell pepper, diced
2 carrots, diced
1/2 cup creme fraiche or sour cream
Cooked egg noodles or spaetzle tossed with butter
Salt and pepper to taste
Saute the onions in olive oil until translucent, adding the garlic during the last minute of cooking. Meanwhile, drain the tofu and cut into bite-sized pieces. Add the paprika and bay leaves, stirring around, and then add the tofu and saute for another minute. Add the carrot, pepper and stock. Simmer for 20 minutes to let the flavors absorb into the tofu. Add creme fraiche; salt and pepper to taste. Serve over noodles.
Fudgy Brownies
I'm still working on this recipe for Fudgy Brownies. Expect updates.
Mini Bacon Mushroom Spinach Quiches
You can get creative with the filling. Aim for 3 cups of filling, and cook veggies and meat before baking. You can freeze extras. To reheat from refrigerator, microwave 1 quiche for ~30 seconds. Makes 12 mini quiches.
Ingredients:
Crust
- 1 1/4 cup flour
- 1/2 cup quick oats
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- 3/8 cup vegetable oil
- 3 tablespoons milk
Filling
- 2 strips bacon
- 1/2 cup diced onion
- 2 cups diced mushrooms
- 5 oz fresh spinach
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 cup milk
- 1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
- 1/4 cup shredded Parmesan cheese
- 1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
- salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 400.
- Combine dry ingredients of crust. Dump in oil and milk. Stir to combine, until you have a crumb mixture of uniform consistency. Divide into muffin tin. Press into sides and bottoms. Bake for 10 min.
- Slice bacon into little strips. Fry to taste. Add onion, fry at medium heat until translucent and browning. Add mushrooms, fry until cooked through. Add spinach, cook until wilted.
- Beat eggs in medium size mixing bowl. Add cheese, milk and spices. Stir in veggies. Divide into muffin tins - about 1/4 cup per shell.
- Bake for 13-16 minutes, until set. Serve hot.
Tuesday, November 17, 2015
Italian Wedding Soup
None of the recipes I found called for the normal soup starters: onions, garlic, celery. I figured I'd at least want those flavors, even if I didn't have them floating around in the soup, so I made my own stock.
Italian Wedding Soup
Makes 4 servings
Ingredients:
Stock:
- 1 yellow onion
- 1 head garlic
- 4 stocks celery
- 1 carrot
- 1 tablespoon bacon grease (or oil)
- chicken bones/scraps
- 1 bay leaf
Soup:
- 1/2 lb ground turkey
- 1/2 slice bread (or 1/8 cup breadcrumbs)
- 1 egg
- dash garlic powder
- dash onion powder
- dash Italian seasonings
- dash ground pepper
- 1 tablespoon Parmesan cheese
- 2 carrots
- chicken bouillon
- beef bouillon
- salt & pepper to taste
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup Israeli couscous, depending on how thick you want your soup
- 1 bag fresh spinach
Instructions:
Stock:
- Heat the grease in a large pot
- Cut off the roots of the onion but do not peel. Quarter the onion, skin and all. Sear in the grease while you chop the garlic. Chop garlic head in half, separate cloves, throw into pot, skin and all. Coarsly chop celery and carrot, throw into pot.
- Add chicken bones, bay leaf, and 2 quarts of water. Simmer for 6-8 hours. Drain, reserving liquid and discarding solids.
Soup:
- Bring stock to a boil. Meanwhile, make meatballs: tear bread up into little pieces and put into mini food processor. Add egg. Blend a bit. Let sit for 5 min. Blend until smooth. Remove blade and mix in turkey, spices, and cheese. Spoon 3/4 inch lumps of meatball mixture into boiling stock.
- Add carrots and couscous. Boil for 12 minutes or as directed by couscous package.
- Add 1 cube beef bouillon, 2-4 cubes chicken bouillon, and salt to taste.
- Add dash of Italian seasonings and bag of spinach, stirring until spinach is cooked, about 1 min. Enjoy!
Wednesday, July 29, 2015
Nageotte Beans
This is recipe that my extended family has been making for generations, often without the benefit of measurements and written instructions. My cousin Casey shared this version of the recipe.
Nageotte Beans
Ingredients:
- 1 lb dry navy (or pea) beans
- 7 -- 8 cloves of garlic
- 1 medium onion, chopped and lightly sauteed
- 1/2 lb uncured bacon cut into 1 -- 1 1/2" chunks
- salt & pepper to taste -- easy on the salt you can always add more as it cooks
- 1 1/2 Tablespoons of summer savory (you may have to look for this herb; it's not commonly found in grocery-store spice racks)
- 1/3 stick of butter
Instructions:
- Briefly boil the beans, then drain, then soak overnight.
- Drain again.
- Put all ingredients into a baking dish which could be a bean pot or a casserole, mix lightly
- Add enough water to top of ingredients is moist
- Bake at 300 -- 325 for 4 to 4 1/2 hours
- Check periodically to keep moist on top. You can use water or you can use beer. A little beer in the cook also helps.
- After 4 -- 4 1/2 hours the beans should be almost creamy. Bake a little longer (keeping moist on top) if not yet done.
Great for picnics and pot-lucks!
Wednesday, April 15, 2015
Easy Sriracha Wings
This is a fairly easy wing preparation that showcases the complex flavor of cooked Sriracha.
Easy Sriracha Wings
Ingredients:
- 12 full wings
- 1/2 teaspoon onion powder
- 1/2 teaspoon garlic powder
- 1/2 teaspoon blackening seasoning
- 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (or to taste)
- 1/4 cup flour
- Sriracha
Directions
- Put spices and flour in large, sealable bag. Seal and mix well.
- Add wings to mixture. Shake to coat evenly.
- Let sit in refridgerator for at least one hour.
- Preheat oven to 400 F
- Arrange wings on ungreased pan.
- Bake wings for 20 minutes, flipping half way through.
- Cover each wing with Sriracha to taste, and cook for another 10-15 minutes.
- Enjoy with celery and carrot sticks and your favorite creamy dressing.
Thursday, March 26, 2015
Jac's Gumbo Stew
I'm using qualifiers like "Jac's" and "Stew" because I'm not trying to pass this off as a traditional gumbo. I've never been to New Orleans. Not a lot of Creole where I grew up in rural PA. I've taken significant departures from the base recipe to come up with this.
Jac's Gumbo Stew
Time ~2hrs, Servings: ~6
Ingredients
- 1/2 lb andouille sausage, sliced
- vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 small onion
- 1 stock celery
- 1/2 green pepper
- 1 jalapeno pepper (seeds optional)
- 3 cloves garlic
- 1/4 lb chicken, diced
-----
- 1 (14.5 ounce) can diced tomatoes
- 3 cups water
- 2 cubes beef bullion (or 2 teaspoons Better Than Bullion)
- 1 teaspoon salt, or to taste
- 1 teaspoon Tabasco Sauce
- 1 teaspoon Sriracha Sauce
- 1/4 teaspoon blackening seasoning (or Creole or Cajun)
- 1/4 teaspoon thyme
- 1 bay leaf
- 1-1/2 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
- 2 cups frozen chopped okra
-----
- rice
- 1/2 lb catfish fillets
- 1/2 lb shrimp
Directions:
- Cook sausage over medium low heat in large soup pot to melt out the fat. This may take about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, dice vegetables.
- Set sausage aside, but reserve grease. Stir flour into grease and add oil until mixture is the consistency of a thin gravy. Stir constantly over low heat for 20-30 minutes until roux deepens in color.
- Stir onions and celery into roux. Cook over medium heat until onions start to turn translucent. Add the garlic and peppers, and stir a few minutes more. Add chicken and cook a few minutes more until it starts to brown.
- Return sausage to pot. Add tomatoes, water, bullion, salt, hot sauces, spices and okra. Bring to boil. Reduce heat and simmer for about an hour.
- Start rice
- Add fish and shrimp to gumbo, simmer over low heat. Taste for saltiness and hotness. You want it a little extra salty and spicy because the rice will cut both significantly.
- The gumbo is finished when the rice is done. Serve over rice with hot sauce(s) of your choice. Enjoy!
Monday, November 24, 2014
Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie
This is based off of this recipe from Allrecipes.com. It is not vegan, low cal or gluten free. It is delicious. I used 1.5 x this recipe for the crust - no rolling.
Ingredients:
- 2 8 inch pie shells
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 cup butter
- 4 eggs
- 1/4 cup bourbon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup 63% cacao chocolate chips
- 1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 325F.
- Heat sugar, corn syrup, and butter in a small sauce pan until sugar is dissolved, stirring to prevent burning. Remove from heat and let cool a bit.
- Beat eggs, add bourbon, vanilla, and salt. Distribute pecans evenly between the two shells.
- Stir chocolate chips into warm corn syrup mixture until they melt. Whisk in egg mixture. Pour half of mixture into each shell.
- Bake for 40 - 45 minutes or until filling has set. Cool on rack. Serve warm or chilled.
Sunday, September 21, 2014
Creamy Mushroom Soup (Vegan, Low Carb)
Threw this together from a couple different recipes. It's creamy but not thick. You can reduce the liquids and add a thickener if you wand something closer to gravy consistency. This happens to be vegan and low carb. It's also delicious.
Creamy Mushroom Soup
Time: 40 min
Servings: 4 side dish
About 8 grams carbs per serving
About 4 grams protein per serving
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons oil
- 1 medium yellow onion, diced
- 3 cloves garlic
- 4 cups dice mushrooms - I used portobello and crimini mushrooms
- generous shake of Italian seasonings or thyme
- generous black pepper
- 2 cups water
- 3 vegan bouillon cubes - I used Better Than Bouillon "No Chicken Base"
- 2 cups unsweetened soy milk
- 1 tablespoon dry sherry
Directions
- Heat oil in wide pot or pan. Add onions and sautee until translucent. Add garlic, mushrooms and seasonings. Cook stirring frequently until mushrooms are cooked down, about 10 min. If needed, transfer to soup pot for next step:
- Optional: use immersion blender to reduce mushrooms pieces to desired size.
- Add water and bouillon, and simmer until onions are very soft, about 20 min.
- Add soy milk and sherry. Heat the soup back to serving temperature but do not boil. Enjoy!
Friday, August 29, 2014
Jac's Chocolate Silk Pie
I've made this pie several times over the past year. I usually use firm silken tofu. Soft would probably work, you'd just have a softer pie. Silken tofu usually comes in two sizes: 12 oz and 16 oz. If you use a 12 oz block, just use a 8 inch pie pan. I tend toward darker chocolate and desserts that aren't overly sweet. My favorite chips are Ghirardelli Chocolate 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Chips.
Jac's Chocolate Silk Pie
Ingredients
- 1 9 inch graham cracker crust
- 1 lb silken tofu
- 1 10 oz bag dark chocolate chips
- 6 oz coconut milk (light is fine)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
Directions
- Melt chips with coconut milk. If doing this in the microwave, stir several times to keep chocolate from burning.
- Pour off excess liquid from tofu, put in blender. Add melted chocolate coconut mix, vanilla and salt. Blend until smooth, scraping sides with spatula to get everything mixed in.
- Pour mixture into crust. Refrigerate until set (at least 2 hours). Serve with whipped (coconut) cream.
Whipped Coconut Cream
Note: Use a high fat coconut milk or coconut cream. 17g fat per 100mL is sufficient. 6g per 100mL wouldn't work. You want a milk that solidifies when refrigerated.
- Pour one 13.5 oz can coconut milk into a small mixing bowl and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Whip chilled coconut milk on high speed several minutes. Add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla and powdered sugar to taste. Serve on your favorite desserts, especially Jac's Chocolate Silk Pie.
Apple Cake Adventure
I tried to make a peach cake. This is what happened.
I'm staying at my cousin Tom's apartment while he and his wife are out of town. His kitchen is somewhat less well equipped then what I'm accustomed to.
Exhibit A: Mystery Measures
I had ripe peaches I wanted to use up, so I thought I'd have a go at this delicious looking peach cake. Changes 1 & 2 Since it's only me here, I cut the recipe in half while upping the fruit a bit since I wanted to use 2 whole peaches. Change 3 I didn't have any sour cream, but plain yogurt should do the trick. Then I discovered I didn't have any eggs. Change 4 I'm reluctant to buy them due to mild but annoying allergies, so I substituted 1 small grated apple and 1 teaspoon of baking powder for the egg. When I set about to put the wet ingredients together, I found Tom's mixer, but no beaters. (I searched the Entire Kitchen. Twice.) So I had to cream the butter and sugar (which I cut by 25%) Change 5 by hand. The dry ingredients went together without a hitch, except that Change 6 I accidentally added the cinnamon that was meant to be reserved for the sugar topping. I mixed the batter together, then went to cut up the peaches. Change 7 Pithy and brown inside. I used my two remaining apples instead. Apples don't cook down when they aren't covered by a topping or layer of batter, and I didn't want a layer of dried apples on top of the cake, so Changes 8 & 9 I put all the apples in the middle of the cake and added a little butter and cinnamon on top. Change 10 I didn't have any nuts so I omitted those, and Change 11 I had to reduce the baking time for the smaller cake. After all that, here's how it turned out.
Delicious.
Double Apple Cake
Ingredients
- 5 tablespoons butter (salted) at room temp., divided
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup plain yogurt (low fat) (room temp)
- 1 small apple, peeled and grated
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup all-purpose flour (I think. See Mystery Measures Exhibit A)
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon plus extra for sprinkling
- 2 large apples, peeled and sliced
Directions
- Grease a 1 quart baking dish.
- Cream together 4 tablespoons butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add yogurt, grated apple, and vanilla.
- Preheat oven to 350
- Whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, and 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon.
- Add dry ingredients to wet a little at a time. Mix just until combined.
- Pour half the batter into the pan. Cover with sliced apples, topped with a few shakes of cinnamon and about 1 tablespoon butter, in pieces spread around the apples. Cover apples with remaining batter.
- Bake for 40 - 45 min, until apples are bubbling and batter is fully cooked. Serve warm.
Wednesday, March 13, 2013
Strawberry Cheesecake Pi Day
With Pi Day rapidly approaching, I went to the local open-air discount produce market to look for affordable filling. I found lightly crushed strawberries, 2 lbs for a dollar. After looking at several strawberry pie recipes, I decided to put a strawberry jello top on a cheesecake bottom with a pretzel crust.
Ingredients
Crust
- 3/4 cup unsalted pretzels, crushed
- 1/4 cup granola
- 3/8 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1 T sugar
- 1/4 T salt
Cheesecake
- 4 oz cream cheese, room temperature
- 1/8 cup sugar
- 1 1/2 t lemon juice
- 1/4 t vanilla
- dash of salt
- 1 egg
Fruit Gel
- 1 package strawberry gelatin
- 2 1/2 cups strawberries
- 1 cup boiling water
- 3 ice cubes
Directions
Crust
- Combine all ingredients. Press into 9" pie plate.
- Bake at 400°F for 8 - 10 min
Cheesecake
- Beat cream cheese until fluffy. Gradually blend in remaining ingredients, and beat well. Pour into prepared crust.
- Bake at 325°F until the center is set, about 18-20 min. Cool before topping.
Fruit Gel
- Dissolve gelatin in 1 cup boiling water. Stir in 3 ice cubes. Allow to chill for 30 min.
- Spoon fruit onto cheesecake layer. Pour gelatin over fruit. Chill pie until set, about an hour.
The result:
Variant: Use corn chex cereal in place of the pretzels and granola, omitting salt. Double the cheescake filling, and cook for ~24 min. Use 2 cups frozen berries in place of strawberries and ice cubes.
Sunday, October 23, 2011
Cookie Crust Cheesecake
I baked a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies, but they came out too sweet. I'll give most of them away, but meanwhile, how to salvage what's left... Mmm cheesecake... cheesecake with chocolate chip oatmeal cookie crust... The filling was based off of this recipe, cut in half. The cheesecake was a little less dense, more custard-like than I'm used to, and I had overcompensated when I cut the sugar. Next time I'll try 1/2 cup.
Update: 11/27/2019 I made a few adjustments. It's better now.
Cookie Crust Cheesecake
1-1/2 cups oatmeal chocolate chip cookie crumbs
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
1/2 cup white sugar
1/4 cup half-and-half
2 eggs
1/2 cup sour cream
1 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoons lemon zest
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
Press crumbs into 9 inch pie plate. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a large bowl, mix cream cheese with sugar until smooth. Blend in milk, and then mix in the eggs one at a time, mixing just enough to incorporate. Mix in sour cream, vanilla, maraschino, and flour until smooth. Pour filling into prepared crust. Bake for 45 minutes, or until toothpick comes out clean.
Tuesday, August 9, 2011
Dirty Rice (and Meat and Beans)
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, chopped
1 pound ground turkey
1/2 teaspoon seasoned salt
1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
1 teaspoons vegetable bouillon
2.25 cups water
1 cup uncooked brown rice
1 can pinto beans
Sear peppers in skillet with a bit of oil. Set aside. Sear onions until browning. Add garlic, and continue to cook for a minute. Add turkey and spices. Cook until turkey is done. Add water, rice, bouillon and beans. Cook ~40 min, stirring occasionally, until rice is almost done. Add seared peppers and finish cooking.
Friday, April 8, 2011
Quinoa Tabbouleh
I adapted this recipe from the Wheat Berry Tabbouleh recipe in the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. I made a couple substitutions and changed the proportions to my liking.
Cook:
2/3 c quinoa
1 T olive oil
1 cloves garlic, minced
I rinse my quinoa and then heat it with olive oil and garlic until the garlic is starting to brown, then I add the 1 c water and simmer it like rice until it's done. Let it cool to room temperature.
---
Mix in:
1 cucumber, peeled and diced
1 large bunch parsley, washed and chopped
1/4 c diced sweet onion
1/2 lemon, juiced
1/4 c olive oil
1/8 c capers (optional)
salt, pepper to taste
---
When you're ready to serve, add:
2 cherry tomatoes, quartered, per 1 c serving
I don't like to refrigerate my tomatoes - they lose all of their flavor, so I just add tomato as I eat it. You might want to adjust the dressing. I didn't measure this, but I think it made around 6 cups. With these proportions, it's about half veggie, half grain.
Saturday, March 19, 2011
Cream Cheese Brownies
This recipe is based off of Fudgy Brownies from the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. I've made a few changes to reduce sugar increase yumminess.
1 cup butter
12 oz. semi sweet chocolate chips (divided)
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup powdered sugar
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
8 oz. low fat cream cheese
- Melt butter and 6 oz. chips in large bowl in microwave. (Don't let the chips burn. Stir once butter melts.)
- Meanwhile, grease a 9 x 13 inch pan, and preheat oven to 350.
- Stir chocolate butter mixture. Add eggs, one at a time, beating with a wooden spoon until just combined. Stir in vanilla and remaining chips.
- In a small bowl, sift together flour, sugar, cocoa powder and baking soda. Combine wet and dry mixtures, mixing until just combined.
- Spread half of batter into pan. Slice cream cheese onto batter, distributing evenly over the entire area. Spread rest of batter over the layer of cream cheese.
- Bake at 350 for ~35 minutes.
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