Blackstrap Bread

 

This is my go-to whole wheat bread recipe, which I bake 2-3 times a week.  It makes great sandwiches, and the molasses adds a wonderful flavor.

I make it partly by hand and partly in the bread machine.  But you can use whatever method you like best.

BLACKSTRAP BREAD

1-1/8 cup water
1-1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup blackstrap molasses or maple syrup*(1)
1/4 cup olive oil
3-1/2 cups whole wheat flour*(2)
1 Tbsp active dry yeast

Stir together water, salt, and molasses until dissolved.  Add oil.  Pour into bread-machine pan or mixing bowl.

Add flour on top of liquid.  Make an indentation in flour and add yeast. Let sit in a warm place for 30 minutes.

Mix ingredients and knead (bread machine can do both).  Let dough rest for about 5 minutes or until it can pass the windowpane test.*(3)

Form dough into a ball, removing bread machine paddle if using.  With 1 Tbsp olive oil in bottom of a medium-sized mixing bowl, roll dough around until coated with oil.  Cover bowl with a layer of waxed paper and then a dish towel.

Let sit for 30-45 minutes in a warm place, until dough has risen above the top of the bowl.

Gently punch down the top of the dough to get rid of big bubbles.  Turn it out onto a floured board and form it into a loaf.*(4)

Place loaf in pan, seam-side-down, cover with waxed paper and dish towel, and let rise in a warm place for about 20-30 minutes, or until it's approximately 1" taller.

Bake at 350 deg. F for 40 minutes (bread machine can do this too).

Remove from pan and cool for at least 30 minutes before slicing.

Recipe Notes

*1. Blackstrap molasses is my favorite sweetener, but an equal amount of maple syrup works just as well.  If you want to use granulated raw sugar, use 1/4 cup sugar and add 1/8 cup water to the recipe.

*2. This amount of flour is just about right if you fluff it with a wire whisk before measuring.  Try not to compact it into the measuring cup.

*3. For the windowpane test, get a ping-pong ball-sized piece of dough and pull it into a thin disc.  Hold it up to the light.  If you can see light through it, the dough has passed the test.  If not, let it rest more.

*4. To form bread dough into a loaf, roll or pat it into a 1-1/2"-thick oval.  Roll it up like a jellyroll, sealing the front of the roll onto the surface of the unrolled dough with every turn--about 4 times.  Roll the remaining flap of unrolled dough up onto the rest, pinching it onto the body of the roll. Turn the roll seam-side-down, pull the ends under, and pinch them together underneath.  Securely pinch all seams, folds, and gaps.

Easy Homemade Mustard

Having searched the Internet and tried some recipes that gave me bitter mustard--ick--I embarked upon a mustardy quest.  By wading through countless forum posts, I figured out the probable cause of mustard bitterness, and that's water.  It's the water in the recipes that reacts with the mustard and creates the problem.

After much experimentation, here's my go-to, gold-standard recipe, which I make pretty much once a week.  We'll never go back to store-bought at my house.  We are now mustard-addicts.

UPDATES: See notes below.

EASY HOMEMADE MUSTARD

makes about 1/2 cup

1/4 cup yellow mustard seeds (do not rinse)
1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
1/4 tsp salt
1-1/2 tsp blackstrap molasses*
     *maple syrup or raw sugar are fine, also

Combine ingredients in a 1/2-pint jar.

Cover and let sit at room temperature for a day or two.

Process in a food grinder, chopper, or processor until grainy and most of the seeds have been ground.

Keep in refrigerator for up to 6 months.

Notes: 

• Do not rinse seeds or add water.  Even the jar should be perfectly dry. Water causes bitterness.  If you have bitter mustard, you can let it sit for a few weeks or months, and it will settle down.
  
  
• Depending upon your chopper or processor, it might take a long time to get the mustard ground well enough.  My horrible little Black & Decker chopper takes about 5 minutes.  I hope you have a better machine!
  
  
• UPDATE 1: I now grind the seeds before mixing with the vinegar, etc.  8 pulses in an electric coffee grinder gives a nice texture with some seeds intact.  In this case, start with 1/3 cup seeds.
  
  
• UPDATE 2: Frontier brand organic yellow mustard seeds give this recipe a wonderful taste.  I tried a new brand, sourced also from Canada, and it tastes awful.  Fermenting for a couple of weeks improves the flavor, but not enough to taste actually good.
  

Avocado-Tomato Salad

 

This salad is a frequent meal at our house.  We have it several times a week, because it's just so darned healthy for us.  And it's real easy to make.  Luckily, since we live in South Texas we can get avocados and tomatoes year-round.   We like  to have this for dinner with a fruit crumble for dessert.

AVOCADO-TOMATO SALAD
serves 2 as a main dish

1 avocado, cut in cubes
1 large tomato, diced
salt
3 cups baby spinach leaves
hemp oil* or olive oil
pumpkin seeds

Wash the spinach and divide between 2 large salad bowls.  Small mixing bowls are a nice size, also.

Salt the diced tomato and place half on top of the spinach in each bowl.

Salt the cubed avocado and place half on top of tomatoes in each bowl.

Drizzle with hemp or olive oil and sprinkle about 2 teaspoons pumpkin seeds on top of each serving.


* If you haven't tried hemp oil, you are missing something wonderful.  It has a nutty taste and lots of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Don't overdo it though, because the flavor can overpower your salad.

My Sourdough Routine

Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread

When I decided to bake the bread for our household, which meant a loaf every other day, I had been dabbling in sourdough a bit.  But my mind was boggled by the prospect of scheduling the feedings and bakings around the rest of my life.  I searched the Internet to see what other folks did, and found very little that would work for me.

So over time, and with the help of some really good websites, I worked out a routine for managing the starter, the discard, and the bread.  Here's what I came up with.

General Schedule

• Feed the starter every 12 hours.  For me, late morning and before bed are best.  That way, the starter is nice and bubbly for early afternoon breadmaking.


• Bake bread every other day.


• Save starter discard in a jar in the fridge and make pancakes in the morning, or just compost it.

Revive Your Starter

The first thing you need to do is get your starter into good, bubbly condition.  You've probably received it from somebody and kept it in the fridge for weeks or months.  Or maybe you took a break from sourdough, and your old starter has been in the back of the fridge for a year.  No worries.

1. Let the starter come to about room temperature.


2. Stir well.  It's better not to pour off the liquid because you don't want to lose any of that good bacteria.  I use a table knife to stir, because it aerates the starter well.


3. Put 1/2 cup of starter in a large, clean jar.  A 1-quart canning jar is good.  If it has ounce measurements on the side, pour 4 oz. of starter in the bottom.


4. Add 1 cup flour and 1/2 cup water.  Stir well. Use the same kind of flour that you'll be using to bake the bread.  I use 100% whole wheat flour.


5. Cover the jar with a breathable square of fabric that won't let insects in.  A lightweight shirt-weight material works well.  You can also cut a paper towel into a 5-inch square. Cheesecloth is too open--fruit flies will get through.  Secure it with a rubber band or by screwing on the jar's canning lid band.


6. Store the starter in a warm place for about 12 hours.  Then repeat the process.


7. You'll have leftover starter every time you feed it.  You can use this discard to make pancakes, muffins, etc.  But the first few discards will be very sour.  Best to compost them, because your pancakes will taste like pickle juice.


8. Repeat these super-feedings until your starter gets a lot of bubbles in it as it sits between feedings.  When it's happy and bubbling, you can shift to normal feedings with less flour.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Starter

Feed Your Starter

If you bake bread frequently, you'll want to keep your starter fed all the time.  If not, you can store it in the fridge for a few days, and plan a day or two of feedings to revive it before you bake with it.

1. Stir the starter to distribute the bacteria well and to aerate it.


2. Pour 1/2 cup starter into a clean jar.


3. Stir in 1/2 cup flour and 1/3 cup water.  Use the same flour you'll be baking with.


4. Cover the jar with fabric or paper towel (not cheesecloth).  Secure with rubber band or jar band.


5. Let sit in a warm place for about 12 hours.  On top of the fridge works well, unless you live in a hot climate.  Then you'll want to find the coolest part of the house for your starter, but not the fridge.


6. Repeat this process every 12 hours.

Make Your Bread

I have found a way to bake good quality bread without heating up the house and without having to knead by hand.  I enlisted some help from my bread machine, and now I have the best of both worlds: homemade, good quality bread and a cool house.

Kneading is fun, but to produce the best quality bread, your dough has to be pretty wet.  If you have a way to knead with a machine, like a stand mixer or a bread machine, you'll get a nice loaf of bread.  If you knead wet dough by hand you'll be dealing with very sticky dough.

My way is to use a bread machine for some of the steps, but not all.

1. Put your bread ingredients into the bread machine pan. (See recipe below.)


2. Place the pan into the bread machine, set it for the type of bread you're making, like whole wheat large loaf, and start it.


3. Set your kitchen timer for however long your machine takes to get to the rise part of the cycle.  Mine takes 1 hour for a large whole wheat loaf.


4. After the machine has kneaded the bread and your timer goes off, unplug the machine and remove the pan.


5. Put 1 cup water in a 2-cup glass microwaveable measuring cup and microwave on High for 2 minutes. 


6. Turn the bread dough onto a floured surface.  Cover with waxed paper and let rest for 5 minutes.


7. Form the dough into a ball and put it  into a medium mixing bowl with a little olive oil in the bottom.  Gently roll the dough around and over in the oil to coat it completely.


8. Cover the bowl with a square of waxed paper and then a barely damp cup towel.


9. Place the covered bowl in your microwave, with the hot water moved to the corner.  DO NOT MICROWAVE THE DOUGH.


10. Set your kitchen timer for an hour and a half.  This will be the first rise.


11. When the timer goes off, remove the bowl from the microwave.  Give the water inside 1.5 minutes on High.


12. Gently punch the dough down to get any big bubbles out, reform into a ball, and let rise again in the turned-off microwave.  This second rise will be 1 hour.


13. After the second rise, remove the bowl from the microwave and give the water 1 minute on High.


14. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, remove the paddle, and form it into a loaf.  There are good instructions here, online.


15. Place the dough into the bread machine pan, cover with the waxed paper / cup towel setup and let rise in the turned-off microwave for 45 minutes. 


16. Remove from microwave, and with a sharp knife, gently slash down the length of the bread dough.  A sharp serrated knife works best.


17. Set the pan with dough in the machine. Don't pop it in, because it will deflate the risen dough somewhat.  The stirring mechanism won't be needed.  Plug the machine in, set it on the bake-only cycle, and enter the number of  minutes you want to bake the bread.  I use 45 minutes, but you will want to experiment with this.  Start the bake cycle.


18. Set your kitchen timer for the time you entered.


19. When the baking is finished, remove the pan from the machine, release the loaf of bread onto a cooling rack, and let it cool for at least 30 minutes before eating.  If you're going to slice the whole loaf, let it cool completely.

Whole Wheat Sourdough Bread
(Helped by Bread Machine)

3/4 cup water
1-1/4 tsp. salt
1 Tbsp. plus 1.5 tsp. maple syrup
3/4 cup sourdough starter
2 Tbsp. plus 1 tsp. olive oil
2-2/3 cups whole wheat flour

In a mixing bowl, stir together the first 5 ingredients.  Pour into bread machine pan.

With a wire whisk, fluff up the flour in the bag. Gently scoop flour into measuring cups and level-off with a knife held flat.  Add to baking pan on top of the starter mixture.

Insert pan into bread machine and run it on the "whole wheat" and "large loaf" settings until it finishes kneading.  Stop the machine and remove the pan.

Transfer the dough to a floured board.  Remove the bread machine paddle.  Cover dough with a piece of waxed paper and let rest for 5 minutes.

Form dough into a ball and place in a medium-sized mixing bowl with 1/2 tsp. olive oil in the bottom.  Roll the ball around to coat.  Cover with waxed paper and a damp cup towel.  Let rise in a warm place for 1.5 hours.

Gently punch dough down, re-form ball, cover, and let rise for 1 hour.

Transfer dough to floured board.  With a floured wooden rolling pin, gently roll into an oval shape about 1.5 inches thick.  Then roll up like a jelly roll, pinching seams as you roll (2-3 times).  When rolled up, pinch the top edge onto the roll.  Place the roll seam-down, and turn the ends under so the loaf is the length of the pan.  Pinch ends underneath to secure.  Place loaf in pan, cover, and let rise 45 minutes.

Gently set pan with loaf in bread machine and set it for "bake only."  Bake for 45 minutes.

When done, turn out the bread and let cool on rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting.

Cherry Crumble

I make fruit crumble every night.  This recipe-for-two is fast, easy, and it provides a healthy helping of walnuts and fruit, without any refined sugar.   You can use most any kind of fruit, fresh or frozen.  I don't recommend strawberries, though--they turn into soupy mush.  For cherry crumble, use 1 cup pitted cherries and a pinch of ground nutmeg.

Here's my recipe for basic fruit crumble.

FRUIT CRUMBLE

serves 2

1 cup fruit, cut in bite-sized pieces, fresh or frozen
2 Tbsp maple syrup
3 Tbsp rolled oats or 2 Tbsp whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp walnut halves or pieces
2 Tbsp butter, cut into 8 pieces
1/16 tsp salt
1 tsp cornstarch
1/8 tsp spice, such as cinnamon or allspice,
            only a pinch if using nutmeg

Place fruit in a 2-cup measuring cup or small bowl.  Add maple syrup and stir well.  Let sit while making the topping.

Spread oats in a microwaveable dish and microwave on High for 1 minute (not needed for wheat flour).

Place walnuts and oats (or flour) in a small blender or food processor and pulse 3 times to finely chop the nuts and oats.  Add butter, then sprinkle the salt over the top.  Pulse three more times.

In a 3-quart microwaveable bowl, place cornstarch and spice.  Drain some of the liquid from the fruit into the bowl and stir until smooth. Add the fruit, and stir to coat all the pieces.

Dump the crumble topping over the fruit and lightly spread to cover it all.

Microwave on High for about 3 minutes.  If your crumble comes out too runny, try adding 30 seconds next time.

Fruit Combinations
Apple + 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon

Blueberry + 1/8 tsp vanilla extract or a pinch of  gr. vanilla bean

Cherry + pinch of ground nutmeg
Peach + 1/8 tsp ground cinnamon
Pineapple + 1/8 tsp ground allspice

Avocado & Orange Salad

This salad makes a yummy meal, which we eat about once a week at our house.  Here in South Texas, avocados are available year-round and we have a mandarin orange tree in our yard.  Heaven!

You can easily use a regular orange or a grapefruit instead of a mandarin.  Just add extra dressing to sweeten it up, according to the fruit you're using.  A small batch of my golden poppyseed dressing can be made using the recipe below.  You can get the full recipe here.

AVOCADO & ORANGE SALAD

serves 2
1 medium  mandarin orange or tangerine
1 medium avocado
salt
poppyseed dressing*
fresh spinach leaves

Peel and separate the orange segments.  Cut into bite-sized pieces and remove the seeds.  Place in a bowl and stir in 3-4 tsp. poppyseed dressing, depending upon how sweet or sour the orange is.

Cut the avocado into bite-sized pieces and sprinkle with salt.

Assemble the salad in individual large bowls.  Start with a bed of lettuce, add half the orange mixture, then half the avocado pieces.  Drizzle more poppyseed dressing over the avocado.


*Golden Poppyseed Dressing
 1 Tbsp. honey or vegan sweetener
1/8 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. ground mustard
pinch onion powder
1 Tbsp. cider vinegar
1/4 tsp. poppyseeds
2 Tbsp. olive oil

Place all ingredients in a jar and shake well.


This post is part of Orange Week on the blog.  Check out the other posts:
 In Love with Mandarin Oranges
Orangey Jar Cozy
Victoriana at Its Best

Cream Cheese Maple-Pumpkin Pie

This is my latest eggless, soy-free pumpkin pie recipe.  After working on it for four years, it's my favorite of all the varieties I have made.

CREAM CHEESE MAPLE-PUMPKIN PIE

1 unbaked pie crust

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

2 cups pumpkin purée (steamed is best)*

     or 16 oz. can

1/4 cup cornstarch

2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. ginger

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 tsp. cloves

1 tsp. salt

3/4 cup maple syrup

2 tsp. blackstrap molasses

Preheat oven to 350 deg. F.  Place pie crust dough in a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan.  Trim edges and prick bottom and sides with a fork.  Reserve extra dough.  Bake for 10 minutes until crust is dried out.  Remove from oven and let cool.

Blend cream cheese and pumpkin together (a food processor is good to use).

In a small bowl, stir dry ingredients together.  Add maple syrup gradually, stirring until smooth.  Stir in blackstrap molasses.

Add syrup mixture to pumpkin mixture and blend until smooth and uniformly mixed.  Pour into pie crust.

Bake at 350 deg. F for about an hour or until small cracks appear in filling.  Let cool.

Roll out remaining pie crust dough and make leaf and acorn shapes.  Bake on a cookie sheet at 375 deg. F until golden.  Garnish pie just before serving.

Store in refrigerator.

 * Note: I cook my own pumpkin for the purée. It's easy to use a steamer to cook cut-up pumpkin chunks (about 1"), slice the skin and strings off after cooking, and purée in a food processor or blender. This produces a light, wonderful texture for the pie. If you use canned pumpkin, you might want to mix a little rice milk or water in, to get a consistency of stirred yogurt.

Microwave Oatmeal

This is an easy way to get your whole grains every day, without a bunch of gluten, white flour, or refined sugar.  Add some frozen blueberries, and you've got your antioxidants, too.

SINGLE-SERVE MICROWAVE OATMEAL 

1/3 cup rolled oats

1/2 cup water

toppings such as honey, maple syrup, butter, raisins, frozen blueberries, cinnamon, etc.

-----------

Put oats and water in a microwave-safe bowl--the one you will eat from.

In a 1000-watt microwave, heat on High for 1 minute.  Remove and stir in the toppings of your choice.

Let sit for about 5 minutes.

For thicker oatmeal, use less water.  For thinner, use more water.

Makes 1 serving.

Greek Yogurt

Once every week or two, I make Greek yogurt. We keep it in little covered bowls in the 'fridge, for a healthy snack or breakfast. My husband came up with the idea of flavoring it with frozen fruit juice concentrate, which gives it an intense flavor without adding a bunch of sugar. I like to add blackstrap molasses for an unusual flavor and some great nutrients.

GREEK YOGURT 32 oz. plain yogurt 1/2 cup frozen juice concentrate     (optional flavoring)     OR 1/4 cup blackstrap molasses ----------- Set a large strainer on top of a large bowl. Rinse a clean dishcloth well, and wring it out. Lay it in the strainer. Place yogurt in the cloth-lined strainer. Cover and refrigerate for 6-24 hours. Save the drained liquid whey in your refrigerator for other uses, or discard.

If you're adding ingredients, place the remaining yogurt (about 2 cups) back in the emptied bowl, and stir in the juice concentrate or molasses.  Put 1/3 cup yogurt in each serving container, such as a small jar or bowl with an airtight lid.

Cover and store in refrigerator.

Makes six to seven 1/3-cup flavored servings.

Notes

1. Apple juice-based fruit juice concentrates tend to make the yogurt a bit lumpy but it still tastes good. Citrus, pineapple, etc. work better.

2. To prevent drips in the refrigerator, lay the dishcloth corners up on top of the lid or plate covering the yogurt.

3. The longer you drain, the thicker it will be.  24 hours gives a nice, thick yogurt even after adding flavoring.  It also removes more whey, which some people have a sensitivity to.

4. The left-over whey can be used in place of milk for baking, as a starter for lacto-fermenting pickles or making vinegar, or you can water plants with it to add nutrients. My friend Absinthia, who bakes a lot of bread, says that she uses whey successfully in place of milk... but when I have tried it, the bread didn't turn out well--no idea why.

You can find more information here.

Positively Polenta!

We love having polenta as an alternative to rice or potatoes.  It's easy to make, if you know the secrets.  You can serve it with veggies stir-fried in olive oil, or just sliced as a side dish.

POLENTA

1-1/2 cups water

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup corn grits

1 Tbsp. butter or olive oil

-----------

In a deep saucepan bring water and salt to a boil, covered.  For safety, remove from heat, turn heat down to low, sprinkle corn grits into water, and stir until the lumps are gone.  Return pan to the burner on low heat, uncovered.  If it starts to splatter, remove from heat so the burner can cool down further.  Then try again.

Cook on low, stirring often, until very thick--about 20 minutes.  It will be sticky and gloppy.  Give it the full 20 minutes on low so it will set properly when it cools.

Remove from heat, stir in butter or olive oil, and turn the polenta into a buttered or oiled deep bowl.  Let stand for at least 10 minutes to set.

When ready to serve, run the tip of a knife around the edge of the polenta and turn the bowl upside down to release it onto a plate.  Cut into 4 thick slices.

Serves 4.

Secret #1:  It’s easy to burn yourself with polenta splatters if you use a saucepan that’s not deep, or put it on a too-hot burner.  Follow the instructions in the first paragraph, and you’ll be fine.

Secret #2:  Leave a long-handled wooden spoon in the polenta while it’s cooking, for neat and frequent stirring.  The low heat will prevent burning, but you can get a buildup in the pan if you don’t stir enough.  Just keep stirring and scraping the bottom, and it will work itself out.

Secret #3:  Don’t expect the polenta to bubble while it’s cooking.  On low heat it will settle down quickly, and it thickens by giving off steam.

Secret #4:  Plan plenty of time for the polenta to set up after cooking.  If you try to take it out of the bowl too soon, it will be gooshy and not much fun to eat.  Give it 10 minutes at the very least, and 15-20 minutes in hot weather.

Serve sliced, as a side dish or topped with vegetables sauteed in olive oil.

Granola

I've been making this for my family off and on for decades.  Recently I converted my baked recipe to microwave.  This way, I can make it all the time, even in summer.  Here are both recipes.  (The microwave recipe makes half as much as the oven-baked.)

MICROWAVE GRANOLA (vegetarian)

4 Tbsp. butter

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/4 cup maple syrup or molasses* or brown sugar + 1 Tbsp. water

2 Tbsp. water

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. salt

2 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup chopped nuts (1/2”)

1/4 cup shredded coconut or chopped banana chips

1/4 cup seeds like sunflower, sesame, etc. or wheat germ

* not blackstrap molasses in this amount

-----------

In a Pyrex deep-dish pie pan (9.5”), heat butter on High in microwave for 1 minute or until melted.  Stir in cinnamon, maple syrup, water, vanilla, and salt.

Add remaining ingredients, and stir until well-coated.  Press mixture down into pan.  This encourages the granola to form clumps.

In a 1000-watt microwave, heat on High for 4 minutes.  Remove and stir, scraping bottom of pan.  Press mixture down again.  Heat for 2 minutes, stir, and press down.  Heat for 2 more minutes.

Remove from microwave and let cool completely without stirring.  The granola becomes crisp as it cools.

When cool, break up into chunks with a spatula, and store in an airtight container.

Makes about 10 servings. 

OVEN GRANOLA (vegetarian)

1 stick butter

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 cup maple syrup or molasses* or brown sugar + 2 Tbsp. water

1/4 cup water

1/4 tsp. salt

1 tsp. vanilla extract

4 cups rolled oats

1 cup chopped nuts (1/2”)

1/2 cup shredded coconut or chopped banana chips

1/2 cup seeds like sunflower, sesame, etc. or wheat germ

* not blackstrap molasses in this amount

-----------

In a large roasting pan, heat butter, cinnamon, maple syrup, water, and salt.  When butter is melted, remove from heat and stir in vanilla.

Add remaining ingredients, and stir until well-coated.  Press mixture down into pan.  This encourages the granola to form clumps.

Bake at 250 deg. F for 2 hours or until toasted to your preference.  When done, remove and let cool completely without stirring.  The granola becomes crisp as it cools.

When cool, break up into chunks with a spatula, scraping bottom of pan.  Store in an airtight container.

Makes about 20 servings--can be doubled in large roasting pan.

Poppyseed Waldorf Salad

This is a great main-dish salad, especially when it's served over lettuce.  The recipe below makes 4 side servings, or 2 main servings.  And it's pretty easy if you already have some Golden Poppyseed Dressing made up.  We keep a bottle of it on hand, and another one of vinaigrette.

POPPYSEED WALDORF SALAD (vegetarian)

1 pinch ground allspice

1/4 cup poppyseed dressing*

1 med. to lg. apple, cut up

1 lg. celery stalk, cut up

1/4 cup raisins

1/4 cup walnuts, broken in pieces

2 oz. cheddar cheese, cubed

lettuce leaves

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In a large bowl, stir together allspice and dressing.  Add remaining ingredients and toss until coated.  Can be served on a bed of lettuce.

Serves 4 

*Poppyseed Dressing:

1 Tbsp. honey

1 pinch onion powder

1/8 tsp. ground mustard seed

1/8 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. poppyseeds

1 Tbsp. cider vinegar

2 Tbsp. olive oil

Combine ingredients in a jar.  Put the lid on and shake well before using.

Pea Salad

This is another one of our dense veggie salads.  I like the flavor of cheddar cheese in this salad, but last night we were out of cheddar, so you're seeing jack cheese cubes, instead.

PEA SALAD (vegetarian)

1 (16 oz.) pkg. frozen green peas, cooked & cooled

2 stalks celery, 1/4” sliced

1/3 cup sweet pickles, chopped

8 oz. cheddar or jack cheese, cubed

2 Tbsp. honey

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. ground allspice

2 Tbsp. cider vinegar

2 Tbsp. olive oil

lettuce leaves

-----------

Place peas, celery, pickles, and cheese in a large bowl.

In a small jar, combine honey, salt, allspice, vinegar, and olive oil.  Cover and shake well.  Pour over pea mixture and gently stir to combine and coat the vegetables.

  

Can be served on a bed of lettuce.

Serves 4-6.

Corn Salad

This is one of our denser salads, which we like to throw in for dinner between lettuce-salad nights.  I serve it on a bed of lettuce, though, so we still get some leafy veggies.  And as you can see, there's no bell pepper in this photo.  It's impossible to find it organically grown around here, so I just leave it out.  The lettuce provides plenty of crunch for us.

CORN SALAD (vegan) 

1 (16 oz.) pkg. frozen corn kernels, cooked & cooled

2 tsp. brown or Dijon mustard

2 Tbsp. cider vinegar

1/4 tsp. salt

1/8 tsp. black pepper

1 sm. red or green bell pepper, diced

1 lg. tomato, cored and diced

1 avocado, diced (or substitute 1/4 cup sour cream)

lettuce leaves

Stir mustard, vinegar, salt, and pepper into corn.  Add tomato, bell pepper, and avocado, and toss gently to mix.

If you happen to be out of avocados and you're not vegan, you can top each serving with a dollop of sour cream instead.

Can be served on a bed of lettuce.

Serves 4.

Golden Poppyseed Dressing

Poppyseed dressing, blended. After searching the 'net for a good poppyseed dressing recipe, I made this one up. It's got honey instead of a bunch of sugar, and it avoids all the strange ingredients you see on the store-bought labels.

GOLDEN POPPYSEED DRESSING

1/8 cup honey or vegan sweetener
1/8 cup cider vinegar
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. ground mustard seed
1/8 tsp. onion powder
1/4 cup olive oil
3/4 tsp. poppy seeds

Place honey in a deep, straight-sided measuring cup or small bowl. Stir in the salt, mustard powder, onion powder, and vinegar until honey is dissolved.

With an immersible blender, blend in the olive oil in a thin, steady stream. (See note.)

Grind the poppy seeds briefly with a mortar and pestle or food processor, to break them up and release the flavor (optional). Stir into dressing.

Serves 4-6.

Note: Blending-in the oil is optional. It makes the dressing creamy by emulsifying the oil. If you don’t have a blender or plan to store the dressing (at room temperature) for multiple uses, just make it in a jar and shake it up well before using. On a salad, it works out about the same.

Poppyseed dressing, not blended.

The Best Vinaigrette

Everybody needs a good basic salad dressing. This is ours--balsamic vinegar tastes the best, but you can substitute cider vinegar for salads needing a lighter-colored dressing (see note). The dark brown of the balsamic can make fruit look yukky.

BALSAMIC VINAIGRETTE

1/8 tsp. onion powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. black pepper
3/4 tsp. mustard
2 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
1/4 cup olive oil

In a jar, stir the seasonings together with the mustard. Stir in the vinegar.

Add the olive oil, screw on the lid, and shake well.

Makes enough for one large salad (6 servings). Store at room temperature, or allow time to warm up the solidified chilled olive oil.

Note: for a lighter-colored dressing, substitute apple cider vinegar and add 1 Tbsp. honey.

(Balsamic vinaigrette, shaken up)
Variations
Italian - use red wine vinegar and add 1/4 tsp. garlic powder
French - make Italian version and add 1/4 cup tomato juice
Pear - use cider vinegar and add 1/2 lg. pear, mashed
Orange - use cider vinegar and add 1/4 cup chopped mandarin orange segments
Pineapple - use cider vinegar and add 1 Tbsp. crushed pineapple
Apple - use cider vinegar and add 1/2 cup apple sauce

Summertime Enchiladas

(enchiladas before heating)

It's Cinco de Mayo, and there's Mariachi music going in my head. If you've never seen a live Mariachi band, you are missing a treat! I have been waiting to share this recipe, since it's a summertime food for us. We use the microwave to avoid heating up the house.

If you want, you can substitute refried beans for the chunk of cheese inside each enchilada.

SUMMERTIME ENCHILADAS

8 corn tortillas
16 oz. jar mild picante sauce, or stronger as desired
8 oz. block of cheese (jack or cheddar), cut into 8 1/2” sections
2 med. avocados, sliced
8 oz. sour cream
4-8 oz. grated cheese (jack or cheddar)
1 lg. tomato, chopped
2 oz. can sliced black olives

Wrap tortillas in a damp cloth or paper towel and microwave on High for 1 minute to soften for rolling up. Keep the stack covered while filling each enchilada.

Fill tortillas and place side by side in a microwaveable (or oven-safe) baking dish. It’s best if the dish dimensions fit the length of the enchiladas (about 5”x 9” at the bottom), to prevent drying out. Here’s how to fill them:
- Spread a heaping tsp. of picante sauce on a tortilla.
- Lay a piece of cheese down the middle.
- Spread with a heaping tsp. of sour cream.
- Top with 2-3 avocado slices.
- Roll up and place seam-down in the baking dish.

Spread the remaining picante sauce over the enchiladas in the pan, coating all of the exposed tortilla surfaces. Top with remaining ingredients in the following order:
- Sour cream
- Chopped tomato
- Avocado slices
- Grated cheese
- Black olives

Microwave on High or bake in conventional oven at 350 deg. F until cheese is just melted (about 8 minutes in the microwave).

Serves 4

Black-Eyed Pea Soup

This is a great way to eat black-eyed peas. Even folks who think they hate black-eyes like it. Serve it with cornbread, for a New Year's meal.

BLACK-EYED PEA SOUP

1 pkg. (16 oz.) frozen black-eyed peas (or fresh)
1 med. onion, cut into 1/16ths
1 lg. carrot, diagonally sliced, 1/8”
6 cups water
2 cups tomato juice (or 15 oz. tomato sauce)
2 tsp. salt (more to taste)
2 tsp. dried thyme
10 shakes Tabasco sauce
2 lg. tomatoes, diced (or 15 oz. can)

In a large soup pot, Combine ingredients, except fresh tomatoes, and simmer, uncovered, until peas are tender (about 30-40 minutes).

Turn off heat, add fresh tomatoes, and cover until ready to serve.

Serves 8

Cornbread

Everybody loves this cornbread. After about 10 years of trying various recipes, I found one that was good enough to stick with. It's a moist, sweet cornbread like my grandmother used to bake. When we gave up eggs, I developed this eggless version of Fanny Farmer's "Rich Corn Cake." It's great served with chili, or with black-eyed peas on New Year's Day.

CORNBREAD

1 cup yellow cornmal
1 cup unbleached flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 Tbsp. egg replacer
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. cream of tartar
3/4 tsp. salt
1 cup sour cream (milk can be substituted)
2/3 cup milk
4 Tbsp. butter, melted

Preheat oven to 400 deg. F. Butter a 9”x9” pan.

In a medium bowl, combine the dry ingredients, and mix thoroughly with a wire whisk.

In another bowl, mix the melted butter into the sour cream. Blend in the milk. Pour the sour cream mixture into the bowl of dry ingredients, mixing quickly. Spread into the buttered pan.

Bake until browned on top, about 30-40 minutes.

Serves 6 - 8

Note: to make cornbread crumbs for stuffing, bake in a 10” x 15” jelly roll pan for 15-20 minutes, or until browned on top. It yields about 8 cups of crumbs.

Adapted from Fanny Farmer's Rich Corn Cake recipe.

Stir-Fried Spinach

This is an easy veggie for a holiday meal. Grinding the sesame seeds is optional, but it does make the seeds' nutrients more accessible when eaten.

STIR-FRIED SPINACH

spinach leaves, well-washed
olive oil
sesame seeds
salt

(use amounts needed for your guests)

Using a mortar and pestle, lightly grind the sesame seeds (about 1/2 tsp. per serving).

In a large skillet, heat the olive oil (about 1/2 tsp. per serving) on med-low heat. Add the spinach and sesame seeds, and shake in some salt. Stir-fry until the spinach wilts a bit.

Serve immediately.