Peanut Butter Brownies

Ever since my friend, Chava, made this enchanting recipe, I've been wanting to try it. Chava does interesting things with peanut butter - here is another of my favorites, a recipe she taught me to make when I saw her in Atlanta last year. Speaking of peanut butter, I've been realizing that I need more protein lately, so I've been munching on these awful-tasting protein bars the last couple days. So perhaps a peanut butter recipe or two will serve me well. Also, since my not-so-sweet-tooth husband has been asking for cookies or brownies lately, I thought it's about time I make this recipe. I might get to the peanut stew later this month... Plus, the 5 degree weather makes me want to bake and warm up our freezing home.

On that note, my baby and I have been indoors for the last three days - I'm getting cabin fever, so I hope it warms up soon. We've been singing, reading, playing with toys, eating cereal, napping, rinse and repeat. I have to get out tomorrow to drop off student papers, so at least we'll be heading out once. I just really feel for her all wrapped up in her enormous snowsuit:

Seriously mom?

Potato-Bean Casserole

Start with the simplest of ingredients: a potato (boiled) and an onion (sauted).

Rebecca watched with interest as I chopped and stirred...

Yum!

We have called this simple dish "2 J Casserole" for quite some time in my family -- mainly because Jake and I, Jamie, (2 Js) created this vegan dish back in 1999. Jake was living in D.C. for a semester; I came up to visit him for Thanksgiving weekend and we created this by experimentation. And it stuck.

Ingredients:

-- 3-4 potatoes
-- half a can of tomato sauce
-- 1 can of garbanzo beans (I use the low-sodium variety)
-- 3 small tomatoes
-- a yellow onion
-- a few T of olive oil
-- Morningstar tofu crumbles (you might use Quorn crumbles if you tire of Morningstar, as I sometimes do)
-- a dash of spices (This time I used rosemary, marjoram, and basil)

It's a hearty winter dish -- first you dice and saute your onion in olive oil while you boil your potatoes (I cut mine up in chunks first). Then you add the beans and sliced tomatoes to the onion mixture, then the sauce and tofu, and then finally the drained boiled potatoes and your spices. You might also have added a few sliced carrots when you added your tomatoes and beans - we used to do that but I'm all out of carrots. Also, this is the kind of dish that tastes even better the second day - all the juices and spices have been keeping each other company for a bit and it's even more savory.

Enjoy! And check out all the nutrients in the humble potato:)

One last thing - as I attempt to cook these days in between feeding and playing with Rebecca and trying to get her to nap (combined with some working from home), I'm realizing that some of my old favorite recipes like mushroom empanadas and flatbreads were pretty time consuming. Now I'm looking for recipes that are vegetarian and fairly fast. So I'll be going through my cook books and this blog archive to find some dishes that fit for our family at this point -- let me know if you have some good ones and I'll try them!

Carrot souffle

fluffy, yummy carrot souffle

My little one watching me cook, chewing an empty bowl, wondering when we're going to give her first bite of solid food (in a few days).

I am blogging as my baby takes her fourth and final catnap of the day.

For the first time today, my daughter watched me cook a bit while sitting in her high chair playing with a bowl. It stuck to her chin at one point and she burst into tears!

So here it goes. I am stunned that I haven't blogged about this recipe before. A family staple for years, the carrot souffle is sweet, easy, and pretty. You can lighten it up with Splenda or another sugar substitute; you can use applesauce instead of eggs to make it a vegan recipe, and you can add cornflakes on top for crunch or nuts on top for protein.

Here is the simple recipe:

3/4 cup sugar

1 lb of carrots peeled and microwaved for 4 to 5 minutes

4 ounces veg oil

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

3 tablespoons flour

Pinch of cinnamon

Directions: Chop up your soft carrots and add them to a Cuisinart (or grate them by hand). Afterwards, put the shredded carrots in a large bowl. Add the remaining ingredients. Stir. Pour into 1.5 quart dish sprayed with pam or oil.

Put in the oven set at 350 for 45 minutes.

Voila.

I enjoy the shock of orange amid an otherwise neutral-colored table or buffet. It's also a dish you could make for a brunch, with a dinner, or as an after-dinner dessert. So versatile! The little black dress of my recipes.

Happy Hanukkah!

Dear friends, I tried my hand at making latkes for the second time tonight -- this was the first time. My mom reminded me of how my grandma used to make them -- real fast, she said - 1, 2, 3 and they were ready to eat.

Well, I tried. I can't say they remind me of my grandmother's cooking, but maybe nothing really comes close to that...

But they're greasy and vegan and yummy, so cheers to that, and have a Happy Hanukkah.

Thanksgiving 2010

Shakespeare's Pizza in Columbia, Mo.

We are so grateful for our family, walks in the woods, food on the table, and storytelling.

Among many other things.

Here are a few photos from the past few days:

Pumpkin Bread

In two days my family and I are driving to the Lake of the Ozarks to have Thanksgiving meal at the Lodge of Four Seasons. We rent cabins and do very little for a couple of days. Jake and I started this tradition last year. This year I hope to get in a jog or a hike (despite the cold weather) and I'm taking a book too. I also baked some pumpkin bread for us to munch on during the car ride - our baby's first longish car ride -- wish us luck!

Here's the recipe:

3 and 1/3 cup flour
2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t salt
1 t cinnamon
1 t nutmeg
1 and 1/2 cup sugar
3 eggs (Note: You could make this a vegan recipe if you used 2 cups of applesauce and no eggs)
1 and 1/4 c applesauce
1 1/2 c canned pumpkin
2/3 c water

First I blended the dry ingredients, then added the wet ingredients and then put the mixture in two lightly oiled loaf pans and popped them in our at 350 for 1 hour and 15 minutes (we have a slow oven). It's delicious.

Black Bean Soup

I forgot to take a photo of my last meal, but bean soup isn't that pretty to look at anyway.

For those of you who might not know, the Women's Bean Project gives women employment opportunities in a safe environment -- a store in the U. City loop called Plowsharing Crafts sells their tasty packages of beans and spices to make bean soup.

In addition to the packet of beans and spices, you only need vegetable stock, 1/4 cup olive oil, 1 large diced onion, 2 cloves of minced garlic, 1 large chopped green pepper, a 6 oz. can of tomato paste, 3 T wine vinegar, and 1 bay leaf to make the soup.

First you wash and drain beans and then either soak them overnight or microwave them covered with water in a partially covered container for 15 minutes on high. Then you drain and rinse them and put them in a pot with the vegetable stock. Bring it to a boil and then let it simmer covered for two hours. Then you will add a mixture of sauted veggies: the onion, garlic, green pepper and spices. Also add the tomato paste and vinegar at this time -- it's delicious and lasts for several meals:)

Vegetarian Chili

Mmm...

With a little bit of time on my side this morning as Jake attempted to put a very darling though fussy baby down for an early morning nap, I cooked! Since the weather is now getting colder and I only had 20 minutes, I made a batch of chili:

First I threw in about 1/4 of a cup of diced red pepper, 1/4 c diced green pepper, and 1/4 c diced yellow onion in a pot with a bit of olive oil. Then I added two chopped carrots, a can of diced tomatoes, a can of kidney beans, a can of black beans, half a can of corn, 1/2 cup of Morningstar crumbles, and a dash or three of chili powder and some shredded cheddar cheese (this would be a vegan dish without the cheese). A friend of mine adds a T of brown sugar to her chili -- but it's also just as tasty without...

Yum, healthy and easy to make. It will likely last two night as well - I should really do this more often. While Jake likes to put his chili on a baked potato, I eat mine in a bowl - perhaps with a cracker or two.

Apple Cake Victory Dance

My daughter napped again for the second day in a row, and I am a new woman.

Oh, it's not like she never naps. She naps often, about 20-30 minutes at a time. In my arms. And then as soon as I go to put her down her eyes snap open and she either smiles or cries. It's quite devastating. And we're back to the drawing board, me trying to coax out another nap another 45 minutes or hour later.

And then yesterday happened. I had low expectations of you, Monday. I put our little swaddled Rebecca on my shoulder, played with my iPod, rocked in our glider and let her cry a bit and then doze on my damp from drool, cramped-from-holding-it-still-and-upright shoulder for 35 minutes. Then I turned off the iPod. Stood up. Tiptoed ever so quietly to put her down, and of course, as always, her hazel-blue eyes popped open. I nearly ducked, as to not make eye contact. But then, to my complete shock, her eyes closed, her face a vision of peace and repose.

Oh, the joy of having the next two hours (Two! hours!) to myself. I answered emails to colleagues and friends. Called people back. Did a bit of work. Contemplated my dissertation. Sat on the couch and closed my eyes. It was beautiful.

And again, today. She went down from 11:45-2. I may have never known such happiness. I'm sort of kidding. After answering some obligatory emails and prepping for class, I asked myself, what would I like to do? Jake was home for a spell and he asked if I wanted to go for a run. No, not really. It's not that a breastfeeding woman can't run; of course she can. However, a couple times I had an enormous struggle getting Becca to nurse after my workouts. I felt like we were wrestling; she was so fussy. Isn't fussy such a very polite word for "screaming her head off"? I called a local breastfeeding support group and learned a bit about lactic acid buildup changing the flavor of breast milk. Who knew? So I'd rather not ever go through that again. Now I try to run right after she nurses on Saturday and Sunday mornings; otherwise it's nearly impossible.

So with some time on my side, I made a cake. Chopped, stirred, and tasted a luscious, fall-esque apple cake. Again (I made it a few weeks ago).

We have plenty of apples after we went to Eckert's apple orchard in Belleville for apple-picking a week ago on an unseasonably warm fall day. Jake and Rebecca strolled through the orchard together. She screamed most of the time due to the heat and most likely being overtired (see above), but I suppose it didn't matter. I remember last fall when just Jake and I drove out to Illinois to pick apples three days after I took a pregnancy test. We felt so giddy and kept hugging. Jake had eaten his first apple (really), and I made a cake afterward too.

Cheers to fall, and to making traditions. It's finally starting to feel less like summer.

Apple Cake

baked potato - yum

beautiful apple cake

After Jake came home today, he went in the nursery to put down the baby (which often takes more than an hour) and then I couldn't decide what to do with myself: Should I go for a jog? Give myself a manicure? Run an errand? Work on my dissertation? No, no, no. So I baked a potato for lunch and made Smitten Kitchen's lovely apple cake.

My dad had brought us some Fuji apples -- a ton of them, so I wanted to use some up in a recipe. Apple cake always reminds me of my grandma, a wonderful baker, the kind of woman who didn't need recipes in the kitchen. I miss her.