Empanadas - Part III

I finally bought a rolling pin and cookie cutters from Amazon! & wow, these gadgets make empanada-making so much easier.

Jake could probably eat these every night if I made them. I try to make a batch about every other week, which lasts a couple days or so. I learned how to make them from the excellent Kitchen Conservatory -- and their May classes look delightful, by the way (especially since I swoon for dainty tea party fare). In other news, since it's almost May - Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May - I've been at this blog for almost a year now! It's been a good ride. Though I wish I cooked with more variety and more often, the blog still makes me accountable every once in a while, and it's been a lot of fun, too. It's interesting to shape a recipe into a narrative, or mold an hour in the kitchen into an anecdote.

Enjoy the empanadas, friends.

Empanadas (makes about a dozen)

Pulse in a Cuisinart/mix by hand:
1 c all-purpose flour (or try 1/2 c whole wheat flour with 1/3 c all-purpose flour)
1/2 t salt
4 T margarine (you might use vegan margarine and sour cream to make this a vegan recipe)
Add 1/4 c ice water

Roll out your dough and use a cup or cookie cutter to make about 12 circles/decorative shapes to fill.

Filling: Saute in frying pan:
3 T margarine
1/2 yellow onion
chopped and cleaned Portabella mushrooms (about 1/4 pound)
1 t balsamic vinegar
1/2 t sugar
1/4 t marjoram

Once this cools, add a dollop in sour cream (or other cheese of your liking) to the mixture.

Put your filling in your cute dough shapes (I used a pumpkin cookie cutter this evening); use egg white to make the dough stick when you fold it over the filling; pop in the oven for about 25 minutes at 375 degrees.

Deliberately Making Chili

A few days ago my mother told me that I cook so quickly. A few months ago – maybe a year ago – my husband told me that I rush around and hurry too often. I took his comments to heart and thought about the risk that rushing could pose; I’ve cut down on multitasking since then. Now, when I’m driving a car, I’m no longer also answering a text message. When I’m talking on the phone at home, I’m no longer also doing laundry and cooking and responding to a student's question via email.

But when my mom said I seem to cook so quick – chopping in a few brusque strokes or throwing olive oil around – I had to think about this for a while too. And maybe I do. So tonight when I made chili, I didn’t put music on and I didn’t take out a magazine article I wanted to read. I simply made chili, deliberately, slowly cutting my vegetables and adding spices with purpose. I can’t say the chili is better – but I didn’t cut myself while carving and I put more energy into the meal than I have in chilis of the past.

Here is the recipe:

2 T olive oil

1/3 diced yellow onion

3 minced garlic gloves

1 diced red pepper

2 chopped celery stalks

1 can of stewed tomatoes

1 can of chili beans

2/3 c of Morningstar tofu crumbles

1 T of brown sugar (My friend Mel made her chili this way last week and it was wonderful)

1 t oregano

a sprinkling of chili powder

shredded cheese

1. Dice, mince and slice your onion, pepper, garlic and celery and then sauté them over medium heat with your olive oil.
2. Add the Morningstar tofu, beans and tomatoes, sprinkle and stir in your spices, and let simmer for 10 or so minutes.
3. Top with cheese.

Yum.

p.s. In Parenting magazine this month (yes, I am now reading this magazine) they reported that lowering your carb intake might send your cholesterol higher. The magazine’s news flash: “Carbs aren’t necessarily evil and can be your friend.” Cheers.

p.p.s. I go to my 32 week OB appt tomorrow - it's getting closer and closer to babygirl's arrival! Here is the latest pic of our nursery:

Molasses Sugar Cookies

This recipe is on the back of my Brer Rabbit Molasses bottle, and it's seriously delicious. I can't remember if I've made them for the blog before...Did you know that molasses is a good source of iron? I'm reminded of pregnant Rebecca Walker in Baby Love who downs a tablespoonful of it to add more iron to her diet. Yuck. Molasses sugar cookies seem to me a much more soothing way to add iron. Here's the recipe, which I halved:

3/4 c margarine
1 c sugar
1/4 c molasses
1 egg
2 c flour
1 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1/2 t salt
1/2 t ground cloves (I have no cloves)
1/2 t ground ginger (ditto)

Mix the wets, mix the drys, add the dry stuff to the wet stuff, form balls of dough and roll them in sugar and place them on a nonstick cookie sheet, then pop in the preheated oven at 375 for 6-8 minutes.

And voila ~ enjoy.

Mmm -- cookie and milk.

p.s. Brer Rabbit says you can get 5 dozen cookies out of this recipe. Well, I halved it and made 14 cookies.

p.p.s. Brer Rabbit also suggests using molasses as a topping on pancakes, waffles, French toast, hot cereal or ice cream -- anyone do this?

Broccoli, Cheese, & Tofu Stuffed Baked Potatoes

I had a hankering for a baked potato tonight and then I thought - let's make this more interesting.

So I baked a few medium-sized gold potatoes (for 70 minutes at 350 - my oven is a bit slow), scooped out the insides, and mashed the potato with a fork.

Then I added 2/3 c steamed broccoli, 2/3 c cooked Morningstar tofu crumbles, 1/3 c shredded cheddar cheese, 2 T of margarine and a few T of milk (soy milk).

I finally added a dash of salt and pepper, then spooned the potato-tofu-broccoli-cheese mixture back into the potatoes. I sprinkled a bit of shredded cheese on top and popped them back in the oven at 250 for another 10 minutes.

Voila -- pretty pretty and pretty tasty too. Did you know that one potato provides 45% of your daily Vitamin C requirements? Go potato!

Midday Salad

Today's salad includes the following:

-red leaf lettuce
- tomato
- cucumber
- carrot
- avocado
- raisins
- sunflower seeds
- Gorgonzola cheese

Mmm, I heart salads, as do most vegetarians I know. Yet there's nothing worse than ordering a salad to find a pile of limp iceberg lettuce with a few chunks of tomato. I dream of salads with corn and beans, strawberries and pineapple, tofu and walnuts.

whole wheat cherry-raisin-banana bread

After a cooking hiatus, I've had my mind on baking a whole wheat cherry-raisin-banana bread for days now, so tonight I made finally made it;)

Here's my recipe:

2 very ripe bananas
2 tsp orange juice
1 egg (you might use applesauce as a substitute to make this a vegan recipe)
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 cups whole wheat flour
3/4 tsp. baking powder
3/4 tsp. baking soda
2/3 cup frozen cherries (thawed and sliced)
1/2 c raisins

Mix the dry ingredients -- then mix the wets -- then add one to the other. Then into the oven for 1 hour at 350 -- yum! This would also probably make a good batch of healthy muffins.
And the house will smell delicious;)