Vegetable Shepherd's Pie

This recipe was sent to me by my favorite personal chef (whose food I've never eaten), Debbie Burgess of the Hungry Fox Personal Chef Service in Lancaster. Because it was posted on a closed personal chef forum, I feel I can't publish the recipe here.
The real kicker to this vegetarian (well, not quite, because it has Worcestershire sauce in it) dish is the entire bottle of red zinfandel it has in the sauce. It has a way of adding zip to the vegetable broth which, in my opinion, usually needs something added to it to make it rich.
The recipe took me 2 entire episodes of "Little House on the Prairie" to watch, so it is a little mini-marathon of cooking. But well worth it!
The vegetables are typical winter fare: carrots, parsnips, leeks (and onions), cremini mushrooms and frozen peas.  A can of cannellini or navy beans also adds substance. The potato topping is enhanced with an aromatic butter mixture of garlic, basil and parsley.
Now I need to say here that I have never in my life made shepherd's pie before. In fact, I'm pretty sure I've only actually EATEN it maybe once or twice. So my problems with the mechanics of the recipe probably stem from my inexperience making (or eating) it.
For the topping, the recipe called for boiling "4 large potatoes." Well, that's fairly subjective. And I kind of think I ended up with a bit more potato than was perfect because the amount of liquid it called for adding to it really made a nice batch of mashed potatoes, but was a little thick for spreading on top of the filling. Maybe if I'd thinned it a bit I could have been able to spread it easier. But I think if I were to change the topping recipe, I'd give a measurable amount of cooked and mashed potatoes.
For the filling, I really ended up with too much liquid and it wasn't thick enough. It called for a 750-ml bottle of red zin or burgundy, which you cooked down to a cup. But then you added 3 cups of vegetable broth and the beurre manie, which was 3 Tablespoons flour/3 Tablespoons butter, really had a lot of liquid to thicken. I made another batch of 1T/1T and it helped, but I ended up using a slotted spoon to take the vegetables out of the pot and put them in the casserole, and then pouring liquid in until I felt I had the right amount. I ended up with a little over 1/2 cup of the liquid left. I think if I were change this part, maybe I'll add only 2 cups of broth and then pour more in if needed.
All in all, this is definitely a recipe I'll make again. The vegetables were wonderful, the sauce silky smooth. The garlic and basil in the potatoes really were wonderful additions. The guys loved it and so did I. If I find out at some point that the chef publishes the recipe, I'll be sure to come back to this post to point you to it.

Butternut Squash Soup

ButternutSquashSoup
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

As a vegetarian, I don't have a lot of use for my subscription to Fine Cooking magazine anymore. For Christmas I asked for (and received) a sub to Vegetarian Times.
I'd saved all my copies of FC, and so went through them and gave most of them to my friend Jeannie, who teaches Family & Consumer Science at my school. The only ones I kept whole were the holiday baking issues. But I did tear out a page or two of some of them...recipes that I thought appealed to me and might be likely candidates for my kitchen.
So tonight I made Butternut Soup with Cumin & Coriander. My only adaptation was that I used vegetable stock rather than chicken. The soup is simply delicious! It's not something to whip up on a weeknight unless you want to try it with frozen squash. This recipe is made with roasted squash, which takes about 90 minutes to achieve in the oven.

2 T olive oil
1 T unsalted butter
1 medium onion, diced
1/2 t kosher salt
3/4 t ground cumin
1/2 t ground coriander
1-141/2 oz can diced tomatoes with their juice
Freshly ground black pepper
Flesh of a roasted 2-lb butternut squash*
3 C vegetable stock
GARNISH: plain yogurt or heavy cream, minced fresh parsley

*Roasting the squash: Cut the squash in half and scoop out the seeds. Rub with olive oil, sprinkle with kosher salt and fresh ground pepper. Roast in a 400 degree oven for about 90 minutes, or until dark brown and very tender. Let cool and then scoop out the flesh

Soup:
Heat oil and butter in a heavy saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and salt. Saute for 2 minutes and then cover and let sweat until translucent, about 3 minutes. Uncover and cook, stirring, another 3 to 5 minutes, until the onions start to brown.
Add the cumin and coriander and cook, stirring, for about 30 seconds. Add in the tomatoes and season with pepper. Bring to simmer, cover, and let cook for about 10 minutes.
Add the flesh of the squash, breaking it up a bit. Add the vegetable stock, bring to a simmer, cover, and let simmer for 30 minutes.
After 30 minutes, uncover, turn off the heat, and let cool a bit. Using an immersion blender, blend the soup gently, careful not to splatter hot soup.
Season to taste, warm up if needed, and serve.
Makes about 6 cups.

Melting Day

Icetwig
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

It's the first melting day here in the Carolinas. We got about 6 inches of snow Monday and then a nice coating of ice after that. The cold temps have allowed a lot of that to stick around. Today, however, the sun is out and the temps are to get above freezing.

We have not had school all week, and I imagine we'll have delays tomorrow. Ours is rural county for the most part, so we have worry about road conditions in the outlying areas.

So I've watched a few movies, did a little reading, laundry, floors, and actually DUSTED (gasp!). I've also baked a bit and now am very low on ingredients. I'll probably go out this afternoon to grocery store.

Sugarless Banana Bread

Banana Bread
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

This is my second year of staying away from refined sugar between January 1 and February 14. Doing so makes me feel righteous, but mostly it encourages me to find ways to cook and bake with more natural sugars, such as agave, maple syrup and honey.

Today the Carolinas and Georgia (and probably points beyond, but I don't care) are socked in and slammed shut with snow. Apparently it started falling around 3 a.m. and we don't anticipate it stopping today. We did not have school today anyway, as it's the teacher workday between semesters, but I as a staffer was scheduled to work.

So it was just me and a few overripe bananas this morning. I don't care much for banana bread as a rule because it's so sweet and, well, banana-ey. I like starchy bananas.

I commenced googling for banana bread made with no refined sugars and found this recipe on Cooks.com for sugar FREE banana bread:

HOME-STYLE BANANA BREAD (SUGAR FREE)
3/4 c. mashed bananas
1/3 c. vegetable oil
2 lg. eggs
1/2 c. water
1 tsp. vanilla
2 c. flour
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. nutmeg
1 c. chopped nuts
Beat together mashed banana, oil, eggs and water until creamy. Add flour, baking soda, baking powder and spices. Beat well. Stir in nuts. Spoon batter into oiled and floured 9 x 5 inch loaf pan. Spread batter evenly. Bake at 325 degrees for 45 minutes or until a knife inserted comes out clean. Cool completely on wire rack before slicing.
(recipe here)

The bread baked up beautifully, as you can see, with an excellent crumb:


HOWEVER...definitely needs some sweetening. If I make it again I think I'll work some maple syrup into the recipe. But for today I drizzled a small amount on my slice and was quite satisfied. It's nice to be able to control the sweetness.

Free Music!

There's a lot of free music out on the internet. And I mean legal free music. Stuff the artists offer for free, either out of philanthropy or in an effort to gain exposure.

Since I bought an iphone I've been particularly interested in owning music. I've never been one for buying a lot of music because I usually get tired of something after playing it 49-11 times and then I don't go back to it for years. I also have gotten a lot of free Christian music from my husband, who gets advance copies of some albums at his work. And I subscribe to Napster, where I can download all the music I want and listen to it as long as my subscription is up-to-date. Up until a few weeks ago (when Napster launched an iphone app), I needed to own all the music I put on my iphone.

Enter the free music sites.
Spirit Voyage , a website devoted to Kundalini yoga, offers a free music track every Friday. Through "Free Music Friday" I have discovered many artists I'd not known about before, including Ashana, whose soaring voice and crystal toning bowls offer a transcendent musical experience.

I also found Noisetrade, which offers music from all sorts of genre. They suggest you make a donation per song, but only require that you give a little information: your name, email address and zip code. This helps them get their music out there and they end up benefiting by having greater turn outs for their concerts. You can also promote the free music on your Facebook page to help them out.

I've also been following The Free Christian Music Blog, which has exposed me to artists I've not heard of before. And FreeCCM also has some great stuff. I just downloaded a new song by Chris Rice called "O Freedom." Yesterday I downloaded an entire 18-song Christian song compilation album from Compassion International by signing up at New Release Tuesday.

Most of these, obviously, are Christian. But a quick Google for free music can yield many other genre. Give it a shot!

Salt

From Blockbuster.com

I watched this last night. It was the first time I'd bought a movie on Directv. A GREAT FLICK! I loved all the plot twists...right up to the very end. They left you being perfectly okay, but knowing you will watch sequels. Angelina Jolie plays a CIA agent that is accused of being a Russian spy. Lots and lots of cool science stuff and cool acrobatic combat. They didn't muddle it with a long love story in the middle. It's just a nice, tight, spy thriller. It reminded a little of James Bond without the sex. But a lot more of Mission Impossible.

Weekend!

It's been hard to get up this week. Unfortunately, it'll be hard to get up tomorrow, too, because my yogabuddy and I are going to an 8 a.m. class over by Lake Wylie. Still, I'll get my beloved nap in Saturday AND Sunday afternoon, so I'll still be ahead.

It's been a  hectic week at school as we've begun closing out semester 1 and begun preparations for semester 2. I like the second semester much better because it has a much faster pace. Seniors are getting ready to graduate, underclassmen are registering for classes for next year...but most of all, the daylight hours will be getting longer rather than shorter!

To complicate matters, we'll be also hosting 4 elections in the coming months. We have a special election for a fire district coming up a week from Tuesday, and then SC House primaries, probably a run-off, and then election. I suspect we'll be moving the precinct out of the High School as soon as we can for the next General Election. It's just too much to try to have school and have voters coming in. We have to keep them away from the students, but most of all we have parking issues. I've told the election commission that they'll need to provide one or maybe even two traffic controllers during school hours.

Back to this weekend: I think maybe enchiladas tonight with my leftover refried beans. And I've been yearning for chocolate, so I'm sure I'll make some brownies at some point. I'm off refined sugar again, as is usual this time of the year, so I'll be making them with honey. I did that last year and got some good ones.

How Sad

I haven't written. I'm not dead.
In fact, I'm quite, very much, alive!

We had a very nice Christmas with the guys and their friends. We went to a friend's house for a huge dinner. We exchanged a bunch of cool gifts, but nothing too extravagant. We took a family photo and even sent them out in New Year's cards:

(Bear is a little attention-deficit. I have no idea what he was looking at. There's just an empty dining room over there.)

We switched to Directv.
uh...that's it. I'll write about books...the stuff I'm reading. And really I have cooked a bunch. I need to work on writing about that. In fact, I'm off refined sugar again for 40 days, so I'll be playing with natural sweeteners again for a while. And I need to take photos. And learn Photoshop Elements version 9 or whatever it's up to now.
Sheesh. I'm kind of tired thinking about all that.

Paneer Indian Cheese

I'm attempting palak paneer tonight. I found this very simple video about making the paneer. I've made mozzarella before, which you have to have rennet for, so I'm not really daunted about this. I'm pressing my first batch right now. This video does not have any amounts in it, though. I thought maybe my large skillet (like the one pictured here) would hold a gallon of milk, but it's more like a little over 1/2 gallon. I used vinegar and put in only maybe 1 1/2 teaspoons. He does not say how you know if you are using the right amount, just that you want to avoid using too much! So I poured in about a teaspoon and let it curdle. Then I added a little more to see if it would curdle more.

I'll get back to you about the palak (spinach gravy), and how it all came out.

Pasta Salad: Part Deux

Today was our second monthly "Fat Friday." It's a day when we sign up to bring stuff and then all gorge ourselves on it all. I decided to try my hand at another pasta salad, this one with a Greek flair. I'm a sucker for feta cheese and kalamata olives, so this was right up my alley.

I found this recipe on a website called "Three Many Cooks." Check it out here.

They have a nice photo of the salad there, too. But because I'm trying to shoot more, I figured I'd take another of my own. I've never shot food from the side before. I'm pretty happy with it. I maybe could have used a slightly smaller aperture so I'd have more of the salad in focus, though.

Aloo Gobi & Naan

Sounds a little like a song, doesn't it?

So I made this Aloo Gobi, which is an Indian dish consisting of cauliflower and potatoes. You cook them with onions in a skillet for a while and then add this amazing sauce you've pureed out of tomato, garam masala, turmeric, cumin and chili powder. The garnish should be cilantro but I didn't have any. Also the recipe called for lemon juice. None of those around, but this lime was happy to fill in and add color to this photo.

Taylor and I had this with naan and I have to say this was my best batch yet! Each time I make it, I refine my technique just a little bit  more. Tonight's addition was brushing it with the milk solids I had saved from my super-clear batch of ghee from Sunday. Sprinkled on a little kosher salt and we were good to go!

So now I'm overstuffed with bread. Ugh. But a nice meal. It didn't take long to put together, either. I found this recipe on About.com. Here, try it.

On a side note, and completely unrelated, I accidentally called my poor mother this morning. At 6:30 their time. OOOPS! SORRY MOM! Each morning I call Taylor at 7:30 to make sure he's gotten himself awake. Since iphone STUPIDLY DON'T HAVE AUTODIAL, I use "recent calls" to call him each day. Unfortunately, I guess my finger slipped and I hit Mom & Dad's number instead.

But look at the bright side...at least I had been a dutiful daughter yesterday and CALLED my mother. Otherwise, she wouldn't have been in "recents!"

Pure Ghee

PureGhee
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

This is my purest batch of ghee yet. I used my little slow cooker. The one that you use for stuff like appetizer dips? I put my 4 sticks of unsalted butter in there and just let it go.

I skimmed off the milk solids as soon as the butter had melted. I've left those in a bowl on the counter for now. I figure I'll stir them into something later tonight.

Then I just let it go for another 3 hours. The rest of the milk solids cooked to a nutty brown crumbly consistency. I strained the ghee through my All-Clad hand-held strainer and let it cool.

Considering the very small amount of work involved, and the high cost of store-bought ghee ($7 or $8 for this amount), I'd say I have now adopted a new habit.

Baby Carrots | Eat 'Em Like Junk Food | Indulge

Ok. NOW we're talkin' good advertising!

Pasta Salad

pastasalad
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

So I usually don't make pasta salad. And the reason is very stupid. It's because the pasta salads I've had have always been terrible. The one that brings bile to my gut has pepperoni in it and is made by dumping in bottled Italian dressing. Even worse, some is made with low-fat or nonfat Italian dressing. Ugh.

But today I decided to Google pasta salads. I'd been thinking of making potato salad, but by the time I got prep time for it, it was noon or 1 o'clock and would have maybe not gotten cold enough for supper.

So there are a lot of pasta salads out there and I decided to try this one from allrecipes.com:

1 (16 oz) pkg penne pasta (I used these here spirals)
1/4 C vegetable oil (I used Olive)
1 tsp lemon juice
1 tsp dried basil
1 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp garlic salt
2 tomatoes, chopped (I used a pkg of grape tomatoes)
1 green bell pepper, chopped
1 cucumber, chopped
1 sweet onion, chopped
1 c black olives, chopped

Cook the pasta.
Make the vinaigrette.
Chop up the other stuff in a big bowl.
Combine it all.
Chill for 30 minutes.

I think it will be good. It's chilling now. I'm serving it to the carnivores with their roast chicken. I'll have this and a green salad.

Graham Hill: Why I'm a weekday vegetarian | Video on TED.com

Graham Hill: Why I'm a weekday vegetarian | Video on TED.com

I like this. It should be easy enough, but I think still difficult for those families that don't have a cook. By that I mean there are many families out there that just don't use their kitchens anymore. They pick up prepped food, fast food, and eat out. Either they are too busy or just not motivated.

And then there are vegetarians and vegans that actually don't eat many VEGETABLES! I had a vegan friend of mine tell me last winter that he was trying a raw food diet because he wasn't eating enough veggies! Yes, some so-called vegetarians are filling up on carbs, simple and complex, and not getting their daily needs met.

btw: He's the founder of TreeHugger.com

Scam Cookies

Surely I've told you Mensa Boy's theory about oatmeal cookies. I have, haven't I? Well, to recap, he says that oatmeal cookies are "scam cookies" because they look like chocolate chip from a distance.

MB is a man of simple tastes. Ice cream should be vanilla and cookies should be chocolate chip. That's it. Oh. Pies should be apple. 

Here is a conversation I had with him via email today:

ME: I ate a scam cookie this morning. 

It was actually good. 
I suspect the icing on it helped.

HE: I’m glad you were able to get through it. Most people don’t survive the shock.

(photo stolen from http://www.joyofbaking.com. (thanks folks!))

It's Hard to be Poor

When you just want one of these:

Hiding

Pearl
Originally uploaded by Food Fanatic

Do you ever feel like this?

Mistress of the Art of Death

Just finished this excellent book! I seem to be continuing down the path of historical fiction/medical-related! In this case, it's not a doctor, per se, but a coroner, whose skills I am reading about. This one takes place in 12th century England, where young children are being lured and then tortured and killed. Of course the Jews, who "murdered Jesus," are the only suspects. King Henry II, who is fond of the Jews because of how well they keep his coffers filled, has written to his friend William, King of Sicily, and asked him to send a "death master" to read the bodies of the murdered children in order to ascertain the true perpetrator.

Being 12th century England, the death master, who is a woman, for pete's sake,  is accompanied by her manservant and an investigator. The manservant acts as the true doctor and she as his assistant.

I'd say this is great murder mystery fiction a la Patricia Cornwell, but I think this one is actually better than Cornwell's novels. 

Fall Gardening

Here in the Southeast we get a second growing season for vegetables that lasts until nearly Thanksgiving. The fall garden goes in right about now and we are able to put in collards, cabbage, lettuce, broccoli and cauliflower and onion sets. I'll check for garlic locally. I haven't seen any yet, but if I can't find it, I'll order it online.

Yesterday we cleaned out the spent summer garden stuff...mostly tomato plants...they failed pretty miserably. I'm not sure why they did. But I do think we have to get over our loathing of the heat and take a walk through the garden every single day. I suspect that neglect may have been the culprit in some instances. Liz and I are gardening together and I think we each may have thought the other was doing things they weren't! At any rate, we learned a few things from our summer garden:

1. Lettuce was good but really we get perfectly good organic lettuce from the grocery store.
2. Cage and stake the tomato plants earlier.
3. Plant green beans. We missed them this year.
4. Weed control between the beds needs to have a higher priority. We lost plants in the weeds when they spilled out over the beds.
5. We can really get a great harvest of cucumbers, tomatillos and hot peppers! Also stevia turned out to be a GREAT GROWER!

But all in all, I suspect Liz and I are more cut out for fall gardening. We both are Vata doshas and tend to wear out quick in the heat.

We have some great bugs in the garden. I shot a photo of a writing spider there yesterday on a habanero plant. I used my cellphone camera.