Peppers and Onions over Cornbread - Oct 20, 2012

Nick and I had a large bag of assorted peppers from our CSA deliveries in the refrigerator that needed to be used.  This colorful dish was what we came up with.  We used a recipe from our 'How to Cook Everything' book for sauteed peppers and onions.  Mark Bittman attributes this recipe to his mother and mentions that it was a staple at his house when he was growing up.  I traditionally think of these ingredients being combined with sausage (and there is a recipe for that too), but it was nice to let the peppers shine here.



Here is our colorful pile of peppers and onions ready to go into the pan.  I reserved the dark green poblanos for another use, but all the rest got thrown into the mix.



I also used a cornbread recipe from the same cookbook.  It is, after all, how to cook everything.  It's a very standard cornbread recipe and the only thing I changed was using coconut oil in place of the oil called for.  Nick and I like the slight hint of tropical flavor that coconut oil brings to the table, although I'm sure it's not for everyone. 

This is a fine way to use up a bounty of peppers, and we enjoyed our dinner.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Bread - Oct 6, 2012

It snowed today in Minneapolis.  SNOW.  You know what I like to do on snowy days?  Bake.  I think I may make some peanut butter cookies later this afternoon.  But for now, let's talk about this pumpkin chocolate chip bread that I love this time of year.  This is my mother-in-law, Nan's, recipe.  I have, of course, made some tweaks to it.  I find it entirely irresistible (as previous posts can attest to). 

Here is how the recipe has evolved:

4 eggs
1 can pumpkin (15 oz)
1 C coconut oil
2/3 C water

Mix these together with an electric mixer

3 1/2 C flour

Mix into above mixture one cup at a time

1/2 t salt
2 t baking soda
1 1/2 t ground cloves
1 1/2 t nutmeg
1 1/2 t cinnamon

Mix into batter

2 C sugar

Mix

1 C chocolate chips
(I use the Pound Plus 72% Dark Chocolate bar from Trader Joe's and pound it into small, roughly chip-sized pieces)

Mix in chocolate and pour batter into two sprayed and lined loaf pans.  Bake at 350 deg F for 45 min.  After initial 45 min, cover pans with foil tent and bake for an additional 40 min, or until toothpick inserted in center pulls out cleanly.




The coconut oil is my addition, and I love the subtle coconut flavor it imparts.  I've also increased the spices a bit to make their contribution richer and deeper.  The chocolate chunk method is extra work, but I love the little surprise the erratically sized "chips" bring to the experience.

Snow, or no, this is a lovely recipe to make on an October afternoon.

Labor Day Weekend - Sept 1-3, 2012

Labor Day weekend always brings with it the warm glow of nostalgia for a summer almost past.  I always have an increased urgency to enjoy each sunny moment, knowing that it will all end soon.  Little twinges of regret sink in when I realize how many summer plans, made during the hopeful days of early spring, didn't happen. Sadly, I think this is my first Pimm's Cup of the season.  I made it count, though, and enjoyed it on our porch, which was glowing with late summer sunlight.



Despite, or perhaps because of, these feelings, Nick and I enjoyed a particularly socially packed weekend, at least for us.  We had a mini, non-quorum Dinner Club reunion, getting to see Anna (in town for a few hours on her way home to Wisconsin) on Thursday, and Matt and Nikki (in town for a friend's wedding) on Friday.  Saturday brought us to our first Minnesota State Fair.  That's right, Nick and I are now "experienced" in the great Minnesota get together.  Sunday we met up with local friends for brunch.



That left us with Monday to relax and reflect on the summer of 2012.  We grilled out and I made this melon and cucumber salad with mint-coconut dressing.  It seemed an appropriate way to say good bye to the season.

Mint Coconut Dressing

2 T apple cider vinegar or lime juice
1 T coconut oil
1 T olive oil
1 T sugar
2 T chopped fresh mint
salt and pepper to taste 

Here's looking forward to fall!

"Crazy" Chocolate-Coconut Layer Cake with Buttercream Frosting - May 13, 2012

To complete Nick's and my celebratory week, I made this layer cake on Sunday afternoon.  I used a recipe for Crazy Cake, which my mom used to make when I was little, and I loved.  I believe it's called "Crazy" because you mix up the ingredients right in the baking pan and then just pop the whole thing in the oven.  Since I didn't follow this methodology, choosing instead to make a layer cake, I'm not sure if the name still applies.  Regardless, I remember it being the best chocolate cake, really dense and moist.

The difference in flavor and texture may be due to the lack of eggs and butter, since crazy cakes use vegetable oil and a combination of baking soda and white vinegar for levening.  I've read that the recipe's origens are from a time when eggs and butter were either hard to get, or rationed (the depression? WWII?).  I can't confirm or deny this, since I was introduced to it as an '80's baking fad. 



Let's get down to it, shall we?  Here's the recipe I followed, replacing the vegetable oil with coconut oil (which is where the 'coconut' in the title comes from).  I mixed up the ingredients in a big bowl, rather than the 9x13 pan that is traditional.  The batter, which remained disturbingly lumpy despite a brief spin in the stand mixer, baked in two 8x1 1/2 circular pans.  Since I didn't know how this would affect the baking time, after the initial 15 minutes I kept checking every 5 minutes or so.  It took at least 40 minutes, which is the high end of the range given in the recipe for the 9x13 pan.  I let the cakes cool in their pans for about 10 minutes and then took them out to cool completely on racks.  Once cooled, I sliced them in half along their cross-section to make four layers.  The cake crumb turned out despite my lumpy batter, and stood up well to my decidedly inexperienced cake disection (this is my first cake with more than two layers).

Buttercream frosting is the way to go if you ask me, although it's probably not what they used during the depression or WWII.  It must be an '80's addition.  This recipe made just enough for three layers plus the top and sides of the cake.

Despite all my modifications this is still just how I remember it.  Best. Cake. Ever.

Cuban Sweet Potato Wraps - Jan 3, 2012

These probably look pretty similar to the sweet potato wraps I posted about a week or so ago, and they are, but for the addition some ham and black beans.  I had some black beans in the freezer and some Christmas ham from my mom, and so decided to combine them along with some cumin and coriander.  I roasted some sweet potato cubes tossed in coconut oil (one of my favorite combinations).  Once the sweet potatoes and rice were ready, I simply reheated the black bean and ham mix.  Nick and I wrapped everything up with the addition of some shredded cheese and coconut flakes.  These were delicious, and more flavorful than our previous attempt.

Coconut Chocolate Blondies - October 19, 2011

These are an adaptation of the famous Smitten Kitchen blondies. I'm trying to eat more coconut and coconut oil, since learning that the saturated fat contained in it is primarily in the form of medium-chain triglycerides, which are healthy fats that my short bowel can digest and absorb. I followed the basic recipe, but substituted melted coconut oil for the butter and added in about 1/2 a cup of organic chocolate chips and about a quarter cup of unsweetened coconut flakes. Delicious! So good, that less than 24 hours later they are already gone!

My only change next time will be to remove them from the pan before they are completely cooled. The last few had to be pried from the baking pan and that took annoyingly too much time and effort when I was anxious to eat them!