Carol Salad (Carol as in Aunt)

Aunt Carol found this recipe and got Heffrey and I HOOKED. Apparently Paul and Brunon can down an entire batch in one go. As can we--it is indescribably yummy and filling. It is usually made with farro, but quinoa works great, brown rice is fine in a pinch. And as always, the parmesan can be swapped for vegan cheese, preferably Violife Parmesan, which comes in a wedge. Enjoy your newest salad addiction.

INGREDIENTS:

1c farro

2c veggie broth

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 bay leaf

1 large shallot, very thinly sliced

1/3 c olive oil

3 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 tsp Dijon mustard

2 tsp honey *obvi leave out if vegan, it will be fine

black pepper

2c arugula

1 green apple, chopped

1/2 c shaved parm

1/4c freshly chopped basil

2 tbsp chopped parsley

1/4c toasted pecans. roughly chopped

DIRECTIONS:

For the farro

Medium saucepan, combine farro, veggie broth, salt, bay leaf. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and let cook, stirring occasionally, until farro is tender and no broth remains, about 30 minutes. When farro is cooked, transfer to a large bowl to cool.

For the shallots

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine oil and shallots. When the shallot begin to bubble, reduce heat to medium low and cook, stirring occasionally, until shallots are golden and crisp, 15 to 20 minutes. Remove shallots from oil with slotted spoon and place on paper towel lined plate and season with salt. Let oil cool.

For the dressing

Make dressing/combine cooled olive oil, vinegar, mustard, honey and season with salt and pepper.

For the salad

Combine all the yummy stuff!

Catalan Beef Stew with Mushrooms

 

INGREDIENTS:

Stew

2 tbsp olive oil

2 large onions, chopped fine

1/2 tsp sugar

Kosher salt and pepper

2 plum tomatoes, halved lengthwise and pulp grated on large holes of box grater

1 tsp Smoked Paprika

1 bay leaf

1 1 /2 cups dry white wine

1 1/2 cups water

1 large sprig fresh thyme

1/4 tsp ground cinnamon

2 1/2 lbs boneless beef short ribs, trimmed and cut into 2-inch cubes

Picada

1/4 cup whole blanched almonds *blanched almonds: bring water to a boil, boil almonds for 1 minute, drain and run under cold water, then peel the skins off

2 tbsp olive oil

1 slice hearty white sandwich bread, crust removed, torn into 1-inch pieces

2 garlic cloves *eh, do at least 6!

3 tbsp minced fresh parsley

1/2 lb oyster mushrooms, trimmed

1 tsp sherry vinegar *apple cider vinegar works fine

DIRECTIONS:

1. For the stew: Adjust oven rack to middle position, heat to 300. Heat oil in Dutch oven over medium-low heat until shimmering. Add onions, sugar, 1/2 tsp salt and cook, stirring often, until onions are deeply caramelized–30 to 40 minutes. Add tomatoes, smoked paprika, and bay leaf. Cook, stirring often, until darkened and thick, 5 to 10 minutes.

Add wine, water, thyme, and cinnamon to pot, scraping up any browned bits. Season beef with 1 1 /2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper and add to pot. Increase heat to high and bring to simmer. Transfer to oven and cook, uncovered, stirring after 1 hour, 1.5 to 2 hrs longer.

2. For the picada: While stew is in oven, heat almonds and 1 tbsp oil in 10 inch skillet over medium heat; cook stirring often, until almonds are golden brown, 3 to 6 minutes. Using slotted spoon, transfer almonds to food processor. Return now-empty skillet to medium heat, add bread, and cook, stirring often, until toasted, 2 to 4 minutes. Transfer to food processor with almonds. Add garlic and process until mixture is finely ground, about 20 seconds, scraping bowl as needed. Transfer mixture to bowl, stir in parsley, set aside. 

3. Return now empty skillet to medium heat. Heat remaining 1 tbsp oil until shimmering. Remove the woody base of the oyster mushrooms. Add mushrooms and 1/2 tsp salt, cook, stirring often, until tender–5-7 minutes. Transfer to bowl and set aside. 

4. Remove bay leaf. Stir picada, mushrooms, and vinegar into stew. Season with salt and pepper. Serve...over rice is good.

Vegan/Allergy-Friendly Banana Bread!

 (from ambitiouskitchen.com)

INGREDIENTS:

Wet

3 big bananas mashed, 4 or 5 if you have shrimpy ones (1 1/3 cup mashed)

1/3c melted and cooled oil (called for coconut but canola was fine)

1/2c packed brown sugar

1/2 tbsp vanilla extract

2tbsp dairy-free milk of choice

Dry

1 3/4c flour of choice (Bob's 1-1 is a great gf option)

1tsp baking soda

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2tsp salt

1/2 cup dairy/soy-free chocolate chips (Enjoy Life is the best brand!)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350. Line a tin (8 1/2 x 4 1/2 is recommended) with parchment paper and grease inside of pan. *Wasn't sure if they meant grease the pan under the liner or the liner...so I did both!

Mix WET ingredients together in a big bowl.

Mix DRY ingredients together and whisk. 

Add DRY ingredients to WET ingredients and mix together until just combined. Lumps are ok!

Add in chocolate chips and mix.

Put batter into pan and bake for 40-50 minutes or until tester comes out clean. Allow bread to cool in pan for 5-10 minutes then remove from pan and place on a wire rack to finish cooling. Slice and eat when cool!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

 Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Gluten-free, vegan, and allergy-friendly! Also DELICIOUS.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups pureed pumpkin (1 15 oz. can is fine)

1/2 c sugar

1/4 c molasses

2 c rolled oats

1 c flour *substitute gf flour

1 1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

1/4 tsp ground cloves

1/4 tsp ground nutmeg

***for the spices, a pumpkin spice mix would be amazing

1/2 c raisins *OPTIONAL--I say GROSS.

1 c chocolate chips/chunks of your choice

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375.

Mix pumpkin, sugar, and molasses together.

In small bowl, combine oats, flour, spices, and baking soda.

Mix together with pumpkin and sugar. Mix in chocolate and/or raisins.

Drop by spoonful on greased cookie sheet. (I sprinkled a little kosher salt on top–highly recommend) 

Bake 11/13 minutes.

NOTES:

I was really impressed with these as they stuck together super well despite the lack of egg and they came out nice and chewy. 

I think the bake time was a little longer than written? Just watch for your desired level of chewy. 

And the batter was so good we ended up cooking a tray-full of the batter then eating the rest straight out of the mixing bowl over the course of a couple days.

"Sausage" (aka mushroom) "Breakfast" (aka anytime of day) Patties

Just did a Virtual Cooking Class with a chef who is on Instagram as @PlantBasedG.life and these are DELICIOUS. They SMELL just like sausage and get a delicious SEAR like a burger but its all mushrooms and plants :)

Ingredients

-3 cups white mushrooms

-1 large white onion, diced

-3 cloves garlic, diced

-1 cup brown rice

-4 oz black olives

-1/2 Jalapeno

-1/2 cup bread crumbs (I used Trader Joe's Gluten Free Rice Crumbs- use whatever! In the class he also told us you could also just make toast and use that)

-Avocado oil (2ish tablespoons but I honestly use less than every recipe says for oil)

-English Muffins (I used Ezekiel Gluten Free English Muffins. Highly recommend!!)

Spices

-Cayenne Pepper

-Oregano

-Cumin

-Dried Sage (I honestly just used regular sage and it totally was fine hahaha)

-Thyme

-Salt & Pepper

-Add any other spices you like :)

**NOTE: BLENDER NEEDED

To Serve

Tomato slices, lettuce, and raw onion slices

Steps:

1. Cook the rice, leave to cool

2. Blend the mushrooms till they kinda look like ground beef

3. Saute the onions in the avocado oil for a few mins (till translucent & starting to brown)

4. Add mushrooms to the onions and saute another few mins till the mushrooms are cooked. Add the garlic and ALL the spices (but NOT the jalapeno) and cook for another few mins.

5. Let everything cool (very important because you don't want to put warm stuff in the blender- it will get super hot in there)

6. Put the mushroom concoction, olives, and rice in the blender and blend. Add the bread crumbs & Jalapeno and blend a little more. It should start to look like ground beef.

7. Scoop everything into a bowl (this just makes it easier to form the patties and put on the pan

8. Add a tablespoon of avocado oil to a pan and set it to medium heat. When pan is hot, scoop out a patty sized chunk and put it on! It'll sear just like a burger its crazy. Flip over after 3-5 mins. Play around with timing obviously but cook for about 3-5 mins per side. 

While the patties are cooking, toast your English Muffins!

Serve with the raw tomato slices, raw onion slices, and lettuce. Eric liked his with Hot Sauce. 

ENJOY!! <3 Natalie

The Everyman's Chocolate Mousse

The Everyman's Chocolate Mousse

*My brilliant baker friend Sarah loves to challenge herself by making Jefe-friendly desserts. This one is his favorite and I am always jealous cuz he won't ever share. It is super simple and has literally 3 ingredients, 2 of which are different forms of water. SO, this mousse is allergy AND vegan-friendly!


INGREDIENTS:

3/4 cup (6 oz.) water
8 oz. chocolate (70% recommended, but pick what you love)
ice cubes
whipped cream for topping *optional


DIRECTIONS:

1. Pour water into a saucepan *you can flavor it with orange juice or cassis puree if you want to get fancy. Over medium-low heat, whisk in the chocolate. The result is a homogenous sauce.

2. Put the saucepan in a bowl partly filled with ice cubes or pour into another bowl that is over the ice--it will chill faster. Then whisk the chocolate sauce by hand or with an electric mixer *if mixer, it will thicken faster, so watch out! Whisking creates large air bubbles in the sauce, which steadily thickens. After a while, strands of chocolate form inside the loops of the whisk. Pour or spoon immediately into ramekins, small bowls, or jars, and let set. Serve immediately or refrigerate


3 things can go wrong and here's how you fix them:

1. If your chocolate doesn't contain enough fat, melt the mixture again, add some chocolate, and then whisk it again.

2. If the mousse is not light enough, melt the mixture again, add some water, and whisk it once more.

3. If you whisk it too much so that it becomes grainy, this means the foam has turned into an emulsion. In that case, simply melt the mixture and whisk it again, adding nothing.

Pasta Autunno

Pasta Autunno

INGREDIENTS:

Pasta *substitute gluten free pasta if need be
Bacon (½ pack cooked crisply and crumbled)
Sweet potatoes (2 small, cubed)
Small head of cauliflower
Brussels sprouts (½ - ¾ lb, cut in halves)
garlic cloves (whole)
pesto (from a jar or homemade in a food processor with greens, lemon, olive oil, salt, pepper etc)Halloumi *substitute tofu to make vegan

DIRECTIONS:

*This is basically an excellent odds-and-ends or using-leftovers pasta. You can mix and match based on what you have on hand in the fridge.

1.) Cut sweet potato into small cubes, halve brussels sprouts, chop cauliflower into small pieces, and skin at least 4 cloves of garlic

2.) Toss in olive oil and salt and pepper. Roast on a baking sheet until golden brown and soft.

3.) While the veggies roast, cut the halloumi into cubes (I prefer 1/2 inch). Heat a cast iron skillet over medium-high heat and cook the halloumi until you get some good color on those lil babies. *It will need to sit a lot initially! Be patient before you toss it around.

4.) Make pasta of your choice. *Spirals are best, though

5.) Toss all ingredients together and add some pesto sauce of your choosing.