Hummus with Naan and Spiced Meat

Spiced meat is awesome with hummus and the Naan provides a delightful utensil for scooping it up.
MMMMM Delish.

There are sooooo many recipe variations but here is the one my family likes best.

This dish is highly adjustable to taste preference and availability of ingredients.
You can substitute beef for lamb or any flat-bread for the Naan.

Spiced Meat

 Ingredients:

2 lbs of finely diced lamb, beef, or other meat although lamb or beef are the best for flavor.
1 large onion finely diced
1 bulb garlic finely chopped
1 tbsp flour

2 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
1-2 tbsp Baharat Spice mix (recipe below)

My Baharat Mix
2 part each: Allspice, paprika
1 part each: tumeric, clove, nutmeg
Salt and pepper to taste
Star anise to taste (optional but nice)
Cardamon (I used whole cardamon, 2 pods)


Method:

Preheat skillet or pot to medium high heat with oil.
In separate large bowl mix together the meat, spices and onion, garlic and flour.
Brown meat mixture in pan. When cooked through, add lemon juice and cover and simmer on low for about an hour. Mixing occasionally. You can serve it if the meat has cooked all the way but the extra cover and simmer time gets the meat nice and soft and lets all the awesome flavors blend and soak in.

Naan

Ingredients:

3 cups flour (plus some extra for rolling)
2 1/2 tsp or 1 package of instant yeast
1 tbsp sugar or honey
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup olive oil
1/2 cup plain yogurt
1 egg
1/2 cup warm water

Method

In large mixing bowl, combine flour, yeast, sugar (or honey), and salt
In separate bowl combine egg, oil, yogurt and water.
Slowly add the wet to the dry ingredients, blend well.
Divide dough into about 24 equal pieces and let each piece rise till double.
Roll each piece into a thin disk about 1/8 inch thick.

Cook on a greased skillet over medium high heat till done on each side (about 60 seconds total).

Hummus

Ingredients

3 cans chickpeas (about 5-6 cups)
2-3 tbsp roasted sesame seeds (or about 1 tsp sesame oil)
6 large cloves garlic (about 2 tbsp crushed)
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup olive oil
1/4 cup lemon juice

Optional ingredients:
roasted red pepper, cayenne pepper, cilantro, pepper, yogurt


Method

In food processor, add chickpeas, sesame, garlic, salt, and process on pulse to chop the peas.
Add the lemon juice and process continually, adding oil slowly until smooth.

toasting seeds

Tips

Add or subtract the following according to your taste.

Garlic - more makes it spicy

Lemon juice - gives it tang and acidity

Sesame - a toasty aromatic flavor

Greek plain yogurt will give it more moisture, tang and smoothness




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Oreo Peanut-butter Brownies

Mmmmm...

I have seen this (several variations) on Pinterest.

Here is my variation.



Ingredients:
a box of brownie mix (your choice)
a package of Oreo or similar cookies (or any cookie)
Peanut-butter (about a cup)
Ingredients listed on the box of brownie mix

How:

Follow directions on the box of brownie mix.

Before you pour the mix into your chosen dish, top oreos (one at a time) with about a teaspoon or so of peanutbutter and place cookie-side-down in single layer into the pan.

Then cover with the mix. Bake according to directions.


EASY. YUMMY!



The cookies are so soft when the brownies are still warm. When they have cooled to room temp, the crispness comes back.

Natural Homemade Doggie Treats

This post was originally a guest post for Moody Sisters Organic Skincare Blog.
http://moodysisters.blogspot.com/2012/05/guest-post-natural-doggie-treats.html

Natural Doggie Treats

We try to do a lot of things for ourselves to be wholesome and organic. What about our pets? Sure, we animal lovers want to do what is best for our non-sapiens friends. The downside is the cost. I don't know about you but, I would rather spend the dough on having clean running water, my child's health or my family's dinner. Fido does not have to have treats. But, if you make your own, it is very affordable and you know what is in them!. There are so many recipes on the web. I encourage you to do a search and try some out.

No, I do not have a dog but, I am a "doggie auntie". We have "adopted" the neighbor's dogs. "Buddy" is our friend's dog & "Oscar" is from next door. (You may find him pictured in some of my blog posts.)
I do love our doggie friends and wanted to make some simple dog treats to spoil "our pets".

Here is our simple recipe:

Ingredients:
2 cups whole wheat flour
1/2 cup powdered milk
1 tablespoon bran
1 tsp concentrated chicken stock
1 egg
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup water

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Combine all the ingredients in a bowl till all mixed well.
Shape mix into teaspoon sized balls, or disks.
Place the shapes evenly onto a cookie sheet with about 1/2 inch space between them.
Bake for about 15 minutes till firm.
let cool completely before storing in airtight container.
If they show condensation in the container - bake them on lowest heat for 15 more minutes or spread them out on a dry surface to dry out some more.


They love them!
Disclaimer - always check with your vet to make sure the ingredients you use are OK for your pet.

Lazy Lady Eclairs

I don't' know where I found it. Pinterest, one of the many blog hops I follow. I don't know.

The point is, someone posted a recipe for "Easy Eclairs". 
Hold the phone. I LOVE eclairs and I can make them at home easy? - Yes!.

I gave the recipe a try & half way into the darn thing I stopped.

Easy my @&%fillintheblank!
She wanted you to make the dough from scratch, make the chocolate icing from scratch, and whip the cream. The ONLY thing "easy" about it was she used boxed instant pudding in the recipe. WHAT?
Grrr.... 
I milled it over for a little bit and thought - I can make this easy! WATCH ME!


I tried 3 different styles of doing the pastry.

Fail # 1 - letting it puff and doing the traditional fill and top with icing - I did not like biting into it and the filling going everywhere but in my mouth.

# 2 - placing the dough on inverted muffin tin to make little cups - although this was a cool idea, it still was somewhat messy eating and it was more time consuming.

#3 - flat squares - WIN - makes it FAST to prepare and EASY to eat.

These are not traditional eclairs for you "food snobs" out there. BUT, they are yummy, easy, quick and will give you an eclair "fix".

Time to make: 15-30 minutes.
Makes 24 3inch squares

 

 

ingredients (imagine the milk there too)

Ingredients:

1 package of vanilla instant pudding mix (the big 5 oz box)
2 cups cold milk
1 container frozen creamy whipped topping (8oz)
1 container chocolate icing (1lb.)
1 box puff pastry (2 sheets)- thawed

Method:

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
While Oven is heating, mix the pudding mix with milk and put in fridge. Take out the frozen topping and place it on the counter to get it warmed up.
Cut each sheet into 3rds along the fold and then cut each 3rd into 4ths (see photo) to make12 sections.

cut into 12 squares

Place the sections evenly spaced onto a cookie sheet (stretch the sections if you want to make even looking squares but that would just be more work).
Bake the pastry till puffed and almost lightly golden (this took my oven about 8 minutes).

puffed & starting to get golden

Immediately use a spatula and flatten the puffs. You don't have to go all ninja on them - just a light firm squish to flatten the tops (see the pic of the finished product to get and idea). Here is where if you want them a little more crispy - you can put them back in the oven for about 1-3 minutes after you smoosh them to give them a bit more toasty crispiness.


While those are cooling off a bit, mix the pudding and about 2/3-3/4 of the container of whipped cream topping.

Smear about a tablespoon full of frosting on the top of each pastry.
Top with about a tablespoon of pudding mixture.

Yum!

You can adjust the level of chocolate to cream ratio according to your taste.

If you want the cream thicker, reduce the milk. 

Yeah... you may have leftover cream and frosting but you will find something to use it for ;-)

There you have it!
5 ingredients
EASY!

Cut those squares in half for a quick easy party nom!

Chicken Ceasar Wraps

This quick, healthy meal in a wrap is a standby at our house. 

You can make it a little easier and quicker than the recipe here.
I will note the options in the recipe for you.

This will make about 4-6 wraps. Takes about 30 minutes.

You can jazz it up by using mixed greens or marinate your chicken over-nite in Italian dressing. The options are up to you.

Ingredients:

1 boneless skinless chicken breast (or breaded frozen strips, breasts or patties)
1 cup fine crouton crumbs (I used a food processor) (not needed if using already breaded chicken) But you might want some whole for the inside fixuns's
2 cups shredded romaine lettuce
1 cup fresh diced tomato
1 cup slice onion
1 egg (scrambled for breading the chicken)
6 large flour tortilla wraps
Parmesan Romano cheese
Caesar Salad dressing

 

Method:

Pound chicken to 1/2 thick even thickness. Dip in scrambled egg and coat with crumbs. 
(This can be skipped if you have pre-breaded and cooked meat - just follow the cooking directions on the package).
Heat oil in skillet if you do not have a non-stick skillet.
Cook over medium heat till done (165 degrees in center) about 6 minutes on each side.
Set aside to rest about 5-10 minutes.

Cook the onions in the skillet till soft.
Cut the chicken into strips or cubes.
Assemble the wrap according to your taste.
Lettuce, tomato, cheese, onion and chicken with a drizzle of dressing on top.

Super Simple Apple Pie!

"Easy as pie!" I think this expression comes from apple pie. No pie is more easy and fool-proof to make!

Ingredients:

4 -6 medium sized Apples - any kind will work.
        But, if you want to know... I used 2 Fuji and 2 honey-crisp because it's what I had!
        How much?  - Enough to mound the slices up in your pie pan. Mine were 2-4 inches diameter.
1 cup granulated sugar
2 tbsp all purpose flour
1-2 tbsp ground cinnamon
        Optional - nutmeg and other spices to taste - I did not use them because I wanted  SIMPLE pie.
1 stick butter (1/2 cup) cold and cut into slices. OR you can melt it. Whatever.

2 - Pie crust - you can make your own or purchase
1 egg scrambled - optional for a pretty glaze top
1 tbsp sugar optional for sparkly glazed top.

Crust - I wing it and make by feel. For this one I used about 2-3 cups flour cut into about 1/2 cup soft butter and 1 tbsp sugar and 1 tsp salt. Added enough water to make it into dough and rolled it out.

Method:

 

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Peel and slice them apples and remove cores. (save the peel and cores for your chickens or making apple cider vinegar :-) Or at least compost them.

Put them in a BIG mixing bowl with the sugar, flour, spices and coat them all nice and even.

Prepare your crust and place one in the pie pan.
Pour all them apples in the crust - they will be nice and high!
Butter goes on top of that nice and even.
Cover the mound with the other crust in your style of choice.

Optional - "paint" with the scrambled egg and sprinkle the sugar on top.

Bake till crust is nice and golden - about 20-30 minutes.
Serve warm with vanilla ice-cream!

Zucchini Bread For Ian

 So, this spring I purchased one zucchini plant.
This one zucchini plant turned into a three foot mound.
So far, I have harvested over 16 pounds of this monstrosity.

This is one of my recipes.
I call this one "Zucchini  Bread For Ian" because Ian likes it.

























Zucchini Bread For Ian

1 cup sugar
1/4 cup apple butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3/4 cup vegetable oil
3 EGGS
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
One teaspoon baking soda
3 cups flour
2 cups raw unpeeled zucchini shredded, tightly packed

In a mixing bowl beat sugar, vegetable oil, eggs, apple butter, and vanilla together until smooth.
Mix in remaining dry ingredients just until moistened.
Stir in zucchini.
Pour batter into loaf pan and bake at 350° for about  1 hour to 1 hour 20 minutes.\
Let cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove from pan and let cool a bit more before serving.
Store in refrigerator. I wrap mine up in parchment and put in a "Ziploc" bag.

Ian (photo by Kellie Young - used with permission)

Beef-Zucchini Italienne

A family Recipe by Fannie Ruth Sanderson Tenney


Zucchini season in here and there are SO many great recipes out there on the blog-sphere.


I debated what to do with my first harvest of the season. Well, the firsts went onto the grill to accompany some smoked ribs when my sister and her family visited this past weekend.

The next few were dreaming of going into a favorite - zucchini bread - oh yum!

Fannie Ruth Sanderson (circa 1900)

Instead, I remembered an old family recipe and thought it better fitting to use them in my dear, late, great grandmothers' recipe "Beef Zucchini Italienne".

I love the simplicity of this recipe. Using ingredients that most folks have around in the fridge and pantry, it is easy to throw together. I imagine this would be just as great using sauteed eggplant in place of zucchini.

My dear great-grandmother (Gommy) was born in Louisiana in the 1890's and lived 102 beautiful years.
She grew up among 7 older siblings on a farm.

I miss her dearly and am honored to have had the opportunity to know her and to share a little bit of her life with you.




Here is how she wrote down her recipe.

Gommy's Original recipe

Ingredients
3 tbsp butter
5-6 small zucchini (about 2 lbs)
3 tbsp flour
1 lb ground beef
1 (20 oz) can chopped tomatoes
1/2 green pepper chopped
1/2 tsp basil, chopped
1 cup grated mozzarella cheese
salt and pepper to taste

Instructions:
In a large skillet, melt butter and blend in flour to make a rue. Add the rest of the Ingredients except zucchini and cheese. Cook on medium for 8- 10 minutes. Meanwhile, slice zucchini thinly (do not peel) and parboil 2-3 minutes, drain well. Arrange zucchini in 9x9 baking dish and pout the meat mixture over it. Sprinkle cheese on top and bake 350 degrees F for about 30 minutes. Serves 4

My Modifications.

I forgot how delish fresh parboiled zucchini tasted. I love it!
My recipe is basically the same.
My method was changed to make it easier to make the sauce. (I haven't gotten the hang of making rue.)

Ingredients
2 tbsp butter** (or Smart Balance if you need to cut cholesterol)
2 large zucchini (about 2-3 lbs) Sliced into 1/8 inch thick medallions.
3 tbsp flour
1 lb ground beef
1 14oz can diced tomatoes (that's what I had and it was still good)
1/2 cup diced green bell pepper (optional)
1/3 cup diced onion or green onion (if green onions use the tops and bottoms)
1/2 tsp basil chopped (dry or fresh)
1-2 cups shredded mozzarella cheese (I added more 'cause I love cheese!)
salt and pepper to taste

Materials
10 inch skillet
large saucepan
9x9 casserole dish

Method
Place the sliced zucchini in the saucepan and cover with water. Bring zucchini to boil over medium high heat. Cook till just tender (about 3-5 minutes after boil).
Meanwhile, in the large skillet, over medium heat, brown the beef.
Add the onion (and green pepper) and cook till tender about 5 minutes.
Add the butter & flour and mix to coat the beef mixture evenly. Add the diced tomato's and basil. Add about 1/4 cup of water to the beef mixture.Stir for about 5 -10 minutes. It will thicken to make a sauce.
Remove from heat.  Drain zucchini* and layer the medallions evenly in the bottom of the casserole dish.
Spread the beef mixture over the zucchini and top evenly with the cheese.
Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until cheese is melted and bubbly.
Let cool for 10 minutes and serve. Serves 4-6.

*TIP
You might want to pat the zucchini, after boiling them, them with a paper towel or clean kitchen towel to get the excess moisture out if you don't want the bottom a bit soupy. Depends on the juiciness of the zucchini. Mine were really juicy but, I don't mind cause in the summer it tastes great!

**I found that the butter is optional if you make it using my method becasue I dont make the traditional rue.
This can really help make the dish less calories and lower in cholesterol especially if you use a very lean meat or vegan meat substitute.

Guest Blog Posts for Moody Sisters Organic Skincare

I have had the opportunity to be a guest blogger for Moody Sisters Organic skincare.
They are a sister team out of the foothills of the Eastern Cascades in Washington (only 150 miles from me over the mountains). They own an Etsy shop that makes quality organic natural body products and have the cutest crazy eye cat logos. They are fellow members of 2 teams I actively participate in on Etsy. They are also a small micro, home business and "local".

At the writing of this post, I have tried 4 of their products and am happy with all of them. Reviews to be posted later since I like to give thorough reviews.

So, today I am linking you to the Moody Sisters Blog for my published posts.

 

 Moody Sisters Organic Skincare blog

  Flan Recipe & fails
http://moodysisters.blogspot.com/2012/05/wednesday-guest-post-linky-59.html

 Natural dog treats
http://moodysisters.blogspot.com/2012/05/guest-post-natural-doggie-treats.html

Review of Hydrating Sugar scrub
http://moodysisters.blogspot.com/2012/07/fan-review-of-moody-sisters-hydrating.html

 All about Egg labeling
http://www.moodysisters.blogspot.com/2012/04/wednesday-guest-post-linky-418.html

Cedar Plank Salmon

Really a SIMPLE thing to make and oh so delish!

This recipe will feed 4 people (or 2 of me!) I just Love Salmon, more than I love a good steak at a high-end steak house. I literally have to stop myself because I will eat till it hurts.

You will need to prepare the night before. The planks need the prep, not the fish. You can wait to catch your fish that day ;-)


Ingredients:

1 5lb or so FRESH, Wild caught (as local as you can get it) whole Sockeye Salmon, filleted (skin on - you're gonna need it)

cedar planks (to fit all the salmon onto) (you can find these in the grilling or fish section of most grocery markets or you can cut your own and season them yourself)

salt to taste

water and a tub to soak the planks in (the tub has to be able to fit the planks submerged)

What to do:

Soak the planks in water for at least 6 hours (preferably overnight!). This will keep the planks from burning out from under your fishes (hopefully). Some folks add a flavor to the water like apple cider, wine etc... but, we are doing ours simple to enhance the flavor of the sockeye. Sockeye is a very very dark pink, flavorful salmon - it needs no "help".

Time to cook. place your salmon on the planks skin side down. If you have to cut the fish to fit, it is OK. Don't have fishes hanging off the side. Sprinkle the fish lightly with salt. Grill on hot grill till done.
"Done" varies from person to person. For this blog I will suggest to cook to an internal temperature of 140 degrees F. But, I like mine just slightly underdone. The insides not gooshy but just firmed up and still a little "soft". Grilling time will depend on the heat of the grill and the thickness of the fishes. Usually it is done when it "flakes with a fork" but is still moist. Our 5 lb fish took about 15 minutes.

You can do cedar plank on gas grills. That is what is so cool about the plank - it gives a "woodsy charcoal" flavor to the fish, keeps it from falling through the grates and it is already "plated".

"The kitty LOVES the fishy"

Wine Pair - 2007 gewurztraminer from Bloom 



 

Stinging Nettle Stuffed Ravioli

If you liked stinging nettle Linguine, you are going to LOVE my Stinging Nettle Ravioli Recipe!

Urtica dioica

I ventured out the other day to get the last of the stinging nettle in hopes for a big harvest for drying and freezing. I had 2 HUGE bags, leather gloves, wellies and kitchen snips ready to go and headed out to the nettle trail. Highly disappointing on the amount of harvest-able nettle (for food that is, I heard you can also use the grown for fiber like linen - how cool).

Anyways, the nettle was too high and much of it was severely damaged from the recent trail maintenance (hubby and string trimmer).

Oh well, I had a great time in the great weather teaching my daughter how to harvest nettle and we came back with a decent amount.

This time I took my own advice and harvested by leaf and tip, only carefully picking the best so no dangerous sorting had to be done in kitchen. Great advice! All that was left was a cold water soak, triple rinse and in the pot they went. I did save a bit for the experiment of drying.

Drying nettle (what I did):
Not wanting to heat up the oven for my few leaves, I placed the rinsed leaves in a single layer on a paper towel and placed on the middle rack in the toaster oven. Set to bake at 150 degrees with the door half open, it took about 30 minutes to dry. I crumbled them up (they don't sting anymore) and put in a snack baggie. Now to find ways to use them over the summer.

Our Sufficient harvest

Stinging Nettle Tea: I tried stinging nettle tea. I did not like it at all - and I love teas of all sorts. This tasted like spinach water. If that is what you like - go for it. I will pass.

I got about 1 cup of nettle mush from my harvest and chose to freeze it till i figured out a new recipe.
Freezes great! Just place mush with enough of the nettle water to cover the mush in a freezer container size of your choice and freeze. I chose a small one cup size. This may be too big. Many folks use ice-cube trays and make little convenient ice-cube sized portions - brilliant!

Later that evening it occurred to me to make ravioli.

Here is my ravioli recipe YUM!

Stinging Nettle Ravioli

Ingredients

Filling:

1 14oz container of ricotta cheese
1 cup of shredded Monterrey jack cheese
1/2 tsp ground black pepper
1 tsp course sea salt
1 egg
1 garlic clove minced
1/4 cup stinging nettle, boiled, squeezed of excess liquid and chopped

Pasta:

3 cups flour (can be semolina but i just used regular unbleached white all-purpose)
3 eggs
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tsp salt

Extras:

• about 1 cup flour extra for pasta rolling

• about 1 tsp salt for water boil (optional)

• 1 egg all mixed up in a bowl for egg wash for sealing the pockets

• a fancy pasta cutter/sealer for the edges (I just used a roller from my daughter's play dough accessories kit - works great because it is not too sharp so it seals the layer and makes a fancy squiggly design at the same time).

Equipment:

• large pot for boiling pasta

• stand mixer for pasta if you don't want to use hands too much

• rolling pin or if you are so blessed to have a lasagna pasta roller on your stand mixer  - lucky you!

• pasta strainer

Method:

mix all the pasta ingredients together in the bowl of your stand mixer with the dough hook (or a large bowl by hand) till a smooth dough ball forms. Depending on the size of your eggs, you may have to add a tiny bit of water if the mix is too dry.

Let the dough rest for 10 minutes or so.
While it is resting you can make the filling and get a pot of water on the stove to boil.

In a medium bowl, mix all the filling ingredients together until well mixed.

if rolling pasta by hand:
Divide dough in half and roll out 2 similar sized sheets about the size of a cookie sheet.
on one sheet, paint the top side with the egg wash.
place 1 tbsp of filling, about 1/2 inch from the edge and continue placing balls of filling in straight rows leaving about a 2 inch space between each ball.
Place the 2nd dough sheet on top of the balls . Using the cutter of your choice, cut and seal the space between each row and column to make a ravioli.

if using pasta roller:
make sheets of the lasagna pasta and seal a tablespoon of filling between 2 sheets of pasta.

When water is at boiling place enough ravioli carefully into the pot to leave enough "wiggle room" between the raviolis. Overcrowding the pot created boil over and stuck together and popped open pastas.
I had to do mine in 4 batches. I just transferred the raviolis from the pot to the strainer via slotted spoon.
Fresh pasta only takes 5 minutes to cook.

I served this with Bertolli's 4 cheese rosa sauce and it was a perfect match.

the little toy roller works great

I will again reference the University of Maryland Medical Center for health benefits.

NOTE: My hubby got stung this weekend and says that he felt a slight sting but it was not really painful. It lasted for about a minute or so and then dissolved into a prickly sensation. He described the sensation as similar to a topical analgesic or a product like icy-hot and it lasted for several hours.









Some ads for products you may find useful for making this recipe (and some attachments for the KitchenAid would make lovely gifts. Ahem & wink ;-) :





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