Baking!

Phewww!  I have had a very busy couple of weeks and am just now settling back into my routine.  We traveled to North Carolina for a wedding.  Even a short trip with a toddler will set you back in more ways than one! 

Although I was busy, I was not too busy to bake quite a few things.  I did not take any pictures, unfortunately.  I thought I would be too busy to blog about them, and I was right.  Sort of.  I decided to blog about them now, because they were too good to keep to myself. 

In the past month or so, I have baked several recipes from the Tassajara Bread Book, and nothing really stood out.  The biscuits that were advertised as "flaky" were very dense and, well, the opposite of flaky.  The shortbread was ho-hum and so on.  I had just about given up on the Tassajara Bread Book when I decided to give it one last shot, and that recipe was an instant hit!  Then I tried two more and they were some of the best things that I have ever made.  So, without further ado...

Date Bars

3 eggs
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. ground cloves
1 tsp. cinnamon
1/2 tsp. allspice (I used Jamaican)
1 cup chopped dates or raisins or figs or prunes (I used dates and raisins since I had them on hand)
1/2 cup chopped nutmeats (I used almonds and walnuts)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Beat eggs until light.  Blend in the brown sugar along with the vanilla.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, salt, and spices, add them to the eggs, and beat until well blended (Note: I didn't sift the dry ingredients.  I never do!  I mix them with a whisk.  I've read for other sources that it does the same thing.  Martha Stewart even said so on her show last week!   And you know she would never lie, right?).  Fold in the fruit and nuts.  Pour into a buttered and floured 9 X 13 inch pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. 

These are delicious!  I am a big fan of spiced cookies (molasses, ginger snaps, etc.), and these don't disappoint!

Since this was a hit, I decided to keep going with the Tassajara Bread Book, and decided to make the Banana bread and the Almond Orange Butter.

Banana Bread

2 cups whole flour
1tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. canola oil
1/2 cup sugar
Grated rind of 1 lemon
2 eggs, beaten
2 cups banana pulp (about 6 bananas)
1/2 c. chopped walnuts

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Whisk together the flour, soda, and salt.  Blend the oil and sugar, then beat in the lemon peel and eggs.  Add the dry ingredients in three parts alternately with the banana pulp, beating smooth after each addition.  Fold in the chopped walnuts.

Place the batter in a greased loaf pan and bake for about 50 minutes.

This bread is so delicious.  It can be eaten for dessert or breakfast.  We ate it toasted and then spread with the orange almond butter below.

Almond Orange Butter

1/3 cup almond butter
1/2 cup sweet butter (I used Earth Balance spread instead - easier to spread and mix)
2 tbsps. freshly squeezed orange juice
zest of same orange
1 tsp. sugar
1 tsp. rum

Mix the almond and butter together.  Then little by little work the rest of the ingredients into the almond and butter mixture.  Once mixed, you can store up to 1 week in your refrigerator.

Greg, A.J., and I all loved the almond orange butter!  Once the banana bread was gone, we used the rest and spread it on toast.  Yummers!

I also baked some yummy things from the Waldorf Kindergarten Snack Book, but I plan on baking them again for Valentine's, so I will blog about them later and be sure to take pictures. 

Rosti Casserole With Baked Egg

I can hardly believe it's been almost a week since I last blogged.  Greg, A.J., and I were all struck by a god-awful stomach virus, and that set a lot of things back.  Almost a week later and I still feel pretty weak from it.  Needless to say, I had to change my menu for the week.  I cut out one of my recipes, and I am really glad that I did not cut out the rosti casserole with baked eggs.  The temperatures here in north Dallas have dipped way down this week, and this dish was perfect for a chilly weeknight dinner.  It was fast and very easy to make.

I'd never heard of rosti before making this dish, but apparently it is a very popular, traditional breakfast dish in Switzerland.  The traditional version is a pancake shaped dish of fried shredded potatoes, a lot like American hash browns.  Rosti tends to be the main dish though, rather than a complement to the main portion of the meal.

This version comes from Cooking Light, so this rosti is not deep fried or fried at all for that matter.  This version uses fat free Greek yogurt to bind the shredded potatoes and give it a lovely creaminess.  Thanks to Ellie Krieger, nonfat Greek yogurt has been my secret weapon for cooking light, creamy dishes without the fat.  I use it in many dishes and as a substitute for mayonnaise in sandwiches sometimes.  Greg never can tell the difference.  When I first started using it, it was difficult to find at stores other than Whole Foods.  However, Stonyfield Farms recently started making their own version of it, so now it's more readily available.  You can even buy it some Walmarts now!  You can make your own by straining plain, regular yogurt.  Place a paper towel into the strainer (wire, mesh works best), and then place the desired amount of yogurt onto the paper towel.  Place the strainer over a bowl to catch the liquid (whey).  After an hour or two it should have achieved an appropriate thickness.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4  cups  fat-free Greek-style yogurt
• 2  tablespoons  all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2  cups  grated peeled turnip (about 8 ounces, 2 small)
• 1 1/4  cups  (5 ounces) shredded Gruyère cheese
• 1/3  cup  butter, melted
• 1/4  cup  chopped fresh chives
• 1 1/4  teaspoons  salt
• 1/2  teaspoon  freshly ground black pepper
• 1/4  teaspoon  grated whole nutmeg
•  2 (16-ounce) packages frozen shredded hash brown potatoes, thawed
  
• Cooking spray
• 6 large eggs
• Chopped fresh chives
• Freshly ground black pepper (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

2.  Combine yogurt and flour in a large bowl, stirring well. Add turnip, Gruyère cheese, butter, chives, 1 1/4 teaspoons salt, black pepper, nutmeg, and potatoes to yogurt mixture. Spread potato mixture evenly into a 13 x 9–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray.


3. Bake at 400° for 30 minutes or until bubbly.

4. Remove from oven. With the back of a spoon, make 8 indentations in top of potato mixture.

5.  Return dish to oven. Bake at 400° for 8 minutes or until egg whites are firm and yolks barely move when pan is touched.  Cut into 8 pieces. Garnish with additional chives and black pepper, if desired. Serve immediately.

Here is the only picture of A.J. helping me cook this.  He was still not feeling all that great, so he was attached to my hip the whole time I was trying to make this!  For a person without an extra human being attached to them, this would have been done in less than an hour.  It took me about an hour and a half, but it was well worth it.  A.J. did not like it, but he was still not eating like he usually does.  Greg and I loved it!  DO NOT skip the optional chive garnish at the end.  It makes a big difference.

The original recipe calls for 8 eggs, but I thought that was overkill.  Our society eats too many animal products as it is.  I used 6, but probably could have gotten away with 4 or 5.

This dish also surprisingly reheats well.  I thought the eggs would be rubbery, but they were not.  I want to try this again and try to add carrots or another root vegetable in place of half of the turnip.  It would be interesting to see how those flavors mesh.

Is this a joke?

That was my husband's comment when I showed him the recipes I was planning to make for this week.  Well, maybe I shouldn't have started with the "Green Soup with Sweet Potatoes" recipe.  I lost count of how many times he said,  "green?"  He then regaled me with a story that he once read about a count who threw a dinner party and decided to dye all the food green as an experiment.  Apparently, no one could eat the food.  It was too bizarre.  After I showed him the third recipe, a tridoshic mung dal kitchari and mixed vegetable subji from Ayurvedic Cooking For Self Healing, he said, "Where's the meat?"  This is how meal planning in our home usually goes.  This is one of the obstacles that I have to overcome in trying to learn Ayurvedic cooking.  This particular challenge is not a new one though, and not one that is particularly vexing.  My husband and I have had give and take over the years, and, honestly, G. has made more concessions than I have. 

Other challenges I am trying to work through is trying to figure out the best recipes for my family.  Greg has a very strong pitta mind and body, and I have more of a vata mind and body, and my 19 month old son is a bit of a mystery.  He definitely has some vata tendencies, as his skin is dry to the point where he has rashes (eczema), but his digestive fire (or agni) is more pitta like.  Then I also need to take into consideration that most children tend to have more kapha.  Trying to cook foods that are appropriate for all three doshas seems very complex.  There are some recipes that are good for all three doshas(tridoshic), but I will run out of those eventually.  I get very anxious and overwhelmed when trying to plan the complete mean.  I keep kicking myself for not taking an Ayurvedic cooking class from Amadea Morningstar when I had the chance several years ago. 

My last obstacle is getting time to get to an Indian grocery store.  Whole Foods doesn't carry all the spices that I need (ajwan seed, murmura, curry leaves, etc.).  This is an easy one to solve though.  This will just take some planning.

Although there are obstacles, I won't let "the perfect be the enemy of the good."  I'll plod along and do my best!