Jicama Slaw

So, in my ongoing challenge to try more vegetables (and more kinds of food in general), I picked up a jicama the other day.  Not knowing what to do with it, I went online and found this recipe, which I basically followed.

Recipe:
1 Cucumber
1 Jicama
1 tablespoon Honey
2 tablespoons fresh Lime Juice (or 1/2 teaspoon True Lime and 2 tablespoons water)
Sea Salt to taste
1/2 teaspoon Chili Powder
1/2 teaspoon Dijon Mustard

Cut cucumber into 3 inch lengths, cut sections in half and scrape seeds out with a spoon.  Slice thinly, lengthwise then cut into matchsticks.  Peel jicama, slice thinly, then cut into matchsticks.  Stir together cucumber and jicama slices.
In a separate bowl, stir together honey, lime, chili powder, dijon mustard, and salt.  Pour over cucumber and jicama and stir to coat.

This was a great, summery tasting salad.  Sweet, cool, a little tart, a little spicy...very good.

Jicama (if, like me, you've never had it before) tastes sort of like a potato, but more sweet and much less starchy.

Artichoke Tapenade

I was making bread this morning (from this awesome book) and decided I'd really like something to eat on it (other than butter).  And after looking online and through my cookbooks, I didn't really find anything that struck my fancy, so I made something up.  It's essentially a tapenade, but with marinated artichokes instead of olives, capers, and anchovies.

Recipe:
8 - 10 ounces Marinated Artichokes
4 - 5 tablespoons of the oil and marinade from the artichokes
1 tablespoon Sesame Seeds
Salt to taste

In a food processor, pulse artichokes, marinade, and sesame seeds to a spreadable consistency.  Salt to taste.  I also put some Greek seasoning and oregano in mine.

The tapenade on it's own

This was great on the bread!  It's tangy and delicious.  Plus, I wasn't really in the mood for a regular artichoke dip, with all the mayonnaise and cheese and everything.  This is much lighter.

Peanut Butter Bread

This is an interesting recipe, I've only tried it once, but it's really good.  I got it out of one of my old cookbooks Good Housekeepings Book of Menus, Recipes, and Household Discoveries, 1926 edition.  Yeah, I like old books, and there's great stuff in this one.

Recipe:
1/2 cup Peanut Butter
1/2 cup Sugar
1 Egg
3 1/2 cups Flour
3 teaspoons Baking Powder
1 cup Milk
1/2 teaspoon Salt

Cram together the peanut butter and sugar, add egg.  In a separate bowl, mix flour, baking powder, and salt.  Add dry ingredients alternately with the milk.  Mix well and place in greased bread tin.  Bake at 350° for 50 - 60 minutes.

This bread is really easy to make, and quick since there's no rising or kneading.  The texture is not like regular yeast bread, it's more like a soda bread crossed with a pound cake.  I used creamy peanut butter, but I imagine it would be good with crunchy as well, or if you're not a peanut eater, I think this would be great with a different kind of nut butter, like almond or cashew.


It's also really good with strawberry jam.

Surprise Bars

I got this recipe from my Grandma.  It's basically cookies in bar form, but you can add anything you want to it.  Delicious!


Recipe:
2 Eggs
1 1/2 cups Brown Sugar
2/3 cup Oil
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 1/2 cups Flour
1 teaspoon Salt
1 1/2 teaspoons Baking Powder
1/2 cup Oatmeal
Approximately 2 - 2 1/2 cups of the add ins of your choice (chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, raisins, nuts, coconut...basically anything that would be good in cookies)


Preheat oven to 350° and grease a 9" x 13" pan.
Beat eggs, add brown sugar, oil, and vanilla.  Mix until well blended.
In a separate bowl, mix dry ingredients.  Gradually blend into egg mixture.
Stir in the goodies you've picked, spread the dough into the greased pan and bake for 20-25 minutes.

To this particular batch, I added vanilla chips, slivered almonds, shredded coconut, and extra dark chocolate Lindor truffles (I had a bunch left over from an assortment and I'm not a huge fan of dark chocolate, so I chopped them up and mixed them in -- the truffle center stays melty after the bars are cooled!)  Also, for the oil I used a combination of melted butter and coconut oil from Tropical Traditions.


This coconut oil is great because, unlike a lot of coconut oils, it has a great coconut flavor.  Also, it's organic and has great health benefits, which are documented on the Tropical Traditions website.  They also have frequent sales and coupons, so even though this oil seems a little expensive, it's a great company and really quite reasonable in terms of price.

Winter Veggie Soup

I like to stick to fruits and vegetables that are in season as much as possible, which can be tricky when a) it's the dead of winter and b) you can get just about any kind of produce at the store.  But here's a great soup made from winter root vegetables.

Recipe:
4 tablespoons butter
2 onions, peeled and chopped
5 carrots
2 parsnips
1 rutabaga
2 potatoes
1 quart chicken or vegetable stock
Garlic
Salt, pepper, spices

In a large stockpot, melt butter and cook onions until translucent.  Meanwhile, peel and chop all vegetables and add to the pot.  Add about a cup of water, cover and cook for 25-30 minutes, stirring occasionally.
Add stock, garlic, salt, pepper, and spices (I like thyme and sage).  Bring to a boil, then reduce to simmer and cook until vegetables are tender.  Remove from heat and puree using either a regular blender or an immersion blender.  Add more stock or water if soup is too thick.  Season to taste and serve.

This soup was great!  Very mild and earthy, perfect for a cold, blustery day.

Spaghetti Pie

This is such a fun dish to make, and super easy.

Recipe:
8 oz. Spaghetti
3 tablespoons Butter
2 Eggs
1/3 cup shredded Parmesan Cheese
1 cup Ricotta Cheese
1 jar Spaghetti Sauce
1 1/2 cups Mozzarella Cheese, shredded

Cook spaghetti until almost done, drain and stir butter into hot pasta, set aside.
While pasta is cooling, butter a 9 inch pie pan.  Heat oven to 350.
Beat eggs with parmesan cheese.  Stir into cooked pasta.  Transfer pasta to pie pan and arrange into a crust.  Spread ricotta cheese into the center of the spaghetti crust.  (At this point you can add spinach, cooked sausage or ground beef, or anything else to the pie) Top with spaghetti sauce.
Bake at 350 for 25 minutes.
Top with shredded mozzarella cheese and bake an additional 5-10 minutes, until cheese is melted.
Cool 5 minutes and serve.

This is so delicious, the flavor is like lasagna, but much easier to make.  I like to add spinach to mine.  When I have fresh spinach, I just steam it for a few minutes to wilt it, and then pat it dry before putting it on top of the ricotta.

Spaghetti pie is one of my favorite comfort foods.  Mmmmm...

Spinach Soup

This is a new recipe for me.  I had a big ol' tub of baby spinach in the fridge and keep thinking of things to do with it.  I thought a pureed spinach soup would be good, but couldn't really find a recipe that sounded like what I was imagining, so I took this recipe, and modified it.

Recipe:
3 cups Stock (Chicken or Vegetable)
3 stalks Celery
1 small Onion
Fresh Spinach (I'm not exactly sure how much I used, I filled up a big colander and used about half of the container of spinach)
Salt, Pepper

Bring stock to a boil, roughly chop the celery and onion and add to the stock, cook 15-20 minutes.
Remove the biggest stems from the spinach and rinse.  When the celery is tender, add the spinach to the soup.  Cook for 5-10 minutes, remove from heat.
Puree the soup, using either an immersion blender or regular blender.  Return to medium heat, add salt and pepper to taste.  (I also added a bunch of basil and lemon juice)
If desired, stir in 1 cup of cream, half and half, or milk.

I threw some little spinach and cheese ravioli in mine, which was delicious.

This soup, with it's fresh green spinachy goodness, tastes like summer and sunshine, which is perfect for this time of year.

P.S. This doesn't keep well, so don't let it sit around for more than a couple of days.