Dirty Dozen and Clean 15 of produce

I came across an article I printed out three years ago. It reminds me of what I should be planting in my garden to avoid pesticides. After all, one of the best things about having a garden in your back yard is that you decide how organic it will be. Right?

My printed article is still on line - go to http://www.pbs.org/wnet/need-to-know/health/the-dirty-dozen-and-clean-15-of-produce/ or go to http://www.ewg.org/foodnews/list/ for the whole list.

Hopefully, this will help you in planning your garden this year, too.

Honey Mint Carrots

This is a very simple, yet elegant addition to a meal.
I've served it with chicken and potatoes mostly, but it will go with many other combinations.

10-12 carrots (peeled and sliced thinly)
2 or 3 T honey
2 or 3 T butter
1/2 to 1 T crushed mint flakes

Boil carrots until cooked but still firm. Take out 1/2 c of the boiling water. Mix this water with the honey and butter. Drain carrots and place in a serving dish with a lid. Pour honey water over the carrots and add mint flakes (crushing them in your palm as you add them). Stir lightly and place the lid on the dish. Serve within 3-5 minutes for best results.

Note: After you make this once or twice, you'll figure out how much of each to put in your dish. Do it with the smaller amounts first and then tweak it to your family's taste.

Best pie crust

Pie Crust with Vinegar and Egg
2 1/2 c flour
1 tsp salt
1 c shortening (or marg)
1 egg
1 Tblsp vinegar
1/4 c cold water

Mix flour and salt. Cut in shortening until it resembles cornmeal. Beat egg and combine with vinegar and water. Stir into flour mixture with a fork. Roll onto floured surface between sheets of waxed paper.
Makes 2- 9" crusts or 3- 8" crusts.

Prebaked crust: Bake at 450 F for 10 min.

Note: I was given five different pie crust recipes by a friend and tried them all. This was the one I liked the most. It won the contest for a great combination of flakiness and substance without tasting greasy. Hope you like it too.

Mock Apple Pie - April Fool Favorite

I came across a Mock Apple Pie that has become an April Fool's Favorite treat at our home.

It's hard to imagine, but believe me - it is REALLY hard to tell there are no apples in this pie.

Ingredients:
pastry for 2- 9" pie crust (see next blog post for my favorite homemade crust)
36-45 RITZ crackers (coarsely broken, about 1 3/4 c.)
2 c. sugar
2 tsp cream of tartar
grated peel of 1 lemon
2 T lemon juice
2 T butter (or marg)
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Preheat oven to 425 F. Roll out half of the pastry and place in 9" pie plate. Place cracker crumbs in crust; set aside. Note: There will only be enough crumbs to be about 1/2 full. Don't worry, it'll grow as it cooks.
The original recipe calls for 36 crackers, I use 42-45.

Mix sugar and cream of tartar in medium saucepan. Gradually stir in 1 3/4 c. water until well blended. Place on stove and bring to boil on high heat. Reduce heat to low, simmer for 15 min. Take it off of the stove and add lemon peel and juice. Let cool (when tested, it should not be too hot to touch, but doesn't have to be room temperature). Pour syrup over cracker crumbs. Dot with butter; sprinkle with cinnamon. Roll out remaining pastry and place over pie. Trim and seal the edges. Slit the top crust in a few places to allow the steam to escape while baking.

Bake 30-35 min or until crust is crisp and golden. Cool completely. Serve with vanilla ice cream.

You've gotta try this one. It'll make your unsuspecting family and friends amazed.

See my best pie crust recipe as the next entry.

More Bean Flour subs: Cornbread & Peanut Butter Blossoms

I have continued trying to use bean flour in some favorite recipes and am glad to report three more successes:
My Molasses Crinkles (see recipe posted on 3-22-12), Buttermilk Cornbread and Peanut Butter Blossoms are also good with a combination of white, wheat and bean flours. Don't use more than 20-25% bean flour when switching it out in a recipe.
Here again is a photo of the kidney bean flour and white flour side by side:

I list my original recipes for both with bean flour alterations in ( ).

 Buttermilk Cornbread (my version of my grandmother's recipe):
2 eggs
1 c flour (1/4 c bean, 3/4 c white)
1/4 c sugar
2/3 c cornmeal
2 tsp baking pwd
1/4 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 c buttermilk (alt: 1 c milk + 1 tsp vinegar or lemon juice)

1/4 c butter, melted (I use olive oil)
Preheat oven to 400 F. Butter and flour 8x8x2 or 9" pie pan. For a large crowd, double recipe and use a jelly roll pan. Beat eggs in large bowl. Add sugar and mix well. Add flour, cornmeal, baking pwd, soda, and salt. Gently stir together dry ingredients on the top a few times to mix flour and cornmeal with others. Create large depression in center (so it looks like a volcano) and pour buttermilk into center. Mix entirely until mostly smooth (a few bumps like in muffins is okay). Add melted butter (or olive oil) and stir again. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 22-25 min. Cut and serve warm with butter.





Peanut Butter Blossoms:
1 c shortening (you can substitute 1 c olive oil, but not marg or butter)
1 c peanut butter
1 c brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp baking soda
1 c white sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 c flour (1 c. bean flour, 2 c. white flour is okay - see below)
6-10 oz semi sweet chocolate chips
Preheat oven to 300 F. Do not grease cookie sheets. Mix together shortening and peanut butter. Add remaining ingredients (except chips) and mix well. Fold chocolate chips in. Drop onto cookie sheet by Tablespoon. Do not press with fork (hence the blossom look of the finished cookie). Bake for 15 min. Let cool completely on cookie sheet or they will fall apart as you're taking them off.

I've used many different flour combinations over the years. Once I did 1 c oat flour, 1 c white, 1 c whole wheat and it was still good.

(I'll add a photo the next time I make these).

Bean Successes: Rolls & "Sausage"

I have been preparing to team teach a class on beans for the last two weeks and have come up with two winners to share - recipes and samples.

Here is the info and recipe:
I took my favorite roll recipe (see Easy Rolls, posted on 4-3-12) and switched out 2 c. of white flour for 2 c. of red kidney bean flour. They were light and did not taste like beans. I don't think they are any healthier, except for some extra fiber, but they will help my family's digestive system get use to beans faster. As you can see from the photos the dough is mixed, rolled out and placed on the pans just in the same way as the original. The dough is not completely white (as you can see with it next to the flour on the side), but has speckles (which are actually red, but look like wheat).
The last photo shows you the bean flour and white flour side by side in a measuring cup to give you an idea of the color difference. Rising time is the same.

The other winner is a (pretend) sausage recipe I got from a Vegan Cookbook. There are many good cookbooks I found at the library in preparation for this class. I'll list them in the next post.

Black Bean Sausage (p. 75-76 in Quick & Easy Low-Cal Vegan Comfort Food):
Note: I doubled many of the spices because the original amounts didn't seem to hide the bean flavor enough for me, so this recipe is what I used - a little different than what is in the cookbook.
1 T + 1 tsp canola oil
1/2 c. diced yellow or white onion (I used the bottom of green onions)
1/2 c. diced green bell pepper
1/4 c. quick oats (I'd use twice this next time for a chunkier texture)
1 1/2 c. canned or cooked black beans, rinsed and drained
1 1/2 c. brown rice ( I used 1/2 white, 1/2 wild rice)
2 tsp fennel seeds
4 tsp sage
1 tsp oregano
1 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp cayenne
If you are making your own beans, start 1-3 days ahead with soaking and cooking and cooling the beans.

Warm 1 tsp of oil in med skillet over med heat. Saute onion and bell pepper until soft (abt 3 min). Set aside.

Mash beans. Pulse oats in food processor until a fine flour. Add sauteed items, beans and rice to oat flour.

Pulse until no lg pieces of bean left. Do not puree. Turn out bean mixture into lg bowl and add spices.

Combine well using hands if necessary. Form "sausage" by rolling small balls then flatten into patties. opt: chill for 1 hr up to 3 days. I left mixture in fridge for three days and then made sausage. Flavors blended well that way. The smaller and flatter the patty, the more like sausage it seemed to me.
Warm 1 T canola oil in lg skillet or griddle per batch. Cook until brown and slightly crispy on both sides (abt. 3 min/side).

Warning - the mix looks grey. The patties themselves, once cooked have a nice brown look (note the different colors in the photo). Much more appetizing to eat; don't worry.

Frugal gift ideas

While looking for some recipes using bean flour as a soup thickener,
I found a fun website with some great frugal ideas and projects.
Check out http://www.littlehouseliving.com/crafts-and-homemade-gifts
There are a few recipes I may try there too.