Helen

4 medium potatoes

6 (vegan) Just Egg portions or 6 eggs

oil (safflower, canola or light olive oil)

If you’re looking for almonds that are (1) extra fatty, (2) organic, and (3) not grown in drought-ridden California, check out Terrasoul. (Almonds are a thirsty crop; these are grown in Spain.) Scotty bought these at Christmastime and we enjoyed some tasty holiday nog. Bake the resulting almond meal on low heat and use it for granola, nut flour, or as chopped nuts our Cranberry Crumble recipe (oilandsalt.org).

Terrasoul Almond Mylk & Egg Nog                      www.terrasoul.com

1 cup Mylk almonds

4 cups filtered water (or 2 cups for cream)

pinch of salt

—

1-2 Medjool dates for sweetness (optional)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

SOAK. Cover 1 cup almonds with water. Soak 8-12 hours.

RINSE. Drain almonds and rinse thoroughly.

BLEND. Add almonds to 4 cups filtered water. Blend well. Add dates and vanilla if desired.

STRAIN. Pour almond milk through nut milk bag or cheesecloth and squeeze to remove pulp.

CHILL. Keep in airtight container 3-5 days in the fridge. Best when fresh.

Almond Nog:

Add 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1/4 tsp nutmeg & ~1 tablespoon sugar to a cup of almond cream

Add bourbon, whiskey, and or rum to taste

or How to Fall in Love With Kale

The key is to bake the kale on low heat (I cooked one batch 30 minutes at 170F and another for 60 minutes). I like the warm wilty-but-crispy-around-the-edges version, while Scott prefers the cooled crispy-all-the-way-through version. Your choice.

• 1 bundle of kale, any kind, torn into 3″ pieces
• olive oil
• seasoning

Put the torn kale in a 9×13 baking dish. The seasoning, of course, can be just about anything. Try Mexican, Mediterranean (olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper), Indian, barbecue, and more. I used a spicy Thai sauce packet from a packaged ramen bowl in my pantry. I drizzled olive oil over the leaves, dotted them with the fiery sauce, and then sprinkled salt and pepper on top before tossing the mixture lightly. Bake as above.

Serves 2 to 4 … or just 1 if you get there first.

A note on the origin of this recipe: Credit goes to Marti Lomen from Ivrea, Italy, who helped me plant kale starts in March 2020. I’d never before planted a spring vegetable garden (always too busy planting pansies to even consider vegetables), but with Marti’s excellent company and ready shovel, we turned a struggling dry, partial-shade flower bed into a thriving kale forest that feeds neighbors, snails and us. (Actually, the snails prefer the nearby cabbage and leave the kale alone.) Try this: a checkerboard planting of lacinato and curly kale, bordered by purple cabbage. Beautiful!

Eat this tasty sauce with your choice of protein or over pasta!

1 red bell pepper

1 clove garlic

1 teaspoon cumin

1/4 teaspoon salt

6 sun dried tomatoes (in oil)

1 tablespoon sun dried tomato oil

Chop bell pepper into large chunks. Toss in a little of the sun dried tomato oil. Broil pepper and garlic clove until slightly blackened. Remove to mini blender. Stir cumin into remaining glaze of oil on pan for 30 seconds and scrape into blender as well. Add salt and more oil. Blend in a mini-blender until smooth. Enjoy!

Marti (our exchange student from Italy) and I have made this tangy, totally not wheat-free- or vegan-detectable dessert a couple of times now, and we have refined the *recipe to a science. Today is Scott’s birthday (57 and getting younger!), so it’s appropriate that Marti is making this scientifically verified recipe for a potluck in the city tonight.

Post script: Marti’s crumble was a hit tonight. To the guy who said it made him really happy to discover the source of the dessert, I’m glad you found our website! Happy baking, one and all.

*adapted from WickedGoodKitchen.org

First Posted October 28, 2109. This Post November 15, 2019

Cranberry Apple Pear Crumble

Cranberry Apple Pear Filling

• 6 cups (2 12 oz bags)  fresh whole cranberries
• 2 large granny smith or pink lady apples, diced (not peeled)
• 1 large pear, diced
• 3 tablespoons (45 ml) lemon or orange juice
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml) almond extract
• 1¼ cup (250 g) dextrose or 1 cup table sugar
• 4 teaspoons (5 g) freshly grated lemon & or orange zest
• ¾ teaspoon (1.88 g) cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon (.5 g) allspice
• ¼ teaspoon (.325 g) nutmeg
• ⅛ teaspoon (.275 g) cloves
• 3 tablespoons (18 g) tapioca starch

Crumble Topping

• 1 cup (about 158 g) gluten-free or all-purpose flour
• 3/4 cup oats
• 1 1/4 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
• 1½ teaspoons (7.2 g) baking powder
• ¼ teaspoon (1.2 g)  salt
• 6 tablespoons *vegan or cow butter, chilled & cut into bits
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
• ¼ teaspoon (1.25 ml) almond extract
• 3 tablespoons (12.5 g) cane sugar
• ½ teaspoon (1.25 g) cinnamon
• ¼ teaspoon (.65 g) nutmeg

*we like Miyoko’s cultured vegan butter

Directions

Preheat oven to 350ºF (175ºC). Lightly oil an oblong 2-quart or 1.89 liter baking dish. Cook 50-60 minutes until golden brown.

Prepare the Cranberry Filling: Place fruit into prepared baking dish. Combine orange juice and extracts; set aside. In a small mixing bowl, combine sugar and citrus zests. Mix and press until the citrus oils have been released into the sugar. Add the spices and tapioca flour; whisk until thoroughly combined. Set aside.

Drizzle orange juice and extracts mixture over the berries, then sprinkle the sugar, citrus zest, spices and tapioca flour mixture evenly over berries in prepared baking dish. Set aside.

Prepare the Buttery Biscuit Crumble Topping: In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking powder and salt until well combined. Using a pastry blender, cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles a coarse meal with small pea-sized pieces of butter. Add vanilla and almond extracts to flour mixture. Toss and blend gently.

Assemble the Cobbler: Sprinkle biscuit crumble topping evenly over fruit filling.

Bake the Cobbler: Bake in preheated oven until topping is golden brown and filling is cooked through and bubbly, about 50 to 55 minutes.

Serve the Cobbler: Serve with scoop of vanilla ice cream and/or fresh whipped cream.

Yield: Makes 15-20 servings.

Nutrition Facts: serving size is 1/20th of recipe. Sugar: 11g added, 15 g total. Fiber: 4g. Protein: 3g.

Adapted from Cranberry Raspberry Crumble from WickedGoodKitchen.com

Adapted from the Ultimate Low-Fat Mexican Cookbook

Scott follows the directions for this recipe to the letter. I don’t because it’s faster just to blend all the prepared and blackened ingredients together and not worry about skimming the foam off the top. Using this method, I have made many more pots of soup than Scott has over the past twenty years.

But apparently it’s worth it go slow. A few people (a.k.a Anna, Maddie and Katie) have given me this helpful feedback. I am inclined to agree with them–Scott’s is tastier than mine–but there are too many weeds in the garden for me to be skimming foam off soup. That, and I would probably only make this terrific soup once a year if I committed to that degree of culinary care.

Happily, you may choose either quantity or quality on any given day with this excellent recipe. Experiment at will. If you find a shortcut to the tastier version, please let me know and I will print it here.

Tortilla Soup Fantástica

2 white onions, quartered

5 tomatoes, unpeeled, cores intact

olive oil

4 cloves garlic, chopped

2 14.5 ounce cans veggie broth

3 cp water

1 ancho or pasilla chili pod, stemmed, seeded and toasted

1 T olive oil

1 t ground cumin

2 corn tortillas, cut in small pieces

½ t coarsely ground black pepper

1 t salt

1 pinch cayenne pepper

1 T fresh cilantro, minced

2 T fresh basil, minced

Garnishes:

1 ripe (firm) avocado, cut into cubes

4 oz cheddar or mozzarella cheese

4 corn tortillas, in strips, toasted

Preheat an indoor or outdoor grill to the highest setting (or use middle oven rack to broil).

Rub onions and tomatoes with oil and grill on all sides until browned or lightly blackened. Finish cooking in a 350F oven on a cookie sheet for about 15-20 minutes. Cut the tomatoes in quarters and transfer onions and tomatoes to a blender or food processor.

Put the blended tomatoes and onions in a large stockpot. Add garlic, veggie broth, and water and bring to a boil. Add chili pod. Skim the foam from the top. Reduce the heat to low and simmer uncovered for 5-10 minutes.

In a small skillet, heat the oil and add cumin and tortillas. Stir and cook 1-2 minutes. Add the cumin and tortillas to the stock. Season the soup with pepper, salt, cayenne pepper and fresh herbs.

Simmer the soup for 10-15 minutes. Cool slightly. Blend the soup in several batches in a blender or food processor.

When ready to serve, bring the soup to a boil.  Adjust salt and pepper to taste. Garnish each bowl with 3 or 4 pieces of avocado, grated cheese, and toasted tortilla strips.

My mother and I did a little experiment today. It’s still in the oven. We’ll see what happens. I’ll let you know when I get it right. Meanwhile, apologies to my sister Delores, who let me have my way with her mind-blowing cheesecake recipe (published in my sister Ann’s If I Only Had the Time family recipe collection).

• 8 oz ricotta cheese
• 8 oz cream cheese
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 cup dextrose (or less if you use table sugar)
• 1/2 cup cocoa
• 1/4 cup plain gelatin, dissolved in 2 tablespoons cold water

Pour blended ingredients into two baking rounds and bake for 60 minutes on 350F.

Afterword

I was too lazy to make a crust. I said to Ma, “I should probably put some ground nuts in the bottom of the pans.” She looked at my unconvincing expression, shook her head and looked gently into my eyes. “You don’t have to.” So I didn’t! And you don’t either. It turned out just fine without a crust. But you go for it if you like.

In the end, Ma and I had a chocolate cheesecake in the oven and a batch of chocolate ice cream in the electric ice cream maker (see Glorious Chocolate Ice Cream). I asked her if she had any comments for Oil and Salt. She shook her head with a bewildered smile and said haltingly, “I think it’s…great.”

These days, in my mother’s post-stroke state of mind, she imparts to me a simpler outlook. She helps me care less about needless details and more about simple joys. Thank you, Ma.