4 medium potatoes
6 (vegan) Just Egg portions or 6 eggs
oil (safflower, canola or light olive oil)
Almond Mylk
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
Katherine’s Blue Cornbread
This recipe comes from my sister Katherine (April 2021):
Blue Cornbread Dreams
We used organic blue corn masa flour, which must be sifted.
1 cup sifted cornmeal
1 cup flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 to 4 tablespoons sugar (optional)
1 egg
1 cup milk
1/4 cup melted fat or oil
Mix dry ingredients together in a medium sized bowl.
In a small sized bowl, beat egg. Add milk. Add oil or fat. Add to dry ingredients.
Fill mixture into the larger bowl, stir just enough to mix. Fill greased 9×9 pan half full (we used oil).
Bake at 425F degrees 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly browned. Yields 6 servings.
For corn muffins, use recipe for cornbread. Fill greased muffins pans half full of cornmeal mixture. Baking time will be 15-20 minutes. Yield 12 servings.
We made a meal with pinto beans and the cornbread. Very good!
Baked Kale Chips
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!
Harissa
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!
Cranberry Apple Crumble
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
Dueling Falafel
Tonight I’m going to try one of these recipes. Notice the first one calls for deep frying the falafel patties. I’m not going to do that. The second one calls for an oil-coated baking dish. I’m going to try that, but I also wanted to compare the amounts of oil each recipe calls for inside the patties. – Helen
from TouchpointIsrael.com:
2 c vegetable oil, for frying
2 *T extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 c dried, raw chickpeas, soaked 20-24 hours
1 bunch scallions, coarsely chopped
4 cloves garlic, coarsely chopped
1/4 c loosely packed fresh parsley leaves
2 T freshly squeezed lemon juice
2 t ground cumin
2 t ground coriander
1 1/2 t kosher salt
1 t baking powder
- Mix the drained chickpeas, scallions, garlic, parsley, olive oil, lemon juice, cumin, coriander in a large bowl.
- Pulse small batches in a food processor until the chickpeas are finely chopped.
- Sprinkle the baking powder over the mixture. Pulse the chickpeas again until the mixture forms a ball when you squeeze it in your hand.
- Scoop the falafel into 2 tablespoon-sized balls and place on a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
- Heat the oil in a 10-inch straight-sided skillet over medium-high heat
- Lower 6 falafel at a time into the hot oil and fry until deep golden-brown, flipping them halfway through, 5 to 7 minutes total per batch. Remove the cooked falafel to a paper towel-lined baking sheet.
- Serve the cooked falafel in a warmed pita with yogurt or tzatziki sauce (below), tomatoes, feta cheese, and shredded lettuce.
from CookieandKate.com:
- ¼ c olive oil, for coating pan
- 1 T extra-virgin olive oil
- 1 c dried, raw chickpeas, soaked 20-24 hours
- ½ c roughly chopped red onion (~ ½ small red onion)
- ½ c packed fresh parsley (mostly leaves)
- ½ c packed fresh cilantro (mostly leaves)
- 4 cloves garlic, quartered
- 1 t salt
- ½ t (~ 25 twists) freshly ground black pepper
- ½ t ground cumin
- ¼ t ground cinnamon
- Preheat oven to 375F. Pour ¼ cup of the olive oil into a large, rimmed baking sheet and turn until the pan is evenly coated.
- In a food processor, combine the soaked and drained chickpeas, onion, parsley, cilantro, garlic, salt, pepper, cumin, cinnamon, and the remaining 1 tablespoon of olive oil. Process until smooth, about 1 minute.
- Using your hands, scoop out about 2 tablespoons of the mixture at a time. Shape the falafel into small patties, about 2 inches wide and ½ inch thick. Place each falafel on your oiled pan.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, carefully flipping the falafels halfway through baking, until the falafels are deeply golden on both sides. These falafels keep well in the refrigerator for up to 4 days, or in the freezer for several months.
Sauce
- 1/4 cup tahini
- Zest and juice of 1 small lemon
- 1 tablespoon white miso
- 2 garlic cloves, pressed
- 2 tablespoons fresh dill, chopped
- 1 tablespoon fresh parsley, chopped
- Pinch of cayenne
- 1/3 cup water
Pulse in a mini-blender until smooth.
*T = tablespoon, t = teaspoon
“Traditional” refried pinto beans
We served these at my birthday party a few weeks ago and some friends (Hi, Kasha and Debbie!) wanted the recipe and we said, “Sure, we’ll send that to you later this week!” and that never happened so this is our apology to them for our tardiness…
As much as I don’t have a drop of Hispanic blood in me (23andme says I’m 99.9% Northern European…) I like to think I can make a good pan of refried beans–the original of this is from Helen’s mother and grandmothers (…) but has been modified to use oil instead of lard or bacon grease–I’m not sure if Helen misses the original or not, but she prepares them this way also, so I’ll take that for what it’s worth!
Ingredients
- 3 cups dried pinto beans
- olive oil; other oils such as sunflower will work, too. Not sure exactly how much on this as we pretty much just add until it seems right
- salt. Lots of salt. At least it seems like a lot of salt–at least a couple of teaspoons in the end
- freshly ground black pepper; to taste
Preparation
So the beans obviously take a long time to cook and there are different ways to get that done depending on time available and whether or not you remember to soak them the night before. There are just a few key things to know about it:
- use enough water; it should be inch(es) above the top of the beans. If you are pressure-cooking them, then follow the guidelines for the pot as you don’t want to plug the valve (we have a few stories about that)
- bring the beans + water to a boil for a couple of minutes, then drain the water and refill with fresh water. This supposedly gets rid of some of the compounds that cause digestion problems for some people.
- cook them for a long time–or what seems like forever. If they’re gritty (my description) or crunchy (Helen’s word) at all, then they’re not done. For non-pressure-cooked beans this will likely be more than an hour and a half even after soaking. Of course, you don’t want them too soft either so pay closer attention after they’re almost done… This is where cookbooks fail, if you ask me–they say things like “cook for 5 minutes” and you think “oh, I need to cook it for 5 minutes” but you really need to just cook it until it’s the right amount for whatever you’re trying for…
Once the beans are done, do not discard the water! Get a big cast-iron skillet pretty hot–on our electric stove (I know, I know, real cooks use gas stoves) I set it to about an 8 out of 10 and let it get hot. When it’s hot enough (it doesn’t need to be max as you’re not trying to really fry the beans) start ladling in the beans with some water from the pot. You want some water in there but it should be mostly beans. Think of just using a measuring cup to scoop the beans up getting mostly beans.
Anyway, once you have the skillet mostly full, add a bunch of oil–just drizzle it around the top and mix it in. We probably end up using 3+ (or more–it’s really hard to tell!) tablespoons in a batch. Add at least a teaspoon of salt and grind some black pepper on top and mix it all up and let it heat up and bubble.
At this point you should start mashing/stirring the beans using something like a potato masher (in a pinch, you can use the back of a large spoon, but that’s somewhat masochistic). I like leaving a bunch of beans unmashed but I admit that tastes vary on that–a lot of people like smooth refried beans, but not me! (I also like lump mashed potatoes–some say I’ll write that recipe up!)
Reduce heat and keep stirring until it’s able to simmer without burning on the bottom and let cook for a few more minutes. Add more salt. Yeah, it’s “to taste” but everyone seems to like the “salt” part of “beans, oil, salt”. Add some of the reserved bean water if it needed.
Blistered Green Beans with Shishito Peppers and Mushrooms
I admit it, I saw this in a Whole Foods mailer and thought it sounded good and so we tried it for *Thanksgiving 2018 and people loved it. Go figure!
The original calls for including 1/4 teaspoon salt when blistering the ingredients but that just seems to end up with a bunch of what looks like ash on the pan bottom so I’m going to go out on a limb and suggest just truly dry blistering followed by the sprinkling of salt after it’s out of the pan.
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons miso paste; I used white miso paste
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice; I used a whole medium lemon and have no idea if that was even close to 2 tablespoons
- 1 tablespoon water (measured that one, I did!)
- 3 tablespoons olive oil
- 12 ounces haricot verts (French green beans), ends trimmed
- 1/8 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
- 3/4 teaspoon salt; Morton’s seemed too plain so I used Redmond’s
- 6 ounces shishito peppers
- 6 ounces mushooms; I used crimini
- lots of caramelized onions
Preparation
Caramelized onions (as topping) can be made by chopping 1 medium yellow onion into longish pieces and medium-cooking them for a long time in a skillet.
In a small bowl whisk miso, lemon juice, water, and olive oil until smooth and set aside.
Place large cast-iron skillet over high heat and when very hot add green beans and red pepper flakes. Let sit undisturbed until blistered on the bottom–maybe 2 minutes or so, then attempt to rotate so that blisters are upside so you can blister other parts. Note that this is easier said than done and that in the end you’ll probably just have to scooch them around to get them evenly blistered. Sigh. Anyway, remove them when they’re starting to soften and put them in large enough serving bowl. Do the same with shishito peppers, but after you take them out, I highly suggest clipping the stems off of them with scissors (it’s kind of a pain to try to pick out the stems when eating them otherwise). Ditto with mushrooms.
When the veggies (well, actually mushrooms are not a fruit or a veggie, but you know…) are all in the serving bowl, add the salt, drizzle the sauce over the top, turn a bit to coat everything, then put the caramelized onions on top.
*Notes from Helen
Thanksgiving 2018 at Delores’s house included: Delores, Lana, Deboro, Elle, Scarlette, Ivy, Ann, Karen, Helen, Scott, Anna, Maddie
We had a veggie Thanksgiving due to the fact that Delores tried to cook a frozen turkey in four hours. Lovely spread nonetheless. Little Svays played with cardboard jungle animals; Elle & Scarlette wrote thankful thank you cards for Aunts Karen and Helen; Lana shared her mindfulness work at her neighborhood charter school; Anna played piano in the background; Maddie enjoyed the little girls.
Tortilla Soup
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.