TURKEY SHEPHERD PIE

I cooked a large turkey this week and of course there are leftovers.  Besides the turkey, I had leftovers of cabbage rolls, gravy, mashed potatoes and stuffing.  After having turkey three days in a row, I had had enough turkey and we needed to go to Plan B.  Plan B is making things using turkey.  I followed up with three things. I froze part of one turkey breast and decided to make soup and shepherd's pie.  I had already frozen the carcass and bones after the meat was initially carved for future soups.

Using some of the fresh cooked turkey meat, I will make turkey rice vegetable soup.  I plan to add the three leftover cabbage rolls and these will add great flavour to the soup.  But that will be done  tomorrow.  Tonight, after supper was done, I made the shepherd's pie.  I decided to add some of the stuffing to the mashed potatoes as the top layer.  I had enough leftover mashed potatoes but thought adding the stuffing would add flavour and since the stuffing was really tasty I wanted to use some of it.  This recipe is adaptable to adding different vegetables depending on what you like.  I used a medium size pan, about 9 X 13 or so inches.  If you have less leftover turkey and mashed potatoes, you can use a smaller pan.  You can also use sweet potatoes instead of white potatoes.  If you don't have leftover mashed potatoes, you can cook 2 to 3 potatoes and mash them to add as the topping.  I froze the assembled pie and will bake it for a future meal in a month or two.

Assembled and ready to freeze.

INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp oil 

1 clove garlic, minced

1 onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 carrots, chopped

peas and corn - optional

2 to 3 cups chopped turkey 

1/3 cup gravy 

salt and pepper to taste

2 cups mashed potatoes

1 cup leftover stuffing

1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese

DIRECTIONS:

Using a medium to large frying pan, add the oil and heat the pan using a high temperature.  Add the onion and garlic and reduce heat to medium.  Sauté for 5 minutes, stir often and don't let the onions get brown.  Add some water if the onions and garlic are sticking to the frying pan.  Add the remaining vegetables and continue sautéing and stirring for about five minutes.  Add some water if the mixture is sticking.  Add the turkey and gravy to the pan and combine well.  Turn the heat off. 

In a medium size bowl, combine the stuffing and mashed potatoes.  Add 1/4 cup of the grated cheese to the potato mixture and combine.

Into a baking pan, add the cooked vegetables, turkey and gravy.  Layer the mashed potatoes mixture on top.  Cover the top with the remaining 1/4 cup shredded cheese. Wrap it up for freezing or bake at 350 degrees F for 30 to 40 minutes.  If it is frozen and then placed in the oven, the baking time will be longer.   Serves 4 to 5 people. 

VEGETARIAN SHEPHERD'S PIE

This recipe is a remake of the traditional shepherd's pie but uses kidney beans instead of ground beef. It uses cheese but could be made using vegan cheese or nutritional yeast. I liked using kidney beans as the bean base as they are a larger hearty bean and I think better suited to this dish than using black beans or chick peas. The shepherd's pie turned out well and it was enjoyable.  I also like mashed potatoes which goes well with everything. Well almost everything.  I haven't tried mashed potatoes and chocolate but I have tried chocolate potato chips which I liked.

Carrots and celery added to the bottom of the casserole dish. 

The kidney bean mixture is layered over the carrots and celery.

Mashed potatoes and shredded cheese provide the top layer. 

INGREDIENTS:

1 onion, chopped            

2 cloves garlic, minced

1/3 cup chopped walnuts or almonds            

19 oz can kidney beans, drain and rinse

1 small can tomato paste            

1 tsp Worcestershire

1 tsp soy sauce            

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tsp herbes de provence or add marjoram and dried basil or use fresh thyme and basil

1 cup water

2 cups diced celery            

2 cups diced carrots

5 medium potatoes            

½ cup milk

½ cup shredded cheese            

Parmesan cheese to cover top

DIRECTIONS:

1. Peel, cut small & cook potatoes; drain & mash with the ½ cup milk and ¼ cup of the cheese.

2. Sauté in olive oil, the onion, garlic and walnuts for 5 minutes; add kidney beans, tomato paste, water, Worcestershire, soy sauce and herbs.  Bring to boil then simmer for 20 minutes.

3. Microwave carrots and celery in small amount water until almost cooked, drain & put in bottom of a sprayed casserole dish.  I used a large Corel casserole dish.

4. Top with the hot bean mixture.

5. Spread hot mashed potatoes over top; sprinkle with shredded cheese then Parmesan.

6. Bake @ 350°F until bubbly (about 30 minutes)  Serves 6.

MAUREEN'S BIG BATCH CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIES

In the 1980's a friend gave me this recipe for chocolate chip cookies.  Both of us were in school and baking big batches of cookies and other recipes made it more convenient between studying, going to classes and looking after yourself.  I haven't made this recipe in years and it still tastes as good when I made them today.  

I followed the original recipe except that I used Splenda in place of the white sugar.  I did not add the peanut butter.  I also decided to experiment and use mini tart baking shells instead of making all of them in the traditional cookie shape.  I wanted to make small cookies that would be easy to freeze and also easy to transport to share at work and with friends.  I like the smaller size as they are about 3 bites.  Using the mini tarts baking shells, I made 8 dozen and I also made about 17 cookies in the traditional way.  I used a teaspoon of batter, not heaping, in the mini tart shells.  The cookies were enjoyed by the DH.

I used my large bowl KitchenAid  to mix the batter.

Adding the chocolate chips as the last step.

I flattened the batter in the mini tart baking shells. Ready for the oven.

Cooling down before I remove them to place on wire racks.

The cookies taste as good as they look.

INGREDIENTS:

2 cups crisco or other shortening
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
2 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
4 1/2 cups flour
2 tsp baking soda
2 tsp salt
12 ounces chocolate chips

1/2 cup peanut butter (optional)

DIRECTIONS:

Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.

In a large bowl or mixmaster, cream together the shortening, brown and white sugar and vanilla.  Add the eggs.  Mix well.  Add the flour, baking soda and salt to the mixture and combine.  Add the chocolate chips and peanut.  

Using a generous teaspoon, place spoonfuls of the batter on a large cookie sheet, flatten with a fork and bake for 8 to 10 minutes.  Provide some space between each cookie as they do spread.  Makes between 9 to 10 dozen cookies. 

EGGPLANT VEGETABLE CASSEROLE

Having bought two eggplants, the purple globe variety, I was thinking about various recipes that incorporate eggplant.  I wanted to make a main entree   versus an appetizer or a spread like baba ghanoush. 

After reviewing a number of cookbooks and recipes collected over time, I thought about making stuffed eggplant. I have made this dish over the years from one of my first vegetarian cookbooks that I bought, the Vegetarian Epicure. In making stuffed eggplant, you are limited to how many vegetables you can sauté because the vegetable eggplant mixture has to be put back into the shell of the eggplant that was cut in half lengthwise. The stuffed eggplant is then baked with a coating of bread crumbs or a mixture of wheat germ, shredded cheese and milk to make a finishing paste. My intention was to make this as the entree for supper.  

I did come across one recipe from Forks Over Knives cookbook for stuffed eggplant that also included brown basmati rice. I proceeded to make rice in the rice cooker.

While cutting and chopping and looking at the vegetables that I wanted to include I thought about not trying to stuff everything back into the shell of the eggplant and instead make a casserole. 

I used a large frying pan for all of the vegetables I added: onion, garlic, celery, green beans, eggplant, spinach, tomato and mushrooms. This amount would have been far too much to add to four eggplant shells. I combined the vegetables with the cooked rice and placed it into a large baking dish. 

I added some feta cheese and nutritional yeast on the top of the casserole and baked it for 30 minutes. When serving it, I added a bit of shredded gouda cheese to the individual dishes to make it cheesier. Both myself and the DH liked the casserole.  

Just out of the oven.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup of uncooked brown basmati rice

1 tbsp oil

2 medium size eggplants, peeled and cubed

1 medium onion, chopped

2 garlic cloves, minced

4 stalks of celery, chopped

4 mushrooms, chopped

handful of fresh green beans, chopped

2 handfuls of fresh spinach, coarsely chopped 

2 tomatoes, chopped

1/4 cup fresh cilantro, chopped

salt and pepper to taste

cheese for topping, e.g. feta or nutritional yeast

DIRECTIONS:

Cook the rice per the directions on the package.  I used a rice cooker to cook the rice.

Heat the oil on medium high heat in a large frying pan. Add the onions and garlic, reduce the heat to medium and sauté for five minutes. Make sure to not over brown the onions and garlic. You can reduce the heat to medium low. Add the eggplant, celery, mushrooms and green beans and place a cover on the frying pan. Sauté for five minutes and stir occasionally. If the vegetables are sticking, add some water to the pan. Add the spinach and tomatoes and continue to cook for a few more minutes with the lid still on. Add the cilantro and salt and pepper to taste. Turn the heat off and add the cooked rice to the pan.  Combine well.  Place into an oiled large baking dish, sprinkle cheese on top and bake in the oven for 30 minutes at 350 degrees F.  Serves 4 to 6. If you are serving it as an entree it will be closer to 4 portions. 

LIME CORNMEAL CAKE

For years I have read the food columns that Mark Bittman has written in the New York Times, have many of his cookbooks and VB6 books. I have written about him in previous posts. His latest cookbook is 'How to bake everything'.  It has just been published. I don't have a copy yet but I have been reading his blog with the new recipes. One recently posted caught my attention, lemon cornmeal cake. You can substitute ingredients and it is a quick cake to make.  The main ingredients are eggs, butter, sugar, flour, cornmeal, lemon juice and zest. It includes ricotta cheese but if you don't have ricotta you can use buttermilk instead.  You can also add blueberries, slivered almonds or other fruit or nuts.  

I didn't have lemons in the fridge but had limes that needed to be used. So instead of adding lemon juice and lemon zest, I used lime zest and fresh lime juice.  I also added half a cup of frozen cranberries.  The recipe uses 1.5 sticks of butter.  I pondered about using butter or coconut oil and did use butter.  One and half sticks of butter equals three quarters of a cup of butter.  The recipe uses one cup of sugar and instead I used half a cup of splenda.  My concession to making the recipe lower in calories and sugar. 

The cake was delicious and it will be one to make on a frequent basis. 

Batter in springform pan and ready to go into the oven.

Out of the oven and onto a serving plate.

Here is the link to Mark Bittman's blog site for the ingredients and directions to make this cake - 
Mark Bittman's recipe for lemon cornmeal cake.

DOG COOKIES

A colleague at work recently provided me with a recipe for dog cookies.  It is very simple to make.  It is based on tuna for protein and flavouring.  When I first read the ingredient list I thought these dog cookies could easily become savoury crackers.  I didn't use the best quality tuna in that I used light solid tuna in water.  I made likely 5 dozen cookies as I rolled them out thinly.  Both the dog and I like these cookies.  I did some sampling along with the dog after they came out of the oven.  We both thoroughly enjoyed them.  For the next batch that I make, I might half the ingredients and make less cookies.  If I was making them as savoury crackers, I would add herbs and roll them out very thinly.

Cooling off on the baking sheets.

In a storage container that is kept in the fridge. 

INGREDIENTS:

1 - 8 oz tin tuna in water, drained
2 cups cornmeal
2 cups flour
3/4 cup water
2/3 cup oil
1/2 tsp salt

DIRECTIONS:

Using a mix master or food processor, add all of the ingredients into the bowl and mix on a slow speed for several minutes. If it is too dry or not binding, add a little bit of water and continuing mixing for another minute.  The mixture should resemble dough.  Roll out in the cookie pan to 1/4 or 1/2 inch thickness.  Score the dough into rectangular squares.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes.  Let cool in the pan.  Makes at least 3 dozen cookies.  Store them in the fridge. 

BLACK BEAN AND CHICK PEA SALAD

I was thinking about what to make for lunches this week.  I had my mind set on making pureed squash soup with carrots, apple and ginger.  But I came across a recipe that someone had posted on Instagram with a link to the blog site simple veganistic.  The recipe looked very interesting and it was made to resemble a balela salad sold at Trader Joe's.  I didn't have all of the ingredients listed on the blog including fresh mint or a spice called sumac.  I decided to improvise and added more vegetables, used less beans, used less olive oil and added cumin.  It is a wonderful salad and thanks to simple veganistic for figuring out the salad that Trader Joe's sells.  Maybe next week I will make squash soup.  I plan to add this bean salad to a bed of chopped lettuce to have for lunches this week.  This bean salad should keep for four or five days in the fridge but I think it will be consumed much quicker than that. 

INGREDIENTS:

1 can (540 ml) of chick peas
1 can (540 ml) of black beans 
2 mini cucumbers, diced
1 small red onion, diced
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 coloured pepper, diced
2 tomatoes, seeded and diced
large handful of fresh parsley, chopped
2 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp olive oil
1 clove garlic. minced
1 tsp cumin
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Mix the beans and vegetables in a large mixing bowl.  In a separate small bowl, mix the lemon juice, oil, garlic and cumin.  Add to the salad.  Season with salt and pepper.  Makes about 6 one cup servings. 

TOMATO JAM

Several years ago I made a tomato pate using small cherry tomatoes.  I used it as an appetizer and made enough that I would be taking it to friends' homes when invited over for a meal.  I had been thinking about making this pate again as the recent tomato haul from the garden was pretty good.  There are lots of tomatoes to use and to just freeze them doesn't help me as there are still frozen tomatoes in the freezer from last summer.  Recently a friend posted a recipe on facebook for tomato jam that she had just made.  She thought it was great.  This recipe is a bit different than the one I made several years ago.  I thought I would try it as variety is always good.  The original recipe called for 3/4 of a cup of sugar but I thought that would be too much so I decreased the quantity.  I also used only 1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes instead of a full teaspoon.  I don't always seed tomatoes when using in recipes but I did seed these and it does make a difference especially as the tomatoes are cooked down and you don't want to a concentration of tomato seeds.  For the tomato pate recipe that I made several years ago, the cherry tomatoes were not seeded (that would have been a futile exercise seeding small cherry tomatoes) and I found it to a very dense seedy pate.

What do you use tomato jam for?  Tomato jam can be used in place of ketchup, on a cracker with cheese, as an ingredient in salad dressing, in a grilled cheese sandwich or used as the sauce in a pizza.

To cook the jam, I used a Staub cast iron cooking pot.  Le Creuset or other heavy cooking pots would also work to cook this jam for several hours and not worry about it sticking to the bottom of the pot.  The jam is very good and the red pepper flakes add enough zip to make it more of a bolder taste.

Jam starting to cook for the next few hours.

INGREDIENTS:

1/3  cup sugar
1/4 cup white wine vinegar
1/4 cup water
10 cups of ripe tomatoes, skinned, seeded, coarsely chopped
1 tsp red pepper flakes (optional)
1/2 tsp kosher salt

DIRECTIONS:

Add the sugar, vinegar and water to a 6 quart heavy duty cooking pot.  Heat to a boil, reduce heat to medium and cook for about five minutes.  Stir occasionally as you want the liquid mixture to be a bit syrupy.  Add the tomatoes, red pepper flakes and salt.  Heat to a boil and reduce the heat to a simmer. Cook for about 2 to 2.5 hours until the tomato jam has thickened.  Stir occasionally especially as it thickens.  Season with more salt if required and let cool.  Place into small jars and either keep in the fridge or freeze.  If left in the fridge it should last for several weeks.  Makes about 3 cups.

Adapted from www.finecooking.com

STACKED VEGETABLE CASSEROLE

In a recent post, I provided a recipe for an eggplant, zucchini and tomato bake.  This recipe also uses eggplant, zucchini and tomato but it is prepared differently and includes leftover mashed potatoes.  I like this recipe as the bottom layer of mashed potatoes acts as crust and also soaks up the juices from the vegetables.  I used a large pan for this casserole and took leftovers for lunches for several days.  Leftover casserole was a good change from soup for lunches.  

Layer of mashed potatoes as the base.

Next layer is eggplant.

Zucchini is layered over the eggplant.

Sliced tomatoes over the zucchini.

Cheese including fresh mozzarella was added during the baking.  Vegetable casserole ready for eating.

INGREDIENTS:

leftover mashed potatoes, about 3 medium to large mashed potatoes

1 eggplant, peeled and thinly sliced

1 medium size zucchini, thinly sliced

1 can of sliced mushrooms or 6 fresh mushrooms, sliced

1/2 red or sweet onion, chopped

3 tomatoes, sliced

salt and pepper to taste

cheese for topping - cheddar, fresh mozzarella or feta

oil for greasing casserole dish

DIRECTIONS:

Grease a large pan, 9 X 11 or 9 X 13.  Place a base layer of mashed potatoes and spread evenly across the pan.  Add the next layer of eggplant followed by the zucchini.  Distribute the onion and mushrooms across the pan and then add the tomatoes.  Add salt and pepper to taste. 

Place the pan in a preheated oven at 375 degrees F and bake for 30 to 40 minutes.  Halfway through the baking, pull the pan out of the oven and add the shredded or sliced cheese based on personal preference.  Return the pan to the oven to finish baking.  Serves 8.

SLOW COOKER SPAGHETTI SAUCE

While visiting friends several weeks ago, they served this spaghetti sauce over homemade pasta.  It was delicious.  They had already made a batch of this sauce and froze it in containers for future meals so it was simple meal to put together as the homemade pasta was also made in advance and had been frozen.

With the tomatoes ripening from the garden, I had over 20 tomatoes that needed to be processed, frozen or cooked with.  I decided to make this spaghetti sauce and got the recipe from my friends.  She had gotten this recipe from a friend of hers many years ago. The recipe comes from this site.  I have provided the original recipe and directions in this post.  

I made some changes as I wanted to use fresh tomatoes, I didn't want to use tomato sauce and I decided to add a small can of tomato paste.  I skinned and cored about 20 to 25 tomatoes, then coarsely chopped them and added them to the crockpot.  For the ground beef I used lean ground beef and for the sausage I used one mild italian sausage and one hot italian sausage.  These sausages are made in one of the grocery stores that I frequent.  I also added two stalks of chopped celery to the crockpot.  I didn't add any bay leaves to the recipe and used frozen basil leaves. 

Instead of cooking this sauce during the day, I decided to cook it overnight and put all of the ingredients together in the evening and just let it simmer away overnight.  I woke up to the smell of spaghetti sauce.  It had been simmering for ten hours.  It needed a few good stirs.  There was some sauce stuck to the bottom of the pot which I worked at to loosen it up.  The downside of cooking this overnight is that you can't open the crockpot lid and stir it every hour or two.  Since the sauce was more liquidity than I liked, I added two more tablespoons of minute tapioca.  I turned the cooking heat off of the crockpot and let it sit for two hours.  After some taste testing and asking the DH for his sampling opinion, I added a little bit of splenda and agave.  It needed something to counter balance the acidity from the tomatoes.  I didn't seed the tomatoes that I added and seeds when cooked over a period of time can add a bitter taste.  All in all the spaghetti sauce tastes great and I will make this again.  Since it is a large batch, I will freeze it in batches for future meals.  If you want to make this into a vegan or vegetarian sauce you can easily substitute the beef and sausage for a soy based product. 

All ingredients added and ready to be simmered for 10 to 12 hours.

Ingredients:

1 lb ground beef

1/2 lb Italian sausage

1 onion; chopped

2 garlic clove; minced

2 cans of tomatoes; 16 oz each, chopped

2 cans tomato sauce; 8 oz each

2 cans mushrooms; drained and chopped 

1 green or coloured pepper; chopped

4 tbsp quick cooking tapioca 

2 bay leaves

1 tsp dry basil, or use fresh - 6 to 8 leaves

1 tsp dried oregano

salt and pepper to taste

Directions:

In a frying pan on medium high, add the ground beef, sausage, onion, and garlic until meat is brown and onion is tender; drain off fat.  I added a little bit of oil and cooked the onion and garlic first for a few minutes. 

While the meat is cooking, into a medium to large size crockpot, combine undrained tomatoes, tomato sauce, mushrooms, green pepper, tapioca, bay leaves, oregano, basil, pepper, and salt. Stir in the browned meat mixture. Cover and cook on low-heat setting for 10-12 hours or high heat setting for 5-6 hours. Remove bay leaves.  Makes 8-10 servings. 

EGGPLANT, ZUCCHINI AND TOMATO BAKE

I don't buy eggplant all the time though I do like it.  I bought two eggplants the other day at one of the local grocery stores.  I decided to make a simple vegetable casserole with eggplant, zucchini, onions, tomatoes, celery and red pepper.  You can also add sliced mushrooms if you wanted.  The following pictures show the layering I did with the vegetables and parmesan cheese.  I used more of a shallow dish but if you used a deeper dish you could layer the eggplant, zucchini and tomato mixture and then repeat these layers topped with parmesan cheese.   The dish was delicious and it was not overly tomatoey like a lasagna.

After baking.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tbsp high temperature cooking oil, e.g. avocado or grape seed
1/2 large onion, chopped
1 celery, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/2 red pepper, diced
3 medium size tomatoes. chopped
1 large eggplant, peeled and sliced into rounds, about 1/4 inch thick
1 large zucchini, sliced in half, and then sliced lengthwise, less than 1/4 inch thick
1/2 tsp italian seasoning
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese

DIRECTIONS:

In a non stick pan, heat the oil on medium high heat.  Add the onions, celery and garlic and sauté for 3 minutes.  Add the red pepper and tomatoes, reduce heat to medium and sauté for 4 to 5 minutes, stirring often.  Add the italian seasoning and combine with the tomato onion mixture.  Remove from heat.

Using a 13 inch baking casserole dish which I added coated with a little bit of oil, layer the eggplant, followed by the zucchini.  Then add the tomato onion mixture and speed it over the zucchini slices.  Top with the grated parmesan cheese.  Bake at 375 degrees for 35 to 40 minutes.

KOREAN BEEF SHORT RIBS

I use my slow cooker throughout the year, it is a cooking tool that I use even if it is a warm sunny day.  Some foods taste better in a slow cooker than on a barbecue.  I bought a package of boneless beef short ribs to make for a Sunday supper meal knowing that I could probably get another one to two meals from it to have during the week.  When buying packages of meat at Costco I don't buy the largest package nor do I always buy the smallest package, I settle on something in between.  What I like about these boneless ribs is that the fat has been trimmed and they still have marbling but not excessive amounts of fat that I would feel the need to trim away.  They are also long strips of meat which I cut in half to make it easier to searing and cooking.

In thinking about recipes I decided to look at a new cookbook I recently bought by Michelle Tam and Henry Fong.  The name of the book is 'nom nom paleo'.   Michelle Tam has a good website and I knew about her recipes and style of cooking before I bought the book.  The cookbook has great illustrations and it also provides information on basic cooking techniques.  I decided to try this recipe in her cookbook based on a few things.  I liked the sauce you poured over the beef short ribs and I happened to have an Asian pear that is used in the sauce.  You don't need to use an asian pear, you can also use a regular pear and if you didn't have a pear I would use an apple.  The recipe is based on six pounds of bone-in beef short ribs.  I had a smaller amount of boneless ribs, 2.3 pounds so I decreased the amount of each of the ingredients by two thirds but I added the whole Asian pear.  I didn't add the broth as I thought the sauce would provide enough liquid.  One of the ingredients is coconut aminos which is used instead of soy sauce.  I have coconut amines and when I opened up this new bottle it looked like it had fermented.  Instead I added Dr. Bragg liquid soy seasoning which I use instead of the regular soy sauce.  The recipe also calls for fish sauce which I didn't have so I left it out.  I used a shallot instead of scallions called for in the recipe ingredients.  If you can sear the meat before putting it in the slow cooker it adds to the flavour.  I seared the meat in a large cast iron frying plan on top of the stove.  Another option is to broil the meat in the oven for five minutes on each of both sides of the strips of the ribs.  Slow cooking the ribs for 7 to 7.5 hours was enough cooking time.

Once the ribs finished cooking and it was plated, I asked the DH if he liked it - he said they were pretty good.

Seared ribs wedged in on the bottom of the slow cooker with the sauce starting to be added.

Strips of boneless ribs piled on a serving plate.

Baby potatoes served with ribs. 

The flowing link to the recipe on Michele Tam's website is where you will find the recipe - slow cooker korean beef short ribs.

RHUBARB CAKE

It is that time of year again - rhubarb is coming up in the garden.  With an upcoming potluck at work, I decided to make rhubarb cake.  I doubled the recipe provided below and it was not any more difficult to make.  You can also create a crunch topping of butter, cinnamon and sugar to add to the top of the batter in the baking pan but I skipped doing that.  I thought that the cake would be sweet enough and the crunch topping would make more crumbles which I want to avoid since I will be cutting the cake into servings beforehand.  I didn't have buttermilk so I used almond milk and added a tablespoon of vinegar to the measuring cup to sour the milk about 10 minutes prior to adding it the batter.   Great tasting rhubarb cake!

The mix master does a great job in combining all of the ingredients.

Ready for the oven. 

Out of the oven and cooling.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup butter or vegetable shortening

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups flour

1 tsp baking soda

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup buttermilk 

2 cups rhubarb, chopped into small pieces

1 tbsp flour

DIRECTIONS:

In a large bowl or mix master, cream the butter and sugar.  Add the egg and vanilla and combine well.   In another bowl mix the flour, baking soda and salt.  Instead of adding all at once the flour mixture and buttermilk to the butter sugar mixture, add the flour and buttermilk mixture in portions and mix after both portions are added to the butter sugar mixture.  Using a mix master, I had it mixing the whole time and added the flour mixture and buttermilk in 1/3 portions.  Using the empty bowl from the flour mixture, add the chopped rhubarb and tablespoon of flour.  Mix the flour around the rhubarb and then add this to the cake batter. Mix well. 

Pour the batter into a 9 X 13 inch baking pan.  I lined the baking pan with parchment paper to make it easier to cut into portions once it cooled after baking.  Bake at 350 degrees F for 45 minutes or until done.  Makes about 16 - 18 servings.

Modified from all recipes. com

CAULIFLOWER VEGETABLE SOUP WITH DILL

Cauliflower is not as expensive as it once was during the winter and I have started to buy it more often.  I have a few favourite recipes for cauliflower and one of them is including it in soup.  I also love dill and the addition of dill to any soup always adds great flavour.  Dill grows in my garden and I freeze it during the summer and fall for future use.  I will even freeze the fresh dill that I buy in the grocery store if I am not using it fast enough and I don't want it to spoil in the fridge.  A bowl of this soup can be capped off with a tablespoon of grated Parmesan cheese. 

INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp oil or butter
2 cloves of garlic minced
1 large onion, chopped
2 large carrots, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
2 medium potatoes, chopped
1 medium head cauliflower, chopped
4 cups of broth - vegetable or chicken
1 tsp dried dill or fresh to taste
salt and pepper to taster
1 cup milk

DIRECTIONS:

In a large soup pot, heat the oil or butter on medium high and add the garlic and onions.  Saute for five minutes on medium low.  Add the carrots, celery and potatoes and cook for another five minutes. Add the broth and cauliflower and bring to a boil.  Reduce heat to a simmer and look for 30 to 45 minutes.  Using an immersion hand blender, puree about half of the soup, add the milk, dill and salt and pepper and let it heat for five minutes.  Serves 6.

Modified from all recipes.com

VEGETABLE TOMATO LENTIL SOUP

At work we talk about recipes and food that we are considering making.  One colleague brings a wonderful looking vegetable lentil soup from time to time.  We have all admired her soup and she has shared the recipe with us along with samples one lunchtime.  I made it today and actually made it overnight using a crock pot.  Friday morning I started to soak the lentils and let them swell in the fridge for the day.  You are probably wondering why I soaked the lentils as they don't need to be soaked prior to cooking.  I soaked them in order to limit the amount of liquid they absorb while cooking.  If you only have a short time to get these lentils to soften up, soaking them ahead of cooking will definitely help.  Friday night I assembled all of the ingredients and added them to the slow cooker.  I also added some leftover cooked sausage (1 1/2 sausage) and a can of sliced mushrooms.  I didn't have any canned tomato soup in the pantry so I added a small can of tomato paste.  Because the tomato paste would provide a concentrated taste of tomatoes, I added two small frozen tomatoes instead of a large can of diced tomatoes.  I set the timer for nine hours before going to bed.  Upon waking up this morning, I smelled the wonderful flavours of this soup.  The chopped spinach was added for the last fifteen minutes of cooking time.

The soup has a great taste and will be consumed for lunches this week.

VEGETABLE TOMATO LENTIL SOUP

1 ½ tsp vegetable oil

1 large onion, chopped

2 stalks celery, chopped

2 cloves garlic, minced

8 cups chicken broth

1 can (28 ounces) tomatoes, diced

1 - 10 ounce can undiluted tomato soup

2 cups brown or green lentils (washed)

3 carrots, peeled and chopped

2 cups yams or sweet potatoes, peeled and diced

1 ½ tsp dried oregano

1 tsp ground cumin

1 tsp salt

¾ tsp ground coriander

½ tsp black pepper

1/8 tsp nutmeg

2 cups packed fresh spinach, chopped

Soaking the lentils:

To reduce the amount of liquid that the lentils absorb while cooking, you can presoak them.  Put the two cups of lentils into a four cup measuring cup and fill it to the four cup level with water.  The lentils will swell to the top of the measuring cup.  Instead of keeping the lentils in the four cup measuring cup to absorb the water, I transferred them to a mixing bowl that was larger than a four cup measuring cup.  I was worried about the lentils flowing over the top but as I found out later, they will only swell up to the amount of liquid provided.  I let the lentils soak for the day as I made the soup overnight in the slow cooker.

Stove top option:

Sauté onions, celery and garlic in oil for three to four minutes.  Add remaining ingredients, except spinach.  Bring to a boil.  Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 30 to 40 minutes, stirring occasionally.  Add spinach and simmer for 15 more minutes.  Serves 8. 

Slow cooker option:

Add all of the ingredients except for the spinach to a 7 quart or larger slow cooker.  Cook for eight to nine hours on low temperature.  Add the chopped spinach and continue cooking for another 15 minutes.  Serves 8.

Recipe modified from Breasts of Friends.