HONEY CAKE

It can be a bit of a gamble at times when you make a recipe to take to a dinner party and it is the first time you have ever made this particular recipe.  There can be some risks that the recipe won't work, the cake doesn't rise or it tastes awful.  This didn't happen for me when I made a new recipe for a honey cake.  The cake rose, it didn't crumble when taking it out of the bundt pan, the bottom was not burned, and it tasted wonderful.  I made a few changes with the ingredients.  I didn't have orange juice so I used 1/2 cup of whisky and 1/4 cup of lemon juice.  I cut down on the sugar and used 1/2 cup sugar and 1/4 cup splenda instead of the full amount of sugar.  The original recipe called for 1.5 cups of white sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar.  I also dusted the cake with icing sugar once it cooled down.  In fact I dusted the cake with icing sugar the following day after baking.  I baked the cake early one evening after work, I made sure it cooled down before wrapping it with saran wrap and the next day I sprinkled it with icing sugar before taking it to the dinner party we were invited to.  It is recommended to make honey cake the day before you serve it to allow for the flavours to develop.

Batter mixed and ready to be poured into the pan.

I used a bundt pan to bake the cake.

Cooling after coming out of the oven.

I dusted the cake with some icing sugar after it cooled down.

Serving sliced pieces of cake.

HONEY CAKE

INGREDIENTS:

cooking spray

3 1/2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 tbsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

4 tsp ground cinnamon

1 sp ground cloves

1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

1 cup canola oil

1 cup honey

1/2 cup white sugar

1/4 cup splenda

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup strong brewed coffee (decaf is fine)

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup whiskey

DIRECTIONS:

Place an oven shelf in an upper position in oven, and preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Spray a 10-inch fluted tube pan (such as a Bundt® pan) with cooking spray.

In a bowl, whisk together the unbleached flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg until thoroughly combined. In a separate large bowl, whisk together the canola oil, honey, white and brown sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, coffee, orange juice, and whiskey. With an electric mixer, beat the flour mixture into the honey mixture just until the batter is thoroughly incorporated. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake on upper shelf in the preheated oven until the cake is golden brown and a toothpick inserted into the cake comes out with moist crumbs, about 1 hour.  Cool for 20 minutes in the pan before turning the cake out onto a serving platter.

Adapted from allrecipes.com

VEGETABLE SPAGHETTI SAUCE

With the abundance of tomatoes in the garden along with preferring homemade spaghetti sauce over store bought brands, I recently made a big batch of sauce.  I like my sauce to have vegetables and not just be concentrated tomato paste.  I freeze batches in generous one cup portions and I was able to freeze seven containers to enjoy over the next number of months.  

INGREDIENTS:

2 tbsp oil

2 onions, chopped

5-6 garlic cloves, chopped

3 celery stalks, chopped

1 coloured pepper, chopped

6 - 8 mushrooms, sliced 

1 small to medium size zucchini, chopped

15  tomatoes, skinned, and quartered

1/4 tsp hot pepper flakes

handful of fresh basil leaves, cut into strips

salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

In a large stock pot heat the oil on medium high heat, add  the onions, garlic and celery, reduce the heat to medium and saute for 7 to 10 minutes.  

Add the rest of the ingredients except the basil, cover the pot with a lid, heat to a boil and then reduce to simmer.  Add the basil in the last half hour of cooking.  Because you are reducing the water content in the sauce I like to stir the pot every 20 to 30 minutes.   Let it simmer for 2.5 hours or until you feel the sauce is concentrated enough.  Makes about 8 generous cups of sauce.    

POWDERED PEANUT BUTTER

On several shopping trips to one locally owned grocery store I have seen this product on the shelf.  I decided to buy it as I was intrigued.  It is powdered peanut butter.  I know some of you don't eat peanut butter for several reasons including mould on peanuts, it may be non-organic and allergies.  This product is processed as the fat is reduced, there is some sugar added and it is made into a powder.

I still like it even if it is processed and made into a powder.  I have been adding a tablespoon to my overnight oatmeal recipe and I must admit it is quite enjoyable.  It may be healthier for me to add real  almond butter instead to my oatmeal but the lower fat and calorie option in using this product has captured my taste buds and waist line.  The company also makes a chocolate powdered peanut butter.  I haven't tried it yet. There are other foods you can add this peanut butter powder to including smoothies, pancakes, thai stews, cookies and other recipes where you would add peanut butter.

PB2: Powdered Peanut Butter

INGREDIENTS:

Roasted peanuts, sugar, salt.
Serving size: 2 Tablespoons (12 grams)
Calories: 45
Calories from fat: 13

Value 

• Total fat 1.5 g 
• Saturated fat 0 g 
• Trans fat 0.01 g
• Cholesterol 0.01 mg 
• Sodium 94 mg 
• Total carbohydrate 5 g 
• Dietary fiber 2 g
• Sugars 1 g
• Protein 5 g
• 
  

BARLEY, BEAN AND MUSHROOM SOUP

We had company staying for several days and I wanted to make a big pot of soup to have for lunches.  I have always liked the combination of barley and mushrooms and I decided to add beans to have more substance in the soup.  I used dried navy beans, soaked them overnight, and made the soup early the next morning.  You can use other beans and also canned beans if that is more convenient for you.  If using canned beans, you can shorten the cooking time.  We all enjoyed the soup and I will definitely make it again.

Ingredients being added to the pressure cooker.

All set to go.

A bowl of wonderful tasting soup.

INGREDIENTS:

1 tbsp canola or olive oil
1 - 2 large onions, peeled and chopped
3 stalks celery, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
2 - 3 small potatoes, chopped
3 carrots, chopped
1 small zucchini, chopped
2 cups mushrooms. chopped
1/2 cup pearl barley
1/2 cup navy, dry and pre soaked
8 cups of water, chicken or vegetable broth
1 tsp basil or 5 leaves fresh
1/3 cup fresh dill, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Soak the beans overnight or for 8 hours in 3 cups of cold water.  Drain and rinse well.

Heat the oil on medium high heat in a soup pot and saute the onion, garlic and celery for 5 to 7 minutes.  Add the rest of the ingredients.  Heat to a boiling point and then let simmer for 90 minutes to 2 hours.  If the cooked soup is too thick, add some water to thin.  Serves 8 to 10.

If you are making this in an electric pressure cooker, you can saute the onion, garlic and celery in the pressure cooker if your cooker has that cooking feature.  Cook using the pressure cooker at medium heat for 21 minutes.

Adapted from Meal Lean i Yumm by Noreen Gilletz

CUCUMBERS WITH TAHINI DRESSING

I have a number of herbs in my fridge along with cucumbers and I found this recipe that uses herbs, cucumbers, tahini and lemon juice.  This sounded like a perfect marriage.  The dressing really complimented the cucumbers and this dish was enjoyed by my supper guests.

INGREDIENTS:

1.5 pounds cucumbers, peeled and cubed into 1/4 to 1/3 inch pieces
1 tbsp salt
3 tbsp tahini
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 tbsp warm water (may need to add more if tahini is really thick)
1/2 clove garlic, minced
zest from one lemon
1/3 cup red onion, chopped or 2 shallots, chopped
2 tbsp fresh mint, chopped
2 tbsp fresh basil, chopped
2 tbsp fresh parsley, chopped
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Toss the cubed cucumbers with salt in a colander. Let drain in the sink while you chop the other ingredients and make the dressing.

In a large bowl, mix the tahini, lemon juice and warm water. Stir to combine.  Add the garlic, lemon zest and onion.

Briefly rinse the cucumbers under cold water and pat to dry with paper towels.  Add the cucumbers to the bowl with the dressing and gently combine.  Add the herbs and salt and pepper to taste.  Mix.  Store in the fridge until ready to be served.  Serves 4 to 6.

adapted from www.simplyrecipes.com

TAHINI CHICKPEA DRESSING

Based on the reviews of this tahini chickpea dressing, I thought it would great as a dressing for salads and vegetables.  What is interesting about it is that it includes chickpeas.  It reminds me of hummus but it also includes ginger and nutritional yeast which is not found in typical hummus recipes.

In making this recipe, I used 1/2 tsp of store bought minced ginger.  I have bought several items from this company including minced ginger and sushi ginger.  I like using minced ginger because of the convenience.  I also used ground flaxseed instead of chia seed.  Because chia seed becomes more gelatinous after it sits in liquid I think it would be a better ingredient to use in the dressing as it would help make the dressing more thicker than ground flaxseed.  One to two cloves of garlic can be added to the dressing.  I used one clove as the cloves were not small and I didn't want to make the dressing overly strong with garlic.  The dressing lasts for several days in the fridge.  I will definitely make this dressing again.   I really enjoyed the taste.

A great condiment to have in your fridge

The dressing is ready to be stored in the fridge.

The dressing is added to a vegetable salad.

Tahini-Chickpea Dressing

INGREDIENTS

1/4 cup chickpeas

1/4 cup lemon juice

1/2 cup water

1 tbsp tahini

1/2 tbsp gluten-free tamari or soy sauce

1 tbsp chia seed or ground flaxseeds

1 tbsp nutritional yeast

1 – 2 cloves garlic, minced

2 tsp ginger-root, minced

Freshly ground black pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Place all ingredients into blender and process on high speed until thoroughly blended.  Refrigerate until well chilled. Dressing will continue to thicken while chilling.  Add extra water by the teaspoon if dressing is too thick.

Yield: 1 1/4 cups

Adapted from http://blog.fatfreevegan.com

UPDATE - ICE CREAM PAIL PICKLES

The cucumbers are plentiful in the garden this year.  It helps that the DH waters them, they grow up on a kind of ladder cages and we planted enough to counter any plants that might not survive during the early stages of growing.  A small challenge that is encountered is the DOG.  He likes to pull cucumbers off the plants, chomp on them and leave half eaten cucumbers on the lawn.  So it does require some vigilance at times to ensure he is not sampling the cucumbers.

I decided to tweak the recipe that I posted a few years ago for ice cream pail pickles.  I made the same recipe with a few adjustments.  I put the sliced cucumbers in a large mixing bowl.  I used a mandoline to thinly slice them.  I heated up the sugar, vinegars, salt and spices in a medium size pot to a boil and then let simmer for 10 minutes to ensure that the sugar had dissolved.  I think dissolving the sugar is important and making a non heated mixture doesn't ensure that the sugar is really dissolved.  I then poured the liquid over the cucumbers sitting in the mixing bowl.  You may think you don't have enough liquid but the cucumbers have their own juices and the volume of liquid does increase.

Instead of putting the cucumbers and liquid into a large ice cream pail and then placing in the fridge, I decided to use large canning jars instead.  I ensured that the jars and lids were clean but I didn't sterilize the jars in the oven.  There was enough made to fill four large jars.  It is easier to store and use the pickles in a jar than a large ice cream pail.  In the past I would be transferring the pickles from the ice cream pail that is kept in a fridge in the basement to a canning jar for storage and use in the kitchen fridge.  Now I cut out one step and made serving the pickles easier.   It will be a few days before I sample the first jar. 

FLOURLESS ZUCCHINI BROWNIES

My friend Marg posted this recipe on facebook and it looked too good to pass up.  Plus I had zucchini from the garden as an excuse to make these brownies.  These brownies don't require flour and are gluten free.  In making these brownies I used agave syrup for the sugar and only used almond extract in place of vanilla or maple extract.  I also toasted the pecans beforehand while the oven was warming up to bake the brownies.  Since I had an open jar of cashew butter in the fridge, I used that instead of the almond butter.  You can also use peanut butter.  I found that I needed to bake these brownies for over 40 minutes.  I added a bit more than 1.5 cups of shredded zucchini so the brownies were extra moist.  It is no use to save ends of zucchini in the fridge as the likelihood of ends being used up is not going to occur.  The batter and brownies are dark as I used dark cocoa.

The brownies are delicious and won't last long between ourselves and friends inhaling this baking.

Mixing the batter.

Ready for sampling.

Brownies

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup natural almond butter

1 ½ cups grated zucchini

½ cup maple syrup or agave 

1/3 cup raw cacao or cocoa

1 egg (vegans use 1 egg replacement)

1 tsp vanilla extract (option - use almond extract)

1 tsp maple extract (or use vanilla)

1 tsp cinnamon

1 tsp baking soda

1 cup pecans 

pinch of salt

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix all the ingredients together in a large bowl. Pour mixture into an 8×8 or 8X10 baking dish lined with parchment paper. Smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

adapted from http://www.beyondthepeel.net

RANCH STYLE DRESSING

Using a recipe from the cookbook 'Let Them Eat Vegan', I made a ranch style dressing using cashews. I have been using raw cashews in a number of recipes.  I like to soak them for about an hour before using them.  I will soak nuts for less time than that.  It depends on how far in advance I started to prepare a recipe.  I have read that soaking raw shelled nuts removes toxins, residues and tannins and the nuts are softer and smoother in taste and more digestible.  After soaking the nuts, the water is discarded.

I bought the cookbook 'Let Them Eat Vegan' earlier this year.  It has about 200 recipes and covers the range of recipes from breakfast to salads to sauces to soups to entrees to pastas and to desserts.  In one of my previous posts I described what I liked about this cookbook in terms of how a recipe is presented and alternatives that can be used.

This recipe uses raw cashews instead of tofu or soy milk to make the creamy base.  It takes a few minutes to make as it is made in a blender or food processor.  The dressing can be used on other things besides salad.  It can be used as a dip with veggies or spooned onto roasted baby potatoes.

Dressing mixed up and ready to be added to salad.

Here is the salad I ate using the ranch dressing.

INGREDIENTS:

1/2 cup raw cashews
2 tbsp lemon juice
1.5 tsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp tahini
1/4 cup chopped parsley
2 tsp fresh chives, chopped (if available)
1/8 tsp onion powder
1/8 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp Dijon mustard
1 tsp agave
1/2 cup water or milk or nondairy milk
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Combine all of the ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend until smooth.  You can thin it with water if you find it is too thick.   Store in the fridge.  Makes 1 1/4 cups.

QUINOA AND SHREDDED ZUCCHINI SALAD

Quinoa is one of my favourite grains.  I especially like to use quinoa to make a vegetable salad.  With zucchini making regular appearances in the garden, this salad is a great way to use fresh zucchini.  This is a simple salad to make and you can add or substitute other vegetables to the ones listed in the ingredient list.   This salad also tastes good the following day and leftovers are great for lunches.

I usually cook the light coloured quinoa.  I have bought the reddish brown coloured quinoa but haven't cooked it with the same frequency.  To use up the darker coloured quinoa, I mixed what I had with equal parts of the light coloured quinoa.

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup uncooked quinoa
1 coloured pepper, chopped
1/2 small shredded zucchini
a handful fresh parley, chopped
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
1 tbsp maple syrup
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS:

Cook the quinoa according to the directions.  Let cool.  In a large bowl, add all of the ingredients and mix well.  Serves 4 to 5.