Blackberry Basil Crumble | Animal Vegetable Miracle

I'm almost done with the Animal, Vegetable, Miracle the book that Anelise suggested I read. Its a truly wonderful book, and it has some great recipes. If you are at all interested in learning where your food comes from, and how the whole agricultural world works I suggest you pick up this book. I know - agriculture, yawn, but this book is so well written, it reads like a novel, a history lesson, and a cooking lesson, it's fabulous. It's not that I didn't have some grasp of how truly f'd up the whole government control of livestock and farms was, but this book arms you with so many facts and figures, that you just can't help but feel empowered to make better food choices after reading the book. I know really understand why local food may cost more, but why it's worth every penny to buy local.

This recipe is one of the many that are in the book, and also on the website. I'm not going to post the recipe because I'd like everyone to click the link and just mosey around the books website. The recipe can be found on the website by clicking the recipes link.

This recipe takes maybe 15 minutes to pull together and it was so good. We made five individual bowls on Friday, they were all gone by Saturday. A very unique and tasty dessert. Perfect for the summer months when blackberries and basil are in abundance. Enjoy.

Rating = So God Damn Good

Sole Wrapped Spinach

I don't think I'll ever have a problem eating fish. Maybe it's because I grew up on the north shore with the smell of salt air and ocean turns greeting me in the morning, or maybe, I'm just a hypocrite. I have a hard time eating something with legs, feet and an actual face that you can look at from the front and not have to shake from side to side to see each eye. I don't know, I've just never had a problem eating fish. They only thing that I will say is tough for me is the idea of putting a live lobster in a pot of boiling water. I don't think I'll ever be able to do that.

Anyway, I think CB was just about to drop dead if we didn't have something that wasn't vegetable or tree based for dinner. I had some small sole fillets and a box of frozen spinach in the freezer, and half an onion in the refrigerator. This is what that turned into. I defrosted and drained the spinach, diced the onion and cooked both of them in some olive oil with a little salt and pepper until the flavors had combined, about 10 minutes. I cut each sole fillet in half lengthwise because I was finding some little bones along the spine that I wanted to avoid, so I just trimmed out all the bones. I salt and peppered the sole fillets and then starting at the fat end of the fillet, piled a little bit of the spinach at the end, and then rolled it up tucking the small end of the fillet underneath. I sprinkled the rolls again with salt and pepper and cooked them in a 375 degree oven for 12 minutes.

I won't lie, they were good, but they were too subtle, they lacked something. CB suggested maybe I should have made a white wine sauce to go over the top before serving. I thought maybe I could have added a little feta cheese to the spinach mixture. Then CB said BACON, we should wrap the whole thing in BACON. People, the man absolutely does not listen to me, he has no idea what I am going through right now. I looked at him in shock, then he quickly said FREE RANGE BACON? Okay, he listens a little, but not enough.

Anyway - yes, they were good, but they needed something a little more punchy - if you have suggestions please send them along, because these were a great finger food size, perfect for cocktail parties, and I think they are quite impressive because they aren't your typical scallops wrapped in bacon or chicken wings, so I'd like to try them again.

Recipe:
4 sole fillets cut in half lengthwise
1 box frozen spinach, thawed and drained
1/2 onion minced
salt and pepper
Olive oil

In a large skillet heat olive oil over medium heat, add onion and cook until translucent, add spinach and cook until heated through, about 5 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Lay fillets on a large baking sheet sprayed with olive oil spray, season with salt and pepper. Starting at the fat end of the fillet, add about a 1/2 tablespoon of the filling to the end, roll the fish over the spinach mixture all the way to the end, tucking the small end under to keep roll intact. Repeat for the rest of the fillets.

Bake at 375 for 12 minutes.

Rating = So Good

Vegan Oatmeal Carrot Cake Muffins

It's that time of year, carrots, pumpkins, squash, everything orange. Orange is my favorite color, and it's not a far stretch to say that a lot of my favorite foods are orange, including the ones listed above. I've been having a craving for carrot cake, but I don't want all the fat of cake or cupcakes, so I decided to make a bread and muffin recipe that I could eat for breakfast, or top with an icing to eat as dessert at night. I took a recipe that I found on the Quaker Oats website, and made slight modifications so that it would be low fat and vegan. The icing I will say is not vegan, and it's not really low fat, I did use 1/3 less fat cream cheese, but I'm not kidding anyone, it's still fattening. The original recipe for the bread is located here the recipe below is how I modified it to be vegan and lowfat.

Vegan Oatmeal Carrot Cake Muffins
1 cup oats (quick or old fashioned, uncooked)
1/2 almond milk
1 (8-ounce) can crushed pineapple in juice, undrained
1 tbs ground flax seeds mixed with 3 tbs water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp all spice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon salt (optional)
1 1/2 cups shredded carrots (about 3 medium)

Icing:
4-ounces regular or reduced-fat cream cheese, softened
2 teaspoons firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
Omit to keep muffins vegan.

Heat oven to 375°F. Lightly spray bottom only of 12 muffin tins with cooking spray or grease lightly.

For muffins: Combine oats and milk in medium bowl; mix well. Let stand 10 minutes. Add pineapple (including juice), flax seed mixture and vanilla; mix well.

In large bowl, combine flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well. Stir in carrots.

Add oat mixture to dry ingredients all at once; stir just until dry ingredients are moistened. (Do not overmix.) Fill muffin tins to the top.

Bake 20 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean and crust is golden brown. Cool in pan on wire rack 10 minutes. Remove from pan. Cool completely. Store tightly wrapped.

For Cream Cheese Spread: Beat together all ingredients in small bowl until smooth. Store tightly covered in refrigerator up to 3 days.

Rating = So Go Damn Good

PS. You can most definitely add 1/2 raisins or walnuts to the mix - I just didn't have any on hand so I omitted them.

Breaded Butternut Squash with Katsu Curry Sauce

First, my apologies for the fact that this picture makes this dish look unappetizing, I swear to you it tasted awesome, it just is not a very photogenic dish. Please don't let this stop you from making it, because it was great. I first had this dish at Wagamama a few weeks ago and loved it so much that I ran back to my computer after lunch and googled the dish and found the recipe for the sauce on line. The original dish I had had eggplant and butternut squash covered in panko bread crumbs and deep fried. I didn't have panko bread crumbs, so I used regular, and I wanted to keep the dish as low fat as possible, so I opted to bake the squash in the oven (I omitted the eggplant because I had a lot of squash to use up). I will let you know in advance that the recipe that I followed for the sauce make enough to feed a small army, so half the recipe if you don't want to end up freezing 32 ounces of it like I did.

Here Goes

Katsu Curry Sauce (Wagamama)
2 tbsp butter
2 garlic cloves, chopped
half large onion, chopped
3 Granny Smith apples, chopped
2¼ pints water
2 bananas, chopped
2 tbsp honey
1 tbsp ground turmeric
½ tbsp hot curry powder
2 tbsp ketchup
15 fl oz chicken stock (I used vegetable stock)
2 tbsp cornflour
1 tbsp salt
2 tbsp ground black pepper

In a large saucepan, heat together the butter, garlic, onion and apple, mix together and fry briefly. Add in 1¼ pints water, then the banana, honey, turmeric, Madras powder and ketchup. Bring to the boil. Add in the stock. Mix together the remaining water with the cornflour. Add to the curry mixture with the salt and black pepper.

At this point I took the sauce cooled it a little bit and put it in a blender to mix up the bits of apple and banana that had not broken down (be very careful when doing this - hot liquid in blender = big mess if not done right)

For the Butternut Squash: I simply peeled the squash and cut it onto round disks about 1/4 inch thick. I sprayed each side of the disk with canola spray then dredged it in whole wheat flour, then into an egg/milk bath, then into the bread crumbs. I put the butternut squash on a cookie sheet that I had sprayed with canola oil and baked at 350 for 20 minutes, flipping the discs over after ten minutes.

I served the discs over a bed of white rice and then topped them with the curry sauce.

Rating = So Damn Good

Garlic and Lemon Hummus | ATK Light Recipe

Yeah, as you can see I'm still on the vegetarian bandwagon. I'm just still working through some of my food issues, so while that happens, I hope you enjoy vegetarian fare. I'm sure come Thanksgiving I'll be making cauldrons full of turkey soup, we'll see when we get there.

Two things.
One.
I got on the elevator this morning with a middle aged man, he had salt and pepper hair, and was about my height - I'm five two people, this was not a big man. I noticed that he had a back pack on, which struck me funny that a middle aged man, seemingly on the way to his professional job would chose a backpack, over say a briefcase, or a man's carry all. I was getting off on the seventh floor, he the fourth. As he exited the elevator, I noticed that the back of his backpack had his initials sewed into it, JED. Now this seemed too weird for me, as he exited it was more like he was in seventh grade on his way to science class, not fifty-ish and on his way to work. Am I wrong, are monogrammed backpacks a little too immature for the workplace? I don't know, It just struck me odd this morning.

Two.
A few years ago CB's office had a little open house party for all their clients. Basically it was just appetizers, wine and aren't we great, don't you love us conversation. CB has two bosses, it's a husband and wife team which I think is so great and so super crazy at the same time, if CB and I worked together, I'm sure one of us would not make it out alive. Anyway, when I got to the party, his female boss did hugs and kisses and then proceeded to tell me what kind of food they were offering in the way of appetizers. When we got to the hummus display she said "and we have this lovely whooooo-maaahhs. I shit you not this is how she pronounced it, I nearly burst out laughing, spraying bits of spittle all over her face. I thought she was kidding. She wasn't. I said to CB; "did you have any of the whooo-maaahs", he quickly shushed me, "they both pronounce it that way". Both of his bosses, husband and wife, pronounced it this way - the whole night I nearly peed myself every time anyone got near the hummus display. Am I wrong, is this the way its supposed to be pronounced, I assumed it was pronounced phonetically hum-mus (hummus), not whooomaaahhs. Anyway - now in the house this is how we pronounce it, because it brings a smile to our face, and because we are super mature.

This recipe is from the Best Light Recipes from America's Test Kitchen. It's another winner.
1 (15 oz) can chickpeas drained and rinsed
6 tbs water
3 tbs juice from one large lemon
2 tbs tahini
1 tbs extra virgin olive oil
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 small garlic clove minced
Pinch cayenne pepper

1.Process the chickpeas, water, lemon juice, tahini, 2 tsp of the oil, salt, garlic and cayenne together in the food processor until very smooth, 1 to 1 1/2 minutes, stopping to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.

2. Transfer the hummus to a serving bowl; cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate until the flavors meld, about 30 minutes. (The hummus covered can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. Bring to temperature and season with additional lemon juice, salt, and cayenne as needed before serving.) To serve, make a well in the center of the hummus, drizzle with remaining teaspoon of olive oil in the well.

Per 1/4 Cup Serving: Call 100; Fat 5g; Sat Fat .5g; Chol 0mg; Carb 10g; Protein 4g; Fiber 3g; Sodium 320mg

Rating = Damn Good

Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes and Artichokes | Lidia's Italy

First let me say that I watched the opening of the MTV video awards last night hoping that Miss Brit Brit would put on a bang up performance, all I can say is, start looking for another gig Miss Britney because you were terrible. It was literally like watching a high school talent show, and she was the lip syncing portion of the night, just horrible. But, may I also say that Sarah Silverman is HILARIOUS. God, that girl is funny. I just don't think enough people get her humor, which is dry and f'ing funny.

Moving right along. I saw Lidia's Italy for the first time on the Create channel a few days ago, and she did a wonderful show with three fast mostly vegetarian pasta dishes. I took a few notes while I was watching the show, and tried to make one of her dishes last night. I will say that there are very few ingredients in this dish, but it is just loaded with flavor. Even CB kept saying how flavorful it was, he also looked me straight in the face and said - "this would be great with some sausage in it." Whaaat? Obviously he doesn't read my blog or listen to me, or he had a temporary brain fart and forgot the whole what are you comfortable eating internal struggle I am having right now. This would be good with some sausage - thanks CB.

Well, for all his talk about the recipe being enhanced by the addition of sausage, he still went back for four helpings so I guess it was fine just the way it was.

Pasta with Sundried Tomatoes and Artichokes
1 lb pasta (use a shaped pasta that has ridges, like Lumache, Orecchiette, Radiatori, something that has ridges for the sauce to stick to)
1 jar sundried tomatoes
1 jar artichoke hearts (in olive oil)
4 garlic cloves sliced
zest of one lemon
salt and pepper

1. While pasta is cooking, heat olive oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add garlic and cook until slightly caramelized, about three minutes. Add sundried tomatoes to the skillet and cook until heated through, add artichoke hearts, heat through. Add the zest of one lemon, heat through. When the pasta is cooked to al dente, off the heat, and add two ladles of the pasta water to the skillet to make the sauce. Drain pasta and add to the skillet, turning over to combine sauce with the pasta.

If you would like to serve this as a vegan dish, just season with salt and pepper. If you would prefer to not serve this as a vegan dish, top with freshly grated Parmesan cheese after seasoning with salt and pepper. Yum

Rating = So Damn Good
Britney = So Damn Bad

PS. I took Anelise's advice and bought Animal, Vegetable, Miracle on Saturday - I can't put it down, it's so good. Thanks Anelise.