26 March, 2015

Trader Joe's Slow-Cooker Corned Beef and Cabbage

I use the Trader Joe's corned beef for the meat quality and spice blend.

Ingredients
  • 3-4 pounds of uncooked Corned Beef
  • One Apple, peeled, cored, and sliced
  • One Onion, sliced
  • One Cabbage, cored and sliced into wedges
  • 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
  • 1/4 cup Apple Cider Vinegar
  • 12 oz (1 1/2 cups) Porter or Stout Beer
  • Salt to taste
  • Black pepper
Turn the slow-cooker on to the high setting and add the meat.

Pour in the 12 oz of beer, 1/4 cup cider vinegar, and 1/4 cup of brown sugar.

Add the sliced onion and apple. 

Add black pepper (fresh ground please), and then add the cabbage wedges into the cooker. Any additional cabbage can be wrapped and put in the fridge for later (salad☺️).

Sprinkle with a pinch of salt.

Turn slow-cooker to low and let cook 7-8 hours.

Enjoy with bread, I like this recipe.

29 July, 2014

Sliced Cucumber Pickles

I made these pickles for the fist time a few years back. The book I found the recipe in is a little gem I stumbled across in a used book store, Stocking Up: How to Preserve the Foods You Grow, Naturally Rodale Press.

These pickles are sweet, perfectly spiced, and include delightful strips of onion throughout. I love these pickles so much that when we moved from Indiana to Oregon I tucked a box packed tight with a dozen quart jars of them into the precious space behind my seat and held my breath as we drove across the rocky mountains, waiting for them to explode. We all arrived safely, jars intact.

You won't get tired of putting them on sandwiches and burgers, or slicing them and using them for relish on hot-dogs. But if you're looking for something else to do with them, I promise you won't regret using them in tuna salad, or making home-made tartar sauce.

I know, you might look at me funny and ask if you're really ever going to have 30 cucumbers laying around. Well, to that I say feel free to halve or quarter the recipe.

Yes, you will need to dust off your canning equipment for this one. It's a serious, delicious pickle that you can stick on the shelf and forget about. For an easier refrigerator pickle, check out this post.

Bread and Butter Pickles:

  • 30 medium cucumbers, sliced
  • 10 onions, sliced
  • 4 Tbs Salt 
Sprinkle the vegetables with the salt and let stand and drain for one hour in a large strainer or cheese-cloth.

Meanwhile, in a very large pot combine the following:

  • 5 cups vinegar (cider vinegar is great, but white is fine)
  • 2 tsp celery seed
  • 2 tsp ground ginger
  • 2 cups sugar or honey
  • 1 tsp turmeric
  • 2 tsp mustard seed
Let the spiced vinegar come to a boil, add cucumbers and onions and bring to boiling point. Simmer 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and ladle the pickles into sterilized jars.

Process 10 minutes at simmering water-bath. Place on countertop and let cool to room temperature. Remove rings and store in a cool dark place.

27 May, 2013

Tomato Spice Cake

Be not afraid.

 Remind yourself that a tomato is actually a fruit. Take a bite, and then pinch yourself. Yes, this rich and pleasantly spiced bunt would be totally incomplete without our garden favorite--the tomato.

Also, it's eggless. Surprise!

Please feel free to enjoy this cake without icing, it'll be grand without it too.

Ingredients:
  • 4 Tbs Butter or Coconut Oil
  • 2 cups Sugar
  • 2 cans Condensed Tomato Soup
  • 2 tsp Baking Soda
  • 3 cups Flour
  • 2 tsp Cinnamon
  • 1 tsp Nutmeg
  • 1/2 tsp Cloves 
  • 1/2 cup Sun Dried Tomatoes (please for heaven's sake make sure they aren't flavored with garlic, onion, or anything else that doesn't belong smothered in cream cheese icing.)

Method:
  1. Preheat oven 350º F or 176º C
  2. Cream butter or coconut oil with sugar until well mixed.
  3. In another bowl combine the two cans of tomato soup and baking soda, stir well to combine. Mixture will expand, make sure you have a large enough bowl.
  4. When the tomato mixture begins to calm down, mix it into the sugar mixture. 
  5. Add the flour and spices to the tomato and sugar, mixing only until combined. Then add the dried tomatoes.
  6. Bake in a well greased pan for 55 minutes and let cool completely before turning out of pan and icing.

Cream Cheese Icing:
  •  4 oz Cream Cheese (half a package, room temperature)
  • 1 Tbs Butter or Coconut Oil
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla
  • 1 cup Powdered Sugar
Method:
  1. Beat the cream cheese and butter or coconut oil until you get a uniform mixture.
  2. Add vanilla followed by the powdered sugar.
  3. Beat until the mixture is well blended-- without lumps.
Enjoy!

17 May, 2013

Mega Healthy Brownies

I cannot get this recipe to you fast enough. It looks a little insane, but somehow... it isn't.

Substituting the oil for pureed beans is simply ingenious. All kinds of Asian sweets are made with delicious sweet bean pastes. The next time I put these together I'm using Azuki beans, which are known for their excellent flavor in the fillings of mooncakes, dango, and mochi. 

The resulting brownies are light and flavorful, filling and oddly satisfying. Benefits of this recipe include an eggless, fatless, and potentially dairy free sweet treat. Let the allergy ridden, and the diet restricted celebrate!


Ingredients:
  • 1 cup Black beans, cooked (or 1/3 cup dry beans soaked then boiled until soft.)
  • 1 cup Milk, yogurt, or a non-dairy milk substitute
  • 1/2 tsp Vanilla
  • 1/4 cup Whole wheat flour
  • 1/2 cup All-purpose flour
  • 1/2 cup Dark cocoa powder
  • 1/2 cup Sugar
  • 1/2 tsp Salt
  • 1 tsp Baking powder

Method:
  1. Preheat oven 375º F (190º C)
  2. Puree the soft beans in a blender or food processor with the milk, yogurt, or non-dairy substitute of your choice. Add the vanilla to this mixture.
  3. In a medium bowl combine the flours, cocoa powder, sugar, salt, and baking powder.
  4. Pour the liquified mixture onto the flour mix and stir until just combined.
  5. Lightly grease an 8"x 8" baking pan and pour the mixture in. Decorate with fruit or nuts (optional).
  6. Bake 20 minutes, remove from oven and let cool before cutting into squares.
Enjoy!

Note: Dark cocoa powder makes a striking difference compared to average cocoa powder.

16 May, 2013

Homegrown Tomatoes Week 5


The tomatoes are growing perfectly. I stop by the windowsill once a day to turn them to promote even growth. I rotate them 90º until they reach 4 inches tall, at which point I transplant them to recycled paper containers with more leg room, and start I turning them a full 180º each day instead.

They only need water every few days. However, lately I've noticed these little flies that always crop up in my potted plants. Does anyone know the identity of this dainty little creature? They've never done any harm so far as I can tell.

I'm having a lot of fun dreaming about where to put them outside. I'm an apartment dweller, with a small north facing patio and a little patch of dirt on the south side bordering the parking lot. I really want to put a tomato in a big hanging pot on my patio and let it spill out luxuriously. I'm thinking I'll place the rare rutgers tomatoes by the parking lot for plenty of sun. The pear variety is supposed to be unbelievably productive and I'm expecting it to do well, even with a north facing exposure.