Corn Chowder

Friday is CSA pick up day.  Once again, Fair Weather Acres did not disappoint, and i came home with a giant muskmelon, a dozen ears of corn, more peppers, giant scallions and more.  

I'm not a huge fan of corn on the cob.  Maybe it's the childhood punishment of having to shuck ear after ear, or the 6+ years of having to pick it out of my braces.  Even if i was, Duncan and i couldn't possibly eat a dozen ears of corn ourselves in just a few days.  The last time we got this much corn, I froze it, so that we could have some ready to go for recipes or a side.

This time, i decided to try my hand at making corn chowder.  It's not something i've made before, but i have enjoyed it.  When Duncan said it was one of his favorites, i decided to go for it.

I decided to start from Corn Chowder with Chilies from The Pioneer Woman.  Her recipe seemed flavorful, easy and i'll admit it, her photography could probably make anything look delicious and amazing.  I wanted to go with more items from my CSA, however, so i made some modifications.

some of my ingredients

• 6 ears of corn, shucked and cut off the cob 
• 2 slices of bacon (i tried her trick with just cutting the end and it came out great)
• 1 onion
• 1 large scallion (these were giant,you'd probably need several regular sized ones)
• 2 Tbsp butter
• 1 green pepper
• 1 red pepper
• 1/2 jalapeño pepper
• 4 cups vegetable stock   You could use chicken stock if that's what you have on hand.
• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• Salt to taste
• 3-6 Tbsp corn meal
• 1/4-1/2 cup water

Over medium heat, place the bacon in a pot or dutch oven (yay i got to use mine!) and let it cook down so the fat starts to be released.  

Add the onion and scallion, stirring occasionally until the onion starts to become transparent.  (You could also add the peppers at this step if you wanted them to be more cooked in the final product).

Add the butter to the pot and allow to melt.

Add the corn and stir.  I added the peppers at this point as well, and they stayed fairly crisp in the chowder.  Allow to cook for a few minutes, so things start to get bright, stirring frequently.

Add the vegetable stock and cream.  If your vegetable stock is dark, don't panic, the cream will lighten up the color.    

Bring to a boil over medium high heat.

In a separate bowl, mix the corn meal and water, starting with 3 Tbsp of corn meal and 1/4 cup water.  Add to the pot, and allow to simmer for 15 minutes.  

If the chowder is not thick enough, mix the remaining corn meal and water and add to the pot, simmer for another 10 minutes (approximately).  

veggies before adding stock and cream

We ate this with a sweet sausage and bread.  It was good enough Duncan told me to keep the recipe, which may be a first.  

Baking FAIL

This weekend some friends and i went camping, to celebrate Aimee's birthday.  Birthdays require cake.  But she is not eating much animal product (vegan as practical?), and seeing if removing gluten from her diet helps with some health stuff, which means not just any store-bought cake would do!  OK, and it's Miss Aimee the Cookie Mistress and no store-bought cake would do anyway, she's one of the best bakers i know!

Aimee loves salt.  She's taught me to be a little less fearful of it, and even taught me to add it to things i might not otherwise, like frosting, to add a little pop.  Also, we recently went to Tanglewood, and passed on some local salted caramel ice cream that all made us go "oooh".  I've never made caramel before (and it will show during this saga), but thought it sounded like a fun challenge.

It's a good thing sugar isn't expensive this was a complete fail, even after several tries.  And so the trash can had a feast.  These were my first attempts at a gooey filling (the sugar never melted enough) and harder decorative caramel (burnt).

Try #1 for filling came out grainy and gritty.  The sugar never melted enough, I think because i left out the 'optional' water, there was never enough moisture for it to get really soft.  

Try #1 for a harder caramel that i could break and use for decorating the cupcakes.  I let it get too dark and it burned.

I feel like maybe next time i should do some research about caramel before hand, as i ended up scrambling and not sure what i was looking for (hence so many failures!).  

This just wouldn't get hard, it kept melting at room temperature!

And here is Try #2 for a filling.  It's was way too thin.

The second time i adapted a non-vegan recipe, and substituted almond milk for the heavy cream.  This obviously cut the fat content way down.  Again, i maybe should of let this boil longer, as it was thin when i transferred it to the jar, but i was afraid of repeating my previous over-cooking error.  After a night in the fridge it was much more sticky and caramel like, but when i tried to use it, it was clear, it was way too thin.

I decided that the cupcakes should have a little more depth, rather than a single flavor note, so I made chocolate cupcakes, using a similar process to my lemon cupcakes.  These, however, were gritty, somethign didn't properly incorporate, either the flour or the cocoa.  But they looked ok, right?

Sadly, Aimee did not get cupcakes.  My time ran out before i could make a new batch of anything.  I would totally fail a reality TV cooking show audition.  We did, however, put candles in a cooked banana with chocolate chips and marshmallows for her on Saturday.  

Still, i will make these darned cupcakes for her!  Ian says that this is a sign i'm becoming a better baker, that i can tell things are not right and pitching them rather than making my friends suffer through my mistakes or something.  

Gluten-free, vegan lemon & raspberry cupcakes (AKA Baking without a net)

July 4th was an important day in the domestigeek's life.

See, there was a low-key bbq to attend, with the usual Olympus family.  The perfect opportunity to attempt the kohlrabi chips i'd been thinking about.  And make up some German potato salad, an easy crowd pleaser that is safe for most diets because the ingredients are so simple.  But of course, i wanted something sweet.

I'd just done the fat kids salty-sweet cookie day, and it's been hot here in CT.  Stupid hot.  And humid.  (And awful for spending time in the kitchen, but maybe i'm a little twisted). I'd been thinking about doing chocolate cupcakes with coffee icing and heath bar chips on top, to play on Duncan's favorite ice cream flavor, but it felt too hot for chocolate.

For whatever reason, lemon was calling to me, and i thought lemon squares, but that seemed too advanced, and most of the vegan recipes called for tofu, something i knew i wouldn't be able to get Duncan to even try.

But then i found inspiration!  Lemon and raspberry cupcakes!  But this recipe was complex and i didn't want to spend the small fortune on the various flours and whatnot, if they even all were available at Stop & Shop or Whole Foods (and who wants to make 2 grocery store trips?).

So i did some more research, looked at several gluten free cupcake recipes and went to town.

Although it's not perfect, the Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour is decent for a base flour.  I hope to experiment more and maybe come up with a better blend when Aimee and Ian and i do Science Day (stay tuned for that adventure!), but i was willing to dumb down the flours to that.

I then had to consider the vegan element.  A cake needs the proper proteins to get the right texture.  I hate using egg replacer, because there is something kinda sketchy about it in my head.  So what would work?  I decided that this gluten free vegan recipe would be my base, which has apple cider vinegar, baking soda and water.

So for the cupcakes, this is approximately my recipe:

2-3 cups gluten free all purpose flour
1 cup sugar (yes, i know, sugar can contain bone char, which isn't vegan, but the lovely folks i'm most often baking for are comfortable with sugar, if you want an alternative, i'd suggest researching your brands or using turbino sugar)
1.5 teaspoons baking soda
0.5 teaspoons salt
0.3 cup canola oil
1 teaspoon lemon extract
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
1 cup water
zest of 1 lemon
squirt of lemon juice

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 
2. Line a dozen cup muffin pan with paper liners. (i also used a silicone liner to make a 'test' cupcake, there was plenty of batter
3. Sift together the dry ingredients (start with 2 cups of flour and sugar, baking soda, salt).
4. Add the oil, extract, vinegar, and water, and zest. Mix together till smooth.  My batter was very loose and i ended up adding more flour until i liked the consistency.  You want something akin to a cake batter, loose, but not watery.  I also tasted it and decided to add some lemon juice to up the flavor.  
5. Pour into lined muffin cups, filling 3/4 full. These seemed to rise fairly well.
6. Bake for 20-25 minutes.  Test with a toothpick, if it comes out clean you're good. 

These had a dense, spongy but soft texture.  I think next time i may reduce the amount of water to account for additional wet flavoring (lemon juice).

As i waited for these to cool i made a raspberry filling.  This was definitely a little tart.  If you'd like something sweeter, add more sugar.

1 bag frozen unsweetened raspberries

1.5 cups sugar

1-2 cups water

1. Thaw the raspberries with about 1/2 cup sugar
2. Put the raspberries in a saucepan and cover with water, add another 1 cup of sugar.  Simmer, stirring often and allow mixture to reduce to a thick consistency.
3. Strain some of the seeds out with a strainer.  
4. Fill a pastry bag with the mixture.  Using a narrow tip, insert into the cupcakes and squeeze gently (Wilton has some pictures to explain).  

Mine weren't perfect, but it did work!  Expect some leakage on the tops, but you'll cover it with frosting, so it'll be ok.  Next time, more sugar and maybe something to thicken it up better?  I'll do some research and report back.

The last part was the frosting, after all, a nice creamy frosting is one of my favorite cupcake elements!  

I've grown up on Domino Sugar's buttercream frosting recipe (although now i know Aimee's secret of a little salt, it'll never be the same).  Of course, this relies on butter, which is not so vegan.  Here's where a little playing comes into effect.  Earth Balance is great for baking, so long as you can do soy, but it's texture isn't as hard as butter, so the frosting isn't quite right.  You need to up the ratio of sugar to get the right thick texture.  I can't exactly quantify this, but i tested it as i went by seeing how stiff the frosting was on the spatula.  When it held it's shape without melting, i decided it was thick enough.  Because of the heat in my kitchen i also suspect i had a harder time establishing the right texture.

3 cups confectioners sugar

1/2 cup earth balance (i usually get this at stop & shop in the butter/margarine area)

3-4 tablespoons lemon juice

1 tablespoon lemon extract

zest of 1 lemon

1. Combine ingredients in a bowl and mix on medium, adding sugar as necessary for a thick texture.  This isn't a strict recipe, you can alter the flavor elements to taste, just remember the more wet you add the more sugar you'll need for that thick creamy texture.  You want to minimize the amount of liquid you add, so start small and add slowly.  If it's too thin add more sugar, too thick, add more wet flavor in the juice or extract.  

I topped these with raspberries.  Ta-da!

Salty Sweet

This weekend i must have had a particular craving for salty-sweet, as i tried out two new recipes.  I had to alter each to make things edible for my gluten-free and vegan friends, but they were still SO delicious, i have to share.

Chocolate Chip Potato Chip Cookies - i used regular old Lay's chips which came out fine.  I substituted Earth Balance for the butter and used Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free All Purpose Flour for the flour.  I could of been braver on the salt application on top, but these were awesome and very easy to make.

Salted Oatmeal Cookies - Again, i swapped out Earth Balance for butter and used Gluten Free flour.  I also substituted a few tablespoons of applesauce instead of using eggs.  I added a little more cinnamon than the recipe called for, but also let the raw dough sit for longer in hopes of getting the oatmeal softer, which worked.  They didn't get too puffy, like sometimes dough does, but these were a huge hit.

When i asked my friends which they preferred, they all asked if i could just put potato chips in the oatmeal cookies.  I'm pretty proud of both sets, since i felt i was working without a net in making these GF and vegan.  I love when my experiments create tasty results!!!

Bruschetta

Another non-recipe recipe for summer.  This is one of my go-to favorite dishes to bring to a party or potluck in the summer, and tastes delicious even a day or three after making it.

So first off you need some tomatoes.  In years past i've used plum tomatoes, because you don't want this to be too watery.  Having now made it with heirloom cherry tomatoes, i'm not going back.  The smaller tomatoes were easier to work with, and having a variety of color and taste was awesome.  But really, you just need tomatoes, cut into small pieces and thrown in a bowl.  Leave out the watery goop if you use full size tomatoes.  SUPER EASY, right?

Mince up some garlic.  My tomato averse spouse has explained to me that this really is simply a carrier for garlic and basil, but i actually enjoy the taste of tomatoes, so however much is up to you.  For this much i used about 8 cloves.

Take that garlic and a little extra virgin olive oil (a tablespoon-ish) and heat it up in a skillet.  Just get the garlic golden brown so it's not overpowering.  5 minutes maybe.  Let it sit off the heat while you do the next step.  No stove?  It'll taste fine with raw garlic.  Be sure to really mince it fine is all.

Cut up some basil.  Do fresh, none of that dried nonsense.  It'll look prettier and taste better.  I like to roll up a pile of leaves inside each other and then slice, to make thin ribbons without bruising the leaves.  Throw that in the bowl with your tomatoes.

Remember the garlic and olive oil?  Into the bowl.

Next add a tablespoon or two of balsamic vinegar to that bowl.  Gently mix.

You can add salt & pepper.  I tend to skip that because of the dietary needs of my family.

You can make it the night before, covered and refrigerated to really let the flavors mix, but if you're rushing it'll still be awesome so long as you use good ingredients.

Serve with sliced up french bread (toasted or plain), on top of salad greens, on top of chicken, on top of pasta... really, it goes good with a lot of things.  Add a little mozzarella cheese if you like.  

Thanksgiving

Yesterday, my husband and I did the most rebellious thing we could for a holiday - spent it together with just the two of us.  The last few weeks have been hard, with little time to spend together, if at all, so this was just what we needed.  I did most of the work in the kitchen, which was OK.  I thought I'd share my Thanksgiving Menu, which of course left TONS of leftovers for just the two of us, but that was partially intentional.  Most of the recipes were taken from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook my MIL got us a while back.  I'm finding the recipes are basic enough for me to follow, but still add my own ideas to.

* Appetizer: Baked brie with craisins

1 8oz brie, cut in half horizontally (making two wheels). Fill with about a tablespoon on melted butter, about a tablespoon of brown sugar, cinnamon to taste and about about a 8th to 6th of a cup of craisins. Bake at 350 for about 15 minutes. Served with crackers.

* Turkey: Followed Fannie Farmers directions (mostly)

Rinsed and dried outside of turkey. Filled cavity with peeled & sliced onions and sprigs of parsley. Put salt & pepper on the outside, then rubbed butter on the outside. Put it, breast side up onto a parchment paper covered rack in a baking pan, and made a tin foil tent for the top of the breasts. Cooked for a few hours at 350, until it got to 180 according to the thermometer. We basted it every 20 minutes with butter and then the drippings in the pan. This came out super moist and yummy.

* Stuffing: Stove top.  Totally cheated.  It was eh.  I'm not a big stuffing fan to begin with, but my husband loves it.  Meh.  Next time i'll do it from scratch too.

* Potatoes: Roasted yukon gold, russet and sweet potatoes with rosemary and thyme.

This is one of those i can make anytime and do a thousand ways and they come out awesome. Cut up potatoes into bite size-ish chunks. Use what ever kind you like. I like to do a mixture for flavor and texture, but you don't have to be so fancy. I used 3 large potatoes and half a bag of tiny potatoes, enough to make a single layer (mostly) in a casserole dish. Drizzle olive oil and spices (i used rosemary and thyme, but there are no rules about it). Stick in the oven until tender. I usually cook these at a higher temperature, but since the turkey was hogging the oven, they were at 350 and took a little over an hour.

* Veggie: Asparagus, pretty much just like the potatoes.  Washed it, broke off the bottoms since they're not tasty and arranged on a cookie sheet.  Drizzled olive oil, then rosemary and thyme (keeping the flavor profiles together!) and stuck in the oven for about 15-20 minutes at 350.  Tasty and simple!

* Gravy: Followed Fannie Farmer's advice and used the pan drippings and flour.  This was the husband's big contribution.  Although he wanted to get fancy i encouraged him to keep things simple.  He rushed a little, so things were a little thin but still tasted awesome.

* Pumpkin bread with chocolate chips: Used the Fannie Farmer pumpkin bread recipe and added chocolate chips instead of nuts, because dear husband is not a fan of nuts.

* Apple pie (of course!): Again, Fannie Farmer for the dough and basics, but had a little fun with spices.  Used a nice mix of apples that gave some good texture and a little tartness.  I don't like totally uniform apple pies.  With the leftover dough i made some flower cut outs, which made me happy.  She didn't mention doing an eggwash on the top of the pie, but i always grew up doing so, for browning and shine, so i did.

Overall everything came out great (except the stuffing).  I'm really proud of myself and think next year we may host thanksgiving!

Apple Crisp (Gluten Free!)

I live in central Connecticut, and, like the rest of New England, we're in quality apple season.  It seems like someone brings in a bag from some orchard every week to the office to share, and the grocery store is full of different varieties.  I'm looking forward to another trip to my favorite local orchard soon.  

Saturday had a meeting of the gender/sexuality/relationships conference I organize, and to be both a good guest (it was at the home of some friends) and good leader, I try to bring some food to the meetings.  One of the residents is avoiding gluten and doesn't do much dairy.  Also, I had bags of apples, so a crisp it was!  

I vaguely based my recipe from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook my MIL bought us a while ago.  

1) Grease a baking dish.  You could use something like Earth Balance if you wanted to do this totally vegan.

2) Peel & slice up apples.  I did wedges, but think next time I will do more chunks.  I used about 8 apples with 3 different varieties.  Toss them in the baking dish with a little lemon juice, and sprinkle about 1/3 cup water over them.

3) The crisp part was 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup almond meal, 1/4 cup rice flour, a little salt, cinnamon, 1/4 cup crushed walnuts and 1/4 cup sliced almonds mixed up with a stick of butter to create a coarse topping.  I did it by hand, but you could use a pastry blender if you hand one.  Honestly, I didn't measure the nuts, so those are estimates.  This is not an exact science recipe.

4) I baked it at 375 for about an hour.  It could of gone a little longer but I ran out of time.  I liked the nuts as much as I like oats, and the different flours added a certain richness.  

This crisp was enough of a success where there was only 1 serving left, and dibs had already been claimed when I left.  I'll definitely continue to experiment with this dish, but I think I have a good base.

Bagel Chips

Nom Nom Snack!

My spouse likes bagels for breakfasts.  And lunches.  And snacks.  He works out of state, so he's only home a few days a week.  As a result, I'm often left with stale bagels, which aren't so delicious.  He used to buy some pre-sliced ones that taste like bread, not bagels.  Since I've been taking over the grocery shopping, I've been getting ones from the bakery, but they go stale even faster.  I don't like throwing stuff out.

Solution?  Bagel Chips!  These are wicked easy to make and kind of fun!

1) Heat up your oven to 425-450 Fahrenheit.  These are not an exact sort of thing, but you want the oven hot.

2) Slice up bagels about 1/4 of an inch.  If you want thinner, do it!

3) Apply Olive Oil, or butter, or any sort of oil you enjoy to each side of the slices.  You want a thin coat so that any spices you apply will stick and things won't just burn in the oven.

4) Add some spices!  You probably want to go with whatever flavor bagel you're using, but there are no rules. I did more cinnamon and maple sugar on cinnamon raisin bagel and a pre-made garlic-kick spice mix (garlic, onion salt, and pepper) on a wheat bagel.  Next time I think I'll do some more mild garlicy ones, maybe even with a little cheese.

5) Put them on a cookie sheet in the oven for a few minutes.  I use Sil-Pat sheets, so things don't stick, but you may want to use tin foil if you don't want to clean up much.  I kept mine in the oven for about 15 minutes total, flipping over halfway through.

6) Enjoy warm or store in a dry container.