Raspberry Syrup and Raspberry-Mint Ice Cream Pie

Posted: September 30, 2011 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

I had a pre-prepped graham cracker crust lying in wait in my cupboard and wanted a chilly dessert to fend off the remaining September Tucson heat. I wanted to come up with a fun ice cream pie using a fruit sauce. Raspberries seemed the most likely choice as it is normally tart so combining it with ice cream equalized the flavor a bit. The addition of peppermint was a rather brilliant (if I do say so myself) last minute decision. I did freeze a little medicine cup’s worth of the version without peppermint and both are definitely yummy, however, if you want to add a little bit of that fresh, cooling peppermint taste it definitely goes well. One thing I’d caution you on is to watch the amount of peppermint extract you add into the mixture.

Less is more, so to speak. Add in the smallest amount (maybe only 1 of the 2 teaspoons I suggest), make sure it’s mixed in THOROUGHLY and then give it a taste. Keep doing this until you have your preferred level of peppermint infused into the ice cream mixture. I’m very very proud of this recipe. It came from my own head (though I’m sure I am not the first to think of it) and it’s absolutely one of the most delicious desserts that I’ve eaten lately. I’m SO proud of myself for this one. I’m also proud of the “New York Times” where I got the recipe for the raspberry syrup to add to my ice cream pie.

Raspberry Syrup
2 cups raspberries or other berries
1 1/2 cups sugar, plus 2 tablespoons
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice.

1. Combine berries, 2 tablespoons sugar and 1 cup water in a medium saucepan with a heavy bottom.
2. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until berries begin to break down and release their juices, about 4 minutes.
3. Add 1 1/2 cups cold water and lemon juice.
4. Bring to a boil, then immediately turn down to a simmer and skim off any foam that bubbles to top. Cook for 15 minutes.
5. Strain into bowl through cheesecloth-lined strainer, pressing on fruit to squeeze out juices.
6. Return the liquid to the pan and add 1 1/2 cups sugar. Stir until sugar dissolves. Bring to a boil and cook for 2 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool. Store in a tightly sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

Raspberry-Mint Ice Cream Pie
1 prepared graham cracker pie crust (or make your own)
1 recipe Raspberry Syrup
3 cups vanilla ice cream, partially melted
2 teaspoons peppermint extract
mint leaves, ripped (optional)

1. In a medium mixing bowl, combine the raspberry syrup, vanilla ice cream, peppermint extract and mint leaves (if you’re including them).
2. Mix until well incorporated.
3. Pour mixture (carefully) into the graham cracker crust.
4. Freeze overnight or till set and frozen firmly throughout.

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Egg Flower Soup

Posted: September 26, 2011 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

This recipe from my favorite “Encyclopedia of Vegetables and Vegetarian Cooking” cookbook, is a keeper. I decided to make this because Jake is not a huge fan of egg drop soup. He would eat it if I made it for him, but he told me once that it’s not his favorite thing ever. So I thought I’d make some before he came home so he wouldn’t have to go through the agony of eating it. Haha! If you’re in a rush for some dinner this is a great recipe. It did not take long at all to make and it’s very pretty. This recipe calls for something that most people don’t seem to think of but that I agree is very important: pre-heating your soup bowls before ladling. I used to pour soup into cold bowls, but more and more nowadays I’m remembering to stick those bowls into the microwave for a little bit to get them to heat up. Now, you don’t want the bowls to be so hot that it hurts to touch them. You have to remember that into these warmed bowls you’ll be putting hot soup, so they’re only going to get warmer. However ensuring that your bowls are slightly warmer than room temperature ensures that they will soak up less of the heat of the soup and the contents of the bowl will stay hot for a longer period of time. This is the same logic as freezing beer mugs or bowls for ice cream. Doesn’t it just sound like a good idea? And with microwave technology it doesn’t take that long so it’s not like you’re going through a huge ordeal to do it. Next time you make soup, just try it.

Egg Flower Soup
4 cups veggie stock
3 tablespoons light soy sauce
2 tablespoons dry sherry
3 scallions, diagonally sliced
small piece of fresh ginger, shredded
4 large lettuce leaves, shredded
1 teaspoon sesame seed oil
2 eggs, beaten
salt and black pepper
sesame seeds, to garnish

1. Pour the stock into a large saucepan. Add all the ingredients except the eggs, seasoning, and seeds.
2. Bring to a boil and then cook for about 2 minutes.
3. Very carefully pour the eggs in a thin, steady stream into the center of the boiling liquid.
4. Count to three, then quickly stir the soup. The egg will begin to cook and form long threads.
5. Season to taste. Ladle the soup into warm bowls and serve immediately, sprinkled with sesame seeds.

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Spiced Indian Cauliflower Soup

Posted: September 24, 2011 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

I really love cauliflower but Jake isn’t a huge fan of it. Granted, if I insist he’ll eat it, but I know that he prefers to avoid it if he can. So I decided to try this soup from the “Encyclopedia of Vegetables and Vegetarian Cooking” while he is gone. He’ll be home in a little over a week thank goodness (I miss him) so this is one of my last chances to try this soup. The actual recipe called for black mustard seeds instead of ground mustard, but I have already been to the grocery store this evening and I didn’t feel like leaving the house again as I had a paper to finish and more food to cook for the Garden Party/Clothes Swap that Kari and I are throwing here tomorrow. Not only did I add the yogurt to the soup after I let it cool a bit, but I also added a dollop of the yogurt to my individual bowl. It was nice to be able to control the amount of creaminess that went into my individual bowl.

Spiced Indian Cauliflower Soup
1 large potato, peeled and diced
1 small cauliflower, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 tablespoon sunflower oil
1 garlic clove, crushed
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon cumin (or cumin seeds)
2 teaspoons ground mustard
2 teaspoons ground coriander
4 cups vegetable stock
1 1/4 cups plain yogurt
salt and black pepper
cilantro or parsley to garnish

1. Put the potato, cauliflower and onion in a large saucepan with oil and 3 tablespoons water.
2. Heat until hot and bubbling, then cover and turn the heat down. Continue cooking the mixture for about 10 minutes.
3. Add the garlic and spices.
4. Stir well and cook for another 2 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Pour in the stock and season well. Bring to a boil then cover and simmer for about 20 minutes.
6. Take the soup off the heat and, using a potato masher, mash the vegetables into a thicker soup consistency. Let it cool 7 minutes.
7. Stir in the yogurt, season well and garnish with cilantro or parsley.

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Arabian Spinach

Posted: September 23, 2011 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Deliciousness has definitely knocked on my door this week. And I answered. Quickly. There are two new spinach recipes from the “Encyclopedia of Vegetables and Vegetarian Cooking” that I’m trying over the next couple of weeks. This is the first. It’s not terribly complicated and it’s super yummy when eaten over rice. I think next time I will try this with couscous and see how the flavors match up.

Arabian Spinach
1 onion, sliced
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 garlic cloves, crushed
1 teaspoon cumin seeds (or sub ground cumin)
14 oz. spinach, washed and shredded
1 15oz. can chickpeas, drained
pat of butter
salt and black pepper

1. In a large wok, fry the onion in oil for 5 minutes until softened.
2. Add the garlic and cumin and fry for another minute.
3. Add the spinach in stages, stirring it until the leaves begin to wilt.
4. Stir in the chickpeas, butter and seasoning.
5. Reheat until just bubbling, then serve hot.
6. Drain off pan juices if you want or serve slightly wet.

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All the Reds Soup

Posted: September 21, 2011 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

From the “Encyclopedia of Vegetables and Vegetarian Cooking” cookbook. Please pardon the tip of my finger in the photo. One of my favorite things to eat when I was a kid was my mom’s stuffed peppers. Of course, when I was a kid I hated green peppers so I just ate the rice and beef from the inside. Now I eat the entire thing. And it’s delicious. This soup reminded me a lot of the taste of the stuffed peppers my mom used to make…without the meat of course.

All the Reds Soup
1 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 garlic clove, crushed
2 tablespoons olive oil
1 14oz. can diced tomatoes
4 cups vegetable stock
2 tablespoons long grain rice
2 tablespoons Worcestershire sauce
1 can red kidney beans
1 teaspoon dried oregano
1 teaspoon sugar
salt and black pepper
parsley (to garnish)
Cheddar cheese, grated (to garnish)

1. Put the pepper, onion, garlic and oil into a large saucepan.
2. Heat until sizzling then turn down to low. Cover and cook gently for 5 minutes.
3. Add the rest of the ingredients, except the garnishes, and bring to a boil.
4. Stir well, then simmer, covered, for 15 minutes.
5. Check the seasoning, garnish and serve hot.

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Scandinavian Cucumber and Dill

Posted: September 20, 2011 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

This recipe comes from the “Encyclopedia of Vegetables and Vegetarian Cooking.” You should buy this book. I’m giving you this recipe here, but the cookbook itself has another tasty suggestion for this recipe. There’s your teaser; now get your credit card. You won’t be sorry. Ever. Anyway, I made this in preparation for a VERY long day tomorrow. I’m going to take this with me to school and it will be my lunch and dinner (linner? dunch?) for the day. I tasted a couple of pieces already and I personally feel that it would benefit from the addition of more chives. Of course, I love all things onion-y so take that into consideration. Luckily since this is a mixable recipe you can always add more chives into it if you want. I’m saving the rest of my chives for Saturday when I’m throwing a Clothes Swap here at our apartment. I’m going to make a batch of this stuff for folks. Yum! So if you’re one of my friends coming on Saturday you know at least one of the many lovely things that will be at this party. Come prepared to taste like you’ve never tasted before!

Scandinavian Cucumber and Dill
2 cucumbers
salt
2 tablespoons chopped fresh chives
2 tablespoon chopped fresh dill
2/3 cup sour cream
ground black pepper

1. Slice the cucumbers as thinly as possible.
2. Place the slices in layers in a colander set in the sink or in a plate to catch the juices. Sprinkle each layer well, but not too heavily, with salt.
3. Let the cucumber drain for up to 2 hours, then lay the slices on a paper towel and pat them dry.
4. Mix the cucumber with the herbs, sour cream and plenty of pepper. Serve as soon as possible.

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Blackberry-Sage Thumbprints

Posted: September 16, 2011 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

As usual these days, when I feel the need to bake cookies I pull out the “Better Homes and Gardens’ 100 Best Cookies” magazine edition. These cookies looked delicious and sounded quite unique. I decided to make these for my meeting with my adviser this week. I also brought some in to brighten the afternoon of my fellow ladies at the circulation desk at the Arizona Health Sciences Library and one for each of my group mates in classes on Tuesday. I have to admit…these were really yummy. I was skeptical by the combination of cornmeal, sage AND blackberry jam, but that’s one combination I’ll never make fun of again! They seemed to please everyone who tasted them and in the end that is the best kind of cookie, no matter what the recipe. Enjoy these with a cup of lighter roast coffee or some really lovely black tea.

Blackberry-Sage Thumbprints
2 cups all-purpose flour
2/3 cup yellow cornmeal
1 1/2 teaspoons dried sage, crushed and without stems
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
2 egg yolks
2 teaspoons finely shredded lemon peel
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
3/4 cup blackberry preserves

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
2. In a medium bowl, combine flour, cornmeal, sage, and baking powder. Set aside.
3. In a large bowl beat butter with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds.
4. Add brown sugar. Beat until combined, scraping the side of the bowl periodically.
5. Beat in egg yolks, lemon peel, and vanilla until combined.
6. Beat in as much of the flour mixture as you can with the mixer. Using a wooden spoon, stir in the remaining flour mixture.
7. Shape dough into 3/4-inch balls.
8. Place ball 1 inch apart on an ungreased cookie sheet.
9. Using your thumb, make an indentation in the center of each cookie.
10. Fill each center with about 1/4 teaspoon of the preserves.
11. Bake in your preheated oven about 10 minutes or till the bottoms are lightly browned.
12. Cool 1 minute on the cookie sheet before transferring cookies to a wire rack. This should make about 60 cookies.

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Green Bean Salad

Posted: September 15, 2011 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

Holy garlicky, buttery, tangy goodness in my mouth! This recipe from the “Encyclopedia of Vegetables and Vegetarian Cooking” cookbook just about killed me…in a good way. Honestly, I didn’t expect this green bean salad to be this good. I thought it would be tasty but nothing to write home about. Man was I wrong! Adding a little bit more butter to this recipe was also a great idea as it made the bread crumbs extra garlic-buttery. This was great served just slightly warm. This would be good served alongside rice or maybe just a turkey sandwich. The recipe below is for the full recipe. I cut it in half because I didn’t want that much of it laying around (big mistake…this stuff is great). One tip I would have if you’re going to make a half-batch of this stuff is to mix it in a tupperware bowl with a lid. It makes it really easy to snap on the lid and toss to coat the green beans with the dressing.

Green Bean Salad
1 pound green beans
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 oz. butter
1/2 garlic clove, crushed
2 pieces fresh wheat bread crumbs
1 tablespoon chopped parsley
1 egg, hard-boiled and finely chopped

For the dressing:
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons sunflower oil
2 teaspoons red wine vinegar
1/2 garlic clove, crushed
1/4 teaspoon Dijon mustard
pinch of sugar
pinch of salt

1. Trim the green beans and cook in boiling salted water 5-6 minutes until tender.
2. Drain the beans and refresh them under cold running water and place in a serving bowl.
3. Make the salad dressing by blending the oils, vinegar, garlic, mustard, sugar and salt thoroughly together. Pour over the beans and toss to mix.
4. Heat the oil and butter in a frying pan and fry the garlic for 1 minute.
5. Stir in the bread crumbs and fry over moderate heat for about 3-4 minutes or till golden brown, stirring frequently.
6. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the parsley and then the egg.
7. Sprinkle the breadcrumb mixture over the green beans.
8. Serve warm or at room temperature.

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Microwave Creamed Spinach

Posted: September 14, 2011 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

This recipe is from “PETA’s Vegan College Cookbook.” If you don’t want to make this a vegan affair then just sub regular milk and butter or margarine for the vegan alternatives. No problem! I like this cookbook for the fast and easy vegan meal ideas it gives me, however I question how well the recipes in this book were tested before publication. The more recipes I try in this book the more problems I see in their instructions. For instance, in this recipe you were only supposed to microwave the spinach and milk mixture for 1 minute. When I tried that it didn’t really work. I had to microwave the mixture for 10 minutes, stopping every 3 or so minutes to stir, before the milk mixture thickened to a sauce consistency. I altered the recipe below to reflect this error in the book. So purchase this book if you like; you’ll certainly get plenty of ideas from its pages, but just be aware that you may have to adjust a good amount of the recipes.

Microwave Creamed Spinach
3/4 cup soy milk
2 tablespoons vegan margarine
2 tablespoons flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
pepper, to taste
1 10-oz. package frozen spinach, thawed

1. Heat everything but the spinach together in the microwave for 30 seconds. Stir. Heat for an additional 30 seconds. Stir again.
2. Add the thawed spinach and nuke 5-10 minutes, stirring every 3 or so minutes, till milk is thickened into a sauce.
3. Stir and eat.

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French Onion Poached Eggs

Posted: September 13, 2011 | Author: onewomaninaricefield | Filed under: Uncategorized | 2 Comments »

Last night I made french onion soup for dinner. Obviously I didn’t finish it all, so I had a large bowl of leftovers in my fridge. Most people who know me well know that I like salty breakfast food better than sweet. I decided to use some of the leftover french onion soup as a topping for toast and eggs. Frying an egg didn’t sound so appealing to me, so instead I looked up instructions on how to poach eggs. This was my first ever attempt at poaching eggs and I’m pretty happy with the way it came out. I found the poaching instructions on the Incredible Egg website here. I did an internet search for “how to poach an egg” and one of the first websites that came up was the incredible egg website. I checked it out and decided to stick with their example as I figured they’re probably pretty dang reliable since they love eggs for a living. Can you imagine getting paid to love eggs and promote them? How awesome would that job be? Of course, I think I would prefer some other food more than eggs…maybe something like quinoa or olive oil or soup or onions. Okay I admit it…I’d probably take ANY food appreciation job that was offered to me. Yum. Anyway, stay tuned for another recipe to use up leftover french onion soup in the next few days.

French Onion Poached Eggs
2-4 eggs, COLD
salt and pepper, to taste
basil or dill, to taste

1. Heat 2-3 inches of water in a saucepan or deep skillet to boiling. Adjust heat to keep the water simmering gently.
2. Break eggs, one at a time, into a small saucer. Holding the dish close to the surface, slip the egg into the water.
3. Cook eggs until whites are completely set and yolks begin to thicken but are not hard. About 3-5 minutes. Do not stir.
4. Lift eggs from water with a slotted spoon. Drain in spoon.
5. Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste. Sprinkle with basil or dill or some other spice, to taste.
6. Serve immediately with a side of toast drenched in french onion soup and topped with cheese.

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