Crunchy Green Salad

Lettuce is very pricey right now and this salad combines romaine and less expensive cabbage along with plenty of fruit. It has plenty of crunch and taste!

Salad:

• 6 cups chopped romaine hearts
• 4 cups sliced red or green cabbage(or coleslaw mix)
• 1 large red apple, diced
• 1 large green apple, diced
• 1 mango, peeled, diced
• 3 green onions, sliced
• 1/2 cup cashews

Dressing:

• 1/4 cup red wine vinegar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil

Slow Cooker Squash and Chickpea Moroccan Stew

If you enter the words "squash and chickpea Moroccan stew" in Google search, a number of variations of this recipe will pop up. I made this today in the crockpot and it was warm and delicious after an afternoon spent walking on snowy trails. I could not convince The Becka to eat squash even when there were other textures and flavours in the stew. But her dad thinks it is delicious and I do too!

Crush 1 tbsp cumin seeds with mortar and pestle
Dice 2 onions

Add a tablespoon of olive oil to a small frying pan and fry onion and cumin until soft.

Place the cooked onion in a crockpot and add

1 large butternut squash, diced
1 28 oz tin diced tomatoes
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper or to taste

Cook on low for 8 hours. About 1/2 an hour before cooking time is over add

2-3 cups cooked chickpeas
1/2-1 cup cut up dried apricots
2 cloves minced garlic
salt to taste ( I didn't need any with canned tomatoes and beans)

Serve with flatbread, over couscous, quinoa or rice. Garnish with cilantro, thick yogurt, sliced almonds and olives as desired.

Butter Dips

One of my Facebook friends posted a picture of her dinner this week which included homemade stew and butter dips. I had never heard of butter dips and Kathie kindly shared her recipe. I always like to make a special treat on Fridays after a week of work and this recipe hit the spot on a late winter afternoon. It is so easy and adaptable.

1/4 cup butter
1 1/4 cups flour
2 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2/3 cups milk

Heat oven to 450 degrees. In square pan melt butter in oven. Remove pan from oven. Measure dry ingredients into bowl. Add milk. Stir until dough forms.

Turn dough onto flour covered surface. Knead lightly, about 10 times. Roll into 8" square. With large knife cut dough in half then cut each half into nine 4" strips. Dip each strip in melted butter, coating both sides. Arrange in 2 rows in pan. Bake for 15 to 20 minutes or until golden brown.

This recipe can also be doubled and baked in a 9 x 13 baking pan. Serves as many people as are at your table- anywhere between 2 and 6.

Hey, who ate 1/2 the pan of butter dips?!

 Variation: I used 1/2 c all purpose flour, 1/2 cup whole wheat flour and 1/4 cup ground flaxseeds. I used almond milk and added 1/2 cup grated cheddar cheese to the dough. With the addition of a little minced garlic, they would have tasted like Red Lobster cheddar bay biscuits.

Sugar Cookies

I made this cookie dough in the food processor and it turned out very well.

Blend in food processor or by hand until light and creamy:

3/4 cup butter, (or 1/2 butter, 1/2 shortening)
3/4 cup sugar

Add:

2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract and process until smooth

Gradually add :

2-1/2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Dough will form into a ball.

Wrap and chill for a couple of hours or overnight.

Roll to 1/4 inch thickness between parchment paper or on a well floured board and cut into shapes.
Bake at 400F for 6-7 minutes until lightly browned (watch closely)
I made about 4 dozen heart shaped cookies with this recipe.

Potato Pancakes

 

I got my first food processor this Christmas (after 35 years of marriage) and wonder how I did without it for so long. Tonight I grated potatoes and onion for this recipe in just a minute or so. I did not peel the potatoes. The pancakes were delicious and were served with baked fish and steamed vegetables.

Grate: 8 medium potatoes, (leave peel on)

           1 medium onion

Beat : 2 eggs with a whisk until they are frothy and add 

          4 tablespoons of flour

          1 teaspoon salt

Add grated potato and onion to egg and mix well.

Heat a little oil in a frying pan and when the pan is hot, fry potatoes until well browned on each side. Flatten the potatoes so the pancakes are quite thin. Repeat until all potatoes are cooked, adding more oil to the pan as necessary.

Makes 12 pancakes.

Serve plain, with applesauce, sour cream, ketchup or other topping of your choice.

Here is an alternate (very easy) version from Mennonite Girls Can Cook

• 3 cups peeled chopped raw potatoes
• 1/2 onion coarsely chopped
• 2 eggs
• 2 tbsp to 1/4 cup flour
• 1/2 -1 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3 green onions (scallions) chopped

1. Put all ingredients but the green onions into blender container. 
2. Cover and blend, stopping to make sure all ingredients are getting chopped. 
3. Push down onions or potatoes with a spatula if necessary. 
4. Continue till blended well. Some coarseness of the potatoes and onions is O.K.
5. Stir in green onions.
6. Pour batter onto hot greased griddle. Brown then flip once to brown the other side.
7. Serve with sour cream and applesauce.

Tortilla Soup

This recipe is adapted from one published in the 2009 Milk Calendar from the Dairy Farmers of Canada. The original recipe calls for chicken and this version is meat-free.

Finely dice:
1 cooking onion
1 red pepper
1 jalapeno pepper

Cook until soft in 1 tbsp of vegetable oil or butter

Sprinkle 2-1/2 tbsp flour on cooked vegetables and stir it in thoroughly. Add

2 cups vegetable broth
1/4 cup tomato paste
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tin rinsed black beans
1 cup canned or frozen corn*
Handful of baby or chopped spinach

Cook over medium heat stirring until soup thickens

Add
2-1/2 cups milk of choice and heat through.

Top soup with broken tortilla chips, cilantro, diced tomato, grated cheese, lime juice as desired.

*I did not have corn on hand and added 1 cup of frozen edamame instead. The recipe is very versatile.

Baked whole salmon

We bought a fresh 9 pound salmon for Christmas Eve and wanted to prepare it whole for a buffet supper. I checked a number of websites and found a variety of methods for baking a big fish. The biggest variation was in cooking temperature, with some recommending a very slow oven and others a hot oven for a short period of time. In the end, the salmon was absolutely delicious, moist and tender. This is how we did it:

Cut a large peice of foil to completely wrap the fish. Lay it flat and grease it with butter. Place the fish in the foil and fill the cavity with chopped onion, thinly sliced lemon, chopped parsley or cilantro, a few peppercorns and any other herb or vegetable to want for flavouring the fish. Sprinkle the cavity with salt. Stand the fish on its bottom and curve the tail end so it fits in the pan. Sprinkle a little salt on the outside and place sliced onions, lemons, etc on the outside of the fish. Tightly seal the foil so no steam will escape during cooking.

Place in an oven at 325F and bake for approximately 15 minutes per pound. If you have a meat thermometer, the internal temperature should be around 145F. When salmon is still hot, remove the skin. Place on a platter when ready to serve and garnish as desired.

This YouTube video was very helpful although I did not cook our fish at such a high temperature.

Black Bean Brownies

These brownies are lower fat, high fiber and gluten-free. And they taste good too!

Combine in food processor bowl:

• 2 cups cooked black beans, rinsed and drained (one tin)
• 3 eggs
• 3 tbsp butter or oil
• 1 tsp instant coffee (optional- we do not prefer this)
• 1/4 cup cocoa
• 3/4 cup brown sugar or sweetener of choice
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 teaspoon each baking powder and baking soda (optional if you want a cake-like brownie)

Process for 2 minutes until smooth. Put into a greased 8 inch square pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350 F. Sprinkle with chocolate chips before baking if desired.

Serving Size: 1 (42 g)
Servings Per Recipe: 16

Amount Per Serving

 

Calories 102.6

Total Fat 3.7 g

Sodium 23.3 mg (without baking powder and baking soda)

Potassium 104.1 mg

Magnesium 21.7 mg

Total Carbohydrate 14.9 g (with sugar)

Dietary Fiber 2.1 g

Protein 3.2 g