Rice and Bean Salad

I love the flavours in this salad! You can vary the vegetables according to what you have on hand.

2 cups cooked basmati rice (or rice of your choice)
1 tin black beans rinsed and drained
1 cup canned or fresh corn kernels
1/2 cup diced orange or red pepper
1 tomato, seeded and diced
1/2 cup chopped cilantro
1/4-1/2 cup diced red onion (to taste)
Finely grated rind of one lime

Dressing:
Whisk until well blended-

1/4 cup lime juice
1/4 cup olive oil
1 teaspoon ground cumin

Mix  ingredients together and add dressing. The salad keeps well for a couple of days. Other vegetables that work include diced carrots, cucumber, zucchini, celery.

Variation: Use other grains such as quinoa, farro, barley or couscous

Recipe adapted from this one on myrecipes.com

Ice Cream Sandwiches

One of our national grocery chains is featuring ice cream sandwiches made with their store brand chocolate chip cookies. Right now it costs $4.99 for six small ice cream sandwiches. They are very tasty though. We made some today with small homemade peanut butter oatmeal chocolate chip cookies which were made with whole wheat flour and less sugar than the store cookies. I think ours would win a taste test anywhere!

Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/4 cup butter or margarine
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
3/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups quick oats
3/4 cup unpacked brown sugar
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 large egg
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

In a medium mixing bowl, sift together flour, baking soda and salt; whisk in oats until combined.
In another bowl, cream butter and peanut butter together. Stir in sugar and then eggs and beat together until creamy. Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture gradually until well combined. Add chocolate chips.

Measure a rounded tablespoon (15ml) of dough, place on cookie sheets and flatten slightly. Bake for 6-8 minutes or until golden brown around edges. Transfer to wire racks to cool.

We made approximately 40 cookies with this amount of dough.

I used less than half of a 2 litre carton of ice cream that came in a rectangular waxed cardboard container. Cut a 3 cm (more or less) slice of ice cream and cut it into 4 to 6 squares that are the size of your cookies. Place ice cream between two cookies and freeze immediately. You could use a cookie cutter to get perfectly matched circles of ice cream.

Rhubarb Squares (or Apple Squares)

The recreation therapist made these with our patients at the hospital. They were very popular!

2-1/4 cups flour
1/4 c white sugar
1 cup salted butter

5 cups chopped rhubarb*
3 eggs*
3 tablespoons flour*
1 cup brown sugar*

Base:
Mix 2-1/4 cups of flour with softened butter and white sugar. Press mixture into the bottom of a 11x15 pan.

Fruit topping:

Beat eggs until frothy, then add sugar, flour and rhubarb and mix well. Pour fruit over the base.

Bake in preheated oven at 375 F degrees for 45 minutes.

*Variation: Apple Squares

Substitute 6 cups of chopped apples for rhubarb and decrease eggs to one. Decrease brown sugar to 3/4 cup and flour to 1 tbsp for fruit mixture.

If you use a 9x13 pan, put 3/4 of the crumb mixture in the bottom and sprinkle the remaining amount on top of the fruit.

Wedding Day Scones

Here is our special breakfast treat for the Royal Wedding. I adapted the recipe from this one found at Allrecipes and the scones are delicious.

• 2 cups all-purpose flour (1 cup whole wheat, 1 cup unbleached white flour)
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup hard butter
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries
• 1/2 cup sour cream ( I used 0% fat Greek Yogurt)
• 1 large egg
• Finely grated rind of one orange

Put dry ingredients and butter in a food processor and pulse until butter is finely mixed in with flour mixture. Add sour cream, egg and orange rind and process until dough comes together. Remove dough from bowl and fold in dried cranberries.

Make a circle with the dough (about 8 inches in diameter) and cut into 8 wedges. Place on a baking sheet and bake at 400 F for approximately 15 minutes.

Variations:

Raisin Scones
Add raisins instead of cranberries and omit orange peel

Lemon-Blueberry Scones
Follow the recipe for Simple Scones, adding a generous teaspoon of finely grated lemon rind (zest) to the dry ingredients and substituting dried blueberries for the raisins.

Cherry-Almond Scones 
Follow the recipe for Simple Scones, adding 1/2 tsp. almond extract to the sour cream mixture and substituting dried cherries for the raisins.

Stuffed Pasta Shells

I made these shells for a buffet meal during the Christmas season but did not post the recipe at that time. We had them for dinner again tonight and I took note of the ingredients.

1 pound (475g) container ricotta cheese
1 package frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
2 cloves minced garlic
1-2 teaspoons dried oregano, basil or herbs of choice
1 cup grated cheddar cheese or 1/2 cup parmesan cheese

Mix ingredients together and set aside

Prepare 8 ounces (250g) large pasta shells according to  package directions. You can also use manicotti or other large tube pasta.

Fill cooked pasta with filling and place in a 9x13 pan. Cover pasta with a pasta sauce of your choice. I have noticed that jars of pasta sauce are getting smaller and I used 1-1/2 jars (650 ml jars) for this recipe quantity. Bake covered at 350F for 30-40 minutes until heated through.

Chocolate Chip Muffins

Someone in the household had a craving for something sweet on a Thursday afternoon when the pantry was rather bare. We were completely out of eggs, a fact I did not notice until I started making these muffins. So for an egg replacer I used 2 tablespoons of chia seeds mixed in 1/2 cup of water, which is allowed to thicken for a few minutes. The chia seeds added a nice crunch and the recipe turned out well. Here is the basic recipe. I suppose a couple of teaspoons of poppy seeds could be added for a less expensive crunch, but poppy seeds cannot be used in place of eggs.

The recipe is modified from one in Muffin Mania.

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 cup rolled oats
3 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1 cup milk of choice (I use soy milk)
1/3 cup melted butter or margarine
1 egg (or equivalent egg replacer)

Mix dry ingredients and add chocolate chips. Combine wet ingredients and stir into flour mixture until dry ingredients are moistened.

Place in prepared muffin cups and bake at 375F for 20 minutes or until tops are firm.

Greek Yogurt

I posted instructions on making Greek yogurt on Body Soul and Spirit.

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.