A Few Easter Things

My favorites (warning: they call contain sweetness):

Hot Cross Buns: Mom always made these on Good Friday. I think she stole the idea from my father's mother.

Butter Cream Eggs: Also compliments of my mom (pictured above).

Cadbury Milk Chocolate Cookies: This we can thank Kip for. He loves those Milk chocolate Cadbury eggs.

And for anyone wanting a cookie that is sweet, but definitely on the healthier side, you can try these low sugar whole wheat peanut butter cookie nests with (again) milk chocolate Cadbury eggs.

Beets with Mustard Vinaigrette

I'm pretty sure I've mentioned this, but growing up, we ate 4 vegetables--potatoes, canned corn, canned beans, frozen "California" vegetables (that consist of broccoli, cauliflower, and carrots). When I was younger, my mom made brief forays into other areas--squash, spinach, peas, but was usually met by much resistance from the peanut gallery (shocker). Mom was a lover, not a fighter, so most of those vegetables we fussed about fell to the wayside.

When I got married, I'd never tasted an avocado, artichoke, asparagus, beets, cabbage, brussel sprouts, butternut squash, and a host of other vegetables. Some I'd eaten like pumpkin and zucchini, but only in dessert form.

I've come a long way since then, but when I found myself with a big fat beet leftover from my borscht, I wasn't really sure what to do with it. I remembered reading about a beet vinaigrette salad and the idea of a sassy vinegar/mustard combo perking u the sometimes too-earthy beet appealed to me.

Good thing too, because that salad rocked. The beets keep their sweetness, but lose their too-earthiness. I still don't know if it can make beet converts out of people, but it could definitely make a beet-lover out of a beet-fence sitter.

Beets with Mustard Vinaigrette
adapted from Dr. Weil
makes about 4 servings
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time (for beets): 1 hour
Sit time: 4-24 hours

1 pound beets (2-3 largish ones)
1/4 C extra virgin olive oil
3 Tbsp mustard (Dijon is good, but normal works too)
1 small onion, chopped
salt to taste

Cook your beets. You can boil them or roast them at 350-375--just flop them in whole. It will take about an hour--you should be able to pierce the beet easily with a knife.

When they're cooked, let them cool, then take the skins off. Everyone says they "slip" off, but mine didn't slip as easily as I'd thought they would. Still they came off just fine.

Cut your beets into a small dice or slivers.

Add other ingredients, mix, and let sit for 4-24 hours.

Eat. Yum.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

How to Cheapen Easter

So apparently Easter is the new Christmas. I guess that's good news if you're under 18. For the rest of us (although, frankly, we've no one to blame but ourselves; or maybe that overzealous Pinterest-crazed no-good-goody-goody next door), it means more stress and more money than the holiday to celebrate the resurrection of Christ used to entail. Truly, I think my parents should have thought it was a stretch when I was a kid and Peeps and weird pink grass were seen as an essential symbol of the good Lord's rebirth. But now? Now--to walk through the aisles of Walmart--in all its pink, yellow, and green glory is to wonder if Peeps and pink grass and .99 dyed eggs mightn't be touted as full-on abuse by your kids and perhaps whispered about as pure laziness by that Pinteresty neighbor we discussed.

What's a self-respecting cheapskate to do? Especially if she doesn't want those overly-entitled children to come back and sue her when they're diagnosed with diabetes, right?

Below you'll find a few ideas that will make Easter special without making it ulcer-inducing. I must warn you, though: it requires a little bucking of trends. But you're a cheapskate, so you knew that, right?

1. Dye a bunch of eggs. This will fill up the baskets nicely while providing a non-sweet snack later on in the day/week and a bonding activity for you and your kids to do together.

2. If the above suggestion sounds like as much fun as having all your teeth pulled, dyed purple, and reset, then try this. Buy some cheap plastic eggs (no need to go for the fancy ones, though they are tempting), and put one piece of candy in each one. Full basket, not so much candy.

3. Make some of your own sweets. My mom used to make chocolates for us in molds. It's a sweet memory. And for a $2.50 bag of chocolate chips (or the even cheaper melting chocolate) you can have a several trays of molded chocolates.

4. If the above suggestion sounds like as much fun as having your child stick his new light saber up your nose and into your brain, then do this: Buy less candy. Say what? Okay, okay, hear me out. You could just do this straight up. You could just buy less candy. But some people. Some people who will remain nameless (whatever--it's totally Kip), but are members of this candy-loving family really really love Easter candy. Easter is my husband's favorite candy holiday. He loves all of that Easter candy (you know, the stuff they're now starting to market for different holidays in different colors). He loves the little milk chocolate Cadbury eggs and the big ones with the filling. He loves the Reese's eggs, which he claims taste better than normal Reese's. He loves the Robin's eggs. Everything--pretty much--except the jelly beans and Peeps. Yup. He would rather just skip out on life than miss out on those classic Eastery candies. So this year, I decided to do something radical. It won't help his health, but it should soften the blow on our budget (and, if well hidden, help the health of our children). I bought only a couple kinds of candy for Easter morning baskets instead of each and every kind that has become a "staple" for us. And I promised him I would go out on Monday and buy more of his favorites for half off. Fair enough. You can do this too.

5. Skip the toys (or skip the candy and give one toy). I mean, you didn't get toys when you were a kid, did you?

6. If the above suggestion sounds as winsome as filling your child's basket with fresh dog poo, then try this. Make sure that whatever you buy them is not junk. Yes, this is a purely radical suggestion, especially when each and every Easter aisle at your local superstore is filled to the ceiling with all sorts of Easter-themed kitsch. If you must buy them something, buy them something thoughtful or useful or both. Here's a story to illustrate: Last week, after having my daughter swear that she absolutely needed one of the little stuffed bunnies in order for her life as she knew it to be complete, I thought, "What the heck--I'll get each kid a $3 stuffed animal. They like stuffed animals." And then standing in the check-out line, I realized in that brilliant way of mine that I was now buying $12 of crap--of things I will find on my kids floor for the next several months, or--worse--things that will end up buried at the bottom of a toy box by the end of the next day. I put the toys back (except the one for this particular daughter because I am, at the end of the day, a pushover; and she swore I could give her the bunny with Easter eggs stitched to its bum to her for her August birthday). Instead, I decided to buy them each a water bottle for summer. Which is something they will actually need and which I have been meaning to buy anyway. (I also bought toothbrushes--yup, you heard me). But is still kind of fun because they're pink, purple, flowery, and cool. (Note: I'm still not sure this is the greatest ever suggestion. It does, after all, set up expectations for next year, and the idea behind being a cheapskate holiday parent is to keep the bar so exceedingly low that anything will be great. But if you want to fill the basket, and if you want to fill it with things that are not all--please oh please--candy, then this is a decent method.) As an alternative, you could do suggestion #4, only with toys--buy the Easter stuffed bunnies the day after, but I'm guessing if you get to that point, you may have already decided that you really didn't want/need them all that much anyway.

7. Keep the bar low, eh. The more you give this year, the more you'll be expected to give next year.

8. If this sounds as much fun as cleaning your shower drain with your nose, then you are clearly not a cheapskate at all (we love keeping the bar nice and low). You are probably that Pinterest-pinning neighbor and you are surely gossiping about me right now as you hot glue tiny little Easter eggs to the ornaments you plan to hang from the Easter trees in your living and dining rooms.

Chicken Divan

Broccoli and cheese kinds of casseroles have gone and gotten a terrible name for themselves in the foody kingdom. In the foody kingdom people eat only lamb and arugula. Or home grown foods. Or "real" foods. Or any of a number of foods that I am truly not opposed to in any way. But sometimes when you consider what the average American is beginning to eat (hint: rhymes with dig smac or at the very best brozen finner) on a very very, almost daily basis, you remember that maybe sometimes it's okay if one of the foods in tonight's dinner didn't come from the farmer's market or have less than five ingredients in its ingredient list. Sometimes it's doing pretty good to turn out an actual dinner from your actual oven that did not come from a box (pizza, take out, or frozen dinner). Sometimes it's okay to hearken back to an earlier time when your frazzled mother/grandmother, who did not own a dishwasher and/or dryer, managed to flop some sort of fairly nutritious food onto the table every night. And sometimes it's good--wholesome even--just to run with that. Today we're running with that.

 And--truth be told--we could be doing so much worse. This recipe contains 2 large heads of broccoli, cheddar, chicken, and (here's its whole food undoing) mayonnaise (which could potentially be subbed out with or cream cheese to good effect, though I haven't tried it). It can be served over rice, farro, or barley to very very good effect. It's easy to pull together (it was one of the first foods I learned to make when Kip and I were first married and I didn't cook at all), has a definite comfort food aspect to it, and did not come from a box of any sort.

You made it with love. It didn't take your whole day. It tastes really really good. And you can enjoy it hot with those you love. Do so.

P.S. Don't ask me why it's called chicken divan. It just is.

Chicken Divan
makes 1 9x13 inch pan
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 30 minutes

3-4 chicken breasts
2 large heads broccoli
2 C mayonnaise
1/2-1 C chicken broth (unsalted)
3-4 C shredded cheddar cheese (I prefer sharp, but Kip likes this best with medium)
salt and pepper to taste

Boil chicken breasts in water. Shred. (Alternately you could use some that you'd already roasted or cooked another day--you'll need a couple cups of it shredded.).

While your chicken is boiling, chop your broccoli and shred your cheese.

When chicken is done, take it out and shred it. Hold onto the water you boiled it in.

Put shredded chicken, broccoli, and half the cheese in a 9x13 inch pan. Add mayonnaise and mix it around. It will be a little thick.

Here's where you use that water you boiled the chicken in. Thicken it by boiling it and then adding a bit of cornstarch (1 Tbsp) mixed with 2 Tbsp water. Pour this into the boiling broth, stir, and let it thicken a bit. Pour some of this over your chicken/broccoli/cheese/mayo mixture. It will loosen it up and make it just a bit runnier. That's what you want--not soup, but not something super thick either. It'll look like this when all mixed in.

If you used chicken you already had or accidentally threw out your water, use a bit of low-sodium chicken broth, thicken it a bit, and throw it on.

Spread in pan. Sprinkle with remaining cheese. Cook at 375-400 degrees until cheese is melted and bubbly and edges are beginning to brown (20-30 minutes).

Serve over rice, farro, or barley.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Three Green Things

My mother used to dye our milk green. It's not really my number one green recommendations. Here are a few I like a little better.

1. Grasshopper Cake. It's not traditional, but it's green and tastes amazing.

2. Chocolate Mint Brownies. Clearly I care not at all about tradition unless tradition is rich chocolaty mint.

3. Green Drink. Of course there's this for people who aren't going for colcannon, but would like to not weigh 10 extra pounds after St. Patty's Day. There's also this one with avocado or this one with kale and avocado. 

Pain au Chocolat (American-style)

The French like bread. The French like chocolate. I like bread. I like chocolate.

The French wrap chocolate into croissant-like bread and eat it for breakfast. I decided I could wrap a bit of Nutella into a whole wheat roll. You see, one night I was making some rolls when a jar of Nutella in our cupboard caught my eye. And I figured it was time to go a little French, so I wrapped about 1 teaspoon of that Nutella into my whole wheat rolls and we ate it for dinner. And it was blissfully good--even better than I'd expected. The blob of Nutella tended to spread out into the roll, so that when you bit in you didn't just get one really great bite, you got nearly a whole warm roll with a layer of warm chocolate spread throughout. Yeah. Did I mention it being awesome. Because it was. (You can personally note this awesomeness in the above picture--that was a little blob--see how much it spread)

To further beautify its awesomeness, it was really just a small little blob of Nutella--a tiny indulgence that went a very long way and made for something that tasted undoubtedly decadent although it was really just a little sin (as the French might say).

Pain au Chocolat (American-style)

1. Make a roll recipe you enjoy. I adore this one, which can be made white, part whole wheat or 100% whole wheat (I often do part whole wheat--about 1/2). Let rise as you normally would.

2. When you're about to wrap the dough into rolls, plop 1 tsp of Nutella into the center and roll the rolls around it.

See how it's just a tiny blob.

Then wrap the dough around it and put this folded side down in the pan, so they look smooth(ish) like in the picture below.

3. Let rise.

4. Bake at 375 for 10-15 minutes.

5. Eat. These are amazing warm. I bet they are cold as well, but I can't tell you because we ate all of ours before they hit that point.

Blueberry Apple Almond Whole Grain Muffins

This month for Secret Recipe Club, I had Bizzy Bakes. Up in the upper left corner, Bizzy has a whole section donated to muffins. I always figure if someone's got a specialty, you should got with that. So I did.

These were great. They had nuts, fruit, and whole grains. I subbed out the brown rice flour because I didn't have it. I subbed part whole wheat, part all-purpose, and a bit of barley flour I had lying around. You could do all white or all wheat if you wish. These also have oatmeal. Which just made them really really well rounded. Bizzy made these with blueberries, but mentioned in the post that they had originally had apples. I thought I'd use apples and blueberries. I did not regret it. Next time I make them, I think I'll even throw in a half cup of shredded zucchini. Yes I will.

It also called for cardamom, which I love and forgot and was sad about. But if you don't love it, know that these are still good without it.

Blueberry Apple Almond Whole Grain Muffins
adapted from Bizzy Bakes
makes about 18 large muffins
Prep time: 10 minutes
Cook time: 15-20 minutes
Cost: $3.50 or about $.20/muffin
milk: .10, eggs: .20, sugar: .15, oil: .10, blueberries: 1.00, apple: .50, whole wheat flour: .30, flour: .10, barley flour: .30, almonds: .75

Note: Muffins with whole wheat risk being dry. Buttermilk will help them to be a little moister, and as I said in the above comments, I'd throw in 1/2 C shredded zucchini, which would also keep these from risking dryness.

2/3 C milk or buttermilk
2 eggs
2/3 C canola oil
1 C sugar
1 c old fashioned oats
1/2 C barley flour
1 1/2 C whole wheat flour
1 C all-purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 scant Tbsp cardamom, optional
1 C blueberries
1 apple, peeled and chopped
1/2 C almonds, chopped

Preheat oven to 375. Prepare pans. Chop apples and almonds.

Combine milk, eggs, oil and sugar.

Combine oats, flours, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cardamom in another bowl.

Add dry ingredients to wet ones. Then add fruits and almonds. Mix until just combined. Bake for about 20 minutes or until a fork comes out with a few moist crumbs. If you're going to err, underbake rather than overbake. An overbaked healthy muffin is a very dry muffin.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Chocolate Oat Breakfast Cookies

It's time for some picture updates. The great thing about picture updates is that they only happen on foods we really love and make regularly. These still aren't the most gorgeous cookies in the world and they never will be. But they taste amazing, and now they are blessed with a picture that at least doesn't look quite so much like deer droppings, eh?

Click here for the link to the breakfast cookie that is the majority favorite in our family.

And, just for giggles, have a look here for the original picture.

Borscht

Q: What the heck is borscht anyway?
A: Borscht is a delightful dish in which several unloved vegetables get together and create a wonderful thing.

Q: What are these unloved vegetables of which you speak?
A: Beets and cabbage most notably, though there are others.

Q: Ew. Don't those grow from, like, the ground. Why the heck should I eat it?
A: It tastes very good--much better than you would ever expect. It is good for you. It contains seasonal vegetables. It is cheap. It is red and red is my favorite color. Also the last 4 letters sound distinctly Russian and, thus, slightly vulgar. Perhaps you will enjoy saying them slowly in front of your mother. Oh--and you add a dollop of sour cream and some dill which makes this kick butt.

Q: Hmmm. This is a great word to say. And the sour cream sounds promising, but are you sure it tastes good because it looks kind of different. I have not recently seen borscht among the Campbell's soup lineup and therefore have trouble trusting your sketchy "red" recommendations even if you have instructed me to add a full-fat dairy product to the top of it.
A: It contains tomato paste so I'm sure Campbell's would approve (note: that's a lie; Campbell's would not approve).

Q: Is this soup only good if you drink vodka.
A: This soup is delicious even if you are a crazy Mormon housewife.

Borscht
adapted from Apron Strings
makes 8 servings
prep time: 10-20 minutes, give or take depending on your chopping and multi-tasking skills--You can chop some things as others cook, which lessens the overall time.
Cook time: 1-2 hours
Cost: $3.90
onion: .15, celery: .10, carrot: .10, pepper: .60, cabbage: .50, beets: .50, tomato paste: .50, broth (I made mine from Better than Bouillon): .30, apple: .50, potato: .10, lemon: .30, other stuff: .25

Note: I know there are a lot of ingredients in this. If you are like me, you are bound to forget one (or several) when you go to the store. The good news is that this is pretty forgiving as far as leaving things out that you don't have (just don't forget the beets, okay; it kind of needs those). I've made it as is, but the last time I made it I didn't have celery or a pepper or much more than an apple core (curse myself for eating the last apple right before making this). It was still delicious.

2 Tbsp olive oil
1 onion, diced
1 stalk celery, diced
1 carrot, shredded or chopped small
1 pepper, diced (I prefer red)
2-3 C cabbage, chopped (this is half a small cabbage)
2 medium beets, shredded or chopped small
5 cloves garlic, minced
6 oz tomato paste (I think that's the size of a can)
8 C vegetable or chicken broth
1 apple, diced
1 potato, diced (I used red and recommend a waxy variety)
1 bay leaf
1 Tbsp smoked paprika
1 tsp salt (or to taste)
pepper to taste
juice of a lemon (fresh is best, but 2-3 Tbsp of non-fresh will do)
sour cream, for garnish
dill, for garnish

Heat oil in a large pot (I used a Dutch oven). Saute onion, celery, carrot, and green pepper for about 5 minutes. Add cabbage and beets and cook, stirring occasionally, for another 10 minutes. Add tomato past and garlic, stir. Then add broth, apple, potato, and bay leaf. Bring to boil. Reduce to simmer. Cover and cook for 20 minutes.

Then add the smoked paprika (yes, smoked is better than normal, but use what you've got, though really buy some smoked--it's incredible), lemon juice, salt, and pepper. Cover again and cook over low heat for another 30-90 minutes (yes, that is a wide range--this will be done with tender veggies after 30 more minutes, but it will taste better if you give it a little longer).

Top with sour cream. I mean, really, don't skip this--you can I guess, but it is just not as good. The sour cream mixed in makes it just fabulous. And then add dill. Also fabulous. If your lemon has another squeeze in it, give the soup that too. And eat.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Quick Naan

I have one recipe for naan on this site. I considered it all I would ever need because I love love love it. And then Friday as I fought to get dinner on the table while teaching my youngest daughter a piano lesson and getting ready for our Friday night singing night with some friends, I suddenly realized the error in my ways. My other naan recipe is completely delicious, but it uses yeast and requires rising time (which equals a certain level of forethought I am not always capable of--cue that crammed in Friday evening piano lesson).

This recipe is almost equally delicious, but uses baking powder and requires only a bit of a "rest" for your bread (which you could probably shorten or even entirely skip if you wanted to). It uses yogurt which gives it a lovely soft finished texture (and makes you feel healthier, though I'm never really sure if cooked yogurt actually is much healthier). And--to be honest--it is easier for bread novices than a traditional yeasty bread. It is not quite as good the next day (you just can't beat yeast for next day goodness), but it was still good enough to make me drool when I thought about eating up those leftovers. So there you go. Now you can have your belated piano lesson and eat your naan too. Or, um, something like that.

Quick Naan
adapted from The Good Loaf
makes 12-15 6-7-inch naan
Prep time: 5 minutes
Rest time: 30 minutes (can probably be shortened)
Cook time: 20-30 minutes
Cost: $1.00
whole wheat flour: .20, flour: .30, yogurt .50

1 C whole wheat flour
3 C white flour
1/4 C sugar
3/4 tsp baking powder
3/4 C plain yogurt (I used full-fat)
3/4-1 1/4 C water

Combine flours, sugar, baking powder.

Add yogurt and 1/2 C water. Mix. Add more water as necessary to get your dough to come together into a nice ball of dough. It will feel dense and just a tiny bit tacky, but it won't stick to your fingers at all.

Let it sit for 30 minutes.

Roll it into 2-inch balls. Heat skillet (I used cast iron skillet) while you roll the dough balls as flat as possible with rolling pin. Add a little oil to skillet. Cook one at a time on medium heat. When one side is golden browned, flip. Cook briefly on other side; it will probably bubble puff in a few areas and should only need 30-90 seconds.

Remove to plate and continue the process.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

Coconut Red Lentil Dal

It might be Dr. Seuss's birthday, but it looks like Christmas outside. What better time to re-do some pictures for a lovely Coconut Red Lentil Dal. Cook it long and slow (or a little faster if you're in a hurry) and pull out the Dr. Seuss collection.

Oh, and look for a recipe for this quick naan coming next week.

Below is my original post and recipe. And just for fun, a picture of the original picture--how could something that tastes so good look so bleh (oh, wait--the reason was me and my photography skills.

So, dal and I are, like, officially on now that the flirtations and flings of the wintery Christmas parties have ended. And not a moment too soon. I know that January is supposed to be an austere and dreary time of year and I suppose that in certain respects it could be. Yet, lately the indulgences of Christmas have started to seem so over-the-top to me that I sort of welcome January with it's shut-in, cup-o-soup sort of way. (Yes, I am an old lady in a somewhat younger body.) And if you're going to be shut in with a cup of soup, this is certainly the way to go.

That said, you can eat this as a soup. Or you can let it cook a little longer and get it thicker and much more like a dal. This is what I recommend. It heightens the flavors of the mixture and justdoes something. Something wonderful. Slow and steady, she always wins the race.

If you've got some Farro around (as recommended in 101 Cookbooks from whence this comes), this is like a dream come true, served over it. Yes, I did just say 'dream come true' in reference to a bunch of mushy lentils (stewed in coconut milk my friends; coconut is sexy, right?) and a whole grain. Told you I was an old woman trapped in a somewhat younger body. What I didn't tell you is that being old in a somewhat younger body is totally the way to go.

Coconut Red Lentil Dal
adapted from 101 Cookbooks (her ingredient list is perfect; her instructions a little fussy to my mind)
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 1 hour
Cost: $2.55
peas/lentils: .20, carrot: .10, fresh ginger: .02, butter: .02, green onions: .36, raisins: .10, coconut milk: 1.30, tomato paste: .20) cilantro: .25)

1 C yellow split peas (I didn't have so subbed in regular old lentils--the greenish kind you find at Walmart)
1 C red lentils
7 C water (I wasn't sure I should trust this and almost used chicken stock instead, but 101 Cookbooks came through for me and the water worked fine)
1 medium carrot, diced
2 Tbsp fresh ginger, peeled and minced
2 Tbsp curry powder
2 Tbsp butter (or olive oil for a vegan option)
8 green onions, thinly sliced
1/3 C raisins (again, I hesitated here, but went ahead with it--totally awesome. You have to add the raisins. They cook so that they kind of mush into everything else, but add a nice earthy pop of sweetness to the brew)
1/3 C tomato paste
1 14-oz can coconut milk
2 tsp fine grain sea salt
1 small handful cilantro, chopped (this could be optional, but I do love me some cilantro)

Rinse peas and lentils until they no longer put off a murky water. This took more rinses than I expected. I'm not sure it's worth it, but I expect it might lower the gasaciousness of the legumes. Place them in a big pot and cover them in the water. Bring to a boil.

Reduce heat and simmer. Add carrot and 1/2 Tbsp of ginger. Cover and simmer 30 minutes or until peas are soft.

In the meantime, melt your butter in a small skillet. Add curry, ginger, half the green onions, and the raisins (seriously, don't skip them, even if you hate raisins). Saute for a couple minutes (you should start smelling the seasonings) and then add the tomato paste and saute for another minute.

Add this to the simmering soup (add it after the first 30 minutes). Add coconut milk and salt. Simmer, uncovered for 20 more minutes. It will thicken up and you should give it a stir here and there to be sure it's not sticking to the bottom of your pan (if it is, turn down the heat or stir it more frequently or both). I liked it nice and thick. (How thick you may ask, especially if you're not used to making dal? Well, I hate to use the word pasty here because it's not a word we usually use with food to mean good things, but you'll want to get it less soupy and more pasty. Not so pasty you could make a pinata out of it or anything, but definitely on the pasty spectrum. Hope that helps.)

And I really liked it with some cooked farro thrown in.

Serve garnished with remaining green onions and cilantro.

PRINTABLE RECIPE

And the original picture--scary: