Rolled Sugar Cookies

These are my famous rolled sugar cookies.  They are the easiest rolled cookies I've ever made and the most delicious.  I probably make a batch of these at least every other month.  

You'll need (for 5 dozen small-medium cookies):

• cookie cutters
• 1 1/2 cups butter
• 2 cups white sugar
• 4 eggs 
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 5 cups flour
• 2 tsp baking power
• pinch salt

The steps:

• Cream together butter & sugar until smooth.
• Beat in eggs and vanilla.
• Add dry ingredients.
• Cover dough and chill for at least an hour (I'm making the dough now to bake on Saturday or Sunday).  I like to refrigerate my rolling pin too.
• When you're ready to bake, preheat oven to 400degrees.
• Dump dough onto a lightly floured surface and kneed just a few times.
• Roll out using a rolling pin to about 1/4inch thickness.  
• Cut into desired shapes and transfer to a greased cookie sheet
• Bake 6-8 minutes and remove from sheet quickly.

Serve these frosted or glazed or just with sprinkles (which you can add prior to baking if you want.  Just brush cookies with egg whites first).  This dough is also good for making a fruit pizza (dough crust, sweet cream cheese, and fruit = yum!).

A picture will come shortly, after Halloween when I've decorated these.  The theme for my Halloween party is everything you loved about a kids' Halloween party + booze.  So, a bunch of adults decorating their own cookies, playing games, and so on greatly enlivened with hard cider and microbrews.  So, I will be using my Halloween cookie cutters (thanks to my sister for those), to make these sugar cookies then prepare several different frostings and have those and sprinkles available for decoration.

Hearty Vegan Chili

I have recently made the life choice to be a vegetarian in order to reduce my carbon footprint.  I will occasionally and selectively eat fish, but only those that are fished sustainably and responsibly and that do not have dwindling populations.  I have found that the NRDC has a really helpful guide to what fish to eat and what to avoid.  Even if you aren't a vegetarian/pescetarian, you should take a look at it.  Anyhow, I love chili, so here is my vegan version.  I did not and do not use soy meat replacements as soy is very frequently grown in totally unsustainable ways, not to mention the fears and uncertainties associated with (unlabeled) genetically engineered foods (Check out the documentary "Future of Food").  Potatoes bulk up the texture, beans ad protein, and portabella gives a meaty flavor.  Note, all measurements are pretty approximate.  Adjust to create the chili you want.  I feel like chili should never taste the same twice.

You'll need (for about 6 servings):

• a couple tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cloves garlic.  Mince some and keep some whole.
• 1 1/2 cups shredded russet potato (shred using the coarse side of your cheese grater or the grating attachment on your food processor)
• 1 1/2 cups sweet corn
• 1 cup blanched yellow beans (chop if you'd like)
• 4-6 tomatoes, or a can of tomatoes (with juice).  I used a jar of heirloom tomatoes from the summer that I had canned.  
• 12oz can tomato paste
• 24oz mixed beans (half a big jar of Randall's mixed beans or a couple small cans)
• 1 portabella mushroom, cubed
• 10oz frozen chopped spinach (no, unfortunately, I hadn't frozen any from this summer, so had to use store bought)
• Spices.  This is where you have fun.  Make it more spicy (cayenne, hot sauce, red pepper) or less.  More earthy (cumin, paprika, cinnamon) or more acidic (onion, garlic, hot sauce).  Totally up to you.  This is what I used for this particular batch.
• 3-4 tablespoons chili powder
• 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• 1/2 teaspoon cumin
• 1 teaspoon cayenne pepper
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon dried onion
• 1/4 cup fresh parsley
• 1 teaspoon paprika
• 1 1/2 tablespoons hot sauce.  I used a vinegar-based habanero sauce.
• seasoned salt & pepper to taste

The steps:

• Saute minced garlic and potatoes in olive oil on med-high heat.  Season the potatoes directly with about a third of the chili powder.
• Add beans and spinach and continue the saute briefly
• Add tomato paste and tomatoes.  If you are using fresh tomatoes (vs. canned or jarred) add about 1/4-1/2 cup vegetable broth or just plain water.  If using canned tomatoes, use the juice its packed in
• Add corn, beans, parsley, and whole cloves of garlic.
• Reduce heat to low and add portabella.
• Now you start seasoning.  Season now using about half of the measured ingredients.
• Let simmer on low for about a half hour.  Sample and season again accordingly.

Great, delicious vegan chili.  

Be on the look out for my famous sugar cookies that I'll be making for Halloween.  

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Banana Bread Cookies

Fresh from the oven!

An attempt to bake cookies when I didn't have my usual staples around (chocolate chips, oatmeal, brown sugar).  I did, however, have some bananas frozen for occasions just as these.  These cookies are light, fluffy, cake-y and unique.  Could be made even more interesting if you added chocolate chips.

You'll need (for 30 cookies):

• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 cup mashed bananas
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon (extra) cinnamon
• 1/2 - 3/4 cup crushed walnuts

The steps:

• Preheat oven to 350degrees
• Mash bananas and mix with baking soda in a small bowl.  Set aside.
• Cream together butter and sugar until fluffy.  Add egg.  
• Add banana mixture
• Add dry ingredients gently, until just combined.
• Fold in walnuts, gently
• Drop by heaping teaspoons onto a well-greased cookie sheet.  They don't spread much, so can be placed pretty close to each other.
• Bake for about 11-12 minutes (until the edges have started to brown, but not the whole cookie)
• Remove promptly from sheet to avoid burnt bottoms

That simple.  Took me about 20 minutes start to finish.  Yum :)

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Asian Dressing/Marinade

First off, big apologies on not posting more recipes lately.  I don't really have a good excuse.  I've done some pretty excellent cooking (fried chicken, black bean soup, fried okra, etc.).  Just haven't been posting as much.  Let's get back on track.

This is a pure invention, because I had some sake that was starting to turn not so tasty.  Like I've said before, I really like to make my own salad dressings.  I'd argue this is just about the most delicious I've ever made.

You'll need (for 2 big servings or 4 smaller servings--as a dressing for a large side salad).  All of these measurements are definitely approximations

• 1/2 cup sweet sake.  I used the pretty cheap plum sake I'd gotten from the local grocery store.  
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon sesame oil
• 1-2 tablespoons soy sauce
• a few dashes oriental seasoning blend (I use Tone brand Oriental Five Spice)

The steps:

• In a small sauce pan, boil the sake until the alcohol has burned off.  You'll be able to smell the booze in the steam that it gives off.  The sake will also thicken as the alcohol burns off.  You may also (carefully) taste it to be sure it as all burned off.
• While still on the stove, add honey and stir to combine.  Beware: when you add the honey, the sake may try to boil up over the side of the pot.  I had to repeatedly turn on and off the stove to avoid this overflow until I had the honey combined.
• Add rest of ingredients and taste.  Add more seasonings as needed.

I would serve this over a salad that has strong flavored greens (no iceberg here!).  A nice blend of red leaf lettuce, arugula, spinach, kale, and dandelion leaves is, I feel, the most delicious.  If you haven't tried all of these in a salad before, do!  You'll be amazed at how delicious salad can be.  I also love chopped apples in my salad and think they'd go well with this dressing.

In other news, I remade French Onion soup, a little modified from the recipe I posted awhile back.  The first time I made it, I used old port.  I didn't have any port sitting around, so I used some Cabernet Sauvignon and added about 3 tablespoons of brown sugar in order to get the sweetness that I had in my first recipe.  Not as good as the first batch, but still pretty delicious.

Soon to come recipes (hopefully):

• Caribbean-style black bean soup
• Butternut Squash & Apple Bisque
• French Fries (homemade!)