Casser-ole!

A few days after Christmas, I found myself sniffling and achy.  Normally when I'm sick, I'm a pretty poor patient.  Being uncomfortable and cranky go hand in hand for me.  Fortunately, my extremely patient (the other kind) SO took excellent care of me and made sure that I had an endless supply of medicine and tea.

During these days of feeling blah, I found myself craving comfort food.  My mind kept bringing images of steaming, fresh out of the oven, casseroles to mind.

Casseroles are fabulous for multiple reasons including the following:
Easy to make
Easy to reheat (i.e. great leftovers!)
Tasty

With a plate full of chicken left over from Christmas dinner and a strong craving for casserole, I took it upon myself to find some creative way to use them in a baked dish.

Now, we all know that most classic casseroles consist of noodles, meat (typically turkey or tuna), and a cream sauce (usually cream of mushroom soup).  I can't do the cream of mushroom soup and not just because it contains milk.  It's handy when you are in a rush and need to churn out a dish quickly, but taste wise it's just not as good as a homemade sauce.

I used this recipe from about.com to make my delicious casserole :)

Non-Dairy Turkey Tetrazzini
Serves approximately: 4-6
Equipment:
Medium sized casserole dish
Skillet

Ingredients:
1/4 cup and 1 T. olive oil
1/2 cup diced white onion
10 ounces of sliced crimini mushrooms
1/2 cup white wine
1/4 cup fresh thyme, extra for garnish
2 cups chopped, cooked turkey (I used chicken)
10 ounces pasta (I used spirals)
3 T. flour
2 1/2 cups soy milk (I used rice milk instead)
1 tsp. salt, plus more to taste
Nutritional yeast for garnish, if desired

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  Lightly oil the casserole dish and set aside.

In a heavy bottomed skillet over medium heat, heat the 1 T. olive oil, adding the onion once hot.  Stirring occasionally, cook the onions until they are translucent (about 6 minutes).  Add the mushrooms, cooking until just soft (about 3 minutes).  Stir in the wine and fresh thyme and cook until all of the wine has been absorbed.  Stir in the turkey, remove from heat, and cover and until ready to assemble the tetrazzini.

Meanwhile, boil a large pot of salted water.  Once the water is at a rolling boil, add the pasta and cook until just al dente.  Drain, toss with a small amouint of oil, and set aside.

In the same heavy bottomed skillet used to cook the onions, heat hte remaining olive oil over medium heat. Whisking constantly, add the flour and cook until the mixture gives off a slightly toasted aroma (about 1-2 minutes).  Stirring constantly, gradually add the soy milk to the pan (the mixture will bubble and fizzle).  Add the salt and cook until the mixture is thickened slightly.

In the casserole dish, toss the pasta with the onion-mushroom mixture and half of the sauce.  Pour the remaining sauce over hte casserole, sprinkle with nutritional yeast if desired and bake until browned and bubbly (about 35 minutes).  I only baked it for a few minutes, because the pasta was basically read to eat.  Serve hot, garnish with fresh thyme or parsley if desired.

Possible suggestions for tweaking the recipe:
- Using tuna instead of chicken or turkey
- Using a non-dairy cheese to melt on top of the casserole- Adding more vegetables

I've got the urge to bake!

One of the greatest barriers to baking is simply having the time.  Time to put it all together and then subsequently to clean it all up.

One fine evening this week I found myself staying in (i.e. TIME), the SO working late, and two very mushy bananas quickly deteriorating in my fridge.

The obvious conclusion was to make banana bread.

Banana bread is inherently fantastic because virtually every recipe you come across does not use dairy!  Banana bread is a lactose intolerant's dream come true.  It's delicious and there's no horrible tummy ache (or head ache in my case) as an after effect.  The bananas provided enough moisture that milk is rendered completely unnecessary.

Since I also keep chocolate chips as a staple in my cabinet, I chose to use the Banana Bread with Chocolate and Cinnamon Sugar
recipe from Orangette.

Banana Bread with Chocolate and Cinnamon Sugar
Serves approximately: 8

Equipment:
Mixer or bowl
Scraper
Mixing spoon if using a bowl
8 inch square pan

Ingredients:
3 very ripe bananas
2 large eggs
1 ½ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp. baking soda
2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

For topping:
2 Tbsp. granulated sugar
1/8 tsp. ground cinnamon

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit. Butter or spray an 8-inch square pan.

In the mixer or bowl, mix or mash the bananas well. Add the eggs, and mix well to combine. Add the flour, sugar, baking soda, cinnamon, and vanilla, and mix on low. Add ¾ cup of the chocolate chips, and stir briefly. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and set aside.

In a small bowl, stir together the topping ingredients. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the batter in the pan, and top with the remaining ¼ cup chocolate chips.

Bake for 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 15 minutes before serving.

Possible suggestions for tweaking the recipe:
- For some reason the edges of the bread ended up extremely chewy.  I am not exactly sure how I would adapt the recipe though.  I wonder if I over mixed the banana?
- This recipe isn't overly sweet without the chocolate chips, but I'm not convinced I like the texture of the cinnamon and sugar mixture on top.
- I liked being able to use a square pan, but I might try using a loaf pan to see if it makes a difference on cooking time, since mine ended up being in the oven for more like 45-50 minutes.

There's turkey coming out of my ears!!

While most people celebrate Thanksgiving just once a year, I am one of few lucky ones who celebrate it not once, not twice, but sometimes three times in one year!

First, I eat the traditional Thanksgiving meal on Thanksgiving day.

Then, I roast a turkey for the annual "Friendsgiving."

Finally, my immediate family and I celebrate our own small Thanksgiving on a later date so we can all be in attendance.

Where does that leave me?

With lots and lots and lots of leftover turkey.

Unfortunately, after eating so many Thanksgiving meals, one gets rather sick of eating turkey in the traditional way.  My stomach begins to churn at the thought of yet another plate of turkey and mashed potatoes.

Seriously... there is truth behind the saying that you can have too much of a good thing.

However, the most recent time I made a whole turkey, I was determined to use every single bit of that turkey and leave nothing to waste.

One of the creations I made were mini-turkey pot pies.  I cheated a bit in buying a pre-made crust, but nonetheless they were tasty, easy to make, and didn't make me sick at the thought of eating yet another turkey dish.

Suz's Day after Thanksgiving Turkey Pot Pies
Approximate servings: 4

Equipment needed:
4 ramekins
Skillet

Ingredients:
1 - 1 1/2 c shredded or chopped leftover turkey
1 1/2 c left over gravy
1/2 c diced onion
1/4 c diced celery
1/2 c diced carrot
3-6 sliced mushrooms
1 pre-made rolled pie crust
Note: You can really use as many vegetables or turkey as you want and determine the amount of gravy based off of how much room is left in the ramekins.  I've made a variation of these before using frozen peas, carrots, and corn, that was quite tasty though I prefer fresh vegetables.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Saute the onion, celery, carrot, and mushrooms until they are soft (not necessarily completely cooked through).  Mix together with the turkey.

Cut out 4 circles of dough a 1/4 - 1/2 an inch wider that the ramekins out of the pie crust.

Fill ramekins to the top with the vegetable and turkey filling.  Then pour gravy over the filling until the ramekins are full.

Cover there ramekins with the circles of pie crust and press the edges of the crust along the rim of the ramekins.  Poke holes in the top of the pie crust.

Bake in the oven for 10 - 15 minutes or until the top of the crust is golden brown.

Possible suggestions for tweaking the recipe:
- Using two pie crusts and lining the bottom and sides of the ramekin as well as the top.
- Using beef, chicken, or just plain vegetables and a mushroom gravy.
- Making homemade crust as opposed to the ready-made crusts.

What goes well with split pea soup?

When my SO and I moved into our apartment in August, along with a beautiful view, pool table in the lobby, and gorgeous rooftop deck, we also gained two fabulous neighbors - Kadi and Ryan.

Over the past few months, we've developed a kind of neighborly relationship that quite frequently revolves around food.  

Kadi loves to bake (especially when she is stressed) and I love to cook.

Ryan and my SO love to eat.

Neighbor match made in heaven!!

One fine snowy day this week, the four of us found ourselves ensconced in our respective apartments holing up from the cold.  They had ingredients for split pea soup and were willing to share, but I wanted to contribute to the meal as well.

After polling the gentlemen on what they thought would go well with the soup, we agreed upon biscuits. 

Unfortunately, when I first typed biscuits into the search bar, the results were overwhelmingly recipes for buttermilk biscuits.  

Buttermilk in this stomach?  No way!  

Finally, I found a very basic recipe on The Non-Dairy Queen and with a few minor modifications created a delicious accompaniment for the split pea soup.

Buttery Biscuits

Approximate servings: 12

Equipment:

Pastry blender or mixer (unless you're super strong and can blend cold butter with flour by hand)

Bowl

Silpat or other floured flat surface to roll out dough

Rolling pin (I didn't have one and patted the dough flat, but it would have been handy!)

2 - 3 inch pastry cutter (I used the rim of a wine glass)

Cooking spray

Baking sheet

Ingredients:

2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for flouring the Silpat

1 Tb. baking powder

1/2 tsp. salt

1/2 cup cold unsalted butter

2/3 cup rice milk or soy milk

Preheat oven to 450 degrees and spray baking sheet with cooking spray.

Combine flour, baking powder, and salt in a mixing bowl.  Cut in the butter with a pastry blender or mix on low-medium speed until the dough is crumbly. Add milk and blend until combined and dough forms into a soft ball.  

Place the dough on the floured Silpat and roll out with a rolling pin or pat down by hand until dough is approximately 3/4 inch thick.  Cut out circles using the pastry cutter and place on the greased baking sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes or until they are lightly brown on top.

Serve warm with butter!

Possibly suggestions to tweak this recipe:

- None!!  But I would suggest using leftover biscuits by toasting them and serving them with jam and butter for breakfast.

My breakfast :)

Happy Birthday Dad!!

Now, my dad's birthday is actually Nov. 5th... So you may be wondering why I'm posting 20 days late.  Here's the deal:  I have a few dishes I want to put up on here, but that were actually made a few weeks ago.  I promise I'll catch up to my day to day cooking soon.

Back to my story...

It's dad's birthday.  School is closed due to a power outage (yes, a power outage).  I have some free time.

But what do I make?  Dad doesn't like cake...

Aha!  Julia Child never fails me, but there are so many choices.

Finally, I settle on a Clafouti aux Poires: easy to make, I have tons of pears from my CSA box ripening on my counter, and doesn't contain a lot of sugar.

Julia Child's Clafouti aux Poires
Approximate servings: 6-8

Equipment:
Blender or mixer
A 7 to 8 cup lightly buttered fireproof baking dish or pyrex pie plate about 1 1/2 inches deep (I used a Le Creuset skillet)

Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups milk
3 eggs
1 Tb vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup flour (scooped and leveled)
3 cups peeled, cored, and sliced ripe pears (1 1/4 - 1 1/2 lbs. pears)
1/4 cup sweet white wine, kirsch, or cognac

Let pears stand for 1 hour in wine, kirsch, or cognac, and sugar.  Substitute this liquid for part of the milk called for in the batter.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Place the rest of the ingredients in the blender or mixer in the order in which they are listed.  Cover and blend at top speed for 1 minute.

Pour 1/4 inch layer of batter in the baking dish or pie plate.  Set over moderate heat for a minute or two, so a film of batter sets in the bottom of the dish.  Remove from heat and spread the pears out in the pan.  Pour the remainder of the batter over the pears and smooth the surface.

Place in the middle of the preheated oven and bake for approximately an hour.  You can tell the clafouti is done when you can poke a toothpick in the center and it comes out clean.

I love this recipe because of its simplicity.  Everyone enjoyed it, including my youngest sister who generally tends to appreciate sweeter desserts.

Possible suggestions to tweak this recipe:

- Next time I'll try rice or soy milk to see if it affects the flavor. If it doesn't, then this would be a fabulous non-dairy recipe!

The beginning of a love affair...

After moving out of my parents house and in with my older sister a few years ago, I developed a passion for cooking. The discovery of lactose intolerance at the ripe ol' age of 23 only motivated me to further hone my skills; insuring that despite my inability to process lactose, I could continue to eat tasty, flavorful food.

Cheese was probably the most difficult dairy product to give up, though milk was also a challenge. Particularly when I went through a 3 month detoxing period. During that time I wasn't allowed to eat anything that had even been processed in the same plant as dairy products.

Grocery shopping was a nightmare.

Slowly over time, I found ways to accommodate my new dietary restriction. I allowed (and still do) myself to "cheat" every now and again. But of course, around the holidays it was more now than again.

Now I continue to try to adapt recipes to make them dairy-free enough to satisfy my stomach and tasty enough to feed to my significant other who loves all that is dairy.

When he surprised me the other day with my very own, brand new, RED Kitchenaide mixer, I knew I had to make the inaugural culinary concoction a good one.

He suggested I make cinnamon rolls; a pastry he had been craving for quite some time.  Cinnamon rolls seemed like a good choice, particularly as they carry such fond memories for me...

My family used to celebrate Santa Lucia Day to honor our Swedish heritage.  On the morning of Dec. 16th, my oldest sister would put on a crown of greenery with (fake) candles attached.  My younger sister and I were the star girls and we assisted in carrying up coffee and cinnamon buns to my parents, while singing the Santa Lucia song along the way.  Then the three of us would pile on my parents bed and eat breakfast with them.  I'm not exactly sure how this tradition started, but I'm pretty sure my parents enjoyed being served breakfast in bed!

Now, cinnamon rolls, as we all know, contain not only milk in the dough, but typically a form of dairy (such as cream cheese) in the frosting as well. Finding an easily adaptable recipe required a bit of research.

I started by searching for dairy-free recipes online, but as is typically the case, my search continually provided me with gluten-free, dairy-free, vegan options.

I'm not vegan. I love meat. And for some weird reason, apparently (according to my doctor) I can still process butter.

Ultimately, I decided to go with a regular recipe (i.e. one that contains dairy) and simply substituted rice milk.

I used this Cinnabon Cinnamon Roll recipe from Food.com and ended up with these:

My entire apartment smelled delicious while these rolls were baking in the oven.  The sweet scent of cinnamon wafted through the air.  When I took my first ooey, gooey bite a few moments after extracting them from the oven, it was one of pure sensory delight.

I opted not to have frosting on mine, after a semi-disastrous attempt at using rice milk and powdered sugar (rice milk is too watery).  But my SO made a small batch using milk, butter, and powdered sugar:

Yum!!

Possible suggestions to tweak this recipe:
 - Brushing butter across the top for added color and flavor
 - Finding a non-dairy frosting, though the plain rolls were tasty on their own!