You say it’s your birthday.

You say it’s your birthday
Well it’s my birthday too–yeah
You say it’s your birthday
We’re gonna have a good time
I’m glad it’s your birthday
Happy birthday to you.
–The Beatles

Friday was Bill’s birthday (and mine is coming up mid-month, making the song almost true), so we took time out of the day to have lunch together at Naf Naf, http://www.nafnafgrill.com/, a Mediterranean restaurant with the perfect mix of delicious food and fast service. Even with many people getting take-out, it can be difficult to find a table, but we managed.

Sea-Salted Smoky Almond Chocolate Bark

The only thing better than a great candy recipe is a great candy recipe with only three ingredients, filled with things that are good for you and that is completely simple.  So, without further ado, I present to you…Sea-Salted Smoky Almond Chocolate Bark, the new star in your homemade candy firmament.  It has a place every year, along with my Peanut Butter Fudge and biscotti, on the plates I take to the librarians and people who work at other places I frequent, and is always a big hit.  Put that star power to work for you this year and just smile deprecatingly when people rave about how good it is.  (I gave out recipes to two of the painters just today.) 

Bowl-ing for dinner

When is a recipe not a recipe?  When two factors are present–it’s so simple that I can remember it and it can be adapted to whatever you like, whatever is seasonl, and whatever you have around the house.  Having said that, here’s a tasty, nutritious non-recipe from Jae Steele, author of Get It Ripe and Ripe From Around Here–Pesto Bean Bowl.

Granola Protein Bars

Tried a new recipe a days ago from a cookbook that I unfortunately didn’t get through before it was due (and there was a hold on it, so I had to take it back or suffer the dreaded fines.)  The cookbook is The Sprouted Kitchen, by Sara Forte and you can access her blog here for additional recipes:  http://www.sproutedkitchen.com/.  (Sara, thanks for giving me permission to share your recipe.)

The recipe made 16 of these tasty bars (or 8 twice the size.) I prefer to eat 2…just feels more decadent.

Who loves the chocolate?

We discovered Grandpa’s Cider Mill (http://sustainabilitea.wordpress.com/2012/11/02/cider-mill/) on our way to The Chocolate Garden, http://www.chocolategarden.com/ in near Colomo, Michigan, where our older daughter wanted to stop to get a gift. 

Lasagna with Roasted Cauliflower Ricotta and Spinach

I picked up Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s cookcook, Appetite For Reduction, from the library recently and decided to make the lasagna with roasted cauliflower ricotta and spinach.  I’ve been looking for a good vegan lasagna, but what I got was simply a delicious lasagne that happened to be vegan.  Because I didn’t check my ingredients carefully, I didn’t have olives so I couldn’t make it last night, but I made the cauliflower ricotta yesterday and just heated it up before assembling the lasagna tonight.  Give it a try, even if you’re a meat-eater.  It’s tasty in its own right and has a mere 300 calories (only 60 from fat), 8 g. of fiber and 16 g. of protein, plus 35% of vitamin A, 150% of vitamin C, 25% of calcium and 30% of iron, (based on 6 servings/batch.)  Next time I would consider making a double batch, which I don’t think would take that much longer and would give me more leftovers.  I’m going to freeze part of this batch and see how that works. 

They’ll be giving thanks for this food!

If you’re gluten-intolerant, have celiac disease or are vegan or vegetarian, the holidays can be particularly difficult, especially if you’re the only one in your family or group in that category.  This year we’re spending Thanksgiving with friends, one of whom is gluten-intolerant.  Since our usual entree is homemade ravioli (here’s the recipe but the pictures have mysteriously disappeared…http://sustainabilitea.wordpress.com/2012/06/25/cooking-classes-and-ravioli/with walnut sauce) with walnut sauce (also picture-less…http://sustainabilitea.wordpress.com/2012/06/26/after-youve-made-ravioli-make-the-ravioli/), that won’t fly, unless I make gluten-free pasta, which I may do.  So when I saw the Seasonal Fall Flavors cooking class being offered at Mustard Seed Market and Cafe in Solon, Ohio, (http://www.mustardseedmarket.com/index.html), I signed up right away, figuring I might find some great-tasting recipes with which to impress everyone.

When life give you tomatoes…

…make soup.

Black Forest biscotti

Last night found me hustling around the kitchen making and baking biscotti. I posted the recipes for chocolate chip biscotti and honey almond biscotti in a previous post, http://sustainabilitea.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/biscotti-for-valentines-day/, but these are special biscotti, the Black Forest biscotti that contain both tart cherries and dark chocolate chips, as well as cocoa powder.  Like other biscotti, these make great gifts.  I imagine you could gild the biscotti lily by dipping these in chocolate, either on one end or on one side, but they’re just fine the way they are.  Enjoy!

                                                                Black Forest Biscotti

Preheat oven to 350. Bring water just to boiling, add cherries and set aside.

1/2 c. dried tart cherries (2 1/4 oz.)
1 c. water

Cream:

1/4 c. butter, room temp.
3/4 c. sugar

Blend into butter/sugar combination:

2 eggs
1 t. each vanilla extract and almond extract

Fold in:

1/2 c. chocolate chips (I like to use Ghiradelli double chocolate for that dark chocolate taste.)

Drain cherries, pat dry and stir in.

Sift together in another bowl:

2 c. + 2 T unbleached flour
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 t. salt
1 1/2 t. baking powder.

Fold wet ingredients into dry until dough holds together when pressed with lightly floured hands.

Place on an oiled/sprayed baking sheet. Shape into a 14 X 4 X 1″ long. Bake 25-30 minutes or until just firm and slightly brown. When cool enough to handle (about 10 minutes), cut into 3/4″ pieces. Bake for 5 more minutes per side.

Optional: Add 1/2 c. sliced, toasted almonds.

(about 20)
from Moosewood Restaurant New Classics

Ready to bake for the first time.  If you don’t have a pan long enough, just make two shorter logs.

After a 10-minute cooling period, slice.  An electric knife works wonderfully for this.  Return to the pan, but the little piece at each end is the baker’s prize!

Ready for the second baking of 5 minutes per side.

Cooling.  Be sure to wait until the chocolate chips (melted now) have cooled before eating!

Summertime and the eatin’ is easy

It’s difficult to want to do much cooking in summer, sometimes because it’s too hot and sometimes simply because everything is so luscious on its own.  But whether you decide to cook or not cook, mealtimes are good times during the summer.