Cookbook Shopping

Originally published at SomethingGoodtoRead.com

Remember Michael Pollan's advice?  "Eat food.  Not too much.  Mostly plants."

If you, or someone on your holiday shopping list, are working on point three, or plan to in the New Year, here is an interesting list of vegan cookbooks from vegan.com.  I would add to this list my favorites, Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone and Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.

Gift brainstorm:  A cookbook andproduce bags to keep veggies fresh.  A nice combination.

Photo:  ChicoBag Hemp-Cotton Produce Bags for keeping leafy greens fresh.

Buttermilk Substitute

If you have milk and lemons on hand, you can create a good substitute for buttermilk to be used when baking. Check it out at this link.

Cranberry Crumble

An easy, tasty cranberry dessert for Thanksgiving dinner.

For the Fruit:

1 pound fresh cranberries

Honey

1/2 tsp. lemon zest

For the Crumble:

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly spray an 8 x 8 pan with cooking spray.

Place the cranberries in a saucepan over medium heat. Stirring occasionally and gently, cook until the berries start to pop, and then continue cooking for one to two minutes. Do not allow the fruit to turn to mush! Add the lemon zest and a dash of honey to the fruit and stir.

While the fruit cools, prepare the crumble.

Combine the oats, flour, cinnamon and sugar in a large bowl. Add the butter and, using your very clean hand, blend the butter into the dry ingredients.

Place half of the crumble into the bottom of the prepared pan. Add the fruit. Place the remaining crumble over the fruit.

Bake for 45 minutes.

Adapted from The New York Times New Natural Foods Cookbook.

Kitchen Conversion: Cup-to-Grams Conversion List

Allrecipes.com has assembled a useful cup-to-grams conversion list.  Check it out here.

Roasted New Potatoes

Discovered this on Chow.  A classic dish because it tastes so wonderful.

1 pound new potatoes, washed and quartered.  It is very important to dry the potatoes thoroughly!  I used Yukon Gold B-Sized

4 Tbs. olive oil

3-4 cloves of garlic, peeled and either left whole or gently smooshed.

2 rosemary sprigs

Salt and pepper
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Heat the oven to 450.

Put the olive oil into the baking dish and heat the oil in the oven for about 3 minutes.  Remove the pan from the oven.  Carefully toss the quartered potatoes and garlic in the hot oil.  Season with salt and pepper and toss again.  Place the rosemary sprigs on top of the potatoes.

Place the pot back into the oven and roast the potatoes for 35 minutes.  Check occasionally and, midway through give the potatoes a stir.

Enjoy!

Lemon Cake

I love making small cakes.  This one is  particularly moist and yummy!

Adapted from Cooking Well for the Unwell by Eileen Behan.


1 1/2 cups AP flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup salted butter
1 C granulated sugar
4 large eggs, beaten
juice of 1/2 lemon
1 tsp grated lemon zest

Glaze
powder sugar
juice of 1/2 lemon

Preheat oven to 325.  Prepare  an 8-inch square cake pan for baking.

Stir together the four and baking powder in a bowl.  In a large mixing bowl, beat the butter for about 3 minutes.  Add the sugar to the butter and continue beating for another 5 to 7 minutes.  Successfully creaming the butter and sugar together is essential in baking.

Alternating between the flour mixture and eggs, add these ingredients to the butter/sugar.  Beat well to combine.  Add lemon juice and zest.  Pour the beaten mixture into the prepared pan.  Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden, a cake-tester comes out clean, and the side of the cake pull slightly away from the pan.

Cool 5 minutes, then remove from the pan and onto a rack.  Allow cake to continue cooling.

 Juice the remaining 1/2 lemon and combine with powder sugar to make a glaze.  Pour over cooled cake.

Chocolate Glaze for Cake

This recipe makes about 1 cup of chocolate glaze.

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate (70% cacao)

8 Tbs. softened butter

2 Tbs. Lyle's Golden Syrup

Melt the chocolate in the top pan of a double-boiler. Stir constantly while melting. When the chocolate is almost completely melted, remove the top pan and continue stirring until completely melted and smooth. Add the butter, a tablespoon at a time. Add the syrup. Cool to glazing consistency.

Quiche

The filling for this simple dish is great. Perfect for an easy summer dinner.

Prepare your pie crust in a spring form pan. Preheat the oven to 375.

Quiche filling:

4 eggs

2 cups whole milk (or half and half if you feel adventurous)

1/2 tsp. salt

Pepper to taste

1 shallot finely chopped

1 Tbs. sun-dried tomato packed in olive oil, chopped

1 cup grated Swiss cheese

2 ounces crumbled goat cheese

1/4 pound cooked bacon, crumbled

Spread the bacon crumbs over the crust. Sprinkle the cheese over the bacon. In a bowl, combine the eggs, salt and pepper, shallot, and sun-dried tomato. Pour the mixture over the bacon and cheese. Dot the top of the quiche with butter.

Back for 35-40 minutes, or until the custard has puffed up and the crust is baked. Rest for 5 minutes before serving.