Kiddo's Kitchen Challenge - 12/04/10

This week's ingredients: blueberry, broccoli, millet and lentils



The recipe: 3B Millet Salad with berry vinaigrette



This was the strangest challenge list I have had yet. Blueberries and broccoli?? What am I supposed to do with that? It's a good thing I have friends to discuss these things with, or I wouldn't have come up with this idea. It's rather simple, really. Not much to it. But it is an odd flavor. Definitely not one of the best recipes, but...blueberries and broccoli??!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup beluga lentils (you can use any kind, I just thought the colors of this would be fun)
2/3 cup dry millet
1 cup broccoli, chopped into tiny pieces
1/2 cup blueberries *note: I used dried blueberries, fresh ones will have a much more vibrant flavor!
2 stalks green onions, chopped
1 tbsp strawberry preserves or jelly (you could use any kind of fruit jelly here, to suit your tastes)
1 tbsp lime juice
2 tbsp canola oil

Directions:
Cook the lentils in 1 cup of water. Bring to a boil, reduce heat, and simmer on med-low about 20 minutes.
Cook the millet. Bring 1 1/3 cups water to a boil, stir in millet, and cook about 20 minutes.
As the millet and lentils are cooking, chop the broccoli and green onion, and prepare the vinaigrette. For the vinaigrette, combine the lime juice and jelly, along with 1 tbsp water, and whisk until smooth. pour in the oil and whisk again. If you want to change the color of your millet and make it a slightly purply color, use a blender or food processor and add some of the blueberries to the mix.
When the millet and lentils are done and cooled a bit, combine them with the berries, onions, broccoli and vinaigrette. Toss until combined, and enjoy... Maybe. Ha ha!

Vegan Thanksgiving

I know the ideas of "vegan" and "Thanksgiving" don't really go well together, but I think this is a happy way of celebrating the holiday.

Thanksgiving recipes

Cornbread stuffing:

Cornbread Recipe

• 1 Cup Yellow Corn Meal
• 1/4 Cup All-Purpose Flour
• 1/4 Teaspoon Salt
• 1 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 3/4 Cup Rice Milk
• 1 Tablespoon Canola Oil

Stuffing Recipe

• 1 Cup Onion, Chopped
• 1 Cup Celery, Chopped
• 2 Tablespoon Light Vegan Butter
• 5 Slices Whole Wheat Bread, Cubed
• 3 Cups of Cornbread, Crumbled
• 1/2 Cup Panko Bread Flakes
• 1 Teaspoon Parsley Flakes
• 1/2 Teaspoon Black Pepper
• 1 Medium Carrot, Grated
• 1 3/4 No-Chicken or vegetable Broth

Cook cornbread first. You can make it a day in advance. Prepare skillet by spraying it with cooking spray and sprinkling it with corn meal. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

In a mixing bowl, mix together corn meal, flour, salt, baking powder, rice milk and canola oil.Pour into skillet and cook for 20 to 25 minutes or until top is golden brown. Let set for about 5 minutes before you remove it from the pan.

Now for the dressing. In a saucepan place butter, celery and onions and simmer on medium-low heat until soft.

Preheat oven 350 degrees and toast bread cubes for about 10 minutes or until well toasted.

In a mixing bowl mix together onions and celery, bread cubes, cornbread, bread flakes, poultry seasoning, parsley, onion, sage, pepper, carrot and broth. Place into a 8 inch casserole dish, sprayed with cooking spray. Cover with tin foil. Oven is already preheated. Place into oven and cook for about 45 minutes.

Pumpkin Cake with chocolate glaze:

Ingredients:

• 3/4 Cups Cake Flour
• 1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar (Packed)
• 2 Teaspoons Pumpkin Spice
• 1/2 Teaspoon Baking Powder
• 1/8 Teaspoon Baking Soda
• 1/8 Teaspoon Salt
• 1/2 Cup Pureed Pumpkin
• 1 Tablespoons Canola Oil
• 1 Tablespoons Light Vegan Butter (Melted)
• 1/1 Teaspoon Vanilla
• 1/4 Cup Water
• 1/2 Teaspoon Apple Cider Vinegar

Directions:

Preheat Oven to 325 degrees. Spray an 8inch round cake pan, and flour it.

Mix the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl from the wet before you join them. We don't want to activate the baking soda and powder too quickly.

In a large mixing bowl, put cake flour, brown sugar, pumpkin spice, baking powder and soda, salt. Stir the dry ingredients until well incorporated, making sugar that the brown sugar isn't still packed together.

In a small mixing ball mix together wet ingredients; pumpkin, oil, butter, vanilla, water and vinegar.

Join the wet with the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula, slowly stirring, scraping the sides and mashing the lumps out as you stir. Stir until the batter is pretty much free of lumps.

Pour batter into pan. Place into oven immediately.

Cook about 20 to 25 minutes. Don't open the oven door until after the first 15 minutes of cooking, but after that stick a toothpick in the middle and check to see if it comes out clean. Keep checking and don't take them out until the toothpick comes out clean. Let cake cool before icing.

Glaze:
1/2 cup soy milk
1/2 cup vegan chocolate chips

Combine milk and chips in small saucepan on stove, heat on medium and stir until melted. Pour over warm cake and let cool. Soo delicious!

Kiddo's Kitchen Challenge

For the final my web design class, we are making interactive websites. I struggled on what to do, but ultimately, it came down to food. Of course. Here is the link to my class blog:

Kiddo's Kitchen Challenge - Web Design class blog

Watch my progress on the site, and eventually, watch as it gets developed and published to the web!

Mushroom gravy

Super delicious gravy, good on lots of things. So far, I've had it on baked tofu and steamed tempeh. Yum. I bet you can have it on potatoes and love it, some kid of "loaf". mmm.
It doesn't look well when photographed, but I will try again.

Ingredients:
2 tsp olive oil
1 small onion, minced (leeks would even be good)
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 cups chopped mushrooms
2 tbsp soy sauce
1/2 tsp italian seasoning
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1/3 cup plain nondairy milk
2 tbsp nutritional yeast
2 tbsp corn starch

In a medium pan, sautee the onions over medium heat until transluscent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic and mushrooms and cook, covered, for about 4 minutes, until softened. Stir in soy saucce, italian seasoning, and pepper.
Transfer mushroom mix to a blender, add 1/2 cup veg stock, and blend until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until smooth.
Return mixture to the same pan, bring it to a boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat to low and continue stirring until the gravy is thickened, about 3 minutes.

Testing....

Artichoke, Spinach and Tomato pizza WITH whole wheat crust recipe

How good dos that look?? Wilted yummy spinach, tasty artichokes, and warm, rich tomatoes. Oooh.


Artichoke, Spinach and Tomato Pizza

Makes 2 pizzas, usually. Depending on how loaded you like your pizzas, and what size crust you use. I have a yummy crust recipe here, too.

1 can artichokes, drained and chopped into smaller pieces
1 bunch of spinach, stems removed, chopped into small pieces
1 cup quartered cherry tomatoes
1/2 cup parsley, chopped fine
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tbsp lemon juice
2 cloves garlic, minced or put through garlic press
1/4 tsp sea salt


Directions:

Mix the chopped parsley, olive oil, lemon juice, garlic, salt and pepper in a small bowl. Spread over the uncooked crust in a thin layer.
Next, combine the artichokes, spinach and tomatoes, and mix in the oil/parsley mixture. Spread on top of pizza, as much or as little as you like. I like the pizza heaping with ingredients, and the spinach cooks down so it doesn't end up as enormous as it seems.

Whole-Wheat Pizza dough

1 1/2 cups warm (115 degrees) water
2 packets ( ounce each) active dry yeast
1/4 cup olive oil, plus more for bowl
2 tablespoons sugar
2 teaspoons coarse salt
2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for kneading
2 cups whole-wheat flour (spooned and leveled)

Place water in a large bowl; sprinkle with yeast. Let stand until foamy, about 5 minutes. Brush another large bowl with oil.

In bowl with yeast, whisk sugar, oil, and salt. Stir in flours with a wooden spoon until a sticky dough forms. Transfer to oiled bowl; brush top of dough with oil. Cover bowl with plastic wrap; let stand in a warm spot until dough has doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Turn dough out onto a well-floured surface. With floured hands, knead until smooth, about 15 seconds; divide into two balls.
Spread dough out onto pan, stretching so it reaches the corners.
Top dough and bake at 350º for 15-18 minutes. Check it to see if the crust is how you like it.
The other piece of dough can be frozen, or you can make two pizzas, using different toppings.
To freeze the 2nd piece, I usually split it into 2 smaller pieces, and roll/stretch them out to form 2 smaller discs, them layer them with parchment paper and freeze. When they are frozen, put them in a gallon size plastic bag or wrap in plastic wrap.

Black Bean Salad and Apple Cheddar Quesadillas

If you didn't know already, black beans are my favorite food thing in the whole world.



Black Bean Salad

1 can black beans, rinsed (My favorite are the reduced sodium Kroger/Smiths brand)
1 avocado, diced
1 tomato, diced
1/2 cup frozen corn, thawed (Even better--corn cut from the cob. But NEVER canned corn. The taste is completely different, and we don't need that added sodium!)
1 handful cilantro, chopped
2 green onion stalks, chopped finely
1/2 tsp garlic salt - try less at first, and taste as you go. The mix of lime and salt can be overpowering.
1/4 tsp cumin, maybe a little more
Stir, season to taste, and enjoy!

Sometimes it's fun to mix in a cup or two of cooked brown rice, and even a small can of tomato sauce to make it a little bit different. Yum.

Apple Cheddar Quesadillas

This one is too simple, it really doesn't even need a recipe. I had a tiny apple from my son's leftovers...he never eats the whole thing. So I sliced it really thin, and I made a quesadilla with the apple slices, whole wheat tortillas, and sliced daiya cheddar.
I will think of some variations and other things to add to make a more complex recipe of this. I'm thinking something green...kale, maybe? Or maybe squash puree mixed with the cheese...this is going to be fun!

I Can't Believe It's Vegan!

There are so many people out there that think that "vegan" means fake meats, cheeses and milks, but really, there are so many things that are technically vegan that they probably eat all the time. To prove that vegan food is not scary, I found this fun site that has a huge list of items that are vegan. Look at all this stuff:

But, just because it's vegan does not mean it's healthy, as you can tell from some of the items in the picture. All things in moderation, right?

Here is a list of a few things that I really enjoy that I can still eat!
Oreos. Mmm.
Sour patch kids
Triscuits
Hershey's chocolate syrup
Edy's(Dryers) Whole Fruit Bars
Keebler Graham Cracker Pie Crust
Bisquick


Here is the site I got this from.

The perfect chocolate chip cookies -V

This recipe was adapted from one I found. I made it complicated and kind of halved the recipe, so I wouldn't have 20 cookies to eat by myself. Yeah, it's true.





1 tbsp ground flax seeds
1 1/2 tbsp water
1/4 cup margarine, room temperature
3 tbsp sugar
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract



1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tbsp whole wheat flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup chocolate chips



Preheat oven to 350.
Mix the ground flax and water together in a medium bowl and let it sit for a few minutes while you prepare the dry ingredients. Mix the flours, salt, baking soda, baking powder and chocolate chips in a small bowl.
In the bowl with the flax and water, add the sugars, margarine and vanilla, and wisk until creamy. Stir in the dry mix until well combined.
Make balls about the size of a rounded tablespoon, place on pan, and squish a little to flatten. Not a lot.
Bake in preheated oven about 7-9 minutes. Let cool on pan for 2 minutes. I can't explain how to tell if a cookie is done, but I like them a certain way. I bake mine for 8 minutes in KY.



SO YUM.