Anita's Easy Banana Bread

Anita's Easy Banana Bread:
4 lg eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1/2 cup apple sauce
7 or 8 ripe, mashed bananas
2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
2 tsp baking soda
dried blueberries, chocolate chips, walnuts (optional)
optional spices: cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves
*may substitue 1/2 c flour for 1/2 c ground flax

Combine eggs, oil, apple sauce, and sugar. Add mashed bananas. Sift flour, baking soda. Add optional items, if using. Bake in 2 well greased loaf pans for 50 mins at 350. Enjoy! :)

Chili Seasoning

Chili Seasoning (Mark Bittman's)

CindyJ~mommy_of_love1
2 Tbs chili powder
1 tsp crushed red pepper
1 Tbs seasoned salt
2 tsp cumin
1 tsp sugar
1 tsp oregano
1 tsp onion powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp pepper
2 tsp parsley
Mix and store in an airtight container. Use 1 1/2 Tbs for 1 lb beef.

Vegetarian Chili

Vegetarian Chili- this was really yummy and filling for only veggies. I'm not a big sweet potato fan, but they were really good in this. I used a bean mix containing black eyed peas, chick peas, red and white kidney beans, lima beans and northern beans. My DS who isn't a big chili fan devoured this (YAY!!). I used a home made chili mix, so I'll post that too.

Vegetarian Chili
Junquegirl

olive oil
1 yellow onion, diced
1-2 fat cloves of garlic, minced or put through a garlic press
3 cans of beans, rinsed; or equivalent cooked beans (I used pinto, kidney and black)
1 28 oz. can diced tomatoes & their juices
1-2 teaspoons homemade chili powder (I used Mark Bittman’s recipe for chili powder)
½ teaspoon oregano, if your spice mixture doesn’t have it already
1 small sweet potato, diced
salt to taste
[optional, but highly recommended, garnish is chopped fresh cilantro]

In a heavy-bottomed soup pot, sauté the onion in olive oil until it starts to turn translucent. Add the garlic and sauté another minute or so. Add beans, tomatoes, spices and sweet potato. Bring to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer until sweet potatoes are tender. Scoop out up to a cup of beans and mash them with a fork in a bowl or plate. Return to the pot. Stir, taste, and add more chili powder if necessary. Add salt to taste. Serve over brown rice and/or with cornbread. [Options: add diced red bell peppers with the onion; add diced waxy potatoes with (or instead of) the sweet potatoes; add smoked paprika to taste at the end; reduce some balsamic vinegar in the onion and garlic before adding the beans, etc.; add corn kernels towards the end of cooking]

Green Bean Salad

The green bean salad is one I've made a half-dozen times before. I make a simple vinaigrette with balsamic vinegar, olive oil, salt & pepper and a liberal amount of freshly grated lemon zest (zesting the whole lemon for about a half a cup of dressing) and toss it with 1" pieces of raw green beans and quartered kalamata olives. The salty, briny olives, lemony and tart dressing and sweet green beans are SO good together... usually. But I tried to be fancy and blanch the green beans first and it was just... wrong. Stick with the raw green beans.

(junquegirl)

Fast French Bread or Rolls

The bread was the same French bread I make almost every week, but I under baked it this time :-P I pulled it out of the oven after 28 minutes - it should have been left in maybe 4 min more.

Fast French Bread or Rolls (junquegirl)

(modified slightly from How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman)

3 ½ cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more as needed

(optional: vital wheat gluten, 1-2 teaspoons per cup of flour)

2 teaspoons salt

1 ½ teaspoons instant yeast

1 cup water, plus more as needed

1) Put the flour in the food processor, add the salt, gluten and yeast, and turn the machine on. With the machine running, pour about a cup of water through the feed tube. Process until the dough forms a ball, adding a little water at a time until it become smooth; if the dough begins sticking to the side of the bowl, you’ve added too much water. No harm done; add ¼ cup or so of flour and keep going. You’re looking for a moist, well-defined ball. The whole process should take about 30 seconds, and it will once you get good at it. If he dough is too dry, add water 1 Tbs. at a time and process for 5 or 10 seconds after each addition. If it’s too wet, ad another tablespoon or two of flour and process briefly.

2) Dump the lump of dough into a large bowl or simply remove the blade from the processor bowl and leave the dough in there. Either way, cover with a plastic bag or wrap and let sit for at least an hour at room temperature. (2-3 hrs, if you can)

3) Use a small strainer or your fingers to dust the counter with a little flour. Shape the dough as you like, into small loaves, one big one baguettes or rolls, sprinkling with flour as necessary but keeping the flour to a minimum. Preheat oven to 400 degrees while you let the loaves or rolls rest, covered with a towel. (2-3 hrs, if you can)

4) When you’re ready to bake, slash the top of each loaf once or twice with a sharp knife. If the dough has risen on a cloth, slide or turn it onto floured baking sheets or gently move it onto a lightly floured peel, plank of wood or flexible cutting board, then slide the bread directly onto a baking stone. Or you can bake on lightly oiled baking sheets, Turn heat down to 375F.

5) Bake until the crust is golden brown, cool on wire rack. [30 to 34 min]

Artichoke Soup Provencal

Artichoke Soup Provençal

(source: Moosewood Restaurant New Classics)

1 Tbs. olive oil

3 cups chopped onion

1 ½ cups chopped potatoes

2 ½ cups peeled and chopped carrots

½ cup chopped celery

1 ½ teaspoons salt

2 bay leaves

5 cups veg stock or water

5 artichoke hearts, quartered (1 14 oz. can)

2 Tbs. dry sherry

¼ teaspoon crumbled saffron

1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice (1 lemon)

¼ cup fresh orange juice (1 orange)

½ teaspoon freshly grated orange peel

ground black pepper to taste

Warm the olive oil in a non-reactive soup pot. Add the onions, potatoes, carrots, celery salt and bay leaves and sauté on medium heat for ten minutes, stirring often. Add stock or water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat, cover and simmer for about 15 minutes.

Add the artichoke hearts, sherry and saffron to the soup pot and continue to simmer for 5 minutes. Stir in lemon juice, orange juice, and orange peel and simmer an additional 5 minutes. Season to taste with black pepper. Remove bay leaves and serve. Garnish with chopped parsley and thins slices of lemon, if desired.

Tuscan Mushroom Chickpea Soup

Tuscan Mushroom Chickpea Soup
margots-mom adapted from a "clean eating" message board

2 cans of chickpeas, rinsed and drained
1/2 cup dried mushrooms, lightly packed, add 1 cup boiling water and let sit for an hour, do not discard the water!
mix of any kind of mushroom (I used white mushrooms and shitake, about 10 oz)
1 onion
1 medium potato, peeled and cubed
1 med sweet potato, peeled and cubed
fresh sprig of rosemary - if fresh is not possible, use about 2 tsp of the dried needles and add to the soaking mushrooms to soften, do not use powdered
1 clove garlic, roughly chopped
chicken broth
extra virgin olive oil
sea salt
freshly ground pepper

Saute onion, garlic and ground pepper with olive oil over medium heat. It should be fragrant and will turn slightly translucent but never brown. Add the potatoes, rosemary, a sprinkle of salt, soaked mushrooms and mushroom water. Add chicken broth to cover. Cook over medium heat until the potatoes are cooked. The pot should be at a low simmer, not a boil. Add fresh mushrooms and continue cooking - it will be about 5-10 minutes. Add the chickpeas and when they are heated through remove half of the soup to puree in a blender. Add back into the soup. Taste and adjust the salt. Add more water if the soup is too thick.