Breakfast Adventures!

My new discovery this week was the wonderful Kraft Kitchens website. They have this fun little feature where you can type in ingredients and it will magically give you recipes that you might actually want to make without running down to the store to grab things you don't already possess.

Today, Kaydee and I were hanging around the kitchen before we headed off to do more research (library intro lab for her, oral history and Venezuelan revolutionary history readings for me), kind of hungry, and in that aforementioned state of mind where neither one of us really wanted to run five blocks down the street to get whatever missing ingredients we required. This recipe, thanks to Kraft Kitchens, was the happy result.

We modified it slightly, by using four eggs instead of six, and using veggie sausages instead of chopped ham.

We also made this amazing banana bread thanks to noabsolutes' recipe posted on bakebakebake a couple of weeks back.

Mash three bananas. Then add:

1 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon. baking powder
1/4 cup oil (we replaced this with applesauce)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 cup walnuts (optional)

Pour into a loaf pan (or, if you are us, a cake pan because my loaf pan is still at my momma's) and sprinkle with a bit more sugar (if you want a fun crust). Bake between 45 minutes and an hour at 350.

We consumed both of these with some green tea. Perfect pre-studying noms.

Samosas!

Today, Kaydee and I made an attempt to connect with my Indian heritage. We popped a Bollywood film on the laptop, and made samosas.

In the filling:

frozen vegetables (mixed, there were corn, green beans and peas)
frozen hashbrowns
half a chopped onion
This awesome curry powder I found at Thrifty's
pepper
a splash of lemon juice

First, I fried together the onion in some canola oil. After it had sauteed for about five minutes, I added the curry powder, the vegetables and the potatoes, the latter of which were still frozen. I stirred it at medium heat for about fifteen minutes, and let it sit on low while Kaydee rolled out the pre-made samosa pastry.

Yesterday, I made the pastry. At the absolute minimum, it should chill for half an hour. Mine chilled for about 24 hours or so.

2 1/2 cups flour (I split this between whole wheat and white, because I tend to add whole wheat to everything)
1/2 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons canola oil
1 cup water

Mix together the flour and salt together, add the canola oil, and then the water as needed. Knead until it's smooth and kind of stretchy.

When assembling, what I found works the easiest is if you cut a circle and then cut that in half. Ours were rather small (about three inches across as most, so 1 1/2 wide per half circle), but you can make them bigger. Ours were more appetizer sized. Bring the edges together, and join them together securely, using extra water to really join it together. Stuff with a little bit of the filling (see picture), and then seal in the same manner. You really want to make sure that the edges are securely fastened or else your samosa will fall apart while deep frying.

Pour enough oil in to fill up your pan about half way (don't worry, you can pour it back in afterwards), and fry the samosas until they are done (kind of crunchy, clearly fried and not just browned).

Chutney tastes fabulous with them; we did not have any, they tasted amazing anyway.

My Mama's Lentil Soup. From the Vegetarian Epicure by Anna Thomas

This soup is idiot-proof, cheap, and easy. It's good for students [like me!] because it takes three hours to cook and lasts forever in the freezer, which is good if you are on a budget. Plus, it's vegan.

When I was littler, my family and I lived on Government St, near Chinatown, and my mama would give the street people who lived below our building [our condo was above a hair salon] containers of this soup and hot toast. It's warm, filling, and delicious.

In a large pot, add:

2/3 cup dried lentils
4 cups of water
1 onion, chopped fine
4 carrots, chopped
2 stalks celery,chopped

Then, simmer it for three hours. Do not forget about your soup. Set your timer.

Sometime, your soup will get a little too thick, like more of a thick stew than a thick soup. Add some more water until it reaches whatever you consider to be a soup.

Then, add:

1 cup tomato paste [or two of those tiny cans]
garlic
thyme
tarragon

Voila. Your soup is finished. Serve with bread; my mama makes amazing focaccia to serve with this.

Spinach Ricotta Pie! Recipe From Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook!

I originally posted this two years ago in LiveJournal. This was the first dish I made for Kaydee upon her moving to Victoria this September. I actually improvised and used a cake pan for the baking dish, but I cannot insist enough that if you do not like ridiculously thick crust, please use a real pie pan.

Also, it lasted forever. I was eating slices of the pie-made-in-cake-pan for over a week and it still tasted amazing.

To make the crust, mix together six tablespoons butter or margarine with one and a half cups flour and four tablespoons milk, water, or buttermilk. Roll into circle. Press into pie pan. Set aside.

Alternatively, you could use pastry, which is what my momma does. It makes for a flakier, more decadent crust.

Preheat your oven to 375. Melt about a tablespoon of butter/margarine in a frying pan, and saute one cup of chopped onion for five minutes. Add one pound spinach [stemmed and chopped], half a teaspoon salt, a dash of pepper, one teaspoon basil, and garlic to taste [I use two cloves]. Cook over medium heat until spinach is wilted.

In a bowl, mix together one pound ricotta cheese, three eggs, three tablespoons flour, and half a cup grated sharp cheese. Add the mixture from the frying pan, and spread evenly into pie pan.

Katzen recommends covering the pie with a topping of sour cream, then dusting with paprika. I have never done this, nor has anyone I know, but you could always try it.

Bake for 40-45 minutes. Please, let it set for a few minutes after you take it out of the oven; otherwise you will be serving glorified scrambled eggs with a delicious crust. This tastes delicious hot, cold, or at room temperature.