Oatmeal Cookies

I've been using this oatmeal cookie recipe from 101cookbooks, and will continue to use it.  The cookies are delicious and light.  It was painless to make them gluten-free for a friend - you didn't even notice the difference, but beyond that, they were supreme.  I made one batch exactly as is, and then I immediately made a second batch with chocolate chips instead of fennel and poppyseed.  Then I spent the next week fantasizing about them, and so made another batch over the weekend.  This time I reduced the sugar to 1/2 cup, and I think I forgot baking soda.  They were still amazing. I've already committed to bringing them to a Superbowl party next weekend.  (I don't know who is playing, because football season has been over since late Saturday, January 12th!  But I hear women like the commercials, so maybe I'll try that.)

When it comes to cooking, I never really follow a recipe - it goes like this:  Substitute here and there, adjust cooking time, adjust cooking style... remove ingredient I don't have, add four other ingredients.

Baking is supposed to be different.  But these cookies are delicate, melt-in-your-mouth deliciousness, almost like a soft, delicate meringue.

Vegetable Stew.

I don't like this picture because the broth looks super oily and it's really not.  I think the shine is in part from using a cornstarch-like thickening agent.

A few weeks ago I tricked myself into thinking I needed a dutch oven, and I am very glad I did.  (I made delicious vegetarian chili, a recipe I will someday share.)  This stew dish, which was inspired by something my parents used to feed me, would not have been as delicious if it wasn't made in my cast iron dutch oven.  I mean, it would probably still be delicious.

Beef Stew recipes all call for red wine, but I only drink red wine on family occasions when everyone else is drinking it, so I had none, as well as no inclination to get some.  Instead, I used balsamic vinegar and vegetable broth, and I can't imagine this being more delicious.

Like I said, my parents used to make beef stew, using a pressure cooker (a piece of equipment I have, so far, lived without.)  They would brown beef, add stewing vegetables (usually carrots potatoes and ALWAYS rutabaga - it is not the same without rutabaga) and then pressure cook until done.  I like to imagine that at the end of the meal I had eaten everything but the beef, but that probably isn't true.  (Although I swear on Thanksgiving all that would be left on my plate was turkey.)  When I bought a 3 lb sack of 'stew vegetables' from the local organic produce delivery service, I remembered back to those days of moist and incredibly flavorful vegetables, and this dish does not disappoint.

As far as I can remember, we didn't really have gravy with this meal - the vegetables were not dry, but I remember seasoning with Lawry's seasoned salt.  Today I used copious amounts of Penzey's special seasoned sea salt.  In any case, my version has a lot of juice, and is thickened to form a bit of gravy that can be sopped up with some bread.

In future renderings, I would cook the seitan first in the dutch oven, then remove it and use less oil to brown the onions.

9 oz onion
5 oz parsnip
1 1/4 lb carrots
1/2 lb rutabaga
3/r lb radishes (some red, some white)
2 T balsamic vinegar
2 t fresh thyme
1 t hot pepper flakes
1 T Annie's worcestershire sauce (its my favorite veg brand)
2 c vegetable broth
1 c chopped tomatoes
6 oz seitan
2 T olive oil

cornstarch, flour, arrowroot, or other thickener, as needed for your desired broth consistency.

I heated 1 T of olive oil and softened the onions, than added the very roughly chopped vegetables in the above order, as I roughly chopped them.  While this cooked, I dug through my freezer to procure vegetable broth and tomatoes.  I deglazed the pan a bit with the vinegar and worcestershire, and then added the broth and tomatoes.  As soon as the ice crystals were melted, I stirred, covered, and baked in a 400 degree oven for about a half hour, until the very large-cut carrots and rutabagas were soft but not falling apart.

While baking, I sliced the seitan bite-sized and fried in olive oil, sprinkled with a bit of seasoned salt (this seitan had no salt added), and set it aside.

I ended up taking a cup of delicious tangy broth from the stew, and heating it in a saucepan.  I mixed 2 T of Wondra (superfine white flour) with 1/4 c cold water, and then stirred it into the boiling broth, cooking and stirring for about a minute, than pouring back into the dutch oven, with the cooked seitan.

Yum.

Lentils and Rice with caraway and cumin

As usual, I forgot to take a picture until the bowl was almost empty.

I ordered a bunch of vegetables from my local organic foods sourced-from-farms delivery service, and they are set to arrive tomorrow, so last night I opened the fridge and kind of freaked out about how many vegetables I had to eat in 48 hours.  So far, I am totally on track to finish them, because this dish is so damn delicious.

This recipe is a complete accident.  I thought I would flavor red lentils and brown rice with cumin and lemon.  But upon reaching into the cabinet, I pulled out and poured about a tablespoon of caraway seed into the dish before I realized I'd grabbed the wrong jar.  This caused me to immediately forgot about lemon, not to remember until after I'd eaten my first serving, at which point I had already concluded that this was the most perfect dish in the entire world.  I continued to look for cumin seed, eventually settling on ground cumin.  But I did add some black onion seed, which is sometimes called 'black caraway seed'.  I figured the combination would be great.  I was right.

1 c brown rice
1 T olive oil
1/2 large yellow onion
10 cloves garlic
1 T caraway seed
1 T black onion seed
1 t cumin
1 t hot pepper flakes
4 stalks celery, chopped small
3 large carrots, chopped small
1 green pepper, chopped small
1/2 c red lentils
1 t vegetable bouillon

Cook brown rice in 3 cups water until near tender, drain.

Meanwhile, heat olive oil, and cook yellow onion, adding garlic when it is almost translucent and cooking another few minutes.  Add spices.  Stir in the rest of the vegetables and cook until starting to brown.  Add the lentils, bouillon, and 2 cups water.  Cook until vegetables until tender, add rice and simmer until flavors are combined.