Blog Archives
Stir-Fry Vegetables in a Bread Bowl
My favorite way to have vegetables is to quickly stir-fry them, so they are still crisp. A restaurant I used to go to a lot, served them in a beautiful woven lattice bread bowl and it was the perfect lunch. These veggies can be served over rice, rice noodles or as a side with stir-fried meat, poultry or tofu.
If you’re feeling creative I found a recipe for a lattice bread basket here.
Stir-Fry Vegetables
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 cup water or broth (vegetable or chicken)
Photo by ddpiesslice.blogspot.com
- 1 tbsp soy sauce
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 tbsp honey
- 6-8 mushrooms, washed and sliced
- 1 tbsp olive oil
- ½ tsp ground ginger or 2 tsp fresh minced
- ¼ tsp crushed garlic
- 8 oz broccoli crowns
- 8 oz sliced carrots, or baby carrots
- 8 oz snow peas
- 6 oz can sliced water chestnuts or bamboo shoots, drained
- salt & pepper to taste
wok or deep skillet
Mix cornstarch, soy, water, lemon and honey together. Set aside. Heat wok, add oil add all the remaining ingredients. Stir-fry quickly, about 2 minutes, until vegetables are tender-crisp. Add sauce, bring to boil for 1 minute or more until thickened. Let simmer 2 minutes.
Ginger Glazed Carrots
Originally posted December 2009.
I thought I’d post a few vegetable recipes this week. I often prefer my vegetables raw or lightly stir-fried, so I don’t do many fancy veggie recipes. But that doesn’t mean I don’t have a bunch of those recipes in my arsenal! I use them a lot when having friends or family over for dinner. We’ll start with this one:
Ginger Glazed Carrots
- 1 lb baby carrots, washed
- 1/2 cup honey
- 1 tbsp fresh grated ginger
- 2 tsp to 1 tbsp butter
- salt as desired
saucepan and steamer basket
Place steamer in saucepan, add enough water to come to the bottom of the steamer. Add carrots, bring to a boil and steam until tender (about 5 minutes). Remove carrots and steamer, drain water from the saucepan, add carrots and remaining ingredients to saucepan and stir on low heat until carrots are coated with honey and butter. Serve immediately.
Thursday Recipe Exchange: Spicy Pumpkin Cookies with Crumble Topping
It’s been pumpkin week here. I’ve made several pumpkin recipes, all sweets. I had planned on having two recipes for you tonight, one being a Pumpkin Cream Pie, unfortunately I forgot to pick up cream cheese and it’s now raining/sleeting/snowing, so I am not going back out for it. You’ll just have to check back later this weekend for the recipe. Lighter and creamier than traditional pumpkin pie, I really liked the piece I had the other night and am hoping on recreating it. Stay tuned…
Meanwhile, I started the week out with Pumpkin Bars (recipe here), a real favorite at my office and with my neighbors, so a big pan goes pretty quickly. Then it was on to create a good spicy pumpkin cookie, the featured recipe tonight. The photo shows both a crumble topping and a cream cheese frosting, but since I really preferred the crumble topping, that’s what I included in the recipe.
Now it’s your turn. Are you a fan of pumpkin? I know it can be one of those ingredients that inspires a very strong response, either positive or negative. What’s your favorite pumpkin product this time of year? I love Dunkin Donuts Pumpkin Donuts, but I have admit, the cookies were a pretty good substitute. If not pumpkin, what treat really puts you in a fall mood?
Tonight’s recipe:
Spicy Pumpkin Cookies with Crumble Topping
Cookies
- 1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
- 1 cup brown sugar, packed
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 1/2 cups canned solid-pack pumpkin (14 ounces)
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 1/4 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tsp pumpkin spice
Cream together butter and sugar; add egg, pumpkin, and vanilla, mixing well. Sift together dry ingredients and slowly mix into pumpkin mixture and mix until well combined. Refrigerate for 15 minutes, then drop by spoonful on a baking sheet. Top with crumble topping, pressing gently into the dough. Refrigerate remaining dough until ready to bake.
Bake for 12-13 minutes at 375 degrees. Makes 2 dozen
Topping
- 1/2 cup rolled oats (not quick)
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 cup melted butter
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
Mix together until crumbly
Pumpkin Squares Revisted
The last two weeks have been pumpkin weeks for me. I first made pumpkin squares, which disappeared quickly, as they seem to be everyone’s favorites. I’m reposting the recipe here, as it will be part of the Thursday Recipe Exchange tomorrow. That will feature Pumpkin Cookies and possible a Pumpkin Cream Pie, which I found much more satisfying than regular pumpkin pie. I’m off to buy those ingredients now to see if I can recreate it. Until then, you can start with these amazing goodies:
Originally posted 10/2011:
These are a favorite. By the time you read this post, half the pan will already be gone to friends. The other half goes to work tomorrow for our morning meeting.
Cake:
- 4 eggs
- 1-2/3 cup sugar
- 1 cup oil or butter
- 15 oz can pumpkin (not pie filling)
- 2 cups flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 2 tsp pumpkin spice (less if desired, I like them spicy)
mixing bowl & 13×9 baking dish, greased
Beat eggs, sugar, butter & pumpkin together, add dry ingredients, mixing well. Spread into baking dish, bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes. Cool & frost (frosting below). These are rich, so I would cut them into at least 24 squares.
Frosting
- 16 oz cream cheese, room temp
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3-3/4 cups powdered sugar
mixing bowl
Mix together cream cheese, sugar & vanilla. Mix until smooth.
You can frost & freeze in an air-tight container for up to 2 weeks. Enjoy.
Beauty in the Kitchen: Cinnamon
Every once in a while I write about how things you find in the kitchen can work to improve hair and skin. Oat flour, olive oil, coconut oil, apple cider vinegar, lemon juice are all things I’ve used with great success for healthy skin and soft, shiny hair. I have very sensitive skin, so I’m always on the look out for things I can use without a lot of chemicals in them. (You can read about my journey from irritated skin to beauty in the kitchen here.)
I was googling something the other day, can’t even remember what it was – definitely not looking for beauty tips – and stumbled across this from Dr. Oz (of the Dr. Oz show) and I thought, “sounds interesting”:
Spice Up Your Skin
As your skin ages, not only do wrinkles appear but the fresh dewy look of youth is replaced with dullness and even dry patches.
When combined, the spices cinnamon and nutmeg can soften fine lines and make your skin glow. Nutmeg actually lightens age spots by turning off melanocytes (pigment cells), while cinnamon helps plump skin, filling in fine lines and minor wrinkles.
Nutmeg & Cinnamon Face & Body Wash
To make this inexpensive, skin-rejuvenating wash, take 6 teaspoons each of ground cinnamon and nutmeg and run through your coffee machine’s filter. Pour the mixture directly into a warm bath and soak in it. Or allow the mixture to cool and use as a face or body wash that you can leave on and let penetrate your skin for up to 10 minutes a day.
I actually mix 1/4 tsp of cinnamon with my oat flour mask (now I really am an oatmeal cookie). The one caution here is that cinnamon, like ginger, brings on the heat and using too much can irritate the skin. I don’t think I would do a straight mixture and leave it on for 10 minutes, but for me it works well in combination with the oat flour. I haven’t tried the “bath tea” yet.
Do you have anything from your pantry that has worked its way into your skin or hair routine?
