Using Up those Hard-Cooked Eggs

First there were just boiled eggs dipped in salt and pepper. Then perhaps came the egg salad sandwiches, then the deviled eggs. Now, every time you open the refrigerator, you are still faced with three, four, or even more colored creations staring you in the face. Will the family really accept another night of eggy eating?

Probably the best way to use up the last of the Easter eggs (and to add the cheap protein of eggs into meals the rest of the year) is to think salad.

Not just egg salad though. Instead, start to consider some of your usual tossed salads and add in some  hard-cooked eggs for garnishing, for texture, and for flavor. Check the refrigerator for the ingredients you have to make a basic salad. Today I have Romaine, tomatoes, a red onion (always onions!), cabbage, green pepper, and an avocado. Not hard to see how tossing these other ingredients together with some egg slices on top could be a great side dish for the rest of the meal.

There are also some classic "composed" salads. As one website says, composed salads aren't tossed, they are "placed. You could try a Salad Nicoise that starts with an array of tuna, tiny green beans, potatoes, and egg slices, with lots of other additions possible for the creative or adventurous cook.  

However, if those egg slices looking up at everyone are just too much a reminder of how often these Easter eggs have been showing up, try chopping them into your favorite potato salad recipe. Serve it as a side with some slices of that leftover ham and apple and cranberry sauce and you'll have a bright meal with the eggs relatively hidden from view.

If you have a creamy dressing--bottled Ranch or Caesar for example--you could also put crumbled egg yolks (and finely chopped whites) into the dressing for either a lettuce or coleslaw salad too.

Two tools that I have in my kitchen have proven invaluable in cutting nice slices or chopping hard cooked eggs: an egg slicer and a pastry blender. Neither is essential, but I acquired them long ago and they are especially useful at times like this. If you don't have one or the other of these tools, a standard fork works just fine for chopping too.




In doing some research for this post, I found a couple of recipes that included finely chopped eggs in meatballs, but I haven't tried this. If you have, please let me know how it worked out.

A Heritage Recipe for Today

Finally, hard cooked eggs bring back to mind a "Depression recipe"  Mom often served when finances were a little tight. She had carried this salad forward from the 30s, when selling eggs and chickens helped them keep the family farm, usually served with just some homemade bread and perhaps some applesauce or (for my father's ever-present sweet tooth) some homemade cookies for dessert.

I have lightened the recipe by substituting a yogurt dressing for the Miracle Whip that she used for all manner of creamy salads, but the rest of the ingredient amounts remain as close to hers as I can recall. It is actually a very healthy vegetarian main dish and there are a lot of textures in play here. Still good with homemade bread or crisp crackers, and a fruit tray would make a great completion to the meal...pretty inexpensive as well, so you might want to try this one out with those few remaining eggs. Just leave the sliced egg garnish off if you think the family has seen altogether too much of these lately!

Kidney Bean and Egg Salad

2 hard-cooked eggs, coarsely chopped

1/2 to 3/4 c diced celery, to taste

1/4 to 1/3 c minced sweet onion, to taste

3/4 c (1/2 15 oz can) dark red kidney beans, drained (see NOTE)

salt and freshly ground black pepper, to taste 

1 more hard-cooked egg, sliced, for garnish (optional)

Dressing

1/3 c plain, nonfat yogurt

1 t mustard--yellow prepared or your favorite flavor

1-2 t sugar, to taste

1.  Combine dressing ingredients.

2.  Toss the salad ingredients together and add just enough dressing to coat the mixture.

3.  Add salt and pepper to taste.  

Suggested serving:  garnished with sliced hard-cooked eggs and parsley, on lettuce leaves if desired. Black olives are also a very good addition to this salad, adding even more color.

NOTE:  For whatever reason, canned kidney beans invariably have sugar added--unlike just about any other kind of bean other than "pork and bean" styles. If you want to use home-cooked kidney beans, you may find a bit of sugar stirred in with the salad ingredients will give you a more "traditional" flavor.

  

      

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Pinto Bean Cake--Just had to try it!

When I cook dry beans, I generally do a great big batch, since two pounds will take little more time or energy than a cup or two, and the prepared beans are easily frozen.

This week, however, I had a ham taking up a lot of freezer space, so some of the pinto beans that hadn't been "refried" would be available for trying what I have long wondered about: pinto bean cake.

Verdict?

The result was more like a spiced bar cookie than a cake, but it was very easy to make with the processor (so that I could be sure the beans were really pureed and unrecognizable!). Without this appliance, the cake would still be easy to make, but you'd want to be sure to mash the beans thoroughly before adding. There is less fat here than in most desserts, but you are unlikely to notice that, and there is more protein and fiber than usually expected in a cake. This is also an economical dessert and easy to prepare, so it is  a recipe I'll be using again and again.

Note that these are whole beans; if you were to try to use unseasoned canned "refried" beans, I think you would probably want to reduce the amount to about 1 1/2 to 1 3/4 cups. The measurement in this recipe is for beans before mashing.

Pinto Bean Cake

1/4 c canola oil
2 c very soft cooked pinto beans--if using canned beans, drain some of the liquid
1 c sugar--either white or light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 t vanilla
2 cups unsweetened applesauce
1 c flour
1 t baking soda
1 1/2 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg 
1/2 t cloves
3/4 c raisins
1/2 c chopped walnuts

1.  Puree the beans in the processor, using the (plastic) bread blade.
2.  Add the oil, sugar, eggs, applesauce, and vanilla to the beans and process until completely blended.
3.  Sift the dry ingredients together and add to the liquid mixture. Pulse just until the mixture is blended; don't overmix.
4.  Add the raisins and walnuts, pulsing just enough to blend.
5.  Turn the batter into a well-oiled 9 X 13 pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 40 minutes. Cool and frost with basic powdered sugar icing. Top with colored sprinkles or chopped nuts if desired.

Varaiation:

Cut recipe in half and bake in an 8 inch square pan for a cake or 7 X 11 pan for bar cookies. In this version, puree the beans and then add all but the flour, raisins and walnuts. Mix well. Then add the flour and pulse just enough to evenly mix all the ingredients. Add the raisins and walnuts, again pulsing only enough to evenly mix.

To Boil an Egg...and Then to Use It

The perfect boiled egg...how hard can that be? Actually, not too hard at all, but it can also be an elusive goal, especially if you want to avoid that gray-green ring around the outside of the yolk or to have the center still runny when you had hoped to make deviled eggs or use the slices as a garnish.

Now, with millions (billions?) of eggs meeting a watery fate in preparation for all this weekend's egg coloring fun, time to consider how best to get them cooked to perfection.

First, to "boiling" the perfect hard-cooked egg. This method works well for one egg or a dozen, so even after Easter, when you are ready to cook one egg, why not go ahead and boil up quite a few at once--they keep well in the refrigerator for up to a week.

If you hadn't noticed, I've been putting the word boiled in quotes; why? Because that's the classic name for this method of preparation, but you really want to stop cooking them just as the boiling starts; any longer and you'll have tough whites and really gray-ish yolks. 

Hard "Boiled" Eggs

eggs
water

Put as many eggs as you plan to prepare in a pan large enough to hold them in a single layer. Add enough cold water from the tap to just barely cover the eggs. Cover the pan and place on the burner.

Begin heating the eggs on high or medium high heat, and cook until the water just begins to show a rolling/rippling boil. Immediately remove from heat. Set a timer for the following amount of time:

Extra large eggs      16 to 17 minutes
Large eggs              14 minutes
Medium eggs          12 minutes

As soon as the timer goes off, pour off all the water and cover the eggs with cold water from the tap. Let sit for just a minute or two, until that water becomes warm, and pour it off, replacing it with more cold water. Alternatively, you can place the eggs under cold running water, but that seems pretty wasteful to me.

The whole idea is to get the eggs to stop cooking as quickly as possible after the timer has gone off.
Probably the trickiest step here is to watch for the eggs to come to a boil. Unfortunately, this is not a uniform time. If the eggs were at room temperature, the time will be shorter than if they are straight out of the refrigerator. A dozen eggs will take longer than two or six or whatever. So you'll have to just be a little alert--steam rising from the pan, the eggs starting to "rattle" in the pan as the water begins moving, etc. Maybe the easiest way to do this is to cook the eggs while you are preparing other foods, clearing the table, doing dishes, etc.




In case you are wondering about the holes in the shells in this picture: We all love to color far more eggs at our house than we could possibly eat, so I follow a practice taught me by my thrifty mother. In the weeks leading up to Easter, I use an ice pick to put holes in both ends of eggs I may be using for baking, scrambled eggs, etc. Then I blow out the contents into a cup, wash out the shells and let them dry thoroughly, and put them aside to be ready to supplement the ones we also boil. These are admittedly a little harder to dye, since they float in the solution, but they are also more amenable to decorations that aren't edible--and are super great for hanging on an Easter egg tree.

Even with these blown eggs, we still have plenty of cooked eggs to use up.  Now that eggs have lost the "bad guy" status in our diets, they can be a good way to boost the protein content of your menus at a relatively low cost, but how many times is your family really ready to eat another boiled egg with salt and pepper?! In my next post, I'll be including a recipe or two to get a little more variety into those leftover egg meals.

Some questions you may have:

• How do I prevent the eggs from cracking while cooking?  Sometimes, the eggs will just have shells so thin, they will crack no matter how hard you try. If they do, they are still fine for eating, just not so pretty for coloring or making deviled eggs. And don't use any boiled eggs with cracks for Easter baskets or for egg hunts--the chance for bacteria entering these cracks is too high in these situations.

• Is it really true that "old" eggs are easier to peel than fresh ones?  Yes, it seems as though the freshest eggs may still have the inner membrane more tightly attached to the shell than those that are a little older. However, using the approach above,  cooling the eggs as quickly as possible, seems to help a little with this problem too. Another way to make peeling eggs a little easier is to crack them and then kind of roll them around, to break up the shell a little more before trying to peel them. Sometimes, however, they just are going to make you work at getting the shell off.

• What about food safety? My kids will be having an Easter egg hunt with real eggs. Is it true that I just have to automatically throw these out? NO. However, you do need to use some common sense. If you are having a hunt like this, keep the eggs refrigerated until right before hiding them. When the kids have finished finding them (hopefully every one of them!), count them, maybe even mark them with the initials of the person finding them, and then return them to the refrigerator until serving them.  

The U.S. Department of Agriculture makes the following recommendations on buying, keeping and preparing eggs:

•When buying eggs, get them from a refrigerated case, before the expiration date on the carton.
•Select eggs that look clean and uncracked.
•After leaving the grocery store, take the eggs straight home and refrigerate them immediately.
•Store eggs in their original carton in the main part of the refrigerator, instead of the door.
•Make sure the temperature in the refrigerator is at least 40 degrees Fahrenheit.
•Eggs should be used within three to five weeks from the date they were purchased.
•When preparing raw eggs, remember to wash your hands, as well as the surfaces and cooking utensils used, with hot soapy water, in order to prevent cross- contamination.
•Raw or cooked eggs should not be left at room temperature for more than two hours.
“When decorating eggs, hard-cook them and use food grade dye to color them if you intend to eat them,” said Haynes.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture makes the following recommendations on hiding, keeping and eating eggs:
•During Easter egg hunts, hide eggs away from animals, dirt and other sources of bacteria.
•Keep eggs in the refrigerator until right before the hunt and put them back in the refrigerator right after the hunt.
•Make sure the eggs have not been at room temperature for longer than two hours total.
•Consume hard-cooked eggs in their shells within a week of cooking, and egg dishes, like deviled eggs, within three to four days.

of course, what to do with all those eggs afterward. Now that eggs have lost the "bad guy" status in our diets, they can be a  good way to boost the protein content of your menus at a relatively low cost. The next post will have a recipe or two for fitting hard boiled eggs into the menus for the coming week.

Papaya Cake (Frugal?)

For most of us, most of the time, papaya hardly seems like a "frugal" ingredient. However, some time ago, a local grocery had some large papayas at a very good price. Remembering the wonderful fruits I was able to enjoy when visiting my kids in their South Pacific home, I couldn't resist and bought one.

It was good but there was much more fruit than I could possibly use up quickly. Checking the internet, I learned that papaya was easily frozen, so into the freezer it went.

Fast forward a few months, and I was looking through the freezer to see what needed to be used up. There were a couple of those papaya packages, just waiting for...something. I was also trying to come up with a different dessert for some friends, so I started doing more internet research. A little experimentation and combining of some of the things I found, and here is the result.

Is this really a "frugal" choice? The original cost of the papaya was less than 60 cents a pound, and the rest of the ingredients are typical of any cake, so this barely fits the category. (I think it probably would not be nearly as good with anything but butter for the fat, so that admittedly increases the cost) Since the cake has a rich flavor, it can be cut into relatively small pieces, reducing the cost per serving. Finally, it provides one more option to use up extra papaya pulp if you succumb to the temptation of buying a large one. This summer, I think I shall try this with peaches or nectarines when they are in good supply, as the caramelization seems like it would be a great way to prepare these as well.

Papaya Coconut Cake

1 c papaya, chopped finely or mashed
1 t butter
1/3 c brown sugar

1/2 c butter, softened
3/4 c sugar
2 eggs
2 t vanilla
1 t rum extract (optional)
1 T finely grated orange peel
1/2 c plain low fat (preferably not nonfat) yogurt
2 c flour
1 1/4 t baking powder
1/4 t soda
1 t ground ginger
1/2 c coconut

1.  Melt the teaspoon of butter with the brown sugar in a nonstick skillet over medium high heat. Stir in the papaya, including any juices that have formed as you mash or chop it. Continue to cook until the mixture is well caramelized, the papaya is softened, and the liquid has been absorbed, about 8 to 10 minutes, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

2.  Cut the butter into about tablespoon chunks and put in the processor with the sugar, eggs, orange peel, and flavorings. Process until well-creamed, pulsing as necessary to develop a light mixture.

3.  Sift together the dry ingredients. Add half the flour and half the yogurt to the mixture in the processor and pulse just enough to mix, stirring the batter down from the sides once or twice. Repeat with the remaining dry ingredients and yogurt and process until just mixed--do not overbeat.

4. Fold in the coconut manually and then turn the batter into a well-oiled 9 X 12 pan. Bake at 350 degrees about 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Frost with a simple cream cheese  or a "browned butter" frosting (recipe follows). Sprinkle with more coconut and/or with walnuts if desired.

Browned Butter Frosting

2 T butter
1 t rum flavoring
2 to 3 c powdered sugar
app 1/4 c milk

1.  Melt the butter over medium heat in a small heavy saucepan or skillet. Here is the only hard part of this recipe:  Watching it carefully, allow the butter to just start to brown. The butter will begin to foam and then will quite quickly brown. It moves from the browned stage you want to burned very quickly, so be ready to remove it from heat as soon as the browning starts.

2.  Stir 2 cups of the powdered sugar into the pan with the butter and add the rum flavoring and a tablespoon or so of milk. Beat well, adding a little powdered sugar and then milk as needed to reach spreading consistency.

3.  Spread as quickly as possible. The frosting will thicken as it cools, so you will find it much easier to work with right away.

Quick Chocolate Fix Dessert--Can Be Vegan Too!

Here's a quick dessert that could be stirred up and baked while finishing the rest of dinner, or even made after drop in guests arrive, ready to be served hot from the oven. It's a good one for kids to help with, both because it is fun to see how the sauce ends up on the bottom and because the lack of eggs in the batter means that bowls and utensils can all be licked clean when the mixing is done.

If you are an ice cream fan, this is wonderful hot out of the oven with ice cream melting over and around it. Whipped cream is also an excellent topper for those who like these creamy additions. And while this is probably best served warm, any leftovers will be good cold too, even though the sauce will thicken and soak into the cake part a bit more. Re-warming individual servings in the microwave is also an option, though I find leftovers rarely are a problem with this dessert. It can easily serve eight or nine, but fewer people at the table will probably find room for seconds or thirds!

Warm or cold, this old-fashioned dessert is a good thing to keep in your ready recipe repertoire.

Hot Fudge Pudding

1 c flour
3/4 c sugar
3 T cocoa
2 t baking powder
1/4 t ground black pepper (optional)
2 T canola oil (could use butter for a non-vegan version)
1/2 c milk--soy or almond milk for vegan version
1/2 t pure vanilla

Topping:
1 c brown sugar
4 T cocoa
1 3/4 c very hot water--should be almost boiling for best results
1 c coarsely nuts (optional)

1. Sift dry ingredients and stir in milk and oil. Spread in oiled 8” square pan.

2. If using nuts, spread evenly over the top of the batter.










3. Mix brown sugar and cocoa and sprinkle over batter.





4. Pour hot water over entire batter. It may look strange, almost like a failure, at this point, but don't worry!


5. Bake at 350 degrees for 40 minutes. Do not overbake. Serve warm or cold.

Mixing Hints to Minimize Clean-up
 Stir the batter in a large glass measuring cup--one of my favorite kitchen items is this four cup mixing bowl/measuring cup.

Scrape the batter out of the bowl with a silicone spatula and then mix the brown sugar and cocoa in the same bowl and spread that mixture over the batter.

Heat the water in a hotpot or separate bowl in the microwave.  Pour the almost boiling water into the same measuring cup bowl you just used for the cocoa/brown sugar mix, up to the 1 3/4 cup line before pouring it over the batter as in step 4 in the recipe.

Voila! You have an already rinsed mixing bowl ready for the dishwasher, and the container you used to heat the water can be allowed to air dry and then put away--no need to wash it, since boiling water in it has sanitized it better than any other cleaning step you might think you need to take.

Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies--or Not

A few weeks ago, I used friends and family as pilot testers for some cookies labeled Batch A and Batch B. If they wanted to try one of the chocolate chip cookies being offered, they had to try two, one from each plate...and then they had to give me their feedback. The things you have to go through when you come to my house!

I had played around with substituting oil for part of the butter in a few cookie recipes before Christmas, but I decided it was time to do some "scientific" testing of the experiments.

With eggs at their seasonal high prices right now (and for those of us who may run out of this "essential" baking ingredient at just the wrong time), I also started with a recipe that had no eggs at all. The oil version would end up as a vegan choice that I knew some of my friends would also appreciate, so I could kill two birds with one stone--though that is probably a poor choice of metaphor for a vegan recipe!

Anyway...

To make the oil v. butter testing work, I mixed the recipe up twice, once with oil for the fat, once with  butter. There was no added salt in either recipe, even though I used "sweet cream butter" (which includes salt) in the butter batch. Based on some of the comments, a quarter teaspoon of salt (no more) might be a good addition to the oil-based cookies. 

I had to work very hard to keep track of which batch was which, since, as you can see from the photos,  there is very little difference in appearance in either the batter or the baked results. It did seem as though the oil cookies browned more quickly than those made with butter--and I baked the pans side by side in the oven so they got exactly the same amount of time. Amazingly, I ended up with 60 oil-containing cookies and 59 butter-containing cookies. (Since my drop cookies tend not to be as uniform as I would like, I surprised myself with the uniform outcome!)

As for the test results? These are definitely not the very buttery, very rich chocolate chip cookies that many of us may be accustomed to, but they are still homemade, with a nice crunch and overall great flavor. Both were well-received, with only one or two people noting any preference. The butter cookies were the winners when there was a choice, but it seemed as though the blandness of the lower salt content was probably the main factor.

One more thing: Cost. Six cups of oil are in a rather standard size bottle of oil, and I can get this right now at Aldi for a regular price well under $3, less than 50 cents a cup. Even when on sale, butter is going to be at least $1 a cup, so there is a significant cost difference between the two recipes just in the fat ingredient. Other savings I was able to realize on these included getting the chocolate chips and nuts when they were featured as pre-holiday baking specials and making my own applesauce from the orchard apples I buy as seconds in the fall. Obviously, prices change continuously, but the oil recipe cookies came out to about $2.75 for the entire batch, or 55 cents a dozen. If I had made them without nuts, they would have been only $2.00, or 40 cents a dozen--not bad for snacks these days.

Vegan (or Almost Vegan) Chocolate Chip Cookies

1/2 c butter OR canola oil
1 c sugar
1 c unsweetened applesauce
1/2 t vanilla
2 c flour
1/2 c wheat germ (optional)
1 t soda
1/2 t cinnamon (optional)
1 c (6 oz) semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 c chopped walnuts (optional)

1.  Combine the softened butter or oil with the sugar,  applesauce, and vanilla. Beat until smooth and fluffy.
2.  Stir together the flour, wheat germ, soda, and cinnamon and fold into applesauce mixture. Mix just until well blended.
3.  Fold in the chocolate chips and nuts.
4.  Drop by tablespoons full on to an oiled baking sheet. Since the dough is quite thick, you may want to flatten each cookie slightly. Bake at 350 for about 7 to 9 minutes, until the center of a cookie springs back just slightly when touched.

This makes about 4 1/2 to 5 dozen cookies. Store them tightly covered.

Chocolate, Applesauce, Oatmeal--Great Cookies in the Making!

One of those automated invitations arrived in my email the other day, asking for three dozen cookies for an event this weekend. I was glad to sign up, but I knew that there are lots of really fantastic bakers who will also be providing cookies, so I wanted to try something that might be a little different.

I decided to add  half a package of "white chocolate chips" left from holiday baking to an old-favorite chocolate drop cookie. It is quick and easy and, because I substituted oil for the butter in the original recipe, relatively economical.

One thing to keep in mind with the chips: Even the name brand "white chocolate chips" are really not exactly chocolate, so they handle and bake up differently from "regular" chocolate chips. Whether it was the chips or the substitution of the oil, I did find the dough a little trickier to work with than usual. Just "dropping" the spoonfuls of dough on the pan resulted in lots of chips rolling off in many directions, so I had to use my fingers to press them back into each cookie. Note the "before and after" of this step:

Before:

  

After:

Not a big deal, but one you should be aware of when you make these.

Also--as you can see from the photos, the six ounces of chips is more than ample; to reduce costs a bit, you could cut back on the chips and save those not used for another purpose. (They might also be easier to handle if the ratio of chips to batter was slightly different!)

Chocolate Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies

1/4 c canola oil
1 1/2 c sugar
1/2 c unsweetened applesauce
1 egg
1 t vanilla
1/3 c cocoa
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 t soda
6 oz white chocolate chips
3 c rolled oats, quick (not instant) variety

1. Combine the first six ingredients and beat until smooth.
2. Stir the baking soda into the flour and then add to the batter. Combine until well mixed.
3. Stir in the chips and then the rolled oats.  (It is much easier to get the chips well blended by putting them in first).
4.  Drop by tablespoons onto a lightly greased baking sheet, pressing the chips into the dough as needed.
5.  Bake at 350 degrees about 8 to 10 minutes, until the cookies barely spring back after touching with a finger in the center. As with most chocolate cookies, be careful not to over-bake! Store tightly covered.

Makes about 3 1/2 dozen.

Variations:

Use semisweet chocolate chips instead of the white variety.
Add 1/2 to 3/4 c chopped walnuts or sliced almonds.

Substitute raisins or dried cranberries for the chips.

Special Bruschetta Toppings--Versatile Too

It seems like the Super Bowl is becoming one of those "food holidays" like Thanksgiving, with the focus on all kinds of snacks, many of which are pretty much the antithesis of health foods.  Looking at the prices in the stores this week, many of the menu items planned are not necessarily budget friendly either.

Today's recipes could be rather expensive too, especially tapenade. A quick online search found nothing below $22 for 24 oz, and most sources were even higher. My recipe is a version of  "Moroccan" tapenade without the heat of that country's harissa, but it does not include the anchovies and/or capers that can bump up the price quickly. In addition, I buy olives in a two pound bag at Costco or Sam's, with the price well under $2 a pound.
 

The sun-dried tomatoes are another ingredient that is not often a "frugal" choice, but watch for sales; last fall, Aldi's was featuring some for a great price, so I stocked up with a couple of jars. The feta cheese is another item that both the warehouse chains have feta crumbles at wonderfully reasonable prices, another way to keep the costs down. If you are not sure about using the large size containers these stores have available, you can freeze the cheese. Yes, the texture becomes more crumbly, but since that seems to be the way most of us use this tangy cheese, the change is probably not a problem. (If you want some hints from some those who are real feta fanciers,  check out Greek Food--Feta.)

Finally, though I do keep garlic powder and jarred garlic on hand for cooking in a hurry, these really need the real thing. Once again, I go to the warehouse stores for my supply, buying their two pound bags at ridiculous prices. If that sounds like too much garlic, remember that it keeps a long time on the shelf, but it is also a fun thing to share with your cooking friends. (How's that for a hostess gift? Here, I brought you a couple of heads of garlic--enjoy!)

I'm not sure what to call either of these mixtures--dips? spreads?--but they are wonderfully tangy additions to thin slices of baguettes, whether the latter are toasted or plain. They could also be used on crackers, though the tapenade, especially, is quite salty, so you really don't want to add to that.

Some other ideas for serving Tapenade or Feta and Sun-dried Tomatoes could include:

• As a garnish for scrambled eggs--a small dollop of either on top of deviled eggs gives them a special look and taste too 
• Instead of mayo on any sandwich, especially vegetarian fillings for pitas
• Stuffed into slit chicken breasts or fish fillets before grilling them
• Added to oil and vinegar and used as a salad dressing
• Stirred into hummus
• The tapenade could be layered with feta or other cheese on unsalted crackers
• Tossed with grated mozzarella and/or parmesan over pasta 
• Either could be used to enhance the flavor of vegetarian sandwiches or pasta dishes--especially for those who still think every main dish needs some kind of meat

While these should be stored in the refrigerator, they are at their flavorful best if you let them sit at room temperature for a half hour or so. To be honest, I don't know how well they keep, since they both seem to disappear virtually within minutes of being served! My guess is that the ingredients in both mixtures would allow for a pretty extended refrigerator life.

Quick Tapenade

1 c sliced, canned black olives, including up to a tablespoon  of the liquid from the olives
2 cloves garlic, quartered
1 T lemon juice
approximately 3 T roughly chopped parsley, including stems--pack tightly to measure
2 to 4 T olive oil
dash cayenne pepper, or to taste

1. Pulse olives and garlic in a processor until olives are very coarsely chopped.
2. Add the parsley and lemon juice and continue processing until the mixture is evenly blended.
3.  Sprinkle on a bit of cayenne, to taste, and then drizzle in the olive oil while running the processor, until the desired consistency is reached. It should be about the thickness of soft hummus.
4.  Serve immediately or chill. (Because of the oil content, the mixture will be slightly thicker if served cold instead of at room temperature.)

Makes about 1 cup of spread.

Feta and Sun-Dried Tomatoes Spread

1 c sun-dried tomatoes, packed in oil--measure with the oil included
1 to 2 T dried basil
1/4 c diced red bell pepper--about 1/3 to 1/2 a medium sized pepper
4 to 6 cloves garlic, to taste (but don't skimp!)--peeled and coarsely chopped
2 t balsamic vinegar
black pepper to taste
6 oz (about 1 c) feta crumbles
olive oil, if needed

1.  Combine all but the feta in a processor fitted with the cutting blade. Pulse to achieve a uniform, coarsely ground, texture.
2.  Add the feta and pulse just a few times, until the mixture is well mixed.
3.  If the mixture is too thick, add a bit more of the oil from the tomatoes or a little olive oil. Taste for seasoning and allow to chill for half an hour or more to blend the flavors.

Makes about 2 cups of spread.

Baked Apple Breakfast

The day is cloudy with sleet starting to rattle against the windows. Just the day for warm houses and lovely baking smells. Three of my grandchildren had a sleep over, and I wanted to have a special breakfast for them before church. However, yesterday's brunch had already featured scrambled eggs, and I wanted to stay with the high carb/high sugar  breakfast breads that so often are the center of special breakfasts.

A small loaf of homemade bread was in the freezer, ready for slicing and toasting, and a large container of cottage cheese is in the fridge, a favorite protein for all the kids. So what could go with these to complete a menu requiring little work? Enter the baked apple--or a reasonable facsimile. Along with glasses of milk and some orange slices, the meal was healthy and really warming.

The following recipe is extremely easy and quick, especially if you won't be peeling the apples. Yes, there is sugar in the recipe, but far less than many of the cupcake-style muffins or other quick breads that I might have chosen. The cranberries were included because I still had a few in the freezer from a previous recipe; if they were omitted, the sugar could probably be reduced further. See the notes after the recipe about sweeteners if this is a concern.

The apples could also be a great addition to a light soup meal too, and the leftovers can be served cold or warmed slightly in the microwave.

Probably the very best features of this recipe are the ease of preparation and the wonderful fragrance wafting through the house. Waking up to baked apples and cinnamon at Grandma's on a sleet-y gray morning--does it really get better than that?

Baked Apples for Breakfast

4 to 5 apples, approximately1 1/3 pounds
1/2 c sliced cranberries (optional)
1/3 c brown sugar, packed
1 t cinnamon
2 T white sugar, approximate (optional)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Core the apples and cut each in about 6 to 8 large pieces. Place in an eight inch square pan.

If using cranberries, sprinkle them evenly over the apples.

Now, sprinkle the brown sugar evenly over the top and then sprinkle with the cinnamon. Because brown sugar is hard to spread evenly, I added just enough white sugar to be sure that there was some light sugar topping on every piece of apple.

Place the apples in the preheated oven and bake for about 30 to 40 minutes. About twenty minutes into the baking time, stir enough to be sure all the apple pieces are caramelizing and softening evenly.

This is best served hot or warm. (If using as a dessert, a scoop of good vanilla ice cream would probably be a nice addition.)


How much sugar?

There are so many varieties of apples, that getting the "right" amount of sweetener in recipes like this can sometimes be difficult to judge. The apples I used today are Connell Reds, especially sweet and perfect for this kind of recipe. If I had not included the cranberries, I probably could have used as little as a quarter cup of sugar.

I added the white sugar only because the brown sugar doesn't spread quite as evenly as I wanted. The real work of the sugar here is to provide the caramelization that gives the extra baked apple flavor.

If you are uncomfortable with using brown or white sugars, you could try a thin drizzle of honey or maple syrup. Adding raisins could also provide sweetness for more tart varieties of apples.

In order to keep the full flavor of the apples coming through, I would always err on the side of too little sugar. If you discover that the baked apples are a bit tart, just drizzle the hot apples with maple syrup or honey at that point, or sprinkle on some sugar and cinnamon.

Apple Raisin Bars--with a Mincemeat Variation

 

Christmas cookies are a distant memory, the Valentine's day chocolate frenzy is over, and the lighter fruit desserts of Easter and early spring are weeks away. So what might be a desert to serve for a late winter/early spring potluck or dinner with friends?

These soft and spicy bars could be a good accompaniment to a hearty soup and bread supper. Not too heavy but satisfying to anyone with a craving for a sweet ending to the meal.

But mincemeat? Really?

Mincemeat is not quite in the category of fruitcake or black licorice (you either love it or hate it), but it does seem to evoke strong preferences for many. If you are someone who really loves the flavor, the cost of this ingredient can be prohibitive; perhaps that is why it seems to have become a feature item only around the winter holidays.

Some time ago, I posted a recipe here for http://frugalfastfun.blogspot.com/2012/10/green-tomato-mincemeat.html. While this is much less expensive than purchased mince meat, you need a source of lots of green tomatoes (along with a fair amount of time) to make a batch. Given the high sugar and acid content of the mix does allow you to make a large batch to have ready in the freezer for pies and recipes like this. Still...

Because of the cost of prepared mincemeat, and the likelihood that you won't be making your own green tomato mincemeat, at least at this season, I have adjusted the original recipe by deveoping a spiced apple and raisin filling that closely approximates the spicy blend and fruity consistency that "real" mincemeat provides.

And if you still want to make mincemeat bars, I've included a variation that returns you to the original recipe.

Apple and Raisin Bars

1/2 c butter, softened
1/4 c canola oil
1/4 c brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 c flour
1/2 t baking soda
1 1/2 c quick rolled oats--not instant

Apple Raisin Filling
3/4 c chopped apples, pressed firmly into the measuring cup1/3 c raisins (chop if you want to duplicate the texture of mincemeat)
1/2 to 1 t cinnamon
1/4 t nutmeg
1/4 t ground cloves
2 T sugar

1. Prepare the filling: Combine all the ingredients in a large microwave save bowl and microwave for about 3 minutes, until the apples are fully softened. Allow to cool slightly before spreading.

2.  Cream together the butter, oil, and sugars.

3.  Sift together and add the flour and baking soda. Stir into the creamed mixture and blend well with a fork.

4.  Stir in the oats and blend with a fork until evenly crumbly.

5.  Oil a 7 X 11 (or 9 X 9) inch pan well.  Pat about half of the crumb mixture into the pan, pressing down firmly. Make sure the bottom is evenly covered.

6.  Spread the Apple Raisin Filling evenly over the crust.

7.  Drop the remaining crumble mixture over the top of the fruit mixture and then, using your fingers, spread it as evenly as possible. I like to place a piece of waxed paper over the top after the initial spreading and then press gently but firmly to form a crust rather than just a crumble topping.

8.  Bake at 375 degrees for 28 to 34 minutes, until the top is golden and the filling is slightly bubbly.

9.  Cool in pan before cutting. If desired, drizzle a few lines of powdered sugar icing over the top before cutting. 

Variation: Mincemeat Bars

Prepare the recipe as above, substituting 1 c green tomato or regular mincemeat for the Apple Raisin Filling. If using condensed mincemeat,  prepare according to package instructions.