Mushrooms, Peppers and Onions...and Beans?

Has chili and soup fatigue set in on your efforts to incorporate more dried beans and lentils into your diet? Are you completely out of the seasonings needed to make those really wonderful east Asian dishes your local Indian restaurant serves?

If you are a fan of sausage, peppers and onions, this might be a vegetarian dish you can savor. It is quick and quite a change from many of the bean dishes you may have been trying lately. Economical too, especially when mushrooms are on special.

Onions, Mushrooms, and Peppers with Beans

1 c coarsely chopped onion
4 to 6 ounces mushrooms, sliced (white or baby Bella are both good--no need to go to the specialty aisle for this one)
1/2 c coarsely chopped sweet red pepper
4 cloves garlic, chopped
1 T olive oil
1 to 1 1/2 c cooked pinto beans, unseasoned (other beans may be substituted)
1 t dried basil
1 T balsamic vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

1.  Saute the onion, mushrooms, and pepper in the oil over medium high heat, stirring occasionally, until the onions are translucent and just starting to turn golden.
2.  Stir in the garlic and basil and cook for another 2 to 3 minutes.
3.  Add the pinto beans with a small amount of the liquid from the beans. Stir and add the vinegar and salt and pepper. Cook for another 5 minutes, until the mixture is heated through and the flavors have blended a bit.

Top with grated cheese if desired. If you enjoy sausage and onions, peppers, and mushrooms on a hard roll, this would be a good substitute. If not in a sandwich, this is great paired with any artisan style bread.

Note the photos include a serving of oranges and strawberries on the side. Pinto and other beans are good vegetable sources of iron, but this nutrient is more accessible to our bodies if eaten with a good source of vitamin C. What better way to complement the bean dish than with a mix of seasonal fruits.

Applesauce Zucchini Muffins

There was a time when muffins were the plain Jane cousins of cupcakes, back before they were laden with chocolate chips and dried cranberries, covered with thick layers of streusel topping and loaded up with butter or oil and lots and lots of sugar. They had few ingredients and were usually served with butter and some kind of jam or preserves.

I'd like to suggest that simple muffins of the plainer variety can still be something your family will love even as they are getting more nutrition and fewer empty calories. Today's recipe is one of those basic breads, perfect for having ready when the kids get home from school and can't wait for dinner. Because of the applesauce in the mix, you won't even need to serve with jam--though that is certainly a possibility that most kids will not turn down.

Following the recipe are a few variation suggestions, along with thoughts on how to cut down on prep time when you really, really want to get something in the oven quickly.

Applesauce Zucchini Muffins

2 c unbleached flour (can use up to 1 c of whole wheat flour to substitute for part of the flour)
1/3 c sugar
1 T baking powder
1 t cinnamon
1 c grated zucchini OR yellow summer squash, lightly packed
approximately 3/4 c applesauce
milk--see Step 2
1 egg, slightly beaten
1 T butter, melted (may substitute canola oil)

1.  Stir the dry ingredients in a bowl until well mixed.  Form a well in the middle; this is where you will be pouring the rest of the ingredients
2.  Place the zucchini and applesauce in a 2 cup measure and fill to the top with milk.
3.  Pour the zucchini applesauce mixture into the well, along with the egg and butter.  Stir gently, only until the mixture is completely blended, with no dry spots. The batter may be a bit lumpy--that is fine!
4.  Spoon the mixture into well-oiled muffin pans. Bake in a pre-heated 375 degree oven for about 14 minutes. Remove from pans while still hot and place on a cooling rack. Best served warm from the oven, while the fragrance fills the house.

This makes 12 to 14 muffins. (If you only have one muffin pan that holds 12 muffins, you can put the remaining batter into a small loaf pan and bake for perhaps a minute or two longer than the muffins.)

Variations:

This is a pretty basic muffin recipe, with little fat because of the applesauce. You can add in raisins or nuts or sunflower seeds, substitute grated carrots or butternut squash for the zucchini, and even mix in half a cup or so of blueberries or chopped strawberries or raspberries.  The sugar could be increased by a tablespoon or two if you use tart berries. Add nutmeg or ginger along with the cinnamon or leave all the spices out and add some grated orange or lemon rind. A half teaspoon of vanilla could also be used instead of the spices.

Make Ahead Hints

I used a package of grated summer squash from my freezer for this week's muffins, so these were especially quick to make. In season, I grate what always seems like an overabundance of zucchini and squash and package in 1 cup portions, in the cheap sandwich bags that fold over rather than zip closed. I then put several of these into a larger (1 gallon size is good) freezer bag. When packaged in this way and used within the next several months, there is no need to blanch these vegetables.

Even if you don't have garden produce to use in this recipe, why not grate several cups while you have the grater (or processor or blender) out and freeze the extras in the same way? Carrots could be frozen for up to a couple of months for use in later muffin, cake, or other recipes.

If you like the idea of making basic muffins like these, measure out the flour, sugar, and baking powder and put them into a small zippered plastic bag. Make up three or four of these at a time. Label each with what is inside and keep in a sealed canister or quart jar. Then, when you are ready for muffins, you have a head start; just take out a bag as though it was a purchased mix and add the remaining ingredients.

With pre-mixed dry ingredients and pre-grated veggies, these muffins take less time to stir together than it will take to get the oven pre-heated. 

Lentils and Sweet Potato Curry with Kale

Consider the lentil for a moment:  cheap, easily stored, quick cooking, high nutrition, and eminently flexible. And did I say cheap, er, inexpensive? Yet here in the US, the lentil is an ingredient probably the majority of home cooks have never tried to prepare on their own.

Time to change that, perhaps with a resolution to make a lentil dish at least once a month, if not weekly. And, at barely a dollar a pound, what do you have to lose?

Probably the best way to start using these magic beans (okay, so they aren't beans, but they are related) is in some east Asian, especially Indian, recipes. The one I'm introducing today is an incredible powerhouse nutritionally--sweet potatoes, kale, olive oil, lots of fragrant and wonderful spices and, of course, lentils. On top of all this, the dish can be prepared in just under an hour, and it is easily scaled up so you can have leftovers for lunches or a second dinner later in the week.

Some thoughts on the other ingredients
While I don't think of sweet potatoes as a "spring vegetable," my local Costco still had a ten pound bag of these for only 69 cents a pound. While ten pounds sounds like a lot, that low price gave me lots of excuses to include yams in my diet every day. (Easiest way to cook? Scrub well, cut out spots, and microwave until very soft, about 4 to 6 minutes for a medium to large yam. Allow to cool slightly and eat, as is or with just the slightest touch of butter and/or salt and pepper. And yes, the skins of sweet potatoes are very edible, and really quite tasty, especially if you also like the skins of baked "regular" potatoes.)

The kale in this recipe is frozen, just because I keep some of this convenience food in the freezer all the time. Fresh kale would also be good, but the markets here in the upper Midwest don't seem to feature this wonderful green nearly as often as I'd like. If you have fresh kale, by all means use it. Just chop it and add a little earlier in the recipe so it has time to cook

We have a food co-op in town (open to non-members like me too) that has a great bulk foods section, including an entire aisle of bulk spices and herbs. It is here that I became "daring" enough to try some Indian dishes. Before I discovered Good Foods (now Peoples Co-op), I was hesitant to lay down $2 or $3 for a tiny container of some spice I wasn't sure I'd like or would use more than once. Once I could bring home tiny bags of seasonings for mere pennies, I discovered that many Indian dishes I had loved at restaurants could be reasonably duplicated here at home. That said, it is important to note that "curry powder" is a mix that can vary somewhat from brand to brand, store to store. If you are not sure how much to use from your particular supplier, start with a smaller amount, taste, and add more as needed to reach your preferred result.  This probably can apply to other seasonings such as the turmeric. If it is an unfamiliar seasoning, start low and add as needed to get the flavor you are seeking.

As with the spices, I had been hesitant to try using fresh ginger root. Usually around $4 a pound, that sounded expensive and something I wasn't sure how to handle. Silly me. Try weighing one of those little things and you'll find a size large enough for several recipes is so lightweight, you'll be paying less than a quarter. For the amount of punch fresh ginger can give to so many dishes, I am really sorry I didn't try it before.

So now, to begin.

Curried Lentils with Sweet Potatoes and Kale

1 large onion, chopped--about 1 to 1 1/2 cups

2 medium to large yams (16 to 18 oz total), peeled and cubed

olive oil

6 large garlic cloves, minced

2 to 3 t minced ginger

8 oz brown lentils, rinsed and drained

4 T low sodium vegetable soup base (see NOTE for other choices)

4 to 5 c water

1 t cumin

2 t curry powder, or to taste

1 t turmeric, or to taste 

2 c frozen chopped kale

salt to taste 

1. Saute the onion and cubed yams over medium high heat, in just enough olive oil to keep the vegetables from sticking. Stir occasionally.

2. When the onions are just starting to turn translucent, stir in the lentils, garlic, ginger, soup base, seasonings, and about 2 cups of water. Cover and bring to a boil. Turn the heat to medium low, just enough to keep the mixture simmering.

3.  After about 10 minutes or so,  add another 2 cups of water. Stir, taste for seasoning and adjust as necessary, and continue to cook, covered, another 15 to 25 minutes, until the lentils are tender. Add water as necessary and stir occasionally. 

4.  About 10 minutes before serving, stir in the frozen kale, turn heat up to medium, and cook just long enough for the mixture to return to a good boil. 

Serve topped with yogurt or raita and cilantro if desired. This is especially good with naan, but rice could be a good accompaniment as well. Oh, and the kids in the family discovered they liked taking whole romaine leaves (smaller ones) and using those as "scoops" to pick up and eat the curry. Kind of like an Indian lettuce wrap?  

Makes about 4 to 6 servings. 

NOTE:     There are several choices for the liquid in this mixture. Replace the water and low sodium vegetable soup base with:

4 to 5 c stock, vegetable or chicken

4 to 5 c water and 2 to 3 vegetable or chicken bouillon cubes  

4 to 5 c water and 3 to 4 low sodium bouillon cubes

 

  

    

Naan, Homemade and Wonderful

Part of my extended family loves rice, with just about anything and everything; part of my family does not. Some of the latter are great lovers of bread. Pita bread, whole wheat bread, bread. So when I was thinking of making a lentil and sweet potato curry, I began to think about naan along with the usual rice accompaniment.

As usual, an online search uncovered hundreds (thousands?) of links for "naan recipe" but I soon discovered these boiled down to two basic mixtures, one leavened with yeast and the other with baking powder and/or soda. Though a few of the spongier versions I have had in Indian restaurants may have been made without yeast, the kind I was thinking of definitely needed yeast as the leavening.

The yeast-raised recipes themselves were not very different, generally pretty basic dough and almost always completely or mostly bread flour. It quickly became clear that what makes naan naan is the baking method. Many of the recipes mentioned that authentic naan really needs the very high heat of a tandoori oven, but there were lots of ways suggested to work around the fact that few of us have that specialty appliance in our home kitchens.

After sifting through the many suggestions, I was ready to give this bread a go, and I am really glad I did. The recipe is really quite easy and doesn't take a lot of actual work time. It would be a good Saturday or Sunday project, because you can start the dough sometime after lunch, set it aside to raise while you do other weekend chores and then come back to it just in time for dinner.

Naan

1 pkg yeast (or 2 1/2 t, if using bulk yeast)
1 c warm water
2 t salt
1/4 c sugar
1/4 c yogurt
4 1/2 c bread flour

1.  Combine the yeast, water, yogurt, salt, and sugar in a large bowl. Stir in 2 cups of the flour. Allow to stand 10 to 20 minutes, or until it starts to get frothy and bubbly. Beat in the remaining flour, about a half cup at a time, until the dough forms a firm ball. Cover lightly with a towel and allow to raise until double, about half an hour to an hour, depending on the warmth of your kitchen.

2.  Punch the dough down and then pull off balls of dough about the size of a golf ball. Place on a waxed paper-lined breadboard or cookie sheet (without raised edges on at least two sides). Cover again with a towel and allow to raise until double, another 30 minutes or so.

3.  Place a tiny amount of oil in a cast iron skillet or griddle and spread evenly over the bottom. Begin heating the pan on medium high to high heat for 5 to 10 minutes, depending on your stove.

4.  Meanwhile, begin to shape the naans. Take a ball of dough and roll it with a rolling pin into an oblong shape, right on the waxed paper-covered board. Then lift it and use your hands and fingers to pull it until it is quite thin. Try to keep the naan as even in thickness as possible. Flour your fingers as needed to keep the dough from sticking, but avoid getting more flour than necessary on the dough itself.

5.  Place the naan in the pre-heated skillet--it should immediately sizzle to let you know the pan is hot enough. A standard 10 to 12 inch skillet will probably accommodate only two naans at a time. Cover the pan, allow the naan to cook for perhaps a minute or so, and then turn. You should see the characteristic bubbled sections that are a very dark brown, almost charred. The remaining parts of the surface will be only slightly browned.

6.  Return the cover to the pan and cook another minute or two. Remove from the pan and place on a plate.

7.  While the first naans are frying, shape the next two. Repeat step 5 as often as needed to finish cooking all the dough balls. If the pan seems to get too dry, add a tiny amount of oil, spread over the pan, and allow to heat for 30 seconds or so before proceeding.

8.  May be served immediately (nothing is so wonderful as warm from the pan bread!). If storing for later, allow to cool and then keep in a plastic bag for up to several days--although I can't vouch for just how long, since these rarely remain uneaten for more than the first day or two.

Makes about 16 to 18 naans, depending on your definition of golf ball sized dough balls.

Variations:  Many of the sites I looked at suggested adding cumin, minced garlic, or other seasonings to the liquid mixture in step 1.  Any of these could be good additions, but I haven't tried them yet.

After turning the naans in step 5, many of the recipes suggest brushing each with melted butter (or ghee). Most of these recipes then suggest brushing the other side with butter after you remove the naans to the plate to cool. However, the naans that I have had most often are clearly not oiled in any way, so I did not include that step. If you like the idea of having a buttered surface, by all means go ahead and butter away.

A few hints from experience:

This is a place where I think bread flour is almost a necessity. Without it, you may not be able to get the same "springiness" in the final product that you may be accustomed to. As an alternative, you could add up to a quarter of a cup of gluten as a substitute for the same amount of all purpose flour. I have never seen naan in a whole wheat version and am not sure if the same results could be obtained with whole wheat flour. That may be part of my next experiment with these.

Note the instructions for kneading, as this can help with all kinds of yeast breads. Start with the largest bowl you have for mixing the dough. Then you can actually knead the dough right in the bowl, without having to dirty up a countertop or table. This can cut down the perceived "labor" of making homemade bread by an incredible amount. (It's even worth going to a thrift store or scouring garage sales to look for a big plastic or stainless steel bowl just for this purpose!)

I also saved clean up by putting the balls of dough on my largest flat breadboard (a large baking pan without raised edges would also do). I lined the board with waxed paper to keep the naans from sticking, but you could probably just flour the board or baking pan instead. Then, when the dough balls had raised, I could just proceed with the rolling process on the board, set alongside the griddle.

Use a cast iron skillet or uncoated aluminum or steel griddle. Do NOT use any pan with a nonstick coating, as it should be heated to high heat before putting the naans in, and this is exactly how not to use pans with nonstick finishes. (For more on the problem of using nonstick coatings in this kind of recipe, see http://www.goodhousekeeping.com/product-reviews/cooking-tools/cookware-reviews/nonstick-cookware-safety-facts-3 )


I am blessed to have a gas stove, and the greater responsiveness with this kind of heat probably makes it easier to get these right than on an electric range. The key is to get the pan really hot but then keep the temperature "just right" as you continue to cook the individual naans, something much more easily adjusted with gas.

As noted in the recipe, use only a tiny amount of oil in the pan. I started out with enough to coat the skillet well, but the first ones ended up giving me the impression of yeast-raised pancakes:



While they were good, they weren't naan in the traditional sense. As I continued to make more, and the oil almost completely disappeared, the naan took on the traditional exterior. 

Wonderful Orange Butter...and a Quick Apricot Bread on Which to Spread It

Sometimes the best place to start with a cooking or baking project is with the sides or accompaniments. Think about your basic boneless, skinless chicken breasts. On their own, they are really pretty tasteless and, well, dull. However, prepare some great sauce or cook up a vegetable side and add some marinaded and braised chicken cubes and you have something spectacular--or at least a dish your family and guests will ask for again and again.

The Orange Butter in today's post has the characteristic of dressing up all manner of breads, from plain dinner rolls (maybe left over for a day or two and needing to be warmed and perked up with something like this) to old-style muffins (you know, the kind that never had so much sugar and fat in the basic recipe) to quick breads like the apricot nut version included today.

Whatever you serve it on, there will be an added burst of enthusiasm for your efforts--even though this is super easy to make. It will keep in the refrigerator for a week and has the great advantage of being spreadable while still fully chilled. So go ahead and try a batch, even if all you have to spread it on is some basic store-bought bread.

Orange Butter Spread

1/4 c butter
1/4 c low fat cream cheese
2 T fresh-squeezed orange juice--don't worry if there is pulp included
1 t or so grated orange rind (may be omitted if you just don't have the patience for grating)
1 to 2 t powdered sugar, to taste

1.  Cut the butter and cream cheese into small chunks and put in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat on Low power in the microwave for about 45 seconds, or until both are soft enough to spread.
2.  Add in the orange juice and rind and stir all together until well blended.
3.  Stir in the powdered sugar to taste.

This can be served immediately or refrigerated for later use. Recipe is easily doubled.

Substitution: If you don't have fresh oranges available, a tablespoon of frozen orange juice concentrate (don't dilute) can be substituted for the fresh juice. However, this is really best with fresh oranges.

Now, for something to put the spread on. I found a wonderful buy on dried apricots recently, so I have lots to use for eating (a wonderful snack for anyone with a sweet tooth) and baking. This quick bread recipe is adapted from a cookbook I used regularly way back in the 70s.  (No longer in print, A World of Breads by Dolores Casella is still a great reference and idea starter, and I recommend it highly if you ever find it in a used book store.)

If you haven't noticed before, I rely on my food processor a lot, and this was an ideal place to use it. However, I have added a suggested method following the main recipe if you don't have this wonderful appliance. Either way, the bread is hearty, tasty, and the perfect foil for Orange Butter, and much easier to make than the rather complicated directions might indicate.

Just one more thing--this bread is best made the day before serving. While tasty the first day, it has a tendency to crumble; waiting one more day will give much nicer slices. 

Apricot Nut Bread

1/2 c sugar
1/4 c canola oil
1 egg
1 c yogurt
1/2 c GrapeNuts cereal (store brands of this "nutty nugget" cereal are fine)
1 c rehydrated, dried apricots (see step 1 below)
2 t grated orange rind
2 c flour
4 t baking powder
1/2 t soda
1 c walnut pieces

1.  Measure one cup dried apricot halves, packing them a bit. Place in a microwave-safe dish, add about 1/2 cup water, just barely enough to cover. Cover the container and microwave for about 3 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly.

2.  Meanwhile, combine the yogurt and the cereal in a two cup measure and allow to sit for at least 15 minutes.

3.  Pulse the walnuts in the food processor with the metal chopping blade. Remove the nuts. Pour the apricots and the liquid in which they were cooked into the processor, still with the metal chopping blade, and process until quite finely chopped.

4.  It may be a little messy, but remove the metal blade and replace with the plastic dough blade, even as you leave the apricots in the bowl of the processor. Now add the sugar, oil, egg, orange rind, and yogurt-Grapenuts mixture. Process until this mixture is completely blended.

5.  Sift together the flour, baking powder, and soda and add to the processor bowl. Mix, using the pulse setting, only long enough to blend the mixture. It will be thick, so you may need to scrape down the sides once or twice. The key is to not overbeat at this stage. 

6.  Add the nuts and again, pulse just a couple of times, only enough to blend them into the batter.

7.  Pour the batter into two well oiled loaf pans (about 4 1/2 X 8 inch). Bake at 350 for 35 to 45 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Alternate Mixing Method

Preparation:
Use a blender to chop the apricots after cooking OR chop them manually (kitchen scissors work best) before or after cooking.

Chop or grind the nuts with your usual nut grinder OR purchase chopped walnuts.

1.  Prepare the yogurt and GrapeNuts as in step 2 above.
2.  Beat together the oil, sugar, egg, orange rind and softened yogurt/GrapeNuts mixture.
3.  Sift together the dry ingredients and stir into the liquid ingredients. Stir only enough to be sure all the dry material is moistened.
3.  Fold in the nuts and proceed as in step 7 above.

Alternate Ingredients

Though I have not tried this, the original recipe called for "bran" instead of GrapeNuts, with no soaking step. My guess is that Ms. Casella may have been speaking of AllBran cereal rather than plain wheat bran. I'd be interested if anyone tries one or the other variation, to see what your results are.

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.

  

      

.

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.