Grandma Lourie's Molasses Cookies

My mother made these each Christmas and they are my go-to cookies for Advent since there are no eggs in this recipe. They use a lot of molasses per recipe so I buy it buy the gallon now from Azurestandard.com where I get a lot of organic and bulk grains and things.

"Grandma" is my mother's grandmother who she was near growing up in Vermont. Her grandma would bake these cookies every Monday and the grand kids would visit and knew they were allowed one cookie each upon their visit. There was a very special old lunch box she kept them in inside her pantry and one of the cousins bought Grandma's old house last year and is working to fix it after it fell to an owner who didn't take care of it. I believe that that old lunch box is back in it's proper place and if you visit Grandma's old house I have a feeling that our sweet cousin will be sure there are cookies available in that box.

Tomorrow is the feast of St. Herman of Alaska and many of us American Orthodox make cookies on his day (I'm not sure why we also have made pretzels on his feast day). Today I made stars (for his nickname the North Star) and spruce trees since he lived on Spruce Island out of Grandma's recipe this evening.

1c. sugar
1 c. shortening (I like the butter flavored Crisco)
1 c. molasses (not blackstrap. I use the first boiling: Barbados old fashioned aka light, but the second boiling: full or dark are fine)

I take these three and mix them in my mixer very well. Then slowly add:

1c. hot water (keep the mixer on low or there will be a big mess! ask me how I know!)

7 cups flour (may need a tad more but this should be enough, need more for rolling them out too, my mom's recipe says 6 cups but that's never been enough for me I always add at least 7)
4 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp salt

Mix all together, don't add too much flour. Put dough into large pieces of saran wrap, flatten them a bit and put in the refrigerator until chilled. Then roll, shape with cookie cutters and bake about 8-10 minutes in a 350 degree Fahrenheit oven.

Picture won't upload now...maybe later!

Fantastic Curried Lentils (no turmeric)

My mother is an amazing cook. I never appreciated her cooking when I was a kid, but now-a-days I wish she'd be my live-in cook and just feed me breakfast, lunch and dinner every day. She has run her own bed and breakfast in our Alaska home when I was a teenager. She would bring home stray church guests almost every Sunday and feed them a big hearty Alaskan sourdough pancake meal with real Vermont maple syrup. Not to mention that she cooked us a full dinner from scratch every. single. night even though she worked as a school teacher. We always had a salad, a vegetable some grain and a main dish. When my dad was finally willing to retire they were asked to come run an Inn in Hawaii for two  years where they would cook a fancy breakfast about half of the time for people staying there. My dad became a master of Hawaiian fruit platters and my mom would whip up amazing casseroles, scones, killer oatmeal, apparently amazing gluten free things for her special needs guests as well. I visited them there once for about a week, just me and my little 1-year-old and I thoroughly enjoyed getting spoiled by her cooking and relaxing by the pool.

As you probably know by now we are Orthodox Christians and we fast for about half the year, this means that we eat a vegan diet on our fast days. (We are allowed shrimp, scallops and other shell fish as well on those days.) Needless to say, we very much appreciate the Internet and all the vegans out there in the world publishing their delicious recipes. It has given our generation a lot of access to the cuisine of other countries and their favorite recipes. I have discovered that we really love Indian and much of the Thai food in addition to the Chinese (obviously). Growing up my mom would make Curried Lentils, but I was never a fan, it had turmeric in it and I realized I just don't love turmeric. It's the classic bottle of curry powder that you buy at the store, it is always yellow. Once I realized that Indian food didn't have to contain turmeric I started enjoying it far more. (What Wikipedia says about curry.)

My mom brought out dinner to our house a few years ago on a fasting Sunday afternoon. She was cooking for my sister's family and my family. Our husbands tend to struggle with the amount of legumes, rice, potatoes and general non-meat dishes that us wives prepare. Of course, like any wife who cooks often, we fall into bad grooves and finally our husbands have to beg us not to cook that dish ever, ever again. She brought us Curried Lentils and of course my first reaction was the yellow lentils as a child that I would have to eat and endure and in my mind ask my mother never to make them ever, ever again. I think she sensed my lack of excitement and explained that this was a new recipe she'd found in Good Housekeeping (Jan 2014) and she'd even add some shrimp for the extra meat and protein. Well, we all fell in love with it, but none more than our husbands. My husband and my sister's husband were in fasting-food heaven. I asked for the recipe and have made it quite a few times. Coconut milk seems to be that amazing secret ingredient in so many of our new favorite recipes these days...It makes the most basic ingredients creamy and fantastic. I have started buying the canned goodness online by the case, because I get the best deal and can keep it on hand. It's not cheap at the grocery store, usually between $3-$4 per can.

Curried Lentils
Makes about 6 main-dish servings

Blend in food processor your curry spices paste:
2 med. shallots, quartered (I never have shallots, I always use onions)
1 can (6 oz) tomato paste
1 jalapeno chili, stemmed (I typically have jalapeno slices in a jar that I use)
4 thick slices peeled ginger (I buy the ginger in the tubes in the produce section, it's quick and lasts quite a long time)
2 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tsp ground cumin
2 tsp ground coriander
1/2 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper
-Blend these until mostly smooth, transfer to a slow cooker or thick bottomed pot. Be sure to use an 8 quart if doubling this recipe.-

Then add:
2 c. Vegetable broth
1 1/2 c. lentils, picked over
1 can (15 oz) light coconut milk (I usually use reg, not light)
3 c. large cauliflower florets, placed on top nicely after everything else is combined
-let this all cook for an hour on the stove on low or 5 hours on high in the crock pot or 8 hours on low-

Before serving add:
1 c. frozen peas, thawed
1 Tbsp lime juice
1 lb of shrimp-optional
1/4 tsp salt (taste it, be sure it's enough)

Serve over rice, garnish with pistachios if you like. You could also garnish with shredded coconut...my mom just served me the curried shrimp with the turmeric powder when I was visiting her 2 weeks ago. She had chopped apples, shredded coconut, raisins and cashews to put on top, it was so yummy and fun to eat! I think that would be a fun addition to this recipe as well.

If you want to get really fancy you could sprout your lentils one or two days ahead. You won't need nearly as much liquid, so back off on the broth when you cook them. This seriously upps the protein in your grain and it's fin to eat little lentils with cute tails on them. It's also better for our bodies if we presoak our grains but especially when they're sprouted.

My last night in Hawaii with my parents.

Sweet and Sour Anything

The first time I ever ate this a young woman, who was a budding brilliant cook, brought this over for dinner when I had my son who is almost 17 now. It was love at first bite. She used chicken in her recipe. It's one that I for some reason forget about, you need to have canned pineapple, and that's not something I normally keep. But if I have it, I'll make this cheap and delicious meal.

Here's Christine's recipe she wrote out for me 17 years ago.

Sweet and Sour Chicken serves 4-6

Fry in frying pan with oil:
4 pieces boneless chicken breast
1 egg, 2 Tbsp. cornstarch
cube chicken and mix in egg and cornstarch

Mix in a large saucepan:
1/2 c. vinegar
1/2 c. white sugar
pineapple juice from the sm. can of pineapple chunks
Boil, then add:
pineapple chunks (what's left in the can)
2-3 Tbsp. soy sauce (to taste)

Mix in a little bowl:
1/4 c water
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
then add to the pineapple mixture

Add chicken once sauce has thickened and let simmer for 5 minutes.

Serve over rice. I usually double this recipe for our large family.

Vegetables:
I add peppers and onions to as much as I can now, also celery is cheap and easy to throw in too. Carrots are good as well as most "stir fry" veggies...those stir fry frozen vegetable bags would work for this. If we're fasting then I'll cook the sauce in a separate saucepan and fry up my veg in a large pan, then add the sauce on top. Don't overcook your vegetables! Only cook a short time then add your sauce, you want them still a bit firm like in a stir-fry.

For Tofu:
If I use tofu I fry that ahead of time with no egg or cornstarch in a non-stick pan. I have been using peanut oil lately for frying things and that worked nicely tonight. I use the firm tofu that come in little boxes that you have to cut open. This way they are shelf stable and don't have to refrigerate. Also, when you open them up I dab off as much water as I can. I slice the block in half and dab it more. Then cube it up and add to a hot pan with oil. I used 2 boxes tonight for my family of 8.

Shrimp:
This I'll just add to the vegetables. Shrimp cooks fast, add this last then the sauce.

Cheating recipe:
What I did tonight was instead of buying pineapple and making sauce, I actually bought two 15oz cans of Carnation sweet & sour sauce at the store. This was plenty to cover my vegetables and tofu and I got to skip making the sauce. I bought it for a night that I was tight on time and that was tonight. I prepared my tofu and vegetables and made my rice before church, then when we got home I fried the veg and tofu for about 5 minutes then let them cook in sauce for 5 min. Then served. Easy! I have a feeling that the Carnation sauce has all sorts of unhealthy things that I wouldn't have put into mine. But it was good.

Tofu, celery, onion, peppers before adding sauce.

Vegan Pumpkin Bread or Muffins

I really wanted a spiced pumpkin bread today with all of the snow outside and the pretty Christmas tree set up and pretty decor inside. I found a nice vegan recipe and changed it a bit. I'm writing it here so I don't loose it. Not having zucchini in the garden this year I'm using up some of the cans of pumpkin puree that have been collecting years of dust in the pantry. I'm posting a doubled recipe here for two loaf pans.

The kids love it and I think it's great. I went way light on the sugar (I just did 1 cup brown) and think it could use that extra 1/2 cup of white or brown sugar to it so I put it into this recipe. You could also toss in an extra banana to sweeten it more too. It's VERY spicy, so if you don't like so much of the spice you could pair it down, the cloves are strong.

Vegan Pumpkin Bread

-preheat oven to 350, grease 2 loaf pans-
-mix dry ingredients in lg bowl-
2 c white flour
1 1/2 c wheat flour
(if you have flax seed, sneak in 1/4c in here)
1 c dark brown sugar
1/2 c sugar
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp allspice
1/2 tsp cloves

-whisk wet ingredients in medium bowl-
2 c or 1 15 oz can pumpkin puree
1 mashed banana in a 1 cup measure cup
fill the measure cup up with oil
1/2 c maple syrup
1/3 c water

Instructions:
Combine wet into the dry ingredients, stir until just mixed, don't over mix. It's a thick batter.
Add 1 cup walnuts if desired.
Bake 45-50 minutes. Let cool for about 20 minutes, then loosen bread from sides with butter knife and pop out onto a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

Snow Icecream

As I sit at my desk not working but blogging instead, my kids are giggling behind me while they watch AFV with my husband. I love hearing them laugh.

The sky decided to open up this weekend and take a dump, literally. We have SO much snow from this "storm". The roads are really bad because they had a good coating of water last week from the melt off then froze, then it snowed, making things very slick. There have been countless numbers of crashes out there, I'm staying home.

To those that say it shouldn't snow in April? I say, "then you shouldn't live in Alaska...it ALWAYS snows in April". Learn like I had to that March is "fake spring" and end of April-May is "real spring".

My 9-year-old asked at 9:30pm if she could make snow ice-cream and papa wanted to say no since it was late but really? How many more great large fluffy snowfalls will we get this year? Here's how we make ours.

Sorry no pictures, my phone is in the shop after last weeks phone-death-by-dog incident.

Snow Ice-cream: serving 6 children

Fresh snow
Vanilla extract (I typically save my gallon of fake vanilla extract for this recipe since we use so much making this and I'm not eating it, the kids are)
Sugar
Milk, any kind (almond, soy, real, we end up usually making this with vanilla almond milk)

Scoop up a LARGE bowl of snow, heaping if you can - (don't scrape it off the ground, gross).
Quickly swirl on one large circle of vanilla, we don't measure.
Scoop on a scoop of sugar over the top, we don't measure.
Swirl on some milk. Stir, mush down chunks of vanilla and milk, keep adding more milk as needed. You want it to be almost mushy but not quite. There should not be any bright white snowy spots yet, you want all the vanilla mixed in. Taste to be sure you have enough sugar, add more if needed.

Serve in bowls, not cones, it melts fast.

Enjoy!

Fresh spring rolls

I wish I was as photogenic as spring rolls are.

Thanks to my meal planning day last week I have actually had ideas for food and not only that, many ingredients that I bought to go into those foods!

Today I chose spring rolls. The kids are big enough to roll their own and the small ones don't want or appreciate them anyway. They can have the leftovers.

When I look for recipes I like to look at many different ones to get a general idea of what you can use in those foods, so I looked at about 5 today and figured out what I wanted to do. Here is what I made today, I put out all the fillers and let my family members make their own. I liked everything in mine best.

Fresh spring rolls

-Firm tofu (shrimp is another great alternative "meat" source)
-Bragg Liquid Aminos or Soy Sauce
-Deli mustard
-Pepper

Slice tofu into 3 sections, press them in a towel to squeeze out water. Slice into strips and soak them in the Bragg's, mustard and some pepper for 1/2 hour. Bake on oiled (sesame oil, yum) cookie sheet for about 1/2 hour flipping them 1/2 way through.

-Package of bean or rice noodles, I had rice noodles today. Prepare as package directs. Typically only cook them for 3-5 minutes in boiling water.
-Package of spring roll skins/ rice skins/ spring roll wrappers. What ever you call them, they are round and translucent. They turn transparent when soaked for 1 minute in water.

Variety of veggies and herbs:
Mint is classic, and so is cilantro and even basil. Today we had cilantro only.
Green onions or chives. I chopped mine into bite sized pieces, works best for biting purposes.
Carrots, you can shred or chop into thin strips. Strips for me.
Avocado.
Lettuce, I had iceburg, cut into thin strips.
Cucumber, this would have been a nice addition. I didn't have it, it was good with out too.

Line up your fillings, get your sauces made or out of the pantry (like me). Set up a deep plate or bowl for your wrappers to fit into, dunk them in warm water on the plate one at a time for about one minute. Get a kitchen towel on the counter in front of your plate and put some water on it. Bring your wrapper out carefully onto the towel and fill. They wrap up nicely, takes a few to get the hang of it. Dunk in your favorite dipping sauce, that's the best part!

everything set up and my first one on the towel being filled

Update three days later: Most of the ingredients are still good and in the fridge, so we're having them again for dinner tonight. Tonight's are some fresh noodles, no avocado and plain cooked shrimp (it was purchased frozen that way). So good!

Our daily bread

I got a request to share our weekly bread recipe. I don't expect most people to want to make it this way because you need a grain mill and a variety of grains to mill, but none-the-less this is the way we do it...

Multi grain bread (makes 3 large loaves)

Add to grain mill, typically we set it on fine:
1 c Prairie Gold wheat berries (Hard white spring wheat, known for it's light color)
1c Hard Red wheat berries (I use this because a friend gave me hers, she didn't know it was flour, another reason to have a grain mill, you can score free food...)
1 c Spelt berries (ancient type of wheat, nutty flavor, high protein, not gluten free, typically paired with Kamut)
1 c Kamut berries (another type of wheat, high protein, not gluten free, typically paired with Spelt)
-we grind these 4 cups of wheat berries in our NutriMill grain mill-

4 kinds of wheat berries made into flour

Combine flour with 3.5 cups of water and cover with a plate, let sit overnight. (I have done a decent amount of research and have discovered that whole grains have Phytic acid in their hulls. This is not good for you and prohibits your body from absorbing the good nutrients in those same grains. Soaking or sprouting those grains breaks it down making it better for you and easier to digest. Not to mention that it makes a much nicer loaf of bread. The easiest way I have found to soak is after grinding, that way I don't have to soak the grain, then dry it then grind it. Saves many steps for us.)

here is the wheat soaking in the water, getting all soft and good for us

Add to grain mill:
1/2 c lentils (what ever I buy in bulk, I believe they are green or brown lentils)
1/2 c millet (this is a gluten free grain, is a complete protein, high in nutrients and much less expensive than quinoa)
1/2 c brown rice (I personally don't love cooked brown rice...perhaps I even hate it, so I add it to my bread)
-grind, this acts as my "white" flour that I add in later, these grains probably *should* also be soaked, but the recipe only calls for 3.5 cups of water and I'm trying to eliminate extra white flour)

Next day add to the dough:
1 heaping Tablespoon of yeast
1/4 warm water, proof

1 heaping T of salt
1 scoop (maybe 1/4 or 1/2?) of white sugar (this is clearly not the best sugar for us, but it's cheaper than honey or maple syrup so I use it because of cost and ease)
1/2 c ground flax seeds
1/2 c whole or quick oats
2-3 glugs of oil (that might be 1/4-1/3c oil? I use olive oil but any oil will do, I won't get into the trans fats oil thing today...)
--mix--
(we use a large Kitchen Aid mixer, this recipe fits the normal large size, I have seen larger Kitchen Aid's just recently but this recipe is to the max of my large one, my sister does a large recipe in her Bosch mixer)

Gradually add your lentil/millet/rice flour. When it needs more flour start adding white all purpose or bread flour, you should only need one or two cups of this to make a nice, not sticky dough. Knead the rest of the way if you think it needs it. Let rise for 1.5 hours.

Grease 3 large loaf pans (I should measure mine, but I believe they are "regular" sized loaf pans, not mini size). Divide dough into 3 parts, shape into pretty oval loaves, flour, put into pans and let rise for 1/2 hour.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Let preheat for another 10 minutes, don't let the bread rise for more than 45 minutes. If you do, pop them out, re-grease pans, reshape loaves and let them rise a third time for only 20-30 min. It will rise much faster this time.

Bake for 45 minutes at 350. Remove loaves and pop them out of pans right away, they should be nice and brown on the bottom. Let cool on their sides. Put in bags when cool and eat within a couple of days or freeze. There are no chemicals so it WILL mold if it sits out for too long in a bag.

As is most bread, it's best enjoyed warm. You can also shape into rolls instead or create cinnamon/raisin bread with it instead of regular bread.

We typically start our bread on Thursdays and bake it on Fridays so we can have a yummy fresh loaf every Friday night.

As you can see it has many grains, thus the "Multi grain" name. I like using different grains in my cooking because they are a great way to get extra protein, minerals and nutrients into our diet. A better balance, if you ask me, than just plain wheat bread. I like knowing that even if my kids only put some butter and cinnamon/sugar on top they are still eating a "healthy" snack and they won't be hungry in 5 minutes.

The grain mill in an investment to be sure, but any whole grains are better for you if you grind them fresh and wheat flour can become rancid if it sits for too long after being ground. I originally split the mill with my sister and we'd share it, but she has since bought a hand crank mill (which I envy) and her little boys enjoy grinding her wheat for their weekly bread.

I have used the mill to make my own gram flour (not to be confused with graham flour). Gram flour is made from garbanzo beans or chickpeas or chana dal. Also called garbanzo flour or besan. Used a lot in Indian cooking and I've seen more in gluten free recipes. It grinds up those large beans no problem. If you are on a gluten free diet I would imagine that a NutriMill or something similar would be a great investment. Those tiny bags of specialty flours in the health food stores are expensive! But beans and rice are not. You just grind up what you need and you have your flour. I have a coffee grinder for the stickier (more oils) nuts and grains and spices. So if I need almond flour or to grind some flax seeds I use my coffee grinder for those.

Like I said before, this recipe will be way out of the league of many people and it certainly was for me a few years ago. But getting a system down really helps. And having a 9-year-old who only wants kitchen jobs (no animal jobs for her) is a great way to get my bread made weekly.

And I forgot to take more pics the day of baking. But here's the finished product.
Soft and extra delicious with homeade fireweed/rhubarb jam on top.

Yummy Lentil Soup

This  recipe has been a staple in our house for the last few years. Typically I make a giant batch in the fall (harvest) season so I can use up fresh veggies from the garden and freeze them in usable form. Usually in the large recipe I substitute some grains in place of some of the lentils to provide different nutrients and different texture.

Yummy Lentil Soup 
(serves 6)

1 onion, chopped
1/4 c olive oil
2 carrots, diced
2 stalks celery, chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tea dried oregano
1 bay leaf
1 tea dried basil
1(14.5 oz) can crushed or diced tomatoes
2 c dry lentils (can substitute some lentils with barley and millet)
8 c water (or however much fits in the pot, more for soupy, less for stew like)
1/2 c spinach or cabbage, rinsed & sliced
2 Tbl vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

(huge pot)

6 onions or 5 lbs
3/4 c oil
12 carrots or 2 pounds
12 celery or 1 bunch
2Tbl oregano
2 Tbl basil
12 cloves garlic
5 bay leaves
6 14.5oz cans crushed tomato or 3 28oz cans or 1 large 10lb can
5 lbs lentils, rinsed
1 c barley, rinsed
1 c millet, rinsed
10 ish qts water
1/2 head to whole head cabbage or 3 cups spinach
3/4 c vinegar (or to taste)
2 T salt (or to taste)
1 T pepper (or to taste)

Directions

Heat oil on medium heat in appropriate sized heavy bottom pot (preferred).

Add onions, carrots and celery; cook and stir until onion is tender.

Stir in garlic, bay leaf, oregano and basil; cook 2 minutes.

Stir in lentils and any grain, add water and tomatoes. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer for minimum of an hour.

10 min before serving add spinach or cabbage, stir 'till it's wilted. Add vinegar and season to taste with salt and pepper.


Just fyi, I have canned this before and it's not good. I love lentils because they cook up so fast.

Just found this picture from 2010 on facebook of my kids and nephew when we were making a pot of this soup.
How quickly they grow up! Sniff.

Alaskan Fall Lentil Soup

8/29/2014: I cleaned out the garden and wanted to use more veggies that I had including the dill, parsley, beets, etc. I remembered the borscht recipe that I love so much and based the spices off of that one. I really liked it this way and it doesn't need tomatoes or basil that I can't grow with out a greenhouse.

This is for a double batch:

2 onions
1/2 cup coconut oil
4 carrots
4 celery and all the celery leaves
4 cloves garlic and any greens from the garlic from the garden
-cook these three up 'till onions are soft-
-stir in:
fresh thyme
fresh dill
fresh parsley
1/2 tsp pepper
3 cups lentils
1/2 cup millet
-then add-
16 cups water, don't need to add it all at once
-after about an hour of cooking add:
1 pint pickled beets
1 pint plain beets
one bunch kale
one bunch beet greens (about 2 beets worth of greens)
1 small head of cabbage
or any mix of the greens of your choosing
2 tsp salt

1/4 cup vinegar
more fresh dill
more salt and pepper to taste

May taste good with sour cream, will have to try that.

I was pleasantly surprised. Definitely a sweeter soup, but I loved it.

Indian food

Friday afternoon I drove by the sushi restaurant in town and wished it was still the Indian place. I miss it right now.

Yesterday I did nothing; until it was dinner time and realized I had not thought of anything to make, so I hit up Manjula, my favorite internet Indian cook.

I used the "St. John Church Cookbook" and made Ser's Aloo Mattar (I'll list recipe below) and I made Manjula's Besan Puda (pancake like flat bread with veggies in them). The thing I left out were green chilies, I don't have any.

I ground the chickpea flour and rice flour for the Besan Puda in the coffee grinder and our flour mill and they were very good. I've made the Aloo Mattar before and it's good too.

Today after church I was wishing for more leftovers than we had so I decided to make a bunch more Indian food. I started with my Dal recipe that I posted about a couple weeks ago. Then I started a pot of white rice. I remembered watching the Cabbage Kofta video last night and thinking I had most of the ingredients not to mention that they looked delicious. On the dumplings I used powdered ginger, dried cilantro (not the same as fresh!) and didn't have a green chilie. In the gravy I didn't have fresh tomatoes and used sauce, didn't have hing, powdered ginger, no yogurt, and dried cilantro. The kofta's themselves were awesome, probably should have skipped the gravy but it was good for dipping the Besan Puda's. I made more today with no veggie this time.

My parents showed up right in time to have some with us, it was a great Sunday meal with lots of leftovers.

Ser's Aloo Mattar, serves 4
(means potatoes and green peas, I like Ser's version since I have all the spices on hand)

2 lg potatoes, peeled and cut into sugar cube size pieces, soak in cold water
2 cloves minced garlic
1/2 c fine diced onion, saute both in
2 T oil, then add:
1 c chopped tomato (I use canned)
1 t salt
1/8 t ground cloves
1/8 t ground cinnamon
1/8 t ground cardamom
1/2 t turmeric powder
1/2 t ground coriander
pinch cayenne (opt, we don't add)
-cook 5 minutes-
-add well drained potatoes, stir for a minute, add:
1 c water
-cover, cook med heat 10 min-
1 1/2 c defrosted peas, add
-cover cook 15 min, till potatoes are soft-
-mash about 1/2 the pot-
Serve with rice and other Indian food, YUM!

I didn't take any pictures, but my Indian food is not photogenic. Manjula is a joy to watch, I bet she will inspire you too.

photogenic Indian food

Indian Dal

Argh, foiled by dinner again.

I don't know why, but when it hits me that I still have to think of dinner, it's like a brand new revelation EVERY DAY! Crazy...I'm just a bit crazy.

Today's another vegan day and I think I'll make rice and dal (lentils). My kids love the dal and it's pretty easy to make. I NEVER knew lentils could taste this good! I got the recipe from vegweb.com which is a great resource for vegan food recipes.


Indian Dal

I usually double or triple this recipe for our family and to have some leftovers which are good. If we're having company I may make 2 pots, one regular (spicy) and a large pot mild for the kids.

1 medium onion, chopped
1 small hot pepper, minced (I usually don’t unless I make a non-spicy pan for the kids too)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I love coconut oil for this)
1 cup small red lentils (I have 25lbs of green and I like them fine)
1 teaspoon cumin
1 teaspoon coriander
1/8 teaspoon cardamom
1/4 teaspoon cayenne (not me)
3/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/8 teaspoon ginger
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
I also add chopped spinach, beet greens, kale, or grated zucchini ½ way through.

Directions:

1. Place onion, garlic, and hot pepper in a pot, cover with oil (be generous with the oil, they should swim in it). Let all of it simmer, about 5 minutes.

2. Rinse lentils, add to pot, stir, then add spices, stir, add water to cover lentils. Cook at medium to medium high. Leave uncovered, don't walk away for too long.

3. You will have to keep checking because the water cooks down and you will have to add more to make the dal the consistency you like. Stir often because it helps the lentils cook down well.

4. After 30 minutes or so of cooking you can add fresh or frozen greens. This is not a must but it's a great way (for me) to get those frozen greens into our diet. You don't really taste them.

5. Taste and adjust seasoning if needed. Be aware that you don't want too much cardamom and ginger, they take control of flavors, cumin and coriander are more mild.

Serve with spinach, naan, and rice.

Serves: 3-4 maybe, Preparation time: 1 hour tops

Tips: For our family of 9 I always double this recipe. I also pre-make snack bags full of the spices that I need so I can dump them in and not measure out each time. If I'm making a pot and I'm out of spices, I'll make the dinner and the packets at the same time... This way I know that this frugal recipe is half way made for me and it will be even faster for dinner.

Rice is cooking, I'll post on family's favorite rice another day. Now off to chop onions and make a meal.



dal is not photogenic...it looks like mush but your taste buds will want to marry it

Dun dun dun....dumplings.

Lets just say YUM! and... I'm FULL! Ok, I'll start at the beginning.

Wanton Wrappers:
2 c flour
1/2 tsp mixed into
1 egg
~1/3 c water
Mix (with chopsticks), knead and let sit for 30-60 minutes.

Then roll out thin, cut into circles. Then roll again thinner. Use FLOUR between the circles (unlike me).

Dumpling Filling (what I had in the fridge):
celery (wish I'd had cabbage or Chinese cabbage)
carrots
green onion (the growth from my impressive growing white onion)
diced game bird meat (can use ground pork, beef, shrimp, etc)

Chop ingredients finely (finer than mine)

Seasoning
pour over your veggie and meat mix:
2 tsp sugar
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
6 TBS sesame oil



filling, not fine enough but it worked


Then take each circle, put about 1/2-1 TBS of filling into each. Use water to dampen the edge of half of your circle and close to make your dumpling.

You can then pan fry (I used lard) or boil for about 3-5 minutes. My family liked both, I liked the fried best but others liked boiled the best.

Note: if your wrapper is ripped the filling won't escape in the oil like it will in the water.

For our side dish I took all the left over rice from our game bird bake and turned it into fried rice, which is basically where you heat up your rice with any extra veggies you want in there:

rice with veggies heating

Then when warm added 4 eggs in a hole in the rice and fried them, then mixed them in and then added some spinach (or lettuce). I based this off of my mother-in-law's chicken fried rice recipe, we love it.

picture of our dinner, really good

Very enjoyable meal. I can always tell my husband likes it when he has seconds then thirds.

I wish the dumplings aren't so time consuming, but they are fun to make. My 5 and 7 year old ended up making the bulk of them and I decided to give them artistic leeway so they could wrap them the easiest way for them.