Monday, March 30, 2009

Home Fries

Easier than cooking them in the oven, and tasty too! Makes a good side dish or have them for breakfast.

4 large potatoes
4 TBS butter
Garlic salt

Don't peel the potatoes. Cube the potatoes into 1/2" pieces. Run cold water over the potato to wash away the potato starch. Dump the potatoes out onto a clean kitchen towel and dry with another towel. In an electric non-stick skillet (or use a non stick skillet on the stove), melt the butter. Add the potatoes, and stir to coat. Sprinkle garlic salt over the potatoes, and stir. Cover the skillet and cook potatoes med-high heat for 10 minutes. No peeking! Remove cover, stir. Replace the cover for 5 more minutes. Remove cover, stir. Cook for another 5 minutes or so without the cover.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Whole Wheat Buttermilk Biscuits

Light and fluffy, my husband said these were like eating dessert! Serve 'em hot & fresh with butter.

2 c. whole wheat pastry flour (soft white wheat)
4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 c. cold butter
2 tsp. sucanat
2/3 c. buttermilk, sour milk, or thin plain yogurt with milk to buttermilk consistency

Mix together dry ingredients. Pour the buttermilk into a measuring cup, and add the sucanat. Stir occasionally until the sucanat "melts." Cut the butter up into chunks and add to to the dry ingredients. Mix in with pastry blender (or two knives or your hands.) Add the buttermilk to the main bowl and mix just until moistened.

Flour your counter. With floured hands, pat dough until rectangle about3/4" thick. Fold dough into thirds. Pat dough down again until 3/4" thick and repeat. Do it a third time! This folding process makes layers in the biscuits, kind of like croissants. Lastly, pat dough to be 1/2" thick. Cut out biscuits with a round cutter. Place them on a cookie sheet lined parchment paper (or sprayed with cooking spray.) You can put them pretty close together because they don't spread out, they rise up!

Bake in preheated 450 degree oven for about 10-12 minutes. Makes about 12-15.

Friday, March 20, 2009

Thin Crust Pizza

This disappears in a flash. And the kids say it's better than Little Caesar's!

4 C. whole wheat pastry flour*
4-1/2 tsp yeast
2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp sucanat
1-1/2 c. warm water
2 TBS olive oil

Preheat oven to 500 degrees. Mix together all the dry ingredients in a Bosch or Kitchenaid mixer. In a small bowl, mix together water & olive oil. While mixer is mixing, slowly add liquid. Knead until dough sticks together. Stop the machine and check if the dough is too dry. If so, add more flour. (If too dry, add more water). Dough should be soft and not too sticky.

Spray a medium sized bowl with cooking spray. Put dough in bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest for 20-30 minutes.

Spread flour out on the counter. Split dough in half and roll out in flour so it is a very thin crust. Spread a thin layer of cornmeal on a pizza stone. Place pizza crust on pizza stone. Spread a very thin layer of spaghetti sauce on top. Add mozzarella cheese and parmesan cheese. Add toppings of your choice, such as thinly sliced peppers & red onions, olives, mushrooms, nitrate-free ham or pepperoni, chopped chicken, etc. Sprinkle with italian seasoning over everything.

Bake in the oven for about 9-12 minutes.

If you don't have a pizza stone, you can use a porcelain tile. Put a sheet of parchment paper on top. Pizza stones do work better, but this can work too. If you don't have a porcelain tile, you can bake on baking sheets, but you'll have to make the crust a little thicker and cook at a lower temperature (like 375 or 400) for a longer time.

*Pastry flour is made from soft white wheat. You can buy it already milled at the health food store, or grind your own.

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

Spring Rolls

If you've never had spring rolls before, give these a try! They are pretty easy to make and not too overwhelmingly oriental for picky eaters.

1/2 package of spring roll wrappers (about 22 wrappers)*
2 TBS olive oil
2 garlic cloves
1 large carrot, julienned (or you can toss in a food processor and chop into small bits)
1 large stalk celery, thinly sliced
1 bag coleslaw
1 c. bean sprouts (optional)
1 c. cooked chopped chicken
2-1/2 TBS soy or tamari sauce (use a little less if tamari)
1 TBS sesame oil
2 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp garlic salt

Saute garlic, carrots and celery in olive oil for a few minutes. Add coleslaw & bean sprouts and saute till all is crisp-tender. Add chicken and seasonings and stir to mix. Taste it and add anything else it might need.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

In a frying pan big enough to fit the wrappers, bring about 1/2" water to a boil. Put a spring roll wrapper in the water and leave for about 15 seconds. Use tongs or a fork to remove the wrapper to a plate. Put about 1/4 c. filling in the middle. Fold the sides of the wrapper in. Roll the spring roll and place seam side down on sprayed baking sheet (or line with parchment paper.)

When the tray is full, spray the top of the spring rolls with cooking spray. Bake for about 12 minutes. Remove tray from oven, and flip all the spring rolls over. Spray the tops with cooking spray, and put back into oven to bake for 12 more minutes.

*The package of spring roll wrappers I purchase are made of tapioca starch, so they do not contain gluten. They cost about $1.79 at the local asian market and had about 45 wrappers in one package. Be very careful with them, they are fragile and break easily!

DIPPING SAUCE

Mix together:
1-1/2 TBS rice vinegar
1/2 TBS sucanat
2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp sesame oil
dash chili powder
1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp sesame seeds

Dip spring rolls into sauce.