Mom's Cream of Wheat

- slightly more than 1/3 cup cream of wheat

- 1 cup unsweetened almond milk

- 3/4 cup vanilla coconut milk

- 1 tablespoon local raw honey

- about 1 cup strawberries

- about 1 cup homemade applesauce (local apples)

Boil the coconut and almond milk with the honey and strawberries. Add cream of wheat. Continue to boil about two minutes while stirring constantly. (The cream of wheat will stick to the strawberries making a kind of fruit nugget. I like these.)

Let simmer on low while casually stirring until desired consistency. Stir in applesauce before serving.

Cherry pancakes

My husband tricked me into making vegan pancakes. Or at least mixing a batter. I don't handle the holidays well and this year has left us with fairly empty cupboards since my daughter had a double ear infection and some unexpected medical expenses.

This batter was fairly pasty and we're still adding almond milk to thin it out.

- about 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 cup organic white flour
- 1/2 cup ground flaxseed
- 1/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup sourgum flour
- 2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
- about 3 tablespoons liquid coconut oil
- 2 tablespoons baking powder
- pinch salt
- about 2 cups vanilla almond milk
- 1 cup cherries

The flavor is delicious!

Applesauce Muffins

(adapted from the Betty Crocker 25th Anniversary cookbook's recipe for Applesauce snack cake)

Yield: about one dozen muffins

I wanted to use up some of my fruit canning syrup I had leftover so this is a tad odd.

Overnight I soaked in the syrup about 1/3 cup each:
- golden raisins
- dried cranberries
- raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Ingredients:
- 1/2 plus 1/3 cup unbleached white flour
- 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
- almost 2/3 cup old fashioned oats
- 1/2 cup canning syrup
- about 2 tablespoons blackstrap molasses
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
- large pinch salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- the fruit
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar

I topped mine with sliced almonds.

Bake about 15-20 minutes.

Chilled Pear Apple Soup

Ah, these 100 degree days... Makes me anxious to visit Djibouti or the Sahara desert.

I had the eight-year-old prep a variant of Eileen Bresslin's vegan chilled pear soup. I say variant because I lost the recipe long ago and I added applesauce to it.

INGREDIENTS:
- 1 can pears, the big car, the 30-some ounce can. I use pears in juice, and I drain half the juice
- about two cups your favorite applesauce
- about one tablespoon or maybe slightly more lemon juice. Up to half a lemon worth.
- ginger to taste
- spearmint leaves from the garden

Combine all the ingredients except spearmint and blend until smooth. Pour into a bowl.

Roll the spearmint leaves between your fingers and then lay across top of bowl. Chill until nicely cold.

Post vacation cop out

My neighbor came to Philadelphia to retrieve my daughter and I to the train station. He wouldn't accept toll, gas or parking money so I took his son to Friendly's for dinner.

Today I used my husband's leftover bologna to make sandwiches with spring mix, extra sharp cheddar and new pickles on hot dog buns.

Dinner was processed stuff. Morningstar spicy black bean burgers, uncle ben's broccoli cheddar rice with extra broccoli and Mott's unsweetened healthy harvest blueberry applesauce.

Soon I must start cooking again. Vacation must end sometime.

Mix Up Fritters

I thought for dinner tonight I'd make a hashbrown scramble and Morningstar vegetarian breakfast patties. But then I thought maybe potato pancakes. With applesauce. So, I called up this old entry:

http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/09/apple-potato-pancakes.html?m=1

I mixed up the following in my big Pyrex missing cup:
- almost 3 cups frozen grated potatoes, "hashbrowns," thawed in microwave
- 2 eggs
- 3/4 cup flour
- 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce
- 1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 cup corn flake crumbs
- 1 cup? 1 1/2 cups? frozen corn

Fry patties in cast iron skillet in canola oil, on medium about three minutes on each side. Then bake at 475 until crispy.

These were my BEST potato pancakes ever! They were crispy and flavorful. With a touch of real maple syrup to lubricate them, they were heavenly!

Peanut butter muffins

Yesterday I adapted this recipe for breakfast:

http://www.mrbreakfast.com/superdisplay.asp?recipeid=461#

First, I doubled the recipe. I replaced the sugar with honey, replaced the milk with 1 cup vanilla Silk, replaced about 1.5 cups of the flour with oats. I used 2 eggs and replaced the other eggs with applesauce.

Parmesan Tuna Sandwiches

So, I did make tuna sandwiches for lunch on the store bought wheat bread from Wegmans. (I bought it because I had a coupon.) We only have one can of tuna, so that means a half-sandwich for each of us (Mommy, Daddy and Baby).

My tuna today was:

• one can solid white tuna packed in water
• 2 tablespoons safflower mayonnaise*
• 2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
• 3 slices Wegmans whole wheat sandwich bread sliced in half.

*What shocked me is that my mayonnaise is really mayonnaise. For years, I've been using vegan/soy mayonnaise for health reasons and because I hate mayonnaise in the traditional sense. But when I was scraping the last of the mayo out of the jar, I noticed that the ingredients listed eggs. I had purchased safflower mayonnaise instead of soy!

What made that even more compelling was the high vitamin E content in the mayonnaise. 1 tablespoon of that safflower mayonnaise has 2o% of the RDA of Vitamin E. Interesting.

To accompany these meager sandwiches, I also served tortilla chips and mango salsa (vitamins A & C thanks to the salsa) and applesauce. We also had a snack a few minutes ago of dried Italian meat stick so I'm sure that will also help compensate for the half-sandwich.

Super Salads

So, this is my first full day on medication for Vitamin D and iron deficiency. I made a pledge to myself to eat healthier. Iron pills can make you constipated, so I want to make sure I get plenty of fiber.

Breakfast:

• about 6 ounces apple-kiwi-strawberry 1oo% juice
• cream of wheat made with soy milk with a touch of sugar
• 1/2 cup coffee with non dairy French vanilla creamer

Snack:

• 1 slice fruity fred, thawed from the freezer (Amish friendship bread with almonds and dried cherries)
• green iced tea with blueberry

Lunch:

• small bowl minestrone soup
• homemade multigrain baquette
• Trader Joe's hummus
• about 6 ounces chocolate silk

Afternoon snack

• sweetened green tea (grrr, though it was unsweetened)
• a banana

Dinner

• large salad with two types of bagged greens (and some carrots and cabbage)
  
• asiago
• cheddar
• chopped pecans
• dried strawberries
• raisins
• red wine vinaigrette dressing
• a side of Motts Healthy Harvest No Sugar Added Country Berry Applesauce
• 16 ounces unsweetened soy milk with Banana Moo Magic Powder
  

Fruity Baked French Toast

I can't find my recipe for baked French toast, but this won't stop me. I'm combining the vegan recipe for French toast, my imagination and my leftover homemade bread from Thanksgiving...

• 8 slices homemade white bread
• 8 slices homemade multigrain bread
• 4 large eggs
• 2/3 cup homemade applesauce
• 1 banana
• juice of 1 clementine
• 1 cup soymilk
• 2 tablespoons honey
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

Okay, so the jury is out on whether this one will "work." In a bowl, I mixed: the eggs, applesauce, banana, juice, milk, honey and vanilla. I dipped the bread into the mix and layered it into my greased (with butter) 11x 7 casserole dish. Then I added the cinnamon and the nutmeg to the egg mix and poured over the bread. (I had two layers of bread.)

I'm baking and 350 and then I figure I'll broil it depending on how much of the liquid gets absorbed.

After 20 minutes at 350, most of the liquid absorbed, but it was still mushy, so I rearranged it a bit and increased heat to 420, for another 10 minutes...

As the pieces got crispy, I served with cream cheese and my mother-in-law's blueberry topping.

Now, if you'd rather try a recipe for vegan French toast, here you go (from Eileen Bresslin):

• 1 cup soy milk
• 1 cup orange juice
• 10 slices stale bread
• vegetable oil
• cinnamon

Mix soy milk and orange juice, dip bread in mix lightly (do NOT let bread get soggy) sprinkle with cinnamon and fry in oiled skillet.

Turkey Spinach Omelettes

So, for the last 24 hours I have thought about the omelette I wanted to make with the leftover white meat of turkey. I made it for dinner tonight and served with Nana's homemade applesauce.

Angel's Turkey Spinach Omelette with a hint of curry

• 6 eggs, beaten
• about 1.5 cups turkey, white meat, shredded
• about 1.5 cups cheese, cheddar, shredded
• about 1 cup frozen chopped spinach, thawed
• 1 teaspoon garlic pepper
• 1 teaspoon ground four color peppercorns
• 1 teaspoon curry
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon extra virgin olive oil

In a skillet, not a huge one, melt the butter, add the olive oil and the two peppers. Add the spinach, sauté about one minute, add about half of the curry. Add the turkey. Add the other half of the curry to the turkey. Stir. Let sauté, stirring ocassionally, until the liquid begins to disappear.

Pour the hot turkey/spinach filling into a bowl and set aside. Pour eggs into the hot skillet. Let cook on medium or medium high depending on your cookware about one to two minutes. Add the turkey spinach filling. Let cook until the eggs are almost "solid." Add the cheese. Let sit another minute, probably would work best if you covered it to help melt the cheese. Then fold the omelet in half and press down to make sure nothing runny comes out. If it does, let the omelette continue cooking until the runny stuff hardens, as long as your frying pan is not hot enough to burn the eggs.

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Good morning, World

We started bread this morning... some honey-wheat French-style bread to lift our spirits. My husband and daughter had his mom's apple pie for breakfast (I'm saving my slice for this afternoon). It's now snack time, otherwise known as Mommy's breakfast time. My daughter and I split a Nature Valley almond granola bar (and I should have a nice plate of scrambled eggs but I'm not). I might make scrambled eggs for lunch, especially since my daughter is currently enjoying some strawberry-blueberry-raspberry no-sugar-added applesauce right now. I'm trying to keep her vitamin C levels up since the school is experiencing its first wave of serious illness. Plus, my college has swine flu going around. Fun.

Cheesy bugs and spinach nuggets

For dinner I made Back to Nature Organic Macaroni and Cheese with bug-shaped pasta, water, Veggie Patch Spinach Nuggets, and Whitehouse No Sugar Added applesauce Superfruit Fusion with Guave and Acai Berry.

I love Veggie Patch Spinach Nuggets. I sautée them in a little bit of extra virgin olive oil and serve with a side of ranch. On the package, they had a recipe for spicy ranch dip that was two tablespoons ranch dressing, one teaspoon dijon mustard, and a splash of chipotle pepper sauce. I made some for me that was ranch, horseradish brown mustard and a generous splash of Frank's Buffalo Red Hot Sauce.

The mac and cheese was an expensive whim ($1.69 for the box) but the bug shapes cracked me up and I thought we'd try it.

The applesauce was an add-on, and it tasted weirdly like eucalyptus.

Waffles for dinner

We had belgian waffles from the freezer, smoked bacon, and berry applesauce for dinner. We topped the waffles with real maple syrup and in some cases peanut butter. The house is running out of groceries, but it worked.

Sticky buns

I wanted to make sticky buns today, so I started them before class and worked the dough after...I need to work this afternoon, so I plan to leave them in the oven and set the oven timer to have them cooking when we get home... These photos are from the last time I made them, which is probably a year ago. Yes, I'm serving these for dinner. Maybe with scrambled eggs. The base recipe is from the Betty Crocker cookbook.

Caramel Sticky Rolls
3 1/2 to 4 cups all purpose flour
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon salt
2 packages yeast
1 cup very warm milk
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 egg

1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup dark corn syrup
3/4 cup pecan halves

2 tablespoons butter, softened
1/2 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 tablespoons packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Phase 1: Mix two cups of the flour, 1/3 cup sugar, salt and yeast in a large bowl. Add warm milk, 1/3 cup butter and egg. Mix for one minute, scraping bowl frequently. Stir in enough flour to make the dough easy to handle.

Phase 2: Knead on floured surface for five minutes. Place in greased bowl and let rise about 1.5 hours or until doubled in bulk.

Phase 3: Heat one cup brown sugar, and 1/2 cup butter to boiling, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Add corn syrup. Pour into bottom of 13x9x2 pan. Sprinkle with pecan halves.

Phase 4: Punch down dough. Flatten into rectangle about 10" by 15" . Spread with two tablespoons margarine. Mix remaining ingredients and sprinkle evenly over dough. Roll from the 15" side and pinch to seal. Shape as desired. Cut into 15 one-inch slices and arrange in pan slightly apart. Let rise 30 minutes in a warm place until doubled.

Final phase: Preheat oven to 350. Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. Immediately invert onto heatproof serving platter. Let stand one minute until sauce drains.

How I changed it: I swapped out the chopped pecans for loads of raisins and golden raisins. I also used almond milk instead of milk, and applesauce instead of egg. And I got way more than the original yield, so I left the end of the roll a "loaf" and figured I'd cook it on it's own. And I omitted the corn syrup (just used water).

French Toast

I have taken the last of the homemade bread from the freezer and using it to make French toast. French toast, for the record, is not French but American. An eighteenth-century innkeeper made the recipe for his guests. His family name was French. French toast is a great item to keep in the freezer for busy mornings, if your family leaves any to freeze.

Ingredients:

1. heap of homemade bread, sliced.
2. 1/3 cup apple juice
3. 1/3 cup soy milk
4. 1/3 cup milk
5. 3 eggs
6. cinnamon
7. nutmeg
8. 1 individual serving natural applesauce
9. about 1 tsp. vanilla
   
10. oil and/or butter for the pan

Mix ingredients 2-9. Whisk well. Dip bread in mix, fry.
I discovered a tin of beef burgundy in the freezer that I have put in the fridge for dinner tomorrow.

Homemade Potato Green Vegetable Soup

I am not good at soup. But something has me wanting to make soup. I pulled a homemade honey-wheat-oat bread from the freezer, got my biggest pot and found a recipe for broccoli potato soup from the Internet.

The original recipe calls for two cups chopped onion and two tablespoons margarine... I think I'll use two cloves garlic... a little bit of four-color peppercorns and some garlic powder... Next it says add 4 cubes chicken bouillion and five cups boiling water. Let's see, I have Wegmans vegetable stock. That will do.

Add 2.5 pounds peeled and cut potatoes, cover and boil, then 

reduce heat and cook about 15 minutes until potatoes are tender. I have three or maybe four pounds that are starting to look questionable...

Okay, so I think I salvaged enough taters... Next step: Remove tough outer skin and cook broccoli. It suggests three cups fresh broccoli, but for all the peeling and puréeing, can't I use frozen and save the fresh for something where the crispness would be appreciated? let's see what we've got. I think I'll mix. About a cup frozen, a cup fresh and green beens...

Next you combine the veggies to the soup, purée half in the food processor and return to pot with three cups shredded cheese. Serve when the cheese melts. We'll see what I do to it...

Okay, so note for next time, use blender not food processor as no matter how full I made the food processor it sprayed hot liquid all over the kitchen...

Add a few ounces of monterey jack... or is this mysterious white block cheddar? I want to reduce the cheese since we don't have much... I'll add 2/3 cup half and half to make it creamy. It smells like broccoli soup. It needs more milk and some more thickness.... cornstarch? a little flour? Nope... just leave it alone and keep adding that four pepper blend and garlic pepper for flavor. Stay tuned...

Okay, dinner time is here and Oops! I over-peppered the soup. It's still good, just peppery. 

To compensate I serve with Motts Natural Applesauce No Sugar Added (country berry for the child and granny smith apple for the grown-ups), Vouvray (for the grown-ups) and parmesan goldfish crackers. And the oat-honey-wheat bread.

"Pork with Peaches"

I thawed out the two boneless pork chops I had left from the pork with apples last month and planned to make "pork with peaches" or Cashew Pork with Pea Pods. It's a recipe I got from my college roommate. 

Cashew Pork with

 Pea Pods

1 pound pork, lean and boneless

1/2 cup orange juice

1/4 cup orange marmalade

2 tablespoons soy sauce 

1 tablespoon corn starch

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1 tablespoon oil

2 cups pea pods

1 can peaches chopped

1/2 cup cashews or peanuts

1. Slice pork.

2. Make the sauce: Mix

 the juice, soy sauce, marmalade, corn starch and ginger. Set aside.

3. Cook the pork with the tablespoon oil. When cooked, add pea pods and peaches. Cook long enough to warm the center of the peaches. Add sauce. Cook until bubbly and thicker. Add nuts.

 

4. Serve with rice.

Now, as usual, I deviated from the recipe. I doubled the sauce, used a quarter of the meat, and used Hong Kong Stir Fry veggies (frozen) instead of pea pods. I didn't use marmalade but substituted applesauce. And I skipped the nuts. Oh, and I used apricots instead of peaches.

Then, I made gourmet Asian noodles and stir-fried them so they were a mix of crispy and soft and served them instead of rice.

Almond-Oatmeal-Apple Cookies

My four-year-old devours every drop of batter from the bowl as the oatmeal cookies bake in the oven. I didn't use eggs, so that makes it allowable for me to let her eat the raw sugar, oats and butter.

If you're looking for something with a traditional cookie batter I wouldn't recommend my adaptation... but the standard Betty Crocker Almond Oatmeal Cookie also looks good.

As Betty Crocker intended:

Almond-Oatmeal Cookies

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter softened

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

1.5 cups quick cooking oats

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup ground toasted almonds

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup sliced almonds

Heat oven to 375 degrees. Mix sugars, butter, vanilla and egg. Stir in oats, flour, ground almonds, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Stir in almonds. Drop by rounded teaspoons onto cookie sheet about two inches apart. Bake ten minutes or until light brown. About 3 dozen cookies. 80 calories per cookie.

My variation:

Almond-Oatmeal-Applesauce Cookies

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup butter

about 6 tablespoons applesauce (no sugar added)

1.5 cups oats (measured by a four-year-old)

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup wheat flour

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/8 teaspoon sea salt

a general dash of cinnamon (about one teaspoon)

1/2 + a bit toasted sliced almonds

See directions above and note that applesauce as an egg replacement in a cookie often leads to cookies that burn easily.

Applesauce Cake

In the depths of my cold last night, I craved a cake. No matter how much I hounded my husband he would not indulge me and bake a cake. So, this morning I baked a cake which may or may not get done before he leaves for the office.

This cake is a great small cake that cooks quickly, and is simple. Unexpected guests? Then my first choice would be a microwave cobbler (I haven't made that since I started this blog) and my second choice would be this cake.

 Applesauce Snack Cake

From the Betty Crocker 25th Anniversary Cookbook

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour (as usual, I mix wheat and white)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1.5 teaspoon all spice (I never use allspice. Sometimes I used ground cloves, nutmeg and cinnamon; sometimes I use oriental five spice)

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup chopped nuts (or raisins, both optional)

1/2 cup water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 teaspoon vinegar (I use apple cider vinegar, it fits the 'theme.')

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Mix flour, brown sugar, spices, baking soda and salt with a fork, directly in an ungreased 8 x 8 x 2 baking pan. I use my brownie pan. Stir in remaining ingredients. Bake 35 to 40 minutes.

Now, if you're feeling ambitious, make the Apple Cider Sauce and serve with the cake.

Apple Cider Sauce

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/4 cup butter

1/4 cup apple cider or orange juice (or in my case this morning, apple juice)

2 tablespoons heavy whipping cream (or in my case this morning, light cream)

Heat all ingredients to rolling boil, stirring constantly. Reduce heat. Boil three minutes. Refrigerate leftovers.

While we wait for the cake, we're having English muffins with butter and slices of apple. Which my daughter is washing down with her "morning coffee" (chocolate soy milk). We should have a protein source in there, but I'm too tired and half-sick to care.