Sesame Turkey Barbeque

So, I cook like a spaz. Sometimes I start mixing so many flavors that in the end, I don't know what made the recipe work and what was completely unnecessary.

We have turkey left that had been frozen. We've been eating those super yummy spicy turkey mash up wraps.

I decided to make turkey barbecue, except my family isn't keen on barbecue so I thought I'd try something
more Asian inspired.

The base of this recipe was Betty Crocker's barbecue sauce. As written:

BARBECUE SAUCE
1 cup ketchup
1/2 cup finely chopped onion
1/3 cup water
1/4 cup butter
1 tablespoon paprika
1 teaspoon packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon pepper

Boil. Then stir in:
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

What I did:
3/4 cup no HFCS ketchup
1 cup water
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon paprika
2 teaspoons brown sugar
1 teaspoon black strap molasses
About 1/2 cup Iron chef orange teriyaki sauce
About 1/4 cup Newman's Own sesame ginger dressing
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 teaspoon walnut oil
1 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper
2 teaspoons lemon juice
2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon low sodium soy sauce
1/2 cup sesame seeds

Dairy Free Banana Bread

I needed something to accompany my sweet potato soup and somehow I thought of banana bread. I adapted this recipe from the Betty Crocker 40th anniversary cookbook.

- 1 cup sugar (mine was more like a 1/2 cup, I ran out)
- 1/2 cup margarine (I used 1/4 cup of Earth Balance)
- 2 eggs (mine are fresh off the farm)
- 4 medium ripe bananas, mashed
- 1/2 cup vanilla almond milk
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 1/2 cups unbleached white flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chopped walnuts
- that raisin syrup I had in the back of the freezer for ages

Place oven rack in lowest position. Grease bottom of small cake pan with walnut oil. Preheat oven to 350. Mix margarine and sugar. Add eggs and stir. Add bananas, milk and vanilla. Mix. Stir in remaining ingredients except nuts. Stir.

Put 3/4 of batter in pan and spread evenly. Add raisin syrup and half the nuts. Add the remaining nuts to the remaining batter and top the "cake." bake an hour? Or will it go quicker? Because it's shallower than a loaf.

I cooked it about 40 minutes. It is the best banana bread/cake I ever made!!!

Raisin-stuffing dates

It's 9 p.m. and after a rather odd day, we need a snack. So I opted to try another variation of the stuffed dates that have proven popular in my universe.

This is the original recipe I invented in February:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/02/fancy-dinner-breaded-herb-pork.html
(I served it as an appetizer with the pork)

This is yesterday's version:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2010/08/tammys-lunch-warmed-stuffed-dates.html

This fruity version was trying to make up for the fact that we were on our final dates...

RAISIN STUFFING DATES
(makes six little appetizers)

Ingredients
- 3 dates, pitted, and sliced in half
- About 1 tablespoon walnut oil
- About 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 dash nutmeg
- About 1/2 teaspoon sugar
- About 1 tablespoon raisins
- 6 slices morningstar vegetarian bacon
- About 2 tablespoons plus one teaspoon cream cheese or neufchâtel

In a warm skillet (on low) spread the walnut oil and sprinkle with the cinnamon, nutmeg and sugar. Add the raisins and the dates. Let cook for about three minutes and flip the dates.

Meanwhile put the cream cheese in a bowl.

Stir the raisins around. Remove from skillet as soon as they are shiny and puffy. Add to cream cheese and try to stir into as close to a whipped filling as you can get.

Once the second side of the dates have been cooked for about three minutes, remove to a dish. Throw the bacon into the skillet. Do not wipe the skillet clean first. After a minute flip the bacon. Cook another minute. Remove to plate.

With a butter knife, smear some raisin-cheese filling onto each date half. Then wrap with the bacon and return to the skillet, "seam" of the bacon down. When all six are in the pan, increase temperature to medium and cook for about two minutes.

Remove from pan.

*These do not get as crisp as the ones from the oven. You could probably roll them and cook each side if you wanted that crispness without turning the oven on.

Tammy's lunch: Warmed Stuffed Dates

The salad for Tammy's lunch was simple: spring mix my mother-in-law brought with the Very Veggie Dole prepackaged salad, added some cucumber from the store, a diced green pepper from my garden, and lots of raisins and sunflower seeds.

Dessert was fresh pineapple and strawberries.

The entree was leftover sicilian.

The beverage was the house specialty of green tea and rose tea.

But the warm appetizer stole the attention.
I modified my stuffed date recipe.

I sliced the dates in half and coated my skillet with walnut oil. I warmed the skillet on low, added a dash of cinnamon across the bottom of the pan, and added the dates. I increased heat to almost medium and let the dates cook for about four minutes. Then I flipped them. Waited four minutes or so and removed them from the skillet.

I turned the heat off from under the skillet, added a slice of morningstar vegetarian bacon for each whole date, waited a minute, and flipped the bacon. Since the heat was off and the skillet was slowly cooling, I left the bacon in there and swiped some cream cheese into each of my date halves. Then I closed the dates and returned them to their original shape.

Once all the dates were stuffed, I wrapped each date in fake bacon and returned them to the skillet where I baked them in a preheated oven (400 degrees) for about ten minutes.

Crêpes sales (Dirty crêpes)

Last semester, the French club held a crêpe sale, which made our native French professor look twice at the sign. The phrase crêpe sale in French would mean 'dirty crêpe.' I have pondered for months what would make a dirty crêpe.

This morning I almost made pancakes, and realized I had no milk. I had no milk-like products except for some liquid non-dairy creamer and some chocolate milk. So I thought I'd embark on a dirty chocolate crêpe.

Whisk vigorously:

• 2 eggs
• 1 cup chocolate soy milk
• 1/4 cup coffee
• 1 tsp walnut oil
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup unbleached white flour
• 1/2 cup liquid non dairy creamer
• 1/3 cup Hersheys cocoa

Pour about 1/3 cup of the batter into a large hot skillet (heat around medium if it's a good iron skillet). Swirl skillet so crêpe is as thin as possible. Cook about three minutes. Flipping may be required.

I served these with applesauce on the side and peanut butter on the actual crêpe.

I think a real dirty crêpe would be stuffed with nutella and crushed oreos with whipped cream and gummy frogs on top.

The great tofu gratin experiment

Deep breath...

This one could suck.

I started with a favorite recipe:
http://angelfoodcooking.blogspot.com/2009/11/steak-au-poivre-with-cauliflower.html
as developed by the chefs at Wegmans.

Today, I mixed the following:

• 8 ounces vanilla almond milk
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1 block soft silken tofu
• 10 ounces frozen spinach, thawed in the microwave with some water

When that got whirred together, I added

• 16 ounces cauliflower
• About 6 ounces shredded cheddar

I oiled my Le Creuset skillet with some walnut oil from my mom. And poured it inside. Back 40 minutes at 350 degrees, stirring at the midpoint.

Well, the jury is out.
I cooked it for about an hour and it's still got a layer of water to it, because the ingredients didn't solidify like animal products. By husband said it looked good and sunk a fork into it and called it 'bland.' So I tried it. It wasn't bland, it was rich with nutmeg and a hint of nut flavor. He says we just need to put it over rice to absorb that watery layer.

I say he can do it and take it for lunch.

I'm so disappointed.