The Daring Cooks Make Vegan Dosas
For the Daring Cooks September challenge, we made vegan dosas adapted from the reFresh cookbook by Ruth Tal. Fresh is a popular chain of vegetarian/vegan restaurants in Toronto, Canada with three published cookbooks teaching how to cook Fresh food at home. Our host Debyi of Healthy Vegan Kitchen chose this fun challenge for us, and I for one am grateful because this is the first time I’ve ever made Indian food and witnessed our two older boys actually eat it. Builder Guy (6) has recently developed a taste for spicy foods—good thing because we like our spices—and Top Gun (5) is finally coming around and trying new things. Monkey Boy is still a picky three-year-old, but he did eat one of the plain dosas. We thought the dosas were delicious and would eat that coconut curry sauce on just about anything. Read more
Banana Bran and Toasted Walnut Muffins
A couple weeks ago I scored a deal on bananas—14 overripe bananas in a bag for $1—and bought a bag with plans to make muffins, smoothies, and freeze a few, only none of them made it to the freezer because we used them up. I had wanted to try this banana bran muffin recipe from The Sweeter Side of Amy’s Bread, and this was the perfect opportunity. (Cookbook reviewed at Andrea’s Reviews.)
The recipe made a large amount of batter and I had to abandon the usual instructions about filling a muffin cup 2/3 full because the cups overflowed with batter. The baked muffins were large and hearty with a lot of texture, and one was more than enough for my breakfast or a snack, though my hungry crowd seemed to disagree. Read more
Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread
March 19, 2009 by Andrea
Filed under Breads, Grow Your Own
Cornbread is a staple of Southern cooking, and it made regular appearances at our family table when I was growing up. I don’t remember my mother ever diverting from her standard cornbread recipe; it was always the same warm, comforting bread we enjoyed with beans and other foods.
Last week I planned to make a pot of spiced up beans using the ham bone from a recent Sunday dinner, and I wanted a spicy cornbread to go along with the beans. I used equal amounts of flour and cornmeal, but instead of buttermilk for the liquid I used plain yogurt, which gave a wonderful taste and texture. We only used one jalapeño this time, but I think we would use another next time for a little more kick.
I wish I could say that the jalapeños came from our garden, but we’ve run out of the stash we grew last year, though the scallions came from the pot I started in September and still have going in the kitchen. I just snip off the green part and leave the white in the ground, and they keep growing back. We’re planting scallions in our raised beds this year, so hope to have plenty of them.
This is my contribution to Grow Your Own, a blogging event that celebrates the dishes we create from foods we’ve grown, raised, foraged, or hunted ourselves. I am hosting this round, so please send your post to me at andreasrecipesgyo AT gmail DOT com by March 30. If you are new to the event, you can read more about the rules for participating at the Grow Your Own page. Read more
Pumpkin Pancakes and a Giveaway
It’s here! This week we celebrate my third blog anniversary and my birthday. January 7, 2006 was the day I found the first comment on my little online cooking database—it had been there for a couple weeks—and suddenly I realized I had a cooking blog. It’s also the day I found out I was pregnant with Monkey Boy, but that’s another story. Since we have two big things to celebrate I thought it would be fun to have some giveaways, so be on the lookout for at least one giveaway each week through the end of the month. This week’s giveaway is sponsored by Stonyfield Farm.
I’ll say this right up front: we are a family of yogurt eaters, and Stonyfield Farm is my favorite yogurt. I got hooked on the French Vanilla years ago and have been eating and cooking with their yogurts ever since. This pancake recipe from the Stonyfield website uses plain yogurt and pumpkin puree to make easy and fluffy pancakes. These are a family favorite and a great way to finish off any leftover pumpkin from holiday baking. Use fresh homemade puree or canned, whatever suits you.
This week’s prize package from Stonyfield Farm includes $50 worth of coupons for free delicious and healthy Stonyfield Farm yogurt, a reusable shopping bag, oven mitt, and spatula.
Pumpkin Scones
Thanksgiving day breakfast is made to be special, especially if you have family or friends visiting, but it doesn’t have to be difficult or time consuming. In fact, we try to keep breakfast simple on big feast days just because we have so much other cooking business to attend to. Often I make breakfast the night before and warm it up in the morning. Scones and muffins are easy breakfasts that hold up well overnight and taste delicious in the morning with hot tea, coffee, or mulled cider.
I adapted these pumpkin scones from my cherry sour cream scones recipe. The pumpkin puree acts as a binder and keeps the scones just moist enough to hold together, while the milk and cinnamon sugar on top gives a satisfying crunch.
Makes 8 scones.
More Thanksgiving Day Breakfast Recipes
Apple Cinnamon Crunch Muffins
Weekday morning breakfast is usually a quick affair for us with leftovers from the weekend or perhaps cereal with fruit. But today we woke up to ice on the roads and an announcement that schools were closed, so I decided to do something fun and make muffins. The recipe comes from Michael’s mother, a variation on her blueberry muffins that we enjoy during our treks to the family camp. The boys made quick work of them and there are none left for a snack!
My three-year-old wanted to help make breakfast, so I put him to work sifting the dry ingredients. I measured the flour, sugar, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon, and he sifted and whisked the mixture for me. He was quite a little helper!
These are easy to whip up on short notice, and you can save time by premixing the dry ingredients and topping the night before. The muffins are on the small side, not like big gourmet muffins, but for little appetites that’s a good thing. If you want bigger muffins, you can make just eight muffins or you can make a double batch of batter and bake 18 muffins instead of 24. Whether you like big or small muffins, these make a tasty treat on a cold morning. With a hot cup of English Breakfast tea, I enjoyed a nice breakfast today, even though the boys were bouncing off the walls.
The topping makes enough for at least two batches, so you can save the extras for another time.
[Updated: October 4, 2008] Read more
