Poultry Seasoning - DIY Pantry

Poultry seasoning sounds like such an old fashioned ingredient...and it is. But that doesn't make it irrelevant. As a mostly vegetarian (fish at home, occasional meat at other people's homes), I use it in broth to make Tofu Chickenless Nuggets or the Provencal Mock Chicken Salad pictured above. The recipe listed below will make just enough to last you a few months, which is how long the potency will survive.

Poultry Seasoning - DIY Pantry (adapted from Sage Trifle)
(makes about 1/2 cup)

1 tablespoon dried rosemary
1 tablespoon dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried sage
1 tablespoon dried thyme
1 tablespoon dried marjoram
1 teaspoon black pepper, freshly ground

Place all in a spice grinder (coffee grinder wiped clean) and grind until fine. Store in an air tight spice jar in a cool dark place.

Hugs!

Mustard Glazed Salmon

This is one of those almost no-recipe recipes that the New York Times Cooking email sends out to my inbox each day. And one day I decided it looked interesting and possibly delicious. And it was!

The North Coast is blessed with salmon year round, so I am always looking for new ways to cook it. This one is a winner: quick, easy, delicious!

Mustard Glazed Salmon
(serves 2)

1/2 cup Dijjon mustard
1-2 teaspoons brown sugar to taste,
1-2 teaspoons coarse country mustard (optional)
2/3 lb salmon
salt
lemon for serving

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix together mustard(s), brown sugar and salt salmon. Spread mustard mixture on salmon and roast for 15 minutes or so until salmon is cooked through, stick a sharp knife in the center and see if it is cooked through, slightly paler than when it is raw. Serve with lemon wedges.

Hugs!

Portabellos Stuffed with Herbs and Feta

The above picture may not look super enticing (we will conveniently forget what my husband said upon first beholding the above pictured mushroom) but then he tasted it...Yes, we have a winner!

Most stuffed mushrooms are heavy on the breadcrumbs to hold everything together. This one uses my new favorite secret ingredient, cottage cheese. Yup, the lowly cottage cheese is a great binder, when whizzed in a food processor for a minute or two. It imparts a super creamy texture and blends well with feta and the bits of cooked mushroom. Add in flavor enhancers like caramelized onion, parsley, basil and Asiago cheese, and really, how can you not win!

These could be baby bella, AKA cremini's, but portabella are just easier, less to stuff. Definitely include something to mop up the extra sauciness of the stuffing. Pictured here is a cauliflower gratin. Either way, do not plan on leftovers.

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting - Vegan, GF, Yum!

Lucky me, my hubby brings home all sorts of interesting ingredients that are left as samples at the co-op grocery store where he works. Coconut flour was one, and it was a puzzle for a long time, until I realized I could make cupcakes with it for many many school kids...

Not only would it be gluten free but vegan as well, and supposedly amazingly delicious. I was intrigued!

Now most people do not have those kinds of dietary restrictions, but a few of the kids that I am a lunch lady for do have those dietary limits, so instead of making separate things for them, I just go with GF and vegan for all (and make sure it's good enough that no one's the wiser!)

These cupcakes did not disappoint! Power Hungry wasn't kidding when she said these were winners!

And to top it all off, there was butter (vegan) cream chocolate frosting, which everyone was fighting over to lick the bowl!