Tarte de Soleil with Sun-dried Tomato Tapenade

Deep into a Humboldt winter, the sun is a shy one, so try and coax it out with this baked deliciousness! While some of us are happily noticing the lengthening of the days, others get a little preoccupied by the tossing of a pigskin ball and its culmination in a big bowl. Whatever your pleasure, here is a fun and beautiful way to celebrate both of these events.

Puff pastry sandwiches a homemade sun-dried tomato and olive tapenade, baked until golden and then served with a dipping sauce. Perfect when you want to indulge or impress. My inspiration was from Smitten Kitchen, and while I strayed a bit, her suggestions were still pretty spot on. Incidentally, buying puff pastry is the easy way to go, but I did make mine - gluten free! - and my current GF cooking goddess is Nicole Hunn of Gluten Free on a Shoestring, check her out!

Best Healthy Creamy Garlic Herb Dip

Necessity is the mother of invention, or so they say, whomever "they" are! When I needed a healthy snack to have around the house for the returning college students, this dip popped in my head: cottage cheese whipped into creamy deliciousness with garlic and herbs. What's not to love!

Whether you eat it with raw veggies or sour cream and onion thick cut potato chips, it's healthy and filling - not the potato chips perhaps, but the dip is!

This would make a great addition to any 4th of July picnic, an easy way to get veggies into your Independence Day festivities.

This is literally a snap to whip up and if you haven't discovered the ease and joy of fitting a small mouth mason jar on your blender for making such dips, do it with this recipe; you will never go back to your carafe!

Baked Zucchini Fries with Basil Aioli

This post was supposed to be devoted to my latest love (and shockers of shockers, my beau's favorite as well!), the zucchini crust pizza. Unfortunately, my latest attempts to make it photo-worthy have not been successful, but it will be making the rounds again when the zucchini are like baseball bats!

Suffice to say, the crust is basically a giant zucchini fritter, but getting the bottom to crisp well without burning took buying a silipat type baking mat. Yes, I caved, but it was worth it (just don't make your crust too thick!) Utter deliciousness (carb and gluten free!) awaits you.

In the meantime, enjoy these parmesan crumbed baked zucchini fries as a consolation prize. With this as the consolation prize, imagine what the winning prize was!

The basil aioli is genius (and actually is just basil mayonnaise, not aioli. But Closet Cooking called it aioli and it sounds so much fancier so I kept it as well!)

Wild Mushroom Pate

We can't get enough of the funghi in our family, which is why when Smitten Kitchen's wild mushroom pate cross my path, I knew it would make an appearance at our table in the very near future!

Sure, that looks like a thick chocolatey paste on that rice cracker, but think umami rather than sweetness, and you have the right kind of delicious heaven in mind. Adding some cream probably wasn't necessary, but since there happened to be some in the kitchen, I indulged. It truly was wonderful without it, so you can leave it out and know you're not missing a secret ingredient.

Do serve it at room temperature since when it is cold straight from the frig, it loses some of its nuances!

Tofu "Fish" Sticks with 3 Dipping Sauces

Fake meat is really one of the most unhealthy things you can eat...unless you make it yourself. But sometimes you just want some comfort food quick and so you buy that box of faux chicken nuggets or sausage, and then you make the mistake of looking at the ingredients, argh!!!

So bread some tofu and bake them up and be happy, healthy and wise!

Breading anything is so tasty and satisfying, but when you make the breading with these additional flavorings, it's a party in your mouth. Add some fun dipping sauces, and it's almost like you've recreated a fast food restaurant in your kitchen, without the guilt or horrendous ingredients!

Raw Spinach and Artichoke Dip

Day five of your New Year's Resolutions - How's it going?

For me, I want to eat as much raw fruits and vegetables as possible, which includes raw entrees as well. Those recipes will be coming soon, but for now, here is a mainly raw dip that will blow your mind!

A few nights after the Christmas debauchery had ended, I whipped up this dip based on a vague idea of making a raw (and unprocessed) version of this recipe, which translated into no vegan mayo. My new version was even better than the last, since it was made of lots of spinach, artichokes, walnuts that had not been soaked, a little miso and lots of jalapeno. Super delicious and almost entirely raw, except for my homemade marinated artichoke hearts. 

Pair this with raw vegetables for dipping - sturdy ones like carrots and celery or cauliflower and jicama.  It would go equally well on crackers, tucked in a pita along with other veggie sandwich fixins, swirled into cooked grains or tossed with pasta. Whatever you fancy!

Vegan Aioli - DIY Pantry

Aioli is one of those traditional sauces that I discovered late in life but savor every time I eat it! Now that my diet is plant-based, I wanted to try out a vegan version: simple and soy free!

After perusing a few recipes on the web I went with a tofu-free one that uses creamy mustard as the base rather than egg yolks. The plus of going yolk free is you are freed from the tyranny of painstakingly dripping the oils in slowly to ensure it all emulsifies. While your forearm will still get a good workout using that whisk to beat the oil into a creamy sauce, the mustard starts the emulsification almost instantly!

Vegan Aioli - DIY Pantry
(makes 2/3 cup)

1 clove garlic
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons creamy Dijon mustard
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup neutral oil (sunflower, safflower)
1/2 teaspoon white wine vinegar
1/2 lemon, juiced

In a mortar and pestle smash garlic and salt into a paste; scrap into a small mixing bowl and add mustard and whip with a whisk until well blended. Pour oils into mixture 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking furiously to blend and emulsify. Halfway through adding oils, add vinegar and lemon juice and continue whisking. Finish adding oils and taste for salt. Keep refrigerated when not in use. If sauce begins to separate, simply rewhisk.

Hugs!

Recipes currently inspiring me:

Willy Wonka's Chocolate Mushrooms at Think. Care. Act.
Almond Brown Rice Pudding at Sidewalk Shoes
Triple Fennel and Spelt Salad at My New Roots

Herb Fermented Cashew Cheese

I know, when you first saw the picture you thought, "no way that is vegan cheese, and made out of nuts? Who does she think she's fooling?" But it's true my friends, this is a) vegan, b) fermented (so I can technically call it cheese according to my French friend), and c) amazing tasting. And you too can make such a delicious creamy vegan cheese!

No fancy equipment nor difficult ingredients, I promise! When PPK listed their top 100 of 2011 and noted the craze of fermented vegan cheese, I knew that I was soooooooooo far behind the vegan train that making this cheese was at the top of my list. Many of the recipes I found online called for using probiotic capsules, which surely works easily. But being a hardcore DIYer (and eyeing the price of a bottle of probiotics) my fermented cheese is made with rejuvelac.

Rejuva what?

Rejuvalac. In case you missed my last post, rejuvalac is a healthy tonic of yore, made from sprouted seeds. With a slightly sour taste and a bit of effervescence, it is essentially a liquid probiotic you can make at home for pennies. So of course that's what I did. Using rye berries instead of the more common wheat, I soaked and sprouted the berries and produced rejuvalac which then got blended with soaked cashews and were allowed to ferment for 48 hours on my kitchen counter. And voila! Creamy and slightly tangy fermented cashew cheese!

 Sure you can leave the cheese as is, but wanting a little more pizazz, I added lots of herbs and garlic powder to give it a Boursin like flavor. For those of you less inclined to the DIY side, you can buy bottled rejuvelac in natural food stores, but the bottle at my store was a whopping $10 and when I realized with a little time I could make it for about 50 cents at home, well there was no choice!

UPDATE: Veganosaurus let me know that if you keep a little bit of fermented nut cheese from your first batch, you can just added it to your next batch without adding additional rejuvelac and it will ferment it for you! Yeah! Love fermentation!

SECOND UPDATE: I wanted to state for the record that I was introduced to Miyoko Schinner's Artisan Vegan Cheese after doing this post, and am trying to buy the book ASAP (Grrrr, Powells.com does not have it in stock!) Not to toot my own horn, but I am not making a recipe from her book without giving her credit. Just wanted to be clear!

Herb Fermented Cashew Cheese
(makes 2 cups)

2 cups cashews, soaked in water for at least 8 hours
2 tablespoons rejuvelac (DIY Pantry)
1 tablespoon garlic powder
2 teaspoons dried oregano
2 teaspoons dried thyme
2 teaspoons dried basil
1 teaspoon salt

Drain cashews and add to blender along with the rejuvelac. Puree until very smooth, scraping down the sides as needed to make it all combine. The puree should be thick but not so thick that it doesn't move in the blender. Add 1/2 teaspoon of rejuvelac at a time to increase flow of blending cashews. Pureed cashews can have a little texture. Remove from blender and place in cheesecloth and set in colander set inside of a bowl. Cover cheese with cheesecloth and allow to sit on kitchen counter for 24 to 48 hours, tasting for flavor after 24 hours and allowing it to ferment longer if you want a tangier cheese. Combine herbs and salt in bowl and add to cheese and blend thoroughly with a fork and refrigerate.

Hugs!

Recipes currently inspiring me:

Spinach Crepes with Ricotta, Tomatoes and Basil at Cinnamon Spice & Everything Nice
Oyster Mushrooms Rockefeller at BitterSweet
Corn and Black Bean Quesadillas with Roasted Zucchini Salsa at Closet Cooking

Aioli - Fresh Garlic Mayonnaise - DIY Pantry

Aioli is one of the Food Gods greatest gifts to us mere mortals. One taste and you will want to slather it on everything, dip anything edible in it, and when no one is looking, spoon it straight out of the jar. But the real addiction starts once you try homemade - and really, it's not worth buying it, that's just chopped garlic in mayonnaise. Fresh garlic mashed to a pulp with salt and then incorporated into homemade mayonnaise, it's (insert your favorite superlative here)!!!

Yes, it is one of those homemade items that intimidates people, but if you follow the instructions below I can promise, no guarantee, that you will produce gorgeous, addictive aioli. And then you can join the smug club and feel beyond self-satisfied when you share your wealth.

Key Tips to Perfect Aioli (or homemade mayonnaise)

1. Chill your metal bowl and whisk at least 30 minutes before beginning.

2. Use the freshest eggs you can find (if you're not getting them from your neighbor with chickens, just be sure to check the date when you buy them in the store. (Kidding about your neighbor, but lucky you if that is where you're getting them!)

3. Use a tablespoon to drip the oil into your mixing bowl rather than pouring it in. This ensures that you do not pour too much at a time and your aioli will emulsify.

4. Place a dish cloth under your mixing bowl so that it does not spin away from you as you whisk the aioli (while your other hand is dripping in the oil).

Raw Spinach and Artichoke Dip - Vegan

Summer is officially here! While the East Coast is sweltering away in a heat wave, June Gloom has officially bid adieu to the West Coast and we are also getting our first full blast of summer heat. So when the heat is on (and you're tired of salad for dinner to avoid the heat of the kitchen) blend up this fabulous dip/spread/spoonable deliciousness and save yourself from the heat.

Fresh spinach, marinated artichokes, and that magical ingredient, soaked cashews, creates a tangy, cheesy dip that is great on crackers or with cut up vegetables. Today's presentation is my vegan riff on this version of Spinach and Artichoke Dip, and both are equally delicious.

Be forewarned that this is super addictive, and you will be shocked at how fast you and your diners finish off what seems like a large bowl of this divine dip. Thankfully it is nearly sin-free, with the exception of the mayonnaise!

Baked Sweet Potato Fries with Vegan Ranch Dressing

Let me admit up front that the whole purpose for this post was to make vegan ranch dressing. Yes, really. Who knew that cashews soaked in water for hours and blended into submission could produce such a gorgeous ranch dressing! I am so utterly fascinated with how much vegan cooking as evolved in the past 10 years - when I wasn't paying attention - that it is nearing obsessive. Luckily it's a healthy one!

Sure, you could make a ranch dressing with silken tofu which isn't that far from this dressing. But so many people are eschewing anything soy that cashews seemed to have come to vegans' rescue when creamy goodness is the only thing that will finish off a dish.

Salsa with Home Canned Tomatoes

Salsa - it's what for dinner. At least that was what I thought after I graduated college and was living in New York City. Salsa, jalapeno corn chips, diet coke and cigarettes was a standard meal. Yikes! Glad to have left my 20s behind and moved on to better food, among other things! But I still adore salsa, so it shows up in my meals whenever possible; with burritos, tacos, quesadillas, and yes, simply with chips as well.

While I am not opposed to buying salsa, it is a lot of fun to make it at home and do it your way. My way is heavy on the chilies and cilantro with a squeeze of lime and a dash of cumin and sugar to balance it all out. Whiz it all in the food processor and you have spectacular salsa sitting in your fridge made by you!

Chipotle Chick Pea Dip

Here's a super quick and easy dip that I love to whip up, especially when I have a jar of homemade Chipotle in Adobo in my frig. Most of the ingredients are pantry staples for me - chick peas, garlic, chipotles, lemon juice. While it is similar to hummus, the spiciness plus the cilantro take it continents away from hummus! Enjoy with crackers or cut up veggies, this is a great appetizer, snack, or meal.

Chipotle Chick Pea Dip

1 1/2 cups cooked chick peas
1 chipotle in adobo and 2 tablespoons of sauce (make your own!)
3 tablespoons tahini (or you can use other nut butters like almond or cashew butter)
juice from 1 large lemon (about 1 1/2 tablespoons)
2 cloves garlic
10 sprigs fresh cilantro
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon olive oil

Blend all in food processor, scrapping down to incorporate all. Taste for salt and serve with chips, crackers or cut up vegetables like carrots, celery and bell peppers.

Hugs!

Recipes currently inspiring me:

Roasted Mushroom and Green Bean Farro Salad at Closet Cooking
Penang Chicken at The Perfect Pantry
Homemade Nutella at The Garden of Eating

Snacks for Superbowl - Part 1 - Dips and Pickles

Yup, it's that time of year when most men (and some women) are tone deaf to anything unless it involves "the game." Do not despair, place healthy, great tasting snacks in front of them and wait for the victory to emerge (and hope the tears and swears are minimal!

Jalapeno Popper Dip is not the most healthy of snacks, but you need a few cheesy dips for the big game day, which only comes once a year. Lots of pickled jalapenos (make them at home!), cheese and a breadcrumb topping. What's not to love? If you have more than 3-4 people eating, consider doubling the recipe. Roars will be heard when it is gone!

Muhammara may be new to you but trust me this will not be the last time you eat this amazing dip. Walnuts, roasted red peppers and the zip of pomegranate molasses will seduce all who try it. Everyone will play the game of trying to guess what is in it - it's up to you whether you will divulge your secrets!

Do you ever try to sneak veggies into "comfort food or snack food? Here's a great recipe for just that approach, Raw Spinach and Artichoke Dip. It has just enough decadence to make eaters think that this can't be healthy, but its base is raw spinach and marinated artichokes. With just a swirl of mayonnaise for creaminess and a bit of jalapenos for kick, this baby is a winner!

Creamy white dips are hard to resist, and when you serve them with lots of cut up vegetables it is practically a salad via your fingers! With this Creamy Garlic Dressing/Dip made with a yogurt base you are not lying to yourself, so eat up! Super easy to make, it tastes best the next day after the flavors have really had time to meld.

At any party I throw, no matter the occasion, there will always be some pickled and briney item. Here's an easy one that looks so gourmet but is really a pantry dish, Moroccan Marinated Olives. Toss olives with oil, spices, garlic and some herbs a few days before your guests arrive and presto, gorgeous marinated olives!

Another reason to serve pickles or brined vegetables is that all of that vinegar helps your body handle all of the cheese and meat that is so often the centerpiece of Superbowl parties. At this time of year, making some giardineria - Italian Quick Pickles - is as simple as picking up some cauliflower, carrots and red peppers at the supermarket and submerging them in vinegar. Add some garlic or herbs to spike them up or leave them unadorned to get their full flavor.

Hugs!

Jalapeno Popper Cheese Dip

In case you hadn't noticed, the Superbowl is this weekend. Not that I am a huge football fan (not the American version, anyway, but still vaguely rooting for the Packers, Midwest roots and all) but lots of food blogs are listing snacks to make for the big game day. That's why I ran home and made this gorgeous gooey dish of heart-stopping goodness.

Kevin of Closet Cooking loves making cheese dips and many of his recipes are on my to-do list. But this one could not wait. So I didn't. Yummy! The best part was how easy it was to prepare! Easy to prepare has been my primary focus lately - no reason, just want it quick and now!

Double Salmon Dip - Smoked and Poached - Season's Eatings

 Merry Christmas, Happy Belated Winter Solstice and Early Welcome to 2011!

This dish was a gift - literally - from Stacy of Stacy & Brian's Adventures in Life. Both Stacy and I participated in a fun blog event called Season's Eatings, created and organized by Katie of Thyme for Cooking. We each signed up to send a regional ingredient from where we live to some other blogger. I sent dried chipotle peppers to Christina of Mele Cotte in Georgia and I received smoked salmon from Stacy in Oregon. Such fun!

I decided to make this dip since it had been languishing in my "to do" file for some time and figured it would be great for the Christmas Eve Smorgasbord that is my family tradition. It was quite a hit, thanks Stacy!

Cucumber and Pepper Salad with Creamy Garlic Dressing

Happy Summer Solstice! It's the longest day of the year and the offical opening of summer, so here come the veggies!

Here's a gorgeous way to kick off the summer, crunchy cucmbers, peppers and spring onions swirled in a creamy garlic dressing. That's just the basics, add whatever takes you're fancy.

I also love this dressing as a dip with crudite (cut vegetables) and it regularly makes an appearence at summer apertizer plates, especially when the summer grill is going. Grilling is often so meat heavy that a green salad just doesn't give me enough veggies. This dip can be whipped up in 5 minutes from refrigerator pantry items and only gets better as it ages!

Cucumber and Pepper Salad with Creamy Garlic Dressing

1/4 Persian or English cucumber, cut in quarter dice
1 red pepper, diced
1 large carrot, cut in 1/4 inch rounds
1 spring onion/scallion, sliced thinly

Creamy Garlic Dressing

3 tablespoons yogurt, plain
2 teaspoons mayonnaise
2-3 garlic cloves, minced
2 teaspoons smooth mustard, like Dijon style
1 lemon juiced (or 1 tablespoon cider vinegar)
salt
pepper

Place cut vegetables in bowl. In separate bowl combine yogurt, garlic and mustard and mix well. Add lemon juice or vinegar and blend. Add mayonnaise one teaspoon at a time until it cuts the yogurt flavor. Add salt and pepper to taste. If possible, allow dressing to chill 1 hour or more to allow flavors to marry and garlic to soften and mellow a bit. Spoon 1/2 of dressing over vegetables and toss well to coat.

Hugs!

Raw Spinach and Artichoke Dip

When I left Just Food Co-op in Minnesota to move to California I downloaded all of the recipes that I had developed while I was Deli manager. I also took some of the existing recipes because they were so good. I never planned to make profit off of those recipes, but sure enough the universe made sure to let me know that those recipes were not mine when my computer crashed and I lost all of them. C'est la vie!

This recipe is one of the co-op's originals that I have tried to reproduce. While it does not match exactly the dip we made, I think it's pretty tasty nonetheless.

As usual I was using up "pantry" items so I used aioli instead of the usual mayonnaise and I was able to use some of the marinated artichokes that I had made a few months ago. I still added some canned artichoke hearts since they give it a little more of a creamy consistency.

Pico de Gallo and Cheese Quesadillas

Unlike some famous celebrities with a knife fetish I have a chopping fetish. I love to chop vegetables. I find it soothing, rewarding and meditative. It's not that I'm a meticulous cook - far from it - but I love the sensation of cutting vegetables, herbs, whatever. I've only recently recognized this consciously but looking back over the years it's clear that my go-to items for a quick meal generally involve some knife work.

Case in point is pico de gallo with cheese quesadillas. Dicing up some roma tomatoes, green onions, garlic and some cilantro if I had it was the perfect study break when I was in grad school. Frying up some quesadillas literally took about 3 minutes and then I would have a satisfying, kind of healthy, quick meal.

Pico de gallo is the same as salsa fresca, meaning fresh salsa. I used to simply refer to it as salsa until someone educated me about the fact that salsa is always cooked, which is party of the reason it is so saucy as opposed to the chunky version I whipped up in the kitchen. I love the freshness of tomato with some garlic and a squeeze of lemon or lime juice. You can also add minced hot chilies or jalapeno, which I do when I have it. Otherwise, it's like a tomato salad in your mouth with the quesadilla as the willing vehicle!

Pico de Gallo

6 roma tomatoes (or 4 regular size tomatoes) diced
2 green onions, chopped, green and white parts OR red onion diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/4 jalapeno, deseeded for less heat, minced
1 tablespoons cilantro, minced
juice from half lemon
salt
pepper

Combine all in bowl and mix well. Pico de gallo is best eaten within 24 hours of preparation but allowing a few hours for the flavors to marry enhances the flavors.

Cheese Quesadillas

4 flour tortillas
1 cup cheese (any combination cheddar, monterey jack, mozzarella) shredded

Evenly distribute the cheese between two tortillas leaving at least 1/2 inch border. Cover each with another tortillas. Heat a large skillet over medium heat (if it isn't nonstick, add about teaspoon olive oil per quesadilla). Cook quesadillas over low heat until they begin to brown, flip and cook other side. If they puff up, just gently push down. Remove from heat and cut into quarters or eighths and serve with pico de gallo.

Hugs!

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

The first time I had Middle Eastern food was 20 years ago when a college friend who was also studying in Paris for the year introduced me to Falafel. She took me to a little hole in the wall, counter take-away place in Le Marais (ironically the Jewish section of Paris) where we purchased a half moon pita bread stuffed with piping hot falafel, shredded lettuce and a sauce that sung to me. I was so in love with this new discovery that I constantly badgered her to take me back for more.

Since then, Middle Eastern dishes such as hummus and baba ghannouj have become fairly ubiquitous and it's safe to say most people who have lived in a big city have probably had them at some point. My theory, completely unscientific of course, is that they lend themselves to easy snacking while providing amazing taste and protein, making them a staple of vegetarian cookbooks and culture. Having been a vegetarian for 15 years, I can attest to making this delicious dip many times.

In this version I use roasted red pepper to give it a sweetness and its orange hue. I give instructions below for how to roast your own peppers, but store bought are equally good; I just hate to buy when I can make it and for so much less. I also substituted white beans for the traditional garbanzos simply because they were already cooked and I don't taste the difference in my hummus.

While hummus is traditionally eaten with warmed or toasted pita triangles, I am more apt to eat it with vegetables since I love the crunch of the crudites with the softness of the dip. Often this version ends up at parties or sometimes I'll do the roasted beet version (details below) for a really rosy hued hummus. Additionally, although this theory is untested I would think this would be a great way to entice (trick!) kids into eating more vegetables since dips are fun to eat and this one is especially addictive without being overpowering.

Roasted Red Pepper Hummus

1 1/2 cups white beans (or 1 15 oz can, drained
1 medium red pepper (or 1/2 cup canned peppers)*
3-4 cloves garlic, peeled
2 tablespoons tahini
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 teaspoons salt
1-2 tablespoons lemon juice (to taste)
1/2 teaspoon paprika or cayenne
small handful of fresh basil leaves (optional)

Preheat oven to 400. Place pepper on baking sheet on foil and roast for 30-45 minutes until blacken and sunken in on itself. Remove from oven, wrap foil around pepper loosely and place in brown bag to steam for 5-10 minutes. Remove from bag and as soon as you're able to touch it place pepper in a bowl and peel away skin. Discard skin, stem and seeds but save liquid and pulp. In a blender, puree garlic, 1/2 of beans, olive oil, and half of pepper until blended. Add remaining ingredients and continue to blend until fully mixed. Adjust salt and lemon juice (quite often you need more of each of these to bring the full flavor to the forefront. Beans require a good dose of salt since they absorb so much of it.) Serve immediately or chill and allow flavors to marry.

*For the beet version, substitute the red pepper for 1 medium or 2 small boiled or roasted beets, peeled and diced. Adding dill to this version is a good herb compliment.

Hugs!