Morning Glory Muffins with Spelt Flour

What do you do with 3-4 cups of leftover raw shredded carrot and apple salad? Make morning glory muffins, of course!

One of my many fun food jobs is being a free-lance lunch lady at North Coast Preparatory Academy and usually the kids are fairly food adventurous. But too much carrot apple salad was just that, too much. So I found this muffin recipe and used up my leftovers. Voila! Repurposed salad in a hand-held breakfast.

Since wheat flour is out of my diet, I used spelt flour. And despite the original author's admonishments about the "correct" way to measure flour (which I didn't follow), and my need to just keep adding until the mixture looked right (spelt needs less liquid than wheat), these muffins turned out wonderfully! My husband's co-workers thanked me profusely for sending them in with him for the staff lounge.

Blue Cheese Tart with Tomato Jam Topping

How many times do you have grand plans for an ingredient and then....it just doesn't happen. A hunk of blue cheese has been taunting me in the refrigerator for a couple of days because I didn't make the tofu "buffalo" wings that would have been accompanied by a great blue cheese dressing.

Enter a desire for a savory tart, a subsequent google search and the appearance of a "blue cheese tart." I mean really, could the universe have been more specific!

Not wanting to go to the store - this is how my laziness manifests - tomato jam was substituted for the fresh tomato and avocado and we pronounced it delicious! With some homemade ricotta on hand, this came together in a snap, but the extra egg was added due to the dryish nature of the homemade ricotta; most store bought is a little more loose.

I apologize for all of the abundance of sub-recipes. But really, use store bought crust and ricotta to make things easier, I just happen to have them on hand. If you don't have tomato jam - Really??!! You don't have it in your fridge at all times!! (wink wink). I would go with some thinly sliced tomatoes or even some salsa with a sprinkle of sugar and some lemon juice; it helps balance the richness of the tart.

Easiest Flakiest Olive Oil Crust

Making homemade crusts for quiches and savory tarts has been my regular m.o. for more than 25 years. It was cheaper and had better ingredients: no brainer. But the cutting in of the butter, chilling of the dough, and then rolling out is quite the process. Then I discovered this recipe! Eureka! Soooo easy, soooo flaky, and no chilling or rolling!

The "freeze the olive oil" crust that Post Punk Kitchen circulated a few years ago was an improvement on the butter, chill, roll method, but this one takes the cake or more aptly, the pie! Try it, you'll like it! You may never go back!

You can thank me as you're spooning that flaky goodness into your mouth, or crushing the last bits with your fork tines and watching lovingly as they mash together oh so beautifully, not dry and crunchy. And quick! Did I mention how fast it comes together. What's not to love!

As usual, I had to reduce the liquids since I was using spelt; see the original recipe if you're using all purpose flour.

Linguine Alfredo with Crispy Morel Mushrooms

Yes! It's morel mushroom season again! Go, pick, find them now at your farmers market (or natural food store if you're lucky!) Or forage for them yourself if you are fortunate to know of the secret growing places that people guard with their lives (at least some of them!)

Morels are tasty morsels and though they look expensive ($20 plus a pound) you can buy plenty and not spend more than $5 and have a feast with them! Here I simply fried them in olive oil until they were crispy and then added them to a classic Alfredo sauce. What a total delight!

White Spelt Pizza with Swiss Chard, Olives and Sundried Tomatoes

Spelt is a dicey flour to work with; on the one hand, it is softer than wheat yet it absorbs more liquid and thus requires less than traditional wheat flour. And if you have ever tried to make the perfect pizza dough, you know that the prospect of changing ratios of liquids and solids is not a simple one. So when I finally - finally!! - figured out how to make a good spelt crust, excitement abounded!

The best crust I ever produced was following Peter Rheinhart's instructions - and if you google his name, you will find that great pizza dough/crust and his name are synonymous. Thus making a great crust with spelt that could come close to what his instructions produced was a key goal of mine.

The secret is in the cold rise in the refrigerator. No kneading involved. How simply wonderful is that! Enjoy!

Spelt Biscuits

Good biscuits are one of life's true pleasures. They can be tricky if you're not used to working with butter/margarine in flour but once you get the hand of it, just try to not make these all the time; they are such a reward for the effort!

Ever since I discovered the vegan version of "buttermilk" biscuits, buttermilk has no place in my refrigerator, which is great, because you use so little for the biscuits and then you're stuck with lots of leftover buttermilk. (Ok, you can make this pie, but some of us are still trying to fit in the clothes we own, so it's pie or biscuits...Biscuits for the win!) So don't fret, use baking soda and cider vinegar and you are all set. Cider vinegar will curdle dairy milk just as well as it does non-dairy milk.

What was even more exciting in this version of my beloved biscuits was realizing that the soft wheat flour that all truly traditional southern biscuits are made with is very similar to spelt! Less gluten and it absorbs more liquid (i.e. butter/margarine) so more to love! These were fantastic, light, fluffy and rich!

In case you're curious, the round sausages are my own DIY vegetarian breakfast sausage, gluten free to boot! Yup, just a party in your mouth around here!

And if you are looking closely at the picture you will notice that there are rocks on the stovetop. Yes, yes, they are rocks. We dry our dishes on the stovetop and the rocks keep them from sliding around.... It's also pretty to look at!

Spectacular Fish Cakes

Fish cakes have never been high on my list of recipes to make. They were never something my mother served our family. In fact the first image that comes to mind is greasy, smoke filled cottages in England or Ireland where I'm guessing fish cakes were a staple simply due to the abundance of the sea. But when I was gifted with two pounds of fresh, local, ling cod from a friend for showing how to cook Sticky Sesame Tofu and Mei Fun Noodles, fish cakes was what sprang to my mind as the best way to showcase the cod.

And then the internet led me to this recipe and a love that I never knew possible was born. Ultimate may sound like hyperbole, and because my repertoire on fish cakes is limited to this one version, I am just going to take their word for it. But believe me, these are freaking amazing! Out of this world, smack your mama good! (that would be Southern for why didn't my mama make this for me when I was a child?!)

The tartar sauce alone blows your mind but mashed in with some potatoes and then combined with fish? Holy cannolis! Two-three servings is really only two (or one!) if you are willing to share! These will be making a regular appearance at our table for sure!

Homemade Cheese Ravioli - Spelt Flour Version

Homemade pasta was the first complicated meal I made for someone other than myself. It was a traditional Lasagna Bolognese and since a rolling pin was not yet a part of my kitchen tool kit, I used a wine bottle with the label removed. A rousing success!

Maybe it was a result of that first success that homemade pasta has never intimidated me. Once you've made it well, it is such a pleasure and joy to make and offer to your loved ones. Since store bought ravioli is always made with wheat flour, I now make my own. Out of all the spelt products I have attempted, this was the easiest and least problematic, score!

Make sure your eggs are large since spelt will soak up lots of liquid; if your eggs are on the smaller side, feel free to add a third egg but you will probably end up adding some more flour.

Obviously the fillings for ravioli can vary as wide as your imagination. My raviolis in the past have ranged from beet and chevre, spinach ricotta, wild mushroom and chevre, and pumpkin (which is superb with a balsamic cream sauce!)

Below are instructing for making ravioli with and without a ravioli mold. I've had one like the picture to the right for 25 years and it has traveled far and wide with me through many moves and homes; it was one of my first kitchen tool investments and it has served me well!

Buckwheat Crepes with Artichokes, Tomato Jam and Chevre

Before moving to Arcata crepes were not high on my must eat or make list. A trip to Renata's Creperie changed all that! While it's lovely to eat out and be served, it is equally fun to try and replicate the goodness as home. This recipe worked beautifully!

Crispy edges, moist and spongy crepes, and any fillings my heart desired! It's a new meal for the weekend brunch menu and so many new ideas to try out! In this version, the tomato jam, chevre and artichoke hearts was the favorite. But the swiss chard, mushroom and chevre was a close second. Serve them with a dollop of sour cream, creme fraiche or yogurt if you like.

What I really loved about this batter was how easily it fried up; there was no broken, messy first one. They were beautiful from the get go! Make sure you're using large eggs; smaller ones may require an extra egg or half. Also, I did use spelt flour here, so if you are using regular wheat flour, you may need a tablespoon or two more of the milk.

Also, if possible, make the batter the night before and allow it to sit in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap overnight. This step allows it to thicken and makes for a smooth batter that cooks up beautifully.

Falafel with Spelt Flatbread

Sadly, wheat flour and I have had to part ways. My nose and sinuses thank me, but there was some grief. Happily, gluten is not my enemy, so enter spelt, wheat flour's cousin. It comes in white and whole "wheat" but does not seem to afflict me the way wheat does, yowza!

Spelt does take some getting used to, not in taste but in the amount of liquid it needs, specifically less. It creates a much stickier dough and doesn't rise as much as wheat since it has less gluten than wheat flour. So experimenting has been happening and happily these spelt flatbreads turned out swimmingly!

The trick to making great falafel is to only soak the chick peas, Do Not Cook Them! And then make the mixture and allow it to sit in the refrigerator for at least a couple of hours; this helps it stick together. Of course this requires a little planning ahead, but then all you have to do is bake them and you can make the flatbread while the falafels are in the oven! Easy peasy!

Don't be daunted by what appears to be a long recipe to follow, it includes the falafel and tahini dressing as well. As for the veggies on the falafel, it's simply chopped tomatoes, cucumber and shallots. Vary that as you like.

I am linking this post to My Legume Love Affair, a fun blog event that Susan of The Well Seasoned Kitchen created and Lisa of Lisa's Kitchen now continues. Legumes have always been a favorite of mine but with my increased cooking of Indian cuisine, they are a weekly staple. This of course is Eastern Mediterranean in origin but the chick peas/ceci/garbanzo is still one of my all time favorites!