Food Lush

School Snack: Chewy Fruit and Nut Squares

By Erica H.

I believe most experts agree that cookies, generally speaking, are not an especially healthy snack option for children (I have not done the research re: adults). But somewhere along the line I became convinced that if you pack indentical ingredients into a bar-shaped package, an aura of wholesomeness will surround the entire enterprise. Bars are healthy! (I blame Big Granola for this particular line of brainwashing.)

Of course, along comes Lorraine Bodger to call me out on this point by titling her cookbook "The Four-Sided Cookie: 55 Recipes for Delicious Squares and Bars." Yes, well. I appreciate your opinion, Ms. Bodger. That will never change the fact that while I would feel a bit irresponsible sending my daughter to school with a bag of Chewy Fruit and Nut Cookies for her classmates, I feel just fine and dandy sending her bearing Chewy Fruit and Nut Squares, thank you very much.

The fact is, it takes only the most superfical analysis of this recipe to see that she has started with a chocolate-chip cookie dough base, added a touch of orange flavor, and mixed in dried fruit and nuts instead of chocolate. It's a bit genius, frankly. You can put anything you want into chocolate chip cookie dough! It's just dough! Sorry, it seems I'm still processing this breakthrough.

At any rate, these are tasty, not too sweet, and will keep you off the list of tragically indulgent cookie-pushers.

Chewy Fruit and Nut Squares from The Four-Sided Cookie by Lorraine Bodger

• 2 1/4 c. flour
• 1 tsp. baking powder
• 1/2 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/2 c. light or dark raisins
• 1 c. chopped dried fruit (I used a combination of apricots, prunes, and apples)
• 3/4 c. chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1/2 c. unsalted butter at room temperature
• 1/2 c. sugar
• 1/2 c. light brown sugar, packed
• 1 egg
• 1 tsp. grated orange rind
• 1/4 c. orange juice
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Grease a 9x13-inch baking pan.

Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Add in the fruit and nuts.

In a separate bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Add the egg, orange rind, orange juice, and vanilla and beat well. Add the flour mixture and blend well.

Spread batter into prepared pan.

Bake for 18 to 22 minutes, until the edges are browned and a toothpick in the center comes out clean. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.

And don't worry--the kids will eat them. They are cookies, after all.

First 2013 Recipe Round-up: New Year, Still Finding Delicious Dishes

By Jennie

(Photo used with permission from Skinny Taste)

I thought about a round-up of nothing but salads but pretzels, shrimp, and pancakes just sound better than that!

Blueberry Maple Corn Cake by Naturally Ella

Soft Pretzels by Brown-Eyed Baker

Epiphany Cake by The Pioneer Woman 

Garlicky Shrimp Avocado Sandwiches by Annie's Eats

Peanut Butter Pancakes by Eat at Home

Ethereally Smooth Hummus by Smitten Kitchen 

Chocolate Orange Buttermilk Scones by The Sweets Life

Spicy Buffalo Cauliflower Bites by Skinny Taste

Vegan White Bean Chili by A Cozy Kitchen 

Do you have a recipe you'd like to see featured? Send it to [email protected]!

Homemade Pierogies with Granma

by Sarah Anne

It all started with a perfect little dish of antipasto, which then spiraled into a conversation about getting back to basics with cooking and food. Of course I whole heartedly agreed! What I didn't realize, was that basics for Granma included making cabbage rolls and pierogies. 

Let us stop right here for a moment. Have you ever had a pierogi? A potato-ey soft, half-moon filled with cheese, mashed potatoes, onion, cottage cheese, so tender they just melt in your mouth? Boiled and tossed with sauteed onions, maybe butter or sour cream? If you haven't, I suggest you do before you go any further. Or at least collect the ingredients (if you don't already have them, it is that simple) in this post and make them. ASAP.  

I'm a fan, as you can probably tell, so when Granma said she used to make them from scratch, I got excited.  Before I knew it, my Mother in Law and Granma were in the kitchen making dough and fillings. 

I will say this may be time intensive, but it isn't hard. Besides, it's good to get a few sets of hands in the kitchen, even kids could put the dumplings together I think. I haven't included a filling recipe here, but we stuffed ours with two different fillings. One was cottage cheese and green onion, the other was cottage cheese, shredded cheddar and sauteed onion. The options go on and on, and you can even use mashed potato inside! Pasta with mashed potatoes inside. Does it get any better than that? Do be sure to use salt and pepper to taste.

Pierogi Dough

1/4 c oil (vegetable)
1 c water
1 egg
1 tsp salt
1 c Instant Potatoes (Idahoan Brand was used here)
2 c flour

Wisk the first four ingredients together. Then add the instant potatoes and stir until combined. Let that sit for 10 minutes.

Add 2 cups of flour. Mix together and knead until the dough is smooth. Add flour as needed if the dough is sticky and continue to add flour until the dough is smooth and silky. (It really does get beautifully soft and delicate) Let it rest for 15 minutes.

Once dough has rested, roll out and cut with a small, round cookie cutter.

Use about a teaspoon of filling (see above for filling ideas) and fold over, sealing edges with a gentle pinch. Lay the filled pierogies on a flour-dusted baking sheet until you're finished. More than one set of hands really helps with this process.

A few notes about this recipe. The dough is extremely soft and tender, it won't be like pasta dough that is firm. It's doughy, soft and delicate. Because of this, there is no need to wet the edges when bringing the dumplings together.  Also, similarly to other stuffed pastas, don't overfill them, and get out the air before sealing the best you can. Oh! Please, please don't try to use real mashed potatoes. We tried. It doesn't make the same dough. Just use the instant kind. I promise, you'll thank me.

You can boil these up fresh, just until they float or they can be frozen. Make sure to put them on a floured baking sheet and freeze individually before putting them in freezer bags for the long haul. Don't thaw them though, just toss in salted, gently boiling water and wait until they rise to the top before draining and serving them up. Otherwise, you'll have a sticky, doughy mess on your hands. Trust me on this one.

I had such a great time making these with family and eating them felt cozy inside as I remembered the three of us in the kitchen, folding up dumplings.  If you give these a try, be sure to let me know how they turned out! I would love to hear about your experiences.

Do you have a family recipe that you make regularly? Perhaps a new tradition? 

Quick and Easy Carrot Soup

Editor's note: A quick but very warm welcome to Hillary, a Style Lush writer who will be sharing her delicious recipes and food finds with Food Lush every other week. She's one of the best, as you'll soon see!

***

By Hillary

January means trying to undo weeks of indulgent eating (at least in our house it does). It's a struggle to get back to our healthy routine, so I try to make it as easy as possible.

This soup is easy to prepare, is full of flavour, and (when portioned out and stored in glass jars in the fridge) is so easy to grab and go (removing the temptation to hit up a drive through).

Wash, and/or peel, and rough chop the following:

2lbs carrots
2 medium yams
4 - 6 stalks of celery
1 large onion
4 - 6 cloves of garlic
Knob of fresh ginger (I go for a 1-inch to 2-inch knob for a strong ginger flavour)

Heat a couple of tablespoons of oil (I use olive) in a large soup pot. Add your veg and cook on high heat for 7 - 10 minutes. You want to keep things moving so they don't burn.

Add 6 cups of stock (chicken or vegetable) or water and bring to a boil.

Spice it up! Cumin, dried ground ginger, rosemary, black pepper, orange zest - whatever you fancy.

Cover and simmer until veg is tender (15 - 30 minutes, depending on how large  your pieces are.)

Blend with an immersion blender until smooth. Season with salt (I always leave this until the end because I never know how salty my stock is.)

That's it! I love this recipe because it's so fast. The most time-consuming part of the recipe is the vegetable prep and because it's a blended soup the vegetables don't have to be chopped prettily. I store individual portions in mason jars in the fridge so lunch is just a few minutes in the microwave away.

Roasted Chickpeas

by Jess M

Like many people (most? it seems), now that January is here, I am trying to eat better, healthier, and exercise more. And as I've mentioned in other posts, I have a bad habit of eating terrible, convenient things during the day. It's very filling and super easy.

Roasted Chickpeas

1 can of chickpeas
1 T olive oil
1 t soy sauce
1/2 teaspoon chili powder
salt & pepper

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Drain and rinse the chickpeas. Mix olive oil, soy sauce, chili powder, salt and pepper, then toss with the chickpeas. Spread onto a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for about 20-30 minutes, or until crispy on the outside, still tender on the inside. (You may have to taste test a couple)

I first used this recipe for roasted chickpeas and here on Tasty Kitchen there are several different variations. 

You should probably share these; they make a great happy hour snack with a beer. They are also a really great alternative to plain chickpeas on top of a salad. However, I sometimes just eat them all for lunch. And if you eat a whole can of chickpeas for lunch you likely won't be hungry the rest of the afternoon.

(Photos: me)

Orange Poppyseed Dressing: Vegan, Paleo, Whole30 Approved!

by Caitlin

Have you heard of the Whole30? In a nutshell (mmm, nuts, Whole30 approved!) it's 30 days of clean eating and whole foods; essentially just produce, meat, seafood, and certain nuts, oils, seeds, and fats. No wheat, no dairy, no legumes, no grains, no alcohol, no added sugar -- not even natural sugars like maple syrup. Fruit and sweet potatoes are okay, but no white potatoes. Zach and I are doing it January 2 - February 2, along with half the internet. 

At first glance you'd think the focus would be restriction, but there's just so much delicious food you can eat. And having done a strict allergy elimination diet earlier in the year, this seems easier in some ways. It's certainly a bit healthier (I miiiiiiiiight have turned to sugar to cope with that diet). Grassfed pot roast, smoothies, salads, shepherd's pie, grilled salmon, crab cakes, avocado on everything, lots of green vegetables, sliced pears with cashew butter: All things my body is thrilled to see after the past two months Zach and I have had of holiday indulging and stress, long hours, surgery, and too many convenience foods. It has actually been fun for me not to have an excuse to take shortcuts as it's forcing me to come up with things I've been meaning to try for a while. Like this orange poppyseed dressing.

I first made this for New Year's Eve (pre-Whole30), wherein I tossed it with mesclun/baby greens and added red grapes, toasted pecans, feta, and dried sour cherries. For Whole30 I think this would be delightful tossed with mixed greens, grilled chicken, avocado, and some grapes or fresh orange segments. Maybe cucumber and red bell pepper, too. It came together quickly and was fun and different from my normal default of olive oil & balsamic vinvegar.

Whole30 Orange Poppyseed Dressing

Juice & zest of an orange
1/4 c. red wine vinegar
1/3 cup extra light olive oil
small-medium shallot. (I had a huge one and used a quarter of it.)
1 T good mustard. (If doing Whole30 it should be free of sugar and wine.)
salt & pepper to taste
1-2 teaspoons poppyseeds. (I added a little at a time until it looked right.)

Wizz everything but the poppyseeds in the blender or food processor. When it's emulsified, add the poppyseeds and pulse once, just to mix. Taste it, add more salt and pepper and poppy seeds if necessary. If it needs more brightness or acidity, add a sploosh more red wine vinegar. With natural ingedients, your mileage may vary.

Butternut Squash and Sausage Casserole

by Tara

Now that the holidays are over we can focus on plain, old, winter cooking. I love winter squashes, and butternut squash, in particular, is one of my favorites. I set out to make a vegetarian meal one night using spinach, carmelized onions, and butternut squash and pasta, and it looked like a lot of work. So I made this up as I went along, instead, and it turned out great!

Butternut Squash and Sausage Casserole

Ingredients:
-1 large butternut squash
-3 large yellow onions
-1 tbsp butter
-2 cups whole wheat pasta (I used rotini)
-6 cloves (1 tbsp) minced garlic
-Italian sausage
-15 oz ricotta
-1 tsp crushed red pepper
-1/4 cup milk
-1/4 cup chopped parsley
-2 oz shredded parmesan
-1 cup shredded mozzarella
-spinch and/or arugula (I like the pre-packaged 50/50 mix)
-olive oil spray

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350. Slice the onions in half and then slice in thin, half-moon strips. Melt butter in large pan over medium heat. Add onions and cook over medium heat, slowly, until a pretty brown color, about 20-25 minutes.
2. Remove onions and cook sausage and garlic in the same pan until sausage is browned.
3. Meanwhile, cook pasta as package directs. When the pasta's finished, drain pasta over spinach/arugula (so that it wilts without an extra step!).
4. Add onions, ricotta, red pepper, milk, and parsley to skillet and cook until well-mixed and thickened. Add pasta and spinach/arugula.
5. Spray a casserole pan with the olive oil spray and pour the mixture from the skillet into the pan. Top with shredded cheeses and bake for ~30 minutes or until cheese is melty and browning.

(This makes a LOT of food. A lot. It made three pans and will easily serve 8-12 people as a main/only course. I froze two pans and while it was okay, the casserole wasn't nearly as delicious as when it was fresh. So you could fill up a 9x13 pan and feed a crowd.)

I'm calling this a success. I hope you enjoy it, too!

 

The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook + Giveaway

Updated: The giveaway is now closed, and we have a winner! Congratulations to Stephanie M. (#7). I'll be in touch this week to get your mailing address to send your cookbook to. Happy cooking!

***

Editor's note: Tara received a free copy of The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook with no obigation to review and her thoughts are all her own. 

By Tara C.

The holidays may be over, but fans of Downton Abbey still have a reason to celebrate--the U.S. premiere of Season 3. And what could make your viewing experience even more pleasurable? How about some tasty, Downton Abbey-inspired treats?

When I was offered a review copy of The Downton Abbey Cookbook: From Lady Mary's Crab Canapés to Mrs. Patmore's Christmas Pudding--More Than 150 Recipes From Upstairs and Downstairs by Emily Ansara Baines after reviewing The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook, I jumped on the opportunity.

I recruited several Downton Abbey/cooking enthusiasts to help me try some recipes, including our own Food Lush writer, Erica. Never one to shy away from a theme, Erica arrived in a sparkly tiarra. I'm not pictured here, but let's imagine that I was dressed as a scullery maid.

Here are the recipes we tried:

• Lady Mary's Crab Canapés
• Crunchy Fig and Bleu Cheese Tarts
• Mrs. Isobel Crawley's Smoked Salmon Tea Sandwiches
• Sweet Cream Scones
• Classic Cornish Pasty
• Pork Pie Balls

 

Lady Mary's Crab Canapés

Crunchy Fig and Bleu Cheese Tarts (above) and Mrs. Isobel Crawley's Smoked Salmon Tea Sandwiches (below)

Perhaps not surprisingly, the cookbook contains more "upstairs" recipes than "downstairs" recipes, and, in my opinion, they're generally more appealing. An upper-class family at this time would have had access to a wider variety of foods than their working-class counterparts. Only two of the recipes we tried, the Classic Cornish Pasties and the Pork Pie Balls, were from the "Sustenance For The Staff" section. The recipes were pretty conceptually similar, as both involved meat wrapped in pastry dough. My friend Gina made the Classic Cornish Pasties and I made the Pork Pie Balls. While we made the dishes separately, we realized later than neither of us had used lard in the pastry as written in the recipe. We substituted Crisco. Other than that, we followed the recipes pretty closely. I think when you've spent much of your life avoiding lard, it's hard to consciously include it.

Classic Cornish Pasty

I somehow neglected to take a picture of the Pork Ball Balls, but they were not very photogenic anyway. Picture enormous meatballs wrapped in pie crust and you get the idea. 

Throughout the cookbook, the author includes Times Gone By sections that place the recipes within an historical context. There are also Etiquette Lessons scattered throughout. For example, did you know that a true tea sandwich has the crusts removed only after the sandwich has been prepared and not before?

While most of the recipes in the book call for ingredients that are easily accessible by modern cooks, a few of the recipes are a little authentic for my taste. Take, for example, O'Brien's Black Pudding, which calls for fresh pork blood, or Boiled Beef Tongue for breakfast. Erica and I may have surreptitiously eyed local turtles for the turtle soup recipe, but I can assure you that no turtles were harmed.

We thoroghly enjoyed all of the dishes we made. In fact, it was hard to decide which recipe to share with you. I think our favorites were the Crunchy Fig and Bleu Cheese Tarts, Lady Mary's Crab Canapés, and the Sweet Cream Scones. Mrs. Isobel Crawley's Smoked Salmon Tea Sandwhiches were quite good too. After eating them for breakfast for the next several days, I decided that you really should have the Sweet Cream Scone Recipe. I have made a lot of scones, and these are probably the best I have ever made. They are moist, somewhat sweet, and very tasty.

Sweet Cream Scones

 Sweet Cream Scones Receipe from The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook

1 cup sour cream
1 teaspooon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
4 cups all-purpose flour
1½ cups sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into pieces
1 egg, at room temperature
Heavy cream for brushing
Granulated sugar for sprinkling

1. Blend sour cream, vanilla extract, and baking soda together in a small bowl. Set aside.
2. Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a large baking sheet.
3. In a lare bowl, blend together flour, sugar, baking powder, cream of tartar, and salt.Cut in butter until mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs. Stir in sour-cream mixture and eggs until just barely moistened.
4. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface, kneading briefly. Pat dough out into a 3/4-inch-thick round. Cut into 12 wedges and place them 2-3 inches apart on the greased baking sheet. Lightly brush with cream, then sprinkle with granulated sugar.
5. Bake 12-15 minutes or until golden brown on the bottom.

If you are a fan of Downton Abbey who also enjoys cooking, you probably need your own copy of this cookbook.

(photos from: Target-book cover image, me)

Giveaway details:

Now, one lucky Food Lush reader can comment for the chance to win your very own copy of The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook!

GIVEAWAY: One copy of The Unofficial Downton Abbey Cookbook
TO ENTER:  Comment, answering the question "Are you a Downton Abbey fan?" 
GIVEAWAY ENDS: January 11th (this Friday) at 11:50pm PST
SHIPS: To any U.S. reader
EXTRA DETAILS: One comment per reader. Winner will be selected through random.org and announced as an update to this post by January 14th (that's one week from today).

Recipe Round-up: Ho Ho (Ho) Cake, Soup, + Linguine

By Jennie

(Photo from Iowa Gril Eats)

Spinach and Artichoke Linguine by How Sweet It Is

Salty Brown Tassies by Bake or Break

Loaded Crock Pot Baked Potatoes by Iowa Girl Eats

Panettone Muffins by Baked Bree

Creamy Sundried Tomato Soup by Love & Lemons

Ho Ho (Ho) Cake by Brown Eyed Baker

Chicken, Squash, and Chickpea Salad by The Sweets Life

Cranberry Crumb Bars by Homesick Texan

Holiday Staple: Chex Mix

by Jess M

Every Christmas pretty much my entire life has included Chex Mix. We have always made it from a recipe my mom cut out of a magazine sometimes in the 80s. I'm pretty sure that piece of paper still exists, in the green metal recipe card tin my mom kept in the cabinet. For my bridal shower, my sister included a copy of that recipe for my own collection. Over the years the recipe on the boxes has changed but I stick very closely to my own version of the snack.

For reference: "The Original Chex Mix" recipe from Chex.com (picture those quotation marks as air quotes from me because it's not *actually* the original from the 1950s).

Also the Wikipedia article, with a link to the original ad for Chex Mix which appeared in Life Magazine in 1952.

Jess's version of Chex Mix (based on a circa 1980s magazine cutout, with my own modifications)

1/2 c melted butter

3 T Worchestershire sauce

2 t Season All seasoned salt

8 c any Chex cereal (I prefer corn and rice)

1 c pretzels

1 c peanuts

Measure out cereal, pretzels and nuts in a gallon ziploc bag. Melt butter, mix with the worchestershire and seasoned salt, and pour over the cereal mixture. Seal the bag and shake it until all the pieces are evenly coated.

Microwave: Pour contents into a large microwaveable bowl, cook on high 5-6 minutes, stirring every 2 minutes. 

Oven: Heat oven to 250 degrees. Spread the mix onto a foil-lined baking sheet. Cook for 40-50 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes.

Cool on paper towels.

It freezes well, so if you can make a whole bunch at a time, you can put it away for later, but it doesn't really last all that long in my house.

~~~

 Last year, Caitlin's dad shared their family's recipe for Cereal Mix.