Roasted Root Vegetable and Farro Salad

Ingredients:
1½ cups farro
1 bay leaf
2 lbs assorted root vegetables: carrots, rutabagas, yams, turnips, parsnips, butternut squash, celery root, etc.
1 lg red oinion; peeled and diced
½ C olive oil
10 sprigs fresh thyme
sea salt
pepper
3 oranges, peeled and medium diced*
2-3 T sherry vinegar*

Directions:
Cook farro in 2 qts well salted water until tender (45 min - 1 hr); drain.

Preheat oven to 425˚. Peel root vegetables; medium dice (½"). Spread in single layer on baking sheet with onion, 2 T oil, and thyme. Roast until tender and slightly browned (20-30 min). Remove from oven. Toss cooked farrow with remaining oil and sherry vinegar. Combine with roasted vegetables and orange pieces. 

Salad can be served warm, cold or room temperature.

* When I first tasted this salad at an evening cooking class, I wasn't wild about the orange pieces. (Maybe they'd be okay if they were orange supremes? or the canned mandarin oranges) but the orange flavor was good. I didn't have either, but did have some orange juice. I also didn't have sherry vinegar; I do have a variety of flavored vinegars...worked/tasted fine. :)

Puff Pastry Cheese Filling

Ingredients - enough for 1 17-oz pkg (2 sheets) of pre-made puff pastry
6 oz cream cheese
6 oz chevre
¼ C sugar
½ tsp vanilla
optional: 1½ C fruit of your choice; 1 egg, beaten; turbinado sugar

Directions
Thaw puff pastry sheets and bring cheeses to room temperature.

Pre-heat oven to 400˚.

Lay puff pastry sheets on parchment lined baking sheets, brush ½ border around the edges with beaten egg.

Thoroughly blend softened cheeses and sugar. Divide the cheese mixture evenly between two puff pastry sheets, spreading in a thin layer over one half of the sheet, leaving egg brushed border bare. If desired, top each with ¾ cup of fresh fruit* of your choice.

Gently fold the puff pastry sheet in two, bringing the empty half over the cheese spread (and fruit) to align edges. Press edges with a fork to seal.

If desired, brush tops with additional beaten egg (thinned with a little water if needed) and sprinkle lightly with turbinado sugar.

Bake 25-30 minutes, or until tops and edges of puff pastry are golden brown and crispy. Delicious warm or cold.

* Personally, I love berries and often use a berry mix. Blueberries and blackberries are plenty sweet on their own, but if I'm using raspberries I'll often lightly sweeten them before layering them over the cheese in the puff pastry.

Chocolate Peanut-Butter Molten Cake

Found this recipe for a single-serve molten cake...easy to double or make more.

Ingredients
3 tsp butter
¼ C chocolate (chips, or chopped)
1 egg
1 Tbls + 1 tsp sugar
1 Tbls peanut butter
1½ tsp flour
non-stick cooking spray
1 tsp cocoa powder

Directions
Preheat oven to 375˚. Spray ¾-cup ramekin with non-stick cooking spray; dust with cocoa powder and set aside.

Using a double boiler or microwave, melt butter and chocolate. (This is a very small amount; if using a microwave, be very careful not to cook your chocolate!)

In a separate bowl, whisk egg, sugar and peanut butter until light and creamy. Stir in chocolate until well incorporated; add flour, stirring until just combined. Pour into ramekin.

Set on baking sheet; bake approximately 10 minutes - a little less for a runnier molten center (about ¾" around the edge will look dull, with the center still moist), slightly more for a creamy yet 'set' center (almost all of the top will look dull/dry).

Let cake cool 2 minutes before serving; cake can be (carefully!) inverted onto dessert plate and dusted with cocoa powder or powdered sugar if desired.

Couscous with Apricots & Ginger

This comes from a collection of recipes - "The Well-Fed Backpacker". With ingredients that are easily transportable, require no refrigeration, and easy one-pot cooking, this could make a warm, filling breakfast or is plenty sweet to serve as a dessert. Personally, I don't think it needs the extra honey. I happened to have pearl couscous on hand, but the smaller grained variety would work just fine.

Recipe makes enough for one hungry hiker.

Ingredients:
1 C couscous
1½ C water
½ C dried apricots (torn or diced, if desired)
½ tsp ginger
¼ tsp cinnamon or nutmeg
1 T honey
salt to taste

Directions:
Combine all ingredients in saucepan, stir to combine. Heat to boiling; reduce heat and simmer 10 minutes or until water is absorbed and couscous is tender.

Smoky Mushroom Stroganoff

This doesn't satisfy my craving for a traditional stroganoff; the sour cream flavor is less pronounced. But the smoky, mushroom combo is a nice switch. I'd love it with pappardelle, I'm sure, but I had spinach linguine on hand...delicious and nice colorful presentation too!

Ingredients
1 8-10 oz pkg dried pappardelle (or other pasta noodles)
1½ lb mushrooms, sliced (button, cremini, shitake, etc)
2 cloves garlic
1 Tbls olive oil
1 8-oz carton sour cream
2 Tbls flour
1½ tsp smoked paprika
1 C vegetable broth
salt and pepper to taste
chopped parsley to garnish, if desired

Directions
Cook noodles according to pkg directions; drain and keep warm.

In large skillet, cook mushrooms and garlic in olive oil 6-8 minutes over medium heat, until tender. Remove from skillet; keep warm.

In skillet, combine sour cream, flour, and paprika. Slowly add broth, stirring until smooth and creamy. Cook over medium-low heat until thickened and bubbly. 

Serve mushroom mixture and sauce over noodles; garnish with parsley if desired.

Crispy Chickpeas

Ingredients
2 15-ounce cans chickpeas
2 Tbls olive oil
1-2 tsp smoked sea salt

Directions
Preheat oven to 350˚F. Rinse and drain chickpeas; place on clean kitchen towel or several paper towels and dry thoroughly. Lightly coat a baking sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

In medium bowl, toss chickpeas with olive oil. Sprinkle with sea salt and toss. Spread in a single layer on coated baking sheet.

Bake 1 hour, shaking pan halfway through. Let cool thoroughly; chickpeas become crunchier as they cool, but are best eaten fresh.

Cranberry-Mint Chutney

Still using up cranberries...I made this chutney and used it as a marinade for an elk steak. The stronger flavors balance well with the game meat; elk has a relatively mild flavor as game meats go, and this was good.

Ingredients
1 C cranberries
¾ C sugar
¾ C water
1 C dried cranberries, divided
pinch salt
¼ C chopped mint
2 Tbls cider vinegar

Directions
Bring fresh cranberries, sugar, water, ½ C dried cranberries, and salt to a boil. Reduce heat to medium; simmer util berries pop and chutney thickens (about 10 minutes). Cool slightly. Stir in remaining dried cranberries, mint and vinegar.

Cranberry Granola

Ingredients
¼ brown sugar
¼ vegetable oil
¼ maple syrup
2 C oats
1 C cranberries
1 C salted pepitas
½ tsp cinnamon

Directions
Preheat oven to 300˚. Whisk together brown sugar, oil and syrup. Toss with remaining ingredients. Spread on a baking sheet and bake 1 hour, stirring occasionally. 

I was trying to use up ingredients (cranberries in particular) not buy more stuff; I didn't have pepitas on hand so I had to substitute peanuts. Tasted great, but the pumpkin seeds would be really good too.

Orange-Cranberry Bread

Makes 2 regular loaves, or 6 mini loaves

Ingredients
1½ C butter, softened
1½ C sugar
4 eggs
1 C orange juice
1 C sour cream
2 Tbls grated orange zest
2 tsp vanilla extract
4 C flour
1 Tbls baking powder
½ tsp salt
1 C cranberries; dried or fresh
   For icing:
2 C powdered sugar
7-8 Tbls orange juice/liqueur

Directions
Preheat oven to 330˚. Lightly coat two 6-cup capacity loaf pans (or six mini loaf pans) with non-stick cooking spray.

Cream butter and sugar together in large bowl until pale and fluffy (about 3 minutes). Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each. Add orange juice, sour cream, orange zest, and vanilla; mix until well blended.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Add flour mixture to batter. Mix until dry ingredients are completely absorbed; do not overmix. Gently fold in cranberries. Divide batter evenly between loaf pans. Bake 70-75 minutes (or about 60 minutes for mini loaves), until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

     For icing: Stir together powdered sugar and orange juice/liqueur. Icing should have consistency of thick syrup.

Let loaves cool in pans 10 minutes; remove onto cooling racks set over baking sheet. with fork or skewer, poke deep holes in tops of loaves. Drizzle with icing to coat top, seep into holes, and run down sides.

Variations... 
Lemon-Blueberry Bread: Substitute blueberries and lemon juice for cranberries & orange juice. Straight lemon juice is pretty strong, but ½ C apple juice and C lemon juice works fine.
Cherry-Almond Bread: Substitute cherries for the cranberry, and add ½ C chopped or slivered almonds. Substitute apple juice for orange, and almond extract for vanilla. Use cherry liqueur or almond extract in the icing.
Apple-Cinnamon Bread: Substitute peeled, diced apple for cranberries. Use apple juice instead of orange, and brown sugar instead of white. Add 1 tsp cinnamon to the batter and the icing. Use maple extract instead of orange juice/liqueur in icing.
Or...come up with your own favorite!

Buttermilk Pancakes

Ingredients
1 C flour*
1 Tbls sugar
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1 C buttermilk
1 egg
3 Tbls butter, melted

Directions
Whisk together dry ingredients. Add buttermilk and egg, stir until just combined. Add melted butter. Heat non-stick skillet over medium heat. Cook pancakes until small bubbles appear around the edges; flip and cook a minute on the other side.

* I used half whole wheat flour, half white flour.

Pholourie with Spicy Mango Chutney

My Culinary Arts students cooked up a Caribbean feast, including Caribbean style rice & beans, Caribbean jerk chicken with tropical fruit, and these pholouries with mango chutney. They did a great job -- and my World Literature students, who were in the middle of our Caribbean Literature unit -- benefited deliciously from the C.A. students' efforts!

Pholourie Ingredients

1 cup all-purpose flour

½ cup dried yellow split peas (soaked overnight and drained)

pinch of saffron threads

pinch of turmeric

salt and pepper to taste

½ Tbsp whole cumin seeds

1 tsp active dry yeast

½ tsp baking powder

½ - ¾ cup hot water

Pholourie Directions

Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl until a smooth and thick batter is formed. Drop the batter into a preheated deep-fryer by the teaspoon. Fry until golden brown and crispy-approx. 5 minutes. Remove from heat and place onto absorbent paper. Season with salt and serve with the spicy mango chutney.

Spicy Mango Chutney Ingredients

1 hard mango- peeled and diced

1 clove of garlic, chopped

1 cup water

pinch of salt

1 tsp sugar

1 whole hot pepper

Spicy Mango Chutney Directions

Combine all ingredients in a small saucepan, bring to a simmer and continue to cook for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and remove the chili pepper. Allow to cool and serve with pholourie.

Caribbean Rice & Beans

My Culinary Arts students cooked up a Caribbean feast, including these Caribbean style rice & beans using a recipe from the Food Network. We also made Caribbean jerk chicken with tropical fruit, and pholouries with mango chutney. They did a great job -- and my World Literature students, who were in the middle of our Caribbean Literature unit -- benefited deliciously from the C.A. students' efforts!