Easter Eggs

Spring is a marvelous time of year. The weather is finally warming, plants are starting to bloom, so many different fruits and vegetables are at long last coming into season, and you can do ridiculous but fun activities such as dying eggs.



Now, I suppose that this isn't really a recipe, but it's still food related for the most part so I decided that it was worth sharing.
Egg dying is always a fun activity on Easter and so I decided to get some of the residents of my student co-op together this morning to do just that. I was amazed at how well they turned out. The eggs are like little mini works of art, it's going to be pretty hard to eat them.



Food Coloring Egg Dye

A number of hard boiled eggs
1 cup water
1 tsp distilled white vinegar
food coloring (until it reaches desired saturation)

Simple, combine all ingredients in a container large enough to hold and egg. Add food coloring until it reaches desired saturation (it will lighten substantially when it's on the egg so this should be pretty dark)


Marbleized/Speckled Eggs

A number of hard boiled eggs
1 cup water
1 tsp distilled white vinegar
food coloring (until it reaches desired saturation)
1 tsp vegetable or canola oil

Follow the directions for making food coloring egg dye (you can use commercial egg dye as well), mix in teaspoon of oil, stir until oil is broken up on the surface of the dye (you'll have to re-stir a number of times). Have fun dying eggs!

You can layer the different colors to create marvelous tie-dye eggs such as the one below

Giant Chewy Delicious Molasses Cookies

First of all, I want to sincerely apologize to anyone who enjoyed my blog for not posting for so long. All I can say is that times have been rough and it's been a while since I've felt up to cooking, let alone writing about it. Now, however, I'm back with one of my favorite new cookies recipes so I hope you enjoy it. This recipe originated from Dorie Greenspan's Baking: From My Home to Yours. After a couple tweaks, it has become one of my all time favorite desserts. It is intensely molasses-y deliciously spicy (using half the spices in your cabinet) and wonderfully chewy. You can make them bite sized, or normal sized, but my favorite way to eat them is giant sized.



Dorie Greenspan's Modified Giant Molasses Cookies

2 1/2 cups flour (whole wheat pastry or all purpose works best)
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
pinch of cloves
generous grate fresh nutmeg
12 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup molasses
1 large egg

For Rolling
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cinnamon

In a seperate bown mix together the dry ingredients (flour through nutmeg) and set aside. With a mixer, beat the butter until smooth and creamy. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add in the brown sugar and molasses. Beat for approximately 2 minutes or until fully combined. Add egg and beat for another minute until fully incorporated. Add in the dry ingredients and mix until entirely blenged. Shape the dough into a ball and refrigerate for 1 hour up to 4 days (or you can freeze it and keep it around longer, most likely up to a month).

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Mix the sugar and cinnamon for rolling together in a small bowl. Roll the dough into walnut sized balls (or double that for giant sized cookies) and then roll in the cinnamon sugar. Place the balls on the cookies sheet 2 to 3 inches apart (these spread quite a bit) and flatten with your fingers. Bake the cookies for 12 to 14 minutes until the cookies are set and a bit crackly looking (lower the time to about 10 minutes if you're like me and like super soft, chewy cookies) Remove the cookies from the baking sheet to a cooling rack and let cool to room temperature (or if the smell makes you as impatient as it does me, scoop the hot cookie from the sheet into your hand and blow on it, careful not to burn your hand too badly, until it's cool enough to eat)

Do to the intensly spiced and chewy nature of these cookies, milk is almost a requirement.

Balsamic, Butternut, and Barley Salad

Sad times lend themselves to warm comfort food, fuzzy blankets, friends, and movies. Regrettably, however, they do not lend themselves to successful blog posting, and I have certainly had some very sad times lately. Even so, it seems that I have finally returned from the land of self-pity enough to update my much neglected blog.

Since my cooking has largely turned towards simple comfort food the past few days I've decided to post an old favorite that I have successfully served to many of my friends on a variety of occasions. It is the perfect blend of sweet, savory, nutty, and acidic to please almost anyone. The one drawback...it takes about a half hour to an hour of constant watching and tending and messing with three different things simultaneously (which, if you're me, is nearly impossible). Even so, the end result is well worth it and (an added bonus) this is the type of recipe that can be served hot (as a side grain) or cold (as more of a grain salad) and tastes even better after it's sat in the fridge overnight. It also makes a generous amount and so if you want, you could potentially live off of it for the better portion of a week. And so, without further ado, I bring you...

Barley Salad with Toasted Walnuts, Roasted Winter Squash and Red Onions, in a Balsamic Reduction Sauce.

2 cups pearled barley
2 teaspoons salt
5 cups water
3 cups butternut squash, cut into 1/2-inch dice
1 large red onion cut into 8 chunks and pulled apart a bit
1 tablespoon fresh sage minced
1 1/2 tablespoons olive oil
1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar
1 cup toasted walnuts
1 cup balsamic vinegar
2 tablespoon agave syrup (or 3 tablespoons sugar if you don't have agave)
2 tablespoons sage roughly chopped

Preheat the oven to 375 F. Bring the water and salt to a boil. Add the barley and cook 25 to 30 minutes until done but still a bit chewy (you want the barley to have a bit of structure). After 20 minutes, taste the barley, and continue to do so every 5 minutes until it is done. Meanwhile, combine the squash, onions, olive oil, 1 tablespoon sage, and 1 tablespoon balsamic vinegar in a rimmed baking sheet. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring every 5 minutes. While the barley and squash/onions cook begin the balsamic reduction sauce. Combine the 1 cup balsamic vinegar, agave nectar (or sugar), and 2 tablespoons sage in a small saucepan over medium/low heat. Cook, stirring often, until the mixture is reduced by half and has the consistency of maple syrup. Be careful not to reduce by too much or it will become bitter, also, watch out for balsamic fumes as it is cooking, they are quite acrid. After all the components are completed, place the squash mixture, barley, and walnuts in a large bowl and toss to combine. Pour the balsamic sauce over the mixture and toss once more to mix thoroughly. Serve warm or move to the refrigerator and serve cold.
serves 6 to 8 (with pretty generous portions)

M&M Cookies and a new family member

The past few days have been more than a little hectic. It's been a good sort of hectic for the most part however, just not the sort that lends itself to blog posting. On December 31st, I adopted a puppy from the local humane society. She is a two month old Rottweiler mix named Carly (like the children's book "Good Dog Carl" but feminized) and an adorable ball of nonstop puppy energy (as I write this she's attempting to gnaw on the corner of my laptop). Needless to say, the past few days have been spent wrestling, potty training, petting, and attempting to keep Carly from devouring my entire house rather than cooking. Even though this is a food blog, I can't resist showing her off and posting just a few pictures. They're a bit blurry since she is almost always in motion but, they're what I've got for now.

Here Carly is sitting in my friend Rose's lap gnawing on a stuffed bear that is by now pretty gross looking

And now for the cookies. I made these a few days ago for my brother who is down in the Sacramento area playing in a high school basketball tournament (send him good vibes for me please). Although he was happy to be playing basketball, he was not so thrilled about spending half of his Christmas break away from home. In order to cheer him up, I baked a big batch of m&m cookies for him to take along with him (and of course I saved a few for myself).


I used the Nieman Marcus chocolate chip cookie recipe (leaving out the instant coffee) and used m&m's rather than chocolate chips. I also made the cookies quite a bit smaller than called for in the recipe which decreased the baking time by a bit. Since the recipe is so good, and I did make a few adjustments, I'm posting it here for your baking pleasure. Hope you enjoy it as much as I do.



Chocolate Chip Cookies
(adapted from the Neiman Marcus recipe found here)

1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar (light for a milder flavor or dark, as I prefer, for a stronger hint of molasses)

3 tablespoons raw sugar (alternately you could use regular granulated sugar)

1 large egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 3/4 cups White Whole Wheat or Whole Wheat pastry flour (alternately you could use all purpose)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups chocolate chips OR m&m's

Preheat oven to 300 F.

Cream the butter with the sugars using an electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy and light in color (approximately 30 seconds). Beat in the egg and the vanilla extract.

In a mixing bowl, sift together the dry ingredients and beat into the butter mixture at low speed until fully combined. fold in the chocolate chips/m&m's.

Using a tablespoon measure, drop cookie dough onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper about 3 inches apart. Bake for about 12 0r 15 minutes or until lightly browned around the edges. Bake a little longer for a crispier cookie. Makes approximately 3 1/2 to 4 dozen cookies.

Gingerbread Men (Better late than never)

Every Christmas my family whips up a batch or two of gingerbread cookies and then sits down around the table to decorate them in all manner of crazy ways. Now, I have always loved the decorating part, it is one of my favorite Holiday traditions, but I have never been such a fan of actually eating the gingerbread. To me, gingerbread has always tasted like spicy cardboard. I've always though of them as chewy, bland, just barely salvaged by the generous amount of icing smeared across them. This year, however, I discovered a recipe that completely changed my preconceptions of gingerbread. These cookies had all the punch of flavor of a gingersnap but were still mild enough so that the addition of decorations did not make them overwhelming. In addition, the cookies were strong enough to support gobs of sprinkles and icing and candies without having the consistency of a wood.

Gingerbread Men (adapted from the Fannie Farmer Cookbook)

1/2 cup molasses
1/4 cup sugar (I used raw cane sugar)
3 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon milk
2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ginger
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon cloves
generous grate of fresh nutmeg
pinch black pepper

Preheat the oven to 350 F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a large bowl, combine the butter, milk, and sugar. In a small saucepan heat the molasses to the boiling point, pour over the sugar/butter/milk mixture and stir until the butter is completely melted. In a separate bowl whisk together the flour, spices, salt, and baking soda. Combine the dry mixture with the wet mixture If needed, add a bit of water to the dough so that the dough sticks together and handles easily. Roll the dough into a 1/4 inch thick sheet and cut out shapes using cookie cutters. Bake 5 to 7 minutes . Allow to cool completely and then have fun decorating.

Happy Holidays

Just wishing everyone a happy holidays. Sorry I haven't been posting recently, it's been a whirlwind of food, friends and family ever since I got home from Berkeley. I have been racking up the recipes however, so I'll be back with a couple posts tomorrow.

Pesto quinoa stuffed squash

I am finally home for the holidays. It's my first real break since summer (Thanksgiving is only a two day break, so it doesn't really count) and I am attempting to soak up all of the comforts of home that I can before I head back to Berkeley (not for another three weeks thankfully). Since I've gotten here I have been baking non-stop. A few failures (who new Macaroons could be so complicated), a few recipes that need tweaking before I write about them (some marvelous corn lime cookies, almost perfect, just need to nail the texture), and some marvelous MARVELOUS gingerbread men. Of course, since I've been doing all this baking, something had to go wrong. I have conveniently lost the cable that connects my camera to my computer. I'm feeling like the most scatter-brained person ever.

Because of my remarkable ability to lose things right when I need them, I've decided to post an older recipe. This is a marvelously simple and impressive quick and delicious dinner recipe. I used to make this all the time in my co-op because it takes all of about forty minutes start to finish. This recipe looks complicated, but trust me, it's not. Actually, it has the added bonus of not dirtying any dishes (provided you have the patience to wait for it to cool enough to pick the squash up without a plate, I never do)



Pesto Quinoa Stuffed Squash (serves 1)

1 small squash (my favorite is sweet dumpling)
1/4 cup quinoa
1/2 cup water
1/2 cup diced onion
1 clove garlic minced
2-3 Tablespoons pesto (I use this one from 101 cookbooks, and you really don't need to add the oil if you don't want to since the squash is pretty moist)
fresh basil for garnish

Preheat the oven to 350 F and spray a cooking sheet with cooking oil. Cut the squash in half and scrape out the innards. Place it cut side down and bake it 20 minutes or until soft. Meanwhile, bring the quinoa and water to boil in a small pot. Lower the heat and simmer for 10 to 15 minutes or until the water is absorbed and the quinoa is tender. While the quinoa and squash cook, saute the onion and garlic in a little olive oil until the onion is translucent. After the squash is done scrape, out the flesh into a bowl leaving enough in the squash to leave the skin intact. Mash up the squash with a fork and then stir in the quinoa, onion/garlic mixture, and pesto until fully combined. Pile this mixture back in the squash, put the squash back in the oven, and bake 20 more minutes. Garnish with fresh basil leaves if desired.