Recently they had on Anna Thomas to talk about soup, and approximately five seconds after she described her Green Soup, I wanted it. It’s the perfect time of year for greens and onions (the other main ingredient in the soup), and utilizing them both in a soup sounded like a perfect way to spend a slightly chilly afternoon.

It’s not exactly photogenic, but trust me on this one. A great thing about this soup is that you can use virtually any kind of green you might have on hand, because even the most bitter greens will be balanced by the sweetness of the caramelized onions. I like the tang brought in by the yogurt, though you can certainly leave that out if you prefer. Serve with pita chips or wonton crisps for a bit of crunch.

Greens Soup

adapted from Anna Thomas
serves 8

Olive oil
3 medium yellow onions, sliced
2 cups sliced button mushrooms
4 cups vegetable stock
3-4 bunches assorted greens, such as mustard, komatsuna, mizuna, beet greens, kale, or chard
1 teaspoon smoked paprika
¼ cup plain yogurt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
Salt and pepper

In a large pot or Dutch oven, heat a swirl of olive oil over medium. Add onions mushrooms and stir to coat. Reduce heat to medium-low and cook until onions take on a nice brown color, approximately 30 minutes.
Add stock and increase heat to just bubbling. Wash and chop greens and add to the soup. Reduce heat to medium and cover soup. Let cook until greens have wilted, about 10 minutes.
Puree soup and return to heat. Stir in paprika, yogurt, and lemon juice, then season to taste. Alternatively, you can leave the yogurt out until just before serving, and then add a swirl into individual bowls.

http://www.stetted.com/index.php/2012/01/20/greens-soup/| © Megan Myers, stetted, 2012. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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I first got to sample Honey Ridge Farms’ products way back in 2010 when I went to Camp Blogaway in California. Honey is one of my favorite toppers for toast, additions to tea, and baking ingredients, so finding out about these fruit-blended flavors was very timely. The small sample jars we received then didn’t last long.

Fast forward back to the present – I admit I had a honey-and-toast meals before I got down to the recipe testing. I had to try the flavors out properly, right? From there it wasn’t hard to make the jump to the first recipe.

I love cinnamon rolls, but I hate feeling sick after eating one due to the copious amount of butter and slathering of frosting. These honey buns have only 3 tablespoons of sweetener, and it all comes from raw raspberry honey creme. They are also small, which make them perfect for a wee smackerel of something with your tea, or the sweet accompaniment to Sunday brunch.

Raspberry Honey Buns

makes approximately 1 dozen

1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon yeast
2/3 cup milk
1 tablespoon Raspberry Honey Creme
2 tablespoons butter, melted

Filling:
1 tablespoon Raspberry Honey Creme
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Glaze:
1 tablespoon Raspberry Honey Creme

Mix together flours, salt, and yeast in a large bowl, food processor, or mixer bowl. Heat milk in microwave about 45 seconds, until warm to the touch but not scalded.
Mix milk, honey, and butter into dry ingredients all at once, until it comes together into a ball of dough. If the dough is too sticky and loose, add more AP flour, a little at a time, until the dough is cohesive.
Knead a few minutes until you have a smooth and supple ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rest until doubled in bulk, about two hours.
Punch down dough and roll out on a floured counter top. Roll into a large, thin rectangle approximately 12 inches by 16 inches.
Heat 1 tablespoon honey in microwave for 15 seconds. Brush over surface of the dough with a pastry brush, then scatter cinnamon over the top.
Starting with the shorter side, roll dough tightly into a log. Slice roll into ½-inch wide pieces. Shape each piece gently into a circle, and place on a parchment-covered baking sheet.
Cover rolls loosely with plastic wrap and let rise 1 hour.
Bake rolls at 350 for 15-20 minutes, until nicely browned.
Heat remaining tablespoon honey in microwave for 15 seconds, then brush on baked rolls.
Best served immediately. Store leftovers in an airtight container.

Disclaimer: I received an assortment of Honey Ridge Farms products for the purpose of review for their Spread the Love campaign. As always, my opinions are my own.

http://www.stetted.com/index.php/2012/01/19/raspberry-honey-buns/| © Megan Myers, stetted, 2012. | Permalink | 5 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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The pizza I had last time had spinach, bacon, and pear, and I felt like it was a revelation. Somehow, the spinach immediately led me to Brussels sprouts, and I knew I had a plan for the pint of sprouts waiting to be gobbled up.

Ever since I was introduced to roasted Brussels sprouts a few years ago I’ve looked forward to their season, and I even have a couple of slowly growing plants in my raised bed garden. It’s never been a problem finishing a pint, but I still love to try out new combinations.

Admittedly, this pizza requires a bit more work than the standard pepperoni pie, but I think it’s worth it. I didn’t designate what kind of cheese to use for this pizza, although I used smoked mozzarella on mine. I asked my Twitter followers for cheese recommendations based on the other pizza toppings, and I received at least ten different suggestions – so I have a feeling you can’t go much wrong when it comes to the cheese on this pizza.

Brussels Sprouts Pizza

makes 1 pizza

1 pizza dough of your choice
1 small onion
8 ounces Brussels sprouts
1-2 slices thick-cut bacon
1 pear
Olive oil
1/2 cup shredded cheese of your choice

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. If you have a pizza stone, make sure it is in the oven while preheating – you want it nice and hot!
Slice onion in half and then into long strips, and cook over medium-low to low in a small saucepan, stirring often. You want them to be nicely browned, but not completely caramelized (remember, they will cook more in the oven).
In a frying pan, cook bacon until crispy. Meanwhile, trim ends off Brussels sprouts and then slice lengthwise into 3 or 4 pieces, depending on the size of the sprout. Once the bacon has cooked, remove it to drain on a paper towel, and add sprouts to the bacon fat. Cook 2-3 minutes, until sprouts are bright green. Remove from heat.
Peel and core pear, then slice thinly.
Roll out pizza dough. Add a light drizzle of olive oil to the top of the dough, being careful to not get too close to the edge (if oil leaks off pizza, it might burn on your pizza stove and make your fire alarm go off).
Arrange pear slices on dough, then scatter sprouts, bacon, and onions on top. Sprinkle on shredded cheese.
Bake for about 10 minutes, until crust has browned. Let cool on pizza stone for 5 minutes before cutting.

http://www.stetted.com/index.php/2012/01/15/brussels-sprouts-pizza/| © Megan Myers, stetted, 2012. | Permalink | 7 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: Greenling, pizza

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Which is all to say that I’ve never been to psyched to see these tubers lurking in my veggie delivery box. I’ve eaten them, trying not to make a bad face at the dinner table in order to influence my son or keep up the illusion that I am indeed a hotshot foodie.

Now that it is beet season again, I’m more determined to if not like the darn things by themselves, to at least find ways of incorporating them into foods I do enjoy. And, of course, I enjoy chocolate. What food blogger doesn’t like chocolate, right? (Don’t answer that. I know there are plenty who at least make the claim, but honestly, can we really trust them?)

Beet brownies aren’t a new thing, but that doesn’t mean I can’t be proud of them. Plus, these are gluten-free, so I know I can feed them to my friends without having to worry about dietary issues. I’ve found that garbanzo bean flour to be really reliable for me in the gluten-free department – it has worked well for cornbread, cookies, and now brownies. These did end up a little more cakey than I had expected, so if you like a more fudgey brownie, use a bit less flour.

You’ll notice that I included gram measurements for the chickpea flour and cocoa. This is due to differing scoop methods – I’ve been burned in the past with recipes that only list a cup measurement, so I have decided to be more precise when it comes to my flour measurements on posts. If you don’t have a kitchen scale, they are extremely affordable and perhaps the best tool you’ll add to your arsenal.

Beet Brownies

serves 15

250 g / 9 ounces beets
1 packet (2 tablets) Taza Mexican chocolate (or 3 ounces 70% chocolate)
1 stick (4 ounces) unsalted butter
3/4 cup (70 g) garbanzo bean flour
1/4 cup (30 g) cocoa powder
2 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup white sugar
2 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

Trim long roots and greens from beets and clean off any dirt. Dice them into quarters (or smaller, depending on the size of your beets) and set in a pot of water to boil. Boil until easily pierced by a fork, approximately 30 minutes. Drain and let cool until they are comfortably handled.
Meanwhile melt chocolate in the microwaves at 30-second intervals. Whisk until smooth and completely melted. Set aside. In another bowl, melt the butter in the microwave, and set aside.
Once the beets have cooled, the peels should slip off easily. Place peeled beets in blender or food processor and puree until smooth.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 baking pan.
In a medium bowl, mix together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt, and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together beets, chocolate, and sugar. Beat in the eggs, and add the vanilla. Stir until smooth.
Add the flour mixture to the large bowl and stir until well-incorporated.
Pour into prepared pan and smooth the top.
Bake for 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Let cool as much as possible before cutting. Great the first day, better the second.

http://www.stetted.com/index.php/2012/01/12/beet-brownies/| © Megan Myers, stetted, 2012. | Permalink | 14 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: gluten-free, Greenling

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I didn’t know where to begin, so I turned to Cooking Light. To me, Cooking Light has always been the most accessible of the cooking magazines, and the sheer volume of recipes in each issue was enough to create tremendous value.

I was really pleased to see that value duplicated in the new book put out by Cooking Light, The Complete Quick Cook by Mark Scarbrough and Bruce Weinstein. The recipes included are easy to follow with standard ingredients, and beautiful photos accompany more than half of the recipes. But it’s not just the recipes that make the book worthwhile – there are pages and pages of useful tips, from stocking your pantry, to creating recipe variations, to how to properly sauté. This is a wonderful cookbook for the beginning cook or busy family.

I made two recipes from the book for dinner the other day: Shallot & Grapefruit Dressing and Sauteed Carrots with Sage. Both of these recipes are great ways to showcase the flavors of the season, as here in Texas our juicy grapefruit and sweet carrots are coming into season. Carrots often get pushed aside in favor of more showy side dishes, but with the addition of sage they can really hold their own against that glazed pork tenderloin or sous vide steak.

Salad dressing is one of those things I often take for granted – I confess I buy it more often than make it, simple because I really like the certain flavor I get. However, every time I mix up a homemade batch it’s like I’ve newly discovered the possibilities.

Shallot and Grapefruit Dressing

Reprinted with permission

1 teaspoon olive oil
1/2 cup chopped shallots
2 cups fresh grapefruit juice (about 3 grapefruit)
2 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
2 teaspoons sugar
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 tablespoons olive oil

1. Heat 1 teaspoon oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add shallots; cook 5 minutes or until golden brown. Stir in juice. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat; cook until reduced to 1 cup, about 6 minutes. Remove from heat; cool to room temperature.

2. Place grapefruit juice mixture, cilantro, sugar, and pepper in a food processor; process until smooth. With processor on, slowly pour 2 tablespoons oil through food chute; process until smooth. Store, covered, in refrigerator for up to 1 week. YIELD: 1 cup (serving size: 1 tablespoon).

CALORIES 35; FAT 2g (sat 0.3g, mono 1.5g, poly 0.2g); PROTEIN 0.3g; CARB 4.2g; FIBER 0.1g; CHOL 0mg; IRON 0.1mg; SODIUM 1mg; CALC 4mg

Sautéed Carrots with Sage

Reprinted with permission

1 teaspoon butter
1 teaspoon olive oil
11/2 cups diagonally cut carrot
2 tablespoons water
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
2 teaspoons small fresh sage leaves

1. Melt butter in a large nonstick skillet over medium heat. Add oil to pan; swirl to coat. Add carrots and 2 tablespoons water. Partially cover pan, and cook 10 minutes or until carrots are almost tender. Add salt and pepper to pan; increase heat to medium-high. Cook 4 minutes or until carrots are tender and lightly browned, stirring frequently. Sprinkle with sage. YIELD: 2 servings (serving size: 1/2 cup).

CALORIES 75; FAT 4.4g (sat 1.5g, mono 2.2g, poly 0.4g); PROTEIN 0.9g; CARB 9g; FIBER 2.6g; CHOL 5mg; IRON 0.3mg; SODIUM 224mg; CALC 35mg

Photos courtesy of Oxmoor House/The Complete Quick Cook

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book for the purposes of review. I was not otherwise compensated for my review, and as always, all opinions are my own.

http://www.stetted.com/index.php/2011/12/14/review-the-complete-quick-cook/| © Megan Myers, stetted, 2011. | Permalink | No comment | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: cookbooks

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They did an amazing job wrangling hundreds of bloggers all over the world, matching us with care. Because I have a food allergy (bananas; big bummer) I was paired with a couple of other people who are in a similar situation. It’s always fun to exchange food with new people, and for me the fun isn’t over yet – because one of my swap partners is in Alaska, the final box of cookies should be arriving any day now.

Interested in signing up for the next Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap? Head over here to get added to the mailing list for updates.

I made a twist on the ubiquitous chocolate crinkles – OK, not that big of a deal, but I added peanut butter. Can’t go wrong with that!

Muddy Snowdrops

makes approximately 3 dozen

1 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate, melted and cooled
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 egg
3/4 cup powdered sugar

Mix together flour, cocoa powder, baking soda, baking powder, and salt, and set aside
In a large bowl, cream together chocolate, butter, sugars, and peanut butter. Beat in egg and vanilla. Stir in flour mixture in batches.
Refrigerate dough for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 and line baking sheets with parchment paper.
Form dough into small balls, then roll each ball in powdered sugar. Bake for 10-12 minutes and let cool slightly before removing to a wire rack.

http://www.stetted.com/index.php/2011/12/12/muddy-snowdrops/| © Megan Myers, stetted, 2011. | Permalink | 6 comments | Add to del.icio.us
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Now that I’m not working for a paycheck full-time (taking care of my son and the household are certainly full-time jobs, though I only get paid in snuggles and zrbbts) the budget falls even more on my shoulders. I’ve been informally in charge of it for years, but now I’m more conscious of every single penny.

I’ve always been a spender at heart – I started working when I was 14 and yet saved only about $500 for college – but somewhere in there I have a nerdy, thrifty mind. This might be where my canning obsession came from. Having canned for a few years now, I know what we eat and what we don’t. Predictably we blow through tomato-based products, but jam? Not so much. Both the little and big guy love peanut butter and jelly/jam sandwiches, but it would take daily sandwiches and a bigger family to work through the stash that I keep replenishing. Two years ago I made apple butter from Cameos we picked out near Fredericksburg, and it took a year and a half to work through it all. Yet I found myself again making apple butter this year – after all, what do you do when confronted with approximately 20 pounds of apples? You make hay while the sun shines.

The apples were certainly a gift, coming from my friend Kathryn just a day after I was lamenting that I hadn’t gotten to the farmers’ market to pick up a big bushel. Kathryn doesn’t can, so once she had made a batch of apple butter to store in the fridge, she didn’t quite know what to do with the giant crate of apples. Enter me and my clamoring-for-applesauce son.

For two days I did nothing but focus on these apples. Because they were “seconds” and not necessarily good for straight-up eating, I needed to work quickly. When I was working on my apple pie filling last month I went ahead and bought one of those apple peeling contraptions that seemed silly at the time, but has become one of my family’s favorite tools. It takes a bit to get used to, but once you get into a groove the apples quickly become a dissected pile of cores, peels, and neat slices.

When you have 20 pounds of apples, quite a bit of it is peels and cores, and I just couldn’t bring myself to toss them all. (I did toss some toward the end, and I actually feel guilty about that.) Once the applesauce was done, the apple jalapeno chutney cooling, and the sage apple butter reducing away, I cleaned out my stockpot, pulled the scraps from the fridge, and went to work. After adding water to the scraps, cooking, and straining, I had 3.5 liters of apple juice to work with. Inspired by Kate I knew I had to make a cocktail for that night’s ATX Swappers, and the rest would turn into apple cinnamon syrup.

I absolutely adore real maple syrup and have lovely memories of visiting a sugar shack as a child, but naturally flavored syrups also have their place at the breakfast table. I love that with this recipe you’re making something out of practically nothing. Maple syrup is expensive, and I’m glad to have this method in my back pocket. Added bonus? Everyone will think you’re being gourmet, not thrifty.

Apple Cinnamon Syrup

Apple scraps (peels, cores, and a handful of flesh chunks)
Water
1-2 cinnamon sticks
Brown sugar

Put apple scraps in a large stockpot. Add water to cover (scraps will float). Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to medium and let simmer for approximately one hour, or until cores and chunks are falling apart.
Line a colander with cheesecloth and strain scraps into a large container. Let rest at minimum two hours. In the meantime, clean your stockpot and catch up on the laundry.
Pour juice into stockpot. Break cinnamon sticks in half and add to pot. Bring to a boil, then reduce to medium and let simmer. Once the liquid has reduced by one-third, remove cinnamon sticks. Add brown sugar, 1/4 cup at a time, tasting as you go to achieve desired sweetness. Continue to reduce until a cooled portion of liquid is sticky and syrupy. Note that the syrup will probably not be as thick as maple syrup, though it will thicken some upon cooling. (You can add more sugar and cook for longer for a thicker product.)
Cool slightly and pour into jars or bottles. Let cool completely and store in the fridge.

Note: Although apple season is over here in Texas, this recipe would work equally well with pear scraps.

http://www.stetted.com/index.php/2011/11/29/making-more/| © Megan Myers, stetted, 2011. | Permalink | 3 comments | Add to del.icio.us
Post tags: apple

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