Ginger Bread Men

Here is another gift idea, or as something to set out with the yummy popcorn!

1/2 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 cup molasses
1 egg (Or egg replacer)
1 tablespoon vinegar
2-1/2 cups all-purpose flourDecorative icing in colors desired
Miniature candies (optional)

In a mixing bowl, beat shortening with an electric mixer on medium to high speed for 30 seconds. Add sugar, baking powder, ginger, baking soda, cinnamon, and cloves. Beat untill combined, scraping bowl. Beat in the molasses, egg, and vinegar untill combined. Beat in as much of the flour as you can with the mixer. Stir in remaining flour. Divide dough in half. Cover and chill for 3 hours or until easy to handle.

Grease a cookie sheet; set aside. On a lightly floured surface, roll half of the dough at a time to 1/8-inch thick. Using a 1-1/2 inch cookie cutter, cut into desired shapes. Place one inch apart on the prepared cookie sheet. Add holes at hands using a straw (as directed in step 2 on the first page).

Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 5 to 6 minutes or until edges are lightly browned. Cool on cookie sheet 1 minute. Transfer cookies to a wire rack and let cool. If desired, decorate cookies with icing and candies. Makes 36 to 48 cookies.

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You could make a ginger bread man garland! Read directions below!

Make cookie dough (see recipe on next page) and shape several gingerbread friends in the size desired.

Before baking, use a straw to make a small hole in each hand. Bake and cool cookies as directed.

Decorate as desired using icing and candies.

Join hands. Connect the cookies together by threading thin ribbon through the holes in their hands. Knot the ribbon and trim the ends.

-Better homes and Gardens

(~AJ)

Yummy popcorn

With the Christmas right at the door here is a recipe you could try and if you like it, share with your family...maybe as a gift or just something laying out for people to grab and munch on while sitting and chatting by the fire!

1/4 cup un-popped popcorn
1/4 dry roasted peanuts
1/4 cup molasses
1/4 peanut natural butter
1/4 teaspoon salt

Pop popcorn in an air popper.

In a large mixing bowl, combine popcorn and peanuts and set aside.


In a saucepan over medium heat, stir together molasses, peanut butter, and salt. Heat until just blended together. Drizzle over popcorn and peanuts, mixing until wll coated. Put on baking sheets and bake 1 1/2 hours at 200 degrees, until crispy. -Linda
Per serving: Cal. 346 Fat 18.4g Sat. fat 3g Sod. 296 mg Carb. 40g Diet. Fiber 2.5g Prot. 11g

From Cooking With the Micheff Sisters -A Vegan Vegetarian Cookbook-

You could try rolling the popcorn into balls and then baking them. It was just an idea I had. I haven't tried it yet. If you do, please let me know how it turns out!!! I hope you enjoy this!!

(~AJ )

Chocolate Pudding

5 cup Milk

2 1/2 tsp Vanilla

1 tsp Salt

3/4 cup Sugar

1/2 cup Cornstarch

1/2 cup cocoa or carob powder

Pour into sauce pan and thicken, stirring constantley. If you don't keep stirring it will get burned. View the video to see how it should look when it's done. It will thicken more as it cools. It is good warm but even better cold.

Southwestern Bean Soup

• 1 large onion, chopped
• 1 clove garlic, minced fine.
  
• 1 teaspoon olive oil
  
• 2 quarts canned tomatoes, diced
• 1-2 tablespoons McKay's Chicken Style Seasoning
  
• 2 cups water
• 2 15- ounce can kidney beans, rinsed and drained
  
• 1 15-ounce black beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 15-ounce can great northern beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 15-ounce ounce can pinto beans, rinsed and drained
• 1 cup corn, raw or frozen
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 2 teaspoons chili powder
• 1/4 teaspoon hot pepper sauce

In a large cooking pot, saute onion and garlic in olive oil until tender. Stir in the remaining ingredients; bring to a boil. Reduce heat and simmer, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Serve hot!

Note from author : I love this soup on a cold day, but it tastes so good you don't have to wait for winter to enjoy it. Try adding a variety of different beans just for something different. If you like your soup a little spicier, add a tablespoon of jalapeno peppers. Now that will warm you up! --- Brenda


Per serving: Cal. 222 Fat 1.5g Sat. fat 0.2g Sod. 610mg Carb.41 Diet. Fiber 11.9g Prot. 12.3g

From the book Cooking with the Micheff sister A Vegan Vegetarian Cookbook.



~AJ

Apple Pie

Hi, I'm Alyssa, Maranda's sister. I hope you try out this recipe and like it as much as I do! Put some ice cream or whipped cream on top and you've got the best and most healthy dessert in the world! :)

Alyssa’s Apple Pie

Crust (makes top and bottom)
1 cup whole wheat flour
2 cups white flour
1 cup oil
2/3 cup milk
½ tsp salt
Mix dry ingredients then add wet ingredients, stir with a fork. Divide in half. Roll in between 2 sheets of wax paper, take top off and leave it on the bottom. Put glass dish on top of crust and flip.
Dutch Apple pie topping
(if you make this, cut the crust recipe in half)
½ cup sugar, ½ cup flour,
3 T butter creamed together
Filling
6-8 peeled, thinly sliced apples (if apples are small, you’ll need more)
1/3 cup sugar (or more if apples are tart)
½ tsp cinnamon
3 T butter
3 T flour (will keep crust from being soggy)
Melt the butter and pour it over apples. Mix sugar and cinnamon together then pour on apples. Put in pie crust and put top crust (or Dutch topping) on top. Make sure you have plenty of apples because they will shrink when baked. You want to have a nice big pie. Sprinkle sugar on top then Bake at 350° F for 45 to an hour or until crust is nice and brown.

Biscuits

I really really like these as strawberry shortcake (with fresh or frozen-thawed strawberries and whipped cream/cool whip). You can also eat them with jam or (though I've not tried this) with potatoes and gravy...

Ingredients you will need:

1 & 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat pastry flour*

1 Tablespoon Rumford's baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 cup canola, vegetable, or light olive oil

6 - 8 ounces soy milk

Stir the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl. Cut the oil in with a pastry blender or two butter knives until the mixture is pebbly. Gradually stir in the soy milk. Stop adding the soy milk when the mixture separates from the sides of the bowl and forms a ball. (if you add a little too much, that's okay, just add a little bit more flour). Roll the dough out on a floured surface and cut into biscuits. Bake on a cookie sheet at 425 degrees for about 10 minutes, or until golden brown on the outside and slightly doughy on the inside. They are excellent served warm.

*if you want these to be extra flaky, try using all white flour instead... I did that once and they were goooood... but I guess making them with a little whole wheat flour is healthier.

^^My dad loved them as strawberry shortcake :)

my little sister did too... that's her on her last piece.

Fettucine Alfredo

From the Vegetarian Cooking School Cookbook, by Charise Vierra.

This sauce goes on pasta (as the name suggests, fettucine works great, but as you can see in the pic, so do other pasta), so before you start, you might want to start heating the water for the pasta, or start steaming/cooking any vegetables you want to eat with it. I like it best with pasta and broccoli, but I've also had it with cauliflower, zucchini, yellow/summer squash, or, as in the pic, a few green olives. :)

Ingredients you'll need for the alfredo sauce:

3 cups water

1/2 cup cashews, blanched

4 Tablespoons soy parmesan cheese*

1/2 teaspoon sea salt (I like to add more though)

2 Tablespoons flour or cornstarch

1/2 teaspoon garlic powder

1 onion, minced

4 cloves garlic, minced

Blend 1/2 cup water with the cashews until smooth. Add the remaining water and ingredients, except for the onion and garlic. Sauté onion and garlic until soft. Then add to cream sauce and heat until thickened, stirring constantly with a whisk.

When it's ready, pour it on the pasta (and veggies, if you want) and serve!

*I'll soon be posting a recipe for vegan parmesan cheese whose main ingredient is roasted sesame seeds... I've also had another really good homemade vegan parmesan cheese that I'll try to get the recipe for and post. :)

sorry

hi ppls, sorry for the looooong break between posting new recipes! Anyway... I'll be adding some new recipes in just a minute. :)

Manicotti

Ingredients:
1 box manicotti noodles
1 pound firm tofu
1 package Soya Kaas Mozzerella cheese (or you can use a different kind of cheese, we usually just pour our cheese sauce on top instead of getting real or Soya Kaas cheese, because it's kind of expensive; use what works for you)
pasta sauce
1 Tablespoon dried parsley
1 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon sea salt

(The image on the left is what an uncooked manicotti noodle looks like so you'll know what kind to get at the store... with all those confusing Italian names it can be hard to remember sometimes exactly what the name is!)

Directions:
Cook manicotti noodles according to the directions on their box. Mix tofu with dried parsley, garlic powder, 1/2 cup pasta sauce, and 1 cup of shredded mozzerella cheese (or, if you'd rather just pour cheese sauce on top, skip adding the shredded mozzerella cheese). Stuff noodles with tofu mixture. Spread some spaghetti sauce on the bottom of the casserole dish. Layer stuffed manicotti noodles in the dish. Pour spaghetti sauce over top of the noodles, and then cover with the rest of the grated cheese (or cheese sauce). Bake for 20 minutes at 35o degrees.

Note: This recipe is from the Vegetarian Cooking School Cookbook by Charise Vierra. I added a few things about the cheese sauce in case you couldn't tell. :) There are a bunch of other great recipes in there, and I'll be posting more from it soon.

Vegan Cheese sauce

Here's a recipe for vegan cheese sauce. It's good in lots of recipes like casseroles and over rice, potatoes, pasta (mac and cheese ;) ... ), chips, taco salad, broccoli and some other veggies... yeah you get the picture. :)

3 cups water
1/2 cup oil
3/4 teaspoon salt
3 Tablespoons cornstarch
1/3 cup white flour
3/4 cup yeast flakes
2 Tablespoons lemon juice
1/2 cup pimentos

Blend all ingredients together well until creamy. Then pour into a pot and stir constantly over the stove on a little above medium heat until it begins to boil; that means it's thick enough...

Hint: If you want to speed up the stirring process, add only some of the water to the blender with the other ingredients, and bring the rest to a boil. Once the water is boiling, add the blended ingredients to the boiling water and keep stirring until the whole thing is boiling... trust me, it goes a lot faster that way!

Here's a video clip of my sister stirring it... that's about how thick it's supposed to get.

Genesis 2:29

"And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed... and every tree, in the which is the fruit yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat." Genesis 2:29

Welcome!

Welcome to my new blog... What's Cooking! I'll be using this blog to post my recipes and sometimes a pinch of other stuff. I'm still "under construction", but you can expect much more to come! Enjoy!