Vegetarian Swedish Meatballs

This is my adaptation of a vegan recipe I found.  There was nothing wrong with the original.  I didn't care if I was having vegan or gluten-free and wanted to put yogurt in the sauce.  I'm not sure if the Worcestershire sauce I bought is vegetarian, but it's the cheap store brand and doesn't list any fish ingredients.  I haven't used the stuff in years and didn't want to get the expensive bottle if it's a one-off.

I will definitely make the meatballs again, to use with any sauce.  Maybe cut back on the Worcestershire and soy sauces, but the texture and general flavor were perfect.  I would bake them on parchment, though.  Adding an egg made them stick to the Silpat.  I couldn't flip them like you were supposed to.  They did cook all the way through.  The crispy bits were only on the bottom.

Warning, you're going to have a lot of dishes to wash.  I actually combined two steps to reduce the number of pots used.  Another option is to make the entire meatball mixture ahead of time, to divide when dishes are washed.  It could easily sit in the fridge for up to 24 hours.  The sauce is best when freshly made.

Meatballs

1 Tb olive oil
1/2 onion, chopped (about 1 cup)
1-1/2 C mushrooms, chopped
*4 cloves garlic, minced
*1/2 C lentils
1 C unsalted vegetable broth, or water
3/4 C rolled oats
*2 tsp dried parsley
1/4 tsp allspice
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/4 tsp pepper
*2 Tb soy sauce
2 tsp Worcestershire sauce 
1 egg

1.  In a large skillet, cook the onion and mushrooms in the oil until both are softened and the water from the mushrooms is gone.  Add the garlic and cook an additional 2 minutes.  Set aside to cool slightly.

2.  Add the lentils and broth and simmer until the lentils are tender and most of the liquid is absorbed, about half an hour.  Remove from the heat.

3.  Pulse oats in a food processor to break them up, then run half a minute to make a coarse oat flour.  Add the onion/mushroom/lentil mixture (and any remaining broth) and all remaining ingredients.  Pulse together, then run into a coarse paste.  You still want enough chunks to mimic ground meat.  Set aside 15-30 minutes to thicken.

4.  Preheat oven to 400º and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.  Scoop rounded tablespoons of batter onto the sheet, to make about 20 meatballs.  I used a cookie scoop.

5.  Bake for 5 minutes, then turn down the heat to 350º and continue to bake another 18 minutes or so, flipping halfway through if they're firm enough.  If not, no worries.  They will still bake through.  If serving with pasta, get the water boiling and cook according to package directions.  While all that's going on, make the sauce...

Sauce

3 Tb butter or margarine
1/4 Tb flour
1 C vegetable broth
1 C milk
1 Tb soy sauce
1 tsp mustard
1 Tb Worcestershire sauce
1 tsp garlic powder 
1 tsp onion powder 
pepper to taste
1/2 C Greek yogurt or sour cream

1.  In a saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat.  Add the flour and briskly stir into a roux.  Cook until all of the flour is lightly browned.

2.  Add the vegetable broth slowly, stirring well after each addition and allowing sauce to thicken.  Add the soy sauce, mustard, Worcestershire, garlic powder, and onion powder.  Slowly add the milk, allowing to thicken as you go.  Taste and add pepper as needed.

3.  Remove the saucepan from the heat.  Beat the yogurt until smooth and add to the sauce.  Stir well to get it to melt into the sauce.  Add baked meatballs to the sauce, then pour over your noodles.  Serve hot.

Difficulty rating  :)

Sweet Potato Muffins

I got this recipe from Suttons Daze on YouTube.  She used freeze-dried sweet potatoes, which I don't buy.  I wanted to use a jar of what I had canned. That involved tweaking her recipe a tiny bit to account for the added moisture.  I also messed with the pecan topping.  She didn't say how many it made, so I cut it in half.  I suspected it was a dozen.  Didn't want to find out it was two dozen.  I did, in fact, get six from my new version.

This isn't going to use a full 15 oz can of sweet potatoes.  I froze the leftover purée to add the next time I make a casserole or soup with some.  The 15 oz would come up short for the original recipe.  I would rather have leftovers than not enough.

Muffins

1 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
6 Tb (1/4 C + 2 Tb) packed brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon 
1/2 tsp nutmeg
*2/3 C mashed sweet potato, either canned and well drained or roasted
1/4 C unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 egg, room temperature 
2 Tb sour cream or Greek yogurt

Streusel

1/4 C pecans, lightly toasted and chopped
2 Tb brown sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon 
dash of salt
1 Tb softened butter
1 Tb rolled or quick oats
1 Tb flour

1.  Preheat oven to 400º.  If not using silicone muffin cups, pan spray or line a muffin tin for a yield of 6.

2.  In a bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.  In a separate container, beat together sweet potato, butter, egg, and sour cream.  In a third small bowl, mash together streusel ingredients into a chunky paste.

3.  Stir together wet and dry muffin ingredients.  Combine only until no large patches of flour remain.  Do not overmix.  The batter will be thick.

4.  Fill muffin cups 2/3 full.  Top with pecan goo.

5.  Bake 5 minutes at 400º, then turn down oven to 350º and bake an additional 18 minutes, or until a toothpick comes up clean.  The high temperature to start is so they puff up, but the middle won't bake properly before the outside burns unless you reduce the heat.  It's important not to forget to turn down the oven.

6.  Once cool enough to handle, turn out onto a cooling rack.  Stores room temperature for 3 days, fridge up to 7, and in the freezer for longer storage.

Makes 6

Difficulty rating  :)

French Onion Slow Cooker Pulled Beef

This was something I threw together on a whim when I needed a Crockpot meal to come home to.  Leftover French onion soup from the sandwiches and a pound of beef roast I got on clearance sounded like something I could do with one minute of prep in the morning.  I took photos in case I wanted to post it, but thought they'd be trashed by the end of the day.

Oh no, this is getting posted.  It's considerably more prep when you make the soup first.  It takes at least half an hour to caramelize the onions.  But once you've made the small quantity of soup needed to braise the meat, everything goes in the slow cooker and you can leave it for hours.

*2 C beef broth
1 onion
1 Tb olive oil
1/2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1 lb beef roast of choice

1.  To caramelize the onion, heat the oil in a wide pan over medium-low heat.  Peel the onion and slice thinly .  Scatter in the pan and sprinkle with salt.  Slowly cook, stirring every five minutes or so, until a browned jammy mess.  This will take at least half an hour.

2.  Add broth and thyme to the onions.  Stir and add salt or other seasonings as desired to make the "soup".  You can also add a touch of red wine if desired.  This portion of the meal can be done the day before.

3.  Early in the day, transfer the soup to a small (max 2.5 qt) slow cooker.  If necessary, cut the roast into pieces so it fits comfortably in the crock.  The liquid should come at least halfway up the sides of the meat.  Set on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4.

4.  Once meat is falling apart when pierced by a fork, it is done.  You can shred it either inside the crock or on a cutting board.  Can be served on its own, over potatoes or noodles, or as a French dip with the cooking broth on the side.

Difficulty rating  π

Toum

I decided to amp up a sheet pan meal with this Lebanese garlic sauce.

I found a recipe for toum by a Jordanian woman, Rana's Mediterranean Recipes, that looked authentic.  Also easy and few ingredients.

Her posted recipe made way more than I needed, so I did the easy math and cut it in thirds.  It still made a lot.  Even if I had cut it in quarters, it would have been more than four servings the way I consumed it.  I used it for the next meal as salad dressing, then used the rest as garlic oil for cooking greens.

Doing this "smaller" batch, I used the mini food processor.  It was too small for that to be effective, and I switched to the blender.  That worked, so I'm giving blender directions for my scaled-down version.

As an emulsified sauce, you really do need to add the oil slowly.  I didn't go slowly enough, and it separated in the fridge.  If that happens, you can whip it back up at serving time.  The clear portion is still garlic oil and yummy, it just won't have the whipped texture.

*1/3 C peeled garlic cloves
3/4 tsp kosher salt
*1 C neutral oil like canola
*3 Tb lemon juice

1.  Once the garlic is peeled, slice each clove in half and remove the "sprout" germ.  That will keep the sauce from turning bitter.

2.  Combine garlic and salt in a blender, pulsing until chopped into a paste.

3.  Running the blender on its lowest setting, start drizzling in the oil.  Go very slowly at first, a few drops at a time.  Once there is enough substance that you can see the sauce spinning, add a teaspoon or two of lemon juice to aid the emulsion.

4.  Continue alternating a slow stream of oil and teaspoon of lemon juice until all has been added and the mixture is white and fluffy.  It's ok to stop and scrape down the sides, or to let the blender rest for a moment.  If it seems sluggish, turn up the speed a notch, but don't go full speed or the emulsion could break.  This is going to take a minimum of five minutes, and maybe as long as ten.

5.  Pour sauce into a non-reactive container and chill until ready to use.  I recommend glass because of the garlic smell.  I wasn't thinking of that and put it in plastic.  Stir before serving to distribute any solids that may have settled.  Can be used as a dipping sauce, frying oil, or as part of a salad dressing.

Makes one cup

Difficulty rating  :)

Part XVII : Festive Cooking

I'm still trying to cook using pantry items first, and following a reduced-carb Mediterranean template.  However, holiday meals tend to break the budget.

As I was tweaking October's meal plan of protein choices into an actual grocery list, I ended up with a lot of new items I don't normally stock.  My grocery spending for the year has been better than average.  I can get away with it despite rising prices.  A big part of that was discovering the Ralphs (Kroger) discount system.  I stopped shopping there when Pavilions had a much better points redemption strategy.  Ralphs doesn't get me free products, but their prices are usually lower and they generously discount items days before their Sell By dates.

It was time to start a new section, to reflect that I'm not only cooking budget meals right now.  Granted, the day after I made this choice, Ralphs had excellent meat sales and I spent just shy of $27 refilling the freezer.  I had just pulled my last pack of chicken thighs and was down to a turkey carcass and a brisket that I might cook up for one of the work pot lucks.  With today's prices, I'm pretty impressed that I got a whole chicken, 10 thighs, 2 lbs of chuck roast, and a one-pound tuna steak for less than $30.  I may not have to buy meat for the rest of the year, even for holiday parties.  And maybe January.

A lot of the recipes I have planned can be multiplied for parties, served as appetizers, taken to pot lucks, put into dessert gift baskets, or generally enjoyed as a special meal.  Not everything will be expensive or difficult to make.  Some of it is dump-and-go slow cooker.  A lot of making a meal special is presentation and the spirit in which it is served.

Chicken and Barley Vegetable Soup

I made a pasta sauce with fresh tomatoes that came out on the thin side.  I could have reduced it, but instead decided to thin it out with chicken broth and make a Crockpot chicken soup.  Vegetable soup with barley is more commonly made with beef and beef broth.  I wanted something a little lighter.

I hate closing shifts for many reasons, but the biggest one is that I don't feel like cooking when I get home.  I either do it the day before, in the morning, or set up the slow cooker.  I'm usually hangry when I walk in and don't want to wait more than 15 minutes for dinner.  I really miss early morning shifts, but the Crockpot is feeling the love.

2 Tb olive oil
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
*2 ribs celery, diced
2 carrots, diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp thyme
salt and pepper to taste
*1 lb Roma tomatoes, diced or 1 15oz can diced
*8 oz chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces
*1 pint chicken broth

*odds and ends of vegetables such as peas or green beans as desired
*2/3 C pearl barley

1.  Heat oil in a large pot on medium and add diced onion and celery.  Cook until softened, then add garlic and carrots.  Cook until fragrant.

2.  If using a slow cooker, transfer mixture and add everything except the barley.  Set on low for 8 hours or high for 4-6.

3.  For stovetop, add everything except the barley to the pot.  Bring to a low boil, lower heat to a simmer, and cover.  Simmer 90 minutes, for chicken to cook and flavors to meld.

4.  While the soup is cooking by either method, prepare the barley according to package directions.  This can be a do-ahead and refrigerated if desired.

5.  Once both elements are cooked, spoon barley into the bottom of the bowls and ladle hot soup on top.  Serve hot, with crackers or bread if desired.

Difficulty rating  π

French Onion Soup Sandwich

Some of the crew from "The Chew" TV show have a new podcast called "Chewed Up".  I watch it on YouTube, but there are multiple outlets.  They post three times a week at 5am Eastern, which is 2am in my time zone.  If I'm up that early, it's for work and I don't have half an hour to watch during chat time.  It's still enjoyable without the community engagement.  They only post one recipe per episode, but they make it count.

This offering from Clinton Kelly makes me wonder why it is not on the menu of every restaurant and diner that serves French onion soup.  It's basically the soup en croûte if you drained off the broth.

I saved enough of the Rondelé from the last dish to make two lunches worth of these open-faced sandwiches.  I'm using the term "sandwich" loosely, since I consider all open-faced sandwiches to be a form of pizza.  As far as I know, I'm the only one who thinks like that.

Clinton's original version makes four servings, so that's how I'm posting, with some amendments for how I made it.  I ended up with extra onions and put them in the leftover broth from the jar to make a slow cooker beef meal the next week.  Or you could have them as instant French onion soup.

*4 slices sourdough or other crusty bread
2 Tb butter
3 medium onions or 2 large
1/4 tsp kosher salt, or to taste
1/2 tsp thyme, or to taste
1/2 tsp sugar, if needed, to assist browning
*1/2 C beef broth
*splash of red wine, optional
*8 Tb Boursin, Rondelé, or similar soft herb cheese
4 oz gruyere or Swiss cheese, shredded if available 

1.  In a large skillet, melt the butter over medium heat while you peel and thinly slice the onions.  Sprinkle them in evenly.  Add salt and thyme and toss everything to coat with butter.

2.  Continue to cook, stirring every ten minutes, until caramelized to your liking.  If they aren't browning after about half an hour, sprinkle in a bit of sugar.  Everything should be a soft mess.

3.  Deglaze the pan with red wine, if using, and beef broth.  Allow both to cook off until the mixture is fairly dry, then remove from heat.

4.  Lightly toast the bread, just to firm it up a bit.  Spread each slice with 2 Tb of the Boursin cheese, like you were putting cream cheese on a bagel.  Top with a generous amount of onions, then the shredded or sliced cheese.

5.  Toast under the broiler for 2-3 minutes, or in the toaster oven for smaller batches at 400º until the cheese is drippy and browning.  Let rest a few minutes so no one burns their mouths, then serve.

Difficulty rating  :)

Cheesy Beans with Garlicy Greens

Didn't plan on that rhyming.  Slightly clickbait-y, but that best describes this dish.

With the kale doing better in the cooling weather and chard starts going on their true leaves, I need to use up the excess that I froze over the summer.  Also, it's time for a break from putting tomato in everything.

I'm doing the beans from dry this time, for the texture.  I didn't want mushy beans with cooked chard.  This becomes a two-part recipe.  The flavors go together very well.  The "sauce" for the beans also tasted great on the roasted carrots I made with it.

*3/4 C dry white beans such as Great Northern or Navy
4 oz garlic-onion soft cheese such as Alouette, Boursin, or Rondelé
2 Tb olive oil
*1/2 C diced red onion
4 cloves garlic, minced
*2 bunches kale, chard, or spinach, roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste

1.  Early in the day, sort and rinse the beans.  Cover with water by two inches and soak for 8 hours.  Drain.  Refill pot with water to cover by one inch.  Bring to a low boil, reduce heat to a simmer, and cook two hours, until tender-firm.  Drain, reserving about a tablespoon of the cooking liquid.  Stir in the cheese and allow to melt in the hot beans.

2.  When the beans are about fifteen minutes from done, start the chard.  Heat the oil over medium in a pot or deep skillet.  Add the onion and cook until softened, about five minutes.  Add the garlic and cook until fragrant.

3.  Add the chopped greens to the skillet, lightly seasoned with salt and pepper.  Cook until greens are well wilted.  If you're having spinach, that will only take a minute or two.  Kale, more like ten.  Completely forgot to take a photo.

4.  Plate the cooked greens in a ring and spoon the beans into the middle.  Serve hot.

Difficulty rating  :)

Change in Gardening Tactics

When I started pulling summer plants out of the Pond, I found root knot nematode damage.  And forgot to take a photo.  It looks like little knobby nodes all over the roots, and comes from microscopic nematodes boring into them.  I've only become aware of the existence of this pest this summer, so it may have been damaging my plants for years.  The infestation isn't severe, but might explain why I've had more above-ground pests this year.  If it's a new problem, maybe it came in with a new bag of dirt or mulch.

There are amendments you can add to soil and beneficial nematodes that kill the bad ones.  I opted to "poison" my dirt to the baddies with flowers in the marigold family.  It's the most organic method I found and only $3 for a pack of seeds.  It's too late for warm-weather marigolds, so the lady at the garden center recommended calendula.  I also have to refrain from planting anything that the nematodes eat for at least a year.  Good thing I like beets.

I know I under-plant flowers, and pollinators in general.  I only want to water things I can eat.  Well, calendula petals are edible.  I'm in the early stages of research.  I won't have flowers for a couple of months.  They can be used in teas for a variety of medicinal purposes.  Calendula oil is a thing for eczema.  They even serve as a substitute for saffron.  Guess I'll have to start drying flower petals now.

As for the pots in the garden, they were disease-free as far as I could tell.  So was the lettuce patch out front.  I'll have to put my chard and leek starts in those.  My volunteer cilantro is already coming up on its own, as well as some carrots I must have forgotten about.  I knew I was dropping seeds when I harvested them, but there is no such thing as too many cilantro plants in my world.

We had a lovely rain last week to deep-water everything, and it looks like there won't be any more 80º+ days this year.  The next day, I seeded the lettuces, root veggies, and herbs.  I reluctantly gave up and bought parsley and celery starts.  The home-grown starts still need more time inside.

One quick note about the calendulas.  Props to Botannical Interests, I had a 100% germination rate.  That one empty cell in the photo was slow to break through, but had already germinated when I took it.  I rarely have that happen on the first try.  It took three seedings to get all the leeks, and the chard was about a 50% germ rate for year-old seeds.

We'll see how much of the winter garden is ready to use in December, but at least I finally got it started.

Green-Tomato Cake

I got tired of battling hornworms and took out most of the tomato plants.  Powdery mildew was threatening to weaken what the caterpillars didn't eat.  I'm also kind of over preserving the excess tomatoes.  This left me with quite a few green tomatoes to deal with.  I didn't want to turn all of it into pickled green tomatoes.  Most of them will ripen on the counter if I leave them long enough.  Meanwhile, I went looking for unusual recipes.

This idea of substituting green tomatoes in a carrot cake recipe piqued my interest.  I was skeptical enough to make a one-egg version in a 6" pan.  Also didn't want to grate all the green tomatoes I harvested.  Several pounds of cherry tomatoes?  Yeah, no.  I got halfway through doing the first one by hand and switched to the food processor.

My one-third recipe makes a very full 6" cake.  You could also double it as two thinner 8" layers, or the original size of recipe in the 9x13 pan.  I was also thrilled with the result when I used a cake strip around the pan.  Perfectly flat top and evenly baked, which is hard to do on a thick layer.

Unlike with zucchini bread, you're going to be able to see the green in this cake.  Sorry.  Too bad St. Patrick's Day is too early for even green tomatoes.

*1 C grated green tomatoes, measured after draining
2/3 C granulated sugar
1/2 C vegetable oil
1 egg, room temperature 
3/4 tsp vanilla
1 C flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp cloves
heaping 1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt

1.  Spray a 6" or 8" cake pan, and line with parchment paper if desired.  If using, start soaking baking strip.  Preheat oven to 350º.

2.  To grate tomatoes, either use a box grater or the shredding blade on a food processor.  Drain well in a fine-mesh strainer.  Lightly press out the juice, but it's ok if they aren't perfectly dry.

3.  In one bowl or a large measuring cup, combine sugar, oil, egg, and vanilla.  Whisk well.  In another bowl, combine flour, cinnamon, cloves, baking soda, and salt.

4.  Pour wet mix into dry mix and stir until almost combined.  Add shredded tomatoes and fold in until everything is wet, but not overly mixed.

5.  Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 35-40 minutes, until the cake passes the toothpick test.

6.  Allow to rest in the pan 5-10 minutes before running a spatula around the edges and turning out.  It's a very tender cake and I tore a bit by removing it too soon.  Once fully cooled, frost or glaze as desired.  I used a touch of cream cheese frosting only on the top, sprinkled with nutmeg and lemon zest.

Serves about 6

Difficulty rating  :)