THE SDN RECIPE THREAD!

[Broomstick]

Broomstick's Super Bowl Munchies

I actually don't understand jackshit about football. However, the Super Bowl is an American cultural tradition. I started off just feeling a need to know who won to be culturally literate around the watercooler on Monday morning after, and over the years it evolved into a family tradition. Yes, I do watch mostly for the commercials and the half-time show.

I remember one year in particular when my husband still had his bagpipe band. While the game was one everyone was in a different room we'd stand around playing bagpipes. There was a designated spotter who would yell out COMMERCIAL! at which point everyone would run into the TV room for beer, food, and 2 minutes of watching, the it was back out for more music when the game came back on. But I digress...

This year is pretty low key. I have a friend over who's spending a couple days of her vacation helping us with purging shelves and closets and heavy duty deep-cleaning the house. She's the step daughter of a former Chicago Bear, so she has been more into the game than the Other Half and me. Anyhow...

This is pretty simple party food. Measurements are English because, dammit, this is an AMERICAN event! (If people bitch too much I'll add metric). Feeds three adults, two cockatiels, and a green-cheeked conure (everything but the beer is safe for the birds, too)

Tray One - all cheese and sausage cubed for easy of eating with fingers
1/2 lb mozzarella string cheese
1/2 lb mild cheddar
1/2 lb hard sausage
1 jar black olives
1 jar pimento-stuffed green olives
1 jar baby dill pickles
1/4 lb mushrooms, quartered

Tray Two - veggies! Cut into sticks.
1 1/2 lb carrots
1/2 lb celery
1 cucumber
1/2 red bell pepper
1/2 orange bell pepper
1/2 yellow bell pepper

1 "family size" bag of potato chips (what English-speaker elsewhere call "crisps")

2 sauces for dipping - ranch salad dressing and hot salsa.

Beverages - not completely consumed
1 six pack O'Douls non-alcohol malt beverage (Other Half is mostly a teetotaler)
1 six pack Tab (this is the original diet soda, and the Other Half likes it. Me, I think it was drained out of crank case of a car. My friend also drinks it. I'm surrounded by freaks)
1 six pack Redridge Sorghum Beer (I have not had beer for several years due to a barley allergy. Sorghum beer contains neither barley nor wheat. Yay, I can have a beer again!)
1 pot of English Breakfast tea (loose leaf, brewed)
Water

Yeah, we ate all that food.

Only two beers apiece, though.

[Simplicius]

Hey Broomstick, what did you think of Redbridge? My beer drinking career is nothing worth speaking of, but I'm always looking at alternative food options in case it turns out I get celiac like my mum did.


Not much of a recipe, but my folks have hit upon a formula for good Saturday morning pancakes:

1. Cook your bacon on the griddle first, and use the residual bacon fat (after you drain off the excess) as your non-stick. Also, the pan will be pre-heated.

2. The dry: 1 cup of flour, 1 Tbsp sugar, 1 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp salt. Some cinnamon is nice, but optional.

3. The wet: 1 egg, beaten, plus enough milk to add up to a shade over one cup. A little vanilla is optional too.

4. When you mix the two together, the batter should be moderately runny. If it's really thick, thin it out, but if you stick to the ratios you should be all right.

5. Cook 'em over medium or low-medium heat. The pan will be preheated, so if the burner is cranked up you'll get black outsides by the time the insides are done. Flip when the bubbles around the edge don't fill back in when they pop.

For flash, you can press thin apple slices into the top before you flip the pancakes. Or, you can toss in a little (very little) OJ and some finely grated orange peel into the batter. Best enjoyed hot, and with real maple syrup.

This will make pancakes for two people who like a hearty breakfast. To scale it, 1/2 cup of flour works for one person, and the amount of milk + the egg should be equal to the amount of flour.

[aerius]

Bacon fat & sausage grease makes everything better

Which reminds me of a rather unhealthy brunch meal we make once in a while.

Bacon, Eggs, & Potatoes in bacon fat

Ingredients

Bacon
Potatoes
Eggs
some salt, some pepper


Procedure

Wash the potatoes and cut them into slices around 1/8" thick and stick them in a bowl

Cook the bacon in frying pan and set it aside on a plate

Drain off most of the bacon fat into a bowl, then cook up the eggs in whatever style you feel like. Set it aside on the plate as well.

Pour some of the bacon fat you drained off on the potatoes, and mix to coat the slices so they don't stick together too much

Pour a generous amount of bacon fat back into the frying pan, heat it up and dump the potato slices in

Stir & flip until the slices are a nice golden colour, then portion it out on the plates

Give the bacon a quick reheat in the pan, remove to the plates, and you're done

Add a bit of salt and/or pepper to the potatoes & eggs if you feel like it

[Broomstick]

Hey Broomstick, what did you think of Redbridge? My beer drinking career is nothing worth speaking of, but I'm always looking at alternative food options in case it turns out I get celiac like my mum did.

Gosh, I never answered your question!

Redbridge tastes like beer. That said, keep in mind there are different sorts of beer. Redbridge is closer to dark beers in flavor (though not in color) than stuff like American lager (Budweiser, Miller, etc.) It has a bit of what I'd call a "rough" taste, but more in the way of giving it some character than anything else. (sort of the difference between white bread and rye bread) Unless you're really married to a particular variety of beer you'd probably get some enjoyment out of it.

I should caution you that it doesn't keep as long as barley-based beer

Anyhow - here's the real reason I showe dup here tonight:

Broomstick's Chicken with Mushroom Soup Sauce, Asparagus, and Quinoa

This was a new experiment tonight that was quite popular with the family. Serves two adults.

Ingredients

chicken - 250 gm
mushrooms - 250 gm, sliced
green onions - 2, chopped
fresh asparagus tips (top half only, the tender part) - 250 gm
quinoa - 2 servings
virgin or extra virgin olive oil
salt
black pepper
condensed cream of mushroom soup - 1 can

Procedure

Quinoa - prepare according to instructions, see note below

Asperagus - you want just the top half of the stalk (I usually save the bottoms for stews and soups). I put them in a small container with a lid, put a little water in the bottom, and microwaved them for three minutes. That's it.

Chicken - Make sure the chicken is thawed before beginning. Chop the onions and put in a skillet or saute pan. Add just enough olive oil to keep things from sticking, about a tablespoon. Add a dash of salt and black pepper. Heat until the oil flows freely and coats the bottom fo the pan. Lay the chicken over the chopped onion (it helps prevent sticking to the pan). Cook several minutes on one side, then add the sliced mushrooms. Turn chicken and cook other side. When chicken is done, add condensed mushroom soup and stir into the oil and onions until well mixed.

Notes on ingredients

Quinoa is a grain native to the Peruvian Andes and cultivated extensively by the Inca. It is gluten-free and high in protein (average of 16%, some varieties higher). I'd say the closet equivalent would be whole wheat couscous, but it has its own unique flavor.

It is important to follow package instructions on cooking it. In it's natural state quinoa contains saponins, which are bitter and soapy. These must be removed by soaking/rinsing prior to cooking. However, in my area quinoa is typically sold in boxes with the saponins already removed, which I find extremely convenient. Just keep in mind which sort you have so you don't have rude flavor surprises. Once the saponins are removed it is actually sort of sweet tasting.

If you don't want to use quinoa I'd suggest couscous or some other grain, but I'm trying not to overdo rice dishes.

Asperagus - the store had fresh asparagus today. I couldn't resist.

Cream of mushroom soup - I use Campbell's, it being traditional in my family, but really any brand will do, including house brands. Use it condensed, do not dilute, for a thick sauce which, with the olive oil, becomes really rich.

Chicken - I like the dark meat. There's no reason you can't use chicken breasts, however, the portion of meat per person is small (4 oz - about half the normal US serving size regardless of what the dietitians say) so what I was going for here was a really rich and flavorful small portion, filled out by grain and vegetable. It's my opinion that the other flavors would tend to to overwhelm white meat chicken, but that's only my opinion. You can have the chicken either as whole pieces or cubed, it doesn't matter.

Everyone approved, including the three birds of the house (I had no idea parrots were gonzo about asparagus, but they were. Usually they go for the grain first but not this time). The Other Half did have a moment of suspicion (what's this stuff?) before I reminded him that yes, he's eaten quinoa before and liked it.

[Simplicius]

Not bad, since I seem to favor the darker beers anyway. Thanks, and no worries about the delay.



It turns out you can use quinoa as the base of a really good summer salad, too. Verbatim from my notebook:

1 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp lemon juice
4 chopped garlic cloves
1 cup uncooked quinoa
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth
3 Tbsp chopped parsley
2-3 chopped basil leaves
1 cup chopped zucchini
1 cup chopped summer squash
10 halved grape tomatoes
1 each, chopped orange and yellow bell pepper
1 small onion, finely chopped
salt and pepper to taste

Whisk together olive oil, 1 Tbsp of lemon juice, and garlic; pour into a medium saucepan and add quinoa. On heat, stir occasionally until lightly browned (~5 mins). Add broth and bring to a boil. Simmer, cover, and cook until quinoa is tender (~15 mins). Remove from heat and pour into a bowl; toss with herbs, veggies, and S&P. Serve cold or room temperature.

This really is the ticket on a hot day, as it's light on the stomach but a satisfying meal if you eat enough of it. I'd say throw in some cheese, feta or something, but it kind of tastes like there's already cheese in it even though there isn't.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Chewie's Hickory-smoked macaroni

2 Boxes craft Macaroni & cheese
(and all the stuff you need to make 2 boxes of macaroni)
2 cans sliced mushrooms
1/2 of a white onion, diced
1 cup grated smoked cheddar cheese
1 tablespoon liquid smoke (mesquite)
1/2 cup mustard
1 teaspoon minced garlic
4 mozerella cheese sticks, shredded
1 tablespoon whiskey

Preheat the oven to 375

Follow the directions for making the macaroni as instructed, with the following additions;
When mixing the noodles with the sauce, add the mustard, liquid smoke, and mozerella. Mix thoroughly to even consistency, and pour macaroni into a baking pan.

In a skillit, grill the onions, mushrooms, and garlic with the whiskey until onions begin to brown.

Evenly spread skillit contents over the macaroni, and top with the smoked cheddar. Bake for 20 minutes or until cheese becomes slightly crisp. Let stand for 5 minutes, slice, and serve.

[Isolder74]

Cheese Cracker Breading

1/2 a 10 oz of Cheeze-It crackers
1/2 cup of Corn Chex
1 cup of Corn Meal
2 cups of Flour
2 tsp of Baking Powder
4 Eggs
2 cups of milk + 1 tsp of vineger(or 2 cups buttermilk)
2 tsp Dan's Beef Rub
1 tsp Rubbed Sage
1 tsp Oregano
1 tsp Thyme
2 heavy pinches of pepper
1/8 tsp of Salt

Preheat oven to 350°.

Crush crackers to small bits. Crush chex. Mix with seasonings. stir in 1/2 cup of Corn Meal and 1 tsp Baking Powder. Place in a medium loaf pan. Combine Flour, rest of the Corn Meal, and the Baking Powder. Mix well with a heavy pinch of Pepper and Salt. Place in a medium loaf pan. Beat togather the Milk(buttermilk) and the eggs. Place in a third loaf pan.

Line up the pans Flour, egg mix, then crackers. Dredge well the meat(chicken, pork, beef, or fish) in first the flour then dip it quickly into the eggs mix and let drip of before dredging in the cracker mix. At this point you could fry the meat in a 350° oil. I prefer baking in an oven at 350°. place the meat close togather with a pat of butter on each piece of meat. Bake in the pan covered with foil, or use a lid if the pan has it, and them bake another 30 mins or until done. Its best to check this with a quick read Thermometer. Chicken cook to 170°. Pork to 170°. Beef to you favorite doneness. 140° is rare, 150° is med-rare. 160° med-well. 170 well done. Fish cook til golden brown and flaky inside.

[Isolder74]

Dan's Beef Rub

1/4 cup Emeril's Essence
1/2 cup Lawry's Black Pepper Seasoned Salt
2 tablespoons dried minced onions
2 teaspoons garlic powder
2 tablespoons Italian Spice mix
1 teaspoon red pepper flakes
1 teaspoon black pepper

Mix well and use about 1 tablespoon to coat each side of a steak or enough to cover everything lightly. Grill as usual. ON a roast, coat about the same amount on all sides and cook as usual.

Enjoy.

This is good sprinkled on Baked Potatoes too

[Alex Moon]

Brownies

2 Cups dark chocolate chips
1 stick butter
2 tbsp veg oil
2 tbsp molassas
1 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup cocoa powder

In a double boiler (with a large bowl) melt butter, 1 1/2 cups chocolate, oil, molassas and salt. Remove from heat and wisk in vanilla and sugar. Continue to wisk until lukewarm, then incorporate eggs one at a time. Finally, whisk together flour and cocoa and mix into batter. Mix in chocolate chips.

Butter and flour an 8 by 8 pan and pour in batter. bake in a 325 degree oven for 30-40 minutes, until a knife or toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.

[Broomstick]

Assistance requested:

My husband went on a hummous-eating binge a couple months ago. That was fine, as he made the hummous himself. After awhile, though, he had enough. As a result, we have 1644 grams of canned chickpeas/garbonzo beans. Being in cans they will last a long time, but I keep seeing them in the pantry and thinking "Gee, wonder what else I can do with those..."

I'm also trying to keep variety in my cooking, since we're eating in almost all the time now.

So... chickpea, recipes, please?

BUT - there's a catch: I can't eat tomatoes. Nope, not at all. No tomato paste, no ketchup, nada. Most of the recipes I've seen on-line or in my stack of cookbooks seem to have tomatoes as essential ingredients. >sigh< Food allergies suck. Now, if the tomato component is easily removed then go ahead and post 'em. Or just give me ideas. Since the cans are 822 grams apiece (husband likes to make LARGE quantities of hummous when he takes over the kitchen) I thought maybe splitting one between a stew and a salad/sidedish might work.

Um... we already know about hummous, of course, it's just that we're tired of it.

[Kanastrous]

I enjoy whole chickpeas sauteed in a little bit of olive oil, with some cayenne pepper, black pepper, garlic and onion.

[Broomstick]

Hmm... I don't have cayenne, but I have everything else. Might try that tonight. Sounds good.

[Kanastrous]

The cayenne isn't really essential; it adds more heat than flavor.

[Broomstick]

I tried out your suggestion, served over rice with a side of sliced raw vegees, and it was deemed "yummy", so it will be added to the menu rotation.

[The Yosemite Bear]

how about curry, yogurt, veggies, and rice?

if you bake the mixture just right in a CERAMIC pan the yogurt will carmelize outer layer of rice, and it becomes very flavour concentrated Broom.

[Broomstick]

Hmm... interesting. Except I loathe yogurt. But perhaps some sort of cheese instead?

[The Yosemite Bear]

sure cheese will carmalize just as well. Basically it's middle eastern cooking, so you may get a knock from homeland security. <JK, I hope, yes the rice, chickpeas, curry, veggies, and yogurt is a staple of iranian and iraqi cooking.

basically the rice binds the protein in the dairy, and the chickpeas into something that's long lasting for your blood stream.

[Alex Moon]

Brownies

Melt together:

1 stick butter
1 pkg (11 oz) dark chocolate chips
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp oil
2 tbsp molassas

Remove from heat to a shallow dish of water. Add:

1 cup sugar.

Whisk until lukewarm. Add one a time:

3 eggs.

Whisk after each egg until incorporated. Add:

1/2 Cup flour
1/4 Cup unsweetened cocoa powder.

Mix just until smooth. Pour into buttered/floured 8x8 baking dish and bake at 330 degrees until a knife inserted in center comes out clean. Approx 30 minutes.

[Broomstick]

I think I'm going to start baking bread again, and today I dug up my old reliable bread recipe. This is one of several "template" recipes I have that give the basics, upon which one can then improvise.

I've mentioned that about 25 years ago I went on my first trip through the Poverty Tunnel - my roommate at the time and I developed this recipe that allowed us to improvise and swap things out to match the ingredients we were able to get cheaply or free. That's why the basic recipe has powdered milk - that's what we got from the government food give-aways and the food pantries. Be sure to read the commentary at the end for how to modify this recipe.

I've used this recipe for baking everything from daily bread to the fancy rolls for a friend's wedding (remember the 4 flavors of roll and fancy shapes, Mingo? If you don't, your wife probably does)

BROOMSTICK'S AND ROOMMATE'S NEVER-FAIL IT ALWAYS WORKS EL SUPREMO "WHITE" BREAD

FIRST: Because the little yeast-monsters like hot, humid surroundings in which to do their thing, boil up some water (a good, brisk boil) and pour it into a large, flat pan such as you would use for brownies or cake and put the pan in your oven, but don't turn on the oven. This will make the interior of your oven nice and tropical without making it too hot or dry. Do this before you start everything else.

TOOLS

1 or more large mixing bowl(s)
1 pot (for boiling water)
1 large cake pan (see above)
1 cup measure
1/3 cup measure
1 tablespoon measure
1 sturdy stirring spoon or spatula
1 rolling pin
4 loaf pans or cookie sheets


INGREDIENTS

11 to 11-1/2 cups of white or whole wheat flour
3 packs of yeast
1/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup dry (powdered) milk
2 tablespoons salt
4 cups of water
1/3 cup shortening, cooking oil, or butter

1. Combine 4 cups of flour in a large mixing bowl along with the yeast, sugar, powdered milk, and salt. Mix together all these dry ingredients.

2. Put all the "wet" ingredients - the water and shortening/oil - into a pot and heat until the mix is too hot to be really comfortable to stick your finger into but not hot enough to actually burn you. Alternatively, follow the directions on the package of whatever yeast you buy. At one point I went out an purchased a thermometer so I can do this a little more accurately, it really helps.

3. Pour this heated liquid into the dry ingredients and stir. Your nose should suddenly be assaulted by an overpowering aroma of yeast. If you don't smell yeast, the beasties are deceased. Either your yeast is old or the water was too hot, and you will have to start over. If the yeast is alive and growing, all is well.

4. Mix thoroughly, adding more flour as you are able to. When the dough becomes too thick to stir, flour up your hands and knead. You should be able to get eight to ten cups of flour in this dough altogether. Knead until it has the texture of sweaty human skin (yeah, I know its a gross comparison, but it's what I think of, mainly cause by this time I'm usually hot and sweaty myself).

5. Put the dough in a lightly greased bowl (this can be your big mixing bowl if you clean it out and grease it) and cover with a hot moist towel. Put it in the prepared oven to rise for 1 hour or until it is doubled in size.

6. When the dough has risen, take it out, uncover it, and give it a good solid punch (just one). It should whimper pitifully and collapse in on itself somewhat.

7. Divide the dough into four pieces. Roll each quarter out on a clean, floured surface and shape into loaves, rings, or other creative shapes. Although working with the bread is okay, overdoing it will affect texture and taste so don't get too carried away.

8. Tuck the loaves into floured pans and any other shape put on a floured cookies sheet. Cover with a hot, moist towel and put back into the prepared oven to rise for another 1/2 hour.

9. When the second rising is done, take the bread out of the rising oven and bake at 400 F/ 200 C for 35 to 40 minutes.

10. If you like a hard crust, take the finished loaves out of the oven and just leave 'em. If you like a soft crust, oil the exterior of the loaves (Careful! They're hot!) as soon as they come out of the oven.


OKAY, NOW THAT YOU'VE BAKED A LOAF OF BREAD, HERE'S WHAT YOU CAN AND CANNOT GET AWAY WITH IN THIS RECIPE:

It is most obvious with the flour, which varies with what kind of a rolling manic you are and the humidity of the day, but none of the measurements in this recipe require scientific accuracy. So, if you're a wee bit short on the shortening, or a smidgeon over on the water, you're still okay. This is a very forgiving recipe. The important thing is to have slightly more flour than you really need to get the job done to insure you cover your hands, rolling surface, etc, thoroughly.

You don't need to use powdered milk. Actually, you don't need to use milk at all, you can completely omit it. Or you could use liquid milk - use one cup of regular milk and decrease the water by one cup. You don't have to use cow's milk either. Bizarro stuff like goat or yak milk will work just as well. I expect soymilk would work, too, although I haven’t tried it. Really, the point here is to add liquid.

You don't have to use white sugar. Brown sugar or honey will work just as well. BUT - if you use brown sugar or honey and bake it at 400 degrees, your bread will turn charcoal black on the outside. It won't taste real bad, but the appearance will be horrible. So, unless your dinner guests come with seeing eye dogs, decrease the baking temperature to 375 F/ 190 Cfor brown sugar and 350 F/ 175 for honey and bake longer - about 10 to 20 minutes.

In theory, you can do without sugar entirely, but I imagine your bread will taste very, very bland. You can try it if you like, but I'm not keen on it.

Shortening, oil, and butter are all different types of the same thing: fat. Yes, I know the word sounds horrible, but it really is necessary. Butter is the "worst" nutritionally (cholesterol and saturated fat) and is more difficult to mix thoroughly into the dough, but is so incredibly delicious that, in moderation, it may be worth the risk. Vegetable shortening is "better", but still contains saturated fat. I usually use soybean oil, and vegetable oils (fats that are liquid at room temperature) are the "best". Weirdo stuff like olive oil, lard, and whale blubber (sorry, Greenpeace) can be used, too, although I have not personally tried this. You can also combine different types of oil, either because you ran short on your first choice or because you want to, to reach the required amount. Feel free to experiment.

You can replace up to (but not more than) 1/2 of the wheat flour with something such as rye, oatmeal, cornmeal, buckwheat flour, cattail pollen (I kid thee not, cattail pollen makes excellent flour), or other such things of similar texture. Use your imagination. The less wheat flour, however, the less the bread will rise and the denser it will be in texture. This may or may not be a bad thing depending on your preferences. However, the non-wheat flour must be entirely in the initial mix of dry ingredients. Attempting to incorporate these things during the rolling and forming process is seldom very successful. For best results, I recommend no more than ¼ non-wheat flour.

You can also add stuff like apples, applesauce, nuts, peanut butter, pears, dried fruit of various sorts, various seeds, etc, into the mix during the rolling process to add flavor and texture. Keep in mind, however, that the high baking temperature may have undesirable effects on any non-bread stuff exposed on the crust.

[Broomstick]

Broomstick's Grain Cooking Instructions

This is another "template" recipe, or in this case a list of instructions for cooking grain of whatever sort you may have on hand, assuming it's not one of those "quick cook" highly processed variations. Unless otherwise stated, assume these are whole grains, NOT flour. These are general guidelines - some grain cooking times are significantly changed by processing, so if your gain container/bag has different instructions go with that.

NOTE ABOUT WATER: most grains take a 1:3 grain:water ratio, and it's a pretty good rule of thumb but this varies. As always, the box/bag/whatever the grain comes in has the best information. If the grain has been in storage awhile be generous with the water, as grain tends to lose moisture with time. The best results come from figuring out how much water you will need to cook each variety of grain, add it up, and start with that much water in the pot.

The numbers are the cooking times in minutes

Grits/hominy, unsoaked – 90 (Grits is coarsely-ground maize. Hominy is an alkali-treated form of maize, also usually coarsely ground)

Barley, pearl – 60-75
Wheat, berry or whole grain – 60
Rice, wild – 60 (not a true rice, but a seed native to North America)
Rye – 60

Grits/hominy, soaked – 50 (Grits is coarsely-ground maize. Hominy is an alkali-treated form of maize, also usually coarsely ground)

Rice, brown – 45

Amaranth – 35

Wheat, flaked – 30
Oats, rolled or steel cut – 30

Wheat, cracked – 25
Millet – 25

Wheat, bulgur – 20
Kasha/buckwheat – 20
Quinoa – 20 (this does not include saponin removal soaking times)
Rice, white – 20

Teff – 15

Couscous – 3

If what you're cooking is all one type of grain then there's no problem, just look up the time required.

If you want to cook multiple grains at once what you do is look up what grains you have on hand, how much, and then arrange them so the longest cooking ones start first. For example:

If you had barley, kasha and quinoa you'd start the barley, then 40 minutes later add the kasha and quinoa (same cooking times), and 20 minutes later everything is done.

If you have cracked wheat, brown rice, white rice, and some steel cut oats you'd start with the brown rice, 15 minutes later add the oats, 5 minutes later add the wheat, 5 minutes later add the white rice, and 20 minutes after that you're done.

If you have bulgar wheat, kasha, quinoa, and white rice you can start them all at once and 20 minutes later you're done.

Obviously, the more varieties of grain you use the more complicated this can be, and while split-second timing is not needed you do need to hit this within a minute or two of the times given for best results. Of course, you could use the groupings where grains have the same cooking time to make it easier.

Remember - grains tend to expand 3-4 times when cooked. If you don't remember this you can wind up making a LOT of cooked grain! It will keep in the fridge for about 3-5 days, after which it starts to ferment or otherwise go off.

You can chill, then add milk (and anything else you like) for a breakfast cereal.

You can serve warm as a side dish/pilaf just as if it was straight rice or couscous.

You can add to soups or stews.

If you bake bread or muffins you could add to the mix for some extra chewy/crunchy bits in the final result.

[Broomstick]

Broomstick's Seriously Tasty Apple-Pecan-Cinnamon Muffins

2-1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/2 packed brown sugar
1/3 cup powdered milk (optional)
3-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 heaping teaspoon ground cinnamon, or 2 level teaspoons.
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 & 1/4 cups water
1 egg
2 medium to large apples (I recommend Jonathan, Macintosh, Jonagold, or Granny Smith. Red and Gold Delicious don't hold up well to cooking)
1/4 lb chopped pecans (or other nuts, if you prefer)

If you're using liquid milk instead of powdered use 1 & 1/4 cups milk instead of water.

Pre-heat oven to 350.

Peel, quarter, core, and dice apples.

Either grease and flour muffin tins or use those paper cups. I get 16 muffins out of this recipe, plan accordingly.

Mix dry ingredients and water in mixing bowl. Stir in apples and nuts. This will be very lumpy, but that's OK. Make sure all apple lumps are thoroughly coated.

Spoon batter into muffin tins. Do not overfill, as they will rise.

Bake 25-30 minutes.

Best hot right out of the oven. Will keep about 1 week if refrigerated. Quite edible cold, but I recommend brief reheating.

[Mayabird]

Assistance requested:

My husband went on a hummous-eating binge a couple months ago. That was fine, as he made the hummous himself. After awhile, though, he had enough. As a result, we have 1644 grams of canned chickpeas/garbonzo beans. Being in cans they will last a long time, but I keep seeing them in the pantry and thinking "Gee, wonder what else I can do with those..."

I'm also trying to keep variety in my cooking, since we're eating in almost all the time now.

So... chickpea, recipes, please?

Whenever I made chicken soup in college, I'd add a can of chickpeas. I'd imagine they'd work in a lot of other soups as well (though to be honest, my chicken soups were more like vegetable soup, and oh yeah there's a little bit of chicken in there somewhere.)

I've seen chickpeas used in salads too, but I don't know if you're much of a salad eater, and I'm not at all so I can't offer good advice there.

[Kanastrous]

Summer Chicken Pineapple Salad

2 chicken breasts, cubed, cooked, chilled
2 cups diced fresh pineapple, chilled
1 green onion, finely sliced
2 stalks celery, chopped and chilled
1/2 cup golden raisins
1 2-inch piece of fresh ginger, minced (juiced)*
1 small lime (juice)
mayonnaise to taste
lettuce


Combine all ingredients except mayonnaise, lime juice, and ginger juice in a chilled serving bowl, toss well. Add mayonnaise, lime juice and ginger juice, toss to mix through. Chill and serve by the scoop over cold leaves of your favorite lettuce.

Warning: I just put this recipe together and will try it out on my unsuspecting wife, tonight. It's bastardly hot here and a nice chilled salad is very appealing, for a summer's eve dinner. If this turns out to be a disaster, I'll let y'all know...

...when I make any kind of meat dish with pineapple, I usually only make enough servings for two meals. The enzymes in the pineapple will reduce chicken or pork to the consistency of paste, if left sitting for much longer than that.


* a garlic press works pretty well, for this. Just reduce the ginger to mush, put it in the press and collect the juice in a bowl.


^ next-morning follow-up: this one's a winner, so far as we're concerned. Probably a better measure for the ginger, is that you want about 1/4 to 1/3 cup expressed juice, which means more raw ginger to press. I found that it took four or five trips through the press, to *really* get most of the juice out. I'll have to see if a food processor and cheesecloth yield faster results. Also, make it 3-4 ribs celery, two green onions, and about 1/4 to 1/3 cup lime juice, which was more like three or four limes...also, be sure to chill the salad bowl pre-mixing and chill the salad post-mixing for at least 1/2 hour. Makes it very refreshing.

IMPORTANT SAFETY TIP: Don't toss the chicken in with everything else unless you are confident that all the salad will be eaten within a few hours. It's better to first plate everything-but-the-chicken, then place the chicken on top for each serving, because depending upon acidity the pineapple can destroy any chicken with which it's in contact, overnight.


Ginger-Honey Limeade

1 glass ice water
1 small bowl hot water
1 tsp - 1 tbsp honey, to taste
1-inch piece of fresh ginger, minced (juiced)
1 or 1/2 fresh lime, to taste

Starting with a chilled empty glass, squeeze in the lime juice (use a fork to squidge out all the juice possible), add the ginger juice. Add the honey to the hot water and whisk until dissolved. Add the honey solution to the lime and ginger juice and stir. Top off the glass with cold water and add ice if desired.

This scales up to limeade-by-the-pitcher, assuming that it makes a good impression, when drunk by the glass...

[Broomstick]

Tonight's Experiment: Improv Chicken and Chickpeas

1 chicken breast, cubed.
3 handfuls chickpeas/garbanzo beans
2 stalks bok choy, coarsely chopped
1 handful frozen dandelion greens, coarsely chopped
6 mushrooms, sliced
1 handful slivered almonds, crushed
1 clove garlic, crushed
olive oil
salt

2 servings of cooked rice

Saute chicken, chickpeas, almonds, and garlic in olive oil until just at the point the chicken is a cooked color on all sides of all pieces. Add greens, bok choy, and mushrooms. Cook until bok choy greens are limp/wilted and frozen greens are completely thawed. Lightly salt to taste.

Serve over rice.

Went nice with a beer.

[Vampiress_Miyu]

I have a really good recipe for a quick dessert that's good hot or cold.
I prefer them hot, just because I think it tastes better.

Smore Bars

- Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C)
- 13- by 9-inch (3 L) cake pan, ungreased

Prep time: 15 minutes
Baking time: 25 minutes
Freezes well.

Ingredients
- ½ cup (125 mL) of melted butter
- 1¼ cups (300 mL) graham cracker crumbs
- ½ cup (125 mL) quick cooking rolled oats
- 1 can (10 oz/300 mL) sweetened condensed milk
- 1¼ cups (300 mL) mini marshmallows
- 1 cup (250 mL) milk chocolate chips

1. Pour butter into cake pan and tilt to coat the bottom evenly. Sprinkle graham wafer crumbs and oats evenly over top. Press down lightly with the back of a spoon to moisten crumb mixture. Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumbs. Sprinkle marshmallows, then chips, evenly over top.

2. Bake in preheated oven until golden around edges, about 25 minutes. Now, the recipe says to let them cool completely before cutting them into bars, but I'd say wait until they're fairly cool, but not completely because they'll be pretty difficult to cut when cooled fully. If you have sharp knives, and patience, then cool them completely before cutting into the amount of bars you want.