Holidays

Vegan 4th of July Picnic Salad

/ still a dreamer / 2 Comments

VeganSalad2

This was so easy it’s almost silly to even post it as a special dish! My picnic host, (a meat eater), was open to having our meal vegan style, so I said I would make a “main dish” salad, he would make a variation of his famous potato salad without eggs or dairy, (i.e. mayo), and he’d make a fruit salad for dessert. Since I know he likes meat, I offered to bring my own veggie hot dog and bun while he grilled whatever inspired him. Surprisingly, he said “I’ll have a veggie dog, too.” So there we have it … an easy vegan picnic!

The salad, completely organic,  consists of whole wheat chioccioli pasta, (look like little snail shells), orange pepper, lightly steamed fresh asparagus, zucchini, and chick peas in a dressing of EVOO, lemon juice, a nice amount of garlic, salt and pepper. I also ventured into the world of tofu to replace what I would have normally added … feta cheese. I crumbled a bunch in, but I think in the future, I would marinate it in the dressing ahead of time. I adjusted the seasonings and added a bit more lemon juice when I packed the salad up.

Voila! Easy-peasy, delicious and healthy!

Happy Fourth of July!

Marble Cheesecake – Yum!

/ still a dreamer / 8 Comments

And now for a lighter – and more delicious – topic. (Vs. my last post, that is.)

MarbleCheesecakeSlice2Easter brings with it an invitation to the home of a friend and her family, and that means one thing for me … baking a delicious treat. Considering something that both adults and children might like isn’t always easy, and as I pored over yet-to-be-made recipes, I realized that many of them were more sophisticated in flavors than youngsters would like. So I hit my tried and true recipe box.

MarbleCheesecakeInPan2I came up with a marble cheesecake, and was happy to later learn that cheesecake is my friend’s husband’s all time favorite dessert. The original recipe calls for a crust made from dark chocolate wafers, but I like a traditional graham cracker crust made with butter just as well.

Above, the one slice I took home — as my host loved it so much, I left the rest there for him! Above right, fresh out of the oven with the crack that always appears.

I’ve had this recipe for so long I have no idea where I originally found it, and therefore cannot provide a link. So here it is below. Pretty easy to make and not for the cholesterol-conscious. Happy baking!

Marble Cheesecake

Bake at 350 for 1 hour and 10 minutes

Crust:
18 chocolate wafers, crushed (1 cup)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) butter, melted
1/4 tsp. ground cinnamon
Or: make traditional graham cracker crust. Just as good!

Filling:
6 squares semisweet chocolate
3 pkgs (8 oz. each) cream cheese, softened
1/2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 container – 16 oz. – sour cream
1 tsp. vanilla

1. Make crust: Combine chocolate crumbs, butter and cinnamon in a small bowl. Press over bottom of 9” springform pan and chill.
2. Make filling: Melt chocolate over hot water; remove from heat, reserve.
3. Beat cream cheese with sugar in a large bowl with electric mixer `til fluffy.
4. Beat in eggs one at a time until well-blended. Blend in sour cream and vanilla until smooth.
5. Combine the melted chocolate with 1-1/2 cups of the cheese batter in a small bowl and blend thoroughly.
6. Pour 2-1/2 cups of the plain batter into chilled crust; place 1/4 cup chocolate batter on top pf plain batter. Cover with remaining plain batter.
7. Drop remaining chocolate batter by spoonfuls and pull a spatula through in swirls to marbleize.
8. Bake in a moderate over – 350 – for 1 hour and 10 minutes, Turn oven off and leave cake in oven for another hour. Remove to wire rack to cool. Refrigerate overnight. Enjoy!

Note: Top will crack and sink slightly.

p.s. I always wrap the bottom portion of the pan with aluminum foil, so the butter doesn’t drip onto the oven and burn.

Food-ish Thoughts for the New Year

/ still a dreamer / 2 Comments

I am not really one for New Year’s resolutions, but Christmas baking has me thinking of more than one thing I’d like to commit to in the upcoming year. For one, I really would like to cook and/or bake on a more regular basis. I love good, home-cooked food or from-scratch breads, cookies or desserts.

CheddarBiscuits2

Take one of the items I baked for Christmas – quite simple – old-fashioned baking powder biscuits. With the addition of a good quality, extra-sharp cheddar, they became even better. This was not a major investment in time, and just reminded me that simple or more complex dishes of all kinds are not always that time-consuming. Good food is a gift we can give ourselves, (and others.) Why not make/find a little more time? Seems like something worth giving a try …

p.s. As I was lightly kneading the dough I started wondering what I’d use to cut the biscuits, and then remembered what I had … the biscuit cutter my Mom used to use when I was growing up. Perfect!