Macro Mom » Party food

Spring Challenge Day 15- Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

macromom — Tue, 15 May 2012 13:42:04 +0000

Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

4 Ounces firm organic tofu

3 Tablespoons organic peanut butter

1/4 Teaspoon sea salt

1/2 tsp umeboshi vinegar

1/4 Cup maple syrup

3 Tablespoon maple sugar

1 Teaspoon vanilla extract

1 Cup dairy-free grain sweetened chocolate chips

1 Teaspoon canola oil

Mini foil baking cups as molds

Bring a pot of water to boil, add tofu, and let simmer for 5 minutes. Remove tofu from water, and let it cool just enough so that you can handle it with your hands. wrap block of tofu in paper towel and place on a plate. Put another plate on top of the tofu and add a short, heavy weight in order to press the excess liquid out of the tofu. Press for 15 minutes.Place tofu, peanut butter, salt, umeboshi vinegar, and maple syrup in a blender. Blend until smooth. Add vanilla extract. Blend for about 2 minutes, scraping sides when necessary. Refrigerate in a closed container for 1 hour.In a double boiler, place chocolate chips and oil over boiling water. Stir until the chocolate melts. Turn off heat. With a pastry brush, coat each baking cup along the bottom and up the sides. Put in freezer until chocolate hardens. Repaint each cup to thicken the chocolate coating. Freeze again. The chocolate hardens quite quickly.When the filling has chilled for 1 hour, spoon some into each cup. If you like, you can then pan over the filling with another layer of chocolate, or leave it topless. When ready to eat, just peel the baking cup carefully away from the chocolate and enjoy. Store in freezer.

- So I can’t get grain-sweetened chocolate here so I used unsweetened baking chocolate and added maple sugar. It made for some really intense but amazing treats! This is what I gave to my mother and mother in law for Mothers day!

All recipes posted with permission from Jessica Porter

Ready for another week of fabulous recipes?

Day 16-Hambulghur helper

Day 17- Nishime vegetables

Day 18- Kinpira

Day 19- Teaser Caeser

Day 20- Mock Greek Salad

Day 21-Hommus

Day 22- Black Eyed Pea Croquettes

Spring Challenge Day 14- Tofu Sour Cream

macromom — Mon, 14 May 2012 10:54:30 +0000

Tofu Sour Cream

1 Pound soft tofu

6 Tablespoons sunflower oil

2 Tablespoons fresh lemon juice

2 Scallions white parts only

11/2-2 Tablespoons umeboshi vinegar

1/4 Teaspoon sea salt

Blend all ingredients in a blender or food processor and serve with burritos, tacos, or any other dish that deserves it.

-So good we were putting it on everything!

All recipes are printed with permission from Jessica Porter

Spring Challenge Day 13- Lisa’s Mango Laasi

macromom — Sun, 13 May 2012 17:33:15 +0000

Lisa’s Mango Laasi

1 Mango, pitted and chopped

1 Cup soy milk(unsweetened)

1/2 Teaspoon vanilla

1/2 Teaspoon ground cardamom

1 Tablespoon maple syrup

Blend all ingredients together. Yum!

- We used almond milk because we were out of soy milk. Also the kids didn’t like the smell of cardamom so we omitted it. What a nice treat!

All recipes posted with permission from Jessica Porter.

Spring Challenge Day 12- Tofu “Egg” Salad

macromom — Sat, 12 May 2012 11:44:18 +0000

Tofu “Egg” Salad

1 Pound firm or extra-firm tofu

1/2 Cup Tofu mayonnaise

1/4 Cup tahini

1/4 Cup minced red onion

1/4 Cup minced dill pickles

1 Tablespoon umeboshi vinegar

1 Tablespoon organic dijon mustard

1 Teaspoon shoyu

1/2 Teaspoon mirin

1/2 Teaspoon tumeric

1/8Teaspoon black pepper (optional)

Boil the tofu for 5 minutes to make it more digestible. Set aside and let cool. Mix together all other ingredients and crumble tofu into it. Mix thoroughly and serve.

- We served this in pita bread. A friend of Lucy’s said “Really it’s not egg”? Pan really liked it and egg/mayo dishes are not his thing. My sister came by and had some and thought it would go great on toast with a slice of tomato.

All recipes are printed with permission from Jessica Porter

Spring Challenge day 11- Christina’s Chickenless Chicken Salad

macromom — Fri, 11 May 2012 20:20:44 +0000

Christina’s Chickenless Chicken Salad

1 Pound extra-firm tofu

Shoyu

Spring water

3 Celery stalks, diced

1 Small red onion, diced

1 Red bell pepper, roasted over an open flame, peeled, seeded and diced

1 Teaspoon each basil, sage, rosemary, oregano
2 Teaspoons paprika
1-1 1/2 Cup Tofu Mayo

Preheat oven to 400o. Lightly oil a baking sheet.

Slice tofu 1/4-inch thick. Place slices in a shallow dish and cover with a mixture that is 1 part soy sauce to 4 parts water. Allow tofu to marinate for 10 minutes. Place on a lightly oiled baking sheet and bake for 30-35 minutes until a deep, golden brown and crispy on the outside. Remove from oven and allow to cool until you can handle them. Then, shred the tofu slices with a sharp knife, creating irregular, angular pieces..reminiscent of shredded chicken. Mix with vegetables, spices and Tofu Mayo until ingredients are well-incorporated. Chill thoroughly before serving.

- I omitted the red pepper because of personal preference. I sent these sandwiches off to school for lunches. Verdict- thumbs up!

All recipes are printed with permission from Jessica Porter

Spring Challenge Day 9- Tempeh Burritos

macromom — Wed, 09 May 2012 18:21:47 +0000

The next group of recipes are under the catagory of conversion!

Tempeh Burritos

1- 8oz Package tempeh

2 Cups water

1/2 Cup shoyu

3 Tablespoons mirin

1 Dash brown rice vinegar

Toasted sesame oil or light sesame oil

1 Small onion diced

1/2 Teaspoon salt

1/2 Teaspoon chili pwder

1/2 Teaspoon garlic powder

Whole wheat tortillas

Soy cheese, grated

Tofu sour cream (see day 14)

Cut tempeh into four chunks and bring to a boil in the water, shoyu, mirin and brown rice vinegar. Let simmer 20 minutes. Set aside.

Meanwhile, over medium heat, coat a skillet generously with oil. Saute onion with salt, until onion is translucent.

Crumble up cooked tempeh into bits like ground beef and saute with the onion. The tempeh should be well seasoned, but keep the cooking liquid just in case you would like to add a little more later. Stir in chili powder and garlic powder. Allow whole concoction to cook for about 5 minutes. the tempeh should absorb lots of the oil and may even get a little crispy.

Warm a tortilla in another skillet. Add “beef” and some grated soy cheese. Wrap tortilla around filling and let warm on the skillet so that the soy cheese melts. Serve with tofu sour cream and /or guacamole.

- So delicious! I added about 2 cups of cooked kidney beans to the tempeh mix to stretch the recipe. Felix said they were awesome! My sister came over and had 2!

All recipes are posted with permission from Jessica Porter.

SPRING CHALLENGE 2012!

macromom — Tue, 01 May 2012 13:02:08 +0000

Tomorrow I will be starting the THIRD annual spring challenge. The last two years went great! I used Aveline Kushi’s book(The Complete Guide To macrobiotic Cooking), then Christina Cooks-Everything You Always Wanted to Know about WholeFoods but were afraid to ask. This year I have chosen The Hip Chick’s guide to Macrobiotics by Jessica Porter. She is a great chef with a kooky sense of humor and her book is full of fun recipes . Soon you will be having a great laugh and will feel wonderful eating her delicious recipes . Don’t worry if you don’t own this book. I will be posting the recipes everyday with photos. Or, pick your favorite cookbook or chef to follow. The point is adding new recipes to our daily repertoire.

Today is Day 1- Finding your cookbook and collecting your groceries.

This first week all recipes will be on Grains!

1- Perfect Brown Rice

2-Mediterranean Barley Salad

3- Rice, Avacado And Corn Salad

4-Good Morning Oat Porridge

5- Quinoa Salad

6-Millet Mashed “Potatoes” With Mushroom Gravy

7- Kasha And Cabbage

Please post comments and photo’s of what you are cooking!

All recipes are printed with permission from Jessica Porter.

Coming Soon…3rd Annual Spring Challenge!

macromom — Mon, 30 Apr 2012 18:03:38 +0000

Please join me starting May 1st and enjoy a fresh new (or old favourite) recipe every day for a month.. Bring on the spring.

Loving

macromom — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:31:00 +0000

I’m a little late posting this. We have been so busy lately. I’m so glad I was able to take the time to fit in this fun romantic meal.

This tray of strawberries from our lovely neighbor started off our Valentines day.

Carrot And Blood Orange Soup

1 Pound carrots

1 Medium onion

3 Cloves of garlic

1(2-inch) Piece fresh ginger. minced

2 Tablespoons olive oil

1-2 large blood oranges

5 Cups vegetable stock

1 bay leaf

Sea salt and pepper, to taste

Thinly slice the carrots. Finely chop the onion. Peel and chop the garlic cloves. In a large pot, heat oil over medium heat. Add carrots, onion, garlic, and ginger and cook, stirring occasionally, until onion is golden, 6 to 8 minutes. Meanwhile grate the orange to yield 2 teaspoon grated zest. Juice orange to yield 1/2 cup orange juice.

Add vegetable stock , zest, and bay leaf to cooking vegetables. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover and cook, stirring occasionally, until carrots are tender about 20 minutes.

Puree soup until smooth; return to saucepan. Stir in orange juice and season with salt and pepper to taste. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until heated through, 2 to 3 minutes.

Orange And Fennel Salad

one half of a small red onion
2 lg blood oranges
2-3 sm fennel bulbs
3tbsp olive oil
11/2 tbsp lemon juice
3/4tsp sea salt
1 tsp mint
oil cured black olives
black pepper

-slice onion in thin half moons
cover with cold water and set aside for 15 min
-Slice the orange peel of wih a knife, from top to bottom
over a bowl to catch the juices
-slice fennel into quarters lenght wise
slice the quarters lengthwise as this as you can.
-wisk together olive oil,lemon juice and salt

- toss all ingredients together with several black olives and a sprinkle of black pepper

Onion Baklava

3 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

10 yellow onions — in half moon slices

2 tablespoons brown rice syrup

1 fresh ginger root — graded juice extracted

1 tablespoon kuzu — dissolved in 3 tablespoon of cold water

2 cups blanched almonds

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

15 sheets phyllo dough

1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil

To make the filling, heat the olive oil in a deep skillet over medium heat. Add the onions and sauté with a generous sprinkling of salt until limp about five minutes. Reduce the heat to medium low and cook the onions covered for fifteen minutes stirring occasionally to prevent scorching. Add the rice syrup and ginger juice and cook uncovered until the mixture thickens slightly about ten minutes. Stir in the dissolved kuzu and cook stirring until the mixture thickens and turns clear about three minutes more. Set aside to cool.

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly oil the bottom and sides of the thirteen by 9 inch baking dish. Place blanched almonds in a food processor and grind into a fine meal. Add cinnamon, and pulse just to combine.

Fold one sheet of the phyllo in half crosswise and fit into the prepared pan. Brush lightly with oil. Repeat folding and layering five more sheets of phyllo, creating a multiplayer base. Sprinkle evenly with 1/2 cup of the ground almonds. Spread half the onion filling over the almonds and sprinkle with another half cup of the ground almonds. Fold, layer, and oil five more of the sheets over filling sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the ground almonds and top with the remaining onion filling. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup of the almond mixture.

Fold, layer, and oil the remaining five sheets of phyllo over the second layer of filling, except this layer, sprinkle a little of the reserved almond mixture between each folded sheet. Brush the top lightly with oil. With a sharp knife, score the top sheets diamond shapes are most common for this dish to mark 24 servings. Bake in the center oven rack about fifteen minutes or until the phyllo is golden brown and crispy. Remove from the oven and cool the pan on a wire cooling rack. Cut into servings and serve warm.
This is a wonderful recipe by Christina Pirello! www.christinacooks.com

Mushroom And Onion Risotto With Steamed Greens And Grilled Radicchio

2 Tablespoons olive oil

2 Cups arborio rice

7 Cups vegetable stock

6 Cups mushrooms, sliced thin

1/2 Cup onion, diced

In a pot, bring stock to a boil. Reduce heat to low to hold warm In a large pot , heat olive oil and cook mushrooms and onion with a pinch of sea salt for 5 to 7 minutes or until golden,stir in rice cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Using ladle, add 1/2 cup hot stock; cook, stirring constantly, until liquid is absorbed. Continue to cook, stirring constantly, adding hot stock 1/2 cup at a time and waiting until liquid is absorbed before adding more stock, for 16 -20 minutes or until rice is tender with a firm center and dish is creamy overall. Adjust heat as necessary to maintain a slow boil. Season with sea salt and pepper to taste.

Grilled Radicchio

3heads of Radicchio

2-tbsp of olive oil

sea salt

Slice radicchio into quarters, lightly brush with oil and sprinkle a pinch of sea salt over top. Place on a cookie sheet and place under broiler for 8 min Turning twice. The same goes for a grill.

Steamed Greens

1 Bunch dandelion greens

1 Bunch kale

In a large pot bring 1 cup of water to a boil. Add greens and steam for 2-5 minutes until bright green. Remove from pot and slice.

Hazelnut Chocolate Cake

3 Cups whole wheat pastry flour

1 Cup hazelnuts, toasted and finely ground

Pinch of sea salt

11/2 Tablespoons baking powder

1/2 Cup olive oil

1 Cup maple syrup

1 1/2 Cups plain rice milk

2 Tablespoons vanilla

Turn oven on to 350′

Mix the dry ingredients with a whisk. Add the wet ingredients and stir until smooth. Pour into cake pan (or like I did here into two bread pans) . Bake for 45 minutes. Cool before pouring over icing.

Chocolate Icing

1Pkg grain sweetened chocolate chips

Melt in a double boiler. Be sure to stir quite a bit so it doesn’t burn. Pour over cake hot. Sprinkle on chopped hazelnuts Let cool to harden.

Strawberry Coulis

4 Cups hulled strawberries

1/4 cup maple syrup

zest of 1 lemon

Puree ingredients until smooth

Whole Foods Supper Club – MUSHROOMS

macromom — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 01:18:29 +0000

AN INTERACTIVE COOKING CLASS SERIES

WINTER, SPRING, SUMMER, FALL

This month it’s all about MUSHROOMS!

Thursday February 16th at 6:30 p.m

Tasty whole foods supper club. Fun, interactive cooking classes.

After all the washing,sorting, chopping, slicing, sauteing, flipping and frying you get to sit down and enjoy our creations.

With humor and guidance we will collectively make the meal together.

We’ll make a party out of it!

THE THIRD THURSDAY EVENING OF EVERY MONTH AT THE ST PAUL’S CHURCH COMMUNITY KITCHEN ON THE CORNER OF PRINCE AND RICHMOND ST CHARLOTTETOWN 6:30 P.M $25.00 PER PERSON CALL 902-367-9491 FOR MORE INFO or e-mail me here..

Whole foods cooking class CBC interview