I'm Baaaaaaccckkk! Plum Crisp, Comin' At Ya!

I know, can you believe it!!!!!??? I am coming back from the hole you all (hi Mom!) thought I crawled into and am blogging again!!!! (At least for a post...) So many new things (marital status, job, kitchen, dishwasher, iphone app...) in my life, but I am missing cooking and a creative outlet, now that I am not wedding planning and find myself a little too busy with my job I thought I'd blog again!

Today I am sharing some individual plum crisps I made. Plums looked good at the farmer's market this morning, and I have some ADORABLE tiny individual purple Le Creuset dutch ovens (thanks to my in-laws) and I had a hard morning (teacher test!) so obviously I thought it was individual desert night-- not that I don't like sharing, but sometimes you need your own dutch oven full of crisp.

I don't really have a specific recipe for these puppies, although I do have a pretty foolproof crisp/crumble method, which I don't know if I have shared with you before. Basically, I chop up about 2-3 cups of whatever fruit I want to use (apples, pear, plums, peaches, etc.) and add a little sweetener (usually agave, maple syrup or honey), some cinnamon, vanilla extract if you like and a tablespoon-ish of flour and throw this in the bottom of my baking dish (or dishes!). I then mix together equal parts flour, oats, nuts, and oil (canola or coconut is good, melted earth balance will do too) and add a dash of salt. I usually do a half cup of each, but you can totally adjust this depending on the size of crisp/crumble you want to make. Gently mix the topping ingredients together with a fork until the mixture looks "sandy" or "crumbly." Pour the topping on the fruit and throw the whole thing in a 375 degree oven for however long it takes for the top to brown and the fruit to get "bubbly."

I know, usually when you bake the formula should be exact but this method really does create yummy crisps and crumbles every time, and you can totally experiment with fruits, spices, nuts, etc. Even if the results aren't exactly how you wanted them to be, you really can't go wrong with hot fruit, crunchy bits of nuts and oats and a little melting vanilla soy or coconut ice cream on top.

So there you go everyone (or just Mom!), just in time for fall! Hopefully I'll get my act together and get on this thing more often...

My homemade vanilla extract-- vanilla beans + vodka + 1 month to sit = PERFECT! Thanks Ina Garten!

Roasted and Toasted Pesto

I make pesto pretty frequently. It's easy to throw together, pretty cheap, and makes whatever you put it on taste better. I do, however, get a little bored with the same old formula from time to time. Today I decided to try to "turn up the volume," as our friend Ina Garten would say (I know! Yet another Barefoot Contessa reference... sorry!!!) on my basic pesto. Adding roasted cloves of garlic and toasting the pine nuts really upped the flavor, and was worth the extra effort.

Here's the recipe for the new and improved pesto:

• 1 head of roasted garlic
• 3 cups fresh basil leaves
• 1/3 cup toasted pine nuts
• 1-2 tsp. fresh lemon juice
• 3-5 tbs. olive oil
• salt and pepper (to taste)

First, roast the garlic. Turn your oven up to 350 degrees. Peel the paper off the whole head of garlic as much as you can. Cut of the top part of the garlic, so a little bit of each clove is exposed. Drizzle with olive oil, sprinkle with salt, wrap in foil, and roast in the oven for about an hour, or until the head feels squishy when squeezed with an oven mitt. Remove from the oven and let cool for 25 minutes or so before proceeding with the pesto.

Preheat a dry frying pan on your stove for a few minutes. Throw the pine nuts in the pan and move them around every 30 seconds or so until they are nicely toasted. Watch them closely, they can go from perfect to burned in seconds! While you let the pine nuts cool, carefully squeeze out each clove from the head of garlic. You can use a fork to help the process along, being careful to remove all bits of the papery skin. Put cloves in the food processor with basil leaves, salt and pepper and lemon juice. Process until it becomes a thick paste. Add pine nuts and process again.

Once everything is combined, keep the processor going while you drizzle in the olive oil, one tsp. or so at a time until it is the thickness you desire. Taste and re-season as needed with salt, pepper and lemon juice.

Enjoy on your favorite whole wheat pasta, as a base for pizza, on a sandwich, etc...

Individual Peach Upside-Down Cakes

I have just started baking for Craig's Kitchen, a soup kitchen in my neighborhood that asks people to volunteer every week to make a desert for their Wednesday night dinner. Not only do I think what they are doing is awesome, but I have been having a lot of fun baking for others who could use a yummy desert. In the summer if you are baking you can swing by the church where the kitchen is housed and pick up fruit donated by a local CSA to bake with. Last week I made individual blueberry pies, and this week I made individual upside-down peach cakes. There were two extras so we are going to try them after dinner, just to make sure they are good (as Ina Garten would say)! ;-)

Busy Bee...

I've been a busy lady lately, even though technically I am on summer vacation... I have been cooking a lot, baking for a soup kitchen in my neighborhood once a week, and took a cake decorating class (more on that in a bit). AND I dropped my computer and it died, so I had to buy a new one, which I should have soon... I hope. I know. I'm a genius.

Last night, my fabulous friend Tommy came over for dinner. I made my trademark pizza...




And a flour-less chocolate tart, from my newest cookbook, The Vegan Table.



Pizza was yum, as always, and the chocolate tart was yum but very rich. So rich I didn't even have a second piece, which is unheard of for me! I had so much fun with Tommy, and he brought me beautiful flowers- what a doll! I felt just like Ina Garten with Jeffery out of town!!!


Last Sunday, we made Mushroom Risotto, also from The Vegan Table. I've only attempted to make risotto twice, and both times I have given up and Phil has taken over and stood over the pot stirring constantly for a looong time. It was pretty yummy and filling, and would probably be even more delish on a cold winter day (instead of a miserable muggy summer one!).

Vegan Breakfast Bread Pudding

Sometimes, I think about devoting a blog entirely to veganizing recipes from The Food Network, especially Ina Garten's recipes. I think I have seen every episode of The Barefoot Contessa, and many of her recipes lend themselves easily to veganizing, and they almost always turn out great. This morning I decided to take a crack at her breakfast bread pudding.

I was a little nervous about how this vegan version would work out, considering the original recipe is made with a custard of eggs and heavy cream. But, the results were so yummy I ate half of the whole thing in about ten minutes. I guess I can feel a little less guilty about it knowing the vegan version has way less fat and calories than the original one.

Below is the recipe with a bunch of modifications. To the top I added earth balance for some rich buttery goodness, and cinnamon sugar to give it some nice caramelized crunchiness.

Vegan Breakfast Bread Pudding

*I loaf (vegan) challah, sliced into 1 inch thick pieces
*2 cups soymilk (I used vanilla)
*2 tbs. whole wheat pastry flour
*3 tbs. corn starch
*1/3 cup agave nectar
*1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
*Generous pinch salt
*Handful of raisins
*1 tbs. earth balance (or soy butter of your choice)
*Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling on top

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, whisk together soymilk, flour, corn starch, agave nectar, vanilla and salt.

Line the bottom of an 8x8 inch glass baking dish with half the challah slices. Sprinkle raisins in an even layer on top of the challah. Layer the rest of the challah on top of the raisins, and press the whole thing down as far as you can into the dish with your hands.

Pour liquid soymilk mixture over the everything until it just barely covers the top of the challah slices. Dot the top with small pieces of earth balance (just as you would when baking a pie), and sprinkle generously with cinnamon sugar.

Bake for 35 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the liquid has formed a custard-like consistency. Serve with real maple syrup. Try to not to eat the whole thing in one sitting, although I won't judge you if you do ;-)