recipe meme

Inspired by Clara de Corno's delicious-looking eggplant recipes, and her call for more recipes to be posted, here is a little taste of what I ate this T-giving, plus a little extra.

Dad's Chili

This is my dad's excellent creation, and I think I managed to pull it off fairly admirably. Tip: Don't be stingy with the tomato soup. A lot of it boils off.

Ingredients:
1 onion, diced
2 garlic cloves, chopped and then mashed
kidney beans (pre-cooked)
tomato soup (2-4 cans, depending on batch size)
curry powder
cumin
salt
black pepper
elbow macaroni

Directions:
Combine the soup, onion, and garlic in a big pot and heat. Slowly add spices until to your taste, and then add kidney beans and pasta. Simmer for 10-15 minutes until cooked, stirring frequently to avoid burn on the bottom of the pot. Serve with crackers and extra chili powder for the really bold!

Spanish Tortilla

I stole this from Kristopher and now I can't stop making it. It's easy and delicious and you can experiment with it easily.

Ingredients:
1 large onion, diced
3 large potatoes, or the equivalent (since I usually get organic potatoes and they are a little smaller, I have to use about 5 or 6), peeled and scalloped (see below)
3 eggs
cooking oil
salt and pepper to taste

Directions:
The potatoes should be cut in half lengthwise and then into smaller pieces by holding the halves together and going along the length.
Heat in a large saucepan enough oil to cover the onion pieces entirely, add onion and simmer, then add potatoes, stir and cover. Cook until the potatoes are soft enough to pierce with fork, and then remove from heat and drain the oil.
Beat the eggs in a large mixing bowl and stir in onion and potato.
Pour back into saucepan and shape into circle, cook on both sides (the flipping is the hard part- be careful!) until brown, and serve with salt and pepper.

Cinnamon-Apple French Toast (vegan)

From the magazine Vegetarian Times...this is pretty much my favorite thing in the world right now.

Ingredients:
For the apple topping-
4 large tart, firm apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I prefer Granny Smith)
3 tbs sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 tsp lemon juice

For the toast-
2 cups plain or vanilla soy milk
1/2 cup apple butter (any kind of jelly works as well)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt
12 slices soft-crust French bread, sliced 1/2 inch thick

Directions:
Coat skillet with cooking spray or butter, heat. Saute apples until softened (5-7 mins), reduce heat to medium. Add sugar and cinnamon and cook 5-10 minutes until tender, add lemon juice and remove from heat.
Blend soymilk, apple butter, vanilla, cinnamon and salt by hand or in blender until smooth.
Cook toast by coating in batter and frying both sides until brown. Serve topped with apple topping.

Cinnamon-Cranberry-Orange Sauce

From Central Market. I picked this up yesterday next to the cranberries and couldn't resist. It's sex in sauce form.

Ingredients:
8 oz cranberries, fresh or frozen
1 orange: juiced, with the zest cut into strips (as far as I could tell, this means: cut off the zest, slice it, and then juice the orange. You just need the zest and the juice)
1/2 cup sugar
1 cinnamon stick

Directions:
Put everything in saucepan and heat on medium until cranberries burst and sauce thickens (15-20 minutes). Serve at room temp, or cool and refrigerate.

Mom's Pumpkin Raisin Bars

Oh man. My mom would make these in the fall and then ship them off to me at college, but I loved them so much I couldn't wait that long, so I got the recipe and now I make them myself. I'm still waiting for my package from mom, though...

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1 cup cooked, pureed pumpkin (fresh or canned)
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 cup golden raisins
1 cup chopped walnuts

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar until fluffy; add pumpkin, egg and vanilla and mix well. Combine flour, b. powder, b. soda, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg in a separate bowl, and stir gradually into butter mixture until well blended. Add nuts and raisins. I make these as bars in a cakepan, because I'm from the midwest and we're all about bars...but you can make them as cookies as well if you're so inclined. Cook from 14-15 minutes until golden. Good with or without frosting.

Yum! I'm hungry again.