okara thumbelinas/tangerine-ginger curd

Ever since Pixie and Rosie’s Putting Up event, I have wanted to try my hand at making curd. I have never eaten curd. I didn’t even know if I liked it. But one thing is true, I love anything citrus. So reading through those posts in which the authors raved about their curd creations made me drool. When Tartelette decided to host Sugar High Friday #43: Citrus (the monthly event created by The Domestic Goddess), I knew it was the perfect opportunity. That and the fact that I had a bag of tangerines that the darlings were ignoring languishing on the counter. The cookie recipe is adapted from one my mother always made during the Christmas holiday. She rolls the cookies in walnuts and puts her homemade jam in the middle.

Okara Thumbelinas •

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2/3 cup butter

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 egg yolks

1/2 cup wet okara (okara that has been taken right from your machine, not dried)

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-3/4 unbleached white flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 egg whites, slightly beaten

1 to 1-1/2 cups finely chopped almonds

1/3 cup tangerine-ginger curd

In a large mixing bowl cream together the butter and sugar until fluffy. Add the yolks, okara and vanilla and mix well. Gradually add the flour and salt, mixing well. Shape into 3/4" balls; dip in egg whites, then roll in almonds. Place on greased cookie sheets approximately 1" apart. Press down center of cookie with your thumb. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes. Cool slightly, then move to wire racks to cool completely. Just before serving, fill centers with curd. Makes approximately 3 dozen.

Tangerine-Ginger Curd •

3/4 cup butter

1 cup fresh squeezed tangerine juice

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice

1 tablespoon ginger liquid (liquid obtained from grated ginger root that has been pressed in a sieve)

6 eggs

In a small saucepan over medium heat, combine butter, tangerine juice, sugar, lemon juice, and ginger liquid. Stir constantly (do NOT boil) until very hot and thickened slightly. Remove from heat and cool for at least 20 minutes. Meanwhile, with an electric mixer, beat eggs until thick and creamy. Add the juice mixture to the eggs, beating until combined. Put mixture back into saucepan and stir (over low heat) until very hot and thickened. Do NOT boil. Remove from heat and pour into jars (strain if you want). Keep refrigerated. Makes approximately 4-1/2 to 5 cups.

tastes to remember • apple bars

Sarah over at Homemade: Experiences in the Kitchen has started a new event called Tastes to Remember. I have so many tastes to remember (most of them fondly, except for the occasional “wild game” that my father brought home) as my mother was/is a great cook. Not only did she cook, she baked AND preserved food. AND she did all this with six monsters under her feet. AND her house was cleaner than mine will ever be. *Sigh*  These bars were one of our favorites growing up. My mother always had a plate of these goodies ready with a big glass of cold milk when we arrived home from school. She knew that all that learnin’ gave us an appetite. A great recipe to have at hand,  because it has NO DAIRY ingredients. So when you run out of eggs, milk, and butter and are craving something sweet—reach for this recipe...it will not let you down. Of course, I added okara (the whole point of my blog) but the original recipe follows my altered one. 

Apple Bars •

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl whisk together:

1-1/2 cups applesauce (homemade if you have it!)

1 cup safflower oil 

1 cup wet okara (this is referring to the okara straight from your machine, not dried)

1-1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons vanilla

In another large mixing bowl combine:

4 cups unbleached white flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup nuts (I usually use pecans or English walnuts)

1 cup raisins

Glaze:

2 cups powdered sugar

3 tablespoons liquid (milk, cream, soy milk or water)

Combine the wet ingredients with the dry; mixing until dry ingredients are incorporated. Grease a 10-1/2" x 15-1/2" jelly roll pan. Spread the batter (it will be thick) evenly in the pan. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes until golden brown and center tests done. Let cool in pan for approximately one hour, and frost with powdered sugar glaze. Cut into bars.

Original Apple Bar Recipe •

2 cups applesauce

1-1/2 cup oil

2 cups granulated sugar (you can cut back on this)

2 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons vanilla

5 cups flour

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon allspice

1/2 teaspoon cloves

2 teaspoons salt

1 cup nuts

1 cup raisins

Follow directions above for baking and Powdered Sugar Glaze.

pixie’s and rosie’s putting up event •

This event could not have come at a better time for me. I will be the first to admit it: I do better with deadlines. I have been wanting to make my own jam for almost a year (yes, folks, you read that right...almost a YEAR). I had strawberries in the freezer from last June that really needed to be used. You see, my mother is the jam and jelly maker of the family. I remember helping her prepare the fruit; washing, stemming, coring and slicing. But for the life of me, I don’t ever remember watching her process the jam from start to finish. Could it be that she waited until all the gremlins were at school to fill those jars with hot, steaming deliciousness? At any rate, I have been very intimidated by the whole thing. So the Putting up Event came at the right time, giving me that extra little nudge I needed. That and the fact that we finally ran out of all the jam and jelly that my mother had given me on her last visit. My first jam is nothing exotic or different. Just strawberry jam. But I will tell you what my youngest darling said. “Mommy, this is WAY better than the stuff we get at the store, you should sell this!” Good enough for me!

an award and a silly tag •

I am honored! Elle from Elle’s New England Kitchen has awarded me the “Arte y pico” Award. She comments, “It's awarded to blogs for their creativity, design, interesting material, and that also contribute to the blogger community, no matter what language”...that was right off her website. Such an honor, especially coming from Elle, who cooks and bakes up some wonderful creations! I have to pass the award on to 5 blogs. Here are the rules:

1. Pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award with their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contribute to the blogger community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his or her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award-winner, has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her or him the award itself.

4. Post the rules.

The 5 blogs I choose:

1. Cooking with Anne

2. A Southern Grace

3. Palachinka

4. The Xocoatl Express

5. Thursday Night Smackdown

A Silly Meme •

Marja from Palachinka has tagged me for this silly meme. Here is how it works, and keep to the foodie theme if you can:

Pick up the nearest book. Open to page 123. Find the fifth sentence. Post the next three sentences. Tag 5 people and acknowledge who tagged you. 

Unfortunately, my cookbook is not nearly as interesting as hers. I am using The All-Purpose Cookbook—Joy of Cooking. I am reminded reading through it why I NEVER use this cookbook. It irritates the living **** out of me. First things first...the reading glasses. Ah! Here we go—the fifth sentence on page 123: Oddly enough, deep-fat frying is still another kind of dry heat cooking. 

I ask you, who cares? I just want something fried and chocolate...NOW!

The next three sentences: Here the heat is not only transferred by the oil or grease used as a cooking medium, but by the moisture in the food itself—some of the steam from the food juices being forced into the fat and then out into the atmosphere. Among dry heat pan-processes, sautéing, page 253, uses the least fat. Pan-broiling and pan-frying are successive steps beyond sautéing and away from the driest heat.

*Yawn* I know you are all sitting on the edge of your chairs waiting for the rest. Sorry to disappoint you. Thank you, Marja, for making me dig out that book...my good friend, Jill, is having a tag sale this weekend. Maybe it is time to pass this one on! I am tagging:

1. Cake Chica from Glass Slipper Cakery

2. Emiline from Visions of Sugarplum

3. Lidian from Kitchen Retro

4. Dharm from Dad-Baker & Chef

5. Francie from Ramblings of a Frantic Home Cook

happy mother’s day & what not to do on 4 hours of sleep •

I wish I had a photograph to show you. The kitchen was too dark, too hot and too cramped. And I was just too teed off, anyway. 

Last night I woke up at 1:00 a.m., and did not fall asleep again until the birds started chirping their sweet little heads off around 5:00 a.m. I woke up to an empty coffeepot, no coffee in the house...zippo. One hour left for me to get ready for work. My sweet husband (my crazed look would have scared anyone out of the house) was sent off to the local coffeehouse for some caffeinated brew. I threw together a bag lunch, grabbed my cup and went off to the shop. After a day of extremely boring work (why, of all days today?!) I headed home to what I refer to as the “Second Shift”. 

Facing a pantry of very slim pickings for dinner, I managed to find two lonely cans of tuna. I did have some leftover dough in the refrigerator from the last Slug that I had made. Aha! Tuna salad on rolls with broiled cheese on top—dinner for the non-vegetarians, straight cheese rolls for the veggies. After dinner, I faced a new dilemma; I had forgotten to make bread earlier. The little darlings did not have any to make their sandwiches with! Being a mom, and always ready to fly by the seat of my pants, I decided to bake some pb&j muffins. Of course there is no jam, no jelly. Aha! I have a jar of apple butter in my refrigerator! I should have stopped there. But I didn’t. I eyed the soybeans soaking in the corner, ready and waiting to be processed. I’m a mom! I can do four things at once if I have to, right? After all, I could probably make soy milk with my eyes closed by now!

In the space of a half-hour, I was juggling two emergency loads of laundry (we have a band concert tomorrow, mommy!) two batches of soy milk, and a muffin recipe. Meanwhile, the oven had been preheated very nicely, thank you. Crowding the counter with the soy milk machine, two muffins tins, measuring cups, measuring spoons, etc., I diligently carried on. One batch of soy milk down, cooling on the stove. One muffin recipe half done, waiting for the rest of the liquid ingredients. I measured out the oil and poured it in. I measured out the peanut butter, and in it plopped. I began to stir. Hmmm...seems a little...OH  *%$!!!#@!!* You all know what I did—

My beautiful batch of soy milk was now swimming with oil and peanut butter. It was now 9:00 p.m. I am sweating, the muffins still need to be baked, and the soy milk machine is beeping at me. I want to throw everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) in the sink and go to bed. You all know I didn’t. Visions of my mother flashed through my head. She is standing at the kitchen counter, in the middle of August. Steam is rising from the canner on the stove. It is well past midnight, but when produce needs to be processed, it doesn’t wait. She has six children to feed, nothing is wasted.

I scooped out the peanut butter and added it to the correct mixing bowl. The soy milk, alas, could not be saved. I finished up the muffins and put them in to bake. I made the second batch of soy milk and put the okara in the refrigerator. I put the last load in the dryer. 

Happy Mother’s Day to all those mommies out there who never give up!

okara pb&j muffins •

Lunch making is a snap with these peanut butter and jam muffins. My darlings make their own lunches for school, usually. My job as their mother is to nag, nag, NAG them the night before. “Did you make your lunch?” “I WILL, Mom, after this game...it’s almost over”. Mom goes about her business, completely forgetting that the question was even asked until five minutes before bedtime. “Well, looks like you will have to get up early and make it before school”. Yeah, right...like that’s going to happen! They run off to school the next morning, and call you to tell you that they forgot their lunch. You mean the lunch that was never made? Do I let them starve to teach them a lesson, or do I quick make a lunch before I leave for work and drop it off? OH! The Mommy Guilt! I am chock-full of it. I used Concord Grape preserves on this batch, without the optional topping. These muffins will make short work out of making lunch, a great grab-it-and-go muffin for children or Mommies. 

Okara PB&J Muffins •

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Whisk together in a medium mixing bowl:

1 cup wet okara (this is referring to the okara straight from your machine)

1-1/2 cups vanilla yogurt

1 cup crunchy peanut butter

1/4 cup safflower oil

1/4 cup dark brown sugar

Sift together in a large mixing bowl:

3 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1-1/2 cups unbleached white flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/4 ground flaxseed meal

1/2 teaspoon salt

Set aside:

3 to 4 tablespoons fruit jam

3 tablespoons chopped peanuts - optional for topping

1 tablespoon sugar - optional for topping

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing until just combined. DO NOT OVER MIX. Line your muffin tins with paper liners. Fill the liners 1/3 of the way with batter. Make a small dent in the center of the batter and place 1 teaspoon of fruit jam inside of the dent. Spoon batter on top of jam to equal 2/3 full. Mix the chopped peanuts and sugar together and sprinkle on top if desired. Bake muffins 25 to 30 minutes until golden brown.

UPDATE! Just made a batch with Apple Butter instead of jam/jelly. The eldest darling declared them to be her favorite so far.

what’s in a name? the slug •

As much as I would like to introduce this dinner as something else, I can’t. You know how nicknames come about. The little darlings start bantering and the hubby chimes in. They think they are being terribly clever, and the next thing you know, the lovely dinner you chopped, minced and sautéed over is affectionately called “The Slug”. Just because it was a tad longer than the baking sheet I chose, and I had to slightly curl it into a *gulp* worm shape. Despite the handle that it carries, this dinner a wonderful cheesy conglomeration rolled up in a yeast bread made with okara. Serve it with a crispy, green salad. I promise that it won’t be slimy at all.

The Slug • 

The Dough

1-3/4 cups warm water

1 (1/4 ounce) package active dry yeast (2-1/4 teaspoons)

2 tablespoons olive oil

1-1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup warm wet okara (this is referring to the okara straight from your machine)

4 cups white unbleached flour

1 cup whole wheat flour

In a large mixing bowl sprinkle yeast over warm water. Let it sit and dissolve for about 5 minutes. Stir and add the oil, salt, okara, and 2 cups of white flour. Beat well until gluten forms; the mixture will become stringy. Gradually add the rest of the flour until it forms a soft but firm dough. Cover the bowl with a kitchen towel and let rise until double (about 1 hour). While the dough rises, prepare the filling. This recipe makes enough dough for 3 thin-crust pizzas, or 1 thin crust pizza and 1 Slug.

The Filling

1 cup dehydrated tomatoes 

Place dehydrated tomatoes in a bowl and cover them with warm water.

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil

1 cup sweet yellow bell pepper, chopped

1 medium onion, chopped

2 cups white button mushrooms, sliced

3 cloves of garlic, minced

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups mozzarella cheese

2 teaspoons dried parsley flakes

2 teaspoons dried basil

1 teaspoon oregano

1 teaspoon chili powder

1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper

 In a large skillet, heat the olive oil until shimmering. Sauté the  bell pepper, onion, and mushrooms until mushrooms are reduced and slightly browned, about 7 minutes. Add garlic and sauté until fragrant, about 10 seconds. Drain the tomatoes and add to the skillet, sauté briefly. Add salt. 

Oil a baking sheet with olive oil. Dividing dough into thirds, use two-thirds for your Slug. Using your fingers, press the dough flat onto the baking sheet. Spread your filling evenly across the dough. Sprinkle dough with mozzarella cheese, the herbs and the spices. Starting at long side of your dough, roll up and tuck in the ends, seam side down. Curve the roll slightly to form your Slug. Let rise in a warm area until double, approximately 45 minutes to an hour. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Bake the Slug for 35 to 45 minutes.