Cucumber Sandwiches

This is a variation of the Cucumber and Dill Hearts recipe from “The Book of Afternoon Tea” by Lesley Mackey.

 

Cucumber Sandwiches

¼ cucumber washed and dried (optional to peel)

½ teaspoon red wine vinegar 

½ teaspoon table salt

3 tablespoons butter, softened

4 slices white bread

Pepper

1) Cut cucumber into paper thin slices. Place in a colander and sprinkle with vinegar and salt. Let sit for 30 minutes.

2) Pat cucumber dry on paper towles.

3) Butter bread.

4) Arrange cucumber slices on buttered sides of 2 bread slices. Season cucumber with pepper.

5) Cover with remaining bread slices, buttered side down. Gently press together.

6) Cut each sandwich into either 4 triangles or rectangles.

Cucumber Sandwiches ready to be eaten

Ginger Cake

 
I was recently going through my copy of “The Book of Afternoon Tea”by Lesley Mackey and found the page for this recipe dog-earred with hand written notations around the recipe which means the ginger cake recipe provide here is a varation.


Ginger Cake

½ cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, room temperature
¾ cup light brown sugar, packed
2 eggs
5 teaspoons light corn syrup
4 teaspoon applesauce
5 teaspoons milk
pinch molasses
2 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
¾ teaspoon baking powder
pinch allspice


1) Place oven rack on middle rung setting.

2) Preheat oven to 325 degrees farenheit. 

3) Grease an 11-inch by 7-inch or 8-inch square baking pan and line with waxed paper.

4) In a large bowl, cream butter or margarine and sugar. Beat in eggs, syrup, applesauce, milk, molasses. Add flour, ginger, cinnamon, baking powder, allspice and beat until well mixed.

5) Pour batter into pan and bake 45 – 50 minutes or until well risen and toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

6) Cool in pan 30 minutes, then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

“Crunchy” Granola Bars or What to do with One (or half) Ripe Banana

 This is another “What to do with One Ripe Banana” recipe which is a blending of my OneBanana Oat Cookie recipe with my Pecan Cranberry Granola recipe and an attempt to make a crunchy granola bar. This recipe can be used to make “loose” granola if you prefer or halved if all you have is half a banana.

Whole (one banana) recipe (makes about 20 bars)

1 ripe banana, mashed

3 cups quick cook old-fashioned rolled oats

1 1/2 cups raw sunflower seeds

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup chopped walnuts or chopped pecans or chopped almonds

3/4 cup pure maple syrup, preferably grade B or organic agave nectar

1/2 cup olive oil

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)

1/2 teaspoon ground turmeric (optional)

1) Place oven rack on middle run setting.

2) Preheat oven to 300 degrees farenheit.

3) Place the oats, sunflower seeds, shredded coconut, nuts, salt, cinnamon, ginger (optional), turmeric (optional) in a large bowl. Mix until well combined.

4) Add the mashed banana, olive oil, maple syrup or agave nectar. Mix until dry ingredients are coated. Let mixture sit for 5 minutes before moving to next step.

5) If making crunchy granola bars shape into bars about 4 ½ inches long by 1 inch wide by 1/8 inch tall on medium- to large-size non-stick cookie sheet. If making “loose” granola spread mixture in an even layer on a medium- to large-size cookie sheet.

6) Bake 30-55 minutes until granola bars are toasty dark brown on the edges. If making “loose” granola, bake 30-55 minutes until a golden to toasty bown.

7) Remove granola from oven and let cool completely on cookie sheet. 

8) Store granola in airtight container. 

Half (one half banana) recipe (makes about 10 bars)

1/2 ripe banana, mashed

1 1/2 cups quick cook old-fashioned rolled oats

3/4 cups raw sunflower seeds

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/2 cup chopped walnuts or chopped pecans or chopped almonds

3/8 cup pure maple syrup, preferably grade B or organic agave nectar

1/4 cup olive oil

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (optional)

1/4 teaspoon ground turmeric (optional)

1) Place oven rack on middle run setting.

2) Preheat oven to 300 degrees farenheit.

3) Place the oats, sunflower seeds, shredded coconut, nuts, salt, cinnamon, ginger (optional), turmeric (optional) in a large bowl. Mix until well combined.

4) Add the mashed banana, olive oil, maple syrup or agave nectar. Mix until dry ingredients are coated. Let mixture sit for 5 minutes before moving to next step.

5) If making crunchy granola bars shape into bars about 4 ½ inches long by 1 inch wide by 1/8 inch tall on medium- to large-size non-stick cookie sheet. If making “loose” granola spread mixture in an even layer on a medium- to large-size cookie sheet.

6) Bake 25-45 minutes until granola bars are toasty dark brown on the edges. If making “loose” granola, bake 25-45 minutes until a golden to toasty bown.

7) Remove granola from oven and let cool completely on cookie sheet. 

8) Store granola in airtight container. 

Crunchy Granola Bars Cooling on Cookie Sheet

Peanut Butter Criss Crosses

I originally learned this recipe from my mother's “Better Home and Garden” cookbook which was a five-ring binder, 8 ½ inch by 11 inch hardcover meant to be used.  It always easy to know which recipes were used frequently as their pages are dotted with stains, partially or entirely missing from this cookbook.  The latter is the case with this recipe.  I'm not surprised the page is missing from this recipe book as there was time when I knew this recipe by heart.  Thankfully, the paperback version of this same cookbook which I acquired in 1995 contains this recipe.  

½ cup (1 stick) butter softened/at room temperature 
½ cup sugar 
1/2 cup brown sugar 
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract 
1 egg
½ cup peanut butter 
1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour plus 1-2 extra tablespoons for making criss cross 
½ teaspoon baking soda  
½ teaspoon baking powder   

Place oven rack on middle run setting. 

Preheat oven to 375 degrees farenheit.  

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar until blended.  Add egg and vanilla extract. Mix.  Add peanut butter.  Mix.  Add flour, baking soda and baking powder.  Mix.  

Drop dough by rounded teaspoons onto non-stick cookie sheet about 2 inches apart.  

To make criss cross design put 1-2 tablespoons flour on a small plate.  Gently tap back of fork tines against dough to prepare fork for first time use.  

Gently dip back of fork tines in flour to coat as this will keep dough from sticking to fork as you make criss cross.  Partially flatten rounded teaspoon of dough with back of fork in one direction and then the opposite to make the criss cross.  Repeat until all teaspoons of dough on cookie sheet complete.  

Bake in oven for 7 – 9 minutes or until bottoms appear lightly browned.  

Cool cookies on wire rack.  

Irish Oatmeal Muffin or Bread (makes 24 muffins or 4 mini loaves)

On recent perusal through my revised 13^th edition of The Fanny Farmer Cookbook, I came across this recipe in the muffin section. Not being in the mood to bake 24 muffins but needing to use up 2 cups of milk before it spoiled I chose to make mini-loaves of bread with the intention of freezing one or two of the loaves for later.

This recipe requires soaking of rolled oats for according to my Fanny Farmer Cookbook, “The Irish cook their oatmeal all night long for a rich and creamy effect. These muffins take on that same flavor from soaking the oatmeal overnight in buttermilk.”

I found the end result to be perfect for toasting and topping with butter, maple syrup, applesauce or strawberry jam. Needless to say, none of the 4 mini loaves made it to the freezer.

Irish Oatmeal Muffin or Bread

2 cups buttermilk or 2 tablespoons lemon juice and scant 2 cups milk
1 cup rolled oats
2 eggs
½ – ¾ cup dark-brown sugar (if you like your muffins sweet, use the larger amount)
1 2/3 cups whole-wheat flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt or ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil

 

In a large bowl combine the oats with the buttermilk or lemon juice and milk. Stir well. Cover. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours, preferably overnight before mixing and baking the muffins.

Place oven rack in middle position. Preheat oven to 400 degrees farenheit. Line with paper liners or grease two 12-cup muffin tins if making muffins. If making mini-loaves, set aside 4 non-stick mini-loaf pans.

Remove milk-oatmeal mixture from refrigerator. Add eggs to this mixture and gently beat. Gradually add sugar and gently beat until well blended. Add flour, baking soda, salt and oil. Beat until batter well blended.

If making muffins, fill muffin tins about three-quarters full with batter and bake for about 20 minutes. Start testing for doneness after 15 minutes. Remove muffins from the cups and cool on racks or serve hot.

If making mini-loaves, fill pans three-quarters full with batter. Place pans on a cookie sheet and bake 25-30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of loaf comes out clean. The cookie sheet is to catch any of the batter in the event it bakes over the top of a pan. Remove pans from oven, loaves from pan and cool on rack for at least five minutes before serving.

Store any leftovers in air-tight container. 

 

Two mini loaves done 

and 

cooling on rack

Vegan Caesar Salad Dressing or Dip

 
On a shopping trip many months ago, I bought Tuscan (Lacinato, Dinosaur) Kale with the goal of making kale krisps. I don't recall if this kale ever became kale krisps but it got my mind thinking what these greens would taste like with a caesar salad dressing since I've used them making a salad with roasted butternut squash and red onions topped with creamy dairy-free sunflower seed olive oil dressing.

This thought set me on a quest to find a caesar salad dressing I could made home which would be dairy, egg and anchovy free. After reading a lot of recipes I settled on this one which is a slight variation from one which appeared in the June 2018 issue of Yoga Journal. Omit the water from this recipe and you've got a dip for crackers, apples, raw carrots, cucumbers.


Vegan Caesar Salad Dressing or Dip

½ cup raw pumpkin seeds or raw sunflower seeds
2 tablespoons tahini (sesame seed paste)
¼ cup olive oil
2 tablespoons nutritional yeast
1/4 cup lemon juice
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon table salt or ¾ tsp kosher salt (optional)
½ teaspoon ground black pepper
water, if needed or desired to thin recipe (skip if making this as a dip)

Place pumpkin or sunflower seeds, tahini, olive oil, nutritional yeast, lemon juice, vinegar, black pepper and salt (if using) into a blender or food processor.

If using a blender, pulse on low a few times, then blend on high for one minute. If making as a salad dressing add water one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved.

If using a food processor, pulse several times until ingredients begin to blend and then mixed until fully blended. If making as a salad dressing add water one tablespoon at a time until desired consistency is achieved.

If making as a salad dressing, pour dressing over salad and toss. 

If making as a dip serve with crackers, apples, raw carrots, cucumbers.

Refrigerate unused portion in an airtight container. 

                                    Vegan Caesar Salad Dip 
                                        ready to be served

 

 

Wheat and Dairy Free Skillet Roasted Cod Fillets (serves 1 – 2)

 

Since my family knows I love to cook, I am the recipient of recipes including cookbooks, hand written copies and those clipped from a print journal which belonged to a family member who no longer cooks. This is how I ended up with a 1933 copy of Better Homes Recipe Book by Marjorie Mills from which I got my “Drop Whole Wheat Biscuits” recipe.

This recipe is a variation of one I received in the collection kept my late Aunt Caroline which she clipped from print journal. Hers didn't specify the amounts of the ingredients, except for this fish, which I'm okay with but in sharing this recipe I felt it critical to specify amounts along with cooking times, size of skillet and a reminder to wrap a towel around the handle of the skillet at the end as I can tell you from personal experience the handle can remain very hot for a good amount of time.

I've used both fresh cod and frozen cod with this recipe as well as fillets of different thicknesses at the same time. My preference is for day boat fresh cod which I realize not everyone has access to. Additionally, day boat fresh cod won't fill your house with a “fishy” smell.

The end result is a fillet which is browned on the outside easily cut with a fork.



Wheat and Dairy Free skillet Roasted Cod Fillets (serves 1-2)

1 pound cod, fresh or frozen which have been thawed
¼ cup canola oil
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
¼ teaspoon white sugar
1/8 – ¼ teaspoon ground black pepper (if you don't like a heavy pepper taste, use the smaller amount)

 
11 – 12 inch skillet which is stovetop and oven safe
spatula large enough to flip fish
dish towel

1) Place oven rack on middle rung.
2) Pre-heat oven to temperature to 425 degrees farenheit.

3) Remove any skin from fish.
4) Sprinkle 1/8 teaspoon of salt and sugar on this side of the fish.
5) Sprinkle half the black pepper (1/16 – 1/8 teaspoon) on side of fish just sprinkled with sugar and salt.

6) Sprinkle remaining 1/8 teaspoon of salt and sugar on this side of the fish.
7) Sprinkle remaining half the black pepper (1/16 – 1/8 teaspoon) on side of fish just sprinkled with sugar and salt.

8) Pour canola oil into skillet and gently swirl oil around until bottom of skillet is coated in oil.
9) Heat oil over medium-high heat. You'll know the oil is heated when you tilt skillet very slightly and the oil ripples or wave.

10)Place fish in skillet and cook over medium-high heat for 1-5 minutes or until the oil around all fish pieces is browned and the top of the fish begins to “flake”.
11) Flip fish using spatula.

12) Turn off stovetop and place skillet in pre-heated oven for 7-11 minutes. Time in oven will depend upon thickness of fish.

13) Remove skillet from oven and place dish towel around handle.

14) Serve fish. Store any leftovers in airtight container in refrigerator.

Skillet Roasted Cod Fillets ready to serve