Fig and Walnut Biscotti

For our annual Cookie Exchange, I chose to make Fig and Walnut Biscotti.  They are super easy, aside from that you have to bake them twice, and addicting.  The flavor combination packs a big punch with orange zest, cinnamon, cloves, and nutmeg.  They have a pleasant crunch level with figgy soft spots.  I made a quadruple batch (based on the linked recipe - technically it was double the original recipe) and I had to make a second batch before Christmas, because I ate them all!  I can see this becoming one of those recipes that I always make and become somewhat "known for."

Cornmeal Pancakes with Warm Cherry Sauce

The featured cookbook right now is Ancient Grains for Modern Meals, which I bought a few months ago.  I haven't made too much from this book, but I flagged a few to try over the next few weeks while it's being featured.

Today I decided on the Cornmeal Pancakes with Warm Cherry Sauce.  Why?  I wanted breakfast, and I had a bag of cherries in the fridge that were hanging on by a thread and I didn't want them to go to waste.  Plus I love things with cornmeal.  I had a great cornbread french toast once at the place we sometimes go to brunch on the weekends - I'll have to remember to recreate that sometime.  So I decided to make the cornmeal pancakes.

They really came out great.  I enjoyed them as well as the warm cherry sauce.  I halved each cherry to remove the pit (with all my kitchen gadgets, I surprisingly do not own a cherry pitter) and cooked them with honey, orange zest, and cloves to make a delicious sauce, thickened with a bit of cornstarch.  I multiplied the recipe by 1.5 because I had 3 cups of cherries instead of 2 to use.  I have about 2 cups left that we'll have to find another use for (cherry yogurt maybe?) but I'm not too worried about that.

I didn't have any buttermilk, so I used yogurt thinned out a bit in its place.  I think it worked out just fine - I didn't notice any significant difference, but I would also like to try it as written.  I would also love to try the cornmeal pancakes with blueberries.  In fact, I could see making a similar kind of sauce with blueberries... maybe with some cinnamon instead of cloves and lemon instead of orange zest... yum!

Orange, Coconut and Currant "Grain-ola"

I've been meaning to make granola lately.  I wanted to make some to give as a holiday gift, but finals and my infinite illness cancelled those plans.  Since I'm going on vacation next week and need to bring some snacks, I decided to do a test run of a new (to me) granola recipe from Super Natural Cooking.

The recipe gives you a few options, so for this (half) batch I went with walnuts and currants.  It came out very tasty.  I've eaten some plain and also with plain yogurt.  I look forward to trying other variations as well, particularly what's suggested in the recipe (I didn't have some of the suggested ingredients).  I like that the recipe uses coconut oil because I have a lot of that and it's set to expire next month.  It seems like it would travel well, too.  I thought it was a little strange roasting dried fruit, but it worked out fine.  You can do that or add it in after.  A perfect granola recipe requires many tries to find, so I'll be experimenting in the near future.

Orange and Oat Scones

I don't typically make the currently featured recipe on 101 Cookbooks because I rarely have time to do it, but I couldn't pass up these Orange and Oat Scones. And I am so glad I took the time to make them, because they are SO good!!!

I hate the pastries at Starbucks because they are so full of sugar. These scones are so lightly sweetened, and the oats and whole wheat fill your stomach. The orange zest was the perfect addition to this - the slight flavor from the zest was amazing.

These were so simple and easy to make. I actually found afterwards that I accidentally used only half the amount of butter - but they still came out delicious! This also made them substantially healthier. I also skipped the currants - just not something I had on hand and I wasn't too sure if I really wanted them in there. Dried cranberries might be a really nice substitute for the currants. The walnuts lent a little extra texture in there too.


This recipe inspired me a little and I tried a little twist by using frozen blueberries and no orange zest or nuts. Aside from turning a little green on the outside, these came out great too, although the moisture from the blueberries (and their frozen-ness) changed the texture, so they were more cake-like rather than crumbly like a good scone should be. However, they reminded me a lot of the Blueberry Oat Cakes from Jamba Juice which I have been trying to find a recipe for forever - so if you like those, I would recommend this variation.

I would like to make these again... they might make a good Christmas gift, actually. I think it would work well to make and freeze the dough, then bake off a few as needed.

Peachy Fruit Smoothie

I have been craving a smoothie lately and didn't feel like cooking breakfast for myself, so I made up this smoothie. It is peachy and very delicious, although I think it may need a little extra liquid next time, because I am eating it with a spoon.

Ingredients:
1/2 bag frozen sliced peaches
1 frozen (or fresh) banana
6oz. pineapple juice
juice of 1 valencia orange
1 Tbsp ground flax seed

Directions:
1. Put everything in a blender and blend until well mixed. Add more liquid if necessary.

Ottolenghi Red Rice and Quinoa

Recently I picked up a LOT of grains at Whole Foods and I like to pick up interesting looking stuff to try out, even if I don't have something exactly in mind for it at the time. One of my acquisitions was Bhutanese red rice, and I remembered a recipe a few days later from my favorite recipe site. The recipe comes from a cookbook by the owners of a restaurant in the UK called Ottolenghi. It is something like a grain salad, served at room temperature. The dish is called Ottolenghi Red Rice and Quinoa, but the name doesn't even express the deliciousness!

At first when I was making this, I was feeling pretty overwhelmed. You cook the red rice and quinoa in two separate pots, then spread them (separately) on a sheet pan to cool to room temperature. At the same time, you slice and sautee white onion in olive oil. At the same time, you toast pistachios in the oven before chopping them up. And at the same time, you have to slice and dice and zest and juice and more with all the other ingredients. That is a lot to do all at once. I don't think it would be too much of a problem if you had the quinoa and red rice already made and let them warm to room temperature, or toasted and chopped the pistachios in advance, or did a lot of the chopping and zesting in advance. This would probably be another good picnic salad since it is intended to be served at room temperature. In smaller portions, it would also be a great salad course.

I halved the amount of grains knowing that the recipes on 101 Cookbooks usually produce way too much food for us as two people, and I estimated how much I would need for the other ingredients, whether using the quantities for the full recipe or halving them. This is really a matter of personal taste. I used the juice of a whole lemon and a whole Valencia orange because I like the citrus taste. I also love the orange zest - I like how zest kind of melts or dissolves into whatever the dish is, so I really love using it in almost anything. I also used a little more pistachios and apricots than the recipe calls for. The chopped dried apricots are so great in this dish - they add a fantastic sweetness against the arugula and grains, and they really complement the citrus flavor too.

In the end everything turned out all right. I ended up cooking the rice a little longer than the suggested time and having to add more water. The quinoa is easy to get right - when their little tails come out they are all done! You can always strain off any extra water if you overestimated or measured wrong. I got everything chopped and mixed together. Rather than putting a small bit of arugula on top as the picture shows, I served the grain mix on top of it and used quite a bit more. I think the peppery bite of the arugula goes really well with the citrusy grain mix. I am finding that I love citrus-dressed grains so I will probably be looking for more recipes that incorporate that, especially now that I have a huge stock of whole grains!

Layered Salad

One of the recipes that stood out to me from Food Matters was the Layered Salad. Mark Bittman gives a recipe, but each ingredient line has different choices. So for the bottom layer you would choose tomato or orange, etc. This is his twist on the classic tomato/mozzarella layering which you probably see quite frequently. In this salad there are several layers, and only one of them is cheese, which makes the idea of a layered salad more in line with his plan for "sane" eating - consuming less animal products. I really like this "diet" because you don't have to deny yourself anything; you only have to learn how to enjoy things in moderation.

For this salad, I layered (from bottom to top): oranges, red onions, feta cheese, peaches, and granny smith apples. The dressing (for which he offers a few variations) is lemon juice, olive oil, salt and pepper, and two chopped basil leaves. I made this in a small square tupperware to take with me to work. This is just one of many possible combinations for the salad.

In Food Matters, Mark Bittman suggests spending a little extra time when you have it to do prep work like washing and slicing. This way you always have stuff on hand and ready to go, whether it is for snacking or cooking with. These things will keep in the refrigerator for a few days, or you can freeze them. I should have considered that, because I underestimated how long this salad would take me. I did it while getting ready for work, and it took me at least 20 minutes. (If you know me, you know this threw me into a panic and made me almost miss the train... and you also know I prioritized this salad over my hair, putting work clothes on, etc.) Another negative effect of the time crunch was that the top layer, the apple, was supposed to be either chopped finely or grated. I would have liked to grate the apple, but I unfortunately did not have time and had to put small slices on instead.

The combination of ingredients was surprisingly good. The slight saltiness of the feta, plus the salt and pepper in the dressing and the red onion, gives a different taste to this otherwise being a fruit salad. Next time I would cut everything into smaller pieces to get more variety in each bite. The apple definitely needs to be grated and maybe tossed in the dressing to coat it up with lemon so it doesn't brown. I might also use crumbled feta rather than the slices since it was falling apart with each bite anyway. I would also like to try mint instead of basil - I think that would be a very interesting flavor.

I know it doesn't look too pretty in the picture, since it's in a tupperware and there isn't great lighting, but the mix of colors is beautiful and the red onion especially adds to the aesthetically pleasing dish. This could be a great picnic or barbecue salad.

I also have tomato and mozzarella, so I might try another variation of the salad with the more vegetable-y ingredient choices for tomorrow's lunch. But you don't even really need to follow the recipe to make this - you can easily just make up your own stuff. The idea to keep in mind is that you want the bulk of the salad to come from plants, not animals.