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The Recipe Thread! Part II: Electric Mixaroo

I pay about $5.00 for a 12 oz. box (organic). That's my only option. For $5.00 you can buy a 5lb bag of rice. There is no health food or ethnic grocer here selling the stuff in bins unfortunately. Health Food places can sometimes be a ripoff IME, but most ethnic grocers generally keep costs low. I'm sure there's an internet source out there for it that's a much better bargain. I like it much better than rice.
 
Yeah when something gets labeled a 'super food', is considered upmarket or the new must-have food by people (especially TV chefs, grr), the price goes up. It costs a lot of money to be healthy it seems. I love brown rice and wild rice, couscous and quinoa, depending on what I'm cooking.
 
Well, at least that "super-food" designation brought it to the stores, and it is trendy now. I thing guyere cheese has gone out of style again.

Not big on brown rice, wild rice is a nice treat from time to time, and couscous is awesome. It's really easy to come up with tons of couscous pilaf type recipes.

Here, all food has gone up in price a lot in the past few years. Even frozen pizzas will bankrupt you.
 
I love gruyere cheese, I'm so uncool now! ;);)

And so true, at least healthier foods are more readily available these days.
 
A really good couscous side dish I like is to make the couscous, and while it is steaming off the stove with the lid on, fry up some chopped scallions in olive oil and then toss with couscous. Usually adding salt to the frying scallions is enough for flavor.

Another one is to simply add chopped walnuts, dried cherries, and about a tablespoon of butter and a little salt to the couscous before you bring it to a boil. Using chicken broth instead of water in this one might be good.

With quinoa, try this: add frozen chopped green peppers and a rinsed can of black beans (I just dump the liquid out of the can and add some clean water to the can and shake with my hand over it a few times till they are rinsed, also keep the lid to make draining them easier) salt, and a little onion powder to about 1 cup of quinoa. Cook and then top with mozzerella cheese. another one pan dish for easier cleanup.

Since I live alone, I mostly make stuff that is easy, yet good, and my cooking these days revolves around using the least number of pots and pans possible. I hate washing dishes.
 
You can also make buckwheat "kasha" which is kind of like a couscous and quinoa type thing. You really have to do this first to make it good though:

Put kasha in a skillet over like medium heat, crack an egg and mix it up with the kasha real well and let the egg coating dry onto the grains. Then boil like rice or quinoa.

But beware, since you aren't frying something with egg, just cooking it onto something, it gets on the pan too and is really tough to wash off. Not often worth it IMO, but sometimes really worth it!
 
MyFinalRest said:
You can also make buckwheat "kasha" which is kind of like a couscous and quinoa type thing. You really have to do this first to make it good though:

Put kasha in a skillet over like medium heat, crack an egg and mix it up with the kasha real well and let the egg coating dry onto the grains. Then boil like rice or quinoa.

But beware, since you aren't frying something with egg, just cooking it onto something, it gets on the pan too and is really tough to wash off. Not often worth it IMO, but sometimes really worth it!
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Where I am, they sell both buckwheat and kasha as two separate things--Kasha, as far as I know, is already fried in oil or whatever, prior to being packaged. The cook time on it is halved. I've always just went with plain buckwheat, and while it's good, I find it's even more delicious if I overcook it, and the insides expand their casings--Looks like boxed stuffing, and is so good made with broth instead of water.

Also, if you get something in the pan that's really tough to wash off, put a drop or two of dish soap in the pan and let it sit with water in it for at least a half hour. When you come back, it won't be all that hard to get off. :)
 
Kasha is just slightly ground up I think, and that's why it doesn't take as long. haha, trust me, If you get dried egg on a pan like this, it's not something a half hour soak will take care of. It's more like a day and then you can dump the soak water and then boil some more water in the pan for a while to loosen it up and then...get ready to scour the fuck out of it. Have you ever had your car egged? My car got egged one night a few months ago and even though I got to it before it was completely dry, it was still really hard to get off the windshield!

P.S. making it with the egg gives a nice fluffy, yet somewhat firm texture and also improves the flavor. Without it, kasha cooks up mushy.
 
^ "Buckwheat is sold either unroasted or roasted, the latter oftentimes called 'kasha,' from which a traditional European dish is made. Unroasted buckwheat has a soft, subtle flavor, while roasted buckwheat has more of an earthy, nutty taste. Its color ranges from tannish-pink to brown. Buckwheat is often served as a rice alternative or porridge." (Source.)

And nope, I've thankfully never had my car egged. I guess we prepare eggs differently as when ever I've cooked eggs, even if it burns on, if I let it soak in water with a little bit of soap, it comes off. *Shrug* Maybe because I enjoy doing the dishes, the extra scrubbing it really requires doesn't phase me? :P It's been awhile since I've cooked with egg, too.
 
oatmeal raisin cookie recipe

I've baked these quite a few times. They're made with oil and are healthier than normal cookies (made with butter) and taste really nice.

3 cups rolled oats (whole oats, not instant)
1/2 cup roughly chopped pecan nuts
1 cup raisins
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups brown sugar or raw sugar
1/2 cup apple sauce (the original recipe called for apple butter but I couldn't find that)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup grapeseed or canola oil
1 tspn vanilla extract
2 cups plain or all purpose flour
1 tspn baking soda
1/2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
1 tspn ground cinnamon
1/4 tspn mixed spice

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (175 fan forced). Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper.

Spread oats and nuts on an ungreased baking pan and toast until lightly browned, around 5-7 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Combine raisins with water in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over low heat and cook until the raisins are plumped, about 10 minutes. Drain, discarding liquid and set aside.

Beat sugar, apple sauce, eggs, oil and vanilla in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves into another bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a spoon until just combined. Stir in the oats, nuts and raisins and mix well.

Drop the dough by rounded teaspoons onto the prepared baking sheets, until lightly browned, around 11-12 minutes.

Makes around 16-20 depending on size (I think, I keep changing this because I can't remember!).

I found the original recipe on http://www.foodnetwork.com/ but couldn't find the link just now for some reason.
 
Sweet potato hummus! I sort of made it up:

bake some sweet potatoes in the oven wrapped in tin foil at 420 degrees farenheit ;) for about an hour or until cooked softly all the way through.

put in a big bowl and take the peels off (or leave them on for extra fiber/nutrition)
pour an almost equal amount of tahini, well mixed, on the sweet potatoes
several tablespoons of olive oil
sea salt
cumin
onion powder
garlic powder
black pepper
mash with a fork well until all one texture.

I've discovered that if you freeze it and thaw it, the taste improves amazingly... it tastes like... cheesecake or something. It's crazy, there's like some chemical reaction that takes place or something. I dunno. Try it out.
 
i made an awesome fig butter, apple and prosciutto sandwich for dinner. i mostly want to brag about how yummy it was and thank alisadarm for mentioning awhile back :)
 
Miss_vanilla said:
I've baked these quite a few times. They're made with oil and are healthier than normal cookies (made with butter) and taste really nice.

3 cups rolled oats (whole oats, not instant)
1/2 cup roughly chopped pecan nuts
1 cup raisins
1 cup water
1 1/2 cups brown sugar or raw sugar
1/2 cup apple sauce (the original recipe called for apple butter but I couldn't find that)
2 large eggs
1/4 cup grapeseed or canola oil
1 tspn vanilla extract
2 cups plain or all purpose flour
1 tspn baking soda
1/2 tspn baking powder
1/2 tspn salt
1 tspn ground cinnamon
1/4 tspn mixed spice

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C (175 fan forced). Line 2 baking sheets with baking paper.

Spread oats and nuts on an ungreased baking pan and toast until lightly browned, around 5-7 minutes. Set aside to cool.

Combine raisins with water in a small saucepan. Bring to a simmer over low heat and cook until the raisins are plumped, about 10 minutes. Drain, discarding liquid and set aside.

Beat sugar, apple sauce, eggs, oil and vanilla in a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Sift flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and cloves into another bowl. Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a spoon until just combined. Stir in the oats, nuts and raisins and mix well.

Drop the dough by rounded teaspoons onto the prepared baking sheets, until lightly browned, around 11-12 minutes.

Makes around 16-20 depending on size (I think, I keep changing this because I can't remember!).

I found the original recipe on http://www.foodnetwork.com/ but couldn't find the link just now for some reason.
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How do you think they'd taste with olive oil instead of canola? (I refuse to use the soy ["vegetable"] oil we have in the house and I only have EVOO.) And how do you think they'd be without the pecans? I'm not a fan of crunchy in with chewy, lol. :P

Dave said:
Awesome. Awesome to the max.

Best part: so easily veganized.
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+1 :D
 
^^Any flavourless oil is fine - I use grapeseed oil for cooking and baking and it's super versatile but I don't see why olive oil wouldn't work. Although evoo would have too much flavour I imagine as it's a strong oil.

And aaww I love crunchy! But not everyone is a nut fanatic like me, I understand that. I'm sure they'd be fine, the nuts aren't a huge part of the recipe anyway as there's only a handful of chopped ones in there. It's mainly the spices and oats and fruit which stand out.

They're not like cookies baked with butter in that they're a bit softer I guess, but still chewy and taste great. If you wanted to use butter instead you might like to experiment a bit - I haven't done this though.
 
^ I don't use cow's milk butter, but I get what you're saying with the difference. :) (I use a spread called Earth Balance, the soy-free variety.)

I think I'm going to have to buy a flavourless oil--I'm finding more and more recipes where EVOO doesn't work, and I'd really rather not use the soy "vegetable" oil. 8)
 
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