OK, let’s start with the new pattern. You might have already heard that the new Twist Collective is out. It’s a great issue with some fabulous articles and a great selection of patterns. I especially liked all the socks. I have a pattern in the collection called Pidder Pat (above). It’s a baby sweater crocheted from . . . → Read More: Potage, Baguette, and a New Pattern]]>

OK, let’s start with the new pattern. You might have already heard that the new Twist Collective is out. It’s a great issue with some fabulous articles and a great selection of patterns. I especially liked all the socks. I have a pattern in the collection called Pidder Pat (above). It’s a baby sweater crocheted from Lorna’s Laces Green Line DK.

I know I said in my last post that I didn’t see obvious creative connections between the books on tape I listened to and my design work. It appears dinner is a different story. I was nearly done preparing our Sunday meal before I realized that an influence must have occurred.

It’s not unusual for us to make a big pot of soup on Sunday that will get us through a few nights the following week. This week, I decided to make yellow split pea soup with potatoes since we were trying to use up an over-abundance of tubers. In Dragonfly in Amber, the protagonists have just returned from France to their farm where they harvest a large crop of potatoes and make potato soup. My soup ended up a lovely amber color due to the addition of some tomato paste to add a bit of tanginess.

We don’t have a bakery here in Cordova, so when I do make soup I always bemoan the fact that we can’t have a crusty loaf to go with it. Occassionally I’ll make bread from scratch, but since I prefer the no knead recipes, that takes a little forethought. Today I decided to try making some dough in the bread maker, then baking it in my baguette pans. We’ve had the bread machine for about 13 years, and I’ve never used it just to make dough, but it was so easy and worked perfectly.

The baguettes had just the right crustiness and texture inside, and took only about 15 minutes total of hands-on time. (Really, not enough for my taste, I like to get my hands into dough when I make bread–but it was fast and yummy!)

I can see using this feature for making regular loaves and pizza dough too.

Here are my recipes:

Amber Potage

3 T olive oil
1 large onion, diced
1 lb carrots, diced
1 lb yukon potatoes, peeled and diced
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 T thyme
1 quart organic vegetable broth
2 quarts water
1 lb yellow split peas, sorted and rinsed
2 T apple cider vinegar
1 sm can tomato paste
salt and pepper to taste

Sauté onion until translucent. Add garlic, carrots, potatoes and sauté until vegetables start to get tender. Add thyme and cook 2 minutes more. Add broth then water and peas. Cook over medium heat until vegetables are soft and peas are cooked through. Using and immersion blender, purée the soup leaving some chunks of carrot and potato intact. Stir in tomato paste and stir until it’s completely incorporated. Add apple cider vinegar. Season with salt and pepper.

Bread Machine Baguettes
Adapted from the Black & Decker All-In-One Deluxe Automatic Breadmaker Operating Instructions & Cookbook Classic French Dough recipe

1 1/4 c water
2 t sugar
1 1/2 t salt
3 1/2 c organic unbleached flour
1 1/2 t active-dry yeast
2 T cornmeal
1 t. canola oil

Place the water, sugar, salt, flour and yeast into the bread machine pan in the order listed above. Set your machine to the “dough” setting. Grease baguette pans and sprinkle wtih cornmeal.

When the dough is finished, remove it from the machine, and on a clean surface, separate the dough in half. Stretch each piece into a long flat rectangle and then roll the rectangle into a baguette shape. Place the baguettes into the pans seam side down.

Cover the dough with a towel and allow to rise again in a warm spot (approximately 30 minutes). Preheat the oven to 400F. Slit the baguettes down the middle with a sharp knife. Bake for 25 minutes or until the internal temperature of the bread reads 190F on an instant read thermometer. Remove baguettes from pans and allow to cool on a wire rack.

Forgive the self-portrait–I had to take the . . . → Read More: New Pattern: Cosmopolitan Cowl]]> Sometimes my designs are inspired by fashion or nature or an idea or problem I want to solve, but sometimes, they are the simple result of harmony between yarn and hook. This cowl is such a design. The quiet undulating texture and soft scalloped edges developed organically as I worked.

Forgive the self-portrait–I had to take the photo while there was still some acceptable level of daylight, and there was no one around but me. This was at noon, but it seems like nearly dusk. The sun is at such a low angle these days, we never get bright sunlight, but the sunrises and sunsets are spectacular.

At TNNA, Eileen and Carl, the owners of Bijou Basin Ranch asked me to come up with a one-skein pattern using their luscious Yak-Cormo yarn. This yarn is a bit thick and thin, and it’s soft and light as a cloud, and extremely warm. It was certainly one of the exciting yarns at this years’ show. Clara wrote about it in her recent TNNA recap. I had first envisioned using it for a lace pattern, but the yarn wanted to be more of a solid fabric. I was chatting with Jess, who helped me wind the yarn in the bar/lobby of my hotel on Saturday night, and she mentioned she had been thinking of a feather and fan cowl which is the idea that eventually lead to the textured stitch you see here.

I checked in with Eileen on Sunday morning, and she liked the direction the cowl was going, so I proceeded, happy to have something non-teddy-bear-related to work on. The plane ride home was all it took to finish, and I put it to the test today. It did a great job keeping me warm in Cordova where it was crisp and in the high twenties today. (It didn’t help me remember that it takes extra time to scrape off the car before going anywhere so I was late to work at the yarn store this afternoon. By the way, nowhere else I have lived have I found frost INSIDE the car. Does anyone else have that issue?)

In the spirit of momentum, I wrote up the pattern today, but I’d love to test it out before releasing it. So, I will give a free draft of the pattern to the first five people who request one in the comments. The pattern uses about 150 yards of fingering (sock or slightly heavier) yarn and a 2.75mm crochet hook (USC). Please don’t ask for the pattern if you don’t think you have time to test it in the next week. Thank you!

I know, I should be done with the holiday baking. But we were invited for dinner at a friend’s house the other night, so I made a batch of cookies to bring along. I also made quick work of eating the extras we had lying around the house. These cookies are dangerous, I have . . . → Read More: C is for Cookie]]>

I know, I should be done with the holiday baking. But we were invited for dinner at a friend’s house the other night, so I made a batch of cookies to bring along. I also made quick work of eating the extras we had lying around the house. These cookies are dangerous, I have no resistence to them. It’s great to have a go-to vegan chocolate chip cookie recipe. This one is authentic, tollhouse-style, and it’s also easy using standard pantry ingredients.

I made just a few adaptations to Isa Chandra Moskowitz’s recipe from The Post Punk Kitchen blog. I doubled the recipe, and used a 15ml (1 Tablespoon) melon baller to scoop out the dough, which got me about 5 dozen 2-inch cookies. I did not flatten them, the oven took care of that nicely. I also baked at 360 degrees for nine minutes. If you read the PPK post you’ll see lots of comments with ideas for creative adaptation including adding cinnamon, pecans, dried cranberries. I’m sure that would be delicious too, but I’d rather not let anything get between me and a chocolate chip.

I don’t know if you’ve ever decided to make a yummy looking recipe and realized that it had “chocolate wafer cookies” as an ingredient. They are a tasty simple cookie, that I think used to be readily available in stores, but now are limited to gourmet shops (Gourmet shops don’t exist in Cordova). These . . . → Read More: The Elusive Chocolate Wafer Cookie]]>

I don’t know if you’ve ever decided to make a yummy looking recipe and realized that it had “chocolate wafer cookies” as an ingredient. They are a tasty simple cookie, that I think used to be readily available in stores, but now are limited to gourmet shops (Gourmet shops don’t exist in Cordova). These little cookies can be used in cookie crusts or in sandwich cookie desserts or pies or tarts or anywhere a bit of chocolate crunchiness might be a welcome addition–i.e. crumbled on top of pudding or ice cream or used to decorate the sides of a cake or as one layer of a trifle. At any rate, I had typically avoided such recipes because I didn’t have a ready source for chocolate wafer cookies, and I also don’t like to use a lot of processed foods in my cooking because, I’m a little perverse that way.

This weekend, I needed to make a dessert for a progressive dinner and I was devoid of inspiration. I felt tarted and pied and caked out from all of the fall fruit I had baked and birthdays I had fêted over the last few weeks. So it was time for something new. Thumbing through my cookbooks, I got a little obsessed with cheesecake. I had never made a cheesecake with actual cream cheese–In my days as a vegan chef I’d made plenty of delicious “cheesecakes” with tofu. But we’re in using things up mode since we’re travelling over Christmas, and I had a bunch of organic neufchatel cream cheese in the fridge from a bulk order earlier in the fall (when Jay was big in a bagel eating jag). Selma said, “Make a graham cracker crust!” But that didn’t really appeal to me. I definitely wanted chocolate involved. On top of that, my spring form pan has gone missing, or more likely didn’t make the move because the movers left my house without taking any of my baking pans, and tho’ I rushed a box down to them at the warehouse, it wouldn’t surprise me if something got left out.

One thing led to another, and I only had about three hours left before the party, so I got to work making the batter for some mini chocolate cheesecake bites, in tiny mini muffin tins with no crust. While the cheesecakes were cooling, I improvised this recipe for chocolate wafer cookies which served as the base or “crust” for the cheesecakes after they had cooled.

Chocolate Wafer Cookies

1 1/4 c flour
1/4 c. cocoa powder
1 T baking powder
1/2 c. canola oil
1/4 c. blackstrap molasses (important for giving the cookies a nice dark color and rich flavor)
1/2 c. maple syrup
3 T – 1/4 c. water

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder and baking powder. In a small bowl, whisk together oil, molasses and maple syrup. (TIP: if you measure the oil first, then the molasses and syrup will slide right out of your measuring cup). Add wet to dry and stir to combine, kneading with your hands when the mixture is too thick to stir. If it seems to dry to hold together, add a Tablespoon of water at a time until the dough can form a ball. Use immediately, or chill until ready to use.

To make the cookies, roll the dough out between two pieces of parchment paper or waxed paper to a thickness of 1/8 – 1/4 inch. Cut with a small biscuit cutter or cookie cutter. Bake for 9-10 minutes in a 350 degree oven. It is very hard to tell if the cookies are done by sight, if you can smell them, they’ve probably been in there too long.

Makes approximately 2 dozen, depending on the size of your cookie cutter. This recipe is easily doubled.

I’ll post more about the cheesecakes soon.

Orange scones on Flickr – Photo Sharing!.

How about a recipe? I’m planning on slowly moving the recipes from my languishing food blog over here, since I see no reason to keep the two separate anymore. I developed this scone recipe for Selma’s seventh birthday–she had a tea party complete wtih little sandwiches, tiny . . . → Read More: Tea Time?]]>

Orange scones on Flickr – Photo Sharing!.

How about a recipe? I’m planning on slowly moving the recipes from my languishing food blog over here, since I see no reason to keep the two separate anymore. I developed this scone recipe for Selma’s seventh birthday–she had a tea party complete wtih little sandwiches, tiny cupcakes, and these scones which happen to be vegan as well as delicious.

Orange Scones

1 3/4 cups unbleached flour
1/4 c. whole wheat pastry flour (or whole wheat flour)
1/2 c. sugar
2 t. baking powder
1/4 t. salt
1/3 c. Earth Balance margarine
zest of one organic orange
1/2 c. soy milk

Preheat oven to 350

Combine flours, sugar, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Whisk to combine. Cut in margarine with pastry cutter. Add orange zest and stir to incorporate.

Add milk, and stir with a fork until milk is worked in, then mix with your hands. Dough should be soft–add more milk a teaspoon at a time, if needed. Form a ball and press dough into a circle 1/2″ thick on a
floured cookie sheet.

With a floured knife, make 4 cuts most of the way through the dough creating 8 triangular pieces. Bake for 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Serve warm with margarine, jelly, soy whipped cream… enjoy!

p.s. If you’ve tried to leave a comment on the blog in the last week or so, and haven’t seen it appear, my apologies–the blog was attacked by spam comments–over a thousand of them, and I’ve just finished wading through and deleting the offenders, so things should be back to normal now!

This week I promised myself I’d get a jump on using the week’s veggies before they became less appealing in the fridge. I made chili earlier in the week with some of them, and today, I was craving stew–like a hearty thick stew someone might be making if they eat beef, which I don’t. I’m bringing . . . → Read More: Wild Rice Stew]]>

This week I promised myself I’d get a jump on using the week’s veggies before they became less appealing in the fridge. I made chili earlier in the week with some of them, and today, I was craving stew–like a hearty thick stew someone might be making if they eat beef, which I don’t. I’m bringing the result to a potluck this afternoon (yes, they do have  a lot of potlucks around here!) and so I don’t forget what I did, I’ll share the recipe with you.

Ingredients

1 medium onion, diced
4 medium carrots, diced
1 small bunch of celery, diced including tops
1 medium sweet potato peeled and diced
3 golden beets, peeled and diced
(Here you could substitute any squashy or potato-y thing for the sweet potatoes and beets)
1 cup wild rice (I used a wild rice blend)
1 cup butler foods soy curls re-hydrated with 2 cups warm water (You could substitute 2 cups of seitan or a can of your favorite kind of beans)
3 T olive oil
1/2 cup flour
3 cubes bullion
1 cup red wine (I used a syrah)
2 t fresh thyme leaves (dry would work fine too)
2 qts water
Salt and Pepper to taste

Sauté onion in olive oil for 5 minutes. Add carrots, and celery, and thyme and continue cooking for another 10. Add sweet potatoes and beets. Add flour let the flour brown for 2-3 minutes. Deglaze the pan with the red wine. Add water and bullion. Add rice and simmer until rice is cooked. Add soy curls. Continue cooking until veggies are soft. Season to taste with salt, pepper and more wine as needed.