Cumin-Cauliflower Soup with Bat Quesadillas

22 October 2008 Filed In: baby puree, cauliflower, Fall, Gluten-free, Halloween, Snacks, soup, Soups & Stews, Soy-free, Vegetarian, Winter

As soon as I saw at the supermarket that a local grower’s cauliflower was both abundant and at a very good price, a soup that my friend JJ has described to me last winter popped into my head. JJ had described three mouth watering ingredients: cumin, coconut milk, and of course cauliflower. Her recipe, gleaned from the Brit cookbook Moro East, sounded like something that our whole family would all like, but, sadly, we never got around to making it before the warm soup season ended for the year.

Well, luckily, JJ loaned us her cookbook as soon as the temperature started dropping again so that her recipe could inspire one of our own. While I stuck to the basic flavors of the soup, there are several changes that I hope might make it more kid-friendly.
They make a fantastic-looking chili butter and toasted pine nuts to drizzle on top of their soup. Because I find that, for most kids, very spicy will ruin the chances of them eating a dish and that pine nuts, alone, are an acquired taste, my recipe uses pumpkin seeds and little quesadillas instead. Cow’s milk is also added, here, to the soup base. If you or someone to whom you’re serving the soup does not want to or cannot eat the milk, then warm up some almond milk slowly over a low flame and stir it in instead. Your mini-chef can choose whichever Halloween or Fall shapes that you have on hand to make the quesadillas, but we liked the way these little bats floated over our soup.
Cumin-Cauliflower Soup with Bat Quesadillas
For the soup:

*2 large heads of cauliflower, washed and chopped so that the florets are ready to use
*3 large white onions, chopped
*3 cloves of garlic, finely chopped
*4 T. butter or olive oil, or a mixture of both
*1 t. cinnamon
*1/4 c. cumin seeds
*pinch of cayenne
*20 oz. coconut milk
*1 1/2 c. milk
*1/4 c. pepitas
*white pepper (or, of course, black)
*salt

For the Quesadillas:

*whole grain tortillas
*Monterey Jack cheese, grated or mild goat cheese, room temperature

In a large stockpot over low heat, saute the onions in the butter or oil till soft and translucent, about 25 minutes.

Meanwhile, toast the cumin seeds in a heavy-bottomed pan. Stir, watch, and smell. They will brown a bit and smell devine when they’re ready to take off of the heat. Pour them into your mortar and pestle, and you and your mini-chef can take turns grinding them up to a powder.

Now, do the same with the pumpkin seeds. Toast, watch, smell, stir. When they’re browned, take them off the heat. You can leave them whole or grind them coarsely, as you like.

When the onions are soft, stir in the cumin, the cinnamon, soem salt, and the pinch of cayenne. Cook over medium heat for five minutes. Add the garlic and cook, stirring, for one minute longer.

Add the cauliflower, stirring and combining everything, and then put a lid on your pan. Allow the cauliflower to steam like that for 10 minutes, take the lid off, stir, and recover to steam. Do that three more times: 10 minutes, lid off, stir, recover. By the last time, your cauliflower should be pretty mushy and ready for you to smash a bit with your spoon.

Time to add the coconut milk. Stir it in, and let everything cook with the lid off for a few minutes. Puree the soup with an immersion blender. Turn the heat down to low while you prepare the quesadillas.

For the quesadillas, you will first preheat your oven to 200 degrees F. Let your mini-chef pick out favorite Fall or Halloween shaped cookie cutters. Place a whole grain tortilla on a wooden cutting board and help your Yummy cut out shapes. Make sure that you have two of every shape so that you can make them into quesadillas. Spread out all your shapes and pair them up with their “twins”. Sprinkle one of the twins with cheese, and then put the other twin on top, like when you’re making a sandwich.

When you’re done cutting out shapes for everyone, it will be time for a Big Person to take back over. Heat up a frying pan over med-high heat.

Put as many of the quesadillas in the pan as you can fit while being able to comfortably flip them over. When one side is done and nicely browned, flip the quesadilla and brown the other side. While you’re doing the other batches of quesadillas, put the finished batches in the oven on a baking sheet to stay warm and to melt the cheese even more.

Back to the soup: Stir in the milk, salt, and white pepper to taste. Turn the heat up to medium low. Stir very often till the soup is your desired temperature. (We like to serve the kids’ soup first so that it cools down enough by the time we sit down for a meal.) Ladle out individual servings of the soup, and top them with the little quesadillas and a few pumpkin seeds. Serve right away.




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Monster Mash: One-Eyed-One-Horned-Flying-Purple-People-Eater Potatoes

20 October 2008 Filed In: baby puree, decorating, Fall, Halloween, potato, Side Dish, Spring, Summer, Thanksgiving, Winter


When I was in Peru a few years ago, staying at Casa de Milagros and leading a yoga retreat there, we were able to have most of our meals made, at least in part, from the organically grown and very beautiful fruits and vegetables that Mama Kia grows in her garden. One such Peruvian jewel: the purple potato.
Even if you’re not living near the Andes, check your local Farmers Market for these special potatoes. They have been showing up more and more here as farmers begin growing them, probably in part for their novelty, but also since purple potatoes contain the same antioxidants that blueberries do.
There has been much discussion about Halloween over at our home for the past couple of weeks, and we will have a few spooky and sweet foods to offer up. Both of my kids decorated a couple of monsters for these Monster Mash potatoes. The original idea was to do a One-Eyed-One-Horned-Flying-Purple-People-Eater, as from the song of that name. My three year old loved doing it just so the first time, but by the time she was decorating her second monster, she was freely interpreting for herself. My one year old made his monster a pancake blob and stuck on five eyes. Well, who am I to tell them this wasn’t the way to make a monster? Their creations were pretty awesome, and all looked like scary little monsters.
Monster Mash: One-Eyed-One-Horned-Flying-Purple-People-Eater Potatoes

For the Mash:
*2 lbs. purple potatoes, very well scrubbed
* few sprigs of fresh thyme
*1/4 cup mild extra virgin olive oil OR butter
*salt and pepper to taste
For the Monster:
*sugar “eyes”
*carrots
*large rainbow radishes

With your mini-chef, place the potatoes in a pot large enough to hold them, cover them with water so that the water line comes up an inch over the potatoes. Salt the water, and float the thyme on top of the potatoes.

Big Person: Bring the water to a boil with the pot uncovered. Once there’s a rolling boil, turn the heat down to low, cover the pot, and let cook 30-35 minutes like that. When the potatoes can easily be broken with a fork, they’re ready to smash.

Meanwhile, while the potatoes are cooking, cut out these shapes and place each group of body parts on its own dish: 6 carrot horns, 12 radish wings, and 6 carrot sharp-toothed mouths. Separately, place 6 sugar eyes on another little dish.

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees F. Place 6 small ramekins, bowls, or plates on a rimmed baking sheets and warm them in the oven till ready to use.

When the potatoes are done cooking, warm the olive oil or melt the butter. Place the potatoes in a potato ricer and have your mini chef help you rice. If you do not have the fancy gadget, place the potatoes in a large bowl and mash them with a potato masher or with a fork. Whisk in the olive oil or butter and 1/4 cup of the cooking water. If the potatoes are too dry, then add a bit more of the cooking water 1/4 cup at a time, whisking well after each addition, until you have the desired consistency.

The next part is entirely interpretive. We piped the potatoes into the bottom of a warm-but not hot-ramekin. Using our hands, we sculpted a head and placed the features on our monster. Let your Yummy make their own version of a creepy, spooky purple monster. Feel free to use any other raw or steamed veggies your mini-chef likes to decorate and expand on the theme. You can place the potatoes and the finished monsters back in the oven till you are finished decorating all of the monsters.

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Guest Bloggers Meredith and Alison Make Graham Cracker Cut-Outs

20 October 2008 Filed In: Breads, cookies, crackers, Desserts, Fall, guest blogger, Soy-free, Spring, Summer, Vegetarian, Winter




Allow me to introduce you to Anchorage Alaskan ladies Mama Alison and her daughter and mini-chef, Meredith.  Alison runs and owns Rise and Shine Bakery with her husband, Dan, where they bake gorgeous sourdough breads.  You can see them hanging out at the Farmers Market in the warmer days, and cozying up in an Anchorage coffee shop now that it’s starting to get chilly. 

Alison also cooks and writes her way through a lovely blog: Alison’s Lunch in which she chronicles her many gorgeous veggie lunches.  I’m happy to say that she spent a little quality time over the weekend with her mini-chef and their plethora of cookie cutters making a gorgeous, healthful snack.  On a side note, it’s heartening to see that we’re not the only ones with a bit of a cookie cutter collecting problem.  Thanks, Alison and Meredith!
Alison:

I inherited a lot of cookie cutters from my mom.  I have shapes for Halloween, shapes for Valentine’s Day and Christmas and Easter and St. Patrick’s Day, animal shapes, geometric shapes, and even shapes for Election Day (elephants and donkeys).  I have A LOT of cookie cutters.  I also inherited her desire to collect more cookie cutters, which is a little strange, because I rarely make cut-out sugar cookies.

But when my daughter Meredith turned two years old and began participating in some cooking projects, I got really nostalgic about making those roll-out sugar cookies with my mom.  Of course, I also remembered how much cookie dough I ate during those sessions.  I decided to try and develop a healthier recipe that I wouldn’t mind making often, and that I didn’t care if Meredith ate by the handful.  This whole-wheat graham cracker recipe was born!  It uses oil instead of butter, 100% whole wheat flour, and doesn’t call for eggs.

Your kids can help you measure the ingredients, mix the dough, and practice rolling out a small piece of dough while you roll out the rest.  Then they can help cut out the crackers and decorate them with all kinds of toppings-nuts, seeds, dried fruit, chocolate chips… anything you like!

These crackers are fun to make, are pretty darn healthy, and have a nice, slightly sweet and whole-wheaty flavor.  They definitely aren’t as sweet as cookies, though.  Which makes them nice with tea, and great for s’mores. (When we’re making them for s’mores, I cut them into squares with a pizza cutter and then then make fork-pricks in them to look like the store-bought kind.)

Meredith loves making these, so now I have an excuse to collect even more cookie cutters!  My most recent acquisitions?   Letter shapes!  We especially love to make initials of our friends, and then march around the neighborhood to deliver them.


graham cracker cut-outs
These crackers aren’t very sweet, so if you want them sweeter, you could substitute more maple syrup or honey for part of the soy milk.  I love the combination of roasted walnut oil (Loriva brand is pretty easy to find) and maple syrup, or roasted peanut oil with honey.  The nut oil adds a really nice richness to the crackers, but you can just use canola if that’s all you have.
You can use all whole-wheat pastry flour for this recipe, which makes a nice, tender cracker, but makes the rolling out a little bit hard, since there isn’t much gluten in pastry flour.  It works fine, though, if you’re patient and don’t expect the same consistency as regular sugar cookie dough.  I have had better luck using half whole-wheat pastry flour and half whole-wheat bread flour (or just use regular all-purpose whole wheat flour).
After I roll out the dough once, the dough scraps get a little tougher to work with, so I generally just roll them out and cut the remains up with a pizza cutter into square-ish shapes.
crackers
*1/2 c. milk or soy milk
*1 t. fresh lemon juice or vinegar
*1/4 c roasted nut oil, or canola oil
*1/3 c. honey or maple syrup
*2 1/2 c. sifted whole wheat flour, plus more as needed
*1/2 t. baking soda
*1/2 t. baking powder
*1/4 t. sea salt

decoration ideas
*black and/or golden raisins (you can soak them in water to plump them up)
*dried cherries
*dried cranberries
*nuts (peanuts, almonds)
*seeds (green pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds)
*chocolate chips
*crystallized ginger pieces

1.  Combine milk and lemon juice, set aside for a few minutes to curdle.  In a small bowl, whisk the oil and sweetener together, and whisk in the curdled milk.

2.  In a medium-sized bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, baking powder and salt.  Make a well in the center and pour in the liquid mixture.  Stir gently until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl and balls up in the center.  You might have to add extra flour, or if you’re using whole wheat bread flour, you might need to add a little more milk.

3.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly grease baking sheets if they are not non-stick.  Using a rolling pin on a floured surface, and using more flour as necessary on the top of the dough, and on the rolling pin, roll out the dough about 1/8 inch thick.  Cut out shapes with cookie cutters.  Re-roll the scraps and cut more shapes out.   Arrange them on sheets.

4.  If you want to decorate them, spray lightly with water with a sprayer bottle (this helps the nuts to stick) and go crazy with the toppings.

5.  Bake for 10-15 minutes, until lightly browned and crisp.   Transfer crackers to racks and cool them before storing in a tightly closed tin.
  

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TT’s Extra Special Apple Muffins (a.k.a. Apple Cupcakes)

17 October 2008 Filed In: apple, Breads, Fall, muffins, Soy-free, Spring, Summer, Thanksgiving, Vegetarian, Winter



My fellow Yummy Mummy and dear friend, Sonia, in the full throes of labor on Wednesday afternoon, called in a special request.  At her son’s preschool, Snack Day is like a high holy day for the kid whose turn it is to bring in the goods.  She wanted to make sure that the snack new big brother TT brought in for his class was homemade, fantastic, and not just another sad pile of Goldfish.  In his honor, I created a special treat made with apples done 4 ways.

Sonia, who eats well and generally scoffs higher calorie fare, always calls cupcakes, “muffins”.  At first I thought that she was being facetious, but now I think that she might be on to something.  That said, while I’m sure that cupcakes might not be well-received as a school time snack, for this very special day, we’ll all agree to call them “muffins”.  
Welcome to the world, Baby Ozzy, and welcome to the brotherhood, Big Boy TT!
TT’s Extra Special Apple Muffins

*2 c. unbleached all purpose flour
*1 t. baking soda
*1 t. baking powder
*1 t. salt
*1 t. ground cinnamon
*1/2 t. ground cardamom
*1/8 t. ground nutmeg
*3/4 c. unsweetened applesauce
*1 apple, peeled, cored, and shredded 
*1/2 c. cardamom apple butter (or regular apple butter if you prefer)
*8 T. unsalted butter, melted
*1/2 c. dark brown sugar, packed
*1 1/2 t. vanilla
*3 eggs, slightly beaten
*for the decoration: one or two apples, peeled, cored and sliced into wedges 1/4 inch thick

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.  With your mini-chef, paper 12 muffin cups.

In a medium bowl, measure out and whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground spices.  

In a large bowl, stir the rest of the ingredients-except for the apple wedges, of course-together very well.  

Now add the dry ingredients to the wet ones, and let your Yummy really do a big job on the stirring.  Unlike traditional muffins, these “muffins” can be stirred with abandon.  All the dry ingredients should be well incorporated into the wet ingredients.  

Now, it’s time to create.  You can cut shapes out of your apple wedges for a schmancy look or simply arrange three of the wedges on top of each muffin.

Big Person will put the muffins in the oven for 30-35 minutes.  You can insert a toothpick into the center of a muffin.  If it comes out clean, they’re ready.

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Cooking Class: Little Pies with Turkey, Fennel, And Apples

16 October 2008 Filed In: apple, cooking class, Fall, fennel, Main Dish, pies, Soy-free, Spring, Summer, Thanksgiving, turkey, Winter




When I described that we were making “hand pies” yesterday in the beginning of class, there were quite a lot of confused faces and blank stares from the adults.  As soon as we got down to business, however, the confusion melted away.  

“Oh, we’re making meat pies!”  
“Ohhhhhhhh, empanadas.”
“Knishes!”
Papa rellenas, calzones, turnovers, Jamaican patties…one thing is clear.  These basic little pies are beloved to many people in many forms and in many permutations.  Here is the version the Yummies made, call it what you will:
Little Pies with Turkey, Fennel, and Apples

For the Dough:
*5 c. unbleached all purpose flour
*16 T. butter (2 sticks of butter), cut into small pieces and chilled well
*1 T. baking powder
*1/2 t. salt
*1/2 t. pepper
*1/2 -1 c. ice water

For the Filling:
*2 c. white part of the leeks, finely chopped
*1 large fennel bulb, finely chopped and with the core*** chopped out
*1 1/2 c. apples, peeled, cored and chopped
*1 c. chopped carrots
*3 cloves of garlic, minced
*2 T. fresh thyme, minced
*1 T. butter
*2 T. extra virgin olive oil
*2 lbs. ground turkey, preferably dark meat
*salt and pepper, to taste
*3 T. flour

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees F.  

With your mini-chef:  Take out a very large bowl, either a pastry cutter or two knives, and all the ingredients for the dough.  Put the flour, the baking soda, and the salt and pepper into the bowl and give it a swirl with a whisk or your pastry cutter.  Let your Yummy drop the little pieces of butter into the flour mixture, and begin to cut it in.  When you’re done, the butter should be still in pieces the size of peas and no smaller.  Add 1/2 c. of the ice water and mix in with your hands or the pastry cutter.  If the dough isn’t coming together yet at all, then add a small amount of more water, little bit by little bit.   Divide the dough into 12 pieces and sculpt into little balls.  Then press the balls into little pancakes.  Mini-chefs happen to be very talented at this part.  Place the pancakes on baking sheets, cover them with plastic wrap, and let them chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes or, for good measure, 2 hours.

Big Person Part:  Make the filling by heating up the olive oil and the butter over moderately low heat in a skillet or large pan.  Throw in the leeks, fennel, apples, carrots, and thyme and let cook till tender, at least 10 minutes.  Add the garlic and cook another minute.  Now turn the heat up to medium-high and throw in the ground turkey and begin chopping it up into little pieces with your spatula.  Cook until the turkey meat loses all of its pinkness. Stir in salt, pepper, and the flour.  Remove from the heat and set aside till cool enough to handle, about 7 minutes.

Back Together Again:  Sprinkle a bit of flour over your counter or a wooden cutting board and onto your rolling pin.  Roll out each dough pancake till you have about an 8 inch circle, or “full moon”.  Spoon some of the meat filling in the middle of the circle, leaving at least good 3/4 inch of dough around the sides.  Fold the circle in half, enclosing the filling and making a “half moon”.  

Here’s where artistic expression comes into play.  Some mini-chefs will want to fold under the edge and crimp it with a fork.  Some will prefer to finger crimp, and some will be very avant-garde.  No worries.  All meat pie interpretations should be encouraged.  For the finishing touch, with a safe knife, cut a few little slits into the top of the pie.  You might help your Yummy carve out the first letter of her name and the first letters of friends’ and family members’ names.  Place the pies on a baking sheet, 6 pies for each sheet.

Big Person: Slide the pans into the oven and bake about 30 minutes, or until they start smelling heavenly and looking golden brown.  

***Slice the fennel bulb in half width-wise.  You’ll see a little triangle shaped core.  Cut it out.

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