cherry | Cherry vs Baking: Round One

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Cherry vs Baking: Round One

It was one of my good friend's birthday's the other day, and I was really at a loss as to what to get her.

"Hey," I decided. "Why don't I make her cookies? Pumpkin cookies. Yeah. I approximated a sesame noodle salad the other day, so I can totally handle baking cookies."

It should be noted that, as the next time I have a sandwich in my lunch I think I am going to set it on fire, I have been attempting to forage food. I prefer the term 'forage' to 'cook', as I only approximate recipes. "This looks good, but I think it needs more sweet peppers, and oregano instead of salt. That's about a cup, right? Ish? Wait, I have some carrots in my fridge I need to get rid of as well..."

As it turns out, this is the wrong approach to take with baking.

Things started to go down hill from the start. I had to, um, purchase every single ingredient except for cinnamon, ginger, and eggs. Baking is expensive when you don't own any of the ingredients.

"White flour can totally be replaced with brown, right? White flour is the devil. Oooh, bran. I can totally toss some of this in there without anyone noticing, right?"

"Oh, hey, I've already started putting everything together, but this recipe has oatmeal in it. They're mostly the same otherwise, right?"

"Man, there's no way I need that much oil. I'll just replace a cup of it with soy milk."

"I really wouldn't want to throw away the rest of this can of pumpkin. Into the batter you go!"

"... baking soda and baking powder can be used interchangeably, right?"

*dialing frantically* "Grandma, help! I just made cookie dough but I don't have a wire rack for cooling them ... Um. Or a cookie tray for baking them."

The upside is that they turned out to be edible! They are rather more like flat pumpkin-oatmeal muffins than cookies, but they are not entirely inedible. Plus, with the whole wheat flour, oatmeal, bran, pumpkin, raisins, and soy milk, they are actually very healthy.

A very healthy five dozen cookies. I don't even really eat cookies, people. I have five (well, three, as I've given away two) dozen pumpkin oatmeal cookies.

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Ahahaha, this is why I don't bake. It's so unforgiving! Give me a nice one-pot meal any day.

My normal approach here seems to have failed me. The sad part? I'm still incredibly proud. They're edible! They're healthy. I'm telling everyone about them, just like I told everyone about the sesame noodle salad the other day. I did not know you could make sauces in your blender!

Learning is fun.

Share the sesame noodle salad recipe? ::bats eyelashes::

Learning IS fun, especially when it results in cookies!

I am at work right now, but this is what I recall:

250 - 300 g of whole wheat spaghettini/spaghetti/linguine or buckwheat noodles, whatever you'd like
1 sweet pepper
1 large stalk of celery
2 large carrots
Optional: chicken or shrimp

Sauce:
2 tbsp peanut butter
2 tbsp honey
2 tbsp reduced sodium soy sauce
1 tbsp minced garlic
1 tsp cayenne pepper (or to taste)
1-2 tbsp sesame oil (or olive oil plus 2 tbsp of sesame seeds)
1/3 cup cilantro
1/2 cup of the pasta water to stretch the sauce

Cook pasta as directed, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water to stretch the sauce.

Sliver the peppers and celery (I replaced the celery with cucumber because it's what I had), and grate the carrots.

Combine the sauce ingredients in the blender and have at it. I found after transferring the sauce to the noodles that most of the honey hadn't mixed in, so I suppose next time I'll try mixing it directly with the hot pasta water first.

Mix the sauce with the noodles, veggies and optional chicken or shrimp. Refrigerate for at least one hour before serving.

I was actually pretty impressed with how it turned out. I tend to use quite a bit more cayenne pepper in my food than is actually asked for, so I had more of that.

Hey, I've been meaning to ask: do you have any fantastic soup recipes to share? Especially veggie, tomato, or bean ones? There's far too much sodium in canned soup for me these days, so I am at a loss.

Oh, that sounds delicious! I like the idea of using cucumber better, too.

I have many, many soup recipes! I have long-cooking ones and super-quick ones and everything between.

This time of year, I like winter vegetable soup:
2 - 3 carrots
1 small onion
2 leeks
1 - 2 parsnips
2 - 3 turnips
vegetable or chicken stock, or water
3 tbsps butter or olive oil
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/4 tsp dried sage
salt and pepper to taste

You can vary the veggie ratios however you like. You can add potatoes and remove the parsnips. You can use only onion, or only leeks, or neither. You can add yams or sweet potatoes or winter squash -- anything goes, basically.

Dice the onion and the leeks (white parts only), and saute in butter over low-med heat, stirring regularly, until golden and translucent. While they're cooking, peel and chop the veggies.

When the onions are ready, add the veggies and the herbs and cover with stock or water. Bring to boil, reduce heat, and simmer 30 - 40 minutes. Add salt and pepper. Serve with a big salad and crusty bread.

As a variation, I like to puree this soup (blender is fine, or food processor if you have it) once the veggies are tender. Then I return it to the heat, add cream or half and half or milk, and throw in a dash of nutmeg. Milk is nice for the protein, but cream makes it incredibly rich and luscious.

heresluck offers a lot of great recipes (http://heresluck.livejournal.com/tag/recipes), very veggie-friendly. I would definitely check out the white bean with rosemary soup (http://heresluck.livejournal.com/177317.html#cutid1), which I make all the time. It's extraordinarily flexible, too.

Oooh, thank you! I keep trying to like root vegetables, as they are good for me, and this looks very tasty. (I... am not a huge fan of starchy foods. I only recently figured this out as a trigger.)

Does it freeze well? I fear that I live by myself, which has make cooking things slightly more likely to produce far too many left overs.

If you have any other soup recipes you want to hit me up with, I wouldn't object. I tend to be especially fond of things involving tomatoes and/or peppers, though I'm really quite open. I'm not full veggie -- my blood sugar/protein levels tend to get out of whack -- so I sometimes eat seafood and chicken/turkey.

Thank you for the links as well! You're always ever so helpful.

Do you like cruciferous veggies? Because the above recipe, as a "cream of" soup, works great with broccoli and/or cauliflower instead of the root veggies. Keep the onions, leeks, thyme, salt, and pepper, and leave out the sage and bay leaf. Same exact process, though broccoli and cauliflower cook faster than root veggies.

I do a lot of variations to basic bean soup, most of which involve tomato, but they're kind of winging it. I can probably come up with a recipe, though.

Peppers: roast, peel, puree, and serve as a sauce for polenta or pasta!

I do like cruciferous veggies. I am also trying my best to develop a liking for root veggies, because they are good for me, and variation is the spice of life. I had a fantastic one last year at a formal dinner, but I have no idea what was in it. It was orange, though, so I'm guessing carrots and/or squash.

God, I eat so many peppers. I buy multiple peppers a week. Red and orange and yellow and mmmmm. Between that and tomatoes, it can't be said I don't get my fair share of lycopene. (Though it does tend to put a bit of wear and tear on my plastic containers.)

I don't do it. (: I keep leftovers in the fridge. I tend to make a big pot of something-or-other on Sunday and then gradually eat it over the course of the week, bringing it for lunch and such. I know I *should* freeze stuff, but it doesn't seem to be natural to me or something.

the_shoshanna posted a bean soup recipe just today that she says freezes beautifully. It looks yummy, too.

I tend to have, um, a relatively short attention span, so for me to eat the same soup every day for a week would have the likely side effect of my never wanting to look at it again. My freezer is pretty plain at the moment -- veggie burgers, frozen fruit, frozen fish, frozen shrimp, frozen veggies -- but I suspect having things to take out and eat would be very handy.

Oh, not every day for a week! I'd get bored to death, too. More like twice a week, and factoring in P. eating some as well.

I know many soups are freezable, I'm just not your go-to girl on it.

But they're really good flat muffins! Tasty and not too guilt-inducing. *applauds your efforts*

(I'm at work, but I'm totally going to send you that email I threatened you with after I get home. Don't think I won't. *g*)

Thank you! I am finding myself fond of them. I ran them through a recipe analyzer, and they're around 100 calories and 2 g of fat per cookie -- that's not too shabby.

... you're going to drag me into this kicking and screaming, aren't you?

Ahha. Yeah. See, that doesn't work. Because baking is chemistry. Which is why I don't bake. I fail at chem.

For the most part, I am okay with chemistry, but I fail at following a recipe. All I can think is that I'm fighting The MAN, with his restrictive recipes.

Maybe, with baking, try to think of it as building a structure? *g*

If I don't balance the reactants properly, the products will be toxic? *g*

Colour me impressed! I don't suck at cooking or baking, but damn, I hate doing it. So go you. *g*

Things which are awesome: lentils. Chuck some lentils in a pot, add water to cover them. Add flavoured liquid - ie, coconut milk, chicken broth - in the same quantity as the water you added. Simmer for several hours. Add spices to suit. Once it looks like a disgusting mass of gruel, check to see if the lentils are soft enough. Package. Eat. YUMMAY.

Have you had time to watch Torchwood this season?

Historically, I fail at all things domestic. This healthy eating kick I've been on though, has certain helped inspire me. There's just so much junk out there, you know?

Also, since I'm basically down to chicken and fish for meat, sandwiches have gotten a bit repetitive.

I shall have to try out your lentil recipe. Lentils are fantastic, and I've been meaning to try out non-canned beans.

I have been somewhat up on TW! What did they do with the suck that they surgically removed? I mean, there are certainly still high levels of crack, but large portions of lame appear to have been cut out. (The last three eps look to be Chibnall, though, so this might be corrected.) What about you?

Also, I still say Tregenna reads fanfic. *whistles*

Dude, the muffins and the sesame noodle salad both sound really tasty.

I can give you the recipe for my lentil-bean veggie soup if you'd like?

This (http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1710,136186-244196,00.html) is the recipe I approximated. Only with soy milk replacing a lot of the oil, whole wheat instead of white flour, less sugar, more pumpkin, no nuts, and random bran. So, um, kind of like this. I think replacing the baking soda with baking powder was the key mistake, though. They're pretty tasty, if kinf of flat and dense.

Pumpkin is ridiculously good for you, too.

I would love your recipe for lentil soup. Yum.

I have so much love for pumpkin. Especially roasted with garlic and rosemary or in pasta with roast garlic and onion and white wine.

The soup - (all measurements approximate)

1 cup brown lentils
1 x 300 gram can cannelloni beans
1 x chopped onion
1 x carrot, peeled and chopped in one cm cubes
1 x parsnip peeled and chopped in one cm cubes
1 x small potato peeled and chopped in one cm cubes
1 x small turnip peeled and chopped in one cm cubes
1 x 600 ml-ish bottle tomato puree
1 x stock cube/cup of stock
1 - 2 cups fnely chopped spinach
garlic and ginger

Fry onion, garlic and ginger until well cooked

Add lentils, fry gently for a few minutes

Add tomato puree, stock, all vegetables but the spinach. Top up pot with some more water, if there isn't much liquid in the pot. Bring to a boil and simmer with a lid on, and the pot on low until the vegies are soft. Add beans and spinach and cook for another 15-20 minutes.

It freezes really well.

You wacky Australians and your savoury use of pumpkin. We never did get you to try pumpkin pie when you were up, did we? For shame.

A couple of questions: These are dried lentils, yes? Also, why is your spinach measured in cubes?

Err.. it would appear that my mind saw the 'cube' measurement for the stock, and decided that it would like to transpose it down a line.

I really should have known something was wrong with the advent of cubed spinach. *sigh*

Well, you can buy it in frozen cubes but it's more like a brick then, than a cube. ;)

No, we never did get to try it, did we? I saw one in the supermarket near your place but it was all dried out, so I got the other cake instead.

Only with soy milk replacing a lot of the oil...

I would think that might be a little problematic texture-wise -- one common recommended substitute for portions of oil/fat is something like applesauce, though. The baking powder/soda swap shouldn't make too much difference, since the former usually includes the latter, plus another acid (baking soda+cream of tartar can substitute for baking powder, f'rinstance). The density is probably more due to a one to one swap of whole wheat flour. Usually they don't recommend swapping more than about half, I think? WW flour is much denser, and if you add bran to that, both of which will soak up more liquid....

(um, hi again. I am avoiding work, can you tell?)

*wince* I just thought that 1 1/2 cups of oil was far too much, you know? And soy milk is liquid-y. Which, um, oil is. Kind of. Soy milk has lipids, too. There was chai soy milk in my fridge, so.

By the looks of it, baking soda is pure NaHCO3, whereas baking powder is cut with acidic salts.

You can't just replace white flour with whole wheat? The bag claimed that it was good for cookies. I'm afraid that I have a bit of a problem, wherein I have a moral objection to white flour. (Everything that's good for you has been removed! It's empty. There is no nutritional value and the GI index is ridiculous. Ahem.)

oh. my. god. *winces her way through the description*

You're cute, you know that? *g* I'm usually a creative cook -- recipes are just guidelines! But not with baking -- I might make substitutions, but only studied ones, because wow, can it affect things like texture, baking time, whether things rise at all... *g*

But huh, pumpkin-oatmeal cookies sound kind of wonderful!

It is an even more amusing story when you can see my expansive hand gestures. There is much flailing. Came close to taking out an eye one time.

I am thinking that the baking thing might not be for me. Well, actually, I already knew that due to my persistent, long-term fail at all things domestic -- but this does help to reinforce things.

Mmm, pumpkin.

It is maybe also possible that I accidentally upended the oats into the bowl whilest attempting to measure things.

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Cherry vs Baking: Round One

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