Chai Snickerdoodles!

After trying this recipe out on a whim a year or 2 back, these cookies have become my default-fallback cookie, but by no means are plain or standard. A slight twist on the traditional snickerdoodle, these seem to go over well with everyone! Also, not too hard to make a vegan variation of these, though I much prefer the real eggs & real butter one. This recipe makes a significant quantity of cookies, which is another good thing, when planning on bringing them to a potluck or party.

Recipe from the lovely Baking Bites. Original page can be found here.

Chai Snickerdoodles
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup butter, soft
2 large eggs
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 3/4 cups all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp cream of tartar
1 tsp baking soda

Preheat the oven to 350F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, combine sugar and spices; remove 1/2 cup of this mixture and place in a medium-sized, shallow dish or bowl (like a soup plate). Add butter to bowl and cream with sugar mixture until fluffy. Beat in eggs, one at a time, and vanilla extract.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt, cream of tartar and baking soda. Add to sugar mixture and stir until fully incorporated.
Shape dough into 1 inch balls and roll in reserved sugar-spice mixture. Place on baking sheet, leaving 2 inches between balls to allow for spreading.
Bake for about 12 minutes, until edges are firm to the touch, but not quite browned. Cool for 3-5 minutes on the baking sheet, then transfer cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Makes about 4 dozen.

classic minestrone

recipe can be refrigerated for up to 3 days or frozen for up to a month, it takes a while to defrost in the refrigerator, so leave plenty of defrosting time! feel free to tweak the amount of each vegetable- I'm not a huge celery fan, so I used more potatoes and carrots, two cans of black beans instead of just one can of cannellini, and Italian seasoning instead of just rosemary. As you can see, you can really tweak this to your personal preferences! This recipe just fits into a 4 1/2 quart pot. Since the base is just water, it really brings out the vegetables' natural flavor. If you prefer the broth to be flavorful as well, you could substitute with chicken or vegetable broth, or simply throw in a bullion cube or two!

SERVES 6-8

Ingredients
3/4 cup leek, white and light green parts sliced thin crosswise, rinsed well
3/4 cup diced carrot
3/4 cup diced onion
3/4 cup diced celery
1 1/4 cups diced baking potatoes
1 1/4 cups diced zucchini
3 cups spinach leaves
1 (28 ounce) can whole tomatoes, packed in juice, drained, and chopped
8 cups water
1 pinch salt
1 (15 ounce) can cannellini beans
1/4 cup basil pesto (or 1 tablespoon minced fresh rosemary mixed with 1 teaspoon minced garlic and 1 tablespoon extra-vir)
1 pinch ground black pepper

fresh parmesan to garnish

Directions
1) Bring vegetables, tomatoes, water, and 1 teaspoon salt to boil in a soup kettle or pot. Reduce heat to medium-low; simmer, uncovered and stirring occasionally, until vegetables are tender but still hold their shape, about 1 hour.
2) Add beans and cook just until heated through, about 5 minutes. Remove pot from heat. Stir in pesto (or rosemary-garlic mixture). Adjust seasonings, adding pepper and more salt, if necessary. Ladle soup into bowls, top with grated fresh parmesan, and serve immediately.

originally from recipezaar

All About Raw Sugar

if you're like me and love sugar, this article is for you! with the amount of sugar I use, I became interested in a more natural form of sugar, figure I'll try to get a least a little more nutritional-value than the standard white granulated sugar!

"All About Raw Sugar" -by Mani Niall

Raw sugars are in fact boiled a few times to remove impurities, so the name is a little confusing—if it is cooked, how can it be raw? However, the relatively lesser amount of processing used allows these sugars to retain molasses, which includes the minerals and vitamins that are refined out of white granulated sugar.


Fair Trade Sugar

Many foods (coffee, sugar, and tea, among others) are produced in third-world countries with inexpensive labor, and unfortunately, all too often, the workers do not sufficiently benefit from the profits. Some producers are working under fair trade guidelines, whereby the labor force is paid fairly for its work in an effort to alleviate poverty and improve quality of life. Efforts are also made to keep the product sustainable.

Wholesome Sweeteners is such a company. I love cooking with their third party-certified organic and fair trade sugars, for their high quality and for the company's commitment to their production team. They work with plantations in Costa Rica and Mauritius, but nowhere has there been such a direct and tangible difference in the lives of their team as in the African Republic of Malawi. According to company spokesperson Pauline McKee, "The impact of the quarterly premium they receive from our sugar sales go directly to funding community projects. They now have a freshwater well for both residential and irrigational use, land set aside from cane growing for their own farming, and a health clinic. Working with the Malawians is a joy and an honor, and it really puts life into perspective."


Evaporated Cane Juice and Organic Sugar

This term evaporated cane juice was approved by the Federal Drug Authority to clarify the difference between this sugar and white granulated sugar, which it resembles in appearance and sweetness level. Evaporated cane juice is crystallized sugar, minus the final refining stages, which allows it to retain a small amount of molasses and gives the crystals their light tan color. Most organic sugar (sugar raised under organic agricultural guidelines without pesticides) is evaporated cane juice, and vice versa. You can substitute evaporated cane juice (or organic sugar) for granulated sugar in your recipes without any changes. It is commonly used in the natural foods industry to manufacture baked goods.


Sucanat

Because it has its own proprietary manufacturing process, Sucanat (its name created from the words sugarcane natural) belongs in its own category, but I include it here because it is the least processed of all sugars. Its proprietary processing method of dehydration and aeration was developed by Dr. Max-Henri Beguin in the 1950s. Sucanat, processed from organic Costa Rican sugarcane, is the least processed of dry sugars, maintaining trace amounts of potassium, calcium, and magnesium and other vitamins and minerals, but that doesn't make it a nutritional superfood.

Sucanat is granular, not crystallized. Sucanat does not dissolve as readily as crystallized sugar, so a butter-Sucanat mixture will stay gritty and the resultant baked good will be speckled in recipes that call for such creaming. This may be a small tradeoff for some bakers. Many sources say that it can be used as a substitute for brown sugar, but Sucanat is much drier, so in most recipes I don't recommend swapping it for brown sugar.

Sucanat lends its molasses-rich flavor to cookies, bars, fruit crisps, and cobblers.


Turbinado

A light brown sugar with detectably coarse crystals and a light toffee flavor, turbinado is "turbinated" from steaming evaporated cane juice. It is considered a raw sugar, and one brand is named Sugar in the Raw, which is made in Maui and is a vestige of the once-booming Hawaiian sugarcane economy.

Turbinado is versatile and accommodating in all manner of cooking and baking. In butter-based doughs and batters, it creams more smoothly than demerara. But it stays crunchy when sprinkled as a topping for cookies, cobblers, and crisps. For its toffee flavor and ease of melting (its moderate-size crystals melt into larger pools than does granulated sugar), it is the best sugar for topping crème brûlée.


The Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Company on Maui produces a variety of raw sugars, including turbinado. Their Premium Hawaiian Turbinado is the result of slow boiling, producing a crunchy crystal of deep ambercolored sugar, rich with molasses flavors. Asked about further details about their turbinado, they demurred, referring to such matters as being proprietary secrets.

Annually, about 500,000 tons of bagasse (discarded cane fiber) is used to generate steam for electricity. This supplies all the power necessary to run the plant; the surplus energy provides up to 10 percent of the power for the entire island.


Moist Brown Sugars

In the second stage of sugar processing, a centrifuge is used to remove as much, or as little, molasses as the manufacturer chooses. In brown sugars made by the traditional methods, such as demerara and muscovado, the molasses is left in, and then the sugar is crystallized via dehydration. During this process, the molasses remains intact, as in first-stage sugars, yet these sugars become fairly dry. These brown sugars are less sweet than white sugar, because the molasses is somewhat bitter.


Demerara

A crunchy, sparkly, caramel-hued crystal sugar, demerara is renowned for its textural and visual qualities. It is named for the Demerara River in today's Guyana, a former British (and Dutch) colony, but most of today's demerara comes from Mauritius, in the Indian Ocean. If you are presented with a sugar bowl in a fine restaurant in Europe, chances are that it will be filled with demerara. Stirred into hot coffee or tea, its caramel flavor is released.

Demerara sugar is ideal for decorating baked goods, as it will not melt in the heat of the oven. It adds a delicious crunch to the surface of muffins, cookies, scones, and other pastries.


Muscovado

Rich, dark, and aromatic, muscovado sugar is available in both light and dark varieties. This moist, flavorful sugar has a hint of butterscotch. It is also known as Barbados sugar and dark molasses sugar.

Use muscovado sugar whenever you want to upgrade your recipes that call for standard light or dark brown sugar-try it on your morning oatmeal, and you may never use anything else. It is incomparable in gingerbread.

On the shelves of the best specialty food shops, you are likely to find sugar products under the India Tree label—amber-colored light and seriously dark muscovado, rough-textured demerara, and golden baker's sugar that is as pale as tropical sand. India Tree owner Gretchen Goehrend credits professional chefs for unleashing the unrivaled flavors of these sweeteners in their cooking.

Goehrend says, "Both Nancy Silverton and Alice Medrich told me these sugars are elegant just as they are-much like any ingredient they scour the globe for. With something this good, there is no need for other flavors or spices, not even vanilla. They couldn't believe they ignored these sugars for years and now find them indispensable in their baking."


Light and Dark Brown Sugars

Supermarket light and dark brown sugars can be made by a highly mechanized variation on the traditional method, which is how muscovado sugar is still made, whereby raw sugar is centrifuged to remove the molasses and attain the desired sugar color. However, many brands, especially beet sugars, make their brown sugars by another process. The sugar is completely refined to the white granulated stage, then molasses is sprayed back on in amounts to create either light or dark sugar. The molasses used for this is always the cane sugar variety, as beet sugar molasses is considered unfit for human consumption. Choose a brand that you like (look at the label for "pure cane sugar," if you prefer it) and stick with it.

Brown sugar is called for in many all-American baked goods. Light and dark are interchangeable, depending on the desired amount of molasses flavor. Brown sugar must be packed firmly into a metal measuring cup to get a level measure.

cook now, freeze for later

trips from FoodNetwork's Healthy Eats blog, great if you're expecting lots of guests or moms-to-be looking to prepare stuff before baby arrives!

Stocks and Soups
Tomato or BBQ sauces and soups such as minestrone or corn chowder are great for large batch cooking, too. Divide in them in small, freezer-safe containers and defrost when needed. Use the stove top or microwave to thaw them out.

Freezing stock in small batches is also a big money saver. At $2 to $4 a pop, those canned or boxed stocks can start to get pricey. Here’s a tip: for freezing a single-portion of stock, use muffin tins. Dana taught me to freeze pesto sauce in ice cube trays. Once they’ve frozen, you just pop the cubes out of the freezer trays and store in freezer-friendly bags or containers.

Don’t Forget the Sweets
Freshly baked brownies and muffins work in the freezer. Prepare raw cookie dough and freeze it in a roll for easy slicing. You can also spoon chocolate chip cookie dough onto parchment paper and freeze it; then place the pieces in a freezer bag.

Before You Freeze
Now, freezing cooked foods isn’t as simple as spooning it into a container and popping it in the freezer. Before storing your dishes, proper cooling is a must. Never put hot food in the freezer — it will raise your freezer’s temperature (and melt your ice cream); the center of the dish will not cool quickly enough and that leaves time for food to spoil. One way to avoid this is to divide food into smaller quantities.

Portion It Out
Think about what you’ll need the frozen food for. Are you going to reheat for a family of 4 or just make yourself a quick meal? Choose airtight contains that are designed for freezer storage and pre-determine the size you need. Using containers that are less than 1 quart, if possible. Freezer bags are great space-saver since they can easily stack up. Always date and label containers, too — that way you won’t chisel pull something from the back of the freezer later and wonder where it came from. Typically, frozen foods last about 3 months.

Reheat It Up!
Caution: Do not defrost on the countertop! That’s an open invitation for bacteria to come party on your food and a potential for disaster (who wants to poison their dinner guests?). Place frozen food in fridge the night before or use the microwave.

tips for making your own applesauce

{from FoodNetwork's Healthy Eats blog}
First things first, applesauce is a healthy indulgence — it may taste sweet and like a sinful dessert, but a cup only has about 100 calories and lots of vitamin C and fiber.

The Apples
A combo of sweet and tart apples gives the best balance of flavors. Red-skinned apples like McIntosh and Macoun offer a good basic, sweetness (I also like golden delicious). Keep the red skins on; they’re packed with fiber and will give the sauce a rich and rosy hue. Mix in tart varieties like Granny Smith to cut through some of the sweetness. No matter what variety you choose, you should be good on texture; all apples contain high amounts of pectin, a natural thickener that gives applesauce its velvety consistency.

The Spices
Flavor up your applesauce with traditional spices like cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. A bit of lemon or orange zest will also help enhance that apple-y flavor. For additional sweetness, melt in sugar, honey or brown sugar. There are always those wildcard add-ins, too. My mom’s recipe (below) calls for a pat of butter; this secret ingredient makes such a difference!

For a kicked-up version of applesauce, go for a chutney, a sweet-and-spicy condiment that’s made with fruit, vinegar and spices. Try it out on grilled chicken or fish or serve along with cheddar cheese and whole grain crackers.

Getting Saucy
Most applesauce recipes tell you to cook down the apples in a large pot along with some water and apple juice or cider, but your options don’t end there. You can also bake them for a richer flavor.

Once you cook and season your apples as desired, it’s time to turn them into sauce — there’s really no wrong way to go. A food mill is my tool of choice; it will make your applesauce smooth but not pureed and will remove any seeds or bits of skin. For a chunkier and more rustic applesauce, use a whisk or a potato masher.

Ways to Enjoy It
You can make large batches and store some in the freezer for up to six months; just put it into a freezer-safe plastic container or plastic bag. When you’re ready for some, leave it in the refrigerator to defrost overnight. Dish out your applesauce for a low-calorie dessert or serve it with your favorite chicken or pork recipe. You can also use it to add natural sweetness and cut some fat out of muffin and cookie recipes (Tip: replacing half the oil with applesauce usually works).

converting stove top to crock pot

Since it's winter and thus major crock pot time, I wanted to know how to convert recipes {such as soups and such} that call for cooking on the stove top into a crock pot recipe. There's a few things to be considered when converting a recipe from stove top to crock pot, and here's what I found {original article}:

Overview
Slow cookers (also commonly known by the brand name Crock-Pot) can be a convenient way to cook complete meals with little effort. However, while cooking in a slow cooker has many advantages, cooks should note some of the major factors requiring adjustment when they convert conventional stove-top recipes for the slow cooker.

Time and Temperature in Slow Cooker Recipes
Since food takes much longer to cook in a slow cooker, the first thing to do when converting a recipe is to calculate the proper cooking time and setting. As a general rule, if a recipe calls for a cooking time of 15–30 minutes, it should be in a slow cooker for about four to six hours on the low setting, or one-and-a-half to two hours on high.

Similarly, 45 minutes of conventional cooking time translates to six to ten hours on low, three to four on high. Over 45 minutes becomes eight to eighteen or four to six hours, respectively. Dishes can be done on either a high or low setting, though some foods, like tough cuts of meat, become more tender over longer cooking periods.

Liquid in the Slow Cooker
Slow cookers cook with ambient heat and steam more than direct heat, which is why the lid should not be removed during cooking. But that means that evaporating water doesn't escape, a fact which needs to factored in when trying a conventional recipe in a slow cooker.

When making dishes with liquid in the slow cooker, it's best to use about half the amount one would use when making the same dish in a pot on a stove. At the same time, though, there should be enough liquid in the cooker to cover the other ingredients.

It's also very important to trim fat off meats before putting them in the slow cooker, since the fat doesn't drain. But less water or liquid ingredients are required for cooking if there is fat in the cooker. If fatty meats (such as bacon) are used as ingredients in slow cooker recipes, they may need to be browned before going in the pot.

The Order of Adding Ingredients in a Slow Cooker
There are two slow cooker options when making a soup or stew which calls for adding rice or pasta. The first is to cook these ingredients in advance, then simply add them when the rest of the soup is done. This option is good if the slow cooker is being left on during the day, and a family wants to eat right after coming home.

For those with more time, there is a second option. Uncooked pasta or rice can be added to the slow cooker, and then, with the temperature on the high setting, allowed to cook similarly to a conventional stove-top recipe but allowing a little more time. {This would usually apply to adding canned beans as well.}

Dairy products (cheese, cream, etc.) should also be added later, during the last fifteen minutes of cooking, while seafood can be added up to an hour before. Dried herbs should also go in later, as their flavors dissipate, although fresh herbs hold up over extended cooking times.

Over the Moons

{from Food Network magazine}

Ingredients
Cookie:
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 stick butter
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 cup Dutch-processed cocoa powder
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder

Filling:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
6 TB butter
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar

Directions
Cookie: Beat 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar and 1 stick butter until fluffy, then beat in 1 egg and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Whisk 1 1/2 cups flour, 1/2 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder, 3/4 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon baking powder; stir into the butter mixture. Chill 30 minutes. Roll out to 1/8 inch thick and cut into moon shapes {or any shape you desire}. Bake 8 to 12 minutes at 350 degrees.

Filling: Beat 1 cup creamy peanut butter, 6 tablespoons butter and 3/4 cup confectioners' sugar until smooth, then sandwich between cooled cookies.