Cole Slaw

This is for The Picky Hubby. He's slightly tactile defensive so everything he eats has to have a particular texture. That is to say, it must have resistance. If you want to get astrological about it, he's an Aries, so he likes it when even his food fights back.

Cole Slaw is the perfect food for him.

crunchy & fights back? -check
raw veggies? - check
salty & vinegary? -check
he doesn't have to heat it up at work? - check

So I decided to have a crack at it. It only has a few ingredients; so how hard could it be?

Here's what I used:

• 1/2 head of green cabbage, shredded
• 1/2 head of red cabbage, shredded
• 3 large carrots, shredded
• 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
• 1/2 cup white vinegar
• 1 1/2 cups of mayo ( personally, if i were making this for me, I would have used Vegonaise to veganize it. but this is for him & he's very fussy about his mayo.)
• 1/2 tsp of salt
• pepper to taste.

mix it, chill it, eat it.

volia.

Carrot Cake Cookies

Like my reto diner plates?

I found them at an antique store in Nashville many years ago & I love them dearly. If I could find more dishes just like it, I'd probably sell a kidney to get them if I had to. Grandmas china? Bah! Gimme good old fashioned pink & black diner plates & I'm happy.

Anyway, I'd been nosing around online for a good, yet fairly easy carrot cake cookie recipe, and I found this one at Gastonomy & it's wonderful!

I did modify it a bit since the recipe called for raisins. (see the oatmeal cookie recipe for my feelings on those nasty little buggers)

Also, I made the filling per the directions, but found it way too ... runny, yet lumpy? it was bizzare. I couldn't get it to the right consistency even with a pound of powdered sugar. And at that point it was just gross. So I skipped the filling. And that's just fine, because these cookies are so good, they can stand alone. I think the filling would be too distracting, anyway.

Carrots are eaten on a daily basis in our household. I swear my husband would be dead if it weren't for carrots. We probably all have that nice orange glow you get when you eat a lot of carrots. I don't care. So aside from the failed filling attempt, these came out fantastic!

You will need the following:

• 1 1/8 cups flour
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/4 tsp ginger
• 1/4 tsp allspice
  
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 stick of unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
• 1/3 cup plus 2 tablespoons white sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• 1 cup coarsely grated carrots (2 medium)
• 1 cup of chopped walnuts
  

In a small separate bowl, mix the flour, salt, spices and baking soda and set aside.

With an electric mixer, beat together the butter, both sugars, the egg and vanilla in a bowl until completely mixed. About 3 mins.

Add carrots and nuts at low speed. When that's completely mixed, add the flour mixture a little bit at a time. Keep the mixer speed on low to medium.

Drop large spoonfuls onto a parchment lined baking sheet & bake at 375 for about 15 mins or until they're just golden brown.

This recipe makes about a dozen. But because these were supposed to be sandwich cookies, I made two batches. And even though I'd planned on taking some to work, 2 dozen cookies is a little much. Especially when you consider I had already made oatmeal & honey cookies this weekend too.

So I enlisted the aid of my taste testers. The neighborhood kids. 4 out of 5 liked them and I like them, so this ones a keeper too.

Old Fashioned Oatmeal Cookies

So I got a random craving for oatmeal cookies.

But not just any oatmeal cookies. I'm very picky when it comes to oatmeal cookies.

I don't like them with raisins because raisins are an abomination, and I don't even like them with chocolate chips. I don't like them with anything but oatmeal and cookie.

Finding a recipe to fit this criteria was more difficult than I had imagined.

But, happily, I did locate one that suited my pallet at Thibeaults Table & they're perfect!

They're low on the oats, and heavy on the cookie but not so heavy that you'd miss the oats.

Perfection!

Recipes From Thibeault's Table

• 1 cup butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1 2/3 cup flour
• 3/4 tsp baking soda
• 1/8 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• dash nutmeg
• 1 1/2 cups rolled oats

Preheat oven to 350

In a small separate bowl, combine flour, soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg.

In a larger bowl, cream butter and sugars together until light and fluffy.

Add egg and beat until smooth.

Add vanilla and beat on low

Stir the combined flour, soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and nutmeg into butter mixture.

Add rolled oats a little at a time & beat on low with each addition

Roll into medium sized balls

Bake 12-15 minutes or until bottoms are golden.

Cookies should not get brown.
Remove from oven & cool on rack

A dear friend came by just as I was taking these out of the oven & we sat on the back porch in the sunshine nibbling on these beauties. It was a very good day!

Awesome Asparagus

Since it's been Asparagus season, I've been eating these little bad boys like crazy.

I hated them as a kid, but i love them now and so does my daughter. My picky husband? mmmnot so much. But that's ok because my daughter would eat nothing but Asparagus all day if i let her.

I think the reason I didn't like them when I was a kid was because of the way my mom cooked them. They were limp, soggy and a nasty shade of green. So, Mom, take notes!

But the way I cook them is fantastic! I'd love to be able to tell you where I found the recipe, but because it was so simple, I didn't save it & have totally forgotten where I saw it

Anyway, here's what I do:

1 bunch of Asparagus
1 lemon
1 Tbs Olive oil
cracked sea salt to taste.

Wash the Asparagus and chop of the bottom portion.

Arrange in a baking dish & drizzle the olive oil over them & toss gently with a fork

Add sea salt & toss again. After the second tossing, add more sea salt.

Cut the lemon into thin slices, but leave the ends of the lemon as wedges. Squeeze the juice from the wedges over the Asparagus, then discard the wedges. Place the lemon slices over the Asparagus.

Bake in oven at 350 for 20 mins then serve (add more sea salt if you're a salt addict like me)

Heaven, I tell you. Heaven. My child will devour these faster than I can keep them on her plate!

Also, Asparagus are incredibly healthy. There's all kinds of good info on the Wikipeida article on them. Follow the jump to read up on Asparagus.

"Asparagus rhizomes and root is used ethnomedically to treat urinary tract infections, as well as kidney and bladder stones.^{[citation needed]} In Ayurvedic medicine (a traditional medicine of India) a type of asparagus (asparagus racemosa)called Shatavari in Sanskrit is widely used as a tonic, and for women's problems. Shatavari means "Plant of the 100 roots". Because of it's reputed aphrodisiac properties it is also known as "lady with the 100 husbands".

hm! interesting!

The Apple Pear Conflict

actually, it's Apple Pear Compote

but every time I said it to my husband, he kept hearing Conflict instead of Compote. So it's officially been named The Apple Pear Conflict.

And it's dang good!

I found this at The Picky Cook
and it's now become a staple in our household.

It also helped that I found vanilla beans on sale & bought up as many as my little cart could hold.

This is the first recipe I've used fresh vanilla beans with & although there isn't a noticeable difference in taste, it does make for a good presentation.

The Ingredients are as follows:

2 cups apple cider
1/4 cup cider vinegar
1 Tbsp brown sugar
2 tsp unsalted butter, divided
3 medium (about 1 lb total) Granny Smith apples, peeled, cored, small diced
3 medium (about 1 1/2 lbs total) pears, peeled, cored, small diced
(Bartlett pears were recommended, but I just red anjou & it came out great)
1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise



Combine apple cider, cider vinegar, and brown sugar in medium saucepan. Simmer on medium-high, uncovered, stirring occasionally until reduced for about 10 to 15 mins.

Melt the butter in a pan on medium. Add apples, pears and cook for abotut 5 minutes until softened.

Using a sharp knife, split the vanilla bean pod length wise. Using a butter knife or a spoon, scrape tiny seeds from vanilla bean into fruit mixture. This can get messy & the seeds can stick to your hands, so be careful. When all of the seeds are out, discard the pod.

Stir in the reduced cider glaze and simmer until there's no more liquid in the apples. It should have a sticky, glazed consistency.


Remove from heat & allow it to cool some before serving. I eat this over fat-free vanilla yogurt, but my daughter likes it with vanilla bean ice cream.

The best thing about this, is that it's easy to make & it's really tasty and versetile. You could serve this on cake, ice cream, yogurt, or just eat as is.