April 2010: Sir Mix-a-lot

The Host - Janet

The theme - 'Sir Mix-a-Lot' and everyone was randomly paired with a course and an ingredient. The only rule is that your dish must contain your ingredient.

Michele: Dessert with apricot
Janet: Appetizer with peanut butter
Christina: Salad with cinnamon - Couldn't make it - we missed you.
Tina: Side dish with lemon
Bonnie: Soup with ginger
Angela: Drinks with blueberry
Ashley: Main course with arugula
Elizabeth: Side dish with hominy

Here is how it went down...
Angela prepared a Prosecco drink mulled with raspberries, blueberries, mint, lemon, sugar and vodka. Michele is holding the drink above as she told some funny story about her trainer.
Meet the newest member of CC - Elizabeth. She is going to fit right in. Janet started off with an appetizer - Asian inspired spring rolls. These tasty little spring rolls were stuffed with shrimp, basil, mint, noddles, sprouts, and pork (am I missing anything?). The dipping sauce was a combination of peanut butter and hoisin sauce.
Bonnie made a delicious beat soup. This pureed goodness we heard was somewhat of a kitchen disaster/challenge - she had to puree beats, yikes. But the finished product was outstanding. The soup contained, ginger, onion, green garlic and other wonderful goodness. The soup was served with a dollop of cashew cream and a spring of thyme.
And didn't Bonnie look pretty?
Tina prepared a wonderful lemon alfredo fettuccine pasta with peas and artichokes. It was light and creamy and wonderful.
Elizabeth was given hominy as her ingredient for a side dish and prepared a very comforting like casserole dish. It was spiked with jalapeno, which gave it just the right kick and also contained cream and cheese and topped with breadcrumbs. Yum.
For our main dish Ashley prepared a lovely pizza topped with homemade pesto, goat cheese, arugula and tomatoes. Michele who was paired with dessert and apricots prepared two pleasing desserts. The first was a vegan cookie with dried apricots and sage.
And the second was this delightful marsh-mellowly goodness. Michele you never disappoint. And I found the recipe because this is going into my binder. Click it!
The evening rounded out with a visit from this blue eyed beauty.


As always it was a grand time with good food, great stories and wonderful news!

Smoked Sausage with Cabbage and Apples

Sorry it took so long to post this one!

Ingredients
1 1/2 pounds smoked sausage, cut into 2-inch pieces
3 cooking apples, thickly sliced
1/2 head red cabbage, shredded
1 medium onion, sliced
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup apple juice

Directions
Layer the sausage, apples, cabbage and onion in the Crock-Pot® slow cooker in the order listed above.
Sprinkle the brown sugar, salt, and black pepper on top. Pour the apple juice over all the other ingredients. Do not stir.
Cover; cook on Low 6 to 8 hours (or on High for 3 to 4 hours)

Farfalle with Asparagus and Smoked Salmon

Ingredients:
1 (8 ounce) package farfalle pasta
1/2 cup fresh steamed asparagus tips
1 ounce smoked salmon, chopped
1 lemon, juiced
1 tablespoon chopped pistachio nuts
1 teaspoon chopped fresh basil
1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
Directions:
In a large pot of salted boiling water, cook pasta until al dente, rinse under cold water and drain.

Steam the asparagus over boiling water and cook until tender but still firm. Drain, cool and chop.

In a large bowl, combine the pasta, asparagus, smoked salmon, lemon juice, pistachios, basil, olive oil, and salt and pepper. Mix well and refrigerate for 2 hours. Remove from refrigerator and serve at room temperature

Recipe: RAW TACOS

Raw vegan walnut taco ‘meat’

1 ½ c raw walnuts
1 ½ t ground cumin
¾ t ground coriander
2 t braggs (I just used soy sauce, which is not technically raw)
Pinch of cayenne

Grind walnuts in food processor to a meat like texture add remaining ingredients and mix.

Cashew Cheeze

1 ½ t garlic, about two cloves
½ t sea salt
1 c raw cashews
2 ½ t fresh lemon juice
¼ c filtered water

Place garlic and salt in a food processor; process into small pieces. Add cashews and process into paste. Add lemon juice and water, process well.

Serve on a leafy green (I used romaine) with avocado and homemade pico. Yum!

March 2010: SEX AND THE CITY

“The only thing that I have ever successfully made in the kitchen is a mess. And several little fires. [Carrie]”

Lucky for us we are a lot better in the kitchen than Carrie.

Saturday found Cooking Club a la Sex and the City. Dishes were prepared that boasted aphrodisiac qualities and inspired by S&TC.

Ashley hosted a fun and colorful meeting.

Most of us dressed with character inspiration.

Ashley started the party with pomegranate cosmos garnished with blueberries. Yum.
Michele made Oyster Rockefeller. Amazing! I had four!
Janet prepared a delicious Cream of Asparagus soup.
Christina prepared a Farfalle with Asparagus and Smoked Salmon dish. More yum.
I tried out a Raw Taco recipe inspired by Smith (remember he worked at a raw restaurant). I made ground walnut taco meat and cashew cheeze and garnished the tacos with avocado and homemade cherry tomato pico.
Bonnie concluded the evening with Pistachio and Rose Water Cupcakes. Oh my, these were wonderful. Who needs Magnolia's?
Ashley prepared these wonderfully cute goodie bags filled with all sorts of fun stuff.
It was a fabulous meeting. Conversation as always was very lively and included a very, um, colorful Q&A game. We recalled some of our favorite S&TC moments, discussed our favorite characters and just had a lot of girl fun.

Way to go Ashley. Smashing success.

Note: Pictures were taken with 3 different cameras. Someone's battery went dead. Ooops.

January 2010 - Crock Pot Challenge

Crock Pot Challenge - The speediest Cooking Club ever!

Everything, and I mean everything, needed to be made using a crock pot. Hence the speed and ease of this cooking club. And by speed I mean, the time it took us to eat.

Great fun! Let's go see.
All the different pots. Gotta love Heidi's old school rectangle one.
And leading with Heidi, she prepared a warm and cozy mulled wine.
For our appetizer, Christiana prepared a sweet and savory, sausage, cabbage and apple dish. So good, the indigents really complemented each other.
Tina prepared a wonderful Thai inspired soup. Tina makes wonderful soups. We also discussed how we all need to get a immersion blender.
Ashley made these awesome pulled pork sandwiches, which she marinated in root beer. She also made her own barbecue sauce and a tasty cabbage salad that was added to the sandwiches.

I made a macaroni and cheese inspired by Paula Dean. I wasn't too impressed with how it turned it out-wasn't happy with the texture.
Bonnie made a vegan Jambalaya. She served it over rice and added tofu sausage, which was quite impressive. Very comforting.

In fact, everything was very comforting. Given the rain and cold we have been having this was the perfect theme for the season. Good pickin Bonnie!
And what I believe to be a cardinal sin, there was no dessert. I believe this is the first ever CC without a dessert. Gasp! Unfortunately, Janet bailed the day of, due to a sick kid and Bonnie claimed she didn't have enough time to prepare a proper dessert in a crock pot. We made due with the tasty mulled wine, but I'm sure this will be something we do not soon forget. And I'm sure there will be some continued controversy over this faux pas.

Anyway, we sped through this CC because there was very little prep.

We discussed options for our next meeting and came up with a great theme that Ashley will host - A Sex and The City theme. This is sure to be fabulous.
Also, Bonnie showed off her NKOTB dance. Yes, that would be Jordon there on the TV.
We ended the evening with some of us going to a wine bar in the WC and hearing many "Bonnie" stories.
Good Times!

One less turkey slaughtered

So my family strives to make a (mostly) vegan Thanksgiving every year. We've done the tofurkey thang, stuffed acorn squash, butternut squash risotto, seitan in wine sauce, etc. This year we used some recipes that I obtained from an American Cancer Society presentation that I attended a few weeks ago. The ACA recommends a, 'plant based,' diet-apparently using the term vegan is still a bit taboo. The chef who led the demonstration also works at Millennium (heaven) in SF.

We started with Sopa Verde-a pureed creation of tasty kale, tomatillos, pumpkin seeds, cilantro, parsley, potato, etc.

A close-up of the main course, Gnocchi made of masa, chunks of roasted butternut squash and kidney beans. The brown speckles you see- homemade pecan sausage. You have not lived until you have had this pecan sausage. My mom kept exclaiming, "it tastes just like sausage!" You won't be missing your protein with this dish-nuts, beans, corn, go crazy.

How it all came together. We always have homemade cranberry sauce and added some spinach sauteed with garlic for more color. My mom also made sweet potato ravioli that I passed on because she could not guarantee that the won ton wrappers were egg-free and had thrown out the package. The gnocchi mixture was served on a pool of homemade mole sauce. Unfortunately I did not get a good pic of the mole sauce but it was my first mole ever and I feel like a new woman.

Dessert. Recipes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World. These were a hit two years ago so I decided to give them an encore performance and because they are very simple to make but most impressive.